the Secrets of Nature and Pythagoras taught them a sort of Philosophy which he call'd Divine and is the same with the Talismans or Rings made under a certain Constellation The Gods of Samothrace were those who presided over the Talismans Tertullian mentions three Altars dedicated to three sorts of Deities Magnis Potentibus Valentibus and adds 'T is credible that these were the Gods of Samothrace who were potent for the Execution of difficult Designs and who presided over great Undertakings Varro calls them Divi Potentes and supposes 'em to be Heaven and Earth ANNUS the Year 'T is properly speaking that Time which the Sun takes in passing through the 12 Signs of the Zodiack After several Observations Astronomers having determin'd That the several Recesses of the Sun have certain Periods after which that Planet seems to return to the same Points in respect to us and much about the same time makes the same Alteratoins of Seasons and Temperature of the Air call'd the Year that Number of Days which the Sun is passing through those several differences of Distances and Recesses Those who observ'd these things with greater Exactness did first acknowledge That the Sun did run from East to West round the Earth in twenty four Hours by the swift Motion of the Primum Mobile or Highest Orb. Then they observ'd That the Sun besides this Motion which is common to all the Planets had another also proper to it self which was from West to East round the same Globe of Earth in the Ecliptick which cutting the Aequator obliquely rises on both sides towards the Poles as far as the Tropicks And lastly That the Sun running in one Year through the full Extent of this great Circle of the Ecliptick which they have divided into twelve Parts or Signs by its Motion causes two very different Seasons viz. Summer and Winter when it arrives at the Tropicks that is to say at the two Points of the Solstices and two other more temperate viz. Spring and Autumn when the Sun cuts the Aequator or the Aequinoctial The Year is call'd in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say Returning into it self whence it is that the Egyptians have represented the Year by a Serpent turning round and biting its Tail which made Virgil say in his Georgicks lib. 2. v. 402. Atque in se sua pervestigia volvitur annus The Year is either Natural which is otherwise call'd Tropical or Civil The Natural or Tropick Year is that exact Space of Time which the Sun takes in passing through the Ecliptick which is not always the same because of the Inequality of the Sun's Motion which seems to have been observ'd in the most antient Times by the Aegyptian Priests and Sacrificers to Jupiter Ammon by means of the different Quantity of Oyl which was burnt continually before the Statue of that God for measuring with all the exactness possible what they spent in the whole year they found that there was a considerable Difference between one Year and another and from thence infer'd that the Years were not exactly equal Astronomers have since by the Exactness of their Calculations and Observations proved that the Mechanical Conjecture of the Aegyptians for the Term of the Solar Year observ'd in the time of Hipparchus and Piolemy and about 750 years after by Albategnius was still found very different in the time of Alphonsus King of Castile which was about 400 years after and the Modern Discoveries that have been made from the most curious and diligent Observations have no Agreement with the Antients And as the Duration of the Solar Year which we have from Ptolemy's Observations is the greatest of all that in Albategnius the least so that in Alphonsus's time is in some sort a Mean between both but that of our time seems to come near the greatest Copernicus who liv'd about the end of the last Age but one took occasion to conjecture that these tho different Inequalities had their determin'd Periods and that in a certain Revolution of time they pass'd through all these Differences and then return'd to the same Posture they were in before He has found out by a laborious Computation that the Term of this Period is about 1716 years in which time the Solar year runs through all these several Changes But because it would be very hard to fix upon a Computation of Years according to such nice Differences which consist in some few Minutes for each year the Astronomers have for that reason made use of a mean Duration between the greater and the less which contains 365 days 15 hours and about 49 minutes The Civil Year which is commonly us'd by all Nations is very different both as to its Beginning and Duration which nevertheless may be refer'd to three different Heads for they either follow the Course of the Sun or of the Moon or of both The Hebrews had two sorts of Years the Secular or Natural Year and the Sacred or Ecclesiastical The Secular had respect to the Civil Government for buying and selling and began at the Autumnal Aequinox in the month called Tisri which answers to our September because they believed that God created the World at that time The Sacred Year had reference to their Religion and began at the Vernal Aequinox in the month called Nisan which answers to our April at which time they kept their Passover The Aegyptians Chaldaeans and Assyrians were the first that measur'd their Year by the Course of the Sun and they thought at first that the Solar Year had 360 days only which they divided into twelve months containing thirty days each at the end of which as we may conjecture by the Story which Plutarch relates concerning Rhea and Saturn Mercury added five days which he called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Added by which means the year became 365 days long without counting the six hours or thereabouts by which the Solar Year exceeds that number of days and which making one day in four years is the cause that Thot i. e. the Aegyptian year has no determin'd and fix'd place in any part of the Solar Year which it anticipates one day every four years and one month in 120 years running through its whole Course in the space of 1440 years after which it returns to the same point from which it first began This way of reckoning the Years has been a long time in use among the Aegyptians till after the defeat of Mark Anthony by Augustus at the Battel of Actium their Country was made a Province of the Roman Empire and they were forced to submit to the Laws of the Conquerours and their Computation of years which was the Julian keeping only the Names of the months which answer'd after such a manner to the Roman Months that their Thot the first day of the Year always happen'd upon the 29th of August whence it comes to pass that the first day of the Aegyptian Year which
January August and December each of 'em two to April June September and November each of 'em one But because in these latter times there is still an Errour found in this Calculation and the Equinoxes insensibly go back from the point where Julius Caesar had fix'd them they have found out that the year had not just 365 days and six hours but wanted about 11 minutes which in 131 years make the Aequioxes go back about a day for an hour having 60 such minutes a day must have 1440 which being divided by 11 make 130 and 10 over so that the Aequinoxes were come back to the tenth of March. For which reason in the year 1582 Pope Gregory XIII to reform this Error caus'd 10 days to be taken from the Year to bring the Aequinoxes to the 21 of March and the 22 and 23 of September and to prevent the like for the future he order'd that since 131 thrice counted make 393 i. e. almost 400 years this matter should be regulated by Centuries to make the account more easie and compleat so that in 400 years the Bissextile of 3 years should come to 100 Bissextiles And this is that which is call'd The Gregorian Year The Jews count their years by weeks and call the seventh Sabbatical in which they were not allow'd to plow their Ground and were oblig'd to set all their Bond-Servants at liberty They had also their Year of Jubilee and Release which was every 50 years or according to others every 49 years so that every year of Jubilee was also Subbatical but yet more famous than others and then all Possessions and whatever else had been alienated return'd to its first Owner The Greeks counted their years by Olympiads of which every one contain'd the space of four whole and compleat years These Olympiads took their Names from the Olympick Games which were celebrated near the City of Pisa otherwise call'd Olympia in Peloponnesus from whence they were call'd Olympicks These years were also called Iphitus's because Iphitus first appointed them or ' at least reviv'd that Solemnity The Romans counted by Lustra of which every one is 4 compleat years or the beginning of the fifth This word comes from Luo which signifies to pay because at the beginning of every fifth year they paid the Tribute impos'd on them by the Censors They also counted their Year by a Nail which they fix'd in a Wall of the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus The Year is divided into four Parts or Seasons viz. Spring Summer Autumn and Winter The Aegyptians divided it but into three Parts Spring Summer and Autumn allotting to each Season four months They represented the Spring by a Rose the Summer by an Ear of Corn and the Autumn by Grapes and other Fruits Nonnius at the end of his Lib. 11. of his Dionysinca describes the four Seasons of the year thus The Seasons saith he appear to the Eye of the Colour of a Rose the Daughters of the inconstent Year come into the House of their Father The Winter casts a seeble Ray having her Face and Hair cover'd with Snow and her Breast with Hoar-Frost her Teeth chatter and all her Body is rough-coated with Cold. The Spring crowned with Roses sends forth a sweet Smell and makes Garlands of Flowers for Venus and Adonis The Summer holds in one hand a Sickle and in the other Ears of Corn. And lastly the Autumn appears crowned with Vine Branches loaden with Grapes and carrying in her hands a Basket of Fruits The Greeks begin to count the Years from the Creation of the World on the first of September At Rome there are two ways of reckoning the Year one begins at Christmass because of the Nativity of our Saviour and the Notaries of Rome use this Date setting to their Deeds à Nativitate and the other at March because of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ this is the Reason that the Popes Bulls are thus dated Anno Incarnationis The antient French Historians began the year at the Death of St. Martin who dy'd in the year of Christ 401 or 402. They began not in France to reckon the year from January till 1564 by virtue of an Ordinance of Charles IX King of France for before they began the day next after Easter about the twenty fifth of March. ANQUIRERE capite or pecuniâ in the Roman Law to require that a Person be condemn'd to Death or fined ANSER a Goose This Domestick Fowl was in great Esteem among the Romans for having sav'd the Capitol from the Invasion of the Gauls by her Cackling and clapping of her Wings They were kept in the Temple of Juno and the Censors at their entrance into their Office provided Meat for them There was also every year a Feast kept at Rome at which they carry'd a Silver Image of a Goose in state upon a Pageant adorn'd with rich Tapstry with a Dog which was hang'd to punish that Creature because he did not bark at the arrival of the Gauls ANTAEUS the Son of Neptune and Terra and one of the Giants which dwelt in the Desarts of Libya He forc'd all Travellers to wrestle with him and kill'd them He made a Vow to build Neptune a Temple of the Sculls of those he kill'd He attack'd Hercules who taking him by the middle of his Body choak'd him in the Air it being impossible to kill him otherwise for as often as he threw him upon the ground that Giant recover'd new Strength which the Earth his Mother supply'd him with ANTECESSORES this Word properly signifies those who excel in any Art or Science Justinian has honour'd those Doctors of Law who taught publickly with this Title there were four of them in every College and they made up the Council of State ANTECOENA the First Course the first Dish set upon the Table it was either Fruits or Sweet Wine or some part of the Entertainment ANTENOR a Trojan Prince who is said to have deliver'd the Palladium of Troy to the Greeks which was the cause that the City was taken After the City was taken and destroy'd he came into Sclavonia about the Streights of the Adriatick Sea where he built a City of his own Name which is since call'd Padua ANTEROS the Son of Mars and Venus and Brother of Cupid See Amor. ANTESTARI in the Law signifies to bear Witness against any one whence it is that Horace says in his Sat. 9. lib. 1. v. 76. Vis antestari Will you bear Witness And he that would did only offers the Tip of his Ear Ego verò oppono auriculam I offer my Ear immediately to shew that I consent ANTEVORTA and POSTVORTA Deities honour'd by the Romans who took care of what is past and what is future and whom they made the Companions of Providence ANTICYRA an Island lying between the Streights of Meliacum and Mount Oeta There grew says Pliny the best Hellebore which is an excellent Herb to purge the Brain from whence comes the Proverb Naviget Anticyram
is also call'd the Coptick Year is four whole months and three days before the Kalends of January which is the first day of the Roman Year The Persians count their Years as the Aegyptians do ever since Cambyses became Master of Aegypt For having ransack'd the Sepulchre of Simandius he found a Circle of 365 Cubits round every Cubit representing a day of the year which was graven and mark'd by the rising and setting of the fix'd Stars which made them fix their year to 365 days without mentioning the hours Quintus Curtius tells us that the Persians adore the Sun and have an holy Fire kindled by its Rays to be carry'd before their King who is follow'd by 365 young Lords cloath'd with yellow Robes to represent the 365 days of the Year The Arabians Saracens and Turks at this day reckon their Year by the Course of the Moon making it to consist of twelve Moons whereof some have thirty and some twenty nine days alternatively one after the other which make all together but 354 days so that the Duration of time being less than the Solar Year by about eleven days it follows that their Month Muharran which they count for their first place in the whole Course of the Solar Year which it precedes 11 days every year and more than a month in 3 years so that in less than thirty four years it runs through all the season of the Solar Year and returns to the Point from which it first began And since the exact time of the 12 Moons besides the 354 whole days is about 8 hours and 48 minutes which make 11 days in 30 years they are forc'd to add 11 days extraordinary in 30 years which they do by means of a Cycle of 30 years invented by the Arabians in which there are 19 years with 354 days only and 11 intercalary or Embolismical which have every one 355 days and these are they wherein the number of hours and minutes which are Surplus to the whole days in every year is found to be more than half a day such as 2 5 7 10 13 16 18 21 24 26 and 29 by which means they fill up all the Inequalities that can happen The Greeks consider the Motions of the Sun and Moon in their Year and as they suppos'd in antient times that the Moons Course was exactly 30 days they made their Year to consist of 12 Moons and by consequence of 360 days but quickly perceiving their error they took out 6 days to bring it to the Lunar Year of 354 days which being less than the Solar Year by 11 days they found it convenient for reconciling the Inequalities in the Motions of these two Luminaries to insert at the end of every second year an intercalary month of 22 days which they call'd upon that account 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 id est a Month added or inserted They understood afterwards that the 6 hours they had omitted which yet are a part of the time of the Solar Year above the 365 days and make one whole day in four years were the cause that their Year anticipated the true Solar Year one day at the end of four years which oblig'd them to change their Intercalation and put it off to the fourth year and then leaving only 354 days to the 3 first under the name of the Common Year they reckon'd 399 days to the fourth by the addition or intercalation of one month and an half consisting of 40 days arising from the 11 days by which every Solar Year exceeds the Lunar being four times counted and the day which arises from the adding of the six hours in four years And to render the Intercalation more remarkable they made a noble Consecration of it by instituting the Olympick Games in the time of Iphitas at which all Greece met together every fourth year and hence came the Computation of time by Olympiads every one of which consisted of four years and are so famous in History Nevertheless they found at last that this space of four years did not rectifie all the Irregularities that happen'd in the Courses of the Sun and Moon which oblig'd them to double 'em and make a Revolution of 8 years and because they were not hereby yet fully satisfy'd they introduc'd another of 11 years Notwithstanding this the Athenians did not receive such satisfaction as they hop'd for by this last Period of 11 years but they had still remain'd in a perpetual Confusion had not one of their Citizens nam'd Meto an Astronomer of very profound Judgment at last discover'd that all these different Changes which happen'd betwixt the two Motions of the Sun and Moon would be accommodated by a Period made up of the two former of 8 and 11 years i. e. in the space of 19 years after which those Stars return again to the same place where they were at first This Period of XIX Years of Meto was ordinarily call'd The Enneadecas eterais and was receiv'd with so great Applause among the Athenians that they would have it written in large Characters of Gold and set up in a publick Place which gave it the Name of the Golden Number and the use of it became common not only in Greece but also among the Jews who made use of it to regulate their years afterwards among the Romans and lastly among the Christians The Athenians began their Year at the New-Moon after the Summer Solstice in the Month call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. between the months of June and July All the Magistrates says Pluto must meet in the same Temple the day before the Kalends of the Summer Solstice when the New-year begins Some made their Year to consist only of three Months others of four as we read in Macrobius his first Book of his Saturnalia Chap. 12. The Carians and Acharnanians made their Year to consist of six months and Justin tells us That they reckon'd but fifteen days to their Month. The Romans had three sorts of Years 1. That of Romulus which contain'd but ten months beginning with March whence it comes that December is call'd the last Month. 2. Of Numa which corrected the gross Mistake of Romulus and added two months to the year viz. January and February making it to consist of 355 days only which makes 12 Lunar months 3. Of Julius Caesar who discovering a further Error in the Calculation viz. That there were ten days more than Numa reckon'd made a Year of 365 compleat days and reserving the six hours to the end of four years made a whole day of 'em which he inserted before the 6th of the Calends of March so that in that year they counted the 6th of the Calends twice Bis sexto Calendas whence came the word Bissextile and the year had 366 days and was call'd Bissextile And this way of computation has continued to our time and from its Author is named the Julian Year Now the 10 days which Caesar added to the year were thus distributed to
There are yet three Medals to be seen where Cybele is otherwise represented One is of the Emperor Severus where she is represented holding with one hand a Scepter and with the other a Thunder-bolt and her Head covered with a Turret She rid upon a Lyon flying through the Air. The other Medal is of the Emperor Geta stampt after the same manner with this Inscription Indulgentia Augustorum The third is of Julia who represents the Mother of the Gods crown'd with Turrets attended by two Lions and sitting upon a Throne she holds with her right hand a branch of Pine-tree and lays her left hand on a Drum with this Motto Mater Deum This Goddess is also represented with a great many Breasts to shew that she feeds Men and Beasts and carries Turrot on her Head and has two Lions under her Arms. CYCLOPES The Cyclopes a race of fierce and haughty Men who have but one Eye in the middle of their Forehead Poets have given this Name to some Inhabitants of Sicily whom they feign'd to be Vulcan's Assistants in the making of Jupiter's Thunder-bolts they made also the Arms of Achilles and Aenca◠They were so named because they had but one round Eye in the middle of their Forehead They are the Sons of Heaven and Earth as Hesiod tells us or of Neptune and Amphitrits as Euripides and Lucian say Those of most note among them are Polyphemus Brontes Steropes and Pyracman Apollo kill'd them with his Arrows to revenge the death of his Son Aesculapius whom Jupiter had kill'd with a Thunderbolt made by these Cyclopes Poets say also that Polyphemus was Shepherd to Neptune and Galatea's Lover and that Ulysses put out his Eye with a Fire-brand to revenge the death of his Companions whom the Cyclopes had eaten CYCLUS SOLIS The Cycle of the Sun or of the Dominical Letters is a revolution of 28 Years which being expired the same Dominical Letters return again in the same order To understand this well it must be observed that the Year being composed of Months and Weeks every Day of the Month is markt in the Calendar with its Cypher and one of these seven Letters A B C D E F G. The first Letter begins with the first Day of the Year and the others follow in a perpetual Circle to the end Wherefore these Letters might be unalterable to denote every Holy-day or every Day of the Week as they are in respect to the Days of the Months if there was but a certain and unvariable number of Weeks in the Year and as A marks always the first of January B the 2 C the 3 so A should mark always Sunday B Munday c. But because the Year is at least of 365 Days which make up 52 Weeks and a Day over it happens that it ends with the same day of the Week with which it began and so the following Year begins again not with the same Day but with the next to it And from thence it follows that A which answers always the first of January having noted the Sunday for one Year for which reason 't is called the Dominical Letter it will note the Monday in the following Year and G will note the Sunday and so forward 'T is plain by what has been said that if the Year had but 365 Days this Circle of Dominical Letters should end in seven Years by retrograding G F E D C B A. But because every four Years there is a Leap-Year which has one Day more two things must needs happen First That the Leap-Year has two Dominical Letters one of which is made use of from the first of January to the 25th of February and the other from that Day till the end of the Year The reason of it is plain for reckoning twice the 6th of the Kalends the Letter F which notes the Day is also reckoned twice and so fills up two Days of the Week From whence it follows that the Letter that till then had fallen upon Sunday falls then but upon Monday and that the foregoing Letter by retrograding comes to note Sunday The second thing to be observed is that that having thus two Dominical Letters every fourth Year the Circle of these Letters doth not end in seven Years as it would do but in four times seven Years which is 28. And this is properly called the Cycle of the Sun which before the correction of the Kalendar began with a Leap-Year whereof the Dominical Letters were G F. CYCLUS LUNARIS The Cycle of the Moon It was no less difficult to determine by a certain Order the Days of the New Moons in the course of the Year To this purpose a great many Cycles were proposed which afterwards Experience shewed to be false and they were obliged to receive this Cycle of 19 Years Invented by Methon of Athens called the Golden Number to make the Lunar Year agree with the Solar for at the end of them the New Moons returned again on the same Days and the Moon began again her course with the Sun within an Hour and some Minutes or thereabouts This Number was called the Golden Number either for its excellency and great use or because as some say the Inhabitants of Alexandria sent it to the Romans in a Silver Calendar where these Numbers from 1 to 19 were set down in Golden Letters This Number has been called the great Cycle of the Moon or Deceunovennalis and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of 19 Tears or Methonicus from the Name of its Author This Golden Number has been of great use in the Calendar to shew the Epacts and New Moons ever since the Nicene Council ordered that Easter should be kept the first Sunday after the Full Moon of March However this Cycle was not settled every where according to the same manner in the Calendar for the Western Christians called Latins imitating the Hebrews reckon'd the Golden Number 1. on the first day of January of the first Year But the Christians who Inhabited Asia under the name of Christians of Alexandria placed the Golden Number 3. at the same day CYCNUS A Swan a Bird living in or about the Waters very fine to behold with a long and straight Neck very white except when he is young Ovid in the 12th Book of his Metamorphosis says that Cycnus was King of Liguria and kin to Phaeton who for the grief of his death was changed into a Bird of his name 'T is said that Swans never sing but when they are at the point of death and then they sing very melodiously Tully in his Tusculans tells us that Swans are dedicated to Apollo the God of Divination who being sensible of their approaching death rejoice and sing with more harmony than before I ucian on this account laughs at the Poets in his Treatise of Amber or the Swans I also expected says he to have heard the Swans warbling all along the Eridanus having learn'd that the Companions of Apollo had been there changed into Birds who
of the Truth of this Report yet retain the same Etymology tho' they deduce it from Mount Fourviere's being opposite to the Sun-beams when it rises As the Romans were the Fathers of this City they also were the People who from Time to Time took Care for the Beautifying of it Augustus who saw it begin to flourish in the Time he was projecting to set up his Monarchical Authority resided there for Three Years during which Space it's Inhabitants received many Favours from him as well as the rest of Gaul who as a Mark of their Acknowledgement built him a Temple at the Joint-charge of Sixty Gaulish Nations with as many Statues appertaining thereto as bore the Titles of each of the said Nations and this Temple according to Strabo was scituated before the City of Lyons at the Place where the two Rivers meet Three Hundred Augurs and Sixty Haruspices or South-sayers served there as may be gathered from the ancient Inscriptions still remaining It was in this Temple that the Emperor Caligula set up those Academick Plays of which Suetonius makes mention whither so many Orators and Poets came from several Parts of the World to set forth their Eloquence It was ordered that he that did not win the Prize should be plunged into the Saone if he had not rather chuse to blot out his Writings with his Tongue This gave Juvenal Occasion to make the Fear of an Orator who went to make an Harangue before the Altar at Lyons to be exceeding great Palleat ut nudis pressit qui calcibus anguem Aut Lugdunensem Rhetor dicturus ad aram In this City was established not only the Exchequer of the Gauls but almost of all the Roman Empire and there was a Mint for the Coining of Money set up there that circulated through the whole Empire LUNA the Moon according to the Fable Here take what Lucian writes concerning her in one of his Dialogues entituled Icaromenippus he brings in Menippus saying that having been one Day transported into the Globe of the Moon she called to him with a clear and feminine Voice and desired him to make a Representation unto Jupiter of the impertinent Curiosity of the Philosophers who would know all she had within her and give a Reason for her various Changes For one said She was inhabited as the Earth was another That she hung in the Air like unto a Mirrour a third That all her Light was borrowed from the Sun Nay they were so bold as to go about to take Measure of her as if they would make her a Suit of Cloaths The same Lucian tells us in another Place That the Moon is a round and bright Island hung in the Air and is inhabited of which Endymion is King Apuleius calls the Moon the Sun of the Night Lunam solis aemulam noctis Decus and says She shines in the midst of the Stars as their Queen whence comes that Saying of Horace Syderum Regina bicornis The Scripture says God made Two great Lights or Luminaries the one to rule the Day and the other the Night Aristotle tells us the People honoured the Moon as if she were another Sun because she participates and comes most near unto her And Pliny informs us that Endymion spent Part of his Life in observing this Luminary from whence sprung the Fable of his being enamoured on her Vossius sets forth at large that the Moon is the same as Venus Vrania or Venus Caelestis that was first famous amongst the Assyrians afterwards the Worshipping of her was introduced into Phaenicia and Cyprus from whence it was brought to Greece Africa Italy and the remotest Nations of Europe Diana was also the Moon for the Name Diana seems to have come from Diva Jana Thus the Sun was called Janus and the Moon Jana according to Varro Nunquam audivisti rure Octavo Janam Lunam c. Et tamen quaedam melius fieri post octavam Janam Lunam Diana was made to preside over the Exercise of Hunting because she chased away the Night by the Favour of the Moon 's Rays St. Jerome says Diana of Ephesus was pictured with many Breasts which is proper enough for the Moon in order to the common Nurture of Animals Diana presided over Child-bearing because 't is the Moon that forms the Months and regulates the Times of Women's Lying-in Thus Cicero speaks of it Lib. 2. de Nat. Deor. Alhibetur ad partus quod ij maturescunt aut septem nonnuquam aut plerumque novem Lunae cursibus Plutarch says The Elizian Fields were the upper part of the Moon that that Part of the Moon which looked towards the Earth was called Proscrpina and Antichthon that the Genii and Doemons inhabit the Moon and come down to deliver Oracles or to assist at Festival Days that the Moon does upon no other Account incessantly turn about in order to rejoyn the Sun but from a Motive of the Love she bears this common Father of Light and that undefiled Souls fly about the Globe of the Moon which is the same as Lucina and Diana The Moon at Caran in Mesopotamia was esteemed for a God and usually called Lunus and not Luna Thus Spartian speaks of it As we have made mention says he of the God Lunus you must know that the Learned have left it to us upon Record and that the Inhabitants of Caran think to this very Day that such as believe the Moon is a Goddess and not a God will be their Wives Slaves as long as they live but that those on the Contrary who esteem her to be a God will ever be Masters of their Wives and will never be overcome by their Artifices Wherefore continues the same Author tho' the Assyrians and Egyptians call her by a Feminine Name yet in their Mysteries of Religion they take Care to reverence her continually as a God And there are still remaining several Medals of the Nysaeans Magnesians and other Greek Nations who represent the Moon to us in the Dress and under the Name of a Man and covered with an Armenian Bonnet The Moon is one of the Seven Planets and the nighest to the Earth She goes round the Zodiack in 27 Days 7 Hours and 41 Minutes and does not overtake the Sun in less than 29 Days 12 Hours and 44 Minutes The first Motion is her Periodical Course the second is the Synodical or Course of Conjunction there is a third they call a Course of Illumination during which she appears to us which is for 26 Days and 12 Hours The Moon is a spherical and dark Body which has no other Light than what is reflected upon her from the Sun Her Spots proceed from the Unevenness of her Surface The Arabians and Egyptians attributed 28 Houses to her which are explained in the Oedipus of Father Kircher The different Appearances of the Moon 's Light according to the Scituation thereof in respect to the Earth and Sun are called Phases She is called the new Moon when she proceeds
second and third Hour of the Day the Sun being in Taurus the Moon in Libra Saturn Mars Venus and Mercury in Scorpio and Jupiter in Pisces according to the Testimony of Solinus Pliny and Eutropius Titus Terentius Firmianus a learned Astrologer rejects the foresaid Time and according to his Computation makes it to be on the 21st of April at full Moon and when the Sun Mercury and Venus were in Taurus Jupiter in Pisces Saturn and Mars in Cancer about the third Hour and Plutarch observes that the Moon on the said Day suffered a great Ecclipse Romulus divided the Inhabitants of his City into Three Tribes or Classes under Tribunes or Collonels and each Tribe into Ten Curiae or Parishes and each Curia into Ten Decuriae the first being under the Command of an Officer named Curio as the other was under one called Decurio he picked out of all the Tribes such Persons whose Birth Age and Vertue made them remarkable and called them Patricii or Patres and the rest of the People Plebeians This City was governed by Seven Kings for the Space of 243 Years and became afterwards a Republick which was sometimes governed by Consuls and other whiles by Decemviri Tribunes Dictators and lastly by Emperors The Ancients represented Rome in the Form of a Goddess clad like Pallas with a youthful Air to intimate that Rome was always in the Vigour of her Youth and did not grow old They put an Helmet on her Head and a Pike in her Hand with a long Robe to denote that she was alike prepared for War and Peace since she was drest like Pallas whom they represented with a Helmet and Pike and like Minerva who was habited with a long Robe This Head of Rome is very often found on the Consulary Medals and even on some Greek ones the Inscriptions that are on the Greek Medals for Rome and the Senate are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Goddess Rome and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The God of the Senate or the Sacred Senate They also erected Temples throughout the Empire to the Honour of the Goddess Rome and at last the meanest flattering Titles they used were Roma Victrix Victorious Rome Roma invicta Invincible Rome Roma Aeterna Eternal Rome and Roma Sacra Sacred Rome The Medals of Maxentius represent Eternal Rome fitting upon Military Ensigns armed with an Helmet and holding a Scepter in one Hand and a Globe in the other which she presents the Emperor who is crowned with Lawrel to let him know that he was the Master and Preserver of the whole World with this Inscription Conservatori Vrbis aeternae The Medals of Vespatian represent her with an Helmet on her Head and lying upon the Seven Hills of Rome with a Scepter in her Hand and the Tiber in the Form of an old Man at her Feet but upon the Medals of Adrian she holds a Lawrel-branch in her Left-hand and Victory upon a Globe in the Right as being victorious over all the World The People of Smyrna were the first who erected a Temple to the City of Rome under the Consulship of Cato Major when she was not yet come to that Pitch of Grandeur she afterwards attained to before the Destruction of Carthage and the Conquest of Asia See Regio ROMULUS the Son of Mars and the Vestal Rhea otherwise called Silvia and Ilia Lucius Terentius Firmianus a Person well skilled in the curious Sciences of the Chaldaeans having exactly observed the Life and Death of Romulus says He was born the 21st Day of Thoth which is our August at Sun-rising and that he was begot the 23d of Cheac which is our November at Three in the Afternoon in the first Year of the second Olympiad Plutarch says that the Sun on the Day of his Conception suffered a great Ecclipse from Eight to Nine in the Morning Ant. Contius will have him to be born in the first Year of the first Olympiad and Fuccius asserts he was born in the 3d Year of the second Olympiad He with his Brother were by Amulius his Command exposed to be drowned in the Tiber but Faustulus who was Numitor's Shepherd saved him and his Brother Remus and they were both nursed by his Wife The Story is that they were suckled by a She-wolf because of the Leudness of Laurentia Faustulus his Wife which gave occasion to the Fable but the Thing has been even so represented on the Consulary Medals where you have a She wolf and Two Twins sucking her Romulus traced out the Plan of his new City and prescribed Laws to his People who coalesced together from all Parts into a Body for he made an Asylum of a Vale lying at the Foot of Mons Capitolinus for all those that came thither which increased the Number of his Subjects in a very little time He regulated Matters of Religion dividing his People into Three Tribes and each Tribe into Curiae or Parishes Each Curia chose it 's own Priests Priestessess Augurs and Camillae who were to supply what was requisite for the Charge of the Sacrifices and sacred Feasts that were solemnized throughout a Curia at certain Times Pliny speaks of a Society instituted by Romulus somewhat like unto the Knights of the French King's Order and they were called Fratres Arvales Romulus was the Sovereign or Grand-master of the Order the Ensigns of which was a Crown of Ears of Corn tied with a white Riband and this Dignity they held for Life He was killed in a Scufflle others will have it that he was cut in Pieces by the Senate who gave out that the Gods had carried him into Heaven he was deified and worshipped under the Name of Quirinus according to the Relation of Proculus Dionysius of Hallicarnassus says he lived 55 Years and Plutarch 54 and that he reigned 37. We have Medals of the Emperor Antoninus Pius where Romulus is represented habited like Mars with a Javilin in one Hand and with the other holding a Trophy on his Shoulders with this Inscription Romulo Augusto Gronovius excepts against all that has been said by such a Multitude of Authors concerning the Origin of Romulus for near 2500 Years He pretends that a Greeck named Diocles was the first who invented the Fable of the She-wolf's suckling Romulus and Remus who were exposed by Amulius his order to be destroyed and begotten by Mars upon Rhea Silvia a Vestal and he is so assured that there is no need to refute this Fable that he lays it down as an established Principle that Romulus was not born in Italy but that he came thither from another Country and the Proof he gives for it is That no People of Italy would supply the first Inhabitants of Rome with Wives But 't is by no means to be thought in case Romulus was owned to be the Grandson of Numitor after his expelling of the Usurper Anulius and re-establishing his Grandfather upon the Throne but that he would have found the Albans inclined
their opinions about the Occasion of this Feast Varro will have it so call'd from a Ceremony used in all Sacrifices where the Priest being ready to offer Sacrifice asks the Sacrificer Agon ' which was used then for Agamne Shall I strike Festus derives this Word either from Agonia which signifies a Sacrifice which they led to the Altar ab agendo from whence these sorts of Ministers were call'd Agones or from the God Agonius the God of Action or from Agones which signifie Mountains and so the Agonalia were Sacrifices which were offer'd upon a Mountain Indeed the Mount Quirinalis was called Agonus and the Colline-Gate which led thither Porta Agonensis which the same Festus will have so call'd from the Games which were celebrated without that Gate in Honour of Apollo near the Temple of Venus Erycina where the Cirque of Flaminius was overflow'd by the Tiber. But it is more probable that this Feast was called Agonalia from the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies Sports and Combats which were us'd in Greece in imitation of those which Hercules appointed at Elis first and consecrated to Jupiter as these Verses of Ovid shew Lib. I. Fastorum v. 359. Fas etiam fieri selitis aetate priorum Nomina de Ludis Graeca tulisse diem Et prius antiquus dicebat Agonia sermo Veraque judicio est ultima causa meo There are Two Feasts celebrated at Rome of the same Name one upon April 21. which falls on the day of the Palilia on which the Building of Rome is commemorated and the other on December 11. according to Festus AGONES the Salii of whom Varro speaks in his Fifth Book of the Latin Tongue See Salii AGONES CAPITOLINI Games which were celebrated every Five Years in the Capitol instituted by the Emperor Domitian in his Consulship and that of Corn. Dolabella Sergius All sorts of Exercises both of Body and Mind were represented there as at the Olympick-Games as Players on Instruments Poets Jack-Puddings and Mimics which strove every one in his own Profession who should gain the Prize The Poet Statius recited his Thebais there which was not well lik'd as he complains in several places of his Silvae This serves to explain a place in Juvenal not well understood Sed cum fregit subsellia versu Esurit intactam Paridi nisi vendat Agaven Sat. VII v. 86. But his Thebais not having the Success he expected and he having procured no Patron by it dyed of Hunger and after being to subsist himself by selling the Tragedy of Agave the Mother of Pentheus which was never acted by Paris the Stage-Player Some Commentators explain this place of Juvenal otherwise and think the Poet meant the contrary that his Work was well receiv'd and universally applauded Altho this Explication be allowable enough yet 't is evidently contrary to the Complaints which Statius makes in several places of his Poems unless we think it better to say that Statius complains that after he had receiv'd Applause for his Thebais he was nevertheless ill requited for it afterwards In these Exercises the chief Conqueror receiv'd a Laurel Crown adorn'd with Ribbands but the others receiv'd a plain One without any Ornament as we may see by these Verses of Ausonius Et quae jamdudum tibi palma Poetica pollet Lemnisco ornata est quo mea palma caret Poets thus crowned were call'd Laureati These Sports were so much esteem'd by Domitian that he changed the Account of Years and instead of reckoning by Lustra which is the space of five years they counted by Agonalia and Agones Capitolini from their Institution to the time of Censorinus AGRARIA LEX the Agrarian Law was made for the dividing Lands got by Conquest which the Tribuni Plebis would have to be shared among the People by Poll. Spurius Cassius Vicellinus being Consul first propounded this Agrarian Law Anno U. C. 267 which was the cause of a very great Quarrel betwixt the Senate and the People but it was rejected the first time There are two Agragrian Laws mentioned in the Digests one made by Julius Caesar and the other by the Emperour Nerva but they had respect only to the Bounds of Lands and had no relation to that we now speak of Cassius perceiving the strong Opposition which some made that this Agrarian Law might not be received proposed to distribute among the People the Money which arose from the Sale of the Corn brought from Sicily but the People refused it After this first Attempt a peace was settled in Rome for some years but in the Consulship of Caeso Fabius and Aemilius Mamercus Licinius Stolo Tribune of the People proposed the Agrarian Law a second time in the year 269 from the Building of Rome This second Attempt had no better Success than the former tho it was pass'd over calmly enough Nevertheless the Consul Caeso seeing the People fond of this Law and that the Senate was positive it ought not to be received contriv'd a way to satisfie both Parties as he thought by proposing that only the Lands of the Vejentes conquer'd under his Consulship should be divided among the People but this met withno better Success than the other The Tribunes of the People being angry at the Opposition of the Senate drew up many Accusations against the Patricians and Noblemen before the People and caused many of them to be fined and banish'd which so much provok'd the Cousuls that they caused Genutius the Tribune to be stab'd this Assassination raised a great Tumult in Rome and stir'd up the People to revenge till the Consul Sempronius was condemned to pay a large Fine Lastly In the year 320 from the Building of Rome Mutius Scaevola put Tiberius Gracchus the Tribune of the People in mind to have the Agrarian Law established against the Will of the Senate Nobles and Rich Commons Octavius his Partner being rich was not of the same mind and opposed the Law Gracchus seeing that accused him before the People of Prevarication and Unfaithfulness in his Office and caused him to be depos'd with Disgrace This Obstacle being remov'd the Agrarian Law passed and Commissioners were appointed to divide the Lands AGRIPPA several Persons among the Antients bore this Name which was usually given to such as came into the World with Difficulty or which were born with their Feet forward as Aulus Gellius affirms The most eminent of this Name were AGRIPPA SYLVIUS the twelfth King of the Latins the Son of Tyberinus Sylvius whom he succeeded he reigned thirty or forty years and Aremulus succeeded him in the year of the World 3281. AGRIPPA MENENIUS surnamed Lanatus he was chosen General of the Romans against the Sabins whom he conquer'd and obtain'd the lesser Triumph called Ovation he was endow'd with admirable Eloquence which made him undertake with Success to reconcile the Senate and the People of Rome to this end he went to the Aventine Mount where he pathetically represented
except at some religious Solemnity or in the Time of some publick Calamity for we learn from History that when the great Mother of the Gods was wash'd the People went in Procession barefooted and that the Roman Dames put off their Shoes at the Sacrifices of Vesta Tertullian relates that the Pagan Priests very often order'd Processions to be made barefooted in a Time of Drought Cùm tupet caelum aret annus nudipedalia denuntiantur The principal Roman Knights at the Death of Julius Caesar gathered up his Ashes and being clad in white Tunicks they walked barefoot to signifie at once both their Respect and Sorrow Lycurgus and the Lacedemonian young Men went always barefoot and the Aetolians and Hernicians a People of Italy had one Foot shod and the other naked as also the Magicians in their Magical Mysteries Virgil and Ovid tell us Vnum exuta pedem vinclis 4. Aeneid Horace speaking of Canidia that famous Magician acquaints us that she went barefooted Pedibus nudis passoque capillo CALCULUS this Latin Word signifies a Stone because the Ancients made use of little Flint-stones instead of Counters for reckoning up any Sums whether multiplied or divided in their Computations either in Astronomy or Geometry The Kings of Lacedemonia gave their Suffrages with Two small Stones and the Romans marked their fortunate Days with a white Stone and unfortunate with a black Stone Albo aut nigro notanda lapilio CALENDAE the Calends The Romans called the first Day of each Month by this Word which comes from the Greek Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 voco because reckoning their Months by the Moon there was a Priest appointed to observe the New Moon who having seen it immediately gave notice to him who presided over the Sacrifices and he presently called the People together in the Capitol and declared unto them how they must reckon the Days until the Nones pronouncing Five times this Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if they happen'd on the Fifth Day or Seven times if they happen'd on the Seventh Day These Calends or first Day of each Month were consecrated to Juno upon which Account she was surnam'd Calendaris Juno The Greeks had no Calends as the Romans had and therefore when one would signifie a Time that should never happen they made use of that Expression ad Graecas Calendas i. e. at latter Lammas or never Augustus was the first who brought this way of Speaking into Fashion as Suetonius relates upon the Occasion of certain Debtors who were become insolvent Cùm aliquis nunquam exsoluturos significare vult ad Calendas Graecas soluturos ait Instead of the Name of Calends the Geeeks made use of the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. the Day of the New Moon which was the same thing with the Calends among the Romans as this Passage of Plutarch in the Life of Galba plainly proves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Calends of January were more considerable than the Calends of the other Months because they were particularly consecrated to Juno and the God Janus upon which Account the Romans then never fail'd to offer Vows and Sacrifices to these Two Deities and the People being clad in new Gowns went in Crouds to the Tarpeian Mount where Janus had an Altar Although the Calends of January was a Festival Day for them yet they did not fail then to begin any new Work every Man according to his Profession that they might never be idle the rest of the Year having begun it with Working The Magistrates entered upon their Office on this Day and Feasts were kept everywhere and Presents exchang'd between them in Token of Friendship The Feasts of the Calends says Matthew Balastris was kept on the first Day of January and there was great Rejoycing because the New Moon happen'd on that Day and it was commonly believ'd that if they diverted themselves well at the Beginning they should pass the whole Year the more merrily This Day brought no Sorrow to any but only to Debtors who were oblig'd to pay their Interest and Arrears upon which Account Horace calls them tristes Calendas CALENDARIUM a Calendar an Almanack which contains the Order of the Days Weeks and Months and shews the Festivals which happen during the Year The Roman People at first had no Calendar for it was only in the Hands of the Priests from whom they learned the Festivals and the other Solemnities of a civil Life They took great care to write down in it every Thing that happened each Year and marked moreover the Days on which there were Pleadings and on which there were none And therefore this Calendar was called Fastus or in the Plural Number Fasti and also Annales publici because in it were set down the most considerable Actions of the Great Men of the Commonwealth And from hence come these ordinary Forms of Speech Conscribere nomina fastis or Referre in fastos in annales publicos i. e. to transmit your Memory to Posterity Cn. Flavius Secretary to Appius Clandius gave the People a Calendar in Despite of the Priests and Senate Romulus was the first who divided Time by certain Marks to serve for the Use of the People that were subject to him and being much more skilful in Military Affairs than in Astronomy he made the Year commence with the Spring and gave it only Ten Months whereof the first was the Month of March and next after that was April May June Quintilis Sextilis September October November December He gave 31 Days to each of these Four Months March May Quintilis and October and only 30 to each of the other Six so that they made altogether 304 Days which was that Duration of Time wherein as he imagin'd the Sun run through all the differed Seasons of the Year as may be seen in the following Calender But as to the Division of Months into Calends Nones and Ides and the Manner of reckoning their Days see hereafter the Seventh Paragraph before the Calendar of Julius Caesar The CALENDAR of Romulus containing 10 MONTHS and consisting of 304 DAYS March April May. June Quintilis Sextilis September October November December 1. Kalend. 1. Kalend. 1. Kalend. 1. Kalend. 1. Kalend. 1. Kalend. 1. Kalend. 1. Kalend. 1. Kalend. 1. Kalend. 2. VI 2. IV 2. VI 2. IV 2. VI 2. IV 2. IV 2. VI 2. IV 2. IV 3. V 3. III 3. V 3. III 3. V 3. III 3. III 3. V 3. III 3. III 4. IV 4. Prid. 4. IV 4. Prid. 4. IV 4. Prid. 4. Prid. 4. IV 4. Prid. 4. Prid. 5. III 5. Non. 5. III 5. Non. 5. III 5. Non. 5. Non. 5. III 5. Non. 5. Non. 6. Prid. 6. VIII 6. Prid. 6. VIII 6. Prid. 6. VIII 6. VIII 6. Prid. 6. VIII 6. VIII 7. Non. 7. VII 7. Non. 7. VII 7. Non. 7. VII 7. VII 7. Non. 7. VII 7. VII 8. VIII 8. VI 8. VIII 8. VI 8. VIII 8. VI 8. VI 8. VIII 8. VL 8. VI 9. VII 9.
V 9. VII 9. V 9. VII 9. V 9. V 9. VII 9. V 9. V 10. VI 10. IV 10. VI 10. IV 10. VI 10. IV 10. IV 10. VI 10. IV 10. IV 11. V 11. III 11. V 11. III 11. V 11. III 11. III 11. V 11. III 11. III 12. IV 12. Prid. 12. IV 12. Prid. 12. IV 12. Prid. 12. Prid. 12. IV 12. Prid. 12. Prid. 13. III 13. Id. 13. III 13. Id. 13. III 13. Id. 13. Id. 13. III 13. Id. 13. Id. 14. Prid. 14. XVIII 14. Prid. 14. XVIII 14. Prid. 14. XVIII 14. XVIII 14. Prid. 14. XVIII 14. XVIII 15. Id. 15. XVII 15. Id. 15. XVII 15. Id. 15. XVII 15. XVII 15. Id. 15. XVII 15. XVII 16. XVII 16. XVI 16. XVII 16. XVI 16. XVII 16. XVI 16. XVI 16. XVII 16. XVI 16. XVI 17. XVI 17. XV 17. XVI 17. XV 17. XVI 17. XV 17. XV 17. XVI 17. XV 17. XV 18. XV 18. XIV 18. XV 18. XIV 18. XV 18. XIV 18. XIV 18. XV 18. XIV 18. XIV 19. XIV 19. XIII 19. XIV 19. XIII 19. XIV 19. XIII 19. XIII 19. XIV 19. XIII 19. XIII 20. XIII 20. XII 20. XIII 20. XII 20. XIII 20. XII 20. XII 20. XIII 20. XII 20. XII 21. XII 21. XI 21. XII 21. XI 21. XII 21. XI 21. XI 21. XII 21. XI 21. XI 22. XI 22. X 22. XI 22. X 22. XI 22. X 22. X 22. XI 22. X 22. X 23. X 23. IX 23. X 23. IX 23. X 23. IX 23. IX 23. X 23. IX 23. IX 24. IX 24. VIII 24. IX 24. VIII 24. IX 24. VIII 24. VIII 24. IX 24. VIII 24. VIII 25. VIII 25. VII 25. VIII 25. VII 25. VIII 25. VII 25. VII 25. VIII 25. VII 25. VII 26. VII 26. VI 26. VII 26. VI 26. VII 26. VI 26. VI 26. VII 26. VI 26. VI 27. VI 27. V 27. VI 27. V 27. VI 27. V 27. V 27. VI 27. V 27. V 28. V 28. IV 28. V 28. IV 28. V 28. IV 28. IV 28. V 28. IV 28. IV 29. IV 29. III 29. IV. 29. III 29. IV 29. III 29. III 29. IV 29. III 29. III 30. III 30. Prid. 30. III 30. Prid. 30. III 30. Prid. 30. Prid. 30. III 30. Prid. 30. Prid. 31. Prid.   31. Prid.   31. Prid.     31. Prid.     'T is true there needed no long time to discover that this Account was too short and that his Year must begin long before the Solar Year and therefore to reduce these things into Order he ordain'd that all the Days which were over and above what he had reckoned in this Calendar should be inserted amongst the rest without any Name by way of Intercalation which was done with little Care But under the Reign of Numa Pompilius the Calendar was first reform'd This Prince had private Conferences with Pythagoras from whom he learn'd many things concerning Astronomy which he chiefly applied to this Purpose and he followed very near the same Order which the Greeks then observed in the Division of Time 'T is true that instead of 354 Days which they gave to their common Years he gave to his 355 because he would have the Number to be odd out of a superstitious Opinion which he learned from the Egyptians who had an Aversion to even Numbers which they accounted unfortunate And therefore he took away one Day from each of these Six Months April June Sextilis September November and December to which Romulus had given 30 Days that they might have but 29 and left to the rest 31 Days which they had before and then adding these Six Days to the 51 which Romulus's Year of 304 Days wanted to make up his own Year of 355 he made them in all 57 Days which Number he divided into Two to make of it Two other Months which he placed before the Month March viz. January consisting of 29 Days and February of 28 which Month he design'd for the Sacrifices which were offered to the Infernal Gods to which this even Number as being unfortunate seem'd most properly to belong Thus he made the Month of January which he plac'd at the Winter-solstice the first Month of the Year instead of March which was the first before and which Romulus had placed at the Vernal Equinox And to make this Institution everlasting he made use of the Intercalation of 90 Days every Eight Years which Number was made up of the Eleven Days and a Quarter which the Lunar Year consisting of 354 Days wanted of the Solar Year consisting of 365 Days and Six Hours Of these the Greeks made Three Months each whereof had 30 Days which they called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and which they intercalated after the Third the Fifth and the Eigth Years but Numa made Four Months of them and intercalated one every Two Years after the Feast called Terminalia which happened on the Sixth of the Kalends of March i. e. on the 24th of February and the first Month intercalated he made to consist of 22 Days and the next of 23 that so the whole Intercalation in the Space of Four Years might make up the Number of 45 Days which was equal to that used among the Greeks in their Olympiads This Month intercalated every Two Years was called Mercedonius and the Intercalary February The Year of Numa which consisted of 355 Days ending one Day later than the Greek Year it was easie to observe that since their Beginnings were so far from agreeing together they would in a little time recede very far from one another And therefore the same Numa to obviate this Inconvenience ordain'd that in the Space of Eight Years the whole 90 Days should not be intercalated according to the Custom of the Greeks but only 82 Days which were to be inserted in this Order At first in the Space of Two Years an Intercalation was made of 22 Days next after that an Intercalation was made of 23 Days at the Third time an Intercalation was made of 22 Days and at the Fourth an Intercalation was made of 15 Days only in lieu of 23 which should have been inserted this Deduction was necessary to take off in Eight Years time the Eight superfluous Days he had added to his Year Numa's Year therefore consisted of Twelve Months viz. January February March April May June Quintilis Sextilis September October November and December whereof Seven had 29 Days and the rest 31 except February which had only 28 which may be seen in the following Account of his Calendar But as to the Division of Months into Calends Nones and Ides and the Manner of reckoning Days See hereafter the Paragraph before Caesar's Calendar The CALENDAR of Numa Pompilius containing 12 MONTHS and consisting of 355 DAYS January February March April May. June Quintilis Sextilis September October November December 1. Kalend. 1. Kalend. 1. Kalend. 1. Kalend. 1. Kalend. 1. Kalend. 1. Kalend. 1. Kalend. 1. Kalend. 1. Kalend. 1. Kalend. 1.
one Day to these Four Months April June September and November and so made them consist of 30 Days and to the Month of February he left 28 Days for the common Years and 29 for the Year called Bissextile that so there might be no Change made in the Ceremonies of the Sacrifices which were offered in this Month to the Infernal Gods As soon as these Things were thus order'd and Sosigenes had finished his Work the Emperor publish'd an Edict wherein he set forth the Reformation he had made of the Calendar and commanded it to be used through all the Roman Empire And because of the Negligence of those to whom the Care was committed of distributing the Intercalatory Months the Beginning of the Year was then found to anticipate its true Place 67 whole Days therefore this Time must be some way spent to restore the first Day of the next Year to its due Place at the Winter-â—oâ—stice and to this end Two Months were made of these 67 Days which were ordered to be intercalated between the Months of November and December from whence it came to pass that the Year of the Correction of the Calendar by Julius Caesar which was called the Julian Correction consisted of 15 Months and of 445 Days and upon this Account it was called the Year of Confusion because in it that great Number of Days was to be absorbed which brought so great Confusion into the Account of Time But to accommodate the Matter in some measure to the Genius of the Romans who had been so long accustomed to the Lunar Year the Emperor would not begin his Year precisely on the Day of the Winter solstice but only on the Day of the New-Moon which followed next after it which happened by Chance at the time of this Correction of the Calendar to be about Eight Days after the Solstice from hence it comes to pass that the Julian Year in all succeeding Times hath still preserved the same Beginning i. e. the first Day of January which is about Eight Days after the Solstice of Capricorn Julius Caesar drew a great deal of envy upon himself by this Correction of the Calendar of which we have an Instance in that picquant Raâ—llery of Cicero upon this Occasion One of his Friends discoursing with him happen'd to say that Lyra was to set to Morrow Cras Lyra occidit said he to whom Cicero immediately reported Nempe ex Edicto yes quoth he by vertue of an Edict Yet this did nowise hinder this Reformation from being generally received and observed after the Death of Caesar which happened the next Year after it And to give the greater Authority to this Usage it fell out also that Marcus Antonius in his Consulship order'd that the Month called Quintilis which was that in which Julius Caesar was born should bear his Name and for the Future be called Julius as it happened afterwards to the Month Sextilis to which was given the Name of Augustus both which Names are still continued down to our Time 'T is true the Priests by their Ignorance committed a considerable Error in the Observation of the first Years for not understanding this Intercalation of a Day was to be made every Four Years they thought that the Fourth Year was to be reckoned from that wherein the preceeding Intercalation was made and not from that which follow'd next after it by which means they left only Two common Years instead of Three between the Two Intercalary Years from whence it came to pass that they intercalated Twelve Days in the Space of 36 Years whereas Nine only should have been intercalated in that Space and so they put back the Beginning of the Year Three Days Which being observ'd by Augustus Successor to Julius Caesar he presently caused this Error to be amended by ordering that for the first Twelve Years no Intercalation should be made that by this means these Three superfluous Days might be absorbed and Things might be restored to their first Institution which continued eversince without any Interruption until the End of the last Age when some thought themselves oblig'd to take Pains in making another Correction of the Calendar Here follows the Copy of an ancient Roman Calendar which some curions Antiquaries have gathered together out of divers Monuments that it might be published There are Six different Columns in it the first contains the Letters which they called Nundinales the Second notes the Days which they called Easti Nefasti and Comittales which are also signified by Letters the Third contains the Number of Meto which is called the Golden Number the Fourth is for the Days in Order which are marked with Arabick Figures or Characters the Fifth divides the Month into Calends Nones and Ides according to the ancient Way of the Romans and the Sixth contains their Festivals and divers other Ceremonies of which we shall treat more largely hereafter In this Calendar to which we have given the Name of the Calendar of Julius Caesar although it appears to have been made since Augustus's Time is to be seen 1. The same Order and Succession of the Months which was instituted by Numa Pompilius and such as we have set down before 2. These Seven Months January March May Quintilis or July Sextilis or August October and Decembor have each of them 31 Days and these Four April June September and November have only 30 but February for the common Years has only 28 Days and for the Intercalary or Bissextile it has 29. 3. This Series of Eight Letters which we have called Literae Nundinales is continued without Interruption from the first to the last Day of the Year that there might always be one of them to signifie those Days of the Year on which those Meetings were held that were called by the Romans Nundinae and which returned every Ninth Day to the end that the Roman Citizens might come out of the Country to the City to be informed of what concerned either Religion or Government These Letters are so placed that if the Nundinal Day of the first Year was under the Letter A which is at the 1st the 9th the 17th the 25th of January c. the Letter of the Nundinal Day for the next Year must be D which is at the 5th the 13th the 21st of the same Month c. for the Letter A being found at the 27th of December if from this Day we reckon Eight Letters besides the Letters B C D E which remain after A in the Month of December we must take Four other Letters at the Beginning of January in the next Year A B C D and so the Letter D which is first found in the Month of January will be the 9th after the last A in the Month of December preceeding and consequently it will be the Nundinal Letter or that Letter which notes the Days set apart for these Meetings which may be also called by the Name of Faires or publick Markets Thus by the same way of
A F I 1 Kalen. Sacred to Janus to Juno to Jupiter and Aesculapius B F  2 IV An unfortunate Day Dies Ater C C IX 3 III Cancer sets D C  4 Prid.  E F XVIII 5 Non. Lyra rises Aquila sets at Night F F VI 6 VIII  G C  7 VII  H C XIV 8 VI Sacrifices to Janus A  III 9 V The Agonalia B EN  10 IV The middle of Winter C NP XI 11 III The Carmentalia D C  12 Prid. The Compitalia E NP XIX 13 Id. The Trumpeters make Publications thro' the City in the Habit of Women F EN VIII 14 XIX Wicked Days by Order of the Senate G   15 XVIII To Carmenta Porrima and Postverta H C XVI 16 XVII To Concord Leo begins to set in the Morning A C V 17 XVI The Sun in Aquarius B C  18 XV  C C XIII 19 XIV  D C II 20 XIII  E C  21 XII  F C X 22 XI  G C  23 X Lyra sets H C XVIII 24 IX Festi Sementini or the Feast of Seed-time A C VII 25 VIII  B C  26 VII  C C XV 27 VI To Castor and Pollux D C IV 28 V  E F  29 IV Equiria in the Campus Martius The Pacalia F F XII 30 III Fidicula sets G F I 31 Prid. To the Dii Penates The CALENDAR of Julius Caesar FEBRUARY Vnder the Protection of Neptune Nundinal Letters Days Golden Number    H N IX 1 Kalen. To Juno Sospita to Jupiter to Hercules to Diana The Lucaria A N  2 IV  B N XVII 3 III Lyra sets and the Middle of Leo. C N VI 4 Prid. The Dolphin sets D   5 Non. Aquarius rises E N XIV 6 VIII  F N III 7 VII  G N  8 VI  H N XI 9 V The Beginning of the Spring A N  10 IV  B N XIX 11 III Genialic Games Arcturus rises C N VIII 12 Prid.  D NP  13 Id. To Faunus and Jupiter The Defeat and Death of the Fabii E C. XVI 14 XVI The Rising of Corvus Crater and the Serpent F NP V 15 XV The Lupercalia G END  16 XIV The Sun in the Sign Pisces H NP XIII 17 XIII The Quirinalia A C II 18 XII The Fornacalia The Feralia to the Gods Manes B C  19 XI  C C X 20 X  D F  21 IX To the Goddess Muta or Laranda The Feralia E C XVIII 22 VIII The Charistiae F NP VII 23 VII The Terminalia G N  24 VI The Regifugium The Place of the Bissextilo H C XV 25 V Arcturus rises at Night A EN IV 26 IV  B NP  27 III Equiria in the Campus Martius C C XII 28 Prid. The Tarquins overcome The CALENDAR of Julius Caesar MARCH Vnder the Protection of Minerva Nundinal Letters Days Golden Number    D NP I 1 Kalen. The Matronalia to Mars the Feast of Ancylia E F  2 VI To Juno Lucina F C IX 3 V The second Pisces sets G C  4 IV  H C XVII 5 III Arcturus sets Vindemiator rises Cancer rises A NP V 6 Prid. The Vestaliana On this Day Jul. Caesar was coeated High-Priest B F  7 Non. To Ve-Jupiter in the Wood of the Asylum Pegasus rises C F XIV 8 VIII Corona rises D C III 9 VII Orion rises The Northern Pisces rises E C  10 VI  F C XI 11 V  G C  12 IV  H EN XIX 13 III The Opening of the Sea A NP VIII 14 Prid. The second Equiria upon the Tyber B NP  15 Id. To Anna Parenna The Parricide Scorpio sets C C XVI 16 XVII  D NP V 17 XVI The Liberalia or Bacchanalia The Agonalia Milvius sets E C  18 XV The Sun in the Sign Aries F N XIII 19 XIV The Quinquatria of Minerva which last 5 Days G C II 20 XIII  H C  21 XII The 1st Day of the Century Pegasus sets in the Morning A N X 22 XI  B NP  23 X The Tubilustrium C QR XVIII 24 IX  D C VII 25 VIII The Hilaria to the Mother of the Gods The Vernal Equinox E C  26 VII  F NP XV 27 VI On this Day Caesar made himself Master of Alexandria G C IV 28 V The Megalesia H C  29 IV  A C XII 30 III To Janus to Concord to Salus and Pax. B C I 31 Prid. To the Moon or Diana upon the Aventine Mount The CALENDAR of Julius Caesar APRIL Vnder the Protection of the Goddess Venus Nundinal Letters Days Golden Letters    C N IX 1 Kalen. To Venus with the Flowers and Myrtle To Fortuna Virilis D C  2 IV The Pleiades set E C XVII 3 III  F C VI 4 Prid. The Megalesian Games to the Mother of the Gods for the Space of 8 Days G   5 Non.  H NP XIV 6 VIII To Fortuna publica primigenia A N III 7 VII The Birth of Apollo and Diana B N  8 VI Plays for Caesar's Victory Libra and Orion set C N XI 9 V  D N  10 IV Cerealia Ludi Circensis the Circensian Games E N XIX 11 III  F N VIII 12 Prid. The Mother of the Gods brought to Rome Plays in honour of Ceres for 8 Days G NP  13 Id. To Jupiter Victor and Liberty H N XVI 14 XVIII  A NP V 15 XVII Fordicidia or Fordicalia B N  16 XVI Augustus saluted Emperor The Hyades set C N XIII 17 XV  D N II 18 XIV Equiria in the Circus Maximus The Burning of the Foxes E N  19 XIII Cerealia The Sun in the Sign Taurus F N X 20 XII  G NP  21 XI Paliliana or Pariliana The Nativity of Rome H N XVIII 22 X The second Agoniana or Agonalia A NP VII 23 IX The first Vinalia to Jupiter and Venus B C  24 VIII  C NP XV 25 VII Robigalia Aries sets The middle of the Spring D F IV 26 VI The Dog-star rises The Goat rises E C  27 V Latinae Feriae on the Mons sacer F NP XII 28 IV The Floralia for the Space of 6 Days The Goat rises in the Morning G C I 29 III The Dog-star sets at Night H F  30 Prid. To Vesta Palatina The first Larentalia The CALENDAR of Julius Caesar MAY. Vnder the Protection of Apollo Nundinal Letters Days Golden Number    A N IX 1 Kalen. To Deu bona To Lares praestites Ludi Floria for the Space of the 3 Days B F  2 VI The Compitalia C C XVII 3 V The Centaar and the Hyades rise D C VI 4 IV  E C  5 III Lyra rises F C XIV 6 Prid. The Middle of Scorpio sets G N III 7 Non. Virgiliae
and preserve her from the God Silvanas viz. INTERCINODA PILUMNUS and DEVERRA The Child who was born was put under the protection of these Gods VAGITANUS to preside at his Cries LEVANA to take him up CUNINA to lay him in the Cradle RUMINA to suckle him POTINA to give him Drink EDUCA to feed him OSSILAGO to knit his Bones CARNEA or CARNA and CARDEA to take care of his Vitals JUVENTUS presided over his Youth ORBONA was called upon by the Parents lest she should take away their Children When the Child grew up they prayed to other Gods in his behalf viz. MURCIA lest he should be idle STRENUA to act with vigilancy and vigour ADEONA and ABEONA to go and come again AVERRUNCUS to put away evil ANGERONA to drive away Melancholy and two GENII one good and the other bad The Names of the Country Gods JUPITER the EARTH the SUN the MOON CERES LIBER MINERVA VENUS PALES FLORA POMONA VERTUMNUS SEIA or SEGETIA SEGECE TULLINA TUTANUS ROBIGUS PAN SILENUS SILVANUS TERMINUS PRIAPUS and an infinite number of others as the Gods PENATES and LARES of whom we will speak severally and in their Order DILUVIUM A Deluge a general Inundation that God sent formerly upon the Earth to drown both Men and Beasts to punish their wickedness For that purpose God opened the Cataracts of Heaven and preserved only Noah and his Family out of this Deluge with two of each kind of all living Creatures in an Ark that he ordered him to build for that purpose There has been formerly five Deluges yet there was but one universal one sixteen hundred years and more after the creation of the World in the time of old Ogyges the Phaenician as Xenophon tells us The second Deluge covered only the Land of Egypt with Waters and was occasioned by by an overflowing of the River Nile in the time of Prometheus and Hercules and continued but a Month as we learn from Diodorus Siculus The third Deluge happened in Achaia in the Province of Attica and lasted threescore days in the time of Ogyges the Athenian Diodorus speaks of it in his sixth Book and Pausanias in his Attica relates that in the lower Town of Athens in the way that leads to the Temple of Jupiter Olympius there was a hole seen in the ground a foot and a half wide and thro' that hole the Waters of the Flood were sunk wherefore it was a custom among the People to throw every year into that hole a kind of an offering made with Wheat-Flower and Honey The fourth Deluge was in Thessalia in Deucalion's time and continued a whole Winter as Aristotle tells us in the first Book of his Meteors The fifth hapned about the Ostia of the River Nile in Egypt in the Reign of Proteus and about the time of the Trojan War But Poets confound these Deluges and say that the Universal Deluge was in the time of Deucalion the Son of Prometheus who escaped alone with his Wife in a Boat on the top of Mount Parnassus in Phâ—cis Lucian seems to countenance this opinion of the Poets in the Dea Syriae The most common opinion says he is that Deucalion of Scythia is the founder of this Temple he means the Temple of Syria for the Greeks say that the first Men being cruel and insolent faithless and void of Humanity perished all by the Deluge a great quantity of Water issuing out of the bowels of the Earth which swell'd up the Rivers and forc'd the Sea to overflow by the assistance of Rain and violent Showers so that all lay under water only Deucalion remain'd who escaped in an Ark with his Family and two of each kind of all living Creatures that followed him into the Ark both wild and tame without hurting one another He floated till the Waters were withdrawn then populated the Earth again They added another wonder that an Abyss opened of it self in their Country which swallowed up all the Waters and that Deucalion in memory of that Accident erected there an Altar and built a Temple A Man may still see there a very small Cliff where the Inhabitants of that Country with those of Syria Arabia and the Nations beyond the Euphrates resort twice a year to the Neighbouring Sea from whence they fetch abundance of Water which they pour into the Temple from whence it runs into that Hole and the Origine of this Ceremony is likewise attributed to Deucalion and instituted in commemoration of that Accident This is what Holy Scripture informs us concerning the Universal Deluge The wickedness of Men being great in the Earth at last the day of Punishment came And the Lord commanded unto Noah to put in the Ark all sort of Provisions and take two of each kind of unclean Animals and seven of the clean Animals viz. three Males and three Females to preserve their Specie upon the Earth and one more for the Sacrifice after the Flood should be over This being done Noah shut up himself in the Ark the seventeenth day of the second Month of the Solar Year which was the nineteenth of April according to our computation with his three Sons and their Wives It did rain forty days and forty nights And God opened the Cataracts of Heaven and the Fountains of the Deep and the Waters increasing during an hundred and fifty days the forty Days above-mentioned being included were fifteen Cubits higher than the top of the highest Mountains And all Flesh died both Men and Beasts and none escaped but those that were in the Ark. The hundred and fiftieth day the waters abated by a great wind that the Lord raised and the twenty seventh of the seventh Month to reckon from the beginning of the Flood the Ark rested upon a Mountain of Armenia Hieronymus calls it Mount Taurus because the River Araxes ran at the foot thereof Others grounding their Opinion upon a more ancient Authority tell us that the Ark rested upon one of the Gordian Mountains and Epiphanius says that at his time they shew'd yet the remainders of the Ark. Many Arabian Geographers and Historians are of this Opinion The first day of the tenth Month the tops of the Mountains appeared And Noah and his Family went out of the Ark the twenty seventh day of the second Month the twenty ninth of April according to our account by the command of the Lord as he went in before by the same order DIOCLETIANUS Born in Dalmatia of a mean Parentage and Slave to Annulinus the Senator His great ability in War and Government raised him to the Throne And as soon as he had obtained the Soveraign Power he put Aper to death to make good the prediction of an old Witch who had foretold him that he should be a great Man when he had kill'd the fatal Wild-boar for till that time he was but a Wild-boar Hunter nevertheless this Prediction was to be understood of Aper Mumerian's Father-in-law for Aper signifies in Latin a Wild-boar This Emperor raised a most
opinion were the Sons of Faunus King of the Alorigines in Italy They were represented with small Horns on their Head and pointed Ears and the rest of their Bodies like Goats The Country People worshipp'd them and offered them Goats in Sacrifice These Demi-Gods were only the Gods of the Latins and were unknown to the Greeks FAVONIUS The West-wind that blows from the Equinoxial Line of the West i. e. from that place where the Sun sets in the time of the Vernal Equinox The Greeks call it Zephirus i. e. bringing life because it revives and renews Nature in the Spring FAUSTA Sister to the Emperor Maxentius and second Wife to Constantine the Great She fell in love with Crispu her Son-in-Law and accused him of having attempted her Virtue because he refused to yeild to her impure desires The Emperor provoked to anger put him to death without inquiring any further after the accusation of his Wife But a while after the Imposture being discovered Constantine ordered her to be smothered in a hot Bath FAUSTINA The Wife of Marcus Aurelius who taking occasion from her Husband's kindness to lead a lewd life Her Husband prudently winked at it yet he cannot be excused for raising to the greatest Imployments in the Empire those who defiled his Bed Whereupon the People passed many Jeers upon him And those who were zealous for the service of their false Gods were asham'd to see Faustina the lewdest of all women rank'd amongst the Divinities served by Priests and worshipped in a particular Temple like Pallas who was accounted a Virgin FAUSTULUS Numitor's Shepherd who saved Remus and Romulus two Children of Rhea the Vestal whom Amulius her Father had exposed on the River Tyber and brought them to Acca Laurentia his Wife who brought them up secretly FEBRIS A Fever an Ague a Disease proceeding from an excess of heat and drowth in the blood and humours which communicates it self from the Heart to the whole Body through the Veins and Arteries and is known by a violent beating of the Pulse The Romans put her among their Divinities and built her a Temple Poets banish'd the Diseases into Hell as Virgil has done Primis in faucibus Orci Pallentes habitant Morbi But the ignorant People place them among the Divinities Clemens of Alexandria speaks thus of them The Romans offered Sacrifices to Hercules the Fly-driver the Fever and Fear Romani Herculi muscarum depulsori Febri at Pavori sacrificant And St Austin says that Felicity is received among the Divinities and joined with Priapus Cloacina Fear Paleness Fever and many others that cannot be adored without Crime Whereupon Lactantius tells us that 't is a strange depravation to confound these Gods and Evils together though they pretend that some Gods are honoured for help and others are respected lest they should do harm FEBRUA A Goddess who presided over women's Terms This word is derived from the Latin word Februa i. e. to purify to purge FEBRUARIUS February the second Month of the Year under the protection of Neptune This Month is not found in the Calendar of Romulus the Year being then composed but of ten Months only but during the reign of Numa Pompilius the Calendar was reformed for the first time Numa had discoursed very particularly with Pythagoras concerning Astronomy and made use of what he had learn'd of him to make this reformation and followed very near the order kept then by the Greeks for the distribution of time Yet the common Years of the Greeks were but of 354 days however Numa made up his Year of 355 days that it might be an odd number out of a superstition of the Egyptians who accounted even numbers to be fatal Wherefore he took a day out of each of these six Months April June Sextilis September November and December that Romulus had made up of 30 days that they might be but 29 leaving to the other Months the 31 days they had before Then adding these six days to 51 which was wanting to the Year of Romulus which was 304 days to make up his Year 355 days he made 57 days of them which he divided in two other Months and placed them before the Month of March viz. January of 29 days and February of 28. He did not much matter that the number of days of this last Month was even because it was appointed for the Sacrifices that were offered to the Infernal Gods to whom this fatal number seem'd agreeable He called this Month Februarius because of the God Februus who presided over the Purifications or because of Juno sirnamed Februa Februata or Februalis for in this Month the Lupercalia were celebrated in honour of her where the Women were purified by the Priests of Pan Lycaeus called Lupercals And to make this more establish'd and perpetual Numa made use of the 45 intercalar days of the Greeks and distributed them every two Years and at the end of the two first Years there was a Month of 22 days set before the Feast called Terminalia which was kept the sixth of the Kalends of March i. e. the 24th of February and after the two other Years the three and twenty remaining days were set at the same day so that in the space of four Years the whole intercalation of 45 days was made and was even with that which was practiced by the Greeks in their Olympiades This interposed Month every two Years was called by the Romans Mercedonius or Februarius intercalaris See Annus At the Calends or the first day of this Month was kept the Feast of June Sospit who had a Temple on Mount Palatine near the Temple of the Grand-mother of the Gods The same day was solemniz'd the Feast of the Wood of Refuge called Lucaria which Romulus had instituted that he might People his new Town And that day they sacrificed in the Temples of Vesta and Jupiter sirnamed the Thunderera to whom a Sheep of two years old was sacrificed in the Capitol This day there were also Sacrifices offered to the dumb Goddess or the Goddess of Silence See Muta Dea. There was still upon this day another Ceremony observed called Charistia because all the Kindred of the same Family having the foregoing days perform'd the Service for the dead made among themselves a Banquet of Charity whereby they put an end to all Disputes and Controversies that might be amongst them As we learn from Valerius Maximus lib. 2. c. 1. Convivium etiam solemne Majores instituerunt idque Charistiam appellaverunt cui praeter cognatos affines nemo interponebatur ut si quae inter necessarias personas querela esset erta inter sacra mensae tolleretur On the 21 or the 22 was kept the Feast of the Bounds called Terminalia in honour of Terminus the God of Bounds The Ceremony of this Feast was performed in the Country upon Stones used for Bounds and were accounted by them as so many Gods they offered them some Wheat Cakes with the first Fruits of
Account of the Chymerical Divinity of Mars in Assyria and Persia The Egyptians placed him in the second Degree among the Demi-Gods that reigned with them and this may be observed from the Dynasties related by Syncellus Julian the Apostate makes mention of Mars of Edessa who was called Azizus Now all the Nations of the Earth having a not be without one History and the Greek Fables tell us that Mars having killed Halirrhothius Neptune's Son for having violated the Chastity of his Daughter Alcippe Neptune accused him before the Tribunal of Twelve Gods where he was acquitted The Place in Atheus where this Judgment was pronounced has been since called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because 't was an Eminence or a Rock and the Judges from thence took the Name of Areopagites This Action of Mars might very well induce the Greeks to attribute unto him what the most Ancient and Eastern Nations had already published concerning the God of War Dionysius of Halicarnassus says that the Sabins and the Romans gave the Name of Quirinus to the God Enyalius being in some doubt whether he were God Mars himself or another God who presided over Military Adventures MARS in Astrology is the Fifth Planet being between the Sun and Jupiter it s a mischievous Planet which the Astrologers call Little Misfortune she finishes her Course in a Revolution of 322 Days and goes round about the Sun Fontana has observed a Spot in the middle thereof which he believes to be a Satellite as in Jupiter MARTIUS March the Third Month in Year according to our Way of Reckoning It was formerly the First amongst the Romans and is still so in use in some Ecclesiastical Computations It s no longer than since the Edict of Charles IX in the Year 1564 that they have used in France to reckon the Year from the Beginning of January for before it began with March Astrologers make it also the first because 't is then that the Sun enters into Aries by which they begin to reckon the Signs of the Zodiac The Calends of this Month was anciently very remarkable because of its being the first Day of the Year whereon divers Ceremonies were performed They kindled a new Fire upon the Altar of Vesta with the Sun-beams by the Help of a Burning-glass in the same Manner almost as they kindle it in the Popish Church on Easter-Eve Hujus diei primâ ignem novum Vestae aris accendebant ut incipiente anno cura denuò servandi novati ignis inciperet Macr. L. 1. C. 12. Saturn They took away the old Lawrel-branches and Crowns as well from the Door of the King of the Sacrifices as from the Courts and Houses of the Flamines and the Axes of the Consuls and put new in the room of them and this was called Mutatio laurearum And this Macrobius also informs us Tam in Regiâ curiisque atque Flaminum domibus laureae veteres novis laureis mutabantur Ovid tells us the same Thing in Lib. 3. Fast Laurea Flaminibus quae toto perstitit anno Tollitur frondes sunt in honore novae Adde quòd arranâ fieri novus ignis in aede Dicitur vires flamma refecta capit The Magistrates took Possession of their Places which continued says Ovid till the Carthaginian War for then they altered the Custom and enter'd thereon the First of January The Roman Ladies celebrated a particular Feast then which was instituted by Romulus and called Matronalia of which by and by On the Calends of this Month of March began the Feast of Shields or Sacred Bucklers Ancyliorum dies which continued Three Days whereat the Salii carried small Bucklers This Festival ended with splendid Feasting and great Merriments which is the Reason of giving the Name of Coena Saliaris to sumptuous Entertainments See Ancylia On the 6th which is the Day before the Nones in Latin called Pridie Nonas there were some Solemnities performed in Honour of Vesta On the 7th or Day of the Nones called Nonis was celebrated the Anniversary of the Dedication of the Temples consecrated on such a Day to Ve-Jupiter in both the Woods of the Asylum as also a Feast to Juno called Junonalia See Junonalia On the 13th there was an Horse-race near the Tiber or upon Mount Caelius when that River overflowed On the 15th or the Day of the Ides came on the Feast of Anna Perenna of which I have spoken in its proper place This Day was called Parricidium because Julius Caesar was then assassinated by Brutus and the rest of the Conspirators On the 16th was another Feast called Liberalia for then it was that Children took upon them the Virile Robe On the same Day also they made Processions called Argei or Argea in some Places the which had been consecrated by Numa in Commemoration of some Grecian Princes that had been buried there See Argei and Argea On the 19th or 14th of the Calends of April began the great Festival of Minerva called Quinquatria either because it fell out on the Fifth Day after the Ides of March or because it lasted Five Days See Quinquatria The 24th was marked with those Letters in the Calender Q. R. C. F. Quando Rex Comitiavit Fas it being as much as to say 'T is lawful for the Praetor to keep his Seat as soon as the King of the Sacrifices has done his Business in the Assembly and is withdrawn On the 25th was held the Feast called Hilaria which was instituted in Honour of the Mother of the Gods and of Atys On the 26th came on the Feast of Washing the Grand-mother of the Gods Lavatio Matris Deûm being instituted in Commemoration of the Day wherein she was brought from Asia and washed in the River Almo Vid. Lavatio There were several Feasts kept on the 30th viz. to Janus Concord Health and to Peace and next Day there was one to the Moon celebrated on Mount Aventine to which they sacrificed a Bull. MARSYAS the Son of Oeagrus who was a Shepherd and one of the Satyrs and having taken up a Flute which Minerva had made of a Deer's-Bone and thrown away in Anger he learnt of himself to play upon it insomuch that he adventured to challenge Apollo the God of Hermony to play with him The Muses were the Judges of this Tryal of Skill between them and they gave the Victory to Apollo who presently caused Marsyas to be tied to a Tree and stead alive by a Scythian and cut into Pieces MATRIMONIUM Marriage there was a formal Betrothing and Contract went before it as may be seen in Plautus and Terence for he that was minded to have a Virgin in Marriage made his Application to her Relations and demanded their Consent to it Quid nunc etiam mihi despondes filiam illis legibus Cum illâ dote quam tibi dixi M. Sponden ' ergo spondeo Then the Contract was drawn and signed with the Relations Seal wherein the Terms and Articles of Marriage were writ which
ought not to rely upon what Pliny says in respect to the Romans having no Physicians for above 600 Years seeing he contradicts himself when he says that Archagatus came thither in the Year 535. So that he misreckons near 100 Years But to shew you more exactly how he is mistaken we must observe what Dionysius of Halicarnassus says upon the Year CCCI Hist Rom. wherein he shews that a Plague breaking out at Rome it swept away almost all the Slaves and half the Citizens there being not Physicians enough to attend so many sick Persons So that here is at least a Rebate of 300 Years in Pliny's Account seeing according to the Testimony of the said Dionysius who was an Author of good Credit there had been Physicians at Rome from the Year 301. In the succeeding Age viz. in the Year CCCCLXI the Plague raged again in the City of Rome and the Art and Care of the Physicians being not able to withstand the Contagion the Romans sent Deputies into Greece to setch Esculasius the God of Physick thither who at Epidaurus had done Wonders in the Curing of Diseases In the 6th Century Archagatus was the first that came from Greece to Rome Terence adapts a Comedy to the Year DLXXXVIII wherein he brings Physicians upon the Stage which he would have taken care not to have done if they had none of them at Rome or if they had been banish'd thence Plautus before him in his Mercator brings in a discontented Man who said that he would go for some Poyson to a Physician Ibo ad Medicum atque me ibi toxico morti dabo Herophilus came in the 7th Century who as Pliny says resisted the Principles of Erasistratus and settled the Differences between Diseases according to the Rules of Musick Asclepiades towards the End of the said Century flourished and after him his Scholar Themiso and the famous Craterus of whom Cicero speaks often in his Epistles to Atticus and indeed he was a Person of very great Reputation as Horace witnesseth Non est cardiacus Craterum dixisse putato Hic Aeger It is of him Porphyric speaks who having a Person for his Patient that lay ill of an extraordinary Distemper wherein his Flesh fell away from his Bones he cured him by feeding him with Vipers dressed like Fish In the 8th Age besides the famous Antonius Musa Augustus his Physician and Eudemus Celsus Scribonius Largus and Charicles flourish'd also at Rome in the Reigns of Augustus Tiberius and Caligula Vectius Valens and Alco lived under Claudius and so did Cyrus Livia's Physician During the 9th Century there flourish'd at Rome Statius Annaeus Nero's Physician old Andromachus the Inventer of the Theriaca Andromacha Thessalus who got himself the Name of Iatronices i. e. Conqueror of Physicians because he boasted he had overthrown their Principles Crinas of Marseilles and Charmis of the said City who being desirous to go beyond their Brethren condemned the Use of Hot Baths and made their Patients bath in cold Water even in Winter time In the 10th Century after the Building of Rome Galen a Native of Pergamus was in Request at Rome he being Physician to the Emperors Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus In the 11th Century there were divers famous Physicians in the Empire and at Rome but the 12th was fertile in them among whom were Zeno of Cyprus Ionicus of Sardis Magnus of Antioch and Oribassius of Pergamus who were his Disciples This was the last Age of the Roman Empire which according to the Appearance of the 12 Vultures to Romulus was to last but so many Centuries MEDIMNUS or MEDIMNUM it was a Measure among the Greeks containing Six Roman Bushels which is about Lifty English Quarts MEDITRINALIA were Feasts instituted in Honour of the Goddess Meditrina à Medendo because the Romans then began to drink new Wines which they mixed with old and that served them instead of Physick It was celebrated on the 30th of September MEDUSA the Daughter of Phorcus who dwelt in one of the Islands of the Aethiopian Sea with her two Sisters Euryale and Sthenion who were called Gorgons Modusa was exceeding beautiful beyond her Sisters and had the finest Head of Hair in the World Neptune enjoy'd her in the Temple of Minerva who resenting so base an Action turn'd the Hairs of Medusa's Head into so many Serpents and made her Aspect so terrible as to transform all that looked upon her into Stones Perseus rid the Earth of so horrible a Monster and by the Help of Mercury's Wings and Minerva's Shield cut off her Head the which Pallas fixed to her Shield and with which she petrified all her Enemies MEGAERA was one of the Furies of Hell the Name being derived from the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Odiosa and who by Virgil is placed in Hell with her Head drest with Serpents and a frightful Aspect which punishes the Guilty MEGALESIA they were Feasts instituted in Honour of Cybele the Grand-mother of the Gods and the same was solemnized on the Nones of April i. e. the Fifth Day with Plays and Rejoycings The Priests of this Goddess who were called Galli carried her Image along the City with the Sound of Drums and Wind-musick in order to imitate the Noise they made who were entrusted by this Goddess with the Education of her Son Jupiter that so they might hinder Saturn from hearing the Child's Cry and not devour him as he had done his other Children MELAMPUS the Son of Amithaon the Argian and of Doripe he was an Augur and a very experienced Physician he had the Art perfectly to imitate the Volces of all Sorts of Animals There were Temples erected for him and Divine Honours paid him Proetus gave him his Daughter Iphianassa in Marriage whom by his Art he had brought to her right Senses MELANTHO the Daughter of Proteus who was wont to divert her self in the Sea riding upon a Dolphin's Back but Neptune being taken with her Beauty assumed the Shape of a Dolphin and after he had carried her on his Back for some Time in the Sea he took her off and enjoyed her MELEAGER the Son of Oeneus King of Calydonia and of Althaea Diana being angry that this King had forgot her at a Sacrifice sent a furious Boar into his Country which he with the Help of Theseus killed from whence came the Proverb Non fine Theseo This Victory proved fatal to Meleager for having made a Present of this Animal's Head to his Mistress the Jealousie of some Persons who were present occasioned a Quarrel wherein his Two Uncles were killed and whose Death Althea their Sister and the Mother of this Prince revenged upon him in a very strange Manner For Althea perceiving at the Time that Meleager was born that the Destinies had limitted the Life of the said Child so long as a Firebrand should last she took care to put the Fire out and to preserve that Firebrand very carefully But being now desirous to revenge the Death of her
Brothers upon her Son she threw the Firebrand into the Fire and presently the unhappy Meleager felt a terrible Burning throughout his whole Body and died with miserable Torments His Sisters lamented him and were transformed into Turky-Hens Lucian also relates this Fable in his Dialogue concerning Sacrifices All the Evils which formerly fell out in Etolia and all the Calamities of the Calydoneans with the Murdering of them and the Death of Meleager came from the Displeasure of Diana who was angry she had been forgotten at a Sacrifice MELICERTES the Son of Athamas and Ino who with his Mother threw himself down headlong over the Rocks called Scironides and was carried by a Dolphin to Corinth where he was turned into a Sea-God by the Name of Palemon They celebrated Games in Honour of him called the Isthmian-games near Corinth with great Expence MELPOMENE one of the Nine Muses said to have been the Inventress of Tragedies Odes and Songs MEMNON the Son of Tithonus and Aurora who came to the Relief of King Priamus at the Siege of Troy and was killed by Achilles in a Duell He was changed into a Bird by his Mother when his Body was laid upon the Funeral-Pile The Egyptians erected a Statue for him which made a Noise at Sun-rising when the Sun darted it's Beams upon it and the same in the Evening had a mournful and complaining Tone as if it were concerned for the Loss of it's Presence This is the Account Philostratus and Tacitus give thereof MENANDER an Athenean famous for his Comedies of whom Phaedrus speaks in the 5th Book of his Fables He was courted by the Kings of Egypt and more particularly in Favour with Demetrius who admired the Excellency of his Wit MENIPPUS a Cynick Philosopher whom Lucian in his Dialogue entituled Icaromenippus makes to take a Journey into Heaven by the Help of a Couple of Wings one being a Vulture's and the other an Eagle's and the Reason which he makes Menippus give why he undertook so great a Journey is that after he had observed the Frailty and Inconstancy of Humane Things he began to despise Grandeur Wealth and Pleasures and to apply himself to a Contemplation and Search after Truth for which End he consulted the Philosophers but that he found so much Contradiction and Uncertainty in what they said that he was resolved to go and enquire after it into Heaven MENOECEUS the Son of Creon King of Thebes who was willing to die for the Preservation of his Country for when they came to know by the Oracle that the Thebans should obtain the Victory if the last of Cadmus his Race devoted himself to the Infernal Gods he slew himself with his own Sword after he had so devoted himself MENSIS a Month the Space of Time that the Sun takes to run through one Sign of the Zodiac which makes the 12th part of a Year Cicero derives this Word from Mensura or Metior Qui quia mensa spatia conficiunt menses nominantur Months properly speaking are no other than the Time which either the Moon takes to run thro' the Zodiac called by Astrologers a Periodical Month or to return from Sun to Sun which is distinguish'd by the Name of a Synodical Month but yet this Name has been also given to the Time the Sun is a running through the Twelfth Part of the Zodiac two Sorts of Months viz. the Lunar and the Solar being hereby distinguished The Lunar Synodical Month which is that alone that People mind is a little above Twenty Nine Days and an Half The Solar is usually accounted to consist of some Thirty Days Ten Hours and an Half The Month is again distinguished into an Astronomical and Civil Month the first is properly the Solar Month and the Civil is that which is accommodated to the Customs of People and particular Nations every one in their Way some using the Lunar others the Solar Months The Jews Greeks and Romans formerly made use of Lunar Months but to avoid all such Fractions in Numbers as would happen they made them alternatively to consist of Twenty Nine and Thirty Days calling the former Cavi and the other Pleni The Egyptians used Solar Months and ordered all of them to consist of Thirty Days only adding to the End of the Year Five Days which were made up of the Supernumerary Hours and neglecting the Six Hours or thereabouts that arose from the Half Hours and this made their Seasons in the Revolution of every Four Years go backward One Day We now make use of these Months tho' we render them unequal and at the same Time reserve the Six Hours to make up a Day from Four Year to Four Year and this has been explained under the Word Annus which may be seen for this Purpose Romulus made his Year at first to consist but of Ten Months the first of which was March then April May June Quintilis July Sextilis August September October November December But Numa Pompiltus who had a very particular Converse with Pythagoras of whom he had learned divers Things in the Astronomical Art of which he made good Use especially upon this Occasion added Two Months more to Romulus's Ten Months by taking a Day off from April June August September and December to which Romulus had allowed Thirty Days leaving Thirty One Days to the rest as they had them then adding those Six Days to Fifty One that were wanting in Romulus his Year which consisted of 304 Days in order to perfect his own of 355 that made 57 Days the which he divided into Two other Months viz. into January which had 29 Days and February 28. which he placed before March He was not concerned that the Days in this last Month consisted of an even Number because he designed it for the Time to offer Sacrifices in to the Infernal Gods to which this Number as being unhappy according to the Egyptians Superstition seemed to belong He constituted the Month of January which he appointed for the Winter-Solstice to be the first Month in the Year instead of March which was so before and which Romulus had put for the Vernal Equinox The Romans made use of Three Words to reckon the Days of their Months by to wit the Calends Nones and Ides The first Day of every Month was called Calends the Four following Days were the Nones except in March May July and October who had 6 Days of Nones then came the Ides which contained Eight Days And the rest of the Month was reckoned by the Calends of the following Month We now make use of the Roman Months and only reckon the Days therein by 1 2 3 4 c. See what has been said upon Calendae and Calendarium MENSORES Harbingers whose Business it was to go and fix upon Lodgings for the Emperors when they were minded to go to any Province and when they intended to encamp they marked out the same and assigned its Post to every Regiment MENSURA Measure being that which serves
is represented like a young Nymph full of Vigour and Strength and he would have her to be Mercury's Daughter who invented this sort of Exercise in Arcadia PALAMEDES the Son of Nauplius King of the Isle of Eubaea and an irreconcilable Enemy to Vlysses be added Four Letters to the Greek Alphabet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He also invented Weights and Measures He appointed the Watch-word to be given in Armies and the Way to form a Battallion according to the Flying of Cranes which for that Reason were called Palamedes his Birds They make him to be a great Astrologer he having regulated the Years according to the Course of the Sun and the Months according to that of the Moon He was stoned to Death by the Grecians being falsly accused of holding intelligence with Priamus by Vlysses PALATINUS Mount Palatine one of the Seven Hills of Rome and so called either from the Palantes who came and dwelt there with Evander or from Palantia Latinus his Wife or from Pales the Goddess of Shepherds The King's Palace stood upon this Mountain and from hence King's Courts came to be called Palatia Romulus was brought up on this Mount PALES the Goddess of Shepherds who was beloved of Apollo There was a Feast celebrated in Honour of Apollo April 20 or 21 by offering Sacrifices and making great Fires of Straw of Hâ—y which were kindled with great Rejoycings and by Sound of Drums and Trumpets the Country People leaped over these Fires and purified their Cattle therewith in order to keep them from the Mange and other Distempers See Palilia PALILIA they were Feasts and Publick Rejoycings made as well in the City as Country April 20th in Honour of Pales the Goddess of Flocks to intreat her to make them fruitful and preserve them from the usual Diseases Fires were kindled both in City and Country such as are at this Day used in Popish Territories on St. John's Eve And the same were made with Bean-straw Horse-blood and Calves-Ashes which Calf they took out of the Cow's Belly that they sacrificed on the Day of the Fordicidia at what time the Chief of the Vestal Virgins burnt those Calves and gathering the Ashes very carefully up they reserved the same for a Perfume on the Day of the Palilia that so the People and their Cattle might be purified therewith 'T was to her that they went to fetch those Ashes which afterwards they threw into the Fire as Ovid tells us Fast L. 4. V. 731. I pete virgineâ populus suffimen ab arâ Vesta dabit Vestae numine purus eris Sanguis equi suffimen erit vitulique favilla Tertia res durae culmen in ane fabae The People danced about the Fire and purified themselves thus In the Country they lighted a great Fire in the Morning made of the Branches of Olive Pine and Lawrel and threw some Brimstone upon it then went to fetch their Cattle which they drove round it and drew in the Smell that came therefrom This Ceremony Ovid describes at large Pastor oves saturas ad prima crepuscula lustret Vda priùs spargat virgaque verrat humum Frondibus fixis decorentur ovilia ramis Et tegat ornatas longa corona fores Caerulei fiant puro de sulfure fumi Tactaque sumanti sulfure balet ovis Vre mares oleas tedamque herbasque Sabinas Et crepet in mediis laurus adusta focis They afterwards offered Sacrifice to the Goddess which consisted of Milk boiled Wine and Millet the same being accompanied with Vows and Prayers for the Fruitfulness and Preservation of their Flocks then they fell to eat and divert themselves leaping over the Fire which they had kindled with Straw or Bean-straw These Feasts were also performed in Honour of Rome's Original which was on that Day founded by Romulus PALICI they were Gods famous in Sicily Diodorus Siculus says the Temple of these Deities was much reverenced and very ancient In it there were two very deep Basons of boiling and sulphurous Water which were always full without ever running over In this Temple it was that they took the most solemn Oaths and Perjuries were there presently punished with some terrible Punishment Some lost their Eye-sight insomuch that those Oaths determined the most intricate Causes This Temple was also used as an Asylum for such Slaves as were opprest by their Masters the Masters not daring to break the Oath they took there that they would use them more kindly Silius Italicus in a Line and an half has exprest all that Diodorus says Et qui praesenti domitant perjura Palici Pectora supplicio Macrobius observes very well that the River Symetus being in Sicily the Temple of the Palici was there also according to Virgil Symetia circum Flumina pinguis ubi placabilis ara Palici He adds that the first Poet that mentioned it was Esquilus a Sicilian he relates a Fable out of him concerning a Nymph whom Jupiter had ravished and who for fear of Juno hid her self in the Earth At the Time of her Delivery she brought forth Two Brothers which were called Palici 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as being such as had entred into the Earth and came out again The Word Palici comes from the Hebrew Palichin that signifies venerabiles colendi and from Pelach colere venerari And Esquilus himself seems to intimate as much by this Sentence Summus Palicos Jupiter venerabiles voluit vocari Hesychius says that the Father of these two Brothers was Adranus which Name comes from the Hebrew Adir which is one of God's Eulogies signifying Glorious and Illustrious The Two Basons where the Oaths were taken were called Delli and from whence Divine Vengeance broke out upon the Perjured as Macrobius says and Callias after him but this is an Arabick Word and in all likelihood was Phoenician for Dalla in Arabick signifies as much as indicare perhaps it might come from the Hebrew Daal i. e. haurire for Aristotle assures us that he who swore writ his Oath upon a Note which he threw into the Water the Note swam upon the Surface If he swore what was true otherwise it disappeared Ovid gives a natural Description enough of these two Lakes in his Met. Lib. 5. V. 405. Perque lacus altos olentia sulphure fertur Stagna Palicorum ruptâ ferventia terrâ PALILIA see next after Pales PALINURUS a Companion of Aeneas who being overcome with Sleep fell with his Helm over-board into the Sea and being carried as far as Port Velino the Inhabitants rifled him and cast him to the Sea again But a little after they were afflicted with a severe Plague which made them go and consult the Oracle of Apollo who answered that they must appease the Ghost of Palinurus in Pursuance of which Advice they consecrated a Grove to him and erected a Tomb for him upon the next Promontory which obtained the Name of Palinurus PALLA a sort of Garment long in Vse both by Men and Women which the Kings and ancient