[5] See the opinions of Scaliger, Salmasius, and some others, quoted by Wetsten.
[6] Wetsten refers to a work by Aldus Manutius de potestate literarum, which I have not seen.
[7] “Audici M. Rutgerum Reschium professorem Linguæ Græcæ in collegio Baslidiano apud Lovanienses, meum piæ memoriæ præceptorem, narrantem, se habitasse in Liliensi pædagogeo una cum Erasmo, eo superius, se inferius cubiculum obtinente. Henricum autum Glareanum Parisiis Lovanium venisse, atque ab Erasmo in collegium vocatum fuisse ad prandium: quo cum venisset, quid novi adferret interrogatum dixisse (quod in itinere commentus erat, quod sciret Erasmum plus satis rerum novarum studiosum ac mire credulum) quosdam in Græcia natos Lutetiam venisse, viros ad miraculum doctos; qui longe aliam Græci sermonis pronunciationem usurparent, quam quæ vulgo in hisce partibus recepta esset: Eos nempe sonare pro Vita Beta, pro ii ita Eta, pro ai, ai, pro oi, oi, et sic in cæteris. Quo audito Erasmum paulo post conscripsisse dialogum de recta Latini Græcique sermonis pronunciatione, ut videretur hujus rei ipse incentor, et obtulisse Petro Alostensi Typographo imprimendum: Qui cum forte aliis occupatus renueret, aut certe se tam cito excudere quam volebat non posse diceret, misisse libellum Basileam ad Frobenium, a quo max impressus in lucem prodiit. Verum Erasmum cognita fraude, nunquam ea pronunciandi ratione postea usum, nec amicis, quibuscum familiariter vivebat, ut eam observarent, præcepisse. In ejus rei fidem exhibuit Rutgerus ipsius Erasmi manu scriptam in gratiam Damiani a Gœs Hispani pronunciationis formulam, in nullo diversam ab ea, qua passim docti et indocti in hac lingua utuntur.” The voucher for the story is Vossius, from whose Aristarchus, lib. 1, c. 28, Wetsten quotes it.
[8] Havercamp, vol. ii. p 174.
[9] Ueber die Aus-sprache des Griechischen. Leipzig, 1825. De Sonis literarum Græcarum; auctore Gustavo Seyffarthio. Lipsiæ, 1824.
[10] “If we find a word pronounced in a given manner in the time of Athenæus, we are warranted, in the absence of proof, in supposing it to have been pronounced in the same way in the time of Homer; and what prevailed in Homer’s time may be presumed to have continued till the age of Athenæus.”—Pennington, p. 7. This is too strong. Considering the immense interval of time and progress of culture between Homer and Athenæus, and considering the tendency to change inherent in human nature, I can see no presumption that the pronunciation of the language should have remained through so many centuries unchanged.
[11] “I cannot help thinking that if this treatise of Dionysius had been in early times made a text-book in schools, no controversy would ever have arisen upon the pronunciation of the Greek letters,” (except the diphthongs,) “or upon the nature of quantity.”—Pennington.
[12] “Vulgus antiquæ pronuntiationis tenacissimus est.”—Wetsten. Compare the observations of Professor L. Ross, below, on the antique element in modern Greek.
[13] Pluto Cratylus, sec. 74, Bekker.
[14] Aristophanes, Lysist. 86.