away by such an empty study, in which there is no solid utility, and the whole pleasure of which is puerile. Finally, I warn you that some persons doubt whether this was really produced by Ptolemy††: nevertheless, it has certainly appeared to Porphyry and Proclus (who were doubtless great philosophers, although hostile to the Christian faith) to be worthy of receiving elucidation by their Commentaries upon it.††† Peruse it, however, friendly reader, with caution, having first shaken off the weakness of credulity, for the sinew of wisdom is not to believe rashly. Farewell.” In addition to the remarks made in the foregoing address regarding Leo Allatius, it may be observed that he was appointed Keeper of the Vatican Library by Pope Alexander VII, with whom he was in high favour. It is said of him, that he had a pen with which he had written Greek for forty years, and that he shed tears on losing it. Another story of him states, that the Pope had often urged him to take holy orders, that he might be advanced in the church, and one day asked him why he had not done so: “Because,” said Allatius, “I would be free to marry.”—“Why, then, do you not marry?”—“Because I would be free to take orders.”—_Chalmer’s Biographical Dictionary._ † This assertion is applicable only to Proclus’s Paraphrase. There were several prior translations of the original Tetrabiblos in Latin and Arabic; and it appears by an extract from the Bibliotheca Græca of Fabricius (which will be found in a subsequent page), that a Latin version, done from the Arabic, was printed at Venice as early as the year 1493. ††The reader is again referred to the extract from Fabricius (inserted in a subsequent page), containing that learned person’s account of this book among the other works of Ptolemy. ††† Their Commentaries were printed at Basle, in 1559. [5] This translation from the Perugio press has been serviceable in presenting certain various readings; but it does not seem to possess any other peculiar merit. It professes to be a translation from the original text of Ptolemy; and so likewise does the translation printed at Basle, as above quoted. [6] It appears by the printed works of this author, that he was named Didacus Placidus de Titis. He was a native of Bologna, by profession a monk, and was styled Mathematician to the Archduke Leopold William of Austria. He wrote in the earlier part of the 17th century, and his work, now cited, is considered to contain the most successful application of Ptolemy’s astrological rules to practice. The original is extremely scarce; but a new English edition, by Cooper, may be had of the Publishers of this work. It seems improper to close this Preface (notwithstanding the bulk it has already attained), without annexing the following short notice of the life and works of the great man from whom the Tetrabiblos has emanated.