Sclavonian oriental languages, of which we take the Sarmatian to Language. have been one, is so palpable, that any person of a moderate capacity who is perfectly master of one, will find little difficulty in acquiring any other. If, therefore, the coincidence between the Greek and Russian should actually exist, we think this circumstance will not authenticate the supposition, that either of the two is derived from the other.

227

Origin of

cal coin

and the Greek.

In the course of this argument, our readers will be pleased to observe, that we all along suppose, that the Sclavonian, of which we think the Russian is the most genuine remain, is the same with the old Sarmatian. We shall now take the liberty to hazard a conjecture with respect to the syntaxical coincidence of that language with the Greek; for we acknowledge that we are not so profoundly versed in the Russian dialect of the Sclavonian as to pretend to pronounce a definitive

sentence.

As the Russians were a generation of savages, there the synt xi-is no probability that they were acquainted with the use cidence be- of letters and alphabetical writing till they acquired tween this that art by intercourse with their neighbours. It is cerlanguage tain, beyond all contradiction, that few nations had made less proficiency in the fine arts than that under consideration: and we think there is little appearance of their having learned this art prior to their conversion to Christianity. Certain it is, that the Slavi, who settled in Dalmatia, Illyria, and Liburnia, had no alphabetical characters till they were furnished with them by St Jerome. The Servian character, which very nearly resembles the Greek, was invented by St Cyril; on which account the language written in that character is denominated Chiurilizza. These Sclavonic tribes knew nothing of alphabetic writing prior to the era of their conversion. The Mœsian Goths were in the same condition till their bishop Ulphilas fabricated them a set of letters.

If the Slavi and Goths, who resided in the neighbourhood of the Greeks and Romans, had not learned alphabetical writing prior to the era of their conversion to Christianity, it must hold, à fortiori, that the Russians, who lived at a very great distance from those nations, knew nothing of this useful art antecedent to the period of their embracing the Christian faith.

The Russians pretend that they were converted by St Andrew; but this is known to be a fable. Christianity was first introduced among them in the reign of the grand duke Wolodimar, who marrying the daugh ter of the Grecian emperor Basilius, became her convert about the year 989. About this period, we imagine, they were taught the knowledge of letters by the Grecian missionaries, who were employed in teaching them the elements of the Christian doctrines. Their alphabet consists of 31 letters, with a few obsolete additional ones; and these characters resemble those of the Greeks so exactly, that there can be no doubt of their being copied from them. It is true, the shape of some has been somewhat altered, and a few barbarian ones have been intermingled. The Russian liturgy, every body knows, was copied from that of the Greeks; and the best specimen of the old Russian is the church fices for Easter, in the very words of Chrysostom, who is called by his name Zlato ustii, “golden-mouthed." The power of the clergy in Russia was excessive; and no doubt their influence was proportioned to their

power. The first race of clergy in that country were Sel..voni..n undoubtedly Greeks. We know how active and indu- Language. strious those people were in propagating their language as well as their religion. The offices of religion might be at first written and pronounced in the Greek tongue, but it would soon be found expedient to have them translated into Russian. The persons employed in this work must have been Greeks, who understood both languages.

As it is confessedly impossible that a people so dul! and unattentive as the Russians originally were, could ever have fabricated a language so artificially constructed as their present dialect; and as it is obvious, that, till Christianity was introduced among them by the Greeks, they could have no correspondence with that peopleit must appear surprising by what means their language came to be fashioned so exactly according to the Greek model. We have observed above, that the Russian letters must have been invented and introduced into that country by the Greek missionaries. We think it probable, that those apostles, at the same time that they taught them a new religion, likewise introduced a change into the idiom of their language. The influence of those ghostly teachers over a nation of savages must have been almost boundless; the force of their precepts and example almost incontrollable. If the savage converts accepted a new religion from the hands of those Grecian apostles, they might with equal submission adopt improvements in their language. Such of the natives as were admitted to the sacerdotal function must have learned the Greek language, in order to qualify them for performing the offices of their religion. A predilection for that language would be the immediate consequence. Hence the natives, who had been admitted into holy orders, would co-operate with their Grecian masters in improving the dialect of the country; which, prior to the period above mentioned, must have greatly deviated from the original standard of the Sarmatian tongue.

Upon this occasion, we imagine the Greek apostles, in conjunction with their Russian disciples, reduced the language of the country to a resemblance with the Greek idiom. They retained the radical vocables as they found them; but by a variety of flections, conjugations, derivations, compositions, and other modifications, transformed them into the Grecian air and apparel. They must have begun with the offices of the church; and among a nation of savages newly converted, the language of the new religion would quickly obtain a very extensive circulation. When the Grecian garniture was introduced into the church, the laity would in process of time assume a similar dress. fabric of the Grecian declensions, conjugations, &c. might be grafted upon Russian stocks without affecting the radical parts of the language. If the dialect in question, like most others of a very ancient date, laboured under a penury of vocables, this manœuvre would contribute exceedingly to supply that defect. By this expedient the Greek language itself had been enlarged from about 300 radical terms to the prodigious number of words of which it now consists.

The

The Latin tongue we have seen above in its original constitution differed widely from the Greek; and notwithstanding this incongruity, the improvers of the former have pressed it into a very strict agreement with the Z 22

latter.

Sclavonian latter. This, we think, was still a more difficult task; Language, as, in our opinion, the genius of the Latin differs in a much greater degree than that of the Russian does from the Greek. We know, that the genius of the Gothic tongue and those of all its descendants are much more in unison with the Greek than with that of the Latin. The Spanish, Italian, and French, have cudgelled many of their Gothic, Teutonic, and Celtic verbs, into a kind of conjugations, imitating or rather aping those of the Latin. The Persians have formed most elegant and energetic declensions and conjugations, upon inflexible roots borrowed from the Pahlavi and Deri, and even from Tartar originals.

228 Russian

noons.

219

Upon the grounds above mentioned we have taken the liberty to hazard the following conjectures, which we cheerfully submit to the cognizance of our more enlightened readers.

1. That the Sarmatian was a dialect of the original language of mankind.

2. That the Sclavonian was a dialect of the Sarmatian.

3. That the Russe is the most genuine unsophisticated relick of the Sclavonian and Sarmatian.

4. That the Russians had no alphabetic characters prior to the era of the introduction of Christianity, that is, towards the end of the tenth century.

5. That they were converted by Grecian missionaries. 6. That those missionaries copied their present letters from those of Greece; and in conjunction with the more enlightened natives, reduced the original unimproved Russe to its present resemblance to the Greek standard.

The Russian language, like most others, contains eight parts of speech, noun, pronoun, &c. Its nouns have three genders, masculine, feminine, and neuter; it has also a common gender for nouns, intimating both sexes. It has only two numbers, singular and plural. Its cases are seven, nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, vocative, instrumental, and prepositive. These cases are not formed by varying the termination, as in Greek and Latin; but generally by placing a vowel after the word, as, we imagine, was the original practice of the Greeks (See Greek Section). Thus in Russe, gux, ruk, "the hand;" nominative, gux-a, "the hand;" genitive, gux-N" of the hand," &c. See Les Elem. de la Langue Russe par Charpentier. Nouns substantive are Adjectives, reduced to four declensions, and adjectives make a fifth. These agree with their substantives in case, gender, and number. They have three degrees of comparison, as is common in other languages; the positive, comparative, and superlative. The comparative is formed from the feminine of the nominative singular of the positive, by changing a into te, that is, aie in English; the superlative is made by prefixing, pre, before the positive. These rules are general; for the exceptions, recourse must be had to the Russian grammar above mentioned. The numeral adjectives in Russe have three genders like the rest, and are declined accordingly. Their pronouns have nothing peculiar, and are divided and arranged in the same manner as in other languages. Verbs in the Russian language are comprehended under two conjugations. The moods are only three; the indicative, the imperative, and the infinitive: the subjunctive is formed by placing a particle before the indicative. Its tenses are eight in number; the present, the imper

230 Verbs,

one.

fect, the preterite simple, the preterite compound, the Sclavonian pluperfect, the future indeterminate, the future simple, Language. the future compound. The verbs have their numbers and persons as in other languages. To enter into a detail of their manner of conjugating their verbs would neither be consistent with our plan, nor, we are persuaded, of much consequence to our readers. Their other parts of speech differ nothing from those of other languages. Their syntax nearly resembles that of the Greek and Latin. All these articles must be learned from a grammar of the language. Whether there is any grammar of the Russian language composed in English we know not. That of Mons. Charpentier in French, printed at Petersburgh in 1768, is the only one we have seen, and which appears to us a very excellent We could wish to be able to gratify our readers with a more authentic account of the origin of the Sclavonian language; but this we find impossible, in consequence of the want of memorials relating to the state of the ancient Sarmatæ. Towards the era of the subversion of the western empire, the nations who inhabited the countries in question were so blended and confounded with each other, and with Huns and other Scythian or Tartar emigrants, that we believe the most acute antiquarian would find it impossible to investigate their respective tongues, or even their original residence or extraction. We have selected the Russe as the most genuine branch of the old Sclavonian, and to this predilection we were determined by the reasons above mentioned. We are sorry that we are not so well acquainted with the idiom of the Russian language as to be able to compare it with those of the east; but upon such a comparison, we are persuaded that the radical materials of which it is composed would be found to have originated in the oriental regions. The word Tsar, for ex- Phoenician ample, is probably the Phoenician and Chaldean Sar, or and ChalZar, a prince, a grandee." Diodorus Siculus calls in Russe. the queen of the Massagetæ, who, according to Ctesias, cut off Cyrus's head, Zarina; which was not many years ago the general title of the empress of all the Russias. Herodotus calls the same princess Tomyris, which is the very name of the famous Timor or Tamur, the conqueror of Asia. The former seems to have been the title, and the latter the proper name, of the queen of the Massagetæ. In the old Persian or Pahlavi, the word Gard signifies word Gard signifies "a city ;" in Russian, Gorad or Grad intimates the very same idea: hence Constantinople in old Russe is called Tsargrad or Tsurgorad. These are adduced as a specimen only; and able etymologists might, we believe, discover a great number.

66

The Sclavonian language is spoken in Epirus, the western part of Macedonia, in Bosnia, Servia, Bulgaria, in part of Thrace, in Dalmatia, Croatia, in Poland, Bohemia, Russia, and Mingrelia, in Asia, whence it is frequently used in the seraglio at Constantinople. Many of the great men of Turkey understand it, and frequently use it; and most of the janizaries having been stationed in garrisons on the Turkish frontiers in Europe, use it as their vulgar tongue. The Hungarians, bowever, and the natives of Wallachia, speak a different language and this language bears evident signatures of the Tartarian dialect, which was the tongue of the original Huns. Upon the whole, the Sclavonian is by much the most extensive language in Europe, and extends far into Asia.

SECT

231

dean words

Modern without scarce having any occasion for an interpreter; Languages, and as in it are to be found excellent works of every kind, both in verse and prose, useful and agreeable. There are, besides, grammars, and dictionaries of this language which give us every information concerning it, and very able masters who teach it; especially such as come from those parts of France where it is spoken correctly; for with all its advantages, the French language has this inconvenience, that it is pronounced scarce anywhere purely but at Paris and on the banks of the Loire. The language of the court, of the great world, and of men of letters, is moreover very different from that of the common people; and the French tongue, in general, is subject to great alteration and novelty. What pity it is, that the style of the great Corneille, and that of Moliere, should already begin to be obsolete, and that it will be but a little time before the inimitable chefs d'œuvres of those men of sublime genius will be no longer seen on the stage: The most modern style of the French, moreover, does not seem to be the best. We are inclined to think, that too much conciseness, the epigrammatic point, the antithesis, the paradox, the sententious expressions, &c. diminish its force; and that, by becoming more polished and refined, it loses much of its energy.

VI. The German and Italian languges merit likewise a particular application; as does the English, perhaps above all, for its many and great excellencies (See LANGUAGE). Authors of great ability daily labour in improving them; and what language would not become excellent, were men of exalted talents to make constant use of it in their works! If we had in Iroquois books like those which we have in English, Italian, French, and German, should we not be tempted to learn that

language? How glad should we be to understand the Modern Spanish tongue, though it were only to read the Arau- Languages, cana of Don Alonzo D'Ercilia, Don Quixote, some dramatic pieces, and a small number of other Spanish works, in the original; or the poem of Camoens in Portuguese.

:

VII. The other languages of Europe have each their beauties and excellencies. But the greatest difficulty in all living languages constantly consists in the pronunciation, which it is scarce possible for any one to attain unless he be born or educated in the country where it is spoken and this is the only article for which a master is necessary, as it cannot be learned but by teaching or by conversation: all the rest may be acquired by a good grammar and other books. In all languages whatever, the poetic style is more difficult than the prosaic: in every language we should endeavour to enrich our memories with great store of words (copia verborum), and to have them ready to produce on all occasions: in all languages it is difficult to extend our knowledge so far as to be able to form a critical judgment of them. living languages are pronounced rapidly, and without dwelling on the long syllables (which the grammarians call moram): almost all of them have articles which distinguish the genders.

All

VIII. Those languages that are derived from the Latin have this further advantage, that they adopt without restraint, and without offending the ear, Latin and Greek words and expressions, and which by the aid of a new termination appear to be natives of the language. This privilege is forbidden the Germans, who in their best translations dare not use any foreign word, unless it be some technical terms in case of great necessity.

Philomathes,

PHI

PHILOMATHES, a lover of learning or science. PHILOMELA, in fabulous history, was a daughPhilomela. ter of Pandion king of Athens, and sister to Procne, who had married Tereus king of Thrace. Procne separated from Philomela, to whom she was much attached, spent her time in great melancholy till she prevailed upon her husband to go to Athens and bring her sister to Thrace. Tereus obeyed; but he had no sooner obtained Pandion's permission to conduct Philomela to Thrace, than he fell in love with her, and resolved to gratify his passion. He dismissed the guards whom the suspicions of Pandion had appointed to watch him; offered violence to Philomela; and afterwards cut out her tongue, that she might not discover his barbarity, and the indignities she had suffered. He confined her in a lonely castle; and having taken every precaution to prevent a discovery, be returned to Thrace, and told Procne that Philomela had died by the way, and that he had paid the last offices to her remains. At this sad intelligence Procne put on mourning for the loss of Philomela; but a year had scarcely elapsed before she was secretly informed that her sister was not dead. Philomela, in her captivity, described on a piece of tapestry her misfortunes and the brutality of Tereus, and privately conveyed it to Procne. She was going to celebrate the or

PHI

gies of Bacchus when she received it, but she disguised Philomelt her resentment; and as during those festivals she was permitted to rove about the country, she hastened to deliver her sister Philomela from her confinement, and concerted with her on the best measures of punishing the cruelty of Tereus. She murdered her son Itylus, then in the sixth year of his age, and served him up as food before her husband during the festival. Tereus, in the midst of his repast, called for Itylus; but Procne immediately informed him that he was then feasting on his flesh, when Philomela, by throwing on the table the head of Itylus, convinced the monarch of the cruelty of the scene. He drew his sword to puni-h Procne and Philomela; but as he was going to stab them to the heart, he was changed into a hoopoe, Philomela into a nightingale, Procne into a swallow, and Itylus into a pheasant. This tragedy happened at Daulis in Phocis; but Pausanias and Strabo, who mention the whole of the story, are silent about the transformation; and the former observes, that Tereas, after this bloody repast, fled to Megara, where he laid violent hands on himself. inhabitants of the place raised a monument to his memory, where they offered yearly sacrifices, and placed small pebbles instead of barley. It was on this monument that the birds called hoopoes were first seen; hence

The

Ancient

PHILONIUM, in Pharmacy, a kind of anodyne opiate, taking its name from Philo the inventor.

PHILOPOEMEN, a celebrated general of the AUniversal chæan league, was born in Megalopolis, a city of ArHistory, cadia, in Peloponnesus; and from his very infancy disvol. vi. covered a strong inclination to the profession of arms. He was nobly educated by Cassander of Mantinea; a man of great probity, and uncommon abilities. He was no sooner able to bear arms than he entered among the troops which the city of Megalopolis sent to make incursions into Laconia, and in these inroads never failed to give some remarkable instance of his prudence and valour. When there were no troops in the field, he used to employ his leisure time in hunting and such other manly exercises. When Cleomenes king of Sparta attacked Megalopolis, Philopomen displayed much courage and greatness of soul. He signalized himself no less some time after, in the battle of Sellasia, where Antigonus gained a complete victory over Cleomenes. Antigonus, who had been an eye-witness of his prudent and intrepid behaviour, made very advantageous offers to gain him over to his interest; but he rejected them, having an utter aversion to a court life, which he compared to that of a slave, saying, that a courtier was but a slave of a better condition. As he could not live idle and inactive, he went to the isle of Crete, which was then engaged in war, and served there as a volunteer till he acquired a complete knowledge of the military art; for the inhabitants of that island were in those days accounted excellent warriors, being scarce ever at peace among themselves. Philopomen, having served some years among the troops of that island, returned home, and was upon his arrival appointed general of the borse; in which command he behaved so well, that the Achæan horse, heretofore of no reputation, became in a short time famous all over Greece. He was soon after appointed general of all the Achæan forces, when he applied himself to the re-establishing of military discipline among the troops of the republic, which he found in a very low condition, and universally despised by their neighbours. Aratus, indeed, was the first that raised the Achæan state to that pitch of power and glory to which it arrived; but the success of his enterprises was not so much owing to his courage and intrepidity as to his prudence and politics. As he depended on the friendship of foreign princes, and their powerful succours, he neglected the military discipline at home; but the instant Philopomen was created prætor, or commander in chief, he roused the courage of his countrymen, in order to put them into a condition to defend themselves without the assistance of foreign allies. With this view he made great improvements in the Achæan discipline; changing the manner of their exercise and their arms, which were both very defective. He had thus, for the space of eight months, exercised his troops every day, making them perform all the motions and evolutions, and accustoming them to manage with dexterity their arms, when news was brought him that Machanidas was advancing, at the head of a numerous army, to invade Achaia. He

men.

was glad of this opportunity to try how the troops had Philopœprofited by his discipline; and accordingly, taking the field, met the enemy in the territories of Mantinea, where a battle was fought. Philopoemen, having killed Machanidas with his own hand, struck off his head, and carried it from rank to rank, to encourage his victorious Achaeans, who continued the pursuit, with great slaughter, and incredible ardour, to the city of Tegea, which they entered together with the fugitives. The Lacedæmonians lost on this occasion above 8000 men, of which 4000 were killed on the spot, and as many taken prisoners. The loss of the Achæans was very inconsiderable, and those that fell were mostly mercenaries. This happened about the year before Christ 204.

But what most of all raised the fame and reputation of Philopomen was his joining the powerful city of Lacedæmon to the Achæan commonwealth; by which means the Achæans came to eclipse all the other states of Greece. This memorable event happened in the year 191. In this transaction we cannot help taking notice of one circumstance, which, in our opinion, reflects greater lustre on Philopomen than all his warlike exploits.. The Lacedæmonians, overjoyed to see themselves delivered from the oppressions they had long groaned under, ordered the palace and furniture of Nabis to be sold; and the sum accruing from thence, to the amount of 120 talents, to be presented to Philopœmen, as a token of their gratitude. Deputies therefore were to be appointed, who should carry the money, and desire Philopa. men, in the name of the senate, to accept of the present. On this occasion it was that the virtue of the generous Achæan appeared in its greatest lustre; for so great was the opinion which the Spartans had of his probity and disinterestedness, that no one could be found who would take upon him to offer the present: struck with veneration, and fear of di-pleasing him, they all begged to be excused. At last they obliged, by a public decree, one, Timolaus, who had formerly been his guest, to go to Megalopolis, where Philopomen lived, and offer him this testimony of their regard. Timolaus, with great reluctance, set out for Megalopolis, where he was kindly received and entertained by Philopoemen. Here he had an opportunity of observing the strictness of his whole conduct, the greatness of his mind, the frugality of his life, and the regularity of his manners; which struck him with such awe, that he did not dare once to mention the present he was come to offer; insomuch that, giving some other pretence to his journey, he returned home with the money. The Lacedæmonians sent him again; but he could no more prevail upon himself now than the first time to mention the true cause of his journey. At last, going a third time, he ventured, with the utmost reluctance, to acquaint Philopcemen with the offer he had to make in the name of the Lacedæmonians. Philopoemen heard him with great calmness; but the instant he had done speaking, he set out with him for Sparta, where, after having acknowledged his obligation to the Spartans, he advised them to lay out their money in reforming or purchasing those miscreants who divided the citizens, and set them at variance by means of their seditious discourses; to the end that, being paid for their silence, they might not occasion so many distractions in the government: "for it is much more advisable (said he) to stop an enemy's mouth than a friend's; as for me, I shall always be your friend, and

you