136 Dr. Hager’s Detection of the Porgiry of thé Easks of Li 4y. [ March 3g 
mark ! that book took up no more than 
one oftavo page, being, unfortunately, 
nothing but the well known epitome 
afcribed to Florus, whofe abridgments 
form a common appendage to all editions 
of Livy, It is curious that fo late as the 
year 1790, a profeflor of the oriental lan- 
guages in a Pruffian univerfity was fo far 
trom fufpecting the fraud, as to re-publith 
the above epitome, introducing” it with 
thefe words: * what is here communi- 
cated of the Arabic tranflation of Livy, 
lately difcovered, will be particularly ac- 
ceptable.” 
2. Yet from this difcovery he only ex- 
pected to derive reputation among the fo- 
reign literati.. What he termed the Mar- 
tiuian Code, was to be a fource of gain to 
him. Within a few miles of Palermo is 
fituated the abbey of St. Martin, which 
was deftroyed in the ninth century, and 
reftored in the fourteenth. It is evident 
from the catalogues of its library that it 
poifcfied no Arabic manufcripts prior to 
the year 1744, when tt purchaked five from 
the heirs of Don Martino la Farina, who, 
in the courfe of the laft century,had carried 
with him feveral manulcripts irom Spain 
to Palermo. The Moroccan envoy, at- 
tended by Veila, inlpeéted, thefe manu- 
fcripts. On one of thete the latter fixed, 
in order to diftinguifh it by the name of a 
genuine Arabic collection of Sicilian deeds 
and records, and to build upon it a feries 
of falfhoods. ‘Though the flagrancy of 
fome of his deceptions, which we are about 
to detail, and the credulity of the Sicilians 
be matter of juit furprife, yet, on the other | 
hand, the government and nobility of the 
kingdom deferve to be commended for 
having fo chearfully applied fums of mo- 
ney to the f{upport of a literary enterprife, 
and even for fabmitting to an impofition 
with fo goed a defign. here are coun- 
tries far fuperior to that kingdom in exer- 
tion and wifdcm, but im which the publi- 
cation of papers tending to illuftrate the 
ancient hiftory of the country, would-ne- 
ver engage the attention of the great and 
poweriul, even if thoie papers were al- 
certained to be authentic, the molt rare, 
and fuch as mutt irretrievably be loft with- 
out multiplication by means of the prefs. 
—The learned of Sicily have been zealous 
in elucidating every pertion of the hiftory 
of their country, with exception of the 
Arabic period, comprehending upwards of 
two hundred years, for which no hiltori- 
cal dataare known. This deficiency Vella 
heard frequently mentioned in terms of re- 
gret,efpecially by DonLewisMoncada; for 
indiyiguals of the higher as well as lower 
clafies of thatlivety people concer nthemfelves 
more about the former fiate of their cou ntry, 
than moft nations do, frequently mention- 
ing the names of the Greeksand Arabians. 
He artfully caiculated the advantages that 
might accrue to him from fuppiying that 
defect, and afirmed, after the departure of 
the Moroccan ambaffador, what indeed he 
had not ftated during the prefence of that 
gentleman, that the evvoy immediately on 
beholding the above-mentioned manufcript 
at the abbey, had declared it to be a Hiftory 
of Sicily. . It contained, he faid, an au- 
thentic and official correfpondence lpetween 
the Arabian governors in Sicily, and their 
fuperiors in Africa, from the very “firft 
landing of the Arabians in that iflard in 
827; it Jikewife recorded the accounts 
which the Emirs or fub- governors in the 
different diftriéts of Sicily fent to the Grand 
Emir at Palermo, as_well as the reports 
made by the latter to the Maleis at Kair- 
wan, or the ancient capital of Cyre- 
naica), together with the anfwers re- 
turned by them ; and finally it exhibited, 
by way of fupplement, the correfpondence 
carried on by the Arabians with other 
princes of the age, e. g. the Popes.— 
This difcovery excited the greateit atten- 
tion. The archbithop Airoldi eagerly pro- 
moted the publication of the Code, load. 
ing the difcoverer and explainer of it with 
favours, which {oon after were followed td 
others ftill greater from the king: 
In point of fag, the manufcript origi. 
naliy breught from Spain, as far as it hi- 
therto has been examined, does not men- 
tion a fyllable of Sicily, the Emirs and 
Muleis, or in general of any fubjeé relat- 
ing to political hiitory. All this was-ab- 
folutely invented by Vella. The reward 
fer-his labour did. not fail. He was iuc- 
ceffively appointed abbate of St. Pancras, 
with an annual revenue of 1200 ducats, and 
profefior of Arabic, witha fuitable ialary ; 
befices, a benefice worth 250 feudi per 
month was conferred on him, and he re- 
ceived many occalional prefents of perfons 
from ail quarters, confultine him about 
oriental antiquities. By this means his 
inventive genius was enlarged. He pre- 
tended to hold an epiftolary ‘corre{pondence 
with the abovementioned ambaflador at 
Morocco, and with fome others, for the 
purpole of giving a clearer explanation of 
the manufcript ; and anfwers by way of 
Leghorn, Malta, and Cadiz were continu- 
ally received, at leait the accounts for 
poitace and other incidental expences were 
prefented in due courfe.. But after fome 
little time, the Cade, containing only 279 
quarte leaves, appeared to him not {uficie 
eatly 
