PHÆDRUS, an ancient Latin writer, who compoſed five books of fables, in Iambic verſe. He was a Thracian; and was born, as there is reaſon to conclude, ſome years before Julius Cæſar made himſelf maſter of the Roman empire. How he came into the ſervice of Auguſtus is not known: but his being called Auguſtus's freedman in the title of the book, ſhows that he had been that emperor's ſlave. The fables of Phædruſſ are valued for their wit and good ſenſe, expreſſed in very pure and elegant language; and it is remarkable that they remained buried in libraries altogether unknown to the public, until they were diſcovered and publiſhed by Peter Pithou, or Pithœus, a learned French gentleman, toward the cloſe of the 16th century.