d, or not printed
correctly, I would have it sent back to me; Cramoisi, the richest
Bookseller in this country, will undertake it." He was kept in hopes of
its appearing in Holland; but the printing of it was put off from time
to time: he wrote to several of his friends about it; however no
progress was made. Isaac Vossius, son of the famous Gerard, who
inherited his father's sentiments for Grotius, making an offer of his
service for his literary commissions, Grotius thanked him most
affectionately, in a letter of the 12th of November, 1644[468], in which
he says a great deal about his _Anthologia_. "I cannot sufficiently
thank you for the kind offer of your good services in relation to the
printing of my works. No body can be of more use to me than you: for who
has more friendship for me, or better understands those matters? I would
have the _Anthologia_ printed directly; and have desired my brother to
shew you my Prolegomena, and inform you in what manner I would have the
Indexes made. I shall repeat it, for fear that I have not sufficiently
explained myself in what I wrote to my brother. I would first have an
Index of the Poets, expressing exactly from what places the Epigrams are
taken. There must also be another Index of the persons who are the
subject of the Epigrams, and of those to whom they are addressed: there
should be a third, which may be called Chorographical, containing the
mountains, rivers, towns, baths, bridges, and other public works
mentioned in the Epigrams. There must be an Historical one for the great
actions which have happened in war or peace. To the two last Indexes I
would have the names of the authors added, who have mentioned such of
those actions as are least known; as Strabo, Pausanias, Procopius, and
others. After these Indexes there must be another, comprehending the
natural history, morality, and other particulars omitted in the
preceding ones. This work may be useful; but I would not, however,
charge any one with it, who could employ his time better. If, without
losing too much time, you could do it yourself, it would give me the
highest satisfaction, not only on my own account, but on the reader's,
to whom these Indexes would render the edition much more useful: for it
is proper to observe, that these Epigrams contain what is most important
in history, from the time of Plato to that of Justinian, and even
later."

This was the subject of the Preface, or Prolegomena, that was to be
pr