cal Verfes, as Virgil was Famous for his Bucolicks, (Serm. I. 1o. v. 46.) whithout faying any thing of his Lyrick Poetry. His other Poems plainly fhew the different Degrees of his growing Age; and a careful Reader may eafily perceive it. There are many obfcene things in his Youthful Compofures; but as he grew older, he became more modeft, pitched upon more grave Subjects, and fhewed himself a bet ter Poet. Dr. Bentley affirms, That whoever undertakes to affign any other Time, than what he has mentioned, for the feveral Poems of Horace, must needs be mistaken. He adds, that he might fhew it of every one of them; but he is contented to inftance only upon Two or Three Poems, leaving the reft to the Industry of the Readers. 1. Some (fays he) call the XXIft Ode of the Ift. Book, Dianam tenera dicite Virgines, &c. a Secular Poem; and pretend that Horace writ that Piece in the XLIXth of his Age; which is contrary to the Teftimony of Suetonius, who affirms that the Three Firft Books of Odes were made a long time before that Year. Our Author maintains, that there is nothing in that Ode, that concerns the Secular Games, but only the Feast of Diana or Apollo, the Firft whereof was celebrated in Auguft, and the latter in July. The XXXVth Poem of Catullus, Diane fumus in fide, &c. ought to be understood in the fame manner, though fome Learned Men call it alfo a Secular Poem; for Catullus died a long time before the Secular Games of Auguftus. 2. Dr. Bentley proceeds to fhew, how the Time of the XVIIth Ode of the IId Book, infcribed to Maeenas, has been ftrangely mistaken by thofe, who pretend that Horace writ that Piece in the LVth Year of his Age. Our Author calls it a prodigious Anachronifm; and the Argument on which that Opinion is grounded, appears to him very frivolous, viz. that Mecenas began then to be fick of a Diftemper, which kept him conftantly awake: As if he had never been fick fick before, though Pliny (Lib. VII. Cap. 15.) tells us, that he was feverifh ever fince his Youth. 3. These Words of the VIth Satyr of the IId Book, Quid, militibus promiffa Triquetra Pradia Cafar, an eft Itala tellure daturus ? are wrongly understood of the Battle of Actium, in the XXXVth Year of Horace; or of the Battle of Philippi,, in the XXIVth Year of that Poet; for he means the Divifion of the Land, that was made in Campania, and other Parts, after the Victory obtain'd over Pompey in Sicily, and the Surrender of Lepidus, in the XXXIft Year of his Age, as it appears from Dion, Plutarch in the Life of Antony, Paterculus, and Appian. Dr. Bentley fays, he might eafily confute what has been afferted upon the other Poems of Horace; bur he thinks this Specimen is fufficient. I fhall conclude this Article with an Emendation upon a Paffage in the Ars Poetica, v. 119. & Jeq. Aut famam fequere, aut fibi convenientia finge, Jura neget fibi nata, nihil non arroget armis. The Epithet Honoratus, which Horace beftows upon Achilles, according to the common Reading, has very much exercifed the Commentators, who endeavour to give feveral Reasons for it. Dr. Bentley examines thofe Reasons, and fhews that they are very abfurd and frivolous. In the next Place, he obferves, That as Medea, Ino, Ixion, Io, and Oreftes have no Epithet, (that expreffes any Part of their Character,) added to them in the firft Mem ber ber of the Sentence; in like manner, no fuch Epithet can be bestowed upon Achilles in this Place without great Abfurdity. The thing is very plain; and therefore I fhall not enlarge upon it. Befides, I fuppofe the Attentive Readers of Horace have been long ago fenfible of the Difficulty occafioned by the Word Honoratus in this Paffage. Our Author removes that Difficulty by Reading, Aut famam fequere, aut fibi convenientia finge, Fura neget fibi nata, nihil non arroget armis. The Tranfcribers, who had never read the Word Homereum, changed it into Honoratum. This Correction makes the Paffage very clear. "Famam fe quere, (fays the Poet,) & fi reponis Achillem Home"ricum; talem tu illum exhibe, qualem Homerus me"moriæ prodidit ". Achilles is rightly called Homereus or Homericus, as feveral other Heroes fung by that Poet, to whom they are indebted for their Glory and Fame. Our Learned Author proves it by many Paffages. Cicero de Legibus I. 1. Aut quod Homericus Ulixes Deli fe proceram & teneram palmam vidiffe dixit. De Divinatione I. 3. Ex quo & illud Homerici Hectoris, qui moriens propinquam Achilli mortem denuntiat. Tufcul. Quæft. III. 26. Hinc ille Agamemnon Homericus, idemque Accianus, Scindens dolore identidem intonfam comam. Ibid. IV. 23. Quid Achille Homerico fædius, quid Agai memnone in jurgio? Seneca de Tranquillitate Cap. 2. Qualis ille Homericus Achilles eft, modo pronus, modo Jupinus, in varios habitus fe ipfe componens. Appuleius de Deo Socratis. Species quam folus Socrates cerneret, ita ut Homericus Achilles Minervam. Horace could not Vol. IV. Q ert out Two other Centuries of Libanius's Letters, if this First Collection be acceptable to the Publick. He gives us in his Preface à fhort Account of the Perfons, to whom thofe Leters were written. These Epiftles run upon common Subjects, and contain. nothing that is very remarkable; but the Author writes in a polite and agreeable Style. The Editor has added feveral Notes, wherein he illuftrates those things that relate to Hiftory and Antiquity, and clears the Sense of his Author. The late Baron de Spanheim had above a Thoufand and Twenty Letters of Libanius tranfcribed from a Manufcript of Ifaac Voffius. M. Wolfius tells us, That he has feen in the Library of M. Frederick Rostgaard, above a Thoufand and Six Hundred Epiftles of the fame Author, collected by that Curious Gentleman in his Travels into the Eaft, and into France and Italy. ARTICLE ARTICLE XLI. THE LIVES and Characters of the most Eminent Writers of the SCOTS NATION; with an Abstract and Catale, gue of their Works; their various Edi tions; and the Judgment of the Learned concerning them. By GEORGE MACKENZIE, M. D. Fellow of the Royal College of Phyficians in Edinburgh, Edinburgh Printed by James Watfon in Craig's-Clofe, on the NorthSide of the Crofs. M DCC VIII, and M DCC XI. Two Volumes in Folio. Vol. I. Pagg. 488. Vol. II Pagg. 618 : HO' that Part of Great-Britain, called Scotland, has produced a great Number of Men Eminent for their Learning; yet no Care was taken to make a Collection of their Lives, before Dr. Mackenzie went about fuch a ufeful Work. The Lord Bishop of Carlisle expreffes his Amazement at it in the following Words. "To one that Q3 66 con |