T is now more than two Months fince I had Thoughts of returning you your LONGINUS; but the Attendance of my laborious Province having hitherto prevented my taking down such Memorabilia as occurr'd upon my Perusal, I must beg the Favour of a little longer Forbearance. In the mean Time, having met with Mr. PEARCE's lasta Edition, I shall have 2 ΑΝΝΟΤΑΤΙΟNS. OBS. I. THE various Editions of LONGINUS περὶ Ὕψος. The first that brought it to light from MSS. was Francis Robortellus of Udine in Italy, printing it at Bafil in 1554. And in the very next Year Paulus, Son of Aldus Manutius, knowing Nothing of the former Edition, publish'd it at Venice from the MS. of Beffarion. According to which Edition of Manutius, Francis Portus of Crete form'd his, have the Pleasure of comparing it with your's published by GABRIEL DE PETRA, and from both will, from Time to Time, as my Leisure permits, present you with my Extracts, which I'm perfuaded, not for myself, but on the Account of the favourite Critic of the learned World, can't fail of affording you a very pleasing Amusement. And whereas you have frequently been pleased to express your Opinion of Abridgments, Compendium, Memoriæ Gratia, quo brevius eo venuftius, I shall do my utmost to give you LONGINUS's Meaning in the most concife and plain Man ner. In Pursuance whereof, I call this my first Letter, and enter immediately upon --- ΑΝΝΟΤATIONS. his, printed by Crifpinus in 1570. Which last was followed by most other Editors. But the first that tranflated it into Latin, was Gabriel de Petra, Greek Profeffor of Lausanne, printing it with the Greek, at Geneva, 1612: which Edition was republish'd with many very learned Annotations by Gerard Langbænius, at Oxford, in 1638; and by Tanaquil Faber, with a few pleasant useful Notes, at Saumur in France, 1663. It will be better, says Mr. Pearce, to say Nothing of the Bulloign Edition, 1642, than to speak ill of it. A long time after, viz. in 1694, Jacobus Tollius at Utrecht publish'd it with a new Latin Verfion, the Greek Text being amended from MSS. and Conjectures, with all the An ABS foregoing Notes collected and augmented with his own. After which, in 1710, and again in 1718, the judicious Mr. J. Hudson publish'd his at Oxford, reducing Tollius's Version into shorter Periods, and omitting his and all other Notes, except what were purely critical. By the Afsistance of all which Editions, together with all the MSS. and other Helps that could be procur'd, the Reverend and Learned Mr. Z. PEARCE has presented us with the most accurate and beautiful Edition of Longinus, as well in respect to the Greck Text as the Latin Version and Notes, the World will perhaps ever fee. The 2d Edition was printed at London by J. Tonfon, in 1732, An ABSTRACT of LONGINUS'S LIFE. DIONYSIUS LONGINUS, a Grecian, flourish'd in the Days of AURELIAN the Roman Emperor, about the Year of Chrift 278; but who his Father was, and the particular Place of his Birth, is uncertain. His Mother's Name was PHRONTONIS, Sister of CORNELIUS PHRONTO, Plutarch's Grandson, a famous Rhetorician at Athens, who, when he died, made LONGINUS his Heir. Certain it is, in his Youth he travel'd with his Parents into divers Countries to improve himself in Literature, and convers'd with the greatest Men of that Age; among whom were AMMONIUS and ORIGEN, as himJelf teftifies in a Fragment of his that happens to be preferv'd. After which, at Athens, he taught Oratory and Philofophy, and had among others the great PORPHYRY for his Scholar; Where in a short Time he arrived to fuch Honour and Reputation for bis Ability in Criticism, that he was publickly employ'd to determine which Writings of the Ancients were Genuine and which not: And fuch was the Deference paid to his Judgment, that then, and then only, was the Opinion of others concerning Authors Authors Standard, when confirm'd b by LONGINUS's. His Fame thus daily increasing, he was at length fent for by ZENOBIA, the famous Queen of the Palmyrenians in Syria, to be the Director of the Studies of her Sons: But she soon perceiving his Skill, not only in Books, but in the Arts of Peace and War, made him her chief Secretary of State. Which Poft prov'd bis Ruin: For ZENOBIA, who, after the Death of her Husband ODENATHUS, had Stiled herself Queen of the East, and had by LONGINUS's Counsel fought with the utmost Bravery against the Romans for her own and her People's Liberty, being at length befieged in her City Palmyra, and answering the Emperor AURELIAN's Letters for Surrender too sharply; that Prince, when he had conquer'd her, was So mean as to revenge himself, by putting to OBS. II. b ΑΝΝΟΤATIONS. THE T Authors phon, Zoilus. Besides whom, LONGINUS in a MS. Fragment preserv'd praises, cenfures, or mentions in his Treatise on the Sublime, are 47. viz. Æschylus, Ammonius, Amphicrates, Anacreon, Apollonius, Aratus, Archilochus, Aristeas, Aristophanes, Aristotle, Bacchylides, Cecilius, Calliftnenes, Cicero, Clitarchus, Demofthenes, Eratosthenes, Eupolis, Euripides, Gorgias Leontinus, Hecatœus, Hegefias, Herodotus, Hefiod, Homer, Hyperides, Ion Chius, Ifocrates, Lycias, Matris, ✔ Mofes, Philiftus, Phrynichus, Pindar, Plato, Sappho, Simonides, Sophocles, Stefichorus, Theocritus, Theodorus, Theophraftus, Theopom pus, Thucydides, Timæus, Xeno τινα death death many of her Friends, and among the rest LONGINUS, as believing him to have dictated the aforesaid Answer: Who by his Eloquence, in this Calamity, comforted his Associates, and behaved himself with all imaginable Fortitude, dying as fublimely, as he had wrote. FLAVIUS VOPISCUS tells us the Purport of Zenobia's Letter was as follows ZENOBIA Orientis Regina AURELIANO Imperatori Romano. NEMO adhuc, præter Te, quod pofcis, Literis petiit: Virtute faciendum est, quicquid in Rebus bellicis est gerendum. Deditionem meam petis, quasi nescias Cleopatram Reginam perire maluiffe, quàm in quâlibet vivere Dignitate. Nobis Perfarum Auxilia non defunt, quæ jam fperamus; pro nobis funt Saraceni, pro nobis Armenii. Latrones Syri Exercitum tuum, AURELIANE, vicerunt; quid igitur fi illa venerit Manus, quæ undique speratur? Pones profectò Supercilium, quo nunc mihi Deditionem, quafi omnifariam Victor, imperas. The Substance of LONGINUS's last Words to his Associates were faid to be SI Terra non aliud quam magnus quidam Carcer exiftimari debeat, eum feliciffimum esse v prædico, qui primus in Libertatem vindicetur. Thus fell the Sublime LONGINUS, the greatest of all Critics, and fuch a One as even bis Contemporaries did not fcruple to name Βιβλιοθήκην τινὰ ἔμψυχον κὶ πειπατῶν Μεσεῖον, A living Library or moving Receptacle of all Arts and Sciences. |