is in France They laid aside this Ornament in Times of publick Mourning or Calamity as a Sign of Sorrow CLELIA whom Dionysius Halicarnassaeus names Valeria and makes her the Daughter of the Consul Valerius being delivered for an Hostage to King Porsenna for the Security of a Truce she cast her sell into the Tiber and swam over on Horse-back King Prosenna when she was brought back to him by the Consul Valerius admiring her Courage gave her an Horse finely equipped and this is the Reason of the Statue on Horse-back which the Romans have consecrated to Clelia's Vertue in the via Sacra CLEMENTIA Clemency which the Ancients made a Goddess and which they pictured holding a Branch of Lawrel in one Hand and a Spear in the other to shew that Gentleness and Pity belonged only to victorious Wariours The Romans dedicated a Temple to her by the Order of the Senate after the Death of Julius Caesar as Plutarch and Cicero relate The Poet Claudian describes her as the Gardian of the World The Emperors Tiberius and Vitellius caused her to be stamped upon their Moneys CLEOBIS and BITO the Children of the Priestess of Argos who died both at the same time after they had drawn their Mother upon her Chariot to the Temple And these are the Men which Solon calls the most happy in his Answer to Croesus in Charon or the Contemplator See Bito CLEOPATRA Queen of Aegypt Daughter of Ptolomy surnamed Dionysius the last King of Aegypt She was first beloved by Julius Caesar who gave her that Kingdom again after he had conquered it and by him she had a Son named Caesario but after Mark Antony fell so passionately in Love with her that he was not content to give her the Provinces of the lower Syria Phoenicia the Isle of Cyprus c. but promised to give her the whole Roman Empire in Requital of the Pleasures he had with her For Love of her he divorced his Wife Octavia the Sister of Augustus which so much incensed that Prince that he declared War against him Antony though he had the Assistance of the Aegyptian Army fell by the Victorious Arms of Caesar near the Promontory of Actium Cleopatra fled to Alexandria in Aegypt and seeing that she could not gain Caesar's Favour to her Children and being unwilling to be made use of as a Captive to the Conqueror's Triumph she killed her self by the biting of an Asp upon the Tomb of Antony her Lover CLEPSYDRA an Hour-glass made with Water The Use of Clepsydrae was very ancient among the Romans and there were several sorts of them which had this in common to them all that Water ran by gentle Degrees through a narrow Passage from one Vessel to another in which rising by little and little lifted up a Piece of Cork which shewed the Hours in different Ways They were all subject to Two Inconveniences the first is that which Plutarch takes notice of that the Water passed through with more or less Difficulty according as the Air was more or less thick cold or hot for that hindred the Hours from being equal the other is that the Water ran faster at first when the Vessel from whence the Water came was full than at last and to avoid this Inconvenience it was that Orontes found out his Clepsydra which is a small Ship flotting upon the Water which empties it self by a Syphon which is in the Middle of it for the Ship sinketh according to the Quantity of the Water which comes out of the Syphon which makes it always run with the same Force because it always receives the Water near the Surface We make use of Hour-glasses of Sand instead of the Clepsydrae of the Ancients Clepsydrae were more especially used in Winter because the Sun-dials were not useful in that Season The second sort of Clepsydrae was such as without changing the Dial made the Hours sometimes longer and sometime shorter by the Inequality of the Index or Hand which depended upon the Management of the Water as Vigruoius says This was performed by making the Hole through which the Water passed larger or smaller for in the long Days when the Hours were longer the Hole being made narrower it convey'd but a little Water in a longer time which caused the Water to rise and fall slowly and so made the Counterpoize which turns the Axle-tree to which the Index or Hand is fastened to more slowly CLIENS a Client among the Romans was a Citizen who put himself under the Protection of some Great Man who in Respect of that Relation was called a Patron This Patron assisted his Client with his Protection Interest and Goods and the Client gave his Vote for his Patron when he sought any Office for himself or his Friends Clients owed Respect to their Patrons as they did owe them their Protection CLIENTELA the Protection which the great Roman Lords allowed the poor Citizens This Right of Patronage was appointed by Romulus to unite the Rich and Poor together in such Bonds of Love as the one might live without Contempt and the other without Envy CLIMA or INCLINATIONÉS MUNDI and INCLINAMENTUM a Climate which comes from the Greek Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say to decline it is intended to mark the Difference there is between the Countries of the World according to the Distance they bear from the Pole or Aequinoctial Line by reason of the Idea which the Material Sphere gives us of this Distance for the Countries which are distant from the Pole or Aequinoctial seem to decline or bend some more and others less towards the Aequinoctial or Poles The Ancients knew but Seven Climates which passed through Meroe Siena Alexandria Rhodes Rome Pontus and the Mouth of the Boristhenes Paris is in the Sixth Climate Averroes who lived under the Fifth Climate preferred it before all others The Moderns who have sailed much farther towards the Poles have made 23 Climates of each Side of the Aequator according to the Number of Twelve Hours by which the longest Day is encreased from the Aequator to the Polar Circle for they allowed the Difference of Half an Hour between one Place and another to make a different Climate and so reckoned 24 Climates and beyond the Polar Circle the Length of Days encreases so fast that they reckoned no Climates there The common People call the Country that differs from another a Climate either for the Change of Seasons or Nature of the Soil or People that inhabit it without any Relation to the long Days of Summer CLIO one of the Nine Muses who teaches to sing the Encomiums of Illustrious Men. She has taken her Name from the Greek Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies Glory or Renown She is said to be the Daughter of Jupiter and Mnemosyne the Goddess of Memory CLOACA a Sink or Gutter under Ground by which the Fifth of the City of Rome was carried away Tarquinius Superbus finished the great Sink which Tarquinius
Ethiopia to a Feast where all the Gods followed him and that he returned to Heaven Twelve Days after For the Ocean of the Western Ethiopians is the Place where the Sun sets and whither he is followed by all the Stars who set there also and find Aliment to allay their Eternal Fires without returning to the Place from whence they parted under Twelve Hours or till after they have run through the Twelve Houses or Signs of the Zodiac Macrobius farther adds that the Assyrians worshipped Jupiter as being but the same Deity with the Sun and they called him Jupiter Heliopolitanus because he was chiefly worshipped in the City of Heliopolis in Assyria Lastly Macrobius says that the Assyrians worshipped the Sun as their only and sovereign Deity and hence it is that they called his Name Adad that is only Adad was represented by the Beams of the Sun that came down from on high whereas Adargatis which was the Earth was on the Contrary pictured with reversed Rays with the Points turning upon herself to shew that all was done by the Influences which the Sun had on the Earth and that the Earth received the same from the Sun Julian the Apostate observes that the People of the Isle of Cyprus erected Altars to the Sun and Jupiter pretending they were the same Deities whom the Sovereign God of the Universe constituted to govern this visible World He adds that Homer and Hesiod were of the same Opinion when they made the Sun to be Hypereon and Thea's Son For these Two Names do plainly denote a Supream Deity They seem to say that Bacchus Apollo Musagetes and Aesculapius are no other than the Emanations and different Vertues of the Sun The Mithra of the Persians was the Sun likewise to whom the Parthians and several Eastern Nations give this Epithet because of the Head-dress wherewith he was represented He was also worshipped by this Name among the Romans as you may see by these Verses of Statius Indignata sequi torquentem cornua Mithram And by several Inscriptions at Nismes and elsewhere Deo Invicto Mithrae L. Calphurnius Piso Cn. Paulinus Volusius D. D. S. D. And at Rome this other Inscription may be seen Numini invicto Soli Mithrae M. Au relius Aug. L. Euprepes una cum filiis piis D. D. And again M. Aurelius Aug. Lib. Euprepes Soli Invicto Mithraearam ex viso posuit These Two Roman Inscriptions were those upon the Two Altars which Marcus Aurelius Eliprepes the Emperor's Freedman had dedicated to this God who appeared to him in a Dream Mithra was an Epithet given to the Sun and used in the East from whence it was brought to Rome and Lactantius says in the forecited Verses of Statius that Apollo was represented by the Persians with a Lyon's Face and a kind of Tiara on his Head because the Sun is in its Vigour when he comes to the Sign Leo the Phoenicians worshipped no other Deity than the Sun which they called Beelsamen that is the King of the Heavens The Lybians as well as the Messagetes sacrificed a Horse to him The Emperor Galienus after his Expedition into the East represented Apollo like a Centaur holding his Lyre in his Right-hand and a Globe in the other with this Inscription Apollini Comiti Probus represented him like a Charioteer sitting on his Chariot and crowned with the Sun-beams and with this Title Soli Invicto Other Emperors such as Constantine Aurelian and Crispus set him forth under the Form of a naked Man crowned with Sun-beams and holding a Globe in his Right-hand and a Whip in the Left with these Words Soli invicto comiti Lucius Plautius caused a Medal to be coined whereon was represented the Head of Apollo with Two Serpents kissing him There was a Temple built him at Rome of a Spherical i. e. a round Form SOLARIUM a Sundial Vitruvius describes several sorts of Sundials in L. 9. C. 9. of his Architecture The Hemicycle or half Circle hollowed square-wise and cut so as to incline in the same manner as the â—quinox was the Invention of Berosus the Chaldean It 's likely that Berosus his Dial was a sloaped Plinthis like the Equinox and that this Plinthis was intersected into an Hemicycle or Concave Demicircle at the Top of a high Place looking northwards and that there was a Stile or Pin coming out of the Middle of the Hemicycle whose Point answering to the Center of the Hemicycle represented the Center of the Earth and its Shadow falling upon the Concavity of the Hemicycle which represented the Space between one Tropick and another marked out not only the Declinations of the Sun that is the Days of the Months but also the Hours of each Day for that might be done by dividing the Line every Day into Twelve equal Parts by which must be meant the Days that are between the Autumnal and Vernal Equinox it being necessary to increase the Hemicycle for the other Days which contain above Twelve Equinoxial Hours The Hemisphear of Aristarchus his Dial was Sperical and Concave and not Oval The Discus of Aristarchus of Samos was an Horizontal Dial whose Edges were a little elevated in order to remedy the Inconveniency of the Stile being straight and raised up prependicularly upon the Horizon for these Edges thus raised up hindred the Shadows from extending too far The Astrologer Eudoxus found out the Araneus some say Apollonius invented the Plinthis or square Dial which was also set up in the Flaminian Circus Scopas of Syracuse made that called Prostahistoroumena Cisaranus believes this Name was given it because the Figures of the Coelestial Signs were represented thereon Parmenio was the Inventor of the Prospanclima that is such an one as might serve for all sorts of Climates Theodosius and Andreas Patrocles found out the Pelecinum which is a Dial made Ax-wise wherein the Lines which cross one another mark out the Signs and Months being close towards the Middle and open towards the Sides which makes them be of the Shape of an Ax on both Sides Dionysiodorus invented the Cone Apollonius the Quiver Dial these Two last Dials are plainly Vertical which being long and posited in an oblique manner represent a Quiver SOLARIUM was a Piece of Ground levell'd or Place raised up and exposed to the Sun where People walked as Isidorus and Cyrill's Glossary informs us SOLEAE Sandals among the Ancients it was a rich Wear or Covering for the Feet made of Gold and Silk with Leather Soles only tied with Thongs on the back part of the Foot SOLITAURILIA a Sacrifice consisting of a Sow Bull and Sheep which the Censors offered every Five Years when they performed the Lustrum or numbred and taxed the Citizens of Rome SOLON one of the Seven wise Men of Greece born at Salamis and Law-giver to the Athenians They attribute the Erecting of the Court of the Areopagites to him This wise Man said no Man could be called happy before his Death SOMNUS the God of Sleep
that it was Noon and that it was the ninth Hour or three a Clock after Noon Accensus inc amabat horam esse tertiam meridiem nonam For three a Clock among the Romans was the ninth hour as nine a Clock was the third hour because they did not begin to reckon the first Hour of the day till â—â—x a clock in the Morning so that the third hour was nine a Clock according to us and their ninth hour of the day was our three a Clock in the Afternoon ACCENSI in the Roman Armies according to the opinion of Festus were the supernumerary Souldiers who serv'd to fill the places of those who died or were disabled to fight by any Wound they had received Accensi dicebantur quia in locum mortuorium militum subito subrogantur ita dicti quia ad censum adjiciebantur Asconius Pedianus assigns them a Station in the Roman Militia like that of our Serjeants Corporals or Trumpeters Accensus nomen est ordinis in militia ut nunc dicitur Princeps aut Commentariensis aut Cornicularius Titus Livius informs us that Troops were made of these Accensi that they were plac'd at the Rear of the Army because no great matter was expected either from their Experience or their Courage Tertium vexillum ducebat minimae fiduciae manum ACCENTUS an Accent signifies a certain Mark which is set over Syllables to make them be pronounced with a stronger or weaker Voice The Greeks were more curious Observers of the Accents than the Mederus Cardinal Perron says that the Hebrews call'd the Accents Gustus which is as much as to say the Sawce of Pronunciation There are three sorts of Accents the Acute ´ the Grave ` and the Circumflex The Jews have Accents of Grammar Rhetorick and Musick The Accent of Musick is an Inflexion or Modification of the Voice or Word to express the Passions or Affections either naturally or artificially Mr. Christian Hennin a Hollander wrote a Dissertation to shew that the Greek Tongue ought not to be pronounced according to the Accents wherein he says that they were invented only to make some Distinction of Words that Books were formerly written without any such Distinction as if they were only one Word that no Accents are to be seen in Manuscripts which are above 800 years old that none are found in the Pandects of Florence which were written about the time of Justinian that they were not commonly used till about the tenth Century or in the time of Barbarism and then they were taken to be the Rule of Pronunciation that there is no use of Accents in most Nations neither in Chaldaea nor Syria nor among the Solavonians Moscovites or Bulgarians nor was among the antient Danes Germans or Dutch and that they were unknown to all Antiquity He believes that they were an Invention of the Arabians which was perfected by Alchalit about the Death of Mahomet He adds that the Massoretes of Tiberias about the middle of the sixth Century adopted this Invention and introduced it into the Bible with the Vowels in the time of Justinian and that he who perfected the Accents was Rabbi Juda Ben David Ching a Native of Fez in the eleventh Century and that they were first used among the Greeks only in favour of Strangers and to facilitate the Pronunciation of Verse ACCEPTILATIO a Term of the Roman Law Acceptilation A Discharge which is given without receiving of Money a Declaration which is made in favour of the Debtor that no more shall be demanded of him that the Debt is satisfied and forgiven and he is acquitted of it The manner of doing this was by a certain Form of Words used by both Parties Quod ego promisi facisne or habesne acceptum said the Debtor Do you acknowledg that you have received that which I promis'd you Are you satisfied do you acquit me of it the Creditor answered habeo or facio I confess I have received it I discharge you of it But this was anciently used only in Obligations contracted by word of mouth ACCEPTUM a Receipt Tabula accepti expensi a Book of Receipts and Disbursements Ratio accepti an Accompt of Receipts ACCEPTO ferre in the Law to hold for received to write Received upon the Book Accepto acceptum ferre accepto acceptum facere to confess that 't is received Expensum ferre to write down what is disbursed to keep an Accompt of what is laid out and expended ACCIA or ATTIA Accia the Mother of Caius Octavius Caesar surnamed Augustus Suetonius relates in the Life of this Prince that Accia his Mother having gone one night with other Roman Dames to solemnize a Feast of Apollo in his Temple she fell asleep there and thought in her sleep that she saw a Serpent creep under her which soon after disappear'd when she awoke having a mind to wash and purifie her self she perceiv'd upon her Belly the Track of a Serpent which could never be obliterated and upon the account of this Mark she was obliged for ever after to forbear the publick Baths She became afterwards big with Child and was brought to bed at the end of ten Months of Caesar Augustus making the World believe that she had conceived by Apollo Augustus also gloried in it that he was his Son and Torrentius mentions a Silver Medal of this Emperour upon the Reverse whereof was seen the Figure of Apollo holding a Harp in his hand with these words Caesar Divi Filius Caesar the Son of the God Apollo ACCIPIO being spoken of a Law to receive approve and hold fit as Rogationem accipere to accept a Law proposed Accipio Omen I take or hold this for a good Omen ACCIPITER any Bird of Prey in general as an Hawk c. Ovid informs us that an Hawk was a Bird of ill Omen because it was very carnivorous Odimus accipitrem quia semper vivit in armis But the same Bird was a good Omen in Marriage according to Pliny because it never eats the Hearts of other Birds which gives us to understand that no Differences in a married state between Husband and Wife ought to go so far as the Heart and Care was also taken in the Sacrifices for Marriages that the Gall of the Animals which were slain should be taken out ACCIUS a Latin Poet who wrote Tragedies in a very harsh style according to Cicero He was of an illustrious Family being descended of two Consuls Macrinus and Soranus Decius Brutus held him in great esteem took great pleasure in adorning the Temples with this Poets Verses and erected a Statue to him in the Temple of the Muses Suet. c. 4. ACCIUS Navius one of the most celebrated Augurs who liv'd in the time of Tarquinius Priscus He opposed the Design which that King had of adding new Centuries of the Roman People to those which were already established by Romulus representing to him that he ought first to consult the Will of the Gods by the Flight of Birds Tarquin
they plac'd themselves at Table and chang'd their Cloths putting on a Garment which they called Vestis coenatoria and putting off their Shoes that they might not dirty the Beds They bound about their Heads Fillets of Wool to prevent the Distempers of the Head which the Fumes of Meat and Wine might cause for which reason they used afterwards Garlands of Flowers Their Women did not eat lying after this manner such a Posture being esteem'd indecent and immodest in them except at a Debauch where they appear'd without any Shame or Modesty yet in an antient Marble which is at Rome we find the figure of a Woman lying at a Table upon a Bed as her Husband does and Virgil also seems to attest this when he represents Dido lying at Table at a Feast which she made upon the Arrival of Aeneas unless he means that she was already smitten with Love with her new Guest ACCUSARE in the Law to Accuse to draw up or lay an Accusation or Process The antient Lawyers put a difference between these three words Postulare Deserre and Accusare for first leave was desired to lay an Action against one and this was called Postulare and Postulatio after this he against whom the Action was laid was brought before the Judg which was call'd Deserre and nominis Delatio and lastly the Accusation was drawn up accusabatur The Accuser was obliged by the Law to sign his Accusation at the head of which he plac'd the Name of the Consul which signified the Year when the Romans reckon'd Years by their Consuls he set down also the Day the Hour and the Judg before whom he intended to prosecute his Accusation We learn from Tacitus that the Accusers had two days given them to make their Complaint in and the Accused three days to make his Defence and that six days were allow'd between them both to prepare themselves From the very moment that any Person was accused of a Capital Crime that deserved Death he was stript of all his Marks of Honour and appear'd in a careless Habit he was obliged to give Sureties that he would appear in Court when there was occasion which if he did not he was laid up in Prison to secure his Person The Libel being drawn the Accused was summoned to appear at three Market-days in trinundinum and he always came attended with his Neighbours and Friends who were concerned for him and threw themselves at the feet of the Magistrates and People to beg favour for him in case he were found guilty If the Accused refus'd to appear he was summoned with the Sound of a Trumpet before his House or Castle and after the time allow'd was expir'd he was condemn'd for Contumacy The Accuser had two hours wherein to speak against the Accused and three hours were granted to the Accused to make his Defence which was measured by an Hour-glass of Water called Clepsydra of which I shall give an account in its proper place which made a Greek Orator say to the Judg when he had a mind to signifie to him the Goodness of his Cause That he would bestow part of his Water on his Adversary i. e. of his Time which the Lex Pompeia made by Pompey in his third Consulship allowed him for his Defence If the Accused was found guilty Sentence was pronounced against him in these words Videtur fecisse i. e. he is attainted and convicted of having committed the Crime If on the contrary he was found not guilty he was then declared innocent in these terms Videtur non fecisse i. e. he is cleared from all Suspicion of Guilt All these Circumstances which were observed in Accusations are related by Cicero and Tacitus But if it appeared by the Event that the Accuser was a Calumniator i. e. that he had falsly accused the other Party or that he was a Prevaricator i. e. that he had betray'd his Cause to make way for the Criminal to escape and obtain Absolution or at least that he had desisted from and given over Prosecution without the Leave of the Magistrate or the Prince and without a lawful Cause then he was sentenced by the Magistrate to suffer the same Punishment which the guilty Person deserv'd ACERRA a little Pot which held the Incense and Perfumes for Sacrifices such as are now made in the form of a small Boat and are used in the Church of Rome at this day An Incense-Box for burning Perfumes upon the Altars of the Gods and before the dead Bodies The Rich says Horace offer'd Boxes full of the finest Perfumes to their false Deities Et plenâ supplex veneratur Acerrâ And the Poor according to Lucian were excused for making a Bow and throwing some grains of Incense into the Fire that burnt upon the Altars ACESSEUS the Name of a certain Seaman who was very careless and always attributed the bad Success of his Voyages to the Moon from whence comes the Latin Proverb Accessei Luna to signifie a lazy and negligent sort of People who always throw off the Blame from themselves in case of any bad Success tho their own Negligence was the only Cause of it ACETABULUM a small antient Measure which contained about the fourth part of an Hemine being about two ounces and an half of either liquid or dry things as Pliny explains it towards the end of his twelfth book This Measure held a Cup and an half and answers to our Quartern but is now more in use among Druggists and Apothecaries than Victuallers both for Liquids and Solids It was also a kind of Spice-Box which contained all sorts of Spices whereof the Ancients used to make their Sauces to season their Victuals together with Vinegar and Verjuice It was made in the form of a Pyramid and had several Drawers wherein were put different sorts of Spices as Pepper Nutmegs c. ACHELOUS a River whose Spring-head rises on Mount Pindus in Thessaly and from thence crosses over Acarnania which it separates from Etolia and then dividing it self into two Streams it runs into the Gulph of Corinth This River was called Thoas according to Stephanus and afterwards Achelous from one Achelous who came from Thessaly to inhabit in these parts with Alcmeon the Son of Amphiaraus who kill'd his Mother Eryphile he is commonly called Aspri and according to others Catochi He was according to the Poets the Son of the Ocean and the Earth or of Thetis as Servius would have it who makes him the Father of the Syrens He wrestled with Hercules for the fair Deïanira whom her Father OEnus King of Calydon would not bestow in marriage upon any Man but him who was victorious in this kind of Exercise Achelous finding himself too weak was put to his shifts and changed himself sometimes into a Serpent and sometimes into a Bull but this avail'd him nothing for Hercules overcame him and pluck'd off one of his Horns which the Naiades took up and having fill'd it with Fruits and Flowers they call'd it Cornutopia
eo me solvat amantem Ovid in like manner says that they call'd him Forgetful Love Lethaeus Amor who had a Temple at Rome near the Colline-Gate Est propè Collinam templum venerabile portam Est illic Lethaus Amor qui pectora sanat Inque suas gelidam lampadas addit aquam In Remed Amoris Some have had recourse to Magicians and Charms to make 'em love Lucian brings in an Harlot named Melissa who desired Bacchis to bring some Magician to her who gave Philtres to cause Love and allure Lovers She tells her That she knew a Syrian Woman who made a Lover return to her again after Four Months absence by an Enchantment which she then declar'd to her She shall hang says she the Calces or Sandals of the Lover upon a Peg and shall put upon them some Perfumes then she shall cast some Salt into the Fire pronouncing thy Name and his then drawing a Magical Looking Glass out of her Bosom she shall turn every way muttering several words with a low voice We meet also with other Enchantments set down in Theocritus's Pharmaceutria in Virgil and Juvenal Josephus also the Jewish Historian testifies that Moses having learn'd the Aegyptian Philosophy made Rings for Lovers and Forgetfulness as also did King Solomon against Witchcraft Whatever Effects these Love-Potions might have what Ovid tells us is more probable That Beauty and something else not to be mention'd are the only Philtres which engage any Man to love Fallitur Aemonias siquis decurrit ad artes Datque quod à teneri fronte revellit equi Non facient ut vivat amor Medeides herbae Mixtaque cum magicis Marsa venena sonis Phasias Aesonidem Circe tenuisset Ulyssem Si modò servari carmine posset amor Nec data profuerint pallentia philtra puellis Philtra nocent animis vimque furoris habent Sit procul omne nefas Ut ameris amabilis esto Quod tibi non facies solave forma dabit Art Amand. Lib. II. v. 99. AMPHIARAUS the Son of Oecleus or according to some of Apollo and Hypermnestra being unwilling to go with Adrastus King of Argos to war against Etheocles King of Thebes hid himself to avoid the Death which he knew would happen to him in that Expedition but Eriphyle his Wife being gain'd by Adrastus with the promise of a rich Chain betray'd him and discover'd the place where he was hid Amphiaraus enrag'd that he was so basely betray'd by the Treachery of his own Wife commanded his Son Alcmeon before his departure That as soon as he heard of his death he should revenge it upon his Mother Eriphyle as the only cause of his Misfortune The Enterprize against Thebes prov'd very unsuccesful for of the Seven chief Commanders Five of them were slain at the first On-set and Amphiaraus was swallow'd up alive in the Earth with his Chariot as he was retreating Philostratus gives this account of Amphiaraus in his Second Book of the Life of Apollonius Amphiaraus the Son of Oecleus at his return from Thebes was swallow'd up in the Earth He had an Oracle in Attica whither he sent the Dreams of those who came to consult him about their Affairs but above all things they must be 24 hours without Meat or Drink and Three days entire without the use of Wine Pausanias in his Attica speaks of a Temple consecrated to him At the going out of the City Oropus upon the Sea-Coasts about 12 Furlongs from thence there stands the Temple of Amphiaraus who flying from Thebes was swallowed up with his Chariot Others say that it was not in that place but in the way that leads from Thebes to Chalcis Nevertheless 't is evident that Amphiaraus was first deifi'd by the Oropians and afterwards the Greeks decreed him divine Honours His Statue was made of white Marble with an Altar of which only the third part is dedicated to him and the rest to other Gods Near to this Temple there is a Fountain call'd the Temple of Amphiaraus out of which 't is said he came when he was plac'd among the number of the Gods None were permitted to wash or purify in that Fountain but when they had an Answer from the Oracle or found their trouble remov'd then they cast some pieces of Silver or Gold into the Fountain Jopho of Gnossus one of the Interpreters of Amphiaraus's Oracles publish'd them in Hexameter Verse which brought the People to his Temple Amphiaraus after he was deifi'd instituted the way of fore-telling things to come by Dreams and they that came to consult his Oracle must first sacrifice to him as to a God and then observe the other Ceremonies prescribed They sacrificed a Sheep and after they have flead it they spread the Skin upon the ground and slept upon it expecting a Resolution of what they asked which he gave them in a Dream The same Author in his Corinthiaca tells us also That in the City of the Phliasium behind the great Market there is an House which is called the Prophecying or Divining-place where Amphiaraus having watch'd one Night began to fore-tell things to come Plutarch speaking of the Oracle of Amphiarans says That in the time of Xerxes a Servant was sent to consult it concerning Mardonius This Servant being asleep in the Temple dreamt that an Officer of the Temple chid him much and beat him and at last flung a great Stone at his head because he would not go out This Dream prov'd true for Mardonius was slain by the Lieutenant of the King of Lacedaemon having receiv'd a Blow with a Stone upon his head of which he dyed This is almost all that Antiquity has left us about Amphiaraus and his Oracles AMPHICTYON the Son of Helenus This was he says Strabo who appointed that famous Assembly of Greece made up of the most vertuous and wise of Seven Cities who were called after his Name as were also the Laws which they made Caelius would have us believe that he was the first that taught Men to mingle Wine with Water There was another of that Name the Son of Deucalion Governour of Attica after Cranaus who is said to be an Interpreter of Prodigies and Dreams AMPHILOCHUS Lucian in one of his Dialogues entituled The Assembly of the Gods tells us That he was the Son of a Villain that slew his Mother and that had the confidence to prophecy in Cilicia where he foretold all that Men desired for about Two pence so that he took away Apollo's Trade And the same Lucian in his Lyar brings in Eucrates speaking thus about Amphilochus As I return'd says he from Egypt having heard of the Fame of the Oracle of Amphilochus which answer'd clearly and punctually to every thing any person desired to know provided they gave it in writing to his Prophet I had the curiosity to consult him as I passed AMPHINOMUS and ANAPIUS two Brothers who were eminent for their Piety having saved their Parents by carrying them upon their Shoulders with the peril of their
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
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
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
and in the like Proportion shall the cold Bath go into the warm the Under-part of the Baths shall be heated by one Furnace only This Bath ought to be lightsome above that it be not darkned by those that are about it The Seats about the Bath should be so large as to hold those who wait till the first Comers who are in the Bath come out of it Although Baths were built for the publick yet there were some at which certain Fees were paid for bathing in them which for that Reason were called Balneas meritorias but what they gave was but a small Matter viz. the Fourth part of an Assis quadrans which was paid to the Keeper of the Baths which gave Occasion to Seneca to call the Baths Rem quadrantariam and Horace to say Lib. 1. Sat. 3. Dum tu quadrante Lavatum Rexibis Only Infants under 14 Years of Age paid nothing as Juvenal teaches us in this Verse Nec pueri credunt nisi qui nondum aere lavantur Sat. 2. v 152. It was not permitted to go into the Bath at all Hours of the Day but only at certain fixed Hours The Emperor Adrian published an Edict forbidding to open the Baths before Two a Clock in the Afternoon Mess in case of Sickness ante octavam horam in publico nominem nisi agrum lavare jussum est Now the Eighth Hour was our two a Clock in the Afternoon because they began the Day from our Six a Clock in the Morning or thereabouts The Hour for going into and coming out of the Bath was made known by the Sound of a Bell which was called Tintinnabulum as these Verses of Martial testifie Redde pilam sonat aes Thermarum ludere pergis Virgine vis solâ lotus abire domum Give over playing at Ball the Bell sounds for the Bath for if you hold on your Play ye cannot bath your selves unless in the cold Bath called Virgo which was a Water that came to Rome Marc. lib. XIV Epigr. 163. From hence we learn that the Romans did not go into the Baths till after Noon ordinarily unless upon the Account of Sickness because then they were more free and less troubled with Business for they allotted the Morning to wait upon and court the Favour of the Grandees of Rome and to follow their own business after which they eat soberly and then either took their Ease or went to some Exercise and to take their Pleasures From whence they went into the Bath to dispose them for their Supper as Persius testifies in this Verse His mane edictum post prandia Callirhoén do I allow says this Poet these loose Fellows to go in the Morning to the Praetors Court to hear the Judgment there and after Dinner I permit them to court the Women for Callirhoe was a famous Harlot or rather according to another Interpretation of this Verse of the Persius I permit them to go into the Bath because Callirhoe was a famous Fountain of Athens and so by an usual Figure common among the Poets Callirhoe is taken in general for a Bath Pers Sat. 1. v. 134. After they had bathed they had their Bodies rubbed and the Hair pulled off with Pincers or small Twitchers of Silver and them rubbed them with a Pumice Stone to smooth the Skin which they anointed with a perfamed Oyl pouring it out by Drops out of a small Vessel which they called Gutrus Glans Ampulâ—a or Laecythus They often made a Collation of Fruits and talked of things pleasant and diverring from whence it came that the Baths were called Garrâ—la Balnea BALNEARII SERVI the Servants belonging to the Bath Some were appointed to heat them which were called Fornacatores others were called Capsarii who kept the Cloaths of those that went into them others were named Aliptae whose Care it was to pull off the Hair and others were called Uactuarii who anointed and perfumed the Body BALSAMUM Balm a Shrub of India which is of great use in Medicines When the Boughs of it are full of Sap they make an Incision with a Flint or Potsherd for it will not endure Iron and there distils out of it a thick Juice of a Pleasant Smell and it is used in the Cure of several Wounds and some Distempers of the Body BALTEUS a Belt a large Girdle of Leather used to carry a Sword and a Dagger inset with Bosses of Gold Silver or Copper BAPTAE Athenian Priests of the Goddess Cotytto who was the Goddess of La civiousness and whose Feasts and Sacrifices were kept in the Night with all the Beastliness imaginable Eupolis was thrown into the Sea by the Priests for having made a Comedy in which he discovered the filthy Actions and lewd Conversations BARBA the Beard the Hait that grows on the Face The Romans for a long time wore it without shaving or cutting and the time is not exactly known when they began to do it Titus Livius seems to tell us that this Custom was in use from the Year 369 for speaking of Manlius Capitolinus who was taken Prisoner He relates that the greatest part of the People being troubled at his Imprisonment changed their Cloaths and let their Beards and Hair grow If this were so then we may infer that out of times of Mourning they had their Hair cut and their Beards shaved Nevertheless Varro speaks clearly that the first Barbers came out of Sicily to Rome in the Year 454 and that a Man called Ticimus Menas brought them From that time the Young Men began to have their Beards cut and Hair till they came to be 49 Years old but it was not allowed to be done above that Age says Pliny Scipio Africanus had himself shaved all his Days and Augustus did the same in Imitation of him The Young Men did not begin to shave themselves till they were Twenty or Twenty one Years of Age as did Nero and Caligula but Augustus did not do it till he was Twenty five Years old The Day wherein they were shaved the first time was a Day of rejoicing and they were careful to put the Hair of their Beard into a Silver or Gold Box and make an Offering of it to some God particularly to Jupiter Capitolinus as Nero did according to the Testimony of Suetonius Only the Philosophers let their Beards grow and wore them very long without cutting or shaving BARDI Bards ancient Poets among the Gauls who described in Verse the brave Actions of the great Men of their Nation They were so called from one BARDUS the Son of Druyis who reigned over the Gauls There were Four sorts of Men comprized under the general Name of DRUIDES viz. The VACERES who attended upon the Mysteries of their Religion the EUBAGES who were employed in judging of Prodigies the BARDES who celebrated in Verse the Heroical Actions of their great Men and the SARRONIDES who administred Justice and instructed the young Gauls in the liberal Arts and Sciences BASILICA a Greek Word that signifies a
Boars Bulls and Wild-Goats All these Beasts were left to the People and every one catched what he pleased Another Day he gave an hunting of an Hundred Lions upon the Amphitheatre which being let out made a Noise like Thunder with their terrible roarings In the same Place an Hundred Lybian Leopards and as many Syrian and an Hundred Lions and Three Hundred Bears were presented fighting together Men entred the Combate with fierce Beasts The Fencers and Slaves fought artificially with Lions and Leopards and often conquered and slew them Criminals also who were condemned were exposed to Beasts without any Arms to defend themselves and often they were bound and the People were pleased to see them torn in pieces and devoured by those hungry Creatures This was the most usual Punishment which the Pagan Emperors inflicted upon the first Christians whom they ordered to be given to the Beasts damnati 〈◊〉 Bestias Some Freemen also to give proof of their Skill and Courage would fight with Beasts Women themselves according to the Relation of Suetonius would dare to divert the Emperor and People by engaging with the most cruel Beasts Lastly These Creatures were made to fight one with another Lions with Bears Rhinoceros's with Elephants which would shew much Activity and Cunning in so great a Body BIAS of Priene a Philosopher and one of the Seven wise Men of Greece The City where he lived being taken he fled and would not carry any of his Goods with him His Fellow Citizens asked him why he did not take his Goods with him he replyed All that is mine I have with me meaning his Wisdom and Mind BIBLIOTHECA a Library a Room filled with Books The Kings of the Race of Attalus being Lovers of Sciences and Learning built a Library at Pergamus King Piolemy did the like at Alexandria Plutarch writes that the Kings of Pergamtu's Library contained Two Hundred Thousand Volumes but was much inferior to that of the Kings of Egypt which Aulus Gellius assures us had Seven Hundred Thousand and Gallen tells us that the Kings of Egypt were so very zealous to increase the number of the Books of their Library that they would give any price for the Books which were brought them which gave an Occasion of forging abundance of Books and attributing them to such Authors as did not compose them that they might put a greater value upon them This Library was burnt by the Romans in the first War which they made in Egypt Aulus Gellius says that it was set on Fire through mere carelessness and that not by the Roman Soldiers but by their Auxiliary Troops which he may be thought to speak that he might free his own Nation from the imputation of so barbarous an action since the Persians as illiterate as they were thought spared the Library of Athens when Xerxes had taken that City and set it on fire The Roman Emperors erected diverse Libraries at Rome with great expence and much magnificence and Augustus caused a beautiful and spacious Gallery to be made in Apollo's Temple that he might put therein a Library of Greek and Latin Books BIBLIS The Daughter of Miletus and the Nymph Cyane who being fallen in Love with her Brother Caunus and finding no way to enjoy him hanged herself Ovid in his Metamorphoses says that the Gods changed her into a Fountain which bears the same Name BIGAE a Chariot for Racing drawn by two Horses a-breast BIGATI NUMMI Pieces of Money stamped with the Figure of a Charior drawn with Two Horses a-breast BISSEXTUS the Odd day which is inserted in the Kalendar every fourth Year that the Year may equal the Course of the Sun This Intercalation or Interposition was found out by Julius Caesar who having observed that the Sun finished its course in Three Hundred Sixty Five Days and about Six Hours added one whole day every Fourth Year that he might take in these Hours and this Day he inserted next the 23. Day of February which at that time was the last Month of the Year among the Romans It was called BISSEXTUS because the Sixth of the Calends of March was then twice counted bis sexto Calendas Martias and that Year had 366 Days BITO and CLEOBIS the Sons of Argia the Priestess of Juno When their Mother was going to the Temple of that Goddess in a Chariot drawn with Oxen and the Oxen moved too slow these Brethren drew their Mothers Chariot to the Temple of Juno and their Mother when she had sacrificed to the Goddess begged a Reward for her Children who voluntarily submitted their Necks to the Yoke This was granted for when they had feasted plentifully upon the Sacrifice they lay down to sleep and were both found dead together without Pain and had the Honour of that Action BITUMEN a black Juice which will grow hard by putting into Vinegar yet will swim upon Water It cannot be cut with Iron nor Brass nor will it mix with Menstruous Blood The People of the Country assure us that Bitumen runs together on helps and is driven by the Winds or drawn to the Shore where it is dried both by the heat of the Sun and the Exhalations of the Earth and then they cut it as they do Stone or Wood. There was such an Abundance of it at Babylon says Vitruvius that they used it for Morter to build their Walls BOCCHYRIS King of Aegypt He was so just in his Judgments that according to Diodorus the Aegyptians made use of his Name as a mark of just and upright Judgment 'T is said that in his time which was in the Days of Romulus and Remus the Founders of Rome a Lamb spoke BOEDROMIA Feasts which the Athenians celebrated every Year in Honour of Apollo for the Victory which Theseus gained over the Amazons From it Apollo had the name of Boedromius BONA DEA the good Goddess named by the Ancients Fatua or Senta This Deity was had in great Veneration by the Roman Ladies She was Dryas the Wife of Faunus of an exemplary Chastity They sacrificed to her in the Night in a little Chappel into which it was not permitted to Men to enter or be present at her Sacrifices whence it is that Cicero imputes it to Clodius as a Crime that he had entred into this Chappel in a Disguise and by his Presence had polluted the Mysteries of the good Goddess This Sacrifice was kept Yearly in the House of the High-Priest and that by his Wife with the Virgins consecrated to the Good Goddess By her some understand the Earth and 't is for that reason that she is sacrificed to by the People because nothing is so dear to them as the Fruits of the Earth This is no just Ground why the Romans might not understand by this Deity an ancient Queen of Italy named Fauna for most of the Heathen Gods had a double Relation in this kind and this was the Occasion of it It is certain that in the primitive Times all their Worship terminated
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.
Kalend. 2. IV 2. IV 2. VI 2. IV 2. VI 2. IV 2. VI 2. IV 2. IV 2. VI 2. IV 2. IV 3. III 3. III 3. V 3. III 3. V 3. III 3. V 3. III 3. III 3. V 3. III 3. III 4. Prid. 4. Prid. 4. IV 4. Prid. 4. IV 4. Prid. 4. IV 4. Prid. 4. Prid. 4. IV 4. Prid. 4. Prid. 5. Non. 5. Non. 5. III 5. Non. 5. III 5. Non. 5. III 5. Non. 5. Non. 5. III 5. Non. 5. Non. 6. VIII 6. VIII 6. Prid. 6. VIII 6. Prid. 6. VIII 6. Prid. 6. VIII 6. VIII 6. Prid. 6. VIII 6. VIII 7. VII 7. VII 7. Non. 7. VII 7. Non. 7. VII 7. Non. 7. VII 7. VII 7. Non. 7. VII 7. VII 8. VI 8. VI 8. VIII 8. VI 8. VIII 8. VI 8. VIII 8. VI 8. VI 8. VIII 8. VI 8. VI 9. V 9. V 9. VII 9. V 9. VII 9. V 9. VII 9. V 9. V 9. VII 9. V 9. V 10. IV 10. IV 10. VI 10. IV 10. VI 10. IV. 10. VI 10. IV 10. IV 10. VI 10. IV 10. IV 11. III 11. III 11. V 11. III 11. V 11. III. 11. V 11. III 11. III 11. V 11. III 11. III 12. Prid. 12. Prid. 12. IV 12. Prid. 12. IV 12. Prid. 12. IV 12. Prid. 12. Prid. 12. IV 12. Prid. 12. Prid. 13. Id. 13. Id. 13. III 13. Id. 13. III 13. Id. 13. III 13. Id. 13. Id. 13. III 13. Id. 13. Id. 14. XVII 14. XVI 14. Prid. 14. XVII 14. Prid. 14. XVII 14. Prid. 14. XVII 14. XVII 14. Prid. 14. XVII 14. XVII 15. XVI 15. XV 15. Id. 15. XVI 15. Id. 15. XVI 15. Id. 15. XVI 15. XVI 15. Id. 15. XVI 15. XVI 16. XV 16. XIV 16. XVII 16. XV 16. XVII 16. XV 16. XVII 16. XV 16. XV 16. XVII 16. XV 16. XV 17. XIV 17. XIII 17. XVI 17. XIV 17. XVI 17. XIV 17. XVI 17. XIV 17. XIV 17. XVI 17. XIV 17. XIV 18. XIII 18. XII 18. XV 18. XIII 18. XV 18. XIII 18. XV 18. XIII 18. XIII 18. XV 18. XIII 18. XIII 19. XII 19. XI 19. XIV 19. XII 19. XIV 19. XII 19. XIV 19. XII 19. XII 19. XIV 19. XII 19. XII 20. XI 20. X 20. XIII 20. XI 20. XIII 20. XI 20. XIII 20. XI 20. XI 20. XIII 20. XI 20. XI 21. X 21. IX 21. XII 21. X 21. XII 21. X 21. XII 21. X 21. X 21. XII 21. X 21. X 22. IX 22. VIII 22. XI 22. IX 22. XI 22. IX 22. XI 22. IX 22. IX 22. XI 22. IX 22. IX 23. VIII 23. VII 23. X 23. VIII 23. X 23. VIII 23. X 23. VIII 23. VIII 23. X 23. VIII 23. VIII 24. VII 24. VI 24. IX 24. VII 24. IX 24. VII 24. IX 24. VII 24. VII 24. IX 24. VII 24. VII 25. VI 25. V 25. VIII 25. VI 25. VIII 25. VI 25. VIII 25. VI 25. VI 25. VIII 25. VI 25. VI 26. V 26. IV 26. VII 26. V 26. VII 26. V 26. VII 26. V 26. V 26. VII 26. V 26. V 27. IV 27. III 27. VI 27. IV 27. VI 27. IV 27. VI 27. IV 27. IV 27. VI 27. IV 27. IV 28. III 28. Prid. 28. V 28. III 28. V 28. III 28. V 28. III 28. III 28. V 28. III 28. III 29. Prid. Â Â 29. IV 29. Prid. 29. IV. 29. Prid. 29. IV 29. Prid. 29. Prid. 29. IV 29. Prid. 29. Prid. Â Â Â Â 30. III Â Â 30. III Â Â 30. III Â Â Â Â 30. III Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 31. Prid. Â Â 31. Prid. Â Â 31. Prid. Â Â Â Â 31. Prid. Â Â Â Â And to add the greater Weight and Authority to this Law he appointed the High-priests to put it in Execution and enjoyn'd them to signifie to the People the Time and Manner in which this Intercalation of extraordinary Days must be made But these Priests either thro' Ignorance or Malice brought the Account of Time and other Matters depending upon it into so great Confusion that the Festivals happen'd at such Seasons as were directly opposite to the Times of their Institution and the Feasts of Autumn fell out in the Spring and those of Harvest in the Middle of Winter This Disorder came to so great a Height that when Julius Caesar was Dictator and High-priest after the Battle of Pharsalia he thought the Reformation of the Calendar to be a Thing well worthy of his Care and necessary for the good Government of the Empire And for this purpose he fetch'd one Sosigenes from Alexandria who was esteemed the best Astronomer of that Time and he by the Order of the Emperor after he had several times corrected it himself declared that the Destribution of Time in the Calendar could never be settled as certain and unalterable unless a principal Regard was had to the Annual Course of the Sun and that it was necessary for the Future by a Method contrary to that which had been hitherto practised to adjust the Lunar Year by the Motion of the Sun rather than accommodate the Course of the Sun to the unequal Laws of the Moon 's Motion And because it passed then for a thing certain among A stronomers that the Annual Period of the Sun's Course was predsely 365 Days and Six Hours therefore he resolved to give the whole Time of 365 Days to the Year in his Calendar reserving the Six Hours to the End of Four Years when they made a whole Day which he then added to the rest by way of Intercalation so that this Year did not consist of 365 Days as the other Years did which he called common but of 366 Days And since according to the Institution of Numa Pompilius the Intercalation of the Month Merâ—edonius was made towards the End of February the same Sosigenes by order of the Emperor used the same Time for the Intercalation of this Day which happened to fall out on that Day which they called Regifugium because the Romans in ancient Times had drove their Kings out of Rome on that Day and on the Day which follows another Festival called Terminalia i. e. on the 24th Day of February or to speak in the Language of the Romans on the Sixth of the Calends of March and because this Day was called the second Sixth of the Calends which in Latin is Bissâ—xius therefore the Year in which this Intercalation was made was called Bissextile or Intercalary He chang'd nothing in the Order nor Names of the Months nor yet in the Number of Days in these Four viz. March May Quintil is and October which had each 31 Days in Numa's Calendar but to make room for the Ten Days whereby the Solar Year exceeded that of Numa he added Two Days to each of these Three Months January Sextilis and December which had only 29 Days before and so he made them equal to the other Months which had 31 but he added only
Calculation the Nundinal Letter of the Third Year will be G that of the Fourth B and so on of the rest unless their happens some Change by the Intercalation 4. To understand aright what is set down in the second Column we must know That to sue one at Law which we call trying of Causes or sitting of Courts was not allowed among the Romans on all Days neither was the Praetor permitted on every Day to pronounce these Three solemn Words or this Form of Law Do Dico Addico but these Days were called Fasti on which the Courts sate to administer Justice quibus fas esset jure agere and these were called Nefasti on which this was not permitted quibus nefas esset as we learn from these Two Verses of Ovid Ille Nefastus erit per quem tria verba silentur Festus erit per quem jure licebit agi i. e. That Day was Nefastus on which these Three Words were not pronounced Do Dico Addico as who should say among us The Court does not sit to Day and that Day was called Fastus on which it was lawful to sue at Law or try a Cause Besides there were certain Days which they called Comitiales which were marked with a C on which the People met in the Campus Martius for the Election of Magistrates or treating about the Affairs of the Commonwealth and these Days were so called because the Assemblies of the People held on them were nam'd Comitia There were also some set Days on which a certain Priest who was called among them Rex Sacrorum was present at these Assemblies And lastly on a certain Day of the Year they were wont to cleanse the Temple of Vesta and carry off all the Dung in it which was done with so much Ceremony that it was not lawful on that Day to try Causes This being supposed 't is no wise difficult to understand what is contained in this Column for where-ever we meet in it with the Letter N which signifies Dies Nefastus this denotes a Day on which Justice could not be administred or if we meet in it with the Letter F or Fastus that signifies a Court-Day or if we meet with F. P. or Fastus primâ parte diei that signifies that the Court sits on the former part of the Day or if we meet there with N. P. or Nefastus primâ parte diei that signifies the Court does not sit on the former part of the Day or if we meet there with E. N. or Endotercisus seu intercisus that signifies the Court sits some certain Hours of the Day and not at other Hours or if we meet there with a C. that denotes that these Assemblies were then held which were called Comitia or if we meet there with these Letters Q. Rex C. F. or Quando Rex comitiavit fas they signifie that the Court does sit after the Priest called Rex has been present at the Comitia or lastly when we see these other Letters Q. ST D. F. or Quando stercus delatum fas they signifie that the Court does sit immediately after the Dung is carried out of the Temple of the Goddess Vesta 5. The Third Column is for the 19 Figures of the Numbers of the Lunar Cycle otherwise called the Golden Number which signifie the New Moons through the whole Year according to the Order in which they were thought to happen in the Time of Julius Caesar when these Figures were thus disposed in his Calendar 6. The Fourth notes the Succession of the Days of the Months by the Numbers of the Arabick Figures or Caracters but then we must not imagine that they were thus disposed in the Tables of the Fasti i. e. in the Calendar used by the Ancients for they had no Knowledge of any such thing Yet we thought it convenient to place them here that we might the better compare the Manner of naming and reckoning Days that was used by the Ancients with ours at present and discern what are the Days as we now reckon them to which the Festivals and other Days of the Romans might correspond 7. The Fifth Column contains that famous Division of the Days of the Months into Calends Nones and Ides which was in use among the Romans and though this Division was not into equal Parts as were the Decads used by the Greeks but into very different Portions of Time yet this Variety is well enough expressed in these Two Verses Sex Maius Nonas October Julius Mars Quatuor at reliqui Dabit Idus qui libet octo i. e. These Four Months March May July and October have Six Days of Nones and all the rest have only Four but in every one of them there are Eight Days of Ides This must be understood after this Manner that the first Day of each Month was always called the Calends of that Month after that in Four Months March May July and October the Seventh Day of the Month was called the Nones and the Fiftenth the Ides whereas in other Months in which the Nones lasted but Four Days the Fifth was called Nonae the Nones and the Thirtenth Idus the Ides the other Days are reckoned backward from the Beginning of the next Month and the Number always lessens as you come nearer to it The Days which are after the Calends until the Nones take their Name from the Nones of the Month currant the following Days which are between the Nones and the Ides take their Name from the Ides of the same Month but all the rest from the Ides until the End of the next Month take their Name from the Calends of the next Month All which we shall explain more at large under the Word Mensis Besides you may observe that the Tables of the Fasti by which the Romans described their Months and their Days throughout the Year in Process of time were called by the Name of Calendar because this Name of Calends is found written in great Characters at the Head of each Month. 8. The last Column contains those Things which chiefly belong to the Religion of the Romans such as the Festivals the Sacrifices the Games the Ceremonies the fortunate or unfortunate Days as also the Beginning of the Signs the Four Cardinal Points of the Year which make the Four Seasons the Rising and Setting of the Stars c. which were very much much observ'd by the Ancients who made use of them for a long time to denote the Difference of the Seasons instead of a Calendar at least until it was reduced into a more regular Form by the Correction of Julius Caesar We find in most of the ancient Books that they govern'd themselves wholly by the Observation of the Rising and Setting of the Stars in Navigation in tilling the Ground in Physick and in the greatest Part of their Affairs both publick and private The CALENDAR of Julius Caesar JANUARY Vnder the Protection of the Goddess Juno Nundinal Letters Days Golden Number   Â
their Veto was of no effect A. M. 3572. R. 271. Q. FABIUS VIBULLANUS C. JULIUS JULUS The War against the Volcae was carried on The Veientes made incursions into the Campania of Rome A. M. 3573 R. 272. K. FABIUS VIBULLANUS SPUR FURIUS FUSCUS or FUSUS This year Xerxes went into Greece according to what Dionysius Halicarnasseus relates but Diorus Siculus reports that it was under the Consulship of Spurius Cassius and Proculus Virginius Tricostus which was the 24th Consulship and according to his supputation the last year of the seventy third Olympiad A. M. 3574. R. 273. M. FABIUS VIBULLANUS CNEUS MANLIUS CINCINNATUS The War of the Volcae the Veientes and the Aequi became more dangerous by the conjunction of the Tuscans The Consuls to oppose them joined both their Armies they engaged them and got the victory but with a considerable loss wherefore the Consuls refused the Triumph that the Senate had ordered them being too sensibly moved for the loss the Commonwealth had suffered to be desirous of the glory of a Triumph A. M. 3575. R. 274 K. FABIUS VIBULLANUS T. VIRGINIUS TRICOSTUS RUTILUS This year the Fabian Family alone made War against the Veientes under the command of Caeso A. M. 3576. R. 275. L. AEMILIUS MAMERCUS C. or Q. SERVILIUS STRUCTUS AHALA The Fabians continued the War against the Veientes while the Romans were engaged with the Tuscans A. M. 3577. R. 276. C. or M. HORATIUS PULVILLUS T. MENENIUS LANATUS The Veientes having drawn the Fabians into an Ambuscado gave them such an overthrow that of all that numerous Family only a child of fourteen years of age Son to M. Fabius remained alive A. M. 3578. R. 277. AULUS VIRGINIUS TRICOSTIUS SPURIUS RUTILIUS SERVILLIUS STRUCTUS The Veientes were driven out of the Janiculum and by these means the people of Rome were eased of the want of Provisions they had suffered by reason of their troublesome Neighbourhood The Tribunes of the people renewed their instances to obtain the Agrarian Law Menenius resisted them but they impeached him of Misdemeanour in his Office where upon he was fined twenty Crowns but he was so sensibly concerned at this affront put upon him that he died a while after with grief A. M. 3579. R. 278. L. or C. NAUTIUS RUTILIUS P. VALERIUS PUBLICOLA The Tribunes encouraged by the misfortune of Menenius attempted to impeach Servilius at the end of his Consulship but he cleared himself of their accusation A. M. 3580. R. 279. L. FURIUS MEDULLINUS C. or A. MANLIUS VOLSO The Veientes bought a Truce of forty years and parted upon that account with a great deal of Gold and Corn. Manlius received the honor of the Ovation An account of the people was taken and Rome had a hundred and three thousand heads of Families A. M. 3581. R. 280. L. AEMILIUS MAMERCUS OPITER VIRGINIUS or VOPISCUS or C. JULIUS JULUS The Tribunes renewed their accusations against the Patricians and Genutius one of them impeached Manlius and Furius and they had been condemned had not the Senate ordered Genutius to be stabb'd in the night in his own house The people highly resented this assassination and rose in an open sedition and made Volero Tribune in the room of Genutius A. M. 3582. R. 281. L. PINARIUS MAMERTINUS P. FURIUS FUSUS or MEDULLINUS The new Tribune Volero endeavoured to procure a Law to be made for the election of the Tribunes of the people by the votes of the Tribes but the Senate opposed it with one of the Tribunes whom they had got on their side so that the Law did not pass A. M. 3583. R. 282. APPIUS CLAUDIUS SABINUS T. QUINTIUS CAPITOLINUS The Tribune Victorius according to Livy or Lectorius according to Dionysius Halycarnasseus accused Claudius as a most violent man against the Plebeians and this accusation obliged the Senate to consent that the election of the Tribunes should be made in the assembly of the people by Tribes but Piso got three Tribunes to be added to the two former A. M. 3584. R. 283. L. or T. VALERIUS POTITUS T. AEMILIUS MAMERCUS The Tribunes accused Appius Clauaius for despising the Roman people and abetting the murther of the Tribun Genutius Claud. us appeared in the Assembly where nothing was determined and a while after he died of a sickness His Obsequies were performed in the usual manner for persons of his rank with a Funeral Speech in spight of the opposition of the Tribunes A. M. 3585. R. 284. T. MINUTIUS PRISCUS AULUS VIRGINIUS COELIMONTANUS The Sabini and the Volcae made an irruption into the Roman Territories but were repulsed with loss A. M. 3586. R. 285. T. or P. QUINTIUS CAPITOLINUS Q. SERVILLUS PRISCUS The Consuls chased the Sabini and the Volcae and Quintius took Actium the Senate came out to meet him and ordered him the triumph A. M. 3587. R. 286. T. AEMILIUS MAMERCUS Q. FABIUS VIBULLANUS The first obtained this Magistracy being yet but four and twenty years of age because of his rare merit He gave to the people the Town of Actium with his Territory and all his dependencies thereof A. M. 3588. R. 287. Q. SERVILIUS PRISCUS SPUR POSTHUMIUS ALBUS REGILLENSIS The Romans were in peace both in Country and in Town because of an Epidemical Disease that raged amongst them A. M. 3589. R. 288. Q. FABIUS VIBULLANUS T. QUINTIUS CAPITOLIN US The City was purified and the Citizens were numbred who were found to be one hundred and twenty four thousand two hundred and fourteen heads of Families without the Orphans and those that had no Children who were not numbred A. M. 3590. R. 289. AULUS POSTHUMIUS ALBUS SPURIUS FURIUS MEDULLINUS FUSCUS The people called Aequi fought Furius routed his Army wounded him and obliged him to retire upon a hill with the rest of his Army where they besieged him T. Quintius Capitolinus chosen Pro-consul came to the assistance of the Consul and brought him off but there was a great slaughter on both sides A. M. 3591. R. 290. L. AEBUTIUS HELLUA P. SERVILIUS PRISCUS The plague raged at Rome the two Consuls died thereof with many other persons of note A. M. 3592. R. 291 L. LUCRETIUS TRICIPITINUS T. VETURIUS GEMINUS or SPURIUS VETURIUS CRASSUS The Tribune Tarentillus proposed the famous Law called by the name of the Author Tarentilla This Law ordered the creation of five Magistrates according to Livy or ren according to Dionysius Hallicarnasseus to moderate the authority of the Consuls but this Law was rejected tho it was very acceptable to the people A. M. 3593. R. 292. P. or T. VOLUMNIUS GALLUS SEXTUS SERVIUS SULPITIUS CAMERINUS AVENTINUS Rome was frighted by several prodigies a Cow spoke it rained Flesh which was seen during some days upon the ground without being corrupted A. M. 3594. R. 293. APPIUS CLAUDIUS SABINUS L. VALERIUS PUBLICOLA Four thousand five hundred slaves got into a Body and took up Arms against the Romna people The Consuls would raise Forces to oppose them but the Tribunes kept the people from listing
order to disband his Army Aemilius on the contrary added to the reasons alledg'd the foregoing year by Sulpitius that Caesar offered to disband his Army if Pompey who was his declared Enemy would also break his Forces The Tribune Curio seeing that the Senate favour'd Pompey made that proposal to the people who approv'd the same and Anthony Curio's Colleague openly read Caesar's Letters in the presence of the people notwithstanding the opposition of the Consul Marcellus who made all his endeavours to prevent it Marc. Antony who was on Casar's side was made their chief Pontiff and Galba was debarred of the Consulate because he had been Caesar's Lieutenant A. M. 4004. R. 703. L. CORNELIUS LENTULUS G. CLAUDIUS MARCELLUS The two Consuls favour'd the party of Pompey and proposed to recal Caesar and disband his Army but Curio and other Friends to Caesar opposed boldly the Consuls who dismiss'd the Assembly upon pretence that they grew too hot Labienus one of the chiefest General Officers of Caesar forsook him and went over to Pompey The Consuls found out another way to bring their design about they exaggerated the shame or disgrace that the defeat of Crassus by the Parthians had brought upon Rome and that to revenge that affront it was necessary to send two Legions of Caesar's and two other of Pompey's with some other Forces to make war against them As soon as Caesar had notice of this order he sent two of his Legions with two more that Pompey had lent him Fabius came to Rome from Caesar and delivered his Letters to the Consuls who were hardly prevailed upon by the Tribunes that the same should be read to the Senate and would never consent that his offers should be taken into consideration but ordered to consider of the present state of the affairs of the Republick Lentulus one of the Consuls said that he would never forsake the Commonwealth if they would speak their mind boldly Scipio Pompey's Father-in-law spoke to the same purpose and said that Pompey would never forsake the Republick if the Senate would stand by it Whereupon it was ordered that Caesar should disband his Army by a certain time or otherwise he should be declared Criminal Marc-Anthony and Q. Massius Tribunes of the people opposed this resolution The Censor Piso and the Praetor Roscius offered themselves to go to Caesar to inform him how the affairs went but they were not allowed to go and all the proceedings were stopt They had recourse at last to the last remedies and to a Decree by which it was ordered That the Magistrates should take care of the safety of the Commonwealth The Tribunes went out of Rome and retired to Caesar at Ravenna where he was expecting an answer suitable to the equity of his Demands The following days the Senate met out of the City that Pompey might be present at the Assembly for being Proconsul by his Office he could not be at Rome Then they raised Forces throughout Italy and took Money out of the Exchequer to bear Pompey's charges Caesar having intelligence of all these proceedings assembled his Soldiers and represented to them in a pathetical way the injustice of his Enemies and exhorted them to stand by him against their violence The Soldiers cried out presently that they were ready to protect his Dignity and that of the Tribunes Caesar trusting himself to their fidelity brought them towards Rimini where he met the Tribunes of the people who came to him to implore his assistance All the Towns of Italy where Caesar appear'd open'd their Gates and sent away Pompey's Garrisons This great progress surpriz'd Pompey's Followers and obliged them to quit Rome and Caesar pursu'd them as far as Brundusium where Pompey cross'd over the Sea with the Consuls Caesar having no Ships to follow them return'd to Rome The Magistrates and the Senators that remain'd there made Lepidus Inter-Rex who created C. Julius Caesar Dictator who recall'd the banish'd Citizens and restor'd them to the possession of their Estates He laid down that great Office after having kept it eleven days only and then was made Consul A. M. 4005. R. 704. C. JULIUS CAESAR P. SERVILIUS VATINIUS ISAURICUS Caesar had then no other thoughts but to pursue Pompey but first of all he thought fit to make himself Master of Spain where Pompey had fortified himself a long while ago He had several skirmishes on the Segra near Laerida and so closely pursued Afranius one of Pompey's Generals that he was obliged to disband his Army composed of seven Roman Legions and of a great many Confederates Varro another General of Pompey's attempted to defend Calis and Cordua but all the Neighbouring Provinces declared themselves for Caesar so that he was forc'd to yield to his good Fortune and delivered up his Forces Ships and all his Ammunitions In the mean time Pompey got together a very strong Fleet compos'd of several Squadrons from Asia the Cyclades Islands Corsou Athens and Egypt making in all five hundred Ships besides the Tenders and other small Ships His Land Forces were not inferior to his Naval Strength but he had dispersed his Army into several places to keep the Provinces in his Interest and had then with him but forty five thousand Foot and seven thousand Horse Caesar was not so strong for his Army consisted only of a thousand Horse and twenty two thousand Foot These two Armies engaged in Thessalia near Pharsalia and Pompey's Army was defeated and himself forc'd to escape in disguise to Amphipolis where he attempted to rally his scatter'd Forces but Caesar pursued him so close that he had no time to do it and fled away into Egypt where King Ptolomy caused him to be murther'd before he landed Caesar was so concerned at the news of his death that the murtherers thought they could not avoid a punishment suitable to their Crime but by the death of Caesar himself Photinus the Eunuch and Archaelas attacked Caesar but Methridates King of Pergamus came to his relief and deliver'd him from these Murtherers A. M. 4006. R. 705. Q. FURIUS CALENUS P. VATINIUS Tho' Caesar was absent from Rome yet he was made Dictator the second time and his Dictatorship continued for a whole year He reduced the Kingdom of Pontus into a Roman Province and bestow'd the Government of it upon Celius Vincinianus It was concerning this Victory that Caesar obtained over Pharnaces King of Pontus that he wrote to his Friend Anicius veni vidi vici I am come I have seen I have overcome to shew with what swiftness he had subdued the Kingdom of Pontus Caesar return'd by way of Asia Minor and gave the Kingdom of Bosphorus to Mithridates King of Pergamus and from thence came to Rome where his presence was necessary After his arrival he disbanded a great part of his Forces giving one hundred Crowns to each Soldier with Lands enough to live there rich and contented A. M. 4007. R. 706. C. JULIUS CAESAR M. AEMILIUS LEPIDUS Caesar did not stay
of an Obolus DICTATOR A Roman Magistrate who was alone invested with the Consulary and Soveraign Authority and had power of life and death over the Romans he had Lictors walking before him Pomponius Laetus allows him but two but Raphael Volateranus says more likely there were four and twenty Lictors for each Consul had commonly twelve This Magistrate was never chosen but when the Commonwealth was reduced to some great Extremity either by an unexpected War or some popular and epidemical Disease to drive in the Nail or chuse new Senators The Consul elected a Dictator by Night upon the Territories of the Common-wealth and no where else That Office was for six Months at first none but Patricians only were admitted to it but afterwards they were taken out of the People and the first who was honour'd with that Employment was called T. Largus DICTATURA The Dictatorship the Dignity of Dictator which commonly lasted but six Months yet the Senare might continue it DIDO or Elise the Daughter of Belus King of Tyre She married Sicheus Hercules's Priest whom Pigmalion Dido's Brother murthered to possess his Treasure Dido fearing her life sailed to the Coasts ' of Africa where she built a Town and called it Carthage Jarbas King of Getulia would force her to marry him but she refus'd to consent to it and had rather kill herself than stain her former Bed Virgil relates this otherwise in his Encid but by the account of Chronologers what he said is impossible for Aeneas lived 260 Years before Dido DIES The Day The Ancients divided the day into a natural and artificial They called the natural day that which is measured by the duration of time that the Sun takes to move round the Earth which comprehends the whole space both of the Day and Night And they called the artificial day the duration of that time the Sun is above our Horizon The natural day is also called civil because several Nations reckon it several ways some begin it one way and others another way The Babylonians began the day with the raising of the Sun The Jews and Athenians began it with the setting of the Sun and the Italians follow them and begin the first hour of the day with the Sun setting The Egyptians began it as we do at midnight and the Vmbri at Noon The day that begins with the rising and setting of the Sun is not equal for from the Winter-Solstice to the Summer-Solstice the day that begins with the Sun setting has something more than four and twenty hours and on the contrary less from the Summer-Solstice to the Winter-Solstice but the natural day that begins at mid-night or at noon is always equal The artificial day on the contrary is unequal all over the World except under the Aequinoxial Line and this inequality is more or less according to the diversity of Climates The Romans distinguish'd the days into holy-days and working-days In the one of these followed their Diversions and the other their Business and Trading some days were also accounted by them lucky and others unlucky We ought here to observe the general division that Numa made of the days called Fasti and Nefasti the days called Fasti were divided in Comitiales Comperendini Stati Praeliares Fasti dies were pleading days at which time the Praetor was allowed to administer Justice and the word fasti is derived from fari i. e. to speak or pronounce Wherefore the jurisdiction of the Praetor consisted in pronouncing these three words Do Dico Addico On the contrary dies nefasti were no pleading days at that time there was no Justice administred which Ovid has expressed by these two Verses Ille nefastus erit per quem tria verba silentur Fastus erit per quem lege licebit agi The days called Fasti were marked with an F. in the Roman Kalendar and the days called Nefasti were marked with an N. Paulus Manucius observes that there were three sorts of days called Fasti some were meerly called Fasti and those days were entirely spent in the administration of Justice others were called Intercisi or Enterocisi because one part of those days was employed to offer Sacrifice and the other to distribute Justice which was administred from the time that the victim was sacrificed till the inwards were offered upon the Altars of the Gods during the time they were examining the Entrails inter caesa porrecta and those days are markt in the Kalendar with these two Letters E. N. The third sort of days called Fasti were fasti in the afternoon and nefasti in the morning markt in the Kalendar with these Letters N. P. Nefastus priore tempore or priore parte diei as we learn from Ovid. Neu toto perstare die sua jura putetis Qui jam Fastus erit mane Nefastus erat Nam simul exta Deo data sunt licet omnia fari Verbaque honoratus libera Praetor habes DIES SENATORII Days that the Senate met about the affairs of the Commonwealth which were commonly the Kalends the Nones and the Ides of the month except upon extraordinary occasions for then there was no other days excepted only those appointed for the Assemblies of the people DIES COMITIALES Days of the meeting of the people markt in the Kalendar with a C. When the Assemblies did not sit a whole day the Praetor was allowed to bestow the rest of the day in administring Justice DIES COMPERENDINI Days of adjournment After a hearing on both sides the Proetor granted time to the Clients either to inform more fully or to clear themselves this adjournment was commonly of twenty days and was only granted to Roman Citizens and to summon a Foreigner at Rome Macrobius says that this last adjournment was called Stati Dies DIES PRAELIARES Days during which it was permitted to engage the enemy There were also other days called Justi viz. thirty days that the Romans were wont to grant to their Enemy after they had proclaimed War against them and before they entered their Territories and used any Act of Hostility to give them time by this delay to come to an agreement or make satisfaction for the wrong they had done them Justi Dies says Festus dicebantur triginta cum exercitus esset imperatus vexillum in arce positum There were other days called NON PRAELIARES or ATRI fatal and unluckly because of some loss the Romans had suffered during those days wherefore it was not allowed to engage the Enemy upon such days The Greeks called them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 'T is certain that the Ancients accounted some days luckly and others fatal and that the Chaldeans and Aegyptians have first made observations upon those days and the Greeks and Romans in imitation of them have done the like Hesiod was the first who made a Catalogue of lucky and fatal days intituled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where the fifth day of the month is noted for an unlucky day because as
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
after him the Emperors Arcadius and Honorius forbad these Fights GLAUCUS Ponticus a Fisherman of the Town of Anthedon who having once caught abundance of Fish and laid them on the Bank perceiving that these Fishes having touch'd a kind of Herb that was upon the shore received new strength and leapd again into the Sea which Glaucus perceiving tasted of the Herb himself and presently leapt into the Sea after them where he was transformed into a Triton and became one of the Sea Gods Pausanias calls Glaucus the Genius of the Sea Paliphatus relates this otherwise and says that Glaucus was a Fisherman and an excellent Diver who to get the name of being a God threw himself often in sight of all the people from the top of a great Rock into the Sea and appeared further off then at last stole himself quite from the sight of Men and retired on some remote shore from whence he came again some days after and perswaded the people that he had conversed with the Gods of the Sea and related extraordinary things of them But in fine being lost in the Waters of the Sea the People perswaded themselves he was become a God Some say that he was turned into a Fish other into a Sea Monster and some others affirm like Philostratus in his description of Glaucus Ponticus that he was half Man and half Fish Hyginus records that Glaucus was much loved by Circe but he despised her and yet he fell in love with Scylla Whereupon Ciru transported with jealousy turned Scylla into a Monster having poisoned the waters where she was used to bath herself as Homer has describ'd it in the twelfth Book of his Odysses There was also another of that name who was Grandson to Bellerophon and came to the Trojan's relief and shew'd a great folly in his conduct having exchang'd his Golden Armour for that of Diomedes which were of Brass From whence 't is said in a proverbial way to shew an inequal change 't is the exchange of Glaucus and Diomedes GNOMONICE The Art of making Sun dials so called from the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies to shew because the Gnomon is a stile or a Needle which by its shadow shews the Hours the elevation of the Sun and the Sign wherein he is GOMER The Father of the Italians and Gauls under several names of Gallus and Ogyges and was the eldest Son of Japhet The Babylonians took him for the Grandfather of Ninus though he was but his Grand-Unkle Some are of opinion that he is Saturn He came into Italy in the year 1879 à mundo condito the 2539 of the Julian period and 2175 years before the birth of our Lord and populated the Islands of the Mediterranean Sea Greece Italy and Gallia He taught Religion to his people as he had receiv'd it of Japhet and Noah GORDIANUS and his Son were both chosen Emperors in Africa and the Senate approved of their Election but they did not enjoy long that honour for the Father was too old to be serviceable to the Commonwealth being then fourscore years of age and though his Son was but forty six years old yet he was not able to defend the Empire against Capellianus Prefect of Mauritania Gordianus was the Richest and the most magnificent of the Romans During his Quaestorship he order'd Games of vast charges to be represented every month to the people He had a Park well stock'd with all kinds of fallow Dear procured from all parts of the World and appointed a publick hunting day where every Man carried away the Game he had kill'd Gordianus junior Grandson to Gordianus who died in Africa was raised to the Empire at sixteen years of age He gave the Office of Prefect of the Praetory to Philip a Man of low extraction who soon forgot his Benefactor 's kindness for he caused him to be murthered on the Frontiers of Persia where he pursued Sapor who had invaded Syria GORGONES Hesiod in his Theogonia and Hyginus say that the Gorgones were three Sisters Daughters to Phocus a Sea-God who had all three but one eye serving them all by turns They had great Wings and their Head attired with Adders their Teeth were like the Tusks of Wild-Boar's coming out of their mouth and were armed with sharp and crooked Claws They were named Stenyo i. e. strong mighty Medusa i. e. care of the State and Euryale i. e. having command upon the at Sea Perseus being covered with the shield of Minerva cut off Medusa's head which was placed in the shield of Minerva the sight whereof is mortal and turns into stones those who look at it as it befel Atlas Fulgentius relates after Theocritus an ancient Historiographer that King Phorcus left three very rich Daughters that Medusa the eldest and most powerful was called Gorgon because she applyed herself very much to manure the ground that a Serpents head was ascribed to her because of her prudence and that Perseus attack'd her with his Fleet from whence Poets represent him winged seized upon her Dominion and kill'd her and took away her Head viz. her Strength and Riches which he made use of to subdue the Kingdom of Atlas whom he put to flight and having forced him to retire into the Mountains from whence it is said he was metamorphos'd into a Mountain GRACCHUS A Sirname of the Sempronian Family the off-spring of so many Illustrious Romans who supported the People against the Nobility as Tiberius Gracchus who got the Agrarian Law to be received and distributed to the Romans the Riches that King Attalus had left him by his last Will and Caius Gracchus who added to the Senate three hundred Men of the Equestrian Order to administer Justice GRAECIA c. See after Gratiae GRATIAE The Graces in the time of the Pagans were three fabulous Goddesses represented young and naked attending Venus called Aglaia Thalia and Euphrosine Daughters of Jupiter and Mercury's Companions They were also named Charites GRAECIA Greece so called from King Graecus who succeeded Cecrops who commanded only in Attica which was one of the fine Countries of Europe called Hellas Ancient Writers have severally set the bounds of this Country yet 't is commonly agreed that it is bounded by the Ionian Sea at the West by Libya at the South the Aegean Sea or Archipelagus at the East and at the Mountains which divide it from Thracia upper Mysia and Dalmatia Greece contains four great Provinces viz. Macedonia Epirus Achaia Peloponnesus together with all the Islands of the Ionlan Sea They also join to it that part of Italy which was formerly called Great Greece now Calabria superiour This Country exceeded all the Countries of Europe for its temperature good air and plenty of all kinds of Fruits The most famous Cities of Greece were Athens Lacedemonia Delphos Argos Mycene Corinth There were those Mountains so famous in the Writings of the Poets viz. Athos Olympus Pelion Parnassus Helicon Cytheron Greece is esteemed the Mother
opinion of some Writers was the same as Osiris the Father of Harpocrates Others represent him with a glittering head some have dress'd him in a Gown which hangs down to the heels carrying on his Head a branch of a Peach-tree which was a Tree consecrated to Harpocrates because the Fruit thereof resembles the Heart and its Leaves are like the Tongue as Plutarch has observed whereby old Writers signified the perfect correspondency that should be between the Tongue and the Heart Some others figure him with a particular Ornament on his Head having the badges of Harpocrates Cupid and Esculapius for he holds his Finger on his Mouth he carries Wings and a Quiver with Arrows and a Serpent twisted about a stick The union of Harpocrates with Cupid shews that Love must be secret and the union of Harpocrates with Aesculapius gives us to understand that a Physician must be discreet and not discover the secrets of his Patient The Pythagoreans made a Virtue of silence and the Romans a Goddess called Tacita as 't is related by Plutarch HARPIAE The Harpyes fabulous Birds only mentioned by Poets who describe them with the face of a Virgin and the rest of the body a Bird with crooked feet and hands Virgil's description of them runs thus in the third Book of his Aeneid v. 213. Quas dira Celaeno Harpyae colunt aliae ....... Tristius haud illis monstrum nec saevior ulla Pestis ira Deûm Stygüs sese extulit undis Virginei volucrum vultus foedissima ventris Proluvies uncaeque manus pallida semper Ora fame The truth of the Story is that Phineus King of Paeonia having lost his sight and his Sons being dead the Harpyes his Daughters were spending his Estate till Zethes and Calais his Neighbours Sons of Bordas drove these Ladies out of the City and re-establish'd Phineus in possession of his Estate HASTA signifies all kind of offensive Arms that have a long staff or handle as Pike Spear Javelin c. 'T was said in the Roman Law Hastae subjicere to signify thereby to confiscate or to sell by publick sale and sub hastâ venire to be sold by Auction for Romulus had order'd that this Pole should be set before the place where the confiscated Goods were sold HASTA PURA A Half-pike without Iron at the end us'd for a Scepter and a badge of Authority and not a Pike armed with Iron used in the war HEBDOMADA A Week the numof seven days Four Weeks make up a Month because of the four chief and more apparent Phasis of the changes of the Moon And as these four changes of the Moon are in a manner the space of seven days one from another 't is very likely that from thence the first Egyptians and Assyrians have taken occasion to divide time by intervals of seven days which therefore were called Weeks As for the Hebrews their way of reckoning the time by weeks has a most august Origine and the Law commanded them to forbear from all kind of work the seventh day to imprint in their memory the great Mystery of the Creation of the World in which God had wrought during six days and rested the seventh whereupon it was called the Sabbath-day which in their Language signifies a day of rest The other days took their name from that day for the following day was called by the Jews prima Sabbati the first day of the Sabbath the next day the second of the Sabbath then the third and fourth c. till the sixth called otherwise Parasceve which signifies the day of preparation for the Sabbath This way of reckoning by Weeks was properly speaking used only by the Eastern Nations for the Greeks reckoned their days from ten to ten or by decads dividing each month in three parts the first part was reckoned from the beginning of the Month the second was the middle of the Month and the third was the rest of the Month from the middle to the end thereof And thus the Romans besides the division of the Month by Kalends Nones and Ides made use also of a political distribution of a series of eight days distributed from the beginning of the year to the end thereof The names of the days of the week used by the Primitive Christians were founded on a more holy principle viz. the resurrection of our Lord which has given the name of Dominica or the Lord's-day to the day called the Sabbath by the Jews And because they to shew their joy in the celebration of the Feast of Easter i. e. of the Resurrection were used to keep the whole week holy resting from all servile work which is called in Latin Periani therefore they called the day following immediately after the Holy Sunday Prima Feria and the second day Secunda Feria the third day Tertia Feria and so forth and from thence the days of all the weeks were afterwards improperly called Foriae in practice of the Church The Origine of the names commonly given to the days of the week being names of Divinities ador'd by superstitious Antiquity comes from a more remote principle for 't is likely that these names passed from the Assyrians to the Greeks and from the Greeks to the Christians And we may reasonably presume that the Chaldeans who were esteemed the first Men who addicted themselves to study Astronomy have also given the name of their Gods to the Planets or at least the same names which they have afterwards ascribed to the Gods whom they ador'd and that they might give more authority to that art which they profess and by which they foretold things to come by the observation of the Stars They attempted to ascribe them an absolute Empire over the nature of Men allowing to each of them several Offices and Employments to dispense good and evil and that lest that dreadful power which they ascribed to them should be kept in the only extent of their spheres they had very much enlarg'd the bounds of their Dominions submitting to them not only the several parts of the Earth and the Elements not only the Fortunes Inclination and Secrets of the most close Men overthrow of States Plagues Deluges and a thousand other things of that nature but endeavoured also to set them up for the absolute Masters of time allowing a Planet to preside over each year another to each month to each week each day each hour and perhaps to each moment From thence each day of the week has took the name of the Planet ruling over it and Monday which is in Latin dies Luna i. e. the day of the Moon was so called because the Moon presides that day dies Martis i. e. the day of Mars which was under the direction of Mars dies Mercurii ruled by Mercury dies Jovis under the conduct of Jupiter dies Veneris under the direction of Venus dies Saturni under that of Saturn dies Solis ruled by the Sun 'T is true that the order that the Planets
follow in the week is quite different from that which they observe in Heaven for according to the disposition of their Spheres Jupiter is immediately below Saturn Mars below Jupiter the Sun under Mars Venus according to the vulgar opinion beneath the Sun Mercury below Venus and in fine the Moon the lowest of all beneath Mercury But in the order of the week Sunday called the day of the Sun comes after Saturday which is the day of Saturn in the room of Thursday the day of Jupiter and Monday the day of the Moon follows the day of the Sun instead of Friday the day of Venus likewise instead of Saturday or the day of Saturn which according to the Planets order should follow the Munday or the day of the Moon they reckon Tuesday the day of Mars and after Tuesday comes Wednesday the day of Mercury instead of Thursday the day of the Sun and so forth Whereby it doth appear that the disposition of the Planets in the days of the week is very different from the order and situation of their Orbs. But the Ancients having not only committed the days but also the hours of each day to the care of some Planet 't is very likely that the day was called by the name of the Planet that had the direction of the first hour Wherefore Saturday or the day of Saturn was thus called because the first hour of that day was under the direction of Saturn and as the following hours came on successively under the power of the following Planets the second hour was for Jupiter who immediately followed Saturn the third was for Mars the fourth for the Sun the fifth for Venus the sixth for Mercury and the seventh for the Moon and afterwards the eighth hour return'd under the power of Saturn and according to the same order the same Planet Saturn had still the fifteenth and the two and twentieth hours under his direction and by consequence the three and twentieth hour was under the command of Jupiter and the four and twentieth viz. the last hour of the day was found under the direction of Mars So that the first hour of the following day came under the dominion of the Sun who consequently gave his name to the second day and following always the same order to the eighth the fifteenth and the two and twentieth hour did always belong to the Sun the twenty third to Venus and the last to Mercury wherefore the first hour of the third day appertained to the Moon called for that reason the day of the Moon to which also was referr'd the eighth the fifteenth and the two and twentieth hours of the same day and therefore the twenty third hour was ascribed to Saturn for from the Moon we must return again to Saturn and the last to Jupiter from whence the first hour of the fourth day was found under the direction of Mars who gave also his name to the day as also the eighth the fifteenth and the two and twentieth and consequently the twenty third hour belonged to the Sun the twenty fourth to Venus and the first of the fifteenth day to Mercury and so forth following the same order whereby we see the origine and the necessary series of the names given to the days of the week and the reason why the day of the Sun comes after the day of Saturn viz. Sunday after Saturday the day of the Moon after the day of the Sun or Monday after Sunday the day of Mars after the day of the Moon or Tuesday after Monday Wednesday after Tuesday then Thursday Friday and at last Saturday and so of all the rest There is still another ingenious reason that might be given for these denominations of days for the names of the Planets given to the days of the week follow one another in proportion with the musical harmony called in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which was the Origne and principle of all the good harmony of the Antients the nature whereof consists betwixt two tones of four voices or three intervals or sounds different one from another wherefore there are always two silent tones betwixt both And 't is likely that the Ancients to leave us some idea of this admirable Musick have disposed the days of the week which follow one another according to their musical harmony wherefore the Planet which comes immediately after another leaves two others behind which are silent viz. after Saturn comes the Sun leaving Jupiter and Mars and after the Sun follows the Moon over-running Venus and Mercury after the Moon appears Mars after Mars Mercury without mentioning either the Sun or Venus after Mercury Jupiter without reckoning either the Moon or Saturn next to Jupiter Venus leaving Mars and the Sun and the last of all next to Venus comes Saturn and by this perpetual revolution we know why Sunday the day of the Sun follows Saturday the day of Saturn and why after Sunday comes Monday c. HEBDOMAS The name of an Orator mentioned by Lucian who once a week gave a play-day to his Scholars and play'd himself wanton tricks among the people as School-boys do upon Holy-days HEBE The Daughter of Jupiter and Juno or of Juno alone without the knowledge of a Man for Apollo having once invited her to a Feast the Fable tells us that she eat such a quantity of Lettice to cool her self that she got a great Belly and was brought to bed of Hebe a Girl of an extraordinary beauty who was in Heaven Jupiter's Cup-bearer After Hercules was taken up among the Gods he married her The Ancients took Hebe for the Goddess of Youth and consecrated to her several Temples The Corinthians offer'd her Sacrifices in a Grove which served for a place of Refuge to all the Malefactors who repaired thither and freed men tied to the Trees their chains and other marks of bondage This Goddess was represented by the Image of a young Girl crowned with Flowers HECATE A Divinity of Hell Writers report her birth variously Orpheus tells us that she is the Daughter of Jupiter and Ceres others say that she is the Daughter of Jupiter and Asteria and Apollodorus's opinion is that Hecate Diana the Moon and Proserpina are all one and the same wherefore they call her triple Hecate or the Goddess with three heads being the Moon in Heaven Diana on Earth and Proserpina or Hecate in Hell She was called Trivia because her Image was set up in cross-ways either because of the noise that was made in the night to imitate the howling of Ceres seeking after Proserpina or because she was the Moon in Heaven and Diana on Earth and Proserpina or Hecate in Hell as the Scholiast of Aristophanes reports Hecaten coluere antiquitus in trivies propterea quod eandem Lunam Dianam Hecaten vocarent Servius tells us the same thing upon this Verse of Virgil Nocturnisque Hecaten triviis ululata per urbes She was represented with a dreadful countenance her Head attired
Scepter in his right hand crown'd with a Diadem and an Eagle by him There were eleven Images of Women round about Homer representing the nine Muses and his Illiads and Odysses set in the rank of the nine Muses Behind him are the Figures of Time and Harmony setting a Crown on his head Not far off is an Altar and near it on one side is represented the Fable and on the other the History and further off are set in order Poesie Tragedy Comedy Vertue Memory Faith and Wisdom The Singers who formerly sung the Poems of Homer were dress'd in red cloaths when they sung the Illiads and in blue Cloaths when they sung the Odysses and some wrapp'd up the Illiads in a red Parchment and the Odysses in a blue one Tully l. 3. de Orat. says that Pisistratus Tyrant of Athens was the first who set the Illiads and Odysses in the order we now have them Apollinarius wrote a Poem in imitation of the Illiads of Homer containing the whole History of the Old Testament to the Reign of Saul and divided also his work in four and twenty Books according to the four and twenty Greek Letters Besides this Poem he wrote Comedies like those of Menander Tragedies in imitation of Euripides and Lyrick as Verses fine as those of Pindar Pythagoras being come down into Hell saw the Soul of Hesiod tied with chains to a Brass Pillar and that of Homer hung to a Tree both expos'd to the biting of Serpents in punishment of what they had writ of the Gods Strabo tells us that of all the editions of Homer that which is call'd è Narthecio is the most correct and most esteem'd being the work of Calisthenes and Anaxarchus Aristotle gave this Edition to Alexander and it was called after that name because Alexander kept it in the rich and precious Box of Darius HONOR Honour a Divinity always represented with Vertue wherefore no man could get into the Temple of Honour but by passing first through the Temple of Vertue whereby the Ancients represented to us that Honour proceeds from Vertue and to that purpose M. Marcellus built two square Temples join'd together one to Vertue and the other to Honour because true Honour arises from solid Vertue These two Divinities are represented on the Medals of Vitellius by two engraven figures one of them stands on the right side half naked holding an Half-pike with one hand and a Horn of Plenty with the other and a Helmet under her right foot the other figure is on the left side and has a Helmet on holding a Scepter with her right hand and a Dart with the left treading with its right foot upon a Tortoise with this Inscription Honos Virtutes HORAE The Hours Poets tell us that they are the Daughters of Jupiter and Themis and Homer calls them the Door-keepers of Heaven that 's the Fable the Truth is The Hours that divide the Day in four and twenty parts were during five hundred years unknown to the Romans For till the first Punick War they reckon'd the day by the rising and setting of the Sun then they added Noon and in fine they found out the division of the civil day into four and twenty hours However there are two kinds of hours for some are equal and others unequal Equal hours are those that are always in the same state as the hours we make use of each of them making the twenty fourth part of the natural day They are to the number of four and twenty whereof twelve are for the day and twelve for the night Unequal hours are longer in Summer and shorter in Winter in regard to the day or on the contrary as to the night When I speak of unequal hours one must not think that one of these hours are longer than the other but only in respect to the several Seasons those of the Summer being longer than those of the Winter in regard to the day and as for the night those of the Winter are longer than those of the Summer And dividing this way the artificial day in twelve equal parts the sixth hour will fall at noon and the third will be the middle of the foregoing time from the rising of the Sun to noon as the ninth hour is the middle of the following time from noon to Sun-setting and thus of the others The Romans divided the hours of the day in to four viz. Prima Tertia Sexta Nona Prima began at six a Clock Tertia at nine Sexta at twelve and Nona at three of the Clock in the Afternoon Wherefore the Canonical hours were called Prima Tertia Sexta Nona us'd by the Church to honour the sacred Mysteries perform'd at these Hours Likewise the Romans divided the twelve hours of the night into four Watches call'd Vigiliae a Latin word taken from Military Discipline wherefore Pliny calls them Castreases Vegetius tells us why there are four Vigiliae in the night and why each Watch was of three hours It was not possible says he that a Soldier should keep Centry a whole night wherefore it was divided into four Vigiliae and at each of these Vigiliae they reliev'd the Centries and set fresh ones in their rooms Now we must consider how the Romans reckon'd their hours Prima began at six a Clock and comprehended three hours And if one ask'd how they reckon'd the seventh and the eighth hours we answer that they were distinguish'd amongst themselves and had their peculiar name viz. prima secunda tertia quarta quinta sexta septima octava nona decima as Martial tells us Prima salutantes atque altera continet hora Exercet raucos tertia causidicos In quintam varios extendit Roma labores Sexta quies lassis septima finis erit Sufficit in nonam nitidis octava palaestris Imperat extructos frangere nona toros Hora Libellorum decima est Eupheme meorum Temperat ambrosias cùm tua cura dapes The twelve hours of the day in the Equinox are here set down according to their order The first hour of the day was from six to seven the second from seven to eight the third called Tertia happen'd at nine a Clock And by these words Inquintam extendit was comprehended the fourth and the fifth hour viz. eleven a Clock in the morning Sexta befel always at noon the seventh hour was from noon to one a Clock the eighth from one to two the ninth was from two to three and the tenth was from theee to four and the rest was extended to the first Watch of the Night which began at five and six of the Clock in the Evening inclusively The hours of the night were reckon'd in the like manner as those of the day at the sixth hour was mid-night The Romans explain'd also the several times of the night in other undetermin'd terms For when the Sun was setting they call'd that time Solis occasus from the Sun-setting to dark night Vesper or Vespera from the
Evening-star The beginning of the night was called Crepusculum after that they lighted the Lamps and that time was called Prima fax Prima lumina when they went to bed Concubitum or Concubia nox the time of the first sleep Nox intempestia or silentium The middle of the night was called Media nox then Gallicinium the Cocks crowing then Conticinium when the Cock had done crowing After that came Diluculum the dawning of the day and at last Aurora and Solis ortus HORATIUS Horace There were many of this name HORACE called COCLES or one ey'd A Roman Captain who sustain'd the efforts of the Enemy attempting by force of Arms to restore King Tarquinius into Rome till the Sublician Bridge was broke and then cast himself into the Tiber and thus escap'd the Enemies fury The Consul Publicola erected him a Statue in the Temple of Vulcan HORACE Sirnamed Flaccus Native of Venusian a Town in Apulia a Lyrick Poet and intimate Friend of Maecenas a great Lover of Learned Men. He has left us four Books of admirable Odes wherefore the Romans have no occasion to envy the Greeks Pindar besides a Book of Epods two Satyrs and several Epistles with a learned Treatise of the Art of Poetry which have made him famous to posterity He died the 57th year of his age and 746 after the foundation of Rome There were also three Brothers of that name who fought for the Roman Liberty with three Brothers call'd Curiatii of the City of Alba the Inhabitants whereof pretended to the Soveraign Power Two of the Horace's lost their Lives in the fight but the third who remain'd alive himself kill'd the three Guriatii and thus the Inhabitants of Alba became Subjects to the Romans Horace came victorious to Rome and was receiv'd with the Acclamations of the people but he blasted his Victory by the death of his Sister who was to marry one of the Curiatii not being able to bear the reproachful words of an angry Maid for the death of her Lover HORMUS A kind of Dance of Girls and Boys where the Boy leads the Dance with Masculine and Warlike Postures and the Girl followed him with soft and modest steps to represent an Harmony of two Vertues Power and Temperance HOROLOGIUM A Clock an Engine that moves of it self or has the principle of its motion in it self used to measure Time and shew the hours of the day and night At first the Romans had no certain Rule for the time of their Employments they measur'd it only by the Course of the Sun Pliny reports that in the Laws of the twelve Tables that were collected in the Year 301 there was nothing mention'd concerning time but only the rising and the setting of the Sun and Noon Papyrius Cursor set up a Sun-Dial at the Temple of Quirinus but it did not prove right Thirty years afterwards the Consul M. Valerius Messola as Varro relates after the taking of Catana in Sicily in the Year 477 during the first Punick War brought from thence to Rome a Dial which he fasten'd to a Pillar near the Rostra but the Lines thereof not being drawn according to the degrees of the latitude of the pole it did not prove exact yet they made use of it during the space of eleven years when Martius Philippus Censor with L. Paulus set up another more true The Greeks were also a long time without either Clocks or Sun-Dials Anaximenes Milisius Anaximander's Scholar was the first Inventer of Sun-Dials amongst the Greeks Pliny says that Thales shew'd the use thereof to the Lacedemonians The Greeks called them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Romans Solaria But how exact so ever these Dials were yet in the night or in cloudy weather they were of no use Wherefore Scipio Nasica the Colleague of Lanatus to prevent this inconveniency found out the Clepsydra or Water-Clock 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. to steal Water because it pass'd so insensibly that it seem'd to steal upon the sight Pierius in the sixth Book of his Hieroglyphicks says that the invention of the Clepsydra was found in the Town of Achanta beyond the River Nile where three hundred and sixty Priests were every day pouring water out of the Nile into a Vessel out of which they let the water drop by little and little to measure the hours of the day And tho' the word Horologium commonly signifies Clocks that go by Weights and have Wheels and a Ballance with a Bell yet those that are made with Wheels and fit to carry about called Watches and those called Sciotherick Dials or Sun-Dials which shews the hour by the shadow of a Needle elevated upon different surfaces falling upon lines dispos'd in order by Gnonomicks may be called also by the name of Horologia as well as the Clepsydra's and Clocks with Wheels and Bells Vitâ—uvius speaks of many kinds of Sun-Dials The Hemicyclus or the half Circle is a Dial hewn into a square and cut to incline like the Equinox Berosus a Chaldean was the inventer thereof The Hemisphere Dial was found out by Aristarchus Samius The Dials call'd Scaphia were hewn in a round Figure having an elevated Needle in the middle The Discus of Aristarchus was an horizontal Dial the sides whereof were somewhat rais'd to prevent the inconveniency found in the Dials that had their Needle upright and perpendicularly elevated upon the Horizon for their sides thus rais'd up keep the shadow from extending it self too far off The Spider invented by Eudoxus is the same as the Anaphoric Horologium Some say that Apollonius has found out the Plinthus or Dial-post which was set in the Circus Flaminius Scopas Syracusanus made the Dial called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 used for places mentioned in History Parmenion was the inventor of the universal Dial fit for all Climats Theodosius and Andreas Patrocles invented the Pelecynon which is a Dial made in the figure of a Hatchet where the opposite lines that shew the Constellations and the Months are close towards the middle and stretched towards the sides which make the form of a Hatchet with two edges Dionysidorus found the Cone Apollonius the Quiver which are vertical Dials opposite to the East and West and being broad and obliquely set represent a Quiver There were yet many other kinds of Sun-Dials invented as the Gonarcus Engonatus Antiboreus These are not mentioned neither in Greek nor Latin Authors The Gonarcus and Engonatus seem deriv'd from the Greek and signifie Dials made upon several surfaces some whereof being horizontal others vertical and some others oblique make many Angles wherefore these angular Dials are called by the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Angle or Knee The Antiboreus is an Equinoxial Dial turn'd towards the North. An Hour-Glass us'd to measure time by the running of sand is made with two small Glasses join'd together by the ends one of them is full of very small sand which runs through a little hole of a thin plate of Brass
a Bull sometimes into a Swan or an Eagle or into Gold to enjoy his Amours wherefore Lucian introduces Momus rallying thus Your fine Metamorphoses made me sometimes affraid left you should be brought to the Shambles or put to the Plough when thou wert a Bull or that a Goldsmith should melt thee down when thou wert Gold and when a Swan lest they should have put thee upon the Spit and roasted thee 'T is also reported that he brought forth Minerva out of his Brain which Vulcan opened with an Axe as Lucian relates in the Dialogue of the Gods where Vulcan and Jupiter speak thus Vulcan Here is a very sharp Axe I bring you what am I to do with it Jup. Prythee strike hard and cleave my head asunder Vul. You have a mind to see whether I am mad or no I warrant but tell me in good earnest what will you imploy it about Jup. To divide my Skull I say I am not in jest and if you refuse I will plague you Strike with all thy might for my Head is ready to split with pain and I suffer such torments as if I was in labour with a Child Vul. 'T is against my will but I must obey Great Gods No wonder your head-ach was so great having such an Amazon with a Sphear and a Shield lodged in it 'T is still recorded that Bacchus came out of his thigh where he had been lodged to perfect his time after he was taken out of his Mother Semele's Womb being yet but half form'd Wherefore an incision was made in his Thigh when the pains of labour seiz'd him to give a free Passage to little Bacchus And this is yet reported by the same Lucian in the Dialogue of the Gods The Nations of the World built him a great many Temples and honoured him like a God under several names according to his several performances He is called Jupiter Inventor an Epithet that Hercules bestowed upon him because by his means he had found again the Cows which Cacus had stole away from him and erected him an Altar whereupon he offered him sacrifices Romulus called him Jupiter Feretrius because he had strengthned him to overcome his Enemies and get the spoils which he consecrated to him in a Temple built at the top of the Capitol under the Title of Jupiter Feretrius Livy gives us the words of this dedication Jupiter Feretri haec tibi victor Romulus Rex regia arma fero templumque his regionibus quas modo animo metatus sum dedico sedemque opâ—mis spolâ—â—s quae Regibus Ducibusque hostium caesis me auctorem sequentes posteri ferent This was the first Temple that was consecrated to Jupiter in Rome whither the spoils taken from Kings or Commanders of the Enemies Forces were brought JUPITER STATOR a Sistendo i. e. to stop because upon the day of the engagement between the Romans and the Sabins Romulus perceiving that his Soldiers lost ground and were upon the point of running away begged earnestly of Jupiter to stop them and raise their Courage promising him withal to build another Temple to his honour which being granted to him he built a Temple at the foot of Mount Palatinus under the Title of Jovi Statori JUPITER ELICIUS Numa gave him this title upon this occasion For in his time Mount Aventinus being not yet inhabited nor inclosed into Rome and that Hill being covered with Springs of Water and thick Groves frequented by Picus and Faunus two Satyrs who cured most desperate Distempers by Inchantments Numa having heard of them desired to see them and learn their secrets wherefore by the advice of the Nymph Egeria he ordered that Wine should be poured into the Fountain and men should lye in wait to seize upon the Satyrs at their coming to it Both Satyrs according to their custom came thither but being got drunk with the Wine of the Fountain they fell asleep and were easily seized upon and brought to Numa who learned of them the secrets how to bring down Jupiter upon the Earth Elicere Jovem And Numa having immediately tried it Jupiter came down whereupon he commanded that a Temple should be built to his honour by the title of Jupiter Elicius JUPITER CAPITOLINUS Thus called because of the Temple vowed by Tarquinius Priscus in the War against the Sabius he laid only the foundations of it and it was finished by Tarquinius Superbus The Temple was of a square Figure having 220 Foot every way and eight Acres of ground in compass There were three Chapels in it the Chapel of Jupiter in the middle thereof that of Minerva at the Right hand near the place where the Nail was driven in every year to reckon the number of years and that of Juno which was on the Left hand The admirable Building and the rich Ornaments of this Temple made it the most famous in Rome and all the Provinces subdued to the Roman Empire and the Confederate Kings in emulation one of another sent Presents thither JUPITER LATIALIS had a Temple on Mount Albanus which Tarquinius Superbus caused to be built to his honour after the defeat of Turnus This Temple was common to all the Confederates and a Sacrifice was therein offered every year in common to the Feriae Latinae JUPITER SPONSOR The Temple built to him by this Title was consecrated to his honour by Tarquinius in the Wood of Bellona and dedicated by Sp. Posthumus Consul in pursuance of a decree of the Senate in the year cclxxxvii JUPITER PISTOR Thus called because the Gauls having besieged the Capitol and the Romans being very much streightned by the enemy and pressed with hunger Jupiter inspired them to make Bread with the remainder of their Corn and throw it into the Camp of the enemy Which having performed the enemy lost all hopes to starve them wherefore they raised the Siege and retired and in acknowledgement of this good advice the Romans erected him an Altar under the title of Jupiter the Baker Jovi Pisteri There was also in the Capitol a Figure of Jupiter Imperator which Titus Quintius Dictator brought from the Town of Praeneste and placed there with a Table whereupon were ingraven his great Atchievements JUPITER VICTOR Jupiter the Conquerour to wom L. Papyrius Cursor built a Temple by this title because he had overcome the Samnites and the Gauls VE-JUPITER or VE-JOVIS had a Temple between the Tarpeian Rock and the Capitol near the Asylum His statue was made of Cyprus Wood holding a Dart in his hand ready to be flung JUPITER TONANS Jupiter thundering an Epithet that Augustus gave him for having built a Temple to him upon the Capitol he dedicated it to him under that name and erected therein three statues one done by the hand of Buthyraus Disciple to Miron the other by Locras and the third was made of Brass Augustus caused this Temple to be built in honour of Jupiter Tonans because going once by night against the Inhabitants of Biscay the Thunder fell
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
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
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
the first Year after the Expulsion of the Tarquins the City of Rome being afflicted with the Plague Publius Valertus Publicola who was then Consul freed the People from this Evil by offering in the same Place a black Ox to Pluto and a black Cow to Proserpina and he caused this Inscription to be graven on the same Altar Publius Valerius Publicola hath consecrated a Fire to Pluto and Proserpina in Campus Martius and celebrated Games in Honour of the said Gods for the Deliverance of the People of Rome Rome being after that afflicted with Wars and Pestilence in the Fourth Consulship of Marcus Potitus 352 Years after the Foundation thereof the Senate ordered the Sibyll's Books to be consulted by those whose Business it was They answered that those Evils would be at an end if they did but offer Sacrifices to Pluto and Proserpina They presently sought out the Place where the Altar of these Gods was buried found it and consecrated it anew and they had no sooner finish'd their Sacrifices thereon but the Romans found themselves freed from the Evils they laboured under after which they buried the said Altar again and the same is in a certain Place at the End of Campus Martius but these Sacrifices having been neglected from the Consulship of Lucius Cénsorinus and Manlius Puelius and new Misfortunes befalling them in Augustus his Reign the said Prince renew'd those Plays under the Consulship of Lucius Censormus and Caius Sabinus after Ateius Capito had informed them of the Ceremonies they were to observe thereat and that the Quindecim-viri in whose Custody the Sibyll's Books were had found out the Place where the Sacrifices and Shews ought to be performed The Emperor Claudius after Augustus caused the same Games to be celebrated without any regard had to the Law that required they should not be performed but once every Age. Afterwards Domitian not minding what Claudius had done celebrated them at the full Revolution of an Age from the time of Augustus his solemnizings of them Lastly Severus assisted by his Sons Caracalla and Geta renewed the same Games under the Consulship of Chilo and Libo Here follows the Manner how these Plays are set down in the publick Registers the Heralds went about to invite the People to a Shew which they had never seen and should never see again but this once Harvest-time being come a few Days before this Feast the Quindecim-viri whose Business it was to look after the Ceremonies of Religion sate upon a Tribunal before the Capitol and Apollo's Temple from whence they distributed Torches of Sulphur and Bitumen to the People which every one used to purifie himself with They gave none to the Slaves but only to such as were free Afterwards all the People went to the Temples we have mentioned and to that of Diana upon Mount Aventine every one of which carried some Wheat Barley and Beans thither and kept the sacred Eve there all Night in Honour of the Destinies with a great deal of Company Lastly They solemnized this â—east for Three Days and Three Nights beginning with offering Sacrifices in Campus Martius upon the Banks of the Tiber in a Place named Terentum The Gods to whom they offered were Jupiter Juno Apollo Latona and Diana as also the Destinies Lucina Ceres Pluto and Proserpina The first Night Two Hours after Sun-set the Emperor being assisted by the Quidecim-viri of whom before sacrificed Three Lambs upon Three Altars raised upon the Banks of the Tiber and when he had sprinkled the Altars with the Victims Blood he burnt them all whole during which Time the Musicians who were set upon an advanced Place sung an Hymn made for that Purpose They lighted Fires and Lamps every where and gave Shews that agreed with those Sacrifices Those who were to provide for Ceremonies by way of Recompence receiv'd the first Fruits of the Earth after some of them had been distributed to all the People In the Morning they met in the Capitol from whence after they had sacrificed the usual Victims they went to the Theater to celebrate Games there in Honour of Apollo and Diana On the second Day the Women of Quality went to the Capitol at the Hour assigned them in the Sibyll's Books and there sacrificed to Jupiter and sung Hymns in his Praise Lastly On the third Day a Company of Youths of good Birth to the Number of 27 and as many young Girls all whose Parents were alive in fix Chorus's sung Hymns in Greek and Latin and Sacred Songs for the obtaining all manner of Prosperity to the Cities of Rome There were moreover many other Things done according to the Prescription of the Gods and as long as these Ceremonies were observed the Roman Empire remained entire but to the end you may know the Truth of what has been said I 'll here recite the Oracle of the Sibylle her self as others have already done Roman remember every 110th Year which is the longest Time of the Duration of a Man's Life I say remember to offer Sacrifice to the immortal Gods in the Field that is watered by the Tiber. When the Night is come and that the Sun is set then offer Goats and Sheep to the Destinies afterwards offer proper Sacrifices to Lucina who presides over Child-bearing next sacrifice a Hog and a black Sow to the Earth and this done offer white Oxen on Jupiter's Altar and this must be performed in the Day-time and not by Night for those Sacrifices that are made in the Day-time please the Coelestial Gods by the same Reason thou shall offer to Juno a young Cow that has a good Hide the like Sacrifices thou shall make to Phoebus-Apolio the Son of Latona who is also called the Sun and let the Roman Boys accompanied with Girls sing Hymns with a loud Voice in the Sacred Temples but so that the Girls sing on one side and the Boys on the other and the Parents both of the one and the other must be then alive let married Women fall upon their Knees before Juno's Altar and pray that Goddess to give Ear to the publick Vows and theirs in particular let every one according to his Ability offer first Fruits to the Gods to render them propitious and these first Fruits ought to be kept with Care and they must not forget to distribute some of them to every one that assists at the Sacrifices let there be a great Number of People Night and Day at the Resting-places of the Gods and there let serious and diverting Things be agreeably intermix'd See therefore O Roman that these Injunctions be always kept in mind by thee and thus the Country of Italy and that of the Latins will always be subject to thy Power SELLA SOLIDA a Chair or Seat made of a piece of Wood wherein the Augurs sate when they were taking their Augury SELLA CURULIS the Curule-Chair which was adorned with ivory and on which the great Magistrates of Rome had a Right to sit and to be carried SEMELE
to begin again and so eternally perpetuated his Punishment SITICENES were those who sounded upon a kind of a Trumpet that had a very sorrowful and mournful Tone at the Burying of the ancient Romans SOCCUS and SOCCULUS a sort of Shooe used by the Greeks the same was also in use among the Roman Ladies It was a kind of Covering for the Feet among the Ancients who came upon the Theater to represent Comedies and was opposed to the Corhurnus which was a kind of Snooe or Busk in acting Tragedies SOCRATES a Philosopher of Athens who by the Oracle of Apollo was called the wisest Man in Greece This Philosopher applied himself very much to Morality but being accused by divers Persons of having spoke ill concerning the Gods he was sentenced to poison himself which he did with Hemlock SOL the Sun Macrobius endeavours to shew that all the Deitis of the Poets were only the Sun under a Disguise which being the Ruler of the other Stars whose Influences reached unto all this lower World it is by Conquence the Governour of the Universe The Poets agree that Apollo is the Sun In short Apollo's Name being composed of the Negative Particle and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 multus it bears the same Signification as Sol or Solus and this Macrobius says whereunto he adds that Plato gave it another Greek Etymology tending to the same purpose PlatoSolem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cognominatum scribit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 à jactu radiorum The same Author says that as for Apollo's being called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Medicus a Physician the Reason is because the Sun is the Preserver of Health But as 't is sometimes also the Cause of Diseases it has likewise been called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Destroyer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 à feriendo They have called the Sun Delius quòd illuminando omnia clara 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 demonstrat The Name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 has been given it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod vi fertur As also Phaneta 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because of the Corruption which always proceeds from Heat or from the Serpent Python for the Fable says that Latona being brought to Bed of Apollo and Diana Juno sent a Serpent to devour them in the Cradle but Apollo as little as he was killed her with his Arrows Now the natural Signification of this Fable is that the Sun and Moon being come out of the Chaos the Earth remaining yet moist produced Serpents or rather thick Vapours wherewith Juno that is the Air would darken the Light of the Sun and Moon but the Force of the Sun-beams did at length dissipate these Fogs The Sun is also the same as Bacchus or Liber according to Macrobius he says that the Sun in their mysterious Prayers was called Apollo while it continued in the upper Hemisphere or during Day-light and that they called it Liber Pater in the Night when it ran thro' the lower Hemisphere Orpheus calls it also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Name of Dionysius comes from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to Macrobius quia solem mundi mentem esse dixerunt Others deduce the Name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quòd circumferatur in ambitum Macrobius pretends that it was to the Sun the Oracle of Apollo gave the Name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saying he was the greatest of all the Goods 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The said Macrobius endeavours also to prove that Mars is the same as the Sun because 't is the same Principle of Martial Heat and Fire that inflames Mens Hearts and animates them to fight Mercury also according to the said Author is the Sun or Apollo and this is the Reason why they represent Mercury with Wings to intimate the swift Course of the Sun Apollo presides over the Quire of Muses and Mercury is the Father of Eloquence and polite Learning the Sun is the Soul and Understanding of the World and this agrees with Mercury whose Name is derived 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ab interpretando Mercury is the Messenger of the Gods being often sent by the Coelestial to the Infernal Deities because the Sun by Turns passes through the Superior and the Inferior Signs Mercury slew Argus who had 100 Eyes to watch Io that was transformed into a Cow that is the Sun ecclipses the Light of the Stars and the Heavens by its Presence these Stars during the Night having been as so many Eyes to watch over and observe the Earth which the Egyptians represented under the Symbol of a Cow Lastly The Caduceus of Mercury composed of Two Serpents tied together and kissing each other signifies the Four Gods that preside over Mens Nativities viz. the Sun Moon Love and Necessity the Two Serpents are the Sun and Moon the Knot is Necessity and their kissing imports a Dove Again the Sun is Aesculapius which imports nothing else but the wholsome Influences of the Body of the Sun and hence it is that they have made him to be Apollo's Son the Father of Physick and Health They also place at the Feet of these Statues the Image of a Serpent that grows young by casting off her old Skin as the Sun annually reassumes Vigor and as is were a fresh Youth in the Spring They make Aesculapius to preside over Divinations as well as Apollo because 't is requisite a Physician should foresee many Things to come Hercules was also confounded with the Sun not Hercules of Ihebes but he of Egypt who was the ancientest of all of them and was Sun it self to whom they owed the Victory obtained over the Giants for 't was this Sun that had the Power and Vertue of the Heavens that slew those Sons of the â—arth who rose up in Arms against the Gods Farther the Sun is the Serapis or Osiris of the ancient Egyptians on whose Head they represented the Head of a Lyon Dog or Wolf to denote the Three Parts of Time viz. the Times present past and to come The Lyon and the Wolf intimated the Time present and past because of their Swiftness and the Dog by his Fawnings signified the vain Hopes Men entertain concerning Futurity Tho the Sun also is Adonis who while in the six superior Signs of the Summer continues with Venus that is with this Hemisphear of the Earth wherein we dwell and for the other fix inferior Signs of the Winter stays with Proserpina that is our Antipodes The Egyptians also took Apollo and Horus for the Sun from whence the Four and Twenty Hours of the Day and the Four Seasons of the Year assumed their Names Jupiter Ammon in like manner is taken for the setting Sun by the Lybians and that is the Reason why they represent him with Rams-horns which denote the Beams of the Sun It need no longer to be doubted but that the Sun is Jupiter himself that 't is the Opinion of Homer when he says that Jupiter went to Oceanus his House in
Presents and on that Day to send several sorts of Things and of greater Value to one another but more particularly Silver Medals as finding they were very silly in the foregoing Ages to believe that Honey was sweeter than Silver as Ovid brings in Janus pleasantly talking of it Wherefore Dio speaking of New-years Gifts plainly calls them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Silver With these Presents they sent to wish one another all manner of Prosperity and Happiness for the rest of the Year and gave reciprocal Testimonies of Friendship to each other And as they prevailed as much in their Religion as they did in the State they were not wanting to enact Laws relating to them and made that Day a Festival dedicated and particularly consecrated to Janus who was represented with Two Faces one before and another behind as looking upon the Year past and present They offered Sacrifices to him on that Day and the People in Crowds and all new clad went to Mount Tarpeius where Janus had an Altar However though the same were a Feast and solemn one too since it was also dedicated to Juno under whose Protection the first Days of this Month were and that on the said Day they also celebrated the Dedication of the Temples of Jupiter and Aesculapius that stood in the Isle of the Tiber yet I say notwithstanding all these Considerations the People did not remain idle but on the Contrary every one began to do something in the Way of his Profession that so he might not be sloathful the rest of the Year In short the Custom of New-years Gifts by Degrees became so common in the Time of the Emperors that all the People went to wish him a happy Year and each Man carried his Present of Money according to his Ability that being looked upon as a Mark of the Veneration and Esteem they had for their Princes whereas now the Method is altered and they are rather the Great ones who bestow New-years Gifts upon meaner Persons Augustus received so much of it that he was wont to buy and dedicate Gold and Silver Idols for it as being unwilling to apply the Liberality of his Subjects to his own private Use Tiberius his Successor who did not love a Crowd purposely absented himself on the first Day of the Year that he might avoid the Inconveniencies of the Peoples Visits who would have run in Shoals to wish him a happy New-year and he disapproved of Augustus his receiving these Presents for the same was not convenient and must have put him to Charge to make his Acknowledgments to the People by other Liberalities The People were so taken up with these Ceremonies for the first six or seven Days of the Year that he was obliged to make an Edict whereby they were forbid to make New-years Gifts any longer than for the first Day Caligula who immediately succeeded Tiberius in the Empire let the People understand by an Edict that he would receive the New-years Gifts on the Calends of January which had been refused by his Predecessor and for this end he staid every Day in the Porch of his Palace where he readily received the Money and the Presents made him by the Crowd Claudius his Successor disanulled what he had done and by an Order forbad them to come and present him with any New-years Gifts From thence forwards the Custom continued still among the People as Herodian observes under the Emperor Commodus and Trebellius Pollio makes mention of it in the Life of Claudius Gothicus who also attained to the Imperial Dignity And here we might take Occasion to enquire why the Romans were wont to make Presents to and mutual Vows for one another on the first Day of the Year rather than any other Time It 's the Question which Ovid puts to Janus who answers with a Gravity becoming himself It is says he because all Things are contained in their Beginnings and it is for that Reason adds he they drew Auguries from the first Bird they saw In short the Romans thought there was something Divine in the Beginnings of Things The Head was accounted a Divine Thing because it was as a Man may say the Beginning of the Body They began their Wars with Auguries Sacrifices and publick Vows and so the Reason why they sacrificed to Janus on the first Day of the Year and would make him propitious to them was because that he being Door-keeper to the Gods they were in Hopes by this means to have obtained Admission of the others for the rest of the Year If they made Janus to be their Friend at the Beginning of it And as he presided over the Beginning of the Year they hoped for his Favour to themselves and their Friends if they could draw this God to espouse their Interest They sacrificed Hower and Wine to him which undoubtedly gave Occasion to the Merriments and Debauches of that Day The Grecians amongst whom New-years Gifts were not in Use before they received them from the Romans had no particular Word to signifie Strena for the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is to be met with in ancient Glossaries and which was not used by ancient Authors signifies only a good Beginning that of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in general a Present 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Philoxenus his Glossary is rendered Verbena Strenua because the said Word signifies a Branch a Plant such as Vervein was of which at first as we have told you their New-years Gifts consisted Athenaeus brings in Cynulcus reproving Vlpian for calling a New-year's Gift 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in all likelihood because that signifies no other than a Thing that is given above a Gratification The Way of sending New-years Gifts to Magistrates and Emperors did not cease in the first Ages of Christianity after the Destruction of Paganism as you may see by these Verses of Ceripus already mentioned Dona Calendarum quorum est ea cura parabant Officia turm is implent felicibus aulam Convectant rutilum sportis capacibus aurum This Custom of solemnizing the first Day of the Year by Gifts and Rejoycings having passed from Paganism unto Christianity the Councils and Fathers declaimed against the Abuse made thereof as you may see in Tertullian and the sixth Council in Trullo STYMPHALIDES AVES Birds of an extraordinary Seize which they said in their Flight obscured the Light of the Sun They fed only upon Humane Flesh but Hercules by the Help of Minerva drove them out of Arcadia by the Noise of Cymbals STYX a River in Arcadia near Nonacris its Water was of so cold and killing a Nature it was present Poison wherewith Historians say Alexander the Great was poisoned Pausanias speaks at large of the Grecian Styx and cites the Places in Homer and Hefiod wherein it is mentioned The Poets made it to be a River in Hell the solemn Oaths of the Gods were made by the Water of Styx The Fable says that Victory the Daughter of Styx having given