J.O.H.
"Rab. Surdam" (Vol. ii., p. 493.).—EDINENSIS. gives the above as the inscription on a tomb-stone, and requests an explanation. It is very probable that the stone-cutter made a mistake, and cut "Rab. Surdam" instead of "Rap. Surum," which would be a contraction for "Rapax Suorum," alluding to Death or the Grave. It seems
impossible to extract a meaning, from "Rab. Surdam" by any stretch of Latinity.
G.F.G.
Edinburgh.
"Fronte Capillatâ," &c. (Vol. iii., p. 8.).—The hexameter cited vol. iii., p. 8., and rightly interpreted by E.H.A., is taken (with the slight alteration of est for the original es) from "Occasio: Drama, P. Joannis David, Soc. Jesu Sacerd. Antv. MDCV.," appended to that writer's Occasio, Arrepta, Neglecta; in which the same implied moral is expressed, with this variation:
"Fronte capillitium gerit, ast glabrum occiput illi."
G.A.S.
This verse is alluded to by Lord Bacon in his Essay on Delays:
"Occasion (as it is in the common verse) turneth a bald noddle after she hath presented her locks in front, and no hold taken; or, at least, turneth the handle of the bottle first to be received, and after the belly, which is hard to clasp."