There are yet three Medals to be seen where Cybele is otherwise represented One is of the Emperor Severus where she is represented holding with one hand a Scepter and with the other a Thunder-bolt and her Head covered with a Turret She rid upon a Lyon flying through the Air. The other Medal is of the Emperor Geta stampt after the same manner with this Inscription Indulgentia Augustorum The third is of Julia who represents the Mother of the Gods crown'd with Turrets attended by two Lions and sitting upon a Throne she holds with her right hand a branch of Pine-tree and lays her left hand on a Drum with this Motto Mater Deum This Goddess is also represented with a great many Breasts to shew that she feeds Men and Beasts and carries Turrot on her Head and has two Lions under her Arms. CYCLOPES The Cyclopes a race of fierce and haughty Men who have but one Eye in the middle of their Forehead Poets have given this Name to some Inhabitants of Sicily whom they feign'd to be Vulcan's Assistants in the making of Jupiter's Thunder-bolts they made also the Arms of Achilles and Aenca◠They were so named because they had but one round Eye in the middle of their Forehead They are the Sons of Heaven and Earth as Hesiod tells us or of Neptune and Amphitrits as Euripides and Lucian say Those of most note among them are Polyphemus Brontes Steropes and Pyracman Apollo kill'd them with his Arrows to revenge the death of his Son Aesculapius whom Jupiter had kill'd with a Thunderbolt made by these Cyclopes Poets say also that Polyphemus was Shepherd to Neptune and Galatea's Lover and that Ulysses put out his Eye with a Fire-brand to revenge the death of his Companions whom the Cyclopes had eaten CYCLUS SOLIS The Cycle of the Sun or of the Dominical Letters is a revolution of 28 Years which being expired the same Dominical Letters return again in the same order To understand this well it must be observed that the Year being composed of Months and Weeks every Day of the Month is markt in the Calendar with its Cypher and one of these seven Letters A B C D E F G. The first Letter begins with the first Day of the Year and the others follow in a perpetual Circle to the end Wherefore these Letters might be unalterable to denote every Holy-day or every Day of the Week as they are in respect to the Days of the Months if there was but a certain and unvariable number of Weeks in the Year and as A marks always the first of January B the 2 C the 3 so A should mark always Sunday B Munday c. But because the Year is at least of 365 Days which make up 52 Weeks and a Day over it happens that it ends with the same day of the Week with which it began and so the following Year begins again not with the same Day but with the next to it And from thence it follows that A which answers always the first of January having noted the Sunday for one Year for which reason 't is called the Dominical Letter it will note the Monday in the following Year and G will note the Sunday and so forward 'T is plain by what has been said that if the Year had but 365 Days this Circle of Dominical Letters should end in seven Years by retrograding G F E D C B A. But because every four Years there is a Leap-Year which has one Day more two things must needs happen First That the Leap-Year has two Dominical Letters one of which is made use of from the first of January to the 25th of February and the other from that Day till the end of the Year The reason of it is plain for reckoning twice the 6th of the Kalends the Letter F which notes the Day is also reckoned twice and so fills up two Days of the Week From whence it follows that the Letter that till then had fallen upon Sunday falls then but upon Monday and that the foregoing Letter by retrograding comes to note Sunday The second thing to be observed is that that having thus two Dominical Letters every fourth Year the Circle of these Letters doth not end in seven Years as it would do but in four times seven Years which is 28. And this is properly called the Cycle of the Sun which before the correction of the Kalendar began with a Leap-Year whereof the Dominical Letters were G F. CYCLUS LUNARIS The Cycle of the Moon It was no less difficult to determine by a certain Order the Days of the New Moons in the course of the Year To this purpose a great many Cycles were proposed which afterwards Experience shewed to be false and they were obliged to receive this Cycle of 19 Years Invented by Methon of Athens called the Golden Number to make the Lunar Year agree with the Solar for at the end of them the New Moons returned again on the same Days and the Moon began again her course with the Sun within an Hour and some Minutes or thereabouts This Number was called the Golden Number either for its excellency and great use or because as some say the Inhabitants of Alexandria sent it to the Romans in a Silver Calendar where these Numbers from 1 to 19 were set down in Golden Letters This Number has been called the great Cycle of the Moon or Deceunovennalis and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of 19 Tears or Methonicus from the Name of its Author This Golden Number has been of great use in the Calendar to shew the Epacts and New Moons ever since the Nicene Council ordered that Easter should be kept the first Sunday after the Full Moon of March However this Cycle was not settled every where according to the same manner in the Calendar for the Western Christians called Latins imitating the Hebrews reckon'd the Golden Number 1. on the first day of January of the first Year But the Christians who Inhabited Asia under the name of Christians of Alexandria placed the Golden Number 3. at the same day CYCNUS A Swan a Bird living in or about the Waters very fine to behold with a long and straight Neck very white except when he is young Ovid in the 12th Book of his Metamorphosis says that Cycnus was King of Liguria and kin to Phaeton who for the grief of his death was changed into a Bird of his name 'T is said that Swans never sing but when they are at the point of death and then they sing very melodiously Tully in his Tusculans tells us that Swans are dedicated to Apollo the God of Divination who being sensible of their approaching death rejoice and sing with more harmony than before I ucian on this account laughs at the Poets in his Treatise of Amber or the Swans I also expected says he to have heard the Swans warbling all along the Eridanus having learn'd that the Companions of Apollo had been there changed into Birds who
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
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
are not till'd in all places and most of the Inhabitants live upon Milk and the Flesh of their Flocks and wear their Skins for Clothing All the English paint their Bodies with Woad which makes them of a blewish Colour and renders them more formidable in Battel They shave off all their Hair except that of their Head and Whiskers Their Women are common to ten or twelve but their Children belong to those who married them Tacitus in the Life of Agricola gives us this Character of England It is the biggest Isle which is yet known it has Germany on the East Spain on the West Gallia on the South and the Main Ocean which has no Bounds on the North. Fabius and Titus Livius the two most eloquent of our Historians as well antient as modern have compared it to a long Buckler or the Head of an Ax because the hither side is of that figure It was not known till our time that 't was an Isle after a Tour was made about the Northern Coast of it where there are discover'd other Isles at a further distance called the Orcades and Island it self which a perpetual Winter keeps from our View The Original of the Inhabitants is not known whether they are Indigenae or Strangers The Scots have Hair and a Stature like the Germans Those who dwell on the side next Spain have frizled Hair and are of a Tawny Colour The rest are like the Gauls to whom they are Neighbours The Sky is always thick and cloudy but the Cold is never very fierce the Days are longer than in France but the Night is very clear especially about the extreme parts of the Isle where there is but little distance between the End of one day and the Beginning of the next some say that in a clear and serene Sky they do not wholly lose their Light but it seems to turn about above the Horizon so that properly speaking they never see the Sun either rise or set They have neither Vines nor Olive-teees nor other Fruit-trees which grow in hot Countries altho otherwise it is very Fruitful their Fruits come out early but are a long time in ripening for want of Heat and by reason of the abundance of their Moisture ALBO-GALERUS a sort of Cap made of white Wool which had a Tuft on the Top and upon which they wore Branches of Olives embroider'd The Flamen Dialis or Priest of Jupiter only had a Right to wear it ALBULA a River where Tiberius Sylvius was drown'd who was King of the Albini from whom it was immediately named Tiber. ALBUNA a Goddess worshipped in the Country of Tibur now Tivoli Some think she was Ino the Daughter of Athamas who fearing her Husband cast her self headlong into the Sea with her Son Melicerta Other Authors confound her with the tenth Sibyl call'd Tiburtina because she was born at Tibur ALBUTIUS the Father of the Sorcerer Canidius He was extraordinarily nice in his Victuals and in the Cookery of it insomuch that he beat his Servants before they offended Horace speaks thus of him lib. 2. Sat. 2. v. 66. Hic neque Servus Albutî senis exemplo dum munia didit Savus erit He will not follow the Example of Old Albutius when he commands his Slaves any thing ALCESTIS the Daughter of Pelias and Wife of Admetus King of Thessaly Apollo obtained of the Destinies that if Admetus could procure any Person to die in his stead he should live as many years as he had done already The Father and Mother of Admetus having refus'd him that Favour his Wife Alcestis offer'd to die for him Hercules came unexpectedly and having heard what had pass'd went to the Tomb of Alcestis and rescu'd her from the Jaws of Death and restored her to her Husband Others say he went down into Hell and took her from Proserpina Euripides in his Alcestis relates That Hercules was entertained by Admetus the day that Alcestis his Wife died and all his House was in Mourning Admetus lodg'd him in an Apartment by himself that he might not disturb his Guest by so doleful an Object Hercules requited his Host well for he undertook to encounter Death who had taken away the Soul of Alcestis he chas'd Death away brought back her Soul to her Body and restor'd his Wife alive to Admetus This seems to be the History of Elisha counterfeited who rais'd the Son of the Shunamite from the dead ALCIBIADES the Son of Clinias and Dinomache he was the most beautiful Man in the World and of the neatest shape that ever was seen The Grandees of his Family gave him as great preheminence above all the Athenians as Athens had above the rest of the Cities of Greece His Courage and Conduct were shewn in the Wars against the Lacedaemonians and Persians But this Great Man had so great a Mixture of Vices and Corruptions with these rare Endowments of Mind and Body that he was condemn'd to Death and his Goods to be confiscated because he blasphemed the Gods When he repented of his Extravagances after this Disgrace he banish'd those that had debauch'd him and put himself under the Instruction of Socrates who made him a good Man Afterwards flying to King Artaxerxes he was basely slain by the Lacedaemonians who bore him a mortal Hatred and had made themselves Masters of Athens and all Greece His Statue because he was one of the most Valiant Grecians was set up by a Decree of the Senate in a publick Place at Rome according to the Pythian Oracle ALCIDES an Epithet given to Hercules from the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies Strength and Virtue or from Alcaeus his Grand-father by the Father's side ALCITHOE a Theban Woman who despising the Orgiae or Festivals of Bacchus and beginning a Journey whilst they were celebrating was changed into a Screech-Owl and her Sisters into Batts ALCMENA the Daughter of Electryo and Lysidicae whose Father was Pelops and Mother Hippodamia she married Amphitryo her Cosin-German upon condition that he should revenge the Death of her Brother which the Theleboans a People of Aetolia had kill'd While Amphitryo was employ'd against them Jupiter who was in Love with Alcmena took the shape of Amphitryo and lay with her a whole Night which he made as long as Three having commanded the Night and Sleep by the Mediation of Mercury not to leave Men for that time and by this Conjunction Alcmena became the Mother of Hercules Lucian has related this Fable in his Dialogue between Mercury and the Sun which we shall set down here entire Phoebus Jupiter says you must not drive to day to morrow nor the next day but keep within that during that time there may be one entire Night bid the Hours unharness their Horses and do you put out your Light and repose your self a while Sun You bring me very strange News Mercury I do not know that I have in the least drove beyond my just limits or disturb'd the Mountains why then is he so angry
they had contemned her Worship made them to prostitute themselves to all Comers AMAZONIUS the Month of December was so called in the Reign of the Emperour Commodus by his Flatterers in honour of a Concubine which he loved extreamly and whom he had caused to be painted like an Amaxon as Lampridius assures us AMAZONES the Amazons Women-Warriours of great Courage They were heretofore Women of Scythia who dwelt near Tanais and Thermodn which conquer'd great part of Asia They liv'd without Men and prostituted their Bodies to Strangers but kill'd all their Male Children and burn'd off the left Pap of their Daughters to make them fit for fighting From whence some say their Name is derived from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non mamma which signifies Without Paps Strabo denies that there ever were any Amazons Pliny and Mela make mention of those of Scythia Hippocrates says that there was a Law among them which condemn'd their Daughters to remain Virgins till they had slain three Men of their Enemies He also says that the Cause why they cut off the Right-pap was that their Right-arm might become the stronger because it gain'd the Nourishment of the Breast and they distorted the Legs of their Male Children that they might always be Mistresses over them Some affirm that in Africk there was a Realm of Women only who slew all the Boys that they brought forth by their Copulation with the Neighbouring Nations as we learn from Juan de los Sanctos a Grey-Fryar of Portugal in his Description of the Eastern Aethiopa Aeneas Sylvius relates that he saw in Bohemia for seven years a Common-wealth exactly like that of the Amazons establish'd by the Valour of a Woman called Valasca The Names of the most famous Amazons were Marthesia Orythea and Penthesilea whom Virgil in his Aeneids supposes to be slain by Achilles Herodotus speaking of the Amazons says that the Greeks having defeated them near the River Thermodon carried away those that remain'd Captives in their Ships who after the Defeat watch'd their opportunity so well that they seiz'd the Arms of the Greeks and made a great Slaughter of them but because they understood nothing of Navigation they were cast by the Winds upon the Coasts of Scythia where mounting upon the Horses that came in their way they fought with the Scythians who being desirous to make an amicable end of the War which they had begun endeavoured to persuade them to surrender themselves and hoping to gain them by their weak side told them that in case they would do so they should not be enjoy'd by their Lame but by the handsomest Men. They stopt their mouths with this Answer That their Lame were their best Men which is since passed into a Proverb among the Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nevertheless a Peace was made and the Scythians gave them a part of their Country where they settled themselves on the Southside of Tanais This is what Herodotus says of the Amazons of Asia Philostratus in his Picture of Neoptolemus relates that they which sail upon the Euxine Sea do affirm That along that Coast between the Rivers Thermodon and Phasis there are Amazons which say they are descended of Mars who busie themselves wholly in Warlike matters as to draw a Bow and ride on Horses they will not permit a Man to live among them but when they desire to have any Children they go to seek out Men among their Neighbours and when they bring forth Boys they cause them to be gelt but their Daughters they bring up to warlike Affairs feeding them with the Milk of Cattle and Dew which falls in the form of Honey upon the Reeds in their Marshes The chief Expeditions of the Amazons were the War which they made against King Priamus the Assistance they brought him at the Siege of Troy and their Invasion of Attica to revenge themselves of Theseus who had taken away Antiope As for their Expedition into the Isle of Achilles at the mouth of the Danube it is a Fiction of Philostratus which no ways redounds to their Honour because they shew'd themselves very cruel there 'T is true Philostratus is not the only Man that has represented the Amazons as wicked for Apollonius describes them as Salvages that have neither Faith nor Law The Monuments which preserve the Memory of these Warlike Women are the City of Thermiscira the Metropolis of their State situate in Cappadocia near a River well known by the Name of Thermodon the City of Ephesus and Temple of Diana are two Works of their hands Dionysius Afer says that they built another Temple to Diana upon the Stump of a young Elm. The Cities of Smyrna Thyatira Cuma and Magnesia are commonly thought to be founded by them Apollonius will have it that they consecrated the Temples even in the Areopagus and in the Territories of Lacedaemonia The Statue of Diana at Ephesus was adorned with Paps because the Amazons consecrated those to her which they cut off It appears by some Medals that the Amazons wore Garments like Men but by others they seem cloth'd after the usual manner of their Sex The ingenious Mr. Petâ—â— has written a Treatise which contains things very learned and curious about these Heroines as about their Sepulchres the Reasons why the Names which they bear are all Greek and the Chronology of their History which may be consulted AMBARVALE or AMBARVALIA The Feast of Perambulation The Procession they made about the plow'd and sown Fields in honour of the Goddess Ceres like the Processions of the Papists at this day celebrated upon the Feasts of St. Mark and rogation-Rogation-days with larger or shorter Litanies There were two Feasts at Rome of that Name one in April or according to other Authors in the End of January and the other in July Twelve Arval Brothers or Priests of which I shall speak in their place went before a publick Procession of the Citizens who had Lands and Vineyards without the City The same Ceremony was practised in the Country by other Priests among the Inhabitants of the Villages They went three times round the Ground every one being crowned with Leaves of Oak and singing Hymns in honour of Ceres the Goddess of Corn. This Ceremony was called Ambarvalia ab ambiendis arvis the Sacrifices which they offer'd after this Procession they call'd Ambarvales Hostiae There were three sorts of them viz. a Sow a Sheep and a Bull which is the Reason that this threefold Sacrifice was called Suovitaurilia which is a Word compounded of Sus Ovis and Taurus In the first Sacrifice they pray'd to the Goddess Ceres and the God Mars that they would preserve their Corn from Mildew and Hail and bring it to perfect Ripeness and in that of the month of July they pray'd to them to bless their Harvest Cato has left us the Form of Prayer used on this occasion in cap. 141. De Re Rustica but this Prayer was made to Mars only Mars Pater te precor quaesoque
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
not burn though it was thrown into a great Fire Pliny mentions a Flaâ— that grew in the Indies which he calls Asbestum Some think that the dead Bodies of the Romans which were burnt were wrapp'd up in this Cloth to preserve their Ashes But Pliny assures us that it was kept for the Kings of those Countries upon the account of its scarceness Strabo and Plutarch relate that the like Cloth was also made of the Stone Amiantus and that some at that time had the secret of Spinning it which is not incredible as many perswade themselves since it is a Stone that may be all drawn out into Threads ASBOLUS a Centaur which Hercules hang'd upon a Gibbet ASCANIUS the Son of Aeneas and Creusa who came with Aeneas his Father into Italy After the Death of Aeneas Ascanias was besieg'd in Lavinium by Mezâ—utius after such a manner that he saw he could not long defend himself Whereupon he sent to him to sue for Peace which was offer'd him indeed but upon very dishonourable Terms and therefore he resolv'd to use his utmost endeavour to oppose him by a vigorous Sally But before this was put in Execution he observ'd a good Omen for having made a Division of the Heavens a clap of Thunder pass'd from the right to the left in a serene Day which gave him great Encouragment to execute his design Having therefore for this end made choice of a very dark Night he made some false Attacks upon the weakest of the Enemies Quarters but his chief assault was upon the Place of the greatest strength which was less carefully guarded This Stratagem succeeded very well for him for his Enemies were defeated and Mezentius his Son lost his Life upon the Place After this Victory Ascanius went and built the City of Alla lenga 30 Years after Lavinium in the Place which was mark'd out to him by the 30 little Boar-pigs of the white Sow He reign'd 38 Years Sub Ascia dedicavit Monsieur Spon in his Antiquities of the City of Lyons Chap. 4. Says we have hitherto said nothing of this Phrase sub Ascia dedicare which we meet with so often in Inscriptions upon the Tombs of the ancient Pagans Monsieur Chorier who has describ'd the Antiquities of Vienna explains it very ingeniously 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says he signifies in Greek a Shadow from whence comes the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in Latin Ascia which signifies a Place without a Shadow and it was usual with the Ancients to set up their Tombs in an open Place or in a Place without a Shadow 'T is true the generality of Antiquaries use the word Ascia for an Instrument wherewith they cut and polish'd the Stone which was to be laid upon Graves From whence it comes to pass that in the Laws of the 12 Tables we have this Clause Rogum Ascia ne polito that we should not polish the Monuments of the dead But this Law was disus'd and the Romans growing more powerful and rich would not lose their Pomps and Vanities even after their Death Witness the many stately Mausolca which are to be seen in all Italy and other Provinces of their Empire Some think that a certain Figure made in the form of an Ax which we often meet with upon ancient Inscriptions is that Ascia whereof we are now speaking Gaichard in his first Book of Funerals speaking of these words tells us that the Law of the 12 Tables forbad to polish the Wood of the Funeral Pile but that this Law was not at all observ'd and that every one caus'd the Wood of the Funeral Pile to be polish'd and adorn'd it with Pictures made of Wax of divers Colours 〈◊〉 which Custom adds he we may refer these 3 Words sub Ascia dedicare I do not think continues he that the Romans added at the end of their Epitaphs these words to shew that the Mable had been polish'd for as much as the Ax which is there represented is not a Tool proper for polishing Marble or Stone especially seeing that part of the Stones where these words and that Figure is to be found are rough and unpolish'd ASCLEPIADES a Greek Physician of whom we read this Inscription at Rome L. ARUNTIO SEMPRONIANO ASCLEPIADI Imp. Domitiani Medico T. F. L. In Fronte P. XX. In Ag. P. XX. Authors mention two of this name who were Physicians He who was Physician to Domitian possibly was the last of the two and he who was Cicero's Friend the first But here we must observe that these Greek Physicians when they came to Rome took upon them a Praenomen the name of a Family and a Surname although in their own Country they had only one Name or Surname And the Reason of this was because their Freedom being given them at Rome they were incorporated into the Tribes and adopted into the Families of the Republick Thus Asclepiades who according to the Custom of the Greeks had but one name assumed here 3 preceeding Names Lacius Aruntîus Sempronlands that of Asclepiades continuing still as an Agnomen or 2d Surname Reinesius in his Inscriptions publish'd a little while ago makes this Asclepiades different from him who is mention'd by Authors as famous for the Books he wrote about Medicaments and he thinks that he who is meant in this Inscription was the Son or Grandson of Aruntius the Physician to whom 250 Sestertia magna were given as Pliny tells us as a Reward Book 9. of his History There is a 3d. Asclepiades according to an Inscription which we find at Arignan C. CALPURNIUS ASCLEPIADES Prufa ad Olympum Medicus Parentibus sibi fratrib Civitate VII à divo Trajano imperavit Natus III. Nonas Martics Domitiano XIII Cos. eodem die quo uxor ejus VERONIA CHELIDON cum qua vixit an LI. studiorum morum causâ probatus à viris clariss adjedit Magistratibus Pop. R. ita ut in aliis in Prov. Asiâ— Custodiar in urna Iudicum Vixit ann LXX CAIUS CALPURNIUS ASCLEPIADES a Physician of the City of Prusa at the Foot of mount Olympus obtain'd of the divine Emperour Trajan 7 Cities for his Father and Mother himself and his Brethren and was born the 5th Day of March under the 13th Consulship of Domitian on the very same day that his Wife VERONIA CHELIDON was born with whom he liv'd 52 Years being approv'd by Persons of the first Quality upon the account of his Learning and good Behaviour he was Assessor to the Magistrates of the People of Rome not only in Asia but a so in other Provinces He liv'd 70 Years This Asclepiades was never made a Free-man as Reiâ—esins thinks since he took upon him the name of CAIUS CALPURNIUS ASCLEPIADES and there is no L in the Inscription to signifie that he was Libertus His Country was the City of Prusa which is still to this Day call'd Prussa in Byâ—â—inia at the Foot of Mount Olympus From this Place the 1st Asclepiades originally came who
Kings Palace it was a publick Building at Rome magnificently raised in which they administred Justice It was covered and by that a Basilica was distinguished from the FORUM which was a publick Place open to the Air. In these Basilica's were large Halls with Roofs and Galleries raised upon rich Pillars On both sides of these Galleries were Shops where the finest Wares were sold In the middle was a large Place for the Conveniency of Men of Business and Merchants as is at a little distance from the Palace at Paris The Tribunes administred Justice there as well as the Centum-viri In them were also Chambers built where the Lawyers and Pleaders maintained by the Common-wealth resided to answer to all Points of Law when they were consuited This is doubtless what Cicero means Epist 14. lib. 2. ad Att. Basilicam habeo non villam frequentia formianorum because Men came from all parts to consult him in his Country-house as if he were in a Basilica The principal Basilica's at Rome were these Julia Porcia Pauli Sisimini Sempronii Caii Lucii Argentariorum the Bankers Others were also built for the Conveniency of Traders and Merchants near the great Roman Place The Scholars went thither to make their Declamations that they might appear and have the more Auditors to hear them according to the Testimony of Quintilian Lib. 12. Chap 5. Large and spacious Halls were first called Basilica's because they were made for the People to meet in when Kings administred Justice themselves afterward when they were left to the Judges Merchants built them for themselves and lastly they were taken for Churches by the Christians Then it happened that they built most of their Churches in the Fashions of Basilica's which differed from the Temples of the Ancients in this that their Pillars stood within whereas in Temples they stood without Basilica's were for Tradesmen and Pleaders as now the Halls of a Palace are where they administer Justice BASSAREUS and BASSARIDES Epithets given to Bacchus and the Bacchae from the long Robe Bassara which they are said to wear as Hesychius and Pollux teach us and as we learn from the Statues of Bacchus Phornutus and Acron the Scholiast of Horace think that this Word Bassara comes from a City of Lydia called BASSARA from whence the Fashion of it came The Grammarian Cornutus upon Persius will have them to be so called from Foxes skins which in the Thracian Language are called Bassares with which the Bacchae were cloathed BATTUS a certain ridiculous Poet who used the same Repetitions frequently in his Poetry which has given occasion to call a Discourse full of Repetitions Battology from his Name It was also the Name of a Shepherd of the City of Pylus who was changed by Mercury into a Touchstone because he had not kept his word with him about the Theft which he made of the Sheep of Admetus's Flock kept by Apollo to his Disgrace BATUALIA Fencers exercised with blunt Arms for we say rudibus batuere to fight with dull Weapons or in jest BATHILLUS a Buffoon and very good Dancer whom Maecenas loved to an excessive Degree He made him his Free-man and he lived in the time of Augustus and Nero. BEELPHEGOR of whom it is spoken in the Book of Numbers that a Part of the Israelites gave themselves to the impure and execrable Worship of that false God and that God took a dreadful Vengeance on them Initiatusque Israel Beelphegor occidat vnusquisque proximos suos qui initiati sunt Beelphegor T is probable that the God which was honoured upon Mount Phegor or Phogor was Saturn according to Theadoret St. Jerom believed that Beelphegor was the God Priapus Fornicati sunt cum Madianitis ingressi sunt ad Beelphegor idolum Madianatarum quem nos Priapum possumus appellare He says also the same thing writing against Jovinian Propriè quippe Phegor linguâ hebraeâ Priapus appellatur BELIDES Belides or Danaides were the Fifty Daughters of Danaus the Son of Belus surnamed the Old who slew their Husbands the Sons of the King of Aegypt the first Night of their Marriage except only One named Hypermnestra who did not slay her Husband Lynceus BELLEROPHON otherwise named HIPPONOMUS son of Glaucus King of Corinth he slew his Brother Beller and from thence was surnamed Bellerophon as much as to say the furtherer of Beller After he had committed this Murther he fled to the Court of King Praetus who received him favourably but his Wife falling in Love with him and not being able to induce him to satisfy her unchast Desires she accused him to her Husband for attempting her Chastity The King being angry at the Action but unwilling to break the Rules of Hospitality which he had allowed him contented himself instead of slaying him to send him to his Father in Law Jobates King of Lycia with Letters signifying his Condemnation Jobates willing to execute the King's orders sent him to fight against the Chimaera but he brought it to an happy end by the help of his Horse Pegasus the King admiring his extraordinary Valour gave him his Daughter in Marriage The Fable adds that being desirous to fly up into Heaven by the Help of his Horse Pegasus he was cast down Headlong by Jupiter to punish his proud Rashness and being made blind by his Fall he died a wandring Vagabond Homer gives us this Account of Bellerophon in the Sixth Book of his Iliads v. 160. c. BELLEROPHON the most beautiful and valiant of the Argives was passionately loved by Antia the Wife of Praetus who being not able to perswade him to yield to her unlawful Desires went to her Husband and told him You must either dye or put Bellerophon to Death who has attempted my Chastity although 't was she her self that had sollicited him to love her Praetus was very angry but would not put him to Death but sent him with private Letters to his Father-in-Law in Lycia which ordered him to put him to Death He went into Lycia under the Protection of the Gods where being arrived near the River Xanthus the King looked favourably upon him and gave him all the Honours imaginable He stayed Nine Days together with him sacrificing every Day an Ox. At the end of that time he asked him the Reason of his coming whereupon he immediately gave him the Letters of Praetus his Son-in-Law and having read them he sent him to fight the Chimaera an horrible Monster to behold for he had the Fore-part of a Lion who vomited Fire and Flames the middle of a Goat and the Tail of a Serpent He subdued this Monster by the Protection of the Gods and killed it After this Victory he went to War against the Solymi and then against the Amazons and because he returned Victorious King Jobates sent an Ambush to kill him but he defeated them all This induced the King to give him his Daughter in Marriage for the sake of his Courage and Vertue But to return to the
Allegories of this Chimaera and Bellerophon Palephates speaks thus of them Some say that Bellerophon rode upon a winged Horse which is both ridiculous and unpossible unless they could lend him all the Feathers of the swiftest Birds Others would have us also believe that Bellerophon slew the Chimaera of Amisodar a Monster which had the Fore-part of a Lion and the middle of a Goat and the hinder-parts of a Serpent Others will have it that it had only the Three Heads of these Creatures which is less credible This then is the Foundation of all these Fictions BELLEROPHON was a young Man of Corinth very beautiful and liberal who having fitted a Ship which he named Pegasus he went to coast along the Phrygian Shore where at that time reigned Amisodar near the River Xanthus along by which there arises a Mountain named by the Inhabitants Telmessus to which there is an Ascent from the Plain on two sides of it On the side next the City Xanthus there were very good Pastures but on t the side next Caria it was barren and inaccessible in the middle there was a Gulf from whence there came out at certain times Flashes of Fire and Flames and Clouds of Smoke To this Mountain is joined another named Chimaera upon which there was a Lion and at the Foot of it a great Serpent which did much harm among the Flocks which fed thereabout as well as to the Shepherds and Inhabitants round it But Fellerophon landing on these Coasts with his Ship named Pegasus because it was a good Sailer and very swift in its Course went to those Mountains and setting the Woods on Fire destroyed those Monsters which gave an Occasion to the Fable to say that Bellerophon being mounted upon Pegasus had killed the Chimaera of Amisodar BELLONA the Goddess of War the Wife Mother or Nurse of Mars some will have her to be Minerva and Pallas This false Deity was so much honoured by the Cappadocians that they built a Temple to her in the City Comana and her Priest or Sacrificer was the first Person in Honour and Dignity next to the King She is painted in Armour with a menacing or furious Countenance holding a Trumpet and a Whip in her Hand and sometimes a lighted Torch Appius Claudius who was after stricken blind for having profaned the Priesthood of Hercules built her a Temple at Rome according to the Vow he had made to her in the Battle against the Samnites This Temple was in the Circus of Flaminius near the Carmental Gate In it foreign Embassadours were admitted to audience and they hung up their Bucklers and other Arms as Appius did according to Pliny Posuit in Bellonoe aede Majorum suorum Clypeos There was near this Temple a Pillar named BELLICA from which the Consuls or Herald cast a Javelin as far as they could as if they had cast it into the Enemies Countries to declare War against them The Feast of this Goddess was kept upon the Fourth Day before the Nones of June because on that Day Appius dedicated a Temple to her The Priests of this Goddess which from her Name were called Bellonarii drew Blood from all parts of their Bodies to appease her with that Sacrifice Some thought that they had a Gift of Prophecy to foretel the great Events of War For that end they entred in a Fury and holding naked Swords in their hands they cut deep Gashes in their Arms and Thighs and with the Blood that issue out of the Wounds making a Sacrifice to Bellona not giving her any other Victims as Tibullus tells in these Verses Haec ubi Bellonae motu est agitata nec acrem Flammam non amens verbera torta timet Ipsa bipenne suos caedit violenta Lacertos Sanguineque effuso spargit inepta Daeam Statque latus praefixa veru flat saucia pectus Et canit Eventus quos Dea magna movet BELUS the Ancients do not tell us very clearly what sort of Deity Belus was Hesychius says that it was the Heaven or Jupiter and that the Sun was called Bela. St. Jerom and St. Isidore are of Opinion that Saturn was named Belus Herodian in the Life of Maximinian assures us that the People of Aquileia gave the Sun the Name of Beles Some Manuscripts and Inscriptions call him Belinus or Belenus The God Baal or Baalphegor who is mentioned in the Old Testament was the same Belus who was the Author of the Idolatry and Priesthood of the Chaldeans There was another Belus the Son of Neptune who married Isis after the Death of Apis her first Husband when Cecrops reigned at Athens Aegyptus and Danaus were his Sons and thence it comes to pass that the Fifty Daughters of Danaus were called BELIDES BEEL or BELUS says Varro is the same with Jupiter the Son of Saturn He was the first as St. Cyril tells us in Lib. 3. against Julian the Apostate who took upon himself the Name of God and set up Idolatry causing Temples to be built Altars to be made and Sacrifices to be offered in Honour of himself which his Son Ninus and Queen Semiramis much promoted BERECINTHIA the Name of a Mountain and City in Phrygia where Cybele the Mother of the Gods was most zealously worshipped and was from thence named Berecinthian BERONICE Berenice Queen of Aegypt and Wife of Ptolomaeus Euergetes her own Brother who having vowed her Hair to the Goddess Venus if her Husband returned safe from a Voyage which he made into Asia consecrated and laid up her Hair in the Temple of the Goddess to fulfil her Vow but it being not to be found the Magician Conon a little after that he might gain the Favour of the King who was angry for the loss of it perswaded him that it was put among the Stars and changed into those Seven Stars which appear in the Form of a Triangle at the Tail of the Caelestial Sign called the Lion Callimachus made a Greek Elegy upon this Subject which Catuilus has turned into Latin BEROSUS a Chaldean to whom the Athenians erected a Statue with a gilded Tongue upon the account of his excellent Eredictions BES or BESSIS the Mark or 8 Ounces part of the Assis BES for BIS which is Two Triens which are each Four in Value BESTIAE Beasts either wild or domestick Creatures which were presented at Rome in the Plays of the Amphitheatre for Shows to the People Some pleased the People with hunting of these Beasts in which they made them fight with Men or one with another Vopiscus has given us a curious Description of an hunting which the Emperor Probus made upon the Circus after his Triumph over the Germans He gave says he a great hunting where the People got an advantage by the Havock made in it He caused his Souldiers to pluck up Trees by the Roots and by covering them with Earth set them again so that the Circus seemed on a sudden to become a flourishing Wood which he filled with Ostriches Stags Wild
one Day to these Four Months April June September and November and so made them consist of 30 Days and to the Month of February he left 28 Days for the common Years and 29 for the Year called Bissextile that so there might be no Change made in the Ceremonies of the Sacrifices which were offered in this Month to the Infernal Gods As soon as these Things were thus order'd and Sosigenes had finished his Work the Emperor publish'd an Edict wherein he set forth the Reformation he had made of the Calendar and commanded it to be used through all the Roman Empire And because of the Negligence of those to whom the Care was committed of distributing the Intercalatory Months the Beginning of the Year was then found to anticipate its true Place 67 whole Days therefore this Time must be some way spent to restore the first Day of the next Year to its due Place at the Winter-â—oâ—stice and to this end Two Months were made of these 67 Days which were ordered to be intercalated between the Months of November and December from whence it came to pass that the Year of the Correction of the Calendar by Julius Caesar which was called the Julian Correction consisted of 15 Months and of 445 Days and upon this Account it was called the Year of Confusion because in it that great Number of Days was to be absorbed which brought so great Confusion into the Account of Time But to accommodate the Matter in some measure to the Genius of the Romans who had been so long accustomed to the Lunar Year the Emperor would not begin his Year precisely on the Day of the Winter solstice but only on the Day of the New-Moon which followed next after it which happened by Chance at the time of this Correction of the Calendar to be about Eight Days after the Solstice from hence it comes to pass that the Julian Year in all succeeding Times hath still preserved the same Beginning i. e. the first Day of January which is about Eight Days after the Solstice of Capricorn Julius Caesar drew a great deal of envy upon himself by this Correction of the Calendar of which we have an Instance in that picquant Raâ—llery of Cicero upon this Occasion One of his Friends discoursing with him happen'd to say that Lyra was to set to Morrow Cras Lyra occidit said he to whom Cicero immediately reported Nempe ex Edicto yes quoth he by vertue of an Edict Yet this did nowise hinder this Reformation from being generally received and observed after the Death of Caesar which happened the next Year after it And to give the greater Authority to this Usage it fell out also that Marcus Antonius in his Consulship order'd that the Month called Quintilis which was that in which Julius Caesar was born should bear his Name and for the Future be called Julius as it happened afterwards to the Month Sextilis to which was given the Name of Augustus both which Names are still continued down to our Time 'T is true the Priests by their Ignorance committed a considerable Error in the Observation of the first Years for not understanding this Intercalation of a Day was to be made every Four Years they thought that the Fourth Year was to be reckoned from that wherein the preceeding Intercalation was made and not from that which follow'd next after it by which means they left only Two common Years instead of Three between the Two Intercalary Years from whence it came to pass that they intercalated Twelve Days in the Space of 36 Years whereas Nine only should have been intercalated in that Space and so they put back the Beginning of the Year Three Days Which being observ'd by Augustus Successor to Julius Caesar he presently caused this Error to be amended by ordering that for the first Twelve Years no Intercalation should be made that by this means these Three superfluous Days might be absorbed and Things might be restored to their first Institution which continued eversince without any Interruption until the End of the last Age when some thought themselves oblig'd to take Pains in making another Correction of the Calendar Here follows the Copy of an ancient Roman Calendar which some curions Antiquaries have gathered together out of divers Monuments that it might be published There are Six different Columns in it the first contains the Letters which they called Nundinales the Second notes the Days which they called Easti Nefasti and Comittales which are also signified by Letters the Third contains the Number of Meto which is called the Golden Number the Fourth is for the Days in Order which are marked with Arabick Figures or Characters the Fifth divides the Month into Calends Nones and Ides according to the ancient Way of the Romans and the Sixth contains their Festivals and divers other Ceremonies of which we shall treat more largely hereafter In this Calendar to which we have given the Name of the Calendar of Julius Caesar although it appears to have been made since Augustus's Time is to be seen 1. The same Order and Succession of the Months which was instituted by Numa Pompilius and such as we have set down before 2. These Seven Months January March May Quintilis or July Sextilis or August October and Decembor have each of them 31 Days and these Four April June September and November have only 30 but February for the common Years has only 28 Days and for the Intercalary or Bissextile it has 29. 3. This Series of Eight Letters which we have called Literae Nundinales is continued without Interruption from the first to the last Day of the Year that there might always be one of them to signifie those Days of the Year on which those Meetings were held that were called by the Romans Nundinae and which returned every Ninth Day to the end that the Roman Citizens might come out of the Country to the City to be informed of what concerned either Religion or Government These Letters are so placed that if the Nundinal Day of the first Year was under the Letter A which is at the 1st the 9th the 17th the 25th of January c. the Letter of the Nundinal Day for the next Year must be D which is at the 5th the 13th the 21st of the same Month c. for the Letter A being found at the 27th of December if from this Day we reckon Eight Letters besides the Letters B C D E which remain after A in the Month of December we must take Four other Letters at the Beginning of January in the next Year A B C D and so the Letter D which is first found in the Month of January will be the 9th after the last A in the Month of December preceeding and consequently it will be the Nundinal Letter or that Letter which notes the Days set apart for these Meetings which may be also called by the Name of Faires or publick Markets Thus by the same way of
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
A F XIX 6 VIII To Erebus a Ram and a black Sheep B C VIII 7 VII  C C  8 VI  D C XVI 9 V The Goat rises E C V 10 IV The Head of Medusa rises F C  11 III The Middle of Virgo rises G N XIII 12 Prid. The Middle of Arcturus rises H NP II 13 Id. To Jupiter The Dedication of the Capitol The Nail fix'd by the Praetor A F  14 XVIII The Tryal of Horses B  X 15 XVII The Grand Circensian Games dedicated for 5 Days The Departure of the Swallows C C  16 XVI  D C XVIII 17 XV  E C VII 18 XIV Spica Virginis rises in the Morning F C  19 XIII The Sun in the Sign Libra G C XV 20 XII The Merkatus for the Space of 4 Days The Birth of Romulus H C IV 21 XI  A C  22 X Argo and Pisces set B NP XII 23 IX The Circensian Games The Birth of Augustus The Centaur rises in the Morning C C I 24 VIII The Autumnal Equinox D C  25 VII To Venus Saturn and Mania E C IX 26 VI  F C  27 V To Venus the Mother and Fortuna redux G C XVII 28 IV The Last of Virgo's rising H F IV 29 III  A F XIV 30 Prid. A Feast to Minerva The Meditrinalia The CALENDAR of Julius Caesar OCTOBER Vnder the Protection of the God Mars Nundinal Letters Days Golden Number    B N III 1 Kalen.  C F  2 VI  D C XI 3 V  E C  4 IV Bootes sets in the Morning F C XIX 5 III The Ornaments of Ceres shown G C VIII 6 Prid. To the Gods Manes H F  7 Non.  A F XVI 8 VIII The bright Star Corona rises B C V 9 VII  C C  10 VI Ramalia D  XIII 11 V Meditrinalia The Beginning of Winter E NP II 12 IV Augustalia F NP  13 III Fontinalia To Jupiter Liberator Games lasting for 3 days G NP X 14 Prid.  H NP  15 Id. The Merchants to Mercury A F XVIII 16 XVII Popular Games Arcturus sets B C VII 17 XVI  C C  18 XV To Jupiter Liberator Games D NP XV 19 XIV Armilustrium E C IV 20 XIII The Sun in the Sign Scorpio F C  21 XII Plays lasting 4 Days G C XII 22 XI  H C I 23 X To Liber Pater Taurus sets A C  24 IX  B C IX 25 VIII  C C  26 VII  D C XVII 27 VI Plays to Victory E C VI 28 V The lesser Mysteries Virgilia set F C  29 IV  G C XIV 30 III The Feria of Vertumnus Games consecrated H C III 31 Prid. Arcturus sets The CALENDAR of Julius Caesar NOVEMBER Vnder the Protection of the Goddess Diana Nundinal Letters Days Golden Number    A N  1 Kalen. The Banquet of Jupiter The Circensian Games The Head of Taurus sets B F XI 2 IV Arcturus sets at Night C F  3 III The Fidicula rises in the Morning D  XIX 4 Prid.  E F VIII 5 Non. Neptunalia Games lasting 8 Days F F  6 VIII  G C XVI 7 VII A Show of Ornaments H C V 8 VI Scorpio rises with a clear Light A C  9 V  B C XIII 10 IV  C C II 11 III The Shutting up of the Sea Virgiliae set D C  12 Prid.  E NP X 13 Id. A Feast commanded The Lectisternia F F  14 XVIII The Tryal of Horses G C XVIII 15 XVII Popular Games in the Circus for 3 Days H C VII 16 XVI The End of Seed-time for Corn. A C  17 XV  B C XV 18 XIV The Merkatus for 3 Days The Sun in the Sign Sagittarus C C IV 19 XIII A Supper of the Priests in Honour of Cybele D C  20 XII The Horns of the Bull set E C XII 21 XI The Liberalia Lepus sets in the Morning F C I 22 X To Pluto and Proserpina G C  23 IX  H  IX 24 VIII Bruma or Brumalia for the Space of 30 Days A C  25 VII The little Dog-star sets B C XVII 26 VI  C C VI 27 V Funeral-Sacrifices to the Gauls dug up and to the Greeks in the foro boario D C  28 IV  E C XIV 29 III  F F III 30 Prid.  The CALENDAR of Julius Caesar DECEMBER Vnder the Protection of the Goddess Vesta Nundinal Letters Days Golden Number    G N XI 1 Kalen. To Fortuna Feminina H   2 IV  A  XIX 3 III  B  VIII 4 Prid. To Minerva and Neptune C F  5 Non. The Faunalia D C XVI 6 VIII The Middle of Sagittarius sets E C V 7 VII Aquila rises in the Morning F C  8 VI  G C XIII 9 V To Juno Jugalis H C II 10 IV  A NP  11 III Agonalia The 14 Halcyonian Days B EN X 12 Prid.  C NP  13 Id. The Equiria or the Horse-Races D F XVIII 14 XIX Brumalia Ambrosiana E NP VII 15 XVIII Consualia All Cancer rises in the Morning F C  16 XVII  G  XV 17 XVI The Saturnalia lasting 5 Days H C IV 18 XV Cygnus rises The Sun in the Sign Capricorn A NP  19 XIV Opaliana B C XII 20 XIII Sigillaria lasting 2 Days C NP I 21 XII Angeronalia The Divalia To Hercules and Venus with Wine mix'd with Honey D C  22 XI Compitalia Feriae dedicated to the Lares Games E NP IX 23 X The Feriae of Jupiter Larentinalia or Quarentinalia The Goat sets F C  24 IX Juvenalia Sports G C XVII 25 VIII The End of the Brumalia The Winter Solstice H C VI 26 VII  A C  27 VI To Phoebus for the Space of 3 Days The Dolphin rises in the Morning B C XIV 28 V  C F III 29 IV Aquila sets at Night D F  30 III Canicula sets at Night E F XI 31 Prid.  It was not difficult for the Romans when they were now become Masters of the World in the Time of Augustus to cause this Correction of the Calendar made by Julius Caesar to be every-where receiv'd and to introduce the Use of it among all Nations even those which were most remote at least so far as concern'd the Political Distribution of Time For this Reason the Greeks did no longer make use of a Lunar Year nor make their Intercalation of a Month and a Half to each Olympiad The Egyptians also were oblig'd to fix their Thot to the first Day of their Year which moved before through all the Seasons and to fix it for ever to a determinate Point In like manner did the Jews for they quite left off their way of intercalating of a Month in the Space of 120 Years
and afterwards obtain'd the triumph and the sirname of Creticus Appion King of Cyrene and Lybia died and by his Will bequeathed his Territories to the Roman people with the Towns of Ptolomais Cyrene and Bernice says Eutropius The Capitol was intirely rebuilt and dedicated by Quintus Catulus according to Cassiedorus The disturbances between Hircanus and Aristobulus began this year and were carried on so far that they occasion'd the destruction of Jerusalem and the servitude of the Jews as Josephus their Historian relates A. M. 3985. R. 684. L. CAECILIUS METELLUS Q. MARTIUS VATIA REX This year was imploy'd in ordering and settling the Provinces that Appion had lest by his Will to the Roman people A. M. 3986. R. 685. M. CALPURNIUS PISO M. ACILIUS GLABRIO The Pirates grew formidable upon the Miditerranean Sea Pompey was ordered to clear the Sea of them whereupon he fitted out five hundred men of war and raised sixscore thousand Foot and five thousand Horse with these Forces he cleared the Sea in forty days and by this quick Expedition he got so far into the esteem of the people that they gave him Commission to march against Mithridates and Tigrannes to the prejudice of Lucullus who having almost destroy'd them deserved the honour of making an end of that war A. M. 3987. R. 686. M. ANNIUS or AEMILIUS LEPIDUS L. MANLIUS TORQUATUS or L. JULIUS TULLUS A. M. 3988. R. 687. L. AURELIUS COTTA L. MANLIUS TORQUATUS A. M. 3989. R. 688. P. JULIUS CAESAR Q. MARTIUS Salustius adds the sirname of Figulinus to that of Martius During these three Consulates Pompey carried on the war against Mithridates and kill'd forty thousand of his Men having lost himself but twenty Soldiers The reason they give of this great disproportion is that they engag'd in the night and the Roman Soldiers had the Moon behind them So that their shadow being carried near the Enemies the Enemies blows could do them no harm This Battle was fought in Asia Minor Mithridates escap'd with two men only and Hipsicratea one of his Wives A while after his own Son having rebelled against him he killed himself out of grief After his death Pompey entred the Territories of Tigrannes and incamp'd within sixteen miles from Artaxates his Capital City Tigrannes being weakned by so many losses and fearing the Army of Pompey came to him and laid down his Diadem at his feet Pompey took it up and gave it to him again and contented himself with some Provinces of his Kingdom with the best part of his Treasures which he yielded to the Roman people Pompey came a while after into Judea and inquired into the Quarrel between Hircanus and Aristobulus upon pretence of being Mediator between them Aristobulus to shew how far he trusted him put all his strong places into his hands and made him several rich presents and among other a fine golden Vine a very curious piece of work but he was deceived in the protection he expected from Pompey Therefore he armed what forces he could and got into Jerusalem Pompey pitch'd his Camp at the very Gates of it and carried on the siege vigorously Aristobulus to prevent the ruin of Jerusalem came out to surrender himself to Pompey but while the Roman General was flattering this Prince with hopes Gabinius his Lieutenant got into the place and after a slender resistance they open'd the Gates to Pompey The faction of Aristobulus got into the Temple being resolved to defend themselves but Pompey besieged them and took them after a siege of three months The Holy Temple was prophan'd not only by the uncircumcis'd Nations that enter'd it but also by the slaughter of the Jewish Priests who were promiscuously killed with the Victims Hircanus was made high Priest but was deprived of the Royalty Pompey left the Treasure of the Sanctuary untouch'd A. M. 3990. R. 689. M. TULLIUS CICERO M. ANTONIUS The City of Jerusalem was taken during their Consulate Catiline began his seditious practices Cicero quell'd this dangerous Conspiracy at its very beginning having order'd such as were guilty to be put to death and obliged Catiline to quit the City Cato who was Tribune of the people and bore a hatred to Julius Caesar because he had an amorous Intreague with Porcia his Sister would have his name set down in the number of the Conspiracy but he put himself under the protection of the people Catilline at his going out of Rome caus'd the bundle of Rods to be carried before him as if he had been Consul and with this state he got at the head of twenty thousand men that Manlius had privately rais'd Antonius assembled quickly an Army and pursued Catiline with the utmost diligence that he might have no time to encrease his Forces and overtook him in the plain of Pistois where he engaged him The Fight was very bloody but the greatest part of the Conspirators was killed with Catiline himself Scaurus made war against the Arabians without any other design than that he might have an opportunity to plunder the rich Town of Petra the chief City of their States but he took so ill measures that his Army would have starved had not Hircanus the High Priest of the Jews relieved them Hircanus afterwards became Mediator of the Peace between Aretas King of the Arabians and the Romans and the siege of Petra was raised upon condition of paying three hundred Talents to Soaurus for the charges of the war M. Otho or Roscius Otho then Praetor procured a Law by which it was order'd that the Equestrian Order should have a distinct place at the Theater from that of the people A. M. 3991. R. 690. DECIUS JUNIUS SYLLANUS L. LICINIUS MURENA Pompey triumph'd for several days together viz. over the Pirates over the Kings Mithridates Tigrannes and Aristobulus The Sons of Mithridates and Tigrannes and Aristobulus himself followed the triumphal Chariot A. M. 3992. R. 691. M. PAPYRIUS or M. CALPURNIUS PISO M. VALERIUS MESSALA Cutiline was killed this year according to Cassiodorus but his opinion does not seem probable for Salustus expresly observes that this Conspiracy began in June during the Consulate of Caesar and Martius Besides 't is undeniable that Anthony commanded the forces of the Commonwealth when Catiline was defeated A. M. 3993. R. 692. Q. CAECILIUS METELLUS CELER L. AFRANIUS Caesar asked the Consulates and making interest for it reconciled Crassus and Pompey and married his Daughter Julia to Pompey A. M. 3994. R. 693. C. JULIUS CAESAR M. CALPURNIUS BIBULUS As soon as Caesar was made Consul he proposed the Agrarian Law Bibulus vigorously opposed these novelties but it was to no purpose for his Colleague carried every thing and also abused him in his person causing the Fasces that were carried before Bibulus to be broke in the presence of Bibulus himself Bibulus durst not appear any more after so great an affront and shut up himself in his own house causing his oppositions to be posted up by night wherefore the people seeing him
opinion were the Sons of Faunus King of the Alorigines in Italy They were represented with small Horns on their Head and pointed Ears and the rest of their Bodies like Goats The Country People worshipp'd them and offered them Goats in Sacrifice These Demi-Gods were only the Gods of the Latins and were unknown to the Greeks FAVONIUS The West-wind that blows from the Equinoxial Line of the West i. e. from that place where the Sun sets in the time of the Vernal Equinox The Greeks call it Zephirus i. e. bringing life because it revives and renews Nature in the Spring FAUSTA Sister to the Emperor Maxentius and second Wife to Constantine the Great She fell in love with Crispu her Son-in-Law and accused him of having attempted her Virtue because he refused to yeild to her impure desires The Emperor provoked to anger put him to death without inquiring any further after the accusation of his Wife But a while after the Imposture being discovered Constantine ordered her to be smothered in a hot Bath FAUSTINA The Wife of Marcus Aurelius who taking occasion from her Husband's kindness to lead a lewd life Her Husband prudently winked at it yet he cannot be excused for raising to the greatest Imployments in the Empire those who defiled his Bed Whereupon the People passed many Jeers upon him And those who were zealous for the service of their false Gods were asham'd to see Faustina the lewdest of all women rank'd amongst the Divinities served by Priests and worshipped in a particular Temple like Pallas who was accounted a Virgin FAUSTULUS Numitor's Shepherd who saved Remus and Romulus two Children of Rhea the Vestal whom Amulius her Father had exposed on the River Tyber and brought them to Acca Laurentia his Wife who brought them up secretly FEBRIS A Fever an Ague a Disease proceeding from an excess of heat and drowth in the blood and humours which communicates it self from the Heart to the whole Body through the Veins and Arteries and is known by a violent beating of the Pulse The Romans put her among their Divinities and built her a Temple Poets banish'd the Diseases into Hell as Virgil has done Primis in faucibus Orci Pallentes habitant Morbi But the ignorant People place them among the Divinities Clemens of Alexandria speaks thus of them The Romans offered Sacrifices to Hercules the Fly-driver the Fever and Fear Romani Herculi muscarum depulsori Febri at Pavori sacrificant And St Austin says that Felicity is received among the Divinities and joined with Priapus Cloacina Fear Paleness Fever and many others that cannot be adored without Crime Whereupon Lactantius tells us that 't is a strange depravation to confound these Gods and Evils together though they pretend that some Gods are honoured for help and others are respected lest they should do harm FEBRUA A Goddess who presided over women's Terms This word is derived from the Latin word Februa i. e. to purify to purge FEBRUARIUS February the second Month of the Year under the protection of Neptune This Month is not found in the Calendar of Romulus the Year being then composed but of ten Months only but during the reign of Numa Pompilius the Calendar was reformed for the first time Numa had discoursed very particularly with Pythagoras concerning Astronomy and made use of what he had learn'd of him to make this reformation and followed very near the order kept then by the Greeks for the distribution of time Yet the common Years of the Greeks were but of 354 days however Numa made up his Year of 355 days that it might be an odd number out of a superstition of the Egyptians who accounted even numbers to be fatal Wherefore he took a day out of each of these six Months April June Sextilis September November and December that Romulus had made up of 30 days that they might be but 29 leaving to the other Months the 31 days they had before Then adding these six days to 51 which was wanting to the Year of Romulus which was 304 days to make up his Year 355 days he made 57 days of them which he divided in two other Months and placed them before the Month of March viz. January of 29 days and February of 28. He did not much matter that the number of days of this last Month was even because it was appointed for the Sacrifices that were offered to the Infernal Gods to whom this fatal number seem'd agreeable He called this Month Februarius because of the God Februus who presided over the Purifications or because of Juno sirnamed Februa Februata or Februalis for in this Month the Lupercalia were celebrated in honour of her where the Women were purified by the Priests of Pan Lycaeus called Lupercals And to make this more establish'd and perpetual Numa made use of the 45 intercalar days of the Greeks and distributed them every two Years and at the end of the two first Years there was a Month of 22 days set before the Feast called Terminalia which was kept the sixth of the Kalends of March i. e. the 24th of February and after the two other Years the three and twenty remaining days were set at the same day so that in the space of four Years the whole intercalation of 45 days was made and was even with that which was practiced by the Greeks in their Olympiades This interposed Month every two Years was called by the Romans Mercedonius or Februarius intercalaris See Annus At the Calends or the first day of this Month was kept the Feast of June Sospit who had a Temple on Mount Palatine near the Temple of the Grand-mother of the Gods The same day was solemniz'd the Feast of the Wood of Refuge called Lucaria which Romulus had instituted that he might People his new Town And that day they sacrificed in the Temples of Vesta and Jupiter sirnamed the Thunderera to whom a Sheep of two years old was sacrificed in the Capitol This day there were also Sacrifices offered to the dumb Goddess or the Goddess of Silence See Muta Dea. There was still upon this day another Ceremony observed called Charistia because all the Kindred of the same Family having the foregoing days perform'd the Service for the dead made among themselves a Banquet of Charity whereby they put an end to all Disputes and Controversies that might be amongst them As we learn from Valerius Maximus lib. 2. c. 1. Convivium etiam solemne Majores instituerunt idque Charistiam appellaverunt cui praeter cognatos affines nemo interponebatur ut si quae inter necessarias personas querela esset erta inter sacra mensae tolleretur On the 21 or the 22 was kept the Feast of the Bounds called Terminalia in honour of Terminus the God of Bounds The Ceremony of this Feast was performed in the Country upon Stones used for Bounds and were accounted by them as so many Gods they offered them some Wheat Cakes with the first Fruits of
Temple to Jupiter Feretrius FERIAE Holy-days when People rested from labour from the Verb feriari i. e. to rest to cease from work for the Feriae of the Ancients were Festival-days Now the Church marks the days of the Week by the word Feria secunda feria tertia c. tho' these days are not Holy-days but working-days the occasion thereof was that the first Christians to shew their Joy at the celebrating of Easter were used to keep the whole Week holy and forbear from all servile work that they might give themselves wholly to the contemplation of the Mysteries contained therein wherefore they called the Sunday the first Holy-day the Monday the second Holy-day the Tuesday the third Holy-day and so forth and from thence the days of every week were afterwards called Feriae in the common Language of the Church tho' they are not to be kept Holy The Romans had two kinds of Feriae the publick Feriae common to all the People in general and the private Feriae which were only kept by some private Families The publick Feriae were four-fold Stativae unmoveable and Holy-days Imperativae commanded Conceptivae moveable Nundinae days for keeping Fairs Stativae Feriae were set Holy-days mark'd in the Calendar which always fell out upon the same day the three chiefest thereof were Agonalia Carmentalia and Lupercalia I shall give an account of them in their order Conceptivae were Holy-days appointed every Year upon uncertain days according to the Pontiffs will such were Feriae Latinae Paganales Sementinae and Compitales Imperativae commanded or extraordinary Holy-days kept according as the occasions of the Commonwealth required either to give thanks to the Gods for some extraordinary Favours or to pacific their Wrath and pray to them to keep the People from publick misfortunes Unto these kind of Holy-days the Processions Games Lectisternium or the Bed of the Gods may be referred Nundinae days for Fairs and extraordinary Markets Before Flavius made the Calendar publick the unmoveable Feasts were publish'd by the Curio's who waited the Nones of each Month upon the King of Sacrifices to know what Holy-days were to be kept that Month and then acquainted each Parish with the same And this was still practiced after the publishing of the Calendar As for the Ferae conceptivae and imperativae they were published in the publick places by a Herald in these words Lavatio Deûm Matris est hodie Jovis epulum cras est and the like And these Holy-days were so religiously kept that the opinion of the Pontiff Mutius Scaevola was says Macrobius that the breaking of a Holy-day was unpardonable unless Men had done it out of inadvertency and in this case they were acquitted by sacrificing a Hog FERIAE LATINAE The Latin Holyday Some Writers say that the Consuls Sp. Cassius and Posthumius Caminius instituted these Holy-days by a Treaty that they made with the Latius in the name of the Senate and the Roman People But Dionysius Hallicarnasseus and almost all the Writers tell us that Tarquinius Supurbus instituted them and that having overcome the Tuscans he made a league with the Latins and proposed them to build a Temple in common to Jupiter sirnamed Latialis where both Nations might meet every Year and offer Sacrifice for their common Conservation Wherefore they chose Mount Albanus as the center of these Nations to build there a Temple and instituted a yearly Sacrifice and a great Feast in common and among their Rejoycings they swore a mutual and eternal Friendship Each Town of both Latins and Romans provided a certain quantity of Meat Wine and Fruits for the Feast A white Bull was sacrificed in common and the Inhabitants of every Town carried home a piece thereof When this Ceremony was at first instituted it held but one day but after the Kings were expell'd out of Rome the People demanded that another day might be added to it afterwards the Senate added a third day a fourth and so on till they came to ten days After the Expulsion of Kings the Consuls appointed a time for the celebrating of this Feast during which the People left the guard of the City to a Governor called Praefectus Urbis While this Feast was celebrated on Mount Albanus there were Chariot-Races at the Capitol and the Conqueror was treated with a great draught of Wormwood-drink which is very wholsom as Pliny says Laâ—norum feriis quadrigae certant in Capitolio victorque absynthium bibit credo sanitatem praemio dari homorificè FERONIA A Goddess of the Woods and Orchards This Divinity took her name from the Town of Feronia scituated at the foot of Mount Soracte in Italy where a Wood and a Temple were consecrated to her 'T is said that the Town and the Wood having both taken fire whereupon the People carrying away the Statue of the Goddess the Wood grew green again Strabo relates that the Men who offered her Sacrifices walked bare-footed upon burning Coals without burning themselves She was honoured by freed-men as their Protectrefs because they received in her Temple the Cap that was the Token of their Liberty FESTUM and FESTA Holy-days The Romans kept many Feasts as it appears by their Calendar We shall speak of them according to their Alphabetick Order They were very careful of observing Feasts and during that time they did forbear to work Tibellus tells us that the Romans abstain from working upon the days of Expiations and Lustrations of the Fields Quisquis adest faveat fruges lustramus agros ...... Omnia sint operata Deo non audeat ulla Lanificam pensis imposuisse manum These words express the true end of ceasing from work to employ themselves to the service of the Gods and Religious Duties 'T is not certain if Plâ—â—ghmen rested from all kind of work during the Holy-days Virgil relates many exercises and other small things that Men were allowed to do in Holy-days Quippe etiam festis quaedam exercere diebus Fas jura sinunt Rivos deducere nulla Relligio vetuit segeti praetendere sepem Insidias avibus moliri incendere vepres Balantumque gregem fluvio mersare salubri Saepè oleo tardi costas agitator aselli Vilibus aut onerat ' pomis Georg. lib. 1. v. 270. as to make Drains to drain the water inclose a Field with Hedges laying snares for Birds set Thorns on fire wash a Flock in the River and load an Ass with Fruits These works were not disagreeable to the celebrating of the Holy-days And yet working was not left to the liberty or humours of Men's fancy but were regulated by the Laws and Ordinances of the Pontiffs who ruled matters of Religion They were so exact in keeping Holy-days that the following day was accounted a day of bad Omen to undertake any thing Wherefore the Romans and the Greeks have consecrated the next day after the Holy-days to the Genij or the dead And they were so careful of ceasing from work that the keeping of their
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
and forbad them to eat any flesh of swine because they were subject to leprosy He instituted many fasting days in remembrance of the hunger they had suffered in their Travel and ordained unleavened bread for a token that they had lived upon rapine And ordered them to keep the seventh day holy because upon that day they had made an end of their labours but as men are inclined to idleness they keep also holy the seventh year Some Writers tell us that it is an honour rendered to Saturn with whom they were driven out of Candia or because they revere his Planet which is the highest and most large of all besides that most part of the celestial bodies observe the number of seven in their course and influences But by what means sooner this Religion was introduced 't is certain that it is more ancient than any other Religion whatever These Jews never dwell nor eat with any men but those of their own Religion and abstain from foreign women tho they are much given to luxury They have invented circumcision for a distinction from other nations and those who embrace their Religion are tied to the observation of that ceremony They bury their dead standing after the example of the Egyptians instead of burning them like other Nations and have the same opinion as the Egyptians concerning Hell but have quite another belief concerning the Diety For the Egyptians adore several animals under different shapes but the Jews adore but one God in Spirit accounting all those Idolaters who represent him like a man that they believe he is eternal and immutable and will not suffer any image neither in their City nor in their Temple Some fancied that they adored Bacchus the conqueror of the East because a Golden Vine was found in their Temple and that their Priests did beat the Drum and played upon the Flute and are crowned with Ivy but their ceremonies are quite different from those of Bacchus which are attended by mirth feastings and rejoycing for the ceremonies of the Jews are filthy and absurd This whole discourse of Tacitus is contrary to the holy Scripture in the main circumstances as 't is easily observed for this Nation ador'd the true God and came out of Egypt by his own order under the conduct of Moses who performed several Miracles to oblige Pharoah to let them go into the Desert and Moses got the Waters to come out of the Rock with his mystical Rod and God gave to this Nation whom he had chosen to himself a Land abounding in all kinds of wealth which is Palestina or Judea as he had promised to their Fore-Fathers Tacitus reports also that this Nation have Arabia on the East Egypt on the South Syria on the North and Phaenicia and the Sea on the West Their Bodies are healthy and strong their Country very plentiful tho they have but little rainy weather and bears the same things that grow in Italy and besides that the Palm-tree and the Balsome-tree the first of these Trees is great and fine the other small but of great use in Physick when its Branches are full of moisture they make an incision therein with a Stone or Potsherd for it abhors Iron and distils a most precious Liquor The chiefest Mountain of that Country is Libanus always green and covered with Snow in very hot weather which is a miracle of Nature There is the Spring of the River Jordan which running through two Lakes loses it self in the third which is as large as a Sea but of a very bad taste and a pestiferous smell Its Waters are not agitated by the Winds and neither River Birds nor Fishes can endure it whatsoever is cast into it floats over and Men who can't swim never sink under its Waters however no Man knows the cause of this wonder At certain times it casts forth Bitumen which experience has taught Men to gather like other things 't is a black Liquor which is congeal'd by Vinegar and floats over water The manner of loading Ships with it is to draw it up the sides of the Ship just to the Deck and so it will follow successively and run down if not interrupted into the Hole 'T is thus reported by the Ancients but the Inhabitants of the Country assure us that Bitumen is gathered by heaps is either 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 being thus grown hard 't is cut like stone or wood Near this Lake are those fruitful and well peopled Plains the Cities of Sodom and Gomorrha which were consumed by Fire 'T is said that the marks of the wrath of Heaven remains there still and that the Earth is burnt and has not strength to produce any thing That all that grows or is planted there either bearing Blossom or Fruit grows black and is turned into ashes which is caus'd according to my opinion by the corruption of the air and earth occasioned by the neighbouring Lake notwithstanding I do not deny that the fire of Heaven might have destroyed whole Cities The River Belus disembogues itself into the Sea of Judaea and at its mouth they take up Sand with which they make Glass by mixing Niter with it and tho the River be but a very small one yet it is never exhausted This Country has many Villages and few Cities whereof Jerusalem is the chiefest and is encompass'd by three walls the first incloses the City the second the Palace and the third the Temple which is a very stately building and which might serve for a Cittadel The Jews are not allowed to go further than into a Gate thereof and the Priests only are permitted to go into it This people was always despised by other Nations first by the Assyrians then the Medes and Persians but under the Macedonians Antiochus attempted in vain to govern them by taking away their superstition and introducing the Greek customs amongst them for he was prevented in his design by the rebellion of the Parthians Wherefore they took opportunity by the falling of this Empire and the rising of the Empire of the Arsacides to elect their own Kings to govern them Pompey was the first of the Romans who conquer'd Judea and enter'd the Temple by the right of Conquest and ordered that the Walls of the City should be pulled down but he preserved the Temple and all that was therein JUGATINUS A God presiding over Marriages at the conjunction of Husband and Wife JUGERUM An Acre of ground so much as a yoke of Oxen will plough in a day it contains in length 240 foot in breadth 120 as Quintilian says JUGUM A Yoke a piece of Timber made use of to joyn two Oxen together to draw a Plough or a Cart. The Romans ordered the enemies whom they had overcome to pass under the yoke which was accounted to be a great disgrace that is to say that they pass'd under a kind of a
Strabo in his 10th Book will have them to have been thus named from a Mountain in Thrace called Libethrus at the Foot whereof there stood a Temple dedicated to the Muses by the Thracians LIBITINA this was a Goddess believed by the Ancients to preside over Funerals Some consound her with Proserpina others with Venus the Moon as well as the Sun preside over Nativities and Funerals as the general Cause of the Generation and Corruption of all Things and she has received all these Names and Offices for her self alone as Plutarch has it in the Life of Numa In her Temple they kept all Things that were requisite for Funeral Solemnities whence it is that Phoedra reproaches a Miser for cutting off by his Will all the Charges which should have been expended at his Funeral for fear lest the Goddess Libitina should get any Thing by his Death Qui resecas omnem impensam Funeris Ne quid de tuo Libitina lucretur Those Persons whose Business it was to furnish them with what was necessary for that Purpose were called Libitinarii according to Vlpian and at this Day they are known with us by the Name of Vndertakers LIBRA the Ballance is one of the Twelve Signs of the Zodiac when the Sun comes to the Eighth Degree of Libra it marks the Autumnal Equinox because it forms Arches equal to those it did before in Taurus it enters therein in the Month of September on our 7th or 12th LIBRA a Pound 'T is a Measure of Weight in respect to all heavy Things that are weighed the Romans allowed but Twelve Ounces to a Pound Weight and to a Pound of Length-Measure The Weights of a Pound were borrowed by the Romans from the Sicilians who named it Litra and the Romans changed the t into b. The Romans had also a sort of Money which they called Libra or Libella and was the Tenth part of a Denarius because 't was the Value of an As which at first was a Pound Weight of Copper Scaliger also adds that they made use of the Word Libra for Money told out Libra non erat nummus sed Collectio Nummorum LICHAS Hercules his Servant by whom Deianira his Wife sent him the Shirt that was infected with the Blood of the Centaur Nessus which Poison made Hercules so outragious that he threw Lichas into the Seas and he was transformed by Neptune into a Rock LICTORES Lictors or Ax-Bearers they were so called because they carried the Axes which were fastned to a long Handle and encompassed with a Bundle of Rods called Fasces or Secures Romulus was the first that made use of them with a Design to inspire the People with a greater Reverence for their Magistrates The Dictators had Twenty Four Lictors who walked before them the Consuls Twelve the Pro-Consuls and Governours of Provinces Six the Praetors and City Magistrates Two only They also punished such Offenders as were surprized in the Fact at the first Command they received from the Magistrates J. Lictor Colliga manus expedi virgas plecte securi They were ready to undo their Bundle of Rods whether it were to whip or to cut off the Head of the condemned Offender They were thus called a Ligando because they bound the Hands and Feet of the condemned Person before his Execution LIMENARCHAE or Stationarii They were Soldiers posted by the Romans in divers Places to prevent Disorders and especially High-way-men and Robbers upon the High-ways as the Grand Provosts are in France at this Day They were appointed by Augustus after the End of the Civil War to hinder the Soldiers that had been disbanded from ravaging Italy Tiberius increased their Number as Suetonius in the Life of the said Emperor informs us The Chief of these Soldiers was called Irenarcha that is The Prince of the Peace because he was instrumental to secure the Peace and Tranquility of the Publick LINGUA Tongue Speech they are certain Expressions which People have conceived to make one another to be understood The Original of Languages came from the Confusion wherewith God punished the Pride of those who built the Tower of Babel the Hebrew Tongue is the ancientest Language and is called the Holy Language and the Rabbins say 't is so because 't is so pure and chaste that there is no Word therein for the Privy Parts nor for that whereby we ease Nature there is a Difference between the Hebrew without Points and that wherein the Vowels are noted by Points Father Morin pretends in Opposition to the Modern Rabbis that Moses wrote without Points and without the Distinction of Words Vossius maintains that besides the Books of Scripture in the Time even of St. Jerome there was no other Book in Hebrew but only in the Greek Tongue and that it was not before Justinian's Reign that they began to appear The Reason which he gives for it is that the said Emperor having by an Edict forbidden the Jews to Read the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or their Traditions in their Synagogues they bethought themselves of Translating it into their own Language and this Book says he was called Misna The Points in the Hebrew Tongue were not invented to signifie the Vowels by till towards the Tenth Century by the Massaretes The Punic Tongue according to the Authority of William Postell was no other than the Phaenician which he compares with the Hebrew from whence it proceeded together with the Caldaean and Syriack The Arabick Tongue is the most Copious of all the Languages and the Arabs say they are as Ancient as the Hebrews as pretending their Descent to have been from Ismael Their Ingenuity and Language have been much commended Their ancient Writings have almost all the Letters joined together but one Elcabil was necessitated to invent and introduce the Points into their Language for the easier reading of Arabick Some of them they place above and others below the Words Kinslenius in his Epistle Dedicatory to the Emperor Rodolphus speaking of this Costom seems to be of Opinion that the Arabs did not admit of these Points into their Writings till such time as they had Commerce with the People of Europe The Ancient Arabick Character was called Cuphick The most Ancient is the thickest and largest the other being less both ways That which the Tartars make use of at this Day appears closer smaller and more bended than the others The Egyptian Language had the Forms of Animals in it being mysterious Symbols that served to conceal and involve in Obscurity all the Secrets of their Theology They called them Hieroglyphicks And many Obelisks or Tombs are still to be found inscribed with such Characters and Hieroglyphical Figures the Words of this Language express the Nature and Propriety of all Things The Coptick which was the Language of Egypt before the Greek is a singular Tongue and independent of all others according to the Opinion of Kircher Salmasius says That the Word Coptick comes from a Town called Coptos whose Inhabitants had
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
The Daughters having performed his Command I went in eat and drank with him and then with all Submission entreated him to give me his Daughter Sephora to Wife which he promised to do provided I could bring to him a Rod which was in his Garden to which I agreed went to see for the Rod and when I found it I plucked it out of the Ground and carried it to him Jethro was surprized hereat and reflecting upon what I had done he cried out and said This is certainly that Prophet of whom the Seers of Israel have spoken who is to lay Egypt waste and to destroy its People and being thus possest he all in a Rage took me and threw me into a deep Pit that was in his Garden Sephora was not a little concerned at this Adventure no more than my self and she studied at the same time how she might save a Man's Life who had obliged her Hereupon she prayed her Father that he would let her tarry at home to look after the House and send her Sisters to the Fields to keep his Cattle Her Father in answer told her Daughter It shall be so that thy Sisters shall go and look after the Cattle but thou shalt tarry here and take Care of Matters at home Thus Sephora finding her self alone she fed me every Day with the daintiest Victuals and the same whereof her Father Jethro eat and that for Seven Years which was the time I tarried in the said Pit But at the End of that time Sephora spoke to her Father in this manner Father 'T is a long time since you have thrown into this Ditch that Egyptian who brought the Rod to you from the Place in the Garden wherein you had put it suffer now the Pit to be opened and let us see what will come of it for if he be dead let his Carcase be taken away that your House may not be polluted and if he be still alive he must be a holy Man Jethro made answer Daughter You have spoke well Can you still remember what his Name was Yes Father said she his Name was Moses the Son of Amram Jethro at the same time commanded the Pit to be opened and called me twice Moses Moses I answered him and presently he took me out kissed and told me Blessed be God who hath preserved thee for Seven Years in this Pit I bear him witness this Day that he has Power to kill and Power to make alive I will testifie aloud and every-where that thou art a right good Man that thou shalt one Day lay Egypt waste that thou art the Person who shall drown the Egyptians in the Sea and by thy means Pharaoh and his Army shall run the same Fate And at the same time he gave me Money and Sephora his Daughter to Wife Abarbinel a Jewish Doctor whose Works are highly esteemed by that People commenting upon the 2d Chapter of Exodus explains that History in this manner After Moses had been entertained by Jethro and that he came to know him to be a Man of much Understanding and deep Knowledge he was desirous to enter into a nearer and more particular Alliance with him because of the great Wisdom he had observed in his Conversation and gave his Consent he should live with him And this is that which Moses says in Exodus And Moses consented to live with Jethro not for the Love he bore to Sephora whom he married but because of Jetbro's Wisdom It is says he the Opinion of our Doctors since they say in the Commentary that the Rod of God was planted in the Garden and that no Man could pull it from thence but Moses and that for the said Reason he took Sephora to Wife for by it they meant the Tree of Life which was in the midst of the Garden that is the Wisdom of Moses upon the Account of which he was honoured with the Gift of Prophecy Jetbro gave also to Moses his Daughter Sephora to Wife by reason of his wondrous Wisdom Moses lead the People of God into the Wilderness and talked divers times with God He died upon Mount Nebo from whence God had shewed him the Land of Promise he being then 120 Years old The Pagans made him to be their Bacchus as you may see under that Word Numerinus says Plato and Pythagoras had drawn their Doctrine out of his Books and that the first of them was the Moses of Athens He is ancienter than all the Greek Writers and even than their Mercurius Trismegistus Tatian who was one of those Ancients that Apologized for the Christian Religion against the Persecutions of the first Centuries tell us That Moses was before the Heroes and even the Gods themselves of the Greeks and that the Grecians wrote nothing good but what they took from our Scriptures and that their Defign by partly corrupting them was no other than that themselves might be entituled Authors Theodoretus says Moses was ancienter by a Thousand Years than Orpheus and that he was like the Ocean or Head-spring of Theology from whence they took their Origin as so many Streams and whereunto the most ancient Philosophers had Recourse The Learned are agreed that the Two ancientest Writers of the World whose Writings are transmitted unto us are Moses and Homer and that Moses lived several Ages before the other Moses wrote much in Verse and in the Book of Numbers he has set down a Canaanitish Poet's Song of Victory MULCIBER one of the Names given to Vulcan being derived from Mulceo because the Fire softens and qualifies all Things MUNDUS PATENS The open World a Solemnity performed in a little Temple or Chappel that was of a round Form like the World and dedicated to Dis and the Infernal Gods it was opened but thrice a Year viz. on the Day after the Vulcanalia the 4th of October and the 7th of the Ides of November during which Days the Romans believed Hell was open wherefore they never offered Battle on those Days lifted no Soldiers never put out to Sea nor married according to Varro as Macrobius witnesses L. Saturn C. 16. Mundus cùm patet Deorum tristium atque Inferûm quasi janua patet proptereà non modò pralium committ◠verum etiam delectum rei militaris cansâ habere ac militem proficisci navem solvere uxorem ducere religiosum est MURTIA a Surname of Venus taken from the Myrtle-Tree which was consecrated to her She was formerly called Myrtea and corruptly Murtia Festus says there was a Temple built for the Goddess Murtia upon Mount Aventine as to a Goddess of Idleness who made People idle and lazy MUS a Rat Mouse the Phrygians held Rats in great Veneration according to Clemens Alexandrinus Polemo relates says he that the Trojans gave Religious Adoration to Rats which they called Smintheus because they once gnawed to pieces the Bow-strings of their Enemies and this was the Reason why they gave to Apollo the Epithet of Smyntheus And Straho speaking of the
in respect to us The West of the Summer is that Point of the Horizon where the Sun sets when 't is in the Tropick of Cancer the West of the Winter is that where the Son sets when 't is in the Tropick of Capricorn and this happens when the Sun comes to the Points of the Solstices each of them is 23 Degrees and an half distant from the true Point of the West OCEANUS the Ocean is that main Sea which surrounds all the Earth this Name if we believe Hesychius comes from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which was the old Name thereof and 't is very likely proceeded from that Hebrew Word Choug or Houg that signifies a Circle because it goes round the Earth This Word Houg is in Scripture often to be met with in this Sence or if you will 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 comes from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because of the Swiftness of its Motion Homer in his Iliads makes Oceanus to be the Father of the Gods and Tethys their Mother 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This Opinion may have had its Origin from that Text in Genesis where the Chaos seems to be represented like unto the Confusion of the Waters before God reduced them into order and made a Distinction between them In this Sence the Ocean and Tethys that is that Abyss which comprehended the Heavens and the Earth as an immense Quantity of Waters before the same were separated by the Distribution made of the Chaos this Abyss I say might be called the Father and Mother of all the great Bodies of which Nature was composed and which bore the Name of Gods among the Heathens And where Plato says that Oceanus was begotten of Caelum and Tethys he means nothing else but the Ocean that was separated from the Heavens and the Earth as it was upon the Reduction of the Chaos into order The innumerable Multitude of Petty Deities that preside over the Waters whether they be Fountains Lakes Rivers or Seas might very well be the Occasion of giving unto the Ocean the Quality of the Father of the Gods But in the main this vast Number of Water-Gods and their Genealogy signifies no more than the Distribution of the Waters of the Ocean which is done throughout all the Earth and which by its Vapours or Subterranean Conduits supplies all Fountains Lakes and Rivers insomuch that 't is nothing but the Element of Water and the Ocean that is continually animated by the Soul of the Universe which makes its Divinity according to the Language of the Heathens Virgil in his Georgicks sacrificed to the Ocean Oceano libemus ait And he brings in Aeneas sacrificing a Bull to the Gods of the Sea Justine relates that when Alexander had subdued and passed thro' Asia as far as the Ocean he offered Sacrifice and pray'd him to grant him an happy Return into Greece Oceano libamina dedit prosperum in patriam reditum precatus Diodorus Siculus says that the Ancients gave the Name of Ocean to Moisture or the Liquid Element which is as it were the Nutriment and consequently the Mother of all Things and that this is the Meaning of the Verse before cited out of Homer and to clear the Thing fully we may add what he says elsewhere concerning Jupiter and the other Gods or Stars that they went to Oceanus Habitation to be entertained at a great Feast by him Diodorus has said Oceanus and Tethys were the Nutriment of all Things and Macrobius explains this Feasting of the Gods at Oceanus his House by the Vapours of the Sea wherewith the Stars were nourish'd and whereof they stood in need for the Qualifying of their Heat significans bauriri de bumore allmenta sideribus This was an Opinion commonly entertained by a great many of the Ancient Fathers of the Church who gave a Literal Explication of the Waters which in Scripture are placed above the Firmament and believed there was a great Quantity of Water above the Region of the fixed Stars to allay the Heat of those Coelestial Fires and hinder them from burning the World Tho' this Idea may seem odd yet 't is certain the same is very agreeable to Truth if it be cosidered that the Stars being fiery Globes of an incredible Bigness as well as the Sun it was requisite to separate them from each other by very great Spaces filled with Air and some Liquid Matter wherewith to allay their Heat and make them more tollerable which in their own Natures were combustible but 't is no great Matter if the Name of Air or Water has been given to this Liquid Substance wherein as I may say all these Globes or Luminaries such as the Stars are or dark Bodies as the Planets and Earth do swim Eusebius gives us the Words of Porphyrie who applies the Fable of the Poets in this Case entirely to the Coelestial or Elementary Bodies and who says that the Ocean was of a Liquid Nature in general that Tethys was the Symbol thereof that Achelous was drinkable Water Neptune the Sea-water that by Amphitrite was meant such Waters as are the Principle of Generation Lastly That the Nymphs and Nereides were such particular Waters as are either sweet or salt OCTAVIUS CAESAR surnamed AUGUSTUS See Augustus OCTOBER the Month of October being the 8th Month of the Year in Romulus his Calender and 10th in that of Numa has always retained its first Name in spight of all the different Names the Senate and Roman Emperors would have given it For the Senate ordered that this Month should be called Faustinus in Honour of Faustina the Wife of Antoninus the Emperor Commodus would have had it bear the Name of Invictus and Domitian made it be called Domitianus according to his own Name This Month was under the Protection of Mars On the 4th Day of it was celebrated the Solemnity of Mundus Patens See Mundus Patens On the 12th an Altar was dedicated to Fortune entituled Fortunae Reduci to flatter Augustus at his Return to Rome after he had pacified Sicily Greece Syria Asia and Parthia On the 13th was kept the Feast of Fountains called Fontinalia 15th they sacrificed a Horse to Mars called October equus 19th was celebrated the Feast called Armilustrium in the Armies 28th and following Days the Plays of Victory were performed which Sylla instituted Towards the End of the Month the Vortumnalia and Sarmatian Games were celebrated OCTOBER EQUUS an Horse which was sacrificed to Mars in the Month of October there was then a Race run with Chariots drawn each by 2 Horses and he that run quickest was sacrificed to Mars Plutarch gives Two Reasons for this Ceremony the first was to punish the Horse for the Taking of Troy the second because the Horse was a Martial Creature and ought to be offered in Sacrifice to the God of War OCULARIA Spectacles it s not believed that Spectacles were known to the Ancient Greek and Latin Poets for it would be very strange if they had had any knowledge
of Vesta that is in the Entry and before the perpecual Fire of the Houshold-Gods PENELOPE the Daughter of Icarus the Iacedamonian and of Periboea It s said this Name was given her from certain Birds called Penelopes or Turkeys and that she was named Arnea i. e. disowned and rejected from the Verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to Reject For her Father understanding by the Oracle that his Wife Periboea should bear a Daughter which should one Day be a Shame to her Sex he caused her to be exposed upon the Water shut up in a Chest but the said Birds hearing the Cries made by the Infant they drove the Chest ashoar with their Wings and having opened it with their Beaks they fed her for some time She was Vlysses his Wife and a Model of Chastity and Faithfulness to her Husband for Vlysses having been absent Twenty Years she was courted by several Princes who were taken with her Beauty but she to disengage her self from their Importunities put off her second Marriage till such time as she had finished a piece of Linnen-Cloth which she had begun and she cunningly undid in the Night what she wrought in the Day and so she continued in this State till Vlysses his Return who entring into his own House disguised like a Peasant killed them all Hereupon you may observe the different Opinions that have been entertained of Penelope Some that is to say Homer and many others who followed him have represented her as a Model of Chastity while others the Chief of whom are Duris the Samian Tzetzes Pausanias and Horace have taken her for a loose Woman and a Prostitute However the same Pausanias in his Laconica says that her Father Icarus erected a Statue of Chastity Thirty Spartan Stadia's high in memory of the Conjugal Chastity of his Daughter Penelope who had rather being left to her Choice to follow her Husband to Ithaca than to tarry with her Father at Laâ—aedemon PENTHEUS the Son of Echion and Agave who because he ridiculed the Festivals of Bacchus called Orgia and would have them reputed Follies and â—xtravagancies was cut in pieces upon Mount Citheron by his own Mother and Sister who being transported with Bacchick Fary took him for a wild Boar. PERILLUS See Phalaris PERIPATE â—ICI Peripateticks they were Athenian Philosophers and the Followers of Aristotle who disputed walking in the Licaeum they were so called from the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies to walk but afterwards they took the same of Academicks because they studied in the Academy PERITIUS Mensis is understood the Peritian Month was a Month among the Macedonians that answered that of February and such as was adopted by the Syrians in Memory of Alexander the Great or rather the Macedonians introduced it amongst them after they had been conquered by them insomuch that they gave the greatest part of the Cities and Rivers of Syria the Names of the Cities and Rivers of Macedon PERMESSUS a River in Boeocia that rises in Mount Helicon which was consecrated to Apollo and the Muses PERSAE the Persians the People of the famous Empire of Persia who adored the Sun and to whom they erected Altars under the Name of Mithra which was a kind of Dress for the Head like a Bishop's Miter Soli Invicto Mithrae and Numini Invicto soli Mithrae as you may read in ancient Inscriptions They also worshipped the Moon Venus Fire Earth Water and Wind yet without any Temples Statues or Altars and offered Sacrifices to them upon some Hillock or high Place as believing themselves hereby to be nearer unto their Gods When the Lacedaemonians beat the Persians in the Battle of Platea they erected Statues in Persian Dresses to support the Weight of the Galleries and Porticoes which they built as a perpetual Mark of their Servitude PERSEUS the Son of Jupiter and Danae the Daughter of Acrisius King of Argos who coming to know by the Oracle that the Child his Daughter should bring forth would one Day kill him took a Resolution to shut up his Daughter in a Brass Tower that hereby she might have nothing to do with Men But this Precaution signified nothing for Jupiter who loved her went to see her and for that End being transformed into a Golden Shower he begat Perseus upon her Acrisius coming to the Knowledge hereof shut up both Mother and Child in a Coffer and commanded them to be thrown into the Sea but they were saved by some Fishermen who found the said Chest floating upon the Water near the Isle of Seriphus where Perseus was brought up by Dictis the Brother of Polydectes King of that Island Perseus being grown up was much beloved of the Gods Minerva made him a Present of her Miror to serve him for a Shield and Mercury gave him the Wings which he wore at his Head and Feet and a Cymeter which Vulcan had forged for him and with which he did great Exploits For by the Help of this Shield wherein as in a Miror he saw the Picture of Medusa sleeping with the Gorgons her Sisters he catched hold of her by the Hair and cutting off her Head afterwards made his Escape but in his return upon the Coast of Ethiopia seeing Andromede ready to be devoured by a Sea-monster and being struck with a compassionate Love for that unfortunately fair Creature whom the Nereides who were incensed at her Mother's having despised their Beauty had tied to a Rock he turned the Monster into a Stone with one of the Looks of Medusa after he had first stumned him with a Blow with his Sword Perseus was not only skilful in Arms but he also made learning to Flourish in his Time having founded a publick School upon Mount Helicon where Youth were instructed in good Literature and hence the Poets and Astrologers took occasion to place him among the Stars We have in the Person of Perseus the Idea of a great Captain for the Arms we have spoken of are as so many Hieroglyphicks of the extraordinary Qualifications that are necessary for a Person to form great Designs and to succeed therein Prudence is figured out unto us by Minerva's Miror that served him instead of a Shield Strength and Greatness of Courage joined with a Forwardness that must engage him to the Execution of his Design was represented by the Sword forged by Vulcan and what has been said concerning Medusae's Head which turned Men into Stones with her Looks imports so much that the very Looks of a Person who is indued with so many Accomplishments strikes a Dread and Terror into others and stops them so as if they were Stone-statues PERSEPHONE See Proserpina PERSIUS a Latin Satyrical Poet who has left Satyrs behind him that are very obscure He flourish'd under Nero and died at 29 Years of Age. PERTINAX named Publius Helvius surnamed the Wheel of Fortune because he experienced the Inconstancy thereof He was a Roman Emperor the Son of a Freed-man named Helvius who kept a Shop
in the Shade upon Mount Aetna as we were playing on the River side he found me more beautiful than you and that I suppose makes you ready to burst for Spight Dor. You have Vanity enough to believe that any Body will be jealous of you what is there in you worth taking notice of but your clear Skin from whence you have obtained the Name of Galatea He took you to be handsome because your Complexion is just like his Butter and Cheese Galat. But for all that I have got one of Neptune's Sons to be my Lover Besides he is an excellent Musician Dor. Galatea pray never talk of his Musick we heard him the other Day when he drew near you to sing Good God a strange Musician indeed A pleasant Harp made of a Deer's Skull whose Horns served for Pins to it As great an Imitatrix as Eccho is she was ashamed to answer him for his Voice and Instrument never agreed and this fine Spark to make him appear the better carried in his Bosom a little Bear like himself I do not envy you upon the Account of this stinking one-eyed Cyclops who devours his Guests As Polyphemus one Evening was gathering his Flock together he found Vlysses and his Companions in a Grott and taking them to be Robbers he closed up the Mouth of it with a Rock but then discerning some of them by the glimmering of the Fire which they concealed he devoured them hereupon Vlysses to avoid the like Usage gave him some Wine which he had no sooner drank but he thought the Cave turn'd upside down and Vlysses taking Advantage over this his Giddiness put out his Eye with a Fire-brand and saved himself under the Belly of a Beast as he was driving them to Pasture POMONA a Nymph of Latium reckoned to be the Goddess of Gardens and Fruits POMPEIUS Pompey the Son of Strabo whom Historians compare with Alexander he was surnamed the Great from his great Actions and excellent Endowments He built a standing Theater at Rome for before they erected none but as there was occasion for them Dio accuses him of boundless Ambition and Envy mixed with Vanity since he envyed those Honours to Caesar which he had acquired He was defeated by Caesar in the Plains of Pharsalia and fleeing into Egypt to King Ptolomy he was assassinated and killed in a Bark as he was going ashoar his Head was sent to Caesar who shed Tears at the sight thereof PONDUS Weights wherewith liquid and dry Things are weighed As the Weights of the Romans and Greeks agreed very much with their Money you may see under the Word Moneta or under each particular Coin what has been said concerning them PONTES Bridges There were Eight of them in Rome The Sublician Bridge which was a Bridge of Wood For the Word Sublicae signified Wooden Piles which were driven under the Water It was the first that was built upon the Tiber Ancus Martius made it of Pieces of Timber set together without Iron or Nails it stood at the Foot of Mount Aventine and joined the Janiculum to the City 'T was that which Horatius Cocles defended against the Tuscan Army but being ruined through length of Time it was rebuilt of Stone by Emilius Lepidus and called after his Name The Emperor Tiberius rebuilt it in his Time it being destroyed by the frequent Inundations of the Tiber Happening afterwards to fall down again Antoninus built it all of Marble and 't was called Pons Marmoratus Malefactors Vagabonds and the Argian Images were thrown off of this Bridge into the Water 2. That called the Triumphal otherwise Vatican Bridge that stood upon the Middle of the Tiber over which those that triumphed passed and is now ruined 3. Tons Palatinus which was near Mount Palatine and otherwise named Senatorius M. Fulvius made the Piles thereof and L. Mummius finish'd the Arches during the Time of his Censorship 4. Pons Fabricius which was divided into two when the Island of the Tiber was made it being so called from him who built it when he was chief Surveyor of the high Ways It joined the Island to the City and it is at this Day named Di quatro capi from the Four Marble Figures each of which have Four Heads standing at the End of the Bridge in the Island or the Jews Bridge because they live near it Others called it Pons Cestius or Equilinus the Equiline Bridge 5. Pons Janiculensis and Aurelius built of Marble by Antoninus Pius and coming to be ruined was rebuilt by Pope Sextus IV. and called after his Name di ponte Sixto 6. Pons Elius so called from the Emperor Elius Adrianus who built it the same is called at this Day Ponto S. Angelo 7. Pons Milvius now Milvio which Elius Scaurus built It was upon this Bridge that Cicero seized the Ambassadors of the Allobroges with Letters about them whereby Catiline's Conspiracy was discovered and it was near unto this Bridge that Constantine defeated the Emperor Maxentius At Three Miles Distance from Rome stands Salaro Bridge under which runs the Teveron or Anio PONTIFEX Authors differ about the Etymology of this Word some deriving it from posse facere i. e. from the Authority which the Pontiffs had to sacrifice others as Varro from Pons because they built the Sublician Bridge that they might go and offer Sacrifice on the other Side of the Tiber. Pontifices à ponte arbitror dictos nam ab iis Sublicius est factus restitutus saepè cùm ideò sacra uls cis Tiberim ritu fiant Numa instituted Four Pontiffs of Patrician Families which continued to the Year 454. when in the Consulship of Apuleius Pansa and Valerius Corvus they created Four more of Plebeian Race at the Importunity of the Tribunes of the People as Livy says This Number of Eight lasted till the Dictatorship of Sylla who added Seven more and so the Colledge came to consist of 15 Pontiffs but with this Distinction that the first Eight were more honourable and called Pontifices Majores whereas the others took the Title of Pontifices Minores There was a sovereign Pontiff called Pontifex Maximus instituted by Numa who was the chief Person and sovereign Judge in Matters of Religion and to whose Care the Direction of all Ceremonies both Publick and Private and all the Articles of their Faith was wholly committed he prescribed the Ceremonies and particular Worship wherewith each God was to be honoured after the same by a Decree of the Senate had been received at Rome and to him belonged the Composing of the Rituals or Books of Ceremonies It was he that approved of the Vestal Virgins and appointed them their Habits that corrected chastised and condemned them to be buried alive when they violated their Vow of Chastity All the Orders of Priests and Sacrificers were under his Inspection Anciently he took upon him to perform the Functions of an Augur but C. Servilius the great Pontiff being one Day about to solemnize the Inauguration
in their Dreams or be cured of their Maladies as Virgil says L. 7. Aen. v. 87. Et caesarum ovium sub nocte silenti Pellibus incubuit strais somnosque petivit Multa modis simulacra videt volitantia miris Et varias audit voces fruiturque Deorum Colloquio atque imis Acheronta affatur Avernis Hic tum pater ipse petens responsa Latinus Centum lanigeras mactabat ritè bidentes Atque harum effultus tergo stratisque jacebat Velleribus And Capadox a Merchant that dealt in Slaves complains in that Comedy of Plautus entituled Curculio that having lain in Aesculapius his Temple he saw that God in his Dream remove far from him which made him resolve to leave it as having no hopes left of a Cure Migrare certu'st jam nunc è fano foras Quando Aesculapî ita sentio sententiam Vt qui me nihili faciat nec salvum velit They opened the Victim's Entrails and after they had circumspectly view'd them in order to draw good or bad Presages therefrom according to the Art of the Auruspices they floured them with Meal and sprinkled them with Wine and made a Present of them to the Gods reddebant exta Diis by throwing them into the Fire in small bits boiled or parboiled Thus Alexander Neapolitanus L. 4. C. 17. speaks of it As soon as the Entrails were floured over he put them into Basons upon the Altars of the Gods sprinkling them with Wine and perfuming them with Incense and then threw them into the Fire that was upon the Altar And this made the Entrails to be called Porriciae quae in arae foco ponebantur Diisque porrigebantur Insomuch that this ancient Form of Speech porricias inferre signified to present the Entrails Ignis says Solinus in hanc congeriem adponitur cùm poricias intulerint They often also sprinkled the Entrails with Oil as we read Aen. 6. Et solida imponit taurorum viscera flammis Pingue super oleum fundens ardentibus extis And sometimes with Milk and the Blood of the Victim particularly in the Sacrifices of the Dead which we learn from Stacius Theb. L. 6. Spumantesque mero paterae verguntur atri Sanguinis rapti gratissima cymbia lactis The Entrails being burnt and all the other Ceremonies finished they believed the Gods to be fully satisfied and that they could not fail to find their Vows accomplished which they exprest by this Verb Litare that is all is finish'd and well done whereas non Litare on the contrary intimated there was something wanting for the Perfection of the Sacrifice and that the Gods were not appeased Suetonius speaking of Julius Caesar says he could not sacrifice one favourable Victim on the Day he was slain in the Senate Caesar victimis caesis litare non potuit that is says Macrobius sacrificio facto placare numen The Priest afterwards dismist the People with these Words I licet which were also made use of at the End of Funeral Solemnities and Comedies for dismissing the People as you may see in Terence and Plautus The Greeks made use of this Expression upon the same account 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the People answered feliciter Then they made a Sacred Feast of the Flesh of the offered Victims an Account of which is given under the Word Epulum From what has been said you may see that the Sacrifices consisted of Four principal Parts the first of which was called Libatio or the pouring a little Wine upon the Victim the second Immolatio when after they had scattered the Crumbs of salted Paste thereon they killed it the third Redditio when they offered the Entrails to the Gods and the fourth was called Litatio when the Sacrifice was perfected and accomplished without any Fault Among the publick Sacrifices there was one sort called Stata fixed immovable which was annually performed on the same Day and other extraordinary ones named Indicta because they were appointed extraordinarily upon some important Occasion You 'll find these Sacrifices described in their Alphabetical order or under the Months of the Year SACROS Arabian Weights consisting of an Ounce worth Seven Denarii SAGUM a sort of Coat or Habit for Soldiers which the Greeks and Romans used and was peculiar to the Gauls according to the Testimony of Varro and Diodorus Siculus It was made of Wool and of a Square Form they had one for Winter and another for Summer SALACIA the Wife of Neptune the God of the Sea according to the Poets SALAPITIUM Die magni Salicipplum disertum Catul. Epigr. 54. Some said it ought to have been called Salaputium others Salpiticium and some Saliiputum Vossius in his Comment upon Pomponius Mela declares himself in favour of Salicippium but he forsakes it for Salapicium and thereupon informs us that Salappita in the best Glossaries signifies a Blow or Buffet and hence it was that the Buffoons who received a thousand Blows upon their Heads and Faces in order to divert the Company were called Salpitones salvitones and salutiones He took these Words to be derived from the Greek Verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies to sound a Trumpet and that the Buffoons who suffered themselves to be buffetted as aforesaid were called Salpittones i. e. Trumpeters because that like Trumpeters they blew out their Cheeks as much as they could that so the Blows they received might make the more noise and afford greater Diversion from this Remark he deduces the Etymology of Buffoon for he pretends that the Title of Buffoon was not given to those who to make others laugh acted and said a thousand Fooleries but upon account among other things that they suffered themselves to be struck on the Face and to the end that the Blow might make the more noise they blew out their Cheeks as much as they could SALARIA one of the Gates of old Rome so called because Salt was brought thro' it into the City it was named also Quirinalis Agonalis and Collina SALII they were the Priests ' of Mars they wore round Bonnets on their Heads with Two Corners standing up and a particoloured Tunick They also wore a kind of a Coat of Arms of which nothing could be seen but the Edges which was a Purple-coloured Band fastned with Copper Buckles carrying a small Rod in the Right-hand and a little Buckler in the Left These Salii confisted of young Noble Men of whom there were Two very ancient Colleges in Rome They began their Ceremonies with Sacrifices and so we find a Trivet placed near a Salian upon a Medal which Trivet was commonly made use of at Sacrifices When the Sacrifices were over they walked along the Streets one while dancing together other whiles separately at the Sound of some Wind-musick they used a great many Gestures and set Postures striking musically upon one anothers Bucklers with their Rods and singing Hymns in Honour of Janus Mars Juno and Minerva who were answered by a Chorus of Virgins drest like
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