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/171

 ALGOUS. Sappho thus anfwers : Arifto'. in VI, Were your requeft, O bard ! on honour built, M>. Your cheeks, would not have worn thcfe marks of puilt : But in prompt words the re..dy thoughts had flown, And your heart's honcft meaning quickly fhewn. In the time of Alczus, Mitylenc iuffcrcd under the opprcf- fion of Pittacu?. He headed a ftrong p.irty f>r the deliver- ance of his country ; but in this proved unfuccefsfu!, an! was taken prifoner by Pittacus, who ^.ivc him his liberty, al- though he had bec-n treated by him in a rnoft .ihulive man- ner : for he had inveighed againit Pittacus in very coarfe terms, having called him, as Suidas tells u, Sphy-t'uu, Fat- guts, and other opprobrious names. Hut, notwithftanding this clemency, ftill caballing and railing at .him, he was no longer uied with favour. Alcaeus was prefent at an engagement, wherein the Athe- nians gained a viclory over theLelbianb, and here, as he him- felf is faid to have confeffed, he threw down his arm->, and. faved himfelf by flight. It was fome comfort to him, how- Fie^ J.i>b.. ever, in his difgrace, that the conquerors ordered his arms to *"? Si- be hung up in the temple of Minerva at Sigseum. Hor.u, who, of all the Latin poets, moli relemblcd Aicieus, lus made the like contefTion. Alcaeus was much addicted to the Greek vice, the love of boys. The name of his favourite was Lycus, of whom Ho- race fpeaks ; and who is probably the boy whom Cicero notes odeji. lib.;. for having a mole upon his finger, which, in the poet's eye, Cimo, PC was a beauty. Alcaeus wzs fo amorous, fays Scipio G^n- Nat - Deor - tilis, that he compares himfelf to a hog, who, whilil lie is^ eating one acorn, devours another with his eyes ; *' fo is it A " for another." The poetical abilities of Alcirus are indifputed ; and though his writings were chiefly in the lyric ftrain, yet his" mufe was capable of treating the fublimeft fubjccls with a 1 " fuitable dignity. Nothing remains of him but fcraps. ALCIAT (ANDREV/), a grent lawyer, was the Ion of a rich merchant of Milan, according to Pancirclus, and born DS cUr's in that city in 1492. After having ftudied the libcr.il Ici-nccsi under Janus Parrhafius at Milan, r.e attended the Lv-', ledures of Jafon at Pavia, and ih -fe of Charles Ruinus K 4 at
 * ' with me, favs he ; whiilt i enjoy one girl, lam wiQungA) ; cin,