I remember to have heard that the history of these two lines is as
follows:--The head of one of our public schools having a talent for
composing extraordinary verses, sent the first line, "Perturbabantur
Constantinopolitani," to a friend of his, who was at the time the captain
of another public school, asking him at the same time whether he could
compose anything like it. The answer returned was the second line,
"Innumerabilibus sollicitudinibus,"--a line, in my opinion, much superior
to the former, as well for other reasons as that it is free from any false
quantity; while, as any Greek scholar will at once find out, the
antepenultimate syllable of "Constantinopolitani" must be long, being
derived from the Greek word [Greek: politês].