a regular dice game. Pope, availing himself of the proverbial license conceded to the " genus irritabile," that is the "tuneful tribe," improves marvellously on the Latin version, for of the original Greek he is said to have known little. His words are, "On hides of beeves, before the palace gate Now, looking at these couplets of Pope's, or rather of Pope's journeymen verse makers, we have no hesitation in saying that they are the least worthy of his name that ever were written. It is well known that Pope himself did not do the Odyssey. He may have occasionally touched off the rhymes of his assistants, leaving the sense to come as it might. The parenthesis in the second line is not only not Homer's, but it is downright nonsense. We really see no very alarming "symptoms of luxury" in a man's making a seat, aye, and a bed too, of a bullock's skin, particularly as he had previously killed and flayed the beast with his own hands, thus saving the regular butcher's fee. The third and fourth lines are not in Homer at all, so it would be simply ridiculous to waste time upon them. I have only to add that this passage, not of Homer's, but of Pope's Grub Street underlings, has been quoted and appealed to "usque ad nauseam as a proof of the antiquity of Chess in "early Greece." 1 To "captivate the queen" is an ambiguous expression. It may signify "to make the queen captive,” which is the sense intended; or, according to the present usage of the word, it may mean, to "charm or gain the affections of the live queen Penelope herself. 2 Pope has much to answer for as the originator of a vast deal of rhetorical rubbish inflicted upon us in Chess lectures and Chess articles in periodicals. Here, for example, is a fine stereotype specimen of this sort:-"When and where Chess was invented is a problem which we believe never will be solved. The Byzantine, or Neo-Hellenic term for Chess, that is, "bona fide Chess," is Caтpiktov, a word unknown in the classic period of the Greek language, and incapable of satisfactory derivation from any Greek root. It is a pure exotic in the language (like the terms Chatrang and Shatranj in the languages of Persia and Arabia,) where it serves as a mere puzzle to exercise the ingenuity of the Lexicographers. The fact is, as we have already shown in our fifth chapter, that the Sanskrit compound Chatur-anga" is the real root of Chatrang, Shatranj, and as we shall immediately point out, of ÇarpıKIov in like manner. This term CαTρikov then, is simply a barbaric or foreign word with a Hellenic termination. The Greek alphabet had no letter or combination of letters capable of expressing the sound of the Persian "ch" like our "ch" in church") and as the nearest approximation they employed for that purpose the letter (zeta) ; hence Chatrang became ζατρανκ οι ζατρινκ or Hellenized, ζατρανκιον Οι ζατρινκιον. Again the middle v of the last form is thrown out in conformity with a very prevalent usage of the language well known to every Greek scholar, hence the form Carρikiov which is applied to Chess only, and never to the TеTTELα or any other species of game. As instances of the elision of the letter in foreign words introduced into the Hellenic, we may mention the Roman term "Castrense," which becomes κασтρеσiov, and "Ar ν ν καστρίσιον, The origin of the game recedes every day further back into the regions of the past and unknown. Individuals deep in antiquarian lore, have very praiseworthily puzzled themselves and their readers in vain, in their endeavours to ascertain to their satisfaction, how this wonderful pastime sprang into existence. Whether it was the product of some peaceful age, when science and philosophy reigned supreme; or whether it was nurtured amid the tented field of the warrior, are questions which it is equally futile and unnecessary now to ask. Sufficient for us that the game exists; that it has been sung of by Homer," &c. &c.!!! We recommend the above eloquent morceau, taken from a Chess periodical now defunct, to the attention of Chess lecturers and those who are ambitious to do a spicy article for a Chess periodical. menta," which becomes èpunтa. So much for the derivation of Carρikov the second in descent from Chaturanga through the Persian Chatrang. The Hellenic modification of the Arabic term Shatranj, not Chatrang, occurs in Ducas, a recent Byzantine historian, who wrote about, or soon after A.D. 1402. In speaking of Timur's great victory over Bayazid, (vulgarly Bajazet,) in the plains of Angora, he says that, "when Bayazid was brought in captive, Timur was seated in his tent with his son Shah Rukh1 playing Chess, which the Persians call Zavrтpág. Now this last term is, evidently, by transposition, the Arabic Shatranj then used universally by Persian writers. The Greek alphabet possessed neither the initial nor the final sound of the word. For the former they made use of the (sigma) as the nearest approximation; and for the latter the (zeta) as in the case of the Persian "ch" for the ch and j being cognate sounds both were represented, when necessary in Greek by ; hence the term σaтpáv or per metathesin, σavτρağ which is the third in descent from Chatur-anga through the forms of "Chatrang" and g. Shatranj" respectively. There is another Neo-Hellenic formation of the term Shatranj, viz. Zaтpevylov or more properly Zαтpeɣyou evidently from the modern Arabic, in which the letter j is frequently sounded like our hard I have dwelt thus particularly on the etymological or philological part of our argument, because, if sound, and I cannot see any flaw in it, we are warranted in drawing thence several important conclusions. 1. In the first place, we have shown that the term Çaтρikioν the older form under which it appears in the Byzantine writers, is derived solely from the Persian "Chatrang," and not from the Arabic "Shatranj." On the origin of the name Shāh-Rukh, vide chapter XI., page 159. The obvious inference then is, that the Greeks received the game of Chess, along with the term Caтρikov directly from the Persians and not through the intervention of the Arabs. This event may possibly have occurred during the reign of Naushirawan, who repeatedly carried his conquests into Syria and Asia Minor, but it is much more probable that it took place some thirty or forty years later, during the reign of his grandson Khusrū Parviz, or Chosroes II., as we shall hereafter point out. 66 2. In the second place, the Byzantines must have received the term CaтρIKIov, and consequently the game of ζατρίκιον, Chess from the Persians at a period when the latter made use in their language of the older term "Chatrang," and not after they had adopted the Arabic modification Shatranj." This must have happened some time before the middle of the seventh century, when the language of Persia became greatly intermixed with Arabic words, and the ancient religion of Zoroaster gave place to that of Muhammad, in consequence of the invasion and conquests of the Saracens. These temperate and hardy sons of the desert, under the command of the Caliph 'Umar, with the Kuran in one hand, and the sword in the other, overwhelmed like a torrent the whole country extending from the Euphrates to the confines of Tartary and India, about A.D. 640. The hitherto comparatively pure language of Persia then adopted numerous words and phrases from the Arabic; and the term "Shatranj," the only one in use by Persian writers of modern times, then superseded the older form 'Chatrang." All this leads us nearly to the same conclusion as before, viz., that the Byzantines received the game of Chess from the Persians, at least as early as the first or second quarter of the seventh century. 3. Lastly, if we could ascertain the earliest mention of the word CαTρikov among the Byzantine writers, we should have a certain landmark by which to steer our course. We might rest assured that the game of Chess had, ere then, become known to the Greeks. We are told that the word occurs for the first time in the Alexiad of Anna Comnena,' which was written early in the twelfth century. The term is also used by a mediæval scholiast on Theocritus, but I am unable to ascertain the period at which the scholiast wrote. In Theocritus Idyll, vi. 18, the following passage occurs, which clearly alludes only to the game of TеTTеια, viz., καὶ τὸν ἀπὸ γραμμᾶς κινει λίθον, “he moves away the pebble from the [sacred] line," meaning that "he has the worst of the contest.” Now, for our further enlightenment, the scholiast tells us that "this is a figurative expression borrowed from the phraseology of those who play at the game commonly called Çarpıkιov or Chess!" whereupon Hyde exclaims, in the genuine oldfashioned commentator style, "quantum hallucinatus est Scholiastes!" One thing, however, we may safely infer, which is this, that the scholiast wrote, not earlier than the eighth century; but whether before or after the days of Anna Comnena is uncertain. Having thus endeavoured to establish on etymological grounds that Chess had reached Byzantium within a century after its arrival in Persia, we shall proceed to investigate such historical evidence-at least presumptive evidence-as comes within our reach. It is true, we have not in this case, such positive and incontestable proofs to rely on, as we had in our last chapter respecting We are by no means sure that this is the first time that it is mentioned in the Byzantine writers; and even if it should be so, it proves nothing against the fact of the game's being known there for four or five centuries previously. 2 Theocritus Bion et Moschus, &c., edit. A Valpy, 2 tom. 8vo, Londini, 1829. |