BATRACHOMUOMACHIA.

Batrachomuomachia HOMERI Philymno intérprete, ét eulogia funebria. 4to, 1513.

There are few books of greater curiosity and scarceness than this which I am about to describe.

Whether the editor Thiloninus Philymnus was a real or fictitious name I have not been able to ascertain. Ernesti in his edition of Homer, considers it as an assumed name, and that the real editor was Thelonius Cunradus, to whom the titles of Poeta Laureatus are annexed.

The following is what Ernesti says on the subject of this book and its editor;

"Habeo exemplum Batrachomyomachia (Erfurti ni fallor) editum an. 1515. a Thilonino Cunrado Poeta Laureato qui ante Enfurti egerat et ibi literas Græcas primum didicerat, post in Italia eorum præceptores Bapt. Pium. Jac. Crucæum Egnatum, et Philippum Beroaldum habuerat, tum autem in nova Academia Vitembergica vivebat vocatu ut opinor Principis. Is ait sibi cum a quibusdam suis et musarum amicis oblata esset Batrachomyomachia ut ederet, opi

nor,

nor, et interpretaretur, fragmenta se potius quam integrum carmen agnovisse. Nam animadvertisse multa deesse quæ olim legerat in Codice Homeri scripta apud Hieron. Balbum Poetam et Oratorem, in urbe Praga, quamquam non nimis emaculato. Itaque se editurum ex oblato sibi libro non fuisse nisi studiosi Græcarum literarum institissent ut ederet. Istud igitur exemplum rudibus admodum literarum figuris et vitiosissime expressum, adjuncta versione Poetica non contemnenda, versus modo ccxxIV. habet, estque imprimis in loco de concilio Deorum valde mutatum; In numero versuum consentiunt editiones Antiquæ nec admodum dissentiunt in verbis et facile appareat e Florentina omnes fluxisse."

The dedication is of this kind

Thiloninus Philymnus Poeta præclariss. Reip. Herfurdiensis principi et Archisopho JOANNI VUERLICHIO et FLAVIO MATERNO utriusque Theosophie consectaneo amicis et Patronis suis salutem et felicitatem optat, &c. &c. Valete.

Ex Leucorio novo Gymnasio scolastico ad Barbaricum Albim exposito nostro Larario musico. Anno Virginei Partus M.D.XIII. Cal. Feb.

Then follows a translation of the poem into Latin verse, which is succeeded by the Greek

text, printed without any accents, nor has it any points with the exception of the colon.

At the end of the Greek text is

Τελος ομηρου βατραχομυομαχίας ετει απο θεογονίας Φ. Φ. β. γ. μηνος μου Νιχίωνος : της μέρας.

δ.

To this follow Eulogia funebria THILONINI PHILYMNI.

At the end of the Elegies,

ως κλοΝ κλω έκκρούειν: sic pellere amorem

Antiquum facile est: quum novus ardet amor.

Christus amor vitæ nostræ spes unica Christus
Hic capiti frondes: laurea serta dabit,

Χ

η ζωή η θανατος

θα

Fiunt nunc candida nigra

L

Der

Der Been ist gheffochen

1513.

There are various typographical errors, and it will not have escaped the reader that in the lines above printed, ya is printed for T, and Ewn for Zwn.

It is a very singular and certainly uncommon book, and is so considered by all bibliographers. I know of no copy but in the Bishop of Ely's collection. Panzer, on the authority of Ernesti, represents it as printed at Erfurt. There was a copy in Askew's catalogue, at which sale it appears to have been bought for 11. 19s.

SIR THOMAS CHALONER.

This learned and worthy man, the friend of Burghley, was, by his recommendation, sent ambassador to Spain, soon after the accession of Elizabeth; where he remained till within a year of his death. He died in London, in October 1565, leaving one son, whom, as well as his writings, he commended to the care of his noble friend, Burghley, to fulfil his charge in the latter respect, he gave his papers to the revifion of William Malim, then mafter of St. Paul's school, by whom a volume of Chaloner's Latin poems was prepared for the press, and published in 1579. It is a small sized edition, printed by Thomas Vautrollier, and contains the following productions:

1. A poem in ten books, De Republica Anglorum instauranda, 'written at leisure hours during his embaffly in Spain, between December 25, 1562, and July 21, 1564. In this poem the approved ideas of those times, on the subject of government, are fully displayed; a circumstance of some curiosity. Malim has prefixed to each book an argument comprised in eight hexameters.

2. A panegyric