Page:A General Dictionary, Historical and Critical, Volume 6.djvu/661

Rh of a good Paſtor. All theſe good qualities were united in him, though they be but too often ſeparated. See his Elogy in the Nouvelles de la Republique des Lettres for March, 1684, Article V.


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LASCARIS (CONSTANTINE) left Conſtantinople, his native place, in the year 1454, and retired into Italy. He was one of thoſe who reſtored polite Literature in the Weſt. He taught it firſt at Milan, whither he was called by Francis Sforza. He went afterwards to meet Cardinal Beſſarion at Rome, who gave him ſeveral proofs of his friendſhip. Then he went to Naples, where he taught Rhetoric and the Greek Tongue with reputation. Laſtly he went to Meſſina, where he ſettled for the remainder of his days. He drew a great many ſcholars thither, and amongſt others Peter Bembus, who was promoted to the dignity of a Cardinal by Pope Clement VII. He bequeathed his Library to the Senate of Meſſina: it contained excellent books, which he had brought with him from Conſtantinople. The Senate had complimented him with the freedom of the City, and had him buried at the expence of the public. His marble tomb, which was in the Church of the Carmelites, has been ruined by the injury of the time, and has never been repaired. Our Laſcaris has compoſed ſome works.
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LASCARIS (JOHN) ſurnamed Rhyndacenus, was of the Houſe of Laſcaris, of which there have been ſome Emperors of Conſtantinople. He took ſanctuary in Italy after the deſtruction of the Eaſtern Empire in the fifteenth Century, and was very kindly received by Laurence de Medicis. This great protector of the Learned judged him proper to collect the beſt manuſcripts that were to be met with in Greece, and therefore he ſent him to the Sultan. He ſent him twice to him, if we may credit Paul Jovius, who adds that this Sultan loved Philoſophy, and had a particular eſteem for Laurence de Medicis. It is neceſſary to tranſcribe the very words of this Hiſtorian, because I must compare them with Monſieur Varillas’s account. Is (Laurentius Medices) ''tum abſolvendæ Bibliothecæ ſtudio tenebatur. Ob id Laſcarem, ad conquirenda volumina Byzantium cum legatione ad Bajazettem bis miſit: nec deſuit boneſta petenti, nuſquam Barbarus Imperator, quippe qui erat totius Philoſophiæ ſtudioſus, Averroiſque ſectator eximius, & de Laurentio privatim tanquam de illuſtri cultore virtutis, optimè ſentiret, quum paulò ante Bandinum percuſſorem fratris, fuga in Aſiam elapſum in catenis ad ſupplicium tradidsſſet; ſingulari quidem religionis, atque juſtitiæ exemplo; quòd ille immane ſcelus in templo auſus, merita pœna plectendus cenſeretur. Itaque Laſcares, tuto abdita Græciæ perſcrutatus, quum patriæ opes victoribus ceſſiſſent, nobiliora divitiis antiquæ dignitatis volumina collegit, ut in Italia ſervarentur''. i. e. “Laurence de Medicis had a ſtrong deſire to complete his library; for which purpoſe he ſent Laſcaris twice in the character of his Embaſſador to Bajazet, that he might make a collection of books. Nor did the Sultan, who was by no means a barbarian, refuſe to comply with his requeſt; for he had applied himſelf to every part of Philoſophy, and was an eminent follower of Averroes; he had alſo a great eſteem for Laurence de Medicis as for a man diſtinguiſhed by his virtues; he had given him a proof of it ſome time before, when he ſent back to him in chains Bandini the murtherer of his brother, who had made his eſcape into Aſia; which was a remarkable inſtance of piety and justice, for he judged, that this wicked wretch, having committed that horrid attempt in a church, ought not to eſcape the puniſhment he deſerved. Laſcaris therefore, having ſearched all Greece without the leaſt danger, inſtead of his paternal eſtate, on which the conquerors had ſeized, brought more valuable treaſures with him; I mean conſiderable works of the ancients, to be kept in Italy.” Monſieur Varillas imagined that this account, which Paul Jovius gives us, is too dry and lame, and therefore he has adorned it with a great many circumſtances, as though inſtead of tranſlating faithfully another’s work, he had been ordered to turn it into a Romance. Here follows his relation. “Laurence de Medicis received Laſcaris with open arms, and committed the care of his library to him. It happened one day, as they were diſcourſing together how they might improve it, it came into Laſcaris’s mind, that Bajazet II. Emperor of the Turcs had an inclination for Philoſophy, and that having cauſed Averroes’s commentaries on Ariſtotle to be explained to him, he would not be ſorry that the Peripateticks ſhould be ſaved from the general ruin of literature. Laurence de Medicis promiſed that he would furniſh him with all things neceſſary for a voyage to Conſtantinople, if he would undertake it with ſuch a deſign. Laſcaris took him at his word, and embarked without any credentials, except a letter which Laurence de Medicis gave him for his factors. However he found means to get acceſs to the Grand Seignior, and to be preſented to his Highneſs, who received him even better than he expected. They had a pretty long converſation together, and Bajazet ſhewed him all the eſteem, of which an Infidel is capable, for Laurence de Medicis’s vertue, and gave Laſcaris leave, for his ſake, to buy all the manuſcripts, that were to be This deputation was attended with very good succeſs: for
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