66 AMELGARD. 2. De Malignitate Herodoti, p. 871. ed. Frank- Charles VII., king of France, as he has refort.) AMEIPSIAS CAμeivías), a poet of the that prince. He left two historical works, L. S. corded at the commencement of the life of old Attic comedy, who lived during the time which remain in MS. in the king's library at of the Peloponnesian war, and was a contemporary of Aristophanes, who appears Paris. They are 1. "Historia de rebus (Rana, 14.) to ridicule him for his low wit, pore in Gallia gestis, Libris quinque." a Carolo VII., Francorum rege, et suo temby which he endeavoured to make his audience laugh. But his comedies were nevertheless very highly thought of by the copies of these works in the library, both Historiarum de rebus gestis a Ludovico XI. Libri septem." Athenians, for in the year B. c. 424 he gained supposed to have been written in the sixteenth There are, or were, two a victory over the Clouds of Aristophanes century. with a piece called Connos (the name of one of the teachers of Socrates), and again in the history of Liège and other towns in the A considerable number of extracts B. C. 415, he was successful against the Birds Low Countries, are given by Martene and from the History of Louis XI., illustrative of of Aristophanes in a comedy called The Durand in their "Veterum Scriptorum amMerry Fellows (Kwμaoraí). Respecting his plissima Collectio," tom. iv. p. 742, seq. life we know nothing, except that the scholiast It is stated in the Biographie Universelle on Aristophanes (Vesp. 1164.) conjectures that Amelgard was charged by Charles VII. that he was an effeminate person. sides the names of the two comedies men- against Jeanne or Joan of Arc, and that he Be- with the work of revising the proceedings tioned above, we know those of seven others; but all are lost with the exception of some iniquity." We are not aware of the authority drew up fragments, which scarcely enable us to form "an examination of that work of a correct estimate of his merit as a poet. for this statement. They are collected in A. Meineke, "Frag- libro, &c.; Catalogus Codicum ManuscriptoObservatio prævia ad excerpta ex Amelgardi (Martene and Durand, menta Comicorum Græcorum." same author's See the Quæstionum Scenicarum rum Bibliotheca Regiæ, Paris, 1744, pars iii. Specimen," ii. 42, &c.; and “ tica Comicorum Græcorum," p. 199, &c., tom. ii. Nos. 17268. 17327.; Jöcher, Allgem. Historia Cri-thèque Historique de la France, ed. Paris, 1769, tom. iv. Nos. 5962, 5963.; Le Long, Bibliowhere all the passages of ancient writers referring to Ameipsias are given. AMELESA GORAS ('Aμeλnσayópas) of Gelehrten-Lexicon; Adelung, Supplement to L. S. Jöcher.) Chalcedon, according to Dionysius of Halicarnassus one of the most ancient Greek hisJ. C. M. torians. Clemens Alexandrinus speaks of an Athenian writer of the history of Attica (AT0is) of the name of Melesagoras, from whose work Philochorus, Androtion, Hellanicus, Hecataeus, and others derived a great part of their information. Both are called authors of Atthids, and are generally supposed to be the same person. A fragment of the Atthis is preserved in Antigonus Carystius. Maximus Tyrius speaks of one Melesagoras of Eleusis who lived at Athens as a sage and a prophet, but this appears to be altogether a different person from the historian. It has been conjectured by some critics that the Mnesagoras in Apollodorus and the Ameliagoras in the scholiast on Euripides are only miswritten names for Amelesagoras. (Dionysius Halicarnasseus, De Thucydidis Charactere, p. 138. ed. Sylburg; Clemens Alexandrinus, Stromata, vi. 629. ed. Sylburg; Antigonus Carystius, Histor. Mirabil., 12. ; Maximus Tyrius, Dissertat. 38.; Apollodorus, iii. 10. 3.; Scholiast on Euripides, Alcest., 2.; Vossius, De Historicis Græcis, p. 22. ed. Westermann; C. and J. Müller, Fragmenta Historicorum Græcorum, p. 81.) AMÉLIE. [AMALIE.] Perigord, and served in the army of Henry AMELGARD, a French historian of the fifteenth century, of whom little appears to be known. He was a presbyter of Liège, and was admitted to familiar intercourse with 447 From Ronsard we learn that Amelin was not only a poet, but a philosopher, an of his than those already mentioned have surorator, and an historian; but no other works vived to the present day. (La Croix du GG 2 AMELINE, CLAUDE, is remembered more from the circumstance of his having been a friend of Malebranche and partisan of that philosopher's opinions, than from any merits of his own. He was born at Paris, where his father exercised the office of procurator at the Châtelet, about the year 1629. He practised for some time at the bar, but taking a disgust at the world, he entered the congregation of the Oratory. In 1663 he was appointed grand cantor of the church of Paris; but, disliking the office, he exchanged it with Claude Joli for that of archdeacon. He died at Paris in 1706. His published works are-1. "Traité de la Volonté." Paris, 1684, 12mo. 2. "Traité de l'Amour du Souverain bien." Paris, 1699, 12mo. A work entitled "L'Art de vivre heureuse," which was published (in 12mo.) at Paris in 1690, has been attributed to him by some. (Niceron, Mémoires pour servir a l'Histoire, &c.) W. W. AME LIUS, or AME'RIUS ('Aμéλios, or 'Auépios), a native of Etruria, whose real name was Gentilianus, instead of which he preferred calling himself Amelius or Amerius. He was at first a pupil of the Stoic Lysimachus; but from the year A. D. 246 down to 270 he lived at Rome as one of the most zealous disciples and followers of Plotinus. Here he was a fellow-pupil of Porphyry, with whom he lived on good terms, and by whom he is praised for his acute judgment. When in A. D. 270 Plotinus was obliged to leave Rome on account of his ill health, Amelius also left Rome, and went to Apamea in Syria, where he died a few years afterwards. From this short stay at Apamea Suidas erroneously calls him an Apamean. Amelius was the author of several works, which were very prolix and tasteless, and were soon after his time neglected and forgotten. In some of his works he vindicated the honour of Plato against the followers of Zoroaster, and in others he defended Plotinus against the charge of having stolen his ideas from Numenius. All his works are now lost, with the exception of a fragment in Eusebius's "Præparatio Evangelica," and a letter to Porphyry which is preserved in Porphyry's life of Plotinus. There is in the library of St. Mark at Venice a MS. containing a work of one Amelius, Περὶ τῆς Ἰωάννου τοῦ παρ' ἡμῖν εὐαγγελίου θεολογίας, which is probably a work of the Amelius who is the subject of this article; for we know from Eusebius, that, although a pagan, he was acquainted with the Gospel of St. John, and endeavoured to reconcile it with the philosophy of Plato. (Eunapius, Vita Philosophorum et Sophistarum, p. 17, &c. ed. Commelin; Suidas, sub voc. The em AME'LIUS, MARTIN, the son of Georg Amelius, a celebrated professor of jurisprudence in the university of Freyburg in Breisgau, was born on the 30th of October, 1526. He devoted himself, under the guidance of his father, to the study of the law; and as he was a very promising young man, the margrave of Baden invited him to come to Pforzheim, and intrusted his practical training to his chancellor, Oswald Guth, who became so attached to young Amelius for his excellent qualities, that he loved him like his own son. Amelius had scarcely reached his twentyfifth year, when his prince sent him on an embassy to the imperial court of Vienna, where he gained general esteem. peror, Ferdinand I., raised him to the rank of a nobleman, and the university of Vienna honoured him with the diploma of doctor of law. Three years later the margrave of Baden made him his chancellor, and in this position he exerted all his powers to promote the welfare of his country. When the margrave, Charles II., determined to introduce the Lutheran religion into his dominions, and when several eminent theologians were sent to him from various parts of Germany to aid in accomplishing this object, Charles II. formed a consistory and placed Amelius at the head of it. Amelius took a lively interest in the cause of the Reformation, and it was in a great measure owing to his exertion that the work was successfully and quickly completed in Baden in the year 1556. On the death of margrave Charles II., his eldest son was not of age, and Amelius was appointed a member of the regency as well as one of the guardians of the young princes. He availed himself of his power for the purpose of founding the gymnasium of Durlach; for the education of the people, and the formation of able teachers, had for some time been the subject of his attention. During his lifetime Charles II. had been prevailed upon by Amelius to establish a fund at Basel, out of which such young men were to be supported as possessed ability, but were poor, and wished to be educated as teachers. Amelius is especially praised for his patronage of learning and the arts, particularly architecture. He not only induced Charles to erect several fine public edifices, but in the year 1556 he built for his own residence the beautiful castle of Niefernburg. An inscription still extant there expresses his gratitude towards the prince for the numerous favours and honours which he had conferred upon him. They were indeed great, and Amelius must have used all his influence with Charles for the purpose of making as much as possible of his position. The year of his death is uncertain; but as it is stated on his tombstone, that thirty years after his appointment as chancellor, he withdrew from public affairs to devote the remainder of his days to learning, architecture, and agriculture, it is evident that he must have lived at least to the age of sixty, that is, down to the year 1586. (Adam, Vita Germanorum Jurisconsultorum; Sachs, Badensche Geschichte, iv. 175, &c.; Pantaleon, Heldenbuch, vol. iii.; F. Molter, in Ersch und Gruber's Allgem. Encyclopädie, iii. 344.) AMELOT, NICHOLAS, or ABRAHAM L. S. NICHOLAS, as he is variously named, sieur de la Houssaye, commonly called Amelot de la Houssaye, was born at Orleans in February, 1634. self that his family was ancient, and that he Amelot tells us of himwas educated in the university of Paris. This is in a Déclaration, inserted in the second edition of his translation of Paolo Sarpi's history of the council of Trent, by way of reply to attacks which the publication of that translation had brought upon him. "I am a good Catholic, and so is all my family, which have been so for more than three hundred years.... But having been brought up and educated in the Gallican church, and in the university of Paris, of which I have the honour to be a member, I believe and shall always believe what they believe and teach, touching matters of discipline and of ecclesiastical jurisdiction." We learn from himself also, in the preface to his history of the Venetian government, and in the article "St. André, N. P." in his "Mémoires Historiques, Politiques, et Littéraires," that he went in 1669 as secretary to the President Nicholas Prunier St. André, ambassador from France to Venice, and stayed at Venice in that capacity for three years. Amelot speaks of this embassy in the article "St. André" in his Mémoires. The most important event during the embassy, according to Amelot, was vantage gained by M. St. André over the an adMarquis de Fuentes, Spanish ambassador at Venice, in that contest for precedence which had for some time been carried on between French and Spanish ambassadors at every After his return from Venice in 1671, Amelot appears to have obtained no further political employment, and to have devoted himself to literature as a means, and, as it proved to him in the end, a very insufficient means, of subsistence. court. The very little more that is known of Amelot's life may be told in the way of a running commentary on a list of his works and translations. arranged chronologically. It contains one The following list is or two works not mentioned in Niceron's list. The list in Quérard's "La France Littéraire" is singularly deficient. 1. "Abrégé du Procès fait aux Juifs de Metz avec plusieurs Arrêts du Parlement." 12mo. Paris, 1670. 2." Rélation du Conclave de 1670 pour l'E'lection de Clement X." 12mo. Paris, 1676. 3. "Histoire du Gou 449 AMELOT. The materials for this work, Amelot says in the preface, were vernement de Venise." 12mo. Paris, 1676. and papers which have been communicated "ambassadors' letters facts; and, above all, the information which to me; the ancient annals of the republic, I have been able to procure at the fountainwhence I have drawn my examples and my had the honour of being employed at Venice, head, during the three years that I have which is, indeed, the origin of a work to which otherwise I should never have directed myself." nice, which disliked the mysteries of its history gave offence to the senate of VeThe publication of this government being laid open, and which, as la Défense de l'Histoire du Gouvernement de Venise," appended to the supplement to we gather from a "Mémoire pour servir à the history published by Amelot the year after, remonstrated with the French governhave succeeded. 4." Supplément à l'Histoire ment, and endeavoured to get the work supdu Gouvernement de Venise." 12mo. Paris, pressed. But in this they do not appear to 1677. This is an abridged translation of Paolo Sarpi's history of the dispute between Pope Paul V. and the republic of Venice (Storia delle Cose passate tra Paolo V. e la Republica de Venezia), together with a colpute. 5. "Examen de la Liberté originaire de Venise, traduite de l'Italien, avec une lection of documents concerning the disHarangue de Louis Hélian, Ambassadeur de tisbon, 1677. France contre les Venétiens, traduite du Latin, et des Remarques historiques." 12mo. RaThe first part is a translation ously suppressed at Venice, and which had of a celebrated tract entitled "Squittino della Liberta Veneta," which had been rigorbeen attributed to several eminent persons; ganised in 1618 that formidable conspiracy among others, to Don Alfonso de la Cueva, the Spanish ambassador at Venice, who oragainst the Venetian government to which English literature owes Otway's tragedy of publication to the Emperor Leopold I., and "Venice Preserved." Amelot dedicated this emperor also that his reason for appending in his dedication attributes the original tract to Alfonso de la Cueva. He informs the Louis Hélian's speech, in which, at the diet the powers of Europe to unite themselves of Augsburg in 1510, he had conjured all against their common enemy, the Turks, sitting. 6. "Suite de l'Histoire du Gouvernewas to aid the object of European peace, for which the congress of Nimeguen was then traduite de l'Italien de Minucio Minucci, ment de Venise, où l'Histoire des Uscoques, series on Venetian history. Amelot says in archévêque de Zara, et de Fra Paolo Sarpi." 12mo. Paris, 1680. the preface, that in publishing a tale which This work completes a redounds to the glory of Venice, and in translating from the works of two so eminent GG 3 government and almost the whole nation on his side; and in the national excitement for the liberty of the Gallican church, a work opposed in tendency to the assumptions of papal power was warmly received, and found a large sale. (Chaufepié, Nouveau DictionAmelot made his translations from a Latin version, and that it is very incorrect. It was severely criticised in a letter published in the "Nouvelles de la République des Lettres" for October, 1685. Amelot replied in the same publication for December, and assuming the Abbé de St. Réal to be the author, made a violent attack on him. This brought a rejoinder from the abbé, who denied having written the first letter, but adopted the criticisms. This correspondence is printed in "Euvres de M. l'Abbé de St. Réal," 3 tom. La Haye, 1726, tom. iii. pp. 186-201. The writer of the first letter was M. Simon, the celebrated biblical critic, who has included it in his "Lettres Critiques, &c." 12mo. Basle, 1699. Amelot's translation has been superseded by that of Courayer, in 3 vols. 4to. 10. "Le Prince de Machiavel, revu par le traducteur, avec des Remarques politiques et historiques." 12mo., Paris, 1683. Amelot's preface, in which he defends Machiavelli from the charges of atheism, and of confounding moral distinctions, has been criticised with unfair severity by Voltaire in his preface to Frederic King of Prussia's "Examen du Prince." The best, perhaps, that is to be said for Amelot is, that he translated Machiavel's Prince,' and vindicated its maxims, rather with a design to make his book sell than to convince. He talks a great deal of state policy in his dedication; but a man who had been secretary to an embassy, and did not know the secret of keeping out of poverty, could know little, methinks, of state policy.' (Euvres de Voltaire, tom. xlvii. p. 473. ed. 1785.) 11. "L'Homme de Cour, traduit de l'Espagnol de Balthasar Gracian." 12mo. Paris, 1684. 12. "Traité des Bénéfices, traduit de l'Italien de Fra Paolo Sarpi par M. l'Abbé de St. Marc, Académicien de la Crusca." 12mo. Paris, 1685. Here Amelot adopts another pseudonyme, without any known reason. 13. "La Morale de Tacite, extraite de ses Annales et Histoires. Premier Essai, de la Flatterie." 12mo. Paris, 1686. In an introduction to this little work, Amelot passed in review all the translators and commentators of Tacitus, and handled very severely Perrot d'Ablancourt's translation. This called forth a pamphlet from M. Fermont d'Ablancourt, nephew of Perrot, entitled "M. Perrot d'Ablancourt vengé, ou Amelot de la Houssaye convaincu de ne pas parler François et d'expliquer mal le Latin," in which Amelot was challenged to produce a better translation than D'Ablancourt. Amelot accepted the challenge, and in 1690 appeared, 14. "Tacite, avec des Notes Venetians as Minucio Minucci and Paolo Sarpi, he hopes to show that he has no design of systematically decrying Venice; and he adds that he has an intention of translating all Sarpi's works into French. The four last-mentioned works were reprinted together in three vols. 12mo., Am-naire, &c. art. "Amelot.") Niceron says that sterdam, 1695; and there is another edition, 1705. It appears from a mention of Amelot in Bayle's "Nouvelles de la République des Lettres" for July, 1684 (tome i. p. 460.), that he had been in the Bastille for something which he had written. There is no mention of this in any of Amelot's prefaces; but Bayle's statement is unequivocal, and it may be conjectured from the nature of the publication, and from the pains taken in his next to conciliate the Venetian government, that this misfortune may have been brought upon him by the "Examen de la Liberté originaire de Vénise." 7." Mémoires pour la Minorité de Louis XIV.” 12mo. Villefranche, 1680. This is said by Niceron to be merely a réchauffé of the "Mémoires du Duc de la Rochefoucauld," with Amelot's usual contribution of historical and political notes. 8. "Tibère, Discours politiques sur Tacite, par le Sieur de la Mothe Josseval." 4to. Amsterdam et Paris, 1683. Amelot's reasons for adopting this pseudonyme, under which he also published in the same year his translation of the history of the council of Trent, are unknown. It does not appear to have been designed to conceal the author, and certainly had not that effect. A second edition of the Tibère in 1684 has Amelot's name on the title-page. This work is a running commentary on the first six books of the Annals of Tacitus, which are occupied with the reign of Tiberius; hence the name of Tibère. It is a work of much industry, Amelot's object being to illustrate all passages having in any degree the character of general political remarks by parallel passages taken chiefly from Tacitus himself, with occasional help from Philip de Commines and Machiavelli. Amelot does not lay claim to the merit of originality: "the design and plan of the book are such," he says in the preface," that it may be said that it is all mine, and yet that none of it is mine." 9. "Histoire du Concile de Trente, de Fra Paolo Sarpi, Théologien du Sénat de Venise, traduite par le Sieur de la Mothe Josseval avec des Remarques historiques, politiques, et morales." 4to. Amsterdam et Paris, 1683. Though published under a pseudonyme, this translation was known from the first to be Amelot's. Published at a time when the controversy between Rome and the Gallican church was raging, it offended the advocates of the papal power; and, as we learn from the "Déclaration in the second edition which has been already quoted, the monks presented three memorials to the minister for its suppression. But Amelot now had the 66 politiques et historiques; première Partie contenante les premiers six Livres de ses Annales." 4to. Paris, 1690. of this was published at Amsterdam, with a A new edition continuation by F. Bruys, who calls himself in the title-page C.D.G., in ten vols. 12mo., the continuation occupying the last six volumes. 15." Homilies théologiques et morales de feu M. Palafoxe sur la Passion de Jésus Christ." 12mo. Paris, 1691. naires des Traités faits entre les Rois de 16. "PrélimiFrance et tous les Princes de l'Europe depuis le Règne de Charles VII." 2 toms. 12mo. Paris, 1692. This was written for an introduction to a collection of treaties which was being prepared by M. Leonard, an eminent bookseller in Paris, and which appeared the next year in six vols. 4to. consists of an historical discourse on the It treaties, and a chronological catalogue of them. Amelot afterwards enlarged it, and it was published, so enlarged, under the new name of "Observations historiques et politiques sur les Traités des Princes," in the second volume of Bernard's "Recueil des Traités de Paix." La Haye, 1700. "Les Lettres du Cardinal d'Ossat, une nou17. velle Edition avec des Notes historiques et politiques." 2 vols. 4to. Paris, 1697. was reproduced at Amsterdam in 1708, in This 5 vols. 12mo., with additional notes by Amelot. This seems to have been the last work published by Amelot himself. He died on the 8th of December, 1706. It is said of him in Moreri's Dictionary that "his was the lot of all honest authors, namely, that instead of being rich, he was in want, and if it had not been for the assistance of an abbé, distinguished as much by virtue and learning as by birth, he would have fallen into the greatest misery." This abbé, it appears from the dedication by the editor of Amelot's edition of Rochefoucauld's " was M. Baltazar Henri de Fourcy, abbé Reflections," commendataire de l'Abbaie Royale de St. Vandrille, who, we learn from the same dedication, kept Amelot in his house and supported him. Amelot was buried in the cemetery of St. Gervais. The following three works were published posthumously: :- 18. "Réflexions, Sentences, et Maximes Morales mises en nouvel Ordre avec des Notes politiques et historiques." 12mo. Paris, 1714. These are Rochefoucauld's reflections arranged according to subjects, and the similar reflections of "a lady illustrious for talent," incorporated with them. 19. "Mémoires historiques, politiques, et littéraires." 2 tom. 12mo. Paris, 1722. This is a collection of long and short articles, on no principle of selection, arranged alphabetically, but carried by Amelot no further than the letter F. There is a later edition in 3 vols. Amsterdam, 1737, where another hand has carried on the work to the letter L. 20. "Mémoires pour servir à l'Histoire de 451 AMELOT. 2 vols. 12mo. la République des Provinces Unies et des tius, par Aubery du Mouriez, donnés avec Orange, de Barneveldt, d'Aarsens, et de GroPays-Bas contenant les Vies des Princes d' des Notes politiques, historiques, et critiques, par Amelot de la Houssaye." rard by the title "Histoire de Guillaume de Londres, 1754. Nassau, Fondateur de la République des ProThis is mentioned by QuéFemme, &c.," which is a second title to the vinces Unies et des Pays Bas, et d'Isabelle sa first volume. edition, and whether the appearance of his It is doubted by Barbier whether Amelot really contributed much to this trick. name on the title-page was not a bookseller's Amelot had the character of being an ac- lot's "History of the Government of Venice," GG 4 |