LITERARY HISTORY OF ITALY.
THIS compendium of the Count B ARE) AC OV I is a judicious abridg- ment of the early part of the great work of Tiasuoscirt. It opens with an account of the philosophers, poets, and orators of Magna Grecia and Sicily, commencing with PYTH AGOR AS and ending with GORGI AS. We next have a brief view of the early state of Roman literature; the writer then proceeds through the golden and silver ages of the Classics; and after presenting us with the names and works of the authors who flourished from the age of ADRIAN to that of CONSTANTI NE, and thence till the fall of the Western Empire, he closes with the literature of Italy under the Goths and the other barbarian invaders. The first section is of necessity vague and bald ; for the works of most of the authors have perished save a few fragments, and we are indebted for what we know of them to the scattered notices oc curring in ancient writers. In the history of the classical ages, we met with nothing new, either with regard to facts or criticism ; nor indeed was it to be expected, for the aim of Count BAstaacovt appears to have been to give notices of the writers lives, and some idea of their works, rather than a view of the literary spirit of the time, or a character of each author. The darker ages are treated with greater fulness ; and being less popularly known, may be considered the more useful part of the work; which will serve the scholar as a convenient vane mecum of reference, and may be recommended to the English reader as a clear precis of Roman literature, especially as we have nothing like it in a brief and popular shape.
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