Metrical scholia to the Agamemnon appear in the manuscripts commonly called F and Tr — also in G , but these are the same as some of those in F and are of interest only at one point . In the lyrical passages these scholia are of two types, which I shall call ‘long’ and ‘short’; Professor Eduard Fraenkel, who prints illustrative examples, has pointed out the distinction . ‘Long’ scholia give a comparatively full description of the metre of the (...) passage to which they refer: they state adequately the number and order of the cola, classified according to the metrical system which Demetrius Triclinius learnt from Hephaestion's work. (shrink)

All wars have causes; some have pretexts. When Polybios distinguishes between the cause, the pretext, and the beginning of war, his language sounds curiously modern. When he summarizes the causes of the Second Punic War the modern reader is not so satisfied. The war was due, in his opinion, to the indignation of Hamilcar Barca, who had to accept peace when he could have continued fighting in Sicily; to the anger of the Carthaginians, when they were forced to surrender Sardinia; (...) and to the good fortune which attended their armies in Spain. A more recent account differs from Polybios not only on matters of detail. ‘It is true that it was Hannibal's attack on Saguntum, undertaken in full knowledge of the almost inevitable consequences, that precipitated the war, but the historian must decide that, so far as attack and defence have a meaning in the clash between states, the balance of aggression must incline against Rome.’. (shrink)