Of A U T H O R S. 43 1 



reafon, they alfo call St. Thomas the matter of 

 fentences, St. Auguiline, &c. the claflic authors, 

 whom they quote in the divinity fchools , Arif- 

 totle in philofophy, and fo of the reft. It 

 would be both juft and highly ufeful to make 

 choice, in the principal modern languages, of a 

 certain number of authors whofe merit is gene- 

 rally acknowledged ; to introduce the read- 

 ing of them in the clafies, and to honour them 

 with the ftyle of claflic authors ; fuch for exam- 

 )>!, in the French language, as abbe Vertot, F. 

 Daniel, Patru, Boileau, Racine, Moliere, Vol- 

 taire, &c. The fame might be done in all other 

 languages. And fince the fchools have been 

 purged of the reveries of Ariftotle, what pre- 

 vents our naming Locke, Leibnitz, Newton, 

 and Wolff, as clafik authors in philofophy ? 



V. It is quite necefiary to remark here, that 

 the knowledge of thofe ages and nations of the 

 world which preceded the Greeks, is come 

 down to us only by the informations of the 

 Holy Scriptures, and by the Greek writers. 

 Herodotus is the firil hiftorian whofe works we 

 have. Or Sanchoniathon, or Sanjuniaton, for 

 example, we have only lu.:ie fragments recorded 

 .ulebeiiv i of all thofe authors 



likewile, who are laid to have lived before 

 Homer, as Orpheus, Mufeus, Zoroafter, Linus, 

 Hermes, 'iftus, Horns, Afdepius, Dares 



L;ian, Dictys the Cretan, Hanno, the. 

 books of the Sibyls, and a number of others, 



arc 



