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Fabric. Bibl.
Græc. v. VI.

---Voffius de Græc.

le Vayer

les Hifto

riens, &c.

ted in this light. Proclus was not reckoned quite orthodox by his order he did not adhere fo religioufly, as Julian and Porphyry, to the doctrines and principles of his master: " he had,

fays Cudworth, fome peculiar fancies and whimfies of his "own, and was indeed a confounder of the Platonic theology, " and a mingler of much unintelligible stuff with it.”

PROCOPIUS, an ancient Greek hiftorian, was born at Cæfarea in Paleftine, from whence he came to Conftantinople in the time of the emperor Anaftafius; whofe efteem he obtained, as well as that of Justin the first, and Juftinian. His profeffion was that of a rhetorician and pleader Hift. Mothe of causes. He was advanced to be fecretary to Belifarius; Jugemens fur and attended that renowned general in the wars of Perfia, Afric, and Italy. He afterwards was admitted into the senate, and became prefect or governor of the city at Conftantinople : where he seems to have died, fomewhat above fixty years of age. He is not a contemptible hiftorian among the Bizantines. His hiftory contains eight books: two of the Perfian war, which are epitomized by Photius, in the 63d chapter of his Bibliotheca; two, of the wars of the Vandals; and four, of that of the Goths: of all which there is a kind of abridgment, in the preface of Agathias, who began his hiftory where Procopius left off. Befides thefe eight books, Suidas mentions a ninth, which comprehends matters not before publifhed, and is therefore called his avexdora, or inedita. Voffius thought, that this book was loft; but it has fince been published, and gone through many editions. Many learned men have been of opinion, that this is a fpurious work, and falfely afcribed to Procopius; and cannot be perfuaded, that he, who in the eight books reprefented Juftinian, Theodora, and Belifarius in a very advantageous light, fhould in this ninth have made fuch a collection of particulars in their disfavor, as amounts to nothing less than an invective; and Le Vayer was fo fenfibly affected with this argument, that he declares all Procopius's hiftory to be ridiculous, if ever fo little credit be given to the calumnies of this piece. Fabricius, however, fees no reafon, why this fecret hiftory may not have been written by Procopius; and he produces feveral examples, and that of Cicero amongst them, to fhew that nothing has been more

Epift. ad

Attic. II.

6.& XIV. 17.

ufual,

ufual, than for writers to allow themfelves a certain fatirical way of treating things and perfons in thefe private pieces, and very different from the manner they would use in what was defigned for public reading. There is another work of Procopius, ftill extant, intitled Kriopara, five de ædificiis. conditis vel reftauratis aufpicio Juftiniani Imperatoris libri VI. which, with his eight books of history, were first published in Greek by Hoefchelius in 1607; for the book of anecdotes, though published in 1624, was not added to thefe, till the edition of Paris 1662 in folio, when they were all

accompanied with Latin verfions.

The learned have been much divided, nor are they yet agreed, about the religion of Procopius: fome contending that he was an heathen, fome that he was a christian, and some that he was both heathen and chriftian: of which laft opinion was our learned Cave. Le Vayer declares for the Hift. Lit. paganism of Procopius, and quotes the following paffage vol. 1. from his first book of the wars with the Goths; which, he fays, is fufficient to undeceive thofe, who confidered him as a chriftian hiftorian. "I will not trouble myfelf," fays he, fpeaking of the different opinions of chriftians, "to relate "the subject of fuch controverfies, although it is not un"known to me, because I hold it a vain defire to compre "hend the divine nature, and understand what God is. Hu"man wit knows not the things here below: how then can "it be fatisfied in the fearch after divinity? I omit there"fore fuch vain matter, and which only the credulity of man "causes to be refpected: content with acknowledging, that "there is one God full of bounty, who governs us, and "whofe power ftretches over the univerfe. Let every one "therefore believe what he thinks fit, whether he be a priest " and tied to divine worship, or a man of a private and fe"cular condition." Fabricius fees nothing in this inconfiftent with the foundnefs of chriftian belief, and therefore is not moved by this declaration, which appeared so decifive to Le Vayer and other learned men, to think at all amifs of Procopius's chriftianity. This however, whatever the real, cafe may be, seems to have been allowed on all fides, that Procopius was at least a chriftian by name and profeffion; and that, if his private perfuafion was not with chriftians, he

conformed

Fabricii

Bibl. Latin.

-Crufius's

lives of the

Roman poets.

Lib. II.

Eleg. 25.

conformed to the public worship, in order to be well with the emperor Juftinian.

As an historian, he deserves an attentive reading; and efpecially on this account, that he has written of things, which he knew with great exactness. Suidas, after he had given him the furname of Illuftrious, calls him rhetorician and fophifter; as indeed he feems to have been too much for an historian. He is copious; but his copiousness is rather Afiatic than Athenian, and has in it more of fuperfluity than true ornament. It may not be improper to mention, that Grotius made a Latin verfion of Procopius's two books of the wars with the Vandals, and of the four books of the wars with the Goths: a good edition of which was published at Amfterdam in 1655, 8vo.

PROPERTIUS (SEXTUS AURELIUS) an ancient Roman poet, was born at Mevania, a town in Umbria ; as we learn from his own writings. Some fay, his father was a knight, and a man of confiderable authority; who, fiding with Lucius Antonius upon the taking Perufium, was made prisoner and flain, by Auguftus's order, at the altar erected to Julius Cæfar: when his eftate was forfeited of course. This must have happened when our poet was very young; and he alludes to it pretty manifeftly in one of his elegies, where he laments the ruin of his family, in that early season of his life. His wit and learning foon recommended him to the patronage of Mecenas and Gallus; and among the poets of his time, he was very intimate with Ovid, Tibullus, Baffus and Ponticus. Ovid was often present at his friend's rehearsals :

Sæpe fuos folitus recitare Propertius ignes,
Jure fodalitii qui mihi junctus erat.

We have no accounts of the circumstances of his life, or the manner of his death: only he mentions his making a journey to Athens, probably in company with his patron Mecanas, who attended Auguftus in his progress through Greece, It is certain he died young, thofe that make him live the longest carrying his age no higher than forty one: and from

the

the lines of Ovid juft quoted, we find he had then been dead some time. His birth happened but a few years before Ovid's, who was born about the year of Rome 710: and Lucius Antonius was defeated in 714, when Propertius was very young not to mention, that the

Jure fodalitii qui mihi junctus erat

properly expreffes that familiarity, which may be supposed
between perfons nearly of the fame age. His mistress Hoftia,
whom he celebrates under the name of Cynthia, is his con-
ftant theme; and Martial fays, fhe and the poet were equally
beholden to each other: fhe, for being immortalized in his
writings; he, for being animated by her with that noble paf-
fion, which made him write fo well.

Cynthia, facundi carmen juvenile Properti,
Accepit famam, nec minus illa dedit.

He had a house at Rome on the Esquiline hill,

The great object of his imitation was Callimachus: Mimnermus and Philetas were two others, whom he likewise admired and followed in his elegies. Quintilian tells us, that Juft.Orator. Propertius disputed the prize with Tibullus, among the Cri- Lib. x. c. 1. tics of his time: and the younger Pliny, speaking of Paffienus, an eminent and learned elegiac poet of his acquaintance, fays, that this talent was hereditary and natural; for that he was a descendant and countryman of PROPERTIUS. If Propertius was inferior to Tibullus and Ovid, Epift. 15. which however is not clear, it must be remembered, that he gave the firft fpecimen of this way of writing; and that the others had the advantage of improving upon him. In the mean time, without attempting to fettle the degrees, where all are excellent, nothing can be more pure, more elegant, more correct, than the poetry of Propertius and this is allowed by all the ancients and all the moderns.

He is printed with almost all the editions of Tibullus and Catullus but the best edition of him is that, which was given separately of him by Janus Brouckhufius at Amsterdam 1702, in 4to. and again in 1714, 4to. cum curis fecundis ejufdem.

PRO

Lib. VI

PROTOGENES, the famous ancient painter, who was a native of Caunas, a city of Caria, fubject to the Rhodians who was his father or his mother is not known; but it's probable enough he had no other mafter than the public pieces that he faw, and perhaps, his parents being poor could not be at any fuch expence for his education in the art, as was cuftomary at that time. 'Tis certain he was obliged at first to paint fhips for his livelihood: but his ambition was not to be rich, his aim being folely to be master of his profeffion; for this reafon he lived a retired life, that he might not be disturbed in those studies, which he conceived to be neceffary for the perfection of his art.

He finished his pictures with too great care: Apelles faid of him, he knew not when he had done well, or how to get away his work, and by dint of labour leffened its beauty and fatigued his mind. He was more for truth than verifimility in painting; whereby, exacting more of his art than he ought, he drew lefs from her than he might have done.

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The finest of his pieces was the picture of Jalifus, mentioned by several authors, without giving any description of it, or telling us who this Jalifus was: fome perfons suppose him to have been a famous hunter, and the founder of Rhodes. For seven years that Protogenes worked on this picture, all his food was lupines mixed with a little water, which ferved him both for meat and drink [A]. He was of opinion that this fimple and light nourishment would leave him the freedom of his fancy. Apelles feeing this piece, was fo ftruck with admiration, that he could not speak a word, having no expreffion to answer the idea of the beauty of the picture which he had formed in his mind. It was this fame picture that faved the city of Rhodes, when befieged by king Demetrius [B]; for not being able to attack it but on that

[A] After seven years spent upon it, he remained ftill diffatisfied and chagrined, becaufe having reprefented in it a dog panting and out of breath, he was not able to draw the foam at his mouth, which vexed him to fuch a degree, that he threw his fponge against it in order to efface it; but

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this luckily produced by chance what his art could not effect.-The fame good luck, 'tis faid, happened to Neocles the painter, with the foam of a horfe.

[B] Of Macedon, who befieged this city Anno ante Chriftum CÇCIV.

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