8 
o s o 
native country, to appoint him profeflor of facred litera¬ 
ture at the univerfity of Coimbra, where he explained the 
prophet Ifaiali, and theEpiftle of St. Paul to the Romans, 
with great applau'fe. Some time afterwards he was or¬ 
dained prie'd, when the infant Don Louis prefented him 
to the benefice of Tavara. Not long after this, cardinal 
Henry, brother to the king, and archbifhop of Evora, 
made him archdeacon of his church ; upon which occa- 
fion he voluntarily refigr.ed his benefice of Tavara, that 
lie might afford no ground for fufpicion that he had de¬ 
voted himfelf to the ecclefiallical profeflion from inte- 
reded motives. He retained this p.oft till Catharine of 
Auftria, the widow of king John, and regent of the king¬ 
dom during the minority of her grandfon Sebaftian, pro¬ 
moted him to the bifhopric of Sylves. He now applied 
to the government of his diocefe with exemplary dili¬ 
gence and fidelity. Every third year he regularly vifited 
the whole of it, exercifing the ftridieft vigilance over the 
charafters and morals of his clergy ; and, where his ad¬ 
monitions failed in correcting the profligate and infuffi- 
cient, fupplying their places with well-informed and 
worthy fucceffors. Inftead of accumulating his revenues, 
or expending them in needlefs oftentation, he devoted the 
whole, beyond what his frugal and neceflary demands re¬ 
quired, to ufeful and benevolent purpofes. His palace 
was the refort of learned and worthy men, whom he fup- 
ported and encouraged in their honourable purfuits. He 
was free of accefs to all ; and the poor and afflifted 
found in him a kind advifer and generous benefactor. 
When king Sebaftian arrived at his majority, he de¬ 
termined to attempt the ccnqueft of Africa, againft 
which Oforio earneftly admonilhed and humbly entreated 
him, forefeeing and predi&ing the difaftrous confequences 
that would necefi'arily refult from it. When he found 
his remonftrances unavailing, he went under various pre¬ 
tences to Rome, that he might not be a witnefs to the ca¬ 
lamities which he was fenfible were impending over his 
country. He was favourably and refpeftfully received 
by Gregory XIII. Sebaftian, though he would not fol¬ 
low the advice of this prelate, could not bear that he 
fliould be abfent from his country, and recalled him to 
Portugal within twelve months of his departure. He re¬ 
turned, and almoft immediately received the fatal intelli¬ 
gence of the deftruftion of his fovereign and his army in 
the battle of Alcazar againft the Moors. (See the article 
Portugal.) We cannot in this place enter into the 
miferies in which the confequences of that battle in¬ 
volved Portugal, particularly after the death of king 
Henry. On this laft event, Oforio, always the friend of 
peace, advifed fubmiffion to the claims of Philip II. king 
of Spain to the crown, and he laboured to preferve the 
people of his diocefe from taking a part in the tumults 
which diftrafted and laid wafte the kingdom. Thefe dif- 
orders he took fo much to heart, that it isfaid he died with 
grief, in the year 1580, when about the age of feventy. 
Dupin gives him the followdng character as an author : 
“ He wrote with eafe and eloquence. He is entitled to 
the denomination of the Portuguefe Cicero, fmce no win¬ 
ter has more clofely imitated that Roman, whether we 
regard his ftyle, his choice of fubjefts, or his manner of 
treating them.” Notwithftanding the eulogium of this 
critic on his ftyle, our countryman Bacon condemns “ the 
weak and waterifli vein” of Oforio. His works are nu¬ 
merous, partly political and partly theological. The lat¬ 
ter chiefly confiftea of Paraphrafes on Job, the Book of 
Pfalms, the Book of Wifdom, and Ifaiah ; and Commen¬ 
taries upon feveral of the books of the Old Teftament. 
Thefe works, with twenty-one Sermons, w.ere collected 
together, and publiftied at Rome in 1592,111 four volumes, 
by his nephew Jerome, canon of Evora, who alfo wrote, 
1. A Life of his uncle, which he prefixed to the collec¬ 
tion of his works, a. Notationcs in Hieronymi Oforii 
Paraphrafim Pfalmorum, printed in the third volume of 
the above-named collcftion ; and Hid by Dupin to con- 
O S R 
tain valuable critical obfervations on the Hebrew text. 
3. Paraphrafis et Commentaria in Ecclefiaftem nunc pri- 
mum edita ; et Paraphrafis in Canticum Canticorum et 
in ipfam recens auftse Notationes, 1611, quo. 
“ The work (fays Mr. Southey) by which the bifliop 
of Sylves is belt known, is his hiitory De Rebus Emma- 
nuelis, Lufitanise Regis, &c. of which a new edition ap¬ 
peared fo lately as 1791, at Coimbra, in 3 vols. nmo. 
Of this work, which is beautifully printed, there is a 
French tranflation, and alfo an Englilh one. The kings 
of Portugal, as their hiftory was more fplendid than that 
of all others, feein to have been of all fovereigns moft 
defirous that it fliould be fully related and extenfively 
known. Not content therefore with the works of Caftan- 
lieda, Bras d’Alboquerqne, and Joam de Barros, they 
would have their eaftern conquefts chronicled in Latin, 
that all learned men might become familiar with triumphs 
fo glorious. Purfuant to the defire, two hiftories in La¬ 
tin of the difcovery of India, and the conquefts there, 
appeared about the fame time, one by thejefuit Maffseus, 
and the other this work by Oforio. Oforio’s library was 
carried off by the Englifh fleet on their return from Cadiz 
in 1596. The Bodleian was opened the enfuing year ; and 
Eflex gave fir Thomas Bodley a confiderable part of this 
collection. Gen. Biog. 
OSOR'NO, a town of Chili, fituated in a diftriCt aboun¬ 
ding in gold mines : forty miles fouth-eaft of Valdivia. 
Lat. 40. S. Ion. 73.40. W. 
OS'PRAY, or Osprey, f. [corrupted from ojjifragns, 
Lat. Juhnfon. —Serenius derives it from the Goth, os, the 
mouth of a river, and prey.~\ The fea-eagle. See Falco 
offifragus, vol. vii.—Among the fowls that fhall not be 
eaten, are the eagle, the offifrage, and th eojpray. Lev. xi. 13. 
I think he’ll be to Rome, 
As is the ofpray to the filh, who takes it 
By fovereignty of nature. S/iaheJ'peare's Coriolanus. 
OS'PRINGE. See Feversham, vol. vii. p. 343. 
OS'QU'ES, or Op'iques, a people of Italy, called alfo 
Aufonians, or Auronces; and thought to be the moft 
ancient inhabitants of Italy, and the original pofleffors 
of Herculaneum. A Grecian colony which eftabliftied 
itfelf upon the neighbouring coafts, and founded the city 
of Cuma, difpoffeffed the Ofques of all the coalt on the 
gulf of Naples, and confequently of Herculaneum. See 
Gent. Mag. for 1755. p. 123. 
OSRHOE'NE, in ancient geography, a final] ftate of 
Afia, which occupied the northern and moft fertile part 
of Mefopotamia, between the Euphrates and the Tigris. 
Under the Seleucidx, a part of this country took the 
name of Mygdonia, with the title of kingdom. Poly¬ 
bius fpeaks of this kingdom in connexion with Antio- 
chus the Great. The capital of this kingdom was Edessa; 
which fee. The feeble fovereigns of Ofrhoene, placed on 
the dangerous verge of two contending empires, were at¬ 
tached from inclination to the Parthian caufe ; but the 
fuperior power of Rome exaCted from them a reluCtant 
homage, which is ltill attefted by their medals. After 
the conciufion of the Parthian war under Marcus, it was 
judged prudent to lecure fome fubllantial pledges of their 
doubtful fidelity. Forts were conftruCted in feveral parts 
of the country, and a Roman garrifon was fixed in the 
ftrong town of Nilibis. During the troubles that fol¬ 
lowed the death of Common us, the princes of Ofrhoene 
attempted to (hake off the yoke ; but the ftern policy of 
Severus confirmed their dependence, and the perfidy of 
Caracalla completed the eafy conqueft. Abgarus, the 
laft king of Edeffa, (A.D. 216.) was fent in chains to 
Rome, his dominions reduced into a province, and his 
capital dignified with the rank of colony; and thus the 
Romans, about ten years before the fall of the Parthian 
monarchy, obtained a firm and permanent eftabliihment 
beyond the Euphrates. 
OSRUSH'NAH, a town of Turkeftan, and capital of 
a diftri<8, 
