LATIN LEXICOGRAPHY. 



601 



motion of Latin literature, particularly by his edi- 

 tion of the Lexicon Ciceronianum of Nizolius. He 

 was likewise distinguished as one of the best wri- 

 ters in the Latin language among the moderns. 

 To execute this work, he employed Egidio For- 

 cellini, who had been his pupil, and who appears 

 to have been every way qualified for the under- 

 taking to which he was invited. At first the 

 views of these scholars extended no further than 

 to an enlarged edition of Calepin. This they fin- 

 ished in about four years ; but, in the course of the 

 work, they had become so sensible of the inherent 

 and irremediable faults of Calepin, that they deter- 

 mined to begin a Latin lexicon, in some respects, 

 on a new plan, and which should be independent 

 of all that had preceded it, in the selection of 

 words, in the definitions, and the arrangement of 

 the senses. To the accomplishment of this great 

 literary project, Forcellini applied himself with un- 

 common assiduity, and in 1761 the lexicon was 

 completed. It was first published in 1771, several 

 years after the death of the author. The names 

 of Facciolati and Forcellini are united in this 

 work, but it ought in justice to be stated, that 

 the principal merit of its execution belongs to the 

 latter. Facciolati himself says in reference to it, 

 " Vix ego in plerasque voces quippiam contuli 

 prseter consilium, in multas autem ne consilium 

 quidem." 



The plan of this dictionary was digested with 

 great care and judgment. The ancient authors in 

 the Latin language were classed according to sev- 

 eral chronological periods ; as the purity of their 

 style is found to correspond, in a great measure, 

 to the age in which they flourished. The first 

 period, extending from the time of the earliest 

 Latin writers to the death of Augustus, and con- 

 stituting the golden age of Latin literature, fur- 

 nishes the great body of authorities on which the 

 explication of words is grounded ; later authors 

 oeing referred to, in general, only as they in some 

 way illustrate the earlier class, or afford some new 

 meaning. In this way the rank of words and 

 idioms as to their purity, and, for the most part, as 

 to their propriety and elegance, is easily settled. 

 To illustrate this portion of the work in part, re- 

 ference may be made to the word ala, a wing. 

 Here the combinations " movere alas," and " qua- 

 tere alas," are quoted from Virgil; but " explicare 

 alas" is referred to Martial, and "expandere alas" 

 to the elder Pliny. " Quatere alas " is found like- 

 wise in Pliny ; but Virgil is properly named as au- 

 thority for this expression, as being an earlier 

 writer. 



It may be here remarked, that it ought by no 

 means to be concluded, because phrases, idioms, 

 or words occur in writers of a late date, that they 

 were not current in the best age of the language. 

 It is clearly possible, that many of them might 

 have been, and without doubt some of them were 

 used in the lost works of Cicero, Sallust, Livy, 

 and others of the same literary period. In a frag- 

 ment of one of Cicero's orations, recovered by 

 Mai, is the word lenities, which had before been 

 placed in glossaries only. If the reading of this 

 fragment is admitted to be genuine, lenities can no 

 longer be considered a word of suspicious or base 

 origin ; and, from the manner in which it is em- 

 ployed, this word was manifestly in common and re- 

 putable use. In a fragment of Cicero's treatise " de 

 Republica," first published by the same editor, is 

 the word convenicium, which, at the time of the 



discovery of this fragment, had been long lost from 

 the language. But the consideration stated above 

 can have no influence on the composition of a dic- 

 tionary, which must of necessity be constructed of 

 materials actually existing. 



The next important principle, settled by Forcel- 

 lini in the composition of his Lexicon, respected 

 the classification of meanings and their arrange- 

 ment. This branch of the subject had been treated 

 by preceding lexicographers with much less care 

 than its importance demands. Very different 

 meanings had often been confounded, and distinc- 

 tions often introduced, where there was really no 

 difference. The labours of the author here were 

 attended with distinguished success. It would be 

 perhaps too much to say, that he is never in error. 

 The difficulties in the way of a clear and unobjec- 

 tionable classification of meanings are in some 

 cases nearly or quite insurmountable ; but that he 

 improved greatly on all who preceded him, is un- 

 deniable. In the arrangement of the meanings, 

 that is placed first, which from the use of a word 

 among authors of the first class, appears to have 

 been the earliest, and from which there is the most 

 ready and easy transition to other meanings ; arid 

 these again are made to follow each other on the 

 same principle. All parts of a definition, therefore, 

 illustrate each other; and, from a comparison of 

 the whole, the real force and import of a word can 

 hardly be mistaken. 



As to the definitions, very little is made to 

 depend on an accumulation of synonyms, a method 

 which often obscures rather than elucidates a sig- 

 nification. Definitions are given for the most part 

 in descriptive language, so precise and definite, 

 that, with the subjoined examples, the reader is 

 satisfied, that he has every thing before him neces- 

 sary to a full understanding of the case in ques- 

 tion. Robert Stephens, in the first edition of his 

 lexicon, defined the words in the French language. 

 In the second and third editions, the French was 

 excluded, and Latin was introduced. One reason 

 for this change was to procure for his work a more 

 general currency. Forcellini has given first the 

 corresponding Italian word, then the Greek, and, 

 after these, the full definition in Latin. Care is 

 likewise taken, in the selection of authorities, that 

 the different constructions of a word with others 

 should be exhibited, so far as such constructions 

 affect the sense. 



The metaphorical senses are also distinguished 

 from the literal. Names of the gods in ancient 

 mythology, names of persons current in the history 

 of the fabulous and heroic ages, and names of 

 places, rivers, mountains, and whatever else relates 

 to the same early period, are inserted with the 

 proper references to the authors from whom the 

 information is derived. Besides the classes of 

 words already mentioned, others of no authority, 

 or for the most part barbarous, are thrown into an 

 appendix. Such is the general plan of the Latin 

 Lexicon of Facciolati and Forcellini, which hardly 

 admits of improvement ; and the execution in 

 every part shows extensive learning, great accu- 

 racy, diligence, and sound judgment. That, in a 

 work so extensive, every part should be executed 

 with equal success, is not to be expected. The 

 most, however, that succeeding editors have ac- 

 complished, is to supply a few omissions ; and this 

 lexicon deserves to be reckoned among the most 

 perfect works of the kind which have ever been 

 composed. 



