Anysius, Janus

, a modem Latin poet, was born at Naples about the year 1472, and to oblige his father studied law; but, from an irresistible inclination, devoted himself to poetry, travelling frequently to different parts of Naples, and to Rome, where he formed an intimacy with several members of the academy, and, | according to a very common practice then, assumed the classical name of Janus Anysius. He is said to have been an ecclesiastic, but we have no account of him in that profession. As a Latin poet he acquired great reputation, which, it is thought, he would have preserved in the opinion of posterity, had he been more select in what he published. Ctelio Calcagnini, however, bestows the highest praise on him, as inimitable, or rarely equalled. He died about the year 1540. His works are entitled, 1. “Jani Anysii Pomata et Satyrae, ad Pompeium Columnam cardinalem,” Naples, 1531, 4to; but in this title we ought to read “Sententias” instead of “Satyrae,” which no where appear. His “Sententiae,” in iambic verse, were reprinted in “Recueil des divers auteurs sur l'education des enfans,” Basil, 1541, and his Eclogues in “Collection des auteurs bucoliques,” ibid. 1546, 8vo. 2. “Satyrae ad Pompeiurn Columnam cardinalem,” Naples, 1532, 4to. 3. “Protogenos,” a tragedy, Naples, 1536, 4to. The hero is Adam, but the piece is prolix, and in a bad style: the oppositipn it met with occasioned his next publications. 4. “Commentariolus in tragcediam: Apologia: Epistolae: Correctiones,” pieces printed without date. 5. “Epistolae de religione, et epigrammata,” Naples, 1538, 4to. Anysius had a brother Cosmo, a physician by profession, and also a Latin poet. His works published at Naples, 1537, 4to, consist of different pieces of poetry, satires, epigrams from the Greek, and a commentary on the satires of his brother Janus. ¹