" and which was at that time as glorious as it is now ridi"culous, he died the very day before the defigned folem"nity. Nothing discovers more plainly the high sense "which Rome entertained of his merit, than the infcrip❝tion on his tomb. The pope, who ordered him a mag"nificent funeral, as if it were to atone for the misfortunes "of his life, proposed a reward for the best epitaph which "fhould be written in his honour. Many were brought to "him, all full of the juft praises of Taflo. The judges, "appointed to chuse the epitaph, were divided in their opi "nions, when a young man came to them with 'this in"fcription-Torquati Taffi offa. The judges immediately "agreed in giving the preference to it, being perfuaded, "that the name of Taffo was his greatest encomium," TATE (NAHUM) an English poet, was born about the middle of the reign of king Charles II. in the kingdom of Ireland, and there received his education. He was made poet laureat to king William, upon the death of Shadwell, and held that place till the acceffion of king George I. on whom he lived to write the firft birth-day cde, which is executed with unufual fpirit. He was a man of good nature, great probity, and competent learning; but fo extremely modeft, that he was never able to make his fortune, or to raise himfelf above neceffity. The earl of Dorfet was his patron; but the chief ufe he made of him was, to screen himself from the perfecution of his creditors. He died in the Mint 1716, and was fucceeded in the laurel by mr. Eufden. He was the author of nine dramatic performances, a great number of poems, and of a verfion of the Pfalms, in conjunction with dr. Nicholas Brady. He was a man of wit and parts, yet not thought to poffefs any very great genius, as being deficient in what is its firft characteric, pamely, invention. c. i. TATIAN, a writer of the primitive church, was born Fabric. Bibl. in Affyria, and trained in the learning and religion of the Græc. lib.v. heathens. He was a fophift by profeffion, very profound in all branches of literature, and acquired great reputation by teaching rhetoric. Coming over to chriftianity, he be came Cave, Hift. literar. vol. i. Gentes. came the scholar of Juftin Martyr, whom he attended to Rome, and partook with him of the hatred of the philofoper Orat. contra Crefcens: for he tells us himself, that Crefcens laid wait for his life, as well as for Juftin's. While Juftin lived he continued steady and orthodox, and a good member of the church: but after his death, being puffed up with pride, with which he is faid to have abounded, and a conceit of his eloquence, which was indeed uncommon, he made a schism, and became the author of a new fect. He took it into his head to condemn marriage, as no better than prostitution; he enjoined abftinence from wine and animal food, and fuffered only water to be used in the holy mysteries; from whence his followers were called Encratitæ, and Hydroparaftatæ. He maintained fome of the errors of the Valentinians, affirming, that Adam and our forefathers were damned, and that there were æones, or certain invisible beings. He afferts, in his book Adverfus Gentes, that the fouls of men are naturally mortal, but made immortal by the special act of God. When he had propagated thefe doctrines for some time at Rome, he returned into the east, and opened a school first in Mefopotamia about the year 172. Afterwards he preached at Antioch, in Cilicia alfo, and in Pifidia. Nothing is certainly known concerning his death. Ecclef. Hift. Eufebius informs us, that he compofed a prodigious numLib.iv. c. 29. ber of works; of which nothing is now extant but his piece against the Gentiles, or (as it is ufually intitled) Oration to the Greeks. He opens this difcourfe with proving, that the Greeks are not the inventors of any of the sciences, as they boaft themselves to be, but that they were all invented by those whom they call Barbarians: and then adds, that the Greeks corrupted the fciences they received from the Barbarians, and more especially philofophy. Afterwards, he proceeds to explain and defend the Chriftian religion; and intermixes what he fays with fatirical reflections on the ridículous theology of the Pagans, and on the corrupt manners of their gods and philofophers. This work is full of profane learning, and the ftyle is copious and elegant, but the matters contained in it are not digefted into any order. This treatife of Tatian was firft printed at Zurich in 1546, together with the Latin verfion of Conradus Gefner. It was afterwards fubjoined to Juftin Martyr's works, printed Græc. vol. TATIUS (ACHILLES) an ancient Greek writer of Fabric Bibl. 166. Me'chior Adam in vi- tis philofo- Germano- tom. xvi, TAUBMAN (FREDERIC) in Latin TAUB MAN- G ture, in fpite of the great difficulties he had to ftruggle with. For the circumftances of his parents were fo very indifferent, that they were unable to furnish him with common neceffaries; and he was frequently constrained to beg his bread from door to door, " da panem propter Deum." He often related this particular of his life after he was grown up, and in a flourishing condition. While he was at this school his mother died, and his father-in-law married another wife, who proved as kindly and affectionately disposed to him, and ftrove as much to relieve his neceffities, as his own mother could have done. Though he was not fortunate in lofing his own parents, yet was he not amazingly fo in those who fupplied their place? In the year 1582, George-Frederic, marquis of Brandenburg, having founded a college at Heilbrun, a town of Suabia, got together the choice youth out of all his states, and Taubman among the reft, who was then fixteen years of age. His great capacity recommended him to public notice; and befides his fkill in the Latin and Greek authors, he had alfo a very extraordinary talent for poetry. After ftaying ten years at Heilbrun, he went in 1592, to Wittenburg, where he foon diftinguished himself; and Frederic-William, the prince of Saxony, conceived fo high an efteem and fondness for him, that he often made a companion of him. The profefforship of poetry and the belles lettres becoming vacant in 1595, the university asked it of the court for Taubman, who accordingly took poffeffion of it in October that year, and held it with great honour to himself, and advantage to the public, as long as he lived. He died of a fever the 26th of February 1613, leaving five children and a wife, whom he had married in 1596. He was one of those few happy men, who had qualities to make himself beloved as well as admired. His very great learning procured him the admiration of mankind; and his fprightlinefs of nature, pleafantry. in converfation, grounded upon a general humanity, which difpofed him to do all the good he could to all, procured him their esteem and affection. His works are, Commentarius in Plautum, Francof. 1605, and in 1612, not only enlarged, but more correct. A third edition, with editions, by Janus Gruterus, was pub lifhed after his death in 1621; but many prefer the second, as more correct: they are all in quarto. Jofeph Scaliger Scal. Epift. complimented Taubman upon his Commentary on Plautus, 465. and tells him, that it has all the marks of penetration, judgment, and induftry. The learned have ever fince confidered it in this light; and Taubman's is, perhaps, notwithstanding the labours of any later critic, the best edition we still have of Plautus. After his death was published by his fon, his Commentarius in Virgilium; which Tanaquil Faber fcruples not, in one of his letters, to call the best commentary we have upon Virgil; while fome, with lefs reafon, have pretended to abuse it. De linguâ Latinâ differtatio, publifhed by himself at Wittenburg in 1602. He also published other fmall pieces, and fome Latin poetry. Taubmanniana came out at Leipfic in 1703: Taubman had a great turn for raillery, and was a dealer in bons mots; but whether any of them are here, may probably be found uncertain. TAVERNIER (JOHN BAPTIST) a Frenchman fa- Bayle'sDict mous for his travels, was born at Paris in the year 1605. His father, who was a native of Antwerp, fettled at Paris, and traded very largely in geographical maps, so that the natural inclination which Tavernier had for travelling, was greatly increased by the things which he daily heard talked in his father's house, concerning foreign countries. He began to gratify this paffion fo early, that at the age of two and twenty years, he had seen the finest countries of Europe, France, England, the Low Countries, Germany, Swifferland, Poland, Hungary, and Italy. During the space of forty years he travelled fix times into Turkey, Perfia, and the Eaft Indies, and by all the different routs he could take. He had gained a great eftate by trading in jewels; and, being ennobled by Lewis XIV. he purchased the barony of Aubonne, near the lake of Geneva, in 1668. He had collected a great number of obfervations, but he had not learned either to speak or write well in French; for which reason, he was forced to employ others in drawing up his relations. Mr. Chappufeau, with whom he lodged at Geneva, lent him his pen for the two first volumes of his travels, and mr. Chapelle for the third. They have frequently been printed, and G 2 contain 165896 |