concerning the Nature of Things, as they will with Cicero, of the Art of Rhetorick. Quintilian, Book X. For Macer and Lucretius are indeed worth the reading; but not as if they contain'd the whole Body of Eloquence: Each of them is elegant in the Subject he treats of; but the one is low, the other crabbed and obfcure. Upon which Paffage of Quintilian, Gifanius thus. This Opinion of Quintilian is, the greatest Part of it, unanimously condemn'd by the Antients and Moderns. Barthius, There are many Things in Lucretius, that are not to be found elsewhere. The ficuti Deorum, fic & Ennij poëtæ fimulacrum. Attij autem carminibus qui ftudiofè delectantur, non modò virtutes, fed etiam figuram ejus videntur fecum habere præfentem. Item plures poft noftram memoriam nascentes cum Lucretio vide buntur, vel coram de rerum naturâ difputare: de arte verò rhetoricâ cum Cicerone. Quintilianus, lib, 16. Nam Macer & Lucretius legendi quidem, fed non ut phrafin, id eft, corpus eloquentiæ faciant: elegantes in fuâ quifque materiâ ; fed alter humilis, alter difficilis. Ad eum locum Quintiliani ita Gifanius. Hoc Quinctiliani judicium magnam partem uno consensu damnatur à veteribus & recentioribus. Barthius Adverfar. lib. 1. cap. 9. Multa funt in Lucretio, quæ alibi fruftrà quæras. The fame Authour. So great is the Beauty of the pure and fimple, that is to fay, of the antient, and almoft only Latinity, that it easily prevails with intelligent Readers, and fuch as are not fuperftitious, to contemn, in comparison of it, the borrow'd Charms of a gawdy and painted Diction. This comes into my Mind, chiefly when I read the Poems of Catullus and Lucretius: For, of all the Latine Poets, who have furviv'd to our Days, thefe two deserve the Preference and therefore no Diligence can be mifimploy'd, no Pain nor Study fuperfluous, that may tend to the right Understanding of them, orto prevent their being corrupted. Lactantius. All the Errours, that Lucretius advances, were long before afferted by Epicurus. Idem ibid. lib. 23. cap. 1. Petrus Illibatæ, fimplicifque, hoc eft, priscæ, & velut unicæ Latinitatis, ea gratia eft, ut vel tranfmarinas delicias, fuco oblitas, & picturatas, præ fe facilè contemnere faciat lectores non ineptos, aut fuperftitiofos. Id quod in mentem mihi venit, cùm Catulli & Lucretij poëmata lego præcipuè : fiquidem hi duo funt omnium Latinorum fcriptorum, qui ad nos pervenerunt, principes: ideoque nulla cura iis fupervacua impendi poteft, nifi quà vel non capiuntur, vel corrum puntur. Lactantius, lib. de Opificio Dei. cap. 6. Epicuri funt omnia, quæ delitat Lucretius. Petrus Petrus Crinitus. T. Lucretius Carus is believ'd to be defcended of the Family of the Lucretij, which at Rome was held to be very antient and noble. He was a little older than Terentius Varro, and Marcus Cicero, as fome have written: This is the rather to be taken Notice of, becaufe in the Annals, which we have from the Greeks, there are many Things erroneously related, and perverfly fet down contrary to the Truth of Chronology. He is reprefented to have been a Man of a vaft and foaring Wit in writing of Verfes. He was wont to apply himself to the Mufes at feveral Intervals of Time, not without a certain Fury and Rapture of Mind, as the Authours of Antiquity deliver. Quintilian witneffes, That Æmilius Macer and Titus Lucretius excel in Elegance of Style; but that the Poem of Lucretius is very difficult and obfcure: This was occafion'd, not only by the Subject itself, but by reafon of the Poornefs of the Tongue, and the Newness of the Doctrine he taught, as he himself teftifies. He writ fix Books of the Nature of Things; in Petrus Crinitus Florentinus. T. Lucretius Carus ex Lucretiorum familia natus creditur; quæ Romæ infignis, & pervetufta habita eft. Paulò antiquior fuit Terentio Varrone, & M. Tullio, ut quidam feripferunt; quod eft obfervatum diligenter, quoniam in his Annalibus, quos à Græcis habemus complura falsò expofita funt, contraque rationem temporum perversè figurata: Ingenio fummo traditur fuiffe, & in fcribendis carminibus maximè excitato. Solebat enim per intervalla temporum ad carmen accedere, non fine quodam animi furore, ut veteres Authores oftendunt. Fabius Quintilianus Æmilium Macrum, & T. Lucretium præftare elegantià teftatur; fed ipfius Lucretij carmen, multum difficultatis retinere. Quæ res non modo propter ipfam materiam illi contigit ; fed propter egefta tem in which he has follow'd the Doctrine of Epicurus; and the Example of the Poet Empedocles, whofe Wit and Poetry he praises with Admiration. There are fome who write, that the Poem of Lucretius was corrected by Tully: It is not therefore improbable, that, by reafon of his fuddain Death, he left it uncorrect and imperfect. Quinctus, the Brother of Cicero held in high Efteem the Poetry of Lucre, tius; and allows his Work to have a great deal of Artfulness, and Wit: Befides, that it ought not to be wonder'd at, that fome of his Verfes feem rough, and almost like Profe. This was peculiar to the Age in which he writ, as Furius Albinus fully witneffes in Macrobius, whofe Words are as follows: No Man ought to have the worse Esteem for the antient Poets upon this Account; because their Verses seem to be fcabrous: for that Style was then in greatest Vogue; and the following Age had much ado to bring themselves at length to relish this smoother Diction: Therefore, even in the Days of tem linguæ, & rerum novitatem, ut ille inquit. Scripfit libros fex de naturâ rerum, in quibus doctrinam Epicuri, & Empedoclem poëtam fecutus eft, cujus carmen atque ingenium admiratur. Neque defunt, qui fcribant fuiffe Lucre tij opus à M. Tullio emendatum. Quocircà verifimile eft, propter importunum obitum, ab eo imperfectum, atque inemendatum relictum. Q. frater plurimum Lucretij verfibus conceffit; & in ejus opere multum effe artis, atque ingenij refert: neque mirari oportere, fi Lucretij verfus duriores in terdùm videntur, & quafi orationi folutæ fimiles. Fuit hoc proprium illis temporibus, ut optimè teftatur apud Macrobium Furius Albinus, cujus verba hæc funt: Nemo debet antiquiores poëtas eâ ratione viliores putare quòd eorum verfus nobis fcabri videntur. Ille enim ftylus tum maximè placebat; diúque laboravit ætas fecuta, ut magis huic molliori ftylo acquiefceret. Itaque minimè defuerunt, imperantibus etiam Vefpafianis, qui Lucretium pro Virgilio, & Lucilium pro Horatio legerent. of the Emperours the Vefpafians, there were not wanting fome, who chose to read Lucretius rather than Virgil, and Lucilius than Horace. Francifcus Floridus Sabinus. T. Lucretius was an excellent Philofopher, and often gives very fatisfactory Reasons of the Things that seem to happen contrary to Nature. Hieronymus Mercurialis: Lucretius was the first who explain'd the Nature of Things in the Roman Tongue; and he borrow'd many Things from Democritus, Epicurus, and Hippocrates. Julius Scaliger. Lucretius was a divine Man, and an incomparable Poet. Cafaubon. Francifcus Floridus Sabinus Lection. fubfic. cap. 1. Titus Lucretius Carus, excellens Philofophus, ejufmodi rerum, quæ contra naturam fieri videntur, rationem libentiffimè reddere folet. Hieronymus Mercurialis, Var. Lect. lib. 4. cap. 16. Lucretius primus rerum naturas Romanâ linguâ explanavit; ac plurima ab Epicuro, Democrito, & Hippocrate mutatus eft. Julius Scaliger in Ariftot. Hift. Anim. lib. 10. fect. 35. Cafaubon, |