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us his own Thoughts, or thofe of other Authors, ince he hardly knows it himself? How can I be fure, that his Secretary was always in good Hu mour; and that having fomething elfe in his Head, the Holy Scripture did not fuffer by his Impatience To tell you the Truth, if it be fo, I can no more rely upon St. Jerome, than upon St. Auguftin; and I am not very much furprised, that upon fome Occafions, when the Venerable Words, Father and Saint, are not fufficiently minded, one fhould be apt to fpeak fomewhat freely of thofe great Doctors of the Church.

You also mention the Councils in your Letter, and are of Opinion, that thofe Gentlemen did not exprefs a due Refpect for them. I must inform you of what they fay upon that Head; for they have fo great an Esteem for you, that they would be very forry you fhould think they have advanced any Thing gafhly. They fay, That if Councils were, (as they fhould be,) free Affemblies, willing to confult only the Holy Scripture and Reason, inftead of Paffions, Prejudices, and Worldly Interefts, it would be the beft way to decide Controverfies. But they maintain at the fame Time, that ever fince the Council of Ferufalem, the contrary plainly appeared by a conftant Experience. Nay, I have been fomewhat offended with a Paffage, which they afcribe to St. Gregory Nazianzen, who yet was, as you know much better than I do, a very Orthodox Father. He faid, That no Ecclefiaftical Affembly ever had a good Succefs; nay, he refolved to affift no more in thofe Affemblies of Cranes and Geefe, violently fer one against another. He spoke thofe Words upon Occafion of the Second Oecumenical Council; and he compares it with a Tavern, and other Places, which Modefty does not allow one to name. Our Divines

Greg. Nazianz. de Vita fua.

Divines never went fo far in their Reflexions upon the Councils. They admit the Four Oecumenical Councils, not by Reason of their Authority, which they don't take to be infallible, but becaufe their Decifions appear to them agreeable to the Holy Scripture. Theodoret had no great Opinion of the Coun cil of Nice, fince he alledged it, to prove, that no Good could be expected from Councils, unless God overthrew the Devices of the Devil. Things were managed with fo much Heat and Precipitati on in the Council of Ephefis, that it fhould be looked upon rather like a Cut-Throat, than an EcᎬ clefiaftical Affembly. The Second Council of Ephefus revoked what had been done in the Firft, and were in their Turn treated in the fame manner by the Council of Chalcedon; which can be no great Sign of Infallibility.

But to conclude this long Difcourfe, confifting of what thofe Gentlemen. told me, I was very much furprised to hear from them, that one, of your Writers, viz. Father Halloix, a Jefuit of Liege, fpeaking of the Vth Oecumenical Council, in his Apology for Origen, made bold to affirm, That Juftinian, being infpired by the Devil, was the Author and Favourer of that pernicious Council, which met against the Pope's Will. He adds, That it were better fuch a Council had never been, and that no Footstep of it should remain. Father Halloix goes on,' and fays, The VIth and VIIth Oecumenical Councils were led into Error by the Vth, as well as Pope Pelagius II. and Pope Gregory the Great, who approved it.

But what will you think of me, Sir, for venturing upon the Ecclefiaftical Ocean? I have done it, trufting to my Pilots: If I have been miffed, I

hope

Theodor, Ep. CXII. p. 982.

hope you will be fo good a Friend, as to bring me back again into the right Way. To conclude, I pray God to keep you in Health, that you may fome Time or other return to Berlin, where you will al ways find Men well difpofed to enquire after Truth, in fuch a manner at you rightly propofe at the End of your Letter, &c.

ARTICLE XXXIX.

A FURTHER Account of Dr. BENTLEY'S Edition of HORACE, (See Above Art. XXXIV.)

I Proceed to give an Account of fome Curious and Important Obfervations, which Dr. Bentley has inferted at the End of his Preface. Tanaquillus Faber, Mr. Dacier, and Mr. Maffon pretend that Horace writ Odes, Epodes, Satyrs, and Epiftles promifcuously; and publish'd each of thofe Pieces by itself. Dr. Bentley denies those two things, and does not fcruple to affirm, that the three Authors juft now mentioned, have been very unsuccessful in their Attempt: Quorum equidem acumen (lays he) & eruditionem in partibus laudo; in operis vero fumma totoque conftituendo rem eos infeliciter admodum geffiffe cenfeo.

Our Author obferves, in the firft Place, that all the Ancient Poets, who compofed fuch Poems, never ufed to put them out one after another, but only in whole and complete Books. Such was the Method of Catullus, as it appears from his First Epigram, Cui

deno

dono lepidum novum LIBELLUM. The fame was practifed by Tibullus *, and Propertius t. Thus Virgil publifh'd his Bucolicks all at once, as one may fee from these Words, Extremum hunc, Arethusa, mihi concede laborem; and Ovid did the fame with refpect to his Books de Amoribus, de Triftibus, and de Ponto, as he himself witneffes. In like manner Perfius pur out his Satyrs, Phedrus and Avienus their Fables, Aufonius, Prudentius, Sidonius, and Venantius their Poems all at once, as it plainly appears from their Prologues.

Secondly, Dr. Bentley obferves, that Horace himself tells us, he published a whole Book at one Time. The First Book of his Odes came out all at once, as it appears from the Prologue: The Second and the Third were also published in the fame manner, as one may fee by the Epilogues; and likewise the Epodes, as thefe Words in the XIVth plainly prove it: Inceptos olim promiffum Carmen Fambos Ad umbilicum adducere. The First Book of Satyrs came out alfo all at once, as the last Verse fhews, I puer, atque meo citus hac fubfcribe LIBELLO. The fame may be faid of the Second Book of Satyrs, as it appears from the Prologue; and of the First Book of Epiftles, as it appears from the Prologue and Epilogue. As for what concerns the Fourth Book of Odes, and the Second Book of Epiftles, 'tis certain from the Teftimony of Suetonius, that they came our a long Time (longo intervallo) after the reft.

The Learned Author having premised thefe Obfervations, proceeds to fhew when, and in what order, the feveral Books of Horace came out. That Poet, fays he, published,

ift.

Vid. Eleg. I. Lib. III. v. 7. & 17.

† Vid. Eleg. I. Lib, II. III. & IV. & Lib. II. Eleg X. v. 25. & XIX. v. 59.

1ft The First Book of Satyrs, and compofed it in the XXVIth, XXVIIth, and XXVIIIth Years of his Age.

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2dly, The Second Book of Satyrs, likewife in Three Years, viz. XXXIft, XXXIId, XXXIIId.

3dly, His Epodes in Two Years, viz. the XXXIVth and XXXVth.

4thly, The First Book of Odes, in Three Years, XXXVI, XXXVII, XXXVIII.

5thly, The Second Book of Odes, in Two Years, XL, XLI.

6thly, The Third Book of Odes, likewife in Two Years, XLII, XLIII.

7thly, The First Book of Epiftles, in Two Years, XLVI, XLVII.

8thly, The Fourth Book of Odes, and the Secular Poem, in Three Years, XLIX, L, LI.

9thly, His Art of Poetry, and the Second Book of Epiftles; but 'tis not known at what Age he com posed them.

L

Our Author adds, that all the Poems of Horace ought to be placed in the feveral Times above-mentioned, as it appears from the Subjects of each of them, and from Chronology. Hence it is, that the Emperor is never called Auguftus, but Cefar, in the Satyrs, and Epodes, and in the First Book of Odes, because that Title was not beftowed upon him before the XXXIX. Year of Horace: But he is called Auguftus, in the other Books. Hence it is, that Horace fpeaks of himself, as of a Young Man, in his Satyrs and Epodes; and fays, he is only Famous for his Satyri

cal