CRITIQUE OF CELEBRATED AUTHORS

When Aeschylus was heavy with age and saw that Sophocles a younger rival tragedian was preferred over him as his junior, he was indignant and withdrew to Sicily to the court of Hiero, the King of the Syracusans. He finally died at Gela when an eagle dropped a large tortoise onto his bald head, a story recorded by Plutarch, Pausanias, and Suidas.

Among the editions of his work, the one that came from the hands of Henricus Stephanus and Adrianus Turnebus is praised. However, the first place is held by the edition of Thomas Stanley, which is illustrated with learned commentaries. The Ephemerides Gallicae the French Journals praise this Stanley edition in these words: All the editions of him that we have had until now were most imperfect. This one, however, was produced with the greatest care and diligence and is worthy of being placed in libraries, for the others cannot serve as ornaments in them. Scholarly French Journals, Volume 1, page 115.

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P I N D A R U S .

He flourished before Christ in the year 476.

The Theban poet flourished around the 76th Olympiad a four-year period used in ancient Greek dating. As a boy exposed by his parents, bees nourished him, as witnessed by Aelian in his Various History, book 12, chapter 45.

Regarding his death, Valerius records that he expired in the lap of a boy he loved.

He wrote in the Doric a dialect of ancient Greek language his Olympian, Pythian, Nemean, and Isthmian odes, which still exist today: he wrote many other things which have perished.

Of the nine Lyric poets, Pindar is by far the prince, distinguished by the magnificence of his spirit, his sentiments, his figures, and a most blessed abundance of things and words, moving like a certain river of Eloquence: for these reasons Horace rightly believed him to be inimitable by anyone. Quintilian, book 10, chapter 1.

Corinna a female poet flourished at the same time as Pindar, and as rumor has it, she defeated him five times in competition. For this reason, the people of Tanagra placed her image in a prominent place in the gymnasium, as Pausanias writes, with her head bound with a ribbon for the sake of victory. The same author offers a double reason for why she defeated Pindar: both because Corinna used the Aeolic language rather than the Doric which Pindar used, and because, as she was a beautiful woman, she easily turned the minds of the judges toward herself. Lilius Giraldus.

It is peculiar to Pindar to strike the minds of men unexpectedly with some wonderful short sentiment, as if with a divine wand. Bacon, Advancement of Learning, book 8, chapter 1.

Pindar was judged to possess a too rich and fat eloquence. Aulus Gellius, book 17, Attic Nights, chapter 10.

Pindar is a primary author for obscurity and a user of recondite vocabulary: nevertheless, the Academic Archesilaus used to say he was particularly suited to fill the voice and provide a great abundance of words. Ludovicus Vives, On the Handing Down of Disciplines, page 530.

The Lacedaemonians Spartans, while raging against the rest of Boeotia, spared Thebes for the sake of Pindar. Alexander the Great also attributed so much to him that when he overthrew Thebes and raged against everyone without discrimination, he ordered the home and family of Pindar alone to be spared.

Pindar the Theban completed his eightieth year: a sublime poet, with