Stuttering but God to confirm him in it gave him the Signs of a Rod's being turned into a Serpent and then re-assuming its former Shape and of his Hand turning Leprous and in a moment being restored to its natural Colour Then he went to see for Pharaob whom he charged from God to let his People go Three Days Journey into the Wilderness to offer Sacrifices unto him But he refused to obey and to let she Hebrews go notwithstanding all the Wonders performed by Moses in his Presence for he saw the Rod which Aaron Moses his Brother had in his Hand turned into a Serpent the Waters of the Nile and all the Springs in Egypt changed into Blood an innumerable Company of Frogs which covered the Face of the Land and entred into his very Palace and the Dust turned into Lice which filled the Air and extreamly tormented both Men and Beasts There came Swarms of large Flyes thither which destroyed whatever they touch'd a suddain Pestilence killed all the Cattle of Egypt without hurting those of the Israelites Men and Beasts were struck with terrible Boils a Storm of Hail accompanied with Thunder and Lightning fell over all Egypt which destroy'd all sorts of Beasts and Men that were in the Fields no other Land being spared but that of Goshen this Storm was succeeded by the largest Locusts that ever were seen in Egypt which destroyed all the Grass Fruits and Harvest A thick Darkness covered the whole Land saving that Part where the Children of Israel dwelt in short a destroying Angel having killed all the First-born of the Egyptians without sparing Pharaoh's own Son the Egyptians pressed the Israelites to go out of their Country and to sacrifice to their God under the Conduct of Moses and his Brother Aaron The Rabies assure us that the Wonders performed by Moses formerly in Egypt and elsewhere were done by means of his Rod which according to what they say was created by God between the Two Vespers of the Sabbath that is on the Evening of the Sixth Day of the World's Creation and upon which in an wonderful Manner the holy great and glorious Name of God was inscribed which they call Tetragrammaton wherefore it s said in the Zoar upon Exodus which is a Commentary upon the Five Books of Moses that the Miracles were graven thereon and that the most holy Name of God was also inscribed and Jonathan the Son of Vziel in his Targum that is in his Paraphrase upon Exodus relates the same Thing these are his Words Rehuel who was Jethro himself or his Father as Rabbi Jonathan seems to take him to be in his 18th Chapter having understood that Moses had made his Escape from Pharaoh put him into a deep Ditch where Sephora his Grand-Daughter fed him for 20 Years after which he took him out thence Moses going one Day into Rehuel's Garden went to Prayers and gave God Thanks for defending and delivering him by his own Power and for having wrought divers Miracles for his sake And perceiving in the said Garden a Rod or Staff which God had created between Sun and Sun that is on the Eve of the Sabbath or 6th Day of the Creation of the World whereon the great and glorious Name of God was graved and by Vertue of which he was one Day to perform great Miracles in Egypt to divide the Red-sea and to strike Water out of the Rock he presently put forth his Hand plucked it from the Earth into which it had been driven and as it were planted got it and carried it away with him The Sentiments of the Author of this Paraphrase are confirmed from what may be read concerning Aaron's Rod in the Pirke Eliezer which is a Book containing the History of the World to the Time of Gamaliel and from the Schaiseleth Hakabala which is another history-History-book or Chronology from the Beginning of the World But this may be more particularly seen in a very ancient and scarce Commentary entituled Medrasch Vaioscha printed at Constantinople which clears up what is related in the Chaldee Paraphrase and other Authors whereof I have spoken for Moses is there represented giving an Account at large of his Life after this manner When I went out of Egypt I was about 40 Years old and being one Day near unto the Water-pits Sephora who was one of Jeyhro's Daughters came thither and finding her to be modest and very handsom I told her if she pleased I would marry her her Answer consisted of an Account she gave me how her Father used such as sought any of his Daughters in Marriage which was to carry them to a Tree that was planted in the midst of his Graden that had so sad and peculiar a Quality that it presently struck such as came near it dead which when I understood I asked from whence the said Tree was brought she answered That God on the very Eve of the first Sabbath after the Creation of the World created a Rod which he gave to Adam Adam left it to Enoch Enoch to Noah Noah to Sem Sem to Abraham Abraham to Isaac Isaac to Jacob Jacob carried it into Egypt and gave it his Son Joseph after whose Death the Egyptians risted his House and finding the said Rod among the Spoils they carried it to Pharaoh's Court and Jethro who was one of the principal Magistrates of Egypt no sooner saw it but he was desirous to have it and having stole it away carried it to his own House The great Name of God Tetragrammaton was graven thereon with the Explications of it and the Ten Plagues wherewith God afflicted Egypt and as 't was all full of Wonders the same was kept in Jethro's House my Father-in-Law till that going on a Time into his Garden and holding the Rod in his Hand he stuck it in the Ground and endeavouring soon after to pull it out he found it had taken Root that it blossomed and that besides the Flowers it bore also bitter Almonds He left it there and by the Means of this Rod which grew to be a Tree he tried all such as had a Design to marry his Daughters When I was informed of all these Particulars and found the Shepherds would not let Jethro's Daughters draw Water I delivered Sephora and her Sister from the Hands of those rude Fellows took some Water and gave it their Cattle to drink after which they went towards their Father's House and I accompanied them Being come to the House they went in and I staid at the Door and as they were come back that Day sooner than ordinary Jethro asked them the Reason of it they answered That a courteous Egyptian had saved them from the Outrages of the Shepherds When the Daughters had thus acquainted their Father with the Adventure and told him that he who had delivered them was an Egyptian he asked them if they had not return'd him Thanks for his Kindness and bid them call me saying make him come in and let him dine with us
They reckoned there were 424 Streets in Rome in all the Divitions of the City whereof there were but 31 that were considerable which all began at a gilt Pillar for that reason called Milliarium auream that was set up at the Entrance into the great Place below the Temple of Saturn and lead to as many Gates and to made the like Number of great Roads that passed through all Italy These great Streets were called Viae regiae militares publicae of which the three most famous were Appia the Road of Appius which was made and paâ—ed by him Flaminia that of Flaminius made by a Consul of that Name and reach'd from Porta Flamentana near Campus Martius as far as Rimini upon the Adriatick Sea and Via Aemilia Aemilius his Road. VICTORIA Victory a Deity adored by the Ancients and made by Varro to be the Daughter of Coelum and Terra for whom the Romans built a Temple during their War with the Samnites in the Consulship of L. Posthumius and M. Attilius Regulus and dedicated to her a Temple of Jupiter Optimus after the Overthrow at Cannae according to Livy L. Sylla instituted Games in Honour of her The Athenians also built her Statue without Wings that so she might not fly away from their City in the same manner as the Lacedaemonians represented Mars with Chains that so he might continue with them according to Pausanias She was usually represented like a young Goddess winged and standing upon a Globe with a Lawrel Crown in one Hand and a Palm in the other Domitian represented her with a Horn of Plenty to intimate that Victory brought Plenty of all Things with it On the Reverse of the Silver Medal of L. Hostilius Victory is represented with a Caduceus which was Mercurie's Rod of Peace in one Hand and a Trophy of the Enemies Spoils in the other Victory is represented upon the Reverse of a Gold Medal of Augustus with her Feet upon a Globe and extended Wings as if she flew a Lawrel Crown in her Right-Hand and a Labarum or Emperor's Banner in the Left She is also represented sitting upon the Spoils of the Enemy with a Trophy set before her and carrying a Crown with these Words Victoria Augusti VINDICTA the Rod or Switch wherewith the Praetor touched a Slave's Head when he was affranchised VIRBIUS surnamed Hippolytus the Son of Theseus whom Aesculapius at Diana's Request raised from the Dead and was surnamed so as being born twice VIRGA the Rod of Moses which according to the Rabins God made between the two Vespers of the Sabbath that is on the Evening of the sixth Day of the Creation of the World and on which the Holy Great and Glorious Name of God called Tetragrammaton was inscribed after a wonderful Manner and therefore 't is said in the Zoar upon Exodus that the Miracles were graven and the most holy Name of God inscribed upon it Galatinus writ a great deal concerning this Rod and he relates some Things remarkable out of a Jewish Book entituled Gale resaia i. e. Revelans arcana It 's to be observed according to the Sentiments of the Jews that this Rod by reason of the particular and divine Vertue it had to work Miracles was never given to any other but Moses that Josuah himself though his Disciple and most worthy Successor never made use of it but only of a Lance and Javelin It 's true when other sacred Things as Aaron's Rod the Pot of Manna and Vessel of sacred Incense were laid up in the Ark by Josuah we could never learn what became of Moses his Rod and we do not find either in the holy Scriptures or Books of the Rabbins any mention made of it And Abarbinel inferrs from Moses his going up to the Mount Abarim to die there that he took Gods Rod in his Hand and that it was buried with the Body of that Prophet in the same Grave God being unwilling that any other Man should make use of it after him for as there never was a Man in Israel like unto Moses either in respect to the Heighth of Prophesie or Signs and Wonders done by him so no other but himself made use of that Rod for working all those Miracles As Moses was the Conductor of the People of God into the promised Land the Pagans also ascribe unto Mercury the Charge of conducting Souls into Hell They likewise endue him with a Rod twisted round with Serpents called Caduceus in Imitation of Moses his Rod that was changed into a Serpent and was so famous amongst them that whatever miraculous and strange Thing was performed by him it was attributed to that Rod. Virgil describes the Vertue of that Rod in his Aeneids Tum virgam capit hac animas ille evocat orca Pallentes alias sub tristia tartara mittit Dat somnos adimitque lumina morte resignat Illâ fretus agit ventos turbida tranat Nubila He therefore used his Rod as well when he fetch'd Souls from Hell as when he carried them thither By the Help of this Rod he made the one sleep and awaked the other and made whom he would to die He expelled the Winds and passed through the Clouds VIRGILIUS Virgil the Prince of the Latin Poets born at Andes near the City of Mantua and named Publius Maro The Romans admired him for the Excellency of his Works and honoured him as much as the Emperor himself and his Modesty acquired him the Name of Parthenius He has left us his Bucolicks Four-Books of Georgicks and Twelve of the Aeneids wherein he has imitated the Iliads and Odysses of Homer The Emperor Augustus hindered this last Piece to be burnt as Virgil had ordered it by his Will VIRTUS Vertue a Goddess among the Romans whose Temple was joined to that of Honour so that you must first pass through the Temple of Honour to it VISCERATIONES a Gift consisting of the Entrails of Animals conferred upon the People at the burying of great Men in Rome VITA Life Homer seems to allude to the long Lives of Men in the first Ages of the World when he says that Nestor was cotemporary with the Men of the Two preceding Ages and having survived them did also then live with those of the third Age and he told them that the former People with whom he had conversed were a great deal stronger than those born afterwards so that they were not afraid to encounter wild Beasts Hesiod gives us a compleat Description of the Terrestrial Happiness of those People that lived in the first Age but he has not given an Account of the Duration of their Lives which he makes to end in a sweet Sleep Moriebantur ceu somno obruti but he clearly intimates that this Life must have been very long when he says that those of the succeeding Age who came far short of the other were a Hundred Years in a State of Infancy We cannot truly determine how many Years an Age consisted of by
Refuge into the Areopagus to the Altars of the Goddesses The same Pausanias tells us that the Phliasians very much rever'd a Temple of the Goddess Hebe to which this Privilege was granted that all Criminals should find there the Pardon of their Crimes without any Exception whatsoever and that they fasten'd their Chains to Trees which were before the Temple This Author elsewhere mentions a Temple of Minerva in Peloponnesus where Criminals were so strongly protected that none durst so much as demand them back again But this Historian has also given us what is more remarkable concerning the Antiquity of Sanctuaries or Places of Refuge For he says that because Neoptolemus the Son of Achilles had put Priamus to Death although he retir'd near the Altar of Jupiter Hercienus yet he was kill'd near the Altar of Apollo of Delphos from whence it is called the Punishment of Neoptolemus when one suffers the same Mischief which he had done to another Thus the Asyla of Altars and of Temples was ancient in his time About the time of Solomon and of the Foundation of the Temple of Jerusalem there is an Asylum mentioned in the Book of Kings But the Asylum of the Altar among the Israclites is far more ancient than that of the Temple of Solomon and the time of Homer or the Trojan War for it is mentioned in Exodus as a thing establish'd in Moses's Days The Asylum of the Temple of Diana at Ephesus was one of the most Famous Strabo tells us that several Princes allowed it sometimes a larger and sometimes a less extent beyond the Temple itself There were whole Cities of Refuge among the Israelites which were counted Asylum's also the League of the People of Smyrna with King Seloucus shews us that that King granted the Privilege of being an Asylum to the whole City of Smyrna The whole Island of Samothrace likewise enjoyed the same Privilege according to Titus Livius Herodotus assures us that from the Trojan War there was a Temple of Hercules in Aegypt whither Bond-slaves fled and after they had received the Marks or Badges of that God to whom they had devoted themselves they could never be retaken by their Masters Statius has made a curious Description of the Asylum and Altar of Clemency founded by the Posterity of Hercules who were particularly careful of that Protection Sic sacrâsse loco commune animantibus agris Confugium c. There are some Authors that attribute Asyla's to Cadmus who invented that Expedient to People his new City of Thebes which Romulus imitated when he built Rome for he left a place cover'd with Wood o◠purpose between the Capitol and the Tarpeian Rock which he promised to make a safe Asylum to all Persons that fled thither whether Slaves or Freemen as Ovid tells us in his 3d. Book of his Fasti Romulus ut saxo lucum circumdedit Alto Cuilibet huc dixit confuge tutus eris v. 431. This Asylum at Rome remained sacred and was not violated till the Reign of Augustus and Tyberius who seeing its abuses abolished it For the Liberty of Asylum's as Tacitus reports Lib. 3. of his Annals was come to so great an height that at Rome and in the Cities of Greece all the Temples were full of Debtors Fugitives and Criminals so that the Magistrates could not regulate them nor stop the Fury of the People who defended these Superstitions as the most sacred Mysteries Upon which account it was resolved that the Provinces should send their Deputies to the Senate The Ephesians came first in and represented that Apollo and Diana were not Born in the Isle of Delos as the ignorant People believed but that they had in their Country a River and sacred Forest where Latona being big with these Deities was happily deliver'd that Apollo had fled into that place to avoid the Anger of Jupiter after he had conquer'd the Cyclops and that Bacchus having vanquished the Amazons did pardon all those who had escaped to the Altar That Hercules being Master of Lydia did enlarge the Immunities and Privileges of the Temple Then the Magnesians were heard who pleaded that Scipio after the Defeat of Antiochus and Sylla after the Victory ove Mithridates had rewarded their Fidelity and Courage with an inviolable Asylum in the Temple of Diana Leucophryna The People of Aphrodisium and Stratonice alledged their Privileges granted them by Caesar and confirmed by Augustus for the Service they did their Party and were publickly commended for continuing constant in their Alliance during the Parthian Invasion The Deputies of Hierocaesarea derived their Asylum's higher and said that their Temple consecrated to the Persian Diana was built by Cyrus and honoured by Perpenna Isauricus and several other Captains who had enlarged the Privilege of it two Miles round on every side The Inhabitants of Cyprus maintained the Glory of the Goddess of Paphos and Amathusia of whom they had two Temples in their Island they defended also the Privilege of that of Jupiter of Salamis built by Teucer when flying from the Anger of his Father Telamon he took Sanctuary in their Country The Senate says Tacitus retrenched this Privilege and ordered that these Decrees should be graven upon Brazen Tables and put in their Temples to preserve the Memory of this Regulation and to prevent any Attempts for the Future contrary to the Determinations of the Senate under a pretence of Religion Afterward it was discovered adds Tacitus which was concealed with much Grief for the more Vitious tock the Liberty to reproach the Virtuous and to stir up envy against them by embracing the Statue of the Prince The Magistrates themselves upon this account were afraid to offend their Slaves and Freemen which obliged Sestius to declare in a full Senate that Princes were like the Gods but the Gods would not hear wicked Mens Prayers nor allow a retreat into their Temples to the Feet of their Altars or to the Capitol for Criminals to abuse them These Declarations were the cause that these words were set and engraven upon many Statues à servo tangi ne fas est as I have seen these words written upon a Statue of Mars Mavortio sacrum hec signum à servo tangi ne fas est At last Asylum's would protect only those who were guilty of small Faults for notorious Offenders were taken by force from the Altars and Statues of the Gods and often burnt as Plautus teaches us in his Comedy entitled RUDENS where he makes Labrax speak thus to the Old Daemons LA. Mihi non liceat meas Ancillas Veneris dè arâ abdacere DAe. Non licet ita est Lex apud nos LA. Imo hasce ambas hic in arâ ut vivas comburam c. Ast. 3. Sc. 4. ATALANTA the Daughter of Schaeneus King of the Isle of Scyrus who being of an extraordinary Beauty attracted several Lovers to her whom after she had overcome in a Race she put to Death for as she excelled all in her time for
Bacchus not of the Bacchus of Thebes in Greece but of Aegypt who found out the dressing of Vineyards who bears the Name of Osiris and is no other Person but Noah Propé montes Indiae columnae quaedam constitutae sunt columnae Dionysi non Thebani sed Vini Inventoris Vossius shews us the Similitude there is between the History of Moses and Fable of Bacchus Moses says this learned Man was born in Aegypt and Orpheus in the Hymns attributed to him testifies the same of Liber or Bacchus making him the Son of the Goddess Ists and saying that he was born upon the Bank of the River Nyle where Moses was exposed His Nurses may also represent to us the Sister and Mother of Moses to whom Pharaoh's Daughter entrusted Moses to be nursed Moses after his Birth was first exposed upon the Banks of Nile in a little Ark made of Bulrushes woven together Pausanias also relates that the Brasiatae in Laccdemonia in Greece affirm that they took their Name from the little Boat or Ship wherein Bacchus being shut up was cast upon their Coast 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Incolae ea sermontbus vulgarunt quae neutiquam alii Graecorum Populi confitentur Semelem quidem Jovi Liberum patrem peperisse a Cadino vero deprehensam cum puero recens Nato in arcam conjectam eam arcaâ—n aestu jactatam in fines suos ejectam The Name of Moses comes from his being taken out of the Waters Moses i. e. extraâ—tus Orpheus in his Hymns or in his Mysteries gives to Bacchus the name of Moses and calls him a Person born of the Waters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Moses had two Mothers One that bore him and another that adopted him and educated and kept him in the Kings Palace 40 Years and we know the Reason why Bacchus was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Child of two Mothers because Jupiter compleated what was wanting of his time Bacchus was educated in a Mountain of Arabia called Nysa Diodorus Siculus and several others make mention of it and we know that Moses lived Forty Years in Arabia before he returned into Aegypt to take upon him the Conduct and Government of the Children of Israel Moses also is well known to have frequented Mount Sinai which by a small Transposition of Letters is Nysa and 't is possible that Mountain might have those two Names Vossius also observes that the Alexandrtan Chronicle speaking of Twelve famous Mountains uses these Words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Some say that Nysa was a City which stood upon Mount Meros which signifies in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Thigh and from thence came the Fable of Jupiter's Thigh Others think that Nysa stood upon the side of a Mountain which the Hebrews call Jarkere har crura Montis Plutarch speaks of the Banishment of Bacchus which is apparently the Flight of Moses into Arabia after he had slain an Aegyptian who was about to kill an innocent Israelite But the Poet Nonnus who has written the Fable of Bacchus at large speaks plainly of the Flight of Bacchus towards the Red Sea 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He could not have spoken any thing more positive nor more exactly like the History of Moses stripped and freed from the Disguise of the Fable of Bacchus Moses had many Battles in Arabia and gained glorious Victories also Diodorus Siculus relates out of the Poet Antimachus how Bacchus found a Potent Enemy there which was Lycurgus King of Arabia who had resolved to destroy him and all his Menades or Bacchae The Army of Bacchus which over-run all Arabia with him was made up of Men and Women according to Diodorus Siculus We know also that Moses passed through all the Deserts of Arabia with an Army of 600000 fighting Men but it was followed with a much greater Number of Women and Children Orpheus in his Hymns Euripides in his Bacchae and Sophocles in certain Verses set down by Strado say that Bacchus had upon his Forehead the Horns of a Bull 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which agrees with the Horns of Light i. e. those luminous Rays which came from the Face of Moses when he returned from Conversing with the Oracle of God The Hebrews give this Ray of Light the name of an Horn Koren whence comes the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Greeks and the Cornu of the Latins to which agrees the Latin Translation quod cornuta esset facies Mosis Moses struck the Rock which his Rod and there came out a Stream of Living Water now Euripides in his Bacchae says as much of a Baccha that followed Bacchus Thyrsum autem quaedam arripiens percussit Petram aquae processri humor One of the most faithful Servants of Moses is Celeb who gave such illustrious Proofs of his Courage and Fidelity when he went to observe and discover the promised Land and brought back with the other Spies that famous bunch of Grapes In like manner the Poets make a Dog to have been the Companion of Baccbus the Hebrew word Celeb signifying a Dog Nonnus relates the Discourse of Bacchus when he translated his Dog to the Stars and made a Constellation of it called Maera or the Little Dog which contributes to the ripening of the Grapes Orpheus gives Bacchus the Title of a Law-giver 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 attributing to him a double Law as if he alluded to the Two Tables of the Law of Moses or to Deuteronomy which is one of the Books of Moses Lastly Vossius observes that 't is absolutely necessary to distinguish between the Bacchus of the Indians and Bacchus of Aegypt and Arabia which is Moses and acknowledges that these are as it were the two Originals from which the Greeks have taken the Copy of their Bacchus of Thebes who is much later than that of Aegypt as this Posterior to that of the Indies Eusebius has observed that Osiris is the same with Bacchus as well as Diodorus Siculus who tells us that Cadmus made the Bastard Son of his Daughter Semele to pass for the Son of Jupiter and for another Ofiris and how Orpheus brought all the Worship of Ofiris or Dionysius and Bacchus into Greece The same Authors relate elsewhere that Cadmus was obliged by the Commands of his Father Agenor King of Phaenicia to go and find out Europa his Sister stolen away by Jupiter and not finding her he staid in Boeotia where he built the City of Thebes and that Semele conceived by Jupiter and had Bacchus by him but Eusebius tells us at the same time that the Greeks had done nothing but copied out the Actions of other Nations more ancient than themselves and Diodorus Siculus owns in the same Place that there was another Bacchus more ancient named SABAZIUS the Son of Jupiter and Proserpina whose Mysteries were celebrated in the Night This BACCHUS SABAZIUS was a Phoenician and one of the Gods Cabiri according to the Scholiast of Apollonius of Rhodes Quidam ferunt Cabiros prius fuisse duos
of their Lord and were taken with a brutish passion for Women and begot the Daemons afterwards these rebellious Angels and the Daemons brought uncleanness and wars upon the Earth and that Poets having described these Wars have introduced Jupiter acting in part therein By this word Daemons 't is said St Justin understands the Titans and Giants whom Idolatrous Nations have worshipped as their Gods and many of the Fathers have been of the same opinion with Justin that they were begot by the disobedient Angels and Women Athenagoras has followed Justin's steps Yet he has expresly observed that Giants were begotten by the Apostate Angels and Women and were called Daemons or Genius's and that the Poets were not ignorant of it The Christian Religion teaches us that Daemons are spiritual things who in the person of Lucifer the first Angel were precipitated into Hall because he would equal himself with God Doubtless the Pagans had some knowledge of the Books of Moses and have made Fables of what is said in those Books of Angels and Daemons DAGON An Idol of the Philistins mentioned in the Book of Kings Some Authors say that its uppermost part was like the Body of a Man and its undermost like a Fish The Hebrew word Dag signifies a Fish yet it most be granted that Dugon may come from Dugas i. e. Wheat And Philo in Eusebius has rendered the word Dagon by that of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 frumentum or framenti praeses DANAE The Daughter of Acrifius King of the Argives who being brought to Bed of a Son her Father clapt her with her new born Child into a Chest and cast them into the Sea because she had lost her Virginity He had shut her up close in a Brazen Tower lest she should be seen but Jupiter changed himself into a golden Shower and dropt into her Lap through the Roof and got her with Child King Acrisius performed this act of cruelty because the Oracle had foretold that he should be slain by a Son of his Daughter Danas did not refuse to dye provided her harmless Child should be spared but unmerciful Acrisius who could not be moved neither with Prayers nor Tears put away the young Babe who stretched out his arms to him as if he had implored his assistance The Chest was caught in the Fishermens Net near the Isle of Scriphos and both the Mother and the Child got safe ashore DANAKH 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A small Coin that the Greeks put into the mouth of dead Bodies to pay their passage in Charon's Ferry-boat called so from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. of the dead It was an obolus worth about one Penny and one Farthing Euripides calls that piece of Silver the honour of the dead 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because Charon refused to carry over the Stygian Lake the dead men who had nothing wherewith to pay the Ferry-men Aristophanes confirms that custom for he introduces Bacchus inquiring of Hercules who descended into Hell how much they paid for their passage and he answers them two oboli intimating that if a dead man pay one obolus for his passage a man who is alive ought to pay two oboli Lucian laughs at that custom of the Greeks in his Dialogue of Mourning They put says he a piece of Silver into the mouth of those that dye to pay the Ferry-man without considering whether that Money be current in that Region besides I should think they would do much better in not giving them any at all that they might be constrained to send them back to life again The same Lucian introduces in another place Charon and Menippas dscoursing thus on the matter Char. Pay the Ferry-man sirrah Menip Bawl as long as thou wilt the Devil a farthing shall thou get Char. Come come a penny for your passage Menip How would'st thou have Money from one that has none Char. Can any man want a penny Menip I want it Char. Sirrah I will cut thy throat or I will have my Money Menip And I will crack your Fool 's crown for you with this Staff Char. How must I have nothing then for ferrying you over Menip Since Mercury brought me hither let him pay you your fare if he will Mercury That would be a fine thing indeed I should pay for the dead after I had the trouble of conducting them Char. Pay me or otherwise you shall not budge from hence Menip Pull then thy Boat ashore but what course canst thou take to make me pay thee seeing I have no Money Char. You know well enough you was to have brought some Menip And grant I did know it could I hinder dying Char. What! Shall you be the only person to boast having passed in Charon's Ferry for nothing Menip How say ye for nothing have I not drudged and tugged at the Oar and Pump without molesting thee with my lamentations as others have done Char. That is nothing at all to your fare Menip Restore me then to life again Char. Ay to be beaten by Aeacus I thank ye Menip Leave me then at rest Char. If I ever catch you again in my clutches Menip There is no returning hither twice Strabo says that the Inhabitants of Hermione a Town of Mâ—ria did not put this obolus in the mouth of their dead as other Greeks did for their Town was consecrated to Proserpina wherefore they were ferried over gratis DANAIDES The Daughters of Danaus old Belus his Son and Aegyptus's Brother The Poet tells us that Danaus was obliged to marry his fifty Daughters to his Brothers Sons who were like in number but he ordered them all to murder their Husbands upon the Wedding night to prevent the death he was threatened with by the Oracle All of 'em obeyed his barbarous order except only one who was struck with a just horror of that Crime It is feigned that they were all sentenced in Hell as a punishment of their Crime to fill a Tub full of holes with water but Hypermnestra was exempted from the punishment because she had no share in their guilt for she would not murther Lyceus her Husband DANAUS The Son of old Belus and Aegyptus's Brother who drove away Stenelus out of the Kingdom of Argos where he reigned five years Pliny relates that he was the first who made use of Ships to cross over from Aegypt into Greece He had fifty Daughters whom he used very severely forcing them to work with their own hands and married them to the Sons of his Brother Aegyptus who were also fifty in number Pausanias tells us that Danaus built a Temple to Apollo sirnamed Lycienus either from Licia or the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. a Wolf or from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 light wherefore Homer calls him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 begetting light Once he came to Argos to dispute with Gelamor the Son of Stenelus about the Kingdom and having referred the controversy to the people it was put off to the next day
discourses and examples into the way of Vertue HESIODUS of a single Shepherd became a great Poet by chewing some Laurel leaves upon Mount Helicon Lucian has left us a little Dialogue between Hefiod and himself wherein he jeers him because he bragg'd of his Commerce with the Muses Lucian Your Verses Hesiod sufficiently evince you a great Poet for all you write is noble and lofty and we easily perceive you have received a branch of L'aurel from the Muses's hands But you having said that this divine Present would teach things pass'd and the future I would fain know why having descanted on the one you have told us-nothing of the other for you have sung the Geneology of the Gods beginning from the Heaven and Earth the Chaos and Love you have afterwards set down the precepts of Astrology for Sailors and Husbandmen you have treated of rural Life of Women's Vertues and other such like matters but you have not bolted so much as one word of futurity which had better manifested your inspiration and redounded more to the advantage of Men. Is it that you impos'd upon us or are you willing to conceal your secret or else are not your Prophecies transmitted down to us for there is no likelihood that the Muses should keep but that part of their promise and neglect to teach you futurity which was the main thing Hesiod It is easie to answer you that having said nothing but by the inspiration of the Muses 't is to them to give you an account of their Actions but if you desire to know something of my Calling I will tell you what I know of Agriculture As the Gods reveal themselves to whom they please so they reveal only what they please and have not taught me the least of what you desire to know Moreover an Historical Truth is not expected from Poets nor a reason asked them of all their Fictions besides they are us'd to add many things for the filling up the measure of their Verses or to cause the more admiration or if you should retrench them of this liberty you would curb their Genius But without taking notice of the beauty of invention and expression which are the principal Talents you make it your business to cavil at the words as you would do with those of a contract which is the sign of a carping quirking Wit I forbear to mention that you will find in my Poem intituled The Works and Days several Predictions which I bestow on those who are good and bad Husbandmen Hesiod was killed by some Locrians and then thrown into the Sea but his body was got off and buried near the Nemean Temple Some Writers tell us that he lived in the time of Homer others say that he was before him and some others report that he lived after him HESIONE The Daughter of Laomedon whom he exposed upon the Rocks of the Sea to pacisie the anger of Neptune and Apollo whom he had not paid their wages for having help'd him to build the Trojan Walls Hercules offered himself to deliver Hesione upon condition that he should give him the Fairy Horses begot of divine Seed but having broke his word with him Hercules besieged him in his own Dominions and took him prisoner with his Son and stole away his Daughter Hesione whom he married to Telamon King of Salomina HESPERUS The Son of Japetus and Brother to Atlas who came to settle in Italy called after his Name Hesperia Being one day on Mount Atlas contemplating the Stars the Fable tells us that on a sudden he vanished away and was turned into a Star called Lucifer in the morning and Hesper or Vesper in the evening HESPERIDES The Daughters of Hesperus who by Juno's order kept a Garden or Orchard bearing golden Apples which Hercules took away having kill'd the Dragon which stood at the entry in defence thereof HESPERIA Italy was thus called from Hesperus the Son of Japetus This name was common both to Italy and Spain because of the Star Hesper which appears at our West Notwithstanding Spain is called Hesperta ultima because 't is more western than Italy HETRURIA A Country in Italy now called Tuscany formerly famous for Augures and Divinations or Southsayings HIEROPHANTAE Athenian Priests Overseers of Sacrifices and holy things Hieronymus affirms that they used Hemlock to keep themselves chast HIEROGLYPHI Mysterious Figures wherewith the Egyptians kept their Policy an Ethick secret for they communicated the secrets of Nature and the particulars of their History and Morality only to the Priests of the Sun and those Men who were to succeed to the Crown or publick Ministry and yet this was performed in a cabalistick manner The wisest Men of Greece went to consult them and inform themselves of those things that they could not learn neither by tradition nor books and even Moses himself was instructed in all their Sciences There are also Hieroglyphi in the Theology of the Pagans Jews and Christians because they are only Images and representations of divine holy and supernatural things as the Symbols are Images of sensible and natural things HIEROPHANTAE See before after Hesperia HIPPOCENTAURI Which Poets and Painters have represented like Monsters half Men and half Horses Lucretius denied that there ever were any however Plutarch relates in the Feast of the seven Wise-men that a Shepherd brought a Child in a Basket who was foaled by a Mare and had the upper parts of Men and the lower parts like a Horse Many were amaz'd at it and thought fit to make an expiation for that Prodigy But Thales the wisest Man of them all answered that the best way to prevent the like mischief was to let the Women look after the Mares Pliny also assures us that he has seen a Hippocentaur who was brought from Egypt to Rome imbalm'd with honey according to the fashion of that time Phlegon of Trallis relates the same story St Hieronymus has described the Hippocentaur whom St Anthony met in the Wilderness when he was seeking for St Paul the Hermit Conspicit hominum equo mixtum cui opinio Poetarum Hippocentauro vocabulum indidit St Anthony having made the sign of the Cross asked the Monster where about the holy Solitary Paul inhabited the Monster presently shew'd him the way with his hand and immediately run away Some Nations of Thessaly inhabiting near Mount Pelion called Hippocentauri have given occasion to this Fable for being the first Men who knew the art of riding on Horseback their Neighbours fancied that the Man and the Horse were but one body HIPPOCRATES Born in the Isle of Cos was Disciple to Pythagoras and esteem'd the Prince of Physick he restored again that Science which had been very much neglected since Aesculapius We have many fine Treatises of Physick and Aphorisms of his own Writings The Greeks decreed him the same Honours with Hercules all over their Country He died the hundred and fourth year of his Age and all the time of his Life he enjoy'd a perfect
Ludios were called Histriones by the Tuscans HOMERUS Homer Velleius Paterculus reports that Homer was the wittiest Man that ever was born and that he deserved the Name of Poet by excellency that as he never had imitated any one that was before him so after him none had been able to match him and in fine that he and Archilochus were the only Men who had begun a great work and had carried it to its perfection Homer has left us two incomparable Works one of the Trojan War intituled Iliads and the other of the long and dangerous Voyages of Ulysses under the Title of Odysses each of them divided into four and twenty Books Alexander the Great order'd them to be laid up in a Case inlaid with precious Stones he got amongst the Spoils of Darius King of Persia Yet 't is uncertain where Homer was born and many Cities of Greece ascribe to themselves the honour of his birth Lucian speaks thus on this account 'T is neither known what Homer was nor what he did nor his Country nor his extraction nor the time wherein he lived otherwise there would not be so much dispute as there is on this subject nor would the people doubt whether Colophon was his Country or Chio or Smyrna or Cumae or Thebes or a hundred other Cities nor whether his Father is Maeonis the River of Lydia or some Man of that Name and his Mother Menalepis or some Nymph of the Dryades and whether he lived in or since the time of the Hero's For 't is neither known whether he is more ancient than Hesiod under the name of Melesigena or whether poor or blind as is the common rumour The same Lucian in the description of the Island of the Blessed says again When I had been two or three days in that Country I accosted Homer and desired him to tell me where he was born because it was one of the greatest Questions amongst the Grammarians he told me they had so perplex'd him upon that subject that he himself knew nothing of the matter but that he believed he was of Babylon and there call'd Tigranes as Homer amongst the Greeks being deliver'd to them for an Hostage I then ask'd him whether he made those Verses which are disallowed and damn'd as none of his He told me he did which made me laugh at the impertinence of those that will needs deny them I also enquir'd why he had begun his Poem with anger and he said it was done without design and that he did not write his Odysses before his Illiads as several held As for his pretended blindness I did not speak to him on it because I plainly saw the contrary Tatian one of the most ancient Apologists of the Christian Religion reports that Homer was before all Poets Philosophers and Greek Historians and is the most ancient of profane Writers However he affirms that Moses is more ancient than Homer himself Tertullian has observ'd that the Pagans did not deny that the Books of Moses were extant many ages before the States and Cities of Greece before their Temples and Gods and also before the beginning of Greek Letters In fine he says that Moses liv'd five hundred years before Homer's time and the other Prophets who came a long while after Moses were yet more ancient than all the Wise men Law-givers and Philosophers of Greece And by consequence the Holy Scripture is without comparison much older than Homer and as the Poesy of Homer who liv'd so many ages before all the Philosophers Historians and Greek Writers was a pattern to them so in the like manner Homer has follow'd the truths of the holy Scripture as they were then spread abroad in the World Aelian assures us that Ptolomeus Philopator King of Egypt having built a Temple to Homer he set up therein his Figure upon a Throne with the representation of all the Cities that pretended to the honour of his birth and that Galaton drew the picture of Homer with a Torrent coming out of his Mouth at which all Poets were drawing water We learn from Plutarch that Alexander had always the Illiads of Homer under his Pillow with his Dagger and laid it up in a little Casket of an extraordinary value that was found amongst the Spoils of Darius Horace has written in one of his Epistles an Encomium on the Illiads and Odysses of Homer and declares at first that neither Chrysippus nor Crantor who excell'd amongst the Stoicks and Academick Philosophers and had set down the most perfect rules of Morals had never so well conceiv'd nor so happily explain'd the nature and the laws of honest and profitable virtue and vice as Homer himself had done in his Illiads Trojani belli scriptorem c. Horace gives reason for what he did saying that the Illiads represented wonderful well the passions and the fatal consequences of the foolish conduct of many Kings and Nations Cur ita crediderim nisi quid te detinet audi In the City of Troy Antenor pretended that Helena should be restor'd and Paris oppos'd him and sacrificed his own Country to his brutish passion In the Grecian Army Achilles and Agamemnon fell out one follows the passion of his Love and the other the transports of his Anger Nestor endeavours to bring them to an Agreement but to no purpose On the contrary the Odysses represents in the person of Ulysses a perfect model of Wisdom and Virtue when after he had took revenge of the unchastness of Paris upon the City of Troy he runs for a long while so many dangers at Sea overcomes Storms and Adversities and resists the Inchantments of Mermaids and Circe viz. Voluptuousness which stupifies those who give themselves over to it On the other side the Noblemen of Ithaca who pretended to marry Penelope shew us the effeminate life and the fatal end of voluptuous Men for at last they washed with their own blood the wrong they had done to Ulysses during his absence and the infamous debaucheries they had committed in his Palace Of all the great Men of Antiquity none had so great honours perform'd to them as Homer For besides the Statues erected to him and Medals stampt with his Effigies they erected also Temples and Altars to his honour where they offer'd him Sacrifices And a Sect of Christians call'd Carpocratians ador'd and burnt Frankincense to Homer's Image in the like manner as they did to the Images of our Lord and St Paul as St Austin and St John Damascen and the Book ascrib'd to the Emperor Charles the Great tells us We have still many ancient Monuments of the divine honours that were perform'd to this great Poet and amongst others a very ancient Marble which was found in the Territory of Terrentium M. Cuper tells us that Archelaus of Priene who made that work as it appears by the Inscription thereof endeavoured to express thereby the Apotheosis of Homer He is represented by this figure setting on the top of Mount Olympus holding a
one of his Legs and ever since was lame They relate also that he settled himself in that Countrey and became a Black-Smith because of the Fire that breaks out from time to time from the middle of the Mountains and the norse that is heard thereabout LEMURES Apuleius in his Book of the God of Socrates reports That the Soul of Man released from the bands of the Body and freed from performing of his bodily Functions becomes a kind of Daemon or Genius called Lemures And of these Lomures those that were kind to their Family were called Lares Familiares but those who for their crimes were condemned to wander continually without meeting with any place of rest and terrified good Men and hurt the bad were vulgarly called Larvae Hobgoblins LEMURIA A Feast of Ghosts and Phantoms solemnized the ninth day of May to pacifie the Manes of the Dead who were the Lemures that comes in the night to torment the living The Institution of this Feast is ascribed to Romulus who to rid himself of the Phantoms of his Brother Remus whom he had ordered to be Murthered appearing always before him ordained a Feast called after his name Remuria and Lemuria They offered Sacrifices for three nights together during which time all the Temples of the Gods were shut up and there was no Wedding This is the chief Ceremony of this Sacrifice About mid-night the Person who offered being bare-foot made a Signal having the Fingers of his hand joyned to his Thumb whereby he fancied he kept off the bad Spirit or Phantom from him Then he washed his hands in Spring Water and putting black Beans into his mouth threw them behind him uttering these words I deliver my self and mine by these Beans making withal a deadly noise with Pans and other Brass Vessels which they did strike one against the other desiring these Ghosts to withdraw repeating nine times together that they should retire in peace without troubling any more the rest of the living LERNA A Lake famous for the seven headed Hydra defeated by Hercules Out of this Lake came infectious Exhalations And 't is reported that the Denaides cast therein the heads of their Husbands whom they Murthered on their Wedding Night LETHE A River of Africa which after a long course hides its self under ground and then appears again wherefore Poets fancied that all the dead drank a draught of its waters to make them forget what was past LEUCOTHEA Ino the Wife of Athamas King of Thebes who casting herself into the Sea together with her Son Melicerte to avoid the fury of her Husband who was attempting to murther her was ranked by Neptune amongst the number of the Sea-Gods and called Leucothea or the break of day LEUCOTHOE The Daughter of Orchamus King of Babylon beloved by Apollo who enjoyed her having introduced himself into her Chamber under the shape of Eurynome her Mother But Clythia jealous of Apollo having acquainted her Father with the same he order'd that his Daughter should be buried alive but Apollo took pity of her and turn'd her into a Tree out of which drops Frankincense LEX A Law This word expresses the several Governments of States and Nations and the Maxims they have agreed upon or receiv'd from their Princes and Magistrates to live in peace and mutual society and in this sense we say the Laws of Solon and Lycurgus The Laws of Draco were very rigorous and bloody The Laws of the twelve Tables were the ancient Laws of the Romans which the Decemviri fetch'd out of Greece and made use of them to ground all their other Laws on The Codex and Authenticae are the Laws and Ordinances of the Emperors The Digest is a Compilation made by Justinian's order of the several judgments and opinions of the most learned in the Roman Law and were received for Laws as is order'd by the Epistle at the beginning of that work and 't is that which composes the Roman Laws Moses says Josephus in the second Book of his Antiquities was the first Law-giver and Moses's Law was the first Law given to Men many Ages before all other Legislators and all other Laws in fine God gave it in a time when God only was able to give it all Men after the first Colonies of so many remote Provinces being fallen into incredible ignorance and confusion and being then so far from giving Laws to themselves that they were hardly able to receive them Wherefore in Homer's time and many Ages after him there was yet no mention made neither of Laws nor Legislators States and Kingdoms being then govern'd not by Laws but by their King's Ordinances and Customs received among themselves Lex Talionis is the most ancient and most just and was observed by the Hebrews and prescribed by the Law of Moses an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth as 't is said in the Gospel Lex Talionis is natural Justice Many famous Laws have been proposed by several Roman Magistrates as the Falcidian Law made during the Triumvirat to regulate last Wills The Lex Julia the Lex Cornelia the Agrarian Law the Sumptuarian Law c. Tacitus in the third Book of his Annals speaks thus of the Laws Men formerly living without ambition and envy had no occasion neither for Laws nor Magistrates to keep them in awe and being voluntarily inclined to do good had no need of a proposed reward to incite them to it and as they desired nothing but what was lawful nothing was forbad to them But at last this equality being banish'd Pride and Violence came in the room of Modesty and Shame Some Nations were at first govern'd by Laws or had recourse to them after a long prevailing Authority At the beginning Laws were simple as Mens minds and Fame has principally celebrated those of Creta Sparta and Athens restor'd by Minos Lycurgus and Solon but these were more subtle and in a greater number Rome during Romulus's Government had no other Laws but the Will of the Prince Numa established Laws concerning Religion Tullius and Ancus made some politick regulations but our great Law-giver is Servius Tullius who bound even the Prince by Laws Since the banishment of the Tarquins the People found out some Laws to secure themselves from the oppression of great Men and maintain Concord and Liberty The Decemviri were afterwards chosen and the most excellent Laws of Greece gather together out of them they compos'd the twelve Tables which were the end of good Laws for although there were some regulations made against wicked Men at the first appearing of Vice nevertheless the greatest part were settled by the dissentions of the People and the Senate or established by the violence of some persons in dignity to banish some illustrious Men and repress some other disorders From thence came the seditious Laws of Gracchus and Saturninus and the Latgesses of Drusus in the name of the Senate The Wars of Italy and then the Civil Wars gave occasion to several
Deoerviri attempted to breed divisions between the Nobility and the Populace and by that means render their Magistracy perpetual SEI VIR aut molier alter alterei nontiom miseit devortium ested molier res souas sibei habetod vir molierei claves adimitod exicitoque Sei for si molier for mulier alterei for alteri nontiem miseit for nuntium misit devortiem for divortium estod for esto sonas for suas sibei for sibi habetod for habeto molierei for mulieri adimitod for adimito exicitoque for exigitoque Divorces were not known to the ancient Romans before the Law of the twelve Tables neither do we find it to have been put in practice till one and twenty years after the Law made by Spurius Carvilius Ruga who put away his Wife because of her barrenness in the Year of Rome DXXIII when M. Pomponius Matho and C. Papyrius Maso were Consuls for which Valerius blames him in that he preferred the desire of having Children before his Conjugal Affection This was afterwards observed in the Roman Empire not only during the time of Paganism and the ancient Oeconomy but also under the first Christian Emperors and continued to and even after the Reign of Justinian and this was so certain and looked upon to be so reasonable that the parties concerned were not allowed to divest themselves of that liberty by a penal agreement but must be content to undergo the penalties which the Law prescribed in respect to the person that was the cause of an unjust Divorce The Divorce was made by a mutual consent of the parties which they called Bona Gratia and in this case the same depended wholly upon the Parties agreeting to discharge each other of their Nuptial Rights and to advance themselves as they thought good or else by the sole motion and obstinacy of the one against the inclination of the other and if there were no lawful cause for it he who sued was liable to the penalty of injusti dissidii but if there were just cause for it then the Husband restored her Fortune to his Wife took the Keys of his House from her and sent her away as Cicero tells us frugi factus est mimam illam suam suas res sibi habere jussit ex duodecim Tabulis claves ademit exegit SEI QUIS injuriam altâ—rei fault xxv aris panae sunto If any man wrongs another he shall pay him XXV As's in brass Money The word Injuria injury in the Roman Law comprehended every thing a Man did in prejudice to his Neighbour An injury was done three ways by action when one Man had received more blows and wounds in his body than the other by words when one spoke words of another that touch his Reputation and Honour and by writing defamatory Libels and Verses The first sort of injury was variously punish'd by the Roman Law for if it proceeded so far as to break a Member the Laws of the twelve Tables allowed the maimed person to take satisfaction himself by laying the same punishment upon the other that is to maim him or break the same bone and this they called Talio for the punishment was and ought to be equal to the wrong and when there was nothing broke but only a blow of buffet given with the Fist he was only to pay five and twenty Ai's As to Wrongs done and Satyrs made upon the Great Men of Rome they were punished by a pecuniary mulct or banishment and sometimes by death it self as St Augustin relates from Cicero l. 4. De Repub. Our Laws of the twelve Tables are very contrary to that for tho' they are very tender in the point of punishing Offenders with death yet they enjoyn it in respect to those who blast the Reputation of another by Verses or injurious Representations for which there is great reason for our lives ought to be liable to the lawful censures of the Magistrates and not to the unbridled liberty of Poets and we ought not to be allowed to speak ill of any one but upon condition that we are able to answer it and vindicate our selves by Law QUEI cum telo hominis occidendi conâ—a deprehensos fouerit kapital estod He who is found ready to kill another with an Arrow ought to be punish'd with death Wilful murther was always punish'd most severely by the Ancients and this punishment according to the vigour of the Law was not only inflicted when death ensued but also when a person was bent upon the execution of an ill design which he could not accomplish and so that person was punished who armed waited for or set upon any one with a design to kill him tho' he in reality should escape So also he that gave another poyson who bought sold and prepared it tho' it wrought not the effect was punished in the same manner as a murtherer QUEI nox fortum faxsit sei im aliquips occisit joure caeses ested Sei loucoi fortom faxsit tâ—lâ—ve se tefenderit sei im aliquips cum clamore occisit joure caefos estod Sei loucei fortom faxsit utque telo se defenderit sei leber siet Praetor im vorberarier joubetod eique quoi fortom factum esit addeicito Sei servos siet virgis caesos ex saxo deicitor sei impobes siet Praetoris arbitratu verberatos noxsiam sarceito It was lawful to kill him that stole any thing by night and if it was day and that the Thief stood armed upon his defence it was also lawful to kill him but if he did not so defend himself and got away the Praetor sentenced him only to be whipped but if he was a Slave they were after he had been first whipped to throw him down head-long over the Tarpâ—ian Rocks If the Thief was not yet at age he was to be whipped and be sentenced to such Damages as the Praetor pleased QUEI falsum testimonium dixserit ex saxo dicitor That he who bore false Witness against any one should be thrown down head-long over the Tarpeian Rock This Law agrees with the Eighth Commandment which God gave his people Falsum Testimonium non dices Plato and other Greek Philosophers had undoubtedly read the Books of Moses wherein the Decalogue is set down and took the greatest part of their Laws from thence which the Decemviri compiled I shall not in this place set down several Fragments of the Laws of the twelve Tables concerning the way of judging and ordering an Accusation which will be found under the word Accusatio jus judicium No more than those which refer to the Assemblies of the people of Rome by Tribes Centuries Curiae which will be found under the word Comitia But now we come to speak of the particular Laws of the Romans and their Emperours LEX SULPITIA The Sulpitian law made by the Consuls P. Sulpitius Samurius and P. Sempronius Sophius in the year of Republick ccccl. NESCILICET quis templum vel aram lajussu Senatus aut Tribunorum
World would have been but confusedly known and the most celebrated Actions would be buried in profound Oblivion The Alphabet of every Language is composed of a certain Number of these Letters or Characters which have a different Sound Form and Signification The English and Greek have each 24 Letters the Latin commonly 23 and the Hebrew 22 without Points The Art of Writing has not been perfected all at once several Ages were required to supply what was defective in those Shapes of Animals the Ancients used as may appear by Tacitus The Egyptians according to his Account believed themselves to be the Inventers of it but 't is more likely that the Hebrews or as almost all the Ancients call them the Chaldeans or Phaenicians were their Masters as we learn from that Verse in Lucan Phaenices primi famae si creditur Ausi Mansuram rudibus vocem signare Figuris Whence it was that those Letters were called Phaenician ones by the Greeks Yet Diodorus Siculus reports that that was certain and that it was only believed that they did not invent but change the Form of Letters which is not unlikely since Quintus Curtius says of them if the Relation is to be believed that they were the first that invented Letters and shewed the Use of them St. Augustine also with many others is of Opinion that the People of God had learned them of the first Fathers as of Moses And that before the Deluge it self the first Characters according to Josephus had been engraven upon Pillars which Seth caused to be erected in Syria for the Preservation of the Sciences he had discovered This agrees with what Pliny says concerning the Assyrian Letters that they are no other than the Hebrew or Chaldean As for my self says that Author I believe the Assyrian Letters were always in being Hyginus attributes to the Distinies the Invention of the following Greek Letters A B H I T Γ. And 't is for that Reason Martianus Capella calls them the Secretaries of Heaven Josephus in the Beginning of his Jewish Antiquities rejecting the Opinion of the Greeks and Egyptians will have us to believe that the Grecians came very late to the Knowledge of Letters that they received them from the Phaenicians and not from Cadmus seeing at that time there were no Inscriptions found in the Temples of their Gods nor in the publick Places it being certain the Greeks had nothing of greater Antiquity than the Works of Homer tho' Cicero in his Orator entituled Brutus tells us they had Poets more ancient than Homer who contented themselves with rehearsing their Poems by heart because they had not yet found out the Use of Writing or of Letters Pliny Lib. 7. Chap. â—6 will have the most ancient Letters to have been the Assyrian and that Cadmus about the Year of the World 2520 above 250 Years before the Trojan War brought Sixteen of them from Phaenicia into Greece viz. A B C D E G I L M N O P R S T V to which Palamedes during the Trojan War had added Four Θ Ξ φ T. Herodotus will have it That the Phaenicians who came with Cadmus into Greece brought Writing Characters thither which Diodorus Simulus also affirms but at the same time he shews these Letters were not the same which Cadmus brought with him seeing they had had them there before the Deluge of Deucalion and that he did no more than revive the Use of them Eupolemius attributes the first Invention of Letters to Moses who gave them to the Jews long before Cadmus his Time and the Jews to the Phaenicians who were their Neighbours Philo the Jew ascribes them to Abraham a long Time before Moses and Josephus in the First Book of his Antiquities carries the Matter still farther as high as Adam's Children even to Seth who engraved the Characters thereof upon Two Pillars Moses his first Characters were not those Hebrew ones used now which were invented by Ezra after the Babilonish Captivity but those which were called Samaritan according to St. Jerome in his Preface to the Book of Kings And this is agreeable to the Sentiments of some Rabbins who ground the same upon the Samaritans having always the Law of Moses written in the Five Books called the Pentateuch in their own Characters and that the same were inscribed upon ancient Medals of Gold and Silver which were found in Jerusalem and divers other Parts of Palesline But this Opinion is not without its Difficulty as may be seen by the Talmud where Marsuka says that the Law was first given to the Children of Israel in Hebrew Characters but that afterwards Ezra put it into the Aramean Tongue and Assyrian Characters There are some Authors who maintain that Moses made use of two sorts of Characters one which is the Hebrew for Sacred Things and the other which is the Samaritan for prophane Matters and of which last the Chaldeans made use and that the Greek and Latin Characters were formed of these the last of which being no other than the Greek Capitals according to the Testimony of Pliny who proves it by an ancient Inscription engraven upon Brass and brought from Delphos to Rome 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And he says in Chap. 56. These were Assyrian Letters or according to some Authors Syriac But they are rather Samaritan which besides the Aleph and Jod are so like the Greek and Latin ones if they be considered and taken upside down that they are almost the same thing Eusebius confirms the same Matter by the Greeks own Denomination or Imitation of Caldaism therein by their adding an A as in Alpha instead of Aleph Beta for Beth Gamma for Gimel Delta for Deleth c. Simonides Evander and Demaratus were the first that brought Letters into Italy the one from Arcadia and the other from Corinth the last into Tuscany and the other to that Part of the Country where he settled In a Word the ancient Greek Letters were very like ours but we had but a very few of them at first the rest were since added The Emperor Claudins in Imitation of the Ancients invented Three Letters that continued in Use during his Reign and were abolish'd after his Death The Form of them are still to be seen in the Temples and other publick Places of Rome upon the Copper Plates whereon the Decrees of the Senate were engraven The Hebrews made a Division of their Letters into Guttural viz. ab cb gn Dental z s r Labial b m n p and those of the Tongue viz. d t l n. Crinitus says Moses invented the Hebrew Letters Abraham the Syriac and Chaldee the Phaenicians those of Attica â—ighteen whereof Cadmus brought into Greece and which the Pelasgi carried into Italy and Nicostrates the Latin Letters The Egyptians instead of Letters used the Figures of Animals and of Birds which they called Hieroglyphicks and were invented by Isis The Gothick or Toledo Letters were invented by Guesila Bishop of the Goths The Letters F G H K Q X
The Daughters having performed his Command I went in eat and drank with him and then with all Submission entreated him to give me his Daughter Sephora to Wife which he promised to do provided I could bring to him a Rod which was in his Garden to which I agreed went to see for the Rod and when I found it I plucked it out of the Ground and carried it to him Jethro was surprized hereat and reflecting upon what I had done he cried out and said This is certainly that Prophet of whom the Seers of Israel have spoken who is to lay Egypt waste and to destroy its People and being thus possest he all in a Rage took me and threw me into a deep Pit that was in his Garden Sephora was not a little concerned at this Adventure no more than my self and she studied at the same time how she might save a Man's Life who had obliged her Hereupon she prayed her Father that he would let her tarry at home to look after the House and send her Sisters to the Fields to keep his Cattle Her Father in answer told her Daughter It shall be so that thy Sisters shall go and look after the Cattle but thou shalt tarry here and take Care of Matters at home Thus Sephora finding her self alone she fed me every Day with the daintiest Victuals and the same whereof her Father Jethro eat and that for Seven Years which was the time I tarried in the said Pit But at the End of that time Sephora spoke to her Father in this manner Father 'T is a long time since you have thrown into this Ditch that Egyptian who brought the Rod to you from the Place in the Garden wherein you had put it suffer now the Pit to be opened and let us see what will come of it for if he be dead let his Carcase be taken away that your House may not be polluted and if he be still alive he must be a holy Man Jethro made answer Daughter You have spoke well Can you still remember what his Name was Yes Father said she his Name was Moses the Son of Amram Jethro at the same time commanded the Pit to be opened and called me twice Moses Moses I answered him and presently he took me out kissed and told me Blessed be God who hath preserved thee for Seven Years in this Pit I bear him witness this Day that he has Power to kill and Power to make alive I will testifie aloud and every-where that thou art a right good Man that thou shalt one Day lay Egypt waste that thou art the Person who shall drown the Egyptians in the Sea and by thy means Pharaoh and his Army shall run the same Fate And at the same time he gave me Money and Sephora his Daughter to Wife Abarbinel a Jewish Doctor whose Works are highly esteemed by that People commenting upon the 2d Chapter of Exodus explains that History in this manner After Moses had been entertained by Jethro and that he came to know him to be a Man of much Understanding and deep Knowledge he was desirous to enter into a nearer and more particular Alliance with him because of the great Wisdom he had observed in his Conversation and gave his Consent he should live with him And this is that which Moses says in Exodus And Moses consented to live with Jethro not for the Love he bore to Sephora whom he married but because of Jetbro's Wisdom It is says he the Opinion of our Doctors since they say in the Commentary that the Rod of God was planted in the Garden and that no Man could pull it from thence but Moses and that for the said Reason he took Sephora to Wife for by it they meant the Tree of Life which was in the midst of the Garden that is the Wisdom of Moses upon the Account of which he was honoured with the Gift of Prophecy Jetbro gave also to Moses his Daughter Sephora to Wife by reason of his wondrous Wisdom Moses lead the People of God into the Wilderness and talked divers times with God He died upon Mount Nebo from whence God had shewed him the Land of Promise he being then 120 Years old The Pagans made him to be their Bacchus as you may see under that Word Numerinus says Plato and Pythagoras had drawn their Doctrine out of his Books and that the first of them was the Moses of Athens He is ancienter than all the Greek Writers and even than their Mercurius Trismegistus Tatian who was one of those Ancients that Apologized for the Christian Religion against the Persecutions of the first Centuries tell us That Moses was before the Heroes and even the Gods themselves of the Greeks and that the Grecians wrote nothing good but what they took from our Scriptures and that their Defign by partly corrupting them was no other than that themselves might be entituled Authors Theodoretus says Moses was ancienter by a Thousand Years than Orpheus and that he was like the Ocean or Head-spring of Theology from whence they took their Origin as so many Streams and whereunto the most ancient Philosophers had Recourse The Learned are agreed that the Two ancientest Writers of the World whose Writings are transmitted unto us are Moses and Homer and that Moses lived several Ages before the other Moses wrote much in Verse and in the Book of Numbers he has set down a Canaanitish Poet's Song of Victory MULCIBER one of the Names given to Vulcan being derived from Mulceo because the Fire softens and qualifies all Things MUNDUS PATENS The open World a Solemnity performed in a little Temple or Chappel that was of a round Form like the World and dedicated to Dis and the Infernal Gods it was opened but thrice a Year viz. on the Day after the Vulcanalia the 4th of October and the 7th of the Ides of November during which Days the Romans believed Hell was open wherefore they never offered Battle on those Days lifted no Soldiers never put out to Sea nor married according to Varro as Macrobius witnesses L. Saturn C. 16. Mundus cùm patet Deorum tristium atque Inferûm quasi janua patet proptereà non modò pralium committ◠verum etiam delectum rei militaris cansâ habere ac militem proficisci navem solvere uxorem ducere religiosum est MURTIA a Surname of Venus taken from the Myrtle-Tree which was consecrated to her She was formerly called Myrtea and corruptly Murtia Festus says there was a Temple built for the Goddess Murtia upon Mount Aventine as to a Goddess of Idleness who made People idle and lazy MUS a Rat Mouse the Phrygians held Rats in great Veneration according to Clemens Alexandrinus Polemo relates says he that the Trojans gave Religious Adoration to Rats which they called Smintheus because they once gnawed to pieces the Bow-strings of their Enemies and this was the Reason why they gave to Apollo the Epithet of Smyntheus And Straho speaking of the
the Horizon the Ancient Gauls and Germans divided Time not by the Day but by Nights as you may see in Caesar and Tacitus NUMA called Pompilius the Son of Pomponius Pompilius He was born at Cures the Capital City of the Sabines the Fame of his Vertue made the Romans chuse him for their King after Romulus his Death He revived all the Ancient Ceremonies of Religion and instituted new Ones and writ down a whole Form of Religious Worship in Eight Books which he caused to be laid with him in his Tomb after his Death But one Terentius says Varro having an Estate haid by the Janiculum as his Servant was ploughing near unto Numa's Tomb he turn'd up the Books wherein the said Prince had set down the Reasons of his instituting such Mysteries Terentius carried them presently to the Praetor who when he had read the Beginning of them thought it was a Matter of that Importance as deserved to be communicated to the Senate The Principal Senators having read some things therein would not meddle with the Regulations of Numa but thought it conducive to the Interest of Religion to have the said Books burnt Numa had had Recourse to the Art of Hydromancy in order to see the Images of the Gods in the Water and to learn of them the Religious Mysteries he ought to establish Varro says that this kind of Divination was found out by the Persians and that King Numa and after him Pythagoras the Philosopher made use thereof To which he adds that they also invoked Mens Souls upon this Occasion by sprinkling of Blood and this is that which the Greeks called Necromancy and because Numa made use of Water to perform his Hydromancy they said he married the Nymph Egeria as the said Varro explains it It was therefore by this way of Hydromancy that this inquisite King learnt those Mysteries which he set down in the Pontiff's Books and the Causes of the same Mysteries the Knowledge whereof he reserved to himself alone He boasted he had very often Conversation with the Moses to whom he added a Tenth which he named Tacita and made the Romans worship her He somewhat rectified the Calender and added Two Months to the Year which at first consisted but of 10 Months and so made them 12 adding every Two Year one Month consisting of 22 Days which he called Mercedinum and which he immediately placed after the Month of February he lived about 80 Years and of them reigned 40. This Numa Pompilius second King of Rome was indeed both a King and a Philosopher who gave himself up so much to the Doctrine which Pythagoras afterwards publish'd to the World that many through a gross Ignorance of the Time took him to be a Disciple of Pythagoras Dionysius of Hallicarnassus has refuted this Error by shewing that Numa was more ancient than Pythagoras by Four Generations as having reigned in the 6th Olympiad whereas Pythagoras was not famous in Italy before the 50th The same Historian says that Numa pretended his Laws and Maxims were communicated to him by the Nymph Egeria which others believed to be a Muse at last the said Historian says Numa pretended to have that Conversation with a Coelestial Mistress that so they might believe his Laws were the Emations of the Eternal Wisdom it self NUMERUS a Number is a Discrete Quantity being a Collection of several separate Bodies Euclid defines it to be a Multitude composed of many Unites The perfect Number establish'd by the Ancients is Ten because of the Number of the Ten Fingers of a Man's Hand Plato believed this Number to be perfect inasmuch as the Unites which the Greeks called Monades compleated the Number of Ten. The Mathematicians who would contradict Plato herein said that Six was the most perfect Number because that all its Aliquot Parts are equal to the Number Six And farther to make the Perfection of the Number Six to appear they have observed that the Length of a Man's Foot is the 6th Part of his Height There is an even and an odd Number the Even is that which may be divided into Two equal Parts whereas the odd Number cannot be divided equally without a Fraction which is more of an Unity than the even Number The Golden Number is a Period of 19 Years invented by Metho the Athenian at the End of which happen the Lunations and the same Epact tho' this Period be not altogether true Its thought to have been thus called either because of the Benefit there is in the Use of it or because it was formerly written in Gold Characters See Arithmetica NUPTIAE Marriages from the Verb nubere which signifies to vail because the Bride had a Vail on of the Colour of Fire wherewith she covered her self They carried a lighted Torch and sung Hymen or Hymenaeus which was a fabulous Deity of the Pagans whom they believed to preside over Marriages The Poets called him fair Hymenaeus See Matrimonium NYMPHA a Nymph a false Deity believed by the Heathens to preside over Waters Rivers and Fountains some have extended the Signification hereof and have taken them for the Goddesses of Mountains Forests and Trees The Ancients took the Nymphs to be Bacchus his Nurses whether it were because the Wine wanted Water to bring its Grapes to Maturity or because 't is requisite Water should be mixed with Wine that it may not disorder the Head They have been sometimes represented each of them with a Vessel into which they poured Water and holding the Leaf of an Herb in their Hands which grows in Water and Wells or else another while with that of a Water-Plant called Nymphaea that took its Name from the Nymphs and again with Shells instead of Vessels and naked down to the Navel the Nymph were sometimes honoured with the Title of August as other Deities were which appears by this Inscription NYMPHIS AUGUSTIS MATURNUS V. S. L. M. That is Votum solvit libens meritò Maternus has freely and fully discharg'd her Vow to the August Nymphs This Epithet has been given them by way of Honour because 't was believed they watched for the Preservation of the Imperial Family NYMPHAEA the Baths which were consecrated to the Nymphs and therefore so called from them Silence was more particularly required there whence we read in an Inscription of Gruter NYMPHIS LOCI BIBE LAVA TACE to the Nymphs of the Place drink bathe your selves and be silent O. O Is the Fourteenth Letter in the Alphabet and the Fourth Vowel The O by its long and short Pronounciations represents fully the Omega and Omicron of the Greeks the Pronunciation whereof was very different says Caninius after Terentianus for the Omega was pronounced in the Hollow of the Mouth with a great and full Sound including two oo and the Omicron upon the Edge of the Lips with a clearer and smaller Sound These two Pronounciations they have in the French Tongue the Long O they distinguish by the Addition of an S as coste hoste motte
was most valuable in their Doctrine He divided his Philosophy into Three Parts viz. Moral which consisted principally in Action Physicks that related to Speculation and Logick which served to distinguish Truth from Falshood Of all the Philosophers his Doctrine comes nearest of any to Christianity It will surprize you when you read that Plato had Sentiments of God so conformable to the Truth of our Religion from whence some have thought that in his Travels to Egypt he was a Hearer of the Prophet Jeremy or that he had read the Books of the Prophets And I my self says St. Augustine have followed this Opinion in some of my Works but afterwards I came to understand by Cronology that Plato was not born till about 100 Years after the Prophecies of Jeremy and that the Greek Version of the Septuagint was not done by Ptolomy King of Egypt's Order till near 60 Years after Plato's Death insomuch that he could neither see Jeremy who was dead so long before nor read the Scriptures which were not yet translated into the Greek Tongue unless you will have it said that he took care to be instructed therein as he did in the Egyptian Books not by getting them translated but by conversing with the Jews viva voce What favours this Conjecture is that the Book of Genesis begins thus In the Beginning God created Heaven and Earth but the Earth was without Form and void and Darkness was upon the Face of the Deep and the Spirit of God moved upon the Face of the Waters And Plato in his Timeus where he speaks of the Creation of the World says That God did first join the Fire and Earth together It 's clear that by Fire he meant Heaven But what fully perswades me continues the same St. Augustine That Plato had some Knowledge of our Books is that Moses asking the Angel the Name of him who commanded him to go and deliver the Hebrews he received this Answer I am that I am thou shalt tell the Children of Israel I am hath sent me to you But this is that which Plato firmly establishes in his Works and I do not know it is to be found in any Book older than Plato except the holy Scriptures His Writings are almost all divided into Dialogues in which he introduces his Master Socrates He died of the Morbus Pedicularis and was burried in the Academy of Athens where he had taught Philosophy PLAUTUS a Comick Poet admired by all the Ancients for the Eloquence of his Stile he bore the Name of M. Accius with that of Plautus because of his splay Feet as Sextus Pompeius says He was born in a little Town of Vmbria called Sarcinas He was much in Esteem at Rome for the Stage at the same time that Publius Scipio and Marcus Cato were in great Reputation for their Politeness his Comedies are full of Jests and witty Railleries for which Cicero commends him and Varro assures us that if the Muses would have spoke Latin they had spoke like Plautus and Aulus Gellius in his Noctes Atticae calls him the Father and Prince of the Latin Eloquence He imitated the Greek Authors in his Comedies and amongst others Diphilus Epicharmus and Menander Horace says he made Money of his Comedies and when he had got a good deal he with that turn'd Merchant but proving unsuccessful that Way he was necessitated to turn a Mill and grind Corn to serve a Bakehouse He died during the Consulship of Publius Claudius and Lucius Portius while Cato was Censor in the 119 Olympaid and the Year of Rome 565. PLEIADES they were the Seven Daughters of Atlas and the Nymph Pleione who finding themselves pursued by Orion that would have ravished them they prayed to the Gods to preserve them from his Insults which they did by changing them into Stars and placing them in Heaven 'T is a Constellation formed of Seven Stars which are near together towards the 18th Degree of Taurus They are rainy and stormy Stars and very frightful to Mariners they call them in Latin Vergiliae à vere because they rise about the Vernal Equinox and set in Autumn PLEIONE the Daughter of Oceanus and Tethys and Atlas his Wife by whom he had Seven Daughters called Pleiades PLINIUS Pliny the Elder born at Verona was a Minister of State under the Emperor Vespatian he had a very great Knowledge of natural Things of which he wrote extraordinary Books but wherein divers Matters are to be met with that are false which he had by hear-say and took from the Relation of others he was suffocated by the Flames of Mount Vesuvius as he approached too near it to observe that Wonder PLINY the Younger his Nephew wrote a Book of Epistles a Treatise about illustrious Men and a Panegyrick dedicated to Trajan PLUTARCHUS Plutarch of Cheronea flourished under the Emperor Trajan and gain'd great Reputation by his Books The Lives of illustrious Men both among the Greeks and Romans which he compares with one another are the best of his Works and deserve Commendation above the rest Tho' he is every where agreeably instructive and shews he had a general Knowledge in all Things PLUTUS the God of Riches Aristophanes in a Comedy thus cailed says that this God having at first a good Eye-sight stuck to no Body but to the Just But Jupiter taking his Sight from him Riches afterwards fell indifferently to the Share of the Good and Bad They formed a Design for the recovering of Plutus his Sight but Penia which is Poverty opposed it and made it appear that Poverty was the Mistress of Arts Sciences and Vertues which would be in Danger of being lost if all Men were rich They gave her no Credit or seemed not to believe her so that Plutus recovered his Sight in Aeseulapius his Temple and from thence forward the Temples and Altars of other Gods and those of Jupiter himself were abandoned every Body sacrificing to no other than to God Plutus Lucian in Timon or Misanthropos brings Jupiter and Plutus talking together thus Jup. I am amazed to find you angry because you are left at Liberty seeing you formerly complain'd of Usurers who shut you up under Lock and Key without letting you as much as see the Light and made you endure a Thousand Torments You said that 't was it which made you pale and disfigured and was the Cause that you did endeavour to make your Escape You also blamed the Covetous who died for Love of you and in the mean time durst not enjoy you like the Dog in the Fable who being tied to the Rock could not himself eat Hay and would not suffer the Horse to do it You said that they were jealous and debarred themselves of all Recreations without considering that what they loved would one Day be the Prey of a Thief or some unworthy Heir Are not you ashamed thus to swerve from your old Maxims Plutus If you will hear me you shall find I have Reason for what I do For
what is said concerning Nestor that he lived Three some believe an Age was Thirty Years others with more Reason take it to be an Hundred Ovid was of this Opinion when he made Nestor say Vixi annos bis centum nuneteria vivitur atas The same Poet in another place seigned that Sybilla Cumaea was 700 Years old when Aeneas came to consult her and that she was to live 300 Years longer Nam jam mihi secula septem Acta vides superest numeros ut pulveris aquem Tercentum messes tercentum musta videre It was a Request she had made and obtained that she should live as many Years as she held Grains of Sand in her Hand We do not know from whence Ovid had this Fable but he allows her above 1000 Years to live In the Argonauticon attributed to Orpheus we have an Account given of a People called Macrobii that comes near unto that of our Age of Innocence and Terrestrial Paradice The Length of their Lives from which they derive their Names is no less than 1000 Years Omnique exparte beatos Macrobios facilem qui vitam in longa trabentes Secula millenos implent feliciter annos Horace attributes the shortening of Men's Lives only to Prometheus his stealing Fire from Heaven and the Vengeance of God that has poured an Infinity of Evil upon us Post ignem athereâ domo Subductum macies nova febrium Terris incubuit cohors Semotique priùs tarda necessitas Lethi corripuit gradum Silius Italicus tells us of an ancient King of Spain called Arganthonius who lived 300 Years Herodotus speaks of the Aethiopians of Africa who were called Macrobii and says they commonly lived 120 Years and 't was believed the Length of their Lives proceeded from the Water they drank which was lighter than Wood it self Lucian gives the Title of Macrobii that is of Long livers to one of his Dialogues He does not only make an Enumeration of particular Persons but also of Nations famous for their being long-lived he says it was reported that some People in the Country of Seres that is China lived 300 Years Diodorus Siculus relates the Account given by the Egyptians of their Gods or rather Kings some of whom had reigned 300 Years and others 112 but 't is believed their Years were lunar and no more than a Month Others are of Opinion that they confounded their History with Astronomy and attributed to their Kings the Names of the Stars and the Length of their Revolutions and so that they are rather Astronomical Computations which they have made than the Dynasties and historical Successions of their Kings Eusebius relates a Passage out of Josephus which shews that prophane Authors have in their Writings acknowledged and bore Testimony to the Truth of the Length of Mens Lives in the first Ages Josephus says that the first Men were permitted to live thus so extraordinarily long not only upon the Account of their Piety but out of a Necessity that the Earth should be peopled in a short time and Arts invented especially Astronomy which required the Observations of several Ages to make it perfect These Two Reasons discover the Falsity of their Opinion who thought that the Years which made up the first Mens long Lives consisted of no more than One Month or at the most Three but the most convincing Proof of any is that the Year of the Deluge is so well circumstanciated in the Book of Genesis that the 12 Months and 365 Days are there exprest Neither would Moses in Five or Six Chapters successively have given such different Significations to this Term Year St. Augustine has very vigorously pushed on this Argument concerning the Year of the Deluge Lactantius tells us that Varro was so confident that Men in ancient Days lived even to be a Tousand Years old that in order to facilitate the Understanding of a Truth that was so universally received he instanced in the lunar Years that consisted of one Month only in which time the Moon ran thro' the Twelve Signs of the the Zodiac VITELLIUS a Roman Emperor that succeeded Otho Johannes Baptista Porta in his Treatise of Physiognomy observes he had an Owl's Face His thick short Neck reddish Complexion and a great Belly as Suetonius describes him threatned him with an Apoplexy if a violent Death had not shortened his Life as well as his continual Debaucheries Of the most sumptuous Feasts where with he was treated that which his Brother Lucius made for him is taken Notice of where there were 2000 Fishes and 7000 Fowls served to the Table He made one Feast wherein he was not so profuse but more dainty and wherein one Course consisted of the Livers of a sort of rare Fishes called Seari Pheasants and Peacocks Brains the Tongues of Phoenicopteri which are very rare Birds and the Rows of Lamprey's All these Dainties were brought from the Carpatbian Sea Straights of Gibraltar and other remote Parts of the World In short his whole Reign was but one continued Debauch and Profuseness which made Vibius Crispus say who had the good Fortune to fall sick at that Time and so to avoid those Excesses that had it no been for his Illness he must infallibly have burst Vitellius was slain by the Soldiers who advanced Vespasian to the Throne and after he had been dragged through the Streets of Rome with a Rope about his Neck and his Body run through in several Parts he was with his Brother and Son thrown into the Tiber having reigned but Eight Months VITRUM Glass The Invention of Glass is very ancient and 't is long ago since they have made very fine Things of it nevertheless the Art of making Glass for Windows did not come in use till a long time after and the same may be looked upon as an Invention of latter Ages Indeed Marcus Scaurus in Pompey's Time made part of the Scene of that stately Theater which was built at Rome for the People's Diversion of Glass but in the mean time they had then no Glass Windows to their Houses and if any great Men and of the richest sort had a mind to have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in their Houses and to which the Light might come they closed up the Passage with Transparent Stones such as Agates Alabaster and Marble finely polished but when they came afterwards to know the Use of Glass for that Purpose they used it instead of these sorts of Stones ULYSSES Prince of Ithaca and the Son of Laertes and Anticlea he had Penelope to Wife whom he loved so entirely that to the end he might not leave her and not be obliged to go to the Trojan War he pretended himself mad and tied his Plough the wrong way to Two Animals of a different Kind with which he ploughed but Palamedes making a Shew as if he went about to kill his Son or rather laying him in the Furrow that so the Coulter of the Plough might kill him as 't was drawn along Vlysses that knew the Danger