secutiveness, and completeness to the work which must materially enhance its literary value. Indeed, so great have been the alterations and additions, and there has been so much transposition and remodelling, that this English edition has required nearly as much time and labour as the preceding one.

By the advice of friends many of the citations have now been given at length.

The Excursus on the Buhlerinnen has been entirely omitted.

It may be added, that the first edition having been for some time exhausted, in order to lose as little time as possible, the proof-sheets were, by the kindness of the German publisher, forwarded to this country as they issued from the press. The editor may be permitted to observe, in conclusion, that he is glad to find from the extensive circulation of Gallus in this country and America, as well as from the opinions of the press, that the praise he ventured to bestow on the work has been fully borne out.

BRIGHTON: May, 1849.

TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.

GALLUS

LLUS oder Römische Scenen aus der Zeit Augusts -such is the German title of Professor Becker's work-was published at Leipsic in 1838. The novelty of its conception, the comparatively fresh ground it broke in the field of Roman Antiquities, and the exceeding erudition brought to bear on the subject, at once arrested the attention of German scholars, and it has ever since been considered, what its author ventured to hope it would be, 'a desirable repertory of whatever is most worth knowing about the private life of the Romans.' Soon after its publication, a very lengthened and eulogistic critique appeared in the Times London newspaper; and as it seldom happens that that Journal can find space in its columns for notices of this description, no little weight was attached. to the circumstance, and a proportionate interest created in the work. Proposals were immediately made for publishing it in an English dress, and the book was advertised accordingly; but unforeseen difficulties intervened, arising from the peculiar nature of the work, and the plan was ultimately abandoned.

In fact, in order to render the book successful in England, it was absolutely necessary that it should be somehow divested of its very German appearance, which, how palatable soever it might be to the author's own

b

countrymen, would have been caviare to the generality of English readers. For instance, instead of following each other uninterruptedly, the Scenes were separated by a profound gulf of Notes and Excursuses, which, if plunged into, was quite sufficient to drown the interest of the tale. The present translator was advised to attempt certain alterations, and he was encouraged to proceed with the task by the very favourable opinion which some of our most distinguished scholars entertained of the original, and their desire that it should be introduced into this country. The notes have been accordingly transported from their intercalary position, and set at the foot of the pages in the narrative to which they refer. The Scenes therefore succeed each other uninterruptedly, so that the thread of the story is rendered continuous, and disentangled from the maze of learning with which the Excursuses abound. These, in their turn, have been thrown together in an Appendix, and will doubtless prove a very substantial caput cone to those who shall have first discussed the lighter portion of the repast. In addition to these changes, which it is hoped will meet with approbation, much curtailment has been resorted to, and the two volumes of the original compressed into one. In order to effect this, the numerous passages from Roman and Greek authors have, in many instances, been only referred to, and not given at length; matters of minor importance have been occasionally omitted, and more abstruse points of disquisition not entered into. Those who may feel an interest in further inquiry, are referred to the Professor's work, in four volumes, on Roman Antiquities, now in course of publication in Germany. At the same time, care has been taken not to leave out any essential fact.

The narrative, in spite of the author's modest estimate of this section of his labours, is really very interesting, nay, wonderfully so, considering the narrow limits he had prescribed for himself, and his careful avoidance of anything not founded on fact, or bearing the semblance of fiction.

The idea of making an interesting story the basis of his exposition, and of thus strewing with flowers the path of dry antiquity,' is most judicious. We have here a flesh and blood picture of the Roman, as he lived and moved, thought and acted, worth more a thousand times than the disjecta membra, the dry skeleton, to be found in such books as Adam's Roman Antiquities, and others of the same nature, which, however erudite, are vastly uninviting.

In conclusion, the translator will be abundantly satisfied if, by his poor instrumentality, the English student shall have become acquainted with a most instructive work, and thus his mind stimulated to the further investigation of a subject fraught with peculiar fascinationthe domestic habits and manners of the most remarkable people of antiquity.

LONDON: May, 1844.