ftatutes he could be admitted at fuch an age. He wrote ex- Panzirol. de pofitions on the laws, which he annexed to those of his fa- cl. leg. interp. lib. ii. ther; but they were never in esteem. Panzirolus thus speaks c. xix. of them: Deterior interpres ineptas gloffas et longe a vero diftantes paternis addidit, quæ Cervotianæ vocatæ ut plurimum rejiciuntur. i. e. "A bad expounder, who added trifling inac- Ib. curate comments to thofe of his father: they are called Cervotionæ, and are mostly rejected." ACCURSIUS (Francis) elder brother to the former, was fo highly esteemed by the citizens of Bologna, that upon hearing he was to follow the king of England into France to read the law in that kingdom, they iffued an order that he should not leave their city, upon pain of having his estate confiscated. He went to Toulouse however notwithstanding this threat, and thought to have outwitted them, by felling all his property to a friend; but this artifice proved ineffectual; his eftate having been confifcated, which obliged him to return to Bologna, when it was reftored to him. He had taught in Toulouse, and was one day very much puzzled to explain fomewhat in regard to the intereft of money: James of Ravanne, one of the ableft lawyers of his time, having gone incog. amongst the hearers, and paffing for a scholar, had raised fuch objections as greatly staggered Accurfius. Some say that Accurfius, at his return to Bologna, was a law-profeffor there with Bartolus; and that having a dispute with him about the reading of a paffage in the pandects, they fent to Pifa to confult the manufcript; but it seems very improbable that Accurfius was living when Bartolus was profeffor; for, in this cafe, he must have been at least 120 years of age. The conjecture of Panzirolus is therefore not unlikely, that Panzirolus de the Accurfius, who was Bartolus's collegue, was fon to an dl. leg. inAccurfius who taught law in Reggio, his native country, terpr. c. about the year 1273; and likewife read lectures in Padua, ACCURSIUS (Mariangelus) a famous critic of the 16th century, born at Aquila, in the kingdom of Naples. His favourite study was fearching into and comparing of old manuscripts, in order to correct many paffages of the antient authors. The Diatribes, which he printed in folio at Rome, in 1524, on Aufonius, Solinus, and Ovid, fhew his ability in this kind of learning. He had likewise bestowed great pains and time on Claudian (a): this work however was ne (a) Talis (says Accurfius) non ales legitur in codicibus Claudiani etiam noviffime recognitis. Qui tantum lxvii. Nicholo P. 206. ver printed. Barthius, who has a high opinion of the wit and judgment of our author, expreffed his concern that fuch a valuable work fhould remain in manufcript, and that the reft of his compofitions have not been republifhed. Accurfius wrote alfo Latin and Italian verses, and had great skill in mufic, as well as optics: he travelled into the northern parts of the world, and in his travels ufed to remark the moft minute particulars. He was perfect mafter of the French, Spanish, and German languages: he was alfo a great antiquarian, having collected a vaft number of antiques which were depofited in the capitol. He lived 33 years at the court of the emperor Charles V. who was highly pleafed with him, and bestowed on him many marks of favour and esteem. In Toppi. Bib- his cdition of Ammianus Marcellinus, there a.e five books lioth. Nap. more than in any before printed. It was published at Aufburgh Hen. Vale- in 1533; and Accurfiius affirms, that he had corrected five fi præf. in thoufand errors in this hiftorian. This fame year he publishAmmian. ed in that city the Epiftles of Caffiodorus in twelve books, Marcellin. with a Treatife on the foul; and to him we are indebted for Toppi. ubi fupra. the first edition of this author. Some Latin writers in his LeonardoNi- time having affected to make use of the most obsolete words, codeno, Ad- he ridiculed them with great humour in a dialogue published dizioni alla in 1531 (6), and he annexed to it a small treatise written by Volutius Metianus, an antient lawyer. He is faid to have wrote alfo a book on the invention of printing. He was accused of plagiarism in regard to his Aufonius, it being alledged that he had affumed to himself the labours of Fabricio Varano, bishop of Camerino: however he took an oath to the contrary, the form of which is fomewhat remarkable. The original is in Latin, of which the following is a translation : Biblioth.Na poletan. p. 170. Toppi. p. 206. who corrupted the Latin tongue, was perhaps printed in the year 1531; but we may naturally suppose, that it was publickly known some years before, fince Geoffry Tory quotes it in his Champ Fleure, printed in 4to. in 1529. In like manner, continues he, a thousand other forms of expreffion, which Hieronymus Avacinus, a native of Verona, gives us in the beginning of his Annotations on the works of the antient poet Lucretius, which I leave to the curious who are lovers of antiquity; and which may be read at large, in a dialogue, entitled, Ofci et Volfci dialogus ludis Romanis actus, &c. Ifwear before God and men, by the facred ties of faith and juftice, by the folemn obligation of an oath, or by any thing else that can be more binding than an oath, I affirm and declare as the moft unfeigned truth, and I would have it fo understood by others, that I never read, nor fo much as faw the compofitions of any perfon, whence I could borrow the least hint or affistance for my own writings; nay I even endeavoured, to the utmost of my power, if I found any thing publifhed like what I had written, to expunge it out of my work and, if I now forefwear myself, may the pope pronounce his curse against me, and may fo evil a fate attend my productions, that whatever is valuable, or at leaft indifferent in them, may it be accounted abominable by the ignorant many, and defpifed by the learned; and, if I have any fame left, may the winds carry it away, and may it be thought entirely owing to the injudicious vulgar." We fhould have had feveral more of the works of Accurfius published, had his fon Carimir lived longer. ACHERI (Luke D') a benedictine of the congregation of St. Maur, botn at St. Quintin, in Picardy, in 1609. He made himself famous by printing feveral works which, till his time, had remained in manufcript in different libraries. The first piece he published was the epiftle afcribed to St. Barnabas, which he printed in 1645. Father Hugh Menard, a monk of the fame congregation, defigned to have published this epiftle, and had illuftrated it with notes; but death hav ing prevented him, Acheri published it in Greek and Latin, with Menard's notes. Three years after he published the life and writings of Lanfrank, archbishop of Canterbury, and the chronicle of the abbey of Bec. In 1651 he printed an edition of the Life and writings of Guibert, abbot of Nogent, with some other pieces. Having afterwards collected feveral scarce and curious tracts, and being in hopes of procuring many more, he formed a defign to compile as large a body as he could collect, and to publish them under the title of Spicilegium, A gleaning. The first volume appeared in 1655, and was afterwards followed by twelve more, the laft of which was printed in 1677. Most of the pieces contained Journal des in this work were wrote fince the decay of the Roman empire in the weft. He publifhed alfo the Rule for the Anchorites, written by father Grimlaic, and fome Afcetic pieces (a). The prefaces (a) He did not put his name to this collection: we have the title VOL. I. thereof in father Labbe's Bibliotheca Afce Savans. Feb. 28, 1678. prefaces and notes, which he annexed to many of these pieces, fhew him to be a man of genius and abilities. He had also some share in the pieces inferted in the first volumes of The acts of the faints of the order of St. Bennet, the title whereof acquaints us that they were collected and published by him and father Mabillon. After a very retired life, till the age of 73, he died at Paris the 29th of April, 1685, in the abbey of St. German in the Fields, where he had been librarian. Afceticorum vulgo fpiritualium opufculorum, quæ inter patrum opera reperiuntur. Indiculus Chriftianæ pietatis cultoribus ab Afceta Benedictino congregationis Sancti Mauri digeftus. i. e. "A catalogue of the Afcetic, or fpiritual tracts, found amongst the works of the fathers; digested for the ufe of devout Chrifians, by a Benedictine of the congregation of St. Maur. Paris 4to. 1648. Mr. Teffier fays, that Acheri publifhed alfo St. Auftin's life this fame year at Paris. ACHILLINI (Alexander) born at Bologna, doctor of philofophy in that univerfity. He flourished in the 15th and 16th centuries, and by way of eminence was ftyled the Great Philofopher. He was a ftedfaft follower and accurate interpreter of Averroes upon Ariftotle, but most admired for his acuteness and ftrength of arguing in private and public difputations (a). He made a furprizing quick progrefs in his ftudies, and was very early promoted to a profefforfhip in the univerfity (b), in which he acquitted himself with fo much applause, that his name became famous throughout all Italy. He continued at Bologna till the year 1506, when the university of Padua made choice of him to fucceed Antonio Francatiano in the first chair of philofophy. His fame brought vaft numbers of students to his lectures at Padua; but it drew upon him the envy of his collegue, Peter Pomponalius, who could not endure the fuperior reputation of his rival, and therefore, by fecret practices, endeav ured to withdraw his fcholars from him, and in the difputations, when he could not answer his arguments, he had recourfe to raillery and jefts; but all his efforts could not in the leaft leffen the reputation of Achillini. (a) He particularly frequented thofe public difputations called, The General Chapters, or Convocations amongst the Friars; and was fo acute a difputant, that where he did argue, and was not known, there went current as a proverb that faying, Either the devil or Achillini. Notizie degli Scritt. Bologn, (b) According to Orlandi, Achillini began to read lectures at Rologna in 1484, from whence it appears, he was then but twenty years old, fince the fame author tells us that he died in the 48th year of his age, in 1512; fo that, according to this account, he must have been born in 1464. Notizie degli Scritt. Bologn. Our Our profeffor did not continue long at Padua ; for the war, wherein the republic of Venice was engaged against the league of Cambray, putting a ftop to the lectures of that univerfity, he withdrew to his native country, where he was received with the fame marks of honour and diftinction as before, and again appointed profeffor of philofophy in Bologna. He spent the remainder of his life in this city, where he died, and was interred with great pomp in the church of St. Martin the Great, which belongs to the Carmelite friars. The following verses are upon his tombstone, written by John Vitalis : Hofpes Achillinum tumulo qui quæris in ifto, Elyfium colit, et quas verum hic difcere caufas Joined with his Ariftotle now he dwells All nature and its caufes, which before, Jovius, who knew Achillini, and heard his lectures, fays, that he was a man of fuch exceeding fimplicity, and so unacquainted with addrefs and flattery, that he was a laughingflock to the pert and faucy young scholars, although esteemed on account of his learning. He chiefly expofed himself to laughter when he walked, by his fhambling gate, wearing a scarlet gown of an uncommon fashion, with clofe fleeves, and no folds behind, welted with otter's fkin; and, having a conftant fmile upon his countenance, and his language being unpolished, he appeared to be a man either of a very simple or contemplative difpofition. He wrote feveral pieces on philofophical fubjects (c), which he published and dedicated to John Bentivogli. (c) The pieces which he published are as follows: 1. De Intelligentiis, five books. 2. De Orbibus, lib. iv. 3. De Univerfalibus. 4. De Phyfico Auditu, E 2 ACHIL 5. De Elementis, lib. iii. 6. De Subjecto Phyfionomiæ et Chiromantiæ. 7. De Subjecto Medicinæ. 8. De prima Poteftate Syllogifmi. 9. De Diftin&tionibus, 10. De |