Page:A new and general biographical dictionary; containing an historical and critical account of the lives and writings of the most eminent persons in every nation v1.djvu/119

 A'] L F R E D. Aut gladio potuit vitre finifle Inheres. Jam poft tranfaclos vita-, regniquc dolorc , Chriftus ei fit vera quies, fccptrumqiu percnnc, Thus tranflated by fir John Spelman : Thy true nobility of mind and blood (O warlike Alfred !) gave thee to be good. Goodnefs induftrious made thee; indulby Got thce a name to all pofterity. 'Twixt mixed hopes and fears, 'twixt joy and grief, Thou ever felc'tt di&refs, and found relief". Victor this day, next day thou doft ne'erth'lefs 1' the field difpute thy former day's fuccefs. O'ercome this day, next day, for all the blov, Thou giv'ft or tak'ft another overthrow. Thy brows from fvvear, thy fword from blood ne'er dry> What 'twas to reign, fo to us fignify: The world cannot produce fo much as one, That through the like adverfities has gone. Yet found'it thou not the reft thou foughteft here, But with a crown Chrift gives it thee elfewhcre. ,/ELlAN (CLAUDIUS), born at Preenefte in Italy. taught rhetoric at Rome, according to Perizonius, under the emperor Alexander Severus. He was furnamed hXiy>.^7T^> t Honey-mouth, on account of the fweetnei-> ofhisltyle. 1 L- was likewife honoured with the title of fophiir, an appellation in his days given only to men of learning and wifdom. Heloved retirement, and de-voted himfelf to (iudy ; and his works fhevy him to have been a man of excellent principles and ihict inte- grity. He greatly admired and lludied Plato, Ariilotle, lib- crates,' Plutarch, Homer, Anacieon, Archilochus, Sec. and, though a Roman, gives the preference to the writers of the Greek nation. His two moft celebrated works are his " V'ari- Var. Hli 1 . ous Hiftory,"and that u Of Animals." He wrote alfo an invec- lib - 1Jt - c - :* tive againft Heliogabulus, or, as Come think, Domitian; but this is not certain, for he gives the tyrant, whom he laflies the fictitious name of Gynnls. He compofed likewife a book vine appearances, or the declarations of providence. Somet)'on>i"'i. afcribe to him alfo the work intitled ' Tactica, or De Re Mili- tari ;" but Perizonius is of opinion, that this piece belon;;ed n ' 1J, i r r ' C /* "' Vul - to another author of the lame name, a native or Greece. There have been feveral editions of his*' Various Hiliory." [A] G 2 [A] The
 * ' Of Providence, "mentioned b^Euftathiusj and another on di-j, ;