at a loss to find any Footsteps of him for Nine Hundred Years more down to the Age of Aventinus and yet the Criticks have receiv'd him without being so nice as to examine what Secret Cave he was conceal'd in Phoedrus as far as I can find was never mention'd by any Author since Avienus till his Fables were in this Age brought to light by Pithaeus after they had been lost above a Thousand Years Lactantius de Mortibus Persecutorum was a Book which the World had not seen since St. Ierome's time till after a Thousand Years Baluze discover'd it in the famous Library of Colebert and made it publick Now as our Dissertator learnedly argues if these Books lay untouch'd and unstirr'd they must have moulder'd away if they were us'd during these Ten Centuries Somebody would surely have spoken of ' em Either the Dr. must give up these Authors as Spurious or these Objections as Slight and Frivolous and own that the Silence of the Ancients is not a Direct but as any-body else would have thought and call'd it a very Indirect Argument against 'em tho' still not quite so indirect as another that he founds upon a Disagreement between Lucian and the Epistles in their Accounts of Phalaris This does not come properly under the head I am now speaking to however because he has thrown together here Two or Three Paultry Proofs that would make no Figure by themselves I shall take 'em as they lye before me The Different Relations concerning Phalaris given by Lucian and the Epistles I urg'd formerly as a Proof that Lucian could not write them But as He has manag'd it at second hand to shew that Lucian does as good as expresly declare he never saw 'em it either proves nothing or proves too much even that Lucian never saw Timaeus as Learned as he was and as often as he mentions him For Timaeus relates that the Agrigentines threw the Brazen Bull into the Sea but Lucian says Phalaris sent it to Delphos What I should gather from hence would be that Lucian overlook'd that and many other Authorities and did not confine himself to strict History in a Declamation but according to Dr. Bentley's manner of drawing Consequences it must follow that Timaeus no more writ his History than Phalaris did his Letters for Lucian equally contradicts Both and for that reason is a Bad Evidence against either of them Now if Lucian himself be of no Authority in this point much less are those Authors he follow'd which Dr. Bentley summons up as so many Witnesses against the Epistles I would ask him how many Witnesses these are where they liv'd what are their Names and the Names of the Books they wrote ` T is very hard to urge such Testimonies against us as are not now and probably never were in being For Lucian in this Harangue seems to tye himself up to no Authors nor to be guided by any thing but his own Invention and this the Dr. himself confesses in another place where he says Lucian feigns an Embassy from Phalaris to Delphi And if the Ground of this whole Discourse were a Fiction why does the Dr. here argue from it as seriously as if it were copy'd from the most Authentic Histories then extant how can he allow himself to put such an Air of Gravity upon what he knows to be such a Trifle We shall have him at this rate in his next Dissertation solemnly quoting Lucian's Vera Historia too and the unknown Authors which he follow'd But I suppose he resolv'd to make the best advantage he could of these Poor Colours for want of Better Authorities For the Two Historians he brings to strengthen his Proof say nothing that is inconsistent with the Epistles Jamblichus he says brings in Abaris in company with Pythagoras to Phalaris but in the Epistles Abaris refuses to come Who would not have refus'd an Invitation from Phalaris till he had good assurances that he might come with Safety Report had told him very dismal Stories of him and dress'd him up in frightful Colours Abaris perhaps did not know at first but that Phalaris might Live upon Philosophers Flesh or might have a Fancy to try which made his Bull Roar best a Scythian or a Sicilian an Experiment which Abaris by no means car'd to have made upon him for he came from a Cold Country and had a very particular Aversion to Fire These were very Important matters and if he should not have taken care to be fully satisfied in 'em before he ventur'd his Person he had not been quite so Wise a man as he was thought to be for one part of Wisdom is to be Cautious Pythagoras therefore manag'd at the very same rate he often refus'd to come and yet came at last why might not this be the case of Abaris This is a very easie way of reconciling Phalaris with Iamblichus and he does not differ so widely from Heraclides neither but that They too may be brought with Dr. Bentley's Leave and in his Carriers Phrase to set Horses together Phalaris says he was an Orphan before he came to Agrigent and yet Heraclides says his Mother was burnt there Dr. Bentley has given a Clear Solution of this Difficulty himself and frankly owns that his Mother might be burnt tho' his Father dy'd long before But how says he came the Old Woman to be roasted at Agrigent if Phalaris fled alone from Astypalaea neither Wife nor Child nor any Relation following him according to the Epistles I do not remember any such Epistle in my Edition of Phalaris but if there should be such an one in the King's MS I 'll answer this Objection to it when the Library-keeper is in so good an Humor as to favour me with a Sight of it Till then I may be excus'd from prosecuting this Point any further Only I must observe to the Dr that either he uses some Copy of Heraclides that I have not seen or else cites him for what he does not say Both Here and in the 30th Page of his Dissertation he tells us that Heraclides affirms Phalaris to have been burnt by the Agrigentines whereas he only says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 'T is true it 's all one to his purpose whether he was burnt or any other way put to Death but he has such a Facility of Misunderstanding or Misrepresenting Authors to serve a Turn that he does it even when it is of no service to him I Hope I have now so thoroughly examin'd Dr. Bentley â—s General Arguments that none of 'em can be thought to affect the whole Body of the Epistles if his Objections against some Particular Letters have no more Weight in 'em he 's the best Patron Phalaris has yet met with for the next Happiness to being very well Defended is that of being very weakly Oppos'd All his Attacks of this kind are grounded upon Chronology and therefore before he could make any Approaches he was oblig'd to
Dr. BENTLEY'S DISSERTATIONS ON THE Epistles of PHALARIS AND THE Fables of AESOP EXAMIN'D By the Honourable Charles Boyle Esq Remember Milo's End Wedg'd in that Timber which he strove to rend Roscom Ess. of Transl. Vers. LONDON Printed for Tho. Bennet at the Half-moon in St. Paul's Church-yard 1698. THE PREFACE SOON after Dr. Bentley's Dissertation came out I was call'd away into Ireland to attend the Parliament there The Publick Business and my own private affairs detain'd me a great while in that Kingdom else the World should have had a much Earlier account of Him and his Performance For tho' He took above two Years to make his Learned Reflections on Phalaris yet Two Months would have been enough to have shown him that he is but a weak Champion in a very frivolous Cause I speak not this one of any vain design of setting up for a Quick Writer but meerly to avoid being thought to have thrown away any considerable part of my life upon so triflng a subject which as Idle a man as I am is an Imputation I would not willingly lye under I little imagin'd ever to have been engag'd in a Dispute of this nature I am not very fond of Controversies even where the Points debated are of some importance but in trivial matters and such as Mankind is not at all concern'd in methinks they are unpardonable This ever since I came to have any Opinions of my own has been one of 'em and is still tho' I am unluckily at present brought to act contrary to it But the Case is this Dr. Bentley has been pleas'd with some warmth to fall foul on an Edition and Version of Phalaris's Epistles that I some years since offer'd to the World He has taken a great deal of Good-natur'd pains to prove that I had been very foolishly busying my self upon a Contemptible and Spurious Author and had made a bad book much worse by a very ill Edition of it I was very Young when I appear'd on that occasion and I appear'd rather as one that wish'd well to Learning than profess'd it and for both these reasons promis'd my self good usage from the men of more profound Skill in such matters Dr. Bentley was sensible that his Criticisms would lye under some disadvantage on this account and therefore to excuse his making so free with the Edition was pleas'd to make yet freer with Me and according to His Breeding to tell Me and all the World that I had set my name to a Book which did not belong to me The first of these Reflections had it come single I could easily have neglected had he stop'd there I would have left the Book to shift for it self and Him to the good opinion he has of his own performances without endeavouring to lessen it But when he carried his Criticisms so far as to assert not only of Phalaris but his Editor too that they neither of 'em wrote what was ascrib'd to 'em he gave me so plain and so publick an Affront that I could not with any tolerable regard to my reputation quietly put it up Thus was I much against my inclinations brought into the Lists It was necessary for me to say something in defence of my self and when I did so I thought it would be judg'd proper for me to say something too in defence of my Author and to enquire into the justness of those Criticisms which Dr. Bentley has advanc'd on this occasion and which I foresaw wou'd be look'd upon as in some measure aim'd at Me tho' they did not really belong to me I have not any where in my Book asserted that the Epistles which carry Phalaris's name are Genuine and I am not therefore engag'd to defend their Reputation against the Attacks of Dr. Bentley or any other person who by the help of Leisure and Lexicons shall set up for a Critic in this point But as I have not undertaken for their being Genuine so neither have I with a decisive and assuming air pronounc'd 'em Spurious I express'd my self with that Caution and Reserve in this matter which I thought became a Young Writer who was sensible that the best and ablest Iudges were divided in their opinions about it and I thought it would be a very Indecent part in Me to make my self a Iudge between ' em But I was chiefly induc'd to observe these measures by the Regard I had for the most Accomplish'd Writer of the Age whom I never think of without calling to mind those happy Lines of Lucretius Qnem Tu Dea Tempore in omni Omnibus ornatum voluisti excellere rebus a Character which I dare say Memmius did not better deserve than Sir William Temple He had openly declar'd in favour of the Epistles and the Nicety of his Taste was never I think disputed by Such as had any themselves I quoted his Words with that respect which is due to ev'ry thing that comes from him but must now beg his pardon for it for I have by this means I find drawn him into a share of Dr. Bentley's displeasure who has hereupon given himself the trouble of writing almost fourscore pages solemnly to disprove that One of Sir William's which he has prefix'd to his Dissertation and which to give him my opinion of his whole Book at once is the only good Page there I am therefore the rather inclin'd to give Dr. Bentley's Reflections a Due Examination on Sir William Temple's account upon whom I so unhappily occasion'd this Storm of Criticism to fall In truth for a Man who has been so great an Ornament to Learning he has had strange usage from Some who are Retainers to it He had set the world a Pattern of mixing Wit with Reason Sound Knowledge with Good Manners and of making the one serve to recommend and set off the other but his Copy has not been at all follow'd by those that have writ against him in a very rough way and without that Respect which was due both to His Character and their Own I will not pretend to determine on which side in those Disputes the Truth lies only thus much I will venture to say of 'em that let Sir W. T. be as much out in some of his Opinions as he 's represented to be yet They who read both sides will be apt to fall in with Tully's Opinion of Plato and say Cum Illo Ego meherclè errare malim quà m cum istis Scriptoribus vera sentire I had rather be so Handsomly mistaken as He is if he be mistaken than be so Rudely and Dully in the right as Some of his Opposers allowing 'em to be in the right are There was also another Consideration that determin'd me to write Dr. Bentley's Reflections were understood to go further than either Sir William Temple or my Self and to be levell'd at a Learned Society in which I had the happiness to be educated and which Dr. Bentley is suppos'd to attack under those General Terms of Our
perhaps here as in Other cases he has his accounts at Second Hand not so neither he is purely upon the Conjecture and can guess from the great Learning of the Author known to him by his Other Works that he has in a manner exhausted the Subject That is by his Mathematical Notes upon Diophantus he can guess what he says upon Aesop's Fables But methinks 't is a little nicely guess'd that Meziriac has in a manner exhausted the Subject why should not a Man that had written so well upon Diophantus have quite exhausted it I begin now to guess something too and may be able to make out my Guess e're I am a Month Older I am going into a Country where Meziriac is I suppose to be had and when I have seen him perhaps I shall find that Dr. Bentley has seen him too tho' he has forgotten it For he pretends to present us here only with such Things as have escap'd the Observation of Others and I now know him so well that I suspect him a Course whenever he sets up for Discoveries The Business of Ocellus has given us One Remarkable Instance of this kind and this small Piece we are upon will presently even without the help of Meziriac afford us Another The first of his few loose Things which he fancies have escap'd the Observation of Others is that 't is very uncertain if he would say whether Aesop himself left any Fables behind him in Writing This Hint has I believe escap'd the Observation of Others for they that have observ'd any thing about it have observ'd the contrary The Phrase of Antiquity is the same when they mention any thing of Aesop's as it would have been had they thought Aesop really to have wrote it the Ancients quote him just as they do Other Authors When Plato Aristotle Plutarch Galen Themistius Gellius cite any thing from him 't is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inquit c and how would they have express'd themselves otherwise if Aesop's Writings had confessedly lain before them Dr. Bentley sure will not be so Captious as to say that these Forms of Speech are not express enough among all Authors that quote from others 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are Equivalent and us'd indifferently Bishop Pearson has largely prov'd this in his Vindiciae Ignatianae against Dailleé who laid hold of this Câ—â—â—l to disparage the Epistles of Ignatius And I the rather referr the Dr. to that Incomparable Work because he confesses with some Shame that he had either never read it or utterly forgot it A good account of his Acquaintance with One of the First Books in the World in the Way of his Profession They that read Books at this rate will be sure to write Books that will be so read But not to forget our business The Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it self is apply'd to Aesop as an Author by Suidas Aphthonius and others What Suidas says deserves a Reflection his Words are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he wrote Two Books of what befel him at Delphos but Others are rather of Opinion that he wrote nothing but Fables So that tho' some doubted whether he wrote any account of what happen'd to him at Delphos yet according to Suidas no-body doubted but that he wrote Fables Eustathius calls him expresly not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 only but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 expounding the one by the other The Words too of the Old Scholiast on Aristophanes are so full I think as not easily to be eluded 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That Few say in Terms he was a Writer is because No-body had any Suspicions to the contrary and when the Doubt was not started nor thought of there was no need to guard against it I have produc'd some Ancients that say he did write Dr. Bentley does not pretend to instance in any that say he did not instead of that his best Arguments for this New Point are These that follow The Old Man in Aristophanes says he learnt his Fables in Conversation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In which of his Dictionaries does 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifie Conversation Or is it necessary that what was learnt at a Feast must be learnt in Conversation might it not be a part of their Festival Entertainments to have some agreeable Book read to them and might not Aesop sometimes be that Book If this might be the Case then the Old man might learn his Fables at a Feast and yet learn 'em out of a Book too But suppose he did not allowing that he learnt 'em in Conversation what follows from thence that because the Fables of Aesop were in every-bodys Mouth and told at their Meals by way of entertainment therefore there was no written Collection of 'em they were preserv'd all by Memory If this be Criticising I am sure Criticising has nothing to do with Reasoning By the same way of Deduction will I prove that we have not a Written Creed now nor ever had one for have not all People from the Rise of Christianity down to this Time learnt it without the help of a Book and is it not plain therefore that the Creed is preserv'd by Memory only and has never been committed to Writing The Dr. produces a Second Passage in Aristophanes where one man reproaches anothers Ignorance thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 You have not read so much as Aesop for so he himself translates it from whence he says one might conclude that Aesop wrote his Own Fables If they were his Own Fables one might pretty safely conclude that he wrote 'em for those Writings are the most properly a man 's Own which he writes But Dr. Bentley it seems concludes from this very Passage I cannot imagine How that Aesop did not write ' em Till he tells us by what Wonderful Means he got to this Conclusion I can say nothing to it But as for his Occasional and Weighty Debate whether or no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be a Proverbial Saying spoken of Illiterates I can see no manner of reason why it was brought in here but meerly for the pleasure of contradicting Erasmus and Scaliger Proverb or no Proverb I think it equally proves that there were Fables at that time which went under the Name of Aesop and what advantage can be made of this must be against Dr. Bentley The Closing Argument that winds these Proofs up into a Demonstration is a Passage in Plato's Phoedo where Socrates says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Among the Fables of Aesop I had at hand and remember'd I put those into Verse that first occurr'd to me from whence the Dr. shrewdly observes that Socrates does not say he made use of a Book of Fables and from his not saying so would have us believe that there was no such thing as a Book of Aesop's Fables in Socrates's time Socrates was now in Prison and in obedience to a
New Editors Our Annotators and Those Great Genius's with whom Learning that is leaving the world has taken up her last Residence By these and such expressions as these with which his Familiar Epistle abounds he would insinuate as if Phalaris as slight a piece as it is had been made up by contribution from several hands and were the Ioint Work of that Eminent Body But in this he does me too great an honour and I 'm almost tempted to take it as Terence did the agreeable Reproach of Laelius and Scipio's writing his Plays for him neither to own nor deny it But Terence wrote what might have become those Noble Pens and therefore did no injury to their Reputation when he favour'd that mistake whereas I shou'd be extreamly to blame if I shou'd suffer a Report to spread to the disadvantage of so many Excellent Men. I think my self therefore oblig'd to declare that whatever the Faults of Phalaris are they are Mine and I alone am answerable for them There is a very Deserving Gentleman indeed who had a little before been the Director of my Studies and was then My Particular Friend to whom I have acknowledgments to make on his occasion I consulted him upon any difficulty because I thought it not proper for one of my Age to offer any thing to the Public without consulting Some-body I wish I had advis'd oftener with him for then my Book would have been much more correct But excepting Him no one had a hand in it nay scarce a line was ever seen by any-body else as I know of till it was finish'd And now I have confess'd thus much I don't care if I own a little further to Dr. Bentley that I have been again oblig'd to the Same person for his Assistance in consulting some Books in the Oxford Libraries at my request which in the Places where I have been were not at all or not easily to be met with The Dr. may make what advantages of this he thinks fit I assure him I will never recriminate for I declare to the World that I sincerely believe the Dr's Dissertation is entirely his own both as to Matter and Dress and that no Friend whatever no not Mr. Wotton himself had any hand in it The happy Genius of some Authors will for ever secure 'em from all Scandals of this nature Terence indeed was suspected but Bavius and Moevius never were Dr. Bentley has industriously contriv'd to lead his Reader into this mistake imagining I suppose that the Conquest would have been too cheap for a man of his Rank in Letters unless he engag'd like the Hero of a Romance with great numbers at once But some men have thought themselves Heroes that were not and some that were have mistaken their Strength and in either of these cases have come off but scurvily The Dr I 'm sure would have been made very sensible of this in the present Debate had not I been kinder to him than He was to Himself and stept in as I thought it became me between Him and the just resentments of that Learned Body 'T were pity that any of those worthy Men who know so well how to employ their hours should be diverted from the pursuit of Vseful Knowledge into such Trivial Enquiries as these The Dispute began between Dr. Bentley and Me and 't is fit that We Two should end it I have a Request to Such as shall give themselves the Trouble of perusing These Papers that they would do Me and Dr. Bentley the Iustice to compare 'em Paragraph by Paragraph with His Dissertations The Task is a little unreasonable considering the Length of the Dispute but 't is necessary in order to form a true judgment of the Performance Dr. BENTLEY'S Dissertation UPON THE Epistles of Phalaris c. EXAMIN'D DR Bentley in the Piece I am about to examine among several other Liberties has taken this of writing without any Method Great Genius's indeed are above ordinary Rules but it wou'd ill become so unknown a Writer as I am to exempt my self from 'em and therefore I shall prescribe my self a method in answering him I think most of the scatter'd Remarks he has made in that part of his Dissertation which relates to Phalaris will come under one of these Three Heads They are either some Arguments which he has urg'd for the Spuriousness of the Epistles or some Faults which he has found with my Edition and Version of 'em or some Matters of Fact which he has related as the Grounds of his peevish Quarrel These last he has thrown into an odd corner of his Book as it were out of sight and plac'd 'em in the Rear of all his learned Arguments One wou'd imagine by the Post he has given 'em that he distrusted their strength or that he wrote his Book first and found Reasons for it afterwards However that may be I think my self oblig'd to clear up this Point in the first place by setting those Matters of Fact in their true light which Dr. Bentley has extreamly disguis'd And then 't will be time to consider the Wonderful Proofs he has produc'd on his side and the Mighty Mistakes he has thought fit to charge me with About four or five Years ago the worthy Dean of Christchurch Dr. Aldrich of whose College I was then a Member desir'd me to undertake an Edition of Phalaris I cou'd deny Him nothing to whom I ow'd so much and therefore as unfit as I thought my self for such a Task I undertook it In order to it a Manuscript Phalaris in the King's Library was to be consulted It was of no Age or Worth I heard being written but just before the restauration of Letters however it was a Manuscript and therefore not to be neglected especially since we had no ancient Copies either in England or any where else that I cou'd hear of I sent to Mr. Bennet my Bookseller in London to get the Manuscript and desir'd him to apply himself to Dr. Bentley in my name for the use of it not doubting in the least a ready complyance with such a request from one of his Station and Order and who besides was at that very time in a Lecture of some Honour and Profit that had lately been set up by one of my Family especially since the Book which I desir'd to borrow was of so little importance that it had scarce been a Favour to have lent it me if I had not ask'd it After an Expectation of many months Mr. Bennet sent me at last a Collation of part of the Manuscript with this account that he had with a great difficulty and after long delays got the Manuscript into his hands that he had it but a very few days when Dr. Bentley came to demand it again and wou'd by no means be prevail'd upon to let him have the use of it any longer tho' he told him the Collation was not perfected and that he deny'd this Request in a very rude manner throwing out
not wrong'd him nor given him any Character but what he has since been courteously pleas'd to make good But Dr. Bently appeals from me to more Equitable Judges and tells me that he can produce several Letters from Learned Professors abroad whose Books in time I may be fit to read wherein these very same words pro singulari suâ humanitate are said of him seriously and candidly For I endeavour says he to oblige even Foreigners by all Courtesie and Humanity much more wou'd I encourage and assist any useful design at home But why must we go to Foreign Nations for a true account of Dr. Bently I thought Mens Characters had been best learnt from those among whom they convers'd The Law of England is that every man shall be try'd by his Country and his Neighbourhood and this is not more reasonable in the Case of Life and Death than in that of Reputation But Dr. Bently pleads to have a Jury of Foreign Professors impanell'd to sit upon him a very suspicious Defence I think and which ought without any more ado to condemn him Shou'd a man tax'd with ill breeding here at London where he has liv'd all his time produce Certificates in his behalf from some Correspondents in Cornwall or Cumberland wou'd this Plea pass at Court Granting Dr. Bently's Foreigners to have said those things of him which he says they have 't is because they are Foreigners We that have the happiness of a near conversation with him know him better and may perhaps take an opportunity of setting those mistaken Strangers right in their Opinions concerning him Thus much upon the Supposition that he has these Testimonials by him but I who have had some dealings with him have learnt a little to mistrust his accounts and shall therefore before I make any more Remarks upon this passage tell the Reader a Story There was not many Years ago a Dispute about a Point of History between an Ingenious Gentleman and a Learned Prelate of our Church well known to Dr. Bently When the Gentleman was at a loss for Proofs his last resort always was to a certain Chest at Ilcomkill where there were MSS. it seems never seen by any body besides himself that prov'd every thing he had a mind to This presently put an end to the Controversie for there was no disputing against Invisible Authorities How far this may be Dr. Bently's case and whether the Letters from Learned Professors abroad which he talks of may not lye in some such Chest as those Records lay in I will not pretend to determine However since they are MSS. I know his Fondness for those precious Jewels so well that I believe he 'l be shy of making 'em publick Till he does the Printed Proofs that have been given of his great Humanity will stand good against what he tells us has been written to him Sure I am there are some Learned Men abroad that are far from Complimenting him One of 'em a Man of great note has complain'd to me how ill he has been us'd by him in a Case nearly resembling mine and complain'd in very expressive Terms which not yet having his Leave for it I do not think my self at liberty to publish Another that was desirous to have a sight of the Alexandrian MS. and apply'd himself to Dr. Bently very earnestly for it met with no other Answer to his Request but that the Library was not fit to be seen A pretty Excuse for a Library-keeper to make who had been four Years in that Service And this Instance of his Humanity I assure him is of no Old date it happen'd since he purg'd himself in his new Dissertation and gave Learned Men encouragement to expect better usage If he goes on at this rate as we have no reason to doubt but he will Foreigners will begin to suspect whether we have as we pretend the Alexandrian MS. or indeed whether the King has any Library But because the Dr. strongly argues from his being ready to oblige even Foreigners by all Courtesie and Humanity that he wou'd much more be ready to do so to Learned Men at home I will add one Domestick Instance of that kind that my Instances may be every way as large as his Assertions I have now a Letter by me under the hand of Sir Edward Sherburn a Gentleman of known Worth and Learning wherein he has these words I have sent Rubenius 's Book de vitâ Mallii put out by Graevius in Holland and dedicated to Dr. Bently the honour of whose Publication Mr. Bently hath ungratefully robb'd me of The meaning of this is explain'd in a Latin Memorandum enter'd by Sir Edward in the Book it self where he says that he put the MS. into Dr. Bently 's hands under this Condition that he shou'd send it to Graevius to be publish'd letting him know from whence he had it and desiring him to make an honourable mention of him as the person that had oblig'd the World with it The Edition came out it was dedicated to Dr. Bently the honour of the Publication given to him and not one word of Sir Edward Sherburn said in it The Sophists are every where pelted by Dr. Bently for putting out what they wrote in other mens names but I did not expect to hear so loudly of it from one that has so far outdone 'em For I think 't is much worse to take the honour of another man's Book to one's self than to entitle ones own Book to another man But Graevius it may be was in fault and forgot to do Sir Edward Sherburn justice 'T is hardly to be imagin'd he cou'd had Dr. Bently told him plainly that the MS. was put into his hands under that express Condition But if the Dr. only gave some slight intimation of it Graevius might indeed forget to do what he did not know whether it were in good earnest expected of him or not But supposing the original Omission to have lain wholly at Graevius's door yet how came the Dr. to be so very quiet under it afterwards Why did he not send immediately to Sir Edward Sherburn to excuse it Why did he not take care to have this Neglect repair'd in the next Holland Journal Nothing of this was done and therefore shou'd the Dr. not have been the willing occasion of the Mistake yet at least he was very willing that it shou'd prevail Upon a view of this Story I am apt to retract my Suspicions about Dr. Bently's Letters from Learned Professors He may perhaps have Testimonials of his Courtesie by him if he sticks at no methods of procuring 'em By such Arts as these 't is easie for a Man to get a Reputation of Humanity abroad without deserving to be much commended for his Honesty at home 'T is an hard word and which I should not easily allow my self to use but that I think I may take a greater Liberty in another man's behalf than in my own By Dr. Bently's way of
indeed to find there that our MS. was not perus'd Could they not have ask'd for it agen then after my Return Yes I could Sir and have been deny'd it again which I was not very willing to venture I neither thought my self so little nor Dr. Bently so great nor the MS. so considerable that I should make a second Application for it after such a Repulse no not tho' I had been sure of obtaining it much less could I ever think of asking it agen when by what Mr. Bennet had told me I had all the reason in the world to think I should be agen deny'd it But there is a reason for every thing says the Dr. and the Mystery was soon reveal'd A pretty decent Phrase on so light an occasion but this is not the only instance where the Critick has got the better of the Divine Well but how was the Mystery reveal'd why He had the hard Hap it seems in some private Conversation to say that the Epistles were spurious and unworthy of a new Edition Hinc Illae Lachrymae If he said this as he intimates he did at Oxford where the Book was then printing he said a very uncivil thing and what in his Dialect he terms his Hard Hap other People would be apt to call his Ill Breeding However I seriously declare I was utterly a stranger to this Discourse of his till he told me of it in Print I might hear perhaps of his being in Oxford but I had heard too much of his Discourse with Mr. Bennet to be curious in making any Enquiries into his private Conversation The Reader will excuse this Tedious Descant on Dr. Bently's Relation of Matter of Fact The true Story of our MS. was a point of importance my Honesty was concern'd in this part of the Dispute the rest only touches my Learning Having therefore I hope justified my Conduct where it most became me to do it the Matters of pure Criticism will give me no Concern I 'm sure tho' they may put me to some little Trouble I shall enter upon 'em with the Indifference of a Gamester who plays but for a trifle which 't is much the same to him whether he wins or loses I shou'd now fall closely to my work the Authority of Phalaris's Epistles but that there is an Introduction of Dr. Bently's that lies in my way and must first have a Reflexion or two bestow'd upon it He begins it with telling us that Mr. Wotton by the power of a long Friendship between 'em engag'd him to write it I hope Mr. Wotton will let the Publick know that he neither engag'd his Friend to write upon this Subject in this manner nor approv'd of these Discourses when written which the World will presume him to have done till the contrary appears and till he has disclaim'd Dr. Bentley's attempt as publickly as he seems now to countenance and avow it 'T is a little strange that Mr. Wotton in a second Edition of his Book which he had discreetly taken care to purge of most things that look'd like ill Manners in himself shou'd be prevail'd upon to allow a place to the ill Manners of another man But I hear and I am not unwilling to think that Mr. Wotton receivâ—d this Present at a venture from Dr. Bently and let it be printed without giving himself the trouble of reading it And I the rather fall in with this account because I find Mr. Wotton in his Book zealously vindicating the Age from the Imputation of Pedantry and assuring us that tho' the Citation of Scraps of Latin and a nauseous ostentation of Reading were in fashion Fifty or Sixty Years ago yet that all that is now in a great measure disus'd Which I suppose he would never have done in some of the last Pages of his Book if he had then known of the Dissertation that immediately follows it A Gentleman of my acquaintance was observing to me what a Motly Unequal work these two Pieces made as they now lye together Mr. Wotton said he in his Reflections takes in the whole compass of Ancient and Modern Learning and endeavours to show wherein either of 'em has been defective and wherein they have excell'd A Large Design fit for the Pen of my Lord Bacon and in the well executing of which any one Man's Life would be usefully spent Dr. Bentley comes after him with a Dissertation half as big as his Book to prove that three or four small Pieces ascrib'd to some of the Ancients are not so ancient as they pretend to be a very inconsiderable Point and which a wise man would grudge the throwing away a weeks thought upon if he could gain it and what then shall we say of Him that has spent two or three years of his life to lose it Mr. W's motive to write was he tells us a piece of Publick Service that he hop'd he might do the World Dr. Bentley's plainly a private Picque and such as 't was utterly unfit for him to act upon either as a Scholar or a Christian much more as he was one in Holy Orders and that had undertaken the publick defence of Religion Mr W. continued he is modest and decent speaks generally with respect of those he differs from and with a due distrust of his own Opinions Dr. Bentley is Positive and Pert has no regard for what other men have thought or said and no suspicions that he is fallible Mr. W's Book has a Vein of Learning running through it where there is no ostentation of it Dr. Bentley's Appendix has all the Pomp and Show of Learning without the Reality In truth said he there is scarce any thing as the Book now stands in which that and the Appendix agree but in commending and admiring Dr. Bentley in which they are so very much of a Piece that one would think Dr. Bentley had writ both the one and the other But leaving these two Friends to the Pleasure of their mutual Civilities I shall go on to the rest of my remarks on Dr. Bentley's Introduction After telling us then at whose Instance he wrote this famous Piece of Criticism he begins to give us a cast of his skill in the Point Sir W. Temple had observ'd in favour of the Ancients that some of the Oldest Books we have are the best in their kinds To this Dr. Bentley replies That some of the Oldest Books are the best in their kinds the same Person having the Double Glory of Invention and Perfection is a thing observ'd even by some of the Ancients And for this he very learnedly quotes Dion Chrysostome But then says he the Authors they gave this Honour to are Homer and Archilochus one the Father of Heroic Poem and the other of Epode and Trochaic p. 7. What he means by saying that this had been observ'd even by some of the Ancients is not easie to apprehend nor why he quotes Chrysostome for it whose Authority either in this or any other case is not
met with in Goltzius Paruta and Harduin I shall give the Reader a Tast of them in the Margin But the most remarkable Instance of all is that of Zaleucus King of the Locrians a Doric Colony the Preface to whose Laws is preserv'd in Stobaeus an exact and faithful Copier of Old Authors and has plainly nothing of the Doric Dialect in it Diodorus Siculus who does not so strictly transcribe but chuses rather to weave things into the Phrase and Body of his History has the same Preface with some Alterations but none that make it more Doric than it is in Stobaeus And now upon a View of these Instances and others of this kind which I could produce but I spare the Reader I might be-speak the Dr. in his own pert way of Enquiry Pray how came Attic or any other Dialect but the Doric to be the Court-Language at Syracuse How came Zaleucus and Dionysius the Tyrant so to doat on the Dialect of a Democraty How is it that those Little Princes of Sicily as Arbitrary and Jealous of their Prerogative as the Mightiest Monarch whatever allow'd of Inscriptions on their Coins which were not in the Language of their Country Any clear Solution that he shall please to afford us of these matters will equally serve to give us an account why Phalaris too might be excus'd from writing in Doric Dr. Bentley has endeavour'd to prevent me in some part of the Evidence that I have brought and has excepted against such Instances as those of Empedocles and Diodorus whose Case he says is widely remote from that of our Tyrant The former being to write an EPIC POEM shew'd an excellent Iudgment in laying aside his Country Dialect for that of the Ionians for the Doric Idiom had not Grace and Majesty enough for the Subject he was engag'd in being proper indeed for Mimes Comedies and Pastorals where Men of Ordinary Rank are represented c. but not to be us'd in HEROIC without great disadvantage I desire Dr. Bentley to inform me in what Old Scholiast or Manuscript Author he has met with this Curious account of Empedocles â—s writing an Epic Poem as much out of the way as he loves to read he 'll be hard put to 't I believe to find an Authority for it If he can 't is plain he knows more of Empedocles's Works than Laertius did who has been so absurd as to inform us particularly of several less considerable Pieces of his and to pass over altogether in silence this Epic Poem Dr. Bentley will be pleas'd at his leisure to produce his Vouchers in this point which I am apt to believe he will do at the same time that he lets us know where the Buda MS. of Petronius is to be met with Empedocles wrote many things in Hexameters indeed but Dr. Bentley sure cannot be so wretchedly ignorant as to think that every Large Copy of Verses written in Hexameters is an Epic Poem Aristotle would have inform'd him that Empedocles was so far from being an Epic Poet a Poet of the first Rank that he scarce deserv'd the Name of a Poet at large 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There is nothing that Homer and Empedocles agree in but their Verse and therefore Homer indeed may justly be call'd a Poet but Empedocles rather a Naturalist than a Poet. Or if Aristotle be too good a Book for Dr. Bentley to converse with there is a Writer of less size even his Friend Mr. Wotton who would have taught him the Distinction between Philosophical and Epical Poems that is such as Empedocles and Lucretius wrote on the one side and Homer and Virgil on the other He who is so nicely severe upon Phalaris for confounding 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 should have taken care not to have given Phalaris's Friends an Opportunity of making Reprisals The Fatal Mistake in this case was that Suidas the Dr's Oracle calls him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which strictly taken signifies an Epic Poet but in its loose sense a Versifier only and the Dr. was not at leisure to take notice of this distinction And if Empedocles did not write an Epic Poem how did he shew his Iudgment in laying aside his Country Dialect Could not Physics have been as Iudiciously wrote in Doric Verse by Him as in Doric Prose by Ocellus Lucanus and the rest of the Pythagoreans His Treatise of Expiations why would it not have born being written in Doric as well as Theocritus's Pharmaceutria especially since Laertius intimates that the Subject of that Treatise was in great measure drawn from the Pythagoreans would it not properly then have been compos'd in the Dialect those Philosophers us'd We have several small Remains of Empedocles but not a Line of his in Doric We have a Large Fragment of his directed to the People of Agrigent his Townsmen did he shew his Iudgment in laying aside his Country Dialect there too when he was directing his Verses to the very People of his Country Had the Doric Idiom not Grace and Majesty enough for the Subject he was engag'd in when the Subject was no higher than an Account of Himself to his own Countrymen If Doric be proper for Mimes Comedies and Pastorals where Men of ordinary Rank are represented why is it not as proper for little Poems where Men of ordinary Rank are address'd to I believe it would puzzle a Man of less Sagacity than Dr. Bentley to tell us for what reason Empedocles us'd Ionic but because he had a mind to 't and may not the same reason be urg'd also in behalf of the Attic of Phalaris Dr. Bentley has had very ill Luck in bringing off the Poet let us see whether he has better in what he has to say for the Historian Diodorus Siculus he tells us and the other Historians of Dorian Nations had great reason to decline the Vse of their Vernacular Tongue as improper for History which besides the affectation of Eloquence aims at Easiness and Perspicuity and is design'd for General Vse but the Doric is Course and Rustic and always clouded with an Obscurity The Reader cannot but observe in this Passage the particular Beauty and Happiness of the Dr's Expression but it matters not much how he Writes let us consider how he Reasons If the Dr's Solution be just how came Archimedes and the Pythagorean Naturalists and Moralists not to decline the use of their Vernacular Tongue as well as the Historians They all I dare say aim'd as much at Perspicuity and the Last of the Three doubtless design'd their Treatises as much for General Vse I will not say indeed that they affected Eloquence because I do not think that a good Character whatever Dr. Bentley may but which is much better they were Eloquent very Lofty and Magnificent and withal very Clear in their Expression on both which accounts they are recommended by Dionysius Halicarnasseus
Perictyone and Aristoxenus two Pythagoreans and who very probably wrote Doric because they were Pythagoreans and yet in Stobaeus's time it is plain that some part of the Writings of the One were in Ionic and those of the Other if I remember right for I have not Stobaeus now by me in the Common Dialect Let Dr. Bentley then take which side he pleases either that Perictyone and Aristoxenus and I will add Zaleucus too who we are sure was a Pythagorean also from very good Authority either I say that these did write originally in Doric or that they did not If they did then we have Instances in 'em of Ancient Authors transdialected very early long before the days of Stobaeus if they did not then here is a plain Proof that Authors probably of Doric Countries to be sure One of 'em was might nevertheless not write Doric and either of these being granted me the Reader sees there will be no difficulty in justifying the Dialect of Phalaris Indeed if the Last be granted me it will be pretty difficult to justifie Dr. Bentley's hardy assertion that the Pythagoreans would sooner have lost their Lives than have written out of Doric and that if they had done it it is most certain they would have been banish'd the Society And therefore Dr. Bentley I suppose to make himself Consistent a very hard Task will choose rather to grant that these Writers were originally in Doric and if they were he will please to consider how they got out of it and shew us why Phalaris might not get out the very same way And here I should take my leave of this tedious Article but that I hear Dr. Bentley crying out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and calling loudly on the Learned World to listen to a mighty Discovery He undertakes to prove that Ocellus Lucanus did not repudiate his Vernacular Idiom nor compose his Book 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Dress that it now wears but in his own Country fashion that is in plain English that he did not write it in the Common Dialect as 't is now extant but in Doric Upon this the Dr. spreads his Plumes and swells beyond his usual pitch I dare engage to make out and If I may expect Thanks for the Discovery are Expressions that carry in 'em an Extraordinary Air of Satisfaction and seem a little too Pompous for the Matter they introduce were it entirely New and his Own but they much less become it considering it is all taken Word for Word out of a Preface to an Edition of Ocellus as I shall now shew the Reader Vizzanius above fifty Years ago put out Ocellus and in his Prolegomena to that Piece has said every thing that Dr. Bentley has produc'd on this Subject to a Tittle and which is a little unlucky has said it almost in the very same Words too only Dr. Bentley is in English I compliment him when I say so and Vizzanius is in Latin The Dr. has condescended to translate that Honest Editor's Preface without making the least Improvement of a single Argument there but not without worsting several and has the Modesty after that to take it All to Himself as the First Inventor and to talk higher of this Petty Larciny of his than Vizzanius did of the Original Discovery which he thought too Obvious to value himself upon Perhaps some who have not the Opportunity of comparing this Editor with Dr. Bentley may be glad to have a Particular Account of the Dr's Ingenuity in the matter and therefore I shall take the trouble of going through all he says on this point and plainly shew whence he had his Intelligence I find says the Dr. it was agreed and covenanted among the Scholars of that Italian Sect 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jambl. Vit. Pyth. I can tell him where he found it it was in Vizzanius who says the same thing and quotes the very same Authority for it Id certè asserendum crediderim Ocellum Doricâ Dialecto suum Opus conscripsisse tùm quia Pythagoraeos quoslibet illi studuisse comperio tùm quia id Pythagorae suadeant Instituta cui semper Idiomatum Graecorum Doricum maximè voluit sectari tùm antiquius tùm etiam praestantius illud arbitratus teste Iamblicho in Vitâ Pythag. Indeed he makes no such Inference as Dr. Bentley does that the Pythagoreans would sooner have lost their Lives than have broken this Agreement and that 't is most certain if any body had publish'd a Book against that Injunction he would have been banish'd the Society because he knew this was not observ'd by Empedocles nor by the Author of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor even by Iamblichus while he is writing this Account of the Pâ—thagoreans no nor by Pythagoras himself if Diogenes Laertius may be credited 'T is true Vizzanius speaks a little unwarily and may be understood to intimate that the Use of this Dialect among the Italian Sect was from the institution of Pythagoras himself a Mistake which if he were in he was probably led into by too slight a perusal of Iamblichus Dr. Bentley took all he found there for his Own and this Mistake among the rest and when he had it to make it look the more like his Own gave it the Confident Turn Immediately these Instituta Pythagorae grew a solemn Injunction of Pythagoras which the Dr. talks as familiarly of as if he had seen a Copy of it But methinks he might have inferr'd that there was no Injunction of this kind from what he himself had told us out of Iamblichus but Three Lines before that this Use of the Dialect proceeded from a Covenant and agreement among the Scholars themselves For they who know what an Implicit Regard was paid to Pythagoras's Orders by all his Scholars will easily agree that there could be no need of their entring into a Compact to do any thing that He had commanded Dr. Bentley's Adversaries may be as severe upon him on the account of his Criticisms as they please but they needs must allow him to have a Particular Talent at Reasoning and to have thus much at least of a Good Disputant that he is sure to make the most of his Argument Dr. Bentley's next Suggestion is this We are assur'd that the other Pieces of this Author were made in Doric as one of Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cited by Stobaeus Vizzanius too cites this Fragment of Ocellus's Piece 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from Stobaeus and makes the same Use of it Ocellum scil Lucanum scimus Librum de Legibus scripsisse hujus fragmentum exhibet Stobaeus Doricâ Dialecto expressum c. Dr. Bentley goes on But which is plain Demonstration Four Citations are brought by the same Writer out of this very Book 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all which are in Doric and not as they are now extant in the Common Dialect Vizzanius referrs us to these four very places as they lye in
Speech and Ways of Writing imaginable They wrought it up into all the Majesty and Grace all the Sweetness and Smoothness that an Happy Composition of Words an Harmonious mixture of Vowels and Diphthongs or a Just Cadency of Syllables could give it The best Greek Writers had generally Skill in Music which was infus'd into 'em from their Infancy and none were reckon'd well-bred that wanted it This made their Ear just and fine and the fineness of their Ear easily slid into their Tongue model'd their Speech and made it Tuneable They brought all the Learning in the World into their Language and wrote in the best manner upon all the most useful and pleasing Subjects that could benefit or entertain Mankind The Natural Perfection of their Tongue and the distinguishing Excellency of their Authors in all Kinds of Knowledge and Ways of Writing made 'em a Compleat Standard and Model to other Nations and after-Ages upon which every one endeavour'd to form himself So that what was sure always to be lik'd could not chuse but last long Their Empire also did not a little contribute to the Stability and Prevalence of their Language They overcame a Great part of the World and extended their Tongue with their Conquests so as to make it Universal All Nations borrow'd from Them but They had that Contempt of the Barbarity of other Countries that they were shy of suffering either their Manners or their Speech to be introduc'd among ' em This Pride they preserv'd in a great measure even when the Roman Empire was at its utmost heighth and while Rome flourish'd with the Glory of Arms the Seat of Learning still continu'd at Athens This kept the Language so far entire and unmix'd that we have Greek Books writ by Authors at almost Two thousand Years distance who disagree less in their Phrase and Manner of Speech than the Books of any Two English Writers do who liv'd but Two hundred Years asunder This then was a Peculiar Happiness of the Greek Tongue No other Language that has been of known and familiar use in the World not even the Latin it self enjoy'd any thing like it An 150 or 200 Years was the utmost Length of Time that the Latin Purity continu'd And therefore to Compare the Greek the most Holding Tongue in the World with the English the most Fickle and Fleeting of any and to Inferr from the observable difference between the several Ages of English that there was as great a Difference between the several Ages of Greek is a Comparison and an Inference which No-body but Dr. Bentley would have allow'd himself to make that is to be plain with him No-body but One who has no true Relish no nice Tast of the Beauties and Proprieties of Either of these Languages or of any Other that he has yet pretended to judge of or to write in By those Marks and Moles of Novity which he has pointed out in the Paragraph we are upon the Reader is by this time satisfied how able he is to assign to every Greek Writer his proper Age and Period meerly by the Thread and Colour of his Style Indeed tho' he has the Vanity to declare this to be his Extraordinary Faculty yet he has withal the Modesty not to hope that he shall convince any body and in this I dare say he is not mistaken For 't is somewhat hard to imagine how a Man should enter into the Spirit and Delicacy and all the Various Niceties of a Dead Tongue who is so far from having any exquisite sense of these things even in that very Tongue which he was born and bred up in I shall take an occasion by and bye to give the Reader such a Specimen of his English Eloquence as will discourage any body if there be any body left who is not yet discourag'd from chusing Him for a Taster In the mean time to stay the Reader 's Longing I shall instance in One Happy Phrase newly minted by the Dr. in this very Paragraph he speaks here of the Mien of a Face which as I take it is much the same thing with the Behaviour of a Look or the Carriage of a Smile I do not know how particular the Dr's Mien or his Face may be for to my knowledge I never saw him but the Mien of the Face of his Style the Reader must allow me even from this single instance is somewhat extraordinary THE Use of the Attic Dialect was made one shrewd Objection against Phalaris the Use of the Attic Talent Dr. Bentley is resolv'd shall be another This Way of Counting recurrs pretty often in the Epistles however not so often as that an Argument built upon it should deserve to be rank'd among the General Proofs but I am so little sensible of the force of it that I am willing to allow it a place there and if Dr. Bentley can make it out I promise to renounce not those Particular Epistles only from whence 't is taken but the Whole Sett of them The Dr. upon this Article accuses his Mock-Phalaris of mistaking the Sicilian Talent and this Mistake of his he with his usual Gaiety calls a Slippery Way of telling Mony and therefore cautions us against dealing with him He explains himself thus That the Sicilian Talent was the Lowest of any that Phalaris promising in his Epistles to several of his Countrymen Talents in General must be understood to mean Sicilian Talents whereas he means nothing like it Now says the Dr. if a Bargain were made in England to pay so many Pounds or Marks and the Party should pretend at last that he meant Scots Marks or French Livres few I suppose would care to have Dealings with him And this is the very Case in so many of these Letters So far from being the Case that the Case is just contrary For if the â—icilian Talents were so very Low and Phalaris must be thought to intend them in his Promises and yet paid Attic ones Those he dealt with had certainly no reason to complain of him Would a man think himself ill us'd in Scotland who should have a General Promise made him of so many Pounds which he expected to be made good in the Pounds of the Country and receiv'd 'em afterwards in good English Sterling What could possibly give this Perverse Turn even to Dr. Bentley's Imagination What Cloudy Author had he been conversing with that could put him into this State of Perplexity and Confusion We have great hopes indeed that the Intricate Accounts of this Paragraph should be clear'd up by such an Head in such Order But it may be the Dr. did not intend this for a Remark that was to Edifie his Reader but for a pure piece of harmless Diversion Having therefore sported himself a little he resumes the Chair and thus authoritatively dictates to us We are to know that in Sicily as in most other Countries the Name and Value of their Coins and the way of reckoning by Summs
was peculiar The Sum Talent in the Sicilian Accompt contain'd no more in Specie than Three Attic Drachms or Roman Denares as plainly appears from Aristotle in his now lost Treatise of the Sicilian Government And the Words of Festus are most express Talentorum non unum Genus Atticum est sex millium Denariûm Syracusanum trium denariûm What an Immense Difference One Attic Talent had the real value of Two thousand Sicilian Talents Now in all these Epistles the very Circumstances assure us that by the word Talent simply nam'd the Attic Talent is understood But should not our wise Sophist have known that a Talent in that Country where he had laid the Scene of his Letters was quite another thing Without Question if the true Phalaris had penn'd them he would have reckon'd these Summs by the Sicilian Talents encreasing only the Number Or should he have made use of the Attic Accompt he should always have given express notice of it never saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 alone without the addition of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now in opposition to the Dr's Reasonings and Authorities about this matter of the Talents I shall endeavour to shew that what the Dr. says we are to know we are still to know after all the Information he has vouchsaf'd to give us and that if we did know it we could not from thence gather that these Epistles are Spurious For if there is Room to suspect that the Dr's Witnesses are corrupted if their Testimony is inconsistent if they tell us things demonstratively false if the Dr. says more than his Witnesses do if there be stronger Authority to counterbalance theirs if admitting what they say or what the Dr. makes 'em say to be true the Letters may be nevertheless Authentic if these things can be made good the Dr. will I hope pardon me if I refuse to part with Phalaris upon any Quarrel about the Talents The Dr's Witnesses are Pollux and Festus whom I shall examine severally Aristotle indeed is call'd in for a Witness but He not appearing in Person we have his Testimony only at second hand so that its force will wholly depend on the Authority of Pollux the Relater To Him we are referr'd in the Margin but it doth not appear from the Book and Chapter there cited that the Treatise of Aristotle which the Dr. says is now Lost was ever sound That Aristotle wrote 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or accounts of the State and Polity of several Particular Cities and of several Sicilian Cities among the rest is sufficiently known but that he wrote any thing which bore such a Title as a Treatise of the Sicilian Government we want the Light of some other Lost Treatise to make plain to us A Treatise of Aristotle but not under this Name is cited by Pollux in this Chapter but whether that part of this Chapter which concerns the Value of Talents be genuine we have Room to doubt Seberus in his Notes on Pollux tells us that from Pag. 435 v. 32 of his Edition to the End of the 6th Chapter within which space all that is said to Talents lies is wanting in One MS But allowing it to be genuine what the Dr. says is plain from that place in Pollux is so far from being plain from thence that Pollux must be chang'd and help'd out from other Authors before he can be made to speak to the purpose It plainly appears to the Dr. from Aristotle as there cited by Pollux that the Summ Talent in the Sicilian Accompt contain'd no more in Specie than three Attic Drachms or Roman Denares But tho' the Sicilian Talent be there mention'd 't is neither adjusted to Attic Drachms nor Roman Denares Two sorts of Sicilian Talents are there taken notice of an Ancient and a Later That equal to 24 Nummi This to 12. And the Nummus is said to be equal to three 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So that before the Value of the Sicilian Talent can be settled from this Passage the Value of the Nummus should be first agreed on which it will not be very easie to fix from its given proportion to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because that is a Species of Mony we are Strangers to and the Criticks are agreed we owe that Coin purely to a Corrupt Reading of the Text which by the bye is much such an Instance of Equivocal Generation as that which the Dr. tells us of where he makes Mushrooms to grow out of a Rotten Passage in Suidas Some therefore for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 others 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This Latter must be own'd to be a greater departure from the Letter of the Text than the Former so that if we admit it in order to our setling the value of the Nummus and consequently of the Talent we do not owe our Light in this matter to what we read in Pollux but to what we gather from our own Conjectures or from other Authors When we have put 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 't is granted that the Nummus which is equal to three half-Obolus's or one Obolus and an half is the same with the Nummus Sestertius of the Romans the value of which being known from other Authors and it's proportion to the Roman Denare the proportion of the Sicilian Talent to the Roman Denare is thereby made out But those who go this way to work in setling the value of the Sicilian Talent from this obscure and corrupted passage seem to take it for granted that the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Pollux means the Roman Nummus or Sestertius and then adjust the obscure word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by changing it into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the known value of the Sesterius But Pollux tells us that tho' 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may seem to be a Roman Name of Mony yet it is a Greek one and a Term of the Dorians in Italy and Sicily And if so 't is more probable that the Sicilian Talent is here compar'd to the Dorian or Sicilian Nummi whatever those were than to the Roman Sestertii Had Pollux given us the Value of the Sicilian Talent in his own Name and Words we might have suppos'd that he adjusted it to the Roman Monies but 't is absurd to think that Aristotle those words are here cited for the value of the Talent should give it us in Roman Sestertii which were a Coin not stamp'd at Rome till after Aristotle's time So that the Ground upon which the receiv'd Computation of the Sicilian Talent seems to have been made plainly fails But admitting the Nummus here to be the same with the Roman Sestertius which we have good reason not to admit and that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is rightly substituted which we have no reason to grant yet after all Dr. Bentley has impos'd upon us in his valuation of
as he tells us in the same place it was in its most prosperous and flourishing Estate but must there needs be as many Inhabitants in it 150 Years before in the Reign of Phalaris As for his Other Witness Laertius his 800000 are given up by the Learned as a Gross Mistake which Bochart supposes to have risen from the change of a Numeral K into a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or however that may be the Account he says is incredible and utterly false Incredible as it is the Dr. vouchsafes to take up with it and it grows under his Hands for by that time we are got to the End of this Article these 800000 are a Million of Subjects the 200000 are thrown in carelesly to make it a Round Number Let it be a Million yet there have been Tyrants with many Millions of Subjects at their Command who have thought fit to employ and entertain themselves much after this manner Has the Dr. who deals so much in Fragments never seen those of Augustus's Letters to Horace has he never heard that we owe the Fourth Book of Horace 's Odes and the finest of all his Epistles to that Prince's Importunity who press'd and oblig'd him to write and to make mention of Him in his Poems And such Stuff I presume may very well be allow'd to busie Phalaris's Head which found room in the Thoughts of Augustus But why so much ado says Our Keen Observer could not the Syracusian have written to Stesichorus and at the priâ—e of some Present met with Success I agree with the Dr. that a Present is sometimes an Expeditious Method of doing Business I have known several things in my Life-time stick for want of it However here it was Improper for Stesichorus was not only the Greatest Poet but one of the Greatest Men in Sicily His Brother Helianax was a Lawgiver 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Suidas tells us and He himself probably in the Government of Himera or at least consulted by 'em in Extraordinary Cases as appears by his Apologue in Aristotle's Rhetoric And the true way of prevailing with such a man to employ his excellent Pen was to offer him not Mony but a Subject that deserv'd it Some of his Brother Poets indeed were to be tempted this way but they were Men of Mean Birth and Education and were to make their Fortunes by their Pen and no wonder therefore that they were Mercenary It is objected that if these Letters about the Elâ—gy were Phalaris's he would have express'd himself properly and not have call'd the same Copy of Verses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which are as different from one another as Theognis is from Pindar an Egregious Piece of Dulness says the Dr and which proves him to be a meer Asinus ad Lyram Now to see the different Cast of Mens Heads allowing the Error in this case so Egregiously Dull am I that I should have reason'd just the other way from it that if a Sophist had writ these Letters he would never have confounded these Two Words the distinct Sense of which was so well settl'd before his Time by the Grammarians But in Phalaris's time the meaning of these Terms of Art might not be so strictly mark'd out or a Prince might not think himself oblig'd to take notice of it and to write with all the Exactness of a Scholar So that from this very Mistake if it were one I should have inferr'd something favor of the Letters but to our Misfortune here is no Mistake Phalaris did but as a Nicer Man than He might have done he calls the Poem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when he asks it of Stesichorus and did not know in what Verse it would be compos'd by him and he calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 afterwards when he had it and found it was in Lyric Measures 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 originally signified only a Mournful or Funeral Song an Elegy as we say in English referring to the Subject of the Song and not to the Measure But Elegies being generally writ in Hexameters and Pentameters the Word came afterwards to be apply'd purely to the Measure without any Regard to the Subject However this Second Sense of the Word did not so far prevail as absolutely to extinguish the First still 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were now and then employ'd in a Looser Meaning than what the Grammarians put upon 'em and of this I will give the Dr. one plain Instance from a Darling Author of his Dion Chrysostome who in his 4th Book de Regno calls the Heroic Verses written on Sardanapalus's Tomb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And Aristophanes speaking of the Nightingale has this Passage 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 can signifie nothing but a Melancholy Tune or Mournful Song unless our Grammarian can prove that the Nightingales in that part of the World sung in Elegiac Measure And the Misfortune of it is that these very 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but a few Verses before 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And I hope Aristophanes understood Greek and was no Asimis ad Lyram As strong Proofs as these may seem I have still behind One Authority more which will go farther with Dr. Bentley than any I have yet brought 't is his Own He p. 139 of his Dissertation tells us that Some-body made an Edition of Aesop 's Fables in Elegiac Verse and after giving us several Instances of the kind he adds that Some of Them i. e. of the Elegiac Fables were all in Hexameters I 'd advise him therefore to call in this Criticism and his Dirty Proverb along with it for fear it shou'd stick where he has not a mind it should He has still One way left of disproving this Piece of Putid Formality and that is by denying that Stesichorus and Phalaris were acquainted 'T is a Negative and therefore pretty hard to be made out let us see how he sets about it He observes that Lucian says nothing of this Acquaintance Lucian mentions it not by Name indeed but he speaks in General of Phalaris's Conversation with Learned Men and their great Esteem of him and then gives an Instance in Pythagoras the most celebrated Scholar of his Time and after Him there needed no other Instances Had a Less Skilful Hand been employ'd in making this Oration he would probably have heap'd up all he knew of Phalaris and overacted his part by too Great and Circumstantial a Nicety But Lucian had more Art he knew when to leave off that the Piece might not look stist and unnatural Besides if Lucian's Silence be an Exception to Stesichorus's acquaintance with Phalaris it is to Abaris's too which yet Our Critic has before for the sake of Aristotle and Iamblichus been
Mill he was very conversant in Suidas Hesychius and other Greek Vocabularies Onomasticons Etymologicons Lexicons Glossaries Nomenclators and Scholia so that he must at least have been acquainted with the Significations of Greek Words but it appears from what this Sophist offers about the Sense of some Greek words which he finds in Phalaris that he was not only a perfect Stranger to the best Classic Authors but that he wanted that Light which any Ordinary Dictionary would have afforded him The Librarian was so well read in One of these Instructive Writers Hesychius as to assure Dr. Mill between Verse and Prose that whenever a New Edition of that book came forth he could if he would correct five thousand faults in it more or less Id Tibi de plano possum promittere Milli Quinque plus minus millia mendorum Mâ— correcturum esse sâ— libucrit quae aliorum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 laboriosam diligentiam hactenùs illuserunt Now could any thing that actually is in Hesychius escape his knowledge who had such a Deep Insight into what is not but ought to be there could He who had discover'd what had escap'd the Utmost Diligence of Others miss what was obvious to every one that look'd into Hesychius Would Dr. Bentley have given us such a Cast of his Skill in construing Greek Words as to tell us that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 anciently signified to pursue when that which fled fear'd and shunn'd the pursuer and that it never signified to follow in any other Sense when Hesychius gives us no other words for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which are far from a Persecuting Sense Dr. Bentley is known to have liv'd in the same Age and at the same Time that the Edition of Phalaris with which this Sophist is so angry came out it appears from the Editorâ—s Preface that the Dr. being then Library-keeper at St. Iames's deny'd a Common Favour to the Editor which is complain'd of in that Preface This doubtless gave occasion to our Sophist to forge these Dissertations in the Dr's name to show his pretended resentments of that Complaint Now the Dr. himself could not be ignorant that this Edition was put forth by Mr. Boyle whose Name it still bears But Our Sophist who liv'd at a greater distance from those Times supposes it the Joynt-Work of several he talks of our Late Editors of those Great Genius's with whom Learning that is leaving the World has taken up her Last Residence of these Annotators of our Ingenious Translators whereas these Editors Genius's Annotators Translators could not but be known to one that then liv'd and were known to Dr. Bentley as appears by a MS Letter of his to Mr. Boyle now in being to be one and the same Person It is true that in the Preface to the Edition there are these Expressions Quantum scimus and Nostro Labore and in the Dedication Tuâ ope adjutus which might lead our Sophist into a mistake that this Edition was the Work of More than One and that the Person to whom it is dedicated had assisted in it as if it were unusual for the Plural Number to be put for the Singular or as if a Person in that Station could no otherwise assist a Young Gentleman of his College in the Edition of a Book than by collating Manuscripts translating the Text and writing Comments Dr. Bentley is known to have enjoy'd the advantage of a Public Lecture instituted by the Honourable Mr. Robert Boyle and by reason of that Post must be suppos'd to have had a due respect for his Name and Family so that it cannot rationally be presum'd he would treat a Gentleman who had the Honour to be nearly related to that Noble Person with so much Contempt and Indignity as is plainly express'd in several parts of that Dissertation Dr. Bentley did also flourish during the Life of Sir William Temple whilst that Eminent Person was in great Reputation for the Signal and Extraordinary Services he had done for the Protestant Interest to the English Nation and to the King who then reign'd as also for his Learned Writings which were then in very great Esteem amongst all those who had a true relish for Sound Sense and Noble Thoughts express'd with all the Beauty and Force of proper and significant Language Now tho' the Dr. might without any offence differ in his Sentiments from that Worthy Gentleman yet it is not credible that a Scholar a Courtier and a Divine would so far break in upon all the Rules of Modesty Decency and Civility as to insult over a Person of Sir William's Character and Merit as an Ignorant and Illiterate Pretender to Learning who could neither discover the true Time nor the true Value of his Authors and whose Choice of Phalaris and Aesop as then extant for two great inimitable Originals was a piece of Criticism of a peculiar Complexion and must proceed from a Singularity of Palate and Iudgment It must needs be a great Wonder to those who think these Dissertations Genuine how or where they have been concealâ—d and in what Secret Shop or unknown Corner of the World they have lain hid so that no one has ever taken notice of 'em for so many Ages Had these Dissertations been seen and read somebody sure would have quoted somewhat out of 'em especially since so many have had occasion to do so for all those who have written concerning Sophisms and Ill Consequences in arguing might have furnish'd themselves from hence with all Kinds of Loose and Incoherent Thinking And those that have publish'd their Censures upon the Incongruities of Language and Innovations in Speech might from every Page of this Author have fetch'd proper Instances of the Grossest Improprieties So that by their Silence and Praetermission they do as good as declare expresly that they never saw our Dissertation But that which ought to weigh most with those who have any Honour for Dr. Bentley toward clearing him from any suspicion of having written these Pieces is this Consideration that That Learned Doctor was chosen out by the then Fathers of the Church as a fit person to vindicate the Truth of Religion against Atheists Deists and all other Opposers of Divine Revelation whereas this Sophist is found to make use of such Arguments to disprove the Epistles of Phalaris as are of Equal weight to prove the Writings of Moses and the New Testament to be of much Later date than they can be consistently with the Pretences of the Jewish and Christian Religion So little regard had this Bold Writer to fit his Discourses to the Character of that Reverend and Learned Person and I have had too much Regard to Him in giving him the Honour and Patience of so Long an Examination SInce I have had the Patience to examine all the tedious Proofs Dr. Bentley has heap'd together against the Epistles which I was not in the least
Low and Clownish Expressions how the Men of Reason and Judgment will approve his Weak and Inconclusive Ways of Arguing it is a mighty Imputation upon Him to have any of these Bad Qualities or to want any of these Good ones but it is no Great Blot upon Me if I should appear not to be exactly well skill'd in the Learned Languages I was satisfied from some Books lately written what a wide difference there is between a Man of Close Arguing and Rambling Learning and how unnatural a Step it is for an Amanuensis to start up a Professor of Divinity This indeed made me not expect much from Dr. Bentley in the Reasoning Way but when he came to Matters of Pure Criticism I thought One who had bent all his Thoughts and Reading that way One who has now the sole Use and Power of the King's Library and had for many Years attended upon one of the Greatest Scholars in Europe One that set out with all these Advantages I thought might easily have confounded a Young Writer that never aim'd at being a Critic in the Greek Tongue or made the Niceties of it his peculiar Study and Business But to consult the several Editions to collate the Manuscripts to turn over Dictionaries nay and to make 'em and all this ado only to find a false Accent and an Escape in perusing a Manuscript which I have shewn to be the utmost of the Dr's Atchievement on this Article seems to Me to savour too much of the Character of those men who as he himself makes the Observation without considering whom it hits love to make a Noise about Trifles or not to wrong him of his Own more Elevated Expression to make a Tide and a Flood in a Basin of Water Nothing has done Learning more disservice among the Sensible part of Mankind than that indiscreet Value which Men of Letters oftentimes put upon the most trifling parts of Knowledge that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the way of Scholarship of which Theophrastus has given us a Character as it relates to Human Life and Affairs 'T is this that has brought so ill a Report upon Criticks and Criticism and sunk extreamly the Value of that Sort of knowledge which has been of such Excellent Use to the World when wisely employ'd A Good Critic is a Name that deserves Honour for it carries in it Probity Learning Relish Good Nature and Good Sense with a great many Other very desirable Qualities but as the Word is now generally employ'd to signifie a Captious Vain Opinionative Half-learn'd Ill-natur'd Censurer of other Mens Labours I must confess I think nothing can be more despicable Let us stop a while e'er we take our Leave of this argument to consider their several Characters A Good Critic distinguishes himself always by the Choice of his Subject it is some Point of Importance and worth determining an Ill One is ever busied in things of no manner of Use nor Consequence and yet is as full of Himself and his Performances as if the Commonwealth could not subsist without ' em A Good Critic is Modest and Decent in his Censures Candid and Impartial he treads warily uses his Judgment much but distrusts it more speaks with Respect of those he differs from never takes a pleasure in insulting over their Mistakes or lessening their Reputations Isaac Casaubon Ger. Vossius and Grotius were all men of this Cast and so was Menage too till Baille◠toward the Latter End of his Life provok'd him The Character which our Excellent Pearson gives of him is very remarkable and fit to be consider'd by Dr. Bentley before he appears agen in the way of Criticism Quanta animi moderatio quantus Candor veram Criticam cum nullius famae dispendio exercere nullius Existimationem loedere nullius Erroribus insultare nusquam ex Mustaceo Laureolam quaerere per quos profeccris apertè profiteri à Viris Doctissimis non nisi salvo eorum honore apertè dissentire ut exclamare cogar O Iecur verè Criticum sine Splene In which also he drew his Own as well as Menage's Character Salmasius and Scaliger had nothing of this in 'em they were all Gall and Pride and Pedantry which made the Vast Learning they were Masters of sit so ill upon 'em that the World hated and despis'd 'em at the same time that it was profiting by 'em Mr. Wotton tells us There are some now alive whose Fame will one day equal that of the Scaligers or as it is in his Last Edition the Salmasius's and Grotius's of other Nations If he had put Salmasius into Grotius's and not into Scaliger's Room I would so far have agreed with him that there are some now alive who will inherit Their Fame as to One great Part of their Character for they have All their Ill Qualities in Perfection with but a slight Mixture of any of their Good ones For my part were Dr. Bentley as great a Scholar as Some say he is or even as He thinks himself to be yet I had rather not know the Greek Alphabet than have his Knowledge and his Manners together for as much as I value Learning I value Good Sense and Common Civility more A Good Critic is rich in his own Store he has a sure Fund of Good Judgment and True Knowledge which he can trust to upon all Occasions without needing to rifle his Neighbours but an Ill Critic who sets up the Trade without a Stock to manage it must be perpetually upon the Plunder the great Employment of his Sagacity is to find out Hints in Odd Corners of Books where 't is probable no-body else will look for 'em the chief Exercise of his Iudging Talent lies in distinguishing what Borrow'd Notions he may most safely put off for his Own and with the least danger of being Discover'd A man of a sound and well-weigh'd Judgment is afraid always of standing by himself in a New Opinion but a Smatterer in Criticism is bold and forward loves to maintain Paradoxes and to defie the World 'T is enough to make him think a thing true or false that every-body else has thought the contrary for he has no way of Distinguishing himself but by being Singular A Critic Really such always proportions his pains to the difficulty of the matter he is engag'd in and dwells upon things more or less as they want more or less to be dwelt on but a Pretender is constantly improper and impertinent in his Learning where the Knott of a Dispute is there You find him very reserv'd and silent but he le ts loose all his Criticisms upon You in plain points that No-body is in danger of misunderstanding So have I seen the lost Clouds pour Into the Seas an Vseless Shower Whilst the vex'd Sailors curs'd the Rain For which Poor Shepherds pray'd in vain To compleat the Character of a Critic it is requisite that he should write well in that Way he pretends to censure and be
Divine Admonition thought himself oblig'd to do something in Poetry he pitch'd upon Aesop putting into Verse such of his Fables as occurr'd to him and if we may guess by what we have left of his doing such Fables occurr'd to him as were nearest his Own Cafe Now what need was there of having recourse to a Written Aesop for that which he and every-body remember'd or what wonder was it that he had not the Book by him in Prison why we are not sure that at the particular point of time when he did these Fables in Prison he had so much as Pen and Ink allow'd him This is the Irresistible Evidence with which Dr. Bentley has taken upon him to confront the Opinion of Two Thousand Years such Evidence as one would not admit against Simmias Rhodius to rob him of the honour of his Egg or his Hatchet Is it fit that men should make use of their little Skill in Letters their Conjectures their Fancies their Dreams to attack the Reputation of our first Masters in good writing is it grateful with such groundless Suspicions as these to fall upon the Father of Moral Fable whose happy way of conveying knowledge has been ever spoken of with so much Respect and been of such standing Use to Mankind Has Dr. Bentley sworn to be at defiance with every man that writes Masterly in his way Sir William Temple may be at Ease he sees he is affronted in Good Company Let me tell our Critic what I have heard from Wise Men that Confidence and Paradoxes are not the true way to a Lasting Reputation that the first point of Modesty and Sense is never to Contradict the whole World Needlesly and the next to that to be sure never to do it without very good Grounds The Dr. often gives me an Occasion to put him in mind of this Truth and more than Once in the very Passage we are upon where he has laid hold of a Careless Expression in Laertius a Writer of his Own Form to oppose Plato's Account of Socrates or rather Socrates's Account of himself Laertius he says seems to hint that Socrates did but One Fable and this seeming Shadow of an Hint even from Laertius is to bear down the Express Authority of Plato who says he did Several The very Spirit of Athenaeus is got into him who undertook to disprove some of the most Remarkable Particulars of Socrates's Life recorded in Xenophon and Plato by the very same Negative Way of Arguing that Dr. Bentley makes use of against Phalaris and Aesop the Silence and Praetermission of Authors nay and expresses himself in the same Mannerly Way too calling Plato the best-bred Man in the World Dog and Lyar covertly indeed whereas Dr. Bentley has bestow'd much the same Titles on those He disputes against bluntly and openly But the Impartial Casaubon takes the part of those Great Men against his Author reproves his Rudenoss and confutes his Reasonings and shews him to be as Confident Clowns generally are all over mistaken The Men of Letters I hope will excuse this Freedom No man is readier than I am to value Athenaeus for what he ought to be valu'd the Fragments and Remains of Antiquity which he has preserv'd but to see him insolently trampling on Great Names is what I cannot bear without Indignation I need no Transition from hence to Dr. Bentley who taking it now for granted that Aesop did not write his Own Fables will tell us Who wrote 'em for him Demetrius Phalereus he thinks to have been the first that committed them to Writing And if Others should think that he was not the First they would have somewhat better Ground for their Thought than He has for they have Aristophanes and his Scholiast either of whose Words may be taken in this case I hope a little sooner than Dr. Bentley's to countenance their Opinion Aristophanes in the Passage mention'd by Dr. Bentley plainly intimates that there was a Book of Aesop's Fables in His time and His Time was before Demetrius's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is ne Aesopum quidem legisti thus the Scholiast interprets it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thus the use of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in other Authors proves it ought to be translated and which is more than all Dr. Bentley himself has thus render'd it You have not read so much as Aesop. How could Aesop be read at a time when he supposes that there was no Collection of of Aesop's Fables committed to writing It happens indeed now and then that Books are written without being Read Some of Dr. Bentley's Works will be a Proof of this but it can never happen I presume that any Book should be read without being written The same Scholiast quotes another Passage out of Aristophanes's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tho' upon a Cursory View of that Play I do not now find it there The Poet is Speaking of the Eagle which Bird he says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Fable he referrs to is that of the Eagle and the Scarabaeus which is in the present Collection and I think he manifestly quotes a Collection of Fables extant in His Time I 'm sure had he intended to quote such a Collection he could not have us'd Words that would more plainly have express'd his Meaning To return to my point therefore if there was a Written Aesop in Aristophanes's time then Demetrius Phalereus could not be the First who committed Aesop 's Fables to Writing All the mention we have of this Performance of Demetrius is in Laertius who says it was call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by which it seems to Dr. Bentley that they were in Prose and if it should seem to anybody else that they were in Verse they have just as much Reason for their Fancy as he has unless by his Divining Faculty he can from the Title 's being in Prose smell out that the Work was so Some he says may imagine that they are the Same that are now extant Some who not Meziriac I hope because he has not seen him But whoever these Some be Dr. Bentley is against ' em I wish says he they were the same that are now extant for then they would be well writ with some Genius and Spirit How are we to take him Would Demetrius's Fables have been better than they were if they had been still extant or would the Fables that are extant and by some ascrib'd to Demetrius be better than they are if Demetrius had wrote ' em Had Dr. Bentley wish'd that Demetrius's Fables were still extant it had been a Kind Wish because Demetrius is thought a better Writer thah He that compos'd these Fables but to wish Demetrius's the same that are now extant is to wish his Fables no better written nor with more Genius or Spirit than those we have Whom have we now after Demetrius why Some-body that wrote the
Instances of his Ingenuity I believe his Nearest Acquaintances will be asham'd of Him Our Critic having spent his Small Artillery here and there upon a Fable without much Success grows Peevish and is resolv'd to be reveng'd on the Poor Monk that collected 'em Planudes who as much a Monk as he was never I believe gave any man such Gourse Language from his Cell as he now receives from Court He is call'd here an Ideot of a Monk that has given us a Book the Life of Aesop which perhaps cannot be match'd in any Language for Ignorance and Nonsence As for Planudes himself I must confess I have not the Deepest Veneration for his Character but neither can I think so despicably of him as the Lofty Dr. Bentley does because I find him well spoken of by men of Good Knowledge and Judgment and even by his Adversaries Themselves Nay Dr. Bentley I think gives an account of him not at all to his disadvantage where he says that That Sett of Fables he put out was of his own drawing up amongst which there are several so well turn'd so exactly copled from Nature and built on such a true knowledge of Human Life and Affairs that 't is plain he was neither an Ideot nor a Monk that compos'd ' em This is an Honour therefore misplac'd on Planudes and which he deserves as little as he does that Scurrilous Language which the Dr. ever happy in Inconsistencies has in that very Page bestow'd upon him Nevelet and Vavasor were a little too hasty in their Conclusions on this matter and spake too largely when from some Fables that relish'd of Planudes's Style and Way they inferr'd that All were of His Composing Dr. Bentley has taken up the same Inference from an argument of as little weight the Reason and the only Reason he gives for his believing 'em drawn up by Planudes is that there is no MS. any where above 300 Years old that has the Fables according to that Copy No MS any where Very Extensive Words 't is pretty difficult to answer for All the Libraries of Europe for as a Late Critic observes Saepe non licet Viris doctis MSS. adire seu ob Distantiam Locorum seu ob Praefectorum Bibliothecis invidiam seu ob alia Impedimenta quae memorare nibil attigit Learned Men are often debarr'd the Vse of MSS either by their Distance from 'em or by the Envious Temper of those that have the Custody of 'em or by some Other Sort of Hindrances as for Example when they expect to have those kind of Favours gratuirously done ' em But supposing he had an Exact Account of All the Europaean MSS yet how does he know but that there may be one at Fez the most inaccessible Library in the World next to that at St. Iames's This was an Assertion fit to be laid down by Dr. Bentley because impossible to be prov'd and I believe not difficult to be disprov'd for as much out of the way of those things as I live I have casually heard of a MS Older than Planudes that has the Fables according to His Copy Vossius's MS. I mean which tho' I have not seen my self yet better Judges than I am who have seen it assure me that it is about 500 Years Old and that Vossius himself always esteem'd it so 'T is now at Leyden I think and might have been nearer but for Some-body's management I need look out for no more Instances against a Negative One is as good as a Thousand If all the MSS that have the Fables according to Planudes's Copy were evidently Younger than He yet we could not from thence certainly collect that He was the Author of 'em whereas if One of 'em happens to be Older than He we may be pretty sure he was not As for Planudes's Life of Aesop I can't indeed think it a Book not to be match'd in any Language for Ignorance and Nonsense because in some Languages I think it may however I have no Great Opinion of it There are in it Several Idle Trifling Stories told in such a Fabulous Way that one would think Planudes meant to suit the Life to the Book which follows and writ out of his Own Invention for want of Authorities And yet neither dare I reject every Circumstance of his Account as fictitious that I do not find confirm'd by Elder Authors he might make use of Books that never came down to us a great deal of Good History perish'd in the sacking of Constantinople or he might from the Same Books which we have now in our hands take some Hints which we have not yet observ'd in 'em and which it would be very Rash and Immodest in Us to pronounce not to be there till we have read over all the Greek Authors carefully and sisted 'em throughly And this is particularly fit to be said to Dr. Bentley who for want of such a Prudent Distrust of his own Knowledge has been guilty of a Gross Mistake The Circumstance in Planudes's Account which he pitches upon to expose is that of Aesop's Vgliness He had met with a Large Collection of Testimonies concerning Aesop in Camerarius's Fables in none of which there was any Hint of his Deformity and he concluded therefore that there must and could be none any where else and that This was certainly a Fiction of Planudes And now how does he insult over the poor Ignorant Monk on this occasion how unmercifully does he use him he asks him what Revelation he had about Aesop 's Deformity for he must needs learn it he says by Dream and Vision and not by Ordinary Methods of Knowledge He liv'd about Two thousand Years after Aesop and in ALL that Tract of TIME there 's not ONE SINGLE Author that has given the LEAST HINT that Aesop was Vgly Casaubon or Gerbard Vossius who had either of 'em read Ten times as much as Dr. Bentley would not have talk'd at this rate because Neither of 'em as Learned as They were had read All that was written or remember'd all they had read But Dr. Bentley in the strength of Camerarius's Collections is positive that not ONE SINGLE Author before Planudes's time has given the LEAST HINT of Aesop's Ugliness If he would not be Angry I would venture out of my small Stock of Reading to supply him with One and Him an Author of great Note Eustathius who in the beginning of his Comment on the Odysses p. 17. derives the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I contend not for the Goodness of the Etymology let it shift for it self but it is evidently built on a Supposition that Aesop was Ugly and implys that That Opinion was Common in Eustathius's time that is about Two hundred Years before Planudes was born Doubtless that Learned Parecbolist to speak in Dr. Bentley's Phrase could have produc'd Authorities enow
not yet near exhausted But I am not likely to be the Last whose Pen will be employ'd on this Subject and 't is fit therefore that Some Matter should be left for Those that come after me In that Dissertation where I am chiefly concern'd Dr. Bentley takes his Leave of the Argument with Some particular Civilities to Me. He heartily wishes he could do any Service to that Young Gentleman of great Hopes whose NAME IS SET TO THE EDITION but he can do him no greater at present than to remove some Blemishes from the Book that is ASCRIB'D to him which he desires may be taken aright to be no disparagement to Himself but a Reproof only to his Teachers I would not willingly be behindhand with the Dr. in any Instance of Courtesie and therefore in return will e're we part bestow some Charitable Advice upon him the rather because I have reason to believe that he has very little Advice from any Other Quarter If he had he would certainly never have written on the Subject in the Manner he has done for I have not so ill Thoughts of any One Man I know in the World as to imagin that he would have advis'd Dr. Bentley to do as he has done had His Opinion been ask'd in it Young as I am therefore I will take the freedom to do that kind Office to him which his Friends I find either do not care or are not allow'd to perform And the first piece of Advice that I will venture to give the Dr. is that he would know his own Talent and resolve for the future not to venture upon any way of writing that Nature never design'd him for Wit and Ridicule are either the most Diverting or the most Insipid things in the World I have the Opinion of good Judges that he has no true Taste of either of these and performs very untowardly in ' em He would do wisely therefore to forbear 'em and so he would methinks tho' he should have some little Knack at 'em for Grimace and Banter and Quibbles even when luckily hit off are not very suitable to the Character of a man in Holy Orders And to give him my opinion what he is fit for I think if he resolves always to be doing something out of his Profession that the Collecting Greek Fragments or Proverbs would be a proper Employment for him He has succeeded well in One of these and would doubtless be as happy in the Other for his Genius seems to lye very strongly that way as one would guess by the Multitude of Proverbs in all Tongues English Latin and Greek but chiefly in the Last of which he has empty'd himself into these Dissertations And I am the rather apt to think that such Works as these might thrive in his hands because the well executing 'em depends chiefly on Two Qualities which he must be allow'd to possess Application and a Willingness to be employ'd in such Sorts of Studies as only load the Memory without improving the Understanding It is Another piece of Advice I should chuse to give the Dr that he would against he writes next make use of that Relation he has to a Court so far as to get a little Good Language and Good Manners without which had he waded through all the Greek Scholia and turn'd over every Lexicon extant he would never write any thing that will either please or last When he is making Reflections on Style it is very proper I think that he should be well skill'd not only in the Tongue he writes of but in That too which he writes in else he will only make Sport for his Reader if while he is correcting a Fault in One Language he himself makes Ten New ones in another And till he understands his Own Tongue a little better than he does he would do well to forbear Minting any New Words in it which is the Work of Great Masters and a Privilege allow'd only to Writers of the First Rate who know the Compass of a Language and see thro' all its several Beauties and Blemishes Sir William Temple may say Sufficiency and the World will speak after him Indeed we are convinc'd from some things that have come out a late that there is such a mixture of Vanity Indecency and Ignorance in some Mens Writings as No One Word in our Tongue would perfectly answer and there was need of a New one therefore to express it But if Dr. Bentley should take the same Liberty he would be sure to be oppos'd in it His Commentitious and Putid and Vernacular and Negoce will be hiss'd off the Stage as soon as they come on for the Fine Speakers will never endure that a man should take upon him to coin New Words who doesn't know how to use the Old ones Another thing I mightily recommend to him is that when he next pretends to fix the Age of Greek Words and Phrases he would vouchsafe among his other Greek Books to read the Bible least he should happen to pronounce Some Modes of Speech to be of Late Date which are familiarly to be met with in those Sacred Pages For after all should his knowledge in Greek Learning prove never so great yet it would not redound to his honour as a Divine to appear well read in all Sorts of Books but those it best becomes him to be acquainted with the Old and New Testament I am of Opinion too that it would not be amiss if for this Twelvemonth next to come he read over Dr. Hody's Vow once every morning 't is a Good One and those who pretend to understand Secret History tell us it was made upon a very Proper Occasion I will insert it here both for Dr. Bentley's Benefit and Dr. Hody's Honour who it must be own'd has acted up to it always as a right good-natur'd Man and an Excellent Scholar Faxit Numen Vt vel aeterno Ego silentio inter non scribentes delitescam Velsemper ut Virum Ingenuum liberalis ac generosae Educationis veraeque Philosophiae studiosum decet Scribam Veritatis Vnicae Indagator Absque omni Styli acerbitate Mitis Vrbanus Candidus Ad id quod indecens est adeò non pronus ut nec movendus Nugarum denique Contemptor In fine Praemon ad Malalam Next to this Short Vow of Dr. Hody's I know no small Piece that will deserve his Reflections better than Lucian's Lexiphanes If he would read it often take the good Advice that Lucian gives there of Sacrificing to the Graces and to Perspicuity and suffer some Skilful Friend to administer to him the Emetic Draught there prescrib'd it would do him a World of Service by the help of this Physick and these Directions well pursu'd he might in time become a Sound Man agen and speak and write like the rest of his Neighbors But if he be too far gone in his Distemper to have a Thorough Cure made upon him yet at least it is very possible
and very requisite that he should advance so far towards it as to purge his Style of all Insulting Unbecoming Terms and Injurious Reflections for if he carries on this Critical War in that Unsouldierly Way he hath hitherto done and throws out his Rudenesses without Decency or Distinction he may happen to draw some Inconveniences upon himself that he is not aware of Especially he should take care when the Angry Fit is upon him not to vent it upon Great Bodies of Learned Men. A Single Writer may be trampl'd upon now and then and receive Correction from his Hand without endeavouring to return it but among Numbers there will alwaâ—s be found Some who have Ability and Inclination and Leisure enough to do Themselves and their Friends right upon the Injurer tho' he were a Champion of ten times as much Strength and Prowess as Dr. Bentley thinks himself to be Besides Single Adversaries dye and drop off but Societies are Immortal their Resentments are sometimes deliver'd down from hand to hand and when once they have begun with a man there is no knowing when they will leave him 'T were well too if he would think it a point of Prudence to observe some Measures of Decency towards the Dead as well as the Living and not give himself that insufferable Liberty of attacking their Reputation and their Works in hopes that no-body will be generous enough to stand up in their behalf and speak for those who cannot speak for themselves He has defy'd Phalaris and us'd him very coursely under the assurance as he tells us that he is out of his Reach Many of Phalaris's Enemies thought the same thing and repented of their Vain Confidence afterwards in his Bull. Dr. Bentley is perhaps by this time or will suddenly be satisfied that He also has presum'd a little too much upon his Distance but 't will be too late to Repent when he begins to Bellow FINIS ERRATA P. 53 l. 18 for One of 'em was r. Two of 'em were P. 54 l. ult First Inventor r. First Inventor P. 64 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 P. 66 in marg 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 P. 76 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 P. 79 l. 12 this r. his P. 81 in marg Gron. de Rec. r. Pec. P. 110 l. 32 a word of r. a word of being kind to P. 114 l. 2 Care r. Cave P. 136 l. 18 d. as he says P. 139 l. 13 lit r. hit Ibid. l. ult Phalaris r. the Letter-writer P. 140 l. 1 He r. Phalaris P. 179 l. 1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 P. 186 l. 21 fathom r. fashion P. 198 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 P. 212 Naogorgo for Naogeorgo P. 222 l. 3 Enclyticks r. Encliticks P. 272 l. ult is r. it A Short Account of Dr BENTLEY By way of INDEX DR Bentley's true Story of the MS prov'd false by the testimonies of Mr Bennet Pag. 6 Mr Gibson p. 7 Dr King p. 8 Dr Bentley p. 19 Dr Bentley's civil usage of Mr Boyle p. 10 p. 7 8. in Dr King's and Mr Bennet's Letters p. 199 284. His civil Language to Mr Boyle p. 11 94 238 284. Sir W. Temple p. 94 199 200. His Singular Humanity to Mr Boyle p. 7 9 11 Sir Edward Sherburne p. 15 16 Foreigners p. 14 15 His Ingenuity in relating matters of fact from p. 2 to p. 24 citing Authors p. 17 18 25 26 29 117 127 132 133 150 169 212 219. transcribing and plundering Notes and Prefaces of Mr Boyle p. 35 113 114 131 143 Vizzanius From p. 54 to 60.133 193 194 Nevelet p. 247 248 261 262 263 264 265 269 CamerariÌ„us 273 Editor of Hesychius p. 156 Salmasius ibid. Dr. Bentley p. 192 His Appeal to Foreigners a suspicious Plea p. 13 a false one p. 14 15 His Charges against the Sophists return'd upon himself for forging History p. 16 117 127 for Solaecisms p. 34. 91 178 for egregious dulness p. 74 106 119 135 136 137 241 for Pedantry from p. 93 to 99 144 216 for declaiming p. 49 50 115 116 His elegant Similes p. 11 94 97 His clean and gentile Metaphors p. 11 97 188 His nice tast in Wit p. 28 in Stile and Language in Greek p. 60 to 73 203 208 in Latin p. 34 191 206 211 in English p. 34 185 to 192 His old Sayings and Proverbs p. 11 94 116 His Collection of Asinine Proverbs with an addition p. 220 His extraordinary talent at Drollery p. 36 73 117 133 214 215 His choice of weighty points to debate p. 156 192 His exactness in Chronology p. 118 119 140 142 165 241 243 His familiar acquaintance with Books that he never saw p. 76 98 115 232 His respect to the Bible p. 22 62 63 67 68 121 His New Discoveries of the Buda MS p. 29 30 Empedocles's Epic Poem p. 45.195 His Old Discoveries of Ocellus Lucanus being writ in Doric p. 54 of the Aesopic Fables transpros'd from Babrias's Scazons p. 248 His dogmatical air p. 97 His modesty and decency in contradicting great men Plato p. 238 Stobaeus p. 27 Suidas ibid. Fazellus p. 32 Capellus ibid. Mr Selden ibid. Grotius p 158 159 Scaliger p 158 159 all the Moderns p 158 159 Casaubon p. 156 158 Erasmus p. 236 Scaliger p. 236 Sir W. Temp. p. 27.92.199 Mr Barnes p. 39.40 Everybody p. 27.226.237 His happiness in confident assertions for want of Reading p. 30.31.36.40.62.63.64.65.66.67.68.85.100.101.107.126.205.206.269 of Iudgment p. 69.74.109.110.161.182.237 of Sincerity p. 76.84.111.127.132.212.214.215 His surprizing Consequences p. 52.55.59.114.115.124.125.135.136.140.144.151.158.209.210.211.232.235.236.240.241.246.253.256.257.259.273.274.277.278.279 His profound Skill in Criticism From begining to The End P. 68. See the Passage at length p. 5. a p. 66. a p. 66. a p. 66. a p. 66. b p. 71. b p. 71. c p. 75. d p. 67. e p. 76. f p. 74. P. 68. * P. 415 416. (a) P. 11. (b) Epist. 207. (c) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. p. 144. (d) Plut. vers 142. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 (e) P. 100 117 118 119 137 140 148 c. (f) P. 53. * P. 12. †P. 11 12. * Ep. 207. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 †Ib. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 (a) P. 64. (b) P. 5. (c) P. 13. (a) P. 44. (b) P. 41. (c) P. 41. * Neque cum Siculis Scriptoribus placuerit semper Dialectus Dorica Agrigentinorum qui antiquitus Dores erant Tyrannus alia uti debuit p. 2. †P. 44. (a) In Greg. Invect p. 143. (b) Astypalaea a City in Crete never mention'd before by any Geographer Dissert p. 44. Our Diligent Editors made that Discovery in Geography for it could not be learnt any where else Dissert p. 58. (a) Hist. Sicil. Mag. Gr. ex Numism p. 126. Patre Cretensis Vrbe Astyphalide (b) Rer. Sic. Dec. 1 L. 6 C. 1. Phalaris Cretâ