Agostini, Lionardo

, an eminent antiquary, lived in the seventeenth century. Under the pontificate of Urban VIII. he resided in the court of cardinal Barberini; and afterwards pope Alexander VII. who had a great esteem for him, gave him the appointment of examiner of antiquities in the Roman territory. He published the two following works, which are now scarce, and much valued. 1. “La Sicilia di Filippo Paruta descritta con Medaglie, con la giunta di Lionardo Agostini,” Rome, 1649, folio. This isa new edition of Paruta’s Sicilian medals, which was originally published at Palermo, 1612, folio, under the title “Delia Sicilia di Filippo Paruta descritta con Medaglie, parte prima.” This first part, which has become very rare, contains only engravings of the medals, to which a description was promised, in a second. part, which never appeared. Agostini used the same plates as Paruta, and added about four hundred medals to those in Paruta’s edition, but still without explanations. After his death, Paruta’s plates having fallen into the hands of Marco Maier, a bookseller, he published at Lyons, in 1697, anew edition, in folio, entitled, “La Sicilia di Filippo Paruta descritta con Medaglie, e ristampata con aggiunta di Lionardo Agostini, hora in miglior ordine disposta da Marco Maier, arrichita d’una descrittione compendiosa di quella famosa isola.” But notwithstanding the explanations and historical additions of this editor, this edition is less valued than those of Paruta and Agostini. The best and most complete is that | which Havercamp published in Latin, at Leyden, 1723, 3 vols. folio, with a commentary; these form the sixth, seventh, and eighth volumes of Grsevius’s Thesaurus. The other work of Agostini is, 2. “Le Gemme antiche figurate di Lionardo Agostini, con le annotazioni del sig. Gio. Pietro Bellori,” part I. Rome, 1636 and 1657, 4to; part II. Rome, 1670; reprinted 1686, 2 vols. 4to. In 1702, Dominique de Rossi published an enlarged edition at Rome, 2 vols. 4to; and in 1707, a fourth edition was published at the same place in four large vols. 4to, with a vast number of additions by Maflfei. The first, however, is still in highest esteem on account of the beauty of the plates, which were executed by Galestruzzi; and the editors of the Orleans gems in 1780 seem to undervalue the labours of Maffei and Gronovius, who translated this work into Latin, Amsterdam, 1685, 4to, reprinted at Franeker, 1694. Joecher, in his Dictionary of learned Men, attributes to Agostini a work entitled “Consiglier di pace,” which was written by Lionardo Agosti. ¹