ENTERED, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1848,

BY WILLIAM H. GRAHAM,

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District of New-York.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES

OF

SOME OF THE AUTHORS REFERRED TO IN VOLUME II.

Alianus, (Claudius), a Greek author who lived at Præneste, about 221 A. C. He was a learned sophist, and has left two works, a collection of stories and anecdotes, and a natural hsitory of animals. One of the best editions of his works is that published by Coray, Paris, 1805.

Apollonius of Rhodes, according to some authorities, was born at Alexandria, according to others, at Naucratis, about 230 B. C. As the jealousy of other learned men incessantly prosecuted him in his own country, he retired to Rhodes, where he taught rhetoric with so much reputation and obtained by his writings so much fame, that the Rhodians bestowed upon him the rights of citizenship. He returned to Alexandria to succeed Eratosthenes, as superintendent of the royal library. Of his various works, we have only the Argonautica, a poem of moderate merit, though written with much care and labor. The best editions of this work are those of Leipsic, of 1810 and 1813.

Apollodorus, son of Asilepiades, an Athenian grammarian, who flourished about 140 B. C., studied philosophy under Panætius, and grammar in the ancient sense of the word, under Aristarchus. He wrote a work on the gods, a commentary on Homer's catalogue of ships, and a history in verse. The mythological work entitled Bibliotheca, which bears his name, is considered generally to be a later extract from the larger work of his. It is very closely connected, however, with his history of the gods and heroes. Published in Paris, 1805, in 2 vols, with a French translation.

Arrian, a Greek historian born in Nicodemia, in the second century of the Christian era. He was first a priest of Ceres, but at Rome he became a disciple of Epictetus. He was honored with the citizenship of Rome, and appointed prefect of Cappadocia by the emperor Adrian, who patronized him on account of his learning. In this capacity he distinguished himself in the war against the Massagetæ, and was afterwards advanced to the senatorial and even consular dignity. Like Xenophon, he united the literary with the military character. Seven of the epistles of Pliny the younger are addressed to him. His historical writings are numerous; but of these, with the exception of some fragments in Photias, only two remain. The first is composed of seven books on the expedition of Alexander, which being chiefly compiled from the memoirs of Ptolemy Lagus and Aristobolus, who both served under that monarch, are deemed very valuable. To this work is added a book of India, which pursues the history of Alexander, but is not deemed of equal authority with the former. An epistle from Arrian to Adrian is also extant, entitled, Periplus Ponti Euxini, supposed to be written while he was in Cappadocia. There are besides under his name a treatise on Tactics; a Periplus of the

Red Sea, of which the authority is doubtful; and his Enchiridion, a morul treatise, containing the discourses of Epictetus. The best editions of Arrian's works are those of Gnonovius, 1704; and Schneider, Leipsic, 1798.

Cedrenus, (George), a Grecian monk that lived in the eleventh century, and wrote annals from the beginning of the world to the reign of Isaac Comnenus, emperor of Constantinople, who succeeded Michael VI. in 1057. There is also another History attributed to him, which others think was composed by John Curopalates, and only transcribed by Cedrenus.

Conon. We find in Photias, 186th chapter, the extracts of a book that contained about fifty narratives of the fabulous times. The author's name was Conon. He dedicated the work to King Achelaus Philopater, from whence Vossius-Hist. Greece, lib. i.-deemed that he lived toward the beginning of the century before Christ; for he believes that Strabo, Dion, and other historians, afford some arguments from which it may be inferred, that the same king Archelaus was one of the princes that followed Marc Antony against Augustus. But M. Bayle observes, that if it were so, that Conon ought to be distinguished from him, who, as Josephus tells us, had made mention of the Jews: as it would have been ridiculous in Josephus to glory in the testimony of so modern an historian.

Dion Chrysostome, an orator and philosopher, of Prusa, in Bithynia. The Emperor Trajan had a particular regard for him. We have eighty Orations of his still extant. Dionysius the Areopagite, (i. e. one of the judges of the Areopagus, at Athens), converted to Christianity by the Apostle Paul, about the middle of the first century, and first bishop of Athens, where he suffered martyrdom, is remarkable for the Greek works which have been ascribed to him, and for being considered the patron saint of France. These writings, composed in an obscure style, and hardly intelligible on account of their mysticism, are, Of the Heavenly Hierarchy, Of the Names of God, Of the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, and Of the Mystic Theology, with a number of Letters, which, by their style, contents, and historical allusions, betray an author who could not have lived before the middle of the fourth century after Christ. The pretended author of them neither left such writings, nor ever taught in France, as has been put beyond all doubt by the French critics Daille, Sirmond, and Launoi, in the seventeenth century.

Erasmus, (Desiderias), born at Rodderdam, 1467, was the illegitimate son of a Dutchman of Gouda, by name Gerard, and the daughter of a physician. He was a singing boy in the cathedral at Utrecht, then entered the school at Deventer, where he displayed such extraordinary qualities that it was predicted that he would be the most learned man of his time. At the age of seventeen he assumed the monastic habit. The bishop of Cambray, however, delivered him from this constraint. In 1492 he travelled to Paris to study theology and polite literature. He there became the instructor of several rich Englishmen, from one of whom he received a pension for life. He proceeded to England in 1497, where he was graciously received by the king. He soon returned to Paris, and then went to Italy, to increase his stock of knowledge. The pope, on his asking a dispensation from the vows of his order, granted this request. He visited Venice, Padua and Rome; but brilliant as were the offers here made him, he preferred the invitation of his friends in England, where the favor with which he stood with Henry VIII. promised him still greater advantages. When he visited the Lord Chancellor, Sir Thomas More, without making himself known to him.the chancellor was so delighted with his conversation, that he exclaimed, "You are either Erasmus or the devil!" He was for a short time professor of Greek at Oxford. He returned afterwards to the Netherlands, and died 1536 at Basil, where the tomb of this great man may be seen in the Calvinistic cathedral. To profound and extensive learning Erasmus joined a refined taste, and a

fine wit. Naturally fond of tranquillity and independence, he preferred the pleasures of literary ease and retirement to the pomp of high life. His caution and worldly prudence offended many of the best men of his times. He did great and lasting service to the cause of reviving learning. Not embracing Luther's Reformation, and yet condemning many things practised by the Catholics, he drew upon himself a thousand reproaches from the latter, as well as from the Protestants. The best edition of his works is that by Leclerc-Leyden, 1703, 10 vols. folio..

Heraclides, a philosopher, surnamed the Pontic, because he was born in Heraclea in Pontus. He left many works, mentioned by Diogenes Laertius; but all are lost, except the allegories on Homer. But this book, though bearing his name, cannot be his, as some authors later than he are quoted in it.

Herodian, a grammarian of Alexandria, in the third century. He passed most of his time in Rome, at the courts of the emperors, where he wrote his history, consisting of eight books, from the death of Antoninus Philosophus, to Balbinus and Moscimus Papienus, murdered by the soldiers in favor of young Gordian, who they raised to the imperial throne. Photius says that the style of Herodian is inferior to few historians. He wrote in Greek, and was first translated by Angelus Pelitianus.

Jahn, (John), born at Taswits, in Moravia, in 1750, professor of theology at the university of Vienna, died in Aug. 1816. He published among other works a Chaldaic and Syriac grammar, Vienna, 1793; Biblican Archæology, in 2 vols., Vienna, 1797-1800; and Viticinia Prophetarum, Commentarius eriticus, in Libros Prophetarum, vet. Testam., Vienna, 1815.

Lowth, (Robert) a distinguished English prelate, was born at Bariton, in 1710. In 1753, he published his work De Sacra Poesi Hebræorum Prælectiones Academicæ, 4to. The best edition is that of Leipsic, 1815, with notes by Michaelis Rosenmuller. In 1777 he succeeded to the diocese of Lendors, and the next year published the last of his literary labors; Isaiah, a new translation, with a preliminary dissertation and notes. He died, Nov. 3, 1781, aged 77.

Philostratus was an Egyptian, a philosopher, and a sophist.

Strabo, a distinguished Greek geographer, was born at Amasia in Cappadocia, about 19 A. C., studied rhetoric and the Aristotelian philosophy, and afterwards embraced the Stoic doctrines. His geographical work in seventeen books, contains a full account of the manners and governments of different ancient nations; his materials were derived from his own observations and inquiries, or from the geographical works of Hecatæus, Artemidores, Eudoxius, and Eratosthenes, now lost, and the writings of historians and poets. The last edition is that of Coray, 4 vols., Paris, 1819.

Warburton, (William), a celebrated prelate of the English church, born at Newarkupon-Trent, in Nottinghamshire, in 1698, was the second son of an attorney, and, after being educated at school, was in 1714, articled to an attorney at East Markham, in his native county. After completing a clerkship of five years, he was admitted in one of the courts at Westminster, and returning to Newark, he engaged in legal practise. Not finding the profession adapted to his taste or talents he relinquished it, and in 1723 took deacon's orders in the church. His first work, consisting of miscellaneous translations in prose and verse from Roman authors, was published in 1726, and dedicated to Sir George Sutton, who bestowed upon him a small vicarage. Shortly after he visited London, and formed an acquaintance with some of the inferior wits of that period. In 1727, he began to distinguish himself as an original writer, by his Inquiries into the Causes of Prodigies and Miracles. In 1736 appeared his Alliance between Church and State, or the Necessity and Equity of an Established Religion and Test Law. The first volume of his chief work was published in 1738, under the title of The Divine Legation of Moses demonstrated

on the Principles of a Religious Deist, from the Omission of the Doctrine of a Future State of Rewards and Punishments in the Jewish Dispensation. This performance met with adversaries among all parties, who concurred in criticising and censuring the theory on which it is founded. Undismayed by animadversion, he published a vindication of his opinions, and persevered in the prosecution of his work. The fifth volume of the Divine Legation was published in 1755. In 1759 he was appointed Bishop of Gloucester, where this eminent man died, June 7, 1779.

VOL. II.