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, a learned Italian, was born at Venice, of poor parents of the lowest class, about the end of the fifteenth century. Alcyonius, or Alcyonio, was not his family name, but he is supposed to have adopted it, according to the custom of his age, to give himself an air of antiquity or classical origin. Whatever the meanness of his birth, he had the merit of applying in his youth to the learned languages with such success, as to become a very accomplished scholar. He was corrector of the press a considerable time for Aldus Manutius, and is entitled to a share in the praises given to the editions of that learned printer. He translated into Latin several treatises of Aristotle; but Sepulveda wrote against these versions, and pointed out so many errors in them, that Alcyonius had no other remedy than buying up as many copies as he could get of Sepulveda’s work, and burning them. The treatise which Alcyonius published concerning Banishment contained so many fine passages, with others quite the reverse, that it was thought he had interwoven with somewhat of his own, several fragments of Cicero’s treatise De Gloria; and that afterwards, in order to save himself from being detected in this theft, he burnt the manuscript of Cicero, the only one extant. Paulus Manutius, in his commentary upon these words of Cicero, “Libruni tibi celeriter mittam de gloria,” has the following passage relating to this affair: “He means (says he) his two books on Glory, which were handed down to the age of our fathers; for Bernard Justinian, in the index of his books, mentions Cicero de Gloria. This treatise, however, when Bernard had left his whole library to a nunnery, could not be found, though sought after with great care, and nobody doubted but Peter Alcyonius, who, being physician to the nunnery, was intrusted with the library, had basely stolen it. And truly, in his treatise of Banishment, some things are found interspersed here and there, which seem not to savour of Alcyonius, but of some higher author.” Paul Jovius repeated this accusation, and it was adopted as a fact by other writers. Alcyonius, however, has been amply vindicated by some late biographers, particularly Tiraboschi, who has proved that the charge was not only destitute of truth, but of probability.

, a learned Italian orientalist, was born in 1469, a descendant of the noble family of the counts of Albanese. At fifteen months he is said to have spoken his native language with facility, and at fifteen years, to have spoken and written Greek and Latin with a promptitude equal to the best scholars of his time. He entered young into the order of regular canons of St. John of Lateran, but did not come to Rome until 1512, at the opening of the fifth session of the Lateran council. The great number of ecclesiastics from Syria, Ethiopia, and other parts of the East, who attended that council, afforded him an opportunity of prosecuting his studies with advantage: and at the request of the cardinal Santa Croce, he was employed as the person best qualified to translate from the Chaldean into Latin the liturgy of the eastern clergy, previously to the use of it being expressly sanctioned by the pope. After having been employed by Leo X. for two years in giving instructions in Latin to the subdeacon Elias, a legate from Syria to the council, whom the pope wished to retain in his court, and from whom Ambrogio received in return instructions in the Syrian tongue, he was appointed by the pontiff to a professor’s chair in the university of Bologna, where he delivered instructions in the Syriac and Chaldaic languages for the first time that they had been publicly taught in Italy. He is said to have understood no less than eighteen languages, many of which he spoke with the ease and fluency of a native; but from the letter quoted by Mazzuchelli, it appears more probable that he was master of at least ten languages, and understood many others partially. In the commotions which devastated Italy after the death of Leo X. he was despoiled in 1527 of the numerous and valuable eastern manuscripts, Chaldean, Hebrew, and Greek, which he had collected by the industry of many years, and of the types and apparatus which he had prepared for an edition of the Psalter in the Chaldean, accompanied with a dissertation on that language. He afterwards, however, came to Venice, in the prosecution of this object; and, in 15.39, published at Pavia, his “Introduction to the Chaldean, Syrian, Armenian, and ten other tongues, with the alphabetical characters of about forty different languages,” 4to, which is considered by the Italians themselves as the earliest attempt made in Italy towards a systematic acquaintance with the literature of the East. He died the year following.

, a learned Italian physician and botanist in the sixteenth century, was born at Anguillara, a small town in the ecclesiastical states, from which he took his name. The republic of Venice, in consideration of the character he acquired during his travels, bestowed on him the title of Simplicista, or chief botanist, and appointed him director of the botanical garden of Padua. This office he appears to have held from 1540 to 1561; when, disgusted by some intrigues formed against him, he retired to Florence, and died there in 1570. We have very few particulars of his private history, except what can be gleaned from the only work that has appeared with his name. His studies, facilitated by a knowledge of the ancient languages, were principally directed to botany, in pursuit of which science he travelled through Italy, Turkey, the islands in the Mediterranean, Crete, Cyprus, Corsica, Sardinia, and part of Swisserland and France. The knowledge he acquired in these journies occasioned his being consulted by the most eminent botanists of his time and a collection of his letters on botanical subjects was published, With his consent, by Marinello, under the title of “Semplici dell' eccelente M. Anguillara, li quali in piu pareri a diversi nobili nomini scritti appajono et nuovamente da M. Giovanni Marinello mandati in luce,” Venice, 1561, 8vo. In the same year a second edition was printed, which is preferred on account of its containing two plates of plants not in the first. This work, although far from voluminous, seemed to establish his reputation, and is particularly valuable on account of his learned researches into the ancient names of plants.

, a learned Italian of the fifteenth century, was a native of Perugia, and of a family of some rank. He was the scholar of Joannes Antonius Campanus, and published the first and perhaps only entire edition of Campanus’ works, 1495. Michael Fernus, a Milanese scholar, at his request superintended the press, and enriched the publication with a copious life of Campanus, and a variety of elaborate prefaces addressed to various persons. That which is addressed to Antiquarius himself bears ample testimony to his literary reputation. On quitting his native city, Antiquarius obtained a political orKce of consequence and responsibility at Bologna. About 1460 he removed to Milan, where his erudition enabled him to secure the favour and patronage of Giovanni Galeozzo and Lud. Maria Visconti, dukes of Milan, to whom he was secretary and prime minister, and employed his influence in the patronage of literature. As he was in the church he obtained some rich benefices from pope Alexander VI. Many learned works, the publication of which he had encouraged, were dedicated to him, but we have nothing of his own, except an “Oratio,” Milan, 1509, 4to, and a volume of Latin letters, 1519, 4to. He died at Milan in 1512.

, a learned Italian physician, was born at Assisi, about the year 1586. His father, who was also a physician of character, spared nothing to give him an education suitable to the profession which he wished him to follow. He began his studies at Perugia, and meant to have completed them at Montpellier, but he was sent to Padua, where he attended the logical, philosophical, and medical classes. Having obtained his doctor’s degree in his eighteenth year, he went to Venice and practised physic there for fifty years, during which he refused very advantageous offers from the duke of Mantua, the king of England, and pope Urban VIII. and died there July 16, 1660. He had collected a copious library, particularly rich in manuscripts, and cultivated general literature as well as the sciences connected with his profession, in which last he published only one tract, to be noticed hereafter. His first publication was “Riposte alle considerazion di Alessandro Tassoni, sopra le rime del Petrarca,” Padua, 1611, 8vo, to which Tassoni replied under the assumed name of Crescenzio Pepe; “Avvertimenti di Cres. Pepe a Guiseppe degli Aromatari, &c.” 1611, 8vo. Aromatari answered this by “Dialoghi di Falcidio Melampodio in riposta agli avvertimenti date sotto nome di Cres. Pepe, &c.” Venice, 1613, 8vo. But the work which has procured him most reputation was a letter on the generation of plants, addressed to Bartholomew Nanti, and printed for the first time, prefixed to his (Aromatari’s) “Disputatio de rabie contagiosa,” Venice, 1625, 4to, Francfort, 1626, 4to, and the Letter was afterwards printed among the “Epistolæ selectæ” of G. Richt, Nuremberg, 1662, 4to. It was also translated into English, and published in the Philosophical Transactions, No. CCXI, and again reprinted with Jungius’s works, in 1747, at Cobourg. His opinions on the generation of plants were admired for their ingenuity, and if his health and leisure had permitted, he intended to have prosecuted the subject more minutely.

, a learned Italian antiquary, was born at Venice, Jan. 16, 1672, and soon made very extraordinary proficiency in classical and polite literature. In 1698, he lost his parents, and went into the church, where his merit procured him the offer of preferment, which his love of a literary life induced him for the present to decline. He became member and secretary of the academy of the Animosi at Venice, and was likewise a member of that of the Arcades of Rome, under the name of Demade Olimpico. He likewise carried on an extensive correspondence with the most eminent scholars of his age, both Italians and foreigners, particularly Alexander Burgos, bishop of Catania father Guglielmini, Fardella, Lazzarini, Apostolo Zeno, Scipio Maffei, Poleni, Morgagni, &c. In his latter days he was master of the choir, and canon of the ducal church of St. Mark and died in Venice, June 23, 1743.“He wrote, 1.” Commentariolum in antiquum Alcmanis poetse Laconis monumentum,“Venice, 1697, fol. reprinted in the” Galleria di Minerva,“and by Sallengre in the” Novus Thesaurus antiquitatum Romanarum,“Hague, 1718, fol. 2.” De Deo Brotonte Epistola,“reprinted in both the above collections. 3. Many letters and dissertations on Medals, &c. in various collections. 4.” Mantui, tragredia sacra musice recitanda,“Venice, 1713. 5.” Supplices, tragredia sacra," ibid. 1713; besides many lesser pieces in Greek, Latin, and Italian, in the collections.

, a learned Italian antiquary and philosopher, was born at Brescia in 1677, and died at Tivoli in 1765. He entered early into the congregation of the regular clerks, and arrived at their highest dignities. His works, all in ItaHan, were, 1. “Sopra le forze moventi.” 2. “Relazione dell' Aurora Boreale, veduta in Roma,” 1737, both inserted in “Calogerae opusculis philologis.” 3. “Dissertazione sopra certi Vasetti di creta trovati in una camera sepolcrale nella Vigna di S. Cesario, in Roma.” 4. “Dissertazione sopra un‘ antica piastra di bronzo, che si suppone un’ Orologie da sole:” these two are inserted in “Saggi de Dissertation! di Cortona,” vol. II. and III. He published an edition of Vaillant’s Numismata Imp. Romanorum, Rome, 1743, 4to, to which Khella published a supplement in 1767, Vienna. He was also author of remarks on Anastasius Bibliothecarius’s lives of the popes.

, a learned Italian, was born at Lucca, Dec. 23, 1686. He entered when sixteen into the congregation, called the Mother of God at Naples, and prosecuted his studies with success and perseverance. On his return to Lucca he acquired great reputation as a general scholar and preacher, and in 1717, taught rhetoric at Naples. The marquis cie Vasto having appointed him to be his librarian, he increased the collection with a number of curious books, of which he had an accurate knowledge, and also greatly enlarged the library of his convent. He introduced among his brethren a taste for polite literature, and t brined a colony of Arcadians. In 1739, he settled finally at Rome, where he was appointed successively vice-rector, assistant-general, and historian of his order. He was one of the most distinguished members of the society of the Arcadians at Home, and of many other societies. He died at Rome, of an apoplexy, March 23, 1752. Mazzuihelli has given a catalogue of twentyfour works published by him, and of twenty-one that remain in manuscript. Among these we^may notice, I. “La Caduta de' decemviri clella Roman a republica per la funzione della serenissima republica di Lucca,” Lucca, 1717. 2. “Canzone per le vittorie coritro il Turco del principe Eugenio,” ibid, without date, 4to. 3. The lives of several of the Arcadians, printed in the prose memoirs of that academy, under his academic name of Nicasio Poriniano. 4. Translations into the Italian of several French authors and poetical pieces in various collections. 5. We owe to him chiefly an important bibliographical work, “Catalogo della iibreria Capponi, con annotazioni in diversi luoghi,” Rome, 1747, 4to. It is the more necessary to notice this work, because the editor Giorgi, who has given very little of his own, does not once mention Berti' name. Among his unpublished works is one of the biographical kind, “Memorie degli scrittori Lucchesi,” a collection of the lives of the writers of Lucca. It being well known, as early as 1716, that this was ready for the press, Mazzuchelii, who had waited very patiently for what was likely to be of so much service to himself, at length, in 1739, took the liberty to inquire of Berti the cause of a delay so unusual. Berti answered that the difficulties he had met -with had obliged him to re- write his work, and dispose it in a new order that the names were ranged according to the families the most ancient families had been replaced by new ones in the various offices of dignity in that little republic, and the new heads and all, their relations were not very fond of being reminded that their ancestors were physicians, men of learning, and “people of that sort.”

, a learned Italian Jesuit, was born at Bologna, Feb. 6, 1582. He entered the order in 1595, and was afterwards moral, mathematical, and philosophical professor in the college of Parma. He died at Bologna, Nov. 7, 1637. To the study of the more abstruse sciences, he united a taste for the belles lettres, and especially Latin poetry. He has left, 1. “Rubenus hilarotragoedia satyra pastoralis,” Parma, 1614, 4to. This singular composition, we are informed, was often reprinted in Italy, translated into several languages, and illustrated by the comments of Denis Ronsfert. 2. “Clodoveus, sive Lodovicus, tragicum silviludium,” Parma, 1622, 16mo. 3. “Lycaeum morale, politicum, et poeticum,” Venice, 1626, 4to, a work divided into two parts, the first of which is in prose, and the second in verse, entitled “Urbanitates poeticae,” a collection of lyric poetry, which was reprinted the same year, under the title “Eutrapeliarum, seu Urbanitatum Libri IV.” Venice, 1626, 4to. It was again reprinted with the addition of the above two dramas, with the title of “Florilegium variorum poematum et dramaturn pastoralium Libri IV.” Lyons, 1633, 12mo, the ninth edition. There is a copy in the British museum, probably of the eighth edition, dated 1632, 8vo. 4. “Apiaria universae philosophise, mathematics, &c.” Bologna, 1641 1656, 3 vols. fol. At the end is an explanation of Euclid, “Euclides explicatus,” which was printed separately, Bologna, 1642, and 1645, fol. 5. “Ærarium philosophise mathematicae,” ibid. 1648, 8vo. 6. “Recreationum Mathematicarum Apiaria XII. novissima,” ibid. 1660, folio, which is a reprint of the third volume of the “Apiaria.”

, a learned Italian of the seventeenth century, was born at Lucca, May 5, 1629. In classical learning he made such progress, that, when only fifteen, he wrote notes and comments on the principal poets of the Augustan age, which drew the notice and approbation of the learned. In his sixteenth year, he went to Rome and entered the congregation of the regular clerks, called the congregation of the “Mother of God.” After completing his theological studies, he taught divinity for four years, at the end of which he was invited to Lucca to be professor of rhetoric. From the salary of this place he was enabled to maintain his aged father and family, and would not afterwards accept of any promotion from his congregation, that his studies might not be interrupted by affairs of business. He corresponded with many illustrious personages of his time, and among others with Christina, queen of Sweden, who often requested of him copies of his sermons and poems. The facility with which he wrote appears by his translation of the Eneid, which he says, in the preface, he completed in thirteen months. He died of a malignant fever, Oct. 24, 1686. He left a great many works, of which his biographer, Fabroni, has given a minute catalogue. The principal are 1. “Saeculum niveum Roma virginea et Dies niveus,” three small Latin collections on the same subject, “De nivibus Exquilinis, sive de sacris nivibus,” Rome, 1650, 1651, and

, a learned Italian, was born at Rome April 11, 1633. He quitted the study of the civil law for the practice of the apostolical chancery, and at the same time found leisure to cultivate the sciences and polite literature. It was by his care and activity that the academy of ecclesiastical history was instituted at Rome in 1671, and in 1677 he established under the auspices of the famous queen Christina, an academy of mathematics and natural history, which, by the merit of its members, soon became known throughout Europe. Ciampini died July 12, 1698, aged sixty-five. His writings are: I. “Conjecturae de perpetuo azymorum usu in ecclcsia Latina,” 1688, 4to. 2. “Vetera monumenta, in quibus praecipua Musiva opera, sacrarum profanarumque aedium structura, dissertationibus iconibusque illustrantur,” Rome, 1690, 1699, 2 vols. fol. This is an investigation of the origin of the most curious remains of the buildings belonging to ancient Rome, with explanations and plates of those monuments, 3. “Synopsis historica de sacris aedificiis a. Constantino Magno constructs,” 1693, fol. 4. An examination of the “Lives of the Popes” said to be written by Anastasius Bibliothecarius, calculated to prove that Anastasius wrote only the lives of Gregory IV. Sergius II. Leo IV. Benedict III. and Nicholas I. and that the others were written by different authors, as we have already noticed in our account of Anastasius. Ciampini published many other dissertations, both in Italian and Latin, and left a great many manuscripts, of both which Fabroni has the most complete catalogue.

, a learned Italian Jesuit, was born in Alexandria de la Paglia in 17u4. He was the second son of the count of Calamandrana, descended from an ancient and noble family, originally from Nice. He was educated in the Jesuits’ college at Rome, and in 1718 entered the society, where his progress in learning was so rapid that in the twentieth year of his age he was employed as a teacher in the college of Viterbo, and then gradually preferred to those of Fermo and Ancona, and lastly to that of Rome. Although regularly instituted in universal literature, he evinced a peculiar predilection for oratory, poetry, and history. At the age of twenty-three he firs appeared before the public in an elegant discourse on the political and literary merit of the founder of the Roman college, pope Gregory XIII. which was soon followed by an equally elegant Latin satire, “In fatuos numerorum divinatores, vulgo Caballistas.” This procured him admission into the academy of the Arcadia, by the name of Panemo Cisseo, under which he afterwards published several of his poetical works.

, a learned Italian writer, the son of a lawyer at Sienna, was born at that place in 1420, and after acquiring some knowledge of the Latin language, was put under the care of Francis Philelphus, an eminent teacher at Sienna, who at the end of two years declared he was his best scholar. Dati, however, at this time suffered not a little from the ridicule of his schoolfellows, owing to a hesitation in his speech, which he is said to have cured by the means which Demosthenes adopted, that of speaking with small pebbles in his mouth. After finishing his classical studies, he learned Hebrew of some Jews, and then entered on a course of philosophy, jurisprudence, and theology. During his application to these branches, Odo Anthony, duke of Urbino, from the very favourable account he had of him, invited him to Urbino to teach the belles lettres. Dati accordingly set out for that city in April 1442, where he was received with every mark of honour and friendship by the duke, but this prosperity was not of long duration. He had not enjoyed it above a year and a half, when the duke, whose excesses and tyranny had rendered him odious, was assassinated in a public tumult, with two of his favourites; and Dati, who was hated by the populace merely because he was respected by the duke, was obliged to take refuge for his life in a church, while the mob pillaged his house. The successor of Odo, prince Frederick, endeavoured to console Dati for this misfortune, and offered him a pension, besides recompense for all he had lost; but Dati could not be reconciled to a residence so liable to interruption, and in 1444 returned to Sienna. Here, after refusing the place of secretary of the briefs, offered to him by pope Nicholas V. he opened a school for rhetoric and the classics, and acquired so much reputation, that the cardinal of Sienna, Francis Piccolomini, formally granted him permission to lecture on the Holy Scriptures, although he was a married man; and at the same time gave him a similar licence to teach and lecture on any subject, not only in his college, but in all public places, and even in the church, where, his son informs us, he once preached during Lent. He was also much employed in pronouncing harangues on public occasions in Latin, many of which are among his works. Nor were his talents confined to literature, but were the means of advancing him to the first offices of the magistracy, and the republic of Sienna entrusted him with the negociation of various affairs of importance at Rome and elsewhere. In 1 J-57 he was appointed secretary to the republic, which he held for two years. Towards the close of his life he laid aside the study of profane authors for that of the Scriptures and ecclesiastical historians. He died of the plague at Sienna, April 6, 1478. His son Nicolas collected his works for publication, “Augustini Dathi, Senensis, opera,” of which there are two editions, that printed at Sienna, 1503, fol. and an inferior in correctness, printed at Venice, 1516. They consist of treatises on the immortality of the soul letters; three books on the history of Sienna; a history of Piombinoj on grammar, &c. &c.

, a learned Italian, was born at Venice of poor parents 1 abont 1473, and was a disciple of Politian, and educated along with Leo X. He then opened a private school, and taught the belles lettres when he was only eighteen years of age. This excited the jealousy of Sabellico, a public professor of tha same city; but they became reconciled at last, when Sabclltco, finding himself near his end, sent for Egnazio, besought his forgiveness, and entrusted to his care a work in manuscript, which Egnazio published, and pronounced the funeral oration over the ashes of Sabellico. Egnazio had now conferred upon him the right of citizenship, and was afterwards presented with ecclesiastical preferment. In 1515 he was sent with others to Milan, to compliment king Francis I. to whose honour Egnazio composed a panegyric, for which he was rewarded with a gold medal. In 1520 he was elected public professor of eloquence at Venice, in opposition to many competitors; and so high was his reputation in this department of literature, that he had frequently five hundred auditors to hear him daily, and even when towards the decline of life he was desirous of resigning his employment, and to be declared Emeritus, they refused a demand which might be so prejudicial to his school, and persuaded him to continue. He at length, however, was permitted to retire, and out of respect to him, all his emoluments were continued, and his property declared free of all taxation. He died July 4, 1553, and bequeathed his property and library to three illustrious families of Venice. His principal works are a treatise “De Romania principibus vel Csesaribus,” containing the lives of the Roman emperors from Julius Caesar to Palaeologus, and from Charlemagne to Maximilian, Cologn, 1519, and reprinted in various editions of Suetonius, with notes on that author by Egnazio; some orations and epistles, a panegyric on Francis I. king of France, in heroic verse, printed at Venice in 1540, and “De exemplis virorum illustrium,” a work compiled in the manner of Valerius Maximus, which he did not quite finish, but which was published after his death, at Venice in 1554, 4to.

, a learned Italian orator and grammarian, was born Jan. 4, 1682, at Toreglia, and studied principally at Padua, where he took his degree of doctor in divinity in 1704, and taught for some time, and afterwards was professor of philosophy for three years. He was then appointed regent of the schools. As the Greek and Latin languages were now his particular department, he bestowed much pains in providing his scholars with suitable assistance, and with that view, reviewed and published new and improved editions of the Lexicons of Calepinus, Nizolius, and Schrevelius. Some years after he was promoted to be logic professor, and in that as well as the former situation, endeavoured to introduce a more correct and useful mode of teaching, and published a work on the subject for the use of his students. In 1739, when the business of teaching metaphysics was united to that of logic, Facciolati was desirous of resigning, that he might return to his original employment; but the magistrates of Padua would by no means allow that their university should be deprived of his name, and therefore, allowing him to retain his title and salary, only wished him to take in hand the history of the university of Padua, which Papadopoli had written, and continue it down to the present time. This appears, from a deficiency of proper records, a very arduous task, yet by dint of perseverance he accomplished it in a manner, which although not perfectly satisfactory, as far as regards the “Fasti Gymnastici,” yet was entirely so in the “Syntagmata.” He wrote also some works in theology and morals, and had the ambition to be thought a poet, but his biographer Fabroni thinks that in this he was not successful. His principal excellence was as a classical scholar and critic, especially in the Latin, and his high fame procured him an invitation from the king of Portugal to superintend a college for the young nobility at Lisbon, but he excused himself on account of his advanced age. Fabroni mentions a set of china sent to him by this sovereign, which he says was a very acceptable present, and corresponded to the elegant furniture of Facciolati’s house. He had a garden in which he admitted no plants or fruittrees but what were of the most choice and rare kind, and four or five apples from Facciolati’s garden was thought no mean present. In every thing he was liberal to his friends, and most benevolent to the poor. He died in advanced age of the iliac passion, Aug. 27, 1769.

, a learned Italian, and the reviver of the Platonic philosophy in the West, was born at Florence in 1433, where his father was physician to Cosmo de Medici, and sent his son to pursue that study at the university of Bologna. Marsilius obeyed him with some reluctance, but having made a short trip from Bologna to Florence, his father took him with him on a visit to Cosmo de Medicis, which gave a new turn to his life and studies. Cosmo was so charmed by his appearance and his spirited answers, that from that moment, although Marsilius was at this time merely a youth, he destined him to be the principal of the Platonic school which he was about to form. With this view he brought him to reside with him, superintended his studies, and treated him with so much kindness, that Marsilius regarded him ever after as a second parent. He made such rapid progress in the study of philosophy, that he was only twenty-three years old, when he wrote his four books of the Institutions of Plato. Cosmo and the learned Landino, to whom he shewed the manuscript, highly applauded his labours, but advised him to learn Greek before he should publish them. This he accordingly studied with his usual ardour, and gave the first proof of the progress he had made by translating the hymns of Orpheus into Latin. Reading about the same time in Plato that heaven had bestowed music on man in order to calm his passions, he learned that science also, and amrised himself with chanting the hymns of Orpheus, accompanying himself with a lyre resembling that of the Greeks. H translated afterwards the book on the origin of the world attributed to Mercurius Trismegistus, and having presented these first-fruits of his Greek studies to his patron, Cosmo rewarded him with a grant of some land at Careggi, near Florence, and with a house in the city, and some very magnificent manuscripts of Plato and Plotinus.

, a learned Italian ecclesiastic, was born at Florence in 1713, and went through his principal courses of study in that city, and evinced so much fitness for the office, that his superiors appointed him their librarian. This society, of which he became a member in 1737, was composed of the theologians of Florence, and he made his first public display in some historical and polemical theses respecting what were called the four articles of the clergy of France, agreed upon in 1682; but his subsequent writings have consigned these to oblivion. In 1741 he published a dissertation “de primisFlorentinorum apostolis,” a work much praised by Manni and Lami. The same year appeared another “against the reveries of certain Protestants;” but what procured him more reputation, was his edition of “Virgil,” published at Florence, 1741, 4to. This is a fac-simile of the Codex Mediceus, on which Heinsius had written a learned dissertation, inserted by JBurman in the first volume of his own edition of Virgil. The original manuscript is conceived to be more ancient than the Vatican one. It appears to have formerly belonged to Rodolphus Pius, a cardinal in the time of pope Paul III. who bequeathed it to the Vatican, from which it is supposed to have been fraudulently conveyed to the Medicean.

, a learned Italian prelate and poet, was born in 1674, obtained the highest rank of episcopacy under pope Clement XI, and flattered himself that Clement XII. a friend of poetry and poets, would advance him to the dignity of cardinal. This pope continally giving him reason to hope, as constantly found excuses for disappointing him; at length one instance more of this duplicity, added to so many that had passed, completely extinguished the expectations of Fortiguerra, and this mortification so deeply affected him, that it proved fatal. When he was on his death-bed, Clement sent to him, endeavouring to comfort him once more, and revive his hopes, but the sick man turning himself about, and raising the clothes, only uttered such an explosion, as once surprised and entertained the British house of commons, and said, “that is my answer; a good journey to us both” <c Eccovi la riposta bon viaggio e per lei, e per me.“He died soon after this, which happened in 1735, being then sixty-one. His house was the general resort of wit and literature in Rome, and he wrote his ”Ricciardetto,“a burlesque poem in thirty cantos, in a very short time, to prove to a party of this kind, how easy it is for a man of imagination to write in the style of Ariosto, whom some of them had preferred to Tasso. In this poem he gave abundant liberty to his imagination, and its extravagance would be fatiguing beyond measure, were it not supported by the utmost ease of versification, and perpetual sallies of pleasantry and genius. It has been ably translated into French by a M. du Mourner, chev. of St. Louis, who died in 1768. There is also a translation of” Terence" by Fortiguerra, with the Latin text, printed at Urbino in 1736, and adorned with cuts, a very splendid book.

, a learned Italian astronomer, who lived in the sixteenth century, and was a member of the academy of Venice, is said to have invented an instrument for observing the celestial phenomena. He published several works, among which are, 1. “Delia fabrica et uso di diversi stromenti di Astronomia et Cosmografia,” Venice, 1597. 2. “Specimen Uranicum,” Venice, 1595. 3. “Ccelestium corporum et rerum ab ipsis pendentium Explicatio,” Venice, 1605. This work has been improperly ascribed to Paulus Galvicius in the catalogue of Thuanus’s library. 4. “Theatrum mundi et temporis,” Venice, 1589. 5. “De Themate erigendo, parte fortune, divisione Zodiaci, dignitatibus Planetarum et temporibus ad medicandum accommodatis.” This is printed with “Hasfurtus de cognosceudis et medeudis morbis ex corporum coelestium positione, cui argumenta et explicationem inscripsit,” Venice, 1584.

, a learned Italian, who flourished in the early part of the seventeenth century, was admitted to the degree of doctor by the Ambrosian college at Milan. He was author of a Latin translation of the “Commentary of the three Rabbins on the Proverbs of Solomon,” Milan, 1620, 4to; but his better known work is his “Thesaurus Linguae Arabicse, seu Lexicon ArabicoLatinum,” 1632, 4 vols. fol. As a recompence for the learning and industry which it exhibited, pope Urban VIII. nominated the author to an honourable post in a college at Rome; but he died in 1632, before he could enter upon its functions.

, a learned Italian, was born at Naples, Sept. 25, 1590. In compliance with his father, he first cultivated and practised the law; but afterwards followed the bent of his inclination to polite literature; applying himself diligently to acquire the Greek language, in which his education had been defective. He also learnt French and Spanish. From Naples he removed to Rome; where he was no sooner settled, than he obtained the protection of cardinal Francis Barberini, besides other prelates; he also procured the friendship of Lucas Holstenius, Leo Allatius, and other persons of rank in the republic of letters. He made use of the repose he enjoyed in this situation to put the last hand to some works which he had begun at Naples; but his continual intense application, and too great abstinence (for he made but one meal in twenty- four hours), threw him into a fever, of which he died, Sept. 30, 1636. At his death, he left to cardinal Barberini two Latin discourses, which he oad pronounced before tb^ Greek academy of the monks of St. Basil, “De Lingua Heiiemstica,” in which he discussed, with great learning, a point upon that subject, which then divided the literary world. He also left to cardinal Brancaccio his book entitled “Dell' antico Gimusio Napolitano,” which was afterwards published in 1688, 4to. It contains a description of the sports, shows, spectacles, and combats, which were formerly exhibited to the people of Naples. He was the author likewise of “Nepenthes Homeri, sen de abojendo luctu,” Ltigd. 1624, 8vo; and “Cleombrotus, sive de iis qui in aquis pereunt,” Home. 1637, 8vo.

, a learned Italian mathe. matician, was born at Milan, Nov. 17, 1702. He was educated among the Jesuits, and entered into their order in 1718. He afterwards taught the belles-lettres at Vercelli and Pavia, and was appointed rhetoric- professor in the university of Brera, in Milan. In 1733 the senate of Milan appointed him professor of mathematics at Pavia, and afterwards removed him to the same office at Milan, the duties of which he executed with reputation for twenty years. In F75J) his fame procured him an invitation to Vienna from the empress Maria Teresa, who honoured him with her esteem, and appointed him mathematician to the court, with a pension of 500 florins. What rendered him most celebrated, was the skill he displayed as superintendant and chief director of the processes for measuring the bed of the Reno and other less considerable rivers belonging to Bologna, Ferrara, and Ravenna. On this he was employed for six years, under Clement XIII.; and Clement XIV. ordered that these experiments should be continued upon Leccln’s plans. He died August 24, 1776, aged seventy-three years. Fabroni, who has given an excellent personal character of Lecchi, and celebrates his skill in hydraulics, has, contrary to his usual practice, mentioned his works only in a general way; and for the following list we have therefore been obliged to have recourse to a less accurate authority: 1. “Theoria lucis,” Milan, 1739. 2. “Arithmetica universalis Jsaaci Newton, sive de compositione, et resolutione arithmetica perpetuis commentariis illustrata et aucta,” Milan, 1752, 3 vols. 8vo. 3. “Elementa geometrise theoricx et practices,” ibid. 1753, 2 vols. 8vo. 4. “Elementa Trigonometric,” &c. ibid. 1756. 5. “De sectionibus conicis,” ibid. 1758. 6. “Idrostatica csaaiinata,” &c. ibid. 1765, 4 to. 7. “Relazione della visita alle terre dannegiate dalle acque di Bologna, Ferrara, e Ravenna,” &c. Rome, 17G7, 4to. 8. “Memorie idrostatico-storiche delle operazioni esequite nella inalveazione del Reno di Bologna, e degli altri minori torrenti per la linea di primaro al mare dalP anno 1765 al 1772,” Modena, 1775, 2 vols. 4to. 9. “Trattato de' canali navigabili,” Milan, 1776, 4to.

, a learned Italian lady, was born at Ferrara, in 1526. Her father taught the belles lettres in several cities of Italy: and his reputation as a teacher advanced him to be preceptor to the young princes of Ferrara, sons of Alphonsus I. The uncommon parts and turn for literature which he discovered in his daughter, induced him to cultivate them; and she soon made a very extraordinary progress. The princess of Ferrara was at that time studying polite literature, and a companion in the same pursuit being thought expedient, Morata was called to court; where she was heard, by the astonished Italians, to declaim in Latin, to speak Greek, to explain the paradoxes of Cicero, and to answer any questions that were put to her. Her father dying, and her mother being an invalid, she was obliged to return home, in order to tuke upon her the administration of the family affairs, and the education of three sisters and a brother, all which sho conducted with judgment and success. But some have said that the immediate cause of her removal from court, was a dislike which the duchess of Ferrara had conceived against her, by the misrepresentations of some of the courtiers. In the mean time, a young Oerman, named Grunthlcrus, who had studied physic, and taken his doctor’s degree at Ferrara, fell in love with her, and married her. Upon this she went with her hushand to Germany, and took her little brother with her, whom she carefully instructed in the Latin and Greek languages. They arrived at Augsburg in 1548; and, after a short stay there, went to Schweinfurt in Franconia, but had not been long there, before Schweinfurt was besieged and burnt. They escaped, however, with their lives, but remained in great distress until the elector Palatine invited Grunthler to be professor of physic at Heidelburg. He entered upon this new office in 1554, and be'gan to enjoy some degree of repose; when illness, occasioned by the hardships they had undergone, seized upon Morata, and proved fatal Oct. 26, 1555, before she was quite twenty-nine years old. She died in the Protestant religion, which she embraced upon her coming to Germany, and to which she resolutely adhered. Her husband and brother did not long survive her, and were interred in the same grave in the church of St. Peter, where is a Latin epitaph to their memory.

, a learned Italian antiquary, and one of the most voluminous writers of his age and country, was born at Vignola in the duchy of Modena, Oct. 21, 1672. He was educated at Modena, and his inclination leading him to the church, as a profession, he went through the regular courses of philosophy and divinity, but without neglecting polite literature, to which he was early attached. Bacchiiri recommended the ecclesiastical writers to his attention, and he at length became so devoted to general reading, as to pay little attention to his destined profession. In 1695, the knowledge of books which he had accumulated, procured him the place of one of the librarians of the celebrated Ambrosian collection at Milan; and although he had by this time received his doctor’s degree and been admitted into orders, it was now that he entered upon that course of study and research which distinguished him in future life. His first publication was vols. I and II. of his “Anecdota Latina,” printed at Milan in 1697 and 1698, 4to. In 1700 he went to Modena to take possession of the office of keeper of the archives of the house of Este, and that of librarian to the duke of Modena, his patron. Here he remained for some years, with the exception of an interruption occasioned by the war in 1702, when the French took possession of Modena. The same year that he came here he was editor of “Vita et Rime di Carlo M. Maggi,” printed at Milan, 5 vols. and in 1703 published his “Primi disegni della Republica Letteraria d'ltalia;” this was followed by “Prolegomena, &c. in librum, cui titulus, Elucidatio Augustiniange de divina gratia doctrinae,” Cologn, 1705; “Lettere ai generosi e cortesi Letterati d'ltalia,” Venice, 1705; “Delia Perfetta Poesia Italiana, &c.” 2 vols. a very ingenious dissertation on Italian poetry, which occasioned a prolonged controversy, now no longer interesting. Two editions, however, were afterwards published, with critical notes by Salvini, the one in 1724, 2 vols. 4to. and the other, which is esteemed the best, in 1748. He published also at Bologna in 1707, “Lettera in disesa del March. G. G. Orsi;” and “Introduzione alle paci private,” Modena, 1708. In the same year he first began to write tinder the assumed name of Lamindo Pritanio, “Riflessioni SDpra il buon gusto, &c.” of which a second part appeared at Naples in 1715. After this appeared, under his proper name, “Osservazioni sopra una lettera intitolata, II dominio temporale della sede Apostolica sopra la citta di Comacchio,” &c. Modena, 1708; and “Epistola ad Jo. Albert. Fabricium,” 1709. In this last year he published another of his valuable collections under the title of “Anecdota Grseca,” Gr. & Lat. 4to, which, as well as his “Anecdota Latina,” (completed in 4 vols. at Padua, 1713) were taken from Mss. in the Ambrosian library. He published also before 1715 some other works of lesser value, which, however, showed how intense his labours were, for he had accepted of some preferments in the church, the duties of which he performed with great assiduity, and wai particularly distinguished for his humane care of the poor, who indeed shared the greater part of the profits of his benefices, and the rest went to the repairs or furniture of the churches under his care.

a learned Italian scholar and poet, was born at Venice, of a patrician family, in 1483, and was instructed in Latin and Greek at Venice and Padua, under Sabellicus and Marcus Musurus. In the Latin language and composition he acquired great facility and taste, as appeared by his subsequent productions; and also cultivated Italian poetry, in his youth, with equal success. He appears to have embarked both in military and political life. He attended his friend Livanius, the Venetian general, in some of his expeditions and one of his most elegant Latin poems was a funeral elogy on that officer. His political talents recommended him t6 the office of Venetian ambassador at the court of Charles V. when the Italian States began to take the alarm at that monarch’s apparent projects of aggrandizement. He was afterwards deputed on a similar mission to Francis I.; but too great solicitude on this occasion is supposed to have been fatal to him. After travelling with great speed to France, he had scarce paid his respects to the monarch when he was seized with a fever, at Blois, and died in 1529, in his forty-sixth year.

a learned Italian, was born at Sessa, in the kingdom of Naples, in 1473. About 1500, he was appointed professor of philosophy at Padua, where he composed a treatise “De Intellectu et Duemonibus,” in which he maintained that there is but one soul, which animates all nature. This raised many opponents, and he was forced to publish his treatise with amendments in 1492, fol. reprinted 1503 and 1527. He afterwards gained so much reputation by his other works, however insignificant they may now appear, that the most celebrated universities of Italy offered him professorships with large stipends; and he had a salary of a thousand crowns in gold, when professor at Pisa, about 1520. Pope Leo X. had such a value for Niphus, that he made him count palatine, permitted him to quarter his arms with those of the Medici family, and granted him power to create masters of arts, bachelors, licentiates, doctors of divinity, civil and canon law, to legitimate bastards, and to ennoble three persons. The letters patent which conveyed these singular privileges, are dated June 15, 1521. Niphus was a philosopher in theory only, being remarkable even in old age for levity and intrigue. He also loved high living; and such were the charms of his conversation, that he had easy access to the nobility and ladies of rank. The year in which he died is not exactly known, but it is certain that he was living in 1545, and dead in 1550, and that he was above seventy at the time of his death. He left Commentaries in Latin on Aristotle and Averroes, 14 vols. fol.; some smaller works on subjects of morality and politics, Paris, 1645, 4to a treatise “on the Immortality of the Soul,” against Pomponatius, Venice, 1518, fol. “De amore, de pulchro, Veneris et Cupidinis venales,” Leydae, 1641, 16to, &c.

, a learned Italian, was born at Verona, of a family that had produced several men of letters about the beginning of the sixteenth century. In early life he became introduced to John-Matthew Giberti, bishop of Verona, at whose house he had an opportunity of profiting by the conversation of various learned men. The Greek appears to have been his favourite study, and his fame was established by his able translations from that language. In September 1545, he was employed, with two other persons of consequence at Verona, to furnish provisions for that city, at a time when a scarcity was apprehended; but not long after we find him at the council of Trent, where he delivered an harangue that was published at the end of his “Apostolicae Institutiones.” In 1554, he was one of the ambassadors deputed by the city of Verona to compliment the doge of Venice on his accession; and on this occasion he was created a knight of that republic, On his return home, he was appointed president of the jurisdiction of silk-manufacturers, a corporation which was then established. He enjoyed the favour and esteem of many Italian princes, but of none more than of Guy Ubaldi, duke of Urbano, whom he accompanied to Rome, and was made commander of the ecclesiastical troops by pope Julius III. Here he had begun a translation of Ocellus Lucanus, when he was seized with a disorder which interrupted his studies and his attendance at court; but he was enabled to complete his translation in 1558, and it was printed the year following, in which year he died.

, a learned Italian monk, was born at Verona, in 1594. He entered among the Theatins when he was about eighteen years of age, and after passing his noviciate at Venice, took the vows in 1614. He afterwards studied philosophy and divinity, was ordained priest in 1621, and exercised the various functions of his office and order, applying at his leisure hours to study, and writing the many works enumerated by his biographers. The principal of these are, “Comment, in quatuor Evangel, et Acta Apostol.” in 4 vols. folio; “Adagia Sanctorum Patrum,” in 2 vols. folio; “Eiectra Sacra, in quibus qua ex Latino, Grseco, Hebraico, et Chaldaico fonte, qua ex antiquis Hebraeorum, Persarum, GnecoruiD, Romanorum, aliarumque Gentium ritibus, qusedam divinse Scripturae loca noviter explicantur et illustrantur,” in 3 vols. folio. He died at Verona Jan. 14, 1650, aged fifty-six.

, a learned Italian antiquary, honorary chamberlain to Clement the XHIth, and perpetual secretary of the academy of Pesaro, in the Marche of Ancona, was born in that city on the 17th of June, 1708, of an ancient and illustrious family. His lively and active disposition, and an uncommon thirst for information, gave an early promise of his subsequent progress in the career of literature. After receiving at home the rudiments of a learned education, he went through the usual studies of polite literature, at the college of noblemen at Bologna. He then applied himself to the study of the civil and canon law at the university of Pisa, under the tuition of the illustrious civilian and literator Averani, until 1727, when he went to Rome in order to practise at the bar.

, a learned Italian Jesuit, was born at Florence in 1554, and descended from a noble family. He entered the society in 1572, where he was distinguished by the purity of his morals, and his general proficiency in literature, particularly in the Latin tongue. Having finished his studies, he took his master’s degree with great credit, and for some time was Latin tutor, until his tender health rendered the labours of teaching insupportable, and he was preferred to the easier offices of rector of the college at Nola, and afterwards president of the seminary for novices at Naples. In 1598 he was inviced to Rome, where he undertook to draw up a history of the Jesuits; but died in 1606, when he had completed only the first volume of that work, which was published at Rome in 1615, folio, under the title of “Historiae Societatis Jesu Pars prima, sive Ignatius,” and continued by fathers Francis Sacchini, Everard, Jouvency, and Cordara, the last of whom published his continuation in 1750. It makes in all 7 vols. bound usually in six, but is rarely found complete. Orlandini was also the author of “Anmice Litterae Societatis Jesu,” for the years 1583, 1584, and 1586 and also of “Vita Petri Fabri Soc. Jes.” &c.

, a learned Italian cardinal, descended from an illustrious family, was born at Bologna, Oct. 4, 1524. He was intended for the profession of the civil and canon law, in which some of his family had acquired fame, and he made great progress in that and other studies. His talents very early procured him a canonry of Bologna; after which he was appointed professor of civil law, and obtained the title of the new Alciatus from his emulating the judgment and taste of that learned writer. Some business requiring his presence at Rome, he was appointed by ca'rdinal Alexander Farnese, who had been his fellow-student at Bologna, and who was then perpetual legate of Avignon, governor of Vaisson, in the county of Venaissin, but hearing of the death of his mother, he made that a pretence for declining the office, and therefore returned to his professorship at Bologna. The Farnese family were, however, determined to serve him in spite of his modesty, and in 1557 obtained for him the post of auditor of the rota. When Pope Pius IV. opened the council of Trent, Paleotti was made proctor and counsellor to his legates, who, in truth, did nothing of importance without his advice. Of this council Paleotti wrote a history, which still remains in ms. and of which Pallavicini is said to have availed himself in his history. After this council broke up he resumed his functions at Rome, where in 1565 he was raised to the dignity of the purple by Pius IV. and by Pius V. he was created bishop of Bologna, but the see upon this occasion was erected into an archbishopric to do honour both to Paleotti and his native country. Being a conscientious man, he was always so assiduous in the duties of his diocese, that it was with the greatest reluctance the popes summoned him to attend the consistories and other business at Rome. He died at Rome, July 23, 1597, aged seventy-three. He was author of several works of considerable merit, on subjects in antiquities, jurisprudence, and morals. Of these the most considerable are the following: “Archiepiscopale Bonnoniense” “De imagiriibus Sacris, et Profanis,” 1582, 4to, in Italian; and in Latin, 1594; “De Sacri Consistorii Consultationibus” “De Nothis, Spuriisque Filiis,” Francfort, 1573, 8vo; “De Bono Senectutis” Pastoral Letters, &c.

, a learned Italian antiquary and philologer, was born at Gubio in the duchy of Urbino, in Nov. 1694. His father, who was a physician at Todi, designed him for the study of the law, which accordingly he followed, but pursued with it that of antiquities, for which he had a strong genius. After residing four years at Rome he returned to Todi, and began to collect the antiquities of that city and its environs. In 1726 he turned his attention chiefly to the Etruscan antiquities, and collected a vast number of lamps, which he arranged in classes. Having lost his wife in 1738, after twelve years of happy union, he became an ecclesiastic, and was apostolic prothonotary, and vicar-general of Pesaro. In February 1780, he was overturned in his carriage, and died in consequence of the fall. His works are, 1. “Lucernae fictiles Musei Passerii,” a splendid 4>ook in 3 vols. folio, He had drawn up a fourth, on the lamps of the Christians, but this has not been published. These came out in 1739, 1743, and 1751. 2. “Lettere Roncagliesi;” Letters from his villa at Roncaglia, on Etruscan antiquities, 1739. There were seventeen letters, and a continuation was afterwards published. 3. “In Thorns? Dempsteri Libros de Etruria regali Paralipomena, quibus tabula? eidem operi additsG illustrantur. Accedunt dissertatio de re numaria Etruscorum; de nominibus Etruscorum; et notoe in tabulas Eugabinas, auctore I. Baptista Passerio,” Lucafc, 1767, folio. 4. 4< Picturae Etruscorum in vasculis, nunc primum in unum collectae, explicationibus et dissertationibus illustrate," Romae, 1767, 3 vols. folio. 5. Many learned dissertations published in several collections; as, for example, five in the third volume of Gori’s Museum Etruscum; De Genip domestico, de Ara sepulchrali, de funeribus Etruscorum, de Velciorum familia, de Architectura Etrusca. These are all full of the most recondite learning.

, a learned Italian, was born in 1398, at Tolentino, in the march of Ancona. He studied at Padua, where he made such progress, that at eighteen he became professor of eloquence. The fame of his talents having gained him an invitation to Venice, he was honoured with the rank of citizen, and was sent by the republic as secretary to their embassy at Constantinople in 1419, and he took advantage of this employment to make himself master of Greek. He there married Theodora, daughter of the learned Emmanuel Chrysoloras, about 1419. Becoming at length known to the emperor John Palaeologus, he was sept on an embassy to Sigismund emperor of Germany, to implore his aid against the Turks. After this he taught at Venice, Florence, Siena, Bologna, and Milan, with astonishing success. He was not, however, without his defects. He wished to reign alone in the republic of letters, and could not bear contradiction without being extremely irritated. He would dispute on the most trivial points; and once wagered 100 crowns, on some minute question of grammar, against the beard of a Greek philosopher named Timotheus. Having won, no solicitation could prevail upon him to remit the fine, and he most unmercifully shaved his antagonist, in spite of very ample offers. To this presumptuous turn he joined a prodigality and a restlessness, which filled his life with uneasiness. Menage has accused him of destroying a copy of Cicero “De Gloria,” the only one then existing, after having transfused the greater part of it into a treatise of his own; but it does not appear that this accusation was just. Other learned men have been also suspected; but all that is certain is, that the work was extant in the time of Petrarch, who mentions having a copy of it, which has since been utterly lost. Philelphus died at Florence July 31, 1481, being then 83. His works consist of odes, dialogues, orations, &c. of which the following editions are in most request: 1. “Orationes et nonnulla alia opera, Plutarchi apophthegmata, ab eodem e Graeco in Latinum con versa,” 4to. This is a very rare edition, and contains a letter from Philelphus to Maria Sforza, dated from Milan, 1481. There are reprints at Venice in 1482, 1491, 1492, &c. but of little value. 2. “Odae,” Brix. 1497, 4to. 3. “Satyrarum Hecatosticon prima decas (decades decem),” Milan, 1476, small folio, of uncommon rarity. 4. “Satyrarum decades deceni,” Venice, 1502, 4to. 5. “Satyrae centum distinctae decem decadibus Catholicis passim refertoe sententiis: praemissa authoris vita ab Egid. Perrino Campano, &c.” Paris, 1508. De Bure says, that the life announced in the title of this edition is not to be found in such copies as he has seen. 6. “Epistolarum familiarum libri triginta septem,” Venice, 1502, folio. 7. “Fabulae,” Venice, 1480, 4to. In his letters are innumerable proofs of his arrogant and suspicious temper. His works, collected, were published at Basle in 1739.

, so called, a learned Italian, and author of a “History of the Popes,” was born in 1421 at Piadena, in Latin Platina, a village between Cremona and Mantua; whence he took the name by which he is generally known. He first embraced a military life, which he followed for a considerable time but afterwards devoted himself to literature, and made a considerable progress in it. He went to Rome under Calixtus III. who was made pope in 1455 and procuring an introduction to cardinal Bessarion, he obtained some small benefices of pope Pius II. who succeeded Calixtus in 1458, and afterwards was appointed to an office which Pius II. created, called the college of apostolical abbreviators. But when Paul II. sue-‘ ceeded Pius in 1464, Platina’ s affairs took a very unfavourable turn. Paul hated him because he was the favourite of fris predecessor Pius, and removed all the abbreviators from their employments, by abolishing their places, notwithstanding some had purchased them with great sums of money. On this Platina ventured to complain to the pope, and most humbly besought him to order their cause to be judged by the auditors of the Rota. The pope was offended at the liberty, and gave him a very haughty repulse “Is it thus,” said he, looking at him sternly, “is it thus, that you summon us before your judges, as if you knew riot that all laws were centered in our breast Such is our decree they shall all go hence, whithersoever they please I am pope, and have a right to ratify or cancel the acts of others at pleasure.” These abbreviators, thus divested of their employments, used their utmost endeavours, for some days, to obtain audience of the pope, but were repulsed with contempt. Upon this, Platina wrote to him in bolder language “If you had a right to dispossess us, without a hearing, of the employments we lawfully purchased; we, on the other side, may surely be permitted to complain of the injustice we suffer, and the ignominy with which we are branded. As you have repulsed us so contumeliousjy, we will go to all the courts of princes, and intreat them to call a council; whose principal business shall be, to oblige you to shew cause, why you have divested us of our lawful possessions.” This letter being considered as an act of rebellion, the writer was imprisoned, and endured great hardships. At the end of four months he had his liberty, with orders not to leave Rome, and continued in quiet for some time; but afterwards, being suspected of a plot, was again imprisoned, and, with many others, put to the rack. The plot being found imaginary, the charge was turned to heresy, which also came to nothing; and Platina was set at liberty some time after. The pope then flattered him with a prospect of preferment, but died before he could perform his promises, if ever he meant to do so. On the accession, however, of Sixtus IV. to the pontificate, he recompensed Platina in some measure by appointing him in 1475, keeper of the Vatican library, which was established by this pope. It was a place of moderate income then, but was highly acceptable to Platina, who enjoyed it with great contentment until 1481, when he was snatched away by the plague. He bequeathed to Pomponius Laetus the house which he built on the Mons Quirinalis, with the laurel grove, out of which the poetical crowns were taken. He was the author of several works, the most considerable of which is, “De Vitis ac Gestis Summorum Pontificum” or, History of the Popes from St. Peter to Sixtus IV. to whom he dedicated it. This work is written with an elegance of style, and discovers powers of research and discrimination which were then unknown in biographical works. He seems always desirous of stating the truth, and does this with as much boldness as could be expected in that age. The best proof of this, perhaps, is that all the editions after 1500 were mutilated by the licensers of the press. The Account he gives of his sufferings under Paul II. has been objected to him as a breach of the impartiality to be observed by a historian but it was at the same time no inconsiderable proof of his courage. This work was first printed at Venice in 1479, folio, and reprinted once or twice before 1500. Platina wrote also, 2. “A History of Mantua,” in Latin, which was first published by Lambecius, with notes, at Vienna, 1675, in 4to. 3. “De Naturis rerum.” 4. “Epistolae ad diversos.” 5. “De honesta voluptate et valetutiine.” 6. “De falso et vero bono.” 7. “Contra amores.” 8. “De vera nobilitate.” 9. “De optimo cive.” 10.“Panegyricus in Bessarionem.” 11. “Oratio ad Paulum II.” 12. “De pace Italiae componenda et bello Turcico indicendo.” 13. “De flosculis lingua? Latin.” Sannazarius wrote an humorous epigram on the treatise “de honesta voluptate,” including directions for the kitchen, de Obsoniis, which Mr. Gresswell has. thus translated:

, a learned Italian of the sixteenth century, was born at Casliglione Aretino. While resident at Venice in 1559, he assisted in making a collection of all the Greek historians, or annalists, from whose works he formed the “Collana Storica Graeca;” or GreekHistorical Necklace, divided into twelve rings, to which were added the jewels, or minor authors, serving to illustrate the greater. Porcacchi was likewise editor or translator of Pomponius Mela, Quintus Curtius, and vftrfptts other authors, and published some original works in poetry, history, antiquities and geography. The most valued of these is his “Funeral i antichi di diversi populi, &c.” Venice, 1574, 4to, the plates of which are Very fine. He died in 1585.

, by Scaliger named the Varro of the age, was a learned Italian, whose proper name was Ludovico Celio Richeri. He was born at Rovigo' about 1450, and studied at Ferrara and Padua, and France. On his return to Italy, he filled the office of public professor at Rovigo for some years, but in 1503 opened a school at Vicenza, where he continued till 1508, when he was in* vited to Ferrara by duke Alfonzo I. In the year 1515, Francis I. nominated him to the chair of Greek and Latin eloquence in Milan, as successor to Demetrius Chalcondylas. In 1521 he returned to Padua, and in 1523 he was deputed from his native place to Venice, to congratulate the new doge. In 1525 he died of grief, on account of the defeat and capture of Francis at the battle of Pavia. His principal work is entitled “Antiques Lectiones,” of which he published sixteen books at Venice, in 1516, fol. and fourteen more were added after his death in the editions of Basil, 1566, and Francforr, 1666. Vossius expresses his wonder, and even indignation, that so learned a miscellany was so little known.

, a learned Italian ecclesiastic, was born at Rome in 1619. He was created a cardinal in 1681, but did not long enjoy that dignity, as he died in 1633, at the age of sixty-four. He was well skilled in the pure mathematical sciences, and published at Rome, in 4to, “Exercitatio Geometrica,” a small tract, which was reprinted at London, and annexed to Mercator’s “Logarithmotechnia,” chiefly on account of the excellency of the argument “de maximis et minimis,” or the doctrine of limits; where the author shows a deep judgment in exhibiting the means of reducing that lately discovered doctrine to pure geometry.

, a learned Italian astronomer, philosopher, and mathematician, was born in 1598, at Ferrara, a city in Italy, in the dominions of the pope. At sixteen years of age he was admitted into the society of the Jesuits, and the progress he made in every branch of literature and science was surprising. He was first appointed to teach rhetoric, poetry, philosophy, and scholastic divinity, in the Jesuits’ colleges at Parma and Bologna; yet applied himself in the mean time to making observations in geography, chronology, and astronomy. This was his natural bent, and at length he obtained leave from his superiors to quit all other employment, that he might devote himself entirely to those sciences.

, a learned Italian ecclesiastical historian of the seventeenth century, was a native of Treviso, and was brought up in the congregation of the oratory at Rome, of which Baronius had been a member. After the death of that cardinal, Rinaldi wrote a continuation of his 46 Ecclesiastical Annals," from 1198, where Baronius left off, to 1564, and with no inferiority to the preceding volumes. It consists often large volumes in folio, published at Rome at different periods, from 1646 to 1677. Rinaldi also was the author of a sufficiently copious abridgment, in Italian, of the whole annals, compiled both by Baronius and himself.

, a learned Italian, was a native of Rocca Contrata, a town in the marche of Ancona, and horn in 1545. When young he was sent to Camerino, where, in 1552, he took the habit among the hermits of St. Augustine, and remained so long here that some have given him the surname of Camero. He afterwards continued his studies at Rome, Venice, Perusia, and Padua. He received the degree of doctor of divinity at the university of Padua, in Sept. 1577, and acquired much celebrity as a preacher at Venice, and as a teacher of the belles lettres to the juniors of his order. In 1579 Fivizani, the vicargeneral of the Augustines, invited him to Rome to be iiis secretary, and pope Sixtus V. placed him in the Vatican in 1585, and confided to his superintendance those editions of the Bible, the councils, and the fathers, which issued from the apostolical press during his pontificate. In 1595, pope Clement VIII. made him apostolical sacristan in the room of Fivizani, now deceased, and titular bishop of Tagaste in Numidia. He collected a very large and excellent library, which he presented in his life-time, by a deed of gift, dated Oct. 23, 1614, to the Augustinian monastery at Rome; but upon the express condition, that it should be always open for the benefit of the public. Rocca died April 8, 1620, at the age of seventy-five. Rocca had read much, but was either deficient in, or seldom exercised his judgment, as appears by the most of his works. Among these may be mentioned his “Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana,” which Fabricius calls a very trifling work “Bibliotheca Theologica et Scripturalis” “Notae in Novum Testamentum;” “De Patientia” “De Cometis” “Observationes in VI Libros Elegantiarum Laur. Valise;” “Observationes de Lingua Latina” and other pieces which were collected together, and printed in 1719, 2 vols. folio. From his manuscripts was aiso published, in 1745, a very curious collection, entitled “Thesaurus Pontificiarum Antiquitatum, necnon Rituurn ac Ceremoniarum,” in 2 vols. folio.

, a learned Italian, was born at Rome in 1687. He was the son of an architect, and a pupil of the celebrated Gravina, who inspired him with a taste for learning and poetry. An intelligent and learned English lord, we believe lord Burlington, having brought Jaini to London, introduced him to the female branches of the royal family as their master in the Tuscan language, and he remained in England until the death of queen Caroline, who patronized him. In 1729 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society, by the title of Dr. Paul Antonio Rolli. He returned to Italy in 1747, where he died in 1767, in the eightieth year of his age, leaving behind him a very curious collection in natural history, &c. and a valuable and well-chosen library. His principal works first appeared in London in 1735, 8vo, consisting of odes in blank verse, elegies, songs, &c. after the manner of Catullus. There is likewise by him, a collection of epigrams, of which there are a few good, printed at Florence in 1776, 8vo, and preceded by his life by the abbe Fondini. Rolli bore the character of one of the best Italian poets of his day, and during his stay in London superintended editions of several authors of his own country. The principal of these were the satires of Ariosto, the burlesque works of Berni, Varchi, &c. 2 vols. 8vo the “Decameron” of Boccaccio, 1727, 4to and folio, from the valuable edition of 1527; and lastly, of the elegant “Lucretius” of Marchetti (see Marchetti), which, after the manuscript was revised, was printed at London in 1717. There are likewise by Rolli, translations into Italian verse of Milton’s “Paradise Lost,” 1735, folio, and of “Anacreon,” 1739, 8vo.

, a learned Italian, who assumed and is generally known by the name of Janus Njcius Erythræus, was born at Rome, of a noble, but not opulent family, about 1577. He studied in the college of the Jesuits, and before he was nineteen years of age had made such progress in the law, that he was permitted to give lessons on the subject. These were so much admired by a magistrate of eminence, that he appointed Rossi his auditor; but as this gentleman died the same year, all his hopes from his patronage were disappointed. The law, however, still holding out the prospect of those honours to which he aspired, he omitted no opportunity of increasing his knowledge under the direction of Lepidus Piccolomini, one of the most famous lawyers of his time, and who advised him to turn pleader; but Piccolomini dying soon after, Rossi was so discouraged by this second disappointment that, as he had devoted himself to the study of the law rather from ambition than liking, he now determined to employ his time in the study of the belles lettres. With this view he became a member of the academy of the Umoristi, where he read several of his compositions, the style of which was so much admired by Marcel Vestri, secretary of the briefs to pope Paul V., that he invited Rossi to his house, to assist in drawing up the briefs, and with a view that he should be his successor in case of himself rising to higher preferment. Rossi soon made himself useful in this office, but unfortunately Vestri died in about eight months, and Rossi was again left unemployed, Many expedients he tried, and made many applications, but without success, and his only consolation, we are told, he derived from his vanity, which suggested to him that persons in office would not employ him, from a consciousness of their inferiority to him, and a jealousy of his supplanting them. It appears, however, that a certain satirical and arrogant temper was more to blame; for this was what he could not easily repress.

, a learned Italian, was born at Florence in 1654, where he afterwards became professor, of Greek, which he understood critically. He has the credit of having contributed much to the promotion of good taste in Italy, chiefly by his translations, which comprize the Iliad and Odyssey of Homer; Hesiod Theocritus; Anacreon and many of the minor poets and epigrammatists: the Clouds and Plutus of Aristophanes parts of Horace and Ovid; Persius part of the Book of Job and the Lamentations; Boileau’s“Art Poetique;” Addison’s “Cato” and “Letters from Italy,” and other pieces. All these are literally translated, which obliged him to introduce into the Tuscan language a multitude of new compound terms. He wrote also “Sonnets and other original Poems,” 4to; “Tuscan prose,” 1715, 2 vols. 4to “A hundred Academical Discourses” “A funeral Oration for Antonio Magliabecchi,” and other works. Jie died in 1729. The Salvinia, in botany, was so named in compliment to him, but of his botanical talents we have no information. Salvini also belonged to the academy of De la Crusca, and was particularly instrumental in the completion of that cer lebrated Dictionary. He had a younger brother, a canon of Florence, who died at an advanced age in 1751. He was also a distinguished man of letters, and published a work, entitled “Fasti cqnsolari delfe' Academia Fiorentina,” and the Lives of Magalotti and Migliorucci.

, a learned Italian prelate, was born at Polignano in 1649, and studied principally at Naples. He commenced his career as an author about 1668, and published some pieces connected with grammar and polite literature. In 1675, after he had been admitted to priest’s orders, pope Clement X. made him honorary prothonotary; and in 1679, he was appointed grand vicar to cardinal Orsini, and obtained other preferment in the church. He died in 1724. He was the author of above thirty works, enumerated by Niceron and Moreri, of which we may mention, “Lettere ecclesiastiche,” in 9 vols. 4to “II Clero secolare nel suo Splendore, overo della vita commune clericale” “Bestiarum Schola ad Homines erudiendos ab ipsa rerum natura provide instituta, &c. decem et centum Lectionibus explicata;” “Memorie Cronologiche de* Vescovi et Arcivescovi di Benevento, con la serie de Duchi e Principi Longobardi nella stessa citta;” and the lives of Baptista Porta, Boldoni, &c. He sometimes wrote under assumed names, as Solomon Lipper, Esopus Primnellius, &c.

, a learned Italian, was of an ancient family of Modena, and born there in 1524. His father designed him for a physician, and sent him to Bologna with that view; but he soon abandoned this pursuit, and studied the Greek and Latin classics, which was more agreeable to his taste. He taught Greek first at Venice, then at Padua, and lastly at Bologna. He had some literary disputes with Robortellius and Gruchius upon Roman antiquities, in which he was exceedingly well versed. Of his numerous works, the most esteemed are, “De Republica Hebrseorum” “De Republica Atheniensium;” “Historia de Occidentali Imperio;” and “De regno Italize.” Lipsius, Casaubon, Turnebus, and all the learned, speak of him in terms of the profoundest respect; and he was unquestionably one of the first classical antiquaries of his time, and a man of great judgment as well as learning, very correct and deep in researches, and of most unwearied diligence. He died in 1585, aged sixty. His works were all collected and printed at Milan in 1733 and 1734: they make six volumes in folio. His “Fasti Consulares” were printed with the Oxford Livy in 1800.

, a learned Italian meteorologist, was born in 1719, at Pianez^a, in Vincenza, and educated at Padua, where he took a degree as doctor of theology, but was principally attached to mathematical studies. He obtained in the mean time some ecclesiastical preferment, and in 1762 was appointed professor of astronomy and meteorology in the university of Padua, where his talents were well known. Here he procured an observatory to be built, which was completed in 1774, and furnished with some instruments from England. About three years after, he was elected an honorary member of our royal society, and had contributed some articles to the Philosophical Transactions. He was first known throughout Europe by an ingenious work on the influence of the heavenly bodies on the weather and atmosphere, “Delia vera Influenza,” &c. 1770, 4to, and became afterwards yet more known by his “Meteorological Journal,” which he began in 1773, and continued till his death. His reputation was afterwards extended by a variety of publications, separate, or in the literary Journals, on meteorological subjects, of which Fabroni has given a large list. He died in Nov. 1797, in the seventy-ninth year of his age, and his private character is said to have been no less estimable than his public.

, a learned Italian scholar, was born at Venice, of an Albanian family, in 1456. He studied Greek at Florence, and made such progress, that be became able to explain Aristotle in the original language. For this purpose he was invited to Padua in 1497. He was brought up to the church, and taught the learned languages at Venice, but in 1520 he returned to Padua, where he gave instructions to cardinal Pole. He was much attached to the Platonic philosophy, and passed his time remote from worldly pursuits, and solely intent upon his studies. Bembo, Jovius, and others, speak of him with great esteem, and Erasmus mentions him with honour, as a man equally respectable for the purity of his morals and the profundity of his erudition. He died in 1531, and was buried in the church of St. Francis, at Padua. He translated several of the works of Aristotle, Proclus’s Commentary on the Timaeus of Plato, and other treatises of the ancient philosophers. He wrote ten dialogues on subjects, philosophical and moral, a work “De Varia Historia,” and some Italian poems.

, a learned Italian, was born at Rubiera in 1446. He gave himself the name of Codrus, a poor poet in Juvenal, in reply to a speech made to him. After a very learned education, he was invited to Forli, to teach the languages, and while here met with an accident which appears to have affected his brain. He had an apartment in the palace, but his room was so very dark, that he was forced to use a candle in the day-time; and one day, going abroad without putting it out, his library was set on fire, and some papers which he had prepared for the press were burned. The instant he was informed of this, he ran furiously to the palace, and vented his rage in the most blasphemous imprecations, after which he rushed from the city, and passed the whole day in a wood in the vicinity, without nourishment. He returned next day, and shut himself up for six months in the house of an artificer. After a residence of about thirteen years at Forli, he was invited to Bologna, where he was appointed professor of grammar and eloquence, and where he passed the remainder of his days with credit. He died at Bologna in 1500. His works, printed at Basil in 15*0, consist of speeches, letters, and poems: to which is prefixed an account of his life. He appears to have been much esteemed by his learned contemporaries, but modern critics seem less disposed to rank him among the ornaments of his age.