therefore called by him animae carcer the prison of the soul reflecting haply upon that of Plato 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the body is the souls grave or sepulchre For as those who are shut up in a dark prison have all objects intercepted from their eyes so the soul incarcerated in the body is utterly blinded nor can auras respicere have the free prospect of the air whereof it is compounded The Poet here occurres to a tacite objection the soul it is true loseth of its original purity by conjunction with the body but when freed from thence it may recover its pristine state of purity and perfection no it retains still after its separation much of that pollution which it contracted whilst it was immers'd in the body And hence he layes the foundation of his imaginary Purgatory which as necessarily previous to that Transmigration we have already discoursed of he makes of three sorts either by ventilation by air purgation by fire or rinsing by water all according to the doctrine of Plato purging as Physicians doe by contraries for fire which is hot and dry air which is hot and moist water which is cold and moist are the most proper purgatives for earthy contagions i. e. for those stains the soul hath contracted from the commerce with the body which is earthy Earth being both the coldest of the 4. elements and in that most contrary to Fire which is the hottest and the driest and in that most opposite to Water which is the moistest in both to Air which is both hot and moist this is St. Austins conceit l. 21. de Civit. Dei c. 13. we will not say that the Roman Cathâ—lick hath no better authority for his Purgatory then that of a Roman Poet. This we may safely affirm that it was an opinion received amongst the Heathens many centuries before it was introduced into the Church of Rome with this only difference they held that after death the souls went into Purgatory and from thence ascended not into eternall bliss but into this world where they were reinvested with new bodies these that after their purgatory they ascended into heaâ—â—n they both allow of a Purgatory and a subsequent resurrection and differ only in the terminus adquem the place to which that resurrection tends § 75 There is no one passage in this book more obscure then this in the literal construction you shall find more sound of words then soundness of sense for what can you understand by leaving the etherial sense pure and a fire of simple breath or air for so it runs if verbally translated We have therefore paraphrased upon this place as we have done elsewhere where the sense required it therefore by sensus aethereus we are to understand the Soul a heavenly or aethereal Being and therefore said by Virgil a little above to be coelestis originis as here to be aethereus sensus and to be ignis aër simplex for he sayes here auraï i. e. aurae simplicis ignem for auram simplicem ignem according to the opinion of those who held the soul to be compounded of air and fire therefore the sense of Igneus est ollis vigor coelestis orgio Seminibus is here expressed in other words whilst he sayes purumque reliquit Aetherum sensum atque auraï simplicis ignem which I think according to the sense both of the Author and the Context may not unaptly be paraphrased in these words Leaving of spots that heavenly Being clear Of Fire a compound and unmixed Air. But to summe up our precedent discourse and to shew the connexion thereof you must know that there is a certain soul or spirit which actuateth and presideth over this Universe and from whence all things derive their birth and original amongst the rest men whose souls we have and doe still speak according to the principles of Virgil and the Gentiles are compounded of fire and air as their bodies are of water and earth whence they resembling their principles are active and pure these drossie and dull they from the long commerce with the body contract stains from thence which adhere to them even after their separation Hence they are to be purged in the other world after which when purified they are brought by Mercury to the River Lethe the River of Forgetfulness and having drunk thereof they then return into this world and are received into other bodies We have insisted much upon the exposition of the Author in these precedent Paragraphs Interpreters have laboured much herein as upon a place knotty and obscure though full of much learning and abstruse speculations if we have either in our Translation or notes conferred any thing to the explication of the Author and the Readers satisfaction we shall think our pains in the one and our collections in the other not altogether misemployed § 76 We come now to the primarie scope and design of the Poet and which indeed as the end is was primus in intentione though ultimus in executione Virgil composed this Poem on purpose to celebrate the Family of Augustus and to consecrate the names of some of the most deserving and illustrious Houses of Rome to following Ages And to this only tends Aeneas his descent into Hell with all the precedent descriptions We shall here exhibit a Summary of the Roman History from the Alban Kings to Augustus his time following the series and method of our Author who presents them not according to the order of time wherein they were born or lived but as he fancies them to stand before Anchises the person here speaking § 77 The first therefore who appeared and was to ascend was Sylvius Aeneas his Sonne by Lavinia Latinus his Daughter and half-Brother to Ascanius sirnamed Iülus Aeneas his Sonne by Creüsa he is here called an Alban name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by way of excellence because from him all the Alban Kings were denominated Sylvii Aeneas his posthume sonne because born after his Fathers death and Sylvius because born in the Woods The Story is briefly this Lavinia being left with child by Aeneas fled for fear of her sonne in law Ascanius to Tyrrhus the Master of her Father Latinus his flocks but was delivered by the way of a son in the woods whom from thence she called Sylvius i. e. Du Bois or Wood and from him the succeeding Alban Kings were styled Sylvii but being freed from her ill-grounded jealousie she was at last brought back to Ascanius who looking upon her as the dear Relict of his honored Father did not only receive her with all demonstrations of love but leaving Lavinium built by Aeneas and so called from Lavinia his beloved Consort to her he founded Alba or the white City so called from the white Sow the Trojans found at their first landing and Longa from its figure it being extended in length See Aur. Victor de orig gent. Rom. And this became the royal residence of the Alban Kings
parts of India Nay he preferres the victories of Augustus to those either of Hercules or Bacchus The 12. labours of the first are so well known that we need not insist long upon these which are here mentioned The Hinde called CerenÃtis feigned to be brazen hoof'd was slain by him neer to the Town of Parrhasia he also took a terrible Boar called the Boar of Erymanthus a Mountain of Arcadia alive and brought it to Eurystheus who by Juno's command was his Tax-master and imposed all those hazardous labours upon that invincible Heroe Of the Beast of Lerna i. e. the Hydra we have descoursed at large Paragraph 39. From Augustus after a desultorious manner he returns to the successors of Romulus in whom the royal line of Aeneas did determine The first of these was aged and hoary-headed Numa whom Anchises seems not to know because a stranger and none of his posterity born at â—â—ures a small Dorp or Village of the Sabines on the very day the foundation of Rome was laid The character the Poet gives him and the rest is agreeable to the testimony of History For Numa Pompilius a person fam'd for his justice and religion was by the general vote of the people though a stranger chosen King who when placed in the regal Throne having made peace with all his neighbours applied himself solely to the reforming of the Lawes Manners and Discipline both Civil and Religious introducing all Rites and Ceremonies into their Church whence he is here said to be ramis insignis Olivae and sacra ferens the first denoting his studious love of peace of which the Olive is an embleme the second his great care of Religion and the worship of the Gods whereby as Florus observes populum ferocem eó redegit ut quod vi injuriâ occupaverat imperium religione justitiâ gubernâret He taught them to govern by religion and justice that Empire which they had atchieved by injury and force Hence the very names of these two precedent Kings seem to speak their natures and to have designed them as it were for this different manner of proceeding in the management of affairs for Romulus comes from the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. strength and hardiness and Numa 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from his inventing and ordaining of laws for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Law is written 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the Dores from whence Numa comes and hence his character is truly given us by Livie Numa regno potitus urbem novam conditam vi armis a Romulo scilicet jure eam legibusque ac moribus de integro condere parat Numa founded that City by wholsome laws which Romulus had founded by force and arms He reigned 43 years § 81 Tullus Hostilius the third from Romulus succeeded to Numa Grandson to Hostus Hostilius who died fighting against the Sabines under the Tower of Rome He was chosen for his great valour and known conduct He subdued the Albans razed their City and transplanted the Inhabitants to Rome In the direption and sack of this forlorn Town this is chiefly to be noted that when they had equalled all the edifices whether private or publick with the ground the triumphing enemy out of an awe and reverence to religion spared the Temples of the Gods Templis tamen Deûm ita enim edictum ab rege fuit temperatum est Livie a reproach to the impious and intemperate zeal of this worst of ages wherein the Temples of the true God have born the greatest marks of the irreligious furie not of foreign enemies as here but of the once-children of the same Mother and professors of the same faith This King was the restorer of their military discipline as here characterised and inlarger of the City by taking in the Mount Caelius He reigned according to Livies Compute 32. years § 82 Ancus Martius Grandson to Numa Pompilius by his Daughter the fourth from Romulus was elected after Tullus He is described here as haughty and popular because born of royall blood He was of a disposition and temper much like to that of his Grandsire Numa as to his justice regard of religion and government in peace though in time of warre he equalled any of his Predecessors whence Livie sayes of him Medium erat in Anco ingenium Numae Romuli memor In Ancus there was a mixture of Numa and Romulus the one appeared in his reviving the laws of Numa concerning religious Rites and Ceremonies in walling the City in building a bridge over Tiber in planting a Colony at Ostia a Town situated upon the mouth of Tiber which became a famous Mart in after ages The other in his warres with the Latines Fidenâtes Vejentes Sabines and Volscians He sat upon the Throne 24 years § 83 The fifth from Romulus was Lucius Tarquinius sirnamed Priscus or the elder in regard of L. Tarquinius Superbus his sonne or as Florus writes him his Grandson He though not only not a Roman but also not so much as an Italian was named King propter industriam elegantiam for his industrie and handsome deportment He as Livie tells the story was the sonne of Damarâtus a rich Merchant of Corinth who forced out of his own Country came with his family into Italy and planted himself at Tarquinii a Town of Etruria or Tuscanie He had two sonnes Aruns and Lucumo Lucumo after the death both of his Father and Brother came to Rome where for his wealth prudence he was elected into the Senatorian order by Ancus Martius and instead of Lucumo called Lucius and Tarquinius from Tarquinii the Town of his birth And after Ancus his death notwithstanding the left two sons was thought worthy to be his Successor He conquering the rebelling Sabines Latines and the twelve Tuscan Nations was the first who triumphed in Rome From these last he borrowed and introduced all the ornaments and ensigns of Soveraignty with all the habits and fashions which were afterwards used by the Roman people He reigned thirty eight years and was treacherously murdered by two Villains suborned by the two Sonnes of Ancus Martius As you may read the story at large in Livie l. 1. he left two sonnes Aruns and Lucius called afterward Superbus But neither of these succeeded immediately to their Father but Servius Tullius a Slave by birth as born of Ocrisia a Lady taken in the Corniculan warre Ocrisia as being of the best quality of the Captivâ—s was presented to Tanaquil Wife to Tarquinius and being left with child by her Husband was delivered of a boy which from the servile condition of his Mother was called Servius and from his Father Tullius He from a hopefull and towardly child became a deserving and gallant man insomuch that K. Tarquin thought him worthy of his Daughter and the people of Rome of the Crown For he married the one and after the death of the murdered Tarquin was elected to the other his
on the Sea and Land After what hazards Sonne by thee sustaind Doe I embrace thee Oh! how did I feare Lest thee the Court of Carthage should ensnare But he thy Ghost Father thy woefull Ghost Often appearing forc'd mee to this coast Our Fleete rides in the Tyrrhene sea give me Thine hand dear Sire nor my embraces flie Hee spoke and wept thrice his embraces sought In vain thrice at the fleeting shadow caught Like winde which vanish'd or a winged dream Mean while Aeneas the Lethaean stream Which by those pleasant seats did softly glide And fair inclosures in the vale espyde About whose banks a multitude did stray As buzie Bees doe on a Sunnâ—e day Upon the flowërs brood and spoâ—t about The painted Meadowes with the murm'ring rout The Plains resound This unexpected sight To wonder and enquiry did invite The stranger Prince who ask'd what streams those were What those who in such numbers did repair Unto the same The Father doth reply Those unhous'd 78 Soules for whom by fates Decree New Mansions are reserv'd on Lethes brink Oblivion and thought-quelling draughts doe drink Long since I these before thee to present Have wish'd and to recount who their descent From mee derive that thou maist thence the more Rejoyce when thou shalt touch the wished shore Of Italie Father can it descend Into our thoughts that Souls from hence ascend That they shall their dull bodies reinvest Are th' wretches with such love of life possest Anchises then Sonne I le not thee delay But all things in due order here display The 72 heav'ns the earth the watry plains the bright And round-fac'd Moon the Suns unborrow'd light A Soul within Sustains whose virtues passe Through ev'ry part and mixe with the whole masse Hence Men beasts birds take their Original Those Monsters hence which in the Sea do dwell 73 But those Souls there of firie vigour share The Principles of them coelestiall are Unlesse they from the body clogged bee And ill-contrived Organs doe deny To them their operations hence Grief Joy Fear Hope and all wild passions us annoy Nor doe they their Original regard Whilâ—st shut up in the bodies darksome ward Nor 74 though they disembodied bee are they Freed from those stains which whilst inhous'd in clay They did collect having so long convers'd They with much filth from thence must be aspers'd Hence to their crimes their pains proportion'd are Some are expos'd to the all-searching Ayre Some are in Waters plung'd in fire some tryde Our Purgatory thus we all abide Then through the vast Elysium we are sent But few these joyfull Champaigns doe frequent Untill the fate-praefixed time have tane And purg'd away what e're contracted stain 75 Leaving of spots that heavenly Being cleer Of fire a compound and uninixed Ayr. A thousand yeers the destin'd period Fulfill'd the God calls them to Lethes flood That all things past forgot they may review The upper world and bodies reindue 76 This said his Sonne together with the Maid Into the thickest of the throng heled And mounts a hillock whence he might discern Them march in order and their faces learn Loe now thy future fates to thee I le shew What glory shall to Dardan's race accrue What Nephews shall from Latian stem be born Illustrious Souls who shall our name adorn That youth do'st see supported on his Lance Shall next to light by fates Decree advance Sylvius an Alban name thy posthume Sonne In whose veins Latium's royall blood shall run Shall next above appear the same thy dear Consort a king and Sire of kings shall bear Amidst the woods from whence our princely line Derived shall over long Alba reign That next is Prccas who the Trojan name Shall aeternize then those of no lesse fame Capys and Numitor That fourth like thee Sylvius Aeneas shall sirnamed be Alike for piety and arms extold If ever hee the Alban Scepter hold The goodly limbs of these brave youths survey But who with Civiek 77 wreaths are shadow'd they Nomentum Gabii and Fidenae shall Found and erect Collatia's toured wall Pometii Castrum Bola Cora too Shall then be names though they be namelesse now But with his 78 Grandsire martiall Romulus Shall reigne whom Ilia from Assaracus Sprung shall bring forth behold his double crest Him Jove himself doth even now invest With Deity Sonne under his command Renowned Rome shall to the utmost land Her Empire stretch her prowesse to the skies And blest with a stout race of men comprize Sev'n hills within her walls With towrs thus crownd Cybel ' doth Phrygias towns in triumph round Proud of her divine ofspring num'rous race Which in Olympus all as Gods take place But 79 both thine eyes here bend thy Romans see This Caesar is this the whole progenie Of thy Iülus ready now t' ascend This this is hee whom fates to thee commend God-sprung Augustus the golden age again He shall restore as in old Saturns reign Beyond the Garamants and Indians hee Shall rule beyond the Stars a land doth lye Beyond the walk both of the Sun and yeer Where Atlas doth the spangled axel bear Now from all quarters of the Sea-girt earth The Oracles foretell his dreaded birth Both from the Caspian and Maeotick coast And from whence Nile into the sea doth post Nor did Alcîdes so much ground run o're Tbe brasse-hoof'd hinde and Erymanthian Boar Although he slew and Lerna terrifide Nor the victorious Bacchus who doth guide With vine-bound reigns his Chairet hurrying down His Tigers Nysa from thy ayrie crown And doubt wee of our valour proofe to give From Italy shall dastard fear us drive But 80 who is he who with the Olive bough And off'rings comes His hoarie locks him show To be that Roman King who to a great Empire From a small Dorp advanc'd the State On wholsom Law 's did build Then 81 Tullus shall Succeed and the unpractiz'd people call To warfare hee an enemy to peace Disused Triumphs shall revive Next these The haughty 82 Ancus struts already hee With pop'lar breath inflated seems to bee Would'st 83 thou the Tarquins and stout 84 The fasces from the kings recover'd He The Cons'lar pow'r and cruel Rods the first Brutus see Shall exercise his rebel Sons who durst New wars excite th' unhappy father shall To punishment for rescu'd freedom call What e're Posterity'othe fact shall say Him love of fame and 's Country shall o'resway But see the 85 Decii and the 86 Drusi there With 87 Torquate who a blood-staind axe doth bear With ensignes laden brave 88 Camillus see But those 89 two Souls who alike armed bee And friendly now whilest shrouded in death's night What warr 's when rais'd to lives more cheerfull light What slaughter shall they cause the Father from The Alps shall with his northern forces come The Sonne to him oppose the armed East Brave Souls proceed not in this dire contest
it lawfull for either of them to inform depose to give their voices or to side with adversaries one against another without the guilt of treason for which they were Diis inferis devoti cursed to Hell and the Law gave liberty for any man to kill them so sacred and inviolable a thing was faith amongst the Ancients nay so great was the reciprocall bond and tie of the Patron towards the Client that as A. Gellius testifies l. 20. c. 1. they preferred their Client to the nearest of their relations and did defend them though it were against their own Brother The fourth were the Covetous who preferring their filthy sordid and illegal gain to all other respects whatsoever were so far from making others sharers with them in their great wealth and riches that they denied that support and assistance which by all Laws both natural and civil they were oblig'd unto to their nearest and dearest relations The fift were adulterous persons such sayes he as have been slain in that filthy and unlawfull act for by the Law the Husband might kill the Adulterer and his Wife if he took them together Lastly he puts all Rebels in this damned List who take up armes against their natural Prince their politick Father and tear out the bowels of their native soyl their dearest Mother such arms the Poet there full justly calls impia and as justly damns them who take them up to Tartarus or the nethermost Hell But whereas the Poet sayes of Theseus sedet aeternumque sedebit that he sits and shall for ever sit in Hell hath given much trouble to Interpreters to reconcile and is excepted against by Jul. Higinus A. Gell. lib. 10. c. 16. for he is reckoned by our Author a little above amongst those who both descended to and returned from Hell and therefore how can it be said that he sat here for ever The learned De la Cerda salves it thus Virgil speaks here of Theseus not when he descended alive into Hell to ravish Proserpine but of Theseus who after his death was said to sit for ever upon a hot burning stone Cael. Rhodig l. 4. c. 8. Although I see no reason why Theseus should be condemned to so cruel a torment who for his heroick deeds deserved so well of mankind that after his death he was thought worthy of divine honours of altars and Sacrifices as you may read in his life written by Plutarch wherefore some read it Thereus as Meyênus observes But for Phlegyas he was said to be the sonne of Mars King of the Lapithae Father of Ixîon and the Nymph Corônis who being ravished by Apollo he in revenge fired that Gods Temple at Delphi for which impiety he was slain by Apollo and thrust into Hell He was certainly a very wicked Tyrant and therefore worthily damned his own guilt he openly professeth whilst he bids others by his example beware of committing the like offences of injustice against men and impiety against the Gods Dicite justitiam moniti non temnere Divos Learn justice nor when warn'd the Gods despise § 63 Not unlike the Story of the rich Glutton in the Gospel who desired that his Brethren should be forewarned by his example from coming into that place of torments After these two particulars see how artificially the Poet to avoid nauseating his Reader interweaves his discourse with variety he subjoyns a few generals viz. of those who for gold had betrayed their Country's liberty to an usurping oppressor Interpreters say that either Lasthenes who sold Olynthus to Philip of Macedon or Curio who sold Rome to Jul. Caesar is here glanced at of the latter thus Lucan l. 4. Momentumque fuit mutatus Curio rerum Gallorum captus spoliis Caesaris auro Chang'd Curio to that side much weight did add By Caesars gold and spoils a Traytor made Secondly of those who having the legislative power have both made abrogated Laws for mony in the Latin the Poet alludes to the Roman Custome who when they had enacted a Law used to engrave the same in brazen Tables and then to affixe them to a pillar in some publick place there to be exposed to the general view and then when they did null the same to take them down from that Pillar whence legem figere refigere is to make or null a Law Thirdly and lastly of those who had been guilty of incest a filthiness which nature abhors Donatus whom Servius for this reprehends sayes that the Poet obliquely toucheth Cicero which unhandsome censure of his he grounds upon that defamatory declamation against Tully which goes vulgarly under Salustius his name whose words are these Filia matris pellex tibi jucundior atque observantior quam parenti par est Thine own Daughter sayes that uncivil Declaimour received into her Mothers bed was more delightfull to and observant of thee then became either her oâ— thee And now the Poet having enlarg'd upon the description of Hell of the Damned and of the torments they sustain shuts up his excellent discourse with this imitation of Homer Il. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We have here in the translation taâ—â— in Homers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not only as necessary to the filling up of the English Rythm but as an addition and complement to the sense Thus you see Hell most naturally depainted by the excellent pencill of our great Artist with all imaginable circumstances of Horror invented on purpose to the end that those-whom humane Lawes and temporary punishments could not bridle and restrain from evil doing might for fear of those more severe and lasting torments of the other world abstain from those enormous sins for which they are sure to be called to a very strict account hereafter And now Sibylla the person speaking having satisfied Aeneas his curiosity concerning Hell bids him proceed for they made a halt during this discourse partes ubi se via findit in ambas as you may read a little above and now leaving Tartarus or Hell on the left hand they take to the right which led to Pluto's Palace and the Elysian fields we have therefore translated this of Virgil Corripiunt spatium medium as you see not as Virgils late translatour has done they take the middle way for Pluto's Palace stood not in the mid'st betwixt Hell and the Elysium but on the right hand Hence corripiunt spatium medium is according to Turnebus l. 9. c. 27. expounded carptim faciunt citò peragunt spatium intermedium vel positum inter illos Plutonis regiam Corripere Gradum Viam Spatium are phrases frequently used by this Poet and signifie the same § 64 The Poet having described Hell the irksome abode of the Damned now comes to the description of the Elysium where the souls of good men were entertained with all pleasures imaginable as green Medows shady Groves delightfull odours clear and gentle streams pleasant fruits harmonious Musick dancing feasting mirth peace and
he devov'd himself also and charging into the thickest of the now-prevailing enemy restored the lost victory to his own party See Livie l. 10. The form and manner of a military Devotion as we may collect out of Livie was this The General of the wavering and declining Army plucking off his Paludamentum or Souldiers Coat put on his Praetexta or purple-guarded Robe such as he used to wear in the City then covering his head and holding his erected hands which were hidden under his Robe out at his chin and standing upon his lance he repeated these solemn words after the Pontifex or High-priest Janus Jupiter Father Mars Quirinus Bellona ye Lares Novensiles and Indigetes ye Gods who praeside over us and the enemy ye Gods infernal I pray ye I worship ye I ask and require ye to give successe to the Roman forces and army and to pursue the enemies of the Roman people with terrour fear and death As I have solemnly pronounced these words so I devove bequeath and give my self with the legions and auxiliaries of the enemy to the infernal Gods and Mother Tellus for the State Army Legions and Auxiliares of the people of Rome These words pronounced he girded his Robe with a Cinctus Gabinus such a girdle as the Gabii used and mounting his horse with his sword drawn rushed into the thickest of the enemy By this means by the Devils imposture succeeding and made effectuall they imagined that they bore away with them all the evil fortune which was like to betide their own party into the enemies army and translated that disanimation and fear which was ready to invade themselves unto the conquering side and that they being by the repeating these solemn words devoted or accursed for devotus and execratus are the same carried a curse along with them wheresoever they either went or fell But this was not often put in practise these two only occurre in the Roman History In the Greek we read of Codrus King of Athens who did the same But to proceed Decius the Grandson did not as some affirm devove himself as his predecessors did but being Consul with P. Sulpicius Savenius ann urb 474. was slain fighting for his Country in the warre against King Pyrrhus of these three thus Cic. l. 1. quaest Tusc Si Mors timeretur non cum Latinis pater Decius dècertans cum Etruscis filius cum Pyrrho Nepos sese hostium telis objecissent were death a thing to be feared Decius the Father fighting with the Latines the Son with the Tuscans and the Grandson with Pyrrhus had not run upon the enemies weapons But the glory of this illustrious Family lasted not long but expired with these three after whom we read not of any of the Decii famous either in peace or warre or who bore any office of note in the Common-wealth they were but a plebeian Family and preferred to those honours and dignities for their virtue and valour We will add those verses of Juvenal concerning these Decii as an Epitaph to be inscribed on their Tomb who in his eighth Satyr gives them this luculent Elogie Plebeiae Deciorum animae plebeia fuerunt Nomina pro totis legionibus hi tamen pro Omnibus auxiliis atque omni pube Latinâ Sufficiunt Diis infernis Terraeque parenti Pluris enim Decii quà m qui servantur ab illis To the infernal Gods and Mother Earth The Decii though of a plebeian birth For all our Legions our Auxiliaries And youth were deem'd a worthy sacrifice For the Heroick Decii then whate're By them was sav'd of greater value were § 86 Drusus was a cognomen of the Family of the Livii which according to Ant. Augustinus de fam Rom. were distinguished into the Dentri Salinatores Libones Aemiliani Claudiani and Drusi The first of the Drusi was C. Livius Drusus who according to Suetonius in vit Tiber. took the sirname of Drusus from Drausus a General of the enemy by him slain transmitting the same to his posterity His great Grandson M. Livius Drusus being Tribune of the people with C. Gracchus discharged himself so wisely and faithfully in the Senates-behalf that he got himself the honorable title of Patrónus Senatus Sueton. in Tib. and Plutarch in Gracch Tiberius Caesar was by the Mothers side ingrafted into this Family for Livia Drusilla was Daughter to Livius Drusus who took part with Brutus and Cassius and after their defeat following them in their example as well as in their Cause slew himself Him Patereulus calls virum fortissimum nobilissimum a right noble and valiant person Lastly of this branch of the Livii was that hopefull young Prince Drusus Nero younger Brother to Tiberius and Father to the excellent Germanicus for whose sake as being Son to Livia Drusilla Augusta and so intirely beloved by his Father-in-law Augustus it is credible that the Poet who took all occasions to honour that Family hath inserted the name of the Drusi in this illustrious Catalogue I doe much wonder that Servius with the rest of Virgils Interpreters should imagine that under the name of Drusus the Poet understands here that Claudius Nero who being Consul with M. Livius Salinator an urb 546. defeated Asdrubal the brother of Annibal when the Nero's were not of the Livian Family as were the Drusi but of the Claudian nor till Tib. Nero Father to the Emperour Tiberius did by marrying Livia match into that Family did any of the Nero's assume the name of Drusus whereof Drusus the Father of Germanicus was the first § 87 The Manlian Family not onely as a patrician but as a sourse and seminarie of deserving Patriots was one of the most eminent of Rome and which from the expulsion of the Kings flourished in high repute till Caesar and Pompey's time These were branched into the Vulsones Capitolini the Imperiossi and the Torquati Ant. August The first of the Torquati then whom no one of that Family was more famous was Titus Manlius the Son of Lucius sirnamed Imperiossus so called from his haughty and imperious nature which appearing in all his proceedings was yet more eminent in the unnaturall usage of this Titus his Son whom for no other reason then for that he appeared to him to be lesse vigorous than what became the Manlian name he in a manner cast off and bred up in the Country amongst his Hinds and Plow-men For which his unbeseeming deportment M. Pomponius Tribune of the people had prepared a publick Indictment and Accusation before the people against him The young Manlius understanding the intention of the Tribune goes privily arm'd only with a knife to the City finds out Pomponius takes him aside and there draws his knife threatning immediately to dispatch him unless he would swear to let fall his accusation against his Father which for fear he swore to doe This undeserved piety of the Sonne procured an absolute remission of the intended prosecution to the Father and immortall honour to
himself insomuch that at the next election of Officers for the supply of the Legions he though friendless obscure and unknown was made a Legionary Colonel This action of his speaking in him no common soul was but a prologue to more worthy performances For when the Romans had drawn out their Army against the Gauls now within three miles of the City and divided from them only by the River Aâ—â—en a certain Gaul of a vast stature terrible aspect and Giant-like proportion came forth upon the bridge and in proud and scornfull words challenged any one of the enemy to fight with him hand to hand but when a general silence testified as generall a fear and every one seemed to preferre his own perfonal safety to the honour of the publick Titus Manlius coming forth addressed himself as Livie makes him speak in this manner to the General Sir as a Souldier sayes he I think it my duty not to fight were the advantage never so inviting without my Generals command If you please to permit I will make that insolent Barbarian know that I am descended from that Family which forced the invading Troops of the Gauls from the Capitol The General embracing him encouraged him to the Combat wherefore his companions having put on his arms he takes a Foot-mans shield and a Spanish sword in his hand in those dayes short ones were in use amongst those of that Nation as a more proper weapon for that close fight which he intended Thus armed he advanceth towards the Gaul foolishly insulting and out of scorn often lolling out his tongue They were very unequally matched as to the outward appearance the one had a personage remarkable for its bulk glittering in richly-gilt armes and dressed up in changeable-coloured silks the other was of a middle but Souldier-like stature not at all regardable either in his habit or presence He marched on â—oberly without any noise exultation or flourishing his armes but scorning all such vain expressions of courage reserved himself for the triall of the approaching fight And now they draw near when the Gaul like a huge Mountain of flesh over-topping the other opposed his shield with his left arme to the sword of the invading enemy and with his right let fall a weighty blow with a great noise upon him The Roman bearing the point of his sword upward ingag'd the lower part of the Gauls shield with his own and there insinuating and working himself in within the body and the armes of the other sheltered his whole body from the danger of all blows and lying like a small vessel under a high carv'd ship wounded him with often repeated thrusts in the bottom of his belly till at last he fell dead at his feet Nor did he offer any violence to the prostrate body but onely taking off the gold chain which he wore about his neck put it all bloody as it was about his own whence from Torques by which the Latines understand a chain He and his posterity after him were called Torquati Thus Livie describes this signal Duel Q. Claudius Quadrigarius a far more ancient Author differs in many particulars from this narrative as you may read him cited by a A. Gellius l. 9. c. 13. The event of this fight was so considerable that the Gaulick Army utterly dismay'd at the worsting of their Champion dislodged the next night and making a sudden and disorderly retreat left their Camp with much spoil and booty behind them There is a third particular recorded in History touching this Manlius and such an one as never in my reading occurred in any prophane Story Twenty two years after this exploit viz. an urb 415. Torquatus was chosen Consul with P. Decius Mus. Both the Consuls were in the field with a very powerfull Army ready to ingage the Latines an enemy very considerable in regard of their numbers force armes and discipline in all which they equalled the Romans themselves insomuch that it was thought requisite to revive the ancient discipline of warre to which end divers orders were issued forth amongst the rest it was proclaimed that no person whatsoever should upon pain of death fight the enemy without special command from the Generals It hapned that T. Manlius Sonne to the Consul being sent abroad with a small party to view in what posture the enemy lay came near that quarter where the Tusculan horse lay encamped under the command of Geminius Metius a person of high repute for his valour and skill in horsemanship He espying and knowing the Consuls Sonne called out to him and in reprochfull terms challenged him to the Combat young Manlius as readily accepts the invitation and both setting spurres to their horse ran furiously at each other but in the encounter the Roman slew the Latine and gathering up the spoils of the slain returned with his Troop in a triumphant manner to the Tent of his Father the Consul where entring he salutes him in this manner That all may know Sir that I am the Sonne of so worthy a Father I present you with these spoils which when challenged I took from the slain enemy Which when the Father heard he presently turned away from his Son who expected a more cheerful reception and commanded a Councel of war by sound of trumpet forthwith to be assembled The Councel being met he thus began the words are Livies Since thou T. Manlius regarding neither the Consuls Command nor the respect due to thy Parent hast against our express order ingaged with the enemy and as much as in thee lay overthrown that military discipline upon which the Roman State hath to this day stood and flourished and hast reduced me to that sad necessity that I must either forget the interest of the Common-wealth or my self and mine own relations I will rather suffer in thy punishment then that the Common-wealth should be in the least prejudiced by thy misdemeanor we shall both of us be a sad but a wholsome president to the ages to come Truly both that ingenite affection which I have for thee as my child together with this specimen of worth and gallantry which thou hast now given move me not a little But since the Consular authority is either to be established by thy death or by thy impunity to be for ever abolished I think that even thou thy self if thou hast any of my blood running in thy veins wilt not refuse to restore by thy punition that military discipline which by thy default thou hast destroyed Goe Lictor do thy office The sentence was no sooner pronounced then it was put in execution and a gallant but unfortunate sonne by a severe but wise Fathers command brought to an untimely end being to the great terrour and grief of the beholders publickly beheaded This action might administer copious matter for a declamation much might be said for much against it however it argued a greatness of soul in the Father not to be expressed the effect of it was
that precious compound which from thence was called Aes Corinthium Corinthian Brass Vessels made of this mixture were most highly prized by the Ancients This is now reckoned by Pancirollus amongst those things which are lost rer deperd tit 34. The whole Peloponesus following the fate of Corinth because subject to the Romans amongst the rest the Cities of Argos the Metropolis of the Province of Argolis from whence the Greeks were called Argi Argivi and Argolici and Mycaenae the seat of Agamemnon the Greeks General against the Trojans Both these had furnished forth supplies in that war see Homer Il. 2. And therefore the Poet in the person of Anchises doth very properly foretell their subversion which Prophesie was fulfilled in the person of this L. Mummius who herein did avenge his Gransires of Troy for the Romans were of Trojan extraction upon the Greeks their enemies for all the injuries by them done and particularly for the violation of Minerva's Temple by the taking the Palladium out of it and by devirginating Cassandra in it Aeneid l. 2. Vltus avos Trojae temerataque templa Minervae But I cannot but admit of the just exception of Jul. Heginus against Virgil in this place See A. Gell. l. 10. c. 16. for confounding the warre against K. Pyrrhus who derived himself from Achilles whose known Patronymick was Aeacides from his Grandfather Aeacus from whom all his descendants took the name of Aeacides as Virgil makes Pyrrhus here with the Achaean a gross parochronism doubtless both in regard of the time of the warre as also of the persons who managed it for the warre against King Pyrrhus which was also called the Tarentine warre was begun an urb 472. and lasted six years and was managed by divers Generals of whom the most famous were C. Fabricius and Manius Curius of the first we shall speak anon the latter was he who ended this warre and drove Pyrrhus out of Italy But the Achaean war was 136 years after this viz. an urb 608. L. Mummius being General so that this verse Ipsumque Aeaciden genus armipotentis Achillei is by some left out as it is thought Virgil would have done upon a more serious review See A. Gell. ibid. Nor can I in the least assent to the learned Jesuit De la Cerda upon this place whom our Farnaby also followes Both these interpret these three last verses viz. Eruit ille Argos Agamemnoniasque Mycaenas c. of Aemilius Paulus to whom they say this ille referres and Aeacides of Perseus whom Aemilius conquering with him broke and overthrew the Macedonian Monarchy and made that with Greece a Province to the Roman Empire the reasons of De la Cerda who labours earnestly to make good his assertion in justification of Virgil against the calumnie of Heginus as he terms it are but at the best but conjectures there is nothing positively proved out of good Authors But I desire him to shew me where he finds first that Aemilius had any thing to doe with Peleponesus or that after his victory over Perseus he made warre upon the Peloponesians Plutarch who writes his life and with whom all those who speak of those times agree makes no mention of any such thing which had been a particular not to be omitted had it been so But after the Macedonian victory and the settlement of affairs there brings him home through Epirus into Italy Beside the Macedonian warre and the Achaean were different both in respect of time that being an urb 586. and this 608. twenty two years after and of the Generals Aemilius commanding in that and Mummius in this Secondly to derive Perseus from Achilles is an assertion as little supported by History as the former It is probable that had it been so either really or had he had the vanity to have assumed it to himself Historians would not have omitted it especially the Roman whose honour they being victorious would have been the greater the more illustrious the person had been whom they subdued By the Mother-side which is the surer I am certain that he was farre enough from touching Achilles in blood For as Plâ—â— testifies in Aemil. his Mother was but a Taylors Wife of Argos called Gnathaenia on whom King Philip's Father begot him As for his alliance by the Fathers side the first of this race was Antigonus one of Alexanders Captains in whose time there is little or nothing said of him who had he been of that illustrious extraction would doubtless therefore have been more notable since he was a person otherwise very deserving and a great Souldier as in the following warres after Alexanders death he made appear But what is most evincing is that Plutarch a most diligent writer who wrote the life of Demetrius this mans Sonne makes no mention of his descent from Achilles but only that he was the Sonne of Antigonus and no more so that it is true that Perseus was born of a royall stem but the original of his Family was but a private person viz. Antigonus who with his Sonne Demetrius called himself King after the defeat of Ptolemy in the naval fight at Salamina some seventeen years after Alexanders death Demetrius was the first of this line who was King of Macedon Second Antigonus Gonâtas his Sonne Third Demetrius the second The fourth Antigonus Doson who was indeed but Protector to Philip the Sonne of Demetrius the second and his Fathers Cousen The fifth Philip Sonne of Demetrius the second The sixth Perseus of whom we now speak in which Pedegree we find not where Perseus can be termed Aeacides as descended from Achilles if we therefore dissent herein from the learned Jesuit and rather stick to our above-given interpretation of this place I hope we shall not be thought to have done it without reason nor let the Reader conclude that we insist too much upon these minutiae little inconsiderable niceties whilst we spend so much time and paper in this or the like speculations they may haply appear to be such to a vulgar intellect those that are of a more refin'd and criticall complexion will not I hope look upon these or the like excursions as altogether impertinent § 91 Before we conclude this § we will add a line or two touching the family and person of L. Mummius who was not indeed of ancient extraction or to be reckoned amongst those names which have been in frequent and high employments but of those whom the Romans called Novi Homines New men or Vpstarts under which notion is understood such an one as was the first of his name or family who came to be advanced to the Consular dignity or any Curule Magistracie By the way we may observe that amongst other distinctions of degrees the Romans were divided into Nobiles or Nobles who were such as had the Images of their Ancestors into Novos or New-men who had their own Images only and Ignobiles or Mechanicks who had neither Images of themselves or of their Predecessors
fame hath sung so loud § 6 The Minotaur was the production of this horrid copulation which the Poet calls here mixtum genus prolemque bifâ—rmem as being partly a man and partly a Bull. This monster was kept in the Labyrinth and fed with mans flesh but Daedalus being accused and convinced to have been the ingenious Pandor to the Queens lust was with his Sonne Icarus imprisoned in the Labyrinth where he providing for their mutuall preservation with wax and feathers made wings for himself and his beloved Sonne and flying out of the top of the House made his escape Daedalus arrived safe at Cumae but Icarus an emblem of an aspiring mind soaring too high melted the waxen cement of his wings and was drowned neer to the Island of Icaria to which and the circumfluent sea he gave name Daedalus having thus escaped built this Temple consecrating both that and his wings for it was the manner of the Ancients to hang up such things as had been to them either of use or ornament in the Temples of the Gods to Apollo by whose propitious Diety he had been saved Hic pro nubivago gratus pia templa meatu Instituit Phoebo atque audaces exuit alas The Gratefull did for his safe-conduct here To Phoebus a devoted Temple rear And his bold wings put off And this is the story which Virgil premiseth with an ut fama est but the History which gave rise to this Fable is this Taurus which in the Greek signifies a Bull was as Servius sayes Secretary to King Minos but according to Plutarch in the life of Theseus chief Captain or General a goodly proper young Gentleman with whom the enamoured Pasiphaë was said to lie in the house of Daedalus who was privy to the Adultery and because she brought forth twins the one resembling Minos the other Taurus she was feigned to have brought forth that double-shaped Monster called the Mino-taure Daedalus as a Confederate was imprisoned but corrupting his keepers escaped himself in one ship and his Son Icarus in another but the unâ—appy youth bearing too much sail was was with his ship overset and drowned whilest the more warie Father came safe to his intended Port. Hence because he was the first who invented that kind of sayl which the Greeks call Dolon by which addition of Canvas he out-stript his pursuers he was said to flye Although the English would not so handsomely bear it yet in the Latin the Poet hath ingeniously mingled the Fable of flying with the history of sayling whilst he useth these words of Enare and alarum remigum terms more proper for sayling then flying We will conclude this history with that imitation of it which we find in Sil. Italicus l. 12. a great emulator of Virgil's Muse but the truth is as Pliny the younger saith of him that he wrote majore curâ quam ingenio the verses are these Cum regna teneret Dictei regis sic fama est linquere terras Daedalus invenit nec toto signa sequenti Orbe dare aetherias alienâ tollere in auras Avus se pennas atque homini monstrare volatus Suspensum hic librans media inter nubila corpus Enavit superosque novus conterruit Ales Natum etiam docuit falsae sub imagine plumae Attentare vias volucrum lapsumque solutis Pennarum remis non foelicibus alis Turbida plandentem vidit freta His freedom Daedalus in Creet detain'd By this invention as fame sings obtain'd He that no tracts by his pursuers might On earth be seen through the air took his flight On borrow'd wings He first that Art devis'd And ' midst the clouds his hov'rings body pois'd Made his escape The sight the Gods did scare His Son he also taught through untrac'd air With feigned plumes to move but him alas His wings dissolv'd on Neptunes wrinkled face He flutt'ring saw Daedalus the founder of this Temple had adorned the Gate or Porch with admirable Sculpture representing therein these following stories First the death of Androgeos Sonne of King Minos by Pasiphaë this young Prince was an active and gallant Gentleman and particularly fam'd for his great skill in wrastling an exercise in those times in great request He had foyled herein some of the Athenian Youth who maligning him therefore treacherously surprized and slew him as he was returning home in great pomp and triumph The Athenians for this were not only infested with a sharp warre from the injur'd Father but also as Plutarch relates pursued by the justly angry Gods with plague and famine And now no longer able to oppose themselves to the assaults both of heaven and earth they make their addresse to Apollo at Delphi who advised them to appease Minos and to make an agreement with him till which time they were not to expect a cessation of the divine judgements In fine a peace was treated upon and concluded but upon hard terms as it alwayes is on the conquer'ds part who were by their articles to send every year seven of their sonnes and as many of their Daughters upon whom the lot should fall Captives into Creet there to remain in perpetuall bonds This unnaturall tribute was constantly exacted and duly paid for certain years at last the lot amongst the rest fell upon Theseus the Son of Aegeus King of Athens but he behaved himself so gallantly there at all his exercises especially in his incounters with the valiant Taurus whence sprung the Fable of his slayling the Mino-taure that at last he became not only Conqueror of those who opposed him but also of those who opposed him not for he wan the heart of the fair Ariadne the Kings Daughter by whose help he freed himself and the rest of the captive Children carrying her also away with him Here he also had carved the representation of the Island of Crete with the Labyrinth there built by himself in imitation of that of Aegypt a prodigious piece containing so many windings turnings in it that no man once engaged therein could ever extricate himself unless by the help of a clue of thread But of this in the time of Pliny there remained no foot-steps That which is now shewed to Travellers for the Labyrinth is supposed by Mr. Sandys to be only a Quarrey out of which they digged the stones which built the neighbouring Towns of Gnossus and Gortyna But Virgil as great an Artist as Daedalus himself doth with him break off in the story of Icarus § 7 Whilst Aeneas amused himself with the contemplation of these pleasing objects Sibylla brought thither by Achâtes which we must understand 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Criticks term it there having been no mention made of Achâtes before arrives and whilst some were preparing for the sacrifice leads him with the rest into the Temple which the Poet doth here describe For the illustration whereof set us hear Justin Martyr an eye-witness as we finde him translated by the learned Bishop Montague
as Virgil sayes of it here and of which Homer l. 5. Odyss in the person of Calypso to Vlysses writes thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bear witness earth and the wide heavens above Yea Stygian waters which beneath do move The highest and most serious oath which ties The blessed Gods who dwell in starry skies Nor could the Gods either revoke that promise or frustrate that oath which they had confirmed by the intervention of that sacred name if they did they were for a penalty of their perjury expelled the Councel and society of the Gods for 10 years and interdicted the celestiall drink and food of Nectar and Ambrosia as you may read in Hesiods Theogonia This honour was conferred upon the River Styx as the same Author affirms for assisting Jupiter against the rebelling Giants The learned Lord Verulam in his book de sapientiâ Veterum says that by Styx we are to understand Necessity which though it hath no law it self is of all laws the most binding and Leagues of Princes which though with all solemnity and formality concluded are easily frustrated unlesse the Deity of Styx that fatall and irremeable River be called to witness and seal to the Conditions that is unless there be a firmer tye then either that of oath or bed a necessity of keeping the Articles of agreement by some mutuall pledges given or for fear of some losse danger diminution of State or Customes and then Leagues are held truly sacred and strictly observed and as it were confirmed by the invocation of Styx when there is a fear of that interdiction and suspension from the society and banquets of the Gods under which name and title the Ancients signified all rights and prerogatives of Empire with all affluence and felicity which good Patriots study to procure for their beloved Country Phlegeton is a fourth River called by Homer Pyriphlegeton from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fire and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to burn This is meerly fictitious and is said to roll rapid and fearfull flames of fire down its soultry channel As this flowed with fire so Cocytus as we have sayd was swoln up with tears both which according to Claudian l. 2. in Ruff. embraced the infernal Palace of Rhadamanthus Phlegeton represents to us the burning wrath of God against sinners and is a type of those torments which the wicked deservedly suffer in Hell in inextinguishable flames The fifth and last River of Hell is Lethe which signifies Oblivion which whosoever drunk of forgot all fore-passed actions or sufferings Pythagoras and from him the Platonists held and maintained the transmigration of souls which after their solution from the body descended into a certain Purgatory where after a great many years purgation they were brought to this River Lethe of which having drunk they forgot whatsoever miseries or incommodities they had suffered when they were formerly joyned with the body and thence reverted without any reluctancy into the same but we shall examine this fancie more strictly hereafter Lethe is indeed as Stephanus witnesseth a River in Africa flowing by the walls of Berenice which is swallowed up by a great gulph and running under ground many miles breaks forth again which gave occasion to the Country-people to think that this River sprung from Hell All which Rivers are thus described by Sil. Ital. l. 13. Punic late exundantibus urit Ripas saâ—vus aquis Phlegeton turbine anâ—elo Parte aliâ torrens Cocytus sanguinis atri Vorticibus furit spumanti gurgite fertur At magnis semper Divis regique Deorum Jurari dignata palus picis horrida rivo Fumiferum volvit Styx inter Sulphura limum Tristior his Acheron sanie crassoque veneno Aestuat gelidam eructans cum murmure arenam Descendit nigrâ lentus per stagna palude Rough-swoln Phlegeton its banks doth burn And in its soultry-streames scortch'd stones doth turn Cocytus torrent then with putrid blood Doth flow driving along its foaming flood But Styx by which the great Gods and the King Of Gods vouchsaf's to sweare black with its spring Of molten Pitch its reaking mud commixt With Sulphur tumbles Acheron the next More sad then this with poyson swells and gore And belching up its noysom sand doth rore Whil'st slow with its black waters through a Lake It into Hell doth fall And this is the vulgar and common interpretation of these fictions Macrobius l. 1. c. 10. in Somnium Scipionis treading in the steps of the more ancient and primitive Philosophers who were of opinion that Hell was nothing but our very bodies wherein our souls being included underwent a nasty horrid and irksome restraint finds all those things in our selves which fabulous Antiquity attributed to Hell the Region of the Damned Hence according to their assertion he affirms that Lethe or the River of Oblivion is nothing else but the errors and mistakes of the soul forgetting the state majesty and perfect knowledge wherein it lived before it was confined to the loathsome Dungeon of the body That Phlegeton or the River of fire is nothing else but that preternaturall inflammation and exorbitant fire of lust concupiscence anger and other untamed affections which put the soul out of that equall temper which is naturall to it That Styx is whatsoever doth sink the Soul into dislike and hatred of its own actions Cocytus whatsoever causeth tears and grief Acheron whatsoever deprives us of the joy and content of our lives Hence they concluded that the soul was dead so long as it remained in the body and that then it recovered its pristine life and liberty when it by death hand emancipated it self from the bonds and servitude of the same Hi vivunt qui è corporum vinculis evolaverun nostra autem quae dicitur vita mors est Cicer. in Somn. Scipion. Charon which signifies joy was the sonne of Night and Erebus as Hesiod will have it who makes all the infernal Monsters the progenie of those Parents see him here to the life depainted by Virgil so that nothing can be added to that genuine and lively Prosopopaea which the Poet hath given us of him we will only illustrate our description with the like out of Seneca in Herc. furent Hunc servat amnem cultu aspectu horridus Pavidosque manes squallidus gestat senex Impexa pendet barba deformem sinum Nodus coercet concavae lucent genae Regit ipse conto Portitor longo ratem A foul old man frightfull in dresse and face Guarding these streams the fearfull Ghosts doth pass His beard untrimmed hangs and you might see Through his thin hollow cheeks a knot doth tye His nasty coat himself with a long pole His boat doth steer Charon was said to be rough and unpleasant to all his Passengers whatsoever for seeing all whom he wasted over naked alike he thought that no one was better then another that there was no difference between Kings and
homage to her yet she cannot boast Amongst that num'rous and celest'al host More Heroes then can Windsore nor doth Fames Immortal book record more noble names But to return Cybele is so called from the hill Cybella in Phrygia where when an Infant she was exposed and being there found by a Shepheards wife taken and bred up by her as her own child and called after the name of the place where she was first found or according to Servius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from shaking the head a gesticulation peculiar to her Priests She was if we consult with fabulous story said to be the Daughter of heaven and earth and Wife of Saturn known by these following names of Ops Rhea Vesta Magna Mater Dindymene and lastly Berecynthia as here from Berecynthus a Town of Phrygia near the River Sangarius where she was most religiously worshipped Her Priests called Corybantes were injoyned to be gelt should the Romish Church as it forbids marriage injoyn Castration to their Clergie I doubt that the Cloisters and religious Houses would not be so well furnished as now they are She was said to be Turrîta crowned with towers and so indeed she is alwayes painted either because according to Arnobius l. 5. when the City of Midas was shut up she undermined and razed the tower-bearing walls with her head and so entred or as Ovid will have it Quod primis turres urbibus illa dedit She was the first who taught to fortifie Towns with Towers and Castles or lastly because as Servius is of opinion by her is meant the earth the proper basis and support of all edifices § 79 After Romulus he comes per saltum to Augustus both as the second founder of Rome and the principal scope of the whole Poem whom he magnifies here with most exquisite Elogies and he truly was as Messala Corvinus styles him sui seculi perenne immortale decus the lasting and immortal ornameut of his age deserving no less then a Virgil to give him his just and suteable Character We shall briefly examine the particulars First he saith that he was Divûm genus sprung from the Gods both in regard of Jul. Caesar his adoptive Father who was after his death made a Divus or sainted as for that he was descended from Aeneas the Son of Venus the Daughter of Jupiter Secondly that he should again restore the golden age as it was in Saturns time For having overcome all his enemies both domestick and forein there was such peace and tranquillity during his reign that it was deservedly called the golden age The Temple of Janus Quirinus which from the foundation of Rome had been but twice shut the first time in Numa's reign the second Ann V. C. 518. Tit. Manlius Torquatus C. Atilius Bulbus being Consuls after the first Punick warre was in his time thrice locked up which was never done but when the tumults and tempests of warre were laid asleep by the welcome security of a general peace at other times they stood open And to this purpose our Poet speaks of Augustus lib. 1. Aspera tum positis mitescent saecula bellis Cana Fides Vesta Remo cum fratre Quirinus Jura dabunt dirae ferro compagibus arctis Claudentur Belli portae Furor impius intus Saeva sedens super arma centum vinctus ahenis Post tergum nodis fremet horridus ore cruento Insuing times shall sacred peace install Faith Vesta Romulus with Remus shall Just lawes enact The doors of horrid Warre Huge links of brass and iron bolts shall barre Dire Furie breathing blood within shall sit On heaps of armes his hands behind him knit Wherefore in his pacifique reign Christ our Saviour the Prince of peace vouchsafed to take our nature upon him to shew that nothing is more acceptable to him then peace that bond of love and perfect character of his sincere disciples which although through the ambition and emulation of Princes it hath been for many years banished Christendome is now like to return again by the happy long-desired redintegration of amity betwixt those two great Luminaries of this our Western world Spain France I cannot but add my prayers for the speedy consummation of so wish'd-for a Good None can pray otherwise but such as having agrandiz'd themselves by warre fear to lose their unjust acquests by a to-them-unwelcome pacification and to be made to regorge by law what they have swallowed down by rapine I could not but add this writing at this time § 80 Thirdly that he should extend the limits of the Roman Empire beyond the Garamantes a People in the heart of Africa Southward and the Indians a Nation in the extremity of Asia Eastward The truth is that these were never conquered by the Romans for Euphrâtes was the bound to their Empire on the East but the Garamantes with other African Nations were subdued by Cornelius Balbus Meyênus Further he sayes that he should subdue a Country which lies beyond the Starres and the course of the Sun that is beyond the Zodiac or the Starres and constellations thereunto belonging In brief the Poet speaks hypothetically that if there were any Country habitable beyond the Zodiac and the Tropick of Capricorn of which the Ancients doubted it should be added to the Dominions of Augustus But how mount Atlas which lies on this side the Aequator should be said to be ultra anni solisque vias on the other side the Zodiac and Tropick of Capricorn I cannot understand We must pardon hyperboles in a Poet. Virgil thought he might lawfully extend Nature and exceed the usual Boundaries of Geography whilst he strove to extoll the greatness of his munificent Patron Augustus Fourthly he saith that all the â—racles of the world viz. from the Caspian sea or Asia to the East from the Lake of Maeôtis or Europe to the North and from Nile or Africa to the South should foretell the birth of the great Augustus Sueton. in his life c. 94. saith that a few moneths before his birth it was prophecied that Nature should bring forth a King to the Roman People whereupon it was decreed by the Senate that no male born that year should be suffered to live but those whose Wives were with child hoping that the Prophesie might be fulfilled in their Family hindred the execution of the Senates Decree The like wicked policy was not only in deliberation but effected by Herod upon the innocent Infants of Bethleem At the same time all Oracles forecold that there should be a great Prince born who should subdue the world which was truly and really meant of the incarnation of our blessed Saviour but erroneously and impudently by his Parasites applied to Augustus Fifthly and lastly he compares the expeditions and conquests of Augustus to those of Alcides or Hercules and Bacchus two noted Land-lopers for the first travelled all over the world seeking adventures and the second made an impression into and subdued the farre-remote
horse espying Brutus at the head of the Roman horse which he also commanded crying Dii regum ultores adeste ye Gods avengers of Kings be present and assist me set spurs to his horse and ran furiously upon Brutus who as gallantly received his charge to be short they pierced one the other with their sances and fell down dead together But after a long contest between the two Armies and the loss of 13000. men on each side the Romans remained superiours Tarquin failing here addresseth himself to Porsena K. of Clusium a potent Prince in those dayes Methinks Livie makes Tarquin recommend his case very pathetically and to the purpose to his brother King it is a passage that I have often taken notice of nor unworthy the transcribing He hints to Porsena thus Ne orientem morem pellendi reges inultum sineret satis libertatem ipsam habere dulcedinis nisi quantâ vi civitates eam expetant tantâ regna reges defendant Aequaâ—i summa infimis nihil excelsum nihil quod supra caetera emineat in civitatibus fore Adesse finem regnis rei inter Deos hominesque pulcherrimae A discourse most pregnant and proper in this case and which we may thus english He adviseth Porsena as a King not to permit this new fashion of deposing and expelling Kings to goe unpunished for that liberty in it self was so sweet and inviting that unlesse Kings did defend their crowns as vigorously as the people sought their freedome all things being reduced to an equality there would be no distinction of degrees remaining in Cities or Common-wealths and that in conclusion there would be an end of Monarchie a government the most approved both by Gods and men These arguments and the consideration of his own case ingaged Porsena in Tarquins quarrel but after a vigorous attempt and almost a victory there was a sudden pacification made between the Romans and Porsena and Tarquins interest quite left out in the agreement who as restless as he was unfortunate makes new applications to other friends and by the intervention of Mamilius Tusculanus a person of chief note amongst the Latines and to whom Tarquin in his prosperity had married his Daughter stirres up all the people of Latinum against the Romans whose greatness began to be suspected and dreaded by all their neighbours but after a long doubtfull and bloody fight the victory remained still with the Romans wherefore Tarquinius having lost both his sons in the warres now grown old and destitute of friends gave over all further hopes of recovering his right and retired himself to Cumae to Aristodémus the then Tyrant of that City where the fourteenth year after his expulsion he by death put a period as well to the fears and jealousies of his late Subjects as to his own miserable harrased and unpleasant life All Historians doe highly celebrate this action of Brutus and it was once my fortune to be in company where I heard it very â—agerly defended and propounded as a commendable president and fair copy for Subjects to draw by I shall not make a formal dispute upon the case but only propound these following Quaeries § 85 1 Whether Tarquin was so insupportable a Tyrant as Histories deliver him to be or whether those who rebelled against him rendred him not such in story the better to palliate their own unjustifiable proceedings 2. Whether if he were such Brutus were to be justified and his example to be followed 3. Whether Brutus did what he did purely for the publick good and not rather to avenge the injuries done to his private family 4. Whether Brutus did what he did purely for the publick good and not rather to get into the seat of him whom he had dismounted 5. If it were not so why did he not after the work was done continue a private man 6. Whether it be not probable that he who could dissemble so well that he deceived the crafty Tarquin himself and passed for a fool till he got an opportunity to oppress him and his Family might not as well dissemble with the people and pretend to be a great assertor of their liberties till such time as he could securely fool them out of them 7. Whether the character Livie gives of him viz. that he was juvenis longè alius ingenio quam cujus simulationem induerat a man of a farre different disposition and temper then what he seemed to be doe not render him as a great cheat and dissembler and to be suspected as to this our last Quaere 8. Whether his deposing Collatinus and his putting his sons to death were not for the better colour of his designs and to beget a greater belief of his integrity that he might be trusted with the greater power 9. Whether Liberty be a just pretence 10. Whether all innovating Rebels must not of necessity if they invade the regall power destroy the liberty they pretended to assert 11. Whether experience doth not tell us that this saying of Tacitus is an irrefragable truth ut imperium evertant libertatem praeferunt quam si everterint ipsam aggredientur ur libertatem those who design a change of government inveagle the people with a pretence of liberty which if they effect themselves invade that liberty they lately seemed to patronize 12. Whether this saying of Tacitus hath not been verified in the flagitious proceedings of the Fanaticks of our age c. Of the Family of the Decii there were three viz. the Father Sonne and Grandsonne who for their lives lost in their Countries service were deservedly famous the Father who was Consul with T. Manlius Torquatus an urbis conditae 415. did in the warre against the Latines devove himself i. e. with strange imprecations and invocations bequeath and vow himself to death For when it was revealed in a dream to both the Consuls that that side should be victorious whose General should die in the fight and when it was agreed that of the two Consuls he whose wing did first give place should devove himself Decius seeing the wing which he commanded ready to flie having pronounced after Valerius the high Priest the solemn words or form of the Devotion mounted his horse and with his sword drawn made an impression into the thickest of the almost-victorious enemies wheresoever he came a sudden fear invaded them quacunque equo invectus est ibi haud secus quam pestifero sidere icti pavebant Livie at last he fell and by his death procured victory to his neer-conquered party See this story in Livie l. 8. as also in Val. Max. l. 5. c. 6. and Florus l. 1. c. 18. Decius the Son was four times Consul in all which so often repeated honours he discharged and acquitted himself much to his own praise and his Countries advantage In his fourth Consulate with Q. Fabius Maximus Rullianus an urb 458 in that warre against the confederated armies of the Gauls Samnites Vmbri and Tuscans following his Fathers example
which he alone was offered in exchange and in case that neither could be effected he was bound by oath to render himself a prisoner again as for the peace it was utterly rejected but when they came to the debate concerning the rendition of the Captives and Atilius his opinion was the first asked in the Senate he openly declared that it was unreasonable that so many stout young men should be exchanged for one poor old man who by reason of his years was now no longer able to serve his Country and accordingly it passed in the negative that the prisoners should not be exchanged and Regulus notwithstanding the intreaties and prayers of his friends to the contrary returned according to his promise to an enemy from whom he expected all barbarous treatment imaginable as indeed he found for some say that they put him naked into a barrel stuck thick with sharp-pointed nails and so rowled him about til he died Others that he was cast into a dark dungeon and having been kept there for some time brought forth and forced to stare in the sun till he became blind and that he might not wink with his eyes they plucked his eye-lids asunder and with a needle and thread stitched them up after this they kept him from sleep and food till at last for want of both he having suffered with much constancy the utmost of his enemies cruelty ended his life and misery together This Story you may read in Livie l. 18. Val. Max. l. 1. c. 1. A. Gell. l. 6. c. 4. Flor. l. 2. c. 2. Aur. de vir illust Eutrop. l. 2. This hapned an V. C. 503. As for Serranus he is supposed by some to have been the son of the former He was Consul with Cn. Cornelius Blasio an V. C. 497. He beat the Carthaginians at sea subdued the Islands of Lipara and Melita or Malta for all which he triumphed This man was of that worth and esteem amongst the Romans that they chose him Consul in his absence and sending for him found him tilling his own ground hence according to Pliny l. 18. c. 3. from the Latine word serere which signifies to sow or till the ground he was called Seranus which I take to be the orthography or true spelling of the word not Serranus as here used by the Poet who herein more carefull of his Metre then orthography interposed an r for his verses sake The Elogie of this Seranus you may read in Val. Max. l. 4. c. 4. de paupertate laudata and in Claudiaâ—â— lib. de quarto Cons Honorii who sings thus Sordida Serrânus flexit Dictator arâtra Lustratae Lictore casae facesque salignes Postibus affixi collectae Consule messes Et sulcata diu trabeato rura Colono Serrânus to the plough did set his hand Thatch'd roofs were by the Lictor entred and The Fasces hung on Willow posts the Corn Inn'd by a Consull and he who had worn The Trabea till'd the ground § 97 The Fabian Family was one of the most numerous most ancient and most honorable of all Rome they were branched into six several Houses whereof three were more noted and occurre more frequently in History viz. the Vibulani the Ambusti and the Maximi the other three viz. the Dorsones Pictores and Buteones were not of that fame and celebrity with the former That may be said of this one Name and Family which I never read of any that there were 307 of them living at the same time and that not in a large tract or spacious continent but within the Walls and Precincts of one and the same City I shall briefly give you the history and fate of these worthy Kinsmen The people of Veii were incessant rather tezers then enemies of the people of Rome making rather predatory incursions into their territories then waging a just warre against them This one Family of the Fabii undertook upon their own charge this warre One of the Consuls viz. Caeso Fabius being of that Family commanded this small but gallant army they were 306. all Patricians or noble men all of a blood and according to Livy quorum neminem ducem sporneret egregius quibuslibet temporibus Senâtus Such as the wisest Councell would not refuse the worst of them in never so dangerous times for a General They fortified themselves upon the River Cremera where issuing out of their Garrison they often worsted the enemy who seeing they could not by open force prevail had recourse to art and drawing them into a place convenient for an ambuscade invironed them and with numbers so over-powred them that after a sharp conflict and extraordinary valour shewed on the Roman side they were all to one man slain This Story you may read in Livie l. 2. Eutrop. l. 1. auct de vir illust Flor. l. 1. c. 12. c. This happened An. V. C. 275. in the Consulships of Caeso Fabius and T. Virginius Thus had this noble Family been quite extinct had not one who by reason of his tender years was unfit for the warres remained at home and this man propagated the Fabian name down to this Fabius Maximus who by his wise delayes blunted the edge and broke the very point of Annibals impetuous fury and this is the man whom Virgil celebrates here The first of the Fabii who had the agnomination of Maximus given him was Q. Fabius Rullianus a person of very great repute and worth as who had been five times Consul twice Dictator triumphed thrice once Censor and although he deserved the name of Maximus from his Martial atchievments as having been the ablest and most fortunate Chieftain of his time yet this honorable sirname was bestowed upon him for that he in his Censorship united the City which was divided into two factions into that of the plebs or meaner sort and into that of the more able and sober of the Citizens Hence arose a great confusion and disturbance in their Comitia or elections the rabble carrying it by reason of their numbers against the better and so many times choosing men of inferiour condition into offices and commands contrary to the good liking of the other and much to the diminution of the Majesty and Grandeur of the Roman State This Fabius remedied by reducing the Common-people which till then were undistinguished into four Tribes or Classes which he called Tribus urbanae as you may read in Livie l. 91. This is that Fabius whom being Master of the horse to the Dictator Papyrius Curson Papyrius would have put to death for fighting the enemy in his absence and against his express order although he obtained a signal victory but that the people interposing procured his pardon Livie in his ninth book gives an ample relation of this Story His sonne was Fabius Maximus Gurges who having been thrice Consul triumphed twice Censor and four times chosen L. President of the Senate seemed by his often-repeated honours not to come at all short of his Fathers virtues And
and because this used to be richly adorned geniall here is taken for rich stâ—tely or magui ficent As did Sisyphus * The punishment of Ixion * Such were for a time the late Traitors to whom this verse may well be appli'd Ausi omnes immân nefas ausoque polite Virg. * Orpheus * Poean the word here used by Virg. is a hymn in the praise of Apollo * For thus Vates is to be rendred not Poers as Mr. Ogilby hath done â—ee Servius with whom the â—est of Virgils Interpreters agree * Musaeus ☜ * The words of Aeneas * The Soul * Mercury who was said with his Caduceus or rod both to drive souls to hell and to bring them from thence * The words of Aâ—chtâ—es See the Comment * Lavinia Se the Comment See the Comment * Numitor. ☞ See the Comment * Hercules * A Mountain in India * Numa born at Cures a Village of the Sabines * Julius Caesar * Pompey * Caesar who truly used his victory with much moderation and clemency * A name of Romulus * To the other Marcellus * See the Comment * Marcellus * Anchises Aeneas arrived in Italy anno Mâ—â— d. 28â—â— Cumae was built an Mun. 2953. Simps Chron. * We speak according to the opinion of the Peripaâ—â—icks 1. Sibylla Persica 2. Delphica 3. Cumaea 4. Erythraea 5 Samia 6. Cumâna 7 Hellâ—spontiaca 8. Libyca 9. Phrygia 10. Tibu â—ina The Story of Pâ—sipâ—aâ— and 〈◊〉 us c. Sil Ita. Lic l. 12. * Daedalus The story of Androgeos and the Athenians The Labyrinth Apollo's Temple Sibylla's Grot. * Apollo Ludi Apollinares Sibylla Cumâna Servius indeed makes the coin to be Philyppei i. Phillppines so called from Philip. King of Macedon but improperly for Philip was 150 years younger then Tarquin Who come to enquire of the Oracle Orpheus Castor and Pollux Hell The golden Bough The letter Y. Augurium pullarium Oâ— the Roman Funeâ—als 1 Annibal 2 The death of P. Aemilius * Pliny Misenus The Lake of Avernus The manner of sacrificing to the infernall powers Centauâ—s Scylla Briareus Hydra Câ—imaeâ—a Gorgons Harpyes Geryon * The Ancients divided the World into 3. parts viz. Europe Asia and Africa 〈◊〉 our Moderns have added a fourth vâ—z America vi * Morning Noon and Night The Rivers of Hell Acheron Cocytus Styx Phlegeton Lethe Charon Cenotaphium Palinurus Cerberus Theseus Pirithous Ceres Proserpina * Pluto and Proserpine * Theseus the person here speaking Cerberus The Regions of Hell Against Self-murder Of Lovers Phaedra Procris Eâ—ipâ—yle Evadne Laâ—damîa Caenis The Region of Warrior Tydeus Parthenopâ—eus Adâ—aqstus Deiphoâ—us The Judges of Hell 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or lex talionis * Aeacus Father of Peleus who married Thetis and on her be got Achilles who from his Grandsire Aeacus was called Aeaâ—â—des so that by Thetidis socer Thetis her Father in law Aeacus is understood The Futies The Titans The Aloïdes Salmôneus Tityus Pirithous Ixîon The Lapithâ— Democles The Elysium Câ—asia is by Gerard taken to be the same with Lavenâ—ula or Lavender as it is by Dela Cerda Ecclog â— Musâ—â—us The transmigration of Souls * Mr. Sandys * Druidibus The Creation of things Of the nature of the soul Oâ— Purgatory A Summarie of the Roman History from Aeneas his death and the Alban Kings to Augustus his time being about 1100 years * Aenead lib. 7. The Alban Lings Militarie Crowns Romulus Cybele Augustus Caesar Numa Pompilius Tullus Hostilius Ancus Martius Lucius Tarquinius Priscus Servius Tullius Tarquinius Superbus Brutus and Tarquin The 3. Decâ—i Decius the Son A military Devotion Decius the Grandson The Drusi Tit. Manlius * Viz. from Manlius Capitolinus Furius Camillus Caesar Pompey L. Mummâ—us M. Cato * A. Gellius makes Marcus the other Brother to be Father to Cato uticen l. 13. c. 18. Haustus sanè calidus sed gloriae plenus plusquam faemineus Val. Max. Cornelâ—â—â— Cossus The Gracchi The Scâ—pio's Caius Fabricius Luscinus Serranus Serranus The Fabii Thâ— Maâ—celli The two gates of Hell * This clause according to the then state of things was inserted out of a strong presumption that by their means a legal Parliament the Peoples true Representative would in convenient time be assembled The Author though diligently searchd for made his escape * The Antiquities of Canterbury c.