(41.) In the same Preface (p. xxiv.) a very strange argument was put forward, which, as we may learn from the last Quarterly Review, p. 79., where it is satisfactorily refuted, has been since repeated by Mr. Cureton. He maintains that the Syriac text of the Ignatian Epistles cannot be an epitome, because that "we know of no instances of such abridgment in any Christian writer." To commence with the West,—is not Mr. Cureton acquainted with the manner in which Rufinus dealt with the History of Eusebius? Have we here no specimens of abbreviation; no allusion in the prologue to "omissis quæ videbantur superflua?" Has Mr. C. never looked into that memorable combination of the independent works of three contemporaries, entitled Historia Tripartita? and, not to wander from the strictest bounds of bibliography, will any one presume to boast of having a copy of this book printed prior to that now near me, (a spectacle which De Bure could never get a sight of), "per Iohannem Schüszler regie vrbis Augustensis ciuem," anno 1472? But let us go to the East in search of compendiums. Did not Theodorus Lector, early in the sixth century, reduce into a harmony the compositions of Socrates, Sozomen, and Theodoret? How does Assemani speak of the first two parts of the Ecclesiastical History of Zacharias Rhetor, supposed to have been written in Syriac, about the year 540? "Prima est epitome Socratis, altera Theodoreti." (Biblioth. Orient., tom. ii. cap. vii.) On this occasion, manifestly, ancient records are encountered in an abridged Syriac form; a circumstance which will not strengthen the Curetonian theory relative to the text of the Ignatian Epistles. Again, bearing in mind the resemblance that exists between passages in the interpolated Epistles and in the Apostolic Constitutions, with the latter of which the Didascalia of Ignatius seems to have been commingled, let us inquire, Did not Dr. Grabe, in his Essay upon the Doctrine of the Apostles, published in 1711, unanswerably prove that the Syriac copy of this Didascalia was much more contracted than the Arabic one, or than the Greek Constitutions of the Apostles? Is it not true that extracted portions of these Constitutions are found in some old MS. collections of Canons? Has not Cotelier furnished us with an "Epitome," compiled by Metaphrastes from Clementine counterfeits, concerning the life of S. Peter? And, to descend from the tenth to the sixteenth century, are we not indebted to Carolus Capellius for an "Epitome Apostolicarum Constitutionum, in Creta insula repertarum," 4to., Ingolstad. 1546?
(42.) When Mr Merryweather (Vol. iii., p. 60.) was seeking for monastic notices of extreme longevity, did he always find it feasible to meet with Ingulphus's History of Croyland Abbey "apud Wharton, Anglia Sacra, 613?" and if it be not enough to have read an account of an ecclesiastic who is said to have attained to the delectable age of 168 years, is it not questionable that anything will suffice except it be the narrative of the Seven Sleepers? The third "Lectio" relating to these Champions of Christendom, as it is given in a Vatican MS., makes the period of their slumber to have been about 370 years. Who was the author of that finely-printed and illustrated quarto volume, the Sanctorum Septem Dormientium Historia, ex Ectypis Musei Victorii expressa, published, with the full approbation of the Censors, Romæ, 1741? "Obscurus esse gestio" is his declaration about himself (p. 63.). Has he remained incognito?
R. G.
SHAKSPEARE'S "ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA."
The first scene of the third act of Shakspeare's play of "Antony and Cleopatra," at first sight, appears to be totally unconnected with what goes before and what follows. It may be observed that the dramas founded on the Roman history are much more regular in their construction than those founded on the English history. Indeed, with respect to the drama in question, I am not aware of any scene, with the exception of that I have mentioned, which does not bear more or less on the fortunes of the personages from whom the play derives its name. Hence I am led to conjecture that the dramatist here alludes to some event of the day, which was well known to his audience. The speech of Ventidius seems to point to something of the kind:
"O Silius, Silius!
I have done enough: a lower place, note well,
May make too great an act: for learn this, Silius;
Better leave undone, than by our deed acquire