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/120

 -ELIAN. Lannoius ["A] The Greek text was publifiied at Rome in 1545, by Camiilus I'eruf- cus. Juftus Vulteius gave a Laun tranf- lation, which was printed ffpirately in 15485 and joined to the Greek text in a new edition, by Henricus Hetrus, at Bafil, 1555. 1* contains likewife the works of leveral other authors, who have treated on fcch fubjecls as ^El;an. John Tornxfius published three fcvenl edi- lions at Lyons, in 1587. 1610, and 1645. All thefe weie eclipfed by that of John SchefFerus, in 1647 and 1662: he reilified the text in rmny places, and illufirared the whole with very learned notes and animadvcrfions. Perizonius gave a new edition in two volumssoftavo, at Leyden, 1701. He followed the tranflation of Vulteius, which he recti- fied in many places, together with the Greek t:xt, i'.lufirating the moft intri- cate piflages with learned notes. Th next edition of this work is that of Abra- ham Gronovius, -who has given the Greek text and verfion of Vulteius, as corrected by Perizonius. together with the notes of Conrade Gefner, John Schefterus, Tanaquil Faber, Ju.ch. Kuhnius, and Jac. Perizonius ; to which he has added {hoit notes of his own, and the fragments of ./Elian, which Kuhnius rolledted ftom Suidas, Stobaeus, and Eullathius. ^EMILIUS (PAULUS), a native of Veronn. The reputa- tion he had acquired in Italy, made Stephen Poucher, biftiop of Paris, advife king Lewis XII. to engage him to write a Latin hiftory of the kings of France. He was accordingly invited to Paris, and a canonry in the cathedral church was given him. He retired to the college of Navarre, to com- pofe this work ; but though he fpent many years at it, yet he was not able to finifh the tenth book, which was to include the beginning of the reign of Charles VIII. He is faid ;o have been very nice and fcrupulous in regard to his works, having always fome correction to make: hence Erafmus imputes the fame fault to him that was objected to the painter Protogenes, who thought he had never finiflied his pieces : " [A] That very learned man Paulus /Emilius (fays he) gave pretty much into this fault ; he was never fatisfied with himfelf, but as often as he revifed his own performances, he made fuch alteration?, that one would not take them for the fame pieces corrected, but for quite different ones ; and this was his ufual cuftom. This made him fo flow, that elephants could bring forth fooner than he could pro- duce a work j for he took above thirty years [B] in writing " his t CA] Huic virio fffinis fuit vir eximie dodr,us Paulus ^Smilius Veronenfis, qui fibi nunquam fatisfaciebat, fed quoties recognofcebat fua, mutabit pleraque : diceres non opus corrcdtum fed aliud, idque fubinde faciebat. Qix res in caufa fuit, ut ciiius elephant! pariant quam ille quicquarn edere poffet. Nam hifto- riam quam edidit plufquam triginta annis habuit pras manibur. F.t fuf'picor hue adatlum utevulgartt. Erafmus, Apr;::. lib. vi. p. m. 5241 [B] Mr. Bayle thinks it was an error in Erafnr.u?, to aflert that yErr.ilius was thirty years abo'it Hi- hiftory, " There " is (fays he) in the king of France's " library, an edition, containing the " fnfl four books of Paulus jflEmilius, " printed at Paris, without a date ; but " it muft have been before the year " 1520, and in the beginning of ihe " reign of Francis I. this copy having " been prefented to him before he woie " the clofe crown, Emilius was in- " vited