as Passions are impetuous that pleases them most which is most daring finding they have strength they use it to the utmost and when at last they sink they seem rather worn out than tired I cannot compare the Spirit of Poetry possessing a Youth of a strong generous Imagination and vigorous Constitution to any thing better than to a Flame seizing on the Body of a Meteor the whole Mass blazes and mounts upon a sudden but its motion is all the way uneven and it quickly falls in a despicable Gelly He that looks on the Latin of Manilius will see that I do him no Injury when I compare him to this Meteor for even when he is oblig'd to give rules and is ty'd almost to a certain form of words he struggles against those necessary Fetters he reaches after the strongest Metaphors uses the boldest Catachresis and against all the rules of Decency labours after an obscure Sublime when he should endeavour to be plain intelligible and easy But as soon as he hath room to get loose how wildly doth he rove he is not free but licentious and strives to err greatly 'T is needless to produce particulars since they are so visible in the Prefaces Fables and Descriptions thro' his Books And upon the whole it may be affirm'd there are so many boldnesses scatter'd thro' his Poem and so much of Toysomness just by them that a Man may read his Youth in his writings as well as his Contemporaries could do it in his Face I would mention and enlarge upon his conspicuous Vanity and from thence endeavour to support the Judgment I have already pass'd but that I consider that fault when it hath once possess'd a Man is not to be cool'd by all the Frost and Snow of Age Yet from the Vanity of Manilius I think a particular Argument may be drawn to prove him to be young for he had a design to rival or perfect the inimitable Virgil. This is evident from the Preface to his third Book 7 Lib. 3. v. 22. Romanae Gentis Origo Totque Duces Orbis tot bella tot otia et omnis In Populi unius leges ut cesserit Orbis Differtur For here it is plain he had this mighty project in his head and after he had prepar'd himself by this Astronomical Poem rais'd his Fancy and got a good turn of Verse was resolv'd to prosecute it with his utmost vigour he saw the vastness of the design 8 Lib. 3. v. 21. Spatio majore canenda Quam si tacta loquor Yet he hop'd to live to finish it though in the beginning of this Poem he wishes for old Age that he might compleat the Work he then had in hand yet having gone through the most difficult part of it sooner and with more ease than at first he thought he should have done he sets up for new Schemes and thinks he shall have years enough before him prudently to begin and Strength succesfully to carry on so great an Undertaking In this very Preface he reckons up a great many other Subjects fit to employ a Poet but in express terms lays them all aside Colchida nec referam c. Non annosa canam c. But the Roman History is in his Thoughts tho' he will not begin to write till his greater leisure gives him opportunity to do it These two Observations perswade me that Manilius was Young when he began this Poem and that he dy'd Young and did not live to finish his design or accurately Revise what he had written will I think be very evident from what follows It cannot be deny'd that this Poet had advanc'd very far in his Work whilst Tiberius was at Rhodes for in his fourth Book he gives this Character of that Island 9 Lib. 4. v. 761. Virgine sub casta felix Terraque Marique Et Rhodos Hospitium recturi Principis Orbem Tuque domus verè solis cui tota sacrata es Cum caperes lumen magni sub Caesare Mundi Now 1 Dion Cassius p. 634. Tiberius retired to Rhodes when C. Antistius and L. Balbus were Consuls he continu'd there Seven 2 Vell. Paterculus lib. 2. cap. 99. Years and return'd in the Consulship of P. Vinicius and P. Alfinius Varus and yet in the first Book we meet with the 3 lib. 1. v. 894. Description of the Prodigies that appeared before the defeat of Varus in Germany which hapned when Poppaeus Sabinus and Q. Sulpicius Camerinus were Consuls about eight years after the Return of Tiberius from Rhodes What shall we say then was the fourth Book written and publish'd before the first or would the Poet have strain'd for that Complement to Rhodes after the Varian Defeat with what Propriety could that Island be call'd Hospitium recturi Principis Orbem or with what Truth could it be said to contain the most glorious Luminary next to Caesar when that imagin'd Star had not for many years been in that Horizon and now shone in other quarters of the World No this had been Banter and inexplicable Riddle But if we suppose Manilius to have had this Work under his hand several years to have revis'd it and added what he thought would adorn his Poem then we can easily give an account why his fourth Book should appear to be eight years younger than his first A little before Tiberius's return from Rhodes he wrote his fourth Book after that he composs'd his fifth and sixth which is now lost then at several times revising his Work and about the time of the Varian Defeat being upon the end of his first Book he added to his discourse of Comets a short Account of those prodigious Meteors that then appeared and which Historians 4 Dion Cassius lib. 56. tell us were the most amazing that were ever seen Soon after this he dy'd before he had corrected the fourth Book as appears from the Character which in that Book he gives the Island Rhodes and which his last and finishing hand could not have left there These Observations will help us to give some tolerable account of the other difficulties relating to this Author for to any one who enquires why the first Book is more correct than the rest why the Impurities of Stile the Criticks charge upon him are for the most part pickt out of the four last Books I would answer we have only the first and rude Draughts of them and that as Poets and Painters are said to be very near ally'd so they agree in nothing more than they do in this that though in their Scetches we see the Master yet we may find something that the Finisher would correct To him who asks why there is no mention of this Poet in any of the Antients I would reply That Manilius having left an unfinisht Piece his Family was studious both of his Credit and their own they carefully preserv'd the Orphan but would not expose it In that Age when Poetry was rais'd to its greatest highth
Poem Doth he say he wrote Books of Astronomy knew the Depths of Astrology and was admitted into the Councils of the Stars Here was a large Field for that luxuriant Wit to have wanton'd in and it cannot be thought he would have conceal'd the deserts of his Patron when he study'd to commend him But instead of this he praises his Justice Integrity Clemency and Honor he extols his Eloquence and prefers the sweetness of it before all the delicate Charms of Poetry and Musick 3 De Mallii Theod. Consul v. 251. Ut quis non sitiens Sermonis Mella politi Deserat Orpheos blanda Testudine cantus And tho' all the Muses are concern'd for him and busie in his Service yet he is devoted to none of them but Uraâ—ie who assisted him in his Astronomical Diversions 4 ibid. 274. Uranie redimita comas quâ saepe Magistra Mallius igniferos radio descripserat Axes Gevartius very well observes that this Consul Mallius was an Astronomer 5 ibid. v. 126. Invenit aetherios signantem pulvere cursus Quos pia sollicito deprendit pollice Memphis Quae moveant momenta polum quam certus in Astris Error Quis tenebras Soli causisque meantem Defectum indicat numerus Quae linea Phoeben Damne et excluso pallentem fratre relinquat That he publish'd some admir'd Books 6 ibid. v. 332. Consul per populos idemque gravissimus Author Eloquij duplici vita subnixus in aevuâ— Procedat libris pariter fastisque legendus But how doth it appear that Astronomy was his Subject when Claudian himself tells us it was the Origine and Constitution of the World He represents him as well vers'd in all the several Hypotheses of the Natural and Moral Philosophers acquainted both with the Physicks and Ethicks of the Greeks and able to discourse of their Opinions very properly and very elegantly in Latin 7 ibid v. 84. Graiorum obscuras Romanis floribus Artes Irradias But when he speaks of his Writings he says he describ'd the Origine and Disposition of the World Ibid. v. 65. and gave very convincing proofs of his own Wit Capacity and Judgment by his exact account of the beautiful Order and regular Contrivance of that wonderful Machine 8 Ibid. v. 253. Qualem te legimus teneri Primordia Mundi Scribentem aut Partes Animae per Singula Talem Cernimus et similes agnoscit Pagina mores From these Verses and other passages in Claudian as 9 ibid. v. 101. Quae vis animaverit Astra Impuleritque Choros quo vivat Machina motu it may be inferr'd that this Consul Mallius was as to Natural Philosophy a Stoick and built his World according to the Hypothesis of that Sect and therefore wrote something very like what we find at large in the first Book and hinted at in several passages of the other Books of Manilius But this being the least part of our Author and subservient to his greater and general design it must not be suppos'd that Claudian should enlarge only upon this and leave his whole Astrology untoucht unless we think Claudian as ridiculous as that Painter would be who being to fill his Canvas with a noble Family should draw a single Servant or paint only a Finger or a Nail when he had a large beautiful Body to represent I have been the more particular in this matter because Gevartius pretends to demonstration tho' to confute his conjecture it had been sufficient only to observe that it is the most ridiculous thing in the World to imagine that Mallius a Man well known both for his personal Endowments and publick Employments who had been Governour of several Provinces and at last Consul should publish a Treatise under his own Name and yet in almost every Page of the Book endeavour to perswade his Readers it was written four hundred years before For it must be granted that the Prince whom he 1 Lib. 1. v. 7. invokes in the beginning of his Poem who is stiled Patriae Princepsque Paterque who is deify'd whilst 2 lib. 1. v. 9. et 924. alive and not to repeat the other particulars I have already reckon'd up whose 3 lib. 2. v. 509. Horoscope was Capricorn was the first Great Augustus and therefore there is no need of calling in the Authorities of 4 Car. lib. 1. Od. 2. Hic ames dici Pater atque Princeps Horace 5 Virg. Ec. 1. et Georg. 1. and 6 〈…〉 Aug. cap. 94. Suetonius to prove it This last Character puts me in mind of another Objection that may be drawn from F. Harduin's 7 de Num. Herod p. 9. Observation for he says that Suetonius was himself deceiv'd and hath deceiv'd all those who have thought Capricorn was concern'd in the Nativity of Augustus For if this be true all the Pretences of Manilius are ruin'd but since that Writer doth not back his Assertion with any Reasons I shall not submit to his bare Authority nor wast my time in guessing what Arguments he may rely on being not bold enough to conjecture what the daring Author may produce Having thus fixt the Age of this Author and prov'd him to have liv'd in the time of Augustus Caesar I shall venture farther to affirm that he was born under the Reign of that Emperour not only a Roman but of illustrious Extraction being a branch of that noble Family the Manilij who so often fill'd the Consul's Chair and supply'd the best and greatest Offices in the Roman Commonwealth And here I must oppose many of the Criticks and be unassisted by the rest For 8 Proleg in Manil. p. 2. Scaliger confesses that from his own Writings it cannot be known what Countryman he was and no other Authors give us any Information Bonincontrius and Gyraldus endeavour to prove from the Medal already mention'd that he was no Roman the Learned 9 Vid. Sir Edward Shirburn's Preface to the Sphere of Manilius Isaac Vossius thinks he was a Syrian and all who look upon him to be the same with that Manilius mention'd by Pliny Nat. Hist lib. 35. cap. 17. say he was a Slave Only Petrus Crinitus 1 De Poet. Lat. affirms he was Nobly Born and Mr. Tristan will 2 Hist Com. Tom. 1. have him to be that Manilius of whom Pliny gives a very Honourable Character in the Tenth Book and Second Chapter of his Natural History where he says He was of Senatorian Dignity an excellent Scholar and If we believe Mr. Tristan a very good Astronomer But since Crinitus doth not prove what he says and Mr. Tristan but conjectures at best and upon Examination will be found to be very much mistaken in his Conjectures therefore I cannot expect any assistance from either of these Authors Now it is not certain that the Gentleman whom Pliny speaks of in the Second Chapter of his Tenth Book was Nam'd Manilius Copies differ and in the M. SS of Salmasius 3
the whole System appear in that very form and figure which it now bears They farther add that this Infinite Mind hath made one general decree concerning the Government of the lower World and executes it by giveing such and such Powers to the Celestial Bodies as are sufficient and proper to produce the design'd Effects This Decree thus executed they call Fate and upon this Principle their whole System of Astrology depends That some things happen'd in the World which were very unaccountable every days Experience taught them they learn'd also or pretended to have learn'd from very many accurate and often repeated Observations that there was a constant Agreement between those odd unaccountable Accidents and such and such Positions of the Heavenly Bodies and therefore concluded that those Bodies were concern'd in those Effects Hence they began to settle Rules and to draw their scatter'd Observations into an Art And this was the State of the Hypothesis and Astrology of the Stoicks I must call it so for distinction sake tho' neither the Hypothesis it self nor the Astrology built upon it was invented by Zeno but deliver'd down to him and his Scholars by the Chaldeans and other Philosophers of the East 'till the Greeks ambitious of making it appear their own endeavour'd to establish support and adorn it with their Fables and by that means made that which before seem'd only precarious as all Arts which are drawn from bare Observation and not from any settled Principles in Nature must appear to be ridiculous Fancies and wild Imaginations But I do not design an Account nor a defence of the Astrology of the Antients You know Sir it hath been spoken against and derided on the one Hand and supported and applauded on the other by Men of great Wit Judgment Piety and Worth and he who shall take a View of it will always find enough in it to divert his leisure if not to satisfie his Curiosity and raise his Admiration This is the Hypothesis which Manilius endeavour'd to explain in Latin Verse Had he liv'd to revise it we had now had a more beautiful and correct piece he had a Genius equal to his Undertaking his Fancy was bold and daring his Skill in the Mathematicks great enough for his Design his Knowledge of the History and Acquaintance with the Mythology of the Antients general As he is now some of the Criticks place him amongst the Judicious and Elegant and all allow him to be one of the useful instructive profitable Poets He hints at some Opinions which later Ages have thought fit to glory in as their own Discoveries Thus he defends the Fluidity of the Heavens against the Hypothesis of Aristotle He asserts that the fixed Stars are not all in the same concave Superficies of the Heavens and equally distant from the Center of the World He maintains that they are all of the same Nature and Substance with the Sun and that each of them hath a particular Vortex of his own and lastly he affirms that the Milkie Way is only the undistinguish'd Lustre of a great many small Stars which the Moderns now see to be such thro' the Glass of Galilaeo In short we do not give him too great a Character when we say he is one of the most discerning Philosophers that Antiquity can shew In my Version I have endeavoured to render this Author inâ—â—lligible and easie and therefore have been sometimes forc'd to take a larger Compass than a strict Traâ—slation would allow and have â—dded some Notes to make him â—ess obscure Amongst those Notes yâ—u will find one relating to the Thâ—ory of the Earth which I must desire you to lay aside it being written and printed several years ago and before I had well considered the weak unphilosophical Principles and pernicious Consequences of that vain Hypothesis And now Sir you are near the End of this long Letter give me â—eave to tell you that I have not tired â—ou half so much as at first I design'd to do having left unsaid a great many things relating both to the Author and his Writings Those perhaps will appear at the Head of a Latin Edition of his Works which I shall think my self oblig'd to undertake unless a very learned Gentleman from whom I have long expected it frees me from that trouble and obliges the World with his own Observations I am Your Humble Servant T. C. All-Souls Octo. 10â—â— 96. MANILIUS The First Book After a short Account of his Design and a complemental Address to Augustus he begins 1. With the Rise and Progress of Astronomy and other Arts 2. Discourseth of the several Opinions concerning the Beginning of the World 3. Describes the Order of it 4. Proves the Earth to be the Centre of the World 5. Proves it to be round 6. Asserts the Soul of the World 7. Reckons up the Signs of the Zodiack 8. Describes the Axis 9. The Northern Constellations 10. The Constellations between the Tropicks and the South-pole 11. Explains the Figures of the Constellations 12. Asserts Providence against Epicurus 13. Discovers the Bigness of the World 14. Treats of the movable and immovable Circles 15. Makes a long description of the Milky-way 16. Reckons up the Planets 17. Discourseth of Comets and Meteors and concludes that they presage STars conscious of our Fates and Arts 1 Divine The Subject of the Poem The wondrous work of Heaven's first wise design In numerous Verse I boldly first inclose Too high a Subject and too great for Prose At what the Ancients with a wild amaze And ignorant wonder were content to gaze My Verse brings down from Heav'n design'd to show Celestial secrets to the World below What yet the Muses Groves ne'er heard I sing And bring unusual offerings to their spring Rome's Prince and Father The Invocation Thou whose wide command With awfull sway is stretcht o'er Sea and Land Who dost deserve that Heaven thy Love bestow'd On thy great Father Thou thy self a God Now give me Courage make my Fancy strong And yield me vigour for so great a Song Nor doth the World this curious search refuse It kindly courts the daring of my Muse And will be known whilst You serenely reign Instruct our Labour and reward our Pain Wings raise my Feet I 'm pleas'd to mount on high Trace all the Mazes of the liquid Sky Their various turnings and their whirls declare And live in the vast regions of the Air I 'll know the Stars which yet alone to gain Is knowledge mean unequal to the Pain For doubts resolv'd it no delight affords But fills soft empty heads with ratling words I 'll search the Depths the most remote recess And flying Nature to Confession press I 'll find what Sign and Constellation rule And make the difference 'twixt the Wise and Fool My Verse shall sing what various Aspect reigns When Kings are doom'd to Crowns and Slaves to Chains I 'll turn Fate 's Books there reade proud Parthia's doom And see the sure
blaze but still presage Some coming Plague on the unhappy Age. No Crop rewards the cheated Farmer 's toil He mourns and curses the ungratefull Soil The meagre Ox to the successless Plow He yoaks and scarce dares make another Vow Or wasting Plagues their deadly Poisons spread Encreasing the large Empire of the Dead Men die by Numbers and by heaps they fall And mighty Cities make one Funeral On groaning Piles whole huddled Nations burn And Towns lie blended in one Common Urn. Such Plagues Achaia felt The Plague of Athens the fierce Disease Laid Athens waste and spoil'd the Town in Peace It bore the helpless Nation to the Grave No Physick could assist no Vows could save Heaps fell on Heaps and whilst they gasp'd for Breath Heaps fell on those and finisht half their Death None nurst the Sick the nearest Kinsmen fled None stay'd to bury or to mourn the Dead The Fires grown weary dy'd beneath their Spoils And heapt-up Limbs supply'd the place of Piles Vast Emptiness and Desolation reign'd And to so great a People scarce one Heir remain'd Such are the Plagues that blazing Stars proclaim They light to Funerals their unlucky Flame They shew not onely private Plagues to come But threaten Mortals with the Day of Doom When Piles Eternal Heaven and Earth shall burn And sickly Nature fall into her Urn. They sudden Tumults Wars and strange Arms declare And when close Treach'ry shall start up to War When faithless Germans did of late rebell And tempt their Fate when Generous Varus fell And three brave Legions bloud the Plains did drown O'er all the Skies the threatning Comets shone E'en Nature seem'd at War and Fire was hurld At Fire and Ruin threatned to the World These things are strange but why should these surprize The Fault is Ours since we with heedless Eyes View Heaven and want the Faith to trust the Skies They Civil-Wars foretell and Brothers rage The Curse and the disgraces of an Age. Never more Comets drew their dreadfull Hair Than when Philippi saw the World at War Scarce had the Plains drunk up the former Bloud On scatter'd Bones and Limbs the Romans stood And fought again disdaining meaner Foes A wretched Conquest where the Victors lose Our Empire 's power did its own self oppose And great Augustus o'er the slaughter'd Heaps Pursu'd bright Victory in his Father's steps Nor did the Rage end here the Actian fight That bloudy dowry of a wanton Night Remain'd and rais'd by Cleopatra's Charms The headlong Nations ran again to Arms. The Chance for the whole World was thrown again And the Skies Ruler sought upon the Main Then War obey'd a Woman Timbrels strove With Thunder Isis with the Roman Jove Nor stopt it here but the degenerate Son Stain'd all the Glory that his Father won The Seas great Pompey freed He seiz'd again His Pirates lay like Tempests on the Main The Relicks of the Wars the Impious Slaves Were arm'd for fight and ravag'd o'er the Waves Till the torn fleet di'd all the Seas with Bloud And Asia's Chains reveng'd the injur'd Floud Let this O Fates suffice Let Discord cease And raging Tumults be confin'd by Peace Let Caesar triumph let the World obey And long let Rome be happy in his Sway. Long have him here and when she shall bestow A God on Heaven enjoy his Aid below The End of the First Book NOTES 1 Whether Divinas is to be rendred Divining or Divine is not yet agreed by the Interpreters of the Poet by rendring it Divine Manilius is freed from a redundancy of Words and the Origine of Astronomy which he so often inculcates in other places is hinted at beside Divinus seldom signifies Divining but when a Substantive follows which determines it to that sense as Divina imbrium and the like and in that case I find Milton venturing at it in his Poem Divine of future Woe 2 It seems very plain that this whole description respects onely the Eastern Kings and therefore Manilius must be reckoned amongst those who believed the head of Nile to be in the East and lest he might be thought to have forgotten the Egyptians I am inclin'd to think he includes them under the Priests to whose care Astronomical Observations were peculiarly committed 3 This was the Opinion of Xenophanes Melissus Aristotle and others and Pliny thus concludes in the second Book cap. 1. of his Natural History 'T is reasonable to believe that the World is a Deity eternal and immense that never had a beginning and never shall have an end As absurd an Opinion as ever was propos'd and repugnant to all the Appearances of Nature look upon the Rocks on the Sea shore and having observ'd their continual wearing consider how few thousands of years they must have stood direct thy eye to Heaven and view the several changes in that which was thought impassible and in short reflect on the essential vileness of matter and its impotence to conserve its own being aud then I believe you will find reason to put this Opinion amongst those absurdities which Tully hath allotted to one or other of the Philosophers to defend 4 This blind fancy we owe to the Phoenicians who if Philo Biblius's Sancuniathon may be trusted taught that the Principles of the Universe were a Spirit of dark Air and a confus'd Chaos this Spirit at last began to Love and joyning with the Chaos produced 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or slime and thence fashioned the World And hence likely the more sober part of the Greek Philosophers for they were but borrowers of Learning who requir'd two eternal principles the one active and the other passive such as Plato Anaxagoras c. took their notions and having added some few new ornaments vented them for their own 5 The Philosophy of Epicurus is too well known to need any explication 6 The Opinion of Heraclitus concerning which see the first Book of Lucretius 7 Thales the Milesian endeavoured to establish this by Arguments drawn from the Origine and Continuation of most things The seminal Principle of Animals is humid Plants are nourished by mere Water Fire it self cannot live without Air which is onely water rarefied and the Sun and Stars draw up vapors for their own nourishment and support These were the considerations upon which he grounded his Opinion and hence 't is easie to guess that he kept up the credit of his School rather by those riches which he gain'd by his lucky conjecture at the scarcity of Olives than by the strength of argument and reason 8 The Assertion of Empedocles agreeable to which Ovid sings Quatuor aeternus genitalia Corpora Mundus Continet 9 There is something in this scheme of Manilius so like the ingenious conjecture of the excellent Authour of the Theory of the Earth that what reflects on the one must have an influence on the other and when the fiction is confuted the serious discourse will find it self concern'd The Stoicks held the material part
the Skill exceed They chiefly follow 't is their only scope To mount a Precipice or dance a Rope Tread 32. Airy steps and whilst thro Clouds they reel Draw up the Crowd and hang them at their heel But on the Left is open'd to our view The Whale XXXIII The Whale who now doth thro the Skies pursue With eager haste as thro' the injur'd Flood The fair Andromeda and still thirsts for Blood And He that then is born shall be inclin'd To spoil the Sea and kill the Scaly Kind No Fish shall swim secure whilst Nets can sweep The troubled Ocean and confine the Deep Those that but now could wanton or'e the Main Shall lye fast bound and wonder at their chain Till with a touch He shall the Cords command And draw the Dancing Captives to the Land Or whilst He shoals expects e'en midst the Flood Destroy and stain the Ocean with their Blood Yet then his works not cease or pains decay His various Arts encreasing with his prey For on the Shore He shall his spoil divide For different uses This when lightly dry'd Is better Meat and that when moist is good Whilst other parts are hardned into Food Could Gluttons see they would not bear the sight Of preparations for their Appetite Whilst Blood and Guts in a polluted Mass Lye mixt and are corrupted into Sauce Till all in filthy Gore distils to treat The fashionable Palate of the Great Or if to meaner Arts his Thoughts encline Then Salt's his care he shall the Floods confine In narrow Pitts and to the Beams expose Till what was liquid now a solid grows Then lay the crusted froth with careful hand In heaps and cleanse it and divide the Sand. And thus the brackish and unwholesom Flood Proves vital Salt and Poyson 's turn'd to Food The Great and Lesser Bear which still maintain One constant Round The rising of the two Bears and never touch the Main Scarce know a Rise yet when each front appears Take that to be the rising of the Bears The First with Leo and the last is join'd With Scorpio and prove friendly to their kind For those that then are born to Beasts shall bear Kind tempers and oblige them by their Care Give Law to Lions with a Panther play Teach Tigers peace and make a Wolf obey Maintain Converse and give them Arts unknown And such as Nature never thought her own But yet their thoughts to Bears shall most incline And there improve the Kindred of their Sign Or ride the Elephant his Bulk command And make the Monster tremble at their Wand Base the submission where such strength in vain Possess 't must tamely yield to feeble Man The third siz'd Stars the Pleiad's form do grace The several magnitudes of the Stars They shine with virgin blushes in their face Four in the Dolphin are observ'd to rise And in Deltoton Three of equal size The same the Eagle and the Bear display Nor can the Draco boast a greater ray Of size the Fourth and Fifth securely take A measure from the others of the Snake But yet the greatest part we spare to note Too small to be discern'd or too remote These lye obscure and seldom spread their light But when the Moon 's withdrawn to lower Night When great Orion from the Skies retires Plunges in Waves and quenches his bright Fires Or when gay Phoebus doth his sway resign To shades then They have a short leave to shine Then Heaven with little Lights is spangled o're That not the Sand upon the crooked Shore That not the Billows in Tempestuous Floods That not the leaves when Autumn shakes the Woods Can equal the great Train they all surmount E'en Number is too short for the account And as in Cities where in ranks decreed First 33 Nobels go and then the Knights succeed The next in order may the People claim The Rabble next a Croud without a Name So is the Heaven by different ranks possest Some like the Nobles with more rays are drest Some shine with less the numerous crowd with least Were these endow'd with a proportion'd heat Were they in Power as they 're in number great They long ago must have dissolv'd the Frame Nor could the world have born so fierce a Flame The End of the fifth Book NOTES 1. Celerique Sagittaè Delphinus certans We may read Celerique Sagitta Delphinus certans and interpret the words not as others do The Dolphin seated opposite to the Arrow But The Dolphin of equal swiftness with the Arrow 2. The Ram having a Golden Fleece as the Poets fancy'd the King of Jolcos kill'd him that he might enjoy the Treasure and Jason being sent to fetch this Golden Fleece carried away Medea the King's Daughter 3. The Ship hath two Rudders a Northern and a Southern Rudder 4. A River of Jolchos whither Jason with the Argonauts first Sailed 5. Typhis the Pilot to the Argonauts who in his Voyage steer'd thro' the dangerous moving Rocks called the Symplegadae 6. The Graecian Navy lay Wind-bound till Iphigenia was Sacrificed and appeased the anger of Diana 7. Vossius in his Observations on Catullus Reads Invehet undis Persida The Expression is bold and therefore proper for the Poet That Xerxes dug a new Channel and made a Bridge over the Hellespont are known stories 8. Manilius mentions several notable defeats at Sea such was that of the Athenians near Syracuse which brought the Athenians very low such were those of the Carthaginians by the Romans And that of Antony by Augustus near Actium 9. Heavens great Fortune Because the Conquerour was to be deify'd 10. Orion is a very large and bright Constellation and deserves this pompous Description 11. Instar erit Populi This is one of Manilius's bold Expressions which my English cannot reach 12. Alluding to the officious Salutations which the Clients amongst the Romans carried early every Morning to their Patrons 13. Manilius is very accurate in describing the particular Niceties observ'd in the Roman racing Those are not now observ'd amongst us and therefore we must be content with such Expressions as our Language will afford 14. An Exercise much us'd amongst the Romans the Horse-man rode one Horse and led another and in the midst of the Race would throw himself on the led Horse and so back again as often as he was required or else would stand upon the Horses back and in that posture ride the Course 15. Salmoneus built a Bridge of Brass and driving Chariots over it fancy'd he Thundred This he did to procure himself divine Honours but was kill'd by a Thunder-bolt for his impious attempt 16. The Poets fancy'd Bellerophon rode upon the flying Horse Pegasus 17. A Family amongst the Romans famous for their seditious Harangues which they made to the People of Rome out of the Desks or Rostra standing in the Market place 18. Amongst the Romans one Man would take several Balls and toss them sometimes behind and sometimes before now on this hand