let impartial Criticks determine of the Equity of the Censure PAGE 35. AS the Time of Horace his Birth hath by the Author of this Piece been omitted so likewise hath he past by that of his Death This the Reader may understand according to the Testimony of Suetonius in his Life hapned upon the 5th of the Calends of December Caius Marcius Censorinus and Caius Asinius Gallus being Consuls in the 59th Year of his Age and from the Foundation of Rome 746 Years and of the World the 3976th Year Ten Years before the Birth of our Saviour having declar'd Augustus Caesar his Heir and was Buried in the Esquilian Gardens in a Monument close adjoyning to the Sepulcher of Maecenas his sometime Illustrious Patron FINIS Books Printed for and Sold by Tho. Bennet at the Half-Moon in St. Paul's Church-Yard Folio's THucydides Greek and Latin Collated with five entire MSS. Copies and all the Editions extant also illustrated with Maps large Annotations and Indexes by the Editor I. Hudson M. A. and Fellow of University College in Oxford To which is added an exact Chronology of the said History by the Learned Henry Dodwel Printed at the Theatre in Oxford Athenae Oxonienses Or an exact History of all the Writers and Bishops who have had their Education in the University of Oxford from about 1480 to the end of 1690 giving an Account of the Birth Fortune Preferment and Death of all those Authors and Prelates the great Accidents of their Lives with the fate and character of their Writings The Work is so compleat that no Writer of Note of this Nation for â—00 Years is omitted in two Volumes A New Historical Relation of the Kingdom of Siam by Monsieur de la Loubere Envoy Extraordinary from the French King to the King of Siam in 1687. and 1688 wherein a full and curious account is given of their Natural History as also of their Musick Arithmetick and other Mathematick Learning in two Tomes illustrated with Sculptures Done out of French by A. P. 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Parker late Bishop of Oxon to which are prefixed two Letters the first from Sir Lionel Ienkins on the same subject the second from the said Bishop all printed from the Original MSS. A short Defence of the Orders of the Church of England by Mr. Luke Milburn The first Book of Virgil's Aeneis made English by Mr. Luke Milburn Four Dialogues against Mr. Dryden c. written by Mr. Thomas Brown An Account of the Proceedings of the Right Reverend the Lord Bishop of Exeter in his Visitation of Exeter College in Oxon the second Edition to which is added the Censure of the Naked Gospel A Defence of the said Proceedings with an Answer to the Case of Exeter College and The Account Examined A Vindication of Mr. Iames Colman M. B. Fellow of Exeter-College from the Calumnies of several late Pamphlets to which are annexed the Authentick Copies of the Affidavits relating to that Assize These three last written by Iames Harrington Esq Popish Treachery Or a short and new Account of the horrid Cruelties exercised on the Protestants in France being a true prospect of what is to be expected from the most solemn Promises of Roman Catholick Princes Certain Considerations for the better Establishment of the Church of England by the Lord Bacon with a new Preface by Iames Harrington Esq A Letter to a Lord in Answer to a late Pamphlet entitled An Enquiry into the Causes of the present fears and dangers of the Government in a Discourse between a Lord Lieutenant and one of his Deputies A Sermon at the Funeral of Iohn Melford Esq by Mr. Easton A practical Discourse concerning Divine Providence in relation to national Judgments A Defence of the Church of England â—rom the Charge of Sin and Heresie as laid against it by the Vindication of the Deprived Bishops The Indecency and Unlawfulness of Baptizing Children in private without necessity and with the publick form by Martin Strong M.A. and Vicar of Yeovil in Somerset Mr. Adams's Sermon before the Lords Justices at White-hall upon the Thanksgiving for taking of Namur Mr. Blackburn's Sermon of Anger before the Queen The foolish abuse and wise use of Riches A Sermon Preached May 1. 1695. by W. Talbot D.D. Dean of Worcester Octavo's and Twelves TWenty four Sermons upon several occasions in two Volumes by Dr. R. South Sermons and Discourses on several occasions by Dr. Stradling Dean of Chichester together with an Account of the Author by Iames Harrington Esq The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus the Roman Emperor translated out of Greek into English by Dr. Causabon with Notes To this Edition is added the Life of the said Emperor with an account of Stoick Philosophy as also Remarks on the Meditations All newly written by the famous Monsieur and Madam Dacier Sermons and Discourses on several occasions by Dr. Meggot Dean of Winchester Walier's Poems compleat The Faithful Shepherd with an addition of divers other Poems the second Edition by the Right Honourable Sir Richard Fanshaw The History of Henry IV. surnamed the Great written in French by the Bishop oâ— Rhodes Memoirs of the Court of
be said to go beyond him For in my Opinion 't is to judge after the Flemish or the Holland Fashion of the Delicateness and Politeness of Manners to say as he in another place does Hoc ipsum maxime Satyrae proprium videtur tangit vitia objurgat inclamat raro jocos saepius acerbos sales miscet i. e. It seems the most proper Character of a Satyre to strike at Vices to chide and upbraid to cry out seldom to joke and oftner to intermix sharp and bitter Railleries 'T is in these Satyres Horace displays the best of that Learning he had acquir'd by the Study of Philosophy He is not pleas'd as Iuvenal to put himself into Passion incessantly but contrarily Discovers Truths by Laughing Ridendo dicere verum Quid Vetat And takes off the Mask from Craft Covetousness Couzenage and Hypocrisie by his Reasonings which are always just and issuing from a Spirit perfectly sound and purify'd His Narrations there are marvellous his Descriptions fine and delicate I take a singular Pleasure in reading over and over the Treatment of Horace and that troublesome Fellow in the 9th Satyre of his first Book I can never be tir'd with that Description of the Amorous Person who consulted whether he should return to his Mistress who call'd him back after she had thrust him out of Doors Which Horace hath taken almost Word for Word from Terence his Eunuchus That of the Soldier of Lucullus of Vulteius Mena of the Sorceries of Canidia in the Eighth Satyre of his first Book are admirable I speak not of those little Stories so delicate and delightful which he has taken from Aesop's Fables as that of the Stag and Horse that of the Frogs that of the City and the Country Mouse and a hundred other prâ—tty Descriptions which he touches with an Air so gallant and a turn so easie that 't is impossible to look upon them without being extreamly pleas'd I should be forc'd to Transcribe all his Works should I undertake to report all the Places and Passages that merit to bâ— prais'd and commended 'T is not yet but that the Criticks find some thinâ— to except against and for my self I could say if â— might speak my Mind freely that Horace has fallen into that Excess which Longinus call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fury out of Season in those Verses in his Art of Poetry where he says Debemur morti nos nostraque sive receptus Terra Neptunus classes aquilonibus arcet Regis opus Sterilisve diu palus aptaque remis Vicinas Vrbes alit est grave sentit aratrum Se cursum mutavit iniquum frugibus amnis Doctus iter melius Mortalia facta peribunt Our selves and all our Works are Death's Debt Whether the Sea into the Shore we let And for our Navy 'gainst the Northern Wind A Secure Port a Kingly Work We build Or drain a Sterrile Fenn where Men late Row'd And make it cultivated Food to yield The Neighbouring Towns teach Tiber that o'reflow'd The Tillers Toils a better Course to find All Mortal Deeds shall perish and have end See the best Verses in the World which speak of the greatest things that humane Art or Power can undertake viz. To make new Ports to drain Marishes and turn the Course of great Rivers which Horace calls Regis Opus a Kingly Work and which the vast Expence the great Care and Travail of Men intended to have made Immortal nevertheless all these by the common Fate of Things find an end Will you not say that to answer the Comparison worthily of these Emphatical Expressions Horace should tell you of something extraordinary and surprizing and yet this great Preparation ends at last in a Consolation only for the Decease of some wretched Dictions or Words departed out of the World of common usage Cadentque Quae nune sunt in honore vocabula Words that once graceful were shall fall despis'd I cannot but further take notice of the passionate Transport some Learned Criticks of this latter Age have against Horace upon the Subject of his Judgment on the Verses and Railleries of Plautus where he Writes At nostri proavi plautinos numeros Laudavere sales Nimium patienter utrumque Ne dicam stulte mirati Si modo ego vos Scimus inurbanum lepido seponere dicto Ligitimumque sonum digitis callemus aure De Arte Poetica Plautus his Numbers and his Jests of old Our Grandsires prais'd and both admir'd I 'm Bold To say 't too patiently and fondly Now Since you and I know to distinguish how Scurrility and Wit differ and can A well turn'd Verse by th' Ear and Finger Scann Hereupon Scaliger with his ordinary Emphasis crys out Quis adeo est aversus à Musis ut lepore salibus Plauti Laberii non tangatur Horatii judicium sine judicio est i. e. Who can be so averse from the Muses as not to be touch'd with the Facetiousness and Jests of Plautus and Laberius Horace his Judgment is without Judgment Lipsius says no less Neque praeter rem amare se dicit elegantes Vrbanos Plauti sales nec Venusini illius aliter censentis versus unquam sine indignatiuncula legere i. e. Not without reason says he I love the Elegant and Witty Urbanities of Plautus nor can I ever read the Verses of that Venusine who judges otherwise without some kind of Indignation Besides these hear how mischievously pleasant Turnebus is upon the same Subject In hujus Plauti salibus aestimandis accedo potius sententiae veterum ingenuorum Remanorum quam Flacci Venusini Hominis Libertino Patre Nati i. e. As to the Estimation of Plautus his Jests and witty Railleries I rather adhere to the Opinion of the Ancient Ingenuous Romans than to the Censure of that Venusine Flaccus the Son of a Freedman As much as to say That Horace did not well enough understand the Latine Tongue because he was not Born at Rome but the Son of a Libertine But the Learned Heinsius is of another Judgment who speaking of Horace says Ejus vernae melius de Plauto judicabant quam qui nunc familiam in literis tuerâ— hac aetate creduntur Et qui nec saeculi quo vixit quo cum Poesis tum Latina Lingua ad supremum culmen ac fastigium evecta fuit ignorare potuit judicium vir tantus quod rei caput arbitror Principibus qui inter se quotidie de iis judicabant intimè familiaris amicus i. e. His Slaves were able to judge better of Plautus than they who at this Day are accounted the Patrons of Learning So knowing a Person could not be ignorant of the Judgment of the Age he had liv'd in wherein both the Latin Poesie and Language were at the height and which I take to be an Argument above all familiarly conversant with Princes who were daily discussing that point with him as their Friend There is another who says Horace spake not of
by Petavius in his Doctrina Temporum Part the 2d Page 562. where against the 65th Olympiad he notes Pindarus nascitur and is followed by Helvicus The great Emendator of Times Ioseph Scaliger in his Eusebian Animadversions concludes from the Supposition of his being 40 Years of Age in the 75th Olympiad that he was born in the 1st Year of the 67th Olympiad that is in the Year of Iphitus the Restaurator of the Olympick Games after Hercules 257. and in that of the World 3465. and this is all the certainty we can meet with as to his Birth But Iulius Firmicus might have clear'd this Matter had he set down the Day and Year as well as the Configurations of the Signs and Planets in that Scheme of his Nativity he hath left us wherein is represented Saturn in the 9th House in the Sign Gemini Mercury Venus and Mars in Partile Congress in his Horoscope under the Sign Libra Iupiter diametrically respecting the same in the Sign Aries and the Sun in the 2d House under the Sign Scorpio Which Geniture to use Firmicus his Words Divinum Poetam Lyrici Carminis reddit qui Choreas Libero Rythmos sed rara Religiosi Carminis modulatione componat i. e. Renders a Divine Lyrick Poet who makes Dances and Rhimes to Bacchus but with a rare Modulation of Religious Verse Gyraldus yet refers this In ejus potius Studium Naturae Corporis Habitum quam in Astrorum Coitiones Motusque Ibid. ut supra PAGE 3. Pindar was of Thebes THO' he be here said to be of Thebes the place of his Birth is yet controverted for Stephanus de Vrbibus affirms he was Born in a small Village call'd Cynocephalus within the Theban Territories which his Scholiasts likewise confirm Nevertheless he may well be said to be of Thebes as being born within its Dominions As Virgil though born at Andes a small Town not far from Mantua is call'd the Mantuan Poet and with as much Justice may Pindar be call'd the Theban Poet having in Thebes fix'd his Habitation and Family PAGE 3. Horace was Native of Venusium THIS shews where Horace was born but not when which the Reader may expect to be as well satisfy'd in He was Born the 6th of the Ides of December L. Aurelius Cotta and L. Manlius Torquatus being Consuls as Suetonius in his Life testifies and is asserted by Eusebius in the last Book of his Chronicon ad Numerum MCCCCLII which was in the Year from the Building of Rome 698. in that of the World 3919. and in the 178th Olympiad by which it may easily appear how much Pindar was his Devancier PAGE 6. He d'welt at Thebes near the Temple of the Mother of the Gods THE Ruines of this House and the adjoyning Temple were remaining to be seen in Pausanias his Time who wrote his Description of the Grecian Antiquities in the Days of Hadrian the Roman Emperour Vide illum in Boeolicis PAGE 6. He built a Chappel and dedicated a Statue to Jupiter Hammon PAusanias adds that besides the Chappel and Statue he dedicated to Iupiter Hammon in Thebes he wrote a Hymn in Honour of that God which Hymn he further says was extant in his Time being ingrav'd in a Triangular Pile affix'd to the Altar which Ptolemaeus the Son of Lagus had dedicated to that God He wrote likewise and sent other Hymns in praise of the said Iupiter Hammon into Libya to be there consecrated in the Temple of the Ammonians in Boeoticis p. 565. PAGE 35. Pindar Dy'd in the Arms of his Belov'd Theoxenus THE Manner of his Death is thus express'd by Valerius Maximus in his 9th Book c. 12. Pindar says he going one Day to the Theater or Gymnasium to see some Sports or Exercises â—inding himself heavy as with Sleep lean'd his Head in the Bosom of his Dear Theoxenus and so Dy'd but not known to be Dead till the Keeper of the Gymnasium coming to lock up the Place could not rouse him Adding That so sweet a Death and so pleasant an End of Life he believ'd was granted by the Benignity of the Gods to so Excellent and Elegant a Poet. The Time of his Death is much controverted for Suidas says he Dy'd in the 55th Year of his Age in the 3d. Year of the 78th Olympiad Others report he Dy'd not till the 80th Year of his Age which sell to be in the 85th Olympiad But Scaliger in his Eusebian Animadversions takes notice that in the 7th Ode of his Isthmioniques he makes mention of Strepsiades who was in the Peloponnesian War which begun says he in the 88th Olympiad So that reckoning either way he can neither be said to have Dy'd in the 55th or the 80th Year of his Age. Notwithstanding this uncertainty of the Time of his Death among the Ancients Omnino Necesse est says Scaliger in magna Senectute Diem Supremum obivisse It is altogether necessary to believe he departed this Life in a very Old Age. However and whensoever he Dy'd he was honourably Buried in the City of Thebes a Monument being erected for him in the Hippodrome there which was standing in Pausanias his Time PAGE 41. The Athenians paid publickly a Fine or Mulct set upon Pindar THEY not only paid that Fine set upon him by his Countreymen but as Pausanias in Atticis witnesses had so great an Esteem for him that they made him several rich Presents and ordered a Statue to be erected for him in their City Upon which the Learned Muretus in his 4th Book of Various Lections c. 1. adds from a certain Epistle of the Orator Aeschines that they sent him double the Sum of the Fine set upon him and caus'd a Brazen Statue to be cast to perpetuate his Memory which Statue was seen in Aeschines his Time plac'd before the Regal Portico in Athens Pindar sitting in a Chair in his Pallium a Diadem on his Head holding a Lyra in his Hands and a Book lying open upon his Knees PAGE 52. Seu per Audaces nova Dithyrambos Verba devolvit c. THIS Citation taken out of the Ode whose beginning is Pindarum siquis studet aemulari was here meant and doubtlesly intentionally first writ by Horace in Applause of Pindar I find yet a Learned but Sowre Critick Erasmus Schmidius in the Preface to his Edition of Pindar by which Work he hath very highly merited to be of another Opinion for speaking of his own Pains in dilucidating and making easie the seeming Difficulties appearing in the Pindarick Odes he says a Reader by them may not only be taught to understand but with the Assistance of a very indifferent Muse imitate him Quod â—nvidus Horatius they are his own words ut Lectores ab elegantissâ—mo Poeta deterreret ne furta sua fortè deprehenderent hyperbolicè negat i. e. Which Envious Horace that he might deterr his Readers from the Lecture of so Elegant a Poet lest happily they should discover his Thefts hyperbolically denies But