At once ten thousand faffron currents flow, And rain their odours on the crowd below.-Rowe. Vid Lipf. de Amphitheat. p. 1034. (2) Which (fays Suetonius, in his life of Nero, c. 31.) were whirled round, vice mundi, like the world. Lampridius makes mention of the fame in his life of Heliogabalus, who fifled fome of his parafites with violets and rofes, before they could get up again. Oppreffit in tricliniis verfatilibus parafitos fuos violis et floribus, fic ut animam aliqui efflaverint, cum eripi ad fummam non poffent. Fulv. Urfin. in Append. Ciacconii de Triclinio. (0) As Philocletes fays (in Attio, ap. Cic.) Configo tardus celeres, ftans, volatiles, Whofe painted feathers my warm veft complete. As we hear and read of the wild Indians. (p) Tergis vulpium ac murium] The antients understood by the word Mus, not only that little domeftic animals we call a mouse, but all the wild ones of a small kind, as ferret, weafel, ermin, and the like. See Turneb. Adv. 15. 23. So Juftin. 1. 2. speaking likewise of Scythians, fays, not knowing the use of wool, they were clothed with the like fkins; Lanæque ufus, ac veftium, ignotus; et quanquam continuis frigoribus urentur, pellibus tamen ferinis aut murinis veftiuntur. Of old, the heroes were clothed in skins, as Diomede, in Homer, Il. x. 177. Ως φαθ' ὁ δ ̓ ἀμφ' ώμοισιν ἑδεσσατο δέρμα λέοντος *Αιθωνος μεγάλοιο ποδήνεκες. This faid, the hero o'er bis fhoulders flung A lion's Spoils that to his ankles bung. Pope. Ad Scythia proceres regefque Getarum Refpice, queis oftro contempto et vellere ferum, Eximius decor eft tergis horrere ferarum.Profper. de Provid. More nobly clad in skins of frightful beafts. (4) Syrticæ gentes, a people of Africa. (r) What Seneca here calls the mind, the Apoftle calls the Spirit. (5) Let not fin reign in your mortal body that ye fhould ferve the lufts thereof. Rom. vi. 12. Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves to obey, his fervants ye are whom ye obey. Ib. 16. See Ep, 92. (t) In Ovid. (Met. 6. 55.) Quod digiti expediunt, atque inter ftamina ducum Percufe feriunt infecti pectine dentes. Quod lato feriunt, al. fariunt, ur de etiam-pariunt. Lipf. (u) Sen. de Benef. 7. 9. video fericas veftes, fi veftes vocandæ funt, in quibus nihil eft quo defendi aut corpus, aut denique pudor poffit; quibus fumptis mulier parum liquida, nudam fe non effe jurabit ;—et pater ejus. Controv. 7. 2. Ut adultera tenui vefte perfpicua fit; et nihil in corpore uxoris fuæ plus maritus quàm quilibet alienus agnoverit. (x) i. e. ploughed a fecond time, and fometimes a third.—Columella. Arationem iteratio fequitur ut vervactum refolvatur in pulverem. (y) And why not? fays Lipfius. Si dives fapiens eft Et futor bonus, et-non noftri quid pater ille Eft opifex. Sapiens operis fic optimus omnis Hor. Sat. 1. iii. 125. But what Chryfippus said thou doft not know; And yet the cobler's a wife man. How fo? Why, as Hermogenes, though he hold his tongue, Is skill'd in mufic, and can fet a fong. Creech.. } But in Apuleius, 1. II. it is faid of one Hippias, that every thing he had was of his own manufacture. Omnia quæ fecum habebat nihil eorum emerat, fed fuis fibi manibus confecerat. And indeed I had a neighbour, Mr. Eldridge, of the fame tafte and ingenuity; nay, and who even bound his own books; the whole apparatus for this I purchased at his death; but never found time or thought it worth while to make use of them. (x) Ut fpeculariorum ufum,-perlucente testâ] Plin. Epist. ii. 17. Nam fpecularibus—muniuntur.—The Specularia of the ancients answered the effects of our glafs windows. The lapis specularis was a tranfparent ftone which Pliny the elder tells us was originally found in the farthest parts of Spain. The nature of the ftone, according to that hiftorian, was remarkable. Humorem hunc terræ quidam autumant crystalli modo glaciari: fome philofophers are of opinion that the lapis fpecularis is a certain juice of the earth, which congeals after the manner of crystal. Orrery. (aa) Plin. ix. 59. Sergius Orata primus invenit penfiles balneas;-Sergius Orata first invented banging baths, which foon grew into vogue. Penfilium balnearum ufu ad infinitum blandiente, ib. xxvi. 3. (bb) The writing of fhort-hand. See Lipf. Epift. ad Belg. 27. Cent. r. (cc) Lares et Genii] Ghofts, or fouls divefted of the human body, were in the old Latin called Lemures; Ex his Lamuribus, inquit Apuleius, qui pofteriorum fuorum curam fortitus, pacato et quieto numine domum poffidet, Lar dicitur familiaris. And of thefe (Lemures) the one, who out of regard to pofterity, takes upon him to order the family in peace and quietness, with divine authority, is called Lar familiaris, and in the plural Lares. Et vigilant noftrâ femper in æde Lares. Ovid. Suppofed of fo great power as to drive Hannibal from Rome. Hannibalemque Lares Romanâ fede fugantes. Prop. 33. The Genii, fuppofed the protecting power of men; alfo of places and things. With regard to man, fays Menander, Hefiod. Απαντι δαιμων ανδρί συμπαρας απέ A genius thus attends on every man, Τὰ μὲν δαίμονες εἰσὶ Διὸς μεγαλὰ διὰ βολος To man, thefe Genii minifters of heav'n Homer Od. p. 486. Και τε θεοὶ ξείνοισιν εἰκότες ἀλλοδοποῖσιν, Wanders, perhaps, fome inmate of the skies. Just and unjust recording in their mind, And with fure eyes infpecting all mankind. Pope. There is none but he Whofe being I do fear: and under him My Genius is rebuked; as it is faid Antony's was by Cæfar's.Shakespear See the foregoing Note; and Lipf. Phyfiol. p. 886.. (dd) In fecundam numinum formam—al. nominum, al. hominum. Erasmus reads it fecundum numinum formam, i. e. more numinum, without the prepofition, in. As when the body. perisheth, the better part remains, or a nobler form is given :) understanding it of human fouls, as poffeffing a lower degree of immortality than the Deity: because they began to be, though they never cease to be. (e) Ubi confiftant] fc. circa imum ætherem, et lunæ cœlum. Lipf.-So Lucan ix. Quodque patet terras inter cælique meatus, Semidei manes habitant: quos ignea virtus Beyond our orb, and nearer to that height Of life unhlam'd, a pure and pious race, Worthy that lower heaven, and ftars to grace, Divine, and equal to the glorious place. } Which Stoical opinion Cicero has more fully expreffed, in Tufc. Difp. i. Neceffe eft animus, quo nihil velocius, &c. The foul, than which nothing is fwifter, should it remain uncorrupt, and without alteration, muft necessarily be carried with that velocity, as to penetrate and divide all the region, where clouds, and rain, and wind, are formed; and having passed this region, it falls in with, and perceives, a nature like its own---where it refts, and endeavours no higher flight. (ƒƒ) Sen. ad Polyb. 38.----nunc liberè vagatur, et omnia ferum naturæ bona, cum, fùmma voluptate perfpicit―ad Marc. c. 25. In arcana naturæ penetrat, et fcrutatur cœleftium caufas, et in profunda terrarum permittere aciem juvat: it extends its view through all nature, from the skiesto the deep below. (gg) Sen. (de Benef. 7. 7.) Totum mundum deorum templum, folum quidem amplitudine illorum ac magnificentia dignum, Gic. Somn. Scip.-Homines tuentur illum globum quem in templo: temple hoc medium, qui terra dicitur. The condition of man's exiflence is, that he garrijn that globe which you fee in the middle of this temple, and which is called the earth. Upon this Macrobius obferves, that every one who is admitted into this temple, (i. e. every mortal) ought to live as righteous, as if he were a priest, in the faid temple. Quidquid humano afpectui fubjicitur templum ejus vocavit, qui fola mente concipitur, ut qui hæc veneratur ut templa, cultum tamen maximum debeat conditori: fciatque quifquis in ufum templi hujus inducitur, ritu fibi vivendum facerdotis. Philo Judaeus, ἱερὸν Θεὸ νομίζων την συμπαντα χρή κοσμον είναι, κ. τ. λ. That every one ought to think the univerfe the Temple of God; forafmuch as it has a fextry, i. e. the purest part of the nature of things, Heaven: its ornaments, the stars; its priests, the Angels, and ministers of his power. For, fays Cicero (Stoically fpeaking, De Nat. Dear. ii.) Nihil omnium rerum melius eft mundo, nihil præftabilius, nihil pulchrius: nec folum nihil eft fed ne cogitari quidem quidquam melius poteft. Certainly there is nothing better, more excellent, or more beautiful than the world, nor can we conceive any thing to excel it. (bb) There are feven different ways of accounting for the origin of mankind. 1. By Prometheus, with clay, and fire stole from heaven; and after a deluge repaired by his fon Deucalion, poetical and merely fabulous. 2. According to Anaximander the Milefian, they were formed of water and mud, but were only fish at firft, and afterwards turned into men. 3. Empedocles fuppofes them born of the earth, but only part at a time, and to grow as a blite or beat. 4. Democritus fuppofes they rife in and from the ground, like worms, entirely of themselves. Democritus ait homines vermiculorum modo, effufos de terrâ, nullo autore, nullâque ratione. Lactant. vii. 7.5. Epicurus, Haud, ut opinor, enim mortalia fecla fupernè Aurea de cœlo demifit funis in arva. Sed genuit tellus eadem, quæ nunc alit ex fc. Lucret. ii. 1153. For who can think thefe pygmies fram'd above, The little business of fome meddling Jove? And thence to people this inferior ball, By Homer's golden chain let gently fall? Nor did they rife from the rough feas, but earth, To what he now fupports, at first gave birth. Creech. Crefcebant uteri terræ radicibus apti Quos ubi tempore maturo patefecerat ætas Infantum, &c. V. Gob. Next beafts, and thoughtful man receiv'd their birth: For then much rural heat in mother earth, Much moisture lay; and where fit place was found There wombs were form'd and faften'd to the ground. In these the yet imperfect embryos lay, Through thefe when grown mature they forc'd their way, Broke forth from night, and faw the chearful day. The fixth opinion was that of the Stoics, (fo very near the truth) that they were born of God. Cic. (de Leg. 1.) Hoc animal providum, fagax, multiplex, quem vocamus Hominem, præclarâ quadam conditione generatum esse Summo Deo. -So Ovid. Met. i. 76. Sanctius his animal mentifque capacius altæ Deerat adhuc, et quod dominari in cætera poffet Natus Natus homo eft, five hunc divino femine fecit Then man was made, whose animated frame Or God inform'd with a celeftial flame, Or earth from purer heaven but lately freed, And on the noble work was then impress'd, The Godhead's image in the foul express'd. Sewell. The last opinion was that of the vulgar, that men fprung out of the ground, like mushrooms, first in Arcadia, and elsewhere. All which serve to enhance the value of divine revelation; and to make us the more thankful to God, for the advantages we enjoy by the Gofpel, both for religious and moral improvement. (ii.) Tertullian (de Anima, c. 14.) fays, The foul is divided by Plato and Pythagoras into two parts; the rational, and irrational; or, more accurately, into three, by dividing the latter into the irafcible and concupifcible: Ariftotle into five, Panatius into fix; Soranus into feven; Chryfippus, and most of the Stoics into eight: by adding to the five fenfes, fays Varro, (fextam quâ cogitamus, feptimam quâ progeneramus, octavam, quâ vocem emittimus) the powers, cogitative, procreative, and vocal. The Stoics (ap. Stoba.) make one, the principal, (Td njeμovexov) the governing power, the reft minifterial. See Ep. 92. Lipf. Phyfiol. iii. 17. (kk) Nam vita videtur nobis quod mors eft, et contra. Lipf.As in a violent fit of fickness at Eton, in 1720, I designed the following for part of my epitaph. March 18, 1702. Ut moriar fuit illa dies mihi janua vitæ, Ut vivam, hæcce (cùm Deus voluerit.) Dies janua mortis erat. (1) Anacharfis, a philofopher of Scythia, which being looked upon as fomewhat extraordinary, it became proverbial. Anacharfis inter Scythas. Cicero gives him a great character for fobriety and temperance. Sobrius, continens, abftinens, et temperans, (Tufc. 5.) Being asked whether there were any musicians in Scythia? No, faid he; neither have they any vines. Being afked likewise, whether they had any Gods? yes, faid he; and they understand the speech of mortals.Endeavouring to introduce the Athenian laws, he was ordered to be shot with an arrow, by his brother, then king of the place. Strabo reproves Euphorus for giving the invention of the potters wheel to Anacharfis, as mention is made of it in Homer. 11. 2. 600. —Ὡς ὅτε τις τροχόν άρμενον ἐν παλάμησιν Εζόμενος κεραμεὺς πειρήσεται ἅικε θεησιν. As when the potter fitting on the ground, Forms a new vessel as the wheel whirls round. (mm) This likewife, as Lipfius obferves, is a mistake, as ivory by way of ornament is mentioned more than once by Homer. II. ♪. 141. |