EUCLID.

EUCLID of Alexandria, whom we shall not confound, as Valerius Maximus has done, with Euclid of Megara, flourished during the time of Ptolemy, the son of Lagus, about 300 years before J. C. The period of his birth is uncertain, and the particulars of his life almost unknown.. All that can be relied upon is, that he greatly distinguished himself by his knowledge of the mathematics, and taught the elements of the science at Alexandria, in a manner the most luminous and exact. Ptolemy became his pupil, and his school was so famous, that Alexandria continued for ages the great university for mathematicians.

Euclid directed his studies principally, if not solely, to speculative geometry. He has left us a work entitled "The Elements of Geometry," in fifteen books. It is, however, doubted, by some writers, whether the last two books were written by him; they have been attributed to Hypsicles, another geometrician of Alexandria. These Elements contain a series of propositions, which are considered the basis and foundation of all the other parts of mathematics. They have been generally estimated as one of the most precious monuments of antiquity which have reached our hands. Euclid had likewise written on optics, music, and other scientific subjects. He was so respected, that Plato himself a mathematician, being asked concerning the building of an altar at Athens, referred his enquirers to the mathematician

It has been remarked that the celebrated Pascal,

at the age of 12, without having even read any book of geometry, or being in any manner instructed in the science, was enabled, by the force of his own genius, to demonstrate one of the most difficult propositions of Euclid.

The works of this famous mathematician have been published at Oxford, by Gregory, in two volumes, folio, 1703. Burmann has given an edition of his Elements, Leipsick, 1769, in 8vo. They have been translated into German, by M. Lorenz, Halle, 1781; and in French by Le Pere de Chales, 1746, in quarto.

FAUSTINA.

IF virtue appears hereditary in certain privileged families, vices are sometimes as fatal a succession, which increase almost always in the hands of those who receive them. Among the examples of this melancholy truth, we may place in the first rank the Empress Faustina, the daughter of that Faustina, who was married to the Emperor Antoninus, wife of Marcus Aurelius, the philosopher.

An eye witness of the irregularities of an immodest parent, Faustina, led away by the warmth of her passions, plunged, at an early age, with unblushing effrontery into the career of voluptuousness. The recollection of her depravity restrains the pen of the historian, and imposes on him the duty of covering with a thick veil the shameful picture of the life of another Messalina. Marcus Aurelius being sensible of the misconduct of his wife, thought it prudent with philosophical composure to raise himself above popular prejudice; and to despise the raillery which was levelled at his destiny, and in a particular manner at the indifference with which he submitted to his disgrace. He replied to those friends who advised him to repudiate a woman who had dishonoured his bed: " By dismissing her I must relinquish the empire which she brought me as a portion." This excellent husband did more than tolerate her sensuality: he was even desirous of manifesting his regard, as if she had merited his tenderness and the esteem of Rome. He honoured her with a