C. ANTISTIUS, a celebrated lawyer of the age of Augustus and Tiberius, was son of Antistius Labeo, who formed one of the conspiracy against Caesar, and after the unsuccessful battle of Philippi caused himself to be put to death by one of his own slaves. His son seems to have inherited all the independent principles of the father, and to have expressed at times his opinions respecting the measures of Augustus with such freedom, that it was thought by his friends that he was subject to fits of insanity. (Hor. Sat. i. 3, 82; Suet. Aug. 54.) Some say that he was offered the consulship by Augustus, but that he refused the honour, lest he should be suspected of having sold his independence to the emperor. Others say that he was a candidate for the consulship, and that Augustus caused M. Atius Capito to be elected in preference to him. (Tacit. Ann. iii. 75.) He had applied himself more particularly to the study of law, and left many works, of which scarcely anything remains except the title; eight books on Probabilities, of which Julius Paulus made an abridgement; a work in forty-two books, entitled Posterioris, because it appeared after his death. Of these two works fragments are to be found in the Pandects of Justinian. The latter is abridged by Jabalensis, who flourished under Trajan. (Gell. xiii. 10.) His other works are,—Commentaries on the Twelve Tables, and on the Edicts of the Praetor and Curule Ediles; a Treatise on the Praetor Urbanus and Peregrinus; a Treatise on Pontifical Law, in fifteen books. It is disputed whether some other works mentioned by St Augustin belong to this Labeo, or to another of the same name. (See Opuscula varia of Bynkershoek, Leyd. 1719; De Vita, Moribus, et Studiis Laboeinis et Capitonis, Utrecht, 1692.) ticularly distinguished as a writer of *mini*, that is, farces in the language of the common people, and for their amusement. The exact period of his birth is unknown, but he died B.C. 43, a few months after the murder of Caesar. Having caused some annoyance to the dictator by the freedom of his language, he was ordered by him to appear on the stage as an actor in one of his own plays, when he had reached the age of sixty. The prologue which he pronounced on this occasion is preserved by Macrobius (*Nat. li. 7*), and is so beautiful that it makes us regret that more of his writings have not come down to us. When he had finished, he proceeded towards the places assigned to the knights; but his appearance on the stage had deprived him of all the privileges enjoyed by that order, and no one was willing to make way for him. Cicero, observing his embarrassment, said, in allusion to the number of new senators admitted by Caesar, "Recepissim ne nisi angustae soderni?" upon which Laberius sarcastically replied, "Mirum si angustae sedes qui soles dubias sellis sedere," thereby reproaching Cicero with his versatility of conduct.

We have the titles of forty of his pieces (see Fabricius Biblioth. Lat. i., p. 477), but only a few fragments of them have been preserved. They have been published by Stephanus, Paris, 1564; and are also found in the Catalepta veterum Poetarum by Scaliger, and in the Epigrammata vetera, Lyons, 1596.

**LA BORDE**, Jean Benjamin de, author of the great *Essai sur la Musique Ancienne et Moderne*, was born at Paris in 1734. His family was immensely wealthy. Instead of entering upon active life, as it had been intended that he should, he attached himself to the court, and became *premier eslet de chambre* of Louis XV. He became a great favourite with that prince, and more than once brought himself to the verge of ruin by sharing in his costly pleasures. All the time that he could steal from his court duties was gladly devoted to music and the fine arts, of which he was passionately fond, and in which (especially music) he was deeply versed. On the death of Louis XV. La Borde became one of the farmers-general, and the immense revenues of his office enabled him to repair the fortunes he had squandered in his youth. He married, lived quietly, and spent all his spare time in study. One of the first fruits of his labours was his Essay on Music, in 4 vols. 4to., 1780. Next year he published a kind of continuation of this work under the title of *Memoire sur les proportions Musicales, le genre Embarmonique des Grecs et celui des Modernes*. He brought out in a very splendid style several other works bearing on history, chronology, and geography. But these are for the most part mere compilations. In writing his Essay, La Borde derived valuable aid from the Abbé Roussier. The best part of the Ancient History of Music is his, and the sections assigned to the theory of the art among the Greeks are wholly so. Though somewhat unequal, and quite wanting in unity of design, the *Essai* contains a mass of information so carefully collected and so ably sifted as to be still on many points a final authority.

When the Revolution broke out, La Borde, like all the officials of his class, was obliged to flee for his life. He retired into Normandy, where he lived for some time without being recognised. An unlucky accident discovered his retreat. He was seized, taken to Paris, and there thrown into prison. He might have escaped had he acted prudently, but he insisted on being tried without delay. His trial resulted in his condemnation, and he perished on the scaffold on the 22d July 1794.