1808.] Memoirs of Aldus Manutius, or the Elder Aldus. . | 427 
citation on his part, such excellent ma- 
nuscripts, as might assist hislabours, 
Tudependently of all that he did, both 
as@ printer and an editor, besides the 
prefaces and dissertations written in ex- 
ceeding good Latin, and some in Greck, 
which he placed at the beginning of his 
editions, Aldus has left many works to 
establish his literary reputation. In 
1501, he published his, Latin Grammar, 
which, though not the first that appeared, 
as Sallengre and some others have as- 
serted, was certainly the best and most 
useful of any which had till that time 
been published. The Greek Grammar, 
which long engaged his attention, ought 
to have appeared before the Latin one; 
but he did not completely finish it, and 
it did. not appear till after his death in 
1515, when it was revised and published 
by his friend M. Musuro. 
To his second edition of Horace, he 
prefixed an excellent treatise, “ de me- 
tris Horatianis,” the knowledge ef which, 
was not till that time sufficiently precise 
or determined. He displayed so much 
learning in this little work, that it has 
since been reprinted sevéral times, even 
in the course of the last century, and par- 
ticularly in the large edition of Dr. 
Combe, in 1792. 
His promise of giving some notes on 
Oppian and Virgil, he did not fulfil, His 
first work was the Greek Alphabet, print- 
ed in 1495, asa supplement to the Greek 
Grammar of Lascaris. This was after- 
wards published with some additions, 
along with his introduction to the study 
of the Hebrew language. A more im- 
portant work is his, Greek and Latin 
Dictionary, printed first in 1497, folio, 
with several curious short tracts on gram- 
mar, and afterwards in 1524, folio, with 
a large number of these curious tracts, 
and many additions in the body of the 
dictionary, supplied by the care of Fre- 
derick d’ Asola. 
This book, which has been succeeded 
by many other better, aud more complete 
lexicons, is now only considered as a ty- 
pographical curiosity; but we ought to 
recollect the time in which it was print- 
ed, and not forget that it was the first yo- 
cabulary of the Greek language, fit for 
the use of learners. 
Aldus translated into Latin the Greek 
Grammar of Lascaris, the Batrachomyo- 
machia, attributed to Homer, the sen- 
tences of Phocylides, and the Golden 
Verses, which are ascribed to Pythayo- 
ras. The Latin version of Esop, and of 
Gabrias, printed in his very scarce folio 
edition of 1505, is likewise his work, as 
well as the Life of Aratus, which is print~ 
ed in the Collection of ancient Astrono- 
mers, 1499, folio. There is also a tract 
of his ** De vitiata Vocalium, et Dipithon- 
gorum Prolatione,” which is found with 
the work of his grandson; “ Orthogra- 
phiae Ratio,” 1566, 8vo. In “ Rei-rus- 
ticae Auctores,” printed in 1514 and in 
1538, there is also a small work of six 
pages, ‘* De duobus Dierum Generibus.” 
In his Statius, printed in 1502, and 
again 1 1519, is a tract by him, entitled 
“ Orthographia et flexus dictionum Gre- 
carum omnium apud Statium, cum ace 
centibus et generibus ex variis utriusque 
linguae autoribus,” with a preface to M. 
Musurus, in which be thanks him for the 
assistance which he had afforded him, in 
completing this little work, and he adds; 
‘* Non est moris nostri faudare quenquam 
laude.” He also wrotea Life of Ovid, “ ex - 
ipsius libris excerpta,” prefixed to the vo- 
lume of Metamorphoses, edit. 1502, and 
at the beginning of the “ Libri Amatorii,” - 
in the two following editions of 1515-16, 
1583-34. ae 
The edition of 1502 contains some 
notes upon Ovid; but they were not pre- 
served in the two following ones. Of the 
vast number of letters occasioned by the 
correspondence which he maintained 
with most of the learned men in Europe, 
only a few have been published. Many 
of these unedited letters, both public and 
rivate, are still preserved in the libraries 
? + 
of Italy. 
It seems incredible that Aldus could 
attend, at one time, to so many different 
pursuits. Immediately on his arrival at 
Venice, he undertook to read and ex- 
plain publicly the best Greek and Latin 
authors, to a numerous assembly of young 
auditors; and for several years he con- 
tinued these public lectures, even at the 
time when his press most claimed his 
attention. 
His reputation surrounded him with 
a crowd of visitors, some of whom were 
attracted by his intelligent conversation ; 
whilst others were merely desirous of 
gratifying idle curiosity. Though Aldus’ 
was universally esteemed, and enjoyed 
a justly acquired. reputation, he was not 
placed beyond the reach of criticism; 
some errors have been discovered in. his 
editions. About the end of the fifteenth 
century, the learned and unfortunate 
professor at Bologna, Urceus Codras, 
who died in 1500, complained of the 
errors which Aldus had. lett uncorrected 
in his Greek editious ; he Likewise blawwes 
him 
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