Item 8 - Letter from S. W. Smith Rogers to the editors of the Journal of Philology (W. Aldis Wright, Ingram Bywater, and Henry Jackson)

1 folded sheet

College Park, Belfast.—Submits a translation of Catullus’s ode ‘De Arrio’ for inclusion in the Journal, emphasising its philological interest.

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Transcript

College Park, Belfast
20th Sep. ’80.

Gentlemen {1},

I do not suppose that you often publish translations in the ‘Journal of Philology’ {1}: but the original of the one which I enclose {2}, possesses a special philological interest. In spite of its modern look, I think you will find my rendering of Catullus’s ‘De Arrio’ a pretty close translation of the original.

A correspondent has asked me whether “The subject of false aspirants has ever been properly examined?”: and remarks, “There is no trace of it in English Literature that I am aware of until the time of Dickens.”

Unfortunately I possess no information on this point.

Perhaps the insertion in your journal of my translation (if sufficiently meritorious) might lead to the careful investigation of a subject which, although it ought to be of great interest to philologers, has probably never attracted the attention which it deserves.

I may add that although Catullus here refers only to false aspiration, it is quite possible that the parallelism between Arrius and our ’Arry is complete. For if Arrius dropped his Hs. his doing so would hardly attract comment, owing to the weakness of the aspirate in Latin. In fact Catullus’s horror at the undue use of the aspirate is an indirect proof of the weakness of H in the Latin language as spoken in his time.

I have the honour to be, Gentlemen,
Your obedient servant,
S. W. Smith Rogers

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The men addressed were evidently the editors of the Journal of Philology, namely W. Aldis Wright, Ingram Bywater, and Henry Jackson.

{1} Opening inverted comma supplied.

{2} Add. MS a. 74/14/9.

Sent with Add. MS b. 74/14/8.

This description was created by A. C. Green in 2022.