The time, in which Capella lived, and the place of his birth, are
uncertain; the better opinion seems to be, that he flourished towards
the third century, resided at Rome, and attained the consular dignity.
His works are written in prose, intermixed with poetry. His diction has
some resemblance to that of Tertullian, but is much more crabbed and
obscure: none, but the ablest Latin scholars, can understand him. The
Marriage of Mercury and Philology,--or of Speech with Learning, is not
uninteresting. His other treatises contain nothing remarkable: that upon
music, is hardly intelligible; it is printed separately in the
collection of _Meibomius_. With all his harshness and obscurity, Capella
seems to have been much studied in the middle ages,--some proof that
there was more learning in them, than is generally supposed,--he is so
often quoted by the writers of those times, that some persons have
supposed that his work was then a text book in the schools.
[Sidenote: The early publications of Grotius.
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