J8 4 A L T I L I U S. It may appear fomewhat furprizing, that his Latin pcetry Should have raifed him to the dignity of a prelate; yet it cer- tainly did, in a great meafure, to the bifliopric of Policaftro. Some have reproached him for negle&m^ the Mufes after his preferment, though they had proved fo ferviceable to him in acquiring it : 4t When he was msde bifliop," fays Paulus Jovius, v ' he foon and impudently Irft the mufes, by
- ' whoie means he had been promoted : a mod heinous in-
" gratitude, unlefs we excufe him from the confederation of Paul jov. *' his order, which obliged him to apply to the ftudy of the Elog. cap. " holy Scriptures [A]." cap. 155. The abbot Ughelli fays that Altilius died in the year 1484; but Mr. Bayle proves this to be a miftalce, and that he did not die till about the year i^oi. The " Epithah- mium" is only to be met with in the collection of Gruterus, intitled, '* D< Hciat> C C. Italorum poetarum," and the
- ' Carmirsa illuftriurn poetarum Italorum" of John Matthsus
Tufcanus : moft of his other verfes are fuppoied to be loft. [A] Bayle is of opinion, that P^ul " that Altilius is guilty of the defer- lovius was miOaken in pretending that " lion with which he is charged." He Al'ilius left off writing upon his pro- was made a bifliop in 1471, and 'the belt motion to the bifliopric, fince his " Epi- of all his poem: was compofed after this " thalamiurn" on If.ibella of Arragon, time; ought ve then to complain that thefineftof his poems was written r.tttr the mitre made him abandon ParnafTus. his advancement. " I make no doubt," He wrote this " Epithalamium," not .fays he, " but this Ifabella is fhe who at the time of the contract, but upon the " was contracted the ift of November, nuptialsof Ifabella of Arragon, that is, " 1473. to John Galeas Sforza Duke in the year 1489. This is proved from 11 of Milan: I cannot therefore believe the firft lines of the pqeui; Purpureos jam laeta finus Tithonia conjux Extulerar, rofcoque diem patefecerat ortu : Ccerula?um tremulo prscurreris lumine pontum, Qui cupido fua vota viro defponfaque dudum Connubi oplatofque locos et gaudia ferret. Her purple bread Aurora did difplay, And with her rofy fingers gave the day ; The trembling light danc'd o'er the curling wave, And to ycur longing fpoufe new tranfport gave j For now his promis'd bride he was to meet, And long-expe&ed joys receive complete. ALTING (JAMES), fon of Henry Alting, an eminent German divine, who died in 1644, aged 61, xvas born at Heidelberg the 2yth of September, 1618, at which time his lather was deputy at the fynod of Dort. He went through his iiudies at Groningen with great fuccefs ; and being de- lirous to acquire knowledge in the oriental languages, remov- ed to Embden in 1638, to improve himfelf under the rabbi Gamprecht Ben Abraham, He caaae over to England in 1640,
