25 



rished in the reign of M. A. Antoninus, the philosopher ; — that 

 he was a citizen of Anazarba, the genuine Oppian, whose poem on 

 fishing is as much distinguished by its Grecian purity and sweet- 

 ness, as the other by its latinized Greek, and its frequent devia- 

 tions from the authorized principles of composition. He endeavours 

 to support the hypothesis by internal evidence, and the testimonies 

 of Suidas, Eusebius, Hieronymus, and Athenaeus ; with what suc- 

 cess remains to be considered. 



Belin de Belu, a Frenchman who published an excellent edition 

 of the Cynegetics in 1 7S6, in his preface, has vigorously opposed 

 the German editor ; yet Schneider, in a late edition of Oppian, has 

 returned to the contest. According to the German, Suidas affirms 

 that, in the reign of M. Antoninus, Oppian brought his talents into 

 notice, " ingenium extulisse." But, replies Belu, this is saying 

 more than the text of Suidas authorizes, though it were even 

 granted that he means M. Antoninus, the philosopher, and not M. 

 Antoninus, who was named Caracalla.* His words are, yeyamg tm 

 Ma^xn Aurmmu (3oi(riXeag, and they notify only the time of the poet's 

 birth which might have taken place about the conclusion of the 

 former emperor's reign. For from his death till that of Severus, 



VOL. XIII. E 



* Hallucinatio nata est ex nomine Antonini ; non enim Antoninus philosophus est, cui 

 dicata sunt Halieutica, sed Antoninus Caracalla, cui, vivo adhuc Severo patre, divinum illud 

 epos Oppianus obtulit. Scaliger. 



With much reason is Gibbon surprised to find the Caracalla of Roman history, in the 

 Caracul of Macpherson's Ossian. " In the Caledonian war,'' says he, " the son of Severus was 

 known only by the appellation of Antoninus ; and it may seem strange, that the Highland bard 

 should describe him by a nickname, invented four years afterwards, scarcely used by the 

 Romans till after the death of that emperor, and seldom employed by the most ancient his- 

 torians." 



