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I.W. Erle
:
ARTES
LIBRARY
918 17
VERITAS
SCIENTIA
OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
PEUNIDUS UNUM &
תחת
TUEBOR
SI-QUÆRIS PENINSULAM-AMŒNAM
CIRCUMSPICE
THE GIFT OF
KINAHUL
t
!
2
i

H
CA
ARMINA, PICTURAS,
ET DEDALA SIGNA
FO
2002
Isaac Whood pinxit.
G.Vertue Sculp 1746.
POLYMETIS:
O R,
An ENQUIRY concerning the
AGREEMENT
Between the WORKS of the
POETS,
ROMAN POE T
And the REMAINS of the
ANTIENT ARTISTS.
BEING
་
1
An ATTEMPT to illuftrate them mutually from
one another.
*
IN TEN BOOK S.
By the Revd. Mr. SPENCE.
1-
Omnes artes, quæ ad humanitatem pertinent, habent quoddam commune vinculum ;
& quafi cognatione quâdam inter fe continentur.
The Verſe and Sculpture bore an equal part ;
And Art reflected images to Art.
Cicero; pro Arch.
--Pope; of Poetry and Statuary.
Id. of Poetry and Painting.
-Each from each contract new ftrength and light.
LONDON:
Printed for R. DODSLEY; at Tully's-Head, Pall-Mall.
M.DCC.XLVII.
1
871
574
cop. 2
Stacks
Gift- Mrs. Hemy Hulst
5-412-53
Added Copy
PREFACE.
T
1
HERE is not any fort of writing that I fit down to with
fo much unwillingneſs, as that of Prefaces: and as I believe
moſt people are not much fonder of reading them, than I
am of writing them, I fhall get over this as faft as I can;
both for the reader's fake, and my own.
THE following work is the reſult of two very different ſcenes of life,
in which I have happened to be engaged. The one, was my having been
Profeffor of Poetry, in the Univerfity of Oxford, for ten years; and the
other, my being abroad, for above half that ſpace of time. The for-
mer obliged me to deal in Poetical Criticiſm; as the latter, (and particu-
larly the confiderable ſtay that I made, both at Florence, and at Rome,)
led me naturally enough into ſome obſervation and love for the fine re-
mains of the antient artiſts. As theſe two periods of my life happened
partly to coincide, this put me on the thoughts of joining theſe ſtudies
together: and in doing this indeed I found very little difficulty; for, (as
Cicero fays in the motto to my book,) there is a natural connexion be-
tween all the polite arts: and confequently, they may rather ſeem to
meet one another, than to have been brought together by any con-
trivance.
.....
SEVERAL of the beſt antient and modern writers have ſpoke of this
connexion, in general: but I do not know of any one, that has entered
into any particular enquiry in relation to it; except Mr. Addiſon, in his
Treatife on Medals. I wiſh that gentleman had
I wiſh that gentleman had gone much farther, than
he has; or indeed that any one, tho' of much leſs taſte than Mr. Addiſon,
had made a track before me; for I fhould then have been enabled to find
my way thro' fo various a fubject, with much more eafe; and to have
made my obſervations, with much leſs inaccuracy: but I entered upon
it, as one does on a country newly diſcovered; without any paths made,
and generally much embaraffed. Had any work of this kind been pub-
liſhed, before I went abroad; I could certainly have made this much
more perfect, with extremely leſs pains: whereas all I can beg for it now
is, that the difficulty of making one's way almoſt every where, may be
duly confidered; and that the many imperfections and errors which that
muft occaſion, may meet with the indulgence that the cafe deferves.
I
1
ill
iv
PREFACE.
41
:
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I HAVE endeavoured too at another thing, which I believe all good
judges will allow to be pretty difficult and that was to take off fome of
the fullenneſs, and feverity, that has generally been thrown over the
ſtudies of Criticiſm, and Antiquities. This labour, (for it is a very great
labour to make ſome things read eafy,) I thought partly due to the pre-
vailing taſte of the prefent age; in which, we of this country at leaſt,
feem to be not near ſo much inclined to profound reading, as we were
half a century ago: and partly, to good-nature; any breach of which is
certainly one of the moſt unpardonable faults that a writer can commit,
in any age and in all countries. I do not know what others may think,
but for my own part I have long thought it particularly miſplaced and
abfurd, to put on a very grave face, in this kind of fubjects: which,
after all that one can fay for them, are certainly not of the higheſt im-
portance to mankind; and if they are not entertaining, can have but
very
little elſe to recommend them. Inftead of this, I know not how it
has happened, that Criticiſm has generally appeared like a meer fcold,
and Antiquity like an old pedant. Socrates gave an agreeable turn to all
his leffons of morality, which till his time had been uſually taught in a
dry and diſguſting manner. Horace introduced the fame pleafing way
of teaching, among the Romans; as the authors of the Spectator,
have done among us. Something like this, I doubt not, might be prac-
tifed in treatiſes of Criticiſm and Antiquities: and tho' I may have failed
intirely in attempting it, I cannot help thinking, that I have at leaſt
given no bad hint for fome one that may come after me; who I hope
may fucceed much better in it, than I have done.
AND indeed this was one reaſon for my cafting the whole work into the
form of Dialogue: for the introducing a ſcene, and characters, helps to give
life to a fubject, that wants enlivening; and can do no harm tỏ one that
has no need of any fuch help. Befide which, I have fome other reaſons
that make me fond of writing by way of Dialogue, in general; and par-
ticularly, in the preſent caſe.---By this means one avoids the frequent uſe
of that moſt diſagreeable of all monofyllables, I.---The affertions are put
into the mouth of other perfons; and the author, at leaſt ſeems the lefs
arrogant and affuming.---The want of connexion may be hid, or ſupplied,
by a little addreſs in the ſpeakers---and any inaccuracies in the language
are leſs apt to be obſerved, (and when obferved, are perhaps more par-
donable,) in fuch chit-chat as mine is, than in a fet diſcourſe.
;
THE Plan, that I at firft defigned for this work, lay much wider
but I found myſelf obliged to contract it: and therefore confined myſelf
folely to the confideration of the Imaginary, or Allegorical Beings; as
received among the Romans, in the better ages of their ſtate. Strictly
fpeaking,
PREFACE.
fpeaking, I have nothing to do with their Theology: my ſubject, being
the Deſcriptions and Repreſentations of their Deities; and not the doc-
trines they held, in relation to them. However, in fome more material
points, I could not forbear touching now and then on their Theology
itſelf fuch as their Philofophical Belief of one true God only; and that
peculiar regard that was generally paid by them, to three of their nomi-
nal deities, above all the reft: both of which points, I think I have
proved rather more clearly, than has been hitherto done; at leaſt by any
author, that I have happened to read.
My confining myſelf to the Roman writers only, or fuch of the Greeks
as were quite Romanized; has been of great uſe to me, toward making
the whole work the lefs perplexed. My chief ſtock was laid in from all
the Roman poets, quite from Ennius down to Juvenal; and from feveral
of their profe-writers, from Varro down to Macrobius. Had I gone lower,
the authorities would have grown ftill weaker and weaker; and my ſub-
ject would have been the more liable to have been confuſed. It would
have been ſtill worſe, if I had mixed the deities and the opinions of the
people of other nations, with thoſe of the Romans: and worst of all,
if I had confulted the modern writers on antiquities; and uſed their
authorities indifferently with thoſe of the antients. What I endeavoured,
was to learn the thoughts and practices of the Romans, from the Romans
themſelves: and if I have founded any little affertion whatever in re-
lation to them, on a modern authority only; I have generally introduced
it in the Dialogue, with "It is faid", or "It has been thought", or fome
equivalent expreffion; on purpoſe to diſtinguiſh it, from what is founded
on the authority of the antients.
IN the laſt Dialogue, I have laid down the rough draught of a plan,
for carrying on this work as far as I at firft intended to have done: and
I ſhall juſt add here, that if any body had leifure and inclination for fuch
a work, they might double the whole ſcheme; by making the fame en-
quiry into the Greek writers, as is there propoſed for the Latin. If fuch
a thing ſhould ever happen to be put in execution; this book, (which is
of itſelf but too large,) would then be no more than one quarter of the
whole work; tho', was it all properly executed, I think I may venture
to ſay, it might make a more uſeful and more compleat body of An-
tiquities, than any that has been as yet publiſhed; and at the ſame time
would be lefs voluminous, than the fingle collections of either Grævius,
or Gronovius, or Montfaucon.
2
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}
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John Ridout Efq;
Reverend Dr. Owens; Dean of Clonmaicnoife. Reverend Mr. Robbins.
P.
Duke of Portland.
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of the Exchequer, and firft Lord-Commif-
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Honourable Mr. Powlett.
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College.
'R.
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S.
Countefs Dowager of Saliſbury.
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Earl of Shaftesbury; three copies.
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Goodyer St. John Efq;
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Colonel Sewell.
Reverend Mr. Shakerley.
Reverend Mr. Sharpe.
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Sherburn Efq;
>
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Mr. Smith.
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Dr.
xii
The NAMES of the SUBSCRIBER S.
Dr. (Edward) Smyth.
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Honourable Sir William Stanhope.
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T.
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Mr. Thomfon.
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Reverend Dr. Towers.
Reilly Towers Efq;
་
Honourable Mr. (Charles) Townſhend.
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Townſhend.
Honourable Mr. (Horatio) Townshend.
Honourable Mr. (Thomas) Townfhend.
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V.
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W.
Late Earl of Waldgrave.
Prefent Earl of Waldgrave.
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Honourable Mr. York.
Y.
NAMES, that came too late to be inſerted in their proper places.
Lord Barrington; three copies.
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POLYMET IS:
OR,
2
An ENQUIRY Concerning the AGREEMENT
BETWEEN
I
The WOKS of the ROMAN POETS;
A'N D
*
The REMAINS of the ANTIENT ARTISTS.
*
BOOK the Firft:
THE INTRODUCTION.
DIAL. İ.
The General Deſign of the Work.
1
1
OLYMETIS, who is as well known for his taſte in the polite arts, as for his
fuperiour talents in affairs of ftate, took two or three of his friends with him the
laft fummer to his villa near the town; to breathe fresh air, and relax themſelves
after the buſineſs of a long feffion. It was cuftomary with the old Greeks and
Romans, to talk over points of philofophy at their tables. Polymetis kept up this good
old cuſtom at his houfe; and the part of the entertainment that was generally the moſt
agreeable to his friends, confifted in the difcourfes he gave them on learning, or on the
polite arts; of which he was extreamly fond. They came thither always with fome
expectation of it; and ſeldom left his table without being pleaſed, and perhaps improved,
by their treat.
Ar preſent the party confifted only of himſelf, Philander, and Myfagetes; two per-
fons equally friends to Polymetis; tho' very different in their own tempers: This, of a
gayer turn; the other, of a ſerious one. Myfagetes, had a fine taſte and genius; Phi-
lander, a good deal of induſtry and obfervation. The former had acquired a great pre-
heminence by the pieces he had given the world; but look'd on fame itſelf as a trifling
acquifition: the other, had got ſome ſhare of reputation; and was labouring on, very
ſeriouſly, to get more. Philander was rather apt to obſerve much, than to talk: Myfa-
getes talked much, but for the moſt part to the purpofe. Myfagetes would fometimes
laugh at things, that he eſteem'd; and Philander often feem'd to efteem things, that
he laughed at.
THEY came early to the villa: and fat down to their tea, in the library; which looks
directly upon the gardens, that were juft then finiſhed and brought to their prefent per-
fection.
B
ल
POLYMETIS.
fection. You fee, fays Polymetis, I have followed the taſte in faſhion (which, as it
happens, is certainly the beſt taſte too) of making my gardens rather wild than regular.
Their general air, I hope, has nothing ſtiff and unnatural in it; and the lower part, in
particular, joins in with the view of the country, as if it made a part of it. Indeed the
mode has allowed me to have as many temples as I could wiſh, in fuch a ſpace of ground:
but I would not have you imagine that they are temples only for fhew; I have found
out a uſe for them, which you might not think of. The ftatues I got formerly from
Italy, and which uſed to croud up all my houſe, are placed in them: and what I a little
value myſelf upon, is the order in which I have placed them. Indeed, fays Myfagetes,
in coming through your hall, I was furpriz'd to fee it deſerted by all the heathen gods;
that uſed to ſeem to be met there, as in council. But what is this order, I befeech
you,
that you value yourſelf ſo much upon?. That, replied Polymetis, may lead me into a
larger account than you may care for. No, interpofed Myfagetes, as we ſhall go and
ſee them I ſuppoſe this afternoon, I beg you would let us into your difpofition of them
beforehand that we may be fufficiently prepared to admire it as we ought.
}
THE deities of the Romans (fays Polymetis) were fo numerous, that they might well
complain of wanting a Nomenclatour to help them to remember all their names. Their
vulgar religion, as indeed that of the heathens in general, was a fort of Manicheiſm.
Whatever was able to do good or to do harm (1) to man, was immediately looked on as
a ſuperiour power; which, in their language, was the fame as a deity. It was hence
that they had ſuch a multitude of gods, that their temples were better' peopled with ſta-
tues, than their cities with men. It is a perfect mob of deities, if you look upon them
all together: but they are reducible enough to order; and fall into fewer claffes, than one
would at firſt imagine. I have reduced them to fix; and confidering their vaſt number,
it was no little trouble to bring them into that compafs.
You ſee that Rotonda, with a Colonnade running round it, on the brow of the hill?
Within that, are the great celeftial deities; as the milder ones relating to the human
mind and civil life, (Fidelity, Clemency; Peace, Concord; Plenty, Health; all the
Mental or Moral Deities, of the better fort ;) are placed in the Colonnade about it; one
in each opening between the pillars. That temple, lower down the hill to the right,
contains the beings which prefide over the element of fire: which, according to the
antients, had its place next to the fupream manfion of the gods. You may call this, if
you pleaſe, the temple of the Sun and Stars. There I have lodged all my antiques that
relate to the Sun, to the Planets, to the Conſtellations; and to the Times and Seafons, as
meaſured by the former. That Octogon, oppofite to it on the left, is the temple of the
Winds, and of the imaginary beings of the air. Thofe two temples on either hand be-
low them contain, one the deities of the Waters, and the other the deities of the Earth:
and
(1) The Greeks had their Bad Gods, as well as their
Good ones; Δαιμονες κακοι και αγαθοι : as we fee by
their authors; and in ancient infcriptions. There is
a gem in the cabinet at St. Genevieve at Paris, in
particular, which was uſed formerly as an amulet ;
with this infcription, Απο παντος κακο Δαίμονος.
In the fame manner, the vulgar ſcheme of religion
among the Romans admitted as eafily of bad, as
of good deities; as one learns, very plainly, from
Pliny. Innumeros quidem (deos) credere; atque
• etiam ex virtutibus vitiifque hominum, ut pudi-
citiam, concordiam, mentem, fpem, honorem, cle-
mentiam, fidem; aut ut Democrito placuit duos
• omnino, pœnam & beneficium; majorem ad focor-
diam accedit. Fragilis & laboriofa mortalitas in
partes iſta digeffit, infirmitatis fuæ memor; ut por-
• tionibus quifque coleret, quo maxime indigeret.
• Itaque nomina alia aliis gentibus & numina in iifdem
• innumerabilia reperimus: inferis quoque in genera
C
C
6
defcriptis; morbifque, & multis etiam peftibus;
• dum effe placatos trepido metu cupimus. Ideoque
' etiam publicè Febri fanum in Palatio dicatum eft;
• Orbonæ, ad ædem Larium: ara & Male Fortunæ,
Exquiliis. Quamobrem major cœlitum populus,
• etiam quam hominum intelligi poteft.' Nat. Hift.
L. 2. c. 7. p. 82. Ed. Elz.This laſt ſentiment is
more humourouſly expreſt by Petronius: Noftra re-
gio tam præfentibus plena eſt numinibus, ut facilius
poffis deum quam hominem invenire. Satyricon.
P. 35.
The reafon for their worshipping bad gods as
well as good ones, is given us by Valerius Maximus;
where he is ſpeaking of the goddeſs of diftempers.
Cæteros quidem ad benefaciendum venerabantur; Fe-
brem autem, ad minus nocendum, templis colebant :
quorum adhuc unum in Palatio, alterum in areâ Ma-
rianorum monumentorum, tertium in fummâ parte
Vici Longi extat. Lib. 2. Cap. 5.
DIALOGUE the First.
3
and if I had a temple for the Infernal beings, with the Vices of men round it, in the ſame
manner as their Virtues are placed round the celeſtial one, I queſtion whether you could
name any one imaginary being in all the theology of the ancients, that might not pro-
perly enough be placed in one or other of theſe fix repofitories.
WHAT a pity it is, fays Myfagetes fmiling, that you ſhould not get a Hell to adorn
your garden with, and make the work compleat? Why ſeriouſly, replied Polymetis,
I have thought even of that. One might have contrived a deep wood, toward the bot-
tom of the hill, which ſhould have led you through a narrow walk (growing every ſtep
darker and darker, as more thickened with yew and cypreſs) down to a vaſt, rough,
horrid cave: in which fuch a gloomy light let in from above, as falls about the middle
of the grotto of Paufilipo, might have half fhewn you and half concealed the diſmal
deities and inhabitants of the lower world. But had this been proper for a garden that
does not belong to Benedictins (2) or Carthufians, it might however be very well ſpared
• in my preſent defign. My collection, you know, confifts wholly of antiques: and there
are fo few antient ftatues that any way relate to the fubterraneous world, that I ſhould
have been at ſome lofs for the moſt proper furniture for ſuch a repofitory; had I been
ever ſo fond of introducing it. As to what other remains there are of this kind, tho'
you do not meet with them in my garden, I may perhaps find another place more con-
venient to ſhew you fome of them; if you ſhould be fond of fuch terrible fights. So that
on the whole, I think I have done right in contenting myſelf here with the temples of the
heavens, and the four elementary ones, which you fee under it: in which are all the
figures I have of the imaginary beings that belong to either of them; difpofed each ac-
cording to his rank and character.
THE ftatues are placed in niches made for them; and ornamented with copies of
fuch antient relievo's or pictures as relate to them. In their pedeftals, I have contrived
drawers, to put in the medals, gems, prints and drawings, I have been fo long getting
together: fuch under each, as have any reference to the deity they are placed under:
much in the manner as the books of the Sibyls were kept by Auguftus in the (3) baſe of
the Palatine Apollo. And thus I have difpofed of all my collection, with fomewhat
more of regularity and order, than is obferved generally in much better collections than
I am maſter of.
You, Philander, know that my principal view in making this collection was to com-
pare the deſcriptions and expreffions in the Roman poets that any way relate to the ima-
ginary beings, with the works that remain to us of the old artiſts; and to pleaſe myſelf
with the mutual lights they might give each to the other. I have often thought when
in Italy, and at Rome in particular, that they enjoy there the convenience of a ſort of
cotemporary comments on Virgil and Horace, in the nobler remains of the antient fta-
tuaries and painters. When you look on the old pictures or ſculptures, you look on the
works of men who thought much in the fame train with the old poets. There was ge-
nerally the greateſt union in their defigns: and where they are engaged on the ſame ſub-
jects, they muſt be the beſt explainers of one another. As we lie fo far north from this
laſt great feat of empire, we are placed out of the reach of confulting theſe finer remains of
antiquity ſo much, and fo frequently, as one could wish. The only way of ſupplying
this defect to any degree among us, is by copies, prints, and drawings: and as I have
(2) The Religious of the feverer orders abroad, in-
ſtead of ſummer-houſes, and places for pleaſure, have
often a fort of penitential caves in their gardens; con-
trived ſo as to caft a gloom over the mind: with a
fingle taper in its inmoft recefs; that fhews you the
figure of a Magdalen weeping over a death's head, or
fome fuch melancholy object.
long
(3) Poftquam pontificatum maximum fufcepit,
quicquid fatidicorum librorum, Græci Latinique
generis, nullis vel parum idoneis auctoribus vulgò fe-
rebatur, fupra duo millia, contracta undique crema-
vit; ac folos retinuit Sibyllinos; hos quoque delectu
habito; condiditque duobus forulis auratis, fub Pa-
latini Apollinis bafi. Suet. in Aug. c. 31,
4
POLYMETIS.
long had this thought, my collection is at length grown very numerous; and indeed al-
moſt as full as I could defire it, as to the point which has all along been my particular
aim.
I HAVE always admired your collection, fays Philander; but might not one who has
no ſuch collection, make a ſhift with father Montfaucon? That father's work, replied
Polymetis, is largely ſtockt with figures; and perhaps too largely, to be of ſervice in the
deſign we are talking of. We are much obliged to him for his induſtry: but his choice
is rather too (4) loofe and unconfined. He has taken in all the different figures he could
meet with; of whatever age, or country. You have, even in the better part of his col-
lection, Tuſcan gods mixt with Roman; old Gallick figures, with thoſe of Syria: and
the monſters of Egypt, with the deities of Athens. This muſt bring in a great deal of
confuſion, and ſtrangely multiply the appearance and (5) attributes of almoſt every deity.
As you fee them there, the defcriptions of them in the Roman poets do not agree with
(4) This charge against father Montfaucon may
perhaps ſeem too fevere. It is founded on two things:
on his deſign itſelf being laid rather too wide; and
on that defign's not being executed fo regularly, as it
fhould be.
The father gives us the deſign of his work in the
following words. Il s'agit ici de toute l'antiquité.
• On en rapporte toutes les parties. On donne fur
• chacune un grand nombre de figures. Ces figures
font expliquées, avec toute l'exactitude, & toute la
precifion, dont j'ai été capable. Quand les figures
• manquent fur certains fujets, je ne laiffe pas d'ex-
•pliquer ces ſujets, pour faire une fuite complete.
< Voilà le plan de tout l'ouvrage.' His antiques are
therefore of all nations; and one may add, of all
ages: from the very earlieſt that are found, quite
down to the reign of the younger Theodofius. Montf.
Pref. p. xiv, & xv.
In the execution of this deſign the father promifes
to ſet apart the firſt and fecond volumes of his work,
for the gods of the Greeks and Romans: the third, for
the temples, vaſes, and inſtruments they made uſe of,
in the worship of their gods: and the fourth, for
the deities and worſhip of other nations. Ib. p. viii,
& ix.
Tho' the deſign itſelf is laid too wide for any one
man to be able to execute it as it ought to be; father
Montfaucon would have done much better had he
followed it in the method he propoſes, than in the
manner he has done: for he is fo far from confining
the gods of the other nations to his fourth volume,
that he has given ſome of all forts in his firſt, which
was to be ſet apart for Greek and Roman figures only:
at leaſt, he has given fome of all the four forts men-
tioned above; to wit, Tufcan, Gallick, Syrian and
Egyptian.
Whoever would be convinced of this, need only
turn to one fingle article; that of Jupiter; in the
beginning of father Montfaucon's firſt volume: where
he will meet with figures of each of the other kinds
juſt mentioned'; and moſt of them acknowledged
by the father's own words, not to be Greek or Ro-
man.
And, 1, As to Tuſcan figures. There is a Jupiter,
and four other gods with him; Plate 17. N°. 1. All
of a bad manner, unlike the Roman; taken from
an antient baſs-relief, of which father Montfaucon
fays; • Ce monument Etrufque eft tres remarquable.'
p. 48.
the
2. As to Gallick figures. In the next plate, Pl.18:
No. 2. there is a Jupiter, called Jupiter Dolichenius ;
who, as the father fays very truly, a plutôt l'air
d'un Mars, que d'un Jupiter.' This is what I ſhould
call a Gallick figure. It is confeffedly no Roman Ju-
piter; it is a Dolichenian Jupiter; and that, probably,
ill-formed by ſome old French artiſt. At leaſt, the
• Elle a été
father fays it was found in France.
trouvée à Marſeilles; d'où elle a été apportée au
• cabinet du Duc de Wirtemberg.' p. 50.
•
•
3. As to Syrian figures, the laſt mentioned might
ferve for an inftance; for Doliché is an inland city of
Syria; placed by the beſt antient authorities in the
province of Samofata; now called the kingdom of
Comagene. Ville de la Comagene,' fays Mont-
faucon. ib. But if any body ſhould be for a new in-
ftance, there are five all together; (Plate 12. N°. 11,
12, 13, 14, 15.) four of Jupiter Cafius; and the fifth,
of one Agreus, a god unknown to the clafficks. One
at leaſt of theſe Cafian Jupiters, muſt be Syrian. It
has the name of Syria upon it; with the figure of a
mountain, which the father calls; le mont Cafius,
dans la Syrie.' p. 44.
4. As to Egyptian figures, we have Serapis, and
Ifis; two of the moſt known among the Egyptian de
ities. Serapis makes his appearance more than once:
Pl. 10. N°.7, 14,&c. ' C'eft Jupiter Serapis ;' ſays the
father, in ſpeaking of one of them. p. 36. Ifts is re-
prefented with Jupiter; Pl. 17. No. 2. Jupiter cou-
ronné de laurier, eft avec Ifis, dans l'image fuivante;
Id. p. 49.
<
There are ſeveral other figures under this article of
Jupiter, which I fhould fuppofe to be neither Greek
nor Roman; ſuch as Pl.8. Fig. 8, & 9.-Pl. 9. Fig.9.
Pl. 13. Fig. 1, & 2.-Pl. 14. Fig. 3, 4, & 5.-&
Pl. 18. Fig. 1, & 3. But I fhall omit any particu-
lar obfervations on them; becauſe I think what is
already ſaid is fufficient to juſtify, what is afferted
above.
;
(5) The figures of the Roman deities have gene-
rally ſomething about them, to diſtinguiſh them, and
mark out who they are fuch as the trident in
the hand of Neptune, or the ſpear in that of Mars
the crown of ivy wreath'd round Bacchus's head, or
Theſe the Romans
the laurel round Apollo's.
called, figna; as the modern artiſts call them, attri-
butes.
"
DIALOGUE the Firft.
LA
the artifts; nor the works of the artiſts with the poets. As my view was a more particu
lar
one, I found myſelf obliged to confine my collection to the deities as received in Italy;
and even in fuch parts of Italy only, where they were uniformly received. This cuts off
any figures that were not of the growth, or at leaſt made free of Rome. The forms
uſed in the different parts of Italy, were not indifferently copies to the Roman poets.
Hetruria had certainly a manner to itſelf; and the figures uſed in the Cifalpine Gaul, for
example, might have very great variations from the Roman. On the other hand, we
are by no means to omit the figures of the true Roman deities, becauſe made by Greek
artiſts. Almoſt all (6) their beſt were fo; for the Romans deſpiſed the practice of the
arts themſelves; and a Roman workman in the Æmilian fquare was probably pretty near
on a level with our artiſts by Hyde-park-corner; even at the very time that they were
bringing in all the moſt beautiful pieces of antiquity from Greece, and encouraging the
beſt living artiſts of that country to come and fettle at Rome. Hence many of the
Grecian deities, together with the modes of dreffing them, were in a manner naturalized
in Rome; and after that, may be looked upon as Roman deities. But there are fome (7)
that never were fo received there; and fuch I have endeavoured to exclude too, out of
my collection.
I Am very glad, fays Myfagetes, to hear that you have decimated your gods: for I
ſhould have been heartily vext to ſee a deity with a dog's, or a hawk's head, upon itg
fhoulders and could never have been brought to view a Squat-Jug (8) with the reſpect
that may, perhaps, be due to whatever was formerly the divinity of a great and learned
nation. But as you have thinned your deities fo confiderably, may I ask whether you
have ſhewn more indulgence to the poets, or whether you have not made a reform
among them too?
them too? I have taken a good deal of pains, replied Polymetis, in collecting
the moſt confiderable paffages from the greater number of them; which I have ranged
in order, according to the times in which they wrote: for there is a great deal of diffe-
rence in the authority of a poet near the fecond Punic war, and one who lived in Au-
guftus's time. This muſt naturally be fettled according to the growth of poetry, and the
improvement of the arts among the Romans; and if you pleaſe to have me anſwer your
queſtion fully, I muſt give you a long hiſtory of each. Tho' you do not ſeem to offer
this feriouſly, interpofed Philander, I very ſeriouſly beg that you would oblige us with
an account of each. They are fubjects I have often heard you ſpeak of, and which I
know
(6) It is remarkable that in the collection of fuch
gems as have the names of the artiſts engraved on
them (which was publiſhed by Baron Stofche, a few
years ago, at Florence) they are all Greeks: and a-
mong the ſeveral inſcriptions under ſtatues and baſſo
relievo's, given by the fame author in his preface,
there is only one artiſt among them that is Ro-
man.
The Romans practiſed painting as little. One per-
ſon of diſtinction indeed, among the Romans them-
felves, happened pretty early to fall into it. He was
of the great Fabian family; and was hence called
Fabius Pictor. After him, fays Pliny, Non eft
ſpectata honeftis manibus.' Nat. Hift. L. 35. c. 4.
Fabius himſelf was ſo pleaſed with the art, that he
wrote his name under his pictures. This, tho' ſo
ufual now, was looked on as very low and ridiculous
in him. Gloria interdum etiam à claris viris, ex hu-
milibus rebus petita eft. Nam quid fibi voluit C.
Fabius, nobiliffimus civis, qui cum in æde Salutis,
quam C. Junius Bubalcus dedicaverat, parietes pinx-
iffet, nomen his fuum infcripfit? Id enim demum
ornamentum familiæ, confulatibus & facerdotiis &
triumphis celeberrimæ, deerat? Cæterum fordido
ſtudio deditum ingenium, qualemcunque illum labo-
rem fuum, filentio obliterari noluit. Val. Maximus,
Lib. 8. Cap. 14. §. 6.
(7) They were fometimes quite oppofite. Thus
the Grecian Juno was often reprefented naked;
whereas the Roman Juno is always dreft in all the
decency of a Roman matron. The Grecian Idea of
Fortitude was expreſt by a perſon finely armed, with
a face that has as much of beauty as ſeverity in it ;
but the Roman Virtus is rougher, and of a lower
ftamp; and is often only dreft like one of their own
common foldiers.
(8) It was thus that the wife Egyptians figured
their deities. To Anubis, they gave the head of a
dog; as that of a hawk, to Ofiris. Canopus was
ufually reprefented among them under the ſhape of a
great earthen pot. Virgil ridicules their Latrator
Anubis, and the rest of them. Æn. 8, 698,
POLYMETIS.
i
1
know you have long fince turned much in your mind. The morning does not look fit
for walking and I intreat you-Nay, no entreaties, I befeech you, fays Polymetis.
If you are willing to hear it, I am as willing to tell you whatever I can recollect on thoſe
heads: and indeed. I have been ſo uſed to think on theſe ſubjects, that I could talk them
over I believe with fome fort of method: however, it will be better, if you will allow
me an hour or two to run over the particulars by myſelf; and in the mean time I will
leave you to divert yourſelves, either here in my library; or in my gardens; or
wherever you pleaſe.
•
Page. 6.
Bo
vitard Sculp
DIALOGUE the Second.
P
DIA L. II.
Of the Rife of Poetry among the Romans.
OLYMETIS made his appearance no more all the morning. He feemed a
little thoughtful even at dinner; which was no fooner over, than Philander put
him in mind of his promiſe. We long, fays he, to hear your two hiſtories of the
Roman poetry, and of the arts at Rome: or do you intend to weave them together into
one? for I have often heard you ſay, that their fate and fortunes were very much alike.
No, fays Polymetis, they are likely to run into fuch a length, that I fhall give them to
you ſeparately; that you may have the more diſtinct idea of each: and I ſhall begin,
with what account I can give you of the progreſs of their poetry.
THE Romans, in the infancy of their ſtate, were intirely rude (1)and unpoliſhed. They
came from ſhepherds; they were increaſed from the (2) refuſe of the nations round them:
and their manners agreed with their original. As they lived wholly on tilling their ground
at home, or on plunder from their neighbours; war was their buſineſs, and agriculture
the chief art they followed to any degree. Long after this, when they had ſpread their
conqueſts over a great part of Italy, and began to make a confiderable figure in the
world; even their great men retained a roughneſs, which they raifed into a virtue by
calling it Roman ſpirit; and which might often much better have been called Roman
barbarity. It ſeems to me, that there was more of (3) auſterity than juſtice, and more
of infolence than courage, in fome of their moſt celebrated actions. However that be,
this is certain, that they were at firſt a nation of ſoldiers and huſbandmen: roughneſs was
long an applauded character among them: and a fort of (4) rufticity reigned, even in their
fenate-houſe.
In a nation originally of fuch a temper as this; taken up almoſt always in extending
their territories; very often in fettling the balance (5) of power among themſelves; and
not unfrequently in both theſe at the fame time; it was long before the politer arts made
any appearance: and very (6) long before they took root or flouriſhed to any degree.
Poetry was the firſt that did fo; but fuch a poetry, as one might expect among a war-
like, bufied, unpoliſhed people.
NOT
(1) Rudis fuit prifcorum vita, & fine literis. Pliny,
Nat. Hift. L. 18. c. 29.
(2) As their first increaſe was owing to the place
of refuge fet up by Romulus, to invite all the murder-
ers and fugitives in their neighbourhood to join
them.
(3) In Valerius Maximus's inftances of ſeverity,
there are twelve from his own nation, to three from
all the kingdoms round about them. He himſelf
begins the account of the former, with theſe words:
'Armet ſe duritiâ pectus neceffe eft, dum horridæ ac
triftis feveritatis acta narrantur; ut humaniore cogita-
tione fepofitâ, rebus auditu afperis vacet and clofes
it with thefe; Etfi Romanæ feveritatis exemplis totus.
terrarum orbis inftrui poteft; tamen externa,' &c.
Lib. 6. cap. 5.
" •
<
(4) Horace calls Italy, in this period, Agrefte La-
tium;' and ſays, a little after,
In longum tamen ævum
Manferunt, hodieque manent veftigia ruris.
Lib. 2. Ep. I. Ỷ: 160.
(5) The fttuggles, between the Patricians and Ple-
beans for power, take up the greateſt part of this age.
(6) Serus enim Græcis admovit acumina chartis ;
Et, poſt Punica bella quietus, quærere cœpit,
Quid Sophocles & Thefpis & fchilus utile ferrent.
Hor. Lib. 2. Ep. 1. . 163.
*.
Delicias quoque vitæ funditùs omnes,
Carmina, picturas, & Dedala figna polire,
Ufus & impigra funul experientia mentis.
Paulatim docuit pedetentim progredienteis.
་
Lucr. L. 5. . 1452.
8
POLYMETIS.
;
NoT to enquire about the (7) fongs of triumph, mentioned even in Romulus's time
there was certainly fomething of poetry among them in the next reign under Numa: a
Prince, who pretended to converſe with the muſes, as well as with Egeria; and who
might poffibly (8) himſelf have made the verſes, which the Salian Prieſts ſung in his time.
Pythagoras, either in the fame reign, or if you pleaſe ſome time after, gave the Romans
a tincture of poetry (9) as well as of philoſophy; for Cicero affures us that the Pythago-
reans made great uſe of poetry and mufic: and probably they, like our old Druids, de-
livered moſt of their precepts in verſe. Indeed the chief employment of poetry in that
and the following ages among the Romans, was of a religious kind. Their very prayers,
and perhaps their whole (10) liturgy, was poetical. They had alſo a fort of prophetic,
or facred writers, who ſeem to have wrote generally in verfe; and were ſo numerous,
that there were above (11) two thouſand of their volumes remaining even to Auguftus's
time. They had a (12) kind of plays too in theſe early times, derived from what they
(7) Ο δε Ρωμυλος, ως αν μάλισα την ευχην τω τε Διο
κεχαρισμένην και τοις πολίταις ιδειν επιτερπη παραχοι,
σκεψάμενος επι σρατοπεδο δουν ετεμεν υπερμεγέθη, και
διεμορφωσεν ωσπερ τροπαιον, και των οπλών το Ακρωνος
εκας του εν τάξει περιήρμοσε και κατηρτισεν αυτος δε την
μεν επητα περιεζωσατο, δαφνη δε εστεψατο την κεφαλην
κομώσαν. Υπολαβων δε τω δεξιω το τροπαίον ωμω προσ-
ερειδομένου ορθον εξαδίζεν, εξαρχων επινικια παιανος
εν οπλοις επομενη τη σρατια, δεχομένων των πολιτων
μετα χαράς και θαύματος. Η μεν εν πομπη των αυθις
θριαμβων αρχήν και ζηλου παρεχεν. Plutarch. in Vita
Rom. p. 27. Ed. Par. 1624.
What fort of fongs theſe were, we may gueſs a little
from ſome expreffions relating to them, in Livy.
Ducti ante currum hoftium duces; militaria figna
prælata; fecutus exercitus prædâ onuftus. Epulæ in-
ſtructæ dicuntur fuiffe ante omnium domos; epulan-
teſque, cum carmine triumphali & folennibus jocis,
comeffantium modo, currum fecuti funt. Livy, Lib.3.
§. 29. Longè maximum triumphi fpectaculum
fuit Coffus; fpolia opima regis interfecti gerens: in
eum milites carmina incondita, æquantes eum Romu-
lo, canere. Id. Lib. 4. §. 20.Itaque cum ex fe-
natûs confulto urbem ovans introiret, alternis incon-
diti verſus militari licentiâ jactati: quibus conful in-
crepitus, Menenii celebre nomen laudibus fuit. Ibid.
$.53.
(11) Theſe are probably what Horace calls;
Pontificum libros, annofa volumina vatum.
had
L. 2. Ep. 1. y. 26.
For their number, fee Dial. I. Note 3. I do not ima-
gine that thefe were all written in verfe : for thos the
authors are called Vates, and their works Carmina,
thole words do not neceffarily imply that they were
all poetry.
The name of carmen is uſed often for a charm: as
particularly in Pliny, L.28. C. 2. Perhaps too it was
ufed for any thing that was worded in an high poeti-
cal ſtyle for the fame author calls the form of words
by which the Decii devoted themſelves to death, car-
men. Ibid. That form, he fays, was extant in his
time: and was probably the fame with that we have
in Livy, L. 8. §. 9.—Jane, Jupiter, Mars Pater,
Quirine, Bellona, Lares! Divi Novenfiles, Dii In-
digetes! Divi quorum eft poteftas noftrorum hoftium-
que, Diique Manes! Vos precor, veneror; veniam
peto, feroque; uti Populi Romani Quiritium vim vic-
toriamque profperetis; hoftefque Populi Romani
Quiritium, terrore, formidine, morteque, afficiatis :
ficut verbis nuncupavi, ita pro republicâ Quiritium,
exercitu, legionibus, auxiliis Populi Romani Quiri-
tium, legiones auxiliaque hoftium mecum Diis Ma-
nibus Tellurique devoveo.
Perhaps the folemn forms, prophecies, and charins,
in uſe among the old Romans, were all originally,
(8) Ovid feems to hint that Numa wrote fome of and moſt of them afterwards, written in verſe; and
their old religious forms, in fome kind of verſe:
Conjuge qui felix nymphâ, ducibuſque Camænis,
Sacrificos docuit ritus; gentemque feroci
Affuetam bello pacis traduxit ad artes.
Met. 15, 484.
And Horace calls the old Salian verſes, in particular,
Numa's verfes. L. 2. Ep. 1, 86.
(9) Cicero afferts this in general, Tufc. Quæft. L.4.
and Vitruvius fays in particular, that Pythagoras and
his followers delivered their precepts in a certain num-
ber of verſes; or in a cube of 216 Verſes, as he calls
it: L. 5. Procem.
(10) Caftis cum pueris ignara puella mariti
Difceret unde preces, vatem ni mufa dediſſet ?
Poſcit opem chorus, & præfentia numina fentit :
Cœleftes implorat aquas doctâ prece blandus ;
Avertit morbos; metuenda pericula pellit:
Impetrat & pacem, & locupletem frugibus annum :
Carmine Dii fuperi placantur; carmine manes.
Horace, L. 2. Ep. 1. y. 138.
thence the terms of Carmen, Cantare, Incantare, &
Decantare, might come to be uſed of them even
when they were in profe.
Some of theſe terms are made uſe of in fpeaking of
charms, fo early as in the laws of the twelve tables.
Quei malom carmen incantaffit, malomque venenum
facfit duitve, paraccidad eftod.
As to the uſe of the word Vates for profe writers ;
fee Note 17, poſth.
(12) Ludi Scenici inter alia cœleftis iræ placamina
inftituti dicuntur: cæterum parva quoque, ut fermè
principia omnia, & ea ipfa peregrina res fuit. Sine
carmine ullo, fine imitandorum carminum actu, lu-
diones ex Hetruriâ acciti ad tibicinis modos faltantes
haud indecoros motus more Thufco dabant. Imitari
deinde eos juventus fimul inconditis inter fe jocularia
fundentes verfibus cœpere; nec abſoni à voce motus
erant. Acceptâ igitur re, fæpiufque ufurpando ex-
citatâ ; vernaculis artificibus, quia Hifter Thufco
verbo ludio vocabatur, nomen hiftrionibus inditum :
qui
DIALOGUE the Second.
had ſeen of the Tuſcan actors, when fent for to Rome to expiate a plague that raged in
the city. Thefe ſeem to have been, either like our dumb-ſhews; or elſe, a kind of ex-
tempore farces: a thing to this day a good deal in ufe, all over Italy; and in Tuſcany, in
a more particular manner. Add to theſe (13), that extempore kind of jefting dialogues,
begun at their harveft and vintage-feafts; and carried on fo rudely and fo abufively after-
wards, as to occafion a very fevere law to reftrain their licentioufnefs: and thofe lovers of
poetry and good eating, who ſeem to have attended the tables of the richer fort much
like the old Provincial poets, or our own Britiſh bards; and fang there, to fome inftru-
ment of mufic (14), the atchievements of their anceſtors, and the noble deeds of thofe
who had gone before them, to inflame others to follow their great examples.
THE names of almoſt all theſe poets fleep in peace, with all their works: and if we
may take the word of the other Roman writers of a better age, it is no great loſs to us.
One of their beſt poets repreſents them as (15) very obfcure and very (16) contemptible;
one of their beſt hiftorians (17) avoids quoting them, as too barbarous for politer ears:
qui non ficut ante Fefcennino verſu fimilem incompo-
fitum temerè ac rudem alternis jaciebant; fed impletas
modis fatiras, defcripto jam ad tibicinem cantu, mo-
tuque congruenti peragebant. Livius poft aliquot
annos, qui ab fatiris aufus eft primus argumento fabu-
lam ferere, idem fcilicet id quod omnes tum erant fu-
orum carminum actor, dicitur (cum fæpius revocatus
vocem obtudiffet) venià petitâ puerum ad canendum
ante tibicinem ſtatuiffe, canticumque egiſſe aliquanto
magis vigente motu quia nihil vocis ufus impediebat.
Inde ad manum cantari hiftrionibus cœptum : diver-
biaque tantum ipforum voci relicta. Poftquam lege
hac fabularum ab rifu ac foluto joco res avocabatur;
& ludus in artem paulatim verterat: juventus, hiftri-
onibus fabellarum actu relicto, ipfa inter fe more an-
tiquo ridicula intexta verfibus jactitare cœpit; quæ
inde Exodia poftea appellata, confertaque fabellis po-
tiffimum Atellanis funt: quod genus ludorum ab Ofcis.
acceptum tenuit juventus, nec ab hiftrionibus pollui
paffa eft. Eo inftitutum manet, ut actores Atellana-
rum nec tribu moveantur, & ftipendia tanquam ex-
pertes artis ludicræ faciant. Inter aliarum parva prin-
cipia rerum, ludorum quoque prima origo ponenda
vifa eft; ut appareret quam ab fano initio res in hanc
vix opulentis regnis tolerabilem infaniam venerit.
Nec tamen ludorum primum initium procurandis re-
ligionibus datum, aut religione animos aut corpora
morbis levavit, &c. Livy, L. 7. §. 3.-Valerius
Maximus fpeaks, much in the fame manner, both of
the origin, and the abuſe of the ſtage, at Rome. Lib. 2.
Cap. 4. §. 1, 4, & 6.
(13) Agricolæ prifci, fortes parvoque beati,
Condita poft frumenta, levantes tempore feſto
Corpus & ipfum animum fpe finis dura ferentem,
Cum fociis operum pueris & conjuge fidâ,
Tellurem porco, Sylvanum lacte piabant ;
Floribus & vino Genium, memorem brevis ævi.
Fefcennina hunc inventa licentia morem
per
Verfibus alternis opprobria ruftica fudit:
Libertafque recurrentes accepta per annos.
Lufit amabiliter; donec jam fævus apertam
In rabiem cœpit verti jocus, & per honeftas
Ire domos impune minax. Doluere cruento
Dente laceffiti; fuit intactis quoque cura
Conditione fuper communi: quin etiam lex
Pœnaque lata, malo quæ nollet carmine quenquam
Defcribi.-
Horat. L. 2. Ep. 1. . 154.
and
I fuppofe this Fefcennine poetry was a fort of dia-
logues, from Horace's expreffion of, Verfibus alternis;
like fome of Virgil's eclogues; particularly the be-
ginning of the third: and not unlike thofe, fo much
uſed at prefent among the extempore poets in Italy.
Alternis dicetis: amant alterna Camœnæ.
Virg. Ecl. 3. . 59.
(14) Eft in Originibus, folitos eſſe in epulis canere
convivas ad tibicinem, de clarorum hominum virtu-
tibus. Cicero. Tuſc. Quæſt. Lib. 1. p. 289. Ed. Elz.
-Majores natu in conviviis ad tibias egregia ſupe-
riorum opera, carmine comprehenfa, pangebant; quo
ad ea imitanda juventutem alacriorem redderent. Va-
lerius Max. Lib. 2. Cap. 1. §.10.
Ꭰ
(15)
Saliare Numæ carmen qui laudat ; & illud
Quod mecum ignoret, folus vult fcire videri.
Horat. L. 2. Ep. 1. . 87,
(16) Sic fautor veterum, ut tabulas peccare vetantes
Quas bis quinque viri fanxerunt; fœdera regu
Vel Gabiis vel cum rigidis æquata Sabinis,
Pontificum libros, annofa volumina vatum,
Diciter Albano mufas in monte locutas.
Ibid. *. 27.
Sic horridus ille
Defluxit numerus Saturnius; & grave virus
Munditia pepulere.
Ibid. . 159.
(17) Tum feptem & viginti virgines, longam in-
dutæ veftem, carmen in Junonem Reginam canentes
ibant; illa tempeftate forfitan laudabile rudibus in-
geniis; nunc abhorrens & inconditum, fi referatur.
Livy, L. 27. §. 38.
Martius was one of the moſt famous among theſe
old Vates; and Livy therefore fometimes does him
the honour to quote fome things from his Carmina--
Religio deinde nova objecta eft ex carminibus Mar-
tianis. Vates hic Martius illuftris fuerat; & cum in-
quifitio priore anno ex fenatûs-confulto talium libro-
rum fierat, in M. Æmilii prætoris Urbani qui eam
rem agebat manus venerant. Ex hujus Martii du-
obus carminibus, alterius poftea aucta declarato aucto-
ritas eventu, alteri quoque cujus nondum tempus ve-
nerat afferebat fidem. Priore carmine Cannenfis præ-
dicta clades in hæc fermè verba erat: "Amnem
"Trojugena Cannam, Romane, fuge; ne te alieni-
gena
10
POLYMETIS.
;
and one of their most judicious emperors (18) ordered the greateſt part of their writings to
be burnt, that the world might be troubled with them no longer.
ALL theſe poets therefore may very well be dropt in the account; there being nothing
remaining of their works, and probably no merit to be found in them if they had re
mained: and fo we may date the beginning of the Roman poetry from Livius Andronicus,
the firſt of their poets of whom any thing does remain to us; and from whom the Ro-
mans themſelves ſeem to have (19) dated the beginning of their poetry, even in the Au-
guftan age.
THE first kind of poetry, that was followed with any fuccefs among the Romans, was
that for the ſtage. They were a very religious people; and ſtage-plays, in thoſe times,
made no inconfiderable part in their public (20) devotions. It is hence perhaps that the
greateſt number of their oldeſt poets of whom we have any remains, and indeed almoſt
all of them, are dramatic poets.
THE foremoſt in this lift were Livius, Nævius, and Ennius. Livius's firft play (and
it was the (21) firſt written play that ever appeared at Rome, whence perhaps Horace (22)
calls him Livius Scriptor) was acted (23) in the 514th year from the building of the city.
He ſeems to have got whatever reputation he had, rather as their firſt, than as a good
writer; for Cicero, who admired theſe old poets more than they were afterwards ad-
mired, is forced to give up Livius; and fays that his pieces did not deferve (24) a fecond
reading. He was for fome time the fole writer for the ſtage; till Nævius roſe to rival him;
and probably far exceeded his maſter. Nævius ventured too on an epic, or rather an hi-
ftorical poem, on the firſt Carthaginian war. Ennius followed his fteps in this, as well as
in the dramatic way: and feems to have excelled him as much, as he had excelled Livius:
fo much at leaſt, that Lucretius fays of him, "That he was the first of their poets who
deſerved a (25) lafting crown from the Muſes." Theſe three poets, were (26) actors as
well as poets; and feem, all of them, to have wrote whatever was wanted for the ftage,
rather than to have confulted their own turn or genius. Each of them publiſhed ſome-
times tragedies, fometimes comedies, and fometimes a kind of dramatic fatires: ſuch
fatires, I fuppofe, as had been occafioned (27) by the extempore poetry that had been in
faſhion the century before them. All the moſt celebrated dramatic writers, of antiquity,
excel only in one kind. There is no tragedy of Terence, or Menander; and no comedy
of Actius, or Euripides. But theſe firſt dramatic poets among the Romans attempted
every thing indifferently; juſt as the preſent fancy, or the demand of the people, led
them,
genæ cogant in campo Diomedis conferere manus:
fed neque credes tu mihi, donec compleris fanguine
campum; multaque millia occifa tua deferat amnis,
in pontum magnum ex terrâ frugiferâ. Pifcibus at-
que avibus, ferifque quæ incolunt terras, iis fiet efca
caro tua; nam mihi ita Jupiter fatus eft." L. 25.
§. 12.
(18) Auguſtus. Dialogue 1. Note 3.
THE
anno ipfo antequam natus eft Ennius, V. C. 514. Ci-
cero, de claris Orat. §.72. Ed. Oxon.1716. In giving
the date, he follows the authority of his friend Atticus:
there was a difpute about it. Id. ibid.
(22) See Note 19, anteh.
(23) See Note 21, anteh.
(24) Livianæ fabulæ, non fatis dignæ quæ iterum
legantur. Cicero. de claris Orat. §. 71. Ed. Oxon.
(19) —Habet hos numeratque poetas,
Ad noftrum tempus Livi ſcriptoris ab ævo.
Horat. L. 2. Ep. 1. *.62. 1716.
(20) See Note 12, anteh.
(21) The plays in the age before Livius were ex-
tempore; (ſee Note 12, anteh.) He was the firſt who
compoſed one in form, and wrote it down for the
actors to learn by heart. Livius qui primus fabulam,
C. Clodio Cæci filio & Tuditano confulibus, docuit;
(25) Ennius ut nofter cecinit; qui primus amœno
Detulit ex Helicone perenni fronde coronam.
(26) See Note 12, antch.
(27) See Note 13, anteh,
Lucretius, L. 1. 119.
1
:
DIALOGUE the Second.
THE quiet the Romans enjoyed after (28) the ſecond Punic war, when they had humbled
their great rival Carthage; and their carrying on their conquefts afterwards, without any
great difficulties, into Greece; gave them leiſure and opportunities for making very great
improvements in their poetry. Their dramatic writers began to act with more ſteddineſs
and judgment; they followed one point of view: they had the benefit of the excellent
patterns the Greek writers had fet them, and formed themſelves on thofe models.
•
PLAUTUS was the firſt that confulted his own genius, and confined himſelf to that
fpecies of dramatic writing for which he was the beſt fitted by nature. Indeed his co-
medy (like the old comedy at Athens) is of a (29) ruder kind; and far enough from the
poliſh that was afterwards given it, among the Romans. His jefts are often rough; and
his wit, coarſe: but there is a ftrength and ſpirit in him, that makes one read him with
pleaſure. At leaſt, he is much to be commended for being the firſt that confidered what
he was moſt capable of excelling in, and not endeavouring to ſhine in too many different
ways at once. Cæcilius followed his example in this particular; but improved their co-
medy fo much beyond him, that he is named by Cicero (30) as perhaps the beſt of all the
comic writers they ever had. This high character of him was not for his language,
which (31) is given up by Cicero himſelf as faulty and incorrect; but (32) either for the
dignity of his characters, or the ſtrength and weight of his fentiments.
TERENCE made his firft appearance, when Cæcilius was in high reputation. It is faid
(33) that when he offered his firſt play to the Ediles, they ſent him with it to Cæcilius for
his judgment of the piece. Cæcilius was at fupper when he came to him; and as Te-
rence was dreſt very meanly, he was placed on a little ftool, and defired to read away;
but upon his having read a very few lines only, Cæcilius altered his behaviour, and placed
him next himſelf at the table. They all admired him as a rifing genius; and the ap-
plauſe he received from the public, anſwered the compliments they had made him in
private. His Eunuchus in particular was acted twice in (34) one day; and he was paid
more for that piece, than ever had been given before for a comedy: and yet, by the
it was not much above thirty pound. We may fee by that and the rest of his plays which
remain to us, to what a degree of exactneſs and elegance the Roman comedy was arrived
in his time. There is a beautiful fimplicity, which reigns thro' all his works.
(28) See the firft quotation in Note 6, anteh,
(29) At noftri proavi Plautinos & numeros, &
Laudavere fales; nimium patienter utrumque,
Ne dicam ftultè, mirati: fi modò ego & vos
Scimus inurbanum lepido feponere dicto;
Legitimumque fonum digitis callemus & aure.
Horat. ad Pifones, . 274.
Perhaps Horace ſpeaks with the more reſerve in
this cafe, becauſe Cicero had cried up Plautus's wit
as elegant and fine. Duplex eft jocandi genus: unum
illiberale, petulans, flagitioſum, obfcœnum; alterum
elegans, urbanum, ingeniofum, facetum: quo genere
non modò Plautus nofter & Atticorum antiqua co-
mœdia, fed etiam philofophorum Socraticorum libri
referti funt. De Officiis, L. 1. §. 29.
Horace had ſcarce fo good an opinion of the old
comedy at Athens neither; (fee Note 47. pofth.) and
has a ſeverer ſtroke at Plautus, in another of his po-
ems, for his negligence in writing:
Afpice Plautus
Quàm non adftricto percurrat pulpita ſocco:
Quo pacto partes tutetur amantis ephebi ;
Ut patris attenti, lenonis ut infidiofi;
Quantus fit Dorfennus edacibus in parafitis:
way,
There
is
Geſtit enim nummum in loculos demittere; poft hoc
Securus, cadat an recto ftet fabula talo.
Lib. 2. Ep.1. . 176.
(30) Itaque licet dicere et Ennium fummum epi-
cum poetam, ficui ita videtur; & Pacuvium, tragi-
cum; & Cæcilium fortaffe, comicum. Cicero. de
opt. gen. Orat. fub initio.
Etatis
illius ifta fuit laus, tanquam innocentiæ, fic Latinè lo-
(31) Mitto C. Lælium, P. Scipionem.
quendi. Nec omnium tamen; nam illorum æquales
Cæcilium & Pacuvium malè locutos videmus; fed
omnes tum fere, qui nec extra urbem hanc vixerant,
nec eos aliqua barbaries domeftica infufcaverat, rectè
loquebantur. Cicero. Brutus, §. 74.
(32) Ambigitur quoties uter utro fit prior, aufert
Pacuvius docti famam fenis, Actius alti ;
Dicitur Afrani toga conveniffe Menandro ;
Plautus ad exemplar Siculi properare Epicharmi;
Vincere Cæcilius gravitate, Terentius arte.
Horat. L. 2. Ep. 1. *. 59.
(33) In Dacier's Life of Terence.
(34) Ibid.
II
12
POLYME TI S.
:
is no fearching after wit, and no oftentation of ornament in him. All his fpeakers feem
to ſay juſt what they ſhould fay, and no more, The ſtory is always going on; and goes
on juſt as it ought. This whole age, long before Terence and long after, is rather re-
markable for ſtrength than beauty in writing. Were we to compare it with the follow-
ing age, the compofitions of this would appear to thofe of the Auguftan, as the Doric
order in building if compared with the Corinthian; but Terence's work is to thoſe of
the Auguftan age, as the Ionic is to the Corinthian order: it is not fo ornamented, or fo
rich; but nothing can be more exact and pleafing. The Roman language itſelf in his
hands ſeems to be improved beyond what one could ever expect; and to be advanced al-
moſt a hundred years forwarder than the times he lived in. There are ſome (and I
think you, Philander, was formerly of that number) who look upon this as one of the
ftrangeſt phænomena in the learned world: but it is a phænomenon which may be well
enough explained from Cicero. He fays, that in feveral families the Roman language
was ſpoken (35) in perfection even in thoſe times: and inſtances particularly in the
families of the Lælii and the Scipio's. Every one knows that Terence was extremely
intimate in both theſe families: and as the language of his pieces is that of familiar
converſation, he had indeed little more to do, than to write as they talked at their
tables. Perhaps too, interpofed Myfagetes, he was obliged to Scipio and Lælius, for
more than their bare converfations. That is not at all improbable, replied Polymetis;
and indeed the Romans themſelves feem generally to have imagined, that he was (36)
affifted by them in the writing part too. If it was really fo, that will account ſtill better
for the elegance of the language in his plays: becauſe Terence himſelf was born out of
Italy; and tho' he was brought thither very young, he received the first part of his edu-
dation in a family, where they might not ſpeak with ſo much correctneſs, as Lælius and
Scipio had been uſed to from their very infancy. Thus much for the language of Te-
rence's plays: as for the reft, it ſeems from what he ſays (37) himſelf, that his moft
uſual method was to take his plans chiefly, and his characters wholly, from the Greek
(35) See Note 31, anteh.
(36) Licet Terentii fcripta ad Scipionem Africanum
referantur. Quintilian. Inftit. L.10. C. 1. p. 749. Ed.
Hack. 1665.-
Terentium, cujus fabellæ prop-
ter elegantiam fermonis putabantur a C. Lælio fcribi.
Cicero. ad Attic. L. 7. Ep. 3.
6
Donatus (in his life of this poet) quotes Memmius
to ſhew that Terence was affifted by Scipio, and Ne-
pos to ſhew that he was affifted by Lælius: in the
following words. Q. Memmius in oratione pro ſe
ait; P. Africanus, qui à Terentio perfonam mutua-
tus, quæ domi luferat ipfe, nomine illius in fcenam
tus, quæ domi luferat ipfe, nomine illius in fcenam
detulit.' Nepos authore certo comperiffe fe ait:
C. Lælium quondam in Puteolano, calendis Martiis,
admonitum ab uxore temporiùs ut difcumberet, pe-
tiiffe ab eâ ne interpellaretur; feriùs tandem ingreffum
triclinium dixiffe, non fæpe in fcribendo magis fuc-
ceffiffe fibi deinde rogatum ut fcripta illa proferret,
pronuntiâffe verfus qui funt in Heautontimorumeno:
Satis pol protervè me Syri promiffa huc induxerunt.
Terence himſelf ſeems rather to be pleaſed with
this opinion, than to diſown it :
Nam quod ifti dicunt malevoli, homines nobiles.
Eum adjutare; affiduéque unà fcribere:
Quod illi maledictum vehemens effe exiſtumant,
6
6
Eam laudem hic ducit maxumam; cum illis placet
Qui vobis univerfis et populo placent :
Quorum operâ in bello, in otio, in negotio,
Suo quifque tempore ufu' eft fine fuperbiâ.
Prol. to the Adelphi.
I take what he fays before another of his plays, to
be juſt the ſame ſentiment:
Tum quod malevolus vetus poeta dictitat,
Repente ad ftudium hunc ſe applicâſſe muſicum,
Amicûm ingenio fretum, haud naturâ fuâ ;
• Arbitrium voftrum, voftra exiftimatio
Valebit.'
comic
Prol. to the Heautontimorumenos.
"
(37) Of the fix plays we have of Terence's, he
himſelf tells us that five are from the Greek: he does
He mentions this of the Phormio and Heautontimo-
not ſay any thing of his copying his Hecyra from them.
rumenos, only in general: part of the Adelphi, he
fays, he tranflated literally from Diphilus; that he
took the Eunuchus, and the Andria, from two plays
of the fame names, by Menander; and that in each
he inferted a character or two from other plays of the
fame author.
Menander fecit Andriam & Perinthiam :
Qui utramvis rectè norit, ambas noverit.
Quæ convenere, in Andriam ex Perinthiâ
Fatetur tranftuliffe, atque ufum pro fuis.
Prol. to Andria, . 14.
-Nunc quam acturi fumus
Menandri Eunuchum, poftquam Ædiles emerunt,
Perfecit; fibi ut infpiciundi effet copia.
Prol. to Eunuchus, . 21.
Colax Menandri eft; in eâ eft parafitus Colax,
Et miles gloriofus: eas fe non negat
Perfonas tranftuliffe in Eunuchum ſuam.
Ibid. .32.
Synapothnefcontes Diphili comoedia eft;
Eam Commorientes Plautus fecit fabulàm.
In Græcâ, adolefcens eft qui lenoni eripit
Meretricem; in primâ fabulâ. Eum Plautus locum
Reliquit
DIALOGUE the Second.
13
comic poets. Thoſe (38) who ſay that he tranflated all the comedies of Menander; cer-
tainly carry the matter too far. They were probably more than Terence ever wrote.
Indeed this would be more likely to be true of Afranius than Terence; tho', I fuppofe,
it would ſcarce hold, were we to take both of them together.
We have a very great lofs in the works of Afranius: for he was regarded, even in
the (39) Auguftan age, as the moſt exact imitator of Menander. He owns himſelf, that
he had no reſtraint in copying him; or any other of the Greek comic writers; where-
ever they fet him a good example. Afranius's ftories and perfons were Roman, as Te-
rence's were Grecian. This was looked on as fo material a point in thoſe days, that it
made two different ſpecies of comedy. Thoſe on a Greek ſtory were called, Palliatæ
and thoſe on a Roman, Togatæ. Terence (40) excelled all the Roman poets in the for-
mer, and Afranius in the latter.
ز
ABOUT the fame time that comedy was improved fo confiderably, Pacuvius and Actius
(one a contemporary of Terence, and the other of Afranius) carried tragedy as far towards
perfection, as it ever arrived in Roman hands. The ſtep from Ennius to Pacuvius, was
a very great one; fo great, that he was reckoned in Cicero's time, the (41) beſt of all their
tragic poets. Pacuvius, as well as Terence, enjoyed the acquaintance and friendſhip of
Lælius and Scipio; but he did not profit ſo much by it, as to the improvement of his
language. Indeed his ſtyle was not to be the common converſation ſtyle, as Terence's
was: and all the ſtiffnings given to it might take juſt as much from its elegance, as they
added to its dignity. What is remarkable in him is, that he was almoſt as eminent for
painting, as he was for poetry. He made the decorations for his own plays; and Pliny
(42) ſpeaks of ſome paintings by him in a temple of Hercules, as the moſt celebrated
work of their kind, done by any Roman of condition, after Fabius Pictor. Actius (43)
began to publiſh, when Pacuvius was leaving off: his language was not ſo fine, nor his
verfes fo well turned even as thoſe of his predeceffor. There is a remarkable ſtory of
him in an old critic (44), which as it may give ſome light into their different manners of
writing, may be worth telling you. Pacuvius, in his old age, retired to Tarentum, to
enjoy the ſoft air and mild winters of that place. As Actius was obliged on ſome affairs
to make a journey into Afia, he took Tarentum in his way, and ſtaid there fome days
with Pacuvius. It was in this vifit that he read his tragedy of Atreus to him, and de-
fired his opinion of it. Old Pacuvius after hearing it out, told him very honeſtly, that
the poetry was fonorous and majeſtic, but that it ſeemed to him too ſtiff and harſh.
Actius replied, that he was himſelf very fenfible of that fault in his writings: but that he
Reliquit integrum. Eum hic locum fumfit fibi
In Adelphos verbum de verbo expreffum extulit.
Prol. to Adelphi, y. 11.
Ex integrâ Græcâ integram comœdiam
Hodie fum acturus Heautontimorumenon:
Duplex quæ ex argumento facta eft fimplici.
Novam effe oftendi, & quæ effet. Nunc qui fcripferit
Et cuja Græca fit, ni partem maxumam
Exiftimarem fcire voftrum id dicerem.
Prol. to Heautontimorumenos, . 9.
Epidicazomenon quam vocant comœdiam
Græci, Latini Phormionem nominant.
✈.
Prol. to Phormio, . 26.
He ſeems to have followed Menander more than
any other of the Greek comic writers; both by what
he ſays himſelf, and by what Julius Cæfar fays of
him :
Tu quoque, tu in fummis, O dimidiate Menander,
Poneris, & merito; puri fermonis amator.
Lenibus atque utinam fcriptis adjuncta foret vis
Comica, ut æquato virtus polleret honore
was
Cum Græcis ; neque in hac defpectus parte jaceres :
Hoc unum doleo & maceror tibi dêffe, Terenti.
Old Life of Terence, by Suetonius.
(38) See Dacier's Life of Terence.
(39) See Note 32, anteh.
(40) See Note 58, pofth.
(41) See Note 30, anteh.
(42) Proximè celebrata eft, in foro Boario, æde
Herculis, Pacuvii poetæ pictura. Ennii forore geni-
tus hic fuit; clarioremque eam artem Romæ fecit,
glorià fcene. Pliny, Nat. Hift. L. 35. c. 4.
(43) Actius iifdem Ædilibus ait fe et Pacuvium do-
cuiffe fabulam ; cum ille octoginta, ipſe triginta annos
natus effet. Cicero, Brutus, §. 64.
(44) Aul. Gellius, L. 13. c. 2.
E
14
POLYMETIS.
was not at all forry for it: "for, fays he, I have always been of opinion, that it is the
ſame with writers, as with fruits; among which, thöfe that are moſt ſoft and palatable,
decay the fooneft; whereas thoſe of a rough tafte, laft the longer; and have the finer
reliſh, when once they come to be mellowed by time.' Whether his ſtyle ever came
to be thus mellowed, I very much doubt; however that was, it is a point that ſeems
nerally allowed, that (45) he and Pacuvius were the two beft tragic poets the Romans
ever had.
ge-
ALL this while, that is, for above an hundred years, the ftage as you fee was almoſt
folely in poffeffion of the Roman poets. It was now time for the other kinds of poetry
to have their turn; however the firft that fprung up and flouriſhed to any degree, was
ſtill a cyon from the fame root. What I mean, is, fatire; the produce of the old co-
medy. This kind of poetry had been attempted in a different manner by fome of the
former writers, and in particular by Ennius: but it was fo altered and ſo improved (46)
by Lucilius, that he was called the inventor of it. This was a kind of poetry wholly of
the Roman growth; and the only one they had that was fo: and even as to this, Lu-
cilius improved it a good deal by the fide lights he borrowed from the (47) old co-
medy at Athens. Not long after, Lucretius brought their poetry acquainted with phi-
lofophy; and Catullus began to fhew the Romans fomething of the excellence of the
Greek lyric poets. Lucretius difcovers a great deal of ſpirit, wherever his fubject will
give him leave; and the firſt moment he ſteps a little afide from it, in all his digreffions,
he is fuller of life and fire, and appears to have been of a more poetical turn, than Virgil
himſelf: which is partly acknowledged in the fine compliment the latter feems (48) to
pay him in his Georgicks. His ſubject often obliges him to go on heavily for a hundred
lines together: but wherever he breaks out, he breaks out like lightning from a dark
cloud; all at once, with force, and brightneſs. His character in this agrees with what
(45) Tragœdiæ fcriptores Actius atque Pacuvius
clariffimi gravitate fententiarum, verborum pondere,
& auctoritate perfonarum ; cæterum nitor & fumma
in excolendis operibus manus, magis videri poteſt
temporibus quam ipfis defuiffe. Virium tamen Actio
plus tribuitur; Pacuvium videri doctiorem, qui effe
docti affectant, volunt. Quintilian. Inftit. L. 10. C. I.
p. 749. Ed. Hack. 1665.
Paterculus places the greateſt excellence of the Ro-
man tragedy in the fame perfons. In Actio (fays he)
circaque eum Romana erat tragoedia, (L. 1. c. 17.)
This general expreffion of Actius, and fome about the
fame time, is fixt by himſelf to Actius and Pacuvius;
in another place, where he is ſpeaking again of the
fame fubject. Clara etiam per idem ævi ſpatium fuere
ingenia, in togatis, Afranii; in tragoediis, Pacuvii,
atque Actii; ufque in Græcorum ingeniorum compa-
rationem evecti, magnumque inter hos ipfos facientis
operi fuo locum: adeò ut in illis limæ, in hoc pænè
plus videatur fuiffe fanguinis. Paterc. L. 2. c. 9.
See Note 32, anteh. & 52, pofth.
(46)
Quid cum eft Lucilius aufus
Primus in hunc operis componere carmina morem?
Horat. Lib. 2. Sat. 1. *.63.
Fuerit Lucilius, inquam,
Comis & urbanus; fuerit limatior idem,
Quam rudis ; & Græcis intacti carminis autor ; &c.
Horat. L. 1. Sat. 10. . 66.
Satira quidem tota noftra eft: in quâ primus infig-
nem laudem adeptus eft Lucilius. Quintilian. Inftit.
L. 10. c. I. p. 748. Ed. Hack. 1665.
(47) Eupolis, atque Cratinus, Ariftophanefque poeta,
is
Atque alii quorum comoedia prifca virorum eft ;
Si quis erat dignus defcribi, quod malus aut fur,
Quod machus foret, aut ficarius, aut alioqui
Famofus, multâ cum libertate notabant :
Hinc omnis pendet Lucilius, hofce fecutus,
Mutatis tantum pedibus numerifque facetus.
Horat. L. 1. Sat. 4. ✈. 7.
(48) The paffage here alluded to, is this:
Felix, qui potuit rerum cognofcere caufas!
Atque metus omnes, & inexorabile fatum
Subjecit pedibus, ftrepitumque Acherontis avari.
Virgil. Georg. 2. †. 492.
Virgil had been ſaying that his greateſt delight was
in the Muſes: that he could wish to treat of natural
philofophy in verſe; but that if he had not ſpirit e-
nough for fo great an undertaking, he would however
pleaſe himſelf in rural fubjects. "Happy (fays he)
is the perfon that has done the former with fo good
an effect; and not unhappy are thoſe, that are en-
gaged, and can divert themſelves at leaſt in the lat
ter."
Lucretius was the only one of the Romans who had
wrote any philofophical poem, when Virgil faid this:
all the points he mentions here, are treated of in
that poem :—the effects of it fpoken of by Virgil,
are the very things which Lucretius aimed at:
and Virgil in ſpeaking of the author of it, uſes ſome
words and expreffions taken directly from this poem
of Lucretius. All which (confidered together with
Virgil's general manner of rather hinting at things,
than ſpeaking them quite out) make it quite clear to
me, that it was Lucretius whom he means, in this
paffage.
DIALOGUE the Second.
15
is (49) faid of him: that a philtre he took had given him a frenzy; and that he wrote in
his lucid intervals. He, and Catullus, wrote when letters in general began to flouriſh at
Rome much more than ever they had done. Catullus was too wife to rival him; and
was the moſt admired of all his other cotemporaries, in all the different ways of writing
he attempted. His odes perhaps are the leaſt valuable part of his works. The ftrokes
of fatire in his epigrams are very fevere: and the defcriptions in his idylliums, very full
and pictureſque. He paints ftrongly; but all his paintings have more of force than ele
gance; and put one more in mind of Homer, than Virgil.
WITH theſe I ſhould chufe to cloſe the firft age of the Roman poetry: an age, more
remarkable for ſtrength, than for refinement in writing. I have dwelt longer on it per
haps than I ought; but the order and fucceffion of theſe poets wanted much to be fettled;
and I was obliged to fay fomething of each of them, becauſe I may have recourſe to each;
on fome occafion or another, in fhewing you my collection. All that remains to us of the
poetical works of this age, are the mifcellaneous poems of Catullus; the philofophical
poem of Lucretius; fix comedies by Terence, and twenty by Plautus. Of all the reſt;
there is nothing left us, except fuch paffages from their works as happened to be quoted
by the antient writers; and particularly by Cicero and the old critics.
You need not make any apologies, fays Philander, for having dwelt fo long on this
fubject. It lies fo far back and fo much in the dark, that I fhould have been better
pleaſed, if you had enlarged more upon it. I could have wifhed, in particular, to have
heard your fentiments a little more fully, as to the characters and merit of theſe poets of
the firft age. The beſt way to fettle that, replied Polymetis, where fo little of their
own works remain, is by confidering what is faid of them by the other Roman writers,
who were well acquainted with their works. The beft of the Roman critics we can
confult now, and perhaps the beſt they ever had, are Cicero, Horace, and Quintilian.
If we compare their fentiments of theſe poets together, we ſhall find a diſagreement in
them, but a difagreement which I think may be accounted for without any great diffi-
culty. Cicero (as he lived before the Roman poetry was brought to perfection, and pof-
fibly (50) as no very good judge of poetry himſelf,) feems to think more highly of them
than the others. He gives (51) up Livius indeed; but then he makes it up in commend-
ing Nævius. All the other comic poets he quotes often with refpect; and as to the tragic,
he carries it ſo far (52) as to ſeem ſtrongly inclined to oppoſe old Ennius to Eſchilus, Pacu-
vius to Sophocles, and Actius to Euripides.-This high notion of the old poets was pro-
bably the general faſhion in his time; and it continued afterwards (eſpecially among the
more elderly fort of people) in the Auguftan age: and indeed much longer. Horace in
his epiſtle to Auguſtus (53) combats it as a vulgar error in his time; and perhaps it was an
error from which that prince himſelf was not wholly free. However that be, Horace on
•
(49) By Creech; in his Life of Lucretius.
(50) Whatever diſputes there may be among the
moderns on that head, it feems to have been the moſt
common notion among the antients, that Cicero was
no good poet himſelf: and Juvenal calls his poems,
by no better a name than that of, Ridiculous.
✪ fortunatam natam, me confule, Romam!
Antoni gladios potuit contemnere, fi fic
Omnia dixiffet. Ridenda poemata malo,
Quam te confpicuæ, divina Phillippica, famæ.
Juvenal. Sat. 10. . 125
This affectation of writing in a fort of monkiſh
rhime, (O fortunatam natam, &c.) which Juvenal
chufes to inffance in, was probably common in Cicero's
poetical writings. There are feveral inſtances of it,
in thoſe verſes that remain to us of his hand.
(51) See Note 24, anteh.
this
(52) Quid caufæ eft cur poetas Latinos Græcis li-
teris eruditi legant, philofophos non legant? An quia
delectat Ennius, Pacuvius, Actius, multi alii, qui non
verba fed vim Græcorum exprefferunt poetarum?
Quanto magis philoſophi delectabunt, ſi ut illi Æſchy-
lum, Sophoclem, Euripidem ; fic hi Platonem imi-
tentur, Ariftotelem, Theophraftum? Cicero. Acad.
Quæſt. L.1. §. 3.--Id primum in poetis cerni licet,
quibus eft proxima cognatio cum oratoribus, quam
fint inter fefe Ennius, Pacuvius, Actiufque diffimiles.;
quàm apud Græcos, Æfchylus, Sophocles, Euripides;
quanquam omnibus par pænè laus in diffimili feri-
bendi genere tribuatur. Id. de Orat. L. 3. §.7.
(53) L. 2. Ep. I. ý. 18, to ỷ. 89.
16
POLYMET I S.
;
this occafion enters into the queſtion, very fully, and with a good deal of warmth. The
character he gives of the old dramatic poets, (which indeed includes all the poets I have
been ſpeaking of, except Lucilius, Lucretius, and Catullus ;) is perhaps rather too ſevere.
He ſays (54)," That their language was in a great degree fuperannuated, even in his time
that they are often negligent, and incorrect: and that there is generally a ſtiffneſs in their
compofitions: that people indeed might pardon theſe things in them, as the fault of the
times they lived in; but that it was provoking, they ſhould think of commending them
for thoſe very faults." In another piece of his which turns pretty much on the fame
ſubject, he gives Lucilius's character, much in the ſame manner. He (55) owns" that
he had a good deal of wit; but then it is rather of the farce-kind, than true genteel wit.
He is a rapid writer, and has à great many good things in him; but is often very ſuper-
fluous and incorrect: his language is dafh'd affectedly with Greek: and his verfes are hard
and unharmonious.”—Quintilian ſteers the middle way between both. Cicero perhaps
was a little miſled by his nearness to their times; and Horace by his fubject, which was
profeffedly to ſpeak againſt the old writers: Quintilian therefore does not commend them
fo generally as Cicero, nor fpeak againſt them ſo ſtrongly as Horace; and is perhaps
more to be depended upon in this caſe, than either of them. He compares the works of
Ennius (56) to fome facred grove, in which the old oaks look rather venerable than pleaf-
ing. He commends (57) Pacuvius and Actius for the ſtrength of their language, and the
force of their fentiments; but fays, they wanted that poliſh which was fet on the Roman
poetry afterwards. He ſpeaks (58) of Plautus and Cæcilius, as applauded writers; of
Terence, as a moſt elegant, and of Afraniùs as an excellent one; but they all, fays he,
fall (59) infinitely ſhort of the grace and beauty which is to be found in the Attic writers
of comedy, and which is perhaps peculiar to the dialect they wrote in. To conclude,
according to him Lucilius is too (60) much cried up by many, and too much run down by
Horace: Lucretius is more (61) to be read for his matter, than for his ftyle: and Catullus
is remarkable in the (62) fatirical part of his works; but fcarce fo in the rest of his lyric
poetry.
As Polymetis was faying this, a fervant came in to let him know that there was com
pany
defired to fee him. It was a vifit of meer civility; and, luckily, a very fhort one,
As ſoon as they were gone, he went on as follows.
(54) Si quædam nimis antiquè, fi pleraque durè
Dicere credit eos, ignavè multa fatetur ;
Et fapit, & mecum facit; & Jove judicat æquo.
Horat. L. 2. Ep. 1. †. 68.
Indignor quidquam reprehendi, non quia crafsè
Compofitum illepideve putetur; fed quia nuper :
Nec veniam antiquis, fed honorem & præmia pofci.
ibid. y. 78.
tamen funt in hoc genere elegantiffima. ibid.--To-
gatis excellit Afranius. ib. p. 750.
(59) Vix levem confequimur umbram: adeo ut
mihi fermo ipfe Romanus non recipere videatur illam
folis conceffam Atticis Venerem; quando eam ne
Græci quidem in alio genere linguæ obtinuerint. ib.
(60) Quofdam ita deditos fibi habet amatores (Lu-
(55) See Horace, L. 1. Sat. 10. y. 1, to II; 20, cilius) ut eum non ejufdem modo operis auctoribus,
to 30; and 50, to 71.
(56) Ennium ficut facros vetuftate lucos, adoremus;
in quibus grandia & antiqua robora, jam non tantam
habent fpeciem, quantam religionem. Quintilian. In-
ftit. L. 10. c. 1. p. 746. Ed. 1665. .
(57) See the beginning of Note 45, anteh.
(58) In comœdiâ maximè claudicamus: licet Varro
dicat Mufas, Ælii Stolonis fententiâ, Plautino fermone
locuturas fuiffe, fi Latinè loqui vellent; licet Teren-
tii fcripta ad Scipionem Africanum referantur; quæ
fed omnibus poetis præferre non dubitent. Ego quan-
tum ab illis, tantum ab Horatio diffentio. ib. p. 748.
(61) Macer & Lucretius legendi quidem (by young
orators) fed non ut phraſin, id eft corpus eloquentiæ,
faciant: elegantes in fuâ quifque materiâ; fed alter
humilis, alter difficilis. ib. p. 746.
(62) Speaking of Iambic verſe, he fays; Cujus a-
cerbitas in Catullo, Bibaculo, Horatio :——
-at Lyri-
corum, idem Horatius ferè folus legi dignus. ib.
p. 749.
DIAL.
DIALOGUE the Third
17
DIAL. III.
Of the Flouriſhing State of Poetry among the Romans.
T
HE firft age was only as the dawning of the Roman poetry, in compariſon of
the clear full light that opened all at once afterwards, under Auguftus Cæfar.
The ſtate, which had been, fo long tending towards a monarchy, was quite
fettled down to that form by this prince. When he had no longer any dangerous op-
ponents, he grew mild; or, at leaft, concealed the cruelty of his temper. He gave peace
and quict to the people that were fallen into his hands; and locked kindly on the im-
provement of all the arts and elegancies of life among them. He had a miniſter too un-
der him, who (tho' a (1) very bad writer himself) knew how to encourage the beſt: and
who admitted the beſt poets, in particular, into a very great ſhare of friendſhip and inti-
macy with him.. Virgil was one of the foremoſt in this lift: who at his firſt fetting out
grew (2) ſoon their moſt applauded writer for genteel paftorals; then gave them the moſt
beautiful
(1) Cæterum fi, omiffo optimo illo & perfectiffimo
gencre eloquentiæ, eligenda fit forma dicendi, malim
hercule C. Gracchi impetum aut L. Craffi maturita-
tem, quam calamiftros Mæcenatis, aut tinnitus Gal-
lionis adeo malim oratorem vel hirtâ togâ induere,
quam fucatis & meretriciis veftibus infignire. Quinti-
lian de Caufis corruptæ Eloquent. T. 2. p. 737. Ed.
1665.
Auguftus ufed to divert himſelf often in ridiculing
this affectation of Mecenas's ftyle. Cacozelos & an-
tiquarios, ut diverfo genere vitiofos, pari faſtidio
fprevit. Exagitabat nonnunquam in primis Mæce-
natem fuum; cujus μʊpo¤pexes (ut ait) cincinnos uf-
quequaque perfequitur, & imitando per jocum irri-
det. Suetonius in Aug. §. 86.
、:
Macrobius has preferved part of one of Auguftus's
Letters to Maecenas; in which that prince does the
very thing, that Suetonius here ſpeaks of.—Auguſtus,
quia Mæcenatem fuum noverat effe ftylo remiffo,molli
& delicato, talem fe in epiftolis quas ad eum fcribebat
fæpius exhibebat; et contra caftigationem loquendi,
quam aliàs ille ſcribendo fervabat, in epiftola ad Mæ-
cenatem familiari, plura in jocos effufa fubtexuit.
"Vale, mel gentium, melcule! Ebur ex Hetruria,
lacunar Aretinum, adamas fupernas ! Tibcrinum
margaritum, Cilniorum fmaragde, jafpis figulorum,
berylle Porfennæ! Carbunculum habeas (va GUTE
Tavτα μaλaɣμara) mecharum!" Which piece of
burleſque might, perhaps, run thus in Engliſh :
Farewell, my dear honey, and the honey of all na-
tions! Thou piece of ivory from Tuſcany, thou
fretwork-ceiling of Arezzo, thou diamond over our
heads! The pearl of Tiber, emerald of the Cilnian
family, jaſper of the land of earthen-ware, and beril
for the finger of king Porfenna! Among all theſe jew-
els, mayeft thou not fail of having the carbuncle of
the debauchees !"
Mæcenas's ſtyle muſt have been exceffively affected
to have deferved fuch an imitation as this: and as it
happens, Seneca has given us two or three inftances
from fome work of Mecenas himſelf, which fhew that
it could not well be fet in too ridiculous a light. It is
where that author is faying, that people's manner of
writing is apt to take its caft from their manner of
living. To prove this, he mentions Mæcenas in par-
ticular; and gives us fome quotations, from different
parts of a work of his, as I fhould imagine. Quo-
modo vixerit (fays he) notius eft, quàm ut narrari
nunc debeat; quomodo ambulaverit; quàm delicatus
fuerit, quàm cupierit videri; quàm vitia fua latere
noluerit. Quid ergo? Non oratio ejus æque foluta
eft, quàm ipfe difcinctus? Non tam infignita illius.
verba funt, quàm cultus, quàm comitatus, quàm do-
mus, quàm uxor? Magni ingenii vir fuerat, fi illud
egiffet viâ rectiore; fi non vitaffet intelligi; fi non
etiam in oratione diffluerer. Videbis itaque eloquen-
tiam ebrii hominis, involutam, & errantem, & licen-
tiæ plenam. Mæcenatis in cultu, quid turpius-
"Amne, fylvifque ripâ comantibus? Vide ut alveum
lintribus arent; verfoque vado remittant hortos.
Quid? Si quis fæminæ cirro criſpatæ, & labris co-
lumbatur; incipitque fufpirans, ut cervice laxà fera-
tur." "Tyranni irremediabilis factio rimantur e-
pulis; lagenâque tentant domos ; & fæpe mortem ex-
igunt.""Genium fefto vix fuo teftem, tenuis
Cereris fila,& crepacem molam."-" Focum mater &
uxor inveſtiunt." Non ftatim hæc cum legeris hoc
tibi occurrit, hunc eflè qui folutis tunicis in urbe
femper incefferit? Seneca, Ep. 114.
F
>>
(2) Phyllidis hic idem tenerofque Amaryllidis ignes
Bucolicis juvenis luferat ante modis.
Ovid. Trift. L. 2. ¥. 538.
Forte epos acer
Ut nemo Varius ducit: molle atque facetum
Virgilio annuerunt gaudentes rure Camœnæ,
Horat. L. 1. Sat. 10. . 45-
I ſhould take molle here, to be meant of the ſweet-
nefs of Virgil's verfification in his paſtorals: and fa-
cetum, of the elegance of his ſtyle and manner of
writing. All writers of paftorals may be divided into
two claffes; the rural, and the ruftic; cr if you
will, the genteel and the homely. This character of
facetus, marks out Virgil's excelling in the gentccl
paftoral.
18
POLYMETIS.
beautiful and moſt correct poem that ever was wrote in the Roman language, in his rules of
agriculture: (fo beautiful, that (3) fome of the ancients feem to accufe Virgil of having
ftudied beauty too much in that piece :) and laſt of all, undertook a political poem, in
ſupport of the new eſtabliſhment. I have thought this to be the intent of the Æneid,
ever fince I firſt read Boffu: and the more one confiders it, the more I think one is con-
firmed in that opinion. Virgil is (4) faid to have begun this
poem the
the very year that Au-
guſtus was freed from his great rival, Antony: the government of the Roman empire was
to be wholly in him: and tho' he chofe to be called their father (5); he was, in every
thing but the name, their king. This monarchical form of government muſt naturally
be apt to diſpleaſe the people. Virgil ſeems to have laid the plan of his poem to reconcile
them to it. He takes advantage of their religious turn, and of fome old (6) prophecies that
muſt have been very flattering to the Roman people, as promifing them the empire' of
the whole world. He weaves this in with the moſt (7) probable account of their origin;
that of their being defcended from the Trojans. To be a little more particular; Virgil
in his Æneid fhews that Æneas was called into their country by the (8) exprefs order of
the
(3) As Pliny and Seneca in particular. Sed nos
obliterata quoque fcrutabimur; nec deterrebit qua-
rundam rerum humilitas.Quanquam videmus Vir-
gilium, præcellentiffimum vatem, eâ de causâ horto-
rum dotes fugiffe; tantifque quæ retulit, flores mo-
dò rerum decerpiffe. Pliny, 1. 14. Procem.-Virgilius
nofter, qui non quid veriffimè, fed quid decentiffimè
diceretur, afpexit; nec agricolas docere voluit, fed
legentes delectare. Seneca, L. 13. Epiſt. 87.
(4) By De la Rue; in his Life of Virgil.
*.
(6) Plutarch, in his life of Julius Cæfar; and Notes
8, & 11, pofth.
(7) As being that of Dionyfius Halicarnaffeus, and
fome of the beſt Roman hiſtorians.
(8) This is marked very ftrongly throughout all
the first part of the Æneid. The very night Troy is
burnt, Æneas is ordered to go and build a city in
Italy, and to carry his Gods to it; by the ſpirits of
Hector and Creüfa. Caffandra had foretold the fame
frequently to his father before:
Nunc repeto hæc generi portendere debita noftro:
Et fæpe Hefperiam, fæpe Itala regna vocare.
An. 3. . 185.
(5) Dum domus Æneæ Capitoli immobile faxum
Accolet; imperiumque pater Romanus habebit.
Virgil. Æn. 9. . 449.
Non aliud diſcordantis patriæ remedium fuiffe, quin
ut ab uno regeretur: non regno tamen, neque dicta- Apollo orders the fame;
turâ, fed principis nomine conftitutam rempublicam.
Tacit. Annal. L. 1. where he is fpeaking for Augu-
ftus.-Princeps here fignifies much the fame with
princeps fenatûs; and fo falls in with the title of pater:
the ſenator by way of eminence, or the ruling fena-
tor; which was a title as modeft, as his power was
exorbitant.
He had the title of pater patriæ too, given him by
all the three orders of the ſtate; in the ſtrongeſt man-
ner that could be:
Sancte pater patriæ, tibi plebs, tibi curia nomen
Hoc dedit, hoc dedimus nos tibi nomen eques.
Ovid. Triſt. 2. †. 126.
Patris patriæ cognomen univerfi repentino maxi-
moque conſenſu detulerunt ei. Prima plebs, lega-
tione Antium mifsâ; dein, quia non recipiebat, in-
eunti Romæ ſpectacula, frequens & laureata: mox in
curiâ fenatus. Neque decreto, neque acclamatione,
fed Valerium Meffallam, id mandantibus cunctis.
per
"Quod bonum, inquit, fauftumque fit tibi domuique
tuæ, Cæfar Augufte; fic enim nos perpetuam felici-
tatem reipublicæ & læta huic precari exiftimamus;
fenatus te, confentiens cum populo Romano, confalu-
tat patriæ patrem." Cui lacrimans refpondit Augu-
ftus, his verbis; (ipſa enim, ficut Meffallæ, pofui.)
"Compos factus votorum meorum, Patres Conſcripti,
quid habeo aliud Deos immortales precari, quam ut
hunc confenfum veftrum ad ultimum vitæ finem mihi
perferre liceat?" Suetonius, in Aug. c. 58.
Antiquam exquirite matrem.
Hic domus Æneæ cunctis dominabitur oris:
Et nati natorum, & qui nafcentur ab illis.
And his domeftic gods; more exprefly:
Æn. 3. .98.
Venturos tollemus in aſtra nepotes,
Imperiumque urbi dabimus. Tu moenia magnis
Magna para.-
Mutandæ fedes. Non hæc tibi litora fuafit
Delius, aut Cretæ juffit confidere Apollo.
Eft locus, Hefperiam Graii cognomine dicunt,-
Hæ nobis propriæ fedes: hinc Dardanus autor, &c.
Æn. 3. *. 167.
The fame orders are given to Æneas whilft at Car-
thage, by the ſpirit of his departed father; Æn. 4.
.351. And laftly, by the great meffenger, of the chief
of all their gods:
Ipfe deûm tibi me claro demittit Olympo
Regnator, cœlum & terras qui numine torquet:
Ipfe hæc ferre jubet celeres mandata per auras.
Quid ftruis, aut quâ fpe Lybicis teris otia terris?
Afcanium furgentem & fpes hæredis Iüli
Refpice: cui regnum Italiæ Romanaque tellus
Debentur.
Æn. 4. .275.
Tot refponfa fecuti,
En. 10. . 32-34.
Quæ Superi Manefque dabant,
Italiam petiere.
DIALOGUE the Third.
19
the gods.
That he was made king of it by the (9) will of heaven; and by all the human
rights that could be. That there was (10) an uninterrupted fucceffion of kings from him,
to Romulus. That his heirs were to reign there for ever; and that the Romans under
them (11) were to obtain the monarchy of the world. It appears from (12) Virgil, and
the other Roman writers, that Julius Cæfar was of this royal race; and that Auguſtus
(13) was his fole heir. The natural reſult of all this is, that the promiſes made to the
Roman people, in and through this race, terminating in Auguftus; the Romans, if they
would obey the gods and be maſters of the world, were to yield obedience to the new
eſtabliſhment under that prince. As odd a ſcheme as this may feem now, it is ſcarce fo
odd as that of fome people among us, who perfuaded themſelves that an abfolute obe-
dience was owing to our kings, on their (14) fuppofed deſcent from fome unknown pa-
triarch. And yet that had its effect with many about a century ago; and ſeems not to
have quite loft all its influence, even in our remembrance. However that be, I think
(9) The divine right appears from what is faid in
the note before: Virgil takes care to join all the civil
rights to it that can be.
He has an hereditary claim from Dardanus and Ja-
fius. Æn. 3. . 168.He has a right by conqueſt.
*.
Æn. 12. . I.
He has a right by compact. Æn.
12. y. 175, to 225.And he has a right, by mar-
rying the only daughter of the then king. Æn. 12.
*. 937; and 7. *. 50,-52.
it
grais. Agreeably to which, Virgil in inſerting this
prophecy in his Æneid, ſays the Trojan race, or fa-
mily of Æneas ſhould reign in Italy, and obtain the
univerfal empire.
Hic domus Æneæ cunctis dominabitur oris ;
Et nati natorum, & qui nafcentur ab illis.
Æn. 3. .97
He uſes the fame, even proverbially:
Dum domus Æneæ Capitoli immobile faxum
Accolet; imperiumque pater Romanus habebit.
Æn.9. $. 449.
(10) Æneas fucceeds Latinus, Æn. 1. *. 265. Iülus
fucceeds Æneas, Æn. 1. v. 269. his race (which is There are ſeveral other paffages to the fame purpoſe.
therefore called the Trojan line by Virgil, Æn. 1.
*. 273.) reign for the next three hundred years; then
follows Romulus, Æn. 1. *. 276, ſtill of the Trojan
line, as grandſon of Æneas Sylvius. Æn. 6. *. 778.
Romulus Affaraci quem fanguinis Ilia mater
Educet.
Æn. 6. .780.
Æneas, Latinus, and the kings before him, re-
fided in old Latium, Æn. 7. 38, to 49; and 1..265.
Iülus removed the royal feat to Alba, Æn. 1. . 271,
&c. where it continued till Romulus transferred it to
Rome. So that this continued fucceffion of their
kings is intimated too by Virgil even in the propo-
fition of his poem: where every thing that is faid
ought to be of the greateſt weight.
..
What he propoſes is to " fing the great hero who
"came from Troy, by the order of heaven, to ſettle
in Italy; the difficulties he underwent in his voy-
age, and the wars he ſuſtained; before he could
"found a city, and introduce his religion into Latium.
"Whence ſprung, firft the Latian line of kings; then,
"their chiefs at Alba: and laftly, the powers of Rome,
"that raiſed herſelf ſo high among the nations."
(11) Homer had ſaid, that Æneas and his defcen-
dants ſhould be princes for ever; or, in the eaſtern
ſtyle, from generation to generation.
Οφρα μη ασπερμος γενεη και αφαντος ο λήξαι
Δαρδανο, οι Κρονίδης περι παντων Φιλαίο παιδων,
Οι εθεν εξεγενοντο γυναικωντε θνηταων·
Ηδη γαρ Πρίαμο γενεην ηχθηρε Κρονίων.
Νυν δε δη Αινείαο βιη Τρώεσσιν ανάξει
Και παιδες παιδων, τοι κεν μετοπισθε γενονται.
Homeri II. T. y. 308.
That this prophecy was much infifted on by Au-
guftus and his favourers, appears probable from the
early care that was taken to alter the reading from
Τρώεσσιν το Πανεσιν. See Ruus in Æn. 3. 4.97.
Pope, on Il. 20. . 355, and Bochart's letter to Se-
Afpera Juno-
Confilia in melius referct, mecumque fovebit
Romanos rerum dominos, gentemque togatam.
Sic placitum. Veniet luftris labentibus ætas
Cum domus Affaraci Phthiam claraſque Mycenas
Servitio preinet.
Says Jupiter, Æn. 1. ¥. 285.
Externi veniunt generi, qui fanguine noftrum
Nomen in aftra ferent ; quorumque ab ftirpe nepotes
Omnia fub pedibus, quâ fol utrumque recurrens
Afpicit oceanum, vertique regique videbunt.
Faunus' Oracle to Latinus. Æn.7. y. 101,
(12) Nafcetur pulchrâ Trojanus origine Cæfar,
Imperium oceano, famam qui terminet aftris ;
Julius, à magno demiffum nomen Iülo.
Æn. 1. .288.
Genus qui ducis Olympo,
Projice tela prior, fanguis meus-------
Anchifes, of Julius Cæfar. Æn. 6. .836.
Several of the Roman writers ſpeak of this high de-
fcent of Julius Cæfar; and Suetonius in particular, who
mentions a funeral oration made by Julius Cæſar, over
one of his relations, in which he fays were theſe words;
"Amitæ meæ, Juliæ, maternum genus ab regibus
ortum; paternum, cum diis immortalibus conjunc-
tum eft. Nam ab Anco Marcio funt reges, quo no-
mine fuit mater: à Venere, Julii; cujus gentis fa-
milia eft noftra." Suet. in Julio. §. 6.
(13) His uncle Julius adopted him for his fon; and
made him his heir. Utque primum occifum eum, hæ-
redemque fe comperit; urbe repetitâ, hæreditatem
adiit atque ab eo tempore exercitibus comparatis,
primum cum M. Antonio Marcoque Lepido, dein
tantum cum Antonio, per duodecim ferè annos; no-
viffimè, per quatuor & quadraginta, folus rempubli-
cam tenuit. Suetonius in Aug. §. 8.
(14) See Sir Robert Filmer's Patriarchal Scheme:
with Mr. Locke's confutation of it.
20
POLYMETIS:
it appears plain enough that the two great points aimed at by Virgil in his Eneid, wete
to maintain their old religious tenets; and to fupport the new form of government, in the
family of the Cæfars. That poem therefore may very well be confidered as a religions
and political work: or rather (as the vulgar religion with them was fcarce any thing
more than an engine of ſtate) it may fairly enough be confidered as a work merely po-
litical. If this was the cafe, Virgil was not fo highly encouraged by Auguftus and Ma-
cenas for nothing. To fpeak a little more plainly; he wrote in the fervice of the new
ufurpation on the ſtate; and all that can be offered in vindication of him in this light is,
that the uſurper he wrote for was grown a tame one; and that the temper and bent of
their conſtitution at that time was fuch, that the reins of government muſt have fallen
into the hands of fome one perfon or another; and might probably, on any new revolu-
tion, have fallen into the hands of fome one lefs mild and indulgent than Auguftus was
at the time when Virgil wrote this poem in his fervice. But whatever may be faid of
his reafons for writing it, the poem itſelf has been highly applauded in all ages, from its
firſt appearance to this day: and tho' left (15) unfiniſhed by its author, has been always
reckoned as much fuperior to all the other epic poems among the Romans, as Homer's is
among the Greeks. It preſerves more to us of the religion of the Romans, than all the
other Latin poets (excepting only Ovid) put together: and gives us the forms and ap-
pearances of their deities as ftrongly, as if we had fo many pictures of them preferved to
us, done by ſome of the beſt hands in the Auguftan age. It is remarkable that he is
commended by fome of the antients themfelves, for the ftrength of his imagination (16),
as to this particular; tho' in general that is not his character, fo much as exactneſs. He
was certainly the moſt correct poet, even of his time; in which all falfe thoughts and
idle ornaments in writing were diſcouraged; and it is as certain, that there is but little of
invention in his Æneid; much lefs, I believe, than is generally imagined. Almoſt all
the little facts in it are (17) built on hiſtory; and even as to the particular lines, no one
perhaps ever (18) borrowed more from the poets that preceded him, than he did. He
goes fo far back as to old Ennius; and often inferts whole verfes, from him, and fome
(15) Tho' this is mentioned by ſeveral antient wri-
ters; I think the plaineft proof of it is the many
breaks, or hemiſtics, in the poem itſelf; a thing ne-
ver done in any finiſhed poem by any other Roman
poet of his time; nor by Virgil himſelf, in any of his
other poems which were finiſhed.
(16) Magnæ mentis opus
Currus & equos, facieſque deorum,
Concipere; & qualis Rutulum confundat Erinnys.
Nam fi Virgilio puer & tolerabile defit
Hofpitium, caderent omnes a crinibus hydri:
Surda nihil gemeret grave buccina.
Juvenal. Sat. 7. .71.
Juvenal on this occafion points to the very nobleft
efforts of imagination that Virgil has fhewn in his
whole poem; and it is remarkable that they all relate
to their deities. Currus & equos, may refer to that
terrible deſcription of Mars in his chariot, Æn. 12.
*.332, or that mild one of Neptune, Æn. 1. *. 127,
146, and 155. as facies deorum, to that noble paffage,
in the deſcription of Troy finking in its flames:
Afpice (namque omnem, quæ nunc obducta tuenti
Mortales hebetat vifus tibi, & humida circum
Caligat, nubem eripiam)
Hic, ubi dejectas moles avulfaque faxis
Saxa vides, mixtoque undantem pulvere fumum,
Neptunus muros, magnoque emota tridenti
Fundamenta quatit; totumque ab fedibus urbem
Eruit. Hic Juno Scaas fæviffima portas
Prima tenet, fociumque furens à navibus agmen
Ferro accincta vocat.-
Jam fummas arces Tritonia, refpice, Pallas
Infedit; nimbo effulgens, & Gorgone fævâ.-
Apparent diræ facies, inimicaque Troja
Numina magna deum.
other
Æn. 2. †.623.
The next words are, evidently, fpcken of this paf-
fage in the 7th Æneid:
Talibus Alecto dictis exarfit in iras.
At juveni oranti fubitus tremor occupat artus :
Dirigucre oculi. Tot Erinnys fibilat hydris !
Tantaque fe facies aperit! Tum fl.mmca torquens
Lumina, cunctantem & quærentem dicere plura
Reppulit; et geminos erexit crinibus angues;
Verberaque intonuit.
And the laft, as evidently, of this:
En. 7. .451.
At fæva, è fpeculis tempus dea nacta nocendi
Ardua tecta petit ftabuli; & de culmine fummo
Paftorale canit fignum, cornuque recurvo
Tartaream intendit vocem: quâ protinus omne
Contremuit nemus, & fylvæ intonuere profunda.
Audiit & Trivia longè lacus; audiit amnis
Sulfureâ Nar albus aqua, fontefque Velini :
Et trepidæ matres preffere ad pectora natos.
An. 7. . 518.
(17) There are ſeveral even of the minuteſt paſ-
fages in the Æneid, (ſuch as Aſcanius's jeft; and the
like) which appear to have been traditional and hi-
ſtorical, to any one that has read Dionyfius Halicar-
naffeus.
(18) This appears from Macrobius, and the other
collectors of Virgil's imitations of Homer, &c.
DIALOGUE the Third.
2I
other of their earlieſt writers. The obfoleteneſs of their ſtyle did not hinder him much
in this: for he (19) was a particular lover of their old language; and no doubt inſerted
many more antiquated words in his poem, than we can diſcover at preſent. Judgment
is his diſtinguiſhing character: and his great excellence confifted in chufing and ranging
things aright. Whatever he borrowed, he had the ſkill of making his own; by weav-
ing it fo well into his work, that it looks all of a piece: even thoſe parts of his poem,
where this may be moſt practiſed, reſembling a fine piece of Mofaic; in which all the
parts, tho' of fuch different marbles, unite together; and the various fhades and colours
are fo artfully difpofed, as to melt off infenfibly into one another.
ONE of the greateſt beauties in Virgil's private character was his modeſty and (20)
good-nature. He was apt to think humbly of himſelf, and handfomely of others: and
was ready to fhew his love of merit, even where it might feem to claſh with his own.
He (21) was the first who recommended Horace to Macenas. Horace was the fitteft
man in the world for a court, where wit was fo particularly encouraged. No man feems
to have had more; and all of the genteeleft fort: or to have been better acquainted with
mankind. His gayety, and even his debauchery, made him ſtill the more agreeable to
Mæcenas. So that it is no wonder that his acquaintance with that minifter grew up to
fo high a degree of friendſhip, as is very uncommon between a firſt minifter and a poet;
and which had poffibly fuch an effect on the latter, as one fhall fcarce ever hear of be-
tween any two friends, the moſt on a level: for there is fome room to (22) conjecture,
that he haſtened himſelf out of this world, to accompany his great friend in the next.
Horace has been generally (23) moft celebrated for his lyric poems: in which he far ex-
celled
(19) Unde pictaï veftis, & aquaï, Virgilius amantif
fimus vetuftatis carminibus inferuit. Quintilian. Inftit.
Or. L. 1. c. 7. p. 70. Ed. Hack. 1665.A great
many of theſe old words in Virgil have probably been
altered by the tranſcribers. Quid quod Ciceronis
temporibus, paulumque infra, fere quoties f litera me-
dia vocalium longarum, vel ſubjecta longis effet, ge-
minabatur? ut cauffa, caffus, diviffiones. Quo modo
et ipfum, et Virgilium quoque fcripfiffe, manus eo-
rum docent. ib. p. 71.-And others have been miſ-
taken by the critics. Thus for inftance, they fay
Virgil uſes fervĕre ſhort, Æn. 8. . 677. that the
found may agree more with the ſenſe of the word;
whereas the true reaſon was his imitating the practice
of the antients; who, as we learn from the fame au-
thor, uſed fervo and ferveo indifferently. ib. L. 1.
c. 6. P. 57.
(zo) Plotius, & Varius Sinueffe, Virgiliufque
Occurrunt; animæ, quales neque candidiores
Terra tulit.
Horat. L. 1. Sat. 5. . 41.
y.
Refert Pedianus benignum cultoremque omnium
bonorum atque eruditorum fuiffe; & ufque adeo in-
vidiæ expertem fuiffe, ut fi quid eruditè dictum in-
ſpiceret alterius, non minus gaudere ac fi fuum fuiffet.
Neminem vituperare, laudare bonos. Eâ humanitate
effe, ut nifi perverfus maximè quifque illum non di-
ligeret modò, fed amaret. Nihil proprii habere vide-
batur. Ejus bibliotheca non minus aliis doctis pate-
bat, quam fibi.—Coævos omnes poetas ita adjunctos
habuit, ut cum inter fe plurimum invidiâ arderent,
illum unâ omnes colerent. Donatus's Life of Virgil.
Optimus olim
Virgilius; poft hunc Varius dixere quid effem.
Horat. L. 1. Sat. 6. . 55.
(22) Conſidering the manner in which Horace lived
with Mæcenas, and the freedom with which he
writes, even when he is complimenting him; what
(21)
he fays to him in an ode, written when that minifter
was extremely ill, looks I think a little too ferious
to be nothing but a poetical rhodomontade.
Cur me querelis exanimas tuis ?
Nec Dîs amicum eft nec mihi, te prius.
Obire, Mæcenas: mearum
Grande decus columenque rerum.
Ah, te meæ fi partem animæ rapit
Maturior vis, quid moror altera ?
Nec carus æque, nec fuperftes
Integer. Ille dies utramque
Ducet ruinam. Non ego perfidum
Dixi facramentum. Ibimus, ibimus
Utcunque præcedes, fupremum
Carpere iter comites parati.
1
Horat. L. 2. Ode 17. †. 12.
After fo folemn a profeffion of Horace, that he
would follow Mæcenas foon, if he fhould die firft;
it ſeems at leaft a little odd, that Horace's death
ſhould follow his ſo foon, as it is faid to have done.-
They both died in the end of the year 746 V. C. ac-
cording to Pere Sanadon: and according to the old
life of Horace, attributed to Suetonius, Mæcenas
ſpeaks moſt affectionately of him in his laſt will; Ho-
race dies about three weeks after him; and orders
that his remains ſhould be buried cloſe by Mæcenas's.
(23) Multò eft terfior, (he was ſpeaking of Luci-
lius) & purus magis Horatius; & ad notandos homi-
num mores præcipuus.Lyricorum idem Horatius
fere folus legi dignus: nam & infurgit aliquando; &
plenus eft jucunditatis, et gratiæ; & variis figuris, &
verbis, feliciffimè audax. Quintilian. Inftit. Or. L. 10.
c. I. p. 749. Ed. Hack. 1665.
His lyric poetry is the thing Ovid chuſes to com-
mend him for too, in his catalogue of the Auguſtan
poets;
Et tenuit noftras numerofus Horatius aures,
Dum ferit Aufoniâ carmina culta lyrâ.
Trift. L. 4:
El. 10. - 50.
G
22
POLY METIS.
1
celled all the Roman poets, and perhaps was no unworthy rival of feveral of the Greek,
which feems to have been (24) the heighth of his ambition. His next point of merit, as
it has been uſually reckoned, was his refining fatire; and bringing it from the coarſeneſs
and harſhneſs of Lucilius, to that genteel eafy manner; which he, and perhaps no body
but he, and one perfon more in all the ages fince, has ever poffeffed. I do not remem-
ber that any one of the antients fays any thing of his epiftles: and this has made me
fometimes imagine, that his epiftles and fatires might originally have paffed under one
and the fame name; perhaps that of Sermones. They are generally written in a ſtyle
approaching to that of converfation; and are ſo much alike, that ſeveral of the fatires
might juſt as well be called epiftles, as ſeveral of his epiftles have the fpirit of fatire in
them. This latter part of his works, by whatever name you pleaſe to call them (whe-
ther fatires and epiftles, or difcourfes in verfe on moral and familiar fubjects,) is what
I muſt own, I love much better even than the lyric part of his works. It is in theſe
that he fhews that talent for criticiſm, in which he fo very much excelled: efpecially,
in his long epiſtle to Auguftus; and that other to the Pifo's, commonly called his art of
poetry. They abound in ftrokes which fhew his great knowledge of mankind; and
in that pleafing way he had of teaching philofophy, of laughing (25) away vice, and
infinuating virtue into the minds of his readers. They may ſerve, as much as almoſt
any writings can, to make men wiſer and better: for he has the moſt agreeable way of
preaching that ever was. He was, in general, an honeſt, good man himself; at leaſt,
he does not ſeem to have had any one ill-natured vice about him. Other poets we ad-
mire; but there is not any of the antient poets that I fhould wish to have been ac-
quainted with, fo much as Horace. One cannot be very converfant with his writings,
without having a friendſhip for the man; and longing to have juft fuch another as he was,
for one's friend.
In that happy age, and in the fame court, flouriſhed Tibullus. He enjoyed the acquain-
tance of Horace; who mentions him in a kind and friendly manner, both in his (26) odes
and in his epiftles. Tibullus is evidently the moſt exact and moſt beautiful writer of love-
verfes among the Romans: and was (27) efteemed fo by their best judges; tho' there were
ſome, it ſeems, even in their better ages of writing and judging, who preferred Propertius
to him. Tibullus's talent feems to have been only for elegiac verfe: at leaſt his compli
ment on Meffalla, (which is his only poem out of it,) fhews I think too plainly, that he
was neither defigned for heroic verfe, nor panegyric. Elegance is as much his diftinguiſhing
character among the elegiac writers of this age, as it is Terence's among the comic wri-
ters of the former: and if his ſubject will never let him be fublime, his judgment at leaſt
always keeps him from being faulty. His rival and cotemporary Propertius, feems to
have ſet himſelf too many different models, to copy either of them fo well as he might
otherwiſe have done. In one (28) place, he calls himſelf, the Roman Callimachus; in
(24) Te greges centum Siculæque circum
Mugiunt vaccæ: tibi tollit hinnitum
Apta quadrigis equa: te bis Afro
Murice tinctæ
Veftiunt lanæ. Mihi parva rura, &
Spiritum Graiæ tenuem Camœnæ,
Parca non mendax dedit ; & malignum
Spernere vulgus.
L. 2. Od. 16. . 40.
He has the fame turn of expreffion (according to
Mr. Markland's reading) in his firft ode, to Mæce-
nas.-
Te doctarum hederæ præmia frontium
Dîs mifcent fuperis. Me gelidum nemus, &c.
And when he adds:
Quod fi me Lyricis vatibus inferes,
Sublimi feriam fidera vertice ;
another
poets; becauſe even the learned among the Romans,
ſtudied no language but their own, and the Greek:
and they had no famous lyric poets of their own, be-
fore Horace.
(25) Omne vafer vitium ridenti Flaccus amico
Tangit; & admiffus circum præcordia ludit.
Perfius, Sat. 1. . 117.
*.
(26) Horace, L. 1. Od. 33. & L. 1. Ep. 4.
(27) Elegiâ Græcos quoque provocamus: cujus mihi
terfus atque elegans maximè videtur auctor Tibullus.
Sunt qui Propertium malunt. Ovidius utroque lafci-
vior, ficut durior Gallus. Quintilian. Inftit. Or. L. 10.
c. I. p. 748. Ed. Hack. 1665.
He must be underſtood to ſpeak of the Greek lyric (28) Propertius. L. 4. El. 1. . 64.
1
t
23
DIALOGUE the Third.
another (29) he talks of rivaling Philetas: and he is faid (30) to have ftudied Mimnermus,
and ſome other of the Greek lyric writers, with the fame view. You may ſee by this, and
the practice of all their poets in general, that it was the conftant method of the Romans
(whenever they endeavoured to excel) to fet fome Greek pattern or other before them.
Propertius perhaps might have fucceeded better, had he fixed on any one of theſe; and
not endeavoured to improve by all of them indifferently. Ovid makes up the triumvirate
of the elegiac writers of this age; and is more loofe and incorrect than either of the other.
As Propertius followed too many mafters, Ovid endeavoured to ſhine in too many diffe-
rent kinds of writing at the fame time. Befides, he had a redundant (31) genius; and
almoſt always choſe rather to indulge, than to give any reſtraint to it. If one was to give
any opinion of the different merit of his ſeveral works, one ſhould not perhaps be much
befide the truth in ſaying, that he excels moſt in his Fafti; then perhaps in his love-
verſes: next, in his heroic epiftles; and laftly, in his Metamorphofis. As for the verſes
he wrote after his misfortunes, he has quite loft his ſpirit in them: and tho' you inay
diſcover ſome difference in his manner, after his baniſhment (32) came to fet a little
lighter on him; his genius never ſhines out fairly, after that fatal ftroke. His very love
of being witty had forfaken him; tho' before it ſeems to have grown upon him, when it
was leaſt becoming, toward his old age: for his Metamorphofis (which was the laſt poem
he wrote at Rome, and which indeed was not quite (33) finiſhed when he was fent into
baniſhment,) has more inſtances of falſe wit in it, than perhaps all his former writings
put together. One of the things I have heard him moft cried up for in that piece, is his
tranſitions from one ſtory to another. The antients thought differently of this point; and
Quintilian, where he is ſpeaking of them, endeavours rather (34) to excufe than to com-
mend him on that head. We have a confiderable lofs in the latter half of his Fafti; and in
his Medea, which is much commended. Dramatic poetry feems not to have flouriſhed in
proportion to the other forts of poetry, in the Auguftan age. We fcarce hear any thing
of the comic poets of that time; and if tragedy had been much cultivated then, the
Roman writers would certainly produce fome names from it to (35) oppoſe to the Greeks,
without going ſo far back as to thoſe of Actius and Pacuvius. Indeed their own critics
in ſpeaking of the dramatic writings of this age, boaft rather of fingle pieces, than of au-
thors: and the (36) two particular tragedies which they talk of in the higheſt ſtrain, are
this Medea of Ovid and Varius's Thyeftes. However, if it was not the age for plays;
it was certainly the age, in which almoſt all the other kinds of poetry were in their greateſt
excellence at Rome.
:
(29) Id. ib. El. 6. . 3.
(30) By P. Crinitus; in his life of Propertius.
(31) Ovidii Medea videtur mihi oftendere quantum
vir ille præftare potuerit; fi ingenio fuo temperare,
quam indulgere maluiffet. Quintilian. Inſtit. Or. L.10.
c. 1. p. 749. Ed. Hack. 1665. Quintilian almoſt al-
ways uſes the word, Lafcivus, to expreſs this charac-
ter of Ovid's writings. Lafcivus quidem in heroicis
quoque Ovidius; & nimium amator ingenii fui: lau-
dandus tamen in partibus. ib. p. 746.Ovidius
utroque lafcivior (of his elegies) ib. p. 748.-Ut
Ovidius lafcivire in Metamorphofi folet. Ib. p.
286.
་
(32) He does not mention any thing of his ſtand-
ing up againſt his misfortunes till the fifth book of
his Triftium and the 2d and 3d epiftles of his third
book ex Ponto, are the firſt in which he begins to tell
any ſtory in his Fafti-ſtyle.
UNDER
(33) Dictaque funt nobis, quamvis manus ultima cœpto
Defuit, in facies corpora verfa novas.
Ovid. Trift. L. 2. .556.
(34) Illa frigida & puerilis eſt in ſcholis affectatio,
ut ipfe tranfitus efficiat aliquam utique fententiam,
& hujus velut præſtigiæ plaufum petat; ut Ovidius
lafcivire in Metamorphofi folet. Quem tamen excu¬
fare neceffitas poteft; res diverfiffimas in fpeciem u-
nius corporis colligentem. Oratori vero,&c. Inſtitut,
Orat. L. 4. c. 1. p. 286. Ed. Hack. 1665.
(35) See Dial. 2. Note 45.
(36) Plures hodie reperies, qui Ciceronis gloriam
quam Virgilii detractent: nec ullus Afinii aut Mef-
fallæ liber tam illuftris eft, quam Medea Ovidii, aut
Varii Thyeftes. Quintilian. de Caufis Cor.Eloq. T.2.
p. 718. Ed. Hack. 1665.--He mentions both the
fame tragedies, in the fame manner, in his Inſtit. Or,
T. 1. p. 749.
POLYMETIS.
24
UNDER this period of the beſt writing, I fhould be inclined to infert Phædrus. For
tho' he publiſhed after the good manner of writing was in general on the decline, he (37)
flouriſhed and formed his ſtyle under Auguftus: and his book, tho' it did not appear till
the reign (38) of Tiberius, deferves on all accounts to be reckoned among the works of
the Auguftan age. Fabulæ Æfopea was probably the title (39) which he gave his fables.
He profeffedly follows Æfop in them: and declares that he keeps to his (40) manner,
even where the ſubject is of his own invention. By this it appears that Ælop's way of
telling ſtories was very fhort, and plain; for the diftinguishing beauty of Phædrus's fa-
bles is, their conciſeneſs and fimplicity. The tafte was fo much fallen at the time when
he publiſhed them, that both theſe were objected to him as faults. He ufed thofe critics
as they deſerved. He tells a (41) long tedious ftory, to thoſe who objected againſt the
conciſeneſs of his ftyle; and anfwers fome others who condemned the plainneſs of it,
with a run of (42) bombaſt verſes, that have a great many noify elevated words in them
without any ſenſe at the bottom.
WILL you, Myfagetes, give me leave to add Manilius to this lift of the Auguftan
poets? I know you can ſcarce allow him a place among them; and own, you have rea-
ſon enough not to admire him. Place him where you pleaſe, anſwered Myſagetes, you
will never reconcile me to his poetry; in which I ſhall always think him inferiour to a
great many of the Latin poets, who have wrote in theſe lower ages; fo long fince Latin
has ceaſed to be a living language. There is at leaſt I believe no inftance, in any one
poet of the flouriſhing ages, of fuch (43) language, or fuch (44) verfification, as we meet
with in Manilius; and there is not any one antient writer that ſpeaks one word of any fuch
poet
about thoſe times. I doubt not, there were bad poets enough in the Auguſtan age;
but I queſtion whether Manilius may deſerve the honour of being reckoned even among
the bad poets of that time. What will you fay then, replied Polymetis, to the many
paffages in the poem which relate to the times in which the author lived; and which all
have
Lib. 5. Prol.
(40) By what Phædrus fays in his prologue to his
firſt book, one would think that he fet out with the
defign of tranflating Æſop:
(37) See Phædrus, L. 3. Fab. 10. y. 8,
(38) See Phædrus, L. 2. Fab. 5.
& 39.
(39)
Quas
Quoniam caperis fabulis
fopeas, non fopi, nomino.
Nec tyrocinio peccet; circumque feratur.
Ore, magifterio, nodoque coercita virgo.
Et cum luce refert operum vadimonia terris.
Solis erit, numero nifi deeffet Olympias una.
Fecit & ignotis itiner commercia terris.
Corda micant, & lingua rabit, latratque loquendo.
1. 189.
4. 190.
1. 244.
3. 596.
1. 88.
5. 224.
In longum, bis fex lateſcit faſcia partes.
. 2.
1. 680.
3.571.
I. 27.
5. 646.
3. 459.
Crimen ubique frequens ; & laudi noxia juncta eſt.
4. 417.
Æfopus auctor quam materiam repperit,
Hanc ego polivi verfibus fenariis.
In the next, he ſeems to have enlarged his defign;
but ſtill ſays, that he will ſtick cloſe to the manner of
Æfop:
Quicumque fuerit ergo narrandi locus,
Dum capiat aurem & fervet propofitum fuum,
Re commendatur, non auctoris nomine.
Equidem omni curâ morem fervabo fenis :
Sed fi libuerit aliquid interponere,
Dictorum fenfus ut delectet varietas;
Bonas in partes, lector, accipias velim.
(41) L. 3. Fab. 10. *. 59, 60.
(42) Lib. 4. Fab. 6.
L. 2. Prol. .11.
(43) Some inſtances of ſuch language in Manilius,
as is not perhaps to be met with in any other poet of
the Auguftan age:
Et ter vicenas partes patet atque trecentas
Bifque novem, Nemexe, dabis beffemque fub illis.
Clepfiffet furto mundum, quo cuncta reguntur.
Engonafi, ingenielâ juvenis fub imagine conftans.
Augebuntque novo vicinas momine fummas.
(44) Some inſtances of ſuch verfification in Mani-
lius, as is not to be met with in any other of the Ro-
man poets in the Auguftan age:
Nec trahit in fe tum, quo fulget Delia, lumen.
4. 844.
Tuncque in defertis habitabat montibus aurum.
1. 75-
Idcircoque manet ftabilis, quia totus ab illâ.
1. 168.
Atque eget alterius mundus; natura fuifmet.
Manilius, 5. 268.
5. 214.
Vel
Et lenocinium vitæ, præfenfque voluptas.
DIALOGUE the Third.
25
have (45) a régard to the Auguſtan age? If the whole be not a modern forgery, I do not
fee how one can deny his being of that age: and if it be a modern forgery, it is very
lucky that it ſhould agree fo exactly, in fo many little particulars, with the antient globe
of the heavens in the Farneſe palace. As to the badneſs of his ſtyle, there is an argument
to be drawn from Vitruvius and other writers of the fame time.-Nay, fays Myfagetes, if
you begin to draw up your arguments in form againſt me; and from fo many different
quarters; it is high time for me to quit the field. I beg I may not interrupt you. If
Manilius's work will be of any ufe to you, let him be one of the moſt ſhining lights in
the Auguftan age, with all my heart. I will very readily give up all my objections, or
prejudices, againſt him; for your ſervice.
I THANK YOU, fays Polymetis; and indeed as he is at prefent generally reckoned of
that age, we had as good keep him where we found him. Allowing then Manilius's
poem to paſs for what it pretends to be; there is nothing remains to us, of the poetical
works of this Auguftan age befide what I have mentioned: except, the garden-poem of
Columella; the little hunting-piece of Gratius; and, perhaps, an elegy or two of
Gallus.
THESE are but ſmall remains for an age, in which poetry was fo well cultivated, and fol-
lowed by very great numbers; taking the good and the bad together. It is probable, moſt
of the beſt have come down to us. As for the others, we only hear of the elegies (46) of
Capella and Montanus; that Proculus (47), imitated Callimachus; and (48) Rufus, Pindar :
that Fontanus wrote a fort of pifcatory eclogues; and Macer (49), a poem on the nature
of birds, beafts, and plants. That the fame Macer; and Rabirius; and Marfus, and
Ponticus (50), and Pedo Albinovanus, and feveral others, were epic writers in that time ;
(which
Vel fine luxuriâ; tantum eft opus! Ipfa fuimet.
Oftendiffe deum nimis eft; dabit ipfe fibimet.
His adice obliquos diverfaque fila legentes.
Fœmineæ veftes; nec infunt tegmina plantis.
Hoc genitum credas de genere Bellerophontem.
Sic etiam magno quædam refpondere mundo.
Singulaque propriis parentia membra figuris.
4. 134.
4. 439.
1. 664.
Quintilian places this poet always in very good
company. Macer & Lucretius legendi quidem, fed
non ut phrafin, id eft corpus eloquentiæ, faciant.
Elegantes in fuâ quifque materiâ; fed alter humilis,
alter difficilis. Inftit. Or. L. 10. c. I. p. 746. Ed.
1665. Quid? Nicandrum fruftra fecuti Macer at-
5. 152. que Virgilius? Ib. p. 739.
Paterculus pays the fame compliment, (or rather a
5. 97. higher,) to Rabirius. Pene ftulta eft inhærentium
oculis ingeniorum enumeratio: inter quæ maximè
noſtri ævi eminent, princeps carminum Virgilius, Ra-
biriufque. Hift. Lib. 2. Cap. 36.
5. 735.
2. 452.
(45) Theſe paffages are very numerous; and very
exprefs. Beſide ſeveral things of lefs note, he ſpeaks
of Julius Cæfar's death. L. 4. . 60.-of the battles
at Philippi, and Actium. L. 1. y. 905, to 920——of
Agrippa. ib. . 795--and of Varus's defeat in Ger-
many. ib. y. 896.
(46) Quique vel imparibus numeris, Montane, vel æquis
Sufficis ; & gemino carmine nomen habes.
Ovid. de Ponto. L. 4. El. 16. .12.
Naiadas a Satyris caneret Fontanus amatas;
Clauderet imparibus verba Capella modis.
(47) Callimachi Proculus molle teneret iter.
Ibid.
(50) Ponticus Heroo, Baffus quoque clarus Iambo.
Trift. L. 4. El. 10. . 47.
Cum foret & Marfus, magniqué Rabirius oris,
Iliacuſque Macer, fidereuſque Pedo :
Et qui Junonem læfiffet in Hercule Carus,
Junonis fi non jam gener ille foret:
Quique dedit Latio carmen regale Severus ;
Et cum fubtili Prifcus uterque Numâ.
Ex Pont. L. 4. El. 16. .10.
This Pedo Albinovanus was acquainted with O-
vid; who writes one of his Epiftles from Pontus to
.36. him: by which we find the fubject of his poem was
Ib. *.32.
(48)
Pindaricæ fidicen tu quoque, Rufe, lyræ.
Ib. . 28.
(49) Sæpe fuas volucres legit mihi grandior ævo ;
Quæque necet ferpens, quæ juvet herba, Macer.
Triſt. L. 4. El. 10. . 44.
the actions of Thefeus.
At tu, non dubito, cum carmine Theſea laudes,
Materiæ titulos quin tueare tuæ ;
Quemque refers, imitere virum..
L. 4. Ep. 10. . 73.
Quintilian ſpeaks but flightly both of him and Ra-
birius; (at leaſt, as helps to his young crator.) Ra-
birius ac Pedo, non indigni cognitione, fi vacet. In-
ftit. Or. L. 10. c. 1. p. 747. Ed. 1665.
H
26
POLYMETIS.
#
(which by the way (51) feems to have fignified little more, than that they wrote in hex-
ameter verſe :) that Fundanius (52) was their beſt comic poet then, and Meliffus no bad
one; that Varius (53) was the moſt eſteemed for epic poetry, before the Æneid appeared;
and one of the moſt eſteemed for tragedy always: that Pollio (befides his other excellencies
at the bar, in the camp, and in affairs of ſtate) is (54) much commended for tragedy;
and Varus (55) either for tragedy, or epic poetry; for it does not quite appear which of
the two he wrote. Theſe laſt are great names; but there remain ſome of ſtill higher
dignity, who were, or at leaſt defired to be thought, poets in that time. In the former
part of Auguftus's reign, his first minifter for home affairs (56), Mæcenas; and in the
latter part, his grandfon Germanicus, were of this number. Germanicus in particular
(57) tranflated Aratus; and there are ſome (I do not well know, on what grounds) who
pretend to have met with a confiderable part of his tranflation. The emperor himſelf
feems to have been both a good critic, and a good author (58). He wrote chiefly in
profe; but fome things in verfe too; and particularly good part of a tragedy, called
Ajax.
Ir is no wonder, under fuch encouragements, and fo great examples, that poetry
ſhould ariſe to a higher pitch than it had ever done among the Romans. They had
been gradually improving it for above two centuries: and in Auguftus found a prince,
whoſe own inclinations, the temper of whofe reign, and whofe very politics, led him to
nurſe all the arts; and poetry, in a more particular manner. The wonder is, when
they had got fo far toward perfection, that they ſhould fall as it were all at once; and
from their greateſt purity and fimplicity, fhould degenerate fo immediately into a lower
and more affected manner of writing than had been ever known among them. But be-
(51) Quintilian in fpeaking of their epic poets
reckons in Ovid for his Metamorphofis, and Lucre-
tius for his philofophical poem. See his Inftit. Or.
L. 10. c. I.
(52) Argutâ meretrice potes Davoque Chremeta
Eludente fenem comis garrire libellos
Unus vivorum, Fundani.
fore
Et me fecere poetam
Pierides; funt & mihi carmina: me quoque dicunt
Vatem paftores. Sed non ego credulus illis :
Nam neque adhuc Varo videor, nec dicere Cinna
Digna; fed argutos interftrepere anfer olores,
Id. Ecl. 9. . 36.
Cum Varus Gracchufque darent fera dicta tyranni.
Ovid. ex Pont. L. 4, Ep. :6. 4. 3 Þ.
L. 1. Sat. 10. ✯. 42.
(56) See Note 1, anteh.
Mufaque Turrani tragicis innixa cothurnis ;
Et tua cum focco mufa, Meliffe, levis.
(57) Ovid addreffes his Fafti to him; and ſpeaks
Ovid. ex Ponto, L. 4. Ep. 16. .30. of him as a poet in that addreſs:
(53)
Forte epos acer,
Ut nemo, Varius ducit.
Horat. L. 1. Sat. 10. .44.
His Thyeftes, and Ovid's Medea, were generally
reckoned the two beft tragedies of the Auguftan age.
See Note 36, anteh.
(54)
(55)
Pollio regum
Facta canit pede ter percuffo.
+
Horat. L. 1. Sat. 10. . 43.
Motum ex Metello confule civicum,
Bellique caufas, & vitia, & modos;
Ludumque fortunæ ; gravefque
Principum amicitias, & arma
Nondum expiatiş uncta cruoribus,
Periculofæ plenum opus alex,
Tractas: & incedis per ignes
Suppofitos cineri dolofo.
Paulum feveræ mufa tragœdiæ
Defit theatris: mox ubi publicas
Res ordinaris, grande munus
Quæ fit enim culti facundia fenfimus oris
Civica pro trepidis cum tulit arma reis;
Scimus & ad noftras cum ſe tulit impetus artes,
Ingenii currant flumina quanta tui:
Si licet & fas eft, vates rege vatis habenas.
Faft. 1. y. 25-
What is received as his tranflation of Aratus, has
been publiſhed ſeveral times; and is inferted in the
Corpus Poetarum Lat. p. 1563, to 1566.
(58) Multa varii generis prosâ oratione compofuit ;
ex quibus nonnulla in cœtu familiarium, velut in au-
ditorio, recitavit. Poeticam fummatim attigit: unus
liber extat fcriptus ab eo hexametris verfibus; cujus
& argumentum & titulus eft Sicilia. Extat alter,
æque modicus, epigrammatum; quæ fere tempore
balnei meditabatur. Tragoediam magno impetu ex-
orfus, non fuccedente ſtylo abolevit: quærentibufque
amicis, quidnam Ajax ageret? reſpondit; Ajacem
fuum in fpongiam incubuiffe.-Genus eloquendi
fecutus eft elegans & temperatum; vitatis fententia-
Horat. L. 2. Od. 1. ad Afinium Pollionem, verborum (ut ipfe dicit) fœtoribus; præcipuamque
rum ineptiis atque inconcinnitate, & reconditorum
Cecropio repetes cothurno.
·Nec Phœbo gratior ulla eſt
curam duxit, fenfum animi quam apertiffimè expri-
mere. Suetonius in Aug. §. 85, & 86.-To this, the
Virgil. Ecl. 6. . 12. quotation from Macrobius; Note 1, anteh.
Quam fibi quæ Vari præfcripfit pagina nomen.
!
DIALOGUE the Third.
27
fore I enter on this third age, it might refreſh you a little to take a turn in the garden:
where, if you are not yet tired, I can go on with my ſtory as well while we are walking:
On condition that you will proceed with that, fays Myfagetes, I am for a walk. At the
fame time Philander rofe from his feat; and they went all together for the garden.
When they came thither, they found the rain which had threatened all the morning,
was actually falling; and fo they were forced to content themſelves with the portico
which runs all along the garden front of the houſe: where, as they were taking their
turns backward and forward, Polymetis finiſhed his account of the Roman poets in the
following manner.
}
Faze. 27
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Boitors,
1
28
POLYMETIS.
T
!
DIAL. IV.
Of the Fall of Poetry among the Romans.
HERE are ſome who affert that the great age of the Roman eloquence I
have been ſpeaking of, began (1) to decline a little even in the latter part of
Auguftus's reign. It certainly fell very much under Tiberius; and grew every
day weaker and weaker, till it was wholly changed under Caligula. Hence therefore we
may date the third age, or the fall of the Roman poetry. Auguftus, whatever his na-
tural temper was, put on at leaſt a mildneſs, that gave a calm to the ftate during his
time: the fucceeding emperors flung off the maſk: and not only were, but openly ap-
peared to be rather monſters than men. We need not go to their hiſtorians for proofs
of their prodigious vileneſs: it is enough to mention the bare names of Tiberius, Caligula,
and Nero. Under fuch heads every thing that was good run to ruin. All diſcipline in
war, all domeſtic virtues, the very love of liberty, and all the tafte for found eloquence
and good poetry, funk gradually; and faded away, as they had flouriſhed, together.
Inſtead of the ſenſible, chaſte, and manly way of writing that had been in ufe in the for-
mer age, there now roſe up a defire of writing ſmartly, and an affectation of fhining in
every thing they ſaid. A certain (2) prettineſs, and glitter, and luxuriance of ornaments,
was what diftinguiſhed their moſt applauded writers in profe; and their poetry was quite
loft in high flights and obfcurity. Seneca, the (3) favourite profe-writer of thoſe times;
and Petronius Arbiter, fo great a favourite with many of our own; afford too many
proofs of this, as to the profe in Nero's time: and as to the poets, it is enough to fay,
that they had then Lucan and Perfius, inſtead of Virgil and Horace.
PERSIUS and Lucan, who were the moſt celebrated poets under the reign of Nero,
may very well ſerve for examples of the faults I juſt mentioned; one of the fwelling, and
the other of the obfcure ftyle, then in faſhion. Lucan's manner in general runs too
much into fuftian and bombaft. His mufe has a kind of dropfy; and looks like the
foldier deſcribed in his own Pharfalia, who in paffing the defart ſands of Africa was bit
by a ſerpent, and ſwelled to ſuch an immoderate ſize" that (4) he was loft (as he ex-
preffes it) in the tumours of his own body." Some critics have been in too great haſte
to make Quintilian fay fome good things of Lucan, which he never (5) meant to do.
What
(1) Mediis Divi Augufti temporibus,—poſtquam
longa temporum quies, & continuum populi otium,
& affidua fenatûs tranquillitas, & maximi principis dif-
ciplina, ipfam quoque eloquentiam (ficut omnia alia)
pacaverat. Quintilian. de Caufis cor.Eloq. T. 2.p.754.
Ed.1665. He was ſaying just before (p.753.) Quo plu-
res & intulerit ictus & exceperit, eo acrior, tanto al-
tior & excelfior (erit orator :) and he fays a little after
(p. 755.) Non de otiosâ & quietâ re loquimur, & quæ
probitate & modeftiâ gaudeat ; fed eft magna iſta &
notabilis eloquentia, alumna licentiæ, (quam ftulti
libertatem vocabant,) comes feditionum, effrenati po-
puli incitamentum; fine obfequio, fine fervitute;
contumax, temeraria, arrogans; quæ in bene confti-
tutis civitatibus non oritur. -(It grows at laſt into
a compliment to Veſpaſian. p. 757, & ult.)
(2) Amœnitates, nitor, and lætitia ſtyli, are the
terms that Quintilian uſes perpetually in ſpeaking of
this age; in his treatife on the fall of eloquence.
(3) Poftquam ad providentiam fapientiamque flexit
(Nero, in his funeral panegyric on Claudius) nemo
rifui temperare; quanquam oratio à Senecâ compofita
multum cultûs præferret. Fuit illi viro ingenium a-
mænum, & temporis ejus auribus accommodatum.-
Tacit. Annal. L. 13, initio.-Senecam, tum max-
ime placentem. Suetonius, in Caligulâ, c. 53.
(4)
-Tendit cutem, pereunte figurâ,
Mifcens cuncta tumor; toto jam corpore major,
Humanumque egreffa modum, fuper omnia membra
Efflatur fanies: late pollente veneno,
Ipfe latet penitus congefto corpore merſus.
Lucan. Pharf. L. 9. *.796.
(5) Several critics have quoted the following paf-
fage as an high commendation given by Quintilian,
to Lucan:Exigitur jam ab oratore etiam poeti-
cus decor; non Actii aut Pacuvii veterno inquinatus ;
fed ex Horatii, & Virgilii, & Lucani facrario prola-
-But they have fcarce confidered who it is
tus-
that
DIALOGUE 29
GUE the the
Fourth.
What this poet has been always admired for, and what he will ever deſerve to be admired
for, are the feveral philofophical paffages that abound in his works; and his generous fen-
timents, particularly on the love of liberty, and the contempt of death. In his calm hours
he is very wife; but he is often in his rants, and never more fo than when he is got into a
battle, or a ſtorm at fea: but it is remarkable that, even on thofe occafions, it is not fo much
a violence of rage, as a madneſs of affectation that appears moft ftrongly in him. I am no
great admirer of Lucan, fays Philander, for any thing except his fine fentiments on liberty
and virtue; but is not what you fay of him a little too fevere? No, interpofed Myfagetes, I
muſt do Polymetis the juftice to fide with him on this occafion. I have been a great reader
of Lucan formerly; and I believe every thing Polymetis has faid of him, might be very fully
proved from his own words. To give you a few inftances of it out of many, in the very
beginning of Lucan's ſtorm, when Cæfar ventured to croſs the ſea in ſo ſmall a veffel;
"the (6) fixt ſtars themſelves feem to be put in motion." Then the "waves rife over
the mountains; and (7) carry away the tops of them." Their next ſtep is to, hea-
ven; where they catch (8) the rain " in the clouds:" I fuppofe, to increaſe their forces.
The fea opens in feveral places; and leaves its bottom (9) dry land. All the foundations
of the univerſe are fhaken; and (10) nature is afraid of a fecond chaos. His little ſkiff,
in the mean time, fometimes (11) cuts along the clouds with her fails; and fometimes
ſeems in danger of being ſtranded, on the fands at the bottom of the fea: and muft in-
evitably have been loft, had not the ftorm (by good fortune) been fo ftrong (12) from
every quarter, that ſhe did not know on which fide to bulge firſt.
}
WHEN the two armies are going to join battle in the plains of Pharfalia, we are told
that all the foldiers were (13) incapable of any fear for themſelves; becauſe they were
wholly taken up with their concern for the danger which threatened Pompey and the,
commorwealth. On this great occafion the hills about them, according to his account,
ſeem to be more afraid, than the men: for fome of the mountains looked as if they
:
that fays fo.. It is true, it is in a dialogue, which (for
my own part) I doubt not was written by Quintilian:
but then Quintilian's two chief ſpeakers in that dia-
logue, are of very oppofite characters. Aper is a
very great advocate for the affected tafte grown ſo
much in faſhion in fome of the bad reigns before, and
continued even under Vefpafian's: Meffalla is as
ftrongly for the old eloquence of Cicero's days. The
author of the dialogue appears very plainly, (from his
other works, and this very piece itſelf) to have been
of Meffalla's opinion; and conſequently, to hold juſt
the contrary of what Aper fays. Now this feverity
againſt the old poets, and this high compliment to Lu-
can, make part of a warm ſpeech of Aper's: after
which too are theſe words. Agnofcitifne-vim &
ardorem Apri noftri? Quo torrente, quo impetu
ſeculum noftrum defendit? Quam copiosè ac variè
vexavit antiquos? Lib. de Caufis corruptæ Eloquen-
tiæ, annexed to Quintilian's works. p. 734.
(6)
-Non folum lapfa per altum
Aëra difperfos traxere cadentia fulcos
Sidera; fed fummis etiam quæ fixa tenentur
Aftra polis, funt vifa quati.
would
(9) ——Scythici vicit rabies Aquilonis ; & undas
Torfit: & abftrufas penitus vada fecit arenas.
Pharf. Lib. 5. . 604.
(10) Tunc fuperum convexa tremunt ; atque arduus axis
Infonuit; motâque poli compage laborant:
Extimuit natura chaos.-
(11) Nubila tanguntur velis, & terra carinâ.
Ib. y. 634.
Ib. *.642.
(12) Artis opem vicere metus ; nefcitque magifter
Quam frangat, cui cedat aquæ. Difcordia ponti
Succurrit miferis; fluctufque evertere puppim
Non valet in fluctus: victum latus unda repellens
Erigit; atque omni furgit ratis ardua vento.
Ib. *. 649.
This is of the fame kind with a monstrous thought of
Pacuvius; ridiculed by Lucan's cotemporary, Perfius.
That old poet, in ſpeaking of Antiope, ſeems to have
imagined that ſhe had fo many griefs all round her
heart, that it could not break; as it would certainly
have done, if ſhe had had fewer: See Perfius, Sat. 1.
Lucan's Pharf. Lib. 5. . 564. . 78.
(7) Ah, quoties fruftra pulfatos æquore, montes
Obruit illa dies! quàm celfa cacumina peſſum
Tellus victa dedit.
·(13) ·
Ibid. . 617.
Ib.y.629.
I
(8) Fluctufque in nubibus accipit imbrem.
Sua quifque pericula neſcit,
Attonitus majore metu. Quis litora ponto
Obrútà, quis fummis cernens in montibus æquor,
Ætheraque in terras dejecto fole cadentem,
Tot rerum finem, timeat fibi? Non vacat ullos
Pro fe ferre metus; urbi, Magnoque timetur.
Pharf. Lib. 7. y. 138.
!
1
30
POLYME TI S.
would (14) thruſt their heads into the clouds; and others, as if they wanted to hide them-
ſelves under the valleys at their feet. And theſe diſturbances in nature were univerſal :
for that day, every ſingle Roman (15), in whatever part of the world he was, felt a
was, felt a ſtrange
gloom ſpread all over his mind, on a fudden; and was ready to cry, tho' he did not
know why or wherefore.
THE fea-fight off Marſeilles, is a thing that might divert one, full as well as Erafmus's
Naufragium Joculare: and what is ſtill ſtranger, the poet chufes to be moſt diverting in
the wounds he gives the poor foldiers. The firſt perſon killed in it, is pierced (16) at the
fame inſtant by two ſpears; one in his back, and the other in his breaft; ſo nicely, that
both their points meet together in the middle of his body. They each, I fuppofe, had
a right to kill him; and his foul was for fome time doubtful which it ſhould obey. At
laft, it compounds the matter; drives out each of the fpears before it, at the fame in-
ſtant; and whips out of his body, half at one wound, and half at the other.-A little
after this, there is an honeft Greek, who has his right hand cut off; and fights on with
his left, till he can leap into the ſea (17) to recover the former; but there (as misfortunes
ſeldom come fingle) he has his left arm chopt off too: after which, like the hero in one
of our antient ballads, he fights on with the trunk of his body; and performs actions,
greater than any Withrington's that ever was. When the battle grows warmer, there
are many who have the fame misfortune with this Greek. In endeavouring to clamber
the enemies ſhips, ſeveral have their arms ftruck off; fall into the ſea (18); and leave
their hands behind them! Some of theſe ſwimming (19) combatants encounter their ene-
mies in the water; fome ſupply their friends fhips with arms; fome, that had no arms,
entangle themſelves with their enemies; cling to them, and fink together to the bottom
of the ſea: others ſtick their bodies againſt the beaks of their enemies ſhips; and ſcarce
a man of them flung away the uſe of his carcafe, even when he ſhould be dead.
up
BUT among
all the contrivances of theſe pofthumous warriors, the thing moſt to be
admired is the fagacity of the great Tyrrhenus. (20) Tyrrhenus was ſtanding at the head
of one of the veffels, when a ball of lead, flung by an artful flinger, ftruck out both his
eyes. The violent daſh of the blow, and the deep darkneſs that was ſpread over him all
at once, made him at firſt conclude that he was dead: but when he had recovered his
fenfes a little, and found he could advance one foot before the other, he defired his
fellow-foldiers to plant him juſt as they did their Balliſta: he hopes, he can ftill fight as
well
(14)
(15)
-Multis concurrere vifus Olympo
Pindus; & abruptis mergi convallibus Hamus.
Pharf. Lib. 7. 7. 174.
Tyriis qui Gadibus hofpes
Adjacet, Armeniumque bibit Romanus Araxem,
Sub quocunque die, quocunque eft fidere mundi,
Mæret ; & ignorat caufas: animumque dolentem
Corripit.
(16) Terga fimul pariter miffis & pectora telis
Tb. y. 191..
Tranfigitur; medio concurrit pectore ferrum:
Et ftetit incertus fluerit quo vulnere fanguis.
Donec utrafque fimul largus cruor expulit haftas
Divifitque animam, fparfitque in vulnera lethum.
Ib. Lib. 3. *. 591.
(17) Crevit in adverfis virtus. Plus nobilis iræ
Truncus habet; fortique inftaurat prælia lævâ:
Rapturufque fuam procurrit in æquora dextram, &c.
Ibid. . 616.
(18) A manibus cecidere fuis.
Ib.. 668.
(19)
Nec ceffat naufraga virtus.
Tela legunt dejecta mari, ratibufque miniftrant;
Incertafque manus, ictu languente, per undas
Exercent. Nunc rara datur fi copia ferri,
Utuntur pelago: fævus complectitur hoftem
Hoftis ; & implicitis gaudent fubfidere membris,
Mergentefque mori.-————
Non perdere letum
Maxima cura fuit: multus fua vulnera puppi
Affixit moriens ; & roftris abftulit ictus.
Ib. *.708.
(20) Stantem fublimi Tyrrhenum culmine prora,
Lygdamus excuſsâ Balearis tortor habenæ
Glande petens; folido fregit cava tempora plumbo;
Sedibus expulfi, poftquam cruor omnia rupit
Vincula, procumbunt oculi. Stat lumine rapto
Attonitus; mortifque illas putat eſſe tenebras.
At poftquam membris fenfit conftare vigorem;
Vos ait, O focii, ficut tormenta foletis,
Me
quoque mittendis rectum componite telis:
Egere quod fupereft animæ, Tyrrhene, per omnes
Bellorum cafus! Ingentem militis ufum
Hoc habet ex magnâ defunctum parte cadaver,
Viventis feriere loco..
Ib. y. 721.
DIALOGUE the Fourth.
31
well as a machine; and ſeems mightily pleaſed, to think how he ſhall cheat the enemy,
who will fling away darts at him, that might have killed people who were alive.
*
SUCH ſtrange things as thefe, fays Polymetis, make me always wonder the more, how
Lucan can be fo wife as he is in fome parts of his poem. Indeed his fentences are more.
folid than one could otherwiſe expect from fo young a writer, had he wanted fuch an
uncle as Seneca, and fuch a mafter as Cornutus. The fwellings in the other parts of his
poem may be partly accounted for, perhaps, from his being born in Spain, and in that part
of it which was the fartheft removed from Greece and Rome; nay of that very city, which
is marked by Cicero (21) as particularly over-run with a bad tafte. After all, what I
moſt diſlike him for, is a blot in his moral character. He was at first pretty (22) high in
the favour of Nero. On the diſcovery of his being concerned in. a plot againſt him,
this philofopher (who had written fo much, and fo gallantly, about the pleaſure of dy-
ing) behaved himſelf in the moſt deſpicable manner. He named (23) his own mother as
guilty of the confpiracy, in hopes of faving himſelf. After this, he added feveral of his
friends to his former confeffion; and thus continued labouring for a pardon, by making
facrifices to the tyrant of fuch lives, as any one much lefs of a philofopher than he feems
to have been, ought to think dearer than their own. All this bafeneſs was of no uſe to
him for in the end Nero ordered him to execution too.. His veins were opened; and
the laſt (24) words he spoke, were fome verſes of his own.
PERSIUS is faid to have been Lucan's ſchool-fellow (25) under Cornutus; and like him
was bred up more a philofopher than a poet. He has the character of a good man; but
ſcarce deſerves that of a good writer, in any other than the moral ſenſe of the word: for
his writings are very virtuous, but not very poetical. His great fault is obfcurity.
(21) Corduba; in Hifpania Boetica. Qui (Me-
tellus Pius) ufque eo de fuis rebus fcribi cuperet, ut e-
tiam Cordubæ natis poetis, pingue quiddam fonantibus
atque peregrinum, tamen aureis fuas dederit. (Cicero,
pro Archia.)
1
(22) Provocatus Athenis à Nerone, cohortique a-
micorum additus; atque etiam quæfturâ donatus.
Tract. de claris Poetis, attributed to Suetonius.
(23) This was in (what was called) Pifo's confpiracy;
it was diſcovered by one Milichus. The firſt he
named, were Sævinus and Natalis, who were ordered
to be put to the queſtion. Tormentorum afpectum
ac minas non tulere: prior tamen Natalis, totius con-
jurationis magis gnarus; fimul arguendi peritior. De
Pifone primum fatetur: deinde adjicit Annæum Se-
necam: five internuntius inter eum Pifonemque fuit;
five ut Neronis gratiam pararet; qui infenfus Senecæ
omnes ad eum opprimendum artes conquirebat.
Tum cognito Natalis indicio Sævinus quoque pari
imbecillitate, an cuncta jam patefacta credens, nec
ullum filentii emolumentum, edidit cæteros. Ex
quibus, Lucanus, Quinctianufque, & Senicio, diu
abnuêre: poſt, promifsâ impunitate corrupti, quo
tarditatem excufarent, Lucanus Atillam matrem fuam,
Quinctianus Glicium Gallum, Senecio Annium Pol-
lionem, amicorum præcipuos nominavere. Atque
interim Nero, recordatus Volufii Proculi indicio Epi-
charim attineri; ratuſque muliebre corpus impar do-
lori, tormentis dilacerari jubet. At illam non ver-
bera, non ignes, non ira eo acriùs torquentium ne a
fæminâ fpernerentur, pervicere, quin objecta dene-
garet. Sic primus quæftionis dies contemptus: po-
ftero cum ad eofdem cruciatus retraheretur, geftamine
felle, (nam diffolutis membris infiftere nequibat)
..
Seve-
ral
vincto fafciæ quam pectori detraxerat, in modum la-
quei ad arcum fellæ reftricto indidit cervicem, & cor-
poris pondere connifa tenuern jam fpiritum expreffit.
Clariore exemplo libertina mulier, in tantâ neceffitate
alienos ac prope ignotos protegendo; cum ingenui,
& viri, & equites Romani fenatorefque, intacti tor-
mentis cariffima fuorum quifque pignorum proderent;
non enim omittebant Lucanus quoque, & Senicio, &
Quinctianus, paffim confcios edere. Tacitus, Annal.
L. 15. §. 56 & 57.
(24) Exin M. Annæi Lucani cædem imperat. Is
profluente fanguine, ubi frigeſcere pedes manuſque,
& paulatim ab extremis cedere fpiritum, fervido ad-
huc & compote mentis pectore, intelligit; recordatus
carmen à fe compofitum, quo vulneratum militem
per ejufmodi mortis imaginem obiiſſe tradiderat, ver-
fus ipfos retulit: eaque illi fuprema vox fuit. Ibid.
70.
§.
The verſes, here intended by Tacitus, are thought
by ſome to be thoſe in the third book of the Pharſalia;
on the death of one of the Roman foldiers in the fea-
fight off Marſeilles.
66
Ferrea dum puppi rapidos manus inferit uncos,
Affixit Lycidam; merfus foret ille profundo;
Sed prohibent focii, fufpenfaque crura retentant.
Scinditur avulfus. Nec, ficut vulnere, fanguis
Emicuit lentus; ruptis cadit undique venis :
Difcurfufque animæ, diverfa in membra meantis,
Interceptus aquis."
Pharf. Lib. 3. . 64h.
$.
(25) Cum primum pavido cuftos mihi purpura ceffit,
Bullaque fuccinctis Laribus donata pependit,
Me tibi fuppofui Teneros tu fufcipis annos
Socratico, Cornute, finu.
Perfius, Sat. 5. .37.
13.
POLYMETIS.
·
·
t
ral have endeavoured to excufe, or palliate this fault in him, from the danger of the times
he lived in; and the neceffity a fatirift then lay under of writing fo, for his own fecurity.
This may hold as to fome paffages in him: but to fay the truth, he ſeems to have a ten-
dency and love to obſcurity in himſelf: for it is not only to be found where he may
fpeak of the emperor, or the ſtate; but in the general courſe of his fatires. So that, in
my conscience, I must give him up for an obfcure writer; as I fhould Lucan for a
tumid and fwelling one.
འ
i
SUCH was the Roman poetry under Nero. The three emperors after him, were
I made in an hurry (26); and had ſhort tumultuous reigns. Then the Flavian family came
in. Vefpafian, the first emperor of that line (27) endeavoured to recover fomething of
the good taſte that: had. formerly flouriſhed in Rome; his fon Titus, the delight of
mankind, in his ſhort reign encouraged poetry, by his example (28), as well as by his
liberalities: and even Domitian loved (29) to be thought a patron of the mufes. After
him there was a fucceffion of good emperors, from Nerva to the Antonines.. And this
extraordinary good fortune (for indeed, if one confiders the general run of the Roman em-
perors, it would have been fuch to have had any two good ones only together) gave a
new ſpirit to the arts that had long been in fo languiſhing a condition; and made,poetry
revive, and raiſe up its head again, once more among them. Not that there were very
good poets even now; but they were better at leaſt, than they had been under the reign
of Nero.
THIS period produced three epic poets, whoſe works remain to us; Silius (30), Sta-
tius, and Valerius Flaccus. Silius, as if he had been frightened at the high flight of Lu-
´can, keeps almoſt always on the ground; and ſcarce once attempts to foar, throughout
his whole work. It is plain however, tho' it is low: and if he has but little of the ſpirit
of poetry, he is free at leaſt from the affectation, and obfcurity, and bombaſt, which
prevailed fo much among his immediate predeceffors. Silius was honoured with the
confulate; and lived to fee his fon in the fame high office. He was a great lover
and collector of pictures and ſtatues (31); fome of which he worſhipped; eſpecially one
he had of Virgil. He uſed to offer facrifices too at his tomb, near Naples. It is a pity
that he could not get more of his ſpirit in his writings: for he had ſcarce enough to make
his offerings acceptable to the genius of that great poet. Statius had more of ſpirit, with
a leſs ſhare of prudence: for his Thebaid is certainly ill conducted, and ſcarcely well
written. By the little we have of his Achilleid, that would probably have been a much
better poem, at leaſt as to the writing part, had he lived to finiſh it. As it is, his de-
ſcription (32) of Achilles's behaviour at the feaſt which Lycomedes makes for the Grecian
embaffadors, and fome other parts of it, read more pleaſingly to me than any part of the
Thebaid.
1
(26) Ex conditione tumultuque temporum: Sue-
tonius in Veſp. §. 10. (ſpeaking of the reigns before
Vefpafian.) The three reigns before his, all toge-
ther do not take up two years and a half.
(27) Per totum imperii tempus nihil habuit anti-
quius, quam prope afflictam nutantemque rempubli-
cam ſtabilire primò, deinde & ornare. Suetonius, in
Vefpaf. §. 8.-Ingenia & artes vel maximè fovit.
Primus e fifco Latinis Græcifque rhetoribus annua
centena conftituit. Præftantes poetas, nec non & ar-
tifices, coemit. Ibid. §. 18.
(28) Peritiffimus Latinæ Græcæque linguæ vel in
orando,vel in fingendis poematibus, promtus & facilis,
ad extemporalitatem uſque. Id. in Tito, §. 3.
(29) Simulavit & ipfe mirè modeftiam; inprimiſ-
que poeticæ ftudium. Id. in Domit. §. 2.
(30) It is faid, that Silius did not write till he was
very old and indeed his ſtyle is as like that of an
elderly man, as it is unlike the ſtyle in fashion under
Nero. I have therefore not reckoned him as a poet
under Nero; tho' he was conful the laſt year of that
reign. He lived long after; and probably wrote his
poem after Nero's death.
(31) Eratiλoxaλos, ufque ad emacitatis reprehen-
fionem. Plures iifdem in locis, (in the Campania fe-
lice) villas poffidebat; adamatifque novis, priores ne-
gligebat. Multum ubique librorum; multum ſtatu→
arum; multum imaginum : quas non habebat modò,
verum etiam venerabatur. Virgilii ante omnes ; cu-
jus natalem religiofiùs quàm fuum celebrabat: Nea-
poli maximè; ubi monumentum ejus adire ut tem-
plum folebat. Plin. Lib. 3. Ep. 7.
(32) Statius, Achil. L. 2. . 67, to 131.
DIALOGUE the Fourth.
33
1
Thebaid. I cannot help thinking, that the paffage quoted fo often from Juvenal as an
(33) encomium on Statius, was meant as a fatire on him. Martial ſeems (34) to ſtrike at
hịm too, under the borrowed name of Sabellus. As he did not finiſh his Achilleid, he may
deſerve more reputation perhaps as a miſcellaneous than as an epic writer; for tho' the odes
and other copies of verfes in his Sylve are not without their faults, they are not fo faulty
as his Thebaid. The chief faults of Statius, in his Sylvæ and Thebaid, are faid (35) to have
proceeded from very different caufes: the former, from their having been written incor-
rectly and in a great deal of hafte; and the other from its being over corrected and hard
Perhaps his greateſt fault of all, or rather the greateſt fign of his bad judgment, is his ad-
miring Lucan fo (36) extravagantly as he does. It is remarkable, that poetry run more
lineally in Statius's family than perhaps in any other. He received it (37) from his father ;
who had been an eminent poet in his time; and lived to fee his fon obtain the laurel-
crown, at the Alban games; as he had formerly done himſelf. Valerius Flaccus wrote
a little (38) before Statius. He died young; and left his poem unfiniſhed. We have but
feven books of his Argonautics, and part of the eighth; in which, the Argonauts are left
on the fea, in their return homewards. Several of the (39) modern criticks, who have
been ſome way or other concerned in publiſhing Flaccus's works, make no fcruple of
placing him next to Virgil, of all the Roman epic poets; and I own I am a good deal
inclined to be ſeriouſly of their opinion: for he feems to me to have more fire than Silius,
and to be more correct than Statius; and as for Lucan, I cannot help looking upon
him as quite out of the queftion. He imitates (40) Virgil's language much better than
(33) There ſeems to me to be an allufion run quite
throughout it; as if Juvenal had been ſpeaking all the
while of a common proſtitute.
Curritur ad vocem jucundam & carmen amica
Thebaidos; lætam fecit cum Statius urbem,
Promifitque diem. Tanta dulcedine captos
Afficit ille animos; tantâque libidine vulġi
Auditur.
Juvenal. Sat. 7. y. 86.
However that be, I ſhould think that the fingle ex-
preffion of, libidine vulgi, would quite ſpoil it for a
panegyric.
An extreme good judge looked upon it as a ſatire
rather than a panegyric, long agö. Non multum
adeo Statium à fuorum temporum fcriptoribus ama-
tum eâ ratione colligo, (fays he) quod ab iis ejus nul-
lam fere mentionem factam vides, præterquam ab Ju-
venale; qui & illum perftringere potius fatiricè vide-
tur, quàm laudare: ita enim canit in ſeptimâ, Curri-
tur ad vocem jucundam, &c. Gyraldus, Dial. 4.
(34) Gevartius, in his notes on the Sylvæ, con-
jectures that Martial and Statius were not very good
friends they had common acquaintance, as Stella
and others; and yet neither of them ever mentions
the other's name. Raderus carries it farther. He
imagines that Statius had the advantage over Martial
in fome extempore verfes. They both wrote on the
fame fubject, Hetrufcus's baths. Statius's copy of
verſes on them run to a great length; and Martial
ſeems to ridicule him for it, under the name of Sa-
bellus, in an epigram that begins thus; Laudas balnea
verfibus trecentis.He is fuppofed too to have
aimed at him in fome other of his epigrams.
(35) Thebais, ut ipfemet cecinit, "Multâ cruciata
limâ," atque idcirco durior, & inconcinnior alicubi,
quibufdam videtur: extant & quinque Sylvarum libri,
ex quibus & vehemens in eo poematis genere illius &
penè extemporale ingenium, & fubitum calorem, ut
K
Silius,
ipfe ait, percipere poffitis. Gyraldus, de Poet. Lat.
Dial. 4.
(36) Ìn a copy of verfes of his on Lucan, (after
that poet's death) the chief point he ſeems to drive at
is to prefer Lucan to Homer, and Virgil, and all the
Roman epic poets together.
Graio nobilior Melete Bætis :
Betin Mantua provocare noli!
Statius, Lib. 2. Sylv. 7. .35.
Nocturnas alii Phrygum ruinas,
Et tardas reducis vias Ulyffei,
Et puppim temerarium Minervæ,
-Tritâ vatibus orbitâ fequantur.
Hæc primo juvenis canes fub æve
Ante annos culicis Maroniani.
Cedet mufa rudis ferocis Ennî;
Et docti furor arduus Lucretî;
Et qui per freta duxit Argonautas ;
Et qui corpora prima transfigurat.
4.
Ibid. . 51.
İb. : 74.
Ib. . 78.
(37) Gyraldus, de Lat. Poet. D. 4.
(38) Flaccus, addreffes his poem to Vefpafian ; and
Statius his Sylvæ, to Domitian.
(39) Inter fcriptores Romanos qui poefin epićam
lucubrationibus fuis infignitam jam olim reddiderunt,
haud quifquam nobis occurrit, quem C. Valerio
Flacco jure præferamus, poft verè divinum & majo-
rem comparatione omni Maronem Virgilium. Nic.
Heinfius's Pref. to the Elz. Ed. of Flaccus.Quod
fi Lucano & Papinio componere tantum feriptorem
volueris, facile videbis quid illis fuperfit, quid huic
non defit, ut conftituatur ex tribus illis princeps poft
Maronem. Gafpar Barthius Adverf. 1. 56. c. 11.
(40) For an inſtance of Flaccus imitating Virgil's
ftyle better than Statius, fee the defcriptions of the fu-
rious Venus, from each of them. Dial. 7. pofth.
34
POLYME TIS.
1
Silius, or even Statius; and his plan, or rather his ſtory, is certainly leſs embaraffed and
confuifed than the Thebaid. Some of the antients themſelves fpeak of Flaccus with a
great deal of reſpect; and particularly (41) Quintilian: who fays nothing at all of Silius,
or Statius; unleſs the latter is to be included in that (42) general expreffion of, feveral
others whom he leaves to be celebrated by pofterity.
As to the dramatic writers of this time, we have not any one comedy; and only ten
tragedies, all publiſhed under the name of Lucius Annæus Seneca. They are probably
the work of (43) different hands; and might be a collection of favourite plays, put toge-
ther by fome bad grammarian: for either the Roman tragedies of this age were very in-
different, or theſe are not their beft. They have been attributed to authors as far
diftant as the reigns of Auguftus and Trajan. It is true, the perſon who is ſo pofitive that
one of them in particular must be of the Auguftan age, fays this of a piece that he ſeems
reſolved to cry up at all rates; and I believe one fhould do no injury to any one of them,
in fuppofing them all to have been written in this third age; under the decline of the
Roman poetry.
Or all the other poets under this period, there are none whofe works remain
to us, except Martial and Juvenal. The former flouriſhed under (44) Domitian and
Nerva the latter under (45) Nerva, Trajan, and Adrian.
MARTIAL is a dealer only in a little kind of writing; for Epigram is certainly (what
it is called by Dryden) the loweſt ſtep of poetry. He is at the very bottom of the hill;
but he diverts himſelf there in gathering flowers and playing with infects, prettily enough.
If Martial made a new-year's gift, he was fure to ſend a diſtich with it: if a friend died,
he made a few verfes to be put on his tomb-ftone: if a ſtatue was fet up, they came to
him for an inſcription. Theſe were the common offices of his muſe. If he ſtruck a
fault in life, he marked it down in a few lines; and if he had a mind to pleaſe a friend,
or to get the favour of the great, his ftyle was turned to panegyric; and theſe were her
higheſt employments. He was however a good writer in his way; and there are in-
ſtances even of his writing with fome dignity, on higher occaſions.
JUVENAL began to write after all I have mentioned; and, I do not know by what
good fortune, writes with a greater fpirit of poetry than any of them. He has fcarce
any thing of the gentility of Horace: yet he is not without humour; and exceeds all the
fatirifts in ſeverity. To fay the truth, he flaſhes too much like an angry executioner:
but the depravity of the times, and the vices then in fashion, may often excufe fome de-
gree of rage in him. It is (46) ſaid he did not write till he was elderly; and after he had
been
(41) After faying that Cornelius Severus would
have been their next poet to Virgil, had he lived to
finiſh his work on the Sicilian war: but that he died
young; and that what he had wrote fhewed a great
deal of genius, and a greater bent for writing justly,
than could be expected in fo young a man: he adds
immediately. Multum & in Valerio Flacco nuper
amifimus. Quintilian. Inft. Or. L. 1o. c. 1. p. 747.
Ed. 1665.
(42) Sunt clari hodieque, & qui olim nominabun-
tur. Quintilian. Ibid. p. 748.
(43) Juftus Lipfius attributes Medea to the true
Seneca under Claudius: Hercules Furens, and feve-
ral of the others, to another Seneca under Trajan:
and as the Thebais is his great favourite, he will have
that piece to have been written in the Auguftan age.
Heinfius thinks the Thebais quite unworthy of the
praifes given it by Lipfius: and attributes the ten La-
tin tragedies to no leſs than five ſeveral authors. The
1ft, 2d, 5th, and 8th, to Marcus Annæus Sene a,
furnamed Tragicus: the 4th, 6th, and 7th, to L.
Annæus Seneca the philofopher: and the 3d, 9th,
and roth, to three different declaimers. See Brumoy's
Theatre Gr. T. 2. P. 442.
(44) He has ſeveral epigrams addreffed to thoſe
two emperors.
(45) This is, I think, very well proved by Dod-
well, in a treatiſe on this fubject; and might be ftill
farther confirmed, from feveral other paffages in Ju-
venal himſelf.
(46) Declamavit ad mediam fere ætatem: poftea
ad fatiras componendas animum appulit. Prateus ·
Life of Juvenal before the Delphin Ed.
DIALOGUE the Fourth.
35
been too much uſed to declaiming. However his fatires have a great deal of ſpirit in
them and fhew a ſtrong hatred of vice, with fome very fine and high fentiments of vir-
tue. They are indeed ſo animated, that I do not know any poem of this age, which
one can read with near fo much pleaſure as his fatires.
•
•
JUVENAL may very well be called the laft of the Roman poets. After his time poetry
continued decaying more and more, quite down to the time of Conftantine: when all
the arts were fo far loft and extinguiſhed among the Romans, that from that time they
themfelves may very well be called by the name they (47) ufed to give to all the world,
except the Greeks: for the Romans then had ſcarce any thing to diſtinguiſh them from
the Barbarians.
THERE are therefore but three ages of the Roman poetry, that can carry any weight
with them in an enquiry of this nature. The firft age, from the firſt Punic war to the time
of Auguftus, is more remarkable for ftrength, than any great degree of beauty in writing.
The fecond age, or the Auguftan, is the time when they wrote with a due mixture of
beauty and ſtrength. And the third, from the beginning of Nero's reign to the end of
Adrian's, when they endeavoured after beauty more than ſtrength: when they loft much
of their vigour; and run too much into affectation. Their poetry, in its youth, was
ftrong and nervous; in its middle age, it was manly and polite; in its latter days, it
grew tawdry and feeble: and endeavoured to hide the decays of its former beauty and
ftrength, in falfe ornaments of drefs, and a borrowed fluſh on the face; which did not fo
much render it pleaſing, as it fhewed that its natural complexion was faded and loſt.
THUS, fays Polymetis, I have at laft got through the whole progreſs of poetry at Rome.
You fee I have found out fo much to fay upon it, that I am fure you will eafily excuſe
my entering on the fecond part of the ſubject you have given me, till a farther occafion.
(47) Nam et gentibus proprii mores funt: nec i-
dem in Barbaro, Romano, Græco, probabile eft.
Quintilian. Inft. Or. L. 5. c. 10: p. 363. Ed.
1665.
Fage.35
Bortan Cup,
36
POLYMETIS.
}
DIAL.
V.
Of the Introduction, Improvement, and Fall of the Arts
at Rome.
A
FTER fupper, as they were talking over the different rifes and falls of poetry,
among the Romans; Myfagetes was ſaying, that what had been obſerved by
Polymetis on the three characters of the Roman poetry, in its riſe, its flouriſh-
ing, and its decline, feemed to him to proceed from the natural temper and conftitution
of poetry in general. At leaſt, fays he, I believe it would be found in fact to have made
the fame fort of progreſs, and to have taken the fame ſteps in moſt other nations. What
has been faid of the Roman, would hold equally of the Grecian poetry: but without go-
ing fo far back as to the times of Alexander the great; in the modern world, which we
are a little better acquainted with, has not the courſe of poetry, in Italy, in France, and
here at home, been much the fame with what has been mentioned of the Roman? In
each, the beginnings of their poetry have been rude, but ſtrong: in their beſt ages, they
have had the trueſt taſte of fimplicity; not ſo rude and naked, but modeftly adorned and
well dreft: and when they come to fall, they have always run into affectation; by en-
deavouring to make an appearance above their ſtrength. I fhould perhaps have eafily
been brought over, by your joint authorities, fays Philander, had I differed from
before; but to fay the truth, I have long fince thought that the weakneſs and decline of
poetry, in any country, appears firſt in flutter and finery. I fuppofe we ſhall find the
cafe is pretty much the fame too, with its fifter arts of ſtatuary and painting, when Po-
lymetis has been fo good as to give us an account of their progrefs and decline at Rome.
I underſtand you, fays Polymetis; and am ready to give the account I promiſed, as
well as I can. It will be, I believe, ſtill more imperfect than the former: but I can pro-
miſe you at leaſt that it ſhall not be near fo long; and confequently, I hope, not near fo
tedious.
you
THE city of Rome, as well as its inhabitants, was in the beginning rude and unadorned.
Thoſe old rough foldiers looked on the effects of the politer arts, as things fit only for an
effeminate people as too apt to foften and unnerve men; and to take from that mar-
tial temper and ferocity, which they encouraged fo much and fo univerfally in the in-
fancy of their ſtate. Their houſes were (what the name they gave them fignified) only
a (1) covering for them, and a defence againſt bad weather. Theſe ſheds of theirs were
more like the caves of wild beaſts, than the habitations of men: and were rather flung
together as chance led them (2), than formed into regular ſtreets and openings. Their
walls were (3) half mud; and their roofs (4), pieces of boards ftuck together: nay even
this was an after-improvement; for in Romulus's time, their houſes were (5) only covered
with
(1) Tecta. In the fame manner perhaps the word
culmina, for the roofs of their houſes, ſhews their old
method of covering them with ſtraw.
(2) Ουκ εκ διανομης τινος η τάξεως, αλλ' ως εκας-ος
ετοιμοτήτος η Ελήσεως είχε, των χοριων καταλαμβανομε
νων διο και τεταραγμένην τοις στενωποις, και συμπεφυρ
μενην ταις οικησεσιν ανήγαγον την πολιν, υπο σπεδης και
Tax85. Plutarch. in Camillo, p. 145. Ed. Steph.
(3) Camenta non calce durata, fed interlita luto;
ftructuræ antiquæ genere. Livy, L. 21. §. 11.
(4) Scandulâ contectam fuiffe Romam, ad Pyrrhi
ufque bellum, annis 470, Cornelius Nepos autor eſt.
Pliny, L. 16. c. 4. p. 142. Elz.
(5) One may gueſs a little at their other buildings,
from the palace of their kings. It was a little thatched
houſe; and very ill furniſhed.
Romuleoque recens horrebat regia culmo.
Virgil. Æn. 8. .654.
Parva fuit, fi prima velis elementa referre,
Roma: fed in parvâ ſpes tamen hujus erat.
Moenia jam ftabant populis angufta futuris;
Credita fed turbæ tunc nimis ampla fux.
Quæ fuerit noftri fi quæris regia nati,
Afpice de cannâ ftraminibufque domum:
In ftipulâ placidi carpebat munera fomni.
Ovid. Faft. L. 3. . 185.
Dum cafa Martigenam capiebat parva Quirinum;
Et dabat exiguum fluminis alva torum.
Ib. L. 1. . 200.
Ovid
DIALOGUE the Fifth.
37
with ftraw. If they had any thing that was finer than ordinary, that was chiefly taken
up in ſetting off the (6) temples of their gods: and when theſe began to be furniſhed with
ſtatues (for they had none (7) till long after Numa's time) they were probably more fit to
give terror than delight; and feemed rather formed fo as to be horrible enough to ſtrike
an awe into thoſe who worſhipped them, than handſome enough to invite any one to
look upon them for pleaſure. Their defign, I fuppofe, was anſwerable to the mate-
rials they were made of; and if their gods were of (8) earthen-ware, they were reckoned
better than ordinary; for many of them were chopt out of wood. One of the chief
ornaments in thoſe times, both of the temples and of private houſes (9), confifted in their
antient trophies: which were (10) trunks of trees cleared of their branches, and fo formed
into a rough kind of pofts. Theſe were loaded with the arms they had taken in war:
and you may eaſily conceive what fort of ornaments theſe poſts muſt make, when half
decayed by time, and hung about with old rufty arms, befmeared with the blood of
their enemies. Rome was not then that beautiful Rome, whofe very ruins at this day
are fought after with fo much pleaſure: it was a town (11), which carried an air of ter-
ror in its appearance; and which made people fhudder, whenever they first entered
within its gates.
SUCH was the ſtate of this imperial city, when its citizens had made ſo great a progreſs in
arms as to have conquered the better part of Italy, and to be able to engage in a war with the
Carthaginians; the ſtrongeſt power then by land, and the abfolute maſters by fea. The
Ovid is not the only one that calls it, a cottage.-Si
totâ urbe nullum melius ampliufve tectum fieri poffit,
quàm cafa illa conditoris eft noftri; fays Camillus,
Livy, L. 5. §.53.-Ortum è parvulâ Romuli casâ, to-
tius terrarum orbis fecit columen. Val. Max. Lib. 2.
Cap. 8.-Per Romuli cafam, perque veteris Capi-
tolii humilia tecta, & æternos Vefta focos fictilibus e-
tiamnum vafis contentis juro, nullas divitias talium
virorum paupertati poffe præferri! Id. Lib. 4.
Cap. 4.
(6) Vetera hoftium fpolia, detrahunt templis por-
ticibufque. Livy, L. 22. §. 57. (See L. 10. §. 46,
&c. &c.)
Ε
(7) Διεκώλυσεν ανθρωποειδή και ζωομορφον εικονα
θεο Ρωμαίοις νομίζειν εδ' ην παρ' αυτοις γέγραπίου ελε
Yea#Tov 87ε
πλαστον είδος θες προτερον. Αλλ' εκατον εβδομηκοντα
τοις πρωτοίς ετεσι, ναυς μεν οικοδομημενοι διεξελον, και
καλιαδας ιερας ισωντες" αγαλμα δε δεν εμμορφον ποι
γμένος JETE. Plutarch. in Numa. p. 65. Ed. Steph.
Par. 1624.
(8) Fictilibus crevere deis hæc aurea templa ;
Nec fuit opprobrio facta fine arte cafa.
Propert. L. 4. El. 1. . 6.
Jupiter antiquâ vix totus ftabat in æde
Inque Jovis dextrâ fictile fulmen erat.
Ovid. Faft. L. 1. y. 202.
Hanc rebus Latris curam præftare folebat,
Fictilis & nullo violatus Jupiter auro.
Juvenal. Sat. 11. . 116.
Lignea aut fictilia deorum fimulacra in delubris di-
cata ufque ad devictam Afiam. Pliny, Nat. Hift. L. 34.
C. 7.
(9) This was a privilege at frft allowed only to the
Patricians ; and carried fome rights along with it.
Quorum domos fpoliis hoftium affixis infignes inter
alias feceritis; is mentioned as one of the honours,
Romans
which the Patricians had fuffered the Plebeans to ſhare
with them; by Livy, L. 10. §. 7.In making
up the defect of the fenators, after the defeat at Cannæ,
they choſe firſt out of fuch as had borne any of the
great offices in the ſtate; then of fuch as had borne the
inferior: and thirdly from thofe, qui fpolia ex hofte
fixa domi haberent, aut civicam coronam accepiffent.
Id. L. 23. §. 23.
It was unlawful to remove theſe trophies ;- -aliæ
foris & circa limina animorum ingentium imagines
erant; affixis hoftium fpoliis, quæ nec emptori re-
fringere liceret: triumphabantque etiam dominis mu-
tatis ipfe domus. Pliny, Nat. Hift. L. 35. C. 2.
P. 415. Elz..
And they never did remove them,
but on very extraordinary occafions; as after the de-
feat at Cannæ, &c. See Note 6.
L
(10)
Indutos truncos hoftilibus armis.
Virg. Æn. 11. ✈. 83.
His deſcription of the trophy of Æneas over Me-
zentius is more particular; and juſt like the trophies
we fee on medals, and the triumphal columns and
arches of the better ages of Rome.
}
Ingentem quercum, decifis undique ramis,
Conftituit tumulo; fulgentiaque induit arma:
Mezenti ducis exuvias; tibi magne tropæum
Bellipotens! Aptat rorantes fanguine criftas,
Telaque trunca viri; & bis fex thoraca petitum
Perfoffumque locis: clypeumque ex ære finiftræ
Subligat; atque enfem collo fufpendit eburnum.
En. II.
.11.
εγινωσκε
(11) Oudev yag Eye (the city of Rome) d' sy wwOXE
προτερον των κομψών και περιτίων· δε ην εν αυτή το χα
ριεν τέλει, και γλαφυρον, και αγαπωμένον. Οπλων δε
βαρβαρικων και λαφύρων εναίμων αναπλέως εσα, και
περιστεφανωμένη θριαμβων υπομνήμασι και τροπαίοις,
εχ' ιλαρόν, εδ' αφόβον, δε δείλων την θεαμα και του
QwVTwv ExTwv. Plutarch. in Marcello. p. 310. Ed.
Steph. Par. 1624.
38
POLYMETIS.
For
;
Romans, in the firſt Punic war, added Sicily to their dominions. In the fecond, they
greatly increaſed their ftrength, both by fea and land; and acquired a taſte of the arts
and elegancies of life, with which till then they had been totally unacquainted.
tho' before this they were mafters of Sicily, (which in the old Roman geography made
a part of (12) Greece) and of feveral cities in the eaſtern part of Italy, which were in-
habited by colonies from Greece; and were adorned with the pictures, and ſtatues and
other works, in which that nation delighted and excelled the reft of the world fo much
they had hitherto looked upon them with ſo careleſs an eye, that they had felt little or
nothing of their beauty. This infenfibility they preferved fo long, either from the groff-
nefs of their minds; or perhaps from their fuperftition, and a dread of reverencing foreign
deities as much as their own; or (which is the most likely of all) out of mere politics,
and the defire of keeping up their martial ſpirit and natural roughnefs, which they
thought the arts and elegancies of the Grecians would be but too apt to deſtroy. How-
ever that was, they generally preferved themſelves from even the leaſt ſuſpicion of taſte
for the polite arts pretty far into the fecond Punic war: as appears by the behaviour of
Fabius Maximus in that war, even after the ſcales were turned on their fide. When
that general took Tarentum, he found it full of riches, and (13) extremely adorned with
pictures and ſtatues. Among others, there were fome very fine (14) coloffeal figures of
the gods, repreſented as fighting againſt the rebel giants. Theſe were made by fome of
the moſt eminent mafters in Greece; and the Jupiter, not improbably, by (15) Lyfippus.
When Fabius was difpofing of the fpoil, he ordered the money and plate to be fent to
the treaſury at Rome, but the ſtatues and pictures to be left behind. The ſecretary, who
attended him in his furvey, was fomewhat ftruck with the largeneſs and noble air of the
"Yes,
figures juft mentioned; and aſked whether they too muſt be left with the reft?
replied Fabius, leave their angry gods to the Tarentines; we will have nothing to do
with them."
MARCELLUS had indeed behaved himſelf very differently, in Sicily; a year or two be
fore this happened. As he was to carry on the war in that province, he bent the whole
force of it againſt Syracufe. There was at that time no one city which belonged to the
Greeks, more elegant, or better adorned, than the city of Syracufe: it abounded in the
works of the beſt maſters. Marcellus, when he took the city, cleared it entirely; and
fent all their ſtatues and pictures to Rome. When I fay all, I uſe the language of the
people of Syracufe; who foon after laid a complaint againſt Marcellus before the Roman
fenate, in which they charged him with ftripping all their houſes and temples, and
(16) leaving nothing but bare walls throughout the city. Marcellus himſelf, did not at all
difown it; but fairly confeffed what he had done: and uſed to declare that he had done
(12) Cum Græcis à Camillo nulla memorabilis
gefta res. Cujus populi ea, cujus gentis claffis fuerit,
nihil certi eft. Maximè Siciliæ fuiffe tyrannos cre-
diderim: nam ulterior Græcia eâ tempeftate, inteftino
feffa bello, jam Macedonum opes horrebat. Livy,
L. 7. §. 26.—Et multa nobilia figna, quibus inter
primas Græciæ urbes Syracufæ ornatæ fuerant. Id.
L. 26. §. 21.-Urbem, omnium fermè Græcarum
illâ tempeftate pulcherrimam. Id. L. 25. §. 24. of
Syracufe.-Gloriam captæ nobiliffimæ pulcherrimæ-
que urbis Græcarum dii tibi dederunt, Marcelle. Ib.
§. 29.Cicero in the fame manner calls Syracuſe,
nobiliffima Græciæ civitas. Tufc. Quæft. L. 5.
(13) Ingens argenti vis facti fignatique : auri octua-
ginta feptem millia pondo: figna tabulæque, prope ut
Syracufarum ornamenta æquarent. Livy,Lib.27.§.17.
(14) Majore animo generis ejus prædâ abftinuit
fo,
Fabius quam Marcellus; qui interroganti ſcribæ quid
fieri de fignis vellet, (ingentis magnitudinis dii funt,
fuo quifque habitu in modum pugnantium formati ;}
deos iratos Tarentinis relinqui, juffit. Id. ibid.
(15) If theſe coloffeal figures mentioned by Livy
repreſented the gods fighting againſt the giants, that
of Jupiter could not be omitted. Lucilius fpeaks of
a remarkable vaſt figure of Jupiter at Tarentum, and
fays it was made by Lyfippus. We learn from him
that the height of it was 60 foot.
Lyfippi Jupiter iſta
Tranfivit quadraginta cubita altu' Tarento.
Sat. Lib. 16.
(16) Certè præter monia & tecta exhauſtæ urbis,
ac refracta ac ſpoliata deorum delubra (diis ipſis, or-
namentifque eorum ablatis) nihil relictum Syracufis
effe. Livy 26. §. 30.
DIALOGUE the Fifth.
39
fo, in order to adorn Rome; and to introduce (17) a taſte for the fine arts among his
countrymen.
SUCH a difference of behaviour in their two greateſt leaders, foon occafioned two dif
ferent parties in Rome (18). The old people in general joined in crying up Fabius.
Fabius was not rapacious, as fome others were; but temperate in his conquefts. In
what he had done, he had acted not only with that moderation which becomes a Ro-
man general, but with much prudence and forefight. "Theſe fineries, they cried, are
.
a pretty diverfion for an idle effeminate people: let us leave them to the Greeks. The
"Romans defire no other ornaments of life, than a fimplicity of manners at home, and
fortitude againſt our enemies abroad. It is by thefe arts that we have raiſed our name
"fo high, and ſpread our dominion fo far: and fhall we fuffer them now to be ex-
changed for a fine taſte, and what they call elegance of living? No, great Jupiter,
"who prefideft over the Capitol ! let the Greeks keep their arts to themſelves; and let
"the Romans learn only how to conquer and to govern mankind." Another fett, and
particularly the younger people, who were extremely delighted with the noble works of
the Grecian artiſts that had been fet up for fome time in the temples, and portico's, and
all the moſt public places of the city; and who ufed frequently to ſpend the greateſt
part of the day in contemplating the beauties of them; extolled Marcellus as much for the
pleaſure he had given them. "We ſhall now, faid they, no longer be reckoned a-
" mong the Barbarians. That ruft, which we have been fo long contracting, will foon
"be worn off. Other generals have conquered our enemies; but Marcellus has con-
quered our ignorance. We begin to fee with new eyes, and have a new world of
"beauties opening before us. Let the Romans be polite, as well as victorious: and let
"us learn to excel the nations in tafte, as well as to conquer them with our arms."
WHICH-EVER fide was in the right, the party for Marcellus was the ſucceſsful one:
for from this point of time we may date (19) the introduction of the arts into Rome. The
Romans by his means began to be fond of them: and the love of the arts is a paffion,
which grows very faft in any breaſt, wherever it is once entertained.
We may fee how faft and how greatly it prevailed at Rome, by a speech which old
WE
Cato the cenfor made in the fenate, not above feventeen years after the taking of Syra-
cufe. He complains in it (20), that their people began to run into Greece and Afia; and
to be infected with a defire of playing with their fine things: that as to fuch ſpoils, there
was lefs honour in taking them, than there was danger of their being taken by them:
that the gods brought from Syracufe, had revenged the cauſe of its citizens, in fpread-
ing this taſte among the Romans: that he heard but too many daily crying up the or-
naments of Corinth and Athens; and ridiculing the poor old Roman gods: who had
hitherto been propitious to them; and who he hoped would ſtill continue fo, if they
would but let their ſtatues remain in peace upon their pedeſtals.
(17) Ου μην αλλά τέλοις εσεμνύνετο, και προς τις
Έλληνας, ως τα καλα και τα θαυματα της Ελλαδος εκ
επισάμενος τιμαν και θαυμάζειν Ρωμαίος δίδαξας.
Plutarch. in Marcel. p. 310. Ed. Steph. Par. 1624.
(18) This is chiefly founded on what Plutarch ſays
of this affair; in his life of Marcellus.
(19) Marcellus-ornamenta urbis, figna tabulafque
quibus abundabant Syracufæ, Romam devexit. Ho-
ftium quidem illa fpolia; & parta belli jure: cæterum
inde primum initium mirandi Græcarum artium opera,
licentiæque hinc facra profanaque omnia vulgo fpo-
liandi, factum eft. Livy, L. 25. §. 40.
(20) “Jam in Græciam Afiamque tranſcendimus,
IT
omnibus libidinum illecebris repletas ; & regias e-
tiam attrediamus gazas. Eo plus horreo, ne illa ma-
gis res nos ceperint, quam nos illas. Infefta, mihi
credite, figna ab Syracufis illata funt huic urbi. Jam
nimis multos audio Corinthi & Athenarum ornamenta
laudantes miranteſque; & antefixa fictilia deorum Ro-
manorum ridentes. Ego hos malo propitios deos: &
ita fpero futuros, fi in fuis manere fedibus patiemur."
Livy, L. 34. §. 4.
It appears that this grave old cenfor was no enemy
to a pun; from his figna infefta, & ceperint, &c. a-
bove. Horace may poffibly allude to the latter where
he fays;
Græcia capta ferum victorem cepit, & artes
Intulit agrefti Latio.
Lib. 2. Ep. 1. *. 157.
}
40
POLYMETIS.
IT was in vain too that Cato ſpoke againſt it; for the love of the arts prevailed every
day more and more: and from hence forward the Roman generals, in their feveral con-
queſts, ſeem to have ſtrove who ſhould bring away the greateſt number of ſtatues and pic-
tures, to ſet off their triumphs, and to adorn the city of Rome. It is ſurpriſing what accef-
fions of this kind were made in the compaſs of a little more than half a century after Marcel-
lus had fet the example. The elder Scipio Africanus brought in a (21) great number of
wrought vaſes from Spain and Afric, toward the end of the ſecond Punic war: and the very
year after that was finiſhed, the Romans entered into a war with Greece; the great ſchool
of all the arts, and the chief repofitory of moſt of the fineſt works that ever were produced
by them. It would be endleſs to mention all their acquifitions from hence; I fhall only put
you in mind of fome of the moſt confiderable. Flaminius made a great ſhew both of (22)
ſtatues and vafes in his triumph over Philip king of Macedon; but he was much ex-
ceeded by Æmilius, who reduced that kingdom into a province. Æmilius's triumph (23)
laſted three days; the first of which was wholly taken up in bringing in the fine ftatues
he had ſelected in his expedition; as the chief ornament of the ſecond confifted in vafes
and ſculptured veffels of all forts, by the moſt eminent hands. Thefe (24) were all the
moft chofen things, culled from the collection of that fucceffor of Alexander the great ;
for as to the inferior ſpoils of no leſs than ſeventy Grecian cities, Æmilius had left them
all to his foldiery, as not worthy to appear among the ornaments of his triumph. Not
many years after this, the younger Scipio Africanus (the perſon who is moſt celebrated
(25) for his polite taſte of all the Romans hitherto, and who was fcarce exceeded by any
one of them in all the fucceeding ages) deſtroyed Carthage; and transferred many of the
chief ornaments of that city, which had fo long bid fair for being the feat of empire, to
Rome, which foon became undoubtedly fo. This muſt have been a vaft acceffion: tho'
that great man, who was as juſt in his actions as he was elegant in his taſte, did not bring
all the fineſt of his fpoils to Rome, but left a great part (26) of them in Sicily, from
whence they had formerly been taken by the Carthaginians. The very fame year that
Scipio freed Rome from its moft dangerous rival Carthage, Mummius (who was (27) as
remarkable for his rufticity, as Scipio was for elegance and taſte) added Achaia to the Ro-
man ftate; and facked, among feveral others, the famous city of Corinth, which had
been long looked upon as one of the principal reſervoirs of the fineſt works of art. He
cleared it of all its beauties, without knowing any thing of them: even without know-
ing, that an old Grecian ftatue was better than a new Roman one. He ufed however the
fureſt method of not being miſtaken: for he took all indifferently as they came in his
(21) Livy, L. 26. §. 47.
(22) Id. L. 34. §. 52.
(23) Plutarch. in vitâ Æm. p. 272. Ed. Francf.
(24) Livy, L. 45. §. 33 & 34.
(25) Tu videlicet folus vafis Corinthiis delectaris?
Tu illius æris temperationem, tu operum lineamenta
folertiffimè perfpicis? Hæc Scipio ille non intellige-
bat, homo doctiffimus atque humaniffimus ?-Vide
ne ille non folum temperantiâ, fed etiam intelligentiâ
te, atque iſtos, qui fe elegantes dici volunt, vicerit.
Cicero. 4 in Verrem.
(26) Id. Ibid.
(27) Diverfi imperatoribus mores; diverfa fuere
ftudia. Quippe Scipio tam elegans liberalium ftu-
diorum, omnifque doctrinæ & auctor & admirator
fuit, ut Polybium Panatiumque præcellentes ingenio
viros, domi militiæque fecum habuerit; neque enim
quifquam hoc Scipione elegantiùs intervalla negotio-
way;
rum otio diſpunxit:-Mummius tam rudis fuit,
ut captâ Corintho, cum maximorum artificum per-
fectas manibus tabulas ac ftatuas in Italiam portandas
locaret, juberet prædici conducentibus; fi eas perdi-
diffent, novas eos reddituros. Paterc. L. 1. §. 13.
There is a yet ſtronger inſtance of the ignorance of
this Mummius. In the fale of the plunder of Co-
rinth, there was a picture of Bacchus, by Ariftides,
for which king Attalus gave near 5000 pound. It had
been fo little regarded by the Roman foldiers, that
fome of them had ufed it for a table to play at
dice upon. (See Strabo, Lib. 8. p. 381.) Their ge-
neral, who probably thought as contemptibly of it as
they could do, was aſtoniſhed at the vaſt price given
for it; concluded there muſt be ſome ſort of (magic)
virtue concealed under it: and actually went fo far,
as to take away the picture again from Attalus, on
that account; and to carry it with him to Rome.
Pretium miratus, fufpicatufque aliquid in eâ virtutis
quod ipfe nefciret; revocavit tabulam, Attalo mul-
tum querente, & in Cereris delubro pofuit. Pliny,
Lib. 35. Cap. 4. p. 419. Elz.
DIALOGUE the Fifth.
41
:
way; and brought them off in fuch quantities, that he alone is faid (28) to have filled
Rome with ſtatues and pictures. Thus, partly from the taſte, and partly from the va-
nity of their generals, in lefs than feventy years time, (reckoning from Marcellus taking
of Syracuſe, to the year in which Carthage was deſtroyed) Italy was furniſhed with the
nobleft productions of the antient artiſts; that before lay fcattered all over Spain, Afric,
Sicily and the reft of Greece. Sylla, befide many others, added vaftly to them after-
wards; particularly by his taking of Athens, and by his conquefts in Afia: where by his
too great indulgence to his armies, he made taſte and rapine a general thing, even a-
mong
the (29) common foldiers; as it had been, for a long time, among their leaders.
In this manner, the firſt confiderable acquifitions were made by their conquering ar-
mies: and they were carried on by the perfons fent out to govern their provinces, when
conquered. As the behaviour of theſe in their governments in general was one of the
greatest blots on the Roman nation, we muſt not expect a full account of their tranf-
actions in the old hiſtorians, who treat particularly of the Roman affairs: for ſuch of theſe
that remain to us, are either Romans themſelves, or elſe Greeks who were too much at-
tached to the Roman intereſt to ſpeak out the whole truth in this affair. But what we
cannot have fully from their hiftorians, may be pretty well ſupplied from other hands.
A poet of their own, who ſeems to have been a very honeſt man, has ſet the rapaciouſ
nefs of their (30) governors in general in a very ſtrong light; as Cicero has ſet forth that
of Verres in particular, as ftrongly. If we may judge of their general behaviour by that
of this governor of Sicily, they were more like monſters and harpies, than men. For
that public robber (as Cicero calls him, more than once) hunted over every corner of
his iſland, with a couple of finders (one a Greek painter, and the other a ſtatuary of the
ſame nation) to get together his collection; and was fo curious, and fo rapacious in that.
fearch, that Cicero fays (31), there was not a gem, or ftatue, or relievo, or picture, in
all Sicily, which he did not fee; nor any one he liked, which he did not take away
from its owner. What he thus got, he fent into Italy. Rome was the center both of
their ſpoils in war, and of their rapines in peace and if many of their prætors and pro-
confuls acted but in half ſo abandoned a manner as this Verres appears to have done, it is
very probable that Rome was more enriched in all thefe fort of things (32) fecretly by
their governors, than it had been openly by their generals.
•
THERE was another method of augmenting thefe treaſures at Rome, not ſo infamous
as this, and not fo glorious as the former. What I mean was the cuſtom of the Ædiles,
when they exhibited their public games, of adorning the theatres and other places where
(28) Pliny's Nat. Hiſt. L. 34. C. 7.
(29) L. Sulla exercitum quem in Afiâ ductaverat,
quo fibi fidum faceret, contra morem majorum, lux-
uriosè nimifque liberaliter, habuerat.-Ibi primum
infuevit exercitus populi Romani amare, potare;
figna, tabulas pictas, vafa cælata, mirari; ea priva-
tim ac publicè rapere; delubra deorum fpoliare; fa-
cra profanaque omnia polluere. Saluft. Bel. Cat.
§. II.
(30) Juvenal. See his 8th Satire, .87, to 139:
where, among other things, he ſays:
Non idem gemitus olim, nec vulnus erat par
Damnorum; fociis florentibus, & modò viêtis.
Plena domus tunc omnis, & ingens ftabat acervus
Nummorum: Spartana chlamys, conchylia Coa:
Et cum Parrhafii tabulis fignifque Myronis
Phidiacum vivebat ebur: necnon Polycleti
Multus ubique labor; raræ fine Mentore menfæ.
>
:
Inde Dolabella eft ; atque hinc Antonius: inde
Sacrilegus Verres. Referebant navibus altis
Occulta fpolia, & plures de pace triumphos.
they
Nunc fociis juga pauca boum, & grex parvus equarum,
Et pater armenti capto eripietur agello:
Ipfi deinde Lares; fi quod fpectabile fignum,
Si quis in ædiculâ deus unicus.
Juv. Sat. 8. y. III.
(31) Nego ullam gemmam aut margaritam fuiffe.;
aut quidquam ex auro aut ebore factum; fignum ul-
lum æneum, marmoreum, eburneum; nego ullam
picturam, neque in tabulis,, neque textilem fuiffe;
quin quæfierit, infpexerit;, &, quod placitum fit,
abftulerit. Cicero, 4. in Ver. fub initio,
·
!!!
(32) I take this to be the true meaning of thoſe
expreffions in Juvenal, quoted Note 30, anteh.
Referebant navibus altis
Occulta fpolia, & plures de pace triumphos.
M.
誊
​42
POLYMETIS.
they were performed, with great numbers of ſtatues and pictures; which they bought
up or borrowed, for that purpoſe, all over Greece, and fometimes even from Afia.
Scaurus, in particular, in his ædileſhip, had (33) no leſs than three thouſand ſtatues and
relievo's for the mere ornamenting of the ſtage, in a theatre built only for four or five
days. This was the fame Scaurus who (whilſt he was in the fame office too) brought
to Rome (34) all the pictures of Sicyon, which had been fo long one of the moſt emi-
nent fchools in Greece for painting; in lieu of a debt owing, or pretended to be owed,
from that eity to the Roman people.
4
FROM theſe public methods of drawing the works of the beft antient artifts into Italy,
it grew at length to be a part of private luxury, affected by almoſt every body that could
afford it, to adorn their houſes, their portico's, and their gardens, with the beſt ſtatues
and pictures they could procure out of Greece, or Afia. None went earlier into this
taffe; `than the family of the Luculli: and particularly Lucius Lucullus, who carried on
the war againſt Mithridates. He was remarkable for his love of the arts and polite learn-
ing even from a (35) child: and in the latter part of his life, gave himfelf up fo much to
collections of this kind, that Plutarch reckons it among his follies. "As I am fpeaking
of his faults (fays (36) that hiftorian in his life) I fhould not omit his vaft baths, and
piazzas for walking; or his gardens, which were much more magnificent than any in his
time at Rome, and equal to any in the luxurious ages that followed: nor his exceffive
fondnefs for ſtatues and pictures; which he got from all parts, to adorn his works and
gardens ; at an immenfe expence; and with the vaft riches he had heaped together in
the Mithridatic war." There were feveral other families which fell about that time
into the fame fort of excefs; and among the reft, the Julian. The firft emperor, who
was of that family, was a great collector: and, in particular was as fond of old (37) gems;
as his fucceffor Auguftus, was (38) of Corinthian vafés.
THIS may be called the firft age of the flourishing of the politer arts at Rome; or ra-
ther the age in which they were introduced there: for the people in this period were
chiefly taken up in getting fine things and bringing them together. There were perhaps
ſome particular perſons in it of a very good tafte: but in general one may ſay there was
rather a love, than any great knowledge of their beauties, during this age, among the
Romans. They were brought to Rome in the firſt part of it in greater numbers than
can be eaſily conceived; and in fome time, every body began to look upon them with
pleaſure. The collection was continually augmenting afterwards, from the ſeveral me-
thods I have mentioned: and I doubt not but a good tafte would have been a general
thing among them much earlier than it was, had it not been for the frequent convul-
fions in their ſtate, and the perpetual ſtruggles of fome great man or other to get the
reins of government into his hands. Theſe continued quite from Sylla's time, to the
eſtabliſhment
(33) In M. Scauri ædilitate tria millia fignorum,
in ſcenâ tantum fuere; temporario theatro. Pliny,
Nat. Hift. L. 34. c. 7. Elz.
(34) Sicyone hic (Paufias) vitam egit : diuque fuit
illa patria picturæ. Tabulas inde e publico omnes
propter æs alienum civitatis addictas Scauri ædilitas
Romam tranftulit. Ib. L. 35. c. 11.
It was from thefe, and fuch other arts as thefe, that
the fame author fays of him, in another place-Pri-
vatis opibus M. Scauri: cujus nefcio an ædilitas max-
imè proftravit mores civiles. Ib. L. 36. p. 493.
(35) Την εμμελη ταυτην και λεγομένην ελευθερίαν επι
τω καλω προσεποιείτο παιδείαν, ετι και μειρακιον ων.
Plutarch. in Lucul. p. 492. Ed. Francf.
(36) Plutarch. in Lucullo, p.518. Ed. Francf..
(37) Gemmas, toreumata, figna, tabulas operis
antiqui, femper animofiffimè comparaffe (prodide-
runt:)—immenfo pretio ; & cujus ipfum etiam pu-
deret, fic ut rationibus vetárêt inferri. Suetonius,
in Julio Cæf. §. 47.
lar which he placed in the temple he had built to Ve-
Pliny ſpeaks of a fine collection of gems in particu-
nus Genetrix. L. 37. C. I.
(38) Notatus eft ut pretiofæ fupellectilis Corinthio-
rumque præcupidus. Suetonius, in Augufto Cæf.
§. 70. He adds that, in the time of his profeription,
he marked down fome, only to get their fine Corin-
thian vaſes: which occafioned the oldeſt Paſquinade,
perhaps,on record. For upon this action of his, fome-
body one night wrote under his ſtatue; « Pater, Ar-
gentarius; ego, Corinthiarius." Ibid.
DIALOGUE the Fifth.
43
eftabliſhment of the ftate under Auguftus. The peaceful times that then fucceeded; and
the encouragement which was given by that emperor to all the arts, afforded the Ro
mans full leiſure to contemplate the fine works that were got together at Rome in the
age before, and to perfect their tafte in all the elegancies of life. The artiſts who were
then much invited to Rome, worked in a ftyle greatly fuperior to what they had done
(39) even in Julius Cæfar's time fo that it is under Auguſtus that we may begin the fe-
cond, and moſt perfect age of fculpture and painting, as well as of poetry. Auguftus
changed the whole appearance of Rome itſelf: he found it (40) ill built; and left it a
city of marble. He adorned it with buildings, extremely finer than any it could boaſt
before his time; and fet off all thofe buildings, and even the (41) common ſtreets, with
an addition of fome of the fineft ftatues in the world.
On the death of Auguftus, tho' the arts and the taſte for them, did not fuffer fo great
a change, as appeared immediately in the taſte of eloquence and poetry, yet they muſt
have fuffered a good deal. There is a fecret union, a certain kind of ſympathy between
all the polite arts, which makes them languiſh and flouriſh together. The fame circum-
ſtances are either kind, or unfriendly, to all of them. The favour of Auguftus, and the
tranquillity of his reign, was as a gentle dew from heaven in a favourable ſeaſon, that made
them bud forth and flouriſh: and the four reign of Tiberius, was as a ſudden froſt that
checked their growth, and at laſt killed all their beauties. The vanity, and tyranny, and
diſturbances of the times that followed, gave the finiſhing ſtroke to ſculpture as well as
eloquence, and to painting as well as poetry. The Greek artifts at Rome were not ſo
foon or fo much infected by the bad taste of the court, as the Roman writers were: but
it reached them too, tho' by flower and more imperceptible degrees. Indeed what elſe
could be expected from fuch a run of monſters, as Tiberius, Caligula, and Nero? For
theſe were the emperors under whofe reigns the arts began to languiſh: and they fuffered
fo much from their baleful influence, that the Roman writers foon after them fpeak of all
the arts as being brought to a very low ebb. They talk of their being extremely fallen in
(42) general; and as to painting, in particular, they reprefent it as in a moft feeble (43) and
dying condition. The feries of fo many good emperors which happened after Domitian,
gave ſome ſpirit again to the arts but foon after the Antonines, they all declined apace;
and by the time of the thirty tyrants were quite fallen; fo as never to rife again, under
any future Roman emperor.
(39) This appears moſt ſtrongly, by comparing the
medals about Julius Cæfar's time, with thofe of the
Auguſtan age.
(40) Urbem neque pro majeftate imperii ornatam,
& inundationibus incendiifque obnoxiam, excoluit
adeò, ut jure fit gloriatus; " Marmoream fe relin
quere, quam lateritiam accepiffet." Suetonius in
Suetonius in・・
Aug. §. 28. For the particulars, fee ibid. §.29.
Livy calls him, templorum omnium conditorem, aut
reftitutorem. L. 4. c. 20.
(41) Pretiofiffima deorum fimulacra mercatus, vi-
catim dedicabat. Suetonius, in Aug. §. 57.
(42) Pace veftrâ liceat dixiffe, primi omnium elo-
quentiam perdidiftis. Petr. Arb. Sat. p. 2. Lond.
1693.
Sæpe ex me requiris, cur cum priora fæcula tot
eminentiumi otatorum ingeniis gloriâque effloruerint;
noſtra potiffimum ætas, deferta & laude orbata, vix
nomen ipfum oratoris retineat. Quintil. de Caufis
corruptæ Eloquentiæ. p. 701. Ed. Hack.
You
Quis ignorat et eloquențiam et cæteras artes defci-
viffe ab iftâ vetere gloriâ, non inopiâ hominum, fed
defidiâ juventutis, & negligentiâ parentum, & infci-
entiâ præcipientium, & oblivione moris antiqui? Id.
Ibid. p. 739.
Ita eft profecto; artes defidia perdidit. Pliny,
L. 35. c. 2. p. 414. Elz.
There is a ſtrong paffage on this, in a ſatire attri
buted by Scaliger to Sulpitia; who, he fays, flou-
riſhed under Domitian.
Quidnam pater ille deorum
Cogitat? An terras & patria fæcula mutat?
Quafque dedit quondam, morientibus eripit artes ?
Nofque jubet, tacitos & jam rationis egenos,
Non aliter primo quàm cum furreximus ævo ;
Glandibus & puræ rurfus procumbere lymphæ ?
*. 17.
(43) Picturâ, arte quondam nobili. (Pliny Nat.
Hift. L. 35. c. 1. p. 413. Elz.)- Nunc, nulla no-
bilis pictura eft. Ib. C. 7. p. 426.Hactenus
dictum fit de dignitate artis morientis. Ib. C.
P. 421.
5.
}
POLYMET IS.
44
You may fee by theſe two accounts I have given you of the Roman poetry, and of
the other arts; that the great periods of their rife, their flouriſhing, and their decline a-
gree very well; and as it were tally with one another. Their ſtyle was prepared, and a
vaſt collection of fine works laid in, under the firſt period, or in the times of the repub-
lic. In the fecond, or the Auguftan age, their writers and artifts were both in their
higheſt perfection: and in the third, from Tiberius to the Antonines, they both began
to languifh; and then revived a little, and, at laſt, funk totally together.
In comparing the deſcriptions of their poets with the works of art, I ſhould therefore
chuſe to omit all the Roman poets after the Antonines. Among them all there is perhaps
no one whoſe omiffion need be regretted, except that of 'Claudian: and even as to him
it may
be confidered that he wrote when the true knowledge of the arts was no more;
and when the true taſte of poetry was ſtrangely corrupted and loft;` even if we were to
judge of it by his own writings only, which are extremely better than any of the poets
long before and long after him. It is therefore much better to confine one's felf to the
three great ages, than to run fo far out of one's way for a fingle poet, or two: whoſe
authorities after all muſt be very difputable, and indeed fcarce of any weight.
THERE is a great deal of difference even as to the writers of the three allowed ages.
Thofe of the firſt, and eſpecially toward the beginning of it, were but little acquainted
with the arts; and confequently are but of little authority. Ennius has the moſt pictu-
reſque ſtrokes of any of them: but he was a great imitator of foreign poets; and his de-
ſcriptions probably are more taken from his reading, than from any great taſte or know-
ledge in the things themſelves. Beſides the appearances, and dreſs, and attributes of the
imaginary beings, were not fo well fettled among the Romans in his time as they came
to be afterwards. One would therefore be very ſparing in making uſe of paffages from
him and his cotemporaries: and if one uſed any, they ſhould be rather to illuſtrate ſuch
points as are confirmed by greater authorities, than to build any novelty on their own:
for they fometimes differ confiderably from the Auguftan writers; and where they differ,
it is eaſy to ſee on which fide the ſcale fhould turn. The poets of the Auguſtan age are
on all accounts the moſt to be depended upon; and Virgil more than any of them. His
Æneid muſt be the facred writ in, this fort of enquiries. His tafte, and judgment, and
exactneſs, give him this pre-eminence over all the poets of the happy age he lived in.
Ovid's authority is but of a mixt kind: for tho' he enjoyed the fame advantages of writ-
ing in the Auguſtan age, and of living much in Auguftus his court, the luxuriance of
his fancy and the incorrectneſs of his manner of writing, may render what he ſays more
doubtful and uncertain. The poets of the third age have a middle kind of authority;
greater than thoſe antient writers, and leſs than the Auguftan: as much better acquainted
with the works of art than the former, and much leſs exact than the latter. Silius may,
perhaps, be allowed the greateſt authority of any poet of this age, "for his carefulneſs, and
his particular love of the arts; as Lucan's heat, and Statius's inexactneſs, may make them
lefs fit to be depended upon than fome others who wrote under the decline of poetry and
of the arts at Rome. But there is not fo great a difference in theſe, as to require that one
ſhould ſettle the rules of precedence punctually between them; at leaſt I ſhall leave that
trouble to the critics who may be nicer about it, than ever I fhall care to be.
8
}
I
DIA L.
:
45
BOOK II.
Of the Twelve Great Celeſtial Deities.
DIAL. VI.
Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva.
HE rain, which continued all the night, and part of the next morning, hin-
dered Polymetis and his friends from going out fo foon as they would otherwife
have done. Almoft the moment it held up, they took a turn or two on the
terrace which runs along the brow of the hill. As Polymetis was very buſy in pointing
out ſome of the beauties of the country and of the river to them; Philander, (who was
more defirous of feeing the new difpofition of his ftatues, than one of the moſt pleaſing
profpects in the world) interrupted him, to beg that they might go directly to his Ro-
tonda; which appeared at a little diſtance from them, on the chief eminence of the hill.
He longed yet more to hear Polymetis on the fubject he had promiſed; and had been
juſt ſaying ſomething of the great diſcoveries he expected from fuch a compariſon. Since
you defire it, fays Polymetis, we will go thither directly; but I would not have you
expect too much. The ſtories told in marble may fometimes help one to find out the
meaning of a paffage in the antient poets; and the poetical ſtories may ſometimes explain
an old marble: but this does not happen very often. The chief uſe I have found in this
fort of ſtudy, or amuſement, call it which you pleaſe, has not been ſo much in diſcover-
ing what was wholly unknown; as in ftrengthening and beautifying what was known
before. When the day was fo much overcaft juft now, you faw all the fame objects
that you do at preſent; theſe trees, that river, the foreft on the left hand, and thoſe
ſpreading vales to the right: but now the fun is broke out, you ſee all of them more
clearly, and with more pleaſure. It fhews fcarce any thing that you did not fee before;
but it gives a new life and luftre to every thing that you did fee. It is much the fame
with the writings of the old poets, when one is once got well acquainted with the finer
remains of the antient artiſts. You knew before, for inftance, that fuch a particular
deſcription was a deſcription of Venus; and perhaps underſtood the general import of
every word in it but when you have once got ſtrong ideas of the tenderneſs of that god-
defs's form, and of the fineneſs of her make, from the Venus of Medici and other cele-
brated repreſentations of her, you ſee the fame deſcription with other eyes; and find a
new brightneſs and enlightening diffufed all over it. It ſtrikes you more ſtrongly; and
touches the mind with a great deal more pleaſure than it did before. This is the chief
uſe I think one ſhould propoſe from any enquiry of this kind; and if ever it went farther,
I ſhould look upon that as clear gains, rather than as an effect which I expected
from it.
I AM much of your mind, fays Myfagetes; but for heaven's fake what is that eque-
ſtrian figure, at the hither corner of your Portico? Did not you tell us this was the tem-
ple for
your celeſtial deities, and that the Virtues were placed round it? What is that
then, a Virtue on horſeback?
WHEN I told you that this was the temple of the fupreme deities, anſwered Polymetis;
and that the Moral Beings and Virtues were placed round it; I fhould have told you,
that I had placed ſuch perſons, as the Romans fuppofed to have been admitted into the
fociety
N
46
POLYMETIS.
PLATE, I.
*
fociety of the great gods on account of their fuperior virtues, in the Portico of this
temple. I do not know how you could have chofen a properer place for them, fays
Philander; but are not there too many of them for any one Portico? No, fays Polymetis,
there were but fix admitted to that honour; and the firſt which you ſee of them is Pol-
lux; one who was a particular friend to the Romans, and was therefore, I ſuppoſe, en-
rolled by them in this ſmall number. But you may (1) hear more of this, when we come
to confider them more particularly: at prefent we will begin, if you pleaſe, with all due
reſpect, from the great gods. In faying this, he walked up the ſteps; and led them
into the Rotonda itſelf, without loſing any time in the Portico.
THO' his two friends expected a good deal from Polymetis's tafte, they were ftruck
more than they expected, on entering the temple. It was built much after the manner of
the famous Rotonda at Rome; only this was of the Compofite order, as that is of the
Corinthian and all the infide of it was finiſhed, in a very good tafte. Polymetis had got
ſome additional figures to compleat his collection which were new to them; and which
were very well diſpoſed in their proper niches all round the dome, and ornamented with
relievo's that referred to them. The middle fpace was all clear: and the light which
fell in from the top of the dome, in that pleafing manner which has been always fo much
admired in the above mentioned building, fhewed the figures to a very great advantage.
That of Jupiter, fitting on his curule chair, faced them as they came in. On his right
hand, ſtood Minerva; and Juno, on his left. Next to Minerva, but at ſome diſtance
from her, was Neptune; then Venus, Mars, and Vulcan: as on Juno's fide, were A-
pollo, Diana, Ceres, and Mercury: all in the order they are mentioned. Theſe were
all the ſingle figures in the temple; but they were accompanied with relievo's, and other
ornaments; ſome of them not inferior in beauty, to the ſtatues themſelves.
THE fitting figure in the midſt of this circle of deities, fays Polymetis, you will eaſily
know to be Jupiter. The diſtinguiſhing character of his perſon is Majeſty; and every
thing about him carries dignity and authority with it. His look is meant to ſtrike
ſometimes with terror; and fometimes with gratitude; but always with reſpect. It is a
great pity that we have no better figures of Jupiter: among all I have ſeen, I have never
ſeen one which could by any means be placed in the firſt claſs of the antient ſtatues that
remain to us. This (2) is a copy of that at the Verofpi palace in Rome; which is
reckoned the beſt of all I have ſeen: but which falls fhort even of the idea one might
form of a Jupiter in one's own mind, by the help of the antient poets; and infinitely
ſhort of the celebrated Jupiter made by Phidias, at Athens; and, probably, of many other
figures of this god in antient Rome.
You might however eafily know that this is Jupiter, by the dignity of his look; by
the fullneſs of his hair about his face; by that venerable beard; by that (3) mark of
command in his left hand, and the fulmen in his right: but I queſtion whether you
can ſo eaſily know, what Jupiter in particular this is meant to repreſent. As to that, re-
plied Philander, I am ſo far from being able to ſay what Jupiter, that I do not perfectly
know what you mean. I know indeed that Cicero mentions that there were ſeveral Ju-
piters; but I never heard how one ſhould diſtinguiſh them from one another. The di-
verſity I am ſpeaking of, fays Polymetis, does not relate to thofe confuſed notions of the
antient mythologiſts; but only to downright matter of fact. I fhall explain what I mean
(1) Dial. 9, pofth.
(2) Ovid, where he is defcribing a picture of the
12 great gods wrought in tapeſtry (which, by the
way, would be an excellent defign for a piece of
tapeſtry now) ſpeaks of Majeſty as the diſtinguiſhing
character of the figure of Jupiter, in that piece.
Bis fex cœleftes, medio Jove, fedibus altis
more
Auguftâ gravitate fedent. Sua quemque deorum
Infcribit facies: Jovis eft regalis imago.
Met. 6. .74.
(3) In the ſtatue at the Verofpi palace this appears
only as a truncheon: it is poffibly the remains of a
long ſcepter, which may have been broke formerly ;
and cut ſmooth. This very Jupiter, on medals, has
the long ſcepter in that hand; as in Plate 2. Fig. 1.
DIALOGUE the Sixth.
47
more at large; becauſe it is a point that is likely to occur extremely often, in what I
may have to fay to you.
THE old Romans, as well as the rest of the heathen world, were very expert at mak-
ing diftinctions by names; where, according to their own notions, there was no manner
of difference in the things. The thinking part of them believed that there was (4) but
one great Being, that made, and preſerved, and actuated all things: which is juſt as
much as to ſay that they believed there was but one God, in our ſenſe of the word.
Their beſt authors fay this exprefly, in books which they publiſhed in their life-time;
and ſome of them go fo far as even to give the reaſons why they talked vulgarly of fo
gods. When they confidered this one great Being as influencing the affairs of the world
in different manners, they gave him as many different names; and hence came all their
variety of nominal gods. When he thundered or lightened, they called him, Jupiter;
when he calmed the feas, Neptune: when he guided their councils, it was Minerva ; and
when he gave them ſtrength in battle, it was Mars. This was their firft great di-
ftinction
(4) The heathens, in general, believed, 1. That
there was but one fupreme God; and 2.They believed,
or rather talked of a multitude of minifters, deputies,
or inferior gods; as acting under this fupreme. The
firſt may be called, the philofophical belief; and the
fecond, the vulgar belief of the heathens.
This might be well enough illuftrated from the Ro-
man catholics: who always affert there is but one
God; tho' they worſhip ſuch a number of Divi, as
minifters and difpenfers of bleffings, under that one
God.
That the antient Romans believed there was but
one God, appears from the concurrent teftimony of
the greateſt philofophers they ever had among
them.
Tho' fo much of Varro's works is loft to us, yet
we learn from thoſe who were well acquainted with
his works when they were more entire, (and from St.
Auſtin in particular,) what Varro's opinion was in
this cafe. Hi foli Varroni videntur animadvertiffe
quid effet Deus; qui crediderunt eum effe, animam
motu ac ratione mundum gubernantem. St.Auſt. de
Civ. Dei. Lib. 4. Cap. 9.
-
Cicero was ſtrongly of this opinion. He fays, in
one place, Princeps ille Deus, qui omnem hunc mun-
dum regit, ficut animus humanus id corpus cui præ-
pofitus eft. (Somn. Scip. §. 3.) In another:
Nec verò Deus ipfe alio modo intelligi poteft, nifi
mens foluta quædam & libera, fegregata ab omni con-
cretione mortali, omnia fentiens & movens. (Tufc.
Quæft. Lib. 1.)—In a third: Effe præftantem ali-
quam æternamque naturam, & eam fufpiciendam ad-
mirandamque hominum generi, pulchritudo mundi
ordoque rerum cœleftium cogit confiteri. (De Divin.
Lib. 2.)—————And in a fourth: Omnes gentes una
lex, & fempiterna & immortalis, continebit; unuf-
que erit, quafi magiſter & imperator omnium, Deus.
(Fragm. Lib. 3. de Repub.)
Seneca teaches us, that all the different names in
ufe among the Romans, really fignified but one and
the fame god. Quid aliud eft natura, quam Deus &
divina ratio toti mundo & partibus ejus inferta? Quo-
ties voles, tibi licet aliter hunc auctorem rerum nof-
trarum compellare; et Jovem illum Optimum & Max-
imum rite dices, & Tonantem, & Statorem.-Hunc
eundem & fatum fi dixeris, non mentieris: nam cum
fatum nihil aliud fit quam feries implexa caufarum,
ille eft prima omnium caufa ex quâ cæteræ pendent.
Quæcunque voles illi nomina propriè aptabis, vim a-
many
liquam effectumque cæleftium rerum continentia: tot
appellationes ejus poffunt effe, quot munera. (De
Ben. Lib. 4. Cap. 7.) And in another place: Ne
hoc quidem crediderunt (antiqui) Jovem, qualem in
Capitolio & in cæteris ædibus colimus, mittere manu
fulmina; ſed eundem, quem nos, Jovem intelligunt:
cuftodem rectoremque univerfi; animum ac fpiritum,
mundani hujus operis dominum & artificem; cui
nomen omne convenit. (Nat. Quæſt. Lib.2. Cap.45.)
Pliny not only ſpeaks of God, as one; but gives
us the reaſon, why they talked vulgarly of more than
one. Deus-totus eft fenfus; totus vifus; totus au-
ditus; totus animæ ; totus animi; totus fui. Innu-
meros quidem credere, atque etiam ex virtutibus vi-
tiifque hominum,-aut ut Democrito placuit, duos
omnino pœnam & beneficium, majorem ad focor-
diam accedit. Fragilis & laboriofa mortalitas in par-
tes ifta digeffit, infirmitatis fuæ memor; ut portioni-
bus quifque coleret, quo maximè indigeret: itaque
nomina alia aliis gentibus, & numina in iifdem innu-
merabilia reperimus. (Nat. Hift. Lib. 2. Cap.7.)
Theſe four philofophers, (Varro, Cicero, Seneca,
and Pliny,) may be very well looked on as the four
chief fathers, of the old Latin church: fo that their
joint teftimony as to this important point, muft Ithink
prove what was the opinion of the antient Romans in
relation to it, in the ſtrongeſt manner that can well
be required.
·
One might bring a multitude of teftimonies to
prove, that the fame was an univerſal tenet, among
the heathens of old: but as that is leſs my buſineſs at
prefent, and would run this into a book inſtead of a
note, I fhall fatisfy myſelf only with a general affertion
of it from Maximus Tyrius; a Greek philoſopher,
who is faid to have refided for ſome time at Rome,
under the Antonines: fo that this fentence from him
may follow, properly enough, as an appendix to that
quoted from Pliny.. Εν τοσαζω-πολεμώ, και σα
σει, και διαφωνία, ενα ίδοις αν εν παση γη ομόφωνου
νομου και λόγον οτι θεος εις παυλών βασιλευς και
•?i walng•
και θεοι πολλοί, θες παιδες, συναρχοντες θεω. Ταυτα
δε ο Έλλην λεγει, και ο βαρβαρος λέγει και ο ηπειρω
της, και ο θαλατιος και ο σοφος, και ο ασοφος. (Dif-
fert. 17. p. 193. Ed. Lond.) This then was the be-
lief of all the heathens; that there was one great
God, the father and lord of all things; and feveral
under-gods: that is, in our fenfe of the word, no
gods at all; but deputies only, or agents under the
great God,
48
POLYMETIS.
ftinction without a difference. They ſeem at firft to have only made ufe of different
names; fuch as Jupiter, Neptune, Minerva, and the like; they afterwards carried it far-
ther, by using different repreſentations of this Jupiter, Neptune, and Minerva: and at laſt
came to confider them, vulgarly at leaſt, as fo many different perfons. In time, as feveral
diftinct acts and characters were attributed even to each of theſe nominal deities, and as the
figures of each were multiplied and varied in different places, they came by degrees to con-
fider each of them too in different views: and this was their fecond great diſtinction with-
out a difference. The Jupiter, for inftance, when ſhowering down bleffings, was called
the Kind Jupiter; and when puniſhing, the Terrible Jupiter. There was one Jupiter
for Europe, and another for Africa: and in Europe itſelf, there was one great Jupiter
who was the particular friend of the Athenians, and another who was the particular pro-
tector of the Romans. Nay, there was ſcarce a town, or hamlet perhaps, in Italy, that
had not a Jupiter of its own: and the (5) Jupiter of Terracina, for inftance, was repre-
ſented as differently from the great Jupiter at the Capitol, as the fame great Jupiter and
Apollo. Theſe diſtinctions were carried ſo much farther than the bare names, that I do
not at all queſtion but that, in the time of the Punic wars, it would have been looked
upon as highly wicked (or, at leaſt, as very abfurd,) for any Roman to have offered up
a prayer, for the ſucceſs of his countrymen againſt the Carthaginians, to (6) the African
Jupiter.
We had, not many centuries ago, much the fame abfurdities in our own country;
and at any time may ſee them practiſed, the firſt moment we pleaſe to ſtep out on the
continent. A little before the Reformation, when our devotions were almoſt wholly en-
groffed by the virgin Mary, ſhe had ſtatues in every town, village, church, and chapel;
and had different names and repreſentations, according to the (7) place fhe was in, or the
character ſhe bore. There was then probably with us, as there is in Italy at preſent, one
virgin of the mountains, and another of the valleys; one for thoſe who travel by land to
pray to, and another for fuch as travel by ſea. Any body at that time, had they been
aſked the queſtion, would have faid, upon fecond thoughts, that there was but one
(5) The Jupiter Anxur, (or Jupiter of Terracina,)
is repreſented on medals as young and beardleſs; with
rays round his head; and in his whole figure more
like an Apollo, than a Jupiter. See Montfaucon,
Vol. 1. Pl. 12, 9.
(6) There is a remarkable paffage, ſomewhat to
this purpoſe, in Silius Italicus. It is where he is
ſpeaking of the league made by Scipio with Syphax
king of Maſæſylia, in the time of the fecond Punic
war: in making which, he fays, that they invoked
both the Roman Jupiter, and the African Jupiter;
in their joint prayers before the altar.
Audivit læto Maffylus, & annuit, ore :
Complexufque virum, " Firmemus profpera, dixit,
Omina; nec votis fuperi concordibus abfint:
Cornigerumque Jovem, Tarpeiumque, ore vocemus."
Lib. 16. . 261.
This puts one in mind, of the forms uſed of old,
in their alliances, or treaties of peace; in the entrance
of which, they uſually named the different gods of
either nation. Thus, in the alliance made between
the Macedonians and Carthaginians, but a few years
before in the fame war; which runs thus." In
the preſence of Jupiter, and Juno, and Apollo; in
the preſence of the tutelary Divinity of the Cartha-
ginians, and of Hercules, and of Iölaus; in the pre-
fence of Mars, of Triton, and Neptune; in the pre-
fence of the Gods who accompany our expedition;
and of the Sun, the Moon, and the Earth; in the
preſence of (the Gods of) the Rivers, the Meadows,
and the Waters; in the preſence of all the Gods who
rule over Carthage; in the preſence of all the Gods
virgin
who rule over Macedon, and the reſt of Greece; in
the preſence of all the Gods who prefide over warlike
expeditions, and of thoſe who ſtood over us at the
taking this oath: Hanibal the general hath ſaid, and
all the fenators of Carthage that are with him, and all
the Carthaginians that are in his army (have faid.) As
it ſeems good unto you, and to us, let this (oath) be
an oath of amity and good-will between us, as friends,
relations, and brethren :" &c. The whole treaty is
in Polybius, Lib. 7. p. 502, to 505. Ed. Wechel.
1609.
(7) As the antients had their Capitoline and their
Olympian Jupiter, ſo we had our virgin of Winche-
fter and our virgin of Walfingham: and as there were
temples to the Capitoline Jupiter in other places, as
well as on the Capitoline hill, and one at Athens in
particular; fo we had places dedicated to the virgin
of Wincheſter, in other places as well as Wincheſter ;
and one at Oxford in particular. The fociety at Ox-
ford (to which I am obliged more than I could eaſily
exprefs, for paffing the beſt part of my life, in a moſt
agreeable manner) was eſtabliſhed before the light of
the Reformation had begun to dawn on England; by
one of the nobleft patrons of learning, that ever was.
As he was, in thoſe times, biſhop of Wincheſter, he
founded a feminary there; and a college to be fup-
plied with ftudents from it, at Oxford. This col-
lege, at Oxford, was dedicated Sanctæ Mariæ Win-
tonienfi; and both of them are called, the two St.
Mary-Winton colleges, on fome folemn occafions,
to this day.
DIALOGUE the Sixth.
virgin Mary yet they looked upon one figure (8) of her as more venerable than another;
and there were many devout people then that gave vaft prefents to the virgin of Win-
chefter, for example; who would have grudged perhaps to make the moſt infignificant
offering to the virgin of Walfingham. They thought her more prefent in one place
than the other; or had had feveral obligations to her figure at Wincheſter, and none at
all to that at Walfingham.
JUPITER was almoſt as much in faſhion among the old worshippers of images, as the
virgin among the modern. He had temples, and different characters, almoft every
where. At Carthage, he was called Ammon; in Egypt, Serapis at Athens, the great
Jupiter was the Olympian Jupiter; and at Rome, the greateſt Jupiter was the Capito-
line. And to return to what occafioned this digreffion, it is the laft mentioned, the Ca-
pitoline Jupiter, which I take to be repreſented in the ſtatue you are now looking upon.
THIS Capitoline Jupiter was the great guardian of the Romans; and it was he who
was to give them the empire of the whole world: an idea, which (as I have faid already)
was very early and very ſtrong among them. They reckoned his influence and power
fuperior to that of the African or Afiatic Jupiters; and called him (9), the beſt and great-
eft Jupiter. For tho' it has been generally taken otherwife, I cannot help imagining that
the title of Optimus Maximus was vulgarly uſed as a furname of this particular Jupiter
among the Romans; much in the fame manner as the title of Auguftus, was particularly
appropriated for the furname, of the fecond of their Cæfars.
49
IT appears from ſeveral medals, as well as from ſeveral paffages in the old Roman
authors, that the figure of this Capitoline Jupiter, or the Jupiter Optimus Maximus,
(which ever you pleaſe to call him) was repreſented, in his chief temple on the Capito-
line hill, as fitting on a curule chair; whith the thunder in one hand, and a ſcepter in
the other. Such you ſee him in the medal I have in my hand; but before we go on, I PLATE, II.
muſt beg you to confider him a little more particularly.
FIG. I.
In his right hand, you fee, he grafps his fulmen; his thunder, as we are uſed to
tranflate that word, improperly enough; for we fhould rather call it, his (10) lightning.
(8) This appears from the practice of all the Ro-
man catholic countries at prefent; and particularly
from that of Rome itſelf. In that city, there is a
church dedicated to the virgin of Loretto. One
would think that the virgin of Loretto fhould be as
powerful, and as much eſteemed at Rome, as he is
at Loretto; but there is not near the fame refpects
paid her there, nor fuch preſents made to her, as at
Loretto. The virgin, at Loretto itſelf, is exceffively
rich; and at Rome very poor in compariſon: nay,
feveral of the inhabitants of Rome go every year to
pay their devotions to the ſtatue of the virgin at Lo-
retto; tho' they have other ſtatues of her, ſo ncar
their own doors.
(9) Cicero fays that they called their Capitoline
Jupiter the beſt and the greateft. Quocirca te, Capi-
toline, quem propter beneficia populus Romanus Op-
timum, propter vim Maximum nominavit. Orat.
pro domo fuâ.
On medals too we have this infcription, "The
Capitoline Jupiter, the Beſt and the Greateft;" as in
that of Vitellius, Pl. 2. N. 1.
Our great Archbiſhop Tillotſon ſeems to under-
ſtand theſe names in a larger ſenſe, and more worthy
of his own way of thinking. "Among the divine
titles, fays he, Goodneſs always had the pre-eminence;
This
Ευστε μεγασίες
both among the Greeks and Romans; Evole μeyote,
Deus optimus maximus, was their conftant ſtyle."
(Vol. 2. Serm. 90. p.678.) And Cicero himſelf has
given him fufficient reafon for faying fo; for, on
another occafion, where he is fpeaking of Jupiter in
general, he ſays: A poetis dicitur divum atque ho-
minum pater; (or, the kind governour :)à majoribus
autem noftris, optimus maximus: et quidem ante
optimus, id eft beneficentiffimus, quam maximus
quia majus eft, certéque gratius, prodeffe omnibus
quàm opes magnas habere. De Nat. Deor. L. 2.
;
Cicero, in theſe two paffages quoted from him,uſes
thefe words optimus maximus in different fenfes in
the firſt, as a name applied to a particular national
deity; and in the ſecond, as a general character of the
Great Being: and this difference, I think, may be
eafily accounted for. The first, or vulgar ſenſe, is
uſed in a ſpeech of his to the people; and the ſecond,
or philoſophical ſenſe, is uſed in one of the moſt phi-
lofophical treatiſes he ever wrote.
(10) There is perhaps no one word in the whole
Roman language,whoſe fignification is more diſtinctly
determined by their antient writers themſelves, than
that of the word fulmen. One could give ſeveral abfo-
lute definitions of it, in their own words.
Ο
Si
50
POLYMETI S.
PLATE, II.
FIG. 2.
•
This fulmen, in the hand of Jupiter, partook fomething of the nature of an hieroglyphies
of old; and had different meanings, according to the different manners in which it was
repreſented.
THERE were three ways of reprefenting it moſt uſual among the old artiſts. The firſt is
a bundle of flames, as wreathed clofe together, and formed much in the fhape of what we
call the thunder-ftone at prefent. The fecond is the fame figure, with two tranfverfe darts
of lightning, and fometimes with wings added on each fide of it, to denote its fwift-
nefs. Such was the devife which all the foldiers of the thundering legion (as it is called)
bore on their ſhields; as you fee it frequently reprefented both on the Antonine, and
Trajan pillar, at Rome; and in feveral other remains of antiquity: which, by the way,
may fervé very well to explain (11) fome lines in Valerius Flaccus, that would not be near
fo intelligible without their affiftance. The third is an handful of flames, all let looſe in
their utmoſt fury. Theſe three different reprefentations of the fulmen anſwer very well
to the (12) three different forts of lightning, which the Roman philofophers and divines
fometimes ſpeak of.
THE old artifts, when they were to deſign any figure of Jupiter, generally feem to have
adapted his fulmen to the character under which they were to repreſent him. If his ap-
pearance was to be mild and calm, they gave him the firſt fort, or the conic fulmen,
held down in his hand. If puniſhing, he holds up the ſecond fort; or the three-forked
bolt of Jøve, as the poets have very properly called it. And if going to do ſome exem-
plary
Si in nube luctetur flatus aut vapor, tonitrua edi;
fi erumpat ardens, fulmina: fi longiore tractu nitatur,
fulgetra. Pliny, Nat. Hift. L. 2. c. 43.
Quum autem ſe in nubem induerint, ei ufque te
nuiffimam quanque partem cœperint dividere ac dif-
rumpere, idque crebriùs facere & vehementiùs, tum
et fulgores & tonitrua exiftere: fi autem nubium
conflictu ardor expreffus fe emiferit, id effe fulmen.
Cicero de Divin. L. 2. §. 64.
Igneus ille
Vortex, quod patrio vocitamus nomine fulmen.
Lucretius 6. . 297.
When we are taught (as we generally are) to tranſ-
late the word fulmen, by the word thunder: we uſe
a word that is apt to give an idea of noiſe, without any
idea of the light; for a Latin word which gave an
idea of light, without any idea of the noiſe.
This miſtake is very apt to make people loſe the
beauty of feveral paffages in the old Roman writers;
as, for instance, where Cicero ſpeaks of the fulmina
verborum, or where Virgil calls the two Scipios the
duo fulmina belli.
The meaning of Virgil in that expreffion is opened
to us, more at large, in a fimilie of Lucan's; which,
by the way, is one of the beſt perhaps in the whole
Pharfalia. It is where he is giving us the character of
Julius Cæfar; toward the opening of that poem.
Acer, & indomitus, quô fpes quôque ira vocaffet
Ferre manum; & nunquam temerando parcere ferro ;
Succeffus urgere fuos, inftare favori
Numinis, impellens quicquid fibi fumma petenti
Obftaret; gaudenfque viam feciffe ruinâ.
Qualiter expreffum ventis per nubila fulmen
Ætheris impulfi fonitu mundique fragore
Emicuit, rupitque diem; populofque paventes
Terruit, obliquâ præſtinguens lumina flammâ :
In fua templa furit, nullâque exire vetante
Materiâ, magnamque cadens magnamque revertens
Dat ftragem latè, fparfofque recolligit ignes.
Lib. I. . 157.
Where Mr. Pope makes ufe of the fame image to
point out the particular character of the late Earl of
Peterborough ;
-He, whofe lightning pierc'd th' Iberian lines;
how much of the beauty and juſtice of it would have
been loft, had he uſed the word thunder, inſtead of
the word he has uſed?
(11) This winged fulmen generally ſpread all over
the fhield; as in Plate 2. Fig. 2. which is the copy
of a ſhield, on the Antonine pillar. This fort of fi-
gure on the Roman ſhields is thus deſcribed by Vale-
rius Flaccus :
Cuneta phalanx infigne Jóvis cælataque geftat
Tegmina; difperfos trifidis ardoribus ignes :
Nec primus radios, miles Romane, corufci
Fulminis & rutilas fcutis diffuderis alas.
Argon. 6. . 56.
The make of his fulmen there, (in three rays up-
wards, and as many downwards) agrees very well
too with the common epithets of trifidum & trifulcum,
in the Roman poets.
Ignibus armata eft-
Trifida flamma.
Ovid. Met. 2. ✈. 325.
Cui dextra trifulcis
Id. Ibid. y. 849-
Flaccus ſpeaks of them too as all on fire, in the paſ-
fage above; and feems to make them caft a bright
reflection, as ſuch, on the wings in his ſhield; which
is a very juſt, and very picturefque idea.
(12) Fulmina dicunt, (the augurs,) à Jove mitti; &
tres illi manubias dant. Prima, ut aiunt, monet &
placata eft; & ipfius confilio Jovis mittitur. Secun-
dam quidem Jupiter, fed ex concilii fententiâ; Duo-
decem enim Deos advocat : quæ prodeft quidem, ſed
non impunè. Tertiam manubiam idem Jupiter mittit,
ſed adhibitis in confilium diis, quos fuperiores & in-
volutos vocant; quæ vaftat, & incendit, & rerum
mutat ftatum privatum & publicum. Seneca; Nat.
Quæft. L. 2. C.41.
DIALOGUE the Sixth.
51
f
FIG. 3.
plary execution, they give him the third; and fometimes fill even both his hands with
flames. There is a figure of Jupiter, in Senator Buonaroti's collection at Florence, PLATE, II.
where you ſee him holding up the three-forked bolt as juſt going to dart it on fome guilty
wretch that has provoked him; but with the conic fulmen lying under his feet, to fhew
that it is of no uſe to him on occafions of ſuch ſeverity. The figures of the Capitoline
Jupiter had generally, I believe, the mildeſt fulmen, and that held down; his character
being rather a character of goodneſs, than ſeverity. And when they gave him flames in
his right hand, even thoſe are held down: to fignify, that he is always ready to over-
turn any nation or people that ſhould infult the Roman ſtate; without deſtroying the
complacency of his character.
In his other hand, you fee, (13) he holds his fcepter; as the king, or father, (which
antiently fignified the fame thing) of all beings, whether human or divine. You muſt
not expect in his fcepter to meet with ſuch a ſhort ornamented thing, as we have an
idea of at preſent whenever we make uſe of that word. The ſcepter of the antients was
plain, as you fee it here; and tho' the figures of Jupiter ought not to be ſhort, his ſcep-
ter is generally longer than himſelf; whence it is, I ſuppoſe, that father Montfaucon fo
often calls it, his pike. To fay the truth, in the fimplicity of the earlier ages of the
world, the ſcepters of kings were really no other than long (14) walking-ftaves; and
thence had the very name of ſcepter, which now founds fo magnificently. Ovid, in
fpeaking of Jupiter, defcribes him as (15) reſting on his ſcepter; which, if taken in the
modern fenfe of the word, would be almoſt as ridiculous, as if one ſhould deſcribe a ge-
neral, at the head of his troops, refting on his truncheon,
It was neither his ſcepter, nor even his fulmen, that fhewed the fuperiority of Ju-
piter ſo much, as that air of majesty which the antient artiſts endeavoured tò expreſs in
his countenance. If fome of the nobler ftatues of Jupiter, as that of the Jupiter Olym-
pius made by Phidias, in particular, had remained to our times; we might ſee this more
ſtrongly than we can at preſent: for that was reckoned the mafter-piece of the greateſt
ftatuary that ever was; and thoſe who beheld it are faid to have been aſtoniſhed at the
greatneſs of his ideas in it. When he was (16) aſked how it was poffible for him to con-
ceive that air of divinity he had expreffed in the face of his Jupiter; he anſwered, “ that
he had copied it from the celebrated deſcription of that god in Homer." It is obſervable
that the perſonal ſtrokes in that deſcription relate to nothing but the head of hair, the
eye-brows, and the beard: and indeed in the beſt heads of Jupiter I have ever ſeen, I
have obſerved that it was theſe very particulars which gave his face the greateſt ſhare of
the dignity that appeared in it.
I HAVE known judges, fays Myfagetes, who owed much of their folemn air to a full-
bottomed wig; but I never knew before, that Jupiter was ſo very much obliged for his
to his beard. Take care a little, fays Polymetis; or you may be eaſily led, by your
(13) Pl. 2. Fig. 1.
2
(14) Σκηπτρον, απο το σκηπίεσαι.
The old ſcepter's being as long as a hunting-pole,
may ſerve to explain ſome expreffions in Virgil, relat-
ing to King Latinus's fcepter; which would not
be ſo proper, if applied to a truncheon or modern
fcepter.
Ut fceptrum hoc (dextra fceptrum nam forte gerebat)
Nunquam fronde levi fundet virgulta, nec umbras;
Cum femel in fylvis imo de ftirpe recifum
Matre caret; pofuitque comas & brachia ferro :
Qlim arbos.
An. 12. .210.
It was a whole young tree; cut from the root, and
Stript of its branches.
prejudice
(15) Celfior ipfe loco, fceptroque innixus eburno,
Terrificam capitis concuffit terque quaterque
Cæfariem.
Met. 1. y. 178.
(16) Phidias, cum Jovem Olympium fingeret, in-
terrogatus de quo exemplo divinam imitaretur effigi-
em; refpondit, archetypum Jovis in his fe tribus
Homeri verfibus inveniffe:
Η και κυανέησιν επ' οφρυσι νευσε Κρονίων
Αμβροσιαι δ' αρα χάιται επερρώσαντο ανακίος
Κρατος απ' αθανατοιο μεγαν δ' ελελιξεν Ολυμπον,
Nam de fuperciliis & crinibus, totum fe Jovis vultum
collegiffe. (Macrobius, Saturn. Lib. 5. c. 14.) We
have the fame anecdote, in Valerius Maximus; more
at large. Memorab. Lib. 3. Cap. 7.
52
POLYMET I S.
prejudice for our preſent modes, to advance ſomething, which may contradict
your own
eyes and your own judgment, when you look farther into it. It is true we ſcarce ever
fee a full beard on any but the loweſt fort of people among us; and that has given us a
mean idea of the thing itſelf. Nature perhaps defigned it for the ornament of old age;
but cuſtom has got the better of her. Yet when we were in Italy together, I remember
to have ſeen you admiring ſeveral reprefentations of the deity, which owed a great part
of that majeſtic air the beft painters generally give them in that country, to their beards.
How particularly were you ſtruck with that celebrated picture of (17) S. Antonio, at Bo-
logna? And how often have I heard you quoting it fince, as one of the moſt venerable
figures that could be conceived, for fuch a character? Now that very S. Antonio, your
great favourite, owes much of his venerable air to that long folemn beard, that falls fo
nobly all down his bofom. What is nobler too than the long beard in Michael Angelo's
Mofes? A full beard furely may give majefty as well as a long one; and you ſee, in
effect, how much it gives to the heads of kings on Greek medals: and, permit me tỏ
add, to the heads of the Greek Jupiters, in feveral of the buſts and gems of him, which.
we have had the pleaſure of feeing together.
A FULL beard ſtill carries that idea of majeſty with it, all over the Eaſt, which it may,
poffibly, have had ever fince the times of the patriarchal government there. The re-
Gre-
cians had a ſhare of this oriental notion of it. The very name is apt to carry fomething
low and ridiculous along with it among us: and to fay the truth, the Romans in their
beſt
agës ſeem to have had this Northern (or Gothic) idea of it, almoſt as much as we
have at prefent. A true antiquarian might think this a very good opportunity of inform-
ing you
of the great eſteem that was paid to beards by the Romans, in the (18) earlier
ages of their ſtate; who was the firſt perſon that ever was ſhaved in Rome; when the
cuſtom of having naked chins grew univerfal there; and how far the very idea of a beard
was become fordid and (19) contemptible, in the more polite ages of Rome. He would
tell you,
But I fee a fmile rifing on Myfagetes's face; and for once will be fo ma-
licious, as to difappoint him of his laugh. For heaven's fake, fays Myfagetes, do not
be ſo ſtrict an obſerver of the movements in my face; or, at leaſt, do not let them in-
terrupt you. However at preſent, I hope, they are pretty fafe: for the loſs of ſo con÷
fiderable an hiftory, as the hiftory of the Roman beards muſt have been, affects me fo
deeply, that I fhall not be in any difpofition to ſmile again, at leaſt for this half hour.
Be that as it will, fays Polymetis, I fhall only add at prefent, that Virgil feems to have
(17) S. Antonio abbate, preaching: by Lewis Ca-
rache; in a college dedicated to that faint. It is the
high altar-piece, in the chapel belonging to that
college.
(18) Even as far down, as to the facking of Rome
by the Gauls.Haud fecus quàm venerabundi in-
tuebantur in ædium veftibulis fedentes viros, præter
ornatum habitumque humano auguftiorem, majeftate
etiam quam vultus gravitafque oris præ fe ferebat fi-
millimos diis. Adeo velut fimulacra verfi cum fta-
rent, M. Papyrius unus ex his dicitur Gallo barbam
fuam, ut tum omnibus promiffa erat, permulcenti ;
&c. · Livy, L. 5. §. 41.
(19) The Roman poets, of the ſecond and third
(19) The Roman poets, of the fecond and third
ages, ſpeak very difrefpectfully of their forefathers;
on account of their long beards, and rough heads of
hair.
had
Credam dignum barbâ, dignumque capillis
Majorum
Id. S. 16. ý. 32.
Horace makes their beards a topic of ridicule, in
fpeaking of the philofophers of his time.
Solatus juffit fapientem pafcere barbam.
*.35.
Lib. 2. Sat. 3. . 35.
-Dii te, Damafippe, deæque,
Verum ob confilium donent tonſore!
-Vellent tibi barbam
Lafcivi pueri; quos tu nifi fufte coerces, &c.
Ib. .17.
Lib. 1. Sat. 3. *. 134.
a
Indeed about that time no body but theſe poor
philofophers, and fuch of the Romans as lay under
fome difgrace or misfortune, ever appeared with.
long beard.Sed erat vefte obfoletâ, capilloque
& barbâ promifsâ ; præferens in vultu habituque in-
fignem memoriam ignominiæ acceptæ cenfores
In gradibus fedit populus de cefpite factis ;
Quâlibet hirfutas fronde tegente comas.
eum tonderi, & fqualorem deponere, & in fenatum
Ovid. Art. Am. 1. .108. venire fungique aliis publicis muneribus, coegerunt.
Livy, Lib. 27. §. 34.
Hoc apud intonfos nomen habebat avos.
Id. Faft. 2. y. 28. Thus, as Suetonius tells us, Julius Cæfar let his
Facile eft barbato imponere regi.
beard grow, on the defeat of Tiberius; and Auguſtus,
Juvenal. S. 4. . 103. on that of Varus.
1
DIALOGUE the Sixth.
had as defpicable an idea of beards as you can have; or at leaft, that he had fo much
complaifance for the prevailing idea of his countrymen, that where he (20) copies that
noble deſcription of Jupiter from Homer, he omits all the pictureſque ſtrokes on the
beard, hair, and eye-brows; and ſupplies them from other circumftances: which are
very great and ſtriking indeed; but borrowed from things abroad, and not at all defcrip-
tive of the perſon of Jupiter: ſo that an artiſt could not have conceived ſuch noble ideas
from his deſcription, as Phidias did from Homer's. It is for this very omiffion, that Ma-
crobius (21) has placed this paffage of Virgil, in his chapter of inſtances of that poet's
falling fhort of his mafter. Scaliger on the contrary, like a true modern critic, cries up
Virgil for his judgment in this omiffion; and flings away fome mirth upon Homer, as
being too frivolous and particular. One might, I think, eafily enough compound the
matter between them: by allowing (which is the very truth) that Virgil on this occafion
has deſcribed Jupiter in the propereft manner that could be, among the Romans; and
that Homer has deſcribed him in the nobleft manner that could be, among the Greeks.
;
53
AMONG the different characters of Jupiter, I think I mentioned to you thofe of the
Mild and of the Terrible Jupiter. We have ſeveral heads of the Mild Jupiter, particularly
on antient feals; and fuch is this that I ufually wear on my finger. His face, you fee, PLATE, II.
has a mixture of dignity and eaſe in it. That (22) ferene and ſweeter kind of (23) majeſty,
FIG: 4.
which Virgil gives him, where he is receiving Venus with ſo much paternal tenderneſs
in the firſt Æneid. It is this character of Jupiter's face in general that Eſculapius re-
fembles fo much; agreeably to which that deity of phyfic is called, (24) the mild god, by
fome of the poets; and I believe you may have obferved the fame manners, and the
fame air of the face, in fome phyficians that I could mention to you of our acquaintance.
Not to ſpeak of the old French-officer look; which you know, is generally fo compofed
and fo obliging.
THE ftatues of the Terrible Jupiter were reprefented in every particular differently
from thoſe of the former. Thefe were generally of black marble, as thofe were of white.
The one is fitting, with an air of tranquillity; the other, is ftanding and more or lefs
diſturbed. The face of one, is pacific and ferene; of the other, angry or clouded. On
the heads of the one, the hair is regular and compofed; in the other, it is fo difcompofed, PLATE, II.
that it falls half way down the forehead.
a
THE beſt artiſts however feem to have taken great care not to reprefent Jupiter, as too
angry. A great deity is not to be fo much in a paffion as a little one; much leſs, in ſuch
paffion as a man. Jupiter is ftill to retain his majefty; which is apt to be ſcattered
away with too much paffion. I remember there is a figure in Montfaucon of this angry
fort of Jupiter from the work of fome low artiſt, who has gone fo far as to make
his face difturbed, and (25) his cheeks fwelled out with rage. Horace, where he is
fpeaking humouroufly of Jupiter's being in a violent paffion, ſeems to have had ſome
fuch bad figure of him in his eye; in which the ftatuary had reprefented this king of the
gods and men, very ridiculouſly, with both his cheeks as it were (26) bloated with ill
humour,
(20) Dixerat ; idque ratum Stygii per flumina fratris,
Per pice torrentés atraque voragine ripas,
Annuit et totum nutu tremefecit Olympum.
Æn. 9. . 106.
(21) Saturn. Lib. 5, C. 14.
(22) Olli fubridens hominum fator atque deorum,
(23)
Vultu quo cœlum tempeftateſque ſerenat,
Ofcula libavit natæ.
Mediis fefe arduus infert
Æn. 1. . 256.
✯.
Ipfe deis; placido, quatiens tamen omnia, vuliu.
•
Carm. 4. ✯. 25.
(24) Statius. Sylv. Lib. 3.
(25) Montf. Sup. Tom. 2. Pl. 19. Fig. 2.
(26) Quid caufæ eft, meritò quin illis Jupiter ambas
Iratus buccas inflet; neque fe fore pofthac
Tam facilem dicat votis ut præbeat aurem.
Horace, Lib. 1. Sat. 1. . 21.
So, intumuit, is ufed by Ovid, of Juno when in a
paffion.
Intumuit Juno, raptâ quod pellice natum
Educet; at fanguis ille fororis erat.
FIG. 5°
Statius, Theb. 1. †, 203.
P
Faft. 6. . 488.
And
POLYMETIS.
$
54
humour. How different is the air of that fine buft of the Jupiter Terribilis, at the
Villa Mattei at Rome? which has as much of majesty as terror in it; and which, where
it expreffes anger, expreſſes (27) an anger not unworthy of Jupiter.
THE face of the Jupiter Tonans has a good deal of reſemblance to that of the Jupiter
Terribilis, as appears from feveral of the gems (28) and medals where his figure is pre-
ſerved to us. He is reprefented on them as holding up the triple bolt, in his right hand;
and ſtanding in a chariot, which feems to be whirled on impetuouſly by four horfes.
The poets deſcribe him in the ſame manner as (29) " ſtanding amidſt his rapid horſes;” or
"his horſes (30) that make the thunder." For as the antients had a ſtrange idea of the
brazen vault of heaven, they feem to have attributed the noiſe in a thunder-ftorm to the
rattling of Jupiter's chariot and horfes on that great (31) arch of brafs, all over their heads;
as they fuppofed that he himſelf flung the flames out of his hand, which dart at the fame
time out of the clouds, beneath this arch. Jupiter obtained this conftant prerogative of
difpenfing the thunder-bolt, as Ovid (32) tells us, from his having conquered the rebel
giants with that weapon; and I remember there is a gem in the Great Duke's collection
at Florence (33), in which Jupiter is reprefented as driving on his chariot againſt one of
them; and graſping his fulmen, as ready to dart it at his head. By the way, the artiſt
has made uſe of the fame artifice to infinuate the vaſt ſize of Jupiter in this little
gem, that
Timanthes was fo celebrated for in his paintings in miniature. For tho' the chariots of
the antients were of a very low make (and rather a ſtanding-place only for their feet,
than any thing like what we now call a chariot) this of Jupiter is higher than the giant
who is oppoſed to him: what then muſt be the height of the deity himſelf?
THE Jupiter Fulminans, and the Jupiter Fulgurator, feem to have been very much
of the fame kind: only thoſe who were nicer might perhaps confider the Jupiter Ful-
minans as the diſpenſer of the lightnings, which are darted forth from the clouds; and
the Jupiter Fulgurator as the diſpenſer of thoſe leffer lightnings, that only ſhoot about
and ſtruggle (34) amidſt the clouds. Had the Aurora Borealis, for inftance, been as
common formerly at Rome, as it has been of late years among us; the augurs there
would have attributed thoſe quivering lights to the Jupiter Fulgurator; as they did the
ftreams of lightning that darted through the air, to the Jupiter Fulminans. I have already
faid, that the fulmen was reprefented by the artiſts in different fhapes; but of whatever
ſhape it was, it was always fuppofed to confift chiefly of (35) fire. The poets often call
And of Jupiter himſelf ;
Jupiter intumuit: quâque eft non ufa modeſtè
Eripuit linguam.
it
Demens, qui nimbos & non imitabile fulmen
Ære & cornipedum pulfu fimularat equorum.
En. 6. . 591.
(27)
Faft. 2. . 608.
Dignas Jove concipit iras.
(32) Fulmina poft aufos cœlum affectare gigantas
Sumpta Jovi: primo tempore inermis erat.
Ovid. Met. 1. .166.
(28) See Muf. Flor. Vol. I. Pl. 57. Fig. 2.
(29)
Rapidis qui tonat altus equis.
Ovid. Deïan. Herc. V, 28.
(30)
Tonantes
Egit equos, volucremque currum.
*.
Horace, Lib. 1. Od. 34. . 8.
(31) This notion of theirs may help to explain the
ſtory of Salmoneus: who is faid to have built a great
bridge of braſs, in the middle of the city of Elis;
and to have acted the part of the Jupiter Tonans upon
it; or as Virgil fays,
Dum flammas Jovis & fonitus imitatur Olympi,
Quatuor hic invectus equis, & lampada quaffans,
Per Graium populos mediæque per Elidis urbem
Ibat ovans; divûmque fibi pofcebat honores.
Faft. Lib. 3. . 440.
(33) Muſæum Florentinum. Vol. I. Pl. 57.
Fig. 7.
(34) See Note 1o, anteh.
(35) Ipfe pater rectorque deum, cui dextra trifulcis
Ignibus armata eft.
Ignis.
Ovid. Met. 2. . 849.
Trifida flamma.
-Jove tortus ab alto
Id. Ib. y. 325.
Statius, Theb. 5. . 395.
Thus Virgil, in his compofition of the fulmen,
fpeaks of fire oftner than any thing elſe in it.
His informatum manibus jam parte politâ
Fulmen erat; toto genitor quæ plurima cœlo
Dejicit in terras; pars imperfecta manebat.
Tres imbris torti radios, tres nubis aquofæ
Addiderant; rutuli tres ignis, & alitis auſtri :
Fulgores
i
DIALOGUE the Sixth.
55
it fo; and there are fome expreffions in them relating to it, and the Jupiter who darted
it on the earth, which were probably taken from fome (36) paintings of old; tho' they
do not remain to be confronted with them.
THERE is another very confiderable character of Jupiter, that of the Jupiter Pluvius,
which I fhall perhaps have a good deal to fay to, on another occafion; ſo that if you
pleaſe we will quit his figure for the preſent, to confider his confort a little.
any thing
FIG. I.
JUNO, as well as Jupiter, had a great variety of characters; but the favourite one of
them all, among the Romans, was that of the Juno Matrona. You fee fhe is dreſt in a PLATE,III.
long robe, which covers her from head to foot; juſt in the fame manner as the Roman
matrons dreffed themſelves, out of a principle of decency; which had prevailed fo much
among them, that it was reckoned fcandalous for any married woman to have
uncovered (37) but her face. The figures of the Roman empreffes were often formed
under this character of Juno. It was a compliment very commonly paid them on the
reverſes of their medals; and not uncommon in their ftatues. Such is that very pretty
ſtatue of Sabina, at the Villa Mattei in Rome; in which that emprefs appears dreffed
and ornamented exactly like the Juno Matrona. This Juno was called indifferently Juno
Matrona and Juno Romana; and thoſe two names fignified one and the fame thing, as
much as Gens togata fignified the people of Rome. I make this obſervation to you, be-
cauſe it may ſerve to explain a (38) paffage in Horace, which is otherwiſe liable enough
to be miſunderſtood. It is where he is fetting the gods in array againſt the rebel giants.
In that defcription, he mentions Juno under the name of Matrona: which in the gene-
ral fenfe of the word would be the moſt improper he could have pitched on among
Fulgores nunc terrificos, fonitumque metumqué
Mifcebant operi, flammifque fequacibus iras.
An. 8. . 432.
*.
This compofition of Virgil's is partly natural, and
partly poetical. The natural ingredients for it are
clouds, wind, fire, rain, and hail; for his imber tor-
tus ſeems to fignify the fame, as durus imber does in
Columella. (De cultu Hort. y. 329, & 330.) The
word tres, ſo often repeated in it, may have ſome re-
lation to the epithets of trifidium and trifulcum fo of
ten given to fulmen by the poets, and fo very well a-
greeing with the figures of it, in moft antiques; as the
epithet of alitis, may have fome reference to the
wings given to it, in fome of them.
(36) Thus Horace's,
Jam fatis terris nivis atque diræ
Grandinis mifit pater; & rubente
Dexterâ facras jaculatus arces,
Terruit urbem.
And Virgil's,
all
As the expreffions of corufcus, ruber, and rutilus in
theſe three paffages, if borrowed at all, muſt have
been borrowed from paintings; there are other ex-
preffions in the poets relating to this fubject, which
might have been taken indifferently from ſtatues or
pictures.
Thus :
In nos alta Jovis dextera fulmen habet.
Ovid. Lib. 3. El. 3. . 10.
Fulminantis magna Jovis manus.
Horat. Lib. 3. Od. 3. .6.
Alta fignifies the up-lifted hand of Jove; as altus,
applied to Jupiter himſelf, fignifies that he is ſtanding
in his chariot; Note 29, anteh.
(37) Efte procul vittæ tenues, infigne pudoris;
Quæque tegis medios inftita longa pedes.
Ovid. de Art. Am. Lib. 1. ý. 32.
Quarum fubfutâ talos tegat inſtita veſte.
Lib. 1. Od. 2. .4.
*.4.
Horat. Lib. 1. Sat. 2. . 30.
Ad talos ftola demiffa, & circundata palla.
Ibid. ✯.99.
Ipfe pater mediâ nimborum in nocte coruſcâ
Fulminâ molitur dextrâ
And Valerius Flaccus's,
Geor. L. 1. . 329.
Cuncta phalanx infigne Jovis, cælataque geſtat
Tegmina; difperfos trifidis ardoribus ignes ;
Nec primus radios, miles Romane, corufci
Fulminis & rutilas fcutis diffuderis alas.
Argon. Lib. 6. .56.
If theſe ſtrokes were not borrowed from paintings,
they are at leaſt ſo pictureſque, that they might be of
ufe to painters now. They all refer to that gleam
which is caft by lightning on the objects near it.
In the two firft paffages this ruddy brightneſs is de-
fcribed on Jupiter's hand who holds it; and in the
laft, on the wings which the old artiſts annex to it.
Matronæ præter faciem nil cernere poffis ;
Cætera, ni Catia eft, demifsâ vefte tegentis.
(38) Sed quid Typhoeus & validus Mimas,
Aut quid minaci Porphyrion ftatu,
Quid Rhæcus, evulfifque truncis
Enceladus jaculator audax,
Contra fonantem Palladis ægida
Poffent ruentes? Hinc avidus ſtetit
Vulcanus; hinc Matrona Juno: &
Nunquam humeris pofiturus arcum,
Qui rore puro Caſtaliæ lavit
Crines folutos, qui Lyciæ tenet
Dumeta natalemque fylvam,
Delius & Patareus Apollo.
Ibid. . 95.
Lib. 3. Od. 4. .64.
y.
56
POLYMET I S.
all the variety of titles given to this goddefs; but in this light, is a compliment to
the Roman Juno; the great patronefs of his country. It was the Roman Juno, it ſeems,
who appeared in arms, on this emergency. It was the Roman Juno who affifted in
perſon to ſupport the empire of heaven, and confequently the happineſs of mankind,
againſt the moſt formidable enemies that even the imagination of the poets could ever
raife up againſt them.
In the antient gems and marbles the Juno Matrona is always reprefented in a modeſt
and decent dreſs; as the Juno Regina, and the Juno Moneta, are always in a fine and
more magnificent one. Yet when one has formed an idea of Juno, either from the fim-
plicity of the one, or the magnificence of the others, one is ftill at a lofs what to make
of Virgil's account of her (39) arms and military chariot in the first Æneid; or of that
angry
and (40) warlike figure, he has given of her in the ſecond. A critic of any ſpirit
would be apt to conclude from hence immediately, that Virgil takes his nap fometimes
as well as Homer; and that this contrariety was owing to his forgetfulneſs: but it would
be better perhaps, wherever there ſeems at first fight to be any blunder in ſuch excellent
writers as Homer and Virgil (or indeed in lefs excellent poets, if they wrote in times fo
very far removed from us) rather to fufpect that we ourfelves are ignorant of fome cuſtom,
or fact, very well known in their times; than that the poet is miſtaken, or guilty of
fome blunder. I ſhould think it would be very right to lay this down as a general rule
to ourſelves in reading the works of all fuch of the antients, as have been allowed in their
own times, and in the next fucceeding ages, to have been men of very good ſenſe and
very
careful writers. This opinion of mine is, I can affure you, founded on fact; I
mean that of my having found myſelf very often miſtaken in the end, where I thought
they were at firſt and to ſay the truth this has happened to me in the very cafe I was
ſpeaking of. At my firſt confidering theſe warlike deſcriptions of Juno in Virgil, I ſaw
they did not agree with the moſt eſtabliſhed characters of that goddeſs among the Ro-
mans: Ï therefore thought, for fome time, that Virgil took a good deal of liberty in cafes
of this nature; and that theſe were to be reckoned among his negligences. But on a
more careful review, I found the fault was in myſelf; and that Virgil in both thoſe
places intended to ſpeak of Juno, not according to the appearance ſhe uſed to make among
the Romans, but according to the repreſentations of her in other countries. In the firſt,
he certainly ſpeaks of the (41) Carthaginian Juno; and in the ſecond, of the Juno Argiva;
or, at leaſt, ſome particular Juno (42) of the Greeks.
:
ÍT is true there was a Juno too received among the Romans, with which theſe attri-
butes, and this fort of character, would not difagree. What I mean is the Juno Sofpita;
who appears on ſeveral (43) family-medals, in a war-chariot, and with a ſpear in her hand.
(39) Quam Juno fertur terris magis omnibus unam
Poſthabitâ coluiffe Samo: hic illius arma,
Hic currus fuit-
(40)
Tho'
celfæ Carthaginis, quæ te virginem vecturâ leonis.
cœlo commeantem percolit, beatas fedes frequentas !
Sive prope ripas Inachi, qui te jam nuptam Tonantis,
En. 1. . 17. & reginam dearum memorat ! &c.-Af. Aur. Lib. 6.
-Juno Scæas fæviffima portas
Prima tenet; fociûmque furens e navibus agmen,
Ferro accincta vocat.
En. 2.
.614.
(41) It appears from the context in Virgil, that it
was at Carthage, that Juno had her arms and a cha-
riot; and ſo Ovid makes her ſay, more exprefly,
Poeniteat quid non foveo Carthaginis arces ;
Cum mea fint illo currus & arma loco.
Faft. Lib. 6. . 46.
One would think from this, compared with what
Apuleius fays in his prayer of Pfyche, that the Car-
thaginians repreſented their Juno fometimes, in a cha-
riot drawn by lions.Magni Jovis germana & con-
juga! Sive tu Sami, quæ querulo partu vagituque &
alimoniâ tua gloriatur, tenes vetufta delubra! Sive
(42) It ſhould, by the rules of propriety, be fome
Grecian Juno, or other; becauſe ſhe is affifting the
Greeks, to overturn the empire of the Afiatics. One of
the moſt celebrated among the Grecian Juno's was the
Juno Argiva. She was worſhipped under that name
even in Italy; and Ovid has a long deſcription of a
proceffion to her at Falifci. Lib. 3. El.13. Helenus
had ordered the Romans, by Æneas, to worſhip
Juno moft particularly; to get her over to their
party. Virgil's Æn. 3. ✯. 433–439. They did fo;
and thought that, in time, the came to prefer them
to all her moft favourite nations. Ovid's Faft. 6.
*.45, 48.
(43) See Montfaucon's Antiquities. Tom. 1.
Pl. 22, 11.
!
裴
​DIALOGUE the Sixth.
;
'Tho' the idea of this Juno was fo well known and fo familiar to the Romans, that they
uſed to ſee her with all her proper accoutrements about her even in their (44) dreams
yet
I ſhould never have been at all inclined to think that theſe deſcriptions were wrote
by Virgil with any eye to her. Her dreſs is ſo particular, that any deſcription of it
in the poets
would be eaſily known; and yet, I believe, you cannot find out any one line
either in Virgil, or in any other of the Roman poets, which is deſcriptive of her. In-
deed it ſeems to have been a general rule among them, to follow the great and national
ideas that were univerſally received among them, in deſcribing the figure of any deity;
and to touch but very feldom, on the local and particular ones: among which we may
reckon the Juno Sofpita; who was much more worſhipped (45) at Lanuvium, than ſhe
was at Rome.
THERE was a Mild Juno, as well as a Mild Jupiter, among the Romans. Her face is
gentle, and more good-humoured than ufual. It has the fame air with which ſhe ap-
pears on a Greek medal, in Montfaucon (46); where you fee her ſtanding in her chariot,
drawn by peacocks. This is an idea, which was received too
This is an idea, which was received too among the Roman poets;
and which I fhall confider farther, together with that of the Jupiter Pluvius, when we
come to the (47) deities of the air.
THE moſt obvious and ſtriking character of Juno, and that which we are apt to im-
bibe the moſt early of any from the writings of Homer and Virgil, is quite contrary to
the former; that of an imperious, haughty wife. In both of theſe poets, we find her
much oftner fcolding at Jupiter, than careffing him: and in the tenth Æneid in particu-
lar, even in the council of the gods, her behaviour is all either fullen (48), or angry and
indecent. There is a relievo, in the court of the univerfity at Turin, which feems to be
meant to repreſent her in this very ſcene; and I could fay much more of it, and of this
ill-natured character of Juno in general. But as this goddeſs was antiently looked on as
the great patronefs of marriage and a wedded life, I chufe to wave the fubject; and fhall
only add, that it is a great matter of furprize to me, how Virgil and Homer could be fo
wicked, as to reprefent her moft commonly in this character, under fo falfe, and fo
difagreeable a light.
:.
57
ON the right hand of Jupiter, you ſee Minerva; as Juno is on his left. Thefe three PLATE,III.
deities are frequently joined together (49) by the Roman authors; as well as in antient FIG. 2.
(44) -Illam noftram Sofpitam; quam tu nunquam
nec in fomniis vides, nifi cum pelle caprinâ, cum
haftâ, cum fcutulo, cum calceis repandis. Cicero.
de Nat. Deor. Lib. 1.
*
(45) She was particularly worſhipped at Lanu-
vium.
Quos caftrum, Phrygibufque gravis quondam Ardea mifit ;
Quos, celfo devexa jugo Junonia fedes,
Lanuvium.
Silius, Lib. 8. . 362.
Lanuvio generate, inquit, quem Sofpita Juno
Dat nobis.
Id. Lib. 13. ✯. 365.
Date hoc ipfius pudori, date patri mortuo, date
generi & familiæ, date etiam Lanuvio municipio ho-
neftiffimo, quod in hâc totâ causâ frequens mæftum-
que vidiftis. Nolite a facris patriis Junonis Sofpitæ,
cui omnes confules facere neceffe eft, domefticum &
fuum confulem potiffimum avellere. Cicero. pro
Muræna, fub fin.
They had in old times a temple to the Juno Sofpita
in Rome; but her worſhip had been fo little regarded
there, that the very ruins of it were not eafily to be
found out, in the Auguſtan age.
inſcriptions,
Principio menfis Phrygiæ contermina matri
Sofpita delubris dicitur aucta novis ;
Nunc ubi funt illis, quæris, facrata kalendis
Templa deæ? Longâ procubuere die:
Cætera ne fimili caderent labefacta ruinâ
Cavit facrati provida cura ducis :
Sub quo, &c.
Ovid. Faft. Lib. z. . 61,
(46) Vol. I. Pl. 22, 6.
(47) Dial. XIII.
(48)
Acta furore gravi.
Tum regia Juno
Quid me alta filentia cogis
Rumpere, & obdu&tum verbis vulgare dolorem ? &c.
See her whole ſpeech, Æn. 10. y. 62–95.
(49) This is frequent in the Roman authors in ge-
neral; but I ſhall only chufe out three or four paffages
from fome of the beft of them.
Cicero, in the cloſe of his fpeech againſt Verres,
invokes thefe three deities at the head of all the other
gods, whofe temples that impious governor had pro-
faned. "Nunc te, Jupiter Optime Maxime! cujus
ifte
Q
58
POLYMETIS.
(50) inſcriptions, and the (51) works of the artiſts. They were looked upon as having at leaſt
as great a (52) ſuperiority among the twelve great gods, as the reſt of the twelve had over
the multitude of divinities received among the Romans. They worshipped them with
the higheſt kind of worship; and regarded them as their particular defenders, and as
the (53) guardian gods of their empire. You fee their riches are joined together here
iſte donum regale, dignum tuo pulcherrimo templo,
dignum Capitolio, atque iftâ arce omnium natio-
num:-Teque, Juno regina !—Teque Minerva !"
&c.
In the peroration of Cicero's ſpeech a little before
hisown banishment, he invokes the fame three deitics,
in particular; and all the other Roman deities in ge-
heral as it ſeems, in the words of fome form of
prayer uſed among the Romans. "Nunc ego te, Ju-
piter Optime Maxime, cujus nutu ac ditione fola
terrarum guberhantur! Teque, particeps connubii,
focia regni, Regina Juno! Teque, Tritonia armipo-
tens Gorgophora Pallas Minerva! Cæterique dii, deæ-
que immortales !”
The ſame manner of diſtinguiſhing Jupiter, Juno,
and Minerva, from all the other gods is very frequent
in Livy; as in his account of the Servile war, in par-
ticular. Jupiter Optimus Maximus, Juno Regina,
& Minerva, aliique dii deæque obfidentur. Lib. 3.
§. 17. And in Manlius Capitolinus's fpeech, when
they are carrying him to priſon. Jupiter Optime
Maxime, Junoque Regina, ac Minerva, cæterique
dii deæque qui Capitolium arcemque incolitis, fic-
cine veftrum militem ac præfidem finitis vexari ab
inimicis?" Lib. 6. §. 16.
(50) Theſe ſometimes only mention theſe three
deities; as in that at Milan, in Gruter's collection.
IOVI. IVNON. MINER.
And ſometimes diſtinguiſh them from all the other
gods; as in that at Aufburg, in the fame author.
I. O. M.
IVNONI REGINAE. MINERVAE.
OMNIBVS DIIS IMMORTALIBVS.
(51) Theſe three deities are frequently reprefented
together, on gems and medals; and, particularly, in
a jaſper of the Great Duke's at Florence, the draught
of which is given in Pl. 3. Fig. 2.
Sometimes they repreſented them by proxy; as on
a medal of Antoninus, where you have the owl for
Minerva, an eagle for Jupiter, and a peacock for
Juno and fometimes more fully; as in the drawing
of a gem in Baron Stofche's collection at Florence,
where you have the three deities fitting, with their
three particular birds at their feet, and Vulcan ſtand-
ing near an altar by them.
(52) There were three deities which were looked
on by the Romans as, The Great and Powerful Gods.
Ante has tres aræ trinis Diis parent, Magnis, Potenti-
bus, Valentibus. Tertullian Lib. de Spectac. C. 4.
Who the three were, or at leaſt whence this high
notion of them was derived, may perhaps fufficiently
appear from the following paffage in Macrobius.
Varro (fays he) rerum humanarum fecundo, Darda-
num refert Deos Penates ex Samothrace in Phrygiam,
& Æneam ex Phrygiâ in Italiam detuliffe. Qui fint
autem Dii Penates, in libro quidem memorato Varro
; .
as
non exprimit. Sed qui diligentius quærunt veritatem,
Penates effe dixerunt; per quos penitus fpiramus, per
quos habemus corpus, per quos rationem animi pof-
fidemus. Effe autem medium æthera Jovem, Juno-
nem verò imum aëra cum terrâ, et Minervam fum-
mum ætheris cacumen, eo argumento utuntur; quòd
Tarquinius, Demarathi Corinthii filius, Samothraciis
religionibus myfticè imbutus, uno templo ac fub eo-
dem tecto numina memorata conjungit. Caffius verò
Hemina dicit, Samothracas deos, eofdemque Romano-
rum Penates, propriè dici ☺ess Meyaλ85, Dios Xon-
Macrobius. Saturnal. Lib. 3:
s, es Avvales.
Cap. 4.
Hence may appear too (by the way) the reaſon why
Jupiter is generally placed in the midft, Minerva on
his right hand, and Juno laſt; in the joint reprefen-
tations of theſe three great divinities.
(53) This may be partly inferred from the quota-
tion from Macrobius, in the preceeding note; where
he calls theſe three deities, the Penates of the Ro-
mans: for as the private Penates were the patrons and
guardian-gods of particular families, fo the public Pe-
nates were the guardian-gods of any ſtate or people:
The diſtinction between private and public gods is
authorized by Livy. Hos omnes deos publicos pri-
vatofque, Quirites, deferturi eftis? Lib. 5. §. 52.
And the fame author, after mentioning Jupiter, Juno,
and Minerva, in his account of the Servile war, and
the Capitol's being befieged, adds immediately:
Caftra fervorum publicos veftros Penates tenent.
Lib. 3. §. 17.
The Romans called theſe three deities by the very
name of guardians. Veneramini illum Jovem, cu-
ſtodem hujus urbis. Cicero. in Catal. 3. §. 162.
Eo ipfo die, (quinquatribus, or the firſt of the five-
days feaſt to Minerva) ſenatus décrevit, ut Minerva
noftra, cuftos urbis, quam turba dejecerat, reftitue
retur. Id. Lib. 12. Epift. 25.-Junoni conferva-
trici; is common in antient infcriptions. See Gruter,
p. 25.
One may add here, that as the Romans looked on
theſe three deities as their Great Guardian Gods, it
muſt have been one of the higheſt compliments they
could pay to any of their emperors, to repreſent them
on the reverſe of their medals. Thus, for inſtance,
when we find theſe three deities on the reverſe of An-
toninus; this, in the language of the artiſts is directly
faying that Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius, and
Lucius Verus, were their guardian gods, or pre-
fervers of the empire. In the fame manner you have
Balbinus, Pupienus, and young Gordian engraved on
one fide of a jafper, in Signor Ficoroni's collection at
Rome; and Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva on the o-
ther: which is faying hieroglyphically, (or by images)
much the fame as Ovid does in words, in the clofe
of the fourth book of his Fafti.
State Palatinæ laurus! prætextaque quercu
Stet domus! Eternos tres habet una deos,
DIALOGUE the Sixth.
39
as their ſhrines (54) formerly were, in the great temple of Jupiter, on the Capitoline
hill.
FIG. 3.
MINERVA, you fee, is a beauty; but a beauty of the feverer kind. She has not any PLATE,III.
thing of the little graces, or of the foftneſs and prettineffes of Venus. It is that dignity;
that becoming air; that firmnefs and compofure; with fuch juſt features, and a certain
ſternneſs that has much more of (55) maſculine than female in it; which make the di-
ſtinguiſhing character of her face. This goddeſs, as the antients uſed to repreſent her,
is more apt to ſtrike one with awe and terror, than to charm one, at firſt fight. Her
dreſs and attributes are adapted to the character of her face. She moſt ufually appeared
with a helmet on her head; and a plume, that nodded formidably in the air. In her
right hand ſhe ſhook her fpear; and in the other grafped her ſhield, with the head of
the dying Meduſa upon it. You have the fame figure again, with all its terrors and all
its beauties, on her breaft-plate; and fometimes the goddeſs herſelf is reprefented as
having living ſerpents about her breafts, and about her ſhoulders. It is true the forms,
either of wiſdom or of virtue, are apt at firſt to ſeem a little too fevere to the eyes of mor-
tals: but in this caſe the antient artiſts have rather over-done their part; and have worked
up too much of outward terrors, about a perſonage, that is really, (and that ought to
to be)
fo amiable.
THE poets however agree with the artiſts even in this excefs too; for tho' they fometimes
ſpeak of Minerva as extremely beautiful; they generally deſcribe her as (56) more terrible,
than beautiful. They never call her pretty, but handſome or graceful; and give her the
titles of the (57) dark-complexioned goddeſs, the (58) ſtern goddeſs, and the (59) virago :
which
(54) Trina in Tarpeio fulgent confortia templo.
Aufonius, Edyl. 11. . 42.
Theſe three deities were before placed together, in
one and the fame chapel, in the Capitolium Vetus,
by Tarquinius Prifcus; uno templo, ac fub eodem
tecto, as Macrobius fays; Note 52, anteh. And Vairo
tells us that this Capitolium Vetus was fo called, Quod
ibi facellum Jovis, Junonis, & Minervæ ; & id an-
tiquius quam ædis quæ in Capitolio facta. De Linguâ
Lat. Lib. 4. p. 39. Ed. Stevens.
By the way, the reaſon that Varro here gives, why
the temple built by Tarquinius Prifcus, (near where
the Barbarini palace now ftands in Rome) was called
Capitolium, feems to overturn the vulgar derivation
of that word, from the head of one Tolus; which,
indeed, otherwiſe ſeems idle enough. He ſays ex-
prefly it was called Capitolium, (or the chief temple)
becauſe their three chief gods were infhrined in it.
Thus the Greek authors too, call the Capitoline Ju-
piter indifferently by the name of Ζευς Καπιτωλιος,
or Zeus Kogu aιos: which fignifies, (as coryphæus
does in Latin,) the chief, or principal.
α
(55) The air of her face is fo mafculine, that her
heads are very like thofe of Alexander the Great;
(ſee Pl. 3. Fig. 3.) and have often been taken by
miſtake for his. There is a whole plate of theſe maſ-
culine heads of her, in Montfaucon; (Vol. I. Pl.84.)
among which there is one, in particular, extremely
like Lewis XIV.
Cupid, in Lucian's Dialogues, tells his mother,
that he is always afraid to approach Minerva, ſhe looks
ſo terrible, and ſo much like a man. Aɛdia, w μnleg,
αυτήν φοβερα γαρ εσι, και χαρόπη, και δεινως ανδρικη.
aulnu• Pobega yag £51, xai xαgown, nas deives avdginn.
Tom. I. p. 216. Ed. Blaeu.
(56) The two diſtinguiſhing characters of the per-
fohage of Minerva in the Roman poets, are beauty
and terror;
-Deam formâque armifque decoram.
Ovid. Met. 2. . 773-
Bellipotens, cui torva genis horrore decoro
Caffis, & afperfo crudefcit fanguine Gorgon.
Statius, Theb. 2. .717.
The poets ufually compare ſoft beauties to Venus,
majeſtic ones to Juno, and fevere ones to Diana or
Minerva.
Non fecus ac fupero pariter fi cardine lapfæ
Pallas & afperior Phœbi foror; utraque telis;
Utraque torva genis, flavoque in vertice nodo;
Illa fuas Cyntho comites agat, hæc Aracintho.
Tunc (fi fas oculis,) non unquam longa tuendo
Expedias, cui major honos, cui gratior, aut plus
De Jove mutatofque velint tranfumere cultus,
Et Pallas deceat pharetras, & Delia criſtas.
(57) Flava Minerva.
Statius. Theb. 2. .243.
Ovid. Faft. 6. .652.
Si pæta eft, Veneri fimilis; fi flava, Minervæ.
Id. Art. Am. Lib. 2. *.659.
(58) Torva.
Statius, Theb. 2. y. 238.
Ferox Pallas.
(59) Flava virago.
Id. Achil. 2. 4. 152.
Ovid. Met. 6. y. 130.
The fame poet calls her Impavida, if the poem ad
Liviam be his; and Lucian calls her, avaiqulos:
both which epithets fall in with Silius's expreffion of
ftans vultus, in his deſcription of Virtus; where he
makes that goddeſs appear to Scipio Africanus.
60
POLYMETIS.
PLATE,III.
FIG. 4.
which (tho' too ſevere for her intended character) agree exactly with her perfonal one, as
it is reprefented in the ſtatues and gems of the antients.
of
THE poets do not only ſpeak of a certain ferocity and threatning (60) turn in the eyes.
of Minerva; but the
but the very colour of them too, it ſeems, was (61) adapted to this cha-
racter of terror. I can remember, ever fince I was a boy, how very
very ſtriking the
the eye
a particular Blackmoor was to me, whenever he flung his face into a paffion. Minerva,
as a native (62), or inhabitant at leaſt, of Africa, has a great deal of the Moor in her com-
plexion; together with a very light-coloured eye, which muſt ſhew this the ftronger.
I do not know that any one of the poets in the (63) Auguftan age has touched on this
particular colour of Minerva's eyes; tho' the Greeks took fo much notice of it, as to
give her one of her moſt celebrated titles (64) among them from thence. Virgil, in ſpeak-
ing of the Palladium, (the little tutelary ſtatue of Minerva, which was kept at firſt ſo
carefully at Troy, and afterwards at Rome,) afcribes a certain fury and motion to the
eyes of that figure, in a very particular manner. It is when Diomede had ſtole the Pal-
ladium, and brought it into the Grecian camp.
1
Vix pofitum caftris fimulacrum, arſere coruſcæ
Luminibus flammæ arrectis; falfufque per artus
Sudor iit: terque ipfa folo (mirabile dictu)
Emicuit, parmamque ferens haftamque trementem (65).
THE figure of the Palladium is often to be met with on gems, with the little round
fhield (or parma) in one hand, and her fpear in the other. It is faid, that the famous
original ſtatue itſelf could (66) turn its eyes ftrangely; and who knows whether the hea-
then prieſts were not as dexterous in managing their old poppets, and giving them cer-
tain motions on certain occafions; as fome others have fhewed themſelves with the
modern? Virgil, (as of the Trojan party) fays that Diomed feized this Palladium with
his (67) hands all bloody; which according to their notions would have been an high
(60) Vertit ad hanc torvi dea bellica luminis orbem.
Ovid. Met. 2. y. 752.
(61) Ti 81 821 nai ov, Á‡nva, tnv xogʊv aελ×σα,
ψιλην την κεφαλην επιδεικνύεις ; αλλ' επισειεις του λο-
Φον, και τον δίκας την φοβεις. Η δεδιας μη σοι ελεγχη-
ται το γλαύκον των ομμάτων, ανευ το φοβερα βλεπομε-
vov; Lucian. Dial. p. 89. Ed. Parif. 1615.
(62) Hinc qui ftagna colunt Tritonidos alta paludis:
Quâ virgo, ut fama eft, bellatrix edita lymphâ,
Invento primam Libyen perfudit olivo.
Silius. Lib. 3. .324.
Even the poets had what one may call their real,
and their fabulous hiftory, of their divinities. The
former they believed, or pretended to believe; but
the latter they looked upon as doubtful. When they
tell any ſtory of this kind, they generally uſher it in
with, Ut fertur, Ut perhibent, or Ut fama eft; to
ſhew that it is a thing only rumoured, and not abfo-
lutely received. This ftory of Minerva's birth has
the mark of the fabulous hiſtory annexed to it; and
indeed according to the more received account, the
was not born, but only made her firſt appearance
there.
Hanc & Pallas amat; patrio quæ vertice nata
Terrarum primam Libyen (nam proxima cœlo eft,
Ut probat ipfe calor) tetigit: ftagnique quietâ
Vultus vidit aquâ, pofuitque in margine plantas ;
Et fe dilectâ Tritonida dixit ab undâ.
Lucan. Lib. 9. .354.
It may be hence, that Juvenal calls Minerva, the
African goddeſs:
piece
Sat. 12. . 4.
Niveam reginæ cædimus agnam;
Par vellus dabitur pugnanti Gorgone Mauræ.
For fo it ſeems it ſhould be read; and not Gorgone
Maura, the ufual reading: Minerva being often called
Tritonia, which is the fame with Maura ; and Me-
dufa not having any fuch general appellation from her
country, that I know of.
(63) Lucretius takes notice of it in the age before:
Nigra, μɛλxgoos eft; immunda & fœtida, axooμos*
Cafia, Παλλαδιον,
Lib. 4. . 1155.
(64) Γλαυκώπις Αθήνη.
(65) Æn. 2. *. 175.
Ιταμον και το γλω
dium at Troy, and of ſeveral other little figures of
(66) There were ftories of this kind of the Palla-
Minerva of the fame kind.
μυθεύειν ως τε μη μόνον καλάμυσαι φαινομενον, καθαπερ
και το εν Ιλιω αποστραφήναι κατα του Κασανδρας βιαστ
μου, αλλά και καλαμνον δεικνυθαι· πολυ δε ιταμωτερου
το τοιαύτα ποιειν εξ Ιλιο κεκομισμενα ξανα, οσα φασιν
συγγραφεις· και γαρ εν Ρώμη, και εν Λαγινιώ, και εν
Λεκερία, και εν Σειριτιδι, Ιλιας Αθήνα καλείται, ως
εκείθεν κομιθεισα και το Τρωαδων δε τολμημα περιφε
ρεται πολλαχό, και απιςον φαινεται, καιπερ δυνατον αν.
Strabo. Lib.6. p. 1-82.
οι
(67) Æn. 2. †. 167.
DIALOGUE the Sixth.
61
piece of impiety: but the artiſts, who were uſually Greeks, repreſent him as covering
his hand in his robe; and fo taking the image with reverence. I ſuppoſe the Greek
writers too, would ſcarcely have allowed of his miracle; or of the anger of the goddeſs, on
this occafion.
FIG. I.
FIG. 2.
THE head of Medufa, which occurs fo frequently both on the breaft-plates and on the
ſhields of Minerva, is fometimes one of the moſt beautiful, and at others one of the moſt
ſhocking objects in the world. In fome figures of it, the face is reprefented as dead, but
with the moſt perfect features that can be imagined; in others, her face is full of paf-
fion and her eyes convulſed; and in many others, (if all that fort of heads are really Me-
dufa's, which are commonly taken for fuch) the look is all frightful, and formed on pur-
poſe to give terror. In the noble Meduſa, in the Strozzi collection at Rome, her look PLATE,IV.
is unpaffionate and dead; but with a beauty, that death itſelf is not capable of extin-
guiſhing and in this other (which I always keep in this drawer within the fhrine of
Minerva, as being one of the attributes of that goddeſs) you fee that angry and painful PLATE,IV.
turn of the eye, which is common in her figures. Whenever I have the pleaſure of
fhewing my collection here, to any ladies; I never fail of putting them in mind of Ovid's
advice, to the Roman beauties in his time. He tells them, in his Art of Love (68),
"That they ſhould take care not to be angry, becauſe it diſcompoſes and ſpoils a good
face;" and refers them to fome fuch figure as this of Meduſa, for a proof of what he
fays. And indeed what an irrefiftable face would this be, were it all enlivened with love,
or ſoftened into fmiles; inſtead of all that ſpite and anger which you fee in it? The
beauties (69), and horrors (70), of Meduſa's face, are both mentioned by the Roman poets.
They ſpeak frequently alſo of her ferpents: and particularly of two, that are very much
diſtinguiſhed from the reſt, in ſeveral of her figures; as having their tails (71) twined to-
gether under her chin, and their heads reared over her forehead: as you ſaw they were,
in the gem I have juſt been ſhewing you.
SOME of the Roman poets, and Statius in particular, fpeak of other ferpents about
Minerva; diſtinct from thoſe which belong to her Gorgon. Their expreffions are fuch,
that they ſeem to point at looſe ferpents, winding at liberty about her breaſt; and ap-
pearing in very different manners, on different occafions. Sometimes they deſcribe them
as quite ftill, and gentle; and at others, as roufed and enraged. Thus Statius:
Ipfa metus Libycos, fervatricemque Meduſam
Pectoris, incuſsâ movit Tritonia parmâ :
Protinus erecti toto fimul agmine Thebas
Refpexere angues.
And in another place:
-(72)
Pallada mulcet honos; rediit ardore remiffo
Vultus, & erecti federunt pectoris angues. (73)
(68) Pertinet ad faciem rabidos compefcere mores;
Candida pax homines, trux decet ira feras:
Ora tument irâ; nigrefcunt fanguine venæ ;
Lumina Gorgoneo fævius igne micant.
(69)
I
This caft of Medufa's eyes (as in Pl. 4. Fig. 2.)
may perhaps ſerve to explain a paſſage in Ovid; where
that poet ſeems to infer: "that tho' your miſtreſs is
apt to turn away her eyes from you, as violently as
Lib. 3. . 504. Medufa does; yet if you do but flatter her ſufficient-
ly, ſhe will turn them kindly on you again.”
Clariffima formâ,
Multorumque fuit fpes invidiofa procorum.
Ovid. Met. 4. *. 793.
170) Quos habuit vultus hamati vulnere ferri
Cæfa caput Gorgon? Quanto fpiraffe veneno
Ora rear, quantumque oculos effundere mortis ?
Lucan. Lib. 9. *.680.
Gorgona, defecto vertentem lumina collo.
Virgil. Æn. 8. . 438.
Ut fuerit torvà violentior ipfa Meduſa,
Fiet amatori lenis & æqua fuo.
Art. Am. 2. y. 310.
(71) Nexaque nodofas angue Medufa comas.
Ovid. ex Ponto. Lib. 3. Ep. 1. *. 124.
Connexofque angues
(72) Statius, Theb. Lib. 12.
(73) Ib. Lib. 8. †. 519.
R
Virgil. Æn. 8. .437.
.609.
62
POLYMÈT IS.
Ï USED formerly to think, that this was only a figurative way of ſpeaking of the ſer-
pents wrought about the Gorgon's head, on the breaſt-plate of Minerva; and as ſuch a
figure would have been perhaps too bold, I was inclined to reckon it among the liberties
which Statius is apt enough to take. It was by the help of fome antient gems and fta-
tues, that I firſt diſcovered
my miſtake.
After ſeeing them, the very lines which before
feemed falſe to me, changed their look; and became very juft and deſcriptive of the ap-
pearance this goddeſs uſed to make in the works of the old artiſts. For in theſe
PLATE,IV.often with looſe ferpents, fometimes winding themſelves along the breaſt of Minerva;
FIG. 3 & 4. fometimes as enraged, and hiffing, and ſtanding out from it; and fometimes, with their
whole length folded up (74) circle within circle, as refting or afleep in fhort, in every
action, and every attitude, in which they have been deſcribed by any of the poets.
you meet
It was a very common thing among the Romans, to transfer the diftinguiſhing attri-
butes of their divinities to the ſtatues of their emperors. If any one faid, that Auguſtus
was his god; it was little more in thoſe times, and in their manner of ſpeaking, than if he
had faid, that emperor was (75) his patron: but to make a ſtatue of Auguftus with the
fulmen of Jupiter in his hand, was faying he was the lord and governor of all the world.
You can ſcarce imagine how fond the greateſt men of antiquity were of this kind of flat-
tery. Auguſtus himſelf loved to be repreſented with the attributes of Apollo; as his
great rival Marc Antony affected thoſe of Hercules. This fpecies of flattery was carried
very far, in all its branches, by the old artiſts; but in no point farther, than in the Gor-
gon on Minerva's breaſt. I doubt not but one might make a ſeries of the Roman empe-
rors from Auguſtus to Gallienus (which would be from the perfecting, to the abfolute fall
of all the arts at Rome) with this attribute of Minerva on their breaſt-plates. I could
name the places where the ftatues, or bufts, of the greater part of them are; and if any
ſhould be wanting to make up fuch a ſeries, it would only be two or three of their em-
perors, of whom we have ſcarce any figures at all left to us. They feem all to have been
as fond, of being complimented with this outſide badge of wiſdom; as our James the Firſt
was, of being called by the name of Solomon. The ftrongeſt I remember in the whole
number, for the dying caft of the eyes, is on the buft of Nero in the Great Duke's gal-
lery and I fcarce ever faw it, without its putting me in mind of that fine deſcription of
Minerva's breaft-plate (76) in Virgil. There is another on a Domitian, in the fame col-
lection to which emperor Martial addreffes one of his epigrams; with the
turn of flattery in words, which is uſed by the artiſt in marble.
Accipe belligeræ crudum thoraca Minervæ,
Ipfa Medufeæ quem timet ira deæ:
Dum vacat hæc, Cæfar, poterit Lorica videri;
Pectore cum facro federit, Ægis erit (77).
very fame
À BREAST-PLATE (78) with this particular ornament on it, when worn by a deity,
was called Ægis. It is the moſt uſual ornament on the breaft-plates of Minerva. Her
(74) I remember an inftance of this, on a ftatue of
Minerva; in the King of Sardinia's palace, at Turin.
(75) Thus where Virgil fays of Auguſtus ;
Deus nobis hæc otia fecit:
Namqué erit ille mihi ſemper deus.
He, juft after, gives this reafon for it.
Ille meas errare boves, ut cernis; & ipfum
Ludere quæ vellem calamo permifit agrefti.
Ecl. 1. . 10.
(76) Ægidaque horriferam, turbatæ Palladis arma,
Certatim fquamis ferpentum auroque polibant;
fhield
Connexofque angues : ipfamque in pectore dive
Gorgona, defecto vertentem lumina collo.
Æn. 3. .438.
(77) Martial. Lib. 7.` Ep, 1.
(78) Ægis propriè eft munimentum pectoris, ha-
bens in medio Gorgonis caput. Quod munimentum,
fi in pectore numinis fuerit, Ægis vocatur; fi in pec-
tore hominis, ficut in antiquis imperatorum ftatuis
videmus, Lorica dicitur. Says Servius on Virgil
Æn. 8. 435, and what he fays is entirely confirmed
by
DIALOGUE the Sixth.
63
ſhield too had fometimes the fame devife, and the fame (79) hame; and was of fo much
dignity, that it ſeems to have been appropriated to herſelf and Jupiter alone of all the
gods. This Ægis, or facred ſhield, was very antiently ſuppoſed to be held by Jupiter
when he thundered: and Minerva uſed it ſometimes, on the fame occafion.
I COULD eafily think, fays Philander, that Jupiter might make free with the Ægis of
Minerva; but I ſhould never have imagined, that Minerva durſt manage his thunder.
If that furprizes you, fays Polymetis, it is not at all ſtrange; becauſe you were never
initiated in the great Samothracian myfteries; or even in thoſe of Athens or Rome.
Theſe, you muſt know, I have long fancied to have been a fort of Pagan Free-maſonry.
At leaſt this is certain, that there were many focieties of old, in which their moſt facred
fecrets were preſerved with great devotion. The moſt famous lodge of this kind was in
the iſland of Samothrace; from which the Greeks and Romans derived their leffer lodges.
Had we lived in thoſe times, proved extraordinary good heathens, and been admitted
into one of theſe ſocieties, I doubt not but we ſhould have known perfectly well, why
Minerva is ſometimes repreſented by the artiſts, and poets (80), as dealing out the thunder-
bolts of Jove; and why this goddeſs and Juno, and thoſe two only of all the heathen PLATE,IV.
deities, are allowed to have an equal right to this diſtinguiſhing privilege with Jupiter him-FIG. 5.
felf. By what has got air of theſe old fecrets it ſeems probable enough, that the Ro-
mans confidered theſe three (81), as one and the fame divinity under three different
by the epigram from Martial above. The fame poet
has another epigram on their emperor's bearing the
Ægis of Minerva.
Dic mihi, virgo ferox, cum fit tibi Caffis & Hafta,
Quare non habeas Ægida? Cæfar habet.
And, perhaps, Ovid:
Lib. 14. ✯. 161.
A quacunque trahis ratione vocabula, Pallas;
Pro ducibus noftris Ægida ſemper habe.
Faft. 3. . 848.
(79) The word Ægis feems to be uſed for Mi-
nerva's ſhield, rather than her breaſt-plate, in the fol.
lowing paffages.
Quid Rhæcus, evulfifque truncis
Enceladus jaculator audax,
Contra fonantem Palladis Ægida
Poffent ruentes ?--
Horat. Lib. 3. Od. 4. ¥.62.
Ægide terrificâ, quam nec dea laffat habendo,
Nec pater; horrentem colubris, vultuquë tremendam
Gorgoneo.
Flaccus, Argon. 6. . 176.
(80) The Roman poets (of all the three ages) give
this diſtinguiſhing attribute of Jupiter, to Juno and
Minerva.
As in the following paffages; (of Minerva.)
Ipfa Jovis rapidum jaculata e nubibus ignem
Disjecitque rates; evertitque æquora ventis ;
Illum expirantem transfixo pectore flammas
Turbine corripuit, fcopuloque infixit acuto.
And in thefe; (of Juno.)
-Præfervido fulgore-
Ardor injectus Junonis dexterâ ingenti incidit.
names;
Fragm. of Actius.
Flammis cincta fub ipſam
Starem aciem, traheremque inimica in prælia Teucros.
Virgil. Æn. 12. y. 812.
His ego nigrantem commixtâ grandine nimbum
Defuper infundam, & tonitru cælum omne ciebo.
Ibid. 4. Y. 122.
Siderei regina poli, tumulumque rebellem
Disjice; & in Thebas aliud, potes, excute fulmen !
Statius. Theb. 10. ✯.69.
Imbrem & tenebras fævumque tridentem
Jam jam ego, & inviti torfiffem conjugis ignem.
Valerius Flaccus. Argon, 1. y. 116.
What is afferted above, and proved here, may
help one to explain that paffage in Juvenal.
-Jures licet & Samothracum
Et noftrorum aras, contemnere fulmina pauper
Crederis atque deos, diis ignofcentibus ipfis.
Sat. 3. *. 146.
"Tho' you ſwear by the great gods, fo revered
in the Samothracian myfteries, and received as the
guardian gods of our ſtate; yet, if you are poor, no
one will mind what you fay. They will think that
you deſpiſe even thoſe gods; and their thunder; nay,
that thoſe gods, (by whom they ſuppoſed, by the
way, that every man lived and breathed,) in their turn,
have no regard at all for you; nor for any thing that
you may do, or fay."
Whether it was that the artiſts were looked on as a
Virgil. Æn. 1. ✨. 45. meaner fort of people of old among the Romans, and
Prima corufcanti fignum dedit Ægide virgo,
Fulmineam jaculata facem: vixdum ardua cautes
Cefferat, illa volans tenui per concita faxa
Luce fugit. Rediere viris animique manufque,
Ut videre viam. Sequor, O quicumque Deorum!
Æfonides, vel fallor, ait; præcepfque fragorés
Per medios ruit, & fumo fe condidit atro.
were therefore ſeldom initiated in the myſteries, I
know not; but it is certain, that this point is not fo
frequently to be met with in their works, as it is in
thoſe of the poets. I never remember to have ſeeri
any antique of Juno with the fulmen; unleſs one
might reckon the figures of Juno Sofpita, who bears
Flaccus, Argonaut. 4. : 676. it on her fhield: and ſcarce any of Minerva, except
Fulmine irati Jovis
that on the medal of Domitian. Pl. 4. Fig. 5.
Armata Pallas, quicquid aut haſtâ minax;
Aut Ægide, aut furore Gorgoneo poteft,
Aut igne patrio, tentat.
(81) That this was the opinion of fome of their
philofophers, may be collected from that remarkable
Seneca. Agamem. A&t. 3. Sc. 1. paffage in Lactantius. Vana igitur perfuafio eft eorum,
qui
64
POLYMETIS.
names; among which names, that of Jupiter might fignify the fupreme goodnefs; that of
Minerva, the fupreme wiſdom; and that of Juno, the fupreme power: fomewhat after the
manner, that our (82) Cudworth, and fome other very learned writers, have imagined. I
could go
much farther on this fubject; but it is high time, I believe, that we ſhould
think a little of our dinner: and fo, if you pleaſe we will take our leave of Minerva
and of all the ideas which the old Romans may have entertained, of her and her two
affociates.
qui nomen Jovis fummo Deo tribuunt. Solent e-
nim quidam errores fuos hâc excufatione defendere ;
qui convicti de uno Deo, cum id negare non poffunt,
ipfum fe colere affirmant ; verum hoc fibi placere, ut
Jupiter nominetur. Quo quid abfurdius? Jupiter
enim fine contubernio conjugis filiæque coli non folet;
unde quid fit apparet: nec fas eft id nomen eò tranf-
ferri, ubi nec Minerva eft ulla nec Juno. Inftitut.
Lib. 1. §. II. p. 49. Ed. 1684.
Arnobius too ſeems to fay fomething like this.
Hos (Penates) Confentes & Complices Etrufci aiunt &
nominant, quòd unà oriantur & occidant unà. Adv.
Gentes. Lib. 3.
Macrobius fays that theſe three deities were joined
uno templo, ac fub eodem tecto, Note 51, anteh.
and Lactantius here, that they were worſhipped under
the fame tent, or fhrine; "whence (fays he,) it is
;
plain, what they were." That is, that they were
as great as Jupiter, and one with him: for the Ro-
mans could have but one and the fame god, in the
fame fhrine; as appears from the following paffage,
in Valerius Maximus. Cum Marcellus-templum
Honori & Virtuti-confecrare vellet, a collegio pon-
tificum impeditus eft; negante, unam cellam duobus
diis rectè dicari: futurum enim, fi quid prodigii in
eâ accidiffet, ne dignofceretur utri rem divinam facere
oporteret; nec duobus, (nifi certis diis,) unà facrificari
folere. Memorab. Lib. 1. Cap. 1.
(82) Theſe three Capitoline gods, Jupiter, Juno,
and Minerva,-may be underſtood to have been no-
thing elſe but feveral names and notions of one fu-
preme deity, according to its feveral attributes and
manifeftations. Intell. Syftem. Book 1. Ch. 4. P.450.
1
Page 64
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DIALOGUE the Seventh.
65
DIAL.
VII.
Neptune; Venus; Mars; Vulcan, and Vefta.
FTER dinner, Polymetis returned with his two friends to his Rotonda; and
went on in ſhewing them his collection, without making any new prefaces..
A
THAT deity, fays he, next to Minerva, you fee is Neptune; and this figure of him is
the fame figure in large, which you may have often feen in miniature, on a very com-
mon medal (1) of Adrian. As the little figures on medals and gems were without doubt
frequently copies of fome of the more celebrated ſtatues among the antients, they might
be of great uſe for a fupply where the originals are loft: and furely, on occafion, it may
be full as fair to revive a ftatue, from a medal; as it was at firſt to take the reverſe of
the medal, from a ftatue. I have therefore done it in this cafe; and in fome others, where
it was difficult to find out a good ſtatue to copy for my collection. Neptune, in this
figure of him, holds his trident in his right hand; which is his fcepter, as lord of all the
(2) Mediterranean feas; the dolphin in his left hand, and the prow of a ſhip on which he
reſts one of his feet, refer to the fame; for as maſter of the inland feas, he was mafter of
all the navigation of thoſe times. His aſpect in this, and in all the good figures I have
ſeen of him, is (3) majeſtic and ſerene. The lower fort of artiſts repreſent him fome-
times with an angry and diſturbed air; and one may obferve the fame difference in this
particular between the great and leſs poets, as there is between the bad and the good ar-
tiſts. Thus Ovid (4) deſcribes Neptune with a fullen look; whereas Virgil exprefly
tells us that he has a (5) mild face, even where he is repreſenting him in a paffion.
NEPTUNE, as having a feat in the fupreme council of the gods, is often fpoken of as
in the higheſt heaven; and I have therefore given his ſtatue a place here among the
Twelve Great Gods. But we fhall meet with him, in his proper character, in the tem-
ple of the Water-deities; where we may confider him more particularly. Let us there-
fore at preſent go on to a fofter figure, this Venus; which is a copy of the famousPLATE, V.
Venus of Medici.
(1) See Plate 32. Fig. 1. after Dial. 14.
(2) As Oceanus and Amphitrite prefided over the
great body of waters that ſurround the earth; ſo
their fon-in-law, Neptune, had the dominion of the
waters incloſed between the coafts of Europe and
Africa. Hence Statius, (probably from fome of the
old Grecian poets) makes Neptune keep his refidence
in the port of Tanaros; the moft confiderable gulph
on the coaſt of Greece, toward the main courſe of
the Mediterranean fea. Theb. 2. 45. And Juvenal
calls him exprefly, "Lord of the Ægean fea;" a
principal part of the Mediterranean.
Per folis radios, Tarpeiaque fulmina jurat ;
Per Martis frameam, & Cirrhæi fpicula vatis;
Per calamos venatricis pharetramque puellæ ;
Perque tuum, pater Ægei Neptune, tridentem.
Sat. 13. . 81.
What was of old called the Ægean ſea, is what we
now call the Archipelago; and may very well be uſed
here, by way of eminence, for the whole Mediterra-
VENUS
nean. It was yet more eminent, among the Greek and
Latin poets; from its neighbourhood to Athens.
(3) The artiſts, to give Neptune's figures the more
majefty, formed him large; as they did Jupiter:
Ubicunque rotis horrendus equifque
Stas pater; atque ingens utrinque fluentia Triton
Fræna tenet: tantus noftras condêre urbes.
per
Valerius Flaccus Arg. 1. y. 680.
And the poets give him the majeſtic nod of aſſent ;
as they do to Jupiter.
Movit caput æquoreus Rex ;
Concuffitque fuis omnes affenfibus undas.
Ovid Met. 8. $.604.
(4) Ter Neptunus aquis cum torvo brachia vultu ...
Exferere aufus erat; ter non tulit aëris æftus.
Met. 2. . 271.
(5)
·
Graviter commotus, & alo
Profpiciens, fuminâ placidum caput extulit undâ.
Æn. 127.
S
66
POLYMETIS.
VENUS in general has one of the prettieſt, as Minerva has ſometimes one of the hand-
fomeſt faces, that can be conceived. Her look, as ſhe is repreſented by the antient artiſts
and poets, has all the taking airs, wantonneffes, and graces, that they could give it. Her
fhape is the moſt exact and elegant imaginable; all foft, and full of tenderneſs. The
fineneſs of her ſkin and the beauty of her complexion were fo exquifite, that it was the
maſter-piece, even of Apelles, to exprefs it as it ought to be. Her eyes were either wanton,
or quick, or languiſhing, or infolent, according to the occafion; and her face and all
her air agreed with them. She is very frequently deſcribed too, as having a treacherous
inſulting ſmile on her face. But however the appears, or whatever ſhe is doing, every
thing about her, and every little motion of her, is all graceful, and bewitching, and
charming.
•
¦
THE Venus of Medici has often put me in mind of a paffage in Statius;
Effulſere (6) artus, membrorumque omnis aperta eſt
Lætitia; infigneſque humeri, nec pectora nudis
Deteriora genis; latuitque in corpore vultus
For either the general tenderneſs and fine proportions of her whole make, feen thus all at
once, take a great deal from the beauty of her face; or the head is really, (as has been
fufpected by ſome) not of the ſame artiſt, who made the body. As to the latter, it will
ever be the ſtandard of all female beauty and ſoftneſs. When one looks on it, one is apt
to make the fame exclamation, with the fervant in Plautus; (were there not that mixture
of drollery in it :)
(7) Proh, dii immortales, Veneris effigia hæc quidem eſt!
Ut in ocellis hilaritudo eft! Eja, corpus cujufmodi,
Subvolturium-(illud quidem fubaquilum volui dicere)—
Vel papillæ cujufmodi
ONE might very well, with him too, infift particularly on the beauty of the breaſts s
which in the ſtatue itſelf are the fineſt that can be conceived. They are ſmall, diſtinct,
and delicate to the higheſt degree; with an idea of ſoftneſs, much beyond what any
one can conceive, that has not feen the original: for all copies do her an injury; and
prints more particularly. And yet with all that ſoftneſs, they have a firmneſs too; for
as old Lucilius fays, (on what occafion does not appear, as we have only a piece here
and there of his poems ;)
Hic corpus folidum invenies: hic ftare (8) papillas
Pectore marmoreo.
FROM her breafts, her ſhape begins to diminiſh gradually down to her waift; which
I remember to have heard an Engliſh lady, at Florence, criticifing at firſt fight, as not
fine and taper enough. This, probably proceeded from our beauties in England carrying
this nicety generally too far; as fome of the Grecian (9) beauties did formerly too, at
Athens.
(6) This is ſpoken of Parthenopaus, în Statius's
Games: Theb. 6. . 573. They admired his face,
on his firſt appearance; but when he ſtripped for the
race, the fine turn of his limbs in general, and the
apparent ſtrength and exact proportions of his whole
body, made them forget the particular beauties of
his face :-Latuitque in corpore vultus.
(7) Rudens. Act. 2. Sc. 4.
(8) Fragm, of Lucilius's 28th fatire. Stantia pecto-
ra, are mentioned by Statius too, as a great beauty.
Sylv. Lib. 1. 2, 270. This circumftance of beauty
appears, very remarkably, in the Venus of Medici.
(9) The perfonages in Terence's plays are all
Greeks; and conſequently the cuſtoms they talk of
are Grecian cuftoms. He mentions this affectation
of the Ladies in thoſe times, of preffing their waifts
into the ſmalleſt compaſs they could; (which, by the
way, does much more harm to the conftitution and
complexion, than it ever did good to the fhape :)
Haud fimilis virgo eſt virginum noftrarum; quas matres
ftudent
Demiffis humeris effe; vincto pectore; ut gracile fcient:
Si qua eft habitior paulo, pugilem effe aiunt; deducunt
cibum :
Tametfi bona eft natura, reddunt curaturâ junceas.
Chærea in Eun. A&t. 2. Sc. 3.
DIALOGUE the Seventh.
67
Athens. And I am the more perfuaded that this was the cafe, becauſe the fame lady,
(who one would think ſhould be a good judge of beauty, becauſe it is what ſhe muſt
fee, at leaſt, every time ſhe looks in her glaſs,) after having feen the Venus of Medici fe-
veral times, had the grace to own herſelf in the wrong; and even to exclaim againſt
the exceſs of this mode among us. The Venus of Medici, with all her fineneſs of ſhape;
has what the Romans call (10) corpus folidum, and the French the embonpoint; (I do
not know that we have any right word for it in Engliſh.) And her waift, in particular,
is not repreſented as ftinted by art; but as exactly proportioned by nature, to all the
other parts of her body.
:
VENUS, in all attitudes, is graceful; but in no one more, than in that of the Venus of
Medici; in which figure of her, if the is not really modeſt, ſhe at leaſt counterfeits mo-
defty extremely well. Were one to defcribe exactly what that attitude is, one might do
it in two verfes of Ovid's.
Ipfa Venus pubem, quoties velamina ponit,
Protegitur lævâ (11) femireducta manu.
THERE is a tenderneſs and elegance in all the rest of her form, as well as in the parts I
have mentioned. Her legs are neat and flender; the (12) fmall of them is finely rounded;
and her very feet are little, white, and pretty. So that one might very well fay of this
ſtatue, what one of the perfons in Plautus's Epidicus fays of a complete beauty:
any
in
Ab unguiculo, ad capillum fummum, eft feſtiviffima! (13)
To return to the eyes and look of Venus; the poets are fuller as to the former, than
ſtatue can be. They had the painters to copy from, as well as the ftatuaries; and
could draw feveral ideas from the life, which are not to be expreffed in marble. The
ſculptor can only give you the proportions of things, and one fingle attitude of a perfon
any one
ſtatue or relievo. The painter can do the fame, and add the natural colours
as they appear on the furfaces of things; and by the management of lights and ſhades,
may fling them into their proper diftances. The poet can deſcribe all that either of the
others expreſs by ſhape, or colours; and can farther put the figure into a fucceffion of
different motions in the fame defcription. So that of the three fifter-arts of imitation,
poetry (in this at leaſt) has the advantage over both the others; as it has more power,
and can take a larger compafs than either of them. This must have given the poets an
advantage, in deſcribing the quick and uncertain motions of Venus's eyes; and occafions
our meeting with ſome expreffions in them, which cannot be explained either from ſta-
(10) Hic corpus folidum invenies
tues,
(Horat. Lib. 2. Od. 4. . 21.) and the pes candidus,
Lucil. Sat. 28. (Id. Lib. 4. Od. 1. y. 27.) and exiguus. (Ovid. Am.
Chær. Color verus; corpus folidum, & fucci plenum. Lib. 3. El. 3. . 7.)
*.
Parm. Anni? Chær. Sedecim.
Parm. Flos ipfe! Hanc tu mihi, vi, clam, precariò,
Fac tradas!
Teren. Eun. A&. 2. Sc. 3.
(11) Art. Am. 2. y. 614. The famous Venus of
Cnidos, made by Praxiteles, was partly in this modeft
pofture. Επει δ' ικανως τοις φυτοις ετερφθημεν, εισω
το νεω παρηειμεν. Η μεν εν Θεος εν μέσω καθιδρυται
Παρίας δε λίθο δαιδαλμα, καλλισον, υπερηφανον
και σεση οτι γελωτο μικρον υπομειδιωσα. Παν δε το
κάλλος αυτής ακαλυπτον, υδεμιας εσθητος αμπεχέσης,
γεγυμνωται πλην οσα τη ετερα χειρι την αιδώ λελη-
JOTOS ETTINOUTTTELY. Lucian. Tom. I. p.882. Ed. Blaeu.
(12) All thoſe leffer beauties, which the poets have
marked out in the female make, are eminently to be
found in the Venus of Medici. Asthe teretes furæ,
As the foot was uncovered antiently, the Roman
poets ſpeak of the beauty of their miſtreffes feet.
Et Thetidi quales vix reor effe pedes.
Ovid. Her. Ep. 20. y. 60.
Nay, the antients were ſo much nicer in obſerving
this part of the body, than we; that one of the Ro-
man hiſtorians, in ſpeaking of an emperor, thinks it
worth his while to acquaint us, in all future ages, that
he had not handfome toes. Pulcher, & decens max-
imè in juventâ ; & quidem toto corpore, exceptis
pedibus; quorum digitos reftrictiores habebat. Sue-
tonius, of Domitian; S. 18.
§.
(13) Plaut. Epidicus. Act. 5. Sc. 1.Thus Ve-
nus fays very juftly of herſelf, in Lucian.. Emons
aα, ai opciws zaλn. Tom. I. p. 223. Ed.
ειμαι πασα, και ομοίως καλη.
Blaeu.
:
68
POLYMETIS,
tues, or paintings. Such is that epithet of (14) Pæta, in particular, which the Roman
writers give to Venus; and which refers, perhaps, to a certain turn of her eye, and her
catching it away again, the moment ſhe is obferved; as your favourite does, Philander,
when ſhe is kinder to you in her heart, than fhe would appear to be by her eyes.
THE critics in ftatuary are perhaps as apt to find out imaginary beauties, in a favou-
rite figure; as the critics in poetry are, in a favourite author. There are fome that have
practiſed this in regard to the figure before you. You fee, her face is turned away a
little from you. This fingle article has given feveral people occafion to obferve, that
there are three different paffions expreffed in the air of the head, of this Venus. At
your first approaching her, as ſhe ſtands in the fine apartment affigned to this figure
in the Great Duke's gallery, you ſee averfion or denial in her look; move on but a ſtep
or two farther, and ſhe has compliance in it: and one ſtep more to the right, they tell
you, turns it into a little infidious and infulting fmile; fuch as any lady has, when fhe
plainly tells you by her face, that ſhe has made a fure conqueft of you. The moral of
all this
may be
very true and natural; but I think it is not juſtified by the ſtatue itſelf:
for tho' I have paid, perhaps, a hundred vifits to the Venus of Medici in perfon; and
have often confidered her, in this very view; I could never find out the malicious fort of
fmile, which your antiquarians talk fo much of.
BUT whether this fort of ſmile be really on the face of the Venus of Medici, or not;
Venus certainly was repreſented ſmiling, in many of her figures of old. Such probably
were the figures of the Venus Erycina, whom Horace calls (15) Erycina ridens; and fuch
the Venus Appias, whom Ovid (16) frequently deſcribes with a malicious fort of ſmile
on her face, and as delighting in little miſchiefs.
As far as I can find, fays Myfagetes, you intend to favour us with as many different
Venus's, as we had different Jupiters in your account of that god; but why have not
you been fo good, all this while, as to tell us what particular Venus this before us re-
prefents? I was fomewhat inclined to have dropt that point, fays Polymetis; but fince
you muſt have it, it is the Venus Marina, that Horace (17) fpeaks of. As this is the
temple fet apart by me, for the great celeſtial deities; it would have been more proper,
to have had a figure of the Venus Cœleftis in it: but, to confefs the truth to you, I am
ſo much in love with the Venus of Medici, that I rather choſe to commit this impropriety,
than to prefer any other figure to hers. The thing perhaps is not quite fo reaſonable, as it
fhould be; but when did lovers ever act with reaſon?
(14) Non hæc res de Venere pætâ ftrabam facit.
Varro, in Octogefi.
Si pæta eft, Veneri fimilis; fi flava, Minervæ.
Ovid. Art. Am. Lib. 2. . 657.
The general character of Venus's eyes is particular-
ly well deſcribed by Silius, in his choice of Scipio be-
tween Virtue and Pleaſure; where he ſays, of the latter:
Lafcivaque crebras
Ancipiti motu jaciebant lumina flammas.
De Bello Punico. Lib. 15. . 27.
There is fomething like this, I think, meant in a
paffage of Petronius. Oculorum nictu, meus inno-
tuit amor Doridi; & mihi, "blandâ oculorum pe-
tulantiâ," Doris annuit: adeo ut hæc tacita loquela,
linguam antecedens, quam animorum propenfionem
eodem momento fenferamus, furtim exprefferit.
Petr. Arb. Satyricon. p. 12.
Et quos Deos? Si non ftrabones, at pætulos effe ar-
bitramur. Cicero de Nat. Deor. Lib. 1. §. 29.
The difference of ſtrabo & pætus is thus given us,
by an old grammarian. Strabo dicitur, qui eft diftor-
IN
tis oculis; pætus, qui leviter declinatis, cujus huc
& illuc tremuli volvuntur. Porph.
(15) Horat. Lib. 1. Od. 2. ¥. 33-
(16) There was a ſtatue of the Venus Appias, near
the Forum where the lawyers uſed to plead. Ovid
often alludes to it; and its ſituation.
Illo fæpe loco, capitur confultus amore;
Quique aliis cavit, non cavet ipfe fibi.
Illo fæpe loco, defunt fua verba diferto;
Refque novæ veniunt, caufaque agenda fua eft:
Hunc Venus è templis, quæ funt confinia, ridet.
Art. Am. Lib. 1. y. 88.
Redde meum, clamant fpoliatæ fæpe puellæ,
Redde meum! toto voce boante foro :
Has Venus e templis multo radiantibus auro
Læta videt lites.-
Ib. Lib. 3. . 452.
Turpe vir & mulier, juncti modò, protenus hoftes ;
Non illas lites Appias ipfa probat.
Rem. Am. V, 660.
(17) Horat. Lib. 4. Od. 11. 7. 15.
DIALOGUE the Seventh.
69
;
IN the baſe of this ſtatue of Venus, I keep feveral drawings that relate to her attend-
ants, as well as to herſelf. Her chief attendants are perfons very well adapted to fuch
a goddeſs; the Cupids, Nymphs, and Graces. As to the Cupids; they were ſuppoſed
of old to be (18) very numerous: but there were two, which were the chiefs of all that
number; and which
may be the very fame which you ſee playing about the dolphin, at
the foot of this ftatue. Hence it is, that Venus is called, "the mother of the (19) two Cu-
pids." One of theſe chief Cupids was looked on as the cauſe of love; and the other, as the
cauſe of its ceafing. Accordingly, the antiquarians now at Florence uſually call the two
little Cupids at the foot of the Venus of Medici, by the names of Eros and Anteros,
and there is ſomething, not only in the air of their faces, but in their very make and
attitudes, which agrees well enough with thoſe names: the upper one, being lighter,
and of a more pleafing look; and the lower one, more heavy and fullen. Ovid calls the
latter (20), Lethæus Amor; and Cicero (21), Anteros. Were we to follow a figure, that
father Montfaucon gives us (22) for Anteros, we muſt make him an old man: his ap-
pearance in it is much more like that of a Hercules, than of a Cupid; and nothing I
think but the likeneſs of the name of the artiſt, which happened, (in this caſe unluckily,)
to be engraved upon the gem, could have induced that father to have placed it where he
has. Ovid certainly ſpeaks of this very Cupid (23), as a boy; and I do not know any
of
the poets that ever ſpeak of any Cupid, as an old man. I formerly uſed to think, from
his name, that Anteros was looked on by the antients as the cauſe of averfion; but
that, I believe is a miſtake too: for Ovid, the great maſter in all affairs relating to love,
repreſents him only as making the paffion of love ceaſe, but not as creating averfion ;
where he ſpeaks (24) moſt fully of this deity: and in another of his poems, ſhews that
love and averfion were then ſuppoſed to proceed, not from different Cupids, but from
(25) different arrows of the fame Cupid,
!
&
THERE are fcarce any figures more common in the works of the antient artiſts than
thofe of Cupids, in general; and they always repreſent them, as young, pleaſing, and
handſome. I remember a pretty ſtatue of one, at the Venerè, (a feat of the King of
Sardinia, near Turin) in which he appears like a youth of about ſeventeen, or eighteen
years old; and Raphael, (who may almoſt paſs for an authority, when we are ſpeak-
ing of the Roman antiquities) repreſents him as of about the ſame age, in his marriage
of Cupid and Pſyche. But the moſt common way of reprefenting Cupid, in the works
of the antients themſelves, is quite as a child; of not above feven or eight years old:
霉
​Inque fuas gelidam lampadas addit aquam;
and
(18)
Volucrumque exercitus omnis amorum.
Val. Flaccus, Arg. 6. . 457-
Natorum de plebe putat ; fed non erat illi
Arcus, & ex humeris nullæ fulgentibus umbræ.
Statius, Lib. 3. Sylv. 4. . 30. (of Earinus.)
It is in this fenfe, that Venus is called Dulcium
Mater Cupidinum, by Horace, (Lib. 4. Od. 1, 5.)
and Tenerorum Mater Amorum, by Ovid. Amor.
Lib. 3. El. 15. *. I.
(19)
Geminorum mater Amorum.
Illic & juvenes votis oblivia pofcunt,
Et fi quæ eft duro capta puella viro.
Ovid. Rem. Am. . 554
(21) De Nat. Deor. p. 71, & 72. Ed. Ald,
(22) Montf. Vol. I. Pl. 118. Fig. 5.
Placidum puerilis imago
(23)
Deftituit fomnum.
Ovid. Faft. 4. ✯. 1.
Diva, non miti generata ponto,
Quam vocat matrem geminus Cupido!
Impotens flammis fimul & fagittis
Ifte puer laſcivus, & acre nitens,
Tela quàm certo jaculatur arcu ?
Hippol. Act. 1. Chor.
(20) Plus amat e natis mater plerumque duobus
Pro cujus reditu quòd gerit arma timet.
Eft prope Collinam templum venerabile portam,
Impofuit templo nomina celfus Eryx;
Eft illic Lethæus amor: qui pectora fanat,
Ovid. Rem. Amor. V, . 576,
(24) Id. Ibid. 549, to 576.
(25) Impiger umbrosâ Parnaffi conftitit arce.;
Eque fagittiferâ promfit duo tela pharetrâ,
Diverforum operum; fugat hoc, facit illud amorem:
Quod facit, auratum eft, & cufpide fulget acutâ ;
Quod fugat,obtufum eft,& habet fub arundine plumbum.
Hoc deus in nymphâ Peneïde fixit; at illo
Læfit Apollineas trajecta per offa medullas :
Protinus alter amat, fugit altera nomen amantis:
Ovid. Met. 1. .474.
Ex
T
70
POLY METIS.
and, fometimes, even younger than that. His look is, almoſt always, like that (26) of a
child generally, pretty (27); and ſometimes, a little idle, or fly; according to the oc-
cafion. His hair, which is very foft and fine in the beſt ſtatues of him, is ſometimes (28)
dreft up too, in a very pretty manner; as particularly in that celebrated figure of him
with Pfyche, in the Great Duke's gallery; a good copy of which begins now to be not
uncommon in England. He is almoſt always (29) naked, and of a good ſhape; rather
inclining to plumpnefs, but not too much: it being uſually only enough to exprefs the
healthful and thriving air, that becomes his age. His wings, are ornamental as well as
uſeful; and were probably fometimes repreſented in the paintings of the antients, as of
various (30) pleafing colours. His bow, his quiver, and his darts, are ſpoken of ſo vul-
garly among our poets to this day, that they ſcarce need be mentioned here. Beſide
which, the antient poets fometimes give him, (as well as Hymen,) a (31) lighted torch:
and fome of them feem to ſpeak of his arrows themſelves as all burning (32); or at leaſt,
as tinged with fire.
THE antient artiſts and poets repreſent their Cupids in general two fort of ways, that
are very different from each other: either as idle, and playful; or as very powerful, and as
governing all things. I have ſeveral inſtances of both among my drawings here.
Ir is partly from the wanton or playful character of theſe little (33) fluttering beings,
that they are almoſt always given us under the figures of children: as Ovid, (who
underſtood the paffion they repreſent, as well as any man,) teaches us :
Et
puer es, nec te quicquam nifi ludere oportet;
Lude; decent annos mollia regna tuos (34):
Or, as a lady of our own country fays, (in one of the poems ſhe has been fo unkind as
to keep in her cloſet, much beyond the term preſcribed by Horace :)
Thus let us gently kifs, and fondly gaze!
"Love is a child; and like a child, it plays.”,
(26)
Notos pueri puer indue vultus.
(Venus, to Cupid ;) Virgil. Æn. 1. †.682.
(27) Laudaret faciem Livor quoque ; qualia namque
Corpora nudorum tabulâ pinguntur Amorum,
Talis erat.
Ovid. Met. 10. y. 517. (of Adonis.)
(28) Tu, pennâ pulchros geminâ variante capillos,
Ibis in äuratis aureus ipfe roțis.
Ovid. Am. Lib. 1. El. z. . 42.
Nec torquem collo, nec habens crinale capillis;
Nec bene compofitas comtus, ut ante, comas.
Ovid. ex Pont. Lib. 3. Ep. 3. . 16.
(29) Et puer eft, & nudus amor. Sine fordibus annos,
Et nullas veftes ut fit apertus habet.
Ovid. Am. Lib. 1. El. 10. . 16.
Ovid's reaſons here are not general; but adapted
to the occafion. It is in a copy of verſes to one of
his miſtreffes, who had behaved artfully to him; and
had been trying to wheedle him out of a preſent,
(30) Nec nos purpureas pueri refecabimus alas;
Nec facer arte meâ laxior arcus erit.
Ovid. Rem. Am. ✯. 702.
Hæc ego. Movit amor gemmatas aureus alas ;
Et mihi, propofitum perfice, dixit, opus.
Id. Ibid. *. 40.
(31) Non ego Dulichias furiali more fagittas,
Nec raptas aufim tingere in amne faces.
Hence
Id. Ibid. y. 700.
Per Venerem, nimiumque mihi facientia tela :
Altera tela, arcus; altera tela, faces.
Id. Heroid. Ep. 2. y. 4c. (Phyllis, Dem.)
Et mihi cedet amor; quamvis mea vulneret arcu
Pectora, jactatas excutiatque faces.
Id. de Art. Am. 1. y. 22.
(32) Ridet hoc, inquam, Venus ipfa; rident
Simplices nymphæ ; ferus & Cupido,
Semper ardentes acuens fagittas.
Cote cruentâ.
Horat. Lib. 2. Od. 8. *. 16,
Volucrem effe amorem fingit immitem Deum
Mortalis error, armat & telis manus;
Arcufque facros inftruit fævâ face :
Genitumque credit Venere, Vulcano fatum.
Octavia. Act. 2. Sc. 2.
(33) The fulleft deſcription I have ever ſeen of
the wantonnefs, and littleneſs of a Cupid, is in Lon-
gus's amours of Daphnis and Chloe, Lib. 2. The
old ſhepherd there miſtakes him, at firft, for a bird;
as fome of the old poets make his mother compare
him, to a bee.
(34) Ovid. Rem. Am. V.. 24.
1
DIALOGUE the Seventh.
7 I
}
¡
FIG. I.
FIG. 2.
VI.
Hence in gems, and other pieces of antiquity, wherever you meet with Cupids, you al-
moſt always meet with them concerned in ſome little diverfion, or fome little foolery or
another. As in this drawing, for example, where you fee fome of them driving a hoop PLATE, VI.
or playing with quoits, and others wreſtling or fighting in jeft; in a little fort of circus of
their own and this other, where they are got about their mother, (or perhaps fome PLATE, VI.
nymph,) by the water-fide; and are diverting themſelves in their different manners.
Here are two of them very ſeriouſly employed about the catching of a butterfly; and PLATE,
there another, as intent to burn one with the torch he holds in his hand. Tho' this in- FIG. 3, & 4.
deed might be brought as an inſtance of their power, as well as of their idle tricks: for
the butterfly is generally uſed by the Greek artiſts as (35) an emblem for the human foul;
and a Cupid fondling or burning a butterfly, is juſt the ſame with them as a Cupid ca- PLATE, VI.
reffing or tormenting the goddeſs Pſyche, or the foul. It is remarkable enough that in
FIG.5, & 6.
the Greek language, the fame (36) word is uſed indifferently, for this little fluttering infect,
and the foul; (or the Animula vagula, blandula, as Adrian (37) called it :) and it is as re-
markable that, tho' the old artiſts have repreſented Cupids playing with butterflies fo
many different ways, there is ſcarce any one of them, for which I could not produce
ſome parallel in their repreſentations of Cupid and Pſyche.
FIG.I, 2, 3.
Our of the many inſtances I could mention, I remember to have ſeen an antique in
which Cupid was repreſented in a car, drawn by two Pfyches (38); and another, in which
a Cupid was drawn, in the fame manner, by two butterflies. And this latter might
have yet a farther meaning: for as the car denotes triumph, and the drawing any one
in a car is a mark of the utmoſt fubmiffion; this might be principally intended by the
artiſt to expreſs the abfolute power of love, over all the beings of the air. In like manner,
they expreſs his dominion over all the other elements; thus in this drawing you fee him
riding on a lion; in this, on a (39) dolphin: and in this third, breaking the fiery bolt of PL. VII.
Jove. His power over all things on earth is repreſented feveral other ways (40), befide
his riding on a lion; but I choſe to have a drawing of this preferably to any other, be-
cauſe of the beautifulneſs and expreffiveneſs of the thought contained under it. You fee,
this little Cupid is playing on a lyre; and the favage creature he rides on, looks as if he
had quite forgot his nature, in liftening to him. The moral of this gem is juft the fame
with that of the known ftory of Cimon and Iphigenia, in Boccace: and the artiſt here
tells us, at the firſt ſtroke of the eye, what one must read fo many pages thorough to learn
from the author.-Do not think, Myfagetes, that I am getting into a new region of
hieroglyphics, as obfcure as that of the old Egyptian prieſts. Theſe are of a far different
kind. They are drawn, immediately from nature; and point, directly back to her
again.
:
(35) There might have been a great deal of good
fenſe, (and perhaps fomething above good ſenſe,) in
the fixing on this emblem. At leaſt, nothing I think,
could point out the furvival and liberty of the foul
after its ſeparation from the body, in a ſtronger and
more argumentative manner; than an animal, which
is firſt a grofs, heavy, creeping infect; and which,
after dropping its flough, becomes (by an amazing
change) a light, airy, flying, free, and happy, crea-
ture.
(36) Yʊxn, Anima, Vita.—Item, Papilio, apud
Plut. Symp. 2. Prob. 3. et Arift. Hift. An. 1. 5. r. 9.
Scapula.
(37) In the known verſes, recorded by Spartian;
in his life of that emperor.
(38) Theſe are both, in Baron Stofche's noble col-
lection of drawings; at Florence.
CUPID
(39) Thus Neptune's dominion over the ſea, is
often denoted by his having a dolphin in his hand ;
and fo was Cupid's fometimes, in the fame manner:
according to that old infcription under one of his ſta-
tues, which I have met with fomewhere; and if I
miſtake not, it was in an old Frankfort edition of
Theocritus.
Γυμνος Ερως δια τολο γελά, και μειλιχος επι
Ου γαρ έχει τοξον και πλεροεντα τελη
Ο δε ματην παλαμαις κατέχει δελφινα και ανθός,
Τη μεν γαρ γαιαν, τη δε θαλασσαν έχει.
(40) Sometimes he is riding on a Centaur, who
has his hands tied behind him; ſometimes on a Chi-
mæra, &c; to ſhew that love can conquer all the fierc-
eft monſters, that ever were fuppofed to have been
upon the earth.
72
POLYME TI S.
PL. VII.
FIG. 4.
PL. VII.
FIG. 5.
CUPID was fo conftant (41) an attendant of the figures of Venus, of old; that he may
be almoſt looked upon as one of her attributes: as the Bambino is often confidered only
as an attribute of the virgin by the artiſts, (and perhaps by many of the vulgar (42),) in
Italy now. The other chief attendants of Venus are (43) the Nymphs and Graces. The
Graces were, moft generally, repreſented naked; as you ſee them in this drawing: like
three beautiful fifters, and connected together. The Roman poets take notice of all
theſe (44) particulars; and ſo do even their (45) proſe-writers too. Horace, in one place,
ſpeaks of their dancing (46) with the Nymphs; and, in another, of the Graces and
Nymphs dancing (47), with Venus at the head of them. Ovid gives a mighty pretty de-
ſcription of the Nymphs, with the Horæ, (or Hours,) in the garden of Flora (48); of
which I need fay no more at preſent, becauſe I fhall be obliged to confider it a little
more particularly, on another (49) occafion: and Statius employs them (50), with Cupid;
to ſprinkle flowers over a new-married couple. Theſe I am fure would each have ſerved
to have made a very pretty picture, had either Raphael or Guido, been fo kind as to have
copied them from the poets: but I do not well know what to make of another paffage
in Statius, where he ſeems to allude to (5¹) a new way of repreſenting the Graces in his
time; under the figure of a woman, with three pair of hands. Such a Grace, (if
ever there was ſuch an one,) would methinks have been fitter to make a wife for Bria-
reus, than an attendant for Venus,
I HAVE here a drawing of three Nymphs, dancing hand in hand; as a companion
for that of the three naked Graces. The poets fpeak of theſe Nymphs, for the moſt
part, only in general terms: but there is a half-poet, (or in other words, a romance-
writer,) who deſcribes them much in the fame manner, as you ſee them here. The per-
fon I mean, is Longus; who thus fpeaks of them (52), in his amours of Daphnis and Chloë.
"As Daphnis was in a deep fleep, there appeared to him the three Nymphs, in the
(41)
Comitata Cupidine parvo
Sponſor conjugii ftat dea picta fui.
(Paris; ſpeaking of the fhip, in which he carried off He,
len.)
Ovid. Her. Ep. 16. ✯. 114
Proh Venus, & tenerâ volucer cum matre Cupido!
Id. Met. 9. . 481.
Segnefque nodum folvere Gratiæ.
fhape
Id. Ib. 21. . 22.
(45) Num dicam ; quare tres Gratiæ, & quare fo-
rores fint, & quare manibus implexis; quare riden-
tes, juvenes, & virgines; folutâque, ac pellucidâ
vefte? Seneca. de Benif. Lib. 1. Cap. 3. He then
gives the moral reaſons for each of theſe particulars;
Horat. Lib. 1. Od. 32. . 10. under one of which, he calls them; Ille confertis
manibus in fe redeuntium chorus.
Veneremque, & illi
Semper hærentem puerum.
(42) I fear this may be underſtood of the great
vulgar, as well as the fmall. The child in the vir-
gin's arms is as much a mark or characteriſtic only of
her, as the ferpent under her feet, or the crown of
ſtars over her head. The feeing our Saviour moſt ge-
nerally uſed as a mark only, or at beſt as a child
wholly dependant on his mother, muſt be apt to
give her worſhippers higher notions of the mother
than the fon; and may partly have helped to lead
them into the uſe of fuch ftrange petitions, as that
of, Jure matris filio impera, and the like; even in
their moſt authoriſed books of devotion.
(43) Fervidus tecum puer, & folutis
Gratiæ Zonis, properentque Nymphæ.
·
Ibid.
(46) Gratia cum Nymphis, geminifque fororibus, audet
Ducere nuda choros.
Horat. Lib. 4. Od. 7. y. 7.
(47) Jam Cytherea choros ducit Venus, imminente Lunâ;
Junctæque Nymphis Gratiæ decentes
Alterno terram quatiunt pede.
Horat. Lib. 1. Od. 4. .7.
(48) Ovid. Faft. 5. . 209, to 220.
(49) Dial. 15, poſth.
Nec blandus Amor, nec Gratia ceffat,
Amplexum virides optatæ conjugis artus,
Floribus innumeris & olenti fpargere nymbo.
Statius. Lib. 1. Sylv, 2. §. 211
(50)
Horat. Lib. 1. Od. 30. ¥. 6,
(44)
Gratiæ decentes.
Horat. Lib. 1. Od. 4. ✯.6.
(5x)
Solutis Gratiæ zonis.
Id. Ib. 30. y. 6.
Gratia nudis juncta fororibus.
Id. Lib. 3. Od. 19. . 17.
$.17.
(52) Lib. 2.
Hunc multo Paphie faturabat amomo ;
Hunc nova tergeminâ pectebat Gratia dextrâ.
Id. de com. Earini. Lib. 3. Sylv. 4. .83.
DIALOGUE the Seventh.
73
fhape of women; beautiful, and of a fine ftature. They had only a flight robe about
them; their feet were bare; and their hair plaid looſely in the wind. In a word, they
were in every particular juſt like the ſtatues he had ſo often worſhipped in the grotto of
the Nymphs." If you ſhould rather be inclined to think, that the drawing in my hand
may
relate to the Graces themſelves, as well as the former; I would not diſpute with
you at all, on that head. For it is certain that the Graces were repreſented ſometimes
with juſt ſuch looſe flying robes; and, perhaps, dancing too: as one would imagine
from fome expreffions in Seneca, relating to the Graces; which agree with the
with the repre-
fentation of theſe three ladies here as exactly (53), as if they had been wrote on purpoſe
for it.
But it is high time to quit theſe attendants of Venus; that we may return to the god-
deſs herſelf.As I obferved to you, that Venus had a little infidious fmile in fome of
her figures; fo is ſhe repreſented in a wheedling poſture, in others. Such is the defign
on the reverſe of a medal of Marcus Aurelius; in which Venus is begging fome fa-
vour of Mars. It is infcribed, Veneri Victrici; and ſo may teach us, by the way, that
this goddeſs carries her point, whenever the condeſcends to wheedle even the rougheſt
of her admirers. There is a ſtatue of Venus with Mars, in the Great Duke's gallery at
Florence, exactly in the fame attitude; and fo, probably, were the figures of theſe two de-
ities, which ſtood antiently (54) before the temple of Mars Ultor at Rome. The goddeſs
holds one hand round his neck, and the other on his breaft; and ſeems enticing him to PL. VIII.
grant her requeſt as the god, amidſt all his fternneſs, has an air of complying with her. FIG. 1.
She is repreſented in the fame manner, with other people, as well as Mars; both by
the (55) poets, and in the remains of the (56) antient artiſts.
THERE is another way of repreſenting Venus, not much to her honour, tho' very
common among the antients. This one might call, the Venus Defidiofa; and poffibly
fome of the figures of this kind, which paſs now with every body for Venus, were
originally meant for the goddeſs Defidia. At leaſt that goddeſs might be more eaſily
miſtaken for a Venus, than for the fon of Venus; as fhe was (57) apt to be, among the
antients themſelves. However that be, the Venus I am fpeaking of, is repreſented as
the Genius of indolence: laying, in a languid poſture, on a bed; and generally attended
•
?
(53) Ille confertis manibus, in fe redeuntium
chorus. Seneca, de Ben. See Note 45, anteh.
(54) Stat Venus Ultori juncta viró ante fores.
Ovid. Trift. Lib. 2. *. 296.
The medal, above mentioned, calls the goddeſs
Victrix; which would agree very well with Venus on
that occafion: fhe being reprefented there, as defiring
Mars to revenge the death of Julius Cæfar; which
was granted her fo fully, in the fuccefs of the fecond
battle of Philippi. It is poffible that both the medal,
and the ſtatue of Mars and Venus in the Florentine
gallery, were copies of the Mars and Venus before
the temple of Mars Ultor.
Venus embracing and wheedling Mars, juft in the
fame manner as in the ftatue and medal just men-
tioned, was an idea very generally followed. It is on
a gem, in the Great Duke's collection; and on a
relievo, in the court of the Juftiniani palace at Rome.
As it appears ſo often, there certainly was fome cele-
brated figure which the different artifts copied from:
as we ſee they uſed to do, by the various antient
copies of the Venus of Medici, the Hercules Farnefe,
and the Apollo Belvidere.
Statius gives a like view of Venus and Mars; on
another occafion.
Viderat hanc coeli jamdudum in parte remotâ
by
Gradivum complexa Venus; dumque anxia Thebas :
Commemorat, preffum tacito fub corde dolorem
Tempeftiva movet:
Defiluit juftis commotus in arma querelis
Bellipotens.
Theb. 9. $.832.
(55) Thus, Virgil deſcribes her, when ſhe is wheed-
ling her huſband.
Niveis hinc atque hinc diva lacertis
Cunetantem molli amplexu fovet: ille repente
Accepit folitam flammam.
Senfit læta dolis & formæ conſcia conjux,^
Æn. 8. *. 394.
(56) There is a relievo in the court of the uni-
verfity at Turin, in which Venus is reprefented ca-
reffing Jupiter; in the fame manner as the does the
Mars in the Florentine gallery.
(57) Ergo defidiam quicunque vocabit amorem,
Definat.
Ovid. Am. Lib. 1. El. 9. . 32.
-Namque hæc, quoties chelyn exuit ille,
Defidia eft; hic Aoniis Amor avocat antris.
Statius. Lib. 4. Sylv. 6. ỷ. 31.
(Speaking of his friend's fkill, in diſtinguiſhing
figures.)
U
74
POLYMETIS.
PL. VIII.
FIG. 2.
by Cupids, as ready to receive her orders, and bring her every thing that ſhe wants; that
ſhe may not be put to the intolerable fatigue of ſtanding up upon her feet. It is this Ve-
nus which makes her appearance in one of the fineſt-colour'd pictures that is left us of
the antients,; that in the Barbarini palace at Rome: the air of whoſe head, may be com-
pared with Guido's; as the colouring of the fleſh, puts one in mind of Titian. Part of
this picture you know is loft, and part reſtored by Carlo Marat. Marat has painted
fome Cupids about her, (as there might, perhaps, have been the traces of fome in the
original piece;) which however look but clumfily when compared with their mother:
and which, if Marat be really fo great a painter as I think he is generally eſteemed to be
at preſent, may ferve to do a great deal of honour to the painting of the antients. Venus
is deſcribed (58) by Statius, much in the fame manner as ſhe is repreſented in the Barbarini
picture.
I HAVE feen a very pretty repreſentation of Venus, yet more indolent than this. It is
on an antient fepulchral lamp, of which this is a drawing. You fee, not only Venus her-
ſelf, but the Cupids about her are all faſt aſleep. As it was found in a fepulchre; we
may juſt obſerve by the way, that it probably related to fome fine lady who was interred
there, with ſeveral of her children: and ſo were all in that ſtate, which in its beginning
looks fo like fleep, that it has been generally compared to it; not only by the poets,
but even by the profe-writers, of all ages.
INDOLENCE is the mother of love, in a moral ſenſe; as Venus is the mother of Cupid,
in the allegorical. It was therefore a very juft thought to reprefent Venus under this in-
dolent character.
Otia fi tollas, periere Cupidinis arcus;
Contemptæque jacent, & fine luce, faces:
Quàm Platanus rivo gaudet, quàm Populus undâ,
Et quàm limosâ Canna paluftris humo;
Tam Venus otia amat.
(59)
It is for this reaſon that Venus is ſo often oppoſed to Minerva, and Virtus; the two
deities which prefided over an active and ſtirring life: as might be ſhown, very fully, both
from the poets and artifts of old. But as I chufe always to put things of a kind together;
I may ſay ſomething (60) more of this, when we are taking our round of the ftatues on
the outſide of this temple.
We meet with a character of Venus, on fome particular occafions, quite oppofite to
this; and which ſeems to regard her rather as the goddeſs of Jealoufy, than as the god-
defs of Love. I do not remember ever to have ſeen any figure of her under this charac-
and I believe there is not any deſcription of it to be found in any of the Roman
poets, before thofe of the third age: in which Valerius Flaccus, and Statius, have
drawn two very (61) terrible pictures of her. It is remarkable enough, that theſe horrid
ter
ز
(58) Alma Venus thalamo pulsâ modò no&te jaeebat ;
Amplexu duro Getici refoluta mariti :
Fulcra torofque deæ tenerum premit agmen Amorum.
Signa petunt, quas ferre faces, quæ pectora figi
Imperet.-
Statius. Lib. 1. Sylv. 2. . 56.
(59) Ovid. Rem. Am. . 143.
(60) See Dial. 10.
(61)
-Neque enim alma videri
Jam tumet; aut tereti crinem fubnectitur auro,
deſcriptions
Sidereos diffufa finus. Eadem effera, & ingens,
Et maculis fuffecta genas; pinumque fonantem
Virginibus Stygiis, nigramque fimillima pallam.
Val. Flaccus. Argon. z. . 106.
Illa Paphon veterem centumque altaria linquens,
(Nec vultu nec crine prior,) folviffe jugalem
Ceſton, & Idalias procul ablegaffe volucres
Fertur. Erant certè, mediâ qui noctis in umbrâ
Divam, alios ignes majoraque tela gerentem,,
Tartareas inter thalamis valitaffe forores
Vulgarent: utque implicitis arcana domorum
Anguibus, & fævâ formidine cuncta replevit
Limina.
Statius. Theb. 5. *. 69.
DIALOGUE the Seventh.
75
deſcriptions of Venus are given by both theſe poets, on one and the fame occafion; they
being introduced by each of them, in their account of the women of Lemnos killing their
huſbands, and taking the government into their own hands. The ſtory is this. The
Lemnians had made an expedition into Thrace; conquered their enemies there; brought
off a great booty; and among the reft, a great number of Thracian women. Venus,
who was enraged againſt the men of Lemnos for neglecting her temples, (on her ſcanda-
lous infidelity to her huſband, their great tutelar god ;) raiſes a ſtrong report in Lemnos,
that the foldiery in general were fo much enamoured of theirThracian captives, that they
had a deſign on their return to diſcard their former wives and children; or at leaſt, to
make them ſerve the new-comers. The Lemnian women were fo full of this perſuaſion,
and fo poffeffed with jealouſy and rage; that on the night of their return, (when every
body was buried in fleep after the rejoicings and debauches of the day,) they fell on the
men, and murthered them in their beds. Their king, Thoas, was the only man that was
left alive. He was concealed, and fent away to Pontus in a diguife; by his daughter
Hypfipile; and Hypfipile, as the firſt of the blood-royal, was made queen of the iſland
by the women. Jafon, in his expedition to Colchos, ftopped at Lemnos, with the Ar-
gonauts; who found out the means of reconciling the ladies there ſo far to men again,
that their queen herſelf had twins by their leader. It is on occafion of this cruel maffacre,
committed by the women of Lemnos on their huſbands, that we ſee Venus defcribed,
both in Flaccus and Statius, more like an infernal Fury than the goddeſs of the ſofter
paffions. Her very ſhape, as well as her look, is totally changed by them. She appears
large, and ſtrong; with a diſturbed and furious air; in black funeral robes; and armed
(62) with a torch, with a fword, and with ferpents; the diftinguiſhing attributes of the
Furies. Indeed the is fo like them, and fo unlike herſelf; that were one to find her in
this character on a relievo, one fhould moft probably miſtake her for an Alecto, or a
Tifiphone. Who would think of the goddeſs, that polifhes favages, and foftens all the
world, under ſo ſtrange and ſo horrid a diſguiſe?
THE Romans had certainly a bad Cupid, as well as a good one; and fo might very
well have a bad Venus too, as well as a good one. I do not remember, that any of
their poets of the two firft ages mention a bad Venus; but one of the third
exprefly of (63) the Venus Improba.
age, ſpeaks
IF the Venus Improba be not to be underſtood of this furious Venus, there is another
character of the ſame goddeſs with which it might ſuit very well: what I mean is, the
Vitious Venus. Her infidelities to her poor huſband are notorious; and have been
(62)
Nudo ftabat enfe videri
Clara mihi, fomnofque fuper. Quid proditis ævum?
(Inquit) age, averfis thalamos purgate maritis !
Dixit: & hoc ferrum ftratis, hoc (credite !) ferrum
Impofuit.
Statius. Theb. 5. #. 140.
Hic fanxere fidem. Tu martia teftis Enyo,
Atque inferna Ceres; Stygiæque Acheronte reclufo
Ante preces venere Deæ: fed fallit ubique
Mixta Venus; Venus arma tenet, Venus admonet iras.
Ibid. . 158.
ftrongly
Mater; & adftricto riguerunt ubere nati.
Adcelerat Pavor; & Geticis Difcordia demens
E ftabulis; atræque genis pallentibus Iræ;
Et. Dolus, & Rabies, & Leti major imago
Vifa truces exferta manus; ut prima vocatu
*Intonuit, fignumque dedit mavortia conjux.
Flaccus. Argon. 2. .208.
There is no need, I think, of obſerving how much
Flaccus exceeds Statius here; it muft appear ſo evi-
dently, to every body that only runs over theſe de-
fcriptions from both. What I admire him for, more
particularly, is the propriety he fhews in calling Ve-
nus, Mavortia conjux, on this occafion; and in
Ib. y. 283. making her ſet out with the very fame attendants
that the poets uſually give to Mars, when he is going
on any great expedition.
Stat funefta Venus; ferroque accincta furentes
Adjuvat. Unde manus? unde hæc Mavortia Diræ
Pectora ?-
Ipfa Venus quaffans undantem turbine pinum
Adglomerat tenebras ; pugnæque accincta, frementem
Profilit in Lemnon: nimbifque & luce fragosâ
Profequitur polus, & tonitru pater auget honoro.
Inde novam pavidas vocem furibunda per auras
Congeminat: quâ primus Athos, & Pontus, & ingens
Thraca palus; pariterque toris exhorruit omnis
(63)
-Mox in varias mutata novaris
Effigies. Hoc ære Ceres; hoc lucida Gnoffis
Illo Maia tholo; Venus hoc, non Improba, faxo.
Statius. Lib. 5. Sylv. 1. §. 235.
76
POLYMET IS.
ſtrongly marked out, ever fince the earlieſt ages of the world. The poets, in particular,
have never fpared her; they paint her faults of this kind but too glaringly; and ſpeak
often of the public fhame ſhe was brought to, by her amours with Mars. There is a
mighty pretty gem, on this piece of penal juftice executed on adultery in the heathen
heaven, in the Great Duke's collection at Florence: It repreſents this vitious goddeſs;
and her paramour the captain among the heathen gods, caught in the net made by Vul-
can; juſt as Ovid (64) deſcribes this affair: where he adds, that all the other gods were
called in to be witneffes of their crime, and to oppreſs them with ſhame. There is a re-
lievo on the ſame ſubject at Rome (65), in which Venus has her hands only chained: it
omits the net; but repreſents Sol in his chariot, as the perſon who firſt diſcovered them :
agreeably to what Ovid fays of this affair; and indeed agreeably to the ſtory, as it is ge-
nerally told by the old Mythologiſts. And perhaps there never was a ſtory that has
been told (66) oftner; for there is ſome reaſon to imagine, that it was one of the moſt
common ſubjects for an (67) old kind of romances; which ſeem to have been in faſhion
much earlier, than any Monfieur Huet has made mention of, in his pretty treatiſe on
that fubject.
It is on the account of this old ftory, that I choſe to place Mars rather than Vulcan,
next to Venus; in the circle of ftatues before you: for, in ſpite of all the public fhame
* Sol.
(64) Primus adulterium Veneris cum Marte putatur
Hic * vidiffe deus; videt hic deus omnia primus.
Indoluit facto; Junonigenæque marito
Furta tori, furtique locum monftravit : at illi
Et mens, & quod opus fabrilis dextra tenebat,
Excidit. Extemplo graciles ex ære catenas,
Retiaque & laqueos quæ fallere lumina poffunt,
Elimat. Non illud opus tenuiffima vincant
Stamina; non fummo quæ pendet aranea tigno.
Utque leves tactus, momentaque parva fequantur,
Efficit; & lecto circumdata collocat aptè.
Út
venere torum conjux & adulter in unum ;
Lemnius extemplo valvas patefecit eburnas,
Admifitque deos. Illi jacuere, ligati
Turpiter.-
Ovid. Met. 4. . 188.
This paffage in Ovid is but too much explained, by
Lucian's dialogue between Mercury and Apollo.
Tom. I. p. 214. Ed. Blaeu.
Fabula narratur toto notiffima cœlo ;
Mulciberis capti Marſque Venuſque dolis.
Indicio Solis, (quis Solem fallere poffit ?)
Cognita Vulcano conjugis acta fuæ.
Mulciber obfcuros lectum circaque fupraque
Difponit laqueos: lumina fallit opus.
Fingit iter Lemnon; veniunt ad fœdus amantes ;
Impliciti laqueis nudus uterque jacent.
Convocat ille deos; præbent fpectacula capti ;
Vix lacrimas Venerem continuiffe putant :
Non vultus texiffe fuos, &c.
(65) In the Admiranda. Pl. 3.
Art. Am. 2. .590.
(66) Virgil mentions this; as the moſt noted a
mong all the ſtories, told by the water-nymphs in Cy-
rene's grotto.
Inter quas curam Clymene narrabat inanem
Vulcani, Martifque dolos & dulcia furta ;
Aque Chao denfos divâm numerabat amores.
Georg. 4. . 347.
The water-nymphs telling this kind of ſtories to-
gether, was ſo known a thing, that it was a ſubject
even for ſtatuary too.
Illic adfpicias fcopulis hærere forores;
Et canere antiqui dulcia furta Jovis :
!
they
Ut Semele eſt combuftus, ut eft deperditus Iö;
Denique ut ad Troja tecta volarit avis.
Propertius. Lib. 2. El. 23. y. 20.
Leuconoe, and her fifters, divert themſelves in
the fame manner, whilft they are at work; and Leu-
conoe, in particular, tells this very ſtory of Mars and
Venus. Ovid often calls it, "The moſt trite ſtory
among the gods." Met. 4. . 189.-Art. Am.
*.
2.
*. 563.—Amon Lib. 1. El. 9. y. 40.
(67) Both Virgil and Propertius call the ſubjects
of theſe ſtories, Dulcia: and the latter uſes the
word, canere, for the manner of telling them; as
the former ſays, Carmine quo captæ. The ſubjects
in general agree with thoſe moſt uſed in our novels
and romances: and they were told, either in verſe,
or in an affected poetical kind of profe; for carmen
is uſed indifferently for the one or the other. Pro-
pertius might have an eye to this affected ftyle, in
thofe expreffions of his relating to Jupiter's amours:
Ut Semele eft combuftus, ut eft deperditus Iö.
Apuleius makes uſe of this affected, lulling ſtyle,
in his romance: as one may fee, by his very propo
ſition itſelf; which ought to be plain and eaſy, evén
in a poem. He begins thus. At ego tibi, fermone
iſto Milefio, varias fabulas conferam ; aurefque tuas
benevolas lepido fufurro permulceam: mox, fi papy-
rum Ægyptiam argutiâ Nilotici calami inſcriptam nof
fpreveris infpicere, figuras fortunaſque hominum in
alias imagines converfas, & in fe rurfum mutuo nexu
refectas, ut mireris exordior. Which, (to pleaſe
any of our ladies, that may happen to be particu-
larly fond of romances,) I have endeavoured to
turn into Engliſh, as juſtly as I could, in the follow-
ing manner. "Now will I weave together ſeveral ſto-
ries for you, in that known Milefiaf ftyle; and footh
your benevolent ears, with a pleafing reft-inviting
found. Then, if you difdain not to caft one regard
on my Egyptian manufacture, marked with the cun-
ning of a pen from Nile; thus do I begin to lay out
before your wondering eyes, the ſhapes and fates of
men, changed into various figures, not their own;
and ſtrangely turning to their own again." Exor
dium, to Apuleius's Afinus Aureus.
DIALOGUE the Seventh.
77
they had been brought to, ſhe ſeems always to have perfifted in loving this gallant of her's
better than her huſband.
amours.
You fee Mars here has his ufual attributes, his helmet, and his fpear; and indeed PL. VIII.
they were ſo attached to him, that he does not quit them, even when he is going on his FIG. 3.
This military god had ſeveral, you know; and was no more conſtant to Venus,
than ſhe was to Vulcan. His amour with Rhea was one of the moſt celebrated among the
Romans. In a known relievo, (in poffeffion of the Mellini family, at Rome,) relating to
the birth of Romulus and the founding of that city, you fee Mars defcended on the earth,
and moving toward Rhea who lies aſleep on it. On the reverſe of this medal in my hand, PL. VIII.
he is repreſented in an earlier point of time; in the air, as deſcending down to her. It was FIG. 4.
by the help of this medal that Mr. Addiſon has ſo finely and ſo fully explained a paſſage in
Juvenal, which had been ſtrangely miſunderſtood before his time. As I always keep the
works of Mr. Addiſon in this temple, and as no words can be fo proper as his own; if you
will give me leave, I will read the whole paffage to you from him: not as a thing new to
you; but as one of the ſtrongeſt inftances I know of, to fhew how uſeful the works of
the old artiſts might be made, towards explaining the old poets.
The paffage from Juvenal, is this.
Tunc rudis & Graias mirari nefcius artes,
Urbibus everfis, prædarum in parte reperta
Magnorum artificum frangebat pocula miles,
Ut phaleris gauderet equus: cælataque caffis
Romuleæ fimulacra feræ manfuefcere juffæ
Imperii fato, & geminos fub rupe Quirinos;
Ac nudam effigiem clypeo fulgentis & haſtâ,
Pendentifque dei, perituro oftenderet hofti. (68)
JUVENAL here, (fays (69) Mr. Addifon,) defcribes the fimplicity of the old Roman
foldiers; and the figures that were generally engraven on their helmets. The firſt of
them was the wolf, giving fuck to Romulus and Remus. The fecond, which is com-
prehended in the two laſt verſes, is not fo intelligible. Some of the commentators tell
us, that the god here mentioned is Mars; that he comes to fee his two fons fucking the
wolf; and that the old fculptors generally drew their figures naked, that they might have
the advantage of repreſenting the different fwelling of the muſcles, and the turns of the
body: but they are extremely at a loſs, what is meant by the word, pendentis. Some
fancy it expreffes only the great emboffment of the figure: others believe it hung off the
helmet.—Lubin fuppofes that the god Mars was engraven on the fhield; and that he is
faid to be hanging, becauſe the ſhield which bore him hung on the left ſhoulder. One
of the old interpreters is of opinion, that by hanging is only meant a poſture of bending
forward to ſtrike the enemy: another will have it, that whatever is placed on the
head may be faid to hang, as we call hanging-gardens fuch as are planted on the top
of the houſe. Several learned men, who like none of theſe explications, believe there
has been a fault in the tranſcriber; and that pendentis, ought to be perdentis: but they
quote no manuſcript in favour of their conjecture. The true meaning of the words is
certainly, as follows. The Roman foldiers, who were not a little proud of their founder
and the military genius of their republic, uſed to bear on their helmets the firſt hiſtory of
Romulus; who was begot by the god of war, and fuckled by a wolf. The figure of the
god was made as if deſcending on the prieſteſs Ilia; or as others call her, Rhea Sylvia.—
As he was repreſented defcending, his figure appeared fufpended in the air over the veſtal
virgin;
(68) Juvenal, Satire 11. *. 107.
(69) Addifon's Travels, p. 182.
X
78
POLYMETIS.
PL. IX.
virgin; in which fenſe the word, pendentis, is extremely proper and poetical. Beſide
the antique Baffo Relievo that made me firſt think of this interpretation, I have fince met
with the fame figures on the reverſes of a couple of antient coins, which were ſtamped in
the reigns of Antoninus Pius."
THUS far Mr. Addiſon: who, by a cafual hint from a Relievo, and afterwards by
the plain evidence of a medal, has at laſt fixed ſo doubtful an expreffion to ſo clear and
poetical an idea, as it may now give every body who reads this paffage.
THERE is another Relievo at Rome, (to go from a very evident point, to one that is
altogether as obſcure,) which has puzled all the antiquarians a great deal. It is
It is very full
of perfonages; among whom Mars evidently makes the moſt confiderable figure. He is
attended by a number of other gods; and among the reſt by a Cupid, who is endeavour-
ing to wheedle his fpear out of his hand. Juno, the goddeſs of marriage, is ſeated on an
eminence; as prefiding over the affembly. Mars directs his ſteps to the figure of a beau-
tiful nymph lying on the ground; who is reprefented as Eve might be, when just cre-
ated. Who this perſon ſhould be, is what has made the great difficulty. Several of
the Roman poets of the firft age fpeak of a wife of Mars, called (70) Neriené; of whom
we find no traces at all in their later poets. There is one of the (71) old critics however,
who has given us ſome lights relating to her: without whoſe affiſtance it is no wonder if
ſhe had been quite unknown to us; fince, as he tells us, many of the Romans themſelves
knew nothing of her, in his time. We learn from him, that ſhe was originally a god-
defs of the Sabines; and that people feem to have ſhewn a very pretty kind of imagina-
tion, in making this new deity. They had a Mars, who fignified brutal courage and
as they thought that even war itſelf ought to be in fome degree poliſhed and civilized,
they gave their Mars this Neriene, (who, according to fome, fignifies mildneſs,) for his
confort; to ſoften and humanize the roughneſs of his temper. Should one apply the
ſtory on the Relievo to this account of Neriene, there is nothing in them I believe that
would not agree very well together. But there are many keys will open a lock they
were not made for; and I have promiſed not to build any thing folely on the authority
of the oldeſt Roman poets. It is therefore that I ſhall ftill call it obfcure: and indeed we
are very much in the dark as to the whole hiftory of Neriene. Who knows whether
the Romans had not ſome account, and perhaps fome Relievo's too, of Mars returning
in triumph to his Neriené, after the atchievement of fome great conqueft? If there
was any ſuch thing, it might add a great deal of force to a (72) paffage in Plautus's Tru-
culentus,
(70)
Neriene Mavortis.
of Sabine extraction; and that one of the anceſtors of
Ennius. An. Lib. 1. the Claudii, (a Sabine family,) had the furname of
Nero, from this goddeſs.
Martis Neriene.
Varro. Sat. Menip.
Nolo ego Neæram te vocent; fed Nerienem ;
Cum quidem Marti es in connubium data.
Licinius Imbrex. In Neærâ, Com.
(71) Aulus Gellus has a whole chapter on this god-
defs; from which one learns,
:
1. That ſhe was a great deal unknown among the
Romans themſelves, in his time. He quotes a paf-
fage from Plautus, in which that poet mentions Ne-
riene; and then adds: Super eâ re audivi non ince-
lebrem hominem dicere, nimis comicè Plautum im-
perito & incondito militi falfam novamque opinionem
tribuiffe, ut Nerienem conjugem effe Martis putaret.
Gellius adds, that the critic was miſtaken; and that
Plautus had uſed thofe expreffions, from his know-
ledge, and not out of ridicule.
2. That ſhe was called Neria, and Nerio, as well
as Neriene. Nerio was probably the old name for
her, in the Sabine language: for Gellius fays, the was
3. Among feveral etymologies of her name, he
mentions one from an author; poffibly, of this very
family. In commentario Servii Claudii fcriptum in-
veni, Nerio dictum quafi Neirio, hoc eft, fine irâ &
cum placiditate; ut eo nomine mitem tranquillum-
que fieri Martem precemur. And ſo is ſhe invoked
by Herfilia, in her ſpeech to Tatius, the general
of the Sabines; to entreat him to make a peace
with the Romans. In the end of that ſpeech, fhe
addreffes herſelf to this goddeſs; and begs of her,
"that they may obtain peace: and that the Sabine
wives may live as happily with their Roman hufbands,
as ſhe does with her huſband, Mars." Aulus Gellius.
Noct. Att. Lib. 13. C. 21.
(72) Stratophanes is an arrogant boafting captain,
that talks and looks very big in one of Plautus's plays.
On his return from making a campaign, he goes im-
mediately to fee his miſtreſs, Phronefium; who pre-
tends
Fi
ر
DIALOGUE the Seventh.
culentus, which reads rather languiſhingly at prefent: perhaps more for want of know-
ledge in us; than for any want of fpirit, in the author.
IT may
however furprize you, to fee how far the ſtory, in the Relievo before us,
might tally with the account of Neriene, which I have given you from Aulus Gellius.
Neriene, you
fee here, (for give me leave, if you pleaſe, to call her fo,) is lying on the PL. IX.
ground; as juſt formed, but not yet animated: and Mars approaches her with an atten-
tive and ſoftened air on his face. He has a lion at his feet, to fhew his character of fierce-
nefs; and ſhe a young kid by her, (the idea of which in Italy, is much the fame as that
of a lamb among us,) to ſhew her mildneſs. There is a grave elderly man, near her, and
regarding her ſtedfaſtly; (in an odd fort of veffel, which as I remember in the original
ſeemed to have more of the air of a boat, than it has in my copy.) This I take to be
Prometheus, coming to animate her; from his likeneſs to the Prometheus in another Re-
lievo repreſenting this ftory: in which, he is actually applying the heavenly fire (73) to
the figure, that anſwers Neriene here.-On one fide are two water-deities, with a great deal
of dignity in their looks; (fo that poffibly, they may be Neptune and Oceanus :) on the
other fide, is Tellus, reclined; and with her head turned, as regarding Neriene. Theſe,
with Juno, on the right hand above Tellus; and Vulcan, placed yet a little higher than
Juno; may be meant, partly, to fignify the four elements: the fineſt parts of which,
we may ſuppoſe, were felected to compoſe the body of this new goddeſs; (for the deities
of the heathens were ſuppoſed to have corporeal vehicles, or bodies only of a finer
make;) and it is uſual with the antient artiſts to introduce the deities prefiding over the
four elements, wherever they repreſent any thing relating to the creation (74), or rather
to the new formation, of any perfon. Juno, (as I faid before,) may have a farther
meaning here; and is feated with dignity, and in fo eminent a place, as prefiding over
the ceremony; which is to end in a marriage, between Mars and the new-made goddeſs.
Near Juno, is Minerva; and Bacchus: and juſt behind Mars, are Apollo, Diana, and
Mercury, in the order they are named. At the end, is a fine figure of Victory, a very pro-
per attendant of Mars; and, juſt over her head, appears part of the zodiac. It is remark-
able, that only two of the figns are wrought upon it; thoſe of Scorpius, and Libra: the
former, perhaps, to fighify the fiery temper of Mars; and the latter, the moderating
and ballancing of it, by this conjunction of him with Neriene. Befide theſe, there are
feveral little Cupids about the piece; (one of which, as I faid before, is endeavouring
to wheedle Mars's fpear out of his hand; a circumftance, very proper to the occafion;)
and two or three heads of deities, who are not diftinguiſhed enough to fay who they are :
but they are there, at leaſt, to grace this great ceremony; and feem all very attentive to
it. Every thing elfe in this piece I have accounted for to you; I think, in no forced
manner: I am fure at leaſt, in that, which ftruck me naturally, and at the firft fight;
tends to be much out of order. He is received firſt
by the waiting-maid; and is introduced by her, to
her miſtreſs. The maid walks before him; and he
ftruts after her. This little piece of ceremony im-
mediately puts him in mind of the pompous returns
of Mars from foreign conquefts; which, no doubt,
he muſt have often feen in Relievo's and pictures.
This makes him change his ſtyle all ofa fudden, to this
elevated idea: and methinks one fees him, in Plau-
tus, ſtrutting along, with the air and gait of Mars Gra-
divus.
Before it was;
-Peperitne obfecro Phronefium ?
Anc. Peperit puerum, nimiùm lepidum :-Strat. Ecquid
mihi fimili' eft?
But afterwards, he heightens and ſtiffens his ftyle.
Anc. Confequere ; atque illam faluta, & gratulare illi.-
Str. Sequor.
Phron. Ubi illa obfecro eft, quæ me hic reliquit, atque
abſtitit ?
after
Anc. Affum. Adduco tibi exoptatum Stratophaném.
Phron. Ubi is eſt, obfecro ?
Strat. Mars, peregrè adveniens, falutat Nerienem, uxo-
rem fuam.
Cum tu rectè provenifti, cumque es aucta liberis,
Gratulor: cum mihi, tibique, magnum dediſti decus.
from; and the ſpoil and the captives that follow this
A little after, he talks of the victories he is returned
from; and the ſpoil and the captives that follow this
imaginary triumph of his.
Adduxi ancillas tibi, eccas! ex Suria, duas:
Iis te dono. Adduce huc tu iftas! Sed iftæ reginæ,
domi
Suæ, fuere ambæ ; verùm patriam ego excidi manu.
See Plautus. Truculentus. A&t. 2. Sc. 6.
(73) See, Adm. Pl. 22.
(74) See Adm. Pl. 22, & 66. In which latter, by
the way, there are two figures repreſented juſt like
Adam and Eve.
79
80
POLYMETIS.
}
મ
FIG. I.
after I had once found out a key for this inexplicable ſtory, as Bellori in his (75) notes
on Bartoli ſeems to call it.
AND fince I have mentioned Bartoli here; I muſt juſt add, that one may very well be
furprized at his choice in this ſubject. There are two Relievo's relating to it, in the
fame palace at Rome, the Palazzo Mattei : one, on the ſtair-caſe; and the other, placed
pretty high againſt the houſe, in the court. The former, is very bad work; very ill
preſerved; and patched up, in ſeveral parts, with Stucco-work by fome modern artiſt:
the other, is very fine work; and particularly well preſerved: yet when Bartoli collected
his Relievo's for the Admiranda, he choſe to infert the former rather than the latter, in
that noble work. And why do you think he did fo? Why, truly, becauſe there was
eafy fitting, to copy the bad one; and he muſt have had a fcaffold erected, to take the
good one: as my defigner was forced to have; and for which, the Duke of Mattei was
fo good as to grant his permiffion. A favour, which tho' great in itſelf, was much the
greater; becauſe his Grace was then actually engaged, himſelf, in the defign of publiſh-
ing all the fine remains of antiquity; not only in this palace, but at his Villa too in Rome :
which, when put together, will make one of the nobleft treaſures of antiquities in the
whole world:
I COULD never yet meet with any Relievo of Mars going out to war. The poets de-
ſcribe this with a great deal of parade, and give him a number of attendants on that oc-
cafion; who are very well adapted to the god of ſlaughter and deſtruction, or (as it is
more handſomly ſtyled) of the art of war. Theſe (76) deſcriptions are ſo very pictureſque,
that I doubt not it was a ſubject common enough among the artiſts, as well as the poets,
of old.
PLATE, X. THAT god, next to Mars, you fee is Vulcan: whom all the old poets, (perhaps ever
finçe Homer's days,) agree in defcribing (77) as a meer mortal blackſmith; only with the
addition, of his being (78) a lame one. The few figures I have ſeen of this god in marble,
agree entirely with their low defcriptions of him; excepting only a Relievo in Cardinal
Polignac's collection at Paris; where he is reprefented as fitting with fome dignity, and
(75) Quamvis marmoris hujus lateat argumentum,
aliqui tamen ad imperatorem Gallienum referunt pro-
ficifcentem in Orientem; cujus eft typus Sol in qua-
drigis; & cum facies integra non fit, quandam adhuc
retinet Gallieni fimilitudinem. -In alio fimili mar-
more, quod in earundem ædium atrii fummitate
ſpectatur, conveniunt alii dii; Apollo, Bacchus,
Mercurius. Nos utrumque feliciori Oedipo relinqui-
mus. Bellori's note to Adm. Pl. 22.
(76) Qualis apud gelidi cum flumina concitus Hebri
Sanguineus Mavors clypeo increpat, atque furentes
Bella movens immittit equos: illi æquore aperto
Ante NotosZephyrumque volant. Gemit ultima pulfu
Thraca pedum circumque atræ Formidinis ora,
Iræque, Infidiæque, dei comitatus, aguntur.
:
(77)
At illi
attended
Et mens, & quod opus fabrilis dextra tenebat,
Excidit.
Ovid. Met. 4. y. 175.
Inde ubi prima quies, medio jam noctis abacte
Curriculo, expulerat fomnum: cum fæmina primùm,
Cui tolerare colo vitam tenuique Minervâ,
Impofitum cinerem & fopitos fufcitat ignes
Noctem addens operi; famulafque ad lumina longo
Exercet penfo; caftum ut fervare cubile
Conjugis, & poffit parvos educere natos:
Haud fecus Ignipotens, nec tempore fegnior illo,
Mollibus e ftratis opera ad fabrilia furgit.
Virgil Æn. 8. . 415.
(78) Catullus calls Vulcan," the hobling god;
tardipedem deum. In Annal. Volufi.
It was reckoned an excellence, in one of the fineſt
ftatues of this god, that his lameneſs was expreffed;
Virgil. Æn. 12. †. 337. but not grofly expreffed in it. Tenet viſentes Athe-
Et jam noctivagas inter deus armiger umbras
Deſuper Arcadiæ fines Nemeæaque rura
Armorum tonitru ferit ; & trepidantia corda
Implet amore ſui., Comunt Furor Iraque criftas:
Fræna miniftrat equis Pavor armiger. At vigil omni
Fama fono, varios rerum fuccincta tumultus,
Ante volat currum; flatuque impulfa gementum
Alipedum, trepidas denſo cum murmure plumas
Excutit; urget enim ftimulis auriga cruentis
Facta infecta loqui; curruque infeſtus ab alto
Terga comafque deze Scythicâ pater increpat haſtâ.
Statius. Theb. 3. .431.
nas Vulcanus, Alcamenis manibus fabricatus: præter
cætera enim perfectiffimæ artis in eo præcurrentia in-
dicia, etiam illud mirantur; quòd ftat diffimulatæ
claudicationis fub veſte leviter veftigium repræſentans,
ut non tanquam exprobratum vitium, ita tamen cer-
tam propriamque dei notam, decorè fignificans. Va-
lerius Max. Memorab. Lib. 8. Cap. II. This is
rather over-done Pl. 10. Fig. 1. where the artiſt, by
repreſenting Vulcan fitting, quite conceals his lame-
neſs indeed; but, at the fame time, lofes one of the
moft diftinguiſhing attributes of this god.
DIALOGUE the Seventh.
81
attended by Fauns, inftead of the Cyclops. The ſtory ſeems to be of modern invention;
and the work itſelf carries a ſuſpicious air with it: fo that we may very fairly drop it, as
of no authority; and confider him only in the meaner character, that is given him by the
general conſent of antiquity. The poets deſcribe him as blackened and hardened, from
the forge with a face, red and fiery whilſt at his work; and tired and heated, after it.
Some of their defcriptions of his look, on thefe occafions, feem (79) to have been
copied from fome antient paintings.
I SHOULD be very glad to meet with any Relievo of Vulcan after his fall from heaven ;
repreſented in the fame manner as he is deſcribed (80) by Valerius Flaccus. He has juſt
recovered himſelf a little, by refting againſt a rock; and is hobling on, with ſome of the
good people of Lemnos; who found him in his diſtreſs, and are very officious to fup-
port
him and help him along. This poor god is almoſt always (81) the ſubject, either of
pity, or ridicule. He is the great cuckold of heaven: and his very lameneſs ſerves to
fing all the gods into a violent fit of laughing, when they have a mind to divert
themſelves after ſome accident that has chagreened them. Ovid makes his own wife (82)
mimic his lameneſs, to entertain her gallant. In ſhort, the Great Celeſtial Deities feem
to have admitted Vulcan among them only, (as great men formerly uſed to keep a fool at
their tables) to make them laugh, and to be the butt of the whole company.
I HAVE not yet got any ſtatue of Veſta; who, if ever ſhe ſhould honour my collection
with her prefence, ought to ftand here next to Vulcan. To tell you the truth, I have
fome doubts whether the figures, that are generally looked upon as Veſta's, do really
repreſent that goddeſs or not. There is nothing I think about fuch as I have ſeen, which
would not be as proper for one of the Veſtal Virgins, as for the goddeſs who prefided
over them; and who knows whether the figures that are called Veſta's, even in the in-
ſcriptions of the artiſts who made them (83), may not fignify only one of the virgins,
(79)
(80)
Nec major ab antris
Lemniacis fragor eft; ubi flammeus Ægida cælat
Mulciber.
Statius. Lib. 3. Sylv. 1. . 133.
Adhuc feffum, Siculâque incude rubentem.
who
Marte palam, fimulat Vulcanum: imitata decebat;
Multaque cum formâ gratia mixta fuit.
Ovid. de Arte Am. 2. . 570.
(83) I do not remember to have feen any ſtatue of
Id. Lib. 1. Sylv. 5. . 8. the better ages, which is called Vefta in the infcrip-
Lemnos, ubi igniferâ feffus refpirat ab Ætnâ
Mulciber.
tion but this is a common thing in medals. When
:
we find any figure thus fixed to a particular deity,
Id. Theb. 5. *. 51. by the infcription; we ſhould naturally acquieſce in it,
Prærupti Vulcanum vertice cœli
Devolvit. Ruit ille polo noctemque diemque,
Turbinis in morem ; Lemni cum litore tandem
Infonuit. Vox inde repens ut perculit urbem,
Adclinem fcopulo inveniunt: miferentque, foventque,
Alternos ægro cunctantem poplite greffus.
Flac. Argon. 2. . 93.
(81) Where Minutius Felix is ridiculing the ap-
pearance of fome of the heathen gods, Vulcan is the
very firſt that he falls upon.Quid formæ ipfæ &
habitus, nonne arguunt ludibria & dedecora deorum
veftrorum ? Vulcanus claudus deus & debilis: Apollo,
tot ætatibus lævis; Efculapius, bene barbatus, etfi
femper adoleſcentis Apollinis filius: Neptunus, glau-
cis oculis; Minerva, cæfiis; bubulis, Juno: pedibus
Mercurius alatis, Pan ungulatis, Saturnus compeditis:
&c. Min. Fel. §. 21. p. 107. Ed. Davif.
(82) Nec Venus oranti (neque enim dea mollior ulla eft.)
Ruftica Gradivo, difficilifve fuit.
Ah, quoties lafciva pedes rififfe mariti
Dicitur! et duras igne, vel arte, manus.
without looking any farther: but one of the Roman
authors having ſaid fo exprefly, that they had no fi-
gures at all of this goddeſs, may very well raiſe ſome
doubt in the preſent cafe. It is true that on the reverſes
of feveral medals there are figures called VESTA: but
as one meets with the fame fort of figures, on other
reverfes, with the infcription VESTALIS; poffibly
the former are Veſtals too: and ſo the goddeſs, who
could not be repreſented in perfon, may be thus re-
preſented under the figure of one of her chief mini-
fters, or fubftitutes. (Compare Fig. 2, and 3. Pl.X.)
On one of theſe medals infcribed with the name of
Vefta, you have a perſon dreſſed in the habit of the
Veſtal Virgins, and repreſented as offering ſacrifice in
the temple of Veſta: which agrees very well with the
prieſteſs, and cannot agree at all with the goddeſs
herſelf. See Pl. X. Fig. 4.
There is a lamp in Monfieur Girardon's collection
at Paris, infcribed VESTA; tho' there is no figure
cn it, at all. (See Pl. X. Fig. 5.) How much more.
natural would it be, to give her name to one of the
Vestal Virgins, or, (at leaſt, to the chief of the
Veftals) as her viſible repreſentative upon earth?
Y
82
POLYME TIS.
>
who kept her eternal fire? What firſt led me fo far out of the common road of think-
ing, was a paffage in Ovid, which exprefly fays, they had no perfonal repreſentations of
this goddess. To which, I may add a thing, which would otherwiſe have appeared very
unaccountable to me. I have formerly. I think told you, that I took the pains to read
over all the Roman poets, from the fragments of Livius Andronicus to the fatires of Ju-
venal; and to mark down the moſt ſtriking paffages in them, which any way related to
the figures and appearances of any of the imaginary beings, received as gods among the
Romans. When I came to put theſe collections in order, and to range them under
their proper heads; I found I had but one fingle paffage, out of all of them, relating
to Vefta. This fingle paffage was from Ovid; and from that very poem of Ovid's, in:
which he ſays afterwards :
Effe diu ftultus Veftæ fimulacra putavi :
Mox didici curvo nulla fubeffe tholo.
Ignis inextinctus templo celatur in illo:
Effigiem (84) nullam Vefta nec ignis habent.
I WOULD not hence abfolutely affert that the ladies which are called Veſta, in ſeveral
pieces of antiquity, are only fo many repreſentations of this goddeſs by proxy; by one of
her great minifters, the Vestal Virgins; but it is enough to make one doubt, whether
there may not be fome fuch thing at the bottom. And as I am ſtill in ſome doubt about
it, I have not yet placed any figure of her in this line of the other Great Deities, her
companions.
•
Ir was Numa, who introduced the worſhip of Veſta and the Eternal Fire, into
Rome. A prince, who was too philofophical, to admit of any (85) ftatues at all;
either as the objects of devotion, or as helps to it. He thought that method muſt de-
baſe the gods, more than it could affift men. I fhall not pretend to determine whether
he owed this juſtneſs and refinement of thinking to his own good ſenſe, or to the leſſons of
Pythagoras; to whofe acquaintance, one of the beſt writers of this age, (and whoſe friend-
ſhip we have each of us the happineſs, to have ſome ſhare in,) has lately (86) re-
ftored him. Pythagoras was learned in the doctrine of the Brachmans, and the precepts
of Zoroafter; who admitted of no vifible object of devotion, except fire; which they
confidered as the propereft emblem of the Great Invifible Being, in the whole material
world. The traces of this eaſtern doctrine feem to have been preſerved, by Numa; in
the ceremonies and worſhip he ordained to Vefta. But that I may not run out of my
depth, in points that I know very little of, let us (if you pleaſe) take a turn or two about
the garden; after which we may come back hither; and finiſh our view of the figures in
the infide of this temple.
(84) Ovid.. Faft. 6, ✯. 298.
The paffage where Ovid fpeaks of a figure of Vesta,
is. before; in the third book of his Fafti, . 46.
Sylvia fit mater: Veftæ fimulacra feruntur
Virgineas oculis oppofuiffe manus. :
It may be obferved here; 1. That Ovid ufes the
word, feruntur. There were fome ftories, in the
Roman mythology, which were looked on, as cer-
tain; and others, as doubtful. The doubtful ſtories
are introduced by the Roman poets in general, (and
more particularly by Lucretius, Virgil, and Ovid,)
with an, Ut fama eft; ut perhibent; ut ferunt, or
feruntur; as in the preſent cafe.
2. This paffage does not ſpeak of any figures of
Veſta, vulgarly expofed; (as thofe on medals, for
example, muſt have been ;) but of a figure of the
}
:
goddefs, fuppofed to have been concealed in her
moft facred temple at Rome.
3. Even that was ſuppoſed without grounds: for
there was no figure of her concealed there; as Ovid
fays, he learnt afterwards: that is, probably, when he
was initiated into the myfteries. That Ovid was
initiated, appears from many paffages in his works
where, when he is telling any of the ftories that have
regard to the myſteries, it is ufual with him to ſay;
" This I am not allowed to tell you; Thus far I may
tell you;" &c.
(85) See Dial. 5. Note 7.
(86) See Mr. Hooke's Roman Hiſtory; Vol. I,
p. 125, and 126. .
i
DIAL.

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100
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VESTA
LP. Boitard Sculp
DIALOGUE the Eighth.
83
1
O
DIAL. VIII.
Apollo; Diana; Ceres; and Mercury.
N their return to the Rotonda, Polymetis led his friends directly to the ftatue of
Apollo; who ſtands fo gracefully, in the act of ſhooting off his bow. They PL. XI.
eafily knew it to be a copy of the Apollo Belvedere. Among all the ſtatues of
the antients, (fays Polymetis,) which the moderns have as yet diſcovered, there are about.
twenty that might be placed in the first clafs; each as the chief beauty, in its kind.
For example, there is nothing in marble equal to the Venus of Medici, for foftnefs and
tenderneſs; as there is nothing fo ftrong and nervous, as the Hercules Farnefe. The
face of the dying gladiator, is the most expreffive of a human paffion; and the air of
the Apollo Belvedere, gives us an idea of fomething above human; more ftrongly, than
any figure among the great numbers that remain to us. Theſe are all therefore conftantly
reckoned in this fuperior clafs: and as the excellence of the Apollo Belvedere confifts in
the expreffion of fomething divine, whereas the reft excel only in things that are com-
mon to men; this ftatue may, perhaps juftly enough, claim the preference, even in this
diſtinguiſhed claſs of the beſt remains of all antiquity.
ANY one, who has been much uſed to fee collections of antient ſtatues, may remem-
ber that the firſt and chief thing by which he uſed to diſtinguiſh an Apollo, (at a diſtance,
or in a croud of other figures,) was the beauty of his face. He is handfomer than Mer-
cury; and not fo effeminate as Bacchus; his two chief rivals for beauty, among all the
deities of his own fex. And it is remarkable, by the way, that the Roman poets, when
they are ſpeaking of the fofter beauties or fine air of any prince, or hero, generally com-
pare
them (1) to one or other of theſe three gods; and oftner to Apollo, than to either
of the other. This moft ufual compliment of theirs is a very high one; for indeed no-
thing can be conceived finer than the face of Apollo. His features are all extremely
beautiful, according to our common ideas of beauty; befide which, his face has fome--
times an air of divinity diffuſed over it, (and particularly in the Apollo Belvedere,) of
(1) Inftances of perſons compared for beauty, to
Apollo.
Aut quis Apollineo pulchrior ore fuit?
Martial. Lib. 6. Ep. 29.
Sic Phoebum fumtis jurabat ftare fagittis.
Ovid. Met. 8. y. 31.
Nec tales humeros pharetramque gerebat Apollo.
V. Flaccus, Argonaut. . . 492.
Tranquillæ faces oculis, & plurima vultu
Mater ineft: qualis Lyciâ venator Apollo
Cum redit, & fævis permutat plectra fagittis.
Statius. Achill. 1. †. 166.
Ipfe ante alios pulcherrimus omnes
İnfert fe focium Æneas, atque agmina jungit.
Qualis ubi hybernam Lyciam Xanthique fuenta
Deferit, ac Delum maternam invifit Apollo,
Inftauratque choros ; mixtique altaria circum
Cretefque Dryopefque fremunt pictique Agathirfi.
Ipfe jugis Cynthi graditur; mollique fluentem
Fronde premit crinem fingens atque implicat auro :
Tela fonant humeris. Haud illo fegnior ibat
Eneas; tantum egregio decus enitet ore.
Virgil. Æn. 4. . 150.
Bacchus is fet almoft on a level with Apollo for
beauty; in this fort of poetical compariſons.
Et dignos Baccho, dignos & Apolline crines.
Ovid. Met. 3. y. 421.
Formofæ pericre com; quas vellet Apollo,
Quas vellet capiti Bacchus ineffe fuo.
Id. Amor. Lib. 1..
Non vinces rigidas Hippoliti comas;
Phœbo colla licet fplendida compares.
Illum cæfaries, nefcia colligi,
**
Perfundens humeros, ornat & integit: &c.
which
El. 14. *. 32.
[* Speaking
of Bacchus.]
Hippolitus. Act. 2. Chor. y. 755, & Sco.
Cedent Efonio duci
Si forma velit afpici,
Aptat qui juga tigribus ;
Necnon qui tripodas movet.
Medea. A&t. 1. Chor. .86.
Sume fidem & pharetranı, fies manifeftus Apollo;
Accedant capiti cornua, Bacchus eris.
Ovid. Her. Ep. 15. . 24. (Sappho, to Phaon.)
Mercury, tho' much inferior to either of thefe, is
uſed too by the poets as an inftance of youth and
beauty.
Sive mutatâ juvenem figurâ
Ales in terris imitaris almæ
Filius Maite.
Horat. Lib. 1. Od. 2. v. 43. (of Auguftus.)
Membraque, & vultus Deo
Similes volanti.
Octavia. Act.1. Sc. 3. *. 173. (of Britannicus.}
:
84
POLYMETIS.
which we ſhould have had no idea at all, without the help of the artist. He is always
young and beardleſs; and his long beautiful hair, when unconfined, falls in natural eaſy
waves, all down his fhoulders; and fometimes over his breaſt. His ftature is free and
erect. His limbs, are exactly proportioned; with as much of foftneſs in all of them, as
is conſiſtent with ſtrength: and with a grace reſulting from the whole, which is much
more eaſily felt than deſcribed; and which indeed it would be very impertinent to pre-
tend to defcribe, to any one who has ſeen the Apollo Belvedere.
If we have fo high ideas of the beauty of Apollo from the ftatues we ſee of him;
what ideas muſt the old Roman poets have had, who ſaw him fo much oftner, both in
marble and in colours; and who ſet their own imaginations to work, to form the fineſt
notions of him that they could? It is hence that they ſpeak ſo very highly of his beauty.
fo
Virgil calls him (2), the Beautiful; and (3) Tibullus, the Well-ſhaped God. Tibullus
fays this in a full deſcription of his perſon, which I muſt read to you; the rather, becauſe
I ſuſpect it contains feveral ſtrokes taken from fome very celebrated pictures; which
might be generally known and admired at Rome in his time, tho' they are loſt to us.
tion.
་
Hîc juvenis caftâ redimitus tempora lauro
Eft vifus noftrâ ponere fede pedem:
Non illo quicquam formofius ulla priorum
Ætas, humanum nec videt illud opus."
Intonfi crines longâ cervice fluebant ;
Stillabat Tyrio myrtea rore coma.
Candor erat, qualem præfert Latonia Luna;
Et color in niveo corpore purpureus :
Ut (4) juveni primùm virgo deducta marito
Inficitur teneras ore rubente genas;
Ut quum contexunt amaranthis alba puellæ
Lilia, & Autumno candida mala rubent.
:
NOTHING was looked upon as more effential to the beauty of any young perfon
among the Romans, than (5) a long fine head of hair. This is one of the diſtinguiſhing
things, in the heads of Apollo in old gems; and is extremely well expreffed in this deſcrip-
One meets with it often too in the ſtatues of this god; and particularly, in a very
fine one (6), in the Great Duke's gallery: which the modern artiſts have endeavoured
to change into a Prometheus; and which they uſed, fome time ago, to call by that name.
The Romans had a cuſtom of cutting their hair ſhort, at a certain age; and of keeping it
fo
well expect, after the courſe of almoſt ſeventeen hun-
Virgil. Æn. 3. ¥. 119. dred years,) that we can ſee nothing now of the beau-
tiful bluſh, that was probably on the face of the
bride.
(2) Pulcher Apollo.
(3) Formofus Apollo.
Tibullus. Lib. 2. El. 3. †.11.
(4) This is one of the ſtrokes which ſeems to me
to have been borrowed from fome painting in Rome;
in which the mixture of the colours here mentioned
to be blended together, was remarkably well exe-
cuted. Pliny, in ſpeaking of the beſt pieces by
Echion there, inſtances in one on this very fubject.
Nova nupta, verecundiâ notabilis. (Nat. Hift. Lib.
35. c. 10. p. 433. Ed. Elz.) The famous picture at
the Aldobrandine palace in Rome is on the ſame ſub-
ject and the air of the new bride in it is remarkably
modeft. As that is ſo good, tho' done when the art
of painting was extremely fallen at Rome; it was
very probably copied from fome celebrated picture
there and poffibly, from this piece of Echion's.
The colours are all fo faded in it, (as one may very
(5)
-Quid das ut Coffum aliquando falutes?
Ille metit barbam, crinem hic deponit amati.
Juvenal. Sat. 3. . 186.
Infperata tuæ cum veniet bruma fuperbiæ;
Et, quæ nunc humeris involitant, deciderint comæ.
Horat. Lib. 4. Ode 10.
Spifsâ te nitidum comâ,
Puro te fimilem, Telephe, Vefpero,
Tempeſtiva petit Chloe.
Os humerofque Deo fimilis
Cæfariem nato genetrix, &c.
Ode 10. .3.
Id. Lib. 3. Ode 19. . 27.
namque ipfa decoram
Virgil. En. . . 590.
1. *.
(6) There are two different views of this figure,
in the Mufæum Florentinum. Vol. III. Pl. 8,
& 9.
DIALOGUE the Eighth.
85
fo ever after. This ceremony, (for they made a great ceremony of it,) was performed in their
youth; when they were about ſeventeen, or eighteen: and this is one reaſon of their poets
taking ſo much notice of (7) the long hair of Apollo, and of their giving him fo frequently
the (8) titles of Crinitus, and Intonfus. When they ſaid he had always long hair, it was
the fame as if they had faid he was always young. In feeing the collections of antient
ſtatues one is apt now and then to take a Bacchus for Apollo, on this very account: for
Bacchus in the beauty of his face, and the length of his hair, comes the neareft to Apollo
of all the other deities; and they are often ſpoke of together by the poets, as diftinguiſhed
from all the other gods, and as the only rivals for excellence (9), in this point of beauty.
THERE is one thing however which feems peculiar to Apollo; and of which we
might have had as ftrong an idea from the painters of old, as we have of his fine hair
from the ſtatuaries, had the works of the former been fo durable as thofe of the latter.
All one can ſay of it now is, that there was probably, in the old pictures of Apollo, a
certain brightneſs beaming from his eyes; and, perhaps, diffuſed all over his face; in
the ſame manner, as the body of the principal figure is all luminous and refplendent, in the
famous nativity by Correggio; or the transfiguration, by Raphael. What made me firſt
fufpect this, was the antient poets ſpeaking ſo often of the brightneſs of Apollo's face,
and (10) the beaming ſplendour of his eyes. And there is a paffage in one of the Roman
hiſtorians that confirmed me very much in this conjecture; and which, at the fame time,
may ſerve to mark out one of the moſt inconceivable pieces of vanity, that perhaps was
ever heard of; even in a Roman emperor. I am forry the emperor I muſt inftance in,
ſhould happen to be Auguftus. It appears from the medals and other reprefentations of
this emperor, that his face is what the Romans called an (11) Apollinean face. Nature
perhaps had given him fome reſemblance of Apollo; and the artiſts no doubt underſtood
flattery well enough to help it out, and to repreſent him more like than he really was.
Whatever the artiſts have done in this caſe, the poets you may be ſure did not let ſo fine
a topic for flattery mifs them. Accordingly Ovid calls Auguſtus (12), the handſomeſt of
(7) Utque meam intonfis caput eft juvenile capillis.
Ovid. Met 1. y. 564. (Spoke by Apollo.)
Phœbe, qui Xantho lavis amne crines.
1
all
(10) Tranquillæque faces oculis
Radiantibus oculis
Horat. Lib. 4. Ode 6. . 26.
Statius. Achil. 2. ✯: 164.
Catullus, de At. . 40.
y.
Qui rore puro Caftaliæ lavit
Crines folutos.
Id. Lib. 3. Od. 4. . 62.
Longoque decentia crine
Tempora cingebat de qualibet arbore Phoebus.
Ovid. Met. . . 45.
This was ſo known a point among the Romans,
that it was even grown into a ſort of proverbial way
of ſpeaking with them.
Dum pecori lupus & nautis infeftus Orion
Turbaret hybernum mare ;
Intonfofque agitaret Apollinis aura capillos ;
Fore hunc amorem mutuum.
Horat. Epod. 15. F. 10.
(8) Virgil. Æn. 9. . 638.
†.
Od. 21. y. 2.Ovid. Met. 12.
Horat. Lib. i.
Horat. Lib. i.
.585.
(9) Et dignos Baccho, dignos & Apolline crines:
.421.
Ovid. Met. 3.
Perpetuo fic flore mices; fic denique non fint
Tam longa Bromio quàm tibi, Phæbe, comæ.
Martial. Lib. 1. Ep. 125.
Solis æterna eft Phobo Bacchoque juventa ;
Nam decet intonfus crinis utrumque deum.
Tibullus. Lib. 1. El. 4. . 33.
Quid nunc, Hyperione nate,
Forma colorque tibi, radiataque lumina profunt?
Ovid. Met. 4. Y. 193.
Ovid ſpeaks, in the fame poem, of the ſplendour
of Apollo's face; (ibid. y. 231.) and calls his head
illuminated, even after he has laid afide his crown
of rays.
Dixerat: at genitor circum caput omne micantes
Depoſuit radios, propiúfque accedere juffit.————
Pænituit juraffe patrem ; qui terque quaterque
Concutiens illuftre caput; &c.
Met. Lib. 2. : 40, tó 50.
(11) Aut quis Apollineo pulchrior ore fuit?
Martial. Lib. 6. Ep. 29.
Nero affected to have this fort of face too, as well
aš Auguſtus; as appears from the flattery paid him
by the common people, when they cried out to him:
"The Beautiful Cæfar! The Apollo! As like him,as
Auguftus was! nay, as like him, as Apollo is to him-
felf! Ο καλος Καισαρ' ο Απολλων ο Αύγος ος εις, ως
Пudios. Xiphilin. ex Dione:
Πύθιος.
(12) Ergo erit ille dies quâ tu, pulcherrime rerum,
Quatuor in niveis aureus ibis equis?
Ovid. de Art. Am. 1. :214.
Z
86
POLYMETIS.
all created beings; and Virgil does not only compare his Æneas, (under whom he is fup-
pofed generally to mean Auguſtus,) (13) to Apollo, for beauty; but in another place
feems to call Auguſtus himſelf, directly, by the name (14) of this god. The hiftorians
tell us that Auguftus (15) was really very beautiful; and that there were ſtories ſpread
about of his being the (16) fon of Apollo," "in a litteral ſenſe. It is (17) faid by one of the
old commentators, that there were ftatues of him at Rome under the character and
with the attributes of Apollo; and in a certain (18) infamous feaft made by Auguſtus,
(in which he and five of his courtiers reprefented the fix Great Celeſtial Gods, as ſome of
the ladies of his court reprefented the fix Great Goddeffes,) he himself chofe to appear
with the attributes of Apollo. All theſe circumſtances put together fhew, but too plainly,
that he gave into the flattery that was paid him; and that he thought himſelf, or at leaſt
loved to be thought by others, like Apollo in general. But the greateſt abfurdity of all
was his puſhing it fo far, that becauſe Apollo was ufually repreſented with a particular
flow of light beaming from his eyes, he muſt needs have it ſuppoſed that his eyes beamed
forth a brightneſs too; and that fo ftrongly, as to dazzle thofe who looked
<<
upon them
too nearly, or too fteadily. His eyes, it ſeems, were really very good ones; they were
particularly clear and bright: and he affected, fays (19) my hiſtorian, to have it
thought that there was fomething like a divine irradiation from them: and was mightily
pleaſed, when he looked full upon any body; if they held down their eyes, as people
are apt to do when the fun glares too ftrong upon them."
&
r
THIS prepofterous piece of pride in Auguftus, may help toward explaining a paffage
in Virgil, which I have formerly thought fitter for the affectation of an Italian epic poem,
than or the propriety which generally reigns thro' the Æneid. It is in a reprefentation
of the battle of Actium; where the poet is fpeaking of Auguftus's appearance, on that
great occafion.
(13)
Hinc Auguftus agens Italos in prælia Cæfar,
Stans celsâ in puppi: geminas cui tempora flammas
Læta vomunt; patriumque aperitur vertice fidus (20).
Ipfe ante alios pulcherrimus omnes
Infert fe focium Æneas atque agmina jungit.
Qualis ubi hybernam Lyciam Xanthique fluenta
Deferit, ac Delum maternam invifit Apollo, &c.
See Virgil. Æn. 4. . 140, to 150.
-Tuus jam regnat Apollo.
Virgil. Ecl. 4. . 10.
(15) Formâ fuit eximiâ; &, per omnes ætatis
gradus, venuftiffimâ. Suetonius, in Aug. §. 79.
(14)
$.
(16) In Afclepiadis Mendetis Aeyouevwv libris lego;
Atiam, cum ad folemne Apollinis facrum mediâ nocte
veniffet, pofitâ in templo lecticâ, dum cæteræ ma-
tronæ dormirent obdormiffe: draconem repentè ir-
repfiffe ad eam, pauloque poft egreffum: illamque
expergefactam, quafi a concubitu mariti purificaffe
fe :-- Auguſtum natum menfe decimo; & ob hoc
Apollinis filium exiftimatum. Suetonius in Aug.
$.94.
Tho' this ſtrange ſtory be almoſt generally forgot
now, the memory and belief of it continued down
for ſeveral ages; as appears from a paffage in Sidonius
Apollinaris, who wrote about the middle of the fifth
century:
Magnus Alexander nec non Auguſtus habentur
Concepti ferpente deo: Phoebumque Jovemque
Diviſere fibi. Namque, horum quæfiit unus
Cynifiâ fub Syrte patrem: maculis genetricis
Alter Phœbigenam fele gaudebat haberi ;
Pæonii jactans Epidauria figna draconis.
Sid. Apol. Carmen z. y. 126.
Propertius
(17) Servius on Virgil's, Tuus jam regnat Apollo.
Ecl. 4. *. 10.
(18). Cœna quoque ejus fecretior in fabulis fuit;
quæ vulgò Awdexa Jeos vocabatur. In quâ deorum
dearumque habitu difcubuiffe convivas, & ipfum pro
Apolline ornatum, non Antonii modò epiftolæ fingu-
lorum nomina amariffimè annumerantis exprobrant ;
fed & fine auctore notiffimi verfus.
Cum primum iftorum conduxit menfa choragum;
Sexque deos vidit Mallia fexque deas:
Impia dum Phœbi Cæfar mendacia ludit ;
Dum nova divorum conat adulteria :
Omnia fe à terris tunc numina declinarunt,
Fugit & auratos Jupiter ipfe tholos.
Auxit cœnæ rumorem fumma tunc in civitate pe-
nuria & fames; acclamatumque eft poftridie, "Fru-
mentum omne deos comediffe:" Et, "Cæfarem effe
planè Apollinem, fed Tortorem." Quo cognomine
is deus quâdam in parte urbis colebatur. Suetonius,
in Aug. §. 70.
(19) Oculos habuit puros ac nitidos: quibus etiam
exiſtimari volebat ineffe quiddam divini vigoris ;
gaudebatque fi quis fibi. acriùs contuenti, quafi a&
fulgorem folis, vultum fubmitteret. Suetonius, in
Aug. §. 79.
(20) Æn. 8. *. 678.
DIALOGUE the Eighth.
87
Propertius has (21) fome very difficult lines in fpeaking of the very fame fubject, which
as well as Virgil's feem to me to have fome reference to this affectation in Auguftus;
of having his eyes thought to beam light, like thofe of his ſuppoſed father, Apollo:
and there are a few other expreffions in (22) Virgil, which may poffibly have a fide view
to the fame extravagant imagination of this emperor.
་
To return to my collection: The Apollo, before you, is not perhaps the propereſt I
could have found out for this place; but as it is the nobleſt Apollo, (and, probably, the
nobleſt ſtatue in the world,) I have done in this cafe, as in that of the Venus of Medici
and have chofen to commit a fmall impropriety, rather than lofe fo great a beauty. As to
his particular character, you fee it is the Apollo Venator. But tho' he prefides over the
chace, and ſeems actually engaged in it, he is dreffed rather fine for his character. His hair
is in fome fort dreffed; and collected together a little above his forehead. His Chlamys,
which is only faſtened with a gem over his breaſt, falls looſely down his back, and is
toffed over his arm. His feet are in one fort of the fine bufkins, which they ufed an-
tiently for the chace. All the reſt of his body is naked. In fhort he is, in every thing,
juſt as Maximus Tyrius has deſcribed him (23): "The god, in the bloom of youth; al-
"moſt all naked, tho' he has a Chlamys over his ſhoulders: holding his bow; and feem
CC
ing not only going to move on, but to move on rapidly." He may be thus far adorned,
as the Apollo who is fo often defcribed in the poets, quitting (24) Lycia his great hunting-
feat, to go to Delos where he always appeared in more ſtate; and much as Virgil in par-
ticular deſcribes him, where he compares Æneas, (when going a hunting,) to this god.
Ipfe ante alios pulcherrimus omnes
Infert fe focium Æneas, atque agmina jungit :
Qualis ubi hybernam Lyciam Xanthique fluenta
Deferit, ac Delum maternam invifit Apollo,
Inftauratque choros; mixtique altaria circum
Creteſque, Dryopefque fremunt, pictique Agathyrfi.
Ipfe jugis Cynthi graditur; mollique fluentem
Fronde premit crinem fingens, atque implicat auro:
Tela fonant humeris. Haud illo fegnior ibat
Æneas; tantum egregio decus enitet ore (25).
a
I WOULD not affert that Virgil had this very figure of the Apollo Belvidere in his eye,
in writing this compariſon; but thus much is plain: that they both relate to the Apollo
Venator, ſet off more than he is uſually in that character; that, both in the poet, and in
the marble, this god is reprefented as the ſtandard of beauty; that this divine beauty of
his,
(21) Cum Phoebus linquens ftantem fe vindice Delon,
(Nam tulit iratos mobilis una notos)
Aftitit Augufti puppim fuper; & nova flamma
Luxit in obliquam ter finuata facem.
Propertius, Lib. 4. El.:6. Y. 30.
This laft line is difficult enough to be understood;
but I imagine it may refer to the rays of light
beaming from Apollo's eyes, and thoſe from Au-
guftus's, croffing one another: fomething like what
the naturaliſts call, (by a term that is hard enough
too,) radiorum decuffatio.
(22) Virgil, in ſpeaking of Æneas, (his great type
of Auguftus,) fays in one place;
Tantum egregio decus enitet ore.
and in another:
Os humerofque Deo fimilis. Namque ipfa decoram
Cæfariem nato genetrix, lumenque juventæ
Purpuream; & lætos oculis afflarat honores.
Æn. 4. .150. and 1. . 591.
He may too have had both this and the Julian ſtar
in his thoughts, in fpeaking of the fon of peas;
when he deſcribes the omen of royalty that appeared
on his head.
Ecce levis fummo de vertice vifus Iüli
Fundere lumen apex! Tactuque innoxia molli
Lambere flamma comas, et circum tempora pafci.
Æn.2. 7.684.
(23) Μειρακιου, γυμνον ἐκ χλαμίδια, τοξότην, δια
βεβηκότα τοις ποσιν ωσπερ τον θεον]α. Max. Tyrius,
Differt. 72.
(24) Tranquillæque faces oculis ; & plurima vultu
Mater ineft. Qualis Lyciâ venator Apollo
Cum redit, & fævis permutat plectra fagittis.
Statius, Athil. y. 166.
•
(25) Virgil. Æn. 4. *.159.
88
POLY MET I S.
his, and his motion, are the two principal points aimed at by Virgil in this ſimilitude, and
the two chief things that ſtrike one in viewing the Apollo Belvidere; and, on the whole;
that if the one was not copied from the other, they are at leaſt ſo much alike, that they
may very well ſerve to give a mutual light to each other.
ONE of the moſt known characters of Apollo, among us at prefent, is that of his pre-
fiding over poetry, and the Mufes; of whom I have a drawing here and as there has
been always a good deal of difficulty in diſtinguiſhing them from one another; I ſhall
endeavour to remove that as far as I can, before I go on with this character of the god
himſelf.
THE order of the nine Mufes feems to have been quite arbitrary; and to have been
left wholly to the choice of the artiſt, who was to reprefent them. Was any order to
be followed, that of their names annexed to the nine books of Herodotus's hiſtory (26),
would certainly carry the greateft authority with it; as that was done by the general de-
cree of all Greece, affembled at the Olympic games. But I believe there was no fettled
method of ranging them ever intended, or obferved: their order in Aufonius's inſcrip-
tion (27), for a Relievo of the nine Mufes in his time, being different from that uſed for
Herodotus's hiſtory; as the Relievo's we now meet with, differ both from them, and
from each other, in their method of ranging the Muſes.
THIS makes it the more difficult to point out exactly who each of the perſons is, in the
PL. XII. drawing of the Mufes now before us: tho' by the help of Aufonius, (who, on this oc-
cafion I muſt beg you to allow me as a good authority,) and of what is faid here and
there by the poets of the better ages, relating to theſe goddeffes, we may be fure of above
half of them; and may gueſs perhaps, pretty well, at each of the reft.
PL. XII.
FIG. 1.
THE firſt figure then is, Clio; by the volume, or roll in her hand. The ſecond,
Thalia; by the old paſtoral crook, and comic mafk. The third, I ſhould gueſs, to be
Terpsichore. The fourth, probably, is Euterpe; by the Tibiæ, or (28) pipes. The
fifth, from her penfive or amorous poſture, I take to be Erato. The fixth, is Calliope;
from the tablets, or pocket-book, in her left hand. The ſeventh, (from her marking
out what ſhe fings, ſo particularly (29), with her hand,) ſhould be Polyhymnia. The
eighth is evidently Urania, from her globe and radius; and the ninth, (with a maſk,
and without the pedum paftorale,) is, as evidently, Melpomene.
CLIO prefided over the nobleft kind of poetry: her office it was to celebrate the
actions of departed heroes. She therefore has a roll, (or book,) in her hand, as here
or elſe the longer, bolder pipe; as in the Relievo of the Muſes, in the Juftiniani palace
at Rome. Horace, in ſpeaking of this pipe, ſeems to give it (30) the ſhrillneſs of the trum-
pet; and indeed it is ſhaped much in the fame manner with the trumpets, which the
(26) Their order before the nine books of Hero-
dotus is thus: Clio, Euterpe, Thalia; Melpomene,
Terpfichore, Erato; Polymnia, Urania, and Cal-
liope.
(27) Clio, geſta canens, tranſactis tempora reddit.
Melpomene, tragico proclamat mæſta boatu.
Comica laſcivo gaudet fermone Thalia.
Dulciloquos calamos Euterpe flatibus urget.
Terpsichore, affectus citharis movet, imperat, auget.
Plectra gerens Erato, faltat pede, carmine, vultu.
Carmina Calliope libris heroica mandat.
Uranie, cœli motus fcrutatur & aftra.
Signat cuncta manu, loquitur Polyhymnia geſtu.
Mentis Apollineæ vis has movet undique Mufas:
In medio refidens complectitur omnia Phœbus.
Aufonius. Edyl. 20.
modern
(28) She has one pipe in her left hand; and ſhould
have its companion, in her right. The right hand is
broke off in the original, at the wrift. They have
lately refitted it, at the Capitol; and have, very
juſtly, added the pipe in that hand, as well as in the
other.
(29) Signat cuncta manu, loquitur Polyhymnia geftu.
Aufonius's Infcription: Note 27, anteh.
(30) Quem virum aut heroa lyrâ, vel acri
Tibiâ, fumes celebrare Clio ?
Hor. Lib. 1, Od, 12. ★.2.
DIALOGUE the Eighth.
89
modern artiſts give to their figures of Fame. As Pindar, and feveral other of the old
Lyric poets, dealt fo much in celebrating the actions of departed heroes; this Mufe may
perhaps have been ſometimes repreſented with a lyre too; tho' I do not remember ever
to have ſeen any inſtance of it, in the remains of the old artiſts. Statius (31) makes her
defcend to lower offices; as if the muſt prefide over every thing that was wrote in heroic
verſe and his miſtake, (for it ſeems to be one,) may be eafily accounted for, from their
looking formerly, on every thing wrote in hexameters, as an epic poem; as I have men-
tioned to you, I think, on a (32) former occafion.
FIG. 2.
THALIA, was the Muſe of comedy, and of (33) paftorals; of which they had a great PL. XII.
mixture on the Roman ſtage, in the earlieſt ages of their poetry, and long (34) aftër.
She is diſtinguiſhed from the other Mufes in general, by her maſk; and from the tragic
Muſe, by her ſhepherd's crook: not to ſpeak of her look, which is meaner than that of
Melpomene; or her dreſs, which is fhorter, (and conſequently leſs noble,) than that of
any other of the Muſes in this drawing.
TERPSICHORE has nothing here to diſtinguiſh her. Aufonius gives her the Cithara ; PL. XII.
and it is ſaid (35), that ſhe was the inaentrefs of that inftrument. On the medals (36) ofFIG. 3.
the Pomponian family, there are three of the nine Muſes with ftringed inftruments in
their hands; and juſt the ſame number in the famous Relievo (37) of the Apotheofis of
Homer: but the miſchief is, that we do not know theſe inftruments from one another;
and are uſed to call the Cithara, Barbitos, and Teftüḍo, all indifferently by the name of
Lyres, or rather Fiddles, in down-right Engliſh. Theſe three Mures, which are fo
often repreſented with ſtringed-inſtruments, (and which are therefore fo difficult to be
known,) are the third, fifth, and ſeventh, in the drawing before you; the other fix be-
ing eaſily known, from their different fort of attributes. The firſt of theſe three, I call
Terpfichore, becauſe the other two feem to have ſomething in their look and poſture
which may ſerve to determine them to be Erato and Polyhymnia. But this is a good deal
conjectural and perhaps we can never diſtinguiſh theſe three certainly unleſs we were
better acquainted with the names and ſhape of the different ftringed inftruments, given
to each of them, in the other works of the antients relating to thefe deities.
FIG. 4-
Ir was very common with the mtificians of old, to play on two pipes at once: agrée-P. XII.
ably to the remarks (38) before Terence's plays; and as we often actually find them re-
preſented in the remains of the artiſts. It was over this fpecies of mufic that Euterpe pre-
fided (39); as one learns from the very firſt ode of Horace. I have alſo ſeen her (40) re-
preſented with the Fiſtula, or Calami, in her hand; it is under this lower character,
that Aufonius (41) ſpeaks of her:
(31)
Dumque procax myrtis hederiſque; folutâ
Fronte; verecundo Clio mea ludit Etrufco.
Statius, Lib.1. Sylv.2. .10. in Balneum Etrufci,
(32) See p. 26. Note 51, anteh.
(33) Nec erubuit fylvas habitare Thalia.
–
Virgil. Ecl. 6. . 2.
(34) Sylvis deducti caveant me judice Fauni,
Ne velut innati triviis, ac pene forenfes,
Aut nimium teneris juvenentur verfibus unquam ;
Aut immunda crepent ignominiofaque dicta.
Hor. de Arte Poet. y. 247.
(36) See Agoſtini's Med. p. 157.
(37) Admirandä, Pl. ült.
ERATO,
(38) Where it is ſaid, before the Andria, that
it was acted Tibiis paribus, dextris & finiftris ;-the
Eunuchus, Tibiis duabus dextris ;-the Phormio,
Tiblis imparibus; &c.
(39)
Si neque tibias
Euterpe cohibet.
Hor. Lib. 1. Od. 1. . 33.
(40) Agoſtini. p. 157. Med. 4.
(35) By fome of the commentators on Juvenal,
Sat. 7. *.35.
(41) Note 27, anteh.
A a
98
POLYMETIS.
PL. XII.
FIG. 5.
PL. XII:
FIG: 6:
ERATO, who prefided over love-fonnets and all the amorous kinds of poetry, you ſee
here, is genteely dreffed; and has a pretty look, tho' thoughtful: for ſhe is repreſented
either fo, or elſe all full of gayety and motion; as Aufonius defcribes her; and as I have
ſeen her on (42) gems: both which characters tho' fo oppofite to one another, fuit very
well with lovers; and confequently with any patronefs of them. Ovid, one of the chief
votaries of this mufe, invokes her with much propriety (43) in his Art of love; and in the
fourth book of his Fafti, for the month of April: which was reckoned the lovers month
among
the Romans, as May is among us. I own I cannot ſee the ſame propriety in Vir-
gil's invoking Erato (44), in the feventh book of his Æneid, to give an account of the
antient ſtate of Italy; and juſt before his entering on a ſcene of battles and deſtruction:
unleſs it be from that war's having been occafioned by, (what Horace calls the old cauſe
of war,) a woman; in which view; all the deftruction confequent upon it, was an effect
of love.
CALLIOPE, is ſpoken of above once by Ovid, as the (45) chief of all the Mufes: and
it is thereföre; perhaps, that Horace calls her Regina; and attributes the fkill of play-
ing on what inftrument (46) fhe pleafes, to this Mufe; as comprehending the whole of
the art, almoſt as much as Apollo himſelf. The book the holds in her left hand, is
much more like a modern book, than an antient one: The books of old were like the
rolls, in our offices for old records; and the form we uſe for books now; was then only
ufed for tablets, or pocket-books. Thefe tablets, in the left hand of Calliope, mark
but the diſtinguiſhing character of this Mufe; which was to note down the worthy
actions of the living; as Clio's was, to celebrate thofe of departed heroes.
Tho' thefe
are only tablets, Aufonius calls them, Libri: the common names for them (47), uſed by
Pliny in his epiſtles, and by ſeveral of the other Roman writers, are much more proper s
and more deſcriptive of them.
(42) See Agoftini's gems; No 6.
(43) Nunc mihi, fi quando, puer & Cytherea favete!
Nunc, Erato; nam tu nomen amoris habes.
Ovid. Art. Am. Lib. 2. y. 16.
Erato was ſo much the patronefs of lovers, that
the fame author in his Fafti fpeaks of her and Venus
as one and the fame. He ſpeaks of her as Venus; in
the following verſes:
Alma fave vati, geminorum mater Amorum!
POLYHYMNIA
Cum primuin Aufoniis exercitus appulit oris,
Expediam; & primæ revocabo exordia pugnæ :
Tu vatem, tu diva, mone! Dicam horrida bella;
Dicam acies, actofque animis in funera réges ;
Tyrrhenamque manum, totamque fub arma coactam
Hefperiam major rerum mihi nafcitur ordo ;
Majus opus moveo.
Æn. 7. .45.
Dedimus fummam certaminis uni.
Surgit; &, immiffos hederâ collecta capillos,
Calliope querulas prætentat pollice chordas;
Atque hæc percuffis fubjungit carmina nervis.
(45)
Faſt. 4. . 1.
Mota Cytheriacâ leviter mea tempora myrto
Contigit; & cœptum perfice, dixit, opus.
Ib. 16.
And as the Mufe; in thefe;
Talibus Aoniæ facundâ voce Camænæ
Reddita quæfiti caufa furoris erat.
Ovid. Met. 5. *. 340.
Tunc fic, neglectos hederâ redimita capillos,
Prima fui cœpit Calliopæa chori.
Id. Faft. 5. . 80.
Ib. 246.
Ib. 349.
Subftitit hic Erato:
He farther fays, in one place, that the month of
April was dedicated to Venus; and in another, that
it was the month of Erato.
Ib. 14.
Venimus ad quartum, quo tu celeberrima, menſem ;
Et vatem & menfem fcis, Venus, effe tuos.
Sic ego: fic Erato. Menfis Cythereïus illi
Ceffit, quòd teneri nomen amoris habet.
Ib.
(44) Nunc age qui reges, Erato, quæ tempora rerum,
Quis Latio antiquo fuerit ftatus, ad vena claffèm
196.
(46) Deſcende cœlo ; & dic age tibiâ
Regina longum Calliope melos:
Seu voce nunc mavis acutâ ;
Seu fidibus, citharâve Phœbi.
Hor. Lib. 3. Od. 4. *. 4.
(47) Ád retia fedebam. Erant in proximo, nori
venabulum & lancea, fed ftylus & pugillares. Medi-
tabar aliquid, eñotabamque : ut fi manus vacuas,
plenas tamen ceras reportarem. Plin. Lib. 1. Epift. 7.
Pugillares, or libri pugillares, books to hold in
the hand and write on. Catullus calls them, more
abfolutely, Pugillaria; and Aufonius, (on another
occafion,) Pugillar bipatens: an expreffion, particu
larly defcriptive of their make,
1
DIALOGUE the Eighth.
FIG. 7.
91
POLYHYMNIA is the laft of thoſe three Muſes, that are moſt commonly diſtinguiſhed
by holding ſome ſtringed inftrument of muſic or other, in their hands. This in the hand
of Polyhymnia, is (48) perhaps what the Romans, (after the Greeks,) called Barbitos; PL. XII.
and what we have no name for, in our language. It has a bottom to it very different,
both from the Teftudo, and the moſt common fort of Lyres: but as I know fo little ei-
ther of the make, or names, of the ftringed inftruments of the antients, I fhall venture no
farther on that head.
URANIA, is the Muſe that prefided over aſtronomy: and it is therefore that you ſee P₁. XII,
her here with the celeftial globe, at her feet; and the Radius (49), uſed by aftronomers, FIG. 8.
in her hand. In the ſtatues of this Muſe you ſometimes fee the globe in her hand; and
fometimes it is placed on a column before her, that ſhe may confider it the more nearly;
and the more attentively. Statius feems to allude to this laſt (50); where he is ſpeaking
of the death of a poet and warrior, whoſe fate this Muſe forefaw; and whom ſhe had in-
vain endeavoured to keep from the wars. This agrees very well with the antient idea
of aftronomy, which was perpetually intermixed with judicial aſtrology; as one fees by
Manilius, and the other writers on aſtronomy in thoſe times.
FIG. 9.
MELPOMENE, has her maſk here on her head; and it is fometimes placed fo much PL. XII.
more backward, that it has been miſtaken (51) for a fecond face. Her maſk fhews that
The prefided over the ſtage; and fhe is diftinguiſhed from Thalia; (or the comic Mufe,)
By having more of dignity in her look, ſtature, and dreſs. Melpomene was ſuppoſed to
prefide over all melancholy ſubjects, as well as tragedy: as one would imagine, at leaſt,
from (52) Horace's invoking her, in one of his odes; and his defiring her to crown him
with laurel, in another.
2
As to the Mufes in general; it is remarkable that the poets fay but little of them, in
a defcriptive way: much leſs, than might indeed be expected for deities, to whom
they were ſo particularly obliged. Where they do fpeak of them, befide what I have al-
ready mentioned, it is generally fomething in relation to themfelves. Thus Statius gives
us an image of all the Muſes together, mourning over a dead (53) poet, in filence; and
another of Calliope, as receiving Lucan (54) kindly at his birth. Horace has much fuch
another idea of Melpomene (55), on a like occafion: and I have a drawing here which
may relate to the ſame ſubject, tho' I am not certain it does; but it is fo pretty, and
ſeems to hit it ſo well, that I was willing to give it a place in my (56) collection. You
ſee the mother fitting here; with much the fame air that has been ſo often obferved on
the face of Mary of Medici, after the birth of Lewis the Thirteenth; in Rubens's
(48)
-Nec Polyhymnia
Lefboum refugit tendere barbiton.
Præcipe lugubres
Cantus Melpomene; cui liquidam pater
Vocem cum cithara dedit.
famous
Hor. Lib. 1. Od: 24. ✯. 4.
Mihi Delphicâ
(52)
(49)
Hor. Lib. 1. Od. 1. . 34.
*.34.
-Celique meatus
Defcribent radio, & furgentia fidera dicent.
Virgil. n. 6. .851.
Lauro cinge volens Melpomene comam.
(53) Statius Theb. 8. y. 554. See Note
Id. Lib. 3. Od. 30. . ult.
anteh.
50,
(50) Ipfa diu pofitis lethum prædixerat aftris
Uranie. Cupit ille tamen pugnafque, virofque ;
Forfitan ut caneret: longâ jacet ipfe canendus
Laude; fed amiffum mutæ flevere forores.
Statius, Theb. 8. *. 554.
(51) Hence FatherMontfaucon, in his ſet of the Muſes
from the medals of the Pomponian family, gives one
with two faces; one before, and the other behind;
exactly like the common heads of Janus. See Montf.
Vol. I. Pl. 59, 9.
(54) Natum protinus, atque humum per ipfam
Primo murmure dulce vagientem,
Blando Calliope finu recepit.
Statius, Lib. 2. Sylv. 7. ¥. 38.
(55) Quem tu, Melpomene, femel
Nafcentem placido lumine videris;
Hor. Lib. 4. Od. 3. : 2.
(56) See the bottom piece, in Pl. XII:
24
92
POLY MET I S.
f
famous painting, in the Luxemburg-gallery. The nurfe is holding an infant, as juſt born,
near the ground; and the perſon who ſtands by, looking ſo kindly upon the child, and
holding a robe open as ready to receive it, we will call (if you pleaſe) a Mufe; and
perhaps it is Erato: for the feems, I think; moft to reſemble her, of any in the drawing
I fhewed you before. Urania ftands, on this fide; with her globe on a column; as con-
fidering and predicting the future fortunes of the new-born infant: and the perfon, be-
tween her and Erato, ſeems very attentive to what ſhe ſays. I may be wrong, in making
Muſes and Deities of fome of the perfons you ſee here. All I can fay is, that the firſt
moment I ſaw the original, it put me in mind of theſe deſcriptions in Horace and Statius ;
and that if it was not meant for Mufes, it at leaſt agrees exceedingly well with their re-
preſentations of fome of thoſe deities, on a like occafion.
THE Muſes were a frequent ornament for their (57) libraries of old; as well as the
heads of philofophers and poets. We ſee them often too on tombs; and they had a
more particular propriety there, if the perfons interred in them were either poets, or
philofophers, or muſicians, or aftronomers. On theſe you often meet with the whole
choir of the Muſes, with fome other deity, that had ſome relation to them, in the midſt
of them: ſometimes the Hercules Mufarum; fometimes Minerva, the goddeſs of wif-
dom; and ſometimes, Apollo. The laſt was the caſe in the Relievo, for which Auſo-
nius wrote his infcription; where he gives us the reaſon why Apollo is placed in the
midſt of them: and there is a Sarcophagus (58) in the Juftiniani palace at Rome which
repreſents Apollo ſtanding in the midſt of the Muſes, juſt as he is deſcribed by Aufonius;
and with his lyre in his hand.
APOLLO, confidered in his poetical character, is called indifferently either Vates, or
Lyriſtes; muſic and poetry, in the earlieſt ages of the world, having made but one and
the fame profeffion. Sometimes you ſee him naked; with his hair regularly compoſed,
and collected over his forehead; with his lyre in one hand, and his plectrum in the
other and ſometimes, in particular, leaning againſt a rock; juft as he is deſcribed (59)
by Propertius. At other times he has his hair finely dreffed out; all flowing down at its
PL. XIII. full length, and crowned with laurel; dreffed in a long robe, that falls to his feet: which
FIG.I,& 2. is indeed the proper and diſtinguiſhing habit, of the Apollo Vates or Lyriſtes. The Ro-
Reato. Hyperion
man poets, and particularly (60) thoſe of the Auguftan age, are very full in their deſcrip-
tions of him. It was in this fort of dreſs that Apollo was ſuppoſed to appear at the (61)
feafts of Jupiter; and particularly at that folemn one, after his victory over Saturn :
(57) Bacchas iftas cum Mufis Metelli comparas.
Quid fimile? Primùm ipfas ego Muſas nunquam tanti
putaffem: fed tamen erat aptum bibliothecæ, ftu-
diifque noftris congruens: Bacchis verò ubi eft apud
me locus? Ea figna ego emere foleo, quæ ad fimili-
tudinem gymnafiorum exornent mihi in palæſtrâ lo-
cum. Cicero, Lib. 7. Ep. 23. Fab. Gallo.
(58) In Montfaucon, Vol. I. Pl. LX. 1.
(59)
(60)
Auratâ nixus ad antra lyrâ.
Propertius, Lib. 3. El. 3. . 14.
Sacris inducta capillis
Laurus erat: vates ille videndus adeft.
Ovid. de Arte Am. 2. *.496.
Alterius crines humero jactentur utroque:
Talis es affumtâ, Phœbe canore, lyrâ.
Id. Ibid. 3. ✯. 142.
Ipfe deus vatum, pallâ ſpectabilis aureâ,
Tractat inauratæ confona fila lyræ.
Id. Lib. 1. EL. 8. .60.
Ille, caput flavum lauro Parnaſſide vinctus,
Verrit humum Tyrio faturatâ murice pallâ :
Inftructamque fidem gemmis & dentibus Indis
under
Suftinet à lævâ; tenuit manus altera plectrum :
Artificis ſtatus ipfe fuit.
Id. Met. 11. y. 169.
Ima videbatur talis illudere palla ;
Namque hæc in nitido corpore veſtis erat.
Artis opus raræ, fulgens teftudine & auro,
Pendebat lævâ garrula parte lyra.
Hanc primùm veniens plectro modulatus eburno
Felices cantus ore fonante dedit:
Sed poftquam fuerant digiti cum voce locuti,
Edidit hæc triſti dulcia verba modo.
Tibullus, Lib. 3. El. 4. . 42.
(61) Phoebe, fave: novus ingreditur tua templa facerdos :
Huc age cum citharâ carminibufque veni.
Nunc te vocales impellere pollice chordas;
Nunc precor ad laudes flectere verba meas.
Ipfe triumphali devinctus tempora lauro,
Dum cumulant aras, ad tua facra veni;
Sed nitidus pulcherque veni: nunc indue veſtem
Sepofitam; longas nunc bene pecte comas :
Qualem te memorant, Saturno rege fugato,
Victori laudes concinuiffe Jovi.
Tibullus, Lib. 2. El. 5. Ý. 10.
:
DIALOGUE the Eighth.
under which character he may moft properly be called, the Feftal Apollo. It was thus
too that the poets, (or muſicians of old,) were dreffed, when they fang to the lyre, at the
tables of the greateſt princes; and, in particular, Iöpas in Virgil, at the feaft which Dido
gives to Æneas: as that poet gives us to underſtand by (62) one fingle word only; in his
ufual way of rather hinting at things, than expreffing them directly, or at large.
ONE of the most celebrated characters of Apollo among the Romans, (particularly in
the Auguſtan age,) was that of the Actian Apollo. There was a promontory near Ac-
tiùm, (called indifferently the promontory of Actium, or Leucatè,) which was very fa-
mous in antient times for two things: the lovers leap (63), and the ſtatue of Apollo
which ſtood very near the place, from which the lovers (who were fo difpofed) were
to take their leap. This ftatue of the Actian Apollo, as he was called, ftood high;
and was viſible to the mariners a good way out at fea: he was (64) much revered by
them and Auguftus himſelf, before his engagement with Antony off this cape, addreffed
his devotions to him for the victory; as I think I have fomewhere read, tho' I forget
where. This made him fo celebrated among the Roman poets: notwithſtanding which,
one ſhould have fome difficulty to determine exactly what fort of appearance Apollo
made under the character of the Actian or Leucadian god. It feems as if his dreſs had
been of a mixed kind on this occafion; partly that of the Apollo Venator, and partly that
of the Apollo Lyriftes. At leaſt, the poets in general give him (65) a bow in his hand
and on (66) a medal of Auguftus, he appears with the long flowing robe of the mufical
Apollo. This is a confufion of his attributes and characters, which is very uncommon;
but which however is not wholly without authority, in (67) other antient figures of this
god.
(62)
Perfonat auratâ.
Citharâ crinitus löpas
Virgil. Æn. 1. *.741.
As the Romans must have been fo familiarly ac-
quainted with the dreſs of the Feſtal Apollo, his long
robe which he always wore then, and his full-dreffed
hair; Virgil's applying the epithet Crinitus (the
known epithet of Apollo) to Töpas, on this occafion,
might imply, to them, that he was dreffed out like
the Feſtal Apollo: in a long magnificent robe, and
with his hair all flowing down, his back. This, by
the way, is a ſtrong inftance of the uſe of being ac-
quainted with the antient Roman cuſtoms, and with
the appearances their gods uſed to make on fuch and
fuch occafions, towards underſtanding their poets.
Had the author of a piece publiſhed a few years ago,
(under a name, that would make every body fond
of reading it,) been aware of this; methinks he
could never have called Crinitus here: "an epithet
fo wholly foreign to the purpoſe." See Difc. on an-
tient and modern learning; by Mr. Addiſon. p. 6.
(63)
Quoniam non ignibus æquis
Ureris, Ambracias terra petenda tibi.
Phœbus ab excelfo quantum patet adfpicit æquor ;
Actiacum populi, Leucadiumque vocant.
Hinc fe Deucalion Pyrrhæ fuccenfus amore
Mifit, & illæfo corpore preffit aquas :
Nec mora, verfus amor tetigit leniffima Pÿrrhæ
Pectora.-
Ovid. Her. Epift. 15. y. 170. (Sappho, to Phaon.)
(64) Mox & Leucatæ nimbofa cacumina montis ;
Et formidatus nautis aperitur Apollo.
(65) Jam fragor armorum trepidantes perfonat aures,
Actiacofque finus & Apollinis arma timentes.
A s
Petronius Arb. .115.
Actius hæc cernens arcum intendebat Apollo
Defuper omnis eo terrore Egyptus & Indus,
Omnis Arabs, omnes vertebant terga Sabæi.
Virgil. Æn. 8. *.706.
Dixerat; & pharetræ pondus confumit in arcus:
Proxima poft arcus Cæfaris hafta fuit.
Vincit Roma fide Phobi.
Propertius, Lib. 4. El. 6. . 57.
Actius hinc traxit Phoebus monumenta, quòd ejus
Una decem vicit miffa fagitta rates.
Id. Ibid. y. 68.
in the battle of Actium; but in that of Philippi too,
Apollo was not only fuppofed to affift Auguftus,
againſt Brutus: as we learn from a paffage in Valerius
Maximus; (which, by the way, fhews that there
were Sortes Homerica of old, as well as Sortes Vir-
gilianæ.) M. Bruti dignus admiffo parricidio eventus
omine defignatus eft: fiquidem poft illud nefarium
opus natalem fuum celebrans, cum Græcum verfum
expromere vellet, ad illud potiffimum Homericum
referendum animo tetendit; σε Αλλα με μοιρ' ολοη και
Antes exlaver vios" qui deus, Philippenfi acie, a Cæ-
fare & Antonio figno datus, in eum tela convertit.
Lib. 1. Cap. 5.
(66) In Oifelius's Thef. felect. numifm. Pl. 37.
Fig. 11.
(67) Pliny, ſpeaking of the celebrated works of
Leontius at Rome, mentions one in which he had
made Apollo, killing the Python; and at the ſame
Virgil. Æn. 3. . 275. time, dreffed as a muſician. Apollinem Citharædum,
ferpen-
Bb
93
94
POLYMETIS.
As Auguftus was fo particularly obliged to the Apollo of Actium, he built one temple
to him on the fpot; and another afterwards, (68) within the confines of his own houſe, at
Rome. Auguftus's houfe was called, the Palatium; (which, you know, was a par
ticular name then; tho' it has fince grown into a general one, for all royal houfes ;) and
the noble figure of Apollo which ſtood in the temple he built to the Actian Apollo there,
was thence called the Apollo Palatinus. This ftatue was a work of the famous (69)
Scopas; and the defign of it was not fo precarious, as that of the Apollo at Actium.
It was reprefented folely under the character of the Apollo Lyriftes. The poets defcribe
him in a manner that confines his character abfolutely to this: they ſpeak of him (70) as
in his flowing robe, and as actually playing on his lyre. They even ſeem to hint (71) at
his having quitted his bow; and to give (72) the reafon, why he has quitted it. His
figure therefore muſt have made much the fame appearance with the Actian Apollo's, as
that god is repreſented on the reverſe of (73) Auguftus's medal; and Actius Apollo on that
medal, and Palatinus (74) Apollo in the poets, may poffibly refer to one and the fame
character, and one and the fame ftatue; namely, this celebrated ftatue of the Actian
Apollo, on the Palatine hill.
!
THE
ferpentemque ejus fagittis confici. Nat. Hift. Lib. plum Apollinis in eâ parte Palatine domûs excitavit,
34. c. 8. p. 384. Ed. Elz.
→
This puts me in mind of one of the moſt puzzling
ftatues, ever met with in Italy. It is in the en-
trance of the king of Sardinia's palace, at Turin.
The face has the Greek air; and the hair is collected
on the forehead, like Apollo's. There is a lift, or
diadem, appears under the hair of the forehead; and
then is loft, in the hair on each fide. There is a par-
ticular fort of velum behind the head; with two Tæ-
niæ, falling down a pretty way on the ſhoulders and
breaft. It has a fort of Chlamys, faſtened with a
round gem over the breaft; and a Cingulum, ap-
pearing from under it, and going down to the left
fide. A veſt under it, with large folds; girt, a little
above the navel: then a Multitium, following cloſely
the ſhape of the limbs, quite down to the feet; and
very plainly diſtinguiſhing the ſex. From under this,
there is an odd fort of ribbed ftuff, that comes half
way over the feet; as the Soleæ appear under them.
One foot is a little advanced before the other; and
both the face, and attitude, are apt to put one in
mind of Apollo ſhooting. What it repreſents, is
very difficult to ſay; and it is as difficult I think, to
fix what nation it is of. If one was to fee only the
head, one ſhould think it Grecian; if one was to fee
only the breaft and fhoulders, it might paſs for Ro-
man; and if one was to ſee it only from the navel
downwards, one ſhould take it to be Egyptian. It
was of too doubtful a nature for me to make uſe of
any print of it: and I have defcribed it here fo mi-
nutely, rather as a riddle for the antiquarians to fnd
out; than as any authority in the prefent cafe: tho' a
very fenfible and learned gentleman I had the pleaſure
of knowing at Turin, was always of the opinion, that
it repreſented Apollo in his robe, as a Mufician; and
in the attitude, of having juſt ſhot off his bow.
(68) Victor deinde Cæfar reverfus in urbem, con-
tractas emptionibus complures domos, quò laxior fi-
eret ipfius, publicis fe ufibus deftinare profeffus eft;
templumque Apollinis, & circa Porticus, facturum
promifit: quod ab eo fingulari extructum munificen-
tiâ eft. Vel. Paterculus, Lib. 2. §. 81.Tem-
quam fulmine ictam à deo defiderari harufpices pro-
nuntiarunt. Addidit Porticus ; cum bibliothecâ;
Latinâ Græcâque. Suetonius, in Aug. §. 29.
(69) Pliny, (fpeaking of the fineſt pieces of this
ftatuary; at Rome;) fays. Is fecit Apollinem Pala-
tinum. Nat. Hift. Lib. 36. c. 5. p. 471. Ed. Elz.
(70) Propertius gives a long account of his having
been at the opening of the Portico's belonging to this
temple of the Apollo Palatinus; and among ſeveral
other remarkable things, mentions the figure of the
god himſelf.
Deinde inter matrem deus ipfe interque fororem
Pythius in longâ carmina vefte fonat.
Propertius, Lib. 2. El. 31. . 16.
(71) When Horace is writing on fo particular and
folemn an occafion, as the ſecular games were among
the Romans; it is probable that he applies to the fa
vourite Apollo of the Romans, in his time: which
was this Apollo, the patron and favourite deity of
Auguftus Cæfar. In his poem on that occafion, he
fays;
Condito mitis placidufque telo,
Supplices audi pueros Apollo.
Hor. Carm. Sæc. ✯. 34
(72) Propertius, after ſpeaking of the figure of
Apollo at Actium, which was armed; immediately
fays,
Bella fatis cecini: citharam jam pofcit Apollo
Victor; & ad placidos exuit arma choros.
Lib. 4. El. 6. . 70.
(73) In that medal, ſubſcribed ACT, and re-
ferred to before, in Oifelius's Thefaurus, (Pl. 37. 11.)
Apollo appears in the long robe, but flung back looſe;
and holds a lyre in his left hand, and the plectrum int
his right.
(74) Scripta, Palatinus quæcunque recepit Apollo.
Horat. Lib. 1. Ep. 3. ✈. 17.
DIALOGUE the Eighth.
95
THE repreſentations of Apollo as prefiding over the fun, will be more properly con-
fidered in another place (75): fo that, if you pleaſe, we will now go on to fome other
character of him. That of the Apollo Medicus is (76) often mentioned by the poets; and
it is on the account of this character, I fuppofe, that we fo frequently fee the ſerpent, at
the feet of his ſtatues: tho' the antiquarians in Italy, at prefent, will almoſt always have
it to be the ferpent Python. Let it be ever ſo ſmall, or in the moſt peaceable poſture
that can be imagined, (for it is often fleeping, and always quiet ;) our Cicerones, as you
may remember, were always pointing him out for that terrible monſter, which no lefs a
god than Apollo was forced to uſe almoſt all his arrows to rid the world of. I do not fee
any reaſon they have to commit fuch an outrage againſt all appearances, when the cha-
racter of Apollo as the god of health is fo well known; and when all the other deities
who ſhare with Apollo in that character, have almoft always a ferpent by them. I do
not remember ever to have feen an Hygiea without a ferpent; and Efculapius has com-
monly one much larger, (and confequently much more like the Python;) than thoſe at the
feet of Apollo. But what, I think, puts this quite out of difpute, is; that in the figures
we fee of Apollo with a ferpent by him, he has generally an eafy mild look whereas
was he to be reprefented as engaging the Python, his features would be all (77) fevere
and terrible.
THERE is ſomething of this ſeverity diſcovers itſelf in the eye of the Apollo Belvedere ;
but it appears in all its force, when he is executing fome piece of juftice, (or if you will,
fome piece of cruelty,) on thoſe who have offended him. Thus you fee him with a face
that almoſt makes one tremble to look upon it in this gem, where he is ordering Mar- PL. XIII.
fyas to be flea'd alive: a fubject; that is entirely horrid and. fhocking. The face of FIG. 3.
Marfyas expreffes pain, as ftrongly as the god's does anger. Indeed I ought to add in
juſtice to Apollo, that Nero is reprefented here, under the character of this god; and I
know no one of his characters fitter for that tyrant, than this is. The figures relating
to this ſtory of Marfyas, were very common of old; and we have a great many ſtill left
of them. It is faid there was one, in particular, in the Forum; very properly placed,
juſt by the feat of judgment; (in the fame manner as they have placed one now at the
entrance to the hall for hearing cauſes; on Monte Citorio;) and another, in ſome part of
the city, with Apollo himſelf inflicting the cruel puniſhment upon him; from whence
he got (78) the name of Apollo the Tormentour. There are feveral ftrokes in the Ro-
man poets, alluding to the (79) former of theſe figures; which, I imagine, reprefented
(75) See Dial. XII. pofth.
(76) Confilium eft, quodcunque cano; parete canenti:
Utque facis, cœptis Phoebe faluber ades!
Ovid. Rem. Am. ✯. 706.
Carminis, et medice Phæbe repertor opis.
Id. Ibid. y. 76.
İnventum medicina meum eft; opiferque per orbem
Dicor; & herbarum fubjecta potentia nobis.
Subvenit.
Id. Met. 1. y. 524.
Nihil auctor Apollo
Virgil. Æn. 12. y. 406.
(77) Non ille attulerat crines in colla folutos
Aut teftudineæ carmen inerme lyrë:
Sed quali afpexit Pelopeum Agamemnona vultu,
Egeffitque avidis Dorica caftra rogis ;
Aut qualis flexos folvit Pythona per orbes.
Propertius, Lib. 4. El. 6. . 35.
*.
Te viridis Python, Thebanaque mater ovantem
Horruit in pharetris.
Marfyas
Deinde eo dormitum : non follicitus mihi quòd cras
Surgendum fit mane; obeundus Marfya; qui fe
Vultum ferre negat Noviorum poffe minoris.
Horat. Lib. 1. Sat. 6. y. 121.
Scire velim quare toties mihi, Nævole, triſtis
Occurras, fronte obductâ ceu Marfya victus:
Quid tibi cum vultu, qualem deprenfus habebat
Ravola?
Juvenal. Sat. 9. . 4.
By the latter part of this paffage from Juvenal, I
ſhould be apt to imagine, that this particular figure of
Marfyas near the feat of judgment, repreſented him
very much furprized. As he had vanity enough, to
challenge Apollo; he had certainly enough too, to
think that the ſentence muſt have been given in his
favour.
By the paffage from Horace, I fhould imagine that
he was repreſented in it turning his face from Apollo ;
as not bearing to look on his victorious rival.
If this was really the cafe, there muſt have been a
ftrange mixture of the worst paffions on his fingle
Statius, Theb. 1. *.712. face. Surprize, at his being judged inferior; envy
and hatred, againſt the rival that was preferred to
him; a deep concern, for his lofs of glory; and
horror, of the puniſhment he expected to undergo.
All of which together might very well make a face,
(78) Suetonius, in Aug. §. 70.
(79)
Fora litibus omnia fervent
Ipfe poteft fieri Marfya caufidicus.
Martial. Lib. 2. Ep. 64. difmal enough to be made a proverb of,
96
POLYMETIS.
}
14
Marfyas as hearing, or as having juſt heard, the terrible ſentence pronounced againſt
him. Hence, if any man had an extremely dejected air, they afked; " Why do you
come out, with this Marfyas-face upon you?" And if a lawyer pleaded particularly ill,
they faid; "That man fpeaks bad enough, to make Marfyas look fo much out of hu-
mour as he does." There were numbers of other figures relating to the execution of this
Marfyas, as well as his condemnation: and I believe there are enough of them even
remaining to us, to fhew the whole ſeries of that melancholy ftory, in all its different
periods. In fome, he appears juft fixed to a tree, in fuch a manner that his feet do not
quite reach to the ground; in others, fometimes Apollo himſelf, and fometimes fome
other executioner, has begun fleaing him, and in others again, he appears with his body
quite flea'd, and all over one wound. We have defcriptions of him in the poets too, in
all theſe (80) different periods of his puniſhment; which are ſome of them ſo horrid,
that it gives one a good deal of pain only to go thorough the reading of them.
APOLLO probably had this angry and avenging air too, in the works of the antients
which repreſented the whole ftory of the puniſhment of Niobe. Niobe had highly
incenſed Latona; who defired her two children, Apollo and Diana, to avenge the af-
front that had been offered to her. In a picture, or relievo therefore of this ſtory, (ſuch
as was that (81) fine one, on one of the great folding-doors, to the temple of the Apollo
Palatinus,) one ſhould naturally expect to ſee theſe two deities in the air; with their bows
bent, and aiming at ſome of thoſe many children Niobe was fo proud of. In the noble
collection of detached figures relating to this affair, at the Villa Medici in Rome, this
indeed was impracticable; but in a relievo or picture, where it is practicable, it would
have been an unaccountable omiffion to leave out the two principal perfons of the piece:
and accordingly Perier, where he gives you a print of the Medicean figures, takes the
liberty of adding the deities over them in the air (82). The poets who faw the ſtory re-
preſented ſo often, both in marble and on canvas, fpeak very exprefly of the preſence of
theſe two deities on this occafion; and of the vengeful appearance they made: and Ju-
venal, in particular, introduces Amphion as feeing them, and addreffing his prayers to
them, to deprecate their wrath.
"Parce, precor, Pæan; & tu, depone fagittas?
Nil pueri faciunt; ipfam configite matrem !"
Amphion clamat; fed Pæan contrahit arcum (83).
THERE is a figure among thoſe relating to this ſtory, in the Villa Medici; which, in
all probability, is meant for Amphion: and his attitude in it agrees exactly with this de-
ſcription of him by Juvenal. By the way,
in it, not quite ſo proper on this occafion.
vours of the gods his prayer is addreffed to.
(80)
*.
Illuftres fatyro pendente Celænas.
Statius, Theb. 4. . 186.
-Phœbo fuperante pependit;
Cæfa recefferunt a cute membra fuâ.
Ovid. Faft. 6. . 708:
Quid me mihi detrahis? inquit;
Ah, piget! Ah, non eft, clamabat, tibia tanti!
Id. Met. 6. y. 386.
Clamanti cutis eft fummos direpta per artus ;
Nec quidquam nifi vulnus erat: cruor undique manat;
Detectique patent nervi trepidæquè finè ullâ
Pelle micant venæ. Salientia vifcera poffis,
Et perlucentes numerare in pectore fibras.
Id. Ibid. . 391.
(81) Auro folis erat fupra faftigia currus ;
Et valvæ Libyci nobile dentis opus:
that poet has given us a mixture of humour
His Amphion ſeems to beg two diſtinct fa-
The first is, that they would have com-
paffion
Altera, dejectos Parnafli vertice Gallos ;
Altera, mærebat funera Tantalidos.
Propertius, Lib. 2. El. 31. . 1
14.
There was another famous work on this fubject,
ſpoken of by Pliny, in another temple of Apollo at
Rome. Par hæfitatio eft, in templo Apollinis Sofia.
ni, Nioben cum liberis morientem Scopas an Praxi-
teles fecerit. Nat. Hift. Lib. 36. c. 5. p. 472. Ed.
Elz.
(82) Perier's Statues, Pl. 87.
(83) Juvenal. Sat. 6. ✯. 173-
DIALOGUE the Eighth.
97
paffion on his children; and the ſecond, that they would rid him of the haughty mother
of them. It founds to me, juſt as if he had ſaid
O, ſpare my children! and O—take my wife!
OVID is very (84) full and diſtinct in his account of this affair. He reprefents Apollo
and Diana with their bows, performing this piece of vengeance; and tells us, in particu-
lar, how and where each of the fons was wounded by the former. There is a great
deal of difference, as well as a great deal of agreement, between his manner of telling the
ftory, and the repreſentation of it in the Mediceah figures. As to the points in which
they differ, they may generally be very well accounted for, from the different natures of
ftatuary and poetry: the latter of which can repreſent perſons in the air as eaſily, as on the
earth; whereas the former is more confined, in general; and, in particular, tied down
to one point of time. As to their agreement, that is very clear in ſeveral things; and
more particularly in the principal figure, that of Niobe: who is reprefented as engaged
in the fame action, and with the very fame attitude, (or manner of doing it,) both in the
Medicean ftatue of her, and in Ovid's account of the latter part of this tragical ſtory.
Ultima reftabat, quam toto corpore mater,
Totâ vefte tegens ; "Unam minimamque relinque!
De multis minimam pofco, clamavit, & unam." (85)
APOLLO and Diana were confidered by the heathens of old, as the inflicters of
plagues, and all ſudden deaths; the former on men, and the latter on women. They
generally (86) talked of theſe two deities, as diſcharging arrows on theſe occafions. The
wounds, the arrows, and the deities themſelves, were fometimes fuppofed to be all viſible;
and ſometimes, to be invifible. But even in the latter cafe, the effect was plain: the
dead body lay before them; and their credulity helped out all the reft. The artift there-
(84) Define, Phoebus alt, (pœnæ mora longa,) querelas ;
Dixit idem Phœbe: celerique per aëra lapſu
Contigerant tecti Cadmeïda nubibus arcem.
Ovid. Met. 6. . 217.
Planus erat lateque patens prope menia campus.
Pars ibi, de feptem genitis Amphione, fortes
Confcendunt in equos-
•
✯.
Id. Ibid. . 222.
Of the brothers, he ſays that Ifmeños and Sipylus
were killed on their horſes; Phædimus and Tantalus,
as they are wreſtling: and Alphertor, as he is try-
ing to lift them up: the fixth ſon, Damaſichthon, is
ſhot, first thorough the leg; and, as he was ftooping
to get out the dart, receives his mortal wound in the
neck. Ilioneus, the ſeventh and laſt, falls in the act
of praying to heaven for mercy. Ib. . 224, to
266.
Amphion, on lofing all his fons, ftabs himſelf.
Niobe hears of the lofs of her huſband and fons; flies
to the plain and mourns over their dead bodies.
They are laid out on their biers; and their fifters
come in habits of mourning, and lament round them.
Niobe relapfes into her blafphemies, and lofes her
daughters too. Ibid. . 267, to 286.
Of the daughters, the firſt ſinks over the body of
one of her brothers, as ſhe is drawing the arrow from
his wound: the fecond, as fhe is trying to confole
her mother. The third drops as fhe is endeavouring
to make her eſcape; and the fourth falls on her dead
body. The fifth is killed, as ſhe is feeking to hide
herſelf: and the fixth, in a poſture of aftonifhment.
Ibid. y. 288, to 296.
fore,
Sexque datis leto, diverſaquè vulnera paffis,
Ultima reftabat: quain toto corpore mater,
Totâ vefte tegens ; Unam minimamque relinque!
De multis minimam pofco, clamavit, & uniam!"
Dumque rogat, pro quâ rogat occidit. Orba refedit,
Exanimes inter natas, natofqué, virumque ;
Diriguitque malis.
Ibid. . 303.
(85) Ovid. Met: 6. : 300.—See Perier's Statues,
N° 87. ör Maffer's, N° zz.
(86) It is perhaps owing to this way of talking for-
merly, that when any perfon happens to die fuddenly
(on the road, or the like) it is ſtill ſo cuſtomary, in
feveral nations to fay they are "fun-ſtruck; or
ſhot by the fun." Thus the French coup du foleil;
the Italian, colpo del fole: and the Spaniſh, golpe
de fol:
That this was a very early notion among the Ro-
mans, appears from what is faid by fome of the eld
eft poets among them.
Fer mi auxilium; peftem abige à me
Flammiferam hanc vim, quæ me excruciat,
:
Cæruleæ, incinctæ igni incedunt;
Circumftant cum ardentibus tædis.
Intendit Crinitus Apollo
Arquum auratum
Diana facem jacit à lævâ.
Ennius. in Alcmæone.
Quod utinam me fuis arcitenens telis mactaffet dea!
Actius. in Erigonë,
€ €
08
POLYMETIS.
fore, as he could not well introduce the gods in the Medicean groupe of figures, did very
well in (87) generally omitting the wounds too; which they were fuppofed to make
fometimes in the vitals, without leaving any mark on the outfide of the body; as it often
happens in the ſtrokes given by lightning. Ovid follows both ways. He ſpeaks of the
wounds as vifible (88) on the brothers, and as invifible on the fifters: and one would
think, by his account, that the gods were invifible too; even to the perfons who (89) fuffered
fo much from their hands.
1.1
I HAVE been obliged to refer you to Perier's print of the figures, relating to this ſtory,
in the Medicean gardens; becauſe I have no copies, or drawing of them, in my collection.
To fay the truth, the manner of ranging the figures themſelves does not ſeem to me to
have been fettled fo judiciouſly at firſt, as the fineness of the work, and the peculiarity
of the ſtory, might have deſerved. Niobe indeed herſelf with her youngest daughter,
as the principal figure, may be not ill placed, in the middle point of view. On her right
hand you have a horſe, which ſhould rather have been by one of her fons; for it is
meant to fignify that they had been taking their exerciſes juſt before this calamity fell
upon them. Then there is one of her grown daughters; ſtooping down, and regarding
her brother, that lies breathleſs and fupine before her. The next in the round, (for they
are placed almoſt circularly,) is another fon, flying from the danger; and pulling his
looſe robe, like a fail, (much as he is deſcribed (90) by Ovid,) over his head, as endea-
vouring to fcreen himſelf with it. Then there is a daughter: and then, (in the midſt of
the front,) is the fine figure of the wounded fon; fallen on his knee; and repreſented as
in great pain. The two next, to your right hand, are both daughters: then the youngeſt
fon; but a boy, and frightened as a boy. The next figure in the round, I fhould take
to be Amphion; for he is much older than the reſt, and is juſt in the attitude in which
Juvenal deſcribes the father: tho' the difpofers of theſe figures feem to have miſtook him
for one of his own children; there being feven daughters, and but (91) fix fons, unleſs
(87) The fon, who lies dead in the front of the
groupe, and is one of the fineſt figures among them,
has a wound in his fide as made by a dart. There is
no wound, that I remember, on any of the others.
(88) He mentions the darts and wounds, as to
every one of the brothers, (and in fome very ſtrongly,)
as vifible.
-Non evitabile telum
Confequitur; fummâque tremens cervice fagitta
Hæfit, & exftabat nudum de gutture ferrum.
Ovid. Met.6. y. 237. of Sipylus.
At non intonfum fimplex Damafichthona vulnus
Adficit. Ictus erat quà crus effe incipit, & quà
Mollia nervofus facit internodia poples:
Dumque manu tentat trahere exitiabile telum,
Altera per jugulum pennis tenus acta fagitta eft.
Expulit hanc fanguis ; &c.
Id. Ibid.
.259.
He mentions nothing of the darts or wounds, as
Nube fugit visâ, pendentiaque undique rector
Carbáfa deducit, ne quà levis effluat aura.
you
Met. Lib. 6. .233.
(91) The poets all agree in giving an equal num-
ber of fons, and daughters, to Niobe; tho' they
differ in their number, in general.
Propertius makes them only twelve in all.
Nec tantum Niobe bis ſex ad buſta ſuperba
Sollicito lachrymans depluit a Sipylo.
Lib. 2. El. 20. †. 8.
In which he has the authority of Homer on his fide.
Και γαρ τ' ηύκομος Νιόβη εμνησαίο σιγ
Τη περ δωδεκα παιδες ενι μεγάροισιν ολοντο,
Εξ μεν θυγατέρες, εξ δ' νέες ηβωοντες.
Τις μεν Απόλλων πεφνεν απ' αργυρεοιο €100,
Χωόμενος Νιοβης τας δ' Αρτεμις ιοχέαιρα.
Il. w. . 606.
Ovid is very exprefs as to ſeven of each: (fee Note
vifible on the fifters. His language then is relanguit, 27, anteh.) and is followed by the author of Medea.
collabitur, & immoritur. He gives you indeed to
underſtand that they were wounded, *. 286. but
then it was by a wound that was imperceptible; vul-
nere cæco; *. 293.
(89) Brachia fuftulerat : diique O communiter omnes,
Dixerat, (ignarus non omnes effe rogandos,)
Parcite !
✯.
Ovid. Met. 6. . 266.
So that Ovid ſuppoſes the gods who were deftroy-
ing them invifible to them: otherwife the fufferer
here would have applied, not to the gods in general,
but to Diana and Apollo; as Amphion does, in Ju-
venal. Sat. 6. y. 171.
(90) Proximus audito fonitu per inane pharetræ,
Fræna dabat Sipylus; veluti cum præfcius imbris
Utinam fuperbæ turba Tantalidos meo
Exiffet utero, bifque feptenos parens
Natos tuliffem!--
A&t. 5. *.954.
It is ſomewhat to be feared, that the firſt difpofers of
theſe ſtatues in the Medicean gardens, (after miſtaking
that of Amphion,) for one of the fons, might difcard
the figure of one of the fons, as a ſupernumerary fi-
gure. There are fingle figures of the fons of Niobe,
relating to this ſtory, ſcattered about in feveral col-
lections at Rome; and fome, in the Villa Medici it
lections at Rome; and fome, in the Villa Medici it
felf, befide the felect fet in the garden.
ticular in his account of the firſt finding theſe figures.
It is a pity that Flaminius Vacca is not more par-
He only fays, that they were dug up in his time, near
the Porta di San Giovanni; and purchaſed by the
Great Duke, Ferdinand. Mem. Art. 74.
DIALOGUE the Eighth.
99
A
1
you reckon this for one. Next to Niobe, on this fide, is another daughter; which com-
pleats the circular line of figures I was fpeaking of. In the ſpace contained within this
circle, there are only three figures: one of the fons, near Niobe; another, near Am-
phion; and a daughter, bending forward; near the brother who lies dead, and is the
only one who is fo. Thefe figures are all placed with their faces toward you; (like
bad actors, who ſpeak more to the people in the pit, than to the perſons they are con-
cerned with;) and are fo ranged, I think, as rather to render the ſtory confuſed, than
to tell it clearly and regularly. To do that, the perfons who gave them their places,
ſhould have conſidered perhaps a little more than they did, what point of time the artiſt
had chofen for this noble work; how each perfon in it is affected; and what connexions
they have, (or ſhould have,) with one another. The point of time ſeems to me, to have
been very near the beginning of this tragedy: when one of the children only, was killed ;
a ſecond, wounded; and all the reſt ftruck, either with grief, or fear, or amazement.
On this fhocking alarm, fome are mourning over thoſe who have already fuffered; and
others are providing for their own fafety. In this light, Niobe is repreſented ſomewhat
differently here, from what ſhe is in Ovid. She is ſheltering her youngeſt daughter (not
as the laſt left to her, but perhaps as her greateft favourite, and as the leaft capable of
fhifting for herſelf,) with her own garments, and with her very perfon: for the bends
över her, as willing rather to receive the wound herſelf, than to loſe her favourite child.
The place where we fee Niobe is, I think, not ill chofen; except that it may be put
too far backward for a principal figure: but for the reſt, I dare fay there is a meaning
in fome of them, which we are now apt to paſs over, or miſtake; from their being put
out of the places that were originally defigned for them, by the artiſt who made them.
The figures in the hiſtory-pieces of the antients (I mean in pictures, as well as in relievo's,)
are generally flung more forward, and more in a line, than theſe are now diſpoſed in.
The artifts then felt the ill effects and inconveniences, that arofe from their ignorance,
(or, at leaſt, very fhallow knowledge,) in perſpective: and therefore generally avoided
the flinging their figures backward, as much as poffible; and I believe never ranged a
number of figures, in any one relievo, or picture, in the circular manner that we fee
thefe now placed in. Thefe, indeed, are detached figures; but that, I think, makes
no great difference in the preſent cafe. For as they belong all to one and the fame hi-
ſtory, they muſt have their proper relations and bearings to one another; no artiſt of ſo
much judgment (as any one muſt neceffarily have had, to make fuch fine figures as fome
of theſe are,) can ever be fuppofed to have ſet about fuch a large and complicated fubject
as this is, without arranging all the parts of it in a previous defign; before he began to
touch the firſt block of marble. In this defign, he muſt have ranged them in the man-
ner that was uſual of old; which differs much, as I have faid already, from the manner
of difpofing figures in any hiſtorical piece at prefent; and confequently from the manner,
in which we ſee theſe figures difpoſed in the Medici gardens. I do not pretend to ſay
where each particular figure ſhould be placed: that muſt be left to the artiſts to find out;
for it is among my Defiderata. Perhaps, it might not be an unworthy fubject for the aca-
demy of inſcriptions at Paris to propofe among their prize-queſtions, to the artiſts: fome
of whom might poffibly be able to diſcover, by the rules of their art, and the reaſon of the
thing, (not forgetting the manner of the antients,) what particular ſpot was intended for
each individual figure, in the original defign. But this is above my capacity: and all I
can fay is, that I did not chufe to have them copied in the manner that they ſtand, at pre-
fent: becauſe I fear that, in many particulars, that may be rather a falfe than a true repre-
fentation of the defign of the artiſt.
APOLLO, as the inflictor of plagues, is fometimes defcribed by the Roman poets, in
the ſame manner that Homer paints him when fending a peftilence into the Grecian camp;
furrounded
100
POLYMETIS.
FIG. 4.
(92) ſurrounded with clouds, or (as Horacè tranflates Homer's very words,) With clouds
wrapped about his ſhoulders:" and both he, and Diana, are thus deſcribed by Ovid;
when coming to execute this piece of vengeance on Niobe's children. You fee I had
more reaſons than one for placing Diana's ſtatue next to Apollo's, in the circle of deities
before you and I believe
and I believe you may think it high time now to leave him, that we may
confider the goddeſs his fifter, in fome milder character than that of a deſtroying angel,
employed in ſcattering peftilence, and death, among the nations.
2
OF all the various characters of this goddeſs, there is no one more known, than that
of her prefiding over woods; and delighting in hunting. The Diana Venatrix, or god-
PL.XIII. defs of the chace, is frequently reprefented as running on, and with her veft as flying
back with the wind; notwithſtanding its being ſhortened, and girt about her, for ex-
pedition. She is tall of ftature; and her face, tho' fo very handfome, is fomething
manly. Her legs are bare; very well-fhaped, and very ſtrong. Her feet are fome-
times bare too; and fometimes adorned with a fort of bufkin, which was worn by the
huntreſſes of old. She often has her quiver on her ſhoulder; and ſometimes holds a
javelin, but more ufually her bow, in her right hand. It is thus the makes her
appear→
ance in feveral of her ftatues; and it is thus the Roman poets defcribe her: particularly,
in the (93) epithets they give this goddeſs; in the uſe of which they are ſo happy, that
they often bring the idea of whole figures of her into your mind, by one fingle word.
I BELIEVE there is fcarce any one of all the little circumſtances I have mentioned,
which has eſcaped the poets. Her javelin and bow are as frequent in them, as in the
antiques which repreſent her. Ovid takes notice of the (94) ſhape of her leg;
and Virgil
is fo good as to inform us, even what colour her buſkins were of.
THE ftatues of this Diana were very frequent in woods. She was reprefented there, all
the different ways they could think of. Sometimes, as hunting; fometimes, as bathing;
and ſometimes, as refting herſelf after her fatigue. Statius gives us (95) a very pretty de-
ſcription of the latter; which I ſhould be very glad to fee well executed in marble, or
colours.
(92) Homer fays of Apollo, when he went to afflict
the Grecian camp, that he walked in darkneſs.
ɑď nie VUXTI EOIXws. Iλ. a. *. 47. and in another
place, he has the expreffion of Νεφέλαις επιειμένος ως
8s which latter paffage is tranflated literally by Ho-
race, in his, Nube humeros amictus. Lib. 1. Od. 2.
*.31.
Statius has followed the fame idea.
Delius infurgit; fummâque biverticis umbrâ
Parnaffi refidens, arcu crudelis iniquo
Peſtifera arma jacit; campofque & celfa Cyclopum
Tecta fuperjecto nebularum incendit amictu.
Theb. 1.
Celerique per aëra lapfu
Contigerant tecti Cadmeïda nubibus arcem.
And Ovid;
Altera fuccinctæ religetur more Dianæ,
Ut folet attonitas cum petit illa feras.
IT
Id. de Art. Am. 3. . 144.
(94) Talia pinguntur fuccin&tæ crura Dianæ,
Cum fequitur fortes fortior ipfa feras.
Ovid. Lib. 3. El. 2. . 32.
Lævi de marmore tota
Puniceo ftabis furas evincta cothurno.
Virgil. Ecl. 7. . 32.
*.
This is ſpoken of Diana, by Virgil: and one fees,
by the fame author, that they gave her this part of
.631. her drefs as a huntreſs; for where he brings in Venus
diſguiſed as a Tyrian huntreſs, that goddeſs ſays:
Virginibus Tyriis mos eft geftare pharetram;
Purpureoque altè furas vincire cothurno.
Met. 6. *. 217.
(93) Jam mihi prima dea eft, arcu præfignis adunco
Delia.
Ovid. Her. Ep. 4. . 40. (Phædra, to Hippolitus.)
Quis probet in fylvis Cererem regnare jugofis?
Lege pharetratæ virginis arva coli?
Crinibus infignem quis acutâ cufpide Martem
Inftruat, Aoniam Marte movente lyram?
Id. Lib. 1. El. 1. . 12.
Inter Hamadryadas, jaculatricemque Dianam,
Calliſto facri pars fuit una chori.
Id. Faft. 2. y. 156.
Æn. 3. . 335.
(95) Nec caret umbra deo: nemori Latonia cultrix
Additur. Hanc picea, cedrique ; & robore in omni
Effictam fanctis occultat fylva tenebris.
Hujus inafpectæ luco ftridere fagittæ ;
Nocturnique canum gemitus: ubi limina patrui
Effugit, inque novæ melior redit ora Dianæ.
Aft ubi feffa jugis, dulcefque altiffima fomnos
Lux movet; hìc latè jaculis circum undique fixis,
Effufam pharetrâ cervicem excepta quiefcit.
Statius. Theb. 4. .433.
DIALOGUE the Eighth.
101
1
Ir was, on one of theſe occafions, that Acteon had the misfortune to fee her once, fo
fatally to himſelf: as the ſtory is told in little, by an old artiſt, on this gem; and more at PL. XIII.
large (96), by Ovid in verſe, and Apuleius in profe. Ovid takes particular notice that,
when the nymphs were firſt alarmed by the appearance of a man, they huddled round
the goddeſs to hide her body, with their own; a circumſtance, which is very plainly
expreffed too in the gem which you have in your hands.
1
OVID in his account of the ſtory obferves, that tho' her nymphs endeavoured ſo much
to hide the goddeſs, it was partly in vain; becauſe ſhe was ſo much taller, that her head
appeared eminently above them all. Indeed the heighth of Diana's ftaturè is frequently
marked out in the poets; and that, generally, by comparing her with her nymphs. Ì
wiſh we could now enjoy the fight of that famous picture of this goddeſs, by Apelles;
in which this was fo finely expreffed. Pliny (97) fays that Apelles formed his idea of it
(96) Vallis erat piceis & acutâ denfa cupreffu,
Nomine Gargaphie; fuccin&tæ facra Dianæ :
Cujus in extremo eft antrum nemorale receffu,
Arte laboratum nullo. Simulaverat artem
Ingenio natura fuo; nam pumice vivo
Et levibus tophis nativum duxerat arcum.
Fons fonat à dextrâ, tenui perlucidus undâ ;
Margine gramineo patulos incinêtus hiatus.
Hic dea fylvarum, venatu feffa, folebat
Virgineos artus liquido perfundere rore:
Quò poftquam fubiit; nympharum tradidit uni
Armigera jaculum, pharetramque, arcufque retentos:
Altera depofitæ fubjecit brachiä pallæ ;
Vincla duæ pedibus demunt: nam doctior illis
Ifmenis Crocale fparfos per colla capillos
Colligit in nodum, quamvis erat ipfa folutis.
Excipiunt laticem Nepheleque, Hyaleque, Rhanifque,
Et Plecas, & Phiale; funduntque capacibus urnis.
Dumque ibi perluitur folitâ Titania lymphâ,
Ecce nepos Cadmi, dilatâ parte laborum,
Per nemus ignotum non certis paffibus errans
Pervenit in lucum; fic illum fata ferebant!
Qui fimul intravit rorantia fontibus antra,
Sicut erant, vifo nude fua pectora nymphæ
Percuffere viro, fubitifque ululatibus omne.
Implevere nemus; circumfufæque Dianam
Corporibus texere fuis: tamen altior illis
Ipfa dea eft, colloque tenus fupereminet omnes.
Qui color infectis adverfi folis ab iftu
Nubibus effe folet, aut purpureæ Auroræ ;
Is fuit in vultu vifæ fine vefte Dianæ.
Quæ, quanquam comitum turbâ ftipata fuarum,
In latus obliquum tamen aftitit; oraque retro
Flexit.
Ovid. Met. 3. †.188.
This deſcription of the place, of the undreffing,
and of the attitude of the goddeſs herſelf, are all fo
pictureſque, that I could not help tranſcribing the
whole. Apuleius is ftill more particular, as to the
grotto; and as his is probably a deſcription of the
work of ſome antient ftatuary, and contains in it a
fuller account perhaps than we have in any of the an-
tient authors, of fuch a grot; I fhall give that at
large too.
L
Dum hunc & hujufmodi fermonem altercamur,
paucis admodum confectis paffibus ad domum Byr-
rhenæ pervenimus. Atria, longè pulcherrima, co-
lumnis quadrifariam per fingulos angulos ftantibus at-
tollebant ſtatuas Palmaris Deæ. Facies quæque, pin-
his explicitis; fine greffu pile volubiles, inftabile ve-
ftigium plantis roſcidis decitantes, nec ut maneant in-
hærent: etiam volare creduntur. E contra, lapis
from
Parius in Dianam factus tehet libratam totius loci
medietatem. Signum, perfectè luculentum; veſte
reflatum; pro curfu vegetum; introeuntibus ob-
vium, & majeftate numinis venerabile. Canes u-
trinque fecus deæ latera muniunt; qui canes & ipfi
lapis erant. His oculi minantur; aures rigent; nares
hiant; ora fæviunt: & fi quando de proximo latra-
tus ingruerit, eum putabis de faucibus lapidis exire.
Et (in quo fummum fpecimen operæ fabrilis egregius
ille fignifex prodidit) fublatis canibus, impetus arduus:
pedes imi refiftunt; currunt priores. Pone tergum
deæ, faxum infurgit in fpeluncæ modum; mufcis, &
herbis, & foliis, & virgulis, & ficubi pampinis, &
arbuſculis alibi, de lapide florentibus. Splendet intus
umbra figni de nitore lapidis. Sub extremâ faxi mar-
gine poma, & uvæ faberrimè politæ, dependent;
quas ars, æmula naturæ, veritati fimiles explicuit.
Putes ad cibum inde quædam, cum muftulentus Au→
tumnus maturum colorèm afflaverit, poffe decerpi:
& fi fontes (qui deæ veftigio difcurrentes, in lenem
vibrantur undam) pronus afpexeris, credas illos ut
rure pendentes racemos, inter cætera veritatis nec
agitationis officio carere. Inter medias frondes lapi-
dis, Actæoǹ fimulachrum; curiofo obtutu in dorfo
projectus; jam in cervum ferinus; & in faxo fimul
& in fonte, loturam Dianam opperiens vifitur. Apu-
leius. Afin. Aur. Lib: 2. Fol. 23. Ed. Beroaldi,
1512.
(97) Dianam, facrificantium virginum choro mif-
tam; quibus viciffe Homeri verſus videtur id ipſum
defcribentis. Pliny. Nat. Hift. Lib. 35. c.10. p. 438,
Ed. Elz.
The verſes from Homer are the following.
Οιη Αρτεμις εισι κατ' γρεος ιόχειρας
Η κατα Τηΰγετον περιμηκετον η Ερύμανθο,
Τερπομενη καπροισι και ωκειης ελάφοισι·
Τη δε θ' αμα Νύμφαι, κραι Διος Αιγιόχοιος
Αγρονομοι παιζεσι γεγηθε δε τε φρενα Λητω.
Πασάων δ' υπερ ηγε καρη έχεις ηδε μετωπο
αρίγνωτη πέλεται; καλαι δε τε πασαι.
Odyſ. E. *. 108. (Of Nausicaa.)
Ρεια δ'
Virgil's imitation of them.
Qualis in Eurotæ ripis, aut per juga Cynthi
Exercet Diana choros; quam mille fecute
Hinc atque hinc glomerantur Oreades. Illa pharetram
Fert humero; gradienfque deas fupereminet omnes.
Latonæ tacitum pertentant gaudia pectus.
Æn. 1. . 502. (Of Dido:)
FIG. 5.
Dd
102
POLYMETIS.
PL. XIV.
FIG. I.
from à celebrated deſcription in Homer; and that he even ſurpaſſed his original. Virgil has
imitated the very fame deſcription, in his Æneid. What a pleaſure might it have been, to
have compared the copies of two fuch ſcholars, as Apelles and Virgil, with the work of ſo
great a maſter as Homer? At leaſt, how much more pleafing, than to fall a diſputing (98),(as
feveral of the critics have done,) whether Homer or Virgil have given the fineſt ſtrokes on
this occaſion? This Diana, both in the picture and in the deſcriptions, was the Diana Ve-
natrix: tho' ſhe was not repreſented either by Virgil, or Apelles, or Homer, as hunting
with her nymphs; but as employed with them (99) in that ſort of dances, which of old
were regarded as very folemn acts of devotion.
ANOTHER great character of Diana is that, under which the is reprefented as the in-
telligence which prefides over the planet of the moon; and which will therefore come
more properly in our way, when (100) we are taking a view of my temple of the ſtars
and planets.
A THIRD remarkable way of repreſenting Diana was with three bodies. This is very
common among the antient figures of this goddefs; and it is hence the poets call her
(101) the triple, the three-headed, and the three-bodied Diana. Her diftinguiſhing name,
under this triple appearance, is (102) Hecate, or Trivia. A goddeſs, frequently invoked
in enchantments, and very fit for fuch black work: for this is the infernal Diana; and as
fuch, is reprefented with the characteristics of a Fury, rather than as one of the twelve
Great Celeſtial Deities. All her hands hold inftruments of terror; and generally graſp
either cords, or fwords, or ferpents, or flaming torches.
THERE are ſeveral other leſs diſtinguiſhed characters of Diana: of which I ſhall men-
tion only one, that ſeems to have been uſually overlooked. As there was a Venus,
which they called the Venus Cœleftis; ſo there was a Diana, which one might pro-
perly enough call, the Diana Cœleftis. By which name, I fhould not mean the power
ſhe has in the heavens, as oppoſed to the powers fhe had in hell and upon earth; but
the appearance ſhe makes, when ſhe was to affift in the great council of the gods; or
to ſtand in the prefence of Jupiter. Under this character fhe is larger, and more dreffed
out than uſual: with a full robe, that falls quite down to her feet; tho' fhe ftill retains
her bow, and the quiver on her ſhoulders. In one word, much as fhe is deſcribed by
Statius, in his Achilleid,
(98) We learn from Aulus Gellius, that Valerius
Probus, (whom he calls) a very learned and excellent
critic, always uſed to fay; "That Virgil had failed
more in this imitation of Homer, than he had in any
other." (Noct. Att. Lib. 9. c. 9.) Scaliger, on the
contrary, in ſpeaking of theſe two paffages prefers
Virgil greatly: "Virgil's, he fays, appears to have
been written by a maſter; and Homer's by à fchool-
boy." (Poet. Lib. 5. c. 3.)-Were Scaliger and
Probus both alive now, one might leave them to
fight it out.
(99) The expreffion of raw, ufed by Homer on
this occafion, is fcarce proper for hunting; as that of,
Choros exercere, in Virgil, ſhould be underſtood of
the religious dances of old, becauſe dancing, in the
old Roman idea of it, was indecent even for men, in
public; unleſs it were the fort of dances uſed in ho-
nour of Mars, or Bacchus, or fome other of their
gods. It is in confequence of this that Pliny, in
ſpeaking of Diana's nymphs on this very occafion,
ufes the word, facrificare, of them; which quite de-
termines theſe dances of theirs to have been of the
religious kind. Lucian fays a great deal of theſe re-
ligious dances in his treatife, IIegs ogXnoews. Tom. I.
P. 784, &c.
(100) Dialogue XII. poſth.
Sic
(101) Per triplicis vultus arcanaque facra Dianæ.
Ovid. Her. Ep. 12. . 79. (Medea, Jaf)
Tuque, triceps Hecate ! -
Id. Met. 7. . 194.
Montium cuftos nemorumque virgo !
Quæ laborantes utero puellas
Ter vocata audis adimifque letho ;
Diva triformis !
Horat. Lib. 3. Od. 22. †. 4.
(102) Tergeminamque Hecaten, tria virginis ora Dianæ.
Virgil. Æn. 4. y. 511
Ora vides Hecates, in tres vertentia partes.
Ovid. Faft. 1. †. 141.
Diana interim eft, altè fuccincta, venatrix; & E-
phefia, mammis multis, & veribus exſtructa; &Trivia,
multis capitibus & multis manibus horrifica. Minu-
cius Felix, §. 21. p. 108. Ed. Davis.
Her own proper name under this appearance was
Hecate. Trivia is only an accidental one; from her
ftatue's being uſually placed, where three ſtreets (or
ways) met together.
Ora vides Hecates in tres vertentia partes,
Servet ut in ternas compita fecta vias.
Ovid. Faft. 1. . 143.
DIALOGUE the Eighth.
103
}
Sic ubi virgineis Hecate laffata pharetris
Ad patrem fratremque redit, comes hæret eunti
Mater; & ipfa humeros exertaque brachia velat :
Ipfa arcum pharetramque locat, veftefque latentes.
Deducit; fparfofque ftudet componere crines (103).
:
You fee how far this deſcription tallies with the ftatue before you: for in this cafe, I PL. XIV.
have not done as with my Venus, and Apollo; but have given you the Diana which is FIG. 2.
the very propereft to appear in this circle, and at the fame time the beſt that I know of.
We have the advantage of having the original itſelf, within our reach; and havé had the
pleaſure of ſeeing it together more than once, at my Lord Leiceſter's houſe in town.
Cicero gives a particular defcription (104) of a ſtatue of Diana very much like this, which
was once in the poffeffion of Scipio Africanus; a perfon of the moſt elegant tafte (105),
among all the Romans of his timę.
THE next goddeſs to Diana here is Ceres. You fee her face is a very pretty one; and PL. XIV.
I am apt to imagine, from fome (106) expreffions in the poets, that ſhe was a beauty ofFIG. 3,
the brunette kind: but here, as ufual, we want fome good paintings of the antients, to
ſhew whether that conjecture be true or falfe. If fhe was a brunette beauty, the colour
of her drefs was very well (107) adapted to her complexion. Her head is often crowned
either with corn, or poppies; and her robes, as you ſee, fall down to her feet; which fig-
nifies dignity, in the language of ftatuary. Moſt of theſe particulars, which I have
mentioned from the figures of this goddeſs, are marked out by the (108) old poets too;
and more particularly by Oyid, in different parts of his works.
THERE is one objection that may be made to the beauty of Ceres, from moſt of the
figures I have ſeen of her; which generally reprefent her breafts as none of the ſmalleſt.
Ovid, perhaps, was polite enough to have omitted this particular, on purpoſe, in his ac-
counts of this goddeſs; but ſome of the earlier Roman poets, (as well as fome of the fa-
thers of the church,) are far from being (109) fo complaiſant to her.
VIRGIL, in his Georgics, gives us an idea of Ceres, as regarding the laborious huſband-
man (110) from heaven; and bleffing the work of his hands with fuccefs. There is a
picture like this (111), in the famous old manufcript of Virgil in the Vatican: and Lu-
(103) Statius. Achil. 1. y. 348.
(104) This ſtatue had been taken from Sicily by
the Carthaginians; was retaken from them by Scipio:
and restored by him, to the Sicilians. Cicero fays,
it was a very fine piece of workmanſhip; and his par-
ticular deſcription of it agrees, in moſt points, with
that at Lord Leiceſter's. Erat admodum amplum &
excelfum fignum, cum ftolâ ; veruntamen inerat in
illâ magnitudine ætas atque habitus virginalis. Sagittæ
pendebant ab humero. Siniftrâ manu retinebat ar-
cretius
(108) Annuit his; capitifque fui pulcherrima motu,
Concuffit gravidis oneratos meffibus agros.
Id. Met. 8. .781.
Tum demum vultumque Ceres animumque recepit;
Impofuitque fuæ fpicea ferta comæ.
Id. Faft. 4. y. 616.
(109) Balba loqui non quit, Teavλer muta, pudens eft,
At gemina & mammofa, Ceres eft ipfa ab Iaccho.
Lucretius. 4. . 1158:
Arnobius refers to this paffage in Lucretius, (and,
by the way, determines the reading of it, which has
cum; dextrâ, ardentem facem præferebat. Cicero. been difputed ;) in his third book. Avet animus deos
Or. 4. in Verrem.
(105) See Dial. V. Note 25.
(106) Et te, flava comas, frugum mitiflima mater.
Ovid. Met. 6. y. 118.
Flava Ceres, tenues fpicis redimita capillos.
Id. Lib. 3. El. 10. ¥. 3.
Frigida cœleftûm matres Arethufa vocabat
Venerat ad facras & dea flava dapes.
;
Id. Faft. 4. . 424.
(107) Alba decet Cererem veftis; cerealibus albas
Sumite nunc pulli velleris ufus abeſt.
deafque infpicere. Ab läccho Cererem, mufa ut præ-
dicat Lucretii, mammofam; Hellefpontiacum Pria-
pum; &c. In his fifth, he fays; Ceres, mammis
cum grandibus.
(110) Multùm adeo, raftris glebas qui frangit inertes
Vimineafque trahit crates, juvat arva; neque illum
Flava Ceres alto nequicquam fpectat Olympo.
Virgil. Georg 1. .96.
(111) That which anſwers G. 3. . 146. It is the
Id. Ibid. y. 620. fecond plate, in Santo Bartoli's prints of them.
104
POLYMETIS.
?
FIG. 4.
cretius has a ſtrong defcription of another deity, exactly in the fame (112) attitude; tho
different regard.
with a very
THE laſt deity in this circle is Mercury; on whom both the artiſts and poets have
been much more copious, than on the goddeſs we have been confidering. As his chief
character is that of being the meffenger of Jupiter, this god feems to be all cut out for
PL. XIV. ſwiftneſs. His make is young, airy, and light. His limbs are all very finely turned;
and tho' he may yield much to Apollo and Bacchus in beauty, he certainly exceeds moſt
of the other gods in it. This is the diftinguiſhing character of his figures, as I have
drawn it from the numbers of them I have feen in marble; and if one had went first
to the poets for it, one ſhould have learned juft the fame idea of him from them. They
call him the (113) young god; the fwift, the flying, and the winged deity; and as to his
beauty, they mention that (114) often; and in a very ſtrong manner.
THERE are feveral marks to know Mercury by; among which we may reckon this
lightneſs and agility of his perfon as the chief: but as to the things which are more pro-
perly called his diſtinguiſhing attributes, the moſt remarkable of theſe are his Petafus, or
winged cap; the Talaria, or wings to his feet; and his wand with the two ferpents about
it, which they call his Caduceus.
THIS cap of his has generally two little wings attached to it, in the better remains
of antiquity; tho' in fome of the very oldeſt works, you ſee him ſometimes (115) only
with two feathers ſtuck in it. Even theſe wings were ſuppoſed to be only ſo attached to it,
as to be eaſily taken off, or fixed on (116) upon it again, at pleaſure; for in ſeveral figures,
you ſee him in the fame fort of cap without any wings to it. It is like the ordinary cap
of the fervants of old: juſt ſuch an one in particular, as Sofia would naturally appear in,
whenever Amphitryon was acted at Rome.
(112) Humana ante oculos fœdè quom vita jaceret
In terris oppreffa, gravi fub Relligione :
Quæ caput à cœli regionibus oftendebat ;
Horribili fuper afpectu mortalibus inftans.
(113) Velox Cyllenius
Deus volans
Ales Tegeaticus.
Lucretius. 1.✯. 66.
Ovid. Met. 2. . 818.
HIS
itfelf. Mercury, in the preface to Plautus's Amphi
tryon, fays;
Nunc internoffe ut nos poffitis faciliùs,
Ego has habebo hic ufque in petafo pinnulas.
Hence perhaps was that cuftom of the Roman mef
ſengers ſticking a feather in their caps, as a mark of dif-
patch; to which Cicero ſeems to allude in one of his
letters to Caffius. Præpofteros habes tabellarios :
quum à me difcedunt, flagitant literas; quum ad me
veniunt, nullas afferunt. Atque id ipfum facerent com-
modiùs, fi mihi aliquid fpatii ad fcribendum darent:
fed petafati veniunt; comites ad portam expectare
Ovid. Met. 2. . 731. dicunt. Lib. 15. Ep. 17.
Octavia. Act. 1. Sc. 4.
Statius. Lib. 4. Sylv. 5. . 102.
(114) Nec fe diffimulat; tanta eft fiducia formæ.
Sive mutatâ juvenem figurâ
Ales in terris imitaris, almæ
Filius Maiæ..
When any bufinefs was extremely preffing, they
put a feather into the letter itſelf too; for that I fhould
take to be the meaning of Juvenal in his fourth fatire,
Horat. Lib. 1. Od. z. ✯.43. (Of Auguſtus.) . 149.
Membraque & vultus deo
Similes volanti.-
Octavia. A&t. 1. Sċ. 3. (Of Britannicus.)
Omnia Mercurio fimilis: vocemque, coloremque,
Et crines flavos, & membra decora juventæ.
Virgil. Æn. 4. y. 569.
We do not fee the full beauty of Mercury, under
the character of the meffenger of Jupiter, as he is
moſt commonly reprefented; for then, (as Statius
fays,)
Obnubitque comas ; & temperat aftra galero.
Theb. 1.
*.305.
(115) He appears thus on feveral of the Ægyptian
antiquities; (as particularly on a very celebrated one,
at the Palazzo Mattei ; in the Adm. Pl. 16.) and pro-
bably was fo reprefented, in the ruder ages, at Rome
-Tanquam diverfis partibus orbis
Anxia præcipiti veniffet epiſtola pinnâ.
rather than affert, with any old fcholiaſt whatever,
that a feather ftuck into a letter was a mark of ill-
news, without giving any reafon for that affertion;
or with fome later commentators, that this referred
to the cuſtom of fending letters by pidgeons: which,
tho' ufed from one part to another, in countries ad-
joining; I have never heard was practiſed from coun-
tries, very far diftant from one another.
(116) There is a line on Mercury's putting on his
wings, in Ovid; which may perhaps refer to thoſe
on his cap, as well as thofe on his feet.
Tartara juffus abit fumptis caducifer alis.
Faft. 4. .603.
DIALOGUE the Eighth.
105
His wings, for his feet, were of the fame kind. You fee feveral figures of Mercury
without them, as well as this before you; and the poets fpeak exprefly (117) of his faften-
ing them to his feet, when Jupiter has given him any orders to take a flight down to the
earth. There is a very pretty figure in the Juftinian gallery at Rome, of a little Cupid
(118) putting on the wings on Mercury's feet.
His Caduceus is fo punctually deſcribed by the poets, that one might almoſt inſtruct
a painter from them, how to colour every part of it. It ſhould rather be held lightly
(119) between his fingers, than grafped by the whole hand. The wand itfelf (120), fhould
be of the colour of gold: and the two ferpents of a greenish viper-colour; and might
fling a caft of the fame colour upon the gold, if the painter had ſkill enough to do it as it
ſhould be. In feveral antiques, the Caduceus itſelf is reprefented with wings to it; but
as I do not remember that the poets ſay any thing of them, one might leave their colour
to the judgment of the painter, if he was refolved to have wings to it; for they might be
either inſerted, or omitted, juſt as he pleaſed.
✔
THERE are two celebrated old manuſcript Virgils, in the Vatican library at Rome,
with paintings in them relating to fome of the moft remarkable paffages: The more an-
tient of the two is, I think, generally thought to be of Conftantine's time, by thoſe who are
learned in the ages of manufcripts: but as the pictures are evidently of too good a manner
for that time, they are fuppofed by the beſt judges to have been copied from fome done
in a better age: about the time of the Antonines (121); or perhaps even higher. I have
therefore not ſcrupled to admit theſe pictures from the Vatican Virgil, wherever they
were wanted, in my collection; and the drawing I have juft taken out to fhew you, is
copied from one of them. It reprefents Mercury going with his meffage from Jupiter,
to order Æneas to quit Carthage. You fee the god paffing thro' the air, in a more na- PL. XIV.
tural and eaſy manner than one generally finds in modern pictures of flying figures. In his FIG. 5.
left hand, he holds his Caduceus; and with his right, points to the heavens; to fhew that
his commiffion is from Jupiter. He has his Petafus on his head, and his Talaria on his
feet. In a word, it agrees in every refpect with Virgil's (122) deſcription of him on this
occafion;
(117) Parva mora eft alas pedibus, virgamque potenti
Somniferam fumfiffe manu, tegimenque capillis.
Ovid. Met. 1..672.
Vol. I. Pl. 68. 4.
periori, punctum noftrum; quæ in medio vel infimo
loco funt, commata noſtra defignant.-Continet ubi-
que imagines coloribus effictas, quæ fæculo Conftan-
tini fuperiores videntur, & fortè ad tempora Septimii
Severi fpectant; cum in iis non folum confpiciantur
templa, victimæ, ædificia, biremes, pilei Phrygii,
Ovid. Her. Ep.16. y. 64. (Paris, Hel.) habitus, aliaque ad Trojanorum & Romanorum fa-
(118) It is in Montfaucon.
(119) Inque dei digitis aurea virga fuit.
(120) Cyllenes colique decus! facunde minifter,
Aurea cui torto virga dracone viret.
Martial. Lib. 7. Epigr. 74.
(121) Some of the moſt fenfible antiquarians I
know, are of this opinion: tho' in one of the libra-
ries in Italy, I have met with a teftimonial in form,
by Bellori and fome others, which carries it ftill
higher. Their opinion was, that theſe pictures were
done in Septimius Severus's time; and perhaps copied
then from fome others, of their beſt and moſt flou-
rifhing ages. This teftimonial runs as follows.
Anno 1686, die 16 Feb. In bibliothecâ Vaticanâ
coram R. P. Joanne Mabillonio, ord. S. Benedicti ;
D. Joanne Petro Bellorio; & me infra fcripto; vifus
eft codex manufcriptus, fub Num. 3225 in eâdem
bibliothecâ fervatus. Eft in quarto quadratus, lineis
majufculis, nullâ diſtinctione verborum confcriptus,
præterquam in interpunctionibus: quarum quæ in fu-
crificia ac arma pertinentia; fed etiam lineamenta per-
fectiora, quæ melioris & fuperioris ævi ætatem indi-
cant. Quinimo pictor harum imaginum videtur fe-
cutus fuiffe ideam nobilioris & antiquioris pictoris ;
nihilque in iis exhibetur, quod primam Romani im-
perii majeftatem non redoleat.
E e
Emanuel a Schelftrate.
This was taken from the original, in Schelftrate's
own hand writing; who was keeper of the Vatican
library, in Innocent XIth's time.
(122) Dixerat: ille patris magni parere parabat
Imperio. Et primum pedibus talaria nectit
Aurea; quæ fublimem alis, five æquora fupra
Seu terram, rapido pariter cum flamine portant.
Tum virgam capit: hâc animas ille evocat Orco
Pallentes, alias fub triftia Tartara mittit :
Dat fomnos, adimitque ; & lumina morte refignat.
Illâ fretus, agit ventos & turbida tranat
Nubila.
Virgil. Æn. 4. . 251.
There
1106
POLYMETIS.
occafion; excepting that the painter has added his Chlamys, which is faftened over his
fhoulders, on his breaft; and floats behind him, in the air. The reafon why he has
added this is very obvious; the old artiſts generally marking out the motion of any per-
fon they reprefent as going on very fwiftly, by the (123) flying back of the drapery: and
he had very good authority for giving the Chlamys to Mercury; which is fo frequently
ſpoken of in general by the poets (124), as part of his dreſs: and who give it him, par-
ticularly on this very occafion; when he is flying from the heavens, to the earth.
THERE is yet another diftinguishing mark of this deity, which is his fword. It is of a
very particular make; and as they feem inclined to give every thing belonging to Mer-
cury fome hard name, they call it his Harpè. It was with this Harpè that he killed
Argus; and he lent it to Perfeus (125) to perform his greateſt exploits with it. Its fhape,
in the antiques which repreſent both theſe ſtories, is alike: I have here, a drawing of
PL.XV. Perfeus with it. It is a longer fort of fword, than was uſual of old; at leaſt, among the
Romans; with a very particular hook, or ſpike, behind it. The defcriptive (126) epi-
thets given it by the poets, agree entirely with the old figures of it.
FIG. I.
WHATEVER I have as yet faid of Mercury refers chiefly to his character of being fent
always on the particular commiffions of Jupiter. He had a general power too, of a large
extent, delegated upon him by the fame god: which was that of (127) conducting the
fouls of men to their proper place, after their parting from the body; or re-conducting
them up to our world again, whenever there was any particular occafion for it. This
gave him a great deal of authority in the regions of the happy fouls, as well as of the
unhappy; which were equally fuppofed by the antients to be lodged within the earth,
in a place called by one common name, that of Ades. Horace, in particular, gives us
a very extraordinary account of Mercury's defcending to Ades (128), and his caufing a
ceffation of the ſufferings there: but as this perhaps may be a myſtical part of his cha-
racter,
There is a paffage in Statius very proper to be ſub-
joined to this; not only as it is an imitation of it,
but becauſe theſe two contain the fulleft account of
this god and his ſeveral attributes that I know of, in
all the Roman poets.
!
Paret Atlantiades dictis genitoris : & inde
Summa pedum properè plantaribus illigat alis ;
Obnubitque comas, et temperat aftra galero.
Tum dextræ virgam inferuit: quâ pellere dulces,
Aut fuadere iterum fomnos; quâ nigra fubire
Tartara, & exfangues animare affueverat umbras.
Defiluit; tenuique exceptus inhorruit aurâ :
Nec mora, fublimes raptim per inane volatus
Carpit, & ingenti defignat nubila gyro.
Statius. Theb. 1. ✯. 311.
(123) The flying back of the clothes, which one
fees fo frequently in the beſt old ſtatues which repre-
fent any perſon as in a ſwift motion, is ftrongly
marked out by Ovid; in his Daphne flying from
Apollo.
Nudabant corpora venti;
Obviaque adverfas vibrabant flamina veſtes:
Et levis impexos retrò dabat aura capillos.
Ovid. Met. 1. y. 529.
(124) Nec fe diffimulat, tanta eft fiducia formæ ;
Quæ quanquam jufta eft, curâ tamen adjuvat illam.
Permulcetque comas; chlamydemque ut pendeat aptè
Collocat; ut limbus totumque appareat aurum :
Ut teres in dextrâ, quâ fomnos ducit & arcet,
Virga fit; ut terfis niteant talaria plantis.
Ovid. Met. 2. y. 736.
Illum, Aretoa labentem cardine portæ,
Tempeftas æterna plagæ prætentaque cœlo
Agmina nimborum primique aquilonis hiatus
In diverfa ferunt. Crepat aurea grandine multo
Palla; nec Arcadii bene protegit umbra galeri.
Statius. Theb. 7. . 39°
(125)
-Subitus præpes Cyllenida fuftulit Harpen;
Harpen, alterius monftri jam cæde rubentem.
Lucan. Pharf. 9. . 663.
(126)
Pennis ligat ille refumtis
Parte ab utrâque pedes; teloque accingitur unco.
Ovid. Met. 4. y. 665.
Falcato verberat enfe.
Hamati vulnere ferri.
Id. Ibid. *. 726.
Lucan. Pharf. 9. *.678.
Some read this, Lunati, inſtead of Hamati; and
ing any thing of the Hamus; that appears fo particu-
have changed the word, I fuppofe, from not know-
larly on the back of this fword, in the works of the
old artifts. When they were about it, they ſhould
have found out a new reading for this verſe in Ovid
too:
Inachides ferrum curvo tenus abdidit hamo.
Met. 4. *.719.
The very word Harpè expreffes this odd make of
Mercury's fword: (Agn, falx; five, enfis falcatus:
Scap.) tho' without ſeeing the old figures of it, the
manner in which it is bent, would be very apt to be
miſtaken.
(127) Tu pias lætis animas reponis
Sedibus virgâque levem coërces
Aureâ turbam.-
(128) Lib. 3. Od. 11.
Horat. Lib. 1. Od. 10. ✯. 19.
DIALOGUE
107
the Eighth.
1
1
racter, we had better let it alone; or if we muſt touch upon it at all, I may poffibly find
(129) a more proper occafion of faying fomething farther upon it, than the preſent.
;
HORACE, in the place I have juft hinted at, talks of Mercury as a wonderful mu-
fician; and reprefents him with a lyre. You know, he was faid to be the inventor of
that inftrument. There is a mighty ridiculous (130) old legend, relating to this inven
tion; which informs us, that Mercury, after ftealing fome bulls which belonged to
Apollo, retired to a fecret grotto he uſed to frequent, at the foot of a mountain in Arca-
dia. Juft as he was going in, he found a tortoife feeding by the entrance of his cave. He
killed the poor creature; and perhaps eat the flesh of it: and as he was diverting him-
felf with the ſhell, he was mightily pleaſed with the noiſe it gave from its concave figure.
He had poffibly been cunning enough before to find out, that a thong pulled ftrait and
faſtened at each end, when ftruck by the finger, made a fort of mufical found. How-
ever that was, he went immediately to work; cut feveral thongs out of the hides he had
lately ftolen; and faftened them on as tight as he could, to the fhell of this tortoiſe
and in playing with them, made a new kind of mufic to divert himſelf in his retreat.
This account, confidered only as an account of the first invention of the lyre, is not al-
together fo unnatural. The Romans had a particular fort of lyre, which was called (131)
Teftudo; or, the tortoife: and the moſt antient lyres of all are reprefented in a manner,
that agrees very well with this account of the invention of that inftrument. The lyre,
in particular, on the old celeftial globes (132), was reprefented as made of the entire fhell
of a tortoiſe; and fo is that of Amphion, in the famous (133) groupe of the Dircè, in the
Farnefe palace at Rome. But the moſt remarkable one I have ever met with, is one at
the feet of a ſtatue of Mercury in the Montalti gardens; which not only ſhews the whole PL. XV.,
belly of the tortoiſe, and part of what the ſtrings were attached to there; but has two horns
above, exactly like the horns of a bull; and ftrings like thongs of leather, faftened round
the bottom of them. In feveral figures of Apollo, (and in fome, I believe, of the
Muſes,) you ſtill ſee the tortoife's fhell: tho' it leffened gradually in procefs of time, and
at laſt became only an (134) ornament, inſtead of making the moſt effential part of the
lyre. I have dwelt the longer on this old fable of the original of this particular fort of
lyre, called Teſtudo; becauſe there are feveral (135) paffages in the poets which refer to
it, and which are not eafily to be underſtood without it.
(129) Dial. XVI. pofth.
(130) Poftquam Mercurius boves Apollinis furatus
eft, eos in antro fuo occultavit; duofque mactavit,
quorum pelles rupi affixit. Partem carnium coxit, ut
victum fibi pararet; reliqua verò omnia combuffit ;
& Cyllenem fubitò commigravit. Ante cavernam au-
tem fuam, teftudinem reperit herbam depafcentem.
Quâ captâ interna omnia abftraxit; cochleæque fi-
diculas aptavit, ex pelle boum concinnatas; lyram-
que effecit. Apollodorus. Lib. 2.
There is a paffage in Ovid, in which he calls Mer-
cury, in the fame breath, the inventor of the lyre,
and the god of thieves which terms ſeem to have
very little connexion to us; but muſt have agreed
very well among people, to whom this ſtory was vul-
garly known.
At tu maternæ donaſti nomine menfem,
Inventor curvæ furibus apte lyræ.
Ovid. Faft. 5. . 104.
Horace joins theſe two characters of Mercury in
the ſame manner. Lib. 1.
(131) Ipfe cavâ folans
ægrum
Od. 10. ¥. 6, & 7.
teftudine amorem.
You
That this Teftudo, or feven-ftringed lyre, was the
fame with that invented by Mercury, appears from
Ovid; where, fpeaking of Mercury, he fays:
Nec pietas hæc prima tua eft: feptena putaris,
Pleïadum numero, fila dediffe lyræ.
Faft. 5. *. 106.
(132) See Pl. XXIV.
(133) In Perrier's ftatues, Pl. 100.
(134) When they left off making ufe of the con-
cave of the tortoife's ſhell, as a material part of this
inftrument; they ſtill uſed ſome of it by way of or-
nament, and inlaid pieces of it in the Cornua of the
lyre. As in one, held by an Apollo, in the open
part of the Great Duke's gallery; which tho' modern,
may be very well authoriſed from fome lines in Ti-
bullus's fine defcription of Apollo.
Artis opus variæ, fulgens teftudine & auro,
Pendebat lævâ garrula parte lyra.
Lib. 3. El. 4. .38.
(135) It appears from this ftory, that the moſt an-
Virgil. Georg. 4. ✯. 464. tient lyres were made of the ſhell of a tortoife: which,
Tuque teftudo, refonare feptem
as an amphibious creature, may be called indifferently
Callida nervis.
Pifcis, or Fera. This, I think, may ſerve to clear
Horat. Lib. 3. Od. 11. . 4. up a very difficult paffage in Statius; and another,
that
3.
FIG. 2.
1
108
POLY. METIS.
PL. XV.
FIG. 3•
;
You
fee too by this ſtory, that Mercury was not quite fo honeft as he ſhould be
may
and, to ſay the truth, he was of old the god of thieves and pickpockets. One ſhould be
apt to fufpect, that this muſt have been a deity of Spartan growth; as that was the only
nation perhaps, in which a clever thief was to be rewarded rather than puniſhed. How-
ever that be, Mercury was certainly the god of ingenuity and thieving. I do not remem-
any inſtance of this character of his on any work of the antient artiſts: unleſs it be
poffibly meant in a relievo, behind the great church at Florence; which ſeems of fo low
that I did not think it worth while to have a copy taken of it. To make fome
amends, the poets mark out this (136) character of Mercury very often, and very fully.
ber
an age,
As Mercury was the god of rogues and pickpockets, fo was he alſo the god of ſhop-
keepers and tradeſmen; whom I will allow to be very angry with me for mentioning
them in ſo bad company, as foon as ever they have left off the ufing fecret marks for
the prices of their goods. Mercury is faid to have derived his name (137) from prefiding
over tradeſmen; as they who gained much by any trade, or behaved cleverly in it, had
a name from him. This mercantile Mercury was reprefented of old, (as the modern
Mercury is at the exchange at Amſterdam,) with a purſe in his hand. The Romans
looked on this god as the great diſpenſer of gain; and therefore the holding the purſe is
a frequent attribute of his, in all collections of antiquities of this kind. In this gem you
ſee him give up his purfe to Fortune; in another, he is offering it to Minerva and ſhe
PL. XV. taking only a little out of it; as if Good Luck had more to do with gain, than Good
Senſe: tho' both of them, it ſhould ſeem (according to the moral of theſe repreſentations)
come at it, moſt uſually, by the help of a little knavery. In a third, he is offering it to
PL. XV. a lady, with a veil on her head, like the figures of Pudicitia; who ſeems to refuſe him
ftrenuouſly. In this laft, Mercury feems in hafte; he is in the attitude of leaving her;
and of taking his flight, if ſhe will not accept his offer inſtantly. This is more directly
expreſſed on this gem; but I imagine the fame is generally meant in the figures of the
mercantile Mercury: for he is commonly reprefented at the fame time holding out a
purſe, and with his winged cap upon his head; which, in the language of the ſtatuaries,
is as much as to fay: "If you do not lay hold of any gain, the moment it is offered to
you, the opportunity will fly away; and who knows whether it may ever come in your
FIG. 4.
FIG. 5.
reach
that is not ſo eaſy as it may uſually have been ima- from Horace; and to the old ſtory, about the origin
gined, in Horace.
of the lyre.
Non Helicona gravi pulfat chelys enthea plectro;
Nec laffata voco toties mihi numina mufas :
Et te Phoebe choris, & te demittimus Evan.
Tu quoque muta feræ, volucer Tegeæe, fonoræ
Terga premas: alios pofcunt mea carmina cœtus.
Statius. Lib. 1. Sylv. 5. *. 5.
O teftudinis aureæ
Dulcem quæ ftrepitum, Pieri, temperas!
O mutis quoque pifcibus
Donatura cygni fi libeat fonum!
any
Horat. Lib. 4. Od. 3. y. 20.
If of the commentators on theſe poets have
given any idea of a muſical beaſt or a finging fiſh,
without the help of this legend, they muſt have had
a great deal of good luck. For my part I must own
that, even with it, I think this old notion of teftudo,
as a beaſt, a fish, and a harp; is the fitteft fubject for
a riddle, that one could pick out even among all the
ftrangeſt imaginations of the old poets. The only
author of poetical riddles that I know of among the
antients, has indeed a very bad one on this very fub-
ject: which I ſhall take the liberty of quoting, not as
any authority, becauſe of the low age it was wrote
in; but barely as a curiofity, and to fhew how bad
riddles they could write formerly. In the last line the
author feems to have an eye to the paffage juft quoted
Tarda gradu lento; fpeciofo prædita dorfo :
Docta quidem ftudio, fed fævo prædita fato:
Viva nihil dixi; quæ fic, modò mortua, canto.
Sympofius. Ænigm. . 20.
(136) Te canam magni Jovis & deorum
Nuntium, curvæque lyræ parentem ;
Callidum quicquid placuit jocofo
Condere furto.
Te, boves olim nifi reddidiffes
Per dolum amotas puerum minaci
Voce dum terret, viduus pharetrâ
Rifit Apollo.
Horat. Lib. 1. Od. 10. . 12.
Alipedis de ftirpe dei verfuta propago
Nafcitur Autolychus, furtum ingeniofus ad omne:
Qui facere affuêrat, patriæ non degener artis,
Candida de nigris & de candentibus atra.
Ovid. Met. 11. ✯. 315.
The fame poet calls him, Furibus aptus. Note
130, anteh.
(137) Mercurius a mercibus, dictus eft; hunc enim
negotiorum omnium exiftimabant effe deum. Feſt.
Pomp. Lib. 1.-The Romans called thoſe who
throve in buſineſs, Viri Mercuriales.
DIALOGUE 109
i
the Eighth.
1
reach again ?" The poets have (138) this idea of Mercury too; and we learn from them,
?”
that it was a common fubject for (139) pictures, as well as other works, of old.
Ir may feem ftrange, that Mercury, who was the patron of robbers, ſhould at the
fame time be fuppofed to prefide over the high roads. The ftatues that relate to this
Mercury are of that aukward terminal figure, which was fo much in faſhion, (I have
often wondered why,) in all the beſt ages of antiquity. Thefe old Termini were fome-
times without, but ofther with bufts, or half-figures of fome deity on them; and thoſe of
Mercury fo much more frequently than any other, that the Greeks gave them their
general name (140), from this god. Such is the drawing I have in my hand. There is Pr. XV.
an allufion in Juvenal to fome figure of this kind, which I imagine would be more eafy
to be underſtood, and would ftrike us much more ftrongly; were we ufed to fee thefe
Terminal Mercuries as commonly, as the Romans were of old. It is in his fatire on the
nobility of his time.
At tu
Nil nifi Cecropides; truncoque fimillimus Herma:
Nullo quippe alio vincis difcrimine; quàm quod
Illi marmoreum caput eft, tua vivit imago (141).
The particular defign of this compariſon, (as appears both from what goes before, and
what follows it,) was to mark out more ftrongly the abfolute ufeleffnefs to the world of
one Rubellius Plancus ; a man, that had no one thing to boaſt of, but his nobility: and
Juvenal feems inclined to take even that from him. He afferts, (and that very juftly,)
that where there is no virtue, there cannot be any nobility. The great idea of the word
Virtus among the old Romans, (as I fhall fhew more fully (142) on another occafion,)
was a man's exerting himſelf for the ſervice of his country, or for the ſervice of thoſe
about him." Juvenal therefore infifts upon it, that as this Plancus was not of any manner of
ſervice to either, he muſt be ignoble. All the firſt part of his famous fatire on nobility,
turns entirely on this fingle point: as you will plainly perceive, if you will be fo good as to
confider it with me; and to give me leave to make uſe of the definition of Virtus, accord-
ing to the Roman idea of that word, inftead of the word itſelf.
CC
"WHAT fignify pedigrees (143), fays he, and a croud of old broken ftatues of our
anceſtors; if (144) we ourſelves are debauched and indolent?-The (145) exerting oùr-
(138) Accipe quod nunquam reddas mihi, fi tibi dicam ;
Tune infanus eris fi acceperis? an magis excors
Rejectâ prædâ, quam præfens Mercurius fert!
Horat. Lib. 2. Sat. 3. .67.
(139) Qui prior es, cur me in decurfu lampada pofcis?
Sum tibi Mercurius; venio deus huc ego ut ille
Pingitur. An renuis? &c.
Perfius. Sat, 6. ✯.63.
(140) Egua is uſed, in Greek, for any terminal
figures in general.
(141) Juvenal. Sat. 8. *.55.
(142) Dial. X.
(143) Stemmata quid faciunt ? Quid prodeft, Pontice, longo
Sanguine cenferi; pictofque oftendere vultus
Majorum, & ftantes in curribus Æmilianos;
Et Curios jam dimidios, humeroque minorem
Corvinum, & Galbam auriculis nafoque carentem ?
Quis fructus generis tabulâ jactare capaci
Corvinum; pofthac multâ deducere virgâ
Fumofos equitum cum dictatore magiftros?
Juvenal. Sat. 8. . 1-8.
felves
(144) Si coram Lepidis malè vivitur. Effigies quo
Tot Bellatorum, fi luditur alea pernox
Ante Numantinos ? Si dormire incipis ortu
Luciferi, quo figna duces & caftra movebant ?
Cur Allobrogicis & magnâ gaudeat arâ
Natus in Herculeo Fabius lare, fi cupidus; fi
Vanus, & Euganeâ quantumvis mollior agnâ ;
Si tenerum attritus Catinenti pumice lumbum,
Squallentes traducit avos; emptorque veneni
Frangendâ miferam funeftat imagine gentem ?
Ibid. y. 9-19.
(145) Tota licet veteres exornent undique ceræ.
Atria, nobilitas fola eft atque unica virtus.
Paulus, vel Coffus, vel Drufus, moribus efto;
Hos ante effigies majorum pone tuorum :
Præcedant ipfas illi, te confule, virgas.
Prima mihi debes animi bona: fanctus haberi
Juftitiæque tenax, factis dictifque, mereris ?
Agnofco procerem. Salve Getulice, feu tu
Silanus; quocunque alio de fanguine, rarus
Civis & egregius patriæ contingis ovanti :
Exclamare libet, populus quod clamat Ofiri
Invento.
Ibid. 20-30.
FIG. 6.
F f
:
116
POLYMET IS.
felves for the ſervice of our country, and of thoſe about us, is the only thing that cari
render a man really noble.-If (146) any one has only a bare title, without this founda-
tion of all nobility; it is a fhameful abuſe of words, to call that man, a great maă.
My neighbour's dwarf, that we call Atlas in derifion, might as well really paſs for a giant;
and that dog, (who is good for nothing but fleeping before the fire,) is as much, really
a lion, as he a nobleman.-Such (147) a nobleman, is Rubellius Plancus! One who is
fo full of the blood of the Julii, that he deſpiſes the reſt of mankind; and looks as big upon
you, as if he had the blood of all the kings fince Cecrops in his veins. Yet among us that
he deſpiſes ſo much, there are ſome who can plead his caufe for him; when he has a law-
fuit: and others, who go abroad to fight, for the glory of their country. Now (148), Plan-
cus, let us hear what you can do? No one thing of uſe. You are juſt like a ſtatue, with
a great title fixed
upon you, but without arms or legs; like thoſe which we ſee ſo often,
by our public roads: and indeed fo very like them, that I for my part can find out no
manner of difference between you, except that they are of folid marble, and that you
have a vent for breath.Is (149) this the being a nobleman? Can we call a man noble,
for what would not make a horſe fo?-Well, I know not how it may be with men :
but this I am fure of, that the beſt-bred horfe in the world is ignoble, if he proves good
for nothing."
THIS I take to be the true defign and intent of what Juvenal has laid down more at
large, for above fixty lines together, in the beginning of his moſt excellent fatire againſt
the nobility of his time; and of that paffage in it, in particular, relating to the Terminal
ſtatues (150) of Mercury: which uſed to puzzle me formerly, perhaps, as much as any
(146) —Quis enim generofum dixerit hunc, qui
Indignus genere eft; præclaro nomine tantum
Infignis? Nanum cujufdam; Atlanta vocamus;
Æthiopem, cygnum; parvam extortamque puellam,
Europen: canibus pigris, fcableque vetuftâ
Lævibus & ficcæ lambentibus ora lucernæ,
Nomen erit pardus, tigris, leo; fi quid adhuc eft
Quod fremat in terris violentius. Ergo cavebis,
Et metues, ne tu fic Creticus aut Camerinus.
- Ibid. 30-38.
(147) His ego quem monui ? Tecum eft mihi fermo, Rubelli
Plance. Tumes alto Druforum nomine, tanquam
Feceris ipfe aliquid, propter quod nobilis effes
Ut te conciperet quæ fanguine fulget Iüli,
Non quæ ventoſo conducta ſub aggere texit.
Vos humiles, inquit; vulgi pars ultima noftri ;
Quorum nemo queat patriam monftrare parentis:
Aft ego, Cecropides! Vivas; & originis hujus
Gaudia longa feras. Tamen, imâ plebe, Quiritem
Facundum invenies; folet hic defendere caufas
Nobilis indocti; veniet, de plebe togatâ,
Qui juris nodos & legum ænigmata ſolvat :
Hic petit Euphraten juvenis, domitique Batavi
Cuftodes aquilas, armis induſtrius.
(148)
thought
Exiguis, tritoque trahunt epirhedia collo ;
Segnipedes, dignique molam verfare, nepotes.
Ibid. ✯. 56—67.
(150) The fatire, in that fimilitude would be very
ftrong, if it regarded only any terminal ſtatue, in ge-
neral; but it is much ſtronger, if we confider Plancus
here as compared to a terminal figure of Mercury, in
particular. As the diftinguiſhing character of this
god was nimbleness and activity, (whence the Greeks
called him, Egivios, the active or uſeful god,) he must
look particularly idle and mif-named, whenever they
faw him on their road-fides or elſewhere, either with-
out any arms, or with them wrapped up in his cloak;
without his legs, which were fo well made for
diſpatch; without the wings, that were fuppofed to
bear him fo rapidly thro' the air; in a word, with-
out any of the marks of ſwiftnefs and activity, which
he had in all the figures that repreſented him in any
other of his characters but this.
And this would be ftill ftronger, if Plancus was
very vicious, as well as very indolent; (and they ge-
nerally go together :) for it is remarkable in the ter-
Ibid. 39-52. minal ſtatues of Mercury, that as he had loft fome
limbs, it was made up to him in others. Herodotus
informs us that there was fome myſtical reaſon for this.
Ορθα εχειν τα αιδοια τ' αγαλματα το Ερμεως Αθηναίοι
πρωτοι Ελληνων παρα Πελασγων μαθοντες εποιησαντο
οι δε Πελασγοι προν τινα λόγον περι αυτό έλεξαν, τα εν
τοισι εν Σαμοθρησκη μυστηρίοισι δεδήλωται. Herodotus,
in Euterp. cap. 51.
At tu,
Nil nifi Cecropides; truncoque fimillimus Hermæ:
Nullo quippe alio vincis difcrimine, quam quod
Illi marmoreum caput eft, tua vivit imago.
Ibid.
5255.
(149) Dic mihi Teucrorum proles; animalia muta
Quis generofa putet, nifi fortia? Nempe volucrem
Sic laudamus equum, facili cui plurima palma
Fervet, & exultat rauco victoria circo.
Nobilis hic, quocumque venit de gramine, cujus
Clara fuga ante alios & primus in æquore pulvis :
Sed venale pecus Coritha, pofteritas &
Hirpini; fi rara jugo victoria fedit.
Nil ibi majorum refpectus: gratia nulla
Umbrarum. Dominos pretiis mutare jubentur
If I knew this reaſon, I ſhould not care to reveal
it to the reader; for in all thefe forts of things, I
would ſtrictly keep to Horace's rule, in relation to
myſteries; and think they are only fit, either to be
told in Greek; or covered with vine-leaves, as that
poet fays they ſhould be.
Non ego, variis obfita frondibus,
Sub dio Tapiam.
DIALOGUE the Eighth.
III
thought in the poets borrowed from the ſtatues or paintings of the antients, that I ever
met with.
I HAVE now done with all the figures within this temple, I could have ſaid much
more on ſeveral of them, had not I feared the being too tedious to you. Even as it is,
the pleaſure I always feel in talking over theſe matters, and the patience with which you
have heard me, have betrayed me into too great a length. However, I have at laſt
done: and fo if you pleaſe we will get out of our temple, that we may enjoy a little freſh
air, before the night comes upon us.
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}
113
BOOK the Third.
Of the Heroes, fuppofed by
by the Romans,
to have been received into the Higher
Heavens.
DIAL. IX.
Hercules, Bacchus; Efculapius, Romulus; Caſtor,
and Pollux.
A
S Polymetis was going, the next morning, to fhew his friends the figures he had
placed in the portico of his Rotunda; Philander happened to fay, that
he had always imagined that the heroes received into the heavens had been
much more numerous than his, or any one portico, could hold. Polymetis readily
allowed, that there might have been great numbers that were ſuppoſed to have been re-
ceived into fome part or other of the heavens; either as ſtars themſelves, or as inhabit-
ing and prefiding over ſtars; and that theſe might very well be all confidered as divinities,
by the antient Romans: but the heroes I am going to fhew you, fays he, are thofe of
a fuperior order; fuch as were fuppofed to be admitted into the community of the twelve
Great Gods. There are only fix of theſe heroes: Hercules, Bacchus; Efculapius, Ro-
mulus; Caftor, and Pollux. I uſed, for a long time, to confound thefe, with the
common heroes fuppoſed to have been deified of old; and what firſt gave me any fufpi-
cion of their eminent fuperiority above the others, was my obferving that the Roman
poets, (whenever they ſpeak of men who had made the nobleft appearance upon earth,
and who were therefore received into the higheſt heavens,) always inftance in fome or
other of the fix, I have juft mentioned. Thus Horace, on one (1) occafion, mentions Her-
cules, Bacchus, Pollux, Caftor, and Romulus; and on another (2), Hercules, Bacchus,
Pollux, and Romulus. Virgil, on a like occafion, inſtances (3) in Bacchus and Hercu-
les; and Silius, in (4) Hercules, Bacchus, Pollux, Caftor, and Romulus. The fame is
obfervable in the Roman profe-writers, as well as in their poets. Thus Pliny, in ſpeak-
ing of Pompey, compares him to Hercules and Bacchus (5), as the two greateſt men that
(1) Romulus, & Liber Pater, & cum Caftore Pollux,
(Poft ingentia facta deorum in templa recepti)
Dum terras hominumque colunt genus; afpera bella
Componunt, agros affignant, oppida condunt;
Ploravere fuis non refpondere favorem
Speratum meritis: diram qui contudit hydram,
Notaque fatali portenta labore fubegit,
Comperit invidiam fupremo fine domari:
Præfenti tibi matures largimur honores,
Jurandafque tuum per nomen ponimus aras ;
Nil oriturum alias, nil ortum tale fatentes.
Horace; (in his compliment to Auguftus.) Lib.z. Ep.1..17.
(2) Hâc arte Pollux, & vagus Hercules
Innixus, arces attigit igneas:
Hâc te merentem, Bacche Pater, tuæ
Vexere tigres; indocili jugum
Collo trahentes: hâc Quirinus
Martis equis Acheronta fugit.
T
(3) Nec verò Alcides tantum telluris obivit ;
Fixerit æripedem cervam licet, aut Erymanthi
Pacarit nemora, & Lernam tremefecerit arcu:
Nec qui pampineis victor juga flectit habenis.
Liber, agens celfo Nyfæ de vertice tigres.
ever
Virgil ; (in a compliment to the fame prince) Æn. 6. . 806.
(4)
Queis ætherii fervatur feminis ortus
Cœli porta patet. Referam quid cuncta domantem
Amphitryoniaden? Quid cui poft Seras & Indos,
Captivo Liber quum figna referret ab Euro,
Caucaſeæ currum duxere per oppida tigres ?
Quid (fufpiratos magno in difcrimine nautis)
Ledæos referam fratres; veftrumque Quirinum ?
Says Virtus, in her ſpeech to Scipio; in Silius Italicus, Lib.15.
*.83.
(5) Equato, non modò Alexandri Magni rerum
fulgore; fed etiam Herculis prope, ac Liberi Patris,
Id. (in another compliment to Auguftus,) Lib.3. Od.3.4.16. Pliny. Nat. Hift. Lib. 7. Cap. 26.
G g
114
POLYMETIS.
ever lived; and Cicero mentions the names of (6) all theſe fix Great Heroes, (and no
other names but theirs,) both in his treatiſe on the nature of the gods, in general; and
in another, where he is fpeaking of the laws of his own country, in particular. And
indeed, it is chiefly on his authority, that I have admitted the ftatues of theſe fix Great
Heroes, and theirs only, into the portico of my temple for the great Celeſtial Deities.
HERCULES is the foremoſt even in this diftinguiſhed claſs. He was pointed out by
the antient heathens, as their great exemplar of virtue: and indeed, as the idea of virtue
with them confifted chiefly in feeking and undergoing fatigues with ſteddineſs and pa-
tience, they could fcarce have chofen a fitter pattern than Hercules; the courſe of
whofe life was almoſt wholly taken up in (7) going about to feek adventures; and in la-
PL.XVI. bouring for the benefit of mankind. You fee him here, as refting after the laft of his
twelve moſt noted labours; for in this ſtatue, (which is a copy of the famous Hercules,
in the Farneſe palace at Rome,) he leans on his club, and holds the apples of the Hefpe-
rides in his hand. You may plainly fee, by this ftatue and the other figures of him,
that the principal idea which the artiſts endeavoured to expreſs in Hercules, was that of
a perſon made to endure the greateſt fatigues. I choſe to have this figure of him here,
rather than one that reprefented him after his deification. The latter would have been
more proper to the place; but this agrees better with the deſcriptions we find of him in
the poets, and is more adapted to my defign.
I Do not know any of the twelve Great Gods themſelves that has fo many monuments
of antiquity relating to him as Hercules; and of courſe the baſe of his ſtatue here, is as
well ſtocked with drawings, medals, and gems, as that of Jupiter himſelf. Indeed he is
repreſented with Jupiter on fome old altars and relievo's, with an (8) infcription that
feems to fet him on a level with that chief of all the gods; or, at leaſt, with the great gods
in general. I mention this, that you may be ſenſible of the full dignity of the perfon, we
are going to confider more particularly; and who will probably take us up, the greateft
part of the morning.
You fee, in the ftatue before you, how he is all formed to exprefs ftrength. That
breadth of his ſhoulders; this fpacioufnefs of his cheft; the vastnefs of his fize, and the
firmneſs of the muſcles all over him; fhew more force and refiftance in his make, than
I dare fay was ever really to be found in any of the moſt celebrated gladiators, or boxers
of old: even tho' one ſhould fuppofe the race of men to have been ſtronger in thoſe days,
than they are in ours. All theſe particulars which you ſee in the ſtatue, are marked out
too by (9) the poets: and Horace, in particular, has been fuppofed by fome to allude to
·
(6) Sufcepit vita hominum, confuetudoque com-
munis, ut beneficiis excellentes viros in cœlum famâ
ac voluntate tollerent. Hinc, Hercules; hinc, Caftor
& Pollux; hinc, Efculapius. Hinc Liber etiam;
(hunc dico Semele natum, non eum quem noſtri ma-
jores auguftè fanctéque Liberum cum Cerere & Liberâ
confecraverunt; quod quale fit, ex myfteriis intelligi
poteft.) Hinc etiam Romulus ; quem quidam eun-
dem effe Quirinum putant. (Spoke by Balbus the
Stoic, in Cicero's de Nat. Deor. Lib. 2. p. 38. Ed,
Ald.)
Ad divos adeunto caftè. Pietatem adhibento;
opes amovento. Qui fecus faxit, deus ipfe vindex
erit. Eos, qui cœleftes femper habiti, colunto; &
ollos quos endo cœlo merita collocaverunt, Hercu-
lem, Liberum, Æfculapium, Caftorem, Pollucem,
Quirinum aft olla propter quæ datur homini adfcen-
fus in cœlum, Mentem, Virtutem, Pietatem, Fi-
dem, earumque laudum delubra funto. Id. de Leg.
Lib. 2. Cap. 8.
3
this
Theſe fix therefore feem to be, THE FEW, that
Virgil ſpeaks of:
(7)
amavit
Pauci, quos æquus
Jupiter; aut ardens evexit ad æthera virtus.
Æn. 6. . 130.
Sæva terris gens religata ultimis;
Quas peragrans undique, omnem hinc feritatem expuli.
Actius. in Trachyniis.
Nec verò Alcides tantum telluris obivit.
Vagus Hercules.
Virgil. Æn, 6. y. 8oz.
Horat. Lib. 3. Od. 3. . 9.
(8) DIS MAGNIS. See Montfaucon, Vol. I.
P. 1. 16; &, ib. p.47.
(و)
Agnofco toros,
Humerofque, & alto nobilem trunco manum.
Her. Fur. Act. 3. Sc. 2. .625.
Neque enim tam lata videbam
Pectora, Neptunus muros cum jungeret aftris.
(Spoke of Hercules.) V. Flac. 2. †. 491.
Et
DIALOGUE the Ninth.
115
this very figure of Hercules; in a (10) paffage that, I think, would read better and
Aronger if ſo underſtood, than in the common way.
THE chief attribute of Hercules, or the moft diftinguiſhing character of his figures, is
this incomparable ſtrength that appears all over him. His other attributes (11) are his
lion's fkin, his club, and his bow; which are all too well known both from the poets
and ftatuaries, to want any particular enquiry about them. I fhall only juft obferve, by
the way, that we fometimes fee Hercules, in the works of the artiſts, dreffed in his lion's
fkin; in fuch a manner, that the head and jaws of the lion appear over his head: a fort
of (12) military drefs, defcribed often by the poets; and particularly by fome of them, in
relation to this very god.
You know very well, that the whole life of Hercules was fcarce any thing but one
continued ſeries of labours. As there are fo many of them, the writers who treat of
them, and of the antiquities relating to them, have generally fallen into a great deal of
confufion: ſo far, that I ſcarce know any one of them, that has perfectly well fettled
which were his twelve labours, that are ſo much talked of. To avoid falling into the fame
confufion, one may divide all his adventures into three claffes. In the first clafs, I fhould
place fuch as were previous to his twelve celebrated labours. In the fecond, thofe twelve
labours themſelves; which he was obliged to do by the order of Euriftheus, and the
fatality of his birth. And in the third, any fupernumerary exploits; that he undertook
voluntarily, and of himſelf.
If one had a greater number of the previous exploits of Hercules to mention, the firſt
undoubtedly ſhould be that of his ftrangling the two ferpents, fent to deftroy him in his
cradle;
Et membra vafta carpit avellens manu.
that figure repreſents him as having juſt finiſhed the
Hercules Oet. A&t. 3. Sc. 2. .827. laſt labour enjoined him by the order of Juno; that
Grandibus altè
Infurgens humeris, hominem fuper improbus exit;
Sed non ille rigor, patriumque in corpore robur.
(Spoke of a defcendant of Hercules) Statius. Theb. 6. y. 840.
(10) Non poffis oculo quantum contendere Lynceus
Non tamen idcirco contemnas lippus inungi;
Nec, quia defperes invicti membra Glyconis,
Nodosâ corpus nolis prohibere chiragrâ.
Horat. Lib. 1. Ep. 1. .31.
The inſcription on the baſe of the. Farneſe Hercules
tells us, it was made by an artiſt called Glycon. As
we now call it, the Farnefe Hercules, for diftinction;
they might very well of old have called it, the Her-
cules Glyconis, for the fame reafon. Such diftinc-
tions were more neceffary then, than now; becauſe
they had a much greater number of ftatues in Rome
of old. If they did ufually call this figure, the Her-
cules Glyconis, in Horace's time; he might very
well call it, the Glycon, in verſe.
If this may be allowed to have been the cafe, the
intent and true meaning of the paffage from him, will
be as follows. "You can never come to fee fo
ſharply as Linceus; would you therefore ſuffer your
eyes to go out? You can never acquire the ftrength
and firmnefs of Hercules; would you therefore fuffer
your body to run to ruin, and to be crippled with
diſeaſes?"
I ſhould the rather take this to be the cafe, becauſe
it ſeems more worthy of fo good a writer, in two in-
ſtances ſo cloſely united, to have taken them both
from the antient mythology; than to take one from
that, and the other from a (ſuppoſed) gladiator of his
own time.
The epithet of Invictus too, would have a particu-
lar propriety, if applied to the Farnefe Hercules. For
is, juſt when ſhe had given up her purſuit of him, as
a perſon not to be conquered, by any difficulties.
(11) Pone truces arcus agmenque immite pharetræ,
Et regum multo perfufum fanguine robur ;
Inftratumque humeris depone gerentibus hoftem.
Lib. 3. Sylv. 1. y. 36,
Ουκ Ηρακλης γιος εστιν, αμήνον άλλος, μα του Ηρα
κλεα. Το τόξον, το ροπαλου, η λεοντή, το μέγεθος ο
ολος Ηρακλης επι Lucian. Tom. I. p. 298. Ed.
Blaeu.
}
(12) This was a very common dreſs among the
Roman foldiers; and occurs perpetually, both on the
Trajan, and Antonine pillar, at Rome.
Thus Virgil; of one of his warriors;
Cui pellis latos humeros erepta juvenco
Pugnatori operit: caput ingens oris hiatus,
Et malæ texere lupi cum dentibus albis.
And in another place:
En. 11. .680.
Ipfe pedes, tegumen torquens immane leonis
Terribili impexum fetâ, cum dentibus albis,
Indutus capiti fic regia tecta fubibat
Horridus, Herculeoque humeros innexus amictu.
(Of a fon of Hercules.) n. 7. . 609.
Tergo videt hujus inanem
Impexis utrinque jubis horrere leonem ;
Illius in fpeciem quem per Theumefia Tempe
Amphitryoniades victum juvenilibus annis,
Ante Cleonæi veftitur prælia monftri.
Alcides
Statius. Theb. 1. .487.
Cleonæo jam tempora clufus hiatu
Val. Flaccus. 1. Y. 155.
A figure, (perhaps of young Aventinus, a ſon of
Hercules,) is given, Pl. XVII. Fig. 5. on purpoſe to
fhew the manner how they wore the lion's fkin over
their heads, the more exactly.
116
POLYMET I S.
cradle; for this he feems to have performed, according to fome accounts of it, when he
was not above (13) half an hour old. This is extraordinary enough; but what is more ex-
traordinary than this is, that there are exploits fuppofed to have been atchieved by Hercules
even (14) before Alcmena brought him into the world. His killing of the ferpents how-
ever is early enough for me; and therefore I fhall begin from that. The old artiſts feem
to have fhewed a great deal of fancy, in reprefenting this ftory. As Hercules was then
fo abfolutely an infant, they expreſs his ignorance of what the ferpents were, very plainly.
Sometimes he has a little ſmile on his face, as if he was pleaſed with their fine colours and
PL. XVII. their motions: fometimes he looks concerned that he has killed them, and fo put an end
to the diverfion that they gave him. Sometimes they fhew the courage and fteadineſs of
this infant hero; his ftrong gripe of the ferpents, and his killing them at the fame time
with ſo much eaſe, that he ſcarce deigns to look upon them. Sometimes the nurſe is in-
PL. XVII. troduced with his twin-brother, the little Euriftheus, in her arms: fhe, quite frightened;
but he not regarding her, nor wanting any of her affiftance. All theſe different
have ſeen in gems, or marble; and could fhew you moſt of them, among my drawings
here: and, I think there is not any one of them, that the poets have not touched upon,
(15) as well as the artiſts.
FIG. I.
FIG. 2.
ways I
ANOTHER of the previous exploits of Hercules, was his killing a vaſt lion. There are
feveral victories of his over lions, talked of by the antients: one in particular, as done
when he was very young; and another, after he was entered on that great refolution of
paffing his whole life in a continued courfe of combating monſters, and of doing good.
The lion he killed in his youth was encountered by him in a valley, near his native city
of Thebes; and the other, (which is the firſt of his twelve celebrated labours,) was the
Cleonaan lion: if we may truft to a paffage (16) in Statius. Hercules is deſcribed by the
poets, in his conquefts of lions, two different ways: either as fqueezing them to death,
againſt his own breaft (17); or as tearing their jaws afunder. The former feems to have
PL. XVII. been the method uſed by him in his earlier engagements. It was a very aukward way
of killing fuch monſters; as appears but too much, in the figures (18) that reprefent it.
He
at the foot of Theumefus; a mountain, near Thebes.
Hercules was born in that city: and fo may very well
be ſuppoſed to have killed this lion in one of his
walks; before he ſet out, to travel over more diſtant
countries, on his profeffed deſign of clearing the
world of monſters.
FIG. 5.
Act. 5. Sc. I.
(13) See Plautus's Amphitruo. Act.
*. 46, to 67.
(14) This perhaps is one of the moſt myſterious
points, in all the mythology of the antients. Tho'
Hercules was born not long before the Trojan war,
they make him affift the gods in conquering the re-
bel giants; (Virgil. Æn. 8. y. 298.) and I think
ſome of them talk of an oracle, or tradition in heaven,
that the gods could never conquer them, without the
affiſtance of a man.
(15).
Igneos ferpentium
*.219.
Oculos, remiffo pectore ac placido intuens.
Hercules Fur. A&t. 2. Sc. 1.
Cum prima novercæ
Monftra manu premeres, atque exanimata doleres.
Statius. Lib. 3. Sylv. 1. *. 48.
Elidit geminos infans, nec refpicit, angues..
Martial. Lib. 14. Ep.
Ego cunas receffim, rurfum vorfum trahere & ducere ;
Metuens pueris, mihi formidans: tantoqne angues acriùs
Perfequi. Poftquam confpexit angues ille alter puer,
Citus e cunis exilit; facit rectà in angues impetum ;
Alterum alterâ apprehendit eos manu perniciter.
The Nurſe, in Plautus's Amphit. Act. 5. Sc.1. .64.
(16) Illius in fpeciem, quam per Théumeſia Tempe
Amphitryonides, victum juvenilibus annis,
Ante Cleonxi veftitur prælia monftri.
Statius. Theb. 1. v. 487.
Tempe is fometimes uſed, by the antients, for any
very pleaſant valley. This lion was killed in the vale,
(17) As ſqueezing them againſt his breaſt.
-Hoc pectore preffus
Vaftator Nemees.
Statius. Lib. 4. Sylv. 6. . 41.
Maximus Nemeæ timor gemuit lacertis preffus
Herculeis leo.
Herc. Furens. A&t. 2. Sc. 1. †. 225.
-Rabidi cum colla minantia monſtri
Angeret; & tumidos animam anguftaret in artus.
Statius. Theb. 4. . 828. (Of the Nemean lion too. Ibid.
*.825.)
Anhelantem duro Tirynthius angens
Pectoris attritu, fua frangit in offa leonem.
Id. Ib. Lib. 6. 271
As tearing their jaws afunder.
In foribus, labor Alcidæ ; Lernea recifis
Anguibus Hydra jacet ; nixuque elifa leonis
Ora Cleonai, patulo celantur hiatu.
Silius. Ital. Lib. 3. . 34.
(18) Statius ſeems to hint at this, in the paffage
laft quoted from that poet: where he adds ;
Haud illum impavidi, quamvis & in ære, fuumque
Inachidæ videre decus.
Theb. 6. . 273.
1
DIALOGUE the Ninth.
117
1
the
He was all the while expoſed, both to their fangs and claws: and tho' he might get
better of them any way, by his immenſe ſtrength; he muſt have ſuffered all the while
himſelf extremely, in ſuch a method of deſtroying them,
THERE is a figure of Hercules very young, and yet with the lion's ſkin over his head; PL. XVII.
in the Capitol at Rome. This may ſerve to juſtify ſeveral modern artiſts, who have been FIG. 4.
generally thought to give Hercules this dreſs too early. You have ſeen the picture de-
figned by the late Lord Shaftesbury, which reprefents Hercules determining, (at his fetting
out in life,) whether he ſhould follow virtue, or pleaſure; and chufing the former with
all her difficulties, rather than the latter with a load of ignominy. As his known la-
bours were the confequence of this reſolution, and as the killing a lion was one of theſe
labours; every body almoſt that fees this picture is apt to obferve, that the lion's fkin is
given him a little too foon in it. If this obfervation were true, it would fall on feveral
very eminent painters, as well as on Lord Shaftesbury; for they have generally followed
the fame method, in their pictures of this ftory. But if one lion's fkin may not be allowed
them, we have others, you fee, at their fervice; and, for my own part, I own I ſhould
not think it wrong, even if Hercules had never killed any lion before this determination
of his; becauſe it ſeems to me more neceffary to mark out their hero, and not leave him
unknown, than to obferve the order of time fo very fcrupulouſly. Be that as it will, it
now appears that the fact too is for them; Hercules having acquired ſuch a ſpoil in his
younger days, and before the point of time when he took up that noble reſolution of
dedicating his whole life to virtue: the idea of which, in the old Roman ſcheme, (di-
rectly oppofite to the modern monkiſh one,) confifted entirely in activity; and in going
thorough the moſt buſy ſcenes of life, and all the difficulties of it, with ſteddineſs and
refolution.
AND this indeed is what ſeems to have been ſhadowed out in the various exploits at-
tributed by the antients to Hercules; and to be pointed at in the very name they gave
them, when they called them his labours. The two previous exploits of his I have men-
tioned, are all that evidently appear to have been done before the celebrated ones, which
are called, by way of eminence, his Twelve Labours; and which he was obliged to
go thorough, by the fatality of his birth, and the malignity of Juno. The Roman poets
call them, (19) twelve; but what theſe twelve were, is much eaſier to be fixed from the
old artiſts, than the poets: for, Martial, Ovid, Silius, and even Virgil himſelf, where
they fpeak of the exploits of Hercules, ufually blend his extraordinary and ordinary la-
bours fo much (20) together, that it is impoffible from them alone to know the one
from the other. However one may learn what the twelve were, from (21) ſeveral
relievo's
(19) O cui jus cœli bis fex fecere labores!
Ovid. Met. 15. . 39.
We learn from Petronius, that there were little
vulgar books about them; (not unlike our little hi-
ftories of the feven champions, or the four fons of
Aymon, among the French.) For Trimalchio, in his
ſatire, when he does not know what to do to carry
off a little time, fays: Rogo, Agamemnon mihi ca-
riffime, numquid duodecim Ærumnas Herculis tenes?
Aut de Ulyffe fabulam? Petronius Arbiter. p.81.
(20) Martial mentions feven of the ordinary la-
bours, and two of the extraordinary. Lib. 9. Ep.
102.Ovid, ten of the ordinary, and four of the
extraordinary. Met. 9. . 180.-The author of
Hercules Furens, ten of the ordinary, and three of
the others. Act. 2. Sc. I. -Silius, fix of the or-
dinary, and two of the others. Lib. 3. .44. —
Virgil, but two of the ordinary; and fix of the ex-
traordinary. Æn. 8. *. 287.
(21) It may not be improper to infert here a lift
of the twelve labours of Hercules from ſome of theſe
relievo's; and from fome of the lower poets: as
they probably wrote them, to ferve for infcriptions to
other relievo's of the fame kind.
The order of them on
the Albano Altar.
1. Lion
2. Hydra
3. Boar
4. Stag
5. Stymphalides
6. Stables
7. Bull
8. Horfes
9. Geryon
10. Amazon
II. Cerberus
12. Hefperides
On the Relievo, at the Villa
Cafali, in Rome.
Lion
Hydra
Boar
Stag
Stymphalides
Stables
Horſes
Bull
Amazon
Geryon
Hefperides
Cerberus
1
Hh
Aufonius's
118
POLYMETIS.
FIG. I.
relievo's on this ſubject, which are ſtill remaining in Italy: and as to the particular order
of them, (in which the relievo's themſelves do not agree,) I ſhall chiefly follow this draw-
ing, taken from an altar which uſed to ſtand, almoſt neglected, by the gate of Albano;
but has been very lately removed, by the order of the pope, to the Capitoline gallery.
As this old altar for many years ferved only as a feat, for any idle perſon that chofe
to faunter in the place where it ſtood; it has been ill uſed, and has fuffered in feveral
parts of it: and particularly ſo much in the three firſt labours, that it is impoffible to
make them out from two feveral drawings I have of them. I ſhall therefore ſupply
theſe three, from fome other antiques. The other nine, are moſt of them very well
preſerved; and all fo well, as not to ſtand in need of any other ſupply.
THE firſt of theſe labours, is Hercules's engagement with the Cleonean lion. I have
PL. XVIII. a drawing of it here; taken from a gem, in the Great Duke's collection at Florence.
You ſee Hercules is reprefented in it, killing that monfter, (in the fame manner that
Samſon is moſt commonly drawn by our modern painters,) by tearing his jaws aſunder :
and juſt as Silius fays this action was wrought (22) on the folding-doors of a very antient
temple of Hercules, at Gades, in Spain.
PL. XVIII.
FIG. 2.
THIS drawing of the ſecond, or the conqueft of the Hydra, is taken from another
gem in the fame collection. This ſeems to have been one of the moſt (23) difficult taſks
Hercules was ever engaged in. The old artifts differ in their manner of reprefenting the
Hydra. Sometimes it is a ferpent, branched out into ſeveral other ferpents; and fome-
times, a human head; deſcending, leſs and leſs, in ferpentine-folds; and with ferpents
upon it, inſtead of hair. The poets ſeem to ſpeak of (24) both; tho' they have, perhaps,
been generally underſtood only of the former. As any one of thefe ferpents heads were
faid to double upon being cut off, the number of heads muſt have been very much at
the choice of any artiſt who repreſented this combat. The poets fpeak of them as very
numerous; and carry it ſometimes as far as (25) a hundred. The artiſts are much more
moderate
Aufonius's infcription, probably for fome old re-
lievo on this fubject.
Prima Cleonai tolerata ærumna leonis.
Próxima Lernæam ferro & face contudit Hydram.
Mox Erymantheum vis tertia perculit aprum.
Æripedis quarto tulit aurea cornua cervi.
Stymphalides pepulit volucres difcrimine quinto.
Threiciam fexto ſpoliavit Amazona baltheo.
Septima in Augeæ ftabulis impenfa laboris.
Octava expulfo numeratur adorea Tauro.
In Diomedeis victoria nona quadrigis.
Geryone extincto decimam dat Iberia palmam.
Undecimo mala Hefperidum deftricta triumpho.
Cerberus extremi fuprema eft meta laboris.
to miſtake a little at his firſt ſetting out; in calling
this lion, the Nemean lion. It was rather, the Cleo-
nean, as Aufonius calls it; and as one may infer from
what Statius fays, Theb. 1. y. 487. in Note 124
anteh.
(22) Silius Ital. Lib. 3. ¥. 4, 14, 18; & 33. (See
Note 17th, anteh.)
(23)
Hilafius's infcription, for another.
Compreffit Nemeæ primum virtute leonem.
Extincta eft anguis quæ pullulat Hydra fecundo.
Tertius evictus fus eft Erymanthius ingens.
(24)
Cornibus auratis cervum necat ordine quarto.
-Diram qui contudit Hydram,
Notaque fatali portenta labore fubegit.
Horat. Lib. 2. Ep. 1. . 11.
Non Hydra fecto corpore firmior
Vinci dolentem crevit in Herculem.
y.
Id. Lib. 4. Od. 4. . 62.
Non te rationis egentem
Dejicit horrifono quinto Stymphalidas arcu.
Abftulit Hippolitæ fexto fua vincula victæ.
Septimus Augeæ ftabulum labor egerit undis.
Octavo domuit magno luctamine taurum.
Tum Diomedis equos nono, cum rege, peremit.
Geryonem decimo triplici cum corpore vicit.
Undecimo abftractus vidit nova Cerberus aftra.
Poftremo Hefperidum victor tulit aurea mala.
Theſe four, all agree in the fame labours; tho'
they all differ, more or leſs, in the order of them.
The latter infcription I firſt met with in an edition of
all Virgil's works, by Theodore Pulman, at Ley-
den; 1595. It is there attributed to Hilafius, an
old grammarian. Whoever the author be, he feems
Lernæus turbâ capitum circumftetit anguis.
Virgil. Æn. 8. y. 300.
Clypeoque, infigne paternum,
Centum angues, cinétamque gerit ferpentibus Hydram.
Ibid. 7. .658.
Cum per artus Hydra fœcundum meos
Caput explicaret.
Hercules Oët. A&t. 4. Sc. 2. y. 1293.
That is, fœcundum ferpentibus caput; not, capita.
The old part that lies by the ftatue of Hercules kil-
ling the Hydra, in the Capitol, has a human head
with great ferpents growing out of it.
(25) Vulneribus fœcunda fuis fuit illa; nec ullum
De centum numero caput eft impune recifum ;
Quin gemino cervix hærede valentior effet.
Ovid. Met. 9. $. 72.
DIALOGUE the Ninth.
119
moderate in their numbers of them: they ufually give only feven: I fuppofe, to prevent
the confufion, that fuch a croud of heads muſt have occafioned in a relievo or picture; in
the fame manner as the painter in the Vatican Virgil repreſents Briareus, who was al-
ways faid to have an hundred hands, only with eight.
FIG. 3.
THE third, or the Erymanthian boar, is repreſented here; from a gem, in the king PL. XVIII.
of France's collection. You fee, he has toffed the monſter over his ſhoulder; and is car-
rying him away, as in triumph. I do not remember any thing defcriptive relating to
this, in any of the Roman poets: unleſs Martial may poffibly allude to fome whimſical
repreſentation of it; in a verſe of his (26) which I do not well underſtand.
WE come now to the fourth, or the wild ftag; which, (as well as all the reft,) is
evident enough, on the altar in the Capitol. This was
This was a ſtrange ſtag; and is
faid by the poets, to have been of a prodigious fize; and to have had (27) brazen PL. XVIII.
FIG. 4.
feet. You fee him however here, brought to the ground; and Hercules kneeling on
him, as quite conquered.
THE Stymphalides, (agreeable to an expreffion (28) in Martial,) are ſuppoſed to
be fo high, that the artiſt has not expreffed them in this work. You only fee Hercules
fhooting with his bow, up into the air; and one of theſe birds, lying dead on the ground
before him. I have ſeen them expreffed on gems, as flying too: but then Hercules is
kneeling, to allow the greater diſtance between him and the birds. Even fo, they look
much too near; and I think the beſt way, where they are fo cramped for room, is to do
as the artiſt has done here: to omit the flight of the birds; and to aſcertain the ſtory, by
one or more of them dropped at his feet.
may be
PL.XVIII.
FIG. 5.
FIG. 6.
THE fixth labour, is his cleanfing Augias's ftables. You fee him here, as refting after PL.XVIII.
it: fitting on his baſket; and with a dung-fork, in his hand. This was, certainly, one
of the meaneſt employments that Euriftheus found out for Hercules: and that
the reaſon why it is not mentioned by any of the Roman poets, that I know of except
the author of one of their tragedies (29). They probably looked on it as too diſgraceful
for their great hero, when taken according to the outward appearance; tho' it might
perhaps include as high a myſtic ſenſe, as any of his nobleſt exploits.
FIG. 7.
HERCULES is repreſented here, in his ſeventh labour, as having flung the bull over his PL. XVIII.
left ſhoulder; with as much eaſe as he did the Erymanthian boar. I imagine too, from
a verſe in Ovid (30), that he was ſometimes repreſented holding him by the horns; as he
does the ftag, in the drawing I fhewed you a little before.
FIG. 8.
HERCULES's eighth labour, is his killing Diomed and his horſe. That tyrant of PL.XVIII.
Thrace, was moſt infamous for his barbarities. Among other things, he is faid to have
drove four furious horfes in his war-chariot; and to give them the more ſpirit and fierce-
nefs, he uſed to feed them with the flesh and blood of his fubjects. I have feen antiques
in which ſome of thoſe miſerable wretches are repreſented as flung alive into the manger,
before them. Hercules is faid to have ridded the world of this barbarous prince; and
to
(26) Addidit Arcadio terga leonis apro.
(27)
Mart. Lib. 10. Ep. 102. .6. diſgraceful.
Peftifque Erymanthia; & altos
Eripedis ramos fuperantia cornua cervæ.
(29) And he too, marks its being ſcandalous, or
Nec ad omne clarum facinus audaces manus
Stabuli fugavit turpis Augie labor.
Sil. Ital. Lib. 3. *. 39.
(28) Eripedem fylvis cervam, Stymphalidas aftris
Abftulit..
Mart, Lib. 10. Ep. 102. .8.
Herc. Fur. A&t. 2. Sc. 1. ¥. 248.
(30) Vofne manus, validi preffiftis cornua tauri ?
Ovid. Met. 9. *. 185,
120
POLYMETIS.
FIG. 9.
to have killed both him and his horſes: as is fignified by this drawing; and ſaid exprefly
(31) by fome of the poets.
THE ninth labour of Hercules here, is his combat with Geryon. Geryon is generally
repreſented with three bodies; agreeably to the expreffions (32) uſed of him by the poets.
PL.XVIII. Tho' they call him fo large, it muſt be owned, that in this drawing he looks too much
like a little boy. But perhaps this is a caſe of the fame kind with one I mentioned to you
before (33), in relation to Jupiter, and one of the rebel-giants; and then ought rather to
be confidered as an aggrandizing of Hercules, than as a leffening of Geryon : for of what
a vaft height muſt the hero himſelf have been, fince the head of Geryon, (who was
himſelf a giant,) does not reach ſo high as Hercules's navel?
PL.XVIII.
FIG. 10.
PL.XVIII.
FIG. II.
THE tenth is his conqueft of the Amazon; and in the works repreſenting this ſtory,
you generally ſee him taking off her zone: as in this drawing, in particular; and as the
poets, I think, always chufe to deſcribe him (34), on this occafion.
THE eleventh is his dragging Cerberus up from the infernal regions: a ſubject, in
which the poets feem to have exceeded the fculptors very much. The latter only repre-
fenting Hercules dragging Cerberus after him; whereas in the (35) poetical deſcriptions
of this affair," you have Cerberus's trembling; his dread of the light, which he had never
feen before; his endeavouring to draw back from it, and his turning away of his eyes, to
avoid the torture of beholding it. All this is expreffed in fo picturefque a manner by Vir-
gil and Ovid, that I cannot help thinking that they borrowed fome of their ftrokes,
from fome celebrated picture or other on this ſubject in their time.
THE twelfth and laft, is his killing the ferpent and gaining the golden fruit, in the
gardens of the Hefperides. In the many antiques that repreſent this ſtory, you always
ſee the ſerpent twining round the tree; as he is deſcribed by (36) Lucan; (who, by the
way, gives a fuller account of this affair than any other of the Roman poets :) and in
me of them, you have the nymphs themſelves, who took care of this heathen para-
diſe; and more particularly, of this celebrated tree. The thing moft to be remarked in
PL.XVIII. the drawing before you, is the erect air of Hercules, and that look which feems to ſhew
ſomething of fatisfaction and triumph, on his having thus at laſt accompliſhed all the or-
ders of Euriftheus.
FIG. 12.
I AM glad we are got thorough theſe twelve fated labours of Hercules, as Horace (37)
calls them: for as they were a fort of fyftematical thing among the antients, I was
(31) Juxta, Thraces equi.
Peltatam Scythico difcinxit Amazona nodo.
willing
Martial. Lib. 10. Ep. 102.
(35) Tartareum ille manu cuftodem in vincla petivit
Ipfius a folio regis; traxitque trementem.
Virgil. Æn. 6. ✯. 395.
Eft via declivis, per quam Tyrinthius heros
Reftantem, contraque diem radiofque micantes
Obliquantem oculos, nexis adamante catenis
Cerberon abſtraxit.
Ovid. Met. 7. .413.
Fuit aurea fylva,
Sil. Ital. Lib. 3. . 38.
Quid? cum Thracas equos humano fanguine pingues,
Plenaque corporibus laceris præfepia vidi,
Vifaque dejeci; dominumque, ipfofque peremi.
Ibid. y. 196.
(32) Tergemini nece Geryonæ fpoliifque fuperbus
Alcides aderat.-
Ter amplum Geryonen.-
Forma tricorporis umbræ.
(33) See Dial. 6. p. 54, anteh.
(34)
-Veftrâ virtute relatus
Thermodontiaco cælatus balteus auro.
Ovid. Met. 9. . 189.
Virgil. Æn. 8. . 203.
Horat. Lib. 2. Od. 14. .8.
$.8.
Nec me paftoris Iberi
Forma triplex; nec forma triplex tua, Cerbere, movit.
Met. 9. . 185.
Quidve tripectora tergemini vis Geryonaï ?
Lucret. 5. y. 28.
Virgil. Æn. 6. y. 289.
(36)
Divitiifque gravis & fulvo germine rami:
Virgineufque chorus, nitidi cuftodia luci ;
Et nunquam fomno damnatus lumina ferpens,
Robora complexus rutilo curvata metallo.
Abftulit arboribus pretium, nemorique laborem,
Alcides; paffufque inopes fine pondere ramos,
Rettulit Argolico fulgentia poma tyranno.
Lucan. 9. *. 367.
(37) Note 23, anteh.
DIALOGUE the Ninth.
I21
willing to mention them all, tho' I had nothing material to obſerve on ſome of them. As
to the extraordinary exploits of Hercules, (fuch as he undertook voluntarily, and of his
own accord,) I need not be fo particular. There are (38) feveral mentioned by the poets;
but I fhall fhew you only two or three antiques of fuch among them, as feem the moſt
likely either to give fome light to the claffics, or to receive fome light from them.
ONE of the moſt remarkable among theſe voluntary labours of Hercules was his com-
bat with Antæus. Antæus, you know, was a vaſt giant; and fo, (according to the an-
tient mythology,) was very (39) naturally fuppofed to be a fon of the earth. As Hercu-
les travelled all over the world to rid it of monſters, he fought out this giant in Africa;
and had a long combat with him there. Their way of fighting was a mixture between
wreſtling and boxing: fuch as was frequently uſed in the Circus, at Rome; and what
may be ſeen to this day, (perhaps in its greateſt perfection,) in our Engliſh Circus Maxi-
mus, the celebrated Mr. Figg's amphitheater. In this fort of combat, Hercules foiled
his antagoniſt ſeveral times; but as often as he fell on his mother the earth, ſhe con-
ſtantly ſupplied him with new ſtrength. He freed himſelf from Hercules; and always
roſe with freſh vigour for the fight. Hercules, after fatiguing himſelf a confiderable time
in vain, at length found out the myſtery: and, inſtead of flinging him on the ground,
(as he had done fo often to no purpoſe,) he grafped him in his arms; lifted him up from
the earth; and held him there, till he had preffed him to death againſt his own boſom.
Lucan has given us a very long account of this combat: and is very particular as to the
two chief points in it; Hercules's ſtruggling with him in vain (40) on the ground, and
his (41) holding him up and preffing him to death in the air.
THE former part of this combat, I never yet met with on any antique. Perhaps they
did not care to repreſent Hercules even as likely ever to have been defeated, or at leaſt
baffled of his victory. The ſtatues of the latter part, or of his victory over Antæus, were
common of old; and Martial ſpeaks of one of them in particular, which was very pro-
perly placed (42) in the Circus at Rome; and ſeems to have given its name to that part of
the Circus where it ftood. This point of the ftory is ftill not uncommon; and I have
ſeen it on gems and medals, as well as in ftatues. The large ftatue of this, in the Great
(38) Such, as his bearing the heavens; Ovid. Met.
9. . 198. His opening mountains, and making a
paffage for the fea. Herc. Furens. Act. 2. Sc. 1.
*. 235.-His conquering the Centaurs; Virgil. Æn.
8. . 294.-His killing Cacus in Europe, and Bufiris
and Antæus in Africa; Martial. Lib. 9. Ep. 102.
Ovid. Met. 9. .182, & 183:—and his taking ſeveral
cities in Europe, and Afia; Virgil. Æn. 8. y. 290.
(39) All the rebel giants had been ſuppoſed to be
fons of the earth, long before: and indeed, accord-
ing to fome, the very name of giant fignifies earth-
born, or fon of the earth.
(40) Jam terga viri cedentia victor
Alligat, & medium compreffis ilibus arctat,
Inguinaque infertis pedibus diftendit; & omnem
Explicuit per membra virum. Rapit arida tellus
Sudorem; calido complentur fanguine venæ :
Intumuere tori, totofque induruit artus ;
Herculeofque novo laxavit corpore nodos.
•
(42) Hæc rapit Antæi velox in pulvere Draucus;
Grandia qui vano colla labore facit.
Duke's
Martial. Lib. 14. Ep. 48.
As the area of their amphitheaters was called arena
by the Romans, fo the area of their circus's was called
pulvis: and as the word arena was often uſed by
them for the whole amphitheater, ſo was the word
pulvis uſed for the whole circus.
Pulvis is uſed for the area of the circus, by Sta-
tius;
Ïllum ipfe volantem
Pulvis & incurvæ gaudent agnofcere metæ.
Lib. 5. Sylv. 2. . 26.
And for particular circus's, by the fame :
Aut quem de turribus altis
Arcadas Ogygio verfantem in pulvere metas
Spectabant Tyriæ non torvo lumine matres.
Ibid. y. 124.
Et nuper Nemeæo in pulvere felix
Alcidamas, primis quem cæftibus ipfe ligarat
Tyndarides.
Id. Theb. 10. $.501.
Ovid ufes it, in general, for a circus.
Acer equus quondam, magnæque in pulvere famæ.
Met. 7. . 54z.
Lucan. 4. .632.
(41)" Hærebis preffis intra mea pectora membris!
Huc, Antæe, cades." Sic fatus fuftulit altè,
Nitentem in terras, juvenem. Morientis in artus
Non potuit nati Tellus fummittere vires.
As the area of the circus, was called pulvis in ge-
Alcides medium tenuit, jam pectora pigro
neral; ſo that part of it, where the figures of Hercu-
Stricta gelu; terrifque diu non credidit hoftem. les and Antæus ftood, feems from Martial's diftich
Ibid. . 653. above cited to have been called, pulvis Antæi.
I i
i
122
POLYMET IS.
FIG. I.
PL.XIX. Duke's palace at Florence, reprefents Hercules's fteddinefs whilft he is preffing Antæus to
death; and Antæus as far fpent, and endeavouring but faintly to rid himſelf from the
knot, in which Hercules grafps him round the middle. This is very like the figure we
fee on medals; and they might all perhaps have been copied from the famous ftatue of
Polyclėtus on this ſubject, mentioned by (43) Pliny to have been at Rome in his time.
It
agrees very well with Lucan's deſcription of this combat (44), toward the end of it; as
poffibly there might have been other figures which agreed with Ovid's account: who
feems to make Hercules hold this vaft giant up under his (45) left arm only; whilft he
finiſhes the combat, by throtling him with his right hand.
THERE is a little groupe relating to this ſtory in the Florentine gallery, where you
have the figures of Antæus and Hercules engaged, and Minerva ſtanding by; to fignify
that Hercules gained this conqueft by policy as well as ftrength. I take this to be the
intention of the artiſt; becauſe tho' fome of the antient poets feem to make Minerva as
(46) conſtant an attendant of Hercules, as Monfieur Fenelon has made her to his young
hero, yet ſhe is not generally repreſented with him by the artiſts in his other exploits;
and indeed in no one of them, that I know of, but this.
BELLORI takes the ſubject of one of the paintings, found in the fepulcher of the Nafo-
nian family, to be this combat of Hercules and Antæus. In the midft of it is one man,
holding up another. Behind them, ftands Minerva as bufy and directing: and before
them is the figure of a woman, fitting; as in great concern. The perfon, who is held
up, has his foot ſtretched out toward her. The fitting figure Bellori fays is the Earth, or
Tellus; the mother of Antæus. Cafaubon makes ufe of this picture, in his Juvenal il-
luſtrated from antiques; to explain a paffage relating to Hercules and Antaus: and Mont-
faucon has received it under the fame notion, into his collection of antiquities.
THERE is a paffage (47) in Statius with which this particular in the picture, of Antæus's
endeavouring to reach the goddeſs Tellus, if it were only with the extremity of his foot,
would ſquare much better; than it does with that in Juvenal, to which it is applied by
Cafaubon. I have not however admitted a drawing of this picture into my collection as
yet, being in fome doubt about it: the two principal figures, being too young for Her-
cules and Antæus; and not at all anfwering their ftrength and character. To fay the
truth, as Santo Bartoli has given them, and as the others have copied them from him,
they look more like two boys playing together; than two fuch heroes, engaged in com-
bat. So that if it was originally meant for this ftory, either the painter performed his
part in the principal figures, very poorly; or the engravers have copied them very ill.
tæus.
any
THE paffage in Juvenal, to which Cafaubon applies this picture, may be as well illuſtrated
from common figure of Hercules; or at leaft, any figure of Hercules holding up An-
It is where Juvenal is exclaiming againſt the folly and extravagance of flatterers;
who do not only neglect to look out for fome excellence in thofe, whom they extol fo
much; but cry them up, for the very things in which they are moft defective.
(43) Among the famous works of Polycletus, that
writer mentions; Herculem, qui Romæ, Antæum à
terrâ ſuſtinentem. Nat. Hift. Lib. 34. c. 8. p. 383.
Ed. Elz.
(44) Alcides medium tenuit, jam pectora pigro
Stricta gelu.
Lucan. 4. :653.
(45) Quique inter lævumque latus, lævumque lacertum,
Prægrave comprefsâ fauce pependit onus.
Ovid. Her. Ep.9. ¥. 98:
They
are
(46) Quantum hæc, Diva, manus? quoties fudaverit ægis
Ifta mihi?
Says Hercules to Minerva, in Statius's Theb. 8. .512.
Sic tibi non ullæ fociâ fine Pallade pugnæ ;
Nec facer invideat paribus Tirynthius actis.
(Spoke, to Thefeus;) ib. 12. y. 584-
(47) Herculeis preffum fic fama lacertis
Terrigenam fudaffe Libyn, cum fraude répertâ
Raptus in excelfum eft: nec jam fpes ulla cadendi;
Nec licet extremâ matrem contingere plantâ.
Statius. Theb. 6. . 896:
DIALOGUE the Ninth.
123
:
arë fure (48), fays he, with all their wiſdom, to commend the fine ſenſe of the ignorant; and
the beauty, of the deformed: and if a man is of a weak make, and has a particular long
taper neck, they will compare it to the ſhort thick neck of Hercules; even when all the
veins of it too are fwelled, by his having preffed Antæus fo long againſt his breaſt." What
an excefs they run to in fuch a compariſon, will appear to any one who is well acquainted
with the antient ſtatues and figures of Hercules, much more ftrongly; than can be eaſily
imagined, by thoſe who are unacquainted with them.
I HAVE been fo long on this combat of Hercules with Antæus, that I will mention but
one more of his fupernumerary exploits; for fear of quite tiring you with accounts of
giants and monſters: As Hercules freed Africa from this deftroyer, ſo when he was in
Italy he put an end to the villanies of a very notorious robber there. You will know, by
the character, that I mean Cacus. Virgil gives as ample an account of this exploit, as
Lucan does of the former. There are fome antient gems that reprefent Cacus, in the act
of ſtealing Hercules's oxen; and dragging them to his cave by their tails, juft as the
ftory is related by Virgil (49); and, on the reverſe of a medal of Antoninus Pius, you fee
him lying dead at the feet of Hercules; and the country-people preffing towards the PL. XIX.
hero; and kiffing his hand as their great deliverer: but I have never yet met with the FIG. 2.
combat itſelf, between them, on any medal, gem, or marble. As this was a ſubject ſo much
more proper for (50) painters, thah for fculptors, I do not wonder that we do not meet with
it in the works of the latter and as to the antient paintings, you know, there is but a
ſmall ſhare of them that remain to us: Virgil and Ovid differ in their accounts of this
combat: the latter makes Hercules (51) daſh Cacus's brains out; with his club; whereas
the former ſpeaks, very exprefly, of his fqueezing him to death. If this point were to
be determined by their fingle authorities, it is eafy to gueſs on which fide the fcale muft
turn for Virgil was certainly the moſt exact of all the Roman poets; and Ovid the moſt
inexact of them; at leaft; of all in his time. Indeed Virgil, in this particular cafe, feems to
have very good reaſon for what he fays. He makes Hercules go out with his ufual wea-
pon, his club, to purſue Cacus; but when he has found him out, and plunges into his
cave, which was all dark and full of fmoak; his club would be of no uſe to him, as he
could not fee where to direct his blows. He therefore makes him rush on; and when
he meets Cacus, he lays hold of him with one hand, (in the manner of the Luctantes of
old;) and throtles him with the other: Both Virgil and Juvenal (52) mention, that Her-
cules, after he had killed him, dragged him out of his cave by the feet; and Juvenal, in
particular, in fuch a manner, as fhews that he referred to fome known painting or ſculp-
ture of this part of the ftory, in his time; in which Cacus feems to have made a very
contemptible and ignominious figure.
In the Palazzo Sampieri at Bologna, there are three cielings painted by Lewis, Hani-
bal, and Auſtin Carache. The ſubject of the latter is this very ſtory of Hercules killing
Cacus: and it is very remarkable in it, that he has given Cacus a human body with the
(48)
140)
Adulandi gens prudentiffima laudat
Sermonem indocti, faciem deformis amici ;
Et longum invalidi collum cervicibus æquat
Herculis, Antæum procul a tellure tenentis.
Juvenal. Sat. 3. V. 89.
Hos, ne qua forent pedibus veftigia rectis,
Caudâ in fpeluncam tractos, verfifque viarum
Indiciis raptos, faxo occultabat opaco.
En. 8. .211.
150) Faucibus ingentem fumum, mirabile dictu,
Evomit, involvitque domum caliginè cæcâ,
Proſpectum eripiens oculis; glomeratque fub antro
Fumiferam noctem commiftis igne tenebris.
Non tulit Alcides animis; feque ipfe per ignem
Præcipiti injecit faltu, quà plurimus undam
head
Famus agit, nebulaque ingens fpecus æſtuat atrâ.
Hic Cacum in tenebris incendia vana vomentem
Corripit, in nodum complexus; & angit inhærens.
Elifos oculos, & ficcum fanguine guttur.
Virgil. Æn. 8. . 261.
(51) Ovid. Faft. 1. y. 576.
(52) Duceris plantâ, velut ictus ab Hercule Cacus,
Et ponere foris; fi quid tentaveris unquam
Hifcere.
Juvenal. Sat. 5. .127.
-Pedibus informe cadaver
Protrahitur. Nequeunt expleri corda tuendo
Terribiles oculos; vultum, villofaque fetis
Pectora femiferi; atque extinctos faucibus ignes.
Virgil. Æn. 8. . 267.
124
POLYMETIS.
FIG. 3.
head of a beaſt. This work was done in the heighth of the ſchool of the Caraches; and
might poffibly be borrowed from fome antique. What made me firſt entertain this fancy,
was Virgil's calling (53) Cacus a monſter, in one place; and half a man and half a beaſt,
in others. It is true, I have yet never met with any antique that repreſents Cacus in this
manner; there are fo few as yet diſcovered, that relate to this ſtory. Perhaps, one day
or other, fome others may come to light; in which we may fee him with as much of
the brute in marble, as Carache has given him in his painting.
If one was to confider all theſe, and the many other exploits attributed to Hercules
together, one ſhould be apt to think that his whole life was made up of difficulties and
hardships; quite from his being born into the world, to his agonies on mount Oëta.
Ovid has given (54) a full account of this laſt ſcene of his glorious life. Silius Italicus
mentions a fine relievo, repreſenting him (55) on the funeral pile, on the gates of a
temple dedicated to him of old; and Pliny ſpeaks of a very celebrated (56) ſtatue of Her-
cules, in his laſt torments, at Rome. There is now a very fine one there, in the Pa-
PL.XIX. lazzo Barbarini, which is evidently of the high Greek tafte: the face of which very
plainly expreffes the agonies he ſuffered, from the envenomed robe that ſtuck to him;
and infinuated its poiſon, into all parts of his body. Ovid, after giving this account of
the fufferings of Hercules, deſcribes his being carried into heaven, where he was re-
ceived into the ſociety of Jupiter and the great gods; and takes notice of his perfonage,
as enlarged and rendered more (57) auguſt and venerable, than it was in his ſtate of mor-
tality. I wiſh we had the famous picture of his affumption, which Pliny (58) mentions
as extant, in his time; in the Portico of Octavia. There is a Greek relievo, in (59) Mont-
faucon, in which Hercules is reprefented, as received into the heavens: and tho' it is
pretty oddly imagined, (for he is attended by Fauns and Satires there;) and is not per-
haps of fo good an age, as one could wiſh; yet it repreſents this hero, as large and ma-
jeſtic and fufficiently agrees with what is faid of him after his deification, by Ovid.
you
I CANNOT help obferving, interpofed Myfagetes, that there are feveral particulars in
the character of this great exemplar of virtue among the heathens, (as I think called
him,) which would give infinite pleaſure to the good biſhop that we uſed to vifit at the
Propaganda,
(53) Huic monftro Vulcanus erat pater.
Semihominis Caci.
Pectora femiferi,
(56) In mentione ſtatuarum eſt et una non præter-
Æn. 8. y. 198. eunda, licet autoris incerti; juxta roftra, Herculis
tunicati Eleo habitu, Romæ: torvâ facie, fentiente-
que; fupremâ in tunicâ. Pliny, Lib. 34. c. 8.
P. 352. Ed. Elz.
Ibid. . 194.
Ibid. . 267.
(54) Dum potuit, folitâ gemitum virtute repreffit:
Victa malis poftquam patientia, reppulit aras,
Implevitque fuis nemorofam vocibus Oeten.
Nec modus eft: forbent avidæ præcordia flammæ,
Cæruleufque fluit toto de corpore fudor;
Ambuftique fonant nervi: cæcâque medullis
Tabe liquefactis, tendens ad fidera palmas,
Cladibus, exclamat, Saturnia pafcere noftris!
Pafcere, & hanc peftem fpecta crudelis ab alto;
Corque ferum fatia!
Ovid. Met. 9. y. 168.
This is while he labours with the torments of the
poiſoned ſhirt, that ſtuck to all his ſkin. After he
has made his funeral pile, and laid down on it, he is
quite compofed.
Dumque avidis comprenditur ignibus agger,
Congeriem fylvæ Nemeæo vellere fummam
Sternis, & impofitâ clave cervice recumbis ;
Haud alio vultu, quàm fi conviva jaceres
Inter plena meri redimitus pocula fertis.
(55) Silius, Lib. 3. *. 43.
(57) Interea quodcunque fuit populabile flammæ
Mulciber abftulerat: nec cognofcenda remanfit
Herculis effigies; nec quicquam ab imagine ſumptum
Matris habet, tantùmque Jovis veftigia fervat.
Utque novus ferpens pofitâ cum pelle fenectâ
Luxuriare folet, fquamâque nitere recenti ;
Sic ubi mortales Tirynthius exuit artus,
Parte fui meliore viget; majorque videri
Cœpit, & auguftâ fieri gravitate verendus:
Quem pater omnipotens, inter cava nubila raptum
Quadrijugo curru, radiantibus intulit aftris.
Ovid. Met. 9. ✯.272.
(58) Pliny, in ſpeaking of the paintings of Arte-
mon, fays the nobleft of his works at Rome were,
in porticibus Octavia; and among them mentions—
Herculem, ab Oëtâ monte Doridos, exutâ mortali-
tate, confenfu deorum in cœlum euntem. Nat. Hift.
lib. 35. c. 11. p. 448. Ed. Elz.
Ovid's account tallies exactly with this: Exuit ar-
tus, fays Ovid; and, exutâ mortalitate, fays Pliny:
Confenfu deorum, fays Pliny; and, affenſere dei, ſays
Ibid. y. 238. Ovid. Met. 9. *. 259.
(59) Montf. Vol. I. Pl. 141.
་
DIALOGUE the Ninth.
125
**
Propaganda, when we were at Rome. You know, he had found out moſt of the my-
fteries of the chriſtian religion, in the very earlieſt writers among the Chineſe; and ſeemed
to have a great deal of inclination to do the fame, in the remains of the Greek and Ro
man artiſts. I remember to have heard, from a very good friend of the biſhop's, that when
Cardinal Polignac was making his collection of ſtatues at Rome, and had juſt purchaſed
a young
Hercules ftrangling the ferpents; he fhewed it to feveral of his friends that hap-
pened to dine with him, to have their opinions of the figure. Some commended the
attitude of the little Hercules; fome, the fteddinefs of his face; and others, the expref-
ſion of pain in the ferpents. The bishop, who was of the company, feemed to have
obferved the figure more curiouſly than any of them; and yet had faid nothing in com-
mendation of it. After every body therefore had given their opinions, the Cardinal at
laſt turned to him; And pray, Monfignor, fays he, what may be your opinion of it?
"I think of it, fays the biſhop, what I doubt not your Eminence muſt have thought of
it, long fince; it is moſt evidently, a reprefentation of the great hero; deſtroying the old
ferpent; by his being born into the world." How many particulars are there, my Po-
lymetis, in what you have faid in your account of Hercules, that would have been full as
evident to the biſhop as this? He would certainly have made a type of the hero, who
chofe virtue fo early, and who fuffered and acted for the good of mankind fo fteddily,
thro' the general courfe of his life. His gaining the apples of the Hefperides, and his
taking away Cerberus from the infernal regions, would have been clear points; and I
queftion whether there be any one lion or giant that he killed, that would not have had
fome myſtic meaning or other, which the biſhop could have eafily adapted to his fa-
vourite ſcheme.
As for my part, fays Polymetis, I have nothing to do with the bishop's parallel in
this caſe: it is beſide my purpoſe, at prefent; and ſhould be (60) moſt cautiouſly handled,
at any time. But what I think would go a great way toward fpoiling it is, that Her-
cules is reprefented by the antients with very great faults, as well as very great virtues.
This killer of monſters was himſelf tamed by love; and an abfolute flave to women:
he drank as immeafurably, as he fought courageoufly: he is fometimes repreſented, as
tranſported with paffion; and fometimes, as (61) cringing with fear. This indeed was in
his mad fits, when he killed his friends, and daſhed his children's brains out; after
which monftrous action, he fell into a deep gloomy melancholy. So that this great
hero might have fet for both the characters reprefented over the gate of our hoſpital for
lunatics; and had there been a houſe of that kind in Greece in his time, would have
had a double right to an apartment in it.
AND was he repreſented in all theſe bad parts of his character by the antient artiſts,
fays Philander, as well as in the glorious ones? Yes, fays Polymetis; I believe in all of
them. Pliny tells us of a picture of him, done by (62) Nicearchus; in which that great
artiſt had drawn Hercules in his deep concern, for the outrages he had committed whilſt
(60) In looking over the remains of the antient
artifts, I have met with a great many things of this
kind; fome of which were very ſurpriſing: but I
have generally forbore mentioning them, for ſeveral
reaſons; and more particularly for that, given by
the great Lord Bacon, in his Wiſdom of the Antients:
where, (fpeaking of an old ftory of Hercules,) he
fays, "Thus have I delivered, that which I thought
good to obſerve out of this fo well known and com-
mon fable. And yet I will not deny, but that there
may be fome things in it, which have an admirable
conſent with the myſteries of chriftian religion. And
eſpecially, that failing of Hercules in a cup, to ſet
Prometheus at liberty; feems to repreſent an image
of the Divine Word, coming in fleſh as a frail veffel,
his
to redeem man from the flavery of hell. But I have
interdicted my pen all liberty of this kind; left I
fhould ufe ftrange fire at the altar of the Lord."
Lord Bacon's Wiſdom of the Antients. p. 83.
(61) Pacatus mitifque veni! Nec turbidus irâ,
Nec famulare timens: fed quem te Mænalis Auge
Confectum thyafis & multo fratre madentem
Detinuit; qualemque vagæ poft crimina noctis
Theſpius obftupuit toties focer.
Statius, Lib. 3. Sylv. 1. *.43.
(62) Nicearchus (fecit) Herculem triſtem, inſaniæ
pœnitentiâ. Pliny, Nat. Hift. Lib. 35. c. II. P.
449. Ed. Elz.
k
126
POLYMETIS.
his mad fit was upon him. The drunken Hercules is no uncommon figure ſtill; and
Hercules demeaned by his amours is commonly to be met with; and that reprefented in
feveral different manners, fome of which are as little to his honour as can well be
imagined:
IN the frequent Lectifterniums that the Romans made to Hercules, they uſed even to
invoke him under his drunken character, as one finds by Statius; and a particular friend
of that poet had a very remarkable little figure of this god, which he uſed to place (63)
upon his table, whenever any gayeties were carrying on there. I fpeak of this figure as
fo remarkable, becauſe it had run thorough a ſeries of the (64) higheſt fortunes, of any
ſtatue perhaps upon record. It was a Hercules (65) in miniature; of (66) braſs; and caſt
by the famous (67) Lifippus. Before it came into the family of Statius's friend, it be-
longed to (68) Sylla the dictator: before him, it was in Hannibal's poffeffion; and was a
particular favourite and fellow-traveller of his, in his expedition into Italy: as before
that, it had accompanied Alexander the Great, all through his expedition in the eaſt.
It was not a foot high; and fo was portable enough. Theſe great men, no doubt, did
not carry it about with them only for its beauty, but partly out of (69) devotion; or,
(which is generally the fame thing with great men,) out of a fhew of devotion. He
held (70) a Cyathus in one hand, and his club in the other, with a mild good-natured
look, that ſeemed to invite others to be as happy and well pleaſed as himſelf: or poffibly
with the very fame look, and that fteddy pleaſure in drinking, with which he is repre-
PL. XIX. fented on an antient gem: copied (71) perhaps from this very figure, by Admon; and be-
longing at preſent to the Marquis Verofpi, at Rome,
FIG. 4.
As to Hercules's amours, and his weakneffes for women: it was a very common fub-
ject among the antient artiſts, to make Cupids taking away his club; or to reprefent him,
(like the vaſt St. Chriftophers of the modern ftatuaries,) bending under a little boy.
This was to fhew that he, who conquered all other difficulties, was a flave to love; and
that
(63) This was the general uſe of this figure; and
it was hence it had its name, of Hercules Epitrape-
zios.
(64)
(65)
(66)
Semper claros ornare penates
Affuetum, & felix dominorum ftemmate fignum.
Statius, Lib. 4. Sylv. 3. .88.
--Parvufque videri,
Sentirique ingens.—
Cum mirabilis intra
Stet menfura pedem, tamen &c.
Vultus alios in numine caro ;
Æraque fupremis timuit fudantia menfis.
(71) The reaſon, that would chiefly induce one
to imagine this to have been the cafe, is that known
practice of the old fculptors of copying the beſt and
moſt celebrated ſtatues.
The ſtatue, here ſpoken of, was made by the beſt
artiſt of his kind, in the very beſt age of ftatuary: and
muſt have had an additional reputation from the re-
markable eminence of the perſons, in whofe poffef-
Ibid. .38. fion it had fucceffively been: fo that the chief que
ſtion feems to be, whether the figure on the gem be
the fame with that repreſented by this ftatue.
Ib. 39.
As to that, it is certainly the very fame deity; in
the fame particular character; and with the very fame
(Of Alexander the Great, and this figure) Ibid.. 74. attributes in that character. It is Hercules; the Her-
(67) Ibid. *. 109.
(68) All this hiſtory of its fortunes, is given at
large, in this poem of Statius.
(69) This appears from ſeveral paffages, in the
fame; and particularly from one quoted already,
Note 66.
cules Bibax; and that Hercules, holding the Scyphus
in one hand, and his club, (his general characteriſtic,)
in the other. His holding up the club, in the gem,
(whereas one might rather have expected to ſee him
leaning on it,) agrees particularly well with the me-
minit manus altera cædis, of Statius, where he is
fpeaking of this ftatue of Lyfippus.
If there be any feeming objection to the probability
of this; it is the want of the ftone and lion's ſkin on
the gem, which Statius mentions as belonging to the
ſtatue and this, I think, cannot be of any great force;
becauſe nothing is more uſual with the ftatuaries than
to introduce fome piece of rock, or even fome piece
without any meaning at all, to ſupport their figures;
(ſuſtinet :) and as this fort of fupports is uſeful to a
ſtatue, but of no fignificance at all in a gem; the
ſculptor would be as much to be commended for
Statius. Lib. 4. Sylv. 6. .58. omitting it, as the ſtatuary was for inſerting it.
(70) Nectorva effigies epulifque aliena remiffis ;
Sed qualem parci domus admirata Molorchi,
Aut Aleæ lucis vidit Tegeæa facerdos :
Qualis & Oetæis emiffus in aftra favillis
Nectar adhuc torvâ lætus Junone bibebat.
Sic mitis vultus, veluti de pectore gaudens
Hortetur menfas. Tenet hæc marcentia fratris
Pocula; adhuc fævæ meminit manus altera pugnæ :
Suftinet occultum Nemeæo tegmine faxum.
2
+
DIALOGUE the Ninth.
127
that Cupid difarmed him of all his force. And this, I think, is yet more ſtrongly ex-
preffed in all the figures, which ſhew his favourite miftreffes dreffed up in his lion's
fkin, (which was his known military drefs;) or himſelf dreffed up in their clothes.
The chief ſcene of his effeminacies was in Afia; whilſt he lived with Omphale, queen
of Lydia.
She indeed was not the only perfon with whom he made fo deſpicable a
figure; but it was with her that he acted his low part the moſt notoriouſly. In fome of
his fits, Ovid tells us (72) he gave up his favourite robe, the lion's fkin, to her; and put
on Omphale's head-dreſs, gown, bracelets, and necklace: in others, he attended her, like a
flave (73), with her umbrella, to keep the fun from her. Sometimes you hear of his hold-
ing (74) the women's work-baſkets for them, whilſt they are ſpinning; and fometimes he
even joins them in their work; and ſets down to ſpin, himſelf. There is a ſtatue of Her-
cules, with one of his miſtreffes, (and moſt probably it is Omphale, as it is generally
called,) in the Farneſe palace, at Rome; in which you ſee him in a woman's gown, and PL. XIX,
with the ſpindle in his hand. This ſtatue of him is itſelf little; and the air of his face fo FIG. 5.
much demeaned, that he looks much more like an old woman with a great beard, (as
Parfon Evans fays of Sir John Falſtaff in his diſguiſe,) than a hero. All his dignity is (with
much propriety) quite loft on this occafion: and it is probable that he fometimes made
even a worſe figure than this; for we are told that the women uſed to ſcold him, for
working ſo aukwardly as he was apt to do; and that he threw himſelf at their feet, to de-
precate the (75) laſhes they threatened him with. Indeed there are ſo many of theſe faults
and meanneffes recorded of Hercules by the antients, that when one confiders them, one is
apt almoſt to loſe fight of his great character: and to wonder how they could ever have
given him the very (76) foremoſt place in this diftinguiſhed claſs of heroes; of thoſe very
few, who by their virtues obtained a place among the chief of all the celeſtial deities, in
the higheſt heaven.
:
FIG. I.
BUT it is time to leave him; and to turn to his companion here, on your right hand. PL.XX.
You fee it is Bacchus; who, according to the antients, was almoſt as illuſtrious a con-
queror and hero, as the perfon we have juft quitted; tho' one ſhould not be apt to ima-
gine any ſuch thing by his face, which is much more like that of a woman, than a
man's.
IT is certain however, that the old Roman writers, and their poets in particular, fpeak
of Bacchus (77) as a very great warrior. They fay, that he traverfed a great part of the
:
(72) Dumque parant epulas potandaque vina miniftri,
Cultibus Alciden inftruit illa fuis
Ipfa capit clavamque gravem, fpoliumque leonis.
Ovid. Faft. 2. N. 325.
Non puduit fortes auro cohibere lacertos,
Et folidis gemmas appofuiffe toris :—
Aufus es hirfutos mitrâ redimire capillos ;
Aptior Herculeæ populus alba comæ.
Detrahat Antæus duro redimicula collo,
Ne pigeat molli fuccubuiffe viro.
Id. Her. Ep.9. . 72. (Deïanira, Herc.)
173) Ibat odoratis humeros perfufa capillis
Mæonis, aurato confpicienda finu:
Aurea pellebant rapidos umbracula foles;
Quæ tamen Herculeæ fuftinuere manus.
Id. Faft. 2. . 312.
(74) Inter Iöniacas calathum tenuiffe puellas
Diceris.
Ovid. Her. Ep. 9. . 74. (Deïanira, Herc.)
175) Craffaque robufto deducis pollice fila;
Aquaque formofæ penfa rependis here.
Ah quoties, digitis dum torques ftamina duris,
Prævalidæ fufos comminuere manus!
Crederis infelix, fcuticæ tremefactus habenis,
Ante pedes dominæ pertimuiffe minas.
Ibid. y. 82.
world,
(76) Lucian introduces Efculapius difputing the
right of precedence with Hercules; for the very rea-
fons above given. Εγω δε, ει και μηδεν αλλό, στε ε
δέλευσα, ωσπερ συ ετε εξαινον ερια, εν Λυδία· πορφυρίδα
ενδεδυκως, και παιόμενος υπο της Ομφαλης χρυσώ σαν
δαλω. Αλλ' εδε μελαγχόλησας, απεκτεινα τα τεκνά,
xai thu guvaina. Tom. I. p. 209. Ed. Blaeu.
(77)
Præliis audax Liber.
Horat. Lib. 1. Od. 12. y. 21.
Nec verò Alcides tantum telluris obivit;
Nec qui pampineis victor juga flectit habenis
Liber, agens celfo Nifæ de vertice tigres.
Virgil. Æn. 6. . 805.
Oriens tibi victus ad ufque
Decolor extremo quæ cingitur India Gange.
Ovid. Met. 4. †. 21.
Gange, totoque oriente ſubacto.
ld. Faft. 3. . 729.
Hac te merentem, Bacche Pater, tuæ
Vexere tigres, indocili jugum
Collo trahentes: hâc Quirinus
Martis equis Acheronta fugit.
Horat. Lib. 3. Od. 3. †. 16.
128
POLYMETIS.
world, and made very confiderable conquefts in the eaſt. Pliny, in particular, fpeaks of
him as of a more celebrated conqueror than (78) Alexander the Great. The fame author
ſays that Bacchus was the firſt (79) inventor of triumphs: and there is ſcarce any ſubject
more frequent in the old relievo's than Bacchus repreſented in a triumphal car, attended
by an (80) effeminate fantaſtic ſet of women, fauns, and fatires: and generally with ele-
phants, lions, or tigers, and other of the wild beafts fo frequent in the Indies; to fhew
that it refers to his great eaſtern expedition, and his conqueſts in that part of the world.
The Thyrfus, ſo much uſed in his triumphs, is (81) a mark of the fame kind. It is
from theſe great atchievements of his, that Bacchus got a place in the higheſt heavens;
and that you meet with his ftatue here, next to that of Hercules; with whom he is fo
often mentioned, as an inſtance of the two greateſt conquerors in the earlier ages of the
world. It ſeems to have been under this character too, that he was ftyled, Liber Pater
or, Bacchus the great prince and governor: a fenſe, in which Pater is often uſed in the
Roman authors; and which, (as I have faid before,) might poffibly have been attached
to that word, ever fince the patriarchal form of government.
;
ALL this makes it the more ftrange to fee Bacchus reprefented always in the beſt works
of the antients, with a face as young, and perhaps more beautiful and effeminate, than
ever man had. From whatever reaſons this might proceed, one finds that the Roman
(78) Æquato, non modò Alexandri magni rerum
fulgore, fed etiam Herculis prope, ac Liberi Patris.
Pliny. Nat. Hift. Lib. 7. c. 26. p. 371. Ed. Elz.
The moſt ſtrained compliment that the higheſt flat-
terers of Alexander the Great could pay him, was to
ſay that he equalled, or exceeded, Bacchus and Her-
cules, in the extent of his conquefts. Thus the two
miferable poets, in Quintus Curtius: Hi tum cœlum
illi aperiebant; Herculemque, et Patrem Liberum,
& cum Polluce Caftorem, novo numini ceffuros effe
jactabant. Q.Curtius, Lib. 8. §. 18. And the petty
kings of India: Alexandro, fines Indiæ ingreffo, gen-
tium fuarum Reguli occurrerunt imperata facturi.
"Illum tertium Jove genitum ad ipfos perveniffe,
memorantes. Patrem Liberum, atque Herculem,
famâ cognitos effe: ipfum coram adeffe cernique.
Ibid. §. 32.
>>
This was Alexander's great aim in ſetting out on
that expedition. Ilos terrarum orbis liberatores,
emenſoſque olim Herculis & Liberi Patris terminos;
non Perfis modò, fed etiam omnibus gentibus impofi-
turos jugum. Q. Curtius, Lib. 3. §. 24. And his
conftant argument for the compleating it: Neinfre-
geritis in manibus meis palmam, qua Herculem Li-
berumque patrem, fi invidia abfuerit, æquabo. Id.
Lib. 9. §. 6.Ne inviderent fibi laudem quàm
peteret Herculis & Liberi Patris terminos tranfituro.
Ibid. §. 9.-
-It is obfervable that the Roman hiſto-
rians fpeak of theſe eaſtern conquefts of Bacchus
generally, by the way, and in a few words, as a thing
well known. Thus Curtius above; and Juſtin, (of
Mithridates's conquering Armenia ;) Primus huma-
norum poft Herculem & Liberum Patrem, qui reges
orientis fuiffe traduntur, eam cœli plagam domuiffe
dicitur. Lib. 42. c. 3. And of Alexander's being
received at Nyſa; Cum ad Nyfam urbem veniffſet,
oppidanis non repugnantibus, (fiduciâ religionis Li-
beri Patris, à quo condita urbs erat,) parci juffit:
Pætus non militiam tantum, verum & veftigia fe dei
fecutum. Id. Lib. 12. c. 7.
The time of this expedition of Bacchus appears,
from a paffage in Statius, to have been before the
Theban war; and not long before it.
Errabant geminæ Dircea ad flumina tigres ;
Mite jugum, belli quondam vaftator Eoi
Currus; Erythræis quas nuper victor ab oris
Liber in Aonios meritas dimiferat agros.
poets
Theb. 7. . 557.
(79) Emere ac vendere inftituit Liber Pater. Idem
diadema, regum infigne, et triumphum invenit.
Pliny, Lib. 7. c. 56. p. 398. Ed. Elz.
(80) Juno, in Lucian, fays that ſhe ſhould be
afhamed of having had fuch a fon as Bacchus ;
θηλυς όλως και διεφθαρμενος υπο της μεθης μιτρα μεν
αναδεδεμενος την κομην τα πολλα δε μαινομεναις γυ
ναιξί συνων, αβροτερος αυτων εκεινων υπο τυμπάνοις, και
αυλοις, και κυμβάλοις χορευων — Το which Jupiter
anfwers: Kas any soos je o Inhuμitens, o a
αβρότερος
των γυναικών, 8 μονον την Λυδίαν εχειρώσατο, και τις
κατοικοντας του Τμώλον ελαβε, και τις Θρακας υπη-
γαγετο αλλα και επ' Ινδός ελασας τω γυναικείω τοτω
σρατιωτικω, της τε ελέφαντας ειλε και της χώρας
εκράτησε και τον βασιλέα, προς ολιγον αντισηναι τολ
Και ταύτα απαντά
μησαντα, αιχμαλωτον απηγαγε.
Os Meduw, ws Ons, xa Evexwv. Ibid. p.215.
επραξεν, ορχομενος αμα και χορευων θυρσοις χρωμενος
The fame author deſcribes him, and all his attendants,
ενθεάζων.
more at large; in his Acovuros. Tom. II. p. 360,
361.
(81) Et tu, Thyrfigerâ Liber ab Indiâ.
Hippolitus. Act. 2. Chor. y. 751.
When Marc Antony was bent on his eaſtern expe-
dition, and thought of conquering the Indies, he imi-
tated Bacchus, and his triumph. Cum ante novum
fe Liberum Patrem appellari juffiffet; cum redimitus
hederis, coronâque velatus aureâ, et thyrfum tenens,
cothurnifque fuccinctus, curru velut Liber Pater vec-
tus effet Alexandriæ. Velleius Paterculus. L.
§. 82.
L. 2.
DIALOGUE the Ninth.
129
poets fall in with the artiſts entirely, in this particular. They never once deſcribe Bacchus
as old. On the contrary, they ſpeak as exprefly of his (82) eternal youth, as they do of
Apollo's; they talk much of his (83) extreme beauty: and mark out the (84) effeminacy
of his face, very strongly.
to us.
THERE is one thing which the poets generally attribute to Bacchus, and which I have
therefore been furprized not to find more commonly in his ftatues; and that is, his (85)
horns. Even theſe were little, and pretty; and Ariadne, in Ovid, mentions them as (86)
one reaſon why ſhe fell in love with this god. I have ſometimes thought of two diffe-
rent cauſes, why we may fee them fo very feldom in the figures of Bacchus that remain
One is the ignorance of the preſent antiquaries abroad, who perhaps when they
have found a ſtatue of Bacchus with horns, may have immediately taken it for a Faun;
and then added, (a thing they are but too apt to practiſe,) fome attribute of a Faun to the
figure. The other, is the ſmallneſs of the horns themſelves; which are therefore very
liable to be hid, by the crown of grapes, or ivy, which is almoft a conftant ornament of
the head of Bacchus. Some of the poets ſeem to hint at his horns being covered by the
crown of grapes he wore on his head. But after all, when one confiders how much the
poets agree with the artiſts of old; how frequent this attribute is in them, and how very
uncommon in ſtatues; it is one of the greateſt difficulties I have met with in this fort
of fearch into antiquities: and what, I own, I cannot yet account for, fo as to fatisfy
myſelf.
VIRGIL (87) fpeaks of fome little heads of Bacchus, which the countrymen of old
hung up on trees, that the face might turn every way; out of a notion, that the regards
(82) Et tu Thyrfigerâ Liber ab Indiâ,
Intonsâ juvenis perpetuum comâ.
(83)
Hippolitus. Act. 2. Chor. . 252.
-Ipfe puer femper, juvenifque videris ;
Et media eft ætas inter utrumque tibi.
Solis æterna eft Phobo, Bacchoque juventa.
Tibullus. Lib. 1. El. 4. . 37.
*.
Refpiciens teneat virides velatus habenas
Ut pater, & niveâ tumeant ut cornua mitrâ ;
Et facer ut Bacchum referat fcyphus.
of
Valerius Flaccus. 2. ✯. 272.
This paffage ſeems to refer to his horns being co-
Ovid. Faft. 3. .774. vered with his head-drefs; as the following, to their
being covered fometimes with his crown of grapes.
Non crines, non ferta loco; dextramque reliquit
Thyrfus; & intactæ ceciderunt cornibus uvæ.
Statius. Theb. 7. . 151.
In fome of his ftatues of old, theſe horns were
gilded.
Cafus releves, pulcherrime, noftros.
Ovid. Triſt. Lib. 5. El. 3. ¥. 43.
Candida formofi venerabimur ora Lyæi.
Oedipus. Act. 2. Chor. . 508.
Quocunque deus caput egit honeftum.
Virgil. G. 2. . 392.
(84) Huc adverte favens virgineum caput.
Oedipus. Act. 2. Chor. . 408.
Virgineâ puerum ducit per litora formâ.
-Tibi inconfumta juventas ;
Tu, puer æternus; tu formofiffimus alto
Confpiceris cœlo: tibi, cum fine cornibus adftas,
Virgineum caput eft.
Te vidit infons Cerberus aureo
Cornu decorum.
Horat. Lib. 2. Od. 19. . 30.
Hermique vadum, quo Lydius intrat
-Bacchus & aurato reficit fua cornua limo.
Statius. Lib 3. Sylv. 3. .6z.
From theſe horns Bacchus had antiently the title
Ovid. Met. 3. 4. 607. of Bicorniger: as in Ovid's Her. Ep. 13. . 33.
¥.
Theſe horns were given to Bacchus, to fhew that
he was the fon of Jupiter Ammon.Ehero de
δε
και Αλεξανδρος Αμμωνος 4ος είναι, και κερασφόρος ανα-
πλατίεθαι προς των αγαλματοποιων. Clemens Alex-
andr. Protrept. p. 36.Eodem nempe quo frater
Bacchus inftituto; cui ideo cornua adfcribit Diodo-
rus, Lib. 3. p. 206. quod Cornigeri Ammonis effet
filius. Spanheim, de Numifm. Differt. 7.
Id. Ib. 4. y. 20.
(85) Mite, pater, caput huc placataque cornua vertas ;
Et des ingenio vela fecunda meo.
Ovid. Faft. 3. .790.
Sume fidem & pharetram, fies manifeftus Apollo;
Accedant capiti cornua, Bacchus eris.
Id. Her. Ep. 15. . 24. (Sappho, Phaon.)
Teneris adducta lacertis
Purpureus Bacchi cornua preffit amor.
Id. de Art. Am. 1. . 232.
Infignis cornu Bacche, novemque deæ.
Id. ib. 3. y. 348.
Molles thyrfos, Bacchæaque cornua.
Statius. Theb. 9. ✯. 436.
(86) Cœperunt matrem formofi cornua tauri;
Me, tua.
Ariadne, of Bacchus. Faft. 3. . 500.
(87) Et te, Bacche, vocant per carmina læta, tibique
Oſcilla ex altâ fufpendunt mollia pinu.
Hinc omnis largo pubefcit vinea fætu :
Complentur vallefque cava, faltufque profundi ;
Et quocumque deus circum caput egit honeftum.
Virgil. G. 2, . 392.
*.
L1
1
130
POLYMETIS.
PL. XX.
FIG. 2.
of this god gave fertility to their vineyards: and Ovid mentions Bacchus's turning (88) his
face towards him, as a bleffing. The former, in a paffage, which is not very eafy to be
underſtood of itſelf; and for the full underſtanding of which I was obliged to a gem, in
the Great Duke's collection at Florence. Virgil on this occafion fays, that there is plenty
wherever this god turns, his beautiful face: Mr. Dryden, in his tranflation of the words,
ſeems to have borrowed his idea of Bacchus from the vulgar repreſentations of him on
our fign-poſts; and ſo calls it, (in downright Engliſh,) Bacchus's honeſt face.
I HAVE mentioned, on another occafion, that this god was reckoned equal (or, at leaſt,
next) to Apollo, for the beauty of his face, and the length and flow of his hair. You
fee, in this figure of him, how it falls in large ringlets over his ſhoulders. The poets
touch often on this circumftance in ſpeaking (89) of him and of Apollo. And it is an at-
tribute fo peculiar to them, that if one was to find the body of a deity without the head,
and with theſe ringlets waving down the breaſt, one might be pretty fure, that it belonged
to one or other of theſe two gods; tho' there were no circumftance befide to determine it.
Some other circumſtance indeed would be neceffary to diſtinguiſh which of the two it
belonged to; for they are as like as brothers: only, in their beſt figures, Apollo's face is
the more heavenly, and majeſtic, of the two; and Bacchus's, the more charming, and
more like a woman's.
THE moſt uſual attributes of Bacchus in the figures that remain to us, befide thoſe I
have already confidered, are his (90) Thyrfus; his vine, and ivy crowns; his Syrma, or
long triumphal robe; his Nebris, or Faun's fkin; and his Cothurni, or bufkins. Theſe
are all frequently deſcribed too by the Roman poets; who moreover fometimes mention
his having a Mitra on his head, and fometimes wreaths of flowers; either of which I do
not remember to have ever obſerved in any ſtatue, or relievo.
THE Cantharus, Calathus, or Scyphus (91), in the hands of Bacchus; and the Tiger,
that one fees ſo often in ſome fond poſture or other, at the feet of his ſtatues; ſeem equally
(88) Faſt. 3. *. 789. quoted before, Note 85.
(89) Solis æterna eft Phoebo Bacchoque juventa ;
Nam decet intonfus crinis utrumque deum.
Tibullus. Lib. 1. El. 4. $.38.
Et dignos Baccho, dignos & Apolline crines.
(90)
Ovid. Met. 3. .421.
Perpetuo fic flore mices: fic denique non fint
Tam longæ Bromio, quàm tibi, Phoebe, comæ.
Martial. Lib. 1. Ep. 125.
Tigres pampinea cufpide territans
Ac mitrâ cohibens virgineum caput,
Non vinces rigidas Hippoliti comas.
Phœbo colla licet fplendida compares :
Illum cæfaries neſcia colligi
Perfundens humeros ornat & integit.
Hippolitus. Act. 2. Chor. . 755, & 800.
Thyrfus.
Ipfe, racemiferis frontem circundatus uvis,
Pampineis agitat velatam frondibus haftam.
·Deum
Ovid. Met. 3..667.
Vine, and ivy crowns.
Cingentem viridi tempora pampino.
Ornatus viridi tempora pampino.
Horat. Lib. 3. Od. 25. ✯. ult.
Id. Lib. 4. Od. 8. ỷ. ult.
Non ille quidem turgentia fertis
Tempora, nec flavâ crinem diftinxerat uvâ.
Statius, Theb. 5. . 269.
*.
Bacche, racemiferos hederâ redimite capillos.
Ovid. Faft. 6. 7. 483.
Feſta corymbiferi-Bacchi.
3
to
Te decet cingi comam floribus vernis ;
Hederâve mollem bacciferâ religare frontem.
Oedipus, Act. 2. Chor. . 415.
His Syrma.
Madidus myrrhâ crines, mollefque coronæ ;
Purpuraque, & pictis intextum veftibus aurum.
Ovid. Met. 3. .556.
Non erubefcit Bacchus effufos tener
Sparfiffe crines, nec manu molli levem
Vibrare thyrfum; cum, parum forti gradu,
Auro decorum fyrma barbaricum trahit.
Hercules Fur. A&t. 2. Sc. 3. ✈. 475.
His Nebris.
At procul ut Stellæ thalamos fenfere parari
Latous vatum pater & Semeleïus Evan ;
Hic movet Ortygiâ, movet hic rapida agmina Nyſâ :
Hic chelyn, hic flavam maculoſo nebrida tergo ;
Hic thyrfos, hic plectra ferit.
Statius, Lib. 1. Sylv. 2. ¥. 227.
His Cothurni.
Huc, pater, O Lenæe, veni: nudataque mufta
Tinge novo mecum direptis crura cothurnis.
Virgil. G. z. . 8.
His Mitra is mentioned in the tragedy of Hippoli-
tus, in the foregoing note; as the wreaths of flowers,
in the quotation from Oedipus, in this.
(91) Sacer ut Bacchum referat ſcyphus.
Val. Flaccus. 2. . 272.
Nos Satyrus; nos Bacchus amat; nos ebria tigris,
Perfufos domini lambere do&ta pedes.
Martial. Lib. 14 Ep. 107. (Calathi.)
Liberi Patris exemplo: fays
Ibid. 1. y. 393.
Cantharis potaffe,
Pliny, of Caius Marius.
Lib. 33. c. 11. p. 365. Ed.
Elz.
DIALOGUE the Ninth.
131
to relate to his character of being the god of wine and jollity. It is faid fomewhere, I think
in Diodorus Siculus, that Bacchus first introduced the vine into Europe; and probably
he brought it with him after his conqueft of the Indies, in which country that plant
grew (93) naturally; and, particularly about Nyfa; the place moft peculiarly facred to
Bacchus. Hence the antients gave him his known character of the god of drinking.
But tho' he had that character, it is uncommon, in the old ftatues of Bacchus, to fee him
drunk; and it is yet leſs common to find any deſcriptions, in the old poets, that repreſent
him in that condition. I can recollect but one of that kind that I ever met with; and
even in that it is rather ſaid that he (94) pretended to be drunk, than that he really was fo.
Our modern ideas of Bacchus feem to be taken from the old characters of Bacchus and
Silenus, confounded together. Silenus indeed is almoſt always drunk, wherever one
meets with him. We have readily retained that idea of this attendant of Bacchus, in our
northern, drinking, part of the world; and fo have mixed up the youth of Bacchus,
with the plumpneſs and fottiſhneſs of Silenus; and, to finiſh all, inſtead of an aſs, we
ſet him uſually aftride a tun. This, indeed, is our very loweſt and moſt vulgar idea of
Bacchus but moſt of our better modern painters and ſtatuaries have gone ſo far into it,
as to have almoſt loſt the original idea of Bacchus; and to have brought him from the
fineſt ſhape and face that can be imagined, to a fat jolly boy, that is uſually above half
drunk. Horace calls Bacchus, in general, the (95) Modeſt decent god; on fome occa-
fions, (96) the Joyous god; and once, in fpeaking of him as the cauſe of drunkenneſs (97),
the Immodeft and indecent god. With us, he has loft all his modefty; and appears
always either drunk, or at leaſt very ready to be fo.
I SUPPOSE, it was under this joyous, or gayer character of Bacchus, that he was con-
fidered of old as the infpirer of poets: feveral of them, (and he who talks ſo modeftly of
him, in particular,) uſed ſometimes to take a good ſhare of that juice, that this god in-
troduced into our part of the world: and as this kindled their ſpirits, and gave a flow to
their imagination, it was but juftice in them to acknowledge him for one of their chief
patrons. However that be, they certainly ſpeak often of Bacchus and Apollo, as their
(98) joint-inſpirers: their Parnaffus rofe with two diftinct fummits, one of which was
Elz.-And Valerius Maximus; of the fame: Poft
Jugurthinum, Cimbricumque, et Teutonicum tri-
umphum, cantharo femper potavit; quòd Liber Pa-
ter, inclytum ex Afiâ ducens triumphum, hoc ufus
poculi genere ferebatur. Memorab. Lib. 3. cap. 6.
(93) After Alexander the Great was received into
the city of Nyfa in his eaſtern conquefts; he led his
army to ſee the famous mountain there, confecrated
to Bacchus: Ad fpectaculum facri montis, (fays Juftin,)
duxit exercitum; naturalibus bonis, vite hederâque,
non aliter veſtiti, quàm fi manu cultus colentiumque
induſtriâ exornatus effet. Lib. 12. c. 7. There is a
fuller deſcription of this mountain in Q. Curtius.
Lib. 8. §. 33.
(94) Virgineâ puerum ducit per litora formâ.
Ille, mero fomnoque gravis, titubare videtur ;
Vixque fequi.-
Ovid. Met. 3. . 609.
His whole appearance, in that ſtory, is deſcribed as
put on; till he breaks out, in his full majefty. See,
ibid. y. 630, 652, 666, &c.
(95)
-Tollite barbarum
Morem; verecundumque Bacchum
Sanguineis prohibete rixis.
Horat. Lib. 1. Od. 27. . 4.
(96) Nos & profeftis lucibus & facris,
Inter jocofi munera Liberi,
Cum prole matronifque noftris
Rite deos priùs apprecati,
Virtute functos (more patrum) duces
Lydis remiſto carmine tibiis,
Trojamque, & Anchifen, & almæ
Progeniem Veneris canemus.
called
Id. Lib. 4. Od. 15. y. ult.
(97) Querebar, applorans tibi;
Simul calentis inverecundus deus
Fervidiore mero
Arcana promorât loco.
Id. Epod. 11. . 21.
*.12.
(98) At Phœbus, comitefque novem, vitifque repertor,
Hoc faciunt.
Ovid. Lib. 1. El. 3. . 12.
O ita Phoebe velis! Ita vos, pia numina vatum
Infignis cornu Bacche novemque deæ !
Id. de Art. Am. 3. ✯. 348.
-Coryciâ quicquid modò Phoebus in umbrâ,
Quicquid ab Ifmariis monftrabat collibus Evan,
Dedidici.
*.
Statius. Lib. 5. Sylv. 3. . 7.
Et te, Phoebe, choris ; & te demittimus, Evan.
Id. Lib. 1. Sylv. 5. . 3.
-Nec fi te pectore vates
Accipiam, Cyrrhæa velim fecreta moventem
Sollicitare
132
POLYMETIS.
PL. XX.
FIG. 3.
called Nyfa, and was facred to Bacchus; as the other, (called Cyrrha,) was to Apollo:
and the Roman poets of old feem to have worn their (99) ivy crowns, in reſpect to Bac-
chus; even much more frequently, than their laurel crowns in refpect to Apollo.
FROM what I have been faying, one might explain fome relievo's I have ſeen of Bac-
chus attended by the whole choir of the mufes, much better than I have ever heard them
explained. The mufes are the (100) proper attendants of Bacchus, under this character;
and (as Horace intimates in one of his odes,) are as juſtly attached to him, as Cupid is to
Venus.
THE ſtatue here to the right of Bacchus, you may fee by his look, his habit, and his
ferpent, is Efculapius. This god was brought to Rome, (by the order of Apollo (ror), when
a peſtilence raged very much in that city;) in the times of the republic: and was ever
after conſidered there as their preferver, and one of the chief among their made-gods.
He ſtole from his old worſhippers; and came to them, under the ſhape of a ferpent: and
has a larger ferpent than ordinary always by his figures; perhaps, to diſtinguiſh it from
the other ferpents, which are the common attribute of all the deities that preſide over
health. The ferpent was the fignal of thoſe deities, becauſe the antient phyſicians made
fuch (102) frequent use of ferpents in their preſcriptions. Efculapius is dreffed here in
"
Sollicitare deum, Bacchumque avertere Nysâ:
Tu fatis ad vires Romana in carmina dandas.
(Says Lucan, addreffing Nero) 1. ✯.66.
Quis locus ingenio, nifi cum fe carmine folo
Vexant; & dominis Cyrrhæ Nyfæque feruntur
Pectora noftra duas non admittentia curas?
Juvenal. Sat. 7. . 65.
.. The reaſon, given above, why Bacchus was looked
on as ſo great a patron of poets, is authoriſed by
Ovid; who, when he fpeaks of him as fuch, calls
him Vitis repertor; and by Horace, more ftrongly,
in the following paffage.
•
Priſco fi credis, Mæcenas docte, Cratino ;
"Nulla placere diu neque vivere carmina poffunt
Quæ fcribuntur aquæ potoribus, ut male fanos
Adfcripfit Liber fatiris faunifque poetas."
Horat. Lib. 1. Ep. 19. ¥. 4.
(99) The ivy-crown is mentioned frequently
by the antients, as worn by the poets, in thofe
days.
Accipe juffis
Carmina cœpta tuis; atque hanc fine tempora circum
Inter victrices hederam tibi ferpere lauros.
Virgil, (to Pollio) Eccl. 8. . 13.
Paftores, hederâ crefcentem ornate poetam !
Id. Ecl. 7. . 25.
Seu condis amabile carmen,
Prima feres hederæ victricis præmia.
Horat. (to Julius Florus) Lib. 1. Ep. 3. . 25.
Ut dignus venias hederis & imagine macrâ.
Juvenal. Sat. 7. . 29.
Pallidam Pyrenen
Illis relinquo, quorum imagines lambunt
Hederæ fequaces.-
Enthea vittis
Atque hederâ redimita cohors
Si quis habes noftris fimiles in imagine vultus,
Deme meis hederas, Bacchica ferta, comis:
Iſta decent lætos felicia figna poetas.
the
Óvid. Trift. Lib. 1. El. 6. y. 3•.
Pliny, ſpeaking of the white Hedera, and after-
wards of the black, ſays; Simili modo in nigrâ, ali-
cui & femen nigrum, alii crocatum; cujus coronis
poetæ utuntur: foliis minus nigris; quam quidam
Nyfiam, alii Bacchicam vocant. Nat. Hift. Lib. 6.
c. 34.
The laurel-crown was, properly, the ornament of
great warriors: (as Apollo fays, in Ovid, when he
makes the laurel his tree :)
Tu ducibus Latiis aderis, cum læta triumphum
Vox canet, & longæ viſent Capitolia pompæ.
Met. 1. .561.
And was given perhaps fometimes to epic poets, and
thofe of the higher claſs; becauſe they celebrated great
warriors and heroes. Thus Statius, (who had wrote
epic poems, as well as odes,) fpeaks of his having both
the laurel, and ivy-crowns.
Fugere meos Parnafia crines
Vellera funeftamque hederis irrepere taxum
Extimui, trepidamque (nefas) arefcere laurum.
Statius, (fpeaking of the death of his father.) Lib. 5-
Sylv. 3. *.9.
And fays of his father (who had carried the prize,
in thefe different kinds of poetry too,) that he had
both theſe crowns.
Specieque comam fubnexus utrâque.
Ibid. *. 115.
Bacche, novemque deæ !
Ovid. de Art. Am. 3. †. 348.
(100)
Liberum & mufas, Veneremque & illi
Semper hærentem puerum canebat.
Perfius. in Prol.
Statius. Lib. 1. Sylv. 2. . 249.
Ennius emeruit, Calabris in montibus ortus,
Contiguus poni, Scipio magne, tibi:
Nunc hederæ fine honore jacent.
Ovid. de Art. Am. 3. . 411.
It is as plain from them, that the poets wore theſe
ivy-crowns as ſigns of their being inſpired by Bac-
chus.
Horat. Lib. 1. Od. 32. y. 10.
(101) Ovid. Met. 15. and Livy's Epit. 111. §. 1.
(102) Tunc, cum obfervatas augur deſcendit in herbas ;
Ufus & auxilio eft anguis ab angue dato.
Ovid. Faſt. 6. ✯. 752.
Dictamni florentis opem, quôque anguis abundat
Statius, Lib. 1. Sylv. 4. . 102.
remedia multa creduntur ;
Spumatu.
Quid poffunt hederæ Bacchi dare?
Martial Lib. 1. Ep. 44-
Quin et ineffe ei (angui)
& ideo Efculapio dicatur.
C. 4. P. 204.
Pliny. Nat. Hift. Lib. 29.
DIALOGUE the Ninth.
133
the habit uſed by the old (103) phyficians: and has the mild look, which Ovid ſpeaks of;
and which I think is remarkable to this day in feveral gentlemen I have feen of that
profeffion. I have obſerved formerly to you that Eſculapius's face has a great reſemblance
to that of the mild Jupiter; and his hair and beard are not unlike that god's. As the
phyſicians were furgeons too of old, his right arm is bare; to be ready for
any operation.
In his left, he holds his ftick, with the ferpent twifted round it. All thefe (104) par
ticulars ars marked out by the poets; and particularly by Ovid, in his account of the
first introduction of this deity into Rome:
THE ftatue which anfwers this, on the other fide of Hercules; and which is ſo like a PL. XX,
Mars, is Romulus: who was, you know, the ſon of Mars; and is fometimes reprefented FIG. 4.
fo like his father, that it is difficult enough to diſtinguiſh their figures afunder. I have
often thought in particular that ſeveral of the figures called Mars Gradivus, with a trophy
on the ſhoulder, may really belong rather to Romulus; the inventor of trophies, among the
Romans. Hê
appears here
here you fee, like Mars Gradivus ; with his fpear in one hand, and
holding the trophy on his ſhoulder with the other. The poets (105) fpeak of his fhak-
ing his arms, on his ſhoulder; call him, armifer; and fay, he carries the glory of his father
Mars, in the divine air of his countenance.
It is eaſy to fee, how Romulus came to be placed in this high claſs of heroes by the
Romans. They could not, they thought, pay too much honour to their founder.
They therefore made him the fon of a god; and of that god in particular, who muſt
have been one of the moſt reſpected among them, in the firſt military ages of their ſtate.
Their beſt authors however do not treat this as a (106) firm article of their creed: and in-
deed it ſeems to have made a part in their vulgar religion only; and not in the religion of
the wife.
THE whole ftory of Romulus's divine birth is repreſented on a relievo at the Villa
Mellini, in Rome. It is divided into four compartiments. The firft fhews
you Mars,
going to Rhea Sylvia; who lies aſleep, by the river Tiber. In the fecond, fhe is fitting
with her twins in her lap: Amulius feems to be charging her with the infamy of the
fact he has committed; and fhe is looking up to heaven, as juftifying her innocence.
The third, is the expofing of the two infants on the bank of the Tiber: and the fourth,
(こころ​)
(104)
Retorto
reprefents
Viden' ut geminæ ftent vertice çriftæ ;
Et pater ipfe fuo fuperum jam fignet honore?
Pæonium in morem ſenior fuccinctus amicu.
Virgil. Æn. 12. ✯.402.
Virgil, of Romulus, n. 6. y. 780.
Ritu fe cingit uterque
(106) Livy ſpeaks of the ftory of the divine origin
of Romulus, with more indifference than one might
Statius, Lib. 1. Sylv. 4. . 108. have expected, in the entrance to his hiftory. See
Pæonio.
Et feftinantia fiftens
Fata, falutifero mitis deus incubat angui.
Statius, Lib. 3. Sylv. 4. . 25.
Deus in fomnis opifer confiftere vifus
qualis in æde
Effe folet, baculumque tenens agrefte finiftrâ :
Cæfariem longæ dextra deducere barbæ,
Et placido tales emittere pectore voces.
Pone metus: veniam ; fimulacraque noftra relinquan:
Hunc modò ferpentem, baculum qui nexibus ambit,
Perfpice, & ufque nota; vifu ut cognofcere poffis:
Vertar in hunc; fed major ero: tantufque videbor
In quantum verti cœleftia corpora debent.
Ovid. Met. 15. ✯.662.
(105) Monftrabunt acies, Mavors Actæaque virgo;
Flectere Caftor equos; humeris quatere arma Quirinus.
Statius, Lib. 5. Sylv. 2. y. 129.
Armiferi gens facra Quirini.
Silius Italicus, 16. y. 76.
Lib. 1. p. 8. from, Quæ ante conditam conden-
damve urbem ; to, Haud in magno equidem ponam
difcrimine.
He ſays, juft after; Vi compreffa veftalis quum
geminum partum edidiffet, feu ita rata, feu quia deus
auctor culpæ honeftior erat, Martem incertæ ftirpis
patrem nuncupat. Ibid.
In the cloſe of his reign, he gives an expreffion or
two to the vulgar. Hæc fermè, Romulo regnante,
domi militiæque gefta; quorum nil'abſonum fidei
divinæ originis, divinitatifquc poft mortem credita,
fuit. Id. Lib. 1. c. 15.
Horace, (in his ufual way,) gives a fide ſtroke at
this ſtory. "When I have got a good eafy cheap
girl, (fays he,) I am as well fatisfied, as if it was the
miſtreſs of Mars, or Numa." Lib.1. Sat.2. .126.
That it is a meer common drab, whom he would
thus put on a footing with the mother of Romulus,
appears from verſe 121. ibid.
M m
+
134
POLYMETIS.
PL.XX.
FIG. 5.
reprefents their being cheriſhed by the wolf, and the ſurpriſe of the honeſt ſhepherd
Fauftulus, on finding them in that ftrange fituation.
THE work of this relievo is but indifferent; and is thought, by fome, to be of Aure
lian's time. I have therefore got no copy of it here in my collection. However moft
of the points in it, are to be met with in other works of the better ages. The deſcent of
Mars to Rhea, as I have had occafion to mention before, is not uncommon; and the in-
fant Romulus and Remus, fuckled by the wolf, is very common. You meet with it
on medals and gems, as well as ftatues and relievo's. In fome of which you fee the
wolf in the fame attitude (107) that Virgil gives her in his deſcription of this affair; which,
by the way, might be given as one inſtance out of many, of Virgil's borrowing ſtrokes
from the Roman poets of the first age; and which he did perhaps much more frequently,
than is commonly imagined.
THIS ſtory of Romulus's being received into heaven is well known from the Roman
hiftorians. Their poets ſay, that he was carried thither in (108) the chariot of Mars
and I doubt not but this his affumption was a common ſubject for paintings of old, tho'
we have none fuch now remaining. The figures of Romulus as deified were of a (109)
more auguft appearance. He was then clad in the Trabea (110), a robe of ſtate which
implied an ecclefiaftical dignity, as well as a fecular; and in confequence of the former
character, ſometimes held (111) his Lituus, or ſtaff of augury, in his hand. This latter
mark ufually attends the heads of Julius Cæfar, in the old gems and medals; and when
we find it ſo placed, ſeems to mean that he was high-prieſt and king, by the fame right as
Romulus was. All theſe particulars relating to the appearance of Romulus as deified, I
ground folely on the poets: for I have never ſeen any figure of Romulus under this
character, that I remember; tho' there may perhaps be ſome, which may have eſcaped
my obfervation.
THE two heroes whom you ſee anſwering one another, below the fteps on each fide,
are the two brothers, Caftor and Pollux. They are not placed there as inferior to thoſe
we have been confidering before; but merely becauſe there was not ſpace enough for
them, and their horfes, in the fame line. Caftor and Pollux were received into this
diſtinguiſhed clafs of heroes, among the (112) Greeks; from whom the Romans took the
(107) Fecerat & viridi fœtam Mavortis in antro
Procubuiffe lupam; geminofque huic ubera circum
Ludere pendentes pueros, & lambere matrem
Impavidos: illam, tereti cervice reflexam,
Mulcere alternos & corpora fingere linguâ.
Virgil. Æn. 8. y. 634.
Moſt of the ſtrongeſt expreffions, in this fine pic-
ture, are adapted to it from the elder poets, by
Virgil;
Gemineique huic ubera circum
Ludunt pendentes puerei
Ennius, An. 1. r.
Obſtipum caput, & tereti cervice reflexum.
Çicero, de Nat. Deor. 1. 2. §. 42.
As Ovid feems to have copied him; in his account
of this ſtory.
(108)
Venit ad expofitos (mirum) lupa fœta gemellos:
Quis credat pueris non nocuiffe feram ?
Conftitit; & caudâ teneris blanditur alumnis :
Et fingit linguâ corpora bina fuâ.
Marte fatos fcires; timor abfuit: ubera ducunt.
Ovid. Faft. 2. *. 419.
Quirinus
Martis equis Acheronta fugit.
Horat. Lib. 3. Od. 3. . 16.
Hinc tonat; hinc miffis abrumpitur ignibus æther:
Fit fuga: rex patriis aftra petebat equis.
greater
The fame poet repeats the fame in Met. 14. y. 820;
where he gives the fulleft account of this ftory, that I
know of.
(109) Pulchra fubit facies, & pulvinaribus altis
Dignior; & qualis trabeati forma Quirini.
Ovid. Met. 14. $. 828.
Pulcher, & humano major, trabeâque decorus,
Romulus in mediâ viſus adeffe viâ.
Id. Faft. 2. . 502.
(110) Trabeatus Quirinus.
(III)
Id. Faft. 1. .37.
-Lituo pulcher trabeaque Quirinus.
Ibid. 6. *. 375.
Romuli Hituus, id eft incurvum & leviter a fummo
inflexum bacillum. Cicero de Divin. 1. . 17. As
Cicero calls this, Romuli lituus; fo Virgil calls it,
Lituus Quirinalis. Æn. 7. . 187.
(112) This appears from a paffage quoted before
from Quintus Curtius. The flatterers of Alexander the
Great, according to that author, were for equalling
him, to theſe heroes received in the higheſt heavens,
even in his life-time. Hi tum cœlum illi aperiebant:
Herculemque, & Patrem Liberum, & cum Polluce
Caftorem, novo numini ceffuros effe jactabant. Lib. 8.
Ovid. Faft. 2. : 496. §. 18.
DIALOGUE the Ninth.
135
greater part of their theology. Befide which, they had very particular obligations to
theſe two deities; and were therefore, no doubt, the more willing to retain them in this
high ſtation. You muſt remember, how they affifted the Roman army (113) at the lake
of Regillæ ; and brought the news of the decifive victory of Paulus Æmilius to Rome, the
very day that it was obtained. Their ſtatues were very common in Rome of old ; and
they were placed in particular, before the (114) temple of Jupiter Tonans on the Capito-
line hill; perhaps juft in the fame manner, as you fee them ſtand here. The chief thing
to be remarked in their figures is, that they are exactly alike. They had each a chlamys,
and yet are almoſt wholly naked. Each has a ftar over his head. Each holds a white
horſe with one hand; and a ſpear in the other. In a word, each has the fame make,
look, and features. Never were any twins more alike, than theſe are repreſented to have
been (115) by the poets: and yet they are not more alike in their deſcriptions of them,
than they are in the old figures; and particularly on the Roman family-medals, where PL. XX.
FIG. 6,7,8.
one meets with them extremely often.
I HAVE now done with the made-gods of the fuperior order, among the Romans;
the few, whom they ſuppoſed to have been received by Jupiter into the higheſt heavens
out of his (116) goodneſs and equity, for the virtues they had fhewn here upon earth.
The next time we come here, if you pleaſe, we will take a view of the virtues, which
they practiſed ſo much and ſo ſteddily; and of fome other imaginary beings, which were
fuppoſed to prefide over the actions of men; or, at leaſt, to be the givers of thoſe things,
which help to render human life more comfortable and agreeable.
(113) Minucius Felix laughs at theſe legends,
where he fays of them; Teftes equeftrium fratrum
in lacu, ficut oftenderant fe, ftatuæ confecratæ ; qui
anhelis fpumantibus equis atque fumantibus, de
Perſe victoriam, câdem die quâ fecerant, nunciave-
runt. Min. Fel. p. 43.
The ſtories are at large in Livy. Lib. 2. §. 20;
& Lib. 45. §. 6.
Balbus, (the Stoic, in Cicero) difputing for the
being of the gods, quotes the appearance of Caftor
and Pollux, at the lake of Regillæ, as a proof of it:
for which he is ridiculed by Cotta, the Academic,
when he comes to anſwer him. Cicero. de Nat.
Deor. lib. 2. p. 27; and lib. 3. p. 62. Ed. Ald.
(114) Hegiæ Minerva, Pyrrhufque rex laudatur ;
& Caftor & Pollux, ante ædem Jovis Tonantis. Pliny,
Lib. 34. c. 8. p. 388. Ed. Elz.
(115) Ambo conſpicui, nive candidioribus, albis
Vectabantur equis; ambo vibrata per auras
Page 135.
Haftarum tremulo quatiebant fpicula motu.
Ovid. Met. 8. .375.
Ambiguo vifus errore laceffunt
Oebalidæ gemini. Chlamys huic, Chlamys ardet & illi;
Ambo haftile gerunt; humeros exertus uterque,
Nudus uterque genas; fimili coma fulgurat aſtro.
Statius, Theb. 5. .440.
Apollo, in Lucian, begs Mercury to give him
fome mark how to know which is Caftor, and which
Pollux; for, he fays, they are fo much alike, that
he is always miſtaking the one for the other and
feems much obliged to him, for telling him how to
diftinguish them apart. $2noas, fays he, didzas ra
γνωρίσματα, επει τα γε αλλα παντα ισα το ως το
ημίτομον, και αστηρ υπερανα, και ακόντιον εν τη χειρί,
και ιππος εκατέρω λευκος. Tom. I. p. 236, Ed.
Blaeui.
(116)
Pauci, quos equus amavit
Jupiter.
Æn, 6, †. 132:
Boitard Sculp

XVI
LP Boitard Sculp.

XVII
L.P. Boitard Sculp

XVIII
漿
​L.P. Boitard Sculp

XIX
LP. Boitard Sculpe

XX
L.P. Boitard Sculp
137
BOOK the Fourth.
DIAL. X.
Of the Moral DEITIES: or the Deities that prefided over the
Virtues of Men; and the Conduct of Human Life.
T
HE figures I am going to fhew you, (fays Polymetis, when he carried his
friends the next morning, to take a round of the outſide of his upper temple,)
relate all to what we may call, the Moral Beings; to fuch of the deities, as were
fuppofed of old more immediately to inſpire men with fome particular virtue; or to be
the givers of thoſe things, which tend to the glory or happineſs of mankind: or to prefide
over the conduct and events of human life. It is obfervable, that the Roman poets fay
leſs of the beſt of theſe Moral Beings, than might be expected. The artiſts are much
fuller on this head; and one who would fettle what appearances each of them made,
ſhould go to the medals of the Roman emperors. There is fcarce a virtue, or bleffing of
life, which is not attributed to one or other of them, in the reverſes of their medals: and
you will often fee fome of the moſt confiderable among them, thus attached to a Nero
or a Domitian; and diſtinguiſhed generally by a particular * mark, to fhew that it was
a national piece of flattery; and done by the order of the fupreme council of the whole
Roman empire. The poets, (in this one cafe,) were not fo great flatterers, as the fenate
and the artiſts; and you will therefore pardon me, if I fhew you fome figures in the round
we are going to take, of which the poets fay little or nothing at all.
THE first figure here, to begin on our right hand from the portico, is Philofophy;
or, to ſpeak more properly, Moral Philofophy. Philofophy, originally among the
Greeks, and among the Romans long after, was called by the name (1) of Wifdom.
You ſee her here leaning on a column; with a mild and ferene air, much as fhe is de-
ſcribed (2) by Lucian: and both by her look and attitude, ſeeming to be engaged in con-
verfation with fome one of her favourite difciples. It is indeed Socrates that ſhe is ſpeak-
ing to: but whoever looks upon her, may imagine, if he pleaſes, that ſhe is giving her
inſtructions to him. There is a Sarcophagus, among the many fine pieces of antiquity
preferved at preſent in the gallery of the Capitol at Rome, on which the nine Mufes are
repreſented in the front; at one end, is Moral philofophy converfing with Socrates: and PL. XXI.
on the other, Homer, (as great a philofopher (3) almoſt as Socrates,) converfing with
his Mufe. It is from this Sarcophagus that the figure before you was copied.
* S. C. for, Senatus Confulto.
(1) Cicero tells us that Philofophia was called Sa-
pientia, till Pythagoras's time. Tufc. Quæft. lib. 4.
p. 487. Ed. Blaeu.
Nec quifquam Sophiam, Sapientia quai perhibetur,
In fomneis vidit, priu' quàm Samu' difcere coipit.
Ennius, Annal. Lib. 1.
Deus ille fuit, Deus, inclute Memmi,
Qui princeps vitæ rationem invenit eam, quæ
Nunc appellatur Sapientia; quique per artem
Fluctibus e tantis vitam, tantifque tenebris,
In tam tranquillâ & tam clarâ luce locavit.
Lucretius, Lib. 5. . 12.
Ratio perfecta nominatur rite, Sapientia. Cicero,
de Legibus, 1. §. 7.
Magna quidem facris quæ dat præcepta libellis
Victrix fortunæ Sapientia; dicimus autem
Hos quoque felices, qui ferre incommoda vitæ,
Nec jactare jugum, vitâ didicere magiſtrâ.
She
looks
Juvenal, 13. . 22.
(2) Ενταύθα εν Κεραμεικω υπομένομεν αυτήν ήδη,
ηδη πε αφίξεται επαύισσα εξ Ακαδημίας, ως περιπατη
εν τη Ποικιλη τέτο γαρ οσημέραι εθος ποιειν
Μαλλον δε ηδη προσεισιν.
Όρας την
κοσμιον την απο το χήματος ή την προσηνη το βλεμμα ;
την επι συννοία ηρεμα βαδίζεσαν; Lucian, Tom. I.
P. 397. Ed. Blaeu.
σεις και
αυτή.
N n
(3) Qui quid fit pulchrum, quid turpe; quid utile, quid non;
Pleniùs, ac meliùs, Chryfippo & Crantore dicit.
Horat. Lib. 1. Ep. 2. Y. 4·
FIG. 1, 2.
138
POLYMETIS.
PL. XXI.
FIG. 3.
PL. XXI.
FIG. 4.
looks kindly, while fhe inftructs; and her face very well becomes her true character;
for there is nothing of the fullen, or fevere, in it. You fee fhe is here in a robe of
grandeur and dignity: but I fancy, from a verſe in one of the old poets, that ſhe might
poffibly have been repreſented ſometimes by the artiſts in a (4) meaner garb; in alluſion
perhaps to the poverty of the old philofophers, her profeffed followers. Another of the
poets of the firſt age makes her the (5) daughter of Experience and Memory. What his
authority may be for faying fo, I know not; but whether he builds it on any authority
or not, I am fure there is very good fenfe in it.
THE four figures, next in order after this, are the figures of the four Cardinal Virtues:
Prudence; Juſtice; Fortitude; and Temperance.
PRUDENCE, (or Good Senfe,) ftands in the front of all the virtues, in (6) Cicero's
catalogue of them, as well as here. The Romans feem to have called this indifferently
by the name of Prudentia, or Providentia; the reaſon of which may be gathered from
Cicero's (7) derivation of the word Prudentia. When they uſed Providentia for human
prudence, it was generally (8) diſtinguiſhed by the words annexed to it. I imagine that
they fometimes uſed Mens, or Mens bona, for the fame. The goddeſs of Prudence
here, appears as ſhe is repreſented on the reverſe of a medal of one of the Roman em-
perors; and has a rule (or meaſure) in her hand, and a globe at her feet; to fhew that
that emperor by his prudence, kept the whole world in order. The fame idea might
be adapted too as eaſily to lower life, confidering that it is by prudence that all the affairs
of human life are regulated and difpofed, as they ought to be. She was received (9),
very early as a goddeſs among the Romans: and had temples dedicated to her; and one
on the Capitoline hill, in particular. Petronius makes Poverty (10) her fifter; and Ovid
hints at a diſgraceful picture of her (11), following the triumphal chariot of Cupid, with
her hands tied behind her, as one of his flaves.
TRUE Juftice, (or rather Equity, for the exacteft execution of written laws may be
the cauſe of very great injuftice) is repreſented, by a perſon with a balance or pair of ſcales
in her hand, held exactly even. Juſtice, according to the poets, was one of thoſe celc-
ftial beings that condeſcended to inhabit our earth; in the firſt happy ages of the world :
and was one of the laft of them who quitted it, when it grew corrupt and vile. Virgil (12)
(4) Sæpe eft etiam fub fordido palliolo Sapientia.
(5) Ufus me genuit; mater peperit Memoria :
Cæcilius.
Zopiav, vocant me Graii; vos, Sapientiam.
Afranius, in Sellâ.
This is among his fragments; ſo that it does not
appear from what part of the play it is taken: but it
fcems, by her addreffing herſelf to the audience,
that it was part of the prologue. If fo, Philofophy
probably appeared as a perfon, and ſpoke the pro-
logue; as Plautus introduces Arcturus, to ſpeak the
prologue to one of his plays.
(6) Cic. de Officiis. Lib. 1. c. 5.
(7) Sapientis eft providere; ex quo fapientia eft
appellata prudentia. Cic. in Orat.
(8) Thus, on medals: if the ſubject be Divine Pro-
vidence, the uſual infcription is, PROVIDENTIA
DEORVM; if Human Prudence, PROVIDEN-
TIA CAESARIS, PROVIDENTIA AVG.
or PROVIDENTIA AVGG. for Augufti, and
Auguftorum.
(9) Ex quo intelligitur prudentiam quoque & men-
tem à diis ad homines perveniffe: ob eamque caufam,
gives
majorum inſtitutis, Mens, Fides, Virtus, Concor-
dia, confecratæ & publicè dedicatæ funt. Cicero,
de Nat. Deor. Lib. 2. p. 42. Ed. Ald.
Ut Fides, ut Mens; quas in Capitolio dedicatas
videmus. Ibid. p. 38.
Ædes Veneri Erycine & Menti vovendas effe.
Livy, Lib. 22. c. 9. This temple to Good-Senſe,
(or Prudence,) was built accordingly by Otacilius.
Ibid. c. 1o. And, (as he tells us in another place,)
on the Capitoline hill. Id. Lib. 23. c. 31.
(10) Nefcio, inquam, quo modo bonæ Mentis
feror fit Paupertas. p. 141. Ed. Lond.
(11) Mens Bona ducetur, manibus poſt terga revinctis ;
Et Pudor; & caftris quicquid amoris obeít.
Ovid. Amor. Lib. 1. El. 2. ỷ. 32.
(12)
At latis otia fundis;
Speluncæ, vivique lacus: at frigida Tempe,
Mugitufque boum, mollefque fub arbore fomni
Non abfunt. Illic faltus ac luftra ferarum ;
Et patiens operum parvoque affueta juventus :
Sacra deum, fanctique patres. Extrema per illos.
Juftitia excedens terris veftigia fecit.
Virg. Georg. 2. . 474-
:
DIALOGUE the Tenth.
gives us one of his uſual hints, that ſhe firſt quitted courts and cities; and retired into the
country: and, in Aratus, you may read (13) a full account of the whole affair. I ſhall
have but very little to fay as to her figure, nor to thoſe of moſt of the moral beings in this
circle; becauſe, (as I mentioned before,) there is very little defcriptive of their perfons in the
Roman poets. They ſpeak of them often as perfons; but they do not generally fay
much of their attributes, or drefs, or the appearance they make. The only paffage I
can recollect at preſent in which there is any thing defcriptive of this goddefs in particu-
lar, is a deſcription by contraries. It is in Petronius Arbiter (14); where he is fpeaking
of the breaking out of the civil war between Cæfar and Pompey: on which occafion he
deſcribes Peace, as hiding her head in a helmet; Honefty, with a dejected air; Juftice,
as difcompofed, with her hair all loofe and difordered; and Concord, with a förrowful
look, and her veil rent in two.
1
139
FIG. 5.
FORTITUDE, you may eaſily know by her erect air; her military drefs; the fpear fhe PL.XXI.
refts on with one hand, and the fword which fhe holds in the other. She has here a
globe under her feet: I fuppofe to fhew, that the Romans by the means of this virtue
were to fubdue the whole world: an idea, that it is well known they received very early;
and encouraged very much, among the people. As this people was of fo military a
turn, they generally gave Fortitude the (15) name of Virtus, or the Virtue, by way of ex-
cellence: juſt as the fame nation, now they are fo debafed and effeminated, call the love
of the fofter arts, Vertù. Virtus indeed, among the antient Romans, fignified fomething
more than military courage only; but it fignified that principally, and moſt uſually.
In its larger ſenſe, it included a (16) firmneſs of mind, and love of action; or to be a little
more explicit, a fteddy readineſs to do good, and a patient indurance of all evil. Our
word, Courage, may be extended to both theſe meanings.
VIRTUS is ſpoken of perfonally not only by the Roman poets, but by their (17) profe
writers too. She had feveral temples dedicated to her at Rome; with repreſentations
of
(13) This is one of the fineſt digreffions in Aratus. periculo & in labore ac dolore patiens, tum procul
Div. y. 97, to 136.
Φαιν.
ab omni metu. Ibid. lib. 5. p. 501.
(14) Mitis turba deûm terras exofa furentes
Deferit; atque hominum damnatum deferit agmen.
Pax prima, ante alios, niveos pulfata lacertos
Abfcondit galeâ victum caput; atque relicto
Orbe fugax Ditis petit implacabile regnum.
Huic comes it fubmiffa Fides ; & crine foluto
Juftitia; ac mœrens lacerâ Concordia pallâ.
Petr. . 253.
(15) The temper of a people, (as it has been often
obferved,) is ſometimes diſcoverable from their uſage
of words. Thus the French call civility or polite
behaviour, by the name of Honneteté; the vulgar,
in our own iſland, call a downright behaviour, by
the name of Honeſty; and the ladies among us, (from
fome old cuſtom, I fuppoſe,) ftill call chaſtity, by the
name of Virtue.
(16) Cicero fpeaks of Virtus and Fortitudo as the
fame thing. Appellata eft a viro, virtus; viri autem
propria maximè eft fortitudo. Tufc. Quæft. Lib. 2.
P. 392. Ed. Blaeu.
The definitions he gives of Fortitudo, agree with
thoſe above. As that from a Greek philofopher,
(Chryfippus ;) Fortitudo eft fcientia perferendarum
rerum ; vel affectio animi, in patiendo ac perferendo,
fummæ legi parens, fine timore. Ibid. lib. 4. p. 468.
and that which he gives as his own; Quæ eft enim
alia Fortitudo, nifi animi affectio, cum in adeundo
In the fame treatife, he fays, more particularly :
Contemnendæ funt humanæ res; negligenda mors
eft; patibiles & dolores & labores putandi. Hæc
cùm conftituta fint judicio atque fententiâ, tum eft
robufta illa & ftabilis Fortitudo. Ib. Lib. 4. p.469.
It includes a love of action: thus Cotta the acade-
miſt's argument, againſt Velleius the epicurean, in
Cicero. Virtus actuofa; et veſter deus nihil agens :
expers virtutis igitur. De Nat. Deor. lib. 1. p. 23.
Ed. Ald.—————As Cicero fays here, that Virtue con-
fiſts in action; fo Lucian fays; He aρETN EV EGY IS
Η μεν αρετη εν έργοις
docu
εςιν οιον εν τω δίκαια πρατίειν, και σοφά, και
av. Tom. I. p. 565. Ed. Blaeu.The very
ftatues of this goddeſs fhewed her, as always ready
for action. Solet virtutis fimulachrum depingi fuc-
cinctum. Lactantius, Lib. 10.
Horace expreffes the character of this, very ſhortly
and fully; (on a different occafion :) Quidvis & fa-
cere & pati. Lib. 3. Od. 24, 44; and, in another
place; Multa tulit fecitque.-De Art. Poet. 413.
Tho' I have given here fo many definitions of Vir-
tus, from Cicero and others; I fhould be more in-
clined to go to the New Teftament, for the beſt de-
finition of it, that I know of. It is that of St. Paul,
in his epiftle to the Romans; where he calls Virtue,
« A patient continuance in well doing." Rom. ii. 7.
•
(17) Loquetur eorum voce Virtus ipfa tecum
"Tune," &c. Cicero. Tufc. Quæft. Lib.2. p.393.
Ed. Blaeu.
2
140
POLYMETIS.
of (18) her in them. Tho' theſe may be all loft, (for I do not remember ever to have
met with any picture, or ftatue, of this goddeſs in Rome,) her figure is common on the
medals of their emperors; and more common, I believe, than has been (19) ufually ima-
gined, in the relievo's relating to their emperors.
You fee her in the latter, dreffed like a woman; or rather, like an Amazon: for fhe
is generally repreſented as a military lady. She is fometimes in a coat of mail, or a ſhort
fuccinct veft; with her legs and arms bare, as the Roman foldiers ufed to be. She has
a manly face, and air; and generally grafps a fword, or ſpear, in her hand. Her drefs
ſhews her character, of readineſs for action; and her look, a firmnefs and refolution, not
to be conquered by any difficulties or dangers, that may meet her in her way.
THE many difficulties that attend the following the dictates of the goddeſs Virtus, as
they called it of old, (or of a virtuous life, as we call it now,) were ſtrongly expreffed in
that very juſt and very antient emblem (20), of a perſon climbing up the fide of a vaſt, ſteep,
rocky mountain; often ready to fall, and meeting with many things to oppofe him or
divert him from his way; but, when he has once gained the fummit, finding himſelf
at once got into a delicious tract of country, with a purer air and a ferene fky, and with
every object about him pleafing and charming to his fenfes. This is what Pythagoras
partly ſhadowed out, (in that ſhort (21) hieroglyphical way, which he probably learned
from the Egyptians,) by a ſingle letter in the Greek alphabet of his time; and what
Cebes has laid out, fo much at large, in his moft excellent picture of human life.
Had all the labours of Hercules been as
THERE can be no virtue without choice.
fated and neceffary, as his twelve known ones, they could not fo well have made im
their great exemplar for virtue of old. Cicero in his very definition of Virtus inferts,
that it is the going thorough all manner of difficulties and troubles, out of judgment and
choice. And here you may obferve that the antients have done by Virtus, as I have
faid before they did by Minerva: they have made her character and appearance, rather
(18) Solet Virtutis fimulachrum depingi fuccinc-
tum. Lactantius, Lib. 10.
(Ariſtolai Pictoris) ſunt Medea; Virtus; Thefeus;
imago Atticæ plebis ; &c. Pliny, Lib. 35. c. II.
p. 448. Ed. Elz.-(Pinxit Parrhafius) Liberum Pa-
trem, aftante Virtute. Ib. c. 10. p. 432.-Fecit
(Euphranor) Virtutem, et Græciam; utrafque co-
loffeas. Id. Lib. 34. c. 8. p. 388.
(19) Thus in the famous collection of relievo's by
P. Bartoli, called the Admiranda, what he takes to
be the genius of Rome, I ſhould rather take to be
the goddeſs Virtus. As where ſhe is giving the globe
to Marcus Aurelius, Adm. Pl. 6. and attending Bal-
binus, at the chace, ib. Pl. 24. So in the old tri-
umphal arches, (publiſhed by the fame author ;)
where ſhe is guiding Titus's triumphal chariot, Arc.
Tri. Pl. 4. and where ſhe is conducting Trajan home.
Ib. Pl. 28.
to.
Nil fine magno
too
Vita labore dedit mortalibus.
Horat. Lib. 1. Sat. 9. y. 60. (Spoke by a buſtling imper-
tinent fellow, alluding to his great virtues.)
Cafta mihi domus, & celfo ftant colle penates,
Ardua faxofo perducit ſemita clivo;
Afpera principio: (nec enim mihi fallere mos eſt,)
Profequitur labor ad nitendum intrare volenti;
Nec bona cenfendum, quæ fors infida dediffet,
Atque eadem rapuiffe valet. Mox celfus, ab alto
Infra te cernes hominum genus.
107.
Spoke by Virtus, in Sil. Ital. 15.
Lucian alludes very frequently to this fort of idea;
but no where fo fully, as in his Palogav Aarxas.
Tom. II. p. 309, &c. Ed. Blaeu. It is very fully de-
fcribed too, in the picture of Cebes; which we vul-
garly call, Cebes's Table.
(21) Pythagoras uſed to point out the two diffe-
rent paths of life, to his difciples, in the make of the
old Ypfilon. The generality, he ſaid, took the broad
(20) This the Roman poets often ſeem to allude eaſy road, to the left hand; and the virtuous, the
Magnum pauperies opprobrium, jubet
Quidvis & facere & pati;
Virtutifque viam deferit arduæ.
Horat. Lib. 3. Od. 24. . 44.
Ardua molimur: fed nulla nifi ardua Virtus.
Ovid. de Art. Am. 2. ✯. 537-
Mille doli reftant; clivo fudamus in imo.
Id. Her. Ep. 20. . 41. Acontius, Cyd.
narrow ſteep line to the right.
Haud tibi inexpertum curvos deprendere mores,
Quæque docet fapiens braccatis illita Medis
Porticus; infomnis quibus & detonfa juventus
Invigilat, filiquis & grandi paſta polentâ :
Et tibi, quæ Samios deduxit litera ramos,
Surgentem dextro monftravit tramite callem :
Stertis adhuc ?
Perfius, 3. .78.
DIALOGUE the Tenth.
i41
too (22) rigid and fevere. They generally oppofe Virtus, to Voluptas: and when they
talk of the two different paths of life; this of the good, and that of the bad; they ftrow
the latter with roſes, and the former with thorns. In a word, they have made the ways
of Virtue to appear at leaft like the ways of unpleaſantnefs: and yet they always fay, that
ſhe is to be chofen with all her difficulties and troubles. She is to be chofen for the end ;
(which is the chief thing always in determining one's choice :) for they deſcribe (23) the
path of virtue, as leading thro' difficulties and troubles, to glory and happineſs; and the
path of pleaſure, as leading thro' gaieties and enjoyments, to mifery and diſhonour.
As the determining this choice is the most important thing to every man that is born
into the world, we find it ſhadowed out by the poets and moraliſts of all ages: in fables
very different indeed, but all of them pointing to the fame end.
SILIUS ITALICUs introduces a Choice into his poem, where he is ſpeaking of Scipio
Africanus; the greateſt man perhaps that ever Rome produced, if we take his character
all round. He fpeaks of him as very young; for it was juft after his father and uncle had
loft their lives in fighting againſt the Carthaginians. The fenate debate, who they
fhall ſend to head their armies in Spain while they are debating, young Scipio re-
tires in the depth of his concern into a folitary place, to confider with himſelf whether
he ſhould follow the example of his relations, and fling himſelf into the war; or whether
he ſhould retire, and fave the poor remains of his family. Whilft he is ruminating and
doubtful what to fix on (24), Virtus and Voluptas appear to him. Each makes a ſpeech
(22) There is a head of Virtus, publifhed by Ful-
vio Orfini, with the hair lank and rude; and en-
tirely with the look of a common foldier.
We meet with feveral defcriptions in the poets,
which fhew that they had much the fame idea of her.
When Lucan defcribes Scæva, as all horrible with
wounds; he ſays, that his companions looked upon
him as an exact reprefentation of this goddeſs.
Perdiderat vultum rabies; ftetit imbre cruento
Informis facies. Labentem turba fuorum
Excipit, atque humeris defectum imponere gaudet:
Ac veluti inclufum perfoffo in pectore numen,
Et vivam magnæ fpeciem Virtutis adorant.
Pharf. 6. . 254-
Virtus, coming from the throne of Jupiter, and
changing herſelf into the fhape of Manto, (to per-
fuade Menæceus to facrifice his life for his country ;)
is thus deſcribed by Statius.
Abiit horrorque vigorque
Ex oculis panlum décoris permanfit; honofque
Mollior: et pofitò vatum geſtamina férro
Subdita : deſcendunt veftes, torvifque ligatür
Vitta comis; nam laurus erat. Tamen afpera produnt
Ora deam; nimiique gradus.
Theb. 10. . 646.
*.
This author is full of theſe ideas; for he ſays, in an-
other place :
Ridet Mars Pater, & cruenta Virtus:
And, where he is defcribing the
Innumeris ftrepit aula Minis.
Stat medio; lætufque Furor:
Mors armata fedet.
Lib. 1. Sylv. 6. y. 62.
court of Mars,
Triftiffima Virtus
vultuque cruento
Theb. 7. . 53.
(23) Orandum eft ut fit mens fana in corpore fano ;
Fortem pofce animum & mortis terrore carentem,
Qui ſpatium vitæ extremum inter munera ponat
Naturæ ; qui ferre queat quofcumque labores;
Nefciat irafci, cupiat nihil: & potiores
Herculis ærumnas credat fævoſque labores,
Et Venere, & cœnis & plumis Sardanapali.
Monftro quod ipfe tibi poffis dare. Semita certe
Tranquillæ per virtutem patet unica vitæ.
to
Juvenal. Sat. 1o. . 364.
(24) Has lauri refidens juvenis viridante fub umbra,
Edibus extremis, volvebat pectore curas;
Quum fubitò adfiftunt dextrâ lævâque, per auras
Adlapfæ, haud paulum mortali major imago,
Hinc Virtus, illinc Virtuti inimica Voluptas.
Altera Achemænium fpirabat vertice odorem,
Ambrofias diffufa comas ; & vefte refulgens,
Oftrum quæ fulvo Tyrium fuffuderat auro :
Fronte decor quafitus acu; lafcivaque crebras
Ancipiti motu jaciebant lumina flammas.
Alterius difpar habitus. Frons hirta; nec unquam
Compofitâ mutata comâ. Stans vultus: & ore
Inceffuque viro propior; lætique pudoris.
Celfa humeros niveæ fulgebat ftamine palla.
CC
Occupat inde prior, promiffis fifa, Voluptas.
Quis furor hic, non digne puer confumere bello
Florem ævi? Cannæne tibi, graviorque palude
Mæonius Stygiâ lacus exceffere, Padufque ?
Quem tandem ad finem bellando fata laċeſſes ?
Tunè etiam tentaré paras Atlantia régna,
Sidoniafque domos? Moneo, certare periclis
Define, & armifonæ caput objectare procellæ.
Ni fugis hos ritus, Virtus te fæva jubebit
Per medias volitare acies, mediofque per ignes.
Hæc patrem patruumque tuos; hæc prodiga Paulum,
Hæc Decios, Stygias Erebi detrufit ad undàs ;
Dum cineri titulum memorandaque nomina buftis.
Prætendit, nec fenfuræ quid gefferit umbræ.
At fi me comitere, puer, non limite duro
Jam tibi decurret conceffi temporis ætas :
Haud unquam trepidos abrumpet buccina fomnos;
Non glaciem Ar&toam, non experiere furentis
Ardorem Cancri; nec menfas, fæpe cruento
Gramine compofitas: aberunt fitis afpera, & hauftus
Sub galeâ pulvis, partique timore labores:
Sed current albufque dies, horæque ferenæ ;
Et molli dabitur victu fperare fene&tam,
Quantas
1
{
POLYMETIS.
142
1
1
to draw him over to her party. He is determined by what Virtus fays to him; haſtes
to the ſenate; demands to lead the army into Spain; and goes on in a continued courſe
of great and good actions. I know not whether Silius might borrow any ſtrokes in the
deſcriptive part of this ſtory, from any pictures of a (25) choice, at Rome in his time;
but his defcription might certainly furniſh a good painter now with all the ideas neceffary
to make a good picture on this fubject. The place; the perfonages; their air, their
looks, their robes, and the very colour of them, being all fixed by the poet; and only
wanting a good hand, to tranſplant them on the canvas.
THIS ftory of Scipio in Silius, is evidently taken from that of Hercules in Xeno-
phon's memoirs of Socrates. It was a leffon which that great philoſopher gave his dif
ciples; and one of the nobleſt leſſons in all antiquity. He borrowed it from Prodicus TO
who he ſays, uſed to tell it in a much more ornamented manner than he has done: but
perhaps we have not it the worſe, for having it plainer. I have heard you ſay, Phi-
lander, that a particular friend of yours has turned it into verfe, in our own language,
from the Greek of Xenophon; and I think you promiſed me fome time ago, that you
would be fo good as to fhew it to me. I am fo far from forgetting that promife, fays
Philander, that I brought it with me into the country, on purpoſe. I took it with me
yeſterday, when you was to confider the character of Hercules; and have it ſtill about
I would not interrupt you with it now; but when you have finiſhed your round of
the Virtues and Deities before us, if you pleaſe, I will have the pleaſure of reading it
to you.
me.
WE fhall be both obliged to you, fays Polymetis; but before I go on with my other
goddeffes, I muſt beg leave to explain a thing a little, which I only juſt hinted at before.
Quantas ipfe deus lætos generavit in ufus
Res homini, plenâque dedit bona gaudia dextrâ?
Atque idem, exemplar lenis mortalibus ævi,
Imperturbatâ placidus tenet otia mente.
Illa ego fum, Anchiſe Venerem Simoentis ad undas
Quæ junxi ; generis vobis unde editus auctor:
Illa ego fum, verti fuperum qui fæpe parentem,
Nunc avis in formam, nunc torvi in cornua tauri.
Huc adverte aures. Currit mortalibus ævum :
Nec nafci bis poffe datur. Fugit hora; rapitque
Tartareus torrens: ac fecum ferre fub umbras,
Si qua animo placuere, negat. Quis, luce fupremâ,
Dimififfe meas ferò non ingemit horas !”
Poftquam conticuit, finifque eft addita dictis;
Tum Virtus. " Quafnam juvenem florentibus (inquit)
Pellicis in fraudes annis vitæque tenebras,
Cui ratio & magnæ cœleftia femina mentis
Munere funt conceffa deum ? Mortalibus alti
Quantum Cœlicolæ, tantundem animalibus ifti
Præcellunt cunctis: tribuit namque ipfa minores
Hos terris natura deos; fed, fœdere certo,
Degeneres tenebris animas damnavit Avernis:
At queis ætherei fervatur feminis or tus,
Cœli
porta patet. Referam quid cuncta domantem
Amphitryoniadem? Quid, cui poft Seras & Indos,
Captivo Liber quum figna referret ab Euro,
Caucaſeæ currum duxere per oppida tigres?
Quid fufpiratos magno in difcrimine nautis
Ledæos referam fratres, veftrumque Quirinum?
Nonne vides, hominum ut celfos ad fidera vultus
Suftulerit deus, ac fublimia finxerit ora ;
Quum pecudes, volucrumque genus, formafq; ferarum,
Segnem atque obfcoenam paffim ftraviffet in alvum?
Ad laudes genitum, capiat fi munera divum,
Felix ad laudes hominum genus. Huc age, paullum
Adfpice, (nec longè repetam,) modò Roma minanti
Impar Fidenæ, contentaque crefcere afylo,
Quo fefe extulerit dextris! idem adfpice, latè
Florentes quondam luxus quas verterit urbes !
Quippe nec ira deum tantum, nec tela; nec hoftes ;
Quantum fola noces, animis illapfa, Voluptas!
Circa te femper volitans Infamia pennis:
Mecum, Honor, & Laudes, & læto Gloria vultu ;
Et Decus, & niveis Victoria concolor alis ;
Me, cinctus lauro, perducit ad aftra Triumphus.
Cafta mihi domus, & celfo ftant colle penates:
Ardua faxofo perducit femita clivo,
Afpera principio (nec enim mihi fallere mos eft ;)
Profequitur labor ad nitendum intrare volenti :
Nec bona cenfendum quæ fors infida dediffet,
Atque eadem rapuiffe valet: mox celfus ab alto
Infra te cernes hominum genus. Omnia contra
Experienda manent, quàm fpondet blanda Voluptas.
Stramine projectus duro, patiere fub aftris
Infomnes noctes; frigufque famemque domabis.
Idem, juftitiæ cultor, quæcunque capeffes
Teſtes factorum ftare arbitrabere Divos.
Tunc, quoties patriæ rerumque pericula poſcent,
Arma feres primus; primus te in mœnia tolles
Hoftica: nec ferro mentem vincêre, nec auro.
Hinc tibi, non Tyrio vitiatas murice veſtes;
Nec donum, deforme viro, flagrantis amomi :
Sed dabo, qui veftrum fævo nunc Marte fatigat
Imperium, fuperare manu; laurumque fuperbam
In gremio Jovis excifis deponere Pænis."
Quæ poftquam cecinit facrato pectore Virtus,
Exemplis lætum, vultuque audita probantem,
Convertit juvenem. Sed enim indignata Voluptas
Non tenuit voces. "Nil vos jam demoror ultra,
Exclamat. Venient, venient mea tempora quondam!
Quum docilis noftris, magno certamine, Roma
Serviet imperiis; & honor mihi habebitur uni :”?
Sic, quaffans caput, in nubes ſe ſuſtulit atras.
At juvenis, plenus monitis, ingentia corde
Molitur; vifæque calet Virtutis amore.
Silius Ital. Lib. 15. . 130.
(25) The choice of Hercules, in particular, was a
ſubject for pictures of old. See Philoftratus in Vitâ
Apollonii. Lib. 6. c. 10. p. 239, 240, &c. Ed.
Lipf.
I
DIALOGUE the Tenth.
143
I faid that theſe choices were much more common in antiquity, than has been generally
imagined. Thus, I fufpect at leaft, that the ſtory of Ulyffes and Circe was fomething of
this kind; the debate there was, whether he ſhould give himſelf up to that goddeſs, or
go on to feek Ithaca and the chafte partner of his bed. The trial of the fame hero, when
he refifted the bewitching mufic of the Sirens, is another dreſs for the ſame ſort of
moral; and, if I miſtake not, Horace (26) alludes to both theſe ſtories of this hero,
in a manner that may partly ſerve to juſtify this conjecture. The Choice, or (as it is more
commonly called,) the Judgment of Paris, feems to me to be the Afiatic way of telling
the ſame ſtory; and it is formed on a larger plan, than any of the former. The goddefs
of (27) Wiſdom, the goddeſs of Pleaſure, and the goddeſs of Power, appear to Paris in
his youth. They each make him their offers. He prefers pleaſure, to whatever the
others could give him: and the confequence of this bad choice of his was, the lofs of
his own life, the fufferings of all his friends, and of his country; and finally, the overturning
of the Afiatic monarchy. But what dignifies this matter in general more than any thing I
have ſaid, and more than any thing I could fay, is; that one might give inſtances of
ſome ſtrokes reſembling this method of inftruction, from the facred writers: as in the
choice of Solomon, recorded in the Old Teſtament; and that of a greater than Solomon,
in the New.
ONE word more on this fubject; and I have done with it. The account of theſe
Choices were fo familiar and well known of old, that the Roman poets often allude to
them, in other things befide fixing on a virtuous or vitious courfe of living. So Perfius,
(28) of chufing between two vices, Avaritia and Luxuria: and Ovid in his doubt (29),
whether he ſhould take to writing elegies or tragedies.
FIG. 6.
[
THE figure that you fee next to Virtus, is placed here to reprefent Temperantia; who PL.XXI.
was ſuppoſed to inſpire men with the refolution of (30) bridling in their defires and appe-
tites; and it is therefore that you fee her with a bit, in her right hand. I could never
meet with any figure of Temperantia, on any Roman medal: and was therefore forced
to ſteal this from a Grecian one; and to adapt it to my purpoſe: for, to fay the truth,
the artiſt meant it for a different goddefs. What made me take this extraordinary licence,
(26) Hic, in reductâ valle Caniculæ,
(27)
Vitabis æftus ; & fide Teïâ
Dices laborantes in uno
Penelopen, vitreamqtie Circen.
Horat. Lib. 1. Od. 17. 4. 20.
Rurfum quid Virtus & quod Sapientia poffit
Utile propofuit nobis exemplar Ulyffem ;
Qui domitor Troja, multorum providus urbes
Et mores hominum infpexit: latumque per æquor
Dum fibi, dum fociis reditum parat, afpera multa
Pertulit; adverfis rerum immerfabilis undis.
Sirenum voces, & Circes pocula noſti :
Quæ, fi cum fociis ftultus cupidufque bibiffet,
Sub dominâ meretrice fuiffet turpis & excors;
Vixiffet canis immundus, vel amica luto fus.
Id. Lib. 1. Ep. 2. †. 26.
Venus, et cum Pallade Juno,
Graminibus teneros impofuere pedes.
Tantaque vincendi cura eft, ingentibus ardent
Judicium donis follicitare meum :
Regna Jovis conjux, virtutem filia jactat;
Ipfe potens dubito, fortis an effe velim.
Dulce Venus rifit,(" Nec te, Pari, munera tangant;"
Utraque fufpenfi plena timoris, ait.)
"Nos dabimus quod ames ; & pulchræ filia Ledæ
Ibit in amplexus, pulchrior ipfa, tuos.”
Dixit ; &, ex æquo donis formâque probatâ,
Victorem cœlo rettulit illa pedem.
;
was
Unaque cum regnum, belli daret altera laudem
Tyndaridos conjux tertia dixit, eris.-
Ergo ego fum Virtus? Ego fum tibi nobile regnum?
Id. Ibid. 17. y. 135. (Helena, Par.)
This whole ſtory is told moft fully, and in the
moft pictureſque manner that can be, by Lucian.
In him, Juno offers to make Paris king of all
Afia; or, in other words, the greateſt monarch then
in the world-Minerva promiſes to make him
great in war, and always fuccefsful and Venus
tempts him with the finest woman in the world.
Tom. I. p. 224, & 225. Ed. Blaeu.
(28) Sat. 5. y. 132—153.
:
(29) Lib. 3. El. 1. That whole elegy is on
this fubject; and flung into the manner of the
antient Choices. The place is the grove of Ege-
tia; the perſon to determine, Ovid himſelf; the
goddeffes that appear to him, Elegeïa and Tra-
gœdia. The character he has given to the former,
reſembles that of Defidia; as that of the latter, ſeems
to anſwer Virtus.-Lucian has ufed much the fame
method in his choice between Eloquence and Sculp-
ture. Tom. I. p. 4. Ed. Blaeu.
(30) Temperantia, moderatio eft cupiditatum, ra-
Ovid. Her. Ep. 16. y. 88. (Paris, Hel.) tioni obediens. Cicero, 2. §. 19. de Fin.
t
144
POLYMETIS.
PL. XXI.
FIG. 7.
was my defire of compleating my fet of Cardinal Virtues. I could not find out any
figure fitter for my purpoſe; and one may prefume, from ſeveral expreffions in the Ro-
man writers (31), that the goddeſs Temperantia was reprefented among the Romans, in
the fame manner as the deity which you fee before you. Cicero's definitions of Tempe
rance fay juſt the fame thing, in words; that this bit or bridle does, in the figure. The
fame author, in his Tufculan Queſtions, fpeaks of all (32) the Cardinal Virtues, in a per-
fonal manner. The moderns too repreſent them all perfonally; as, particularly, in the
celebrated paintings of them, in the Jefuits church at Rome: which, (as they were
I
done by one of the very beſt, and moft judicious, of all our modern painters,) may
think ſerve as a very fair inftance, how much the antient artiſts excel the moderns, in their
manner of treating allegorical ſubjects. The antients had more of fimplicity in their de-
figns: they expreſs what they would mean in a fhorter, and ſtronger manner, than the
moderns. Thus, in the ftatues of the four Cardinal Virtues before you, the character of
each is fully expreffed by one fingle attribute. Prudence, who is to guide every thing,
has the directing wand in her hand; Juſtice, who is to weigh every thing aright, her
fcales; Fortitude, who is to act, her fword; and Temperance, who is to reftrain, a bit.
On the contrary, in the paintings I was ſpeaking of, Dominiquin, (who is as much to be
admired for his correctneſs, as any of the moderns perhaps, except Raphael,) expreſſes
lefs, by endeavouring to exprefs too much. Prudence he paints as fupported by Time,
and holding a looking-glafs in her hand; (I fuppofe, to fhew that ſhe is produced by
Experience and Reflection :) and by her is a boy, holding a ſerpent and a dove; (in
compliment, poffibly, to the Jeſuits who employed him; and to fignify that they are
wife as ferpents, and innocent as doves.) Juftice, in his painting, cannot hold the fcales
for the ſcepter, ſhe has in her hand: there are three little angels (or Cupids) about her,
with a crown, the ſcales, and the fafces; and ſhe is ſupported, (I do not well know why,)
by Charity. Fortitude, is with a fword and fhield; fupported by a man with a dart in
his hand, and a lion on her right hand, is the motto of the Jeſuits; and on her left, a
column; not erect. Temperance, has a bit in her right hand, and a palm-branch in her
left; a camel on one fide,. and two boys with pitchers, (perhaps as pouring water
into wine,) on the other: fhe is fupported by Chaſtity.By comparing Dominiquin's
manner of expreffing theſe Virtues, with my figures of them here, you may form fome
idea of the fuperior excellence of the antient artiſts, in things of this nature: and of that
fimplicity, which indeed runs generally thorough all their defigns.
NEXT to the Cardinal Virtues, I have placed Piety. She is veiled, you ſee; and in
the act of cafting fome frankincenfe, on the little altar that ftands by her. The Romans,
in their more folemn devotions, had their heads (33) covered with a long veil; and the
Veftal
venta effræna; all occur in fome or other of the beſt
writers, in their beſt ages.
(31) Cicero's definitions of Temperantia, agree
exactly with the idea of a bit or bridle, in the hand
of that goddeſs. There is one, from his treatiſe de
Finibus, quoted the note before this: we have an-
other, in his Lib. de Inventione ; Temperantia eft
rationis, in libidinem atque in alios non rectos impe-
tus animi, firma & moderata dominatio: and a third,
in his Tufculan Queſtions; Temperantia eft modera-
trix omnium commotionum.
The Roman writers ſeem to allude frequently to
this idea; in ſpeaking of the effects of Temperance.
Thus, frænare animum, is uſed by Cicero; iras
frænare, by the author of Medea; and, frænare ſpes,
by Silius Italicus. -So, animum frænis compefce,
in Horace; and—pone iræ fræna modumque, in
Juvenal.
In the fame manner when they ſpeak of any thing
exceffive, or intemperate; they uſe the words, effræ-
nus, and effrænatus. Thus animus effrænatus, ef-
frænata libido, cupiditas effrænata, furor effrænatus,
violentia hominis effrænata; amor effrænus, & ju-
animo tanto effe coget, ut omnia quæ poffint homini
(32) Jam tibi aderit princeps Fortitudo ; quæ te
evenire contemnas, & pro nihilo putes. AdcritTem-
perantia; quæ te turpiter & nequiter facere nihil pa-
tietur.-Juftitia dicet, dupliciter effe te injuftum;
cum & alienum appetas qui mortalis natus conditio-
nem poftulas immortalium, & graviter feras te quod
utendum acceperis reddidiffe.-Prudentiæ verò quid
refpondebis? dicenti virtute fe effe contentam, quo
modo ad bene vivendum, fic ad beatè. Cicero, Tuſc.
Quæft. Lib. 3. §. 36, & 37.
(33) Conftitit; atque caput niveo velatus amictu,
Jam bene diis notas fuftulit ille manus
Ovid. Faft. L. 3. . 364. (Of Numa.)
Nec pietas ulla eft, velatum fæpe videre
Vertier ad lapidem; atque omnes accedere ad aras
Luc etius, 1. 5. y. 1198.
DIALOGUE the Tenth.
145
Veftal Virgins, as people that were to be almoſt always praying, went always veiled.
The poets fpeak of the (34) ferene face, and modeft air of this goddeſs: they deſcribe
her(35) dreſs, in the fame manner as you fee it here; and add that her robes were white ;
the colour of innocence, and therefore the moſt proper for devotion. Statius invokes this
goddeſs, to wipe away the (36) tears from the face of a good man, that is in great trouble
an idea of piety, which is very juft; and which might give, I think, a very good hint
for a painter now, who was to draw any fon, or daughter, amidſt their deepeſt concern
for the lofs of an affectionate parent.
THO' piety is here repreſented only under the character of devotion; I muſt juſt ob-
ſerve to you, (for the honour of the antient artiſts,) that they often repreſent her too as
productive of the good and virtuous offices of life. Thus inſtead of an altar, ſhe has
ſometimes a ſtork by her; and then fignifies the dutiful actions of children toward their
parents: as, at other times, fhe fignifies the affectionate behaviour of parents toward their
children. I have ſeen figures of her with one, two, and fometimes three children before p₁. XXI.
her. In the latter cafe, fhe puts one in mind of our modern figures of Charity; and FIG. 8.
under this part of her character, may fignify in general, that our love of God is beſt
ſhown in our good deeds to one another.
PL.
FIG. 9.
THE next figure here, is that of Honeſty, or Fidelity. The Romans called her, PL. XXI,
Fides: and when they called her (37) Sola Fides, feem to mean the fame as we do by the
words, downright honefty. She is repreſented (38) with an erect open air; and with
nothing but a thin robe on, ſo fine that one might fee through it. Horace therefore calls
her (39) thin-dreffed, in one of his odes; and tranfparent, in another. This, in the lan-
guage
of the poets and ſtatuaries, is juſt the ſame as when we fay, (in our profeffions of
fidelity and honeſty,) "I wiſh you could fee into my breaſt;" or,
"I wiſh that you
could ſee thorough me." The poets call her (40) Blameleſs, and not to be corrupted;
and the (41) Companion, or Sifter, of Juſtice: and repreſent her as (42) very old, and
grey-headed; a particular which can not appear in the figures of this goddefs; as they
are, I think, only to be met with on medals.
(34) Aversâ cœli Pietas in parte fedebat:
Non habitu quo nota priùs, non ore fereno ;
Sed vittis exuta comam.
Statius, Theb. 11. .460.
-Vitantem afpectus etiam, pudibundaque longè
Ora reducentem
WHEN
(38) Where Petronius is defcribing the Virtues, by
contraries, he ſays;
Huic comes it fubmiffa Fides; & crine foluto
Juftitia: ac mœrens lacerâ Concordia pallâ.
Id. Ibid. *. 494.
(39) Te fpes, & albo rara Fides colit
Velata panno.
*.253.
(35)
-Dejectam in lumina pallam
Diva trahit.
Horat. Lib. 1. Od. 35. †. 22.
Arcanique Fides prodiga, pellucidior vitro.
Statius, Theb. 11. .496.
Id. Lib. 1. Od. 18. . ult.
See the following note.
(40) Incorrupta Fides.
Culpari metuit Fides.
Id. Lib. 1. Od. 24. *.7.
Íd. Lib. 4. Od. 5. †. 20.
Sil. Ital. 2. .484.
(36) Summa deum, Pietas! cujus gratiffima cœlo
Rara profanatas inſpectant numina terras;
Huc vittata comam niveofque infignis amictu,
Qualis adhuc præfens nullâque expulfa nocentum
Fraude rudes populos atque aurea regna colebas,
Mitibus exequiis ades! & lugentis Hetrufci
Cerne pios fletus, laudataque lumina terge!
Statius, Lib. 3. Sylv. 3. . 7. (To Hetrufcus, on
the death of his father.)
(37) Et foli Fidei folenne inftituit. Livy, Lib. 1.
§. 21. (of Numa.) Thus; folâ innocentiâ vivere.
Id. Lib. 2. §. 3.
(41) Juftitiæ confors.
-Pudor, & Juftitiæ foror
Incorrupta Fides, nudaque Veritas.
Horat. Lib. 1. Od. 24. .7.
(42) Ante Jovem generata, decus divumque hominumque.
Silius Ital. 2. .484.
Cana Fides, & Vefta, Remo cùm fratre Quirinus
Jura dabunt.
Virgil. Æn. 1. . 293.
PP
{
146
POLYMETIS.
PL. XXI.
FIG. 10.
PL. XXI.
FIG. II.
FIG. I.
•
;
WHEN they promifed any thing of old, they gave their hand on it, (as we do now ;)
and therefore this goddeſs, is repreſented fometimes, on medals (43), as giving her hand
and fometimes, only by two hands joined together.
THE following figure is that of Chaſtity; which chiefly fignified, among the Romans,
one fpecies of fidelity, that to the marriage-bed. They called her, the goddeſs Pudicitia ;
and repreſented her like a Roman matron. You fee, ſhe has her veil on here; and is
in the modeſt attitude of pulling it over part of her face. Juvenal fpeaks of her perſo-
nally; and ſays, humourously enough (44), “that he believes fhe was once upon our
earth; in the reign of Saturn: but that the quitted it about the time, that Jupiter began
to have a beard." Even their profe (45) writers fpeak perfonally of her too. The Ro-
mans made an odd diſtinction in relation to this goddeſs: there was one ftatue of her that
was to be worſhipped (46) only by the ladies of quality; and others, for the women of a
lower rank.
as
THIS goddeſs is Clemency; whofe diftinguiſhing character, both in her ftatues and
in the poets, is the mildneſs of her countenance. She has an olive-branch in her hand,
a mark of her peaceful and gentle temper. The Romans were at firſt of ſo rough a turn,
that I queftion whether ſhe was admitted as a goddeſs among them in the earlier ages of
the ſtate. I do not remember that ſhe is ever mentioned as fuch, by any poet of the two
firft
ages; and the (47) fulleft paffage relating to her in one of the third, ſpeaks of an
altar to her indeed; but it is of an altar at Athens, and not at Rome. The Athenians as
leſs warlike, were more compaffionate: they made a goddeſs of (48) Mifericordia too;
who, perhaps, was never received as a goddeſs among the Romans, at all.
THESE are all the Virtues that I have as yet in my collection: we come now to thoſe
Beings, who were fuppofed to be the givers of any of the comforts and bleffings of human
PL. XXII. life. This firft of them is Happineſs: you fee fhe has the Caduceus of Mercury in one
hand, and a Cornucopia in the other. This in the language of the ftatuaries feems to
fignify much the fame with the old Latin proverb, Quifque fuæ fortunæ faber;
" that
every one's own good fenfe is the maker of his good fortune, or happineſs in the world:"
Or the Caduceus may fignify peace, and the Cornucopia plenty; which are two of the
principal ingredients of happinefs. The medalifts call her, Felicitas; and it is the fame
goddeſs, (or ſome very near relation of hers,) that Horace ſpeaks of (49), perſonally, by
the name of Fauſtitas; where, by the way, he ſeems to hint, that ſhe chuſes rather to
PL. XXII. dwell in the country, than in cities.-Health ftands next to her here; who is diſtin-
FIG. 2.
guiſhed (as Efculapius, and the medicinal Apollo,) by her ferpent. The Roman poets
fcarce fay any thing of her; perhaps becauſe they gave up fo large a part of her honour,
(43) Hujus imagine ante oculos pofitâ, venerabile
Fidei numen dexteram fuam, certiffimum falutis hu-
manæ pignus, oftentat. Valerius Max. Memorab.
Lib. 6. Cap. 6. (de Fide publicâ.)
(44) Credo Pudicitiam Saturno rege moratam
In terris, vifamque diu: &c.
Et fub Jove; fed Jove nondum
Barbato..
Juvenal. Sat. 6. . 16.
(45). Unde te, virorum pariter ac fæminarum fir-
mamentum, Pudicitia, invocem? Tu enim priſcâ re-
ligione confecratos Vefta focos incolis; tu Capito-
linæ Junonis pulvinaribus incubas: tu, Palatii colu-
men, auguftos penates, fanctiffimumque Juliæ gentis
genialem thorum, affiduâ ſtatione celebras. Valerius
Max. Memorab. Lib. 6. Cap. 1.
(46) In facello Pudicitiæ Patriciæ, quæ in Foro Bo-
and
ario eft, ad ædem rotundam Herculis. Livy, Lib.
10. §. 23.- Aræ Pudicitiæ Plebeæ. Ibid.
(47) Urbe fuit mediâ nulli conceffa potentum
Ara deûm : mitis pofuit Clementia ſedem
Et miferi fecere facram.-
;
Non thurea flamma, nec altus,
Accipitur fanguis. Lachrymis altaria ſudant ;
Moſtarumque fuper libamina ferta comarum
Pendent, & veftes mutatâ forte relictæ.
-Mite nemus circa, cultuque infigne verendo ;
Vittatæ laurus, & fupplicis arbor olivæ..
Statius, Theb. 12. †. 492.
(48) Si Mifericordiam commendabo judici, nihil
proderit,quod prudentiffima civitas Athenienfium non
eam pro affectu, fed pro numine, accepit.? Quinti-
lian. Inftit. Orat. Lib. 5. c. 12. P. 400. Ed. Hack.
(49) Nutrit rura Ceres, almaque Fauftitas.
Horat. Lib. 4. Od. 5. .18.
і
DIALOGUE the Tenth.
147
and office, to their great favourite, Efculapius. -Liberty you may eafily know, by her PL. XXII.
cap and wand: both of which refer to the cuſtoms uſed among the Romans in fetting
their flaves free. The poets allude to theſe (50) badges of liberty; but never deſcribe the
goddeſs herfelf, that I know of.
FIG. 3.
In this range of the Moral Beings relating to Happineſs, I ſhould have done very wrong, PL. XXII.
had I omitted the three that follow next in order; Serenity of Mind, Chearfulneſs, and FIG.4,5,6.
Jollity: (which laft I think had better have been called, Joviality.) The Romans call
·
them, Tranquillitas, Hilaritas, and Lætitia. As their poets are filent about them, I
fhall fay but very little as to each of them. Serenity of Mind might very well have been
placed a little higher, with Health: but theſe three deities hit one another fo well, and
there is fuch a regular gradation in their characters, that I choſe to ſet them together.-
Serenity, looks firm and eafy; fhe refts on a column, with one hand; and holds a
fcepter, in the other. It is the that rules the mind, in the fteddieſt and beſt manner.
Chearfulneſs has a ſprig of myrtle, (the plant of Venus, or the goddeſs of gaiety,)
for her diſtinguiſhing mark; and a Cornucopia. We may be eafy, under want; but it
is a fufficiency, or plenty, that makes us chearful. I have ſeen this goddeſs often on
medals with a palm-branch, (the token of peace,) fometimes with two or three children
about her; and fometimes without any. The former I fuppofe is meant to fignify the
happy ſtate of married men; and the other, that of batchelors.―Joviality, is diſtin-
guiſhed, by the wreath of flowers in her hand: a thing, generally made ufe of among
the Romans, in their feftivals, and treats: and, indeed, the gaiety and ſhort duration of
fuch pleaſures, were very morally and ſtrongly pointed out to them, by the roles which
they wore on their heads, and fcattered all about their couches and tables on thoſe
occafions.
THE next figure to theſe three, is that of Spes, or the goddeſs of Hope. Hope is the great PL. XXII.
ſoftner of the various diftreffes of life; and was left, you know, at the bottom of Pando FIG. 7.
ra's box, as the only refuge againſt all the evils ſhe let loofe into the world. Like the
ſpring, ſhe is ſtill promifing ſomething blooming and pleaſing, after all the chillneſs and
gloominefs of the winter. She is therefore very well repreſented with a bud, just open-
ing, in her hand. This, I think, is as pretty an imagination, as any I have met with
among the works of the old artiſts; and I wonder the poets have touched upon it only
fo (51) flightly, as they ſeem to have done. It is as juft too, as it is pretty. Had the
flower been full blown, it would have been too much for this goddeſs to hold in her
hand; and were the bud quite cloſed up, it would not be enough. It is therefore only
opening; like a morning rofe, that promiſes to diſplay more of its beauties gradually, as
the fun gets higher and higher.-The fitting figure by her is Security; fhe reſts her PL. XXII.
head againſt her hand, in an eaſy and careleſs poſture. I believe ſhe was ſometimes re- FIG. 8.
preſented too, as leaning againſt a column: an attribute of this goddeſs, which Horace
ſeems to (52) allude to; tho' neither he, nor I believe any of the Roman poets, deſcribe
the goddeſs herſelf. The two next deities who are ſo like one another, are Concord, PL. XXII.
FIG. 9, 10.
and Peace: this, the giver of amity and good-will, between the people under the fame
prince and the other, between them, and the nations under different princes. They
are both of a mild countenance; and they are ſometimes both crowned with laurel, in
their
(50)
Donatum jam rude, quæris
Mæcenas iterum antiquo me includere ludo.
Horat. Lib. 1. Ep. 1. ¥. 3.
Hæc mera libertas; hanc nobis pilea donant.
Perfius, Sat. 5. . 82.
This latter was the mark of liberty, ufed of old
on all occafions. Flaminini de Philippo rege trium-
phantis currum-duo millia civium Romanorum pi-
leata comitata funt; quæ Punicis bellis intercepta &
in Græciâ fervientia,-in priftinum gradum reftitue-
rat. Valerius Max. Memorab. Lib. 5. Cap. 2.-
In modum vexilli pileum fervituti, ad arma capienda,
oftentatum erat. Ibid. Lib. 8. Cap. 6.
(51) Only, by the way; and in a manner of ſpeak-
ing borrowed, perhaps, from the reprefentations of
this goddefs: as Horace's, Spem mentita feges; and
Ovid's, In fpe vitis erat,
(52) Injuriofo ne pede proruas
Stantem columnam.
Horace; (in his prayer to Fortune, for the continuance of
the Roman ftate.) Lib. 1. Od. 35. ✈.14-
148
POLYMET I S.
their figures; as they are deſcribed too (53) by the poets. Concord, you fee, holds two
Cornucopia's together, in one of her hands; a thing, which I do not remember to have
feen in any other figure but hers: and as agreement often doubles the advantages we re-
ceive in the world, they feem to be given her with more propriety, than perhaps they
could be to any other. Peace is diftinguiſhed by her olive branch and Caduceus, held
together: which the Romans formerly uſed as the joint emblems of peace, with any of
their neighbours. She is fometimes reprefented too with corn in her hand, and feveral forts
of fruits in her lap: as on a medal given us by Mr. Addiſon (54); and in the deſcription
of this goddeſs (55), quoted by the fame author, from Tibullus. Part of that defcrip-
tion ſhews, that ſhe was dreffed in white robes; as indeed most of the good Moral Beings
ſeem to have been. The author of one of the Latin tragedies gives us a ſketch for a pic-
ture of this goddeſs (56) tying Mars his hands behind him. I have never met with it on
any relievo.
relievo. There was indeed a repreſentation of War, or Diſcord, in the temple of
Janus at Rome of old; and a ſtatue of Peace, in the fame temple: and the meaning of
ſhutting the gates of that temple in time of peace, feems to have been as much (57) to keep
this goddeſs from flying away; as it was to hinder the god of war from breaking looſe,
and flinging the world into confufion.Next to Peace and Concord, you have the god-
defs of Plenty. She is moſt uſually called by the name of Copia in the poets, and that
of Abundantia on medals; for theſe two names, as I take it, fignify exactly the fame
goddeſs. We meet indeed with another goddeſs of this fort on medals, who is called
Annona; and differs from the former as ſhe had a lefs diftrict, and prefided over one ſea-
fon only; for, (as the word feems to fignify,) ſhe was looked on as the giver of plenty of
provifion, for the current year: whereas Abundantia was the giver of other things, as
PL. XXII. well as provifion, and that at all times, and in all places. You fee Abundantia here is
feated on a chair, not unlike the common Roman chairs in its make in general, only its
two fides are wrought into the ſhape of Cornucopia's (58), to denote the character of this
PL. XXII. goddeſs: as Annona has corn in her hand, and the beak of a ſhip by her; to fhew fome
temporary ſupply of corn, which was probably brought by fea to Rome, by the
FIG. II.
FIG. 12.
(53) Frondibus Actiacis comptos redimita capillos,
Pax ades, & toto mitis in orbe mane!
Ovid. Faft. 1. y. 712.
Venit Apollineâ longas Concordia lauro
Nexa comas.
Ibid. 6. *.92.
(54) Treatife on medals, p. 39.
(55) At nobis Pax alma veni, ſpicamque teneto ;
Perfluat & pomis candidus ante finus.
(56)
Tibullus, Lib. 1. El. 10. . 70.
Afperi
Martis fanguineas quæ cohibet manus ;
Quæ dat belligeris fœdera gentibus,
Et cornu retinet divite copiam ;
Donetur tenerâ mitior hoftiâ.
emperor's
Lac dabat illa deo; fed fregit in arbore cornu,
Truncaque dimidiâ parte decoris erat. (*Amalthea.)
Suftulit hoc Nymphe*; cinctumque recentibus herbis,
Et plenum pomis, ad Jovis ora tulit.
Ille (ubi res cœli tenuit folioque paterno
Sedit, & invicto nil Jove majus erat)
Sidera nutricem ; nutricis, fertile cornu
Fecit: quod dominæ nunc quoque nomen habet.
Faft. 5. . 128.
y.
Rigidum fera dextera cornu
Dum tenet, infregit; truncâque a fronte revellit.
Naïdes hoc, pomis & odoro flore repletum,
Sacrarunt; divefque meo bona copia cornu eſt.
(Says Achelous,) Met. 9. y. 88.
If Plenty be ever reprefented with two Cornuco-
pia's, (as Concord ſometimes is,) one might account
for both of them from theſe two differing paffages, in
Medea. Act. 1. Chor. . 66. Ovid.-I do not love critical conjectures; but beg leave
(57) Pace fores obdo, ne qua difcedere poffit.
Says Janus, in Ovid. Faft. 1. . 281.
(58)
✯.
juſt to offer one here.-If Ovid, in the laſt line, had
wrote originally; divefque meo quoque Copia cornu
eft; it would have agreed very well with this account,
that the goddeſs of Plenty had firft Amalthea's horn;
and then a ſecond, from Achelous: and yet an editor,
who had never heard of theſe two ſtories, might
think, quoque, a ſtrange word there; and might
Horat. Carm. Sæc. y. 60. therefore according to cuftom, at his own (and the
Aurea fruges
author's) peril, put in, bona. I queftion whether that
Italiæ pleno diffudit copia cornu.
epithet be ever applied to this goddeſs, in any an-
Apparet beata pleno
Copia cornu.
Id. Lib. 1. Ep. 12. . 29. tient author; and believe it is not becauſe Copia is
-Hinc tibi copia
Manabit ad plenum benigno
Ruris honorum opulenta cornu.
never uſed in a bad ſenſe; and therefore never wants
this epithet, to diſtinguiſh her. Venus indeed is
fometimes called, Bona; but that is becaufe there
Id. Lib. 1. Od. 17. . 16, was a Venus Improba too.
1
149
DIALOGUE the Tenth.
emperor's order; when they were in great want of it. My figure of her here was borrowed
from the reverſe of a medal ftruck in honour of that good emperor, Antoninus Pius.
Pi.. XXII.
As this claſs of Moral Beings make the bleffings of thoſe who live in a lower ſphere of
life; the two firſt, in the following clafs, have (either from the caprice, or folly, of
mankind,) been moft ufually fuppofed to belong only to fuch as have made a noiſe
and buſtle in the world. This winged deity, almoſt in the attitude of flying, and with
her robe as carried back with the wind, is the goddefs of Victory. She holds a laurel-. .
crown in her hand; the peculiar (59) reward of ſucceſsful generals and great conquerors,
of old. We learn from the poets, that her wings were (60) white, and her robe of the
fame colour. They fometimes deſcribe her hovering between two armies engaged in
battle (61), as doubtful which fide the fhall chufe; and fometimes ftanding (62) fixed
by one ſhe is refolved to favour; as you often fee her on the medals of the Roman
emperors.
THIS goddeſs is very frequently reprefented in a chariot, drawn rapidly along by two
horfes; and particularly in numbers of the Roman family-medals, which had their name
from her (63); as we learn from Pliny. The fame author fpeaks of a picture of Victory
at Rome, in which ſhe was afcending up to heaven, in a chariot with four (64) horfes
as the
appears on the Antonine pillar, carrying fome heroe thither with her; and with
a (65) palm-branch in her hand. This, and the crown of laurel, were her general attri-
butes; and a third was a trophy; and ſometimes two, one on each fide of her. This
was a properer mark for this goddeſs at Rome, than any where elſe; for, of old, one
could not have walked through that city, without feeing one or more trophies before the
houſe of every officer, that had (66) ever gained any advantage over their enemies.
:
>
VICTORY is one of the attendants of Virtus; and fo is Glory, or Honos: the only male
in this circle of Moral Beings. He holds a ſpear in his right hand, and treads on a globe : PL. XXIII.
probably, for the fame reaſon that I gave you, when we were confidering the figure ofFIG. 2.
Virtus, juſt now. He is called Honos on á medal too, where you fee him joined with
Virtus; and they perhaps generally made a male of this deity, and called him by the
name of Honos, rather than Gloria; becauſe the latter was (67) fometimes uſed in a bad
(59) Illum non labor Ifthmius
Clarabit pugilem; non equus impiger
Curru ducet Achaïco
Victorem neque res bellica Deliis
Ornatum foliis ducem,
Quòd regum tumidas contuderit minas,
Oftendet Capitolio.
Horat. Lib. 4. Od. 3. 4.9.
(60)
Niveis Victoria concolor alis.
Palma nobilis
Terrarum dominos evehit ad deos.
fenfe
Lib. 1. Od. 1. . 6.
.6.
(66) Aliæ foris, & circa limina, animorum ingen-
tium imagines erant; affixis hoftium fpoliis; quæ
nec emptori refringere liceret triumphabantque,
etiam dominis mutatis, ipfæ domus. Pliny, Lib. 35.
C. 2. P. 415. Ed. Elz.
(67) I have never obſerved any figure of Gloria,
among the antiques I have met with. The Roman
poets ſpeak of her ſometimes in a good, and ſome-
Ovid. Met. 8. y. 13. times in a bad ſenſe.
Silius Ital. 15. *.99
(61) Inter utrumque volat dubiis Victoria pennis.
(G2)
Victoria tecum
Stabit; eris magni victor in arce Jovis.
Id. de Art. Am. 2. y. 540.
(63) Nota argenti fuere bigæ, atque quadrigæ ; &
inde Bigati Quadrigatique dicti.-Qui nunc Victo-
riatus appellatur, lege Clodiâ percuffus eft; antea
enim hic nummus ex Illyrico advectus mercis loco ha-
bebatur; eft autem fignatus Victoriâ, & inde nomen.
Pliny, Lib. 33. c. 3. p. 340. Ed. Elz.
(64) Ibid. c. 10. p. 441.
(65) Horace may, poffibly, allude to fome fuch re-
preſentation of Victory as this, where he ſays;
Thus Horace, in a bad fenfe:
Quem tulit ad fcenam ventoſo Gloria curru.
Lib. 2. Ep. 1. . 178.
And Silius, in a good:
Mecum Honor, & Laudes, & læto Gloria vultu,
(Says Virtus) Lib. 15. ¥. 98.
So, Cicero. Virtus, noctes atque dies animum
Gloriæ ftimulis concitat atque admonet. Pro Archia.
Flaccus gives us a fine image of this goddefs, en-
couraging and calling Jafon and his companions to
their famous expedition for the golden fleece.
Tu fola animos mentemque peruris,
Gloria! Te viridem videt immunemque fenectæ,
Phafidis in ripâ ftantem, juvenefque vocantem..
Argon. 1. y. 78.
*.78.
Q q
:
150
POLYMETIS.
FIG. 3.
fenfe, (for Vain-Glory,) among them. The artifts give Honos a grave fteddy look, per
haps on much the fame account; for if his face was too much elevated or affected, he
might ſeem too much like Vain-Glory: and fo ceaſe to deferve a place, in the rank of
Virtues, or the good Moral Beings.
WE are now got to the laft figure in this round, which is that of Providentia, or di
vine Providence: the giver and diſpenſer of all the Virtues and Bleffings we have been con-
fidering. She therefore clofes the round of them, tho' there are the drawings of fome
other deities, in the baſe, under her feet: which I placed there as ſubject to her, and
as not deferving to appear ranged on an equality with the other figures in this circle.
PL. XXIII. PROVIDENCE, you ſee, is repreſented here, as refting on her ſcepter with one hand;
and pointing with the other, to a globe at her feet. This fignifies that ſhe governs all
things here below. The globe indeed might ſtand for the whole univerſe; but by her
pointing downwards, I rather believe that it was meant of our world only. For tho
the antient Romans fuppofed Providence to prefide over (68) the univerſe; they ſeem
generally to have followed that great and excellent rule, of reafoning only from what
they knew. They experienced the influence of Providence in the ftation allotted to
them; and therefore repreſented her with the globe of the earth at her feet. I have ſeen
another repreſentation of Providence, which pleaſed me better than this; but which could
PL. XXIII, not ſerve for a ſtatue. It is on the reverſe of a medal of Pertinax. The goddeſs ſtands in
an erect noble poſture; with her hands lifted upwards, as if ſhe had juſt flung the globe
of the earth, (which you there ſee above her,) into the air; and as if ſhe was faying,
either "Remain thou fixed in that point;" or, "Take the fettled courfe that I have
appointed you." For if this idea among
For if this idea among the artiſts was of the higheſt antiquity, it might
as well fignify the latter, as the former. Might not one carry this idea yet farther? For as
Pythagoras, and perhaps many of the philofophers before him, are faid to have believed
the motion of the earth, and its fettled courfe thro' fo many ages; it is not impoffible
but they had a notion too, of what we call the Projectile Force; of which this I think
would be as ſtrong a repreſentation, as any our artiſts could poffibly invent; even fince
that doctrine has been reftored, or diſcovered, call it which you pleaſe.
FIG. 4.
I Do not know that any of the Roman poets, of the three good ages, have ever de-
ſcribed, or even ſpoke of Providence, perfonally. With them, I fear, ſome of the
deities I have here placed under her feet, ran away with the honours and acknowledg-
ments that were due rather to herſelf. I have obferved to you before, that Providentia
and Prudentia had much the fame fignification, and were uſed indifferently for one an-
other, among the Romans. Providentia indeed was fo unlucky a word for verſe, that it
could not have a place in the writers of either of the forts that was moſt ufual among them:
it is difqualified from appearing in any of their heroic or elegiac compofitions: but this
does not help them to any excufe; becauſe Prudentia, (which fignifies the fame thing,)
might have ferved very well in either: and I do not remember any deſcription of this
deity in them under that name, any more than the other. I once imagined that ſhe was
ſpoken of by Juvenal, under the name of Prudentia; in a line that would contain a very
great fentiment, if this might be allowed of: but from the force of the context, I am
now perfuaded, that ſhe is not meant even (69) there.
(68) Providentiâ deorum mundus adminiftratur.
Cicero, de Divin. 1. §. 51.
THE
I fome time thought Juvenal's meaning in this
place, was; We have no need of all our multitude
of gods, if we only allow a Providence prefiding over
(69) This paffage of Juvenal is read differently. all things: but inſtead of diſcarding our old gods,
By ſome;
Nullum numen abeft, fi fit Prudentia; fed te
Nos facimus, Fortuna, deam; coloque locamus.
Sat. 10. . 366.
we make new ones: we make a deity of Fortune,
who antiently was not ſuppoſed to be of the number;
and give her a feat in heaven, which she never de-
ferved."
The
DIALOGUE the Tenth.
151
THE deities I have placed here, under the feet of Providence, are fuch as have been
fuppofed, (from the different forts of ignorance, that have prevailed in different ages,) to
direct the world, and guide the actions of man; fuch as Neceffity, the Deſtinies, Genius's,
and Fortune;
In the old heathen fcheme, (at leaſt as high up as the days of Homer,) every thing
was fuppofed to be fixed from the beginning: not only all the happy or unfortunate
events in life; but even all the good and bad actions of men. Homer, in the very pro-
pofition to his Iliad, fays that both the miſbehaviour of Achilles, and the deftruction it
brought on the Grecians, were only the fulfilling of the decrees of Jupiter: Theſe eter-
nal decrees, of what every one was to do and ſuffer, were repreſented among the antients
by orders written on tablets of brafs; kept by the Parcæ or Deftinies: one of which, and
fometimes all three, were alſo fuppoſed to ſpin out the thread of each man's life, chec-
quered unequally with two colours; with more of white, or more of black, according
as each man was to have a greater fhare of happineſs or unhappineſs. This was the no-
tion among
the Greeks; and was borrowed from them by the Romans: tho' it was an
idea capable of undermining all the Virtues, and in particular their great favourite, In-
duſtry: but it was the idea received among them; and I have nothing to do with their
ways of reafoning, but only with facts. I do not well know whether there was any fuch
perfonage as Fate, received among the Romans or not. I am rather inclined to think,
that with them it included every thing that Jupiter had (70) faid; and what therefore
muft be. If this be true, fata will fignify only the words, or decrees, of Jupiter; and
the perſons to put thefe decrees in execution will be the Parcæ; or Deftinies, as we call
them: for according to the old theology, whatever was originally faid (or decreed) by
Jupiter, was neceffarily to have its effect, in its proper time and place, by the miniſtry
of theſe three deities.
•
FIG. 5.
WHETHER the Romans had any perſonal repreſentation of Fate or not, it is certain
that they made a perſon of this Neceffity. Horace fpeaks of her as fuch; and among
other of her attributes, mentions one which you may fee in the drawing of her, which
I have juſt taken out of the baſe before us. She holds, you fee, in her right hand one PL. XXIII.
of thoſe vaſt nails (or pins) which were antiently made uſe of by the Romans, for faſtening
the beams of braſs in fome of their ſtrongeſt buildings. I have feen one of them, which
was formerly thus ufed in Agrippa's Portico to the Rotunda at Rome; and which is ftill
kept as a curioſity in the Great Duke's gallery at Florence. It is itſelf of braſs; and ſo
fo
large, that it weighs near fifty pound. The firmneſs of a building depended ſo much
thefe Clavi trabales, that they are uſed as an emblem of firmneſs, or ftability: and
perhaps
upon
The reading of this paffage, according to others, a deity by the old Romans; but was made ſo latterly,
is,
Nullum numen habes, fi fit prudentia; fed te
Nos facimus, Fortuna, deam cœloque locamus.
which, I fhould think agrees beſt with the context.
Juvenal fays, . 356, that "the two things we
fhould pray for, are good health, and good fenſe :-
that we might be the authors of our own happineſs,
if we pleaſed; .363.-that virtue is the only way to
true happineſs ; .364.-that if we ourſelves are pru-
dent, Fortune has no power over us ;-and that in
truth ſhe is no goddeſs at all; and has only ufurped a
feat in heaven, from the folly of mankind." . 366.
Agreeably to what is here ſaid, it appears from Note
79, poſth. that Fortune was not really looked upon as
by the devotion and folly of the vulgar. By which,
I would be underſtood to mean the great vulgar, as
well as the ſmall; for there were feveral of the em-
perors, who paid a very particular refpect to this fur-
reptitious goddeſs.
(70) What was faid, or ſpoken, by Jupiter; fa-
tum.--Fatum eft, quod Dii fantur. An old poet,
quoted by Servius.-Fatum dicunt effe, quod Dii
fantur; vel quod Jupiter fatur. Ifidorus. Origin.
Lib. 8. Cap. 2.-Minutius Felix has chriftianized
this idea, where he ſays; Quid aliud eſt fatum, quàm
quod de unoquoque noftrum Deus fatus eft? Min.
Fel. §. 36. p. 175. Ed. Davis.
152
POLYMETIS.
perhaps all the other attributes of this goddeſs, mentioned with this by (71) Horace, had
much the fame fignification.
THE three Deſtinies, as I faid before, were looked upon as the diſpenſers of the eternak
decrees of Jupiter; and were, all of them, fometimes ſuppoſed to ſpin the particoloured
PL. XXIII. thread of each man's life. Thus are they repreſented on this medal; each with a diſtaff
in her hand. Martial calls them, (72) the Three Spinning Sifters: and feveral (73) of the
Roman poets have expreffions that refer to the fame idea.
FIG. 6.
THE figures of theſe goddeffes are very uncommon; I do not know that I ever met
with them any where but on this medal: unless they are meant by the figures on a Sar-
cophagus, in that noble collection made by the late, and preſent Pope, in the gallery of
the Capitol at Rome. The long flip in the front of the cover of this Sarcophagus is full
worked; and the figures on it are divided into five compartiments: which all relate to the
death, and future ſtate, of fome old Roman and his wife. In the firſt compartiment,.
you ſee them reclined on a tricliniar bed, as ftill alive; the ufual way of repreſenting per-
fons departed on the old Roman fepulchres, and which (by the way) fhewed their gene-
ral belief of the immortality of the foul. In the fecond, is Mercury; the conductor of
departed fouls to the regions of mifery or blifs. In the third, is Proferpine and Pluto; the.
deities that prefide over thofe regions. In the fourth, is a ſpectre or departed foul: and
in the fifth, three perfons ftanding in the middle, with a woman kneeling on one fide of
them,
(71) Te femper anteit fæva neceffitas:
Clavos trabales & cuneos manu
Geftans ahenâ ; nec feverus
Uncus abeft liquidumque plumbum.
Horat. Lib. 1. Od. 35. . zo.
I uſed formerly to think, (as, I believe, it gene-
rally is thought,) that theſe were inftruments of pu-
niſhing criminals: but there are ſome things here that
cannot be underſtood that way, and they may all be
underſtood as ſigns of ſtability; and confequently are
very proper attributes for Neceffitas.
The Clavi trabales are ſo called becauſe they were
uſed to pin and faſten the great beams in their ſtrongeſt
buildings.The Cunei were fometimes uſed to
make things cloſer and firmer together: and thence,
cuneo, fignifies "to faften with a wedge or pin; to
join or faſten in buildings, as one joint or ſtone is co-
quetted within another;" as the word is explained in
the beſt vocabulary we have for the Latin tongue :
fee the word, cuneo, in Ainfworth.-The Romans
uſed no cement in their nobleft buildings. The
ftones were very large; and were often faftened to-
gether by cramping-irons, and lead poured into the
interſtices: as is to be feen in moſt of the nobleſt re-
mains now at Rome; and particularly, in the Co
loffeum. This anſwers very well to the uncus, and
liquidum plumbum, in this paffage. The uncus may
be called ſeverus, becauſe it was fometimes ufed in
the executions of criminals. That might annex the
idea of ſeverus to it; and when it was fo annexed to
it, it may be uſed with it as a general character: or
poffibly feverus uncus, in this place, may fignify
fomething equivalent to our term, cramping-iron, in
Engliſh.
The expreffion of manu ahenâ here, has ſomething
that ſtill wants to be explained. This ode of Horace
is a hymn, addreſſed to the great goddeſs of Fortune,
at Antium: and he ſeems, in this part of it, to al-
lude to ſome of the proceffions antiently uſed in ho-
nour of that goddeſs. The ſtatue of Neceffity ſeems
to have been carried before the figure of the goddeſs
herſelf. Te femper anteit fæva Neceffitas. This
ſtatue was probably of braſs; the known emblem of
ſtability or firmneſs, of old. The antient ftatuaries
obferved a certain propriety, even in the materials
they worked upon, on fuch and fuch occafions; as
might be proved from a number of inftances in the
ftatues ftill remaining to us.
Brafs and Adamant were always uſed, as the expref-
fions for the moſt durable things. The tablets, on
which the eternal decrees were ſuppoſed to be en-
graved, were of braſs; the ſtatue of Neceffitas might,
for the fame reaſon, be of the fame metal: as Ho-
race, in another place, where he ſpeaks of the clavi
of this goddeſs, fays they were of adamant.
Intactis opulentior
Thefauris Arabum & divitis Indiæ,
Cæmentis licet occupes
Tyrrhenum omne tuis & mare Ponticum;
Si figit adamantinos
Summis verticibus dira Neceffitas
Clavos, non animum metu,
Non mortis laqueis expedies caput.
Lib. 3. Od. 24. †. 8.
Valerius Maximus feems to allude to the nail,
which this goddeſs holds in her hand; and which is
not unlike the ftyle they wrote with formerly; in a
paffage, where he ſpeaks very difreſpectfully of her.
Non ergo Patrum Confcriptorum voluntas ; fed tua,
teterrima Neceffitas, truculenta manus, illi confulto
ftylum impreffit. Memorab. Lib. 7. Cap. 6.
(72) Lanificas nuli tres exorare forores
Contigit.
Lib. 4. Ep. 54.
(73) Talia fæcla fuis dixerunt, currite, fufis
Concordes ftabili fatorum numine Parcæ.
Virgil. Ecl. 4. .47
Hanc lucem celeri turbine Parca neat.
Ovid, (of his own death,) ad Liv. y. 164.
Septima lux venit, non exhibitura fequentem,
Et ftabat vacuâ jam tibi Parca colo.
(On the death of a parrot,) Id. Lib. 2. El. 6, . 46.
DIALOGUE the Tenth.
them, and a man on the other. Theſe three deities, which they addrefs themſelves to,
I imagine to be the three Deſtinies. She, in the midſt of the three, holds a balance
even in her hand; and may fignify the juſtice of the eternal decrees of heaven: another
is reading to them out of a roll (74), (or volume,) that ſhe holds in her hands; and may
fignify the declaration of their fate to them; (anſwerable to that expreffion in ſcripture,
"In the volume of the book it is written :") and the third, who is fpinning, may fignify
the execution of the divine decree; and the determination of their ſtate, in the other life.
I mention this only as a curiofity, and as an uncommon thing; for I have no paſſages in
the poets to confront with it: and indeed the action of the laſt, with the ſenſe I have
given to it, attributes fomething farther to the Deftinies, than feems to have been allowed
them by the poets.
THE fulleſt and beſt deſcription of the Deftinies I have met with, in any of the poets,
is (75) in Catullus. He repreſents them all as ſpinning; and at the fame time finging,
and foretelling the birth and fortunes of Achilles, at Peleus' wedding. His defcription
is an abfolute picture of them. They are extremely old; and dreffed cloſe in long robes,
that reach down to their feet. Their robes, he fays, are white; edged at the bottom,
with purple. They have rofe-coloured veils on their heads, faftened with white vittæ, or
rubans. Catullus is not only fo particular, as to their drefs; but has given us too, the form
of one of their fongs. It is divided into ſeveral ſtanza's, with a chorus: fo that one may
fuppofe each of them to ſing a ſtanza, by turns; and to join all in the concluding line of
each ſtanza, which is always the fame, and what I therefore before called the chorus.
BESIDE theſe great directors of the lives and fortunes of men; the old Romans had an
idea of a fort of divinity, which conftantly attended each fingle perfon, thro' the whole.
courſe of his life. Theſe were certainly divinities of the loweſt rank: each of them be-
ginning to exiſt only at the fame time that the perfons they were to attend, were born
into the world; and ceafing to exift, the moment they died. Thoſe that attended
women were females, and called Junones (76); as thoſe which attended men were males,
and called Genius's. They feem to be nothing elfe but the particular bent and temper
of each perfon, made into a deity: and as every body's own temper is in a great meaſure
(74) This, according to Lucian, fhould be Clotho:
for he introduces her in one of his dialogues, with a
written roll in her hand; and makes her fay: Igwтov
μας ειπατε, όπως αποθανοντες ηκε]ε ; Μαλλον δε αυτής
προς τα γεγραμμενα, υμας επισκεψομαι.
μεντας αποθανειν εδει χθες, εν Μηδία, τετίαρας επι
of donuouтa• &c. Tom. I. p. 426. Ed. Blaeu.
£;
(75) Interea, infirmo quatientes corpora motu,
Veridicos Parcæ cœperunt edere cantus ;
Πολε
His corpus tremulum complectens undique veftis
Candida purpureâ talos incinxerat orâ ;
At rofeo niveæ refidebant vertice vittæ ;
Æternumque manus carpebant rite laborem.
Læva colum molli lanâ retinebat amictum :
Dextera tum leviter deducens fila, fupinis
Formabat digitis; tum, prono in pollice torquens,
Libratum tereti verfabat turbine fufum.
Atque ita decerpens æquabat femper opus dens;
Laneaque aridulis hærebant morfa labellis,
Quæ priùs in leni fuerant extantia filo:
Ante pedes autem candentis mollia lanæ
Vellera virgati cuftodibant calathifci.
Catullus de Nupt. Pelei, 62. . 319.
Their fong follows in that poem; and the chorus-
line, is;
Currite ducentes fubtemina, currite fufi!
To which Virgil feems to allude, as to an old
known verfe; in his famous eclogue, to Pollio:
3
Talia fæcla fuis dicebant, currite, fufis
Concordes ftabili fatorum numine Parcæ.
the
Ecl. 4. .47:
(76) Quamobrem major cælitum populus quàm
hominum intelligi poteft; cum finguli quoque ex
femetipfis totidem deos faciunt, Junones Geniofque
adoptando fibi. Pliny, Lib. 2. c. 7. p. 82. Ed.
Elz.
The women ſwore by their Juno's, or prefiding
Genius's. Thus that pleaſant oath in Petronius.
Junonem meam iratam habeam, fi me unquam vir-
ginem fuiffe memini!
And the lovers fwore fometimes by the fame; as
Tibullus to his miſtreſs:
Nunc licet e cœlo mittatur amica Tibullo;
Hic
Mittetur fruftra, deficietque Venus :
per fancta tuæ Junonis numina juro!
Quæ fola ante alios eft mihi magna deos.
Lib. 4. El. 13. . 16.
This fhews the force of that line in Juvenal:
Et per Junonem domini, jurante miniftro.
Sat. 2. . 98.
*.
On which the old fcholiaft ſays: Servi illi jurant,
quomodo folebant ancillæ Neronis, ipfi adulantes;
"Per Junonem tuam !"
Rr
.
153
154
POLY MET IS.
**
•
the cauſe of his happineſs, or miſery; each of theſe were fuppoſed to ſhare, and have an
equal feeling, in all the enjoyments and fufferings of the perfons they attended. Hence,
I imagine, come thofe expreffions among the antients, of indulging or defrauding your
(77) Genius: for, in their fcheme, when you took any diverfion, your Genius partook
of the pleaſure and whenever you puniſhed yourſelf, you muſt make him uneafy. A
man's turn and temper is the chief cauſe and former of his good or bad fortune, faid (78)
the antients; and therefore this genius may be faid to prefide over every man's life.
Theſe ideas, if well grounded, will go a great way toward explaining three lines in Ho-
race (79), that I uſed to think as difficult as any in that author. He clofes them with
faying that this deity had two very different airs in his face; that he looked fometimes
white, and ſometimes black upon you. Which may fignify no more, than that your
Genius looks pleaſed and chearful, when things go well with you; and fad and gloomy,
when they go ill: as Hanibal's Genius came fmiling to him, when he is faid to have
appeared to that general, amidſt his fucceffes in Spain, to animate him to go into Italy
and as Brutus's Genius looked frowning on him, a little before the fatal battle of Philippi.
I do not know that the poets fay any thing as to the drefs or attributes of theſe deities: but
I have met with them in fome antiques; and particularly on medals: from which we learn,
that they were ſometimes dreffed juſt like the perfons over whom they prefided: for the
PL. XXIII. Juno (or female Genius) of a Veftal, appears in the habit of that order of nuns. This
medal fhews you the appearance of the Genius of one of the Roman empreffes: and as
PL. XXIII. the artiſts were very great flatterers, fhe holds you fee the emblem of Spes in one hand,
and of Virtus in the other; to fignify, that the Genius of this emprefs was the defence
and hope of the empire. Their compliments indeed are not at all to be regarded; for
PL.XXIII. they reprefent the Genius's of the vileft tyrants that ever were, (and in particular that of
Nero,) with an altar, patera, and cornucopia; as marks of that emperor's fignal piety,
and of the general plenty and profperity under his reign.
FIG. 7.
FIG. 8.
FIG. 9.
:
ONE would have thought, that all the events of human life might have been fuffi-
ciently accounted for, between theſe Deſtinies, and Genius's: but the Romans were not
fatisfied with this. They foon found out another deity for the fame purpoſes; who, in
time, came to be regarded by them more than either of the others. This was the goddeſs
Fortune. She was looked on indeed by the wife as an. ufurper, rather than as a natural
inhabitant of heaven (80). It was the populace, that firft gave her that high ſtation;
which made them apply to her, at laſt, for every thing that they wanted: altho' their
own writers all the while treated her, as a divinity that could not deſerve much reſpect;
(77) Indulge Genio; carpamus dulcia.
for
Invenit inter has utrafque fententias, (that of one
Perfius, Sat. 5. .151 great God, and that of an infinity of leffer ones,) me-
dium fibi ipfa mortalitas numen; quo minùs etiam
plana de deo conjectatio effet. Toto quippe mundo,
Terence, Phormio, A&t. 1. Sc. 1. & locis omnibus, omnibufque horis, omnium voci-
Quod ille unciatim vix de demenfo fuo,
Suum defraudans Genium, comparfit mifer.
(78) Suæ quifque fortunæ faber,
(79) The whole paffage is as follows.
Cur alter fratrum ceffare & ludere & ungi,
Præferat Herodis palmetis pinguibus; alter
Dives & importunus ad umbram lucis ab ortu
Sylveftrem flammis & ferro mitiget agrum;
"Scit Genius, natale comes qui temperat aftrum :
Naturæ deus humanæ; mortalis in unum
Quodque caput; vultu mutabilis, albus & ater."
Horat. Lib. 2. Ep. 2. y. 189.
(80) Nullum numen habes, fi fit prudentia: ſed te
Nos facimus, Fortuna, deam; cœloque locamus.
Juvenal, Sat. 10. . ult.
bus Fortuna fola invocatur. Una nominatur, una
accuſatur;¨ una agitur rea, una cogitatur; fola lauda-
tur, fola arguitur; & cum conviciis colitur. Volu-
bilis à plerifque verò, & cæca etiam exiſtimata; va-
ga, inconftans, incerta, varia, indignorum fautrix.
Huic omnia expenfa, huic omnia feruntur accepta ;
& in totâ ratione mortalium, fola utramque paginam
facit. Pliny, Lib. 2. c. 7. p. 84. Ed. Elz.
I have feen an antient gem, in which Cybele, (the
mother of all the gods,) is repreſented as turning away
her head, from Fortune; in an attitude of difowning
and rejecting her. It is publiſhed by Gorlæus, in his
gems, 1. 142. and Montfaucon, in his Antiquities.
Vol. I. Pl. 2. 8.
1
155
DIALOGUE the Tenth.
1
1
for they uſually ſpeak of her as blind (81); inconſtant (82); unjuſt (83); and as (84) des
lighting in miſchiefs.
1
I CAN recollect but one paffage in the Roman poets, that fpeaks of Fortune as (85)
ſtanding on a wheel: and never faw her fo reprefented in any work of the antient artifts.
Indeed they fometimes reprefent her with wings, and a wheel by her; to fhew her incon-
tancy and ſometimes without wings, and a wheel by her; to fhew that the prefided
over the expeditions of their emperors into other countries, and their happy return home
again: for where you fee her thus on medals, fhe is generally called Fortuna Redux.
Her moſt uſual attributes are her Cornucopia, as the giver of all riches; and the Rudder
in her hand, which is often refted on a globe; to fhew that ſhe is the directrefs of all
worldly affairs.
THE incoherences in this goddefs's character obliged the Romans to make feveral di-
ftinctions; they had a (86) Good, and a Bad Fortune: a Conftant, and an Inconftant one.
It ſhould feem from a (87) paffage in Horace that the Bona Fortuna was dreffed in a rich
habit, and the Mala Fortuna in a mean one. The Conftant Fortune, or Fortuna Ma-
nens, you fee on this medal, is without wings; and fitting in a fteddy pofture: fhe has PL. XXIII.
a horſe by her, as an animal noted for ſwiftneſs, which ſhe holds ftill by the bridle. FIG. 10.
The Inconftant Fortune, is winged; as ready to take her flight. Horace ſpeaks of both PL.XXIII.
of them (88) in a paffage which fhews that he deferved the favour, of the former; and
that he was above the power, of the latter.
Ir was common among the old Romans to talk of the ſtatues of the deities they wor-
fhipped, as turning their faces toward them, if they affented to their prayers; and from
them, if they diffented. No doubt, the priests of thofe days uſed many more practices of
this kind, than we can well imagine: and had not only the art of making ſome of their
ſtatues move their heads, but could make them weep, or roll their eyes; and even fpeak
too, upon ſome occafions. From this turning of her head, Fortune had one of her titles
among the Romans: fhe was called Fortuna Refpiciens. Statius ufes this (89) word, of
Fortune; and Virgil, in relation to the goddess of Liberty. I have feen the figure of the
latter on a (90) medal, infcribed Libertas Reftituta; juft in the fame attitude, that one
would imagine the Fortuna Refpiciens to have been reprefented. Livy fpeaks of a (91)
Fortuna: Vertens, or averfe Fortune; whofe figure turned its head from you, as this
would toward you.
JUVENAL alludes to a (92) ftatue of Fortune, which repreſented her under a very good
character; as the patronefs of the poor infants, that were expofed by their parents in the
(81) Quaque ruit, furibunda ruit: totumque per orbem
Fulminat, & cæcis cæca triumphat equis.
(82)
Ovid. ad Liv. ✯. 374•
Hinc apicem rapax
Fortuna, cum ftridore acuto,
Suftulit; hic pofuiffe gaudet.
Horat. Lib. 1. Od. 34. ¥.16.
A juftis Fortuna recederet aris.
(87) Utcumque mutatâ potentes
Vefte domos inimica linquis.
ftreets.
•
Horat. Lib. 1. Od. 35. ✯. 24..
(88) Fortuna, fævo læta negotio &
Ludum infolentem ludere pertinax,
Tranfmutat incertos honores ;
Nunc mihi, nunc alii benigna.
Laudo manentem: fi celeres quatit
Pennas, refigno quæ dedit, & meâ
Virtute me involvo; probamque
Pauperiem fine dote quæro.
(83)
Statius, Theb. 12. †.505.
(84) Fortuna, fævo læta negotio &
Ludum infolentem ludere pertinax,
Tranfmutat incertos honores.
(89)
Refpicit.
*.51.
(85)
Horat. Lib. 3. Od. 29. . 51.
-Per hos etiam Fortunæ injuria mores
Regnat; & incertâ eft hic quoque nixa rotâ.
Ovid, (fpeaking of good princes,) ad Liv. y. 52.
(86) Bona Fortunæ fimulacra in Capitolio. Pliny,
Lib. 36. c. 5. P. 471. Ed. Elz.- Ara & malæ
Fortunæ, Exquiliis. Id. Lib. 2. c. 7. p.82.
Horat. Lib. 3. Öd, 29. ✯.56.
Fors æqua merentes
Statius, Theb. 1. .662.
Libertas, quæ fera tamen refpexit inertem.
Virgil. Ecl. 1. .28.
(90) A gold medal, of Vitellius; in the Strozzi
collection at Rome.
(91) Livy, Lib. 9. §. 17.
(92)
Stat Fortuna improba nočtu,
Arridens nudis infantibus.
Sat. 6. *. 605.
The
FIG. II.
t
136
POLYMETIS.
56
Y
<
III.
Much did the view divide his wavering mind:
Now glow'd his breaft with generous thirst of fame;
Now love of eafe to fofter thoughts inclin'd
His yielding foul, and quench'd the rifing flame.
When, lo! far off two female forms he fpies;
Direct to him their fteps they feem to bear:
Both large and tall, exceeding human fize;
Both, far exceeding human beauty, fair.
Graceful, yet each with different grace, they move:
This, ftriking facred awe; that, fofter, winning love.
IV.
The firſt, in native dignity ſurpaſs'd;
Artleſs and unadorn'd fhe pleas'd the more:
Health, o'er her looks, a genuine luſtre caſt ;
A veft, more white than new-fall'n fnow ſhe wore.
Auguſt ſhe trod, yet modeſt was her air;
Serene her eye, yet darting heav'nly fire.
Still ſhe drew near; and nearer ftill more fair,
More mild appear'd: yet fuch as might inſpire
Pleaſure corrected with an awful fear
Majeſtically ſweet, and amiably ſevere.
V.
;
The other dame feem'd ev'n of fairer hue;
But bold her mien; unguarded rov'd her eye:
And her flush'd cheeks confefs'd at nearer view
The borrow'd bluſhes of an artful dye.
All foft and delicate, with airy ſwim
Lightly the danc'd along; her robe betray'd
Thro' the clear texture ev'ry tender limb,
Height'ning the charms it only feem'd to ſhade:
And as it flow'd adown, fo loofe and thin,
Her ftature ſhew'd more tall; more fnowy-white, her ſkin.
VI.
Oft with a ſmile the view'd herſelf afkance;
Ev'n on her ſhade a conſcious look fhe threw :
Then all around her caft a careleſs glance,
To mark what gazing eyes her beauty drew.
As they came near, before that other dame
Approaching decent, eagerly the preſs'd
With hafty ſtep; nor of repulſe afraid
Ran to the youth, and with a kifs addrefs'd:
With winning fondnefs on his neck the hung;
Sweet as the honey-dew flow'd her enchanting tongue.
1
+
VII
DIALOGUE the Tenth.
157
VII.
!
Dear Hercules, whence this unkind delay?
Dear youth, what doubts can thus diſtract thy mind?
Securely follow, where I lead the way;
And range thro' wilds of pleaſure unconfin’d.
With me retire, from noife, and pain, and care;
Embath'd in blifs, and wrapt in endleſs eaſe:
Rough is the road to fame, thro' blood and war;
Smooth is my way, and all my paths are peace.
With me retire, from toils and perils free
;
Leave honour to the wretch! Pleaſures were made for thee.
VIII.
Then will I grant thee all thy foul's defire;
All that may charm thine ear, and pleaſe thy fight:
All that thy thought can frame, or wiſh require,
To ſteep thy raviſh'd fenfes in delight.
The ſumptuous feaſt, enhanc'd with mufic's found;
Fittest to tune the melting foul to love:
Rich odours, breathing choiceft fweets around;
The fragrant bow'r, cool fountain, fhady grove:
Freſh flowers, to ftrew thy couch, and crown thy head
Joy fhall attend thy fteps, and Eafe fhall fimooth thy bed.
IX.
Theſe will I, freely, conftantly fupply;
Pleaſures, nor earn'd with toil, nor mix'd with woe:
Far from thy reft repining want fhall fly;
Nor labour bathe in fweat thy careful brow.
Mature the copious harveft ſhall be thine
Let the laborious hind fubdue the foil:
Leave the raſh ſoldier ſpoils of war to win;
Won by the foldier thou fhalt fhare the ſpoil:
Theſe ſofter cares my bleft allies employ,
New pleaſures to invent; to wiſh, and to enjoy."
X.
Her winning voice the youth attentive caught:
He gaz'd impatient on the fmiling maid;
.
Still gaz'd, and liften'd: then her name befought:
My name, fair youth, is Happineſs, ſhe ſaid.
Well can my friends this envy'd truth maintain :
They ſhare my blifs; they beft can fpeak my praife:
Tho' flander call me Sloth-Detraction vain!
Heed not what flander, vain detracter, fays:
Slander, ftill prompt true merit to defame;
To blot the brighteſt worth, and blaft the faireft name."
:
XI.
158
POLYMETIS.
XI.
By this, arriv'd the fair majeſtic maid:
(She all the while, with the fame modeſt pace,
Compos'd advanc'd.). "Know, Hercules, fhe faid
With manly tone, thy birth of heav'nly race ;
Thy tender age that lov'd inftruction's voice,
Promis'd thee generous, patient, brave and wife;
When manhood ſhould confirm thy glorious choice:
Now expectation waits to ſee thee riſe.
Rife, youth! Exalt thyſelf, and me: approve
Thy high defcent from heav'n; and dare be worthy Jove.
XII.
But what truth prompts, my tongue ſhall not diſguiſe;
The ſteep aſcent muſt be with toil fubdu'd :
Watchings and cares muſt win the lofty prize,
Propos'd by heav'n; true bliſs, and real good.
Honour rewards the brave and bold alone;
She ſpurns the timorous, indolent, and baſe:
Danger and toil ſtand ſtern before her throne;
And guard, (fo Jove commands,) the facred place.
Who feeks her muſt the mighty coft fuftain,
And pay the price of fame; labour, and care, and pain.
XIII.
Wou'dft thou engage the gods peculiar care?
O Hercules, th' immortal powers adore!
With a pure heart, with facrifice and pray'r
Attend their altars; and their aid implore.
Or wou'dft thou gain thy country's loud applauſe,
Lov'd as her father, as her god ador'd?
Be thou the bold affertor of her cauſe:
Her voice, in council; in the fight, her ſword.
In peace, in war, purſue thy country's good:
For her, bare thy bold breaft; and pour thy generous blood.
XIV.
Wou'dft thou, to quell the proud and lift th' oppreſt,
In arts of war and matchleſs ſtrength excel?
Firft conquer thou thyself. To eaſe, to reſt,
To each ſoft thought of pleaſure, bid farewel.
The night alternate, due to fweet repofe,
In watches wafte; in painful march, the day:
Congeal'd, amidſt the rigorous winter's fnows;
Scorch'd, by the fummer's thirſt-inflaming ray.
Harden'd by toil, thy limbs fhall boaſt new might:
Vigour ſhall brace thine arm, refiftlefs in the fight."
XV.
DIALOGUE the Tenth.
159
,
XV.
"Hear'ft thou, what monfters then thou muſt engage;
What dangers, gentle youth, ſhe bids thee prove?
(Abrupt fays Sloth :) ill fit thy tender age
Tumult and wars; fit age, for joy and love.
Turn, gentle youth, to me, to love and joy!
To theſe I lead: no monſters here ſhall ſtay
Thine eaſy courſe; no cares thy peace annoy:
I lead to blifs a nearer, fmoother way.
Short is my way; fair, eafy, fmooth, and plain:
Turn, gentle youth! With me, eternal pleaſures reign.”
XVI.
"What pleaſures, vain miſtaken wretch, are thine!
(Virtue with fcorn reply'd :) who fleep'ft in eaſe
Infenfate; whoſe ſoft limbs the toil decline
That ſeaſons bliſs, and makes enjoyment pleaſe.
Draining the copious bowl, ere thirſt require;
Feafting, ere hunger to the feaſt invite :
Whoſe taſteleſs joys anticipate defire ;
Whom luxury fupplies with appetite :
Yet Nature loaths; and you employ in vain
Variety and art to conquer her difdain.
XVII.
The ſparkling nectar, cool'd with fummer fnows;
The dainty board, with choiceft viands ſpread;
To thee are taſtelefs all! Sincere repofe
Flies from thy flow'ry couch, and downy bed.
For thou art only tir'd with indolence:
Nor is thy fleep with toil and labour bought ;
Th' imperfect ſleep, that lulls thy languid ſenſe
In dall oblivious interval of thought:
That kindly ſteals th' inactive hours away
From the long, lingring ſpace, that lengthens out the day.`
XVIII.
From bounteous nature's unexhauſted ſtores
Flows the pure fountain of fincere delights:
Averſe to her, you waſte the joyless hours;
Sleep drowns thy days, and riot rules thy nights.
Immortal tho' thou art, indignant Jove
Hurl'd thee from heaven, th' immortals blissful place;
For ever baniſh'd from the realms above,
To dwell on earth, with man's degenerate race:
Fitter abode! On earth, alike diſgrac'd;
Rejected by the wife, and by the fool embrac'd.
$
Tt
XIX.
160
POLYMETIS.
XIX.
Fond wretch, that vainly weeneft all delight
To gratify the fenfe referv'd for thee!
Yet the most pleafing object to the fight,
Thine own fair action, never didit thou fee.
Tho' lull'd with ſofteft founds thou lieft along;
Soft mufic, warbling voices, melting lays :
Ne'er did't thou hear, more fweet than fweeteft fong
Charming the foul, thou ne'er did't hear thy praiſe!
No-to thy revels let the fool repair:
To fuch, go ſmooth thy fpeech; and ſpread thy tempting fnare.
XX
Vaſt happineſs enjoy thy gay allies!
A youth, of follies; an old-age, of cares:
Young, yet enervate; old, yet never wiſe;
Vice waſtes their vigour, and their mind impairs.
Vain, idle, delicate, in thoughtleſs eaſe
Referving woes for age their prime they ſpend;
All wretched, hopeless, in the evil days
With forrow to the verge of life they tend.
Griev'd, with the prefent; of the paſt, afham'd;
They live, and are defpis'd; they die, nor more are nam'd,
XXI.
But with the gods, and godlike men, I dwell:
Me, his fupreme delight, th' almighty Sire
Regards well-pleas'd: whatever works excel,
All or divine or human, I inſpire.
Counſel with ſtrength, and induſtry with art,
In union meet conjoin'd, with me refide:
My dictates arm, inftruct, and mend the heart;
The fureft policy, the wifeft guide.
With me, true friendſhip dwells: fhe deigns to bind
Thofe
generous fouls alone, whom I before have join'd.
XXII.
Nor need my friends the various coſtly feaſt;
Hunger to them th' effects of art fupplies:
Labour prepares
their weary limbs to reſt
Sweet is their fleep: light, chearful, ftrong they rife.
Thro' health, thro' joy, thro' pleaſure, and renown,
They tread my paths; and by a foft deſcent,
At length to age all gently finking down,
Look back with tranſport on a life well-ſpent:
In which, no hour flew unimprov'd away;
In which, fome generous deed diſtinguiſh'd every day.
1
XXIII
1
DIALOGUE the Tenth.
IỘI
XIII.
And when, the deſtin'd term at length compleat,
Their aſhes reft in peace; eternal fame
Sounds wide their praife: triumphant over fate,
In facred fong, for ever lives their name.
This, Hercules, is happiness! Obey
My voice; and live.
Lift, and enlarge,
Let thy celeftial birth
thy thoughts. Behold the way
That leads to fame and raifes thee from earth
Immortal! Lo, I guide thy steps. Arife,
Purſue the glorious path; and claim thy native fkies."
XXIV.
Her words breathe fire celeftial, and impart
New vigour to his foul; that ſudden caught
The generous flame: with great intent his heart
Swells full; and labours with exalted thought:
The miſt of error from his eyes diſpell'd,
Thro' all her fraudful arts in cleareſt light
Sloth in her native form he now beheld;
Unveil'd ſhe ſtood; confeſt before his fight :
Falſe Siren!-All her vaunted charms, that ſhone
So freſh erewhile, and fair; now wither'd, pale, and gone,
XXV.
No more, the rofy bloom in ſweet diſguiſe
Maſks her diffembled looks: each borrow'd grace
Leaves her wan cheek; pale fickneſs clouds her eyes
Livid and funk, and paffions dim her face.
As when fair Iris has a while diſplay'd
Her watry arch, with gaudy painture gay;
While yet we gaze, the glorious colours fade,
And from our wonder gently fteal away:
Where ſhone the beauteous phantom erſt ſo bright,
Now lowers the low-hung cloud; all gloomy to the fight,
XXVI.
But Virtue more engaging all the while
Diſclos'd new charms; more lovely, more ferene;
Beaming ſweet influence. A milder ſmile
Soften'd the terrors of her lofty mien.
ડ
Lead, goddeſs, I am thine! (tranſported ery'd
Alcides :) O propitious pow'r, thy way
Teach me! poffefs my foul; be thou my guide:
From thee, O never, never let me ftray!"
While ardent thus the youth his vows addrefs'd;
With all the goddeſs fill'd, already glow'd his breaft.
XXVII.
7
162
POLYMETIS.
Page 162.
•
XXVII.
The heav'nly maid, with ſtrength divine endu’d
His daring foul; there all her pow'rs combin'd:
Firm conftancy, undaunted fortitude,
Enduring patience, arm'd his mighty mind.
Unmov'd in toils, in dangers undiſmay'd,
By many a hardy deed and bold emprize,
From fierceft monfters; thro her pow'rful aid,
He free'd the earth: thro' her, he gain'd the ſkies.
'Twas Virtue plac'd him in the bleſt abode
Crown'd, with eternal youth: among the Gods, a God,
;
}
:
1
Boitard Sculp

XXI
000
PRVDENTIA
IVSTITIA
FORTIT VDO,
PIET.
TEMPERANTIA
PIETAS.
CLEMENTIA.
PVDICITIA.
FIDES.
L.P. Boitard Sculp

XXII
LIBERTAS.
FELICITAS.
SALUS.
DO
TRANQUILLITAS
HILARITAS.
LETITIA.
SECVRITAS.
CONCORDIA.
SPES.
PAX.
ABUNDANTIA.
ANNONA.
IX
L.P. Boilard Sculp

XXIII
PROVIDENTIA
HONOS.
VICTORIA,
NECESSITAS
PARCE
PROV
JVNO MAM:
JVNO VEST
GENIVS.
VI
FORTVNA.
FORT:
FORT:
LP. Boitard Sculp
163
BOOK the Fifth.
Of the Conſtellations; Planets: Times,
and Seaſons.
A
DIAL. XI.
The Conftellations.
S they had now confidered all the figures, both in the infide, and on the outſide
of the Rotunda; Polymetis, the next day, led his two friends to his temple
of the Conſtellations, a little below it on the right hand. This was a round
temple too, but without any Portico; and of the Corinthian order, as the other was
of the Compofite. As they entered it, they faw two ſtatues, one on each fide of the
door, and a large Atlas, in the midſt of it, ſupporting a globe of the heavens on his
fhoulders: and the walls were adorned with relievo's, in proper places; relating to the
fame. Near the Atlas, was a table fet out, with fome books open upon it; and a few
drawings. You fee, fays Polymetis, that I have got every thing in order for you. This ſta-
tue with the globe, is a copy of that at the Farneſe palace at Rome. It is perhaps the only
Celeſtial Globe, with the figures upon it in the true antient manner, now in the world.
Theſe books are fome of the good old authors that relate to it. This is Pliny; who
ſpeaks often of the ſtars; and particularly, in the fecond, and eighteenth books of his
Natural Hiſtory: and this Vitruvius; who has given us a catalogue of all the Conſtellations
on the celeſtial globes in his times; that is, in the Auguftan age. If I do not miſtake,
fays Myfagetes, the occafion Vitruvius has taken to treat of the ſtars is a little too Pindaric.
He is inftructing people how to make a fun-dial on their houſes; to do that, a man muſt
be fomething of an aſtronomer; and ſo he obliges us immediately, with a complete cata-
logue of all the ſtars. Indeed, anfwered Polymetis, I do not fee what neceffity he was
under of giving us this catalogue; unleſs the fun-dials of old were much more ſcientific
things, than ours are uſually at preſent: but however he has given it; and let him anfwer
for the occafion.This is Avienus's paraphraſe of Aratus; which I fhall beg leave to
cite, if there be any neceffity for it: and this Manilius; who gives a catalogue, (that
ſquares almoſt in every article with Vitruvius's,) in the first book of his Aftronomics: and
in the laft, treats very particularly of the figures of the different Conftellations; their
bearings to one another; and the effects they have on the temper and fortunes of thoſe,
who are born under fuch or fuch a conftellation. Even this part, as frivolous as it is in
itfelf, will be of fome ufe to me; becauſe Manilius generally fits his predictions to the (1)
figure, or air, of the conſtellation he is ſpeaking of. Theſe other books, are ſome of the
Roman poets; who, tho' they do not treat of the conftellations exprefly, like Manilius;
yet give us defcriptions of feveral of them, here and there, as occafion offers. Indeed
Virgil in his Georgics, and Ovid in his Faſti, go rather farther: for they make it part of
their (2) propofition, in each of thoſe
poems.
(1) Thus, for inftance, becaufe Cepheus has a fe-
vere countenance; he ſays thoſe who are born under
Cepheus, will be rigid and cenforious: and becauſe
Andromeda is chained, thofe born under her muſt
be jayl-keepers.
(2) Tempora cum caufis Latium digeſta per annum,
Laplaque fub terras ortaque figna canam.
Ovid. Faft. 1. . 2.
U u
Vertere
J
•
THE
Quo fidere terram
Virgil. Georg. 1. Ý. 2.
And the fame poet ſays afterwards:
Tam funt Arêturi ſiderà nobis
Hædorumque dies fervandi, & lucidus Anguis ;
Quàm quibus in patriam ventofa per æquora vectis,
Pontus & oftriferi fauces tentantur Abydi.
Georg... 207.
164
POLYMET I S.
!
}
THE antients in general allude ſo often, and ſometimes ſo particularly, to the figures on
their globes, in their poems; that there is no underſtanding the latter, without having
fome acquaintance with the former. This goes fo far, that Quintilian, (where he is
giving inſtructions how to form his young orator,) after ſpeaking of his reading the poets,
fays; that it is neceffary for him to ftudy aftronomy (3), in order to underſtand them.
This is become ſtill more neceffary, at prefent: for we have been uſed, not only to be
unaffiſted by the figures of the conſtellations, as they were repreſented on the antient
globes; but to be mif-led too by the figures of them, as they are reprefented on the
modern. For tho' the conftellations, in general, are pretty much the fame in both; yet
either their characters, or drefs, or air, or attributes, have been fome how or other changed
in almoſt every one of them; as will eafily appear to any one who would take the trouble
of comparing the figures on the Farnefe globe, with thoſe on any of the moſt received
globes among the moderns. This has been fo little regarded hitherto, that on aſking
ſome celebrated mathematicians of our own country, what were the principal differences
between the figures of the conftellations on the antient and the modern globes, (in order
to inform myſelf as to fome points, of which I doubted ;) their conftant anſwer has been,
that they had always imagined, that there was not any difference at all.
THE drawing I have in my hand, was taken from the Farnefe globe. If you pleaſe,
we will confider each figure in it; together with what the Roman poets may fay, that
is any way material, of any of them. You fmile, Myfagetes, to fee me, whom you
know to be no aftronomer, preparing to read you a lecture on the celestial globe. I do
not pretend to talk of it ſcientifically; but only to confider the different ſhapes, airs, or
attitudes, of the creatures and things delineated on it. The globe, in my hand, is as a
picture-book in the hands of a child: he may divert himſelf with the figures, tho' he be
ignorant even what language the book is wrote in. Or, to give the compariſon a little
more dignity, I may talk over the figures on the celeſtial globe, with as much juſtice as
Cicero undertook to tranflate Aratus; when, (as he himſelf I think ſomewhere ſays,) he
did not underſtand aftronomy.
THO' the ſtars were looked on by the antients to be innumerable; yet the conſtellations
on their globes were not fo numerous, as they are on the modern. Their number then
was under fifty; and we have increaſed them to upwards of fixty.
子
​THE Farneſe globe, tho' it has been fo much injured, (partly by time, and partly I fear
by the folly of thoſe who have had the keeping of it ;) has however preferved to us above
forty of theſe old conftellations. The principal lines are marked out on it. Theſe two bind-
ing ones, you fee, include the middle ſpace; or the torrid zone (4): the next divifion on
each fide of this, are the two temperate zones; as the divifions at each end beyond them,
are the two frigid ones. Theſe lines, that run obliquely here acroſs the torrid zone, is
the Zodiac. To avoid the confufion that ſuch a number of figures is apt to give one,
we will if you pleaſe firſt confider all the Conſtellations that lie north of the Zodiac;
then, thofe of the Zodiac itſelf: and laſtly, thoſe that lie to the ſouth of it.
P₁. XXIV. →→ THE Great Serpent, here by the northern pole, is not contented with one hemiſphere.
He ſpreads himſelf indeed chiefly in our hemifphere, where you fee this chaẩm; but there
is part of him which wanders too into the other. Had Statius only ſaid, that he extended
into
(3) Nec fi rationem fiderum ignoret, poetas intelli-
gat; qui, ut alia mittam, toties ortu occafuque fig-
norum in declarandis temporibus utuntur. Quintilian.
Inftitut. Lib. I. C. 4..
(4) Quinque tenent cœlum Zonæ ; quarum una corufco
Semper fole rubens, & torrida femper ab igni:
Quam circum, extrema dextrâ lævâque, trahuntur
Cæruleâ glacie concretæ atque imbribus atris :
Has inter mediamque, duæ mortalibus ægris
Munere conceffæ divûm. Via ſecta per ambas
Obliquus quâ fe fignorum verteret ordo.
Virgil. Georg. . . 239.
DIALOGUE the Eleventh.
165
1
into (5) the other hemiſphere; I think, he would have ſpoken more correctly than he has.
This part of the Farnefe globe is ſo much damaged, (by their having made a great hollow
in the top of it,) that we cannot trace all his folds and windings. But according to Virgil
Ovid, and Manilius, he ſhould roll (6) between the two Bears, as well as round them.
THE Arcti are totally loft on the Farneſe globe, by the accident juſt mentioned.
Helice, or the greater Bear, had its tail (7) toward the head of Cynofura, or the leffer
Bear. Before the diſcovery of the compaſs, theſe two Conftellations were the great di-
rectors of navigation. The Greeks (8) always obferved the former in their voyages; and
the Tyrians and Carthaginians, as greater failors, obferved the latter.
BoÖTES, was behind the greater Bear; (or Charles's Wain, as we vulgarly call it, pro-
bably from the Roman name of (9) Plauftra;) and appears in the act of (10) driving it on.
You fee here, he is dreffed in the habit of a countryman; (a fhort tunic girt about him,
and with his arms and legs bare, as the labourers are uſually repreſented in the paintings
in the Vatican Virgil;) and with the Pedum Paftorale, in his right hand. The famous
ſtar, Arcturus, was on his (11) breaſt; which ſhould be (at leaſt) as far naked, as his
back appears here.
JUST by the Pedum in Boötes's right hand, you fee a wreath of leaves and flowers,
faſtened with a ruban. This is the Corona, or Ariadne's crown; which makes much
ſuch a (12) circular appearance in the heavens, as it does here; tho' we have turned it
into a Gothic crown, in all our modern globes. Manilius, who generally draws his prog-
noftications, from the forms or circumſtances of the Conftellations on the old globes;
very plainly alludes to the materials of which this is formed: where he ſays, "that the
perfons born under Ariadne's crown (13), will delight in flower-gardens; and be makers
of nofegays, and feftoons.",
(5) Quantus ab Arctois difcriminat æthera plauftris
Anguis ad ufque notos; alienumque exit in orbem.
Statius. Theb. 5. *.530.
(6) Maximus hic flexu finuofo elabitur Anguis
Circum perque duas, in morem fluminis, Arctos.
Virgil. Georg. 1. . 245.
Tantoque eft corpore; quanto,
Si totum fpectes, geminas qui feparat Arctos.
Ovid. Met. 3. *. 45·
Has interfufus, circumque amplexus, utramque
Dividit & cingit ftellis ardentibus Anguis.
Manilius, 1. . 307.
(7) See Aratus, y. 49-54. Manilius, 1. . 303.
(8) Effe duas Arctos: quarum Cynoſura petatur
Sidoniis; Helicen Graia carina notat.
Ovid. Faft. 3. y. 108.
Majorem Helice major decercinat arcum ;
Septem illam ftellæ certantes lumine fignant:
Quâ duce per fluctus Graiæ dant vela carinæ.
Angufto Cynofura brevis torquetur in orbe,
Tam fpatio quàm luce minor: fed judice vincit
Majorem Tyrio; Pœnis hæc certior auctor
Non apparentem pelago quærentibus orbem.
(9)
(10)
(11) Arcturumque rapit medio fub pectore fecum.
(12)
THE
Manilius, 1. y. 318.
Locus Ar&turo-afcribitur, illinc
Aurea quà fummos adftringunt cingula amictus.
Avienus, . 271.
Claro volat orbe Corona
Luce micans variâ; nam ftellâ vincitur unâ
Circulus in mediâ radians quæ proxima fronte,
Candidaque ardenti diftinguit lumina flammâ :
Gnoffia defertæ hæc fulgent monimenta puellæ.
Manilius, 1. .323.
Opem Liber tulit: utque perenni
Sidere clara foret, fumtam de fronte coronain
Immifit cœlo. Tenues volat illa per auras;
Dumque volat, gemmæ fubitos vertuntur in ignes:
Confiftuntque loco, fpecie remanente coronæ.
Ovid. Met. 8. .182.
Gemmæ, here, is a very unlucky word. It natu-
rally fignifies buds of flowers, or leaves; and by way
of allufion, gems, or precious ftones. Cum vites
incipiunt gemmare. Cic.-
Cic.Turgent in palmite
gemmæ. Virg.Where this word is ufed by any
Manilius, 1.. 302. of the antient writers, of this conftellation; I think it
Aufone eafdem
ſhould be underſtood, in its firft and natural fenſe:
Voce Feras, Urfafque, & Plauftra, vocare folemus ; tho' any modern reader would be more apt to take it,
Fabula namque Urfas, fpecies dat plauftra videri.
in the metaphorical one.
Avienus's Tranfl. of Aratus, y. 104.
Licet inftanti fimilis fimilifque minanti,
Terga Helices juxta premat arduus,haud tamen unquam
In picturatæ plauftrum procurrere matris
Fas datur
Id. *. 262.
-Similis junctis inftat, de more, juvencis.
Manilius, 1. .317.
Heniochufque memor cursûs, plauftrique Boötes.
Id. 5. . 20.
(13) Ille colet nitidis geminantem floribus hortum ;
Pallentes violas, & purpureos hyacinthos,
Liliaque, & Tyrias imitata papavera luces,
Vernantifque rofæ rubicundo fanguine florem ;
Cæruleum foliis viridemque in gramine collem
Conferet ; & veris depinget prata figuris ;
Aut varios nectet flores, fertifque locabit:
Virginis hoc anni pofcunt; florefque Coronæ.
Manilius, 5. . 26g
3
166
POLYMETIS.
THE next figure had his name (14), both among the Greeks and Romans, from his
kneeling; as you fee he does here. The reafon of his being in that pofture, was (15)
unknown in the times of Manilius; and even of Aratus: fo that it feems to have been a
mark of fome very antient tradition; the uſe of which might be continued, after the in-
tent of it was loft: as the Chineſe are ſaid ſtill to retain their myftic characters, without
underſtanding any thing of the myſteries antiently expreffed by them. Avienus will
have it, that this is Hercules: and that it repreſents him as almoſt fatigued with his long
combat againſt the ſerpent, that guarded the golden fruit in the garden of the Hefperides.
His foot, you fee, ftands exactly over the head of Anguis. Perfons who delight in fuch
fort of hints from the feveral ftories relating to Hercules, as were mentioned when we
were confidering the character of that hero, would-certainly make this one of them:
and the rather, becauſe Avienus fays that Jupiter took Hercules himſelf up into the higher
heavens, for his labours upon earth; that his figure was placed here among the Conftel-
lations, as a memorial of them; and that he ſhould always appear there,with his heel (16)
as bruifing the great ferpent's head.
THIS figure of Hercules, or whoever it was, is quite naked on the antient globe; and
fo is Ophiuchus, you ſee, who holds another long ferpent in his hands. Manilius fpeaks
of him and this ferpent, as (17) fighting together; and fays, they are fo equal a match,
that their combat muſt laſt for ever. If that was the cafe, our old globe is not fo pictu
refque in this particular, as it ſhould be: for the ferpent in his hands, according to the
pofition of its head here, (if it threatens at all,) feems rather to threaten Boötes, than the
perfon who holds it.
THE figure of Lyra here, fhews that the Lyra and Teftudo of old was one and the fame
inftrument; for they generally call it Lyra, and its appearance plainly determines it to!
be the Teſtudo; the bottom part of it conſiſting of the entire ſhell of a tortoife. There
are but fix ftrings to it, on the Farneſe globe; but there is a ſpace for the feventh: which
ſeems rather to have been defaced by fome accident, than to have been omitted; or
perhaps it was originally omitted, and that ſpace left, in memory of the Pleiad that has
diſappeared; for it is faid to have had ſeven ſtrings at firſt (18), in allufion to the ſeven
Pleiades. Manilius in one place alludes to the tortoiſe in this lyre, with a (19) ſtroke of
that falſe ſort of wit, which one meets with in him but too often; and in another, ſpeaks
of its (20) Cornua, (or horns,) which are very evident in this figure; and which I ac-
counted for to you before (21), in ſpeaking of Mercury's invention of the lyre.
JUST under this Conſtellation, you fee Aquila; which I must own makes a very dif
ferent
appearance on this globe, from what I expected. The poets fpeak of him as (22)
(14) The Greeks called this figure, Evyovaσis the
Romans, Nixus, Nixus genibus, and Ingeniculatus.
#
(15) Proxima frigentes Arctos Boreamque rigentem,
Nixa venit fpecies genibus; fibi confcia caufæ.
Manilius, 1. *. 315.
Το μεν στις επισαται αμφαδόν ειπειν,
Ουδ' ωτιν κρεμαται κείνος πουω
flying;
(18)
Septena putaris
Pleïadum numero fila dediffe lyræ.
Ovid. Faft. 5. . 106.
(19) Nunc furgente lyrâ, teftudinis enatat undis
Forma.
Manilius, 5. . 320.
Lyra diductis per cœlum cornibus inter
Sidera confpicitur.
(20)
Aratus, . 65.
(21) See p. 107. & Pl. 15. Fig. 2.
(22)
(16) Et manus ipfa Dei violenta in verbera pendens
Erigitur; dextræque dehinc impreffio plantæ
Tempora deculcat maculofi prona Draconis.
Avienus, . 193.
(17) Serpentem magnis, Ophiuchus nomine, fignis
Dividit; & toto mergentem corpore corpus
Explicat, & nodos finuataque terga per orbes;
(Refpicit ille tamen, molli cervice reflexus)
Et didit fufis per laxa volumina palmis:
Semper enim paribus bellum quia viribus æquant.
Manilius, . . 336.
•
Id. 1. . 325-
-Propter fe Aquila ardenti cum corpore portat,
Igniferum mulgens tremebundis æthera pennis.
Fragment, of Cicero's tranfl. of Aratus.
Tunc oritur magni præpes adunca Jovis.
Ovid. Faft. 6. . 196.
-Magni Jovis ales fertur in altum
Afſuetò volitans, geftet ceu fulmina mundi ;
Digna Jove & cœlo, quod facris inftruit armis.
Manilius, 1. . 345-
Nunc
!
DIALOGUE the Eleventh.
167
flying; and as grafping the fulmen in his talons: whereas here, he is without the ful-
men, and ſtanding in a quiet pofture. No doubt there was fome difference, in the diffe-
rent globes uſed by the antients, as well as in the modern: and this is the greateſt inſtance
of it, I think, that I have met with. The head of Aquila, is in the other hemifphere;
you fee; near the Dolphin.
BOTH Manilius and Ovid fpeak of the figure of the Dolphin, as (23) very aptly marked
out by the difpofition of the ſtars included in that Conſtellation. From (24) an expreffion
ufed by the former one may infer that, on the painted globes of the antients, the Dolphin
was repreſented of a dark colour: on which ground the ftars, (when repreſented there
too,) muſt have appeared to much more advantage, than they could on ſeveral of the other
conftellations; and particularly on the Cygnus juft by him, which was quite white.
CYGNUS is repreſented both here and by the poets (25), in the attitude of flying. You
have often ſeen this Swan, (in other attitudes,) in marble; for according to Manilius, it is
the very Swan under whoſe form Jupiter carried on his amour with Leda.
BEFORE the left wing of Cygnus, is a line, almoſt worn out on the Farneſe globe;
which I take to be, the Sagitta: both Manilius and Avienus mention this Conſtellation,
as (26) juſt by Cygnus. There is not much room for deſcription, in fuch a plain figure
as this muſt be; and all they obſerve of it is, that it was very aptly marked out by the
ftars contained in it.
WE come now to a fet of Conſtellations, that have all fome relation to one another.
This winged horfe is Pegafus, who carried Perfeus to deliver Andromeda : the perſon, juſt
by it, with her arms extended, is Andromeda herſelf: and next to her is, her deliverer:
this lady, feated on the Arctic Circle, is her mother, Caffiopea; and that fevere looking
old man, with his feet fo near the Pole, is her father Cepheus.
MANILIUS fpeaks of Pegaſus as (27) flying, and that rapidly, in the heavens; and fo
is he repreſented here, tho' we have but half his figure; all the hinder part (28) being
omitted;
Nunc Aquilæ fidus referam : quæ parte finiftrâ
Rorantis juvenis, quem terris fuftulit ipfe,
Fertur; & extenfis prædam circumvolat alis :
Fulmina miffa refert, & cælo militat ales.
Id. 5. . 484.
$.
(23) Cæruleus ponto cum fe Delphinus in aftra
Erigit, & fquammam ftellis imitantibus exit.
------Cœlatum ftellis Delphina
Manilius, 5. .412.
Ovid. Faft. 2. *. 79.
(24) The expreffion here meant is that of Caru-
leus. Tho', I believe, there is no one thing in the
whole language of the Romans that we are more at a
lofs about now, than their names of colours; it ap-
pears evidently enough, that Cæruleus was uſed by
them, for fome dark colour, or other. One might
bring a number of inftances to prove this; but one or
two, from Virgil, will be fufficient.
------------- Sæpe videmus
*.
Cum deus in niveum defcendit verfus olorem ;
Tergaque fidenti fubjecit plumea Ledæ :
Nunc quoque diductas volitat ſtellatus in alas.
Manilius, 1. . 341
Plumeus in cœlum nitidis olor evolat alis.
Id. 5. .25.
*.
Sidereis Cycnus fecat æthera pennis.
Avienus, *. 635.
İd. ✯. 692.
(26) Manilius after giving an account of Cygnus,
immediately fays;
Cana pruinofas extendit colla fub arctos.
Hinc imitata nitent curfumque habîtümque fagittæ
Sidera.
I. . 343.
And Avienus immediately after ſpeaking of Sagit-
tarius, fays;
Quin norunt aliam Superûm convexa fagittam :
Sed tamen hæc arcu tereti caret; inſcia nervi,
Infcia nam domini eft. Cœlum fuper advolat ales,
Ales olor, fed Threïcio conterminus axi.
:
Ipfius in vultu varios errare colores.
*.691.
Cæruleus pluviam denuntiat
Georg. . . 453.
(27) Quique volat ftellatus Equus
Tum mihi cæruleus fupra caput aftitit imber,
Noctem hiememque ferens ; & inhorruit unda tenebris.
Æn. 3. *. 195.
Manilius, 5. . 24.
Quem * rapido conatus Equus comprendere curfu
Feftinat.
(25) Proxima fors Cycni, quem cœlo Jupiter ipſe
Impofuit: formæ pretium, quâ cepit amantem
X X
* Delphinum.
(28) Non quadrupes cœlo fuftollitur, at tenus alvo
2
Id.1..350.
Erigitur
168
POLYMETIS.
་}
omitted, to make room for Andromeda. Avienus deſcribes his mane (29) very much in
the fame manner as it appears here; and juſt like thoſe of the two fine horſes, which
gives its name to the Monte Cavallo at Rome.
THE poets deſcribe the figure of Andromeda, as (30) chained to a rock, even in the
heavens. They ſay too, that grief and fear were expreffed in her face; and Cicero
remarks that ſhe turns (31) from her barbarous mother, as you fee fhe does on the Far-
•
nefe globe.
PERSEUS here holds his fword in one hand, and the head of Medufa in the other:
which agrees very well with the poetical accounts (32) of the appearance Perfeus made in
the heavens: excepting only, that there ſhould be a hook on his fword (33): which is either
worn out on the Farneſe globe; or may be ſo indiſtinct, as not to have been obſerved by
the artiſt I employed to copy it.
CASSIOPEA is reprefented here with a (34) diſturbed air, as Cepheus is with a (35)
fevere one. They retain the fame character in the heavens, which they had upon earth:
tho' furely it was a very odd fort of deification, to place people in the heavens with all
their paffions, and even their afflictions, ſtill about them.
WE are now got through all the northern Conſtellations, except two; one of which
is the Deltoton, or Triangle. The lines of this Triangle are either worn off of the
Farneſe globe; or perhaps it was compofed from an apt concurrence of the circles
and lines on that globe. It appears from Manilius and Avienus, that this Conftellation
(36) lay in the ſpace that is included between the figures of Andromeda, Perfeus, and
Aries and in that ſpace, there is fuch a concurrence of the lines on the Farnefe
globe, as might ſerve to mark out the figure we are fpeaking of. What is certain is,
that it was not capable of any poetical defcription; and that therefore it is much the
fame to our purpoſe, whether it be loft on the Farneſe globe, or whether it ſtill ſubfifts
there.
THE
Erigitur mediâ: jam cætera pone negantur ;
Et quatit ætherias primis modò cruribus auras..
Avienus, . 487
Cæfa caput Gorgon? Quanto fpiraffe veneno
Ora rear, quantumque oculis effundere mortis ?
Lucan. 9.
.680.
·Abſciſſo ventre-
Finitur in Andromedâ-
Id. *. 473.
Manilius, 1. . 350.
(33) Victor & invifæ Perfeus cum falce Medufæ.
(34) In pœnas fignata fuas-
Manilius, 5. . 22.
Manilius, 1.. 355-
(29)
Ipfaque cervix,
Quamvis procero furgat juba maxima collo,
Languida marcenti vix eſt ſpectabilis igne.
&c.
Avienus, : 481.
(35)
(30)
-Cepheufque & Caffiopæa,
In poenas fignata fuas: juxtaque relictam
Andromedam, vaftos metuentem pifcis hiatus,
Expofitam ponto deflet fcopulifque relictam ;
鲞
​Ne veterum Perfeus cœlo quoque fervet amorem.
Manilius, 1. . 358.
Sed tamen hic etiam vivax eft pœna dolenti:
Nam diducta ulnas magnas diftendit in æthra ;
Vinculaque in cœlo retinent quoque tenuia.-
Avienus, . 467.
(31) Andromeda, aufugiens afpectum moefta parentis.
Cicero, de Nat. Deor. 2. . 48. Ed. Ald.
(32)
Pennis ligat ille refumtis,
Parte ab utrâque pedes, teloque accingitur unco.
Ovid. Met. 4. . 665.
Parrhafiæ vexerunt Perfea pennæ—
-Phœbeos converti juffit ad ortus,
Gorgonis averfo fulcantem regna volatu.→→
Quos habuit vultus hamati vulnere ferri
He adds, that ſhe was ftill concerned; and afraid,
that Perfeus fhould carry off her daughter. Ib. 357,
Facit ora fevera:
Frontes ac vultus componit pondere mentis.
Manilius, 5. .446.
This is ſpoken of the influence on thoſe born under
this Conſtellation: but as the influences in Manilius'
have a great deal of refemblance to the figures them-
felves, this may ferve as a proof that Cepheus had a
ſevere thinking look on the globe he made ufe of;
as he has alſo on the Farneſe globe.
:
(36)
Locus olli
Poſt tergum Andromedæ
Avienus, . 537-
Quam Perfeus armis
Eripit & fociat fibi. Cui fuccedit, iniquo
Divifum fpatio,-Deltoton nomine fidus ;
Ex fimili dictum.
Manilius, 1. 354.
Quæ fubter in aftro
Lanati marcent pecoris.-
Avienus, . 534, (fpeaking of fome of the ftars in the Del-
toton.)
DIALOGUE the Eleventh.
169
THE laſt of theſe northern Conſtellations, is this of Ericthonius; commonly called
Auriga, or the Charioteer. He appears here without his chariot; tho' he is placed much
in the fame poſture (37); as if he was in one. It is probable, that in fome of the antienť
globes his chariot was reprefented too; and one fhould be apt to think, from fome (38)
expreffions uſed of him by the poets, that this was moft generally the cafe. When it was
fo, his figure, (I imagine,) was bent more forward, than it is in the drawing before us.
In his right hand, he holds his whip; and in his left, were (39) the Hadi and Capella:
which do not appear here, becauſe he held them before his breaft; and his back, you
fee, is turned toward us, in the Farnefe globe.
+
WE may now confider the Conftellations of the Zodiac: and, if you pleaſe, we will
begin here from Cancer; to follow my method of going from left hand to right with my
drawing, rather than any more ufual order of the figns.
THERE is a paffage in Manilius, from which one would imagine that Cancer was re-
preſented (40) without eyes; and it is confirmed by him in another place: fo that what
we fee in the Farneſe globe is only the fockets for them; and if that globe was ever to be
imitated in colours, they ſhould be drawn as empty, or at leaſt quite dark. The figures
on the antient globes were reprefented more generally as alive and in action, than they are in
the modern: for which reafon Cancer, on the painted globes of the antients, was of a black
(41) colour; tho' I think the moderns have boiled him, and turned him red in theirs.
LEO is deſcribed as (42) furious, and with his mouth open as roaring; which character
of him is preſerved in his figure on the Farnefe globe. Manilius informs us, that this is
the famous (43) Nemeæan Lion, that was killed by Hercules. It is probable that he was
yet more furious on the globe uſed by Manilius, than he is in the drawing before you.
MANILIUS, in fpeaking of Virgo, gives her that diſtinguiſhing attribute of a virgin (44),
the Zone; and the ears of corn, in her hand: both which particulars are juſtified by this
globe. He but juſt touches on (45) her leaving our earth after the golden age; of which
Aratus has made the moſt pleaſing digreffion in his whole poem. Manilius fays her
look is chaſte, and fevere, but as the turns her back upon us in the Farneſe globe, we
(37) Heniochufque memor curfûs, plauftrique Boötes.
(38)
Manilius, 5. . 20.
-Vicina ferens nixo veftigia Tauro
Heniochus ; ftudio mundumque, & nomen, adeptus.
Id. 1. ¥. 362.
Illi impiger autem
(41)
(42)
Pulcher Erichthonius currus & quatuor olim
Junxit equos: pronus qui non procul in Geminorum
Læva jacet; fufoque fuper fe corpore tendit
Plurimus, atque Helices caput inclinatur ab ore.
Avienus, .411.
(39) Ille quidem in ſpacium membra explicat: at Capra lævo
Fixa humero clarè fuftollitur; ipfius autem
Fine manûs, parvas Hodorum fufpice flammas.
Ibid. . 414.
Avienus here ſpeaks of them as if they were re-
preſented only by fingle ftars; Manilius, fpeaks of
them as figured.
Incipient Hodi tremulum producere mentum,
Hirtaque tum demum terris promittere terga.
Lib. I. . 104.
(40) Quod fi folerti circumfpicis omnia curâ
Fraudata invenies amiffis fidera membris :
Scorpius in Librâ confumit brachia; Taurus
Succidit incurvo claudus pede; lumina Cancro
Defunt; Centauro fupereft & quæritur unum.
Manilius,, 2. . 260.
At niger obſcurâ Cancer cum nube feretur ;
(Qui velut exutus Phoebeis ignibus ignis
Deficit; & multa fufcat caligine fidus :)
Lumina deficient ortos; geminamque creatis
Mortem fata dabunt..
can
Id. 4. *.534.
Niger Cancer-
Ibid. *.430.
Violentique ora Leonis.
Ovid. Met. 2. . 81.
Si cui per fummas avidus produxerit undas
Ora Leo, & fcandat malis hifcentibus orbem ;
Ille patri matrique reus, &c.
Manilius, 4. . 537.
(43) Cum verò in vaftos furgit Nemeæus hiatus.
Id. 5. ✯.206.
(44) At quibus Erigone dixit nafcentibus ævum;
Ore, magiſterio, nodoque coercita virgo;
Ad ftudium ducit mores: &c.
Id. 4. . 191.
Cum per decimam confurgens horrida partem
Spica feret præ fe fquallentis corpus ariſtæ.
Id. 5. . 271
(45) Erigone furgens, quæ rexit fæcula prifca
Juftitiâ, rurfufque eadem labentia fugit.
Id. 4. *. 542.
170
POLYMETIS.
can fee nothing of that there. I have fome other drawings of the figns of the Zodiac (46);
in which the turns her face towards us. Virgo is moft ufually reprefented with wings!
Avienus ſpeaks often of them (47); and we learn from the fame writer, that the corn
in her hand, in the painted globes of the antients, was coloured as (48) very ripe.
Ir is ſaid that Libra, or the Balance, was originally repreſented as held up by Scor-
pius; who extended his claws for that purpoſe out of his own proper dominions: and that,
under Auguftus, or a little after his death, they made Scorpius contract his claws; and
introduced a new perfonage, (moft probably Auguftus himſelf,) to hold the Balance.
On the Farneſe globe, it is held by Scorpius; (which, by the way, may perhaps fhew
that work to have been previous to the Auguftan age :) in feveral of the gems and
medals on which we have the figns of the Zodiac, it is held (49) by a man. This is faid
to be Auguftus. You know, it was (50) a very common thing among the Roman poets
to compliment their emperors with a place among the Conftellations; and perhaps the
Roman Aſtronomers took the hint of placing Auguftus there, and that in this very fitu-
ation, from (51) Virgil's compliment of this kind to that emperor. To ſay the truth,
there could ſcarce have been a place, or an employment, better chofen for Auguftus.
The aſtronomers originally were at a loſs how to have the Balance ſupported: they were
obliged, for this purpoſe, to make Scorpius take up the ſpace of two figns in the Zodiac;
which was quite irregular: and to be ſure they would be ready to lay hold of any fair
occafion of reducing him to his due bounds again. On the other hand, it was quite as
proper for Auguftus, as it was improper for Scorpius, to hold it: for befide its being a
compliment to him for his juſtice, or for his holding the balance of the affairs of the
world, (if they talked of princes then, in the ftyle we have been ſo much uſed to of late;)
Libra was the very ſign that was ſaid to prefide over (52) Italy: and fo Auguftus in hold-
ing that, would be ſuppoſed to be the guardian angel of his country after his deceaſe; as
he had been fo formally declared to be the father and protector of it, in his life-time.
Upon the whole, I do not fee how any thought of this kind could have been carried on
with more propriety, than this feems to have been; by the admirers, or flatterers, of that
emperor.
THE language of Manilius is very agreeable to theſe two different repreſentations of
Libra. He alludes, in two or three places (53), to its being held by Scorpius; and in one,
(46) See Pl. 25. Nº. 2, & 3.
(47)
-Alite procurfu
Pernicibus alis.
(48)
Avienus, . 335.
Id. ✯. 286, & 348.
Tibi flagrat ariſta,
Et ceu Siriaco torretur fpica calore.
Id. *. 285.
(49) See Pl. 25. No. 3.
Te quum ftatione peractâ
(50)
Aftra petes ferus, prælati regia cœli
Excipiet, gaudente polo. Seu fceptra tenere ;
Seu te flammiferos Phœbi tranfcendere currus,
Telluremque nihil mutato fole timentem
Igne vago luftrare juvat.
Ætheris immenfi partem fi prefferis unam
Sentiet axis onus : librati pondera cœli
Orbe tene medio.
Lucan. Pharf. 1. y. 58. (of Nero.)
Licet arctior omnes
Limes agat ftellas; & te plaga lucida cœli,
Pleïadum Boreæque & hiulci fulminis expers,
Sollicitet; licet ignipedum frænator equorum
Ipſe tuis altè radiantem crinibus arcum
Imprimat, aut magni cedat tibi Jupiter æquâ
exprefly
Parte poli; maneas hominum contentus habenis,
Undarum terræque potens, & fidera dones.
Statius, Theb. 1. y. 31. (of Domitian.)
Cum jam genitor lucebis ab omni
Parte poli; neque enim in Tyrias Cynofura carinas
Certior, aut Graiis Helice fervanda magiſtris :
Seu tu figna dabis, feu te duce Græcia mittet,
Et Sidon Niluſque rates.
;
Val. Flaccus, Arg. 1. y. 20. (of Veſpaſian.)
(51) Anne novum tardis fidus te menfibus addas
Qua locus Erigonen inter Chelafque fequentes
Panditur ipfe tibi jam brachia contrahit ardens
Scorpius, et cœli juftâ plus parte reliquit.
Virgil. Georg. 1. 35.
*.35.
(52), Quod potius regat Italiam fi feligis aftrum,
Quàm quod cuncta regat; quod rerum pondera novit ;
Defignat fummas, & iniquum feparat æquo ;
Tempora quo pendent; coeunt quo noxque diefqué.
Hefperiam fua Libra tenet. Quâ condita Roma,
nutibus Orbem.
Et propriis frænat pendentem
Manilius, 4. . 774.
(53) Chelarumque fides, juftæque examina Libræ.
Librantes noctem Chelæ cum tempore
Scorpius in Libra confumit brachia.
Id. 3. ¥. 332.
lucis.
Id. 4. ✯. 203.
Id. 2. . 258.
DIALOGUE the Eleventh.
LIVI
!
exprefly fays that it was held by a (54) man. The former, was the idea of the aftrono
mers before his time; and the latter, that which began to prevail, about the time he is faid
to have wrote in. The old poets agree in its being held up, (tho' the moderns ufually
repreſent it without any thing to fupport it ;) and its being held up with both the fcales
(55) exactly even which, among other views, had a reference to the equality of the day
and night, on the fun's entering into this conftellation.
You fee Scorpius here: but you do not fee him fo ftrongly, as he was reprefented. by
the painters of old; or as he is defcribed, by the poets. We learn from the latter,
that in the antient paintings he was drawn (56) of a dark venomous colour, and a fhade
of green
under it; with his claws ftretched out; as they muſt have been, before that
alteration was introduced in Libra: and with his tail pointed, and raiſed; as thofe of
fcorpions are, when they are enraged and prepared to ftrike. Theſe deſcriptions of
Scorpius in the poets agree with the figure of it on the Farnefe globe, as far as they can
agree with the bare figure of a thing; and I fuppofe they have added the colourings to it
with the fame juftnefs: they being probably as well acquainted with the works of the
painters, as with thofe of the ftatuaries.
ARCITENENS, according to Eratofthenes, (an antient Greek writer (57), of very good
authority,) was reprefented under the figure of a (58) fatyr; as he is too in this drawing:
tho'
my defigner, (I imagine by miſtake,) has omitted his horns; which as they are gene-
rally ſmall, might very eafily efcape his obfervation on the Farnefe globe. This was the
very fatyr, who affifted Jupiter fo much, in his battle againſt the rebel giants; and put
them into an unreaſonable fear, (whence, by the way, all fuch fears have ever fince been
called Panic fears,) by the ftrange noiſe (59) that he made. He holds his bow as juſt
ready to fhoot it off; and the arrow in it feems to aim at the tail of Scorpius. The artifts,
in procefs of time, fubftituted the form of a Centaur, inftead of that of a Satyr, for this
fign of the Zodiac: as appears from ſeveral gems and medals (60) of good antiquity and
the Roman poets (61) feem to have followed this later idea, even about the Auguftan age.
Lucan calls him exprefly by the name of Chiron: who, as I take it, prefided over the
Conftellation, properly called Centaurus; not in the Zodiac. Manilius feems to have
fallen into the fame error; and fpeaks as if there was (62) fome drapery about this figure:
tho' on the Farneſe globe, Arcitenens and Chiron, are both quite naked. The latter of
theſe poets however marks, very ftrongly, that (63) ſeverity of his look; which is
diſtinguiſhable
Id. 2.
*.529.
Ovid. Faft. 4. .384.
(54) Humana eft facies Libre; diverfa, Leonis.
*. 529.
(55) Pendula cœleftes Libra movebat aquas.
Libra Phœbeos tenet æqua currus.
See Note 53, anteh.
Herc. Furens, A&t. 3. Chor.
(56) Eft locus, in geminos ubi brachia concavat arcus
Scorpios; et caudâ, flexifque utrinque lacertis,
Porrigit in fpatium fignorum membra duorum.
Hunc puer ut nigri madidum fudore veneni,
Vulnera curvatâ minitantem cufpide vidit ;
Mentis inops, gelidâ formidine lora remifit.
Ovid Met. z. ✯.200.
Elatæ metuendus acumine caudæ
Scorpius in virides præcipitatur aquas.
Id. Faft. 4. . 162.
Sævaque circuitu curvantem brachia longo
Scorpion.
*.
Id. Met. 2. .83.
Minax nodis, & recto verbere fævus.
Lucan, 9. . 132.
(57) Eratofthenes, in omnium quidem literarum
fubtilitate, & in hâc utique præter cæteros folers,
quem cunctis probari video; &c. Pliny, Lib. 2.
€ 109.
(58) Ουτος εςι τω είδει ομοιός τω αίγιπακι εχει δε
θηρία τα κατω μέρη, και κέρατα επι τη κεφαλη. Era-
Ingir
tofthenes de Sideribus, Art. 27. Пav.
(59) Εν τη Ιδη συνην (τω Διι,) οτε επι της Τιτάνας
εστρατευσεν ὅτος δε δοκει ευρειν τον κύκλον εν ᾧ τις συμ
μαχος καθωπλισε, δια το τα ηχε Πανικού καλεμενον, ο
οι Τιτάνες εφευγον. Id. Ibid.
(60) See Pl. 25. No. 2, & 3.
(61) Teque, fenex Chiron, gelido qui fidere fulgens
Impetis Hæmonio majorem Scorpion arcu.
Lucan, 6. . 394.
In cujus caudam contentum dirigit arcum
Mixtus equo; volucrem miffurus jamque fagittam.
Manilius, . . 270.
(62) Nec non Arcitenens primâ cum vefte refurgit,
Pectora clara dabit bello.-
(63)
Manilius, 4. ✯. 561.
-Nimium indulgens rebus fortuna fecundis,
Invidet in faciem, fævitque afperrima fronti:
Horrendus bello Trebiam Cannafque Lacumque
Ante fugam tali penfabat imagine victor.
Id. Ibid. .467.
Y y
172
POLYMETIS
4
diſtinguiſhable enough in the figure of Arcitenens, on the Farneſe globe; and not at all on
the face of the Chiron there; and fays, that he looks as fcowling and threatning, as Han-
nibal did; in the beginning of the battles of Trebia, Thrafimene, and Cannæ.
:
ONLY the head of Capricorn appears here; all the under parts of him are hid by the
Farneſe globe's refting, in that part, on Atlas's fhoulders. This is an inconvenience,
that was not to be avoided: it muſt reft fomewhere, and fomething muſt be loft by
that means but as it refts chiefly at the Antarctic circle, where the antients had no
figures at all, the lofs is much leſs than it would have been in a modern globe. How-
ever, as I was faying, all of Capricorn is loft, by this means, except the head. The reft
of his figure might be fupplied either from gems, or medals; and particularly from the
reverſe of a very common medal (64) of Auguſtus Cæfar: by which it appears that Ca-
pricorn was repreſented of old, as a creature of a (65) mixed nature; with the fore part
like a goat, and ending in a fiſh. I muſt juſt obſerve to you, by the way, that
this medal is one of the plaineft proofs I know of, of that fort of hieroglyphical lan-
guage, which I have often hinted to have been in ufe, among the better artiſts of old.
On one fide of it, is the head of Auguftus; on the other is Capricorn, the fign (66) under
which Auguftus was born; and beneath that, is a rudder and a globe. The rudder
was the conſtant mark of rule or government, among the Romans. So that this medal
fays, in the figures on it; (as diftinctly, I think, as could have been faid in fo many
words;) that " Auguftus, was born, to govern, the world."
This figure next to Capricorn, is Aquarius; a beautiful, fine-ſhaped (67) youth; as
he ought to be: for this, according to the old mythology, is Ganymedes, the cup-
bearer of Jupiter. He (68) holds the cup, or little urn in his hand, inclined downwards;
and is always (69) pouring out of it: as indeed he ought to be, to be able from ſo ſmall
a fource to form that river, which you fee running from his feet, and making ſo large a
tour over all this part of the globe. Every one of the particulars I have mentioned in
relation to his figure, are marked out by fome or other of the Roman poets.
THE river, which has its fource from his urn, goes in fome of its windings to Piſces;
and it is therefore that Manilius talks of them as (70) plunged under water, even in the
heavens. The poets mark both their (71) places very exactly, and their being turned
(64) See Pl. 25. N°. 4.
(65) It is hence that Manilius calls Capricorn,
Ambiguus; 2. 232. and Biformis; 3. 257.
Cicero feems to allude to the fame, where he fays;
-Gelidum valido de pectore frigus anhelans
Corpore femifero Capricornus
De Nat. Deor. p. 48. Ed. Ald.
(66) Tantam fiduciam fati habuit (Auguftus, after
conſulting Theogenes the mathematician at Apollo-
nia,) ut thema ſuum vulgaverit: nummumque argen-
teum notâ fideris Capricorni, quo natus eft, percuf-
ferit. Suetonius, in Aug. §. 94.
(67) Jam levis obliquâ fubfedit Aquarius urnâ.
Ovid. Faft. 2. ✯. 455.
Capricorno, Phoebe, relicto
Per juvenis curres figna regentis aquas.
Id. Ib. 1. .652.
Juvenis nudo formatus mollior artu.
Manilius, 4. . 797.
Troïcus haurit aquas funditque ephebus ab urnâ.
Avienus, *. 549.
(68) Ille quoque inflexâ fontem qui projicit urnâ,
(69)
Cognatas tribuit juvenilis Aquarius artes:
Cernere fub terris undas, &c.-
different
Manilius, 4. . 261.
-Fundentis femper Aquarii.
Id. z. . 233-
Ad juvenem, æternas fundentem Piſcibus undas.
Id. Ibid. . 492.
After talking, for fome time, of Aquarius and his
influences, (ibid. 259, to 272,) he concludes the
paffage thus. Sic profluit urna: "And fo the urni
flows on." Which ſeems to have been a proverbial
expreffion, among the antients, taken from the ceaſe-
leſs flowing of this urn; and which might be not un-
applicable now, when certain ladies are telling a ſtory;
or certain lawyers are pleading.
(70) Poft hunc inflexam diffundit Aquarius urnam
Pifcibus, affuetas avidè fubeuntibus undas.
(71)
Manilius, 1.. 273.
Sedes data quippe duobus
Pifcibus, ingenti quâ celfam circulus æthram
Orbe fecat; tendit quâ penna extrema finiftræ
Ales Equus; mundo quâ pectora Laniger alto
Urget.
1
Avienus, . 545.
DIALOGUE the Eleventh.
173
different (72) ways; and fpeak of them rather in a more pictureſque manner, than they
are expreffed on the Farnefe globe. Ovid gives a full and very pretty (73) account of the
ftory, which occafioned their being received into the heavens.
NEXT to Pifces, you fee, is Aries, or the Ram; turning his head backward: a(74)
particular, which Manilius mentions of him, in feveral places; tho' Monfieur Huet, I
know not why, is pleaſed to affert the contrary. We may learn, from the fame poet,
that the painters repreſented him all of a gold colour. This they did with more pro
priety, than you would, perhaps, at firft imagine; for according to the fabulous hiftory,
this was the (75) very Ram fo famous of old for his golden fleece: which was kept firſt
at Colchis, and then fell into Jafon's hands; whilſt the memorial of it was preſerved,
in ſo diſtinguiſhed a place, amidſt the heavens.
As this was the ram that carried Helle on the ſea, and gave a name to fo celebrated a
part of it; its neighbour here, the Bull, was at leaſt as famous; for carrying Europa
fafe over the fame element, and giving its name to our part of the world. The poets de-
ſcribe the figure of Taurus in much the fame manner that you ſee him here: as having
his head (76) averted from the courſe of the fun, and as rifing backward; as repreſented
(77) only in part; with his neck bending downward (78), and his knee yet more bent.
On fome gems you have his whole figure (79) in the act of butting with his head, and
tearing up the ground with his feet; juft like the bull (80) deſcribed by Virgil, or like
any common bull you pleaſe; from which it is fometimes diftinguiſhed, by its having a
ftar engraved over it. We find plainly from a paffage in Virgil, (which in fome other
refpects, is (81) difficult enough to be fettled,) that Taurus was reprefented, on the
(72) Diffimile eft illis iter, in contraria verfis.
Manilius, 2.. 164.
(73) Terribilem quondam fugiens Typhona Dione
(Tunc, cum pro cœlo Jupiter arma tulit)
Venit ad Euphraten, comitata Cupidine parvo ;
Inque Paleſtine margine fedit aquæ.
Populus & cannæ riparum fumma tenebant ;
Spemque dabant falices hos quoque poffe tegi.
Dum latet, intonuit vento nemus. Illa timore
Pallet; & hoftiles credit adeffe manus.
Utque finu natum tenuit: Succurrite, Nymphæ!
Et diis auxilium ferte duobus, ait :
Nec mora, profiluit. Pifces fubiere gemelli:
Pro quo nunc dignum fidera munus habent.
Ovid. Faſt. 2. *.472.
Manilius mentions the fame ſtory, on the fame ac-
count. Lib. 4. *. 579; &c.
(74)
-Ubi fe fummis Aries attollit ab undis,
Et cervice prior flexâ quàm cornibus ibit.
Manilius, 4.. 506.
Et fua refpiciens aurato vellere terga.
Id. 2. . 212.
Aurato princeps Aries in vellere fulgens,
Refpicit admirans averfum furgere Taurum.
Id. 1. ✈. 265.
(75) Poftquam vernus calidum Titana recepit,
Sidera refpiciens, delapfæ portitor Helles.
coloured
Aurato princeps Aries in vellere fulgens
Refpicit admirans averfum furgere Taurum.
Id. 1. y. 264.
Taurus in averfos præceps ut tollitur ortus
Sextâ parte fui, certantes lucis ad oras
Pleiades ducit.
Id. 5. . 142.
Averfus venit in coelum, divefque puellis ;
Pleïadum parvo referens glomerabile fidus.
Id. 4. .522.
(77) Vacca fit an taurus, non eft cognofcere promtum ;
Pars prior apparet, pofteriora latent.
Ovid. Faft. 4. ✯. 162.
(78)
Nifi poplite lapfo
Ultima curvati procederet ungula Tauri.
Lucan.
Taurus
Succidit incurvo claudus pede
Manilius, 2. .259.
Vicina ferens nixo veſtigia Tauro.
Id. 1. 351.
(79) See Pl. 25. No. 1.
(80) Qui cornu petat, & pedibus qui fpargat arenam.
Virgil. Ecl. 3. .87.
(81) There are two ways of reading, and under-
Lucan, 4. . 57. ftanding, the paffage in Virgil here referred to.
That which generally prevails at prefent, is as fol-
lows:
Utque fugam rapiant, aries nitidiffimus auro
Traditur ille vehit per freta longa duos.-
Litoribus tactis, aries fit fidus; at hujus
Pervenit in Colchas aurea lana domos.
Ovid. Faft. 3. *. 876.
Milio venit annua cura:
Candidus auratis aperit cum cornibus annum
Taurus; & averfo fedens Canis occidit aftro.
*.
(76)
-Afpice Taurum ;
Cernis ut averfus redeundo furgat in arcum
Clunibus-
Georg. I. . 218.
This is uſually underſtood of the fun's entering
into Taurus; and of the dog-ſtar's fetting heliacally:
Manilius, 2. . 199. that is, from about the middle of April, to about the
end
:
174
POLYMETIS.
coloured globes of old, with gilded horns; and all the reſt of him white: agreeably to
the poetical deſcriptions of the bull which carried Europa; and entirely like the bulls in
the higheſt eſteem among the Romans, thofe which they facrificed to their beſt and
greatest Jupiter.
THE Gemini (or Twins) are defcribed by Manilius as (82) naked, young, and beau-
tiful and he is fo particular too, as to mention that (83) interweaving of their arms;
which is fo evident in the drawing before you. Ovid makes them to be (84) Caftor and
Pollux; but as we fee thefe always both together, I know not how that can be recon-
ciled with the old ftory of thoſe two brothers; unleſs theſe were looked upon only as ap-
pearances, or memorials; whilft the real Caftor and Pollux, (like the real Hercules,)
took their place alternately, in the higher heavens.
As we have now gone thorough the whole line of the Zodiacal figures, we will begin
once more if you pleaſe from the left; with the Ship, which you fee here. It is
repre-
fented indeed only (85) in part, that it might not take up too much room on the globe;
but tho' it is only part of a fhip, it is repreſented as (86) failing on: for the antients en-
deavoured to put every thing in action on their celeſtial globes, as much as they poffibly
could. It is the famous Argo; the firft fhip, according to them, that ever was made.
We have here no figures on it, but a Victory and a Triton; fo that Flaccus's fine de-
ſcriptions (87) of the marriage-feaſt of Peleus and Thetis, as painted on one fide of it;
and of the combat between the Centaurs and the Lapithæ, on the other; was only a
ſport of his own imagination: and indeed there would have been a terrible anachroniſm
end of the fame month. In this cafe, Canis is uſed
nominatively; and aftro is underſtood of Taurus.
It is certain, that averfum aftrum is ufed feveral
times by Manilius, in ſpeaking of Taurus; and that
Macrobius took the whole paffage in this fenfe, ap-
pears from his treatiſe, on Cicero's Somnium Scipio-
nis. See his Saturnal. Lib. I. Cap. 18. p. 86. Ed.
Gryph. 1556.
A gentleman, I have long known, (and who ſeems
to me to underſtand Virgil in the moſt maſterly man-
ner, of any man I ever did know,) reads the paffage
thus:
Milio venit annua cura :
Candidus auratis aperit cum cornibus annum
Taurus, & adverfo cedens Canis occidit aftro.
My friend takes Canis here to be the genitive caſe :
and underſtands, adverfo aftro, of that Conſtellation;
and not of Taurus. His fenſe therefore of it, is:
"Sow millet; from the year's opening under Tau-
rus, to the ſetting of that Conſtellation." This pe-
riod reaches from the beginning, to about the middle
of April.
The reading of adverfo, was the true original read-
ing; according to the oldeſt and beſt manuſcripts:
and is uſed in particular by Macrobius himſelf in
that very paffage, which is ufually brought as the
chief fupport of the other opinion.The year, in
reſpect to agriculture, began with the month of April
among the Romans; which thence, probably, had its
very name Aprilis; quafi aperilis, ab aperiendo.
The expreffions ſeem in this fenfe to be more poeti-
cal than in the other; and more agreeable to the po-
fitions and appearance of theſe Conftellations on the
globe, at the time fpoken of.-Laftly, Columella
(who lived in the fame country with Virgil, and in
the fame age,) fpeaks of the time for fowing mil-
let; and ſays, "it ſhould be finiſhed by the middle
of April." Milii. & Panici hæc prima fatio eſt; quæ
in
peragi debet, circa idus Aprilis. Lib. 2. Cap. 2. The
ides of April, was the 13th.
If theſe arguments are ftronger than thofe on the
other fide, the old reading ought to be reſtored :
which, (to fay the truth,) feems to me to have been
altered, by fome old critic, to adapt the paffage the
more to Macrobius's meaning; and to have been af
terwards turned into an argument for it, by ſome of
the more modern critics: who, perhaps, did not
know any thing of this alteration.
(82)
Geminos nudatis afpice membris.
Et geminos Juvenes
Formofos Geminos
Manilius, 2. . 162.
Id. Ib. . 661.
Ibid. .440.
(83) His conjuncta manent alterno brachia nexu.
Ibid. . 163.
(84) In Geminos ex quo tempore Phœbus eat.
Tyndaridæ fratres
Ovid. Faft. 5. . 694-
Id. Ibid. . 700.
For the ſtory. See ibid. 715, to 720.
(85)
-Argo rutilam tantum inter fidera puppim
Ducitur; occultat rigido tenus altera malo.
Avienus, . 765.
(86) This you fee by the oars, in the figure of it on
the Farneſe globe; and fo is it defcribed by the poets.
Ratis Heroum, quæ nunc quoque navigat aftris.
Manilius, 5. 13.
Nunc quoque vicinam puppim, ceu naviget, Argo
A dextris lateris ducit regione per aſtra.
Id. Ibid. 37.
(87) Flaccus, Argon. 1. 129, to 148.
•
}
DIALOGUE the Eleventh.
175
in it, had it been fo reprefented; for Peleus was not married, till after this ſhip was
made.
NEAR (88) Argo is Hydrus, or the Water-ferpent; which Manilius fays was very
well marked out with ftars. We cannot verify that here; becauſe the Farneſe globe
(which is the only antient celeſtial globe I know of,) has only the figures of the con-
ftellations wrought on it; and not the particular ftars which were contained in them:
The fituation of this Conſtellation in the heavens is deſcribed by Avienus, (89) exactly as
you fee it in the drawing, before us.
CRATER is placed on a fort of pedeſtal which refts on the back of this Serpent, to-
ward the middle part of it; or, " in the (90) midſt of its windings," as Avienus expreſſes
it. It is fhaped like the common bowls, or little urns, that the antients uſed to drink
out of; and particularly like thofe you have ſeen in the hand of Bacchus, in fome fta-
tues and relievo's. It is obferved, that this Conſtellation too was very properly (91) de-
lineated by the ftars it contained.
NEAR (92) the Crater, is Corvus: pearched on the (93) tail of Anguis; and bending
down, as pecking at it. The poets have obſerved theſe particulars; and ſay nothing
more of it that is any way remarkable, that I know of.
JUST under the tail of the Serpent, is Centaurus. His look is mild; for this is a phi-
lofophical Centaur: Chiron, a great mafter of the rules of (94) equity and juſtice; and the
inſtructor of Hercules, as well as Achilles. The poets obferve of his figure, (what is chiefly
to be obſerved in all good figures of Centaurs, and particularly in thoſe two fine ones, from
the Villa Adriani, at Rome;) that the upward or human part is roughened by degrees;
and is united extremely well (95) with the equine part, a little below his breaft. This
cannot fo well be juftified from the Farnefe globe; becauſe in that his back is turned
toward us. He is repreſented as coming from the chace; with a young lioneſs in his
hand: which is held by him, (as (96) a facrifice,) toward the altar juft before him;
any
ACCORDING to Manilius's account, I think that the Ara ſhould be repreſented, in
coloured globe (97), with lighted coals upon it, and the frankincenſe as flaming up:
tho' there is nothing of this kind appears on the Farneſe globe. There is another par-
ticularity, relating to this conftellation, which is extremely obfervable, tho' not much
(88)
-Cui proximus Anguis
Squammea difpofitis imitatur lumina flammis.
Manilius, 1. y. 406.
(89) Defuper ingenti fefe agmine porrigit Hydra :
Quæ prolata falö longe latus èxplicat æthrâ,
In Cancrum protenta caput; caudamque feroci
Centauro inclinat.
Avienus, . 890.
(90) Spirarum media geftat Cratera corufcüm.
Id. y. 898.
(91) Crater auratis furgit cœlatus ab aftris.
(95)
-Duplici Centaurus imagine fulget:
Pars hominis; tergo pectus commiffus equino.
to
Manilius, 1. 409.
Signis fubtexit membra duobus :
Nam quâ parte hominem quadrupes fuftollit equino
Ventre ſuperſtantem, verfatur Scorpius ingens;
At qua cornipedem mediâ vir fundit ab alvo,
Curva venenati funt tantum brachia figni.
Avienus, .883.
Manilius, 5. . 235.
(92) Et Phœbo facer ales, & unà gratus läccho
Crater.
(96) Ille autem dextram protendere vifus ad aram
Coelicolâm, jufta perfolvit munèra vitæ ;
Agreftemque manu prædam gerit.
Id. .886.
Id. 1. y. 408.
Cum tu, juftiffime Chiron,
Bis feptem ftellis corpore cinctus eras.
Ovid. Faft. 5. †.414
(93) Ultima cæruleum fuftentant agmina Corvum,
Ales ut intento fodiat vaga viſcera roftro.
Avienus, . 900.
(97)
Ara nitet facris.-
(94)
Arbiter æqui :
Alcidæ legum poft bella magifter.
Id. †. 889.
-Victrixque folutis
Manilius, 1..411.
Id. 5. . 335.
Ara, ferens thuris ftellis imitantibus ignem.
Z z
;
176
POLYMETIS.
to my purpoſe. It is in Manilius too; who fays, that this is the altar (98), on which
Jupiter offered facrifice; for fuccefs in the war againſt the giants. Does not this fhew
that, originally in the heathen ſcheme, Jupiter himſelf was not ſuppoſed to be really the
great Supreme Being, but only a ſubſtituted ruler; who in his dangers and difficulties
applied for affiſtance to the real Supreme, that prefided over him and all things in the
univerſe ?
THE next Conftellation I can give no manner of account of. It is a wreath like the
Corona Ariadnes; only a little larger, and not with ſo much riband as that. There is
not any one of the antient poets, or any one of their profe-writers I have confulted, that
fay a word of it; fo that I am wholly at a loſs, and without fo much as a gueſs, how it
comes to make its appearance on the Farnefe globe.
As this feems to be a Conſtellation too much; ſo we have perhaps loft one, which
ſhould appear near it. What I mean is the Pifcis Notius, or the Southern Fiſh. Its place
ſhould be ſomewhere here under Aquarius, and near Cetus (99): and fo is loft to us on
the Farneſe globe, which refts, in that part on Atlas's ſhoulders.
ACETUS, or the Sea-monfter that was to have deftroyed Andromeda, is well repre-
fented in this drawing; in the attitude of ſwimming along the water, that comes from
Aquarius's urn; with great ſcales on his breaſt; with his mouth open and threatning,
and his tail wreathed; juft as he is (100) defcribed by Manilius.
FLUMEN, (which was originally ſuppoſed to be the Nile, tho' the Romans (101) turned
it into Eridanus,) wanders feveral different ways. It runs up north, you fee here,
to one of the Pifces; and fhould certainly (102) go to the other, (and I think by
Andromeda's head;) but the line in that part is defaced by time, or fome accident or
other, on the Farnefe globe. Its chief courſe is by the Sea-monfter, from which it
goes
to Orion's legs, in one ſtream; as it falls from it, in another very ferpentine one, toward
the Antarctic Pole. The chief thing to be obferved of it in general is, that it is very (103)
winding and irregular; and that is marked by the poets, as well as by the artiſt,
(98) In quâ devoti quondam cecidere Gigantes :
Nec priùs armavit violento fulmine dextram
Jupiter, ante deos quam conftitet ipfe facerdos.
Ibid. . 338.
Manilius, on this occafion, raifes the prieſts of
old, as much as he depreffes Jupiter. Under this
Conftellation, (fays he,) fhall be born prieſts, or
deputy-gods:
Quos potius finget partus, quàm templa colentes,
Atque auctoratos in tertia jura miniftros >
Divorumque facrâ venerantes numina voce?
Pæne deos; & qui poffunt ventura videre.
Ibid. . 342.
4.
(99) Ultra fetofi rurfum fpeciem Capricorni,
Cardinis immerfi quâ funt Auſtralia flabra,
In piftrim horrificam converfus vifcera Pifcis
Subvehitur: Notium vocat iftum Græcia Pifcem.
Avienus, . 8z5.
Tunc Notius Pifcis, venti de nomine dictus,
Exurgit de parte Noti.
(100)
Manilius, 1. . 429.
Cetus.convolvens fquamea terga
Orbibus infurgit tortis, & fluctuat alvo;
Intentans morfum, fimilis jam jamque tenenti :
Qualis ad expofitæ fatum Cepheïdos undis
Expulit adveniens ultra fua litora pontum.
Manilius, 1. . 427°
(101)
THIS
Cetus, fquamis atque ore fremendo.
Id. 5. . 15.
Pars æquoris effe
Credidit Aufonii; namque hunc dixere priores
Eridanum :-
Pharium pars altera Nilum
Commemorat; largo fegetes quod nutriat amni,
Arenteſque locos undâ fæcundat alumnâ.
Avienus, *. 797-
(102)
-Inflexam diffundit Aquarius urnam
Pifcibus, affuetas avidè fubeuntibus undas.
Manilius, . . 273.
Iſte pedem lævum rutili ſubiţ Orionis :
Fufaque quæ geminos aftringunt vincula Pifces
Eridani coeunt anfractibus, ut procul ille
Tenditur effufi vi gurgitis.
Avienus, .803.
Illa* memor longæ formidinis: illa † duorum
Inter figna tenax, horret fquallentia monftri
Terga procul; pavidumque fuper caput inferit undis.
* Andromeda. Pifces.
Id. .778.
(103) Flexa per ingentes ftellarurn flumina gyros.
1.
Manilius, . .430.
Fluminaque errantes latè finuantia curfus.
Id. 5. . 14
DIALOGUE the Eleventh.
177
THIS figure of a man kneeling on one knee, a little beyond the Sea-monſter, is the
famous Orion. His face is (104) in profile: he holds out his (105) arms; and ſhould,
perhaps, graſp a ſword in his right hand. That part is ſo indiftinct on the Farneſe globe,
that one cannot be pofitive what is repreſented there; and the poets, I think, differ (106)
as to this particular. There is fomething like a ſword, or dagger, hanging down in a
ſheath by his left fide, in the drawing before you; which agrees better with Manilius
and Avienus's account of his fword, than it does with ſome expreffions relating to it in
Ovid.
ORIÓN, you know, was a famous hunter; and here, juſt by him, is his dog; which
is called, Procyon. This figure muſt have been quite loft, on the Farneſe globe, by the
hand of the Atlas which ſupports it; had not the artiſt placed it fo hollow, that we may
diſcern it, under the concave part of the hand. This Conſtellation rifes before Sirius >
both by his fituation here, and by the (107) accounts given of him; and it is thence that
he has the name of Procyon,
SIRIUS, or Canicula, (who has fo terrible a character in the (108) old poets; and the
whole period of whofe influence is fo particularly dreaded, to this day, at Rome,) was, I
doubt not, repreſented by the antient painters with a malign caft of his eyes; and a (109)
dark look. As this could not be expreſſed on marble, the artiſt who made the Farneſe
globe has given him feveral odd rays about his head; as a mark of his being fo particu-
larly hot and fiery. Perhaps, he had better been repreſented, (as I believe (110), he
fometimes was,) breathing flames, like the Chimæra. He is deſcribed as running on(111)
vehemently, after Lepus; and it is therefore I fuppofe that Virgil gives him an epithet
which I formerly uſed to think improper, becauſe I did not underſtand it. Lepus ap-
pears here as running from him: and is therefore called (112) ſwift too, by the poets; even
when they are ſpeaking of him as a Conftellation,
THUS have I gone through all the great Conftellations: of which, we find every one
of the two and forty in Eratofthenes's catalogue, on the Farneſe globe; except the two
Bears by the northern Pole, and the Pifcis Notius toward the ſouthern and have none
but what are in his catalogue; except what I have called the Corona Auſtralis, and an
odd oblong figure juſt above Cancer: which I have not mentioned before, becauſe I did
not know what to make of it. It may poffibly ſtand for the Plauftrum: but the antient
Romans called the Arcti by that name; and the figure of a Plauftrum is unknown to us:
fo that I would rather own my ignorance fairly, than pretend to offer this even as a con-
jecture that has any foundation,
(104)
-Caput Orion excelfo immerfus Olympo
Per tria fubducto fignatur lumina vultu.
Manilius, Id. 1. . 26.
(105) Cernere vicinum Geminis licet Oriona,
In magnam cœli tendentem brachia partem.
(106) Enfifer Orion-
Ibid. #. 378.
Ovid. Faft. 4. .388.
Nitidumque Orionis enfem.
Ovid. Met. 13. ✈.294.
-Strictumque Orionis enfem.
Id. 8. y. 207.
Singula fulgentes humeros cui lumina fignant ;
Et tribus obliquis demiffus ducitur enfis.
Manilius, I. . 381.
Auratumque rubens dimittit batheus enfem.
You
Procyon, (or Пçoxvwv,) roſe on the 15th of July;
and Canicula on the 26th; according to Columella.
II. 2.
(108) See, particularly, Manilius 5. 208, to 217.
and Avienus, 733, to 742.
(109) Frigida cæruleo contorquet lumina vultu.
Manilius, . . 399.
(110) From that expreffion in Manilius; Latrat-
que Canicula flammas; fee Note 107, anteh.
(111) Subfequitur rapido contenta Canicula curfu.
Manilius, 1.386.
Cum rapidus, torrons fitientes Sirius Indos,
Ardebat cœlo.-
Avienus, .722.
Virgil. Georg. 4. ✯. 426.
(112) Tum Procyon, veloxque Lepus.
Manilius, 1. . 402,
(107) Cum verò in vaftos furgit Nemeæus hiatus ;
Exoriturque Canis: latratque Canicula flammas.
Manilius, 5. . 207.
?
178
POLYMETIS.
You may wonder that I have faid nothing all this while of the Hyades, Pleiades, and
Arcturus. Thefe, (tho' fo famous in all antiquity; even as far back, as we can trace
it ;) were not generally looked on as primary Conftellations; but as fecondary ones, con-
tained in others. Neither of them is reprefented in a perfonal character on the Farnefe
globe, any more than they are in our modern ones; in which Arcturus is only a fingle
ſtar in Boötes; and the Hyades, and Pleiades, each a ſtud of ſtars, in different parts
of Taurus. It is poffible indeed, that in fome of the larger globes in antient Rome,
theſe might have been repreſented perfonally too: and what vaft globes may they be ſup-
poſed to have had in a city, where they certainly had an aftronomical inftrument, (the
particular uſe of which has not yet been fo well determined, as it might be;) of ſuch
extent, that one (113) of their largeſt Obeliſcs ferved only as a Gnomon to it?
Red a
THERE is more reaſon to think that the Pleiades were repreſented perfonally, on fome
of their globes; than either of the others. Aratus and Eratofthenes (114) feem to make
it a diſtinct conſtellation by itſelf; near Taurus, but not in it: and Virgil mentions one
of the Pleiads perfonally (115); where he is ſpeaking in his aftronomical ſtyle. Suppofing
they were all reprefented perfonally in Taurus; it might be done in a very little ſpace:
as Pyrrhus wore the nine Mufes in a ring; and as one often meets with very fmall gems
that have more figures, even than that; all expreffed very fully and exactly.
Astley
I HAVE not acted fo prudently perhaps in giving you the moſt doubtful points thus
all together at laſt: however you may fee by it, that I deal fairly with you. And what
is it, after all, if in a fubject where we have fo many things clear and certain; there may
be two or three points, about which one may raiſe ſome doubts?
WHAT I was thinking of, fays Myfagetes, was a doubt of a larger nature. As the
general aim you propoſed to yourſelf in making your collection; feemed to me to be con-
fined to the various divinities of the Romans, (by which I ſuppoſe you muſt mean intel-
ligent beings,) I do not fo well fee, what you can have to do with all theſe ſtrange
figures before us: for allowing all your birds, and your beafts here, to be intelligences;
I cannot conceive how you can look upon a fiddle, a ſhip, or an altar, as ſuch. This
would go beyond the follies of the Egyptian prieſts: for onions are vegetables, at leaſt;
and fo are one ſtep nearer to intelligent beings, than ſeveral of the things you have been
talking of. As to that, fays Polymetis, let every body anſwer for their own föllies.
The old Romans, no doubt, were guilty of many: but, in the prefent cafe, I do not
know whether they were fo entirely ridiculous, as they appear at firſt fight to have been.
Their idea of their moſt confiderable men was, (like that of Plato and Socrates,) that
after their deceaſe, they were tranfported into fome ftar or conftellation. As we ſay of
(113) Is obelifcus, quem Divus Auguftus in Circol
Magno ftatuit, 125 pedum & dodrantis; præter ba-
fim ejufdem lapidis. Is verò, qui in Campo Martio,
novem pedibus minor.
Ei qui eft in Campo, Divus Auguſtus addidit mira
bilem ufum; ad deprehendendas folis umbras, die-
rumque ac noctium magnitudines: ftrato lapide ad
obelifci magnitudinem, cui par fieret umbra Romæ,
confecto die, fextâ horâ ; paulatimque per regulas,
quæ funt ex ære inclufæ, fingulis diebus decrefceret,
ac rurfus augefceret. Pliny, Lib. 36. c. 9, & 10.
This is moſt uſually ſuppoſed to have been a dial;
tho' it ſeems more likely to have ferved for a meridian
line; by the expreffions ufed of it, in Pliny. See
the whole 10th Chapter. Ibid.
(114) ΑΓχι δε οι σκαιης επιγενίδος ελιθα πάσαι
Πληϊάδες φορεοντα
για
την
Aratus, .255.
the
Επι της αποτομής το Ταυρός της καλυμένης Ραχέως;
as 51. Eratofthenes's Conftellations. N°.23.
(115) Bis gravidos cogunt fœtus: duo tempora meffis.
Taygete fimul os terris oftendit honeftum
Pleias, & Oceani fpretos pede reppulit amnes :
Aut eadem, fidus fugiens ubi Piſcis aquofi,
Triftior hybernas cœlo defcendit in undas.
Virgil. Georg. 4. $.234.
Flaccus fpeaks of all of them perſonally.
-Denfæque fequuntur
Pleiades ; & madidis rorant e crinibus ignes.
Argon. 5. . 416.
And Manilius may refer even to their being repre-
fented all, in miniature; as ſmall, perhaps, as the
figures on a ring.
Averſus venit in cœlum, diveſque puellis ;
Pleiadum parvo referèns glomerabile fidus.
(Speaking of Taurus.) Aftron. 4. *. 522.
DIALOGUE the Eleventh.
179
the departed; "He was a good man, and is gone to heaven:" they uſed to fay; "He
was a great man, and is made a (116) ftar of." The antients had fome notion of theſe
itars being very large: a fort of worlds, fpread about the great expanfe. Arcturus, with
them, was the intelligence of one of thefe worlds; as Perfeus was fuppofed to prefide
over ſeveral of them. Each of the other Conſtellations had its prefiding intelligence :
and what fignified it, whether this intelligence, (and much lefs whether his diſtrict or
domain,) was of this, or that particular figure? It might as well be round, as fquare or
oblong; of the ſhape of an altar, as well as of the ſhape of a human body. Its being
bounded by lines that make the figure of a lyre or a ſhip, is no manner of objection to
its being an intelligence; or rather, to its being governed and directed by one. Cicero
(117) teaches us that the conſtellations were looked on as high intelligences, and gods: and
Plautus has a fancy about the ftars; which, however odd, may at leaſt ſerve to fhew
how early and generally this opinion had obtained among the Romans. He introduces
Arcturus to ſpeak the prologue to one of his best comedies, the Rudens. Arcturus fays
in it,
"that he is one of the inhabitants of the wide expanfe, or æther: a citizen, of the
great city of celeftial beings: that he, and all the conftellations, remain there by night:
and that, by day, they defcend upon our earth; obferve the actions of men; and carry
an exact detail of them to the governor of the univerfe: that he enters all the good and
bad actions they relate to him, in two different books; and puniſhes, or rewards, each
man according to the exceſs of good, or bad, at the bottom of his account.”
If a fingle
ftar, as Arcturus was, could be fuppofed to be employed every day in fo important an
errand; what muſt they have thought of the greater commanding conftellations, fuch as
Argo or Lyra, which you treated juft now as fo fenfeleſs and ſo infignificant?
As I have told you that the Roman philofophers looked on their conftellations, as fo
many gods; I think I ought not to conceal, that their poets fometimes treat them, like fo
many beafts. This, indeed, arifes too from the figures feveral of them are repreſented under;
and their fuppofing them all, of old, to be animated. One meets with ſome ſtrange (118)
oppofitions of this kind, in Virgil and Ovid in particular and fome odd expreffions in
ſome other of the Roman poets: which I think are not rightly to be underſtood without
this idea of the ſtars being (119) animals, or animated beings; as Cicero exprefly calls
them.
(116) Inter fidera relatus, was a common expreffion
among the Romans. They believed that Perfeus,
and Chiron, and ſeveral other heroes, were actually
placed there and it was a common compliment of
the poets to their emperors, to fay; that they would
have a place there, when they departed this life.
This fort of compliment was grown fo common, even
in Horace's time, that he ridicules it in his Epode to
Canidia.
Sive mendaci lyrâ
Voles fonari; tu pudica, tu proba,
Perambulabis aftra fidus aureum.
Epod. 17. .41.
(117) Ex quoque (fidera) rectiffimè, & animantia
effe, & fentire atque intelligere dicantur. Says Bal-
bus the Stoic, in Cicero; de Nat. Deor. 1. 2. p. 34.
Ed. Ald.
Probabile eft, præftantem intelligentiam in fideribus
effe. Id. ibid. And a little before; he had faid; Ex
quo efficitur, in deorum numero aftra effe ducenda.
(118) Immiffæque feræ fylvis, & fidera cœlo.
ALL
Aftra tenent cœlefte folum, formæque deorum ;-
Terra feras cepit:
Ovid. Met. 1. *. 75.
ftellations of the fea; (that is, the intelligent and di-
(119) Thus Statius calls the Sea-nymphs, the Con-
vine inhabitants of the waters, as the other are of
the heavens :)
Antennæ gemino' confidite cornu,
Oebalii fratres !
Vos quoque cæruleum, Diva Nereïdes, agmen!
Dicere quæ magni fas fit mihi fidera ponti.
Lib. 3. Sylv. 2. #. 15.
The fame poet repreſents Aurora, as driving the
ſtars out of heaven, with a whip; like fo many beafts.
Tempus erat junctos cum jam foror ignea Phobi
Sentit equos, penitufque cavam ſub luce paratâ
Oceani mugire domum: fefeque vagantem
Colligit; & moto leviter fugat aftra flagello.
Theb. 8. *. 274.
Manilius uſes the word, Flock, in ſpeaking of a
number of ſtars; and repreſents them going on like
a flock of ſheep, or any other animals.
Virgil. Georg. 2. . 342.
Neu regio foret ulla fuis animantibus orba :
A a a
-Cum fecretis improvidus Hædus in aftris,
Erranti fimilis, fratrum veftigia quærit ;
Poftque gregem, longo producitur intervalla.
Aftron. 5. . 308.
180
POLY METIS.
ALL this, fays Philander, runs on too romantic notions for me; I would much rather
hear a little matter of fact: and in particular I fhould be very glad to know, what fort of
globes the antients had; how far they exceeded, or fell fhort of ours: and as they had
globes like us, whether they had any thing like our Orreries too. We cannot determine
abfolutely what fort of globes they might have, fays Polymetis; becauſe we have only
this before us, that I know of. You fee this is divided, as ours are, into five parts.
The midſt is the torrid Zone, marked out by the Zodiac's running acroſs it: the partitions
on each fide of it, are the temperate Zones; and thoſe, at each extremity, are the two
frigid ones. The four circles, which bound theſe partitions, are all on this globe; which
with the Æquator, the Meridian, and the Zodiac, are all the lines that appear on it. The
antients, poffibly, were not fo exact and fo particular, in parting the leffer divifions; as
we are in our globes: but what may ſurpriſe you, as I am fure it did me when I had the
firſt idea of it is, that (allowing for the difference of comparing a fyſtem out of faſhion,
with one
that is in,) they feem to have had Orreries, that went farther, and were much
more magnificent, than any we can boaſt of at preſent. They complimented the earth
perhaps too much, in placing it in the center, and making the fun only an attendant pla-
net to her; but then their works which reprefented the courſe of the fun, and of the
other planets round the earth, ſeem to have been carried to a very great perfection. The
celebrated ſphere of Archimedes, (according to Claudian's known (120) epigram upon it,)
was a work of this nature. Cicero fpeaks, more than once, of it (121); and of another
made by his friend Poffidonius, which by one turn fhewed a day's motion of the fun,
moon, and the five other planets, round the earth: but there is an Orrery (122) deſcribed
by Valerius Flaccus, that ſeems to have far exceeded either of them; if that poet borrowed
his thought from any work of this kind, that he had feen. He makes it ferve for a
luftre, in a temple of Phoebus. In the midſt of the temple, he fays, there ftood a vaſt
ſtatue of Atlas: which ftatue fupported a ſphere of the heavens. The planets and con-
ftellations were reprefented on it, all in their proper courſes; to enlighten the dome.
Surely, there never was a temple more properly, or moré nobly, illuminated!-The
fame planets make part of the furniture of my temple; but I cannot fhew them to you;
either in motion, or with the magnificence he ſpeaks of. However, if you can bear to
fee them as they are; we will come hither again, if you pleafe, in the afternoon.
(120) I may infert Claudian's epigram here, as a
proof of the fact in general; tho' his be no good au-
thority, for any particular figure. It is as follows.
•
*
Jupiter in parvo cum cerneret æthera vitro,
Rifit; & ad fuperos talia dicta dedit.
Huccine mortalis progreffa potentia curæ ?
Jam meus in fragili luditur orbe labor.
Jura Poli, rerumque fidem, legefque deorum,
Ecce Syracufius tranftulit arte fenex.
Inclufus variis famulatur fpiritus aftris ;
Et vivum certis motibus urget opus.
Percurrit proprium mentitus Segnifer annum ;
Et fimulata novo Cynthia menſe redit.
Jamque fuum volvens audax induſtria mundum
Gaudet; & humanâ fidera mente regit:
Quid falfo infontem tonitru Salmonea miror?
Æmula naturæ parva reperta manus.
་
•
(121) Cicero de Natura Deorum. Lib. 2. p. 44-
Ed. Ald. See his Tufc. Quæft. L. 1. p. 344. Ed.
Blaeu..
!
(122)
•
Illi properè monftrata capeffunt
· Limina; non aliter quàm fi radiantis adirent
Ora dei, verafque æterni luminis arces :
Tale jubar per tecta micat. Stat ferreus Atlas
Oceano; genibufque tumens infringitur unda :
At medii per terga fenis, rapit ipfe nitentes
Altus
equos, curvoque diem fubtexit Olympo.
Pone, rotâ breviore foror: denfæque fequuntur
Pliades, & madidis rorant e crinibus ignes.
Arg. 5. . 416.
1

Fin
XXIV
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XXV
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L.P. Boitard Sculp
181
O
DIA L. XII.
Of the Planets; Times, and Seaſons.
N their return to the fame temple in the afternoon, Polymetis took up a drawing
that lay on the table; and after confidering it a little, This (fays he) will
give you the figures of all the planets, under their perfonal characters; as
you faw thoſe of the conftellations, in the morning. It was copied from a collection of
drawings, from gems; made by a German nobleman, now refiding at Florence: and
the fulleft collection, I believe, of the kind, that ever was made. This, in particular,
is a very great curiofity; and may very well deferve your obfervation. In the outer
round here, you fee, we have the feven planets, according to the antient fyftem; (that PL. XXVI.
is, the fun as one of them, inſtead of the earth:) in the next round, are the twelve figns FIG. I.
of the Zodiac: and in the center, is a perfon fitting, and playing on two pipes. This
mufical perfon, I fuppofe, is placed there to fignify the regularity, and due proportions,
in which all the heavenly bodies take their courfes; or in other words, the harmony of
the univerſe. This is what we vulgarly talk of, by the name of the Mufic of the ſpheres ;
without having any thing of that true and noble idea, that really belongs to it. The
antients, (as high, at leaſt, as Pythagoras's time,) had a notion of the diſtances of the
planets being meaſured out, in a very regular proportion; as regular, as the (1) notes of
mufic. How far thefe gueffes of Pythagoras, or of his predeceffors in philofophy, may
bear a reſemblance to the difcovery of Kepler and the demonſtrations of Sir Ifaac Newton,
in relation to the entire harmony that there is between the revolutions and diſtances of
each of the planets, it is not our buſineſs here at all to enquire: all I have to do with
the planets being to confider how they were reprefented by the antients, under perfonal
characters. As to that, in the drawing before us, they are all, you fee, in a fort of
chariots. That of Saturn, is drawn by two ferpents; that of Jupiter, by two eagles
Mars by two horſes, and Sol by four. Venus is drawn by her two doves; Mercury, by
two cocks; and Luna, by two ftags. Five of thefe are very rarely reprefented by the
artiſts, or ſpoken of by the poets, in their planetary characters; but Sol and Luna, (which
make the nobleſt appearance in the heavens, and are the moſt confiderable in regard to
our globe,) are common enough in both. I never faw all of them together, but in the
Florentine drawing. What a treaſure would it be for the fame gentleman, could he add
the feven rings of Apollonius Thyaneus to his collection? which feem to have had the
feven planets reprefented on them; and which, (we are told,) Apollonius uſed to wear
(2) each, one day every week; according to the particular planet, that gave its name to
the day.
C
•
THE moſt remote of the planets, Saturn, was ſuppoſed to have been the firſt maſter of
the univerſe; and fome of the old poets call him, the (3) greateſt of all the gods. Jupiter
drove him (4) out of the higheft heavens; and it is therefore that you did not meet with
(1) Pythagoras ex mufica ratione appellat tonum,
quantum abfit à Terrâ Luna. Ab eâ ad Mercurium,
fpatii ejus dimidium: ab co ad Venerem, fere tan-
tundem à quâ ad Solem, fefquiplum: à Sole ad
Martem, tonum; (id eft, quantum ad Lunam à
terrâ :) ab eo ad Jovem, dimidium: & inde fefqui-
plum, ad Signiferum. Ita feptem tonos effici, quam
diapafon harmoniam vocant; hoc eft, univerfitatem
concentûs. In eâ Saturnum, Dotio moveri; Mer-
curium phthongo; Jovem Phrygio; & in reliquis
fimilia. Pliny, Lib. 2. Cap. 22.
(2) Φησι δε ο Δαμις και δακτύλιος επτα τον Ερχαν
τω Απολλωνίω δυναι, των Επτα επωνυμος αστρων &ς
him,
Φορειν τον Απολλώνιον κατα ενα, προς τα ονόματα των
nov. Philoftratus, Lib. 3. Cap. 41.
ημερών.
(3) O genitor nofter, Saturne, maxime Divûm !
(4) Sæpe aliquis folio quod tu, Saturne, tenebas
Aufus de mediâ plebe ſedere Deus.
Ennius:
Ovid. Faft. 5. y. 20
Saturnus regnis ab Jove pulfus erat,
Id. Ibid. 3. *. 796.
Qualem te memorant, Saturno rege fugato,
Victori haudes concinuiffe Jovi.
Tibullus, Lib. 2. El. 5. . 10,
182
POLYMETIS.
him, in my firſt temple, among the Great Celeſtial Deities. I do not know that
the Roman writers ever defèribe him, as driving a chariot: but what they fay of
his feet being uſually (5) in fetters, may poffibly have ſome relation to his planetary cha
racter (6); and to the flowneſs of his motion in the heavens. For he is longer, you
know, in making his revolution, than any other of the planets; and above three hun-
dred times as long, as one of them. If you have a mind to ſee what ſort of a figure he
PL. XXVI. makes in fhackles, you may confider that ſtatue of him there by the door. You fee he
is very (7) old, and decrepid, as well as chained; and appears, in all reſpects, like one
that muſt go on extremely flowly.
FIG. 2.
SATURN was uſually reprefented, either with a pruning hook (8), or ſcythe in his
hand. This relates to a piece of the Roman hiſtory, in their fabulous age: for they had
one too as well as the Grecians; and perhaps it may reach much farther down towards
us, than has been ufually imagined.
imagined. They pretended that Saturn, when he was de-
throned by Jupiter, took refuge in Italy; and that he introduced ſeveral parts of agri-
culture there; particularly, the art of pruning, and managing their vines.
ANOTHER character of Saturn among the antients, (for I would willingly confider all
his characters together, tho' this comes a little before its proper place,) was that of pre-
fiding over Time; with which the name given him by the Greeks more particularly
agrees. It is on the account of this character of his, that Cicero thinks he was (9) repres
14
fented in fetters. I take this figure, in particular, to relate to Saturn as the god of Time
which may
becauſe he has wings to his ſhoulders in it, as well as ſhackles to his feet; which
fignify both the fwiftnefs, and flownefs, of time: for time has the fame fort of contra-
riety in its character; and feems either fwift, or flow to each man, according to the
agreeableneſs or diſagreeableneſs of the ideas, that his mind is employed about. Our
modern painters, feem to have borrowed their idea of Time, from the antient figures of
Saturn: only perhaps, they have turned his pruning-hook into a fcythe; or the par-
ticular fort of ſcythe, which he reſts on in this figure, into a common one.
JUPITER, as the intelligence prefiding over a fingle planet, is reprefented only in a
chariot and a pair ; on all other occafions, if reprefented in a chariot, he is always drawn
(5) Vetus opinio Græciam opplevit, vinctum Sa-
turnum à filio Jove. Cicero, de Nat. Deor. Lib. 2.
p. 39. Ed. Ald.So Minutius Felix, ſpeaking of
the reprefentations of the Roman deities, fays: Pe-
dibus Mercurius alatis, Pan ungulatis, Saturnus com-
peditis. Cap. 21. p. 108.
Profequitur vitem.
by
Curvo Saturní dente relictam
Virgil. Georg. 2. ✈. 407.
Hence Ovid calls Saturn, Deus Falcifer. Faft. 1.
.234. And St. Cyprian ſays of the fame deity,
Rufticitatis hic cultor fuit: inde ferens falcem pingi-
They unfettered his ſtatues on his great feaſt, the tur. Tract. 4. de Idol. Vanitate.
Saturnalia; about the time of our Chriſtmas :
Saturnus mihi compede exolutus;
Et multo madidus mero December,
Et ridens Jocus, & Sales protervi,
Adfint.
EV
Statius, Lib. 1. Sylv. 6. y. 7.
w
και
(6) Ουμενον δε τον Κρόνον ο Ζευς εδησεν, δε ες Ταρ
Tapa Eppitevanna Degetaι yag o Kgovos Tny
Φόρην, πολλον απ' ημέων: και οι νωθρή η κίνησις,
σ' ρηϊδίη τοισι ανθρωποισι ορααπαι. Διο δη μεν επαναι
λεγεσιν, οπως πεπεδημένον· το δε βαθος το πολλον το
περος, ταρταρος καλεῖται. Lucian. Tom. I. p. 853.
Ed. Blaeu.
४
(7) Saturnufque fenex, Janique bifrontis imago.
:
(8)
Virgil. Æn. 7. y. 180.
-Priufquam
The Roman authors call theſe two attributes of Sa-
turn, indifferently, by the name of Falx; which is a
very equivocal word; and feems to have fignified any
crooked fort of inſtrument whatever. Their writers on
agriculture in particular, make uſe of it for a pruning-
hook, bill, or ficle; Cæfar, in his Commentaries, for a
crooked inftrument of war; the poets, for the Harpè,-
or crooked fword of Mercury; and many of their
authors, for a ſcythe particularly Propertius, in the
following paffage; where he is ſpeaking of Vertum-
nus, and the different characters that god ufed to
take upon him :
Da falcem, & torto frontem mihi comprime fræno;
Jurabis noftrâ gramina fecta manu.
*.
Lib. 4. El. 2. . 26.
(9) By Saturn, ſays Cicero, the Greeks under-
ſtood Time; and therefore called him Xoovos:
vinctus eft autem à Jove, ne immoderatos curfus
haberet; atque ut eum fyderum vinculis alligaret.
Juvenal. Sat. 13. ✯. 39. De Nat. Deor. Lib. 2. p. 39. Ed. Ald.
Sumeret agreftem pofito diademate falcem
Saturnus fugiens.
DIALOGUE the Twelfth.
183
by four horfes. It is poffible, that the poets might look on this planetary character of his
as derogatory to his honour; for there is not any one of them, I believe, who ſpeaks of
Jupiter, as drawn only by two horſes; and indeed they very ſeldom fay any thing of his
prefiding over a planet, at all. Perhaps they looked upon it as a prophane thing; and as
demeaning Jupiter too much, to confider him in a view, in which he muft evidently ap-
pear inferior to Sol.
Ir is otherwiſe as to Mars. The poets ſpeak diſtinctly of him (10) as guiding a pla-
net; and of his being drawn by two horfes. His appearance under this character is re-
preſented by them, much like his appearance as the god of war. They ſpeak of his ſtar,
as red and fiery; and of the god himſelf, as impetuous in his courſe. Venus is as mild,
as the former is outrageous: and is drawn here, by doves: as fhe is repreſented too,
moſt commonly (11), by the poets; in their defcriptions of this goddeſs.
As the ftar of Venus had fuch a variety of (12) names and offices affigned to it, fo there
is a great deal of difference in the manners of repreſenting it: fo great, that it is ſome-
times reprefented even under the figure of a male, as well as that of a female. When
confidered as a planet, it is directed by Venus, in her chariot drawn by doves. But
when it is confidered as the morning, or the evening-ſtar, it is directed by a boy or
young man who is fometimes called Lucifer, under both thoſe characters; but more
generally Lucifer (13) for the former, and Hefperus (14) for the latter. Others do not
change the name, but fatisfy themſelves with (15) changing his horfe; and giving him
a white one for the morning, and a dark one for the evening. Tho' the poets mark the
beauty of Lucifer, and call him (16) the brighteſt of all the hoſt of heaven; yet they
repreſent him as with a (17) gloomy aſpect, on melancholy occafions. His office, was
to (18) call Aurora; and he had the privilege of leaving the heavens the laſt of all the
ftars. From the poets being fo particular in their deſcriptions of Lucifer, I doubt not
but that the antient artiſts, and particularly the painters, reprefented him under all his
characters as occafion ferved; tho' I have never yet met with him on either of his
horſes, that I remember, in any antique. Where I have ſeen him, he is always repre-
fented as a youth; (19) either before the chariot of the Sun, with a torch, as Lucifer;
or before the chariot of the moon, without a torch, as Hefperus.
(10)
-Nox jungit equos; currumque fequuntur
Martis lafcivo fidera fulva choro.
Tibullus, Lib. 2. El: 1. . 88.
Jamque duæ noctes reftant de menfe fecundo,
Marſque citos junctis curribus urget equos.
Ovid. Faft. 2. .856.
(11) Per-leves auras, junctis invecta columbis.
Ovid. Met. 14. *. 598.
Tum maximus heros
Maternas agnofcit aves.
LUCAN,
(15) Rofcida jam novies cœlo demiferat aftra
Lucifer; & totidem Lunæ prævenerat ignes,
Mutato nocturnus equo : nec confcia fallit
Sidera; & alterno deprenditur unus in ortu.
Statius, Theb. 6. †. 241.
(16) Lucifero genitorë fatus; patriumque nitorem
Ore ferens Ceyx.
Lucifer.
Ovid. Met. 11. Y. 272.
Coelo nitidiffimus alto
Ovid. Lib. 2. El. 11. †. 56.
Virgil. Æn. 6. . 193. (of two doves.)
(12) This fingle ftar has four names among us,
at prefent; and had
the Romans of old.
יך
almoſt twice as many, among
They called it, Venus; Phof-
phorus, Lucifer; Hefperus, Vefperus; Veſper, and
Vefperugo. Theſe names are all reducible to its
three characters; as a planet, or as the morning and
evening ſtar.
(17) Lucifer obfcurus, nec quem cognofcere poffes,
Illâ nocte fuit.
Ovid. Met. 11. *. 571.
Cærulus & vultum ferrugine Lucifer atrâ
Sparfus erat.
(Before Julius Cæfar's death) Id. Ibid. 15. *.790.
(18)
Dum Lucifer ignes
Evocet Aurora :
(13)
Cumque albo Lucifer exit
Clarus equo..
Ovid. Met. 15. †. 190.
Ovid. Met. 4. . 629.
Dædalion, illo genitore creatus,
Qui vocat Auroram, cœloque noviffimus exit.
Id. Ibid. 11. 7. 296.
(14) Hefperus & fufco rofcidus ibat equo.
Ovid. Faft 2. y. 312.
(19) See Pl. 26. Fig. 3, & 4.
Bb b
184
POLYMETIS.
FIG. 3.
LUCAN, in ſpeaking of Mercury as the guiding intelligence of a planet, marks the
(20) ſwiftneſs of his motion. I have obſerved, on a former occafion, that the make of
Mercury in general, feemed to be all defigned for lightneſs and diſpatch. Perhaps, the
antients firſt borrowed this idea of Mercury from his planetary character; as they repre-
fented Saturn, the floweſt of all the planets, chained and creeping on with difficulty. It
It.
is common to meet with Mercury in other antiques, as well as this, drawn by two
cocks; which birds feem to have been affigned to him, becauſe they were looked upon
of old, as the mark of vigilance and alertneſs.
DIANA had different offices, you know, thro' almoſt all parts of the univerſe; in
PL. XXVI. the heavens, upon earth, and in hell. It is the who is the intelligence you
ſhe
fee repre-
fented here in her car, as directing the planet of the moon. Her figure under this cha-
racter is frequently enough to be met with on relievo's, gems, and medals: on which
ſhe generally appears with a lunar (21) crown, or crefcent, on her forehead: and is
fometimes repreſented as drawn by ſtags; and fometimes by does: but more commonly
than either, by horſes. The poets ſpeak (22) of her chariot, and her horſes; they agree
with the artiſts, in giving her but two; and fhew that the painters of old, probably,
drew them of a perfect white colour. There is a gem in the Great Duke's collection,
at Florence, in which this goddeſs is drawn by two heifers; a particular that I do not
remember to have been taken notice of by any one of the Roman poets, of the good
ages.
IT was this Diana, (or the intelligence, that was fuppofed to prefide over the moon,)
who was fabled to fall in love with Endymion; and if we confider the occafion of her
love for him, according to the accounts the antients give of that fable, it may appear
perhaps to have been only a philofophical amour, or what we call Platonic love and fo
may not interfere with this goddeſs's general character of chaſtity. However that be,
the ſtory is very common, in particular on old Sarcophagus's; and we ſee her on them,
defcending to a fhepherd afleep, with a veil over her head: a particular, from which a
line in (23) Valerius Flaccus, (that poffibly has been fometimes thought obfcure,) be-
comes not only very clear, but very defcriptive too of her appearance. There is fome
reaſon to think, that this fable might have been meant originally of the (24) eclipſes of the
moon: and if it was fo, her veil would be the moſt fignificant part of her dreſs, on this
occafion.
APOLLO
J
(20)
(21)
-Summo fi frigida cœlo
Stella nocens nigros Saturni accenderet ignes;
Deucalioneos fudiffet Aquarius imbres,
Totaque diffuſo latuiffet in æquore tellus :
Si fævum radiis Nemeæum, Phoebe, leonem
Nunc premeres; toto fluerent incendia mundo,
Succenfufque fuis flagraffet curribus æther.
Hi ceffant ignes. Tu qui flagrante minacem
Scorpion incendis caudâ Chelafque peruris,
Quid tantum, Gradive, paras? Nam mitis in alto
Jupiter occafu premitur; Veneriſque falubre
Sidus hebet; motuque celer Cyllenius hæret ;
Et cœlum Mars folus habet.
Lucan. Pharf. 1. .663.
Siderea torta corona deæ.
Propertius, Lib. 3. El. 20. . 18.
Hence Horace calls her: Siderum Regina bicornis.
Carm. Sec. y. 35.
(22) Jamque per emeriti furgens confinia Phobi
Titanis, latè mundo fubvecta filenti
Roriferâ gelidum tenuaverat aëra bigâ.
Statius, Theb. 1. *. 338.
Quæ cava cœli fignitenentibus
Conficis bigis.
I
Ennius, in Androm,
Sol quoque cum ftellis, nullâ gravitate retentus :
Et vos, Lunares exfiluiftis equi.
Ovid. Faft. 5. *. 16.
Poftera cum cœlo motis Pallantias aftris
Fulferit; & niveos Luna levarit equos.
Id. Ibid. 4. *. 372.
Ut folet, æquoreas ibit Tiberinus in undas;
Ut folet, in niveis Luna vehetur equis.
Id. Rem. Am. 1. y. 258.
(23) Qualis adhuc fparfis comitum per luftra catervis,
Latmius æftivâ refidet venator in umbrâ,
Dignus amore deæ; velatis cornibus & jam
Luna venit: rofeo talis per nubila ductor
Implet honore nemus; talemque expectat amantem.
Flaccus, Argon. 8. . 31.
the famous aftronomer, fays; that he knew the rea-
(24) Catullus, where he is commending Conon,
fons of the eclipfes of the fun;, why ſtars are ſome-
times loft; and why the moon fometimes difappears
in the midſt of her courfe.
Flammeus ut rapidi Solis nitor obfcuretur ;
Ut cedant certis fidera temporibus ;
Ut Triviam furtim fub Latmia faxa relegans
Dulcis
amor gyro devocet aërio.
De cona Ber. 64. Ý, 6
DIALOGUE the Twelfth.
185
for him,
APOLLO, or rather Sol, (for that is the perfonal name which is moft proper
as the intelligence of a planet,) is diftinguiſhed above all the reft of the planets, by his
having a chariot and four, affigned to him: and the poets indeed ſpeak of him more,
than of all the reft put together. They are very diſtinct, and very full, as to every
thing relating to his perfon; and to the courſe he was fuppofed to make daily, in the
heavens. They defcribe his (25) face as fhining; and mark that particular brightneſs
(26) beaming from his eyes, which I have (27) formerly had occafion to mention to you.
They often ſpeak of the (28) Corona radiata, (or crown of twelve rays,) on his head.
They repreſent him as (29) ſtanding in his chariot, fometimes (30) with a whip, and
fometimes with a flambeau in his hand; as we find him repreſented with each, by the
antient fculptors. In their works he is generally, for the moſt part naked; ſo that I am
apt to ſuſpect that the fine dreſs which Flaccus affigns to this deity, in one of his deſcrip-
tions of him, may be only an effect of the ſporting of his own imagination. He gives
him a Lorica, or coat of mail (31), with the figures of the Zodiac wrought upon it;
and tied round him, with a rainbow inſtead of a ſaſh. It is true, Flaccus might copy
this from fome antient painting: for which fuch an idea might be fitter, than for the
works of the ſculptors:
:
THE poets make frequent mention (32) of his chariot: and one may learn from them
how (33) fmall it was; as you fee it, in effect, always reprefented in the works of the antient
artiſts. The harnefs feems to have been rofe-coloured; and ftudded with precious
ftones and the chariot itſelf, chiefly of gold.
(25) Conçutiens illuftre caput.
(after laying aſide his crown of rays.) Ovid. Met. 2. y. 50.
In veram rediit faciem, folitumque nitorem.
Id. Ibid. . 231.
(26)
(31)
Id. Ib. 4. . 193.
Quid nunc, Hyperione nate,
Forma colorque tibi, radiataque lumina profunt?
(27) See p. 85, anteh.
(28)
Radiis frontem vallatus acutis.
Ovid. Ep. 4. . 159. (Phædra, Hip.)
Cui tempora circum
Aurati bis ſex radii fulgentia cingunt ;
Solis avi fpecimen.
Depofuit radios
Virgil. Æn. 12. . 164. (of Latinus.)
Ovid. Met. 2. . 41.
Per folis radios, Tarpeiaque fulmina jurat.
Juvenal. Sat. 13. ✯.78.
O decus mundi, radiate Titan!
Herc. Oet. A&t. 4. Chor.
Statius calls this crown of rays, Radiantem arcum.
Theb. 1. . 28.
(29) Cum tamen altus equis Titan radiantibus inftat.
Ovid. Ep. 8. . 105. (Herm. Or.)
So the fame poet, of Phaeton:
Statque fuper; manibufque datas contingere habenas
Gaudet.
Altus equos.
(30)
Met. 2... 152.
Rapit ipfe nitentes
Val. Flaccus, (of Sol,) 5. . 414.
Stimuloque domans & verbere fævit.
Ovid. Met. 2. *. 399.
Exuit implicitum tenebris humentibus orbem
Oceano prolata dies; genitorque corufcæ
Lucis adhuc hebetem vicinâ nocte levabat,
Et nondum excuffo rorantem lampada ponto.
THEY
Statius, Achil. z. . 289.
Sol auricomus, cingentibus Horis,
Multifidum jubar & biffeno fidere textam
Loricam induitur. Ligat hanc qui nubila contra
Balteus undantem variat mortalibus arcum.
Val. Flaccus, 4. .95.
(32) Alme Sol, curru nitido diem qui
Promis & celas.
1
Horat, Carm. Sæc. †. 10.
Jamque novum terris pariebat lumine primo
Egrediens Aurora diem: ftabulifque fubibant
Ad juga Solis equi; necdum ipfe adfcenderat axem,
Sed prorupturis rutilabant æquora flammis,
Tempus agens abeunte curru.
Sil. Ital. 16. †. 232.
Horat. Lib. 3. Od. 6. . 44.
*.
Ad altos
Deducit juvenem, Vulcania munera, currus.
Aureus axis erat, temo aureus; aurea fummæ
Curvatura rota: radiorum argenteus ordo :
Per juga chryfolithi, pofitæque ex ordine gemmæ.
Ovid. Met. 2. ✯.110.
(33) Solverat Hefperii devexo margine ponti
Flagrantes Sol pronus equos; rutilamque lavabat
Oceani fub fronte comam: cui turba profundi
Nereos, & rapidis occurrunt paffibus Hore.
Frænaque, & auratæ textum fublime coronæ
Deripiunt: laxant rofeis humentia loris
Pectora: pars meritos vertunt ad molle jugales
Gramen ; & erecto currum temone fupinant.
Statius, Theb..3. ¥. 414.
186
POLYMETIS.
FIG. 4.
THEY are as diftinct about his horfes. They tell us the number (34), and, the names
of them. Their (35) colour too is mentioned; but in words fo general, or ſo little un-
derſtood at preſent, (as indeed moſt of the Latin names for colours are very apt to be
miſtaken by us,) that I would not be poſitive, what colour they were painted of. His
horſes are deſcribed, as (36) full of life and fire: as (37) breathing quick, in their courſe;
and as wreaking, after it. His courſe they ſpeak of, as lying between two (38) Metæ, or
PL. XXVI. fixed points; the firſt half of it, all (39) up-hill, (as you ſee him in this drawing in par-
ticular;) and the other, all (40) down-hill. He fets out from the eaſtern (41) fea; and
drives into (42) the weſtern: where they generally ſuppoſed him to be received, for the
nights, in the (43) palace of Oceanus. We at prefent cannot fo well have any idea of his
driving his chariot thus along the air; but it was an imagination commonly received
among the antients, that there was a great tranſparent arch in the heavens, (of cryſtal,
or what you pleafc,) over which he took his ſtated journey each day. This arch they
fo far ſuppoſed to be real and folid, that they talk of the tracks worn by his chariot-
wheels on it; as if they were as plain and (44) vifible, as any great road is upon our
earth.
•
THE repreſentations of Sol taking this journey, are almoft as frequent in the works of
the antient artiſts, as the defcriptions of it are in the poets; and agree entirely with
them. You fee him in them either labouring up a ſteep hill; or deſcending eaſily
down it. Sometimes, you have the Zodiac repreſented over him: which falls in ufually
with the head of the deity; and I imagine that the point, where it falls in, is often
choſe with defign: to mark the time of fome action, or event, figured under it. It was,
"2
for
(34)
Pyroeis, & Eous, & Ethon,
Solis equi; quartufque Phlegon.-
Ovid. Met. 2. . 154.
(35)
Nitentes equos.
Flaccus, 5. . 413.
Gemmea purpureis cum juga demet equis.
Ovid. Faft. 2. $. 72.
Carmina fanguineæ deducunt cornua Lunæ,
Et revocent niveos Solis euntis equos.
Id. Lib. 2. El. 1. *. 24.
What idea the Romans meant by the word purpu-
reus, is not at all fettled with us. They ufe that
epithet of Fire, of Swans, and of Snow; ſo that nivei
and purpurei here, may not differ ſo much, as they
may ſeem to do at firſt.
(36) Nec tibi quadrupedes animofos ignibus illis
Quos in pectore habent, quos ore & naribus efflant,
In promptu regere eft: vix me patiuntur, ut acres
Incaluere animi, cervixque repugnat habenis.
Ovid. Met. 2. *.87.
He ſpeaks of them again as breathing fire, ib.y. 120.
in the fame manner as Virgil deſcribes his war-
horſe:
Collectumque premens volvit ſub naribus ignem.
Georg. 3.
.85.
Ardua prima via eft, & quâ vix mane recentes
Enitantur equi,
Ovid. Met. 2. . 64.
(40) Jam labor exiguus Phobo reftabat: equique
Pulfabant pedibus fpatium declivis Olympi.
(41)
Ovid. Met. 6. . 487.
Frangebat radios humili jam pronus Olympo
Phoebus ; & Oceani penetrabile littus anhelis
Promittebat equis.
Statius, Achil. 2. . 17.
Pronus erat Titan: inclinatoque tenebat
Hefperium temone fretum.
Ovid. Met. 11. ¥. 258.
Cum primùm alto fe gurgite tollunt
Solis equi, lucemque elatis naribus effant.
Virgil. Æn. 12. .115.
(42) Deferet ante dies, & in alto Phoebus anhelos
Equore tinget equos.
Ovid. Met. 15. *. 419,
Ni rofeus feffos jam gurgite Phoebus Ibero
Tingat equos, noctemque die labente reducat.
Virgil. Æn. 11. .914.
(43) Statius calls this, Domus Oceani, Theb. 8.
273. and deſcribes the reception of Sol in it ; ib. 3.
407, &c. as quoted Note 33, anteh.-One might
form fome idea of it, from Virgil's defcription of the
Herc. Oet. Act. 4. Sc. 1. . 1. palace of Cyrene, under water; in his 4th Georgic:
or the grotto of the water-nymphs, in his firſt Æneid,
*. 166.
(37) Converte, Titan clare, anhelantes equos.
#.
(38)
Donec Sol annuus omnes
Conficeret metas.
Statius, Achil. 1. #. 456.
(39) Sextus ubi e terrâ clivofum fcandet Olympum
Phoebus.
Ovid. Faft. 4. . 372.
Nec cum invectus equis album petit æthera; nec cum
Præcipitem Oceani rubro lavit æquore currum.
Virgil. Georg. 3. .360.
(44) Nec tibi directos placeat via quinque per arcus;
Sectus in obliquum vafto curvamine limes:
Zonarumque trium contentus fine, polumque
Effugito Auſtralem, jun&tamque Aquilónibus Arcton.
Hac fit iter. Manifeſta rotæ veſtigia cernes.
Ovid. Met. 2. . 133.
DIALOGUE the Twelfth.
187
for example, a very common compliment to their emperors, to place them in the Zodiac,
and even in the chariot of Sol himſelf: and in ſome of the figures of this kind, I fuppofe
they might mark out the time of the year when fuch an emperor died, by the particular
part of the Zodiac with which they made him coincide. But this may be a good deal ima-
ginary; and I mention it only as fuch. Where Phoebus's own head in any of theſe figures
falls in with fuch a fign of the Zodiac, that probably was meant to mark out the (45) time
of year: for that, in the language of the ftatuaries, (which I have had fo frequent oc-
cafion of mentioning to you,) is ſaying juft the fame, as when we ſay the fun is in Aries
or Libra.
WHAT I have faid may fuffice as to the planets; and the two principal ones among
them of old, the Sun and Moon: we will now, if you pleafe, confider the Times and
Seaſons, which are directed and meaſured by them.
WHAT may
ſeem a little ſtrange to you is, that all the parts of duration, (from the
very greateſt, to almoſt the very leaſt,) were repreſented as perfons, by the artiſts of old;
and fpoken of perfonally, by the poets. If it was fo, (fays Myfagetes,) Eternity, I fup-
poſe, muſt have appeared as a vaſt giant; and a Minute, much leſs than a pygmy. I
do not fay how little, or how great they were, anfwered Polymetis; I only fay that they
were all confidered as perfons. We at prefent are got very well acquainted with the
Hours as perfons; from a fingle picture of Guido: and, among the antients, not only the
figures of the Hours, but thoſe of the Morning and Evening;
;-of the Day, and of the
Night;—of each Month ;-of every Quarter of the Year
of every Quarter of the Year;of the Year itſelf;
of the four Stages of man's life;of their Sæcula, or
of their Sæcula, or Centuries of years; of the
great Platonic Year ; of Time, in general; and of boundleſs Time, or Eternity; were,
probably, all much better, and more familiarly known, than the figures of the Hours
are with us.. The appearance, which feveral made, is ftill to be learned from the
antiques that remain to us; and they are generally fpoken of by the poets in a perfonal
manner. I have got a few antiques, (or copies of antiques,) repreſenting fome of theſe
beings, fo little known among us: and have placed them in this temple, as they are a
fort of leffer divinities, that attended on Sol; and feem to have been confidered, and even
placed (46) much in the fame manner, by the antients themſelves.
ON this medal, if you will pleaſe to regard it a little, you will fee the figure of Eter- PL. XXVII.
nity, carrying the wife of that good emperor Marcus Aurelius up to heaven; on which FIG. 1.
occafion, fhe holds a lighted flambeau in her hand. Eternity appears juft in the fame
manner, on a fine relievo (47) which belonged to the triumphal arch that ſtood formerly
on part of the Corfo, at Rome; and which was placed in the Capitol, when that arch
was taken down. There is another very remarkable relievo, relating to the fame fubject;
that on the baſe of Marcus Aurelius's column: which as you may remember, when we
were at Rome, uſed to lie under a ſhed on Monte Citorio; but has been lately placed be-
fore that palace, by the order of the prefent Pope: who did not ceafe to keep a kindly
eye on the more pleafing arts, even whilſt the alarms of war were heard every day, all
around the neighbourhood of Rome. In this relievo (48), there is one thing that is par-
ticular;
(45) This might mark out not only the month,
but the particular part of the month; according to
what part of any particular fign he is made to coincide
with fo that theſe figures might expreſs the time, as
minutely as Ovid does, when he ſays:
Or,
(46)
Cum Sol Herculei terga Leonis adit.
De Art. Am. 1. y. 68.
Virginis ætheriis cum caput ardet equis.
Ib. 3. . 388.
---Purpureâ velatus vefte fedebat
In folio Phoebus, clâris lucente fmaragdis.
A dextrâ lævâque, Dies, & Menfis, & Annus,
Sæculaque ; & pofitæ fpatiis æqualibus Horæ ;
Verque novum ftabat, cinctum florente coronâ;
Stabat nuda ftas, & fpicea ferta gerebat;
Stabat & Autumnus, calcatis fordidus uvis ;
Et glacialis Hyems, canos hirfuta capillos.
:
Ovid. Met. 2. †. 30.
(47) See Col. Ant. Tav. 1. fub fin.
(48) See Ibid. Tav. 2.
Ccc.
$.30.
188
POLYMETIS.
ticular; tho' not without example. Eternity is repreſented as a male on it. It is a very
noble figure; naked, and with his wings finely expanded. In his left hand, he holds a
globe of the heavens; with a ferpent winding itſelf about it: a very old, and very fig-
nificant, emblem of eternity; eſpecially when it had its tail brought round to its mouth :
(a thing, frequent in antiques; whether Roman, Greek, or Egyptian.) His
eyes are
lifted up toward the heavens, whither he is carrying Marcus Aurelius and his confort:
and on each fide of them appears an eagle, as flying toward the eaft; the common fymbol
of deification, among the Romans. At the bottom, on the right hand, is the Genius
of the city of Rome, looking upwards; and holding up her hand, either as admiring,
or (49) praying: and on the left, is what I take to be (50) the Genius of Monte Citorio;
more reclined, and reſting his hand againſt an obeliſk with a round ball on the top of it.
The whole is finely imagined, and very well executed; and deferved to be diſtinguiſhed
by the regards of a prince, who ſeems thoroughly inclined to take the arts under his pro-
tection.
THERE are ſeveral other ways of repreſenting Eternity, uſed by the old artiſts, befide
thoſe I have mentioned. Sometimes ſhe has the head of Sol in one hand, and of Luna in
the other; which feems to anſwer the fcripture expreffion; "As long as the fun and moon
endureth :" and fometimes ſhe is fitting on a globe, which may poffibly allude to the hea-
then notions of the eternity of the world. Sometimes ſhe is reprefented by an elephant,
or in a chariot drawn by elephants; as a very long-lived creature. Sometimes by a pha-
nix, or with a phoenix; as continually renewed, and reviving after each courfe of ages: and
ſometimes they give her two faces, like Janus; to fignify that ſhe looks as far backward,
as forward. I have ſeen her too with a veil over her face; to fhew that ſhe is impenetrable
and infcrutable to us: and I queftion whether the be not meant in a gem (51), publiſhed
by Maffei; where you fee a fine naked, winged figure, endeavouring to lift up
up another
which has its feet chained to a globe. This may fignify, that eternity, (or the thoughts
of eternity,) are the fitteft to free the foul; and to elevate it, above all its low attachments
to the things of this world.
WAS not the fubject fo great, and fo concerning, you might think perhaps that I have
dwelt too long on the various repreſentations of this imaginary being among the antients;
eſpecially as I have nothing from the Roman poets of the better ages, to confront with
them. Whether it may be occafioned by the unfitneſs of her name for the moſt com-
mon Latin verſe, or for any other reaſon, I know not; but if you were to put me to it,
I could not produce any one paffage from them, in which they ſpeak perfonally of her.
Unleſs, (which might poffibly be the cafe,) they meant this goddeſs under the name of
Hebe; the idea of whom, among the Romans, feems to have been much the fame (52)
with
(49) She holds the palm of her hand open, to-
wards heaven. This was an attitude uſed by the Ro-
mans of old, when they prayed; and is uſed among
the Africans, to this day. There are ſeveral paffages, in
the old Roman writers, relating to this; but it may be
fufficient to quote two or three only, from Virgil.
Duplices tendens ad fidera palmas.
Æn. 1. ¥. 93. (of Æneas, praying.)
Cœlo palmas cum voce tetendit.
Ib. 2. . 688. (of Anchiſes.)
Ad cœlum tendens ardentia lumina fruftra :
Lumina; nam teneras arcebant vincula palmas.
Ibid. y. 406. (of Caffandra.)
(50) The Genius's of mountains are generally re-
prefented either fitting, or leaning, on a little rock
or rifing ground. What I take to be the Genius of
Monte Citorio, is thus repreſented on this relievo :
and the obelisk, ftanding near its feet, anſwers Pliny's
account of the famous obeliſk, which ſtood near the
bottom of this hill of old and which ſtill lies there;
tho' moſtly under ground. Pliny mentions the
:
round ball on the top of it; Lib. 36. Cap. 10. a thing,
neceffary for the particular uſe this obelisk was ap-
plied to; and I ſhould think improper for any obelifk,
not put to ſuch a uſe: which, perhaps, no other
obelifk in the world ever was. So that this feems to
be one of the moſt diſtinguiſhing characteriſtics of a
place, or figure, that one can poſſibly meet with, in
all antiquity.
(51) Vol. III. Pl. 2c.
(52) Aftra tenes: hauftumque tibi fuccincta beati
Nectaris, exclufo melior Phryge, porrigit Hebe.
Statius, Lib. 3. Sylv. 1. .27.
Nectar
Det mihi formofâ nava Juventa manu.
Ovid. ex Pont. Lib. 2. Ep. 10. y. 12.
Poetæ nectar, ambrofiam, epulas comparant: et,
aut Juventutem, aut Ganymedem, pocula miniſtran-
tem. Cicero. de Nat. Deor. Lib. 1. p. 24. Ed.
Ald.
DIALOGUE the Twelfth.
189
1
with that of Eternal Youth; or, an immortality of blifs: agreeably to which, fhe is re-
prefented on a gem (53), in the Great Duke's collection at Florence, with a young airy
look; and drinking out of a little bowl: or, (according to our Milton's expreffion,)
quaffing immortality and joy."
:
THE Magnus Annus, or great Platonic Year, is reprefented perfonally, on the reverſe
of a medal of Adrian. This was a period of feveral thoufand years; (above four times as
much (54), as the age of the world at prefent ;) when all the heavenly bodies would be just
in the ſame fituation again, that they were in at the creation of the world; and when the
antients believed, that all things on earth would of courſe have the fame face, as they
had then. The confequence of this would be, a reſtoration of the golden age; and
therefore when the Roman poets had a mind to compliment any of their emperors moft
highly, they faid, "The great period would be compleated under their reign." This
Evolution of fo many ages is reprefented with fome of the attributes of Eternity itſelf.
He appears with a fine look, and long loofe robe about him. He holds his right hand PL. XXVII.
upwards; and has the globe and phoenix, in his left. His whole figure is incloſed by an
oval ring, to ſhew the great round of time over which he prefides: had it been a com-
plete circle, it would have been too equivocal; and indeed rather fitter for Eternity, than
the Magnus Annus. The infcription of Temporum Reſtauratio, fo frequent on medals;
and that of Sæculum Aureum, on this; had much the fame meaning with the fine com-
pliments in Virgil's famous Eclogue to Pollio: of which I have now and then enter-
tained ſome (55) conjectures, which may be too tedious, and perhaps too romantic, to
offer to you.
THE Magnus Annus included ſeveral Sæcula, or Centuries, in it. Theſe too ſeem to
have been repreſented diftinctly as perfons, among the antients; and are mentioned fome-
times perfonally by their poets; and particularly, by Ovid (56): tho' I do not know that
I have ever met with any repreſentation of them.
(53) Muf. Flor. Vol. I. Pl. 39. Fig. 9.
(54) The great Platonic year is that period of time,
in which all the ſtars and conftellations return to their
former places, with regard to the equinoxes. This
period, according to Caffini, is 24800 years; accord-
ing to Tycho Brahe, 25816: and according to Ric-
cioli, 25920: the ſhorteſt of which computations ex-
ceeds the time mentioned above.
(55) The notion of a renovation of the world, after
a certain period of time, was common among the an-
tient philofophers. This notion they ſeem to have
had from ſome tradition, rather than from reaſoning;
becauſe all of them, (and the Stoics, and Platonifts
in particular,)´ afferted it always roundly, without
giving any arguments for it. (See Burnet's Theory,
Book 4. Chap. 3.)
However founded, it was commonly received by
the Romans. The poets in their writings, and the
fenate itſelf on the medals ftruck by their order, often
complimented fuch or fuch an emperor by faying
that this reſtoration of the world, or return of the
golden age, would happen in their time; or under
their aufpicious influence.
This compliment fo frequently uſed to emperors,
feems too high to be uſed to any but an emperor ;
or one of the imperial family, at leaft. I therefore
imagine Virgil's famous Eclogue, (which turns wholly
on this fort of compliment,) to have been wrote by
him in honour of Auguftus; on his family's being
increaſed, and ſtrengthened, by the birth of a young
prince in it.
THE
The time when this young prince was born, muſt
have been toward the beginning, or at leaft not con-
fiderably before the year 713. V. C. or the year of
Pollio's conſulate.
If Marcellus was born about that time, I ſhould
imagine this Eclogue to have been occafioned by his
birth; and to be meant as a compliment to Auguftus,
(the heir of Julius,) and his heirs after him;—that the
bleſſed ſtate of mankind was to be reftored by him,
and his family;-and that this happineſs was then
actually commencing under the confulate of Pollio,
a great friend of that family.
FIG. 2.
I know not exactly when Marcellus was born; but
he ſeems to have been near of an age with Tiberius :
and as to Tiberius's birth, Suetonius tells us the year
and day. Natus eft Romæ, ſays he, in Palatio; 16
Munatio Planco, Coff. poft bellum Philippenſe: fic
Kal. Decembris; M. Æmilio Lepido iterum, & L.
enim in faftos actaque publica relatum eft. In Tib.
S. 5. The Fafti Confulares give theſe confuls for the
year 711.
The fame author fays, a little after: Novem natus
annos, (Tiberius,) defunctum patrem pro Roftris
laudavit. Dehinc pubefcens, Actiaco Triumpho cur-
rum Augufti comitatus eft, finifteriore funali equo;
cum Marcellus, Octaviæ filius, dexteriore veheretur.
Præfedit & Actiacis Ludis & Trojanis Circenfibus, duc-
tor turmæ puerorum majorum. Ib. §. 6. This was
about the year 727. Marcellus is fuppofed by fome
to have been a leader of another of theſe young
troops, at the fame games; and to be ſhadowed out
under the character of Afcanius. n. 5. . 570.
(56) Sce Note 46, anteh.
190
POLYME TI S.
FIG. 3.
M
THE four different Ages, or Gradations, of the life of man, I take to be repreſented
in this drawing; from an antient piece of painting found at the Villa Corfini, near Rome.
It is a thing of much curiofity; and feems to contain fome of the greateſt depths of the
PL. XXVII. Platonic philoſophy in it. Here, you fee, is Tellus; in a reclined pofture: and behind
her, are four ſtalks of corn, growing gradually above one another; as I imagine, to fym-
bolize the four ages of man: Infancy; Youth; Manhood; and Old-Age. Juft by,
you have the fame repreſented as fo many perfonages: the firft, ftooping toward Tellus;
the ſecond, with a fhield and fpear; the third, in a ſteddy poſture; and the fourth,
bending a little downward. Theſe are the figures for which, in particular, I introduced
this drawing here; but there are others in it, which may very well deſerve your obfer-
vation. This perſon in the air, bending downward, and delivering a naked figure into
the hands of Tellus, denotes the entrance of a, ſoul into ſome elementary body; whether
for the firſt time, or after many various tranfmigrations, I fhall not pretend to determine :
but it is plainly delivered down to the Earth; and is to be cloathed with fome fort of
body, or other. This perfon fitting on the clouds toward the center, with a cup in her
hand, and pointing upwards; may very well be that very Hebe, of whom I was ſpeak-
ing to you juſt now: and feems placed here to exprefs the immortality of the foul. The
Romans abounded in memorials of this kind, in their burying-places; and that common
way of repreſenting their departed friends on their fepulchres, as eating and drinking,
had (I doubt not) a view to the fame great doctrine: but this piece goes higher; and
is more diſtinct and it was for that reafon, that I was very glad of an opportunity of
getting it into my collection. As to the four perfonages, on whofe account it is intro-
duced here, I cannot ſay that the Roman poets of the better ages ſpeak of them all perſo-
nally. To ſay the truth, they ſeem commonly to have divided the life of man, rather
into two ages, than four: Youth, which I think among the Romans was carried on fo
far as to five and forty; and Old-Age, which, (tho' I am forry to ſay it,) may fairly
enough claim all the reſt: of both of theſe their poets, (and more particularly, ſome of
the Auguftan age,) ſpeak (57) in a manner, which plainly fhews that they were received
as perfonages and deities, in their religion.
}
THE Anni, (or Years,) are ſpoken of perſonally too by the poets: who aſcribe a cer-
tain gliding (58) and filent motion to them; as they do indeed, to all this fort of beings
in general. When their characters were introduced in their great proceffions, or on any
other public occafion, the perſons who acted their parts, probably endeavoured to ex-
prefs this in their way of walking. There are fome expreffions in the poets, which
would make one apt to think, that Annus was fometimes repreſented with more dignity;
and as moving along (filently, tho' ſwiftly,) (59) in a chariot.
Not only the year itſelf, but the four different ſeaſons it is ufually divided into, were
all perfonified by the antients. I do not know that I have ever met with any figure of
the
Tacito-Tempora greffu
Diffugiunt; nulloque fono convertitur Annus.
Columella, de Cult. Hort. . 160.
(57)
Statuit-aras e ceſpite binas :
Dexteriore, Hecates; at levâ parte, Juventæ.
Ovid. Met. 7. Y. 241.
Jam veniet tacito curva Senecta pede.
Id. Art. Am. Lib. 2. ✯. 670.
Jam felicior ætas
Terga dedit; tremuloque gradu venit ægra Senectus.
(59) Quo minus emeritis exiret curfibus Annus,
Reſtabant nitido jam duo figna deo.
:
Vetus Senectus.
Ovid. Faft. 3. .44.
Vix Annus anhelat
Alter.
Statius, Lib. 3. Sylv. 1. . 136.
Rota præcipitis vertitur Anni.
Id. Met. 14. . 143.
Hor. Epod. 8. *. 3.
I queſtion whether Cicero in the age before, does
not ſpeak of the fame perfonally, even in profe;
where he ſays: Nonne modò pueros, modò adole-
fcentes, in curfu à tergo infequens, nec opinanteis,
affecuta eft Senectus? Tufc. Quæft. Lib. 1. p. 360. -
Ed. Blaeu.
(58)
Herc. Fur. Act. 1. Chor.
Celer admiffis labitur Annus equis.
Ovid. Lib. 1. El. 8. *. 50.
This was fo, in the old edition of Ovid I tranfcribed
from: tho' fome later critics, (on not being able to
underſtand it, I fuppofe,) have taken the liberty of
Ovid. de Art. Am. 3. . 62. changing annus, into amnis; and equis, into aquis.
Eunt Anni more fluentis aquæ.
DIALOGUE the Twelfth.
191
!
the former; but, to make fome amends, thofe of the latter are very frequent. You gene-
rally meet with them all together, on Sarcophagus's, medals, and gems: fometimes
without any other perfonage annexed; and at others, with fome perfonage, to whom
they bear fome particular relation: as in this drawing, where you fee them, as moving PL.XXVII,
at equal diſtances, over a celeſtial globe; which lies by the goddeſs Tellus. The artifts, FIG. 4.
as well as the (60) poets, feem fometimes to have had an eye to the four ages of life, in
their repreſentations of the four ſeaſons of the year. Ver is infantile, and tender; Æſtas,
young and ſprightly: Autumnus, is mature and manly; and Hiems, old and de-
crepid.
VER, befide his youth, is marked out generally by the (61) coronet of flowers on his
head, or the baſket of flowers in his hand. Æftas, is (62) crowned with corn, or holds a
ficle in his hand. Autumnus, is uſually diſtinguiſhed by his crown (63) of different fruits:
and Hiems, by his crown of reeds; by the birds, in his hand, or the beaſt at his feet; and
by his being clothed, when the others are naked.
THO' the ſeaſons appear fo often on the remains of the antients, we may learn ſeveral
manners of their reprefenting them from the poets, which I have never met with as yet,
either in gems, paintings, or relievo's. Autumnus, in particular, was perhaps fometimes
repreſented as (64) pouring fruit out of his lap; and fometimes holding a vine-branch
with (65) ripe grapes on it in his hand. At other times he was painted, as all ſtained (66)
and diſcoloured from the vintage: and with grey hairs (67), intermixed with thoſe of
their natural colour. It is probable he was fometimes drawn too, with a (68) wan fickly
look; which is but too juſt a characteriſtic of this ſeaſon. Hiems, as old and decrepid,
ſhould be either quite (69) bald, or only with a few grey hairs. His look fhould be (70)
rough, melancholy, and fevere. He is flow in his motions; and (71) fhivers as he goes.
Poffibly, they fometimes repreſented him with (72) icicles on his garments, and hoar-
froſt upon his beard.
his beard. His retreat during the warmer months, according to Statius, was
towards the north-pole; and Virgil, (perhaps from fome picture or relievo,) defcribes
(73) Sol, as driving him out of the fight of men; into fome deep, gloomy cave there.
!
(60) Quid, non in fpecies fecedere quatuor annum
Afpicis ætatis peragentem imitamina noſtræ ?
Nam tener, & lactens, puerique fimillimus ævo,
Vere novo eft; tunc herba recens & roboris expers
Turget, et infolida eft, & fpe delectat agreftem.-
Tranfit in æftatem poft ver robuftior annus,
Fitque valens juvenis: neque enim robuftior ætas
Ulla, nec uberior; nec quæ magis ardeat, ulla eft.
Excipit Autumnus, pofito fervore juventæ
Maturus mitifque inter juvenemque fenemque
Temperie medius; fparfus quoque tempora canis.
Inde fenilis Hiems tremulo venit horrida paſſu ;
Aut fpoliata fuos, aut quos habet alba capillos.
Ovid. Met. 15. *. 213.
Cinctum florente coronâ.
Ovid. Met. 2. ✯. 27. Ex Pont. L. 3. Ep. 1. #. 11.
(62) Stabat nuda Aftas, & fpicea ferta gerebat.
(61)
Calcatis fordidus uvis.
THO'
Ovid. Met. 2. y. 29. Faft. 4. . 895.
(67) Ovid. Met. 15. . 211. See Note 60, anteh.
(68)
-Pallens Autumnus-
Statius, L. 2. Sylv. 1. . 217.
(69) Aut fpoliata fuos, ut quos habet alba capillos.
Ovid. Met. 15. . 213.
(70) Hiems is called, Horrida, by Ovid: Met.15.
. 212.-Triftis, by the fame: in his, Ibis. .201.-
and Trux, by Statius. Lib. 4. Sylv. 5. ¥. 5.
Senilis Hiems tremulo venit horrida paffu.
Ovid. Met. 15. ✯. 212.
Horat. Lib. 4. Od. 7. ✯. 12.
(71)
Bruma iners.
(63)
Ovid. Met. 2. $. 28.
Decorum mitibus pomis caput
Autumnus arvis extulit.
$.28.
(72) Hiems horrida.
Ovid. Met. 15. . 212.
Glacialis Hiems
(64)
Varios ponit fœtus Autumnus.
Hiems adoperta gelu
Id. Ib. 2. . 30.
Id. Faft. 3. . 235.
Horat. Epod. 2. . 18.
Virgil. Georg. 2. . 521.
(65) Nec tibi pampineas Autumnus porrigit uvas.
Ovid. de Pont. L. 3. Ep. 1. #. 13.
Satur Autumnus quaffans fua tempora pomis,
Sordidus & mufto, fpumantes exprimet uvas.
Columella, de Cult. Hort. *. 44.
(66)
(73) Jam trux ad Arctos Parrhafias Hiems
Conceffit.
Sub terras
Ddd
Statius, Lib. 4. Sylv. 5. . 6.
Ubi pulfam Hiemem Sol aureus egit
Virgil. Georg. 4. 52.
•
!
↓
192
POLYMETIS.
1
THO' I have been fo long on the four feafons already, I muſt beg leave to read you
Lucretius's deſcription of them; not only as I have fomething to remark in relation to
it, but as it is one of the fineſt paffages in all his poem.
It Ver, & Venus, & Veneris prænuntius ante
Pinnatus graditur Zephyrus; veftigia propter
Flora quibus mater præfpargens ante viaï
Cuncta coloribus egregiis & odoribus opplet.
Inde loci fequitur Calor aridus, & comes unà
Pulverulenta Ceres; & Etefia flabra Aquilonum.
Inde Autumnus adit; graditur fimul Evius Evan:
Inde aliæ tempeſtates ventique fequuntur,
Altitonans Volturnus & Aufter fulmine pollens.
Tandem Bruma nives adfert, pigrumque rigorem
Reddit; Hiems fequitur, crepitans & dentibus Algus (74).
THIS whole deſcription feems to me to have been copied from fome antient proceffion,
of the deities of the ſeveral ſeaſons and their attendants. Such proceffions, of their deities
in general, were as common among the Romans of old; as thofe in the honour of the
faints are in the fame country to this day. All the expreffions uſed by Lucretius here
come in very aptly, if applied to a proceffion. Were the ſeaſons to be repreſented in
one of our modern entertainments, and was a poet now to deſcribe them according to the
appearance they there made; I do not fee how his expreffions could be more adapted to
our ſtage, than Lucretius's are to a proceffion in this deſcription.-The firſt perſon that
muſt enter, is Zephyrus. Soon after him comes Flora; ftrewing the way with flowers:
who ſhould be immediately followed by the Spring, and Venus: who accompanies the
Spring I fuppofe in Lucretius, as prefiding over the month of April; which, in Italy,
anſwers to our May; the time, when the fpring is in its higheſt beauty, and when every
thing invites to love. The fecond entry, ſhould be that of the Summer and Ceres; pre-
ceeded by two deities of the Winds.The third, ſhould be that of Autumn, and
Bacchus; preceeded in the ſame manner. The fourth, ſhould be that of Winter, and
(75) Algus; preceeded by (76) Bruma, holding fnow and ice before her.
It is the general manner of Lucretius, (and of all the earlieſt Roman poets,) to intro-
duce allegories very feldom; and even where he does introduce them, he is often but
half an allegoriſt. There is not any one inſtance, I believe, in all his writings, of an al-
legory carried on fo far, and conducted fo regularly, as this is. This makes it the more
probable, that he did not invent, but take the order of this defcription from one of their
religious proceffions: which were diſpoſed with a great deal of regularity, as well as
with a great deal of pomp, among the old Romans.
(74) Lucretius, 5. .746.
(75) Algus here ſeems to fignify the ſenſe of ex-
treme cold, or fhivering with cold, perfonified:
Crepitans ac dentibus algus.
(76) Tho' we vulgarly look on Bruma and Hiems,
as fignifying the ſame thing; the antient Roman wri-
ters uſed them, to expreſs two very different ideas.
Hiems, properly fignified a whole feafon, or quarter of
the year and Bruma only one day, and that the
ſhorteſt day in the year; the winter-folftice.
Bruma novi prima eft, veterifque noviffima folis :
Principium capiunt Phoebus & Annus idem.
Ovid. Faſt. 1. *. 164.
THE
Bruma dicta, quod breviffimus dies. Varro, de
Ling. Lat. 5.
Hence the month of December is called the month
of Bruma; but the months of November, or Janu
ary, never ſo, that I know of.
Quæ medio brumæ mittere menfe folet.
Mart. Lib. 8. Ep. 41. (of December.}
Bruma eft ; & riget horridus December.
Id. 7. y. 94.
Poft Novembres, imminente jam brumâ.
Id. 5. *. 104.
3
DIALOGUE the Twelfth.
193
THE Months are ſpoken of perfonally (77) by the poets; and December, in particular,
is deſcribed by one of them, in a (78) drunken attitude: which by the way would ſcarce
be lefs proper for the mirth of our Chriſtmas, in fome parts; than it was for the Satur-
nalia of old, at Rome.
THE Day, (and perhaps every day of the year,) was looked on (79) as a divinity, and
repreſented (80) perfonally; and that fometimes (81), like Sol, in a chariot. There was a
diftinction that prevailed very early among the Romans, of the Civil, and the Natural
Day. The Natural Day was moſt commonly reckoned from fun-riſe, to ſun-ſet (82);
the Civil Day, from midnight, to midnight again. Virgil, in fpeaking perfonally of the
latter (83), calls it Oriens: a name that was not much uſed in his time; but which he,
(as a profeffed lover of antiquity, and of their antient words,) chofe to uſe where it was
more proper than Sol, (or even Dies,) would have been,
THE perfonal character of the Night is more diftinct, and more generally known;
from the poets mentioning it fo familiarly in their writings. She is crowned (84) with
poppies; and, perhaps (85), fometimes with ftars. Her appearance had ſomething very
(86) venerable and majeſtic in it: perhaps in allufion to the doctrine of the Egyptians,
who uſed to call her, the moſt antient of all the gods. She had (87) large, dark wings;
and a long (88) black robe. She is repreſented as riding in a (89) chariot, drawn by two
(77)
-Stupet ipfe labores
Annus; & angufto biffeni limite Menſes
Longævum mirantur opus
Statius, Lib. 3. Sylv. 1. y. 19.
Statius is ſpeaking of a temple of Hercules, at Sur-
rentum ; which, tho' a very noble work, was begun
and finiſhed in the compaſs of a year. It feems by
him as if the artiſt had taken an hint from thence, to
repreſent the Year, in his chariot; and the figures of
the twelve months, in a little circle round it; (as the
Zodiacal figures are often, round Sol ;) on the fold-
ing-doors of the temple.
(78) Et multo gravidus mero December,
Et ridens Jocus, & Sales protervi
Adfint.
Statius, Lib. 1. Sylv. 6. *. 7.
(79) Vulcanus, Sol, Luna, & Dies, dei quatuor,
Sceleftiorem nullum hoc illufere alterum.
Plautus, Bacchides, A&t. 2. Sc. 3.
Patrem (Saturni)-Cœlum effe deum confitendum
eft. Quod fi ita eft, Coeli quoque parentes, Æther
& Dies, dii habendi funt. Cotta; in Cicero. de Nat.
Deor. Lib. 3. p. 68. Ed. Ald.
(80) A dextrâ levâque, Dies, & Menfis, & Annus.
(83)
black
Torquet medios Nox humida curfus ;
Et me fævus equis Oriens afflavit anhelis.
Virgil Æn. 5. 740.
Macrobius, in fpeaking of this paſſage, fays; Vir-
gilius id ipfum oftendit, ut hominem decuit poeticas
res agentem, reconditâ atque opertâ veteris ritûs fig-
nificatione:his enim verbis diem, quem Romani
civilem appellavere, à fextâ noctis horâ oriri admo-
Saturn. Lib. 1. c. 3.
net.
(84)
Nox venit.
-Placidam redimita papavere frontem
Ovid. Faft. 4. .660.
(85) Candidus Oceano nitidum caput abdiderat Sol;
Et caput extulerat denfiffima fidereum Nox.
Ovid. Met. 15. *. 31.
(86) Noxque, tenebrarum fpecie reverenda tuarum !
Ovid. Ibis, .73-
(87) Maximus Orion, magnum complexus Olympum ;
Quo fulgente fuper terras cœlumque trahente,
Ementita Diem nigras Nox contrahit alas.
Ovid. Met. z. . 25.
(88)
Manilius, 5. . 60.
Nox ruit; & fufcis tellurem amplectitur alis.
Virgil. En. 8. . 369.
-Nox, atro circumdata corpus amictu,
Nigrantes invexit equos; fuafitque quietem.
Silius Ital. 15. .285.
(81) Quid folito citius liquido jubar æthere tollit
Candida Lucifero prætereunte Dies ?
Ovid. Faft. 5. .550.
Et fugiunt fræno non remorante Dies.
Id. Ib. 6. .772.
(82) Ipfum Diem alii aliter obſervavere. Babylo-
mii, inter duos folis exortus; Athenienfes, inter duos
occafus; Umbri, à meridie in meridiem; vulgus omne,
à luce ad tenebras. Sacerdotes Romani, & qui diem
diffiniere civilem, item Ægyptii, & Hipparchus, à
mediâ nocte ad mediam. Pliny, Nat. Hift. Lib. 2.
cap. 77.
(89)
Cœperat humenti Phœbum fubtexere pallâ
Nox.
Statius, Theb. 2. y. 528.
Sub occiduas verfæ jam Noctis habenas.
Statius, Theb. 3. #. 33.
Ludite. Jam Nox jungit equos; currumque fequuntur
Martis lafcivo fidera fulva choro.
Tibullus, Lib. 2. El. 1. †. 88.
Nox atra polum, bigis fubvecta, tenebat.
Virgil. Æn. 5. . 721.
Nigrantes equos.
Sil, Ital. 15. . 285.
194
POLY METIS.
black horfes; and (90) every part of the ſtage ſhe makes in it, is deſcribed by fome or
other of the Roman poets. They fometimes fhew her in more ftate, and with ſeveral
(91) attendants; but the common way is to ſpeak of her as making her round in a chariot
and two, as Sol does in his chariot and four.
1
THE beginning of Day-break, (or the time which the Italians call, Alba,) was probably
characteriſed under the perfon of Phoſphorus; of whom I have had occaſion to ſpeak
already as all the time of the increaſe of light, from that to the appearance of the fun
above the horizon, belonged to Aurora. The latter is a perfonage which makes a very
confiderable figure in the writings of the old Roman poets: who I think, have ſhowed a
variety, but no confufion, in the characters they give of her. The differences in them
feem only to be of the fame kind, with that we meet with in Guido's and Guercin's two
pictures of Aurora: one of which repreſents a gay, pleafing morning; and the other, a
darker and more lowring one. If we may judge by the poets, the antient painters ufed
to fuit her complexion to the occafion. It was fometimes of a (92) lovely red; ſome-
times (93) pale; and fometimes (94) more or lefs brown; according to the fort of morning
that they would reprefent. Her ſkin, in their more beautiful pictures, fhould I think,
be coloured like that (95) of the Venus Anaduomenè, by Apelles; and might have fome-
thing not unlike the (96) humid caft, for which that picture was fo remarkable. Her robe
ſhould be of a (97) pale-bright yellow; and ſhe ſhould hold either (98) a whip, or a (99)
torch, in her hand. Her chariot, ſhould be of a fine (100) roſe-colour; with (101) pearls
of
(95) Rofcida purpureâ fupprime lora manu.
(90)
Lux tardè difcedere vifa;
Præcipitatur aquis; & aquis Nox furgit ab îfdem:
Ovid. Met. 4. ¥.92.
2.
Jamque ferè mediam cœli Nox humida metam
Contigerat.
Jamque tenebat
Id. Ibid. . 10.
The manus purpureâ feems to anſwer to the epi-
thet of Pododanluλos, which the Greek poets uſe ſo
generally in ſpeaking of Aurora.
(96) Ovid, in fpeaking of Aurora perfonally calls.
Virgil. Æn. 5. .837. her Rofcida; (Confol. ad Liviam, .282.) & Rof-
cida dea: (De Art. Am. 3. y. 180.)
painted dropping too; as that of the Venus Anaduo-
menè.
Nox medium cœli fpatium.-
Nocte fub ancipiti.
3.
Nox tetigit.
Horat. Lib. 2. Sat. 6. *.101.
Statius, Theb. 3. . 2.
Sub occiduas verfæ jam Noctis habenas.
Id. Ibid. ✯.33:
4.
Hefperio pofitas in litore metas
Ovid. Met. 2. . 143.
✯.
(91) Thus Tibullus defcribes her as having the
planet of Mars in her train; (Note 89, anteh.) and
other deities, yet more proper to attend this goddefs.
Poftque venit tacitus fulvis circundatus alis
Somnus ; & incerto Somnia nigra pede.
I do not know whether even her hair might not be
Cum croceis rorare genis Tithonia conjux
Cœperit.-
Rorantes excuffa comas..
Ovid. Faft. 3. .404.
Statius, Theb. 2. .136.
(97) Ille crocum fimulat. Croceo velatur amictu
Rofcida luciferos cum dea jungit equos.
Ovid. de Art. Am. 3. . 180.
Memnonis in roſeis lutea mater equis.
Ovid. Faft. 4. .714.
That lutea fignifies a pale yellow, or fulphur-
colour, is plain from a line in the fame poet:
Luteave exiguis arefcunt fulphura flammis.
(92) Roſea-Dea.
Lib. 2. El. 1. ¥.90.
Ovid. de Art. Am. 3. . 84.
Rofeo fpectabilis ore.
*.
(98)
(93).
Id. Met. 7. . 705:
Ubi pallida furget
Tithoni croceum linquens Aurora cubile.
Virgil. Georg. 1. ✯.447.
Clara laboriferos cœlo Tithonia currus
Extulerat: vigileſque deæ pallentis habenas
Et Nox, & cornu fugiebat Somnus inani.
Statius, Theb. 6. . 27.
(94) Cum croceis rorare genis Tithonia conjux
Cœperit.-
(99) Cum Priami conjux Tithonia fratre relicto
Suftulit emenſo ter jubar orbe fuum.
Poftera cum roſeam pulfis Hyperionis aftris
In matutinis lampada tollet equis.
(100) Aurora in rofeis fulgebat lutea bigis.
Ib. Met. 15. . 351.
Toties noftros Tithonia queftus
Præterit ; & gelido fpargit miferata flagello.
Statius, Theb. 2. y. 136.
Ovid. Faft. 4. *.944.
Id. Ib. 5. . 160.
Virgil. Æn. 7. . 26.
Cum primùm craftina cœlo
Puniceis invecta rotis Aurora rubebit.
Ovid. Faft. 3. ✯. 404.
Flava pruinofo quæ vehit axe diem.
Ovid. Lib. 1. El. 13. †. 2.
(101) Flava pruinofo quæ vehit axe diem.
Id. Ib. 12. *.77.
Ovid. Lib. 1. El. 13. †. 2,
!
DIALOGUE the Twelfth.
195
of dew ſcattered here and there upon it, if the painter pleaſes: and the horſes, I think,
may be either (102) cream-coloured, or ftrawberry. Ovid makes her ſtation for ſetting out,
to be (103) on the mountain of Hymettus; in his ſtory of this goddeſs's love for Cephalus :
but that again muſt always vary, according to the ſcene and ſtory repreſented. It ap-
pears from the fame poet, that ſhe ſets out always (104) before Sol; and (105) not long
before him. There feem to have been fome reprefentations of this goddeſs of old, as
(106) driving Nox and Somnus from her prefence; and of the Conftellations (107) as
chafed out of heaven, at her approach: the latter of which, I own, feems to me to be
as ridiculous a fubject for a picture; as the other might be a fine one.
f
HESPERUS, or the Evening, is the (108) fame perfon with Phofphorus: the only dif
ference is in his attributes, which are adapted to the particular character he is reprefented
in. The poets give him (109) a black horfe as Hefperus; and as Lucifer or Phoſphorus,
a white one. This way of diftinguiſhing him was fitter for painters, than fculptors: and
indeed I do not remember ever to have met with it, in any work of the antient artiſts
who generally (110) diſtinguiſh him, (as I mentioned to you before,) by giving him a
torch, where he is the forerunner of the night; and none, where he is the forerunner of
the day.
;
I Am not quite certain that I have ever feen the Horæ, (or Hours,) in any antique;
but am ſtrongly inclined to think, that they are meant, in a known relievo at Rome;
publiſhed (111) by Santo Bartoli, in his Admiranda. I know very well, that the figures
in it have been generally taken only for fo many ladies dancing, on fome wedding, or for
their own diverſion; but what makes me imagine them to be the Horæ, is their pofition
and attitudes: they being all placed in a ſtrait line, with their hands mutually joined;
and ſome of them as coming towards you, from which-ever end you regard them; whilſt
others are going from you: which is impracticable in a common dance; and would be
very fignificant, if underſtood of the Hours. They are placed too at pretty equal
diſtances; as it were, meaſured out defignedly by the pilafters behind them: which
agrees exactly with the manner in which the Hours fhould be repreſented. However I
have not introduced a copy of that piece here: becauſe my notion of it is uncommon; and
may, poffibly, not be true. Was this ſubject more frequent in the works of the antient
artiſts that remain to us, I doubt not we ſhould meet with ſeveral other particulars to
fquare with the defcriptions which the poets give us of theſe deities. They reprefent
them as dreffed in fine-coloured, or (112) embroidered, robes; and gliding on, with a
quick
(102) Hunc Aurora diem fpectacula tanta ferentem
(103)
(104)
Quàm primùm croceis rofcida portet equis.
Ovid. Confol. ad Liviam. y. 282.
Memnonis in rofeis lutea mater equis.
Ovid. Faft. 4. *.712.
Me cornigeris tendentem retia cervis
Vertice de fummo femper florentis Hymetti
Lutea mane videt pulfis Aurora tenebris,
Invitumque rapit.
Met. 7. .704.
Cum prævia luci
Tradendum Phobo Pallantias inficit orbem.
Met. 15. . 191.
(105) Dum loquor, Hefperio pofitas in litore metas
Humida Nox tetigit. Non eft mora libera nobis
Poſcimur! effulget tenebris Aurora fugatis :
Corripe lora manu!
(106)
-Vigiles-Deæ pallentis habenas
Et Nox & cornu fugiebat Somnus inani.
;
(107) Tempus erat, junctos cum jam foror ignea Phœbi
Sentit equos, penitufque cavam fub luce paratâ
Oceani mugire domum: fefeque vagantem
Colligit; & moto leviter fugat aftra flagello.
Id. Ib. 8.
.274.
(108) Stella Veneris, quæ Phoſphorus græcè, Lu-
cifer latinè dicitur cum antegreditur folem; cum
fubfequitur autem, Hefperus. Cicero. de Nat. Deor.
lib. 2. p. 37. Ed. Ald.
(109) Hefperus & fufco rofcidus ibat equo.
$.312.
Ovid. Faſt. 2. †. 312,
Nec color eft idem cœlo, cum laſſa quiete
Cuneta jacent mediâ; cumque albo Lucifer exit
Clarus equo.
Ovid. Met. 15. ✯. 190.
(110) See Pl. 26. Fig. 3 & 4.
Ib. 2. *. 145.
(111) See Adm. Pl. 63.
(112) Conveniunt pictis incinctæ veftibus Hora;
Inque leves calathos munera noftra legunt.
(In the garden of Flora,) Ovid. Faft. 5. y. 218.
Statius, Theb. 6. . 27.
Eee
196
POLYMETIS.
PL. XXVII.
FIG. 5.
!
quick (113) and (114) eafy motion; as you fee them in Guido's Aurora. Ovid fpeaks of
them as ſtanding, at (115) equal diſtances, about the throne of Sol. Valerius Flaccus makes
them attend that deity, at his (116) fetting. out; and Statius, at his (117) coming in. It
appears from hence, that the old poets agree in making them the attendants and fervants
of Sol: and it was for this purpoſe, I fuppofe, that there were fome of them always
ftationed, with Janus, at the gates of heaven; to be in readineſs there, to accompany
the chariot of Sol, on his fetting out to take his daily rounds of the earth.
THE laft figure I have to fhew you here, is this of Janus: ftanding, as you fee, with
his ſtaff in his hand; juft by the door. He is placed there, becauſe his great office was
to prefide over the gates of heaven, as he himſelf informs us (118) in Ovid; and he was
therefore ſometimes (119) reprefented, with a ſtaff in one hand, and a key in the other.
If you have placed him here only as a porter, fays Myfagetes, I think you have uſed
him as he deſerves: for there is ſcarce any one of all the gods that I have been uſed to
entertain fo mean an opinion of, as Janus. The Romans, replied Polymetis, were very
far from being of your opinion. We are told that when they made their fupplications to
(120) any of the other gods, they uſed to invoke Janus firft. It was he who was to give
an acceſs for their prayers; even to Jupiter. They looked on him as the (121) moft an-
tient of Beings; and ſay, that his majeſty comprehended the whole univerfe. In the
Salian verſes he had even the high title, of (122) the God of Gods. I have fome notion
that, in their moſt ſecret mythology, they might mean (123) Space by this deity: but as I
never chuſe to enter much into thoſe deep enquiries, (that are generally very much per-
plexed, and of very little uſe to my deſign,) I ſhall go on in my old way; of confidering
his figures, together with what the poets may fay of them.
(113)
-Rapidis occurrunt paffibus Horæ.
Statius, Theb. 3. ✯.410.
Deæ celeres
Ovid. Met. 2. y. 119.
(114) This is the general idea of the Roman poets
in relation to all the deities that prefide over any part
of Time. One might give an hundred paffages that
prove it; but I think one may be ſufficient.
Eunt Anni more fluentis aquæ :
Nec quæ præteriit iterum revocabitur unda;
Nec quæ præteriit Hora redire poteft :
Utendum eft ætate; cito pede labitur Ætas.
Ovid. de Art. Am. 3. .65.
(115) A dextrâ lævâque, Dies, & Menfis, & Annus,
Sæculaque; &, pofitæ fpatiis æqualibus, Horæ.
Ovid. Met. 2. ¥.26.
(116)
-Sol auricomus, cingentibus Horis,
Multifidum jubar, & biffeno fidere textam
Loricam induitur ; &c.
Flaccus, 4.
JANUS
Ille tenens dextrâ baculum, clavemque ſiniſtrâ
Bina repens oculis obtulit ora meis.
Ovid. Faft. 1..96.
(120) Geminum [effe volunt,] quafi utriufque ja-
nuæ cœleftis potentem ;-invocarique primum cum
alicui deo res divina celebratur, ut per eum pateat ad
illum cui immolatur acceflus. Macrobius, Saturn.
Lib. I. c. 9.
(121) Dic mihi nunc quæfo, dic, antiquiffime divûm ;
Refpondes his, Jane Pater?
Juvenal. Sat. 6. . 393-
(122) Saliorum-antiquiffimis carminibus, Deorună
Deus canitur. Macrobius, 1. 3.
(123) An open arch, or any opening, was called
Janus by the Romans; as the opening to a houſe,
was called Janua, from the fame deity.-Janos,
.94. arcufque, cum quadrigis & infignibus triumphorum.
Suetonius, in Domit. §. 13-Pompeii ftatuam,
contra theatri ejus regiam, marmoreo jano fuppofuit.
Id. in Aug. §. 31.-Ex quo tranfitiones perviæ jani
nominantur. Cicero. de Nat. Deor. Lib. 2.—Gra-
vius Baffus, in eo libro quem de diis compofuit, Ja-
num quadriformem fingi ait, -quafi univerfa cli-
mata majeſtate complexum. Macrobius, Saturnalia.
Lib. 1. Cap. 9.
(117) Solverat Hefperiâ devexo margine ponti
Flagrantes Sol pronus equos; rutilamque lavabat
Oceani fub fonte comam. Cui turba profundi
Nereos, & rapidis occurrunt paffibus Horæ ;
Frænaque & auratæ textum fublime coronæ
Deripiunt. Laxant roſeis humentia loris
Pectora pars meritos vertunt ad molle jugales
Gramen ; & erecto currum temone ſupinant.
Statius, Theb. 3. .414.
*.
(118) Præfideo foribus cæli, cum mitibus Horis.
(Says Janus,) Ovid. Faft. 1. y. 125.
Εσιοντι, (εις του ερανον,) πρωτον μεν οικησιν αι Ωραι•
TUλwg80 yag. Lucian. Tom.I. p. 366. Ed. Blaeu.
(119) Cum clavi & virgâ figuratur, quafi omnium
& portarum cuftos & rector viarum. Macrobius, Sa-
turn. Lib. 1 Cap. 9.
This derivation of the names of any void, or open-
ing, from Janus, fhews his relation to Space: as Baf-
fus's opinion fhews his relation to infinite fpace, as
including the four elements, or all created matter.
The majeſty of this nothing, called Space, is to me
inconceivable: tho' Baffus feems to have had almoſt
as high an idea of it, as ſome very great divines of
late have ſhown, in their metaphyſical reaſonings on
this ſubject.
DIALOGUE the ?
Twelfth.
197
JANUS is diftinguifhed from all the other gods, by his double form. Diana perhaps is
the only deity, beſide this, to whom the Romans gave more than one body. She, you
know, under the character of Trivia has three: as Janus had, (I imagine, from what the
poets fay of him,) fometimes two, and fometimes four bodies given him. It might be
from this duplicity of his figure, that the Romans called him (124), Janus Geminus.
THE bufts of Janus, (or his two heads,) are very common; eſpecially on medals.
The medals, I more particularly mean, have the double head of Janus, on one fide; and
part of a ſhip, on the other. They are fo very old, that Ovid, (who gives a particular
account of them,) fays; that the figures on them were almoft obliterated (125) with
age, in
his time: fo that at prefent they ought to be very great favourites with all thofe, who
value things merely for their ruft and antiquity. If they are not valued by them fo much
as one would expect, it is only becauſe we have ſo many of them. Was there only one
of theſe bad ones left in the world, I doubt not it would be looked on as a greater treaſure
than an Otho, or a Pefcennius. Efpecially, as they are fo much talked of in the Roman
writers; from whom, it might be proved indiſputably: that the Roman children played
with them, of old (126), at Heads or Ships; as our children play now, at Crofs or
Pile.
In all the antient figures I have feen of Janus, the faces are both alike; and both old:
which makes it the more unaccountable to me, whence fome perſons of the beſt taſte,
not only among us, but even in Italy itſelf, are got into the mode of giving Janus two
different faces; one old, and the other young. Ovid ſays exprefly, in one place, that
they were repreſented (127) both alike, in his time; and from what he fays in other
places, they ſhould be both old.
JANUS was probably reprefented fometimes with a double body, as well as with two
heads. It was fome ſtatue or picture of this kind, I ſuppoſe, that might lead Statius
into one of the moſt ridiculous defcriptions, perhaps even in all his poems. It is where he
repreſents this god, as welcoming in the fixteenth confulate of the emperor Domitian.
That poet makes Janus lift up all his hands, and ſpeak (128) with both his mouths at
once; to congratulate the world, on that happy occafion.
THERE is a buſt of the Janus Quadriformis, on one of the bridges at Rome; from
whence that place has its name, of the Quatre Capite. In fome of the entire figures of
him on medals, he has but one body (129) with four heads. It is under this fort of figure,
which
(124) In facris invocamus Janum Geminum, Ja-
num Patrem, Janum Junonium. Macrobius, Sat.
Lib. 1. cap. 9.
The notion of Janus repreſenting Space, may ac-
count for his being called Junonius; Juno among the
Romans fignifying Air. His name of Patultius, might
poffibly relate to the fame idea.
(125) Multa quidem didici: fed cur navalis in ære
Altera fignata eft, altera forma biceps?
Nofcere me duplici poffes ut imagine, dixit,
Ni vetus ipfa dies extenuaret opus.
Caufa ratis fupereft: Thufcum rate venit in amnem
Ante pererrato falcifer orbe Deus.
Hâc ego Saturnum memini tellure receptum.
(Janus, to Ovid,) Falt. 1. v. 235.
(126) Janus cum Saturnum claffe pervectum exce-
piffet hofpitio ; & ab eo edoctus peritiam ruris, ferum
illum & rudem ante fruges cognitas victum in melius.
redigiffet; regni eum focietate muneravit. Cum pri-
mus quoque æra fignaret, fervavit & in hoc Saturni
reverentiam; ut quoniam ille navi fuerit advectus,
ex unâ quidem parte fui capitis effigies, ex alterâ verò
navis exprimeretur; quo Saturni memoriam etiam in
pofteros propagaret. Æs ita fuiffe fignatum hodieque
intelligitur, in aleæ lufu; cum pueri denarios in ſub-
lime jactantes, "Capita, aut Navim," (luſu teſte ve-
tuftatis,) exclamant. Macrobius, Saturnalia. Lib. 1.
cap. 7.
(127) Ante quod eft in me, poftque, videtur idem.
Ovid. Faft. 1. †. 114.
Ille manu mulcens propexam ad pectora barbam, &c.
Id. Ibid. y. 259.
(128) Ipfe etiam immenfi reparator maximus ævi
Attollit vultus; & utroque a limine grates
Janus agit.
Levat ecce fupinas
Hinc atque inde manus; geminâque hac voce profatur.
Statius, Lib. 4. Sylv. 1. . 16.
(129) See Oifelius's "Thef. Pl. 41. Fig. 1.
198.
POLYMET I S.
s
!
which looks every way, that I imagine the antient Romans meant to exprefs this deity's
prefiding over Space: as his figures with two faces only, the one looking backward and
the other forward, might denote his prefiding over (130) Time.
You fee I had more reaſons than one, for placing the figure of Janus juſt where you
find it. I know not well whether Claudian means this deity (131), or that of 'Time; by
the venerable old perfonage he mentions, in his Cave of Eternity. Which-ever he may
mean of them, he has given him ſome attributes, which the Roman poets of the allowed
ages
ſeem to have had no idea of for either.
As Polymetis finiſhed here, and was going to leave the temple; Philander begged
firſt to aſk him one queſtion. I fee, fays he, very well, from what you have faid of
Janus's relation to Time, why the Romans made him prefide always over the entrance
of the year; but I fhould be glad to learn too, why they made him prefide over peace
and war. That, fays Polymetis, as I take it, has no relation to his mythological cha-
racter, either as prefiding over Space or Time. It was, probably, wholly founded on
an old Roman legend, which is told us by Macrobius; and which I
you pleaſe, as well in our walk homeward, as here.
may tell
you, if
IN the time of the (132) Sabine war, as the Romans were engaged with the enemy,
at no great diſtance from the gate at the bottom of the Collis Viminalis; a party of the
foldiers, (who were left to guard the city,) haftened to ſhut that gate, for fear of the
worſt. The gate was no fooner fhut, than it opened again of itſelf. This was repeated
three feveral times: and as the foldiers found it was refolved not to keep fhut, they
got all the hands they could together there; to be ready to defend that entrance againſt
the enemy. In the mean time, as the Romans that were fighting without, ſuffered
much in the battle; there came a fudden alarm, from fome of the fugitives, of their
being entirely defeated; and the guard was feized with fuch a panic upon it, that
each man fled to fave himſelf, and left the gate wide open and without any defence.
Soon after fome of the Sabine troops, that had been the moſt fuccefsful and were the
moſt advanced, obferved this advantage; and haftened to the gate, to make themſelves
maſters of it. When, lo! a fudden flood of water, (or as others fay, of fire,) iffued
forth, all at once, from the temple of Janus; ruſhed on impetuouſly thro' the
(130) Principium des, Jane, licet velocibus annis ;
Et revoces vultu fæcula longa tuo.
Martial. Lib. 8. Ep. 8.
As the beginning of the year, was under the diſpo-
fal of Janus; ſo the entance into the confulſhip was,
of courſe, under his protection. The poets frequently
allude to this; and there is a figure of Janus, in Be-
ger's Thefaurus, (319. 11.) with the confular fafces,
in his hand: I ſuppoſe, in allufion to the fame.
(131) This paffage in Claudian is ſo remarkable,
that I ſhall give it entire: not as of any authority here;
but to ſhew, how far allegories ran in his time.
Eft ignota procul noftræque impervia menti,
Vix adeunda deis, annorum fqualida mater ;
Immenfi fpelunca ævi ; quæ Tempora vaſto
Suppeditat revocatque finu. Complectitur antrum
Omnia qui placido confumit numine ferpens,
Perpetuumque viret fquamis; caudamque reducto
Ore vorat, tacito relegens exordia lapfu.
Veſtibuli cuftos, vultu longæva decoro
Ante fores Natura fedet; cunétifque volantes.
Dependent membris Animæ. Manfura verendus
Scribit jura fenex, numeros qui dividit aſtris,
Et curfus ftabilefque moras; quibus omnia vivunt,
Ac pereunt fixis cum legibus. Ille recenfet
Incertum quid Martis iter, certumque Tonantis
Proficiat mundo: quid velox femita Lunæ,
gate, that
ftood
Pigraque Saturni: quantum Cytherea fereno
Curriculo, Phœbique comes Cyllenius erret.
Illius ut Phoebus ad limen conftitit antri;
Occurrit Natura potens, feniorque fuperbis
Canitiem inclinat radiis: tunc fponte reclufos
Laxavit poftes adamas. Penetrale profundum
Panditur ; & fedes Ævique arcana patefcunt.
Hic habitant vario faciem diftinfta metallo
Sæcula certa locis. Illic glomerantur aëna ;
Hic ferrata rigent: illic argentea candent.
Eximiâ regione domûs, contingere terris
Difficiles, ftabant rutuli (grex aureus,) Anni.
Quorum præcipuum pretiofo corpore Titan
Signandum Stilicone legit: tunc imperat omnes
Pone fequi; dicifque fimul compellat euntes.
En, cui diftulimus melioris fecla metaili,
Conful adeft! Ite optati mortalibus Anni!
Ducite virtutes; hominum florefcite rurfus
Ingeniis, &c."
De Laud. Stil. 2. . 457-
เส
(132) Macrobius, Saturn. Lib. 1. cap.9.
This ridiculous legend, probably was believed by
the vulgar among the old Romans; as feveral legends,
as ridiculous, are believed among the Roman catho-
lics at prefent: but the wifer fort, and Virgil in par-
ticular, was of another opinion; as appears from the
much earlier account, he gives of this matter. En. 7.
*. 601-622.
DIALOGUE the Twelfth.
199
ſtood open; and overwhelmed all the Sabines that were preffing towards it. The Ro-
mans in memory of this miraculous deliverance by the affiſtance of Janus, called that
gate, Janualis: and in all their wars ever after, left the gates of Janus's temple wide
open; that the god might come out the more readily, if he ſhould be ever again inclined
to affift them. This cuftom of always opening the gates of the temple of Janus on the
beginning of a war, and keeping them ſhut always in time of peace, might probably
give the Romans the thought of placing the ftatues of Peace and War in his temple;
as that
gave their
their poets
the idea of war being confined, and peace being fecured, by Ja-
nus: who otherwiſe, I ſhould think, would have had nothing to do with them. But
I have finiſhed my ftory; and we are got home in good time, before the damps of the
evening.
Page 199
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XXVII
L.P. Boilard Sculp
201
A
BOOK the Sixth.
DIAL. XIII.
Of the Beings, fuppoſed to inhabit the AIR.
S Myfagetes and Philander had now finiſhed their view of the Great Celeſtial
Temple, and of that of the Conſtellations; their next vifit of courſe, was to the
temple of the Aerial Beings. While they were approaching it, you fee, (ſays
Polymetis,) that this temple is of the Ionic order: which I choſe for it, as the moſt
light and eaſy. The antients, as we learn from (1) Vitruvius, had a good deal of pro-
priety, or nicety, (call it which you will,) in adapting their buildings, to the character
of the deities to whom they were dedicated. A temple of Venus was to be beautiful;
and one of Juno, majeftic. Hercules looked beft, placed in a building of the Doric
order; which would have been the moſt improper of all for a Zephyr; or for
any of the
aerial ladies, to whoſe acquaintance I ſhall ſoon introduce you; if you pleaſe only to go
into the temple before us.
ON their entering the temple, they found every thing in it difpofed fo, as to have a
light; eafy look. It was an Octagon; like the beautiful temple of the Winds, which is
ſo much talked of by all our late travellers that have been at Athens: but more illumi-
nated, by a large window in Michael Angelo's ſtyle, in each of its divifions. Over every
opening was the figure of a Wind-Deity, in mezzo-relievo; and on each fide of the win-
dows were little fquares and ovals here and there, taken from antiques of fome other
aerial beings. The roof was wholly dedicated to the goddeffes of this element. In the
midſt of it was a circle, in which appeared Juno under her character of prefiding over
the air; in a light, flying car, drawn by two peacocks. All the reft of the dome was
divided into eight parts, by feftoons of flowers; to anſwer the building below: and in each
of theſe compartiments, was painted a Sylph, or Nymph of the Air: in fome attitude or
other of flying; and generally with looſe veils held in their hands, or fluttering on high
over their heads. The whole temple within was all luminous, and open ; without any
ftatues, or any thing elſe, to embaraſs it.
THESE (2) figures of the eight Winds, fays Polymetis, are meant to repreſent thoſe
on the famous octagon at Athens. I fhould not have gone fo far for my Winds, had
there been a greater choice of them nearer home: but the figures of this fort of deities
are very great rarities, even in Italy. One or two of them indeed appear there, on
fome relievo's; particularly on fome repreſenting the fall of Phaeton: and the four capi-
tal ones were found, (above two centuries ago,) on part of the work, belonging to what
(1) Lib. 1. Cap. 2.
(2) When this was firft written, I was in hopes of
getting the figures of the eight Winds, as they are
reprefented on the temple at Athens. There was a
drawing of all of them, taken ſeveral years ago; and
kept for fome time in the king of France's library:
and it is ſaid, there was another, of a yet earlier
date; in the Barbarini palace, at Rome. On the ftrict
eſt enquiry, neither of theſe are to be found and
the loss of them is the greater, becauſe two of the
is
figures on the temple itſelf, are now quite hid by
ſome later buildings affixed to it. I am therefore
obliged to reſt whatever I have here hazarded in re-
lation to theſe figures, on the authority of fuch as
have ſeen the originals, at Athens; and who have
been fo good as to favour me with the remarks they
made on the fpot. Might I name the Earl of Sand-
wich, and Dr. Pocock, as my chief authorities in
this cafe; I fhould name the very perfons, on whoſe
veracity, and judgment, I am the moſt inclined to
rely.
202
POLYMETIS.
2
is commonly thought to have been a fun-dial (3), in the Campus Martius. Thefe are
likely to have been good; as having been, probably, a work of the Auguftan age. But
whatever they were, they are not now to be found; and the good monks of Saint Lo-
renzo in Lucina, (where they were diſcovered, in digging to lay the foundation for one
of their chapels,) are fo far from knowing what is become of them; that they have
almoſt loſt even the memory of their having ever been in their poffeffion. The only
good one I know of now at Rome, fell into better hands; and is one of the fine pieces
placed by the late Pope Clement XII. in the gallery, at the Capitol. In this fcarcity,
we are obliged to borrow our Ideas of theſe Wind-Deities from Athens; and there is this
inconvenience in it, that they muſt then be characteriſed according to the effects each
particular Wind has at Athens, and not according to what they have at Rome. This
may occafion fome difference, but it is not very confiderable; and where we cannot do
better, we muſt be contented to ſhift as well as we can.
THESE Athenian deities of the Winds are all flying on; but with different degrees of
rapidity, or gentleness; according to the different effects each Wind has in thoſe parts.
Solanus, or the Eaſt, is reprefented as young; and holds feveral forts of fruit in his lap;
as apples, peaches, oranges, lemmons, and pomegranates: moſt of which, (if not all,)
were not the natural produce of Greece; but brought in there from the more eaſtern
parts of the world.
The next, is Eurus, or the South-Eaft. He is reprefented as a
youth too; and is flying on, rather more impetuouſly, as appears from the agitation of
his garments.The third is Aufter, or the South-wind; and the fourth, Africus, or
the South-weſt. They are all reprefented, bigger than the life, and bending forward;
ſo that their figures generally take up above fix foot in length; and about three and an
halfin breadth. The fifth, is Zephyrus, or the deity of the Weſtern Wind. He is
repreſented as a beautiful youth; and as gliding on with the gentleft motion imaginable.
He is for the moſt part naked; and holds a little baſket in his hand, filled with ſpring-
flowers of different forts. The fixth is Corus, or the North-weft. He is elderly, and
with a beard; whereas the former are generally young. He is dreffed fo as to defend
him from the cold; and carries a vaſe, as pouring water from it, in his hand.—The
next is Septentrio, or the North-wind. He reſembles Corus in his age and drefs; but
has no vaſe of water; and is ſo much more affected with the cold, that he holds up his
mantle cloſe before his noſe and mouth, to defend himſelf from the violence of it. The
laft, Aquilo, or the North-eaſt, is elderly too. He holds a plate of olives in his hands :
which was of old, and is ftill, the chief produce of the territory about Athens: fo far,
that in going from that city to the Pireum, which is near five miles, you paſs all the way
through rows of olive-trees, on each fide of you.
THE Romans, in the time of (4) Pliny, chiefly followed this divifion of the Winds;
and had a yet farther divifion of them into twelve; as we learn from the fame author.
(3) In queſta iſteſſa parte (of the Campus Martius,
where the obelisk lies ftill interred,) fi come teftifi-
cano Pomponio Leto & Andrea Fulvio, fu à i lor
tempi, (circa ottenta anni fa,) ritrovato nella cappella
nuova de i Capellani di queſta Chiefa cavandoſi, un
horologio belliffimo & grande di metallo; che haveva
i gradi, & le linee indorate; con il fuolo intorno di
pietre quadrate, che pur moftrava le medefime lince;
& negl' angoli, i quattro Venti fatti à mufaico. Pom-
peo Ugonio, Hift. delle Stationi di Roma. p. 183.
Ed. 1588.
In parte Martii Campi, ubi nunc eft templum S.
Laurentii, in capellà novâ Capellanorum, fuit olim
baſis illa nominatiffima, et horologium fuperioribus
annis effoffum; quod habebat feptem gradus circum,
ct lineas diſtinctas metallo inaurato: et folum campi
But
erat ex lapide amplo quadrato, et habebat lincas eaf-
dem: et in angulo quatuor Venti erant, ex opere mu-
fivo: cum infcriptione, BOREAS SPIRÁT, &c.
Fulvius; (See Nardini's Roma antica. Lib.6. Cap. 6.)
(4) Veteres quatuor (Ventos) fervavere, per toti-
dem mundi partes, hebeti ut mox judicatum eft ra-
tione; fecuta ætas octo addidit, nimis fubtili et con-
cifà proximis inter utranque media placuit, ad bre-1
vem ex numerofâ additis quatuor. Sunt ergo bini in
quatuor cœli partibus. Ab Oriente æquino&iali Sub-
folanus, ab Oriente brumali Vulturnus ; illum Apelio-
ten, hunc Eurum Græci appellant. A meridie Au-
fter, et ab occafu brumali Africus; Noton, et Liba,
nominant. Ab occafu æquinoctiali Favonius, ab oc-
cafu folftitiali Corus; Zephyron et Argeften vocant.
3
A
DIALOGUE the Thirteenth.
203
But the moſt antient, and that which is moſt generally followed by the Roman poets,
(eſpecially thoſe of the Auguftan age,) was the divifion into four. According to
this, they made (5) Eurus to be the intelligence that prefided over all the eaſtern quarter
of the heavens and to Boreas, they gave the whole dominion of the north: Auſter was
ſtill the chief director of the fouth; as Zephyrus was of the weft. The poets indeed,
now and then, mention fome other deities of the Winds; but theſe are moft generally
confidered by them, as the chief of all the reſt.
EURUS, or the genius of the Eaft-wind, according to the Roman poets, feems to
have his character compofed from the Apeliotes and Euros of the Greeks. By one de-
ſcription of him, he ſhould have a look that fhews him (6) delighted; and in another,
he is ſpoken of as (7) playful, or wanton. He is fometimes deſcribed as (8) impetuous;
and ſometimes, as (9) diſordered with the ſtorm he has been driving along the fea. Ho-
race gives us a picture of the former; and Valerius Flaccus of the latter. I ſhould be apt
to imagine from fome expreffions in the poets, that he was fometimes reprefented on
horſeback; or (10) perhaps, in a chariot, whirling thro' the air: but there are fo few
remains of the antient artiſts relating to thefe beings, (as I was faying before ;) that we
have nothing from them, to confirm any fuch conjecture.
THE genius of the South-wind, (called indifferently by the names of Notus and Auſter,)
is deſcribed (11) by Ovid, as large; and fo old, that his hair is quite grey of a
gloomy countenance; and with clouds about his head. Moft of the lines in his charac-
ter are deſigned to point him out as the difpenfer of heavy ſhowers, and great rains. He
has duſky wings; and fometimes (12) a full dark robe. Virgil feems to allude to the
gloomineſs of his countenance (13); in a paffage, that has given much offence to the
critics:
A Septentrionibus Septentrio, interque eum et exor-
tum folftitialem Aquilo; Aparctias dicti et Boreas.
Pliny, Nat. Hift. Lib. 2. Cap. 47.
In five of theſe Greek names, Pliny agrees exactly
with the infcriptions under the particular Winds on
the temple at Athens; which are as follow.-АПн-
AINTHS, for the E.-EYPOS, for the SE.-
NOTOS, for the S.AIY, for the SW.ZE-
YPOS, for the W.-EKIPON, for the NW.-
BOPEAS, for the N. and KAIKIAS, for the
NE.
(5) Eurus ad auroram, Nabathæaque regna receffit,
Perfidaque, et radiis juga fubdita matutinis:
Vefper, et occiduo quæ litora fole tepefcunt,
Proxima funt Zephyro. Scythiam feptemque triones,
Horrifer invafit Boreas: contraria tellus
Nubibus affiduis pluvioque madefcit ab Auftro.
Ovid. Met. 1. .66.
(6) Confligunt Zephyrufque, Notufque ; & lætus Eois
Eurus equis.
Virgil. Æn. 2. y. 417.
(7) Ille Noto, Zephyroque, & Sithonio Aquiloni
Imperat; & pennis, Eure proterve, tuis.
Ovid. Ep. Her. 11. . 14. (Canace, Mac)
(8) Dirus per urbes * Afer ut Italas,
Ceu flamma per tædas, vel Eurus
Per Siculas equitavit undas.
(9)
*Hanibal.
riot; and fo may poffibly uſe, equitare, for the fame.
Flaccus ufes an expreffion. of another Wind, (the
North,) which ſeems to imply his being in a chariot.
Fundunt fe carcere læti
Thraces equi; Zephyruſque.
Arg. 1..611.
And ſo may Virgil's ;-Lætus Eoïs Eurus equis-
Note 6, anteh.
(II)
Madidis Notus evolat alis,
Terribilem piceâ tectus caligine vultum.
Barba gravis nimbis; canis fuit unda capillis;
Fronte fedent nebulæ : rorant pennæque finufque.
Utque manu latâ pendentia nubila preffit, &c.
Ovid. Met. 1. y. 268.
(12) Ovid perhaps means his robe in the deſcrip-
tion above by the word, finus, which fignifie sa flow-
ing robe; whence Virgil calls it, finus fluentes, Æn. 1.
. 324. In the fame manner, Statius calls the robe
of Auſter, by the name of volumina; which fignifies
its largeneſs.
-Cœlum fibi quifque rapit: fed plurimus Aufter
Inglomerat no&tem, et tenebroſa volumina torquet ;
Defunditque imbres.
Theb. I. . 352.
(13)
Quid cogitet humidus Auſter.
G. 1..462.
Several of the commentators (that have been uſed
to confider the Winds only in a natural way, and ne-
ver perhaps in an allegorical one,) are greatly offended
at the word, cogitet, here. The thinking of a Wind,
is to them the higheſt pitch of abfurdity that can be.
They are therefore for altering the paffage into "Quid
cogat et humidus Aufter;" or, " Quid concitet hu-
midus Aufter:" contra omnes codices, as they them-
felves fay.
Ggg
Horat. Lib. 4. Od. 4. ✯. 44.
Crinemque procellis
Hifpidus, et multâ flavus caput Eurus arenâ.
Flaccus, Argon. 1. *.613.
(10) The Roman poets fometimes uſe the expref-
fion, in equis, to fignify a perſon's being in a cha-
If
2204
POLYMETIS.
critics and ſpeaks of him, in another place (14), "as faddening the very heavens." Va
lerius Flaccus defcribes him, as (15) attended with fhowers, Ovid, with water dripping
from every part of him; Statius, as pouring the waters of the heavens down on the earth;
and Juvenal, as fitting in the cave of the Winds; and (16) drying his wings after a ſtorm.
Several of theſe deſcriptions, probably, alluded to fome paintings of old; at leaſt, there
is ſcarce any one of them, that might not furniſh a painter with a good hint for a
picture now.
ZEPHYRUS is the mildeſt of all the deities of the Winds: the character of his perfo-
nage is youth, and gentleneſs. Valerius Flaccus, in fpeaking of theſe four great deities of
the Winds, as employed all together in a storm, adds fome character of violence to every
one of them (17) except Zephyrus. I have obſerved before, that in fome of his figures
his lap is full of ſpring-flowers. Ovid deſcribes him, and his attendants, (for there
were ſeveral Zephyri; feveral deities of the Winds of the fame quarter, all under this
their great chief;) as tending (18) the flowers, that every where adorned the face of the
earth, in the infancy of the world; when (as he fays) it was all one continued fpring.
Lucretius, in his proceffion of the ſeaſons, makes Zephyrus and Flora (19) joint atten-
dants of the ſpring; and Ovid (20) gives a very full account of his falling in love with
Flora, at the ſame ſeaſon of the year. We find by that account, that this amour, (tho'
it was irregular in its beginning,) concluded at laſt very honourably; in a match between
theſe two deities. And indeed never were any two deities better paired. They were
perhaps the happieſt couple of all thoſe who in the heathen mythology were ſuppoſed to
have engaged in fo bold an undertaking, as that of an endleſs marriage: for ſuch it muſt
be, where divorces were never practifed; and, where, (if a match proved`unhappy,)
neither of the parties could entertain any the leaſt hopes of dying.
As Zephyrus is the moſt gentle of all theſe deities of the Winds, fo the rougheſt (21)
of them all is Boreas. As he is repreſented on the temple of Athens, he ſeems himſelf
If theſe gentlemen would pleaſe to confider, that it
is not they, but Virgil that is ſpeaking here ;—that
the Winds were frequently reprefented as perfons,
in his time; that he had been uſed to ſee them
fo repreſented, both in Greece and in his own coun-
try; that they were commonly worſhipped then
as gods; (and that Virgil had probably worſhipped
them as fuch himſelf, in fome of his voyages between
Rome and Athens ;) they may perhaps be perfuaded
not to think this ſo ſtrange an expreffion for him to
ufe.
Indeed, inſtead of its being fo ftrange and abfurd,
I ſhould imagine it to be very poetical and very pro-
per. The general character of the face of Auſter, is
gloominefs; and the particular thing Virgil here
fpeaks of, is his threatning, or meditating miſchief.
Boreas is ufually repreſented like a furious, impetu-
ous bully; and Aufter is repreſented here, with a
fullen, defigning look: not unlike one of our old
politicians, in a coffee-houfe; on a damp, gloomy
day terribilem piceâ tectus caligine vultum. (As
Ovid ſays of Auſter; Note 11, anteh.)
(14)
(15)
(16)
Aut unde nigerrimus Aufter
Nafcitur; et pluvio contriftat frigore cœlum,
G. 3. *. 279.
Et nocti concolor alis,
Nimborum cum prole, Notus.
Val. Flaccus, Argon. 1. #. 612.
;
Dum fe continet Auſter
Dum fedet, et ficcat madidas in carcere pennas.
Juvenal. Sat. 5. . 101.
y.
3
(17)
Fundunt fe carcere læti
Thraces equi, Zephyrufque; et nocti concolor alis
Nimborum cum prole Notus: crinemque procellis
Hifpidus, et multâ flavus caput Eurus arenâ.
to
Argon. 1. . 613.
(18) Ver erat æternum: placidique tepentibus auris
Mulcebant Zephyri natos fine femine flores.
Ovid. Met. 1. †. 108.
(19) See Lucretius, Lib. 5. . 736, to 739.
(20) Chloris eram, quæ Flora vocor (corrupta Latino
Nominis eft noftri litera Græca fono)
Chloris eram, nymphe campi felicis ; ubi audis
Rem fortunatis ante fuiffe viris.
Ver erat; errabam. Zephyrus confpexit; abibam.
Infequitur; fugio. Fortior ille fuit.
Et dederat fratri Boreas jus omne rapinæ,
Aufus Erictheâ præmia ferre domo.
Vim tamen emendat, dando mihi nomina nuptæ;
Inque meo non eft ulla querela toro.
Vere fruor femper: veri nitidiffimus annus ;
Arbor habet frondes, pabula fundit humus.
Eft mihi fœcundus dotalibus hortus in agris;
Aura fovet; liquidæ fonte rigatur aquæ.
Hunc meus implevit generofo flore maritus;
Atque ait, arbitrium tu dea floris habe.
Ovid. Faft. 5. #. 212.
(21) Μηδε (δει) τον Βορέαν, κηδες την γε οντά, και παρα
παντας τες Ανεμος αρσενά, ποιείσθαι θηλυν. Philoftra-
tus; Vita Apollonii, Lib. 4. Cap. 21.
DIALOGUE the Thirteenth.
205
to ſuffer from the extreme cold of the climate over which he prefides: agreeably to which
one of the poets calls him (22), "The ſhivering Tyrant." However, I am apt to think
that the moſt common way of reprefenting him of old, was as impetuous, and trouble-
fome to others; this being his moft ufual character in the Roman poets. Ovid in
par-
ticular fays, that he is almoft always rough, and (23) in a paffion.
paffion. This is in his account
of the rape committed by this deity on Orithyia; in which that poet rifes, (or endeavours
at leaſt to rife,) into an higher ftyle, than is uſual with him; to paint out the terrours that
belong to this deity. He makes him (24), "The former of fnow, and the difpenfer of hail-
ftorms; one great caufe of lightnings and thunders; and the fole cauſe of earthquakes,
and all the terrible confequences that attend them: he fays, that he moves on encompaffed
with dark clouds, in the heavens; and in a thick cloud of duft, over the earth.' Con-
fidering his effects, and how he employs himſelf, whenever he is employed; one would
be glad to have this tyrant always, (as he is reprefented in his figure at Athens,) with his
robe before his mouth.
SUCH are the characters of the four principal deities of the Winds, according to the
Roman poets: from confidering all of which together, one may find that they would
ſerve extremely well to contraſt, and fet off each other, in a picture; if any good hand
was to undertake it. For according to their diſtinguiſhing characters above mentioned,
Eurus fhould be of a lively, brifk air; Aufter, gloomy and aged: Zephyrus, young and
charming; and Boreas, old and angry.
THE names of the other four Winds, in the divifion of eight, are Solanus, Africus,
Corus, and Aquilo. I do not remember that any one of the Roman poets has ever
fpoken of Solanus: they ſeem to have given up his place entirely to Eurus. Every
one of the other three are mentioned by them; and that under the characters of per-
fons, tho' they ſpeak of them but feldom. Silius Italicus defcribes Africus, or the deity
of the South-west Wind, as having (25) dark wings; and gives us a picture of Corus, (or
the North-weſt,) as fpreading out his dufky pinions, and (26) driving on a tempeſt of
fnow before him; againſt Hannibal's army, in their paffage over the Alps. This gives
us no bad idea of the Wind, which old Lucilius, (I know not on what grounds,) calls,
(27) The king of all the reft. Ovid fpeaks of Hiems, as trembling at the preſence of
Aquilo (28), (or the North-eaft ;) and there is an expreffion (29) in Statius, relating to
the fame; which may poffibly have been borrowed from fome figures of old, not unlike
thoſe bluftering faces we fee fo often in the corners of our maps.
(22) Illic et gelidi conjux A&æa tyranni,
Et genetrix facta eſt.
Ovid. Met. 6. . 711. (of Orithyia.)
Horridus irâ,
(23)
Quæ folita eft illi.
Ibid. y. 696.
It is thus that he was repreſented by Zeuxis; as we
learn from Lucian. Οι Θρασυκλης ο Φιλοσοφος στος
εστιν; ου μεν εν αλλος.. Εκπετασας γον τον πωγωνα,
και τας οφρύς ανατείνας, και βρενθυόμενος τι προς αυτόν
ερχεται, τιτανίδες βλέπων, ανασεσοβημενος την επι τω
μετωπω κομην Αυτοβοριάς τις, η Τριτων, οις ο Ζευξις
Expαpev. Tiμav. Tom. I. p. 158. Ed. Blaeu.
(24) Apta mihi vis eft: vi triftia nubila pello ;
Vi freta concutio, nodofaque robora verto :
Induroque nives; et terras grandine pulfo.
Idem ego, cum fratres cœlo fum nactus aperto,
(Nam mihi campus is eft ;) tanto molimine luctor,
Ut medius noftris concurfibus intonet æther;
Exiliantque cavis elifi nubibus ignes.
Idem ego, cum fubii convexa foramina terræ
Suppofuique ferox imis mea terga cavernis,
Sollicito Manes totumque tremoribus orbem.
THESE
Hæc Boreas, aut his non inferiora, locutus
Excuffit pennas; quarum jactatibus omnis
Aflata eft tellus, latumque perhorruit æquor`:
Pulvereamque trahens per fumma cacumina pallam,
Verrit humum; pavidamque metu, caligine tectus,
Orithyïan amans fulvis amplectitur alis.
Ovid. Met. 6. . 707.
(25) Hinc Notus, hinc Boreas, hinc fufcis Africus alis
Bella movent.
Silius Ital. 12. .618.
(26) Interdum adverfo glomeratas turbine Corus
In media ora nives fufcis agit horridus alis.
Ibid. 3. .524.
(27) Rex Corus ille duos hos Ventos, Auftrum
atque Aquilonem, noviffimè alebat; &c. Lucilius,
Sat. Lib. 23.
(28) -Cum triftis Hiems Aquilonis inhorruit alis.
(29)
Ovid. Ibis, . 201.
Primique Aquilonis hiatus.
Statius, Theb. 7. ✯. 37.
206
POLYMETIS.
THESE principal deities of the Winds, were all (30) brothers; tho' I do not know
enough of their genealogy, even to tell you who was their father and mother. They
are fometimes reprefented with wings, and (31) fometimes without; in the few remains
we have of the antient artiſts, relating to this, fubject. Were theſe more frequent, I
imagine we ſhould moft commonly fee them reprefented with wings; becauſe that part
is generally fpoken of by the poets, where they deſcribe any of theſe deities. Their
uſual manner of blowing, as appears both from the poets and the remains of the artiſts,
was not by diſtorting their faces in that ſtrange manner that our modern painters and
ſculptors are pleaſed to imagine. They gave them wreathed trumpets for that purpoſe;
not unlike the twiſted fhell, uſed as a trumpet by the Tritons: as you fee it on the me-
PL.XXVIII. dallion by that window; copied from the Ara Ventorum, in the Capitoline gallery at
Rome. This general attribute of the Winds is hinted at, by fome of the poets (32); and
exprefly ſpoken of, by others.
FIG. I.
BESIDE theſe general attributes of wings, and flabra, (or the wreathed trumpets they
breathed through,) the particular deities of the Winds had others, according to their
particular characters. One of the Winds on their temple at Athens holds a water-pot in
his hand; to denote the rains he generally brought with him, in that climate. Aufter
was probably reprefented fometimes (33) with the fame attribute. It is only a ſmall vaſe
indeed; but that does not hinder its fignifying very heavy ſhowers: for Aquarius,
was looked on as the cauſe (34) of thoſe heavy rains, that uſually fall in Italy about
the (35) winter-folftice,) has juft fuch another on the Farneſe globe. It is perhaps that
little vaſe in particular, which the Romans called, (36) Urceus.
(who
I HAVE faid enough, (and as we have fo few remains relating to them, perhaps too
much,) on theſe deities of the principal Winds. It is probable there were (37) many
others under each of them, who had their name from the chief of their particular quarter;
and fome which were diſtinguiſhed from the vulgar, by particular names: fuch, for in-
ſtance, as Vulturnus; whom Lucretius introduces as an (38) attendant of the autumn,
in his proceffion of the ſeafons: and the Etefiæ, a (39) gentler fort of northern gales; in
fpeaking
(30) Ovid calls Boreas Zephyrus's brother, in his
Fafti 5..203. and in ſpeaking of all the four prin-
cipal Winds, calls them all brothers; in his Meta-
morphofis, 1. y. 60.
(31) They are winged, on a Sarcophagus repre-
fenting the Fall of Phaeton, in the Borgheſe gardens;
and without wings, on the Ara Ventorum, at the
Capitol.
-
(32) Cum fua quifque regant diverfo flamina tractu.
Ovid. Met. 1. . 59.
Neque hic Boreæ flabra, nec arma timet.
Propert. Lib. 2. El. 27. *. 12.
Freta circum
Fervefcunt graviter fpirantibus incita flabris.
Lucretius, 6. . 427.
Mihi pontus inertes
Submittit fluctus; Zephyrique tacentia ponunt
Ante meos fua flabra pedes.
(33) Defundit imbres.
Petronius Arb. p. 259. Ed. Lond.
Statius, Theb. 1. . 352. (of Aufter.)
Contriftat Aquarius annum.
(34)
Horat. Lib. 1. Sat. 1. ✯. 36.
(35)
Brumæ intractabilis imbrem.
(36) Tho' the Urceus was but a ſmall veſſel, Petro-
nius uſes the expreffion of nimbus urceatim detumens,
for a violent ſudden ſhower. (Petr. Arb. p. 24. Ed.
Lond.) Indeed the fize of the veffel is out of the
queſtion; becauſe this kind of expreffion is only
meant to fignify that the rain poured down, not in
diftinct drops, but as it were in one continued
ftream.
(37) Nigram Hiemi pecudem; Zephyris felicibus albam.
Virgil. Æn. 3. y. 120.
The fame poet ſpeaks of the Euri too in the plural;
and of feveral of the other Winds.
-Hybernis parcebant flatibus Euri.
Georg. 2. . 339.
Nimborum in patriam, loca fœta furentibus Auftris,
Æoliam venit.
An 1..52.
Aut actum cœlo magnis Aquilonibus imbrem.
Georg. 2. .334-
(38) Inde Autumnus adit; graditur fimul Evius Evan,
Inde aliæ tempeftates Ventique fequuntur ;
Altitonans Vulturnus. & Aufter fulmine pollens.
Luc. 5. *.744-
1
(39) They are not of the rougheſt kind, by the
offices attributed to them. Lucretius makes them
Virgil. Georg, 1. . 211. companions of the fummer;
Inde
DIALOGUE the Thirteenth.
207
fpeaking of which one of the Roman writers in profe, (and one of the beſt they ever
had,) ufes fome expreffions (40), which would be ſcarce juftifiable; unleſs they were
grounded on thofe Winds being commonly reprefented, and known as perfons, among
the Romans.
ALL that I have yet mentioned are males: for fear therefore that you ſhould imagine
the Winds to be a people of one fex only; (or to ufe Florus's expreffion, a Populus vi-
rorum,) we will now, if you pleaſe, confider ſome of thoſe female figures, that
you fee
difpofed here, in each of the divifions of the dome. Theſe are ſo many aerial nymphs:
what the Romans called, (41) Aura; and what we call, Sylphs. Theſe Auræ are chiefly
marked out by the veil, which they hold in their hands, and which flutters archwife over
their heads. They are oftner to be found in the antient paintings of ceilings; than perhaps
in all the other remains of antiquity, put together. In particular, I have never yet met
with any ſtatue of an Aura, that I know of: but Pliny (42) fpeaks of two; which were
a good deal admired, even in his time, at Rome.
up
THO' theſe deities are fo uncommon now in ſtatues, that lofs is fufficiently made
to us by their being commonly enough to be met with in the paintings of the antients;
and eſpecially, as I was faying, on ceilings: which is certainly the propereft place of
any for them to be repreſented on. I dare fay I could point out two or three dozen of
them (43); in Dr. Mead's collection of paintings, and drawings from the paintings of
the antients of which, it would be a very ſparing commendation only to fay, that it is
the nobleft collection, on this fide of the Alps; it being probably the nobleft, of its kind,
in the whole world. The drawings, in particular, were taken by the famous Bartoli;
on the ſpot, as the paintings were diſcovered. And as the latter loſe their colours on
being expofed to the air; and are almoſt wholly extinguiſhed, by the courfe of a few
years theſe copies of them, in which the colours appear as vivid and ſtrong as when
they were firſt diſcovered, are in that reſpect a more valuable treaſure, even than the
originals themſelves would be; were they all remaining, and all collected together:
whereas moſt of them are ſcattered; and many of them, quite loft. All my Air-nymphs
here, are borrowed from this collection of Dr. Mead's: who did not only give me a full
liberty of having whatever I pleafed copied from it; but gave it always with fo many
obliging circumſtances, as doubled the favour. Indeed, by what I have experienced
myſelf, and by what I have heard from feveral others; I am apt to think, that the ſureſt
method to make that gentleman one's friend, (as well as to get a friendſhip for him,) is to
Inde loci fequitur Calor aridus ; & comes una
Pulverulenta Ceres, et Eṭefia flabra Aquilonum.
Lucr. 5. . 741.
And Horace, (if I miſtake not,) of the ſpring.
Jam veris comites, quæ mare temperant,
Impellunt Animæ lintea Thraciæ :
Jam nec prata rigent, nec fluvii ftrepunt
Hybernâ nive turgidi.
4.
Horat. Lib. 4. Od. 12.
By the laſt words it appears that Horace fpeaks
here of the latter end of the ſpring; for in the begin-
ning of it, the rivers in Italy are generally moft fwoln
with the melting of the fnows. I fuppofe, from
comparing Horace and Lucretius together, that theſe
Etefian (or Thracian) gales might blow commonly,
about the cloſe of the ſpring, or the beginning of the
fummer.
(40) Iratus temporibus, in Græciam defperatâ li-
bertate rapiebar: quum me Etefiæ, quafi boni cives,
rclinquentem rempublicam profequi noluerunt; Au-
fterque adverfus maximo flatu me ad Rhegium retulit.
Cicero. Lib. 12. Epiſt. 25.
put
(41) That the Romans uſed the word Aura perfo-
nally, for the nymphs of the air, is evident from the
quotation in the following note. I ſuppoſe they
might borrow that uſe of it from the Greeks; who
ſeem to have uſed Apa fometimes in the fame man_
ner. I remember to have ſeen an antient gem repre-
fenting two greyhounds purſuing a hare with their
names engraved under them; which had, probably,
been the feal of fome old ſportſman. The name of
one is, Xpuois, and of the other Auga, or the air-
nymph; to denote her ſwiftneſs.
(42) Multa in eâdem ſcholâ fine auctoribus placent:
fatyri quatuor ;-duæque Auræ, velificantes fuâ
vefte. Pliny, Nat. Hift. Lib. 36. Cap. 5. P. 472.
Ed. Elz.
(43) In Bartoli's finiſhed drawings from the paint-
ings of the antients, formerly in the poffeffion of the
Maffimi family at Rome, and now in the hands of
Dr. Mead; there are feveral figures which I take to
be air-nymphs. Particularly, Fol. 69, 71, 73, 75,
78, 87, 89, 111, 112, 113, 147, and 148.
Hhh
1208
POLYMETIS.
put it in his way to oblige you heartily. All the world knows-
But to cut my
gratitude ſhort; and to return to my Air-nymphs: this with the blue veil, in the com-
PL.XXVIII. partiment juſt over Zephyrus, has wings; and that next her, (with a red veil, fluttering
FIG. 2, 3 all over her head,) has none; tho' they are both, you ſee, in the attitude of flying.
The latter, holds a bundle of flowers, in each hand; perhaps, to ſcatter them down,
over the earth: for thefe ladies are of a mild and gentle character; and would make very
proper wives for the Zephyri: part of whoſe office was that of difpenfing and cherishing
PL.XXVIII. flowers; even ſo far back, as in the times of (44) the golden age. In this drawing, I have
a Zephyr and Air-nymph,who may actually have been married together, for what I know;
or who, at leaſt, ſeem not at all averſe to each other. Theſe, and the two Air-nymphs I
defired you to obſerve,were found, (on three different ceilings,) in Titus's palace, at Rome.
As there is no great variety in the characters of theſe ladies; I fhall point out no more
of them to you, at prefent. They are all light and airy; generally with long robes,
and flying veils; of fome lively colour, or other and fluttering about, as diverting them-
felves in the light and pleaſing element, affigned to them. In fhort, they are all fo
many Sylphs: a ſpecies, of ſportive, happy beings, in themſelves; and well-wiſhers to
FIG. 4.
mankind.
"TILL I got acquainted with theſe Auræ, (or Sylphs,) I found myſelf always at a loſs
in reading the known ftory of Cephalus and Procris, in Ovid. I could never imagine
how Cephalus's crying out, Aura venias, (tho' in ever fo languiſhing a manner,) could
give any body a ſuſpicion of his being falfe to Procris.. As I had been always uſed to
think that Aura fignified only the air in general, or a gentle breeze in particular; I
thought Procris's jealoufy lefs founded, than the most extravagant jealoufies generally are:
but when I had once found, that Aura might fignify a very handfome young lady, as
well as the air, the cafe was entirely altered; and the ſtory ſeemed to go on in a very
reaſonable manner. To ſay the truth; this exclamation of Cephalus, is not only very
apt to be miſunderſtood by an Engliſh reader: but even when it is underſtood, it is im-
poffible to be render'd into Engliſh. As much impoffible, as it would be to tranflate ſeveral
of the Latin puns, which we meet with in Cicero and others of the Roman writers :.
Aura, in Latin, being (45) an equivocal word; and we not having any equivocal word,
in our language (46), fit to anſwer it.
ONE may learn from this new ſet of beings, as well as from feveral others I have had
occafion to mention to you, (particularly in our viſit to the beings which relate to the
times and feaſons ;) that the Romans made perfonages of feveral ideas, and feveral things,
which we have not been uſed ever to confider in that light. In the preſent caſe, beſide
the number of winds that they turned into gods, and of breezes to which they gave the
gentler character of goddeffes; they had ſeveral other fuppofed inhabitants for the air:
and that of many more kinds, than I can pretend to fhew you any figures of. It is cer-
tain that the Winds, in their ſcheme, were (47) capable of having fons and daughters;
and how far their families might run on, would be difficult to determine. The clouds,
nay perhaps every diſtinct cloud, might be a (48) goddeſs: and this by the way, might
enable
(44) See Note 18, anteh.
Zephyr, may be uſed by us, both of the element, and
of a perfon; but then it is a perfon of the wrong fex
(45) The whole turns upon this; asOvid, indeed, for this ſtory.
has very diſtinctly remarked in that ſtory.
Aura (recordor enim) venias, cantare folebam,
Meque juves; intreſque finus gratiffima noftros !———
Vocibus ambiguis, deceptam præbuit aurem
Nefcio quis; nomenque auræ tam fæpe vocatum
Effe putans Nymphæ, Nympham mihi credit amari.
Mct. 7. y. 823.
(46) Our word, Air, fignifies the element, and is
never uſed perſonally; our word, Sylph, fignifies a
perfon, but is never uſed of the element: the word,
(47) Thus Calaïs and Zethes, for inftance, were
the fons of Boreas by Orithyia;
Cætera qui matris, pennas genitoris haberent:
Says Ovid, Met. 6. ✯.713.
(48) The NO appear perfonally, in Arifto-
phanes's play of that name: and may be called, The
Nymphs of the Clouds; as the Auræ, are the Nymphs
of the air.
Pryxus
DIALOGUE the Thirteenth.
209
enable one to account as well, for the ftory of Juno's cheating Ixion; as the perfonal
fenfe of Aura does, for the jealoufy of Procris. Bad weather (49), as well as (50) good,
had a place among the divinities of the Romans: and there were ſet forms of prayer (51),
even to tempefts; in their old rituals. Dark and damp weather (52) is ſpoken of as a per-
fon, by Valerius Flaccus; as are Froft, and Cold (53), by Lucretius. Heat had as much
right to be a perſon, as Cold; and is ſpoken of (54) as fuch, by the fame poet, on the
fame occafion. Showers, and ftorms of rain, are fpoken of as perfons by fome of
the Roman poets; and thunder, and lightning, were actually reprefented as fuch, by
beſt (55) of all the Grecian painters.
the very
So wide a region as the air, with fuch a number of inhabitants, (and fome of them
fuch wild ones,) ought to have good governors, to keep things in order in it: and, to ſay
the truth, the poets ſeem to have provided it with ſuch, in the propereſt manner that
could be. Over the rougher Winds, they placed Æolus; over the fofter, Juno: and the
Rains, Thunders, and Lightnings, they ſuppoſed to be under the immediate direction of
Jupiter himſelf.
EOLUS I have never yet met with; either in any gem, medal, picture, or relievo, of
the antients. The poets, you know, defcribe him (56) as of an angry temper, and rough
look; fetting in the midſt of a vaſt cave (57): with his ſubjects fettered, or chained down,
round about him. Virgil, and Valerius Flaccus after him, give a picture of Æolus
letting the Winds out of this their priſon; to direct the ftorms, that are ſo particularly
deſcribed by both of theſe poets. By their joint account of him, he ſeems to be the
moſt of a tyrant, of any of the gods; or, (to uſe a word that with the old Romans was
but a little ſofter,) the fittest king, for fuch unruly ſubjects.
Pryxus and Helle had one of theſe Cloud-nymphs
for their mother. Whence Ovid calls Helle, Nephe-
leïda; the daughter of a Nephele, or Cloud-nymph.
Met. 11. . 195. and Lucian fays, in his ufual laugh-
ing way ; Ουκέν έχρην την μητέρα, την Νεφέλην, βοηθειν
πλαση Εχρήν αλλά η μοιρα πολλω της νεφε
;
της δυνατωτερα.
Ans duvatwrega. Tom. I. p. 252. Ed. Blaeu.-The
fame author, in his long lift of fabulous ſtories, does
not forget to infert this. Ka μEтa Tauтa, тnu AĴx-
μαντος μανίαν, και των Νεφελης παιδων επι το κριο την
Sizegio Quym. Ibid. p. 803.
TIT
(49) Nigram Hiemi pecudem.
Virgil. Æn. 3. y. 120.
(50) When the altar of the Winds was found at
Nettuno; another altar, infcribed Ara Tranquillita-
tis, was found with it: they are both now in the Ca-
pitoline gallery.
(51) Tempeftates, quæ populi Romani ritibus con-
fecratæ funt. Cicero. de Nat. Deor. Lib. 3. p. 70.
Ed. Ald.
(52)
Pontum pater & turbata reponit
Litora, depellitque Notos; quos cærulus Horror,
Et madido gravis Unda finu, longèque fecutus
Imber, ad Æoliæ tendunt fimul æquora portæ.
Valerius Flaccus, Arg. 1. ¥. 654.
(53) Lucretius, 5. y. 745, & 746.
(54) Id. Ibid. *.740.
(55) Pinxit (Apelles)-Tonitrua, Fulgetra, Fulgu-
raque: Bronten, Aftrapen, Ceraunubolon appellant.
Pliny, Lib. 35. Cap. 10. p. 438. Ed. Elz.
(56) Ut ferus eft, multoque fuis truculentior Euris,
Spectaffet ficcis vulnera noſtra genis.
1
(57)
Scilicet eft aliquid cum duris vivere Ventis;
Ingenio populi convenit ille fui:
Imperat heu ventis; tumidæ non imperat iræ.
Hic
THE
Ovid. Her. Ep. 11. . 15. (Canace, Mac.)
magno rex Æolus antro
Luctantes Ventos Tempeftatefque fonoras
Imperio premit, ac vinclis & carcere frænat :
Illi indignantes magno cum murmure montis
Circum clauftra fremunt. Celfâ fedet Æolus arce,
Sceptra tenens; mollitque animos, & temperat iras.
Virgil. Æn. 1. .57.
Chalybs iterataque muris.
Saxa domant Euros. Cum jam prohibere frumentum
Ora nequit rex, tunc aditus & clauftra refringit
Ipfe volens; placatque datâ fera murmura portâ.
Nuntius hunc folio Boreas proturbat ab alto; &c.
Valerius Flaccus, Arg. 1. . 597.
Juvenal, to ſtrengthen the force of his ſatire againſt
Xerxes fays, he was a greater tyrant even than Æolus;
but whipped them with rods
that he was not content to chain Corus and Eurus,
but whipped them with rods; and that (whereas
Æolus fettered only the Winds,) Xerxes fettered
even the prefiding deity of the feas.
In Corum atque Eurum folitus fævire flagellis
Barbarus, Æolio nunquam hoc in carcere paffos;
Ipfum compedibus qui vinxerat Ennofigæum.
Juvenal, Sat. 10. ✯. 182.
The deities of the ſeveral Winds were ſuppoſed to
be let out of this cave, for a ſtorm; and to be ſhut
in again, after it.
Tum valido contortam turbine portam
Impulit Hippotades. Fundunt fe, &c.--
Flaccus, Arg. 1. .610.
Ad Æoliæ tendunt fimul æquora portæ.
Id. Ibid.
654-
So Virgil: Æn. 1. . 81, & 140.
3
210
POLY ME TI S.
FIG. I.
sod bos
Du dist
THE character of Juno, as prefiding over the air, is well known; and as fuch, the aerial
nymphs we have been confidering may very well be fuppoſed to have been her proper
fubjects. When therefore Virgil makes her ſpeak (58) of the fourteen nymphs, that were
chofen out as her particular attendants; theſe may moft probably be fuppofed to have
been ſo many of the Auræ, or nymphs of the air: and what makes it yet more likely is,
that ſhe offers one of them, for a wife to Æolus, the god of the Winds. Juno, in her
PL. XXIX. character of prefiding over the air, is repreſented as you fee her here, in a light car, drawn
by peacocks. For want of choice I was forced to admit of the figure you fee; tho' it is
copied from a Grecian medal; and is of a character that was as proper among the Greeks,
as it would have been improper among the Romans: the latter, (as I have obſerved be-
fore,) dreffing Juno ufually like one of their own matrons; and covering her from head
to foot: whereas the former did not uſe near ſo much ſtrictneſs; and were accuſtomed to
figures of her, almoſt quite naked. It is remarkable, that an (59) epithet which Homer
gives perpetually to Juno, as prefiding over the air; and well agreeing with the Greek
manner of repreſenting her; is never imitated by Virgil, or any other of the Latin poets,
FIG. 2.
that I know of.
quot
JUPITER is almoſt as well known for being a chief ruler of the air, as he is for being
the huſband of Juno. His particular province there was to direct the Rains, the Thun-
ders, and the Lightnings. I have already ſpoke to you of the figures of Jupiter, as
diſpenſing thunder and lightning: and have only referved his character of prefiding over
the rain, as the moft proper of all for this place.
I Do not remember ever to have met with any repreſentations of Jupiter the diſpenſer
of rain, or (as he is commonly called) the Jupiter Pluvius, except on a medal, which
I am going to fhew you; and in thoſe remarkable hiſtory-pieces, on the Trajan, and
Antonine pillars, at Rome. On this medal, you ſee him feated on the clouds: holding
PL. XXIX. up his right hand; and pouring a ſtream of hail and rain from it, on the earth: whilſt
his fulmen is held down, in his left. This figure is remarkable enough, as it is the only
one, perhaps, of a Jupiter Pluvius on medals; tho' that on the Antonine pillar, has been
much more talked of. The latter, you know, relates to Marcus Aurelius; and the
great danger from which the Roman army was delivered under his conduct; in a battle
againſt the Marcomani, and ſome other of the German nations. The Romans, (who
were few in number, and had been long incloſed in ſome very dangerous ftraits by a vaſt
multitude of the Barbarians;) were almoſt ſpent with heat and thirſt, and on the point
of being defeated by their enemies: when, on a fudden, the heavens were overcaſt, and
a great ſhower fell; which extremely refreſhed the Romans: at the fame time that the
lightnings, (which were very frequent, and feemed pointed at their enemies breaſts,) helped
greatly to intimidate, and defeat them. This had fo much the air of a miracle, that it has
been challenged as fuch by feveral of the chriftian, as well as heathen writers. That difpute
is too large for us to enter into now, as well as beſide my preſent purpoſe; which is only
to confider the figures of the Jupiter Pluvius; and how far they may ſerve to explain any
paffage in the Roman poets. He appears on the Antonine pillar, as well as on my medal,
with an elderly and fedate countenance (60): and holds out his arms, almoſt in a ſtrait line,
each way. The wings which are given him on the former, relate to his character of pre-
fiding over the air: which indeed was the original (61), and principal character of
Jupiter,
(58) Sunt mihi bis feptem præftanti corpore nymphæ :
Quarum, quæ formâ pulcherrima, Deïopeam
Connubio jungam ſtabili propriamque dicabo ;
Omnes ut tecum meritis pro talibus annos
Exigat, & pulchrâ faciat te prole parentem.
Virgil. En. . .75.
(60) See Bartoli's Columna Antonina, Pl. 15.
(61) Hoc vide circum fupraque, quod complexu continet
Terram. Id quod noftri cœlum memorant, Graii
perhibent æthera.
Quicquid eft hoc, omnia is animat, format, auget,
(59) Λευκώλενος Ηρη.
alit, ferat:
Sepelit,
DIALOGUE the Thirteenth.
211
!
Jupiter (62), among the antients. His hair and beard are all ſpread down, by the rain;
which defcends in a fheet from him, and falls down for the refreſhment of the Romans:
whilft their enemies are reprefented, as ftruck down with the lightnings; and lying
dead before their feet.
THIS Jupiter Pluvius may help one to explain a paffage in Lucan; where that poet,
in fpeaking of the power of the witches in Theffaly, fays among other things:
-Nunc omnia complent
Imbribus; & calido producunt nubila Phœbo:
Et tonat ignaró cælum Jove. Vocibus îſdem
Humentes latè nebulas nimbofque folutis
Excuffere comis (63).
THE commentators on this paffage ſeem to think no more is meant in the latter part
of it, than when Horace (64), in fpeaking of Canidia, fays, fhe has all her hair loofe
about her head. But I think any one who would look on that figure firft; and then con-
fider Lucan's expreffion, (nimbos folutis excuffere comis ;) will eafily fee that the poet
meant to deſcribe his witches, not only with their hair looſe, but as actually pouring the
ſhowers down from it; as Jupiter does from his, in that reprefentation of him.
THAT Jupiter often affifted, or directed, their armies by ſudden ſtorms of rain and
thunder, was a notion received very early among the Romans. I remember there is an
inftance of this fort recorded by Livy (65), toward the beginning of the republic; and
there is another, in the fecond Punic war; which was much more cried up among them,
as it was exerted on fo critical a time; againſt Hannibal the moſt formidable of all their
'enemies, when he had drawn up his army juſt before the gates of Rome. Some of their
hiftorians ſpeak of this (66) as fupernatural; and Silius Italicus, (who himſelf is more of
an hiſtorian than a poet,) attributes it exprefly to the Jupiter Capitolinus. You muſt
know, that beſide the figure of Jupiter in his fhrine within his chief temple on the Ca-
pitoline hill, there was another (67) figure of him on the outfide of it; on the top of the
dome;
Sepelit, recipitque in fefe omnia; omniumque idem
eſt pater.
Ennius, in Chryfe.
Mater eſt terra; ea parit corpus: animam æther
adjugat.
Id. Ibid.
(65) Eodem anno, (284 V. C.) Valerius Cof. cum
exercitu in Æquos profectus, cum hoftem ad prælium
elicere non poffet, caftra oppugnare eſt adortus. Pro-
hibuit foeda tempeftas, cum grandine ac tonitribus
coelo dejectà. Admirationem deinde auxit, figno
Pereunt imbres, ubi eos Pater Æther
receptui dato, adeo tranquilla ferenitas reddita, ut
In gremium matris Terraï præcipitavit.
veluti numine aliquo defenfa caftra oppugnare ite-
Lucretius, ì. . 252. rum religio fuit: omnis ira belli ad populationem
Ifthic is eft Jupiter quem dico, Græci vocant
agri vertit. Livy, Lib. 2. §. 62.
Aëra.
Ennius, in Epicharmo.
Afpice hoc
Sublime candens, quem vocant omnes Jovem.
a
Id. in Thyeſte.
(62) This is wholly founded on the authority of
gem, which I remember to have ſeen in the Great
Duke's collection at Florence. It relates to Jupiter's
amour with Semele. That lady had the raſhneſs to
wheedle him out of an abfolute promiſe, that he
would appear to her in all his glory. This appear-
ance is the ſubject of the gem I am ſpeaking of: and
you fee Jupiter in it, with wings on his ſhoulders;
and lightnings all around him: both of which, relate
to his character of prefiding over the air.
(63) Lucan. Pharf. 6. . 469.
(64) Canidiam pedibus nudis, paffoque capillo.
Horat. Lib. 1. Sat. 8.
(66) Inſtructis utrimque exercitibus, in ejus pugnæ
caſum, in quâ urbs Roma victori præmium eſſet;
imber ingens grandine mixtus ita utramque aciem tur-
bavit, ut vix armis retentis in caftra fefe receperint.-
Poftero die, eodem loco acies inftructas eadem tem-
peſtas diremit: ubi recepiffent ſeſe, mira ferenitas
cum tranquillitate oriebatur. Livy, Lib. 26. §. 11.
Quid ergo miramur moventi caftra à tertio lapide
Annibali, iterum ipfos deos, (deos inquam, nec fa-
teri pudebit,) reftitiffe? Tanta enim ad fingulos illius
motus vis imbrium effufa, tanta ventorum violentia
coorta eft, ut divinitùs hoftem fummoveri; neque
cœlo, fed ab urbis ipfius moenibus & Capitolio ferri
videretur. Florus, Lib. 2. §. 6.
(67) This was one of the earlieſt ſtatues introduced
at Rome; and was, originally made of earth.-M.
Varro tradit elaboratam hanc artem, (Plaſticen,) Italiæ,
& maximè Hetruriæ; Turianumque à Fragellis ac-
24. citum, cui locaret Tarquinius Prifcus effigiem Jovis
Iii
in
1
212
POLYMETIS.
dome; ftanding in his chariot, and probably holding the fulmen in his hand. Silius
makes him difcharge (68) this full at Hanibal; on this occafion; as Lucius Florus feems
to make the ftorm of rain (69) come from the fame quarter.
THERE was, I think, fcarce any character of Jupiter among the Romans, that was
more capable of giving fublime ideas to their artifts, than this of the Jupiter Pluvius.
In my medal indeed, as well as on the Antonine pillar, he is all calm and ftill;
but on the Trajan pillar (70), he appears a good deal more agitated: and had we a
greater variety of his figures remaining to us, I doubt not but that in fome of them
we ſhould ſee his face, and his whole form, under yet much ſtronger emotions, than
we do there. For the Roman poets, (whofe works the more one confiders, the more
one finds them to be counter-parts to thofe of their painters and ftatuaries,) do not only
fpeak of Jupiter as deſcending in violent fhowers (71); but as all ruffled too with thoſe
winds, which moſt uſually attend them. Silius Italicus rifes quite into poetry, where
he is treating this fubject: and one of the fineſt paffages, even in the Æneid, relates to
the fame. It is where Evander is pointing out the Capitoline hill to Æneas. On which
occafion I do not know whether Virgil endeavours to confirm an old opinion, or to
infinuate a new one; "That Jupiter was the guardian deity of that place, even before
Rome was built." They afterwards indeed fuppofed him to be prefent there (72) as
fully, and in as much glory, as in the higheſt heavens; but. I do not remember any
paffage but this in Virgil which ſuppoſes him to have choſe that hill for his peculiar
refidence, before his temple was built on it. The poet chufes to defcribe his
ance there, in all the majeſty of clouds and darkneſs.
Hinc ad Tarpeiam fedem & Capitolia ducit:
Aurea nunc, olim fylveftribus horrida dumis.
Jam tum relligio pavidos terrebat agreftes
Dira loci: jam tum fylvam faxumque tremebant.
Hoc nemus, hunc (inquit) frondofo vertice collem,
Quis deus incertum, habitat deus: Arcades ipfum
Credunt fe vidiffe Jovem; cum fæpe nigrantem
Ægida concuteret dextrâ, nimbofque cieret (73).
appear-
MAY
in Capitolio dicandam: fictilem eum fuiffe, & ideo
miniari folitum; fictiles in faftigio templi ejus qua-
drigas, de quibus fæpe diximus. Pliny, Nat. Hift.
Lib. 35. Cap. 12. It was afterwards caft in fome
richer metal; as we learn from Livy. Ænea in Ca-
pitolio limina, & trium menfarum argentea vaſa in
cellâ Jovis, Jovemque in culmine cum quadrigis, &
ad Ficum Ruminalem fimulacra infantium condito-
rum urbis fub uberibus lupe, pofuerunt. (Ediles
Curules, anno 457 V. C.) Livy, Lib. 10. §. 23.
(68)
Ipfe à Tarpeio fublimis vertice cuncta,
Et ventos fimul & nubes & grandinis iras,
Fulminaque & tonitrus, & nimbos conciet atros.
Celfus fummo de culmine montis
Regnator Superûm fublatâ fulmina dextrâ
Libravit; clypeoque ducis non cedere certi
Incuffit.
Silius Ital. 12. .625.
It is not improbable from what follows in Silius,
that this figure of Jupiter held the Ægis in its left
hand, as it did the Fulmen in its right.
Sed enim, adfpice, quantum
Ægida commoveat nimbos flammaſque vomentem
Jupiter; & quantis pafcat ferus ignibus iras!
Huc vultus flecte; atque aude ſpectare Tonantem.
Quas hiemes, quantos concuffo vertice cernis
3
Sub nutu tonitrus! Oculis qui fulguret ignis!
Cede Deis tandem ; & Titania define bella.
(Juno to Hannibal,) Ibid. ✯. 725.
(69) See Note 66, anteh.
(70) See Bartoli's Col. Traj. Pl. 18.
(7!) -Jupiter uvidus Auſtris.
Nec fævus ignis, nec tremendo
Jupiter ipfe ruens tumultu.
Virgil. G. 1. y. 418.
Horat. Lib. 1. Od. 16. . 12.
Quàm multâ grandine nimbi
In vada præcipitant; cum Jupiter, horridus Auftris,
Torquet aquofam hiemem & cœlo cava nubila rumpit.
Virgil. Æn. 9. .671.
(72) Si adhuc dubium fuiffet, forte cafuque rec-
tores terris an aliquo numine darentur, principem
tamen noftrum liqueret divinitùs conftitutum. Non
enim occultâ poteſtate fatorum, fed ab Jove ipfo co-
ram ac palam repertus, electus eft: quippe inter aras
& altaria; eodemque loci, quem deus ille tam mani-
feftus ac præfens, quàm cœlum ac fidera, infedit.
Pliny's Paneg. on Trajan, fub init.
(73) Virgil. Æn. 8. *. 354-
t
DIALOGUE the Thirteenth.
213
Skyldudean
MAY I take the liberty of adding here, that the fame fort of idea is ufed more
ftrongly, by a poet of our own nation?
How oft amidſt
Thick clouds and dark, doth heav'n's all-ruling Sire
Chuſe to refide; his glory unobfcur'd ?
And with the majeſty of darkneſs round
Covers his throne (74).
AND that it is expreffed in the greateſt dignity of all, in the Holy Scripture. There
are numerous inftances of this kind, but I fhall mention only two of them: Mofes's ac-
count of the preſence of God on Mount Horeb; where he fays" that the mountain
"burnt with fire, unto the midſt of heaven; with darkneſs, clouds, and thick dark-
"nefs (75) :" And that moft fublime defcription of the Pfalmift; "The earth trembled
"and quaked; the very foundations of the hills ſhook, and were removed.-There went
"a ſmoke out of his prefence; and a confuming fire out of his mouth. He bowed
"the heavens alfo, and came down and it was dark under his feet. He rode upon
"the Cherubims and did fly: he came flying upon the wings of the wind. He made
"darkneſs his fecret place; his pavilion round about him: with dark water, and thick
"clouds, to cover him (76)."
THE thoughts in the latter part of this paffage are ſo exceffively great, that they were
capable of inſpiring even Sternhold with poetry enough to write the following lines
which are probably the nobleft that were written by any Engliſh poet of thoſe times.
The Lord defcended from above; and bent the heav'ns ſo high;
And underneath his feet he caft the darkneſs of the ſky :
On Cherubs and on Cherubims full royally he rode;
And on the wings of mighty winds came flying all abroad.
ذ
ANY one who confiders the fublimity of theſe lines, together with the meanness
of moſt of the others which came from the fame hand, will be ſtill more convinced of
the greatneſs and energy of the thoughts expreffed in them. Indeed the idea of darkneſs
in itſelf is exceedingly fit for majeſty: perhaps even more fo, than the glare of light,
which moſt people are ſo apt to make their heaven of. There is ſcarce any thing of a
more folemn and venerable turn, than the profound ſtillneſs of midnight: and this,
probably, was yet more ſtriking to the heathens of old; for they, (befide what they
felt from nature as well as we,) uſed to look upon darkneſs as one of the (77) moſt an-
tient, and moſt refpectable, of all their deities.
As Polymetis ftopped here, and feemed to have finiſhed what he had to fay on this
ſubject; Philander thought it a proper occafion to aſk after a goddeſs, whom he had
been expecting for fome time. You feem, Polymetis, (fays he,) to have forgot one of
the moſt beautiful and ftriking of all the beings that were fuppofed to belong to the
region of the air; Iris, or the genius of the Rainbow: who ſurely, if ſhe be not hand-
fomer, ought at leaſt to be finer dreffed than any of thoſe you have mentioned. I beg
her pardon for forgetting her in my account, fays Polymetis; but I have not forgot her
collection. There fhe is, by that window juft behind you. The antients make
her the daughter, (tho' I think they ſhould rather have made her the mother,) of Admi-
in my
(74) Milton, Paradiſe Loft, 2. y. 268.
(75) Deut. iv. II.
(76) Pf. xviii. 7—II.
(77) Several of the heathen nations held Nox and
Chaos to be the eldest of all their deities.
ration.
Aque Chao denfos Divûm numerabat amores.
Nocte, Dex Nocti criſtatus cæditur ales.
Virgil. G. 4. . 347.
Ovid. Faft. 1. *. 455.
Noxque, tenebrarum fpecie reverenda tuarum!
Id. Ibis. . 73.
;
214
POLYMETIS.
FIG. 3.
ration (78). This figure of her was copied from one of the pictures in the Vatican Virgil:
PL. XXIX, în which the is reprefented flying downwards, in the attitude you fee her here, to de-
liver a meffage from Juno to Turnus. She has; you fee, a very noble refplendency;
or glory, round her head; is furrounded with clouds; and has her feet on a level with
ſome of that rifing ground: all which particulars may fome way or other be fignificant
of her character: as the veil, which fhe holds with each hand, and which circles over
her head, may fignify both the arch fhe prefides over; and her being an inhabitant of
the region of the air. The Roman poets ſpeak of her, both as handfome (79), and as
very finely dreffed. They make her the meffenger of Juno in as diftinguiſhed a manner,
as Triton was of Neptune; or Mercury, of Jupiter. She has (80) wings to fhew her
diſpatch in that high office. Statius feems to give her a robe of various colours; col-
lected about her with a Zone which has all thofe beautiful ftreams of different colours
upon it, that we admire fo much in the rainbow. She feems to have been fometimes
repreſented, by the antient painters, as enlightned by the lucid bow that is arched over
her head; or perhaps as diffufing a brightneſs from her own perfon. I take up with
this notion of the old pictures of this goddeſs, chiefly at fecond hand: Ì mean, from
what the poets fay of her; and, particularly, from the large defcription of her (81) in
Statius.
FIG. 4.
THE figure which anfwers this, a little farther on her right hand, with its wing
PL. XXIX. fpread out; is the goddeſs of Fame. You fee, all the upper part of her wing is quité
almoſt under every
ſtudded, as it were, with eyes; as Virgil fays, that ſhe had an eye
feather. The only figure I have ever ſeen of her is the little one in brafs, in the Great
Duke's collection at Florence; from which this was copied. The poets are much more
frequent, in their accounts of her perfonage. They defcribe her as winged (82), and as
hurrying along with a very bufy motion. Virgil makes her (83) a growing figure: a
thing, which was out of the power of the ftatuaries or painters to exprefs; and which it
is difficult enough even to conceive. By the way, I remember but one inftance befide
this, of any growing figure; in all the Roman poets. That is in Virgil too: and is
perhaps the greateſt inſtance of imagination, that we have in all his works. It is where
he fays, that as Alecto regarded Turnus, "her face (84) grew larger, and larger, upon
him:" not unlike thoſe frightful faces that one fometimes fees juft as one is finking into
fleep, or in fome troubled dream. But to return to Virgil's defcription of Fame: he
gives her, not only a great number of eyes; but of ears (85), tongues and mouths, too:
(78) The poets call her Thaumantis, Thaumantia
virgo, and Thaumantias: and Cicero gives us the
reafon for it.Quia fpeciem habeat admirabilem,
Thaumante dicitur effe nata. De Nat. Deor. Lib. 3.
P. 70. Ed. Ald.
(79) Sic rofeo Thaumantias ore locuta eſt.
fo
(82)
Pedibus celerem, & pernicibus alis.
Virgil. Æn. 4. *. 180.
Pavidam volitans pennata per urbem
Nuntia fama ruit
Id. Ib. 9. *.474.
Dea turbida Thebas
Infilit, & totis perfundit moenia pennis.
Statius, Theb. 2. †. 209.
(83) Mobilitate viget; virefque acquirit eundo :
Parva metu primo, mox fefe attollit in auras;
Ingrediturque folo, & caput inter nubila condit.
Virgil. Æn. 4. .177.
(80)
Virgil. Æn. 9. .5.
Nuntia Junonis, varios induta colores.
Ovid. Met. 1. $.270.
In cœlum paribus ſe ſuſtulit alis;
Ingentemque fugâ fecuit fub nubibus arcum.
Virgil. Æn. 9. . 15.
(84) Tantaque fe facias aperit!
Æn 7. .449.
(85)
Cui quot funt corpore plumæ,
(81) Orbibus accingi folitis jubet Irin ; & omne
Mandat opus. Paret juffis dea clara; polumque
Linquit, & in terras longo fufpenditur arcu.
Statius, Theb. 10. ✯. 83.
Huc fe cæruleo libravit ab æthere virgo
Diſcolor: effulgent fylvæ, tenebrofaque Tempe
Adrifere deæ ; & Zonis lucentibus icta
Evigilat domus : ipfe* autem nec lampade clarâ
Nec fonitu, nec voce dea perculfus, eodem
More jacet.-
* Somnus.
Ibid. y. 123.
Tot vigiles oculi fubter; (mirabile dictu !)
Tot linguæ, totidem 'ora fonant, tot fubrigit aures.
En. 4. . 183.
I am apt to imagine that fome of the lower painters of
old uſed to repreſent Fame, (as fome of the moderns
have done of late,) with eyes, and ears, all over her
body; even to her fingers ends: for which, in par-
ticular, Lucian feems to ridicule them in the fol-
lowing
1
1
215
DIALOGUE the Thirteenth.
in the fame place.
IM
fo that he may very well call her, a (86) horrid goddeſs; and even a monſter, as he does
Statius dreffes her up in a robe (87), wrought all over with murthers,
battles, and fieges. Ovid is yet more particular in his account of this goddeſs, than
either of them. He defcribes her court, and all (88) her attendants in it. He
fays,
her palace is in the midſt of the world (89), between the earth, feas, and heavens;
whence the fees and hears whatever is tranfacted in all of them. Virgil makes her (90)
fly about, by night; and fit on the top of this her palace, or on fome other eminence,
by day. It is from both their accounts that I thought I had a right to place her figure
here, among the imaginary inhabitants of the air. I had fome thoughts of introducing
the Sirens here too; and ſome other beings, which feem rather to belong to this element
than either of the other: but as I am not, yet quite reſolved, I have no more here to
trouble you with at preſent. I am very glad to hear it, ſays Myfagetes, (getting a little
haftily toward the door;) when firſt you pointed out your figure of Fame, I expected
we ſhould foon have had Pegaſus; and the Lord knows how many Sphinxes: and all
the Stymphalides. In a word, every monſter that ever the poets fuppofed to have had
a pair of wings. When you were in the temper of introducing Fame here, how came
the reſt to eſcape you? What a ſtrange collection of creatures, have we been in danger
of being in company with? I queſtion whether you have not feveral of them in your
drawers already.—What are you waiting for there, Philander? Come along with me!
Let us get out of this dangerous place, as faſt as we can, I beseech you.
lowing paffage.
Πολυωτου σεαυτον αναπέφηνας, του
σαυτα ακηκοώς" ως, και κατά το τερατώδες, και δια των
ovuxwv nunxoess. Tom. II. p. 765. Ed. Blaeu. Lu-
cian here calls Fame, To regardes, as Virgil calls her
τερατώδες,
monftrum.
(86)
Dea fœda
Monftrum horrendum-
*.
Virgil. Æn. 4. . 195:
Id. Ibid. . 181.
(87) Fræna miniftrat equis Pavor armiger: & vigil omni
Fama fono, varies rerum fuccincta tumultus,
Ante volat currum; flatuque impulſa gementum
Alipedum, trepidas denfo cum murmure plumas
Excutit urget enim ftimulis auriga cruentis
Facta, infecta loqui; curruque infeſtus ab alto
Terga comafque Deæ Scythicâ Pater increpat haftâ.
Statius, Theb. 3. .431.
running, and urged on,
The charioteer is Bel-
Mars, (as all the great war-
She is here repreſented as
Before the chariot of Mars.
Iona: Theb. 7. . 73.
riors of old,) has one to drive, that he himſelf may
be at full liberty to fight.
(88) Atria turba tenent; veniunt leve vulgus euntque ;
Mixtaque cum Veris paffim Commenta vagantur:
Millia Rumorum, confufaque Verba volutant.
Ovid. Met. 12. ´Y. 55.
Illic Credulitas; illic temerarius Error;
Vanaque Lætitia eft; confternatique Timores;
Seditioque repens; dubioque auctore Sufurri.
Ibid. y. 61.
(89) Orbe locus medio eft, inter terrafque fretumque
Cœleftefque plagas; triplicis confinía mundi;
Unde quod eft ufquam quamvis regionibus abfit
Infpicitur, penetratque cavas vox omnis ad aures:
Fama tenet; fummâque domum fibi legit in arce.
Ibid. . 43-
(90) Nocte volat cœli medio terræque per umbram,
Stridens; nec dulci declinat lumina´fomno :
Luce fedet cuftos, aut fummi culmine tecti,
Turribus aut altis.
Virgil. Æn. 4. . 187.
1
Page 215
Kk k
Boitard sculp

XXVIII
LP. Boitard Sculp

XXIX
797
ரப
L.P. Boitard Sculp
217
D
BOOK the Seventh.
DIAL. XIV.
xiv.
Of the Deities of the WATERS.
IRECTLY under the temple of the Winds, and juſt at the foot of the hill,
ftood another building; which, at firſt fight, looked more like a great grotto
than a temple. The pillars about it and the architrave were indeed of the Tuf-
can order; but it was defigned fo as to appear yet more rude and more like rock-work,
than buildings even of that order generally are. In this Polymetis had placed fome of
the deities who prefided over the Sea and in the infide it was ſtuck about with rough
ſhells, and coral, and petrified herbs of ſeveral forts. The plain which flopes down
gently from thence to the river he had planted all with little groves, and cluſters of
willows and alders; which were fo irregular, that they feemed much more to have
grown there by chance, than to have been even helped by art and in the openings, he
had left here and there, in feveral parts of this unartificial piece of grove-work, were
ſeveral fountains; all with the natural turf, and the wild flowers of the place, for their
margins.. If his fountains did not at all reſemble thoſe of Frefcati, or Verſailles; they
were, at leaſt, a great deal more like thoſe in uſe in the better ages of antiquity. At
one, you had the figure of a fingle river-god, leaning on his urn: from which the water
guſhed out, (as from a ſpring juſt dug up ;) and then wandered down a little bed of
ſcattered flint, into its natural bafon: and at another," a water-nymph aſleep; with her
hand dropt negligently by her fide; her jar as fliding a little from it; and the water
running out, as if it was juſt then fallen.
•
THIS, all together, made a very agreeable retreat, in the few days that we have too
hot among us and therefore Polymetis carried his friends thither, the next day after
dinner; when they had been juſt wiſhing for fome place, where they might have ſhade
and coolness. He led them firft into his Tufcan grotto; and when they had feated
themſelves there, on fome feats that ſeemed to be cut out of the rock that made the arch
over their heads; he began fpeaking to them, in the following manner.
THE different ranks and orders fettled among the antients for the Deities of the Sea,
have not yet been put into ſo clear a light as I think they might eafily have been. I
ſhould imagine, at leaſt, that they may all be well enough difpofed into fix claffes.
Of the higheſt claſs, are Oceanus (1) and Tethys, as governours in chief over the whole
world of Waters. Neptune and Amphitrite, as governours of the Mediterranean fea;
the Venus Marina; and poffibly one or two more, of characters that might deferve to
be diſtinguiſhed above all the reft.In the next clafs, we may reckon Triton and
Proteus ;
and all fuch as were exalted by their high employs, or great perfonal qualifica-
tions. Of the third,. fhould be the immediate progeny of Oceanus and Tethys; fuch
as Nereus; Doris; and all the Oceanitiḍes. The fourth, may confift of the Neptu-
nines; or defcendants of Neptune.-The fifth, of the Nereids; or defcendants of
Nereus
(1) Virgil calls Oceanus, Pater rerum, "Lord of
all the watry world ;" G. 4 . 382. whereas Juve-
nal calls Neptune only, Pater Ægei, or "Lord of the
inland-feas." Sat. 13. y. 81. He mentions the A-
gean ſea, rather than any other of the Mediterranean
Æ-
feas; becauſe the great Refidence of Neptune was
fuppofed to be in a cave, under the promontory of
Tanaros, in that fea; according to Statius, Theb.2.
. 47.
218
POLYMETIS.
FIG. I.
Nereus and Doris;-and the fixth, of all the adventitious or made gods of the Sea
fuch as Ino, Palamon, and the like.
As this temple, or grotto, (call it which you pleaſe,) is of fo rude a ftyle; built as
you ſee chiefly of pumice-ſtone, and deſigned ſo as to be almoſt incapable of ornaments:
I have been very fparing of admitting any ftatues into it. There are none but thofe
that belong to that fountain, in the midſt of it. To fupply the want of others, I have
brought two or three medals with me, which relate to the deities of the Waters; and
which I fhall produce, when I may have occafion for them.
It would not have been difficult for me, to have got a figure of Oceanus; if I had
been defirous of introducing one here. At leaſt, I am apt to imagine that he is repre-
ſented in feveral antiques: as whenever you fee Tellus, and a Water-deity, oppoſed to
one another, on Sarcophagus's; and on moſt relievo's, where the four elements are ex-
preffed by perfons: particularly, in ſuch as repreſent the creation or new formation of
any perfon; as in that fine one of Neriene (2), which I fhewed you in my temple of the
Great Celeſtial Deities: in which I take the uppermoſt and moſt erect of the two Water-
deities, to be Oceanus. I canhot fay, that I have ever met with any figure of his wife,
Tethys. The poets ſpeak of them both (3), under their perfonal characters; but fay
very little that is defcriptive, of either.
I HAVE already (4) mentioned to you that noble idea of Neptune, in Virgil; where
he ſpeaks of the countenance of this god, as calm and ferene; even at the time that he
is provoked, and might be expected to have appeared diſturbed, and in a paffion. There
PL. XXX. is ferenity and majeſty (5) in the air of his face; on the medal I have in my hand. You fee
he treads on the beak of a ſhip; to fhew, that he prefided over the feas; or more par-
ticularly, over the Mediterranean fea: which was the great, and almoft the only ſcene
for navigation, among the old Greeks and Romans. He is ſtanding (6), as he generally was
repreſented; he moſt commonly too has his trident, in his right hand: this was his pe-
culiar ſcepter (7); and, ſeems to have been uſed by him, chiefly to rouſe up the waters:
for we find fometimes that he lays it afide, when he is to (8) appeaſe them; but he re-
fumes it, where there is any occafion for violence. Virgil makes him ſhake Troy from
(2) See Flate 9. anteh.
(3) Genitor nympharum Oceanus.
its
quiverunt. Valerius Max. Memorab. Lib. 8. Cap.
II.
It was on this account that the artifts gave Neptune
Catullus, ad Gellium, 85. . 6. the fame fort of dark hair, as Jupiter. Avaλalo
An Deus immenfi venias maris, ac tua nautæ
Numina fola colant: tibi ſerviat ultima Thule ;
Teque fibi generum Tethys emat omnibus undis.
Virgil. Georg. 1. †. 31.
Sæpe aliquis folio quod tu, Saturne, tenebas
Aufus de mediâ plebe federe Deus :
Et latus Oceano quifquam Deus advena junxit ;
Tethys & extremo fæpe recepta loco eft.
Ovid. Faft. 5. .22.
Intumuit Juno, poftquam inter fidera pellex
Fulfit: & ad canam defcendit in æquora Tethyn,
Oceanumque fenem ; quorum reverentia movit
Sæpe Deos: caufamque viæ fcitantibus, infit.
"Quæritis ætheriis quare regina Deorum
Sedibus huc adfim?" &c.
(4) See Dial. 7. p. 65.
σι
γενειη ην μεν τον Δια· παιδα δε ες αει τον Απολλωνα
και τον Ερμην υπηνηίην και Ποσιδωνα κυανοχαίτην
xai yλavxwxiv tav Anav. Lucian, Tom. I. p. 367.
Ed. Blaeu.
(6) Stare Deum pelagi, longoque ferire tridente
Afpera faxa facit
Ovid. Met. 6. ✯. 77.
(Of a defign, wrought in tapeſtry; by Minerva.)
Ubicunque rotis horrendus equifque
Stas pater..
(7)
Val. Flaccus, Arg. 1. . 680.
·Deus æquoreas qui cufpide temperat undas.
Ovid. Met. 12. †. 580,
This is called, triplex cufpis, ibid. . 594. and
Id. Met. 2. .513. Neptune himſelf, Tridentifer, ib. 8. y. 595.
(5) Cum (Euphranor) Athenis duodecim Deos
pingeret, Neptuni imaginem quàm poterat excellen-
tiffimis majeftatis coloribus complexus eft; perinde
ac Jovis aliquanto auguftiorem repræfentaturus: fed
omni impetu cogitationis in fuperiori opere abfumpto,
pofteriores ejus conatus affurgere quo tendebant ne-
(8)
Per folis radios, Tarpeiaque fulmina jurat ;
Et Martis frameam, & Cirrhæi fpicula vatis ;
Per calamos venatricis pharetramque puellæ ;
Perque tuam, Pater Ægei Neptune, tridentem.
Juvenal. Sat. 13. *.81;
Pofitoque tricufpide telo,
Mulcet aquas rector pelagi-
2
Ovid. Met. 1. *. 331.
DIALOGUE the Fourteenth.
2.19
3
its foundations (9) with it; and, in Ovid, it is with the ftroke of this (10), that the
waters of the earth are let looſe for the general deluge.
THE poets have generally delighted, in defcribing this god as pafting over the calm
furface of the waters, in his chariot drawn by fea-horfes. The fine original defcription
of this is in Homer; from whom Virgil (11) and Statius have copied it. The make of
the fea-horſe, as defcribed by the latter, is frequent on gems and relievo's: in which
there is ſometimes a Triton too reprefented (12) on each fide, as guiding thofe that draw
the chariot of Neptune.
Ir would have been difficult enough to have got any undoubted figure of Amphitrite;
tho' I think ſhe is fometimes reprefented (13) with Neptune in his chariot. The poets
have ſcarce any perfonal defcriptions of this goddefs. All that I can recollect of that
kind, is a paffage in Ovid; in which it is doubtful enough too, whether that poet ſpeaks
perfonally, of her; or literally, of the element over which the prefides. If there were
antiently any figures of Amphitrite embracing (14) a globe, it might relate to them:
tho' to ſay the truth, if there actually was any reprefentation of this kind, it would be
much properer for a Tethys, than an Amphitrite.
THE Sea-Venus, as fhe was called by the Romans, or the Venus Anaduomenè as fhe
was called by the Greeks, ought I think to be placed in the higheſt claſs of the deities of
the Sea; in refpect to her more exalted character, when confidered among the Great
Celeſtial Deities. The moſt celebrated picture in all antiquity, was that of this goddeſs
by Apelles. Some fay that in drawing it he uſed Campafpe (15) for his model; that
favourite miſtreſs of his, who was given him fo generously by Alexander the Great.
This picture came afterwards into the hands of the Romans; and was (16) probably, for
ſome time, in that noble collection in the palace of Auguftus: tho' it was afterwards
placed by that emperor, in the temple which he dedicated to his predeceffor Julius. It
was quite faded, and run to decay, in Pliny's time. But tho' the original has been fo
long loft, we may ſtill ſee ſeveral ſtrokes that were copied from it, in the writings of the
Roman Authors who enjoyed the fight of it; and who have marked out fome of its
beauties for us, even in their profe, as well as their verfe writings. You fee her in them
as juſt born from the fea; compleat, at once, in her form; with all her beauties freſh
about her; and with her body as ftill wet and humid, from the waves that produced her
9)
Neptunus muros, magnoque emota tridenti
Fundamenta quatit; totamque e fedibus urbem
Eruit.
Virgil. Æn. 2. .612.
(10) Ipfe tridente fuo terram percuffit; at illa
Intremuit, motuque finus patefecit aquarum.
Ovid. Met. 1. ✯. 284:
(11) Cymothoë fimul & Triton adnixus acuto.
Detrudunt naves ſcopulo: levat ipſe tridenti ;
Et vaftas aperit fyrtes & temperat æquor:
Atque rotis fummas levibus perlabitur undas.
Sic cunctus pelagi cecidit fragor; æquora poftquam
Profpiciens genitor, cœloque invectus aperto,
Flectit equos curruque volans dat lora fecundo.
Virgil. Æn. 1. y. 155.
in
(12) In portum deducit cquos: prior haurit arenas.
Ungula; poftremi folvuntur in æquora pifces.
Statius, Theb. 2. .47.
Venit æquoris alti
Rex fublimis equis; geminufque ad fpumea Triton
Fræna natans late pelago dat figna cadenti.
Id. Ib. 5. y. 708.
Ubicunque rotis horrendus equifque
Stas pater, atque ingens utrinque fluentia Triton
Fræna tenet; tantus noftras condêre per urbes.
Val. Flaccus, Argon. 1. y. 680.
(13) See Muf. Flor. Vol II. Pl. 48. 4.
(14)
Nec brachia longo
Margine terrarum porrexerat Amphitrite.
Ovid. Met. 1. y. 14.
(15) See Pliny, Lib. 35. c. 10. p. 436. Ed. Elz.
(16) It belonged to Auguftus; and one may rea-
fonably fuppofe that, (before it was dedicated,) he
kept the beſt picture in the world, in his favourite
collection. Ovid in fpeaking of fome of the fineſt
pieces in that collection, mentions one exactly with
Statius, Achil. 1. y. 60. the character of this. Trift. Lib. 2. y. 521, &c,
Hiemes ventique filent: cantuque quieto
Armigeri Tritones eunt; fcopulofaque Cete
Tyrrhenique greges circumque infraque rotantur,
Rege falutato. Placidis ipfe arduus undis
Eminet, & triplici telo jubet ire jugales :
Illi fpumiferos glomerant à pectore fluctus;
Pone natant, delentque pedum veftigia caudâ.
L11
220
POLYMETIS.
in all this perfection. Some of theſe paffages are fo ftrong, that I am thoroughly per-
fuaded they might have gone a great way towards (17) helping fome painter of an extra-
ordinary genius, (fuch, for inftance, as Raphael or Corregio,) to have reftored this loft
beauty of Apelles's to the world: and perhaps Titian had confidered ſome of them
pretty thoroughly; before he drew that beautiful Venus of his, with her wet hair and
humid body, which is at preſent in the Duke of Orleans's collection at Paris.
THERE is ſcarce any character under which we ſee Venus more frequently, than this
of the Venus Marina: probably all the figures which repreſent her as juſt coming from
bathing herſelf, ought to be ranked under this head and there are many others which
indifputably belong to it. The moſt famous Venus of Medici, in particular, is not only
formed as juſt come out of the water; but has a dolphin too at her feet, to determine
what particular Venus fhe is: and there is another very fine figure of her, on a relievo
at the Palazzo Mattei in Rome; where the fits in a fhell, and is held up (18) by two
Tritons. This is what is followed pretty exactly, (tho' the figures are fo much enlarged,)
in my fountain here. Statius (19) feems to allude to fome fuch repreſentation of Venus,
as this, in a couple of lines, which are not well to be underſtood without it. You fee
PL. XXX. how beautiful ſhe is even here; how gracefully fhe fits and how ſhe holds up her long
hair in each of her hands: from which the water diftills into her fhell, and thence falls
into that larger bafon of water below.--This idea was in all refpects ſo proper for a
fountain-ſtatue; that I make no doubt they had fome fountains of old, not unlike that
which you ſee before you. It would lead me into too long a digreffion, if I fhould
endeavour here to prove to you, at large, how much the antients excelled the moderns,
in the juſtneſs and fimplicity of their ideas for fountain-ſtatues; I ſhall therefore wave
that ſubject; and ſhall only obſerve to you at preſent, that my Venus holds up her hair
much in the fame manner as the famous Venus Anaduomene, is faid to have done: only
FIG. 2.
(17) It appears from theſe paffages in the Roman
authors relating to the Venus Anaduomenè; 1. That
ſhe ſhould be without any drapery:
Nuda Cytheriacis edita fertur aquis.
that
In the collection of the Greek (Epigrams or) In-
fcriptions, there are ſeveral relating to this Venus of
Apelles; and particularly two which ſpeak very
ſtrongly, of her holding up her hair; and of the wa-
Ovid. Her. Ep. 7. . 60. (Dido, Æn.) ter, falling from it.
Litore ficcabat rorantes nuda capillos.
Id. Faft. 4. y. 143.
2. Her hair, (which fhould be the fineft that can
be imagined,) ſhould be very wet; and all her body,
humid and fhining.
-Venus artificis labor eft & gloria Coi,
Aquoreo madidas quæ premit imbre comas.
Ovid. ex Ponto, Lib. 4. Ep. 1. .30.
Formofæ periere comæ, quas vellet Apollo,
Quas vellet capiti Bacchus ineffe fuo ;
Illis contulerim, quas quondam nuda Dione
Pingitur humenti fuftinuiffe manu.
*.34.
Id. Amor. Lib. 1. El. 14. . 34.
Madidos ficcat digitis Venus uda capillos,
Et modo maternis tecta videtur aquis.
Id. Trift. Lib. 2. . 528.
3. The colouring might have been learnt from
Tibullus's defcription of Apollo; (p. 84. anteh.)
had not Cicero given us fo ftrong an idea of it,
in this very picture itſelf. It is in his Treatife de Na-
turâ Deorum; (where his Academic Philofopher, in
diſputing againſt the Epicurean, fays,) Illud video
pugnare te, fpecies ut quædam fit deorum, quæ nihil
concreti habeat, nihil folidi, nihil expreffi, nihil emi-
nentis; fitque pura, levis, perlucida. Dicemus ergo
idem, quod in Venere Coâ: corpus non eft, fed
fimile corpori; nec ille fufus & candore mixtus ru-
bor, fanguis eft, fed quædam fanguinis fimilitudo;
fic in Epicureo Deo non res, fed fimilitudines rerum
effe. Lib. 1. p. 16. Ed. Ald.
On Apelles's Venus.
Αυξαν εκ πουλοιο τιθηνήζηρος Απελλής
Ταν Κύπριν γυμναν είδε λοχευομενην
Και τοιαν ετύπωσε διαβροχον ύδατος αφρως
Θλίβεσαν θαλεραις χερσιν ετι πλοκαμον.
On the fame.
Αρτι θαλασσαίης Παφίη προέκυψε λοχείας,
Μαιαν Απελλα ην ευράμενη παλαμην
Αλλα ταχυς γραφίδων αποχαζεν, μή σε διηνη
Αφρος αποστάζων θλιβομένων πλοκαμων.
The author (I think) had better have left off here;
but he adds ;
Ει τοιη ποτε Κυπρις εγυμνώθη δια μηλον,
Την Τροιην αδίκως Παλλας εληίσατο.
(18) Lucian, in a very beautiful deſcription of Eu-
ropa's paffage from Phoenicia to the ifland of Crete,
(which he ſeems to have taken from fome antient
painting,) introduces Venus, much in the fame-man-
ner as the is repreſented at the Palazzo Mattei.
Επι πασι δε την Αφροδίτην δυο Τριτωνες εφερον, επι κογ
Xns naτaxesμevnu aven пνтOIα #ITAптSTAV TY WHO
Tom. I. p. 260. Ed. Blaeu.
(19) Hæc & cæruleis mecum confurgere digna
Fluctibus, & noftrâ potuit confidere conchâ.
(Spoke by Venus, of Violantilla.)
Statius, Lib. 1. Sylv. 2. ¥.118.
t
DIALOGUE the Fourteenth.
that the latter preffes her hair with her fingers; and, if ever ſhe adorned a fountain too,
ought to have the water flowing more copiouſly from it.
THIS goddeſs ſeems to retain her dignity as one of the Great Celeſtial Deities, even
when the is reprefented as a deity of the Waters. You fee here fhe has two Sea-
deities of the higheſt claſs but one, to attend her. Their office, fhews their inferiority
to her; as their looks, fhew reſpect and admiration. There were feveral Tritons; but
one chief over all: the diftinguiſhed meffenger of Neptune (20); as Mercury was of
Jupiter, and Iris of Juno. Triton is repreſented by the artiſts, as he is defcribed by the
poets; his upper parts are human, and his lower like a fiſh. I queſtion whether they
did not fometimes give him (21) fcales, even on the human part of his body. Where
this was done with judgment, there was room (22) to fhew as much art as in the figures of
the Centaurs; fome of the moſt celebrated of which were chiefly admired, for its having
been extremely difficult to diftinguiſh where the brutal nature ended, or where the human
began and the dark colour of his ſkin, might perhaps affift a painter in making this
union of two ſuch different natures yet more imperceptible in a Triton, than it could
poffibly have been in a Centaur:
ONE often fees Triton holding his trumpet in his hand, with which he was fuppofed
to convene all the deities of the waters about their monarch, whenever he had occafion
of their affiſtance, or counfel. It is (23) wreathed; like thoſe ſhells which the country-men
uſe ſometimes to this day in Italy, to direct their herds of cattle by the found of them,
It was fometimes a real fhell; and fometimes an inftrument of filver, (or fome other
metal,) formed like one. When part of the Lacus Fucinus was to be let out, in the
time of the emperor Claudius, they had a Naumachia reprefented firft on that lake, to
add to the magnificence of fo great an undertaking. Juft as the two adverfe fleets were
drawn up in order of battle, a filver figure of Triton, (prepared privately for that purpoſe,)
rofe on a fudden to the furface of the water; between the two fleets; and gave a loud (24)
blaſt with his trumpet, as the fignal for their engagement. This god muſt have made
a very confiderable figure, on that occafion: but what was this, to the employment
affigned him by Ovid (25)? who makes him give the fignal to all the rivers to retire
into their own channels, and to leave the earth once more to be inhabited by men,
after the general deſtruction of almoſt their whole race by the deluge.
I HAVE never yet met with any figure of Proteus; who, as well as Triton, was
advanced to a high charge by the great prefiding deity of the inland feas. Proteus in-
deed had a character more manageable for the poets, than for the ſculptors or painters.
The former might very well defcribe all the variety of fhapes that he could put on, and
point out the tranſition from one to the other; but the artiſts muſt have been content to
ſhew him either in his own natural form, or in fome one alone of all his various ſhapes.
Among all the poets, no one has given fo full a deſcription of this changeable deity as Vir-
gil: in whom we have the character of his proper (26) perfonage.; and a deſcription of
(20)
(21)
(22)
Summi Jovis aliger Arcas
Nuntius; imbriferâ potitur Thaumantide Juno;
Stat celer obfequio juffa ad Neptunia Triton.
Statius, Lib. 3. Sylv. 3. †. 82.
Supraque profundum
Extantem, atque humeros nativo murice tectum,
Cæruleum Tritona vocat.
Ovid. Met. 1. *. 33+.
Cui laterum tenus hifpida nanti
Frons hominem præfert; in priftin definit alvus
Spumea femifero fub pectore murmurat unda.
Virgil. Æn. 10. .212.
(23)
Cava buccina fumitur illi
Tortilis, in latum quas turbine crefcit ab imo;
his
Buccina, quæ medio concepit ut aëra ponto
Litora voce replet fub utroque jacentia Phœbo:
Tum quoque & ora Dei, madidâ rorantia barbâ,
Contigit.
Ovid. Met. 1. y. 340.
(24) Exciente buccinâ Tritone argenteo; qui e
medio lacu per machinam emerferat. Suetonius; in
Claud: Cap. 21.
(25) Met. Lib. 1. . 331, to 342.
(26) Senex, Georg. 4. . 438. Cæruleus, ibid.
386.Glaucis oculis, ib. 451.
221
222
POLYMETIS.
his (27) cave, and his fea-herds (28) about him. He gives us a picture of him, as tend-
ing (29) them on the fhore; as (30) plunging into the fea; and as (31) riding over the
furface of it. He marks out the whole ſeries of his transformations too: in a very few
words indeed; but fo ftrong and well chofen (32), that each of them almoſt contains a
picture. There are two paffages in particular, in this full account which Virgil gives us
of Proteus, which I ſuſpect very much to have been copied from fome antient paintings :
one relates to the (33) manner of Cyrene's placing Ariſtæus and herſelf; in order to fur-
priſe this deity; and the other, is that ſtrange (34) turn and ſtruggle in his eyes, in the
moment that he is between anger and compliance: which caft of them, by the way,
ſeems to me not only to agree with the conteſt in his mind, between two fuch different
paffions; but at the fame time to have a peculiar fitnefs to the character of Proteus,
confidered as a prophet.
I HAVE looked much after fome figure of Glaucus too, but am not yet ſure that I
have found any; tho' he is deſcribed particularly enough, I think, by the antient wri-
ters, to be knowable if one did meet with him. Tho' the fea-gods are pretty much alike
as to their ſhape, and the colour of their fkin, hair, and eyes; Glaucus perhaps might
be diſtinguiſhed from the reft, by the uncommon length (35) of his hair, and the crown
of (36) reeds on his head. Tho' fome deſcriptions of this god in the Roman poets, are
more particular than they ufually are of fea-deities; there is a paffage in one of their
hiſtorians, that is more explicit than any of them. It is in Paterculus; where he is fpeak-
ing of Munatius Plancus: whoſe name Horace has made us fo well acquainted with in
his Odes; and whoſe monument to this day makes fo confiderable a figure on the hill near
Gaëta. This Plancus, whom we now perhaps are apt generally to think well of, as a
friend of Horace's; was ſcarce fo much efteemed in his own times. At leaft, we find
that he fubmitted himſelf to fome very great meanneffes, to ingratiate himſelf with Au-
guftus. Among other things that hiſtorian (37) ſays, in particular, "that he danced the
character of Glaucus, on the public ftage." For this purpoſe he was ftripped naked ;
and had his ſkin painted all over, of a fea-green, or dark, colour; and his head covered
with a chaplet of reeds: after which, he moved on, (as well as he could,) on his knees;
and dragged a long tail like that of a fiſh after him. Confidering all theſe particulars,
and the great difficulty of dancing a fiſh-dance, I do not fee how any courtier could well
contrive to make a meaner and more deſpicable appearance, than he muſt have done on
this occafion. That of Lazarello de Tormes, (when he was fhewed about in his tub,
for a fea-fiſh,) muſt have been quite creditable, in compariſon to this. Indeed, Glaucus
himſelf, is of the loweſt rank of all the fea-gods; and I have mentioned him out of his
(27) Virgil. Georg. 4. *.418–422.
(28) Ibid. . 430, 431.
(29) Ibid. *. 433-436.
(30) Ibid. *. 528, 529.
(31) Ibid. y. 386, 387.
(32) Tum variæ eludent ſpecies atque ora ferarum :
Fiet enim fubito fus horridus; atraque tigris ;
Squamofufque draco; & fulvâ cervice leæna.
Ibid. . 408.
(33) Juvenem in latebris, averfum a lumine, nympha
Collocat; ipfa procul, nebulis obſcura, refiftit.
(34)
Ibid. 4.
.424.
place;
If this was not taken from ſome painting of old, it
might at leaſt give a very ſtrong idea to a painter
now.
(35)
*
Tuta loco, monftrumne deufne
Ille fit ignorans, admiraturque colorem ;
Cæfariemque, humeros fubjectaque terga tegentem:
Ultimaque excipiat quòd tortilis inguina pifcis.
Ovid. Met. 13. *.915.
* Galatea.
(36) Hanc ego tum primùm viridem ferrugine barbam,
Cæfariemque meam quam longa per æquora verro,
Ingentefque humeros & cærula brachia vidi;
Cruraque pinnigero curvata noviffima pifce.
Ibid. *. 963.
(37) -Cum cæruleatus, & nudus, caputque redi-
mitus arundine, & caudam trahens, genibus innixus
Glaucum faltaffet. Vel. Paterc. Lib. 2. §. 85.
In the little quarrel between two low people, in
Horace's journey to Brundufium, one of them begs
the other, (who was of a large aukward make,) “ To
Ibid. y. 452. dance the Cyclops." (Lib. 1. Sat. 5. *.63.)
Ad hæc vates, vi denique multâ,
Ardentes oculos intorfit lumine glauco;
Et graviter frendens, fic fatis ora reſolvit.
*.
This
DIALOGUE the Fourteenth.
223
place; by talking of him fo early, and before fo many of his betters: for he was, origi-
nally, no more than a poor fiſherman; and at laſt, only an adventitious god of the ſea;
and confequently of the fixth and loweſt claſs of all.
THE fea-deities of the third clafs, Nereus, Doris, and her fifters the Oceanitides, are
mentioned ſometimes by the poets; but without any thing particular to diſtinguiſh them
by: except that Virgil, in one place (38), in fpeaking of two of the Oceanitides, feems
to give them a dreſs, very different from the Neptunines and Nereids.
FIG..
I HAVE here a drawing of Thetis ; which you would not take to be a fea-deity, at firſt PL. XXX.
fight: fhe having a helmet in one hand, and a coat of mail in the other. It is copied from
a medal; on which ſhe is called, the mother of Achilles : and fo, no doubt, is carrying him
the arms,
ſhe had promiſed him. It is therefore too, I ſuppoſe, that ſhe is in a long veft
contrary to the cuſtom of the fea-deities, who are uſually naked: but the artiſt has taken
care, not quite to conceal her feet; the beauty of which are fo perpetually mentioned by
Homer (39), and not forgot by Ovid. This was a part that was much more obferved
among the antients, than with us. Their feet were not hid, and impriſoned, as ours are:
and I remember one of the Roman hiftorians, in fpeaking of the perfon of Domitian,
thinks it worth his while to obſerve (40) a particular, relating to that emperor's make
which muſt ſeem yet more minute and trifling to us, even than Homer's fo conftantly
marking out the beauty of Thetis's foot.
This fort of dances I had no notion of, till I ſaw
ſomething of the ſame kind in Italy. It is the repre-
ſenting ſome character, and ſometimes a whole ſtory,
in a dance not unlike our dumb fhews; only that all
the particular actions muſt keep time with the muſic.
But the thing that gives one the moſt perfect idea
of theſe ancient dances, is a paffage in Longus's pafto-
ral Romance: where, (at a feaſt, after a facrifice to
Pan) Lamon one of the old fhepherds tells the reft
the ſtory of Pan and Syrinx; and Philetas gives the
younger fhepherds a leffon on his pipe, how to con-
duct their flocks by the different notes and tunes of
it. "All the company, (fays Longus,) fat in filence,
and took a great deal of pleaſure in hearing him; till
one of them, called Dryas, got up; and begged
him to play one of their brifker airs in honour of Bac-
chus; and he, in the mean time, danced the cha-
racter of a Vindemiator, or Vintager. In this dance,
he flung himſelf into different poftures, as if he was
gathering the bunches of grapes; carrying them in
baſkets; flinging them into the wine-vat; putting
the liquor into veffels; and drinking of the muſt.
All which he did fo naturally, and fo expreffively,
that they almoſt thought they faw before their eyes
the vineyard, the veffels, the liquor, and Dryas
taking a hearty draught of it. The good old man
having fo well performed his part; at the cloſe of his
dance, went and faluted Daphnis and Chloe: on
which they immediately rofe from their feats, and
danced the ſtory which Lamon had been just telling
them. Daphnis repreſented the god, Pan; and
Chloe, was the fair Syrinx. He made his addreffes
to her; and fhe only laughed at it. She runs from
him; and he purfues her: huddling on upon the tips
of his toes, the better to imitate Pan's cloven feet.
She then made all the appearance of being quite tired
with running and (inſtead of getting between the
reeds,) crept into the grove juſt by, to hide herſelf.
On which, Daphnis taking up Philetas's pipe, (which
;
THETIS
was one of the largeſt and beſt ſort,) drew a languiſh-
ing found from it, as of one in love; a pathetic
found, as of one eager to enjoy; and a recalling
found, as of one that is fondly feeking after what he
has loft. All which he did fo well, and in ſo know-
ing a manner; that the good Philetas, quite aſto-
nifhed at it, run to him and kiffed him; and then
made him a prefent of his pipe; praying the gods,
that after him it might ſtill fall into as good hands.
Daphnis on this hung up the little pipe he had always
ufed before, as a prefent to Pan; and then faluting
Chloe, as if he had found her again after a real
flight, led his flock toward their fold for the night:
playing all the way, on the pipe that Philetas had juſt
given him." Amours of Daphnis and Chloe, B. 2.
fub fin.
Virgil ſpeaks of a feaſt juſt like this; and of the
Pan, or Satyr-dance; in his 5th Eclogue: where the
fhepherd Menalcas promiſes to keep an annual feſti-
val, in memory of one of his departed friends.
Vina novum fundam calathis Ariufia nectar :
Cantabunt mihi Damætas, & Ly&tius Ægon;
Saltantes Satyros imitabitur Alphefibæus.
Ecl. 5. . 73.
(38) Clioque & Beroë foror, Oceanitides ambæ ;
Ambæ auro, pictis incinctæ pellibus ambæ.
Virgil. G. 4. . 342.
(39) Αργυρόπεζα Θέτις.
Hoc flavi faciunt crines, & eburnea colla ;
Quæque, precor, veniant in mea colla manus:
Et decor, & vultus fine rufticitate pudentes ;
Et Thetidi quales vix reor effe pedes.
Ovid. Ep. Her. 20. . 60. (Acontius, Cyd.)
(40) Pulcher & decens maximè in juventâ, & qui-
dem toto corpore; exceptis pedibus: quorum digi-
tos reſtrictiores habebat. Suetonius, in Domitiano.
Cap. 18.
M m m
1
f
1
224
POLYMETIS.
THETIS is one of the fea-nymphs, of the fourth claſs; one of thoſe whom the poets
call Neptunines; as defcendants of Neptune: It was therefore the greater (41) honour
for Peleus to obtain her in marriage. Peleus, you know, was one of the heroes who
accompanied Jafon in the Argo, (fuppofed to be the firſt ſhip that ever ventured on the
ſea,) in that famous expedition for the Golden Fleece. So great a novelty, as a vaſt
hollow of wood with feveral men in it, floating over the furface of the water, called all
the ſea-nymphs (42) immediately from their loweſt habitations, to gaze upon it. Thetis
was among the ſpectators of fo ftrange a fight. All theſe ladies of the water, (as our
ladies on land are generally apt to be,) were extremely charmed with the novelty of the
fight, and the hardineſs of their enterprize. They looked on theſe heroes with admira-
tion; and from admiration, they were eafily led to love. Thetis fixed her chief regards
on Peleus; and it is therefore with a great deal of propriety that Valerius Flaccus names
her, in particular, as one that haſtened to the (43) affiftance of the fhip; when firft it was
in danger of being loft. Catullus (44) tells all the ſtory of the marriage of Thetis to Peleus
very much at large: and Valerius Flaccus (45) gives us a ſhort picture of her, when going
to be married; and of the marriage-feaſt, which was honoured with the preſence of all
the chief deities of the Sea. He fays ſhe went on a dolphin; with a veil over her face,
as the brides (46) uſually had of old; but not with that melancholy face, which the
brides of thoſe days uſed to affect, to the greateſt exceſs. He feats Peleus at the feaſt,
among the gods of the fea; and near him is his friend Chiron, to celebrate their nup-
tials with his lyre. I might have had a repreſentation of this marriage, if I could have
truſted to the print of it in father Montfaucon's collection (47): but that agrees fo little
with the poets, and has fo many marks of being a modern invention, that I was forced
to reject it.
THE Nereids, (who are of the fifth clafs, and the loweft of all the native deities of the
fea,) are all called (48) fifters; as being the family of Doris and Nereus; and their faces,
(41) Tene Thetis tenuit, pulcherrima Neptunine?
Tene fuam Tethys conceffit ducere Neptem?
Catullus, de Nupt. Pelei, 62. . 29.
Eft aliquid non effe fatum Nereïde; fed qui
Nereaque & natas, & totum temperat æquor.
Ovid. Met. 12. $.94.
(46)
(as
-Timidum nuptæ leviter tectura pudorem
Lutea demiffos velarunt flammea vultus.
Lucan. 2. . 361.
Anna tegens vultus, ut nova nupta, fuos.
Ovid. Faft. 3. .690.
-Sedet illa
Sedet illa parato
Flammeolo, Tyriufque palam Genialis in hortis
Sternitur.-
Juvenal, Sat. 10. . 335.
(42) Quæ fimul ac roftro ventofum profcidit æquor
Tortaque remigio fpumis incanduit unda;
Emerfere feri candenti e gurgite vultus,
One can hardly read theſe paffages, without being
Æquoreæ monftrum Nereïdes admirantes :
put in mind of the figure of the bride in the Aldo-
Illâque, (haudque aliâ,) viderunt luce marinas
Mortales oculi, nudato corpore, nymphas ;
brandine marriage; and fome other antiques, relat-
Nutricum tenus extantes e gurgite cano.
ing to the ſame ſubject: in which the brides generally
Catullus, Nupt. Pel. 62. . 18. appear extremely concerned; and to be melancholy
and grieved, beyond what fhould be naturally ex-
pected, for the change they are going to make; and
to which they were not really, perhaps, fo averſe
as they would feem. Flaccus fays, Thetis had the
Val. Flaccus, Argon. 1. y. 658. veil; but not this very melancholy air: fhe did not
(43) Jam placidis ratis extat aquis, quam gurgite ab imo
Et Thetis & magnis Nereus focer erigit ulnis.
(44) Poem. 62, de Nuptiis Pelei.
(45) Hic infperatos Tyrrheni tergore pifcis
Peleos in thalamos vehitur Thetis. Æquora delphin
Corripit illa fedet dejectâ in lumina pallâ,
Nec Jove majorem nafci fufpirat Achillem.
Hanc Panope, Dotoque foror, lætataque fluctu
Profequitur nudis pariter Galatea lacertis,
Antra petens; Siculo revocat de litore Cyclops.
Contra, ignis viridique torus de fronde; dapeſque,
Vinaque; & æquoreos inter cum conjuge Divos
Eacides: pulfatque chelyn poft pocula Chiron.
*Painted on Argo.
Val. Flaccus, Argon. 1. . 139.
*.
grieve, as other brides then uſed to do; becauſe ſhe
knew that the effect of her marriage would be the
birth of the greateſt hero in the world: of Achilles,
that was to be ſo highly celebrated to all poſterity, by
Homer.
(47) See Montfaucon, Vol. I. Pl. 107.
(48) Officio careat glaucarum nulla fororum.
Statius, Lib. 3. Sylv. 2. . 34.
Eft aliquid non effe fatum Nereide; fed qui
Nereaque, & natas, & totum temperat æquor.
(Spoke by the Son of a Neptunine,) Ovid. Met. 12. ¥. 94.
DIALOGU E the Fourteenth.
225
(as Ovid (49) obferves,) fhould all bear a reſemblance to one another, like that of fifters;
tho' there fhould be fome difference in each, to diftinguish them from one another.
We know the particular names of ſome of them; (as Doto (50), and Galatea, for ex-
ample :) but the attributes and characters given them by the artiſts are fo uniform, that it
would be very difficult at preſent to diſtinguiſh any one of them from the reft; and we
can only fay of any fuch relievo, or picture, that it is a Nereid-piece, in general.
THE defcriptions of theſe fifter-goddeffes, in the poets, are moſtly of a general nature
too. I fancy, from Ovid's account (51) of them, that they were very rarely fuppofed to
be carried, on dolphins; and, perhaps, never on Tritons: as fome of the ſuperior god-
deffes of the Sea were. The poets moſt uſually deſcribe them as parting the water with
their arms; and with their long hair, floating over the furface of it: fometimes, rifing
above the water to admire fome ſtrange fight, (as (52) that of the firſt ſhip that ever
ventured on the fea, above mentioned ;) fometimes, as bufied in affifting (53) fhips, and
conducting them in fafety toward their port; and, fometimes as fitting together on fome
rock (54), and telling thoſe ſtories which were fo much in vogue in the higheſt antiquity;
and which ran chiefly on the numberless amours of Jupiter, and the other celeſtial
deities.
I HEARTILY pity them, (interpofed Myfagetes,) that after all their fatigues, they
had nothing but a bare rock to fit upon; no very eafy refting-place, and perhaps ex-
pofed all to the fun: which could not be fo agreeable, one would think, to ladies of
their fine make and complexion. Surely, the old poets were a little defective in this
particular. I remember to have read a very pretty ſtory, (in the Perfian Tales, or fome
like excellent book,) which is founded wholly on the notion of the fea's being as well
inhabited as the earth. The author has not only ſtocked the watry element, with men
and women; but has given them houfes too, and cities under water, as regularly as we
have on land. It is a pity the antient poets had not had as much imagination, as this
modern writer; they might then have found out fome more tolerable conveniences for
your Nereids, and Neptunines: as it is, any tender-hearted perſon muſt have a great deal
of compaffion for the poor ladies; when he fees them thus, only ſprawling on the water,
or refting themſelves on a hard rock.
You may ſpare all your compaffion for them, on this account; (replied Polymetis ;)
for I can affure you that the antient poets, when they were about it, could furnish their
inhabitants of the fea, with as many and as fine palaces, as any modern author whatever.
Befide the numerous hollows and caves in the ſhore, which were generally fuppofed to ferve
for this purpoſe, the antients feem to have imagined, that the whole fea refted (55) on a
3
(49) Doridaque & natas: quarum pars nare videntur ;
(50)
(51)
Pars in mole fedens virides ficcare capillos
Pifce vehi quædam facies non omnibus una,
Nec diverfa tamen; qualem decet effe fororum.
Ovid. Met. 2. . 14.
Nereïa Doto.
Virgil. Æn. 9. . 103.
At mihi, cui pater eft Nereus, quam cærula Doris
Enixa eft; quæ fum turbâ quoque tuta fororum ; &c.
(Says Galatea, in) Ovid's Met. 13. ✯. 743.
Placidis-natant Nereides undis.
Ovid. Met. 13. *. 399.
Vos quoque cæruleum, Divæ Nereïdes, agmen—
Surgite de vitreis fpumofæ Doridos antris;
Baianofque finus & fœta tepentibus undis
Litora, tranquillo certatim ambite natatu.
Statius, Lib. 3. Sylv. 2. . 18.
Pars nare videntur ;
fort
Virides Nereidum comas.
Horat. Lib. 3. Od. 28. ỷ. 10.
(52) See Note 42, anteh.
(53)
-Vos ftuppea tendite mali
Vincula; vos fummis annectite fuppara velis :
Vos Zephyris aperite finus. Pars tranſtra reponat;
Pars demittat aquis curvæ moderamina puppis.
Sunt, quibus exploret rupes gravis arte molorchus ;
Quæque fecuturam religent poft terga phafelon :
Uncaque fubmerfæ penitus retinacula vellant.
Temperet hæc æftus; pelagufque inclinet ad ortus :
Officio careat glaucarum nulla fororum.
Statius, Lib. 3. Sylv. 2. ✯. 34.
(54) See Dial. 7. Note 66.
(55) Unde terra, & quibus librata ponderibus:
quibus cavernis maria fuftineantur. Cicero. Tufc.
Ovid. Met. 2. ¥. 12. Quæft. Lib. 5. p. 513. Ed. Blaeu.
Pars in mole fedens virides ficcare capillos.
226
POLYMETIS.
fort of arched work: under which, what an ample ſpace muft there have been for habi-
tations for all theſe gods and goddeffes, were they ever fo numerous? In this light,
what made that folid bottom of the fea, would at the fame time ferve for the roofs of
their palaces and below, it might be all divided into grotto's, and caves; like the ha-
bitation of the nymphs (56) deſcribed by Virgil in his Æneid; or the palace (57) of Cy-
rene, in the Georgics. Some of the nobleft parts of this fubmarine-rockwork, (if you
will give me leave to make uſe of a new name, for ſo ſtrange a thing,) may be fuppofed
to have been fet apart for the (58) palaces of Oceanus: fome, under the Mediterranean.
ſea, for the court of Neptune; and others, for the other ruling deities of that fea. In one
province, might be the grotto's of Proteus; and in another, the caves of Doris and
Nereus, and all (59) their numerous family. Theſe lower habitations of the Sea-deities
might be ſuppoſed, if you pleaſe, to be full of water; (for water is their proper element,
as much as air is ours :) or if that ſhocks you too much, they might be always free from
it: for one learns from the account of Cyrene's palace, in Virgil, that the antients fup-
poſed this fort of deities had a full power over the waters; and could make them hang
(60) fufpended in the air, juft when, and however, they pleaſed.
·
THE habitations of the River-deities and their attendants, were in the fame manner
ſuppoſed to be under water; and generally, I believe, fomewhere near the place (61)
whence each river took its riſe: where, if there was any grotto, they ufually had fome
figure of the prefiding deity of the ſtream in it; with his urn, and the waters guſhing out
of it; to denote the fource of the river. The temples to River-gods were moſt com-
monly built in the fame part; as the younger Pliny tells us exprefly, in the (62) particu-
lar account he has given of the temple of Clitumnus: and it is for the fame reaſon, that
Virgil makes Ariſteus go to the very ſource of the river, when he wants to addreſs him-
felf to the Water-goddeſs his mother. The poets often ſpeak of theſe habitations and
grotto's of the River-deities; and deſcribe (63) ſome of them: particularly, that of Pe-
neus ; the very river to whoſe ſource Virgil ſends Ariſtæus.
(56) Hinc atque hinc vaftæ rupes, geminique minantur
In cœlum fcopuli; quorum fub vertice latè
Æquora tuta filent: tum fylvis fcena corufcis
Defuper, horrentique atrum nemus imminet umbrâ.
Fronte fub adverfâ, fcopulis pendentibus antrum:
Intus aquæ dulces, vivoque fedilia faxo ;
Nympharum domus.
Æn. 1. . 168.
(57) See the latter part of Note 63, poſth.
(58) The poets ſpeak exprefly of the palace of O-
ceanus: and ſeem to place it, ſometimes on the weſt-
ern fhore; and fometimes under the ſea.
Tempus erat junctos cum jam foror ignea Phœbi
Sentit equos; penituſque cavam fub luce paratâ
Oceani mugire domum
Statius, Theb. 8. ✯. 273.
Frangebat radios humili jam pronus Olympo
Phœbus ; & Oceani penetrabile littus anhelis
Promittebat equis.
Id. Achil. 2. . 17.
Deferet ante dies, & in alto Phœbus anhelos
quore tinget equos.
✯.
I HAVE
Curvata in montis fpeciem circumftetit unda;
Accepitque finu vaſto; mifitque ſub amnem.
Virgil. Georg. 4. . 362.
Thus Ovid ſays, very ſtrongly, of another River-
god:
Cedere juffit aquam; juffa receffit aqua.
Lib. 3. El.6. . 44.
This is repreſented ſometimes in antiques : as par-
tibularly on a gem in Maffei's collection, (Vol. II.
Pl. 34.) where you fee Neptune beneath the water;
which hangs fufpended, in a fort of arch, over his
head.
(61) Statius fpeaks of the fource of a river, and
the habitation of the River-god, as one and the ſame
thing.
Æternæ largitor corniger unde!
Lætus eas, quâcunque domo gelida ora refolvis.
(Speaking of a river, whofe fource they were unacquainted
with) Theb. 4. .832.
(62) See Pliny's Epiftles, Lib. 8. Ep. 8.
(63) Statius, (where he is deſcribing a water-grotto
Ovid. Met. 15. . 419. in Vopifcus's gardens at Tivoli,) hints at ſome of the
(59) Surgite de vitreis fpumofæ Doridos antris.
(Says Statius; invoking the Nereïds,) Lib. 3.
Sylv. 2. y. 16.
(60) Duc, age; duc ad nos: fas illi limina Divûm
Tangere, ait: fimul alta jubet difcedere late
Flumina, quà juvenis greffus inferret: at illum
moſt noted ones, in his time.
Illis ipfe antris Anienus, fonte relicto,
Nocte fub arcanâ glaucos exutus amicus
Huc illuc fragili profterait pectora mufco ;
Aut ingens in ftagna cadit, vitreaſque natatu
Plaudit aquas illâ recubat Tiberinus in umbrâ ;
Illic fulphureas cupit Albula mergere crines.
Нас
t
DIALOGUE the Fourteenth.
227
I HAVE got the figures of fome of thefe River-deities; and have difpofed of them
among my fountains without: which we may confider as much, or as little as you pleaſe
in continuing our walk thro' the groves about this temple. The firſt I ſhall carry you
to is the Tiber. After going down a walk that led them irregularly thorough a grove
of poplar-trees, they came into a good fpacious opening, in the higher part of which
they ſaw the ſtatue of Tiberinus, reclined and leaning on his urn: from which the PL. XXXI.
water poured down a bank of graſs, into a little lake, or fountain; if fo irregular a thing FIG. I.
'may be called one. The fides of it were, here and there, over-run with high weeds;
and ſometimes overſhaded by willows. Juft by the figure of the god, lay the wolf and
twin founders of Rome. The creature feemed to have loft all the favageneſs of her
nature; and in particular was drawing in one of her feet, that it might not hurt one of
the infants who was ftretching out its little leg toward it. Her head too was turned
with an air of regarding them, as they lay ſmiling and playing together about the teat.
The god himſelf was crowned with fruits and flowers: of a large (64) fize; and with a
Hæc domus Ægeriæ nemoralem abjungere Phoeben,
Et Dryadum viduare choris algentia poffit
Taygeta; & fylvis arceffere Pana Lycæis.
Statius, Lib. 1. Sylv. 3. : 78.
The grotto of Egeria was more celebrated of old
than even that of the Tiber itſelf. Livy mentions it
in his Hiſtory, and Ovid, in his Fafti; and (if I am
not miſtaken,) in one of his Elegies.
Lucus erat, quem medium, ex opaco fpecu, fons
perenni rigabat aquâ : quo quia fe perfæpe Numa,
fine arbitris, velut ad congreffum Deæ inferebat;
Camænis eum lucum facravit, quòd earum ibi con
cilia cum conjuge fuâ Egeria effent: &c.
Lib. 1. §. 21.
Defluit incerto lapidofus murmure rivus ;
Livy,
Sæpe, fed exiguis hauftibus, inde bibi :
Egeria eft quæ præbet aquas, Dea grata Camanis;
Illa Numæ conjux conciliumque fuit.
Ovid. Faft. 3. *. 276.
Stat vetus & multos incidua fylva per annos ;
Credibile eft illi numen ineffe loco:
Fons facer in medio, fpeluncaque pumice pendens;
Et latere ex omni dulce queruntur aves:
Hic ego dum fpatior, tectus nemoralibus umbris,
Quod mea quærebam mufa moveret opus.
Venit odoratos Elegeïa nexa capillos, &c.
Ovid. Lib. 3. El. 1. . 7.
*.
venerable
to the folid concretions on the fides; fo that but à
ſmall part of the ſurface of the lake appears at prefent;
and, probably, in time it will be wholly hid. For a
great way round it, the earth ſounds hollow under
your feet; which fhews that you tread only on the
cruft that covers the lake. This probably is what Ho-
race alludes to, in calling it Domus Albuneæ refo-
nantis had it been ſpoke of a running ftream, refo-
nantis might have had another ſenſe: but as it is faid
ofa ftill lake, I think it can be accounted for no other
way than this; and this accounts for it
and fully.
very ſtrongly,
The compleateſt deſcription of an habitation under
the water, that I know of in the Roman poets, is
that of the palace of Cyrene, in Virgil. He exprefly
fays, that it was at the bottom of the river.
At mater fonitum thalamo fub gurgitis alti
Senfit.
Georg. 4. *. 334.
Duc, age; duc ad nos: fas illi limina Divûm
Tangere, ait. Simul alta jubet difcedere latè
Flumina, qua juvenis greffus inferret; at illum
Curvata in montis faciem circumftetit unda;
Accepitque finu vafto, mifitque fub amnem.
Ibid. . 362.
The fame poet mentions fomething of the manner
The grotto of Achelous is defcribed by the fame in which it was made; like the water-grotto's, above
poet :
Pumice multicavo nec lævibus atria tophis
Structa fubit: molli tellus erat humida mufco;
Summa lacunabant alterno murice concha.
And fo is that of Peneus:
Met. 8. . 563.
Eft nemus Hæmoniæ, prærupta quod undique claudit
Sylva; vocaut Tempe : per quæ Peneus, ab imo
Effufus Pindo, fpumofis volvitur undis :
Dejectuque gravi tenues agitantia fumos.
Nubila conducit, fummafque afpergine fylvas
Impluit; & fonitu plus quam vicina fatigat.
Hæc domus, hæc fedes, hæc funt penetralia magni
Amnis. In hoc refidens facto de cautibus antro
Undis jura dabat, nymphifque colentibus undas.
Met. I. . 581.
Where Horace ſpeaks of the habitation of Albunea ;
(Lib. 1. Od. 7. . 12.) he may mean fomething far-
y.
ther than a meer grotto. The lake of Albunea is
that lake, which is fo much vifited in the way to Ti-
voli, for the ſmall iſlands (or oval tables) that float on
its furface. The ſame ſort of ſulphureous concretions
that form thoſe little iflands, add from time to time
deſcribed and fomething of the furniture in it; like
the vivo fedilia faxo, in his grotto of the nymphs.
Poftquam eft in thalami pendentia pumice tecta
Perventum.
Ibid. .375.
Iterum maternas impulit aures
Luctus Ariſtæi; vitreifque fedilibus omnes
Obftupuere.
Ibid.
. 351.
They give him an entertainment there; and make
a facrifice. Ib. y. 376, & 381.
One fees from this whole account, that they had
three forts of habitations for their River-deities.
Grotto's by the fide of the river, and generally at the
ſource of it; as that of Egeria: others under the
earth, for fubterraneous waters; as that of Albunea :
and others under the waters; as that of Cyrene.
(64) Ipfe pater flavis Tiberinus abhorruit undis;
Suftulit e medio nubilus amne caput :
Tum falice implexum mufcoque & arundine crinem
Cæruleum, magnâ legit ab ore manu.
Ovid. Confol. ad Liviam, Y. 124,
Nnn
228
POLYMETIS.
1
venerable look; as lord (65) of all the rivers of the province, thorough which he leads
his waters to the fea.. Any one, fays Polymetis, would eaſily know this to be the figure
of the Tiber; from the little Romulus and Remus, that were firft difcovered in this man-
ner, with their fofter-mother, on his banks. It was where they afterwards built Rome;
and at the bottom of the Palatine hill, in particular. He is reclined; as the figures of
River-gods almoſt always are. The antients in this particular acted with more propriety,
than has perhaps been generally obſerved. They did not only ftock every element
with imaginary beings that are proper for it; but feem alfo to have been very exact in
adapting the appearance, and the very pofture of thofe beings, to the nature of the
par-
ticular elements to which they reſpectively belong. Thus their imaginary inhabitants of
the air are repreſented always under light, eafy, figures; and generally, as flying. As
they looked on the earth to be immoveable, and ſpread out on all fides of us; Tellus,
Cibele, and the other chief goddeffes that were fuppofed to prefide over it, are generally
drawn, either as fitting, or as lying down at their eaſe: and as water always ſtrives to
keep its level, we find the figures of the River-deities always more or less reclined. In
this poſture is the figure before us, of Old Father Tiber, as the Roman poets fo often call
him; and which, in their language, fignified the fame as Tiber the majestic, or Tiber
the governor (of many rivers,) does in ours. His countenance here fhews his dignity
and command. He was ſometimes repreſented too with horns (66); which of old was
a known emblem of power, and might fignify that he prefided over ſeveral ſtreams.
If the paintings of the antients remained to us in as great numbers as one could wifh
for in enquiries of this kind, I doubt not but that we ſhould have ſeveral other lights as
to this River-deity; who was fo much celebrated, and fo highly worſhipped, among the
Romans. Their
Their poets indeed tell us the colour (67) of his ſkin, of his hair, and of his
robes; which is every thing almoſt that is neceffary towards drawing a picture of him :
but then the Latin names for colours are very doubtful, and very ill underſtood at pre-
fent; whereas a painting would be clear, and indiſputable. We meet with ſeveral de-
(65) Virgil calls the Tiber, Lord of all the
Rivers of Latium."
Corniger Hefperidum fluvius regnator aquarum.
Æn. 8. .77.
Tacitus gives us a little piece of hiſtory, which
ſhews the reſpect the old Romans paid to this River-
god, very remarkably. On fome frequent inunda-
tions of the Tiber, it was propofed in the Roman fe-
nate; whether they might not divert the courſe of
fome of the leffer rivers, that fall into it. The depu-
ties of the Florentines, Interamnates, Reatini, and
others, were heard againſt the queſtion: who brought
their devotions, and the majeſty of the Tiber in par-
ticular, as an argument on their fide.Spectandas
religiones fociorum, qui facra & lucos & aras patriis.
Amnibus dicaverint: quin ipfum Tiberim nolle pror-
fus accolis Aluviis orbatum minore gloriâ fluere. Seu
preces coloniarum, feu difficultas operum, feu fuper-
ftitio valuit, ut in fententiam Pifonis concederetur ;
qui nil mutandum cenfuerat. Tacitus, Annal. lib. 1.
fub finem.
I.
(66) The horns of the River-gods may be often
hid by the large crowns of reeds, leaves, or flowers,
that we ſee on fo many of them. I imagine, that
Tiber was ſometimes reprefented with them; becaufe
Virgil calls him, Corniger, (Æn. 8. *.77.)
Valerius Flaccus gives them to all the greater River-
gods;
fcriptions
Sylvarumque Deæ ; atque elatis cornibus Amnes!
Argon. 1. y. 106.
And I think it appears from an expreffion in the
fame poet, that their having horns fignified their pre-
fiding over ſeveral ſtreams.
(67%)
Haud procul hinc ingens Scythici ruit exitus Iſtri :
Fundere non uno tantum quem flumina cornu
Accipimus feptem exit aquis, feptem oftia pandit.
Ibid. 8. y. 187.
Ceruleus Tibris-
Crinem cæruleum
Carbafus
Virgil, Æn. 8. *. 64.
Ovid. Confol. ad Liv. y. 124.
Eum tenuis glauco velabat amictu
Virgil. Æn. 8. . 34.
I imagine cæruleus fignifies a darkish, or fca-green
colour here: tho' it may in general fignify any co-
lour that the ſea is of; and that varies according
to the objects that reflect the light upon it. Near
the ſhore it is always tinged with the predominant
colour of the fhore, and is generally more or lefs
green far out at fea, it is of whatever colour the
clouds happen to be of: fo that cæruleus is a very
vague and indeterminate expreffion.
:
The meaning of the word Glaucus, is almoft as
uncertain. One of the beft vocabularies we have for
the Latin tongue, fays it fignifies "Grey, blue, fky-
coloured, azure, fea-green, or a bright and fiery
red." (See Glaucus; in Ainſworth.)
}
DIALOGUE the Fourteenth:
229
ſcriptions of him in the poets too, on particular occafions, (as when (68) amazed at fomet
extraordinary incident, or when under a deep uncommon (69) concern,) which are
pictureſque enough to have been drawn originally perhaps from fome paintings, which
are now loft but this is a misfortune which I have lamented ſo often already, that I
think I will leave off even mentioning it to you any more, for the future.
!
{.
PL.. XXXI.
In the opening next to this, (which was yet larger, and all one exact level,) they eaſily
knew the Nile, by his large cornucopia; by the Sphynx, couched under him; and the
number of little children playing about him. The cornucopia, fays Polymetis, tho' it FIG. 2.
is given to ſo many River-gods, (and particularly to that we have juft left,) is fcarce
given to any of them with fo much propriety as to the Nile. Other rivers may add to
the fertility of the ſeveral countries thro' which they pafs; but the Nile is the abfolute
cauſe of that great fertility of the Lower Egypt: which would be all a defart, as bad
as any of the moft fandy parts of Africa, without this river. It fupplies it, you
know, both with foil, and moiſture. He was their Jupiter Pluvius (70), as well as their
chief River-god; and it may be therefore, perhaps, that he is called by an antient
writer (71), the Egyptian Jupiter. The Sphynx by him, may allude either to the fa-
mous (72) ſtatue of the Sphynx on his bank, in the plain of Memphis; or to the myftic
(73) knowledge, fo much cultivated in Egypt. The children, that are playing about him,
are fixteen (74) in number; to denote the ſeveral rifings of the river every year, fo far as
to the heighth of fixteen cubits: as Pliny tells us, in ſpeaking perhaps of the very ſtatue
now in the Vatican, of which this is a copy.
You fee, the water flows down here, from under his robe; which conceals the urn,
or fource, of it: and I have ſeen ſome modern ſtatues of the Nile, (perhaps copied from
fome antient one,) in which this deity has pulled his robe fo far over his head, that he
has quite hid it. Both theſe methods allude to the head or fource of this river (75) not
being diſcovered by the antients: and both ſeem (76) to be hinted at, in the antient poets.
The noble figure of the Nile, from which this is copied (77), is of Bafalt or black marble;
and even the very colour of it may not be (78) without its fignification.
(68)
!
Virgineæ (mirabile monftrum!)
Quot prius æratæ fteterant ad litora proræ,
Reddunt fe totidem facies; pontoque feruntur.
Obftupuere animi Rutulis: conterritus ipfe
Turbatis Meffapus equis: cunctatur & Amnis
Rauca fonans; revocatque pedem Tiberinus ab alto.
Virgil. Æn. 9. . 125.
y.
(69) Ipfe pater flavis Tiberinus abhorruit undis ;
Suftulit e medio nubilus amne caput: &c.
Ovid. Confol. ad Liv. y. 122.
(70) Te propter nullos tellus tua poftulat imbres;
Arida nec Pluvio fupplicat herba Jovi.
Tibullus, Lib. 1. El. 7. . 26.
¥.
(71) Aiyuπlie Zeu, Neλe. Parmeno Byzantius;
as quoted by Athenæus, 1. 5.
(72) This figure is faid to have been cut out of
the rock there. The head and neck of it, which
ftill appear, are 27 foot high: and the part concealed
by the yearly rifing of the ground, from the over-
flow of the Nile, muſt be much more; in propor-
tion to its breaft, which is 33 foot broad; and its
length, which is 113: according to Dr. Pocock's ac-
count, in his Travels, Vol. I. p. 46.
(73)
Si Sphyngos iniquæ
Callidus ambages, te præmonftrante, refolvi.
Statius, Theb. 1. y. 66.
(74) Nunquam hic [lapis, quem vocant Bafalten]
major repertus eft, quam in Templo Pacis ab impera-
tore Vefpafiano dicatus, argumento Nili; fexdecim
VIRGIL,
liberis circa ludentibus: per quos totidem cubiti fum-
mi incrementi augentis fe amnis intelliguntur. Lib.
36. c. 7. p. 479. Ed. Elz.
Theſe ſeem to have been the cubits which meaſured
the height of the overflow of the Nile, perfonified:
and if fo, may fhew that the Egyptians were as bold
in their allegories, as any of the Roman pocts.
Ειπε τον Νειλον ειδες γραφη μεμιμήνου, αυτον μεν κει
μενου επι κροκοδειλη τινος, η ιπποπο]αμε μικρα δε
τινα παιδια παρ' αυτον παιζοντα. Πήχεις αυτές οι Αι
γυπτιοι καλυσία Lucian, Tom. 2. p. 311. Ed.
Blaeu.
(75) Te fontium qui celat origines
Nilufque, & Ifter, te rapidus Tigris, &c.
-
-
Horat. Lib. 4. Od. 14. ¥. 45.
(76) Ille fluens dives feptena per oftia Nilus,
Qui patriam tantæ tam bene celat aquæ ;
Fertur in Evadne collectam Afopide flammam
Vincere gurgitibus non potuiffe fuis.
Ovid. Lib. 3. El. 6. ¥. 42.
Nilus in extremum fugit perterritus orbem ;
Occuluitque caput, quod adhuc latet.
(77) See Note 74, anteh.
Id. Met. 2. .255.
(78) Mr. Addiſon fays, (in his Travels, p. 239.)
that he has read in fome author, that the ftatues of the
Nile were generally made of black marble: in allufion
to its coming from Æthiopia.
Ufque coloratis amnis devexus ab Indis.
Virgil. Georg. 4. . 293. (of the Nile.}
230
POLYMETIS.
PL. XXXI.
J
VIRGIL, in his account of the fine work on Æneas's fhield, gives us a picture of this
River-god; with that greatneſs of imagination, which he ſhews ſo particularly, when he
is defcribing divinities. He defcribes him there, as of a vaſt ſize; and with a mix-
ture of fright and concern, on his face; fpreading out all his robe, and inviting the
diſtreſſed, defeated fleet of Cleopatra, to the inmoft receffes of his ftreams. That whole
paffage is as juſt, as it is great; and I queſtion, whether Virgil may not allude in it to the
dark marble his ftatues were uſually made of (79), as well as to the concealment of his
fource.
?
THE figure that you ſee thro' that ſhort vifto to the left hand, is the Tigris; as that to
FIG. 3,& 4. the right, is the Euphrates. The former of theſe River-gods is very well diſtinguiſhed
from all the others I have met with, by the tiger on which he reſts his right arm. The
Euphrates, (if it be the Euphrates, for I am not quite certain of it,) is marked out by
the palm-branch which he holds in his hand. I choſe to place them ſo near one another,
becauſe they are faid to ſpring from (80) the fame fource. They appear together on a
medal of Trajan (81); on which the genius of Mefopotamia is reprefented, kneeling at.
that emperor's feet; with the Tigris on one fide of her, and the Euphrates on the other:
and Ovid (82) ſpeaks of them, as carried together in a triumph.
寬
​4
A LITTLE Winding walk led them from theſe, to the figures of the Danube and the
PL. XXXI. Rhine. They were both fitting: each with his urn; and each with dignity: only the
FIG. 5,& 6.
Danube was diſtinguiſhed by a large veil, floating over his head. The figure of the
Danube which you fee here, fays Polymetis, was copied after one, on a medal of Trajan:
tho' the fineſt I ever faw of this River-god, is on the column fet up in honour of the fame
emperor, at Rome. I could not fo well make uſe of that, becauſe it would ſcarce have
done for a fountain; and indeed ought not to be detached from the other figures about it,
in that hiſtorical piece of work. He is one of the firft figures on that column; very near
the baſe and appears there, from the waift upward; as rifing out of his ftream, to
ſhew his duty to the Romans; and to ſupport the bridge of boats, they had laid over it.
This is not expreſſed in Bartoli's edition of the Columna Trajana; but on the column
itſelf, if you obſerve it well, you may diſcern the hand of the god, (tho' partly covered
with the water,) is ſtretched quite to the bridge, and fome way under it; as willing to
ſupport it: ſo that he appears there in an attitude, juſt contrary to that (83) in which
(79)
Omnis eo terrore Ægyptus & Indi,
Omnis Arabs, omnes verterunt terga Sabæi.
Ipfa videbatur ventis Regina vocatis
Vela dare; & laxos jam jamque immittere funes:
Illam inter cædes pallentem morte futurâ
Fecerat ignipotens undis & läpyge ferri :
Contra autem, magno mærentem corpore Nilum,
Pandentemque finus, & totâ vefte vocantem
Cæruleum in gremium latebrofaque flumina victos.
Virgil. Æn. 8. .713.
He invites the vanquished fugitives; " To his dark
bofom, and moſt hidden ſtreams:" The former of
which expreffions alludes to his own colour, as the
latter does to the fource of his river being hid and un-
known..
(80)
Quos non diverfis fontibus edit
Perfis, & incertum tellus fi mifceat amnes.
Lucan, 3. . 257.
Or, as a later writer fays, more exprefly :
Tigris & Euphrates uno fe fonte refolvunt.
Boetius.
(81) Agoſtini Med. p. 107. Fig. 1.
(82) Spectabunt læti juvenes, miftæque puellæ ;
Diffundetque animos omnibus illa dies.
Atque aliqua ex illis cum regum nomina quæret,
Quæ Loca, qui Montes, quæve ferantur Aquæ ;
Omnia refponde, nec tantum fi qua rogabit ;
Virgil
Et quæ nefcieris, ut bene nota refer.
Hic eft Euphrates, præcinctus arundine frontem ;
Cui coma dependet cærula, Tigris erit.
Hoc facito Armenios; &c..
Ovid. de Art. Am. 1. . 225.
(83) Virgil mentions the figure of Araxes; in the
work on Æneas's fhield.
Hic Lelegas, Carafque, fagittiferofque Gelonos
Finxerat: Euphrates ibat jam mollior undis;
Extremique hominum Morini, Rhenufque bicornis ;
Indomitique Dahæ, & pontem indignatus Araxes.
En. 8. . 728.
This laft expreffion might be drawn from fome
known figure of the Araxes; in which, (by the rule
of contraries,) that River-god was reprefented as
ſhoving down fome bridge, which the Romans had
built over his ftream. "In this work, fays Virgil,
Euphrates let his ſtreams fall not fo rapidly from him,
as they did before he was conquered: there were the
Dahæ, formerly looked on as invincible; and that
Araxes, who would not ſuffer our bridge to remain
over his waters." This may be the poetical meaning
of this paffage; tho' I doubt not it is more apt, to ap-
pear literal, to most of the readers of Virgil in our
times and country.
DIALOGUE the Fourteenth.
231
Virgil ſeems to me to deſcribe the Araxes. I do not remember any thing in the poets,
that is faid perfonally of the Danube. Ovid, tho' he mentions the Danube ſo often,
eſpecially in his epiftles from Pontus, has nothing defcriptive of his perfon: that poet's
ſpirits were then gone; and he never rifes above meer literal. expreffions, wherever he
fpeaks of him. The Rhine is ſpoken of perfonally, by feveral of the poets. They de-
fcribe him fometimes as conquered by the Romans (84), all ruffled and wounded; and
ſometimes in the low (85) ſtate of a captive: fometimes as (86) yielding; and fometimes
as (87) received into favour on his fubmiffion, and reſtored to all his former honours by
them: in all which cafes it is remarkable that they never fpeak of him, without putting
us in mind, at the fame time, of their own conquefts and their own vanity.
I SHOULD have been glad to have had fome other River-gods here, and particularly
feveral of the Italian ones; but have not yet been able to meet with their figures.
What I have moſt regretted miffing, is that of the Eridanus, or Po. When I was first
in Italy, I remember to have ſeen a ſmall figure of him, in fome palace at Rome; with
the head of a bull, and all the other parts human. I did not then note down where it
was; and I could never fince recover it. If I could, I would certainly have had a copy
from it here; tho' enlarged, and made more worthy of the (88) King of all the Rivers of
Italy. I would have raiſed a mount for him, fomewhere hereabouts; against the middle
of which, he might have reclined, and held down his urn: from which, the waters ought
to have run down the roughneffes of the mount (89) in large quantities, and with a good
deal of noife and rapidity. His having a head like that of a bull, would have diftin-
guiſhed him well enough from all the other rivers of Italy; a thing which their poets do
not attribute to any of them that I know of, except this; and, perhaps, the Aufidus (99).
The reaſon why the antient poets and artiſts gave the head of a bull to Eridanus, may
be from that river's having its fource from mount Vefo; the highest mountain in that
range of the Alps, which were antiently called the Alpes Taurine: and which makes a
very diſtinguiſhed figure when you take a view of thoſe mountains from Turin, the
capital of the antient Taurini; tho' it is above forty miles diftant from it.
:
THE ftatues of Eridanus were no doubt highly worshipped, and honoured by the
Romans, in the Auguſtan age; as being then the chief of all the Rivers of Italy. One
way of their fhewing their devotion, or particular reſpect, to their River-gods, was by
(91) gilding their horns. Now taking it for granted that they paid a compliment to
their greateſt River-god, which was commonly paid to thoſe of lefs regard with them;
(84) Cornibus hic fractis, viridi male tectus ab ulvâ,
Decolor ipfe fuo fanguine, Rhenus erit.
(In the triumph of Germanicus,) Ovid. Trift. Lib. 4. .2, 42.
(85) Thus was he repreſented under the famous
equeſtrian ſtatue of Domitian; deſcribed by Statius,
Lib. 1. Sylv. 1.
Ænea captivi crinem terit ungula Rheni.
(86) Tradiderat famulas jam tibi Rhenus aquas.
.51.
this
the Po. Da quell' altra fontana, (da Plinio Vifenda
nominata,) qual é più baffa, ha principio il Po; come
etiandio fcrive Strabone, nel 4 libro. Scende adun-
que da quefta fontana un rivo di chiara aqua, per
ftretti, difficili, & ftrabbocchevoli balci; & cafca
molto precipitofamente, fra quelle picciole valli, ſo-
pra il ſaffofo monte: & poi eſce fuori preſſo terra 40
braccia, parendo quindi fcaturire & ufcir; con tanto
empito & forza, & parimente con tant' abbondanza
d'acqua, che é cofa maravigliofa. Nel cader fuo fo-
(Giving up his urn to Germanicus,) Ovid. Faft. 1. y. 286. pra i faffi, dé quali fon pieni tutti, ì luoghi vicini alle
(87) Nympharum pater Amniumque, Rhene,
Quicunque Odryfias bibunt pruinas!
Sic femper liquidis fruaris undis ;
Sic et cornibus aureus receptis,
Et Romanus eas utrâqua ripâ: &c.
(On Trajan's return,) Martial, Lib. 10. Ep. 7.
(88) Fluviorum Rex Eridanus.
Virgil. Georg. 1. .482.
(89) Alberti, (fpeaking of two fountains on mount
Vefo,) gives the following account of the fource of
radici del monte, che continoamente caddono al detto,
fa grandiffimo ſtrepito & rimbombo. Leon. Alb.
Italia. p. 386.
(90) Horace calls the Aufidus, Tauriformis, (Lib.
4. Od. 14. .25.) by which he may mean, either
that in his ſtatues he had the head of a bull, or elſe
that his whole form refembled that animal.
(91) See Note 87, anteh.
Ooo
232
POLYMETIS.
bos
ور اسم إيران
this fact will fet fome lines of Virgil in a very clear light, which are otherwife perhaps
apt to appear ridiculous, to moſt of his readers at prefent. The lines I mean are in the
ſtory of Ariſtæus ; where, tho' the poet is fpeaking of all the rivers of the earth in
gene-
ral, he takes care to diftinguish their own great River, the Po, in a particular manner.
Jamque domum mirans genetricis, & humida regna,
Speluncifque lacus claufos, lucofque fonantes,
Ibat; &, ingenti motu ftupefactus aquarum,
Omnia fub magnâ labentia flumina terrâ
Spectabat diverfa locis. Phafimque, Lycumque;
Et caput, unde altus primùm fe erumpit Enipeus:
Unde pater Tiberinus, & unde Ariena fluenta;
Saxofumque fonans Hypanis, Myfufque Caïcus:
Et, gemina auratus taurino cornua vultu,
Eridanus; quo non alius per pinguia culta
In mare purpureum violentior effluit amnis (92).
1
WHAT you have advanced, fays Myfagetes, of Eridanus's being reprefented with the
head of a bull, and of his having his horns gilded; will account perhaps very well for
the expreffions in this paffage which relate to the countenance of that River-god, and his
golden horns: but there is another thing in it, with which I am not yet fatisfied; and
that is Virgil's calling the Po here," the moſt violent of all rivers." I know, one of the
moſt celebrated and moſt ingenious writers of our age has endeavoured to ſoften this, by
underſtanding it only (93) of the rivers in Italy. But, (not to enquire at all whether the
Po be really the moſt violent of all the rivers in Italy,) how can Virgil be underſtood of
the rivers of one country only, where he is exprefly ſpeaking of all the rivers (94) of the
world? and of one common point, from whence all their fources were anciently ſuppoſed
to be derived?
I Am not quite clear as to that expreffion, replied Polymetis: but to anſwer you as
far as I can, I muſt give you the opinion of a man whom you both know; and whoſe
name I need not mention to you, when I have told you it is the perſon, who under-
ſtands Virgil in a more maſterly manner, than perhaps any one in this age. It is his
opinion, (with all that modefty, with which he generally offers his opinions,) that the
difficulty you mention may poffibly be got over, by the expreffion joined with it; per
pinguia culta. The moſt violent rivers in the world are fuch as run, or fall, thorough
a chain of mountains; and, (not to ſpeak of any of the Apennine rivers, or rather tor-
rents, in Italy itſelf,) the Ifar, which we crofs fo often in the two or three laft days
journey before we enter into Italy, is (in all that part of its courſe,) much more violent,
and more diſturbed, than the Po. But the Po, you know, very foon after its fource,
flows on thro' the vale of Piemont; and afterwards, traverſes all the rich vale of Lom-
bardy. Theſe are the Pinguia Culta, which Virgil ſpeaks of: almoſt the whole courſe
of the Po, is thorough fuch rich low ground: and perhaps there may not be any river in
the world, which has almoſt all its courſe through fo flat and rich a foil, which is fo
violent as the Po is.
THE Roman poets mention ſeveral other rivers of Italy in a perfonal manner, befide
the laſt mentioned: but I have not met with the figures of any of them, among
the remains of the artiſts; or at leaſt, have not been able to diſtinguiſh them, where I
may have met with them. According to Horace, the figure of the Aufidus fhould have
the head of a bull, as well as Eridanus; or perhaps be yet more (95) taurine. The
(92) Virgil. Georg. 4. *. 373.
(93) See Mr. Addiſon's Travels, p. 72.
(94) Omnia fub magnâ labentia flumina terrâ.
Georg. 4. . 366.
(95) Sic tauriformis volvitur Aufidus,
Qui regna Dauni perfluit Apuli;
Cum fævit, horrendamque cultis
Diluviem meditatur agris.
Mincius
Horat. Lib 4. Od. 14. Y. 28.
DIALOGUE the Fourteenth.
233
*
repre-
Mincius fhould be (96) crowned with reeds, according to what Virgil fays in one place ;
as he fhews us the reafon for it, in another. The Anio, I think, would be well
ſented, as plunging downwards (97); and Statius may poffibly allude to fome fuch figures
of him, of old. The neighbouring goddefs of the Albula might be eaſily diſtinguiſhed,
in a painting, by her (98) fulphur-coloured hair. Numicius, fhould be (99) fmall him-
felf; and with a little urn, fuitable to his ftream: Vulturnus, on the contrary, fhould
be very large; and with his hair mixed with fand, or coloured like it; if we may truſt
to what Statius (100) fays of him. I fhould have been glad to have found him on any
relievo, in the attitude in which that poet deſcribes him; tho' he introduces him on ſo vile
an occafion, as that of commending one of their worſt emperors. But of all theſe River-
gods, there are two in particular whofe figures I have fought after much; tho' as yet with-
out any fuccefs. One is Curtius; the hero who devoted his own life, to fave his country:
and the other Egeria; who inſpired Numa, with the laws he made to regulate ſo wild
and barbarous a people, as the Romans originally were. Curtius, after plunging into the
caverns (101) of the earth, was fuppofed to become the prefiding deity of that little lake,
on the fpot where he performed fo glorious an action. It is juſt befide the Via Sacra;
and ſtill bears his name. Statius has a deſcription of him, as the deity of this lake: and
feems to have borrowed his ideas from fome old ftatue of him; which, in his time, ſeems
to have been all over-run with mofs (102); or that fort of green, which
you may have
obſerved on Bernini's Triton-ſtatue, in the Piazza Barbarini at Rome. He ſpeaks of
his wreath of oak: that fort of crown, which the Romans gave to ſuch as ſaved the life
of a citizen; and which belonged much more juſtly to fuch as had ſaved (103) the ſtate.
It is hence, that the flattery of the artiſts has given this oaken wreath to most of the Ro-
man emperors, on the reverſe of their medals; and it was for the fame reaſon, I fuppofe,
that there was one ufually hung up, over the (104) entrance to their palace. Curtius
wore it, as the preſerver of his country. He was a true patriot River-god; and Egeria
deſerved fomething of the fame character: for fuch as give good laws, are often of
more uſe to a nation, even than thoſe who facrifice their lives for it. There is no true fta-
tue, that I know of, of Egeria. There is indeed, as you may remember, the figure of a
perfon reclined at the upper end of her grotto near Rome: but it is fo defaced by time,
and by the water that guſhes out all about it, that one cannot diftinguiſh whether it was
ever meant for her; or indeed, whether it may be any Water-goddeſs at all. It may as
well have been the figure of an old Roman foldier, reprefented on the cover of fome
(96)
Mincius.
Velatus arundine glaucâ
Virgil. Æn. 10. . 206.
✯.
-Tardis ingens ubi flexibus errat
Mincius ; & tenerâ prætexit arundine ripas.
Sarcophagus,
(101) It was a vaſt Hiatus in the earth, into which
this hero plunged armed, and on horſeback; accord-
ing to Livy's account. Lib. 7. §. 6. He is repre-
fented in this action on a fine relievo, at the Villa
Borgheſe, near Rome; and I have ſeen the ſtory on
Id. Geor. 3. . 15. fome gems, in which there are flames iffuing out of
the gulph.
(97) Illis ipfe antris Anienus fonte relicto
Nocte fub arcanâ glaucos exutus amictus,
Hue illuc fragili profternit pectora muſco :
Aut ingens in ftagna cadit.-
y.
Statius, Lib. 1. Sylv. 3. . 73.
(98) Illic fulphureos cupit Albula mergere crines.
(99)
(102) Ipfe loci cuftos, cujus facrata vorago
Famofufque lacus nomen memorabile fervat ;
Ut fenfit mugire forum, movet horrida fancto
Ora fitu; meritâque caput venerabile quercu.
Statius, Lib. 1. Sylv. 1. y. 70.
Id. Ibid. .75.
(103)
-Umbrata gerunt civili tempora quercu.
Virgil. Æn. 6. ✯.771..
(104) Protegat & veftras querna corona fores.
Ovid. Faft. 1. †. 614.
May Jupiter, fays
Ubi tectus arundine ferpit
In freta flumineis vicina Numicius undis.
Ovid. Met. 14. ✯. 599.
That poet deſcribes him there perſonally, as aſſiſting
in the deification of Æneas; and, in another place,
as raviſhing Anna, the fiſter of Dido. Faſt. 3. .648.
3
(100)
Flavum caput humidumque latè
Crinem mollibus impeditus ulmis,
Vulturnus levat ora; maximoque
Pontis Cæfarei reclinis arcu;
Pandis talia faucibus redundat.
He is praying for Auguftus.
he, add to your dominion, and to your years! and
may the ſacred wreath of oak, that hangs over your
doors, always protect your houſe! May others fuc-
ceed you,
you, with as facred a name as your own; and
Statius, Lib. 4. Sylv. 3. .71. make us as happy, as you have done !"
234
POLYMETIS.
Sarcophagus, in the manner that one often fees them; and, to fay the truth, has more
the air of fuch a figure than of a Water-deity. The ftatue that is generally called Egeria,
in a garden belonging to the Juftiniani family, juft by the Porta del Popolo; and which is
publiſhed as a ſtatue of Egeria in Maffei's collection (105); has yet, lefs pretenfions than
the former. It is a woman indeed; but then ſhe has two urns, and ftands quite upright;
whereas River-deities, as I mentioned before, are always more or lefs reclined. In this
want of a figure of Egeria, all one can learn of her is what one may conjecture from a
deſcription of her in Ovid. I thould imagine from that account (106) of her, that her
figure fhould be reclined, and in a melancholy poſture; as refting on her hand, and
weeping extremely: for he reprefents her as lying at the foot of a hill, and lamenting
the lofs of Numa; where Diana, (obſerving the greatneſs of her affliction,) out of com-
paffion, turned her body into a fountain;, and made her foul the prefiding genius over
it. This deſcription in Ovid agrees very well with the place, which is now called her
Grotto; where the old ftatue I was fpeaking of, lies: but that ſtatue is not at all to be
depended upon, becauſe the Grott has been new ordered, feveral times (107), fince Ovid's
days.
+
Vedi
E
:
SEVERAL of the more famous rivers of Greece, are defcribed perfonally in the Roman
poets;
but with the fame inconvenience, that I have been just complaining of: for
either there are not any repreſentations in the remains of the old artiſts, to be confronted
with thofe defcriptions; or, at leaft, I do not know of any fuch. Peneus was looked
on as the chief of all rivers, among the Greeks, juft as Eridanus was among the Romans;
or as we in England are apt to call the Thames, the nobleft river in the world. It was
hence probably, that they fuppofed the point whence all rivers had their rife (108), to
be near the ſource of the Peneus. The great cafeade he makes on his iffuing out of
mount Pindus, and his cave beneath it, are more diftinctly (109) fpoken of by Ovid, than
the figure of the god himfelf. Inachus is deſcribed, by Valerius Flaccus (110), as quite
reclined; and by Statius (111), as fitting, and leaning againſt a bank; holding his urn
floping,
(105) The collection of ftatues, printed by Roffi; and thence her grotto, grove, and vale, near Rome,
No. 86.
!
(106) Non tamen Egeriæ luctus aliena levare
Damna valent; montifque jacens radicibus imis
Liquitur in lachrymas. Donec pietate dolentis
Mota foror Phœbi, gelidum de corpore fontem
Fecit; & æternas artus tenuavit in undas.
Met. 15. . 551
$.
(107) Juvenal complains of their having ſpoiled
part of the natural beauties of this place, by their a-
dorning it with marble; in his time.
·
In vallem Egeriæ defcendimus, & fpeluncas
Diffimiles veris. Quanto præftantius effet
Numen aquæ, viridi fi margine clauderet undas
Herba, nec ingenuum violarent marmora tophum?'
Sat. 3. .20.
There is now a long ftone-table in the midft of it,
which is faid to have been placed there in the time of
Charles V; when that emperor had the curiofity to..
dine in the place, where Numa uſed to receive his
laws.
·
For the more antient accounts of it, ſee Note 63,
anteh.
What Juvenal calls the Vallis Egeriæ, I take to be
the fame with what Ovid calls the Arician Vale;
(Met. 15. . 488.) Vitruvius, the Arician Grove:
(Lib. 8. c. 3. p.157.) and Statius, the Arician Grotto..
(Lib. 5. Sylv. 3. . 291.) Not that beautiful vale,
under the town of Aricia; but that pretty one, near
Rome, where it is univerfally agreed that the grotto
of Egeria is. Perhaps Egeria was a native of Aricia;
might be called Aricina: or the might be particularly
worſhipped at Aricia, and her ſtatue in the grotto
near Rome, might be confecrated to the Egeria Ari-
cina as there is a church dedicated to the Virgo Lau-
retana now in Rome; and as I have ſeen a chapel,
which they call the chapel of Loretto, in Flanders.
(108) Virgil, Georg. 4. ✯. 363–369.
(109) Eft nemus Hæmoniæ, prærupta quod undique claudit
Sylva; vocant Tempe; per quæ Penëus ab imo
Effufus Pindo fpumofis volvitur undis :
(110)
(111)
Dejectuque gravi tenues agitantia fumos
Nubila conducit, fummafque afpergine fylvas
Impluit, & fonitu plus quàm vicina fatigat.
Hæc domus, hæc fedes, hæc funt penetralia magni
Amnis. In hoc refidens facto de cautibus antro
Undis jura dabat, Nymphifque colentibus undas.
Conveniunt illuc popularia Flumina primùm:---
Moxque Amnes alii.
Veneranda fluenti
Effigies te, Phafi, manet; quàm magnus Enipeus,
Et pater aurato quantus jacet Inachus antro.
Flac. Argon. 5. 4. 210.
Pater ipfe bicornis
In lævum pronâ nixus fedet Inachus urnâ.
Statius, Theb, 2. ✯. 218.
Pater ordine juncto
Lævus arundineæ recubanfque fub aggere ripa
Cernitur, emiffæque indulgens Inachus urna.
Id. Ib. 6. *. 275.
›
DIALOGU E the Fourteenth.
235
floping, and pouring the waters out of it; and, (as the tafte began to be corrupted with
finery in their time,) one of them feems to celebrate his cave, for being all ornamented
with gilding on the infide: which was yet worſe than the regular marble-work, which
was introduced into Egeria's grotto, about the fame time. -Any figure of Achelons
would be eaſy to be diſtinguiſhed from all his brother River-gods, by his having loft one
of his horns (112); if his crown of reeds, or willow, did not hide that defect. We
have a full picture of Ifmenus, in Statius's Thebaïd. According to that poct, he fhould
be of a vaſt fize, with a pine-tree in one hand, and his urn under the other. He fhould
have his horns interwove with creffes, or other herbs that grow in the water; and mofs
all over his neck and ſhoulders. In that poet you fee him rifing (113) above the river he
prefides over; his hair mixed with froth, and the water falling from his beard, fo faft
and in fuch quantities, that it makes a ftream all down his breaſt: his hair is loaded with
icicles (114) ; and he drops his pine and urn on being ſtruck with the fudden and violent
complaints of one of his water-nymphs. His face is (115) diſturbed, and in a paffion;
and half covered with the water and fand (116), that run down from his hair.
ONE might form a very good idea for a fountain-ſtatue, from this defcription of the
Imenos in Statius: but were I to introduce any figure in this part of my gardens, which
was not copied from fome work of the antient artiſts, I fhould rather chufe to borrow it
from Ovid's defcription of Acis than any other. You know the Loves of Acis and the
Nereid Galatea. One day, as they were fitting together under a rock by the fea-fide,
Polyphemus faw them from far, and run toward them. Galatea, plunged into the fea;
and Acis fled, as faft as his fears could carry him, from fo formidable an enemy. Poly-
phemus purſued him, with the broken fragment of a rock in his hands; and when he
came near enough, flung it at the unfortunate lover. The rock crushed him to death
and ſplit itſelf, in feveral pieces, in its fall. When the Cyclops came up to him, how
great muft his aſtoniſhment be, to find new created reeds growing thro' all the places
where the rock was fplit? to hear waters gurgling from within, as they rofe to the top
of the broken rock, and then falling down on every fide of it? and in fine to ſee a youth
rife, breaſt-high, above thoſe waters; in every thing like Acis, excepting all that ad-
ditional dignity of a River-god, juſt then conferred upon him by the influence of his
dear Galatea? Acis himſelf (juſt as he is defcribed by Ovid (117)) for the fountain-figure;
and the Cyclops, on one fide of it; as ſtopping fhort, with that mixture of rage and
furprize which ought to appear on his countenance; would to my mind be a better
ſubject for a fountain-ſtory, than any one in all that number they have made uſe of to
adorn the gardens of Verfailles. I do not mean by this, that I would chufe complex
fubjects for fountains. On the contrary, I fhould think the fingle figure of Acis, and his
rock, better for a fountain by itſelf; than when, either with his rival, or his miſtreſs, by
his fide: but where complex ftories are to be made ufe of, I ſhould imagine this ftory
would ferve better, than the Revenge of the Frogs on Latona, or even the Reception of
Apollo by the Nereids: which I mention as two of the propereſt ſtories for fountains,
· (112)
Herculeâ turpatus gymnade vultus
(115)
Amnis.
Statius. Theb. 4. . 106.
Vultus Achelous agreftes,
(113)
(114)
Et lacerum cornu mediis caput abdidit undis ; —-----
Cætera fofpes erat: capitis quoque fronde falignâ,
Aut fuperimpofitâ celatur arundine damnum.
Ovid. Met. 9. . 100.
¥.
-Tantus tumido de gurgite furgit;
Spumofum attollens apicem, lapfuque fonoro
Pectora cæruleæ rivis manantia barbæ.
Statius, Theb. 9. .415.
Levat afpera mufco
Colla, gravemqué gelu crinem: ceciditque folutâ
Pinus adulta manu; demiffaque volvitur urna.
1
Id.. Ib. . 140.
Stetit arduus alto
Ámne manuque genas & nexa virentibus ulvis
Cornua concutiens, fic turbidus ore profundo
Incipit.
that
Ib. . 421.
Ib. 484
(116) Turbidus imbre genas, & nube natantis arena.
(117)
PPP
}
-Tum moles jacta dehifck,
Vivaque per rimas proceraque furgit arundo;
Ofque cavum faxi fonat exultantibus undis:
Miraque res! Subitò mediâ tenus extitit alvo
Incinctus juvenis flexis nova cornua cannis.
Qui nifi quòd major, quòd toto cærulus ore eft,
Acis erat.
Ovid. Met. 13. y. 896
!
230
POLYMETIS.
that I can remember, in thoſe celebrated gardens of a monarch, who is allowed, (even
by his enemies,) to have been one of the greateft, and the most magnificent, of any Eu-
rope has produced in our times.
5 '
EVERY River-god was fuppofed to be attended by feveral goddeffes of an inferior
nature, called Naiads; of whom, (as I obferved to you in the cafe of the Nereids,} the
poets ſay ſcarce any thing that is particular. What we learn of them in general is,
that they were ſuppoſed to live in the palaces of the prefiding deities of fountains (118),
lakes, and rivers. We have the names of no lefs than fixteen of theſe deities, given us
by Virgil (119); in his account of Cirene's apartment only, in the watry palace of Peneus:
and Ovid ſpeaks of a hundred, at leaſt (20 in the river Anio. They had often a name,
(121) from the particular river they inhabited. They are deſcribed with long (122),
bright hair, flowing down their ſhoulders their faces, ſhould have a ſhining (123), hu-
mid look, (not unlike the Venus Anaduomenè of Apelles :) their ſhape ſhould be fine,
and their limbs well turned. Their robes, when they wear any, (for they are moſt
commonly quite naked,) fhould be of a greeniſh caſt (124); varied at pleaſure, fome into
lighter, and fome into darker fhades: and fo thin, that you might difcover all the turn
of their limbs, and the fineneſs of their fkin thorough them. They have fometimes little
flying veils (125), (in gems of the antients,) over their heads; like thoſe goddeffes of the
air, which the Romans called Auræ, and which we call Sylphs. Ovid dreffes his Naiads
with a good deal of variety (126); where he introduces them, as attending at a feaſt.
Indeed this was their ufual employment: and, (to fay the truth,) they feem to have
been little better than ſo many domeſticks to the prefiding Water-deities. Al-
moſt all that we hear of them is, that they are lodged in their palaces (127); work (128),
and tell ftories together: and then come, and (129) wait at table.
(118)
Illum Fontana petebant
Numina Naïades; quas Albula, quafque Numicî,
Quafque Anienis aquæ, curfuque breviffimus Almo,
Narque tulit præceps, & amœnæ Farfarus umbræ ;
Quæque colunt Scythicæ regnum nemorale Dianæ ;
Finitimofque lacus.
Ovid. Met. 14. . 332.
(119) See Virgil. Georg.4. . 336, to 340; and 343,
to 345.
(120) Ilia, pone metus: tibi Regia noftra patebit,
Teque colent amnes; Ilia, pone metus :
Tu centum aut plures inter dominabere Nymphas ;
Nam centum aut plures flumina noſtra tenent.
Ovid. Lib. 3. El. 6. *.64.
(121) Thus the Water-nymphs, in the river If
menos, were called Ifmenides; (Statius, Theb. 9.
. 319.) and thoſe in the Tiber, Tiberinides: (Ovid.
·Faft. 2. *. 597.)
(122) Cæfariem effufæ nitidam per candida colla.
Virgil. Georg. 4. ✯. 347.
(123) Ite, Deæ virides; liquidofque advertite vultus!
Statius, Lib. 1. Sylv: 5. y. 18.
Annuerunt omnes Tiberinides udæ.
Ovid. Faft. 2. y. 597.
(124) Valerius Flaccus, in his account of the rape
of Hylas, (where by the way, he gives ſeveral other
particulars of the Naiads,) introduces the nymphs of
the water hunting, with thoſe of the woods; and
dreffes them all in green robes.
Pulchro venantes agmine nymphas ;
Undarum, nemorumque decus. Levis omnibus arcus,
Et manicæ virides, & ſtrictâ myrtus avenâ :
Summo palla genu. Tenui vagus innatat umbrâ
Crinis, ad obfcura decurrens cingula mammæ.
Argon. 3. . 526.
-Caput glauco contexit amictu
Multa gemens, & fe fluvio Dea condidit alto.
Virgil. Æn. 12. y. 889.
As
Virgil fpeaks this.of Juturna, fifter of Turnus
She was a Naiad; and, in particular, one of the Ti-
berinides. See her ftcry, in Ovid. Faſt. 2. ¥. 585
-606.
(125) Perhaps theſe are what Ovid calls, Carbafa;
(where he ſpeaks of the water and wood-nymphs,
as mourning.)
Obfcuraque carbafa pullo
Naiades & Dryades, paffofque habuere capillos.
Met. 11. . 49.
(126) Naiades effufis, aliæ fine pectinis ufu,
(127)
*.
Pars aderant comptis arte manuque comis.
Illa, fuper furas tunicam collecta miniſtrat ;
Altera, diffuto pectus aperta finu.
Exerit hæc humerum; veſtes trahit illa per herbas =
Impediunt teneras vincula nulla pedes.
Ovid. Faft. 1. .410.
Thalamo fub fluminis alti.
Virgil. Georg. 4. . 334-
(128) Inter quas curam Clymene narrabat inanem
Vulcani, Martifque dolos & dulcia furta;
Aque Chao denfos Divum numerabat amores:
Carmine quo captæ, dum fufiş mollia penfa
Devolvunt, &c.
(129)
Id. Ibid. . 349.
Manibus liquidos dant ordine fontes
Germanæ, tonfifque ferunt mantilia villis:
Pars epulis onerant menfas; & plena reponunt
Pocula.
So, in Achelous's grotto:
Ibid. . 379-
Protinus appofitas nude veftigia Nymphæ
Inftruxere epulis menías: dapibufque remotis,
In gemmâ pofuere merum.-
Ovid. Met. 8. *. 572,
DIALOGUE the Fourteenth.
237
As Polymetis ſaid this, they came into the laft opening; which was much wider
than any of the reft, and was bounded all along by the bank of the Thames. The
grove-work run quite down to the river, at each end of it; and three or four fountains,
with the ſtatue of a water-nymph to each of them, appeared along the margin of the
intervening woods; at proper, tho'. not quite equal diſtances, from one another. Their
particular fountains were ſupplied by the water from above; and run off, in little winding
ftreams, thro' the grafs; till they were received in the river. Theſe nymphs, ſays
Polymetis, are fo many Naiads that I have feen in fome work or other of the old artiſts;
and, as they are unknown and without names, you may, (if you pleaſe,) call them,
The Naiads of the Thames: a river, whofe Genius deferved a place among the moſt
celebrated River-gods of antiquity; and would probably have been as much celebrated
as any of them, had we happened to have been fituated nearer to the center of the Roman
empire. But we lay too far from them, to have been even heard of by the Romans, in
the earlieſt ages of their empire; and fo divided from all parts of it, that when they had
diſcovered our iſland at laft, they ſeem for a great while to have talked of it much in the
fame ſtyle that we ufed to talk of America. We were then the new world, and the other
world; according to their notions of us. Had Britain lain as near Rome, as Sicily does;
and in ſuch a ſituation, could have been as confiderable for trade, as it has been fince; I
doubt not, but that the Thame and Ifis would have been as much celebrated by the Ro-
man poets, I will not fay as their Alpheus and Arethufa, but as any of the rivers the
moſt conſidered and the moſt talked of in antiquity. We ſhould not then have been at a
lofs for figures of the venerable Thamus, on old medals and relievo's; and we might
poffibly have ſeen him there, crowned with oak: and holding the rudder of a ſhip in
his right hand, and a cornucopia, in his left; the former, to denote our dominion over
the ſea; and the latter, to fignify that plenty which he ſpreads on each fide his banks;
perhaps as much as any river, except the Nile.
I COULD fay much more in praiſe of the river before us: but as the evening is
coming on, and the dews begin to fall, we had better leave this damp part of my garden;
and
get within doors as faft as we can. When we are there, in defect of paffages from
the Roman poets, we may, (if you pleaſe,) read over what our own poets have faid of the
Thames; and perhaps we ſhall find ſome commendations of him in them, as well wrote,
and better founded, than many of the allegorical compliments, that were fo much in
the former.
Ruſhion among
فرتوتے جورو کار
237

XXX
L.P. Boilard Sculp

XXXI
IV
LP. Boitard Sculp
239
BOOK the Eighth.
DIAL. XV.
Of the Deities of the EARTH.
HE next morning Polymetis carried his two friends to his temple of the Ter-
reftrial Deities, oppofite to that of the Water Deities; at the foot of the hill:
and as they were going to it, "I need not now inform you, fays he, that the
antients abounded in this allegorical kind of beings, much more than is uſually imagined.
This is what I have obferved to you on ſeveral occafions already: but it will be yet more
evident from the claſs we are going to confider. For they had formerly fome deities re-
lating to our world, which, probably, you have never yet thought of; and perhaps may
not be ſo eaſy to admit, when I tell you of them. Nature was certainly repreſented as a
perfon by them. There was a ſtatue, ſuppoſed to be of this goddefs, in the Queen of
Sweden's collection (1); and another juſt like it, in the Marquis Cavalieri's, at Rome :
and, if you ſhould diſpute both of theſe, you may find her, with her name (2) ingraved
under her; on that famous relievo at the Colonna palace, which repreſents the deifica-
tion of Homer. The Great Diana of the Ephefians probably repreſented the fame god-
defs; as appears, (I think, very plainly,) from the various (3) fymbols on her figures:
and, in particular, there is one in the Great Duke's collection at Florence, with different
figures on it in four different compartiments, fignifying (4) the four Elements. The four
Elements themſelves are reprefented perfonally, in ſeveral (5) remains of the antient artiſts.
They made a perfonage too, to repreſent our whole globe (6); and another, of the (7) ha-
bitable part of it befide Cybele, who was the goddeſs moſt uſually ſuppoſed to preſide
over the earth; and who is therefore, generally, repreſented with a crown of turrets on
her head. The Earth itſelf, you know, was a goddeſs; and had temples confecrated to
her at Rome. Each part of the then known world, (Europe, Afia, and Africa,) made
their appearance among the imaginary beings of thoſe days; and perhaps, every king-
dom, and country, in each of them. Each celebrated city had its genius; and there were
deities to prefide over every ſtreet, every houſe, and each particular perſon in every
houſe. Even the woods, the fields, and the gardens, had each their peculiar deities;
and the very rocks, and mountains, were turned into perfonages. You will not expect that
I ſhould ſhow you all the figures I could procure under every one of theſe heads. They
would be too numerous for this, or any other temple: and I have only endeavoured to
get
(1) See Maffei's collection of ftatues; publiſhed nymphs with cornucopia's; and in the fourth, a
by Roffi, Nº. 121, and 134.
Water-nymph. See Muf. Flor. Vol. III. Pl. 20.
(2) See, Admir. Pl. 81.
(3) The fun, moon, and ſtars; all forts of animals,
and fruits; and a number of breaſts: to ſhow, that
ſhe produces, and nouriſhes, all things.
There is a Diana Epheſia, in Montfaucon, (Vol. I.
Pl. 96.) with this infcription. TEIE HANAIOAOƐ.
ПANT. MHT.
(4) In one of the compartiments, is Sol and Lunus ;
in another, three winged youths in a third, three
(5) In the entrance of the Florentine gallery, there
is a fine relievo, with three of them; and all the
four, are repreſented Pl. 9, anteh. and in the Adm.
N°. 22, 66, &c.
(6) See Pl. 32. Fig. 3. poſth.
(7) There is a female figure, on the Colonna-
marble; infcribed, OIKOUMENH.
Q¶¶
240
POLYMETIS.
FIG. I.
get either fuch of them, as were the moſt confiderable; or fuch, as were the moſt
likely to be of ſervice to my preſent purpoſe.
PL.XXXII. THIS figure in the center, (added he, as he entered the temple,) is the goddeſs of
Nature. She is repreſented, you ſee, with great fimplicity; her robes fall down to her
feet, (partly perhaps for dignity, and partly to fhew how much her ways are concealed
from us:) and ſhe has a baſket with fruits, on her head; as the cauſe of plenty, and
the producer of all things. The poets ſpeak but very ſeldom of this goddeſs perſonally:
and I remember only one picture of her, in any of their works; and that indeed is finely
imagined. It is in Statius's Achilleid where he is ſpeaking of the rebellion of the giants:
on which occafion, he reprefents Nature, as almoft breathless with fear; and with her
(8) eyes fteadily fixed on Jupiter, as confiding folely in his affiftance.
· THE fitting figure juft oppofite to the door, you ſee, is Cybele; and that, in a reclined
poſture, `on her right hand, is Tellus. Cybele is diſtinguiſhed fufficiently, from all the
PL.XXXII. reft by the pine-branch, in her hand; and the lion, on each fide of her chair. The
poets, and artiſts, fometimes gave her a chariot too drawn (9) by lions; and Ovid, in
particular, deſcribes her as defcending from the heavens to the earth (10), in the fame
equipage.
FIG. 2.
EVEN fome of the Roman profe-writers, ſpeak of Tellus perfonally (11); and at-
tribute paffions to her. Her figures are frequently (12) to be met with, in the remains of
the antient artiſts. I never faw any figure of Tellus, which was not in a reclining poſture:
for much the fame reaſon, I fuppoſe, that River-gods are always reclined; and the
deities of the air, flying and alert. The only confiderable deſcription I can recollect
(8) Sic cum bellantes Phlegræa in caftra coirent
Cœlicolæ ; jamque Odryfiam Gradivus in haftam
Surgeret, & Lybicos Tritonia tolleret angues s
Ingentemque manu curvaret Delius arcum:
Stabat, anhela metu, folum Natura Tonantem
Refpiciens.
(9) Et juncti currum dominæ fubiere leones.
from
did, to their Jupiter Pluvius.-The ladies at Rome
who are defirous of having children, pay their devo-
tions now, at the church of Santa Maria Maggiore; as
they did formerly, when it was the temple of Juno
Regina. They look on the virgin now, as the
Statius, Achil. 1:. 489. moſt preſent aid to women in labour; as they did
formerly, on their virgin-goddeſs Diana.-And they
have now in Italy perhaps as many and as magnifi-
cent proceffions, in her honour; as they had formerly
Virgil. Æn. 3. ✯. 113. to Cybele.-There is ſome reſemblance too in the
titles given to Cybele of old, and to the B. Virgin
now. The old Romans called Cybele, Domina;
Mater; Mater Cultrix; Divina Mater; Alma Pa-
rens Deûm; Sancta Deûm Genetrix; &, Mater
Deûm. As to the titles given to the Virgin Mary
in Italy at preſent, ſome that reſemble thefe will oc-
cur to every one; and to reckon them up all, might
Lucretius, 2. . 609. make this note, (which is but too long perhaps
already,) longer than my whole book.
Alma parens Idæa Deum; cui Dindyma cordi,
Turrigeræque urbes, bijugique ad fræna leones.
Id. Ibid. 10. . 253.
Hanc veteres Graiûm docti cecinere poetæ
Sedibus in curru bijugos agitare leones ;—
Muralique caput fummum cinxere coronâ :
Quo nunc infigni per magnas prædita terras
Horrificè fertur Divinæ Matris imago.
(10) Cum memor has pinus Idæo vertice cæfas
Sancta Deûm genetrix, tinnitibus aëra pulfi
Aris & inflati complevit murmure buxi ;
Perque leves domitis invecta leonibus auras,
"Irrita facrilegâ jactas incendia dexrrâ,
Turne, ait: eripiam," &c.
Ovid. Met. 14. . 540.
The goddeſs Cybele, was one of the higheſt dig-
nity, and worſhip; in the religion of the old Romans.
I have often thought, that ſeveral of the honours paid
by them to her, and ſeveral other of their deities,
have been at different times, united and transferred to
the worſhip of the Virgin Mary; by the artifices of
the Church of Rome. To mention a few inſtances,
out of many they now generally apply to the Virgin
Mary all over Italy, for rain; juft as the old Romans
I
(11) Perfequimur omnes ejus (Telluris) fibras ;
vivimufque fuper excavatam: mirantes dehifcere ali-
quando, aut intremiſcere illam. Ceu verò non hoc
etiam indignatione Sacræ Parenti exprimi poffit.
Pliny, 1. 33. Procem. p. 329. Ed. Elz.
(12) In the gems, where Sol is reprefented as fet-
ting out in his chariot.On Sarcophagus's ; where
you often have Tellus and Oceanus in the front; I
fuppofe, to fignify that the perfon inclofed in it was
returned to his firft elements.In pieces, relating to
the creation of man: and in many other fubjects,
where the four elements are introduced perfonally,
by the artift.-See Pl. 9.-Pl. 25. Fig. 3.-Pl. 26;
Fig. 4.-Pl. 27. Fig. 3, and 4, anteh.
DIALOGUE the Fifteenth.
241
from the Roman poets relating to this goddeſs, is in Ovid's (13) account of the Fall of
Phaeton. Ovid there hints, (I think, more than once,) at the low poſture of her
figures: but he has fo often daſhed the allegory and reality together, in that deſcription ;
that it is difficult enough to diſtinguiſh, where he is fpeaking of the earth as an element,
and where of Tellus as a goddeſs.
:
TELLUS is fometimes reprefented (14) with a globe, (or the Orbis terrarum;) in her
hand; and ſometimes the Orbis terrarum itſelf is perfonified, and appears under the figure
of a man: as on this medal, in particular, where you fee him quite naked; kneeling on PL.XXXII.
one knee and the emperor giving him his hand, to raiſe him up.
THE three great divifions of the world, Europe, Afia, and Africa, were repreſented
as perfons by the antient artiſts; and are fometimes ſpoken of as fuch, by their poets: tho'
to fay the truth this is much more common with the lower poets, than thoſe of the more
allowed ages.
;
FIG. 3.
I TAKE Europe to have been often meant, under the figure of Europa on her bull
as you fee her on this gem. This is a very common fubject with the old artifts: and PL.XXXII.
they ſeem to have been as fond of repeating it, as Ovid is; in whom we have three or FIG. 4.
four (15) feveral accounts of this ftory. There is however one thing obfervable enough
on this gem; which I think he has not mentioned in any of them: and that is, the
bull's walking over the furface of the water, as if it was firm land.—If you are not ſatiſ-
fied with this miſtreſs of Jupiter, for a repreſentative of our part of the world; you may
ſee her as ſhe was ſuppoſed to appear in perſon in the heavens, in a Greek relievo (16) re-
lating to the deification of Hercules: where the feems to attend that great hero; and, (to
prevent all diſputes,) has her name engraved over her,
ASIA appears on this medal; ſtanding on the roftrum of a ſhip; with a rudder in one PL.XXXII.
hand, and a ferpent in the other. The two former of theſe attributes may refer to the FIG. 5.
greateſt improvements of navigation among the antients coming from that part of the
world: for the Greeks and Romans owned themſelves to be much inferior in that art,
to the people of Tyre and Sidon; and what the Africans had of it, was brought origi-
nally from Tyre. As to her other attribute, (or the ferpent,) I am at a lofs to know
what it means; unleſs it may poffibly fignify, that the art of phyfic came from the fame
quarter: for was it meant as a natural produce of that part of the world; it would,
methinks, have been a more proper emblem for Africa, than for Afia. The figures of
Afia are very uncommon. I never remember to have ſeen but three of them: that on
this medal; another from a gem (17) repreſenting Hector's being dragged behind Achil-
(13) Alma tamen Tellus ut erat circumdata ponto,
Inter aquas pelagi, contractos undique fontes,
(Qui fe condiderant in opacæ vifcera matris,)
Suftulit omniferos collo tenus arida vultus :
Oppofuitque manum fronti. Magnoque tremore
Omnia concutiens paulum fubfedit; & infra,
Quàm folet effe, fuit: ficcâque ita voce locuta eft.-
Ovid. Met. 2. *.278.
Vix equidem fauces hæc ipfa in verba reſolvo ;
(Prefferat ora vapor :) toftos en afpice crines!
Inque oculis tantum, tantum fuper ora favillæ !
Hofne mihi fructus, hunc fertilitatis honorem
Officiique refers, quòd adunci vulnera aratri
Raftrorumque fero, totoque exerceor anno ?
Ibid. y. 287.
Dixerat hæc Tellus; neque enim tolerare vaporem
Ulterius potuit, nec difcere plura; fuumque
Retulit os in fe, propioraque Manibus antra.
Ibid. y. 303.
Ovid here plainly endeavours to bring in the Earth
as a perfonage; fo that, during this appearance of her,
hefhould have confidered her conftantly as perfonified.
les's
He fpeaks of the poſture of her Body; of her face,
her forehead, her eyes, and her hands: and, in the
fame breath, talks of her being encompaffed with the
fea; of her being ploughed up; of her fruit-bearing
face; and of her hiding her head, in herſelf. This is
juſt that ſort of confufion which Mr. Prior complains
of fo much, (and with ſo much reafon,) in the Hind
and Panther. It runs indeed throughout that whole
poem. Very few of the antients are apt to be guilty of
it and there are more inſtances of it perhaps in the
works of Ovid, than in thoſe of all the Roman poets
of the three good ages put together.
(14) See Oifelius's medals, Pl. 15. I.
(15) Faft. 5. *, 605 to 614.-Met. 2. y. 870, to
875.—Ib. 6. . 103, to 107.
(16) Montfaucon, Vol. I. Pl. 141.
(17) In Baron Stofche's collection of drawings, at
Florence.
242
POLYMET I S.
PL.XXXII.
FIG. 6.
les's chariot, round the walls of Troy; and the third on a fine relievo which I ſhalt
thew you by and by, relating to the deftruction of that city, and the feat of Empire's
being transferred from Afia into Europe. In both the latter, this goddeſs appears as in
deep diftrefs, for the fufferings and defolation of her people.
THE figures of Africa are common, both on gems and medals. On this medal, you
ſee, ſhe has her elephant-helmet, which is ſo often mentioned by Claudian; and a lion,
by her; for the fame reaſon that ſhe is ſometimes reprefented with a ſcorpion in her
hand, or with an elephant at her feet. Oxen are alſo uſed as attributes of Africa, in the
works of the antient artiſts; and fo is corn often: and, fometimes, a baſket of ſeveral
forts of fruit; as you fee it is, on the medal before you. As the antients were chiefly
acquainted only with the lower Egypt, and the fea-coaft of Afric toward the Mediter-
ranean, this part of the world feems to have been diftinguiſhed among them, by its fer-
tility and plenty. Were our modern artiſts to invent a perfonage for Africa, I queſtion
whether they would be fo complaifant to her. They would, perhaps, make her hold a
branch in her hand, without any leaves on it; and if they placed a baſket by her, they
would probably perhaps fill it with fand, inftead of fruit. Which, (by the way,) would be
but too juſt an emblem for our African company too, at prefent; in the
poor, diftreffed,
and neglected fituation, it has been forced to be left, by the difficulties of the times: tho'
it is much to be hoped, that a more proper ſeaſon may foon offer, for reviving it; and
making it, once more, one of the chief channels for wealth and plenty, to this nation.
and
SEVERAL kingdoms and provinces in each of theſe parts of the world, (as Cappadocia,
Dacia, Arabia, Judea; Egypt; Italy, France, Spain; Germany, and our own Britain;
many others;) appear frequently in their perſonal characters on medals: all as ladies; tho'
with ſome particular mark, or attribute, to diſtinguiſh each of them from the reft. The
poets, of the better ages, mention moſt of theſe too as perfons: but it is very flightly; and
ſcarce ever in that full and diffuſed manner, with which they are deſcribed by fome of the
lower poets; and particularly, by Claudian (18). I do not know of any one line, in
which even Italy is ſpoken of perſonally, in all Virgil's works; nor in any one of his
cotemporaries. Lucan indeed, in the next age, has a pretty full deſcription of Italia. He
makes her appear (19), in a diſtreſſed, melancholy attitude, to diffuade Cæfar from paf-
PL.XXXII. fing the Rubicon: and ſpeaks of her being crowned with turrets; as her figure is, on the
reverſe of this medal: in which there is one thing fo remarkable that I muſt juſt point it
out to you. Italia, you ſee here is ſeated on a celeſtial globe, inſtead of a globe of the
earth: fo that the Romans feem to have arrogated to themſelves, not only the dominion
of our world; but that of the univerſe, or of all worlds; which is going in fact very
much beyond, what was looked upon as a very prepofterous wifh even in Alexander
the Great. Ovid ſpeaks of Germania, perſonally, in two or three different places. He
deſcribes her ſometimes as (20) kneeling or fitting in a dejected manner, at the feet of
her conqueror; and fometimes as (21) recovering herſelf under the mildneſs of the
Roman
FIG. 7.
(18) Whoever has a mind to ſee Claudian's man-
ner of deſcribing provinces perſonally, may meet with
three or four inſtances of it, in his panegyric on Stili-
cho; lib. 1. (Italy, . 262, &c. Spain, 228, &c.
France, 240, &c. Britain, 247, &c.)
(19) Ingens vifa duci Patriæ trepidantis imago,
(Clara per
obfcuram vultu mæftiffima noctem, &
Turrigero canos effundens vertice crines)
Cæfarie lacerâ, nudifque aftare lacertis.
Lucan. 1. . 189.
'This was the manner in which the Roman matrons
appeared, when they were lamenting the deceaſe of
their huſbands, or beft friends.
Circum omnis famulumque manus Trojanaque turba,
Et mæftum Iliades crinem de more folutæ,
Ingentem gemitum tunfis ad fidera tollunt
Pectoribus.
Virgil. Æn. 11. ✯. 38.
Their arms were bare on this occafion, as well as
their breafts; as you may fee in the relievo's relating
to this ſubject, in the Adm. Pl. 71, &c.
(20) Jam fera Cæfaribus Germania, (totus ut orbis,)
Victa potes flexo fuccubuiffe genu.
Ovid. Trift. lib. 4. El. 2. . 2.
Crinibus en etiam fertur Germania paffis ;
Et ducis invicti fub pede mæfta fedet.
Id. Ibid. . 44.
Effufæque comas & apertæ pectora matres
Significant luctum.-
(21)
Sparfos Germania crines
Corrigit aufpiciis, dux venerande, tuis.
Ovid. Met. 13. y. 689.
Ovid. Faft. 1. .646.
"
DIALOGUE the Fifteenth.
243
!
Roman government: and this indeed is the general method of repreſenting the conquered
provinces on medals. They appear there almoſt always, either as depreffed under one PL.XXXII.
emperor; or raiſed up by the hand of another. It was a very old and conftant opinion FIG. 8,&9.
among the Romans, that they were a people defigned by heaven (22) to ſubdue and go-
vern the whole earth. It was they who were to give laws to all the different nations of
it (23): “ To ſpare the fuppliant, and to quell the proud." This is the uſual ſtyle of their
poets; their artifts; and even of their hiftorians: and that fo equally, that it would be
difficult perhaps to determine, by which of them the Roman arrogance is expreffed the
moſt ſtrongly and in the groffeft manner.
I Was juſt now faying, that the poets of the Auguftan age have but very few perfonal
deſcriptions of the different provinces of the world, in their poems: and their figures are
as difficult to be met with in the medals of that time. As the fucceeding emperors added
any new province to the Roman empire, the artiſts began to compliment them with a
figure of it on the reverſe of their medals. This, I imagine, was done more fparingly at
firft; but when a few emperors had been complimented thus, others began to expect it
as their due : and fo by degrees it grew to be a thing ſcarce to be omitted. This, if true,
may account for the filence on this head, in the better poets; and for their lower poets
abounding fo much more, in defcriptions of this kind.
+
WHAT has been faid of the deſcriptions of provinces, will hold equally of thofe of
cities. Any perſonal ſtrokes in relation to them are very uncommon in the good ages:
but common enough in the lower ages; and particularly, in Claudian and Aufonius.
ROME indeed was always a fubject for the medallifts, and other artiſts: and we have
more defcriptive lines on her, even in the poets to whofe works I have confined my en-
quiry, than of all the other cities put together. You fee her there; fitting, on a heap of PL.XXXII.
arms: with a ſword in one hand, and a little figure of the goddeſs Victory in the other. FIG. 10.
She is frequently reprefented in this manner; only fometimes the Victory has a globe
added in its hands. Her look and poſture denote dignity: as thoſe attributes of the
Sword, Victory, and Globe, fay very plainly (in the language of the ftatuaries) that the
made herſelf miſtreſs of the whole world by her atchievements in war. Accordingly,
the Roman poets call her (24), The Martial City; the Eternal City; the Miſtreſs of all
Cities; and the Goddefs, that prefides over all countries and nations. By the way, this
ſettled notion which prevailed fo much among the Romans that they were to become
maſters of the whole world, fhews with how much more propriety the globe was given as
an attribute to the city of Rome, when reprefented perfonally; than it is now to the ſta-
tues of each little prince, or the rulers of any particular kingdom. It was a very fignificant
emblem of univerſal monarchy; but has no fignificance at all, when applied to the rulers
of any portion only of the earth: and is no more proper in the hands of the Grand-Signor,
than in thoſe of a petty king of Naples.
(22)
Afpera Juno
Confilia in melius referet; mecumque fovebit
Romanos rerum dominos, gentemque togatam.
Sic placitum. Veniet luftris labentibus ætas,
Cum domus Affaraci Phthiam clarafque Mycenas
Servitio premet.
Virgil. Æn 1. . 285. Spoke by Jupiter.
Externi veniunt generi, qui fanguine noſtrum
Nomen in aftra ferent ; quorumque ab ftirpe nepotes
Omnia fub pedibus, quà fol utrumque recurrens
Afpicit Oceanum, vertique regique videbunt.
Oracle of Faunus, Ib 7. . 101.
Livy ſpeaks of this notion as early as in Romulus's
time; and often afterwards in his hiſtory.
OVID
Hæ tibi erunt artes; pacique imponere morem :
"Parcere fubjectis ; & debellare fuperbos."
Virgil. Æn. 6. . 854.
(24) Romulus excipiet gentem; & Mavortia condet
Mania.
Id. Æn. I. . 277.
Romulus æternæ nondum formaverat urbis
Monia
Tibullus, Lib. 2. El. 5. . 24.
Tutela præfens
Italiæ, dominæque Romæ !
(23) Excudent alii fpirantia molliùs æra : &c.
Horat. Lib. 4. Od. 14. . 44.
Terrarum Dea, Gentiumque Roma.
Tu regere imperio populos, Romane, memento;
Martial. Lib. 2. Epig. &.
Rrr
!
POLYMETIS.
244
PL.XXXII.
FIG. II.
ÖVID defcribes Roma, (or the Genius of the city of Rome,) lying at the feet of Bren-
nus (25), when the Capitol was taken by the Gauls; in the fame manner as we fee the
conquered provinces at the feet of the Roman emperors, when they had extended their
conquefts fo far. In another place, the fame poet fays her face was like that of Auguftus
Cæfar (26): and you will find that piece of flattery to have had ſome ground, if you
compare their heads together; as you may, whenever you are looking over any tolerable
collection of medals. Silius Italicus defcribes her with a crown of turrets (27) on her
head. In all the figures I have feen of her, fhe appears always with a helmet: but the
other is fo proper for all the deities of cities in general, that it is highly probable that the
artiſts repreſented Rome fometimes with it too: eſpecially on fome pacific occafion; or
in any ſtory, that had more relation to the gown, than to the fword.
:
HOWEVER that be, the appearance of this goddeſs is generally fo martial, that it has
made fome of the moſt knowing antiquarians miſtake the goddeſs of Virtus for her: as
Bellori in particular has done, feveral times (28), in ſpeaking of the most celebrated relievo's
in the Admiranda, and on the triumphal arches. The figures he calls Roma in thefe,
is dreffed partly like an Amazon. One of her breaſts is bare; her garments fall only to
the knee; ſhe has buſkins half way up the leg: a helmet on her head; a fword (or
fpear,) in one hand, and a globe in the other. This goddeſs, in the relievo's I am ſpeak-
ing of, is generally either going out with their emperors, on fome expedition or other
or bringing them home, in triumph. I fhould therefore rather think that it is the god-
deſs Virtus, than the goddefs Roma: and indeed her dress agrees much better to the
former, than to the latter. Rome is generally reprefented fitting; this appears always
ſtanding: Rome, is dreffed to the feet; this, ſhort, and in the Amazonian way: Rome,
is ſtill and imperial; this, like Virtus, always in action; and dreſſed fit for it,
;
WE find (29) Alexandria, on gems, and medals; as on this, in particular: where ſhe
is marked out, like Africa, by attributes of plenty. She has corn, and wines about her.
Egypt, you know, was the granary of Rome: fo that the corn, at leaſt, is very proper.
I have feen a ſtatue at Rome, of a woman with a pidgeon on her hand, which may fig-
nify (30) the genius of Naples. It was but a bad one; and ſo I did not get any copy of
it. The figures of theſe deities of cities muſt have been (31) very common of old; but
are either uncommon enough, or (32) not commonly known now. I have ſeen ſome
(25)
·Alpino Roma ſub hofte jacet.
Hæc eft, cui fuerat promiffa potentia rerum,
Jupiter! hanc terris impofiturus eras!
Ovid. 6. *. 360.
(26) Hunc ego cum fpe&tem, videor mihi cernere Romam ;
Nam patriæ faciem fuftinet ille fuæ.
others;
(31) They were carried in their triumphs:
Hoc facito Armenios; hæc eft Danaïa Perfis :
Urbs in Achæmeniis vallibus ifta fuit.
Ovid. Art. Am. 1. ✯. 226.
Chryfippus, cum in triumpho Cæfaris eburnea op-
pida effent tranflata, & poft paucos dies Fabii Maximi
Id. ex Pont. Lib. 2. El. 8. y. 20. lignea; "thecas effe oppidorum Cæfaris," dixit.
(27) Ipfam turrigero portantem vertice muros
Credite fubmiffas Romam jam tendere palmas.
.
Silius Ital. 4. .411.
(Quintilian, Lib. 6. Cap. 3. p. 478. Ed. Hack.)
L. Sylla, qui plurima bella civilia confecit; cujus
crudeliffimi & infolentiffimi fucceffus fuerunt; cum
confummatâ potentiâ fuâ triumphum duceret, ut
(28) See Adm. N°. 6, 12, & 24. Arc. Triumph. Græciæ & Afiæ multas Urbes, ita civium Romano-
No. 4, 28, & 42.
(29) Portus Alexandrea fupplex,
Et vacuam patefecit aulam.
rum nullum Oppidum vexit. Valerius Maximus, Me-
morab. Lib. 2. Cap. 8.
The Romans of old had ftatues of their little cities,
Seiam a
Horat. Lib. 4. Od. 14. ✯. 36. as well as of their more confiderable ones.
(30) Tu ductor populi longè emigrantis Apollo;
Cujus adhuc volucrem lævâ cervice fedentem
Refpiciens blandè felix Eumelis adorat.
Statius, Lib. 4. Sylv. 8. ¥. 49.
I know not, why Statius calls her Eumelis here; he
uſes the more known name of Parthenope, in an-
other of his poems.
Parthenope, cui mite folum trans æquora vectæ
Ipfe Dionæâ monftravit Apollo columbâ.
ferendo, Segeftam a fegitibus appellabant; quarum
fimulacra in Circo videmus. Pliny, Lib. 18. c. 2.
(32) Seia probably was repreſented with feed-corn
in her hand, and Segeſta with ears of corn: and who
knows whether ſome of the ftatues, we now call
by the name of Ceres, may not really be Segefta's?
A Parthenope, with a pidgeon, would be apt gene-
rally to be miſtaken for a Venus: and fo, in many
Id. Lib. 3. Sylv. 5. . 80. other cafes.
DIALOGUE the Fifteenth.
245
others (33); eſpecially on medals: but as the Roman poets fcarce mention even their
names, or at leaſt not perfonally, they are nothing to my purpoſe.
Not only the cities of old were reprefented perfonally, and fo helped to fwell up the
multitude of their gods: but every houſe and family had its prefiding deities; and that
of two forts, their Penates and their Lares. Theſe leffer Penates, or guardians of private
families, (as the great Penates were of the ftate,) I take to have been nothing else but
the fouls of their departed anceſtors: and in a picture in the Vatican Virgil, (which is
the only certain repreſentation I have ever met with of theſe deities,) their appearance
agrees very well with this notion. The Roman poets fay (34) but little of theſe deities,
in a defcriptive way: the other family-deities, the Lares, they defcribe much in the
fame manner as they (35) appear in this drawing. The Lares probably were fuppofed PL.XXXII.
to prefide over houfe-keeping, the fervants in families, and domeftic affairs; as the Pe- FIG. 12.
nates were the protectors of the maſters of families, their wives and children: and it may
be on this account that the Lares are dreffed in fhort, fuccinct habits, to ſhew their
readineſs to ſerve; and that they hold a fort of cornucopia in their hands, as a fignal of
hofpitality and good houſe-keeping. I ſhall fay nothing here of the Genius's, or Con-
genial Deities, fuppofed to attend each perfon born into the world from his cradle to his
grave; and whofe ftatues were ſometimes placed with thoſe of the Lares: having had
an occafion of talking to you fufficiently, on that head, already (36).
IF you
chufe to ſtep from their cities and houfes into the country, you will find that
too all ſtocked with imaginary beings. There was no part of it ſo barren, as not to af-
ford its deity. The very mountains and rocks were turned into perfonages. The gardens;
the fields; the lawn; the arable; the vineyards; the groves and forefts, were all affigned
to their particular deities; and all abounded with this fictitious kind of inhabitants.
THIS drawing that I have in my hand is a copy of the Farnefe-Atlas: fupporting the Pl.XXXII,
celeſtial globe; which took up fo much of your time, in my temple of the Conſtellations.
The genius's of mountains, as well as thoſe of cities, were carried (37) in the triumphs
of the Roman generals; and the figures of them are still to be met with, in the remains.
(33) Thefe are generally of Greek, or Afiatic
cities. I remember to have met with either the
whole figures, or heads, of Silvium a city in Apulia;
Tyana and Sparta, in Greece: Edeffa, Pergamus,
Damafcus, Smyrna, Tarfus, Tyre, and Sidon, in
Afia and any one, who is more verfed in the ſtudy
of medals, has no doubt feen a great many others,
that have miffed me.
(34) Virgil, in that part of his Æneid which an-
fwers the picture above mentioned, is more exprefs
about theſe deities; than any paffage I know of in the
other Roman poets. He fpeaks of them, as ſome of
Æneas's anceſtors.
Effigies facræ Divâm, Phrygiique Penates,
Quos mecum à Trojâ mediifque ex ignibus urbis
Extuleram, vifi ante oculos aftare jacentis
In fomnis; multo manifefti lumine
Hæ nobis propriæ fedes, hinc Dardanus ortus
Iäfiufque pater; genus à quo principe noftrum.-
Talibus attonitus viſis, ac voce Deorum,
(Nec fopor illud erat, fed coram agnofcere vultus,
Velatafque comas, præfentiaque ora videbar
Tum gelidus toto manabat corpore fudor :)
Corripio e ftratis corpus.
Æn. 3. . 147-176.
(35) Nutriat incintos miffa patella Lares.
Ovid. Faſt. 2. *.634·
Bullaque fuccin&is Laribus donata pependit.
Perfius, 5. 31.
of
The old Scholiaft on this place, ſeems to confound
them with the Penates. Gabino habitu, cinctuque,
Dii Penates formabantur: obvoluti togâ, fuper hu-
merum finiftrum ; dextro nudo.
According to Ovid, there was generally two of
them, who were fometimes repreſented with a dog
at their feet.
At canis ante pedes faxo fabricatos eodem
Stabat. Quæ ftandi cum Lare caufa fuit è
Servat uterque domum; domino quoque fidus uterque :
Compita grata Deo; compita grata cani :
Exagitant & Lar & turba Diania fures;
Pervigilantque Lares, pervigilantque canes.
Bina gemellorum quærebam figna Deorum,
Viribus annofæ facta caduca moræ.
Mille Lares, Geniumque ducis qui tradidit illos,
Urbs habet; & vici numina trina colunt.
Faft. 5. . 146.
V.
#
(36) See Dial. X. p. 153. anteh.
(37) Quæ Loca, qui Montes, quæve ferantur Aquæ.
Ovid. Art. Am. 1. . 220.
Is qui Sidonio fulget fubiimis in oſtro,
Dux fuerat belli; proximus ille duci :
Hic, qui nunc in humo lumen miferabile figit,
Non iſto vultu cum tulit arma fuit.
Hic, Lacus; hì,Mohtes: hæc,tot Caftella,totAmnes,&c.
Id. Trift. Lib. 4. El. z. . 37.
1
246
POLYMETIS.
PLXXXIV.
;
of the artiſts, more frequently perhaps than has been generally imagined. The (38) Ge-
nius of Mons Palatinus makes its appearance on a famous altar belonging to the Mellini
family at Roine. Mons Cælius is in another relievo, together with Jupiter Cælius
and both their names ingraved under their figures. The Monte Citorio is wrought on
the baſe of that great column, which was laying on the hill of the fame name, when we
were at Rome; and which has lately been fet up there by the preſent Pope; who ſeems
to emulate his predeceffor in his care for the finer remains of antiquity. Mount Taurus
appears much in the fame manner on a fine relievo in the Capitol, taken from the trium-
phal arch which ſtood formerly in the Corſo at Rome. The Genius of mount Ida, (or of
one of the hills at least, belonging to that chain of mountains,) is repreſented on a fine relievo,
in the Medici-gardens. The head of Timolus, a mountain-deity of Afia; and the
whole figure of Rhodope, in Thrace; appear on medals. I mention only what I have
feen; and, no doubt, there are a great many others.
OVID (39) has a defcription of mount Atlas, in a perfonal ſtyle: and there is another in
Virgil (40), from which one might form a very good idea for a fountain-ſtatue
; as per-
haps it was, originally, taken from one. However that be, the moſt uſual way of repre-
ſenting Atlas among the antient artiſts, (as well as the modern,) was probably as fup-
porting a globe: for the old poets (41) moft commonly refer to this attitude, in ſpeaking
of him. Valerius Flaccus in particular, has a very remarkable deſcription of a figure of
Atlas; as ftanding in the midſt of the waters; and fupporting an armillary globe of the
heavens, with all the planets making their proper motions round it: as I mentioned to
you (42), on a former occafion.
UNDER that window, is a copy of the fine Medici-relievo: which, (tho' it has fuf-
fered fo much in many parts of it,) I look upon as one of the moſt noble remains of an-
tiquity; and which will therefore take us up more time than ordinary, to confider it as
we ought. It is ſtocked with a great variety of imaginary beings; among which, there
is one mountain-deity at leaſt. This relievo contains two diftinct ſtories; told too, very
diſtinctly but connected together, as cauſe and effect. The first, is the famous Judg-
ment of Paris; in which that young Trojan prince, (tho' then looked upon only as a
ſhepherd,) prefers the goddeſs of Pleaſure, to the goddeffes of Honour and Wiſdom :
and the ſecond, is Jupiter's giving his decree for the deftruction of Troy, and the re-
moval of the feat of empire from Afia into Greece: which great revolution was antiently
looked upon, as the fatal confequence of fo imprudent a choice.
HERE on your left hand, you fee Paris, with his long drefs and Phrygian bonnet;
fitting on a rock and his fheep, and cattle, round about him. Behind him, are two
Dryades; (or rather Oreades; for that, I think, is the more proper name for the
nymphs of the mountains:) and before him, ſtand Juno, Minerva, and Venus: intro-
duced, by Mercury. It is but the beginning of the ftory; for they are yet cloathed.
However
(38) This figure of Mons Palatinus, is in the Adm.
No. 5-
-Mons Cælius, in Topham's collection of
drawings, B. m. 10. Nº. 15.—Monte Citorio, is
publiſhed by Bartoli, at the end of his Col. Anton. —
and Mount Taurus, in his Arc. Triumph. No. 49.
(39) Quantus erat, mons factus Atlas: jam barba comæque
In fylvas abeunt; juga funt, humerique manufque;
Quod caput ante fuit, fummo eft in monte cacumen ;
Offa lapis fiunt: tum partes auctus in omnes
Crevit in immenſum, (fic Dii ſtatuiftis,) & omne
Cum tot fideribus cœlum requievit in illo.
Ovid. Met. 4. .661.
(40) Atlantis, cinctum affiduè cui nubi.
Piniferum caput & vento pulfat.
4 atris
baris
(41)
Nix humeros infufa tegit: tum flumina mento
Præcipitant fenis, & glacie riget horrida barba.
Virgi. Æn.4. . 251.
A picem & latera ardua cernit
Atlantis duri, cœlum qui vertice fulcit.
Ibid. y. 247.
Etherium qui fert cervicibus axem.
Ovid. Met. 6. ✯. 175.
Atlas, ætherios humero qui fuftinet orbes.
Virgil. Æn. 8. . 137.
Atlas humeros oneratus Olympo.
Ovid. Faſt. 5. ✯. 169.
The ſeeming contrarieties, in theſe paffages, are all
reconciled by the Farneſe Atlas: in which figure, he
is repreſented as ſupporting the globe of the heavens,
at the ſame time, with his head, neck, and ſhoulders.
(42) See Dial. XI. p. 180, anteh.
1
DIALOGUE the Fifteenth.
247
!
However there is a figure of Victory, hovering over Venus; (and which, I imagine,
originally held a crown of laurel in her hand;) to fhew which way his determination
inclined at laſt. This is what I call the firſt ftory, in this relievo; and what is con-
tained diſtinctly, in the former part of it.
In the other part, to your right hand; you fee Jupiter feated on high, and in great
ftate. His feet are fupported by a genius: rifing, a little above breaft-high, out of part
of a rock; and holding a veil, almoft ftreight, over his head. This I take to be the
Genius of mount Ida; or rather of one of the rifings in that range of hills, called in general
by that name as the veil, which he holds over his head, may fignify the clouds that
reſt ſo often on the tops of ſuch high mountains. Under this mountain-deity, are two
River-gods, which may probably be meant for Xanthus and Scamander; both which
rivers have their fource from mount Ida: with a water-nymph, on one fide of them;
and a lady, (with her hair falling looſe, and with a great deal of diſtreſs in the air of her
facc,) refting on a piece of the rock, on the other. This I take to be the Genius of Aſia;
from whom the empire was to depart, in confequence of Paris's judgment: as that fine
figure of a lady, with a gayer air, and introduced to the throne of Jupiter by Victory, is
probably meant for the Genius of Greece. There are feveral other figures in this part of
the relievo; who all bear fome relation to the ſubject, tho' they are not ſo nearly con-
cerned in it as the former. Among theſe, Mars is diſtinguiſhed by the eagerneſs of his
look; and the cruel fort of joy expreffed in it, for the flaughter that muſt enfue before
ſo great a change can be brought about. The heads of Juno, and Minerva, appear
here, in a line above that of the Genius of Greece. They ftand by her, as fupporting
and abetting her caufe. The former, looks on Mars; and feems to be giving him fome
orders: as the latter, keeps her eye fixed upon Jupiter, and feems to be demanding juſtice
of him. The goddeſs behind Jupiter, (with one of her breafts quite bare,) may pro-
bably be Venus. She looks alarmed, and concerned; as all the deities of the Trojan, (or
Afiatic,) party are in this piece. Apollo may appear there, in the midft, with the Zodiac
over his head; becauſe it is time, that brings about all the revolutions decreed by Jupiter:
as Diana may poffibly have a place here, for the fame reaſon. Mercury ſtands by Ju-
piter, as the meſſenger already employed in this affair, or to be fent with farther orders:
and Caftor and Pollux may be introduced, as the brothers of Helena; the imme-
diate cauſe of the war, which was to bring about this great revolution. They are ex-
tremely alike here, as they are in all their figures; and are to be diſtinguiſhed only by
their different attitudes. He of the two who is next to Jupiter, and regards him with
fo much attention, I fhould think is Pollux; the twin-brother of Helena, and fon of
Jupiter and he, (who turns from Jupiter, and looks downwards,) may be Caftor: who
was only the fon of a meer mortal father, as well as mother. This I take to be the in-
tention of the artiſt, in the ſecond part of this relievo; which, (tho' it is ſo fine, and on
ſo great a ſubject,) has never been publiſhed or explained by any one that I know of. I
may very likely be miſtaken, in fome of my particular conjectures relating to it; but
the main drift of it, I think, is as clear and certain, as any thing of this nature can
well be.
THE face of the Mountain-genius, who fupports Jupiter, has fomething of concern ex-
preffed in it; as I was faying all the deities of the Trojan party have: and indeed Jupiter
himſelf looks with fome concern; at granting a decree, which was to be followed with ſo
much flaughter; and to end in the ruin of a whole nation, that had been formerly fo
dear to him. Was this Mountain-deity a female, I ſhould call it Ida, without any man-
ner of referve: becauſe the ſcene of Paris's judgment was at the foot of that mountain &
and becauſe Homer ſo often deſcribes Jupiter as fitting on the top of it, to obferve the
ſtruggle for empire between the Trojans and Greeks. The Roman poets fcarce fay any
thing in a perfonal manner, of mount Ida: unleſs, poffibly, Virgil may be understood in
Sff
that
•
!
248
FIG. 2.
POLYMETIS.
that manner; where he is fpeaking of the figures (43), wrought on the fore-part of
Æneas's fhip.
VIRGIL fpeaks of Timolus (44) in a manner, that cannot be underſtood literally of
a mountain; but is very proper, if taken perfonally and Ovid defcribes the fame
deity fitting as judge, in the diſpute between Pan and Apollo, whether the pipe or lyre
was the finer inſtrument. Ovid fays that, on this occafion, he was crowned with oak only;
having taken away (45) the other branches that were about his head. I have never ſeen
any whole figure of Timolus: but his head is on the reverſe of a Greek medal, in my
Pl. XXXV. collection. You ſee he is there crowned with vine-branches; which
agree very well
FIG. 1.
with the character (46) which Virgil and others give of the mountain he prefides over.
You may have obferved that there are fome among thefe mountain-deities, who
Pl. XXXV. ſhould be females; as Rhodope in particular: of whom alfo I have another medal
here, at your fervice. Theſe muſt have been reprefented in ftatues, as of a large fize;
and ſometimes no doubt there were vaft coloffeal figures of this Rhodope, and of the
other goddeffes of mountains. As the antients were familiarly acquainted with this fort
of figures, I have fometimes thought; that the known fable, of (47) the Mountain in la-
bour, carried a very different idea with it originally, from what is generally annexed to
it at prefent. I always uſed to think it a very prepofterous defign for a fable: and
could fee nothing, either in nature; or in the imaginary world of the poets, (which is a
kind of fecond nature;) whereon they could ground fuch an imagination. But when
one confiders that they had a fettled notion of old, of fuch gigantic ladies as prefiding
over mountains; to fuppofe one of theſe in labour, and after all her vaft pangs and
groans to produce only ſo very ſmall an animal, is no inconſiſtent thought like the other
and is extremely better fitted for true ridicule.
THE large fize of the ſtatues for the mountain-deities in general, will help to account
too for feveral fimilies of the antient poets, in which they compare their heroes to moun-
tains. When Æneas is going to engage Turnus, Virgil fays that he moved on
Quantus Athos, aut quantus Eryx; aut ipfe corufcis
Cum fremit ilicibus quantus gaudetque nivali
Vertice fe attollens pater Apenninus ad auras (48),
THIS fimilie cannot well be underſtood literally of thofe mountains; or will at leaſt
become much more poetical and juft, if you underſtand it of the deities fuppofed to pre-
(43)
Æneïa puppis
Prima tenet; roftro Phrygios fubjuncta leones:
Imminet Ida ſuper, profugis gratiffima Teucris.
Virgil. Æn. 10. 4. 58.
(44) Sunt etiam Ammineæ vites ; firmiffima vina;
Tmolus & affurgit quibus, & Rex ipfe Phanæus.
Virgil. Georg. 2. . 98.
(45) Judice fub Tmolo certamen venit * ad impar.
Monte fuo fenior judex confedit; & aures
Liberat arboribus: quercu coma cærula tantum
Cingitur; & pendent circum cava tempora glandes.
Ovid. Met. 11. y. 159.
This idea of Mountain-deities, explains an expref-
fion juft after in Ovid; which would be difficult e-
nough to be underſtood without it.
*Pan.
Judicium fanctique placet fententia Montis
Omnibus.
(46) Virgil. Georg. 2. . 98.
Ibid. . 173.
Cumque choro meliore, fui vineta Timoli
Pactolonque petit.
fide
It was called originally Timolus, and afterwards
Tmolus; according to Pliny. Lib. 5. c. 29.
(47) Mons parturibat, gemitus immanes ciens;
Eratque in terris maxima expectatio :
At ille murem peperit. Hoc fcriptum eft tibi,
Qui magna cum minaris extricas nihil.
Phædrus, Lib. 4. Fab 21.
I am apt to fufpect that Ille, (in the third verfe,)
might originally have been written, Illa; and been
changed by fome wife tranſcriber, who thought it
could not otherwife agree with mons: tho' it is not
without authority from the beſt Roman writers, to
turn a maſculine fubftantive into a feminine one,
when it is applied to any thing that is feminine. Thus
Terence, for example, makes Eunuchus of the femi-
nine gender; where it fignifies not an Eunuch, but
his comedy of the fame name.
Eas fe non negat
Perfonas tranftuliffe in Eunuchum fuam.
Ovid. Met. 11. .87. (of Bacchus.)
(48) Æn. 12. *.703.
Terence's Eun, in Prol.
i
1
}
DIALOGUE the Fifteenth.
fide over them: whofe ftatues were often of a vaft fize, among the antients; as they are
fometimes, even among the moderns. I never met with any antient figure of father
Apenninus: but that famous modern one of him by John de Bologna, at a feat of the
Great Duke's near Florence, if it ftood up, would be above fixty foot high. As the
antients were much more magnificent in their works of art than the moderns, they
had probably figures of mountain-deities, even much larger than this: and you
know there was actually a propofal made by one of their artiſts, to Alexander the Great;
for forming the whole mountain of Athos into a ſtatue: which would have been fo large,
that it would have held a city, in one of its hands; and a river, in the other.
I REMEMBER, fays Philander, to have read the ſtory in Vitruvius (49); and have
ſometimes puzzled myſelf in endeavouring to imagine, how it could ever have been put
in execution. I do not think that ſo very difficult to be conceived, fays Myfagetes: and
if any body would give me a good rough mountain, in Wales; and pay my workmen; I
would engage to direct them how to perform it. In the first place, my figure ſhould.
be reprefented in a reclined poſture: as, I fuppofe, thofe of the mountain-deities generally
were. This would take off a great part of the difficulty; for the ſhape of a mountain
would not ſerve for a ſtanding figure, without paring away the greateſt part of it, and
immenfely increafing the trouble and expence. In the fecond place, I ſhould not think
of forming the fide of the mountain, which I found the moſt
proper for my purpoſe,
into the direct figure of a man; but of altering and managing it in ſuch a manner, that it
ſhould appear in the fhape I defigned, when you were at a certain diftance from it.
You may remember that as we were travelling thro' part of the Alps, between Lyons
and Geneva, we thought we faw the ruins of a city, at a diſtance before us; againſt the
fide of one of the mountains. The cathedral was very diftinct; and there were ſtreets
appeared on each fide of it. As we drew near to it, this refemblance leffèned by little
and little; till, at laft, we were quite convinced, that it was nothing but the natural
irregularities of the ftones all along that part of the rock, which had reprefented to us at a
proper diſtance, a church and ſtreets in ruins. It is partly in this way, that I would ma-
nage my mountain. When I had fixed the defign for my figure, I would clear away
all the trees from that part which was to be the face of it: only leaving a wood on the
top; ſome little hanging grove-work, for the eye-brows; and a few thickets, perhaps,
for a beard. As to the unequal rifings of the hill, they fhould be pared off, where uſe-
leſs; and where of uſe, they ſhould be left: only affifted a little by art, where neceffary.
The face, when you were on the ſpot, would be a field; and the arms, the fwellings of
a hill but it might, I think, be managed fo, that at a proper diftance the whole ſhould
have the appearance of a man: and, if there was a village, on one fide of the hill; and a
caſcade of water, on the other; one might poffibly contrive it fo, as to make out the whole
deſign which Dinocrates propoſed to Alexander.
249
I Do not think your idea altogether impractibable, replied Polymetis; but if you
pleafe, we will go on to confider a figure, pretty nearly related to thefe mountain-deities;
tho' of a more extraordinary make, than any of them. It is on this medal, ftruck in
honour of Pompey; on his being declared prefect of the fea-coafts of Italy, and of all the
Roman fleets. You fee here the upper part of the figure, is like a woman; but it goes Pl. XXXV.
off in two fiſh-tails; between which, are three dogs. This is the famous Scylla: who FIG. 3.
is, (moſt generally,) faid to have been turned into a rock; for her perfidiouſneſs, to her
father Nifus. Several of the Roman poets (50) mention thefe dogs, as part of her form ;
(49) Vitruvius, Lib. 2. in Proœm.
(50) Quid loquar aut Scyllam Nifi? quam fama fecuta eſt,
Candida fuccinctam latrantibus ingaina monftris,
Dulichias vexaffe rates; & gurgite in alto
Ah timidos nautas canibus laceraffe marinis ?
Aut ut mutatos Terei narraverit artus? &c.
Virgil, Ecl. 6. . 78.
Quid mirum in patrios Scyllam fæviffe capillos;
Candidaque in fævos inguina verfa canes?
Propert. Lib. 4. El. 4.
.40.
Scylla, patri cano furata capillos,
Pube premit rabidos inguinibufque canes.
but
Ovid. Am. Lib.3. El. 12. y. 22.
This is one of the very few ftories, in which the
poets of the Auguftan age diſagree with themfelves:
for Ovid, in his Metamorphofis, lib. 8. . 150; and
Virgil, in his Georgics, lib. 1. . 404; ſjeak of this
very Scylla's being turned into a bird.
2
250
POLYMETIS.
Pl. XXXV.
FIG. 4.
but we might have been much puzzled in gueffing at the exact manner of it, had it not
been for this medal. I know not whether it may not be Charybdis, who appears on
(5¹) another medal, of the Valerian family; much in the fame manner, as Scylla does
on this only fhe has the two fiſh-tails, without any dogs between them. It is certain at
leaſt, that even Silius, (who deals very rarely in allegories,) fpeaks (52) of Charybdis, as
well as Scylla, in a perfonal manner.
You may perhaps think, that Scylla and Charybdis fhould have been taken notice of
among the deities of the fea, rather than thoſe of the land. Charybdis certainly belongs
to the former; but as for Scylla, he is of a nature ſo mixed, that ſhe may be claffed in-
differently under either. A rock in the fea, tho' it be all furrounded with water, is cer
tainly as much a part of the earth, as an iſland is. However, if you pleaſe, we will get
upon good firm ground again; where we have yet a large ſet of imaginary beings to con-
fider. What I mean, are all fuch deities as were fuppofed by the antients to prefide over
the country; and they had different ones, for each part of it. To Flora, they affigned
the care of their gardens; and to Pomona and Vertumnus, their plantations and fruit-
Their vineyards and corn-fields, were under the tuition of Ceres and Bacchus; as
all their paſture-ground, and the protection of their ſheep, belonged to Pan. Diana pre-
fided over the forefts and the chace: Sylvanus, over the woods and groves. There was
ſcarce a grotto perhaps without its family of nymphs in it: and all the woods, and moun-
tains, were peopled with Dryades and Oreades. The Fauns and Satyrs, as a wanton fort
of deities, ranged both over the plains and hills; and were diſperſed all over the country:
but ſwarmed chiefly about the vineyards, in autumn; and in the moſt uſual haunts of
the wood or mountain-nymphs, all the reſt of the year.
THAT lady, juſt by you on the left hand, is Flora; copied from a ftatue in the Great
Duke's gallery. You fee fhe is almoſt naked; and is marked out by the looſe noſegay of
flowers; which ſhe feems to have juft gathered, and to hold up, as pleaſed with the
beauties of them. She fometimes is crowned with flowers too; and at others, holds a
crown, or chaplet of them, in her hands. Here ſhe has only a little flying robe: but
in her famous figure, at the Farnefe-palace, fhe is fuller dreffed. Her robe was of a (53)
changeable filk; and of as many colours, as the flowers with which ſhe was uſually
adorned; as we may learn from the poets, tho' we could not from the marble.
OVID gives us a delightful deſcription of (54) the garden of Flora; with the Hore
gathering flowers in it, and the Graces compofing garlands of them. I wiſh I had any
antient picture, to anſwer this deſcription; and think it might afford a very pretty ſubject
(51) See Oifelius's Thef. Pl. 28. 3.
(52) This is in a paffage, where I imagine that Silius
might have an eye toward his favourite, Virgil; tho'
he is ſpeaking of a man, long before that great poet's
time. It is a poet; whom he calls, Daphnis and
in ſpeaking of whom, he ſeems to have endeavoured
to give his ſtyle a paſtoral turn.
Daphnin amarunt
Sicelides Mufæ : dextram donavit avenâ
Phoebus Caftaliâ; & juffit, projectus in herbâ
Si quando caneret, lætos per prata, per arva
Ad Daphnin properare greges, rivofque filere.
Ille ubi feptenâ modulatus arundine carmen
Mulcebat fylvas; non unquam tempore eodem
Siren adfuetos effudit in æquore cantus :
Scyllæi tacuere canes; ftetit atra Charybdis ;
Et lætus fcopulis fedavit jubila Cyclops.
Lib. 14. .476.
for
(53) Cur tamen, ut dantur veftes Cerealibus albæ,
· Sic hæc eft cultu verficolore decens ;
An quia maturis albefcit meffis ariſtis ?
Et color & fpecies floribus omnis ineſt?
Annuit: & motis flores cecidere capillis,
Accidere in menfas ut rofa miffa folet.
Ovid. Faft. 5. . 360. (fpeaking of Flora.)
(54) Eft mihi fæcundus dotalibus hortus in agris :
Aura fovet; liquida fonte rigatur aquæ.
Hunc meus implevit generofo flore maritus;
Atque ait, arbitrium tu Dea floris habe.
Sæpe ego digeftos volui numerare colores,
Nec potui; numero copia major erat.
Rofcida cum primum foliis excuffa pruina eſt,
Et variæ radiis intepuere comæ ;
Conveniunt pictis incinétæ veftibus Hore,
Inque leves calathos munera noſtra legunt :
Protinus arripiunt Charites; nectuntque coronas
Sertaque cœleftes implicitura comas.
Id. Ibid. :220.
:
1
DIALOGUE the Fifteenth.
for any painter now. This garden of Flora, I take to have been the paradiſe (55)
in the Roman mythology. Flora, according to the Roman poets was (56) a field-nymph;
and was called Chloris, before ſhe was made the goddeſs of gardens. She did not much
change her occupation: for the gardens of the old Romans, in the Auguſtan age, (if one
might judge of them in general, from that ſingle one which (57) Virgil deſcribes in his
Georgics,) were nothing more than the natural face of the country, affifted a little by art
where neceffary, and ſprinkled here and there with flowers.
251
FIG. 5.
THE figure which anſwers Flora on the oppofite fide, with a pruning-hook in her Pl. XXXV,
right hand, and a branch in her left, is Pomona. We learn from Ovid (58), that this
goddeſs was of that clafs, which they antiently called, Hamadryades: a name which, (if
it were only on her account,) I ſhould think, did not abfolutely fignify (59) what it has
(55) Theſe traditions and traces of paradiſe among
the antients, muſt be expected to have grown fainter
and fainter, in every transfufion from one people to
another. The Romans probably derived their no-
tions of it from the Greeks; among whom this idea
feems to have been fhadowed out under the ſtories of
the gardens of Alcinous. In Africa, they had the
gardens of the Hefperides; and in the caft, thofe of
Adonis or, the Horti Adonis, as Pliny calls them.
The term of Horti Adonides, was ufed by the an-
tients, to fignify gardens of pleaſure; which anſwers
ſtrangely to the very name of paradife, or the garden
of Eden; as Horti Adonis, does to the garden of the
Lord.—Antiquitas nihil prius mirata eft, quàm Hef-
peridum hortos, ac regum Adonis & Alcinoi. Pliny,
Lib. 19. cap. 4. P. 349. Ed. Elz.-The fame author
tells us, very exactly, in what part of Africa the gar-
dens of the Hefperides were ſuppoſed to have been.
In Mauritania Lixi oppidi æftuario: ubi Hefperidum
horti fuiffe produntur: 200 paffuum ab oceano; juxta
delubrum Herculis, antiquius Gaditano ut ferunt.
Ibid. p. 352.
(56) Chloris eram, nymphe campi felicis ; ubi audis
Rem fortunatis ante fuiffe viris.
Vere fruor femper; verc eft nitidiffimus annus :
Arbor habet frondes, pabula femper humus.
Id. Ibid. y. 208.
(57) Namque fub Oebaliæ memini me turribus altis,
Qua niger humectat flaventia culta Galefus,
Corycium vidiffe fenem : cui pauca relicti
Jugera ruris erant ; nec fertilis illa juvencis,
Nec pecori opportuna feges; nec commoda Baccho.
Hic rarum tamen in dumis olus, albaque circum
Lilia verbenafque premens vefcumque papaver,
Regum æquabat opes animis; ferâque revertens
Nocte domum, dapibus menfas onerabat inemtis.
Primus vere rofam, atque autumno carpere poma:
Et cum triftis hiems etiamnum frigore faxa
Rumperet, & glacie curfus frænaret aquarum ;
Ille comam mollis jam tum tondebat acanthi,
Æftatem increpitans feram Zephyrofque morantes.
Virgil. Georg. 4. . 138.
The picture of this garden, (in the Vatican Virgil,
Nº. 6.) is juſt ſuch as is deſcribed above, in the text.
In the younger Pliny's time, they were got into for-
malities, and cut box; according to the account he
gives of his gardens, in one or two of his epiftles.
It was about the ſame time too, that the fountain of
Egeria was almoſt ſpoiled, by adorning it with marble;
according to Juvenal, Sat. 3. . 20.
(58) Rege fub hoc Pomona fuit : quâ nulla Latinas
Inter Hamadryadas coluit folertiùs hortos,
generally
Nec fuit arborei ftudiofior altera fœtus;
Unde tenet nomen. Non fylvas illa, nec amnes ;
Rus antat, & ramos felicia poma ferentes :
Nec jaculo gravis eft, fed aduncâ dextera falce.
Ovid. Met. 14. ¥.628.
(59) The vulgar notion of Hamadryads now, as I
take it, is that of certain Genius's, or Nymphs, vitally
annexed to trees.-The notion of the old fcholiafts,
is that of a fet of Nymphs coeval with certain oaks;
or, at leaſt, fated to perish with them.-Neither of
theſe ſeem to me to agree with the notion of Hama-
dryads in the Mythology of the old Romans; which
is the only Mythology that I have any thing to do
with, at prefent.
The Roman poets uſe the word Hamadryades, ra-
ther as a character of the nymphs, in general; than
as the name of any particular clafs of nymphs. They
uſe it ſometimes in ſpeaking of the Dryads them-
felves; and fometimes of the other Nymphs, the
companions of the Dryads: as the word naturally
feems to fignify.
Virgil, I think, never uſes the word Hamadryades
but once and that is where he ſeems to be ſpeaking
of the rural Nymphs, in general.
Jam mihi per rupes videor lucofque fonantes
Ire; libet Partho torquere Cydonia cornu
Spicula, tanquam hæc fint noftri medicina furoris,
Aut deus ille malis hominum mitefcere difcat:
Jam neque Hamadryades rurfum, nec carmina nobis
Ipfa placent; ipfæ rurfum concedite fylvæ:
Non illum noftri poffunt mutare labores.
Ecl. 10. .64.
In the two or three places where Ovid mentions
them, he is fpeaking either of wood-nymphs, (fee
the quotation from him in the preceding note ;) or of
the followers of Diana:
Inter Hamadryadas jaculatricemque Dianam
Callifto facri pars fuit una chori.
Faft. 2. .156
Inter Hamadryadas celeberrima Nonaerinas
Naïas una fuit: nymphæ Syringa vocabant.
Non femel & Satyros eluferat illa fequentes;
Et quofcunque Deos umbrofaque fylva, feraxque
Rus habet; Ortygiam ftudiis, ipfâque colebat
Virginitate Deam: ritu quoque cincta Dianæ.
Met. 1. *.695.
may be obſerved here, that this Hamadryad was
a Naiad or water-nymph. Now the water-nymphs
were fuch frequent companions of the wood-nymphs,
or Dryads, that Virgil calls them fifters: Georg. 4.
*. 382, & 383: and when the other Roman poets
ſpeak of nymphs, either as prefiding over fingle trees,
or as more intimately united with them; they men、
Tit
tion
It
:
252
POLYMETIS.
generally been imagined to do. Pliny introduces this goddeſs perfonally, even in his
profe (60); to make her fpeak in praiſe of the feveral fruits fhe preſided over. Her
PI. XXXV. lover, Vertumnus, fhared with her in that charge; and was therefore reprefented, with
FIG. 6. the fame attribute of a pruning-hook. I mean the principal Vertumnus; for there
ſeems, according to Horace, to have been (61) ſeveral inferior deities of the fame name
and character with him: in the fame manner as there was a number of inferior Pans,
and Faunus's; befides the principal Faunus of the Romans, or the great god Pan of the
Greeks.
POMONA and Vertumnus, as well as Flora, had a ſhare in prefiding over gardens ; and
ſo had another deity, almoſt too mean to mention to you. You will eafily gueſs that I
mean Priapus. He held a pruning-hook (62) too in his hands; when he had hands :
for he was ſometimes nothing more than a meer log of wood; as Martial, fomewhere hu-
mouroufly calls him (63). Indeed the Roman poets in general feem to have looked on Pri-
apus as a ridiculous god; and are all ready enough, either to deſpiſe, or abuſe him. What
Horace fays of him, contains as ſevere a ſtroke (64) on the worſhip of idols in general,
as almoſt any I know of; even in thoſe who have wrote profeffedly againſt idolatry.
There is a paffage in a very immodeſt book, (which has been attributed by fome of the
critics, to one of the modefteft poets that ever wrote,) which mentions a very (65) proper
offering to this god; and indeed, there were fome other pieces of devotion paid to him,
which were full as obſcene as the deity himſelf. His bufinefs was (66) to drive away the
birds, and guard the fruit from thieves; whence in fome of his figures, he had a lap full
of fruit before him. Trimalchio, in his ridiculous feaft defcribed by Petronius, had a
figure of this god to hold up all his deffert. It was made of pafte; and as Horace ob-
ſerves, on another occafion, that he owed all his divinity to the carpenter; Petronius
fſeems to hint that he was wholly obliged for it to the (67) paſtry-cook, on this.
tion Naiads under theſe characters, juſt as freely as
Dryads.
Naïada vulneribus fuccidit in arbore factis :
Illa perit; fatum Naiados arbor erat.
Ovid. Faft. 4. . 232.
Quid te, quæ mediis fervata penatibus arbor
Tecta per & poftes liquidas emergis in auras,
Quo non fub domino fævas paffura ſecures ?
Et nunc ignaro forfan, vel lubrica Naïs,
Vel non abruptos tibi demet Hamadryas annos.
Statius, Lib. 1. Sylv. 3. v. 63.
This common idea among the antients, (of Nymphs,
or intellectual Beings, annexed to trees,) muſt have
made the ſtory of Erifichthon in Ovid, and that of
Polydorus in Virgil, appear much more natural and
obvious to their readers then, than they do to us
now. It will account too for their worshipping of
trees; as we find they fometimes did, not only from
their poets but their hiftorians. Livy ſpeaks of an
embaſſador's addreſſing himſelf to an old oak, as to
an intelligent perſon, and a divinity. Tum ex lega-
tis unus abiens; "Et hæc, inquit, facrata quercus,
& quicquid deorum eſt, audiant fœdus a vobis rup-
tum." Lib. 3. §. 25.-Among the feveral modes
of heathen worſhip, kept up fo carefully by the Ro-
man Catholics, they have not wholly neglected this:
a very particular inftance of which, in our own times
and near our own country, is related by Monfieur de
la Colonie, in his Memoirs; Vol. II. p. 56, to 62.
Ed. Bruffels, 1737.
(60) Non ceffit his Pomona.- Plurimum inquit,
homini voluptatis ex me eft. Ego fuccum vini, li-
quorem olei gigno. Ego palmas; & poma: totque
varietates: &c. Pliny, Nat. Hift. Lib. 23. in Procem.
CERES
(61)
-Vertumnis, quotquot funt, natus iniquis.
Horat. Lib. 2. Sat. 7. ✯. 14.
(62) Invitent croceis halantes floribus horti;
Et cuftos furum atque avium, cum falce falignâ,
Hellefpontiaci fervet tutela Priapi.
Virgil, Georg. 4. †.111.
(63) Non horti neque palmitis beati,
Sed rari nemoris, Priape, cuftos !
Ex
quo natus es, & potes renafci :
Furaces, moneo, manus repellas ;
Et fylvam domini focis referves:
Si defecerit hoc, & ipfe lignum es.
4
Martial, Lib. 8. Ep. 41.
(64) Olim truncus eram ficulnus; inutile lignum :
Cum faber incertus fcamnum faceretne Priapum,
Maluit effe Deum; Deus inde ego.
Horat. Lib. 1. Sat. 8. .3.
*.3.
(65) Infamous books of pictures, mentioned in the
collection of inſcriptions under the figures of this god.
Pria: Carm. 3. Some of the editors aſcribe this piece
to Virgil, without any manner of foundation.
Theſe antient pictures, were of the fame kind with
thofe modern ones, mentioned by Vaſari; in his
Lives of the Painters. Part 3. p. 307. 4to.
(66)
Deus inde ego; furum aviumque
Maxima formido. Nam fures dextra coercet ;
Aft importunas volucres in vertice arundo
Terret fixa, vetatque novis confidere in hortis.
Horat. Lib. 1. Sat. 8. *.7.
(67) Medium Priapus, a piftore factus, tenebat:
gremioque, fatis amplo, omnis generis poma & uvas
fuftinebat, more vulgato. Petronius Arb. p. 99. Ed.
Lond.
DIALOGUE the Fifteenth.
253
CERES was the goddefs that prefided in chief over corn-fields, as Flora did over gar-
dens. I have no figure of Ceres here; becauſe ſhe has a place among the twelve Great
Deities (68), in my celeftial temple. There was another deity received among the Ro-
mans, for this diſtrict, of a very different character: and who must have made a very
mean appearance, as I imagine; for I have never met with any figure of her, among the
remains of the artifts. The Romans, you know, in general had their bad gods, as well
as their good ones and fo they had a deity to cauſe the ruft in corn, as well as to pre-
ſerve it and make it flouriſh. The former was the goddeſs Robigo: a deity, mentioned,
very gravely, by Ovid (69); and very much ridiculed, by fome of the fathers of the
church.
Pl. XXXV.
THE figures of Bacchus who prefided over vineyards (70), and of Diana who ranged
the forefts, are omitted here; for the fame reafon as that of Ceres. You have ſeen them
already in making the rounds of my firſt temple. Sylvanus, as his name imports, pre-
fided over woods; and the fruits, that grew in them. Agreeably to which, you fee
here, he has a lap full of fruit: his pruning-hook, in one hand; and a young cypreſs- FIG. 7.
tree, in the other. Virgil mentions the latter (71), as a diftinguiſhing attribute of this
god. The fame poet, on another occafion, defcribes him as crowned (72) with wild
flowers; and mentions his prefiding over (73) the corn-fields, as well as the woods.
That might be occafioned by the manner of cultivation ufed in Italy in his time (74):
and indeed at this day they plant rows of olive-trees, mulberries, elms and vines, fo
generally and fo near together, in their corn-fields; that the whole vale of Lombardy,
(one of the moſt cultivated parts of Italy,) when viewed from the firſt rifings of the
Apennine, near Bologna, looks all like one continued wood.
THE Fauns were a fort of woodland deities. They ranged all over the country: but
feem more particularly to have delighted in the vineyards; and in theſe fields, inter-
ſperſed with vines. You ſee them in ſome of the works of the antient artiſts even eating
the grapes in the hands of Bacchus; and they appear generally as attendants of that god,
in the repreſentations of Bacchanal feafts and proceffions. I have here, you ſee, a Faun pl. XXXV.
and a Fauneſs. The Faun is a copy of that famous one in the Great Duke's collection FIG. 8,&9.
at Florence; and is dancing with fome of the muſical inftruments in his hands that were
uſed in the feaſts of Bacchus: as the Fauneſs fhews the playfulneſs, which makes one of
(68) Pl. 14. Fig. 3. anteh.
(69) Hac mihi Nomento Romam cum * luce redirem,
Obſtitit in mediâ candida pompa viâ :
Flamen in antiquæ lucum Robiginis ibat ;
Exta canis flammis, exta daturus ovis.
Protinus acceffi; ritûs ne neſcius effem :
<<
Edidit hæc flamen verba, Quirine, tuus.
Afpera Robigo, parcas Cerealibus herbis,
Et tremat in fummâ læve cacumen humo !
Parce, precor; fcabrafque manus a meſſibus aufer
Neve noce cultis: poffe nocere fat eſt! &c."
Ovid. Faft. 4. *. 901 to 942.
(* Apr. 24.)
The whole prayer of the prieſt is there: he calls
her exprefly, Diva timenda, . 920.
The Romans had a god Rubigus, as well as this
goddeſs Robigo. Among the antiquities of Aquileia,
there is a marble inſcribed, DEO RVBIGO. Can.
Bartoli. Antich. d'Aquileia. This god is fpoken of
by Varro; de Ling. Lat. 5. 3.
The Rubigalia, were inftituted by Numa: Pliny,
Nat. Hift. lib. 18. cap. 29. p. 319. Ed. Elz. and are
ridiculed by St. Aug. de Civit. Dei, Lib. 4. cap. 21.
-Tertullian. de Spectac. cap. 5.-& Lactantius,
Lib. 1. cap. 20.
the
(70) This Bacchus is in Pl. 20. Fig. 1, and the
Diana, Pl. 13. Fig. 4. anteh.
(71) Et teneram ab radice ferens, Sylvane, cupreffum.
Georg. I. . 20.
(72) Venit & agrefti capitis Sylvanus honore
*.
. 25.
Florentes ferulas & grandia lilia quaffans.
Virgil. Ecl. 10.
(73) He calls him, Arvorum Deus. En. 8. .
601.
(74) Virgil often ſpeaks of their vines, and corn
together; in the fame mixed manner, as they were
planted.
Impius hæc tam culta novalía miles habebit,
Barbarus has fegetes? En quo difcordia cives
Perduxit miferos! En queis confevimus agros!
Infere nunc, Melibær, pyros ; pone ordine vites!
Ecl. 1.
*.75.
Quin age & ipfa manu felices erue fylvas ;
Fer ftabulis inimicum ignem atque interfice meffes:
Ure fata, & validam in vites molire bipennem:
Tanta meæ fi te cœperunt tædia laudis.
Georg. 4. . 332~
254
POLYMETIS.
the chief parts in the character of this claſs of deities. The Fauns were partly of the
fatyr-kind. They had fomething of the ferine nature; as you fee by their tails, little
horns, and pointed ears. They have all the agility and playfulneſs of the Satyrs:
but they were not fo favage and horrid, in their form; nor fo abandoned, in their
lewdnefs.
THE chief paffion (75), both of the Fauns and Satyrs, feems to have been for the
Nymphs; tho' there were female Satyrs, as well as Fauneffes. I have often wondered
how it comes about, that theſe Nymphs and Fauns fhould be fo common a fubject with
the antient artiſts, and fo very uncommon in the poets. However it happened, the
latter have very few paffages that are defcriptive either of the perfonage or attributes of
theſe deities; and indeed not any thing, that I know of, worth mentioning.
ONE of the chief characters of the Satyrs, or Pans, (for the Romans called them all
(76) by that name, as well as their chief,) is their laſciviouſneſs: which is but too ſtrongly
expreffed in the famous Satyr (77), inftructing a youth to play on the fhepherd's reed;
Pl. XXXV. in the Lodovifian gardens: whoſe face only is reprefented, in this drawing; for a very
obvious reafon. The poets have an epithet for the (78) Satyrs, which includes both their
FIG. 10.
characters in one word.
THE great god Pan himſelf is not wholly exempt from the worst of theſe characters:
and indeed it is he who is fuppofed by fome, to be meant in this very figure in the Lo-
dovifian gardens. His figures are ufually naked, to exprefs his agility; and Silius Italicus
fpeaks of him, as flying, (or bounding,) from the top of one rock to another. That
That poet
gives us (79) the moſt particular deſcription of Pan, that I know of in all the Roman poets.
He ſpeaks of his head being crowned with pine-branches, and his forehead fhaded with
them. He gives him a doe's-ſkin, over his left ſhoulder; and a pedum, in his right
hand. One might form ſeveral diſtinct pictures out of this deſcription: which is the
more particular, becauſe Silius is not uſually very pictureſque. In one part of it, you
fee this god poiſed on one foot, as juſt ready to take one of his leaps: in another, he is
regarding his flocks, that feed at a diſtance; and fhading his face, from the fun, with
his hand. Here, he is in a wanton attitude, looking over his ſhoulder, and laughing at
his own tail; and there you ſee him fitting on an eminence, playing on his pipe, with his
flocks liftning all about him.
SILIUS introduces this account of Pan into his poem, on an occafion where I ſhould
not have expected to have heard of this god. Juſt after Hannibal had quitted Italy, as
the Roman army was drawing toward Capua with a full deſign of deſtroying that city,
(75) Faune, nympharum fugientum amator.
Horat. Lib. 3. Od. 18. y. 1.
The Satyrs were fo fond of them, that they ex-
tended their paffion even to the nymphs of a different
element from their own; according to what Statius.
ſays, of ſome water-nymphs:
Ite Deæ virides, liquidofque advertite vultus !
Veſte nihil tectæ ; quales emergitis altis
Fluctibus, & vifu Satyros torquetis amantes.
Lib. 1. Sylv. 5. ✯. 18.
Panefque biformes.
Columella, y. 427.
Pinu præcinci cornua Panes.
Ovid. Met. 14. ✯. 638.
(77) Maffei's Statues, No. 64.
(76)
(78) Laſcivi Satyri. Lafcivus, & Laſcivia, in La-
tin, fignify either playfulneſs, or lewdneſs; as the
words, wanton, and wantonneſs, do alſo in our lan-
guage. Lafcivus is often uſed in the poets, of Cupid;
only to fignify his nimbleneſs: and ſo is it ſometimes
uſed too, of the Satyrs.
the
(79) Pan Jove miffus erat, fervari tecta volente
Troïa. Pendenti fimilis Pan femper ; & imo
Vix ulla infcribens terræ veftigia cornu :
Dextera lafcivit cæfâ Tegeatide caprâ ;
Verbera læta movens feftâ per compita caudâ.
Cingit acuta comas & opacat tempora pinus ;
Ac parva erumpunt rubicundâ cornua fronte.
Stant aures; imoque cadit barba hifpida mento,
Paſtorale Deo baculum: pellifque finiftrum
Velat grata latus teneræ de
damæ.
corpore
Nulla in præruptum tam prona & inhofpita cautes;
In quâ non librans corpus, fimilifque volanti,
Cornipedem tulerit præcifa per avia plantam.
Interdum inflexus medio nafcentia tergo
Refpicit adridens hirta ludibria caudæ :
Obtendenfque manum, folem infervefcere fronti
Arcet; & umbrato perluftrat pafcua vifu.
Hic poftquam mandata Dei perfecta, malamque
Sedavit rabiem & permulfit corda furentum;
Arcadiæ volucris faltus & amata reviſit
Mænala: ubi argutis longè de vertice facro
Dulce fonat calamis; ducit ftabula omnia cantu.
Silius Ital. 13. . 347.
*.
DIALOGUE the Fifteenth.
255
the inhabitants came out in a body, and in the moſt fuppliant manner, to deprecate their
wrath. Jupiter, (fays the poet,) was moved with the diftrefs of the Capuans; and fent Pan to
foften their incenfed enemies. This god breathed a fudden ſpirit of relenting into all the
Roman army. They felt a ſtrange compaflion (86) rifing in their breaſts; and were fur-
priſed to find all their wrath turned into pity. Silius on this occafion calls Pan, the
mild god, or the infpirer of mildneſs. There is a terminal figure, in the Great Duke's pl. XXXV.
gallery at Florence; which they call, a Pan: and whoſe face agrees very well with this FIG. II.
character. He looks like a good honeft fhepherd: and has a goat on his ſhoulder;
and a little milking veffel (81), in his right hand.
As mild as this god looks here, he is better known at preſent I think under a more for-
midable character; as the infpirer of fudden frights, and terrors. The antients uſed to at-
tribute to Pan a thouſand little idle tricks (82), (as frightning their cattle, and the like ;) in
the fame manner as our common people did formerly, to Robin Goodfellow.
Pan too, I
fuppofe, was a giver of frightful dreams; as well as (83) the Fauns. All great frights, which
happened in an army without any real foundation; and all ſuch as we ſtill call, Panic
Fears; were attributed to the operations of this deity. Theſe horrors cauſed by Pan are,
very particularly (84), deſcribed in the little romance wrote by Longus; who, I ſhould
think, lived in an higher and better age, than is generally (85) allowed him. However
that be, the Roman poets of the good ages, fometimes deſcribe Pan as ſtriking greater
terrors into an army (86), with caufelefs alarms; than any enemy could do, with real
ones and the artifts, agreeably to what they fay, fometimes give him a face that is much
more terrible than that of Mars himſelf. It was on this account, that the Athenians had
ſtatues of this god (87), carrying a trophy on his ſhoulders; like the figures of Mars:
He had often affifted them, in their wars; and particularly, in gaining their moſt cele-
brated victory over the Perfians (88), at Marathon. His face, you fee, in this drawing Pl. XXXV,
carries a great deal of horror with it. So much, that I have fometimes been apt to
fufpect that it was from ſome of theſe more terrible repreſentations of this god, that our
later artiſts might firſt borrow their idea of a Devil. If you confider, that the antients
(80) Atque ea dum miles miratur inertia facta,
Exfpectatque ferox fternendi mænia fignum :
Ecce repens tacito percurrit pectora fenfu
Relligio, & faevas componit numinė mentes ;
Ne flammam tædafque velint, ne templa fub uno
In cinerem tranfiffe rogo. Subit intima corda
Perlabens fenfim mitis Deus.
Silius Ital. 13, . 320.
(81) See Muf. Flor. Vol. III. Pl. 61.This may
be the Pan, which Virgil invokes in the beginning of
his Georgics.
Ipfe nemus linquens patrium faltuſque Lycæi,
Pan ovium cuftos! Tua ſi tibi Mænala curæ
Adfis, O Tegeæe, favens.
Georg. I. . 18.
(82) Ludus & ille Deo, pavidum præfepibus aufert
Cum pecus; & profugi fternunt dumeta juvenci.
Val. Flaccus, 3. ¥.
. 56.
(83) Hæc medetur & Faunorum in quiete ludi-
briis. Plin. Lib. 25. Cap. 4.-Qui a nocturnis Diis,
Fauniſque agitantur.. Id. Lib. 30. Cap. 10.
(84) In the long account of Pan's terrifying the
captain of the pirates, that had carried away Cloe.
Lib. 2.
(85) Longus has been generally ſuppoſed to have
wrote about the end of the fourth century. The
only reafon given for this is, that he has fome paf-
fages which feem to have been copied from Heliodo-
always
rus: but why might not Heliodorus as well have co-
pied from Longus, as Longus from Heliodorus?
The reaſon why I think Longus of the higher ages,
is the natural eafe and fimplicity of his ftyle; in
which he ſeems to me not to be inferior to any one,
except Theocritus.
(86) Pan nemorum, bellique potens ; quem lucis ab horis
Antra tenent: patet ad medias per devia noctes
Setigerum latus, & torvæ coma fibila frontis.
Vox omnes fuper una tubas : quâ conus & enſis,
Quâ trepidis auriga rotis, nocturnaque muris
Plauftra cadunt. Talefque metus non Martia caſſis,
Eumenidumque comæ, non triftis ab æthere Gorgon
Sparferit; aut tantis aciem raptaverit umbris.
Valerius Flaccus, 3. . 54.
lection of Greek epigrams.
(87) This appears from an inſcription; in the col-
Uuu
Περης εκ Παφίης με πολιν καλα Παλλάδος ακρην
Στησαν Αθηναίοι Πανα τροπαιοφόρον.
(88) As this does, from another; in the fame.
. Υλοβατος, φιλοδενδρος, οξεοσαυλο ποσις Αχος,
Πανσκοπος, εύκερας μαλοφύλαξ αγέλας,
Παν ο δασυκνάμων, ο πολυσπορος" ος μελαναςας
Εδραμον αιχματαν ες δαιν Ασσυρίων
Μιλτιαδα σήσαντος ομασπίδα Περσοδιωκτην,
Isaµar axλn18
Ισαμαι αλληλο ξεινια συμμαχίης.
Αλλοις Ακροπολης ο Μηδοφονος δε δέδας αι
Ξινος εμι Μαραθων, και Μαραθωνομάχοις,
FIG. 12.
1
1
256
POLYME TI S.
1
1
always gave Pan a tail, horns, and cloven-feet, it would make ſuch a conjecture yet the
more probable. One might add, that in the old ftories of the Sabat, the devil is moft-
uſually faid to have appeared in the ſhape of a goat: now Ovid calls Pan, the Goatiſh
god (89); as one of the fathers of the church (90) chuſes to diſtinguiſh him, by his cloven
feet. This deep conjecture of mine might, perhaps, be carried much farther; but I
ſhall quit that, and Pan together: which we may do with the more pleaſure, becauſe
his is the laſt ſtatue I had to fhew you. You have proved that
You have proved that you have a great deal of
patience, in attending me fo long; thro' my temple of the Celeſtial Beings; that of the
Conſtellations; the Beings of the Air; thoſe of the Waters, and theſe of the Earth,
We have now compleated our whole round; and I heartily wiſh you joy of it: for to
fay the truth, I begin to be a little tired of my office; as you may very well be, with
hearing me.
(89) Semicaper Pan.
Met. 14. 515.
(90) Minutius Felix; See Dial. VII. Note 81,
anteh.
Page. 255
Vances
:
Boitard sculp

XXXII
NATVRA..
CIBELE.
ORBIS.
EVROPA.
ASIA.
AFRICA..
IV
ITALIA.
IVDEA CAPT
IVDEA REST.
VIII
ROMA.
ALEXANDREA
LARES.
XII
LP. Boitard Sculp

XXXIII
LP.Boitard Sculp

XXXIV
C.Paderni del.
337
www
LP. Boitard Sculp

XXXV
TMOLUS.
RHODOPE.
SCYLLA.
POMONA,
VERTVMNVS
FLORA.
FAUNUS
FAUNA.
SYLVANVS
PAN TERRIBILIS
SATYRUS
PAN
LP. Boitard Sculp
C
BOOK the Ninth.
>
DIAL. XVI.
Of the Deities, and Inhabitants, of the LOWER WORLD.
P
OLYMETIS had now carried his two friends through all his collection, as far as
it was difpoſed of in his gardens; fo the next day was to be a day of reſt to them:
but as they had got into a train of diverting their time in this one kind of manner,
they found this day hang more upon their hands than any of the former. Philander, in
particular, wanted very much fome of the fame diverfion they had now been uſed to for
fome time; and could not help mentioning it to Polymetis, as they were fitting in the
library, after fupper. I wiſh, ſays he, you had followed the tafte of the emperor
Adrian (1), who is faid to have furniſhed one part of his gardens with nothing but infernal
deities, and fuch beings as were ſuppoſed to inhabit the lower world. We might then
have had ſome of our old employment for to-morrow. Befides, it would finish the
whole ſeries of imaginary beings, that we have been converfing with theſe ſeven or eight
days; and yet I do not know how it is, I am fo far from being tired of their company,
that I am at a lofs how to do without it. If you are fo very defirous of going on with
them and compleating our enquiry, fays Polymetis, you need only turn round, and hand
me that drawer,—the loweſt of the fix, juſt behind you;-in which are all the draw-
ings I could get in relation to this laſt claſs of imaginary beings. As this was what Phi-
lander wanted, he did not loſe any time; but took out the drawer immediately, (which
looked better ſtockt than they expected,) and ſet it before Polymetis; who, as all theſe
drawings were ranged there to his hand in their proper order, began his lecture on them
in the following manner.
IN talking of the poetical hell of the old Romans, I know not how one can do better,
than to follow exactly the account which is given us by the beſt poet that the Ro-
mans ever had. I have therefore ranged thefe drawings of mine into diftinct parcels,
according to the different divifions which Virgil has given us of the infernal regions.
Virgil's general character is exactneſs; and he ſeems to have ſhown it particularly on this
occafion. His account of the fubterraneous world is much the moſt regular and the moſt
compleat we meet with in any of the Greek, as well as Latin poets, that remain to us.
Hence it is, that Silius Italicus, (who ought perhaps to have more the authority of an
hiſtorian, than that of a poet,) fets Virgil's account of hell on a level with the principal
fubject of his Æneid: and feems to infinuate, that he laid out all the parts of it in as (2)
exact order, before he faw it; as he could have done, after he was an inhabitant of thoſe
lower regions.
(1) At his Villa, near Tivoli. See Spartian, T. II.
P. 293.
(2) Atque hic Elyfio tendentem limite cernens
*
Effigiem juvenis caftam, cui vitt ligabat
Purpurea effufos per colla nitentia crines;
Dic ait, hic quinam, Virgo nam luce refulget
Præcipuâ frons facra viro; multæque fequuntar
Mirantes animæ, & lato al more frequentant.
THE
Qui vultus! Quem, fi Stygiâ non effet in umbrâ,
Dixiffem facile effe Deum. Non falleris, inquit
Docta comes Trivia: meruit Deus effe videri ;
Et fuit in tanto non parvum pectore nunien :
Carmine complexus terram, mare, fidera, manes,
Et cantu Mufas & Phœbum æquavit honore.
Atque hæc cuncta prius quàm cerneret ordine terris
Prodidit; & veftram tulit ufque ad fidera Trojam.
* Scipio.
Silius Ital. 13. *.791.
257
1
258
POLYMET I S.
THE whole imaginary world (3) beneath the ſurface of the earth, which we call Hell,
(tho' according to the antients it was the receptacle of all departed perfons, of the good as
well as the bad,) is divided, by Virgil, into five parts. The firſt may be called the Pre-
vious Region. The ſecond is the Region of Waters; or the River, which they were all to
pafs. The third is what we may call, the Gloomy Region; and what the antients called,
Erebus (4). The fourth is Tartarus, or the Region of Torments: and the fifth, the
Regions of Joy and Blifs; or what we ftill call Elyfium.
t
It may be worth while to enquire a little more particularly into the difpofition which
Virgil has made of the nether world, into theſe five parts; and what fort of perfonages,
or inhabitants, he affigns to each of them.
THE firſt part in it, (which I call the Previous Region, as being only the fuburbs of
the Realms of Death,) Virgil has ſtocked with two forts of beings. Firſt, with thoſe
which make (5) the real miſery of mankind upon earth; fuch asWar, Diſcord; Labour,
Grief, Cares, Diſtempers, and Old-age and fecondly, with (6) fancied terrors, and all the
moſt frightful creatures of our own imagination; fuch as Gorgons, Harpies, Chimera's,
and the like.
:
THE next is the Water, which all the departed were fuppofed to pafs, to enter into
the other world. This was called Styx; or, the Hateful paffage. The imaginary perfo-
nages of this divifion are (7) the fouls of the departed, who are either paffing over, or fuing
for a paffage; and the maſter of the veffel, who carries them over, one freight after an-
other, according to his will and pleaſure.
THE third divifion begins immediately with the bank on the other fide the river; and
was ſuppoſed to extend a great way in. It is fubdivided again into ſeveral particular
diftricts. The firſt (8) feems to be the receptacle for infants, or the Limbus Infantum.-
Then is the Limbo for all fuch as have been (9) put to death without a caufe.-Next, is
the place for thoſe who have (10) put a period to their own lives: a melancholy region;
and fituated amidſt the marshes, made by the overflowings of the Hateful River, or paffage
into the other world.After this, are the (11) fields of Mourning; full of dark woods
and groves, and inhabited by thoſe who died for love.Laſt (12) of all, fpreads an
open champion country, allotted for the fouls of departed warriors. The name of this
whole divifion is (13) Erebus.
(3) The ancients feem, moſt commonly, to have
confidered the earth, as a vaſt plain, ſpread out every
way; and hell, as ſpread out, at an equal depth, all
under the ſurface of it. Hence they had vents, or
pallages, that were fuppofed to lead directly to hell,
in every country; and ſeveral in fome: as the lakes of
Avernus and Amfanctus, in particular, for Italy.
" It
is indifferent to me, where you bury me, (fays Anax-
agoras) for my journey to the other world will
be juſt the fame:" Undique enim ad Inferos tan-
tundem viæ eft. Cicero's Tufc. Quæft. Lib. 1.
P. 365. Ed. Blaeu.
(4) Erebus is moſt commonly uſed for this particu-
lar part of the fubterraneous world, by Virgil and
the rest of the Roman poets; tho' they may poffibly
fometimes uſe it for the fubterraneous world, in ge-
neral. The perfons placed by Virgil in this part,
ſeem to me not to have been ſuppoſed to be in tor-
ments; but only to abide in a dark, and melancholy
way. The derivation of the words Tartarus and Ere-
bus,according to the critics in that fort of knowledge,
THE
agrees very well with this diftinction: for Erebus,
fay they, is derived from any, which fignifies Night,
or Obſcurity; and Tartarus, from raparlw, to dif
turb, or torment.
(5) Æn. 6. . 274, to 281.
(6) Ibid. 286, to 289.
(7) Ibid. 295, to 316.
(8) Ibid. 427.
(9) Ibid. 430.
(10) Ibid. 434, to 439.
(11) Ibid. 441.
(12) Ibid. 477.
(13) Virgil fhews plainly that this divifion was
called Erebus, in his account of the defcent of Or-
pheus into hell. Compare G. 4. ✯. 471, and 478;
fee too y. 481, ibid.
It
DIALOGUE the Sixteenth.
259
THE feveral diſtricts of this divifion feem to be difpofed all in a line, one after the other (14).
But after this, the great line or road divides into two of which, the right-hand road
leads to Elyfium, or the place of the bleft; and the left-hand road to Tartarus, or the place
of the tormented:
THE fourth general divifion of the fubterraneous world is this Tartarus; or the place
of torments. There was a city in it (15), and a prince to prefide over it. Within this
city was a vaft deep pit, in which the tortures were fuppofed to be performed. In this
horrid part, Virgil places two forts of fouls: firſt of ſuch, as have ſhewn their impiety and
rebellion (16) toward the gods; and ſecondly of fuch, as have been vile or mischievous
among men.
men. Thofe, (as he himſelf fays of the latter, more particularly,) who hated
their brethren; uſed their parents ill; or cheated their dependants: who made no uſe
of their riches; who committed inceft, or diſturbed the marriage-union of others:
thoſe who were rebellious fubjects, or knaviſh ſervants; who were defpifers of juſtice,
and betrayers of their country; and who made and unmade laws, not for the good of
the public, but only to get money to themſelves. All theſe, and the deſpiſers of the
gods, Virgil places in this moſt horrid divifion of his fubterraneous world; and in the
vaft abyſs, which was the moſt terrible part even of that diviſion.
THE fifth divifion is that of Elyfium, or the place of the bleft. Here Virgil places (17)
thoſe who died for their country; thofe of pure lives; truly infpired poets; the inven-
tors of arts; and all who have done good to mankind. He does not ſpeak of any par-
ticular diſtricts for thefe; but ſuppoſes that they have the liberty of (18) going where they
pleaſe in that delightful region, and converfing with whom they pleafe. He only men-
tions one vale, toward the end of it, as appropriated to any particular uſe. This is (19)
the vale of Lethe, or Forgetfulneſs; where many of the antient philofophers, and the
Platoniſts in particular, fuppofed the fouls which had paffed thro' fome periods of their
trial, were immerſed in the river which gives its name to it; in order to be put into new
bodies, and to fill up t the whole courſe of their probation in our upper world.
In each of theſe three divifions on the other fide of the river Styx, (which perhaps
were comprehended under the name of Ades, as all the five might be under the name of
Orcus,) was a prince, or judge (20): Minos, for the regions of Erebus; Rhadamanthus,
for Tartarus; and Æacus, for Elyfium. Pluto and Proferpine (21) had their palace at
the entrance of the road to the Elyfian fields; and prefided, as fovereigns, over the
whole fubterraneous world.
It is faid before, that the name of this divifion is
derived from a Hebrew word fignifying Night, or
Darkness; which agrees particularly with a line of
Virgil, in another part of his works.
Pallentes umbras Erebi; noctemque profundam.
Æn. 4. . 26.
(14) Virgil. Æn. 6. ✯. 540, to 543.
(15) Ibid. *. 549, and 566.
(16) The impious; ſee Virgil, Æn. 6. ✨. 580, to
607 and the unjuſt; ibid. y. 608, to 624.
Virgil plainly had this diſtinction in his thoughts,
from his not mixing them at all with one another ;
and ſeems even to expreſs it, in that exclamation
which he puts into the mouth of one of the tor-
mented:
Difcite juftitiam moniti; & non temnere Divos!
Ibid. . 620.
(17) Virgil. Æn. 6. ✯. 660, to 664.
MY
(18)
Nulli certa domus: lucis habitamus opacis ;
Riparumque toros, & prata recentia rivis
Incolimus.
Ibid. . 675.
(19) Ibid. y. 679, 703, and 749.
(20) Nec vero hæ fine forte datæ, fine judice fedes :
Quæfitor Minos urnam movet.
Ibid. . 432,
Gnoffius hæc Rhadamanthus habet duriffima regna;
Caftigatque auditque dolos. --
Ibid. *. 567.
Quàm penè furvæ regna Proferpinæ,
Et judicantem vidimus Æacum,
Sedefque difcretas piorum!-
Horat. Lib. 2. Od. 13. ¥. 23.
(21) Hic locus eft partes ubi ſe via findit in ambas ;
Dextera quæ Ditis magni fub monia tendit :
Hac iter Elyfium nobis.
Virgil En. 6. . 542..
:
i
ť
X x X
260
POLYMETIS.
PLXXXVI.
FIG. 1.
My drawings here are ranged exactly according to the map, which Virgil has giveni
us of this imaginary country. The first of them reprefents his Previous region. You
know there are two manufcripts of Virgil's poems, in the Vatican library; each with an-
tient pictures in them, relating to the moft remarkable paffages: This is taken from the
better of thoſe two manufcripts: which is faid to have been wrote about the time of Con-
ſtantine the Great; as the pictures in it are fuppofed (22) to have been copied from fome
of a higher date: at leaſt as high, as the reign of Septimius Severus.
You ſee here the two forts of inhabitants, affigned by Virgil to this firſt divifion of the
nether world. That line of naked ladies above are the real Evils and diftreffes of human
life; as (23) Want, Diſeaſes, Grief, Old-age, and the like: and the rest of the picture is
almoſt wholly furniſhed with meer terrors of the imagination; fuch as Harpies, Centaurs;
monftrous Giants, Hydra's, and Chimæra's.
THE former are the more remarkable, becauſe their figures are ſcarce any where to
be met with but here. As for the Virtues, and beings which make the happineſs of life,
one had a large reſource in the medals of the Roman emperors; who were all compli-
mented in their turns, with being the hope, the joy, the ſafety, and ſecurity, of the
kingdoms under their command. This was obviouſly expreffed by having the empe-
ror's head, on one fide of a medal; and the figure of the goddeſs Spes, Lætitia, Salus or
Securitas, on the other. But tho' they had fo many bad, and even fo many monſtrous
emperors, I believe no artiſt ever ventured fo far as to place a vitious or hurtful being on.
the reverſe of any of their coins: and this is one great reaſon why the figures of theſe bad
beings are ſo much more difficult to be met with, than their oppofite virtues. Indeed I
have never ſeen any groupe of the Vices and hurtful Beings, but in this Vatican picture ;
and in this, they are not fufficiently diſtinguiſhed from one another; being drawn with-
out any attributes, and almoſt all alike. There are eight of them; of whom I can ſay
nothing in particular, except that the two who are fitting and looking downwards, pretty
much in the fame attitude, may poffibly be the Curæ Virgil ſpeaks of; for he gives
them ſeats: which, you ſee here, are no better than the bare rocks; and even on them,
they ſeem to be placed in an uneafy pofture. Some of the other poets, as well as Virgil,
ſpeak of the Curæ perfonally (24); but there is very little that is any way deſcriptive of
their perſons, in any of them.
VIRGIL places Death (25), and his relation Sleep, among the evil beings of this region.
They make not their appearance in the Vatican picture; but may be ſupplied from
other remains of the antient artiſts.
THE figures of Mors, or Death, are very uncommon; as indeed thoſe of the (26) evil
and hurtful beings are in general. They were baniſhed from all medals, for the reafon
I have juſt mentioned to you: on feals and rings they were probably confidered as bad
(22) See Dial. VIII. Note 121.
(23)
Primis in faucibus Orci
Luctus, & ultrices posuere cubilia Curæ :
Pallenteſque habitant Morbi, triftifque Senectus;
Et Metus, & maleſuada Fames, ac turpis Egeftas:
Terribiles vifu formæ.
Virgil. Æn. 6. . 277.
It muſt be owned, that Virgil here is more diftinct
and pictureſque, than the painting in the Vatican ma-
nufcript. The epithets of Pallentes Morbi, triftis
Senectus, & turpis Egeftas, might have furniſhed the
artiſt with hints how to diftinguiſh thefe beings from
one another, much more than he has done.
(24)
Curas, laqueata circum
Tecta volantes.
(25)
Curæque fequaces.
omens ;
Lucretius, 2. . 47.
Horat. Lib. 3. Od. 1. ¥. 40.
Poft equitem fedet atra Cura.
Scandit æratas vitiofa naves
Cura, nec turmas equitum relinquit ;
Ocyor cervis, & agente nimbos
Ocyor Euro.
Id. Lib. 2. Od. 16, . 24-
Lethumque, Laboſque;
Virgil. Æn. 6. y. 278.
Et confanguineus Léthi Sopor.
{
(26) Theſe are almoſt as uncommon in the defcrip-
tions of the poets, as they are in the works of the an-
tient artiſts. The moſt remarkable that I remember
of this kind, are the defcription of Party-Rage
. 292. and thoſe of Difcord;
*.
Æn.
Horat. Lib. 2. Od. 16. . 12. in Virgil; Æn. 1.
1
DIALOGUE the Sixteenth.
omens; and were perhaps never uſed: as for pictures, they might be introduced there
on many occafions; but we have ſo few remaining to us of the antient paintings, that
we can expect but little affiftance from that quarter. Among the very few figures of
Mors I have ever met with, that in the Florentine gallery is I think the moſt remarkable.
It is a little figure in brafs, (in the apartment which they call the Madama,) of a ſkeleton;
as fitting on the ground (27), and refting one of its hands on a long urn.
I FANCY Mors was common enough in the paintings of old; becauſe fhe is fo fre-
quently mentioned in a deſcriptive manner, by the Roman poets: who, by the way,
fometimes make a diftinction (28) between Lethum and Mors, which the poverty of our
language will not allow us to exprefs; and which it is even difficult enough to conceive,
Perhaps, they meant by Lethum, that general principle or fource of mortality, which
they ſuppoſed to have its proper refidence in hell; and by Mors, or Mortes, (for they
had (29) feveral of them,) the immediate caufe of each particular inftance of mortality,
on our earth:
THE face of Mors, when they gave her any face, (and the painters probably repre-
fented her fometimes with a very meagre body, as well as like an abſolute ſkeleton,)
feems to have been (30) of a pale, wan, dead colour. The poets defcribe her as rave-
nous, treacherous, and furious. They ſpeak of her (31) roving about open-mouthed (32),
1
Æn. 6. v. 278, and 8. y. 702.-The Envy, and Fa-
mine, in Ovid; Met. Lib.2. y. 775; and 8. ν.799.
and the groupes of Evil Beings mentioned by the fame,
in his Met. Lib. I. . 130: by Statius, Theb. 4.
w:661 ; Valerius Flaccus, Argon. 2. ν. 205 : Petro-
hius Arbiter, N. 254, to 263 ; and the author of
Edipus, Act 3. *. 590, to 594.
There is a profe-writer among the Romans, that
I think fpeaks more defcriptively of thefe evil beings
than mort of their poets have done. The perfon I
mean is Valerius Maximus. According to him, (if
he fpeaks regularly enough to be depended upon,)
Sloth was ſometimes painted of old, in a retired
cave ; from his Memorab. Lib. 2. Cap. 6. §. 3:
and Perfidy, in a dark corner: Lib. 9. Cap.6. Procem
Luxury, and Luft, each with a looſe, flowing robe;
with a wanton look; and eyes fixed on fome new
object, that hits their appetites. Lib. 9. Cap. 2.
Procem. To the two latter, he oppofes the appear-
ance of Cruelty; in the following words. Crudeli-
tatis verò horridus habitus; truculenta facies; vio-
lenti fpiritus, vox terribilis; ora, minis & cruentis
imperiis referta. (Ibid.)
It is very remarkable, that where Lucian deſcribes
the cleareſt picture I remember ever to have read of,
as to theſe bad beings; he ſpeaks, as if their charac-
ters were not well aſcertained nor readily known,
even in his time.—The imaginary beings repre-
ſented in this picture, were Calumny; Ignorance,
Sufpicion; Envy, Treachery, Falfhood; Repen-
tance, and Truth.—It was a work, of Apelles, the
Epheſian; in the time of Ptolemy Philopater: in
whoſe court that painter had been, for fome time.
very well received: but was afterwards like to lofe
his head; on a falfe accufation for treaſon, from a
brother-artiſt who envied his reputation. The king
at laſt was convinced of his innocence; and ſent him
home with a great reward. When he was got ſafe
there, he drew the picture I am ſpeaking of; which
Lucian defcribes in the following words. Εν δεξια τις
ανηρ κάθηται τα ώλα παμμεγέθη έχων, μικρο δειν τοις
το Μίδα προσεοικότας την χειρα προτεινων πορρωθεν εξο
προσίεση τη Διαβολη. Περι δε αυτον εσασι δυο γυναίκες
•
and
Αγνοία μοι δοκεί, και Υποληψις. Ετερωθεν δε, προσ-
ερχεται η Διαβολή, γυναιὸν ες υπερβολήν παίκαλον, υπο-
θερμον δε και παρακεκινημένον· οἷον δη την λυτταν και
Tu ogynu desxvväσa•
δεικνυσαν τη μεν αριστερα; баба καιομένην
εχέσαν τη ετέρα δε, νεανίαν τινα των τριχων συράσα, τας
χειρας ορεγοντά εις τον ερανού και μαρτυρόμενον της θεός.
Ηγειται δε ανηρ ωχρος και αμορφος, οξυ δεδορκως, και εοι-
πως τοις εκ νοσέ μακρας κατασκληκοσι· τό του γον είναι
του Φθονον αν τις εικάσεις, Και μην δε αλλαι τινες δυο
παρομαρτυσι, προτρέπεσαι, και περιςελλεσαι, και και
τακόσμισαι την Διαβολην ως δε μοι και ταυτας εμήνυσεν
ο περιηγητης της εικονός, η μεν Επιβολή τις ην, η δε Απα-
Κατοπιν δε ηκολυθεί, πανυ πενθικως, τις εσκευασ
μενη, μελανείμων, και κατεσπαραγμένη Μελανοια δε και
auln λYETO. ETTES CEPETO You & TUTTION, Saxguera"
και μετ' αιδες πανυ, την Αλήθειαν προσιασαν υπεβλεπεν.
Tom. 2. p. 404. Ed. Blaeu.
τη.
(27) See Pl: 41. Fig. 1.
(28) Et Bellona minax, facibufque armata Megæra :
Lethumque Infidiæque ; & lurida Mortis imago.
Petronius Arb. ✯. 263.
(29) Securæ procul hinc abite Mortes !
Statius, Lib. 2. Sylv. 7. †. 131.
Stant Furiæ circum, variæque ex ordine Mortes.
Id. Theb. 8. *. 24.
and wan,) are frequently applied to Mors, by the La-
(30) The Epithets of Pallida, and Lurida, (pale
and wan,) are frequently applied to Mors, by the La-
tin poets; and occur in quotations on this article.
This dead colour of her cheeks, &c. I take to be meant
by Lucretius; where he ſays,
(31)
Omnia denique fan&ta Deûm delubra replerat
Corporibus, Mors exanimis.
Lib. 6. y. 1271.
Cur anni tempora morbos
Adportant? Quare Mors immatura vagatur?
Lucretius, 5. . 222.
(32) Et cum Mors avidis pallida dentibus.
Herc. Fur. A&t. 2. Chor.
Mors alta avidos oris hiatus
Pandit, & omnes explicat alas.
Oedipus, A&t. 1. Chor.
Mors
261
262
POLYMETIS.
1
and as ready to ſwallow up all that comes in her way. They ſeem to give her (33) black
robes; and (34) dark wings: and repreſent her often, as of an (35) enormous fize. Statius gives
her arms too; and in particular (36), a ſword; like a deſtroying angel: for it is where
he is deſcribing a peftilenee. I do not know how far this is to be depended upon; for
we have only the fingle authority of Statius for it; and his authority is not great
with me.
As the antients had more horrid and gloomy notions of death, than we have at preſent ;
moſt of their deſcriptions of Mors, are of a more frightful and diſmal turn. They
ſometimes deſcribe her as coming to the.(37) doors of mortals, and thundering at them
to demand the debt which they owe her: fometimes as approaching (38) to their bed-
fides, and leaning over them: and fometimes, as (39) purſuing her prey; or as hovering
in the air (40), and ready to make a ſtoop upon it. There is another idea, not uncommon
in the Roman poets, and which they ſeem to have borrowed from that fort of their
gladiators who were called Retiaries, from the nets in which they uſed to entangle
their adverſaries: for Mors is repreſented by them (41) as purſuing men with a net; as
catching them: and as dragging them to their tombs. This, poffibly, may be what
Catullus means by his expreffion of (42), "the Whirl of Death;" or at leaſt, I know not
how to account for that expreffion fo well, any
other way.
THERE is yet another idea of Death in the Roman poets, which they feem to have
borrowed from the antient manner of hunting. They uſed of old to furround (43) a con-
ſiderable tract of ground, with a circle of nets; and afterwards contracted the circle by
degrees, till they had forced all the beafts of that quarter together into a narrow com-
paſs:
Mors fruitur cœlo, bellatoremque volando
Campum operit ; nigroque viros invitat hiatu.
Statius, Theb. 8. $.378.
This particular idea of Death's gaping and ſwal-
lowing every thing, comes naturally enough from the
old notion of the place of the dead.
Domus omnibus una ;
In medio vaftum late ſe tendit inane :
Huc, quicquid terræ, quicquid freta, & igneus æther
Nutrivit, primo mundi genitalis ab ævo,
Mors communis agit: defcendunt cuncta; capitque
Campus iners, quantum interiit reftatque futurum.
Silius Italicus, 13. .530.
Illatrat jejunis faucibus Orcus.
Id. Ib. . 845.
(38)
-Mörs ad caput aftitit-
Lucretius, 3. . 492.
(39) Mors & fugacem perfequitur virum ;
Nec parcit imbellis juventæ
Poplitibus, timidoque tergo.
Horat. Lib. 3. Od. 2. ✯. 16..
(40) Ecce Necem intentam cœlo, terræque, fretoque!
Ovid. Confol. ad Liv. y. 361.
Mors fruitur cœlo, bellatoremque volando
Campum operit.
Statius, Theb. 8. . 378.
(41) Hic, illic, ubi Mors deprenderat, exhalantes.
Ovid. Met. 7. †. 581.
Horat. Lib. 3. Od. 24. .9.
(33) Omnia fub leges Mors vocat atra fuas.
Ovid. Confol. ad Liv. . 360.
In fpeculis Mors atra fedet; dominifque filentes
Adnumerat populos.-
Non Mortis laqueis expedies caput.
Mors tamen a templis ad cava buſta trahet.
Ovid. Am. Lib. 3. El. 9. . 38.
*.
(34)
Statius; Theb. 4: *. 529.
Mors atris circumvolat alis.
Horat. Lib. 2. Sat. 1. ✈. 58.
(35) See Notes 36, and 40, poſth.
(36)
—Mors fila Sororum
Enfe metit; captamque tenens fert Manibus urbem.
Statius, Theb. 1. ✯.633.
(37) Cum Mors vicina flagitabit debitum.
Phædrus, Lib. 4. Epil.
Pallida Mors æquo pulfat pede pauperum tabernas,
Regumque turres.
Horat. Lib. 1. Od. 4. $. 14.
Ovid ufes the fame expreffion, of Proferpine:
Et mihi conjugii tempus crudelis ad ipfum,
Perſephone noftras pulfat acerba fores.
Her. Ep. 21. .46. Cydippe, Acont.
And Statius, of another fatal Deity:
(42) Certè ego te in medio verfantem turbine lethi
Eripui.
Catullus, Nupt. Pel. . 150.
(43) This way of hunting is very diftinctly de-
ſcribed by one of the Roman poets.
Sic curva feras indago latentes
Claudit; & admotis paulatim caffibus arctat :
Illæ ignem fonitumque pavent; diffufaque linquunt
Avia; miranturque fuum decrefcere montem ;
Donec in anguftam ceciderunt undique vallem.
Inque vicem ftupuere greges, focioque timore
Manfuefcunt: fimul hirtus aper, fimul urfa lupufqué
Cogitur; & captos contemnit cerva leones.
Statius, Achil. 1. ✯. 466.
The compaſs of ground at firſt taken in, was fomé-
times very confiderable. Plutarch fpeaks of toils, for
this kind of hunting, that were above 12 miles long,
Theb. 8. : 349. In Vitâ Alex. p. 22.
Jam trepidas Bellona fores, armataque pulfat
Limina.
DIALOGUE the Sixteenth.
263
:
pafs and then it was that the flaughter, or the heighth of the ſport, (as they called it then,
and as we ſtill to our ſhame call the murthering poor innocent creatures for our diverſion,)
began. This manner of hunting was uſed in Italy of old; as well as all over the more
eaftern parts of the world: and it was: from this cuftom, I ſuppoſe, that the poets fome-
times repreſent Death as (44) ſurrounding perfons, with her nets; and as encompaffing
them, on every fide.
:
I HAVE obferved to you already, that the poets do not confine themſelves to one ima-
ginary being, to repreſent Death; but that they ſpeak of (45) ſeveral of them. Statius,
(who gives us a greater variety of defcriptions relating to this ſubject, than perhaps all
the other Roman poets taken together,) ſpeaks of a Mors (46), like Quies. In another
place, he deſcribes a Mors, (perhaps the chief over all the reft,) as fitting on an emi-
nencé (47); and giving in her tale of ghofts, to the rulers of the lower world. In another,
he fpeaks of her as like to be ſhut up (48), and confined from doing miſchief, in a dark
priſon there. But of all his pictures of this deity, the moſt particular I think is where
(49) he repreſents her as ſtanding by the bedfide of a youth, juft in the flower of his
accompanied by Envy, and (50) Vengeance. Theſe horrid deities fhow a good deal of
friendſhip to one another, in the execution of their cruel office; and Vengeance, in par-
ticular, after having embraced the goddeſs of Death, feems according to his account to
take the fatal net out of her hand, and to perform her office for her.
age;
LETHUM is deſcribed by the poets, in general, much in the fame manner as they
deſcribe Mors. They give him a robe; but mention his arms (51) being exerted out of
it, as reaching at his prey. They hint at his (52) catching people in a net; and his
hunting men, (as they did beaſts,) within his toils. As they ſpeak of a Mors like Reft,
fo they ſay that Lethum is nearly (53) related to Sleep; and Valerius Flaccus, in particu-
lar, acquaints us that they were (54) brothers.
SLEEP, as fo nearly related to Death, may very well have a place in the fame region
of the nether world: Virgil places him there (55), and ſeems to hint at this.
very reafon
for doing fo. His general character, it muſt be owned, is of a fofter nature; and deferves
a better fituation for him. According to which, Statius and Ovid place the chief refi-
dence or great palace of Somnus, on our earth. However, as it is fufficient to confider him
in either of the places affigned for him; and as there were no terreftrial deities he was
(44)
-Furvæ miferam circum undique Lethi
Vallavere plage.
Statius, Lib. 5. Sylv. 1. y. 156.
This cuſtom came from the Eaft; and is ftill con-
tinued there and the idea of it is applied to Death
by the ſacred writers, juſt in the ſame manner as it is
"The fnares of death com-
by the Roman poets.
paffed me round about." Pf. cxvi. . 3.
*.
(45) See Note 29, anteh.
(46)
Te torpor iners, & Mors imitata quietem
Explicuit; falfoque tulit fub Tartara fomno.
Statius, Lib. 5. Sylv. 3. . 261.
That poem is on the lofs of his father, who died of
a lethargic diſorder.
(47) See Note 33, anteh.
Torfit; & Invidiam Mortemque amplexa, jacenti
Injecit nexus: carpfitque immitis aduncâ
Ora verenda manu.—————————
fo
Statius, Lib 2. Sylv. 6. .79.
(50) The goddeſs that I call Vengeance here, is
called by Statius, Rhamnufia: who, in the heathen
ſcheme, feems to have been much the fame with Ne-
mefis; or the Divine Vengeance.
(51) Et Dolus, & Rabies; & Lethi major imago
Vifa, truces exferta manus.
Val. Flaccus, 2. ¥. 207.
(52) See Note 42, 43, 44, anteh.
(53)
Confanguinei mixtus caligine Lethi,
Rore madens Stygio, morituram amplectitur urbem.
Somnus.
Statius, Theb. 5. †. 199,
(48)
Cæco gemeret Mors claufa barathro.
Statius, Lib. 5. Sylv. 1. . 168.
(49) Attendit torvo triſtis Rhamnuſia vultu :
Ac primum implevitque toros, oculifque nitorem
Addidit; & folito fublimiùs ora levavit ;
Heu mifero letale favens! fefeque videndo
(54) Nunc age major ades, fratrique fimillime Letho!
Val. Flac. 8. ✯. 74-
(55) Terribiles vifu forma! Lethumque, Labofque;
Et, confanguineus Lethi, Sopor.-
Virgil. Æn. 6. y. 278,
Y y y
264
POLYMETIS.
PLXXXVI.
FIG. 2.
ſo nearly allied to; I have choſe to rank his figure with theſe fubterraneous ones and
only mention this, that you may not confider him abfolutely as an infernal deity; or
forget his milder and better character; from feeing him in fo bad company.
SOMNUS is moſt commonly reprefented by the artiſts, as you fee him in this drawing:
a foft youth, ſtretched at his eaſe on a couch: refting his head on a lion's fkin; and
ſometimes on a lion, as in the figure before you; with one arm either a little over, or
tinder his head, and the other dropping negligently by the fide of the couch; and either
holding poppies, or a horn with the juice of poppies, in it. He is often winged; and
extremely like a little Cupid. So like, that he has been frequently miſtaken for one: in
fpight of that lizard, by his feet; which has no relation to Cupid, tho' (as it is one of
thoſe creatures which fleeps half the year,) it is a very proper attribute of Somnus. I do
not know that the poets ever mention the lizard as an attribute of Somnus; and there-
fore imagine it might be uſed by the artiſts merely to diftinguish the figures of this god
from thofe of Cupid: tho' the poppy, one would think, fhould be fufficient for that
purpofe; except in fome few pieces, where we meet with the diftinguiſhing attributes
of Somnus, and thofe of Cupid, blended together: and of fuch perhaps we may fay,
that as Venus is fometimes reprefented under the character of the goddeſs Defidia, thefe
may be Cupids under the character of Somnus.
THERE is ſcarce any one of the deities that is more fully and particularly deſcribed by
the poets, than this deity of Sleep. They fometimes fpeak of him, as large, and pro-
bably he was reprefented fo in fome of his figures, to denote his (56) great power: which
is fignified too, by his refting on a lion, which fhews that the ſtrongeſt and moſt furious
of all animals is fubdued by him. But the moſt common way of reprefenting Somnus,
is juft as you fee him here; young (57), foft, placid, and (58) refting on his couch.
The poets ſpeak often of his (59) wings; and mention their being black: that colour (60)
is the moſt proper for this god, as his empire is chiefly by night: and it is for the fame
reafon I fuppofe, that the ftatuaries fo often chofe to make his figures of ebony, bafalt, or
any dark-coloured marble. Such is the fine ftatue of this god in the Great Duke's gal-
lery; which, as you may remember, holds a horn in one of his hands, in fuch a languid
and remifs manner, that the poppy-juice is running out of it. The poets hint even at
(61) this little circumftance too. They fpeak frequently (62) of his horn in general;
་་
(56) Somne Pater! Somne omnipotens! Te Colchis ab omni
Orbe voco, inque unum jubeo nunc ire draconem!
Quæ freta fæpe tuo, domui quæ nubila cornu ;
Fulminaque, & toto quicquid micat æthere.
(57)
:
Medea's invocation of Somnus, inValerius
Flaccus's Arg. Lib. 8. .73.
•
and
(60) At medio torus eſt ebeno ſublimis in atrâ,
Pluméus, atricolor, pullo velamine tectus ;
Quo cubat ipfe Deus, membris languore folutis.
Ovid. Met. 12. †. 612,
(6%)
Juvenis placidiffimus
·Manus hæc, fufos a tempore lævo
Suftentat crines; hæc, cornu oblita remifit.
Statius, Theb. 10. †. III.
Statius, Lib. 5. Sylv. 4. .1.
(62) Et Nox, & còrnu fugiebat Somnus inani.
Statius, Theb. 6. †.27.
:
Cum tener ad partes tu quoque, Somne, venis.
Ovid. Art. Am. 2. y. 546.
Placidiffime Somne Deorum!
Id. Met. 11. . 623.
-Soporifero ftipatus flore, tapetis
(58)
Incubat.
Statius, Theb. 10. †. 108.
Rurfus molli languore folutum
Depofuitque caput; ftratoque recondidit alto.
Ovid. Met. 11. y. 649.
(59) Virgil calls Somnus winged, or Volucris ;
Æn. 6. †.701: and Ales; Æn. 5. *. 861 : and Ti-
bullus, fpeaking of the attendants of the chariot of
the Night, fays:
Poftque venit tacitus, fulvis circundatus alis,
Somnus ; & incerto Somnia nigra pede.
Illos, poft vulnera fellos
Exceptamque hiemem, cornu perfuderat omni
Somnus.
Id. Ib. 2. . 145.
Id. Ib. 5. . 199.
As this is fo ufual an idea in Statius's Thebaid, I
think it may help us to alter a line in the fame poem ;
which is ſcarce Latin, as it ſtands at preſent. It is in
the 12th Book, y. 307.
-Implácido fundit gravia otia cornu.
Hunc quoque, qui curru madidas tibi pronus habenas
Ducit, in Aonios Vigiles demitte Soporem.
;
If one was to read cornu, inftead of curru, here.
one might perhaps relieve the paffage from one-of
thofe amendments, that tranfcribers and editors are
Tibul, Lib. 2. El. 1. . uls, too often fond of making.
:
DIALOGUE the Sixteenth.
265
and ſometimes (63), of his Virga: but as I have never yet obſerved a wand, in any of
his figures I have ſeen; I am apt to imagine, that the poets by that word may mean no
more than the poppy (64) on the ſtalk; which he frequently holds in his hand. The
poets ſuppoſed that this deity communicated fleep to mortals (65) by pouring out of his
horn on them; by touching them with his Virga; or by only paffing gently by their
bed-fide. When he intended to give troubled fleep, and tumultuous dreams, they feem
to ſay that he made ufe of water from (66) ſome of the infernal rivers, mixed with his
juice of poppies.
THO' this deity is generally reprefented by the artiſts in a profound fleep, yet the poets
now and then give us defcriptions of him as engaged in fome fort of action; but his very
actions fhould be performed with a great deal of indolence; and ſhould fhew his difin-
clination to action.
STATIUS is more frequent in his deferiptions of Somnus, as well as Mors, than any
other of the Roman poets. In one place, he reprefents him, as taking his ſtand on the
very higheſt point in all the courſe of the moon; and (67) hovering down from thence,
with his wings ſpread over the earth, juft at midnight. In another, he ſpeaks of feve-
ral relievo's relating to this god; in each of which he was joined with ſome companion
or other (68), with much propriety. In the firft he was with Voluptas, confidered as
the goddeſs of feafts and entertainments; in the ſecond, with Hard Labour, reprefented
as tired and inclining to reft; in the third, with Bacchus; and in the fourth, with the
God of Love. This would be a pretty ſubject for a painter now; and puts one in mind
of the antient paintings on cielings, in which there often are four little fubjects of this
kind, in fo many different compartiments to anſwer the four angles of the room.
They have nothing to do with a fifth fubject mentioned by the fame poet, of Somnus
with a milder kind of Death; for that, as he exprefly fays, was (69) in a different apart-
ment.
(63)
Extremo me tange cacumine virgæ,
(Sufficit) aut leviter fufpenfo poplite tranfi.
Statius, Lib. 5. Sylv. 4. ✈. ult
Oculis-quietem
Irrorat, tangens Lethæâ tempora virgâ.
Silius Ital. 10. .357.
(64) WhatSilius here calls Virga, Virgil callsRamus:
Ramum, Lethæo rere madentem:
Æn. 5. .855.
And he calls Poppy, Lethæa papavera; (Georg. 4.
*. 545.) And, Lethæo perfufa papavera fomno.
(Ib. 1. *.78.)
(65) See Note 62, anteh.
(66) Rore madens Stygio morituram amplectitur urbem
Somnus, & implacido fundit gravia otia cornu.
Statius, Theb. 5. ✯. 199.
Imperium celer exequitur: curvoque volucris
Per tenebras portat medicata papavera cornu.
Aft ubi per tacitum allapfus tentoria prima
Barcæi petiit juvenis, quatit inde foporas
Devexo capiti pennas; oculifque quietem
Irrorat tangens Lethæâ tempora virgâ :
Exercent rapidam truculenta infomnia mentem.
.358.
Silius Ital. 10.
It ſeems to have been an overſight in Silius (in the
paffage laft quoted) to call Somnus, celer. The
other poets generally repreſent him as inactive, even
when he is forced to do any thing: and tho' they
often call him Volucris, that may fignify winged ra-
ther than ſwift. Ovid expreffes the inactivity of this
god, very ſtrongly in his defcription of him.
·Veftis fulgore reluxit
Sacra domys; tardâque Deus gravitate jacentes
ALL
Vix oculos tollens, iterumque iterumque relabens,
Summaque percutiens nutanti pectora mento,
Excuffit tandem fibi fe.
Morphea, qui peragat Thaumantidos edita, Somnus
Eligit; & rurfus molli languore folutum
Depofuitque caput, ftratoque recondidit alto.
Met. 11. *.649.
This, excepting the nutanti mento, which may be
father too low; and the excuffit fibi fe,which is as bad
as well can be; (and one must not expect to quote any
long paffage from the Metamorphofis without fome
ſuch blots in it ;) is a very beautiful defcription: and
extremely agreeable to the general character of this
god.
(67) Scandebat rofeo medii faftigia cœli
(68)
(69)
Luna jugo: totis ubi Somnus inertior alis
Defluit in terras; mutumque amplectitur orbem.
Statius, Achil. 1, 4.6218
Hic hæret lateri redimita Voluptas ;
Hic comes, in requiem vergens Labor: eſt ubi Baccho,
Eft ubi Martigenæ focium pulvinar Amori
Obtinet.
Id. Theb. 10. †. 104.
-Interius tectum, in penetralibus altis,
Et cum Morte, jacet: nullique ea triftis imago.
Id. Ib.. 105.
This Mors, fhould be of as gentle an appearance,
as Somnus himfelf; like that Statius ſpeaks of, in an-
other part of his poems:
:
-Torpor iners, & Mors imitata Quietem.
Lib. 5. Sylv. 3. *.260.
This
:
266
POLYME TI S.
1
3
1
a
ALL theſe fine images are in Statius's deſcription (70) of the palace of Sleep;
which
very
full one and ſeems to be borrowed from one, which is yet fuller, in Ovid:
Statius places it in the (71) unknown parts of Ethiopia and Ovid in Italy, near the lake
Avernus: poffibly in the very place which is now fhewn there, for the Defcent
into Hell. We learn, from Statius, that the attendants and guards before the gates of
this palace, were (72) Reft, Eaſe, Indolence, Silence, and Oblivion; as the minifters
or attendants within, are a vaft multitude of dreams; in different fhapes, and attitudes.
Ovid teaches us who were the fuppofed governors over theſe; and what their particular
diſtricts or offices were. The three (73) chiefs of all, are Morpheus, Phobætor, and
Phantafos: theſe inſpire dreams into princes and great perfons only: Morpheus, fuch as
relate to men: Phobætor, fuch as relate to other animals; and Phantafos, fuch as relate
to inanimate things. They have each their particular legions under them to inſpire the
fort of dreams, which belong to their province, into the common people and the vulgar
of mankind. You fee here a well-regulated allegory, on a very odd and diffuſed fubject.
The artiſts do not ſeem to go fo deep into it, as the poets; and I do not know that I
have ever met with a fingle figure in their works relating to thefe beings. The poets
certainly fpeak, not only of the three Great Chiefs, but even of all the inferior populace
of Dreams, in a perfonal manner. Tibullus reckons them among the (74) attendants of
the chariot of Nox; and fays they are black and Statius defcribes them as ſticking (75)
againſt the columns, and walls, in the palace of Somnus; not unlike the bats, to which
Homer (76) compares the fpirits in Ades.
I HAVE not yet ſaid any thing of the ſecond fort of inhabitants in this previous region;
and indeed have very little to ſay of them. They confift of the Terrors of the Fancy;
and what the poets themſelves always confidered as mere creatures of the imagination.
Even Death, and Sleep, and Dreams, they ſuppoſed to be realized; and worshipped
them in the vulgar religion: but theſe they ſpeak of as meer (77) fancies; exiſting no
This fort of death is far from being diſmal in re-
ality, as well as in the repreſentation of it; it
being more like the continuation of fleep, than the
finiſhing of life. Such was the death of Statius's fa-
ther-and fuch the death of the great father of
poetry, in our days! Which, tho' eafy and impercep-
tible to him, muft ftill lay heavy on the hearts of all,
who had the happineſs of knowing him.
(70) See Statius's Theb. 10. . 84, to 117; and
Ovid's Met. 11. *. 592, to 645.
(71) Stat fuper occiduæ nebulofa cubilia Noctis,
Æthiopafque alios, nulli penetrabilis aſtro
Lucus iners; fubterque cavis grave rupibus antrum
It vacuum in montem: quà defidis atria fomni
Securumque larem fegnis natura locavit.
Statius, Theb. 10. *. 88.
Eft prope Cimmerios longo fpelunca receffu,
Mons cavus; ignari domus & penetralia Somni :
Quo nunquam radiis oriens mediuſve cadenſve
Phoebus adire poteft; nebulæ caligine miftæ
Exhalantur' humo: dubiæque crepufcula lucis.
Ovid. Met. 11. †. 596.
Virgil's deſcription of the Deſcent to hell near A-
vernus; (and in the very part, inhabited by the
Cimmerians ;) agrees in feveral particulars with this
from Ovid.
Spelunca alta fuit, vaftoque immanis hiatu,
Scrupea tuta lacu nigro; nemorumque tenebris.-
Ibant obfcuri, folâ fub nocte, per umbram.
Quale per incertam lunam fub luce malignâ
Eft iter in fylvis.
En. 6. .271.
(72) Limen opaca Quies, & pigra Oblivia fervant;
Et nunquam vigili torpens Ignavia vultu :
Otia veftibulo, preffifque Silentia pennis
Muta fedent.
where
Statius, Theb. 10. . 92.
(73) Ovid's Met. 11. . 633, to 645.
(74)
Nox jungit equos; currumque fequuntur
Martis lafcivo fidera fulva choro:
Poftque venit tacitus, fulvis circundatus alis,
Somnus ; & incerto Somnia nigra pede.
Tibullus, Lib. 2. El. 1. . ult.
(75) Affunt innumero circum vaga Somnia vultu ;
Noctis opaca cohors: trabibufque, aut poftibus hærent,
Aut tellure jacent.
Statius, Theb. 10. . 815.
The epithet of Vaga here, may help to explain
that of Incerto, in Tibullus: they are defcribed as
whivering and wavering in their motion; as all the
beings relating to Time are, with the fame propriety,
ſaid by the poets, to glide on in an even and filent
motion:
(76) See Homer's Odyffey; B. 24. *.9, &c.
(77) Ovid reckons them in the Catalogue of things
that he could never believe.
Sphyngaque, & Harpyïas, ferpentipedefque Gigantas,
Centimanumque Gygen, femibovemque virum ;
Hæc ego cuncta prius quàm te, cariffime, credam
Mutatum curam depofuiffe mei.
Trift. Lib. 4. El. 7. : 20.
It is to this fort of fancies too, that what Balbus
the Stoic ſays in Cicero's Treatiſe de Naturâ Deo-
rum, feems to relate. Quis Hippocentaurum fuiffe,
aut Chimæram putat? Quæve anus tam excors inve-
niri poteſt, quæ illa quæ quondam credebantur apud
Inferos portenta extimefcat? Lib. 2. fub Init.
2
DIALOGUE the Sixteenth.
267
where out of the minds of men. I ſhall just point out to you fome of theſe Portenta,
(as Cicero calls them,) in the drawing before us; that we may have done with them,
as fast as we can. You ſee here the Chimera, with her mixt form (78), and breathing
fire; as the poets defcribe her: two Centaurs, a male and a (79) female: the monſter
of Lerna, with its (80) fnaky heads; and Geryon, with his (81) three human ones: Bri-
areus, to whom the poets give a hundred arms; tho' the artiſt was obliged to retrench a
great many from that number: Scylla, half fiſh, and half human; and one of the Harpies,
half human, and half bird. Theſe anſwer all that Virgil mentions (82) in his catalogue
of monſters inhabiting this part of the infernal world; except the Gorgon: which may
very well fupplied from (83) this little drawing.
be
FIG. I.
We may now go on to the ſecond divifion of the fubterraneous world; the hateful
paffage into the kingdom of Ades; or, as they called it, the river Styx. One of the pic-
tures in the old Vatican Virgil repreſents it as a torrent, pouring down a precipice: and Pl. xxxvII.
then as rolling on, to take its courfe along the boundaries of Ades. Here you fee the
Ghoſts waiting, on the hither fide, in a croud (84); juſt as Virgil deſcribes them: and
there, a part of that region beyond the farther bank: the figures in which are the leſs to
be minded, becauſe this painting relates to the ftory of Orpheus's deſcent into hell;
when his muſic cauſed ſuch ſtrange effects there, and put things (85) out of their com-
mon order.
THE fole governor of this part, and director of the paffage, Charon, does not make
his appearance in this picture. His dominion lays down lower; where the river has
recovered itſelf from the turbulence occafioned by its fall, and begins to grow navigable.
In other remains of antiquity we ſee him, and his boat; both receiving paffengers in, Pl. xxxv11.
FIG. 2, & 3.
and landing them on the farther ſhore. Virgil deſcribes him (86) as ſtrong, and in all
the vigour and firmneſs of old age; meanly clad: and with a large, rude beard, and
matted grey hair; and his eyes, fixed and fiery. That poet's deſcription of the rough-
nefs and furlineſs of this deity, agrees very well with the figures that we fee of him.
Charon's character was probably ſuppoſed to be rough, for the fame reaſon that the
paffage he prefided over was called, the Hateful Paffage.
(78) Triformis Chimera.
Horat. Lib. 1. Od. 27. . ult.
✯.
Prima, Leo; poftrema, Draco; media, ipfa Chimæra.
Lucretius, 5. . 903.
Cui triplici crinita jubâ galea alta Chimæram
Suftinet, Ætneos efflantem faucibus ignes.
Virgil. Æn. 7. y. 786.
(79) Female Centaurs are not uncommon in the
works of the antient artiſts. Lucian deſcribes a very
fine picture of a whole family of Centaurs, done by
the famous Zeuxis: in which the male was repre-
fented as returning home from the chace, with a lion's
whelp; and the female, preffing one of her little
ones to her breaſt, as frightened at it. Tom. I. p.
579. Ed. Blaeu.
(80) There are but fix in the Vatican picture.
Perhaps one of them is twiſted behind ſo as not to ap-
pear or the trunk they riſe out of, might have been
originally a female head; tho' fo much defaced at
prefent, that one cannot well determine how it was
originally. See Dial. IX. Note 24.
(81)
-Forma tricorporis umbra.
Virgil. Æn. 6. y. 289.
Geryon, in the relievo's relating to Hercules's la-
bours, has generally three bodies, as well as three
heads. Hence Virgil calls him, Tergeminus, Æn. 8.
WITH
*. 202; and Horace, Ter amplus, Lib. 2. Od. 14.
. 8. In the Vatican picture he is not well re-
*.
prefented; tho' it appears there, that he has more
bodies than one.
(82) Multaque præterea variarum monftra ferarum ;
Centauri in foribus ſtabulant, Scyllæque biformes,
Et centumgeminus Briareus, ac Bellua Lernæ
Horrendum ftridens, flammifque armata Chimæra,
Gorgones, Harpyïæque, & forma tricorporis umbra.
Virgil. Æn. 6. ¥. 289.
(83) See Pl. 41. Fig. 2.
(84) Huc omnis turba ad ripas effufa ruebat :
Matres atque viri, &c.
Æn. 6. . 306.
(85) The figure of Ixion in particular, in that
picture, is not at all in the place that belongs to him :
and muſt be brought thither, either by the magick of
Orpheus's lyre, or the miſtake of the artiſt.
(86) Portitor has horrendus aquas & flumina ſervat
Terribili fqualore Charon : cui plurima mento
Canities inculta jacet; ftant lumina flammâ ;
Sordidus ex humeris nodo dependet amiétus.
Ipfe ratem conto fubigit, velifque miniſtrat;
Et ferrugineâ fubvectat corpora cymbâ :
Jam fenior; fed cruda Deo viridifque fenectus.
Æ1.6. y. 304.
Z z z
3
268
POLYMETIS.
1
FIG. I.
WITH the farther bank of this river begins the third divifion, or Erebus; which is fub-.
divided into ſeveral diftricts: the Limbo for infants; that for innocent fufferers; and the
Pl.xxxvIII. reſt in the fame order, that I mentioned to you before. In this drawing, from another
picture in the Vatican Virgil, we have only the beginning of this third divifion. Here is
Cerberus, as guarding the entrance to it; to prevent any one's coming in, that ought not to
be admitted. Immediately behind him, are ſome of the infants; and juft over him, is
Minos: who directs each perfon that arrives, to the particular part of Ades in which he
is to refide.
MINOS, you fee, is fitting: which was one of the methods uſed by the ſtatuaries and
painters of old (87) to characterize a judge. By him, ftands the (88) urn; uſed antiently (89)
in giving judgment. There is a line of fpirits you fee before him, who wait his fentence;
to have their proper place allotted to them: and beyond him, is one who ſeems to
have had his cafe determined; and to be going on to the place affigned him. He is
met, on his way, by another fpirit; perhaps formerly acquainted with him: for he
takes him by the hand, and ſeems to be giving him a friendly welcome, on his arrival
to that unknown world.
STATIUS ſpeaks of Minos and Æacus fitting in judgment, as affeffors to Pluto, in his
palace; fituated (as I have obſerved already,) near that point, where all the three regions
of Ades meet together. I do not take that palace to be the proper refidence of Minos;
but that he is meant to have been there only occafionally, and to affift in council.
We find by what Statius fays there (90), that the character of Minos was a good-natured
character: much the fame with that which Plato gives him in his Gorgias (91); where
he makes him prefide over what one may call, The Court of Equity of the other
world.
JUST under Minos here, you fee Cerberus: not only with three heads, but with
three diftinct necks too; as he is alſo deſcribed (92) by the Roman poets. Horace, as
(87) Thus Paris is always repreſented fitting, when
he is to determine the diſpute between the three con-
tending goddeffes.
Fatalis fedet
Inter potentes arbiter paſtor Deas.
Agamemnon, Act 3. Chor. . 731.
A&
Nec fi Dardaniâ paftor temerarius Idâ
Sediffes.
Statius, Lib. 1. Sylv. 2. . 44.
Where (by the way) fitting, is uſed for fitting in
judgment: as we may know in fome fingle ftatues of
Paris, what the artift meant it for ; only by his being
in this poſture.
(88) It is ſtanding, or rather hung upright, which
may be what Statius means, by
Stat Gnoffia judicis urna.
well
Nil hominum miferans, iratufque omnibus Umbris.
Stant Furiæ circum, variæque ex ordine Mortes;
Sævaque multifonas exercet Pæna catenas :
Fata ferunt animas, & eodem pollice damnant ;
Vincit opus. Juxta Minos, cum † fratre verendo,
Jura bonus meliora monet; regemque cruentum
Temperat.-
* Pluto. + Eacus.
Id. Ibid. . 28.
(91) Εγω μεν εν ταυ]α εγνωκως προτερον η υμείς,
(fays Jupiter, to Pluto and the other governors of
Elyfium,) εποιησαμην Δικαςας εις εμαυίες δύο μεν εκ
της Ασίας Μίνω τε και Ραδάμανθυν, ενα δε εκ της Ευ
Ούτοι ον, επειδαν τελευτήσωσι δικασασιν.
ρώπης Διακον.
Theb. 11. . 571. Aιaxos.
(89) Nec verò hæ fine forte datæ, fine judice fedes;
Quæfitor Minos urnam movet.
Virgil. Æn. 6. ✯. 432.
Stat, ductis fortibus, urna.
'
εν τω λειμώνι, εν τη τριόδω, εξ ης Φερετον τω εδω η μεν
εις μακαρων νησις, η δε εις Ταρταρον. Και τις μεν εκ
της Ασίας, Ραδάμανθυς κρίνει τις δε εκ της Ευρώπης,
Αιακος. Μίνω δε πρεσβεια δώσω επιδιακρίνειν, εαν η
απορρητου τι τω ετέρω ένα ως
ινα ως δικαιοτατη η κρισις ης
περι της πορείας, τοις ανθρώποις. Plato. Vol.I. p.
523. Ed. Serr.
Id. Ib. . 22. (92) Cerberus hæc ingens latratu regna trifauci
Senatorum (eum) urna copiosè abfolvit. Cic.
pro Q. Fratr: 2. 6.
Minos's urn had the knack of always turning
out the right mark; or always telling the truth.
Scit judicis urna
Dictæi; verumque poteft deprendere Minos.
Statius, Theb. 8. . 103.
(90) Forte fedens mediâ regni infelicis in arce
* Dux Erebi, populos pofcebat crimina vitæ ;
Perfonat; adverfo recubans immanis in antro.
Cui vatis, horrere videns jam colla colubris,
Melle foporatam & medicatis frugibus offam
Objicit ille fame rabidâ tria guttura pandens
Corripit objectam, atque immania terga refolvit
Fufus humi; totoque ingens extenditur antro.
Virgil. Æn. 6. .422.
Nec uti villofa colubris
Terna Meduſæi vincirem guttura monſtri.
Ovid. Met. 10. . 22. (of Orpheus.)
DIALOGUE the Sixteenth.
269
well as Virgil and Ovid, ſpeaks (93) of his being encompaffed with ferpents, as he ap-
pears both in this drawing, and in the laſt that I fhewed you; and it may be from theſe
ſerpents that Ovid calls Cerberus, the Meduſean, or fnaky (94) beaft. Horace gives him
yet more terrors than we ſee here; and ſpeaks of him once in particular, as having (95) a
hundred heads: which is perhaps (96) đouble the number, that ever was affigned to him
before his time.
FIG. 2.
THE antient poets feem to have delighted particularly in fetting off the power of their
own art, (which originally confifted in poetry and mufic united together,) by ſhewing
that it was capable of taming even this hideous monſter. In this drawing of Orpheus Pl.xxxvIII.
playing and finging to obtain his entrance into the kingdoms of Ades, Cerberus fhews a
fnarling fort of fatisfaction; and feems very angry, at finding himſelf ſo much pleaſed.
Mercury won his (97) great paffage, by the fame means: as Hercules, (and perhaps
Bacchus,) did by meer force. I have long wanted to meet with ſome good piece of an-
tient painting of Hercules dragging Cerberus to the light. The Roman poets, (as I
have obſerved to you (98) on a former occafion,) defcribe this in a (99) very pictureſque
manner; and I doubt not there were ſome very fine paintings of it at Rome, in the Au-
guftan age. This drawing of it is from a gem; where, (tho' his eyes are finely ex- Pl.xxxv111.
preſſed,) they muſt loſe a great deal of that dread and horror; which might have been
added to them by colours.
I WISH too that there were more pictures, relating to this region of Ades in general,
in the Vatican Manufcript. Numbers are loft out of it; and probably, ſeveral that be-
longed to this part. There are five diſtinct diſtricts in Virgil's account of this region ;
and we have a picture to anſwer only one of them. Had they been better preſerved, I
doubt not but that we ſhould have ſeen Dido, in the diſtrict of lovers, with that angry,
averſe air with which Virgil deſcribes her; and ſeveral of the Grecian and Trojan war-
riours, in the laſt. But as theſe are wanting, we muſt leave this region: only I would
willingly take notice of one thing firft; which is this: That, I think, we ought not to
regard the perſons in this region, as criminals. The whole receptacle for departed fouls
is laid out by Virgil into three great or general divifions. Of thefe, Elyfium is for the
very good; and Tartarus, for the very bad. What then can Erebus be for, but the in-
different? Such as were not bad enough, to be flung into Tartarus; nor good enough to
be admitted into Elyfium. Accordingly the perſons whom Virgil places in Erebus, are
infants; innocent fufferers; ſuch (100) fuicides, as the Romans thought were excufable
for what they did; unfortunate lovers; and common warriours; a profeffion which was
one of the moſt virtuous, according to the chief idea of virtue among the Romans.
(93) Ceffit immanis tibi blandienti
Janitor aulæ
Cerberus quamvis furiale centum
Muniant angues caput ejus; atque
Spiritus teter, fanieſque manet,
Ore trilingui.
Horat. Lib. 3 Od. 11. . 20. (Of Mercury's
great deſcent into Hell.)
(94) See Note 92, anteh.
(95)
Illis carminibus ftupens
Demittit atras bellua centiceps
Aures ; &, intorti capillis
Eumenidum, recreantur angues.
Horat. Lib. 2. Od. 13. . 36. (of Sappho's poetry.)
(96) Hefiod had given him fifty. ɛOY. 312.
(97) Horat. Lib. 3. Od. 11. . 1, to 24.
(98) Dial. IX. p. 120.
That
(99) Tartareum ille manu cuftodem in vincla petivit
Ipfius a folio regis; traxitque trementem. -
Virgil. Æn. 6. ✯. 395.
Eft via declivis, per quam Tirynthius heros,
Reftantem contraque diem radiofque micantes
Obliquantem oculos, nexis adamante catenis.
Cerberon abſtraxit.
Ovid. Met. 7. ¥.413.
(100) Tho' the crime of fuicide, is always hor-
rid, and what nature ought to ſtart at: it is far from
being equally horrid; and admits of a great many
degrees of aggravation, or alleviation. There is a
vaſt difference between a Cato's killing himſelf, when
he thinks he can ferve his country no longer; and a
Nero's killing himſelf, only to avoid being made a
public example for enflaving his country: in a Lucre-
tia's putting an end to her life, becaufe fhe has loft
her honour; or in fuch a one as Meffalina's haftening
her end, by taking drugs only to inflame her the
more, for a favourite vice.
I
FIG. 3.
:
270
POLYMETIS.
1
That clafs of all theſe which to us would ſeem the moft guilty, Virgil abfolutely declares
to be (101) innocent.
;
SUPPOSING them to be fo according to his ideas, fays Myfagetes, pray how comes he
to place them in hell? That, anſwered Polymètis, is very eafily accounted for. On
the heathen ſcheme, he muſt place them there; and I think ſeems to have placed them
in a very proper part of it. Ades, which we interpret, (not quite fo exactly as we
ſhould do,) by our word hell, antiently fignified the grave; or place of the dead. in ge-
neral. All therefore that die, muft o to Ades. The very good, are in one part of it;
as well as the very bad, in another: and the indifferent muſt be in fome part or other,
as well as the good and the bad. It is the common receptacle for all that are born in our
world; and even the great heroes, who were fuppofed to go to heaven or to prefide
over ſtars, had their airy repreſentation in Ades. As all mankind may be divided
into three general claffes, the good, the bad, and the indifferent; Ades is laid out by
Virgil into three general divifions; Ereb s, Tartarus, and Elyfium. The indifferent
he places neither in the clear light of Elyfium, nor in the ſolid darkneſs of Tartarus
but in a twilight fort of world: of a melancholy air indeed, (for the general notion of
death
among the antients was fad and gloomy;) but not incapable of (102) fome pleaſure
and confolation. In Erebus, (or this divifion for the indifferent,) Virgil places the in-
fants, as not deferving death, firſt and neareſt to the land of the living. Next to the
infants, he places ſuch as had been condemned to death without a cauſe. Then fuch
fuicides as he looked upon as leaft guilty; fuch as had the moſt reafon for quitting the
ſtation, which the great leader had affigned them in the upper world. Then are thofe,
whoſe lives were ſhortened either by love, or in war. Theſe might very well not be
criminals; they have not in general the appearance of being fo: and as there are many
warriours, as well as lovers, that fling away their lives without any great merit too,
there will be enough of each to ftock their particular diſtricts in this region of the in-
differents; where Virgil plunges them deeper and nearer the borders of Tartarus, than
the little innocents and unjustly condemned perfons we have been ſpeaking of.
I SHALL only juſt add here, that Menippus's account of hell in Lucian, agrees very
much with Virgil's; as to theſe three regions on the other fide of Styx. He fays, that
as foon as he and his guide had paffed that river; they went on, thro' a gloomy mead of
Afphodil, to the tribunal of Minos:-that they went thence to the region of the tor-
mented :—and thence, to the Elyſian fields; from whence they mounted up to our
world again. All his remarks indeed of what they faw in each of theſe regions are
adapted by the author to his favourite turn for ridicule: but he agrees in the general
difpofition of the place, exactly with Virgil's account; and points out the fame three
regions, and in the fame order (103); the firft, for judgment; the fecond, for puniſh-
ment; and the third, for rewards. The fame author, in another part of his works (104),
makes the fame diftinction of good, bad, and indifferent; for the inhabitants of theſe
(101)
Qui fibi lethum
Infontes peperere manu.
(102) Illa folo fixos oculos avería tenebat :
three
nas ngio".
Αποσαντες το δικαστηριο, προς το κολα
τήριον αφικνόμεθα. - Διελθοντες δε και τέλος, (Tan-
En. 6. . 435. talus, Sifyphus, & Ixion,) & TO TEDIOU ESCαλλQμED TO
Αχερσιν ευρισκομεν τε αύτόθι της ημιθεοστε, και τας
newivas. Lucian's Nexvopala. Tom. I. p. 332, &c.
Tandem corripuit fefe, atque inimica refugit
In nemus umbriferum; conjux ubi priftinus illi
Refpondet curis, æquatque Sichæus Amorem.
Virgil. Æn. 6. .474. (of Dido; in Erebus.)
(103) Όμως - αν ο βέλτιςος Χαρων ως ειδε την λεονζην,
8V
οιηθεις με τον Ηρακλέα είναι, εσεδέξατο με και διεπορθ-
μευσε τε ασμενος και αποβασι διεσημαινε την ατραπον.
Επει δε ημεν εν τω σκότω, προκει μεν ο Μιθροβαρζάνης,
ειπομην ♪ εγω κατοπιν εχόμενος αυτά έως προς λειμώνα
μέγιστον αφικνόμεθα, τω ασφοδέλω καταφύτου. Και'
ολίγον δε προϊοντες, παρεγενόμεθα προς το το Μίνω δι-
Ed. Blaeu.
es
(104) Τις μεν αγαθες των ανδρων, και
xaι dixα185, 802LL
κατ' αρετην βεβιωκότας, πεμπάσιν ες το Ηλύσιον πεδίον
-αν δε τινας των πονηρών λαβωσι, ταις Εριννυσι παρα-
δοντες ες τον των ασεβών χώρον εκπεμπασι.
Οι δε τα
μεσο βία, πολλοι οντες ετοι, εν τό λειμωνι πλανώνται
ανευ των σωμαίων σκιαι γενομενοι, και υπο τη αφη καθα
περ καπνος αφανιζομενοι· τρέφονται δε αξα ταις παρ'
ημίν χραις, και τοις καθαγιζομενοις επι
επί των τάφων.
Id. Tom. II. p. 301, & 302.
DIALOGUE the Sixteenth.
271
:
three regions and places the good, in Elyfium; the bad, in Tartarus; and the indif-
ferent, (which he fays are very numerous,) in the wide plains of Erebus.
BUT it is time now to go on to the fourth general divifion; or Tartarus. I have ſaid
before, that the different diftricts of Erebus feem to lay one after another, in a ftrait line:
at the end of it, the road, which leads thro' all thefe diftricts, branches into two: one,
to the right hand; and the other, to the left. The former goes to Elyfium; and the
latter to Tartarus, or the region of torments. I do not know whether it may be worth
while to obſerve to you, that this manner of difpofing the way thro' the three feveral
divifions of Ades, may poffibly have fome reference to that famous Pythagoric emblem,
which marked out the whole courfe of a man's life by the figure of a fingle letter (105) in
the Greek alphabet. If this was not originally the defign of it, it will at leaſt anſwer
pretty exactly but I mention this only by the way. Virgil does not make his hero enter
into this horrid region, on the left hand: it was too terrible, and too bad, for a good man
(106) even to fet his foot in it. He only fees the entrance to it, at fome diſtance (107),
According to Virgil, it begins with a city, encompaffed with a river of fire; and guarded
by one of the chiefs of the Furies. This is all that Æneas fees of it; and all that appears PL. xxxix.
in the drawing I have in my hand. The Sibyl gives him an account of the reft: that FIG. 1.
Rhadamanthus had his refidence in this city; and that there were much more terrible (108)
monſters in it, than thoſe he had ſeen in the Previous Region; that it ended in a vaſt
gulph or abyfs (109), twice as far below the earth, as the heavens are above it; and that
there, the wicked were tormented.
THE miferable inhabitants of this horrid region, are chiefly of two forts. The fouls
of fuch as are tormented: and thoſe infernal deities, the Furies; who attend there either
to inflict, or aggravate, their torments.
THE defcriptions of Furies are much more commonly to be met with in the works of
the Roman poets, than their figures are in the remains of the antient artiſts: and any
painter now, that ſhould be inclined to employ himſelf on fo terrible a fubject, might
get more helps from the former than the latter. The poets ſpeak of (110) great numbers
of Furies; and indeed in their ſcheme a great number of them was neceffary: not only
for this region, where there were fo many criminals to be tormented by them; but for
other parts (111) of Orcus, as well as this: befide which they fuppofed many of them
wandering over the earth to tempt, or puniſh the wicked here; and ſpeak of them
ſometimes (112) even as attending on Jupiter in heaven itſelf. Thefe goddeffes-
Goddeffes, do you call them? fays Myfagetes-Yes, anfwered Polymetis: the
Romans
I
(105) The antient Upfilon.
(106) Nulli fas cafto fceleratum infiftere limen.
Virgil. n. 6. : 563.
(107) Refpicit Æneas fubitò, & fub rupe finiftrâ
Monia lata videt triplici circumdata muro ;
Quæ rapidus flammis ambit torrentibus, amnis
Tartareus, Phlegethon ; torquetque fonantia faxa.
Porta adverfa ingens, folidoque adamante columnæ:--
Tifiphoneque fedens, pallâ fuccincta cruentâ,
Veftibulum ex fomnis fervat noctefque diefque.
Hinc exaudiri gemitus, & fæva fonare
Verbera ; &c.
(109)
(110)
Tum Tartarus ipfe
Bis patet in præceps tantum tenditque fub umbras,
Quantus ad ætherium coeli fufpectus Olympum.
Hic genus antiquum Terræ, &c.
Id. Ibid. y. 580.
Agmina fæva fororum.
Id. Ibid. . 57.
(111) Virgil ſpeaks of apartments for Furies, in
the Previous Region:
Ferreique Eumenidum thalami.
Ibid. .280.
And Statius ſpeaks of them as ftanding round Pluto's
throne; in Elyfium. See Note 116, pofth.
Id. Ibid. *. 558.
(112)
(108) In the previous region they had ſeen, among
the other monſters, the Hydra of Lerna with its feven
heads: but here ;
Quinquaginta atris immanis hiatibus Hydra
Sævior intus habet fedem.
Id. Ib. . 577-
Aaaa
Triftefque ex æthere Dira.
Virgil. Æn. 8. .701.
Hæ Jovis ad folium, fævique in limine Regis,
Apparent acuuntque metum mortalibus ægris ;
Si quando lethum horrificum morbofque Deum Rex
Molitur, meritas aut bello territat urbes.
Id. Ib. 12. .852.
1
2724
POLYMETIS.
Romans (113) looked upon them as fuch; and I do not pretend to enquire into the pro-
priety of their theology, but only to give it you juſt as I find it. Theſe goddeffes there-
fore, (if you will yet allow me to call them by the titles which were given them of old,)
the
were looked upon by the Romans, as the difpenfers of (114) the divine vengeance;
puniſhers of wicked actions, both here (115), and hereafter (116): and the inflicters (117)
of terrors, wars, and peftilence.
THO' Furies are very uncommon in the works of the antient artiſts, yet there is one
fubject in which they are generally introduced by them. What I mean is the death of
Meleager; in the relievo's of which they are often reprefented, as encouraging, or urg-
ing Althæa, to burn the fatal brand; on which the life of her only fon depended. Even
a woman's refentment you fee could not go fo far, without a little help of the devil. In
a copy of one of thefe relievo's, publiſhed in the Admiranda, there are two women
ſtanding by the altar with Althæa; who are probably meant for Furies in the original;
(for who but Furies would affift at ſuch a facrifice?) tho' the copy ſcarce repreſents them
horrid enough for that character: but what is moſt to be obſerved in that piece is a round,
or medallion, about the midſt of it, with the evident head (118) of a Fury upon it. This
might be what Althæa addreſſed her prayers to, whenever the wiſhed ill to her neigh-
bours; or whenever he was going to do any very evil action. Ovid introduces her as
invoking the Furies on this occafion, in particular (119); and makes her give more than
one reaſon, for her doing fo.
As the poets, in their difpofing and peopling the fubterraneous world, ſeem to have
been particularly fond of flinging things, in general, into (120) Triads; fo they have not
failed to make three chiefs, over all the other Furies. Theſe are Tifiphone, Alecto, and
Megæra. They were fuppofed to exceed all the reft in cruelty, and malice, and the
power of doing miſchief: and are called, by way of eminence, The Furies; and fome-
times, the (121) Diræ; a name peculiar to theſe three. They were all three fifters; and
born at one birth, of the goddeſs of Night.
(113) Protinus hinc fufcis triftis Dea tollitur alis.
Virgil. Æn. 7. . 409. (of Alecto.)
Cotta, in Cicero's Dialogues of the Nature of the
Gods, fpeaks of a temple dedicated to the Furies at
Athens; and looks on the Lucus Furinæ among the
Romans as facred to the fame. Lib. 3. p. 69. Ed.
Ald.
Furiæ Deæ funt; fpeculatrices credo, & vindices,
facinorum & fceleris. Id. Ibid.
There is the beginning of a prayer to one of theſe
goddeffes, preferved among the fragments of Lu-
cilius :
Tifiphone, te pulmonibus adirem! Unguentum
excoctum attuli Eumenidibus! Sanctiffima Erinnys!-
Lucilius, Sat. Lib. 4.
They were worshipped at Athens under the
name of the Σva ea. Lucian. Tom. II. p. 215.
Ed. Blaeu.
(114) See Note 112, anteh.
(115) As in the known ſtories of Pentheus, Edi-
pus, and Oreftes, &c. Hence it may be too, that
Prometheus, (when chained down againſt mount
Caucafus and tortured there,) calls that place of his
puniſhment," the Encampment of the Furies."
Caftrum hoc Furiarum incolo.
Actius, in Prom.
THE
(116) Statius calls them, "The Miniſters of Plu-
to's cruelty."
Ipfum * pallentem folio, circumque miniftras
Funeftorum operum Eumenides; Stygiæque feveros
Junonis thalamos & mæfta cubilia cerno.
* Pluto.
Theb. 4. .527.
(117) See Note 112, anteh.
(118) See Pl. 41. Fig. 3.
(119) Utque manu dirâ lignum fatale tenebat ;
Ante Sepulchrales infelix adftitit aras :
Pœnarumque Deæ triplices, furialibus (inquit)
Eumenides facris vultus advertite veftros!
Ulcifcor, facioque nefas.
Ovid. Met. Lib. 8. ✯. 483.
(120) The kingdom of Ades itſelf is divided into
three regions, Erebus, Tartarus, and Elyfium; and
governed under three judges, Minos, Rhadamanthus
and Æacus: not to ſpeak of the three rivers, Ache-
ron, Cocytus, and Phlegethon; and other lefs par-
ticulars of the fame kind.
(121) Dicuntur gemina peftes cognomine, Diræ ;
Quas & Tartaream Nox intempefta Megæram
Uno eodemque tulit partu: paribufque revinxit
Serpentum fpiris, ventofafque addidit alas.
Virgil. Æn. 12. 1848:
DIALOGUE the Sixteenth.
273
THE Furies are defcribed by the poets, as of a vaft (122) fize; and very (123) terrible to
behold. Their look was very much like that, which might make any unfortunate
woman paſs for a witch; in any of our country-villages, at prefent. They are old (124),
ſqualid (125), and meagre (126): their cheeks pale (127); and ſometimes with a fort of
feverish (128) flush on them. The poets give them a dark robe (129), (fuch as was worn
uſually at funerals,) bound round them (130) with a ſerpent; and vipers (131) about their
heads. They fometimes too hold vipers in their hands (132); and fometimes common
whips, or torches: all, as inftruments of puniſhment. The poets generally ſpeak of
them as tormenting the wicked for their crimes, or precipitating them into miſchief:
and, (on ſome particular occafions,) as attending (133) on the throne of Jupiter; as ftand-
ing round the feat of Pluto (134), in his great council-hall: and as waiting (135) at the
gates of Tartarus; as you ſee Tifiphone is reprefented, in the drawing before us.
THE vipers about the head of Tifiphone are reprefented two different ways, by the
poets: fometimes as loofe (136) ferpents, intermixed with her hair; and ſometimes as
ferpents growing (137) from her head inſtead of hair, in the fame manner that you fee
them in this drawing. As fhe is one of the chief of all the infernal executioners, the
poets deſcribe her robe either dropping (138) with freſh blood, or (139) ſtiff with human
gore. This is faftened round her with a ſerpent (140) inſtead of a girdle; as ſhe has ſome-
times vipers (141) twiſted round her arms; inſtead of bracelets. They give her fometimes
(122)
Ingens urbem cingebat Erinnys,
Excutiens pronam flagranti vertice pinum
Stridentefque comas.
Armatam facibus matrem, & ferpentibus atris.
a
Virgil. Æn. 4. .482.
Sanguinea jactant verbera :
Agamemnon, Act. 3. Chor. .761.
Lucan. 1. .574.
Fert læva femiuftas faces.
(123)
Talefque metus non Martia caffis,
Eumenidumque comæ, non triftis ab æthere Gorgon,
Sparferit.
(133) See Note 112, anteh.
Valerius Flaccus, 3. . 54.
Qualem juffu Junonis iniquæ
Horruit Alcides, vifo jam Dite, Megæram.
(134) See Note 116, anteh.
(135) Quafque ferunt torto vittatis angue capillis
Carceris obfcuras ante federe fores.
1
Lucan, I. . 577-
Ovid. Ibis, . 78.
(124) Tifiphone canos ut erat turbata capillos
Movit, & obftantes rejecit ab ore colubras.
Ovid. Met. 4. Ý. 474.
(125).Crinem folutis fqualidæ ferpentibus.
Medea, A&t. 1. Sc. 1. . 14.
Inftant forores fqualidæ.
Agamemnon, A&t. 3. Chor. .759.
Veftis atri funeris exefa cingit ilia.
(126)
Ibid. *.764.
(127) Sævit & in lucem, Stygiis emiſſa tenebris,
Pallida Tifiphone.
(136)
Cernis, cuftodia qualis
Veſtibulo fedeat; facies quæ limina fervet.
Virgil. Æn. 6. . 575: (ofTifiphone, fitting
before the gates of Tartarus.)
Inamænum forte fedebat
Cocyton juxta refolutaque vertice crines
Lambere fulphureas permiferat anguibus undas.
Statius, Theb. 1. .91. (of Tifiphone.)
(137) Cæfariem excuffit. Motæ fonuere colubræ :
Parfque jacens humeris, pars circum tempora lapfæ,
Sibila dant; faniemque vomant, linguafque corufcant!
Inde duos mediis abrumpit crinibus angues,
Peſtiferâque manu raptos immifit.
Virgil. Georg. 3. 7.553.
(128)
Ardentque pallentes genæ.
Agamemnon, Act. 3. Chor. .762.
(138)
(129) See Note 126, anteh.
Ovid. Met. 4. . 495. (of the fame.)
-Tifiphone madefactam fanguine fumit
Importuna facem; fluidoque cruore rubentem
Induitur pallam, tortoque incingitur angue;
Egrediturque domo.-
(130) See Note 121, anteh, and 140, pofth.
Id. Ibid. . 483.
(139)
-Riget horrida tergo
(131)
Cæruleos implex crinibus angues
Palla.
Eumenides.
Statius, Theb. 1. y. 111.
Virgil. G. 4. . 483.
*.
(140)
Id. Ibid.
-Intorti capillis
Eumenidum recreantur angues:
Horat. Lib. 2. Od. 13. ✯. 36.
*.36.
(132) Stipite te Stygio, tumidifque afflavit echidnis,
E tribus una foror.
Ovid. Met. 10. y. 314.
When Oreftes fees his mother as an avenging Fury,
he fees her holding torches and ferpents:
#
Cærulei redeunt in pectora nodi.
Ad inania magni
Regna redit Ditis; fumtumque recingitur anguem.
Ovid. Met. 4. . 510
(141) Obftitit infelix, aditumque obfedit Erinnys;
Nexaque vipereis diftendens brachia nodis, &c.
Ovid. Met. 4. .490.
(
274
POLYMETIS.
a torch in her hand (142) freſh from the torture, and ſtill wet with blood; fometimes, a
torch in one hand (143) and a ferpent in the other; and ſometimes, ferpents (144) in both.
Here you fee her ſhaking her horrid head of hair (145), to rouſe up all the vipers about
it; and there, running on impetuouſly (146), with the air of a Bacchanal, to incite men
to deeds of blood and fury. Here (147), urging on the torments of the condemned; and
there, whirling her torch (148), and exulting in the miſchiefs fhe has done. Here, the
is repreſented as a growing figure; and there, as ſetting out, in ftate (149), with all her
horrid attendants in her train.
I Do not yet rightly conceive what it is you mean by a growing figure, fays Philander.
They are very uncommon, and not very eaſy to be conceived, replied Polymetis. There
are but three of them, that I can recollect at prefent: thofe are all deſcribed by Virgil,
and are, perhaps, fome of the ſtrongeſt inſtances of that poet's imagination, of any thing
in all his works. One of them is in his defcription of Fame; and the other two, relate
both to Furies. In his defcription of Fame, he ſpeaks of that goddeſs as appearing finall
to you at firſt; but as growing upon you continually, till her head reaches the clouds.
He repreſents Tifiphone (150) much in the fame manner: terrible indeed, when ſhe firſt
appears on the earth; but growing every day larger, and more and more terrible. This
is where he introduces this Fury as bringing a peftilence upon the earth: which gives it
a great deal of propriety, from the allegory and the reality's anfwering fo well to each
other. The third inſtance is in his account of Alecto's appearance to Turnus; where
he ſays, that her face grew ſtill larger and larger, as he looked upon it; as I have had
occafion to obſerve to you, once or twice before.
I SHALL mention but one defcription more in relation to Tifiphone: and that is al-
moſt the only one that I was ever glad to read of her; becauſe ſhe is the ſufferer in it.
It is in a ſtory, perhaps half Greek and half Egyptian, which is preſerved to us by Va-
lerius Flaccus. Iö, (as that poet ſays,) after the death of Argus, was reſtored to her
human ſhape by Jupiter. In the height of her joy for the recovery of all her former
beauties, as ſhe went along exulting and triumphing in her mind, fhe was met on a
fudden by Tifiphone; who was fent by Juno to renew her fufferings. Iö was ſo aſto-
niſhed at the fight of this Fury, that fhe turned into a Cow again; but a much leſs
handſome one, it ſeems, than ſhe had been before. In this her ſecond ſtate of brutality,
ſhe wandered for fome time: unhappy, and unknown to her friends; even on the banks
of Inachus. She therefore left thofe parts, which only increaſed her affliction; and betook
herſelf toward the fea-coaft. Where, as fhe was moving along one day, full of melan-
choly thoughts and not minding where the trod, ſhe made a falſe ſtep and fell into the
fea. The fea received her fafe; and carried her for Egypt. Tifiphone, (who was con-
ſtantly watching all her motions,) on ſeeing her make toward Egypt, flew over the ſea;
and got before her to Memphis: where fhe ftood on the fhore to prevent her landing.
On Iö's arrival toward the fhore, the deity of the Nile faw and pitied her diftrefs; and
(142) See Note 138, anteh.
(143) Tum geminas quatit illa manus: hæc igne rogali
Fulgurat; hæc vivo manus aëra verberat hydro.
Statius, Theb. 1. †.113.
haftened
Intentaus angues, vocat agmina fæva fororum.
Virgil. Æn. 6. .571
(148) Tum face jactatâ per eundem fæpius orbem,
Confequitur motos velociter ignibus ignes :
Sic victrix, juffique potens, ad inania magni
Regna redit Ditis.
Ovid. Met. 4. . 510.
59
(144) It geminum excutiens anguem.
Id. Ib. 7. *. 466.
(149)
(145) See Note 137, anteh.
(146)
-Bacchatur utrifque
Tifiphone caftris.
Statius, Theb. 7. .467.
(147)
-Sontes ultrix armata flagello
Tifiphone quatit infultans; torvofque finiftrâ
-Luctus comitantur euntem
Et Pavor, & Terror, trepidaque Infania vultu.
Id. Ibid. .484.
(159) Sævit & in lucem, Stygiis emiffa tenebris,
Pallida Tifiphone : morbos agit ante, metumque ;
Inque dies avidum furgens caput altiùs effert.
Virgil. Geor. 3. *: 554.
The other two inftances are in his Æn. Lib. 4.
*. 175; and Lib. 7. . 448.
*.
DIALOGUE the Sixteenth.
275
haftened to her affiftance. He engaged the Fury; and drove her back to hell. Io, thus
delivered from her tormentor, landed at laſt on the Egyptian coaft; where, by the will
of Jove, ſhe was made one of the principal divinities of that country. This engagement
between Nilus and Tifiphone I fhould be mighty glad to meet with in any old painting,
or relievo the fubject being as great a one for either, as the ſtory is uncommon. Flaccus
fays, that (151) the Fury's torches lay fcattered in one place, and her avenging fcourge in an-
other; that ſeveral of her vipers were torn from her head; and that the herſelf was prefled
down into the fand-bank, on the fea-fhore: whence the funk to hell, defeated and
wounded; and calling in vain on the infernal deities for affiftance. This you will fay is
a very ridiculous legend? Heaven knows, what myfterious traditions may be wrapped
up under it but it was certainly a very remarkable ftory, in the earlier ages of the
world; for (as Flaccus affures us,) it was from this very affair, that thoſe feas got one of
their moſt celebrated names of old; and which it is ftill known by (152), to this very
day.
THUS much for Tifiphone. Her fifter Alecto, (who feems to have been (153) yet
more terrible than herſelf,) is deſcribed, in much the fame manner in general. She has
vipers about her (154) head; and about (155) her very wings; and is armed (156) with
vipers, fcourges, and torches: as we learn from that fine defcription of this Fury in
Virgil, where he makes her begin the war between the followers of Æneas, and the old
inhabitants of Latium.
As this is one of the nobleſt parts in all Virgil's works, and perhaps the fineſt deſcrip-
tion of a Fury that ever was wrote, I fhall beg leave to confider every part of it in
order. Juno, (willing to deſtroy the good underſtanding that was like to be eſtabliſhed
between the Trojans and Latians,) raifes Alecto from (157) Tartarus: who, as foon as ſhe
had received her orders, flies immediately to the queen of Latium, and darts one of her
ferpents, into her bofom; the terrible effects of which are admirably deſcribed by Virgil.
It firſt (158) occafions melancholy, and complaints, in her; then rage; and at laſt open
acts of violence. From the queen, Alecto flies to Turnus; at Ardea. It was then about
midnight: and the Fury appears to him in his fleep, under the form of the prieſteſs that
prefided over the temple of Juno, in that city. She makes a ſpeech to him, as ſuch,
to ſtir him up to raiſe troops againſt Æneas and his allies; and fays fhe was commanded
by the goddess whom ſhe ſerved, to admoniſh him of his duty. Turnus at firſt treats
her as an impertinent woman, and a falfe propheteſs. On which ſhe is inſtantly enraged;
quits the ſhape ſhe had put on; and reaffumes her own, with all its terrors about it (159).
(151) Contra Nilus adeft ; & toto gurgite torrens
Tifiphonen agit, atque imis illidit arenis,
Ditis opem ac fævi clamantem numina regni :
Apparent fparfæque faces; disjectaque longè
Verbera: & abruptis excuffi crinibus hydri.
Valerius Flaccus, 4. . 413.
(152) The Thracian Bofpherus, or Bosporus.
(153) Odit & ipfe pater Pluton ; odere forores
(154)
Tartareæ monſtrum: tot fefe vertit in ora,
Tain fævæ facics, tot pullulat atra colubris!
Virgil. Æn. 7. . 329.
-Geminos erexit crinibus hydros.
Virgil. n. 7. *. 450.
155) Illa autem attollit ſtridentes anguibus alas
Id. Ibid. y. 561.
156) Huic Dea cæruleis unum de crinibus anguem
Conjicit.-
Verberaque infonuit.
Facem juveni conjecit..
Her
Ib. . 456.
(157) Luctificam Alecto Dirarum ab fede fororum,
Infernifque cict tenebris.
Virgil. Æn. 7. y. 325.
(158) Ac dum prima lues udo fublapfa veneno
Pertentat fenfus atque offibus implicat ignem,
Necdum animus toto percepit pectore flammam
Molliùs & folito matrum de more locuta eft,
Multa fuper natâ lacrymans.
Id. Ibid. y. 358.
Tum verò infelix, ingentibus excita monftris,
Immenfam fine more furit lymphata per urbem.
Ibid. . 377-
Quin etiam in fylvas fimulato numine Bacchi,
Majus adorta nefas majoremque orfa furorem,
Evolat ; & natam frondofis montibus abdit ;
Quo thalamum cripiat Teucris, tædafque moretur.
Ibid. .388.
Id. Ibid. . 347.
(159) Talibus Alecto dictis exarfit in iras :
Id. Ib. *. 451.
Bbbb
At juveni oranti fubitus tremor occupat artus,
Diri
1
276
POLYMETI S..
•
"to
1
Her face grew larger, and larger, every inftant; her eye-balls, from the languid look
they had before, became like flames of fire; and her fnakes roſe about her head, in all
their fury,
few words,
She then ſpeaks to him, in her own character, and in very
bid him obferve who fhe is; the caufer of wars and deftruction:" and concludes with
darting her burning torch againſt his breaft. He starts, with the fright, out of his fleep;
calls aloud for his arms; excites his people; and breathes nothing but flaughter and re-
venge. Alecto flies from him towards a party of Æneas's foldiers; occafions a quarrel be-
tween them, and ſome of the natives of Latium; and when the fees them fufficiently
provoked on each fide, ſhe herſelf ſounds the onſet, for their fighting. On this occafion
ſhe ſeems to have fnatched up one of the horns, which the countrymen ufe to direct
their cattle; for I do not know of any other paffage in all the Roman poets that ever
ſpeaks of a horn as one of her attributes. But whoever the inftrument belonged to, the
voice and found was her own: it was a true infernal blaſt (160); that made the woods
tremble, and was heard with horror, for a vaſt compaſs round about. As ſhe fees the
war is begun, ſhe flies from thence to heaven; tells Juno, that her commands are obeyed;
and wants (161) to do more miſchief. Juno fays, it is enough; and bids her return to
Tartarus. On which ſhe immediately flies down toward the earth again: and plunges
herſelf into a horrid fulphureous lake (162), in the eaſtern parts of Italy; which was for-
merly
•
Diriguere oculi; tot Erinnys fibilat hydris !
Tantaque fe facies aperit! Tum flammea torquens
Lumina, cunctantem & quærentem dicere plura
Reppulit; & geminos erexit crinibus angues,
Verberaque infonuit: rabidoque hæc addidit ore.
Ibid. *. 451.
(160) At fæva e fpeculis tempus Dea nacta nocendi,
Ardua tecta petit ftabuli et de culmine fummo
Paftorale canit fignum; cornuque recurvo
Tartaream intendit vocem : quâ protinus omne
Contremuit nemus; & fylvæ intonuere profundæ.
Audiit & Triviæ longe lacus; audiit amnis
Sulfureâ Nar albus aquâ, fontefque Velini ;
Et trepidæ matres preffere ad pectora natos.
Ibid. .518.
(161) Hoc etiam his addam, tua fi mihi certa voluntas ;
Finitimas in bella feram rumoribus urbes,
Accendamque animos infani Martis amore :
Undique ut auxilio veniant, fpargam arma per agros.
Ibid. . 55.
162) Eft locus Italiæ medio, fub montibus altis,
Nobilis & famâ multis memoratus in oris ;
Amfancti valles. Denfis hunc frondibus atrum
Urget utrimque latus nemoris; medioque fragofus
Dat fonitum faxis & torto✶ vertice torrens.
Hic fpecus horrendum, fævi fpiracula Ditis,
Monftratur: ruptoque ingens Acheronte vorago
Peftiferas aperit fauces. Queis condita Erinnys,
Invifum numen, terras cœlumque levabat.
* So the famous Flor. MSS.
Ibid. .571
Virgil fays exprefly that this Defcent of Alecto to
Hell, was in the vale of Amfanctus. Amfanctus is
placed, both by the antients and moderns, in the
kingdom of Naples; between Trevicum and Ache-
rontia. There was antiently a temple built to Me-
phites here; as the deity who prefided over noiſome
and peftilential ſmells. Hence the place is to this day
called, Nefanto, and Muffito.
Virgil fays, it was under the mountains in the
midſt of Italy :—that it was incloſed with woods,
on each fide :---- that there were hollows and feveral
ſpiracula about it and that the waters burft up
into the air; and then fall down again, in a broken
manner; for ſo I think one ought to underſtand his
torto vertice torrens, and-rupto Acheronte vo-
rago.
Both the fpiracula, and this broken fpout of water
falling in upon itſelf, are deſcribed by another poet,
of the greateſt credit for the times he lived in ; which
was about 400 years after Virgil.
Tunc & peftiferi pacatum flumen Averni
Innocuæ, tranfiftis, aves! Flatumque repreffit
Amfanctus; tacuit, fixo torrente, vorago.
Claudian, de Rapt. Prof. 2. y. 350.
Virgil alludes to the peftilential ftench there, in the
word peftiferas. The words Amfanctus, and Me-
phites, were uſed for a ſtench by the Roman writers ;
and the ſmells in this place were looked upon an-
tiently, as mortal.— Taceo, quòd alarum fpecu-
bus hircofis atque aceſcentibus latera captiva vallatus,
nares circumfedentium ventilatâ duplicis Amfancti
peſte funeftat. Sidonius Apollinaris, Lib. 3. Ep.13.
Sævamque exhalat opaca Mephitim. Virgil,
Æn. 7. . 84.-Spiracula vocant; item in Hirpinis,
Amfancti ad Mephitis ædem locum ; quem qui in-
trant, moriuntur. Pliny, Nat. Hift. lib. 2. cap. 93.
•
The place which is now called Nefanto, (as fup-
poſed by corruption from Amfanctus; fee Leon. Al-
berti f. 101.) is in a dark vale, near Trevico; in-
cloſed on each fide by hills, and gloomy woods.
In the midſt are two or three filthy holes; in one of
which the water burfts up to the height of three or
four feet, (fometimes more, and fometimes lefs,)
and then falls in again upon itſelf. It fmells horribly:
the earth being all impregnated with fulphur. There
are ſeveral vents of wind in the fides of the hills near
this odious baſon: which you find to come out with
a good deal of force, if you hold your hand to the
vent; and they make more noiſe than a ſmith's bel-
lows. A particular friend of mine, who has been
there, fays he found out the place by the noiſe.
The water, in the holes above mentioned, is gene-
rally of a black look; and is ftill ſo much regarded as
infectious, that the country-people do not much care
to go with you to it. I know not whether it may be
worth mentioning, that they have ftill ftories and
pictures in thofe parts, of a faint driving the devil, (who
had been very troubleſome, it ſeems, in the country,)
back again to hell; thorough one of theſe holes.
No
DIALOGU E the Sixteenth.
277
merly always looked on; (by the common people at leaſt,) as a vent of the river Acheron :
the very river, which was fuppofed to furround the city of Rhadamanthus, in the region
of Tartarus; and fo muft lead Alecto, directly, to her ufual place of abode.
THE laſt of theſe three horrid fifters, called by the particular name of Diræ as execu-
tioners of the divine vengeance, is Megæra. She has ferpents on her head (163), and
two diftinguiſhed ones over her forehead, as her fifters have; and is reprefented, like
them (164), with torches. The Roman poets ſpeak much leſs of her than of the others:
and I know of but one defcription of her that would make a good picture, in all their
works. That is in Virgil too, where he is ſpeaking of the puniſhment of the Lapithæ :
who were faid to be always placed round a table very richly and plentifully fet out: with
a looſe piece of rock hanging over their heads, as juſt ready to fall; and (165) this Fury
attending clofe by, to watch and menace them, the moment they endeavour to taste any
one of the tempting things fet before them.
SUCH are the chiefs of the many executioners ſuppoſed to be employed in the great
abyſs of Tartarus. As to the perfons tormented there, Virgil feems to have diſtinguiſhed
them into two general claffes: the firft, of fuch as have been ungrateful or impious (166)
toward the gods; and the fecond, of fuch as have been mischievous and hurtful (167)
among men.
THE moſt impious of the former claſs of criminals, were the rebel giants. The poets
frequently ſpeak of their attempt to ſcale heaven, and of their battle with the great
Celeſtial
No one piece of ground now can I think anfwer
to an antient deſcription more punctually and exactly
than this does to Virgil's account of Amfanctus. I
know but of one objection that can be made to it,
which is from Virgil's faying that it is fituated-Ita-
liæ medio. Nefanto, you may fay, is very far from
being in the midſt of Italy: Naples lies above half
way in that country; and Nefanto is yet a hundred
miles farther. Tho' the other circumftances of the
place all tally fo well; yet its failing in one point,
and that fo material and unchangeable an one, muſt
deſtroy the whole. This objection would be very
ftrong, if no place could be faid to be in the midſt of
Italy, except what was fo, taking it in length : but
may not a place be ſaid to be in the middle of Italy,
taking the country in breadth, as well as in length?
I do not know whether that expreffion would be fo
proper now; but antiently they faid the Apennines
lay in the middle of Italy, which must be understood
of the breadth:
1
Umbroſis mediam quà collibus Apenninus
Erigit Italiam.
Lucan. Lib. 2. . 397.
And Dionyfius in his geography, fays that this
mountain lays as exactly in the midſt of Italy, as if
it had been directed by a line :
Μεσση δ' αμφοτερων παραπεπαλαι Αυσονίς ανα
Πολυτενης" την μεν δε μεσην ορος ανδίχα τεμνει
Ορθον, απ' εκ σαθμης θυμμένου εκ αν εκείνο
Τόρις μωμήσαιτο σοφης υποεργος Αθηνης
Ον τα τε κικλήσκεσιν Απεννιον.
૪
in the Æneid; I am obliged for it to a very particular
friend of mine; a gentleman, of our own country:
who has travelled often into Italy, and whọ (I be-
lieve,) is much better acquainted with it as claffic
ground, than any man now living. He had the cu
riofity, in one of his voyages, to go to Nefanto: and
it is from him that I have given the above account
of the appearance, which that place makes at prefent.
Пeginy. *. 338.
Now Nelanto, (or the vale of Amfanctus,) does
not only lay among the Apennines; but is fituated
too, at near an equal diſtance from the Mare Supe-
rum, and the Mare Inferum; and fo may the more
ftrictly be faid, to be in the midſt of Italy: Italiæ me-
dio, ſub montibus altis.
If there is any thing in this long note, which may
give any new or ſtronger lights to this noted paffage
(163) Quænam ifta, torquens angue vipereo comam,
Temporibus atras fqualidis pinnas quatit?
Quid me flagranti dira perfequeris face,
Megæra !
Herc. Oët. A&t. 3. Sc. 2.
(164) Et geminas faces Megæra quatiens.
Thyeftes, Act. 2. Sc. 1.
(165) Quid memorem Lapithas, Ixiona Perithoumque ?
Quos fuper atra filex, jam jam lapfura, cadentique
Imminet affimilis. Lucent genialibus altis
Aurea fulcra toris; epulæque ante ora, paratæ
Regifico luxu. Furiarum maxima juxta
Accubat, & manibus prohibet contingere menfas:
Exurgitque, facem attollens; atque intonat'ore.
Virgil. Æn. 6. *. 607.
It appears from Statius, that this Fury, (whom Vir-
gil does not name,) was Megara.
Ultrix tibi torva Megæra
Jejunum Phlegyam, fubter cava faxa jacentem,
Æterno premit accubitu; dapibufque profanis
Inftimulat: fed mifta famem faſtidia vincunt.
Theb. 1. 715-
Virgil on this occafion calls her, Furiarum maxi-
ma; which may fignify either a chief, or the chief, of
the Furies: but confidering her fifter's characters,
(who are, at leaſt, her equals,) I think it ſhould be
taken in the former fenſe here.
(166) See Æn. 6. ✯. 580, to 607.
(167) See Ibid. . 608, to 614.
278
POLYMETIS.
Celeſtial Deities. The gods did not conquer them ſo eaſily as might be expected; or fome
poets, at leaſt, (as is (168) infinuated by Ovid,) have deſcribed that affair as attended with
more difficulty than they ought to have done: however, at laft, they got a total victory;
and caft the rebels down to Tartarus: where they were to receive the full puniſhment of
their enormous crime. The poets, in fpeaking of theſe monſters, fay that they had (169)
fnakes inſtead of legs. How that could be is not fo eafily conceived without the affift-
ance of the works of the antient artiſts; in which they are often reprefented going off
at the thighs into two vaft ferpents; as you fee one of them does (170), in this drawing.
:
TYPHOEUS ſeems to be diſtinguiſhed by the poets, as one of the chief leaders in this
attempt for the fovereignty of heaven. Horace mentions him firſt (171) in his account of
the battle and gives us the names of four more of them; Mimas, Porphyrion, Rhæcus,
and Enceladus. Virgil adds (172) Cæus and Iäpetus, to this clafs of daring monſters
and (173) Ægeon; and the (174) two ſons of Aloeus. We learn from Ovid, that Gyges
was a principal (175) in this affair; and that Typhon (176) was concerned in it. I have
never met with any one of the above named Giants, repreſented in their ſtate of puniſh-
ment: but there is a fine relievo of Tityos, at the Villa Borgheſe; in which
you fee him
laying on a rock; and the vultur, plunging (177) his beak into his fide: in the fame man-
ner as he is deſcribed by Virgil, in his account of this region of torments.
VIRGIL
(168) Juft before the terrible account, given by
one of the Pierides in Ovid, of the gods being drove
by Typhoeus into Egypt; and forced to change them-
felves there into the fhapes of fuch and ſuch animals,
to eſcape his fury; that poet obſerves, "That ſhe
raiſes the atchievements of the giants, and extenuates
the actions of the gods."
(169)
Falſo in honore Gigantas
Ponit ; & extenuat magnorum fa&ta Deorum.
Qui rore puro Caſtaliæ lavit
Crines folutos.
Horat. Lib. 3. Od. 4. . 6z.
Ovid mentions Typhoeus, as the chief terror of the
gods.
(172)
Met. 5. . 320.
Centum quifque parabant
Injicere anguipedum captivo brachia cœlo.
Ovid. Met. 1. . 184.
Terra ferax, partus (immania monftra !) Gigantas
Edidit; aufuros in Jovis ire domum :
Mille manus illis dedit ; & pro cruribus angues.
Id. Faft. 5. . 37.
-Phlegræo ftantes ferpente gigantes.
Lucan. 9. .656.
Theſe ſtrange monſters in the antient mythology,
ſeem to have been pretty exact emblems of the diſbe-
lievers fo much in faſhion in our times.-Gigantes quid
aliud fuiffe credendum eft, quàm hominum quandam
impiam gentem, Deos negantem ; & ideo exiftimatam
Deos pellere de cœlefti fede voluiffe? Horum pedes
in draconum volumina definebant: quod fignificat,
nihil eos rectum, nihil fuperum cogitaffe; totius vitæ
eorum greffu, atque progreffu, in inferna mergente.
Macrob. Saturn. Lib. 1. cap. 20.
(170) See Pl. 41. Fig. 4.
(171) Magnum illa terrorem intulerat Jovi
Fidens juventus horrida brachiis;
Fratrefque tendentes opaco
Pelion impofuiffe Olympo.
Sed quid Typhoeus, & validus Mimas,
Aut quid minaci Porphyrion ſtatu ;
Quid Rhæcus, evulfifque truncis
Enceladus jaculator audax,
Contra fonantem Palladis ægida
Poffent ruentes? Hinc avidus ftetit
Vulcanus; hinc Matrona Juno: &
(Nunquam humeris pofiturus arcum)
Huc quoque terrigenam veniffe Typhœea narrat ;
Et fe mentitis Superos celaffe figuris.
-Partu Terra nefando
Met. 5. . 326.
Cæumque läpetumque creat, fævumque Typhœa;
Et conjuratos cœlum refcindere fratres.
Ter funt conati imponere Pelio Offam
Scilicet, atque Offæ frondofum involvere Olympum;
Ter pater exftructos disjecit fulmine montes.
Virgil. Georg. . . 283.
(173) Egeon qualis, centum cui brachia dicunt
Centenafque manus ; quinquaginta oribus ignem
Pectoribufque arfiffe: Jovis cum fulmina contra
Tot paribus ftreperet clypeis, tot ftringeret enfes.
Id. Æn. 10. y. 568.
Homer makes Ægeon the fame with Briareus; or
the Centum-geminus Briareus, as Virgil calls him,
Æn. 6. .287.
(174) Hic & Aloïdas geminos, immania vidi
•
Corpora! Qui manibus magnum refcindere cœlum
Aggreffi, fuperifque Jovem detrudere regnis.
Id. Ib. 6. y. 584.
(175) Quid gravius victore Gyge captiva tuliffet,
Quàm nunc, (te cœli fceptra tenente !) tulit ?¨
Ovid. Faft. 4. . 592. (An exclamation of Ceres, againſt
Jupiter; on the rape of her daughter.)
(176) Terribilem quondam fugiens Typhona Dione,
Tunc cum pro cœlo Jupiter arma tulit ; &c.
Id. Ib. 2. ¥. 462.
(177) Nec non & Tityon, terræ omniparentis alumnum
Cernere erat: per tota novem cui jugera corpus
Porrigitur; roftroque immanis vultur adunco,
Immortale jecur tondens fœcundaque pœnis
Vifcera, rimaturque epulis habitatque fub alto
Pectore; nec fibris requies datur ulla renatis.
Virgil. Æn. 6. . 600.
I
DIALOGUE the Sixteenth.
279
VIRGIL ſpeaks of the variety of tortures in this horrid place (178) as vaſtly numerous ;
but he gives us an account of but very few of them. I believe if one was to make a liſt of
all the particular puniſhments in Tartarus mentioned by him and all the other Latin poets,
they would ſcarce be half a ſcore of them. Whatever was the reaſon of this; one may
fafely fay, that Dante in his hell, has much more variety of puniſhments, than all the
antient poets put together. They are fo uncommon in the remains of the antient artiſts
too, that this drawing (179) of Tityos, and this other repreſenting the tortures of Sifyphus, PL. XXXIX.
Ixion and Tantalus, are all that I have got to fhew you, on this fubject.
TANTALUS is reprefented here as hanging over the waters, which are always flowing
thro' his hand, and gliding from him. You may fee defire, and diſappointment, ón his
face; and a fort of ſtupidity, contracted by being baulked fo perpetually. I fcarce
doubt that Horace had ſome repreſentation of this kind, in his thoughts; where he com-
pares (180) the tortures of a mifer in this world, to thoſe of Tantalus in the other. I faid,
fome repreſentation of this kind; becauſe Tantalus was probably repreſented ſometimes
in a different manner as ſtanding under a tree, and fome of the branches, loaded with
the fineſt ripe fruits, hanging down juſt before his mouth (181); which, the moment he
endeavoured to tafte, always waved away out of his reach. This I have never ſeen in
any of the works of the artiſts; any more than a third fort of puniſhment for Tanta-
lus (182), of quite a different nature: which is only mentioned by fome of the elder
Roman writers, before the Auguftan age; and which I therefore fuppofe might be wholly
rejected in the better ages.
FIG. 2.
OVID in one paffage feems to defcribe Sifyphus, in the fame manner that you ſee
him repreſented here, as bending under (183) the weight of a vaſt ſtone. The more
common way of ſpeaking of his puniſhment agrees with the fine defcription of him
in Homer; where we ſee him labouring to heave the ſtone, that lies on his fhoulders
here, up againſt the fide of a ſteep mountain; and which always (184) rolls precipitately
down again, before he can get it to fix on the top. Lucretius makes him only an (185)
emblem of the Ambitious: as Horace too feems to make Tantalus, only an (186) emblem
of the Covetous.
(178) Non mihi fi linguæ centum fint, oraque centum,
Ferrea vox, omnes fcelerum comprendere formas,
Omnia pœnarum percurrere nomina poffim.
IXION
Cicero fpeaking of one, who is in ſtrong appre-
henfions of a great evil, juft coming upon him; fays
his cafe is like that of Tantalus. Quam vim mali
Virgil. Æn. 6. §. 627. fignificantes poetæ, impendere apud Inferos faxum
Tantalo faciunt. Tufc. Quæft. Lib. 4. p. 460. Ed.
Blaeu.
(179) See Pl. 41. Fig. 5.
(180) Tantalus a labris fitiens fugientia captat
:
Flumina- Quid rides? Mutato nomine, de te
Fabula narratur. Congeftis undique faxis.
Indormis inhians.
So Lucretius too:
(181)
Horat. Lib. 1. Sat. 1. .71.
Et fitis æqua tenet, vitaï femper hiantes.
Lib. 3. . 1097.
Qui fallentibus undis
Imminet, aut refugæ fterilem rapit aëra fylvæ.
Statius, Theb. 6. ✯.281,
Nec bibit inter aquas, nec poma natantia carpit
Tantalus.
Petronius Arb. p. 23.
Quis me furor nunc ſede ab infauftâ extrahit
Avido fugaces ore captantem cibos?
Pejus inventum eft fiti
Arente in undis aliquid, & pejus fame
Hiante femper ?
In quod malum tranſcribor ?
.
(183)
Æoliden faxum grave Sifyphon urget.
Ovid. Met. 13. *. 26.
(184) Aut petis, aut urges ruiturum, Siſyphe, ſaxum.
Id. Ib. lib. 4. *. 459.
(185) Sifyphus in vitâ quoque nobis ante oculos eft,
Qui petere à populo fafceis fævafque fecureis
Imbibit; & femper victus triftifque recedit :
Nam petere imperium quod inane eft nec datur unquam,
Atque in eo femper durum fufferre laborem;
Hoc eft adverfo nixantem trudere monte
Saxum, quod tamen à fummo jam vertice rurfum
Volvitur; & plani raptim petit æquora campi.
Lucretius, 3. *. τοις.
(186) This, I think, appears from the words,
Quid rides, in the paffage quoted from Horace.
(Note 180, anteh.) He begins formally, to tell the
ftory of Tantalus's puniſhment.He then breaks
off fhort, and fays; "Why are you laughing at me?
As much a fiction as this is, it is really verified in the
lives of the covetous. They are always hanging over
their treaſure, and never enjoying any of it."
Cecc
Thyeftes, Act. 1. Sc. 1. y. 13.
Tibi, Tantale, nullæ
Deprenduntur aquæ ; quæque imminet, effugit arbos.
Ovid. Met. 4. 458.
(182) Nec mifer impendens magnum timet aëre faxum
Tantalus, (ut fama eft,) caffa formidine torpens.
Lucretius, 3. . 994
280
POLYMETIS.
IXION, (who was condemned to his torture for impiety and ingratitude,) appears
here as fixed in his wheel; which was faid to hurry him round (187), in one perpetual
whirl. This would be no bad emblem of thoſe in our days who are fo fond of being di-
ſtinguiſhed by the name of Men of Pleaſure; and ſeem to value themſelves for lofing
every moment of their lives, in a round of infignificant diverfions: but as this was a
vice perhaps not known among the antients, we muſt not expect any fuch application
in their writings.
I Do not know any of the antients that ſpeak of any other puniſhment for Ixion, but
his wheel; and the rapid eddies he is always whirled in, by it. Virgil, in particular
mentions this, as his puniſhment, in his fourth (188) Georgic; and I fuppofe had done
ſo (189) in his third, till ſome over-wife tranfcriber was pleafed to correct what he had
originally written.
I AM apt to imagine that the antient painters fometimes inferted fome deity of the
winds in their repreſentations of Ixion's puniſhment; as directing a ſtrong blaſt againſt
his wheel, to drive it round the more rapidly. This would account to the eye, for an
effect which would otherwiſe ſeem unaccounted for: and Virgil may hint at fome fuch
repreſentation, (in the word (190) Vento,) where he is ſpeaking of the ſtrange effects of
Orpheus's mufic, even on Ixion, and others of the inhabitants of the deepeſt abyfs of Tar-
tarus: but I only mention this as a mere conjecture; and as unſupported by any autho-
rity from the remains of the artiſts I have ſeen.
IT
It is high time for us now to quit this horrid region, and all the fhocking ideas
belonging to it; and to change them for the milder air of Elyfium. Elyfium, or the
fubterraneous heaven of the antients, is repreſented in the drawing I am going to fhew
you. You muſt not expect any thing very fine in it; for if you do, you will be greatly
diſappointed. The antients never failed more in any thing than in making a heaven;
and if one was to confider all the modern defcriptions of the fame, we ſhould find moſt
Vorticibus ?
of
(187) Volvitur Ixion, & fe fequiturque fugitque.
Cur avidis Ixiona frango
Statius, Theb. 8. . 51. (Spoke, by Pluto.) as the modern painters have made fo much ufe of
ferpents, in their repreſentations of perfons tormented
in the other world; that has made a connection be-
tween the tormented and ſnakes now, which was
not of old and may have been a chief reafon, that
the reading of Angues has prevailed fo generally a-
mong us.
the Furies, or infernal tormentors of the old poets,
Ovid. Met. 4. . 461. reprefented the ftings of confcience; the tortures and
fufferings of the mind, not thofe of the body: but
(188)
Ixionii vento rota conftitit orbis.
Georg. 4. .484.
(189) Invidia infelix Furias amnemque feverum
Cocyti metuet; tortofque Ixionis orbes,
Immanemque rotam ; & non exfuperabile faxum.
Georg. 3. .39.
All the editions of Virgil at preſent, (and indeed
ſeveral of the manuſcripts, and even ſome of the old-
eft,) read angues here inſtead of orbes.
The reaſon why I fuppofe that ſome critics of late
who have thought it was originally orbes, are in the
right; is becauſe the latter agrees with Ixion's puniſh-
ment, and the former does not.
The puniſhment of Ixion confifted in being at-
tached to a wheel, and twirled round impetuouſly by
it; both which are expreffed in the Tortos orbes,
Immanemque rotam, of Virgil.Orbis is the
very
word which Virgil uſes, in the only place befide
this where he ſpeaks of Ixion's punishment in his al-
lowed works: and, if the Ætna be his, it is alfo
ufed there, of the fame.
I do not remember that Virgil, or any other of the
Roman poets, ever ſpeak of Ixion's being tormented
with ſnakes; or indeed of ſnakes being made ufe of
in the torments of Tartarus, at all. The fnakes of
:
I muſt juſt obſerve one thing more; which is the
propriety of Virgil in the above paſſage, in another
refpect. The perfons he is ſpeaking of are the ene-
mies of the Julian family; or the faction, (as he calls
it,) againſt the Cæfars. Thefe, he fays, fhould be
reprefented on the temple he would build to Au-
guftus, as in the tortures of Tartarus; and, more
particularly, as punifhed in the fame manner as Ixion
and Sifyphus. Ixion was puniſhed there, for his
ingratitude and impiety; Sifyphus, as a villain and a
robber. So that this is calling all the party againſt
Auguftus rafcals, and ingrates; and infers the higheſt
compliment to that prince, at the fame time that it
is the moſt cruel of invectives against his enemies,
(190) There is another paffage, in the fame book
of thinking, to explain it ſtrongly.
of Virgil; which may perhaps require the fame way
Aliæ panduntur inanes
Sufpenfæ ad Ventos.
An. 6. .741
DIALOGUE the Sixteenth.
28 1
1
FIG. I.
of them perhaps little better than the antient ones. They had ſcarce any thing in the
old philofophy, that held firmly againſt the fears of death; and therefore the notions
which the Romans had even of a place of blifs, had fomething gloomy intermixed with
it. Tho' the ideas of Virgil, on this fubject, are (191) much preferable to thofe of Ho-
mer; they are ſtill low, and mean enough o' confcience. The perfons in Virgil's
Elyfium, (as you may fee, by the drawing of it before us,) are fome dancing; others, PL. XL.
engaged in the exerciſes they moft delighted in, whilft in the upper world and Orpheus,
in particular, is playing on his lyre. That is the only thing I can ſee, to make any
thing very pleafing in it. Virgil fpeaks alfo of delightful groves; and of a caſcade of
water, which does not appear in this picture. But taking in all that he fays of Elyfium,
his deſcription of it and of the pleaſures the departed enjoy there, is fo very low; that it
ſeems almoſt to have been borrowed from the manner in which the common people ať
Rome, in his time, ufed to pass their holydays, on the banks of the Tiber. Ovid has
deſcribed the latter; as Virgil has the former and I do not fee any great difference (192)
in their deſcriptions, only that Virgil chufes to infiſt more on the exerciſes uſed ſo much
by the Romans in the fame place; (for the Campus Martius, was on the banks of the
Tiber;) and that Ovid, like a boon companion as he was, infifts chiefly on their (193)
eating and drinking there.
THE inhabitants of this region of blifs, (fuch as it was,) were the fouls of the good ; -
their proper judge, Æacus: and the two chief rulers of all the fubterraneous world,
Pluto and Proferpine.
دار
THERE is not any of the happy fpirits, repreſented in this picture, that we know by
name; except Orpheus. He appears in a long dreſs, falling down to his feet (194) ;.
that robe of dignity, which was given to muſicians in the firſt ages of the world, in ho-
nour of their high character: which in thofe times comprehended not only the ſcience of
mufic, but that of poetry, moral philofophy, and legiflature. The giving rules for life
to particulars, or laws to any nation, is too apt to carry a fevere air with it, and to deter
people, from what you would have them follow: the wife men therefore of thoſe days
united the two arts of mufic and poetry, to that of inftructing mankind: and, by that
means, foftened the feverity of their inftructions; and infinuated them into the hearts,
as well as the minds, of their rough hearers. You have feen Orpheus before, in ſome
(191) Homer makes Achilles fay; "That he
would chufe rather to ferve on earth; than even to
reign over all the regions of the dead." Od. A.
*.490. Virgil does not advance any thing that
might caft ſo great a reflection on his Elyfium; but
only fays, "That it is better to bear any degree of
poverty or hardships on our earth, than to be in Ere-
bus;" Æn. 6. *. 436, to 439.
(192) The holyday, feaſt deſcribed by Ovid was
kept in honour of Anna Perenna: then a faint; but
formerly, (as fome authors fay,) an old woman that
fold cakes at Rome: Faft. 3. *.667, to 674. His
account of it is as follows.
2
Idibus eft Annæ feftum geniale Perennæ
Haud procul a ripis, advena Tybri, tuis.
Plebs venit; ac virides paffim disjecta per herbas
Potat : & accumbit cum pare quifque fuâ.
Sub Jove pars durat; pauci tentoria ponunt;
Sunt quibus e ramo frondea facta caſa eſt :
Pars ibi pro rigidis calamos pofuere columnis;
Defuper extentas impofuere togas.
Sole tamen, vinoque calent: annofque precantur
Quot fumant cyathos, ad numerumque bibunt.
Invenies illic, qui Neftoris ebibat annos į
Quæ fit per calices facta Sibylla fuos.
Illic & cantant quicquid didicere theatris ;
Et jactant faciles ad ſua verba manus:
!
Et ducunt pofito duras cratere choreas ;
other
Cultaque diffufis faltat amica comis.
Cum redeunt, titubant; & funt fpectacula vulgo:
Et Fortunatos' obvia turba vocant.
Faft. 3. . 540:
Virgil's account of the joys of Elyfium.
Devenere locos lætos, & amœna vireta
Fortunatorum nemorum.
Largior hic campos æther & lumine veſtit
Purpureo; folemque fuum, fua fidera norunt.
Pars in gramineis exercent membra palæftris;
Contendunt ludo, & fulvâ luctantur arenâ :
Pars pedibus plaudunt choreas; & carmina dicunt,
Stant terrâ defixæ hafta; paffimque foluti
Per campum pafcuntur equi: quæ gratia curruum,
Armorumque fuit vivis ; quæ cura nitentes
Pafcere equos; eadem fequitur tellure repoftos.
Confpicit ecce alios, dextrâ lævâque, per herbam
Vefcentes; lætumque choro Pæana canentes.
Æn. 6. . 657.
(193) Protinus erratis læti vefcuntur in agris;
Et celebrant largo feque diemque mero.
Ovid. Faft. 3. . 656.
(194) Nec non Threicius longâ cum vefte facerdos
Obloquitur numeris feptem difcrimina vocum ;
Jamque eadem digitis, jam pectine pülfat eburno.
**** Virgil. Æn. 6.''*. 647.
༣.、,
+
283
POLYMETIS.
PL. XL.
FIG. 2.
other of my drawings (195), taming the monſters of the infernal world, with his voice
and lyre; as he did the rough Thracians, in our world, by the united arts of pleafing
and inftructing, that he was fo great a maſter of.
or
I NEVER met with any figure of Æacus among the remains of the antient artiſts ;
any thing defcriptive of him in the poets: but Pluto and Proferpine are common fubjects
in both. Their palace, or chief place of refidence, feems to have been near the point (196),
where the three great roads of Ades meet; and, confequently, to be about the center of
their proper dominions.
THE figures of Pluto and Proferpine, as I was juft faying, are common enough.
What I have chofen to place here among my drawings, was copied from one of the
pieces of painting which were diſcovered, toward the end of the laſt century, in the old
burial-place for the Nafonian family. Pluto and Proferpine, you ſee, are repreſented in
it, as fitting on their thrones in Elyfium. Mercury, the chief conductor of departed
fpirits to this region, is introducing one lately arrived, to their prefence. It is a very
young woman; not full grown: and feems intimidated at appearing before fo awful and
ſtern a prince, as Pluto is generally repreſented to be. Juft behind her, is the ſpirit of a
more elderly woman; perhaps, her mother: and poffibly waiting to attend her back to
ſome of the groves or grottos of Elyfium, where the herſelf had been uſed to paſs moſt of
her time. Pluto does not look fo feverely on her, as one might expect from his general
character; which is that of being gloomy and paffionate, even tho' his refidence is in the
region of the bleſt.
THERE is a great refemblance in the faces of the three brothers, Jupiter, Neptune,
and Pluto: as one may find at any time by comparing them together in the different
works of the antient artiſts; and which is extremely well preſerved by Raphael, where
he has placed them all together in his feaſt of the gods, on the marriage of Cupid and
Pfyche. They are in the works of the antients, as well as there, all alike: only the
look of Jupiter is the moſt ſerene and majeftic, of the three; and that of Pluto, the
moſt fullen and fevere. The poets (197) make the fame diftinction, in ſpeaking of the
three brothers. The face of Pluto here too, is like that of Jupiter; only more rigid and
tyrannical. It is hence, perhaps, that Statius calls him (198), The Black Jupiter: for
he is moſt like the figures of the Jupiter Terribilis; which were moft commonly made
of black marble. You fee, he holds his (199) fcepter in his hand; and has a veil all over
his head which a poet (200) of the lower ages calls, Nubes; as the lighter veil of the air
and water-nymphs was called, Nimbus. His complexion, (as well as his veil,) fhould be
dark (201) and terrible. He is fometimes called by the name of Dis (202), as Proferpine
is by that of Perſephone.
(195) Pl. 38. Fig. 2.
(196) Hic locus eft partes ubi ſe via findit in ambas :
Dextera, quæ Ditis regni fub monia tendit:
Hac iter Elyfium nobis.
Virgil. Æn. 6. y. 542.
(197) Frons torva, fratrum quæ tamen fpecimen gerat.
Herc. Fur. A&t. 3. Sc. 2. *.723.
Tuque O fæviffime fratrum,
Cui fervire dati Manes!
Statius, Theb. 4. .475.
Statius, Theb. 2. . 50.
I
had more perhaps from him relating to Pluto, than
from all the reſt of the Roman poets. He, in particu-
lar, deſcribes him as fitting on his throne in the fol-
lowing lines; where the word nubes is, I think, uſed
for his veil.
Ipfe rudi folio fultus, nigrâque verendus
Majeftate fedet. Squallent immania fœdo
Sceptra fitu; fublime caput moftiffima nubes
Afperat.
Claudian. de rapt. Prof.
(201) Qualis, ab Ætneis accenfâ lampade faxis,
Orba Ceres magnæ variabat imagine flammæ
Aufonium Siculumque latus; veftigia nigri
Raptoris, vaftofque legens in pulvere fulcos.
Statius, Theb. 12. . 273.
(198) Hoc, ut fama, loco pallentes devius umbras
Trames agit; nigrique Jovis vacua atria ditat
Mortibus.
(199) Terribiles hortatus equos, in gurgitis ima
Contortum valido fceptrum regale lacerto
Condidit.
1
Ovid. Met. 5. *. 420.
(200) The general rule laid down in the beginning
of this work, will not fuffer me to quote Claudian as
an authority, in relation to the perfonage or appear-
ance of any of the deities: otherwiſe one might have
Qualem juffu Junonis iniquæ
Horruit Alcides, vifo jam Dite, Megæram.
Lucan. 1. . 577.
(202) Panditur interea Diti via.
Ovid. Faſt. 4. .449. (of his carrying Proferpine to Ades.}
Perfephones zonam fummis oftendit in undis.
Id. Met. 5. .470. (on the fame fubject.)
$
1
DIALOGUE the Sixteenth.
283
I Do not remember that the poets fay much of Proferpine's perfonage. We can only
infer from them, perhaps, that ſhe was naturally (203) of a brown complexion: which
might grow ſtill (204) darker, by her living in the fubterraneous world. Tho' the monarch
of all thoſe wide domains made her the partner of his empire, it was a great while beforé
ſhe could forgive him the violence he had offered to her; or forget the delightful vales
of Enna, where ſhe had ufed to be fo happy (205) with all her nymphs about her:
There was a gloom (206) that hung over her face, for a long time and which perhaps
was never quite worn away: at leaſt, fhe has ftill a melancholy air on her face, in the
picture before us. Statius has found out a melancholy employment for her too; which
is to keep a fort of regiſter of the dead, and to mark down (207) all that ſhould be added
to that number. The fame poet mentions another of her offices, of a more agreeable
nature. He fays, that when any woman dies who has been a remarkable good wife in
this world, Proferpine prepares the fpirits of the beft women in the other, to make a
proceffion (208) to welcome her into Elyfium with joy; and to ftrew all the way with
flowers, where the is to pafs. You fee Mercury too in this drawing; as indeed he
appears often in the works of the artiſts relating to the other world. He has the Ca-
duceus in his hand, which was more particularly (209) the enfign of his power over all
the regions of it. He muſt have made (210) very frequent vifits to them; but Horace
mentions
(203) Her mother, I think, was fo. See Dial.VIII. bleft; and the golden flowers fhine; fome from the
p.103.
(204) Horace calls her, Furva. Lib. 2. Od. 13.
*. 21.
(205) There is a very pretty, and very pictureſque
deſcription of this, in Ovid's Faſti, 4. ✯.425, &c.
(206) Illa quidem triftis ; nec adhuc interrita vultu:
Sed Regina tamen ; fed opaci maxima mundi ;
Sed tamen Inferni pollens Matrona tyranni.
Ovid. Met. 5. y. 508.
Some of the Greek poets feem to have made a finer
Elyfium for her; and to have had fome ftory, of
her being totally reconciled to the place; as appears
from this paffage in Virgil.
;
Quamvis Elyfios miretur Græcia campos;
Nec repetita fequi curet Proferpina matrem.
Georg. . . 39.
The Greek poets that remain to us, are either re-
markably ſhort, or referved, in their accounts of E-
lyfium. Homer does not fay a word of it, in Ulyffes's
deſcent to Ades; and in the only place of all his works
where he does mention it, he defcribes it chiefly by
hegatives :
Οὐ νιφετος; δι' άρ χειμων πολυς; εΤε πολ' ομβρος:
87'
Od. A. *. 567.
The fulleft paffage that I know of, is in Pindar
and even in that, he exprefly fays, that he has con-
cealed a great deal. "The good, (ſays that great
poet in ſpeaking of the ftate of departed fouls,) lead a
life exempt from all care and labours; and enjoy the
light of the fun, without any night. They neither
till the earth; nor are obliged to pass the feas. Such
as have kept ſtrict to their obligations, enjoy an age
without tears; among thoſe that are honoured by
the gods and fuch as have not done fo, labour in
inconceivable torments. All who have been able to
abſtain from unjuft actions, thorough three trials, in
three different ſtations, have paffed the way deftined
by Jupiter to the city of Saturn: where the frefh
breezes from the fea breathe over the iſland of the
fplendid trees on the land, and others from thoſe in
the margin of the waters. Of thefe, the happy fpi-
rits weave bracelets for their arms; and garlands for
their heads.I could add many other things to
what I have faid on this fubject: as piercing as arrows
to the wife, and thoſe who hear them as they ought;
but dark, and unintelligible, to the vulgar of man-
kind." Olymp. Od. 2.
2.
(207) Necdum illum aut truncâ luftraverat obvia taxo
Eumenis, aut furvis Proferpina pofte notârat
Coetibus abfumtum functis..
(208)
Statius, Theb. 8. ✈. 11.
-Si quando pio laudata marito
Umbra venit; jubet ire faces Proferpina lætas,
Egreffafque facris veteres Heroïdas antris
Lumine purpureo triſtes laxare tenebras
Sertaque & Elyfios animæ,profternere flores.
Íd. Lib. 5. Sylv. 1. . 257-
They are perfons of the fame fort of life, who are
to attend the departed on their triumphal entries into
Elyfium. Statius, on the death of his father, (who
was a poet as well as himſelf,) calls on the poets to
meet him.
Ite pii manes, Graiumque examina vatum,
Illuſtremque animam Lethæis fpargite fertis !
Et monſtrate nemus, qua nulla irrupit Erinnys,
In quo falfa dies coloque fimillimus aër.
Id. Ibid. Sylv. 3. ✯.287.
(209) Tum virgam capit. Hac animas ille evocat Orco
Pallentes; alias, fub triftia Tartara mittit.
Virgil. Æn. 4. . 248.
(210) Tu pias lætis animas reponis
Sedibus, virgâque levem coërces
Aureâ turbam.
Dddd
Horat. Lib. 1. Od. 10. y. ig:
Non vanæ redeat fanguis imagini,
Quam virgâ femel horridâ
Non lenis precibus fata recludere
Nigro compulerit Mercurius gregi.
Id. Ibid. Od. 24. †. 18:
"
284
POLYMETIS.
}
mentions a particular deſcent of his to Ades, with his lyre; which ſeems to be of a
more extraordinary nature (211): and which may poffibly have been derived from fome
old prophetical tradition; tho' it is ſo much diſguiſed by the fictions of the poets, that
one can only gueſs at the traces of it, under the veil they have flung over it.
As Polymetis ſeemed to have quite finiſhed here; Philander did not fail to thank him
for all the trouble he had given himſelf, in fhewing them his collection: and more par-
ticularly, for this latter part of it; which had been entered on entirely at his requeſt.
Myſagetes, in his turn, thought this a proper occafion for defiring what he had had in
his thoughts for fome time. "As you have added this diſſertation on the inhabitants of
the lower world, on Philander's requeft; I muſt beg you (fays he) to add one more on
mine. I have been gueffing, two or three times, at the uſes to which this fort of en-
quiries might be applied. I feem to diſcover fome, beſide what you have mentioned;
but as you have uſed yourſelf ſo much to this way of thinking, you muſt certainly ſee
them in a fuller light than I can; and I fhould be much obliged to you, if you would
give us your thoughts on that head." With all my heart, fays Polymetis: but as our
chat, on the preſent ſubject, has run out to fuch an unreaſonable length; I am ſure you
will be willing to excuſe me till to-morrow evening: when I ſhall be ready to give you
the fatisfaction on that head, that I can.
(211) Ceffit immanis tibi blandienti
Janitor aulæ
Cerberus; quamvis furiale centum
Muniant angues caput ejus, atque
Spiritus teter fanieſque manet
Ore trilingui:
Quin & Ixion, Tityofque vultu
Rifit invito ; ftetit urna paulum
Sicca, dum grato Danai puellas
Carmine mulces.
all
Hor. Lib. 3. Od. 11.... 24.
284
Page 201
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Börtard, sculps.

XXXVI
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XXXVII
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XXXVIII
3
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VB
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XXXIX
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الى
را

XL
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LP.Boitard Sculp

XLI.
LP Boitard Sculp
285
BOOK the Tenth.
The CONCLUSION.
DIA L. XVII.
Of the Uſe of this fort of ENQUIRIES, in general.
S they were fitting in the library, the next evening; Polymetis remembered his
promiſe, and began in the following manner.
A
BEFORE I enter on the feveral ufes that may be made of this fort of enquiries; I
ought juſt to premiſe to you, that you ought not to judge of the full extent of them by
any thing I have faid, or can fay, on this fubject. It is like a country that is but newly
diſcovered: where much more is generally left to be found out, by thoſe who may come
afterwards to it; than was known to the perfon, who firſt diſcovered it. I look upon
myſelf as a firſt diſcoverer in this cafe; becauſe there has ſcarce been any thing laid
down in form, in relation to this fubject; by any perfon, whofe writings I am acquainted
with. Mr. Addiſon's Treatiſe on medals is the only piece in which I have ſeen it at-
tempted: and, to carry on the metaphor I uſed juſt before, he ſeems rather tò havé
only failed along the coafts, than to have entered at all into the country.
THE uſefulneſs of antiques toward explaining the antient authors; and particularly the
beſt Roman poets; may have appeared to you, in fome meaſure, from feveral of the
paffages I have mentioned to you fince you have been with me here: fome of which
poffibly you did not perceive, in the fame view; or at leaſt, not in fo fſtrong a light,
before. But it would be very unfair, to judge of this, by what I have done: it ought
rather to be confidered what probably might have been done, had more and better hands
been employed in fuch an enquiry. The true way of judging is not from my perfor-
mance, but from the reaſon of the thing; and as to that, I muſt repeat to you what I
faid at firſt (1), that the works of the old artiſts and poets muſt naturally be the beſt ex-
plainers of one another: becauſe they were both converſant in the ſame ſort of knowledge;
fell much into the fame train of thinking; and were employed often, on the very fame
ſubjects. I think therefore there can be no room to doubt, that ſome of the beſt com-
ments we could have on the antient poets, might be drawn from the works of the artiſts,
who were their cotemporaries; and whoſe remains often prefent to our eyes the very
things, which the others have delivered down to us only in words.
if not
INSTEAD of this, our only reſource now is to our commentators; than whom, I
believe one may ſafely ſay, there has never been a more wrong-headed fet of men upon
earth. At leaſt, I am fure, we ufually want quite other helps than they give us: and
this makes any new help towards explaining the claffics very defireable, at leaſt;
quite neceffary. As to the comments we have, they are generally ſpeaking not only apt
to conceal, but to miflead: and when I was moſt converfant with them, I often uſed to
think myſelf not unlike a traveller, who has loft his way on fome wide heath, with the
darkneſs of the night coming on all around him; and only here and therë, two or three
little
(1) Dial. I. p. 3.
1
286
POLY MET Ì S.
little wavering lights; which inſtead of guiding him to his home, only ferve to entice
him, and plunge him the deeper, into the bogs and fens from which they ariſe.
WHEN under thefe difficulties and diftreffes, how often have I wiſhed, that the com-
mentators in general had followed the rules laid down for fome of them, by the Duke de
Montaufier? This nobleman was the first promoter of what we call the (2) Dauphin
Edition of the Claffics. He loved reading himſelf; and had a good taſte for the antients:
but in a variety of employs, could not ſpare fufficient time, for confulting and comparing
different books, in order to clear up the paffages, in which he found himſelf moſt at a
lofs. It was therefore his defire that ſhort and clear explications fhould be annexed to
fuch paffages in the claffics, as moſt wanted them. He uſed often to ſay, that he could
eafily fee that the difficulties which occur to us in reading the works of the antients,
might all be comprehended in two claffes; and that they ariſe, either from our not know-
ing in what ſenſe they uſed ſuch a word formerly: or elſe from our being ignorant now,
of fome opinion, cuftom, or thing, that was familiarly known among them. In the
former cafe, the commentator ſhould endeavour to determine the meaning of the word
in queſtion, by confulting how it is uſed by the fame author in other places, where the
meaning of it may be more evident; or by any other of the fame country, and (as near
as may be) of the fame times. In the fecond cafe, the thing, cuftom, or opinion, hinted
at, ſhould be ſubjoined; in as few words as is conſiſtent with clearneſs. This was all
that he found he wanted; and it was agreeably to this that he calculated the two great
rules, which he gave for the perfons employed in the Dauphin edition of the claffics: but
which, tho' they are fo fenfible and juft, were not fufficiently obferved by them; nor
by any other commentator, I ever met with.
·
INSTEAD of following two fuch obvious and eafy rules, what is the moſt ufual aim of
our commentators at prefent? Why really their uſual aim feems to be, to fhew their
own erudition; at leaſt, I am fure, they generally go but a very little way toward clear-
ing up the meaning of their authors. A very learned comment, is like a very learned
man; it is rather troubleſome, than uſeful to you. When you confult them, their an-
fwers are for the moſt part as dark, and as equivocal, as thoſe of oracles. There
never can be but one meaning wanting; and they are fo over-good as to furnish you with
half a dozen. Or elfe they play at croſs-purpoſes with you. As for example; I fhould
be glad, to learn, what colour the Romans meant by the word Glaucus? Glaucus,
anſwers the commentator, fignifies blue; brown; green; red; and iron-grey.-How
far was Alba from Rome? O, fays the commentator, Alba is the place where Æneas
met with the white fow and her thirty pigs; and there was a very fine flitch of bacon,
of this very fow, kept in the chief temple there; even to Auguftus's time: as I find it
recorded in that excellent hiftorian, Dionyfius Halicarnaffæus.If you aſk what Niobe
is doing, in fuch a part of Ovid's defcription of her, they will tell you who was her fa-
ther or if you enquire for the fituation of one of the Grecian cities, they will beſtow
half an hour in proving, that it was firſt inhabited by a colony from Affyria; and per-
haps add all the adventures and diftreffes that the poor people met with, both by fea and
land, in coming to it.
THESE abfurdities of the commentators, (if they are generally ſo abfurd, as I fear they
are,) will go a great way toward fupporting a paradox; which will found the leſs ſtrange
to you from me, becauſe you have heard me mention it, I believe, more than once:
"That the greateſt difficulty I meet with in underſtanding the claffics now, arifes from
my having read and ftudied them too much at fchool." Our cuſtom there, was
generally
(2) This edition was planned by the Duke of Mon-
taufier; encouraged, by Monfieur Colbert: and car-
ried on, by the Biſhop of Avranches. It was the lat-
ter, who choſe the commentators that were to be em-
ployed; and who himſelf complains of his not being
able to find out a fufficient number of perfons, equal
to fuch. a taſk. See that Bishop's Comm. de rebus
fuis. p.286. Ed. Amft.1718: and his, Huetiana, §.37.
p. 93. Ed. Paris, 1722.
DIALOGUE the Seventeenth.
287
I
generally to enquire more what others ſay for an author; than what the author fays for
himſelf. I uſed to be perpetually confulting my notes: and before I left fchool, could
have given you three or four different meanings for moft of the difficult paffages in Virgil,
Horace, or Juvenal; and perhaps twenty, for fome in Perfius. This way of ftudying,
by drawing your eye off (at every line almoft) to the fide lights, inftead of keeping it
fteddy upon the proper object you ought to view, makes one often neglect the real inten-
tion of the author; and almoſt always lofes the thread of his thoughts, and the connexion
of the whole piece. The limbs of the poet, (to ufe an expreffion of Horace on a
different occafion,) are fo fcattered by theſe inhuman manglers, as to be almoft in-
capable of being ever brought into a body again. At beſt, you know, perhaps, what
De la Rue fays for Virgil; but you do not fo well know what Virgil fays himſelf: and
if this is prejudicial even from De la Rue, (who is certainly one of the best of the commen-
tators, commonly uſed in this way of ſtudying ;) what muſt it be in thoſe, who generally
give you falſe lights, who deal chiefly in things foreign to the purpoſe, and fometimes
in the ſtrangeſt mifreprefentations of the fenfe of their authors that can be conceived?
muſt beg leave to mention to you one fact, which will fhew at leaſt how far this early
way of ſtudying the claffics had ferved to blind me.
When Mr. Pope a few years ago
publiſhed his Imitations of feveral of the fatires and epiftles of Horace, I immediately
faw a connexion and chain of thinking in them; which tho' I had read over the origi-
nals, (fome of them perhaps a hundred times,) I had never regarded or ſuſpected before.
I was furprized, in almoft each of thoſe pieces, with the new lights and beauties that
ſtruck me all at once. I compared the copies with the originals and found that Pope
and Horace were much the fame: I mean as to the true ſpirit, the connexions, and
their way of thinking. I then began to reflect, how I came not to fee that in Horace
before, which I now faw fo plainly in Mr. Pope's copies from him: and the only way
I could find to account for it was, that I had at firſt been uſed to ſtudy each of thoſe
poems in the original by piece-meal; that I had been drawn off every other inftant from
what Horace faid to what he did not fay, and very often to what was not at all to his
purpoſe; that this falfe and broken impreffion of Horace's thoughts, (taken in at a time
when the mind receives impreffions moft eafily, and retains them moſt firmly,) had
given me a falſe idea of his manner of thinking, in general; and had prevented me
from ſeeing thoſe pieces of his in particular, in a right light; till thofe entire pictures of
his thoughts were fet before my eyes by a third perfon: who, by the way, was himſelf
perhaps the better enabled to conceive Horace fo clearly and fully as he has done, by his
not having taken his firft impreffions of that poet, in the manner we uſually do at
fchools.
MAY I be allowed to add here, what I have long fufpected; that the method of edu-
cation, which is followed now, and has been followed for fo many ages, in our ſchools, is
chiefly founded on a miſtake? What I have to ſay on this head, may feem perhaps
very conjectural to you; however I will give it you, fuch as it is. The ſchool-educa-
tion (3) among the Romans of old, aimed no farther than at two languages; and each of
thofe,
(3) By what I have remarked by chance here and
there, in reading the Roman writers; in relation to
the method of education, 'uſed in their ſchools: it
appears,
1. That they applied themſelves to the learning
two languages only; and both thoſe, languages in ufe
at the time that they learnt them. Thefe, in the
infancy of their ſtate, were their mother-tongue, and
the Tufcan; and, in the moft flouriſhing ages of it,
their mother-tongue, and the Greek.Habeo au-
tores vulgò tum (in the 444th year, after the found-
ing of Rome,) Romanos pueros, ficut nunc Græcis,
ita Etrufcis literis erudiri folitos. Livy, Lib. 9. cap.
36.
Cicero commends a Confular man, and Suetonius
commends an Emperor, for underſtanding their own.
language, and that of their neighbours the Greeks.-
D. Brutus, Marci filius, ut ex familiari ejus L. Actio
fum audire folitus; erat cum literis Latinis, tum
etiam Græcis, (ut temporibus illis,) fatis eruditus.
Cicero. in Brut.-Peritiffimus Latinæ Græcæque
linguæ. Suetonius in Tit. cap. 3.
Eeee
Thefe
:
મ
288
POLYMETIS:
thofe, a living language. Their own; for converſation, for reading, and for fpeaking
in public: and Greek, that of their nearest neighbours; and of neighbours too, who
had been for ſome time in the chief poffeffion of the arts and ſciences. In teaching their
own language, the Romans made uſe chiefly of their poets; and with very good reaſon:
for the thing to be taught at firſt was the right pronunciation; and how could they fix
the proper tones of the words, and the true quantities of their fyllables, but from the
works of their poets? When the Romans had advanced their conquefts pretty far in our
iſland; our anceſtors, (wifer, perhaps, in this than we may be,) fell with a ſurprizing
readineſs into the cuſtoms of the conquerors; ftudied their language; and, pro-
bably, adopted their method of ſchool-education: for they had fcarce before any com-
mon ſchools of their own. It might be right enough then to comply with the (4) politics
Theſe were called, "The two languages," in the
Auguftan age; as we find by Ovid's advice, to his
fine gentleman:
Nec levis ingenuas pectus coluiffe per artes
Cura fit; & linguas edidiciffe duas.
De Art. Am. Lib. 2. y. 122.
2. They were often taught to ſpeak Greek, before
their own mother-tongue; and when they came to
read, they were taught them both conjointly. Thus
Quintilian ſays, in his firſt chapter; A fermone Græ-
co puerum incipere malo: quia Latinus, qui pluri-
bus in uſu eſt, vel nobis nolentibus fe perhibet; fimul
quia difciplinis quoque Græcis priùs inftituendus
eft, unde noftræ fluxerunt. Non tamen hoc adeò
fuperftitiosè velim fieri, ut diu tantum loquatur
Græcè aut difcat; ficut plerifque mos eft.Non
longè itaque Latina fubfequi debent; & citò, pariter
ire.
And afterwards, in that De lectione pueri,
Optimè inſtitutum eft, ut ab Homero atque Virgilio
lectio inceperit. Inft. Orat. Lib. 1. Cap. 8.
3. They read the works of the poets only, to fuch
an age for the fame author ſpeaks only of poets, in
his chapter De lectione pueri; and the profe-writers
are not mentioned by him till afterwards, in his chap-
ter De lectione oratorum & hiftoricorum, apud
rhetorem: that is, in a higher period; under their
rhetoric-maſter. Inft. Orat. Lib. 2. Cap. 5.
дам
4. Their beginning with the poets was chiefly in-
tended to teach them the right tones and meaſures of
the words. Thus Horace, in reckoning up the ufe-
fulneſs of the poets, inftances firſt in this:
Os tenerum pueri balbumque poëta figurat.
of
ever liberties ſome editor, or other, may have taken
with his works fince ;)
Verfus fcribere me parum feveros,
Nec quos prælegat * in ſcholâ magiſter ;
Corneli, quereris.
Lib. 1. Ep. 120.
* The common reading is perlegat.
And poffibly this is the very thing, that is meant
by Juvenal's Crambe: for the maſter reading, and
the boy repeating, till the latter could tune the period
quite right; muſt ſometimes have been one of the
moft tireſome things, that can be imagined.
-Quæcunque fedens modo legerat, hæc eadem ftans
Proferet; atque eadem cantabit verfibus iifdem :
Occidit miferos crambe repetita magiſtros.
Sat. 7. .154.
(4) Julius Agricola, (who was made governor of
Britain toward the end of Veſpaſian's reign,) was the
firſt who found out the true way of conquering our
forefathers. He ſaw that they were a rough, barba-
rous, valiant, and reſtleſs people. He found that
they were always ready to rebel; and endeavouring,
on every opportunity, to recover what they had loft.
He refolved therefore to uſe them kindly; and to try
whether he could not foften the roughneſs and fero-
city of their tempers, by introducing the Roman
language, cuſtoms, and arts, among us. All this we
learn from his own fon-in-law, Tacitus.-Animo-
rum provinciæ prudens, fimulque doctus per aliena
experimenta, parum profici armis fi injuriæ feque-
rentur; caufas bellorum ftatuit exfcindere. A fe fuif-
que orfus, primùm domum fuam coercuit:nihil
Lib. 2. Epift. 1. . 126. per libertos fervofque publicæ rei; non ftudiis priva-
tis, nec ex commendatione aut precibus centurionum
milites afcire, fed optimum quemque fideliffimum
putare; omnia fcire, non omnia exfequi; parvis
peccatis veniam, magnis feveritatem commodare; nec
pœnâ femper, fed fæpius pœnitentiâ contentus effe.
(Tacitus, in vitâ Agric. p. 308. Ed. Plantin. 1589.)
This was in the very firſt year of his government;
and in ſpeaking of the ſecond, he ſays:- -Sequens
hiems faluberrimis confiliis abfumta. Namque ut
homines difperfi ac rudes, eòque bello faciles, quieti
& otio per voluptates affuefcerent; hortari privatim,
adjuvare publicè, ut templa, fora, domus exftruerent;
laudando promtos, & caftigando fegnes: ita honoris
æmulatio pro neceffitate erat. Jam verò principum
filios liberalibus artibus erudire; & ingenia Britanno-
rum ftudiis Gallorum anteferre: ut qui modò lin-
guam Romanam abnuebant, eloquentiam concupif-
cerent. Ibid p. 309.
And Plautus, in his humorous way:
Tum librum legeres: fi unam peccaviffes fyllabam,
Fieret corium tam maculofum quàm eft nutricis pallium.
Bacchid. A&t. 3. Sc. 3. . 30.
The tones, or tuning of the words, had ſo much
to do in what they learned under their firſt maſter;
that Macrobius calls this first reading under him,
Singing; Nunc quia cum Marone nobis negotium eft,
refpondeas volo, utrum poetæ hujus opera inftituen-
dis tantum pueris idonea judices; an alia illis altiora
ineffe fatearis. Videris enim mihi ita adhuc Virgi-
lianos habere verſus, qualiter eos pueri magiftris præ-
legentibus canebamus. Saturnal. Lib. 1. Cap. 24.
5. The ufual method, in this fort of teaching, was
for the maſter to read a period in fome chofen poet
firft; and the boy to repeat the fame, immediately
after him. This Horace calls, Dictare; (Lib. 2.
Epift. 1. *.71.) and Macrobius, prælegere: (ubi
fupra.)
I am apt to think that Martial originally uſed the
fame word, in ſpeaking of the ſame thing; (what-
3
It ſhould ſeem from a paffage in Juvenal, that in
forty years after this, (about the beginning of Adrian's
reign,) the love for the Roman cuſtoms, and lan-
guage,
DIALOGUE the Seventeenth.
289
of Agricola; and to be as ready to learn the cuſtoms of the Romans, as they were to
teach them and indeed whilſt the Roman dominion laſted here, the moſt prudent of
the old Britons were probably the moſt earneſt ſtudents of their times. It was then
politic to ſtudy Latin, and Greek: Latin, as neceffary to enable them to converfe with
their maſters; and Greek, as a language fo much in vogue with the fame. Without
the former, at leaſt, they could not well make their court to the conquerors; nor get
themſelves advanced to any poft of credit in their own country. It was this, I imagine,
which made the Roman method of education take fo much among us: and the intro-
ducing, and following it for fome time, was as prudent as it was neceffary. But after
the Romans found it not worth their while to maintain their conqueſts in this iſland, and
at laſt quite deſerted it; the Britons of that age might be as wrong in continuing this
method of education, as thoſe of the former were right in receiving it.
•
However as it
was then in poffeffion, and had been for three or four centuries, it ſeems to have been
continued without confidering that there were not the fame reaſons for it; and fo to
have been handed on without any very confiderable interruptions, quite down to our
days. All this while, tho' the cuſtom has fo much antiquity to plead for it, and has
been preſerved with ſo much uniformity for fo many ages, I know not whether we are
obliged to our anceſtors for handing it down to us fo regularly or not. Might not one
very fairly aſk fome difficult queftions in relation to it? Would not it have been better
for us when we are young, to be inftructed thoroughly in our own language, than in
any dead languages whatever? Is a minifter now to preach, or a lawyer to plead, or a
gentleman in parliament to ſpeak, in Latin? Yet in our ſchools we are to this day in-
ſtructed to write themes, and to make orations, in the language of the Romans; with
almoſt a total neglect of that, which I ſhould think is the moſt neceſſary for us, not
only in converſation, but in almoſt all the bufineffes of life. This it is that has made
me often think, that the ſchool-education in ufe at prefent among us is founded on a
blunder: fuch a fort of blunder, for inftance, as that of the Roman catholics, in con-
tinuing the uſe of the Latin tongue, in all their public devotions; for ſo many ages,
fince that language has ceaſed to be generally underſtood among them. But granting
that there was no fuch miſtake in the preſent cafe; and fuppofing that the very wifeft
aim for our ſchool education now, is that which is fo generally in faſhion: I ſhould ſtill
be apt to imagine, that we are very wrong in the methods moſt uſually taken to purfue
the end which is propofed. If the general defign of our ſchools fhould be that of teach-
ing us to underſtand, what the Latin and Greek authors have faid in their writings; why
then are we led ſo much into the fhades, that the modern commentators have caſt around
them? Why are we ſo often obliged to fix hundreds of their lines in order, one after
another, in our heads; and taught to repeat whole books of Homer and Virgil, by rote?
-Why are we plunged fo much oftner in the works of the antient poets, than in thoſe
of their hiſtorians?And why is every boy, fet to write things, that are called Latin
verſes; and obliged to endeavour at becoming a poet, in a foreign tongue? -Why
muſt we in ſome ſchools be taught to ſpeak, and in all be obliged to write, in languages
that have been dead for fo many centuries? And why muſt all the youth at our beſt
ſchools, (however different their genius's are, or whatever they are defigned for in life,)
be all inſtructed in the very fame things; and, pretty near, in the very fame track?
I Do not mean by this that the claffics ſhould be wholly given up; but rather that
our own language ſhould not be given up for them: and, indeed, that the ſtudy of them
guage, had prevailed fo much among us; that our
lawyers began even to plead in Latin: as they did in
French, after the Norman conqueft. The paffage
which I mean in Juvenal, is of an humorous and hy-
perbolical turn; (as his often are :) but if it means
any thing ſeriouſly at all, I think it must mean what
I have mentioned. "The perfection of the Greek
and Latin tongues, (ſays that poet,) are now ſtudied
need
all over the world. The Britiſh lawyers have learnt
it, from thofe in Gaul: and, no doubt, in a little
time we fhall have Rhetoric-fchools fet up in the
Terra Incognita.”
Nunc totus Graias noftrafque habet orbis Athenas
Gallia caufidicos docuit facunda Britannos :
De conducendo loquitur jam rhetore Thule.
Juv. Sat. 15. . 112.
290
POLYMETIS.
1
!
need not be fo univerfal. They are, I ſhould think, one of the fineſt amuſements for a
gentleman, that can be; and may become very uſeful to divines, philofophers, hifto-
rians, antiquarians, poets, fculptors, and painters: but why fhould all thofe too be
led into theſe ſtudies, who are meant for the more bufy offices of life; and who will
probably have very little time, either for ſtudy, or amuſement? I believe any body
would own it to be very abfurd, if every child that went to ſchool, was to be obliged
to ſtudy navigation: and yet I will venture to fay, that this would not be near fo abfurd,
(in ſeveral countries, and in our own in particular;) as the endeavouring to make every
boy that comes to ſchool, a claffic ſcholar and a Latin poet.
BUT to leave this long digreffion: Whether our youth ought to be educated in the
manner they generally are, or not; and whether we ſhould apply ſo much to the claffics
when young, or defer it till our judgments are better fettled; whenever, or by whom-
foever they are to be read, I moft heartily wiſh (both for their credit, and our greater
pleaſure,) that all perfons who write comments upon them, would ftrictly obferve the two
rules mentioned to you just before this digreffion: and that they would endeavour only
to explain the doubtful or difficult words, from parallel paffages in which their meaning
is more determined; and to give a fhort and clear account of any opinion, cuſtom, or
thing, not commonly known at prefent. Under the latter it is, that antiques, if well
applied, might be of very great ſervice: for the figures of the things themſelves ſpeak
to the eyes; and are leſs equivocal, and more expreffive, than the cleareft language can
poffibly be. We have very great treaſures of all forts, for this purpoſe, ſtored up by
Agoſtini, Santo Bartoli, Maffei, Grævius, and Montfaucon ; not to mention a multitude
of others but they have hitherto been too much like great treaſures hid under-ground;
or gold, yet in the mine. It is the applying them to their proper uſes, that is the thing
neceffary, (if I may be allowed ſuch an expreffion,) to ſtamp them; and to make them
more current among us.
fo
As to the explaining of antiques in their turn from the claffics; tho' we ſhould not find
great affiſtance in this cafe as in the former, (for our eyes, as Horace fays, are much more
faithful and true to us than our ears,) yet, it is the beſt, and almoſt only affiſtance we can
have in this caſe: for how ſhould we at all underſtand the greater part of the remains of the
antient artiſts, if it were not for what we are told by the antient authors? This would
hold, very often, as to fingle figures; but is much ſtronger as to groupes, and all hiſtorical
or fabulous pieces; whether in paintings, in marble, or on gems. In that fine
In that fine groupe,
for inſtance, now in the Belvedere, (which has been called, "the nobleft work of art, in
the whole world;") we ſhould be ſtruck with the beauty of the deſign, and the expref-
fion of pain in the father; of dread in one of the ſons, and of languiſhment in the other ;
but we ſhould not know that it was Laocoon, without the help of what Virgil (5), and
one or two more of the Latin writers, have ſaid on that fubject. This moſt noble work
would then have been lefs intereſting, to every one almoſt that viewed it: and people
would perhaps have been apt to have puzzled themſelves as much, in gueffing at the
ftory of it; as to have delighted themſelves, with the excellence of the work. One
might give a thouſand inſtances of the fame nature; but the cafe is too clear, I think,
to require any more. I cannot pretend to have made any great diſcoveries of this kind
myſelf, in that part which makes the ſubject of my collection: but if you were to in-
fiſt on my giving you ſome inſtances, I ſhould chufe to refer you to what I faid when we
were confidering the two nobleſt hiſtory-pieces in it; the relievo of Mars and Ne-
riene (6), and that other of the Judgment of Paris and Jupiter's decree againſt Troy ;
in either of which if I have gueffed at all aright, it must be wholly owing to what ac-
quaintance I may have had with the
have had with the claffic writers. I have obferved fome other
excellent
(5) Virgil, Æn. 2. y. 199, to 227.
-Petronius
(6) See Dial. VII. Pl. 9.
and Dial. XV.
Arb. p. 151. Ed. Lond.-and Pliny, Lib. 36. Cap. Pl. 34.
5. P. 474. Ed. Elz.
DIALOGU E the Seventeenth.
291
pro-
excellent relievo's at Rome, which are ftill wholly in the dark; and which want fome
per paffage in the claffics to be hit upon and applied to them, to determine what they mean.
Such, in particular, is a noted fubject which I have ſeen repeated at leaſt half a dozen
times, on as many different (7) relievos there; and which ſeem to me to relate to ſome
Bacchanals, who had probably done a great deal of miſchief, (as they often did in their
mad fits;) and who are furprized in their fleep, by the perſons they had injured; or
perhaps, the relations of fome unfortunate wretches, whom they had torn to pieces.
Whatever it be, it certainly relates to fome known ſtory of old; from its being repeated
fo often, and ſometimes by ſo very good hands: but either from the total filence of the
antient authors, in relation to this ftory; or from no body's having yet obferved, what
they may
have ſaid in relation to it; it is now only one fine confufion to the eye, or a
puzzle for the poor antiquarians.
WHAT I have been ſaying to you hitherto, of the mutual ufe of the remains of the
antient artiſts and the claffic writers towards explaining one another, is meant in general;
and on any fubject you could name: whether relating to their religion; their hiſtory;
their arts, or manners of living; in fhort, to every thing known or practiſed among them:
and fo would iuclude all their authors too, indifferently, whether in profe or verfe. My
collection, you know, is not near fo extenfive as this; for you fee that I have confined
it only to fuch things as relate to the allegorical or imaginary beings, received among
the Romans a large fubject indeed in itſelf; and, perhaps, a half of the whole. What
I have ſaid in general will hold of that, as well as of the reft; and I will now go on to
enquire, what particular uſes might be made of this part; confidered ſeparately, and by
itſelf. Here Polymetis paufed, for ſome time; and then proceeded in the following
manner.
(7). One of them is publiſhed in the Admiranda;
Pl.
52.
from a relievo in the Juftiniani palace; Bel-
lori, in his note on it, ſpeaks of another, in the Bar-
barini-Palace, at Rome: and I have ſeen ſeveral others
on the ſame ſubject; in the other palaces or villas
about that city.
$
Puge 291
Ffff
Boitard seals
292
i
t
DIAL. XVIII.
The Uſe of this Enquiry, in particular: and of the Defects
of the MODERN ARTISTS, in Allegorical Subjects.
T
HE allegories of the antients, where they are well fettled and known, might
I think be of very great fervice to our artifts, and poets, now; and are indeed
abſolutely neceſſary to be ftudied by all fuch of our poets, as undertake to tranſ-
late the Roman poets into our language.
THE reaſon why I think the allegories of the antients might be ferviceable to our mo-
dern artiſts and poets in general, is founded on the clearness and fimplicity ufually to be
met with in the former; and the confufion and darkneſs that is but too common in the
latter, in their allegorical or imaginary beings.
THE allegorical repreſentations of the antients generally exprefs what, they mean di-
rectly, and eaſily; and often by a ſingle circumſtance. This character of them in gene-
ral you muſt have obſerved, I believe, of yourſelves, in going thorough my collection of
ſtatues here: but, if you pleaſe, you may try it in one (1) whole ſet of them; that of the
moral beings in which you would find, that each of them is generally diſtinguiſhed
from all the reft by fome fingle circumftance, or other. Thus Prudence, (as you may
remember,) is marked out by her rule, pointing to a globe at her feet; Juſtice, by her
equal balance; Fortitude, by a ſword; and Temperance, by a bridle.-Devotion, is fling-
ing incenſe on an altar; Honeſty, is in a tranſparent veſt: Modefty, is veiled; and Cle-
mency, is known by her olive branch.-Health, is diſtinguiſhed by her ferpent; and
Liberty, by her cap.-Tranquillity, ftands firm againſt a column: Gayety, has the
myrtle of Venus in her hand: and Joviality, the wreath of flowers, which they wore of
old at feaſts.—— Neceffity, is diſtinguiſhed by her clavus trabalis; the Deftinies, by their
diftafs; and Fortune, by her rudder. All theſe marks are fettled, and obvious; and
moſt of them point out the character of the perſon they belong to, in a more eaſy and
ftrong manner, than a multiplicity of marks for each could ever have done.
As propriety and fimplicity are the diſtinguiſhing character of the antient artiſts, in
their allegorical figures; fo multiplicity and impropriety may almoſt be looked upon as the
diſtinguiſhing character of the mcdern. I fhall give you fome inftances of this, that may
perhaps furprize you: but the more abfurd, and the more ridiculous they are;
the ſtronger
will it appear of how much uſe it might be to our artiſts now, to ftudy and follow the
antients in this particular, more than they may have hitherto done.
ANY one that has been much uſed to fee the works of the modern fculptors, will I
believe be very ready to acknowledge that in the allegorical figures of their own inven-
tion, we are frequently at a lofs to know what they mean. I could give you various
inftances of this, even from the gardens of Verſailles, and the collections in Rome itſelf;
but I rather chuſe to refer you to a number of inſtances, that lay all together: in a book
publiſhed by Cavalier Ripa, to direct our modern artiſts in ſubjects of this kind; and
which, it ſeems, has been fo generally regarded as a good model, that it has been tranf-
lated into no lefs than feven different languages.- You need not refer me to that,
as a new thing to me, fays Myfagetes; Ripa is my old acquaintance. I ufed to divert
myſelf with the oddneſs of his figures, when I was a boy; and remember feveral of them
(1) See Plates 21, 22, and 23.
ftill,
!
3
(17.
DIALOGUE the Eighteenth.
293.
mean.
#
ſtill. I know you have got his book here, in
his book here, in your ftudy; and tho' you did not care per-
haps to own it, I fhall (with your leave) take it down from that ſhelf: if it were only
out of pure malice, to puzzle Philander; in ſetting him to gueſs, what fome of his figures
Here I have it and (to go on regularly) will give Philander ten minutes, to
name who this lady is toward the beginning of the book (2), with a flute in her hand,
and a ſtag at her feet. By her flute, fays Philander, I ſhould be apt to take it for a Muſe ;
but by the ftag, it ſhould be a Diana. It is neither the one, nor the other, anfwered.
Myfagetes; and you are yet very wide of the perfon intended. This lady is a very
gentle lady, called Flattery; and fhe is reprefented with a flute and ftag, becauſe, (as
fome authors fay,) ftags are naturally very great lovers of mufic; and will fuffer them-
ſelves to be (3) taken, if you will but play upon a flute to them.—I hope you will have
better luck with the next. Who is this naked lady (4), whoſe body is encompaſſed all
round with light, and whofe head is hid in the clouds? Ay this, fays Philander, is not
fo difficult as the former: for by the circumſtances you have juſt mentioned, and by
the globe and compaffes there in her right hand, the known emblems of Urania, you
will at leaſt allow this to be that Muſe. I find, replied Myfagetes, that
you would be
for making a Mufe of every figure you fee. No, Sir; this is Beauty: and her head is
all involved in clouds, becauſe (5) there is nothing fo difficult to be conceived by the
human mind, as the true idea of beauty.-Once more: Who is this man (6), with a pair
of bellows in one hand, and a fpur in the other? I must give out, anſwered Philander,
for I never had any happineſs in folving riddles; and theſe I think are rather more intri-
cate, than any I ever yet tried at. Well, fays Myfagetes, fince you find them fo knotty,
I will trouble you with no more trials; but will tell you what each figure means, as I
turn over the book. This man then is, Caprice; and he is marked out by his bellows
and fpur, as my author fays, becauſe (7) the capricious are fometimes very ready to blow
up people's virtues; and at others, as ready to ftrike at their vices.-This lady (8), with
a heart in her hand, and a lighted candle ftanding upon the heart, is the Holy Catholic
Faith; becauſe faith enlightens the mind of man: and this woman with two different
heads and faces (9), with two hearts in one hand, and a maſk in the other (10), (not to
mention her ſcorpion's tail, and eagle-legs,) is Fraud.—This old man fitting on a rainbow,
is Judgment (11); becaufe Judgment is the refult of much experience. This fat figure,
with a crab in his hand, is Corpulency (12); becauſe crabs grow fat at the increaſe of the
moon and this old woman with a crow on each fide of her, is Irrefolution, or Pro-
craſtination (13); becauſe that bird, (as our author very gravely obferves,) always cries;
Cras, Cras!
We are got now to a figure, that looks more like a landſcape than a
fingle figure. In the midft, you fee, ftands a lady (14), with a church in her hand, and
(2) See Ripa's Iconologia, p. 6. Ed. Romæ, 1603.
(3) Scrivono alcuni; che il cervo di fua natura al-
lettato dal fuono del flauto quafi fi dimentica di ſe
fteffo, & fi laſcia pigliare. In conformatione di cio è
la preſente imagine. Ibid. p. 7.
(4) Ibid. p. 41.
(5) Si dipinge la Bellezza con la téſta aſcofa fra le
nuvole; perche non è cofa, della quale più difficil-
mente fi poffa parlare con mortal lingua, & che meno
fi poffa conoſcere con l' intelletto humano, quanto la
bellezza; la quale nelle cofe create non e altro che
un fplendore che deriva dalla luce della faccia di Dio.
Ibid.
(6) Ibid. p. 49.
(7) Lo fperone & il mantice moſtrano il capriccioſo
pronto all' adulare l' altrui virtu, ò al pungere i vitii.
Ib. p. 48.
(8) Ib. p. 151.
(9) Ib. p. 174.
a
(10) The fault for which this is mentioned, is the
multiplying of attributes, thrice over, to tell the
fame thing. As to the tail and feet, one would think
that they had been meant to fignify, that ſhe was
fwift to do miſchief; but the author it ſeems intended
fomething elſe by them. La coda di fcorpione & i
piedi d'aquila, (fays he,) fignificano il veleno afcofo,
che fomenta continouamente come ucello di preda,
per rapire altrui, ò la robba, ò l'honore. Ib. 175.
(11) Ib. p. 185.-Ciafcuno che fale à gradi dell
attioni humane, biſogna che da molte eſperienze ap-
prenda il Giuditio; il quale quindi rifulti, come l' i-
ride rifulta, &c. p. 186.
(12) Ib. p. 198.
(13) Ib. p. 234.
(14) Ib. p. 255.
:
294
POLYMET IS.
a helmet on her head. Behind her is a country all full of rocks and mountains. On the
mountain, to her right hand, are two boys holding a cornucopia; and on the mountain,
to her left, is a bull under a rainbow. This is, indeed, a very complicated riddle; how-
ever I will tell you the whole meaning of it. The lady, in the midft, is the province of
Umbria, in Italy: fhe is reprefented with fo many mountains about her, becauſe moun-
tains are apt to caft a fhade; and her name is Umbria. She has a helmet on her head,
becauſe the inhabitants of that province were formerly great warriours; and holds a
church in her hand, becauſe St. Bennet of Norcia, and St. Francis of Affifi, were both
born in this province. The two boys with the cornucopias, are the Gemini; (I ſuppoſe,
to point out the two faints again, and the fertility of the country :) the bull is in memory
of the famous bulls formerly, on the banks of the Clitumnus: and the rainbow is a fignal
of the waterfal at Velini; in which, I have myſelf happened to fee a rainbow.A
little farther, you have (15) Liberty, with a cat, at her feet; becauſe a cat loves liberty:
and Free-will (16), dreffed like a Gothic king, with a fcepter in his hand, and the letter Y,
in the air over it. -Obligation, with two heads, and two arms on each fide (17): be-
cauſe a perſon that is much obliged, is forced to ſuſtain two perſonages; one to take care
of himſelf, and the other to take care of his benefactor.—Perſuaſion (18), with a tongue
on the top of her head: and Piety, with flames (19) burning on hers; which latter, by
the way, ſeems to be a favourite thought with this author.-Then you have Poverty,
with a great ſtone chained to one hand, and wings to the other (20); becauſe poverty
keeps people down, that long to riſe. Sincerity, with her heart (21) in her hand; Ter-
ror (22), with the head of a lion: and Vigilance, with a crane, holding a ſtone (23); be-
cauſe the crane, that ſtands guard whilſt the reſt are feeding, holds a ſtone to give notice
of the approach of any enemies.All theſe ſurely are inftances of improper and un-
natural allegories, in this work of the Cavalier Ripa: and I might be able perhaps, to
give you ten times as many of the fame kind, was I to confult all the ſtrange figures he
has given us in this work; and all the rules he has laid down for other figures, ſome of
which would be full as ftrange: but I have only touched on a part of the former; and
theſe I have mentioned are certainly enough for Polymetis's purpoſe; and, probably, too
much for any body's patience. Such is the model which has been given, from Rome
itſelf, for our modern artiſts! and fuch the work, which has been tranflated into the lan-
guages of, at leaſt, ſeven different nations! among which, that of our own dear native
country, has the honour of being one.
SINCE you would produce that book, (refumed Polymetis ;) in return, I ſhall beg leave
to fhew you another. It is a work of Otho Venius; and conſiſts of ſeveral allegorical
pictures; taken from the works of Horace; and therefore called Horace's Emblems.
Over againſt each plate, the author has affixed fome account of the emblem contained in
it, in five feveral languages; that it may be of the more general uſe. This Otho Venius,
was (24) a celebrated painter; of the beſt ſchool, perhaps, that ever we had on this fide
(15) Ibid. p. 293.
(16) Ibid. p. 296.
(17) Ibid. p. 365.
(18) Ibid. p. 394, & 401.
(19) When virtues or vices are reprefented perfo-
nally, and under human figures; it is very odd, one
would think, to repreſent them under circumſtances
diffonant to the nature of human bodies. Such is
this of having fire burning on any part of the body;
without its being confumed, or at all affected by it.
Thus too Religion, in Ripa, (p. 430.) carries a flam-
ing fire on the palm of her hand; the Longing after
God, has the fame on her breaſt; (ib. p. 102.) and
Hereſy, has flames coming out of her mouth. (ib.
217.)
(20) Ib. p. 410.
(21) Ib. p. 456.
(22) Ib. p. 485.
(23) Ib. p. 502.
the
(24) Otto Venius vivoit du tems de Tempeſte.
Il étoit de Leyde; & fort eftimé dans les Pais-Bas:
non feulement pour fes ouvrages, mais pour le grand
fçavoir & pour les belles qualitez qui étoient en lui.
Il peignoit pour le Duc de Parme; & depuis demeura
entierement attaché au ſervice de l'Archiduc Albert.
C'eft de lui les Emblemes d'Horace que vous avez
vûës gravées. Il y a dans l'Eglife Cathedrale de
Leyde un tableau, où il a repreſenté la Cénc de notre
Seigneur; qui eft un ouvrage qu' on eftime beaucoup.
Il eût pour difciple Paul Rubens. Felibien, Tom. III.
P. 332. See p. 406. Ibid.
1
DIALOGUE the Eighteenth.
295
the Alps and in the moſt flouriſhing times of that ſchool. He ſtudied at Antwerp :
and was the famous Rubens's mafter. In fpite of all this, you will find his patterns al-
moſt as full of faults as Ripa's; tho' his faults are of a very different kind: Ripa's alle-
gorical fancies being defective, moſt commonly, as far-fetched and obfcure; whereas
Venius's faults are generally owing to his following his author in too literal and frivolous
a manner. Thus if Horace fays, Mifce ftultitiam confiliis brevem, Venius takes brevis
perfonally; and fo reprefents Folly (25) as a little, fhort child, of not above three or four
years old. In the emblem which anſwers Horace's, Rarò antecedentem fceleftum De-
feruit pede pœna claudo; you have Puniſhment (26) with a wooden leg: and for, Pulvis
& umbra fumus, you have a dark burying-vault (27), with duft fprinkled about the
floor; and a ſhadow, walking upright, between two ranges of urns.-For Virtus eft
vitium fugere, & fapientia prima Stultitiâ caruiffe; you fee ſeven or eight Vices (28) pur-
fuing Virtue; and Folly, juſt at the heels of Wiſdom. I queſtion too, whether he had
not ſome meaning in placing Wiſdom firſt, in the whole piece; (fapientia prima.)—
Quantum fepultæ diftat inertia Celata virtus, has furniſhed Venius with a very quaint
thought. To anſwer it exactly, he gives you (29) Virtue fitting in a fhade, under a
little dark hovel; Sloth, lying on a bed, with a fepulchral infcription over it: and there
is but a thin partition-wall between them both; becauſe, Paulum fepultæ diftat inertiæ
Celata Virtus.-There is as much punctuality obſerved in the emblem for the following
paffage :
Inter fpem curamque timores inter & iras,
Omnem crede diem tibi diluxiffe fupremum;
Grata fuper veniet quæ non fperabitur hora.
For here (30) he gives you a man fitting between Hope and Care, on one fide of him; and
Anger and Fear, on the other; for the firſt line: then there is a thread, reaching from
heaven to the head of the man who is thus feated; and a hand coming out of the clouds
with a pair of ſheers, as juft ready to cut the thread in two; for the ſecond: and one of
the Horæ, or Hours, flying down from heaven towards him; with a horn of plenty in
her arms; for the third. I fhall not infift here on the great impropriety of flinging fo
many oppofite things together into one piece; and fo repreſenting a man as pleaſed, and
vexed, and killed, and comforted, all at the fame time: but ſhall go on to fome more
inftances of the moſt general fault of this artift; his trivial and literal way of imitation.
Thus, for, Dominum vehet (31), you have a poor man, crawling on all four; and a
man, richly dreffed, riding on his back.-For, Comperit invidiam fupremo fine domari;
a figure of Death (32), ftamping on the breaſt of Envy--and for,
Linquenda tellus, & domus, & placens
; neque harum quas colis arborum
Uxor; neque
Te, præter invifas cupreffus,
Ulla brevem dominum fequetur :
You fee (33) Death, leading away a man from his wife and family; and carrying two
cypreſs-trees along with them, upon his ſhoulders.
I COULD give you many more inftances of Venius's general fault, which is that of
being too minute, and literal; but theſe I believe will be enough to fatisfy you. If you
(25) See Venius's Emblemata Horat. p. 66. Ed.
Antverp. 1612.
(26) Ibid. p. 180.
(29) Ibid. p. 22.
(30) Ibid. p. 164.
(31) Ibid. p. 84.
afk
(27) Ibid. p. 208.
(28) Ibid. p. 16.
(32) Ibid. p. 172.
(33) Ibid. p. 196.
Gggg
!
296
POLYME TI S.
aſk me how he has fucceeded in his manner of allegorizing, as to the fingle figures which
are uſed by him to expreſs ſuch or fuch a paffion; my anſwer muft be, that tho' he may
not be ſo ridiculous as Ripa, yet he falls very far fhort of the juftneſs and propriety of the
antients. To give you ſome inſtances of this: Pride is diftinguiſhed in him, by having
a peacock over her head.-Envy, holds her own heart up to her mouth; and is (34) eat-
ing part of it.-Poverty is diſtinguiſhed, by a (35) cabbage; becauſe the lives upon herbs.
Labour carries an ox's head (36), on his back; and Fear has a hare (37) ſtanding upon
his ſhoulders.—I could multiply inſtances of this kind too, upon you: but theſe few, I
think, may be ſufficient to thew the puerility of this artiſt in ſome caſes; and his inex-
preffiveneſs, in others. In feveral of his imaginary beings, as Virtue, Wiſdom, Inge-
nuity, Piety, Love, Hope, (and perhaps fome others,) he is much more ſenſible and
exact: but that is generally owing to his borrowing thoſe figures, from the remains
of the antient artiſts: and particularly, (as he (38) himſelf tells us,) from their ſtatues
and medals.
The
RUBENS is one of the moſt famous of our modern painters, for allegorical figures;
and perhaps dealt in them the more, from his having been bred up under Venius.
character of Rubens, as a Colouriſt, is indiſputable: and as to the parts in which he
really excels, I admire him as much as any one. But all I have to confider here is his
manner of treating allegories: and in thoſe, I think, I may very fafely fay; that he
might have fucceeded better, had he been more conſtant, and more regular, in his imi-
tations of the antients.
THERE is a large (39) work, (all defigned by Rubens, and publiſhed by Gevartius,)
which may ſerve to ſhew this celebrated painter's taſte in allegories, more fully than
any thing I know of; as it confifts of a great variety of prints, moft of which abound
chiefly in imaginary figures. Among theſe there are ſeveral that are plain and eaſy;
both from antiques, and of his own invention: but there are too many inftances too, of
his miſrepreſenting the allegorical perfonages of the antients; and of his inventing others,
either in an improper or confuſed manner. Such I ſhould take the mean ſtaring Apollo
to be, in a chariot drawn by two horſes, in the frontispiece; the Diana dreffed like
Veſta (40), and the Veſta with the fulmen in her hand. Virtus (41), with the fame at-
tribute; and Providence (42), with one face before, and another behind.-Time, with an
hour-glaſs on his head; and Hope, with her anchor on her ſhoulder.-Two Fames (43),
each with two trumpets; one of them with a tigre in her lap; and the other, with an
eagle at her feet.-Diſcord (44), tearing her own veil: and reprefented arm in arm with
Rixa; and yet quarrelling with her all the while.-Antwerp (45), with a mural crown,
mixed with fruits, on her head; and two hands, juſt above it, but detached from it.—
Here a lady (46), with a ſhip failing along the palm of her hand; and there another (47),
with the fame phænomenon on her head.-His Winds (48), with their cheeks almoſt
burſt: and that very ſtrange one, in particular; whofe arms end in a fort of finny wings,
from
(34) Ibid. p. 16.
(35) Ibid. p. 134.
(36) Ibid. p. 166.
(40) Pl. 14, & 21.
(41) Pl. 43.
(42) Pl. 43, & 32.
(37) Ibid. p. 156.
(38) Virtutes ac Vitia more veterum, ex numiſma-
tibus ac ftatuis, non rarò expreffi. Venius's Pref.
(39) It was occafioned by the entry of Ferdinand,
into Antwerp, in 1635; and is entitled, Pompa In-
troitûs; Honori Sereniffimi Principis Ferdinandi Au-
ftriaci, Hiſpaniarum Infantis, - Belgarum & Burgun-
dionum gubernatoris, a S. P. Q. Antverp. decreta &
adornata.
(43) Pl. 6.
(44) Pl. 30.
(45) Pl. 34, & 43.
(46) Pl. 35.
(47) Pl. between 31, & 32.
(48) Pl, 7.
:
3
;
+
DIALOGUE the Eighteenth.
from the elbow; and whofe legs are of ſo ſtrange a figure, that it would puzzle one to
find out any name for it. Some of theſe thoughts are improper enough; and others
quite fanciful and ridiculous: but this indeed was a taſk, undertaken perhaps on a ſudden,
by Rubens; and executed, probably, in hafte. Let us then, if you pleaſe, confider one
or two of his more ftudied performances; and fuch as may be fuppofed to have been the
moſt correctly imagined. I believe you would not be unwilling to allow me, that two
of the moſt capital works Rubens ever did, are the ceiling, in the Banquetting-houſe at
Whitehall; and the fine fet of pictures, in the Luxemburg gallery, at Paris. In theſe
we fee the right fide of Rubens's character, in its higheſt perfection; but we may dif
cover the wrong fide of it too: for if we were to judge only by them, one might fafely
I
fay, that his character is colouring, and not allegorizing. As to the latter, there are,
think, feveral faults even in theſe moſt excellent works of that great mafter; and I ſhall
take the liberty of pointing out fome of them to you.
ever.
IN the farther fquare of the fine ceiling, painted by Rubens at Whitehall, there are
two ladies embracing each other; which from the compliments moft ufually paid to
James I. I ſhould take to be Peace and Righteouſneſs; tho' Righteouſneſs has no attri-
bute to diſtinguiſh her, and Peace only a very general one.-In the hither fquare, two of
the three imaginary ladies that are holding two crowns tied together, over the young
prince's head, are in the fame manner without any attribute to fhew who they are: tho'
they are faid to have been meant for the Genius's of England, and Scotland; and if fo,
might have been marked out eafily enough. In the middle great oval, (or the Apo-
theofis,) there are two Virtues with attributes, but improper ones: for, I fancy, you
will hardly approve of Piety's holding up fuch a large altar, (with ſuch a fire lighted on
it too,) ſo near her breaſt: or of Juſtice's graſping a bundle of flames and her ſcales to-
gether, in the fame hand. The fide-ornaments confift of two long pannels; and four
ovals, one at each corner. I cannot well gueſs why the Cupids, in one of theſe pannels,
are to conduct a triumphal fort of car, drawn by wild lions; and much lefs, why the
triumphal car in the other, is drawn by a ram and a bear. As to the figures in the
corner ovals, they are meant, I fuppofe, for the four Cardinal Virtues: tho' I never faw
them reprefented in fuch a manner elſewhere. Indeed this ſeems to me to be much the
moſt faulty part of the whole work. For, in the firſt place, I imagine that theſe moral
beings ought rather to appear for themſelves, than be repreſented by any deputies what-
In the next place, I think, the manner of expreffing them ought, at leaſt to be
uniform; that they ſhould appear either all in perfon, or be repreſented all by proxy:
whereas here Temperance only appears in her proper perfon, and the other three are
figured out under different deities. In the third place, the deities ſubſtituted in the place
of theſe three Virtues, do not feem to me to be quite well chofen. You have Apollo,
for Prudence; Hercules, for Fortitude; and Minerva, for Juftice. The introducing
Hercules inftead of Fortitude is perfectly eafy and obvious: but the cafe is not altogether
fo clear, as to the Apollo; and not at all, as to the Minerva. In the fourth place, I
fhould be apt to quarrel greatly with their attitudes; and their being reprefented each as
oppreffing fome body, or another. Thus Apollo is fitting on Avarice; Temperance,
has Rapaciouſneſs, (as I ſhould gueſs by the wolf's head appearing juft by,) for her foot-
ftool; Hercules is kneeling on a fnaky-headed lady, perhaps Envy; and Minerva is nei-
ther ſtanding, fitting, nor kneeling, on a naked perfon whoſe name I cannot fo much
as gueſs at.
-I fhall only add, that this is the first time that ever I faw Apollo with a
horn of plenty in his hand: and that I do not know any particular reaſon why it ſhould
be given him here. If this work be fo faulty in the allegorical part of it, as I imagine
it to be, I am the more forry for it; becauſe it is certainly one of the fineſt paintings, as
to the beauties of the colouring, the happineſs of the pencil, and the judicious manage-
ment of the lights and fhades, in the whole world: and deferves to be much better
known, and much more regarded among us, than it has generally been. Were it in
Italy, inftead of England, I doubt not but feveral of our travellers 'would willingly have
297
gone
298
POLYMETIS.
gone a hundred miles out of their way, on purpoſe to fee it: who, perhaps, have now
never ſeen it at all; becauſe it is juſt at their own doors.
In the fine ſet of pictures, by Rubens, in the Luxemburg gallery, you will meet with
various faults too, in relation to the allegories. I fhall juſt point out fome of them to
you; becauſe you may have been taken up fo much with the beauty of thoſe paintings,
that you may not have had any attention to ſpare for their defects. Theſe, I think, are
of three forts. First, where the painter borrows any allegorical figures long fince in-
vented by the antients, and fome way or another miſrepreſents them: the fecond, where
they are wholly of his own invention, but are either too fanciful, or elfe ill expreffed :
and the third, where either the one or the other are introduced in an improper manner,
or an improper place.
FOR inftances of the firſt fort I ſhall only name to you, the three (49) Deſtinies in the
firſt hiſtory-piece, who are all young, plump ladies; the Juno Lucina (50), almoſt
wholly naked and the Mercury (51), with a great beard.
Of the fecond fort, is that idea of Juno and Cupid, placing each a couple of doves on
a globe (52); to fhew the mildneſs of the government of the Queen-mother and Time
bringing up Truth in his arms (53), to reconcile the queen and her fon. Theſe, I think,
are too fanciful and as to fuch as are ill expreffed, I fhould inftance in his Envy, Igno-
rance, and Defamation (54); in one piece: and his Fidelity, Juftice, Piety, and Forti-
tude (55); in another. The former of theſe have ſcarce any attributes to diſtinguiſh them
from one another; and the latter are diſtinguiſhed in a manner almoſt as coarſe, as if
their names had been written under them. They are, as you may remember, thoſe
four plump ladies, who are rowing the Queen-mother, and the young King, in a
ſtate-barge: with a fort of badges, affixed by the fide of each of them; to tell us who
they are.
UNDER the third head, (or that of improprieties,) we may reckon the Victory la-
menting the death of Henry the Fourth (56), with a trophy exalted; Fame wringing her
hands (57), and holding a palm-branch; (who, by the way too, is much more like fome
diftreffed popiſh faint, than the goddeſs ſhe is meant to reprefent :) the two Fames each
(58) with two trumpets; Bacchus careffing (59) Ceres, a little too familiarly for a council
of the gods; the Queen-mother, in council, with two cardinals (60) and Mercury; and
the Hymen on one fide of Mary of Medici (61), and Cardinal Aldobrandini on the
other, officiating in (what they call) a facramental rite, before the high altar in the
great
church at Florence: on which he has reprefented, at the fame time, the two moft facred
figures than can be imagined. Had the publiſhers of this celebrated work of Rubens,
given a due attention to theſe, and ſome other, particulars; I imagine, they would ſcarce
have choſen out his talent for allegory, as the higheſt (62) point of merit in that excel-
lent painter.
(49) See Monf. Nattier's Gallerie du Palais du
Luxembourg; la Deftinie de la Reine, N°. 1.
(50) La Naiffance de la Reine. Ib. N°. 2.
(51) L'Education de la Reine. Ib. N°. 3.
(52) Le Gouvernement de la Reine. Ib. N°. 12.
(53) Le tems decouvre la Verité. Ib. N°. 21.
(54) La Felicité de la Regence de la Reine. Ib.
No. 15.
(55) La Majorité du Roy Louis XIII. Ib. N°.16.
(56) L'Apotheofe de Henry IV. Ib. No. 11.
(57) Ibid.
IF
(58) La Felicité de la Regence de la Reine. Ib.
N°. 15.
(59) Le Gouvernement de la Reine. Ib. No. 12.
(60) La Reine prend la partie de la Paix. Ib.
N°. 18.
(61) Le Mariage de la Reine. Ib. N°. 5.
(62) Il n'y a nulle des ecoles de peinture ou Rubens
ne foit en admiration, pour la verité de la couleur ;
la belle & riche compofition; pour cette partie qu'on
nomme Clair-obſcur; la fecondité du genie ; le beau
feu; les graces naïves: &, fur tout, pour l'efprit &
la jufteffe des allegories. Avertiff. Ibid.
DIALOGUE the Eighteenth.
299
Ir you ſhould ſay that it is not fair in me, thus to produce a Flemish painter (tho' ever
fo famous an one) as an inftance to fhew how faulty the modern painters are in their al-
legories; I beg leave to put you in mind of what I happened to ſay to you the other day
(63) of the inferiority of Dominiquin, (one of the moſt exact mafters, in the beſt of all
the ſchools in Italy,) when compared with the antients; in expreffing that great ſubject,
the four Cardinal Virtues: and I believe I may venture to affure you," that what I then
faid of Dominiquin, may be faid of all the Italian painters, as well as of the Flemiſh.
Of all the Italian painters, Dominiquin may perhaps be reckoned the next to Raphael,
for juſtneſs and correctneſs; and even Raphael himſelf, the divine Raphael, is not with-
out his faults in the allegorical part of his paintings. Indeed he ufes allegories very
ſparingly partly perhaps, from his being fenfible of the defectiveneſs of modern painting,
in that branch. In ſome of Rubens's pieces laſt mentioned, you have more of fiction than
reality. Raphael is far from being fo profufe. He introduces his allegorical or fuper-
natural perfonages, with the greateſt moderation; and generally, not without ſome foun-
dation in hiſtory: I mean, at leaſt that romance fort of hiſtory, which is received and
read ſo much in all popiſh countries. This might be proved from his works in general;
and particularly from thoſe fine ones in the apartments of the Vatican, which from them
commonly go by the name of Raphael's chambers: where you have ſcarce any thing of
this kind, in the hiftorical pieces; except the little angels holding up a crofs in the air,
while Conftantine harangues his foldiers; the larger angels, flying over his army and
protecting them, in the battle; the two miniſters of vengeance, driving the wicked He-
liodorus out of the temple; and St. Peter and St. Paul, appearing in the air againſt At-
tila. Theſe are all plain and juſt, and moſt of them hiſtorical: and Raphael can no
more be blamed for introducing them, than an antient painter would be for having intro-
duced Caftor and Pollux as affifting the Roman army againſt their enemies. Yet even
Raphael ſometimes falls ſhort of the antient fimplicity and propriety, in treating allego-
rical ſubjects; and in theſe very apartments you have the four Cardinal Virtues expreffed
not quite fo neatly and clearly by him, as they were commonly of old. Among my
figures (64), as you may remember, each of theſe Virtues are marked out by ſome ſingle
attribute; Prudence, by her rule pointing to the globe at her feet, Juftice by her ſcales,
Fortitude by her fword, and Temperance by her bit or bridle. Raphael's way of expref-
fing fome of theſe is more complex. He paints Temperance, with a bit; Juſtice, with
a fword and fcales: Fortitude fitting, (which I fhould imagine to be wrong,) and refting
her hand on the head of a lion: and Prudence, with a woman's face before, and a man's
face behind; a little Cupid holding up a looking-glaſs to her, and her fore-face reflected
in it; the Gorgon's head on her breaſt, and another Cupid ſtanding by her with a flaming
lamp. As this laft errs againſt fimplicity, there is another piece in the fame apartments,
that errs againſt propriety; and that is the famous Parnaffus: in which you fee Apollo,
playing on a modern fiddle: but one Muſe only with a lyre; and that not like any of
the antient lyres: the Mufes, in general, not well diſtinguiſhed; and the two theatrical
ones, in particular, not to be diſtinguiſhed at all: they having both the ſame ſort of
mafk;
and that of a modern make, and unlike the antient maſks or perfona's.
IF you were to take the trouble of comparing prints of all the works of any modern
painter you pleaſe, with the figures and drawings in my collection here; I doubt not
but that upon the whole you would find the manner of the modern to be neither ſo
fimple, nor fo well fitted to exprefs the beings they would reprefent, as the antient manner
was: for if Raphael himſelf ſhould be found deficient, whom elfe can we think of comparing
with them? When therefore I commend the antient artiſts ſo highly and ſo often, it
(63) See Dial. X. p. 144.
(64) See Pl. XXI.
Hhhh
is
J
300
POLYMETIS.
1
is not becauſe they are antients; but becauſe they are better, than the moderns. Nay, I
do not even think that this abfolutely proves a fuperiority of genius in the antients, (for
men may perhaps be of near the fame capacity in all ages,) but only a fuperiority of
practice. They of old purſued the arts with more conſtancy, and more encouragements,
than we have happened to do, in theſe latter ages of the world. The great age of ftatuary
and painting began a confiderable time before the reign of Alexander the Great; and
was continued on, fucceffively in Greece, and Italy, (without any great interruptions,)
down to the times of the Antonines (65); and fomewhat lower. Many of the greateſt
princes, during this period, gave the higheſt encouragements to the artifts; and the
practice of idolatry, which reigned for all that time all over Europe, made their employ
à very conſtant and a very gainful one. This was a long period for gradual improve-
ment, (and all great improvements muſt be gradual;) with a much greater call, for
their works: and vaft rewards fometimes, for the beſt of them. The cafe has been
very different in the modern ſtate of Europe. The fall of the Roman Empire ſhattered
every kingdom in it into pieces, if I may be allowed fuch an expreffion; or, in other
words, it occafioned a number of petty principalities to arife; which have been ſtruggling
with one another almoſt ever fince: and in many kingdoms are not yet re-united into
one great body. Such was the Heptarchy in England; and fomething like it, in moſt
of the kingdoms of Europe. In Italy, itſelf, the effect of this great ſhock continues
viſible to this day: and it may be many ages yet, before they become one kingdom
again. Under this inconvenience of power ſplit into fo many hands, we have ſcarce as
yet had any ſettled age for the arts.
for the arts. They have only rofe up a little by ſtarts, in com-
pariſon of the great period above mentioned; and then funk down again: witneſs that
great age for them in Italy, under Leo the Tenth; and that other in France, under
Lewis the Fourteenth : which were very promifing indeed, but not very laſting. And
in both theſe great ages of the arts, it is very obfervable by the way, that the greateſt
improvements that were made, were made by perfons who imitated the remains of the
antient artiſts the moſt ſtrictly. Thus Raphael and Michael Angelo, for example, ad-
vanced ſtatuary and painting more by this means, in twenty years; than all the artiſts in
Italy together, had done in the compaſs of two hundred years before them: and Pouffin
and Gerardon, who ſtudied antiques the moſt of any of the French artiſts, have more
merit than almoſt all the reſt put together.The great confequence of all this, fays
Myfagetes, is too clear to be miſſed by us; it is plainly this; that if we would have an
artiſt excel the reſt of his brethren, in theſe our days, we ought to fend him directly to
your collection. You are very right, fays Polymetis: and it would not be at all amiſs,
you would fend our poets thither too : I mean only, to form their ideas as to the imagi-
nary or allegorical perfonages, which they may have occafion to introduce in their poems.
Indeed allegory is on a worſe footing with our poets, than it is with our artiſts. For, to
fay the truth, our poets feem as yet to have formed no fettled fcheme at all, for their
allegories: and therefore either take up with the broken ideas that occur to their minds
from what they have read in the antients: or elfe form fome irregular phantoms of their
own; juſt as chance, or fancy, leads them. Hence is that jumble of chriſtianity and
heatheniſm; which makes us fometimes meet with a pagan deity in one line, and an
angel in the next. The poet generally fits down wholly undetermined, whether Furies,
or Devils, are to be the executioners he will make uſe of: and brings in either the one or
the other, juſt as the humour takes; or, as the verfe demands. If two fyllables are
wanting, it is Satan; but if four, you are fure of meeting with Tifiphone.
if
Ir is not my buſineſs to determine, whether it would be wifer in our poets to follow
the allegories of the antients intirely; or to invent an intire new fyftem of their own: all
(65) Commodus, the laſt of the Antonines, died
in the year 193. The arts were greatly declined,
but not wholly gone then. The abfolute fall of them
I
may be better fixed, as it is by many, to the time of
the thirty tyrants, (or pretenders to the crown,) under
the reign of Gallienus: which began in the year 260.
DIALOGUE the Eighteenth.
301
I would affert is, that where they do chufe to follow them, they ſhould follow them
regularly; which they are very far from having done.
To fhew how irregular and defective our modern poets have been in their allegories,
give me leave to make a fort of examen into the moſt celebrated work of a very great
man: whoſe genius I refpect; and who gives every body pleaſure that reads him. I mean,
our own Spenfer the beſt allegoriſt, as I take it, among all our modern poets; and it
is therefore that I chufe particularly to inſtance from him, rather than any other: for if
the beſt is faulty, you know what we are to conclude of the worst. I have read his
Fairy Queen over lately, with this very view; and you will pardon me, if the obſer-
vations which I ſhall make on that work with pain, ſhould take up more of your time
than you may care for.
!
1
Page. 3.01
:
1
Boilard Jculp
1
302
DIAL. XIX.
The Defects of our Modern Poets, in their Allegories: in-
ſtanced from SPENSER'S Fairy Queen.
T
HE faults of Spenſer in relation to his machinery or allegories, (continued
Polymetis,) feem to me, to be all reducible to three general heads. They
ariſe either from that poet's mixing the fables of heatheniſm, with the truths
of chriſtianity ;—or from his miſrepreſenting the allegories of the antients :—————or
from ſomething that is wrong in the allegories of his own invention. As to the two
former, I fhall not have much to fay; but fhall beg leave to be a little more diffufe, as
to the third.
THE ſtrongeſt inftance I can recollect of the firſt kind, his mixing chriſtianity and
heatheniſm together, is in that ſhort view, which he gives of the infernal regions; in the
ſeventh Canto, of the ſecond book. You may read the paffage here, in his Fairy
Queen (¹). The particular part I mean, is where he fpeaks of Jupiter and Tantalus,
and of Pontius Pilate and our Saviour, almoft in the fame breath.
THE inftances of Spenfer's mifrepreſenting the ſtories, and allegorical perfonages, of
the antients, are not uncommon in this poem. Thus, in a former view of hell, he
ſpeaks of Efculapius (2), as in eternal torments. In another place, he introduces a com-
pany of fatyrs, to fave a lady (3) from a rape; tho' their diftinguiſhing character was luft:
and makes Sylvanus (4), the god or governor of the fatyrs, a dignity which the antients
never ſpeak of for him; no more than of the ivy-girdle (5), which he gives him, round
his waiſt. It is with the fame fort of liberty as I take it that he deſcribes the day, or
morning (6), as having purple hair; the Sirens (7), as half-fiſh; and Bacchus, as
(1) The knight him feeing labour fo in vain,
Afk'd who he was and what he meant thereby;
Who groaning deep, thus anfwer'd him again,
Moft curſed of all creatures under ſky
Lo, Tantalus I here tormented lie!
Of whom high Jove wont whilom feafted be,
Lo here I now for want of food do die :
But if that thou be fuch as I thee fee,
Of grace I pray thee, give to eat and drink to me.
Nay, nay, thou greedy Tantalus, (quoth he,)
Abide the fortune of thy prefent fate;
And unto all that live in high degree
Enfample be of mind intemperate ;
To teach them how to uſe their preſent ſtate.
'Then 'gan the curfed wretch aloud to cry,
Accufing higheft Jove and Gods ingrate;
And eke blafpheming heaven bitterly,
As author of injuftice there to let him die.
He look'd a little further, and efpy'd
Another wretch; whofe carcafs deep was drent
Within the river which the fame did hide :
But both his hands, moft filthy feculent
Above the water were on high extent,
And fain'd to wath themfelves inceffantly:
Yet nothing cleaner were for fuch intent ;
But rather fouler feemed to the eye:
So loft his labour vain, and idle induftry.
The knight him calling, aſked who he was;
Who lifting up his head, him anfwer'd thus,
I Pilate am, the falfeft judge alas
And moſt unjuſt! that by unrighteous
And wicked doom to Jews defpiteous
Deliver'd up the Lord of life to die;
fat:
And did acquit a murdrer felonous:
The whiles my hands I waſh'd in purity,
The whiles my foul was foil'd with foul iniquity.
Spenfer's Fairy Queen, Bock 2. Cant. 7. St. 62.
(2) Ibid. Book 1. Cant. 5. St. 40, to 43.
(3) Ibid. Cant. 6. St. 6, to 19.
(4) Ibid. St. 15. 4.
(5) Ibid. St. 14. *. 9.
(6) He all his armours ready dight that day,
That nought the morrow next mote ſtay his fare:
The morrow next appear'd with purple hair,
Yet dropping freſh out of the Indian fount;
And bringing light into the heavens fair.
Ibid. Book 5. Cant 10. St. 16.
(7) They were fair ladies till they fondly ftriv'd
With the Heliconian maids for maiſtery:
Of whom they overcomen, were depriv'd
Of their proud beauty; and th' one moiety
Transform'd to fifh, for their bold furquedry.
Ibid. Book 2. Cant, 12. St. 31.
•
The figures of Sirens are not uncommon in an-
tiques; and are never repreſented there with a fiſh-
tail,
DIALOGUE the Nineteenth.
303
fat (8) that he ſpeaks of Clio, as Apollo's (9) wife; and of Cupid, as brother (10) of the
Graces: and that he reprefents Orion, in one place, as flying from a ſnake (11), in the
heavens; and, in another, as a water-god, and one of the attendants of Neptune. The
latter is in Spenfer's account of the marriage of the Thames and Medway; in which he
has greatly increaſed Neptune's court; and added (12) ſeveral deities as attendants to that
god; which were never regarded as fuch by any of the antients.
THIS may be ſufficient to ſhew, that where Spenfer does introduce the allegories of
the antient poets, he does not always follow them fo exactly as he might; and in the
allegories which are purely of his own invention, (tho' his invention is one of the richeſt
and moſt beautiful that perhaps ever was,) I am forry to ſay, that he does not only fall very
ſhort of that fimplicity and propriety which is fo remarkable in the works of the antients;
but runs now and then into thoughts, that are quite unworthy fo great a genius. I fhall
mark out fome of theſe faults to you, that appear even through all his beauties; and
which may, perhaps, look quite groſs to you, when they are thus taken from them,
and laid together by themſelves: but if they ſhould prejudice you at all againſt ſo fine a
writer; read almoſt any one of his entire Canto's, and it will reconcile you to him again.
The reaſon of my producing theſe inftances to you, is only to fhew what faults the
greateſt allegoriſt may commit; whilſt the manner of allegorizing is left upon fo unfixed
and irregular a footing as it was in his time, and is ſtill among us.
THE first fort of fault I fhall mention to you, from fuch allegories of Spenfer as are
purely of his own invention, is their being fometimes too complicated, or over-done.
Such for example are his repreſentations of Scandal, Difcord, and Pride.
SCANDAL, is what Spenfer calls, the Blatant Beaft: and indeed he has made
a very ſtrange beaſt of him. He fays, that his mouth was as wide (13) as a peck:
tail, that I know of: but with the upper part, hu-
man, and the lower, like birds. (See Gorlæus's
gems, 2. 482.-Agoftini's Medals, 156. 3.-Smid's
Martial, p. 106, &c.) The poets deſcribe them in
the ſame manner; and particularly Ovid, in his ac-
count of their transformation.
-Vobis, Acheloïdes, unde
Pluma pedefque avium, cum virginis ora geratis ?
Met. 5. .553.
The moderns, by ſome mistake or other, have
turned their lower parts into fiſh; and fo made of
them the very ſame fort of monfter, which Horace
ſpeaks of, in the beginning of his Art of Poetry.
(8)
Fruitful Ceres, and Lyæus fat.
Spenfer's Fairy Queen, Book 3. Cant. 1. St. 51.
This is another mifreprefentaion, very common
among the modern artiſts; and from them, I ſuppoſe
has ſtole into the works of our poets. It is not only
to be proved from our fign-poſts: for ſome tolerable
ſtatuaries, and ſome very good painters, even in Italy,
have given into it.
(9) Now, O thou facred Muſe, moſt learned dame
Fair imp of Phoebus, and his aged bride.
(10)
;
Ibid. Book 1. Cant. 11. St: 5.
With his fair mother he him dights to play ;
And with his goodly fifters, Graces three.
Ib. Book 2. Cant. 8. St. 6.
(11) Night was far fpent; and now in Ocean deep,
Orion flying faft from hiffing fnake,
His flaming head did haften for to ſteep.
(12) Phorcys, the father of that fatal brood
By whom thoſe old heroes won fuch fame ;
And Glaucus, that wife foothfays underſtood;
And tragic Ino's fon, the which became
A god of feas thro' his mad mother's blame ;
Now hight Palemon, and is failor's friend:
Great Brontes; and Aftræus, that did ſhame
Himſelf with inceft of his kin unkind;
And huge Orion, that doth tempefts ſtill portend.
The rich Cteatus, and Eurytus long;
;
and
Neleus and Pelias, lovely brethren both
Mighty Chryfaor, and Caïcus ftrong;
Eurypulus, that calms the waters wrath ;
And fair Euphemus, that upon them go'th
As on the ground, without difmay or dread;
Fierce Eryx; and Alebius, that know'th
The waters' depth, and doth their bottom tread ;
And fad Afopus, comely with his hoary head.
There alſo fome moſt famous founders were
Of puiffant nations, which the world poffesd;
Yet fons of Neptune, now aſſembled here.
Auncient Ogyges, even th' auneienteft;
And Inachus, renownd above the reſt:
Phoenix, and Aon, and Pelafgus old;
Great Belas, Phæax, and Agenor beſt:
And mighty Albion; father of the bold
And warlike people, which the Britain-Iſlands hold.
Ibid. Book 4. Cant. 11. St. 15.
(13) A full good peck, within the utmoft brim.
Ibid. Cant. 2. St. 46.
Ibid. Book 6. Cint. 12. St. 25.
Iiii
ر
POLYMETIS.
304
and that he had a thouſand tongues in it; of dogs, cats, bears, tygers, men, and fer-
pents (14).
THERE is a duplicity in his figure of Diſcord, which is carried on fo far as to be quite
prepofterous. He makes her hear double, and look two different ways; he ſplits her
tongue, and even her heart, in two: and makes her act contrarily with her two hands;
and walk forward with one foot, and backward with the other, at the fame time (15).
;
THERE is a great deal of Apparatus in Spenfer's manner of introducing Pride, in a
perſonal character: and ſhe has ſo many different things and attributes about her; that
was this fhew to be reprefented, (in the manner of our old pageants,) they would rather
fet one a gueffing what they meant themſelves, than ſerve to point out who the principal
figure ſhould be. She makes her appearance (16), exalted in a high chariot, drawn by
fix different creatures: every one of them carrying a Vice, as a poſtilion, on his back
and all drove on by Satan, as charioteer. The fix Vices are Idleneſs, on an afs; Gluttony,
on a hog; Lechery, on a goat; Avarice, on a camel laden with gold; Envy, eating a
toad, and riding on a wolf; and Wrath, with a firebrand in his hand, on a lion. The
account of each of theſe particular Vices in Spenfer, is admirable: the chief fault I find
with it is, that it is too complex a way of characterizing Pride in general; and may
poffibly be as improper in fome few refpects, as it is redundant in others.
THERE is another particular in fome of Spenfer's allegories which I cannot but look
upon as faulty, tho' it is not near fo great a fault as the former. What I mean is his affixing
fuch filthy ideas to ſome of his perſonages, or characters, that it half turns one's ſtomach
to read his account of them. Such, for example, is the defcription of Error (17), in the
very firſt Canto of the poem; of which we may very well fay, in the poet's own words,
on a like occafion :
Such loathly matter, were ſmall luft to ſpeak, or think (18) !
THE third fault in the allegories of Spenfer's own invention is, that they are ſometimes
ſtretched to fuch a degree, that they appear rather extravagant than great: and that he
is fometimes fo minute, in pointing out every particular of its vaftneſs to you; that the
object is in danger of becoming ridiculous, inſtead of being admirable. This is not com-
mon in Spenſer: the ſtrongeſt inſtance of the few I can remember, is in his deſcription
of the dragon, killed by the knight of the red-crofs, in the laſt Canto of his firſt book.
The tail of this dragon, he tells you, wanted but very little of being (19) three furlongs
(14) Therein were a thouſand tongues empight ;
Of fundry kinds, and fundry quality.
Some were of dogs, that barked day and night;
And fome of cats, that wrawling ftill did cry;
And fome of bears, that groyn'd continually ;
And fome of tygers, that did ſeem to gren,
And fnar at all that ever paſſed by :
But moſt of them were tongues of mortal men ;
Which ſpake reproachfully, not caring where nor when.
And them amongft, were mingled here and there
The tongues of ſerpents with three-forked ftings;
That fpat out poiſon, and gore-bloody gere,
At all that came within his ravenings.
Fairy Queen, B. 6. Cant. 12. St. 28.
(15) Her face moſt foul and filthy was to fee ;
With squinted eyes, contrary ways intended:
And loathly mouth, unmeet a mouth to be,
That nought but gall and venom comprehended;
And wicked words, that God and man offended.
Her lying tongue was in two parts divided;
And both the parts did ſpeak, and both contended :
And as her tongue, fo was her heart diſcided;
That never thought one thing, but doubly ſtill was guided.
1
Als as fhe double fpake, fo heard ſhe double ;
With matchless ears, deformed and diſtort :
Fild with falfe rumors, and feditious trouble,
Bred in affemblies of the vulgar fort;
That ftill are led with every light report.
And as her ears, fo eke her feet were odd
;
in
And much unlike: th' one long, the other ſhort;
And both, mifplac'd : that when th' one forward yode,
The other back retired and contrary trod.
Likewife unequal were her handes twain:
That one did reach, the other pufh'd away;
That one did make, the other marrd again.
Ibid. Book 4. Cant, 1.
Cant. 1. St. 29.
(16) Ibid. Book 1. Cant. 4. St. 18, to 36.
(17) Ibid. Cant. 1. St. 20.
(18) Ibid. Book 5. Cant. 11. St. 31.
(19) His huge long tail, wound up in hundred folds,
Does overſpread his long braſs-ſcaly back.
Whoſe wreathed boughts whenever he unfolds
And thick entangled knots adown does flack,
Befpotted
DIALOGU E the Nineteenth.
305
in length;
mill;-
the blood, that guſhes from his wound, is (20) enough to drive a water-
and his roar, is like that of a hundred (21) hungry lions.
THE fourth claſs of faults in Spenfer's allegories, confiſts of fuch as ariſe from their
not being well invented. You will eafily, I believe, allow me here, the three following
poſtulata. That in introducing allegories, one fhould confider whether the thing is fit
to be reprefented as a perfon, or not, -Secondly; that if you chufe to repreſent it as
a human perfonage, it ſhould not be repreſented with any thing inconſiſtent with the
human form or nature.And thirdly, that when it is repreſented as a man, you ſhould
not make it perform any action, which no man in his fenfes would do.
SPENSER ſeems to have erred againſt the firſt of theſe maxims, in thoſe lines in his
deſcription of the cave of Care.
-They for nought would from their work refrain,
Nor let his ſpeeches come unto their ear;
And eke the breathful bellows blew amain
Like to the northern wind, that none could hear:
Thofe, Penfiveneſs did move; and Sighs, the bellows were (22).
WAS a poet to ſay that fighs are " the bellows, that blow up the fire of love," that
would be only a metaphor: a poor one indeed; but not at all improper: but here they
are realized,or rather metamorphized into bellows; which I could never perfuade myſelf
to think any way proper. Spenfer is perhaps guilty of the fame fort of fault, in making
Gifts, or Munera, a woman; in the ſecond Canto of the fifth book (23): tho' that may
be only a mifnomer; for if he had called her Bribery, one fhould not have the fame ob-
jection. But the groffeft inftance in him of this kind, is in the ninth Canto of the fecond
book (24): where he turns the human body into a caftle; the tongue, into the porter,
that keeps the gate; and the teeth, into two and thirty warders, dreffed in white.-
Spenſer ſeems to have erred againſt the ſecond of theſe maxims, in repreſenting the rigid
execution of the laws under the character of a man (25) all made up of iron; and Bribery,
(or the lady Munera, before mentioned,) as a woman (26), with golden hands, and filver
(20)
Befpotted all with ſhields of red and black ;
It ſweepeth all the land behind him far:
And of three furlongs does but little lack.
Fairy Queen, Book 1. Cant. 11. St.11.
Forth flowed freſh
A guſhing river of black goary blood,
That drowned all the land whereon he ſtood i
The ftream whereof would drive a water-mill.
(21) The cruel wound enraged him fo fore,
Ibid. St. zz:
That loud he yelled for exceeding pain;
As hundred ramping lyons feem'd to roar,
Whom ravenous hunger did thereto conſtrain.
Then gan he tofs aloft his ſtretched train ;
And therewith ſcourge the buxom air ſo ſore,
That to its force to yielden it was fain :
Ne ought his ſturdy ſtrokes might ſtand afore,
That high trees overthrew and rocks in pieces tore.
(22) Ibid. Book 4. Cant. 5. St. 38.
(23) St. 9, 10, &c.
Ibid. St. 37.
(24) St. 21, 25, & 26. See on, to the end of the
Canto; where there are feveral other inftances of faults
of the fame kind: as Appetite's being the marſhal of
the hall; Digeſtion, clerk of the kitchin; Concoction,
3
feet:
the mafter-cook; the Stomach, the caldron; the
Lungs, the bellows and the fink, Port Efquiline.
(25)
When * fhe parted hence, ſhe left her groom,
An iron man ; which did on her attend
Always, to execute her ſtedfaſt doom:
And willed him with Arthegal to wend,
And do whatever thing he did intend.
His name was Talus, made of iron mould;
Immoveable, refiftles, without end:
Who in his hand an iron flail did hold;
With which he threſh'd out falfhood, and did truth unfold.
* Aftræa.
Ibid. Book 5. Cant. 1. St.12.
It is doubtful whether this idea be wholly of Spen-
fer's invention, or borrowed partly from the antients;
for they ſpeak of one Talus, (or rather Talo,) a fevere
lawgiver in Crete. Τον Ταλω, τον χαλκον της Κρητ
TNS TERITONOV. Lucian. Tom. I. p. 804. Ed. Blaeu.
της περίπολον.
They might call him, " The brazen guardian of
Crete;" becauſe he ſecured them by his laws, affixed
in the moſt public places on plates of braſs: but whe-
ther they had any idea of this Talus, as a brazen
man, I know not.
(26) Thereto ſhe is full fair, and rich attird,
With golden hands and filver feet befide
That many lords have her to wife defird.
Ibid. Book 5. Cant. 2. St. 10.
1
J
306
POLYMÈTIS.
feet:and againſt the third, where he deſcribes Defire (27), as holding coals of fire in
his hands and blowing them up into a flame: which laſt particular is fome degrees worſe
than Arioſto's bringing in Diſcord, in his Orlando Furiofo (28); with a flint and ſteel, to
ftrike fire in the face of Pride.
THE fifth fort of faults is when the allegorical perfonages, tho' well invented, are not
well marked out. There are many inftances of this in Spenfer, which are but too apt to
put one in mind of the fancifulneſs and whims of Ripa and Vænius, that I mentioned to
you this evening. Thus in one Canto, Doubt is repreſented as walking with a ſtaff,
that ſhrinks (29) under him; Hope, with an afpergoire (30), or the inftrument the Roman
catholics uſe for ſprinkling finners with holy-water; Diffimulation (31), as twiſting two
clews of filk together; Grief (32), with a pair of pincers; and Pleafure (33), with an
humble-bee in a phial: and in another, (in the proceffion of the months and feafons,)
February is introduced (34) in a waggon, drawn by two fifhes; May, as riding (35) on
Caftor and Pollux: June, is mounted (36) on a crab; October (37), on a ſcorpion: and
November comes in, on a Centaur (38), all in a fweat; becauſe, (as the poet obferves,)
he had just been fatting his hogs.
THIS might, full as well, have been ranged under my fixth and laſt claſs of faults in
Spenfer's allegories; conſiſting of ſuch inftances as, I fear, can fcarce be called by any
ſofter name, than that of Ridiculous Imaginations. Such, I think, is that idea of Igno-
rance, in the firſt book, where he is made to move (39) with the back part of his head
foremoſt;
(27) Ånd him * befide march'd amorous Deſire,
Who feem'd of riper years than th' other ſwain ;
Yet was that other ſwain this elder's fire,
And gave him being, common to them twain:
His garment was diſguiſed very vain ;
And his embroider'd bonnet fat awry.
'Twixt both his hands few ſparks he cloſe did ftrait:
Which ſtill he blew, and kindled bufily;
That foon they life conceiv'd, and forth in flames did fly.
* Fancy. Fairy Queen, Book 3. Cant. 12. St. 9.
(28) Lib. 18. St. 34.
(29) He look'd afkew with his mistrustful eyes ;
And nicely trode, as thorns lay in his way;
Or that the floor to fhrink he did aviſe.”
And on a broken reed he ſtill did ſtay
His feeble ſteps; which fhrunk, when hard thereon he lay.
Ibid. Book 3. Cant. 12. St.10.
(30)
She always fmil'd; and in her hand did hold
An holy-water ſprinkle, dipt in dew.
Ibid. St. 13.
(31) Her deeds, were forged; and her words, falfe coind:
And always in her hand two clews of filk ſhe twin'd.
(32)
Ibid. St. 14.
A pair of pincers in his hand he had;
With which he pinced people to the heart.
Ibid. Book 3. Cant. 12. St. 16.
(33) After them, went Diſpleaſure and Pleaſance :
He looking lumpiſh and full fullen fad,
And hanging down his heavy countenance ;
She chearful freſh and full of joyance glad,
As if no forrow fhe ne felt ne drad:
That evil-matched pair, they ſeem'd to be.
An angry wafp, th' one in a vial had;
Th' other, in hers, an hony lady bee.
Ibid. St. 18.
(34)
-Laftly came cold February, fitting
In an old waggon, (for he could not ride,)
Drawn by two fishes.
Second Canto of Mutability, St. 43.
(35) Upon two brethrens fhoulders ſhe did ride,
The twins of Leda; which on either fide
Supported her like to their fovereign queen:
Lord! how all creatures laughd, when her they ſpyd!
Ibid. St. 34.
(36) Upon a crab he rode, that him did bear,
With crooked crawling fteps, an uncouth pace.
(37) Then came October, full of merry glee;
Ibid. St. 35.
For yet his noul was totty of the muſt
Which he was treading in the wine-fats fee,
And of the joyous oil; whofe gentle guſt
Made him fo frolic, and ſo full of luſt :
Upon a dreadful ſcorpion, he did ride.
Ibid. St. 39.
(38) Next was November. He full grofs and fat,
As fed with lard; and that right well might ſeem :
For he had been a fatting hogs of late,
That yet his brows with ſweat did reek and ſteem.
Ibid. St. 40.
There is ſo much of the ridiculous in this procef-
fion of the Months in Spenfer, that I cannot help
thinking; that this excellent poet might poffibly
have formed ſome of his ideas in it, even from ſo low
a thing as our old pageants: which were in great
vogue, about the times he lived in.
(39) But very uncouth fight was to behold
How he did faſhion his untoward pace;
For as he forward mov'd his footing old,
So backward ftill was turnd his wrinkled face:
Unlike to men, who ever as they trace,
Both feet and face one way are wont to lead.
Ibid. Book 1. Cant. 8. St. 31.
;
DIALOGUE the Nineteenth.
307
foremoſt; and that of Danger in the fourth (40), with Hatred, Murder, Treaſon, &c.
in his back. Such is the forrowful lady, with a bottle for her tears, and a bag to put
her repentance into (41); and both running out, almoſt as faſt as ſhe puts them in.————
Such the thought of a vaft giant's (42) fhrinking into an empty form, like a bladder ;---
the horſes of Night (43), foaming far; Sir Guyon, putting a padlock (44) on the
tongue of Occafion; and Remorfe, nipping (45) St. George's heart.
HAD Spenfer formed his allegories on the plan of the antient poets and artiſts, as
much as he did from Ariofto and the Italian allegorifts, he might have followed nature
much more cloſely; and would not have wandered fo often, into fuch ftrange and incon-
fiftent imaginations. I am apt to believe, that he confidered the Orlando Furioſo, in par-
ticular, as a poem wholly ferious; tho' the author of it certainly wrote it partly in jeſt.
There are ſeveral lines and paffages in it, that muſt have been intended for burlefque;
and they ſurely confider that poem in the trueft light, who confider it as a work of a
mixed nature: as fomething between the profeffed gravity of Taffo, and the broad laugh
of Berni and his followers. Perhaps Spenfer's taking fome things to be faid ſeriouſly,
which Ariofto meant for ridicule; may have led him now and then to fay things that
are ridiculous, where he meant to be very ferious.
HOWEVER that be, we may reaſonably conclude from fo great failures as I have been
mentioning to you, in fo great a man; (whether they arife from his too much indulging
the luxuriance of his own fancy, or from his copying after fo irrregular a pattern;) that
it would be extremely uſeful for our poets in general, to follow the plan of allegory, as
far as it is fettled to their hands by the antients: at leaft, till fome modern may have
invented and eſtabliſhed fome better plan for them to go upon; a thing, which (to deal
fairly with you,) I do not expect to fee done in our days. But whether this be fo pru-
dent for our poets in general, or not; there is one fet of them at leaſt, to whom it is
abfolutely neceffary to be thoroughly acquainted with the allegories of the antients: all
fuch I mean, as undertake to tranflate the works of the antient poets; and to give us
their thoughts, in our own language. And yet, I fear, our tranflators have been almoſt
as incurious and unknowing in this point, as our original writers have uſually been.
As I have choſen out, perhaps the greateſt allegoriſt among all the moderns, to fhew
you how irregular we are in our allegories; fo I fhall now proceed to chufe out one of
(40)
-In the porch did evermore abide
An hideous giant, dreadful to behold,
That ſtop'd the entrance with his ſpacious ftride;
And with the terror of his count'nance bold
Full many did affray, that elfe fain enter would.
His name was, Danger.
And lo! his hind parts, whereof heed I took
Much more deformed fearful ugly were,
Than all his former parts did earſt appear:
For hatred, murder, treaſon, and deſpight,
With many more, lay in ambufhment there;
Awaiting to entrap the wareleſs wight
Who did not them prevent, with vigilant forefight.
Fairy Queen, Book 4. St. 16, 17, & 20.
(41) Here, in this bottle (faid the forry maid)
I put the tears of my contrition,
Till to the brim I have it full defray'd;
And, in this bag which I behind me don,
I put repentance for things paft and gon.
Yet is the bottle leak, and bag fo torn,
That all which I put in falls out anon :
And is behind me trodden down of Scorn ;
Who mocketh all my pain, and laughs the more I mourn.
Ibid. Book 6. Cant. 8. St.
24.
(42) The knight, then lightly leaping to the prey
With mortal ſteel him fmote again fo fore,
That headleſs his unweildy body lay
the
All wallow'd in its own foul bloody gore ;
Which flowed from his wounds in wondrous ſtore :
But foon as breath out of his breaſt did paſs,
That huge great body which the giant bore
Was vaniſh'd quite; and of that monftrous maſs
Was nothing left: but like an empty bladder was.
Ibid. Book 1. Cant. 8. St. 24.
(43)
Her twyfold teme, (of which two black as pitch
And two were brown, yet each to each unlich)
Did foftly ſwim away; ne ever ſtamp,
Unless he chanc'd their ſtubborn mouths to twitch:
Then, foaming tarre, their bridles they would champ;
And, trampling the fine element, would fiercely ramp.
Ibid. Cant. 5. St. 28.
(44)
(45)
And catching hold of her ungracious tongue,
Thereon an iron lock did faften, firm and ſtrong.
Ibid. Book 2. Cant. 4. St. 12.
Bitter Pennance, with an iron whip,
Was wont him once to dis'ple every day;
And ſharp Remorfe his heart did prick and nip,
That drops of blood thence like a well did play.
Ibid. Book 1. Cant. 10. St. 27.
Kkkk
308
POLYMETIS.
1
1
are, in
the beſt tranflators we ever had, to fhew how deficient or incurious our tranflators
repreſenting the allegories of the antients. It is but lately that I read over Mr. Dryden's
Tranſlation of all the works of Virgil, in this light only; and in reading it, took down
fome notes of the miſrepreſentations and miſtakes which he ſeems to me to have fallen
into, in that celebrated and excellent tranflation, for want of this kind of knowledge.
I know not whether this review of Dryden may not take up yet more of our time, than
that of Spenſer has done : but I have had proofs enough of your patience; and ſhall there-
fore proceed, without making any more apologies,
wwwww.
1
i
Page 308
Boilard Stulp.
309
DIAL. XX.
The Defects of our Tranflators of the ANTIENT POETS;
in relation to theſe Allegorical Subjects: inftanced from
Mr. DRYDEN's Tranflation of VIRGIL.
I
T really grieves me, (continued Polymetis, as he was producing the notes he had taken
from Mr. Dryden,) to make fo free, as I fhall be obliged to do, with the works of
a man whoſe memory I fo much love and eſteem. There is not any one writer, to
whom I think our Engliſh poetry ſo much obliged for its improvements, as to Mr. Dry-
den; excepting only Mr. Pope: and even the additional improvements by Mr. Pope,
are in a good meaſure owing to Dryden; as that gentleman always uſed to own, with
expreffions of the greateſt eſteem and gratitude. Before theſe two great maſters, our
verfification in general may be looked upon as unformed. Dryden took it into his
hands, when it was like a rough block of marble; till his time above half rude, and
unchiffeled. He went a great way toward ſhaping it; and Pope took it up where he
had left it: and added all the ſoftnings, and graces, which it yet wanted. I am a good
deal tempted to ſay more on this head: but it would not be fair to run into a digreffion
in the very entering upon my fubject; and I must therefore confine myſelf to Mr. Dry-
den only. You know, what a ſpirit there is in moſt of his poems; and there is ſo much
of it in his work before us, that it reads rather like an original than a tranſlation. It is
this which makes us uſually go on in it with ſo much pleaſure, that we have ſcarce any
time for minding its faults: for faults there certainly are in it; and muſt be, in every
human compofition. The particular defects I am to point out to you at preſent, are
indeed of ſuch a kind as have been hitherto quite unknown to criticiſm: what all our
poets, in general, have been guilty of: and relating to things that they have never been
uſed to confider, ſo regularly as they ought. We may therefore very well look upon
them rather as a defect of the times, than as the defects of Dryden; for there has fcarce
been any demand for exactneſs in things of this kind, as yet, among us: tho' perhaps,
when I have laid all my catalogue before you, you may think it not improper, that they
ſhould be a little more confidered than they have been hitherto; even by the beſt of our
writers. But it is time that I fhould go on, without any farther prefacing.
In the first place then, the perſonages, dreſs, and attributes of the allegorical perfons
deſcribed by Virgil, are fometimes mifreprefented in this tranflation. Thus Bacchus,
(as I mentioned to you occafionally once before,) is deſcribed as having (1) a plump,
jovial face, inſtead of that fine beauty which was his characteriſtic among the antients ;
Proteus, with gray hair (2), inſtead of dark-coloured; the goddeſs of Peace (3), with
(1) On whate'er fide he turns his honeſt face.
Dryden, G. 2. . 540.
Et quocumque Deus circum caput egit honeftum.
Virgil, G. 2. . 392.
This miſtake was partly, from Mr. Dryden's being
prejudiced by our modern figures of Bacchus; and
partly, from his not attending to the true meaning of
the word Honeftus: which antiently fignified, beau-
tiful, when applied to any perfonage or figure; and
which indeed is applied to good actions, for the fame
reaſon that Kaλov was by the Greeks; from the fit-
nefs and beauty of all fuch actions.
(2) This anfwer Proteus gave; nor more he ſaid:
But in the billows plung'd his hoary head.
wings;
Dryden, G. 4. ¥. 766.
Virgil fays only, fub vertice, ib. 529. The an-
dark-coloured hair; and Ovid mentions the fame of
tients give all the fea-déities, in general, Cærulean or
Proteus, in particular. Faft. Lib. 1. y. 3.
(3) And Peace, with downy wings, was brooding on the ground.
Dryden, Æn. 4. . 762.
Virgil is fo far from giving the goddeſs of Peace
wings on this occaſion, that he does not ſpeak of her
at all. He only ſays ;
Cum
310
POLYMETIS.
to us.
wings; and the Minotaure (4), with his lower parts brutal, and his upper part human :
all without any authority from Virgil; and contrary to the manner in which we ſee theſe
allegorical and fabulous beings repreſented, in the works of the antient artiſts that remain
Thus too, Tiber appears in a ſky-coloured robe (5), inſtead of
inſtead of a dark one: Au-
rora, is introduced with the new attribute of a (6) ſtreamer, in her hand; as the attend-
ants of Bacchus carry (7) flags, in theirs: Cybele is drawn by Bacchus's (8) tigres, inſtead
of her own lions: Neptune, is equipped (like the figure of Julius Cæfar, in the great
church at Breda,) with a (9) Gothic mace; Janus, with a (10) bunch of keys; and
Priapus, with a (11) lath-ſword.
As Mr. Dryden, in fome places, gives the deities attributes that do not belong to
them; fo he miſrepreſents the actions and attitudes of them, in others. Thus where
the original ſpeaks of Tifiphone (12), as fitting alone, before the gates of Tartarus: (in
the fame manner as I fhewed her to you (13) in the picture relating to this paffage, from
Cum tacet omnis ager.
Æn. 4. . 520.
I never remember to have met with any one antient
reprefentation of Peace with wings. Indeed it is not
likely there ever was any fuch for this was a goddeſs
that all people defired fhould ſtay with them; and
wings fignify uncertainty and flight. That the an-
tients looked on them in this light is evident from a
very pretty epigram, occafioned by an odd accident at
Rome. There was a ſtatue of Victory there which
had its wings melted off, by a ftroke of lightning.
Among a people ſo obſervant of omens, this muſt
have been looked upon as a very bad one; had not
one of the poets there given it the following happy
turn, by writing this diſtich upon its pedeſtal :
Ρωμη παμβασιλεια, τεον κλεος υπολ᾽ ολειται
Νίκη γαρ σε Φύγειν απτερος & δύναται.
Stephens's Collection of Gr. Ep. or Inſcriptions;
under this title. Εις άγαλμα Νικης απτερον, εν Ρώμη
ης τα περα κεραυνῷ κατεφλέχθη.
(4) The lower part a beaſt, a man above.
Dryden, Æn. 6. . 37.
This is juft contrary to the figures I have feen of
the Minotaure; which have the head of a bull, and
are human all below. Virgil only fays, in general,
Proles biformis. En. 6. . 25.
(5) An azure robe was o'er his body ſpread.
Dryden, Æn. 8. . 47.
Eum tenuis glauco velabat amictu
Carbafus.
Virgil, Æn. 8. ✯. 33.
(6) Now when the rofy morn began to riſe;
And wav'd her faffron ſtreamer thro' the fkies.
Dryden, Æn. 7. . 35.
Mr. Dryden here feems to have admitted fome
mixture of the allegory and the reality together; and
fo, I think, he has in the two lines which imme-
diately follow the former.
When Thetis bluſh'd in purple not her own,
And from her face the breathing winds were blown.
Ibid. . 37.
Virgil is free both from the ftreamer, and this faulty
mixture all he ſays, is;
Jamque rubefcebat radiis mare: & æthere ab alto
Aurora in rofeis fulgebat lutea bigis.
the
Tum quorum attonitæ Baccho nemora avia matres
Infultant thiafis, (neque enim leve nomen Amatæ,)
Undique collecti coeunt, Martemque fatigant.
Virgil. Æn. 7. ¥. 582.
(8) Hear thou, great mother of the deities,
With turrets crown'd; (on Ida's holy hill
Fierce tigres, rein'd and curb'd, obey thy will.)
Dryden, Æn. 10. y. 356.
Alma parens Idea Deûm, cui Dindyma cordi,
Turrigeræque urbes, bijugique ad fræna leones.
Virgil. Æn. 10. ✯. 253.
}
(9) Amid that ſmother, Neptune holds his place;
Below the wall's foundation drives his mace:
And heaves the building from the ſolid baſe.
Dryden, Æn. 2. †. 829.
This is the tranſlation of that noble paffage in
Virgil:
Hic, ubi disjectas moles avulfaque faxis
Saxa vides, mixtoque undantem pulvere fumum
Neptunus muros, magnoque emota tridenti
Fundamenta quatit: totamque ab fedibus urbem
Eruit.
En. 2. . 612.
(10) And antient Janus; with his double face,
And bunch of keys, the porter of the place.
Dryden, Æn. 7. ✯. 246.
Saturnufque fenex, Janique bifrontis imago,
Veftibulo adftabant..
Virgil. Æn. 7. . 181.
Janus is repreſented by the antients with a key, in
one hand; and a long ſtaff in the other agreeably to
the deſcription of him in Ovid.
(11)
(12)
Æn. 7. . 26.
(7) Then they, (whofe mothers, frantic with their fear
In woods and wilds the flags of Bacchus bear,
And lead his dances with difhevel'd hair,)
Increaſe the clamour, and the war demand.
Dryden, Æn. 7. *.803.
Ille tenens dextrâ baculum, clavemque finiftrâ.
Faft. 1. *.99.
The god obfcene who frights away
With his lath-fword, the thieves and birds of prey.
Dryden, G. 4. ✯. 168.
-Cuftos furum atque avium, cum falce falignâ,
Hellefpontiaci fervet tutela Priapi.
Virgil. G. 4., 111.
-Cernis, cuftodia qualis
Virgil. Æn. 6. .575.
Veſtibulo fedeat; facies quæ limina ſervet.
You fee, before the gate, what ftalking ghoſt
Commands the guard; what centries keep the poſt.
Dryden, Æn. 6, *.777.
(13) See Pl. 39. Fig. 1.
DIALOGUE the Twentieth.
311
the famous Vatican manufcript;) the tranflation reprefents her as a ghoft, walking,
at the head of feveral others: where the original mentions Juno's flying to our
earth (14), the tranflation makes her deſcend to hell:—and where Virgil fpeaks of
Eridanus's directing fome of his waters down toward the vales of Elyfium (15), Mr. Dry-
den repreſents this river-god as making his ftream firft mount upward, and then as
hiding his head under-ground. There is fomething of this kind too, where the tranf-
lation makes Somnus draw a (16) trail of light after him, in his deſcent to Palinurus;
whereas the original only mentions his cleaying the dark air; (or perhaps caufing a fe-
renity in it, the eaſier to deceive that pilot :) and where it defcribes Sabinus (17), as reft-
ing his head on a little pruning-hook; contrary to the original, and to the reaſon of the
thing for a painter or ftatuary, I believe, would be reckoned to want judgment, who
ſhould repreſent any figure, as refting its head on a pruning-hook: and, by the way,
ſcarce any thing can be good in a poetical deſcription; which would appear abfurd, if
repreſented in a ſtatue, or picture,
(14) Hæc ubi dicta dedit, terras horrenda petivit.
Virgil. An. 7. . 323.
Thus having faid, fhe finks beneath the ground,
With furious hafte; and fhoots the Stygian found.
Dryden, En. 7. V. 450.
(15) Inter odoratum lauri nemus; unde fupernè
Plurimus Eridani per fylvam volvitur amnis.
Virgil. Æn.6. ✯.659.
Beneath a laurel fhade; where mighty Po
Mounts up to woods above, and hides his head below.
Dryden, Æn. 6. y. 894.
To ſay the truth, Virgil here does not ſpeak of
Eridanus perſonally, at all. He only fays, that there
is a confiderable branch from that river, which makes
its way under ground, (as the Po indeed plunges
wholly under ground, not many miles from its rife,)
and finks quite down to Elyfium; where it falls, in a
caſcade, down a hill covered on each fide with trees,
that always keep their verdure. This is, I think, the
moſt pleaſing idea in all Virgil's Elyfium: and, pof-
fibly, he had an eye in it to the famous valley of
Tempe in Theffaly: reckoned the moſt delightful
ſpot in the whole world; and beautified, in particular,
by the fall of the river Peneus, from mount Pindus;
with woods on each fide of it. (See Ovid's Met.
Lib. 1. y. 568, to 572.)
May I add another conjecture here, which would
yet add farther to the beauty of this part, in Virgil's
Elyfium? It is, that he may poffibly mean, that the
groves on each ſide of his caſcade are groves of orange-
trees; and confequently as pleafing in their fmell, as
in their look. Orange-trees were firft brought into
Italy, in Virgil's time. As they were fo lately intro-
duced among them, the Romans had as yet no name
for them; and it is therefore that Virgil, where he
is fuppofed by ſome very good judges to ſpeak of this
tree in his Georgics, is forced to point it out, by a
good deal of circumlocution; and by defcribing it
very particularly. It is a tree which, according to his
account, was brought into Italy from Media; whoſe
fruit had a ſharp, four taſte; he ſays, that it was
very good for the ſtomach and breath; and an ex-
cellent remedy againſt infections, and poiſons; that
it was a large tree, (as the orange-trees are much
larger in Italy than with us; and much larger in Me-
dia than in Italy ;) that the leaf of it, was very much
like the leaf of the laurel: but that it was diſtinguiſhed
from the laurel, by its lafting flowers, and by the
fine perfume that they caſt all around it. (Georg.
Lib. 2. y. 126, to 135.) As they had then no di-
ſtinct name for orange-trees, Virgil may here call
I
them laurels, from their likeneſs to that tree; but, at
the fame time, he takes care to diftinguish them from
the common laurel, by mentioning the moſt ſtriking
character of them, their fine fmell: odoratum lauri
nemus. I ſhould not have endeavoured to turn theſe
Elyfian groves of Virgil into orange-groves, had it
not been for the fine fmell he attributes to them.
•
Groves of laurel are more common in the gardens of
Rome at prefent, than thofe of any other trees what-
ever; but I could never yet perceive, in walking
thro' any of them, the leaft fhare of the fine ſmell
here mentioned. Tho' there was no Latin names
for the orange-trees in Virgil's time, there were two
not long after; at leaft by the time of Pliny: for
he calls it Malus Medica, or Affyria; in a paſſage,
which agrees fo extremely well with Virgil's account
of this tree, in his Georgics; that I muft add it to
this note, tho' it is fo unreaſonably long already.
Malus Affyria, quam alii vocant Medicam, (fays he,)
venenis medetur: folium ejus eft unedonis, intercur-
rentibus fpinis: pomum ipfum aliàs non manditur.
Odore præcellit, foliorum quoque; qui tranfit in
veftes unà conditus, arcetque animalium noxia. Ar-
bos ipfa, omnibus horis pomifera eft: aliis, canden-
tibus; aliis, maturefcentibus; aliis verò, fubnafcen-
tibus. Tentavere gentes transferre ad fefe, propter
remedii præftantiam, fictilibus in vafis ; dato per ca-
vernas radicibus fpiramento :-fed nifi apud Medos,
& in Perfide, nafci noluit. Hæc eft autem, cujus
grana Parthorum proceres incoquere diximus efculen-
tis, commendandi halitus gratiâ : nec alia arbor lau-
datur in Medis. Pliny's Nat. Hift. Lib. 12. Cap. 3.
(16)
-The foft God of Sleep, with cafy flight,
Defcends; and draws behind a trail of light.
Dryden, n. 5. . 1092.
Æn. y.
Levis æthereis delapfus fomnus ab aſtris
Aëra dimovit tenebrofum & difpulit umbras;
Te, Palinure, petens.
Virgil. Æn. 5. ✯.840.
(17) There ſtood Sabinus, planter of the vines:
On a fhort pruning-hook, his head reclines;
And ftudiouſly furveys his generous wines.
Dryden. Æn. 7. . 249.
Paterque Sabinus
Vitifator, curvam fervans fub imagine falcem.
Virgil. Æn. 7. . 179.
Virgil is fpeaking of the ftatues of Janus, Saturn,
and Sabinus, &c. fo that, fub imagine here may ei-
ther fignify that Sabinus's pruning-hook was partly
held under the drapery of his figure; or, that it lay
at his feet: but there is no manner of hint in the ori-
ginal, of his refting his head upon it.
L111
1
312
POLYMETIS.
}
I Do not know any one, even of our greatest poets, that has not been apt ſome-
times to mix the natural and allegorical ways of ſpeaking together; in a manner, very
uncommon among the antients. I think this is very blameable, wherever we meet with
it: but whatever indulgences may be allowed to original writers; a tranflator can cer-
tainly have no right to repreſent his author as confufed, where he himſelf is uniform and
clear. Yet there are inſtances in this tranflation of mixed allegories, where the original
is quite free from any fuch mixture; and of other liberties, which I think ſcarce allow-
able to a tranſlator: fuch as the introducing the allegorical ftyle, where Virgil has not
made uſe of it; and the omitting it, where he has. I fhall juft point out an inftance or
two of each, from the many which might be produced from Mr. Dryden's tranſlation,
Such, as to the firſt (18), is his idea of the morning-ſtar ſhaking dew from his hair; and
that of Xanthus, as ſtanding on a heap on his own waters :-as to the fecond; Deucalion's
(19) hurling his mother's entrails over the world; and Vulcan's riding with looſened
reins-and as to the third: the (20) calmness of the Tiber, in the eighth book of the
Eneid; and the ftorm of hail in the ninth.
ÁNOTHER ſet of faults in Mr. Dryden, in relation to the imaginary beings of the an-
tients, is owing to his not being fufficiently acquainted with their particular characters,
rank, and dignity: and this makes him fometimes vary from his original. I have ob-
ſerved to you before, how much Virgil was to be admired for defcribing the face of
Neptune
(18) Inſtances of mixt metaphor in Dryden, where
there is no fuch mixture in Virgil.
1.
So from the feas exerts his radiant head
The ftar, by whom the lights of heav'n are led :
Shakes from his rofy locks the pearly dews ;
Diſpels the darkneſs, and the day renews.
Dryden, Æn. 8. .781.
Qualis ubi Oceani perfufus Lucifer undâ,
(Quem Venus ante alios aftrorum diligit ignes)
Extulit os facrum cœlo, tenebrafque refolvit.
2.
Virgil. Æn. 8. . 591.
When crimfon Xanthus, doubtful of his way,
Stood up on ridges, to behold the fea.
Dryden, Æn. 5. ✈. 1056.
Nec reperire viam, atque evolvere poffet
Virgil. Æn. 5. *.808.
In mare fc Xanthus.
(19) Dryden allegorical, where Virgil is literal.
I.
Theſe the laws
Impos'd by nature, and by nature's caufe,
On fundry places; when Deucalion hurl'd
His mother's entrails o'er the defart world.
Dryden, Georg. I. *. 94.
Has leges æternaque fædera certis
Impofuit natura locis ; quo tempore primùm
Deucalion vacuum lapides jactavit in orbem.
Virgil. Georg. 1. . 62.
2.
The flame, unftopt at firſt, more fury gains ;
And Vulcan rides at large with looſen'd reins:
Triumphant, to the painted fterns he foars ;
And feizes, in his way, the banks and crackling oars.
Dryden, Æn. 5. v. 865.
Furit immiffis Vulcanus habenis
Tranftra per & remos, & pictas abiete puppes.
Virgil. Æn. 5. ✯.663.
As I take it, Immiffis habenis here is only meant to
fignify, without reſtraint, (or unſtopt, as Mr. Dry-
den tranflates it:) and Vulcanus, is only uſed for fire;
as Bacchus for wine, and Ceres for corn, in the fame
poem: Implentur veteris Bacchi. Æn. 1. .215.
Et Cererem corruptam undis. Ib. 177.
(20) Dryden literal, where Virgil is allegorical.
I.
The following night, and the fucceeding day,
Propitious Tiber ſmooth'd his watry way;
He rowl'd his river back: and pois'd he ſtood,
A gentle fwelling, and a peaceful flood.
Dryden, Æn. 8. †. 120.
Tybris eâ fluvium, quàm longa eft, nocte tumentem.
Leniit; & tacitâ refluens ita fubftitit undâ,
Mitis ut in morem ftagni placidæque paludis
Sterneret æquor aquis, remo ut luctamen abeffet.
Virgil. Æn. 8. *. 89.
To ſay the truth, there feems to be ſomething of
the mixed metaphor, (or rather, mixed allegory,)
here in Virgil himſelf; and I know no occafion in
which the antients are fo apt to fall into it, or at leaſt
to border upon it, as when they are ſpeaking of rivers
and river-gods.
2.
Or pattring hail comes pouring o'er the main,
When Jupiter deſcends in harden'd rain ;
Or bellowing clouds burft with a ſtormy found,
And with an armed winter ftrew the ground.
Dryden, Æn. 9. *.913.
This is meant to anſwer that noble agitated image of
the Jupiter Pluvius, difpenfing ſtorms and tempefts;
Quàm multâ grandine nimbi
In vada præcipitant; cum Jupiter, horridus Auftris,
Torquet aquofam hiemem & cœlo cava nubila rumpit.
Virgil. Æn. 9. .67*.
1
DIALOGUE the Twentieth.
313
Neptune as ferene (21) and undiſturbed, at the very time that he ſtrongly reſents the im-
proper
liberties taken by Æolus in his diſtrict: but this ſerenity is turned into anger,
in Mr. Dryden's tranſlation (22); and into rage and diſturbance, in his note on the place.
The fame fort of fault is committed, as to the character of Hercules; tho' with more
to fupport it from the original, than in the former cafe. It is where that great hero is
fo long diſappointed in his purſuit of Cacus; and afterwards in the account of his combat
with that monſter. The rage of Hercules on this occafion is aggravated (23), and his
appearance demeaned; in a cafe, where of the two what is faid ſhould rather have been
touched more flightly, than more ſtrongly.—It is from this want of being better ac
quainted with the rank and characters of the perfonages introduced, that Mr. Dryden
thinks it (24) preſuming in Minerva to throw the thunderbolts of Jupiter; and that he
makes Venus (25) thunder: I think, without any authority from Virgil.—And this carries
him
(21)
-Graviter commotus, & alto
Profpiciens, fummâ placidum caput extulit undâ.
Virgil. Æn. 1. . 127.
Eurum ad fe Zephyrumque vocat; dein talia fatur.
Id. Ibid. . 131.
-Tenet ille immania faxa,
Hic verò Alcidæ furiis exarferat, atro
Felle, dolor; rapit arma manu, nodifque gravatum
Robur.
Veftras, Eure, domos: illà fe jactet in aulâ
Eolus ; &, claufo ventorum carcere, regnet.
Ibid. y. 141.
Virgil. n. 8. .221.
Ecce furens animis aderat Tirynthius; omnemque
Acceffum luftrans, huc ora ferebat, & illuc,
Dentibus infrendens. Ter totum fervidus irâ
Luftrat Aventini montem: ter faxea tentat
Limina nequicquam; ter, feffus, valle refedit.
?
(22) And firſt an angry glance at both he caft.
Then thus rebuk'd "Audacious Winds! from whence
This bold attempt? This rebel infolence, &c.
Dryden, Æn. . . 189.
1. *.
His power to hollow caverns is confin'd;
There let him reign, the jailor of the wind!
With hoarſe commands his breathing fubjects call;
And boaft, and blufter, in his empty hall.
Id. Ibid. .202.
Mr. Dryden, in his note on this paſſage, ſays
"To raiſe a tempeft on the ſea, was ufurpation on
the prerogative of Neptune who had given him no
leave; and therefore was enraged at his attempt. I
may alſo add; that they who are in a paffion, (as
Neptune then was,) are apt to affume to themſelves,
more than is their due." Note on Æn. 1. *. 196.
The truth is, that Neptune here affumes lefs to
himſelf, than was his due. He might have puniſhed
them; whereas he only threatens them.
Tantane vos generis tenuit fiducia veftri ?
Jam cœlum terramque meo fine numine, Venti,
Mifcere, & tantas audetis tollere moles?
Quos ego-fed motos præftat componere fluctus :
Poft mihi non fimili pœnâ commiffa luetis.
Maturate fugam !
Virgil. Æn. . . 137.
1. *.
(23) Alcides found the fraud: with rage he ſhook;
And tofs'd, about his head, his knotted oak.
Dryden, Æn. 8. .286.
The wretch had hardly made his dungeon faft;
The fierce avenger came with bounding haſte :
Survey'd the mouth of the forbidden hold ;
And here and there his raging eyes he roll❜d.
He gnaſh'd his teeth; and thrice he compafs'd round
With winged ſpeed the circuit of the ground:
'Thrice at the cavern's mouth he pull'd in vain ;
And, panting, thrice defifted from his pain.
Id. Ib. ✯. 306.
The wrathful god then plunges from above;
And, where in thickeft waves the ſparkles drove,
There lights: and wades thro' fumes, and gropes his way;
Half findg'd, half ſtifled.--
Ib. . 342.
There is too much perhaps of this in Virgil him-
felf; but not ſo much, as in Dryden.
Id. Ibid. y. 232:
Non tulit Alcides animis, feque ipfe per ignem
Præcipiti injecit faltu; quâ plurimus undam
Fumus agit, nebulaque ingens fpecus æftuat atrâ.
Ib. .258.
This laft particular is great in Virgil, and little in
Dryden; and fitter for the herdfman-heroe, (as he
calls him in the beginning of the ftory, . 279.) than
for the chief of all the heroes, who were deified for
having acted for the good of mankind in this world.
(24) She (for the fault of one offending foe,)
The bolts of Jove himſelf prefum'd to throw.
Dryden, Æn. 1. y. 63.
Ipfa, Jovis rapidum jaculata e nubibus ignem,
Disjecitque rates, &c.
Virgil. En. . . 43.
I have ſhown before, (Dial, VI. p. 58, & 63.)
that Minerva, and Juno, were looked upon of old,
as ſharing with Jupiter, in all his higheſt powers;
and particularly, in that of diſpenſing his thunder-
bolts.
(25) But his bright mother from a breaking cloud,
To chear his iffue, thundred thrice aloud :
Thrice, forky lightning flash'd along the ſky;
And Tyrrhene trumpets thrice were heard on high.
Then, gazing up, repeated peals they hear ;
And, in a heav'n ferene, refulgent arms appear :
Redning the ſkies, and glittering all around,
The temper'd metals claſh, and yield a filver found.
Dryden, Æn. 8. .699.
-Ni fignum coelo Cytherea dediffet aperto.
Namque improvifo vibratus ab æthere fulgor
Cum fonitu venit ; & ruere omnia viſa repentè ;
Tyrrhenufque tubæ mugire per æthera clangor.
Sufpiciunt. Iterum atque iterum fragor increpat ingens:
Arma inter nubem, cœli in regione ferenâ,
Per fudum rutilare vident; & pulfa tonare.
Virgil. Æn. 8. y. 529.
Tho' it is true that the augurs of old did ſometimes
attribute the power of caſting forth lightnings to all
the twelve great gods, (in an inferior ſenſe to what
was attributed by them to Jupiter, Juno, and Mi̟-
nerva ;) yet I do not imagine that Virgil here ſpeaks
of Venus's cafting forth the lightning: and, much
leſs, of her thundering. The paffage indeed is dif-
ficult
1
314
1
POLYMETIS.
him in ſome inſtances ſo far, that he quite overturns the character of the deity he is
ſpeaking of: as for example, when one reads.of a miſchievous goddeſs (26), with extraor-
dinary terrors on her brow; who would gueſs that it was meant of Iris? And when a
god is called a traytor-god, and a devil (27); who would ever imagine, that this ſhould
be ſpoken of one of the moft gentle, and moſt pleaſing of all the deities?
I MUST juft obferve here, that Mr. Dryden is apt to fall into faults of this kind on
many other occafions, as well as the laſt mentioned, from his not guarding fufficiently
againſt vulgariſms. Mr. Dryden certainly wrote, in general, with as much ſpirit as any
man; and in the work before us, was preffed on by other cauſes, to write with yet more
rapidity than uſual. This muſt have occafioned ſeveral negligences: and among the
reft, fome low expreflions, and mean lines; fometimes very unworthy of the ſubject he
is treating. It is hence, I ſuppoſe, that he ſpeaks of Bacchus's honeft (28) face, and of
the jolly (29) Autumn. It is hence, that he calls Juno, the buxom (30) bride of Jupiter;
and Cybele, the (31) grandam-goddeſs. It is thus that he talks of Juno's (32) failing on
the winds, and Apollo's (33) beftriding the clouds. This made him fall into that (34)
flovenly
ficult enough; fo diñcuit, that most of the com-
mentators quite pafs it by. But if they had of old,
in Italy, that phænomenon which we call the Aurora
Borealis; and you were to view this paffage, in that
light; it might perhaps be cafy enough. That dart-
ing brightness; that ruthing of the heavens; even
the hearing of ſtrange noiſes, and the fancied appear-
ance of arms; I remember, were all things talked of,
on the appearance of the extraordinary phænome-
non of this kind, which appeared in all our northern
parts of Europe in the year 1716.
(26) The goddefs, great in miſchief.
Dryden, Æn. 5. .803.
Haud ignara nocendi.
Virgil. Æn. 5.618.
What terrors from her frowning front ariſe?
Id. Ibid. . 844.
Divini figna decoris,
Ardentefque notate oculos; qui fpiritus illi, &c.
Id. Ibid. . 648.
(27) Then thus the traitor god began his tale.
Dryden, Æn. 5. . 1097.
Virgil. Æn. 5. .841.
Id. Ibid. y. 1120.
Ipfe volans tenues fe fuftulit ales ad auras.
(28) See Note 1, antch.
Deus
The victor Dæmon mounts obfcure in air.
Id. Ibid. . 861.
(29) Where Mr. Dryden calls Autumnus jolly,
(Georg 2. .9.) Virgil calls him, Pampineus; or,
crowned with vine-leaves. (Ib..5.)
(30) The ſpring adorns the woods; renews the leaves :
The womb of earth the genial feed receives.
For them almighty Jove defcends; and pours
Into his buxom bride, his fruitful ſhow'rs:
And mixing his large limbs with hers, he feeds
Her births with kindly juice; and foſters teeming feeds.
Dryden, Georg. 2. ✯. 443.
Vere tument terræ ; & genitalia femina pofcunt.
Tum Pater omnipotens fæcundis imbribus æther
Conjugis in gremium lætæ defcendit; & omnes
Magnus alit, magno commixtus corpore fœtus.
Virgil. Ibid. . 327.
This is ſpoken, by Virgil, (more in the proper
ſenſe, than the metaphorical,) of the middle, and
lower air: and is one ſtrong inſtance, out of many,
of his following the ftyle of the old Roman poets of
the firſt age, very clofely. It is common with them
to ſay that Jupiter was the fame with the Æther, or
middle air;' in confequence of which, they uſed to
call the Æther, fometimes fimply, by the name of
Pater; and ſometimes, Pater Æther.
-Afpice hoc
Sublime candens, quem vocant omnes Jovem.
Ennius, in Thyeſte.
Ifteic is eft Jupiter quem dico, Græci vocant
Aëra; quique ventus eft, & nubes: imber poftea,
Atque ex imbre frigus; ventus poft fit, aër denuo :
Ifthæc propter Juppiter funt ifta, quæ dico tibi.
Id. in Epicharmo.
Hoc vide circum fupraque, quod complexu continet
Terram: id quod noftri cœlum memorant, Graii per-
hibent Æthera.
Quicquid eft hoc, omnia is animat; format; auget;
alit; ferat:
Sepelit, recipitque in fefe omnia; omniumque idem
eft pater.
Id. in Chryfe.
Pereunt imbres, ubi eos pater Æther
In gremium matris Terraï præcipitavit.
Lucretius, Lib. I. . 252.
(31) The grandam goddeſs then approach'd her fon;
And with a mother's majeſty begun.
Dryden, Æn. 9. *.95.
Ipfa Deûm fertur genetrix Berecynthia magnum
Vocibus his effata Jovem.-
Virgil. Ib. . 83.
(32) She faid; and failing on the winged wind, &c.
Incertam.
Dryden, Æn. 12. . 243.
Sic exhortata, reliquit
Virgil. Ib. . 160.
}
(33) Apollo then beftrode a golden cloud
To view the feats of arms and fighting croud ;
And thus the beardleſs victor he beſpoke aloud.
Dryden, Ib. 9. . 875.
Ætheriâ tum forte plagâ crinitus Apollo
Defuper Aufonias acies urbemque videbat,
Nube fedens; atque his victorem affatur Iülum.
Virgil. Ib. y. 640.
(34) Or if thro' mifts he ſhoots his fullen beams,
Frugal of light, in looſe and ftragling ftreams ;-
Or if Aurora, with half-open'd eyes,
And a pale fickly cheek, falute the ſkies.
Dryden, Georg. 1. *. 595.
Aut ubi fub lucem denfa inter nubila fefe
Diverfi rumpent radii; aut ubi pallida furget
Tithoni croceum linquens Aurora cubile.
Virgil. Ib. .447.
DIALOGUE the Twentieth.
315
flovenly deſcription of Aurora, and that (35) ftrange one of Taurus. This led him to
uſe Bacchus with ſo much familiarity, as he does in the following couplet:
Come ſtrip with me, my God! Come, drench all o'er
Thy limbs in muſt of wine, and drink at every pore (36).
And to infert thoſe little particularities, in his deſcription of Typhoeus's furprize
Then trembles Prochyta; then Iſchia roars.
Typhoeus, thrown beneath by Jove's command,
Aſtoniſh'd at the flaw that ſhakes the land,
"Soon fhifts his weary fide: and, ſcarce awake,
With wonder feels the weight prefs lighter on his back (37),”
And this; in Juturna's flight:
She drew a length of fighs; no more ſhe ſaid 5
But in her azure mantle wrapt her head:
Then plung'd into her ſtream, with deep deſpair;
"And her laſt fobs came bubling up in air (38)."
Ir is to this hurry and impetuofity of Mr. Dryden in performing the work before us,
that I ſhould be apt too to attribute his taking fometimes one perfon for another; and
fometimes, one thing for another. Thus Tellus is mentioned in the tranflation (39),
inſtead of Veſta in the original; Ate (40), inſtead of Tifiphone; Scorpius (41), inftead
(35) When with his golden horns, in full career,
The Bull beats down the barriers of the year;
And Argos, and the Dog, forfake the northern ſphere.
Dryden, Georg. 1.
Candidus auratis aperit cum cornibus annum
Taurus, & averfo fedens Canis occidit aftro.
(36) Dryden, Georg. 2. . 12.
.308.
Virgil, Ib. . 218.
Huc, pater O Lenæe! (tuis hic omnia plena
Muneribus ;)
Huc, pater O Lenæe, veni! Nudataque mufto
Tinge novo mecum dereptis crura cothurnis.
(37) Dryden, Æn. 9. . 972.
*.
Virgil. Ib.
Tum fonitu Prochyta alta tremit; durumque cubile
Inarime, Jovis imperiis impofta Typhoo.
Virgil. Ib. y. 716.
(38) Dryden, Æn. 12. . 1283.
of
dium, or the pledge of their Empire over all the
world. In this cafe, if the name of Veſta muſt be
taken away, and any new one ſubſtituted in its
room; Mr. Dryden had much better have called her
Fire, than Earth.
I muſt juſt add, that there is another miſtake of
perfons, in this very paffage; and, indeed, a very
grofs one. Virgil, by the Dii patrii here means the
great Triad of deities, firft received all over the eaft;
and afterwards, fucceffively, in Greece and Italy.
Theſe the antient writers in general, (from Herodotus
quite down to Macrobius,) ufually call by the title of
.8. EOL Пaтgwo, or Dii Patrii. There is an endleſs va-
riety of opinions, who theſe three deities were, who
were ſo much revered in the eaſt; and particularly in
the iſland of Samothrace: but among the Romans, it
is evident enough that the three deities received as
the three fupreme, were Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva:
and therefore Virgil adds the word, Indigites, to fix
it to the EO Пarowo, or the three great fupreme
Gods, received as fuch in his own country. Indigi-
tes here, is much the fame as Noftri, in Juvenal;
where he is ſpeaking of theſe very deities. (Sat. 3.
. 145.) They are therefore no lefs perfonages than
Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva, (the three fupreme,
among all the gods of the Romans,) whom Dryden
here repreſents Virgil as calling, "Home-born dei-
ties; of mortal birth.'
Tantum effata, caput glauco contexit amictu,
Multa gemens; & fe fluvio Dea condidit alto.
Virgil. Ib. . 886.
(39) Dii Patrii Indigites! & Romule! Veftaque mater,
Quæ Tufcum Tiberim & Romana palatia fervas!
Virgil. Georg. 1. .499.
Ye home-born deities, of mortal birth!
Thou father Romulus! and mother Earth,
Goddefs unmov'd!
Dryden, Ib. y. 670.
It is very true, that Veſta was ſometimes taken for
Tellus in the old Mythology; but that was not un-
der the character, in which fhe is here reprefented.
She is here reprefented as one of the deities who pre-
fided over the welfare and fafety of the Roman ſtate:
as the goddefs, to whom they kept up the perpetual
fire; and in whofe temple they depofited the Palla-
1
(40) Pallida Tifiphone media inter millia fævit,
Virgil. Æn. 10. *.761;
Amidft the croud infernal Atè ſhakes
Her fcourge aloft, and creft of hiffing fuakes.
Dryden, Ib. . 1080.
(41) Taygete fimul os terris oftendit honeſtum
Pleias, & oceani fpretos pede reppulit amnes;
M.mm m
Aut
i
1
316
'
POLYMETIS.
of Pifcis; Nereids (42), inftead of Naiads; and Nymphs of the water (43), inftead of
Nymphs of the air. Thus, where the original ſpeaks of a mountain (44), the tranflation
turns it into a river-god: where the former mentions the three bodies of Geryon (45),
the latter makes it three lives: and where Virgil fpeaks, at moſt, but of eighteen water-
nymphs; Dryden has increaſed them (46), in his account, to the number of fifty.
BUT the great fundamental fault of Mr. Dryden, in this view, is yet behind. What
I mean is his being unacquainted with the real intent and defign of the allegories, uſed
by the antients; and indeed with their ſcheme of machinery, in general. The greateſt
of the antient poets feem to have held, that every thing in the moral, as well as the natural
world, was carried on by the influence and direction of the fupreme being (47). It was
Jupiter that actuated every thing; and in fome fenfe might be faid to do every thing,
that was done. This univerfal principle of action they confidered, for their own eaſe,
as divided into ſo many ſeveral perfonages, as they had occafion for caufes. Hence, (as
I have ſaid (48) before,) every part of the creation was filled by them with deities: and
no action was performed, without the affiftance of fome god, or another; for every
power ſuperior to man, they called by that name. This way of thinking, (or, at leaſt,
this way of talking,) was received by many of their philofophers, as well as poets: tho'
it was particularly ferviceable to the latter; and therefore appears fo frequently in their
works. Petronius Arbiter tells us (49), that a good epic poet fhould always lay hold of
this advantage; and fhould carry on his whole action, by the help of what we call
machinery: and where Horace fpeaks againſt gods being introduced too freely, (in a
paffage that is ſo often quoted, and ſometimes not quite to the purpoſe ;) he ſpeaks only
Aut eadern, fidus fugiens ubi Pifcis aquofi,
Triftior hybernas coelo defcendit in undas.
Virgil. Georg. 4. $. 235.
Firft, when the pleafing Pleiades appear;
And ſpringing upward fpurn the briny feas:
Again, when their affrighted Quire furveys
The watry Scorpion mend his pace behind,
With a black train of ſtorms and winter wind,
They plunge into the deep; and fafe protection find.
Dryden, Ib. .343.
(42) Betwixt two rows of rocks, a fylvan ſcene
Appears above; and groves for ever green :
A grôtt is form'd beneath with moffy feats,
To reft the Nereïds, and exclude the heats.
Dryden, Æn. 1. . 236.
Y.
Fronte fub adverfâ fcopulis pendentibus antrum :
Intus aquæ dulces, vivoque fedilia faxo;
Nympharum domus.
Virgil. Ib. . 172.
(43) Twice ſev'n, the charming daughters of the main,
Around my perfon wait, and bear my train:
Succeed my wifh, and ſecond my defign;
The faireſt, Deïopeia, fhall be thine :
And make thee father of a happy line.
Dryden, Æn. 1. †. 111.
Sunt mihi bis feptem præftanti corpore nymphæ ;
Quarum, quæ formâ pulcherrima, Deiopeiam
Connubio jungam ſtabili propriamque dicabo.
Virgil. Ib. y. 77. (Spoke, by Juno; to Eolus.)
(44) Addam urbes Afiæ domitas; pulfumque Niphaten.
Virgil. Georg. 3. ¥.30.
Niphates with inverted urn,
And dropping fedge, fhall his Armenia mourn ;
And Afian cities in our triumph born.
Dryden, Ib. . 47.
This it ſeems was objected to Mr. Dryden as a
fault in his own time; and he endeavours to anſwer
the objection, in his note on the place: where he
pleads, for his making Niphates a river; from a con-
nexion, which is not in Virgil,
againſt
(45) Tergemini nece Geryonis fpoliifque fuperbus,
Alcides aderat.--
Virgil. Æn. 8. ¥. 203.
}
Th' avenging force of Hercules from Spain
Arriv'd in triumph; from Geryon flain :
Thrice liv'd the Giant; and thrice liv'd in vain.
Dryden, Ib. . 268.
(46) There are but 18 nymphs mentioned by Vir-
gil, in his account of Cyrene's grotto; including Cly-
menè and Cyrenè herſelf: (ſee Georg. 4. *. 333, to
350.) Of which paffage Mr. Dryden fays; " The
poet here records the names of fifty river-nymphs :
and, for once, I have tranſlated them all." Note,
to his Tranflation; Georg. 4. . 477.
(47) Virgil, in his propofition to the Æneid, fays
that every thing that happened to his hero was, Vi
fuperum; and Homer, in his propofition to the Iliad,
fays that the quarrel between Achilles and Agamem-
non, (and all the mifchievous confequences of it,)
was only a fulfilling of the will of Jove: Atos dε7ε-
λELETO EXλn.
When Cicero ſays, "that reafon obliges us to
own that every thing is done by Fate ;" (Fieri om-
nia a Fato, ratio cogit fateri, De Div. 1. 55.) he
means juſt the ſame by that word, that Homer does
by his Aos Exλn, and Virgil by his Vis fuperum;
Fatum, being nothing elſe but the word of Jupiter,
or, (as they otherwiſe term it,) of the gods. Fatum
dicunt effe, quod Dii fantur, vel quod Jupiter fatur.
Ifid. Orig. Lib. 8. Cap. 2.-See Dial. X. p. 151,
anteh.
(48) Dial. I. p. 2.
(49) Per ambages, deorumque minifteria, & fabu-
lofum fententiarum tormentum, præcipitandus eft
liber fpiritus. Petr. Arb. §. 78.
1
DIALOGUE the Twentieth.
317
very best
againſt the introducing them too freely, on the ſtage (50): for in epic poems, the
of the antient poets, and the greateſt patterns for writing that ever were, introduce them
perpetually, and without referve. Homer, who was fo highly admired by Horace,
fcarce does any thing without them: and Virgil, who was both admired and loved fo
much by him; (and whofe Æneid was even publiſhed, ten years before Horace died;)
follows Homer more cloſely in this, than in any other point I know of. But the ex-
ample of Virgil is, I think, fufficient for me at preſent; who has employed machinery
ſo much and fo freely in his Æneid, that almoſt the whole courſe of the ſtory is carried
on by the intervention of gods. I ſhould be too tedious to you, fhould I endeavour to
trace this from the beginning to the end of that poem: but, if you pleaſe, we will juſt
run over the firſt book of it, in this light. There you will fee, that if Æneas meets
with a ſtorm, juſt after his firſt ſetting out (51); it is Æolus that raiſes it, at the requeſt
of Juno, and by the operation of the feveral Genius's that prefide over the winds :---
if the fea grows calm again, it is by the appearance of the deity (52), who prefides over
that element; who countermands thoſe winds, and fends them back to their caves.
If Æneas lands on the coaft of Afric, and is to be received kindly, at Carthage (53); it is
Mercury that is fent by Jupiter, to foften the minds of the Carthaginians and their
queen, toward him
toward him :--and if he eſcapes all the attacks and dangers in paffing thro' an
unknown country, and an inhofpitable people, till he comes to their capital; it is
Venus (54), who ſhrouds him in a cloud, and protects him from all danger. In fine, if
the falls in love with him when he is arrived there; tho' fhe be reprefented as not
old, and he as very handſome: yet muſt Cupid (55) do no leſs, than undergo a transfor-
mation; to lie on her breaſt, and infinuate that ſoft paffion there. This fort of
This fort of manage-
ment, which is uſed ſo much by Virgil in the entrance of his poem, runs thorough it
quite to the end and appears as fully in Æneas's combat with Turnus, in the laſt book;
as it did, in his arrival to Carthage, in the firft. Every ſtep, and progreffion in the ſtory,
is full of machinery; or, (according to Petronius's general rule,) is carried on by the
interpofition and adminiſtration of the gods.
queen
OUR modern poets, in general, feem not to have had any right ideas of the antient
ſcheme of machinery, till long after the reſtoration of poetry; not till about the middle
of the laſt century; and even now, very imperfect ones. As they had not the fame
general plan, nor the fame doctrines to go upon, they ran into feveral errors, in relation
to it; both in their own practice, and in their notions of the antients: and feveral of
theſe continue, in a great degree, to this day. The chief of theſe miſtakes were: firſt,
that machinery was generally uſed of old only to make a poem look more ſtrange and
furprizing; and fecondly, that the poets were too apt to introduce machines, (or fuper-
natural cauſes,) where they could not account for events, fo naturally as they fhould:
whereas in reality, in the works of the antients, nature and machinery generally go hand
in hand; and ſerve, chiefly, to manifeſt one another. Thus, for inſtance, in the ſtorm,
in the very beginning of the Æneid: theſe imaginary beings are introduced in every part
of it; but it is only fuch beings, as are proper for the part in which they are introduced;
and they appear there only to carry on the true order of the natural effects. The god-
defs of the upper air defires the god of the winds, to let looſe thoſe turbulent fubjects of
his: they are let loofe: the fea is immediately all in a tumult; and the god of the fea
appears, to make it all calm again. There feems to me, not to be any more difference
in this, and the natural account of the thing; than if you fhould fay, that all the parts
(50) Nec pueros coram populo Medea trucidet ;
Aut humana palam coquat exta nefarius Atreus:
Aut in avem Progne vertatur ; Cadmus in anguem.
Nec deus interfit, nifi dignus vindice nodus.
Inciderit.
(52) See Ib. y. 128, to 160.
(53) See Ib. 1. *. 227, to 308.
of
(54) See Ib. *. 318, to 422. (and the effect of it,
Horat. de Art, Poet. . 185, to 192. to 590.)
(gr) See Æn. I. Ỷ. 38, to go.
(55) See Ib. 661, to 727.
2
318
POLYMETIS.
of matter tend towards each other; and I fhould fay, that fome fpiritual power always
impels them towards each other. The effects are juft the fame: only in one cafe we
look upon them, as acting; and in the other, as acted upon.
cc
"C
I COULD run out much farther on this fubject; but what I have faid, I think, may
be fufficient. To return therefore to Mr. Dryden. That great man ſeems to have
fallen too much into the vulgar notions of machinery. It is this which makes him
fpeak of it, in fo flighting and contemptuous a manner, in general: as where he fays (56);
"The matter of Ariftæus's recovering his bees, might have been diſpatched in leſs
compaſs; without fetching the cauſes ſo far, or intereſting fo many gods and goddeffes
"in that affair:" and in another place (57): “ Of Venus and Juno, Jupiter and Mer-
cury, I ſay nothing; for they were all machining work." Thus, where he is ſpeak-
ing of the three greateſt epic poets that have ever been, he excludes Milton, and admits
Taffo in his place; chiefly, becauſe the former deals ſo much in machinery: for out of
the three reaſons (58) which he gives for the exclufion of Milton, two of them ſeem to
be founded on that bottom. Indeed by thefe, and many other of his expreffions, Mr.
Dryden ſeems to have given into both the particular miſtakes I have mentioned to you,
in the moſt vulgar notions of machinery: and to have imagined that Virgil generally
introduces theſe imaginary beings ufelefly, or only for ornament; and ſometimes bung-
lingly, or only to excufe what is not otherwiſe well accounted for. Thus, in ſpeaking
of the Dire in the laſt Æneid, he ſays; "This machine is one of thoſe, which the poet
"uſes (59) only for ornament:" and of the fame, and Jupiter's weighing the fates of Æneas
and Turnus; " Theſe two machines,-were (60) only ornamental; and the fuccefs of
"the duel had been the ſame without them :" and in another place, in general; "Our
"author feldom employs machines (61), but to adorn his poem." Thus, on Neptune's
calming the ſea in the firſt Æneid; and his conducting Æneas's fleet fafe to the coaſt of
Italy, in the fifth; he ſays: "I name theſe two examples, among a hundred which I omit,
<c to prove
that Virgil, generally ſpeaking, employed his machines in performing thoſe
"things; which might poffibly have been done without them. What more frequent,
"than a ſtorm at fea upon the rifing of Orion? What wonder, if among fo many ſhips,
"there fhould one be overfet which was commanded by Orontes; tho' half the
"Winds had not been there, which Eolus employed? Might not Palinurus, without
a miracle, fall aſleep and drop into the ſea, having been over wearied with watching?
But machines fometimes are (62) fpecious things, to amufe the reader; and to
give a colour of probability to things, otherwife incredible." And thus, on Mercury's
being ſent to haften Æneas from Carthage, he makes the following exclamation. "Oh.
"how convenient is a machine fometimes in an heroic poem! This of Mercury is
plainly one; and Virgil was conſtrained to uſe it here, or the honeſty of his hero would
"be ill-defended (63).
c.
cr
<<
'
I Must own to you, that this very machine laſt mentioned, (the introducing Mercury,
to oblige Æneas to purſue his voyage to Italy,) which Mr. Dryden ſpeaks of as ſuch a
forced one; feems to me to be particularly eaſy, and obvious; and very well adapted.
(56) Life of Virgil, p. 46. 12mo.
(57) Dedication to the Æneid, p. 381, 12mo,
(58) Milton, he ſays, might have had a fairer plea
to be reckoned among the first epic poets; "If the
devil had not been his hero, inſtead of Adam ;
if the giant had not foiled the knight;-and if
there had not been more machining perfons, than hu-
man, in his poem." Ded. to the Æneid, p. 352.
12mo.
(59) Ibid. p. 407.
(60) Ibid. p. 408.
(61) Note on Georg. 4. *. 660.
(62) Ded. to the Æneid. p. 404. 12mo.
What
The word, fpecious, is generally uſed in a bad
fenfe, in Engliſh. Horace ufes the word ſpeciofus, in
a very different ſenſe; in ſpeaking of this very fub-
ject:
Non fumum ex fulgore, fed ex fumo dare lucem
Cogitat; ut fpeciofa dehinc miracula promat :
Antiphaten, Scyllamque, & cum Cyclope Charybdim,
De Art. Poet. *. 145. (of Homer.)
(63) Ded. to the Æneid, p. 380.
1
•
DIALOGU E the Twentieth.
319
What the vulgar believed to be brought about, by the will of their gods; the poets de-
ſcribed, as carried on by a viſible interpofition of thoſe gods: and this to me ſeems to be
the whole myſtery of the machinery of the antients.-When the gods are thus introduced
in a poem, to help on any fact with which they were particularly ſuppoſed to be con-
cerned, I call that machinery, eafy and obvious: and when the god thus introduced is
the moſt proper that could be employed on that particular occafion, I call it well adapted.
This I take to be the cafe, in Virgil's introducing Mercury; on the occafion above men-
tioned. It was a fuppofed fact among the Romans, that Æneas came to Italy in confe-
quence of the will of heaven, and the exprefs order of the gods; declared in oracles, and
prophecies. What they thus fuppofed, Virgil realizes. The Fates, or will of heaven,
in Virgil is Jupiter giving his orders: and the declaration of it to Æneas, is expreffed by
Mercury, (the ufual meffenger of the will of heaven,) coming down to him; and giving
him the orders he had from Jupiter. This machinery then is both obvious, and well
adapted: and, we may add, that it could ſcarce be better timed, than when Æneas was
at the greateſt ſtop he met with in his whole voyage for Italy; and when he was moſt in
danger of quitting his defign. This ſeems to me to be as obvious, and well adapted; as
that known piece of machinery in the Roman poets, relating to the deification of Romu-
lus. The vulgar among the Romans believed, that Romulus was the ſon of Mars; and
that, when his time was come, he was received among the gods; on account of his birth,
and for his great atchievements in war. The poets therefore, in mentioning this, ſay
that Mars deſcended from heaven in his war-chariot; and carried up Romulus with him
in it (64), to the abode of Jupiter. Thus they both fay the very fame thing; only the
poetical way of expreffing it, is more perfonal and defcriptive than the proſe one. This
I ſhould imagine to be generally the caſe, in the machinery of the antients: and as I was
faying juſt now, that they commonly ſuppoſed that man could do nothing of himſelf;
and was actuated in every thing by the direction of heaven, or the will of Jupiter;
their poets had as full ſcope for this, as they could wiſh: for on that ſingle principle
they might, Ithink, very fairly introduce fome proper deity, as affifting in any action;
wherever they thought it would ſerve either to ſtrengthen, or beautify the narration. I
ſhall juſt add one thing, which I have flightly hinted at before: that if any modern poet
was to form a new ſcheme for machinery, confifting of good and bad angels; or of any
imaginary beings, by whatever names he might pleaſe to call them: our poets would
have as full ſcope for introducing them, whenever they pleaſed, on the doctrine of par-
ticular providence, in the moral world; or on that thought in the Newtonian philofo-
phy, which ſuppoſes all motion may poffibly be occafioned by the immediate impulſe
of ſome ſpiritual being, in the natural; as the antient poets had from the doctrine of Fate,
or the will of Jupiter, interfering in all things.
IF fome great genius, in any future age, fhould introduce and eſtabliſh ſuch a ſcheme
as I am ſpeaking of; I ſhould imagine that his readieſt and beſt way, would be to adapt
the characters and reprefentations already received from the antients, in all cafes where
they might be eaſily and naturally transferred into his ſcheme. Thus the goddeſs of
Peace, for inſtance, might as well be called the meffenger of peace; and the Apollo
inflicting plagues, might be turned into a deſtroying angel. In the doctrine of angels,
as it already ſtands, he would find a full fupply for the adminiſtration of any happineſs,
or miſery, that can befal mankind: and if the imaginations of the ſchoolmen are not too
whimſical to be made uſe of, even by the poets, in this caſe; he might there find all
their hierarchies, degrees, and offices, already ſettled. The very name of angel in our
fenſe of the word, is much the fame with that of a god in the language of the heathens;
and our idea of devils, falls in very much with their notion of a fury. So that much
might be done by only ſhifting the names, and retaining the old characters and repre-
fentations.
(64) Horat. Lib. 3. Od. 3. ¥. 16. - Ovid. Faſt. lib. 2. *. 496. & Met. lib. 14. ¥.820, &c.
THE
3
!
Nnnn
220
POLYMETIS.
THE reaſon why I ſhould think it would be the beſt way, for any one who was to form
a new plan of machinery, to transfer the characters and appearances of their imaginary
perſons from the antients; muſt, I believe be very obvious to you. He would by theſe
means be ſupplied with a great number of them, ready made to his hands: generally,
well known; and, for the moſt part, formed at firſt with much fimplicity, and great ex-
preffiveneſs. He would have nothing to do, but to invent new ones of a like ſtamp,
wherever there was a neceffity of invention; and to diſcard the old ones, wherever they
might be incompatible with his ſcheme, or at leaſt improper for it. A man of genius
might by theſe means, I think, compofe a new ſcheme with much more eaſe, than may
be generally imagined. But in his application of it, he ſhould be particularly careful to
be uniform; nor ever mix any one name of the gods of the heathens, with the names
of the miniſters of bleffings and vengeance uſed in our facred writings: a fault, which
our great Milton himſelf is not always free from.
THUS, if any one was to form a new ſcheme for allegories in poetry, my collection
here might ſtill be very uſeful to him: and if any ſuch inventor ſhould ariſe in our days,
it ſhould be very much at his fervice. However till fuch a thing does happen, I think
our poets ſhould follow the old ſcheme, as uniformly; as they ſhould a new one, when
once received.
I HAVE for fome time been talking to you on allegories only; as my fubject led me
particularly to confiderations of that kind: but the idea of illuſtrating the works of the
claffics, from the figures of the antient artiſts, might be extended to ſeveral other things.
Some of theſe I ſhall juſt point out to you and you may hear me with the more patience,
becauſe this will clofe all I have to fay on this head. Indeed, you have made me launch
out into a great deal of talk, for theſe ten days: but heaven be praiſed, we at length be-
gin to come in fight of the ſhore !
ព
Page 32,0
Boilard sculpo.
321
DIAL.
XXI.
Some Hints, to fhew how this fort of ENQUIRY, might be
carried on and compleated.
W
HEN I firſt began to make my collection, (continued Polymetis,) I did not
think of confining it to the figures of the imaginary beings of the antients;
but to take in ſeveral other things, which I thought might poffibly be of uſe
toward making the claffics more intelligible: but after going fome way in it, I found
the deſign ſo extenſive, and ſo copious; that it ſeemed to me too much for any one man,
(at leaſt, for ſuch an one as I am,) to compleat it in its full extent. I therefore choſe to
confine myſelf to one part only; that of the figures of the heathen deities: but a part
which, to ſay the truth, goes perhaps as far; as all the reft would, if put together. I
ſhall mention to you fome of the principal points, which I at firft thought of; but
afterwards left untouched, and ready for any one who may ever think of making a fe-
cond collection.
HAD I gone on with my firſt defign, and made a Mufæum for antiques relating to
other fubjects, as well as the heathen deities; what I ſhould have placed in the very firſt
partition of it, would have been fuch as are very much connected with them: fuch, I
mean, as relate to the amours of thoſe deities with mortals. Theſe are very common
fubjects, both with the artiſts and poets; and we generally find a very great agreement
in their works, relating to them. Thus Jupiter's deſcent to Semele, in all his glory, is
deſcribed (1) by Ovid with the ſame circumſtances, that you fee it in gems (2); on which
Jupiter appears furrounded with lightnings and fire, on that occafion. Danaë is expreffed
in (3) gems, juſt as ſhe is deſcribed (4) by the fame poet. You have the whole ſtory of
Europa, told at large in a piece of Moſaic (5), at the Barbarini palace in Rome; and the
figures of Jupiter carrying her acroſs the ſea, under the ſhape of a bull, are very com-
mon on gems: you fee her, I believe, in one or other of them, in each of the attitudes
which Ovid (6) gives her on that occafion, in ſo many different parts of his works. Leda,
and her fwan, is yet more common on antiques; and appears on them often, as ſhe is
deſcribed (7) by the fame. The ſtory of Ganymede's being carried from mount Ida by
the eagle, is a common fubject in gems, ftatues, and relievos. The
The poets fometimes
fuppofe this eagle to be Jupiter (8) himfelf; and fometimes to be only that bird (9), fent
to perform the orders of Jupiter. The artiſts too ſeem to have followed fometimes one,
and ſometimes the other of theſe opinions: for the relievo in the antichamber to the Flo-
rentine-gallery, and the figure relating to this fubject at St. Mark's library in Venice, ex-
prefs the paffion of love in the eagle himſelf; whereas many other repreſentations of the
fame ſtory, ſhew nothing but his care and fidelity. The artiſts too have not forgot Gany-
mede's
(1) Ovid. Met. Lib. 3. y. 293, to 309.
(2) Baron Stoſche's collection of drawings; at
Florence. Vol. 2.
(3) Muf. Flor. Vol. I. Pl. 66, 4.
(4) Ovid. Am. Lib. 3. El. 8. v. 34.
(5) See Turnbull's Paintings of the Antients. Fl. 8.
*.
(6) See Met. Lib. 2. . 873, to 875.Ib. lib. 6.
*. 105, to 107. Faft. lib. 5. . 605, to 614.
(7) See Ovid. Her. Ep. 17. . 56.Met. lib. 6.
*. 109.
(8) Rex fuperûm Phrygii quondam Ganymedis amore
Arfit; & inventum eft aliquid quod Jupiter effe,
Quàm quod erat mallet; nullâ tamen alite verti
Dignatur, nifi quæ poffet fua fulmina ferre:
Nec mora, percuffo mendacibus aëra pennis,
Abripit Iliaden.
Ovid. Met. lib. 10. y. 160.
(9) Cui rex deorum regnum in aves vagas
Permifit, expertus fidelem
Jupiter in Ganymede flavo.
Horat. Lib. 4. Od. 4. $.4.
322
POLYMETIS.
mede's preferment afterwards; nor the refentment with which Juno ufed to regard him,
in his high poſt: a fubject ſo familiarly known from the relievos of old; that it may
poffibly on that account be only juſt hinted at by (10) Ovid, where he has an occafion of
fpeaking of it. Theſe are ſome of the moſt remarkable, among the numerous amours of
Jupiter; the chief of the gods in debauchery, as well as in power. Several other of the
heathen deities, tho' not ſo guilty as Jupiter, yet are not free from the fame reproach.
Neptune's rape of Cænis, (or fome other lady,) is repreſented on a relievo (11), in
the Admiranda; and Apollo's purſuit of Daphne, and her transformation into a laurel-
tree, appears (12) on an old gem: tho', to ſay the truth, I have never met with this ſtory
fo well expreffed in any work of the antient artiſts; as it is in Bernini's ftatue of them,
in the Villa Borghefe. The amour of Bacchus and Ariadne is not uncommon, on gems:
and the famous amour of Venus and Adonis is as common on them, as that of Diana
and Endymion is on Sarcophagus's. But I muſt juſt obſerve to you, that the artiſts and
poets have kept up a great deal of decorum, in their different manner of telling theſe two
ftories: for Venus, whoſe character is abandoned, is repreſented by them on this occafion,
as giving a looſe to her paffion; whereas the chafte Diana has (13) a veil over her head,
and feems wholly engaged in contemplating the beauty of Endymion, while he is aſleep:
beſide that, in this latter caſe, there are fome other figures uſually inferted by the artiſts;
which ſeem to infer plainly enough that it was rather meant to ſhadow out fome phi-
lofophical myſtery, than to expreſs any real amour.
THESE which I have mentioned, and feveral others which I might have mentioned,
would have ſupplied me with fufficient furniture for the firſt partition in my long room,
or gallery; had I carried on my defign fo far, as I was once inclined to do. In the
fecond partition, I would have ranged the copies of fuch antiques, as relate to the he-
roes (14); or the offspring of the gods, from their amours with mortals. There
There you
might have ſeen, Zethus and Amphion, (the twin-fons of Jupiter, by Antiopè,) revenging
the cauſe of their mother on the unhappy Dircè: in the fame manner as that ſtory is
expreffed in the famous group of figures, at the Farneſe palace in Rome; and as it is
told (15) by Propertius. From whom, by the way, one learns an additional propriety
obſerved by the artiſt, in laying Amphion's lyre by him: which the author of one of
the old Latin tragedies had in his eye too; tho' he has acted lefs properly, in placing it (16)
in his hand. Had he held it there, whilſt he ought to have been wholly engaged in
other matters, Zethus would have had fufficient reaſon to be angry with him for being
too fond of his fiddle, and to have got him to quit it; as, it is ſaid (17), he did afterwards
on a lefs important occafion. There you might have ſeen Perfeus, the ſon of Jupiter by
Danaë, with the true air of a hero, (that is, fomething between a deity and a man,)
giving his hand to the modeſt Andromeda; to lead her from the rock, where ſhe juſt
before expected a moſt cruel death. You muſt remember the incomparable relievo
that repreſents this ſtory, formerly in Cardinal Albani's noble collection at Rome; toge-
ther with which it was purchaſed by the Pope, and is now placed in the Capitoline
gallery:
(10)
Nunc quoque pocula mifcet ;
Invitâque Jovi nector Junone miniftrat.
Ovid. Met. Lib. 10. . 161.
(11) Pl. 29.
(12) Maffei's Gems, Vol. II. Pl. 44.
(13) See Dial. XII. p. 199. anteh.
(14) Varia hujus vocabuli adferuntur etyma; mihi,
quod Platoni placuit, maximè placet: ut fit ab Egws,
amor; propterea quòd, ex amore deorum erga fæmi-
nas mortales, vel dearum erga mares mortales, geniti
fint. Ainſworth, in Vocab, Heroes. Thef. Pars ult.
(15) Tu reddis pueris matrem; puerique trahendam
Vinxerunt Dircen fub trucis ora bovis :
Antiope, cognofce Jovem ! Tibi gloria Dirce
Ducitur, in multis mortem habitura locis.
Prata cruentantur Zeti; victorque canebat
Pæana Amphion rupe, Aracynthe, tuâ.
Propertius, Lib. 3. El. 15. .42.
(16) Dextrâ ferocem cornibus taurum premens
Zetus; manuque fuftinet lævâ chelym,
Qui faxa dulci traxit Amphion fono.
Oedipus, A&t. 3. Sc. 1. .612.
(17) Nec, cum venari volet ille, poemata panges.
Gratia fic fratrum geminorum Amphionis atque
Zethi diffiluit donec fufpecta fevero
Conticuit lyra.
Hor. Lib. 1. Ep. 18. ¥. 43:
J
DIALOGUE the Twenty-First.
323
gallery where it demands a particular attention, amidſt the many beauties that adorn
that place. Ovid, in ſpeaking of Andromeda on this occafion, makes her a compliment
which is very common with the antients; tho' I would not anſwer for its ſucceſs now:
he fays, ſhe was as beautiful (18) as a ſtatue, or a work of art. He ſpeaks too, of that
(19) modeft air of her face; which is fo very remarkably expreffed, in the Capitoline
relievo. I might have added to this fecond partition, feveral drawings or copies from
antiques, relating to the fame hero; and fome others: particularly, all the pieces that
have reference to the conqueft of the Indies by Bacchus, and Hercules, confidered
as fuch great conquerors; and as engaged in thoſe actions, which they are faid to have
performed before the time of their fuppofed deification.
any
My third partition would have been fet apart for fuch things as do not belong to the
heroes, properly fo called; but which are as evidently fabulous, as any thing relating to
them. One might have fupplied this part, with Arion on his Dolphin; Thefeus killing
the Minotaure; and Bellerophon engaging with the Chimæra, from gems: and indeed
almoſt the whole ftory of the laſt of theſe is to be met with in the fame; except his fall
on the Aleïan fields, which I have never yet feen in any antique. Helle's paffage over
the fea on a ram, and Dædalus's flight thro' the air, are reprefented on gems too. I
could have had the ſtory of Narciffus, from that pretty ſtatue of him in the Florentine
gallery; and that of Acteon more at large, in five ſeveral compartiments, from a Sarco-
phagus in the Villa Borgheſe. The Judgment of Paris, between the three contending
goddeffes, is a very common fubject in gems, ſtatues, pictures, and relievos; and the
deſcent of Orpheus into hell might have been fully fupplied, from fome or other of
them. The figures and ſtories of Amazons, are common too, in all forts of antiques;
and I ſhould have known where to have met with a Cyclops, or a Pygmy, upon occafion.
Every one of theſe fubjects are defcribed by the poets, as well as expreffed by the artiſts;
and generally, thoſe which are moſt common with the latter, are moſt ſpoken of by the
former.
&
(18, Quam fimul ad duras religatam brachia cautes
Vidit Abantiades; nifi quòd levis aura capillos
Moverat, & trepido manabant lumina fletu,
Marmoreum ratus effet opus.
Ovid. Met. Lib. 4. ✯.674.
It is common with the antients, to commend living
beauties, by comparing them to works of art.
Contempla, Epidice;
Ufque ab unguiculo ad capillum fummum eft feftiviffima:
Eftne, confidera. Vide, fignum pictum pulchrâ videris.
Plaut. in Epid. Act. 5. Sc. 1.
Ut facetè, atque ex picturâ, aftitit.
Id. in Stichus, A&t. 1.
Cervix, humerique, manufque ;
Pectoraque, artificum laudatis proxima fignis.
PERHAPS
Illa quidem noftro fubjecit eburnea coilo
Brachia, Sithoniâ candidiora nive.
Ovid. Amor. Lib. 3. El. 7. . 8.
Littora marmoreis pedibus fignate, puellæ
Id. Ib. Lib 2. El. 11. . 15.
And, poffibly thoſe of; Candidus, Nitidus, and
Splendens :
Argonautas præter omnes candidum.
Hor. Epod. 3. . 9.
Liparæi nitor Hebri.
Urit me Glyceræ nitor,
Id. Lib. 3 Od. 12. †.6.
Sc.
Splendentis Pario marmore puriùs.
. 3.
Id. Lib 1 Od 19. ✰ 6.
Which laft paffage, is thus imitated by the author
Ovid. Met. Lib. 12. . 398. of one of the old Latin tragedies:
Lateri applicat meo mulierem, omnibus fimulacris
emendatiorem. Petron. Arb. p. 239.- Ofculum,
quale Praxiteles habere Venerem credidit: jam men-
tum; jam cervix; jam manus; jam pedum candor,
intra auri gracile vinculum pofitus, Parium marmor
extinxerat. Ibid.
It ſeems to have been from hence too, that the Ro-
man poets uſe ſo many terms drawn from ftatues, to
exprefs the beauty of the human body itſelf; as thofe
of Cereus, Eburneus, and Marmoreus:
Cum tu, Lydia, Telephi
Cervicem rofeam; & cerea Telephi
Laudas brachia.
Hæc folem facies rarius appetat,
Lucebit Pario marmore clariùs.
Hippolitus, A&t. 2. Chor.
In both theſe paffages, we feem to be directed im-
mediately to the idea taken from ſtatues: ſome of
which among the antients are faid to have been ſo
bright, that they could ſcarce bear to look upon them
long and ſteadily. There was a Hecatè, in particu-
lar, in the famous temple of Diana at Ephefus; in
cujus contemplatione (fays Pliny) admonent æditui,
parcere oculis: tanta marmoris radiatio eft. Nat.
Hift. Lib. 36. Cap. 5.
(19)
Horat. Lib. 1. Od. 13. .3.
Oooo
Manibufque modeſtos
Celaffet vultus, fi non religata fuiffet.
Ovid. Met. Lib. 4. †. 68a;
!
r
324
POLYMETIS.
PERHAPS YOU
will fay, that I fhould rather have kept my Amazons for the next
partition; becaufe Juftin (20), and fome other hiftorians, fpeak of them and their wars,
not as fables but as realities. I fhall not pretend to enter nicely into that queſtion: and
indeed the elder hiſtory, in general, is fo intermixed with fable, that it is often not eaſy
to diſtinguiſh between dowright fictions, and pretended truths. Lucian, in his (21) ca-
talogue of old ftories, mixes them both indifferently together; perhaps becauſe even he,
(who lived fo much nearer thoſe times,) did not well know how to feparate them with
any degree of exactneſs. But to return to the partitions for my gallery. In the fourth,
I ſhould have placed the antiques that relate to fuch things as feem to me to have been
delivered for facts, in the antient hiſtory; and among theſe you might perhaps have
met with ſome things as imaginary, as the Amazons and Pygmies. Here for inftance,
I ſhould have introduced the ſtory of Meleager and Atalanta, from the Sarcophagus in
the Borgheſe palace; and that of Hero and Leander, from gems: and all the antiques
that relate to the Theban and Trojan wars. If very little came in for the former, it
would have been largely made up in the choice that there is for the latter. Among
thefe you would have ſeen, the Rape of Helen (22), from an antient painting; the fa-
crifice of Iphigenia, from the fine urn in the Juftinian gardens; the barbarity of Achilles,
in dragging the body of Hector round the walls of Troy; the taking away of the pal-
ladium, by Diomed and Ulyffes; the ftratagem of the wooden horfe; the death of
Laocoon and his two fons; the tearing of Caffandra from the fhrine of Minerva; the
burning of Troy; and the eſcape of Æneas from the flames, with old Anchiſes on his
ſhoulders; and the little Afcanius following him with difficulty; juſt as he is de-
ſcribed (23) by Virgil.
THIS Would have led directly to my fifth clafs; which would have confifted of fuch
things, as fall in with the Roman hiſtory. Here you might have ſeen many things,
relating to Æneas's arrival and eſtabliſhment in Italy; and, many, relating to the birth
and ſtory of Romulus: the rape of the Sabines; Cochles alone defending the bridge, a-
gainſt the forces of Porfenna; Scævola, puniſhing his hand for miſplacing the blow he
meant for that prince; Curtius, plunging into the gulph to fave his country; Lucretia,
dying by her own hand, not to outlive her chaſtity any longer than was neceffary for
its being revenged; the great Cincinnatus dreffing himſelf, to leave his plough for the
dictatorial chair; and feveral other of the moſt remarkable events, in the Roman ſtory.
I mention only fuch as I have chanced to meet with in antiques: and no doubt I ſhould
have found out a great many more, had I carried on my defign; as I firft intended. In
this partition, I ſhould have added the portraits of all the more eminent perfons among the
Romans; from their medals and ſtatues: and have got together as entire a ſeries of them,
as I could, quite from the foundation of Rome, to the times of Gallienus. Would not that
be going too high? interpoſed Philander: for as you ſay, that the arts were not introduced
into Rome, till the ſecond Punic war; I ſhould think, that the figures of the kings and
confuls before that time, muſt have been of too bad a tafte for the reft of your collection.
Had we no figures of them, fays Polymetis, but what were done in their own times,
and by their own countrymen, I ſhould indeed have been very little defirous of having
(20) Majore parte Europæ fubactâ, Afiæ quoque
nonnullas civitates occupavere. Juftin. Lib. 2.
When Julius Cæſar was threatning his enemies
once very highly, and one of them ſaid in ridicule,
"that it was not eaſy for any woman, to do all that he
had threatned;" (alluding to the ftories of him, when
he lived in the court of Nicomedes ;) Julius's anſwer
was: "In Affyriâ quoque regnaffe Semiramin; mag-
namque Afiæ partem Amazonas tenuiffe." Sueton.
in Jul. Cap. 22.
any
(21) See Lucian, Пeg ogxnows. Tom. I. p. 801,
to 806. Ed. Blaeu. Tho' his catalogue takes up fo
many pages, it is little more than a bare liſt of names;
and yet, as he fays, it is almoſt nothing in proportion
to what he might ve made it. Taula av nozoi
εκ πολλών, μαλλον δε απείρων το πλήθος εξελών, τα κε
Qeλaidesɛga xalελɛžα. Ibid. p. 806.
(22) Turnbull's antient paintings, Nº. 25.
-Sequitur patrem, non paffibus æquis.
(23)
Æn. 2. .724,
DIALOGUE the Twenty-First.
325
any of them in my collection: but the artiſts that came into Italy after the period you
mention, worked often on ſubjects much earlier than their own times; and often chofe
to repreſent the moſt ſhining parts of the Roman ftory, and the moſt celebrated perfons
that had been concerned in them. In this latter cafe, one may ſuppoſe that they took
the diſtinguiſhing characters of their faces from the bungling artifts, that had done any
thing before them; but that they expreffed them with more of art and beauty, in the
execution of the work: as a good painter now might form a handfome portrait of our
old Chaucer, from the miferable one done by Oclive in his own time. That might
very well have been the cafe, fays Myfagetes, fuppofing they had had any Oclives then ;
but allowing you to fuppofe as much as you pleaſe, I do not fee how theſe old Roman
portraits could be of any manner of uſe toward explaining any thing in the claffics: which
I take for granted would have been the intent of your fecond collection, as it was of
your firſt. The chief thing, (replied Polymetis,) in this part of it, the portraits and
perfonages of their moſt eminent men, would certainly have been more for pleaſure,
than uſe; for that pleaſure, I mean, which we are apt to feel, even in feeing the fea-
tures and air of any perſon, that we have heard much of and long admired: but there
might have been ſome little uſe in it too; towards explaining an expreffion, or paffage
now and then, in the Roman poets. I fhall juft give you an inftance of this, in a very
remarkable perſonage, that of Virgil. It ſeems to have been a vulgar opinion among
the moderns, (at leaſt, among the modern commentators,) that Virgil was a rough-looking,
flovenly man. To overturn this opinion, I ſhould not alledge Urfini's gem; which has
ſo often been called a head of Virgil: both becauſe there is a great deal of reaſon to
think, that it is falfly (24) attributed to him; and becauſe we have pictures of Virgil,
drawn at full length, and much lefs to be difputed. What I mean are two pictures,
placed before (25) two of his Eclogues; in one of thoſe old manuſcripts of his works, in
the Vatican library. You fee him there, repreſented with a ſweet, modeſt countenance;
and dreffed particularly neat. Theſe pictures, if you will allow of their authority, (and I
know of no other that can pretend to near fo good an one,) may ferve perhaps to give us
the true ſenſe of an expreffion, in Statius; and to fave a paffage in Horace, from the
miſrepreſentations of his commentators. Statius, in fpeaking of Virgil, applies the epi-
thet of torvus (26), to him: whence fome have been apt to imagine that Virgil had a
ftern or four look. But if one ought to truft more to this picture, than to the commen-
tators, we ſhould perhaps underſtand that expreffion of his writings, rather than of his
perfonage; with which it will by no means agree: whereas if it be applied to his works,
it may fignify the dignity and majefty of them; which will agree with the context and
the occafion on which Statius uſes that expreffion as much, as in the other ſenſe it would
be foreign to both. The paffage I had in my eye from Horace, is where that poet is
fpeaking of a man who had fome little faults, mixed with more material excellencies;
which might well enough conceal them, at leaſt to every good-natured obferver. The
faults or defects he mentions are (27), that he was a little too paffionate; fomewhat
ungenteel in his converſation; and ill-dreffed. Here, fay the commentators, one fees
an inſtance of the fly way that Horace had of touching on the faults of his beſt friends,
even whilſt he is commending them: and the friend here touched upon, they will have
to be Virgil. Virgil's appearance in the Vatican manufcript is as oppofite to this cha-
racter, as can poffibly be and if that be of any authority, it will quite deftroy this
conjecture of the commentators; and fhew that the paffage is not to be understood of
(24) That head ſeems to me to be evidently a head
of the Apollo Muficus; and agrees in all reſpects with
that of the Apollo Muficus, Pl. 13. Fig. 1. The
reaſon why it has paſſed ſo currently for a Virgil, in
all the politer countries of Europe, may be, Urfini's
chriſtening it ſo firſt; the deſire people in general
had, of having ſome head of Virgil or other and
their not knowing any thing of the figures of him,
in the Vatican Virgil.
(25) The fecond, and fixth.
Virgil's
(26) Fors & magniloquo non pofthabuiffet Homero ;
Tenderet & torvo pietas æquare Maroni.
Statius, Lib. 5. Sylv. 3. *.63.
(27) Iracundior eft paulo; minus aptus acutis,
Naribus horum hominum: rideri poflit, eo quòd
Rufticiùs tonfo toga defluit, & male laxus
In pede calceus hæret.
Hor. Lib. 1. Sat. 3. 4.32.
326
POLYMETIS.
Virgil's perfon. Were I to run over the whole liſt (28) that I had collected from the poets,
relating to the perfonages of the more celebrated men in the Roman hiſtory; I doubt not
but that we ſhould find ſeveral other inftances, of the fame nature: but it is fufficient, I
think, to have given you this plain proof of what I advanced; and therefore I fhall go
on, without hunting after any more, to my fixth partition.
THIS would have confifted of all forts of things, that any way relate to the worſhip,
or religious ceremonies, of the old Romans. Here I would have placed all the medals I
could have got, that had either temples or altars, on their reverſes; and a number of
them, relating to the Secular Games: the various forts of facrifices; from gems, paintings,
and relievo's the different dreffes of their augurs, priefts, camilli, and veftal virgins,
from ftatues: the Lectifternia, to the great gods: the proceffions, in honour of them or
any other of their deities; and particularly the Bacchanalian proceffions, which are fo
frequent in antiques, as well as in the defcriptions of the poets. To all theſe, one might
have added two other articles, equally common in both; the ceremonies uſed in their
marriages, and in their funerals: both of which, (and eſpecially the latter,) made a part
of thoſe religious rites, which they moft fuperftitiouſly obferved.
IN my ſeventh partition I would have ranged all the things, that belong to the arts
and fciences; and whatever was ufed by the Romans in civil life. Here you might
have ſeen their drefs; the furniture of their houſes; (among which the vaſes on gems,
and other remains would have had the largeſt fhare ;) their feafts; their
their games, and
fports; all the different forts of muſical inſtruments in uſe among them; their carriages,
chariots, boats, and fhips: and a number of other things, which would come under the
fame head; and which I omit, becauſe in this, (as in all the cafes before,) I have chofen
to mention only fuch particulars, as I know there would be a large fupply for, both in
the deſcriptions of the poets, and in the remains of the artiſts.
In my eighth and laft partition, fhould have been every thing that related to military
affairs, or the art of war, among the Romans. Here you would have feen their diffe-
rent forts of arms, enfigns, and machines; which might have been, in a great meaſure,
fupplied from the Trajan and Antonine pillars: their military dreffes, from the fame:
their mural, naval, laurel, and oaken crowns, from medals: their trophies and triumphs,
from the triumphal arches. All thefe particulars taken together, would make fufficient
furniture for a gallery; fuch as I at firſt defigned: and would furnish any one with ma-
terials, for going thorough an intire courfe of comparing the defcriptions in the Ro-
man poets with the remains of the antient artiſts. I fhall make no excuſes for the many
defects I may have been guilty of; efpecially in this laſt ſcheme, for a fecond collection,
I mean it only as a hint for Philander, or any body that may ever happen to be inclined
to carry on my defign; and I dare fay they would find it very eaſy, to improve much
upon
Paulus Æmilius. Virgil. Æn. 6. .836.-Petus &
Arria. Martial. Lib. 1. Epig. 14.
(28). There is fomething faid, (either perfonally,
or with a view to fome figures of them,) of Picus,
by Virgil, Æn. 7. y. 187. and Ovid. Met. 14. ¥.313.
Julius Cæfar. Lucan. Lib. 7. . 458.-Auguftus.
*.
Aventinus; by Virgil, Æn. 7. . 655. La Virgil. Æn. 8. . 679. Ovid. ex Pont. Lib. 2. Ep. 8.
vinia; by Statius, Lib. 1. Sylv. 2. ✯. 244. Ro- . 13. Lucan. Lib. 7. . 458.-Livia. Ovid. Con-
mulus; by feveral of the Roman poets: See Dial. IX. fol. : 48. Drufus. Id. Ibid. . 260.--Agrippa.
y.
Note 107, to 111, anteh.- Numa; by Virgil, Virgil. Æn. 8. y. 681. Ovid. de Art. Am. Lib. 3.
n. 6. .808. Ancus Martius; by the fame, . 392.-Horace; in his own works; Lib. 2. Sat.
ibid. y. 815.
and Servius Tullius; by Ovid. .308. Lib. 1. Ep. 7. . 26. Lib. 1. Ep. 20. . 24.-
Faft. Lib. 6. y. 571.
Meffalina. Juvenal. Sat. 6. y. 129.-Britannicus.
Octavia. Act. 1. Sc. 3. y.172.-Octavia. Ibid. y. 220.&
Chor. y. 283.-And Domitian. Juvenal. Sat. 4. . 38.
. Of Lucretia, in Ovid. Faft. Lib. 2. y. 831,& 843.-
Claudia. Statius, Lib. 1. Sylv. 2. . 245.-Curtius.
Id. Lib. 1. Sylv. 1. .66.-Cincinnatus. Perfius,
Sat. 1. .73.-Camillus. Virg. Æn. 6. . 826.-
y.
Manilius Torquatus. Id. Ibid.-Marcellus. Ibid.
*.855.-Regulus. Hor, Lib. 3. Od. 5. . 41.
¥.
*.
3.
Theſe are what I marked, by chance; in running
over the Roman poets, principally with another view:
fo that I fuppofe, this lift bears no proportion to what
it might have been; had I been conſulting them, in
this view only.
1
DIALOGUE the Twenty-Firſt.
327
upon
what I have only ſketched out for them. With this, as it is, I have already de-
tained you too far into the night: for we are to rife, you know, a little earlier than ufual
to-morrow morning; that we may be in town time enough to fee a triumph of our own:
the entry of our honeſt failors, and their brave leader, with the treaſures that they have
won from the Spaniard. In which, tho' we muſt not expect the pomp and regularity
of a Roman triumph; and may perhaps meet with ſome very odd figures, among thoſe
who officiate in the cavalcade; yet we ought at leaſt to confider it, in one fenfe, as a
nobler triumph than the Romans could ever boaſt of: the warriors we are to fee to-mor-
row being fuch, as have carried the glory of the Britiſh arms into feas unknown to thoſe
conquerors of the world, (as they always affected to call themſelves;) and among
various nations, to which their eagles never flew.
!
Page 327
Boitard sculp.
PPPP
!
A N
ACCOUNT
OF THE
ANTIQUES, inferted in this Work:
What they are;
where kept: or whence
copied.
PLATE I.
UPITER: a Statue; in the Verofpi Palace, at Rome,
JUPITE
PL. II.
P.397.
N°. 1. JUPITER CAPITOLINUS: from a Medal of Vitellius; in Smid's Martial.
2. WING'D FULMEN, on a fhield: from the Columna Antonina, at Rome.
3. JUPITER FULMINANS: a Cornelian; in Senator Buonaroti's collection, at
Florence.
4. Head of the MILD JUPITER: an Agate; in the Great Duke's collection, at
Florence.
5. Head of the TERRIBLE JUPITER: a little Buſt, in Agate; ibid,
PL. III.
1. Drefs of the JUNO MATRONA: from a Statue; in the Villa Mattei, at Rome.
2. JUPITER, JUNO, and MINERVA: a Jaſper; in the Great Duke's collection, at
Florence.
بن
Head of MINERVA: an Onyx; ibid.
4. DIOMED, with the PALLADIUM: a Jafper; ibid,
PL. IV.
1. Head of MEDUSA: from the famous Gem; in the Strozzi collection, at Rome.
2. Ditto; with the Eyes convuls'd: a Jaſper; in the Electreſs Palatine's cabinet,
at Florence,
$
3.
MINERVA, with enraged ferpents about her breaſt: an Agate; in the Great
Duke's collection, at Florence.
4. Ditto, with leſs enraged: a little Buft, in Agate; from Maffei's Gems, Vol. II.
Pl. 68.
5. Ditto, with Jove's Fulmen in her hand: from a common Medal of Domitian.
PL. V.
The VENUS OF MEDICI.
PL. VI.
1. A number of little CUPIDS, playing in a fort of Circus: an antient Paſte, that
formerly belonged to P. Bellori; from Agoftini's Gemme Ant. Part 2. Pl. 61.
2. Several CUPIDS, playing by a river's fide: a Medal; in the Piſani collection,
at Venice.
3. CUPID, playing with a Butterfly: an Amethyft; in the Great Duke's collection,
at Florence.
4. Ditto, going to torment a Butterfly: a Cornelian; in the Gherardini collection,
at Florence.
5.
330
An Account of the ANTIQUES,
1
:
Nº5. CUPID, careffing Pfyche: a Statue; in the Great Duke's collection, at Florence,
6. Ditto, tormenting her: a Chalcedons Ibid.
PL. VII.
1. CUPID, riding on a Lion and playing on a Lyre: a Sardonyx; in the Great
Duke's collection, at Florence.
+
2. Ditto, riding on à Dolphin: from a Gem, in Agoſtini. Part 2. Pl. 58.
3. Ditto, breaking Jupiter's Fulmen: an Agate; in the Great Duke's collection,
at Florence.
4. The THREE GRACES, naked: a Sepulchral Lamp, that formerly belonged to
P. S. Bartoli; from his Antiche Lucerne. Part 2. Pl. 42.
5. Three NYMPHS, or GRACES, cloathed; and dancing hand in hand: a Painting;
in Dr. Mead's collection, at London.
PL. VIII.
1. VENUS, wheedling Mars: a Statue; in the Great Duke's collection, at
Florence.
2. VENUS, under the character of Indolence: a Sepulchral Lamp, that formerly
belonged to P. S. Bartoli; from his Antiche Lucerne. Part 1. Pl. 8.
3. MARS GRADIVUS: a Cornelian; in the Cerretani collection, at Florence.
4. MARS, defcending to Rhea Sylvia: a known Medal, of Antoninus Pius.
PL. IX.
MARS and NERIENE: a Relievo; in the Court of the Palazzo Mattei, at Rome.
PL. X.
1. VULCAN: a Cornelian; from Agoftini's Gemme Antiche. Part 2. Pl. 36.
2. VESTA: a Medal, of Julia; from Choul. p. 235.
3. VESTALIS: a Medal, of Claudius; from the fame. Ibid.
4. VESTA MATER: from a Medal, in Montfaucon. Vol. I. Pl. 26, 11.
5. A Lamp, facred to Vefta: from the fame. Ib. 28. 4.
PL. XI.
The APOLLO BELVEDERE.
PL. XII.
1 & 2. The NINE MUSES: a Sarcophagus; in the Capitoline Gallery, at Rome.
3. MUSE; going to receive a Child, juſt born: a Relievo; in the Palazzo Sac-
chetti, at Rome.
PL. XIII.
1. Head of APOLLO: an Agate; in the Great Duke's collection, at Florence,
2. APOLLO LYRISTES: a known Medal, of Adrian.
3. APOLLO, and MARSYAS: a Jaſper; in the Maffimi collection, at Rome.
4. DIANA VENATRIX: an Onyx; in Senator Buonaroti's collection, at Florence.
5. DIANA, and ACтÆON: a Gem; from Maffei. Part 3. Pl. 98.
PL. XIV.
1. DIANA TRIFORMIS: a Statue; from Montfaucon. Vol. I. Pl. 90. 5.
2. DIANA CELESTIS: a Statue; at the Earl of Leiceſter's Houfe, in London.
3. CERES: a Ruby; formerly in the Odefcalchi collection, at Rome.
4. MERCURY: a Statue; in the Great Duke's Collection, at Florence.
5. Ditto, flying: a Picture; from the famous Manufcript Virgil in the Vatican,
at Rome.
PL.
inferted in this Work.
33
$
{
PL. XV.
N°. 1. Mercury's SWORD: a Cornelian; in the Great Duke's collection, at Florence.
2. Mercury's LYRE: at the foot of a ſtatue of Mercury; in the Montalti Gardens,
at Rome.
3. MERCURY, giving up his Purſe to Fortune: a Gem; from Montfaucon, Vol. I.
Pl. 76, 2.
4.
Ditto offered to Minerva; who takes moderately out of it: an antient Painting;
from a drawing by P. S. Bartoli, in Dr. Mead's collection, N° 55. at London.
5. Ditto, offered to Pudicitia, who refufes it: a Gem; in the collection formerly
Lord Arundel's, and now Lady Betty Germaine's, at London.
6. TERMINAL MERCURY: from a Gem; in Agoſtini's Gemme Antiche. Part 2.
Pl. 13.
PL. XVI.
The FARNESE HERCULES.
PL. XVII.
1. INFANT HERCULES, killing the Serpents: from an antient Pafte; in Senator
Buonaroti's collection, at Florence.
2. Ditto, with Nurfe, and little Euriftheus: a Medal; from Agoftini's Dialoghi,
P. 147, 11.
3. YOUNG HERCULES, killing a Lion: a Cornelian; in the Great Duke's col-
lection, at Florence.
4. YOUNG HERCULES, with a Lion's Skin over his head: a Statue; in the Capitol,
at Rome:
5. Another Head, ditto: a Chryfolite; in the Great Duke's collection, at Florence.
PL. XVIII.
1. HERCULES, killing the Cleonæan Lion: a Chalcedon; in the Great Duke's
collection, at Florence:
2. Ditto, killing the Hydra: a Cornelian; in the fame.
3. with the Erymanthian Boar: a Cornelian; in the King of France's Cabi-
net, at Verſailles.
4.
ம்ம்
Taming the wild Stag: from an Altar; till very lately at the gate of
Albano, now in the Capitoline gallery.
killing the Stymphalides:
reſting, after he has cleaned Augeas's ſtables :
with a Bull on his Shoulders:
7
6.
7.
8.
killing the tyrant Diomedes:
9.
with Geryon :
10.
with the vanquished Amazon:
ii.
12.
dragging Cerberus after him:
gathering the Hefperian Fruit:
PL. XIX.
from the fame.
1. HERCULES, and ANTEUS: a Statue; in the Palazzo Pitti, at Florence.
2. HERCULES, and CACUS: a Medal, of Antoninus Pius; in the Vatican Library.
3.
Head of the SUFFERING HERCULES: from a noble Greek Statue ; in the
Barbarini Palace, at Rome.
4. HERCULES BIBAX: a Cornelian; in the Verofpi collection, at Rome.
5. HERCULES, and QMPHALE: a Statue; in the Great Farneſe Palace, at Rome.
Q qq q
PLO
•
332
An Account of the ANTIQUES,
}
PL. XX.
Nº. 1. BACCHUS: a Statue; at the Marquis Cavalieri's, in Rome.
2. Little Heads of Bacchus, hanging on a Tree: a Cornelian; from Maffei's
Gemme Antiche, Part
3.
3. Pl. 64.
ESCULAPIUS: a Statue; in the Palazzo Maffimi, at Rome.
4. ROMULUS: from a Medal of Antoninus Pius; in Choul, p. 175; 4.
5. Wolf, fuckling Romulus and Remus: an Onyx; in the Riccardi collection, at
Florence.
6. CASTOR and POLLUX, on horfeback: from a Medal of the Scribonian family;
in Oifelius's Thef. Pl. 41, 12.
7. Ditto, ſtanding: from a Medal of the Sulpitian family; from the fame; ibid.
Fig. 11.
8. Heads of ditto: from a Medal; in Canini's Iconografia, Pl.
PL. XXI.
97.
1. PHILOSOPHY, and SOCRATES: from a Sarcophagus; in the Capitoline gallery,
at Rome.
2. HOMER, and his MUSE: from the fame.
,
3. PRUDENCE: from a Medal of Gordianus Africanus; in Vaillant's Numifm.
Rom. T. 1. p. 154.
4. JUSTICE: from a Medal of Galba; in Oifelius's Thef. Pl. 62, 9.
5.
FORTITUDE: from a common Medal of Adrian.
6. TEMPERANCE: from a Medal; in the Pifani collection, at Venice.
7. PIETY; (in the common fenſe of that word:) from a common Medal of
Fauftina.
8. Ditto; (in the leſs common ſenſe of it:) from a Medal of Marcus Aurelius; in
Oifelius's Thef. Pl. 77, 2.
9. HONESTY: from a Medal of Vefpafian; ib. Pl. 85, 7.
10. MODESTY: a Medal, of Herennia Etrufcilla; in the Great Duke's collection,
at Florence.
11. CLEMENCY: from a Medal of Vefpafian; in Oiſelius's Theſ. Pl. 63, 4.
PL. XXII.
1. HAPPINESS: from a Medal of the younger Fauftina; in Oifelius's Theſ. P1.66, 8.
2. HEALTH: from a Medal, of Domitian
ibid. 80, 3.
3. LIBERTY: from a common Medal, of Galba.
;
4. TRANQUILLITY: from a Medal, of Adrian; in Oifelius's Thef. Pl. 60, 3.
5. CHEARFULNESS: from a Medal, of L. Ælius; in Vaillant's Numifm. Rom.
T. 1. p. 70.
6. JOVIALITY: from a Medal, of Fauſtina; in Oifelius's Thef. Pl. 55, 9.
7. HOPE: from a Medal, of Peſcennius Niger; ibid. 54, 6.
8. SECURITY: from a Medal, of M. Aurelius; in Agoſtini's Dial. p. 48, 4.
9. CONCORD: from a Medal, of Gordian; in Oifelius's Thef. Pl. 81,
10. PEACE: from a common Medal, of Titus.
7.
11. PLENTY, (in general :) from a Medal, of Trajan; in Oifelius's Thef. Pl. 73, 5.
12. Ditto, (for a feafon :) from a Medal, of Antoninus Pius; in Agoftini's Dial.
P. 70, 3.
PL. XXIII.
I. VICTORY: from a Medal, of Galba; in Oiſelius's Thef. Pl. 68, 2.
2. HONOUR: from a common Medal, of Titus.
3. PROVIDENCE; (with a Globe of the earth, at her feet :) from a common Medal,
of M. Aurelius.
4. Ditto; (with a Globe flung up into the air :) from a common Medal, of Pertinax.
5. NECESSITY: a Statue; in Montfaucon. Part 1. Pl. 197, 2.
6.
inſerted in this Work.
333
No. 6. The THREE DESTINIES: from a Medal, of Diocletian; in Smids's Martial,
7.
p. 106, 6.
The GENIUS, of a Veſtal Virgin: from an antient Statue; in Mr. Hooke's Ro-
man Hiſtory. Vol. I. p. 53.
8. Ditto, of Julia Mammæa: from a common Medal, of that Emprefs.
9. Ditto, of Nero: from a Medal of that Emperor, in Oifelius's Thef. Pl. 42, 5.
10. FORTUNE, as conftant: from a common Medal, of Adrian.
II.
12.
as inconftant: a Jafper; in the Great Duke's collection, at Florence.
as taking care of Foundlings: a Cornelian; in Agoftini's Gemme
Ant. Pl. 71.
PL. XXIV.
Antient GLOBE OF THE HEAVENS: from the Statue of Atlas; in the Farneſe
Palace, at Rome.
PL. XXV.
Í. TAURUS, entire: from an Onyx; in Agoſtini's Gemme Ant. Pl. 135.
2. The TWELVE SIGNS of the Zodiac; Virgo, with full face: an Onyx; in the
Great Duke's collection, at Florence.
3. Ditto; with Libra, or Balance, held by a Man: a Medal, of Alexander; in
the fame.
4. CAPRICORN, entire: from a common Medal, of Auguftus.
:
PL. XXVI.
1. The SEVEN PLANETARY DEITIES, in their Chariots ; &c. a Drawing, from a
Gem; in Baron Stofche's collection, at Florence,
2. SATURN, with Wings, and Fetters: from a Chalcedon; in Agoftini's Gemme
Ant. Pl. 88.
3. LUNA, in her Chariot; preceeded by Hefperus: a Relievo; formerly on Tra-
jan's Arch, and now on Conſtantine's, at Rome.
4. SOL, in his Chariot; preceeded by Phoſphorus: a Medal, of Antoninus Pius;
in the Great Duke's collection, at Florence.
PL. XXVII.
1. ETERNITY: a common Medal, of Fauftina.
2. The GREAT PLATONIC YEAR: a Medal, of Adrian; in the Great Duke's
collection, at Florence.
3. The FOUR AGES, of Man: a Painting; in Bartoli's Ant. Sepolcri. Pl.
5.
4. The FOUR SEASONS, of the Year: a Medal, of Commodus; in the Great
Duke's collection, at Florence.
5. JANUS: a Medal, of Antoninus Pius; in Oifelius's Thef. Pl. 41, 2.
PL. XXVIII.
1. A GOD of the WINDS: a Relievo; in the Capitoline Gallery, at Rome.
2. An AIR-NYMPH: a Painting; from Bartoli's Drawings, f. 69. in Dr. Mead's
collection, at London.
3. Ditto, from the fame, f. 73.
4. AIR-NYMPH, and ZEPHIR: from the fame, f. 71.
PL. XXIX.
1. JUNO, drawn by Peacocks: from a Medal, in Montfaucon. Vol. I. Pl. 22, 6.
2. JUPITER PLUVIUS: from a Medal, Id. Sup. Tom. I. Pl. 19, 3.
3.
IRIS: a Picture; in the Vatican Virgil.
4.
FAME: a little Brafs Statue; in the Great Duke's collection, at Florence.
Ps.
1
334
An Account of the ANTIQUES,
:
PL. XXX.
Nº. 1. NEPTUNE: a common Medal, of Adrian.
2. THETIS: a Medal; in the Great Duke's collection, at Florence.
3. VENUS ANADUOMENE, in her Shell: a Relievo; at the Palazzo Mattei, in
Rome:
PL. XXXI.
I. TIBER: a Statue; in the Belvidere, at Rome:
2. NILE ditto; in the fame.
3. TIGRIS: from Agoftini Dial. p. io7.
4. EUPHRATES: a Relievo; formerly on Trajan's, and now on Conſtantine's Arch,
at Rome.
5. DANUBE: a Medal, of Trajan; in Bartoli's Col. Traj. Pl: 115; 7.
6. RHINE: a Medal of Drufus; in Oifelius's Thef. Pl.
PL. XXXII;
24, 6:
:
1. NATURE: a Statue; formerly in the Odefcalchi collection, at Rome from
Maffei's Rac. Pl. 121.
2. CIBELE: from a Medal, in Smids's Martial; P. 517.
3. The WORLD: a Medal, of Gallienus.
4. EUROPE: from a Cornelian;
from a Cornelian; in Agoſtini's Gemme Ant. Pl. 134.
5. ASIA: a Medal, of Adrian.
6. AFRICA: ditto.
7. ITALY: a Medal, of Antoninus Pius.
8. JUDEA, as diftreffed: a Medal, of Veſpafian.
9. JUDEA, as received into favour: a Medal, of Adrian.
io. ROME: a Medal, of Nero.
II. ALEXANDRIA: a Medal, of Adrian.
12. Two LARES, or Houfhold-Gods: from a Sepulchral Lamp, in Bartoli's Antiche
Lucerne, Part 1. Pl. 13.
PL. XXXIII.
ATLAS, fupporting the Globe of the Heavens: a Statue; in the Farnefe
Palace, at Rome.
PL. XXXIV.
The Injudicious Choice of PARIS, the Deſtruction of the Afiatic Empire:
a Relievo; at the Villa Medici, in Rome.
PL. XXXV.
1. Head of TIMOLUS: a Greek Medal; in the Maffimi collection, at Rome.
2. RHODOPE: a Medal, of Antoninus Pius; in Smids's Martial, p. 1.
3. SCYLLA: a Medal, of Sextus Pompeius; in Oifelius's Thef. Pl. 28, 4.
4. FLORA: a Statue; in the Great Duke's collection, at Florence.
5. POMONA: a Cornelian; from Gorlæus's Dact. Part 2. Nº. 56.
6. VERTUMNUS: an Onyx; from ditto. Part 1. Nº. 49.
7. SYLVANUS: from a Sepulchral Lamp; in Bartoli's Luc. Ant. Part 2. Pl. 26.
8. The Famous FAUN, in the Great Duke's collection, at Florence.
9. A FAUNESS: a Jafper; from Agoftini's Gemme Ant. Part 2. Pl. 23.
10. Head of the LASCIVIOUS PAN: from the famous Statue, in the Lodovifian
Gardens, at Rome.
11. Head of the MILD PAN: from a Statue; in the Great Duke's collection, at
Florence.
12. Head of the TERRIBLE PAN: an Amethyſt; in the Strozzi collection, at Rome.
PL
inferted in this Work.
335
PL. XXXVI.
N°. 1. The PREVIOUS REGION, of the Subterraneous World: a Picture; in the Vati-
can Virgil.
2. The GOD of SLEEP: from a Statue; in Maffei's Rac. Pl. 151.
PL. XXXVII.
1. The RIVER, or Hateful Paffage into the Kingdom of Ades: a Picture; in the
Vatican Virgil.
2. CHARON, receiving a Ghoſt into his Boat: a Sepulchral Lamp; from Bartoli's
Luc. Ant. Part 1. Pl. 12.
3. GHOSTS, landing on the Shore of Ades: from a Relievo; in the Barbarini
Palace, at Rome.
PL. XXXVIII.
1. EREBUS; or, the firſt Region of Ades: a Picture; in the Vatican Virgil.
2. CERBERUS; mollified by Orpheus: from a Gem; in Agoftini's Gemme Ant.
Pl. 9.
3. Ditto; led captive by Hercules: from ditto; ibid. Pl. 40.
PL. XXXIX.
•
1. The ENTRANCE to TARTARUS; the fecond Region of Ades: a Picture, in
the Vatican Virgil.
2. The PUNISHMENTS of SISYPHUS, IXION, and TANTALUS: a Relievo;
Babarini Palace, at Rome.
in the
PL. XL.
I. ELYSIUM; or the laft Region of Ades: a Picture; in the Vatican Virgil.
2. PLUTO, and PROSERPINE, &c. a Painting; from Bartoli's Sep. de Nafon. Pl. 8.
PL. XLI.
1. DEATH: a little Brafs Statue; in the Great Duke's collection, at Florence.
2. GORGON'S HEAD: from a Shield, at the foot of a Statue of Mars; at the Villa
Borghefe, near Rome.
3.
HEAD of a Fury: from a Relievo; in the Admiranda. Pl. 69.
4. One of the REBEL-GIANTS, with fnaky Legs: a Cornelian; in the Great
Duke's collection, at Florence.
5. TITYOS, tormented by a Vultur: a Relievo; in the Villa Borghefe, near Rome.
The ORNAMENTAL PIECES; in the Clofe of the DIALOGUES.
Page 6. Little Cupid, ftealing away his Club from Hercules: a Cornelian; in Signor
Ficoroni's collection, at Rome.
27. Several Cupids, playing with Hercules's Club: a Jafper; in the Great Duke's
collection, at Florence.
35. Little Cupid on a Roſe-twig: a Painting; in the Rofpigliofi Palace, at Rome.
64. Æneas, carrying his Father with the Cifta Myftica, from Troy: a Cornelian;
in the Vittori collection, at Florence.
III. Niobe, endeavouring to fave her youngest daughter: a Statue; at the Villa
Medici, in Rome.
135. Head of the Drunken Hercules: a Cornelian; in the Great Duke's collection,
at Florence.
162. Hercules determining to follow Virtue, rather than Pleafure: a Gem; in Mont-
faucon. Vol. I. Pl. 126, 1.
Rrrr
}
Page
336
An Account of the ANTIQUES.
Page 199. Diana, and Endymion: a Gem; in Gorlæus's Dact. Part 2. No. 498.
215. Butterfly, and Branch: a Beril; formerly in Signor Ficoroni's collection,
at Rome.
237. Nymph, and two Sea-Horfes: a Cornelian; in Agoftini's Gemme Ant.
Part 2. Pl. 49.
256. The Ġenius of Britain, fitting on a Globe: a Medal, of Antoninus Pius; in
Oifelius's Thef. Pl. 27, 6.
284. Thẹ Three Deſtinies: from a Sarcophagus; in the Capitoline Gallery, at
Rome.
291. An Aſs, in the Greek Pallium, teaching: a Gem; in Gorlæus's Dact. Part 2.
N°.5°7.
301. Marfyas: a Statue; in the Great Duke's collection, at Florence.
308. Bellerophon, taming Pegaſus: a Cornelian; formerly in Signor Ficoroni's
collection ; now Lord Middleſex's, at London.
320. Cupid, curing a Lion: a Cornelian; in the Strozzi collection, at Rome.
327. Ark, Dove, and Rainbow: an Onyx; in Gorlæus's Dact. Part 1. Nº. 118.
The THREE FIGURES, (difpofed in the manner of an antient Relievo,) in the FRONTIS-
PIECE ;. are the Goddeſs of Painting, the God of Poetry, and the Genius of Sculpture,
The firſt, from a Baffo Relievo; publiſhed by P. S. Bartoli, in his Pitture Antiche;
Pl. 1. the ſecond, from an Amethyft; of Senator Buonaroti's: and, the third, from
a Cornelian; in the Great Duke's collection, at Florence.
ALPHA-
1
ALPHABETICAL LIST;
OF
Each PARTICULAR FIGURE.
Caftor and Pollux; their heads, Pl. 20, 8.-
Standing together, ib. 7.-24.-25, 2 & 3.
-26, 1.-On horfeback, Pl. 6. &, Pl. 34.
Celestial Globe
Centaurs; (a male, and female,).
Centaurus; the Conftellation-
A.
p. ftands for, Page; Pl. for, Plate; and, Front. for, Frontispiece.
Canicula fee, Sirius.
A
CTEON
-Pl. 13, 5.
Æneas, carrying his Father, &c. p. 64.
His defcent into Ades. Pl. 36, 1.-38, 1.
-
Caffiopeia-
Capricorn Pl. 24.-25; 2, 3, & 4.26, 1.
Cares
-Pl. 36, 1.
-Pl. 24.
I
-39, 1.—& 40, 1.
Africa
Pl. 32, 6.
Ages: the four Ages of Man.
Alexandria
Pl. 27, 3.
-Pl 32, 11.
Amazon; conquered by Hercules-Pl. 18,
10.
Anchifes
-p. 64.
Andromeda-
-Pl. 24.
Cepheus; ditto,
·Pl. 24.
Pl. 36, 1.
Pl. 24.
-ibid.
Anguis; (the Conftellation)
ibid.
Anguitenens-
-ibid.
Annona fee, Plenty.
Antæus
-Pl. 19, 1.
Anteros: fee, Eros.
II.
Pl. 9°°
Apollo; with lyre. Front.-Apollo Vates, Pl.
13, 1 & 2.—The Apollo Belvedere, Pl.
Apollo; at the creation of Nerienè,
-Ordering the puniſhment of Ma-
fyas, Pl. 13, 3.————Apollo, under the cha-
racter of Sol, Pl. 26, 1 & 4. & Pl. 34.
Aquarius; the Conftellation, Pl. 24.-25, 2 &
3.26, I.
Aquila; ditto,
Ara; ditto,
Arcitenens; ditto,
Argo; ditto,
Ariadne's Crown
Aries, Pl. 24.-25; 2 & 3.26, 1.
Ark, Dove, and Rainbow
Afcanius
Pl. 24.
Cerberus ; with ferpents about him, Pl. 37, 1.
and, 38,1.-Liftning to Orpheus, Pl. 38, 2.
Dragged to the light, by Hercules, Pl. 18,
11. and, 38, 3.
Ceres
Cetus; the Conftellation
Charon-
Chearfulneſs
Chimæra
-Pl. 14, 3•
Pl. 24.
∙Pl 37, 2.
Pl. 22, 5.
Pl. 36, 1.
Cibelé-Pl. 32, 2.-Head of Cibele, Pl. 2, 3.
Clemency.
Clio
Concord
Pl. 21, II.
Pl. 12, 1.-Ditto? 21, 2.
Pl. 22, 9.
Conftellations; their bearings to one another:
-ibid. fee, Celestial Globe.
ibid. Corvus; the Conftellation
ibid. Crater; ditto-
ibid.
P 327.
—————p. 64.
Afia
-Pl. 32, 5. & Pl. 34.
Atlas; fupporting the globe of the heavens, Pl. 33.
Auræ; or Air-Nymphs: fee Nymphs.
Auriga, the Conſtellation
B.
Pl. 24.
Bacchus, Pl. 20, 1.At the creation of Ne-
rienè, Pl. 9.—The Oſcilla, or heads, of Bac-
chus, Pl. 20, 2.
Pl. 24.
-ibid.
Cupids, playing, Pl. 6, 1 & 2.-Sleeping, Pl.8,
2. -Playing with Hercules's club, p. 27.
-Cupid, on a Rofe-twig, p. 35.-Flying,
toward Acteon, Pl. 13, 5.-Several Cupids, at
the creation of Neriene, Pl. 9.-Cupid, catch-
ing a butterfly, Pl.6, 3.-Going to burn one,
ib. 4.-Careffing Pfyche, ib. 5.Tor-
menting her, ib. 6.—Riding on a lion, Pl.7,1.
-Healing, one that is wounded, p. 320
Riding, on a dolphin, Pl. 7, 2.-Taking
Hercules's club from him, p. 6.-Breaking
the thunderbolt of Jove, Pl. 7, 3.
Cygnus; the Conftellation-
-Pl. 24.
Bellerophon
Boötes
Briareus-
P. 308.
-Pl. 24.
Pl. 36, 1. Danube-
Britain the genius of Britain; or, (as the Ro-
mans called it) the New World,
P. 256.
C.
Cacus
Calliope-
Cancer
Pl. 19, 2.
Pl. 12, 6.
Pl. 24.-25, 2 & 3.—26, 1.
D.
-Pl. 31, 5-
Pl. 41, 1.
Pl. 39, I.
•
Pl. 24.
Death
Deiphobus
Delphin; the Conftellation
Deftinies
Pl. 23, 6. and p. 284.
Diana, Venatrix, Pl. 13, 4.-Cæleftis, Pl. 14, 2.
-As Hecate, or Trivia, ibid. 1.-Tranf
forming Actæon, Pl.13, 5.-Vifiting Endy-
mion,
338
ALPHABETICAL LIST
mion, p. 199.-At the creation of Neriene;
Pl. 9.-In the council of the gods, Pl. 34.
Diana, under the character of Luna, Pl. 26, 3.
Diomedes; the Son of Tydeus
Diomedes; the tyrant of Thrace-
Elyfium
Endymion
E.
Pl. 3, 4.
Pl. 18, 8.
Pl. 40.
P. 199.
Erato, Pl.12, 5.-Ditto? holding a robe open,
to receive a new-born infant. Pl. 12.
Erebus; parts of it. Pl. 37, 1.-
37, 1.—38, 1.--&,
39, I.
Ericthonius fee, Auriga.
Eros and Anteros?
Pl. 5.—6, 3.
Pl. 20, 3.
Pl. 27, I.
-Pl. 31, 4.
born, Pl. 17, 1 & 2.-Killing the Nemean
lion; in his youth, Pl. 17, 3.-Young Her-
cules, dreffed in a lion's fkin, ibid. 4.-Her-
cules; refolving to fix on a life of labour, ra-
ther than a life of pleaſure, p. 162.
Hercules killing the Cleonean lion, Pl. 18, 1.
-Fighting with the Hydra, ibid. 2.-Carry-
ing the Erimanthian boar, ib. 3.-Kneeling
on the wild ftag, ib. 4.-Shooting the Stym-
phalides, ib. 5.-After having cleanfed Au-
geas's ftables, ib. 6.-With wild bull, toffed
over his fhoulder, ib. 7.-Killing Diomed,
and his horſes, ib. 8.-Fighting with Geryon,
ib. 9.-Taking off the Amazon's zone, ib.10.
Leading Cerberus captive, ib. 11.-Gathering
the golden apples of the Hefperides, ib. 12.
Hercules, refting after his Twelve Labours;
or, the famous Farnefe Hercules, Pl. 16.
Efculapius
Eternity
Euphrates
Eurydice-
Pl 37, I.
Euriftheus; and his Nurfe
Pl. 17, 2.
!
Europe-
Pl. 32, 4.
Euterpe-
Pl. 12, 4.
F.
Fame-
Pl. 29, 4. Homer-
Honefty
Hercules, killing Antæus, Pl. 19,1.-After his
victory over Cacus, ib. 2.-Head of the fuf-
fering Hercules, ib. 3.-Hercules, in hist
miſtreſs's dreſs, ib. 5.- The drinking Her-
cules, ib. 4.-Head of ditto, p. 135.
Hefperus
Fatality fee, Neceffitas.
Faunus; (male, and female)—Pl. 35, 8 & 9. Honour-
Pl. 26, 3.
·Pl. 21, 2.
Pl. 21, 9.
-Pl. 23, 2.
་་
Fides: fee, Honefty.
Flora
Flumen; the Conftellation
Fortitude-
Hope-
Pl. 35, 4.
Hydra
Pl. 24.
Hydrus; the Conftellation.
Pl. 21, 5.
Janus-
Ida-
I.
Pl. 22, 7•
Pl. 18, 2. & 36, 1.
Pl. 24.
Fortune; as conftant, Pl. 23, 10.As incon-
ftant, ibid. 11.As the patronefs of poor
foundlings, ib. 12.-Fortune, with Mercury,
Pl. 15, 3.
Immortality fee, either Eternity, or Hebe.
Furies, Pl. 36, 1. and 39, 1.Head of a Fu- Ingeniculatus; (the Conſtellation,)-
ry, Pl. 41, 3.
G.
Ganymed: fee, Aquarius.
Gemini: fee, Caftor and Pollux.
Genius, of Nero, Pl. 23, 9.—Of Julia Mam-
mæa, ibid. 8.—Of an old Veftal Virgin, ib. 7.
Genius? giving down a foul from heaven, to
be embodied, Pl. 27, 3.
Pl. 41, 4.
Joviality
Iris-
Italy.
Judæa
Pl. 27, 5
Pl. 34
Pl. 24.
Pl. 22, 6.
Pl. 29, 3
Pl. 32, 7-
Pl. 32, 8 & 9.
I.
Juno: drefs of the Roman Juno, Pl. 3, 1
Sitting with Jupiter, and Minerva, Pl. 3, 2.-
Juno; as prefiding over the air, Pl.29, 1.—Re-
jected by Paris, Pl. 34.-At the creation of Ne-
rienè, Pl.9.-In the council of the gods, Pl.34.
Geryon
Pl. 18, 9. & 36, 1. Jupiter. The Verofpi Jupiter, Pl. 1.-The Ca-
Ghofts: fee, Souls of the departed.
pitoline Jupiter, Pl. 2, 1.—Jupiter, with
Giant one of the Rebel-Giants
Minerva fitting at his right hand, and Juno
Graces; naked, Pl. 7, 4.-Ditto, dreffed, ib. 5. at his left; or, the Three Great Capitoline
Greece; introduced by Victory, to the throne Gods, Pl. 3, 2.—Head of the Mild Jupiter,
of Jupiter, Pl. 34.
Pl. 2, 4.-Head of the Terrible Jupiter, ib. 5.
-Jupiter Pluvius, Pl.29,2.-Jupiter; as pre-
fiding over a planet, Pl.26, 2.-Jupiter, hold-
ing up his thunderbolt, Pl.2, 3.-Aiming it
at one of the rebel-giants, Pl.41, 4-Jupiter;
fupported by the Genius of mount Ida,
Pl. 34. Enthroned: with Sol and Luna,
over his head; and Tellus and Oceanus, under
his feet, Pl. 25, 3.
Happineſs
H.
Pl. 22, 1.
Harmonia Mundi: (the Harmony of the Uni-
verfe; or, as it is vulgarly called, the Mufic
of the Spheres,) Pl. 26, 1.
Harpy
Health-
Hebe-
Pl. 36, 1.
Pl. 22, 2.
Pl. 27, 3.
Juftice
Ixion
Hercules: killing the ferpents; juft after he was
Pl. 21, 4.
PI. 37, 1. & 39, 2.
L.
of the Particular Figures.
339
Lares
L.
Pl. 32, 12.
Oceanus
Leo; the Conftellation, Pl. 24.-25, 2 & 3.
0.
Omphale, 'and Hercules
Orbis Terrarum-
26, 1.
Lepus; ditto-
Liberty
Libra; ditto
& 3.26, 1.
Pl. 9? & 25, 3.
Pl. 19, 5.
Pl. 32, 3.
Pl. 24.
Pl. 24.
Pl. 22, 3.
Orion; as a Conſtellation
Orpheus
Pl. 37, 1.—38, 2.—40, 1.
Pl. 24-25, 2
Ofcilla fee, Bacchus.
P.
Palladium
Pl. 3, 4.
Lucifer: fee, Phoſphoros.
Luna: fee, Diana.
Lyre; that, invented by Mercury, Pl. 15, 2. Pan: head of the Mild Pan? Pl. 35, 11.—of
-That, in the heavens, Pl. 24.
M.
Mars Gradivus, Pl. 8. 3.—Mars, as prefiding
over a planet, Pl. 26, 1.-Mars and Venus, Pl.
8,1.-Mars, and Rhea Sylvia, Pl. 8, 4.-
Mars, and Neriene. Pl. 9.-Mars; at the
council of the gods, Pl. 34.
Marfyas; ſtretched at his full length, p. 301.
-Flea'd alive, Pl.13, 3.
Meduſa: heads of Meduſa, Pl.4; 1, 2, & 4.-
the Terrible Pan, ibid. 12.
Paris
Peace-
Pl. 34.
Pl. 22, 10.
Pegafus, p. 308.—As a Conſtellation, Pl. 24.
Perfeus Pl. 15, 1.-As a Conftellation, Pl.24.
Philofophy-
Pl. 21, I.
Phofphoros
∙Pl. 26, 4.
Pictura; or, the Goddefs of Painting, Front.
Piety; as exerciſed, in acts of devotion, Pl, 21,7.
As fhown forth, in acts of virtue, ib. 8.
Pifces; the Conſtellation, Pl. 24.——25, 2 & 3.
-26; 1.
Pl. 26, 1.
Planets; the ſeven
Plenty; in general, Pl. 22, 11.—In particu-
lar, ibid. 12.
Pluto-
Pontona
Pollux fee, Caftor.
Polyhymnia ?
*
Pl. 40, 2.
-Pl. 35, 5.
Pl. 12, 7.
Pl. 24.
Procyon; the Conftellation
Prometheus? at the creation of Nerienè, Pl. 9.
Proferpine
Providence
3,3--15, 1.-24.37, 3.--41, 2.
Mercury, ſtanding, Pl. 14, 4.-Flying. ib. 5.
-His harpè, or fword, Pl. 15, 1.-Mercury,
as the god of gain; with Fortune, Pl. 15, 3.—
With Minerva, ib. 4. and with Pudicitia. ib.
5.Mercury; as prefiding over a planet,
Pl. 26, 1.-Terminal Mercury, Pl.15, 6.
Mercury; conducting fouls of the departed
into the other world, Pl. 37, 2.-to the throne
of Pluto, Pl. 40, 2.—Mercury, introducing
Juno, Minerva, and Venus, to Paris, Pl. 34.
At the creation of Neriene, Pl. 9.In the
council of the gods, Pl. 34.
Minerva, Pl. 3, 3.-Sitting at the right hand
of Jupiter, Pl. 3; 2.-and holding his thunder-
bolt; Pl. 455. With living ferpents about her
bofom; ibid. 3, & 4.-Taking moderately,
out of Mercury's purfe, Pl. 15, 4-At the cre- Quirinus.
ation of Neriene, Pl. 9-In the council of the
gods,Pl.34.—Rejected, by Paris, ibid.—Pre-
ferred, by Hercules, p. 162.-Small figure
of her: See, Palladium.
Minos-
Modefty fee, Pudicitia.
Prudence-
Pfyche-
Pudicitia
Pl. 40, 2.
Pl. 23, 3 & 4.
Pl. 21, 3.
Pl. 6, 5 & 6. ›
Pl. 21, 10.
Pl. 20, 4.
R.
Pl. 38, 1.
Rhea Sylvia
Rhine-
Rhodopè
.Pl. 8, 4.
—Pl: 31, 6.
—Pl. 35, 2.
Mufes: fee, Calliope, &c.
Mufic of the Spheres: fee, Harmania Mundi.
Nature-
Neceffitas
Neptune-
N.
Pl. 20, 1. & 32, i.
-Pl. 13, 5.
Pl. 30, 1.
Nerienè, creating; to be the confort; (and ſof-
tener,) of Mars. Pl. 9.
Nile-
Pl. 31, 2.
Niobe, and her youngest daughter- -p.III.
Nymphs, attending Diana, Pl. 13, 5-Attend-
ants of Venus,Pl.7, 5?-Nymphs of the moun-
tains, Pl. 34.—Sea-Nymph, p. 237.-Water-
Nymph, Pl. 34.-Air-Nymphs, Pl. 28; 2, 3,
EZ 4.
River-Gods, Pl. 26, 3.—29, 2.—31.—34.
Rome
Pl. 32, 10.
Romulus, and Remus; fückled by the wolf,
Pl. 20, 5. and 31, 1.-Romulus, as deified:
fee, Quirinus.
S.
Saturn; as prefiding over Time, Pl. 26, 2.-As
prefiding over a Planet, ibid. 1.
Satyr; head of one
Scamander
Pl. 35, 10.
-Pl. 34
Scorpius; the Conſtellation, Pl. 24.-25, 2
& 3.—26, 1.
Sculpture: the genius of it———
Scylla-
Pl. 35, 3.
Sea Deities
Sff f
•
Front.
Ditto? 36, 1.
Pl. 9.
Sea-
340
ALPHABETICAL LIST.
X 1
1
Sea-Horfes
Seafons fee, Year.
Security
Sibyll, Pl. 36, 1.— 38, 1
Sirius; the Conſtellation
Sifyphus
Sleep
Socrates
Sol: fee, Apollo.
P. 237.
Pl. 22, 8.
39, 140, 1.
Pl. 24.
Pl. 39, 2.
Pl. 36, 2.
Pl. 21, 1.
U.
Venus of Medici, Pl. 5.-Venus, in her fhell,
Pl. 30, 3.-Venus, and Cupid, Pl. 6, 4.-
Venus, and Mars, Pl. 8, 1.-Venus, as De-
fidia, ib. 2.-As prefiding over a planet, Pl.
|| 26, 1.—Venus; in the council of the gods?
Pl. 34.—Preferred, by Paris, ibid. and re-
jected, by Hercules, p. 162.
Vertumnus
Veſta, Pl. 10, 5.
*
Pl. 35, 6.
Victory, Pl. 23, 1.-Hovering over Venus,
Pl. 34. As an attendant of Mars, Pl. 9.-
Introducing Greece to the throne of Jupiter,
Pl. 34.
Soul; handed from heaven, to be embodied, Veftals, Pl.io; 2, 3, & 4.-Lamp, facred to
Pl. 27, 3.
Souls, of the departed; waiting for a paffage,
Pl. 37, 1.-Paying their fare, before they
enter into Charon's boat, ibid. 2.-Landing
in the other world, ib. 3.- Souls, in Ere-
bus, Pl. 38, 1.In torments, Pl.39, 2.-
In Elyfium, Pl. 40, 1 & 2.
Sphynx
Sylvanus
Tantalus
Pl. 31, 2.
Virgo; the Conftellation, Pl. 24.-25, 2 &
3.—26, 1.
Urania, Pl. 12, 8.-With her globe, on a co-
lumn, ib.
Virtus: fee, Fortitude.
Pl. 35, 7.
T.
Urn; that of Minos
Pl. 39, 2.
Pl. 39, I.
Taurus; the Conftellation, Pl. 24.-25; I,
2, & 3.—26, 1.
Tellus; receiving a foul, that is to be embodied,
Pl. 27, 3.
3.With the celeftial globe, and
the four ſeaſons of the year dancing round it,
ibid. 4.-Under the throne of Jupiter, Pl.
25, 3.-Under the chariot of Sol, Pl. 26, 4.
--At the creation of Neriene, Pl. 9.
Temperance
Tartarus; the entrance to it
Pl. 21, 6.
Pl. 38, 1.
Vulcan; making a helmet, Pl. 10, 1.-At the
creation of Nerienè, Pl.
W.
9.
}
•
Wind-Deity, with Flabrum
Pl. 28, 1.
Wolf, fuckling Romulus and Remus, Pl. 20, 5.
and 31, I.
World; or, Old World: fee, Orbis.-New
World: fee, Britain.
X.
Terplichore-
Pl. 12, 3.
Pl. 12, 2. Xanthus ?
·Pl. 34.
Thalia
Thetis
Pl. 30, 2.
Thunderbolt; with wings to it
Pl. 2, 2.
T.
:
Tiber
Pl. 31, I.
Year; the four ſeaſons of it, Pl. 27, 4.—The
Tigris
Pl. 31, 3.
Great Platonic Year, ibid, 2.
Timolus
-Pl. 35, I.
Tifiphone
Pl. 39, I.
Z.
Tityos
Pl. 41, 5.
Tranquillity.
Pl. 22, 4.
Tritons; holding up Venus, in her fhell, Pl.
60, 3.
Zodiac, Pl. 9; and 34.-All the Signs of the
Zodiac, Pl. 24.-25, 2 & 3.—26, 1.
Zephir, and Air-Nymph
Pl. 28, 4,
4.
CLASSICAL
CLASSICAL INDEX:
:
OR,
ALIST of fuch Paffages in the ROMAN
POETS; as may receive any manner of
light, from the foregoing Work.
Roman Poets of the FIRST AGE.
ENNIUS.
1
A
Epicharmus.
X. 12-
Alcmæon.
Chryfes-
Andromeda.
-ƒ.
Thyeftes
y.
-13-61.
ACTIUS.
Erigone. -.362
Prometheus. 628———
-8- 86.
Dial. Note
Dial. Note
Sat. Lib.16. *. I
NNAL. Lib. 1. Y. 21-10-
10- I.
·129 7 70.
23. .33
5- 15.
13 27.
28. *.57.
7- 8.
6— 80.
7, &c.——8— 86.
13 61. Octogefis.
2.12 22. Satyra Menippæа. .461
Tranflation of Aratus. . 21
VARRO.
·*.336
7- 14.
7- 70.
CICERO.
.61-
.
16—115.
Trachyniæ.
.715
Incert.
$.785—
9- 7.
6- 80.
*. 125
*. 154-
9-107.
II 31.
II-
II- 22.
11- 65.
CATULLUS.
PACUVIUS.
Antiope. . 17
De Aty, Carm. 61. —.
4- 12. De Nupt. Pel. Carm. 62. . 28—14- 41.
. 150
40 8 10.
-16— 42.
PLAUTUS.
*. 311
10- 75.
Amphitrue. Prol. —— *
143-8-115. De Comâ Ber. Carm. 64.
Act. 5. Sc. 1. *. 64 —9—15. Ad Gellium, Carm. 85. .
Bacchides. Act. 2. Sc. 3. . 2212 79.
$.
A&t. 3. Sc. 3. *. 30-17-
Rudens. A&t. 2. Sc.
4. $.
Truculentus. Act. 2. Sc. 6.
§.
5
-12- 24.
6-
14- 3.
3.
LUCRETIUS.
9 7- 7. Lib. 1. y. 66
. 34- 7- 72.
8-112.
119-
225.
*. 49, &c. 7- 42.
251-
2.
47-
CECILIUS.
13- 61.
16— 24.
∙16–182.
3.
993
Incert.
10. 4.
1097
4.
1155-
TERENCE.
1158
Eunuchus. Act. 2. Sc. 3. . 267
Heautont. Prol.
Act. 4. Sc. 3.
Phormio. Act. 1. Sc. I.
10.
5.
10-
$.25 2
2- 36.
✯.
. 1, &c.—2—36.
736-
. 10—10— 77.
740
28-
16-180
6— 63.
8-109.
10-
I.
9- 32.
12- 74.
13- 54.
741-
13- 39.
AFRANIUS.
745
12— 76.
Sella. *. 189
-10- 5.
746—
12- 75.
LUCINIUS IMBREX.
746-
13- 53.
Neæra. . 1
1197-
10- 33.
770.
6.
297-
6- 10.
LUCILIUS.
427-
13- 32.
Sat. Lib. 4. §. 6-
→ 16—113
1271
-16 30
Poets
342
CLASSICAL INDE X.
Poets of the AUGUSTAN AGE.
Dial, Note
14- 32.
14- 33.
Dial. Note
VIRGIL.
Georg.4. ¥.342
Ecl. 1. . 6——
6- 75.
345-
28-
10- 89.
361-
72-
15- 74.
363-
3.
4.
| W
59-
2- 13.
I, &c..
12- 55.
382-
ΙΟ
46-
8- 14.
371, &c..
14- 38.
7- 66.
-14 60.
14-108.
14- 92.
14— 1.
407
10- 75.
423-
ம்ம்
5.
73-
14- 37°
425
6.
2
-8-33.
451.
لخا
75-
15- 50.
482-
9 99.
484-
8-94.
Æn. 1. . 4
9- 99.
クー
​62-
15- 59.
16-
-38, &c.-
11-111.
·14 340
16-131.
-16—190.
·20— 47.
3- 10.
6— 39.
·20— 51.
6- 80.
·13- 37.
52, &c..
·13— 57.
54
13- 57.
71-
7. 25-
32-
8. 13-
10.
Georg. 1. . 1
17-
20-
31-
32, &c.
38-
96-
204-
2 II-
287-
233
245-
II- 2.
15- 81.
15- 71.
14- 3.
·II- 51.
16206.
8110.
I I-
2.
13- 35.
42-
52
II-
81.
II- 4.
292
II 6.
499-
328-
404-
418-
6— 36.
15- 50.
13- 71.
447-
1.2 93.
453:
I I- 24.
462————
13- 13.
14- 88.
2.
.
482-
490
498-
98-
126, &c.
325, &c.
334-
248.
·20 39.
15- 44..
20- 15.
20-30.
13- 37.
∙13- 37.
93-
126.-
126, &c.
255-
13- 58.
·12- 49.
-750
20- 21.
6— 22.
IO- 42.
8- 97.
591
740——
2. 167—
172, &c.
406-
417--
612, &c.
684-
688-
3. 96
96—
120-
275-
438
4. 26
122--
141
8- 22.
8- 62.
6— 67.
6-65.
12- 49.
13- 10.
6-40.
8- 22.
12- 49.
3- II.
13- 37.
8- 64.
6—76.
-16— 13.
6- 80.
8-
I.
8- 25.
8 22.
339-
342-
II-118.
389-
392-
9- 87.
9- 83.
143-
392-
20-
I.
150-
175-
521-
3- - . 37, &c.—
2- 48.
12- 64.
176—
-13-83.
181
13- 86.
85
16—189.
12- 36.
182-
13- 85.
186
473-
490, &c..
10- 12.
16—150.
359-
554
4.
52
125, &c.—
231, &c.
B
329, &c.
333, &c.
12— 39.
16—150.
∙12- 73.
15- 57.
11–115.
-15- 74.
·14- 63.
247----
248, &c.
511-
569-
5. 662-
721-
740-
13- 90.
15 41.
15- 40.
8102.
8-114.
·20 19.
12- 89.
-12 83.
Æn.
CLASSICAL INDE X.
343
!
Æn. 5. .837
839-
6.
25
129
12.9-
139-
274, &c.
9-115.
16- 5.
278-
16 55.
289-
9 32.
298, &c.
·16— 86.
418, &c
·16— 92.
Dial. Note
12— 90.
Æn. 8. .387-
855-
20 16.
·16— 64.
-20- 4.
9- 6.
9-116.
..
407-
426, &c.
437-
438
523, &c.
601-
630, &c.-
654-
Dial. Note
7- 55•·
7-77.
6- 35°
6 710
6-70.
20 250
·15— 73•
9-107.
5- 5.
3- 19.
8- 20.
8-65.
677-
677-
704
435-
16—101.
1713
14 79.
436, &c.
473-
575-
577-
578, &c.
586, &c.
605
620-
-16—191.
16—102.
20- 12.
16-108.
16-109.
728
∙14 83
9.
119
5-
13- 79.
26
3- 19.
104, &c.
6— 20.
449-
3- 5.
6- 31.
16—165.
638
670
8- 8.
-16— 16.·
670-
638, &c.-
16—192.
10.
32-
645-
658-
16—194.
58-
13- 71.
20- 20.
3- 8.
·15- 43·
·20- 15.
62, &c.
6- 48.
701
16— 59.
212
14- 22.
741
16—190.
II.
83
5- 10.
802
9- 7.
679-
802, &c.
9 3.
12.
77-
835-
3- 12.
164
843
7.
854
26
37-
84
116-
179
187
353, &c..
6— 10.
15- 23.
12-100.
844.
16-162.
3- 17.
20- 17.
Lib.
9-111. I. Ode 1.
16—158.
I. Ode1.
*.
. 5
29, &c.
&c.-
4.09
448-
16-113.
33-
13- 84.
35-
1 1 1
448-
513-
551, &c.
563, &c..
608-
658—
16~150.
16-160.
2.
2
31
206, &c.-
*402
701, &c.
811
888.
HORACE.
9- 12.
12-100.
12- 28.
6- 14..
9-103.
15- 48.
6 80.
14-124.
10- 65.
3- 24.
8 39.
3- 24.
6 36.
8- 92.
16-161.
16162.
33-
7- 15.
41, &c.——
8
1.
9- 12.
4.
13-
9- 24.
7.
12
-16—
16- 37.
14- 63.
8.
32-
·20
5.
IO.
6, &c.
8-130.
64-
77-
14 67.
12.
I
8.
8- 30.
14~ 65.
21-
9
77.
137-
194
198-
15- 41.
i6.
12-
·13
71.
9- 53.
17.
I,&c..
9- 53.
19-
3- 22.
10- 26:
203-
9- 32.
18.
16—
219, &c.
-20—23.
21.
2
264-
267-
9- 52.
24.
3-
9 53.
30.
·5, &c..
287, &c..
9- 20.
32.
9
298-
9- 14.
1
IC-
349, &c..
13- 73.
35.
14-
369-
12- 87.
17
Tttt
10 39.
8- 8.
8 52.
7- 43.
9100.
7- 41.
-10-- 52.
∙10—94.
Lib.
134.4
CLASSICAL IN DE X.
}
sorL-Ode 35. *r 18, & Cr
છે.
81-
21-
Dial. Note Lib.
10 71. I. Sat. 3. 133
Dial. Note
619.
3- 20.
i
∙10 39.
5. 40-
10- 94.
63-
14- 37.
23-
10- 87.
6.
54-
3- 20.
II.
8.
15
7 32..
121
8
79.
*13.
21
16-204.
8.
1, &c.
15
64.
22-
16 20.1
9. 59-
35-
16-131.
10.
44-
14.
9- 32.
II.
3. 17-
16.
II-
16— 24.
22
16- 24.
ท
17.
5, &c..
14-
19.
29-
1
III.
I.
40-
3.
9
9 7.
I. Ep. 1.
3- 22.
9-85.
-16— 24.
35-
67-
176 TOI
10 20.
3- 2.
6 19.
6- 19.
8-138.
-12-
90.
15- 61.
30-
9- 10.
10, &c.
9 2.
2
4
13
9- 77.
23-
16.
9-108.
63-
4.
2
59-
61-
8- 46.
6- 38.
3. 17-
25
II.
4-
15, &c.—
16-211.
6 79.
8-131.
12.
7.
87-
29-
18. 42-
18-
16 93.
19.
4
19.
17-
7- 44.
II.
I.
7, &c.
9
21.
22-
7- 44.
26-
10- 3.
10— 26.
10- 31.
8 74.
9- 99,
10- 51.
10- 58.
2 I 17.
9- 98.
I.
2- Il.
22. 4-
8-101.
59-
2- 32.
24.
5, &c.-
10- 71.
62-
2- 19.
9
16- 41.
71-
17- 3.
43
10- 16.
86-
2
8.
44-
10- 20.
126-
17- 3.
ܣ
29:
53-
IO 88.
146—
30.
8 52.
156-
2- 12.
5- 20.
IV.- \\
3.
クー
​·IO
59.
178—
10- 67.
19-
8-135.
2. 187, &c.-
10- 79.
21
4.
3
9.
44-
13
8. Ars Poet.
144-
20- 62.
AI 5.
18
10- 49.
413-
IC 16.
Y
SI
7.
12-
·12- 71.
な
​0172.
14.
Faft.
OVID.
I
13- 39.
25-
44
14- 90.
14 75.
Lib. I.
. 2
II-
2.
37-
9-110.
95
12-119.
Epod. 2. 17
I 2
63.
114
12-127.
8.
3-
12- 57.
125-
15.
9-
8
7.
141
17.
41.
11-116.
199
Carm. Sæc.
34-
8-
8— 71.
229, &c.
234-
35-
12 21.
281
60-
10- 58.
286-
Lib.
614-
I. Sat. 1. 19.
6- 26.
645-
36
13- 34.
652—
12-118.
8-102.
5- 5.
12-125.
1 2 -----
8.
10- 57.
14- 86.
14-104.
15- 21.
-II- 67
2.
99
** T26ână
69-
71-
30-
94
6 37.
·16186.
16--180.
711
IO- 53.
II.
28-
6- 37.
6- 37.
72-
79-
81-
9-106.
155-
6 19.
12- 35.
II- 23.
II 42.
893.
Lib.
CLASSICAL INDEX.
11345
¡
T
Faft.
Dial. Note Faft.
Lib. II.
.155-
15 59. Lib. VI.
.752
1
312-
12- 14.
772-
312-
12-109. Amorum.
9-107. Lib. El.1. . 10-
Diaki Note
2 الحب
12- 81.
8-93.
10 II.
418-
455-
·I I-
67.
I.
2.
31-
496———
9-108.
3.
II.
9- 98.
501-
9-109.
8.
50-
12- 59.
597-
14-123.
59-
8- 60.
607-
6- 26.
9.
31
634-
15- 35.
40-
856-
12 10.
13.
2
III.
43-
I 2.
59.
10-
7- 57.
7-66.
12-101.
12- 95.
45-
7-84.
14.
31, &c.-
8- I.
108-
8.
235-
12— 72.
II.
36.3-
IO- 33.
III.
404-
12 96.
500-
9- 86.
-069
14— 46.
1001301
34-
14- 17.
46-
10- 73.
I, &c.————
10— 29.
3
14- 63.
10
40-
6— 36.
14— 76.
729-
9- 77.
44-
14- 60.
773
789-
848-
9 82.
IO.
3-
12. 22-
· 8-106.
15- 50.
9- 88.
6— 78.
78. Ars Am.
IV
I
7- 19.
Lib.
. 32
14
8- 43.
I.
88-
127
15- 57.
213-
6- 37.
7- 16.
8- 12.
143-
14- 17.
220
15- 37.
162-
II— 56.
226
15- 31.
162---
II- 77.
232-
9- 85.
196
8- 43.
II.
122-
17- 3.
231
15- 59.
310-
6- 70.
371-
12- 39.
537-
388
II106.
424
603-
8-106.
8-116.
614
712-
12-102.
657-
714
12- 97.
670-
895
12- 66.
III.
62-
907, &c..
944-
V.
954-
16
37-
15— 69.
12-
99.
6- 53.
62-
65-
ส
84
·12 22.
141
16-169.
143-
80-
8 45.
180-
540-
563-
IO 20.
10- 62.
7-66.
7- II.
7- 14.
12- 57.
12- 58.
12-114.
12—114.
12-
92.
8- 60.
8- 93.
12-
96.
104-
8-130.
347-
9— 98.
127
I O
10- 58.
348—
160-
12- 99.
348
9- 85.
9-100.
169-
209, &c..
15- 41.
388-
12- 45.
411
VI.
217
323-
356, &c.-
413--
550-
9 I
358
37 5
487
15- 54.
12-112.
Jam 99.
452-
∙10— 51.
504-
7- 16.
6- 68.
15 53. Rem. Am.
I I-
11- 96.
. 39-
7- 30.
12- 81.
547-
7- 20.
10- 53.
660-
7- 16.
15- 25.
702-
7- 30.
9-110. Heroïdes.
6- 26. Ep. 4. .39
8
652
6- 57.
159-
93.
12- 28,
707-
8- 80.
5.
28-
6- 29.
Heroïdes.
3
346
CLASSICAL IND E X:
I
II.
12.
98-
13-
14-
Heroïdes.
«Ep.7. ¥. 60—
195
Dial. Note Metamorph.
14- 17. Lib. II.
- 8.
12- 29.
9.
77, &c.
9— 76.
9- 45.
13— 56.
.255-
Dial. Note
14— 76.
15- 13.
6— II.
6- 35.
6- 60.
272, &c.
325-
325
752-
773-
13-
78
79-
8-101.
848
6— 56.
6 II.
13.
33-
9 853
849-
III.
$5.
23-
8
I.
1
24-
9— 8.5.
165-
8.
8- 63.
16.
16. 64-
I
81
117, &c.
17. 117,
20.
41.
60-
8-119.
·IO 27%
10- 27.
io 20.
14- 39.
I:
8-
9.
9- 89.
9— 84:
$
IV.
17, &c.—
9- 94.
9- 84:
RE
20
9 77.
45-
180-
293-
421
421-
607-
608-
6
II
8—96.
·21-
35.
6.
Ibis.
92.
*. 201-
12— 70.
188–
Conf. ad Liv.
189-
V. 121, &c.
·14— 64.
193-
164-
10- 73.
490-
282-
12— 96.
494-
∙12- 90.
7- 64.
7- 66.
8- 10.
·16-141.
16-137:
Metamorph.
Lib. I.
361—
16— 40.
656, &c..
∙15- 39.
665-
8-126.
. 14-
14- 14.
719-
8-126.
1332.
726-
8-126:
59-
72, &c.-
11-118.
V.
319-
16-168.
108-
13- 18.
325-
16—171.
127-
166.
7- 5.
339-
627.
506-
8 45.
16-206.
176—
184
6— 15°
553-
19 70
16—169.
VI.
74-
-265-
13- II.
76
118-
1.A
~ 2.7.0 —
13- 79.
6
14 6.
8-106.
2.
1 - 3 Z L
·14- 8.
130-
6- 59.
>
14- 21.
175-
15- 41.
333-
528
8-123.
217-
8- 92.
564
8- 7.
231
8- 90.
579
∙14— 63.
265-
8- 89.
671-
———8—117.
293-
8- 88.
690-
15— 59.
298-
8- 85.
II.
25-
26-
13
23, &c..
∙14 49.
12— 46.
12- 80.
·12- 56. VII.
487-
12- 40.
686-
13- 23.
705-
13- 24.
411, &c.
9- 35.
26-
12-115.
542
9- 42.
27-
12- 61.
581
-IE
410
28-
12- 62.
821, &c.
13- 45.
29-
12- 66.
VIII.
13-
10-
61.
30-
41
12 72.
12— 28.
31-
8-
J.
150-
15-
50.
50-
63-
83-
85-
119
133-
143-
195, &c.
231-
I 1
39.
56.
12- 36.
12-113.
·12- 44.
12- 90.
II
56.
12- 25,
8- 10.
181
12-
207-
270-
IX.
373, &c.
481, &c.
88-
180, &c.-
185
2.59-
11-
12.
II-106.
クー
​7 4.
9-115.
-16 119.
10- 58.
920.
9- 32.
9- 57.
Metamorph.
CLASSICAL INDE X.
347
9- 57. II.
7- 41.
16— 92.
-16——
16 94.
21- - 8. III.
Metamorph.
Lib. IX. . 268
X
481
2 I
22-
160
Dial. Note Lib.
Dial. Note
∙12— 89.
·16 75°
8- 3.
8- 60.
I.
8.7
90-
3.
II
5.
4.
3L-
8
4.
161—
21 10.
35-
8-60.
XI.
48.
14-125. IV. 13.
L5
10— 76.
158-
15- 45.
166–
8- 60. Lib.
PROPERTIUS.
172-
15- 45.
II. El.20. ¥. 7-
•16-8
195-
257-
13- 48.
23. Ig-
12— 40.
27.
12-
592, &c.
16 77,
31.
16-
7-67.
13- 32.
8- 70.
619, &c.
-16~ 66. III:
15.
38, &c.-
21- 15.
XII.
39, &c.
13- 89.
20.
18-
12- 21.
53, &c..
13- 88. IV.
93-
14— 48.
XIII.
26-
16-183.
399-
895-
XIV.
143-
624
638-
820
∙14— 51.
14-117.
3
12- 57.
15- 58.
નબંધ 6 |
5-
5-
8.
25-
12-
8.
40-
15- 50.
30-
8- 21.
57-
68
8-65.
8-65.
70-
8 72.
15— 76.
9-108.
COLUMELLA.
827-
9-109. De Cult. Hort.
XV.
31
-12— 85.
39-
Trift.
189-
189-
201, &c.
211
21/
488-
547, &c.-
654, &c.—
789-
Lib.I. E1.6. ¥.2
9 19.
12- 13.
12-109.
-12-60.
12— 67.
Lib. Fab.
12 70. III. IO.
IV. 6.
*. 9, &c.-
.44
160—
427-
12- 66.
12- 58.
15- 76.
PHÆDRUS.
14-107.
14-106.
2I.
6, &c.—
I, &c.
9-104.
3- 41.
342.
·I5 47.
12-
17.
Lib.
MANILIUS.
9- 99.
I.
¥. 26-
II.
125-
3- 5.
296-
7- 54.
103-
265—
11-104.
II—-39.
II- 74.
521, &c.
14- 16.
269—
II-
61.
528
14- 17°
273-
II- 70.
IV. 2.
2
15- 20.
306-
II-
6.
37-
15- 37.
317
42-
-14-84..
319
44-
15- 20.
324-
V. 3. 43
9- 83.
341
Ex Pont.
350-
Lib.II.Ep.8.4.19————
15- 26.
361—
IQ.
12-
12- 52.
381-
II. 1. II
12- 61,
386-
13
124
3. 16
IV. I. 30-
12- 65.
399-
II- 10.
II- 12.
II-
20.
II- 25.
II- 28.
II-
11- 78.
II-106.
II-III:
II-109.
6
7- 28.
71.
402-
II-112.
409-
II- 95.
424
II-100.
14- 17.
430-
Lib.
TIBULLUS.
II.
162-
I. El. 4. *. 33-
37-
38-
8- 9.
9-82.
163-
164-
9-89.
199-
11-103.
NI 82.
II-
83.
11- 72.
II- 76.
10.
70-
∙10- 55·
212
·II- 74.
Uuuu
Lib.
*348
CLASSICAL INDE X.
258-
259-
440-
II-
492-
I
529-
"E, İsia
· H
"
1-
<
. 232
Dial. Note Lib.
11- 65.
11- 53.
11-78.
Dial. Note
11.86,
II-103.
II 10.
·II- 37.
II- 32.
II 25.
V.
131
14
78.
20-
82.
20-
¿
11 69.
22-
II- 54.
25
661-
36—
III.
257-
11- 65,
332-
IVA
190
203
261-
272-
II-
467-
506
522-
530-
560-
797-
11- 68.
E
11- 69.
II— 63.
II 82.
II-
11- 53.
II- 44.
II- 53.
II— 74.
と
​37
60-
206~
207
262, &c.—
..306, &c.
II- 86.
11- 86,
·12-87.
II 43.
II-110.
[1- 13.
11–119.
II 19.
11- 98.
...319
·338-
II-115.
411
II- 24.
II— 41.
445-
II- 35.
II- 62.
484-
II- 22.
·
II- 67.
Dial. Note
Lib.
I.
LUCAN.
Roman Poets; of the THIRD AGE.
Sat. 5. .132, &c.—
}
*.
45, &c.
II. 50.
65-
9 98.
6.
151-
62
Dial. Note.
10- 28.
·10 77.
8- 62.
*3
146, &c.—
6- 10.
189-
15- 19.
PETRONIUS.
577
8- 65.
662-
12- 20.
250, &c.
&c.
10- 38.
II.
360-
13- 32.
}
III
W.
V.
01
SI
di
VI.
VII
་
397
587, &c.-
638
57-
652-
561
629-
642
649-
254-
394
468-
133, &c.
VIII. 686-
16123. Bel. Civ. . 115
14 46. Fr. in the?
-16–162. Corp.Poet. 566—
4- 16.
4- 24.
I I 75.
9- 44.
4- 6.
SILIUS ITALICUS.
Lib.
2.
*. 484-
3.
33
44, &c.
10- 41.
9- 17.
9- 20.
4-
8.
+
323-
4- II
524-
4- 12.
4.
410-
10- 22.
8.
361
6- 62.
13— 26.
15— 27.
6- 45.
352-
46— 66.
11- 61. 10.
13- 63.
4- 13.
10- 97.
357-
16- 63.
12.
622,&c.
13- 68.
720, &c.
13- 68.
IX.
132-
II.
56.
13.
320
354-
364-
6 62.
9— 36.
326, &c.
3.64.
656—
16—169.
790-
15- 18.
15- 79.
6- 45.
16-
2.
678
796—
8-126.
845
16- 32.
4- 2. 14.
467
15- 52.
475
PERSIUS.
15.
18,&c.-
Prol.
Sat.
1.
3.
6.
*. 6–
78-
117-
76-
31-
9 99.
4- 12.
3- 25.
10- 21.
15- 35:
16.
82-
·IO 50.
29-
77, &c.
101, &c.
285-
76—
261-
15- 52.
10- 24.
6- 59.
9- 4.
10- 20
12- 88.
9-105.
6- 6.
VALERIUS
CLASSICAL INDE X.
349
2. Syl.7. .131
Argonaut.
3. 1. 18-
Lib. I.
*. 16, &c.-
VALERIUS FLACCUS.
Dial. Note Lib.
Dial. Note
·16 29.
12- 77.
·II- 50.
27
78-
10 67.
12- 52.
39-
106–
14— 66.
40-
116-
6- 80.
48-
129,&c.
11- 87.
132-
132-
14- 45.
1
135
}
154-
9- 12.
26
15-
593, &c.
13- 57.
34-
610-
652
9— 61.
9-76.
9- 15.
7-79.
12 59.
11-119.
14- 48.
13- 10.
3.
7
13- 52.
62-
680
14- 6.
-10— 36.
9— 85.
4.
Σ.
~102, &c.-
25
7- 61.
29-
207
16— 51.
208-
7- 62.
83-
I.
16—
271-
9- 85.
3.
67
492
8- I.
5.
3.
47,&c.
5
15- 86.
9-104.
7- 18.
7- 51.
———————-12—128.
∙14–100.
12— 70.
6
56
15- 82.
12- 73.
6.
31-
524-
7ima 57.
14-124.
40
4.
93, &c.
9- 17.
12- 31.
670-
57-
6- 80.
9- 71.
58
5.
ம்
210-
9- 71.
14—110.
413, &c.
414-
416-
12- 29.
5.
1. 156–
II-122.
16— 44.
235
7- 63.
2.
26
124
217-
235-
11-115.
56.
6
II.
56
174
457-
8.
29-
6 36.
6 79.
7- 18.
·12
23.
70
186-
16 56.
14- 66.
4.
10
19
STATIUS.
5.
4-
Sylvæ.
Lib.1.Syl.1..69
Thebais.
14-102. Lib. 1.
*. 24, &c.
28
12- 68.
7- 63.
2. 10-
8- 31.
44-
I 18
·16 87.
203
14- 19.
338-
249-
9- 99.
351-
3.
| | Š | | |
129-
6
7, &c.-
115-
291-
91.
III-
•
9- 42.
9- 42.
9-105.
9- 98.
999.
9- 99.
∙14-107.
12- 98.
·16 63.
8-135.
·II-
∙11- 50.
12- 28.
-16—136.
16—140.
6— 23.
12- 22.
13 12.
-270-
7- 8.
352-
3. 62-
15- 59.
485-
·13- 33°
9 16.
73
14- 97.
487-
9 12.
75
·14 98.
631-
4. 25
9-104.
633-
101-
-108
108-
9-102.
662
9-103.
2.
45
5. 3-
9- 98.
47-
4-
8
8-135
49-
18-
7 79.
14-123.
136—
208-
6.
4-
1 2
5.
218.
5
2.
62-
I. 217-
6. 73,&c.
7. 34, &c.
12- 78.
∙10 22.
12- 68.
16
49.
236
238-
528-
716
4- 362
3.
4.
2
8 92.
-16- 36.
10- 89.
クー ​2.
14- 12.
16—198.
12— 96.
13- 82.
14-III
6- 56.
657
-12— 88.
6- 56.
-12— 90.
Lib.
CLASSICAL INDE X.
1
·350
Lib.
5.
•
!
33
414-
426, &c.
186
828-
832-
61, &c.
395-
437, &c.
530
26
27-
6. -
240
27 L
2.7.2
274-
573-
896
少
​37-
Dial. Note Lib.
-12-90.
2.
12- 33.
*.165
239-
∙13- 87.
TRAGOEDIA LATINÆ.
8- 80.
9- 17.
Medea.
14- 61. Act. 1.
*.63-
83, &c.
7- 61.
クー
​6- 35.
9-115.
-11- 5.
5.
12-106.
5. 954-
Hippolytus.......
A&.i. Ch. 274-
JI
12— 93.
2.
12- 15.
9- 17.
9- 18. Oedipus.
14-111.
7- 6.
751-
755, &c.
Act. 2. Ch. 408.
508-
*
Dial. Note
8
I.
12 30.
10- 56.
8
I.
8- 91.
7— 19,
9- 81.
8
I.
3. Sc. 1. 611-
9- 47.
13- 29.
51-
IO 22.
Agamemnon.
151-
9-85.
466—
466.
16—146.
A&t.3. Sc.1. 528-
Ch. 731-
565-
9- 78.
762
.8. -
24-
16- 29.
27-
16- 90.
Hercules Furens.
Act.1. Ch. 180-
273
2. Sc.1.216, &c.-
274-
511
219-
225
9.
10.
519-
551-
436-
482-
822-
69
82-
89, &c.
10%, &C.
107
III-
119-
12- 43.
11-119.
9— 46.
673.
8 50.
9- 85.
14~116.
لله
754. Hercules Oëtæus.
6-80. Act.4.Sc.2. 12931
13- 81.
16— 72.
16 68. Octavia.
-16— 61.
9 840
9-83.
21- 16.
6- 80.
∙16— 87.
16-128.
12- 59.
9 201
9- 15.
9- 17.
248-
2.723-
Ch. 844-
9- 29.
16—197.
II-
55.
Ch. 1518-
9 24.
12- 28.
16- 58.
A&.1. Sc.3. 173
8
1.
2. 2. 560—
7- 32.
13- 81.
499
641, &c.
9- 42. Lib.
MARTIAL.
IO 22. 1. Ep.36. ¥.2
∙17
3.
644
10- 22.
77. クー
​495
10- 35. 2.
571
12.
272-
307-
Achilleis.
Lib. I.
492-
583, &c.-
606, &c.
4. 60-
344, &c.
488-
16— 88.
16-201.
-16- 62.
I w.
3.
58.
+1000
64. 8-
クー
​4.
45.
8-
45.
8-
10- 47.
9-46.
54.
5-
6.
29. 6
6720
7.
I.
I, &c.
73.
2
94. i—
14- II. 8.
8. 2
8-103.
15- 8.
40.
I, &c.-
9- 99!
8- 79.
12-
76.
89.
9- 89.
10- 72.
8- II.
6 77..
8-120.
12— 76:
∙12—130.
15— 63.
41. 2-
12- 76.
2
15-
16
12-
40. 9.
20.
I
4- 34.
67, &c.-
152-
164–
14- 58.
4 32.
6- 58.
102.
3, &c.
9 20.
102. 5
102. 6
10.
104:
5-
I
9- 34.
9- 26.
9- 34.
Lib.
CLASSICAL INDEX
351
Lib.
14. Ep.48. .1, &c.—
Sat.
2.
J07. 2
177. I
179. 1, &c..
*. 98-
JUVENAL.
Dial. Note
Sat.
9— 42.
$. 152, &c.
9 91.
8.
1, &c.-
9- 15.
54-
6-78.
88-
107-
9.
2-
Dial. Note
17- 3.
8-143.
8-148.
10- 31.
5- 32.
8-79.
10- 76.
10.
124
2-
50.
3.
20-
·15- 57··
180, &c.
13- 57.
86, &c.
9- 48.
144, &c.
6- 80.
333-
335
14- 46.
·14~ 46.
186-
8- 5.
356,&c.
10- 69.
4.
103-
6- 19.
360, &c..
10- 23.
149-
8-115.
365-
10- 69.
5.
ΙΟΙ
13- 16.
366—
125-
9- 52.
il.
107-
6,
15
10- 44.
12.
172-
8-83.
13.
20
10- 80.
7-68.
6- 62.
-10- I.
392-
12—121.
38
∙12- 8.
604-
·10 92.
78-
12- 28.
7.
29-
9- 99.
81-
7- 2.
64-
9- 98.
81-
∙14- I.
67, &c.
3- 16.
15.
110, &c.
∙17- 4.
82, &c.-
4- 33.
16.
31-
6- 19.
t
Xxxx
353
THE
GENERAL INDEX.
A
A.
BUNDANTIA; how diftinguished,
Achelous,
Actius, the Poet,
P. 148.
p. 235.
p. 13, & 23.
Ades; what part of the ſubterraneous world was
p. 259.
P. 259, & 282.
p. 278.
at Whitehall, p. 297; and from thofe in the
Luxemburg palace, at Paris, p. 298.-In-
ſtances of Dominiquin's and Raphael's falling
fhort of the propriety and fimplicity of the
antient allegoriſts, p. 144, & 299.-Faults
of our poets; in their allegorical deſcriptions:
inftanced, from Spencer. p. 302, &c.-Faults
of our tranflators of the antient poets; in re-
lation to their Allegories: inftanced, from
Dryden, p. 309, &c. See, Machinery.
Aloïdæ,
·P. 278.
Altus, in the Roman poets, fometimes relates to
the attitude of a perfon, or figure. p.55, N. 36.
meant by that name?
Eacus,
Ægeon,
Ægis; the proper fignification
of that word,
among the Romans,
-p. 62, N. 78.
Eolus,
p. 209.
Equitas; how marked out,
-p. 138.
Æftas,
-p. 191.
Amphitrite,
-P. 219.
Eternitas,
-p. 187.
Anaduomënè: fee, Venus.
Afranius, the
poet,
-p. 13.
Andromeda : (as a Conftellation;).
-P. 242.
p. 168:
Anguis; or, the great Serpent: its windings on
the antient globes.
-p. 165.
P.
--p. 233.
Africa,
Africus, (the S. W. Wind,)—p. 202, 205.
Ages: the four Ages, or gradations of life; fee,
Infancy, &c.
Air-Nymphs; fee, Auræ.
Albula,-
p. 233.
Alecto, the Fury, p. 275.-From what part
of Italy Virgil makes her defcend into hell.
p. 276, N. 162.
Alexandria,
Algus,
p. 244.
p. 192.
ALLEGORIES; and Allegorical Repreſentations:
thofe of the Greeks and Romans, not to be
confounded together, p. 5:-The antients
dealt much more in Allegories, than they are
generally imagined to have done, p. 208 229,
N. 74. 239. See the greater part of the ar-
ticles in this Index.- How exact the an-
tient artiſts were in adapting not only the cha-
racters, but the very poftures and colour of
their figures, to the things fignified by them.
p. 228. See, Sculptors.Generally point.
out the thing intended eafily, and clearly; and
often, by fome ſingle circumftance, p. 292.-
Propriety and fimplicity; their general cha-
racter. ibid.The modern artifts fail much,
in both, ib.--The obfcurity, and extrava-
gance of the modern Allegories; inftanced,
from Ripa, p. 293; &c.-Their lowneſs, and
frivoloufnefs; from Venius, Rubens's mafter.
p. 295. Defects of this kind in Rubens
himfelf: fhewn from his defigns, for the Entry
of Ferdinand of Auftria into Antwerp, p. 296.
From his paintings, in the Banqueting-Houſe,
Anio,
Annona: how diftinguifhed from Abundantia,
P. 148.
Annus; fpoken of perfonally, p. 190.- -See,
Magnus Annus.
Anteros; one of the two chiefs over all the Cu-
pids: the cauſe of love's ceafing,-
-p. 69.
Apenninus; mentioned perſonally.-
P. 248.
Apollo: the diſtinguiſhing character of his per-
fon,
-p. 83.
Apollo Actius: how reprefented, on the Pro-
montory of Actium? p. 93.-How in the
temple built to him by Auguftus, on the Pa-
latine hill? p. 94.
Apollo Belvedere: the nobleft of all the antient
ftatues, that remain to us?
Aquarius,-
P. 83.
P. 172.
p. 166.
Aquila: the Conftellation,
Aquilo; (the N. E. Wind,) p. 202. 205. &
206, N. 37.
Ara: the Conftellation,
Arabia: how repreſented,
Arcitenens: the Conftellation,
Arcti: fee, Helice & Cynofura.
Arcturus,
P. 175.
P. 242.
P. 171.
-p. 178.
P.174.
-P. 173.
Argo: the Conftellation,
Aries,-
ARTS: the politer Arts, never much practifed
by the Romans themselves, p. 5.-Long be-
fore they were received at Rome, p. 7, 36,
37.-No taſte, or rather a total infenfibility to
the fineſt works of art, encouraged among the
Romans;
35-4
INDE X.
GENERAL
!
Romans; till the fecond Punic war, p. 38.
Marcellus was the firft,who (in the time of that
war) introduced the love of the Arts among
them, p.39 It got ground, very rapidly, ibid.
Was gradually, fed and augmented; by the
triumphs of their generals, p. 40 and the tra
paciouſneſs of the governors, over the nations
conquered by them. &c. p. 41. Arrived
to its perfection, under Auguftus, p. 43.-
Sunk after his death; and was quite fallen, by
the time of Gallienus, ibid. See, Painting,
ard Sculpture.
Afta: how reprefented,
Carmina, Cantare, &c. ufed of other things, be
fide poetry, p. 8, N. 11. & 76, N. 67. See,
Vates.
P. 168.
Caffiopea; as a Conftellation,
Caffor, and Pollux how much alike in their
face, attributes, &c, påï34, N. 115.—Deſtin-
guiſhed by their attitudes? p. 247.
Cato, the Cenfor: a great enemy of the arts,
and a friend to punning. p. 39, N. 20.
Catullus; the poet,
Centaurs, in general,
Centaurus the Conſtellation,
Centuries; fpoken of perfonally fee, Sæcula.
→→→
-P. 15.
-P. 267.
p.
175.
Athos: mentioned perfonally?
Atlas,
-P. 241, 247.
P: 248.
Cerberus,
P. 268.
P. 245, 246.
Ceres,
―p: 232.
P. 103, 253.
Cetus: the Conftellation; 176.
Pi
Charon.
"Th
P. 267.
P. 250.
Aufidus how diftinguished,
Auguftus; his character, as a critic and writer.
p. 26. An extreme piece of vanity, in that
emperor, p. 85, 86.
Auræ Sylphs, or Air-Nymphs, p. 207.
N: 42, ibid.
Auriga: the Conſtellation,
Aurora,-
See
P. 169.
-P. 194.
Auſter, (the S. Wind,) p. 202. 203. & 206,
N. 37.
Autumnus,
B.
P. 191.
Bacchus, a great warrior, p. 127, 128: N. 77,-
78.The diftinguishing characters of his
perfon, p. 128-Equal to Apollo for beauty,.
p. 130. and joined with him, as prefiding
-over Poetry, p. 131, N, 98,
Boötes,
Boreas, (the N. Wind,) p. 204.
in a painting of Zeuxis, p. 205,
Briareus
Charybdis; fpoken of perfonally.
Chimæra,
P. 267.
Choice, between a virtuous life, or a vicious one;
expreffed by-feveral-allegorical ſtories, among
thre. antients. p. 141, &c.-The Choice of
Hercules, p. 155, &c.-of Paris, p. 143.-
of Ulyffes, ibid. N. 26.--and of Scipio Afri-
canus, p. 141, N. 24.
:
Clementia how diſtinguiſhed, p. 146.-Long,
before he was received as a goddeſs among
the Romans? Ibid.
Clio; how to be diftinguished from the other
Mufes,
Cloud-Nymph: fee, Nephele.
Cold; fpoken of, perfonally: fee, Algus.
-P. 88.
to be afcertained in Engliſh, p. 167, N. 24.-
. p. 186, N. 35.-P. 228, N. 67.
Colours; the Latin names of them, very difficult
to be ascertained in English, p. 167, N. 24.
-p. 186, N. 35. p. 228, N.67.
Concordia: how diftinguished,-
Conftellations: fee, Arcti, &c.
Copia: fee, Abundantia.
P. 148.
p. 165.
His afpest;
N. 23.
p. 267.
Britannia,-
Brontes;
P. 242.
-P. 209, N. 55.
:
Bruma; the true fignification
mong the Romans, p. 192,
of perfonally. ibid.
of the word, a-
N. 76.-Spoken
Cornua, of a lyre; whence fo called,
Corona: the Conftellation,
-p. 166.
—p. 165.
Corus; (the N. W. Wind,)-
p. 202, 205.
Corvus: the Conſtellation,-
P. 175.
C.
Crater: the Conftellation,-
-P.
·P. 175.
Cæcilius; the poet,
when ap-
when ap-
Cæruleus, fee, Colours..
Cæus,
p. 11. Crinitus; how fignificant an epithet,
plied to Apollo. p. 85.-Ditto,
plied to löpas. p. 93.
P. 278.
Calliope; the chief, of all the Muſes, p. 90.
How to be diftinguiſhed, from the reſt, ibid.
Calumny; reprefented perfonally. p. 261, N.26.
Cancer: the Conftellation,
Canicula,
Canis Major: fee, Canicula.
Canis Minor fee, Procyon.
Capella: the Conftellation,
Cappadocia,
Capricornus,
P. 169.
P. 177.
·P. 169..
P. 242.
P. 172.
Carbafa; uſed for the veils, of Water Nymphs?
p. 236, N. 125.
Cares; fpoken of perſonally.
1
Crowns: Ivy-Crowns much more ufual for the
Roman Poets, than thofe of laurel, p. 132,
-Laurel-Crowns; moſt properly,
the reward of warriors and conquerors of old,
P. 149.
N. 99.
Cruelty repreſented perfonally, p. 261, N. 26.
Cupids; the uſual characters of their figures,
P. 70. Very numerous, p. 69.Two
chiefs, over all the reft, ibid. See, Eros; and
Anteros.Cupids, under the character of
Somnus? p. 264.
Curtius; (after his deification,)
p. 260. Cybele,
P. 233.
P. 240.
Cygnus:
GENERAL INDEX.
355
Cygnus: the Conſtellation,
Cynofura,
D.
-p. 167.
p. 165.
Fames; (or Hunger,) p. 260, N.23. & 261, N.26.
Fata: fee, Parcæ.
Fatum; among the Romans, fignified what-
d ever was fpoken, i. e. decreed, by Jupiter.
P. 151, N. 70.—They had no perfonal re-
preſentation of Fatum, as a fingle perfonage,
p. 151.
Dacia,-
p. 242.
Damaſcus; reprefented perfonally, p.245, N. 33.
Dances often ufed of old, in a religious way;
and as acts of devotion. p. 102, N. 99
Fauns (the rural deities of that name.) p. 253.
Dancing of characters, and ftories; ufed a- Felicitas; how marked out,
-P. 146.
p.
mong the ancients. p. 222, N. 37.
Fides; (Fidelity, or Honesty :) repreſented per-
Danube; repreſented perfonally,-
fonally. p. 145.—Sola Fides; downright
Honeſty. ibid. N. 37.
Flabrum; a peculiar fenfe of that word, that
has been generally overlooked.
Flaccus, (Valerius ;) his character. p. 33-
Death; how reprefented,
P. 230.
-P. 260, &c.
December; fpoken of, perfonally,
Delphinus: the Conftellation,
Deltoton,
P. 193.
-P. 167.
p. 168.
Deus; the very different fignification of that
word among the Romans, from what it car-
ries with us. p. 2, & 62.
Diana: the diſtinguiſhing character of her per-
fon,-
p. 100.
Dies; fpoken of perfonally, p. 193. See,
Oriens.
Dii Patrii; what?
Diræ fee, Furies.
婚
​P. 315, N. 39.
Difcord; reprefented perfonally, p. 260, N. 26.
Diſeaſes; fpoken of, perfonally, p. 260, N. 23.
Dryades,
-p. 246, & 250.
~~P.
P. 206.
How much fuperior to Statius, where they
both treat of the fame fubject. p. 75, N. 62.
Flora, p. 250.-Her Garden, the Roman pa-
radife? ibid. N. 54, & 55.-Her poft, in
Lucretius's proceflion of the Seafons. p. 192.
Flumen; the Conſtellation,
-P. 176.
Formofus, and Pulcher; the different ideas an-
nexed to thoſe words? p. 84, N. 2, & 3.
Fortitude: fee Virtus.
:
Fortune: long, before fhe was received as a
goddeſs among the Romans, p. 150, N. 69,
& 154. N. 80.-How her figures were di-
ftinguiſhed. p. 155.
Fountains: fee, Statues.
France,
E.
Edeffa; repreſented perfonally, p. 245, N.
Egeria,
33.
p. 242.
P. 233.
Fulmen; the true import of the word. p. 49,
Egeftas; fpoken of, perfonally. p. 260,
Egypt,
N. 23.
N. 10.
p. 242.
Fulmináns, & Fulgurans; their different figni-
Elyfium; in what part of Ades.
p. 259.
fications
P. 54.
Enceladus,
p. 278.
Ennius, the poet.
P. 10.
Envy; reprefented perfonally.- p. 261, N. 26.
Erato her figures difficult to be diftinguiſhed;
and why?
p. 89.
Erebus: the diſtinct meaning of the word. p.
258, N. 4.
Eridanus; how reprefented,-
p. 231.
Eros one of the two chiefs, over all the other
Cupids; the cauſe of love.-
Eryx; mentioned perfonally?
p. 69.
P. 248.
Efculapius,-
-P. 133.
Etefiæ; ſpoken of, perfonally.-
P. 206.
Furies: vaft numbers of them. p. 271.-The
Diræ, or three chiefs over all the reft. p. 272.
See, Alecto; Megæra; and Tifiphone.
G.
Gemini: the Conftellation,-
Gemma; the natural fignification of the word.
P. 165, N. 12.
Genius: one, fuppofed conftantly to attend each
perſon born into the world, p. 154.—They
were reprefented exactly like the perfons they
attended; ibid.-and were confequently fome
male, and fome female. ib.--The female
genius's were called, Junones, ib.
P. 174.
Eumenides: fee, Furies.
Euphrates,
P. 230.
Germany,
Geryon,
P. 242.
-P. 267.
Europe; how repreſented ?
P. 241.
Eurus: (the S. E. Wind,) p. 202. 203. & 206,
N. 37.
Euterpe how to be diftinguiſhed from the o-
ther Muſes,
F.
p. 89.
Falfhood: repreſented perfonally. p. 261, N.26.
Falx; feveral of the fenfes of that word, among
➖➖➖p. 182, N. 8.
P. 214.
the Romans.-
Fama,-
Glaucus; how reprefented,-
Gloria: fee, Honos.
Gorgon,
Gratiæ (or, the Three Graces,)—
Greece; reprefented perfonally?
Grief; fpoken of, perfonally.
Growing-Figures; what?
Gyges; one of the Rebel-Giants.
Y Y Y Y
p. 61. 267.
61.267.
P. 72: 250.
P. 247.
—p. 260.
p.214. 274.
P. 278.
H.
Ghofts: fee, Souls of the departed.
Giants; the Rebel-Giants, p. 277.
phoeus, &c.
See, Ty-
-p. 222,
356
GENERAL INDE X.
.8 q
}
H.
Hamadryades,
Harpies,
Hebe,
"
-p. 251,
N. 59.
p. 267.
P. 188.
Hecate, the proper name of the triple Diana;
Trivia, an accidental one. p. 102, N. 102.
Helice; the Conftellation,
p. 165..
Hercules; the diftinguishing character of his
figures, p. 115-Looked on as the great
Exemplar of life, by the Greeks and Romans.
His Previous Labours, p. 115.
p. 114.
His Twelve fated Labours, p. 117, &c. &
N. 21, ib. His Extraordinary Labours,
P. 121, &c. & N. 38, ib.
Hefperus, or the Evening-Star; how diftin-
guifhed. p. 183, 195.
Hiems; how reprefented,
-p. 191.
Hieroglyphics; a more intelligible fort of them,
much in ufe among the Greek and Roman
fculptors and other artifts: fee, Sculptors.
Hilaritas; how repreſented,
Juno. Ibid.-Juno, as prefiding over the air,
how reprefented, p. 210.
Junones; the genius's of women fo called, a-
mong the Romans: fee, Genius.
Jupiter; the diftinguiſhing character of his fi
gures, p. 46.-How reprefented, when con-
fidered only as the director of a planet, p.182.
-Jupiter Pluvius, p. 210.
Juftitia: fee, Equitas.
Juvenal; his character,
Ixion,-
L.
-P. 34.
-P. 280.
Lætitia, or Joviality; how marked out. p. 147.
Lares,
-P. 245.
Laurel-Crowns: fee, Crowns.thed
Laurus; uſed by Virgil for orange-trees? p.
311, N. 15.
Leo: the Conſtellation,
p. 169.
P. 147.
-p. 169.
Lethum ; a diftinct perfonage, from Mors, p.
261, N. 28.-How defcribed, p. 263.
Libertas; how marked out.
Honeftus; fignified, Beautiful, among the Ro-
Libra: the Conſtellation,
maps; and why.
P. 309, N. 1.
Hadi; the Conftellation,-
A
Honeſty fee, Fides.
Honos; how marked out,
Horace; his character. p. 21.
*
relating to his death, ibid. N. 22.
-p. 149.
A conjecture
-P. 147.
P. 170.
Livius Andronicus; the poet: why called Scrip-
tor by Horace ?—
- p. 10.
Lucan, p. 28.-His virtues, and faults. p. 29,
&c.-Quintilian falfly inferted in the liſt of
his Encomiafts. ibid. N. 5.
Lucifer: fee, Phoſphorus.
-P. 195. Lucilius; the poets-
Hours; reprefented perfonally,
Hunger: fee, Fames.
1
Hyades; ſpoken of, perfonally.
Hydra; fometimes reprefented with a
head, and fnakes growing out of it.
N. 24 & 267, N. 80.
P. 178.
human
p. 118,
Hydrus the Conftellation,-
279
moitqrleb work, atomeg
I
alergen to znam of T
Janus; how diſtinguiſhed,
Janus; any open place, or paffage, fo
P. 14.
Lucretius, p. 14.Highly complimented by
Virgil? ibid. N. 48.
Luctus; fpoken of, perfonally. p. 260, N. 23.
Luna; the planet,-
-P. 184.
Luft; ſpoken of, perfonally.-p. 261, N. 26.
P. 175. Luteus; what colour, fignified by that word,
P. 278.
-P. 247.
P. 197.
called by
the Romans.
p. 196, N. 123.
Iapetus; one of the Rebel-Giants.
Ida; repreſented perfonally?
Ignavia; ſpoken of, perfonally, p. 266, N. 72.
-Reprefented perfonally, p. 261, N. 26.
Ignorance; reprefented perfonally, p. 261, N.
26.
Immortality fee, Hebe.
-P. 234.
Inachus,
Indigites (Dii)-
p. 315, N. 39.
Infancy; repreſented perfonally?
Ingeniculatus: a Conftellation.
Iris; how repreſented,-
p. 190.
p. 166.
-P. 213.
Ifmenides,-
p. 236, N. 121.
Ifmenos,-
P. 235.
P. 242.
P. 242.
Italy; reprefented perfonally.
Judæa; how reprefented.
Judgement of Hercules: fee, Choice,
Juno; how diftinguifhed, among the Romans,
P. 55-Juno Matrona, fignified the fame
as Juno Romana, or THE ROMAN Juno, ibid.
P. 194, N. 97.
Luxury; fpoken of, perfonally. p. 261, N. 26.
Lyra; the Conſtellation,
P. 166.
Lyre; one fort of Lyre called Teſtudo, and
why,-
M.
p. 107.
Machinery: the true idea of its ufage, among
the antients; p. 316.—and the miſtakes about
it, among the moderns, p. 317, &c.
Machines: fee, Allegories.
Magnus Annus, or the Great Platonic Year;
reprefented perfonally..
-p. 189.
Manhood; reprefented perfonally,p. 190.
Manilius; the poet,
-P. 24.
Mars, p. 77. In his planetary character, pa
183.-The fine relievo, relating to his mar-
riage with Neriene, explained.- P. 79.
Marfyas: the whole feries of his ſtory might be
collected from different antiques,-
p. 96:
Martial.
P. 34
Mecænas; a very bad, affected writer. p. 17.
Medufa; the three different characters of her
face, in the works of the antient artiſts. p.61.
Megæra; the Fury,
-P. 277:
Melpomene
GENERAL
357
INDE X.
-p. 91.
9.-
Melpomenè; how to be diftinguiſhed from the
other Muſes.
Mens; ſpoken of, perſonally. p. 138, N.
Mens Bona; ibid. N. 11.
Mercury; the diſtinguiſhing character of his
perfon. p. 104. How reprefented, as di-
rector of a planet. p. 184.
Mefopotamia; reprefented perfonally.-P. 230.
Metus; ſpoken of, perfonally. p. 260, N. 23.
Mimas; one of the Rebel-Giants.- p. 278.
Mincius; ſpoken of, perfonally.
perfon.
Minos,
P. 233.
-P. 59.
P. 259. 268.
Numa; a poet ?
p. 8.
Numicius; fpoken of, perfonally. p. 233, N.
99.
Nymphs fee, Aura; Dryads; Hamadryads;
Naiads; Nereids; Nephele; Neptunins;
Oceanitides; Oreades; Tiberinides; &c.
O.
Oblivia; fpoken of, perſonally. p. 266. N. 72.
Oceanitides,
Oceanus,
p. 217. 223.
P. 217. 218. & 240, N. 12.
Minerva; the diftinguishing character of her Open; (or, the part of the earth for-
merly fuppofed to be inhabited ;) reprefented
perfonally,
P. 239, N. 7.
Old-Age; reprefented perfonally, p. 190. 260.
Ophiuchus: the Conſtellation,
P. 166.
Optimus Maximus; the true meaning of thofe
words, when applied to Jupiter by the Ro-
Minotaure; how reprefented, p. 310, N. 3.
Montfaucon ; not fo careful or exact as he
fhould have been, in his Collection of An-
tiquities.
-P. 4.
Months; ſpoken of, perfonally. p. 193.—See,
December.
Morbi fee, Difeafes.
Morpheus,
Mors,
--p. 266.
p. 260, &c.
Mortes,
P. 261.
Mountains: the Genius's, of Mons Cælius in
Rome, p. 246.-Of the Palatine-hill, ibid.
Of a hill, in the Campus Martius, ib.-Of
the Apennines? p. 248.-Of Mount Eryx,
in Sicily? ibid.-Of Athos, in Greece? ib.
-Of Rhodope, in Thrace; ib.Of Atlas,
in Africa: p. 245.and of Ida, Timolus,
and Taurus, in Afia. p. 246.
Mummius; inftances of his remarkable igno-
rance, as to works of art. p. 40, N. 27,
mans..
Orbis; repreſented perfonally.
-P. 49.
P. 241.
Orchus; the whole fubterraneous world? p. 259.
Oreades; or, Mountain-Nymphs. p. 246. 250.
Oriens; (or, the Civil-Day ;) fpoken of, perfo-
nally.
Orion; as a Conſtellation.-
Orpheus,
•P. 193.
P. 177.
P. 281.
72.
Otia; fpoken of, perfonally. p. 266, N.
Ovid; his Metamorphofis, the laft poem that
he wrote at Rome; p. 23.And the moſt
faulty of any he did write there. ibid. His
great fault, in general. ib. N. 31. & p. 241,
N. 13.
Pacuvius, the poet.
P.
P. 13.
Mundi Harmonia; repreſented perfonally? P. Pætus; what idea was annexed to that word,
181..
Mufes fee, Calliope, &c.
Music of the Spheres: fee, Mundi Harmonia.
N.
Nævius, the poet.
Naiads,
Naples; repreſented perfonally: fee, Parthenope.
Nature; repreſented perfonally,
Neceffitas; how marked out,
Nemefis,
Nephelè; a Cloud-Nymph
p. 8.
p. 236.
P. 239.
p. 151.
p. 263, N. 50.
p. 209, N. 48.
Neptune; the diftinguishing character of his
perfon;
Neptunins; or, the
P. 217. 224.
Nereïds,
Nerienè: fee, Mars.
-p. 65. & 218,. N. 5.
defcendants of Neptune.
Nile; how diftinguished.
Nimbus: fee, Nubes.
P. 217. 234.
p. 229.
Niobe: the fine fet of figures relating to her
ftory, in the Villa Medici; not difpofed fo
judiciouſly, as they fhould have been, p. 98,
&99.
Notus: fee, Auſter.
Nox: fpoken of, perfonally.
-P. 193.
Nubes; uſed for a veil, as well as Nimbus ? p.
284.
among the Romans?
p. 68, N. 14.
Painters: fome good fubjects recommended to
our modern painters, from defcriptions in the
old poets.
The manner of repreſenting
the Venus Anaduomenè, p. 220, N. 17.—
Aurora, fetting out; p. 194. Driving away
Nox and Somnus. p. 195.-Cerberus
dragged by Hercules, into the light, p. 269.
The Destinies. p. 153, N. 75--
-The
Furies; in general. p. 271, & 273, &c.—
The Garden, of Flora, p. 72. 250.-Love,
and the Graces; fprinkling flowers over a
new married couple, p: 72.-Megæra, tor-
menting the Lapithæ, p. 277-
Nature;
looking on Jupiter, for aid. p. 240.—Piety;
wiping away the tears from the face of a good
man. p. 145.Scipio; preferring Virtue
to Pleaſure. p. 142.-Proceffion of the Sea-
fons, p. 192.-Somnus; in four compart-
ments; and with a very well-chofen compa-
nion, in each. p.265.-Tifiphonè, purfuing lö;
and vanquished by the genius of the Nile.
P. 275.- -Vengeance, embracing Death.
p. 263. The Genius of the South-Wind,
P. 203. 204. The Genius of the North-
Wind,
f
358
INDE X.
GENERAL
Wind, p. 205N24
The four chief De-
ities of the Winds, how fit to contraft and
fet off one another, p. 205.
Palatinus, (Apollo) fee, Apollo Actius.
Painting; fee, Poetry, de
Pan,
Panes fee, Satyrs.
Parcæ; how reprefented.
Parthenope,
P. 254.
P: 152.
P. 244, N. 30..
N.
Party-rage; repreſented perfonally. p. 260,
.:26 I
Pater, used for a governor; from the old pa-
triarchal form of government? p. 52. 128. &
217, N.u. vinost ..
Pax; how reprefented; p.148; & 310, N. 3.
Pegafus the Constellation.
Penates; the Great Penates, p. 58, N.
the Lefs, p. 245.iome My
Peneus,
and
-P. 167.
53;
·P. 234.
Perfidy; fpoken of, perfonally. p. 261, N. 26.
Pergamus; reprefented perfonally. p. 245,
33.
Perfeus as a Conftellation.
: Perfus, the poet.
Phædrus, the poet.
Phantafos-
Auguftan age, p. 25-The third age; or the
Fall of Poetry among the Romans. p. 28, &c.
What remains to us of the poetical writers of
this age, p. 28, 32, & 34.-The compara-
tive character of all the three ages, p. 35.-
For the particular characters of all the Roman
poets of thefe three ages, who have written
any thing that remains to us; fee, Livius,
Nævius, &c. each under his proper article.-
Their comparative character; as to exactness,
and knowledge of the arts, p. 44.-The Ro-
man poets had a more credible, and a lefs cre-
dible ſet of ſtories; and the marks, by which
they uſed to diftinguish the latter from the for-
mer. p. 6o, N. 62. & p₁82, N. 84tokes
in them probably taken from fome old paint-
ings, or relievos, that are loft to us. hp: 55.
81. 84, N. 4. 96. 105, N. 120. 120,191,
204, 214, 222, & 229...
Pollux: fee, Caftor.
Polyhymnia; her figures difficult to be diftin-
guiſhed, and why.
N.
p. 89.
p. 168.
p. 31.
P. 24.
→p.
p.266.
Pomona,
Porphyrion; one of the Rebel Grants.
Priapus,
7 to nalagt
Procyon: the Conftellation vit
hadism wod-pl-2.
Propertius; the poet.sam
-P. 251.
p. 278.
sp 252.
p. 377.
Proferpine,
p. 283.
p: 266.
p. 194.
Proteus,
p. 221.
-
Philofophia; the character of her perfon p.137,
R№ 2:
- Phobætor,-
Phoſphorus, or the Morning-Star:
Pietas; or Devotion: her diftinguishing cha-
3-racters p144.—As Filial Piety; (or, Duty
to parents) p. 145-As Parental Piety;
Tawdry Tenderneſs to children,) ibid.
Pifces: the Conftellation.
-p. 172.
Planets Sol &c. Machines to fhew their
» is differem motions,uftentianed by feveral of the
Sarangients wrintrs.v. 180.¿Ã¤ery noble idea
for one ton Valerius Flaccusi ibido Ng 122.
Plautus if the eve ovella wuzmi p. 11.
Pleiades,
la wis dis tiek i
de limp.178.
Pluto,-
p282.
Poetry, Painting, and Sculpture; their compa-
rative powers. p. 67. Advantages of Po-
etry,over each of the other. p. 67,214, & 221.
Poetry. The rife of it among the Romans. p.
7, &c. Introduced for the ſervice of religion.
p. 8. This, one reaſon why moft of their
first
firſt poets dealt fo much in dramatic poetry,
P. 14. What remains to us of all the writ-
ings of the Roman poets of the firſt age,
p. 15. The character of theſe old poets bal-
lanced; from what Cicero, Horace, and Quin-
tilian fay of them. p. 16.-The flouriſhing
ſtate of poetry among the Romans; or, the
Auguſtan age, p. 17, &c. The higheſt ex-
cellence the Roman poets ever attained to,
was to be good copiers of the Greek. p. 22,
23. Dramatic poetry not fo high in the Au-
guftan age, as in the age before, p. 23. What
remains to us of the poetical writings of the
Providentia, or Divine Providence; how marked
-P. 150.
out.-
Providentia, or Human Prudence; fee, Pru-
dentia,
Prudentia; how marked out.
P. 138.
Pſyche; (or, the Soul.) p. 71.-Several Pfy-
ches. ibid.
Pudicitia; how repreſented.
P. 146.
Pulvis; uſed by the Romans, to fignify a Circus:
in the fame manner, as Arena was uſed by
them to fignify an amphitheater. p. 121,
N. 42.
ait.
Q.
Quies; fpoken of, perfonally.-p. 266, N. 72.
Quirinus; the character of his perfon.-P. 133.
R.
Rage: fee, Party.
Religion: occafional hints at fome few of the
refemblances, between that which was pro-
feffed of old, at Rome; and that, which is
practiſed there now. In their mutual receiv-
ing of legends, and ſtrange ſtories, for facred
truths, p. 198, N. 132.-In making faints of
old women, &c. p. 281, N. 192.-In the
doctrine of Erebus, among the ancient Ro-
mans; and that of Purgatory, among the
modern, p. 258.-In the latter's making the
fame honours and characters concenter in the
B. Virgin; which were attributed by the for-
mer to Juho, Diana, and Cybele, &c.
P.
GENERAL İNDEX.
359
P. 240, N: 10.—In their devotional pomps
and proceffions. p. 156, & 192. In offering
up their devotions to old trees. p. 252. N.
59." In paying more worship to the ftatues
of the very fame perfon under one character,
than under another; "and" in one place, rather
than another. p. 48; N. 8. and, p. 234,
N. 107.
In their priests making the fta-
thes they worshipped, play tricks with their
worſhippers. p. 60. 155.
Repentance; reprefented perfonally. p. 261,
N. 26.
تلفة : Rhadamanthus
• Pušniki ·
-p. 259.
p. 278.
Rhamnufiá. Sp. 263, N. 49, & 50.
Rhæcus; one of the Rebel-Giants.
Rhine; repreſented perſonally.
Rhodope; fee, Mountains.
Rome; how repreſented.
Romulus fee, Quirinus.
Robigo; ſpoken of perſonally.-
-p. 231.
P. 243.
P. 253.
Rubigus; ſpoken of perſonally.-Ib. N. 69.
S.
Sabinus.-
Sæcula; fpoken of, perfonally..
Sagitta, the Conftellation.
P. 311, N. 17.
p. 189.
p. 167.
p. 146.
Salus; how marked out.
Sapientia, the original name for Philofophy, a-
mong the Romans. p. 131, N. 1. See, Phi-
lofophia.
Saturn; as prefiding over a planet. p. 181.
As the God of Time. p. 182.
Satyrs.-
Scamander.
P. 254.
-P. 247.
Sceptrum; the true idea annexed to that word,
of old.-
Scorpius; the Conſtellation.-
;
·P. 51.
P. 171.
Sculptors. The Greek and Roman artiſts, and
their ſculptors in particular, practiſed a fort of
Rational Hieroglyphics; or in other words,
had a method of expreffing their ſentiments,
by the figures of things: whether animate, in-
animate, or imaginary. p. 71. Thus they
expreffed ACTIVITY, or inclination for ac-
tion; by the ſhort drefs, of the perfon repre-
fented. p. 244.-The CERTAINTY of e-
vents; by one of the vaft nails, or pins, uſed
by them to faſten the beams in their ſtrongeſt
buildings: p. 151. and, Uncertainty; by
wings. p. 310, N. 3.-The CHARACTERS
of perfons: fometimes, by the attitudes of
their figures; p. 50, 69, 155, 240, & 268.
and fometimes, either by the materials em-
ployed, or the colours of them. p. 53, 152,
229, & 264.The Stings of CONSCIENCE;
by the ferpents, in the hands of the furies. p.
280, N. 189.DEFENCE; by a club. p.
154.-The DIGNITY of a perfon; by long
robes. p. 103.-The Roman EMPERORS
called the Hope, the Joy, the Security, &c.
of their Subjects; by having the figures of
>
Spes, Lætitia, or Securitas; on the reverfe
of their medals. p: 260. Ditto, called Gods;
by giving them either the reſemblance, or the
attributes of ſuch ahd ſuch deities: p. 62, &
156. EQUALITY, of Day and Night; fig-
nified by a balance, held even. p. 171
ETERNITY; by ſeveral very clear emblems:
and among the reft; by that of a Serpent,
placed circularly, and holding his tail in his
rhouth. p. 188.The FIERCENESS of any
perfon's temper; by his having a Lion, at his
feet. p. 79. GAIN; any opportunity of
making it, not to be deferred: by Mercury
offering a purfes and ready to fly away. p.
108.-Golden-Age; the reſtoration of it:
by the Genius of the Great Platonic Year.
P. 189. The Hereditary-Right of the Ju-
lian family by Romulus's Sacerdotal Scepter,
on the medals of Julius Cæfar. p. 134; N.
III. HONESTY, or openness of behaviour;
by the tranſparence of the robes, on the
goddeſs Fides. p. 145.-HOPE; by a bud,
juſt opening. p. 147.-The thoughtfulneſs,
and idleness, of Love; by repreſenting their
Cupids under the figures of children, playing.
P. 70. The power of Love, over the hu-
man foul; by Cupids careffing, or torment-
ing Pfyche. p. 71. Ditto, by their playing
with butterflies, or torturing them. Ibid.
That Love harmonizes and foftens men of the
roughest tempers; by Cupid with a lyre in
his hand, and riding on a lion, who feems
quite tame, and pleaſed with liſtening to him.
Ibid. That Love fubdues the greatest war-
riors; by Hercules, bending under a little
Cupid. p. 126That it weakens and ef-
feminates them: by Cupid, ftealing away the
club of Hercules, and by that heroe's dref=
fing himſelf in his miftrefs's clothes. p. 127.
-The power of Love over all living crea-
tures; or over all the elements: by Cupids,
fometimes riding on a lion; fometimes, on a
dolphin; fometimes in a car, drawn by butter-
flies; and fometimes, breaking the fiery bolt
of Jove. p.71.The MILDNESS of any
one's temper; by placing a young (lamb, or)
kid, at their feet. p. 79.That NATURE
produces, and nouriſhes all things; by the
emblems of each element, and the number of
breafts they gave to the figures of that god-
deſs. p. 239.—The PERSONS of their gods;
by their attributes, or things confecrated to
them. p. 58, N. 51.The PIETY of any
perfons; by their having an altar by them,
or their facrificing upon it. p. 154.
;
PLENTY; by Amalthea's horn.-A prince's
being the PRESERVER of his people; by an
oaken-crown. p. 233. The firmneſs of a
PROMISE; by two hands join'd. p. 146.-
PROVIDENCE; by a globe, fufpended in the
air. p. 150.-
An entire SENTENCE; (to
Zzzz
wit;
*
36006
GENERAL INDE X.
.
wit; That Auguftus Cæfar, was born, to
govern the world;") clearly and diftinctly
expreffed by the figures on a medal. p. 172.
The
The power of SLEEP; by the figures of
that deity, refting on a lion. p. 264.—TIME,
in general; the (wiftnefs, or flownefs of it;
by Saturn's wings, or fetters. p.182.The
particular TIME of year; by the Zodiac on
gems, and Phoebus's head coinciding with
fuch a part of it. p. 187, N. 45-AVIRTU-
ous life, its difficulties: by fteep afcent up
a craggy mountain. p. 140.-The UNIVER-
SAL MONARCHY, of the Romans: by the
Genius of Rome, either oppreffing, or raifing
up the Genius's of the different nations, round
about them. p. 243. Ditto; by globe,
under the foot of the goddefs of Fortitude:
P. 139.By the Genius.of Rome, holding
the globe of the world in her hand. p. 242.
By the Genius of Italy, fitting on the globe of
the heavens. Ibid. The particular Wis-
'DOM of any action; by reprefenting the god-
defs of Wiſdom, as prefent at the execution
of it. p. 122.
Sculpture: fee, Poetry.
Scylla; how reprefented.
-P. 249.
Seafons; the four Seaſons of the year: fee, Ver,
:&c.
Security; reprefented perfonally.
Segefta; ſpoken of, perfonally. p. 2442
& 32.
Seia; ditto, ibid.
Seneca, (LAnnæus :) fee, Tragedies.
Septentrio: fee, Boreas.
Statuaries: fee, Sculptors..
Statues; good fubjects, for fountain-ftatues.
Venus, in her fhell, p. 220.The transfor
mation of Acis. p. 235.
The Genius of
mount Atlas. p. 246.
Sufpicion, reprefented perfonally. p. 261, N.
26.
Sylphs: fee, Auræ.
Sylvanus.
T.
I
P. 253.
lanc
Tantalus.
P. 279.
Tarfus,, reprefented perfonally, p. 245, N.33
Tartarus; what part of Ades.
P. 259-3
Taurus; the Conftellation.
Pr 173.4
Taurus; the Mountain: reprefented perfonally. 1
P. 246.
P. 143.
Tellus.-
-P. 240.1
Tempe; uſed by the Romans for any very plea-
fant vale, as well as that in Theffaly. p. 116.
Temperantia.
Tempefts, and Bad Weather; deified among
the Romans.-
p. 209, N. 49, & 51.
Terence. p. 11.-The furprifing eloquence of
his ftile, confidering the time he lived in. p.
12.-Owns his having been affifted by Scipio
and Lælius? ibid. N. 36.
•
Terpsichore; her figures difficult to be diftin
guifhed, and why-
-p. 89.
P. 147.
N.
Teſtudo: fee, Lyre.
31,
Tethys.
Sidon; repreſented perfonally. p. 245, N. 33.
Silentia; fpoken of, perfonally. p. 266, N. 72.
Silius Italicus; this character: p. 32, & 44.
Silvium; repreſented perfonally. p. 245, N.
N. 33.
Sinus; ſometimes uſed by the Roman writers,
for the drapery of figures. p. 203, N. 12.
Sirens how reprefented, of old. p. 302, N. .
Sirius fee, Canicula.
Sifyphus.-
+
P. 279.
Sloth; repreſented perfonally: fee, Ignavia.
Smyrna; repreſented perfonally. p. 245, N. 33.
Sol; as a planet.-
P. 185.
Solanus; the E. Wind.
P. 202.
Solus; the meaning of the word when applied
to Fides, or Innocentia. p. 145, N. 37.
Somnia; fpoken of, perfonally. p. 266, N. 74.
Somnus; repreſented perfonally.-
P. 264.
·
Soul fee, Pfyche.
Souls, of the departed; reprefented perfonally.
· p. 267, & 271.
Spain; repreſented perfonally.
P. 242.
P. 147.
Sparta; reprefented perfonally. p. 245, N. 33.
Spes, how marked out.--
Stars: fee, Arcturus, &c.
Statius; the poet. p. 32.-Juvenal; falfely in-
ferted in the lift of his Encomiafts. p. 33, N.
33
1
•
P.
-p. 217. 218.
Thalia; how to be diſtinguiſhed from the other
.Mufés.
-P. 89.
Theology, of the Romans. They uſed the word.
Deus, in a very different manner from what
we do the word God. p. 2.They applied
that name to any intelligent being, which they
looked upon as more powerful than man. ib.
But held there was but one God, in our ſenſe
of the word. p. 47; N. 4. fee, p. 176.—
They held, that every thing in the moral as
well as the natural world, was produced and
actuated by the will and influence of the fu-
preme Being. p. 47; N. 4. & 316, N. 47.
*
They fuppofed an infinity of nominal de-
ities, as deputies and affiftants under him. p.
47. but own, that this was only a fuppofition;
and that it was intirely owing to their own ig-
norance and weakneſs. p. 2, N. 1.—In this
view, they admitted of bad gods, as well as
good. p. 2, N. 1. 260, N. 26. 272, N.113.
& 276, N. 162. And ftocked heaven and
hell, and each of the elements, with one or
other of them. p. 2. 47, &c. 179, N. 118.
208. 217. 239. & 258, &c.Out of all
this variety of fuppofed gods, they fet up
twelve, as chiefs over all the others. p. 46,
N. 2. Diftinguifhed three even among thoſe
twelve, as much fuperior to the reſt. P. 57,
&c. N. 49, &c. Ibid. And ſpeak of theſe
three, as equal in power; and as one-and-the
fame
C
1
GENERAL INDEX.
361,
:
fame being. p. 63, & 64; & N. 80, & 81,
ib. They alfo believed the immortality of
the foul. p. 152. 190.-They ſuppoſed ſix
of their chief heroes to have been received into
the higheft heavens; p. 113, &c. Several
other heroes, &c. to have been received a-
mong the ftars; p. 179; N. 116. and that
the fouls of all other people were conveyed
into a general receptacle, appointed for them
under-ground; where they. wera aither re-
warded, or puniſhed, according to the merit
or demerit of their actions in this life. p. 259.
N. 16. 268, N. 91. 270, N. 104. & 283,
N. 106. See, Religion.
Thetis
Tiber reprefented perfonally
Tiberinides
beiders
Tibullus; his character..
Tigris; reprefented perfonally.
Time fee, Saturn.
..
?
-P..223.
P: 227.
P. 236, `N. 121.
Timolus; reprefented perfonally.
Tifiphone.
Tityos.-
Tmolus: fee, Timolus.
vd boiling.
་་
P. 22.
P. 230.
P. 248.
-P. 273...
p. 2.78.
Tragedies; (the collection of Latin tragedies,
publiſhed under the name of L. Annæus Se-
neca.)
—p. 34.
Tranquillitas, (or Serenity of mind,) how repre-
fented.
-p. 209,
P. 147.
Tranquillitas; a goddefs, prefiding over fair
weather.
N. 50.
Treachery; repreſented perfonally. p. 261, N.
26.
Triton.
P. 221.
Trivia fee, Hecate.
Truth; reprefented perfonally.-p. 261, N. 26.
Tyana; repreſented perfonally. p. 245, N.
33.
Typhæus.
-P. 278.
P. 278.
N. 33.
Typhon.-
Tyre; reprefented perfonally.- p. 245,
U.
Vates: fome old profe-writers among the Ro-
mans, fo called; and their character. p. 9:
See, Carmina.
-
Venus. p. 66.—The Venus of Medici: feve-
ral of the beauties of that figure. p. 66, &
67. Always injur'd, by any copy; and,
particularly, by all the prints of it. ibid.-
Venus; as the goddefs of Jealoufy
fcribed. p. 74, &c.The Venus Anaduo-
His Geor
p. 18. N. 3.
neid. p. 18.
his paftoral poems. p 17, N. 2.
gics, falfely accufed by Seneca.
-The political crime of his
The poetical excellences of it. p. 20, & 21.-
His great and fine imagination, in defcribing
the appearance and actions of their deities.
p. 20, N. 16; & p 65, N. 5.-His judge-
ment, in omitting fuch circumftances in his
imitations of Homer, as would have clafhed
with the taste and cuftoms of the Romans.
P. 53, & 210.
Virgil: the famous MS Virgil in the Vatican,
with pictures; of what age? p. 105; N. 121.
Virgo; the Conſtellation,
·p. 169.
Virtus; the ideas annexed to that word, among-
the old Romans. p. 189, & 139.—— How re-
prefented; p. 139, & 148.
Volucris fometimes applled to the imaginary
beings only to fignify that they were repre-
fented with wings? p. 264, N. 59 & 265,
N.66.
Urania; how to be diftinguished from the other
Mufes.
-P. 91.
Urna; Sic profluit urna: a proverbial expref-
fion, among the Romans? p. 172, N. 69;
Urfa Major: fee, Helice,
Urfa Minor fee, Eynofura.
Vulcan; his low character, p. 80, & 81.
Vulturnus; one of the Northerly Winds. p. 202,
N. 4.-Spoken of perfonally. p. 206, N. 38.
Vulturnus; the River-god.-
·P. 233.
W.
Want; ſpoken of, perſonally.
P. 262.
Water-deities; thofe of the Sea. p.217. Thoſe
of the Rivers. p. 227, &c.-Habitations, for
the former; p. 186, N.43; & p.:225, N.
55, &c.-Habitations, for the latter, p. 226; ·
N. 61.
Weather: Bad Weather; fee, Tempefts.
Fair Weather; fee, Tranquillitas.
Winds: the three divifions of them, and which
moſt in ufe, among the Romans. p. 202,
N.4.How reprefented, on the famous
temple of the Winds at Athens. p. 203.
How deſcribed, among the Romans: fee,
Aufter, &c.
Xanthus.
how de-
་་
.X.
-P. 247.
Y.
menè. p. 219, &c.———Venus; as prefiding Years; fpoken of, perfonally. P. 190. See,
over a planet. p. 183. See, Hefperus and
Phoſphorus.
-P. 191.
-P. 252.
Ver.-
Vertumnus.
Veſta: not certain, that there were any figures
of this goddeſs, among the Romans. p, 81,
& 82 ; & N. 83, & 84. Ibid.
Victoria; how marked out.
-P. 149.
Virgil. p. 17, &c.---Horace's character of
Annus.
Youth; reprefented perſonally.-
p. 190.
Z.
Zephyrus; (the W. Wind.) p. 202.-
202.-Walk-
ing before Ver, in the proceffion of the Sea-
fons? p. 192.-Several Zephyri, of an in-
ferior order. p. 204.
Zethes.
p. 208, N. 47.
DIRECTIONS for the Binder.
Place the Author's Head, facing the Title-page,
Dial.
Plate, No. 1, 2, 3, & 4.
after 6-
5, 6, 7, 8, 9, & 10.
7"
11, 12, 13, 14, & 15.
16, 17, 18, 19, & 20.-
9-
21, 22, & 23.-
IO-
24, & 25.
II
26, & 27.
12-
28, & 29.
-13-
30, & 31.
32, 33, 34, & 35.
36, 37, 38, 39, 40, & 41.
·14·
15
-16-
Plate 9, 18, 24, & 34; to be done with guards.
ERRAT A.
Page
facing, 64.
82.
112.
-136.
162.
180.
-200.
216.
-238.
256.
1
284.
DIAL. 2,
IAL. 2, N. 37. For, Hoc unum doleo & maceror; Read, Unum hoc maceror, & doleo.Dial. 3,
N. 43. Ingenielâ, R. Ingeniclâ. ·Dial. 6, N. 36. Ruber, R. Rubens.
IC,
Dial. 6, N. 41. Quid,
R. Quòd. Dial. 8, p. 86. Or, R. For.-Dial. 8, N. 67. Ever, R. I ever.-Dial. 9, p. 119. Horſe,
R. Horfes.Dial. 9, N. 70. (Meminit manus altera) pugnæ, R. cædis.Dial. 1c, N. 36. Niveofque,
R. Niveoque. Dial. 11, p. 164. Binding, R. Bending.- Dial. 12, N. 22. Cav, R. Cava.
Dial. 12, N. 39. Album, R. Altum. Dial. 12, p. 187. Several, R. Several of them.-
N.
Dial. 12,
79. Illufere, R. Illuxere.-Dial. 12, p. 195. The words, Night and Day, to be tranſpoſed.Dial. 14,
P. 227. Weeds, R. Reeds.Dial. 15, p. 244. Wines, R. Vines.Dial. 16, p. 279. They would, R.
There would,Dial, 19, p. 307. (Foaming) far, R. tar.
P.
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