APRIL 8.
431 B. C. A body of 300 Thebans surprised the town of Platæa, in Greece, in the dead of night, and were all destroyed or captured by the inhabitants.
46. Battle of Thassus, in Africa; Scipio and Juba defeated by Julius Cæsar.
217. Caracalla, the Roman emperor, assassinated at Edessa.
1341. Petrarch crowned with laurels at Rome, with great pomp. This distinction was awarded him on the appearance of his Latin poem entitled Africa, in which he celebrates Scipio, his favorite hero. This poem he considered his best, yet it was never finished. His reputation now rests as a poet, on his Italian poems.
1364. John I, king of France, died. He was taken by Edward III at the battle of Poictiers, and conducted to England, where he was retained in captivity four years. He returned from France in 1363, which he had visited on parole, and died at his palace in London, aged 45, after a reign of 14 years, which had been extremely calamitous to France.
1492. Lorenzo de Medicis, surnamed the Great, and the father of letters, died at Florence. He was a great merchant, and an eminent statesman; whose public services so recommended him to the Florentines that he was declared chief of the republic; and whose wisdom and judgment were so conspicuous, that foreign princes made him the arbiter of their differences.
1546. The council of Trent declared against the Lutheran system, and adopted the Latin or vulgate translation of the Bible by St. Jerome.
1663. The first play bill issued from Drury Lane theatre. The play was advertised to be acted "by his majesty's company of comedians," and was entitled the Hvmovrovs Lievtenant, and was to commence at three o'clock precisely.
1679. Bosia, a village near Piedmont, in Italy, suddenly sunk into the earth, by which about 200 persons perished.