viz. Isis among the Egyptians and Cybele among the Romans that 't is easily to be perceived that both were the same Cybele as we see by the reverse of many Medals Cybele wore a Turret on her head and was attended by Lions holding in her hand a musical Instrument like a Tabor with this Title Mater Magna the Great Mother viz. Nature Isis had also a Turret on her head as it appears by a great many of her Statues and particularly in that which was found at Rome in the time of Leo the tenth She is also accompanied with many Lions as we may observe in that famous piece of Cardinal Bembo representing Isis which Kircher caus'd to be engraven She holds a Sistrum in her hand which is a musical Instrument and in fine she is called Earth and Nature herself Wherefore she is often represented with many Breasts Apuleius reports that this Goddess was had in veneration all over the World but under several names and representations for she is named Diana Ceres Venus and Proserpina And it must be observ'd that Isis was a Queen of Egypt who reigned there with King Osiris her Husband in the time of the first Israelites for Tacitus tells us that during the reign of Isis the multitude of Jews being extraordinarily augmented they went to settle themselves in the neighbouring Country under the command of Jerusalem and Juda. And as Isis was a woman of great wit and courage to undertake the most difficult things she ordered a Ship to be built and fitted out for her to travel and went into the most remote and barbarous Countries such as Gaul and Germany and Tacitus assures us that she penetrated into the Country of Suabia and having met there but very gross and wild Nations she taught them to honour the Deities to till the Ground and sow Corn. And thereby she was in so great esteem among these Nations that they took her for the Goddess of the Earth to whom they were much obliged for having taught them Agriculture and Religion which were at that time unknown to them Tacitus observes also in this place that the Germans of Suabia ador'd her under the figure of a Ship in commemoration doubtless of the Ship that had brought this Queen into their Country to do them so good an Office We have some Egyptian Medals of Julian the Apostate wherein he is represented in a Ship and there are some of her Figures found in Kircher and others wherein she carries a Ship in her hand Diodorus and Apuleiâ—â—â— assures us that she govern'd over the Sea and the last ascribes these words to her Navigabili jam pelage facto rudem dedicantes carinam primitias commeatûs libant mei Sacerdotes as if she had been the first who found the Art of Navigation or at least the use of Sails Some Authors not being able to discover from whence the Arms of the City of Paris are derived which is a Ship ascend as far as Isis to find the origine thereof and the name of that City For many were of opinion that the name of Paris was a Greek word and came from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 near the famous Temple of Isis since we must suppose that a Temple was dedicated to this Goddess in the compass of the ground that belongs now to the Abbey of St Germain in the Fields and this Temple remained till the establishment of Christianity in France And when it was demolished they kept out of curiosity the Idol Isis who was there ador'd and laid it in a corner of the Church of St Germain in the Field when it was built by Childebert and dedicated to St Vincent This Idol was kept there till the year 1514 that Cardinal Briconnet who was then Abbot of that Church being inform'd that some good old Woman out of simplicity and superstition had offered some Candles to the Idol caused it to be removed from that place and broke in pieces This Temple so famous was served by a Chapter of Priests who lived according to the common opinion at the Village of Issy in a Castle the Ruins whereof were yet seen at the beginning of this Age. Plutarch speaks of these Priests of Isis they observed says he Chastity their Head was shaved and they went about bare foot and cloathed with a linnen Habit Wherefore Juvenal calls them Linigeri Nunc Dea Linigerâ colitur celeberrima turbâ Qui grege Linigero circundatus grege calvo Isis had many Temples at Rome one near the Baths of Caracalla at the end of the new Street with this Title upon an old Marble Saeculo Felici Isias Sacerdos Isidi Salutaris Consecratio Another at the Garden of St Mary the new with this Title Templum Isidis Exoratae P. Victor and Sextus Rufus mentions another by the name of Patrician Isis near Mount Esquilinus and Lampridius in the Life of Alexander Severus tells us that this Emperor has adorned the Temple of Isis and Seraphis Isim Saraphim decenter Ornavit Josephus writes that the Emperor Tiberius ordered that the Temple of this Goddess should be levelled to the Ground her Statues cast into the Triber and her Priests hang'd foâ— having been too favourable to the amours of a young Gentleman with a Lady called Paulina The Emperor Commodus had a singular veneration for Isis as Lampridius has observ'd in his Life Sacra Isis coluit ut caput raderet Anubin portaret because of the Debaucheries committed in her Sacrifices Here is an Encomium of Isis related by Diodorus as it is ingraven on a Column I am Isis the Queen of Egypt instructed by Mercury No body can abolish what I have established by my Ordinances I am the Wife of Osiris I have first invented the use of Corn. I am the Mother of King Horus I shine in the Dog-star By me the City of Bubasti was founded Wherefore rejoyce thou Egypt reioyce thou thou hast brought me up and fed me The Egyptians ascribed the overflowings of the Nile to the tears that she shed for the death of her Husband Osiris We have a statue of Isis habited like a Roman Matron having a Half Moon on the top of her Head her right Hand turned towards Heaven and her left towards the Earth to inform us that she receives the influences of Heaven We have also a Medal of the Emperor Commodus where Isis is represented with a Half Moon holding a Sphere with her right hand and a Vessel full of Fruits with her left The Sphere denotes Astrology wherein the Egyptians excelled and the Fruits the fecundity of Egypt For the Egyptians were the first who made Gods of the Sun and Moon calling the Sun Osiris and the Moon Isis holding a Sphere in her Hand as the Mother of Arts and Sciences and an Amphora full of ears of Corn to represent the fertility of the Country The Egyptians adored the Earth by the name of the Goddess Isis Servius and Isidorus after him speak thus of her Isis liuguâ
Army consisting of 8000 Footmen set in close Array in the time of Alexander the Great made use of a Salade or Head-piece made of the raw Hide of an Ox and had their Body cover'd with a Jacket or Coat of Mail made of Flax or Hemp twisted into Cords and 3 times doubled which were called Thoraces trilices from the number of Cords fix'd one upon another Homer in the 3d. Book of his Iliads arms thus the famous Paris He first put on his Greaves or the Armour of his Legs then he clothed himself with the Coat of Mail tied his Sword by his Side took his Shield and armed himself with a Helmet adorn'd with Feathers of divers Colours Now follow the Arms of the Roman Cavalry A Horseman carried a Lance in his right Hand and a Shield on his left which was an ancient kind of offensive Weapon made in the form of a light Buckler which the Horse of the Houshold who fought with a Lance in former times carried on their Arm his Body was cover'd with a Coat of Mail which is a piece of Armour made in the Form of a Shirt and wrought over with many rings or little marks of Iron which came down as low as his Knees His Hands were cover'd with Gantlets which were large Gloves of Iron for arming the Hard of a Horseman and his Fingers covered with thin Plates of Iron join'd together in the Fashion of Scales and his Arms with Bracelets a Piece of defensive Armour which cover'd the Arms as also his Knees with Greaves a kind of Boots or Armour for the Legs on his Head he wore a Morion with a Crest adorn'd with Plumes of Feathers and various Figures of Beasts-upon it Their Horse were arm'd with a Coat of Mail and Plates of Iron The light Horsemen carried a Javelin or Half-Pike in their right Hand which Javelin was 5 Foot and a half long and had a Head of Iron with three edges which was sharp-pointed and in their left Hand they held a great Shield and wore a Casque upon their Head There were also some Throwers of Darts which were light arm'd They carried on their Back a Quiver full of Arrows and had a Bow out of which they were to shoot them They wore a Sword on their left Side and some of them had a Dagger on the right side their Head was arm'd with a Casquet and their Legs with Greaves The ancient Names of the Greek and Roman Arms and Weapons with their Explication A Slinger was one who threw Stones with a Sling The Slingers were a part of the Roman Militia 1. A Sling is an Instrument made up of two Strings having a little Pouch like a Net in the middle for holding the Stones that are thrown out of it 2. A Dart is a missive Weapon made of Wood that is arm'd with a sharp pointed Iron at the end which is thrown with the Hand 3. A little Shield or a kind of a round Buckler wherewith the Infantry in former times was arm'd 4. Pilum The ancients called any Shaft of Wood armed with Iron by this Name and so all sorts of Arrows and Darts which they let fly were called Pila 5. A Dagger is a large Ponyard which anciently they us'd in fighting 6. A Salade is a slight covering for the Head which the light Horsemen wore It differs from a Helmet in this that it has no Crest and is hardly any thing but a Weapon 7. A Morion is the Armour of a Souldier being a Pot which he wore upon his Head to defend it It was used by Foot Souldiers 8. A Curiass is a defensive Armour made of a Plate of Iron very well beaten which covers the Body from the Neck down to the Wast both before and behind 9. Greaves a kind of Boots or Armour for the Legs 10. A Bracelet a piece of defensive Armour which covers the Arm. 11. A Pavice is a Piece of defensive Armour which the ancients wore in the Wars it was the largest sort of Bucklers whose two sides bended inwards like the Roof of a House or a shed of Boards for Souldiers and so it differ'd from a Target 12. A Target in Latin Pelta is a Buckler us'd by the Romans which was bended in the Form of a half Moon and of an oblong Figure 13. A Coat of Mail was a piece of Armour made in the Form of a Shirt and wrought over with many little Rings of Iron 14. A Jacket is a short Coat which the Cavalry in ancient times wore over their Armour and Curiasses it was made of Cotton or Silk stitch'd between two light Stuffs and sometimes also of Cloth of Gold 15. A Head-Piece is a Piece of defensive Armour for covering the Head and Neck of a Cavalier which is otherwise called a Helmet The offensive Arms or Engines which the Romans made use of in attacking Places 1. A Rhalestra a great Engine for throwing of Darts the Invention of it is attributed to the Phaenicians Vegetius says that in his time Scorpiones which M. Perrault has translated Arbalestres were called Manubalista to distinguish them from their great Balistae or Catapultae which were not portable after the same manner as our Harquebusses and Pistols are distinguished from Cannon 2. Balista an Engine which the Ancients made use of for throwing Stones it differ'd from the Catapulta in this that the latter threw Darts but both of them let fly after the same manner 3. Aries the Ram was a vast long Beam strengthned at one end with a Head of Iron which was hung on two Chains wherewith they us'd anciently to batter the Walls of Cities There were 3 sorts of them one was hang'd upon Ropes another run upon Wheels and a 3d. Sort was sustain'd by the Arms of those who plaid it When the Carthaginians besieg'd Gades they judg'd it expedient suddenly to demolish a Castle which had been taken but wanting proper Instruments for that purpose they made use of a Beam which several Men bore up with their Hands who thrust forward the end of it with so great Violence against the top of the Wall that by their redoubled Blows they beat down the uppermost Lays of Stone and so descending from one Lay to another they at last demolish'd the whole Fortification After this a Carpenter of the City of Tyre called Pephasâ—â—â—nos taking the hint from this first Experiment hang'd one Beam to another like a Balance and by the force of the many great blows which the Beam gave while it was play'd he batter'd down the Wall of the City of Gades Cetras the Chalcedonian was the first who made a Car of Wood which was driven upon Wheels and upon this Car he rear'd up many Posts standing upright and Beams lying a-cross whereof he made a Hut and having hang'd a Ram in it he cover'd it over with Ox Hides to secure those who play'd the Engine for battering down the Wall Since that time this Hut was call'd a Tortoise to the Ram
Memallelar i. e. Praters and Talkative-Persons These raving Women were clothed with Tygers and Panthers Skins with their Hair all loose throwing their Head backward They were crowned with Ivy carrying in their left Hand a Thyrse which was a Pine Staff Tacitus speaking of one of these Bacchae says Ipsa orine fluxo thyrsum quatiens and Sidonius Apollinaris describing the Troops of Bacchus makes mention of the Thyrse Tiger-skins and Drums They went through the Mountains in the Company of Bacchus crying out like mad Persons and often repeating Evohe Bacchae that is to say let Bacchus live happily An Epithet which was given him by Jupiter when in the War with the Giants Bacchus being transformed into a Lion vented his Fury on them and tore them in pieces BACCHUS the Son of Jupiter and Semele Apollodorus in his third Book of the Original of the Gods gives us this Relation of the Nativity of Bacchus Cadmus says he had Four Daughters Antinoe Ino Semele and Agave with a Son named Polydorus Ino married Athamas Antinoe Aristaeus and Agave Eehion As for Semele Jupiter was in Love with her and withdrawing himself from the Embraces of Juno he gained the Favour of his Mistress Juno envying the Happiness of her Rival disguised her self to cheat her and taking the Shape of Beroc Semele's Nurse she informed her that to be assured of the Love of Jupiter she ought to pray him to shew himself to her in all his Glory Jupiter having consented to it Semele was not able to endure his Splendor and Majesty but the Fire of his Lightning laid hold on the Roof of the Chamber and consumed it All that could be done in this Surprize was to save the Child for she had been big some Months and to put him very hot into Jupiters Thigh where he fulfilled his time at the end of which he came out and was put into the Hands of Mercury the Messenger of the Gods and the Confident of their Love who carried him first to Ino his Aunt and to her Husband Athamas to take care to nurse him and bring him up but Morose Juno resolving to shew her Displeasure to them caused Athamas to slay his eldest Son Learchus as he was a hunting taking him for a Deer whereupon Ino cast her self into the Sea with her Son Melicerta Then Jupiter to free little Bacchus from the Fury and Persecutions of Juno changed him into an Hee-Goat for a certain time When he recover'd his first Form Mercury carried him to the neighbouring Nymphs of the City Nysa in asia to compleat his Education who named him Dionysius from the Name of his Father and of his Country Lucian says that Bacchus assumed the Shape of an Hee-Goat to surprize Penelope the Daughter of Icarus whom he forced in Arcadia and had Pan by her The Theology of the Aegyptians and ancient Greeks teaches us that Bacchus or Dionysius is an Emanation or divine Power and confounds him with Phaebus Apollo Pluto Apis Anabis and Osyris It also confounds him with Janus and Noah and represents him by a Triangle which is a Figure of the Divinity according to the Ancients and Plutarch undertakes to prove that Bacchus is the God of the Hebrews and that all the Observations of the Jews are nothing else but the Ceremonies of Bacchus Homer as well as all the rest of the Greek Poets makes Bacchus the Son of Jupiter and Semele but Pausanias delivers the rest of his Story after a different manner The Inhabitants saith he of the City of Brasias hold that Semele having brought forth Bacchus Cadmus her Father being angry at it shut up both the Mother and the Child into a Chest and threw them into the Sea which cast them upon the Coast of the Brasians who taking it out of the Water opened it and found that the Mother was already dead but the Infant being alive they caused it to be nourished and brought up They add that Ino wandring at that time was his Nurse and they shew a Cave where she nursed him which to this Day is called Bacchus's Cave Uâ—pian in Athenaeus's Dipnosophistes after Euhemerus of the â—sle of Coos in Book 30. of his History relates that Cadmus the Grandfather of Bacchus was Cook to the King of the Sidonians and having debauched a dancing Maid of that Kings named Harmonia he had by her Semele the Mother of Bacchus Lucian in his Dialogue between Jupiter and Juno makes them speak thus Juno I am ashamed O Jupiter to have such a drunken and effeminate Son as this of thine is who is always in the Company of certain mad Women and who are more masculine than he Jupiter But this effeminate Man has conquered Thrace and Lydia and subjected the Indies to himself having made the King Prisoner with all his Elephants and which is most strange he did all this with his leaping and dancing among the Women at the sound of the Drum and Flute and for the most part drunk If any One dare speak of his Mysteries he will take them in his Chains and Agave herself has torn in Pieces her Son Penthius Is not this Great and Worthy of Jupiter What will he not do when he is sober since he does so great things when he is drunk The same Lucian in Bacchus relates his Expedition to the Indies thus Bacchus says he attempted the Indies notwithstanding the Raillery of some and Compassion of others who believed that he would be crushed by the Elephants if he escaped the Fury of their Arms for his Army was only made up of Women moved with divine Fury who instead of Bucklers carried Drums and Cymbols for Javelins Staves twisted about with Ivy for Arms Garlands of the same Tree and for Armour Skins of Hinds and Panthers They were attended with a Troop of Satyrs who did nothing but leap and skip like Kids whose Tails and Horns they have Bacchus also had Horns and was without a Beard cloathed with Purple and gilded Buskins and having Vine Branches loaden with Grapes woven between his Locks of Hair He rode in a Chariot drawn by Tygers which was all he had terrible his Two Lieutenants were the One a little old Man with a flat Nose trembling all over cloathed in Yellow with large upright Ears and a great Belly riding for the most part of his time upon an Ass and for want of that supported by a Staff but in all things else a great Captain the other a Satyr with Horns his Thighs hairy with the Beard and Feet of an Hee-Goat holding in his left Hand a Flute and in the other a crooked Staff and runs through all the Plain leaping and dancing and much terrifying the Women for he was hasty and passionate and when he came near them they ran with their Hair flying about their Shoulders crying Evohe as acknowledging him for their Master Nevertheless these mad Women among their other exploits tore Flocks in pieces and eat their Flesh raw The Indians seeing such a ridiculous
Crew more fit for a Ball than for a Warlike Encounter disdained at first to take Arms and thought to send their Women to fight them for fear they should disgrace their Valour by such an unworthy Victory but when they understood that that Army though ridiculous kindled a Fire every where for Fire is the Dart of Bacchus which he hath borrowed from the Thunder of his Father they armed themselves in hast and mounting upon their Elephants came full of Rage and Anger to encounter these Incendiaries When they came in sight of them they put themselves in order for Battel covering the Front of their Troops with their Elephants Bacchus also mustered his Army and set Silene on his right Hand which is that great flat Nos'd Captain above mention'd and Pan on his left and plac'd himself in the middle after he had dispersed the Satyrs every where as many Officers and Captains and given them for their word Evohe Immediately the Bacchae sounded a Signal with their little Drums and Trumpets and a Satyr having blown his Horn the Ass of Silene began to bray so terribly that being joyned with the howling of the Bacchae who then discovered the Iron of their Thyrses and the Serpents they were girded withal the Indians and their Elephants sied before they were within reach of their Spears and so they were defeated and subdued Diodorus in his second Book of his Antiquities gives an historical Relation of Bacchus and tells us that the most wise of the Indians say that Bacchus invaded their Country with a great Army from the Western Parts and that he over ran all the Indies not finding any City that dare oppose him but the great Heats of the Country much incommoding his Army he left the Plains and retired with his Army into the hollow of the Mountains which he called the Thigh which gave an occasion to the Greeks to feign that Jupiter put him into his Thigh He taught them afterward how to plant and dress a Vineyard caused several Cities to be built among them and furnished them with Laws and died after he had reigned over them 52 Years Antiquity has given Bacchus several Names He is called BIMATER that is to say One who had Two Mothers viz. Semele and Jupiter in whose Thigh he fulfilled his Time after he was taken out of the Belly of his Mother He was named Dionysius from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from Jupiter his Father and the City Nysa where he was nursed Diodorus places this City in Arabia or in Aegypt on the Confines of Arabia Arrian and Quintus Curtius say 't is in the Indies of whose Opinion is Pomponius Mâ—la thus speaking of it The fairest and largest of all the Cities in the Indies is Nysa where Bacchus was nursed which gave occasion to the Greeks to feign that he was shuâ— up in Jupiter's Thigh Pliny speaks of another City called Nysa which is in Caria Stephanus reckons Ten of the same Name in several Kingdoms Some give him the name of Liber either because he rejoices and frees the Mind from the Troubles of Life or because he obtained Liberty for the Country of Baeotia He is also surnamed BROMIUS 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from Fear or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from Thunder being born of a Mother who was consumed by Jupiter's Thunder He is called LYAEUS from the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to drive away or because Wine excels Grief Lastly some give him the Epithet of Evan which in the Indian Tongue signifies Ivy which is consecrated to him We see him sometimes represented to us in the Shape of a Child holding in his Arm a Bunch of Grapes and sometimes in the Form of a Man carrying a Pine-branch We have a reverse of a Medal of Severus and Julia where is the Figure of a Chariot drawn by Two Panthers in which is set a Young Man holding a Pot in his left Hand and in the other a Tygers Skin to shew us that Bacchus was the Conqueror of the Indies and other Eastern Countries because he is pictured in a Triumphal Chariot with a Dart in his Hand and his Enemy prostrate at his Feet The Philosopher Albricus tells us that some have painted Bacchus with the Face of a Woman with naked Breasts and Horns on his Head crowned with Vine-leaves and riding upon a Tyger carrying a Pot in his left Hand and a Bunch of Grapes in his right Some picture Bacchus both Male and Female as is visible on the Consular Medals of the Cassian Family which shew us the Figures of Liber and Libera i. e. Bacchus both Male and Female Orpheus in his Hymn against Masae has positively asserted that Bacchus was ever thought to be of both Sexes as the greatest part of the Gods are He had a Magnificent Temple at Rome in which they sacrificed to him Hee-Goats because they destroy the Vine-branches and eat the Grapes as Virgil teaches us Baccho Caper omnibus aris Caeditur Georg. II. v. 380. BACCHUS the Son of Jupiter and Semele otherwise called Dionysius from the Island Dia now Naxus after he had over-run all the East with his Army subdued the greatest part of the Indies and taught Men the use of Wine was put by them into the Number of the Immortal Gods but when the Thebans disputed his Dignity publishing that he was not the Son of Jupiter but of some Man who had left his Mother he filled their Women with a divine Fury so that they ran with their Hair flying about their Shoulders loose into Mount Cytheron crying Evohe Tiresias and Cadmus were by this Action convinced of his Divinity and none but Pentheus opposed it discoursing of the Superstition of the Orgiae and labouring entirely to abolish them at which the God being provoked made him mad also and drove him into Mount Cytheron where he was torn in pieces by the Theban Women who were before turned Furies and took him for a Lion and his Mother Agave was the Woman that cut off his Head not knowing who he was The Tyrrhenians famous Pirates in the Mediterranean Sea as they were robbing upon the Coasts of the Aegaean Sea met with Bacchus upon the Shore and having taken him Captive thought they had got a considerable Prize whereupon they began to insult over him and to offer him some Indignities but the God seeing their ill Designs changed them into Dolphins to punish them as we learn from Philostratus in his Character of the Tyrrhenians Tzetzes thinks that Noab lived at the same time with the Bacchus of the Indians and Osiris of the Aegyptians and that he had for his Servant Mercurius Trismegistus who was the first Inventer of Learning and Arts from the Instructions which he had received from Noah who had preserved Arts Learning and Sciences which had been invented and exercised during the 16 or 17 Ages which preceded the Deluge The same Author says elsewhere that near the Mountains of India are to be seen the Pillars of
at Table his Wife Clyâ—emnestra clave his Skull with the Blow of an Ax having first entangled him in a Shirt without a Bosom and afterwards falling upon Cassandra she killed her after the same manner But Orestes the Son of Agamemnon coming in by Stealth killed his own Mother and her adulterous Lover as also the Murderer of his Father CASSIDARIUS He who had the Care and Oversight of the Salades and the Armour for the Head which were kept in the Arsenals at Rome CASSIOPEA the Wise of Cepheus King of Ethiopia who incurred the Indignation of the Nereides for being accounted more beautiful which was the Cause why her Daughter Andromeda was exposed to a Sea-monster that so the Mother might be punished in the Daughter But Perseus at his Return from Libya rescued her from the Jaws of this Monster when it was just ready to devour her and in Acknowledgment of this Kindness Cepheus gave her to him in Marriage Cassiope was taken up into Heaven by the Favour of her Son-in-law where the Astronomers represent her to us as sitting upon a Chair in the Milky-way between Cepheus and Andromeda who touches our Summer Tropick with her Head and Hand Vitruvius has given us the following Description of these Constellations Perseus leans with his right-Right-hand upon Cassiope holding with the Left which is over Auriga the Waggoner the Head of Gorgon by the Crown and placing it under the Feet of Andromeda The Right-hand of Andromeda is over the Constellation of Cassiope and the Left over the Northern Pisces Cassiope is in the Middle and Capricorn has the Eagle and Dolphin above it which are dedicated to them CASTALIUS FONS the Castalian Fountain in Phocis scituate at the Foot of Mount Parnassus which the Poets feign'd to be dedicated to Apollo and the Muses which from thence were surnamed Castalides CASTITAS Chastity which the Romans made a Goddess of and which they represented in the Habit of a Roman Lady holding a Scepter in her Hand and having Two white Doves at her Feet CASTOR the Son of Tyndarus King of Laconia and of Leda the Daughter of Thestius The Fable gives us an Account that Jupiter being smitten with the Beauty of Leda transformed himself into a Swan to enjoy her Embraces who growing big with Child was at length brought to Bed of Two Eggs in each of which there were Two Twin-Children In the first Pollux and Helena were included of Jupiter's getting and in the other Castor and Clytemnestra of Tindarus's All these Children though gotten by different Fathers were nevertheless called from the Name of one of them Tyndarides Castor and Pollux were brave and of great Courage for they cleared the Seats of Pirates carried off their Sister Helena by Force when she was ravished by Theseus and they went with Jason to the Conquest of the Golden Fleece Castor being descended of a Mortal Father was killed by Lynceus but Pollux his Brother being descended of Jupiter was Immortal They were placed in the Number of the Dil Indigetes or Genitales by the Greeks and Romans because they descended originally from the Country Diodorus Siculus relates that the Argonauts being destressed with a great Tempest Orpheus made a Vow to the Gods of Samothracia whereupon the Storm immediately ceased and Two Coelestial Fires appeared over the Heads of Castor and Pollux who were amongst the Argonauts from whence comes the Custom of invoking the Gods of Samothracia in a Tempest and or giving the Names of Castor and Pollux to those Two Coelestial Fires Lucian in the Dialogue of Apollo and Mercury bring in Apollo speaking thus upon the Occasion of these Two Brethren Apoll. Can you learn to know Castor from Pollux for I am always deceiv'd upon the accont of their Likeness Merc. He who was Yesterday with us is Castor Apoll. How can you discern them they being so like one another Merc. Pollux has a Face black and blew by a Blow he received in fighting and particularly at Bebryx in his Voyage with the Argonauts Apol. You 'll oblige me to tell me of Things particularly for when I see their Eggs-shell white Horse Spear and Stars I always confound them together but tell me why these Two Brothers never appear in the Heaven at the same Time Merc. Because it being decreed that these Two Sons of Leda should one be Mortal and the other Immortal they divided their good and bad Fortune like good Brethren and so live and die by Turns Apoll. This is a great Impediment to their Love for so they can never see or discourse one with another But what Art or Trade do they profess For every one of us hath his Business I am a Prophet my Son is a Physician my Sister a Midwife and thou art a Wrestler Do they do nothing but eat and drink Mer. They succour Mariners in a Tempest Apol. That 's a necessary Employment provided they perform it well Arrian says that Alexander while he was carrying on his Victories in Persia sacrificed one Day to Castor and Pollux instead of Hercules to whom that Day was dedicated by the Macedonians and that while the Feast lasted after the Sacrifice was over he talked sometimes of the great Actions of Castor and Pollux and at other times of Hercules Cicero relates a wonderful Judgment which befel Scopas because he had spoken contemptibly of these two Brethren Dioscorides being crushed to Death by the Fall of his Chamber whereas Simonides who wrote their Encomium was called out of them by two unknown Persons Phoedrus recites this History more at large in the 4th Book of his Fables Fab. 22. The Greek and Roman History is filled with the miraculous Appearances of these two Brethren either to obtain a Victory or publish it when it was gained for they were seen fighting upon two white Horses at the Battle which the Romans fought against the Latins near the Lake Regillus But Cicero tells how we must credit these Relations He says that Homer who lived a little after these two Brethren assures us that they were buried in Macedonia and consequently could not come to declare a Victory obtain'd by Vatienus The Romans did not omit building them a magnificent Temple where they sacrificed to them white Lambs and appointed a Feast to be kept in Honour of them at which a Man sitting upon one Horse and leading another runs full speed and at the End of the Race leaps nimbly upon the Horse which is in his Hand having a bright Star upon his Hat to shew that only one of the Brothers was alive because indeed the Stars of Castor and Pollux are to be seen above our Horizon and sometimes not CATA PULTA a Warlike Engine so called with which the Ancients used to throw Javelins twelve or fiftten Foot long The Description of a Catapulta says M. Perrault in his Notes upon Vitruvius is understood by no Body tho' many great Persons have applied themselves to it very carefully as Justus Lipsius has observed The
July his Effigies should be carried in State at the muster of the Equestrian Order GERMANIA Germany Some Writers say that the word of Germany is but of late and comes from those Men who went first into the Gauls and were called Tungri or Germani says Tacitus or from the German word Gaar-Mannen which signifies Germany V. Alemannia GERMANI The Germans See Alemanni GERYON King of Spain represented by Poets with three Bodies because he reigned over three Kingdoms and had fed some Oxen he loved very much having a Dog with three Heads and a Dragon with seven to look after them Hercules by the Command of Earisteus slew him and delivered his Body to be devoured by his own Oxen as Diomedes was before eaten by his own Horses GIGANTES The Giants the Sons of the Earth begot according to the Fable of the Blood that came out of the Genital parts of Goelus that Saturn cut off for the Earth to be revenged of Jupiter who had struck down the Titans brought forth Monsters of a prodigious shape to attack him and drive him out of Heaven To this purpose they met in Thessalia in the Fields called Phlegraei and there heaping up Mountains upon Mountains they scaled and battered Heaven with great pieces of Rocks Among others there was Enceladus Briareus and Egcon with a hundred Hands flinging Rocks which they took out of the Sea against Jupiter yet a certain Typhaeus was very famous exceeding all these Monsters in bigness and strength for he reached with his Head to the top of Heaven and could extend his Hands from one end of the World to the other he was half Man and half Serpent and blew Fire and Flame out of his Mouth in a dreadful manner and frighted so much the Gods who were come to the relief of Jupiter that they fled away into Egypt and transform'd themselves into several kinds of Trees or disguised themselves under the form of several Beasts But Jupiter pursued them so vigorously with his Thunderbolts that he came off with Honour and crushed them under the weight of Mountains shutting them up therein and punishing them in Hell with several Torments This is the Fable here is the true Story The Fable of the Giants who heaped up Mountains one upon another to raise themselves to Heaven there to fight the Gods is most commonly applied to those Men who after the Flood built the Tower of Babel But holy Scripture speaks of the Giants a long time before the Deluge Gen. c. 6. There were Giants on the Earth in those days And in another place 't is spoken of the prodigious stature of the Giants or rather of those Men whom the Scripture calls Giants even after the Flood For the Israelites having seen some of them described them thus All the People whom we saw in the land are Men of great Stature and there we saw Giants the Sons of Anak which are of the Race of the Giants and we appeared to them like Grashoppers and so we were in comparison of them And to shew us the extraordinary height and shape of the Giants Moses tells us in Deuteronomy that an Iron Bed of these Giants was nine Cubits long and four Cubits broad according to the natural length of a Man's Cubit which is a Foot and a half Only Og King of Bashan remained of the Race of the Giants his Bedsted was of Iron it is in Rabbah of the Children of Ammon being nine Cubits long and four Cubits broad according to a Mans Cubit According to this description that the Scripture gives us of these Giants they might be about fourteen foot high Solinus relates that tho the common opinion is that the Stature of a Man can't be above seven foot high and that Hercules did not exceed it yet in the Reign of Augustus Pusio and Secundilla were more than ten foot high and in the Emperor Claudius's time the Corps of Gabbara was brought from Arabia and was near ten foot high and that the Corps of Orestes being found after his death was seven Cubits long The Giants before the Deluge were begotten by the Children of God and Daughters of Men and the Hebrew Text makes use of the word Nephilim to express the Giants which comes from Nephal i. e. to fall The Giants after the Deluge are also called by the same name because of their likeness to the former however they are called by a particular name which may be observed in the Books of Numbers and Deuteronomy where they are called the Sons of Enacim Palastine was their Country The learned Bochart observes that from the Hebrew word Enacim or Anacim the Greeks have formed their words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which originally signified Men of Gigantick Stature Pausanias relates that the Body of the Hero Asterius the Son of Anax who was the Son of the Earth was found in the Isle Asteria near Miletum and that his Corps was ten Cubits in length This Stature of ten Cubits agrees with that mentioned in the Scripture The word Anax is the same with Enac or Anac for it is well known that the change of Vowels is frequent even in the same Tongue In fine if Anac or Enac was the Son of the Earth it was common to call the Giants the Children of the Earth And Ovid tells us that they were so called because they came out of the Earth moistened with the blood of their Fathers whom a just revenge had destroyed The Septuagints Translation has given the name of Giant to Nimrod who first reigned at Babylon The Hebrew Text signifies only Potens venator Gibbor Tsaid but the same word Gibbarim is used to signifie the Giants called also Nephilim Wherefore the Scripture says that Nimrod was the first Giant because he was at the head of the rebellion of the Giants after the Deluge who were combined together for the building of the Tower of Babel The Greeks have sometimes called the Giants by the name of Titans which shews that they had this History and the Fables contained in it from the Scripture and out of Palestine for the word Tit signifies dirt in Hebrew and they tell us that the Giants were formed out of the Dirt or Earth Wherefore these three words Titanes Gigantes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 have the same signification and signifie the Children of the Earth Diodorns Siculus unfolding the Theology of those who Inhabit the Coasts of the Atlantick Sea says that according to their opinion the Titans were the Children of Uranus and Titaea who gave them her Name and called herself the Earth Gommune Titanum nomen à Titaeâ matre usurpabant Titaea autem post mortem in Deos relata Telluris nomen accipit These Giants were Children of Heaven and Earth and their name of Titans came either from the Earth or Dirt called by the Hebrews Tit. And these Giants being born before the Deluge the Pagans who had but an imperfect knowledge of their History did not know their true Geneology wherefore
of Arts and Sciences that her Inhabitants had learnt of the Assyrians and Chaldaeans She was conquered by Cyrus and afterwards by the other Kings of Parsia After the death of Perseus the last King of Greece the Romans subdued that Country GRAECI The Greeks the Inhabitants of Greece who are differently named by Writers Achaij Argivi Danai Dolopes Helleni Ionij Mermidones Pelasgi according to the Cities they inhabited and their several Factions Eusebius affirms that Hellen the Son of Deucalion repopulated this Country after the Deluge that happened in the time of Moses about the year 3680. à mundo condito They very much improved Arts and Sciences that they learned of Eumolpus and Orphaeus the Assyrians and Phaenicians The Greeks increased the number of Gods and shared the Empire and Administration of the World appointing several Gods for Corn and Vines to Plants and Flowers which gave occasion for all the chimerical divisions of Gods relating imaginary particulars of them and giving them names without any other ground but their own vanity and presumption The Phaenicians having disguised the true Histories of the Bible and composed their Fables of it the Greeks also appropriated the Phaenicians Fables to Greece Pliny affirms that Cadmus about the year 2520 à mundo condito brought from Phaenicia sixteen Letters into Greece viz. A B C D E F G H I L M N O P Q R S T V to which Palamedes added four during the Trojan War O Z φ X. GRAECOSTASIS A Palace at Rome adjoining to Mount Palatine where the foreign Prince's Ambassadors were lodged This Palace took its name from Greece because the Greeks were the most considerable of all the Strangers the House of the Ambassadours GRATIAE See above before Graecia GUTTUS A little Vessel used in Sacrifices to pour Wine by drops GYGES A Lydian who killed his Master by a Ring that made him invisible by turning the stone within towards himself for then he could see all and was seen of none Ovid mentions another Gyges a Giant who had a hundred hands Son to Heaven and Earth and Brother to Briareus Centimanumque Gygen semibovemque virum 4. Trist GYNAECONITIS An Apartment for the Women in Greece GYMNICI LUDI Exercises of the Greeks In these Games there was in the first place the Race which has been of old and the chief of all Exercises secondly leaping thirdly Discus or Quoits made of Stone Iron or Brass cut in a round figure and of a great weight the Gamesters who threw it highest or furthest carried the Prize the fourth kind of Game was wrestling wherein two Wrestlers having their Bodies stark naked and anointed all over with Oyl took hold one on another each of them making all his efforts to throw his Adversary on the ground the fifth sort of Game was boxing these Gamesters had their Fists covered with Leather Straps with pieces of Lead or Iron fastned to it called Cestus Lucian speaks of these Games in the Dialogue of the bodily Exercises where he introduces Anacharsis discoursing thus with Solen Anacharsis What mean these young fellows thus to collar and foyl themselves and wallow in the mire like Swine and strive to throttle and hinder one anothers breathing they oyled and shaved one another pretty peaceably at first but on a sudden stooping with their Heads they butted each other like Rams Then the one hoisting his Adversary aloft into the air hurls him again upon the ground with a violent squelsh and falling upon him he hindered him from rising pressing his neck with his elbow and punching him with his legs so as I was afraid he had stifled him though the other struck him on the shoulder to desire him to let him go as owning himself overcome Methinks they should be shie of fouling themselves thus in the dirt after they had been steek'd and they make me laugh to see them like so many Eels slip out of the hands of their Antagonists Look yonder 's some doing the same in the face of the Sun with this difference only that it 's in the Sun they rowl like Cocks before they come to the skirmish that their Adversary may have the better hold and his hands not slip upon the Oyl or the Sweat O see you others also fighting in the Dirt and kicking and fisting without endeavouring like the former to throw one another The one spits out of his Teeth with sand and blood from a blow he receiv'd in his Chaps and yet that Officer attir'd in purple who sets President as I suppose at these Exercises doth not trouble himself about parting them These others make the Dust fly by kicking up their Heels in the air like those who dispute for the prize of running Solon This here is the place of Exercises and the Temple of Apollo Lycius whose Statue you see upon that Column in the posture of a weary Man leaning upon his Elbow having his Head supported upon his right hand and holding his Bow in the left Those whom you see wallowing in the mire or crawling in the dirt are skirmishing at a match of Wrestling or at Fisticuffs in the Ring or Lists There are still other Exercises as Leaping Quoits and Fencing and in all such Games the conqueror is crowned These Games were play'd four times every year viz. at Olympia in the Province of Elis wherefore they were called Olympick Games in honour of Jupiter Olympius in the Isthmus of Corinth called Isthmian Games in honour of Neptune in the Nemean Forest called Nemean Games in honour of Hercules and the Pythean Games in honour of Apollo because he had kill'd the Serpent Pytho The Masters of these Games were call'd Gymnastae I shall speak severally of these Games according to their Alphabetick Order GYMNO SOPHISTAE Gymnosophists a Sect of Indian Philosophers who ador'd the Sun and were called by this name because they went naked H. H is the eighth Letter of the Alphabet Grammarians dispute whether the H should be in the number of Letters or not because say they 't is but an aspiration Tho' H be but an aspiration yet 't is a true Letter because all Characters invented by Men to distinguish our Pronunciation ought to be accounted a true Letter especially when 't is set down in the Alphabet among the other Letters as H is And there is no reason to fancy that H is not a true Letter because 't is but an aspiration since in the Oriential Languages there are three or four Letters which they call Guttural Letters which are of no other use but only to express the several aspirations H supplies in Latin all that which is denoted by the Greeks with sharp tones and aspirated Consonants And it serves for two general uses the first is before the Vowels beginning the Syllables as in the word honor and the second is after the Consonant as in the word Thronus Doubtless the H appear'd plainly in the Roman pronunciation as 't is perceiv'd in the French tongue in
by his Litter and killed one of his Servants who carried a Torch whereupon the Emperor vowed a Temple to Jupiter Tonans for having preserved him in so great a danger Jovi Tonanti says Suetonius edem consecravit liberatus periculo cum expeditione Cantabrica pur nocturnum iter lecticam ejus fulgor perstrinxisset servumque praelucentem exanimasset JUPITER ULTOR Jupiter the Revenger of Crimes had a Temple dedicated to him by M Agrippa JUPITER HERCEUS from the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Jupiter of private houses where an Altar was erected This privilege was only allowed to the Citizens of Rome says Arnobius Quicunque Herceum Jovem habebant jus civitatis etiam habebant JUPITER AMMON or Hammon had a Temple in Libya and a Statue under the Figure of a Ram from whence he was called Corniger Hammon This Temple was very famous on the account of his Oracles Jupiter is represented on several Medals sometimes carrying Victory in his right hand and a Spear instead of a Scepter in the left sometimes riding on a Kam or a She Goat with this Inscription JOVI CRESCENTI because he had been Nursed up with her Milk sometimes sitting in the midst of the Four Elements holding a Dart with one hand and laying the other upon the Head of his Eagle with two Figures that lay along under his Feet which represent the Two Elements of Water and Earth having the Zodiack round about him where the Twelve Signs are represented JUPITER OLYMPIUS sirnamed Eleus famous for his Oracle and the publick Games performed in Elis called Olympick Games On the Silver Medals of Lucius Lentulus and Caius Marcellus both Consuls is represented the Head of Jupiter holding his Thunder Bolt with his right hand and his Eagle with his left having before him a little Altar and the Star of Jupiter This Medal was stamp'd to pacifie Jupiter after the Thunder was fallen upon the Capitol Jupiter Conservator was also represented holding his Thunder-bolt with one hand and a Dart with the other and the Figure of the Emperour under his Thunder to shew that he was under Jupiter's protection or else his Figure was Ingraven laying upon a Globe and holding Victory which he endeavours to Crown and the Eagle at his Feet with these words JOVI CONSERVATORI AUGUSTORUM NOSTRORUM On the Medals of Nero and Vespasian Jupiter was named Custos and represented sitting on a Throne holding his Thunder in his right hand with this Inscription JUPITER CUSTOS or JOVIS CUSTOS JUPITER was sirnamed Anxurus in Italy and is represented like a young Boy without a Beard Crowned with Branches of Olive and holding a Goblet or Patera in his right hand and his Scepter in the other JURAMENTUM An Oath taken to confirm a thing The solemnal Oath of the Gods was by the Waters of the River Styx The Fable says that Victory the Daughter of Styx having assisted Jupiter against the Giants he order'd for a Reward of her Service that the Gods should Swear by the Waters of that River and in case they forswore themselves they should be deprived of Life and Feeling during Nine thousand Years as Servius reports and gives this reason for this Fable that the Gods being Immortal and happy swear by the Styx which is a River of sorrow and grief which is very contrary to their temper and that Oath was a kind of Execration in lib. 6. Aeneid Hesiod in his Theogonia relates that when any of these Gods had told a lye Jupiter sent Iris to fetch some Water out of Styx in a Golden Vessel whereupon the Lyer takes the Oath and if he forswears himself he is a whole year without life and motion but a very long one including many Millions of Years Diodorus Siculus l. 11. Pag. 67. tell us that the Temple of the Gods called Palici famous in Sicily was there much respctred and very ancient and that two very deep Basons were kept therein full of boyling Water mix'd with Brimstone always full and never flowing over In this Temple solemn Oaths were taken and Perjuries were immediately punished very severely some of them being condemned to have their Eyes put out Silius Italicus has expressed in Verse what Diodorus has here reported Et qui praesenti domitant perjura Palici Pectora Supplicio To this purpose Virgil speaks thus Lib. 9. Aeneid v. 584. .......... Symethia circum Flumina pinguis ubi placabilis ara Palici The two Basons where the Oaths were taken and the Divine vengeance broke out upon the Purjured were called Delli Macrobius after Callias makes mention of them saying Nec longe inde lacus breves sunt quos incolae Crateres vocant nomine Dellos appellant featres que eos Palicorum aestimant Aristotle assures us that the Person who took the Oath wrote it upon a Ticket which he threw into the Water The Ticket floated over if the Oath was true if it was false the Ticket appeared no more Appollonius Tyaneus l. 1. c. 4. in his Life written by Philostratus mentions a Spring of Water at Tyana in Cappadocia which was very like this above-mentioned This my Story of taking the Oath and punishing Perjuries was doubtless an imitation of what is written in the Book of Numbers concerning the trial of Waters which Women impeached of Adultery were obliged to drink The Rom ans swore by their Gods and Heroes ranked in the number of Gods as by Quirinus Hercules Castor and Pollux c. Suetonius relates that under the Empire of Julius Caesar the Romans began to swear by the health of the Emperours and by their Genius However Tiberius did not allow it but Caligula ordered that all those who should refuse to do it should be put to Death and came to such an excess of folly and madness that he commanded that the People should swear by the Health and Fortune of a fine Horse which he intended to take for his Colleague in his Consulat as Dion tells us lib. 59. They also Swore by one anothers Genius as appears by a place of Seneca Jurat per Genium meum JUS The Law There are three kinds of Laws the Law of Nature the Law of Nations and the Civil Law The Law of Nature is what Nature teaches all living Creatures and is in a manner common to Men and Beasts as Marriage Procreation and Education of Children The Law of Nations is what natural Reason has inspired and dedicated to all Men and is practised by all Nations as Religion towards God Piety towards Parents and Love of our Country From thence comes the difference and division of Nations settlement of Kingdoms share of Demesn Trade and most sort of Obligations From hence also arises the right of War to take Prisoners to accept of their ransom to set them at liberty or to detain them in slavery The Civil Law is what each City or State has established or enacted for a Law For natural reason having taught Men to live together and for that purpose
who was beloved by Jupiter from whence she took her name as if one said Joviturna The truth of the History is that it was a Fountain in Italy the waters whereof were very fine and wholesom from whence it took also its name as Servius informs us in lib. 12. Aeneid Jaturna fons est in Italia saluberrimus cui nomen a juvando est inditum Varro on the contrary seems to say that the waters of that Fountain were sought after because of its name out of a superstitious and common simplicity Nympha Juturna quae juvaret itaque multi propter id nomen hinc aquam petere solent JUVENTAS called by the Greeks Hebe the Goddess of Youth Juno's Daughter See Hebe IXION The Son of Phlegias or Aetion Lucian in his Dialogue of the Gods introduces Juno and Jupiter talking thus of Ixion Jun. Who do you think was Ixion Jup. A very gallant man and good Company or else I would not have admitted him to my Table Jun. He is an insolent fellow who doth not deserve that honour Jup. What has he done I would fain know Jun. I am ashamed to tell it such is his impudence Jup. Has he made an attempt upon some Goddesses honour for you seem to intimate as much Jun. He has made his addresses to myself At first I took no notice of his love but afterwards he had always his eyes fasten'd upon me and that from time to time he sighed and let some tears drop that he affected to drink after me and lookt on me while he was drinking and then kissed the Glass I perceived his folly and I was ashamed to acquaint thee with it and thought it would soon be over But at last he grew so insolent as to tell me of it then presently stopping my ear lest I should hear him I came running as fast as I could to give thee notice of it that thou mightest make an example of him Jup. That is a bold Rogue to attempt to plant Horns on Jupiter's Head He was certainly drunk with Nectar but 't is my fault to love mortals so well as to admit them to my Table For 't is no wonder if feeding upon the same meat as I do they are transported with the same desires and fall in love with immortal Beauties Thou know'st thy self what a Tyrant Love is Jun. 'T is true that he is thy master and that as they say he leads thee by the Nose However I do well perceive why thou pityst Ixion He doth nothing but what thou hast deserved for thou hast formerly lain with his Wife and begot Perithous by her Jup. Dost thou remember it still Shall I tell thee my opinion in this matter It would be too great a punishment to banish him for ever out of our Company but seeing that he cries and sighs my opinion is ...... Jun. What! That I lay with him Jup. No some other Phantom like thee somewhat to satisfy his passion Jun. This would be to reward him instead of a punishment Jup. But what harm would that do thee Jun. He would think to embrace me and the disgrace would redound to me Jup. But he should be deceived for if we should form a Cloud like thee it should not be Juno herself Jun. As men have commonly more vanity than love he would brag of it and say that he had lain with me and I should lose my reputation Jup. If it thus falls out I will throw him headlong into Hell where being tied to a Wheel he shall turn for ever without enjoying any rest Jun. This wont be too great a punishment for his crime In short Ixion being perswaded he had imbraced Juno because he hugged a Cloud like her bragged of it whereupon Jupiter precipitated him into Hell where he turns a Wheel without Intermission Isaac Tzetzes relates That Ixion having killed his Father in law and being wandering and vagrant as a punishment of his crime was entertained by a King named Jupiter who kindly received him in his Palace and admitted him to his Table but Ixion having forgot this kindness imbolden'd himself to discover his love to the Queen which being reported to the King to inform himself of the truth of the matter ordered that one of the Queens Maids of Honour called Nephele or Cloud should be dressed with the Queens Apparel and brought to Ixion who enjoy'd her thinking it was the Queen her self K. K A double Consonant and the tenth Letter of the Alphabet taken from the Latin and comes from the Greek Kappa It was accounted useless by Priscian Claudius Dausquius says from Salust that the inventer of the Letter K was named Salvius and that it was unknown to the ancient Romans K is also a Numeral Letter which signifies amongst the Ancients two hundred and fifty and with a stroke above it it stands for an Hundred and fifty thousand KALENDE The Calends or the first day of every Month amonst the Romans See Calendae c. L. L Or Ell the name of the eleventh Letter of the Alphabet L is also a numeral Letter amongst the Ancients which stands for Fifty and signifies the same in the Roman Arithmetical Figures And when a stroke is added to it it stands for fifty thousand LABARUM The Standard of the Roman Emperours carried before them in the Wars and adored by the Soldiers It was a long Spear with a Staff set cross-way at the upper end thereof and from that Staff hung down a rich Standard of Purple colour edged with a Fringe and beset with precious Stones The Roman Emperors carried in their Colours or Labarum an Eagle Painted or Embroidered with Gold as we may observe in the reverse of a Medal of Maxentius wherein this Tyrant is represented armed with his Breast Plate holding with one hand the Labarum wherein an Eagle is drawn But Constantine the Great in the War against Maxentius where he vanquished him by the sign of the Cross which he saw in the Clouds Crowned the Labarum with a rich Crown beset with precious Stones and ordered that this Cypher P iâ—e Christ with these two Letters A and Ω to signifie that Jesus Christ is the beginning and the end should be wrought in Gold upon the Purple Standard We have a Medal of Constance wherein the Emperour is represented with his Coat of Armour on with his right hand holding up Victory which Crowns his head with Laurels and with the left hand he carries the Labarum Those who did bear the Labarum in the Armies were called Labariferi LABRUM A great Tub standing at the entrance of the Temple of the Jews and the Pagans in imitation of them where the Priests wash'd their Feet and Hands before they offered Sacrifices Labrum signifies also a Bathing Tub used in the Baths of the Ancients LABYRINTHUS A Labyrinth a place full of turnings and windiags so contrived that 't is very hard to get out again Pliny mentions four Labyrinths that of Egypt which was the greatest of all described by
into the Body of the Ox Apis and into all the rest which were successively substituted in his Stead and this Ox was looked upon as the Image and Soul of Osiris according to the Testimony of Diodorus Siculus and as there were Two sacred Oxen in Egypt the one named Apis in the City of Memphis and the other called Mnevis in Heliopolis the same Diodorus says they were both consecrated to Osiris Tanros sacros tam Apim quam Mnevim Osiridi sacros dicatos esse pro Diis coli apud universos promiscuè Aegyptios sancitum est Diodorus afterwards sets forth at large how the Worship and Mysteries of Osiris were carried from Egypt to Creece under the Name of Bacchus the Son of Semele the Daughter of Cadmus originally descended from Thebes in Egypt for the Daughter of Gadmus having had a Bastard Child that was very like unto Osiris Cadmus to save the Honour of his Daughter deified her Son after his Death making him to pass for another Osiris the Son of Jupiter Orpheus a little after went to Egypt and in Acknowledgment of the Kindness he had received from Cadmus his Family he publish'd these same Mysteries in Greece but so as to attribute to Semele's Son all that had been said of the truc Osiris several Ages before and so the Osiris of Egypt and Bacchus of Creece the Mysteries of the Egyptian Osiris and those of the Greclan Bacchus were one and the same Herodotus attributes the bringing of this Name History and Mysteries of Osiris or the Egyptian Bachus into Greece to Melampus who was antienter than Orpheus The Egyptian Tradition according to Diodorus Siculus was that Osiris Isis and Typhon were the Sons of Saturn and Rhea or rather of Jupiter and Juno that Osiris is the same with Bacchus and Isis the same as Ceres that Osiris and Isis reigned with extraordinary Mildness and conferred great Benefits on their Subjects that they hindred Men to eat one another any more that Isis inveated the Sowing and Use of Corn and made several excellent Laws that Osiris was brought up at Nysa in Arabia Felix and going for one of Jupiter's Sons they called him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he applied himself to Agriculture and first taught how to plant Vines That Hermes or Mercury was his Secretary in sacred Things that he was minded to travel all over the World to teach Mankind the use of Corn and Wine and in his Absence recommended Mercury to the Service of Isis to Hercules the Government of Egypt to Busiris that of Phoenicia and Lybia to Anteus that he was accompanied by Apollo his Brother Anubis Macedo Pan and Triptolemus that having passed over Africa Asia and Europe he built the City of Nysa in the Indies defeated Lycurgus in Thrace and at last returned home he was killed by his Brother Typhon that Isis and Orus his Sons reveng'd his Death and having slain Typhon they paid Divine Honours to Osiris whose Members Isis very carefully gathered together which Typhon had divided between the Murderers Plutarch observes that the Egyptians took Osiris for a good Genius and Typhon for an evil Genius and the Principle of all Evil. Plutarch wrote a particular Treatise concerning Isis and Osiris where in an Account is given of the Birth and great Exploits of Osiris of his Conquests Benefits to Mankind the secret Contrivances of Typhon against him his Death and the Care taken by Ises for his Deification At last he pretends that Osiris and Isis from good Genii as they were became Gods as a just Reward of their Vertue and that Osiris is Pluo and Isis Proferpina Synesius Bishop of Cyrene who wrote a Treatise concerning Providence confines himself almost wholly therein to the Explaining of the Fable or History of Osiris He begins with this Reflection That if the same be a Fable its full of Wit since the Egyptians were the Authors thereof and if it be more than a Fable it deserves our Pains to make a further Inspection into it he afterwards gives the same Account as other Writers have done of Osiris and Typhon and says that their Father was a King Priest and a God because the Egyptians pretended they had been govern'd by the Gods before the Kingdom fell into the Hands of Men Afterwards he gives a Description of the Reign of Osiris which was a Reign of Justice Piety Clemency and Liberality it self Typhon dethroned and banish'd him and assuming the Government reigned in all manner of Vices and with all imaginable Cruelty But the Patience of the People being worn out they recalled Osiris Typhon was punished by the Gods and Osiris recovered the Crown M. Spon in his Searches after Antiquity gives an Account of an Idol of Osiris I remember says he that being formerly at Leyden I saw among the Curiosities of their Anatomy-School two small Idols The first is an Osiris that was a famous Deity among the Egyptians having a Miter on his Head at the lower part whereof there was an Ox's Horn on each side for he was thus worshipped in the Form of an Ox because he had taught Mankind the Art of Tillage in his Left Hand he held a Staff bent at the End and in his Right a Triangular Instrument This last was very like unto a Whip with three Cords Plutarch says that Osiris commanded over the Dead and might not this Whip be the Ensign of his Authority as the Furies are represented with a Whip and Torches OSSA a Mountain upon the Frontiers of Thessaly that is covered all over with Wood and Snow Seneca says that this Mountain was joined to Olympus but that it was separated by the Labour of Hercules It was a Place of Retreat for Gyants and Centaurs OSTRACISMUS Ostracism it was a kind of Banishment in Use among the Greeks of such Persons whose over great Power the People suspected as fearing least the same should degenerate into Tyranny This Banishment was not accounted disgrateful because 't was not a Punishment inâ—â—icted for any Crime It lasted Ten Years and in the mean time the exiled Person enjoy'd his Estate It was thus called because the People gave their Suffrages by writing the Name of him whom they were minded to banish upon Shells Aristides was exiled in this manner because he was too Just as Plutarch says in his Life OTHO named M. Silviâ—s was the 8th Emperor and succeeded Galba whom he put to Death The Medals which we have of his make him somewhat like unto Nero which caused the People to cry Othoni Netoni But yet he was not so fat tho otherwise he had the Mien and Delicacy of a Woman He was shaved every Day and wore a Peruke because he had but very little Hair His Peruke may be distinctly observed on his Silver and Gold Medals and 't was he that brought the Use of Wigs into Italy The Brass Medals of this Prince which are all of them Egyptian or Syrian do not represent him with a Peruke perhaps because
mind of the Gentleness of my Reign when Corn grew without sowing Rivers flowed with Milk and Fountains with Wine and Honey All Things were then in common there were neither Rich nor Poor none cheated nor betrayed in short it was the Golden Age. Saturn was represented like an old Man grown crooked with Age pale sad and with his Head covered in his Right Hand he held a Sickle and a Serpent biting her Tail and a Child which he endeavoured to devour in his Left The first Temple that was built to him at Rome was that of Tatius King of the Sabines upon Mons Capitolinus the second was consecrated by Tullius Hostilius and the third dedicared by the Consuls A. Sempronius Atratinus and M. Minutius Valerius Publicola made it to be the Place where the publick Treasure was kept and 't was in this Temple that Foreign Embassadors caused their Names to be writ down in the publick Registers by the general Treasures Here also it was that they kept the Minutes and Registers of Contracts and all such Actions as Parents did Those who had recovered their Freedom were discharg'd out of Prison or freed from the Hands of their Enemies went to consecrate their Chains in that Place The Statue even of Saturn himself were Chains made of Wool in Commemoration of those which Jupiter his Son put upon him which Chains at the Saturnalia were taken off to denote the great Liberty Men enjoy'd at that time They sacrificed anciently a Man to him but Hercules abolished this cruel Custom and instead thereof appointed them to offer little Statues made of Plaister unto him Saturn is also one of the Seven Planets and the farthest from the Earth who appears to move flower than the rest It s placed between the Firmament and the Orbit of Jupiter and tho' it appears to be the least of the Planets yet 't is the greatest for its Diameter contains 97 times that of the Earth It performs its Revolution in the Zodiac in 29 Years 157 Days and 22 Hours It has two Satellites about it there is something new daily discovered concerning it The Astrologers call it the Great Infortune Its Nature is cold and dry and it s accused of being the Cause of all the Evil that happens upon Earth it s two Houses are Capricorn and Aquarius and its Exaltation is in Libra SATURNALIA they were Solemn Feasts instituted in Honour of Saturn and kept at Rome Decemb. 17 or on the 16 Calends of January the same lasting a Week This Feast was instituted long before the Foundation of Rome Macrobius L. 1. Saturn relates Three Opinions concerning the Original thereof Some say that Janus appointed it by way of Acknowledgment for the Art of Agriculture which he had learnt of Saturn Others attribute the Origin thereof to Hercules his Companions for their having been kept from Robbers by Saturn to whom they put up their Prayers for that Purpose And lastly Others maintain that the Pelasgi of Greece landing in the Isle of Delos learnt of the Oracle that they ought to erect an Altar to Saturn and celebrate a Feast in Honour of him This Feast was therefore instituted at Rome according to the Relation of the said Author in the Reign of Tullus Hostilius after he had triumphed over the Albans This Opinion is opposed by Varro who says Tarquinius Superbus built Saturn a Temple and that T. Largius the Dictator dedicated the same to the Saturnalia Livy shews us that they dedicated a Temple to Saturn and instituted Saturnalia Three Years after the Victory which Posthumius the Dictator won over the Latins near the Lake Regillium which happen'd in the Year 257 in the Consulship of Aulus Sempronius and M. Minutius Augurinus His consulibus says he Aedes Saturno dedicata Saturnalia institutus festus dies This Feast lasted but for one Day at first and this continued to the Reign of Augustus who ordered it to continue for three and afterwards they intermixed the Saturnalia with the Sigillaria which made the Feast last sometimes five and sometimes seven Days as Martial says Lucian in his Saturnalia brings in Saturn himself speaking in this manner concerning the said Feast During my whole Reign which lasts but for one Week no publick nor private Business is to be done but only to drink sing play create imaginary Kings place Servants with their Masters at Table smut them with Soot or make them leap into the Water with Head foremost when they do not perform their Duty well He afterwards recites the Laws of the Saturnalia They shall do no publick nor private Business during my whole Reign and of all Trades none but common Cooks Pastry-Cooks and the like shall follow their Occupation All Exercises of Body and Mind shall be banish'd saving such as are for Recreation and nothing shall be read or recited but what is conformable to the Time and Place The Rich Poor Masters Slaves all shall be equal there shall be neither Disputes nor Quarrels Reproaches Injuries nor Menaces nay Men shall not be allowed to be so much as angry No Accompt shall be kept of Income or Expence no Inventory taken of Moveables and Plate used at my Feast The Rich before-hand shall take an Account of all such as they are minded to treat or ought to send Presents to and for that End lay aside the Tenth part of their Income without being permitted to apply it to any other use under any Pretence whatsoever They shall also lay by their Superfluities whether the same be Moveables or Cloaths and that which is of no use to them in order to make a Present of the same to their necessitous Friends After they have on the Eve before cleared the House of all Pollution and expelled Pride Ambition and Covetousness from thence in order to sacrifice to Sweetness of Temper Courtesie and Liberality they shall read over the List they have made and having laid every ones Portion by it self they shall towards Night send their Presents to them by the Hands of some trusty Persons with Orders to take nothing of them unless a Cup of Drink and for the surer delivery of the said Present mention shall be made thereof in a Letter writ for that Purpose When the Master of the House shall treat his People according to Custom his Friends shall serve at Table with him and Liberty shall be given them to jest provided the Raillery be neatly done and that he who is Raillied laughs first Thus Slaves had Liberty to say what they would at this Feast and to ridicule their Masters to their Faces for their Faults as Horace says Sat. 7. L. 2. Age libertate Decembri Quando ita majores voluerunt utere narra They sacrificed at the Saturnalia bare-headed contrary to the Custom of other Sacrifices SATYRI Satyrs they were fabulous Demi-Gods among the Pagans who with the Fauni and Sylvani preside over Forests They were represented with Horns on their Heads erected Ears a Tail Goat's
spent in publick Rejoycings and much the same as those used the preceding Day The third Night they sacrificed a Hog to the Earth which the Ancients esteemed as one of their chief Goddesses and adored under different Names they believed this Animal to be the most pleasing Victim they could offer her as well because it always looked towards the Earth as by reason they said a Hog formerly eat the first Corn that was sowed This Sacrifice was offered upon the Banks of the Tiber at a Place in Campus Martius called Terentum from the Verb Tero to use because the Bank of the River was there worn away and as it were consumed by the Water On the Day following which was the third and last of the Secular Games they had Two Consorts of Musick one consisting of Boys and the other of Girls all of them of the best Families in Rome and whose Parents were yet alive a Circumstance observed that there might be no Occasion administred for Mourning and Sadness at a Feast where there should be nothing found but Joy They sung an Hymn composed on Purpose for the Secular Plays we have that extant which was sung in Augustus his Time and composed by Horace which is to be found in the End of his Book of Epods It was undoubtedly the same Day that was appointed for the Mystick Dance of the Salii instituted formerly by Numa second King of Rome we should not have known that this Dance made one of the chief Ceremonies of the Secular Plays if we had not learnt it from two Medals one of Augustus and the other of Domitian which were stamped on purpose for these Plays and upon which may be seen the Figure of a Salian as represented by the Ancients He has a round Bonnet on his Head ending with two very long Corners upon his particoloured Tunick he wears a kind of a Coat of Arms of which nothing but the Edges is to be seen which consisted of Purple Bands fastned with Brass Buckles he holds a small Rod in his Right Hand and a Buckler in the Left in the midst whereof Minerva's Head is to be seen she being the Goddess chosen by Domitian to be his Protectress They assisted the same Day at the Shews in the same manner as on the preceding Days This Feast being over the Emperor gave the Offerings to such Officers as were to take care of these Ceremonies who distributed part of the same amongst the People They afterwards recorded these Plays in the publick Registries and inscribed them on Marble They were called Secular Games because the Time prescribed between the Celebration of one and the other of them had the same Extent as the longest Life of Man which is that called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the Greeks but Seculum by the Romans In short this Solemnity contributed very much to the Diverting of the Plague Morality and other Epidemical Distempers and now we will give you the Occasion of the Institution of them Valesius from whom the Family of the Valefii among the Sabines was descended having a Wood before his House the tall Trees whereof were reduced to Ashes by Thunder he was troubled that he could not understand the Reason of such a Prodigy In a short Time after his Children happening to fall sick of a dangerous Distemper against which no medicinal Remedies could prevail he had Recourse to the Aruspices who telling him that the manner of the Thunder denoted that the Gods were very angry he went in the Way of his Duty to appease them by Sacrifices and being both himself and his Wife extreamly concerned for the Safety of his Children of which they had no Hopes he prostrated himself at the Feet of a Statue of Vesta making a Tender to that Goddess of his own and their Mother's Life to redeem theirs then turning his Eyes towards the Wood that had been burnt he thought he had heard a Voice commanding him to go to Tarentum and there give them some of the Water of the Tiber to drink after he had warmed it upon the Fire of Pluto and Proserpina's Altar At these Words he despaired still the more of the Lives of his sick Children for how should he find the Water of the Tiber at Tarentum which was a little Town scituated in the farther Part of Italy besides he took it for an ill Augury for him to heat that Water upon the Altar of the Infernal Gods The Aruspices had no better Opinion of it than he however they advised him to obey wherefore he embarked with his Children upon the Tiber and took care to carry Fire along with him but finding he could do it no longer because of its excessive Heat he caused the Men to row toward a Place on the Shore where the Stream was not so rapid and having stopped near a Shepherd's Cottage he came to know of the said Shepherd that the Name of the Place was Tarentum or Terentum as well as the City scituate in the Promontory of Iapyx He gave God Thanks for this good News caused the Water of the Tiber to be warmed upon the Fire he had lighted and no sooner gave it his Children to drink but they fell asleep and when they awoke found themselves well They told their Father that while they were asleep a Man of an extraordinary Size appeared to them who had an Air all Divine and commanded them to offer black Victims to Pluto and Proserpina and to spend Three Nights successively in singing and dancing to the Honour of those Deities in a Place in Campus Matrius appointed for the exercising of Horses Vaicsius going about to lay the Foundations of an Altar there had not dug very far but he found one to his Hand with this Inscription TO PLUTO AND PROSERPINA And having then his Doubts fully cleared to him he sacrificed black Victims on the said Altar and spent Three Nights in this Place as 't was ordered him to do Now this â—ar had been erected for those Gods upon a remarkable Occasion during the War of the Romans against the Albans whea their Armies were just going to engage all on a sudden there appeared a Man with a monstrous Aspect and clad in black Skins crying out with a loud Voice That Fluto and Proserpina commanded them before they engaged to sacrifice to them under Ground after which he vanished The Romans being astonished at this Apparition immediately built an Altar 20 Foot deep under Ground and after having sacrificed according to Order they covered it to the end no Body but themselves might have Knowledge of it Valesius having found it after he had offered Victims thereon and spent the Nights in the Rejoycings prescribed by the Gods he was called Manius Valerius Terentinus Manius in Commemoration of the Infernal Gods called Manes by the Latins Valerius from the Word valeo which signifies to be in Health and Terentinus in respect to the Place where he had offered Sacrifices Sometime after this Adventure that is
they plac'd themselves at Table and chang'd their Cloths putting on a Garment which they called Vestis coenatoria and putting off their Shoes that they might not dirty the Beds They bound about their Heads Fillets of Wool to prevent the Distempers of the Head which the Fumes of Meat and Wine might cause for which reason they used afterwards Garlands of Flowers Their Women did not eat lying after this manner such a Posture being esteem'd indecent and immodest in them except at a Debauch where they appear'd without any Shame or Modesty yet in an antient Marble which is at Rome we find the figure of a Woman lying at a Table upon a Bed as her Husband does and Virgil also seems to attest this when he represents Dido lying at Table at a Feast which she made upon the Arrival of Aeneas unless he means that she was already smitten with Love with her new Guest ACCUSARE in the Law to Accuse to draw up or lay an Accusation or Process The antient Lawyers put a difference between these three words Postulare Deserre and Accusare for first leave was desired to lay an Action against one and this was called Postulare and Postulatio after this he against whom the Action was laid was brought before the Judg which was call'd Deserre and nominis Delatio and lastly the Accusation was drawn up accusabatur The Accuser was obliged by the Law to sign his Accusation at the head of which he plac'd the Name of the Consul which signified the Year when the Romans reckon'd Years by their Consuls he set down also the Day the Hour and the Judg before whom he intended to prosecute his Accusation We learn from Tacitus that the Accusers had two days given them to make their Complaint in and the Accused three days to make his Defence and that six days were allow'd between them both to prepare themselves From the very moment that any Person was accused of a Capital Crime that deserved Death he was stript of all his Marks of Honour and appear'd in a careless Habit he was obliged to give Sureties that he would appear in Court when there was occasion which if he did not he was laid up in Prison to secure his Person The Libel being drawn the Accused was summoned to appear at three Market-days in trinundinum and he always came attended with his Neighbours and Friends who were concerned for him and threw themselves at the feet of the Magistrates and People to beg favour for him in case he were found guilty If the Accused refus'd to appear he was summoned with the Sound of a Trumpet before his House or Castle and after the time allow'd was expir'd he was condemn'd for Contumacy The Accuser had two hours wherein to speak against the Accused and three hours were granted to the Accused to make his Defence which was measured by an Hour-glass of Water called Clepsydra of which I shall give an account in its proper place which made a Greek Orator say to the Judg when he had a mind to signifie to him the Goodness of his Cause That he would bestow part of his Water on his Adversary i. e. of his Time which the Lex Pompeia made by Pompey in his third Consulship allowed him for his Defence If the Accused was found guilty Sentence was pronounced against him in these words Videtur fecisse i. e. he is attainted and convicted of having committed the Crime If on the contrary he was found not guilty he was then declared innocent in these terms Videtur non fecisse i. e. he is cleared from all Suspicion of Guilt All these Circumstances which were observed in Accusations are related by Cicero and Tacitus But if it appeared by the Event that the Accuser was a Calumniator i. e. that he had falsly accused the other Party or that he was a Prevaricator i. e. that he had betray'd his Cause to make way for the Criminal to escape and obtain Absolution or at least that he had desisted from and given over Prosecution without the Leave of the Magistrate or the Prince and without a lawful Cause then he was sentenced by the Magistrate to suffer the same Punishment which the guilty Person deserv'd ACERRA a little Pot which held the Incense and Perfumes for Sacrifices such as are now made in the form of a small Boat and are used in the Church of Rome at this day An Incense-Box for burning Perfumes upon the Altars of the Gods and before the dead Bodies The Rich says Horace offer'd Boxes full of the finest Perfumes to their false Deities Et plenâ supplex veneratur Acerrâ And the Poor according to Lucian were excused for making a Bow and throwing some grains of Incense into the Fire that burnt upon the Altars ACESSEUS the Name of a certain Seaman who was very careless and always attributed the bad Success of his Voyages to the Moon from whence comes the Latin Proverb Accessei Luna to signifie a lazy and negligent sort of People who always throw off the Blame from themselves in case of any bad Success tho their own Negligence was the only Cause of it ACETABULUM a small antient Measure which contained about the fourth part of an Hemine being about two ounces and an half of either liquid or dry things as Pliny explains it towards the end of his twelfth book This Measure held a Cup and an half and answers to our Quartern but is now more in use among Druggists and Apothecaries than Victuallers both for Liquids and Solids It was also a kind of Spice-Box which contained all sorts of Spices whereof the Ancients used to make their Sauces to season their Victuals together with Vinegar and Verjuice It was made in the form of a Pyramid and had several Drawers wherein were put different sorts of Spices as Pepper Nutmegs c. ACHELOUS a River whose Spring-head rises on Mount Pindus in Thessaly and from thence crosses over Acarnania which it separates from Etolia and then dividing it self into two Streams it runs into the Gulph of Corinth This River was called Thoas according to Stephanus and afterwards Achelous from one Achelous who came from Thessaly to inhabit in these parts with Alcmeon the Son of Amphiaraus who kill'd his Mother Eryphile he is commonly called Aspri and according to others Catochi He was according to the Poets the Son of the Ocean and the Earth or of Thetis as Servius would have it who makes him the Father of the Syrens He wrestled with Hercules for the fair Deïanira whom her Father OEnus King of Calydon would not bestow in marriage upon any Man but him who was victorious in this kind of Exercise Achelous finding himself too weak was put to his shifts and changed himself sometimes into a Serpent and sometimes into a Bull but this avail'd him nothing for Hercules overcame him and pluck'd off one of his Horns which the Naiades took up and having fill'd it with Fruits and Flowers they call'd it Cornutopia
Danae But she refusing to agree to his love and yield herself up to his passion he resolv'd at last to force her and the better to cover his Design he remov'd her Son Perseus a great way off and sent him to the Garganes with an Order to bring back to him the Head of Medusa that he might make a Present of it to his Mistress Hippodamia hoping that Perseus would be kill'd in this Enterprize and then he should be in a condition to prevail with his Mother to condescend to his Desires But things fell out quite otherwise than he imagin'd for Perseus by good luck return'd safe from this Expedition brought back the Head of Medusa and was married in his Voyage to Andromeda whom he deliver'd from the Sea-Monster which was just ready to devour her He returning to Argos with his new-married Spouse to present her before Acrisius his Grandfather found him celebrating Funeral-Games whereupon he having a mind to exercise himself with throwing a Bar of Iron it happen'd unluckily that the Bar hit against Acrisius's his Leg and gave him a Wound whereof he died in some days after and thus the Oracle was fulfill'd ACROBATES a sort of Dancers upon the Rope We learn from Boulanger in his Treatise of Dancers on the Rope that there were Four sorts of 'em The First were those who vaulted about a Rope as a Wheel turns about its Axeltree and hang'd upon it by the Feet or the Neck Nicephorus Gregora says that in his time these Dancers vaulting about a Rope were to be seen at Constantinople The Second sort of them were those who flew from a high place down to the ground upon a Rope which supported their Breast their Arms and Legs being extended Of these Manilius Nicetas and Vopiscus speak in the Life of Carinus The Third sort were those who are mention'd by the same Manilius who run upon a sloping Rope or came down it from a higher to a lower place The Fourth sort were those who not only walk'd upon a distended Rope but jump'd high and cut Capers upon it as a Dancer would do upon the ground at the sound of a Flute And of this kind Symposius is to be understood ACROSTOLIUM a kind of Ornament for a Ship made in the form of a Hook which was plac'd at the end of the Stem or Stern To these may be compar'd those polish'd and sharp pieces of Iron resembling the Neck of a Duck which the Venetians use at the Stem of their Gondoles It may also be that Ornament of a Stern which they call'd Anserculus a little Goose whereof Bayfius gives us the Figure like the Head of a Goose ACROTERIA 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the extremities of any thing This word in Greek signifies generally any extreme part such as are in Animals the Nose the Ears and the Fingers and in Buildings the Turrets or Battlements of Houses and the little Pedestals on which Statues were plac'd and which were scituate at the middle and the two Extremities of a Frontispiece or the Statues of Earth or Copper which were plac'd on the top of Temples to adorn 'em in Ships this word signifies the Beaks which are call'd Rostra they are also Promontories or high places which are seen afar off at Sea ACTA which has in the Genitive Actae Cicero and Virgil use this word speaking of a Meadow pleasant for its greenness and Vossius thinks that it must only be us'd in speaking of Sicily as these two Authors did ACTA PUBLICA the Records or publick Registers wherein were written what concern'd publick Affairs to preserve the Memory of ' em ACTA DIURNA a Diurnal wherein is set down what passes every day ACTA CONSISTORII the Edicts the Declarations of the Council of State of the Emperors which were express'd in these Terms IMPERAT DIOCLESIANUS ET MAXIMIANUS A. A. IN CONSISTORIO DIXERUNT DECURIONUM FILII NON DEBENT BESTIIS OBJICI The August Emperors Dioclesian and Maximian in Council declar'd That the Children of the Decurions ought not to be expos'd to wild Beasts in the Amphitheatre The Senate and Soldiers swore often either through Flattery or by Compulsion upon the Edicts of the Emperors Tacitus tells us that Nero raz'd the Name of Apidius Meru'a out of the Register of the Senators because he would not swear upon the Acts of the Emperor Augustus ACTEIUS one of the six envious and malign Demons whom the Greeks call Telchines who bewitch Men out of their sense and of whom fabulous Antiquity would make us believe that they sprinkle the Earth with the infernal Stygian Water from whence arose Pestilence Famin and other publick Calamities ACTAEON the Son of Aristeus and Autonoe the Daughter of Cadmus who was brought up in the School of Chiron the Centaur He was a great lover of Hunting and continually follow'd this Sport One day as he was pursuing a Hart he spy'd Diana bathing her self with her Nymphs But the Goddess enrag'd to be seen in that condition threw Water upon him which chang'd him into a Hart and afterwards he was torn in pieces by his own Dogs Pausanias mentions a Fountain of Acteon near Megara on the side whereof the Hunter was wont often to repose himself when he was tyred with the Chase and there it was that he saw Diana bathing her self Plutarch mentions another Acteon the Son of Mclistus a Corinthian who was carryed away by force and whom his Friends tore in pieces while they endeavour'd to recover him out of the hands of his Kidnappers ACTIACA VICTORIA the Actiat Victory which Augustus obtain'd over Mark Antony near the Promontory and City of Actium This Prince to perpetuate the Memory of that Victory to Posterity built the City Nicopolis i. e. the City of Victory he adorn'd with great Magnificence the old Temple of Apollo wherein he dedicated the Beaks or Rostra of the Enemies Ships he increas'd also the Pomp of the solemn Games call'd Ludi Actiaci which were celebrated every fifth Year in Honor of this God after the manner of the Olympic Games Stephans would have 'em observ'd every Third Year and thinks they consisted of a Race by Sea and Land and Wrestling ACTIUM a City and Promontory of Epirus a place famous for the Defeat of Antony and all the Forces of the East by Caesar-Augustus who built there a new City call'd Nicopolis i. e. the City of Victory ACTIO in the Law an Action in a Court of Justice a Process entred either by the Prosecutor or the Defendant There were many Formalities observ'd in judicial Actions that were commenc'd against any Person First A Petition must be presented to the Judg to have leave to bring the Person before him The Judg answer'd this Petition by writing at the bottom of it Actionem do I give leave to bring him On the contrary he wrote Actionem non do when he deny'd the Petition All Actions especially Civil and Pecuniary commenc'd after the Petition was presented by a Citation or
to undertake his Defence run himself through the Body with a Sword in his presence and at his House after he understood that he had betray'd him which occasioned all the Senators unanimously to demand That the Lex Cynica might be restor'd and that the Advocates for the future should be forbidden to take Presents or Money But Suillius and others being concern'd in point of Interest oppos'd this Advice against whom Silius maintain'd it and shew'd by the Example of antient Orators that they propos'd to themselves no other end of their Labour and Study but Honour and Reputation He alleg'd that we must not defile the most noble of all Professions with filthy Lucre nor make a Trade of Eloquence that Fidelity was always to be suspected when it was bought and that this would foment Discord and prolong Suits if they were made gainful to Advocates as Diseases are to Physicians that they should set before themselves for a Pattern Asinius and Messala and these later Orators Arruntius and Eseruinus who arriv'd at the greatest Dignities without takiag any Fee for their Eloquence This Advice was unanimously received and the Senators were just ready to condemn all those of Bribery who should be convicted of taking any Money when Suillius Cossutianus and others encompass'd the Emperour to bag his Pardon and after he had signify'd the Grant of it they prosecuted their Defence after this manner They represented that there was no Advocate so vain as to promise himself eternal Fame as the Reward of his Labours that they sought by this means only to maintain their Credit and their Family and that it was the Interest of the Publick that Men should have some to defend them that after all their Eloquence had cost them something and while they took pains about the Affairs of another they could not mind their own that no body proposed to himself an unprofitable Employment and a fruitless Profession that it was easy for Asinius and Messala being enrich'd with the Spoils of the Civil Wars and for Eseruinus and Arruntius being Heirs to great Families to make Honour and Glory the end of all their Pains and Study but withal there wanted not Examples of Orators who had received Benefit by their Studies and that all the World knew that Curio and Claudius took great Sums for pleading that after all there was no other Gate but this by which the People could enter into Dignities and that by taking away the Reward of Learning it would in time be wholly neglected The Emperour being moved by these Reasons altho they were rather profitable than honourable permitted Advocates to take Money in a Cause as far as the Sum of two hundred and fifty Crowns and order'd that those who took more should be punish'd as guilty of Bribery ADVOCARE in the Law to pray any one of his Kinfolks and Friends to assist him in his Affairs with their Presence Advice and Credit and to furnish him with means to defend himself The Person thus requested waited upon the Judges at their Houses to solicite them and was present at the Tryal ADYTUM 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Secret Place a Retirement in the Temples of the Pagans where Oracles were given into which none but the Priests were admitted It was the Sanctuary of the Temples Isque adytis haec Tristia dicta reportat Virgil. Aeneid 11. v. 115. Ae was in old times written and pronounc'd as A and E separately and sometimes as A and D and at this day is pronounc'd as a single E. It was also written AI and afterwards Ae Musai for Musae Kaisar for Casar Juliai for Julia and in other the like Instances from whence it came to pass that in some words the A remain'd alone as Aqua ab Aequando says St. Isidore It cannot be deny'd but upon the Corruption of the Language Ae was pronounced as a single E whence an E was often put for an Ae as Eger for Aeger Etas for Aetas Es alienum for Aes alienum and sometimes on the contrary an Ae was put for a single E as Aevocatus for Evocatus and the like whereof the old Glosses are full and for this Reason Bede in his Orthography puts Aequor among the Words that were written with a single E. AEACUS the Son of Jupiter and Egina the Daughter of the River Asopus Jupiter fearing lest Juno should discover his Passion for Egina transported her into the Isle of Delos and had by her this Son called Aeacus But Juno having discover'd the Intrigue convey'd a Serpent into a Fountain of which the People drank which so poisoned it that all who drank of it died instantly Aeacus seeing himself depriv'd of Inhabitants pray'd to Jupiter that he would turn an heap of Ants into so many Men which Jupiter granted him and these Men were called Myrmidons because 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies an Ant and the Isle was call'd Egina as we learn from Pausanias in his Corinthiaca Aeacus had for his Sons Peleus who was the Father of Achilles and Telamon the Father of Ajax Lucian in his Dialogue Of Mourning speaking of Hell At first after your Descent you meet with a Gate of Adamant which is kept by Aeacus the Cousin-german ' of Pluto And in another place he brings him in saying That he return'd from thence for fear lest some Death should escape him This is certain that he makes him one of the Porters of Hell in company with Cerberus who was a Dog with three Heads Yet Ovid lib. 13. Metamorph. makes him one of the Judges of Hell together with Minos and Rhadamanthus upon the account of his Wisdom and Integrity Aeacus huic pater est qui Jura silentibus illic Reddit AEDEPOL See Aedes AEDES in the singular or AEDES in the plural number Varro thinks that it was used for Ades quòd eas plano pede adirent but since it was formerly written Aides it seems rather to come from the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an old Word which is to be met with in Pindar and Eustathius and signifies the same with Aedes AEDES in the singular number is commonly taken for an Holy Place a Temple and Aedes in the plural number for an House altho this Rule is not without Exception When the word is used for an Holy Place 't is commonly join'd with some other word which determines it to that Sense as Aedes Sacra Aedes Sacrae Aedes Jovis Aedes Pacis Aedes Deorum the Temple of Jupiter the Temple of Peace the Temple of the Gods If no such word be join'd to it 't is commonly to be understood of a Prophane Place altho in strictness of Language Aedes Sacra and Templum were two different things for Templum was a place dedicated by the Augurs and designed by them for some private Use but not consecrated whereas Aedes Sacra was an Holy Place and consecrated to some Deity but not founded by the Augurs But if this Place was dedicated by the
oppress'd with a multitude of Business There were also Aediles in municipal Cities like those at Rome AEDILITAS Aedility the Magistracy of the Aediles which lasted a year It included many Magistrates and their different Offices such as these of the Consul the Chief Justice Surveyor of the High-ways and the High Treasurer This Office continued in the Empire according to Justus Lipsius till Constantines's time who suppress'd it together with other Magistracies of the Empire AEDITUUS or AEDITIMUS a Sacrist or Sexton a Treasurer to the Temples of the False Gods who took care of the Offerings and other Ornaments of the Gods AEDITUA a Sucrist of the Female Deities with whom was intrusted the keeping of the Treasures of the Temple AEDON the Wife of King Zethus the Brother of Amphiron she by mistake kill'd her own Son Itylus instead of the Son of her Brother-in-law whom she hated She designed to have kill'd her self when she found her mistake but the Gods in compassion chang'd her into a Linnet who is always complaining of this Misfortune in her Song AEGEON a Giant See Briarens AEGEUS the Son of Pandion King of Athens who begot Theseus upon the Nymph Aethra Minos King of Candia declar'd War against him to revenge the Death of his Son Androgeus whom some of the Athenians had kill'd In this War the Athenians had considerable Losses which forc'd them to desire a Peace and it was granted them on condition that they should send every year six young Men of the better sort of Families to be expos'd to the Minotaure for appeasing the Ghost of his Son The Lot fell upon Theseus the Son of King Aegeus who escap'd the Fury of this Monster But Aegeus seeing the Ship return which had carry'd this cruel Oblation and not percieving the white Flag set up as had been agreed between them he suppos'd his Son was dead which put him into such a Fit of Despair that he threw himself head-long into the Sea The Athenians instituted Feasts to his Honour and sacrific'd to him as a Sea-God and an Adopted Son of Neptune AEGEUM MARE the Aegean Sea otherwise call'd Archipelago or the White-Sea 'T is a part of the Gulph of the Mediterranean Sea which begins at the Eastern part of the Isthmus of Corinth or the Promontory Suniam and reaches as far as the Hellespont dividing Greece and Europe from Asia Suidas would have this Sea call'd the Aegean upon account of Aegeus who threw himself headlong into it supposing his Son Theseus who went to fight the Minotaure had been slain Others give it this Name upon the account of a Rock which lies between the two Isles of Tenedos and Chio having the shape of a Goat The Isles of this Sea were divided by the Antients into Cyclades and Sporades they reckon'd fifty of the Cyclades which encompass'd the Isle of Delos like a Circle but the Sporades were scatter'd here and there towards the Isle of Crete or Candia AEGERIA a Nymph or Deity that was worship'd in the Forest Aricina which Titus Livius places seven miles from Rome but Festus says it lay only a little way without the Gate Collina Numa Pompilius the second King of Rome feign'd that he had frequent Conversation with this Deity that he might add greater Weight and Authority to his Laws and Ordinances and root them deeper in the Minds of the Romans making them believe that this Nymph Aegeria dictated them to him Ovid makes her the Wife of Numa who was changed into a Fountain by Diana Fast lib. 3. ver 275. Aegeria est quae praebet aquas Dea grata Camoenis Illa Numae conjux consiliumque fuit She was reverenc'd by the Romans as a Deity and the Women with child pray'd to her in the time of their Travel that by her Aid they might be safely deliver'd of their Children as we learn from Festus Aegeria nymphae sacrificabant praegnantes quod eam putabant facile conceptum alvo egerere She was also call'd Fluonia because she stop'd the Bloody-flux in Women AEGIALA the Wife of Diomedes whom Venus inspir'd with so brutish a Passion that she prostituted her self to all Commers in revenge for the Wound she had receiv'd from her Husband at the War of Troy Diomedes not being able to endure the Whoredoms of his Wife abandon'd her and retir'd into Italy where he agreed with Danaus for one part of his Kingdom which was call'd Graecia Magna He built there a City call'd Argos Hippium and in after times Argyrippa as Servius says upon the eleventh of the Aeneids AEGINA an Island with a City of the same Name near to Peloponnesus and Attica which was distant only four Leagues from the famous Port Pynaeum in the lower part of Athens It was also so call'd from Aegina the Daughter of Asopus King of Baeotia by whom Jupiter in a Disguise of Fire had two Sons call'd Aeacus and Rhadamanthus AEGIOCHUS a Surname given to Jupiter from a Goat which the Greeks call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gen. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon the account of the Milk with which he was nourish'd in his Infancy by the Nymphs Amalthaea and Melissa The Poets tell us that when this Goat died Jupiter cover'd his Shield with its Skin but afterwards he brought it to life again and plac'd it among the Celestial Signs AEGIS the Goat-skin of Jupiter a Buckler cover'd with the Skin of the Goat of Amalthaea the Nurse of Jupiter This Buckler he gave to Pallas who painted the Head of Medusa upon it the bare Sight whereof petrifi'd both Men and Beasts Jupiter took upon him the Name of Aegiochus i. e. the Goat-skin-Bearer AEGIS a frightful Monster born of the Earth which vomited Fire wherewith all the Forests of Phrygia were consum'd from Mount Taurus as far as the Indies This forc'd the Inhabitants to abandon the Country But Minerva kill'd this Monster and cover'd her Buckler with its Skin that it might serve not only for Defence but also for a Mark of her Victory Thus Natalis Comes relates the Fable lib. 4. cap. 5. Aegidem feram vocam monstrum prope inexpugnahile obtruncâ—â—it c. AEGISTHUS born of the incestuous mixture of Thyestes with his own Daughter Pelopia He was expos'd to Beasts by his Father in order to conceal his Crime but the Shepherds sav'd him and fed him with the Milk of a Goat from whence he was call'd Aegysthus When he came to age he kill'd his Uncle Atreus the Father of Agamemnon and afterwards Agamemnon also at a Feast by the help of his own Wife Clytemnestra whom he had abus'd But Orestes the Son of Agamemnon reveng'd the Death of his Father by killing Aegysthus and the faithless Clytemnestra AEGIOCHUS 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Surname of Jupiter the same with Aegiochus There are several Medals of the Emperours Philip and Valerian upon the Reverse whereof is represented a Goat with this Inscription Jovi Conservatori Augusti and on the other side a Goat carrying Jupiter
an Infant on his back with these Words Jovi crescenti AEGLE the Daughter of Hesporus King of Italy and one of the Hasperides who had a Garden near to Lixa a City of Mauritania towards the Frontiers of Aethiopia where there were Trees laden with Apples of Gold which were guarded by a Dragon but Hercules kill'd it and carry'd off the Fruit. There is also another Aegle the Daughter of the Sun and Nearâ— mention'd by Virgil in his sixth Eclogue This is a Greek word which signifieth Light or Splendor AEGOBOLUS an Epither given to Bacchus upon the account of a Goat which the Potnians sacrific'd to him instead of an Infant to expiate the Murder they had committed on one of the Priests of his Temple For Pausonias relates That one day when the Potnians were sacrificing to him in his Temple they got drunk and in that drunken Fit kill'd one of his Priests who in revenge sent a Plague among 'em which made their Country desolate To put a stop to this Mischief they had recourse to the Oracle who order'd to sacrifice to him every year a young Boy to appease him but some time after the God was contented with the Sacrifice of a Goat instead of a Boy AEGYPTUS the Son of the antient Belus He had fifty Sons which he marry'd to the fifty Daughters of his Brother Danous who all cut their Husbands Throats the first Night of their Marriage Hypermnestra only excepted who follow'd not this cruel and barbarous Direction but preserv'd her Husband Lynceus alive who drove Danous away from the Kingdom of the Argives Aegyptus according to Ensebius gave name to Egypt which was formerly call'd Oceana Aerea and Osirina AEGYPTUS Egypt a large Country of Africa water'd by the River Nile which renders it very fruitful It was at first inhabited by Misraim the second Son of Cham which signifies Egypt 'T is divided into two parts the Upper and the Lower The Upper contains Thebais which the Prophets Esay and Jeremy call Phetros The Greeks call the Lower Egypt Delta upon the account of the linkeness of its figure to that of their Letter Δ. The Original of the founding a Kingdom in this vast Country is uncertain and fabulous only we know that it had Kings from Abraham's time Misraim was the Father of Ludim from whom the Ethiopians are descended who dispute the Antiquity of their Original with the Egyptians but this they did out of vanity only and upon very bad grounds The first Kings were called Pharaohs and the latter Ptolemy's-Egypt was represented in the antient Medals by the Goddess Isis the great Deity of the Egyptians she held in one hand a Sphere as being the Mother of Arts and Sciences and in the other a Vessel or Amphora fill'd with Ears of Corn to shew its Fertility which proceeds from the Overflowing of the Nile â—hat waters it and fattens it with the slim◠〈…〉 behind when it retires into its 〈…〉 Egypt was reduc'd into a Province by Augâ—â—â—â—â— Caesar after the Defeat of Cleopatra who was the last Queen of it in the year of the World 4015 according to Petavius or in 3915 acccording to Calvisius and in the year 717. from the Building of Rome AEGYPTII the Egyptians Who were the first of all the Nations that we know of says Lucian in his Syrian Goddess that had any knowledge in Divine matters and who founded Temples and instituted Mysteries and Ceremonies for the Assyrians learn'd these things of them some time after and added to the Worship of the Gods the Adoration of Idols because there was none of them at first amongst the Egyptians These are they says the same Lucian in his Judicial Astrology who have cultivated Astrology measur'd the Course of each Star and distinguish'd the Year into Months and Seasons regulating the Year by the Course of the Sun and the Months by that of the Moon They divided then Heavens into twelve parts and represented each Constellation by the Figure of some Animal from whence comes the Diversity in their Religion for all the Egyptians did not make use of all the parts of the Heavens for their Gods Those who observ'd the Properties of Aries ador'd a Ram and so of the rest 'T is said also that they worship'd the Ox Apis in memory of the celestial Bull and in the Oracle which is consecrated to him Predictions are taken from the nature of this Sign as the Africans do from Aries in memory of Jupiter Hammon whom they ador'd under that figure The Egyptians worship'd Water in publick but they had other Gods whom they ador'd in private Some worship'd a Bull or an Ape others a Stork or a Crocodile some worship'd Onions others a Cat or a Monster with a Dog's Head some ador'd the Right Shoulder others the Left or half of the Head and some an Earthen Platter or a Cup. Lastly Diodorus tells us That they ador'd the Privy Parts and even the very Excrements according to Clement in his fifth Book of Recognitions Their Custom was to salute their Gods in the Morning which they call'd Adoration They sang Hymns to their honour which were describ'd in Hieroglyphic Characters upon sacred Parchments and none but those who were initiated into their Mysteries could read or decypher'em as being Figures of different Animals whereof each had its proper Signification which none else could penetrate into at least not till they were explain'd AELIUS a Name common to many illustrious Romans of the Aelian Family as to Aelius Gallus a Roman Knight who carryed the Roman Arms into Arabia to Aelius Paetus a Consul who having a mind to raise the siege before Aretium in Tuscany lost there his Army and his Life in the view of the besieged to Aelius Pertinax who succeeded the Emperor Commodus and enjoy'd the Empire only Three Months to Aelius Adrianus and Aelius Verus who were likewise Emperors See Adrianus and Verus AELIA CAPITOLINA the City of Jerusalem was thus call'd by Aelius Adrianus who caus'd it to be rebuilt after he drove all the Jews from thence who had rebell'd against the Romans AELIANUM JUS the Aelian Code which contain'd a Treatise of Personal Actions It was compos'd by Sextus Aelius a Lawyer and Philosopher AELLO one of the Harpies to whom this Name agrees because it signifies One that carries all away by force AEMILIUS the Name of a Roman Family from which many great Men were descended and among the rest Paulus Aemilius the Consul Tacitus relates of him this piece of History The dissolute Life of the Priests of Isis who were call'd Galli oblig'd the Senate to order That the Temple of this Goddess and of Serapis should be raz'd to the ground There was no person found so bold as to execute this Order because every one scrupled its Lawfulness in point of Religion Paulus Aemilius seeing this put off his magistratical Robe and was the first who with an Ax begun to demolish this Temple which had serv'd for a Retreat to the
He was declar'd Caesar and made Partner in the Empire with Geta his Brother by the Father's Side In his Youth he had sucked in the Principles of Christianity having Evodus for one of his Governours whose Wife and Son were instructed in the Christian Religion Thus at first he gave good Signs of a very sweet Disposition which procured him the Love of every Body But his Father having removed from his Person those that inspired him with a Relish of true Piety choaked that good Seed he had received and made a Monster of him when he thought to make him a great Prince for he intended to have usurped the Sovereign Power by Parricide having laid his Hand upon his Sword on purpose to draw it and kill his Father when he was one Day coming behind him on Horse-back and had certainly done it if those who were about him had not cryed out and hindered him The Horror of an Action so black brought Severus into such a deep Melancholy that he died in it within a Year after Carâ—calla being thus advanced to the Empire killed his Brother Geta in his Mother's Bosom that he might reign alone without any Partner upon the Throne He cut off the Head of Papinian a celebrated Lawyer because he would neither excuse nor desend the Murder of his Brother which Example of a generous Courage in this Lawyer who was then Praefectus Praetorio should make Christians blush who so easily excuse the Crimes of Kings when they have Hopes of rising at Court We have some Medals of this Prince which represent to us what kind of a Person he was after he came to be Emperor For when we observe in his Medal the Space between his Eye-brows knit his Eyes sunk in his Head and his Nose a little turned up at the End these Marks make up the Countenance of a Man who is thoughtful crafty and wicked and indeed he was one of the cruellest Men in the World Besides he was addicted to Wine and Women fierce insolent hated by the Soldiers and even by his own domestick Servants insomuch that at last he was killed by one of his own Centurions called Martialis in the 43 Year of his Age and the Sixth Year of his Reign It might seem wonderful that so wicked a Prince should be placed among the Gods as we learn that he was by the Title of Divine which was given him and by the Consecration we see in his Medal but that we have this to say in the Case that Macrinus who succeeded him and was the Cause of his Death had a mind by doing him this Honour to clear himself of all Suspicion of this Murder or rather that this was an Age of Slavery and the People being enslaved bestowed the most sordid Flatteries upon the worst of Princes CARIATIDES Statues in the Shape of Women without Arms habited genteelly which served for Ornament and Support to the Chapiters of Pillars in Edifices Vitruvius in L. 2. C. 1. of his Architecture relates the Story of them thus That the Inhabitants of Caria which was a City of Peloponnesus in former times had joyn'd with the Persians when they made War against the People of Greece and that the Greeks having put an End to that War by their glorious Victories declared afterwards to the Cariates that their City being taken and ruin'd and all their Men put to the Sword their Women should be carried away Captive and that to make the Disgrace the more remarkable their Ladies of Quality should not be suffered to put off their Garments nor any of their usual fine Dresses Now to make the Cariates an everlasting Monument of the Punishment they had endured and to inform Posterity what it was the Architects of that Time instead of Pillars placed this sort of Statues in publick Buildings Some remains of this sort of ancient Statues are still to be seen at Rome Montiosius who had much ado to find out some Signs of these Cariatides which Pliny says were placed by Diogenes an Athenian Architect to serve for Pillars in the Pantheon relates that he saw Four of them in the Year 1580 which were buried in the Ground as high as the Shoulders on the Right-side of the Portico in Demi-relief and which sustain'd upon their Heads a kind of Architrave of the same Stone This kind of Cariatides is still to be seen at Bourdeaux in a very ancient Building which they call Tuteles as also in the old Louvre at Paris in the Hall of the Swiss Guards They are Statues Twelve Foot high and support a Gallery enriched with Ornaments which are very well cut done by Goujon Architect and Engraver to Henry II. CARITES or the Three Graces which were Three Sisters the constant Companions of Venus viz. Aglaia Euphrosyne and Thalia They are painted young and beautiful with a smiling Countenance clad in fine thin Stuff without a Girdle and holding one another by the Hand Seneca explains to us this Picture He says They are painted young and beautiful because their Favours are always agreeable for their Novelty and the Memory of them can never be lost They are clad in fine thin Stuff because the Kindness they do you ought to be without Dissimulation or any Disguise and should proceed from the Bottom of the Heart Their Garment is not girt about because Benefits ought to be free and unconstrained They hold one another interchangable by the Hands to show that Favours should be reciprocal We ought to believe that the Graces were only Moral Deities Pausanias has written a large Discourse about them wherein he says that Eteocles was the first who consecrated Three of them in Boeotia that the Lacedaemonians knew but Two of them Clita and Phaenna that the Athenians also held Two of them in Veneration Auxo and Hegemo that Homer marries one of the Graces to Vulcan without giving her any other Name though he elsewhere calls her Pasitbae Lastly that Hesiod nam'd the Three Graces Euphorsyne Aglaia and Thalia and makes them the Daughters of Jupiter and Eurynome CARMENTA the Mother of Evander and one who was a Prophetess from whence she had her Name Carmenta à carminibus because the ancient Sibyls gave their Oracles in Verse A Temple was built to her at Rome wherein Sacrifices were offered to her A Festival also was instituted to her which from her Name was called Carmentalia Carmenta says Father Thomiain answers pretty well to Themis for Servius says that she was called Nicostrata and that she assumed the Name of Carmenta because she gave her Oracles in Verse that she was the Mother of Evander the Son of Pallas King of Arcadia and lastly that she was killed by her own Son or according to others she instigated her Son to kill his Father Pallas which forced Evander to flie away into Italy Evander patrem suum occidit suadente matre Nicostratâ quae etiam Carmentis dicta est quia carminibus vamcinabatur Ovid relates this History after such a manner as
Etymology from the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. the Hair as if it were an appointed place for shaving Mercurialis without troubling himself with the Etymology affirms that it was a place where they laid up the Wrestlers Cloaths or such as went into the Baths and gives no other reason for the same but only that such a room was requisite in the Palaestra but Baldus tells us that this word Coriceum is derived from the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies a Ball and his interpretation of this word seems the most reasonable wherefore we may say that Coryceum is a place where men play at long Tennis vulgarly called Welsh Tennis or at Baloon which was a necessary thing in a wrestling place CORINTHUS Corinth the chief City of Achaia placed in the middle of the Isthmus of Peloponnessus between the Ionian and the Aegean Seas It was built first by Sisiphus the Son of Aeolus and named Corcyra according to Strabo and after having been destroyed it was rebuilt by Corinthus Pelops his Son and called after his Name Corinthus The Corinthians abused the Roman Ambassadors whereupon Mummius was sent thither who put the Inhabitants to the sword and razed the Town to the ground CORINTHIUM Viz. AES Corinthian Brass Pliny mentions three sorts of Corinthian Brass viz. the white red and the mixt coloured this diversity arises from the proportion of the three sorts of Metals whereof 't is compounded which are Gold Silver and Copper which according to Pliny and Florus were mix'd together when the City of Corinth was burnt for many Statues and Vessels of these three Metals were melted down and so incorporated CORINTHIUS Viz. ORDO The Corinthian Order one of the three orders of Architecture consisting in its Pillars and Chapiter which is adorn'd with Carvers work of two ranks of fine leaves sixteen in number being cut therein and from whence come out so many small branches or stalks covered again with the same number of Cartridges This order was invented by Callimachus Stone-cutter who by chance found a Basket set upon a plant of Acanthus covered with a tile that had very much bent its leaves This new Figure pleased him and he imitated it in the Pillars he wrought afterwards at Corinth settling and regulating upon this Model all the proportions and measures of the Corinthian Order Villappendus says that this History of Callimachus is a Fable that the Greeks did not invent the Corinthian Chapiter but took the Model thereof from the Temple of Solomon where the top of the Pillars were adorn'd as he says with leaves of Palm-trees unto which the leaves of an Olive-tree are more like than those of an Acanthus which he tells us never were us'd by the Ancients in the Corinthian Chapiters However the contrary is observed in many tops of Pillars that are yet to be seen in Greece and even in the Pillars called Tutelles at Bourdeaux the tops whereof are of the Corinthian Order with the leaves of Acanthus CORIOLANUS After the taking of the Town of Corioli the Consul C. Martius took the Sirname of Coriolanus Dionysius Hallicarnasseus tells us that Coriolanus being upon the Guard the Enemies made a sally out of the Town and attacked him in his post but he beat them back so vigorously that he entered the Town along with them and set it on fire which brought such terror upon the Inhabitants and the Garrison that they quitted the place Plutarch relates this in a different manner and says that the Consul having engaged the Volsci some miles from Corioli he perform'd wonderful deeds of Valour and having routed them he went at the head of a body of Reserve and charged the Rear of the Enemies who flying into Corioli for shelter he got in promiscuously with them and made himself Master of the Town This great Captain proud of the Nobility of his Family and his Rank does treat the Roman people with too much Authority and exasperated them to that degree that they banish'd him out of Rome Coriolanus highly resenting this Affront retired among the Volsci and came at the head of them to incamp on the Cluvian Trenches two leaguesoff Rome after he had taken many Towns from the Romans The Romans afraid of their lives attempted to move him by Prayers The Pontiffs and the most considerable of the Senate were sent to him but could not prevail with him and he yeilded only to the solicitations of his Mother and his wife Volumnia He brought again the Volsci into their own Country but they put him to death for having been so favourable to his Country CORNELIA Viz. FAMILIA The Cornelian Family Many great men and worthy Ladies in the Roman Commonwealth came from that Illustrious Family CORNELIA Pompey's Wife for whom he had more tenderness and regard than for the whole Empire All his fear was upon her account and he took more care to save her from the publick danger than to prevent the ruine of the Universe Seponere tutum Conjugii decrevit onus Lesboque remotam Te procul a saevi strepitu Cornelia belli Lucanus After the loss of the battle of Pharsalia Pompey encouraged her to constancy telling her that if she had lov'd only the person of her Husband she had lost nothing and if she had loved his Fortune she might be glad to have now nothing else to love but his Person Tu nulla tulisti Bello damna meo Vivit post praelia magnus Sed forma perit quod defles illud amasti Luc. Cornelia imbark'd with Pompey and departed from the Island of Lesbos where she was left during the war The Inhabitants of the Island were generally sorry at her departure because she had lived all the while she was there during her Husbands profperity with the same modesty as she should have done in time of his adversity Stantis adhuc fati vixit quasi conjuge victo After the death of Pompey she took no other pleasure but in mourning and seemed to love her grief as much as she had loved Pompey Saevumque arctè complexa dolorem Parfruitus lacrymis amat pro conjuge luctum CORNELIUS COSSUS A military Tribune who kill'd Volumnius King of the Veientes in a pitch'd battle and consecrated his Spoils called Opimae to Jupiter sirnamed Pheretrius CORNELIUS MERULA He was Consul and Priest to Jupiter He sided with Sylla and got his Veins opened for fear of falling into the hands of Marius who had seized upon Rome with his party CORNELIUS GALLUS An intimate Friend to Augustas and Virgil whose Encomium you may read in the 4th Book of his Georgicks under the name of Aristeus He kill'd himself because he had been suspected of Treachery CORNELIUS SEVERUS An Heroick Poet and a Declaimer Quintilian and seneca speak commendably of him CORNELIUS TACITUS A Famous Historian and a wise Politician who wrote the History of the Roman Emperors in sixteen Books of Annals beginning from the death of Augustus The six seven
Tully that he would send it to him to adorn his Library And Tully answers him thus Epist 3. l. 1. What you write of the Herm-Athenae is very acceptable to me and I have appointed an honourable place for them in my Academy whereof it shall be the Ornament seeing that Mercury is the general protector of all Academies and Minerva presides particularly over mine Wherefore you can't oblige me more sensibly then to procure me these kind of Rarities to adorn this place 'T is no wonder to see Mercury and Minerva joyned together in this Statue for it was usual to keep Holy-days and offer Sacrifices that were common to them both because one presided over Eloquence and the other the Sciences and that Eloquence without Erudition is but a meer sound and Learning without Eloquence but an unprofitable Treasure Therefore the Athenians who were the most Learned most Eloquent and most Valiant Men in the world did wisely to erect and dedicate this figure of Hermathcna This Hermathena is the reverse of a Medal dedicated to Adrian who boasted of his Learning and Eloquence HERM-ANUBIS is represented two several ways for in some Figures 't is represented with the Head of a Sparrow-hawk and in others with the head of a Dog This strange Idol mention'd by Plutarch was a Divinity of the Egyptians representing Mercury and Anubis the Caduceum which he holds in his hand being the common badge of Mercury and the head of a Sparrow-hawk the Symbol of Anubis because Anubis was a great Hunter wherefore he is also express'd with the head of a Dog and Ovid calls him Latrator Anubis HERM-HERACLES is a Deity represented like the Hermae with the Lion's skin and the Massy-Club of Hercules the Greeks call him Heracles which has a relation to the custom of the Antient Greeks who erected the Statues of Mercury and Hercules in the Academies because both presided over the Exercises of Youth viz. Wrestling Running Boxing and other Combats of Champions The union of Mercury with Hercules shew'd that Strength must be back'd with Eloquence and that Eloquence had the art of overcoming Monsters Mercury was often express'd at Athens by a square figure of an unpolish'd Stone whereon they set up the head of any other God whatsoever The origine of this custom was that in former times the Statues of Mercury were placed upon square Bases to shew the solidity of the works of Art and especially of Eloquence invented by him Wherefore in series of time these square Bases were taken for his representation tho' there were no Statues whatsoever set upon 'em because these bases were peculiar to him But afterwards to honour the other Gods Statues they plac'd them upon these bases to shew that they were famous only by Mercury who chief business was to carry their Errands and execute their Orders And the whole figure of these two Gods joined together was called by the name of the Deity whose figure was set upon the Basis wherefore Herm-Heracles was the figure of Hercules placed upon the representation of Mercury HERM-EROS is a Statue of Brass representing a God made up of Mercury and Cupid called by the Greeks Eros This God is expressed by the figure of a young Boy holding the Caducaeum and the Purse the two Badges of Mercury The Ancients doubtless intimated by this Emblem that Eloquence and Money were two necessary things to a Lover Pliny speaking of fine Carver's work mentions the Hermaerotae of one Tauriscus and the word Hemero's was often used by the Romans and the Greeks for a sirname as we may see by the Inscription of an Epitaph found at Rome HFRMEROTI AUG LIB PRAEPOSITO TABULAR RATIONIS CASTRENSIS FRATRI INDULGENTISSIM AMPLIATUS AUG LIB FECIT To the Memory of Hermeros Infranchised by the Emperor Overseer of the Secretaries of the Camp Ampliatus Freed-man of the Emperor has dedicated this Monument to his very good Brother HERM-HARPOCRATES The Figure of Mercury and Harpocrates with wings at his heels like Mercury and holding his Finger upon his Mouth like Harpocrates the God of silence among the Aegyptians to shew that sometimes silence is eloquent especially amongst Lovers who often express themselves better with their eyes than by word of Mouth HERMA-MITHRA Her Figure is represented upon a Medal that Mr. Spon has brought from the Isle of Maltha the Head whereof is a Woman with a Veil On the Reverse are three small Figures the middle one is a Statue drawn half way with a Mitre on and set upon a Term the Inscription whereof consists only in three Punid Characters The Head cover'd with a Veil represents Juno the Mitred head Mercury and Apollo joined together HERMOGENES was very famous in the art of Orarory At fifteen years of age he taught Rhetorick with general applause and at four and twenty he forgot all that he knew before wherefore it was said of him that in his youth he was a perfect Man and in his old age a Child After his death his Corps was opened and his Heart was found hairy and of an extraordinary bigness HERODOTUS A Greek Historian of a rare and singular merit who considering with himself which way he might become famous he thought fit to present himself at the Olympick Games where all the Greeks were assembled and there he recited his History with so much applause that his Books were called by the name of Muses and when he was passing by they cried out every where There is the Man who has so deservedly sung our Victories and celebrated the Advantages that we have obtain'd over the Barbarians His Writings were admired for the elegancy of the Discourse the grace of the Sentences and and the polite stile of the Ionick Dialect HEROPHILUS He lived in the seventh Age. Pliny tells us that he oppos'd the Principles of Erasistratus and grounded the difference of Diseases on the Rules of Musick HEROS A Hero was in former ages a great and illustrious Person and although he was of a mortal Race was yet esteemed by the People a partaker of Immortality and after his death was put amongst the Gods Lucian defines a Hero by one who is neither God nor Man but both together St Austin in the tenth Book de Civitate Dei says that 't is very likely that Juno had a Child called by that name because according to the opinion of the Ancients vertuous persons after their death inhabit the vast space of the Air which were Juno's Dominion according to the Fable Isidorus says that the Heroes were called by that name as if one said Aereos or Aeres persons rais'd by merit and worthy of Heaven Plâ—â—o derives that word from the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 amor because says he the Heroes came by the conjunction of a God with a mortal Woman or of a mortal Man with a Goddess The Heroes were Men who by their Eloquence moved the People which way they pleased giving them an aversion against Vice and leading them by their
Omen or some essential ceremony was omitted Paulus Emilius preparing himself to engage Perses King of Macedonia sacrificed twenty Bulls one after another to Hercules before he got a lucky Victim at last the one and twentieth promis'd him the Victory provided he should only stand in a posture of defence Si primis hostiis litatum non erat aliae post easdem ductae hostiae caedebantur quae quasi prioribus jam caesis luendi piaculi gratia subdebantur succidebantur ob id Succidantae nominatae Aul. Gel. l. 4. c. 6. AMBARVALES HOSTIAE Victims sacrificed after they had led them round about their Fields in a procession made for the preservation of the Fruits of the Earth Ambarvalis hostia says Festus est quae rei divinae causâ circum arva ducitur ab tis qui pro frugibus faciunt AMBURBIALES HOSTIAE Victims led round about the limits of the City of Rome says the same Festus HOSTIAE CANEARES or CAVIARES Victims offer'd in Sacrifice every fifth Year for the College of the Pontiffs viz. they offer'd the part of the Tail called Caviar It seems that this Sacrifice is the same or at least very like that which was offer'd in the Month of October to Mars in the Field called by his name where a Horses Tail was cut off and carried into the Temple called Regia HOSTIAE PRODIGIAE They were so called because they were wholly consumed by Fire and nothing remain'd thereof for the Priests HOSTIAE PIACULARES Victims offered to make expiation for a Crime or some ill Action HOSTIAE AMBEGNAE or AMBIEGNAE Cows that had calved two Heifers or Sheep that had brought forth two Lambs at one Litter offer'd in Sacrifice with their young ones to Juno HOSTIAE HARVIGAE or HARUGAE Victims offered to predict future events by looking into the Entrails of the Sacrifices HOSTIAE MEDIALIS Black Victims offered at Noon time HOSTILIUS TULLUS The Son of Tullus Hostilius Native of the City of Medulia a Colony of the Sabins who came to settle themselves at Rome after Romulus had took Medulia He married Hersilia who made peace betwixt the Romans and the Cures Of this Marriage came Hostilius who was King of the Romans after Numa The people preferr'd him to the Sons of Numa and set him upon the Throne tho' he was but Numa's Son-in-law He built Mount Coelianus and made war with the Inhabitants of Alba and it was brought to an end by the famous Combat of the three Horace's on the Roman side and three Curiatii on those of Alba which remain'd subject to the Romans by the victory obtain'd by one of the Horatii HOSTILIUS MANCINUS Besieged Numantia but having despised the Augurs he went one day out of his Camp which the Inhabitants of Numantia taking advantage of made a sally out of the Town possess'd themselves of his Camp and forc'd him to accept of a shameful peace which the Romans refus'd to ratify and sent him back to Numantia with his hands tied behind him HYACINTHUS The Son of Amiclus beloved of Apollo but this God being at play with him at Coits Zephyrus jealous of their Love bore away the Coit and therewith broke his head whereupon he died Apollo to comfort himself for his loss out of his Blood that was spilt produc'd a Flower which was called after his name Hyacinthus HYADES The Daughters of Atlas and Aethra who nurs'd and brought up Bacchus and in reward thereof were transported into Heaven and turned into seven Stars made famous by the Poets These Stars bring rainy weather and are placed in the head of the Constellation Taurus At their rising if the Sun or Moon meet opposite to them they certainly bring rain Wherefore Virgil calls them Pluviasque Hyadas HYDRA A fabulous Monster represented by Poets with many Heads growing again as soon as they were cut off Hercules overcame this Monster in the Lake of Lerna and slew her and to prevent the growing of her Heads he applied fire to the place as he cut them off HYDRAULIS A Science teaching how to make Water-Conduits and Water-works and for other uses Heron describes many Water-Engines called Hydraulicae Machinae The word Hydraulicus signifies sounding water because when Organs were first found out Bellows were not yet in use wherefore they made use of falling waters to get wind into the Organs and to make them sound Athenaeus says that Ctesiblus was the inventer of this Engine or at least brought it to perfection for the invention thereof is due to Plato who found out the Nocturnal Clock or Clepsydra that caus'd Flutes to play and give notice of the time of the Night HYDROMANTIA A Southsaying performed by way of water wherein the Images of the Gods were seen Varro tells us that this kind of divination was found out by Perses and that Numa Pompilius and after him Pythagoras the Philosopher made use of it and that thereby Spirits are also conjur'd up by spilling blood and this performance was called by the Greeks Necromantia These kinds of South-sayings were rigorously forbid by the Laws of all Nations even before the coming of our Lord. However by this means Numa learned the Mysteries that he instituted and because he used water to perform his Hydromantia it was said that he married the Nymph Egeria as Varro tells us HYLAS The Son of Theodamus beloved of Hercules for his Beauty Being fallen by misfortune into a Fountain where he was drawing water he was drowned whereupon Poets feigned that Hylas was ravished by the Nymphs enamoured with his beauty Hercules run through all Mysia to seek for him The People of Prusa instituted a Feast to him at which they ran through the Forest and Mountains crying Hylas Hylas HYMEN or HYMENAEUS A fabulous Divinity of the Pagans presiding over Marriages This God was called upon in the Wedding-Songs Poets call him fair Hymenaeus HYMNUS A Hymn or Ode sung in honour of Divinities These Hymns were commonly compos'd of three kinds of Stanza's one whereof was call'd Strophe which they sung walking from the East to the West the other was named Antistrophe walking on the contrary from the West to the East and then standing before the Altar they sung the Epode which was the third Stanza The Greek Poets have written many Hymns in praise of the false Gods of the Pagans HYPERION The Son of Heaven and Brother to Saturn and one of the Titans esteemed by the Ancients the Father of the Sun and the Moon he is often taken for the Sun by the Poets HYPERMNESTRA One of the fifty Daughters of Danaus King of Egypt the only one of all who the first Wedding-night spared the Life of Lyncaeus her Husband for all her other Sisters murther'd their Husbands the Brothers of Lyncaeus and Sons to Aegyptus Danaus's Brother HYPOCAUSTUM A Stove under ground used to warm the Baths both of the ancient Greeks and Romans I. I The third Vowel and the ninth Letter of the Alphabet was accounted by the Ancients
Semele were the Daughters of Cadmus and Hermione wherefore they were all Natives of Phaenicia Cadmus himself being a Phaenician The name of Melicertes is also a Phaenician name and signifies also the King of the Town And thus of the three names of the Mother and the Son one was Phaenician Ino and Melicertes the other Greek Leucothea and Palemon and the last was Latin Matuta and Portumnus These three names shew that the same History was brought from Phaenicia into Greece and from Greece into Italy Pausanias describes the fury of Athamas against Ino his Wife whom he took to be the cause of the death of Phryxus and the flight of Ino who run away with her Son and cast herself headlong with him into the Sea and tells us that the Dolphins received Melicertes and carried him to the Isthmus of Corinth where he was named Palaemon and there the Isthmian Games were dedicated to him As for Phryxus Ino his Step-mother had really conspired his ruin and to compass her wicked designs she employed the Priests of Delphi to perswade the people that the State of Thebes should enjoy no tranquility till Phryxus was sacrificed to Jupiter whereupon Phryxus fled away with his Sister Helle who fell into the Sea called by her name and retired himself to King Aeta at Colches This is related by Apollodorus INSCRIPTIO An Inscription The Ancients ingrav'd on Pillars the principles of Sciences or the History of the World Porphyrius mentions Inscriptions kept by the Inhabitants of Crete wherein the Ceremony of the Sacrifices of the Corybantes were described Euhemerus as Lactantius reports had written an History of Jupiter and the other Gods collected out of the Titles and Inscriptions which were in the Temples and principally in the Temple of Jupiter Triphilianus where by the Inscription of a golden Column it was declared that that Pillar was erected by the God himself Pliny assures us that the Babylonian Astrologers made use of Bricks to keep their observations and hard and solid Matters to preserve Arts and Sciences This was for a long time practised for Arimnestus Pythagoras's Son as Porphyrius relates dedicated to Juno's Temple a brass Plate whereon was engrav'd the Sciences that were improved by him Arimnestus says Malchus being returned home fix'd in the Temple of Juno a brass Table as an Offering consecrated by him to posterity this Monument was two Cubits diameter and there were seven Sciences writ upon it Pythagoras and Plato according to the opinion of the Learned learnt Philosophy by the Inscriptions of Egypt ingraven on Mercury's Pillars Livy tells us that Hannibal dedicated an Altar with a long Discourse ingraven in the Greek and Punick Language wherein he describ'd his fortunate Atchievements The Inscriptions reported by Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus shews sufficiently that the first way of instructing People and transmitting Histories and Sciences to posterity was by Inscriptions And this particularly appears by Plato's Dialogue intitled Hyparchus wherein he says that the Son of Pisistratus called by the same name did engrave on Stone Pillars Preceps useful for Husbandmen Pliny assures us that the first publick Monuments were made with Plates of Lead and the Treaties of Confederacy made between the Romans and the Jews was written upon Plates of Brass that says he the Jews might have something to put them in mind of the Peace and Confederacy concluded with the Romans Tacitus reports that the Messenians in their dispute with the Lacedaemonians concerning the Temple of Diana Limenetida produc'd the old division of Peloponnessus made amongst the posterity of Hercules and proved that the Field where the Temple was built fell to their Kings share and that the Testimonies thereof were yet seen engraven upon Stones and Brass An. l. 4. c. 43. INTERPRES An Inteepreter There was an Interpreter appointed whose Office was to explain to the Senate the Speeches of Ambassadors who could not speak Latin The Magistrates who commanded in the Provinces had also an Interpreter to explain their Orders to those to whom they were directed because it was not allowed to these Magistrates says Valerius Maximus in all the functions of their Office to speak in any other Language but Latin wherefore the Praetor of Sicily reproached Tully that he had spoken Greek in the Senate of Syracuse IO The Daughter of Inachus debauch'd by Jupiter and then turn'd into a Cow whom Juno committed to the care of Argus and though Argus had a hundred Eyes yet Mercury having lulled him to sleep with his Caducaeum and his Flute stole her away whereupon Juno being much vexed made Io mad and oblig'd her to run through many Countries and to cross over the Bosphorus of Thracia thus called after her name From thence she came again into Egypt where Jupiter mov'd with compassion for her misfortune restor'd her to her first shape and then she married King Osiris From that time she was called Isis and honoured by the Egyptians and after her death rank'd in the number of the Goddesses and honoured by the name of Isis Herodotus writes that the Egyptians consecrated to her Cows and the Females of all Cattle Diodorus and Philostratus say that she was represented with Ox's Horns The Nation called Eubaei had an Ox's head for a symbol in remembrance that Io was brought to bed of Epaphus in a Den called for that reason 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Ox's Den. Plutarch writes that Horus out of passion having taken the Royal Ornament from the head of his Mother Isis Mercury gave her another made of an Ox's Head in form of an Head-piece Lucian in his Dialogue of the Gods brings in Jupiter talking thus with Mercury Jupiter Dost thou know Io Mercury Who the Daughter of Inachu◠Jupit. Yes her Juno out of jealousy has turn'd her into a Heifer lest I should love her and has committed her to the guard of a Monster that never sleeps for as he has an hundred Eyes there is always some watching But thou art cunning enough to get me rid of him go and kill him in the Nemean Forest where he watches this fair one and after his death thou shalt carry Io by Sea into Egypt where she shall be ador'd by the name of Isis I will have her preside over the Winds and the Waves and be the Patroness of Sea-men JOCASTA The Daughter of Creon King of Thebes who being warn'd by the Oracle that he should perish by the hand of one of his Children bad Jocasta who married Laius to murther all her Sons OEdipus being born was deliver'd to a Soldier to murther him according to the King's order But the Soldier struck with horror for the murther of an innocent Child contented himself to run a twig of Ozier through both his Feet and tye him to a Tree his Head downwards A Shepherd of Polybus King of Corinth having found him untied him and presented him to the Queen who carefully brought him up Being grown a Man he went into Phocis according to the Oracle
fork like a Gallows This Fork or Pike or Halberd lay on the top and was supported by two others set upright JULIA There were many Roman Matrons called by that name JULIA The Daughter of Augustus who for her wantonness was banished by her Father first into the Island of Pandatauria then into the Town of Reget about the Streights of Sicily She was first married to M. Agrippa of whom she had Agrippina Nero's Mother then she married Tiberius whom she despised as being unworthy of that honour and this was the chief cause of her long exile in the Isle of Rhodes But when Tiberius was raised to the Empire he so barbarously revenged that affront that she died of hunger and misery after she had been banished and had lost all her hopes after the death of her son Agrippa She was debauched by Sampronius Gracchus during her marriage with Agrippa and this constant adulterer still kept company with her after Tyberius had married her and maliciously provoked her against him And it was a common report that he was author of the Letter she wrote to her Father so full of reproaches and injuries against her Husband JULIA called Medullina and Camilla designed to be the second wife of the Empefor Claudius Caesar but she died on her wedding-day JULIA wife to the Emperour Severus and the mother of Geta and Caracalla She is called in an inscription brought from Barbary Juliae Dominae Aug. Matri Castrorum Matri August Spartianus Eutropius and Aurelius Victor assure us that Julia was but Caracalla's mother in law and that he married her after the death of his father Lucius Septimius Severus but yet this is not mentioned by the Writers of that time on the contrary Dio tells us that Julia was the mother of Caracalla and speaking of the temper of this Emperor he says that he had the malicious mind both of his mother and the Syrians and consequently Julia was his mother and when the two brothers Caracalla and Geta fell out she used them both alike and spoke to them in these words related be Herodian You have my dear children divided betwixt you the Land and the Sea but how will you share your Mother If she had been but their step-mother the argument she brought to reconcile them would bear no weight Philostratus who was very great at the Court of Severus calls also Caracalla the son of Julia. JULIA the daughter of the Emperor Titus whom Domitian her Unkle stole away from her Husband to marry her but he caused her to miscarry whereupon she died JULIANUS sirnamed the Apostate because he forsook the Christian Religion after he had made profession thereof The Emperor Constantius his Cousin elected him Caesar and having adopted him gave him his Sister Helena for his wife He was learned chast valiant laborious sober watchful liberal and a great lover of learned men With these qualifications he got the affection of the Legions who proclaimed him Emperor in the City of Paris Constantius was much troubled at the hearing this news and leaving off his design against the Persians to oppose Julian he came to Tharsus where he had some fits of a fever and from thence to Mopvestus in Cilicia where it increased so much that he died Ammianus Marcellinus writ that he named Julian for his successor but St Gregory of Nazianzen says on the contrary that in this last period of his life he repented to have elected Julian to the Empire As soon as Julian saw himself absolute master by the death of Constantius he ordered that the Temple of the false Gods should be opened and their service set up again and took upon him the office of High Priest re-establishing all the Heathen ceremonies and restored those Priests to all their former Priviledges He repaired the ruins of Idolatry ordering that the Temples which were pulled down during the Reign of Constantine and Constantius should be built again and new ones added to them He ordered also that the Images of the Gods should be set up amongst his own to deceive the Soldiers when the Donative was made for it was a custom to offer Frankincence to the Images of the Emperors at the time of that ceremony At first few of the Christian Soldiers took notice of it yet those who perceived that they honoured the false Gods tho they designed only to honour the Emperors were so much concerned at it that they refused the largess of the Prince throwing at his feet in a scornful manner the money they had received from his liberality Sozomen reports that by his own orders Jupiter was represented near him as if he was come from Heaven on purpose to give him the badges of the Empire and Mars and Mercury's images were looking upon him insinuating by that posture that he was eloquent and valiant And this Author observes that he intended by these means to bring his Subjects under pretence of the honor due to him to the adoration of the false Gods who were represented with him Wherefore St. Gregory of Nazianzen says in his invective against Julian that the ignorant people being deceived were brought to adore the Pagan Images Besides to flatter his own vanity he commanded that he should be adored under the Image of Serapis in imitation of Domitian who ordered that he should be represented by the figure of Pallas and Nero who commanded a marble figure of his head to be set upon the body of a Coloss Julian is represented on a medal with a beard contrary to the custom of his age upon which account the Inhabitants of Antioch reproached him with ridiculous affectation whereby he intended it may be to imitate Marcus Aurelius who did wear a Philosophers beard For Eutropius assures us that he affected to be his imitator and was ambitious of the title of a Philosopher At last having engaged the Persians his army was routed and himself mortally wounded and brought into his Camp and the following night having held a long discourse with Maximus and Priscus concerning the immortality of the soul he died at one and thirty years of age having reigned but one year and seven months 'T is reported that when he found himself wounded he took some of his blood in his hand and flung it against Heaven pronouncing these words Thou hast overcome Galilean for thus he called our Saviour in derision The Works he has left us shew both his Wit and Learning The Panegyricks he had writ both in Prose and Verse collected by Eunapius are lost and there remains little of him but the Invectives the Fathers have writ against him JULIUS Julius Caesar of whom I have spoken under the name of Caesar He was both Dictator and High Priest and ordered the Roman Calendar to be reformed wherefore it was called the Julian Calender or the Calender of the Julian Correction Marc. Antony during his Consulat ordered that the Month Quintilis wherein Julius Caesar was born should be called by his name for the future
City beyond Tiber where Workmen and Slaves crowned with flowers went by water to divert themselves and be merry as inhabitants of great Cities commonly do upon holy days The 27th was the feast of the Lares or houshold God 's ' The 28th the feast of Quirinus was celebrated on the mount of the same name and the 30th the feast of Hercules and the Muses were kept in a Temple dedicated to them both JUNO The daughter of Saturn and Rhea and Sister to Jupiter 'T is reported that she was born at Argos a Town of Greece whereupon she was sirnamed by Poets Argiva Juna Others assure us that she was born at Samos and have called her Samia She Married her Brother Jupiter who got into her bosom according to the Fable under the shape of a Cuckow and then re-assuming his own form enjoyed her upon condition he should marry her which he performed The truth is that in that time Brothers and Sisters married together after the custom of the Persians and Assyrians Wherefore Juno is represented by the Figure of a Goddess setting on a Throne holding a Scepter in her hand with a Cuckow on the top of it Poets don't agree among themselves neither about the number of Children she had of Jupiter nor the way she conceived them Pausanius reports that she had Mars Ilithyia and Hebe by him Lucian asserts in one of his Dialogues that she was brought to Bed of Vulcan without having lain with her Husband and that she was big with Hebe for having eaten too much Lettice Dionysius Halicarnasseus writes that King Tullus ordered that a Piece of Money should be brought into her Temple at Rome for every one that was born as they were obliged to bring one to the Temple of Venus Libitina for all those who died and another to the Temple of Youth for those who put on the Viril Gown And thus they kept in their Records a very exact account of all those who were born or died at Rome or were at an Age fit to bear Arms. This Juno who presided over the birth of Men was named by the Romans Lucina and by the Greeks Ilithyia Statuit quanti pretii nummos pro singulis inferre deberent cognati In aerarium Ilithyiae Romani Junonem Lucinam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vocant pro nascentibus in Veneris ararium in Luco situm quam Libitinam vocant pro defunctis in Juventutis pro togam virilem sumentibus Some Writers report That Lucina is either Diana or another Goddess than Juno but the Pagans confound often the Goddesses with Juno Here is what Lucian says about this matter in his Deo Syria In Syria not far from Euphrates stands a Town called the Holy City because 't is Dedicated to Juno of Assyria Within are the Golden Statues of Jupiter and Juno both in a sitting posture but the one is carried upon Oxen and the other upon Lions That of Juno has something of several other Goddesses for she holds a Scepter in one hand and a Distaff in another Her Head is Crowned with Rays and Dressed with Turrets and her Waste girt with a Scarf like the Celestial Venus She is adorned with Gold and Jewels of divers Colours that are brought from all parts But what is most marvellous is a precious Stone she has upon her Head which casts so much light that by Night it illuminates all the Temple for which reason they have given it the name of Lamp but by day it has hardly any light and only seems like Fire And indeed as some Men have confounded all the Gods with Jupiter those who made the Image of Juno mentioned by Lucian had the like design to Incorporate all the Goddesses in Juno's Person Lactantius tells us that Tully derives the names of Juno and Jupiter from the help and sucour that Men receive of them à Juvando Juno presided over Weddings and Womens Labours and was called upon in these Exigencies as we see in Terence where Glyceria being in Labour has recourse to her Juno Lucina far opem When the Roman Matrons were barren they went into her Temple where having pulled off their Cloaths and lying on the Ground they were lashed by a Lupercal Priest with Thongs made of a Goat's Skin and thus became fruitful wherefore Juno was represented holding a Whip in one hand and a Scepter in the other with this Inscription JUNONI LUCINAE Poets have given many Epithets to Juno calling her Lucina Opigena Juga Domeduca Cinxia Unxia Fluonia She was called Lucina à Luce because she helped Women to bring forth Children and show them the Light and for the same reason she was also named Opigena and Obstetrix because she helped Women in Labour Juga Juno was called because she presided at the Yoke of Matrimony and consequently over the Union of Husband and Wife and because of that Qualification she had an Altar erected to her in one of the Streets of Rome therefore called Vicus Jugarius the Street of Yokes Domiduca because she brought the Bride to the House of her Bridegroom Unxia because of the Bride's anointing the side Posts of the Door of her Husband going in thereat Cinxia because she helped the Bridegroom to unite the Girdle the Bride was girded with in fine she was called Fluonia because she stopp'd the flux of Blood in Womens Labours In one word Juno was like a Guardian Angel to Women in the like manner that God Genius was the keeper of Men for according to the Opinion of the Antients the Genius's of Men were Males and those of Women Females Wherefore Women swore by Juno and Men by Jupiter The Romans gave her several other names and called her sometimes Juno Caprotina Meneta Sospita and sometimes Regina and Calcadaris She was sirnamed Caprotina because as Plutarch reports in the Life of Romulus the Gauls having taken the City of Rome the Sabins and several other Nations of Italy fancying that the Romans were weakened thereby took this opportunity to destroy them Wherefore they raised a considerable Army and proclaimed War against them unless they would send them their Virgins to sport with them The Romans unwilling to comply with their demand accepted the Proposal of Philotis a Maid-Slave who offered herself to go over to them with her Companions promising withal that she would give warning to the Romans when their Enemy should be deeply ingaged in Debaucheries Which she performed thus She got up into a wild Fig-Tree from whence she gave a Signal to the Roman Army who thoroughly routed the Enemy In remembrance of this Victory the Romans ordered a Feast to be kept every Year at Nonae Caprotinae in honour of Juno called also Caprotina from the wild Fig-Tree à caprifico at which time the Maid Slvaes diverted themselves played the Ladies and entertained their Mistresses JUNO MONETA Juno was called Moneta à monendo i. e. to advise or because when the Gauls took Rome she advised the Romans to Sacrifice to her a Sow great
a Bull sometimes into a Swan or an Eagle or into Gold to enjoy his Amours wherefore Lucian introduces Momus rallying thus Your fine Metamorphoses made me sometimes affraid left you should be brought to the Shambles or put to the Plough when thou wert a Bull or that a Goldsmith should melt thee down when thou wert Gold and when a Swan lest they should have put thee upon the Spit and roasted thee 'T is also reported that he brought forth Minerva out of his Brain which Vulcan opened with an Axe as Lucian relates in the Dialogue of the Gods where Vulcan and Jupiter speak thus Vulcan Here is a very sharp Axe I bring you what am I to do with it Jup. Prythee strike hard and cleave my head asunder Vul. You have a mind to see whether I am mad or no I warrant but tell me in good earnest what will you imploy it about Jup. To divide my Skull I say I am not in jest and if you refuse I will plague you Strike with all thy might for my Head is ready to split with pain and I suffer such torments as if I was in labour with a Child Vul. 'T is against my will but I must obey Great Gods No wonder your head-ach was so great having such an Amazon with a Sphear and a Shield lodged in it 'T is still recorded that Bacchus came out of his thigh where he had been lodged to perfect his time after he was taken out of his Mother Semele's Womb being yet but half form'd Wherefore an incision was made in his Thigh when the pains of labour seiz'd him to give a free Passage to little Bacchus And this is yet reported by the same Lucian in the Dialogue of the Gods The Nations of the World built him a great many Temples and honoured him like a God under several names according to his several performances He is called Jupiter Inventor an Epithet that Hercules bestowed upon him because by his means he had found again the Cows which Cacus had stole away from him and erected him an Altar whereupon he offered him sacrifices Romulus called him Jupiter Feretrius because he had strengthned him to overcome his Enemies and get the spoils which he consecrated to him in a Temple built at the top of the Capitol under the Title of Jupiter Feretrius Livy gives us the words of this dedication Jupiter Feretri haec tibi victor Romulus Rex regia arma fero templumque his regionibus quas modo animo metatus sum dedico sedemque opâ—mis spolâ—â—s quae Regibus Ducibusque hostium caesis me auctorem sequentes posteri ferent This was the first Temple that was consecrated to Jupiter in Rome whither the spoils taken from Kings or Commanders of the Enemies Forces were brought JUPITER STATOR a Sistendo i. e. to stop because upon the day of the engagement between the Romans and the Sabins Romulus perceiving that his Soldiers lost ground and were upon the point of running away begged earnestly of Jupiter to stop them and raise their Courage promising him withal to build another Temple to his honour which being granted to him he built a Temple at the foot of Mount Palatinus under the Title of Jovi Statori JUPITER ELICIUS Numa gave him this title upon this occasion For in his time Mount Aventinus being not yet inhabited nor inclosed into Rome and that Hill being covered with Springs of Water and thick Groves frequented by Picus and Faunus two Satyrs who cured most desperate Distempers by Inchantments Numa having heard of them desired to see them and learn their secrets wherefore by the advice of the Nymph Egeria he ordered that Wine should be poured into the Fountain and men should lye in wait to seize upon the Satyrs at their coming to it Both Satyrs according to their custom came thither but being got drunk with the Wine of the Fountain they fell asleep and were easily seized upon and brought to Numa who learned of them the secrets how to bring down Jupiter upon the Earth Elicere Jovem And Numa having immediately tried it Jupiter came down whereupon he commanded that a Temple should be built to his honour by the title of Jupiter Elicius JUPITER CAPITOLINUS Thus called because of the Temple vowed by Tarquinius Priscus in the War against the Sabius he laid only the foundations of it and it was finished by Tarquinius Superbus The Temple was of a square Figure having 220 Foot every way and eight Acres of ground in compass There were three Chapels in it the Chapel of Jupiter in the middle thereof that of Minerva at the Right hand near the place where the Nail was driven in every year to reckon the number of years and that of Juno which was on the Left hand The admirable Building and the rich Ornaments of this Temple made it the most famous in Rome and all the Provinces subdued to the Roman Empire and the Confederate Kings in emulation one of another sent Presents thither JUPITER LATIALIS had a Temple on Mount Albanus which Tarquinius Superbus caused to be built to his honour after the defeat of Turnus This Temple was common to all the Confederates and a Sacrifice was therein offered every year in common to the Feriae Latinae JUPITER SPONSOR The Temple built to him by this Title was consecrated to his honour by Tarquinius in the Wood of Bellona and dedicated by Sp. Posthumus Consul in pursuance of a decree of the Senate in the year cclxxxvii JUPITER PISTOR Thus called because the Gauls having besieged the Capitol and the Romans being very much streightned by the enemy and pressed with hunger Jupiter inspired them to make Bread with the remainder of their Corn and throw it into the Camp of the enemy Which having performed the enemy lost all hopes to starve them wherefore they raised the Siege and retired and in acknowledgement of this good advice the Romans erected him an Altar under the title of Jupiter the Baker Jovi Pisteri There was also in the Capitol a Figure of Jupiter Imperator which Titus Quintius Dictator brought from the Town of Praeneste and placed there with a Table whereupon were ingraven his great Atchievements JUPITER VICTOR Jupiter the Conquerour to wom L. Papyrius Cursor built a Temple by this title because he had overcome the Samnites and the Gauls VE-JUPITER or VE-JOVIS had a Temple between the Tarpeian Rock and the Capitol near the Asylum His statue was made of Cyprus Wood holding a Dart in his hand ready to be flung JUPITER TONANS Jupiter thundering an Epithet that Augustus gave him for having built a Temple to him upon the Capitol he dedicated it to him under that name and erected therein three statues one done by the hand of Buthyraus Disciple to Miron the other by Locras and the third was made of Brass Augustus caused this Temple to be built in honour of Jupiter Tonans because going once by night against the Inhabitants of Biscay the Thunder fell
to have seen Representations that offended modesty LAVERNA The Goddess of Thieves mentioned in Horace l. 1. Epist 16. v. 60. Festus tells us that the Ancients called Thieves Laverniones because they were under the protection of the Goddess Laverna who had a Wood consecrated to her where they shared their booty Laverniones fures Antiqui dicebant quod subtutela Deae Lavernae essent in cujus luco obscuro abditoque soliti furta praedam que inter se luere LAVINIA The Daughter of King Latinus and Amata who married Aeneas when after the sacking of Troy he came into Italy But being a Widow lest Ascanius should attempt her life to secure himself the Crown of the Latins she retired into the Forest where she lived privately in the house of Tyrrhenus Overseer of the Herds of her Father Latinus The Latins grumbled against Ascanius for the absence of Lavinia whereupon he was obliged to send some Persons to seek for her and intreat her to come again to Lavinium LAURENTALIA Feasts instituted by the Roman people in honour of Acca Laurentia kept during the Feasts called Saturnalia which afterwards were solemnized as a part thereof Authors write that there were two Laurentia's one who was Nurse to Romulus and the other a famous Curtezan who by her last Will made the Roman People her Heir and vanished away at her coming to the Sepulcher of the first Laurentia Upon this account 't is said that the honours that the Priest of Mars performed to them both in the Valabrum with effusion of Wine and Milk were confounded together LAURENTIA ACCA was a debauched Woman who nursed up Romulus and Remus Which occasioned the Fable to say that a She Wolf suckled them She married afterwards a very rich Man who brought her a great Wealth which at her Death she left to the Roman people in consideration whereof they performed her great honours This is the most certain account we have of her related by Macrobius and by him taken from the most ancient Writers LAURUS The Laurel or Bay-tree a Tree which is always green used to Crown Victorious Men and was planted at the Palace-gate of the Emperours the first day of the year or any other time when they had obtained some Victory Dion speaking of the honours the Senate performed to Augustus says that they ordered that Bay-trees should be planted before his Palace to shew that he was always Victorious over his Enemies Tertullian speaks of these Laurels when he said Who should be bold enough to besiege the Emperours between two Laurels Qui sunt qui Imperatores inter duas lauros obsident Wherefore Pliny calls Laurel the keeper of the Emperour's Gate the only ornament and the true guard of their Palace Gratissima domibus Janetrix Caesarum que sela domos exornat ante limina excubat The Fable tells us that Daphne flying to avoid the pressing instances of Apollo's love was turned into a Lanrel LECTICA A Litter a Horse Litter The use and invention of this kind of Chariot came first from Bythinia and Cappadocia and was made use of to carry both living and dead Bodies As Tully reports Nam ut mos fuit Bythiniae lectica farebatur There were two kinds of Litters some covered used in dirty Weather and others uncovered on purpose to take the air in fair Weather Pliny speaking of Nero calls the first kind of Litters a Traveller's Chamber Cubiculum viatorum Suetonius reports that when Augustus was going into the Country he often ordered his Servants to stop his Litter that he might sleep therein for there were on both sides Pannels or Curtains that might be drawn at any time These Litters were carried by six or eight Men called Lecticarios and the Litter lectica hexaphora or octophora LECTISTERNIUM A great Ceremony among the Romans but seldom practised but upon occasion of some great and publick Calamity When this Ceremony was performed the Statues of the Gods were brought down from their Basis or Pedestals and then laid upon Beds made for that purpose in their Temples with Pillows under their Heads and in this posture they were magnificently entertain'd Three most stately Beds were made whereupon they laid the Statues of Jupiter Apollo with that of Latona Diana Hercules Neptune and Mercury to pacifie them Then all the Gates were opened and the Tables were every where served with Meat Foreigners known or unknown were entertained and lodged for nothing all matters of hatred and quarrel was forgot they conversed with their Enemies like Friends and liberty was granted to all Prisoners This Feast was solemnized in time of Plague or some other great and publick Calamity The Feast Lactisternium was celebrated by order of the Duumviri in the year 335 after the Foundation of Rome LEDA The Wife of Tyndarus King of OEbalia beloved by Jupiter who turned himself into a Swan to enjoy her She brought forth two Eggs out of one which she had conceived by Jupiter came Pollux and Helena of the other which she had conceived by Tyndarus her Husband came Castor and Clytemnestra LEGIO A Legion a kind of a Regiment or body in the Roman Army Legions consisted of different numbers of Soldiers and Officers according to different times but yet they were commonly made up of six thousand Men. The Forces of Rome consisted of many Legions In the time of the Emperour Tiberius says Tacitus two naval Armies one at Ravenna the other at Mizenum guarded both Seas of Italy The Coast of the Gauls was secured by the Gallies that Augustus had taken in the Fight of Actium But the main Forces of the Empire in the number of eight Legions guarded the Rhine Three other Legions were employed to prevent the Enemies attempts upon Spain which had been lately conquered by Augustus Africa and Egypt were both severally secured by two Legions And all the Countreys from the Sea of Syria to Euphrates and Pontus Euxinus were kept in peace by four Legions The passage of the River Danube was guarded by four other Legions two in Pannonia and two in Maesia sustained by two other in Dalmatia two kept the Darbarians in awe and assist Italy in case of need Rome was Garrisoned with three Cohorts of the City and nine of the Emperour 's own Forces all chosen Soldiers out of Umbria Tascany the Countrey of the Latins and other old Roman Colonies Besides the Armies and Gallies of the Confederates lying in the most convenient Harbours of the Provinces which were also equal to our Forces Each Legion was divided in ten Cohorts each Cohort in three Companies and each Company into two Centuries The chief Commander of the Legion was called Legatus i. e. Lieutenant LEMNOS An Island in the Egean Sea or Archipelago Poets tell us That Valcan was therein cast head-long from the top of Heaven by Jupiter However he was received in the Arms of the Inhabitants of the Country who preserved him from the fate of Astyanax Notwithstanding he broke
rest L. Caecilius a brave Commander and learned Orator who going one Day to his Home was stopped by Ravens who flapped him with their Wings whereat he was amazed and went back again to Rome where finding the Temple of Vestae was on fire he delivered the Image of Pallas called Palladium from the Flames and in so doing became blind but that Goddess afterwards restored to him his Sight METRA the Daughter of Erisichthon who obtained as a Reward from Neptune for the Loss of her Virginity a Power to transform her self into what Shape she pleased wherefore in order to supply the Necessities of her Father she sometimes took upon her one Form and sometimes another under which her Father sold her again and again as he had occasion METRETES it was an Athenian Measure that contained 40 English Quarts i. e. 72 Sestiers MIDAS King of Phrygia the Son of Gordius and the Goddess Cybele he received into his Court Silenus one of Bacchus his Captains that had straggled in his Way to the Indies in acknowledgment whereof Bacchus gave him his Choice to ask him what Kindness he would And his Request was that whatever he touched might be turned into Gold but having experimented the same divers times he was surprized to find when he went to drink or eat that all was transmuted into Gold wherefore he had recourse to Bacchus again who bid him go and wash himself in the River Pactolus in Lydia to which the Property was communicated to remedy him in this Case and so upon washing therein the Gold Scales presently fell off Sometime after having adjudged the Victory to God Pan against Apollo this Deity grew angry thereat and presently changed his Ears into those of an Ass Midas concealed this Misfortune and discovered it to none but his Barber with a Charge he should let no other know it the Barber made a Pit in the Earth and entring therein said Midas has Asse's Ears and so covered the Pit again as believing he had by that means hid the Secret very well but Reeds coming to grow up in the said place and being shaken by the Wind repeated the Words King Midas has Asse's Ears Plutarch in his Treatise concerning Superstition says that Midas towards the latter part of his Life was so extreamly afflicted with Melancholy occasioned by frightful Dreams that broke his rest that he could not remedy the same and that drinking some Bull 's Blood he died upon it MILLIARE and MILLIARIUM a Mile 't was a certain Space that contained 1000 Paces among the Romans who distinguish'd their Miles by the Marks they set The small League in France contains 2000 Paces the common League 2500 and the greatest 3000. MILO A Crotonian was a Man of vast Strength he carried a Bull of Two Years old upon his Back at the Olympick Games for the Space of a Furlong then killed him with his Fist and 't was said eat him all in one Day He held a Pomegranate so firmly in his Hand that no Body could take it from him As he was one Day in a Wood and went about to break a Tree off with his Hands which was a little slit the same closed again and both his Hands were catched between so that he could never pull them out and in that Condition he became a Prey to the Wolves MINA or MNA Greek Money worth 100 Drachmas and is somewhat more than Three Pounds Sterling Sixty Mina's were required to make up an Attick Talent MINERVA of whose Nativity Lucian gives an Account in his Dialogue of the Gods where he introduces Vulcan and Jupiter speaking of it in this manner Vul. Lo I bring thee a very sharp Hatchet What wouldst thou have us do with it Jup. Cleave my Head in two presently Vul. Thou shalt see whether I am such a Fool as to attempt it Tell me seriously what thou wouldst imploy me in Jup. To cleave my Head in the middle I am in earnest and if thou will not obey thou shall see how it will be taken strike only with all thy Might for my Head is split with Pain and I endure the same Misery as if I were in Labour like a Woman Vul. Have a Care that we do not commit some Folly for I cannot lay thee so easily as a Midwife Jup. Strike thou only and fear not leave the rest to me Vul. It must be so in spight of me But who would do it I must obey O ye Great Gods I do not wonder at thy having a Pain in thy Head since thou hadst a Woman within it and even an Amazon with a Lance and Shield 'T is that which made thee so impatient Cicero L. 3. de Nat. Deor. speaks of Five Minerva's The 1st which he says was the Mother of Apollo The 2d brought forth by the Nile which the Egyptian Saites worshipped Plutarch in his Treatise of Osiris says that the Image of Minerva or Pallas was in the City of Sai with this Inscription 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I am all that was is and is to come and my Vail no Mortal hath hitherto uncovered 3d Is she that came'out armed from Jupiter's Brain 4th Was the Daughter of Jupiter and Corypha the Daughter of Oceanus who invented Chariots with Four Wheels 5th Was the Daughter of Pallantis whom she killed because he would have ravish'd her This last they made to have Wings to her Feet in the same manner as Mercury Arnobius pursues the same Distinction We may with certainty conclude that the Second of these Minerva's is the ancientest and first of any of them Plato in his Timaeus speaking of the City of Sai says that Minerva was worshipped there and called by the Name of Neith Syncellus intimates that the Name of Queen Nitotris which includes that of Neith signified as much as Victorious Minerva Plutarch speaks also of the Minerva of Sai and says that some made no distinction between her and Isis The Phoenicians according to the Relation given us by Sanchuniathon had their Minerva also and they made her to be the Daughter of Saturn and attributed the Invention of Arts and Arms unto her This is what Eusebius says of her Saturnus liberos procreavit Proserpinam Minervam ac prior quidem Virgo diem obiit Minerva autem Mercurioque auctoribus falcem exferro hastamque conflavit It was from the Egyptians or Phoenicians that the Greeks borrowed their Minerva and Cecrops was the first who taught the Athenians to worship Minerva and Jupiter as Eusebius says The Conveniency of Neighbourhood made Minerva pass from Egypt into Lybia before Cecrops went over into Greece Herodotus assures us the Lybians made her to be the Daughter of Neptune and the Lake Triton tho' afterwards upon the Account of some Misunderstanding between her and her Father she went to Jupiter who adopted her for his Daughter Pausanias assures us the Athenians were much devoted to the Worship of the Gods and that they were the first who gave Minerva the Name
give Name to Coecropia which was afterwards called Athens from Minerva Being engaged in a Conspiracy against his Brother Jupiter he was forced to fly with Apollo to Laomedon where he helped to build the Walls of Troy tho' he was so unhappy as not to be paid for his Labour They make Neptune to be the Creator of the Horse for thus Virgil speaks of it Tuque ô cui prima frementem Fudit equum Tellus magno percussa tridenti Neptune Georg. L. 1. Servius says that Neptune was also called Equester because he made a Horie come out of the Earth that he might have the Honour to give Name to the City of Athens tho' Minerva prevailed by making an Olive-tree suddenly to grow up out of the Ground It 's probable this Horse was nothing but a Ship the Swiftness whereof a Horse does imitate and which is under the Protection of Neptune The Fable also signifies perhaps nothing else but the two Things wherein the City of Athens excelled viz. Ships and Olive-trees Pausanias gives other Reasons why the Invention of the Use of Horses is attributed to Neptune The Medals represented him naked holding sometimes a Dolphin in his Left-hand or under his Feet and his Trident in his Right as may be seen by the Reverse of the Medalls of Marcus Agrippa He was represented at other Times with his Trident in one Hand and in the other an Arostolia or Ornament which was fastned to the Prow of Ships and this is made out to us by the Reverse of the Silver Medalls of Augustus and Vespatian on which there are these abbreviated Words Nept. Red. Neptuno reduci these two Emperors intimating hereby their rendring Thanks to Neptune for their Expeditions by Sea and safe Return He was represented also lying upon the Sea holding his Trident in one Hand and leaning with the other Arm upon such a Vessel as the Gods of the Rivers were wont to do He is to be seen likewise mounted in a Chariot drawn by two Horses as he is also sitting upon a Dolphin holding Victory in his Right-hand which puts two Crowns upon his Head and his Trident in the Left When the Romans and Greeks gave Neptune Thanks for the Victories they obtained by Sea they represented him on the one Side with his Trident and on the other stood Victory upon the Stern of a Ship The Romans built a Temple to Neptunue Equester as Dionysius of Hallicarnassus says and appointed a Festival for him called Consualia wherein they crowned some Horses with Garlands of Flowers which in this manner were led through the City The Arcadians gave this Festival the Name of Hippocratia The History of Japhet agrees very much with what the Fable relates concerning Neptune Japhet's Share according to Scripture was Europe with all the Isles of the Sea and the Peninsula's whereof it consists Euhemerus the Historian as interpreted by Ennius and related by Lanctantius bears the same Testimony concerning Neptune that the Seas and the Islands fell to his Lot Neptuno maritima omnia cum insulis obvenerunt Plutarch says the Egyptians called the Promontories and the utmost Parts of the Earth Nephthyn which Term has doubtless a great deal of Resemblance to that of Neptune As for Neptune's other Name called by the Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bochartus thinks it is derived from the Punick Word Pesat Herodotus says also there were none but the Libyans that gave Neptune the Name of Posidon so Posidon will be the same Name as Neptune Lactantius does not doubt but that Neptune was Superintendant General of the Seas All Nations had also a Neptune of their own and all these Neptunes had in like manner something that was very manifestly like and unlike to one another Diodorus Siculus speaks of an Altar in Arabia dedicated to Neptune standing upon the Sea-side Sanchuniathon says that Vsoüs was the first who hollowed the Body of a Tree and in Phoenicia durst adventure to trust himself with the Waves of the Sea The Neptune of the Phoenicians is ancienter than him of the Greeks and Latins as they were Navigators before the others and him they made to be the Son of Pontus The Egyptians had also their Neptune and Plutarch assures us that even the Name of Neptune was taken from the Egyptian Tongue and signified Promontories and Sea-Coasts But Plutarch perhaps confounds the Egyptians with the Libyans for Herodotus witnesses that the Word Neptune was proper only to the Language of the Libyans who were the oldest Worshippers of this Deity None says he assumed the Name of Neptune at the Beginning but the Libyans who always worshipped this God The same Author says elsewhere that the Scythians had also a Respect for Neptune and that they called him Thamimasades Appian relates that Mithridates threw the Chariots drawn by Four Horses in Honour of Neptune into the Sea NEREUS is one of the Gods of the Seas his Name being derived from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fluid according to Hescychius But yet 't is more probably deduced from Nâhar an Hebrew Term signifying fluere fluvius Some make him to be the Son of Neptune others of Pontus Pontus and Neptune being the same but Neptune is more often looked upon as the Genius of the Seas and Oceanus and Pontus as the Body thereof They make Nereus to have 50 Daughters called from him Nereides which are so many particular Seas being Parts of the main Sea it self Nereus married Doris by whom he had Thetis NEREIDES are Sea-Nymphs and the Daughters of Nereus NERO the 6th Emperor of Rome was the Son of Domitius Aeneobarbus and Agrippina and adopted by the Emperor Claudius his Predecessor to the Empire The Medals which we have of him shew his natural Inclinations by the Features of his Face For his Eyes were small and beetle-browed his Throat and Chin met together his Neck was thick his Belly big and Legs small Take him altogether he perfectly resembled a Hog which he did not illy imitate in his sordid Pleasures his Chin was a little turn'd up which was a Sign of Cruelty his Hair light and Legs small as Suetonius observes and his Face rather Fair than Majestick which made him easily to be adjudged an effeminate Person So that if in the Beginning of his Reign he shewed much Moderation and Clemency even so far as to say he wished he could not write that he might not sign the Sentence of a Criminal which was brought to him it was no more than an affected Modesty which Policy and the Respect that he bore unto his Preceptors inspired him with Seneca in his Satyr against Claudius with a sort of Flattery unbecoming a Philosopher brings in Apollo speaking of Nero as being like unto himself both in Beauty and Majesty Ille mihi fimilis vultu fimilisque decore Nec cantu nec voce minor c. And this doubtless is the Reason why Nero is often seen represented like unto Apollo To speak the Truth he had no bad Face but he
the Horizon the Ancient Gauls and Germans divided Time not by the Day but by Nights as you may see in Caesar and Tacitus NUMA called Pompilius the Son of Pomponius Pompilius He was born at Cures the Capital City of the Sabines the Fame of his Vertue made the Romans chuse him for their King after Romulus his Death He revived all the Ancient Ceremonies of Religion and instituted new Ones and writ down a whole Form of Religious Worship in Eight Books which he caused to be laid with him in his Tomb after his Death But one Terentius says Varro having an Estate haid by the Janiculum as his Servant was ploughing near unto Numa's Tomb he turn'd up the Books wherein the said Prince had set down the Reasons of his instituting such Mysteries Terentius carried them presently to the Praetor who when he had read the Beginning of them thought it was a Matter of that Importance as deserved to be communicated to the Senate The Principal Senators having read some things therein would not meddle with the Regulations of Numa but thought it conducive to the Interest of Religion to have the said Books burnt Numa had had Recourse to the Art of Hydromancy in order to see the Images of the Gods in the Water and to learn of them the Religious Mysteries he ought to establish Varro says that this kind of Divination was found out by the Persians and that King Numa and after him Pythagoras the Philosopher made use thereof To which he adds that they also invoked Mens Souls upon this Occasion by sprinkling of Blood and this is that which the Greeks called Necromancy and because Numa made use of Water to perform his Hydromancy they said he married the Nymph Egeria as the said Varro explains it It was therefore by this way of Hydromancy that this inquisite King learnt those Mysteries which he set down in the Pontiff's Books and the Causes of the same Mysteries the Knowledge whereof he reserved to himself alone He boasted he had very often Conversation with the Moses to whom he added a Tenth which he named Tacita and made the Romans worship her He somewhat rectified the Calender and added Two Months to the Year which at first consisted but of 10 Months and so made them 12 adding every Two Year one Month consisting of 22 Days which he called Mercedinum and which he immediately placed after the Month of February he lived about 80 Years and of them reigned 40. This Numa Pompilius second King of Rome was indeed both a King and a Philosopher who gave himself up so much to the Doctrine which Pythagoras afterwards publish'd to the World that many through a gross Ignorance of the Time took him to be a Disciple of Pythagoras Dionysius of Hallicarnassus has refuted this Error by shewing that Numa was more ancient than Pythagoras by Four Generations as having reigned in the 6th Olympiad whereas Pythagoras was not famous in Italy before the 50th The same Historian says that Numa pretended his Laws and Maxims were communicated to him by the Nymph Egeria which others believed to be a Muse at last the said Historian says Numa pretended to have that Conversation with a Coelestial Mistress that so they might believe his Laws were the Emations of the Eternal Wisdom it self NUMERUS a Number is a Discrete Quantity being a Collection of several separate Bodies Euclid defines it to be a Multitude composed of many Unites The perfect Number establish'd by the Ancients is Ten because of the Number of the Ten Fingers of a Man's Hand Plato believed this Number to be perfect inasmuch as the Unites which the Greeks called Monades compleated the Number of Ten. The Mathematicians who would contradict Plato herein said that Six was the most perfect Number because that all its Aliquot Parts are equal to the Number Six And farther to make the Perfection of the Number Six to appear they have observed that the Length of a Man's Foot is the 6th Part of his Height There is an even and an odd Number the Even is that which may be divided into Two equal Parts whereas the odd Number cannot be divided equally without a Fraction which is more of an Unity than the even Number The Golden Number is a Period of 19 Years invented by Metho the Athenian at the End of which happen the Lunations and the same Epact tho' this Period be not altogether true Its thought to have been thus called either because of the Benefit there is in the Use of it or because it was formerly written in Gold Characters See Arithmetica NUPTIAE Marriages from the Verb nubere which signifies to vail because the Bride had a Vail on of the Colour of Fire wherewith she covered her self They carried a lighted Torch and sung Hymen or Hymenaeus which was a fabulous Deity of the Pagans whom they believed to preside over Marriages The Poets called him fair Hymenaeus See Matrimonium NYMPHA a Nymph a false Deity believed by the Heathens to preside over Waters Rivers and Fountains some have extended the Signification hereof and have taken them for the Goddesses of Mountains Forests and Trees The Ancients took the Nymphs to be Bacchus his Nurses whether it were because the Wine wanted Water to bring its Grapes to Maturity or because 't is requisite Water should be mixed with Wine that it may not disorder the Head They have been sometimes represented each of them with a Vessel into which they poured Water and holding the Leaf of an Herb in their Hands which grows in Water and Wells or else another while with that of a Water-Plant called Nymphaea that took its Name from the Nymphs and again with Shells instead of Vessels and naked down to the Navel the Nymph were sometimes honoured with the Title of August as other Deities were which appears by this Inscription NYMPHIS AUGUSTIS MATURNUS V. S. L. M. That is Votum solvit libens meritò Maternus has freely and fully discharg'd her Vow to the August Nymphs This Epithet has been given them by way of Honour because 't was believed they watched for the Preservation of the Imperial Family NYMPHAEA the Baths which were consecrated to the Nymphs and therefore so called from them Silence was more particularly required there whence we read in an Inscription of Gruter NYMPHIS LOCI BIBE LAVA TACE to the Nymphs of the Place drink bathe your selves and be silent O. O Is the Fourteenth Letter in the Alphabet and the Fourth Vowel The O by its long and short Pronounciations represents fully the Omega and Omicron of the Greeks the Pronunciation whereof was very different says Caninius after Terentianus for the Omega was pronounced in the Hollow of the Mouth with a great and full Sound including two oo and the Omicron upon the Edge of the Lips with a clearer and smaller Sound These two Pronounciations they have in the French Tongue the Long O they distinguish by the Addition of an S as coste hoste motte
Romans wore and even those who appeared upon the Stage were wont to wear this long Robe as Plautus says PALLADIUM the Palladium was a Statue of Pallas which fell down from Heaven in the keeping of which consisted the Fate of Troy Vlysses and Diomedes creeping through the Gutters into the Temple that was in Troy took away the Palladium Diomedes after the Destruction of Troy going into Italy gave the Palladium to Aeneas in Pursuance to the Commands of the Gods Aeneas deposited the same at Lavinium where it continued It was afterwards carried to Rome into the Temple of Vesta nevertheless Appian in his History of the Mithridatick War says that when Fimbria ruined Ilium he boasted he had there found the Palladium whole among the Ruines Dionysius of Halicarnassus is of Opinion there were Two of these Statues of Pallas one of which was taken away by Vlysses and Diomedes during the Seige of Troy and another that was left there Others assure us that the Trojans made another Palladium exactly like the true one and that it was the false one which the Grecians took away Dionysius of Halicarnassus his Words are these The Oracle having assured them the Town would be impregnable and the Kingdom remain unshaken as long as those sacred Pledges were there The Romans in all Likelihood feigned that there were Two Palladiums or that there was one made like unto the other that they might not be oblig'd to confess that they had lost the Pledge of the Eternity of their Empire PALLAS a Goddess who came out of Jupiter's Brain compleatly armed by the Help of Vulcan who cleft his Head with a very sharp Ax she was brought up near the Lake Triton from whence she was called by the Poets Tritonia they made her to be the Goddess of Arts and Sciences See Minerva PALLIUM there were Three sorts of Garments called by this Name one which the Romans used to tie about their Heads when they were not well another was a fourcornered Robe or Mantle after the manner of the Greeks and the Roman Women also were a long Robe called by this Name PALLOR Paleness the Ancients made a Deity of it to which they offered Sacrifice according to Clemens Alexandrinus Romani Herculi rauscarum depulsori Febri ac Pavori sacrificant Laâ—â—â—â—tius says that Tullius Hostilius introduced the Worship of Fear and Paleness among them PALMUS a span a Measure taken from the Length of the Hand when it was extended as much as it could be for what we vulgarly now call the Palm of the Hand was formerly called Palmus There were in former Times Two sorts of them to wit the great and little Palm or Span that divided a Foot unto Two unequal Parts the Greater consisting of 12 Fingers and the Lesser of Four PALUDAMENTUM a Garment were by the Romans in Time of War being the Coat of Arms of their principal Men who for that Reason were called Paludati whereas the Soldiers had nothing but short Coats and were therefore named Sagati this Garment was open on the Sides with short Sleeves like unto Angels Wings and came down no lower than the Navel It was white or red and Valerius Maximus says it was an ill Omen to Crassus when he was going to make War against the Parthians that they gave him a black Paludamentum Pullum ei traditum est paludamentum cùm in praelium euntibus album aut purpureum dari soleret PAN an Egyptian God who was worshipped under the Shape of a Goat they called him also Mendes because that Word signified an He-goat in the Egyptian Language Eusebius gives us the Opinion and Words of Porphyrie concerning him who says that Pan was one of the good Genii engaged in the Service of Bacchus who shew'd himself sometimes to labouring Men and put them into such terrible Frights that many of them died thereof from whence these Frights came to be called Panick Fears Eusebius very discreetly takes Notice of the Contradictions of the said Philosophers that would have Pan to be a good Genius and yet made it cost them their Lives to whom he appeared It s true that Pan was honoured in Egypt under the Form of an He-goat and that the Damons very often took upon them the Shape of the said Animal The Daemons in Scripture are often termed Pilosi He goats The Hebrew Word Sebirim signifies an He goat Pilosi Hirci This sort of Idolatry was common even in Moses his Time seeing the same had crept in among the Israelites Non sacrificabunt ampliùs sacrificia sua Pilosis post quos fornicari sunt Herodotus says that the People of the Province of Mendes placed Pan among the Gods who were before the 12. that he was represented with a She-goat's Head and the Legs of an He-goat tho' he were believed to be really like unto other Gods Lastly that at Mendes it is a common Name to Pan to an He-goat and to a Town there was kept a sacred He-goat upon whose Death all the Country went in Mourning as others did upon the Death of Ayl or Mnevis Plutarch reckons that the Pans and Satyrs hapning first to know of the Death of Osiris who was killed by his Brother Typhon and having spread the News of it put the People into so great a Consternation that that was afterwards called Panich Fears The Word Pan in Hebrew signifies Terror Diodorus Siculus says the Egyptian Priests first consecrated themselves to Pan and that in their Temples they dedicated the Images of their Pans in the Form of an He-goat pretending the same was no more than to give Thanks unto the Gods for the Fertility of Nature and of their Nation The Greeks if we believe Herodotus came late to know the History of Pan that Historian says it was not above 800 Years before his Time and that the Greeks made him to be Mercury and Penelope's Son In general he declares that the Greeks came but by Degrees to the Knowledge of the Egyptian Deities and that they formed their Genealogy according to the Time they came to be acquainted with them And so they did not know Pan till after the Trojan War because they make Penelope to be his Mother and Lncian in his Dialogues of the Gods explains the Matter where he brings in Pan and Mercury speaking thus Pan Good-morrow Father Merc. Good-morrow Son but who are you that call me so for to look upon you you are more like unto an He-goat than a God Pan You reflect upon your self more than I in saying so Do you no longer remember that pretty Woman whom you ravish'd in Arcadia What makes you bite your Fingers It was Penelope the Daughter of Icarus Merc. And how comes it to pass that you are become horned with a Beard Tail and Goat's Feet Pan It is because you were then transformed into the Shape of an He-goat that you might surprize her Merc. I remember it but I am asham'd to own it Pan I will not disgrace you at
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 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
follows The City of Rome being afflicted with a great Plague the very same Year wherein they expelled the Tarquins Valerius Publicola who was then Consul in order to appease the Wrath of the Gods ordered them to celebrate this Solemnity the Ceremonies whereof were found in the Oracles of the Sibylls which they kept with great Care 't was the Year after the Foundation of Rome 245. according to the Calculation of Varro which is the best and most followed that is 509 Years before our Saviour's Nativity These Plays were called Secular because they were obliged to renew them from Age to Age that is every 100 Years according to the most received Opinion or every 110 Years as the 15 Officers called Quindecim-viri pretended in Augustus his Time who at Rome were to look after the Ceremonies of Religion and by the said Excuse found a Way to clear themselves before that Emperor who accused them for not having celebrated the said Plays at the Time appointed as you may see in Father Tassin the Jesuite's Treatise concerning the Secular Plays Augustus having celebrated them under the Consulship of Furnius and Silanus in the Year of Rome 737. the Emperor Claudius would renew them Anno 800. because it was the Beginning of a Century But Domitian without any Respect to Claudius conformed himself to what Augustus had done and celebrated them 103 Years after that Prince had done them that is in the Year of Rome 840. Some time before it was published over all the Empire according to ancient Custom That every one might come and see those Plays which he never had seen nor never should again They opened those Games thus Towards the Beginning of Harvest the Emperor as sovereign Pontiff haranged the People in the Capitol and exhorted them to prepare themselves for so solemn a Feast by purifying both their Bodies and Minds The like Exhortations were made at the great Feasts and particularly at the Mysteries of Ceres Eleusina whose Ceremonies were very like those of the Secular Plays as Herodian observes The Emperor being seated on a Tribunal before a Temple which was that of Jupiter Capitolinus gave some Perfumes to be distributed to the People and these Perfumes consisted of Sulphur and Bitumen the Quindecim-viri received them of the Emperor and afterwards distributed them among the People adding thereunto a little Piece of Fir-wood called Taeda they-lighted it at one End and threw some of the said Perfume upon it the Smoak whereof every one caused to go round him in order to purifie himself They also gave of the same to Children who were at Years of Understanding The Days whereon these Plays were to be celebrated being come they began with a Procession whereat the Priests of all the Colleges assisted the Senate and all the Magistrates were present the People being clad in White crowned with Flowers and every one having a Lawrel in his Hand As they went along the Streets they sung some Verses made on Purpose for this Feast and as they went into the Temples and Cross-ways worshipped the Statues of the Gods which were exposed to view upon Beds of State and these were called Lectisternia Deorum They met in the Temples on the Three following Nights to watch there and put up their Prayers and Sacrifices and this was called Pervigilium and to the end that nothing that was undecent might be committed in these publick Assemblies the Youth of both Sexes assisted hereat under the Inspection of their Parents or some Person at Years of Discretion of their Family who might be responsible for their Behaviour as Augustus had ordered it and because this Feast was chiefly instituted to appease the Gods of Darkness that is Pluto Proserpina Ceres the Destinies and Lucina there were no other than black Victims offered to them and that in the Night Time which was then illuminated by the Fires made in the Streets and an infinite Number of Lamps lighted upon that Occasion They then sacrificed a black Bull to Pluto and a black Cow to Proserpina On the Morrow during Day-light they offered the like Victims but such as were white to Jupiter and Juno And this we learn from a Medal of Domitian where the said Emperor powers a Cup of Wine upon the Ashes of the Altar Here you have Two Musitians also one playing upon the Harp and the other upon Two Flutes a Man upon his Knees holding a Bull to which he that was to sacrifice him whom they called the Victimary seemed to give a Blow on the Head with an Ax. At these Sacrifices they brought the Victims washed and drest with Garlands of Howers to the Altar then Orders were given that all prophane Persons should withdraw and others be silent and attentive to what was done After this the Pontiff who was the Emperor himself put a little Flower mixed with Salt upon the Victim's Head and then poured a little Wine on which he gave to the Assistants to taste Then the Sacrificer presently gave the Victim a great Blow on the Head with his Ax and his Throat being cut at the same Time by the other Officers they presented his Blood to the grand Pontiff who immediately powred it upon the Fire of the Altar This being done they narrowly observed the Entrails of the Animal from the different Disposition and Colour of which the Aruspices drew good or bad Omens wherein the Romans were so circumspect and had so much Faith that Julius Caesar himself as Macrobius says at least writ Sixteen Books upon that Subject They afterwards burnt the same Entrails when they had taken Three Turns round the Altar offering this Sacrifice to the God or Goddess for whom the same was designed and this they never did but they invoked all the other Gods at the same Time as if they could do nothing but altogether they usually reserved the Victim for the Feast which was made after the People were dismissed with these Words Iicet that is you may withdraw These Sacrifices being over they assisted at the publick Plays which were more particularly consecrated to Apollo and Diana and went to the Theater where Comedies were acted and to the Circus where they were entertained with Foot Horse and Chariot Races The Athletes also signalized themselves at Wrestling and other Exercises In the Amphitheater they saw the Combats of the Gladiators and wild Beasts fight the last of which were brought thither on purpose from all Parts They resumed their Prayers and Sacrifices the second Night which they addrest to the Destinies and to whom they sacrificed a Sheep and a Goat both black Next Day such Women as were free and no Slaves went to the Capitol and other Temples where they made their Prayers to Jupiter and the other Gods before mentioned There they sung Hymns to intreat them to prosper the Empire and People of Rome they also prayed for what related to their own particular Occasions and among other things for Ease in Child-bearing The rest of the Day was
Ethiopia to a Feast where all the Gods followed him and that he returned to Heaven Twelve Days after For the Ocean of the Western Ethiopians is the Place where the Sun sets and whither he is followed by all the Stars who set there also and find Aliment to allay their Eternal Fires without returning to the Place from whence they parted under Twelve Hours or till after they have run through the Twelve Houses or Signs of the Zodiac Macrobius farther adds that the Assyrians worshipped Jupiter as being but the same Deity with the Sun and they called him Jupiter Heliopolitanus because he was chiefly worshipped in the City of Heliopolis in Assyria Lastly Macrobius says that the Assyrians worshipped the Sun as their only and sovereign Deity and hence it is that they called his Name Adad that is only Adad was represented by the Beams of the Sun that came down from on high whereas Adargatis which was the Earth was on the Contrary pictured with reversed Rays with the Points turning upon herself to shew that all was done by the Influences which the Sun had on the Earth and that the Earth received the same from the Sun Julian the Apostate observes that the People of the Isle of Cyprus erected Altars to the Sun and Jupiter pretending they were the same Deities whom the Sovereign God of the Universe constituted to govern this visible World He adds that Homer and Hesiod were of the same Opinion when they made the Sun to be Hypereon and Thea's Son For these Two Names do plainly denote a Supream Deity They seem to say that Bacchus Apollo Musagetes and Aesculapius are no other than the Emanations and different Vertues of the Sun The Mithra of the Persians was the Sun likewise to whom the Parthians and several Eastern Nations give this Epithet because of the Head-dress wherewith he was represented He was also worshipped by this Name among the Romans as you may see by these Verses of Statius Indignata sequi torquentem cornua Mithram And by several Inscriptions at Nismes and elsewhere Deo Invicto Mithrae L. Calphurnius Piso Cn. Paulinus Volusius D. D. S. D. And at Rome this other Inscription may be seen Numini invicto Soli Mithrae M. Au relius Aug. L. Euprepes una cum filiis piis D. D. And again M. Aurelius Aug. Lib. Euprepes Soli Invicto Mithraearam ex viso posuit These Two Roman Inscriptions were those upon the Two Altars which Marcus Aurelius Eliprepes the Emperor's Freedman had dedicated to this God who appeared to him in a Dream Mithra was an Epithet given to the Sun and used in the East from whence it was brought to Rome and Lactantius says in the forecited Verses of Statius that Apollo was represented by the Persians with a Lyon's Face and a kind of Tiara on his Head because the Sun is in its Vigour when he comes to the Sign Leo the Phoenicians worshipped no other Deity than the Sun which they called Beelsamen that is the King of the Heavens The Lybians as well as the Messagetes sacrificed a Horse to him The Emperor Galienus after his Expedition into the East represented Apollo like a Centaur holding his Lyre in his Right-hand and a Globe in the other with this Inscription Apollini Comiti Probus represented him like a Charioteer sitting on his Chariot and crowned with the Sun-beams and with this Title Soli Invicto Other Emperors such as Constantine Aurelian and Crispus set him forth under the Form of a naked Man crowned with Sun-beams and holding a Globe in his Right-hand and a Whip in the Left with these Words Soli invicto comiti Lucius Plautius caused a Medal to be coined whereon was represented the Head of Apollo with Two Serpents kissing him There was a Temple built him at Rome of a Spherical i. e. a round Form SOLARIUM a Sundial Vitruvius describes several sorts of Sundials in L. 9. C. 9. of his Architecture The Hemicycle or half Circle hollowed square-wise and cut so as to incline in the same manner as the â—quinox was the Invention of Berosus the Chaldean It 's likely that Berosus his Dial was a sloaped Plinthis like the Equinox and that this Plinthis was intersected into an Hemicycle or Concave Demicircle at the Top of a high Place looking northwards and that there was a Stile or Pin coming out of the Middle of the Hemicycle whose Point answering to the Center of the Hemicycle represented the Center of the Earth and its Shadow falling upon the Concavity of the Hemicycle which represented the Space between one Tropick and another marked out not only the Declinations of the Sun that is the Days of the Months but also the Hours of each Day for that might be done by dividing the Line every Day into Twelve equal Parts by which must be meant the Days that are between the Autumnal and Vernal Equinox it being necessary to increase the Hemicycle for the other Days which contain above Twelve Equinoxial Hours The Hemisphear of Aristarchus his Dial was Sperical and Concave and not Oval The Discus of Aristarchus of Samos was an Horizontal Dial whose Edges were a little elevated in order to remedy the Inconveniency of the Stile being straight and raised up prependicularly upon the Horizon for these Edges thus raised up hindred the Shadows from extending too far The Astrologer Eudoxus found out the Araneus some say Apollonius invented the Plinthis or square Dial which was also set up in the Flaminian Circus Scopas of Syracuse made that called Prostahistoroumena Cisaranus believes this Name was given it because the Figures of the Coelestial Signs were represented thereon Parmenio was the Inventor of the Prospanclima that is such an one as might serve for all sorts of Climates Theodosius and Andreas Patrocles found out the Pelecinum which is a Dial made Ax-wise wherein the Lines which cross one another mark out the Signs and Months being close towards the Middle and open towards the Sides which makes them be of the Shape of an Ax on both Sides Dionysiodorus invented the Cone Apollonius the Quiver Dial these Two last Dials are plainly Vertical which being long and posited in an oblique manner represent a Quiver SOLARIUM was a Piece of Ground levell'd or Place raised up and exposed to the Sun where People walked as Isidorus and Cyrill's Glossary informs us SOLEAE Sandals among the Ancients it was a rich Wear or Covering for the Feet made of Gold and Silk with Leather Soles only tied with Thongs on the back part of the Foot SOLITAURILIA a Sacrifice consisting of a Sow Bull and Sheep which the Censors offered every Five Years when they performed the Lustrum or numbred and taxed the Citizens of Rome SOLON one of the Seven wise Men of Greece born at Salamis and Law-giver to the Athenians They attribute the Erecting of the Court of the Areopagites to him This wise Man said no Man could be called happy before his Death SOMNUS the God of Sleep
Lydians a People of Asia were the first that made hammer'd Pieces of Gold and Silver Others attribute the first Invention thereof to Erichthonius the fourth King of Athens Plutarch assures us that Theseus coined Pieces of Silver weighing Two Drachma's which on the one Side had the Picture of a Ox in Memory of the Marathonian Bull or Captain Taurus and on the other Jupiter or an Owl He also made some that weighed half an Ounce whereon Minerva and Two Owls were stamped and these were called Stateres The Money in Peloponesus was stamped with a Tortoise from whence came this figurative Way of Speaking 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Tortoise exceeds both Vertue and Wisdom that is that with Money all Things are compassed The Cizycenians coined Money on one Side whereof was the Goddess Cybele and a Lyon on the other The Obolus of the Greeks was about Five Farthings English The Drachma was worth about Seven Pence English The Mina about Three Pounds The Talent was in Value about 203 l. 13 s. And the Shekel about Half a Crown As for the Romans 't is thought that Janus was the first who made Brass Money on one Side of Which stood a Head with Two Faces and on the other a Ship as Athenaeus informs us Janus was the first as they say who invented Garlands and coined Copper-money and Pliny says nota aeris ex alterâ parte fuit Janus geminus ex alterâ rostrum navis Numa Pompilius made Wooden and Leather Money and afterwards establish'd a Company of Brasiers called Aerarii who were the Monyers of those Times for the Romans at first made use of unwrought Brass for Money from whence came those Forms of Speech oes alienum a Debt and per oes Libram because they were put into the Scales to be weighed Servius Tullius made Brass Money weighing 12 Ounces and the same had the Figure of a Sheep upon them and this lasted till the first Punick War They began to hammer Pieces of Silver 485 Years after the Building of Rome I mean the Denarius which was worth 10 Asses They had Half a Denarius called Quinarius the Quarter Part of a Denarius named Sestertius and the Teruncius which was the Fourth of an As. All these were Silver Moneys marked on the one Side with a Woman's-Head which represented Rome and an X to shew the Value to be 10 Asses and upon the Reverse were Castor and Pollux They had Quinarii whereon Victory was pictured and these were called Victoriati and others on which there was a Charriot drawn by Two or Four Horses which for the said Reason were called Bigati Quadrigati Moreover some of these Silver Pieces have been met with on which instead of Rome was stamped the Figure of some Genius or Tutelary God which upon that Account were called Geniati Gold Coin came not in Use till about 62 Years after Silver Money in the Year of Rome 546 in the Consulship of Nero and Livius Salinator They were Pieces whereof 38 went to a Pound and came near to 2 Drachma's and an Half being worth commonly about 23 Shillings A RECAPITULATION of ROMAN MONEYS Copper Moneys As Assis or Assipondium weighing 12 Ounces amounted to above a Half Penny English The Third of an As or Triens weighing 4 Ounces was worth a Double The Quarter Part or Quadrans weighed 3 Ounces The Sixth Part or Sextans consisted of 2 Ounces The Vncial weighed 1 Ounce Silver Moneys The Denarius weighing 1 Drahm was marked with an X that signified 10 as being 10 Asses in Value about 7 d. English The Quinarius worth 5 Asses The Sestercius or Quarter Part of a Denarius worth 2 Assès and an Half The great Sestercius or Sestercium worth 1000 small Sesterces that is about 8 l. 6 s. The Teruncium weighed the 40th Part of a Silver Denarius and is in Value one 4th of an As. Gold Moneys Their Gold Money weighed 2 Drams and an Half All these Words I shall explain again in their proper Alphabetical Order TRIUM-VIRI MONETALES the Triumvirs of Money were Officers created a little before Cicero's Time whose Commission was contained in these Five Letters A. A. A. F. F. Aere Auro Argento flando feriundo for the Coining of Brass Gold and Silver Money MONETARIUS a Coiner 't was a Name of Old for such as made Money all the Money of the Romans and old French had the Name of the Person upon them in full Length or at least the first Letters thereof The Trium-virs were formerly Mint-Officers whose Business it was to have Money coined the Names and Quality of whom may be seen in the Impressions MONETA a holy and sacred Goddess pictured with a Pair of Scales in one Hand and a Cornucopia in the other with these Words Sacra Moneta Augustorum Caesarum nostrorum MONETA this was an Epithet given to Juno being derived à Monendo because she gave them Notice when Rome was taken by the Gauls that they should sacrifice a whole Sow or because that during the War against Pyrrhus when the Romans found themselves in great Want of Money they had Recourse to Juno who advised them to be always just in their Actions and they should never want Unto which when they had bound themselves by Oath they drove Pyrrhus out of Italy and built a Temple to Juno Moneta wherein they laid up the Silver Money of the Commonwealth MONOCHORDUM is an Instrument wherewith to try the Variety and Proportion of of Musical Sounds It was composed of a Rule divided and subdivided into divers Parts wherein there was a String pretty well extended at the Ends thereof upon both the Bridges in the midst of which there is a moveable Bridge by whose means in the Application of it to the Different Divisions of the Line you might find the Sounds were in the same Proportion to one another as the Divisions of the Line cut by the Bridge were It s also called the Harmonious or Canonick Rule because it serves to measure the Flats and Sharps of the Sounds It s held that Pythagoras was the Inventer of the Monochordum MONS A Mountain 't is a great Rising of the Earth above the usual Level of the Ground the most celebrated Mountains in the Poets are Parnassus called Biceps or with a double Top which was the Residence of the Muses and Mount Olympus which the Poets took often for Heaven Mount Atlas was famous among Geographers whose Name has been borrowed and used for a Collection of the Description of the several Parts of the World as if the Whole had been discovered from the Top thereof Rome had Seven Hills within it MONS PALATINUS Mount Palatine which was so called either from the Pallantes who with Evander came to dwell thither or from Palatia Latinus his Wife or from Pales the Goddess of Shepherds Upon this Mountain stood the King's House or Palace which from thence was called Palatium Romulus was brought up and looked
after Cattle there MONS CAPITOLINUS This Mountain was at first called Saturninus because Saturn lived there and afterwards Tarpeius from Tarpeia who was there crushed to Death with the Shields of the Sabins and at last Capitolinus à Capite toli the Head of a Man which was found there as they were digging to lay the Foundation of the Temple of Jupiter surnamed Capitolinus This was the famousest Mountain of them all because of Jupiter's Temple which was begun by Tarquinius Priscus finish'd by Tarquinius Superbus and dedicated by Horatius Pulvillus Here it was that they made their Vows and solemn Oaths where the Citizens ratified the Acts of the Emperors and where they took the Oath of Allegiance to them and at last where such as triumphed came to give the Gods Thanks for the Victory they had obtained MONS QUIRINALIS Mount Quirinal was at first called Mons Agonius but after the Alliance that was made between Romulus and Tatius King of the Sabins who dwelt there they named it Quirinalis from their chief City called Cures and from thence the Citizens of Rome came to be called Quirites and after the Death of Romulus there was a Temple built here under the Name of Quirinus MONS CAELIUS was formerly called Quercetulanus from the Oak that grew there and afterwards Caelius from one Caelius Vibenna General of the Tuscans who posted himself upon this Mountain so as opportunely to succour Romulus in the War he waged against the Sabines MONS EXQUILINUS Mount Esquiline was so called ab excubiis or Guards which Romulus posted there for fear of the Revolt of the Sabines of whose Fidelity he was doubtful It was also called Cespius Oppius and Septimius by Reason of some small Hillocks which it inclosed or hemmed in MONS VIMINALIS took its Name from Oziers that grew uponit and here was a Temple dedicated to Jupiter Viminalis It had the Name of Vimineus or Fagutalis from a Beech-Tree which was consecrated to Jupiter Fagutalis MONS AVENTINUS Mount Aventine took its Name from a King of Alba named Aventinus who was buried there as well as Remus and Tatius the Sabine Diana had a Temple here MORBUS a Disease of whom the Poets make mention as an hurtful Deity and Virgil places him at the Mouth of Hell Pallentes habitant Morbi MORBUS COMITIALIS the Falling-sickness when in the Assemblies of the People of Rome any fell into this Sickness the Assembly presently broke up and therefore it was called Morbus Comitialis because it broke up their Comitia or Assemblies MORPHEUS see after Mortui MORS Death the Poets made him not only an existent Being but also a false Deity picturing him like a Skeleton with Claws and a Sythe in his Hand Death was honoured by the Lacedamonians and Servius in explaining that Verse in Virgil Multa bonum circa mactantur corpora Morti Says that Death is a Goddess of whom Lucan and Stacius make mention for which he cites these Words of Stacius In scopulis Mors atra sedet And those of Lucan Ipsamque vocatam Quam petat à nobis Mortem tibi coge fateri They make her to be the Daughter of the Night and Sister of Sleep and the same is drest in a Robe full of black Stars as also with black Wings MORTUI the Dead the Romans burnt their Dead as being of Opinion it would be a Benefit to the Soul to have the Body quickly consumed and this continued to the Time of Macrobius or the Antoninus's The ancient Persians as Agathias relates exposed their Dead to be devoured of Beasts they believing that such as continued long entire were wicked and the Relations of the Deceased regulated their Joy or Sorrow accordingly See Cadaver where I have shewed the Way of burying dead Corps and their Funeral Obsequies the same may also be seen under Funus MORPHEUS was according to the Fable one of the Servants of Sleep Ovid places a Multitude of Dreams under the Empire of Sleep but he makes Three of them to be endued with a much greater Power than the rest viz. Morpheus Icelas or Phobeter and Phantasos The 1st imitates Mankind the 2d other Animals and the 3d Mountains Rivers and other inanimate Things At pater è populo natorum mille suorum Excitat artificem simulatoremque figura Morphea c. MOVERE SENATU is a Phrase to denote one's being turn'd out of the Senate ignominiously or to be degraded MOVERE TRIBU to removeone from a considerable Tribe to a meaner MOYSES or Moses his Father was Atram and Mother Jochabed who put him into an Ark of Bulrushes that was daubed over with Pitch and Slime and so exposed him upon the Brink of the Nile in Compliance with Pharaoh's Order in a Place whither the Daughter of Pharaoh whose Name was Thermutis according to Josephus was observed to resort to wash her self his Sister Mary had Orders to stay at a small distance off to see what would become of him the Princess seeing the said little Cradle floating caused it to be brought to her and finding a Child therein of Three Months old whom she knew to be of a Hebrew Race by his being circumcised she was moved with Compassion and resolved to save him The Sister coming thither as by chance asked her if she would please to send her to get a Nurse to suckle him of that People to which the Princess agreeing she immediately ran to the House and brought his Mother for a Nurse for him At Three Years end she carried him to Thermutis who adopted him for her Son and gave him the Name of Moses which in the Egyptian Language signifies one saved from the Water Clemens Alexandrinus says his Friends had named him Joachim when he was circumcised He was very carefully educated in Pharaob's Court and as he was a Person of excellent Parts he became quickly an admirable Proficient in all the Sciences which at that time flourish'd among the Egyptians The Scripture informs us that he left Pharaob's Court when he was Forty Years old in order to go and visit his own Nation and that finding an Egyptian abusing an Israelite he killed him in the Heat of his Zeal Hereupon fearing the King's Displeasure be fled into the Desarts of Madian chusing rather to be afflicted with the People of God than to possess all the Treasures of Egypt There he married one of the Daughters of Jethro or Raguel a Priest whose Name was Sephora He lived Forty Years in that Country and as he was one Day leading his Father-in-Law's Cattle to the Bottom of the Wilderness towards Mount Horeb he saw a Bush burning with a great Fire which yet consumed it not and as he was about to draw near unto it the Lord called him by his Name and let him know that he had seen the Affliction of his People in Egypt and that he would by his Means work Deliverance for them he endeavoured to excuse himself upon the Account of his Incapacity and