cr my nightly dreams 99." At the fame time and place, the Latin claffics were explained by John of Ravenna, the domestic pupil of Petrarch 10: the Italians, who illuftrated their age and country, were formed in this double school; and Florence became the fruitful feminary of Greek and Roman erudition 101. The prefence of the emperor recalled Chryfoloras from the college to the court; but he afterwards taught at Pavia and Rome with equal industry and applaufe. The remainder of his life, about fifteen years, was divided between Italy and Conftantinople, between embaffies and leffons. In the noble office of enlightening a foreign nation, the grammarian was not unmindful of a more facred duty to his prince and country; and Emanuel Chryfoloras died at Conftance on a public miffion from the emperor to the council. After his example, the restoration of the Greek letters in Italy was profecuted by a series of emigrants, who were deftitute of fortune, and endowed with learning, or at least with language. 99 See the paffage in Aretin. Commentario Rerum fuo Tempore in Italia geftarum, apud Hodium, p. 28–30. 100 In this domeftic difcipline, Petrarch, who loved the youth, often complains of the eager curiofity, reftlefs temper, and proud feelings, which announce the genius and glory of a riper age (Memoires fur Petrarque, tom. iii. p. 70c-709.). 101 Hinc Græcæ Latinæque fcholæ exortæ funt, Guarino Philelpho, Leonardo Aretino, Caroloque, ac plerifque aliis tanquam ex equo Trojano prodeuntibus, quorum emulatione multa ingenia deinceps at laudem excitata funt (Platina in Bonifacio IX.). Another Italian writer adds the names of Paulus Petrus Vergerius, Omnibonus Vincentius, Poggius, Francifcus Barbarus, &c. But I queftion whether a rigid chronology would allow Chryfoloras all thefe eminent scholars (Hodius, p. 25-27, &c.). From LXVI. From the terror or oppreffion of the Turkish arms, CHAP. the natives of Theffalonica and Constantinople efcaped to a land of freedom, curiofity, and wealth. The fynod introduced into Florence the lights of the Greek church and the oracles of the Platonic philofophy: and the fugitives who adhered to the union, had the double merit of renouncing their country, not only for the Chriftian, but for the Catholic, caufe. A patriot, who facrifices his party and confcience to the allurements of fa vour, may be poffeffed however of the private and focial virtues: he no longer hears the reproachful epithets of flave and apoftate; and the confideration which he acquires among his new affociates, will restore in his own eyes the dignity of his character. The prudent conformity of Beffarion Cardinal was rewarded with the Roman purple: he fixed his refidence in Italy; and the Greek cardinal, the titular patriarch of Conftantinople, was refpe&ted as the chief and protector of his nation 2: his abilities were exercised in the legations of Bologna, Venice, Germany, and France; and his election, to the chair of St. Peter floated for a moment on the uncertain breath of a conclave 103. His ecclefiaftical honours diffufed a fplendour and pre-eminence over his literary merit and fervice: 102 See in Hody the article of Beffarion (p. 136-177): Theodore Gaza, George of Trebizond, and the rest of the Greeks whom I have named or omitted, are inferted in their proper chapters of his learned work. See likewife Tirabofchi, in the 1st and 24 parts of the vith tome. thy 103 The cardinals knocked at his door, but his conclavist refused to interrupt the ftudies of Beffarion; "Nicholas," faid he, "refpect has coft thée an hat, and me the tiara." K VOL. XII. his Beffarion, &c. LXVI. CHAP. his palace was a fchools as often as the cardinal visited the Vatican, he was attended by a learned train of both nations 10+; of men applauded by themselves and the public; and whofe writings, now overfpread with duft, were popular and ufeful in their own times. I fhall not attempt to enumerate the reftorers of Grecian literature in the fifteenth century: and it may be fufficient to mention with gratitude the names of Theodore Gaza, of George of Trebizond, of John Argyropulus, and Demetrius Chalcocondyles, who taught their native language in the fchools of Florence' and Rome. Their labours were not inferior to faults and thofe of Beffarion, whofe purple they revered, and whofe fortune was the fecret object of their envy. But the lives of these grammarians was humble and obfcure: they had declined the lucrative paths of the church; their drefs and manners fecluded them from the commerce of the world; and fince they were confined to the' merit, they might be content with the rewards, of learning. From this character, Janus Lafcaris 105 will deferve an exception. His eloquence, politeness, and Im Their merits. 194 Such as George of Trebizond, Theodore Gaza, Argyropulus Andronicus of Theffalonica, Philelphus, Poggius, Blondus, Nicholas Perrot, Valla, Campanus, Platina,&c. Viri (fays Hody, with the pious zeal of a scholar) nullo ævo perituri (p. 156.). 105 He was born before the taking of Conftantinople, but his honourable life was ftretched far into the xvith century (A. D. 1535). Leo X. and Francis I. were his nobleft patrons, under whofe aufpices he founded the Greek colleges of Rome and Paris (Hody, p. 247-275.). He left pofterity in France; but the counts de Vintimille, and their numerous branches, derive the name of Lafcaris, from a doubtful marriage in the xiiith century with the daughter of a Greek emperor (Ducange, Fam. Byzant. P. 224-230.). LXVI. perial defcent, recommended him to the French CHAP. monarchs; and in the fame cities he was alternately employed to teach and to negociate. Duty and interest prompted them to cultivate the study of the Latin language; and the moft fuccefsful attained the faculty of writing and speaking with fluency and elegance in a foreign idiom. But they ever retained the inveterate vanity of their country: their praife, or at least their esteem, was referved for the national writers, to whom they owed their fame and fubfiftence; and they fometimes betrayed their contempt in licentious criticifm or fatire on Virgil's poetry and the oratory of Tully 196. The fuperiority of thefe mafters arofe from the familiar ufe of a living language; and their first difciples were incapable of difcerning how far they had degenerated from the knowledge, and even the practice, of their ancestors. A vicious pronunciation 7, which they introduced, 106 Two of his epigrams against Virgil, and three against Tully, are preserved and refuted by Francifcus Floridus, who can find no better names than Græculus ineptus et impudens (Hody, p. 274.). In our own times, an English critic has accufed the Eneid of containing, multa languida, nugatoria, fpiritû et majeftate carminis heroici defecta; many fuch verses as he, the faid Jeremiah Markland, would have been ashamed of owning (præfat. ad Statii Sylvas, p. 21, 22.). 107 Emanuel Chryfoloras, and his colleagues, are accused of ignorance, envy, or avarice (Sylloge, &c. tom. ii. p. 235.). The modern Greek pronounce the @ as a V confonant, and confound three vowels (nu), and several diphthongs. Such was the vulgar pronunciation which the ftern Gardiner maintained by penal ftatutes in the univerfity of Cambridge: but the monofyllable n represented to an Attic ear the bleating of sheep; and a bellwether is better evidence than a bishop or a chancellor. The treatifes of those scholars, particularly Erafmus, who afferted a more claffical pronunciation, are collected in the Sylloge of Havercamp K 2 LXVI. . CHAP. duced, was banished from the schools by the reafon of the fucceeding age. Of the power of the Greek accents they were ignorant: and thofe mufical notes, which, from an Attic tongue, and to an Attic ear, muft have been the fecret foul of harmony, were to their eyes, as to our own, no more than mute and unmeaning marks; in profe fuperfluous, and troublefome in verfe. The art of grammar they truly poffeffed: the valuable fragmments of Apollonius and Herodian were tranffufed into their leffons; and their treatises of fyntax and etymology, though devoid of philofophic fpirit, are ftill ufeful to the Greek ftudent. In the fhipwreck of the Byzantine libraries, each fugitive feized a fragment of treasure, a copy of fome author, who, without his induftry, might have perished; the tranfcripts were multiplied by an affiduous, and fometimes an elegant, pen; and the text was corrected and explained by their own comments, or thofe of the elder fcholiafts. The fenfe, though not the fpirit, of the Greek claffics, was interpreted to the Latin world: the beauties of style evaporate in a verfion; but the judgment of Theodore Gaza felected the more folid works of Ariftotle and Theophraftus, and their natural histories of animals and plants opened a rich fund of genuine and experimental fcience. The Pla Yet the fleeting fhadows of metaphyfics, were tonic, phi- purfued with more curiofity and ardour. lofophy. After a vercamp (2 vols. in octavo, Lugd. Bat. 1736, 1740); but it is difficult to paint founds by words; and in their reference to modern ufe, they can be underfood only by their refpective countrymen. We may obferve, that our peculiar pronunciation of the 8, th, is approved by Erafmus (tom. ii. p. 130.). long |