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Books and Bookmen by Andrew Lang
page 57 of 116 (49%)
things, the historical writings of Fabius Pictor, the predecessor of
Livy. One is surprised that Annius, when he had his hand in, did
not publish choice extracts from the 'Libri Lintei,' the ancient
Roman annals, written on linen and preserved in the temple of Juno
Moneta. Among the other discoveries of Annius were treatises by
Berosus, Manetho, Cato, and poems by Archilochus. Opinion has been
divided as to whether Annius was wholly a knave, or whether he was
himself imposed upon. Or, again, whether he had some genuine
fragments, and eked them out with his own inventions. It is
observed that he did not dovetail the really genuine relics of
Berosus and Manetho into the works attributed to them. This may be
explained as the result of ignorance or of cunning; there can be no
certain inference. "Even the Dominicans," as Bayle says, admit that
Annius's discoveries are false, though they excuse them by averring
that the pious man was the dupe of others. But a learned Lutheran
has been found to defend the 'Antiquitates' of the Dominican.

It is amusing to remember that the great and erudite Rabelais was
taken in by some pseudo-classical fragments. The joker of jokes was
hoaxed. He published, says Mr. Besant, "a couple of Latin
forgeries, which he proudly called 'Ex reliquiis venerandae
antiquitatis,' consisting of a pretended will and a contract." The
name of the book is 'Ex reliquiis venerandae antiquitatis. Lucii
Cuspidii Testamentum. Item contractus venditionis antiquis
Romanorum temporibus initus. Lugduni apud Gryphium (1532).'
Pomponius Laetus and Jovianus Pontanus were apparently authors of
the hoax.

Socrates said that he "would never lift up his hand against his
father Parmenides." The fathers of the Church have not been so
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