IX 



editions of it will be sufficient. Ocellus was first 

 printed in Greek at Paris 1539, and afterwards 

 with a Latin version by Chretien 1541 ; by Bosch 

 1554 and 1556; by Nogarola, Ven. 1559; by 

 Commelin 1596; at Heidelberg 1598; Bologna, 

 1646, and revised by Vizanius 1661; and lastly, 

 by Gale, Cambridge, 1671. Here are ten editions, 

 the last of which is only 49 years prior to the year 

 1700; so that the universal consent had not yet 

 been given to neglect this work. Let us see when 

 it could have taken place afterwards. D'Argens* 

 translation appeared in 1762. A new French 

 translation by the Abbe Batteux was printed in 

 1768; and he made it without knowing of the 

 other. D'Argens' version was reprinted in 1794; 

 and an amended Greek and Latin text by Rudolph 

 was printed at Leipsic in 1801 ; so that there are 

 in all fourteen known editions, of which Gale's is 

 the best. This book has certainly been read in 

 Greek, Latin, and French, and it most certainly 

 will be read in English, if any competent trans- 

 lator will favour us with a good version. 



" In addition to the testimonies of Plato and 

 Aristotle in favour of this work, Philo, the plato- 

 nizing Jew, says : * Some are of opinion, that it was 

 not Aristotle, but certain Pythagoreans, who first 

 maintained the eternity of the world; but I have 

 seen a treatise of Ocellus, in which he says, the 



