All these strange Impertinencies which I have had the patience to relate have often made me think that if they be those famous Sciences of the Ancient Brachmans of the Indies very many have been deceived in the great Opinion they entertained of them For my part I can hardly believe it but that I find the Religion of the Indians to be from immemorial Times that 't is written in the Hanscrit Language which cannot but be very ancient since its beginning is unknown and 't is a dead Language not understood but by the Learned that all their Books are only written in that Tongue all which are as many Marks of a very great Antiquity This by the way confutes the Opinion of those (k) Sir W. T. his Essay p. 17. who make the Indian Learning to be all Traditionary for not only their Religious but their Profane Knowledge too is all written in this Hanscrit Dialect Yet one Notion of these Bramines I cannot but take notice of because it is a very Philosophical one and has been with probability started and defended by some of the most curious Anatomists of the present Age who built their Hypothesis upon the latest Discoveries which have been made in that admirable Art I shall set it down in Monsieur Bernier's words (l) P. 175 176. The Seeds of Plants and Animals are not formed a-new but were contrived in the first Production of the World and dispensed abroad every where and mixed in all things and that they are not only potentially but actually the very and entire Plants and Animals tho' so small that their Parts cannot be distinguisht but when put into a convenient Womb and there nourisht they extend themselves and encrease So that the Seeds of an Apple and Pear-Tree are a little entire and perfect Apple and Pear-Tree having all its Essential Parts and so the Seeds of an Horse an Elephant a Man c. are a little Horse a little Elephant a little Man in which there wants nothing but the Soul and Nourishment to make them appear what they are This Opinion seems rather to have been maintained by a Leeuwenhoek or a Malpighius than by an Indian who as Monsieur Bernier assures us (m) Pag. 166. understands nothing at all of Anatomy and can speak nothing upon that Subject but what is impertinent Had it been the Result of Thought and Meditation founded upon proper Premises which must be the Effects of many and repeated Observations one might justly have looked for and would infallibly have found many other Notions of equal Subtilty among these Bramines which tho' erroneous and so perhaps may this be yet could not have been made by any but Skilful Men. Such Discoveries likewise would have obliged us to have entertain'd a very honourable Notion of the Learning of the Ancient Brachmans because tho' they might have been Modern in comparison of those Ancient Times yet they might not also for ought we knew and consequently might have been challenged to those Ancient Philosophers by their Modern Champions But when amidst a vast variety of wild and fantastical Opinions a Man meets with one or two which stand alone by themselves without any thing that appears to have raised or confirmed them he ought not presently to conclude that the Philosophers who maintain them are Wise and Learned Men tho' once perhaps or twice Quod nequit Ingenium Casus fecit Addit Pag. 290 c. CHAP. XXII Of Ancient and Modern Agriculture and Gardening THE Ancients put so great a Value upon the Country-man's Arts and we have so many Treatises still extant concerning them written by their greatest Philosophers their ablest Philologers and their best Poets that to say nothing of them may be thought an inexcusable Omission Husbandry and Gardening are Subjects upon which Theophrastus Aristotle's Darling Disciple Varro who is said to be the Learnedest of all the Romans and Pliny perhaps no-way his inferior have written large Discourses yet remaining Varro and Pliny quote Numbers of Authors some of them no less than Crowned Heads since lost Hesiod whom some of the Ancients make older than Homer and Virgil the Prince of Roman Poets have left us Precepts of these Arts. Columella says they are related to Philosophy it self which those Heathen Sages priz'd so highly And the later Roman Writers are still upbraiding the Luxury of their own Times which wholly took off their Minds from these most useful Employments and sending their effeminate Country-men back to their renowned Ancestors who went from the Plough to the Camp and having there commanded victorious Armies returned back again to the Plough to redeem the Time they had lost There is no doubt but great Things were done in these Arts by the Ancients Had we no Books extant to acquaint us with their Knowledge yet the thing shews it self Countries cannot be peopled by civilized Nations nor great Cities fill'd nor Trade carried on by polite and industrious Inhabitants unless the Arts of Husbandry flourish Mankind without them would be Wild like the Negroes and American Salvages or Arabs But yet one Nation may be much more Knowing in these Things than another and one Age consequently though all may have Skill enough to answer the Necessities of Civil Life In making my Comparison I shall comprehend all that the Ancients understood by their Res Rustica as it takes in the Forester's the Husbandman's and the Gardener's Business Cato Varro and Columella include the Grafier's also thereby compleating the whole Body of Farming but since his Work cannot well be made a Science of I shall omit it By a Forester here I understand one that knows how to Plant Propagate and Encrease all sorts of Timber Trees what Soils are proper for every sort how they may best be defended from Dangers in their Growth to what Uses they are most applicable when they have arrived to their utmost Perfection and how they may be best applied Such a Man in short as Mr. Evelyn instructs in his Sylva where he gives a full System of the Woodman's Skill what he ought to know and what to practise A great part of his Work and indeed the Nicest part of it the Ancients were Strangers to as having less occasion for it The World was then comparatively speaking in its Infancy there was no want of Wood for Fuel Building or Ships and this Plenty made Men less curious in Contriving Methods of Preserving what they had in so great abundance England till within a few Ages was every where over-run with Wood The Hercynian Forest anciently took up what is now the most flourishing part of Germany And France which is at present so wonderfully Populous that little Cultivable Ground remains Untill'd was in Caesars's time over-spread with Woods and Forests As Men encrease Tillage becomes more and more requisite the consumption of Wood will be proportionably greater and its want and the necessary Uses of Timber which grow upon Men as they become more numerous will of
of the Scholiast 'T is extant in Vespis p. 330. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Where he interprets 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of one Aesop a ridiculous Actor of Tragedy But our Scholiast himself is more ridiculous if it was He that writ this and not some trifler that foisted it in among the other's Annotations For there was no Aesop a Greek Actor in the days of Aristophanes he mistakes him for the famous Aesop in Cicero's time an Actor of Tragedy on the Roman Stage and far from being ridiculous Quae gravis Aesopus quae doctus Roscius egit But the Aesop meant by our Poet is the Phrygian himself whose Fables were called Jests 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so in the other passage already cited 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hesychius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 (w) Orat. lxxii p. 631. Dion Chrysostom speaking of our Aesop 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Avienus in his Preface Aesopus responso Delphici Apollinis monitus RIDICVLA orsus est II. The first that we know of who essayed to put the Aesopic Fables into Verse was (x) Plato in Phaedone Plutarch de Aud. Poet. Laert. in Socrat. Socrates the Philosopher Laertius seems to hint that he did but one Fable and that with no great success the beginning of it was this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 'T is observable again that Socrates does not say he made use of a Book of Fables but I wrote says he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those that I knew and that I could first call to mind And this Fable too does not appear in our present Collection if we may gather so much from his naming the Corinthians III. After Socrates's time (y) Laert. in Demet. Demetrius Phalereus made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Collections of Aesopean Fables which perhaps were the first in their kind committed to writing I mean in form of a Book These seem to have been in Prose and some perhaps may imagine that they are the same that are now extant I wish they were for then they would have been well writ with some Genius and Spirit But I shall demonstrate Ours to be of a Modern Date and the Composition it self speaks too loud that it is not Demetrius's IV. After him there was some body whose name is now lost that made a new Edition of the Fables in Elegiac Verse I find no mention of them but in Suidas who cites them often under the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will set down a few Fragments of them both to shew that they belong to the Aesopic Fables which has not yet been observed that I know of and to enable you to judge whether if we could change our modern Collection for these we should not get by the bargain (z) Suidaâ— in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This belongs to the Fable about the Two Bags that every Man carries one before where he puts other men's faults another behind him where he puts his own This is mention'd by Catullus Horace Phaedrus Galen Themistius Stobaeus c. and it is a Blot upon our Modern Sett that there it is wanting (a) Id. in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 (b) vulgo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And (c) Id. in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And (d) Id. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Some of them it seems were all Hexameters (*) Id. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Schol. Aristoph p. 220. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 'T is an easie matter to find what Fables these pieces relate to and I think they are all extant in the present Collection V. This you see by this Specimen was no contemptible Author and after him came one Babrius that (e) Suidas in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 gave a new Turn of the Fables into Choliambics No body that I know of mention him but Suidas Avienus and Jo. Tzetzes There 's one Gabrias indeed yet extant that has comprized each Fable in four sorry Iambics But our Babrius is a Writer of another Size and Quality and were his Book now extant it might justly be opposed if not preferred to the Latin of Phaedrus There 's a whole Fable of his yet preserved at the end of Gabrias of the Swallow and the Nightingale Suidas brings many Citations out of him all which shew him an excellent Poet as this of the Sick Lion (f) Suidas in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And that of the Bore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 (h) Suidas in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And a great many others VI. I need not mention the Latin Writers of the Aesopean Fables Phaedrus (h) Ausâ—nius Ep. xvi Julius Titianus and Avienus the two first in Iambic the last in Elegiac but I shall proceed to examine those Greek ones now extant that assume the name of Aesop himself There are two parcels of the present Fables the one which are the more ancient CXXXVI in number were first publisht out of the Heidelberg Library by Neveletus A. D. MDCX. The Editor himself well observed That they were falsly ascribed to Aesop because they (i) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fab. 152. mention holy Monks To which I will add another remark That there is a sentence out of Job (k) See Fab. 288. Job i. 21. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Naked we all came and naked shall we return But because these two passages are in the Epimythion and belong not to the Fable it self they may justly be supposed to be Additions only and Interpolations of the true Book I shall therefore give some better Reasons to prove they are a recent Work That they cannot be Aesop's own the CLXXXI Fable is a demonstrative proof For that is a story of Demades the Rhetor who lived above CC years after our Phrygian's time The CXCIII is about Momus's Carping at the Works of the Gods There he finds this fault in the Bull That his Eyes were not placed in his Horns so as he might see where he pusht But (l) In Nigrino Lucian speaking of the same Fable has it thus That his Horns were not placed right before his Eyes And (m) De Part. Anim l. iii. p. 54. Aristotle has it a third way That his Horns were not placed about his Shoulders where he might make the strongest push but in the tenderest part his Head Again Momus blames this in the Man That his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 did not hang on the out-side of him so as his Thoughts might be seen but in (n) In Hermotimo Lucian the fault is That he had not a Window in his Breast I think it probable from
consequence put them upon ways to preserve and encrease it Commerce with distant Parts will shew Men rare and useful Trees to which their own Soil was before a stranger and Luxury will soon teach them to transplant them No wonder therefore if Modern Writers excell the Ancients upon a Subject which they had less occasion for The Romans indeed were curious in Planting Trees for Shade or Fruit but their Industry in that particular comes under another Head as rather belonging to the Gardener's Work It may therefore perhaps be esteemed a small Character of Mr. Evelyn's Discourse of Forest Trees to say that it Out-does all that Theophrastus and Pliny have left us on that Subject For it not only does that and a great deal more but contains more useful Precepts Hints and Discoveries upon that now so necessary a part of our Res Rustica than the World had till then known from all the Observations of former Ages To name others after him would be a derogation to his Performance Agriculture properly so called has been always necessary since Noah's time when the Flood that destroy'd the World of the Ungodly wrought such a change upon the Face of the Earth as made it necessary for all Mankind in the sweat of their brows to eat their bread And the early Populousness of the Eastern Nations though I would not bring Semiramis and Zoroaster's Armies to prove it shews how much it was followed For though those Countries should be allowed to be as they really are marvellously Fruitful yet even Aegypt and the Plains of Babylonia must be Tilled to yield a Crop to satisfie the Hunger of their Inhabitants Westward as the World was later Peopled so Tillage was proportionably later and the Athenians tell of one Triptolemus who learn'd the Art of Sowing Corn of the Aegyptians above a Thousand Years after Noah's Flood c After that Necessity n Vid. Marshami Chronicon pag. 249. Edit Lond. taught them many Rules and it is evident from Theophrastus and the Roman Writers of Geoponic's that their Knowledge in this kind was very great They were thoroughly versed in the Art of Dressing their Grounds and the Seasons when it was proper to do every part of a Husbandman's Work what Compost was fit to meliorate their over-wrought or barren Lands what Soil was best for this Grain and what for that Their Vines and Olives which were their Farmer 's care were managed with much Skill and Curiosity and Pliny reckons up a great many sorts of both of them which the Luxury of that Age had taught them to cultivate In a word They were Industrious and Skilful Husbandmen and perhaps 't is not possible to tell at this distance whether our Farmers manage their Grounds more judiciously than they did theirs since any Improvements particular to one Climate and Soil do not prove that Age in which they are made more Knowing than another wherein such Improvements could take no place though at the same time a Countrey naturally barren which has a weak Sun in an unkindly Climate requires more Skill as well as more Industry to make it fertile And therefore it may be question'd whether considering the Natural Felicity of the Soils of Sicily Africa and Greece and much more of Aegypt Judaea and Babylonia whose Fertility was anciently with Reason so much extolled the Improvements in England Scotland and Holland may not justly come into competition with any ancient Performances which how great soever in themselves were yet less upon this account that the Husbandmen in those Regions had not such Difficulties to struggle with But though the Ancients probably understood the Art of Sowing Wheat and Barley and Legumes and Flax and how to manage their Vines and Olives as well as any Age has done since yet other things of unspeakable use they were wholly strangers to The Art of Making Cyder at least of Chusing the best Apples and Managing their Orchards and Plantations accordingly they knew little or nothing of And here again I must remember to take notice which upon every opportunity I gladly do that Mr. Evelyn's Pomona has taught the present Age many things concerning the way of Ordering Apple-Trees and Making Cyder to which the World till then were wholly Strangers and for which he ought here to be mention'd with Honour The Sugar-Cane was not anciently unknown since it grows naturally in Arabia and Indostan but so little was the Old World acquainted with the Nature of its delicious Juice that some of their ablest Men doubted whether it were a Dew like Manna or the Juice of the Plant it self All the Arts and Methods therefore of Preparing Sugar which have made it so very useful to Humane Life are owing to Modern Portuguezes and English Malt-Drinks were used in Gaul and Spain anciently as also in Aegypt where probably they were first invented but whether they were so accurately made as ours no Man can tell unless he knew certainly whether and with what they fermented them May I not farther instance in Coffee and Tobacco The Romans drove a greater Trade in Arabia and were better acquainted with its Commodities than this part of the World has been at any time since which no Man that has ever read the Thirteenth Book of Pliny's Natural History can possibly doubt of yet there is no one Syllable of any thing like Coffee in his whole Work nor indeed in any other Ancient Author before the Arabs It is very probable that it grows wild in Arabia since it is known to grow no where else and that the Prohibition of Wine by the Mahometan Law made the Arabs find out its Virtues whereas before it was a neglected Shrub to supply the place of the other Liquor But still its Cultivation is as to the present Question Modern and since the Arabs do now bestow great Care and Pains in Managing it it comes not improperly in among the Augmentations of Modern Agriculture And that Tobacco ought here to be mention'd is question'd by none who know what a Delight and Refreshment it is to so many Nations so many several ways The Accounts of Virginia and Brasil will inform us what pains our Europaean Planters are at to make that Herb palatable to all sorts of Persons So that without taking notice of any more Particulars we may be assured that the Modern Husbandry is a larger if not a more exact thing than the Ancient and even in those things wherein the Ancients did most excell in the Management of their Vines and Olives the comparative Excellency of the later Ages will perhaps be allowed by all those who are acquainted with the Curiosity of the present in Managing of their Fruit-Trees which shall be treated of in its proper place I deferred to speak of Gardening till the last because Luxury always comes after Necessity though generally when it is once introduced it still goes on encreasing till it is come to the utmost pitch to which it can be carried In the
instructing us in the Nature and Properties of almost all those of which we do at this day form our Applications some few excepted the Productions of Modern Chymistry in this or the preceding Century And as for general Methods of Cure many of them have been so excellently well handled by the Ancients to instance only in Wounds of the Head that several of the Moderns who have written most judiciously upon them have been of Opinion that they could not serve and oblige Posterity better than by Commenting upon that admirable Book of Hippocrates upon the same Subject That which without Injury to the Ancients or Vanity in our Selves may be justly said is That the publishing Observations after that Method which some of the Moderns have done is that wherein we must be allowed infinitely to have exceeded them and is vastly of more Advantage to the Reader than the perusal of tedious Systems are capable of being two or three of which generally comprehending whatever is to be found in all the rest But particular Cases when judiciously and faithfully reported of which too few I fear even of the Moderns are guilty Et prodesse solent delectare are diverting and instructive at once the Reader more effectually adding other Men's Experience to his own But to insist upon every Particular and to pretend to demonstrate what hath been Invented Discontinued or Lost in every Age if it be to be done requires a Person of greater Leisure and infinitely more capable than my self What I have said is sufficient to shew that it becomes us to speak of the Ancients with Respect and Civility at least if it were only for this That it was our Instruction and the Benefit of Mankind in general which induc'd them to take that Care and to be at so much Expence of Time and Labour to communicate their Knowledge to the World Not that we are implicitly to be be determin'd by their Authority or to suppose that they have not left room for succeeding Ages to Invent and to Improve all those Parts of Surgery wherein they appear either to have been mistaken or dificient For my own part I must confess I do entirely concurr with Thomas Bartholine Epist Med. Cent. 3. who very well understood the Advantages which the Moderns had and was himself as solicitous for the Improvement of Knowledge as inquisitive into Nature and as happy in his Discoveries as any of those who imagine it a part of their Wit and Breeding to ridicule and contemn the Ancients Pessimè studiis suis consulunt says he qui ita recentiorum scriptis se immergunt ut veteres vel negligant vel contemnant quam plerarumque rerum lux ex illis pendeat And in another place Ita semper recentiorum sententiis opinionibus calculum adjeci ut sua antiquitati reverentia servaretur cui artis nostrae fundamenta debemus Addit pag. xxii c. THE POST SCRIPT TO THE PREFACE SInce the Second Edition of my Book was printed off we have had an Account in the Journal des Sçavans that Monsieur Perrault has publish'd a THIRD PART of his Parallel between the Ancients and the Moderns in which he undertakes to prove that the Skill of the Moderns in Geography Philosophy Medicine Mathematics Navigation c. is preferrible to that of the Ancients The Book is not yet that I know of in England and possibly may not be procurable in some time I thought it necessary however to take notice that I have had a bare Intimation of such a Book and no more that so if in any Material Things we should happen to Agree as writing upon the same Argument 't is very probable we may I might not hereafter be thought a Plagiary There was no danger hitherto since as far as he had gone before I either openly dissented from him or directly abridg'd his Words Pag. 220. I have upon his own Authority given Columbus the Credit of Discovering that little Bone in the Inner Cavity of the Ear which from its figure is commonly call'd the Stirrup And indeed he being the first that ever mention'd it in Print and pretending that it was his own Invention seems to have the fairest Plea to the Honour of it But Philippus Ingrassias who wrote some time before Columbus certainly knew it For in his Commentary upon Galen de Ossibus he expressly mentions it and for that Reason Falloppius who could not want Opportunity of being truly inform'd and was a right honest Man and a judicious Anatomist and one to whom many Discoveries are owing ascribes it to him in such Terms as put the Controversie beyond dispute Tertium says Falloppius speaking of the little Bones in the Inner Cavity of the Ear si nolumus debitâ laude quenquam defraudare invenit promulgavit primus Johannes Philippus ab Ingrassia Siculus Philosophus ac Medicus Doctissimus dum Neapolitano in Gymnasio publicè Anatomen doceret And a little after Deus tamen gloriosus scit Ingrassiae fuisse inventum atque cum Stapedis aut Saffae nostrorum Patrum effigiem gestet merito Stapedis nomine ab eodem fuisse donatum Had Ingrassias's Book been printed in his life-Life-time there had never been room for a Dispute though his Right was so well known that Bartholomaeus Eustachius who wrote soon after Columbus and put in his Claim to the Glory of the Discovery mentions Ingrassias's Pretences which Columbus does not Some perhaps will think this Enquiry into the Author of this Discovery to be a needless Affectation of Exactness But 't is so much the Duty of all Writers not to mis-lead their Readers in the smallest particular that they are obliged to rectifie their own Mistakes where-ever they find them and not to be afraid of being accused of Negligence since Truth and not Glory ought to be the ultimate End of all our Labours and Enquiries I am obliged also to take notice that I have lately got a sight of Servetus's Christianismi Restitutio out of which that famous passage concerning the Circulation of the Blood which I set down at length pag. 230. was copied long ago by that worthy Member of the Royal Society Mr. Abraham Hill from whom Mr. Bernard had it My Lord Bishop of Norwich whose incomparable Library contains every thing that is rare and excellent did me the Honour to show it me His Manuscript Copy is a Transcript of that Printed one which is preserved in the Landtgrave of Hesse's Library at Cassels the very Book that was perused by Sandius who gives an Account of it in his Bibliotheca Antitrinitariorum The Book it self was printed at Basil says Sandius in 1553. and is a Collection of all Servetus's Theological Tracts though considerably enlarged some of which and particularly his Discourses concerning the Trinity had been publish'd Twenty Years before This I mention because if what Servetus says of the Passage of the Blood through the Lungs be in the former Edition the Discovery has so much the
but what is thus made first elaborated in the Liver thence carried by the Veins into the right Ventricle of the Heart and so into the Lungs where being mix'd with Air it becomes Vital and afterwards being carried by the Arteries into the Brain it is there further sublimed till it receives its last Perfection so as to be fit to perform the noblest Operations of the Animal Life If we compare now this Notion thus explained by Servetus with Dr. Harvey's Theory of the Circulation of the Blood we shall plainly see that he had imperfect Glimmerings of that Light which afterwards Dr. Harvey communicated with so bright a Lustre to the learned World Which Glimmerings since they were so true having nothing in them of a False-Fire I much wonder that he went no further though at the same time I cannot but heartily congratulate the Felicity of my own Countrey which produced the Man that first saw the Importance of these noble Hints which he improved into a Theory and thereby made them truly useful to Mankind Before I conclude this POSTSCRIPT it will be expected perhaps that I should say something concerning this New Edition I have taken the Liberty which all Men have ever allowed to Alter and Add where I thought any thing was faulty or deficient and now and then I omitted some few Passages that did not so immediately relate to the design of the Book By one of these Additions that of Surgery which Mr. Bernard put in at my request it will be yet further seen that I would have nothing allowed to the Moderns where the Cause will not strictly bear it I had conceded so much to them before that it was generally thought I was biass'd on their behalf It was not enough to tell the World I was of no Side the contrary was taken for granted since in so many Particulars I actually gave them the Pre-eminence when Sir W. T. had given it them almost in nothing I must own I was glad it could be proved that the World has not actually lost its Vigour but that a gradual Improvement is plainly visible which this Instance that Mr. Bernard has so incontestably made out does by no means contradict For Surgery though it is the certainest yet it is the simplest part of Medicine There the Operator is more let into his Work which does not depend so much upon Conjecture as Physic The Reproach therefore of its comparatively small Proficiency is to be laid upon the Men not the Art it has been for these last Ages esteemed too Mechanical for Men of Liberal Education and fine Parts to busie themselves about So that I question not but if as many learned Men had cultivated Surgery for these last CCC Years as have employed themselves in some other Parts of Natural and Mathematical Learning it would have met with as proportionable an Encrease unless we should say that it is already come to its highest Perfection which whether it be or no I cannot pretend to decide The entire Discourses which are added are printed by themselves for the Satisfaction of those who have bought the First Edition and have no Curiosity to compare that with the Second But I have not re-printed those lesser Additions which are interwoven into the Body of the Book both because they would appear only like a parcel of loose Scraps and because something was to be done in compliance to the Bookseller who having once more at a time when Printing labours under so great Discouragements adventur'd to publish so large a Book which so few People will care to read desired that this Second Edition might be made as Valuable to him as well it cou'd April 30. 1697. A DISSERTATION UPON THE EPISTLES OF PHALARIS THEMISTOCLES SOCRATES EURIPIDES and Others And the FABLES of AESOP BY RICHARD BENTLEY D. D. Chaplain in Ordinary and Library-keeper to His MAJESTY LONDON Printed by J. Leake for Peter Buck at the Sign of the Temple near the Inner-Temple-Gate in Fleet-Street MDCXCVII Sir William Temple's Essay upon Ancient and Modern Learning pag. 58. IT may perhaps be further affirmed in favour of the Ancients That the oldest Books we have are still in their kind the best The two most Ancient that I know of in Prose among those we call Profane Authors are Aesop's Fables and Phalaris's Epistles both living near the same time which was that of Cyrus and Pythagoras As the first has been agreed by all Ages since for the greatest Master in his kind and all others of that sort have been but Imitations of his Original so I think the Epistles of Phalaris to have more Race more Spirit more Force of Wit and Genius than any others I have ever seen either Ancient or Modern I know several Learned Men or that usually pass for such under the Name of Critics have not esteemed them Genuine and Politian with some others have attributed them to Lucian but I think he must have little Skill in Painting that cannot find out this to be an Original Such Diversity of Passions upon such Variety of Actions and Passages of Life and Government such Freedom of Thought such Boldness of Expression such Bounty to his Friends such Scorn of his Enemies such Honour of Learned Men such Esteem of Good such Knowledge of Life such Contempt of Death with such Fierceness of Nature and Cruelty of Revenge could never be represented but by him that possessed them And I esteem Lucian to have been no more capable of Writing than of Acting what Phalaris did In all One writ you find the Scholar or the Sophist and all the Other the Tyrant and the Commander A DISSERTATION UPON The EPISTLES of PHALARIS and others and the FABLES of AESOP To Mr. Wotton SIR I Remember that discoursing with you upon this Passage of Sir W. T. which I have here set down I happen'd to say That with all Deference to so great an Authority and under a just Awe of so sharp a Censure I believed it might be even demonstrated that the Epistles of Phalaris are Spurious and that we have nothing now extant of Aesop's own Composing This casual Declaration of my Opinion by the power of that long Friendship that has been between us you improved into a Promise That I would send you my Reasons in Writing to be added to the New Edition of your Book believing it as I suppose a considerable Point in the Controversie you are engaged in For if it once be made out that those Writings your Adversary so extolls are Supposititious and of no very long Standing you have then His and his Parties own Confession That some of the Later Pens have out-done the Old ones in thier kinds And to others that have but a mean Esteem of the Wit and Stile of those Books it will be a double Prejudice against him in your favour That he could neither discover the true Time nor the true Value of his Authors These I imagine were your Thoughts when you engaged me to
greater Antiquity The Passages now in question are in the Fifth Book of the Trinity where he treats of the Holy Ghost There he takes pains to prove (a) He says he introduces this Disputation ut inde intelligas ipsi Spiritûs Sancti Substantiae esse essentialiter adjunctam creati Spiritûs Christi Substantiam that the Substance of the Created Spirit of Jesus Christ is Essentially joined to the Substance of the Holy Ghost To explain this he talks much of God's Breathing the Soul into Man which by his manner of Explication it is plain he believed to be Material the way he proceeds is this He supposes Three Spirits in Man's Body Natural Vital and Animal which says he are (b) Qui vere non sunt tres sed duo Spiritus distincti Vitalis est spiritus qui per Anastomoses ab Arteriis communicatur Venis in quibus dicitur Naturalis Primus ergo est Sanguis cujus sedes est in hepate corporis venis Secundus est Spiritus Vitalis cujus sedes est in corde corporis arteriis Tertius est Spiritus Animalis quasi lucis radius cujus sedes est in cerebro corporis nervis really not Three but Two distinct Spirits The Vital is that which is communicated by Anastomoses from the Arteries to the Veins in which it is called Natural The Blood therefore is First whose Seat is in the Liver and Veins The Vital Spirit is Second whose Seat is in the Heart and Arteries The Animal Spirit is Third which is like a Ray of Light and has its Seat in the Brain and Nerves So that he makes the beginning of the whole Operation to be in the Liver which according to him is the original Work-house of the Blood which he calls the Soul or Life as it is call'd in the Old Testament Now to understand how the Blood is the Life he says (c) Ad quam rem est prius intelligenda substantialis Generatio ipsius Vitalis Spiritûs qui ex Aëre inspirato subtilissimo sanguine componitur nutritur Vitalis spiritus in sinistro cordis ventriculo suam originem habet juvantibus maxime pulmonibus ad ipsius generationem Est spiritus tenuis caloris vi elaboratus flavo colore igneâ potentiâ ut sit quasi ex puriore sanguine lucens vapor substantiam continens aquae aëris ignis generatur ex factâ in pulmone mixtione inspirati aëris cum elaborato subtili sanguine quem dexter ventriculus sinistro communicat Fit autem communicatio haec non per parietem cordis medium ut vulgo creditur sed magno artificio à dextro cordis ventriculo longo per pulmones ductu agitatur sanguis subtilis à pulmonibus praeparatur flavus efficitur à venâ arteriosâ in arteriam venosam transfunditur deinde in ipsâ arteriâ venosâ inspirato aëri miscetur exspiratione à fuligine repurgatur atque ita tandem à sinistro cordis ventriculo totum mixtum per Diastolen attrahitur apta supellex ut fiat spiritus vitalis Quod ita per pulmones fiat communicatio praeparatio docet conjunctio varia communicatio venae arteriosae cum arteriâ venosâ in pulmonibus Confirmat hoc magnitudo insignis venae arteriosae quae nec talis nec tanta facta esset nec tantam à corde ipso vim purissimi sanguinis in pulmones emitteret ob solum eorum nutrimentum nec cor pulmonibus hac ratione serviret cum praesertim antea in embryone solerent pulmones ipsi aliunde nutriri ob membranulas seu Cordis usque ad horam nativitatis nondum apertas ut docet Galenus We must first understand the substantial Generation of the Vital Spirit which is compounded of and nourished by Inspired Air and the subtilest part of the Blood The Vital Spirit has its original in the left Ventricle of the Heart by the assistance of the Lungs which chiefly contribute to its Generation It is a subtile Spirit so I render tenuis here wrought by the force of Heat of a florid Colour having the power of Fire so that it is a sort of shining Vapour made of the purer part of the Blood containing within it self the substance of Water Air and Fire It is made in the Lungs by the mixture of Inspired Air with that Elaborated Subtile Blood which the Right Ventricle of the Heart communicates to the Left Now this Communication is not made through the Septum of the Heart as is commonly believed but the subtile Blood is very artificially agitated by a long passage through the Lungs from the right Ventricle of the Heart and is prepared made florid by the Lungs and transfused out of the Arterious Vein into the Venous Artery and at last in the Venous Artery it self it is mixed with the Inspired Air and by expiration purged from its Dregs And thus at length the whole Mixture is attracted by the Diastole of the Heart into the left Ventricle being now a fit Substance out of which to form the Vital Spirit Now that this Communication and Preparation is made by the Lungs is evident from the various Conjunction and Communication of the Arterious Vein with the Venous Artery in the Lungs the remarkable largeness of the Arterious Vein does likewise confirm it since it would never have been made of that Form and Bulk nor would it have emitted so great a quantity of very pure Blood out of the Heart into the Lungs if it had been only for their Nourishment nor would the Heart have been this way serviceable to the Lungs since the Foetus in the Womb are otherwise nourished by reason of the closeness of the Membranes of the Heart which are never open'd till the Birth of the Child as Galen teaches So that the whole Mixture of Fire and Blood is made in the Lungs where there is a (d) Transfusio à venâ arteriosâ ad arteriam venosam propter spiritum à Galeno non animadversa Transfusion out of the Arterious Vein into the Venous Artery which Galen took no notice of Afterwards he says (e) Ille itaque spiritus vitalis à sinistro cordis ventriculo in arterias totius corporis deinde transfunditur ita ut qui tenuior est superiora petat ubi magis adhuc elaboratur praecipue in plexu retiformi sub basi cerebri sito ubi ex vitali fieri incipit animalis ad propriam rationalis animae rationem accedens That this Vital Spirit is transmitted from the left Ventricle of the Heart into the Arteries of the whole Body so that the more subtile Parts get upwards where they are yet more refined especially in the Plexus Retiformis which lies in the Base of the Brain where from Vital it begins to become Animal and approaches to the proper Nature of the Rational Soul This he reasons long upon to prove that the Blood is the Soul of Man and seems to allow no other
this that I am now doing But I must take the freedom to profess that I write without any view or regard to your Controversie which I do not make my own nor presume to interpose in it 'T is a Subject so nice and delicate and of such a mixed and diffused nature that I am content to make the best Use I can of both Ancients and Moderns without venturing with you upon the hazard of a wrong Comparison or the envy of a true one That some of the Oldest Books are the best in their kinds the same Person having the double Glory of Invention and Perfection is a thing observed even by some of the Ancients (a) Dion Chrysost Orat. 33. p. 397. But then the Authors they gave this Honour to are Homer and Archilochus one the Father of Heroic Poem and the other of Epode and Trochaic But the choice of Phalaris and Aesop as they are now extant for the two great inimitable Originals is a piece of Criticism of a peculiar Complexion and must proceed from a Singularity of Palate and Judgment To pass a Censure upon all kinds of Writings to shew their several Excellencies and Defects and especially to assign each of them to their proper Authors was the chief Province and the greatest Commendation of the Ancient Critics And it appears from those Remains of Antiquity that are left us that they never wanted Employment For to forge and counterfeit Books and father them upon Great Names has been a Practice almost as old as Letters But it was then most of all in fashion when the (b) Galen in Hippoc. de Natura Hominis Comm. 2. p. 17. Ed. Basil Kings of Pergamus and Alexandria rivalling one another in the Magnificence and Copiousness of their Libraries gave great rates for any Treatises that carried the names of celebrated Authors Which was an Invitation to the Scribes and Copyers of those Times to enhance the Price of their Wares by ascribing them to Men of Fame and Reputation and to suppress the true Names that would have yielded less Money And now and then even an Author that wrote for Bread and made a Traffic of his Labours would purposely conceal himself and personate some old Writer of eminent Note giving the Title and Credit of his Works to the Dead that himself might the better live by them But what was then done chiefly for Lucre was afterwards done out of Glory and Affectation as an Exercise of Stile and an Ostentation of Wit In this the Tribe of the Sophists are principally concerned in whose Schools it was the ordinary task to compose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to make Speeches and write Letters in the Name and Character of some Heroe or great Commander or Philosopher 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What would Achilles Medea or Alexander say in such or such Circumstances Thus Ovid we see who was bred up in that way writ Love Letters in the Names of Penelope and the rest 'T is true they came abroad under his own Name because they were written in Latin and in Verse and so had no colour or pretence to be the Originals of the Graecian Ladies But some of the Greek Sophists had the Success and Satisfaction to see their Essays in that kind pass with some Readers for the genuine Works of those they endeavoured to express This no doubt was great Content and Joy to them being as full a Testimony of their Skill in Imitation as the Birds gave to the Painter when they peck'd at his Grapes One of them (c) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Praef. Epist Bruti indeed has dealt ingenuously and confess'd that he feign'd the Answers to Brutus only as a Trial of Skill but most of them took the other way and concealing their own Names put off their Copies for Originals preferring that silent Pride and fraudulent Pleasure though it was to die with them before an honest Commendation from Posterity for being good Imitators And to speak freely the greatest part of Mankind are so easily imposed on in this way that there is too great Invitation to put the trick upon them What clumsie Cheats those Sibylline Oracles now extant and Aristeas's Story of the Septuagint passed without controul even among very learned Men. And even some Modern Attempts of this kind have met with Success not altogether discouraging For though Annius of Viterbo after a Reputation of some Years and Inghiramius immediately were shamed out of all Credit yet Sigonius's Essay de Consolatione as coming from a skilful Hand may perhaps pass for Cicero's with some as long as Cicero himself shall last Which I cannot presage of that bungling Supplement to Petronius I mean not that from Traw but the pretended one from Buda that Scandal to all Forgeries though I hear 't is at present admired as a genuine Piece by some that think themselves no ordinary Judges OF PHALARIS 'S EPISTLES THat Sophist whoever he was that wrote a small Book of Letters in the Name and Character of Phalaris give me leave to say this now which I shall prove by and by had not so bad a hand at Humouring and Personating but that several believed it was the Tyrant himself that talked so big and could not discover the Ass under the Skin of that Lion For we find Stobaeus (d) Stob. Tit. vii quoting the 38 and 67 and 72 of those Epistles under the Title of Phalaris And Suidas in the Account he gives of him says he has wrote most admirable Letters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 meaning those that we are speaking of And Johannes Tzetzes a Man of much rambling Learning has many and large Extracts out of them in his Chiliads ascribing them all to the Tyrant whose Livery they wear These three I think are the only Men among the Ancients that make any mention of them but since they give not the least hint of any Doubts concerning their Author we may conclude that all the Scholars of those Ages received them as true Originals so that they have the general Warrant and Certificate for this last Thousand Years before the Restoration of Learning As for the Moderns besides the Approbation of those smaller Critics that have been concerned in the Editions of them and cry them up of course some very Learned Men have espoused and maintained them such as Thomas Fazellus (e) Historia Sicula p. 118. and Jacobus Cappellus (f) Historia Sacra Exotica p. 249. Even Mr. Selden himself (g) Marm. Arundel p. 106. draws an Argument in Chronology from them without discovering any Suspicion or Jealousie of a Cheat. To whom I may add their latest and greatest Advocate who has honoured them with that most high Character prefixt to this Treatise Others indeed have shewn their Distrust of Phalaris's Title to them but are content to declare their Sentiment without assigning their Reasons Phalaris or some body else says Caelius Rhod. lib. iii. c. 7. The Epistles that go under the Name of
of the place and not by every word he spoke make the invidious discovery of his being a Stranger But what if after all even the Astypalaeans themselves should be found to speak Doric If we make a conjecture from their neighbourhood and the company they are put in we can scarce question but they were Dorians (f) Lib. x. p. 488. Strabo says the Island lies between Cos and Rhodes and Crete 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And that all these three used the Doric Dialect is too well known to need any proof But let us hear the Second Apology for the Atticism of Phalaris (g) Sed nec ipse Diodorus Siculus nec Empedocles Agrigentinus nec Ocellus Lucanus Dorice sed Attice fere scripserunt He defends him by the like practice of others that being Dorians born repudiated their vernacular Idiom for that of the Athenians as Diodorus of Agyrium Empedocles of Agrigentum and Ocellus of Lucania So that though Phalaris be supposed to be a Native of Sicily yet here is an excuse for him for quitting the Language But I conceive with submission that this Argument is built partly upon a vulgar Mistake and partly upon such Instances as are quite different and aliene from the case of our Epistles Ocellus Lucanus the Pythagorean Philosopher writ a small Treatise Of the Nature of the Universe which has been several times printed and is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the common and ordinary Greek But if I may expect thanks for the discovery I dare engage to make out that the Author compos'd it not in the dress that it now wears but in Doric his own Country fashion For I find it was agreed and covenanted among all the Scholars of that Italian Sect (h) Jamblichus Vit Pythagor 202. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to use their own Mother-Tongue this was the injunction of Pythagoras this was the tessera of the whole Party and those that know any thing of their story will believe they would have lost their Lives rather than have broken it 'T is most certain if one had publish'd a Book against that Injunction he would have been banish'd the Society Besides when Jamblichus tells us of this Compact of theirs he makes not one Exception to it which he could not have miss'd neither from ignorance nor forgetfulness if so common a Tract as this of Ocellus had been writ in the Attic. Nay we are assured that other Pieces of this Author were made in the Doric as one Of Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cited by (i) Eclog. Phys c. 16. Stobaeus the fragment begins thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But which is plain demonstration four citations are brought by the (k) Ibid. c. 24. same Writer out of this very Book 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 About the Nature of the Universe all which are in Doric and not as they are now extant in the ordinary Dialect The first of them begins thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is thus extant in the vulgar (l) Edit Cantab. Ocellus p. 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The second thus beginning 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 extant p. 17. The third 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. thus extant p. 21. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The fourth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 extant in ordinary Greek p. 31. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 From which passages these two points are manifestly evinced That Ocellus composed his Writings in Doric and so is falsely brought in for an Excuse to our Phalaris and which is much more considerable That this Tract of his now extant is to be acknowledged for a genuine Work which hitherto Learned Men have doubted of from this very business of the Dialect For we now see by these Fragments that every word of the true Book is faithfully preserved the Doric only being changed into the ordinary Language at the fancy of some Copyer since the days of Stobaeus As for Empedocles and Diodorus a Poet and an Historian their case is widely remote from that of our Tyrant The former being to write an Epic Poem show'd an excellent judgment in laying aside his Country Dialect for that of the Ionians which Homer and his followers had used before him and had given it as it were the dominion of all Heroic Poetry For the Doric Idiom had not Grace and Majesty enough for the Subject he was engaged in being proper indeed for Mimes Comedies and Pastorals where Men of ordinary rank are represented or for Epigrams a Poem of a low vein or for Lyrics and the Chorus of Tragedy upon the account of the Doric Music but not to be used in Heroic without great disadvantage And the Historian likewise with the rest of that and other Dorian Nations Philistus Timaeus Ephorus Herodotus Dionysius Halic c. had great reason to decline the use of their vernacular Tongue as improper for History which besides the affectation of Eloquence aims at Easiness and Perspicuity and is designed for general use But the Doric is course and rustic and always clouded with an obscurity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says (m) Vita Pythag. p. 205. Porphyry who attributes the decay of the Pythagorean Sect to their writing in that Dialect And we have just now seen an instance of it since some body thought it worth his labour to transcribe Ocellus into another Idiom And now what affinity is there between Phalaris's case and that of Historians or Heroic Poets What mighty motives can be here for assuming a foreign Dialect The Letters are dated in the middle of Sicily mostly directed to the next Towns or to some of his own Domestics about private affairs or even the expences of his family and never designed for the public view If any will still excuse the Tyrant for Atticizing in those circumstances 't is hard to deny them the glory of being the faithfullest of his Vassals XIII But since Tyrants will not be confined by Laws let us suppose if you will that our Phalaris might make use of the Attic for no reason at all but his own arbitrary humour and pleasure yet we have still another Indictment against the credit of the Epistles For even the Attic of the true Phalaris's age is not there represented but a more recent Idiom and Stile that by the whole thread and colour of it betrays it self to be a thousand years younger than He. Every living Language like the perspiring Bodies of living Creatures is in perpetual motion and alteration some words go off and become obsolete others are taken in and by degrees grow into common use or the same word is inverted to a new sense and notion which in tract of time makes as observable a change in the air and features of a Language as Age makes in the lines and mien of a Face All are sensible of this in their own native Tongues where continual Use makes every man a Critic For what Englishman does not think himself able from the very turn and fashion of the
Humanity not to enquire into the truth of the thing before they ventur'd to Print which is a Sword in the Hand of a Child But there is a reason for every thing and the mystery was soon revealed As for the King's Manuscript they had no want nor desire of it for as I shall shew by and by they had neither industry nor skill to use either That or their Own And for my part I it seems had the hard hap in some private conversation to say the Epistles were a spurious Piece and unworthy of a new Edition Hinc illae lachrimae This was a thing deeply resented and to have spoken to me about the Manuscript had been to lose a plausible occasion of taking revenge Pro singulari sua humanitate I could produce several Letters from learned Professors abroad whose Books our Editors may in time be fit to read wherein these very same words are said of me candidly and seriously For I endeavour to oblige even Foreigners by all Courtesie and Humanity much more would I encourage and assist any useful Designs at home And I heartily wish that I could do any service to that young Gentleman of great Hopes whose Name is set to the Edition I can do him no greater at present than to remove some blemishes from the Book that is ascribed to him which I desire may be taken aright to be no disparagement to himself but a reproof only to his Teachers It is counted an ill Omen to stumble at the Threshold In the very First Epistle to Alcibous we have these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is For a disease of the Soul the only Physician is Death do you therefore expect a most painful one for those many and great injustices not involuntary ones such as you accuse Me of but voluntary ones that your self have committed Let us see now how our new Editors have managed this passage First they interpret 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nulli gravem meaning I suppose that Alcibous's death would be grievous to no body Which not only produces a flat and far-fetcht sense but is contrary to the rules of good Language For the Greek is in the Superlative degree let them put it then nulli gravissimam and it will shew them the errror of their Version It will be evident to such as know propriety of Speech that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 since no Dative Case follows it must be referred to Alcibous and to no body else I do not expect from our Editors much sagacity in way of Critic but though they could not of themselves find out the true Reading yet methinks they might have embraced it when they saw it in the Manuscript which reads it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a most grievous and cruel death meaning that in the Brazen Bull which he calls in the CXXII Epist 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an epithet of the same root and signification 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in this place is an expletive particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Grammarians call it which being a rare and quaint usage was the cause of corrupting the Text. The next words in the same passage 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our elegant Interpreters render scelera non invita And this we are to receive for one of their many (f) Praef. p. 3. improvements after the former Translators Those Old ones good honest Men put us off with plain country Latin Scelera non praeter voluntatem patrata and other such Periphrases For as it was in their days believed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signified unwilling and was always meant of the Agent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was involuntary and generally meant of the Action And this latter when it signifies the Action cannot be expressed in Latin by one single word For Involuntarius was not in use and Invitus is the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and is always spoken of the Person never of the Thing So that if any body else had said scelera invita unwilling Crimes some bold Readers would be apt to take it for Barbarism and Nonsense but coming from those great Genius's with whom Learning that is a leaving the world has taken her last residence they receive this as a new discovery in Language like (g) Sup. p. 44. another of theirs in Geography In the very next words to these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let us see if they make any better work there Invita ad quae me hortaris Involuntary Crimes to which you exhort me says the version of our late Editors Admirably well done again Pray how can this Alcibous a Messenian be said to exhort him to those Cruelties who so much abhorred Him and Them as it is in this very Letter that he had the Physician his Townsman tried for his own Life for saving the Tyrant's It would puzzle a common Wit to reconcile this but here 's a Note upon this passage that will set every thing aright (h) Annot. ad Phalar p. 145. Ad quae me hortaris i. e. Moribus tuis nequissimis provocas Commend me to these Annotators for a help at a dead lift To provoke a Man we see with the basest tricks is in their language to exhort him So that when They by a vile aspersion instead of thanks for a kindness receiv'd have given me just provocation to answer them as they deserve it is only in their manner to exhort me to do it It is my singular Humanity that I do not follow their Exhortation But I am apt to believe that even the Sophist himself as illiterate as he was would disdain to own such a version to be the Echo of his meaning Had he had in his thoughts so ridiculous a sense as they father upon him he would have said then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For that is the Syntax of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when it signifies to exhort Whereas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Text is for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is in that sense as absurd and incongruous in Greek as Quae mihi hortaris or Quae mihi provocas would be in Latin I think I have shewn already that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 exprobrare to accuse and reproach Those involuntary wrongs that you lay to my charge 'T is true the word is not used in this acceptation by any ancient Authors I have mention'd it therefore above as a token of a more recent Writer But without doubt it was of known use in the age of the Sophist and the innovation was not at all improper For as the Ancients both in Poetry and Prose used 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to denote this meaning 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so by a like metaphor and analogy we may use 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to express the same notion just as the Latins say vitio VERTERE All this I suppose was known to the Translator of Phalaris who is
the Old Gentleman the Father done that he wishes nothing for His sake And how had his (g) Suidas Tho. Magister c. three Sons offended him that They have no share in his good wishes 'T is a fine piece of conduct that our Sophist has shewn He had read something of our Poet's Mother for she was famous in old Comedy for her Lettuce and Cabbage but having heard nothing of his Sons he represents him through all his Letters as if he had no Children As here the only motive to desire Wealth is his care of the Old Woman and when she is supposed to be dead all his concern is only for his Friends In the First Letter (h) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He and his Friends are such contented men that they refuse the royal Gift Not a word of the three young Sparks who 't is hard to think were so self-denying In the Fifth he keeps none of the King's Presents by him but sends all away to Athens to be shared among his (i) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Friends and Companions How again would the young Gentlemen look to be forgot thus by their own Father If it be suspected in favour of the Letters that the Sons might be all dead before I can soon put a stop to that from a good Evidence Aristophanes who in a Play made (k) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 184. Edit Basil the very Year of our Poet's death mentions the Sons as then alive XI The Romans may brag as much as they please of Mecoenas and others but of all Patrons of Learning Archelaus of Macedonia shall have My commendations Within two or three days after Euripides's arrival he makes him a Present of (l) Ep. v. Forty Talents Which was a greater Summ of Money than our Poet could ever have raised before though all that he had should have been sold four times over The Great Themistocles (m) Plut. Themist was not worth Three Talents before he meddled with Public Affairs and (n) Terent. Heaut Two Talents was thought a good Portion for a substantial Man's Daughter Alexander the Great when he was Lord of the World sent Xenocrates the Philosopher a Present of Thirty Talents or as others say Fifty which (o) Cicero Tusc v. Pecunia temporibus illis Athenis praesertim maxima Cicero calls a vast Summ especially for those times But Alexander's natural Munificence was stimulated and exalted to that extraordinary Act of Bounty out of a peak (p) Laert. in Arist he had to Aristotle How generous then nay how profuse was Archelaus that out of his little and scanty Revenue could give as much as his great Successor in the midst of the Persian Treasures But all this is spoil'd again when we consider 't is a Sophist's Present who is liberal indeed of his Paper Notes but never makes solid Payment And now I suppose it will be thought no great matter whether Sabirius Pollo as Apollonides affirms or any other unknown Sophist have the Honour of the Epistles I will take my leave of Him and Them after I have done the same kindness to Apollonides that I did to Sabirius For as I read the name of the one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 instead of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I dare make bold to substitute 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The former was never heard of but here This latter is mention'd by Laertius Harpocration and others He writ several Books and dedicated one of them (q) Laert. in Timone to Tiberius The time therefore agrees exactly with this emendation for living in that Emperor's days he might well cite a Roman Author Sabidius Pollio But to take away all manner of scruple this very Book About Falsified History is ascribed to Apollonides Nicenus by (r) v. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 De Differ Vocab Ammonius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 just as the Writer of Aratus's Life says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 OF AESOP 's FABLES I Could easily go on and discover to you many more Impostures of this kind The Epistles of Anacharsis Heraclitus Democritus Hippocrates Diogenes Crates and others But perhaps I may be exhorted hereafter to put this Dissertation into Latin with large Additions till which time I will adjourn the further Discourse upon those several Authors and proceed now to the last thing proposed The Fables of Aesop And here I am glad to find a good part of the Work done ready to my hand For Monsieur Bachet S. de Meziriac has writ The Life of Aesop in French which Book though I could never meet with it I can guess from the great Learning of the Author known to me by his other Works to have in a manner exhausted the Subject Vavasor too De Ludicra Dictione ascribes the present Fables to Maximus Planudes and not to Aesop himself See also a great deal upon this Head in the late Historical Dictionary of Mr. Baile All which make me look upon Sir W. T.'s mighty Commendation of the Aesopean Fables now extant which is the occasion of this Treatise to be an unhappy Paradox neither worthy of the great Author nor agreeable to the rest of his excellent Book For if I do not much deceive my self I shall soon make it appear That of all the Compositions of the Aesopic Fables these that we have now left us are both the Last and the Worst Though I do not intend a set Discourse but only a few loose things that I fansie may have escaped the Observation of Others I. 'T is very uncertain if Aesop himself left any Fables behind him in writing the Old Man in (s) In Vespis p. 357. Aristophanes learn'd his Fables in Conversation and not out of a Book 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There 's another (t) In Avibus p. 387. passage in the same Poet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which (u) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Suidas and from him Erasmus Scaliger c. affirm to be used proverbially You have not read so much as Aesop spoken of Ideots and Illiterates From whence one might conclude that Aesop wrote his own Fables which were in every bodies hands But it plainly appears from the Poet himself that it is not a Proverbial Saying For when One had said He never heard before that Birds were older than the Earth the Other tells him He is unlearned and unacquainted with Aesop who said That the Lark was the first of Things and she when her Father died after he had laid five days unburied because the Earth was not yet in being at last buried him in her own Head Now what is there here like a Proverb But pray take notice that this Fable is not extant in our present Collection a good testimony that Ours are not of the Phrygian's own Composing I will mention another place of our Poet that I may on this occasion correct a gross Error