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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A88706	The true effigies, or portraicture of the chief philosophers, historians, poets, grammarians, and oratours. Or, A compendious view of each, both dignified with, and distinguished by, their peculiar characters. By Ed. Larkin, A.M. late fellow of Kings Colledge in Cambridge, and now of Limesfield in Surrey minister	Larkin, Edward, 1623-1688.	1659 (1659)	Wing L445; Thomason E1786_1; ESTC R202702	74,354	230

doctrinae alterum ut verbosum in historia negligentemque earpebat He thought of abolishing Homers Verses saying Why should it not be as lawfull for him to do it as it was for Plato who cast him out of that City wherof he was the Founder But the Judgment of this Savage Prince was no way prejudiciall to those two renowned Authors and as little to this eminent Historian let us therefore heare what better heads have sayd of him He is called by Barthius Patavina Syren The Patavinian Mearmaid Gruterus stiles him Historiae latinae principem The Prince of the Latine History Lipsius Historicorum uberrimum Of Historians the most plentifull And againe sayes the same Author In Livio nimia nobis bona In Livy we meet with things that are too good for us Valerius Maximus VAlerius Maximus lived after Velleius Paterculus as may be made to appeare from his depressing and disgracing of Sejanus whilst Paterculus beyond the bounds of all Moderation parasitically extolls him which shews that when Paterculus writ Sejanus was in his full Greatness and Glory but when Valerius compiled his Collections he was under judgment contempt and Ignominy as his own words do cleerly manifest which are as followeth Eum speaking of Sejanus omni cum stirpe sua Populi Romani pedibus obtritum etiam apud Inferos si tamen illuc receptus est quae meretur supplicia pendere He flourished under Caesar Tiberius for he saith in his second Book and eighth Chapter That he went with Sextus Pompeius into Asia which Pompey was Consull with Sextus Appuleius on that very yeare that Augustus died and so were the first Consulls which sware Alleagiance to Tiberius Further it s proved that he lived then from another passage in his fifth Book where speaking of Marcus Antonius he saith that he was the famous Orator of his Grandfathers time Now this Antony flourished in Julius Caesars Reign Again considering the Language wherewith he scourgeth the Parricide Brutus all to gratifie the care of Tiberius and that Speech of his also in reference to Cassius whom he would not have named without a Note of the grandest Infamy All these Arguments may cleerly convince that he lived after Paterculus in the Reign of the Emperour Tiberius Neither doth the meanness of his Language any way gainsay it for Cicero himselfe could complaine in his time which was many years before that the Roman Tongue began even then to be corrupt through the reception of Forreiners no wonder therefore if this Authors Speech did somewhat decline from that sweet purity that was in the Age before it However let us heare what Testimonies either of Merit or Demerit the Ancients have afforded him It s Caussinus Character of him Valerius Maximus ut Aegyptus Homerica bonis malis mixtus est in plerisque enim est acutus subtilis in plerisque durus obscurus ad plebeium sermonem abjectus a puritate candore latini sermonis longius discedit Est tamen in eo jucunda tot Historiarum quasi florum congesta varietas brevitas narrationum acuminibus sententiarum non ra●o ●am apte aspersa ut nihil videatur Amaenius Valerius Maximus as Homers Aegyt mixt with good and bad things for he is in very many of them acute and subtile and againe in many hard and obscure and being immerst into the Vulgar Dialect he deviates far from the purity and candor of the Latine Phrase yet there is in him a sweet variety of so many Histories as it were Flowers gathered into a heap and shortness of Narrations with acuteness of Sentences not seldome so aptly scattered that nothing seems more delightfull Thus Caussin Dempster no way detracts from him for he stiles him Authorem rerum varietate eloquentiaque incomparabilem An Author incomparable both for variety of things and for his Eloquence Onely this he saith in his disparagement That he did Sola adulationis foeditate vilescere onely become vile through the deformity of Adulation And another calls him Ineptum affectatorem sententiarum quanquam non inutilem propter exempla A Fond Affectator of Sentences though not unprofitable for examples Quintus Curtius Rufus QVintus Curtius Rufus filled the World with the Exploits of Great Alexander his History being contained in ten Books two whereof are lost yet supplyed by an addition from some other There is a passage in his tenth Book which discovers the Age he lived in which passage is after this manner Proinde jure meritoque Populus Romanus salutem se principi suo debere fatetur Which Prince who it should be the Learned agree not Some wil have him to be Caesar Augustus but that Opinion cannot well stand because he brought not peace along with him as who had civil Wars for the space of thirteen years Others affirm that it may be Claudius Caesar and that those Hurli-burlies before mentioned might relate to the slaughter of Caligula and the Confusions which happened thereupon but this Opinion also is very rationally impugned by some learned Ones Now a third sort refers it to the Reign of the Emperour Vespasian and that because the foregoing words of the Historian may suite well with those Distractions that happened upon the death of Nero when Romes Dominion was sought by force of Armes between Galba Otho and Vitellius And this is the Judgment of Rutgersius and Vossius That he flourisht in the Reign of Vespasian of whom it s reported that he should teach Rhetorick in the last yeare of Tiberius which might well be considering that there were but two and thirty yeares betwixt that and the Reign of Vespasian he being young when a Rhetoritian and old when an Historian Vossius thus advanceth him Vsque adeo auctor est is verborum eligens nec perspicue minus quam terse scribit Acuius etiam est in sententiis inque orationibus mire disertus Imo vel Augustaeo aevo digna esus est dictio vel proxime abit That he is an Author very choice in his words neither writes he less perspicuously then neatly He is also acute in his Sentences and in his Orations wonderfully eloquent Nay his Phrase is worthy of the Age of Augustus or else that which immediatly followed it Lipsius stiles him Historicum proprium principum assidue iis in manu sinuque habendum An Historian proper for Princes and dayly to be had in their hands and Bosomes Floriditas Curtiana quatenus laudanda sayes C. Barthinus Alphonsus King of Arragon being very sick and his Physitians having tryed all the waies they could to cure him with their Physick but therein failing he though very weak on the sudden sell to reading of the History of Great Alexander written by this Curtius and thereupon he recovered crying out Valeant Avicenna Hippocrates caeteri medici vivat Curtius sospitator meus Away with Avicenna Hippocrates and other Physitians and let Curtius live my onely Recoverer Cornelius Tacitus COrnelius Tacitus in some old Editions called by the

History in the sixteenth yeare of Tiberius his Ancestors were all famous for Military Discipline he dedicated his two Books of History to Marcus Vinicius Tacitus maketh mention of him in the sixth of his Annals where speaking of his Descent he tels us that his Father and Grandfather were of Consular Degree and Dignity a great part of what he writ is lost Vossius thus Characteriseth him and in his little Work Dictio ejus plane Romana ac elegans Quaedam etiam habet quae haud alibi invenias sed in sui aevi rebus nimis Domui Augustae Sejano adulatur His phrase of Speech is truly Roman and elegant he hath also some things which you may not elswhere meet with but in the Affaires of his owne time he too much flatters both Caesars House and Sejanus Dempster herein complies with Vossius who speaking of his History affirms it to be Styli elegantis sed pudendae adulationis of elegant Stile but of shamefull Adulation I 'le end with that of Lipsius Compendium Velleianum laudabile fuit sed potior pars periit judicio ordine tamen scriptum quod exemplar pleniori Chronologiae sit ad Imitandum Velleius his Epitome was worthy of praise but the better part thereof is perisht yet written judiciously and with order and which may be an Imitable Platform to a more full Chronology Diodorus Siculus DIodorus Siculus of Agyrium a Towne in Sicily according to the Geograpy of Cluverius though others call it Argyrium and Angyrium lived in the Reign of Julius Caesar as Eusebius reporteth and yet this contradicteth not learned Suidas who would have him to flourish in the time of Augustus and so he did his Life reaching unto the midst of his long Domination He wrote an Historicall Library or as the Sholiast of Aristophanes calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Librarie of Histories who gave it that appellation because it was Catholick as treating of the Affaires of the Egyptians Assyrians Medians Persians Romans Graecians Carthaginians and others and this Work of his he comprized in forty books the Argument whereof he setteth down in his Preface where he also saith that he was full thirty years in compiling of it much of the time being consumed in Travell through Asia and Europe of all which Books we have at present but fifteen remaining What he writ was highly commended both by Justine Martyr and Eusebius and yet Ludovicus Vives reprehends his Matter and Bodinus his Phrase but Photius the Patriarch had a more noble opinion of him who saith Vsum esse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That he used a perspicuous Phrase of Speech not too much adorned with Tropes but most convenient for an History I 'le let him pass with the phrase of Stephanus Quantum solis lumen inter stellas tantum inter omnes quotquot ad nostra tempora pervenerunt historicos si utilitatis potius quam voluptatis habenda sit ratio noster hic Diodorus eminere dici potest As far as the Suns light is beyond the Stars so far doth our Diodorus excell the Historians of our times if so be that we regard rather profit then pleasure And Dempster expresseth him to be an Author of ancient Erudition and blames nothing else in him but his corrupt Roman Names Crispus Sallustius CRispus Sallustius was born at Amiternum of the Sabines the year after that Catullus was at Verona and died four years after the Actiack War as Eusebius hath recorded He was Tribune of the People that same year that Cicero was recalled from banishment and Clodius slaine of Milo and in that Tribuneship of his he behaved himself very loosly for being taken in Adultry with Fausta L. Sylla's Daughter he was scourged with Rods by Milo which was the cause that he acted with the Clodian Party against him he was removed the Senate for his Adulteries and Rapes by Claudius Pulcher and Calpurnius Piso though afterwards restored again by Julius Caesar Dion records that he was set over Numidia which he exceedingly pillaged but was absolved of the Crime by the very power that advanced him yet the Infamy ever stuck to him as one that acted those Obliquities which he highly condemned in all others he was at length so enricht with his Numidian Rapes that he bought those stately Buildings on the Quirinall Hill which were afterwards called Sallustii forum The Court of Sallustius His Deportment was so extravagant in his publick Capacities that in respect of his Conversation it prevented him of all Praise however his Writings were ever matter of Applause unto him being a good Writer though a bad man The Ancients do judge his phrase of Speech to be brief and finuous as one that aemulated Thucidides Turnebus calls him Scriptorem Atticum The Athenian Writer and one that comes neerer to Demosthenes then Cicero himself did Tacitus in the third of his Annals stiles him Rerum Romanarum florentissimum autorem A most flourishing Author of Roman Affaires Scaliger calls him Patrem Historiae The Father of History Scriptorem seriae severae orationis Agellius a Writer of serious and severe Speech Principem senatus Historici Lysius the chief of the Historian Senate Romana primum in historia Martial the first for the Roman Story And S. Augustine calls him Nobilitatae veritatis historicum An Historian of enobled Verity Titus Livius Patavinus TItus Livius Patavinus called by Seneca in his first Book De ira vir disertissimus A most eloquent man flourished in the Reigns of Caesar Augustus and Tiberius in the beginning of the latters Reign he compiled his History consisting of an hundred and forty two Books as Petrarch reporteth though others will have two bated of the said number Therein be comprized all the Roman Affaires from the Foundation of the City to the German War which was managed by Drusus of all which Books there are but left remaining thirty and five No Writer expresseth more Majesty and plenty then this Historian Quintilian stiles it Lacteam ubertatem and compares him to Herodotus as Sallustius to Thucidides On the other-side it s written of Caligula one of the Roman Majesties That he much vilified him calling him Verbosum Likewise Asinius Pollio quarrelling with his Phrase was wont to say that he found therein a smack of Patavinity But the forementioned Emperour did so distaste him that he threatned his removall and ej●ction out of all the Roman Libraries but no wonder that he was thus transported against this noble Historian when as those two renowned Poets Virgil and Homer could not escape his Censure nay he was like to consume them if we may believe Suetonius in these his words Cogitavit de Homeri carminibus abolendis cur enim sibi non liceret dicens quod Platoni licuit qui eum a civitate quam constituebat ejecerit sed Virgilii Titi Livii scripta paulum abfuit quin ex omnibus bibliothecis amoverit quorum alterum nullius ingenii minimaeque

name of Publius but misliked of and rejected by the learned he wrote his History in the Reign of the Emperour Nerva and not when Trajane Governed as will appeare by his stiling of Nerva Divus but not Trajan he writ his Annalls after his History although they be placed before it He begins them with the death of Augustus and ends them within two years of the death of Nero. Besides his said Annalls and History he left behind him a Book of the Scituation of Germany and the manners of that People as also a Treatise of the life of his Father-in-Law Julius Agricola which he writ in Trajans time Vossius comparing his History with his Annalls speaketh thus of them Dictio Taciti floridior uberiorque in Historiarum est libris pressior siociorque in Annalibus Interim gravis utrobique disertus The Speech of Tacitus is more florid and copious in the Books of his Histories more contracted and more dry in his Annalls In the mean every where Grave and Eloquent However Alciatus a man well learned prefers Paulus Jovius far before him in comparison of which Author he cals the Lines of this Tacitus but Senticeta Bryars but this was sayd by him in regard of his transcendent Affection to his Friend Jovius But the Emperour M. Claudius Tacitus so highly honoured this Historian that he placed his image in all the Libraries and caused his Books to be ten times transcribed in one yeare by his Notaries for feare of perishing Sidonius saith of him that he should be never mentioned without praise Tacitus nunquam sine laude loquendus Lipsius calls him Sallustii imitatorem The Immitator of Sallustius and of whom he also further saith Quod est omni virtute antiquis proximus si linguae latinae esset eadem puritas caeteris sic perfectus ut vocare illos ipsos antiquos in certamen possit dignitatis That he is in every Vertue next unto the Ancients and if there were but in him the same purity of Language in other matters be is so perfect that he might contend for Dignity with those very Ancients The foresaid Critick moreover stiles him Acrem prudentem scriptorem A sharp and prudent Writer The first five Books of this singular good Author were found hid at Corbeia and being brought to Leo the Great the person which presented them was rewarded with five hundred Pieces Owen has an Epigram upon him with which I shall end his Character Veracem fecit probitas Natura sagacem Obscurum brevitas te Gravitasque brevem Lucius Annaeus Florus LVcius Annaeus Florus flourished as some are of opinion neer the end of the Reign of the Emperour Trajan though others will have it to be in the time of Adrian The Prologue of his History Discovers the Age that he lived in A Caesare Augusto in seculum nostrum saith he sunt non multo minus anni ducenti From Caesar Augustus to our time there are not much fewer then two hundred years But there is a grand mistake in the very number for if we will compute the term of years which interven'd between Augustus and Trajan we shall find that its short of it by fifty and therefore Vossius taking speciall notice thereof will have the number to be but an hundred and fifty It hath been a generall opinion that this Author should be the Epitomizer of that voluminous History of Titus Livius but they which will well observe him will find much of Discrepancy or difference betwixt them There are some that disagree likewise concerning his very name occasioned by Lactantius in his seventh Book of Institutions where he thus writes Non inscite Seneca Romanae urbis tempora distinguit in aetates Soneca doth not unwittily distinguish the times of the Roman City into Ages But questionless they were distinct and different persons onely the one did imitate the other as Florus Seneca However it cannot be denyed but that Florus was of the Family of the Senecaes and therefore called in the ancient Books by the Name of Seneca and Annaeus as well as Julius The Senecaes being all of them Branches of the Annean Family Now for his Character we may receive it from that excellent Grammarian Gerardus Vossius who speaking of him in his Book of the Latine Historians thus extolls him Ea potissima est Flori nostri laus quod scriptor est elegans disertus si paucula exceperis quae frigidius dicta videntur vere floridus That is the principall commendation of our Florus that he is a Writer elegant and eloquent and if you will but except some few things which seem more coldly spoken by him he is truly florid As for his stile it is declamatory and neerer unto Poeticall as one that powreth out Virgils Hemisticks Flavius Josephus FLavius Josephus a Jew was the Son of Matthathias born in the first year of Caius Caligula by the Mother-side neerly related to the Royall Stock of the Maccabes As for his Sect he was a Pharisee which Sext among the Jews was not unlike the Stoicks of the Gentiles He when he was arrived at the Age of twenty six years repaired to the Roman Court that he might there mediate with the Caesarean Majesty for those Priests which Felix the Governour had for some petty Offences cast into Prison Now arriving at Rome and falling into Favour with Poppaea Augustus Caesars Wife his success was such that he did not onely procure liberty for the Captives but was dismissed with bountifull Rewards but soon after returning into his Country and upon an insurrection being chosen chief Captain of those Galilaeans which rebelled was at length besieged in Jotapata and the City being taken by assault he was commmitted unto safe Custody that he might be sent thence to give an account of his Sedition unto Caesar Now being advertized of the Enemies design towards him he requested the favour of Conference with the Generall Vespasian into whose presence as soon as he was admitted he saluted him with a Praediction that he should be Emperour Vespasian at first supposed that he devised that shift thereby to procure his liberty but on the suddain receiving Intelligence of the death both of Nero and Galba as also news of the Civill Wars already commencing between Otho and Vitellius he forthwith not onely discharged him of his Restraint but cloathed him with such Apparell too as might suit with his Education and Condition Now soon after these Attempts and providences that followed them he accompanied that Heroe Titus to the Siege of Jerusalem which Siege he Ingenuously described and commended it when finisht to Vespasian and his Son Titus The latter of the two approving it by a Subscription from his Royall hand and afterwards commanding it to be received into the publick Library This Author writ also the Jewish Antiquities which work was perfected by him in the thirteenth year of the Reign of Domitian Many there were that undervalued the Faith of this Writer

Oratory and Rhetorick that can be so that his transcendent Wit is very worthy the Readers Admiration What pity is it then that this laudable Work could not come unto our hands so perfect as he intended it a great part thereof being lost indeed so great a part that the remainder may be called but as it were an Epitome of the whole He is stiled by Isaac Casaubon Scriptor vere 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Writer very learned in many things ut paucis multa complectamur Grecorum Varro aut Plinius And that we may comprehend much in a little the Varro or Pliny of the Greeks Dempster also calleth him Doctum veterum autorum compilatorem A learned Compiler of ancient Autors There was another of his Name before him one that was an admirable Philosopher as this was an Historian Julius Pollux JVlius Pollux lived under Caesar Commodus and taught Rhetorick at Athens he dedicated his Onomasticon to his Scholar the Emperour Suidas saith That he writ also on other Subjects but they all miscarried This Encomium is given to his Onomasticon that it s called a Treasury of all Words and Things fit for and exposed unto every use Isacus Casaubonus in an Epistle that he writ to one that set him forth hath Characterized him thus Et sane Pollux siquid Judico scriptor optimus eruditissimus utilissimus eo seculo quod tot claros in literis viros tulit dignissimut If I have truly any Judgment Pollux is a very good Writer very Learned very profitable and most worthy of that Age which brought forth so many famous men for Learning Dempster sayes That in his Collections he is incomparably diligent and erudite he died in the fifty eighth year of his Age. Aulus Gellius AVlus Gellius called by Gifanius Maximi Judicii vir A man of deep and solid Judgment flourished according to the account of learned Petavius in the Reigns of Trojan and Antoninus who in his Rationary of times joynes him with some other eminent Grammarians which were then Contemporary with him Nay Gellius himself in his twentieth Book of Attick Nights discovers unto us the Age he lived in where he saith That he was present at the Dispute which was betwixt Sextus Caecilius the Civilian and Favorinus the Philosopher Lipsius in his Miscellanies very highly commends his Latine stiling him Scriptorem purissimae latinitatis plane ad comadiam antiquam A Writer of the purest Latine and plainly suitable to the ancient Comaedian strain Politian speaking of his Books of Attick Nights saith thus of them That they are Maxime candidae Very candid Onely Vives doth most injuriously condemn and under value him for which he is reproved by Henricus Stephanus Pareus calls him Criticorum madulsam and Dempster Grammaticorum utilissimum As for this Authors Name its uncertaine whether it be Agellius as some have thought or Aulus Gellius It s Lipsius his confession Se ejus nomen nunquam nisi dubitantem haesitantem posuisse That he never writ his Name without great haesitation and doubting Martianus Capella MArtianus Capella was a Carthaginian of proconsular degree and dignity whom Dempster calls Rebus latinum verbis Africanum For Things a Roman for Words a Carthaginian And though Barthius acknowledgeth him to be Barbarior scriptor A Writer that savoureth in his Speech of too much Barbarism yet in this he commends him that he is Vtilissimus ad autorum de singulis artibus liberalibus sententiam capiendam very profitable in apprehending the Judgment of Authors touching all the liberall Arts and therefore not worthy to be prostituted by the Criticks unto that reproachfull Name of Tulliaster I will but add to this the commendation which that eminently learned Grotius is pleased to bestow upon him Ad ipsum Martianum te Relego in quo plurima invenies quae nec discere taedebit nec didicisse poenitebit Neque hoc ipsos barbari seculi homines latuit apud quos quan●i nominis fuerit Capella vel solùs Turonensis satis superque docebit qui eum in fine libri non aliter nominat quam si Aristotelem Ciceronem Varronem nominasset I send thee to Martianus himself in whom thou shalt find very many things which it will not be irksome to learn nor repent thee to have learned Neither were the men of that barbarous Age ignorant of this with whom in how great repute and credit this Capella was Turonensis alone will more then sufficiently make appear who in the end of his Book calls him after no other name then that of Aristotle Cicero Varro Suidas SVidas was as some say a Monk of Byzantium and flourisht about six hundred years since according to the opinion of learned Casaubon His Work is stiled Thesaurus insignis Amaltheae velut Cornu which though it be imputed unto his Name yet many learned men whose Names are praefixed to the Book were Instrumentall to the composure of it The Grammarian Dempster thus is pleased to limn him and to afford us such a Draught of him as may serve sufficiently to express him Suidas admirabilis incomparabilis unus instar omnium Grammaticorum Suidas an admirable and an incomparable Author one that is worth all the rest of the Grammarians This Encomium may seem to some Censurers hyperbolicall but if any Author in that kind hath merited such a Character Surely this Suidas hath much more deserved it Some there are that have taken notice of a notable slip committed by this Critick in that he hath passed by in his Thesaurus the Names of many eminent Writers particularly amongst the Historians he neither mentions Polybius nor Dion However his Work is called by one that was very learned Copiosa perfecta quaedam Grammatica A certain copious and perfect Grammar There was another Grammarian also of this Name one that was charged with this Fault by the Learned as to be full of untrue Discourses and therefore deservedly stiled by some Fabulosus scriptor A fabulous Writer Caelius Rhodiginus Caelius Rhodiginus called Varro by Caesar Scaliger as was Athenaeus by Isack Casaubon yea Varrone major And greater then Varro and he thinks it spoken without the least shadow of Flattery He is indeed an Author as Dempster saith Admirandae eruditionis Of wonderfull Erudition although he be as the same Critick hath elsewhere decyphered him Asperae dictionis Of rough Phrase or Elocution Jovius doth discredit this mans Thesaurus affirming that it seemeth to him Rancidum quiddam olere To have a very rank and offensive smell however those two well known Verses do sufficiently vindicate him Abfuit usque adeo nihil hoc in Caelio haberent Tempora Varronem quo minus ista suum Desiderius Erasmus DEsiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam in Holland honoured by Jovius with this Excellent Title Varro sui seculi Cicero Germaniae The Varro of his Age and Cicero of Germany The same Author saith further to his honour Quod ad arcana cujusque doctrinae infinita