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, a Spaniard by birth, but ranks among the Arabian writers and philosophers of the twelfth century, wrote a commentary upon Euclid, and philosophical and theological epistles. He was intimately conversant with the Peripatetic philosophy, and applied it to the illustration of the Islamic system of theology, and to the explanation of the Koran. On this account, he was suspected of heresy, and thrown into prison at Corduba. He is said to have been poisoned at Fez, in the year i 137, or according to others, in 1129. His works were translated into Latin, and were well known to Thomas Aquinas, and the old schoolmen.

Leonardo Bruni was not only one of the most learned men of his age, but one of the most amiable in character and manners, nor was his fame confined to Italy. The learned of France and Spain travelled to Florence to have the honour of seeing him, and it is said that a Spaniard who was ordered by the king to pay him a visit, knelt down in his presence, and could with difficulty be persuaded to quit that humble and admiring posture. These honours, however, excited no pride in Leonardo, The only failing of which he has been accused is that of avarice; but, as one of his biographers remarks, that name is sometimes given to prudence and economy. His friendships were lasting and sincere, and he was never known to resent ill-usage with much asperity, unless in the case of Niccolo Niccoli, who appears to have given him sufficient provocation. The case, indeed, on the part of Niccoli appears abundantly ridiculous; a termagant mistress whom he kept had been publicly disgraced; and Niccoli expected that his friends should condole with him on the occasion. Leonardo staid away, for which Niccoli reproached him, and when Leonardo offered him such advice as morality as well as friendship dictated, irritated Leonardo by his reiterated reproaches and insultinrg language. The consequence was a satire Leonardo wrote, a manuscript copy of which is in the catalogue, although not now in the library, of New college, Oxford. The title of it was “Leonardi Florentini oratio in nebulonem maledicum.” It appears by Menus’ s catalogue of his works to be in the Laurentian library. Poggio, however, at last succeeded in reconciling the parties.

Balsamo, who had quitted his country, Palermo, in the manner above mentioned, now began to roam about the world. We can here only follow his own account, till we meet him at Rome, for want of other traces and informations. With the money he had procured by his fraud on the silversmith he travelled to Messina. Here he got acquainted with a certain Altotas, a Greek, or, according to others, a Spaniard, who was versed in several languages, possessed a number of Arabic writings, and gave himself out for a great chemist. With this new friend he took ship, visited the Archipelago, and landed at Alexandria in Egypt, where they staid about forty days, and his fellow traveller undertook a variety of chemical operations, and among the rest that of making a sort of silky stuff from temp and flax, by which he got much money. From Alexandria they proceeded to Rodi, where they likewise obtained some money by chemical operations. Quitting the isle of Rodi they bent their course to Grand Cairo, but by contrary winds were driven to Malta, where they remained some time, working in the laboratory of the grandmaster Pinto. Here Altotas died; and Balsamo resolved to go, in company with a knight to whom he was recommended by the grand-master himself, to Naples.

, a Spaniard, and the illustrious bishop of Chiapa, was born at Seville in 1474; and, at the age of nineteen, attended his father, who went with Christopher Columbus to the Indies in 1493. Upon his return he became an ecclesiastic, and a curate in the isle of Cuba; but quitted his cure and his country -in order to devote himself to the service of the Indians, who were then enslaved to the most ridiculous superstitions, as well as the most barbarous tyranny. The Spanish governors had long since made Christianity detested by their unheardof cruelties, and the Indians trembled at the very name of Christian. This humane and pious missionary resolved to cross the seas, and to lay their cries and their miseries at the feet of Charles V. The affair was discussed in council; and the representations of Casas so sensibly affected the emperor, that he made ordinances, as severe to the persecutors as favourable to the persecuted. But these ordinances were never executed the Spanish governors, or rather tyrants, continued to plunder and murder; and they had a doctor, one Sepulveda, who undertook even to justify these outrages by human and divine laws, and by the examples of the Israelites who conquered the people of Canaan. This horrible book was printed at Rome, but proscribed in Spain; and Casas, now become bishop of Chiapa, refuted this apology for tyranny and murder. His treatise, entitled, “The Destruction of the Indians,” and translated into most European languages, is full of details which shock humanity. Soto, the emperor’s confessor, was appointed arbiter of the difference between Casas, a bishop worthy of the first ages of the church, and Sepulveda, a doctor and advocate for principles which would not have been adopted by an heathen: and the result of all this was laid before Charles V. who, however, had too many affairs upon his hands to pay a due attention to it; and the governors continued to tyrannize as usual. Casas employed above fifty years in America, labouring with incessant zeal, that the Indians might be treated with mildness, equity, and humanity: but, instead of succeeding, he drew upon himself endless persecutions from the Spaniards; and, though he escaped with his life, might properly enough be called a martyr to the liberty of the Indians. After refusing several bishoprics in America, he was constrained to accept that of Chiapa in 1544. He reided there till 1551, when the infirm state of his health obliged him to return to his native country; and he died at Madrid in 156G, aged ninety-two. Besides his “Destruction of the Indians,” and other pieces on the same subject, there is a very curious Latin work of his upon this question “Whether kings or princes can in conscience, by any right, or by virtue of any title, alienate citizens and subjects from their natural allegiance, and subject them to a new and foreign jurisdiction?” Ail his writings shew a solid judgment, and profound learning and piety.

, a Latin poet, who flourished in the fourth century, under the emperor Theodosius and his sons Arcadius and Honorius, was born in the year 365. Many learned men imagine him to have been born at Alexandria, in Egypt; others, however, have made a Spaniard of him, others a Frenchman, and Plutarch and Politian suppose Florence to have been the place of his nativity. It is certain that he came to Rome in the year 395, and insinuated himself into Stilico’s favour, who, being a person of great abilities, both for civil and military affairs, though a Goth by birth, was now become so considerable under Honorius, that he may be said for many years to have governed the western empire. Stilico afterwards fell into disgrace, and was put to death; and it is more than probable, that the poet was involved in the misfortunes of his patron, whom he had egregiously flattered, and severely persecuted by Hadrian, who was captain of the guards to Honorius, and seems to have succeeded Stilico. There is a reason, however, to think that he rose afterwards to great favour, and obtained several honours both civil and military. Arcadius and Honorius are said to have granted him an honour, which seems to exceed any that had ever been bestowed upon a poet before, having at the senate’s request ordered a statue to be erected for him in Trajan’s forum, with a very honourable inscription; and this is said to be confirmed by the late discovery of a marble, supposed to be the pedestal of Claudiau’s statue in brass. The inscription runs thus: “To Claudius Claudianus, tribune and notary, and among other noble accomplishments, the most excellent of poets: though his own poems are sufficient to render his name immortal, yet [as] a testimony of their approbation, the most learned and [h]appy emperors Arcadius and Honorius have, at the request of the senate, ordered this statue to be erected and placed in the forum of Trajan.” Under the inscription was placed an epigram in Greek, signifying that he had united the perfections of Homer and Virgil. The princess Serena had a great esteem for Claudian, and recommended and married him to a lady of great quality and fortune in Libya, as he acknowledges very gratefully in an epistle which he addresses to Serena from thence, a little before his wedding day.

, an eminent Orientalist of Italy, was born about 1596, at Magliano. After going through his studies, he entered among the regular minor clerks, and made his profession at Rome in 1612. His genius prompted him to the study of languages, to which he devoted himself entirely; so that he acquired the Greek, Hebrew, Chaldean, Syriac, Persian, and Arabic languages, but excelled chiefly in the Arabic. He spent the greatest part of his life in translating books from that language, and in writing books in it, to facilitate the learning of it to others. He taught it many years in the college della Sapienza at Rome; and was indeed so perfect a master of it, that he spoke an oration in it before Christina, queen of Sweden, in 1656. The eastern prelates presented a petition to Urban VIII. to have the Bible translated into Arabic; and, the congregation “de propaganda fide” complying with their desires, Guadagnolo was immediately selected as the person best qualified to undertake this great work. He began it in 1622, and finished it in 1649; having, however, assistants under him, and sometimes only acting the part of a corrector. During the time that he was employed in it, he gave an account twice a week of ?vhat progress he had made to a congregation assembled for that purpose. It was published ai Home, 1671, in 3 vols. folio, with this title, “Biblia Sacra Arabica Sacra? Congregationis de propaganda fide jussu edita ad usuia ecclesiarum orientalium. Additis c regione Bibliis Vulgatis Latinis.” In 1631 he published a Latin work entitled “Apologia pro Christiana Religione, qua responde* tur ad objectiones Ahmed filii Zin Alabedin Persoe Asphaensis contetitas in Ifbro inscripto, Politor Speculi,” 4to. The history of this work was as follows: A Spaniard had published a religious book entitled “The true Lookingglass;” which falling into the hands of a learned Persian, he wrote an answer to it in his native tongue, entitled ‘.’ The Polisher of the Looking-glass“and added these words at the end of it” Let the pope answer it.“This book being brought to Rome in 1625, Urban VIII. ordered Guadagnolo to refute it; which he did so effectually, that the Persian, to whom it was sent, renounced the Mahometan faith, and became as zealous a defender of Christianity as he had before been an opposer of it. Guadagnolo published his apology in Arabic, in 1637, 4to. He wrote another work in Arabic and Latin, entitled” Considerations against the Mahometan Religion;“in which he shews, that the Koran is a mere rhapsody of falsehood and imposture. He published also at Rome, in 1642,” Breves Institutiones Linguae Arabicae," folio; a very methodical grammar. He had also compiled a dictionary in that language, but the publication of it was prevented by his death, which happened in 1656. The ms. is preserved in the convent of San Lorenzo in Lucina.

, a celebrated French bishop, was born in 1595. He rose to be doctor and professor of the Sorboune, archdeacon of Dinan, prebendary of Chartres, syndic of the faculty of divinity at Paris, and, at length, bishop of Cavaillon in 1656. He travelled into Greece, Italy, and England. Urban VIII. had so great a value for him, that he twice nominated him to the bishopric of Toul; and wishing to create two cardinals, one of which should be a Frenchman, the other a Spaniard, proposed him, with father de Lugo, for that dignity; but a strong faction, and some reasons of state, placed the hat designed for M. Hallier on the head of the commander of Valencey. M. Hallier appeared with great distinction, as proctor, at the assembly of the French clergy, 1645, in which the rules concerning the regulars were revived, which he explained by a learned “Commentary.” On his second visit to Kome in 1652, he solicited, both by personal application and by writing, the condemnation of the five famous propositions of Jansenius, and obtained the bull “Cum occasione” against them. He died in 1659, worn out with sickness and infirmities, aged sixty -four. His principal works are, “Defence of a censure of the faculty of theology at Paris respecting the Bishops of England against the Jesuits;” “Treatise on the Hierarchy;” and a “Treatise on Elections and Ordinations,” 1636, folio; by which he acquired great reputation, both at Rome and in France. He wrote also various pieces against the five propositions of Jansenius, which, in the estimation of his church, discover profound learning, and abound with very strong and solid reasoning. They are all in Latin.

, a native of French Navarre, though he is usually supposed to be a Spaniard, lived in the seventeenth century. He gained great fame by a work which he published in Spanish, upon a very curious and interesting subject. The title of it runs thus: “Examen de ingenios para las Sciencias, &c. or, an examination of such geniuses as are fit for acquiring the sciences, and were born such: wherein, by marvellous and useful secrets, drawn from true philosophy both natural and divine, are shewn the gifts and different abilities found in men, and ibr what kind of study the genius of every man is adapted, in such a manner, that whoever shall read this book attentively, will discover the properties of his own genius, and be able to make choice of that science in which he will make the greatest improvement.” This book has been translated into several languages, and gone through several impressions. It was translated into Italian, and published at Venice in 1582; at least the dedication of that translation bears this date. It was translated into French by Gabriel Chappuis in 1580; but there is a better French version than this, by Savinien d'Alquie, printed at Amsterdam in 1672. He has taken in the additions inserted by Huarte in the last edition of his book, which are considerable both in quality and quantity. It has been translated also into Latin, and lastly, into English, by Carew and Bellamy. This very admired author has been highly extolled for acuteness and subtlety, and undoubtedly had a great share of these qualities: Bayle, however, thinks, that “it would not be prudent for any person to rely either on his maxims or authorities for,” says he, “he is not to be trusted on either of these heads, and his hypotheses are frequently chimerical, especially when he pretends to teach the formalities to be observed by those who would beget children of a virtuous turn of mind. There are, in this part of his book, a great many particulars repugnant to modesty (a discovery which we are surprized Bayle should have made): and he deserves censure for publishing, as a genuine and authentic piece, a pretended letter of Lentulus the proconsul from Jerusalem to the Roman senate, wherein a portrait is given of Jesus Christ, a description of his shape and stature, the colour of his hair, the qualities of his beard, &c.” The work, however, has now altogether lost its popularity, and deservedly.

, was an ancient Latin writer, who flourished in the time of Augustus. Suetonius, in. his book “De illustribus Grammaticis,” says that he was a freedman of Augustus, and by nation a Spaniard; though some think that he was an Alexandrian, and brought by Caesar to Rome when Alexandria was taken. He was a diligent follower and imitator of Cornelius Alexander, a celebrated Greek grammarian; and was also himself a teacher at Rome. He was made keeper of the Palatine library; was very intimate with the poet Ovid, and with Caius Licmius, a man of consular dignity and an historian, who has taken occasion to inform us, that he died very poor, and, while he lived, was supported chiefly by his generosity; but Vossius thinks that the person here named the consular historian Caius Licinius, should be Caius Asinius, who wrote a history of the civil war, and was consul with Cneius Domitius Calvinus, U. C. 723.

, a Spaniard, and celebrated general of the Jesuits, in which office he succeeded St. Ignatius 1558, after having been one of his first disciples, appeared with great distinction at the council of Trent and colloquy of Poissy was much esteemed for his prudence, learning, and piety refused the cardinal’s hat, and died at Rome, January 19, 1565, aged fifty-three, leaving some works in Latin, on “Providence,” “On the use of the Cup,” and “On Women’s painting and dress,” &c. Father Theophil us Raynaud attributes to him also “The Declarations on the Constitutions of the Jesuits;” while others believe that Lainez drew up the constitutions themselves, alledging, in support of this opinion, that they discover too much penetration, strength of genius, and refined policy, to have been the work of St. Ignatius. In the first congregation after that saint’s death, Lainez caused an absolute authority ty be granted him, with a perpetuity of the generalship, and a right of having prisons; thus changing the uprightness and simplicity of the founder’s maxims for a system of human policy, which guided all the undertakings of the society, and led at length to its destruction.

, a celebrated Roman poet, was a native of Cordova, in Spain, where he was born Nov. lh> in the year 37. His father Annseus Mela, a Roman knight, a man of distinguished merit and interest in his country, was the youngest brother of Seneca the philosopher; and his mother, Acilia, was daughter of Acilius Lucanus, an eminent orator, from which our author took his name. When only eight months old he was carried to Rome and carefully educated under the ablest masters in grammar and rhetoric, a circumstance which renders it singular that critics have endeavoured to impute the defects in his style to his being a Spaniard; but it is certain that his whole education was Roman. His first masters were Palaemon, the grammarian, and Flavius Virginius, the rhetorician. He then studied under Cornutus, from whom he imbibed the sentiments of the stoic school, and probably derived the lofty and free strain by which he is so much distinguished. It is said he completed his education at Athens. Seneca, then tutor to the emperor Nero, obtained for him the office of quaestor: he was soon after admitted to the college of augurs, and considered to be in the full career of honour and opulence. He gave proofs of poetical talents at a very early age, and acquired reputation by several compositions; a circumstance peculiarly unfortunate for him, as it clashed with the vanity of the emperor, who valued himself on his powers as a poet and musician. On one occasion Lucan was so imprudent as to recite one of his own pieces, in competition with Nero; and as the judges honestly decided in favour of Lucan, Nero forbad him to repeat any more of his verses in public, and treated him with so much indignity that Lucan no more looked up to him with the respect due to a patron and a sovereign, but took a part in the conspiracy of Piso and others against the tyrant; which being discovered, he was apprehended among the other conspirators. Tacitus and other authors have accused him of endeavouring to free himself from punishment by accusing his own mother, and involving her in the crime of which he was guilty. Mr. Hayley has endeavoured to rescue his name from so terrible a charge; and it is more likely that it was a calumny raised by Nero’s party to ruin his reputation. Be this as it may, his confessions were ofno avail, and no favour was granted him but the choice of the death he would die; and he chose the same which had terminated the life of his uncle Seneca. His veins were accordingly opened; and when he found himself growing cold and faint through loss of blood, he repeated some of his own lines, describing a wounded soldier sinking in a similar manner. He died in the year 65, and in the twentyseventh year of his age. Of the various poems of Lucan, none but his Pharsalia remain, which is an account of the civil wars between Caesar and Pompey, but is come down to us in an unfinished state. Its title to the name of an epic poem has been disputed by those critics, who, from the examples of Homer and Virgil, have maintained that machinery, or the intervention of supernatural agency, is essential to that species of composition. Others, however, have thought it rather too fastidious to refuse the epic name to a poem because not exactly conformable to those celebrated examples. Blair objects, tliat although Lucan’s subject is abundantly heroic, he cannot be reckoned happy in the choice of it, because it has two defects, the one its being too near the times in which he lived, which deprived him of the assistance of fiction and machinery; the other that civil wars, especially when as fierce and cruel as those of the Romans, present too many shocking objects to be fit for epic poetry, gallant and honourable achievements being a more proper theme for the epic muse. But Lucan’s genius seems to delight in savage scenes, and he even goes out of his way to introduce a long episode of Marius and Sylla’s proscriptions, which abounds with all the forms of atrocious cruelty. On the merits of the poetry itself there are various opinions. Considered as a school book, Dr. Warton has classed it with Statins, Claudian, and Seneca the tragedian, authors into whose works no youth of genius should ever be suffered to look, because, by their forced conceits, by their violent metaphors, by their swelling epithets, by their want of a just decorum, they have a strong tendency to dazzle and to mislead inexperienced minds, and tastes unformed, from the true relish of possibility, propriety, simplicity and nature. On the other hand it has been said, that although Lucan certainly possesses neither the fire of Homer, nor the melodious numbers of Virgil, yet if he had lived to a maturer age, his judgment as well as his genius would have been improved, and he might have claimed a more exalted rank among the poets of the Augustan age. His expressions are bold and animated; his poetry entertaining; and it has been asserted that he was never perused without the warmest emotions, by any whose minds were in unison with his own.

, a celebrated Italian, was born at Sienna in 1487, and first took the habit of a Cordelier; but throwing it off in a short time, and returning into the world, applied himself to the study of physic, and acquired the esteem of cardinal Julius de Medici, afterwards pope Clement VII. At length, changing his mind again, he resumed his monk’s habit, and embraced, in 1534, the reformed sect of the Capuchins. He practised, with a most rigorous exactness, all the rules of this order; which, being then in its infancy, he contributed so much to improve and enlarge, that some writers have called him the founder of it. It is certain he was made vicar-general of it, and became in the highest degree eminent for his talents in the pulpit. He delivered his sermons with great eloquence, success, and applause. His extraordinary merit procured him the favour of pope Paul III. who, it is said, made him his father-confessor and preacher; and he was thus the favourite of both prince and people, when, falling into the company of one John Valdes, a Spaniard, who had imbibed Luther’s doctrine in Germany, he became a proselyte. He was then at Naples, and began to preach in favour of protestant doctrines with so much boldness, that he was summoned to appear at Rome, and was in his way thither, when he met at Florence Peter Martyr, with whom, it is probable, he had contracted an acquaintance at Naples. This friend persuaded him not to put himself into the pope’s power; and they both agreed to withdraw into some place of safety. Ochinus went first to Ferrara, where he disguised himself in the habit of a soldier; and, proceeding thence to Geneva, arrived thither in 1542, and married at Lucca, whence he went to Augsburg, and published some sermons.

, a heretic of the fourth century, well known in ecclesiastical history for having revived the errors of the Gnostics and Manicheans, was a Spaniard, of high birth, and great fortune, with considerable talents and eloquence. His opinions first became known in the year 379, and were rapidly diffused in Spain. But in the ensuing year a council was held by the bishops of Aquitaine at Saragossa, in which the Prisciliianists were solemnly condemned. He was then but a layman, but soon after he was ordained bishop of Labina, or Lavila, supposed to be Avila, one of the cities of Galicia, by two bishops of his own party. In the year 384, or, as Baronius in his Annals writes, 387, the ringleaders of this sect were put to death by the emperor Maximus, having been convicted before the magistrates of the grossest immoralities. These were, Priscillian himself, Felicissimus, and Armenus, two ecclesiastics, who had but very lately embraced his doctrine; Asarinus and Aurelius, two deacons Latronianus, or, as Jerome calls him, Matronianus, a layman and Eucrocia, the widow of the orator Delphidius, who had professed eloquence in the city of Bourdeaux a few years before. These were all beheaded at Treves. The rest of Priscillian’s followers, whom they could discover or apprehend, were either banished or confined. The bodies of Priscillian, and those who suffered with him, were conveyed by the friends and adherents into Spain, and there interred with great pomp and solemnity; their names were added to those of other saints and martyrs, their firmness extolled, and their doctrine embraced by such numbers of proselytes that it spread in a short time over all the provinces between the Pyrenees and the ocean. The author of the notes upon Sulpitius Severus tells us that he saw the name of Priscillian in some not very ancient martyrologies. In practice they did not much differ from the Manichees the same, or nearly the same, infamous mysteries being ascribed to both: for, in the trial of Priscillian, before the emperor Maximus, it was alledged that he had countenanced all manner of debauchery, that he had held nocturnal assemblies of lewd women, and that he used to pray naked among them. Others, however, are of opinion that these charges had not much foundation, and that the execution of Priscillian and his followers was rather a disgrace than an advantage to the Christian cause.

From Bologna he went to Loretto, and in the church there built and ornamented a‘ chapel with stuccos and paintings; from thence he was called to Ancona to operate in the churches of S. Agostino and Ciriaco, in the last of which he painted a Christ highly relieved and larger than life; the Merchants 7 hall received its stuccos and paintings from his band. He superintended the fortifications of tha place as military architect, about 1560; and two years afterwards came to Pavia, where, by the order of cardinal Borromeo, he constructed the palace of the Sapienza; he then visited Milan, built the temple of S. Fidele, and before 1570 was elected architect of the cathedral. After disencumbering the dome of numerous empty gothic monuments, sepulchral urns, and trophies, and embellishing it in their stead with various elegant chapels and ’a majestic choir; Pellegrino was commissioned by Berardino Martirano, a Spaniard in the confidence of Philip II. to prepare designs and plans for the Escurial. He followed them himself to Spain in 1586, and superintended that enormous fabric as architect and painter, during nine years , when, satiated with glory, riches, and honours, he returned to Milan, where he died at an advanced age, and was buried in a tomb which he had selected for himself and his descendants in the dome. The precise year of his death is disputed, but his demise may safely be placed under the pontificate of Clement VIII. and some think about 1592.

In a letter of Herbert’s he gives the following additional particulars of Valdesso: “John Valdesso was a Spaniard of great learning and virtue, much valued by Charles V. whom he had attended in all his wars. When he was grown old, and weary both of war and of the world, he took a proper opportunity to declare to the emperor his resolution to decline the military service, and betake himself to a quiet contemplative life, because, he said, there ought to be some vacancy of time between fighting and dying. It happened at that time the emperor himself had made, though not publicly declared, the same resolution. He therefore desired Valdesso to consider well what he had said, and conceal his purpose till they might have opportunity for a friendly discourse about it. This opportunity soon offered, and, after a pious and free discourse together, they agreed, that on a certain day they would publicly receive the sacrament. At which time the emperor appointed an eloquent friar to preach on the contempt of the world, and the happiness of a quiet contemplative life. After sermon, the emperor declared openly that the preacher had begotten in him a resolution to lay down his dignities, to forsake the world, and betake himself to a monastic life. And he pretended that he had also persuaded John Valdesso to do the like. Not long after they carried their resolutions into execution.”