London Printed for R. Bently    

Plutarch's MORALS: Translated from the GREEK BY SEVERAL HANDS.  
Volume IV.  
LONDON, Printed for T. Sawbridge, M. gillyflower, R. Bently, S. Crouch, A. Churchil, W. Freeman, J. tailor, T. Bennet, R. Parker, and S. Anson. MDCXCI.   

TO THE Right Reverend Father in GOD, FRANCIS, Lord Bishop of ELY.  
My Lord,  
YOUR Lordship's Universal Skill in Languages, is so well known to the World, that it may appear a Presumption in the highest Degree, to lay this Translation at the Feet of so great a Judge, both as to the Faithfulness of the Version, and the Purity of the Expression. But when I consider, that Your Character is as Eminent for Charity and candour, as for all manner of Literature, I ●eckon myself safe under the favour and Protection of so much Generosity and Goodness; especially, where the Difficulty of the Work, will in some Measure excuse the Imperfections of it: For, it is a Thing utterly impossible, for an English Traduction to come up to the Life and Force of this Illustrious Original, and to reach the Inimitable Excellency of our Author's Thoughts and Conceptions. Insomuch, that whether we consider the Glorious Lives of so many Great and Gallant Men, which Plutarch has set forth with a Spirit equal to the Dignity of their Actions; or, whether we reflect upon the Philosophy of his Morals, where we find many Things in his Physical Remarks, that for want of a true Key, may seem somewhat obscure to the Age we live in; it will be a hard Matter to support the Credit of this Undertaking.  
But, my Lord, whatever Diminution this Author may have suffered by those that have adventured to expose him to the World in our Language, he is yet more than recompensed under the Patronage of so great an Ornament, both of the English Church and Nation, which shall ever be acknowledged with Infinite Reverence and Gratitude, by  
My Lord, Your Lordships most Dutiful, and Obedient Servant, Robert Midgley.   

The Contents of each Treatise, with the Translators Names.  

1. WHY the Oracles cease to give Answer. By Robert Midgley, M.D. Pag. 1  
2. Of Isis and Osiris, or of the ancient Religion and Philosophy of egypt. By Mr. William Baxter. Pag. 65  
3. Concerning such whom God is slow to punish. By Mr. John Phillips. Pag. 167  
4. Of Natural affection towards ones Off-Spring. By Mr. Richard Brown. Pag. 219  
5. Concerning the Fortune of the Romans. By Mr. John Oswald. Pag. 229  
6. Of Garrulity or Talkativeness. By Mr. J. Phillips. Pag. 252  
7. Of Love. By the same Hand. Pag. 290  
8. Five Tragical Histories of Love. By Sir A. I. Pag. 354  
9. Plutarch's Discourse to an unlearned prince. By Mr. John Kersey. Pag. 36●  
10. Of Herodotus's Malice. By Mr. A. G. Pag. 374  
11. Of common Conception against the stoics. By Samuel White, M.D. Pag. 414  
12. The Contradiction of the stoics. By Mr. E Smith. Pag. 472  
13. Of the Word {αβγδ}, engraven over the Gate of Apollo's Temple at Delphi. By Mr. R. Kippax. Pag. 523  
14. The Lives of the Ten Orators. By Mr. Charles Barcroft. Pag. 547  
15. Whether an Aged Man ought to meddle in State Affairs 〈◇〉 By F. Fetherston, D.D. Pag. 595    

Plutarch's Morals: Vol. IV.  

Why the Oracles cease to give Answers.  Translated from the GREEK by Robert Midgley, M.D.& Col. Med. land. Cand. 
THere is an old Story, Friend Terentius Priscus, as if heretofore Eagles or Swans flying from the opposite Bounds of the Earth, met together where now stands the Temple of Apollo Pythius, in the Place now called The Navel: And that somewhile after, Epimenides the Phaestian willing to satisfy his Curiosity, inquired of the Oracle of Apollo, which was the Navel or Middle of the World; but received such an Answer as made him never a Jot the wiser: 
The Centre of the Earth is justly known  
( concealed from Mortals) to the Gods alone.  Thus fitly did the God chastise this bold Inquirer into Ancient Traditions.  
But in our Time, not long before the Celebration of the Pythian Games, during the Magistracy of Callistratus, there were Two famous Men, who coming as it were from the Two opposite Ends of the World, met together at the City of Delphos. The One was Demetrius the Grammarian, who came from England, to return to Tarsus in Cilicia, where he was born: The Other, Cle●mbrotus the Lacedemonian, who had been long conversant in Egypt, and made several Voyages, as well on the read Sea, as other Parts; not as a Merchant, to get Money, but to improve his knowledge, and enrich his Mind; for he had enough to live upon, and cared for no more. He having been lately at the Temple and Oracle of Jupiter Ammon, seemed not much to marvel at any Thing he there saw: Yet he mentioned to us one Particular( which he said was  told him by the Priests of the Temple) touching she Lamp that is never extinguished, and spendeth every Year less than the former: Whence he conjectured an Inequality of Years, and that the latter was still shorter than the preceding.  
This Discourse was much wondered at by the Company; and Demetrius, amongst the rest, affirmed it unreasonable, to ground the knowledge of such great Matters, on such slight and trivial Conjectures: For, this was not( as Alcaeus said) to paint the lion from the Measure of his Claw, but to change and disorder the Motions of Celestial Bodies, for the sake of a Lamp, or the Snuff of a Candle, and to overthrow at one stroke all the Mathematical Sciences. These Men, replied Cleombrotus, will not be moved by what you say; for first, they will not yield to Mathematicians in point of Certainty, seeing they may be easilier mistaken in their Comprehension of Time, it being so slippery and fallacious and at such a Distance from them, than these Men in the Measures of their oil, about which they are so exact and careful. Moreover, Demetrius by denying that small Things are oft the Signs and Indications of great, must prejudice several Arts and Sciences, and deprive them of the Proofs of several Conclusions and Predictions. And yet you Grammarians will needs vouch, That the Demi-Gods and Princes which were at the Trojan War, shaved with Razors, because you find in Homer the mention of such an Instrument; That, also, ●●sury was then in Fashion, because he says in one Place.  Long has my Money swelled with large Increase. 
And because that in several other Places the same Poet calls the Night quick and sharp, you'll needs have him to mean by this Word, That the shadow of the Earth being round, groweth sharp at the End like the Body of a Pyramid. Again, who is he that denying small Things to be the Signs and Proofs of great, will allow what Physicians tell us, namely, That great Numbers of Spiders foretell a Pestilent Summer, and also that in the Spring, when the Olive-Tree Leaves are as large as a Crows Foot, it is then a good Time to put out to Sea? And, who will measure the Greatness of the Suns Body, by Clepsydres, or Water-Dyals, with a Pint or Quart of Water? Or prove, that a small Table like a tile, making a sharp Angle, leaning on a Plain Superficies, should show the just Measure of the Elevation of the Pole from the Horizon, which is ever to be seen in our Hemisphere? And this is what the Priests may allege, in favour of what they affirm; so that we must offer other Arguments against them, if we will maintain the Course of the Sun to be fixed and unchangeable, as we here hold it to be. Not only of the Sun( cried out aloud the Philosopher Ammonius, who was there present) but also of the whole Heaven; for the Passage which he makes from one tropic to another, must of necessity be shortened, seeing he takes not up so great a Part of the Horizon as the Mathematicians do imagain, but becomes less and shorter, as the Southern Part approaches the Northern. Whence consequently, the Summer will fall out to be Shorter, and the Temperature of the Air Colder, by reason of the Sun's turning more inwardly, and showing greater Parallels, and equal distant Circles in the Points of its Reversions, than are in the longest Day in Summer, and the shortest in Winter. It would moreover also follow, That the Pins of the Dials in the City of Syene will be more shadowless at the Summer tropic or Solstice, and not a few of the Fixed Stars run under or against one and ther for want of Room. And should it be alleged, That all the other Celestial Bodies keep their Courses and ordinary Motions, without any Change, they will never be able to city any Cause which shall hasten his Motion alone above all the rest; but will be forced to confounded and disorder all evident Appearances which do clearly show themselves to our Eyes, and especially those of the Moon: So that there will be no need of observing these Measures of oil to know the Difference of the Years, because the Eclipses will do this, if there be any, seeing the Sun does oft meet with the Moon, and the Moon as oft falls within the Shadow of the Earth; so that we need not any longer hold arguing on this Matter. Well, but( says Cleombrotus) I myself have seen the Measure of the oil, for they have shewed it several Years; but that of the Present, is far less than that of Ancient Times. Unto which Ammonius answered, How comes it to pass then that other People who have the Inextinguishible Fire in Veneration, and have preserved it even Time out of Mind, could never remark this? And granting what you say concerning this Measure of oil, is it not better to attribute the Cause of this to some Coldness or Dampness of Air; Or, on the contrary, to some Heat or Dryness, by which the Fire in the Lamp being weakened, needs not so much Nourishment, neither could consume the same Quantity? For, 'tis well known, that Fire burns better in Winter than in Summer, its Heat being drawn in, and enclosed by the could, whereas in great Heats and dry Weather 'tis weakened, lying dead and languishing without any Strength; and if it be kindled in Sunny Weather, its Efficacy is small, hardly catching hold of the Wood, and slowly consuming the Fuel. But we may with greater Probability attribute the Circumstance of the oil, to the oil itself; for oil formerly was of less Nutriment, as squeezed out of Olives which grew upon Young Trees; but being since better ordered, as coming of Plants more fully grown, must needs be more effectual to the nourishing and keeping of the Fire. And this is the best way of saving the Credit of the Ammonian Priests in their Supposition, which will not endure the Test of Reason.  
Ammonius having finished his Discourse, I pray said I, Cleombrotus, give us some Account of the Oracle, for it has been ever in great Esteem in those Parts, till these Times wherein its Divinity and Reputation seems to be decayed. Unto which Cleombrotus making no Answer, but looking down on the Ground, Demetrius took up the Discourse saying, You need not busy yourself in inquiries after the Oracles in those Parts, seeing we find the Oracles in these to fail, or to speak better, to be totally silenced, except Two or Three; so that 'twould be more to the Purpose to search into the Cause of this Silence. But we are more concerned in Boeotia, which although formerly famous throughout all the World for Oracles, is now like a Fountain dried up, so that at present we find them dumb. For at this Day there's no Place in all Boeotia, unless in the Town of Lebadia, where one can draw out any Divination, all other Parts being become silent and forsaken. Yet in the Time of the War against the Persians, the Oracle of Ptous Apollo was in Request, as also that of Amphiaraus, for both of 'em were tried; that of Ptous Apollo, when the Priest who was always wont to return the Oracles Answers in Greek, spake to him that was sent from the Barbarians in their own Barbarous Language, so that none of the Assistants understood a Word, whereby they were given to understand, That 'twas not lawful for the Barbarians to have the Use of the Greek Tongue at their Pleasure. And as to that of Amphiaraus, the Person that was sent thither, having fallen asleep in the Sanctuary, he dreamed he heard the Minister of that God bidding him be gon out of the Temple, and saying That his God was not there, and presently shoved him out thence with both his Hands; and seeing he still stopped by the Way, he took up a great ston, and struck him with it on the Head. And what was this, but a Prediction and Denunciation of what was to come to pass? For Mardonius was not long after defeated by Pausanias, who was no King, but only the King of Lacedemonia's Guardian, and the then lieutenant of the graecian Army, and was with a ston flung out of a Sling, felled to the Ground, just as the Lydian Servant thought he was struck in his Dream. In the same Manner also flourished the Oracle near Tegyra, where 'tis said Apollo himself was born, and in Effect, there are Two Rivers that slide near one another, one of which is called the Palm-Tree and the other the Olive-Tree. And at this Oracle in the Time of the Medes War, Echerates being then the Prophet, the God Apollo answered by his Mouth, That the Honor and Profit of this War would fall to the Greeks Share. And during the Peloponesian War, the Delians having been driven out of their iceland, they had Word brought them from the Oracle of Delphos, that they should search for the Place where Apollo was born, and there make some certain Sacrifices. At which they marveling, and demanding, Whether Apollo was born elsewhere than in their Parts, the Prophetess Pythia moreover  told them, That a Crow would show them the Place. These Deputies from the Delians, in their Return Home past by Chance through the City of Chaeronea, where they heard their Hostess talking to some Travellers about the Oracle of Tegyra, to whom they were going, and at their parting they heard 'em say to her, Adieu Dame Coron; by which they comprehended the meaning of Pythia's Answer; and having offered their Sacrifices at Tegyra, they were soon after restored and established in their own Country. Yet there have been given later Answers from these Oracles, than those you have mentioned; but now they have wholly ceased, so that 'twill not be besides the Matter, seeing we are at Apollo Pythius, to inquire after the Cause of this Change.  
Thus discoursing together, we left the Temple, and were come as far as the Gnidian Hall, where entering in, we found our Friends which we looked for, being sat down in Expectation of our coming. All the rest were at leisure, by reason of the time of the day, and did nothing but anoint their Bodies, or gaze on the Wrestlers, who were exercising of themselves. Whereupon Demetrius laughing, said to 'em, It seems to me, that you are not discoursing of any Matter of great Consequence, for I see, you labour not under deep Thoughts, 'tis true, replied Heracleon the Megarian, we are not a-disputing, Whether the Verb {αβγδ} in his Future Tense loses one of his λ's, nor from what Positive or Primitive are formed or derived these two Comparatives {αβγδ} and {αβγδ}, and these two Superlatives {αβγδ} and {αβγδ}; for such Questions as these, make People knit their Brows. A Man may discourse of all other Matters, especially of Philosophy, without these frowning angry Looks that put the by-standers into a fright. Receive us then, said Demetrius, into your Company, and, if you please, the Question too which has been now agitated amongst us, which does well agree with the Place where we are, and, relating to the God Apollo, concerns therefore all that are here; but however, let's have no knitting of the Brows or frowning Looks. Being then all sat down close together, and Demetrius having proposed the Question we were upon, Didymus the Cynic Philosopher, surnamed Planetiades, getting up on his Feet, and striking the Ground Two or Three Times with his Stick, cried out, O Jupiter! what a hard Question do you offer, what a difficult Matter do you propose? for is it any wonder, the whole World wallowing in wickedness, and Men having put away all shane and sense of Honor from them( as Hesiod long ago complained) that the Gods should no longer suffer their Oracles to be among them as heretofore? For my Part, I wonder there's so much as One left, and that Hercules or some other of the Gods, has not long since plucked up, and carried away the Three-Footed-Stool, whereon is offered such base and villainous Questions to Apollo; some coming to him as a more paltry Astrologer, to try his Skill, and impose on him by subtle Questions; others asking him about Treasures butted underground, others about marrying a Fortune: So that Pythagoras will be here soon convinced of his Mistake, when he affirmed, That the Time when Men are honestest, is when they present themselves before the Gods; for those filthy Passions which they dare not discover before a grave Mortal Man, they scruple not to utter to Apollo. He had gone further, if Heracleon had not pulled him by the Sleeve; and myself, who was better acquainted than any in the Company besides, thus spake to him; Cease, Friend Planetiades, from angering Apollo against thee, seeing he is sharp and choleric, and not easily reconciled; for as Pindar says, That Men be favour heaven has him enjoined. And whether he be the Sun, or the Master of the Sun, or Father of it, being above all visible Natures, 'tis not to be supposed he disdains to hold any further intercourse with Men at this Time, seeing he gives them their Birth, Nourishment, Subsistence and Reason. Neither is it credible that the Divine Providence( who like a kind and indulgent Mother, produces and conserves all Things for our Use) should show her self malevolent only in the Matter of Divination, or deprive us of it having once given it us; as if, when there were more Oracles than there are now in the World, Men were not then as wicked. But let us make a Pythic Truce( as they say) with 'vice, which you are always sharply reprehending, and sit down here with us to try, Whether we can find out any other Cause of the ceasing of Oracles; and let me only advice you by the way, to have better Thoughts of God, than to suppose him so prove to Anger. Planetiades was so moved with these Speeches, that he went away immediately without speaking a Word. The Company remaining a while in Silence, Ammonius addressing himself to me, said, prithee, Lamprias, let's take Care of what we say, and not be rash in our Assertions; for we do not well when we make God to be little or no Cause of these Oracles ceasing; for, he that attributes the failing of them to any other Cause than the Will and Decree of God, gives occasion to suspect his Belief, Whether there ever were, or are now any by his Disposition, but by some other Means; for there is no other more excellent and noble Cause and Power, which can destroy and abolish Divination, if it be the Work of God. And as for Planettades his Discourse, it does not at all please me, as well for the Inequality and Inconstancy which he attributes to God, as for other Reasons. For he makes him sometimes rejecting and detesting of 'vice, and sometimes admitting and receiving it, just as a King or rather a Tyrant, who drives wicked People out of one Gate, and receives them through another, and negotiates with them. But {αβγδ} the greatest and most perfect Work that will admit of no Additions, is that which agrees best with the Dignity of the Gods; by supposing this, we may in my judgement affirm, That in this common Scarcity of Men occasioned by the former Wars and Seditions over all the World, Greece has most suffered; so that she can with much Difficulty raise 3000 Men, which Number the single City of Megara sent heretofore to the Battle of Plataea. Wherefore if God now sorsakes several Oracles which anciently were frequented, what is this but a Sign that Greece is at this Time very much dispeopled, in Comparison of what it was heretofore; and he that will affirm this, shall not want for Arguments. For, of what Use would the Oracle be now, which was heretofore at Tegyar or at Pious? for scarcely shall you meet in a whole Days time, with so much as a Herdsman or Shepherd in those Parts. We find also in Writing, that this Place of Divination where we now are, and which is as ancient as any, and as famous and renowned as any is in all Greece, was for a considerable Time deserted and inaccessible, by Means of a dangerous Creature that resorted thither, namely a Dragon. Yet those that have written this, did not well comprehend the occasion of the Oracles ceasing; for, the Dragon did not make the Place solitary, but rather the Solitude of the Place occasioned the Dragon to repair thither. Since that Time, when Greece became populous and full of Towns, they had Two Women Prophetesses, who went down one after another into the Hole. Moreover, there was a Third chosen, if need were; whereas now there is but one, and yet we do not complain of it, because she's sufficient. And therefore we do not well to repined at Providence, seeing there's no want of Divinations, where all that come are satisfied in whatever they desire to know. Homer tells us, Agamemnon had Nine Heralds, and yet with these could he hardly keep in Order the Greeks, they being so many in Number; but you'll find now, that the Voice of one Man is sufficient to be heard all over the Theatre. The Oracles then spake by more Organs or Voices, because there were then a greater Number of Men. So that we should think it strange, if God should suffer to be spilled and run to waste like Water, the Prophetical Divination, every where resounding, as in the Fields we hear the Rocks in Mountains echoing the Voices of bleating cattle. Ammonius having said these Words, and I returning no Answer, Cleombrotus took up the Discourse, and addressing himself to me; Hast thou then, said he, confessed that 'tis God who makes and unmakes Oracles? Not I, said I; for I maintain, That God was never the Cause of taking away and abolishing any Oracle or Divination; but, on the contrary, whereas he produces and prepares several Things for our Use, so Nature leads them into Corruption, and not seldom into a Privation of their whole Being. Or, to speak better, Matter, which is itself Privation, often flies away, and dissolves what a more excellent Being than her self had wrought. So that I am of Opinion, there are other Causes which obscure and extinguish these Prophetic Spirits: For, tho God does give to Men several good and excellent Things, yet he gives to none of 'em the Power to exist eternally; for tho they never die, yet their Gifts do( as Sophocles speaks.) 'twere then well becoming Philosophers, who exercise themselves in the Study of Nature, and the First Matter, to inquire into the Existence, Property and Tendency of those Things, but to leave the Origin and First Cause to God, as is most reasonable. For 'tis a very childish and silly Thing to suppose, That God himself does, like the Spirits speaking in the Bowels of possessed Persons,( which were anciently called Eurycles, and now Pythons) enter into the Bodies of the Prophets, and speak by their Mouths and Voices, as fit Instruments for that Purpose; for he that thus mixes God in Human Affairs, has not that Respect and Reverence which is due to so great a Majesty, as being ignorant of his Power and Virtue. Cleombrotus then answered, You say very well, but 'tis a hard Matter to comprehend and define, how far this Providence does extend itself. They seem both alike faulty to me, who will have God to be the Cause of Nothing in the World, and those who will have him to be concerned in all Things; for both of these are run into Extremes. But as those say well, who hold that Plato, having invented this Element, on which spring up the Qualities which we sometimes call the First Matter, and sometimes Nature, has thereby delivered the Philosophers from several great Difficulties: so it seems to me, that those who have ranked the Genus of Daemons between that of Gods and Men, have solved greater Doubts and Difficulties, as having found the Knot which does, as it were, join and hold together our Society and Communication with them. 'tis uncertain whence this Opinion arose, whether from the Ancient Magi and Zoroastres, or from Thrace by Orpheus, or from Egypt, or Phrygia, as may be conjectured from the Sight of the Sacrifices, which are made in both Countries, where amongst their Holy and Divine Ceremonies, there's seen a Mixture of Mortality and Mourning. And, as to the Greeks, Homer has indifferently used these Two Names, terming sometimes the Gods, Daemons, and other whiles Daemons, Gods. But Hesiod was the first that did best and most distinctly lay down Four Reasonable Natures, the Gods, the Daemons( being many in Number, and good in their Kind) the demigods, and Men; for, Hero's are reckoned amongst the demigods. Others say, there's a Transmutation of Bodies, as well as of Souls, just as we see, of the Earth is engendered Water, of the Water the Air, and of the Air Fire, the Nature of the Substance still ascending higher; so, good Spirits always change for the best, being transformed from Men into demigods, and from demigods into Daemons, and from Daemons by Degrees and in a long Space of Time, being refined and purified, they come to partake of the Nature of the Divinity. But there are some that cannot contain themselves, but rove about till they be entangled into Mortal Bodies, where they live meanly and obscurely like smoke. And moreover, Hesiod imagines, that the Daemons themselves after certain Revolutions of Time, do at Length die; for introducing a Nymph speaking, he marks the Time wherein they expire: 
Nine times Man's Age at's prime, it plain appears:  
The Daw completes, four Times the Stag his Years,  
And his nine Times the Crow; the phoenix takes  
More line, and his Stage ten Times longer makes:  
By you, blessed Nymphs, the phoenix is out-done,  
Who ends his Life when yours is just begun,  
Decreed by Fate ten Times as long to run.   
Now those which do not well understand what the Poet means by this Word {αβγδ}, which is to say, the Age of a Man, do cause this Computation of Time to amount to a great Number of Years, though it be but one Year; so that the Total Sum makes but 9720 Years, which is the space of the Age of Daemons. And there are several Mathematicians, which make it shorter than this. Pindar himself does not make it longer, when he says, The Destiny of the Life of Nymph● is equal to Trees, and therefore they are called Ha●adrya●●s, because they spring up and die with Oaks. He was going on, when Demetrius interrupting him, thus said; How is it possible, Cleombrotus, that you should maintain, That a Year was called by this Poet, the Age of a Man, seeing it is not the Space, nor the Flower and Youth, nor his Old Age? for here are divers Readings of this Place, some reading {αβγδ}, others {αβγδ}, and one signifying flourishing, the other aged; and those that understand hereby flourishing, reckon Thirty Years for the Age of Man's Life, according to the Opinion of Heraclitus, this being the space of Time in which a Father has begotten a Son, who then is apt and able to beget another; and those that red {αβγδ}, aged, allow to the Age of Man an Hundred and Eight Years, saying, that Fifty Four Years are just the half part of a Man's Life, which Number consists of an Unity, the Two first Plains, of Two Squares and Two Cubes; which Numbers Plato himself has appropriated to the Procreation of the Soul. And it seems also, that Hesiod by these Words intimated the Consummation of the World by Fire; at which Time 'tis likely the Nymphs, with the Rivers, Marshes, and Woods where they inhabit, shall be consumed: 
Such as in Woods, or Grotto's Shady Cell,  
Near Sacred Springs, and verdant Meadows dwell.  I have heard, says Cleombrotus, this alleged by several, and find that the Stoical Conflagration hath not only intruded itself upon the Works of Heraclitus and Orpheus, but also Hesiod's, by imposing such Meanings on their Words as they never thought on. Neither can I any more approve of this Consummation of the World, which they maintain; neither is it possible to have made just Observations on the Lives of Animals, as appears by the Number of Years which they attribute to Crows and Stags. Moreover, the Year containing in itself the Beginning and End of all Things which the Seasons bring and the Earth produces, may, in my Opinion, be not impertinently called The Age of Man; for yourselves confess, that Hesiod does somewhere call the Life of Man {αβγδ}; What say you, does he not? Which Demetrius confessing, he proceeded in this Manner: 'tis also certain, that we call the Vessels whereby we measure Things, by the Names of the Things measured in them. As we then call an Unite a Number, though it be but the least Part and Measure, and the Beginning of a Number; so has he called a Year the Age of Man, because 'tis the Measure wherewith 'tis measured. As for those Numbers which those others describe, they be not of such Singularity and Importance. But the Sum of 9720, consists of Four special Numbers orderly arising from One; and the same added together, and multiplied by Four every way, amounts to Forty: these Forties being reduced into Triangles by Five Times, make up the Total of the forecited Number. But as to that, 'tis not necessary to enter into a Debate with Demetrius; for, whether it be a short or a long Time, certain or uncertain, wherewith Hesiod limits the Soul of a Daemon, and the Life of a Demy-God, either of those will prove, by ancient and evident Testimonies, that there are Natures neuter and mean, and as it were in the Confines of the Gods and Men, subject to Mortal Passions, and to receive Mutations and necessary Changes; which Natures, according to the Tradition and Example of our Predecessors, 'tis sitting we should call Daemons, and give them all due Honor. To which Purpose Xenocrates, one of the familiar Friends of Plato, was wont to allege the Example of Triangles, which agree very well with the Subject; for, that Triangle which has Three Sides, and equal Angles, he compared unto the Divine and Immortal Nature, and that which has all Three unequal, to the Human and Mortal Nature, and that which has Two equal and One unequal, to the Nature of Daemons, which is endowed with the Passions and Perturbations of the Mortal Nature, and the Force and Power of the Divine. Even Nature has set before us sensible Figures and Resemblances of this; of the Gods, the Sun and the Stars; of Mortal Men, the Comets, Flashings in the Night, and shooting Stars; And this Similitude is taken up by Euripides, when he saith, 
He that but now was fleshy, plump and gay,  
As a fallen Star his Glories melt away;  
Like that extinguished on the Ground he lies  
Breathing his Soul into the ambient Skies,  
Which straight embodied in its Vehicle  
Does in the Air like other Daemons dwell:  And for a mixed Body representing the Nature of Daemons, the Moon; which some observing to be subject to increase and decrease, and wholly to disappear, have thought it very agreeable to the mutable Condition of Daemons; and have for this Reason termed her a Terrestrial Star, others Olympic Earth, and others the Inheritance and Possession of proserpina both Heavenly and Earthly. As one then that should take from the World the Air, and remove it from between the Moon and the Earth, would dissolve the Continuation and Composition of the Universe, by leaving an empty Place in the Midst, without any Contexture to hold the Two Parts together; so those that do not allow Daemons, do oppose all Communication and Conference of the Gods with Men, seeing they destroy that Nature( as Plato says) which serves as an Interpreter and Messenger between 'em both; or else they constrain us to perplex and confounded all Things together, by mixing the Divine Nature with Human Passions, and plucking it down from Heaven, as the Women of Thessaly are said to do the Moon; which Fiction has met with Belief in some Women; because Aglaonice, the Daughter of Agetor being skilful in Astrology, made the Vulgar believe, that by Means of some Charms and Enchantments, she could bring the Moon down from Heaven. But as to us, let's not think there are any Oracles or Divinations without some Divinity, or that the Gods are not pleased with Sacrifices, and our Services, and other Ceremonies. And, on the other Hand, let's not think that God is present in them, or employs himself personally about them, but that he does commit them to his Officers the Daemons, who are the Spies and Scouts of the Gods, wandring and circuiting about at their Commands; some beholding and ordering the sacred Ceremonies and Oblations offered to the Gods, others being employed to revenge and punish the high misdemeanours and enormous Injustices of Men. There are moreover others, to whom Hesiod gives a very venerable Name, calling them, the Distributers of Riches, and Donor● of Largesses among Mortals; for the Gods have allowed them the Privilege, and granted them a Royal Commission to see them duly distributed. As informing here by the Way, that to be benificent and liberal of favours, is the proper Office of a King. For there is a Difference of Virtue between these Daemons, as much as between Men, and there are some of them in whom still there are some small Remains( tho weak and scarcely discernible) of the Sensitive and Irrational Soul, which like a small Quantity of Excrements and Superfluities, stay still behind. Others there are, in whom there abideth a greater Measure of these gross Humors, the Marks and Traces of which, are to be seen in many Places, by the odd and singular Ceremonies and Sacrifices which they require, as is vulgarly known. As to the Mysteries and secret Ceremonies, by which we may more clearly, than by any other Means, understand the Nature of Daemons; I shall, with Herodotus, be cautious in treating of that Matter. But as to the certain Feasts and direful Sacrifices, which are held as Unfortunate and Mournful Days, and are celebrated by eating raw Flesh, and which is torn with Men's Nails; or, other Days wherein they fast, and smite their Breasts; and, in several Places, where filthy and dishonest Words are uttered during the Sacrifices, I will never think this done on any of the God's Account, but rather to avert, mollify, and appease the Wrath and Fury of some bad Daemons: for, 'tis not likely there ever was a God that expected or required men to be sacrificed to him, as has been anciently done, or received such kind of Sacrifices with Approbation. Neither must we imagine 'twas for nothing, that Kings and Great Men have delivered their own Children to be sacrificed, or that they sacrificed them themselves with their own Hands; seeing, they intended hereby to avert and appease the Malice and rancour of some Evil Spirits, or to satisfy the violent and raging Lusts of some, who either could not or would not enjoy them with their Bodies or by their Bodies. Even as Hercules besieged the City of Oechalia, for a Wench that was therein: so these Powerful and Tyrannical Daemons, requiring some Human Soul, which is still compassed with a Body, and yet not being able to satisfy their Lust by the Body; do therefore bring the Plague and famine into Towns, raise Wars and Seditions, till such Time as they obtain and enjoy that which they love. Others, on the contrary( as I remember I observed in Candia, for I was some considerable Time there) celebrate a Feast, in which they show the Figure of a Man without a Head saying, 'tis Molus, the Father of Meriones, who having violently laid Hands on a Nymph, was afterwards seen without a Head. The Rapes committed on Boys or Girls; the long Voyages, Flights, Banishments and voluntary Services of the Gods, which are sung by the Poets, and related by the Celebration of their Wit or Power, are not Passions and Virtues sitting to be attributed to Gods but to Daemons. Neither is Aeschylus in the right when he says, Divine Apollo banished from the Sky. Nor Admetus in Sophocles; My Cock by crowing lead him to the Mill.  
The Divines of Delphos were far from the Truth when they asserted, That there was a Combat between Apollo and a Dragon about the Possession of this Oracle. No less are they to blame who suffer the Poets or Orators in the open Thearres to Act or Speak of such Matters; whereby they seem to condemn those Things which themselves perform in their sacred Solemnities. Philippus wondering at what was last said( for this Man was an Historian, and then present in the Company) he inquired what Divine Solemnities they contradicted and condemned, who contend one against another in the theaters. Even those, quoth Cleombrotus, which concern the Oracle of Delphos, and by which this City having lately admitted and received into these Ceremonies and Sacrifices, all the Greeks without Thermopylae, and excluded those that dwell as far as the Vale of Tempe. For, the Tabernacle of Boughs which is set up every Ninth Year, within the Court-Yard of this Temple, is not a Representation of the Dragons Den, but of some King or Tyrant; and the assaulting of it in great Silence, by the Way termed Delonia. And immediately they led hither a young Youth whose Father and Mother is still living, with Torches burning; and having set this Tabernacle on Fire, and overthrown the Table, they run away as fast as they are able, through the Doors of the Temple, never looking behind them. In fine, this Boys wanderings, together with his Servile Offices, and expiatory Sacrifices about Tempe, seem to declare the Commission of some horrid Crime in this Place. For it looks silly to affirm, That Apollo for having killed the Dragon, was forced to fly to the farthest Parts of Greece to be cleansed and purified; and, that he there made certain Offerings and Libations, as Men do when they design the appeasing those vindictive Spirits, whom we call Alastoras and Palamnaeos, which is to say, the Revengers of such Crimes as cannot be forgotten, but must have Punishment. 'tis true indeed, that the Relation which I have heard touching this Flight, is very strange and wonderful; but if there be any Truth in it, we must not suppose 'twas an ordinary and common Matter, which happn'd then about this Oracle. Yet lest I should be thought, as Empedocles says, 
Starting new Heads, to wander from the Text,  
And make the Theme we have in Hand, perplexed,  I entreat you let me put a fit Conclusion to my Discourse( for now the Time requires it) and to say what several have said before me, That when the Daemons, who are appointed for the Government and Superintendency of Oracles, do fail, the Oracles must of Necessity also fail too; and, when they depart else-where, the Divining Powers, must likewise cease in those Places, but returning again after a long Time, the Places will begin again to speak; like Musical Instruments, if handled by those that know how to use them. Cleombrotus having said thus much, Heracleon took up the Discourse, saying; We have never an Infidel amongst us, but are all agreed in our Opinions touching the Gods. Yet let's have a Care, Philippus, lest in the Heat and Multiplicity of our Words, we unawares broach not some false Doctrine that may tend to Impiety. Well! but saith Philippus, I hope Cleombrotus has not said any thing which may occasion this Caution. His asserting( says Heracleon) That they be not the Gods who preside over the Oracles( because we are to suppose them free from all Worldly Care) but Daemons, or the Gods Officers or Messengers, does not scandalise me; but to assert from Empedocles, That these Daemons are the Causes of all the Calamities, Vexations and Plagues, which happen to Mortal Men, and in the End to make them to die like them; this, in my Mind, savours of bold Presumption. Cleombrotus having asked Philippus, Who this Young Man was, and being informed of his Name and Country, he proceeded in this Manner: I know very well, Heracleon that the Discourse I used may bear an absurd Construction; but there's no speaking of great Matters, without laying first great Foundations, for the Proof of ones Opinion. But as for your part, you are not sensible, how you contradict even that which you allow; for, granting as you do, that there be Daemons, but not allowing 'em to be vicious and mortal, you cannot prove there are any at all; for, wherein do they differ from Gods, supposing they be incorruptible and impassable, and not liable to Error? Whilst Heracleon was musing and studying how to answer this, Cleombrotus went on, saying, 'tis not only Empedocles who affirms there are bad Daemons, but even Plato, Xenocrates, and Chrysippus, yea and Democritus, when he prayed he might meet with good Spirits; which shows, That he thought there were bad, as well as good Daemons. And as to their Mortality, I have heard it reported from a Person that was neither Fool nor Knave, being Epitherses, the Father of Aemilianus the Orator, whom some of you have heard declaim. This Epitherses was my Townsman and School-master, who  told me, That designing a Voyage to Italy, he embarked himself on a Vessel well laden both with Goods and Passengers. About the Evening the Vessel was becalmed about the Isles Echinades, whereupon their Ship driven with the Tide till it was carried near the Isles of Paxes: When immediately a Voice was heard by most of the Passengers( who were then awake, and taking a Cup after Supper) calling unto one Thamus, and that with so loud a Voice, as made all the Company amazed; which Thamus was a master of Egypt, whose Name was scarcely known in the Ship. He returned no Answer to the Two first Calls, but at the Third he replied, Here! here! I am the Man. Then the Voice said aloud to him, When you are arrived at Palodes, take Care to make it known, that the great God PAN is dead. Epitherses  told us, this Voice did much astonish all that heard it, and caused much arguing, Whether this Voice was to be obeied or slighted. Thamus, for his part, was resolved, if the Wind permitted, to sail by the Place without saying a Word; but if the Wind ceased, and there ensued a Calm, to speak and cry out as loud as he was able what he was enjoined. Being come to Palodes, there was no Wind stirring, and the Sea was as smooth as Glass. Whereupon Thamus standing on the Deck, with his Face towards the Land, uttered with a loud Voice his Message, saying, The Great PAN is dead. He had no sooner said this, but they heard a dreadful Noise, not only of one but of several, who, to their thinking, groaned and lamented with a kind of Astonishment. And there being many Persons in the Ship, an Account of this was soon spread over Rome, which made Tiberius the Emperor sand for Thamus, and seemed to give such heed to what he  told him, that he earnestly inquired who this PAN was. And the Learned Men about him gave in their Judgments, That 'twas the Son of Mercury by Penelope. There were some then in the Company, who declared, They had heard old Aemilianus say as much. Demetrius then related, That about Britain there were many small and desolate Islands, some of which were called the Isles of Daemons and demigods; and that he himself at the command of the Emperor, sailed to the nearest of those Places for Curiosity sake, where he found few Inhabitants, but that they were all esteemed by the Britains, as Sacred and Divine. Not long after he was arrived there, he said, the Air and the Weather were very foul and tempestuous, and there followed a terrible Storm of Wind and Thunder; which at length ceasing, he says, the Inhabitants  told him, That one of the Daemons or demigods was deceased. For, as a Lamp, said he, while 'tis lighted offends no body with its scent, but when 'tis extinguished it sends out such a Scent as is nauseous to every body; so these great Souls, whilst they shine, are mildred and gracious, without being troublesome to any body; but when they draw to an end, they cause great Storms and Tempests, and not seldom infect the Air with contagious Distempers. They say farther, That Saturn is detained Prisoner in one of those Islands, whom he keeps fast asleep in Chains, and that he has several of those Daemons for his Valets and Attendants. Thus then spake Cleombrotus; I could, says he, relate several such Stories as these, but 'tis sufficient that what has been said as yet, does not contradict the Opinion of any one here. And we all know, the stoics believe the same as we do concerning the Daemons; and, that amongst the great Company of Gods which are commonly believed, there is but one who is Eternal and Immortal; all the rest having been born in Time, shall end by Death. As to the Flouts and Scoffings of the Epicureans, they are not to be regarded, seeing they have the Boldness to treat Divine Providence with as little Reverence, calling it by no better a Name, than a more whimsy and old Wives Fable. Whereas we, on the contrary, assert, That their Infinite Worlds is truly ridiculous, seeing among such endless Numbers of them, there's not one governed by Reason or Divine Providence, they having been all made and upheld by Chance. If we cannot forbear drolling even in matters of Philosophy, they are most to be ridiculed, who bring into their Disputes of Natural Questions, certain deaf, blind and dumb Images, which appear they know not where nor when, which they say, proceed from Bodies, some of which are still living, and others long since dead and rotten. Now, such peoples Opinions as these, must needs be exploded and derided by all rational Men. Yet these very People shall be offended and angry at a Mans saying, There be Daemons, and that they subsist and continue a long time. Here Ammonius began to speak, saying, In my Opinion, Theophrastus was in the right, and spoken like a Philosopher and a Divine; for, whoever shall deny what he alleges, must also reject many things which are, and do often happen, though we understand not the Reasons why they do so; and granting what he offers to be true, What ill consequences follow hereupon? But as to what I have heard the Epicureans allege against the Daemons which Empedocles asserts, as, That 'tis impossible they can be happy and long-lived if they be bad and viciously affencted, because 'vice in its own Nature is blind, and Naturally precipitates itself into such mischiefs as destroy Life; that, I must tell you, is vain and idle. For if this reasoning be good, 'twill then follow, That Epicurus was a worse Man than Gorgias the Sophister, and Metrodorus than Alexis the Comic Actor; for he lived twice as long as Metrodorus, and Gorgias much longer than Epicurus. For, 'tis in another regard, we say virtue is strong, and 'vice weak, not in reference to the continuance or dissolution of the Body; for we know there are many Animals which are dull, slow and heavy, and many disorderly and lustful, which live longer than those that are more sagacious and quicker of sense. And therefore they are much in the wrong in saying, The Divine Nature is Immortal, because it avoideth the things which are ill and mischievous; for they should have supposed the Divine Nature free from all possibility of falling into Corruption and Alteration. But perhaps 'twill be thought not fair, to dispute against those that are absent; I would have therefore Cleombrotus to resume his Discourse, touching the Vanishing and Transmigration of Daemons from one Place to another. With all my heart, answered Cleombrotus, but I shall now say something which will seem more absurd than any thing I have heretofore offered, although it seems to be grounded on Natural Reason; and Plato himself has touched upon it, not positively affirming it, but offering it as a probable Opinion. And seeing we are fallen into a free Discourse, and that a Man cannot light into better Company, and a more favourable Auditory, I shall therefore tell you a Story which I heard from a Stranger, whose Acquaintance has cost me no small Sum of money in searching after him in divers Countries, whom at length after much travail, I found near the Red-Sea. He would Converse with Men but once a Year, all the rest of his time( as he  told me) he spent among the Nymphs, nomads and Daemons. He was very free with me, and extremely obliging: I never saw a more graceful Person in all my Life; and that which was very strange in him, was, that he was never subject to any Disease; once every Month he eat the bitter Fruit of a certain Medicinal Herb. He spake several Languages perfectly well; his Discourse to me was in the doric Dialect; his Speech was as charming as the sweetest music, and as soon as ever he opened his Mouth to speak, there issued out of it so sweet and fragrant a Breath, that all the Place was filled with it. Now, as to human Learning, such as History, &c. he retained the knowledge thereof all the Year; but as to the Gift of Divination, he was inspired therewith only one Day in the Year; in which he went down to the Sea-side, and there foretold things to come. And thither resorted to him the Princes and Great Men of all the Country, or else their Secretaries, who there attended his coming at a prefixed Day, and then returned. This Person attributed Divination to the Daemons, and was well pleased to hear what we related concerning Delphos. Whatsoever we  told concerning Bacchus, and the Sacrifices which are offered to him, he knew it all, saying, That as these were great Accidents which happened to Daemons, so also was that which was related of the Serpent Python; affirming, That he who slay him was not banished for Nine Years, neither did he fly into the valley of Tempe, but was driven out of this World into another; from whence, after Nine Revolutions of the Great Years, being returned, cleansed and purified, and become a true Phaebus, that is to say, clear and bright, he had at length recovered the Superintendance of the Delphic Oracle; which in the mean time was committed to the Charge of Themis. He said as much concerning what is related of the Typhons and Titans. For he affirmed, They were the Battels of Daemons against Daemons, and the Flights and Banishments of those that had been vanquished, or the Punishments inflicted by the Gods on those which had committed such Facts, as Typhon is said to have done against Osiris, and Saturn against Coelum, whose Honours are much obscured, or wholly lost, by being translated into another World. For I know that the Solymeans, who are Borderers to the Lycians, did greatly honour Saturn; but since he killed their Princes, Arsalus, Dryus and Throsobius, he fled into some other Country, they knew not where, and he now is in a manner forgotten. But they called those three, Arsalus, Dryus and Throsobius, the severe Gods, and the Lycians do at this Day curse People in their Names, as well in private as public. Several other such like Examples may a Man find in the Records of the Gods. And if we call any of the Daemons by the usual and common Names of the Gods on whom they do depend, 'tis no marvel at all( said this great Man) for they like to be called by the Gods on whom they do depend, and from whom they have received their Honour and Power; even as amongst us Men, one is name Jovius, another Palladius or Apollonius. And there are some, who though they have their Names imposed on them, as it were by chance, yet do they well agree with their Tempers; whereas some carry the Names of the Gods, which do not at all svit with their Weaknesses and Imperfections. Here Cleombrotus having paused, his Discourse seemed strange to all the Company, and Heracleon demanded of him, how this Discourse concerned Plato, and how he had given Occasion to this Discourse? Unto which Cleombrotus answered, You do well to put me in mind of it; for first, he ever rejected the Infinity of Worlds, yet would determine nothing positively, touching the precise Number of them: And granting the Probability of their Opinion, who affirmed there were Five in each Element; as to his own Part, he kept to One, which seems to be his Genuine Opinion; whereas all other Philosophers have been afraid to receive and admit the Multitude of Worlds; as if those who did not refer and determine the Matter to One, must needs fall into this troublesone and boundless Infinity. But was this Stranger, said I, of the same Opinion with Plato, touching the Number of the Worlds? or did you not all the while ask his Opinion in that Matter? I was far from failing herein, says Cleombrotus, seeing I found him so communicative and affable to me. He  told me, That neither the Number of the Worlds was Infinite, neither was there but only One, nor Five, but an Hundred and Eighty three, which were ranged in a Triangular Form, every Side containing Sixty Worlds; and of the Three remaining, every Corner had One; that they were so ordered, that one always touched another in a circled, like those who dance in a Ring; that the Plain within the Triangle, is as it were the Foundation and common Altar to all those Worlds, which is called the Plain, or Field of Truth, in which lie the Designs, Moulds, Ideas and invariable Examples of all things which were, or ever shall be; and about these is Eternity, whence flowed Time as from a River into these Worlds. Moreover, that the Souls of Men, if they have lived well in this World, do see them once in Ten Thousand Years; and that the most Holy, Mystical Ceremonies which are performed here, are no more than a Dream of this Sacred Vision; and farther, That all the Pains which are taken in the Study of Philosophy, were to attain to a Sight of those Beauties, otherwise they were all lost Labours. I heard him, said he, relate all these things as perfectly as if they had been some Religious Rites, wherein he would have instructed me; for, he brought me no Proof or Demonstration to confirm what he said. Here turning myself to Demetrius, I asked him what were the Words which the Wooers of Penelope spake in Homer, when they saw Ulysses handling his Bow, A cunning Spy no doubt, and Plagiary. And Demetrius having put me in mind of them, it came, I say, into my Thoughts, to say as much of this wonderful Man. He was a Person conversant in all sorts of Learning, being a Greek born, and perfectly well skilled in the Studies of his Country; for this Number of Worlds shows us, That he was neither an Indian, nor an Egyptian, but that his Father was a Greek of the Country of Sicily, name Petron, born in the City of Himera, who wrote a little Book on this Subject, which I indeed never saw, nor can tell whether it be extant. But Hippus, a Native of Rhegium, mentioned by Phanias the Eressian, tells us, 'twas the Doctrine of Petron, That there were an Hundred and Eighty three Worlds, whose Ends were orderly tacked to one another; but he offers no reason to prove this. 'tis certain, says Demetrius, that Plato himself bringing no Argument to evince this Point, does hereby overthrow this Opinion. Yet, says Heracleon, we have heard you Grammarians say, That Homer was the first Author of this Opinion, as having divided the Universe into Five Worlds, Heaven, Water, Air, Earth, and that which he calls Olympus, of which, he leaveth Two to be common ( viz.) the Earth to all beneath, and Olympus to all above, but the Three in the midst between them, he attributes unto Three several Gods. In the like manner, Plato assigning unto the principal Parts of the Universe the First Forms, and most excellent Figures of the Bodies, calls them Five Worlds, ( viz.) that of the Earth, of the Water, Air and Fire, and finally, that which comprehendeth all the others, which he calls Dodecaedron, which is to say, with twelve B●ses; which amply extending, is of easy Motion and Capacity, its Form and Figure being very fit and proper for the Revolutions of the Animal Motions. What need is there then, cried Demetrius, of bringing in good old Homer, for we have had Fables enough already. But Plato is far from calling the different Elements Five Worlds; for even where he disputes against those who assert an Infinite Number of Worlds, he affirms, There's only One, created of God, and beloved by him, consisting of Nature entire, having a perfect Body, endowed with Self-sufficiency, and wanting nothing; and therefore we may well think it strange, that the Truth which he spake should occasion the Extravagancy of others; for had he not maintained the World● Unity, he would in some sort have given a Foundation to those, who affirm an Infinite Number of them; but that he asserted precisely Five, this is marvelously strange, and far from all probability, unless you can( says he, turning himself to me) clear this Point. How▪ said I, are you then resolved to drop here your first Dispute about Oracles, and to take up another of no less Difficulty. Not so neither, replied Demetrius, yet we must take Cognizance of this, which does as it were hold out its Hand to us, though we shall not remain long upon it, but treat of it by the Way, and soon return to our first Discourse. First of all then I say, the Reasons which hinder us from asserting an Infinite Number of Worlds, do not hinder us from affirming, That there are more than One; for as well in Many Worlds as in One, there may be Providence, Divination and Fortune, which may intervene in the smallest Things; but most part of the grand and principal Things, have, and take their Beginnings and Changes by Order, which could not be in an Infinite Number of Worlds. And it is more conformable to Reason, to say, That God made more than One World; for, being perfectly Good, he wants neither Power nor Good Will, and least of all, Justice and Friendship, for they do chiefly become the Nature of the Gods. Now God hath nothing that is superfluous and useless, and therefore there must be other Inferior Gods proceeding from him, and other Worlds made by him, towards whom he must use these social virtues; for he cannot exercise those virtues of Justice and Benignity on himself, but to others; so that it is not likely this World should float and wander about, without either Friend, Neighbour, or any sort of Communication, into an Infinite Vacuum. For we see, Nature includes and contains all things in their Species, like as in Vessels, or in Husks of Seeds; for there's nothing in Nature of which there is but one and no more, but has the Reason of its Being common with others; neither is there any thing that hath a particular Denomination, but besides the common Notion, it is by some particular Qualities distinct from others of the same Genus. Now, the World is not termed so in Common, it must be then such in Particular, and qualified it is in Particular, and distinguished by certain Differences, from other Worlds of the same Kind. For there being no such Thing in Nature as one Man alone, one Horse, one Star, one God, one Daemon; so there is not in Nature one only World, and no more, it being certain, that there are several. And he that shall object against me, That this World hath likewise but one Earth, and one Sea, I can answer him, He is much deceived, by not understanding the Evidence of like Parts. For we divide the Earth into Similar Parts, and of the same Denomination; for all the Parts of the Earth are Earth, and so of the Sea; but no Part of the World, is the World, it being composed of divers and different Natures; for as to the Inconvenience which some do seem to fear, and in respect of which they confine all the Matter within One World, lest there remaining any thing without, it should disturb the Composition of this, by the Resistances and jars which it would make against it; they have no need to dread this; for, th●re being Many Worlds, and each of them in particular having one definite and determinate Measure and Limit of its Substance and Matter, no Part thereof will be without Order and good Disposition, nothing will remain superfluous, or be cast out as an Excrement. For, the Reason which belongeth to each World, being able to rule and govern the Matter that is allotted thereto, will not suffer any thing to run out of Course and Order, and rencontre and jumble another World; nor likewise, that any thing from another should justle or disturb it, there being nothing in Nature Infinite and Inordinate in Quantity, nor in Motion without Reason and Order. And if perhaps there be any Influence that passes from the one to the other, this is a Fraternal Communication, whereby they mix themselves together, like the Light of the Stars, and the Influence of their Temperatures, which are the Cause that they themselves do rejoice in beholding one another with a benign Aspect, and give to the Gods( who are Good and many in Number in every Star) an Opportunity of knowing and caressing one another: For there's nothing in all this that is impossible, or fabulous, or contrary to Reason, though some may think so, because of the Opinion of Aristotle, who saith, That all Bodies have their proper and natural Places, by which means the Earth must on all sides tend to the Midst, and the Water upon it, serving by its Weight for a Foundation to the other lighter Elements. Were there then Many Worlds, the Earth would be often found to be situated above the Airy and Fiery Regions, and as often under them, sometimes in their natural Places, and sometimes in other, which are contrary to their Natures; which things being impossible( as he thinks) it follows then, there are neither Two, nor more Worlds, but One only, which is this here, consisting of all Kinds of Elements, disposed according to Nature, agreeable to the diversity of Bodies. But in all this there is more probability than Truth; for consider, Friend Demetrius, that when he saith among simplo Bodies, some tend towards the Midst, which is to say, downward, the others from the Midst, that is, upward, and a Third sort move round about the Midst; what does he mean by the Midst? this cannot be in respect of a Vacuum, there being no such thing in Nature, as he says himself: And moreover, those that do allow it, say, that it can have no Middle, no more than Beginning and End; for Beginning and End are Extremities; but that which is Infinite, every Body knows is without an End. But supposing we should be necessitated to admit a Middle in a Vacuum, it is impossible to comprehend and imagine the different Motions of Bodies towards it, because there is neither in this Vacuum any Power attractive of the Body, nor in the Bodies any Inclination or Affection to tend on all Sides to this Middle: And it is no less difficult to imagine, that Bodies can move of themselves towards an Incorporeal Place, or receive any Motion from it. This Middle then must be understood not locally, but corporeally: for this World being a Mass and Union consisting of different Bodies joined together, this Diversity of them must beget different Motions from one another; which appears, in that each of these Bodies changing its Substance, does at the same time change its Place: For the Subtilization and Rarefaction dissipates the Matter, which springeth from the Midst, and ariseth upwards: whereas on the contrary, the Condensation and Constipation depresses and drives it down towards the Middle, on which 'tis not necessary to discourse any longer in this Place; for whatever Cause a Man supposes shall produce such Passions and Changes, that very Cause will contain each of these Worlds in itself, because each of them has its Sea and Land, each its proper Middle, and each its Passions and Change of Bodies, and the Nature and Power, which contains and preserves each in its Place and Being. For that which is without, whether it be nothing at all, or an Infinite Vacuum, cannot allow any Middle, as we have already said. But there being several Worlds, each has its proper Middle apart; so that in each of them there will be Motions proper to Bodies, some tending down to the Midst, others mounting aloft from the Midst, others moving round about it, according as they themselves do distinguish Motions. And he who asserts there are many Middles, and that heavy Bodies from all sides do tend unto one alone, is like to him who shall affirm, That the Blood of several Men runs from all Parts into one Vein; or that all their Brains should be contained within one and the same Membrane; supposing it absurd, that all Natural Bodies which are solid, should not be in one Place, and the rare in another. He that thus thinketh, is certainly a mean Philosopher; and no better is he who will not allow the Whole to have all Parts in their Order, Rank and natural Situation. What could be more foolish, than for a Man to imagine a World which had a Moon within it, situated beneath; just as if a Man should have his Brains where his Heels are, and his Heart in his Forehead? Whereas, there's no Absurdity or Inconveniency, if in supposing several distinct Worlds, separated from one another, a Man should distinguish and separate their Parts. For in each of them, the Earth, Sea and Sky, will be placed and situated in their proper Places; and each of these Worlds may have its Superior, Inferior, Circular and Middle Part; not in respect of another World, nor in reference to what is without, but what is within itself. And as to the Argument which some do draw from a ston being placed without the World, it neither proves Rest nor Motion; for how could it remain suspended, seeing it is by Nature heavy, or move towards the Midst of the World as other ponderous Bodies, seeing it is neither part of it, nor like it? And as to that Earth which is fixed and environed by another World, we must not wonder, considering its Weightiness, if it does not drop down, seeing it is upheld by a certain Natural Force pertaining to it. For if we shall take high and low, not within the World, but without, we shall find ourselves involved in the same Difficulties as Epicurus was, when he made his little Indivisible Atoms to move and tend to those Places which are under foot, as if the Vacuum had Feet, or that its Infinite Space would permit one to talk of high or low. Indeed a Man would marvel what should cause Chrysippus to say, That the World was placed and situated directly in the Midst; and that the Matter thereof from all Eternity, having possessed itself of the Midst, yet is so compacted together, that it remains for ever: For he writes this in his Fourth Book of Possible Things; vainly imagining, there's a Middle in that vast Emptiness: And still more absurdly attributing unto that Middle, which is not, the Cause of the Worlds Stability and Continuance; he having often said in other Writings of his, That the Substance is upheld and governed by the Motions tending to the Midst, and partly by others parting from the Midst of it. As to the other Oppositions which the stoics make, who should fear them! as when they demand, how 'tis possible to maintain a Fatal Destiny? a Divine Providence? and how it can be otherwise but that we must admit of several Jupiters, when we assert the Plurality of Worlds. Now if there be an Inconveniency in admitting many Jupiters, their Opinions will appear far more absurd; For they imagine there are Suns, and Moons, Apollo's, Diana's and Neptunes, in innumerable Changes and Revolutions of Worlds. But where is the Necessity which lies upon us, to grant, That there must be many Jupiters, if there be many Worlds; seeing there may be in each of them a Sovereign governor of the Whole, endued with a suitable Mind and Ability, like to him whom we name the Lord and Father of All Things? or what shall hinder us from asserting, That the several Worlds be subject to the Providence and Management of Jupiter, having an Eye to all Things, directing and administering to All, the Principles, the Seeds and Causes of all Things which are made. For as we often see here a Body composed of several other distinct Bodies; for Example, the Assembly of a Town, an Army, or a Chorus; in each of which Bodies, there's Life, Prudence, and Understanding: so it is not impossible, that in the whole Universe, Ten, or Fifty, or a Hundred Worlds which may be in it, should all use the same Reason, and all correspond with the same Principle. For this Order and Disposition is very suitable to the Gods; for we must not make them Kings of a Swarm of Bees, who never stir out of their Hives; or keep them fast imprisoned in Matter, like those who affirm the Gods to be certain Dispositions of the Air, and Powers of Waters and Fire, infused and mixed within, which arise and spring up together with the World, and to be burnt in Time, and end with it, not affording them the Liberty of Coach-men and Pilots, but nailing them down to their Bases, like Statues and Images; for they enclose the Gods within Matter, and that in so strict a Manner, as makes them liable to all the Changes, Alterations and Decays of it. It is certainly more agreeable to the Nature of the Gods, to say that they are wholly at liberty, like Castor and Pollux, ready to succour such as are overtaken by bad Weather at Sea; for when they appear, the Winds cease, and the Waves are calmed; not that they Navigate, and are Partakers of the same Peril; but only appear in the Sky, and the Danger is over. Thus do the Gods visit each World, and rule and provide for all things in them. Jupiter in Homer, cast not his Eyes far from the City of Troy into Thracia, and the nomads or wandring Scythians, along the River Ister or the Danube; but the true Jupiter has several seemly and agreeable Passages for his Majesty from one World into another, not looking into the Infinite Vacuum without, nor regarding himself and nothing else, as some have imagined, but weighing the Deeds of Gods and Men, and the Motions and Revolutions of the Stars. For the Divinity does not hate Variety and Changes, but takes great Pleasure in them, as one may conjecture by the Circuits, Conversions and Mutations observable in the Heavens. And therefore I conclude, That the Infinite Number of Worlds is a Chimera, which has not the least probability of Truth, and which cannot by any means admit of One God, but must be wholly guided by Chance and Fortune. Whereas the Government and Providing for a certain Number, and definite Number of Worlds, has nothing in it that seems more laborious and unworthy, than that which is employed and restrained to the Direction of One alone; which is transformed, renewed and reformed an Infinite Number of Times. Having said this, I paused, and Philippus immediately cried out, Whether this be certain or not, I will not be too positive; but, says he, if we carry God beyond On● World, it would more gratify me to know, why we should make him the Creator only of Five Worlds and no more, and what Proportion this Number bears to that of the Worlds, than to know why the Word E I was inscribed upon this Temple For this is neither a Triangular, a Quadrate, a Perfect, nor a Cubic Number; neither does it yield any Elegancy to such as are delighted in these kind of Sciences. And as to what concerns the Argument drawn from the Number of Elements, which Plato seems to have touched upon, 'tis obscure and improbable, and will not afford this Consequence, That as there is formed from Matter Five Sorts of regular Bodies, which have equal Angles, equal Sides, and environed with equal Superficies; so there was from the Beginning Five Worlds, made and formed of these Five Bodies. Yet Theodorus the Solian, reading Plato's mathematics to his Scholars, does both keep to the Text, and clearly expounds it, when he saith, The pyramid, Octaedron, Dodecaedron, Icosaedron,( which Plato lays down as the first Bodies) are all beautiful, both in their Proportions and Equalities; Nature cannot contrive and make better than these, nor perhaps so good. Yet they have not all the same Constitution and Origin; for, the least of the Five is the pyramid; the greatest, which has most Parts, is the Dodecaedron; and of the other two, the Is●caedron is greater by half than the Octaedron, if you compare their Number of Triangles: And therefore 'tis impossible, they should be all made at once of one and the same Matter; for the smallest and most subtle, have been certainly more pliable and formable to the Hand of the Work-man, who moved and fashioned the Matter, and consequently were sooner made and shaped, than those that have more Parts, and a greater Mass of Bodies, inasmuch as the Manufacture of the Composition was more laborious and difficult, as is the Dodecaedron, whence it follows, that the pyramid was the first Body, and not one of the others, which were by Nature last produced. Now the way to avoid also this Absurdity, is to separate and divide the Matter into Five Worlds; here the pyramid,( for she is the first and most simplo) there the Octaedron, and there the Isocaedron, and out of that which exists first in every of these Resolutions, the rest draw their Original by the Concretion or Composition of Parts, by which every thing is changed into every thing, as Plato himself shows us by Examples throughout. For Air is engendered by the Extinction of Fire, and th● same being subtilized and rarefied, produceth Fire. Now by the Seeds of these two, one may find out th● Passions and Transmutations of all. The Seminary or Beginning of Fire is the pyramid, consisting of Twenty Four First Triangles, and the Octaedron is the Seminary of the Air, consisting of Forty Eight Triangles of the same Kind. So that the one Element of Air, stands upon two of Fire, joined together and condensed: And again, One Body or Element of Air is divided into Two of Fire, which becoming still more thick and hard, is changed into Water; so that throughout, that which comes first into Light, gives easily Birth unto the rest by Transmutation: And so it comes to pass that there is not only one Cause and Principle of all things, but that one thing is so near the Seed and Origin of another, in the several Changes and Alterations of Nature by Motion, that in the last Result they are all the same. But here Ammonius interrupted him, and said, notwithstanding that those things are so peremptorily and so pompously asserted by Theodorus, yet I shall wonder if he be not forced to make use of such Suppositions as are destructive of themselves, and one of another. For he will have it, that the Five Worlds he speaks of, were not composed all at one time, but that that which was subtlest, and which gave least Trouble in the making, came out first into being: And as if it were a consequent, and not a repugnant thing, he supposes that the Matter does not always drive out into Existence, that which is most subtle and simplo, but that sometimes the thickest, grossest and heaviest Parts do prevent and set the heat of the more subtle in Generation. But besides this, supposing there be Five Primitive Bodies or Elements, and consequently that there be as many Worlds, there are but Four of those Orders, which he discourses rationally concerning. For as to the Cube, he takes it away and removes it, as it were in a Game of Counters; for it is naturally unfit, either to turn into any thing besides itself, or to yield that any of those other Bodies be converted into it, inasmuch as the Triangles of which they consist, be not of the same sort; for all the rest consist in common of Demy-Triangles, or Triangles of Unequal Sides; but the proper Subject of which this is particularly composed, is the Triangle Isosceles, or equilateral, which admitteth no Inclination unto a Demy-Triangle, nor can possibly be united and incorporated with it. If there be then Five Bodies, and consequently Five Worlds, and that in each of these Worlds the Principle of Generation be that Body which is first produced; it must happen that where the Cube is the first in Generation, none of the rest can possibly be produced, it being contrary to its Nature to change into any of them. Not to insist here, that Theodorus and those of his Mind, make the Element, or Principle of which the Dodecaedron is composed, to be different from the rest, it not being that Triangle which is termed Scalenon, with Three unequal Sides, out of which the pyramid, Octaedron, and Isocaedron, according to Plato, are produced: So that, said Ammonius laughing, you must solve these Objections, or offer some thing new concerning the Matter in debate; and I-answered him, That for my Part, I knew not at present how to say any thing which carried more Probability; but perhaps it is better for a Man to refine and correct his own Opinion than anothers; therefore I say then, that there being supposed from the beginning of Things Two several Natures contrary to each other, the one Sensible, Mutable, subject to Generation, Corruption and Change every way; the other Spiritual and Intelligible, and abiding always in the same State; 'twould be very strange, my Friends, to say, That the Spiritual Nature admitteth of Division, and that it hath Diversity and Difference in it, and to be angry, if a Man will not allow the passable and Corporal Nature to be wholly united in itself, without dividing it into many Parts; for it is most suitable to the Permanent and Divine Natures, to be tied and linked to each other, and to avoid, as much as is possible, all Division and Separation; and yet amongst incorporeal Natures, the Power or virtue of one compared with another, makes greater differences than those of distance of Place, arising from several Notions and Ideas in the Intelligible World, which answer to Local Distances in the Corporeal. And therefore Plato refuting those who hold this Proposition, That all is one, asserts these Five Grounds and Principles of All; viz. Entity, Identity, Diversity, Motion and Rest, which Five Immaterial Principles being admitted, 'tis no marvel, if Nature have made every one of these to be an Imitation, though not exact, yet as perfect and agreeable as could be drawn, of a correspondent Principle in the Corporeal Mystery, partaking, as much as can be, of its Power and Virtue; for 'tis very plain, That the Cube is most proper and agreeable to Repose and Rest, by reason of the Stability and Firmness of those plain Surfaces of which it consists. And as to the pyramid, every Body soon sees and acknowledges the Nature of Fire in it, by the slenderness of its decreasing Sides, and the sharpness of its Angles; and the Nature of the Dodecaedron, apt to comprehend all the other Figures, may seem more properly to be the Corporeal Image of Ens, or Being in the general, indifferent to this or that Particular Form or Shape. And of the other Two which remain, the Icosaedron resembleth the Principle of Diversity, and the Octaedron Principally partakes of the Identical Nature. And thus from one of these the Air is produced, which partakes of, and borders upon, every Substance, under one and the same outward Form and Appearance; and the other has afforded us the Element of Water, which by Mixture, may put on diversity of Colours, Tastes, and other Qualities. Therefore if Nature requires a certain Uniformity and Harmony in all things, 'tis then that there are neither more nor fewer Worlds in the Corporeal Nature, than there are Patterns or Samples in the Incorporeal; to the end that each Pattern or Sample in the Invisible Nature, may have its Primary, Radical and Original Virtue, answering and corresponding to a Secondary or Derivative in the different Constitution or Composition of Bodies; and this may serve for an Answer to those that wonder at our dividing Nature, subject to Generation and Alteration, into so many Kinds. But I entreat you all, further attentively to consider with yourselves, that of the two First and supreme Principles of all Things, that is to say, the Unity, and the indefinite or indetermined Binary or Duality; this latter being the Element and chief Origin of all Deformity and Disorder, is termed Infinity; and on the contrary, the Nature of Unity, determining and limiting the voided Infinity, which has no Proportion nor Termination, reduces it into Form, and renders it in some manner capable of receiving a Denomination, which only belongs to sensible and particular things. Now these two general Principles appear first in Number; for the Multitude is indeed no Number, but only as it is considered as a certain Form of the Matter resulting out of indetermin'd Infinity, by which that Infinity is cut off, and bounded within respective Limits, either shorter or longer; for then each Multitude is made Number, when once it is determined and limited by Unity, whereas if we take away Unity, then the Indeterminate Duality brings all into Confusion, and renders it without Harmony, without Number or Measure. Now the Form not being the Destruction of Matter, but rather the Order and the Beauty of it, both these Principles therefore must be within Number, from whence ariseth the chief Disparity and greatest Difference. For the Infinite and Indeterminate Principle is the Cause of the Even Number; and the other better Principle, which is the Unity, is the Father( as it were) of the Odd Number; so that the first Even Number is Two, and the first Odd Number is Three, of which is composed Five by Conjunction, common to both; but of Power or Nature, it is not Even, but Odd. For 'twas necessary, that Nature being divided into several Parts, in order to Corporeal and Sensible Composition by the Power of the other, which is Diversity, that it should not be either the First Even Number, nor yet the First Uneven or Odd, but a Third, consisting of both; to the end it might be procreated out of both Principles, viz. of that which causeth the Even Number, and of that which produceth the Odd; for the one cannot be partend from the other, in as much as both have the Nature, Power and Force of a Principle. These Two Principles being then joined together, the best or the Triad being mightier, prevails over the Undeterminate Infinity or Duality, which divideth the Corporal Nature, and thus the Matter being divided, the Unity interposing itself between, has hindered the Universe from being divided, and partend into two equal Portions, but there have been a Multitude of Worlds caused by the Diversity and Disagreement of the Indefinite Nature; but this Multitude was brought into an Odd Number, by the virtue and Power of Identity, or the finite Principle, and it was therefore Odd, because the better Principle would not suffer Nature to stretch itself further than 'twas fitting; for if there had been nothing but Pure and simplo, Unity, the Matter would have known no Separation, but being mixed with the dividing Nature of Duality, it has by this means received and suffered Separation and Division, yet hath stopped here, by the Odd Numbers being the Superior and Master to the Even; this is the Reason why the ancients were used to express numbering or Reckoning by the very {αβγδ}; and I am of Opinion, that the Word {αβγδ}, All, is derived from {αβγδ}, which is to say Five; Five being compounded of the Two First Numbers, and the other Numbers being afterwards multiplied by others, they produce Numbers different from themselves: Whereas Five being multiplied by the Dyad or Even Number, produceth a perfect Ten, and multiplied by the Triad or Odd Number, it representeth itself again: Not to insist, that it is composed of the Two First Tetragones or Quadrate Numbers, viz. of Unity and Four, and that being the First Number, whose terminating Unity is equivalent to the Two Dyads before it, an Unity and a Quat●rnion being both Tetragones, as hath been said, it composeth the fairest Triangle of those that have Right Angles, and is the First Number which containeth the Sesquialteral Proportion; For perhaps all these Reasons are not very pertinent to the Discourse of the present Dispute; it being better to allege, that in this Number there is a natural virtue of dividing, and that Nature divideth many things by this Number. For in ourselves she has placed Five Sences, and Five Parts of the Soul, the Natural, the Sensitive, the Concupiscible, the Irascible, and the Rational; and as many Fingers on each Hand; and the Seed disperseth itself at most but into Five, for we red no where of a Woman that brought forth more than Five at a Birth: And the egyptians also tell us, That the Goddess Rhea was delivered of Five Gods; giving us to understand in covert Terms, That of the same Matter were procreated Five Worlds. And in the Universe, the Earth is divided into Five Zones, the Heaven into Five Circles, Two Arcticks, Two Tropics, and One equinoctial in the Midst: That there are Five Revolutions of Planets or Wandring Stars, in as much as the Sun, Venus and Mercury, make but one and the same Revolution; and the Construction of the World consists of an Harmonical Measure; even as our Musical Chords, consist of the Positure of Five Tetra-Chords, ranged orderly one after another, that is to say, of Hypate, Mese, Synemmene, Diezeugmene, and Hyperbolia. The Pauses also which are used in Singing, are Five, Diesis, Semitonion, Tonus, Triemitonion and Ditonon; so that Nature seems to delight more in making all Things according to the Number of Five, than she does in producing them in a spherical Form, as Aristotle writeth. But 'twill perhaps be demanded, Why Plato reduced the Number of Five Worlds to the Five Regular Bodies or Figures; saying, That God made use of the Number Five, as it were transcribing and copying that in the fabric of the World. And then having proposed the Doubt and Question of the Number of the Worlds, viz. Whether there be Five, or One only; he thereupon clearly shows, that his Conjecture is grounded on this Conceit of the Five Regular Bodies. If therefore we may allow Probability to his Opinion, then of Necessity, with the Diversity of these Figures and Bodies, there must presently ensue a Difference and Diversity of Motions, as himself teacheth, affirming, That whatever is subtilized or condensed, does at the same time, with its Alteration of Substance, alter and change its Place; for if from the Air there is engendered Fire, when the Octaedron is dissolved and vanished into Pyramids; or, on the contrary, if the Air be produced from the Fire, pressed and squeezed up into the Form of the Octaedron, 'tis not possible it should remain there where it was before, but flies and runs to another Place, forcing and combating whatever stands in the Way to oppose it. And he shows this more clearly and evidently by an Example and Similitude of Fans, and such like things as drive away the Chaff from the Corn; for thus the Elements driving the Matter, and being driven by it, do always bring like to like, some taking up this Place, others that, before the World was digested as now it is. The Matter then being in that Condition, as every thing must be, where God is not present; the Five First Qualities, or First Bodies, having each their proper and peculiar Inclinations and Motions, went apart, not wholly and altogether, nor thoroughly divided and separated one from another; for when all was huddled in Confusion, such as were surmounted, went continually against their Nature with the Mightier. And therefore some going on one side, and others going on the other, hence has happened, that There have been as many Portions and Distinctions, as there are divers Kinds of First Bodies; one of Fire, not wholly pure, but inclining towards the Form of Fire; another of a Celestial Nature, yet not wholly so, but inclining towards the Nature of Heaven; another of Earth, not simplo and mere Earth, but inclining to the Form of Earth. But especially there was a Communication of Water and Air, as we have already mentioned; for these went their Ways, replenished with divers and strange Kinds. For God did not separate and distribute the Matter, but having found it thus carelessly dissipated in itself, and each Part being carried away in such great Disorder and Confusion, he ranged and ordered it into Symmetry and Proportion; and setting Reason over each as a Guardian and governor, he made as many Worlds, as there were First Bodies. However, in respect to Ammonius, let these Platonical Notions pass without a severe Censure; for my part, I will never be over-zealous in this precise Number of Worlds, but this I will say, that those who hold there are more than One, yet not an Infinite Number, have as good Grounds as others; seeing the Matter does naturally spread itself, and is diffused into many Parts, not resting in one, and yet it is contrary to Reason, that it should be infinitely extended. In short, let us here be mindful, especially of the wise Precepts of the Academy, and preserve ourselves so far upon such a slippery Ground, as the controversy concerning the Infinity of Worlds, by suspending our Assent. And when I had finished this Discourse, Demetrius said, Lamprias is very much in the Right; for the Gods deceive us not with Multiplicities of Shadows and Impostures( as Euripides expresseth it) but even of Realities and Substances themselves, when we presume to be positive, as if we understood them, in things of such weight and moment; but we must, as he advices us, return to our first Question, which we seem to have forgotten. For what was said concerning the Oracles remaining dumb and useless, when the Daemons, who presided over them, were departed; even as we see Musical Instruments yield no Harmony when the Musician does not handle them; this, I say, brings a greater Question into Debate, namely touching the Cause and Power by which these Daemons use to make their Prophets and Prophetesses to be ravished with Enthusiasm filled with Fantastical Imagination. For to say, the Oracles are silent, as being forsaken by the Daemons, is nothing, unless we be first shew'd, how( when they are present and govern them) they set them at work and make them prophecy. Ammonius then taking up the Discourse, Do you think, said he, that the Daemons be any thing else, Than wandring Spirits clothed in finest Air, as Hesiod says; for as to my part, I think the same difference which there is between one Man and another, who act in a Tragedy or Comedy, is also to be found in this Life in Souls that are clothed with Bodies. So that there's nothing in this which is strange or contrary to Reason, If Souls meeting with other Souls do Imprint on them Visions and Apprehensions of future things; just as we show several things already done and come to pass, and Prognosticate of those which have not yet happened, not only by the help of Speech, but also by Letters and Writings, or by a bare Touch, or a single Look, unless you Lamprias are of another Opinion: For we heard but very lately, that you discoursed at large upon this Subject with the Strangers that came lately to Lebadia, but he that gave us this Information could give us no particular Account of what passed. No wonder, replied I, for several avocations and businesses interveneing, occasioned by the Oracle, and the solemn Sacrifice that was then performing, made our Discourse very broken and interrupted. But now, says Ammonius, you have Auditors at Leisure, that are inquisitive and desirous of Instruction; so that you may speak freely, and expect all the candour and Ingenuity which you can desire. And the rest of the Company making the like Exhortations, having paused a while, I began after this manner; It so happened, Ammonius, that you did without your knowledge give occasion to the Discourse which was then held; for if the Daemons be Souls and Spirits separated from Bodies, and have no Communication with them, as you affirm; but according to the Divine Poet Hesiod, Are our kind Guardians, walking here their Rounds; Why do we deprive the Spirits and Souls which are in Bodies, of the same Power by which Daemons may foresee and foretell Things to come? For 'tis not likely Souls do acquire any new Property and Power when they abandon the Bodies, wherewith they were not endowed before; but rather, we should think that they had always the same Parts, but worse, when they are mixed with Bodies: some of them being inapparent and hide, and others weak and obscure, and which, like those Who see through a thick Mist, or move in some moist and waterish Substance, do heavily and uneasily perform their Operations, much desiring to be cured, and so recover what is their own, and to be discharged and purified of that which covers them. For, the Soul, whilst 'tis fastened to the Body, has the Power of discerning future Things, were it not blinded by the Relation it has to the Earthiness of the Body. For, as the Sun does not then properly become bright, when he has escaped out of the Cloud( for he is always so, though to our Eyes, being clouded, he seems obscure and dark) So the Soul acquires not then the Faculty of Divining, when gotten clear of the Body, as from a Cloud, but having the same before, is blinded by the Commixture and Confusion which she has with the Mortal Body: And this cannot seem strange or incredible, if we consider nothing else in the Soul, but the Faculty of Remembrance, which is, as it were, the reverse of Divination, and if we reflect upon the miraculous Power it hath of preserving Things past, or rather of making those Things to exist which are not; for of what is past there is nothing remains, and all things do exist and perish in the same Moment, whether they be Actions, or Words, or Passions; they all pass by and vanish as soon as they appear; for Time, like the Course of a River, passeth on, and carries every thing along with it. But this Retentive Faculty of the Soul resisting, and as it were, making Head against it, gives a Being to those Things which are not present. For the Oracle which was given to those of Thessaly, touching Arna, enjoined them to call her The Deaf Man's Hearing, and the Blind Man's Sight. But Memory is to us the Hearing of the Deaf, and the Sight of the Blind; so that as I now said, no marvel, if retaining the Things which are no longer in Being, the Soul anticipates several of those which are still to come; for these do more concern her, and she does naturally sympathise with them, inclining and tending to things which are future; whereas, as to those which are past, and have an end, she leaves them behind her, only retaining the bare Remembrance of them. Our Souls then having this inbred Power, tho weak, obscure, and hardly able to express their Apprehensions; yet sometimes they spread forth and recover themselves, either in Dreams, or in the time of Sacrifice or Religious Worship, when the Body is well purified, and is endowed with a certain Temperature proper to this Effect; or when the Rational or Speculative Part being released and freed from the Solicitude after present Things, joineth with the Irrational and Imaginative Part, to think of, and represent what's to come; for it is not, as Euripides saith, that he is the best Prophet who guesses well; but he's the wisest Man, not whose Guess succeeds well in the Event, but who, whatever the Event be, takes Reason and Probability for his Guide. Now the Faculty of Divining, like Blank Paper, is voided of any Reason, or Determination of itself, but is susceptible of Fantasies and Prae-sensions, and without any Ratiocination or Discourse of Reason, touches on that which is to Come, when it is farthest off from the Present, out of which it departs, by means of a certain Disposition of Body, which we call Inspiration or Enthusiasm. Now the Body is sometimes endowed naturally with this Disposition; but most times the Earth casts forth to Men the Sourses and Causes of several other Powers and Faculties, some of which carry Men besides themselves into Exstacy and frenzy, and produce Maladies and Mortalities; others again are sometimes good, gentle and profitable, as appears by those who have had the Experience of them. But this Spring or Wind, or Spirit of Divination, is most Holy and Divine, whether it be raised by itself through the Air, or be compounded and mixed with a watery or liquid Substance. For, being infused and mixed with the Body, it produceth an odd Temperature and strange Disposition in the Soul, which a Man cannot exactly express, though he may resemble or compare it to several things; for by Heat and Dilatation it openeth certain Pores that make a Discovery of future things; like Wine, which causing Fumes to ascend up into the Head, puts the Spirits into many unusual Motions, and reveals things that were laid up in secret; for Drunkenness and frenzy, if we will believe Euripides, have a near Approach to the Nature of Divination, when the Soul being hot and fiery, banishes those Fears, to which Prudence and Sobriety are subject, and which extinguish and quench the Spirit of Divination. Furthermore, a Man may say, that Dryness being mixed with Heat, attenuateth and subtilizeth the Spirit, and makes it pure, and of an aetherial Nature and Consistence; for the Soul itself, according to Heraclitus, is of a dry Constitution; whereas Moisture does not only dim the Sight, and dull the Hearing, but when mingled with the Air, and touching the Superficies of Mirrors, dusketh the Brightness of the One, and takes away the Light of the Other. Or perhaps on the contrary, by some Refrigeration and Condensation of this Spirit, like the Tincture and Hardness of Iron; this Part of the Soul which does prognosticate, may show itself, and get a perfect Edge. Just as Tin being melted with Brass( which of itself is a Metal in the Oar, rare, spongeous and full of little Holes) does drive it nearer and make it more massy and solid, and withal, causeth it to look more bright and resplendent; so I cannot see any Reason, why this Prophetical Exhalation having some Congruence and Affinity with Souls, may not fill up that which is lax and empty, and drive it more close together. For there are many things which have a Reference and Congruity one with another, as the Bean, which is agreeable to the Colour of Purple; Sal-Nitre is very useful in the Tincture of Scarlet or Crimson Colour, if it be mixed therewith, and, as Empedocles says, Fine Silk is died with Saffron's azure flower. And we have learnt of you, Demetrius, that only the River Cydnus cleaneth the Knife consecrated to Apollo, in the City of Tarsus in Cilicia, and that there's no other Water which can scour and cleanse it. So in the Town of Olympia, they temper Ashes with the Water of the River Alpheus, with which they make a Mortar, wherewith they plaster the Altar there; but if this be attempted to be done by the Water of any other River, it is all to no purpose. 'tis no wonder then, if the Earth sending up many Exhalations, only those of this sort transport the Soul with a Divine Fury, and give them a Faculty of foretelling future Things. And without doubt, what is related touching the Oracle of this Place, does herewith agree. For 'tis here where this Faculty of Divining first shew'd itself, by means of a certain Shepherd, who chanced to fall down, and began to utter Enthusiastick Speeches concerning future Events; of which, at first the Neighbours took no Notice; but when they saw what he foretold came to pass, they had him in Admiration; and the most learned among the Delphians, speaking of this Man, are used to call him by the Name of Coretas. The Soul seems to me to mix and join itself with this prophetic Exhalation, just as the Eye is affencted with the Light: For, the Eye which has a natural Property and Faculty of Seeing, would be wholly useless without the Light; so the Soul having this Faculty and Property of foreseing future things, as an Eye, has need of a proper Object, which may enlighten and sharpen it. And therefore the Ancients took the Sun and Apollo to be the same God; and those who understand the Beauty and Wisdom of Analogy or Proportion, do tell us, that as the Body is to the Soul, the Sight to the Mind, the Soul to Truth, so is the Sun with Reference to Apollo; affirming him to be the Off-spring, proceeding perpetually from Apollo, and representing him perpetually to the World. For as the Sun enlightens and excites the Visive Powers of the Senses, so Apollo does excite the prophetic virtue in the Soul. Those then that imagined 'twas one and the same God, have with good Reason, dedicated and consecrated this Oracle to Apollo and to the Earth, deeming it to be the Sun which imprinted this Temperature and Disposition on the Earth, from whence arose this Predictive Exhalation. For as Hesiod, with far better Reason than other Philosophers calls the Earth, The well-fixt Seat of all Things:— So do we esteem it Eternal, Immortal and Incorruptible. But as to the virtues and Faculties which are in it, we believe that some fail in one Place, and spring up anew in another. It seems also( for so some Experiments incline us to conjecture) that these Transitions, Changes and Revolutions, in process of Time, do circulate and return to the same Place, and begin again where they left off. In some Countries we see Lakes and whole Rivers, and not a few Fountains and Springs of hot Waters, have sometimes failed and been entirely lost, and at others, have fled and absconded themselves, being hidden and concealed under the Earth; but perhaps some years after do appear again in the same Place, or else run hard by. And so of Mettal-Mines, some have been quiter exhausted, as the Silver ones about Attica; and the same has happened to the Veins of Brass-Oar in Euboea, of which the best Blades were made, and hardened in could Water, as the Poet Aeschylus tells us, Taking his Sword, a right Euboean Blade. 'tis not long since the Quarry of Carystus has ceased to yield a certain soft ston, which was wont to be drawn into a fine Thread; for I suppose some here have seen Towels, Net-work, and Quoifs woven of that Thread, which could not be burnt; but when they were soil'd with using, People flung them into the Fire, and took them thence white and clean, the Fire only purifying them. But all this is vanished, and there's nothing but some few Fibres of hairy Threads lying up and down scatteringly in the Grain of the Stones, to be seen now in the Quarry. Aristotle and his Followers affirm, That the Cause of all this proceeds from an Exhalation within the Earth, which when it fails, or removes to another Place, or revives and recovers itself again, the Phaenomena proceeding from them do so too. The same must we say of the Prophetical Exhalations which spring from the Earth, that their Virtue also is not Immortal, but may wax old and decay; for 'tis not unlikely, that great Floods of Rain and showers do extinguish them, and that the Claps of Thunder do dissipate them; or else, which I look upon to be the Principal Cause, they are sunk lower into the Earth, or utterly destroyed by the Shock of Earth-quakes and the Confusion that attends them, as here in this Place there still remain the Tragical Monuments of that great Earthquake that overthrew the City. And in the Town of Orchomenus, they say, that when the Pestilence carried away such Multitudes of People, the Oracle of Tiresias of a sudden ceased, and remains mute to this day. And whether the like has not happened to the Oracles in Cilicia, as we have heard it hath, no Man can better inform us than you, Demetrius. I cannot tell, says Demetrius, how things are at present in those Parts, for you all know I have been long absent from thence; but when I was there, both that of Mopsus and of Amphilochus flourished, and were in great Esteem. And as to the Oracle of Mopsus, I can from my own Knowledge tell you a strange Story went about it. The governor of Cilicia was a Man inclining to Scepticism, and doubtful whether there be Gods; and had about him several Epicureans, who are wont to mock at the Belief of such Things, as seem contrary to Reason. He sent a freed Servant of his in the Nature of a Spy, with a Letter sealed, wherein was the Question he was to ask the Oracle, no Body knowing the Contents thereof. This Man then, a●●he Custom of the Place is, remaining all Night in the Temple-Porch asleep, related the next Morning the Dream which he had; for he thought he saw a very handsome Man stand before him, who said only this Word, Black, to him, and nothing else, for he vanished away immediately. This seemed to us very impertinent, though we could not tell what to make of it; but the governor marveled at it, and was so nettled with it, that he had the Oracle in great Veneration ever since; for, opening the Letter, he shew'd this Question which was therein; Shall I sacrifice to thee a White Bull or a Black? which dashed his Epicureans quiter out of Countenance, and he offered the Sacrifice required, and to the Day of his Death continued a devout Admirer of Mopsus.  
When Demetrius had given us this Relation, he h●ld his Peace; and I being desirous to put an end to this Conference, cast mine Eyes on Philippus and Ammonius, who sate together, and they, I thought, looked as if they had something to say to me, and therefore I kept silent. With that, Ammonius, Philippus, says he, Lamprias hath something to offer touching what hath been debated, for he thinks, as well as other Folks, That Apollo and the Sun are the same God; but the Question which I propose is of greater Consequence; for just now in our Discourse, we have taken away Divination from the Gods, and openly attributed it to the Daemons, and now we are for excluding of them also, and dispossessing them of the Oracle and Three-footed-Stool, referring the Cause, or rather the Nature and Essence of Divination to Exhalations, Winds, and vapours; for these Opinions carry us still farther off from the Gods, introducing such a Cause of this Event, as Euripides makes Polyphemus to allege in his Tragedy of Cyclops; 
The Earth by force, whether she will or no,  
Shall for my Cattle make the Grass to grow.  Yet he does not say that he sacrificed his Herds to the Gods, but to himself and his own Belly, the greatest of all Daemons; whereas we offer them Sacrifices and Prayers for to obtain an Answer from their Oracles; but to what purpose, if it be true, that Souls are naturally endowed with the Faculty of Prediction, and that the chief Cause that excites this Faculty and virtue, is a certain Temperature of Air or Wind? and what signifies then the sacred Institutions and setting apart these Religious Prophetesses, for the giving of Answers? And why do they return no Answer at all, unless the Sacrifice tremble all over, even from the very Feet, whilst the Wine is poured on its Head? For 'tis not enough to wag the Head, as other Beasts do, which are appointed for Sacrifices; but this quaking and shivering must be universal, throughout all Parts of the Body, and that with a trembling Noise; for if this be not done, they say that the Oracle will give no Answer, neither is the Pythia or Priestess introduced. For, it is very proper and suitable for them to do and believe thus, who ascribe the impulses of Prophetical Inspiration either to a God or a Daemon; but by no means for those that are of your Opinion. For the Exhalation which springeth out of the Ground, whether the Beast tremble or not, will always, if it be present, cause a Ravishment and Transport of Spirit, and dispose the Soul alike, not only of Pythia, but of any one else that first cometh, or is presented. And it must needs seem absurd to set apart one certain Woman for the delivery of these Oracles, and to oblige her to Virginity and Chastity all her days, when the thing is referred to such a Cause, as in which all People are, or may be equally concerned. For as to that Coretas, whom the Delphians will needs have to be the first that happened to fall into this Chink or Crevass of the Ground, and gave the first Proof of the virtue of the Place; he, I say, seems to me not at all to differ from other Herdsmen or Shepherds, supposing what is reported of him to be true, as I believe it is not. And truly, when I call to mind of what Benefit this Oracle has been unto the Greeks, not only in their Wars, and building of Cities, but also in the Stresses of Plague and Famine; methinks it is very unfit to refer its Invention and Original unto mere Chance, rather than to God and Divine Providence. But I would willingly have you, Lamprias, says he, to speak on this Point, and I pray you, Philippus, to have Patience while. With all my heart, replied Philippus, and I dare undertake the same for all the Company. And as to my Part, quoth I, Oh Philippus! I am not only much moved, but also ashamed, considering my Youth, in the Presence of so many wise and grave Personages, to appear as if I endeavoured by Sophistry to impose upon them, and to destroy and evacuate what Sage Men have determined concerning the Divine Nature and Power; but though I am Young, yet Plato was Old and Wise as you are, and he shall be my Example and Advocate in this Case, who reprehended Anaxagoras for applying himself too much to Natural Causes, always following and pursuing the Necessary and Material Cause of the Passions and Affections incident to Bodies, and omitting the Final and Efficient, which are much better and more considerable Principles than the other; but Plato either first, or most of all the Philosophers, hath joined both of these Principles together, attributing to God, the Causality of all Things that are according to Reason, and yet not depriving Matter of a Necessary or Passive Concurrence; but acknowledging, that the adorning and disposing of all this sensible World, does not depend on one single and simplo Cause; but took its being from the Conjunction and Fellowship of Matter with Reason, which may be illustrated by the Works of Art: As for Example, without going any further, the Foot of the famous Cup which is amongst the Treasury of this Temple, which Herodotus calls Hypocrateridion, that has for the Material Cause Fire and Iron, and Pliableness by means of Fire, and the Tincture in Water, without which, such a Piece of Work could not be wrought. But the Principal Cause, and that which is most properly so called, which wrought by all these, was Art and Reason. And we see the Name of the Artist set on such their Pieces, according to that, 
'twas Thasian Polygnote, Agalophon's Son,  
That drew this draft of conquered Illum:  But yet without Colours mixed and confounded with one another, it had been impossible to have done a Piece so pleasing to the Eye. Should one come then and inquire into the Material Cause, searching into, and discoursing concerning the Alterations and Mutations which the Ochre receives mixed with the Vermilion, or the Black with the Ceruss; does he thereby lessen the Credit of the Painter Polignotus? And so he that shall discourse how Iron is both hardened and mollifyed, and how being softened in the Fire, it becomes obedient to them, who by beating it, drive it out in Length and Breadth, and afterwards being plunged into fresh Water, by the Coldness of it, becomes hardened after it was softened and ratified by the Fire, and acquires a Firmness and Temper, which Homer calls the Strength of the Iron; does he, because of this, e're the less attribute the Cause of the Work to the Work-man? I do not think he does, for those who examine the virtues and Properties of Medicinal Drugs, do not thereby condemn the Art of Physic. Just as Plato, when he says, that we see because the Light of the Eye is mixed with the Clearness of the Sun, and that we hear by the Percussion of the Air; yet this does not hinder, but that we have the Faculty of Seeing and Hearing from Divine Providence. In a Word, Generation, as I have said, proceeding from Two Causes, the chiefest and most ancient Poets and Divines have stuck only to the First and most excellent of these, having on all Occasions these known Words in their Mouths, Jove, the Beginning, Middle, source of all. But as to the Necessary and Natural Causes, they concern not themselves with them. Whereas their Successors, who were for that reason called {αβγδ}, or Natural Philosophers, took a different Course; for they forsaking this admirable and Divine Principle, ascribe all Matter, and the Passions of it, to the Motions, Mutations and Mixtures of its Parts. So that both of these are defective in their Methods, because they omit, through Ignorance or Design, the one the Efficient, the others the Material Cause. Whereas, he that first pointed at both Causes, and manifestly joined with the Reason which freely operateth and moveth the Matter, which necessary is Obedient and Passive, does defend both himself and us from all Calumny and Censure. For we do not deprive Divination either of God or of Reason; seeing we allow it for its Subject, the Soul of Man, and for its Instrument, an Enthusiastic Exhalation. For first, the Earth, out of which Exhalations are generated, and then the Sun, which in and upon the Earth works all the infinite Possibilities of Mixture and Alteration, are, in the Divinity of our Fore-fathers, esteemed Gods. And hereunto if we add the Daemons as Superintendants and Guardians of this Temperature, as of an Harmony and Consort, who in due time slacken or stretch the virtue of this Exhalation; sometimes taking from it the too great Activity which it has to torment the Soul, and transport it beyond itself, and mingling with it a virtue of moving, without causing Pain to those that are possessed with it; in all this, it seems to me, that we do nothing that can look strange or impossible, or unagreeable to Reason; and when we offer Sacrifices before we come to the Oracle, and crown them with Garlands of Flowers, and pour Wine on their Heads, I see we do not any thing in all this that is absurd or repugnant to this Opinion of ours. For, the Priests who offer the Sacrifices, and pour out the Holy Wine thereon, and observe their Motions and Tremblings, do this for another reason, besides that of receiving an Answer from the Oracle. For the Animal which is offered to the Gods, must be pure, entire and sound, both as to Soul and Body. Now 'tis not very hard to discover the Marks of the Body; and as to the Soul, they make an Experiment of it, in setting Meal before the Bulls, and presenting Pease to the Swine; for if they will not taste them, 'tis a certain Sign they be not sound. As to Goats, could Water is a trial for them; for if the Beast does not seem to be moved and affencted when the Water is poured upon her, this is an evident Sign that her Soul is not right according to Nature. And supposing it should be granted, That 'tis a certain and unquestionable Design, that God will give an Answer, when the Sacrifice thus drenched stirs, and that when it is otherwise, he vouchsafes none; I do not see herein any thing that disagrees with the Account of Oracles, which I have given. For every natural virtue produceth the Effect, be it better or worse, to which it is ordained, according as its Season is more or less proper; and 'tis likely God gives us Signs whereby we may know, Whether the Opportunity be gone or not. As for my Part, I believe the Exhalation itself, which comes out of the Ground, is not always of the same Kind, being at one time slacken, and at another strong and vigorous; and the Truth of that Experiment, which I use to prove it, is attested by several Strangers, and by all those which serve in the Temple. For the Room where those do wait who come for Answers from the Oracle, is sometimes, though not often, and at certain stated times, but as it were by Chance, filled with such a fragrant Odour and Scent, that no Perfumes in the World can exceed it, and this arises as it were out of a Spring, from the Sanctuary of the Temple. And this proceeds very likely from its Heat, or some other Power or Faculty which is in it; and if peradventure this seems to any Body an unlikely thing, however such a one will allow, that the Prophetess Pythia hath that Part of the Soul, unto which this Wind and Blast of Inspiration approacheth, moved by variety of Passions and Affections, sometimes after one sort, and sometimes another; and that she is not always in the same Mood and Temper, like a sixth and immutable Harmony, which the least Alteration or Change of such and such Proportions destroys. For there are several Vexations and Passions which agitate Bodies, and slide into the Soul, that she perceives, but more that she does not; in which case 'twould be better, that she would tarry away, and not present her self to this Divine Inspiration, as not being clean, and voided of all Perturbations, like an Instrument of music exquisitely made, but at present in disorder and out of Tune. For Wine does not at all times alike surprise the Drunkard, neither does the Sound of the Flute always affect in the same manner, him who dances to it. For the same Persons are sometimes more, and sometimes less transported beyond themselves, and more or less inebriated, according to the present Disposition of their Bodies; but especially the Imaginative Part of the Soul, which receives the Species, is subject to change and sympathize together with the Body, as is apparent from Dreams; for sometimes we are mightily troubled with many and confused Visions in our Dreams, and at other times, there is a perfect Calm, undisturbed by any such Images or Ideas. We all know clear a Native of Daulia, who used to say of himself, that in the many years in which he hath lived, he never had any Dream. And among the Ancients, the same is related of Thrasymedes of Haerea, the Cause of which, lies in the Complexion and Constitution of Bodies, as is seen by melancholy People, who are much subject to Dreams in the Night, and their Dreams sometimes prove true. Inasmuch as such Persons Fancies run sometimes on one thing, and otherwhiles on another, they must thereby of necessity now and then light right, as they that shoot often must hit sometimes. When therefore the Imaginative Part of the Soul, and the Prophetic Blast or Exhalation have a sort of Harmony and Proportion with each other, so as the one, as it were in the Nature of a Medicament, may operate upon the other; then happens that Enthusiasm or Divine Fury, which is discernible in Prophets and Inspired Persons. And on the contrary, when the Proportion is lost, there can be no Prophetical Inspiration, or such as is as good as none; for then 'tis a forced Fury, not a natural one, but violent and turbulent, as we have seen to have happened in the Prophetess Pythia, who is lately deceased. For certain Pilgrims being come for an Answer from the Oracle, 'tis said the Sacrifice endured the first Effusion without stirring or moving a Jot, which made the Priests, out of an Excess of Zeal, to continue to pour on more, till the Beast was almost drowned with could Water; but what happened hereupon to the Prophetess Pythia? She went down into the Hole against her Will, but at the first Words which she uttered, she plainly shewed by the hoarseness of her Voice, that she was not able to bear up against so strong an Inspiration( like a Ship under Sail, oppressed with too much Wind) but was possessed with a dumb and evil Spirit; and finally, being horribly disordered, and running with dreadful Screeches towards the Door to get out, she threw her self violently on the Ground, so that not only the Pilgrims fled for fear, but also the High Priest Nicander, and the other Priests and Religious which were there present; who entering within a while, took her up, being out of her Senses; and indeed she lived but few days after. For these reasons it is, that Pythia is obliged to keep her Body pure and clean from the Company of Men, there being no Stranger permitted to converse with her. And before she goes to the Oracle, they are used by certain Marks, to examine whether she be fit or no, believing that the God certainly knows when her Body is disposed and fit to receive, without endangering her Person, this Enthusiastical Inspiration. For, the Force and virtue of this Exhalation, does not move all sorts of Persons, nor the same Persons in like manner, nor as much at one time as at another; but only gives beginning, and as it were kindles those Spirits which are prepared and fitted to receive its Influence. Now this Exhalation is certainly Divine and Celestial, but yet not Incorruptible and Immortal, and Proof against the Series of Time, which subdues all Things below the Moon, and, as some say, all Things above it; which growing weary in an infinite Space of Duration, are suddenly renewed and changed. But these things, said I, I must advice you and myself often and seriously to consider of, they being liable to many Disputes and Objections, which our Leisure will not suffer to particularise; and therefore we must remit them, together with the Questions which Philippus proposes, touching Apollo and the Sun, to another Opportunity.   

Plutarch's Morals: Vol. IV.  
Of Isis and Osiris, or of the ancient Religion and Philosophy of egypt.  Done into English out of the Greek by William Baxter, Philalethes. 
IT becomes wise Men, 
This Clea was Priestess to Isis and to Apollo Delphicus.  Dame Clea, to go to the Gods for all the good Things they would enjoy: much more ought we, when we would aim at that Knowledge of them, which our Nature can arrive at, to pray that they themselves would bestow it upon us: Truth being the greatest Good that Man can receive, and the goodliest Blessing that God can give. Other good Things he bestows on Men as they want them; they being 
Paulus Petavius, his Copy hath {αβγδ} before {αβγδ}.  not his own Peculiars, nor of any use to himself. For the Blessedness of the Deity consists not in Silver and Gold, nor yet his Power in Lightnings and Thunders, but in Knowledge and Wisdom, And it was the best thing Homer ever said of Gods, when he pronounced thus.  

Jupiter and Neptune.  Both of one Line, both of one country boast,  
But Royal Jove's the Eldest and knows most.  
Where he declares Jupiter's Prerogative in Wisdom and Science, to be the more honourable, by terming it the Elder. I, for my own Part, do believe that the Felicity of Eternal Living, which the Gods enjoy, lies mainly in this, that nothing escapes their Cognisance that passes in the Sphere of Generation; and that should we set aside Wisdom and the Knowledge of Beings, Immortality itself would not be Life, but a long Time. And therefore the Desire of Truth, especially in what relates to the Gods, is a sort of grasping after Divinity, it using Learning and Enquiry for a kind of 
This supposes the Platonic Reminiscence.  Resumption of Things sacred, a Work doubtless of more Religion than any Ritual Purgation or Charge of Temples whatever, and over and above, not the least acceptable to the Goddess you serve, since she is more eminently Wife and speculative, and since Knowledge and Science,( as her very Name 
The Etymologies of Isis from knowing, and of Typhon from Arrogance, are but Moral and Allusive ones.  seems to import) appertain more peculiarly to her than any other thing. For the Name of Isis is Greek, and so is that of her Adversary Typhon, who being puffed up through Ignorance and Mistake, pulls in pieces and destroys that Holy Doctrine, which she on the contrary collects, compiles, and delivers down to such as are regularly advanced unto the 
{αβγδ}.  deified State; which by Constancy of sober Diet, and abstaining from sundry Meats, and the Use of Women both 
I red {αβγδ} for {αβγδ}.  restrains the Intemperate and Voluptuous Part, and habituates them to austere and hard Services in the Temples, the end of which is the Knowledge of the Original, supreme and Mental Being; which the Goddess would have them inquire for, as near to her self, and as dwelling with her. Besides, the very Name of her Temple most apparently promises the Knowledge and Acquaintance of the 
{αβγδ}.  First Being; for they call it Ision, as who should say, 
I red {αβγδ} for {αβγδ}.  We shall know the Being, if with Reason and Sanctimony we approach the Sacred Temples of this Goddess. Moreover, many have reported her the Daughter of 
Both these were but epithets of the Sun.  Hermes, and many of Prometheus; the latter of which, they esteem as the Author of Wit and Forecast, and the Former of Letters and music. For the same reason also they call the Former of the two Muses 
Here I insert {αβγδ}.  at Hermopolis, Isis and Justice, 
I add {αβγδ} after {αβγδ}.  she being( as was before said) no other than Wisdom, and revealing Things Divine to such as are truly and justly styled 
{αβγδ}.  The Sacred Bearers, 
{αβγδ}.  and The Sacred rob; and those are such as have in their Minds, as in an Ark( or 
{αβγδ}.  Cabinet) the Sacred Doctrine about the Gods, cleansed from Superstitious Frights, and Vain Curiosities, and are Clad partly with dark and shady Colours, and partly with light and gay ones, to insinuate something of the like kind in our persuasion about the Gods, as we have represented to us in the sacred Vestments. Wherefore, in that the Priests of Isis are dressed up in these when they are dead, it is a Token to us, that this Doctrine 
I red {αβγδ} for {αβγδ}.  goes with them to the other Life, and that nothing else can accompany them thither. For as neither the nourishing of Beards, nor the wearing of Mantles can render Men Philosophers, so neither will Linen Garments, or shaved Heads make Priests to Isis; but he is a true Priest of Isis, who after he hath received from the Laws the Representations and Actions that refer to the Gods, doth next apply his Reason to the Enquiry and Speculation of the Truth contained in them. For the greater part of Men are ignorant, even of this most common and ordinary thing, for what reason the Priests lay aside their Hair, and go in Linen Garments; some are not at all solicitous to be informed about such Questions; and others say their Veneration for 
The Ram being sacred to the Sun by the Name of Ammon, and the Ewe to the Moon, by the Name of says or Minerva, their Deities more peculiarly inspiring those Animals.  Sheep is the Cause they abstain from their wool as well as their Flesh, and that they shave their Heads in token of Mourning, and that they wear Linen because of the bloomy Colour which the Flax sendeth forth, in imitation of that aetherial Clarity that environs the World. But indeed the true reason of them all is one and the same. For it is not lawful( as Plato saith) for a clean thing to be touched by an unclean. But now no Superfluity of Food, or Excrementitious Substance can be pure or clean; but wools, Down, Hair and Nails, come up and grow from superfluous Excrements. It would be therefore an Absurdity for them to lay aside their own Hair in Purgations, by shaving themselves, and by making their Bodies all over smooth, and yet in the mean time to wear and carry about them the Hairs of Brutes. For we ought to think that the Poet Hesiod, when he saith; 

That is to pare ones Nails.  Nor at a Feast of Gods from five-brancht three,  
With sharp edged Steel to part the green from dry.  Would teach us to keep the Feast already cleansed from such things as these, and not in the Solemnities themselves to use Purgation or Removal of Excrementitious Superfluities. But now Flax springs up from an Immortal Being, the Earth, and bears an 
Linese●d was used by some for Food.  eatable Fruit, and affords a simplo and cleanly clothing, and not burdensome to him that's covered with it, and convenient for every Season of the Year, and which besides( as they tell us) is the least subject to engender vermin; but of this, to discourse in this place, would not be pertinent. But now the Priests do so abhor all kinds of superfluous Excrements, that they not only decline most sorts of Pulse, and of Flesh, that of Sheep and Swine, which produce much Superfluity; but also in the time of their Purgations, exclude Salt from their Meals. For which, as they have several other good Reasons, so more especially this, that it 
I red {αβγδ} for {αβγδ}.  whets the Appetite, and renders Men over eager after Meat and Drink. For that the reason why Salt is not accounted clean, should be( as Aristagoras tells us) because that when its hardened together, many little Animals are catched in it, and there die, is food and ridiculous. They are also said to water the 
A Bull in the Temple at Memphis devoted to the Sun by the Name of Api or Ophi, that is, Father.  Apis from a Well of his own, and to restrain him altogether from the River Nilus; not because they hold the Water for polluted, by reason of the Crocodile, as some suppose( for there is nothing in the World in 
Aquam colunt, aquam venerantur, &c. Saith Julius Firmicus. De error Profan. relic. {αβγδ}, saith a certain Poet.  more esteem with the egyptians than the Nilus) but because the Water of the Nile being drunk, is observed to be very fo●ding, and above all others, to conduce to the Increase of Flesh. But they would not have the Apis, nor themselves neither, to be over fat; but that their Bodies should sit light and easy about their Souls, and nor press and squeeze them down by a Mortal Part unerring and weighing down the Divine. They also that at the 
Heliopolis.  Sun-Town wait upon that God, never bring Wine into his Temple; they looking upon it as a thing undecent and unfitting to drink by Daylight, while their Lord and King looks on. The rest of them do indeed use it, but very sparing. They have likewise many 
These answered to our Fasts.  Purgations, wherein they prohibit the Use of Wine, in which they study Philosophy, and pass their Time in learning and teaching Things Divine. Moreover their Kings( being Priests also themselves) were wont to drink it by a certain Measure prescribed them in the Sacred Books, as Hecataeus informs us. And they began first to drink it in the Reign of King 
This Psammeticus was the first that reduced the ancient Aristocracy of egypt into a Monarchy, by the help of a foreign Army; see Herodot.  Psammeticus, but before that time they were not used to drink Wine at all, no nor to pour it forth in Sacrifice as a thing they thought any way grateful to the Gods, but as the Blood of 
The Giants were in all probability, the tall Drunken Scythians, who pillaged their Temples, and pulled down their Gods. For these had an Empire over all Asia, in the most ancient Times. Permille& quingentos annos, as Trogus Pompejus relates.  those who in ancient Times waged War against the Gods, from whom falling down from Heaven, and mixing with the Earth, they conceived Vines to have first sprung; which is the reason( say they) that Drunkenness renders Men besides themselves and mad, they being, as it were, gorged with the Blood of their Ancestors. These things( as Eudoxus tells us, in the Second Book of his Travels) are thus related by the priests. As to Seafish, they do not all of them abstain from all, but some from one sort, and some from another. As for Example, the Oxyrynchites, from such as are catched with the Angle and Hook; for having the Fish called Oxyrynchus( that is, the Pike) in great Veneration, they are afraid, least the Hook should chance to catch hold of it, and by that means become polluted. They of Syene also abstain from the Phagrus( or Sea-bream) because it is observed to appear with the approaching Overflow of the Nile, and to present itself a voluntary Messenger of the joyful News of its Increase. But the Priests abstain from all in general. But on the ninth Day of the first Month, when every other egyptian eats a 
The egyptian Pascha.  fried Fish before the outer Door of his House, the Priests do not eat any Fish, but 
Fish are very unwholesome in hot Climates.  only burn them before their Doors. For which they have two Reasons, the one whereof being Sacred and very curious, I shall resume by and by( it agreeing with the pious Reasonings we shall make upon Osiris and Typhon) the other is a very manifest and obvious one, which 
I red {αβγδ} for {αβγδ}.  by declaring Fish not to be either a necessary or a curious sort of Food, greatly confirms Homer, who never makes either the dainty Phaeacks or the Ithakeses( though both Islanders) to make use of Fish; no, nor the Companions of Ulysses neither, in so long a Voyage at Sea, until they came to the last Extremity of Want.. In short, they reckon the Sea itself to be made of 
Fire was the egyptian Devil and the Persian God.  Fire, and to lie out of Natures Confines, and not to be a Part of the World, or an Element, but a preternatural, corrupt and morbid Excrement. For nothing hath been ranked among their Sacred and Religious Rites that favoured of Folly, Romance or Superstition, as some do suppose; but were some of them such as contained some signification of Morality and Utility; and others, such as were not without a Fineness, either in History or Natural Philosophy. As for instance, in what refers to the onions: For that 
The two Hunting Deities, Apollo and Diana, have the Names of Dictys and Dictynna from {αβγδ}, a Net.  Dictys the Foster Father of Isis, as he was reaching at a Handful of onions, fell into the River, and was there drowned, is extremely improbable. But the true Reason why the Priests abhor, detest and avoid the onion, is because it is the only Plant, whose Nature it is to grow and spread forth in the 
It is therefore Typhonian and an Enemy to the Goddess.  Wane of the Moon. Besides, it is no proper Food, either for such as would practise Abstinence and use Purgation, or for such as would observe the Festivals: For the former, because it causeth Thirst; and for the later, because it forceth Tears from those that eat it. They likewise esteem the Swine, as an unhallowed Animal, because it is observed to be most apt to engender in the 
This was sufficient to prove it Typhonian or diabolic.  Wane of the Moon; and because that such as drink its Milk have a leprosy and Scabby Roughness in their Bodies. But the Story which they that sacrifice a Swine at every full Moon are wont to subjoin after their eating of it; how that Typhon being once about the full of the Moon in pursuit of a certain Swine, found by chance the wooden Chest, wherein lay the Body of Osiris, and overthrew it, is not received by all, but looked upon as a 
For {αβγδ}, I red with Xylander {αβγδ} Osiris's Chest, or rather Boat is the Crescent, and it is overturned by becoming Decrescent.  misrepresented Story, as a great many more such are. They tell us moreover that the ancients did so much expose Delicacy, Sumptuousness and a soft and effeminate way of Living, that they erected a Pillar in the Temple at Thebes having engraven upon it several grievous Curses against King 
Meinis was the Deus Lunus, or the Sun in the Moon, and so the same with Osiris. Isaias calls him Meni.  Meinis, who( as they tell us) was the first that brought off the egyptians from a Mean, Wealthless and simplo Way of Living. There goes also another Story, how that Technatis, Father to 
So I red for Bacchoris with Xylander and Petavius's Copy.  Bocchoris, commanding an Army against the Arabians, and his Baggage and Provisions not coming in as soon as was expected, hearty fed upon such things as he could next light on, and afterwards had a sound Sleep upon a Pallet, whereupon he fell greatly in Love with a poor and mean Life: And that for this reason he cursed 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}. Jamblicus blames the egyptians for scolding at their Gods.  Meinis, and that with the Consent of all the Priests, and carved that Curse upon a Pillar. But their Kings( you must know) were always declared, either out of the Priesthood or Soldiery, the latter having a Right of Primogeniture, by reason of their Military Valour, and the 
The egyptian Priests were Hereditary like the Jewish; but the Jews had no Third Estate of rustics or Villains. All were free.  former, by reason of their Wisdom. But he that was chosen out of the Soldiery, was obliged immediately to turn Priest, and was thereupon admitted to the Participation of their Philosophy; whose Genius it was to conceal the greater Part in Tales and Romantic Relations, containing dark Hints and Resemblances of Truth, which it's plain that even themselves would insinuate to us, while they are so kind as to set up Sphinxes before their Temples, to intimate that their Theology, contained in it an enigmatical Sort of Learning. Moreover, the Temple of 
She is called Sai in egyptian, which signifies a Ewe, she being Sacred to her.  Minerva, which is at says( whom they look upon as the same with Isis) had upon it this Inscription: 
That is, I am the Mother of all things corruptible, and the Sun is my Husband.  I am whatever was, or is, or will be, and my petticoat no Mortal ever took up. Besides, we find the greater Part to be of Opinion, that the proper Name of Jupiter in the egyptian Tongue, is Amûn( from which we have derived our Word Ammon:) But now Manethos the Sebennite, thinks this Word signifies 
Amen in the Coptick, signifies to Receive and Embrace, and in Hebrew, Aman is to Foster, whence Aman a Foster or Father: the Phrygians called the Moon Amma, Mother or Nurse.  Hidden and Hiding; but Hecataeus of Abdera, saith, the egyptians use this Word when they call any Body; for that it is a Term of Calling. Which if it be true, they must be of the Opinion that the first God is the same with the Universe: and therefore while they invoke him who is unmanifest and hidden, and pray him to make himself manifest and known to them, they cry Amûn. So great therefore was the Piety of the egyptians Philosophy about Things Divine: Which is also confirmed by the most Learned of the Greeks( such as Solon, Thales, Plato, Eudoxus, and as some say, even Lycurgus's) going to egypt, and conversing with the Priests. Of which, 
I red {αβγδ} for {αβγδ}.  they say Eudoxus was a Hearer of Chonuphis of Memphis, Solon of Sonchis of says, and Pythagoras of Oenuphis of Heliopolis: Whereof the last name, being( as is probable) more than ordinarily admired by the Men, and they also by him, imitated their Symbolical and Mysterious way of Talking, obscuring his Sentiments with dark Riddles. For the greatest part of the Pythagoric Precepts, fall nothing short of those Sacred Writings they call Hieroglyphical, such as, 
That is, Do not satisfy yourself with Bodily Pleasure.  Do not eat in a Chariot. 
Neglect not the Future.  Do not sit on a Choenix( or Measure) 
virtue cannot be taught.  Plant not a Palm-Tree: 
Oppose Temper to Passion.  Stir not Fire with a Knife within the House. And I verily believe, that their terming the Unite Apollo, the Number Two Diana, the Number Seven Minerva, and the first Cube Neptune, refers to the Statues set up in their Temples, and to things there acted, I and painted too by Jove. For they represent their King and Lord 
The Coptic {αβγδ} is the same with the Greek {αβγδ}, i. e. The Sire or Lord, with which agrees the Hebrew star; and it means the Sun.  Osiris, by an Eye and a sceptre;( here are some also that interpret his Name by Many-eyed, as if as in the egyptian Tongue, signified Many, and Iri an Eye.) And the Heaven, because by reason of its Eternity it never grows old, they represent by a Heart, 
For {αβγδ} I red {αβγδ}, and a little before {αβγδ} for {αβγδ}, and {αβγδ} for {αβγδ}.  with a Censer under it. There were also Statues of Judges erected at Thebes, having no Hands, and the Chief of them had also his Eyes closed up, hereby signifying, that among them Justice was not to be solicited with either Bribery or Address. Moreover, the Men of the Sword had a Beetle carved upon their Signets, because there is no such thing as a Female Beetle, for they are all Males, and they generate their Young by forming certain round 
The Beetle was Sacred to the Sun for engendering on the Earth: thus Souldiers were the first Planters and Parents of Countries.  Pellets of Dirt, being herein as well Providers of the Place in which they are to be engendered, as of the Matter of their Nutrition. When therefore you hear the Tales which the egyptians relate about the Gods, such as their Wanderings, Discerptions, and such like 
I red {αβγδ} for {αβγδ}.  Disasters that befell them, you are still to remember that none of these things are  told as things that had been really so acted and done. For they don't call the Dog Hermes properly, but only 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}.  attribute( as Plato speaks) the Warding, Vigilancy and Acuteness of that Animal, which by Knowing or 
For {αβγδ} I red {αβγδ}.  not Knowing, Distinguishes betwixt its Friend and its Foe, to the most knowing and ingenious of the Gods. Nor do they believe that the Sun springs up a little Boy from the top of the Plant called 
The Blossom of the Lotus opens and shuts with the Sun, and grows in and about the Nile.  Lotus: but they thus set forth his Rising to insinuate his Reascension by Humids. Besides that most savage and horrible King of the Persians, name Ochus, who when he had massacred abundance of People, afterwards slaughtered the Apis, and feasted upon him both himself and his Retinue, they called the Sword, and they call him so to this very Day in their Table of Kings, hereby not denoting properly his Person, but resembling by this Instrument of murder, the Severity and Mischievousness of his Disposition. When therefore you thus hear the Stories of the Gods from such as 
The Rites and Opinions of the more ancient and barbarous Ages have been prudently allegorized in after Times, that so virtue might be introduced without too much Innovation.  interpret them with Consistency to Piety and Philosophy, and observe and practise those Rites that are by Law established, and are persuaded in your Minds that you cannot possibly, either offer or perform a more agreeable thing to the Gods, than the entertaining of a right Notion of them, you will then avoid Superstition as a no less Evil than Atheism itself. The Story therefore is 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}.  thus  told, after the most concise manner, the most useless and unnecessary parts being cut off. They tell us, how that once on a time, Rhea having accompanied with Saturn by stealth, the 
The most ancient egyptians seem to have agreed with the Persians in worshipping none but the Sun; and the other Gods to have been introduced by Superstitious Innovators and wanton Sects.  Sun found them out, and pronounced a solemn Curse against her, containing that she should not be delivered in any Month or Year: But that Hermes, afterwards making his Court to the Goddess, obtained her Favour, in requital of which, he went and played at Dice with the Moon, and won of her the seventieth Part from each of her Illuminations, and out of all these made five new Days, which he added to the three hundred and sixty other Days of the Year, which the egyptians therefore to this Day call the Epagomenae( or the Superadded Days) and they observe them as the Birth Days of their Gods. Upon the first of these they say Osiris was born, and that a Voice came into the World 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}.  with him, saying, The Lord of all things is now born. There are others that affirm that one Pamyles, as he was 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}.  fetching Water at Thebes, heard a Voice out of the Temple of Jupiter, bidding him to publish with a loud Voice, That Osiris the Great and Good was now born. And that he thereupon got to be Foster Father to Osiris, Saturn 
I red {αβγδ} for {αβγδ}.  entrusting him with the Charge of him; and that the Feast called Pamylia( resembling the Priapejan Procession, which the Greeks call Phallephoria) was instituted in Honour of him. Upon the second Day Arueris was born, whom some call Apollo, and others the Elder Orus. Upon the third Typhon w●s born, who came not into the World either in due Time, or by the right Way, but broken a Hole in his Mothers Side, and leaped out at the Wound. Upon the fourth Isis was born in the Fens. And upon the Fifth Nephthys, whom they sometimes call the End, and sometimes Venus, and sometimes also Victory: Of these they say Osiris and Arueris were 
I suppose because of the Similitude of their Rites and Worship.  begot by the Sun, Isis by Hermes, and Typhon and Nephthys by Saturn. For which reason, their Kings looking upon the third of the Epagomenae as an inauspicious Day, did no Business upon it, nor took any care of their Bodies until the Evening. They say also that Nephthys was 
I red {αβγδ} for {αβγδ} with Xylander.  married unto Typhon, and that Isis and Osiris were in Love with one another before they were born, and enjoyed each other 
The Sun communicates his Light to the Moon in the lower Hemisphere.  in the Da●k before they came into the World. Some add also, that 
Arueris in Hebrew Aroer, i.e. The Watch-man, and {αβγδ} in Coptic, is the S●er, Prophet, or King, as row in Hebrew.  Arueris was thus begotten, and that he was called by the egyptians the Elder Orus, and by the Greeks Apollo. And they say that Osiris, when he was King of egypt, drew them off from a Beggarly and Bestial Way of Living, by showing them the Use of Grain, and by making them Laws, and teaching them to honour the Gods. And that afterwards he traveled all the World over, and made it Civil, having but little need of Arms, for that he drew the most to him, alluring them by persuasion and Oratory, intermixed with all sorts of Poetry and music: whence it is, that the Greeks look upon him as the very same with 
The most ancient Forms of Government, as well as of Tunes, Dances and Temples, were but Imitations of what was observed in the Heavens.  Bacchus. They further add, that Typhon, while he was from Home, attempted nothing against him; for that Isis was very watchful, and guarded her self closely from him. But that when he came Home, he formed a Plot against him, 
The Supreme Judicatures of egypt consisted of LXXII, which were as it were the XXXVI. Decani of the Superior World, joined with the XXXVI. Nomarchae of egypt, or the Inferior World by way of Representation.  taking seventy two Men for complices of his Conspiracy, and being also abetted by a certain Queen of Aethiopia, whose Name they say was Aso. Having therefore privately taken the Measure of Osiris's Body, and framed a curious Ark, very finely beautified, and just of the Size of his Body, he brought it to a certain Banquet. And as all were wonderfully delighted with so rare a Sight, and admired it greatly; Typhon, in a sporting manner, promised, that whichsoever of the Company, should, by lying in it, find it to be of the Size of his Body, should have it for a Present. And as every one of them was forward to try, and none fitted it, 
That is, the Sun into the Moon.  Osiris at last got into it himself, and lay along in it; whereupon they that were there present, immediately ran to it and clapped down the Cover upon it, and when they had fastened it down with Nails, and soldered it with 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}.  melted led, they carried it forth to the River side, and let it swim into the Sea at the 
So name from Tanaus King of the Scythians mentioned by Trogus Pompejus, as the first Invader of egypt. He seems to me to be the same with Typhon( for Ezechiel calls this very Place Taphnis) but Hierogliphycally expressed.  Tanaitick Mouth, which the egyptians therefore to this Day abominate, and spit at the very Naming of it. These things happened( as they say) upon the seventeenth of the Month Athyr, when the Sun enters into the Scorpion, and 
For {αβγδ} I red {αβγδ}.  that was upon the eight and twentieth Year of the Reign of Osiris. But there are some that say that was the time of his Life, and not of his Reign. And because the Pans and Satyrs that inhabited the Region about 
I red {αβγδ} for {αβγδ} with Xylander.  Chemmis, were the first that knew of this Disaster, and raised the 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}.  Report of it among the People, all sudden Frights and Discomposures among the People, have been ever since called Panic Fears. But when Isis heard of it, she cut off in that very Place, a Lock of her Hair, and put on a Mourning Weed, where there is a Town at this Day name Coptos( which is 
From Caphta, which is Syriac for a Blow with the Hand, and not from the Greek {αβγδ}. This Place is called Caphi●● in the Bibles.  Mourning:) others think that Name signifies Bereiving, for that some use the Word Coptein for Depriving. And as she wandered up and down 
I red {αβγδ} for {αβγδ}.  in all Places, being deeply perplexed in her Thoughts, and left no one she met withal unspoken to, she met at last with certain little Children, of whom also she inquired about the Ark. 
●or {αβγδ}. I red {αβγδ}.  Now these had chanced to see all that had passed, and they name t● her the very Mouth of the Nile, by which 
Typhon in Coptic, signifies the Serpent, a Hieroglyphic for an Enemy, whether Man or Daemon.  Typhons complices had sent the Vessel into the Sea: For which reason the egyptians account little Children to have a Faculty of Divination, and use more especially to lay hold on their Omens when they play in Sacred Places, or chance to say any thing there, whatever it be. And finding afterwards that Osiris had made his Court to her Sister, and through Mistake enjoyed her instead of her self, for Token of which, she had found the 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}, with Xylander.  Melilot Garland which he had left hard by Nephthys, she went to seek for the Child( for her Sister had immediately 
I add {αβγδ} after {αβγδ} with Xylander.  exposed it as soon as she was delivered of it, for fear of her Husband Typhon.) And when, with great Difficulty and Labour, she had found it, by means of certain Dogs which conducted her to it, she brought it up, and he afterwards became her Guards-man and Follower, being name 
Anubis or {αβγδ} was the same with Cneph, Canopus and Eros, or Winged Cupid. The Word signifies Winged and Gold, both which refer to the Sun, which was the ancient Mercury.  Anubis, and reported to guard the Gods as Dogs do Men. Of him she had Tidings of the Ark, how it had been thrown out by the Sea upon the Coasts of Byblos, and the Flood had gently entangled it in a certain Thicket of Heath( or Tamarisk.) And this Heath had in a very small time run up into a most beauteous and large three, and had wrought itself about it, clung to it, and quiter enclosed it within its Trunk. Upon which, the King of that Place much admiring at the unusual bigness of the Plant, and cropping off the bushy Part that encompassed the now invisible Chest, made of it a Post to support the Roof of his House. These things( as they tell us) Isis being informed of by the Daemonial Breath of a 
Daemons, when felt, are called Spirits, and when only heard {αβγδ} and {αβγδ}, i. e, Words and Voices.  Voice, went her self to Byblos; where, when she was come, she sate her down hard by a Well very pensive and full of Tears, insomuch that she refused to speak to any Person, save only to the Queens Women, whom she complemented and caressed at an extraordinary rate, and would often stroke back their Hair with her Hands, and withal, transmit a most wonderful fragrant Smell out of her Body into theirs. 
These Stories were the popular Sermons of later Priests and Expositors of ancient Rites.  The Queen perceiving that her Womens Bodies and Hair thus breathed of Ambrosia, greatly longed to become acquainted with this new Stranger. Upon this, she being sent for, and becoming very intimate with her, was at last made Nurse to her Child. Now the Name of this King( they tell us) was 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}, and,  Malcarthos, and the Queen, some say, was called 
{αβγδ} for {αβγδ}.  astart, and some Saosis, and others Nemanus( which in Greek is as much as to say Athene or Pallas.) But Isis nursed the Child by putting her Finger into his Mouth instead of the Breast, and in the Night time, she would, by a kind of lambent Fire, sing away what was mortal about him. In the mean while, her self would be turned to a Swallow, and in that Form would fly round about the Post, bemoaning her Misfortune and sad Fate; until at last, the Queen, who stood watching hard by, cried out aloud, as she saw her Child all on a light flamme, and so robbed him of Immortality. Upon which, the Goddess discovered her self, and begged the Post that held up the Roof. Which when she had obtained and taken down, she very quickly cropped off the bushy Heath from about it, and 
The most antic sort of Statues, were Pillars, Posts and Spears; such was the Quiris of the Sabin●.  wraping the Trunk in fine Linen, and pouring perfumed oil upon it; she put it into the Hands of their Kings, and therefore the Byblians, to this very Day, worship that Piece of Wood, laying it up in the Temple of Isis. Then she threw her self down upon the Chest, and her Lamentations were so loud, that the younger of the Kings 
These seem to have been the same with the graecian {αβγδ}, or Caster and Poli●x.  two Sons dyed for very Fear; but she having the Elder in her own Possession, took both it and the Ark and carried them on Shipboard, and so took Sail. But the River Phaedrus 
For {αβγδ}, I red with the Aldine Edition, {αβγδ}.  sending forth a very keen and chill Air, it being the Dawning of the Morn, she grew incensed at it, and dried up its Current. And in the first Place where she could take rest, and found her self to be now at liberty and alone, she opened the Ark, and laid her Cheeks upon the Cheeks of Osiris, and embraced him and wept bitterly. The little Boy seeing her, came silently behind her, and peeping, saw what it was, which she perceiving, cast a terrible Look upon him in the height of her Passion, the Fright whereof the Child not enduring, 
It is dangerous for the Vulgar to prie too far into Sacred things.  immediately died. But there are some that say it was not so, but that, 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}.  in the forementioned manner, he dropped into the Sea, and was there drowned. And he hath Divine Honours given him to this very Day upon the Goddesses account; for they assure us, that 
Maneros, i.e. The Moon-King was the same with Osiris and Attis Menotyrannus.  Maneros, whom the egyptians so often mention in their Caroles at their Banquets, is the very same. But others say the Boy was name 
This is only to hint to us that the Palaestines were originally Pelusiotes, with whom they agreed in their Religious Rites and Opinions; and that is confirmed by the Scripture.  Palaestinus, or Pelusius, and that the City of that Name was so called from him, it having been built by this Goddess. They also relate, that this Maneros, so often spoken of in their Songs, was the first that invented Music. But some there are, that would make us believe, that Maneros was not the Name of any Person, but a certain Form of Speech, made use of to People in Drinking and entertaining themselves at Feasts, 
I insert {αβγδ} before {αβγδ}.  by way of wishing that things of that Nature, might prove auspicious and agreeable to them; 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}.  for that that is the Thing which the egyptians would express by the Word Maneros, when they so often roar it forth. In like manner they affirm that the likeness of a dead Man, which is carried about in a little Boat and shewed to them, is not to commemorate the Disaster of Osiris, as some suppose, but was designed to encourage Men to make use of, and enjoy the present Things while they have them, since all Men must quickly become such as they there see; for which reason, they bring him into their Revels and Feasts. But when Isis came to her Son Orus, who was then at Nurse at Butos, and had laid the Chest out of the way, Typhon, as he was Hunting by Moonlight, by chance light upon it, and knowing the Body again, tore it into 
These Fourteen parts plainly refer to the Fourteen days of the Wane of the Moon, which shows the Ark to be the crescent.  fourteen Parts, and threw them all about. Which when Isis had heard, she went to look for them again in a certain Barge made of the bulrush called Papyrus, in which she sailed over all the Fens. Whence( they tell us) it comes to pass that such as go in Boats made of this Rush, are never injured by the Crocodiles, they having either a 
The truth was, that it stuck in their Teeth.  Fear, or else a Veneration for it, upon the account of the Goddess Isis. And this( they say) hath occasioned the Report that there are many sepulchers of Osiris in egypt, because she made a particular Funeral for each Member as she found them. There are others that tell us it was not so, but that she made several Effigieses of him, and sent them to every City, taking on her, as if she had sent them his Body, that so the greater Number of People might pay Divine Honours to him; and withal, that if it should chance that Typhon should get the better of Orus, and thereupon search for the Body of Osiris, many being discoursed of and shewed him, he might despair of ever finding the right one. But of all Osiris's Members, Isis could never find out his Private Part, for it had been presently slung into the 
Therefore called the Efflux of Osiris.  River Nilus, and the Carp, Sea-breame and Pike eating of it, were for that reason 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}.  more scrupulously avoided by them than any other Fish. But Isis, in lieu of it, made its Effigies, and so consecrated the Phallus,( it being a Resemblance of it) for which the egyptians, to this Day, observe a 
The Bacohanals.  Festival. After this, Osiris coming out of Hell to assist his Son Orus, first 
I red with Petavius's Copy, {αβγδ} for {αβγδ}.  laboured and trained him up in the Discipline of War, and then questioned him what he thought to be the gallantest thing a Man could do; to which he soon replied, to avenge ones Father and Mothers Quarrel when they suffer Injury. He asked him a second time, what Animal he esteemed most useful to such as would go to Battle: 
Orus in Coptick {αβγδ}, i. e. the King, whence Phaouro or pharaoh in the same Sense: he was the same with Osiris, but of a later Foundation, therefore called his Son, as Apollo was Jupiters.  Orus  told him a Horse; to which he said, that he wondered much at his Answer, and could not imagine why he did not rather name a lion than a Horse. Orus replied, that a lion might indeed be very serviceable to one that needed Help, but a Horse would serve best to cut off and disperse a flying Enemy. Which when Osiris heard, he was very much pleased with him, looking upon him now as sufficiently instructed for a soldier. It is reported likewise, that as a great many went over daily unto Orus, Typhon's own Concubine, 
I know not whether she be the same with Josephus's Tharvis, which he makes to be Moses's Mistress. Tharui in Coptick signifies Queen; she was a little before called As●. i. e. Puissant. I take her to be the Moon.  Thueris deserted also; but that a certain Serpent pursuing her close at the Heels, was cut in pieces by Orus's Men and that for that reason they still fling a certain Cord into the midst of the Room, and then chop it to pieces. The Battle therefore continued for several Days, and Orus at last prevailed; but Isis, although she had Typhon delivered up to her fast bound, yet would not put him to Death, but contrariwise loosed him and let him go. Which when Orus perceived, he could not brook it with any Patience, but laid violent Hands upon his Mother, and plucked the Royal Diadem from off her Head. But Hermes presently stepped in and clapped a Cows 
The Horns of the New Moon.  Head upon her instead of a Helmet. Likewise when Typhon impeached Orus for being a Bastard, Hermes became his Advocate, and Orus was judged Legitimate by all the Gods. After this, they say that Typhon was worsted in two several Battles. Isis had also by Osiris, who accompanied with her after her Decease, 
Harpocraetes, i.e. The Lord of the harpies or Storms; he is the Sun in the Winter Quarter.  Harpocrates, who came into the World before his Time, and was Lame in his lower Parts. These then are most of the Heads of this Fabular Narration, the more harsh and course Parts( such as the Discerption of Orus, and the Beheading of Isis) being taken out, 
These Stories( however since refined upon) were literally believed in the more ancient and ruder Times.  If therefore they say and believe such things as these of the Blessed and incorruptible Nature( which is the best Conception we can have of Divinity) as really thus done and happening to it, I need not tell you 
For {αβγδ}, red {αβγδ}.  that you ought to spit, and( as Aeschylus speaks) to make clean your Mouth at the mentioning of them for you are sufficiently averse of yourself, to such as entertain such wicked and barbarous Sentiments concerning the Gods. And yet that these Relations are nothing a Kin to those Foppish Tales, and vain Fictions which Poets and Story-tellers are wont, like Spiders, to spin out of their own Bowels 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}.  without any substantial Ground or Foundation for them, and then wove and Wire-draw them out at their own Pleasures; but contain in them certain abstruse Questions and Rehearsals of Events, 
To {αβγδ}, I add {αβγδ}.  you yourself, are, I suppose, convinced. And as Mathematicians do assert, the Rain-bow to be an Appearance of the Sun, so variegated by the distance of the Sight in such a Position with the Cloud; so likewise the Fable here related, is the Appearance of a certain Way of Reasoning, refracting its Meaning upon some other Matters, as is plainly suggested to us, as well by the Sacrifices themselves, in which there appears something lamentable and very sad, as by the Forms and Makes of their Temples, which sometimes run out themselves into lofty Pinnacles, and into open and airy 
{αβγδ}, or razes: the olympic and other Games were at first invented in Honour of the Suns Motion.  Cirks; and at other times again, have under Ground certain private Cells, resembling Thebean Vaults, and dark Oratories; and this is not the least hinted to us by the Opinion received about those of Osiris; because his Body is said to be interred in so many different Places. Though it may be they will tell you that some one Town, such as abydoes or Memphis is name for the Place where his true Body lies, and that the most powerful and wealthy among the egyptians are most ambitious to be butted at 
Some reduce it to the Hebrew Abaddon.  abydoes, that so they may be near the Body of their God Osiris; and that the Apis is fed at Memphis, because he is the 
That is, he is one of the chief Creatures of the Sun.  Image of his Soul, where also they will have it that his Body is interred. Some also interpret the Name of this City to signify The Haven of Good Things, and others, 
Amenophi in Coptick, is the Receptacle of Apis, and the Name of Memphis; it's called in the Bible Noph.  The Tomb of Osiris. They add that the little iceland called Nistitane, which stands in the River over against the City Gates, is at other times inaccessible, and not to be approached to by any Man, and that the very Birds dare not venture to fly over it, nor the Fish to touch upon its Banks; yet upon a certain set time, the Priests go over into it, and there perform the accustomend Rites for the Dead, and crown his Tomb, which stands there shaded over by a 
For {αβγδ}, or as Petavius's Copy has it, {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}.  Citron three, which exceeds any Olive in bigness. But Eudoxus saith, that though there be in egypt many Tombs reported to be his, yet his true Body lies at 
{αβγδ}, in Coptic signifies Lord Osiris.  Busiris, for that that was the Place of his Birth. Neither can there be any room for Dispute about Taphosiris, for that its very Name bespeaks it; 
The Name is not Greek but Coptic, and signifies Lord Osiris's Gift.  Osiris's Tomb. He also commends their 
This they did to make him an Ark or Boat for his Burial.  cleaving of a three, their peeling of Flax, and the Wine Libations then made by them, because many of their secret Mysteries are therein contained. And it is not these Gods only, but all others also, that are not ungotten and incorruptible, that the Priests pretend that their Bodies lie butted with them, and are by them served; but their 
The egyptians believed that all eminent Persons were made Stars when they died; see Herodotus.  Souls are Stars shining in Heaven; and that the Soul of Isis is by the Greeks called the Dog, but by the egyptians Sothis; and 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}.  that of Orus Orion, and that of Typhon the Bear. They also tell us, that towards the Pourtraying of the Animals honoured by them, all others pay the Proportion assigned them by the Laws, but that those that inhabit the Country of Thebais, are the only Men that refuse to contribute any thing, because they believe no Mortal God, but him only whom they call 
Those of Thebais did like the Persians, reduce their Superior God to the Light or Spirit of the Universe.  Cneph, who is ungotten and immortal. They therefore who suppose that, because many things of this sort are both related and shown unto Travellers, they are but so many Commemorations of the Actions and Disasters of mighty Kings and Tyrants, who by reason of their Eminent Valour or pvissance, wrote the Title of Divinity upon their famed, and afterwards fell into great Calamities and Misfortunes; these, I say, make use of the most ready Way of eluding the Story, and plausibly enough remove things of harsh and uncouth sound from Gods to Men: Nay, I will add this farther, that the Arguments they use, are fairly enough deduced from the things themselves related. For the egyptians recount, that Hermes was, in regard to the Make of his Body, 
The egyptians called the South and the North by the Names of the Right and Left Hand of the Sun.  with one Arm longer than the other, and that Typhon was by Complexion read, Orus White, and Osiris Black, as if they had been indeed nothing else but Men. They moreover style Osiris a Commander, and 
Canopus was the same with Cneph or Cnuphis, and was no other than Ero● or Jupiter, Pluvius.  Canopus a Pilot, from whom they say the Star of that Name was denominated. Also the Ship which the Greeks call 
Argo had its Name from the Syriac Arca, i.e. a Canoo or Longboat, like the crescent, where the Sun rides.  Argo, being the Image of Osiris's Ark, and therefore, in Honour of it, made a Constellation, they make to ride not far from Orion and the Dog; whereof the one they believe to be Sacred to Orus, and the other to Isis. But I fear this would be to stir Things that are not to be stirred, and to declare War, 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}.  not only( as Simonides speaks) against length of Time, but also against many Nations and Families of Mankind, whom a Religious Reverence towards these Gods, holds fast bound like 
{αβγδ}, i. e. Correptis.  Men astonished and amazed, and would be no other 
I add {αβγδ} before {αβγδ}.  than going about to remove so great and venerable Names from Heaven to Earth, and thereby shaking and dissolving that Worship and persuasion that hath entered into almost all Mens Constitutions from their very Birth, and opening vast Doors to the Atheists Faction, who convert all Divine Matters into human, giving also a large licence to the Impostures of Eue●erus of Messina, who out of his 
The egyptians reckoned the very Sun and Moon among their Kings, because they hold all Stars to be the Souls of Men.  own Brain, contrived certain Memoirs, of a most incredible and imaginary Mythology, and thereby spread all manner of Atheism throughout the World, by drawing out the Names of all the received Gods under the Style of Generals, Sea-Captains and Kings, whom he makes to have lived in the more remote and ancient Times; and to be recorded in Golden Characters in a certain Country called 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}, and {αβγδ}, for {αβγδ}.  Panchoa, with which notwithstanding never any Man, either Barbarian or graecian, had the good Fortune to meet, except Euemerus alone, who( it seems) sailed to the Land of the Panchoans and Triphyllians, that neither have, nor ever had a Being. And although the Actions of 
Cedrenus saith, Semiramis was the same with Rhea: if so, she differed not from astart, Isis and Venus, to whom the Pigeon was sacred. Shemiramith in Hebrew, is Coelestis Excels●.  Semiramis are sung among the Assyrians as very great, and likewise those of Sesostris in egypt; and the Phrygians to this very Day style all illustrious and strange Actions Manick ones, because 
It may be Manis was the same with Meinis and Osiris.  Manis, one of their ancient Kings( whom some call Masdes) was a brave and mighty Person. And although Cyrus enlarged the Empire of the Persians, and Alexander that of the Macedonians, within a little Matter of the World's End, yet have they still retained the Names and Memorials of gallant Princes. And if some, 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}.  puffed up with excessive Vain-glory( as Plato speaks) having their Minds enflamed at once with both youthful Blood and Folly, have with an unruly Extravagancy, taken upon them the Style of Gods, and had Temples erected in their Honour, yet this Opinion of them flourished but for a short Season, and they afterwards underwent the Blame of great Vanity and Arrogancy, conjoined with the highest Impiety and Wickedness, and so, Like smoke they flew away with swift paced Fate. And being dragged away from the Altars like Fugitive Slaves, they have now nothing left them but their Tombs and Graves. Which made Antigonus the Elder, when one Hermodotus had in his Poems declared him to be Son to the Sun, and a God, to say to him: Friend, he that empties my Close-stool pan, knows no such Matter by me. And Lysippus the Carver, had good reason to quarrel with the Painter Apelles for drawing Alexanders Picture with a Thunder-bolt in his Hand, whereas himself had made him but with a Spear, which( he said) was natural and proper for him, and a Weapon, the Glory of which, no time would rob him of. Therefore they maintain the wiser Opinion, who hold that the things here storied of Typhon, Osiris and Isis, were not the Events of Gods, nor yet of Men, but of certain Grand Daemons, whom Plato, Pythagoras, Xenocrates and Chrysippus( following herein the Opinion of the most ancient Theologists) affirm to be of greater Strength than Men, and to transcend our Nature by much in Power, but not to have a Divine Part pure and unmixed, but such as participates of both the Souls Intention, and the Bodies Sensation, and those 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}; and for {αβγδ}, and {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ} and {αβγδ}  receiving both Pleasure and Pain; and that the Passions that attend these Mutations, disorder some of them more, and others of them less. For there are divers degrees both of virtue and 'vice, as among Men, so also among Daemons: For what they sing about among the Greeks concerning the Giants and the Titans, and of 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}.  certain horrible actions of Saturns, as also of Pythons Combats with Apollo, of the 
I red {αβγδ} for {αβγδ}, with Xylander out of Eusebius. Bacchus hath the Name of Dionysos in Greek, that is, The God of Nysa, which was a Town in Arabia, so name from the Hebrew Nusa, which is Flight. The LXX. render Jehova Nissi, by {αβγδ}.  Flights of Bacchus, and the Ramblings of Ceres, come nothing short of the Relations about Osiris and Typhon, and others such, which every Body may lawfully and freely hear as they are  told in the Mythology. The like may be also said of those things, that being veiled over in the mystic Rites and Sacred Ceremonies of Initiation, are therefore kept private from the Sight and Hearing of the Common Sort. We also hear Homer often calling such as are extraordinary good, Godlike, and Gods Comperes, and, In Counsel equal with the Deities. But the Epithet derived from Daemons, we find him to bestow upon the Good and Bad indifferently, as; 
Daemon like, Sir, make hast, why do you fear  
The Argives thus?— And then on the contrary side.  
When the fourth time he rushed on like a Daemon!  And again.( Where Jupiter speaks thus to Juno.)  
Daemonial Dame, what hath poor Priam done,  
To anger you so much? Or what his Son?  
That you resolve fair Iliums Overthrow;  
And your revengeful Purpose superabundant forego.  
Where he seems to make Daemons to be of a mixed and unequal Temper and Inclination. Whence it is that Plato assigns to the olympic Gods, Dexter things and odd Numbers, and the opposite to these, to Daemons. And Xenocrates also is of Opinion, that such Days as are commonly accounted unlucky, and those Holy Days, in which are used Scourgings, Beatings of Breasts, Fastings, uncouth Words, or obscene Speeches, do not appertain to the Honour of Gods, or of good Daemons; but thinks there are in the Air that environs us about, certain great and mighty Natures, but withal, 
This confirms the Observation of St. Paul, that the Sacrifices of the Gentiles were made to Daemons, and not to Gods; and this is fully proved by Porphyry, in his Book De Abstinentiâ, where he is not ashamed to justify them in it.  morose and tetrical ones, that take pleasure in such things as these; and if they have them, they do no farther Mischief. On the other side, the Beneficent ones are styled by Hesiod, Holy Daemons, and Guardians of Mankind, 
I here add {αβγδ}.  and, Givers of Wealth, this Royal Gift they have. And Plato calls this sort, the Interpreting and ministering Kind; and saith they are in a middle Place betwixt the Gods and Men, and that they carry up Mens Prayers and Addresses thither, and bring from thence hither Prophetic Answers and Distributions of good Things. Empedocles saith also, that Daemons undergo severe Punishments, for their Evil Deeds and misdemeanours.  
The force of Air, them to the Sea pursues;  
The Sea again upon the Land them spews.  
The Land 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}, and for {αβγδ}, as is is cited in the Treatise De vitando aere alieno.  to th'Sun; the Sun to Pits of Air,  
And so around, they all in Terrors are.  
until being thus chastened and purified, they are again admitted to that Region and Order that suits their Nature. Now such Things, and such like Things as these, they tell us are here meant concerning Typhon; how he, moved with Envy and spite, perpetrated most wicked and horrible things, and putting all things into Confusion, filled both Land and Sea with infinite Calamities and Evils, and afterwards suffered for it condign Punishment. But now the Avenger of Osiris, who was both his Sister and Wife, having extinguished and put an end to the Rage and Madness of Typhon, did not forget the many Contests and Difficulties she had encountered withal, nor her Wanderings and Travels too and fro, so far as to commit her many Acts, both of Wisdom and Courage 
I add {αβγδ} before {αβγδ}, and red {αβγδ} for {αβγδ}.  to utter Oblivion and Silence, but mixed them with their most Sacred Rites of Initiation, and together consecrated them as Resemblances, Dark Hints, and 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}.  Imitations of her former Sufferings, both as an Example and Encouragement of Piety for both Men and Women that should hereafter fall under the like hard Circumstances and Distresses. And now both her self and Osiris, being for their virtue changed from good Daemons into Gods, as were 
Hercules and Bacchus were indeed the same with Osiris, but their Temples were younger than his.  Hercules and Bacchus after them, they have( and not without just Grounds) the Honours of both Gods and Daemons joined together; their Power being indeed every where great, but yet more especial and eminent 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}.  in things upon and under the Earth. For Sarapis( they say) is no other than Pluto, and Isis the same with proserpina, as Archemachus of Euboea informs us; as also 
So I red for Heraclitus.  Heraclides of Pontus, where he delivers it as his Opinion, that the Oracle at Canopus appertains to Pluto. Besides, Ptolemaeus, surnamed Soter, or The Saviour, 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}.  saw in a Dream the Colossus of Pluto that stood at Sinope,( although he knew it not, nor had ever seen what Shape it was of) calling upon him, and bidding him to convey it speedily away to Alexandria. And as he was ignorant, and at a great Loss where it should stand, and was telling his Dream to his Familiars, there was found by chance a certain Fellow, that had been a general Rambler in all Parts,( his Name was Sosius) who affirmed he had seen such a Colossus as the King had dreamed of, at Sinope. He therefore sent Soteles and Dionysos thither, who in a long time, and with much difficulty, and not without the special Help of a Divine Providence, stolen it away, and brought it to Alexandria. When therefore it was conveyed thither, and 
For {αβγδ} I red {αβγδ}.  viewed, Timothy the Expositor, and Manethos the Sebennite, concluding from the 
Corberus was the Infernal Mercury, and the Serpent Typhon.  Cerberus and Serpent that stood by it, that 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}.  it must be the Statue of Pluto, persuade ptolemy it could appertain to no other God but Sarapis. For he had not 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}.  this Name when he of from thence, but after he was removed to Alexandria, he acquired the Name of Sarapis, which is the egyptian for Pluto. Although it must be owned that Heraclitus the Physiologist, saith, Pluto and Bacchus are 
I red true {αβγδ} for {αβγδ}.  one and the same;( 
When they are mad and delirious, they come to be of this Opinion, is added in the Greek Copy, but I suppose it was originally but a Marginal reflection.  for those that will needs have Pluto to be the Body, the Soul being as it were distracted and drunken in it, do, in my Opinion, make use of an over fine and subtle Allegory.) It is therefore better to make Osiris to be the same with Bacchus, and Sarapis again with Osiris, he obtaining that Appellation since the Change of his Nature. For which reason, Sarapis is a common God to all; but how they consider Osiris, they who participate of Divine Matters best understand. For there is no reason we should attend to the Writings of the Phrygians, which say that 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}.  one 
He supposes the Name Charopos to be the same with Sarapis; but it comes nearer the Greek Corybas, and the Hebrew Cherub, which signifies a carved Statue or Figure, which probably might be a Cow, it being a ●emale Numen.  Charopos was Daughter to Hercules, and that Typhon was Son to Isaeacus Son of Hercules; no more than we have not to contemn Philarchus, when he writes that Bacchus first brought two Bullocks out of India into egypt, and that the Name of the one was Apis, and of the other Osiris. But that Sarapis is the Name of him who orders the Universe, from Sairein, which some use for Beautifying and Setting forth. For these Sentiments of Philarchus's are very foolish and absurd; but theirs are much more so, who affirm Sarapis to be no God at all, but only the Name of the Sores( or Chest) in which Apis lies; and that there are at Memphis certain great Gates of Copper, called the Gates of Oblivion and Lamentation, which being opened when they bury the Apis, make a doleful and hideous Noise; which( say they) is the reason that when we hear any sort of Copper instrument sounding, we are presently startled and seized with Fear. But they judge more discreetly, 
I add {αβγδ} before {αβγδ} and red {αβγδ} for {αβγδ}.  who suppose his Name to be derived from Seuesthai, or Sousthai,( which signifies to be born along) and so make it to mean, that the Motion of the Universe is hurried and born along violently. But the greatest Part of the Priests do say, that Osiris and Apis are both of them but one complex Being, while they tell us in their Sacred Commentaries and Sermons, that we are to look upon the Apis, as the 
The Bull called Apis was to have a white Star in his Fore-head, the better to represent the Sun, whose Spirit dwelled within it.  beautiful Image of the Soul of Osiris. I, for my part, do believe, that if the Name of Sarapis be egyptian, it may not improperly denote Joy and Merriment, because I find the egyptians term the Festival which we call Charmosyna( or Merry-making) in their language 
Shira in Hebrew is Singing; and Sarapis or star Ab, Dominas Pater, or Princeps Pater.  Sairei. Besides, I find Pluto to be of Opinion, that Pluto is called Hades, because he is the Sun of Aido,( which is Modesty) and because he is a 
Hades Aidoneus or Adonis, was the same with the German Odin or Mars: it was the Diminutive of odd or God, which signifies Good and Rich.  gentle God to such as are conversant with him. And as among the egyptians, there are a great many other Names that are also Definitions of the Things they express, so they call that Place, whether they believe Mens Souls to go after Death, 
Amen in Coptic, is to receive, and Tha to give. I take Amenthes to signify simply a Receptory.  Amenthes, which signifies in their Language, The Receiver and the Giver. But whether this be one of those Names that have been anciently brought over and transplanted out of Greece into egypt, we shall consider some other time. But at present we must hasten to dispatch the remaining Parts of the Opinion here handled. Osiris therefore and Isis passed from the Number of good Daemons into that of Gods; but the Power of Typhon being much obscured and weakened, and himself besides in great dejection of Mind, and in Agony, and as it were at the last Gasp, they therefore one while use certain Sacrifices to comfort and appease his Mind, and another while again, have certain Solemnities wherein they abase and affront him, both by mis-handling and abusing such Men as they find to have read Hair, and by breaking the Neck of an Ass down a Precipice,( as do the Coptites) because 
They suppose the Soul of Typhon, or the Serpent, to be in him, as the Soul of Osiris was in the Ox. The Ass was in more esteem where Horses were scarce.  Typhon was read and of the Asses Complexion. Moreover, those of Buseris and Lycopol●●, never make any use of Trumpets, because they give a Sound like that of Asses. And they altogether esteem the Ass as an Animal, not Clean, but Daemoniac, because of its Resemblance to Typhon; and when they make Cakes at their Sacrifices, upon the Months of Payni and Phaophi, they impress upon them an Ass Bound. Also when they do their Sacrifices to the Sun, they enjoin 
I red with Xylander {αβγδ} for {αβγδ}.  such as perform Worship to that God, neither to wear Gold, nor to give Fodder to an Ass. It is also most apparent, that the Pythagoreans look upon Typhon as a Daemoniack Power; for they say he was produced in an even Proportion of Numbers, to wit, in that of Fifty Six. And again, they say that the 
I add {αβγδ} or {αβγδ} after {αβγδ}.  Property of the Triangle appertains to Pluto, Bacchus and Mars; of the Quadrangle, to Rhea, Venus, Ceres and Vesta; of Twelve Angles, to Jupiter; and of 
So I red with Xylander for 58.  Fifty Six, to Typhon, as Eudoxus relates. And because the egyptians are of Opinion that Typhon was born of a 
Fire was the egyptians Devil, and Water their God.  read Complexion, they are therefore used to devote to him, such of the Neat Kind as they find to be of a read Colour; and their Observation herein is so very nice and strict, that if they perceive the Beast to have but one Hair upon it that is either Black or White, they account it unfit for Sacrifice. For they hold that what is fit to be made a Sacrifice, must not be of a Thing agreeable to the Gods, but contrariwise, such things as contain the Souls of Ungodly and Wicked Men transformed into their Shapes. Wherefore in the more ancient of Times, they were wont, after they had pronounced a solemn Curse upon the Head of the Sacrifice, and had cut it off, to fling it into the River Nilus; but now adays, they distribute it among Strangers. Those also among the Priests that were termed Sphragistae or S●alers, were wont to Seal the Beast that was to be offered; and the engraving of their Seal, was( as Castor tells us) 
In Memory of the more ancient Custom of sacrificing Men to Mars, Pluto, or the Devil.  a Man upon his Knees with his Hands tied behind him, and a Knife set under his Throat. They believe moreover, that the Ass suffers for being like him,( as hath been already spoken of) and that as much for the Stupidity and Sensualness of his Disposition, as for the Redness of his Colour. Wherefore, because that of all the Persian Monarchs, they had the greatest Aversation for Ochus, as looking upon him as a villainous and Abominable Person, they gave him the Nick-name of the 
That is, The Devil.  Ass: Upon which, he replied: But this Ass shall dine upon your Ox, and so he slaughtered the Apis, as Dinon relates to us in his History. As for those that tell us that 
The Hieroglyphical meaning of this Story, was that Moses was assisted by the Devil, in rescuing the Israelites out of egypt.  Typhon was seven days flying from the Battle upon the Back of an Ass, and having narrowly, escaped with his Life, afterwards begot two Sons, called Hierosolymus and Judaeus, they are manifestly discovered by the very Matter, to wrest into this Fable the Relations of the Jews, And so much for the Allegories and secret Meanings which this Head affords us. And now begin we at another Head, which is the Account of those who, 
I red {αβγδ} for {αβγδ}.  seem to offer at something more Philosophical; and of these we will first consider the more simplo and plain sort. And they are those that tell us, that as the Greeks are used to allegorize Cronos( or 
Saturn, or the Sun, is the Measure of Time, and Juno, or the Moon, hath great Effects upon the Air.  Saturn) into Chronos( Time) and Hera( or June) into Aera( Air) and also to resolve the Generation of Vulcan into the Change of Air into Fire; so also among the egyptians, 
The egyptians believe Water to be animated by the Soul of the Sun, and the Earth by that of the Moon.  Osiris is the River Nilus, who accompanies with Isis, which is the Earth, and Typhon is the Sea, into which the Nilus falling, is thereby destroyed and pulled in pieces, excepting only that Part of it which the Earth receives and drinks up, by means whereof it becomes prolifick. There is also a kind of a sacred Lamentation used to 
Saturn, or Cronos was called by the egyptians Kyra●is, i.e. Cornutus, he being the same with Osiris, and the Deus Lunus.  Saturn, wherein they bemoan him, Who was born in the Left Side of the World, and died in the Right. For the egyptians believe the Eastern Part to be the Worlds Face, the Northern its Right Hand, and the Southern its Left. And therefore the River Nilus holding its Course from the Southern Parts towards the Northern, may justly be said to have its Birth in the Left-side, and its Death in the Right. For which reason, the Priests account the Sea abominable, and call Salt Typhons Foam. And 
I red {αβγδ} for {αβγδ}.  it is one of the things they look upon as unlawful, and prohibited to them, to use Salt at their Tables. And they use not to salute any Pilots, because they have to do with the 
They reckoned the Sea as a part of Amenthes or Hell.  Sea. And this is not the least reason of their so great aversedness to Fish. They also make the Picture of a Fish to denote Hatred. And therefore at the Temple of Minerva at says, there was carved in the Po●ch an Infant and an Old Man, and after them a Hawk, and then a Fish, and after all, a Hippopotamus( or River-Horse) which in a Symbolical manner, contained this Sentence, O! you that are born, and that die, 
Here I supply the Lacuna thus; {αβγδ}.  God hateth Impudence. From whence it is plain, that by a Child and an Old Man, they express our being Born and our Dying; by a Hawk, God; by a Fish, Hatred( by reason of the Sea, as hath been before spoken) and by a River-Horse, Impudence, because( as they say) he killeth hi● Sire, and forceth his Dam. That also which the Pythagoreans are used to say, which is, that the Sea is The 
They fancied their God to die when he went down to Amenthes, and to revive again in the Morning.  Tear of Saturn, 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}.  may seem to hint out to us, that it is not pure nor congenial with our Race. These then are the Things that may be uttered without Doors and in public, they containing nothing but Matters of common Cognisance. But now the most Learned and Reserved of the Priests do not term the Nilus only Osiris, and the Sea Typhon; but in general, the whole Principle and Faculty of rendering Moist, they call 
The Inspiration of the Sun causes the Fluidness of Water.  Osiris, as believing it to be the Cause of Generation, and the very Substance of the Seminal Moisture. And on the other hand, whatever is Adust, Fiery, or any way Drying and repugnant to Wet, they call 
The Serpent or the Enemy, this was their Mars or Devil.  Typhon. And therefore, because they believe he was of a read and Sallow Colour when he was born, they do not greatly care to meet with Men of such Looks, nor willingly converse with them. On the other side again, they Fable that Osiris, when he was born, was of a Black Complexion, because that all Water renders Earth, clothes and Clouds black, when mixed with them; and the Moisture also that is in young Persons, makes their Hair black; but Grayness, like a sort of Paleness, comes up through over much Drought upon such as are now past their Vigour, and begin to decline in Years. In like manner the Spring time is Gay, Fecund, and very agreeable; but the Autumn, through defect of Moisture, is both destructive to Plants, and sickly to Men. Moreover, the Ox called 
I take this Mnevis to be the same with the above mentioned Meinis, Manis and Meni, and so by consequence with Osiris. Perhaps he was of an elder Foundation than Apis, and therefore styled his Sire.  Mnevis, which is kept at Hesiopoles( and is Sacred to Osiris, and judged by some to be the Sire of Apis) is of a coal-black Colour, and is honoured in the second Place after Apis. To which we may add, that they call egypt( which is one of the Blackest Soils in the World) as they do the black Part of the Eye, 
That is, Solar or Divine, Chamma, i.e. Hot, is one of the Epithets of the Sun.  Chemia. They also represent it by the Figure of a 
This was likewise the Hieroglyphic of Heaven, or the celestial egypt. See Orus Ap●l.  Heart, by reason of its great Warmth and Moisture, and because it is mostly enclosed by, and removed towards the Southern Parts of the Earth, as the Heart is with respect to a Mans Body. They believe also, that the Sun and Moon do not go in Chariots, but fail about the World perpetually in certain Boats; hinting hereby, at their feeding upon, and springing first out of Moisture. They are likewise of the Opinion, that Homer, as well as Thales, had been instructed by the egyptians, which made him affirm Water to be the Spring and first Original of all things; for that 
Oceanus was more anciently called Ogen by the Grecians, and it sigfied The Water-God, he was Son to Jupiter.  Oceanus is the same with Osiris, and 
It is probable that Tethys is the same with Sethis or Sothis, which is Isis.  Tethys with Isis, so name( from Titthe a Nurse) because she is the Mother and Nurse of all things. For the Greci●●s call the 
I red {αβγδ} for {αβγδ}.  Emission of the Genital humour Apusia( which signifies Owzing from one) and carnal Knowledge Synusia( that is, Mixing of Humors:) they also call a Son Hyios, from Hydor Water, and from Hysa● to Wet; and likewise Bacchus hies or the 
He was the same with Jupiter Pluvius.  Wetter) they looking upon him as the Lord of the Humid Nature, he being no other than Osiris. For Hellanicus hath set him down 
Hysiris is but the Coptic {αβγδ}, i. e. {αβγδ}, Liber, or Son. For the egyptians called a Son Siri, as the Greeks did sometimes call Male Children {αβγδ}.  Hysiris, affirming that he heard him so pronounced by the Priests; for so he hath written the Name of this God all along in his History; and that in my Opinion, not without good reason, derived as well from his Nature as his Invention. And that therefore he is one and the same with Bacchus: who should better know than yourself, Dame Cl●a, who are not only 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}. Palmerius reads {αβγδ}.  President of the delphic Prophetesses, but have been also, in Right of both your Parents, devoted to the Osiriack Rites? And if, for the Sakes of others, we shall think ourselves obliged to lay down Testimonies for the Proof of our present Assertion, we shall notwithstanding, remit those Secrets that must not be revealed to their proper Place. But now the things which the Priests do publicly at the Entertainment of the Apis, when they carry his Body in a Boat to be butted, do nothing differ from the 
These Dances were to represent the Suns Motion.  Procession of Bacchus. For they hang about them the 
The Habit of the ancient, as well as of the Modern Savages.  Skins of Hinds, and carry Branches in their Hands, and use the same kind of Shoutings and Gesticulations that the Ecstaticks do at the Inspired Dances of Bacchus. For which reason also, many of the Greeks make Statues of 
I red {αβγδ} in the Genitive.  Dionysos Tauromorphos( or of Bacchus in the Form of a Bull.) And the Elean Women in their ordinary Form of Prayer, beseech the God to come to them with his 
Herodotus saith the Greek Religion came first out of egypt.  Oxos Foot. The Argives also have a Bacchus surnamed Bugenes( or Ox-gotten;) and they call him up out of the Water by sounding of Trumpets, and flinging a young Lamb into the Abyss, for him that keeps the Door there: and these Trumpets they hid within their Thyrsi( or Green Boughs) as Socrates, in his Treatise of Rituals, relates. Likewise the Tales about the Titans, and that they call 
The Nocturna Sacra of Bacchus, called Nycteleia.  The mystic Night, have a strange agreement with what they tell us of the Discerptions, Resurrections, and Regenerations of Osiris; as also what relates to their Sepultures. For not only the egyptians,( as hath been already spoken) do show in many several Places, the Chests in which 
The Body of the Holy Ox was butted in many places.  Osiris lies; but the Delphians also believe, that the relics of Bacchus are laid up with them just by the Oracle-place; and the Hosti( or Holy Men) perform a secret Sacrifice within the Temple of Apollo, while the Thyiades( or Prophetesses) are a raising up 
{αβγδ}, or Fanman; the Sun is the Cause of Winds, and the Giver of Corn as well as of Wine.  The Winnower,( as they call him.) Now that the Greeks do not esteem Bacchus as the Lord and President of Wine only, but also of the whole Humid Nature Pindar alone is a sufficient Witness, when he saith, 
May gaudy Bacchus 
I red {αβγδ} for {αβγδ}.  Trees recruit,  
Gay Deity of summer Fruit.  For which Cause, it is forbidden to such as worship Osiris, either to destroy a Fruit-tree, or to stop up a Well. And they call not only the Nilus, but in general every Humid, The Efflux of Osiris. And a Pitcher of Water goes always first in their Sacred Processions, in Honour of the God. And they make the Figure of a Fig-leaf, both for the 
He being a Father to his Country as well as the Nile.  King and the Southern Climate; which Fig-leaf, is interpnted to mean The Watering and Spiriting of the Universe; and it seems to bear some Resemblance 
The Leaves of Vines, Figs, and Ivy, are called in Greek Thria, because they consist of three parts, as Athenaeus informs us. And these were all carried about in the Procession of Bacchus, called from them Thriamb●s, or Triumphus; and it was a Sacred Dance, in imitation of the Sun and Stars, to give thanks for the Fruits of the Year.  in its make to the Virilities of a Man. Moreover, when they keep the Feast of the Pamylia, which is a Phallick or Priapejan one( as was said before) they expose to view, and carry about a certain Image of a Man with a threefold Privity. For this God is a first Origin; but now every first Origin doth by its Fecundity multiply what proceeds from it. And we are commonly used instead of many times, to say Thrice, as Thrice Happy, and: As many Bonds thrice  told and infinite. Unless( by Jove) we are to understand the Word triple, as spoken by the ancients in a proper Sense. For the Humid Nature being in the beginning the chief Source and Origin of the Universe, must of consequence produce the three first Bodies, the Earth, the Air, and the Fire. As for the Story which is here  told by way of Surplusage to the Tale; how that Typhon threw the Privity of Osiris into the River, and Isis could not find it, and therefore fashioned and prepared the Resemblance and Effigies of it, and appointed it to be worshipped and carried about in their Processions, like as in the graecian Phallephoria: all which, amounts but to this, to instruct and teach us that the Prolifick and Generative Property of this God, had Moisture for its first Matter, and that by means of Moisture, it came to immix itself with things capable of Generation. We have also another Story  told us by the egyptians; how that once 
Apopis, Apis, Epaphus and Aboba, as the Syrians call him, was the same with Adonis, his Name signifies Pater Manium: for OB in Hebrew, is a Ghost, and Ab a Father.  Apopis, Brother to the Sun, fell at Variance with Jupiter, and made War upon him; but Jupiter entering into Alliance with Osiris, and by his means overthrowing his Enemy in a pitched Battle, he afterwards adopted him for his Son, and gave him the Name of Dionysos( or Bacchus.) It is easy to show that this Fabular Relation borders also upon the Verity of Physical Science. For the egyptians call the 
Air as well as Water, requires its Animation from the Sun.  Air Jupiter, with which the Parching and Fiery Property makes War; and though this be not the Sun, yet hath it some Cognation with the Sun. But now Moisture extinguishing the Excessiveness of Drought, increases and strengtheners the Exhalations of Wet, which give Food and vigour to the Air. Moreover, the Ivy, which the Greeks use to consecrate to Bacchus, is called by the egyptians 
Chen ha star, in Hebrew is Gratia Domini. This Leaf, by being a Thrion, resembles a Mans Virilities.  Chenostris, which Word( as they tell us) signifies in their Language Osiris's three. Ariston therefore, who wrote the Colony of the Athenians, 
For {αβγδ} I red {αβγδ} and {αβγδ} seems a Gloss.  might perchance have light upon a certain Epistle of Alexarchus's. Bacchus is reported also by the egyptians, to be the Son of Isis, and not to be called Osiris, but Arsaphes in the Letter A, which denotes 
Arsaphes is Mars Pater, from the Hebrew Hares Sol fervescens, and Ab Pater.  Valiant. This is hinted at by Hermaeus also, in his First Book about the egyptians; for he saith the Name of Osiris is to be interpnted Stout. I shall now pass by 
I red {αβγδ} for {αβγδ}.  Mnaseas, who joins Bacchus, Osiris, and Sarapis together, and makes them the same with Epaphus. I shall also omit Anticlides, who saith, that Isis was the Daughter of Prometheus, and that she was married to Bacchus. For the forementioned Proprieties of their Festivals and Sacrifices afford us a much more clear Evidence than the Authorities of Writers. They believe likewise, that of all the Stars, the 
It hath the Name of Sirius from Osiris, and of Dog from Mercury or Anubis, which was the Sun. And he began his yearly Progress( or Hunting-bout, as they fancied it) at the rising of this Star, which they therefore called his Dog.  Sirius( or Dog) is proper to Isis, because it bringeth on the Flowing of the Nile. And they pay Divine Honour to the Lion, and adorn the Gates of their Temples with the yawning Mouths of Lions, because the Nilus then overflows its Banks.  When first the mounting Sun the Lion Meets. 
And as they term the Nilus the Efflux of Osiris, so they hold and esteem the Earth for the Body of Isis, and that not all of it neither, but that 
They compared the Rivers overflowing the Grounds to the Suns Illuminating the Moon.  Part only which the Nilus, as it were, leaps, and thereby impregnates and mixes with. And by this Amorous Congress they produce Orus. Now this Orus is that Hora or Sweet Season and just Temperament of the Ambient Air, which nourisheth and preserveth all things; and they report him to have been nursed by 
In ancient Greek, Leto, or Lato signifies Water, whence the Latin Latex.  Latona, in the Marshy Grounds about Butos; because moist and watery Land best feeds those exhaled vapours which quench and relax Drought and parching Heat. But those Parts of the Country which are outmost, and upon the Confines and Sea-coast, they call 
Nephthys was the same with proserpina, as Typhon was with Pluto; and therefore the barren and unwatered part of egypt was sacred to her. Nephthucha in Hebrew is Aperta or Uncovered, and the Nephthuchim were a Tribe of egyptians, according to the Scripture.  Nephthys: and therefore they give her the Name of Teleutaea( or the Outmost) and report her to be married to Typhon. And therefore when the Nilus is excessive great, and so far passes its ordinary Bounds, that it approaches to those that inhabit the outmost Quarters, they call this Osiris's Accompanying with Nephthys, found out by the springing up of Plants thereupon: whereof the Melilot is one, which( as the Story tells us) being dropped behind and left there, gave Typhon to understand the Wrong that had been done to his Bed. Which made them say that Isis had a 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}.  Lawful Son called Orus, and Nephthys a Bastard, called Anubis. And indeed they record in the Successions of their Kings, that Nephthys being married to Typhon, was at first Barren. Now if they do not mean this of a Woman, but of a Goddess, they must needs hint out, that the Earth, by reason of its Solidity, is in its own Nature, infecund and Barren. And the Conspiracy and usurpation of Typhon, will be the Power of the Drought, which then prevails and dissipates that Generative Moisture, that both begets the Nile, and increases it. And the 
The Queen of Aethiopia, before called Thueris and Aso, seems to be no other than astart, and the Arabian Venus, by the Greeks called Astraea, and Nemesis, by the Galls Andras●e, and by the Germans Easter, and she was no other than the Moon. Arabia was the old Aethiopia, and the Mother of the New.  Queen of Aethiopia, that abetted his Quarrel, will denote the Southern Winds that come from Aethiopia. For when these come to overpower the Etesiae( or Anniversary Winds) which drive the Winds towards Aethiopia, and by that means prevent those Showers of rain which should augment the Nile from discharging themselves down, Typhon then being rampant, scorcheth all, and being wholly Master of the Nile, which now through Weakness and Debility, draws in his Head, and takes a contrary Course; he next thrusts him hollow, and sunk as he is into the Sea. For the Story that is  told us of the Closing up of Osiris in a Chest, seems to me to be nothing else but an Imitation of the withdrawing and disappearing of the Water. For which reason, they tell us that Osiris was missing upon the Month of Athyr; at which time the Etesia( or Anniversary Winds) being wholly ceased, the Nile returns to his Channel, and the Country looks bare: The Night also growing longer, the Darkness increases, and so the Power of Light fades away, and is overcome. 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}.  And as the Priests act several other Melancholy things upon this occasion, so they cover a 
This was the {αβγδ}, or golden Calf mentioned in the Scripture.  Guilded Cow with a black linen Pall, and thus expose her to public View, at the Mourning of the Goddess, 
For they look upon the Cow as the Image of Isis and of the Earth, was here inserted out of the Margin, and that corruptly too, as appears by Petavius's Copy.  for four days together, beginning at the Seventeenth. For the things they mourn for are also four; the first whereof, is because of the Falling and Recess of the River Nilus; the second, because the Northern Winds are then quiter suppressed by the Southern overpowering them; the Third, because the Day is grown shorter than the Night; and the Last and Chiefest of all, because of the Barrenness of the Earth, together with the Nakedness of the Trees, which then cast their Leaves. And on the Nineteenth Day at Night, 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}.  they go down to the Seaside, and the Priests and Sacred Livery bring forth the Chest, having within it a little Golden Ark( or 
{αβγδ}.  Boat) into which they pour fresh and potable Water, and all that are there present, give a great Shout for joy, that Osiris is now found. Then they take 
I red {αβγδ}, for {αβγδ}.  Fertile mould and stir it about in that Water, and when they have mixed with it several very costly Odours and Spices, they form it into a little Image, in fashion like a crescent, and then dress it up in fine clothes and adorn it, intimating hereby, that they believe these Gods to be the Substance of 
The Moon of Earth, and the Sun of Water, but yet so as to be both in one as an Hermaphrodite; for so they thought.  Earth and Water. But Isis again recovering Osiris, and rearing up Orus, made strong by Exhalations, Mists and Clouds, Typhon was indeed reduced, but not Executed; for the Goddess, who is Sovereign over the Earth, would not suffer the opposite Nature to Wet to be utterly extinguished, but loosed it and let it go, being desirous the 
I red {αβγδ} for {αβγδ}.  Mixture should continue. For it would be impossible for the World to be complete and perfect, if the Property of Fire should fail and be wanting. And as these things are not spoken by them 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}.  without a considerable show of Reason, so neither have we reason wholly to contemn this other Account which they give us; which is, That Typhon in the more ancient Times, was Master of Osiris's Portion. For( they say) 
That is, the Lower egypt.  egypt was once all Sea. For which reason, it is found at this Day to have abundance of Fish-shells, both in its Mines, and on its Mountains. And besides that, all the Springs and Wells( which in that Country are extreme numerous) have in them a salt and brackish Water, as if some 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}.  Remainder had run together thither, to be as it were laid up in store. But in process of time Orus got the upper hand of Typhon; that is, there happened such an Opportunity of sudden and tempestuous Showers of Rain, that the Nilus pushed the Sea out, and discovered the Champagn-land, and afterwards filled it up with continual Profusions of Mud. All which hath the Testimony of Sense to confirm it. For we see at this Day, that as the River drives down fresh Mud, and lays new Earth unto the old, the Sea by degrees gives back, and the salt Water runs off, as the Parts in the Bottom gain height by new accessions of Mud. We see moreover, that the iceland Phaios, which Homer observed in his Time to be a whole Days sail from egypt, is now a part of it; not because it changed its Place, or came nearer the Shore than before; but because the River still adding to, and increasing the main Land, the intermediate Sea was obliged to retire. To speak the truth, these things are not far unlike the Explications which the stoics use to give of the Gods: for they also say, that the Generative and Nutritive Property of the 
The Sum of all is, that the Air is the common Vehicle of all the Sun and Moons Influences.  Air, is called Bacchus; the striking and dividing Property Hercules; the Receptive Property, Ammon; that which passes through the Earth and Fruits, Ceres and proserpina; and that which passes through the Sea, Neptune. But those who join with these Physiological Accounts, also certain Mathematical Matters relating to Astronomy, suppose Typhon to mean the Orb of the 
There is no doubt but that Typhon was only a more antic and rude draft of Osiris, or the Sun: for the Gods of anti-enter Times turned to be the Devils of the later.  Sun, and Osiris that of the Moon. For that the Moon, being endowed with a prolifick and moistening Light, is very favourable both to the breeding of Animals, and the springing up of Plants; but the Sun having in it an immoderate and excessive Fire, burns and drys up such things as grow up and look green, and by its scorching Heat, renders a great part of the World wholly uninhabitable, and very often gets the better of the Moon. For which reason, the egyptians always call Typhon 
Seth and Soth are to star and for, as Thoth is to Thor, they all signify Lord and Father in differing Dialects.  Seth, which in their Language signifies a Domineering and Compelling Power. And they tell us in their Mythology, that Hercules is placed in the Sun, and rides about the World in it, and that Hermes doth the like in the Moon. For the Operations of the Moon seem to resemble Reason, and to proceed from Wisdom; 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}.  but those of the Sun to be like unto stroke, 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}.  effected by Violence and mere Strength. But the stoics affirm the Sun to be kindled and fed by the Sea, and the Moon by the Waters of Springs and Pools, which sand up a sweet and soft Exhalation to it. It is Fabled by the egyptians, that Osiris's Death happened upon the Seventeenth Day of the Month, at which time, it is evident that the Moon is at the Fullest. For which reason, the Pythagoreans call that Day Antiphraxis( or Disjunction) and utterly abominate the very Number. For the middle Number XVII. falling in betwixt the square Number XVI. and the oblong Parallelogram XVIII.( which are the only plain Numbers that have their Peripheryes equal with their Areae) disjoyns and separates them from each other; and being divided into equal Portions, it makes the Sesquioctave Proportion. Moreover, thore are some that affirm Osiris to have lived eight and twenty Years; and others again that say he only reigned so long, for that is the just Number of the Moons Degrees of Light, and of the Days wherein she performs her Circuit. And after they have cleft the three at the Solemnity they call Osiris's Burial, they next form it into an Ark( or Boat) in fashion like a crescent, because the Moon, when it joins the Sun, becomes first 
I red {αβγδ} for {αβγδ}, according to Petavius's Copy.  of that Figure, and then vanishes away. Likewise the Discerption of Osiris into Fourteen Parts, sets forth unto us symbolically, the Number of Days in which that Luminary is decreasing, from the Full to the Change. Moreover, the Day upon which she first appears, after she hath now escaped the Solar Rays, and passed by the Sun, they term Imperfect Good; for Osiris is Beneficent; and as this Name hath many other Significations, so what they call Effectuating and Beneficent Force, is none of the least. Hermaeus also tells us, that his other Name 
Omphis seems to be the same in sense with Ophi, Apis and Amun.  of Omphis, when interpnted, denotes a Benefactor. They moreover believe, that the several Risings of the River Nile bear a certain Proportion to the Variations of Light in the Moon. For they say that its highest Rise, which is at the Elephantina( or the Isle of Elephants) is eight and twenty Cubits high, which is the Number of its several Lights, and the Measures of its monthly Course; and that that at mends and Xois, which is the 
I red {αβγδ} for {αβγδ}.  lowest of all, is six Cubits high, which answers the Half-moon; but that the middlemost Rise, which is at Memphis, is( when it is at its just height) fourteen Cubits high, which answers the Full Moon. They also 
I add {αβγδ} after {αβγδ}.  say that the Apis is The Living Image of Osiris, and that he is begotten when a Prolifick Light darts down from the Moon, and 
Herodotus makes it to be a Flash of Lightning.  touches the Cow when she is disposed for Procreation; for which reason, many things in the Apis bear Resemblance to the Shapes of the Moon, it having light Colours, 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}.  intermixed with shady ones. 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}.  Moreover, upon the Kalends of the Month Phamenoth, they keep a certain holiday, by them called Osiris's Ascent into the Moon, and they account it the beginning of their Spring. Thus they place the Power of Osiris in the Moon, 
I here insert {αβγδ}.  and affirm him to be there married with Isis, which is Generation. For which cause, they style the Moon The Mother of the World, and believe her to have the Nature of both Male and Female; because she is first filled and impregnated by the Sun, and then her self sends forth Generative Principles into the Air, and from thence scatters them down upon the Earth. For that Typhonian Destruction doth not always prevail; but is very often subdued by Generation, and fast bound like a Prisoner, and afterwards gets up again and makes War upon Orus. Now this 
Orus is but Osiris over again, after a later Institution.  Orus is the Terrestrial World, which is not wholly exempted from either Generation or Destruction. But there are some that will have this Tale to be a Figurative Representation of the Eclipses. For the Moon is under an Eclipse at the Full, when the Sun is in opposition to her, because she then falls upon the Shadow of the Earth, as they say Osiris did into his Chest. Besides this, she hides and disappears of her self upon the thirtieth Day of every Month, but doth not extinguish the Sun quiter, no more than Isis did Typhon. And when 
The truth is, Nephthys was but a more antic and rougher sort of Isis.  Nephthys was delivered of Anubis, Isis owned the Child. For Nephthys is that Part of the World which is below the Earth, and invisible to us; and Isis that which is above the Earth and visible. But that which touches upon both 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}.  these, and is called the Horizon( or Bounding circled) and is common to them both, is called Anubis, and resembles in Shape the Dog, because the Dog makes use of his Sight by Night as well as by Day. And therefore Anubis seems to me to have a Power among the egyptians, 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}.  much like to that of Hecate among the Grecians, he being as well Terrestrial as olympic. Some again think Anubis to be 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}.  Saturn; wherefore( they say) that because he produces all things out of himself, and breeds them in himself, he had the Name of Kyon( which signifies in Greek both a Dog and a Breeder.) Moreover, those that worship the Dog, have a certain 
Saturn or Cronos, in egyptian Kyranis or Cornutus, was the same with Hercules and Moloch, i.e. the Jupiter of the ancient Savages, and the same with Typhon.  secret Meaning that must not be here revealed. And in the more remote and ancient Times, the Dog had the 
Not only for his being a Shepherd and a Huntsman, like their Apollo, but chiefly for his extraordinary Lasciviousness and Salacity, which was the main virtue of their Bacchus or Priapus. And therefore they call both the Dog and Mercury, Sothi or Thoth, which is Father.  highest Honours paid him in egypt; but after that Cambyses had slain the Apis, and thrown him away contemptuously like a Carrion, no Animal came near to him except the Dog only; upon this he lost his first Honour, and the Right he had of being worshipped above other Creatures. There are also some that will have the Shadow of the Earth, upon which they believe the Moon to fall when eclipsed, to be called Typhon. Wherefore it seems to me not to be unconsonant to reason to hold, that each of them a part is not in the right, but all together are. For 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}.  that it is not Drought, nor Wind, nor Sea, nor Darkness, but every part of Nature that is hurtful or destructive, that belongs to Typhon. For we are not to place the first Origins of the Universe in inanimate Bodies, as do Democritus and Epicurus, nor to take the Compiler of the 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}.  unqualified Matter, to be one Discourse and one Forecast, overruling and containing all things, as do the stoics. For it is not possible for any one thing, 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}. Petavius's Copy wants {αβγδ}.  whether it be Bad, or whether it be Good, to be the Cause of all things indifferently, where in the mean time God is the Cause of nothing. For the Frame of the World is( as Heraclitus speaks) in a State of Renitency, like a Harp or Bow; and according to Euripides: 
Nor Good, nor Bad, here's to be found apart;  
But both immixt in one for greater Art.  And therfore this most ancient Opinion hath been handed down from the Theologists and Law-givers, to the Poets and Philosophers, it having an Original fathered upon no one, and having gained a persuasion both strong and indelible, being every where professed and received by Barbarians as well as Grecians, and that not only in Vulgar Discourses and public famed, but also in their very secret Mysteries and open Sacrifices: That the World is neither hurried about by wild Chance without Intelligence, Discourse and Direction, nor yet that there is but one Reason, which as it were with a Rudder, or with gentle and easy Reins, directs it and holds it in; but that on the contrary, there are in it several differing things, and those made up of bad as well as good; or rather( to speak more plainly) that Nature produces nothing here, but what is mixed and tempered. Not that there is as it were one Store-keeper, who out of 
He alludes to Homer, who feigns Jupiter to have in his House two differing Jars, the one filled with Good Things, and the other with Bad.  two differing Casks, dispenses to us human Affairs adulterated and mixed together, as an Host doth his liquours; but by reason of two contrary Origins and opposite Powers, whereof the one leads to the Right-hand, and in a direct Line, and the other turns to the contrary Hand, and goes athwart, both Human Life is mixed, and the World( if not all) yet that Part which is about the Earth and below the Moon, is become very unequal and various, and liable to all manner of Changes. For if nothing can come without a Cause, and if a good thing cannot afford a Cause of Evil, Nature then must certainly have a peculiar Source and Origin, as of Good, so of Evil. And this is the Opinion of the Greatest and Wisest Part of Mankind. For some believe there are 
There were two ancient Sects in Chaldaea; the Orcheni, which worshipped the Light, and the Borsippeni, which worshipped the Dark.  two Gods, as it were two Rival Workmen; the one whereof they make to be the Maker of Good Things, and the other of Bad. And some call the Better of these God, and the other Daemon; as doth Zoroastres the Magee, whom they report to be Five Thousand Years elder than the Trojan Times. This Zoroastres therefore called the one of these 
Hesychius saith, that Mazes in the Phrygian Tongue signifies Jupiter and Great. Oromazes therefore is no other than Coelum or Uranos, Ora being Light, and Mazes Great. He was above called Masdes and Manis.  Oromazes, and the other Arimanius; and affirmed moreover, that the one of them, did of any thing sensible, the most resemble Light, and the other again Darkness and Ignorance. But that 
M●h●er in Persian is the Comparative Degree of Mih( as may, as Hesychius writes it) which signifies Great, and so signifies Prince or Lord. He was no other than Apollo or the Sun.  Mithras was in the middle betwixt them. For which Cause the Persians call Mithras the Mediator. And they tell us, that he first taught Mankind to make Vows and Offerings of Thanksgiving to the one, and to offer Averting and Feral Sacrifice to the other. For they beat a certain Plant called Homomi, in a Mortar, and call up Pluto and the Dark; and then mix it with the Blood of a sacrificed Wolf, and convey it to a certain Place where the Sun never shines, and there cast it away. For of Plants, they believe that some appertain to the Good God, and others again to the Evil Daemon; and likewise they think, that of Animals, such as Dogs, Fowls, and Urchins, belong to the Good; and Water Animals to the Bad; for which reason, they account him happy that kills most of them. These Men moreover tell us a great many Romantic things about these Gods, whereof these are some. They say that Oromazes springing from purest Light, and 
Arimanius, Rimmon or Remphan, as the Bible calls him, had his Name in Syriack from his gigantic Height, for Ram is High in Hebrew. He was the same with Moloch and Hercules. The egyptians called him Armais, and the Greeks Hermes and Danaus. It is like he was not counted a Devil until the Magees founded a better Worship than that of Mars.  Arimanius on the other hand, from pitchy Darkness, these two are therefore at War with one another. And that Oromazes made six Gods, whereof the first was the Author of Benevolence, the second of Truth, the third of Justice; and the rest, one of Wisdom, another of Wealth, and a third of that Pleasure which accrues from good Actions; and that Arimanius likewise made the like Number of contrary Operations to confront them. After this, Oromazes having first treble his own Magnitude mounted up aloft, as far above the Sun, as the Sun itself is above the Earth, and so bespangled the Heavens with Stars. But one Star( called Sirius, or the Dog) he set as a kind of sentinel or Scout before all the rest. And after he had made 
The Chaldaean Sphere had XXIV. Signs upon the Meridian also; for they believed the World to be Oblong, like an Egg. Hence the Number of XXIV. Elders in ancient Cities.  four and twenty Gods more, he placed them all in an Egg-shell. But those that were made by Arimanius( being themselves also of the like Number) breaking a Hole in this beauteous and glazed Egg-shell, bad things came by this means to be intermixed with good. But the fatal time is now approaching, in which Arimanius, who by means of these brings Plagues and Famines upon the Earth, must of necessity be himself utterly extinguished and destroyed; at which time, the Earth being made plain and level, there will be one Life, and 
The Magi served the Babylonians and Persians in their Design of an universal Monarchy.  one Society of Mankind, made all happy, and of one Speech. But Theopompus saith, that according to the Opinion of the Magees, 
That is, the Barbarous and the Civil Factions in those Parts, viz. The Scythians and Persians, &c.  each of these Gods subdues, and is subdued by turns, for the space of three thousand years a piece, and that for three thousand years more, they quarrel and fight, and destroy each others Works; but that at last, Pluto shall fail, and Mankind shall be happy, and neither need Food nor yield a Shadow. And that the God, who projects these things, doth, 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}.  for some time, take his Repose and Rest; but yet this time is not much to him, although it seem so to Man, whose Sleep is but short. Such then is the Mythology of the Magees. But the Chaldaeans 
I add here {αβγδ}.  say there are Gods of the Planets also, two whereof, they style Benefics, and two Malefics; the other three they pronounce to be common and indifferent. As for the Grecians, their Opinions are obvious and well known to every one, to wit, that they make the part of the 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}.  good God to appertain to Jupiter Olympius, and that of the Averruncus( or Hateful Daemon) to Pluto, and likewise, that they fable Harmonia to have been begotten by Venus and Mars, the one whereof is rough and quarrelsome, and the other sweet and amorous. In the next place, consider we the great Agreement of the Philosophers with these People. For Heraclitus doth in plain and naked terms call War the Father, the King, and the Lord of all things; and saith, that Homer, when he thus prayed, Discord be damned from Gods and Human Race, Little thought he was then cursing the Origination of all things, they owing their Rise to Aversation and Quarrel. He also 
I here insert {αβγδ}.  saith, that the Sun will never exceed his proper Bounds, and if he should, that Tongues, Aids of Justice soon will find him out. Empedocles also calls the Benefic Principle Love and Friendship, and very often 
I red {αβγδ} for {αβγδ}, out of his Fragments.  Sweet-look'd Harmony, and the Evil Principle: Pernicious Enmity and bloody Hate. The Pythagoreans use a great number of Terms as Attributes of these two Principles; of the Good, they use the Unite; 
I add {αβγδ}.  the Terminate, the Permanent, the Streight, the Odd, the Square, the 
{αβγδ} is well added here by Xylander.  Equal, the Dexter, and the Lucid; and again of the Bad, the Two, the Interminate, the Fluent, the Crooked, the Even, the Oblong, the Unequal, the Sinister, and the Dark; insomuch that all these are looked upon as Principles of Generation. But Anaxagoras made but two, the Intelligence and the Interminate; and Aristotle called the first of these Form, and the latter Privation. But Plato in many places, 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ} with Xylander.  as it were shading and veiling over his Opinion, names the one of these opposite Principles The same, and the other the T'other. But in his Books of Laws, when he was now grown old, he affirmed( and that not in Riddles and Emblems, as usual, but) in plain and proper Words, that the World is not moved by one Soul, but perhaps by a great many, but not by fewer than Two; the one of which is Beneficent, and the other contrary to it, and the Author of things contrary. He also leaves a certain Third Nature in the midst between, which is neither without Soul, nor without Discourse, nor devoid of a self moving Power, as some suppose; but communicates with both Principles; but yet so as still to affect, desire and pursue the better of them, as I shall make out in the ensuing part of this Discourse, in which I design to reconcile the Theology of the egyptians, principally with this sort of Philosophy. For the Frame and Constitution of this World is made up of contrary Powers, but yet such as are not of so equal Strength, but that the Better is still Predominant. But it is impossible for the Ill one to be quiter extinguished, because much of it is interwoven with the Body, and much with the Soul of the Universe, and it always maintains a fierce Combat with the better Part. And therefore that Intellect and Discourse in the Soul of the World, which is the Prince and Master of all the best things is Osiris: And in the Earth, in the Winds, in the Waters, in the Heaven, and in the Stars, what is ranged, fixed, and in a sound Constitution,( as orderly Seasons, due Temperaments of Air, and the Revolutions of the Stars) is the 
This is the Platinists {αβγδ}, or the Fabricator of the World.  Efflux and appearing Image of Osiris. Again, the Passionate, Titanick, Irrational and Brutal Part of the Soul is Typhon, and what in the Corporeal Nature, is Adventitious, Morbid and Tumultuous ( as 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}.  Irregular Seasons, Distemperatures of Air, Eclipses of the Sun, and Disappearings of the Moon) is as it were the Incursions and Devastations 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}.  of Typhon. And the Name of 
Seth or Soth, is the same with Thoth, which signifies The Father or Lord.  Seth, by which they call Typhon, declares as much; for it denotes a Domineering and Compelling Power, and also very often an Overturning, and again a Leaping over. There are also some that say that Bebaeon was one of Typhons Companions; but Manethos saith, Typhon himself was called Bebon. Now that Name signifies 
The Name of Bebon is better derived from the Oriental Word Baba, which signifies a Hole or Cavity: His Temples being like his Nature, subterraneous, and the Pillars of Seth were in these Syringes or Vaults, and not in Syria, as is commonly supposed.  Restraining and hindering; as who should say, while all things march along in a regular Course, and move steadily toward their natural End, the Power of Typhon stands in their way and stops them. For which reason they assign him, of all the tame Beasts, the most brutal and sottish, the Ass; and of all the wild Beasts, the most savage and fierce, the Crocodile and River-Horse. Of the Ass we have spoken already. They show us at Hermopolis, the Statue of Typhon, which is A River-Horse with a Hawk upon his Back, fighting with a Serpent: where they set out Typhon by the Horse, and by the Hawk that Power and Principle, the which, when Typhon possesses himself of by Violence, he becomes oftentimes sedate and undisquieted, being neither disturbed himself by the Malignant Nature within him, nor disturbing others. For which reason also, when they are to offer Sacrifice upon the Seventh Day of the Month Tybi, which they call, 
The phoenicians and egyptians were one People, and of one Religion, and Isis was the same with the Dea Syria.  The Arrival of Isis out of Phoenice, they print the River-Horse bound upon their Sacred Cakes Besides this, there is a constant Custom at the Town of Apollo, for every one to eat some part of a Crocodile; and having upon a certain set Day, hunted down as many of them as they are able, they kill them and throw down their carcases before the Temple. And they tell us that Typhon made his escape from Orus in the Form of a 
The LXX. took Leviathan in Job to be the Devil.  Crocodile; for they make all bad and noxious things, whether Animals, Plants or Passions, to be the Works, the Members, and the Motions of Typhon. On the other hand, they represent Osiris by an Eye and a sceptre, the one whereof expresses Forecast, and the other Power. In like manner Homer, when he calleth the governor and Monarch of all the World, supremest Jove, and mighty counselor, Seems to me to denote his empery by Supreme, and his Well-advisedness and Discretion by counsellor. They also oftentimes describe this God by a Hawk, because he exceeds in quickness of Sight, and Velocity of Flying, and easily digests his Food. He is also said to fly over the Bodies of Dead Men that lay unburied, and to drop down Earth upon their Eyes. Likewise when he alights down upon the Bank of any River to assuage his Thirst, he sets his Feathers up on end, and after he hath done Drinking, he lets them fall again. 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}. The Basil and Aldine Editions have {αβγδ} instead of {αβγδ}.  Which he plainly doth because he is now safe, and escaped from the danger of the Crocodile; for if he chances to be catched, his Feathers then continue stiff as before. They also show us every where Osiris's Statue in the Shape of a Man, with his private Part erect, to betoken unto us his Faculty of Generation and Nutrition; and they dress up his Images in a 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}.  Flame-coloured rob, esteeming the Sun as the Body of the Power of Good, 
I insert {αβγδ} in this place.  and as the Visible Part of Intelligible Substance. Wherefore we have good reason to reject those that ascribe the Suns Globe unto Typhon, to whom appertaineth nothing of a Lucid or Salutary Nature, nor Order, nor Generation, nor Motion attended with Measure and Proportion, but the clean contrary to them. Neither is that parching Drought 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}.  which destroys many Animals and Plants, to be accounted as an Effect of the Suns; but of those Winds and Waters, which in the Earth and Air, are not tempered according to the Season, at what time the Principle of the Unordered and Interminate Nature, acts at random, and so stifles and suppresses those Exhalations that should ascend. Moreover, in the Sacred Hymns of Osiris, they call him up, 
This shows Osiris to be the same with Hercules, who was said above to go about in the Sun.  who lies hidden in the Arms of the Sun. And upon the Thirtieth Day of the Month of Epiphi, they keep a certain Festival called The Birth-day of the Eyes of Orus, at what time the Sun and the Moon are in one direct Line, as esteeming not only the Moon, but also the Sun to be the Eye and Light of 
This proves Orus to be the same with his Father Osiris.  Orus. Likewise the Two and Twentieth Day of the Month Phaophi, they make to be The Nativity of the Staves of the Sun, which they observe after the Autumnal equinox, intimating hereby, that he now 
This proves the Lame and Dumb Harpocrates to be the Sun.  wants, as it were, a 
I leave out the former {αβγδ}.  Prop and a Stay, he suffering a great Diminution both of Heat and Light, by his declining and moving obliquely from us. Besides this, they led the Sacred Cow seven times about her Temple, at the time of the Winter Solstice. And this going round is called The Seeking of Osiris, 
I leave out {αβγδ}, it being but a Marginal Gloss.  the Goddess being in great Distress for Water in Winter time. And the reason of her going so many times round, is because 
Here I add {αβγδ}.  the Sun finishes his Passage from the Winter to the summer tropic in the Seventh Month. It is reported also, that 
That is, the Priests of Orus, who were founded by those of Isis.  Orus the Son of Isis, was the first that ever sacrificed to the Sun upon the Fourth Day of the Month, as we find it written in a Book, called The Birth-Days of Orus. Moreover, they offer Incense to the Sun three times every Day; Resi●i at his Rising, myrrh when he is in the Mid Heaven, and that they call Kyphi, about the time of his Setting:( what each of these mean, I shall afterwards explain.) Now they are of Opinion, that the Sun is atoned and pacified by all these. But to what purpose should I heap together many things of this Nature? For there are some that scruple not to say plainly, that Ostris is the Sun, and that he is called 
Sirius is frequently used by the Poets for the Sun.  Sirius by the Greeks, although the egyptians adding the Article to his Name, have obscured it and brought its Sense into question. They also 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}.  declare Isis to be no other than the Moon, and say that such statues of hers as are horned, were made in imitation of the crescent; and that the black Habit, in which she so passionately pursues the Sun, sets forth her Disappearings and Eclipses. For which reason they use to invoke the Moon in Love Concerns; and Budo●cus also saith, that Isis presides over Love Matters. Now these things have in them a show and semblance of Reason; but they that would make 
Typhon was the Sun of the ancient Savages; the Greeks make him Pilot to the Ship Argo, and call him Typhis.  Typhon to be the Sun, deserve not to be heard. But we must again resume our proper Discourse. 
Isis in the Coptick Tongue signifies Excelsa or Sublata, which shows her to be the very same with Urania, or Celestial Venus and the Moon. The Pythagoreans called the Moon the etherial Earth, and attributed all tertestrial Matter to her. The Priests called egypt the body of Isis for the same reason. She was the same with Jo, which in egyptian is the Moon.  Isis is indeed the Female Property of Nature, and her Receptivity of all Production, in which Sense she was called the Nurse, and the All-receiver by Plato, and Myrionymos( or the Goddess with ten thousand Names) by the common sort, because that being transmuted by The Discourse, she receives all manner of Shapes and Guises. But she hath a Natural Love to the Prime and Principal of all Beings( which is the same with the Good Principle) and eagerly affects it, and pers●tes after it; and she shuns and repels the Part of the Evil one. And although she be indeed both the Receptacle and Matter of either Nature, yet she always of her self inclines to the Better of them, and readily, gives way to it to generate upon her, and to sow its Effluxes and Resemblances into her, and she rejoices, and is very glad when she is impregnated and filled with Productions. For a Production is an Image of the Real Substance upon Matter, and what is generated is an Imitation of what is in Truth. And therefore they do not without great Consonancy, Fable the Soul of Osiris to be eternal and incorruptible, but that his Body is often torn in pieces and destroyed by Typhon; and that Isis wanders to and fro to look him out, and when she hath found him, puts him together again. For the Permanent Being, the Mental Nature, and the Good is itself above Corruption and Change; but the sensitive and corporeal Part, takes off certain Images from it, and receives certain Proportions, Shapes and Resemblances, 
Here I add {αβγδ}.  which like Impressions upon Wax, do not continue always, but are swallowed up by the Disorderly and Tumultuous Part, which is chased hither from the upper Region, and makes War with Orus, who is born of Isis, being the 
So that Osiris, Isis and Orus, that is, Mind, Matter and the Universe made up the Pythagorean and platonic Triad.  Image of the Mental World. For which reason, he is said to be prosecuted for Bastardy by Typhon, as not being pure and entire, and alone by himself( like his Father the Discourse) nor unmixed and impassable, but embased with Matter by Corporeity. 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}.  But he gets the Better of him, and carries the Cause: Hermes, that is, The Discourse, witnessing and proving, that Nature produces the World by becoming her self of like Form with the Mental Property. Moreover, the Generation of Apollo by Isis and Osiris, while these Deities were yet in Rhea's Womb, hints out unto us, that before this World became visible and was completed 
I add {αβγδ} before {αβγδ}.  by The Discourse; Matter being convinced by Nature, that she was imperfect alone, brought forth the first Production. For which reason they also say, that Cripple Deity was begotten in the Dark, and they call him The 
Or Arueris: he is called in Eusebius, Agrueris, and was the same with Harpocrates.  Elder Orus; for he was not the World, but a kind of a Picture and Phantom of the World to be. But this Orus is Terminate and complete of himself, yet hath he not quiter destroyed Typhon, but only taken off his over great Activity and Brutal Force. Whence it is that they tell us, that at Coptos, the Statue of Orus holds fast in his Hand the Privities of Typhon; and they Fable that Mercury took out Typhons Sinews, and used them for Harp-strings, to denote unto us, that when The Discourse composed the Universe, it made one Concord out of many Discords, and did not abolish, but accomplish the Corruptible Faculty. Whence it comes, that being weak and feeble in the present State of things, it blends and mixes with the crazy and mutable Parts of the World, and so becomes in the Earth the Causer of Concussions and Shakings; 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}. See the Edition of Aldus.  and in the Air, of parching Droughts and Tempestuous Winds, as also of Hurricanes, and Thunders. It likewise infects both Waters and Winds with pestilential Diseases, and runs up, and insolently rages as high as the very Moon, suppressing many times, and blackening the Lucid Part; as the egyptians believe and relate, that Typhon one while smote Orus's Eye, and another while plucked it out and swallowed it up, and afterwards gave it back to the Sun; intimating by the Blow, the Monthly Diminution of the Mo●●, and by the 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}.  Blinding of him, its Eclipse: which the Sun cures again by shining presently upon it, as soon as it hath escaped from the Shadow of the Earth. Now the better and more Divine Nature consists of Three; of the Intelligible Part, of Matter, and of that which is made up of both, which the Greeks call Cosmos( that is, Trimness) and we the World. Plato therefore uses to name the Intelligible Part the 
{αβγδ}.  F●rm, the Sample and the Father, and Matter the Mother, the Nurse, and the Seat and Receptacle of Generation; and that again, which is made up of both, the Off-spring and the Production. And one would conjecture that the egyptians called it the most perfect of Triangles, because they likened the Nature of the Universe principally to that; which Plato also in his Common-wealth seems to have made use of 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}.  to the same purpose, when he forms his Nuptial Diagram. Now that Diagram consists of three Angles, whereof that which makes the Right Angle Consists of three Parts, the Base of four, and the Subtense of five, being equal in value with the two that contain it. We are therefore to take the Perpendicular to represent the Male Property, the Base the Female, and the Subtense that which is produced by them both. We are likewise to look upon Osiris as the First Cause, Isis as the Faculty of Reception, and Orus as the Effect. For the Number Three is the first odd and perfect Number, and the Number Four is a Square, having for its Side the Even Number Two. The Number Five also in some respects resembles the Father, and in some again the Mother, being made up of Three and Two; besides, Panta( All things) seems to be derived from penned( Five) and they use Pempasasthai( which is 
The Number of Fingers upon one Hand.  telling Five) for Counting. Moreover the Number Five makes a Square equal to the Number of Letters used among the egyptians, as also to the Number of Years which 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}.  Apis lived. They are also used to call Orus 
Kaima in the Syriack, is Redivivus.  Kaimis, which signifieth as much as Seen; for the World is perceptible to Sense, and visible; and Isis they sometimes call Muth, and sometimes again Athyri, and sometimes Methuer. And by the First of these Names they mean 
and Mud or Wet.  Mother, by the Second 
Ath Uro, is Domus Ori vel Regis, in the Coptick Tongue.  Orus's Mundan House( as Plato calls it, The Place and the Receptacle of Generation) but the Third is compounded of two Words, the one whereof signifies 
Methuer is an Epithet of Isis, or the Moon, and it seems to me to be the same with the Hebrew Meth Ver, i. e. Dead and awake again; to denote her Mutations.  Full, and the other the Cause; for the Matter of the World is full, and it is closely joined with the good, and pure, and well ordered Principle. And it may be Hesiod also, when he makes the first things 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}.  of all to be Chaos, Earth, Hell and Love, may be thought to take up no other Principles than these, if we apply these Names as we have already disposed them, to wit, that of Earth to Isis, that of Love to Osiris, and that of Hell to Typhon; for he seems to lay the Chaos under all, as a kind of Room or Place for the World to lie in. And the Subject we are now upon, seems in a manner to call for Plato's Tale, which Socrates tells us in the Symposion about the Production of Eros,( or Love,) where he saith, how that once on a Time, Penia( or Poverty) having a mighty desire of Children, laid her down by Porus( or Plenty's) Side as he was asleep, and that she thereupon conceiving by him, brought forth Eros, who was by Nature both 
I red {αβγδ} for {αβγδ} out of Plato.  frowzy and very cunning, as coming of a Father that was Good and Wise, and had Sufficiency of all things; but of a Mother that was very Needy and Poor, and that by reason of her Indigence, still hankered after another, and was eagerly importunate for another. For this same Porus is no other than the First Amiable, Desirable, complete and Sufficient Being; and Matter is that which he calleth Penia, she being of her self alone destitute of the Property of Good, and( when impregnated by it) she still desires and craves for more. Moreover, the World, or Orus, that's produced out of these two, being not Eternal, nor impassable, nor Incorruptible, but 
{αβγδ}.  Ever-a-making, therefore Machinates partly by shifting of Accidents, and partly by Circular Motions, to remain still Young and never to die. But we must remember that we are not to make use of Fables as if they were Doctrinal throughout, but only to take that in each of them, which we shall judge to make a pertinent Resemblance. And therefore when we treat of 
It is plain from hence, that he accounts Matter and Form to be but Romantick or Mythologick Principles, and not real ones.  Matter, we need not( with respect to the Sentiments of some Philosophers) to conceit in our Minds a certain Body devoid of Soul and of all Quality, and of itself wholly idle and unactive. For we use to call oil the Matter of an Unguent, and Gold the Matter of a Statue, though they are not destitute of all 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}.  Quality. And we render the very Soul and Mind of Man to Discourse, to be dressed up and composed into Science and virtue. There have been some also that have made the Mind to be a Receptacle of Forms, and a kind of an 
{αβγδ}.  Imprimery for things intelligible; and some are of Opinion again, that the Genital Humidity in the Female Sex is no active Property, nor efficient Principle; but only the Matter and Nutriment of the Production. The which, when we retain in our Memories, we ought to conceive likewise, that this Goddess, which always participates of the First God, and is ever taken up with the Love of those Excellencies and Charms that are about him, is not by Nature opposite to him; but that as 
Here is inserted out of the Margin these Words. To love a Lawful and just Husband is accounted a pie●e of justice, and therefore I have omitted it.  we are used to say of a very good natured Woman, that( though she be married to a Man, and constantly enjoys his Embraces) yet she hath a fond kind of Longing after him; so hath she always a strong Inclination to the God, though she be present and round about him, and though she be impregnated with his most prime and pure Particles; and that moreover where Typhon falls in and touches upon her extreme Parts, it is there she appears melancholy, and is said to mourn, and to look for certain relics and Pieces of Osiri●, and to wrap them up carefully in fine Cloath; she receiving all things that die and laying them up within her self, as she again brings forth and sends up out of her self all such things as are produced. And those 
{αβγδ}.  Proportions, Forms and Effluxes of the God that are in the Heaven and Stars, do indeed continue always the same, but those that are sown abroad into mutable things, as into Land, Sea, Plants and Animals are 
For, {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}.  resolved, destroyed and butted, and afterwards show themselves again very often, and come up a new in several different Productions. For which reason, the Fable makes Typhon to be married to Nephthys, and Osiris to have accompanied with her by stealth. For the outmost and most extreme Parts of Matter which they call 
The extreme Parts of egypt, which were never covered by the Nilus, were reckoned the Body of Nephthys or Preserpine, as the other Parts the Body of Isis. But the Philosophical Priests carried this Notion higher.  Nephthys, and the End is mostly under the Power of the Destructive Faculty; but the Fecund and Salutary Power dispenses but a feeble and languid Seed into those Parts, and it is all destroyed by Typhon, except only what Isis taking up doth preserve, cherish and improve: But in the main, Typhon is still the prevailing Power, as both Plato and Aristotle insinuate. Moreover, the Generative and Salutary Part of Nature hath its Motion towards him, and in order to procure Being; but the Destroying and Corruptive Part hath its Motion from him, and in order to procure Not-being. For which reason, they call the former Part 
Isis may be strained to signify both Going and Science.  Isis, from Going and being Born-along with Knowledge; she being a kind of a living and prudent Motion. For her Name is not of a Barbarous Original; but as all the Gods have one Name( 
Theos, or according to the more ancient laconic Dialect Sior, is the same with Thor, star, and Sirius, and signifies Lord and Sire.  Theos) in common, and that is derived from the two first Letters of Theon( Runner) and of Theatos( Visible) so also this very Goddess is both from Motion and Science at once called Isis by us, and Isis also by the egyptians. So Plato likewise tells us, that the ancients opened the Nature of the Word 
I red {αβγδ} for {αβγδ}.  Usia( or Substance) by calling it Isia( that is, Knowledge and Motion;) as also that Noësis( Intellection) and Phronesis( Discretion) had their Names given them for being a Phora( or Agitation) and a kind of Motion or Niis( or Mind) which was then as it were Hiemenos and Pheromenos( that is, moved and agitated) and the like he affirmeth of 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}.  Synienai( which signifies To understand) that it was as much as to say, To be in Commotion. Nay, he saith moreover, that they attribute the very Names of the Agathon( or Good) and of Arete( or virtue) to the Theontes( or Runners) and the Euroûntes( or 
I red {αβγδ} for {αβγδ}.  Well-movers.) As likewise on the other hand again, they used Terms opposite to Motion by way of reproach; for they called 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}.  what clogged, tied up, locked up, and confined Nature from Jesthai and Jenai( that is, from Agitation and Motion) Kakia( Baseness or Ill Motion) Aperia( Difficulty or Difficult Motion) Deilia( Fearfulness or Fearful Motion) and Ania( Sorrow or want of Motion.) But Osiris had his Name from Hosion and Hieron compounded together: for the Discourse is common both to celestial and Subterrestrial Beings; the former of which, the ancients thought fit to style Hiera( or Sacred) and the latter Hosia( or 
With relation to the Manes.  Pious). But that Discourse which discloses things Heavenly, and which appertains to things whose Motion tends Ano( or Upwards) is called Anubis; and sometimes he is also name Hermanubis, the latter part of his Name referring to things Above, and the former to things 
Because Hertnes, Armais, or Armain, as the egyptians called him, differed not from Arimanius and Typhon.  Beneath. For which reason they also sacrifice to him two Cocks, the one whereof is white, and the other of a Saffron Colour, as esteeming the things above to be entire and clear, and the things beneath to be mixed and various. Nor need any one to wonder at the Formation of these Words from the graecian Tongue, for there are many 
Yet there must be great Prudence in distinguishing such Words.  Thousand more of this kind which accompanying those who at several times removed out of Greece, do to this very day sojourned and remain among foreigners; some whereof, when Poetry would bring back into use, it hath been falsely accused of Barbarism by those Men, who love to call such Words Glosses( or Tongues.) They say moreover, that in the Books 
The Priests did never put their own Names to the Sacred Books, but that of their God Hermes: See Jamblichus de Mysteriis Aegyptiorum.  inscribed to Hermes, there is an account given about the Sacred Names, how that Power which presides over the Circulation of the Sun, is called Orus, and by the Greeks, Apollo, and that which is over the Winds is by some called Osiris, and by others again Sarapis, and by others Sothi, in the egyptian Tongue. Now that Word signifies in Greek Kyein( to Breed) and Kyesin( Breeding) and therefore by an Obliquation of the Word Kyein, the Star which they account proper to the Goddess Isis is called in Greek Kyon( which is as well Dog as 
The Dog is Sacred to the Sun, for being Prolifick and Wise.  Breeder.) And although it be but a fond thing to be over contentious about Words, yet I had rather yield to the egyptians the Name of Sarapis than that of Osiris: 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}.  I therefore account the former to be foreign, and the latter to be Greekish, but believe both to appertain to one God and to one Power. And the egyptian Theology seems to favour this Opinion. For they oftentimes call Isis by the Name of 
Saosis or says.  Minerva, which in their Language expresseth this Sentence, I came from myself, which is significative of a Motion proceeding from itself. But Typhon is called( as hath been said before) Seth, Bebon and 
The Jews call the Devil Samael, i.e. The Destroying Power.  Smu, which Names would insinuate a kind of a forcible Restraint, and an Opposition and Subversion. Moreover, they call the Load-stone Orus's Bone, and Iron Typhon's Bone, as Manethos relates. For as the Iron is oftentimes like a thing that were drawn to, and that followed the Load-stone, and oftentimes again flies off and recoils to the opposite Part, so the Salutary, the Good and the Discursive Motion of the Universe doth, as by a gentle persuasion, invert, reduce and make softer the rugged and Typhonian one; and when again it is restrained and forced back 
I add {αβγδ}.  Typhon returns into himself, and sinks into his former 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}.  Interminateness. Eudoxus also saith, that the egyptians Fable of 
Harpocrates or the Hybernal Sun.  Jupiter, how that being once unable to go, because his Legs grew together, he for very shane spent all his time in the Wilderness; but that Isis dividing and separating these Parts of his Body, he came to have the right Use of his Feet. This Fable also hints to us by these Words, that the Intelligence and Discourse of the God which walked before in the unseen and inconspicuous State came into Generation by means of Motion. The Sistrum likewise( or the Rattle of Isis) doth intimate unto us, that all things ought to be agitated and shooke, and not be suffered to rest from their Motion; but be as it were rung up and awoke, when they begin to grow drowsy and to droop. For they tell us, that the Sistres avert and fright away Typhon, insinuating hereby, that as Corruption locks up and fixes Natures Course, so Generation again resolves and excites it by means of Motion. Moreover, as the Sistre hath its upper part convex, so its 
I red {αβγδ} for {αβγδ}.  Circumference contains the Four things that are shaken: for that part of the World also which is liable to Generation and Corruption is contained by the Sphere of the Moon; but all things are moved and changed in it by means of the Four Elements, of Fire, Earth, Water and Air. And upon the upper part of the Circumference of the Sistre, on the out side, they set the Effgies of a C●t carved with a Human Face; and again, on the under part below the four Jingling things, they set on one side the Face of Isis, and on the other the Face of Nephthys, symbolically representing by these two Faces Generation and Death( for these are Changes and Alterations of the Elements:) and by the Cat the Moon, because of the different Colours, the Night-motion, and the great Fecundity of this Animal. For they say that she brings forth first One, then Two, and Three, and Four and Five, and so adds until she comes to Seven; so that she brings Eight and Twenty in all, which are as many as there are several Degrees of Light in the Moon; but this looks more like a 
It is therefore to be understood of the Celestial Cat.  Romance. This is certain, that the Pupils of her Eyes are observed to fill up, and grow large upon the Full of the Moon, and again, to contract and grow less upon the Decrease of this Star. To sum up all then in one Word, it is not reasonable to believe, that either the Water, or the Sun, or the Earth, or the Heaven is Osiris or Isis: Nor again, that the Fire, or the drought, or the Sea is Typhon; but if we simply ascribe to Typhon whatever in all these is through Excesses or Defects intemperate or disorderly; and if on the other hand we reverence and honour what in them all is Orderly, Good and Beneficial, esteeming them as the Operations of Isis, and as the Image, Imitation and Discourse of Osiris, we shall not err. And we shall besides, take off the Incredulity of Eudoxus, who makes a great Question how it comes to pass, that neither 
Ceres in Greek Demeter or Mother Deo, and also {αβγδ}, or Libera, is the same with Isis and Venus.  Ceres hath any part in the Care of Love Affairs( but only Isis;) nor Bacchus any Power, either to increase the Nile, or to preside over the Dead. For we hold that these Gods are set over the whole share of Good in one common Discourse, and that whatever is either Good or Amiable in Nature, is all owing to these, the one yielding the Principles, and the other receiving and 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ} with Petavius's Copy.  dispensing them. By this means we shall be able to deal with the Vulgar and more importune sort also, whether their Fancy be to accommodate the things that refer to these Gods, to those Changes which happen to the Ambient Air at the several Seasons of the Year, or to Productions, and to the Times of Sowing and 
I red {αβγδ} for {αβγδ}, out of the same Copy.  ear-ring, affirming that Osiris is then butted when the sown Corn is covered over by the Earth, and that he revives again, and re-appears when it begins to sprout. Which they say is the reason that Isis is reported upon her finding her self to be with Child, to have hung a certain 
For a Scarecrow I suppose.  Amulet or Charm about her upon the sixth day of the Month Phaophi; and that she was delivered of Harpocrates about the Winter tropic, he being in the first Shootings and Sprouts very Imperfect and Tender. Which is the reason( say they) that when the lentils begin to spring up, they offer him their Tops for First Fruits. They also observe the Festival of her Afterbirth after the Vernal equinox. For they that hear these things are much taken with them, and readily give assent to them, and presently infer their Credibility from the Obviousness and Familiarness of the Matter. Nor would this be any great harm neither, would they save us these Gods in common, and not make them to be peculiar to the egyptians, nor confine these Names to the River Nilus, and only to that one Piece of Ground which the River Nilus waters; nor affirm their Fens and their Lotuses to be the Subject of this 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}.  Mythology, and so deprive the rest of Mankind of great and mighty Gods, who have neither a Nilus nor a Butos, nor a Memphis. As for Isis, all Mankind have her, and are well acquainted with her and the other Gods about her; and although they had not anciently learnt to call some of them by their egyptian Names, yet they from the very first both knew and honoured the Power which belongs to every one of them. In the second place, what is yet of greater consequence, is, that they take a mighty care, and that they fear, least before they are ware, they, as it were 
{αβγδ}.  crumble and dissolve the Divine Beings into Blasts of Winds, Streams of Water, Sowings of Corn, 
I red {αβγδ} for {αβγδ}.  Earings of Land, Accidents of the Earth, and Changes of Seasons; as those who make Bacchus to be Wine, and 
Vulca● is called in Greek Hephaistos from the Coptick Pheba, which is God.  Vulcan to be flamme. Cleanthes also somewhere saith, that 
She hath her Name from {αβγδ}, or Bringing Bloods●ed.  Phersephone( or proserpina) is that Air that is first Pheromenon( or that passes) through the Fruits of the Earth, and is afterwards, as it were, Phoneumenon ( or Slain:) and again, a certain Poet saith of Reapers: Then when the Youths the Legs of Ceres cut. For these men seem to me to be nothing wiser than such as would take the Sails, the 
I red {αβγδ} for {αβγδ}, and a little before {αβγδ} for {αβγδ}.  Cables and the Anchor of a Ship for the Pilot; the Yarn and the web for the Weaver; and the Bowl, or the Mead, or the Ptisan for the Doctor. And they over and above produce in Men most dangerous and Atheistical Opinions, while they give the Names of Gods to those Natures and Things that have in them neither Soul nor Sense, and that are necessary destroyed by Men, who have occasion for them, and who constantly use them: For no Man can imagine these things can be Gods in themselves. And therefore nothing can be a God to Men, that is either without Soul, 
I add {αβγδ} before {αβγδ}.  or under their Power. But yet by means of these things we come to think them Gods that use them themselves, and bestow them upon us, and that render them perpetual and continual; and those not some in one Country, and others in another; nor some Grecians, and others Barbarians, nor some Southern and others Northern; but as the Sun, Moon, Land and Sea are common to all Men, but yet have different Names in different Nations; so that one Discourse that orders these things, and that one Forecast that administers them, and those Subordinate Powers that are set over every Nation in particular, have assigned them by the Laws of several Countries, several kinds of Honours and Appellations. And those that have been consecrated to their Service, make use 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}.  some of them of darker, and others again of clearer Symbols, thereby guiding the Understanding to the Knowledge of things Divine, not without much Danger and Hazard. For some not being able to reach their true Meaning, have slid into down right Superstition; and others again, while they would fly the Quagmire of Superstition, have fallen unwittingly upon the Precipice of Atheism. And for this reason we should here make most use of the Reasonings from Philosophy, which introduce us into the Knowledge of things Sacred, that so we may think piously of whatever is said or acted in Religion: Lest, as Theodorus once said, that as he reached forth his Discourses in his Right-hand, some of his Auditors received them in their Left; so we judging otherwise than they are, of what things the Laws have wisely constituted about the Sacrifices and Festivals thereby fall into most dangerous Errors and Mistakes. That therefore we are to onstrue all these things to refer to the Discourse, we may easily perceive by them themselves. For upon the Nineteenth Day of the First Month, they keep a solemn Festival to Hermes, wherein they eat Honey and Figs, and withal, say these Words; 
Isis was before called Justice, and how Truth, both which must participate of Benignity or Sweetness of Temper. See 3 Esdr. 4.40.  Truth is a sweet Thing. And that Amulet or Charm, which they fable Isis to hang about her, is, when interpnted into our Language, A true Voice. Nor are we to understand Harpocrates to be either some Imperfect or Infant God, or a sort of pulls( as some will have him) but to be the governor and Reducer of the Tender, Imperfect and Inarticulate Discourse which Men have about the Gods. For which reason, he hath always 
The natural Reason, was because Jupiter seldom thundered in the Winter Season.  his Finger upon his Mouth, as a Symbol of talking little and keeping Silence. Likewise upon the Month of Mesore, they present him with certain 
The Emblem of Generation.  pulls, and pronounce these Words; 
Fortune is Isis or the Moon, and God, Hermes or the Sun, i.e. The Tongue provides for Body and Soul.  THE TONGUE IS FORTUNE, THE TONGUE IS GOD. And of all the Plants that egypt produces, they say the Peach-tree is most Sacred to the Goddess; because its Fruit resembles the 
The Heart and the Tongue a e apt Symbols of Alethia or Truth.  Heart, and its Leaf the Tongue. For there is nothing that Man possesses that is either more Divine, or that hath a greater tendency unto Happiness than Discourse, and especially that which relates to the Gods. For which reason 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}.  they lay a strict Charge upon such as go down to the Oracle there, to have pious Thoughts in their Hearts, and Words of good sound in their Mouths. But the greater part act Ludicrous Things in their Processions and Festivals, first proclaiming good Expressions, and then both speaking and thinking Words of most lewd and wicked meaning, and that even of the Gods themselves. 
Hic labour, hoc opus est.  How then must we manage ourselves at these tetrical, morose and mournful Sacrifices, if we are neither to omit what the Laws prescribe us, nor yet to confounded and distracted our Thoughts about the Gods with vain and uncouth Surmises? There are among the Greeks also many things done, that are very like to those which the egyptians do at their Solemnities, and much about the same time too. For at the Thesmophoria at Athens, the Women fast sitting upon the bare 
The Earth being the Body of Isis or Ceres.  Ground. The Boeotians also remove that they call Achaias Megara( or the House of the Achaean Ceres) terming that Day the Afflictive holiday, because Ceres was then in great Affliction for her Daughters Descent into Hell. Now upon this Month, about the Rising of the Pleiades, is the Sacred Time; and the egyptians call it Athyr, the Athenians, Pyanepsion and the Boeotians Damatrios( or the Month of Ceres.) Moreover, Theopompus relates, that 
The Moors and Spaniards.  those that live towards the Sun-setting( or the Hesperii) believe the Winter to be Saturn, the summer Venus, and the Spring-time proserpina, and that they call them by those Names, and maintain all things to be produced by 
Sol and Luna.  Saturn and Venus. But the Phrygians being of Opinion that the Sun sleeps in the Winter, and wakes in the summer, do in the manner of Ecstaticks, in the Winter-time sing certain 
{αβγδ}.  Lullabyes to make him sleep, and in the Somer-time again, certain 
{αβγδ}.  rousing Carols to make him wake. In like manner the Paphlagonians, say he is bound and imprisoned in the Winter, and walks abroad again in the Spring, and is at liberty; and the Nature of the Season gives us suspicion that this tetrical sort of Service 
I red {αβγδ} for {αβγδ}.  was occasioned by the absenting of the several sorts of Fruits at that time of the Year; which yet the ancients did not believe to be Gods, but such Gifts of the Gods as were both great and necessary in order to preserve them from a Savage and Bestial Life. And at what time they saw both the Fruits that came from Trees wholly to disappear and fail, and those also which themselves had sown, 
For {αβγδ} and {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ} and {αβγδ}.  to be yet but starved and poor, they taking up fresh mould in their Hands, and laying it about their Roots, and committing them a second time to the Ground with uncertain Hopes of their ever coming to Perfection, or arriving to Maturity, did herein many things that might well resemble People at Funerals, and a Mourning for the Dead. Moreover, as we use to say of one that hath bought the Books of Plato, that he hath bought Plato, and of one that hath taken upon him to act the Compositions of Menander, that he hath acted Menander; in like manner they did not stick to call the Gifts and Creatures of the Gods by the Names of the Gods themselves, paying this Honour and Veneration to them for their necessary Use. But those of After-times receiving this practise unskilfully and ignorantly, applying the Accidents of Fruits, and the Accesses and Recesses of things necessary to Human Life unto the Gods, did not only call them the Generations and Deaths of the Gods, but also believed them such, and so filled themselves with abundance of absurd, wicked and distempered Notions; and this, although they had the Absurdity of such a monstrous Opinion before their very Eyes. And therefore Xenophanes the Colophonian might not only 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}, or to that Sense.  put the egyptians in mind, If they believed those they worshipped to be Gods, not to lament for them, and if they lamented for them, not to believe them to be Gods; but also that it would be extremely ridiculous at one and the same time to lament for the Fruits of the Earth, and to pray them to appear again, and make 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}.  themselves ripe, that so they may be over again consumed and lamented for. But now this in its true intention is no such thing; but they make their Lamentation for the Fruits, and their Prayers to the Gods, who are the Authors and Bestowers of those Fruits, that they would be pleased to produce and bring up again other new ones in the place of them that are gone. Wherefore it is an excellent Saying among Philosophers, That they that have not learnt the true Sense of Words, will mistake also in the Things; as we see those among the Greeks, who have not learned nor accustomend themselves to call the Copper, the ston, and the painted Representations of the Gods, their Images or their Honours, but them themselves, are so adventurous as to say, that Lachares stripped Minerva, that Dionysius cropped off Apollo's Golden Locks; and that Jupiter Capitolinus was burnt and destroyed in the Civil Wars of Rome. They therefore 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}.  before they are ware, suck in and receive bad Opinions with these Improper Words. And the egyptians are not the least Guilty herein, with respect to the Animals which they worship. For the Grecians both speak and think aright in these Matters, when they tell us that the Pigeon is Sacred to Venus, the Serpent to Minerva, the Raven to Apollo, and the Dog to Diana, as Euripides somewhere speaks( concerning Hecuba.)  
Into a Bitch, transformed you 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}.  shall be,  
And be the Play-thing of bright Hecate.  
But the greater Part of the egyptians worshipping the very Animals themselves, and courting them as Gods, have not only filled their Religious Worship with Matter of Scorn and Derision( for that would be the least harm that could come of their 
{αβγδ}.  blockish Ignorance) but a dire Conception also arises therefrom, which blows up the feeble and simplo Minded into an Extravagance of Superstition, and when it lights upon the more subtle and daring Tempers, it outrages them into Atheistical and Brutish Cogitations. Wherefore it seems not inconsonant here to recount what is probable upon this Subject. For that the Gods being afraid of Typhon, changed themselves into these Animals, and did as it were hid themselves in the Bodies of Ibises Dogs and Hawks, is a Foolery beyond all Prodigiousness and Legend. And that such Souls of Men departed this Life, as remain undissolved after Death, have leave to be Reborn into this Life by these Bodies only, is equally incredible. And of those who would assign some Political Reason for these things, there are some that affirm that Osiris in his great Army, dividing his Forces into many Parts, which we 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}.  in Greek call Lochoi and Taxeis,( that is, Decuries and Centuries) at the same time gave every of them certain Ensigns or Colours with the Shapes of several Animals upon them, which in process of time came to be looked upon as Sacred, and to be worshipped by the several Kindreds and Clans in that Distribution. Others say again, that the Kings of After times did for the greater Terror of their Enemies, wear about them in their Battles, the Golden and Silver Heads and upper Parts of fierce Animals. But there are others that relate, that one of these subtle and crafty Princes, observing the egyptians to be of a light and vain Disposition, and very inclinable to Change and Innovation, and that they were withal, when Sober and Unanimous, of an Inexpugnable and Irrestrainable Strength, by reason of their mighty Numbers, therefore taught them in their several Quarters, a perpetual Kind of Superstition to be the Ground of endless Quarrels and Disputes among them. For the Animals which he commanded them to observe and reverence, some of th●m one sort, and some another, being at Enmity and War with one another, and themselves desiring some of them one sort of them, and some another for their Food, each Party among them 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}.  being upon the perpetual Defence of their proper Animals, and highly resenting the Wrongs that were offered them; it happened, that being thus drawn into the Quarrels of their Beasts, they were, before they were ware, engaged in Hostilities with one another. For at this very Day, the Lycopolitans( or Wolf-Town-men) are the only People among the egyptians that eat the Sheep, because the Wolf, which they esteem to be a God, doth so too. And in our own Times, the Oxyrynchites( or those of Pike-Town) because the Kynopolitans( or those of Dog-Town) did eat a Pike catched the Dogs, and slay them, and eat of them as they would do of a Sacrifice; and there arising a Civil War upon it, in which they did much Mischief to one another, they were all at last chastised by the Romans. And whereas there are many that say that the Soul of Typhon himself took its Flight into these Animals, this Tale may be looked upon to signify that every Irrational and Brutal Nature appertains to the Share of the Evil Daemon. And therefore when they would pacify him and speak him fair, they make their Court and Addresses to these Animals. But if there chance to happen a great and excessive Drought, which above what is ordinary at other times brings along with it either wasting Diseases, or other monstrous and prodigious Calamities, the Priests then conduct into a dark place with great silence and stillness, some of the Animals which are honoured by them: and they first of all menace and terrify them: and if the Mischief still continues, they then consecrate and offer them up, looking upon this as a way of punishing the Evil God, or at least as some grand Purgation in time of greatest Disasters. For, as Manethos relateth, they were used in ancient times to burn live Men in the City of Idithya, entitling them to Typhon, and then they made Wind and dispersed and scattered their Ashes into the Air. And this was done publicly, and at one only Season of the Year, which was the Dog-days. But those Consecrations of the Animals worshipped by them, which are made in secret, and at irregular and uncertain times of the Year, as occasions require, are wholly unknown to the vulgar Sort, except only at the time of their Burials, at which they produce certain other Animals, and in the Presence of all Spectators, throw them into the Grave with them, thinking by this means to vex Typhon, and to abate the Satisfaction he received by their Deaths. For it is the Apis with a few more that is thought Sacred to Osiris; but the far greater part are assigned to Typhon. And if this account of theirs be true, I believe it signifies the Subject of our Enquiry to be such Animals as are universally received, and have their Honours in common amongst them all; and of this kind is the Ibis, the Hawk, the 
That is, a Drill, or a mongrel betwixt a Dog and a Man.  Kynokephalos, 
Here I add {αβγδ}.  and the Apis himself; and indeed they call the Goat, which is kept at mends by the same Name. It remains yet behind, that I treat of their Beneficialness to Man, and of their Symbolical Use; and some of them participate of some one of these, and others of both. It is most manifest therefore that they worshipped the Ox, the Sheep, and the Ichneumon for their Benefit and Use, as the Lemniotes did the Larks, for finding out the Catarpillars Eggs, and breaking them; and the Thessalians the Storks, because that as their Soil bread abundance of Serpents, they at their appearance destroyed them all. For which reason they enacted a Law, that whoever killed a Stork should be banished the Country. Moreover, the egyptians honour the Asp, the weasel and the Beetle, observing 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}.  in them certain dark Resemblances of the Power of the Gods, like those of the Sun in Drops of Water. For there are many that to this Day believe that the weasel engenders by the Ear, and brings forth by the Mouth, and is therein a Resemblance of the Production of the 
That is that Efflux or Emanation of the Nus or Mental Principle, which gives Form unto Matter, and to the Parts of the Universe.  Discourse; and that the Beetle Kind also hath no Female, but that the Males cast out their Sperm into a round Pellet of Earth, which they roll about by thrusting it backward with their hinder Feet, while themselves move forward; and this in imitation of the Sun, which while itself moves from West to East, turns the Heaven the contrary way. They also 
I leave out {αβγδ}.  compared the Asp to a Star, for being always young, and for performing its Motions with great ease and glibness, and that without the help of Organs. Nor had the Crocodile his Honour given him without a show of probable reason for it: it is 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}.  therefore reported to have been produced for a Representation of God, it being the only Animal that is without Tongue. For the Divine Discourse hath no need of Voice, and Marching by still and silent ways, And by exact Justice, it transacts mortal Affairs according to Justice. Besides, they say he is the only Animal that lives in Water that hath his Eye-sight covered over with a thin and transparent Film, which descends down from his Fore-head, so that he sees without being seen himself by others, in which he agrees with the First God. Moreover, in what place soever in the Country the Female Crocodile lays her Eggs, that may be certainly concluded to be the utmost extent of the Rise of the River Nilus for that year. For not being able to lay in the Water, and being afraid to lay far from it, they have so exact a Knowledge of Futurity, that though they enjoy the Benefit of the approaching Stream at their Laying and Hatching, they yet preserve their Eggs dry and untouched by the Water. And they lay sixty in all, and are just as many days a hatching them, and the longest lived of them, live as many years; that being the first Measure which those that are employed about the Heavens make use of. But of those Animals that were honoured for both reasons, we have already treated of the Dog; but now the Ibis, besides that he killeth all deadly and poisonous vermin, was also the first that taught Men the 
That is, a Clyster.  Medicinal Evacuation of the Belly, she being observed to be after this manner washed and purged by her self. Those also of the Priests that are the strictest Observers of their Sacred Rites, when they consecrate Water for Lustration use to fetch it from some place where the Ibis had been drinking. For she will neither taste nor come near any unwholesome or infectious Water. Besides, the Distance of her two Legs from one another, with the length of her Bill laid a across, make betwixt them an Aequilateral Triangle; and the peckledness and mixture of her Feathers, where there are black ones about the white, signify the Gibbousness of the Moon on either side. Nor ought we to think it strange that the egyptians should affect such poor and slender Comparisons 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}.  when we find the Grecians themselves, both in their Pictures and Statues make use of many such Resemblances of the Gods as these are. For Example, there was in Crete an Image of Jup●ter, having no Ears, for he that's Commander, and Chief over all, should hear no one. Phidias also set a Serpent by the Image of Minerva, and a Snail by that of Venus at Elis, to show that Maids needed a Guard upon them, and that Silence and keeping at Home became married Women. In like manner the Trident of Neptune is a symbol of the Third Region of the World, which the Sea possesses, situated below that of the Heaven and Air. For which reason they also gave their Names to Amphitrite and the Tritons. The Pythagoreans also honoured Numbers and Geometrick Figures, with the Names of Gods. For they called an Aequilateral Triangle Minerva, Coryphagenes( or Crown-born) and Tritogeneia, because it is divided by three Perpendiculars drawn from the three Angles. They likewise called the Unite Apollo; 
{αβγδ}, I restore to the Margin whence it was taken.  the Number of Two, Contention, and also Audaciousness; and the Number Three, Justice; for wronging, and being wronged, being two extremes caused by Deficiency and Excess, Justice came by Equality in the middle. But that which is called Tecractys( or the Sacred Quaternion) being the Number Thirty Six, was( according to common famed) the greatest Oath among them, and was called by them the World, because it is made up of the even Number Four, and of 
That is, four times Nine, which plainly refer to the XXXVI. Decanates in the zodiac.  Four odd Numbers summed up together. If therefore the most approved of the Philosophers did not think meet to pass over, or disesteem any significant symbol of the Divinity which they observed even in things that had neither Soul nor Body, I believe they regarded yet more those Properties of Government and Conduct which they saw in such Natures as had Sense, and were endowed with Soul, with Passion, and with Moral Temper. We are not therefore to approve of those that worship these things, but God by these things, as being the more clear Mirrors of him, and produced by Nature; so as ever worthily to conceive of them as the Instruments or Artifices of that God which orders all things. And it is reasonable to believe, that no 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}.  Inanimate Being can be more excellent than an Animate one, nor an Insensible than a Sensible; no, though one should heap together all the Gold and Emerauds in the Universe. For the Property of the Divinity consists not in fine Colours, Shapes and Slicknesses, but on the contrary, those Natures are of a Rank below the very Dead, that neither did, nor ever can partake of Life. But now that that Nature which hath Life, and which sees and hath the Source of her Motion from her own Self, as also the Knowledge of things Proper and alien to her, hath certainly derived an Efflux, and a Portion of that Prudence which( as Heraclitus speaks) Considers how both itself and the whole is governed. And there the Deity is no worse represented in these Animals than in the Workmanships of Copper and ston, which suffer Corruptions and Decays as well as they, and are besides naturally voided of Sense and Perception. This then is what I esteem the best account that is given of their Adoration of Animals. As to the Sacred Vestments, that of Isis is particoloured, and of different Hues; for her Power is about Matter, which becomes every thing, and receives every thing, as Light, Darkness, Day, Night, Fire, Water, Life, Death, Beginning and Ending; but that of Osiris hath no Shade nor variety of Colours, but one only simplo one, resembling Light. For the first Principle is untempered, and that which is First, and of an Intelligible Nature is unmixed, which is the reason why after they have once made use of these things, they lay them up and keep them close. For that which is Intelligible is invisible, and not to be touched. But those of Isis are used often: For sensible things being of daily use and familiar to us, afford us many Overtures and Scenes of their Mutations; but the apprehension of what is Intelligible, Sincere and Holy, darting through the Soul like a Flash of Lightning, attends but to some one single Glance or Glimpse of its Object. For which reason, both Plato and Aristotle. call this part of Philosophy by the Name of the Epoptick or Intuitive Part, intimating, that those who by help of Reason, have got beyond these Opinable, mixed and various things, mount up to that First, simplo and Immaterial Being; and when they have certainly reached the pure Truth about it, they believe they have at last attained to complete Philosophy. And that which the present Priests do darkly hint out and insinuate to us, though with much Obscurity, great Shyness and Precaution, which is, that this God is th● 
He that personated Osiris, was certainly a Daemon.  governor and Prince of those that are dead, and that he is no other than he who is called by the Greeks Hades and Plut●, being not taken in its true Sense, 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}.  disturbs the Minds of the greater part, while they suspect that the truly Holy and good God Osiris lives within and beneath the Earth, where the Bodies of those who are supposed to have an end lie hide and butted. But he himself is at the remotest distance from the Earth imaginable, being unstained and unpolluted, and clean from every Substance that is liable to Corruption and Death. But Mens Souls, encompassed here with Bodies and Passions, have no Communication with God, except what they can reach to in Conception only, by means of philosophy, as by a kind of an obscure Dream. But when they are loosed from the Body, and removed into the Unseen, Invisible, impassable and Pure Region, this God is then their Leader and King, they there as it were hanging on him wholly, and beholding without Weariness, and passionately affecting that Beauty that cannot be expressed or uttered by Men; which the Goddess Isis alway caressing, affecting and enjoying, by that means filled these lower things with all those goodly and excellent Beings, which partake of Generation. This then is that account of these things which best suits the Nature of the Gods. And if I now must, according to my Promise, speak something concerning the things they daily offer by way of Incense, you are in the first place to understand this, that these People make the greatest account imaginable of all Endeavours that relate to Health: and more especially in their Sacrifices, Purgations and Diets, Health is then no less respected than Devotion. For they think it would be an unseemly thing to wait upon that Nature that is pure and every way unblemished and untouched, with crazy and diseased Minds or Bodies; whereas therefore the Air that we most use and live in, hath not always the same Disposition and Temperament; but in the Night time grow● condense, compresses the Body, and contracts the Mind into a kind of a melancholy and thoughtful Habit, it becoming then as it were foggy and doz'd. They therefore, as soon as they are up in the Morning, burn rosin about them, refreshing and clearing the Air by its scattered Particles, and fanning up the Native Spirit of the Body, which is now grown languid and dull; this sort of Scent having something in it that is very impetuous and striking. And perceiving again at Noon-time, that the Sun hath drawn up by violence, a copious and gross Exhalation out of the Earth, they by censing, mix Myrrh also with the Air; for Heat dissolves and dissipates that puddled and slimy Vapour, which at that time gathers together in the Ambient. And Physicians are also found to help Pestilential Diseases, by making great Blazes to sacrify the Air; but it would be much better rarefied if they would burn Sweet-scented Woods, such as Cypress, Juniper and Pine. And therefore 
Acron the Agrigentine, lived before Hippocrates.  Acron the Physician is said to have gained a mighty Reputation at Athens, in the time of the great Plague, by ordering People to make Fires near to the Sick; for not a few were benefited by it. Aristotle likewise saith, that the odiferous Exhalations, of Perfumes, Flowers and sweet Meadows, are no less conducing to Health than to Pleasure; for that their Warmth and Delicacy of Motion, gently relax the Brain, which is of its own Nature could and clammy. And if it be true, that the egyptians, in their Language call Myrrh 
ball or Baal signifies in the Eastern Tongues the Lord or the Sun. So Balsam is Baal Samen, that is. The Lord of Heaven.  ball, and that the most proper Signification of that Word, is, Scattering away Melancholy, this also adds some Testimony to our account of the reason why they burn it. Moreover, that they call Kyphi, is a kind of a Composition made up of Sixteen 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}.  Ingredients, that is, of Honey, Wine, Raisins, Cyperus, rosin, Myrrh, Aspalathus, Seseli, Schoenanthus, Bitumen, Deadly Night shade and Dock; to to which they add, the Berries of both the Junipers,( the one whereof they call the Greater, and the other the Lesser Sort) as also Calamus Aromaticus, and Cardamoms. Neither do they put them together slightly, or at a random Rate, but the Sacred Books are red to the 
Myrepsus and Myropola, was anciently both a Perfumer and an Apothecary.  Perfumers all the while they are compounding them. As for the Number of the Ingredients, although it plainly appears to be a Square of a Square, and to be the only Number, which having an orderly equal Proportion, draws a Periphery equal to its Area, very much to the present Purpose; yet I must needs say, that this contributes but very little here; but that it is the contained Specieses( most of which, are of aromatic Properties) that sand up a sweet Fume, and an agreeable Exhalation, which changing the Air, and the Body being put by the Air into its regular and proper Motion, 
For {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}.  becomes gently chafed, and retains a gay and an entertaining Temperament, and without the Disorders of Drunkenness, as it were loosens and unties like a sort of Knots, the Doziness and crossness of the Thoughts by Day-time, and the fantastic Part, and that which is Receptive of Dreams, it wipes like a Looking-glass, and renders clearer, with no less Efficacy than those stroke of the Harp which the Pythagoreans made use of before they went to sleep, to charm and alloy the distempered and irrational part of the Soul. For we find that strong Scents many times call back the failing Sense, and many times dull and obstruct it, their wasted Parts diffusing themselves by their great Fineness and Subtlety through the whole Body; like as some Physicians tell us, that Sleep is produced when the Fumes of Meat, by creeping gently about the Inwards, and as it were groping every Part, causes a certain soft Titillation. They also use this Kyphi both for a Drink, and for a Medicinal Potion; for when drunk, it is found to cleanse the Inwards, it being a Loosner of the Belly. Besides all this, rosin is the Creature of the Sun, and 
Here is wanting {αβγδ}, or something like it.  they gather Myrrh as the Trees weep it out by Moon-light; but now, of those Ingredients that make up Kyphi, there are some that delight more in the Night, as those whose Nature it is to be nourished by cool Blasts, Shades, Dews and Humidities. For the Light of Day is one thing and simplo, and Pi●dar saith, the Sun is then seen.  — Through still and quiet Air. 
But the Air of Night is a kind of 
I leave out {αβγδ} as a Gloss.  Composition, for it is made up of many Lights and Powers, which like so many several Seeds flow down from every Star into one place. They therefore very pertinently sense the former things by Day-time, as being Simples, and deriving their Original from the Sun; and the latter at the Entrance of the Night, they being mixed, and of many and different qualities.   

Plutarch's Morals: Vol. IV.  
Concerning such whom God is slow to Punish.  Translated from the Greek by J. Phillips Gent. 
THese and such like things, O Cynias! when Epicurus had spoken, before any Person could return an Answer, while we were busy at the farther end of the Portico, he flung away in great hast. However we could not but in some measure admire at the odd Behaviour of the Man, though without taking any farther notice of it in Words, and therefore, after we had gazed a while one upon another, we return'd to walk as we were singled out in Company before. At what time Patrocleas first breaking silence, How say ye Gentlemen, said he, if you think fitting, Why may not we discuss this Question of the last Proposer, as well in his Absence, as if he were present? To whom Timon replying, surely, said he, it would but ill become us, if at us he aimed upon his Departure, to neg●ect the Arrow sticking in our Sides. For Brasidas, as History reports, drawing forth the Javelin out of his own Body, with the same Javelin, not only wounded him that threw it, but slay him out right. But as for ourselves, with far less Difficulty may we defend, with far more Ease may we revenge ourselves on them that pelt us with absurd and fallacious Reasonings; and it will be sufficient that we shake them off, before they reach the Opinion itself. Then said I, which of his Sayings is it, that has given you the greatest Cause to be moved? For the Man writes of many things confusedly, but of nothing in order, gleaning up and down from this and t'other Place, without Method or judgement, and suffering himself, as it were in the Transports of his Pride and Choler, to wreck his reproachful Malice upon the Providence of God. To which Patrocleas, The slowness of the supreme Deity, said he, and his Procrastination in reference to the Punishment of the Wicked, seems to me a Point, so deeply mysterious, that it has long perplexed my thoughts; but now puzl'd by these Arguments which he produces, I am as it were a Stranger to the Opinion, and newly beginning again to learn. Formerly I could not with patience hear that Expression of Euripides.  
— If they delay and slowly move,  
'tis but the Nature of the Gods above.  
For indeed it becomes not the supreme Deity to be remiss in any thing, but more especially in the Prosecution of the Wicked, since they themselves are no way negligent or dilatory in doing Mischief, but always driven on by the most rapid Impetuosities of their Passions to Acts of Injustice. For certainly, according to the Saying of Thucydides, that Revenge which follows Injury closest at the Heels, presently puts a Stop to the Progress of such as make Advantage of successful Wickedness. Therefore there is no Debt, with so much Prejudice put off, as that of Justice, for it weakens the Hopes of the Person wronged, and renders him Comfortless and Pensive, but heightens the Boldness and daring Insolence of the Oppresser: whereas on the other side, those Punishments and Chastisements that immediately withstand presuming Violence, not only restrain the committing of future Outrages, but more especially bring along with them a particular Comfort and Satisfaction to the Sufferers. Which makes me no less troubled at that same Saying of Bias, which frequently comes into my Mind: For, said he, once, to a notorious Reprobate, 'tis not that I doubt but thou wilt suffer the just Reward of thy Wickedness, but I fear that I myself shall not live to see it. For what did the Punishment of Aristocrates avail the Messenians, who were killed before it came to pass? who having betrayed them at the Battle of Cyprus, yet remained undetected for above twenty years together; and all that while reigned King of the Arcadians, till at length, discovered and apprehended, he received the merited recompense of his Treachery. But alas! they whom he had betrayed were all dead at the same time. Or when the Orchomenians had lost their Children, their Friends and Familiar Acquaintance, through the Treachery of Lyciscus, what Consolation was it to them, that many years after, a foul Distemper seized the Traitor, and fed upon his Body, till it had consumed his putrify'd Flesh? who, as often as he dipped and bathed his Feet in the River, with horrid Oaths and Execrations, banned the Loss of his Members, putrify'd and gangrened to expiate the Treachery and villainy which himself had committed. For it was not possible for the Childrens Children of the Athenians, who had been murdered long before, to behold the Bodies of those Sacrilegious Caitiffs, which were afterwards torn out of their Graves, and transported beyond the Confines of their native Soil. Whence in my Opinion, Euripides absurdly makes use of these Expressions, to divert a Man from Wickedness.  
If thou fearest heaven, thou fearest in vain;  
Justice is not so hasty, foolish Man,  
To pierce thy Heart, or with contagious Wound,  
Or thee, or weaker Mortals to confounded:  
But with slow place, and creeping Feet cuts off  
The Malefactor, then Chastisement-proof.  
And I am apt to persuade myself, that upon these, and no other Considerations it is, that wicked Men encourage and give themselves the Liberty to attempt and commit all manner of Impieties, seeing that the Fruit which Injustice yields is soon ripe, and offers itself early to the Gatherers Hand; whereas Punishment comes late, and lagging long behind the Pleasure of Enjoyment.  
After Patrocleas had thus discoursed, Olympicus taking him up: There is this farther, said he, O Patrocleas! which thou shouldst have taken notice of; for how great an Inconvenience and Absurdity arises besides from these Delays and Procrastinations of Divine Justice? In regard the slowness of its Execution takes away the Belief of Providence. For the Wicked perceiving that Calamity and Revenge does not presently follow at the Heels of every enormous Crime, but a long time after, looking upon their Calamity as a Misfortune, and calling it Chance, not Punishment, are nothing at all thereby reformed; troubled indeed they well may be at the dire Accident befallen them, but never repent of the villainies they have committed. For as in usual Discipline, the Punishment which immediately attends the Fault, and the Stripes and Pinches that pursue the Transgression, correct and reduce the Party to his Duty; but the Luggings by the Ears, the Bastings and Thumpings which are late and out of time laid on, seem to be inflicted for some other Reason then to teach or instruct, which puts the Sufferer to Pain, without understanding his Error: In like manner, were the Impieties of enormous Transgressors and heinous Offenders singly scourged and repress'd by immediate Severity, it would bring them at length to a Sense of their Folly, humble them, and strike them with an awe of the Divine Being, whom they find with a watchful Eye beholding the Actions and Passions of Men, and feel to be no dilatory, but a speedy Avenger of Iniquity. Whereas that same remiss and slow-paced Justice, as Euripides describes it, that falls upon the Wicked by Accident, by reason of its incertainty, ill-tim'd Delay, and disorderly Motion, seems rather to resemble Chance then Providence. So that I cannot conceive what Benefit there is in these Grindstones of the Gods, which are said to grinned so late, by which Celestial Punishment is obscured, and the awe of evil doing rendered vain and despicable.  
These things thus uttered, and I in a deep Meditation of what he had said, Timon interposing, Is it your Pleasure, said he, that I shall put an end to the Difficulties of this knotty Question, or shall I first permit him to argue in opposition to what has been propounded already? Nay then, said I, to what purpose is it, to let in a third Wave to drown the Argument, if he be not able to repel or avoid the Objections already made?  
To begin therefore, as from the Vestal Hearth, from that ancient Circumspection and Reverence which our Ancestors, Academic Philosophers also, bare to the supreme God-head, we shall utterly decline to meddle with that mysterious Being, as if we could presume to utter positively any thing concerning it. For though it may be born withal, for Men unskilled in music, to talk at random of Notes and Harmony, or for such as never experienced Warfare, to discourse of Arms and Military Affairs; it would be a bold and daring Arrogance in us, that are but mortal Men, to dive too far into the incomprehensible Mysteries of Deities and Daemons. Just as if Persons voided of Knowledge, should undertake to Judge of the Methods and Reason of cunning Artists by slight Opinions and probable Conjectures of their own. Thus, it is not for one that understands nothing of the Science, to give a Reason why the Physician did not let Blood before, but afterwards; or why he did not bath his Patient yesterday, but to day. And so likewise neither is it easy nor safe to speak otherwise of the supreme Deity, then only this, that he alone it is, who knows the most convenient time to apply most proper Corrosives for the Cure of Sin and Impiety, and as Medicaments to administer Punishments to every Transgressor, yet not confined to an equal Quality and Measure common to all Distempers, nor to one and the same time. Now that the Physical Knowledge, in order to the Cure and Preservation of the Soul, is the most transcendent of all other Sciences, besides ten thousand other Witnesses, even Pindar himself testifies, where he gives to God, the Ruler and Lord of all things, the Title of the most Perfect Artificer, as being the grand Author and distributor of Justice, to whom it properly belongs to determine, at what time, in what manner, and to what degree to punish every particular Offender. And Plato asserts, that Minos being the Son of Jupiter, was the Disciple of his Father, to learn this Science. Intimating thereby, as if it were impossible for any other then a scholar, bread up in the School of Equity, rightly to behave himself in the Administration of Justice, or to make a true judgement of another, whether he does well or no. For the Laws which are constituted by Men, do not always prescribe that which is unquestionably and simply Decent, or of which the Reason, is altogether without Exception perspicuous, in regard that some of their Ordinances seem to be on purpose ridiculously contrived. Particularly, what in Lacedaemon, the Ephori ordain at their first entering into the Magistracy, that no Man suffer the Hair of his upper Lip to grow; only that they be obedient to the Laws, to the end they may not seem grievous to them. Thus the Romans, when they asserted the Freedom of any one, cast a slender, Straw upon his Body; and when they make their last Wills and Testaments, some they leave to be their Heirs, while others sell their Estates. Which seems to be altogether contrary to Reason. But that of Solon is most absurd, who when a City is up in Arms, and all in Sedition, brands with Infamy, the Person who stands Neuter, and adheres to neither Party. And thus a Man that apprehends not the Reason of the Lawgiver, or the Cause why such and such things are so prescribed, might number up several Absurdities of many Laws. What Wonder then, since the Actions of Men are so difficult to be understood, if it be no less difficult to determine concerning the Gods, wherefore they inflict their Punishments upon Sinners, sometimes later, sometimes, sooner. Nor do I allege these things as a Pretence to avoid the Dispute, but to secure the Pardon which I beg. To the end that our Discourse, having a Regard, as it were to some Port or Refuge, may proceed the more boldly in producing probable Circumstances to clear the Doubt. But first, consider this, that God, according to Plato, when he proposed himself in the middle, the Exemplar of all that was good and Holy, indulges Human virtue, by which, Man is in some measure rendered like himself, to those that are able to follow the Deity by Imitation. For universal Nature being at first voided of Order▪ before it came to be formed into a World, had this Beginning of its Change, from a certain infused Similitude of that Idea, and virtue which is in God. And the self same Plato asserts, that Nature first kindled the sense of Seeing within us, to the end that the Soul, by the Sight and Admiration of the heavenly Bodies being accustomed to love and embrace Decency and Order, might be induced to hate the Disorderly Motions of wild and raving Passions, and avoid Levity and Rashness depending upon Chance, as the Original of all Improbity and 'vice. For there is no greater Benefit that Men can enjoy from God, then by the Imitation and Pursuit of those Perfections, and that Sanctity which is in him, to be excited to the Study of virtue. Therefore God with Forbearance and at Leisure, inflicts his Punishment upon the Wicked, not that he is afraid of committing an Error, or of repenting, should he accelerate his Indignation; but to eradicate that brutish and eager Desire of Revenge, that reigns in human Breasts, and to teach us that we are not, in the Heat of Fury, nor when our Anger heaving and palpitating, boils up above our Understanding, to fall upon those who have done us an Injury, like those who seek to gratify a vehement Thirst or craving Appetite; but that we should in imitation of this mildness and forbearance, with due composure of Mind, till after such sufficient time for Consideration taken, as may admit of no Repentance, give way to the Desire of Chastisement or Correction. For as Socrates observed, it is far the lesser Mischief for a Man, distempered with Ebriety and Gluttony, to drink Puddle-water, then when the Mind is disturbed and overcharged with Anger and Fury, before it be settled and become limpid again, for a Man to seek the Sati●ting his Revenge upon the Body of his Friend or Kinsman. For according to the Saying of Thucydides, Revenge is not the nearest to Injury, but being at a remote distance from it, observes the most convenient Opportunity. For as Anger, according to that of Melanthius.  
quiter from the Brain transplants the Wit,  
Vile Acts designing to commit.  
So Reason does that which is just and moderate, laying Passion and Fury aside. Whence it comes to pass, that Men giving ear to human Examples, become more mansuete and gentle, as Plato, who holding his Cudgel over his Pages Shoulders, as himself relates, paused a good while, correcting his own Anger. In like manner Archytas, observing the Sloth and wilful Negligence of his Servants in the Field, and perceiving his Passion to rise at a more then usual rate, did no more, but as he went away, 'tis your good Fortune, said he, that ye have angered me. If then the Sayings of Men, when called to mind, and their Actions being red, have such a power to mitigate the Roughness and Vehemency of Wrath, much more becomes it us, beholding God, with whom there is neither Dread or Repentance of any thing, deferring nevertheless his Punishments to future Time, and admitting Delay, to be cautious and circumspectly in in these Matters, and to deem a Divine Part of virtue that Mildness and long Suffering, of which God affords us an Example, while by punishing, he reforms some few; by slowly chastising, helping and Admonishing many.  
In the second place therefore let us consider this, That Human Punishments of Injuries regard no more then that the Party suffers in his turn, and are satisfied that the Offender has suffered according to his Merit, and farther they never proceed. Which is the reason that they run after Provocations, like Dogs that bark in their Fury, and immediately pursue the Injury as soon as committed. But probable it is that God, whatever distempered Soul it be, which he prosecutes with his Divine Justice, observes the Motions and Inclinations of it, whether they be such as tend to Repentance, and allows Time for Reformation to those whose Wickedness is neither invincible nor incorrigible. Well knowing what a Proportion of virtue, Souls from himself conveyed to Generation, carry along with them, and how strong and vigorous their innate and primitive Good yet continues. For Wickedness buds forth preternaturally upon the Corruption of bad Diet and evil Conversation; but then some Souls recovering again to perfect cure, or an indifferent Habitude, this is the reason the Deity does not inflict his Punishments alike upon all. But those that are incurable, he presently lops off, and deprives of Life, as being altogether hurtful to others, but most baneful to themselves, as always wallowing in Wickedness. But as for those who probably may be thought to transgress, rather out of Ignorance of what is virtuous and Good, then through Choice of what is foul and vicious, he grants them time to turn; but if they remain obdurate, then likewise he inflicts his Punishments upon them; for there is no fear least they should escape.  
Now let us consider how oft the Customs and Lives of Men have been changed; for which reason the Change of Manners was by the Greeks called {αβγδ}, from turning, as also {αβγδ}, which signifies Manners was derived from {αβγδ}, signifying Custom, as chiefly prevailing in their Change. Therefore I am of Opinion, that the Ancients reported Cecrops to have two Bodies, not as some believe, because of a good King he became a merciless and Dragon-like Tyrant, but rather on the contrary, for that being at first both cruel and formidable, afterwards he became a most mildred and gentle Prince. However if this be uncertain, yet we know both Gelo and Hiero the Sicilians, and Pisistratus the Son of Hippocrates, who having obtained the sovereignty by Violence and Wickedness, made a virtuous Use of their Power, and coming unjustly to the Throne, became moderate Rulers, and beneficial to the Public; for by recommending wholesome Laws, and the Exercise of useful Tillage to their Subjects, they reduced them from idle Scoffers and talkative Romancers, to be modest Citizens and industrious good Husbands. And as for Gelo, after he had been successful in his War, and vanquished the Carthaginians, he refused to grant them the Peace which they sued for, unless they would consent to have it inserted in their Articles, that they would surcease from sacrificing their Children to Saturn.  
Over Megalopolis, Lydiades was Tyrant; but then, even in the time of his Tyranny, changing his Manners and Maxims of Government, and growing into a Hatred of Injustice, he restored to the Citizens their Laws, and fighting for his Country against his own and his Subjects Enemies, fell an illustrious Victim for his Countries Welfare. Now if any one bearing an Antipathy to Miltiades, or Cimon, had slain the one tirannizing in the Cherronese, or the other committing Incest with his own Sister, or had expelled Themistocles out of Athens, at what time he lay rioting and reveling in the Market-place, and affronting all that came near him, according to the Sentence afterwards pronounced against Alcibiades, had we not been deprived of the Glory obtained at Marathon, the Honour gained over the Curymedontes, and the Dianium.  
— When the Athenian Youth  
The famed Foundations of their freedom laid.  
For great and lofty Genius's produce nothing that is Mean and Little; the innate smartness of their Parts will not endure the vigour and Activity of their Spirits to grow lazy; but they are tossed too and again, as with the Waves, by the rolling Motions of their own inordinate Desire, till at length they arrive to a stable and settled Constitution of Manners. Therefore as a Person that is unskilful in Husbandry, would by no means make choice of a piece of Ground thick overrun with Brakes and Weeds, abounding with wild Beasts, and covered with standing Lakes and Mud; yet to him who hath learnt to understand the Nature of the Earth, these are certain Symptoms of the Softness and Fertility of the Soil; thus great Genius's many times produce many absurd and vile Enormities, of which, we not enduring the rugged and uneasy Vexation, are presently for pruning and lopping off the lawless Transgressors. But the more prudent Judge, who discerns the abounding Goodness and Generosity covertly residing in those transcending Genius's, waits the co-operating Age and Season for Reason and virtue to exert it themselves, and gathers the ripe Fruit when Nature has matur'd it. And thus much as to those particulars.  
Now to come to another part of our Discourse, do you not believe that some of the Greeks did very prudently to register that Law in Eggypt, among their own, whereby it is enacted, that if a Woman with Child be sentenced to die, she shall be reprieved till she be delivered? All the reason in the World, you'l say. Then, say I, though a Man cannot bring forth Children, yet if he be able, by the Assistance of Time, to reveal any hidden Action or Conspiracy, or to discover some concealed Mischief, or to be Author of some wholesome piece of Advice; or suppose that in time, he may produce some necessary and useful Invention, is it not better to delay the Punishment, and expect the Benefit, then hastily to rid him out of the World? It seems so to me, said I; and truly you are in the right, replied Patrocles, For let us consider: had Dionysius, at the beginning of his tyranny, suffered according to his Merits; never would any of the Greeks have re-inhabited Sicily, laid waste by the Carthaginians. Nor would the Greeks have re-possess'd Apollonia, nor Anactorium, nor the Peninsule of the Leucadians, had not Perianders Execution been delayed for a long time: and if I mistake not, it was to the delay of Cassanders Punishment, that the City of Thebes was beholding for her Recovery from Desolation. But the most of those Barbarians, who assisted at the Sacrilegious Plunder of that Temple, following Timoleon into Sicily, after they had vanquished the Carthaginians, and dissolved the tyrannical Government of that iceland, wicked as they were, came all to a wicked End. For assuredly, the Deity makes use of wicked Men, as we make use of Common Executioners to punish the Wickedness of others, and then destroys those Instruments of his Wrath; which I believe to be true of most Tyrants. For as the gull of a hyena, and the Rennet of a Sea-Calf, and many other filthy Monsters, contain something in them for the Cure of Diseases, thus when some People deserve a sharp and biting Punishment, God subjecting them to the implacable Severity of some certain Tyrant, or the cruel Oppression of some Ruler, does not remove either the Torment, or the Trouble, till he has cured and purified the distempered Nation. Such a sort of physic was Phalaris to the Agragantines, and Marius to the Romans. And God expressly foretold the Sicionyans, how much their City stood in need of most severe Chastisement, when after they had violently ravished out of the Hands of the Cleonians, Tiletias, a young Lad, who had been crowned at the Pythian Games; they tore him Limb from Limb, as their own Fellow Citizen. Therefore Orthagoras the Tyrant, and after him, Myro and Cleisthenes put an end to the Luxury and Lasciviousness of the Sicyonians; but the Cleonaeaus, not having the good Fortune to meet with the same Cure, went all to wrack. To this purpose, hear what Homer says: 
From Parent vile, he far the better Son  
did spring, whom various virtues did renown.  And yet we do not find that ever the Son of Cropreus performed any famous or memorable achievement; but the Off-spring of sisyphus, Autolycus, and Phlegyas, flourished among the Number of the most famous and virtuous Princes. Pericles at Athens descended from a wicked Family; and Pompey the Great at Rome, was the Son of Strabo, whose dead Body, the Roman People, in the height of their Hatred conceived against him when alive, cast forth into the Street, and trampled in the Dirt. Where is the Absurdity then, as the Husbandman never cuts away the Thorn till it injures the Asparagus, or as the Libians never burn the Stalks till they have gathered all the Ladanum, if God never extirpates the evil and thorny Root of a Renowned and Royal Race, before he has gathered from it the mature and proper Fruit? For it would have been a far greater a Disadvantage to the Phocenses, though a thousand more of Iphitus's Horses and Oxen had perished, or that they had lost a far greater Sum in Gold and Silver out of their Temple of Delphos, then to have missed among them the Birth of Ulysses and Esculapius, and those many others, who of wicked and vicious Men, became highly virtuous and beneficial to their Country. I would gladly know whether it be not better to inflict deserved Punishment in due season, and at convenient times, then hastily and rashly, when a Man is in the heat and hurry of Passion? Witness the Example of Callippus, who, under the Pretence of being his Friend, having stabbed Dio, was himself soon after slain by Dio's Intimates, with the same dagger. Thus again, when Mitius of Argos was slain in a City Tumult, the Brazen Statue which stood in the Market-place, soon after, at the time of the public shows, fell down upon the Murtherers Head and killed him. What befell Bessus the Paeonite, and Aristo the Octaean, chief Commander of the foreign Souldiers? I suppose you understand full well, Patrocles. Not I, by Jove, but I desire to know. Well then, I say this Aristo, having with Permission of the Tyrants, carried away the Jewels and Ornaments belonging to Eriphyle, which lay deposited in that City, made a Present of them to his Wife. The Punishment for this was, that the Son being highly incensed against his Mother, for what reason it matters not, set Fire to his Fathers House and burnt it to the Ground, with all the Family that were in it.  
As for Bessus, it seems he killed his own Father, and the murder lay concealed a long time. At length, being invited to Supper among Strangers, after he had so loosened a Swallows Nest with his Spear that it fell down, he killed all the young ones. Upon which, being asked by the Guests that were present, what Injury the Swallows had done him, that he should commit such an irregular Act? Did you not hear, said he, these cursed Swallows, how they clamor'd and made a Noise, false Witnesses as they were, that I had long ago killed my Father? This Answer strook the rest of the Guests with so much Admiration, that after a due pondering upon his Words, they made known the whole Story to the King. Upon which, the matter being dived into, Bessus was brought to condign Punishment. These things I have alleged, as it was but reason upon a supposition, that there is a forbearance of inflicting punishment upon the Wicked. As for what remains it behoves us to listen to Hesiod, where he asserts, not like Plato, that the Punishment of Injustice accompanies the Suffering, but that it is of the same Age with it, and arises from the same Place and Root. For, says he, 
Bad Counsel, so the Gods ordain,  
Is most of all the Adviser's Bane.  And in another Place, 
He that his Neighbours Harm contrives, his Art  
Contrives the Mischief 'gainst his own false Heart.   
It is reported, that the Cantharides Fly, by a certain kind of Antipathy, carries within itself, the Cure of the Wound which it inflicts. On the other side Wickedness, at the same time it is committed, engendering its own Vexation and Torment, not at last, but at the very Instant of the Injury offered, suffers the Reward of the Injustice it has done. And as every Malefactor bears his own across to the Place of his Execution, so are all the various Torments of various wicked Actions, prepared by the several sorts of Wickedness themselves. Such a diligent Architectress of a miserable and wretched Life is Wickedness, wherein shane is still accompanied with a thousand Terrors and Commotions of the Mind, incessant Repentance, and never ceasing Tumults of the Spirits. However, there are some People that differ little or nothing from Children, who many times beholding Malefactors upon the Stage, in their gilded Vestments, and short purple Cloaks, dancing with Crowns upon their Heads, admire and look upon 'em as the most happy Persons in the World, till they see 'em goaded and lashed, and Flames of Fire curling from underneath their sumptuous and gaudy Garments. Thus there are many wicked Men, surrounded with numerous Families, splendid in the Pomp of Magistracy, and Illustrious for the Greatness of their Power, whose Punishments never display themselves till those glorious Persons come to be the public Spectacles of the People, either slain and lying weltering in their Blood, or or else standing on the top of the Rock, ready to be tumbled headlong down the Precipice; which indeed cannot so well be said to be a Punishment, as the Consummation and Perfection of Punishment. Moreover as Herodicus the Selimbrian, falling into a Consumption, the most incurable of all Diseases, was the first who intermixed the Gymnastic Art with the Science of Physic( as Plato relates) on purpose to spin out in length a tedious time of dying, as well for his own, as the Sake of others labouring under the same Distemper. In like manner there are some wicked Men, who flatter themselves to have escaped the present Punishment, yet not after such a Space, but for a longer Tract of Time, endure a more lasting, not a shorter Punishment; not punished with Old Age, but growing old under the Tribulation of tormenting Affliction. When I speak of a long time, I speak in reference to ourselves. For as to the Gods, every distance and distinction of Human Life, is nothing: And now, and not thirty years ago, is the same thing, as that such a Malefactor was tormented or hanged in the Morning, and not in the Afternoon. More especially, since a Man is but shut up in this Life, like a close Prisoner in a Goal, from whence it is impossible to make an Escape; and yet we Feast and Banquet, are full of Business, receive Rewards, and enjoy Offices. Though certainly these are but like the Sports of those that play at Dice, or any other Game in the Goal, while the Rope all the while hangs over their Heads. So that what should hinder me from asserting, that neither they who are shut up in Prison, are truly punished, till the Executioner has chopped of their Heads? Or that he who has drank Hemlock, then walks about and stays till a Heaviness seizes his Limbs, is in any other Condition before the Extinction of his natural Heat, and the Coagulation of his Blood deprive him of his Senses? That is to say, if we deem the last Moment of the Punishment to be only the Punishment, and omit the Commotions, Terrors, Expectations and Embitterments of Repentance, with which every Malefactor and all wicked Men are teiz'd upon the committing of any heinous Crime. But this is to deny the Fish to be taken that falls into the Net, before we see it boiled and cut into Pieces by the Cook. For every Offender is within the Gripes of the Law, so soon as he has committed the Crime; and no sooner has he swallowed the sweet Bait of Injustice, but he may be truly said to be caught, while his Conscience within, tearing and gnawing upon his Vitals, allows him no Rest: 
Like the swift Tuny, frighted from his Prey,  
rolling and plunging in the angered Sea.  For the daring Rashness and precipitat● Boldness of Iniquity, continues violent and active till the Fact be perpetrated. But then the Passion, like a surceasing Tempest, growing slacken and weak, surrenders itself to Superstitious Fears and Terrors. So that Stesicorus may seem to have composed the Dream of Clytemnestra, to set forth the Events and Truth of Things: 
— Then seemed a Dragon to draw near,  
With mattry Blood all on his Head besmeared;  
And then the King Plesthenides appeared.  For Visions in Dreams, noon-day-Apparitions, Oracles, Descents into Hell, and whatever Objects else which may be thought to be transmitted from Heaven, raise continual Tempests and Horrors in the very Souls of the Guilty. Thus it is reported, that Apollodorus, in a Dream, beholded himself flayed by the Scythians, and then boiled; and that his Heart speaking to him out of the Kettle, uttered these Words, I am the Cause thou sufferest all this. And another time, That he saw his Daughters run about him, their Bodies burning and all in a flamme. Hipparcus also, the Son of Pifistratus, had a Dream, that the Goddess Venus, out of a certain Vial, flung Blood in his Face. The favourites of ptolemy, surnamed the Thunderer, dreamed that they saw their Master cited to the judgement-seat by Seleucus, where Wolves and Vultures were his Judges; and then distributing ●●eat Quantities of Flesh among his Enemies. Pausanias, in the heat of his Lust, sent for Cleonice, a freeborn Virgin of byzantium, with an Intention to have enjoyed her all Night; but when she came, out of a strange sort of jealousy and Provocation, for which he could give no reason, stabbed her. This murder was attended with frightful Visions; insomuch that his Repose in the Night was not only interrupted with the Appearance of her Shape, but still he thought he heard her uttering these Lines; 
To Execution go, the Gods are just,  
And rarely pardon murder joined with Lust.  After this, the Apparition still haunting him, he sailed to Psycopompeion in Heraclea, and by Propitiations, Charms and Dirges, called up the Ghost of the dansel. Which appearing before him,  told him in few Words, that he should be freed from all his Affrights and Molestations upon his Return to Lacedaemon. Where he was no sooner arrived, but he died. But notwithstanding all this, if there were nothing that befell the Soul after the Expiration of this Life, but that Death were the end of all Reward and Punishment, I might infer from thence, that the Deity was remiss, and indulgent in swiftly punishing the Wicked, and depriving them of Life. For if a Man shall assert, that space of time no otherwise afflicts the Wicked, but that the Convincement of the Crime is a fruitless and barren thing, that produces nothing of Good, nothing worthy of Amendment from the many great and terrible Combats and Agonies of the Mind, the Consideration of these things altogether subverts the Soul. As it is related of Lysimacus, who being under the violent Constraint of a parching Thirst, surrendered up his Person and his Dominions to the ●●tae for a little Drink; but after he had quenched his Drought, and found himself a Captive, shane o' this Wickedness of mine, cried he, that for so small a Pleasure, have lost so great a Kingdom: But it is a difficult thing for a Man to resist the natural Necessity of mortal Passions. Yet when a Man, either out of Avarice, or Ambition of civil Honour and Power, or to gratify his Venereal Desires, commits any enormous and heinous Crime, after which the Thirst and Rage of his Passion being allayed, he comes to set before his Eyes the ignominious and horrible Passions tending to Injustice still remaining, but sees nothing useful, nothing necessary, nothing conducible to make his Life happy; may it not be probably conjectured, that such a Person is frequently solicited by these reflections, to consider, how rashly, either prompted by vain Glory, or for the sake of a Lawless and barren Pleasure, he has overthrown the noblest and greatest Maxims of Justice among Men, and overflowed his Life with shane and Trouble? As Simononides jesting, was wont to say, that he often found a Chest full of Silver, but always empty of true Benefit. Thus wicked Men, contemplating their own Wickedness, and observing the Returns of Pleasure so barren and fruitless, find their Expectations frustrated, but their Minds distressed with Fears and Sorrows, ungrateful Remembrances, Suspicions of Futurity, and Distrusts of present Accidents; as we hear into complaining upon the Theatre, after her Repentance of what she had done.  
— Dear Women, tell me, with what Face  
shall I return to dwell with Athemas?  
As if it ne're had been my luckless Fate,  
The worst of foul Misdeeds to perpetrate?  
Thus is it not reason to believe, that the Soul of every wicked Man revolves and reasons within itself, which was by burying in oblivion former Transgressions, and casting from itself the Guilt of hitherto committed Crimes, to fit frail Mortality under her Conduct for a new Course of Life. For unless we will allow unjust and impious Persons to be wise and prudent, there is nothing for a Man to conside in, nothing but what vanishes like smoke, nothing durable or constant in whatever Impiety proposes to its Self; but where ever Avarice, Voluptuousness, inexorable Hatred, Enmity and Improbity associate together; there you shall also be sure to find Superstition nestling and herding with Effeminacy and Terror of Death; a swift Change of the most violent Passions, and an arrogant Ambition after undeserved Honour. Such Men as these stand in continual dread of their Contemners and Backbiters, they fear their Applauders, believing themselves injured by their Flatteries; and more especially, are at Enmity with bad Men, because they are so free to extol those that seem good. However, that which hardens Men to Mischief, soon cankers, grows brittle, and shivers in pieces like bad Iron. So that in process of time, coming to understand themselves better, and to be more sensible of their Miscarriages, they disdain, abhor, and utterly disclaim their former Course of Life. Not that every wicked Man, who restores a Trust, or becomes Surety for his Friend, or Ambitious of Honour, contributes more largely to the Benefits of his Country, may be said to be in a Condition of Repentance, or to be sorry for what he has done amiss, by reason of the natural Inclination of the Mind to ramble and change; and therefore some men being clapped and humm'd upon the Theatre, presently fall a weeping, their Desire of Glory relapsing into Covetousness. But as for those which sacrificed the Lives of Men to the Success of their Tyrannies and Conspiracies, as Apollodorus, or plundered their Friends of their Treasure, and deprived them of their Estates, as Glaucus the Son of Epicides, can we believe such Men did not repent and abhor themselves, or that they were not sorry for the Perpetration of such foul Enormities? For my part, if it may be lawful for me to deliver my Opinion, I believe there is no occasion, either for the Gods or Men to inflict their Punishments upon the most wicked and sacrilegious Offenders; seeing that the Course of their own Lives is sufficient to chastise their Crimes, while they remain under the Consternations and Torments attending their Impiety. And now consider whether my Discourse have not enlarged itself too far. To which, Timon, perhaps, said he, it may seem to have been too long, if we consider what remains behind, and the length of time required for the Discussion of our other Doubts. For now I am going about to propose the last Question, in pursuit of the first, which has hitherto, with an indifferent clearness been explained. Now as to what we have farther to say, we find that Euripides delivers his Mind freely, and censures the Gods for imputing the Transgressions of Fore-fathers upon their Off-spring: And I am apt to believe, that they who are most silent among us, do the like. For if the Offenders themselves have already received their Reward, then there is no reason why the Innocent should be punished, since it is not equal to punish even Criminals twice for the same Fact. But if remiss and careless, the Gods omitting opportunely to inflict their Penalties upon the Wicked, sand down their tardy Rigor on the Blameless; they do not well to repair their defective Slowness by Injustice. As it is reported of aesop, that he came upon a time to Delphos, having brought along with him a great quantity of Gold, which Croesus had bestowed upon him, on purpose to offer a most magnificent Oblation to the Gods, and with a Design moreover to distribute among the Priests and People of Delphos four Mina's apiece. But there happening some disgust and Difference between him and the Delphians, 'tis true, he performed his Solemnity, but sent back his Money to Sardis, not deeming those ingrateful People worthy of his Bounty. Upon which the Delphians laying their Heads together, accused him of sacrilege, and then threw him down headlong from a steep and prodigious Precipice, which is there called Hyampeia. Upon which it is reported, that the Deity being highly incensed against them for so horrid a murder, brought a Famine upon the Land, and infested the People with noisome Diseases of all sorts: insomuch that they were constrained to make it their Business to travail to all the General Assemblies and Places of public Concourse in Greece, making public Proclamation, where e're they came, that whoever they were that would demand Justice for the Death of aesop, they were prepared to give him Satisfaction, and to undergo whatever Penalty he should require. Three Generations afterwards, came one Idmon a Samian, no way of Kin, or otherwise related to aesop, but only descended from those who had purchased aesop in Samos; to whom the Delphians paying those Forfeitures which he demanded, were delivered from all their pressing Calamities. And from hence, by report, it was, that the Punishment of Sacrilegious Persons was translated from the Rock Hyampeia, to that other Cliff which bears the Name of Nauplia. Neither is Alexander applauded by those who have the greatest Esteem for his Memory( of which Number are we ourselves) who utterly laid wast the City of the Branchidae, putting Men, Women and Children to the Sword, for that their Ancestors had long before delivered up the Temple of Miletum. In like manner, Agathocles, Tyrant of Syracuse, when the Corcyraeans requested to know the reason of him, why he depopulated their iceland, deriding and scoffing at their Demand, By Jove, said he, for no other reason, but because your Fore-fathers entertained Ulysses. And when the Islanders of Ithaca expostulated with him, why his Souldiers carried away their Sheep. Because, said he, when your King came to our iceland, he put out the Eyes of the Shepherd himself. And therefore do you not think Apollo more extravagant then all these, for punishing so severely the Phedeatae, by stoping up that profound and spacious Receptacle of all those Floods that now cover their Country, upon a bare Report that Hercules, a thousand years ago, took away the Prophetic Tripos, and carried it to Pheneum? Or when he foretold to the Sybarites, that all their Calamities should cease, upon condition they appeased the Wrath of Leucadian Juno, by enduring three ruinous Calamities upon their Country. Nor is it so long since, that the Locrians surceased to sand their Virgins to Troy.  
Who barefoot, all day long, nor yet allowed  
One single Tatter, naked Skins to shrowded,  
Like worst of Slaves are forced to scrub and scour  
Minervas Altar, and the sacred Floor,  
With howrly Pains to brush; yet all the while  
No privilege for Age from weary Toil.  
Nor when with years decrepit, can they claim  
The thinnest veil to hid their Aged shane.  
And all this to gratify the Lasciviousness of Ajax.  
Now where is the Reason or Justice of all this? Nor is the Custom of the Thracians to be approved, who to this day abuse their Wives in revenge of their Cruelty to Orpheus: And with as little reason are the Barbarians about Eridanus, or the River Po, to be extolled, who once a year put themselves into Mourning for the Misfortune of Phaeton. And still more ridiculous then all this, it would certainly be, when all those People that lived at the time took no notice of Phaeton's Mischance, that they who happened to be born five or ten Generations after, should be so idle, as to take up the Custom of going into Black, and bewailing his Downfall. However, in all these things there is nothing to be observed but mere Folly; nothing pernicious, nor any thing dangerous.  
But as for the Anger of the Gods, what reason can be given why their Wrath should stop and conceal itself upon a sudden, after the Fact committed, like some certain Rivers, and when all things seem to be forgot, break forth with so much Fury, as not to be atoned, but with some remarkable Calamities?  
Upon that, so soon as he had done speaking, not a little afraid, least, if he should begin again, he would run himself into many more and greater Absurdities. Do you believe, Sir, said I, all that you have said to be true? Then he, though all that I have alleged may not be true, yet if only some part may be allowed for Truth, do not you think there is the same Difficulty still remaining in the Question? It may be so, said I. And thus it is with those who labour under a vehement burning Fever, for whether covered with one Blanket or many, the Heat is still the same, or very little different; yet for Refreshments Sake, it may be convenient sometimes to lighten the Weight of the clothes. Yet if the Patient refuse your courtesy, let him alone. Yet I must tell ye, the greatest part of these Examples look like Fables and Fiction. Call to mind therefore those former Entertainments of the Gods in mortal Habitations, and that most noble Portion, which the public criers proclaim to be received as their due, by the Off-spring of Pindar; and collect with yourself, how majesty and grateful a Mark of Grandeur you look upon that to be. Truly, said he, I judge there's no Man living, who would not be sensible of the Curiosity and Elegancy of such an Honour, displaying Antiquity voided of Tincture and false Glitter, after the Greek manner, unless he were such a Brute, that I may use the Words of Pindar himself; 
Whose coal black Heart from natural Dross unpurg'd,  
Had only by could Flames at first been forged.  Therefore, I forbear, said I, to mention that same Proclamation, not much unlike to this, and usually made after the Conclusion of the Lesbian Ode, to the Honour, and in Memory of the ancient Terpander. But you on the other side, deem yourself worthy to be preferred above all the rest of the Booetians, as being of the noble Race of the Opheltiadae, and among the Phocaeans, you claim undoubted pre-eminence, for the Sake of your Ancestor Diaphantus. And for my part, I must aclowledge that you were one of the first, who assisted me as my Second, against the Lycormaeans and Satilaeans, claiming the privilege and Honour of wearing Crowns, due by the Laws of Greece to the Descendants from Hercules; at what time I affirmed that those Honours and Guerdons ought more especially to be preserved inviolable to the immediate Progeny of Hercules; in regard that though he were so great a Benefactor to the Greeks, yet in his Life time, he was not thought worthy of any Reward or Return of Gratitude. You recall to my Remembrance, said he, a most noble Contest, and worthy the Debate of Philosophy itself. Dismiss, therefore, said I, that vehement humour of yours, that excites ye to accuse the Gods; nor take it ill, if many times Celestial Punishment discharges itself upon the Off-spring of the Wicked and Vicious. Neither be too much overjoyed, nor too forward to applaud those Honours which are due to Nobility of Birth. For it becomes us, if we believe that the Reward of virtue ought to be extended to Posterity, by the same reason to take it for granted, that Punishment ought not to overslip and connive at Impieties committed, but to run forward, and reciprocally pursue the Progeny of the Transgressors, according to the Demerits of their Fore-fathers. And therefore they that with Pleasure behold the Race of Cimon highly honoured in Athens; on the other side, they that fret and sume at the Exilement of the Posterity of Lachares or Ariston, are both too remiss and Oscitant in their Searches after the true Reason of things, or else too morose and overquarrelsome with the Deity itself. One while accusing the Divinity, if the Posterity of an unjust and wicked Person seems to prosper in the World; another time, no less moody and finding fault, if it fall out that the Race of the Wicked come to be utterly destroyed and extirpated from the Earth. And thus whether the Children of the Wicked, or the Children of the Just fall under Affliction, the Case is all one to them, the Gods must suffer alike in their bad Opinions. These, said I, are the Preliminaries, which I would have you make use of against those choleric Accusers, and testy Snarlers, of whom I have given you warning.  
But now to take in hand once more, as it were the first end of the Bottom of Thread, in this same dark Discourse of the Gods, wherein there are so many Windings and Turnings, and gloomy Labyrinths; let us by degrees, and with caution, direct our Steps to what is most likely and probable. Since even in those things which fall under our daily practise and Management, we are many times at a Loss to determine the undoubted and unquestioned Truth. For Example, what certain Reason can be given for that Custom amongst us, of ordering the Children of Parents that die of a Consumption, or a dropsy, to sit with both their Feet soaking in the Water, till the Dead Body be burnt? Only People believe, that thereby the Disease is not only prevented from becoming Hereditary, but that it is a Charm to secure those Children from it as long as they live. Again, what should be the Reason that if a Goat, lighting upon a Piece of Sea-Holly, holding it chewing in her Mouth, the whole Heard will stand still till the Goatheard come and take it out? Other hidden Properties there are, which by virtue of certain incredible Touches and Transitions, pass either swifter or ●lower from some peculiar Bodies into Others. But we admire the Intervals of Time, and not the Distances of Place. And yet there is more reason to wonder, that Athens should be infected with an Epidemic Contagion, taking its Rise in Ethiopia; that Pericles should die, and thucydides be smitten with the Infection; then that upon the Impiety of the Delphians and Sybarites, delayed Vengeance should at length overtake their Posterity. For these hidden Powers and Properties have their sacred Connexions and Correspondences between their utmost Endings, and their first Beginnings; of which, although the Causes be concealed from us, yet silently they bring to pass their proper Effects. Not but that there is a Reason ready at hand for the Justice, which public Punishments showered down from Heaven upon particular Cities. For a City is a kind of entire Thing, and a continued Body; a certain sort of Creature, never subject to the Changes and Alterations of Age, nor varying through process of time, from one thing to another, but sympathising, and peculiar to its self, and receiving the Punishment or Reward of what ever it has done, or ever acted in common, so long as the Community, which makes it a Body, and binds it together with the mutual Bands of Human Benefit, preserves its Unity. For he that goes about, of one City to make many, and perhaps an infinite Number, by distinguishing the Intervals of Time, seems to be like a Person who would make several of one single Man, because he is now grown Elderly, who before was a Young Man, and before that a mere Stripling. Or rather, it resembles the Method of Disputing amongst the Epicharmians, the first Authors of that Manner of Arguing, called the Increaser. He that formerly ran in Debt, although he never paid it, owes nothing now, as being become another Man. And he that was invited Yesterday to Supper, the next Night comes an Unbidden Guest, for that he is quiter another Person; and indeed the Distinctions of Ages cause greater Alterations in every one of us, then commonly they do in Cities. For he that has seen Athens may know it again, thirty years after; the present Manners, Motions, Pastimes, serious Studies, their Familiarities and Marks of their Displeasure, little or nothing differing from what formerly they were. But after a long Absence, there's many a Man, who meeting his own Familiar Friend, hardly knows him again, by reason of the great Alteration of his Countenance, and the Change of his Manners, which are so easily subject to the Alterations of Language, Labour and Employment, all manner of Accidents, and Mutation of Laws, that even they who are most usually conversant with him, admire to see the Strangeness and Novelty of the Change; and yet the Man is reputed still to be the same from his Birth to his Decease. In the same manner does a City still remain the same; and for that reason we think it but Justice, that a City should as well be obnoxious to the Blame and Reproach of its ancient Inhabitants, as participate the Glory of their former pvissance and Renown; unless our carelessness be such as not to mind the throwing all things into the Heraclitian River, into which, by common Report, it was impossible to cast the same thing twice; as having a secret Property to change the Nature of all things thrown into it. Now then, if a City be one entire and continued Body; the same Opinion is to be conceived of a Race of Men, depending upon one and the same Beginning, and carrying along with it a certain Power and Communion of Qualities; in regard that what is begotten cannot be thought to be severed from what is begot, like a Piece of Workmanship from the Artificer; the one being begotten of the Person, the other framed by the Work-man; whereas that which is engendered is a part of the Original from whence it sprung, whether meriting Honour, or deserving Punishment. So that were it not but that I might be thought to be too sportive in a serious Discourse, I would affirm, that the Athenians were more unjust to the Statue of Cassander, when they caused it to be melted down and defaced, and that the Syracusans were more rigorous to the Dead carcase of Dionysius, when they cast it forth of their own Confines, then if they had punished their Posterity. For that the Statue did no way partake of the Substance of Cassander, and the Soul of Dionysius was absolutely departed from the Body deceased. Whereas Nyseus, Apollocrates, Antipater, Philip, and several others, descended from wicked Parents, still retained the most principal Part of those who begot them, not lazy and slugishly dormant, but that very Part by which they live, are nourished, act and move, and become rational and sensible Creatures. Neither is there any thing of Absurdity, if being the Off-spring of such Parents, they should retain many of their bad Qualities. In short therefore, I affirm, as it is in the Practise of physic, that what ever is wholesome and profitable, is likewise just; and he would be accounted ridiculous, that should aver it to be an Act of Injustice to Cauterize the Thumb for the Cure of the Sciatica; or when the Liver is Impostumated, to scarify the Belly; or when the Hoofs of Labouring Oxen are over tender, to anoint the Tips of their Horns. In the same manner is he to be laughed at, who seeks for any other Justice in the Punishment of 'vice, then the Cure and Reformation of the Offender; and is angry to see the Medicine applied to some Parts for the Cur● of others; as when a chirurgeon opens a Vein, to give his Patient Ease upon an Inflammation of the Eyes; for such a one seems to look no farther then what he reaches by his Sences; forgetting that a School-master, by chastising one, admonishes all the rest of his scholars; and that a General Condemning only one in ten, reduces all the rest to Obedience. And thus there is not only a Cure and Amendment of one part of the Body by another, but many times the very Soul itself is inclined to 'vice or Reformation, by the lewdness or virtue of another. For there is great reason to believe, that as the Impression, so the Alteration is the same. But the Soul being agitated by Fancy and Imagination, as it is either Daring and Confident, or Timorous and Mistrustful, becomes better or worse.  
While I was yet speaking, Olympiacus interrupting me, You seem, said he, by this Discourse of yours, to infer as if the Soul were Immortal, which is a Supposition of great Consequence. 'tis very true, said I, nor is it any more then what yourselves have granted already; in regard the whole Dispute has tended from the Beginning to this, that the supreme Deity overlooks, and deals to every one of us according to our Deserts. To which the other, Do you then believe, said he, it follows of Necessity, that if the Deity observes our Actions, and distributes to every one of us according to our Merits, that our Souls should exist, and be altogether incorruptible, or else for a certain time survive the Body after Death? Not so fast, good Sir, said I, But can we think that God so little considers his own Actions, or is such a Waster of his Time in Trifles, if we had nothing of Divine within us, nothing that in the least resembled his Perfection, nothing permanent and stable, but were only poor Creatures, that according to Homers Expression, faded and dropped like withered Leaves, and in a short time too; that he should make so great account of us, like Women that bestow their Pains in making little Gardens, no less delightful to them then the Gardens of Adonis, in earthen Pans and Pots, as to create us Souls to blossom and flourish only for a Day in a soft and tender Body of Flesh, without any firm and solid Root of Life, and then to be blasted and extinguished in a Moment, upon every slight Occasion? And therefore if you please, not concerning ourselves with other Deities, let us go no farther then the God Apollo, whom here we call our own; whether he, knowing so well as we pretend he does, that the Souls of the Deceased vanish away like Clouds or smoke, exhaling from our Bodies like a Vapour, would accept of so many Propitiations for the Dead, or require such Honours to be paid, such Veneration to be given to the deceased, as if he did it to delude and couzen his Believers? And therefore, for my part, I will never deny the Propensity of the Soul, till some Body or other, as they say Hercules did of old, shall be so daring as to come and take away the Prophetical Tripes, and so quiter ruin and destroy the Oracle. Well knowing, that even in these our days several Answers have been uttered by the delphic Soothsayer, the same in substance which was formerly given to Corax the Naxian.  
It sounds profane Impiety,  
To teach that human Souls e're die.  
Then Patrocles, What Oracle was this? who was that same Corax? For both the Master itself, and the Person whom you mention, are Strangers to my Remembrance. Certainly, said I, that cannot be; only 'twas my Error which occasioned your Ignorance, in making use of the Addition to the Name, instead of the Name itself. For it was Callondas who slay Archilochus in Fight. Who being thereupon ejected by the Pythian Priestess, as one who had slain a Person devoted to the muses, but afterwards, humbling himself in Prayers and Supplications, intermixed with undeniable Excuses of the Fact, was enjoined by the Oracle to repair to the Habitation of Tettix, there to expiate his Crime, by appeasing the Ghost of Archilochus. That Place was called Tenarus, for there it was, as the Report goes, that Tettix the Cretan coming with a Navy to the scape of Tenarus, landed, built a City not far from Psyco Pompeius, and stored it with Inhabitants; near to which, there is a peculiar Place devoted and set a part for appeasing the Ghosts of Persons sent out of the World by violent Deaths.  
In like manner, when the Spartans were commanded by the Oracle to atone the Ghost of Pausanias, they sent for several Exorcisers and Conjurers out of Italy, who by virtue of their Sacrifices, chased the Apparition out of the Temple. Therefore, said I, there is one and the same reason to confirm the Providence of God, and the Immortality of the Soul: Neither is it possible to admit the one, if you deny the other. Now then the Soul surviving after the Decease of the Body, the Inference is the stronger, that it partakes of Punishment and Reward; for during this mortal Life, the Soul is in continual Combat like a Wrestler; but after all those Conflicts are at an end, she then receives according to her Merits. But while the Soul is thus alone by itself, what those Punishments, what the Rewards of past transgressions, or just and laudable Actions are, is nothing at all to us that are alive; for either they are altogether concealed from our Knowledge, or else we give but little Credit to them. But those Punishments that reach succeeding Posterity, being conspicuous to all that are living at the same time, restrain and kerb the Inclinations of many wicked Persons. Now, in regard there is no Punishment more grievous, or that touches more to the Quick, then for a Man to behold his Children born of his Body, suffering for his Crimes; since nothing can more afflict the surviving Soul of a wicked and lawless Criminal, not so much to see his Statues defaced, and his Memory dishonoured, by reversing the Ensigns of his Dignity; but to look down upon his own Children, his Friends, or nearest Kindred, ruined and overwhelmed with Calamity; certainly, were the same Person to live again, he would rather choose the Refusal of all Jupiters Honours, then to abandon himself a second time to his wonted Injustice and Extravagant Desires.  
And here I could relate a Story which I lately heard, but that I fear, least you should censure it for a Fable. And therefore I deem it much the better way to keep close to what is probable and consentaneous to Reason. By any means, replied Olympicus, proceed, and gratify us with your Story also, since it was so kindly offered. Thereupon, when the rest of the Company likewise made me the same Request, Permit me, said I, in the first place, to pursue the rational Part of my Discourse, and then, according as it shall seem proper and convenient, if it be a Fable, you shall have it as cheap as I heard it.  
Bio was of Opinion, that God, in punishing the Children of the Wicked, for the Sins of their Fathers, seems more irregular then a Physician that should administer physic to a Son or a Grand-child, to cure the Distemper of a Father or a Grand-Father. But this Comparison does not run cleverly, since the Amplification of the Similitude agrees only in some things; but in others is altogether defective. For if one Man be cured of a Disease by physic, the same Medicine will not cure another; nor was it ever known that any Person troubled with sore Eyes, or labouring under a Fever, was ever restored to perfect Health, by seeing another in the same Condition anointed or plastered. But the Punishments or Executions of Malefactors are done puclickly in the Face of the World, to the end that Justice appearing to be the Effect of Prudence and Reason, some may be restrained by the Correction inflicted upon others. So that Bio never rightly apprehended where the Comparison answered to our Question. Fo● oftentimes it happens, that a Man comes to be haunted with a troublesone, though not incurable Disease, and through sloth and Intemperance, improves his Distemper, and weak'ns his Body to that Degree, that he occasions his own Death. After this, 'tis true, the Son does not fall sick, only has received from his Fathers Seed such a Habit of Body as makes him liable to the same Disease: which a good physician, or a tender Friend, or a skilful Apothecary, or a careful Master observing, confines him to a strict and spare Diet, restrains him from all manner of Superfluity, keeps him from all the Temptations of delicious Fair, Wine and Women, and making use of wholesome and proper physic, together with convenient Exercise, dissipates and Extirpates the Original Cause of a Distemper at the beginning, before it grow to a Head, and gets a masterless Dominion over the Body. And is it not our usual practise, thus to admonish those that are born of diseased Parents, to take timely Care of themselves, and not to neglect the Malady, but to expel the Original Nourishment of the Inbred Evil, as being then easily movable, and apt for Expulsion? 'tis very true, cried they. Therefore, said I, we cannot be said to do an absurd thing, but what is absolutely necessary; not that which is ridiculous, but what is altogether useful; while we prescribe to the epileptic, the Hypochondriacal, and to those that are subject to the Gout; such Exercises, Diet and Remedies that are proper, not so much because they are at that time troubled with the Distemper, but to prevent the Malady. For a Man begotten by an unsane Body, does not therefore deserve Punishment, but rather the Preservation of proper physic and good Regiment; which if any one call the Punishment of Fear or Effeminacy, because the Person is debarred his Pleasures, and put to some sort of Pain by Cupping and Blistring, we mind not what he says. If then it be of such Importance to preserve by physic and other proper Means, the vitiated Off-spring of another Body, foul and corrupted, ought we to suffer the innate and resembling Principles of a wicked Nature, sprouting up, and budding through evil Custom in Youth, and to stay till being diffused into all the Affections of the Mind, they bring forth and ripen the visible and malignant Fruit of a mischievous Disposition? for such is the Expression of Pindar. Or can you otherwise believe, but that in this particular God is wiser then Hesiod, admonishing and exhorting us in this manner?  
Nor mind the Pleasures of the Genial Bed,  
Returning from th' Interment of the Dead:  
But propagate thy Race, when Heavenly Food,  
And Feasting with the Gods, have warmed thy Blood.  
Intimating thereby, that a Man was never to attempt the Work of Generation, but in the height of a jocund and mary humour, and when he found himself as it were dissolved into jollity; as if from Procreation proceeded the Impressions not only of 'vice or virtue, but of Sorrow and Joy, and of all other Qualities and Affections whatever. However, it is not the Work of Human Wisdom, as Hesiod supposes, but of Divine Providence, to foresee the Sympathies and Differences of Mens Natures, before the Malignant Infection of their unruly Passions come to exert itself by hurrying their unadvised Youth into a thousand villainous Miscarriages. For though the Cubs of Bears, and Whelps of Wolves and Apes, immediately discover their several inbred Qualities and natural Conditions, without any Disguise or artificial Concealment; Man is nevertheless a Creature more refined, who many times curbed by the shane of transgressing common Customs, universal Opinion, or the Law, conceals the Evil that is within him, and imitates only what is laudable and honest. So that he may be thought to have altogether cleansed and rins'd away the Stains and Imperfections of his vicious Disposition, and so cunningly for a long time to have kept his natural Corruption, wrapped up under the Covering of Craft and Dissimulation, that we are scarce sensible of the Fallacy till we feel the Stripes or Sting of his Injustice; believing Men to be only then unjust, when they offer Wrong to ourselves; Lascivious when we see them abandoning themselves to their Lusts; and Cowards, when we see them turning their Backs upon the Enemy; just as if any Man should be so idle, as to believe a Scorpion had no Sting until he felt it; or that a Viper had no Venom, until it bit him; which is a silly Conceit. For there is no Man that only then became Wicked, when he appeared to be so. But having the Seeds and Principles of Iniquity within him long before, the Thief then steals when he meets with a fit Opportunity; and the Tyrant violates the Law, when he finds himself surrounded with sufficient Power. But neither is the Nature and Disposition of any Man concealed from God, as taking upon him with more Exactness to scrutinize the Soul then Body; nor does he tarry till actual Violence or lewdness be committed, to punish the Hands of the Wrong-doer, the Tongue of the profane, or the transgressing Members of the Lascivious and Obscene. For he does not exercise his Vengeance on the Unjust, for any Wrong that He has received by his Unjustice: nor is he angry with the High-way Robber, for any Violence done to himself; nor does he abominate the Adulterer, for defiling his Bed. But many times, by way of Cure and Reformation chastizes the Adulterer, the Covetous Miser, and the Wronger of his Neighbour, as Physicians endeavour to subdue an epilepsy, by preventing the coming of the Fits.  
What shall I say? But even a little before we were offended at the Gods protracting and delaying the Punishments of the Wicked; and now we are as much displeased, that they do not kerb and chastise the Depravities of an evil Disposition before the Fact committed. Not considering that many times a Mischief contrived for future Execution, may prove more dreadful then a Fact already committed; and dormant villainy may be more dangerous then open and apparent Iniquity. Nor being able to apprehended the Reason, wherefore it is much safer to bear with the unjust Actions of some Men, then to prevent the Meditating and Contrivance of Mischief in others. As in truth, we do not rightly comprehend, why some Remedies and Physical drugs are no way convenient for those that labour under a real Disease, yet wholesome and profitable for those that are seemingly in Health, but yet perhaps in a worse Condition then they who are Sick. Whence it comes to pass, that the Gods do not always turn the Transgressions of Parents upon their Children; but if a virtuous Son happen to be the Off-spring of a Wicked Father, as often it falls out that a merely Child is born of one that is unsound and crazy, such a one is exempted from the Punishment which threatens the whole Descent, as one begot in Sin, as it is barely a Quality. But for a young Man that treads in the Footsteps of a Criminal Race, it is but just, that as Heir to his Fathers Estate, he should succeed to the Punishment of his Ancestors Iniquity. For neither was Antigonus punished for the Crimes of Demetrius, nor Phyleus for the Transgressions of Augeas; nor Nestor for the Impiety of Neleus, in regard that though their Parents were wicked, yet they were virtuous themselves. But as for those whose Nature has embraced and espoused the Vices of their Parentage, them holy Vengeance prosecutes, pursuing the Likeness and Resemblance of Sin. For as the Warts and Moles, and Freckles of Parents not seen upon the Children of their own begetting, many times afterterwards appear again upon the Children of their Sons and Daughters; and as the graecian Woman that brought forth a blackamoor Infant, for which she was accused of Adultery, proved her self, upon diligent enquiry, to be the Off-spring of an Ethiopian, after four Generations; and as among the Children of Pytho, the Nisibian, said to be descended from the Spartans, that were the Progeny of those Men that sprung from the Teeth of Cadmus's Dragon, the youngest of his Sons, who lately died, was born with the Print of a Spear upon his Body, the usual Mark of that ancient Line, which not having been seen for many Revolutions of Years before, started up again, as it were out of the Deep, and shew'd itself the renewed Testimonial of the Infants Race; so many times it happens, that the first Descents and eldest razes hid and drown the Passions and Affections of the Mind peculiar to the Family, which afterward bud forth again, and desplay the natural Propensity of the succeeding Progeny to 'vice or virtue. Having thus concluded, I held my Peace, at what time Olympiacus smiling. We forbear, as yet said he, to give you our Approbation, that we may not seem to have forgot the Fable; not but that we believe your Discourse to have been sufficiently made out by Demonstration, only we reserve our Opinion till we shall have heard the Relation of that likewise. Upon which I began again after this manner: There was one Soleus a Thespesian, the Friend and familiar Acquaintance of that Protogenes, who for some time conversed among us. This Gentleman in his Youth leading a debauched and intemperate Life, in a short time spent his Patrimony, and then for some years became very Wicked; but afterwards repenting his former Follies and Extravagancies, and pursuing the Recovery of his lost Estate, by all manner of Tricks and Shifts, did as is usual with dissolute and lascivious Youth, who when they have Wives of their own, never mind them at all; but when they have dismissed them, and find them married to others that watch them with a more vigilant Affection, endeavour to corrupt and vitiate them by all the unjust and wicked Provocations imaginable. In this Humour, abstaining from nothing that was lewd and illegal, so it tended to his Gain and Profit; he got no great matter of Wealth, but procured to himself a World of Infamy by his unjust and Knavish Dealing with all sorts of People. Yet nothing made him more the Talk of Country, then the Answer which was brought him back from the Oracle of Amphilochus. For thither it seems he sent to inquire of the Deity, whether he should live any better the remaining part of his Life. To which the Oracle return'd, that it would be better with him after he was dead. And indeed, not long after, in some measure it so fell out; for that happenning to fall from a certain Precipice upon his Neck, though he received no Wound, nor broken any Limb, yet the Force of the Fall beat the Breath out of his Body. Three Days after, being carried forth to be buried, as they were just ready to let him down into the Grave, of a sudden he came to himself, and recovering his Strength, so altered the whole Course of his Life, that it was almost incredible to all that knew him. For by the Report of the Cilicians, there never was in that Age a juster Person in common Dealings between Man and Man, more Devout and Religious, as to Divine Worship, more an Enemy to the Wicked, nor more constant and faithful to his Friends; which was the reason that they who were most conversant with him, were desirous to hear from himself the Cause of so great an Alteration, not believing that so great a Reformation could proceed from bare Chance; though it were true that it did so, as he himself related to Protogenes and others of his choicest Friends. For when his sense first left his Body, it seemed to him as if he had been some Pilot flung from the Helm by the force of a Storm into the midst of the Sea. Afterwards, rising up again above Water by degrees, so soon as he thought he had fully recovered his Breath, he looked about him every way, as if one Eye of his Soul had been open. But he beholded nothing of those things which he was wont formerly to see, only he saw Stars of a vast Magnitude, at an immense distance one from the other, and sending forth a Light most wonderful for the brightness of its Colour, which shot itself out in length with an incredible force: on which the Soul riding, as it were in a Chariot, was most swiftly, yet as gently and smoothly dandl'd from one place to another. But omitting the greatest part of the Sights which he beholded, he saw, as he said, the Souls of such as were newly departed, as they mounted from below, resembling little fiery Bubbles, to which the Air gave way. Which Bubbles afterwards breaking insensibly, and by degrees, the Souls came forth in the Shapes of Men and Women, light and nimble, as being discharged of all their Earthly Substance. However, they differed in their Motion, for some of them leaped forth with a wonderful Swiftness, and mounted up in a direct Line. Others like so many Spindles of Spinning-Wheels turned round and round; sometimes whisking upward, sometimes darting downward, with a confused and mixed Agitation, that in a very long time, and then hardly could be stopped.  
The most part of these Souls he knew not who they were, only perceiving two or three of his Acquaintance, he endeavoured to have approached and discoursed them. But they neither heard him speak, neither indeed did they seem to be in their right Senses, but in a deep Consternation, avoiding either to be seen or felt; they frisk'd up and down at first alone and apart by themselves, till meeting at length with others in the same Condition, they clung together; but still their Motions were with the same giddiness and uncertainty as before, without any steerage of Discretion, or purpose of tending any whither: yet sending forth inarticulate Sounds like the Cries of Souldiers in Combat, intermixed with the doleful Yels of Fear and Lamentation. Others there were that towr'd aloft in the upper Region of the Air, and these looked gay and pleasant, and kindly and familiarly accosted each other with a more then ordinary show of Civility and Respect. Nevertheless they seemed to show a kind of Discontent when they were crowded and huddl'd together, but to rejoice, and were well pleased when expanded and at Liberty. One of these, said he, being the Soul of a certain Kinsman, which because the Person died when he was but very young, he did not very well know, drew near him, and saluted him by the Name of Thespesius; at which, being in a kind of amazement, and saying, his Name was not Thespesius, but Aridaeus; the Spirit replied, 'twas true, that formerly he was so called, but that from thenceforth he must be Thespesius, that is to say, Divine. For thou art not in the Number of the Dead as yet, but by a certain Destiny and Permission of the Gods, thou art come hither only with thy intellectual Faculty, having left the rest of thy Soul, like an Anchor, in thy Body. And that thou mayst be assured of this, observe it for a certain Rule, both now and hereafter, that the Souls of the deceased neither cast any Shadow, neither do they open and shut their Eye-lids. Thespesius having heard this Discourse, was so much the more encouraged to make use of his own Reason, and therefore looking round about to prove the Truth of what had been  told him, he could perceive that there followed him a kind of obscure and Shadow-like Line, whereas those other Souls shone like a round Body of perfect Light, and were transparent within; and yet there was a very great difference between them too; for that some yielded a smooth, even and contiguous Lustre, all of one Colour, like the Full-moon in her brightest splendour. Others were marked with long Scales, or slender Streaks, distinguishing the Spaces between. Others were all over spotted and very ugly to look upon, as being covered with black Speckles like the Skins of Vipers.  
Moreover, this Kinsman of Thespesius( for nothing hinders but that we may call the Souls by the Names of the Persons which they enlivened) proceeding to give a Relation of several other things, informed his Friend, How that Adrastia, the Daughter of Jupiter and Necessity, was seated in the highest Place of all, to punish all manner of Crimes and Enormities, and that in the whole Number of the Wicked and Ungodly, there never was any one, whither Great or Little, High or Low, Rich or Poor, that ever could by Force or Cunning, escape the severe Lashes of her Rigour. But as there are three sorts of Punishments, so there are three several Furies, or Female Ministers of Justice, and to every one of these belongs a peculiar Office and Degree of Punishment. The first of these was called {αβγδ} or Pain; whose Executions are swift and speedy upon those that are presently to receive Bodily Punishment in this Life, and which she manages after a more gentle manner, omitting the Correction of slight Offences, which need but little Expiation. But if the Cure of Impiety require a greater Labour, the Deity delivers those, after Death, to Dice or Revenge. But when Dice has given them over as altogether incurable, then the third and most severe of all Adrastia's Ministers, Erinnys takes them in hand, and after she has chased and cours'd them from one place to another flying, yet not knowing where to fly for Shelter or Relief, plagued and tormented with a thousand Miseries, she plunges them headlong into an invisible Abyss, the Hideousness of which no Tongue can express.  
Now of all these three sorts of Punishments, that which is inflicted by Poena in this Life, resembles the Practise among the Barbarians. For as among the Persians, they take off the Garments and turbans of those that are to be punished, and tear and whip them before the Offenders Faces, while ●he Criminals, with Tears and Lamentations, beseech the Executioners to give over, so Corporeal Punishments and Penalties by Mulcts and Fines, have not that sharpness of Severity, nor do they reach the Deserts of the 'vice, but are accounted great or excessive, according to Opinion, and a sense of the Pain or Detriment which the Offendor feels. But if any one comes hither, that has escaped Punishment while he lived upon Earth, and before he was well purged from his Crimes, Dice takes him to task, naked as he is, with his Soul displayed, as having nothing to conceal or veil his Impiety; but on all sides, and to all Mens Eyes, and every way exposed, she shows him first to his honest Parents, if he had any such, to let them see how degenerate he was, and unworthy of his Progenitors. But if they were wicked likewise, then are their Sufferings rendered yet more terrible by the mutual Sight of each others Miseries, and those for a long time inflicted, till the remorsless Fury has quiter defaced each individual Crime with Pains and Torments, as far surmounting in Sharpness and Severity all Punishments and Tortures of the Flesh, as what is real and evident surpasses an idle Dream. But the Wheals and Stripes that remain after Punishment, appear more signal in some, in others are less evident. View there, said he, those various Colours of Souls. That same black and sordid Hue, is the Tincture of Avarice and Fraud. That bloody and flame-like die, betokens Cruelty, and an embittered desire of Revenge. Where you perceive a bluish Colour, 'tis a sign that Soul will hardly be cleansed from the Impurities of Lascivious Pleasure and Voluptuousness. Lastly, that same dark violet and venomous Colour, resembling the sordid Ink which the Cuttle Fish spews up, proceeds from Envy. For as during Life, the Wickedness of the Soul being governed by Human Passions, and governing the Body, occasions this variety of Colours, so here they are the end of Expiation and Punishment. For these being cleansed away, the Soul recovers her Native Lustre, and becomes clear and spotless. But so long as these remain, there will be some certain Returns of the Passions, accompanied with little Pantings and Beatings, as it were of the Pulse; in some remiss and languid, and quickly extinguished; in others more quick and vehement, which being thoroughly chastised, recover a due Habit and Disposition. But the other, by the force of Ignorance, and the enticing show of Pleasure, are carried into the Bodies of Brute Beasts. For the Feebleness of their Ratiocination, while their handsomeness will not permit them to contemplate, hurries them to the active part of Generation; on the other side, wanting the Instrument of Intemperance, yet desirous to gratify their Desires with the full Swinge of Enjoyment, they endeavour to promote their Design by means of the Body. But alas, here is nothing but an imperfect Shadow and Dream of Pleasure, that never attains to Ability of performance.  
Having thus said, the Spirit carried Thespesius to a certain place, as it appeared to him, prodigiously spacious; yet so gently, and without the lest Deviation, that he seemed to be born upon the Rays of the Light, as if he had sate upon the Wings of an Eagle. Thus at length he came to a certain gaping Chawn, that was fadomless downward, where he found himself deserted by that extraordinary Force which brought him thither, and perceived other Souls also to be there in the same Condition. For hovering upon the Wing in Flocks together like Birds, they kept flying round and round the yawning Rift, but durst not enter into it. Now this same Cleft within side, resembled the Dens of Bacchus, fringed about with the pleasing Verdure of various Herbs and Plants, that yielded a more delightful Prospect still of all sorts of Flowers, enamelling the Green so with a wonderful diversity of Colours, and breathing forth at the same time, a soft and gentle Breeze, which perfumed all the Ambient Air with odours most surprising, and more grateful to the Smell then the sweet Flavour of Wine to those that Love it. Insomuch, that the Souls banqueting upon these Fragrancies, were almost all dissolved in Raptures of Mirth and Caresses one among another, there being nothing to be heard for some fair distance round about the place, but Jollity and Laughter, and all the cheerful Sounds of Joy and Harmony, which are usual among People that pass their Time in Sport and Merriment.  
The Spirit said moreover, that Bacchus ascended through this Overture to Heaven, and afterwards returning fetched up Semele the same way; and that it was called the Place of Oblivion. Wherefore his Kinsman would not suffer Thespesius to tarry there any longer, though very unwilling to depart, but took him away by force; informing and instructing him withal, how strangely, yet how suddenly the Mind was subject to be softened and melted by Pleasure; that the Irrational and Corporeal Part being watered and incarnated thereby, revives the Memory of the Body, and that from that Remembrance proceeds Concupiscence and Desire, exciting an Appetite to Generation, which is therefore called a violent Propensity bearing down the Soul by the Weight of its Moisture.  
At length, after he had been carried as far another way, as when he was transported to the yawning Overture, he thought he beholded a prodigious standing Goblet, into which several Rivers discharged themselves. Among which there was one whiter then Snow, or the Foam of the Sea; another resembled the Purple Colour of the Rain-bow. The Tinctures of the rest were various; besides that, they had their several Lustres at a distance. But when he drew nearer, and that the Ambient Air became more subtle and rarify'd, and that the Colours vanished, the Goblet retained no more of its flourishing Beauty, except the White. At the same time he saw three Demons sitting together in a Triangular Aspect, and blending and mixing the Rivers together with certain Measures. Thus far, said the Guide of Thespesius's Soul, did Orpheus come, when he sought after the Soul of his Wife, and not well remembering what he had seen, upon his return, raised a false Report in the World, That the Oracle at Delphos was in common, as well to Night as to Apollo; whereas Apollo never had any thing in common with Night. But said the Spirit, This Oracle is in common to Night and to the Moon, no way included within earthly Bounds, nor having any fixed or certain Seat, but always wandring among Men in Dreams and Visions. For from hence it is that all Dreams are dispiers'd, compounded as they are, after Truth has been jumbled with falsehood, and Sincerity with the various Mixtures of Craft and Delusion. But as for the Oracle of Apollo, said the Spirit, you neither do see it, neither can you behold it. For the earthy part of the Soul is not capable to release or let itself loose; nor is it permitted to reach Sublimity, but swags downward, as being fastened to the Body. And with that, leading Thespesius nearer, the Spirit endeavoured to show him the Light of the Tripos, which, as he said, shooting through the Bosom of Themis, fell upon Parnassus; which Thespesius was desirous to see, but could not, in regard the extraordinary Brightness of the Light dazzled his Eyes; only passing by, he heard the shrill Voice of a Woman, speaking in Verse and Measure, and among other things, as he thought, foretelling the time of his Death. This the Genius  told him was the Voice of a sibyl, that being orbicularly whirled about in the Face of the Moon, continually sang of future Events. Thereupon being desirous to have heard more, he was tossed the quiter contrary way, by the violent Motion of the Moon, as by the force of the Waves, so that he could hear but very little, and that very concisely too. Among other things, he learnt something concerning the Mountain Vesuvius, and the Burning of Dicaearchia, occasioned by a casual Fire; together with a piece of a Verse concerning a certain Emperor or great famous Chieftain of that Age.  
Who though so just, that no Man could accuse,  
howe'er his Empire should by Sickness loose.  
After this, they passed on to behold the Torments of those that were punished. And indeed at first they met with none but lamentable and dismal Sights. For Thespesius, when he least expected any such thing, and before he was ware, was got among his Kindred, his Acquaintance and Companions, who groaning under the horrid Pains of their cruel and ignominious Punishments, with mournful Cries and Lamentations, called him by his Name. At length he saw his Father ascending out of a certain Abyss, all full of Stripes, Gashes and Scars; who stretching forth his Hands, and not able to keep Silence, but constrained to confess by the Scourges of his Torments, acknowledged that he had most impiously poisoned several of his Guests for the Sake of their Gold; of which, not being detected while he lived upon Earth, but being convicted after his decease, he had endured part of his Torments already, and that now they were haling him where he should suffer more. However, he durst not either entreat or intercede for his Father, such was his Fear and Consternation; and therefore being desirous to retire, and be gon, he looked about for his kind and courteous Guide; but he had quiter left him, so that he saw him no more. Nevertheless, being pushed forward by other deformed and grim-look'd Goblins, as if there had been some necessity for him to pass forward, he saw how that the Shadows of such as had been notorious Malefactors, and had been punished in this World, were not so grievously tormented, nor alike to others, in regard that only the imperfect and irrational part of the Soul, and which was consequently most subject to Passions, was that which made them so industrious in 'vice. Whereas they who had shrouded a vicious and impious Life, under the outward Profession, and a gained Opinion of virtue, those their Tormentors constrained to turn their Insides outward, and with great Difficulty and dreadful Pain, to writhe and screw themselves contrary to the Course of Nature, like the Sea Scolopenders, which having swallowed the Bait, throw forth their Bowels and lick it out again. Others they flayed and scarify'd, to display their occult Hypocrisies and latent Impieties, which were grounded, and had corrupted the principal Part of their Souls. Other Souls, as he said, he also saw, which being twisted two and two, three and three, or more together, gnawed and devoured each other, either upon the Score of old Grudges and former Malice which they had born one another, or else in Revenge of the Injuries and Losses they had sustained from such or such of their Acquaintance upon Earth. Moreover, he said, that there were certain Lakes that ran parallel and equidistant one from the other, the one of boiling Gold, another of led, exceeding could, and a third of Iron, which was very scaly and rugged. By the sides of these Lakes stood certain Demons, that with their Instruments, like Smiths or Founders, put in or drew out the Souls of such as had transgressed, either through Avarice, or an eager Desire of other Mens Goods. For the flamme of the Golden Furnace having rendered these Souls of a fiery and transparent Colour, they plunged them into that of led, where after they were congealed and hardened into a Substance like Hail, they were then thrown into the Lake of Iron, where they became black and deformed, and being broken and crumbl'd by the Roughness of the Iron, changed their Form, and being thus transformed, they were again thrown into the Lake of Gold; in all these Transmutations, enduring most dreadful and horrid Torments. But they that suffered the most dire and dismal Torture of all, were those who thinking that Divine Vengeance had no more to say to them, were again seized and dragged to repeated Execution; and these were such, as for whose Trasgressions their Children or Posterity had suffered. For when any of the Souls of those Children come hither and meet with any of their Parents or Ancestors, they fall into a Passion, exclaim against them, and show them the Marks of what they have endured. On the other side, the Souls of the Parents endeavour to sneak out of sight and hid themselves; but the others follow them so close at the Heels, and lad them in such a manner with bitter Taunts and Reproaches, that not being able to escape, their Tormentors presently lay hold of them, and hawl them to new Tortures, howling and yelling at the very thought of what they have suffered already. And some of these Souls of suffering Posterity, he said, there were, that swarmed and clung together like Bees or bats, and in that Posture murmured forth their angry Complaints of the Miseries and Calamities which they had endured for their Sakes. The last thing that he saw, were the Souls of such, as being designed for a second Life, were bowed, bent, and transformed into all sorts of Creatures by the force of Tools and Anvils, and the Strength of Work-men appointed for that Purpose, that laid on without Mercy, bruising the whole Limbs of some, breaking others, disjointing others, and pounding some to Powder and Annihilation, on purpose to render them fit for other Lives and Manners. Among the rest, he saw the Soul of Nero, many ways most grievously tortured, but more especially transfix'd with Iron Nails. This Soul the Work-men took in hand, but when they had forged it into the Form of one of Pindars Vipers, which eats his Way to Life through the Bowels of the Female, of a sudden, a conspicuous Light shone out, and a Voice was heard out of the Light, which gave order for the Transfiguring it again into the Shape of some more mildred and gentle Creature, and so they made it to resemble one of those Creatures that usually Sing and Croak about the sides of pounds and Marshes. For indeed he had in some measure been punished for the Crimes he had committed; besides that, there was some Compassion due to him from the Gods, for that he had restored the Grecians to their Liberty, a Nation the most Noble, and best beloved of the Gods among all his Subjects. And now being about to return, such a terrible Dread surprised Thespesius, as had almost frighted him out of his Wits. For a certain Woman, admirable for her Form and Stature, laying hold of his Arm, Come hither, said she, that thou mayst the better be enabled to retain the Remembrance of what thou hast seen. With that she was about to have struck him with a small fiery Wand, not much unlike to those that Painters use; but another Woman prevented her. After this, as he thought himself, he was whirled or hurried away with a strong and violent Wind, forced as it were through a Pipe, and so lighting again into his own Body, he began to look about him, as one that was hardly out of his Grave.   

Plutarch's Morals: Vol. IV.  
Of Natural Affection towards ones Off-Spring  Translated from the Greek by Richard Brown, M. L. 
AS Appeals to Foreign Judicatures first came in request among the Grecians, out of their Distrust of one another's Justice, they deeming it as requisite to fetch Justice from abroad, as any other necessary Commodity, which was not of their own Growth: Even so Philosophers, by reason of Dissensions amongst themselves, have in the Decision of some Questions, appealed to the Nature of irrational Beings, as to a strange City, and have submitted the final Determination of such Questions to the Affections and Dispositions of Brutes, as being unbiased and not corrupted by Bribes. And this is the general Complaint of Human Frailty, that while we differ about the most necessary, and the greatest Things, we consult Horses, Dogs and Birds, how we should mary, beget Children, and bring them up; and, as if the Evidence of Nature in ourselves were not to be trusted, we appeal to the Disposition and Affections of brute Beasts, and testify against the manifold Transgressions of our own Lives, intimating how at the very first, and in the first things we are confounded and disturbed. For Nature conserves the Propriety in them pure, unmixed and simplo; but in Men, the Mixture of ascititious Opinions and Judgments( as oil is served by the Druggists) alters the Proprieties, and does not preserve what is their Peculiar. Nor need we wonder, if irrational Animals follow Nature more than Rational; for Plants do it more than Animals, they having neither Imagination nor Passion to avert their Appetite fixed according to Nature, but are bound in Chains, and ever go that one way that Nature leads them. Brutes do little regard Gentleness, Wit or Liberty, they have indeed the Use of irrational Incitements and Appetites, which put them upon wandring and running about, but seldom far, for they seem to lie at the Anchor of Nature. As a Rider guides his Ass in the right way by Bit and Bridle, so Reason, the Lord and Master in Man, finds sometimes one turning, sometimes another, but in all its wanderings leaves no Mark or Footstep of Nature. But in Brutes, observe how all things are accommodated to Nature. As to Marriages, they tarry not till Laws are passed against Celibacy and late Marriages, as Lycurgus and Solon's Citizens did; they matter not the Disgrace of wanting Children, nor are ambitious of the Honour of having three Children, as many Romans mary, and get Children, not that they may have Heirs, but that they may get Estates. Again, the Male accompanies with the Female not at all times, because not Pleasure, but Procreation is his end. Therefore in the Spring time, when the fruitful Breezes blow, and the Air is of a pregnant Temper, then the Female approaches the Male, gentle and desirable, wantoning in the sweet Smell and peculiar Ornament of her Body, full of due and pure Grass; and when she perceives she has conceived, she modestly departs, and provides for her bringing forth, and for the Safety of what she shall bring forth. What Brutes do, cannot be sufficiently expressed; in all of them, their Affection to their Young is evident by their Providence, Patience and ꝯtinence. Indeed we call the Bee wise, and we celebrate the Yellow Honey-maker, flattering her for glutting us with her Sweetness; but the Wisdom and Art of other Creatures, about their bringing forth, and the rearing their Young, we wholly neglect. For instance, first, the Kings-Fisher, when she has conceived, makes her Nest of the Prickles of the Sea-needle, weaving them one among another, in form of a long Fishing-Net, very thick and uniform; then she puts it under the Dashing of the Waters, that being by degrees beaten upon and milled, it may acquire a smooth Surface, and it becomes so solid, that it cannot easily be divided by either ston or Iron. And what is more wonderful, the Mouth of the Nest is so exactly fitted to the Kings-Fisher, that neither a greater nor a less Animal can live in it; for when she is in( as they say) it will not admit the Sea-water. Some sorts of Cats also, when they have brought forth their Young, let them go abroad to Feed, and then take them into their Bellies again, when they go to sleep. The Bear, a most fierce and ugly Beast, brings forth her Young shapeless and without Limbs, but with her Tongue, as with a Tool, she shapes the Members, so that she seems not only to bring forth, but to work out her Young. And does not Homer's Lioness.  
— Who,  
When leading of her Whelps, she's met i'th' Wood  
By Huntsmen, first with Scorn she them descries,  
Then down drops Courage, and she hides her Eyes.  
does she not, I say, look as if she were contriving how to make a Bargain with the Huntsman for her Whelp●? For generally the Love of their Young makes bold Creatures timorous, the Slothful industrious, and the Voracious parsimonious. So Homer's bide Gives to her Young, though with her self 't go hard. She feeds them by starving her self, and when she has taken up her Food, she lays it down again, and keeps it down with her Bill, lest she should swallow it unawares.  
For tender Whelps, when Stranger comes in sight,  
The harking Bitch prepares her self to fight.  
And fear for her young turns into a Second Passion. When Partridges and their Young are pursued, the Old suffer the Young to fly away before, so contriving that the Fowler may think to catch them; thus they hover about, run forward a little, then return again, and so detain the Fowler, till their Young are safe. We daily behold Hens, how they cherish their Chickens, taking some of them under their spread Wings, suffering others of them to run upon their Backs, and taking them in again, with a Voice expressing Kindness and Joy. When themselves are concerned, they fly from Dogs and Serpents, but to defend their Chickens, they will venture beyond their Strength, and fight. And shall we think that Nature has bread such Affections in these Creatures, as if she were solicitous for the Propagation of Hens, Dogs and Bears, and that she would not by these means make us ashamed? Certainly we must conclude that these Creatures following the dust of Nature, are for our Example, and they must upbraid the Remorslesness of Humanity, of which Human Nature alone is culpable, it not being capable of gratuitous Love, nor knowing how to be a Friend without Profit. Well therefore might the Comedian be admired, who said, For Reward only Man loves Man. Epicurus thinks that after this manner Children are beloved of their Parents, and Parents of their Children. But if the Benefit of Speech were allowed to Brutes, and if Horses, Cows, Dogs and Birds were brought upon the Stage, the Song would be changed, and it would be said, that neither the Bitch loved her Whelps for Gain, nor the mere her Foal, nor Fowls their Chickens; but that they were all beloved Gratis, and by impulse of Nature: By the Affections of all Brutes, this Assertion would be approved as just and true. And is it not a shane, that the Procreation of Beasts, their Birth, Pains in Birth, and their Education should be by Nature Gratis; and that for these very things Man should require Usury, Rewards and Bribes? This Assertion can never be true, nor ought it to be believed. For as in wild Plants, such as wild Vines, Figs and Olives, Nature has implanted the Principles of cultivated Fruit, though crude and imperfect; so she has endowed Beasts with a Love of their Young, though imperfect and not attaining to Justice, nor proceeding further than Utility. But in Man, whom she produced a rational and political Being, inclining him to Justice, Law, Religion, Building of Cities, and Friendship; she hath placed the Seeds of these things generous, fair and fruitful, i.e. the Love of their Children, following the first Principles, which entred the Constitution of Bodies. For Terms and Expressions are wanting to declare with what Industry Nature, who is skilful, unerring, and not to be surpassed, and( as Erasistratus says) has nothing idle or frivolous; how she, I say, has contrived all things pertaining to the Procreation of Mankind; for Modesty will not permit it. The making and economy of Milk sufficiently speak her Providence and Care. In Women, what Blood abounds more than serves for necessary Uses, and through its Languidness and Want of Spirit, wandring about, disturbs the Body; that at other times is by Nature in monthly Periods discharged by proper Canals and Passages, for the Relief and Purgation of the Body, and to render the Womb like a Field fit for the Plow and Seed, and desirous of it at Seasons. But when the Womb has caught the Seed, and it has takeen Root( for the navel, as Democritus says, grows first, like an Anchor to keep the Foetus from fluctuating, or as a Stay or Footstalk to the Child) then Nature stops the Passages proper for monthly Purgation, and keeps the superfluous Blood then for Nourishment, and waters the Birth with it, which is formed and fashioned, till at a set number of Days it increases in the Womb, and seeks another place, and other sort of Food. Then Nature, more diligent then any Husband-Man, deriving the Blood to other Uses, has as it were some subterranean Fountains, which receive the affluent liquours, and they receive them not negligently nor without Affection; but with the gentle Heat and womanish Softness, concoct, mollify and alter them; for in this manner are the Breasts internally affencted and tempered. And Milk is not poured out of them by Pipes in a full Stream; but the Breasts terminating in Flesh, that is pervious by small and insensible Passages, do afford store of sweet and pleasant Sucking. But for all this, such and so many Instruments for Procreation, such Preparation, so great Industry and Providence were all to no purpose, unless Nature had inbred in the Mothers a Love and Care of their Off-spring.  
Than Man more wretched nought takes Breath,  
Not th' vilest thing that creeps on Earth.  
Which infallibly holds good of Infants new born. For nothing can be beholded so imperfect, helpless, naked, shapeless and nasty, as Man is just at his Birth; to whom alone almost Nature has denied a cleanly Passage into the World; but as he is smeered with Blood, and daubed with Filth, more like to one killed than new-born, he could never be touched, taken in Arms, kissed, or hugged, but that Nature bears an inbred Affection for him. Therefore other Animals have their Dugs below their Belly, they grow on Woman above her Breast, that she may the more conveniently kiss, embrace and cherish her Infant, because the end of bringing forth and rearing, is not Necessity but Love. For let us look back to ancient Times; those who first brought forth, and who first saw a Child born, upon them certainly no Law enjoined any Necessity of Rearing their Off-spring, nor could Expectation of Thanks oblige them to feed their Infants, as if it were for Usury. Nay rather, they were angry with their Children, and long remembered the Injuries they had received from their Young, as Authors of so many Dangers, and of so much Travail and Pain to them.  
As when Big-belly, struck with Dart  
Of Child bed Pains, is touched to th' Heart;  
Then Man or Midwife show your Art!  
These Rhymes, some say, were not written by Homer, but by some Homeress, who either had been, or was then in Travail, and felt the very Pangs in her Bowels. Yet Love implanted by Nature, melts and sways the Child-bed Woman. While she is all in a Sweat and trembling for Pain, she is not averse to her Infant; but turns it to her, smiles on it, hugs and kisses it: Though she finds no true Sweetness, nor yet Profit, however, she sometimes Rocks it in a warm Cradle, sometimes she Dances it in the cool Air, turning one Toil into another, resting neither Night nor Day. He that plants a Vine in the Vernal equinox, gathers Grapes upon it in the Autumnal. He that sows Wheat at the Setting of the Pleiades, reaps it at their Rising. Cows, Mares and Birds bring forth Young ready for use. Man's Education is laborious, his Increase slow, his virtue lies at a distance; so that most Parents die before their Children show their virtue. Niocles never saw Themistocles his Victory at Salamis; nor Miltiades the Valour of Cimon at Eurymedon; Xanthippus never heard Pericles pleading; nor Aristo Plato philosophising; nor did the Fathers of Euripides and Sophocles know the Victories their Sons won: They heard them indeed Stammering and Learning to Talk. It is the Fathers hap to see the reveling, Drinking, and Love intrigues of their Children: To which purpose that of Ennius is memorable.  The Son to's Father always is a Grief. 
And yet Men find no end of rearing of Children; they especially who have no need of Children. For it is ridiculous to think, that Rich Men, when they have Children born to them, do Sacrifice, to the end they may have some to maintain them, and to bury them. Surely they bring not up Children for want of Heirs, as if, forsooth, Men could not be found to accept of another Man's Estate. Sand, Dust, and the Feathers of all the Birds in the World are not so numerous as Heirs are to other Mens Estates. Danaus was the Father of fifty Daughters; who, if he had wanted Issue, had had many more Heirs. The Case is far otherwise with Children, they make not acknowledgements, nor cury Favour, nor pay their Devotions, as expecting the Inheritance of due. But you may hear Strangers talk to them that want Heirs, like the Comedian.  Fall too! Feed! You're welcome! [ Aside] The Fellow's Rich. 
And what Euripides said, 
By Money 'tis, Men gain Friends,  
By Money Mortals gain their Ends.  Does not universally hold true; but of such only, as have no Children. To such the Rich lend Money, such great Men Honour, and for such only Lawyers pled Gratis. A rich Man, who has no known Heir, can do great Matters. Many a Man, who has had a great Number of Friends and Followers, as soon as he has had a Child, has been divested of all his Alliances and Power. So that Children do not augment a Man's Power: But Nature's Almighty Power is shown no less in Men than in Beasts. For these and many other things are choked by Vices, as when a wild forest is sown with Garden-Seeds. Can we say, that Man loves not himself, because some hang themselves, others break their own Necks, Oedipus put out his own Eyes, and Hegesias, by his Disputation, persuaded many of his Auditors to kill themselves.  For fatal things in various Shapes do walk. 
But all these things are Disease and Craziness of Mind, degenerating from its own Nature. And in this Men testify against themselves. For if a Sow or a Bitch kill the Young they have brought forth, Men look dejected, are disturbed, sacrifice to the Gods to avert the Mischief, and do account it a Miracle, because Men know that Nature has implanted in all Creatures the Love of their Young, so as they should feed them, and not kill them. For as among Metals, Gold, though mixed with much Rubbage, will appear; so Nature, even in vicious Deeds and Affections, declares the Love to Posterity. For poor People do not rear their Children, fearing that if they should not be well Educated, they would prove Slavish, Clownish, and destitute of all things commendable. So they cannot endure to entail Poverty, Which they look upon as the worst of all Evils or Diseases upon their Posterity.   

Plutarch's Morals: Vol. IV. Concerning the Fortune of the Romans.  Translated from the Greek by Joh. Oswald. 
AMong the many warm Disputes which have often hapen'd between virtue and Fortune, This concerning the Roman Empire is none of the least considerable, Whether of them shall have the Honour of founding that Empire at first, and raising it afterwards to vast Power and Glory. The Victory in this Cause, will be no small Commendation of the Conqueror, and will sufficiently vindicate either of the contending Parties from the Allegations that are usually made against it: For whereas virtue is accused as unprofitable, though beautiful, and Fortune as unstable, though good; the former as labouring in vain, the latter as deceitful in its Gifts: Who can deny but virtue has been most profitable, if Rome does favour her Cause in this Contention, since she procured so much Good to brave and gallant Men? or that Fortune is most constant, if she be victorious in this Contest, since she continued her Gifts with the Romans for so long a time?  
Ion the Poet, has written somewhere in Prose, That Fortune and Wisdom, though they be very much different from one another, are nevertheless the Causes of the very same Effects: Both of them do advance and adorn Men, both do raise them to Glory, Power and Empire. It were needless to multiply Instances by a long Enumeration of Particulars, when even Nature itself, which produces all things, is by some reputed Fortune, and by others Wisdom: And therefore the present controversy will conciliate great Honour and Veneration to the City of Rome, since she is thought worthy of the same Enquiry which uses to be made concerning the Earth and Seas, the Heavens and the Stars, whether she owes her Being to Fortune or to Providence. In which Question, I think it may be truly affirmed, that notwithstanding the fierce and lasting Wars which have been between virtue and Fortune, they did both amicably conspire to rear up the Structure of her vast Empire and Power, and join their united endeavours to finish ●he most beautiful Work that ever was of Human Production. It was the Opinion of Plato, that the whole World was composed of Fire and Earth, as necessary First Principles, which being mixed together, did render it visible and tangible, the Earth contributing weight and firmness, while the Fire gave Colour, Form and Motion to the several Parts of Matter; but for the Tempering and Union of these extremes, he thought it necessary, that the Water and Air, being of a middle Nature, should mitigate and rebate the contrary Force in Composition. After the same manner did God and Time, who laid the Foundations of Rome, conjoin and mingle Fortune and virtue together, that by the Union of their several Powers, they might compose a Vesta, truly sacred and beneficent to all Men, which should be a firm Stay, an eternal Support, and a steady Anchor( as Democritus calls it) amid the fluctuating and uncertain Affairs of Human Life. For as Naturalists say, That the World was not framed at first into that beautiful Order and Structure which we now behold, for want of the Union and Mixture of these several Bodies that compose it; but that all things did fluctuate a long while in Confusion and Noise, whilst the little Bodies being variously moved, avoided all Connexion together, and the greater Bodies already compacted, being of contrary Natures, did frequently justle and jar one against another; until such time as the Earth being framed of them both in its due Magnitude, was established in its proper Place, and by its Stability, gave occasion to all the other Bodies of the Universe, either to settle upon it, or round about it; just so it happened to the greatest Kingdoms and Empires of Men, which were long tossed with various Chances, and broken in pieces by mutual Clashings. That for want of one supreme God over all, the Earth was filled with unspeakable Calamities, by the continual Broils and Revolutions of every aspiring Pretender, until such time as Rome was raised to its just Strength and Greatness, which comprehending under her Power many strange Nations, and even Transmarine Dominions, did lay the Foundation of Firmness and Stability to the greatest of Human Affairs; for by this vast Compass of one and the same Empire, Government was secured as in an unmovable circled, resting upon the Center of Peace. Whosoever therefore contrived and compassed these great Designs, must not only be endowed with all virtues, but likewise be assisted by Fortune in many things, as will plainly appear from the following Discourse.  
And now methinks I behold, as from a Turret, virtue and Fortune coming to this Conference. As to virtue, her Gate is modest, her Countenance Grave, the blushing Colour of her Face shows her earnest Desire of obtaining Victory and Honour in this Contest; Fortune in her hasty place leaves her far behind, but she is lead and accompanied by many brave and gallant Men, who are all over the Body full of Wounds, distilling Blood mingled with Sweat, and they lean upon the bending Spoils of their Enemies. If you inquire who they are, they answer, We are of the Fabricii, Camilli, and Lucii, and Cincinnati, and Maximi Fabii, and Claudii Marcelli, and the Scipio's, who have suffered so many Deaths for defending and enlarging the Roman Empire by our Magnanimity and Courage. I perceived also in the Train of virtue, C. Marius angry with Fortune, and Mutius Scaevola holding out his burning Hand, and crying with a loud Voice, Will ye attribute this to Fortune also? and M. Horatius Cocles, who behaved himself gallantly at the River Tiber, when he cut the Bridge and swam over, being loaded with Tyrrhenian Darts, and drawing his lame Foot out of the deep Water, thus expostulates, Was I also thus maimed by mere Chance? Was there nothing of virtue in this bold Action? Such is the Company of virtue, when she comes to the Dispute, a Company powerful in Arms, terrible to their falling Enemies. But as to Fortune, her Gate was hasty, her Looks fierce, her Hope arrogant, and leaving virtue far behind her, she enters the Lists; not as she is described with her light Wings, balancing her self in the Air, or lightly tripping with her Tiptoes upon the Convexity of the Globe, as if she were presently to vanish away out of sight. No, she does not appear here in any such doubtful and uncertain Posture: But, as the Spartans say, that Venus, when she passed over Eurota, put off her Gew-Gaws and Female Ornaments, and armed her self with Spear and Shield for the Love of Lycurgus: So Fortune having deserted the Persians and Assyrians, did swiftly fly over Macedonia, and quickly threw off her favourite Alexander the Great; and after that, having passed through the Countries of Egypt and Syria, and oftentimes by turns supported the Carthaginians, she did at last fly over Tiber to the Palatine Mount, and there she put off her Wings, her Mercurial Shoes, and left her slippery and deceitful Globe: Thus she entred Rome, as one that was to be resident there, and thus she comes to the Bar in this controversy; she is no more uncertain, as Pindar describes her, she does henceforth steer a double Course, but continues constant to the Romans, and therefore may be called the Sister of Justice and Eloquence, and the Daughter of Providence, as Aleman describes her Pedigree. This is certain in the Opinion of all Men, that she holds in her Hand the Horn of Plenty, not that which is filled with verdant Fruits, but that which pours forth abundance of all things, which the Earth or the Sea, the Rivers or the Metals, or the harbours afford. Several illustrious and famous Men were seen to accompany her, Pompilius Numa from the Sabines, and Priscus from the Tarquinians, whom, being Foreigners and Strangers, Fortune transplanted to the Soil of Romulus: Aemilius Paulus also bringing back his Army from Perseus and the Macedonians, and triumphing in an unbloody and entire Victory, does greatly magnify and extol Fortune. The same does Caecilius Metellus, that brave old Gentleman, surnamed Macedonicus, from his many Victories, and honourable Interment, whose Corps was carried forth to its Funerals by his four Sons, Q. Balearicus, L. Diadematus, or Vittatus, M. Metellus, and C. Caprarius, and his two Sons-in-Law, who were all six his Daughters Sons, of Consular Dignity; and also attended by his two Nephews, who were famous for the good Offices they did to the Common-wealth, both abroad, by their Heroical Actions, and at home by the Administration of Justice. Aemilius Scaurus, from a mean Estate, and a meaner Family, was raised by Fortune to that height of Dignity, that he was chosen Prince of the Senate. It was Fortune that took Cornelius Sylla out of the Bosom of Nicopolis the Whore, and exalted him above the Cimbrian Triumphs of Marius, and the Dignity of his Seven Consulships, giving him at once the Powers of a Monarch and a dictatory; upon which account he adopted himself and all his memorable Actions to Fortune, crying out with OEdipus in Sophocles, I think myself the Son of Fortune. In the Roman Tongue, he was called Felix, the Happy, but he writ himself to the Greeks, L. Cornelius Sulla Venustus, i.e. Beloved of Venus, which is also the Inscription on all his Trophies, both at Chelonaea with us, and Mithidratium, and that not without reason, since it is not the Night, as Menander thought, but Fortune that enjoys the greatest part of Venus.  
And thus, having made a seasonable beginning in defence of Fortune, we may now call in for Witnesses in this Cause the Romans themselves, who attributed more to Fortune than to virtue; for the Temple of virtue was but lately built by Scipio Numantinus, a long time after the building of the City. And after that Marcellus dedicated a Temple to virtue and Honour, and Aemilius Scaurus, who lived in the time of the Cimbrian War, founded another to Mens[ the Mind] when now by the subtleties of Sophisters, and Encomiastics of Orators, these things begun to be mightily extolled; to this very Day there is no Temple built to Temperance, Patience, Magnanimity and ꝯtinence. But the Temples dedicated to Fortune are splendid and ancient, almost as old as the first Foundations of Rome itself. The first that built Her a Temple, was Ancus Martius, born of the Sister of Nurna, being the Fourth King from Romulus, and he seems to have made Fortune Surname to Fortitude, to which she contributes very much for obtaining Victory. The Romans built the Temple of Feminine Fortune, when by the help of the Women they turned back Marcius Coriolanus, leading up the Volsci against the City of Rome; for the Women being sent Ambassadors to him, together with his Mother and Wife, prevailed with the Man to spare the City at that time, and draw off the Army of the Barbarians. It's said that this Statue of Fortune, when it was consecrated, uttered these Words, It was piously done, O ye City Matrons, to dedicate me by the Law of your State. But which is more remarkable, furious Camillus having extinguished the flamme that broken out from the Gauls, and rescued Rome from the balance and Scales, in which her Price was weighed to them in Gold, did not upon this Occasion found a Temple to Prudence and Fortitude, but to famed and Chance; which he built hard by the New-way, in that very Place, where it's said, That M. Caedicius walking in the Night-time, heard a Prophetical Voice, commanding him shortly to expect a War from the Gauls. The Image of Fortune, called the Stout and Valiant, having the Power of Conquering all things, which is consecrated near the River Tiber, has a stately Temple built to it, in these very Gardens which were left by Caesar, as a Legacy to the People, because they thought that he also was raised to the height of Power, by the Favour of Fortune. And so he himself testified( otherwise I should be ashamed to say such a thing of so great a Person.) For when he loosed from brundisium, and embarked in pursuit of Pompey, on the fourth Day of January, though it were then the latter end of Winter, he past over the Sea in Safety, by the good Conduct of Fortune, which was stronger than the Rigor of the Season. And when he found Pompey powerful by Sea and Land, with all his Forces lying together, and that himself with his small Party was altogether unable to give him battle, while the Army of Antonius and Sabinus lagg'd behind, he ventured to set forth again in a little Bark, unknown either to the Master of the Vessel or the Pilot, who took him for some Servant: But when he saw the Pilot begin to change his Purpose of putting out to Sea, because of the Violence of the Waves, which hindered, the Sailing out at the Mouth of the River, he presently plucked off the Disguise from his Head, and showed himself, encouraging the Pilot in these Words, Put on, brave Fellow, and fear nothing, but commit the Sails to Fortune, and expose all boldly to the Winds, because thou carriest Caesar, and Caesar's Fortune. So resolute was caesar upon this Assurance, That Fortune did favour him in his Voyages and Journeys, his Armies and Battels, and that it was her Province to give Calmness to the Sea, and Warmth to a Winter Season; to give Swiftness to the Slowest, and vigour to the most Sluggish Creatures; and which is more incredible than all this, he believed that Fortune put Pompey to flight, and gave Ptolemy the Opportunity of murdering his Guest, so that Pompey should fall, and Caesar be innocent. What shall I say of his Son, the first that had the Honour to be Surnamed Augustus? Did not he pray the Gods for his Nephew, when he sent him forth to battle, to grant him the Courage of Scipio, and the Wisdom of Pompey, but his own Good Fortune, as counting her the chief Artificer of his Wonderful Self? It was she that imposed him upon Cicero, Lepidus, Pansa, Hortius and M. Anthony, and by their Victories and famous Exploits, by their Navies, Battels and Armies, raised him to the greatest height of Power and Honour, degrading them by whose Means he was thus advanced: For it was to him that Cicero governed the State by wise Counsels, Lepidus conducted the Armies, and Pansa gained the Victories. It was to him that Hortius fell as a Sacrifice, and for his Benefit M. Anthony committed licentious Outrages: Nay, even Cleopatra her self is to be reckoned as part of his Good Fortune; for, by her, as a dangerous Creek, Anthony was shipwrecked, that he alone might wear the Title of Caesar. It is reported of Anthony, and Caesar called Augustus, when they lived familiarly together, in daily Conversation, that Anthony was always beaten by Caesar at Ball, Dice and Cock-fighting, or any other Games and Sports which they used for Recreation; whereupon a certain Friend, who pretended to the Art of Divination, did freely admonish Anthony, and say, What have you to do, my Friend, with this young Man? why don't you avoid his Company? You excel him in Glory and Largeness of Empire, you exceed him in Age and Experience, having signalized your Valour in the Wars. But your Genius is afraid of his, your Fortune, which is great by itself, does fawn upon his, and will undoubtedly pass over to him, unless you remove yourself to a great Distance. By these Testimonies of Men, the Cause of Fortune was supported; after which, I proceed now to other Arguments, taken from the things themselves, beginning from the first Foundations of the City of Rome.  
And first of all, it cannot be denied, That by the Birth and Preservation of Romulus, by his Education and Growth, the Foundations of virtue were first laid, but then withal it must be acknowledged, that Fortune built upon them. As to their Greatness and Birth, who first founded and built the City, it looked like a wonderful Good Fortune, that their Mother should conceive by a God; for as Hercules is said to be sown in a long Night, the natural Day being preternaturally prolonged by the Sun's standing still: So it is reported concerning the Greatness of Romulus, that the Sun was eclipsed at the time, being in Conjunction with the Moon, as the Immortal God Mars was with the Mortal Sylvia. The same is said to have happened about the time of his Death: For about the seventh of July, called Nonae Capratinae, so called, because on that Day, while he was numbering his People by the Lake Capra, he suddenly disappeared( which is a Feast observed to this Day with great Solemnity) while the Sun was under an Eclipse, he suddenly vanished out of the Sight of Men. After their Nativity, when the Tyrant would have murdered the new-born Babes, Romulus and Remus, with the Conduct of Fortune, concerned for the Preservation of their Lives, they fell into the Hands of a Servant, no ways Barbarous and Cruel, but Pitiful and Tender-hearted, who laid them on the pleasant green Bank of a River, in a Place shaded with lowly Shrubs, near to that wild Fig-tree, to which the Name of Ruminalis was afterwards given. There it was that a She-Wolf, having left her young Whelps, by chance lighted on them, and being burdened with her swollen Dugs, inflamed for want of Evacuation, she gladly let down her overheated Milk, as if it had been a second Birth, and suckled the young Children. The Woodpecker also, a bide Sacred to Mars, came often unto them, and having gently placed her Claws upon their tender Bodies, she did by turns, open both their Mouths with her Bill, and distribute unto each of them convenient Gobbets of her own Food. This Fig-tree was therefore called Ruminalis, from Ruma, i.e. the Dug, which the wolf lying down there gave to the Infants. And from a Veneration of this strange Chance of Romulus, whenever the like happened, the Inhabitants thereabout would not suffer any New Births to lye exposed to Danger, but carefully took them up and fostered them. Above all things, the hidden Craft of Fortune appeared in their Education at the City Gabii, for there they were secretly nursed and brought up, and the People knew nothing of their Pedigree, that they were the Sons of Sylvia, and the grandchidren of King Numitor; which seems to be so ordered on purpose to prevent that untimely Death which the Knowledge of their Royal Race would occasion, and to give them opportunity of showing themselves hereafter by their famous Exploits, and discovering the Nobility of their Extraction by their Heroical Actions. And this brings to my Mind the Saying of that great and wise Commander Themistocles, to some of the Athenian Captains, who having followed him in the Wars with good Success, were grown ambitious to be preferred above him. There was an eager Contest, said he, between the Festival Day and the Day following for Precedency. Thou, says the Following Day, art full of Tumult and Business, but I give Men the peaceful Opportunity of enjoying themselves. Ay, says the Festival; that's true, but then I pray you tell me, If I had not been, where had you been? So says Themistocles, If I had not preserved my Country in the War with the Medes, what use would there be of you now? And after this manner, Fortune seems to accost the virtue of Romulus. It's true, indeed your Actions are great and famous, by which you have clearly shown that you have descended of the Race of the Gods; but see now how far you come behind me; for if I had not relieved the Infants in their Distress, by my Bounty and Humanity; if I had deserted and betrayed them when they lay naked and exposed, how could you have appeared with such Lustre and splendour as now you do? If a She-Wolf had not then lighted upon them, inflamed with the abundance and pressure of her Milk, which wanted one to give Food unto, more than any Food for her self: If some wild Beast had happened to come in her stead, hungry and ravaging for Meat, then there had been no such beautiful and stately Palaces, Temples, theaters, Walks, Courts and Archives, as now you justly glory of; then your Followers had still been Shepherds, and your Buildings Cottages or Stables, and they had still lived in subjection to the Albanian, Tyrrh●nian or latin Lords. Certainly the first beginning of all things is of greatest importance, and more especially in building of a City. But it was Fortune that first gave a beginning to Rome, by preserving the Founder of it in so many Dangers to which he was exposed: For as virtue made Romulus great, so Fortune preserved him till his virtue did appear. It is confessed by all, that the Reign of Numa, which lasted longest, was conducted by a wonderful Good Fortune. For as to the Story of the wise Goddess Egeria, one of the dryads, that she being in Love, conversed familiarly with him, and assisted him in laying the Platform and cementing the Frame of the Common-wealth, it appears to be rather fabulous than true, since there were others that had Goddesses for their Wives, and are said to be loved by them, such as Peleus, Anchises, Orion and Emathion, who, for all that, did not live so pleasantly and free from Trouble. But Numa seems to have had Good Fortune; for, his domestic Companion and Colleague in the Government, which receiving the City of Rome into her protection, at such time as she was tost like a troublesone Sea, by the Wars of Neighbouring States, and inflamed with intestine Feuds, did quickly heal these Breaches, and alloy these Storms that threatened her ruin. And as the Sea is said to receive the Haleyon-Brood in a Tempest, which it preserves and nourishes; so the People of Rome being lately gathered together after various Commotions and Tossings, were by Fortune delivered from all Wars, Diseases, Dangers and Terrors, and settled in such a lasting Peace, that they had time and leisure to take root in their New Soil, and grow up securely into a well compacted City. For as a great Ship or galley is not made without many Blows and much Force from Hammers, Nails, Wedges, Saws and Axes, and being once built, it must rest for some time upon the Stocks, until the Bands of its Structure grow strong and tenacious, and the Nails be well fastened, which hold its Parts together, lest being launched while 'tis loose and unsettled, the Bulk should be shattered by the Concussion of the Waves, and let in the Water. So the first Artificer of Rome, having built the City of rustical Men and Shepherds, as its strong Walls and Ramparts, was forced to endure hard Labour, and maintain dangerous Wars against those who opposed its first Origination and Institution; but after it was once framed and compacted by this Force, the second Artificer, by the Benignity of Fortune, gave it so long Rest and Peace, till all its Parts were consolidated and settled in a firm and lasting Posture. But if at that time, when the City was newly built, some Porsena had advanced the Etruscan Camp and Army to the Walls, being yet moist and trembling, or some Warlike Revolter of the Marsian Grandees, or some envious and contentious Lucanus, such as in later times were Mulius, or the bold Silo, or the last Plague of Sylla's Faction, Telesinus, who with one alarm, armed all Italy; if any of these, I say, had encompassed the Philosopher Numa, with the sound of Trumpets, while he was sacrificing and praying to the Gods, the City being yet unsettled and unfinisht, could never have resisted so great a Torrent and Tempest, nor increased unto so great Numbers of stout and valiant Men: That long time of Peace therefore in Numa's Reign, did prepare and fortify the Romans against all the Wars which happened afterwards, for by its continuance, during the space of forty three Years, the Body of the People was confirmed in that Athletick Habit, which they acquired in the War under Romulus, and which generally prevailed henceforward against all their Enemies. For in these Years they say Rome was not afflicted with Famine or Pestilence, with Barrenness of the Earth, or any notable Calamity by Winter or Summer; all which must be attributed, not to Human Prudence, but to the good Conduct of Divine Fortune, governing for that time. Then the double Gate of Janus was shut, which they call the Gate of War, because it is always opened in time of War, and shut in time of Peace. After Numa's Death, it was opened again, when the War with the Albanians commenced, which was followed with six hundred other Wars, in a continued series of time; but after four hundred and eighty Years, it was shut again, when Peace was concluded at the end of the first punic War, in the Consulship of C. Atilius, and T. Manlius. The next Year it was opened again, and the Wars lasted until the Victory which Augustus obtained at Actium; and then the Roman Arms restend but a little while, for the Tumults from Cantabria, and the Wars with the Gauls and Germans breaking in upon them, quickly disturbed the Peace. These things I have added to explain this Argument of the Good Fortune of Numa; and even those Kings which followed him, have admired her as the Governess and Nurse of Rome, and the City-Supporter, as Pindar calls her. For proof of this, we may consider, That the Temple of virtue at Rome was but lately built, many years after the beginning of the City, by that Marcellus who took Syracuse. There is also a Temple dedicated to Mens[ the Mind] by Scaurus Aemilius, who lived in the time of the Cimbrian War, when the Arts of rhetoric, and the Sophistry of logic had crept into the City; and even to this Day, there are no Temples built to Wisdom, Temperance, Patience and Magnanimity. But the Temples of Fortune are many, ancient and splendid, adorned with all sorts of Honors, and divided amongst the most famous Parts and Places of Rome. The Temple of Masculine Fortune was built by Ancus Martius, the fourth King, which Name was therefore given it, because Fortune does contribute very much to Valor, in obtaining Victory. The Temple of Feminine Fortune was consecrated by the Matrons, when they driven away Marcius Coriolanus at the Head of an Army marching against Rome, as every Body knows. Moreover, Servius Tullius, who above all the Kings, did most enlarge the Power of the People and adorn the Common-wealth, who first gave order to the Taxes of the Militia, who was the first Censor and Overseer of Mens Lives and Sobriety, and is esteemed a most wise and valiant Man, even he threw himself upon Fortune, and owned his Kingdom to be derived from her; so great was her Kindness to him, that she is thought to descend into his House by a Window, and there to converse familiarly with him. Upon which account he built two Temples to Fortune, one to that which is called Primigenia, in the Capitol, i.e. the first born, as one may expound it; another to that which is called Obsequens, as being obsequious to his Desires, besides many others. There is also the Temple of Private Fortune in the Mount Palatine, and that of Viscous Fortune, which Name, though it seems ridiculous, does by a Metaphor, explain to us the Nature of Fortune; that she attracts things at a distance, and retains them when they are brought to contact. At the Fountain, which is called Mossy, the Temple of Virgin Fortune, is still to be seen in the Field called Abescymae. There is an Altar also to Fortune of Good Hope, in the long narrow Street, without any Passage thorough; and near to the Altar of Venus Epitalaria, i.e. Footwing'd Fortune, there is a chapel to Male Fortune. Infinite are the Honours and Titles of Fortune, the greater part of which, were instituted by Servius, knowing that all good Success in Human Affairs, does chiefly depend upon her; more-especially, he had found by experience, That by her Favour he was preferred from a Captive and hostile Nation to be King of the Romans. For when Corniculum was taken by the Romans, the Virgin Ocresia being taken at the same time, she for her illustrious Beauty and virtue( which the meanness of her Fortune could not hid or obscu●e) was presented to Tanaquil the Consort of King tarqvinius, with whom she lived as Maid of Honour, till she was married to one of her favourites, and of them was born Servius. Others tell the Story after this manner, That the Virgin Ocresia using often to receive the First Fruits and Libations from the Royal Table, which were to be offered in Sacrifice, it happened on a time, That when, according to the Custom, she had thrown them into the Fire, upon the sudden Expiration of the flamme, there appeared to come out of it, the Genital Member of a Man; the Virgin being frighted with so strange a Sight,  told the whole Matter to Queen Tanaquil, who being a wise and understanding Woman, judged the Vision to be Divine, and therefore dressed up the Virgin in all her Bridal Ornaments and Attire, and then shut her up in a Room, together with this Apparition. Some attribute this Amour to Lar, the household God, and others to Vulcan, but whichsoever it was, Ocresia was with child, and Servius being descended of one of them, gives greater Probability to the Story of him, That while he was yet an Infant, his Head was seen to sand forth a wonderful Brightness, like Lightning darted from the Skies. But those about Antium tell this Story after a different manner, That when Servius his Wife Gegania was dead, he fell into a Sleep through grief of Mind, in the presence of his Mother, and then his Head was seen by the Women encompassed by Fire; which as it was a certain Token that he was born of Fire, so it was a good Omen of that unexpected Kingdom which he obtained after the Death of Tarquin, by the means of Tanaquil; which is so much the more to be wondered at, because he, of all Kings, was the most unfit by Nature, and averse by Inclination to Monarchical Government, since he would have resigned his Kingdom, and divested himself of Regal Authority, if he had not been hindered by the Oath, which, it appears, he made to Tanaquil when she was dying, that he should continue, during his Life, in Kingly Power, and never change that Form of Government which he had received from his Ancestors. Thus the Reign of Servius was wholly owing to Fortune, both because he received it besides his Expectation, and he retained it against his Will.  
But lest we should seem to shun the Light of bright and evident Arguments, and retreat to ancient Stories, as to a Place of Darkness and Obscurity, let us now pass over the time of the Kings, and go on in our Discourse to the most noted Actions, and famous Wars of following Times. And first of all it must be confessed, That the Boldness and Courage which are necessary for War, do aid and improve Military virtue, as Timothy says; and yet it is manifest to him that will reason aright, that the abundance of Success which advanced the Roman Empire to such vast Power and Greatness, is not to be attributed to Human Strength and Counsels, but to a certain Divine Impulse, and a full Gale of running Fortune, which carried all before it, that hindered the rising Glory of the Romans. For now Trophies were erected upon Trophies, and Triumphs hasted to meet one another; before the Blood was could upon their Arms, it was washed off with the fresh Blood of their falling Enemies: Henceforth the Victories were not reckoned by the Numbers of the Slain, or the Greatness of the Spoils, but by the Kingdoms that were taken, by the Nations that were conquered, by the Isles and Continents which were added to the Vastness of their Empire. At one Battle, Philip was forced to quit all Macedonia, by one Stroke Antiochus was beaten out of Asia, by one Victory the Carthaginians lost Libya; but which is yet more wonderful, armoniac, Pontus, Syria, Arabia, the Albanians, Iberians, Hyrcanians, with those about Caucasus, were by one Man, and the Success of one Expedition, reduced under the Power of the Roman Empire. The Ocean which is diffused over the Face of all the Earth, beholded him thrice Victorious, for he subdued the Numidians in Africa, as far as the Southern Shores; he conquered Spain, which joined with Sertorius as far as the atlantic Ocean, and he pursued the Albanian Kings as far as the Caspian Sea. Pompeius Magnus, one and the same Man, achieved all those great and stupendous things, by the assistance of that public Fortune which waited upon the Roman Arms with Success, and after all this, he sunk under the Weight of his own fatal Greatness. The great Genius of the Romans was not propitious for a Day only, or for a little time, like that of the Macedonians: It was not powerful by Land only, like that of the Lyconians, or by Sea only, like that of the Athenians. It was not too slowly sensible of Injuries, as that of the Persians, nor too easily pacified, like that of the Colophonians; but from the beginning, growing up with the City, the more it increased, the more it enlarged the Empire, and constantly aided the Romans with its auspicious Influence by Sea and Land, in Peace and War, against all their Enemies, whether Greeks or Barbarians. It was this Genius which dissipated Annibal the Carthaginian, when he broken in upon Italy like a Torrent, and the People could give no assistance, being torn in pieces by Intestine Jars. It was this Genius that separated the two Armies of the Cimbrians and Teutonicks, that they should not meet at the same Time and Place; by which means, Marius the Roman General encountered each Army by itself, and overcame them, which if they had been joined together, would have overflowed all Italy like a Deluge, with three hundred thousand valiant Men, invincible in Arms: It was the same Genius that hindered Antiochus, by other Occasions, from assisting Philip, while he was engaged in War with the Romans, so that Philip was first vanquished before Antiochus encountered the Danger of helping him. It was by the Conduct of the same Genius, That Mithridates was taken up with the Sarmatick and Bastarnick Wars, while the Marsians attacked Rome: That jealousy and Envy divided Tigranes from Mithridates, while the latter was flushed with Success; but both of them were joined together in the Defeat, that they might perish in the same common ruin. What shall I say more? Has not Fortune relieved the City when it was reduced to the greatest Extremity of Danger? When the Gauls encamped about the Capitol, and besieged the Castle, pouring in Death and Wounds upon the Romans? Did not Fortune and Chance discover their secret Attack in the Night-time, which otherwise had surprised all Men? Of which wonderful Accident, it will not be unseasonable to discourse here a little more largely.  
After the great Overthrow and Slaughter of the Romans at the River Alia, some of those that remained fled hastily to Rome, and communicated their Terror and Consternation to the People there; of whom a few having trussed up their Bag and Baggage, conveyed themselves into the Capitol, resolving there to wait the Event of so dismal a Calamity; others flocked in great Multitudes to the Veientes, and there proclaimed furious Camillus dictatory, giving him now in their Distress, an absolute and unaccountable Power, whom before, in their Pride and Prosperity, they had condemned and banished, as guilty of robbing the public Treasure. But Camillus, to strengthen his Title to this Authority, which might seem to be given him only for the present Necessity, contrary to the Law of the State, touching the Election of such a Magistrate, scorned to call a Senate 〈◇〉 armed Souldiers so lately shattered and beaten, as if the Government of the City were dissolved; but sent to acquaint the Senators that were in the Capitol, and know if they would approve the Election of the Souldiers. To accomplish this, there was one C. Pontius, who undertook to carry the News of this Decree to those in the Capitol, though it were with great Danger of his Life; for he was to go through the midst of the Enemies, who were entrenched and kept Watch about the Castle. He came therefore in the Night-time to the River tiber, and by the help of broad Corks, supporting the Weight of his Body, he was carried down the Stream in a smooth calm Water, and safely landed on the other side; from thence he passed through Places uninhabited, being conducted by Darkness and Silence, to the Rock on which the Capitol was built, and climbing up through its winding and rough Passages, with much Labour and Difficulty, at last he arrived at the Capitol itself; where, being received by the Watch, he acquainted the Senators with what was done by the Souldiers, and having received their Approbation of the Decree of Election, he return'd again to Camillus. The next Day after, one of the Barbarians by chance walking about this Rock, seeing in one Place the Prints of his Feet, and his Fulls, in another Place the Herbs trodden down which grow upon the interspersed Earth, and the plain Marks of his Body in its winding Ascent through the craggy Precipice, went presently and informed the rest of the Gauls of the whole Matter. And they finding that a Way was shown them by the Enemy, resolved to follow his Foot-steps, and taking the Advantage of the dead Time of the Night, when all were fast asleep, not so much as a Watch stirring, o● a Dog barking, they climbed up secretly to the Ca●tle. But Fortune in this case was wonderfully propitious to the Romans, in discovering and preventing such an imminent Danger, by the Voice of the Sacred goose which were maintained about the Temple of Juno, for the Worship of that Goddess; for that Animal being wakeful by Nature, and easily frighted with the least Noise, these Sacred goose had been so much neglected by reason of the Scarcity of Provisions which was in the Castle, that they were more easily wakened by the approach of the Enemy, out of their light and hungry Sleep, and therefore they presently perceived the Gauls appearing upon the Walls, and with a loud Voice flew proudly towards them; but being yet more frighted with the Sight of their shining armour, they raised a louder gaggling Noise, which wakened the Romans, who understanding the Design, presently beat back the Enemies, and threw them down over the Precipices of the Rock; and therefore in remembrance of this wonderful Accident, a Dog fastened to a across, and a Goose lying in a Bed of State, upon a rich Cushion, is carried about, even to this Day, in pompous Solemnity. And now who is not astonished, that considers how great was the Misery of the City at that time, and how great its Happiness is now at this Day, when he beholds the splendour and Riches of its Donatives, the Emulation of Liberal Arts that flourish in it, the Accession of Noble Cities and Royal Crowns to its Empire, and the chief Products of Sea and Land, of Isles and Continents, of Rivers and Trees, of Animals and Fields, of Mountains and metallic Mines, crowding to adorn and beautify this Place? Who is not stunned with Admiration, at the imminent Danger which then was, whether ever those things should be or no; and at those poor timorous Birds, which first began the Deliverance of the City, when all Places were filled with Fire, Darkness and smoke, with the Swords of Barbarians and Bloody-minded Men? What a Prodigy of Fortune was it, that those great Commanders, the Manlii, the Servii, Posthumii and Papyrii, so famous for their Warlike Exploits, and for the Illustrious Families that have descended from them, should be alarmed, in this Extremity of Danger, by the silly goose, to fight for their Country Gods and their Country. And if it be true, which Polybius writes in his Second Book of those Gauls, which then possessed Rome, That they made a Peace with Camillus, and departed, as soon as they heard the News of the Invasion that was made upon their Territories by the Neighbouring Barbarians; then it is past all controversy, that Fortune was the Cause of Rome's Preservation, by drawing off the Enemies to another Place, or rather forcing them from Rome beyond all Mens Expectation.  
But why do I dwell upon those things, which have nothing of certain or evident Truth, since the memoirs of those Times have perished, and the History of them is confused, as Livy tells us: For those things which happened in following Ages, being plain and manifest to all, do sufficiently demonstrate the benignity of Fortune to Rome; among which, I reckon th● Death of Alexander to be no small Cause of the Romans Happiness and Security; for he being a Man of wonderful Success, and most famous Exploits, of invincible Confidence and Pride, who shot like a Star with incredible swiftness, from the rising to the setting Sun, was meditating to bring the Lustre of his Arms into Italy. The Pretence of this intended Expedition, was the Death of Alexander Molossus, who was killed at Pandosia by the Brutii and Lucani; but the true Cause was the Desire of Glory and the Emulation of Empire, which instigated him to war against all Mankind, that he might extend his Dominion beyond the Bounds of Bacchus and Hercules. He had heard of the Roman Power in Italy, terrible as an Army in Battle Array, of the Illustrious Name and Glory which they had acquired by innumerable Battles, in which they were flushed with Victory; and this was a sufficient Provocation to his Ambitious Spirit, to commence a War against them, which could not have been decided without an Ocean of Blood; for both Armies appeared invincible, both of fearless and undaunted Minds, and the Romans then had no fewer than one hundred and thirty thousand stout and valiant Men, skilful in fighting, both on Horseback, and on Foot.  
The rest of this Discourse appears to be lost, wherein we miss the Arguments which virtue alleged for her self in this Contest.   

Plutarch's Morals: Vol. IV.  
Of Garrulity or Talkativeness.  Translated from the Greek by J. Phillips, Gent. 
IT is a troublesone and difficult Task that Philosophy undertakes, in going about to cure the Disease, or rather Itch of Intemperate Prating. For that Words, which are the sole Remedy against it, require Attention. But they who are given to Prate will hear no Body, as being a sort of People that love to be always talking themselves. So that the principal 'vice of Loquacious Persons, is this, that their Ears are stopped to every thing else but their own Impertinencies. Which I take to be a wilful Deafness in Men, controlling and contradicting Nature, that has given us two Ears, though but one Tongue. Therefore it was that Euripides spoken very right to a certain stupid Hearer of his.  
Impossible it is for me to fill that Brain,  
That in a moment lets out all again;  
'tis but the Words of Wisdom to unfold  
Unto a Fool whose Skull will nothing hold.  
More justly and truly might I say to an idle Prateroast, or rather concerning such a Fellow.  
In vain I seek to fill thy Steve-like Brain,  
That in a moment lets out all again;  
Infusing Wisdom into such a Skull  
As leaks so fast, it never will be full.  
Much more may he be said to spill his Instructions besides the Vessel, who speaks to those that will not hear him speak, then he that speaks to one that cannot hear at all. For so soon as a wise Man has uttered any thing, be it never so short, Garrulity swallows it forthwith, like the Sea, and throws it up again threefold, with the Violence of a swelling tide. Such was the Portico within the City of Olympia, called Heptaphonos, by the Reverberation of one single Voice, causing no less then seven distinct echoes; and in like manner, if the least Word light into the Ears of an impertinent babbler, presently all the Room-rings with it, and he makes such a din, 
That soon the jangling Noise untunes the Strings  
Of Minds sedately fixed on better Things.  Insomuch that we may say, that the Conduits and Conveyances of their Hearing reach not to the Souls, but only to their Ears. Therefore it is that other People retain what is spoken to them; whereas, whatever is said to talkative People, runs through them as through a Cullender, and then they run about from Place to Place, like empty Vessels, voided of sense of Wit, but making a hideous Noise. However, in hopes that there is yet some room left to try an Experiment for the Cure of this Distemper, let us begin with this golden Sentence to the impertinent Prater.  
Be silent, Boy; and thou wilt find i'th' end,  
What Benefits on silent Lips attend.  
Among which, two of the first, and chiefest, are, as well to hear, as to be heard. To either of which, these Talkative Companions can never attain; so unhappy they are still to meet with Disappointments, though they desire it never so much. For as for those other Distempers of the Soul, such as Avarice, Ambition, and exorbitant Love of Pleasure, they have this Happiness, to enjoy what they so eagerly covet. But this is that which most afflicts these idle prattlers, that being desirous of nothing more than of Company that will hear 'em prate, they can never meet with it, in regard that all Men avoid their Society; and whether sitting in a Knot together, or walking, so soon as they behold a prattler advancing towards them, they presently give warning to each other, and adjourn to another Place. And as when there happens a deep Silence in any Assembly, so that all the Company seems to be mute, we say that Mercury is got among them; so when a Fool, full of Noise and Talk, enters into any Room where Friends and Acquaintance are met to Discourse, or else to Feast and be Merry, all People are hushed of a sudden, afraid of giving him any Occasion to set his Tongue upon the Career: But if he once begin to open his Mouth, up they rise, and away they trip; like Sea-men foreseing a sudden Storm, and rolling of the Waves, when they hear the North-wind begin to whistle from some adjoining Promontory, and hastening into Harbour. Whence it comes to pass, that they never can meet with any that are willing, either to Eat, or Drink, or Lodge with them in the same Room, either upon the Road, or upon a Voyage, unless constrained thereto by Necessity. For so importunate he is, and in all Places, that sometimes he will pull ye by the Coat, sometimes by the Beard, and sometimes be hunching your Sides to make you speak. How highly then are to be prized a swift pair of Legs, according to the Saying of Archilochus? Nay, by Jove, it was the Opinion of wise Aristotle himself: For he being perplexed with an Egregious Prater, and tired out with his Absurd Stories, and idle Repetitions of, And is not this a wonderful thing, Aristotle? No wonder at all, said he, this; but if a Man should stand still, to hear you prate thus, who had Legs to run away, that were a wonder indeed. To another of the same Stamp, that after a long Tale of a Roasted Horse, excused himself by saying, That he was afraid he had tired him with his Prolixity. No, upon my Word, quoth the Philosopher, for I never minded what you said. On the other side, should it so fall out, that there was no avoiding the Vexation of one of these chattering Fops, Nature has afforded us this Happiness, that it is in the Power of the Soul to lend the outward Ears of the Body, to endure the Brunt of the Noise, while she retires to the remoter Apartments of the Mind, and there employs her self in better, and more useful Thoughts. By which means, those Sonorous babblers are at the same time disappointed, as well of Auditors, as of People that believe what they say. All Men look upon their vain babbling with the same Opinion that they have of the Seed of People insatiably addicted to the Use of Women; for as the one is barren and useless for Generation, so is the other voided of the end of Discourse, altogether frivolous and impertinent. And yet there is no Member of Human Bodies that Nature has so strongly enclosed within a double Fortification, as the Tongue, entrenched Within with a Barricado of sharp Teeth, to the end, that when it refuses to be ruled by Reason, that holds the Reins of Science within, we should fix our Teeth in it till the Blood comes, rather then suffer the inordinate and unseasonable din. For according to the Saying of Euripides.  
Our Miseries do not spring  
From Houses wanting Locks or Bolts;  
But from unbridl'd Tongues,  
Ill used by Prating Fools and Dolts.  
And truly, I must tell ye, that they who think that Houses with Bolts and Bars, and Purses without Strings, are of no use to their Masters, yet at the same time sent either Fence nor Door before their Lips; but suffer a continual Torrent of vain and idle Discourse to flow through them, like the Perpetual Flux of Water through the Mouth of the Pontic Sea, seem to me to have the least Esteem for Human Speech of all Men in the World. Whence it comes to pass, that they never gain belief, which is the end of all Discourse. For the main Scope and Intention of all Men that speak, is to gain a Belief of what they utter, with those that hear them: Whereas Talkative Noise-makers are never believed, let them speak never so much Truth. For as where, when crowded into a musty Vessel, is found to exceed in Measure, but unwholesome for Use, so the Discourse of a Loquacious Person swells and enlarges itself with lies and falsehood; but in the mean time it loses all force of persuasion. Then again, there is no Man of Modesty and Civility, but would be careful of preserving himself from Drunkenness. For Anger, as some are of Opinion, is to be ranged with Madness, and cohabits with those that are given to Drink; or rather is a kind of frenzy itself; though inferior to it in Continuance of time; but as it is voluntary, far exceeding it, since it is a Madness of our own Choice. Now there is nothing, for which Drunkenness is so much abominated and decried, as for that it is the Cause of inordinate and unlimited babbling and Prating.  
Heated with Wine, the Man at other times,  
Both Wise and Grave, sings loose and wanton rhymes;  
He minds not loud undecent Laughter then,  
Nor Mimic Dancing, scorned by sober Men.  
And yet both Singing, Laughing and Dancing, are all but Trifles to that which follows, the Consequences of which are oft times fatal.  
He blurts those Secrets forth, which once revealed,  
Too late he wishes they had been concealed.  
This is that which often times proves dangerous, if not terrible to the Discoverer; and who knows but that the Poet might here design to resolve a Question much disputed among Philosophers? that is to say, what the difference is between being tipsy and stark Drunk? by attributing to the former, only Mirth and Jollity of humour; but branding the latter with the foul Reproach of noxious babbling, and Blabbing of Secrets. For according to the Proverb, 
What the sober Heart conceals,  
That the drunken Tongue reveals.  Wherefore it is reported of Bias, that sitting very silent at a Compotation, drinking only when it came to his Turn, and being laughed at by one whose Tongue run at random, who for his Silence called him Mope and Fool, he made this Reply, Find me out that Fool, said he, that e're could hold his Tongue in his Cups.  
A Noble man of Athens, having invited the King of Persia's ambassadors to a magnificent Feast, at their Request, gave the same Invitation to the most eminent Philosophers in the City to bear them Company. Now when all the rest were propounding of themes, and raising Arguments Pro and Con, and others were maintaining of Paradoxes, to show their Wit and Learning; only Zeno sate still, so reserved and mute, that the ambassadors took notice of it; and thereupon, after they thought they had opened his Heart with two or three lusty Brimmers, Pray tell us, Zeno, said they, what Report we shall make concerning thee to our Master? To whom Zeno, Nothing more, said he, but that there was an old Man at Athens, that could hold his Tongue in the midst of his Cups. Such profound and Divine mysterious virtues are Silence and Sobriety: whereas Drunkenness is Loquacious, voided of Reason and Understanding, and therefore full of jangling, and impertinent Tautologies. Wherefore the Philosophers, when they come to define Drunkenness, call it a Delirium, or Madness through immoderate Drinking of Wine. So that Drinking is not condemned, provided a Man keep himself within the Bounds of Silence and Moderation; only vain and silly Discourse makes Drinking of Wine to be Drunkenness. He then that is Drunk, is Mad with Wine: But the Tautologizing babbler is every where Drunk; in the Market Place, at the Theatre, in the public Portico's or Deambulatories, as well by Night as by Day. If he be a Physician, certainly he is more troublesone then the Disease; if your Companion in a Voyage, more insupportable then the Qualms occasioned by the Tumbling of the Sea. If he praise thee, his Panegyrick's more offensive than the Reproaches of another. It is a greater Pleasure to converse with vicious Men, so they be discreet in their Language, then with Twatlers, though never so honest. Therefore Nestor in Sophocles, desirous to appease exasperated Ajax, mildly thus rebuked him: 
I blame thee not, for though thy Words are ill,  
Thy Deeds bespeak thee Brave and Valiant still.  But there is not the same Excuse to be made for a vain babbling Fellow; for the ill Government of his Tongue corrupts and vitiates all the Merits of his Actions. Lysias had given to a certain accused Criminal, an Oration of his own writing. He, having red it several times over, came to Lysias, very much dejected, and  told him, that upon his first perusal of it, it seemed to him, to be a most admirable Piece; but after he had red it three or four times over, he could see nothing in it, but what was very dull and insipid. To whom Lysias, smiling, What, said he, is not once enough to speak it before the Judges? And yet do but consider the persuasive Eloquence and Grace that is in Lysia's Writing, and then I may be bold to affirm, 
That no Man living e're was favoured more,  
By sacred Muse, that Violet Garlands Wore.  Certain it is, that of all the Commendations that were ever given to a Poet, this is the truest, that only Homer avoided being irksome to his Readers, as one that was always new, and still flourishing, as it were in the Prime of poetic Beauty. And yet in speaking thus of himself, 
I hate vain Repetitions, fond made  
Of what has been already greatly said.  He shows how careful he is to shun that Satiety, which as it were, waylays all Tediousness of Speech, alluring the Ear from one Relation into another, and still recreating the Reader with fresh Variety, in such a manner, that he never thinks himself satisfied. Whereas Men that let their Tongues run at random, rend and tear the Ears with their Tautologies, like those that after Table-books have been newly cleansed and wiped, deface them again with their impertinent Scrawls and Scratches. And therefore we would have them to remember this in the first place, that as they who constrain Men to guzzle down Wine unmixed with Water, and to excess, are the occasion, that what was bestowed at first on Men as a Blessing, to excite Mirth, and rejoice the Heart, becomes a Mischief creating Sadness, and causing Drunkenness; so they that make an ill and inconsiderate use of Speech, which is the most delighful means of Human Converse, render it both troublesone and unsociable, molesting those whom they think to gratify, derided by those whose Esteem and Admiration they covet, and offensive to such whose Love and Friendship they seek. And therefore, as he may truly be said to be voided of all Civility, who with the Girdle of Venus, wherein are all manner of Allurements, drives and chaces away his familiar Acquaintance from his Society, so he that vexes others with his loose and extravagant Talk, may be as truly said to be a rustic, wanting altogether Education and Breeding.  
Now then among all other Passions and Maladies, some are dangerous, others hateful, and others ridiculous; but in foolish Prating, all these Inconveniencies concur. They are derided when they make Relations of common Matters; they are hated for bringing unwelcome Tidings; they are in danger, for divulging of Secrets. Whereas Anacharsis being feasted by Solon, was esteemed a wise Man, for that as he lay asleep after the Banquet was over, he was seen with his Left-hand upon his Privy Parts, and his Right-hand laid upon his Mouth. Deeming, as indeed he rightly believed, that his Tongue required the stronger kerb. For though it would be a hard Task to reckon up how many Men have perished through Venereal Intemperance; yet I dare say it would be almost as difficult to tell how many Cities and States have been demolished and totally subverted by the inconsiderate Blurting out of a Secret.  
Sylla besieged Athens at a time when it was certain that he could not lie long before the City, by reason that other Affairs and Troubles called him another way. For on the one side Mithridates ravaged Asia, on the other, Marius's Party had made themselves Masters of Rome. But it happened that certain old Fellows being met together in a Barbers Shop, among other Discourse, blabb'd it out, that the Heptachalcos was ill guarded, and that the City was in great danger of a surprise in that part. Which being overheard, and reported to Sylla by certain of his Spies, he presently brought all his Forces on that side, and about Midnight, after a sharp Assault, entred the City with his whole Army, and it was a thousand to one, but that he had laid it in Ashes: However he fil●'d the Ceramicum with the carcases of the Slain, and made the Channels run with Blood, being highly incensed against the Athenians, more for their reproachful Language then their Military Opposition. For they had abused both him and his Wife Metella, getting up upon the Walls, and calling him Mulberry strewed with Dust Meal, with many other provoking Scoffs of the same Nature; and for a few Jibes and Taunts, which as Plato observes, are the slightest things in the World, they drew upon their Heads the severe Punishment of a most dreadful and general Calamity.  
The Tongue of one Man prevented Rome from recovering her Freedom by the Destruction of Nero. For there was but one Night to pass before Nero was to be murdered on the Morrow, all things being ready prepared and agreed on for that purpose. But in the mean time it happened that he who had undertaken to execute the Fact, as he was going to the Theatre, seeing one of those poor Creatures that were bound and pinioned, just ready to be lead before Nero, and hearing the Fellow bewail his hard Fortune, gathered up close to him, and whispering the poor Fellow in the Ear, Pray only, honest Friend, said he, that thou mayst but escape this Day, to morrow thou shalt give me Thanks. Presently the Fellow taking hold of this Enigmatical Speech, and calling to mind the vulgar Saying, 
Where Opportunity presents the Choice,  
Fools they that wave the most secure Advice.  preferred the more probable to be the juster way of saving himself, and presently declared to Nero what that Man had whispered in his Ear. Immediately the Whisperer was laid hold of, and hurried away to the Place of Torture, where by Racking, Searing and Scourging, he was constrained, poor miserable Creature, to confess that by Force, which before he had discovered without any Compulsion at all. And therefore Zeno, that he might not be compelled by the Tortures of his Body, to betray, against his Will, the Secrets entrusted in his Breast, bit off his Tongue and spit it in the Tyrants Face.  
Notorious also was the Example of Leaena, and signal the Reward which she had, for being true to her Trust, and constant in her Taciturnity. She was a courtesan with whom Harmodius and Aristogiton were very familiar, and for that reason they had imparted to her the great Hopes which they had upon the Success of the Conspiracy against the thirty Tyrants, wherein they were so deeply engaged, while she on the other side having drank freely of the Noble Cup of Love, vowed never to reveal the Secrets which they had made her Privy to, for the Sake of that Deity; wherein she failed not of her Vow.  
For the two Paramours being taken and put to Death, after they had failed in their enterprise, she was also apprehended and put to the Torture, to force out of her a Discovery of the rest of the complices; but all the Torments and Extremities they could exercise upon her Body, could not prevail to make her discover so much as one Person; thereby manifesting to the World, that the two Gentlemen, her Friends, had done nothing mis-becoming the Nobility of their Descent, in having bestowed their Affections upon such a Woman. For this reason, the Athenians, as a Monument of her virtue, set up a Leaena, or Lioness in Brass, with out a Tongue, just at the Entrance into the Acropolis or citadel; signifying to Posterity, by the stomachful Courage of that Beast, the invincible Resolution of the Woman; and by making it without a Tongue, denoting her Constancy, in keeping the Secret with which she was entrusted. For never any Word spoken did so much good, as many locked up in Silence. Thus at one time or other a Man may blab forth a Secret, but when it is once blurted forth, it can never be recalled. For it flies abroad, and spreads in a moment far and near. And hence it is that we have Men to teach us to speak; but the Gods are they that teach us Silence; Silence being the first thing commanded upon our first Initiation into their Divine Ceremonies and Sacred Mysteries. And therefore it is that Homer makes Ulysses, whose Eloquence was so charming, to be the most silent of Men; and the same virtue also he attribu●es to his Son, his Wife, and his Nurse. For thus you hear her speaking, 
Safe as in hardened Steel, or sturdy Oak,  
Within my Breast these Secrets will I lock.  And Ulysses himself, sitting by Penelope, before he discovered himself, is thus brought in, 
His weeping Wife with Pity he beholded,  
Although not willing yet to be revealed;  
He would not move his Eyes, but kept them fast,  
Like Horn or Steel within his Eye-brows placed.  So powerfully possessed with ꝯtinence were both his Tongue and Lips, and having all the rest of his Members so obedient and subject to his Reason, he commanded his Eyes not no weep, his Tongue not to speak a Word, and his Heart neither to pant or tremble, 
So was his suffering Heart confined  
To give Obedience to his Mind.  His Reason penetrating even to those inward Motions, and subduing to its self the Blood and vital Spirits. Such were many of the rest of his Followers. For though they were dragged and haled by Polypheme, and had their Heads dashed against the Ground, they would not confess a Word concerning their Lord and Master Ulysses, nor discover the long piece of Wood that was put in the Fire, and prepared to put out his Eye; but rather suffered themselves to be devoured raw, then to disclose any one of their Masters Secrets, which was an Example of Fidelity, and reservedness not to be paralleled. Pittacus therefore did very well, who when the King of egypt sent him an Oblation-beast, and ordered him to take out and set apart the best and worst Piece of it, pulled out the Tongue and sent to him, as being the Instrument of many good things, and as well the Instrument of the greatest Evils in the World. into therefore in Euripides, frankly extoling her self, says she, 
I know both when and where my Tongue to hold,  
And when with safety to be freely bold,  For they that are brought up under a truly generous and Royal Education, learn first to be silent, and then to talk. And therefore King Antigonus, when his Son asked him, when they should discamp? What! said he, art thou afraid of being the only Man that shall not hear the Trumpet? So loathe was he to trust him with a Secret, to whom he was to leave his Kingdom. Teaching him thereby, when he came to command another Day, to be no less wary and sparing of his Speech. Metellus also, that old soldier, being asked some such Question about the intended March of his Army, If I thought, said he, that my Shirt were Privy to this Secret, I would pull it off and throw it into the Fire. Eumenes also, when he heard that Craterus was marching with his Forces against him, said not a Word of it to his best Friends, but gave it out all along, that it was Neoptolemus, for him his Souldiers contemned, but they admired Craterus's famed and virtue; but no body knew the Truth but Eumenes himself. Thereupon joining Battle, the Victory fell to their Side, and they slay Craterus, not knowing who he was till they found him among the Slain. So cunningly did Taciturnity manage this Combat, and conceal so great an Adversary. So that the Friends of Eumenes admired rather then reproved him, for not telling them before hand. For indeed, should a man be blamed in such a Case, it is better for him to be accused after Victory obtained by his Distrust; then to be justly reproached for being open and easy to impart his Secrets, after an Overthrow. Nay, What Man is he that dares take upon him the Freedom to blame another for not keeping that secret which he himself has revealed to him? For if the Secret ought not to have been divulged, 'twas ill done to break it to another; but if after thou hast let it go from thyself, and wouldst have another to keep it in; surely it is a great Argument that thou hast more Confidence in another then in thyself; who if he be like thyself, thou art deservedly lost; if better, then thou art miraculously saved, as having met with a Person more faithful to thee, then thou art to thy own Interest. But thou wilt say, he is my Friend: Very good— Yet this friend of mine had another, in whom he might confided as much as I did in him; and in like manner his Friend another, to the end of the Chapter. And thus the Secret gains Ground and spreads itself by Multiplication of babbling. For as an Unite never exceeds its Bounds, but always remains One, and is therefore called an Unite; but then the next is Two, the first indefinite Beginning of the Difference, which afterwards by doubling, multiplies to Infinite; so Speech abiding in the first Thoughts, may truly be called a Secret; but being communicated to another, it presently changes its Name into common rumour. Which is the reason that Homer gives to Words the epithet of Winged. For he that lets go a bide out of his Hand, does not easily catch her again: Neither is it possible for a Man to schismatical and cage again in his Breast, a Word let slip from his Mouth. For with light Wings it fetches many a Compass, and flutters about from one Quarter to another in a Moment. The Course of a Ship may well be stav'd by Cables and Anchors, which else would spoom away before a fresh Gale of Wind; but there is no fast Riding or Anchor-hold for Speech, when once let loose, as from a Harbour; but being whirled away with a sonorous Noise and loud echo, it carries off, and plunges the unwary Babbler into some fatal Danger.  
For soon a little Spark of Fire let fly,  
May kindle Ida's Wood, so thick and high;  
What one Man to his seeming Friend lets go,  
Whole Cities may with ease inquire and know.  
The Senate of Rome had been debating among themselves a certain Piece of secrecy for several Days; which caused the Matter to be so much the more suspected and listened after. Whereupon a certain Roman Lady, discreet enough in other things, but yet a Woman, laid at her Husband Day and Night, and mournfully importuned him what the Secret might be. Oaths you may be sure she was ready to make, and curse her self if ever she revealed whatever he should tell; nor was she wanting in Tears, and many moist Complaints of her being a Woman so little to be trusted by a Husband. The Roman thus beset, yet willing in some measure, to make trial of her Fidelity, and convince her of her Folly, Thou hast overcome me, Wife, said he, and now I'll tell thee a most dreadful and prodigious thing. We were advertised by the Priests, that a Lark was seen flying in the Air with a golden Helmet upon her Head, and a Spear in one of her Claws; now we are consulting with the augurs and gainsayer about this Portent, whether it be good or bad. But keep it to thyself, for it may be of great Concernment to the Common-wealth. Having so said, he walked forth toward the Market-place.  
No sooner was he gone, but his Wife catching hold of the first of her Maids that entered the Room, and then striking her Breast, and tearing her Hair, Wo is me, said she, for my poor Husband and dearest Country! What will become of us? prompting the Maid, as if she were desirous that she should say to her again, Why? What is the matter mistress? upon which she presently unfolded all that her Husband had  told her; nay, she forgot not the common Burden with which all Twattle-Baskets conclude their Stories. But hussy, said she, for your Life, be sure you say not a Word of this to any Soul living. The Wench was no sooner got out of her Mistresses Sight, but meeting with one of her Fellow Servants that had little to do, to her she unbosoms her self; she, big with the News, with no less speed runs away to her Sweet-heart, who she heard was come to give her a Visit, and without any more to do, tells him all. By this means the Story flew about the Market-place, before the first Deviser of it could get thither. Presently one of his Acquaintance meeting him, Did ye come streight from your House? said he, Without stop or stay, replied the other. And did ye hear nothing? says his Friend. Why? quoth the t'other, Is there any News? Oh! quoth his Friend, a Lark has been seen flying i'the Air, with a golden Helmet upon her Head, and a Spear in her Claw, and the Senate is summoned to consult about it. Upon which the Gentleman, smiling, God a mercy Wife, quoth he, for being so nimble— one would have thought I might have got into the Market-place before a Story so lately  told thee; but I see 'twas not to be done. Thereupon meeting with some of the Senators, he soon delivered them out of their Pain. However, being resolved to take a slight Revenge of his Wife, making hast Home, Wife, said he, thou hast undone me— For it is found out that the great Secret I  told thee was first divulged out of my House; and now must I be banished from my native Country, for your wicked gaggling Tongue. At first his Wife would have denied the Matter, and put it off from her Husband, by telling him, there were three hundred more besides himself that heard the thing, and why might not one of those divulge it as well as he? But when he bid her never tell him of three hundred more, and  told her 'twas an Invention of his own framing to try her, and to avoid her Importunity, the Lady was then convinced of her Folly, and begged her Husbands Pardon.  
Thus this Roman safely and cautiously made the Experiment of his Wives Ability to keep a Secret; as when we power into a cracked and leaky Vessel, not Wine nor oil, but Water only.  
But Fulvius, one of Augustus Caesar's Minions and favourites, when he heard the Emperor deploring the Desolation of his Family, in regard his two grandchidren by his Daughter were both Dead, and Posthumus, who only remained alive, upon an Accusation charged against him, was confined to Banishment, so that he was forced to set up his Wives Son to succeed him in the Empire; yet upon more compassionate Thoughts, signifying his Determination to schismatical Posthumus from Exile; this Fulvius hearing, related the whole to his Wife, and she to Livia. Livia sharply expostulated the Matter with Caesar; wherefore seeing he had projected the thing so long before, he did not sand for his Sisters Son at first, but exposed her to the Hatred and Revenge of him that he had determined to be his Successor? The next Morning Fulvius coming into Augustus's Presence, and saluting him with a Hail O Caesar! Caesar retorted upon, God sand thee more Wit Fulvius. Who presently apprehending the meaning of the Repartee, made hast home again, and calling for his Wife, Caesar understands, said he, that I have discovered his secret Counsels, and therefore I am resolved to lay violent Hands upon myself. And justly too, said she, thou dost deserve to die, since having lived so long with me, thou didst not know the Lavishness of my Tongue, and how unable I was to keep a Secret. However, suffer me to die first; and with that, snatching the Sword out of her Husbands Hand, she slay her self before his Face. Truly therefore was it said by Philippides the Comedian, who being courteously and familiarly asked by Lysimachus, what he should bestow upon him of all the Treasure that he had, made answer, Any thing, O King, but your Secrets.  
But there is another 'vice no less mischievous, that attends Garrulity, called Curiosity. For there are a sort of People that desire to hear a great deal of News, that they may have Matter enough to twattle abroad; and these are the most diligent in the World to prie and dive into the Secrets of others, which they afterwards enlarge and aggravate with some old Stories and Fooleries of their own. And then they are like Children, that neither can endure to hold the Ice in their Hands, nor let it go. Or rather they may be said to lodge other Mens Secrets in their Bosoms, like so many Serpents, which they are not able to keep there long, because they eat their way through. It is said that the Fish called Sea-needles and Vipers rive asunder and burst themselves when they bring forth: In like manner, Secrets dropping from the Mouths of those that cannot contain them, destroy and overthrow the Revealers.  
Seleucus Callinicus, in a battle fought with the Galatians, having lost his whole Army, threw away his Royal Diadem, and fled away full speed, wandring through By-Roads and deserts so long, till at last both Horse and Man began to faint for want of Food. At length, coming to a certain Country-man's House, and finding the Owner himself within, he asked him for a little Bread and Water, which the Country-man not only readily fetch●d him, but what else his Ground would afford, he very liberally and plentifully set before the King and his Companions, making them all as hearty welcome as it was possible for him to do. At length, in the midst of their cheer, he knew the Kings Face, which overjoyed the poor Man to that degree, that he should have the Happiness to relieve the King in his Necessity, that not able to contain himself, nor to dissemble his Knowledge of the King; after he had road a little way with him, and came to take his Leave, farewell King Seleucus, said the poor Man. But then the King stretching forth his Right-hand, and pulling his Host to his Breast, as if he had intended to have kissed him, nodded to one of his Followers with his Sword, to strike off the Country-man's Head, 
Thus speaking what could scarce be understood,  
I'th' Dust his Head lies mingled with his Blood.  Whereas if he could but have held his Peace, and mastered his Tongue for a little while, till the King, as afterwards he did, had recovered his Good Fortune and Grandeur, he had been doubtless better rewarded for his Silence, then he was for his Hospitality. And yet this poor Man had some colourable Excuse for letting his Tongue at liberty; that is to say, his Hopes, and the Kindness he had done the King. Whereas most of your Twatlers, without any Cause or Pretence at all, destroy themselves; as it happened when certain Fellows began to talk pretty freely in a Barbers Shop, concerning the Tyranny of Dionysius, that it was as secure and inexpugnable as a Rock of Adamant, I wonder, quoth the Barber, laughing, that you should talk these things before me, concerning Dionysius, whose Throat is almost every day under my Razor. Which scurrilous Freedom of the Barber being related to the Tyrant, he caused him forthwith to be crucified. And indeed the Gener●lity of Barbers are a Prating Generation of Men; in regard the most loquacious Praters usually resort to their Shops, and there sit prattling, from whence the Barbers also learn an ill Habit of twattling. Pleasant therefore was the Answer of Archelaus to the Barber, who after he had cast the linen Toylet about his Shoulders, put this Question to him, How shall I trim your Majesty? Without any more Prating, quoth the King. It was a Barber that first reported the News of the great Overthrow which the Athenians received in Sicily; for being the first that heard the Relation of it in the Pyraeum, from a Servant of one of those that had escaped out of the Battle; he presently left his Shop at Six and Sevens, and flying into the City, as fast as his Heels could carry him, 
For fear some other should the Honour claim,  
Of being First, while he but Second came.  Now you may be sure, that the first Spreader of this News caused a great Hubbub in the City, insomuch that the People thronging together in the Market Place, made diligent enquiry for the first Divulger. Presently the Barber was brought by Head and Shoulders to the Crowd and examined; but he could give no Account of his Author, only one that he never saw or knew in his Life before, had  told him the News: which so incensed the Multitude, that they immediately cried out, To the Rack with the traitor, tie the lying Rascal Neck and Heels together, this is a mere Story of the Rogues own making. Who heard it? who gave any Credit to it besides himself? At the same Instant, the Cords were brought out, and the poor Barber was tied Neck and Heels together, not to his ease you may be sure. And then it was, and not before, that the News of the Defeat was confirmed by several that had made a hard shift to escape the Slaughter. Upon which the People scattered every one to his own Home, to make their private Lamentation for their particular Losses, leaving the unfortunate Barber Neck and Heels bound fast together; in which condition, he continued till late in the Evening, before he was let loose; nor would this reform the impertinent Fool, for no sooner was he at Liberty, but he would needs be enquring of the Executioner, what News, and what was reported of the Manner of Nicias the General's being slain. So inexpugnable and incorrigible a 'vice is Loquacity, gotten by Custom and ill Habit, that they cannont leave it off, though they were sure to be hanged. And yet we find that People have the same Antipathy against the Divulgers of bad tidings, as they that drink bitter and distasteful Potions, have against the Cups wherein they drank them. Elegant therefore is the Dispute in Sophocles, between the Messenger and Creon.  Messenger. 
By what I tell, and what you hear,  
Do I offend your Heart or Ear?  Creon. 
Why so inquisitive to sound  
My Grief, and search the painful Wound?  Messenger. 
My News afflicts his Ears, I find;  
But 'tis the Fact torments his Mind.  
Thus they that bring us bad Tidings are as bad as they who are the Authors of our Misery; and yet there is no restraining nor correcting the Tongue, that will run at random.  
It happened that the Temple of Minerva in Lacedaemon called Chalcioecus( either because it was built of Brass, or built by the Chacidians) was robbed, and nothing but an earthen Pitcher left behind, which caused a great Concourse of People, where, while every one spent his Verdict about the empty Pitcher, Gentlemen, says one, Pray give me leave to tell ye my Opinion concerning this Flagon or Pitcher, or what d'ye call it. I am apt to believe that these Sacrilegious Villains, before they ventured upon so dangerous an Attempt, drank each of them a draft of Hemlock Juice, and then brought Wine along with them in this Pitcher; to the end, that if it were their good hap to escape without being apprehended, they might soon dissolve and extinguish the Strength and vigour of the Venom by the Force of the Wine unmixed and pure; but if they should be surprised and taken in the Fact, that then they might die without feeling any Pain under the Torture of the Rack. Having thus said, the People observing so much Forecast and Contrivance in the Thing, would not be persuaded that any Man could have such ready thoughts upon a bare Conjecture, but that he must know it to be so. Thereupon immediately gathering about him, one asked him, Who he was? Another, Who knew him? A third, How he came to be so much a Philosopher? And at length, they did so sift and canvas, and fetch him about, that the Fellow confessed himself to be one of those that committed the sacrilege. And were not they who murdered the Poet Ibicus discovered after the same manner, as the sate in the Theatre? For as they were sitting there under the open Sky, to behold the public Pastimes, they observed a Flock of Cranes flying over their Heads; upon which they whispered merrily one to another; Look yonder are the Revengers of Ibycus's Death. Which Words being overheard by some that sate next them, in regard that Ibycus had been long missing, but could not be found, though diligent Search had been made after him, they presently gave Information of what they had heard to the Magistrates. By whom being examined and convicted, they suffered condign Punishment, though not betrayed by the Cranes, but by the Incontinency of their own Tongues; an Avenging Erinnys hovering over their Heads, and constraining them to confess the murder. For as in the Body, wounded and diseased Members draw to themselves the vicious Humors of the neighbouring Parts; in like manner the unruly Tongues of babblers, infested as it were with Inflammations, where a sort of feverish Pulses continually lie beating, will be always drawing to themselves something of the secret and private Concerns of other Men. And therefore it ought to be environed with Reason as with a Rampart, perpetually lying before it, like a Mound, to stop the overflowing and slippery Exuberance of Impertinent Talk; that we may not seem to be more silly then goose, which when they take their Flight out of Cilicia, over the Mountain Taurus, which abounds with Eagles, are reported to carry every one a good big ston in their Bills, instead of a Bridle or Barricado to restrain their gaggling. By which means they across those hideous Forrests in the Night time undiscovered.  
Now then if the Question should be asked, which were the worst and most pernicious sort of People? I do not believe there is any Man that would omit to name a traitor. And yet by Treason it was, that Euthycrates covered the uppermost Story of his House with Macedonian Timber, according to the Report of Demosthenes: That Philocrates having received a good Sum of Money, spent it all upon Whores and Fish, and lived so voluptuously as he did; and that Euphorbius and Philager, who betrayed Eretria, were so well rewarded with ample Possessions. But a prattler is a sort of traitor that no Man needs to hire; for that he offers himself officiously, and of his own accord; nor does he betray to the Enemy either Horse or Walls; but whatever he knows of public or private Concerns, requiring the greatest secrecy, that he discloses, whether it be in Courts of Judicature, in Conspiracies, or Management of State Affairs; 'tis all one, he expects not so much as the Reward of being thanked for his Pains; rather he will return thanks to them that give him Audience. And therefore what was said upon a certain Spendthrift, that rashly, and without any Discretion, wasted his own Estate by his lavish Prodigality to others; 
Thou art not Liberal; 'tis a Disease  
Of vainly giving, which does thee possess;  
'tis all to please thyself, what thou dost give,  
And therefore they ne're thank thee that receive.  May be well retorted upon a common prattler.  
Thou art no Friend, nor dost to me impart,  
For Friendships sake, the Secrets of thy Heart;  
But as thy Tongue has neither boult nor Lock,  
'tis thy Disease, that thou delight'st to talk.  
Nor would I have the Reader think, that what has hitherto been said, has been discoursed so much to blame and condemn, as to reform and cure that vicious and infectious Malady of Loquaciousness and Incontinency of Speech. For though we surmount and vanquish the Vices of the Mind by judgement and Exercise, yet must the judgement precede. For no Man will accustom himself to avoid, and as it were to extirpate out of his Soul, those Vices, unless he first abominate them. Nor can we ever detest those evil Habits of the Mind as we ought to do; but when we rightly judge by Reason's Light of the Prejudice they do us, and the Ignominy we sustain thereby. For Example, we consider and find that these profuse babblers, desirous of being beloved, are universally hated; while they study to gratify, they become troublesone; while they seek to be admired, they are derided. If they aim at Profit, they loose all their Labour; in short, they injure their Friends, advantage their Enemies, and undo themselves.  
And therefore the first Remedy and Cure for this spreading Malady, will be this, to reckon up all the shameful Infamies and Disasters that attend it. The second Remedy, is to take into serious Consideration the practise of what is quiter opposite and contrary to it, by always hearing, remembering, and having ready at hand, the due Praises and Encomiums of Reserv'dness and Taciturnity, together with the Majesty, Sanctimony, and mysterious Profoundness of Silence. Let them consider how much more beloved, how much more admired, how far they are reputed to excel in Prudence, who deliver their Minds in few Words, roundly, home, and Sententious, and contract a great deal of sense within a small Compass of Speech, then such as fly out into voluminous Language, and suffer their Tongues to run before their Wit. The former are those whom Plato so much praises, and likens unto skilful Archers, darting forth their Sentences thick and close, as it were crisp'd and curled one within another. To this same shrewdness of Expression, Lycurgus accustomed his Fellow Citizens from their Childhood, by the Exercise of Silence, contracting and thickening their Discourse into a compendious Delivery. For as the Celtiberians make Steel of Iron, by burying it in the Ground, thereby to refine it from the gross and earthy Part; so the laconic way of Speech has nothing of Bark upon it; but by cutting off all superfluity of Words, becomes steeled and sharpened to pierce the Understanding of the Hearer. So their Conciseness of Language, so ready to turn the Edge to all manner of Questions, became natural by their Extraordinary Practise of Silence. And therefore it would be very expedient for Persons so much given to talk, always to have before their Eyes the short and pithy Sayings of those People, were it only to let them see the Force and Gravity which they contain. For Example, The lacedæmonians to Philip; Dionysius in Corinth. And when Philip wrote thus to the Spartans, If once I enter into your Territories, I will destroy ye all, never to rise again. They answered him with no more then, If. To King Demetrius, exclaiming in a great Rage, What, have the Spartans sent me but one ambassador? The ambassador nothing terrified, One to One, said he. Certainly they that spoken short and concisely, were much admired by the Ancients. Therefore the Ampictyons gave order, that neither Homer's Iliads, nor his Odysses should be written over the Gates of Pythian Apollo's Temple; but, Know thyself, Nothing too much, Give good Sureties, Mischief at had. So much did they admire Conciseness of Speech, comprehending full sense in so much Brevity, made solid as it were by the Force of a Hammer. Does not the Deity himself study compendious Utterance in the Delivery of his Oracles? Is he not therefore called Loxias, because he avoids rather Loquacity then Obscurity? Are not they that signify their Meaning by certain Signs, without Words, in great Admiration, and highly applauded. Thus Heraclitus being desired by his Fellow Citizens, to give them his Opinion concerning Concord, ascended the public Pulpit, and taking a Cup of could Water in his Hand, first sprinkl'd it with a little Flower, then stirring it with a Sprig of Penyroyal, drank it off, and so came down again. Intimating thereby, that if Men would but be contented with what was next at hand, without longing after Dainties and Superfluities, it would be an easy thing for Cities to live in Peace and Concord one with another.  
Scilurus, King of the Scythians, left fourscore Sons behind him; who when he found the Hour of Death approaching, ordered them to bring him a Bundle of small Javelins, and then commanded every one singly to try whether they could break the Bundle as it was tied up altogether, which when they  told him was impossible for them to do, he drew out the Javelins one by one, and break them all himself with ease. Thereby declaring, that so long as they kept together united and in Concord, their Force would be invincible; but that by Dis-union and Discord, they would enfeeble each other and render their Dominion of small Continuance. He then that by often Repetition and reflection shall enure himself to such Presidents as these, may in time perhaps be more delighted with these short and conclusive Apothegms, then with the Exorbitances of loose and lavish Discourse. For my own part, I must aclowledge that I am not a little ashamed of myself, when I call to mind that same domestic Servant, of whom I am now going to speak, and consider how great a thing it is to advice before a Man speaks, and then to be able to maintain and stick to what he has resolved upon.  
Publius Piso the Rhetorician, being unwilling to be disturbed with much Talk, gave order to his Servants to answer to such Questions only as he should ask them, and say no more. Then having a Design to give an Entertainment to Clodius, at that time the Chief Magistrate, he ordered him to be invited, and provided a splendid Banquet for him, as in all probability he could do no less. At the time appointed, several other Guests appeared, only they waited for Clodius's coming, who tarried much longer then was expected; so that Piso sent his Servant several times to him, to know whether he would be pleased to come to Supper, or no. Now in regard it grew late, and that Piso despaired of his coming; What, said he to his Servant, did you call him? Yes, replied the Servant, Why then does he not come away?— Because he  told me he would not come— Why did you not tell me so before?— Because, Sir, you never asked me the Question. This was a Roman Servant: But you shall have an Athenian Servant, that while he is digging and delving, will give his Master an Account of the Articles and Capitulations in a Treaty of Peace. So strangely does Custom prevail in all things; of which, let us now discourse; for there is no kerb or Bridle that can tame or restrain a Libertine Tongue; only Custom must vanquish that Disease.  
First therefore, when there are many Questions propounded in the Company where thou art, accustom thyself to Silence, till all the rest have refused to give an Answer. For as Sophocles observes, 
Although in Racing Swiftness is required,  
To give Advice, there's no such hast desired.  No more does Voice and Answer aim at the same Mark. For it is the Business of a Racer to get the Start of him that contends with him. But if another Man give a sufficient Answer, there needs no more then by commending and approving what he says, to gain the Reputation of a Candid Person. If not, then to tell wherein the other failed, and to supply the Defect, will neither be unseasonable, nor a thing that can justly merit Distaste. But above all things, let us take special heed, when another is asked a Question, that we do not chop in to prevent his returning an Answer. And perhaps it is as little commendable, when a Question is asked of another, to put him by, and undertake the Solution of what is demanded ourselves. For thereby we seem to intimate, that the Person to whom the Question was put, was not able to resolve it, and that the Propounder had not Discretion sufficient to know of whom to ask it. Besides that such a Malapert Forwardness in answering, is not only indecent, but injurious and affrontive. For he that prevents the Person to whom the Question is put, in returning his Answer, would in effect insinuate a What need had you to ask of him? What can he say to it? When I am in presence, no Man ought to be asked those Questions but myself. And many times we put the Question to some People, not for want of an Answer, but only to minister occasion of Discourse, to provoke them to Familiarity, and to have the Pleasure of their Wit and Conversation; as Socrates was wont to challenge Theatus and Carmides. Therefore, to prevent another in returning his Answers, to abstract his Ears, and draw off his Cogitations from another to himself, is the same thing as to run, and salute a Man who designs to be saluted by some body else; or to divert his Eyes upon ourselves, which were already fixed upon another. Considering that if he, to whom the Question is put, refuse to return an Answer, it is but decent for a Man to contain himself, and by an Answer accommodated to the Will of the Propounder, modestly and respectfully to put in, as if it had been at the Request, or in the Behalf of the other. For they that are asked a Question, if they fail in their Answer, are justly to be pardoned; but he that voluntarily presumes to answer for another, gives distaste, let his Answer be never so rational; but if he mistake, he is derided by all the Company.  
The second point of Exercise, in reference to our own Answering of Questions, wherein a Man that is given to talk, ought to be extremely careful, is first of all, not to be over-hasty in his Answers to such as provoke him to talk, on purpose to make themselves merry, and put an Affront upon him. For some there are, who not out of any Desire to be satisfied, but merely to pass away the time, study certain Questions, and then propound them to Persons which they know love to multiply Words, on purpose to make themselves Sport. Such Men therefore ought to take heed how they run headlong, and leap into Discourse, as if they were glad of the Occasion; but to consider the Behaviour of the Propounder, and the benefit and usefulness of the Question. When we find that the Propounder is really desirous to be informed, it is convenient then for a Man to bethink himself a while, and make some Pause between the Question and the Answer, to the end the Proposer, if he pleases to make any Additions to his Proposal, may have time to do it, and himself a convenient space to consider what Answer to make, for fear of running at random, and stifling the Question before it be fully propounded; or of giving one Answer for another, for want of consideration what he ought to say, which is the Effect of an over-hasty Zeal to be talking. True it is indeed, that the Pythian Priestess was wont to give her Oracular Answers at the very Instant, and sometimes before the Question was propounded. For that the Deity, whom she serves, 
Both understands the Mute that cannot speak,  
And hears the Silent, e're his Mind he break.  But it behoves a Man that would return a pertinent Answer, to stay till he rightly apprehended the sense, and understands the Intent of him that propounds the Question; least he may happen to make good the Proverb.  
A rak we called for, they half Mad  
Tell us a Story of a Spade.  
There is also another way to subdue this inordinate and insatiate Greediness of having all the Talk, that it may not seem as if we had some old Flux of Humors impostumated about the Tongue, which we were willing to have lanc'd and let out by a Question, giving occasion of lavish Discourse. Socrates therefore, though never so Thirsty after violent Exercise, never would allow himself the Liberty to drink, till he had emptied his Bucket of Water, by pouring it out by degrees; to the end he might accustom his sensual Appetite to attend Reason's Appointment.  
Now therefore we come to understand that there are three sorts of Answers to Questions; the First, which is necessary, the Second, out of Civility, and the Third, superfluous. For Example, if a Man should ask, Whither Socrates is within? The other, if he were in an ill humour, or not disposed to make many Words, would answer, Not within: Or if he intended to be more laconic, he would cut off, Within, and reply briefly No. Thus the lacedæmonians, when Philip sent them an Epistle, to know, whether or no they would admit him into their City, vouchsafed him no other Answer, then only' OY or NO, fairly written in Capital Letters, upon a large Sheet of Paper. Another, that would answer more courteously, would say, He is not within; he is gone among the Bankers; and perhaps he would add, where he expects some Friends of his out of Ionia. But a superfluous Prater, and one that abounded in Words, would reply, He is not within, but is gone among the Bankers, in expectation to meet certain jonian Friends, who are recommended to him in a Letter from Alcibiades, who lives at Miletum with Tissaphernes, one of the Great King of Persia's Lieutenant Generals, who formerly assisted the lacedæmonians; but by the Solicitation of Alcibiades, is in League with the Athenians; for Alcibiades being desirous to return to his own Country, has prevailed with Tissaphernes to change his Mind, and join with his Fellow Citizens. And thus perhaps you shall have him run on, and repeat the whole eighth Book of thucydides, and overwhelm a Man with his Impertinent Discourse, till he has taken Miletum, and banished Alcibiades a second Time. Herein therefore ought a Man chiefly to restrain the Profuseness of his Language, as it were, following the Foot-steps of the Question, and circumscribing the Answer, as it were within a Center and Distance proportionable to the Benefit which the Propounder proposes to make of his Question. 'tis reported of Carneades, that before he was well known in the World, while he was disputing in the Gymnasium, the President of the Place, sent him an Admonition to moderate his Voice( for he naturally spoken very deep and loud) in Answer to which, when he desired the President to sand him a gauge for his Voice, the President not unproperly made Answer, Let that be the Person who disputes with thee. In like manner, the intent of the Propounder ought to be the Rule and Measure of the Propounder. Moreover, as Socrates was wont to say, That those Meats were chiefly to be abstained from, which allured Men to Eat when they were not a-hungry, and those Drinks to be refrained, that invited Men to drink when they were not a-dry; so it would behove a Man that is lavish of his Tongue, to be afraid of those Discourses and theme wherein he most delights, and makes it his Business to be most prolix; and whenever he perceives them flowing in upon him, to resist them to the utmost of his Power. For Example, your marshal Men are always talking of Sieges and Battels, and the Poet often introduces 
Hector, as some red it.  Nestor, boasting often of his own achievements and Feats of Arms. And the same disease is incident to noted Pleaders at the bar, and accompanies such as have unexpectedly risen to be the favourites of Great Princes. For such will be always up with their Stories, how they were introduced at first; how they ascended by degrees; how they got the better in such a Case; what Arguments they used in such a Case; and lastly, how they were humm'd up and applauded in Court. For to say Truth, Gladness and Joy are much more Loquacious then that same Agrippina, so often feigned in their Comedies; rousing up, and still refreshing itself with new Relations, and therefore they are prove to fall into such Stories upon the least Occasion given. For not only, 
Where the Member most is pained,  
There the Patient lays his Hand.  But Pleasure also has a Voice within itself, and leads the Tongue about, to be a support to their Memories: Like Lovers, that spend the greatest Part of their Time in Songs and Sonnets, that refresh their Memories with the Representations of their Mistresses. Concerning which Amours of theirs, when Companions are wanting, they frequently discourse with Things that are voided of Life.  
Oh dearest Bed, whereon we wont to rest,  
And undisturbed the Height of Pleasure taste.  
And again, 
O blessed Lamp, for surely thee  
Bacchis believes some Deity.   
And again, 
Surely the greatest of the Gods thou art,  
Or else the She that d●es possess my Heart.  And indeed it may well be said, that a loose tongued Fellow is no more, in respect of his Discourse, then a white Line struck with Chalk upon a Piece of Timber. For in regard there are several Subjects of Discourse, and that many Men are more subject to some then to others; it behoves every one to take care of all in general, and to suppress them in such a manner, that the Delight which they take therein, may not decoy them into their beloved Prolixity and Profuseness of Words beyond this white Line. The same Inclination to overshoot themselves in prattling, appears in such as are prove to those kind of Discourses, wherein they suppose themselves to excel others, either in Habit or Experience. For such a one being as well a Lover of himself, as ambitious of Glory: 
The chiefest Part of all the Day doth spend,  
In this or that, all others to transcend.  For Example, he that reads much, endeavours to excel in History; the Grammarian, in the Artificial couching of Words; the Traveller is full of his Geography. But all these Surplusages are to be avoided with great Caution, least Men, intoxicated therewith, grow fond of their old Infirmities, and return to their former Freaks, like Beasts that cannot be driven from their Haunts. Cyrus therefore, yet a young Stripling, was most worthy of Admiration, who would never challenge his Equals and Play-fellows to any Exercise wherein he excelled, but wherein he knew himself to be inferior; unwilling that the first should fret for the Loss of the prise, which he was sure to win, and loathe to loose what he could gain from the others better Skill.  
On the other side, the Profuse Talker is of such a Disposition, that if any Discourse happen, from which he might be able to learn something, and inform his Ignorance, that he refuses and rejects: Nor can you hire him to hold his Tongue; so that after his rolling and restless Fancy has mustered up some few obsolete and all to be tattered Rhapsodies to supply his Vanity, out he flings them, as if he were Master of all the Knowledge in the World. Just like one amongst us, who having red two or three of Ephorus's Books, tired all Mens Ears with his Talk, and spoiled and broke up all the Feasts and Societies where e're he came, with his continual Relations of the Battle of Leuctra, and the Consequences of it; by which means he got himself a Nickname, while every one called him Epaminondas. But this is one of the least Inconveniences of this Infirmity: and indeed we ought to make it one Step toward the Cure, to turn this violent Vein of twattling upon such Subjects as those. For such a Loquacity is less a Nuissance when it superabounds in only what belongs to Human Literature.  
It would be necessary also that the same sort of People who are addicted to this 'vice, should accustom themselves to writ upon some Subject or other, and to dispute of certain Questions apart. For Antipater the stoic, as we may probably conjecture, either not being able, or else unwilling to come in Dispute with Carneades, vehemently inveighing against the Stocks, declined to meet him fairly in the Schools, yet would be always writing Answers against him; and because he filled whole Volumes full of Contradictory Arguments, and still opposed him with Assertions that only made a Noise, he was called Calamoboas, as one that made a great clamour with his Pen to no Purpose: So 'tis very probable that such fighting with their own Shadows, and exclaiming one against another apart by themselves, driving and restraining them from the Multitude, would render them more tolerable and sociable in Civil Company. Like cursed Cur●, which after they have once discharged their Fury upon Sticks and Stones, become less fierce toward Men. It would be always of great Importance to them to converse with their Superiors and Elders; for that the aweful Reverence and Respect which they bore to their Dignity and Gravity, might accustom them in time to silence. And it would be evermore expedient for them to intermix and involve with those Rules and Exercises I have already set down, this manner of Ratiocination with themselves, before they speak, and at the same time that the Words are just ready to break out of their Mouths; What is this which I would say, that presses so hard to be gone? for what reason would this Tongue of mine so fain be walking? What good shall I get by speaking? What Mischief shall I incur by holding my Peace? For we are not to ease and discharge ourselves of our Words, as if they were a heavy burden that overloaded us; for Speech remains as well when uttered, as before; but Men either speak in behalf of themselves, when some Necessity compels them, or for the Benefit of those that hear them, or else to recreate one another with the Delights of Converse, on purpose to mitigate and render more savoury, as with Salt, the toils of our daily Employments. But if there be nothing profitable in Speaking, nothing necessary to them that hear what is said, nothing of Satisfaction or Delight, by being thereby rendered acceptable to all Societies: What need is there it should be spoken? For Words may be in vain, and to no purpose, as well as Deeds. But after, and above all that has been said, we ought always to bear in Remembrance, and always to have ready at our Tongues end, that Saying of Simonides, That he who is given to Talk, has many times an occasion to repent him of his Words, but never he that can hold his Tongue. Then as for Exercise, we must believe it to be a matter of great Importance, as being that which overcomes and masters all things; considering what Toi● and Labour Men will undergo to get rid of an old Cough or Hickup, the Effects of Superfluity and Laziness, and that Silence and Taciturnity are not only never afflicted with Thirst, as Hippocrates observes, but altogether free from Pain and Sorrow.   

Plutarch's Morals: Vol. IV.  
Of Love.  Translated from the Greek by J. Phillips, Gent. Flavianus. 
WAS it not in Helicon, Dear Autobulus, that those Discourses were held concerning Love, which whether thou hast already set them down in Writing, or still carry'st in thy Memory, as having often desired them from thy Father, are now in expectation that thou wilt recite to us at our importunate Request?  Autobulus. 
It was in Helicon, Dear Flavianus among the Muses, at what time the Thespians performed the Erotic Solemnitie●. For( as in Honour of the Muses) so with the same Devotion they celebrate every five Years certain Games and Festivals very Magnificent and Splendid in Honour of Cupid.  Flavianus. 
Knowst thou then, what it is we all desire at thy hands, as many as are gathered here together to be thy Auditors?  Autobulus. 
No but I shall surely know, when once by you informed.  Flavianus. 
Curtal, we beseech ye, your Discourse at present, for bearing the Descriptions of meadows and Shades, together with the crawling Ivy, and windings of the purling rivulets, and whatever else being customary in describing such kind of Places make Plato's Ilissus desirable: such as the Chastity-preserving three, with the pleasing variety of Herbs and Flowers covering the rising Hillocks, studied with more Curiosity then Elegancy.  Autobulus. 
What needed my Relation, dearest Flavianus, such a Proem as this? The occasion that gave birth to these discourses requires only a numerous Auditory and a theatre; otherwise there is nothing wanting of an Interlude. Therefore let us first beseech the Mother of the Muses to be propitious and assist us in the discovery of the Fable. For my Father, born a long time since before me, having newly espoused my Mother, by reason of an unlucky variance that fell out between their Parents, took a journey to Thespiae, with an intention to Sacrifice to the God of Love, and carried my Mother also to the Feast( for that it properly belonged to her as well to make the Feast, as to perform the Sacrifice) besides several of his familiar Acquaintance that accompanied him from his House.  
Now being arrived at Thespiae, he met with Daphnaeus, the Son of Archidamus, and Lysander in Love with the Daughter of Simon, above all her Suitors, chiefly the most welcome and acceptable to her. There he also found Soclarus, the Son of Ariston, who was come from Tithora; together with Protogenes of Tarsus, and Zeuxippus the Lacedemonian, by whom he had been a Guest several times kindly entertained, with many other Baeotian Gentlemen, with whom my Father was intimately acquainted. Thus they stayed for two or three days in the City entertaining each other with learned discourse, one while in the Common wrestling Places, sometimes in the theatres, still keeping company together. After that, avoiding the troublesome Contests of the Harpers and Musicians, it being found out that all would be carried by anticipation of Parties, the greatest part broke Company, and as if they had been discamping out of an Enemies Country, retired to Helicon and took up their Lodgings among the Muses. Whether the next morning came to them Anthemion and Pisias, Persons of eminent Nobility; and both allied to Baccho, surnamed the Fair, and both I know not how at some difference one with another, by reason of the Affection which they severally bore to him, For there was at Thespiae Ismendora of an Illustrious family and wealthy withal; and indeed in all other respects discreet and modest; and moreover she had continued a Widow without spot or slain to her Reputation, though both young and beautiful.  
Now it happened that while this Brisk Widow was endeavouring to make up a Match between Baccho the Son of a Neighbouring Lady her intimate Friend, and a certain just blooming Virgin nearly allied to her self, by often talking with the Young Gentleman and much frequenting his Company, she began to feel some sparks of kindness kindled for him in her own Breast. Afterwards hearing him highly commended by others, and speaking many things in his praise her self, and finding him beloved by a great number of Persons of the best Rank, by degrees she fell desperately in love with the Youth; nevertheless with a resolution to do nothing unbeseeming her Birth and Quality, but after public Wedlock to aclowledge him her Husband: But as the Match seemed impracticable, by reason of the distance of their years, so the Mother of the Young Man suspected the Nobility and Grandeur of her House not to be correspondent to her Son's condition, which rendered him uncapable of such a preferment. Moreover his Companions that were wont to go a hunting with him, weighing the difference between his and the Age of Ismenodora, filled his head with several scruples, asking him why he did not mary his Mother, if he wanted an Old woman; and bidding him consider how much it would cost him after a little time in new Sets of Teeth; and thus scaring him with continual frumps and scoffs, more effectually hindered the Match, then they who laboured industriously and seriously to prevent it. But at last, the Young Man, shaking off all others, applys himself to Pisias and Athenion for their advice in a Matter of so great concernment. The Elder of these two, Ariston, was his Uncle; and Pisias the most austere of all his Lovers. The latter therefore withstood the Match with all his Might, and upbraided Anthenion as one that went about to betray the Young Man to Ismenodora. On the other side Anthenion  told Pisias, that he did not well to do as he did, having the Reputation of a worthy honest Man, to imitate those lewd Lovers, that endeavoured to deprive their Friend of a Noble House, a Rich Wife, and other corresponding conveniences, that he might have the Pleasure to see him frequently naked in the Wrestling Places, fresh and smooth, and a stranger to Female Sports. However to prevent the growing of any quarrel between them, through long and Passionate disputes, they choose for Umpires of the controversy my Father and those Friends that were with him: and besides them, as if they had been chosen on purpose, Daphnoeus pleaded for Pisias, and for Anthenion, Protogenes; who bitterly inveighing against Ismenodora, O Hercules, cried Daphnaeus what may we not expect, when Protogenes bids defiance to Love? He that all along has spent as well the serious as sportive hours of his Life both in Love and for Love, without regard either to Learning or his Country, not like to Laius, who was but five days journey distant from it; for his was a slow sort of Love upon the dry Land; whereas your Cupid, Protogenes With nimble Wings displayed.  
crossed the Seas from Cilicia to Athens, merely to visit and straggle up and down with Lovely Boys. And indeed, such at first was the true cause of Protogenes's Peregrination. At which the Company falling into a loud Laughter, how! said Protogenes, can you believe that I at this time wage War against Love, and that I do not rather fight for Love against intemperate Desire and lascivious Wantonness, which under the shelter of the most honest and fairest Names that are, let themselves loose into the most shameful Acts of inordinate Lust and Concupiscence. Then Daphnaeus, do ye number Wedlock, said he, and the Conjunction of Man and Wife( then which there is no tie more sacred in the World) among the vile and dishonest Actions of the World? Why truly replied Protogenes, this same Bond of Wedlock, as being necessary for Generation, is not undeservedly perhaps extolled by our grave Politicians and Lawgivers, and by them recommended to the Multitude. But I must tell ye, if you mean true Love, there is not a Farthings worth of it to be found among Women. Nor do I believe, that either you yourselves or any other that dote so much as you pretend to do, upon Women and Virgins, love them any otherwise, then as Flys love Milk, or Bees love Honycombs; only as Cooks and Butchers Fat up Calves and Poultry in the Dark, not out of any extraordinary affection which they bear those Creatures, but for the gain which they make of them. Well knowing that Nature prompts all Men to the use of Bread and Meat with Moderation, and so far as may suffice the Appetite. The excess of which becomes a 'vice, under the name of Gluttony or Gurmandizing. Thus it is natural for Men and Women to desire the Pleasures of mutual enjoyment; but as for that impetuous Concupiscence that hurries the greatest part of Mankind with so much strength and violence, it is not properly called Love. For Love, that is bread in a Young and truly Generous Heart, by means of Friendship terminates in virtue. Whereas all our Desires toward Women, let them be taken in the best sense we can, serve us only to reap the fruit of Pleasure, and to assist us in the Fruition of Youth and Beauty, which when once decayed, we love no longer. As Aristippus testified to on● that would have put him out of conceit with Lais, for that, as he said, she did not truly love him; no more, said he, am I beloved by pure Wine, or good Fish, and yet I willingly make use of both. For the end of Desire is Pleasure and Enjoyment. But Love having once lost the hopes of Friendship, will neither tarry, nor cherish, for Beauty sake, that which is irksome, though never so gaudy in the flower of Youth, if it bring not forth the Fruit of a Disposition propense to Friendship and virtue. And therefore it is that you hear a certain Husband, in a Tragedy thus talking to his Wife 
Thou hat'st me— true— and I thy proud disdain  
Will brook with patience, careless of the Pain,  
So long as my Dishonour brings me Gain.  Though I take him to be far the more amorous Man of the two, that can endure for the sake of his carnal Pleasure, the Plague of a cursed, ill-natured shrew, that is always scolding, then he that bears the Infamy of a cuckolded, when his Wife and he are well paid for it. The first of which Love Martyrs Phillippides the Comedian thus derided in the Person of Stratocles the Rhetorician.  
She jowrs and growles and turns her Tail  
With fury so unkind,  
The wittol blessed would think himself  
To kiss her Coyf behind.  
Now if this be the Passion you talk of which is to be called Love, it is a spurious and effeminate Love, that sends us to the Womens Chambers, as it were to the Cynosarges at Athens. Or rather, as they say, there is a sort of Generous and true bread Mountain Eagle, which Homer calls the black Eagle and Eagle of Prey; and then again there is another sort of Bastard Eagle, that takes Fish and Birds that are Lazy and slow of Flight: and wanting Food, makes a shrill and mournful noise for Hunger. Thus the true Genuine Love is that of Children, not flaming with Concupiscence, as according to Anacreon the Love of Maids and Virgins does, neither besmeared with odiferous ointments, nor alluring with Smiles and rolling Glances: but you shall find him plain and simplo, and undebauch'd with pleasures, in the Schools of the Philosophers, or in the Wrestling Lists, and Places of Public Exercise, smart and generous in the chase of Youth, and exhorting to virtue all that he finds to be fit objects of his Diligence. Whereas that other Love, Nice and Effeminate, and always nestling in the Bosoms and Beds of Women, pursuing soft pleasures, and wasted with ●nmanly Delights, that have no gust of friendship or heavenly ravishment of Mind, such a Love is to be despised and rejected of all Mankind; as Solon banished it out of his Commonwealth, when he forbid Slaves and Servants the use of male Familiarity, but permitted them the Liberty to accompany with Women. As looking upon Friendship to be laudable and civil, but Pleasure to be a vulgar thing, and unbecoming a Man born free. Whence it appears that for a Servant to make Love to a Boy, is not allowable but only to a Citizen or a Freeman: for this is no mischievous Love of Copulation, like the affection toward Women.  
Now while Protogenes was desirous to have said more, Daphnaeus interrupting him. Truly, said he, you have done well to put us in mind of Solon, as if we were to make use of him to be the judge of a Person addicted to Love, that is to say, of a real Lover. Hear what he says.  
Then dote upon the flowery Youth of B●ys,  
Their fragrant breath admiring and soft Thighs.  
Add to this of Solon that other of Aeschylus, 
Ingrateful for the Kisses of my Lips,  
Not to revere the Glory of my Hips.  These are proper judges of Love, but others there are who deride all those that would have Lovers inspect their Thighs and Hanches, like so many Sacrificers or Bowel Observers. And for my Part I draw from hence a very strong Argument on the behalf of the women. For if Male-Converse, which is altogether against Nature, neither extinguishes nor is any way noxious to Amorous Affection; much more probable is it, that the Love of Women which is according to Nature, should reach to the consummation of Friendship, by virtue of that Obsequious Beauty which attends it. For I must tell ye, Protogenes, the submission of the Female to the Male was by the Ancients expressed by the word {αβγδ}. For which reason Pindarus observes that Vulcaen was by Juno brought forth without the Graces, that is, when she was in a morose humour, and would nor oblige Jupiter: and sapph tells a young Virgin, not yet ripe for Matrimony, 
Passive Obedience 'tis that Women yield,  
T'oblige their wooers; but thy Youth, poor Child,  
Is yet too raw to be so deeply skilled.  And certain a Person puts the Question to Hercules, 
Did you by Force constrain, but ill obeyed,  
Or by persuasion win the willing Maid?  But the Submission of Males to Males, if it be by Compulsion of Strength, is called a violent and forcible Rape; but if it be voluntary; for one Man to cover another, like Bulls and Horses, and to counterfeit the Act of Generation, in defiance of Nature, such a one is voided of all Allurement, brutish, and contrary to the end of Venereal Pleasure. Wherefore I am apt to believe that Solon wrote those Lines when he was young, brisk, and full of Seed, as Plato phrases it: For when he was grown into Years, he sang another Note; 
The Sports of Venus, now, are my Delight,  
Or else with Bacchus to carovie;  
At other times the Muses Charms invite;  
These are the chiefest Pleasures Mankind knows.  As if he had altered his Course of Life, and retired from the Storms and Tempests of Paderastick Fury, into the Calms of Wedlock and Philosophy. Now then Protogenes, let us but consider the truth of the Matter, we shall find the Passion of Lovers to be the same, whether it be for Boys or for Women; or if out of a contentious humour, you will distinguish them, you shall find that this Affection for Boys does not keep itself within Bounds, but like a late-born Issue, clandestinely brought forth in the Dark, and out of Season, strives to expel the truly Genuine and Legitimate Love, which is much the more ancient. For give me leave to tell ye, my dear Friend, it was but as it were of yesterday's standing, or the day before, since young Boys began to strip and show themselves naked in the public Places of Exercise, that this Frenzy getting in by degrees, and crowding in there, afterwards by little and little, being better fledged, and gathering strength of Wings in the Wrestling-Rings, the Insolence of it could never since be so restrained, but that still it will be afronting and adulterating that same Nuptial and Conjugal Love which is the Coadjutrix of Nature, and helps to immortallize mortal Mankind, which being extinguished by Death, it raises up, and immediately restores again by Generation. But this same Protogenes denies there is any Pleasure in Male Concupiscence, for he is ashamed and afraid to aclowledge it. Therefore there must be some decent Pretence for the feeling and handling these adult and lovely Youths. And truly he has found out a very clever Excuse, alleging it to be for the Sake of Friendship and virtue. Therefore he rowls himself in the Dust, washes with could Water, erects his Brows, and outwardly pretends to Philosophy and Chastity, for fear of the Law; but when Darkness covers the Earth, and that all People have betaken themselves to their Rest, 
Fearless he steals to his beloved delight,  
And sweetly tastes th'autumnal Fruit all Night.  Now if it were as Protogenes says, that no Carnal Conjunction attended these Masculine Familiarities, how can it be Love, when Venus is absent? Seeing that of all the Goddesses, she it is that Cupid is bound to obey and attend, and that he has no Honour or Power, but what she confers upon him? But if there be a sort of Love without Love, as a Man may be drunk without Wine, by drinking the Decoctions of Figs or Barley, the Disturbance of such a Love must prove fruitless, and to no end, and consequently loathsome and offensive.  
These things thus said, it was apparent that Pisia● found himself touched to the Quick, and was much concerned for what Daphnaeus had spoken. But after he had been silent a while, O Hercules, said he, what a strange Impudence and Levity is this in Men, to aclowledge themselves tied to Women by their generating Parts, like Dogs to Bitches; by this means expelling and banishing Love from the Places of Exercise, from the public Portico's, and from conversing under the open Sky and Sun-shine, to the Snares, Poniards, Philters, and Sorceries of Lascivious Women; for it is not convenient for the Chast, either to love, or to be beloved. At which Words, as my Father  told me, he took Protogenes by the Hand, and repeated to him these Verses: 
Words, such as these, the Spartan Courage warm;  
And the affronted Youth provoke to arm.  For surely the Exorbitant Language of Pisias gives us good reason to take Daphnaeus's part, while he introduces over the Head of Wedlock, a Society voided of Love, and utterly a Stranger to that same Friendship which descends, and is inspired from above; which if real Affection and Submission be wanting, can hardly be restrained by all the Curbs and Yokes of shane and Fear. Then Pisias, for my part, said he, I give little heed to this Argument; for as for Daphnaeus, I find him in the same Condition with Brass; for as Brass is not so easily melted by the Fire, as by the force of the same melted and liquid Metal being powred upon it, which mollifies both alike, and causes them to run and mix together; so it is not the Beauty of Lysandra that inflames him, but the Conversing long with her that is already inflamed and full of Fire, that sets him all in a flamme himself; and it is apparent, that unless he makes hast to us, he will suddenly be melted with his own Heat. But I perceive, said he, the same thing will befall me, which Athemion has most reason to desire, that I shall offend both my Judges and myself; and therefore I shall say no more. Then Anthemion, 'tis very true indeed, your Fear is just; for you ought at the first to have spoken to the purpose, and what was proper to the Argument in Hand. To this Pisias replied, that he was willing that every Woman should have her Lover, but withal, that it very much concerned Baccho to have a care how he entangled himself in Ismenodora's Wealth; least while we match him with so much Grandeur and Magnificence, we consume him to nothing, like Tin among Brass. For I must tell you, it would be a hard matter for so young a Stripling as he is, though he should mary a plain and ordinary Woman, to keep the sovereignty of the Breeches, and to be still predominant, as Wine above Water. But we see her already design Superiority and Command; else why should she refuse so many suitors of great Wealth and Noble Extraction that court her daily, to woe her self a mere Boy, that has but newly assumed the Robes of Manhood, and more fit to go to School then to mary. And therefore those Husbands that are wise, without any Admonition, out of their own Fore-sight, clip their Wives Wings themselves; that is, they prune away their Riches, that prompt them to Luxury and Vanity, and render them inconstant and Foolish; so that many times, by the help of these Wings, they soar out of their Husbands Reach and fly quiter away; or if they stay at Home, better it were for a Man to be chained with Fetters of Gold, as they chain their Prisoners in Aethiopia, then to be tied to the Riches of a Wife. However, said Protogenes, he has not hinted to us in the least, the hazard we run of inverting absurdly and ridiculously the Counsel of Hesiod, whose Words are these; 
For Wedlock ripe, look out, and choose thy Love;  
No● under thirty much, nor much above,  
This is the Season; they that longer tarry,  
Tarry too long, if they for Off-spring mary.  
Virgins of fourteen Signs of Ripeness show,  
At fifteen match 'em, e're more harm they know.  We, quiter contrary to this Precept, are going about to couple a young Lad, scarce ripe for Marriage, to a Lady much older then himself, like those that graft the tender Scions of Dates and Fig-trees upon old Stocks, to make them bear Fruit before their Season. But you'l say, the Woman is in Love up to the Ears, and burns with Desire. Who is he that will hinder her from Masquerading before his Doors? from singing her Amorous Lamentations at his Windows? from adorning his Statues with Chaplets and Garlands of Flowers? from duelling her Rivals, and winning him from them all by Feats of Arms? for these are Acts that demonstrate the height of a passionate Affection. Let her knit her Brows, refrain all manner of Pomp and Luxury; let her put on a Garb and Countenance suitable to such a violent Passion. But if Bashful and Modest, let her sit at Home, expecting her Suitors and Gallants to come and court her there. But who would not fly and abominate a Woman that professes Love, for fear of making such an impudent Incontinence the first step to his future Nuptials.  
When Protogenes had thus concluded, Do you not see, Anthemion, said Daphnaeus, how they make this again the common Hypothesis and Subject of Dispute, enforcing us still to continue our Discourse of Nuptial Love, who deny not ourselves to be the Upholders of it; nor ever avoided the being one of that celebrated Chorus. Most certainly I do, replied Anthemion, and therefore proceed in the Defence of Conjugal Affection; and let us have also your Assistance in maintaining the Argument about Riches, with which Pisias chiefly seems to scar us. 'tis the least we can do, said my Father, for would it not be a great Reproach to Woman-kind, should we reject Ismenodora, because she is in Love, and wealthy to boot? But she is Nobly descended as well as Rich; what then, is she not beautiful and young? What if she be somewhat stately and haughty, by reason of her Illustrious Birth, so she live in Esteem and Reputation. If she be proud and reserved to others, a sober and discreet Lady, as Ismenodora i●, will not be so to her Husband. For there is nothing of Crabbedness, nothing sour, nothing troublesone in Women truly Chast and Modest. So that if there be any Women that value themselves upon their Chastity, and domineer over their Husbands for only that good Quality, 'tis because they are otherwise naturally morose, and that ill Quality gains them the Name of Shrews and Furies, to be commended for their Chastity and nothing else. But you'l say, since it may be a Man's Misfortune to be so hampered, would it not be better to mary some Thra●ian Abr●●●●●●, or some Miles●an● Bacchis exchanged for raw Hides, as an Assurance of her future Loyalty and Obedience; and yet we have known some Men that have been miserable Henp●ck'd by these sort of Underlings. The Samian Mi●str●● and M●●ri●● D●●●●●, such as were Arist●nica and O●nanthe with her Tabor and Pipe, and Agathoclia insulted over the Diadems of their sovereigns. The Syrian Sennicamis was a poor Wench, kept by one of Ninus's Slaves, partly as his Servant, partly as his Harlot, till Ninus meeting her, and taking a Fancy to her, at length doted upon her to that degree, that she not only governed him as she pleased her self, but contemned him. So that finding she had got the absolute Mastery over him, she became so bold as to desire him to do her the favour to see her sit but one Day upon his Throne, with the Royal Diadem upon her Head, dispatching the public Business. To which the King consenting, and giving order to all hi● Officers to yield her the same Obedience as to himself, at first she was very moderate in her Commands, to make trial of the Guards about her, but when she saw that they obeyed her without the least Hesitation or Murmuring, she commanded them first to lay hold upon Ninus himself, then to bind him, and at length to kill him. Which being done, she took the Government upon her self, and reigned victoriously over all Asia with great splendour and Renown; after she added several Kingdoms by Conquest to her ancient Dominions. And was not Bel●sti●, a Barbarian courtesan, bought in the Market, in whose Honour the Alexandrians erected Temples and Altars, with Inscriptions to Venus Beletia, a● Marks of the Kings Affection to her? Then for Phryn● also, enshrined in the same Temple, and honoured with the same Solemnities as Cupid, and whose Statue all of beaten Gold stands among Kings and Queens; I would fain know what Dowry of hers it was, that brought so many Lovers into such Subjection to her. But as those great Men, through their Softness and Effeminacy, became a Prey to those Women; so on the other side, Men of low and mean Condition, having married Women both wealthy and of splendid Extraction, neither loar'd Sail, nor abated any thing of their Courage and Greatness of Mind, but lived together, always honouring their Wives, and keeping that Superiority over them which was their Right and Due. But he that contracts and reduces his Wife within a narrow Compass, and makes her less, like a Ring that is too big for the Finger, to prevent it from dropping off, are like to those that dock off their Mares Tails, and clip their Mains, and then led them to a River or Pond; for it is reported, that when those Mares perceive themselves so ill favour'dly shorn and disfigured, they loose their natural Courage, and will afterwards suffer themselves to be covered by Asses. And therefore as it is a base thing to prefer the Riches of a Woman above her virtue or Nobility; so is it as great a Folly to reject Wealth when accompanied with virtue and illustrious Parentage. Antigonus writing to a Captain of his, whom he had ordered to fortify the little Hill Munichia, joining the City of Athens to the harbour, bid him not only make the Collar strong, but keep the Dog lean; intimating thereby, that he should take care to impoverish the Athenians. But there is no necessity for the Husband of a rich and beautiful Wife, to make her poor, or to disfigure her, but by his Reserv'dness and Prudence, and by seeming not to admire any thing particularly in her, to carry himself so, that she may perceive that as he designs not to be a Tyrant; so she must not expect him to be her Subject, giving that Weight to the balance, that still the Scale may turn for the Good of both. Now, as for Ismenodora, her Years are fit for Marriage, and she is a Woman most likely to bear Children; nay, I am informed that she is now in her Prime, and then smiling upon Pisias, for, said he, she is not elder then any of her Rivals; neither has she any grey Hairs, as some that keep Company with Baccho. Now if those People think their Converse with the young Gentleman no way mis-becoming their Gravity; what hinders, but that she may affect and cherish him as well, if not better then any young Virgin whatever. For I must needs say, 'tis a difficult matter many times rightly to mix and blend the Tempers and Conditions of young People; in regard it will require some time to make them sensible of several Extravagancies which they may commit, until they have laid aside the Pride and Wantonness which is incident to Youth, and many a blustering Tempest will happen between the new married Couple, before they can be brought to endure the yoke, and draw quietly together; more especially if there be any thing of jealousy harboured in the Bosom of either; for that, like the Wind, in the Absence of the Pilot, disturbs and confuses the Happiness of the Match, while the one has not skill to govern, and the other refuses to be governed. Now then if it be so that Nurses are sought for to look after sucking Infants, School-masters to teach Children; if Masters of Exercise guide young Striplings; if the Law and the Captain General governs those that are of age, so that no Man can be said to be at his own Liberty, to do what he list, where is the Absurdity for a Wife that has Wit and Discretion, and the Advantage of years, to govern and direct the Life and Conversation of a youthful Husband; profitable to him, as exceeding him in Wisdom, and augmenting the Pleasure of her Society, by the Sweetness of her Disposition, and Reality of Affection. To conclude, said he, we that are B●eotians ourselves, ought to reverence Hercules, and not to be offended with those that mary Women elder then themselves; knowing, as wo do, that even Hercules himself gave his own Wife Megara, being then three and thirty years old, to jolaus his Son, being no more then sixteen years of Age.  
While they were in the midst of these Discourses, one of Pisias's Companions and Friends, as my Father reported, came galloping toward them out of the City, whip and spur, to bring the News of a strange and wonderful Accident. For Ismenodora believing that Baccho no way disliked his being married to her, but only was deterred by the Importunities of his Friends that dissuaded him from the Match, resolved not to let the young Man escape her. To this purpose she sent for certain Sparks of her acquaintance, whom she knew to be stout and resolute young Gentlemen, and some Women that were well Willers to her Amours, and observing the Hour that Baccho was wont to pass by her House to the Wrestling Place, well attended and decently garbated, one day when he came near the outermost Door, anointed as he was for the Exercise, with two or three more in the same Posture, she met him in the Street, and gave a little Twitch to his upper Coat, which was the Signal given; at what time her Friends rushed forth, and fairly and softly catching him up in his Mandillion and Doublet, in a Huddle together, they carried him into the House, and locked the Doors fast after them. Then came the Women also, and pulling off his Mandillion, threw about him a costly Nuptial Garment. The Servants likewise running up and down from one Place to another, adorned the Posts not only of Ismenodora's, but of Bacco's House, with Laurel Boughs; and a Minstrel likewise was ordered to pipe along the Streets, as is usual at Weddings. The Story thus related, the Thespians and Strangers some of them laughed, some others were heinously offended, and did what they could to exasperate the Presidents of the public Exercises. For they have a great Command over the young Gentlemen, and keep a severe and vigilant Eye over all their Actions. And now there was not a Word said of the Sports that were intended; but all the People forsaking the Theatre, flocked to Ism●nodora's House, discoursing and debating the Matter one among another. But when Pisias's Friend, with his Horse all foaming, and in a Sweat, as he had brought Intelligence from the Army in time of War, had delivered his News, hardly able to speak for want of Breath, and concluded his Story with saying, That Ismenodora had ravished Baccho, my Father  told me, that Zeuxippus fell a laughing, and as he was a great Admirer of that Poet, repeated the Verses of Euripides, 
Wanton with Wealth, fair Lady, thou hast done  
No more then Wisdom teaches every one.  But that Pisias starting up out of his Seat, made a great Exclamation, crying out; O ye Gods! when will ye put an end to this Licentiousness, that will in the end subvert our City? For now all things are running into disorder through Violation of the Laws; but perhaps it is now looked upon as a slight matter to transgress the Law and violate Justice; for even the Law of Nature is transgressed and broken by the insolent Anarchy of the Female Sex. Was ever there any such thing committed in the iceland of Lemnos? Let us go, said he, let us go and deliver up the Wrestling Place, and the Council House to the Women, if the City be so effeminate as to put up these Indignities. Thus Pisias broke from the Company in a Fury; nor would Protogenes leave him, partly offended at what had happened, partly to assuage and mollify his Friend. But Anthemion, 'twas a Juvenile bold Attempt, said he, and truly Lemnian, for we know that the Lady was warmly in Love. To whom Soclarus smiling, Do you then believe, said he, that this was a real Ravishment and Force, and not rather a Stratagem of the young Man's own Contrivance( for he has Wit at will) to the end he might escape out of the Hands of his ruder Male Lovers, into the Embraces of a fair and rich Widow? Never say so, said Anthemion, nor have such a Suspicion of Baccho. For were he not naturally, as he is of a plain and open Temper, he would never have concealed this thing from me, to whom he has always imparted his Secrets, and whom he knew to be always a Favorer of Ismenodora's Design. For according to the saying of Heraclitus, it is a harder matter to withstand Love then Anger. For whatever it has a Desire to, it will purchase with the Hazard of Life, Fortune and Reputation. Now where is there a more accomplished Woman in all our City that Ismenodora? When did you ever hear an ill Word spoken of her? Or when did ever any thing done in her House, give the least suspicion of an ill Act? Rather we may say, that she seems to be inspired beyond other Women with something above Human Reason. Then Pemptides smiling, Truly, said he, there is a certain Disease of the Body, which they call Sacred: So that it is no wonder, if some Men give the Appellation of Sacred and Divine, to the most raging and vehement Passion of the Mind. But as in egypt, once I saw two Neighbours hotly contending about a Serpent which crept before them in the Road, while both concluded it to be good Luck, and each assumed the happy Omen to himself; so seeing some of you at this time haling Love into the Chambers of the Men, others into the Cabinets of the Women, as a Divinely transcending Good; I do not wonder, since it is a Passion so powerful, and greatly esteemed, that it be magnified, and held in greatest Veneration by those that have most reason to clip its Wings, and expel and drive it from them. Hitherto therefore I have been silent, perceiving the Debate to be rather about a particular Concern, then any thing for the public Good. But now that Pisias is gone, I would willingly understand from one of you, upon what account it was, that they who first discoursed of Love, were so fond to deify it? So soon as Pemptides had done, and that my Father was about to say something in answer to his Question, another Messenger came from the City, in Ismenodora's name, requesting Anthemiom to come to her: for that the Tumult increased, and the Presidents of the Games could not agree, while one was of Opinion that Baccho was to be demaned and delivered up into their Hands, and the other thought it an Impertinence to meddle with that which nothing concerned them.  
Thus Anthemion being gone, my Father addressed himself to Pemptides by name, and so entering into the following discourse, You seem to Me, Sir said he, to have hit upon a very strange and nice point, or rather as I may so say, to have endeavoured to stir things which are not to be moved, in reference to the Opinion which we have of the Gods, while you demand a Reason and demonstration of every thing in particular. For it is sufficient to believe according to the Faith of our Forefathers, and the Instructions of the Country where we have been bread and born, then which we cannot utter or invent a more certain Argument, 
For surely all the Wit of human Brain,  
This part of Knowledge never could attain.   
For this is a Foundation and Basis common to all Piety and Religion; of which if once the steady Rule and decreed Maxims be once disordered and shaken, all the rest must totter and become suspected. And no question but you have heard in what a confusion of thought Euripides was, and how it perplexed him to begin his Menalippe 
— Jupiter, if his name be so,  
For 'tis by hearsay only what I know.  Where he seems to have a Confidence in the Lofty style and Elaborate Eloquence of his Tragedy, to venture the Indignation of the Deity; but finding he had drawn upon himself the Envy of another Adversary, the Multitude, he altered the Verse.  
Jove, for we own he has received that Name  
From Truth alone, and not from common famed.  
What difference then is there between calling in quetion the Name of Jupiter or Minerva, and doubting of the Name of Cupid, or Love? For it is not of late that Cupid or Love has challenged Altars and Sacrifices, neither is he a Foreigner started up out of any Barbarian Superstition as were the Attae, and the Adonaei, introduced by I know not what sort of Hermophrodites and idle Women. Nor has he clandestinly crept into Honors no way becoming him to avoid the accusation of Bastardy, and being unduly enrolled in the Catalogue of the Gods. But when you hear Empedocles thus saying, 
In Friendship too, observe my Song,  
There is both equal Broad and Long:  
But this thou must not think to find  
With Eyes of Body but of Mind.  You ought to believe all this to be said of Love. For that Love, no more then any of the rest of the ancient Deities, is visible, but apprehended only by Opinion and Belief. For every one of which if you require a reason and demonstrative Argument, by inquiring after every Temple, and making a Sophistical doubt upon every Altar, you shall find nothing free from Calumny and malicious Slander. For that I may go on farther, observe but these.  
I do not Venus see with Mortal Eyes,  
The Goddess unto whom we Sacrifice;  
Yet this is she that mighty Cupid bare  
Whose off-spring all Terrestrial Beings are.  
Therefore Empedocles gives her the epithet of {αβγδ}, or the Giver of Life: And Sophocles calls her {αβγδ} or Fruitful: both very aptly and pertinently. For indeed the great and wonderful Work of generation is properly the Work of Venus, where Love is only an Assistant, when present with Venus: but whose absence renders the act itself altogether irksome, dishonourable, harsh and ungrateful. For the Conjunction of Man and Woman without true Affection, like hunger and thirst, that terminate in Satiety, produces nothing truly noble or commendable, unless the Goddess separating from Love the glut of Pleasure, perpetuate Delight by a continual supply of friendship and harmony of Temper. Therefore Parmenides asserts Love to be the most ancient of all the Works of Venus, 
Of all the Gods that rule above  
She first brought forth the mighty Love.  But Hesiod, in my Opinion, seems more Philosophically to make Love the Eldest of all the Gods, as from whom all the other Deities derive their beginning. Therefore should we deprive Love of the Honours which are decreed him, neither will the Ceremonies ascribed to Venus be any longer in request. For it is not sufficient to say, that some Men reproach Love and load him with Contumelies, but abstain from giving her an ill word. For upon the same theatre we hear these Scandals fixed upon both; 
Love Idle of himself, takes up his res●,  
And harbours only in the slothful breast.  And in another place thus upon Venus; 
She does not th' only name of Cypris own,  
But by a hundred other names is known;  
She's Hell on Earth, continued Violence,  
And Rage subduing all the force of sense.  As indeed we may say of the rest of the Gods, that there is not one that has escaped the scandalous jibes of illiterate Atheism. Look upon Mars, as in a Brazen Sculpture possessing the Place just opposite to Love, how highly has he been honoured, how lowly degraded by Men?  
Swine-snowed Mars, and as a Beetle blind,  
'tis he, fair Dames, disorders all Mankind.  
Homer also gives him the epithet of {αβγδ} or contaminated with Murder; and of {αβγδ}, or Jack aboth●sides. Moreover Chrysippus explaining the name of the Deity, fixes a villainous accusation upon him. For says he, Ares is derived from {αβγδ}, which signifies to Murder and destroy: thereby affording an occasion for some to give the Name of Ares or Mars, to that same proneness and perverse Inclination in Men to wrath and Passion, and to quarrel and fight one with another. Others affirm Venus to be nothing but our Concupiscence: that Mercury is no more then the faculty of Speech, that the Muses are only the Names for the Arts and Sciences; and that Minerva is only a fine word for Prudence. And thus you see into what an Abyss of Atheism we are likely to plunge ourselves, while we go about to set up the Passions, Faculties and virtues of Men for so many Gods. I plainly perceive it, replied Pemptides; for I neither believe it lawful to make the Gods to be Passions, nor on the other side, to make the Passions to be Deities. To whom my Father, Well then, said he, do you believe Mars to be a God, or a Passion of ours? To which when Pemptides replied, that he thought Mars to be the Deity that rectified the Angry and courageous part of Man; my Father presently retorting upon him, Why then, said he, shall our passionate Part, and those wrathful Inclinations within us that provoke us to mischief and bloodshed, have a Deity to over-rule and govern then, and will you not allow the same Guardianship over our better propensities to Love, Friendship, Society and Peace? There is a Deity that presides and has the superintendence over those that kill and are slain; a Deity that bears rule in matters of Arms, all Warlike Preparations, Assaults of Citys, Depredations of Countries, &c. And distributes rewards as he sees occasion; and shall there be no Deity to be a Witness and Overseer, a supreme governor and Director of Conjugal Affection which terminates in Concord and happy Society? Nay we find that they who make it their sport to Hunt Wild Goats, Hares and dear are not without their foreste Deity to encourage them; and they that make it their business to trepan Wolves and Bears into Snares and Pit-falls, Pray for good luck to Aristaeus, 
Who first of all for the Wild Beasts of Prey  
With 'gins and Snares in secret Ambush lay.  Hercules having also bent his Bow, before he let fly at the bide which he intended to hit, invoked another Deity, as we find in Ecschylus; 
Hunter Apollo, and to Hunter's kind  
Direct this Arrow to the Mark designed.  But for Men that Hunt the most Noble Game of Love and Friendship, there is not so much as one Daemon to assist and prosper so laudable an enterprise. Truly, Daphnaeus for my part I cannot believe a Man to be a more inconsiderable Plant then an Oak, or Mulbury-Tree, or the Vine, which Homer calls by the Name of Hemeris; considering that Man in his due season also is endued with a Powerful faculty to bud, and pleasantly put forth the Beautys both of his Body and Mind. To whom Daphnaeus, In the Name of all the Gods, who ever thought otherwise? All those most certainly, replied my Father, who believing the care of ploughing, Sowing and Planting, is an Employment becoming the Gods: to which purpose they have also certain Nymphs attending them, who are called Druids, and live just as long as the Trees, of which they take care; Or as Pindarus Sings, 
God Bacchus, He  
That is the Chast Autumnal Light,  
Whose Influences warm and Bright  
Give nourishment to every fruitful three.  And yet will not allow the nourishment and growth of Children and Young People, who in the flower of their Age are to be formed and shaped into several varieties of Beauty, to be under the care and tuition of any Deity: or that there is any Divinity to take care, that Man being once born may be guided and conducted in the true Paths of virtue, and to prevent the tender Plant from being bowed and bent the wrong way for want of a good Instructor, or by the depraved conversation of those with whom he lives. For my part, I look upon it as a heinous piece of Indignity and Ingratitude, and as it were a driving of the Deity from his love to Mankind, which he is ready to dispeirce and diffuse over all, and willingly never abandons the distresses and necessitys of Mortals. Of which there are some that cannot be avoided, though not so pleasing to endure. Thus our being delivered from the Mothers Womb, is no such delightful thing, as being attended with Pain and Issues of Blood, and yet there is a Celestial Midwife and Overseer that takes particular care of that necessity, which is Lucina. And indeed a Man had better never to be born, then to be made bad and wicked for want of a good Tutor and Guardian. Nay, we find that the divine Power does not desert us in our Sickness, nor after we are dead; there being still some Deity or other, who claims some certain peculiar Employment or Function, even upon those occasions. Among the rest there is one that helps to convey the Souls of such as have ended this Life into the other World, and lays them asleep, like the Eunuch that is appointed to usher in the Bride into her Bed-Chamber; for which reason Mercury is called by the name of {αβγδ}, or the Soul conductor. According to this of the Poet, 
For shady night nere brought me forth to play  
With Artful touch upon the tuneful Lyre,  
Nor to be Mistress of Prophetie Fire;  
Nor pains of rude Distempers to alloy;  
But to convey the Souls of the deceased  
Each one to their appointed Place of rest.  Nevertheless these Ministerial functions have many difficulties and troubles which attend them; whereas we cannot imagine any Employment more holy, any Exercise more sacred, nor any Contention for prise and Glory more becoming a Deity, then to direct and assist the lawful endeavours and pursuits of Lovers in their prime of Years and Beauty. There is nothing dishonourable, nothing of forced necessity in this, but gentle persuasion and alluring Grace, rendering labour deghtful, as leading to virtue and Friendship, and which never attains the true accomplishment of the end it aims at without some divine assistance; nor can have any other Conductor and Master then Cupid himself, who is the Friend and Companion of the Mus●●, the Graces and Venus his own Mother. For according to Melannippides, 
Great Love it is that in the heart of Man  
sow the sweet Harvest of unstained desire;  
Which once grown ripe, true Lovers reap again,  
With lasting joys to feed the pleasing fire.  What do you say, Zeuxippus, can we believe it to be otherwise? In truth, I judge it so, replied Zeuxippus, and I think it would be absurd to affirm the contrary. And would it not be absurd indeed, said my Father, since there are four sorts of Friendship, according to the determination of the Ancients? The first, say they, is Natural; the next is that of Kindred and Relations; the third is that of Friends and Acquaintance, and the last is that of Lovers. Three of these have their several Tutel●r Deities, under the Names of {αβγδ}, the Patron of Friendship, {αβγδ}, the Patron of Hospitality; and {αβγδ} or {αβγδ}, who knits Affection, between those of the same Country. Only amorous Affection, as if it were unhallowed and under interdiction, they leave without any Guardian or Protector, which indeed requires the greatest Care and Government above all the rest▪ All that you say, replied Zeuxippus, in undeniable.  
By the way, replied my Father, we may here take notice of what Plato discourses upon this Subjects. For he says, that there is a certain Madness transmitted from the Body to the Soul, proceeding from a malignant Mixture of ill Humors, or a noxious vapour, or rather pernicious Spirit that possesses the Heart; which Madness is a rugged and terrible Disease. The other is a kind of Fury, partaking something of Divine Inspiration; neither is it engendered within, but is an Insufflation from without, and a disturbance of the Rational and Considerative Faculty, deriving its Beginning and Motion from some stronger Power; the common Affection of which is called an Enthusiastick Passion. For as {αβγδ} or Inspiration signifies filled with Wind; and {αβγδ} denotes repleat with Prudence, so this Commotion of the Soul is called Enthusiasm, by reason it participates of a more Divine Power. Now the Prophetic Part of Enthusiasm, derives itself from the Inspiration of Apollo, possessing the Intellect of the Sooth-sayer; but Bacchanal Fury proceeds from Father Liber, And with the Corybantes ye shall dance. Says Sophocles. For as for the Extravagancies of the Priests of Cybele, the Mother of the Gods, and those which are called panic Terrros and Ejaculations, they are all of the same Nature with the Bacchanal Orgies. There is also a third sort of Enthusiasm, which is proper to the Muses, which possessing an even tempered and placid Soul, excites and rouses up the Gifts of Poetry and music. But as for that same Warlike Fury which is called Arimanian, it is well known to descend from Mar● the God of War; a sort of Fury, wherein there is no Grace nor Musical Sweetness, destructive altogether to Generation, and rousing up the People to Discord and Tumult.  
There remains yet one sort more of Alienation of the Understanding in Man, the same neither obscure, nor yet altogether calm and quiet. Concerning which, I would fain ask Pemptides, 
Which of the Gods it is that shakes the Spear,  
That beareth Fruit so lovely and so fair.  But without expecting a Resolution of this Qustion, I mean that Erotick Fury that possesses lovely Youths and Chast Women; yet a most hot and vehement Transport. For do we not see how the Warrior lays down his Arms, and submits to this more prevalent Rage?  
— With that,  
His Grooms o'erjoyed he had the War forsook,  
His ponderous Arms from off his Shoulders took.  
And thus having renounced the Hazards of battle, he sits down a quiet Spectator of other Mens Dangers. But as for these Bacchanalian Motions, and Frisking of the Corybantes, there is a way to alloy those extravagant Transports, by changing the Measure from the Tro●haic to the Spondaick, and the Tone from the Phrygian to the doric; and the Pythian Prophetess, descending from her Tripos, and quitting the Prophetic Exhalation, becomes sedate and calm again. Whereas the Fury of Love, where ever it seizes either Man or Woman, it sets them in a flamme; no music, no appeasing Incantations, no change of Places are able to quench or put a Stop to it; but being in Presence, being absent, they desire; by Day they prosecute their Importunate Visits; by Night they serenade at the Windows: Sober, they are continually calling upon their Mistresses, and when they are Fuddl'd, ar● always ●ea●ing the Company with their Love Songs and Madrigals. Neither, as one was pleased to ●ay, are Poetical Fancies, by reason of their lively Expressions, the Dreams of those that wake. But rather t●● Dialogues of Persons enamoured, discoursing with their absent Mistrisses, as if they were present; and D●●lying, Embracing and Expostulating with them, as if they were in Place. For the Sight seems to delineate other Fancies in the Water, that quickly glide away, and slip out of the Mind: Whereas the Imagin●tions of Lovers, being, as it were, enameled by Fi●e, leave the Images of things imprinted in the Memory, moving, living, speaking and remaining for a long time. So that Cato the Roman was wont to say, that the Soul of a Lover resided and dwelled in the Soul o● the Person beloved. For that there is settled and fixed in the one, the Form, Shape, Manners, Conversation and Actions of the other▪ by the swift Motion of which, he dispatches and rids a great deal of Ground, as the Cyr●●c●, or as others will have it, the Comaedians say, in a short time; and finds a more compendious and direct Road to virtue; and he is carried from Love to Friendship, as it were, with Wind and Tide, the God of Love assisting his Passion. In short then I say, that the ●●thusiasm of Lovers, is neither voided of Divine Inspiration, neither is it under the Guardianship and Conduct of any other Deity, but he whose Festivals we solemnize, and to whom we offer our Oblations. Nevertheless, in regard we measure the Excellency of a Deity by his pvissance, and the Benefit which we receive at his Hands, and esteem Power and virtue to be the two chiefest and most Divine of all Human Blessings, it may not be unseasonable to consider, whether Love be inferior in Power to any other of the Gods. For according to Sophocles, 
Great is the pvissance of the Cyprian Queen,  
And great the Honour which her Triumphs win.  Great is also the Dominion of Mars, and indeed we see the Power of all the rest of the Gods, divided in some Measure into two sorts; the one familiarly alluring to virtue and Honesty; the other, which consists in the Resistance of Evil, and which is originally bread in the Soul. As Plato observes in his Description of Forms.  
Now then let us consider, that Venereal Delight is a thing that is purchased many times for a small matter of Money, and that there is no Man that ever underwent any Pain or Danger for the sake of Venereal Enjoyments, unless he were inflamed and tormented with the burning Fires of an ardent Lust; insomuch, that not to mention such courtesans as either Phryne or Lais, we find that the Harlot Gnathemon, 
By gloomy Lanthorn-Light, at Evening late,  
Waiting and calling for some Triggermate,  Is often passed by and Neglected.  
But then if once some Spirit blew the Fire,  
kindled by Love's extreme and warm Desire,  
This makes the Pleasure equally esteemed and valued to the Treasures of Tantalus, and all his vast Dominions. So faint and so soon cloyed is Venereal Desire, unless rendered grateful by the Charms and Inspiration of Love. Which is more evidently confirmed by this: for that many Men admit others to partake of their Venereal Pleasures, prostituting not only their Mistresses and Concubines, but also their own Wives, to the Embraces of their Friends; as it is reported of the Roman Kalbas or Galba, who inviting maecenas to his House, and perceiving him winking and nodding upon his Wife, turned away his Head upon his Pillow, as if he had been asleep; yet at the same time, when one of the Servants came creeping out of the next Room, to steal a Bottle of Wine from the Cubboard, presently turning about, with his Eyes open, Varlet, said he, 'tis only to pleasure maecenas, that I sleep.  
At Argos, there was a great Animosity between Nicostratus and Faulius, so that they always opposed each other, and quarrelled at the Council Board. Now it being known that King Philip intended a Visit to that City, Faulius bethought himself that he could not miss the highest Preferment the Government could afford, if he could but oblige the King with the Company of his Wife, who was both Beautiful and Young. Nicostratus smelling this Design, set some of his Servants to walk too and fro before Faulius's House, and observe who went in and out; where they had not stayed long, but out came Nicostratus's Wife, in high Shoes, with a Mantle and Cap, after the Macedonian Fashion, accouter'd like one of the Kings Pages, accompanied by two or three more, that carried her directly to the Kings Court. Since then there ever were, and still are too many Lovers of this Temper, did you ever know of any one that ever prostituted his particular Male Friend, though it were to gain the Honours ascribed to Jupiter himself? Truly, I never believe there ever was any such. For why? there never was any one that would pretend to oppose and contend with a Tyrant; but there are many Rivals and Competitors that will quarrel and fight for Boys that are Beautiful, and in the Prime of their Years. It is reported of Aristogiton the Athenian, and Menalippus of Agrigentum, that they never contested with Tyrants, though they wasted and ruined the Common-wealth, and indulged the Impetuosity of their Lust; but when they found them attempting their Male Amours, they withstood them with the utmost Peril of their Lives, as if they had been to defend their Temples, and their most Sacred Sanctuaries. Alexander also is said to have sent to Theodorus, the Brother of Proteus, in these Words: sand me that Musical Girl that Plays and Sings so well, and take ten Talents for her, unless thou lov'st her thyself. Another time, when one of his Minions, Antipatridas came to be jovial with him, and brought a Minstrel in his Company to complete their Mirth, the Prince being greatly affencted with the Girls Playing and Singing, asked Antipatridas, Whether he had any extraordinary Kindness for her? Who answering, That he loved her as his Eyes. Then all the Plagues of Mankind light upon thee, quoth the Prince: however he would not so much as touch the Girl. Consider also what vast Power Love has also over marshal Men and Warriors. Not as Euripides will have it to be, 
Not slothful, neither out of Womens Fear  
Still shifting from the dangerous Toils of War.  For a Man that is once inflamed with Love, wants not Mars himself to be his Second, when he is to engage with his Enemies; but confiding in the Deity that is within him, 
Ventures through Fire and Seas, and blustering Storms,  
While Love of Friend his daring Courage warms.  And breaks through all Opposition, if his mistress require any Proof of his Valour. Therefore we red in Sophecles, that the Daughters of Niobe being wounded with Arrows to Death, one of them, as she lay wollowing in her Blood, calls out for no other Help or succour to assist her in her Revenge, but her Love.  
Where is my Love? she cried,  
Were I but armed with that;  
I yet would be revenged  
For my untimely Fate.  
You know the Reason why Cleomachus the Pharsalian, fell in battle. I am a Stranger to the Story, replied Pemptides, and would willingly therefore hear it. Certainly 'tis very well worth your Knowledge, said my Father.  
In the heat of the War between the Chalcidians and the Eretrians, Cleomachus went to aid the Chalcidians; at what time it was evident that the Chalcidians were the stronger in Foot, but they found it a difficult thing to withstand the Force of the Enemies Horse. Thereupon they requested Cleomachus, being their Confederate, and a Man signalized for his Courage, to give the first Onset upon the Enemies Cavalry. Presently the Youth, whom he most entirely loved, being present, he asked him, Whether he would stay and be a Spectator of the Combat? To which, when the Lad gave his Consent, and after many tender Kisses and Embraces, had put on his Helmet, Cleomachus, his Love redoubling his Courage, and being surrounded with some few of the Flower of the Thessalian Horse, charged into the thickest of the Enemy, and put them to the Rout; which the heavy-arm'd Infantry seeing, betook themselves also to Flight, so that the Chalcidians obtained a Noble Victory; however Cleomachus was there slain, and the Chalcidians show his Monument erected in the Market Place with a fair Pillar standing upon it to this Day; and whereas they abominated Pederastie before, after that, they admired and affencted it above all other Pleasures. Nevertheless, Aristotle tells us, that Cleomachus indeed lost his Life after the Victorious battle which he gained from the Eretrians; but as for that Cleomachus, who was thus kissed by his Male Concubine, he was of Chalcis in Thrace, and sent to aid the Chalcidians in Euboea. Which is the reason of that same Ballad which is generally sung among them: 
Fair Youths, whose happy Mothers brought ye forth,  
Lovely in Form, and Noble for your Birth;  
Envy not Men of Courage, prompt in Arms,  
The kind Fruition of your tempting Charms.  
For Softest Love and daring Valor reigns,  
With equal Honour through Chalcidian Plain●.  Dionysius the Poet, in his Poem, entitled Questions, informs us, that the Name of the Lover was Anton, and that the Youth beloved was called Philistus. And is it not a Custom among us Thebans, for the Lover to present the Beloved with a complete svit of armour, with their own Names inscribed on it; as Artidas presented his Minion. And Pammenes, a very great soldier, but very amorously given, quiter altered the Method of embatteling the heavy-arm'd Infantry, and blames Homer, as one that knew not what belonged to Love, for marshaling the several Divisions of the Achaeans, according to their Tribes and Wards, and not placing the Lover by his Beloved. For then the Description which he gives of their Close Order, would have been the Consequence of his Skill and Marshal Discipline, where he says, 
Man serry'd close to Man, in dangerous Field,  
While Morrions Morrions touched, and Shield to Shield.  The only way to render a Battalion invincible. For Men will desert those of the same Tribe or Family; nay, before George, their very Children and Parents; but never any Enemy could pierce or penetrate between a Lover and his Darling Minion, in whose Sight, many times, when there is no necessity, the Lover delights to show his Courage and Contempt of Danger; like Thero the Thessalian, who clapping his Left hand to the Wall, and then drawing his Sword, struck of his Thumb, thereby challenging his Rival to do the same. Or like another, who falling in battle upon his Face, as his Enemy was about to follow his Blow, desired him to stay till he could turn, least his Male Concubine should see that he had been wounded in the Back. And therefore we find that the most Warlike of Nations, are most addicted to Love, as the Boeotians, lacedæmonians and Cretans; and among the most ancient Hero's, none more amorous then Meleager, Achilles, Aristomenes, Cimon and Epaminondas: the latter of which, had for his Male Concubines, Asopicus and Caphisodorus, who was slain with him at the battle of mantinaea, and lies butted v●ry near him; whose Love, because it had rendered him more fierce and daring, and consequently more terrible to the Enemy, therefore Bucnamus the Amphissian, that first made head against him and slay him, had heroic Honours paid him by the Phocensians. It would be a Task too great to enumerate the Amours of Hercules; but among the rest, jolaus is honoured and adored to this Day by many, because he is thought to have been the Darling of that Hero; and upon his Tomb it is that Lovers plight their Troths, and make reciprocal Vows of their Affection. Moreover, Apollo being skilled in physic, is said to have recovered Alcestis from Deaths Door, in Kindness to Ad●●tus, who, as he had a great Love for his Wife, so had the Deity as great a Passion for him. For it is said of Apollo, that doting upon Admetus, he became his Servant for a whole year. And here methinks we have very opportunely mentioned Althestis: For although the Temper of Women has little to do with Mars, love many times drives them to daring Attempts beyond their own Nature, even to lay violent Hands upon themselves. And if there be any Credit to be given to the Fables of the Poets, the Stories of Alcestis, Protesilaus and eurydice, the Wife of Orpheus, plainly evince us, that Pluto himself obeys no other God but Love. For as Sophocles says, 
To others, be their famed or Birth whate'er,  
Nor Equity, nor Favour will he show;  
But rig'rous, and without Remorse severe,  
His downright Justice only makes them know.  But to Lovers he pays a Reverence; to them alone, neither implacable nor inexorable. And therefore it is a very good thing to be initiated into the Eleusinian Ceremonies; but I find the Condition of those much better in Hell, who are admitted into the Mysteries of Love; which I speak, as one that neither altogether confided in Fables, nor altogether mis-believe them. For they speak a great deal of sense, and many times by a certain Kind of Divine good Hap, hit upon the Truth, when they say that Lovers are permitted to return from Hell to Sun-light again; but which way, and how, they know not; as wandring from the right Path, which Plato, first of all Men, by the Assistance of philosophy, found out. For there are several slender and obscure dimanations of Truth dispiers'd among the Mythologies of the Egyptians; only they want an acute and experienced Tracer, to find out greater Mysteries by hunting small things Dryfoot. And therefore let 'em go.  
And now since we find the Power of Love to be so great, let us take a little Notice of that which we call the Benevolence and Favour of it toward Men. Not whither it confers many Benefits upon those that are addicted to it, for that's a thing apparent to all Men; but whether the Blessings that Men receive by it, are more and greater then any other. And here Euripides, notwithstanding that he was a Person so amorous as he was, admires the meanest gift it has; for says he, 
Love into Men Poetic fire infuses,  
Though ne're before acquainted with the Muses.  For he might as well have said, that Love makes a Man wise and Prudent, that was a Fool and sottish before; or a Coward bold and daring; or a Stout and courageous Man a dastard and pusillanimous; as when we heat Wooden Poles in the fire of soft and bend 'em to make them strong and streight. In like manner he that was a sordid Miser before, falling once in Love, becomes liberal and lofty minded; his covetous and pinching humour being mollified by Love, like Iron in the Fire, so that he is more pleased with being liberal to the Objects of his Love, then before delighted to receive from others. For ye all know how Anytus, the Son of Anthemion fell in Love with Alcibiades; who understanding that Anytus had invited several of his Friends to a noble and splendid Banquet, came into the Room in Masquerade, and going to the Table, after he had taken one half of the Silver Cups and other Plate, went his way. Which when some of the Guests took very ill, and  told Anytus that the young Lad had demeaned himself very rudely and saucily. Not so, said Anytus, but very civilly, since when it was in his power to have taken all the rest, he was so civil as to leave me some. Pleased with this story, O Hercules, quo Zeuxippus, how have ye almost ras'd out of my Mind, that Hereditary Hatred which I had conceived against Anytus, for his ill opinion of Socrates and Philosophy, since he was become so gentle and generous in his Amours. Be it so said my Father, but let us proceed, Love is of that nature, that it renders those that were severe and morose before, both affable and pleasant in their humour. For as, 
The burning Tapers make the House more light,  
And all things look more glorious to the sight,  So the Heat of Love renders the Soul of Man more lively and cheerful. But there are many who go quiter contrary to reason in this particular. For when they behold a glitttering Light in a House by Night they admire, and look upon it as something Celestial; but when they see a narrow pitiful, abject soul, of a sudden replenished with Understanding, Generosity, sense of Honour, courtesy and Liberality, they do not believe themselves constrained to say as Telemachus in Homer, Surely some God within this House resides. For the love of the Graces tell me, said Daphnaeus, is it not a thing altogether as much savouring of Divinity, that a Man who contemns all other things, not only his Friends and Familiar acquaintance, but also the Laws, the Magistrates; even Kings, and Princes themselves; who fears nothing, is astonished at nothing, cares for nothing, but thinks himself able to fight an Army, so soon as he beholds the object of his burning Love, 
As dunghill Cravens, and with sudden Blow,  
Hang their loose Wings with little list to Crow,  Should presently loose all his prowess, and that all his Bravery should fail him as if his heart were quiter sunk to the bottom of his Belly? Remarkable therefore is that recorded by sappho among the Muses. For the Romans report in their Storys, that Cacus the Son of Vulcan vomited Fire and Flames out of his Mouth. And indeed sappho speaks, as if her words were mixed with fire, and by her Verses plainly discovers the violent heat of her Heart, 

According to that of Philoxenus,   

Seeking for Cure of Love-inflicted wounds  
From Pleasing Numbers and Melodious sounds.   And here, Daphnaeus, if the Love of Lysander, have not butted in oblivion your former sportive of Dalliances, I would desire ye to call to mind and oblige us with the repetition of those Elegant Raptures of sapph, wherein she tells us, how that when the Person beloved by her appeared, her speech forsook her, her Body was all over in a could Sweat; how she grew pale and wan, and was surprised with a sudden trembling and diziness. To this Daphnaeus consented, and so soon as he had concluded, said my Father, So Jupiter help me, is not this an apparent seizure of something more then human upon the Soul? Can this be other then some Celestial rapture of the Mind? what do we find equal to it in the Pythian Prophetess, when she sits upon the Tripos? Where do we find that the Flutes which are used in the Bacchanalian Orgies, or the Tabors played upon in the Ceremonies of the Mother of the Gods, rouse up such noble Transports among that fanatic sort of Enthusiasts? Many there are that behold the same Body and the same Beauty, but the Lover only admires and is ravished with it. And what's the reason d' ye think! For we do not perceive ot understand it, when Menander shows it us; 
'tis the Occasion that infects the Heart,  
For only he that's wounded feels the Smart.  Now 'tis the God of Love that gives the Occasion, seizing upon some, and letting others go free. What therefore had been more seasonable for me to have spoken before, since it is now chopped into my Mouth, as Aeschilus says, I think it is my best way to let it go, as being a Matter of great Importance. For it may be, my dear Friend, there is not any thing in the World which was not perceptible by sense; but what gained Credit and Authority at the first, either from Fables, or from the Law, or else from rational Discourse. And therefore Poets, Law-givers, and in the third place, Philosophers, were all along the first that instructed and confirmed us in our Opinions of the Gods. For all agree that there are Gods; but concerning their Number, their Order, their Essence and Power, they vastly differ one among another. For the Philosophers Deities are subject neither to Age nor Diseases, neither do undergo any Labour or Pain, 
Exempted from the Noise and Hurry,  
Of busy Acherontic Ferry.  And therefore they will not admit the Poetical Erides and Litai, or Numen's of Contention and Pacification; nor will they aclowledge Fear and Terror to be the Sons of Mars. They also differ from the Law-givers in many things. Thus Zenophanes forbid the egyptians to worship Osiris as a God, if they thought him to be Mortal, and if they thought him to be a God, not to bewail him. Then again, the Poets and Law-givers vary from the Philosophers, and will not so much as hear them, while they deify certain ideas, Numbers, Unites, and Spirits; such is the wild Variety, and vast Difference of Opinions among these sort of People. Therefore as there were at Athens the three Factions of the Parati, Epacri, and Pediei, that could never agree, but were always at variance one with another; yet when they were assembled, gave their Suffrages unanimously for Solon, and choose him with one Consent for their Peace-maker, governor, and Law-giver, as to whom the highest Reward of virtue was beyond all doubt or question due; so the three different Sects or Factions, in reference to the Gods, in giving their Opinions, some for one, and some for another, as being by no means willing to subscribe one to another, are all positive in their Consent as to the God of Love: Him, the most famous of the philosophers, and the numerous Acclamations of the Philosophers and Law-givers have enrolled in the Catalogue of the Gods, with loud Praises and panegyrics. And as Alcaeus says, that the Mitylenians unanimously choose Pittacus for their Prince; so Hesiod, Plato, and Solon, bring forth Cupid out of Helicon, and conduct him in Pomp and State into the Academy to be our King, governor, and Director, hampered with all the Yokes and Fetters of Friendship and Society; not as Euripides says.  
With Fetters bound, but not of Brass, God knows, as if the Bonds of Love were only the could and ponderous Chains of Necessity, made use of as a colourable Pretence to excuse and qualify shane; and not such as are carried upon winged Chariots to the most lovely and Celestial Objects in this World, concerning which, there has been much more said by others.  
After my Father had thus delivered himself; Do ye not perceive, said Soclarus, how, being fallen a second time into the same Matter, you have as it were by force constrained yourself to this Deviation, unjustly to deprive us, if I may speak what I think, of that same Sacred Discourse which you were entering into? For as before, you gave us a Hint concerning Plato and the Egyptians, but passed them over as if it had been done against your Will, so you do now again. 'tis true, that as for those things which Plato, or rather the Muses, have delivered in Plato's Writings, I do not believe you would put yourself to the trouble to say any thing more, although we should request it. But whereas you have obscurly hinted that the Fables of the Egyptians accord with Plato's Opinion concernig Love, we know you have a greater Kindness for us then to conceal your Knowledge from us; and though it be but a little of those imports ●t Matters; it shall suffice us. Thereupon the rest of the Company declaring their Readiness to give attention, my Father thus began.  
The Egyptians, said he, as also the Grecians, set up two Deities of Love; the one Vulgar, the other Celestial; to which they add a third, which they believe to be the Sun; and as for Venus, they pay her a very great Veneration. We ourselves also do find that there is a great Affinity and Resemblance between the Sun and the God of Love. For neither of them are material Fire, as some conjecture. All that we can aclowledge is only this, that there is a certain soft and generative Heat and Warmth proceeding from the Sun, which affords to the Body Nourishment, Light and Relaxation of could: Whereas that Warmth which comes from the other, works the same Effects in the Soul. And as the Sun breaking forth from the Clouds, and after a thick Fog is much hotter; so Love, after the Passionate Anger and Jealousies of the Party beloved, upon Reconciliation of both Parties, are over, grows more delightful and fervent. Moreover as some believe the Sun to be kindled and extinguished, they also imagine the same things concerning Love, as being mortal and unstable. For neither can a Constitution, not enur'd to Exercise, endure the Sun, nor the Disposition of an illiterate and ill tutored Soul, brook Love without Trouble and Pain, and both are alike distempered and diseased, for which the lay the Blame upon the Power of Love, and not their own Weakness. Herein only there may seem to be some Difference between them, for that the Sun displays to the Sight upon the Earth, both Beauty and Deformity at once. But Love is a Luminary that affords us the View of beautiful Objects only, and persuades Lovers to cast their Eyes only upon what is pleasing and delightful; but with a careless Eye to overlook all other things. On the other side, they that attribute the Name of Venus to the Earth, can make out no Resemblance at all. For that Venus is Celestial and Divine; but the Region of Mixture between Mortal and Immortal, is weak of itself, obscure and dark, without the Presence of the Sun; as Venus is where Love is absent. Therefore more properly, and with more probability, the Moon is liken'd to Venus, and the Sun to Love, rather then to any other of the Gods. Nevertheless, we must not therefore say they are all one. For neither is the Soul and Body the same, but distinct; as the Sun is visible, Love perceptible only by sense. And if it might not be thought too harsh a Saying, a Man might affirm, that the Sun and Love act contrary to one another. For the Sun diverts the Understanding from things intelligible to sensible Objects, alluring and fascinating the Sight with the Grace and splendour of his Rays, and persuading us to search among other things, even for Truth itself, within and about himself, and no where else. And we appear to be passionately in Love with this Sun, because as Euripides says, 
He always on the Earth displays,  
The Glory of his burning Rays,  For want of our Knowledge of another Life; or rather through Forgetfulness of those things, which Love calls to our Remembrance. For as when after being newly awaked, and coming into a bright and dazzling Light, we forget whatever appeared to the Soul in our Dreams; so the Sun seems to stupefy the Remembrance of things done, and happening in this Life, and to adulterate and empoyson the Understanding, with the Pleasure and Admiration of himself, so that we forget all other Considerations besides of the other Life. Though there indeed are the real Substances proper for the Contemplation of the Soul; here they only embrace Dreams, and grope after what is beautiful and Divine; 
Fallacious Dreams about his Temples flew,  
But such as charmed his Fancy, though untrue.  Being persuaded here, that every thing is goodly and highly to be prized, unless they happen upon some Divine and chast Love to be their physician and Preserver; which being transmitted from Elysium through Corporeal Bodies, leads them to Truth, and the Fields of Verity; where they desire to embrace that which is pure, and voided of Fallacy and Sophistication, and for some time to abide in Amity together; while Love, like an obsequious Servitor to those that are initiated in Sacred Ceremonies, assists and leads them to Noble Contemplations; but no sooner is Love sent from hence again, but the Soul is no longer able to make her approaches of her self, but by the Body. And therefore as Geometricians, when Children are not able of themselves to apprehended the intelligible Ideas of incorporeal and impossible Substances, form and set before their Eyes the tangible and visible Imitations of Spheres, Cubes, and Dodecaedrons: In like manner Celestial Love having framed lovely Mirrors to represent lovely Objects, though mortal and passive Figures of things divine, and only perceptible to sense, shows them to us glittering in the Form●, Colours and Shape of Youth in its Prime, and first insensibly moves the Memory inflamed by the Sight of these Objects. Whence it comes to pass, that some through the Stupidity of their Friends and Acquaintance, endeavouring by Force, and against Reason, to extinguish that flamme, have enjoyed nothing of true Benefit thereby, but only either disquieted themselves with smoke and Trouble, or else rushing headlong into obscure and irregular Pleasures, obstinately cast themselves away. But as many as by sober and modest Ratiocination, have sincerely extinguished the raging Heat of the Fire, and only left behind a warm and glowing Heat in the Soul, not being any Agitation of the Soul, moving forward to the Seed, or a slippery Concurrence of atoms compressed by smoothness and Titillation; but a wonderful and engendering Diffusion, as in a blossoming and well nourished Plant; and opening the Pores of Obedience and Affection; these I say, in a short time, passing through the Bodies of those whom they love, penetrate more inwardly, and fall to admire their Manners and Dispositions, and calling off their Eyes from the Body, converse together, and contemplate one another in their Discourses, and in their Actions, provided there be but the least Scrip or Appearance of Beauty in the Understanding. If not, they let 'em go, and turn their Affections upon others, like Bees that will not fasten upon many Plants and Flowers, because they cannot gather Honey from them. But where they find any Footstep, any Emanation, any Resemblance of a Divinity, ravished with delight and admiration, they attract it to themselves, and place their whole content in what is truly amiable, happy and beloved by all Mankind.  
True it is, that the Poets according to their sportive humour, seem to writ many things in Merriment concerning this Deity, and to make him the Subject of their lascivious Songs, in the height of their reveling Jollity: making but little serious mention of him; whether out of judgement and reason, or being assured of the Truth by divine Inspiration, is the question. Among the rest, there is one thing which they say very oddly, concerning the Birth and Generation of this God, 
Young Zephyr doting on her Golden Hair,  
At last the Silver-Slipper'd Iris won:  
And thus embraced, at length she bore a Son  
Of all the Gods the shrewdest and most fair.  Unless the Grammarians have likewise deluded you, by saying that this Fable was invented, by the variety of the colours in the Rainbow to set forth the multiplied diversity of Passions that attend on Love.  
To whom Daphnaeus, to what other end or purpose could it be? Hear me then, said my Father; for 'tis no more then what the Celestial Meteor constrains us to say. The Reflection of the Colours in the Rainbow is an Affection of the Sight, when it lights upon a Cloud somewhat of a dewy substance, but smooth and moderately thick withal, and we beholding the repercusion of the Sun-beams upon it, together with the light and splendour about the Sun, it begets an Opinion in us, that the Apparition is in the Cloud. In like manner, this same subtle Invention of Love-Sophistry in generous and noble Souls causes a repercusion of the Memory from beautiful Objects there appearing, and so called, upon that Beauty really divine, truly amiable and happy, and by all admired. But most People pursuing and taking hold of the fancied Image of this Beauty in Boys and Women, reap nothing more assured and certain then a little Pleasure mixed with Pain. But this seems to be more then a Delirium or diziness of the Vulgar sort, beholding their empty and unsatisfied desires in ●he Clouds, as it were in so many Shadows. Like Children, who thinking to catch the Rainbow in their hands, snatch at the Apparition that appears before their Eyes. But a generous and modest Lover observes another Method. For his Contemplations reflect only but that Beauty which is divine and preceptible by the Understanding: but lighting upon the Beauty of a visible Body, and making use of it as a kind of Organ of the Memory, he embraces and loves, and by Conversation augmenting his joy and satisfaction, still more and more inflames his Understanding. But neither do these Lovers conversing with Bodies, rest satisfied in this World with a Desire and Admiration of this same Light; neither when they are arrived at Elisyum after death, do they return hither again as Fugitives, to hover about the Doors and Mansions of new married People; which are only the Dreams and Visions of Men and Women given to pleasure and corporeal delights, who by no means deserve the Name and Character of true Lovers. Whereas a Lover truly chased and Amorous, being got to the true Mansion of Beauty, and there conversing with it, as much as it is lawful for him to do, mounted upon the Wings of chased desire, becomes pure and hallowed, and being initiated into sacred Orders, continues dancing and sporting about his Deity, till returning again to the Meadows of the Moon and Venus, and there laid asleep, he becomes ready for a new Nativity. But these are Points too high for the Discourse which we have proposed to ourselves.  
To return therefore to our purpose; Love, according to Euripides, is of the same Nature with all the rest of the Gods, 
That he delights to have his Altars smoke,  
And mortals hear his honoured Name invoke.  On the otherside he is no less offended, when any Affront or Contempt is put upon him; as he is most kind and benign to those that entertain him with humility and respect. For neither does Jupiter, surnamed the Hospitable, so severely prosecute injuries done to Strangers and Suppliants, nor is Jupiter Genialis so rigorous in accomplishing the Curses of Parents disobeyed, as Love is to listen to the Complaints of injured Lovers, being the Scourger and Punisher of Proud, ill-natured and Ill-bred People. For not to mention Euxynthetus and Leucomantis, at this day in Cyprus called Paracypptusa, or the Squine-Ey'd, 'tis a hundred to one that you have not heard neither of the Punishment inflicted upon Gorgo the Cretan, not much unlike to that of Paracytusa, only that Gorgo was turned into a ston, as she looked out of a Window to see her Love going to his Grave. With this Gorgo Asander fell in Love, a young Gentleman virtuous and nobly descended; but reduced from a flourishing Estate to Extremity of Poverty. However he did not think so meanly of himself, but that being her Kinsman, he courted this Gorgo for a Wife, though she had many Suitors at the same time by reason of her great Fortune: and had so carried his business, that notwithstanding his numerous and wealthy Rivals, he had gained the good will of all her Guardians and nearest Relations.  
Now as for those things which they say are the Causes that beget Love, they are not peculiar to this or t'other Sex, but common to both. For those Images that enter into Amorous Persons, and whisk above from one Part to another, moving and tickling the Mass of Atoms that slides into the Seed, cannot perform the same in young Boys, and it is as impossible they should do the same in young Women, unless we recall these noble and sacred Remembrances with which the Soul is winged to that same Divine, real and Olympic Beauty. What should hinder then but that the same Remembrances may pass from Boys and Young Men; what should hinder Virgins and Young Women from remembering the same things, when we find a Disposition chast good natured in the prime of Youth and graceful features, seing that, according to what Aristotle said, as a handsome and well made show, shows the Proportion of the Foot, so they that have judgement in these Matters can discern the splendid upright, and uncorrupted footsteps of a noble and generous Soul in beautiful Forms and Features, and Bodies undefiled. For should the Question be be put to a Voluptious Person, 
To which are your hot Passions most inclined,  
Or to the Males, or to the Female kind?  And he should answer thus, 
'tis the same thing to me,  
Where ere I Beauty see,  There is no reason that he should be thought to have return'd a proper and pertinent Answer to his Concupiscence; and that a noble and generous Lover, should not direct his Amours to loveliness and good Nature, but only to the Parts that distinguish the Sex. For certainly a Man that delights in Horses, and is a good Horseman besides, will no less value the Mettle and Swiftness of Podargus, then of Aitha that was Agamemnons mere. And he that is a good Hunts-man, does not only delight in Dogs, but mixes with his Cry the Bitches of Candy and Laconia: and shall he that is a Lover as well of civility, carry himself with an inequality more to one than to another, and make a distinction as of Garments between the Love of Men and Women? But some say that Beauty is the Flower of virtue. Will they then affirm that the Female Sex never blossoms, nor makes any show of tendency to virtue: It were absurd to think so. Therefore was Echylus in the right, when he said, 
The Woman young that once has been a Bride  
From me her gloating Eye can never hid.  Now then are those signs and marks of Lasciviousness, wantonness and impudence to be discovered in the Visages of Women, and shall there be no Light shining in their Faces for the discovery of Modesty and Chastity? Nay, shall there be many such signs and those Apparent, and shall they not be able to 'allure and provoke love? Both are contrary to reason, and dissonant from Truth: but every one of these things is common to both Sexes, as we have shew'd,  
Now then Daphnaeus, let us confute the reason that Zeuxippus has but now alleged, by making Love to be all one with inordinate desire, that hurrys the Soul to Intemperance. Not that it is his Opinion, but only what he has frequently heard from Men morose, and no way addicted to Love. Of which there are some who Marrying poor silly Women, for the sake of some petty Portion, and having nothing to do with them and their Money, but to make them perpetual Drudges in p●tiful Mecanic Employments, are every day brawling and quarreling with them. Others more desirous of Children then of Wives, like grasshoppers that spill their Seed upon Squills or some such like Herb, discharge their lust in hast upon the next they mee● with, and having reaped the Fruit they sought for, bid Marriage farewell, or else regard is not at all, neither caring to Love, nor be beloved. And in my Opinion the Words {αβγδ} and {αβγδ}, which signifies dearly to love and dearly to be beloved again, differing but one Letter from {αβγδ}, which signifies to contain, or endure, seem to me as import and denote, that mutual kindness which is called Conjugal, and is intermixed by time and custom with necessity. But in that same Wedlock which Love supports and inspires, as in Plato's Commonwealth, there will be no such Language as Thine and M●●e. For properly to speak, there is no Community of Goods among all friends; only where two Friends though severed in Body, yet having their Souls melted, and as it were twisted together, and neither being desirous, nor b●lieving themselves to be two separate Persons, live in mutual respect and reverence, which is the chiefest happiness of Wedlock. But where the Law constrains beyond the freedom of the Will, or where we are restrained by shane or fear, 
And many other Curbs that loose desire,  
And lawless frisks of wanton heat require,  There it is requisite that they who are coupled in Matrimony should have a strict guard upon themselves. Whereas in Love there is so much Continency, so m●ch Modesty, and so much of loyal Affection, that if it happen upon an Intemperate and Lascivious Soul, it is thereby diverted from all other Amours, and by cutting off all malapert Boldness, and bringing down the Insolence of Imperious Pride; instead of which it introduces modest Bashfulness, Silence and Submission, and adorning it with decent and becoming Behaviour, makes it for ever after the obedient Observer of one Lover. Most certainly you have heard of that celebrated, and highly courted Curtisane L●●s, how her Beauty inflamed all Greece, or rather how two S●●● striven for her. This famous Beauty being seized with an ardent Affection for Hippolochus the Thessalian, leaving the Aerocorinthus, as the Poet describes it, With Seagr●en Water all encompassed ro●●●, And privately avoiding the great Army, as I may so call it, of those that cour●ed her Favour, withdrew her self modestly to the Enjoyment of him only in the City of Megalopolis, where the Women incensed with jealousy, and envying her surpassing Beauty, dragged her into the Temple of Venus, and there stoned her to Death. For which reason it is called to this Day the Temple of Venus the Murdress. We ourselves have known several young Damsels, little better then Slaves, who never would submit to the Embraces of their Masters, and private Persons, who have disdained the Company of Queens, when Love had the abs●lute Dominion of their Hear●●. For 〈◇〉 in Rome, when there is a dictatory chosen, all other chief Magistrates lay down their Officers, so all such Persons, where Love is truly predominant, are immediately free and man●●i●●ed from all other Lords and Masters, and afterwards live like Vot●ries to some particular Deity. And indeed a virtuous and generous Lady, once ●●k'd to her lawful Husband by an unfeigned Affection, will sooner choose the E●brace● of Wolves and Dragons, th●● to 〈◇〉 the Bedfellow of any other Person whatsoever but her only Spouse. Of which, although we might produce Examples without Number, yet among you that are of the same Country where Cupid was born, and keep him Company at all his Festivals and Dancing Materi●●s, it will not be from the Purpose to relate the Story of Kamma the Galatian. For she being a Woman of transcendent Beauty, and married to Sinatus the Tetrarch, Sinorix, one of the most powerful Men in all Galatia, fell desperately in Love with her, and that he might enjoy her, murdered her Husband Sinatus, since 〈◇〉 could not prevail with her either by Force or persuasion, while her Husband was alive. Thereupon Camma having no other Sanctuary for the Preservation of her Chastity, nor Consolation in her Affliction, retired to the Temples of Diana, where she remained a Votaress to the Goddess, not admitting any Person so much as to speak to her, though she had many Suitors that sought her in Wedlock. But when Synorix boldly presumed to put the Question to her, she neither seemed to reject his Motion, neither did she upbraid him with the Crime h● had committed, as if he had been induced to perpetrates so vile an Act, not out of any malicious intent to Sinatus, but merely out of a pure and ardent Love and Affection to her. Thereupon he came with greater Confidence, and demanded her in Marriage. She on the other side, met him no less cheerfully, and leading him by the Hand to the Altar of the Goddess, after she had poured forth a small quantity of Hydromel, well tempered with a rank poison, as it were an Atonement offering to the Goddess, she drank off the one half of that which remained her self, and gave the other half to the Galatian. And then, so soon as she saw be bad, drank it off, she gave a loud Groan, and calling her dece●s'd Husband by this Name, This Day, said she, my most ●ar● and belo●ed Husband, I have long expected, as having lived, deprived of thee, a desolate and comfortless Life: but now receive me joyfully, for for thy Sake I have revenged myself upon the most wicked among Men, willing to have lived with thee, and now no less rejoicing to die with him. Thus Synorix being carried out of the Temple, soon after expired, but Camma surviving him a Day and a Night, is reported to have died with an extraordinary Resolution and cheerfulness of Spirit. Now in regard there have been many such, as well among us as among the Barbarians, who can bear with those that reproach Venus, that being coupled and present with Love, she becomes a Hindrance of Friendship? Whereas any sober and considerate Person, may rather revile the Company of Male with Male, and justly call it Intemperance and Lasciviousness.  
A vile Affront to Nature, no Effect,  
Of lovely Venus, or of chast Respect.  
And therefore as for those that willingly prostitute their Bodies, we look upon 'em to be the most wicked and flagitious Persons in the World, voided of Fidelity, neither endued with Modesty nor any thing of Friendship, and but too truly and really, according to Sophocles.  
They who ne're had such Friends as these,  
Believe their Blessing double,  
And they that have 'em, pray the Gods  
To rid 'em of the Trouble.  
And as for those, who not being by Nature Lewd and Wicked, were circumvented and forced to prostitute themselves, they persist in a perfect Hatred and Detestation of no Men, more then those that deluded and flattered 'em into so vile an Act, and bitterly revenge themselves, when they find an Opportunity. For Crateas killed Archelaus who had rid him in his Youth, and Py●●●l●●● slay Alexander the Pherae●●. Periander, Tyrant of the Ambracintos, asked his Minion, whether he were with Child or no? which the Lad took so heinously, that he stabbed him. Whereas among Women that are married, these are but the Beginnings of Friendship, as it were, a communicating and imparting of Great and Sacred Mysteries. The Pleasure of Coition i● she least thing; but the Honour, the Submission to natural L●● and Fidelity, which daily germinates from this, conv●●ce us, that neither the Delphians raved, who gave the Name of Har●●a, or a Chariot to Venus; nor that H●●● was in an Error, who called the Conjunction of Man and Woman, by the Name of Friendship: but that Solon was a Law-giver the most experienced in Conjugal Affairs; who decreed, that a Husband should lie with his Wife thrice a Month at least, not for Pleasures Sake, but that as Cities renew their Treaties one with another at such a time, so that the Alliance of Matrimony might be renewed by the Discontinuance of Chast Enjoyment. But you will say, there are many Men i● Love with Women that act amiss and furiously. 〈◇〉 are there not more Enormities committed by those that are enamoured upon Boys? But though there is a Raging Passion after Boys, as well as a Dotage upon Women, yet can neither be truly said to be truly Love. And therefore it is an Absurdity to aver, that Women are not capable of other virtues, as well as Love. For not to speak of so many Signal for their Chastity, Prudence and Fidelity; we find others no less Eminent for their Justice, Fortitude, Resolution and Magnanimity; after all which, to tax them of being incapable of Friendship only, is a hard Case. For they are naturally Lovers of their Children, affectionate to their Husbands; and this same Natural Affection of theirs, like a fertile soil, as it is capable of Friendship, so it is no less pliable to persuasion nor less accompanied with all the Graces. But as Poetry adapting to Speech the Conditements of Rythm, measure and charming Expression renders the wholesome and instructive Part of it so much the more moving, and the noxious Part so much the more apt to corrupt the Mind, so Nature having adorned a Woman with the Charms of Beauty and persuasive Language, a Lascivious Woman makes use of these Perfections to please her self and deceive others, but in a Modest and Sober Woman, they work wonders toward the gaining and fixing the good will and favour of her Husband. Therefore Plato exhorted Xenocrates, otherwise generous and brave, but very morose in his humour, to sacrifice to the Graces; but he would have exhorted a virtuous and Modest Woman to Sacrifice to Love, for his propitious favour to her Marriage, in ordering it so, that her behaviour prove may a sufficient Charm, to keep her Husband at Home, or if he will be upon his Rambles after other Women, he may be forced to exclaim, as in the Comedy, 
Curse' o this Rage of Mine, so given to roam,  
What a good Wife do I abuse at Home?   
For in Wedlock, to love is a far greater blessing then to be beloved. For it preserves and keeps People from falling into many Errors, especially those that corrupt and ruin Matrimony; for as for those passionate Affections, which at the beginning of conjugal Love raise certain Fits which are somewhat sharp and biting, most fortunate ●●xipp●●, I would not have you fear them, for any Ulcer or Scarification which they will produce. Though perhaps it would not be amiss if it should cost ye some small wound to be joined to a virtuous Woman, like Trees that grow together, when grafted by Incision upon a proper Stock. The beginning of Conception itself, is a kind of Exulceration; for there can be no mixture of things that do not suffer reciprocally one from the other. The very Mathematical Rudiments do not a little perplex little Children at the first; as Philosophy troubles the Brains of Young beginners, though grown to maturity of Years; so neither does this corroding humour always remain among Lovers, no more then those first unpleasantnesses among Scholars and and Students. In so much that a Man would think that Love at first resembled the mixture of two liquours, which when they once begin to incorporate by their Ebullition discover some little disgusts; for so Love at the beginning bubbles up with a kind of Effervency, till being settled and purified, it acquires a firm and stable Constitution. For this indeed is properly that kind of mixture, which is called the Mixture of the whole through the whole. Whereas the Love of other Friends conversing and living together, is like the touches and interweavings of Epicurus's Atoms; subject to raptures and separations, but can never compose such a Union as proceeds from Love, assisting conjugal Society. For neither are the Pleasures received from any other Love so great, nor the benefits so lasting one from another, nor is the Glory and Beauty of any other Friendship so noble and desirable, 
As when the Man and Wife at Board and Bed;  
Under one Roof a Life of Concord led.  More especially where it is a thing warranted by Law, while Nature shows us that even the Gods themselves stood in need of Love, for the sake of common Procreation. Thus the Poets tell us that Heaven was in Love with the Earth, and the Natural Philosophers are of Opinion that the Sun is in love that with the Moon, that they copulate every Month, and that the Moon Conceives by virtue of that Conjunction: and it would of necessity follow, that the Earth which is the common Mother of all Mandkind, of all Animals and of all manner of Plants, would one day cease and be extinguished, should that same Ardent Love and Desire infused by the God forsake the Matter, and that Matter cease to pursue and lust after the Principles and Motions of Generation.  
But that we may not seem to wander too far, or spend our time in Trifles, you yourselves are not ignorant that these Padirasties are by many said to be most incertain and the least durable things in the World, and derided by those that make use of them, whom affirm the Friendship of Boys to be like an Egg divided into three Parts and the Lovers themselves are like the wandring Scytians, who having spent the Spring in flowery and verdant Pastures, presently dislodge from thence, as out of an Enemies Country. And Bio the Sophister was yet more sharp and satirical, when he called the Beards of young and beautiful Striplings by the Names of Harmodil, and Aristogitons, as being by that fair budding show of Manhood, delivered from the Tyranny of their Lovers. But these imputations are not charged upon true Lovers. Elegant therefore was that which was said by Euripides: For as he was clipping and embracing the Fair Agatho, just as the Down began to sprout forth upon his Chin, he cried that the very Autumn of lovely Youths was pleasing and delightful. But I say more then this, that the Love of virtuous Women does not decay with the Wrinkles that appear upon their Faces, but remains and endures to their Graves and Monuments. Then again, we shall find but few Male-Couples of True Lovers; but thousands of Men and Women conjoined together in Wedlock, who have reciprocally and inviolably observed a Community of Affection and Loyalty to the end of their Lives. I shall only instance one Exampl●● which happened in our time, during the Reign of Caesar Vespasian. Julius who was the first that occasioned the Revolt in Galatia among many other Confederates in the Rebellion had one Sabinus, a Young Gentleman, of no mean Spirit, and for famed and Riches, inferior to none. But having undertaken a very difficult enterprise they miscarried, and therefore expecting nothing but Death by the hand of Justice, some of them killed themselves, others made their Escapes as well as they could; and as for Sabinus he had all the Opportunities that could be to save himself by flyin● to the Barbarians. But he had married a Lady, the best of Women, which they called by the Name of E●●●●●, as much as to say in the Greek Language a Her●●s●. This Woman it was not in his Power to leave, neither could he carry her conveniently along with him. Having therefore in the Country certain Vaults or Cellars under ground, where he had hide his Treasures and movables of greatest value, which were only known to two of his freed Bondmen, he dismissed all the rest of his Servants, as if he had intended to have poisoned himself, and taking along with him his two faithful and trusty Servants, he hide himself in one of the Vaults, and sent another of his enfranchised Attendants, whose Name was Martialus, to tell his Wife, that her Husband had poisoned himself, and that the House and his Corps were both burnt together, designing by the Lamentation and unfeigned grief of his Wife, to make the Report of his Death the more easily believed; which fell out according to his Wish. For the Lady, so soon as she heard the News, threw her self upon the Floor, and there continued for three days together, without Meat or Drink, making the most bitter outcrys, and bewailing her loss with all the marks of a real and unfeigned Anguish. Which Sabinus understanding, and fearing her Sorrow might prevail with her to lay violent hands upon her self, he ordered the same Martinius to tell her he was yet alive, and lay hide in such a Place; however that she should for a while continue her Mourning and be sure so to counterfeit her Grief, that she should not be discovered. And indeed in all other things the Lady acted her Part so well, and managed her Passion to that degree, that no Woman could do it better. But having still a longing desire to see her Husband, she went to him in the Night, and return'd again so privately, that no body took any notice of her. And thus she continued keeping him Company for seven Months together, that it might be said to differ very little from living in Hell itself. Where after she had so strangely disguised Sabinus with a false Head of Hair, and such odd sort of Habit, that it was impossible for him to be known, she carried him to Rome along with her undiscovered to several that met him. But not being able to obtain his Pardon, she return'd with him back to his Den, and for many Years conversed with him under Ground; only between whiles she went to the City, and there shew'd her self in Public to several Ladys her Friends and familiar Acquaintance. But that which was the most incredible of all things, she so ordered her business, that none of them perceived her being with Child, though she were very big at the same time. For such is the Nature of that same ointment wherewith the Women anoint their Hair to make it of a Colour shining like Gold, that by the Fatness and Oyliness of it, it plumps and swells up the Flesh of the Body, and brings it up to an Embonpoint: So that the Lady no less liberal of her ointment, then she was diligent to chase and rub her Body limb by limb, by the proportionable rising and swelling of her Flesh in every Part, concealed the swelling of her Belly: and when she came to be delivered, she endured the Pains of her Child-bearing alone by her self; like a Liones abiding her self in her Den with her Husband, and there, as I may say, bread up in private her two Male Whelp●; for at that time she was delivered of two Boys. Of which there was one who was slain in Egypt: the other whose Name was also Sabiuus, was but very lately with us at Delphi. For this reason Caesar put the Lady to death; but dearly paid for the Murder, by the utter extirpation of his whole Posterity, which in a short time after was utterly cut off from the Face of the Earth. For during his whole Reign, there was not a more cruel and savage Act committed; neither was there any other Spectacle, which in all probability the Gods and Daemons more detested, or from which they turned away their Eyes in Abomination of the Sight: besides that she abated the compassion of the Spectators by the stoutness of her behaviour and the Grandeur of her Utterance; then which there was nothing more exasperated Vespasian; when despairing of her Husbands Pardon, she did as it were challenge the Emperor to exchange her Life for his; telling him with all, that she accounted it a far greater Pleasure to have lived in darkness under ground, then to see him Reign in all his splendour.  
Here, as my Father  told me, ended the Discourse concerning Love, they being now got pretty near to Thespiae; at what time they saw coming a good round place toward them one of Pisias's Friends, by name Diogenes; to whom when Soclarus, while he was yet at a distance, cried out, No tidings of War, Diogenes, I hope? No, no, said he, that near can be at a Wedding; and therefore mend your place, for the Nuptial Sacrifice stays only for your coming. And to tell ye the Truth, all the rest of the Company were exceeding glad, only Zeuxippus seemed to be a little moody. And yet he was the first who when it came to the conclusion, approved what Ismenodora had done; and at the same time putting on a Garland upon his Head, and throwing a White Nuptial rob about his Shoulders, marched before all the Company through the Market Place, to give thanks to the God of Love. Well done, by Jupiter, come away, come a way then, cried my Father, that we may Laugh and be merry with our Friend, and adore the Deity, so Apparently and Propitiously present with his Favour and Approbation of the Wedding.   

Plutarch's Morals: Vol. IV.  
Five Tragical Histories of Love.  Translated from the Greek by Sir A. I. 
IN Aliartus, which is a City of Baeotia, lived a Young dansel, of surpassing Beauty, whose Name was Aristoclia, the Daughter of Theophanes. This Lady was courted by Straton an Orchomenian, and calisthenes of Haliartus; but Straton was the more Wealthy of the two, and more enamoured of the Virgin. For he had seen her Bathing her self in the Fountain of Ercyne, which is in Lebadia, against the Time that she was to celebrate the Solemnity of carrying the 
This Pannier was of pure Gold, filled with all the First Fruits of the Season, and was carried by Virgins that were come to Maturity, though not in Honour of Jupiter, but of Bacchus, as Damarathus affirms. Others say, that those Panniers were filled by the Nobler Sort of Athenian Virgins, with such things as they had wrought with most Beauty and Curiosity and offered to Diana, signifying thereby that they were weary of their Virginity, and desired to change their Course of Life.  Sacred Pannier as an Offering to Jupiter the King. But the Virgin her self had a greater Affection for calisthenes, for that he was more nearly allied to her. In this case, her Father Theophanes not knowing well what to do( for he was afraid of Straton, who had the Advantage both of Noble Birth and Riches above all the rest of the Boeotians) resolved to refer the Choice to the Oracle of Jupiter Trophonius. On the other side, Straton( for he was made believe by some of the Virgins familiar Acquaintance, that his mistress had the greatest Kindness for him) earnestly desired to refer the Matter to the Election of the Virgin her self. But when Theophanes put the Question to his Daughter in a great Assembly of all the Friends of all Parties, so it fell out that the dansel preferred calisthenes. Thereupon it presently appeared in Straton's Countenance, how much he was disgusted at the Indignity he had received. However, two days after he came to Theophanes and calisthenes, requesting the Continuance of their Friendship, notwithstanding that some Daemon had envied him the Happiness of his intended Marriage. Who so well approved his Proposal, that they invited him to the Wedding and the Nuptial Feast. But he in the mean time having mustered together a great Number of his Friends, together with a numerous Troop of his own Servants, whom he secretly dispiers'd and disposed up and down in Places proper for his Purpose, watched his Opportunity so well, that as the dansel was going down, according to the Custom of the Country, to the Fountain, called Cissoessa, there to pay her Offerings to the Nymphs before her Wedding-day, he and his complices rushing out of their Embuscado, seized upon the Virgin, whom Strato held fast and pulled to himself. On the other side, calisthenes, with those that were about him, as it is easy to be believed, flew with all speed to her Relief; and in this fatal Contest, while the one tugged, and the t'other hawl'd, the unhappy dansel perished. As for calisthenes, he was never seen any more, whether he laid violent hands upon himself, or whether it were that he left Baeotia as a voluntary Exile, for no Man could give any account of him afterwards. And as for Strato, he slay himself upon the dead Body of the unfortunate Virgin.  
A certain great Person, whose Name was Phido, designing to make himself Lord of the whole Peloponnesus, and more especially desirous that Argos, being his Native Country, should be the Metropolis of all the rest, resolved to reduce the Corinthians under his Subjection. To this purpose he sent to them, to demand a Levy of a thousand young Gentlemen, the most Valiant, and the Chiefest, in the Prime of their Age, in the whole City. Accordingly, they sent him a thousand young Sparks, brisk and gallant, under the Leading of Dexander, whom they choose to be their Captain. But Phido, designing nothing more then the Massacre of these Gentlemen, to the end he might the more easily make himself Master of Corinth, enfeebl'd by so great a Loss( as being by the situation of it, the only Bulwark to guard the Entrance into Peloponnesus) imparted this Contrivance of his to several of his Confidents, in which Number, was one whole Name was Abro, who having been formerly acquainted, and familiarly entertained by Dexander, discovered the whole Conspiracy to his Friend, in acknowledgement of his Kindness. By which means, the Phliasti, before they fell into the Embuscado, retreated and got safe to Corinth. Phido thus disappointed, made all the Inquiry imaginable, to find out who it was that had betrayed and discovered his Design. Which Abro understanding, fled to Corinth with his Wife and all his Family, and settled himself in Melissus, a certain Village in the Territory of the Corinthians. There he begot a Son, whom he named Melissus, from the Name of the Place where he was born. The Son of this Melissus was Actaeon, the loveliest and most modest of all the Striplings of his Age. For which reason there were several that fell in Love with him, but none with so much Ardour as Archias, being of the Race of the Heraclidae, and for Wealth and Authority, the greatest Person in all Corinth. This Archias, when he found that no fair Means and persuasions would prevail upon the young Lad, resolved to ravish him away by Force. To which purpose he invited himself to Melissus's House, as it were, to make Merry, accompanied with a great number of his Friends and Servants, and by their Assistance, made an Attempt to carry away the Boy by Violence. But the Father and his Friends opposing the Rape, and the Neighbours coming in to the Rescue of the Child, poor Actaeon, between the one and the other, was pulled and hawl'd to Death; and Archias with his Company departed. Upon this, Melissus carried the murdered Body of his Son into the Market place of Corinth, and there exposing him to public View, demanded Justice to be done upon the Murtherers. But finding that the Corinthians only pitied his Condition, without taking any further notice of the Matter, he return'd home, and waited for the Grand Assembly of the Greeks at Isthmus. At what time, getting up to the very Top of Neptune's Temple, he exclaimed against the whole Race of the Bacchiadae, and after he had made a public Relation of the good Service which his Father Abro had done the Corinthians, he invoked the Vengeance of the Gods, and presently threw himself headlong among the Rocks. Soon after the Corinthians being plagued with a most terrible Drought, upon which ensued a violent Famine, sent to the Oracle, to know by what means they might be delivered from their Calamity. To whom the Deity made answer, that it was Neptune's Wrath, which would not cease till they had revenged the Death of Actaeon; which Archias hearing( for he was one of those that were sent to the Oracle) he never return'd again to Corinth, but Sailing into Sicily, built there the City of Syracuse, where after he was become the Father of two Daughters, Ortygia and Syracoussa, he was treacherously slain by Telephus, whom he had preternaturally abused in his Youth, and who, having the Command of a Ship, sailed along with him into Sicily.  
A certain poor Man, Skedasus by Name, lived at Leuctra, a small Village in the Territory of the Thespians, and had two Daughters, Hippo and Milesia; or as others say, Theano and Euxippe. This Skedasus was a very good Man, and to the Extent of his Fortune, very Hospitable to Strangers. Which was the reason that most readily and gladly he entertained two young Gentlemen of Sparta, that came to lodge at his House. Who falling in Love with the Virgins, yet were so overawed by the Kindness that Skedasus had shew'd them, that they durst not make any rude Attempt for that time. The next Morning therefore they went directly to the City of Delphos; where after they had consulted the Oracle, touching such Questions as they had to put, they return'd homeward, and traveling through Boeotia, stopped again at Skedasus's House, who happened at that time, not to be at Leuctra. However, his Daughters, according to that Education to which their Father had accustomed them, gave the same entertainment to the Strangers, as if their Father had been at Home. But such was the perfidious Ingratitude of these Guests, that finding the Virgins alone, they ravished, and by force deflowered the Damsels; and which was worse, perceiving them lamenting to excess the undeserved Injury they had received, the Ravishers murdered 'em, and after they had thrown their Bodies into a Well, went their ways: Soon after Skedasus returning Home, missed both his Daughters, but all things else he found safe and in order as he left them; which put him into such a Quandary, that he knew not what to say or do, till instructed by a little Bitch that several times in a Day came whining and fawning upon him, and then return'd to the Well; he began to suspect what he found to be true, and so he drew up the dead Bodies of his Daughters. Moreover, being then informed by his Neighbours, that they had seen the two Lacedaemonian Gentlemen which he had entertained some time before, go into his House, he guessed them to be the Persons who had committed the Fact, for that they would be always praising the Virgins when they lodged there before, and telling their Father what happy Men they would be that should have the good Fortune to mary them. Thereupon away he went to Lacedaemon, with a Resolution to make his Complaint to the Ephori; but being benighted in the Territory of Argos, he put into a public House, where he found another Old Man, of the City of Oreum, in the Province of Hestiaeas; whom when he heard Sighing and Cursing the lacedæmonians, Skedasus asked him what Injury the lacedæmonians had done him? In answer to which, the Old Man gave him this Account: I am, said he, a Subject to the lacedæmonians, by whom, Aristodemus was sent to Oreum, to be Governor of that Place, where he committed several Outrages and Savage Enormities. Among the rest, being fallen in Love with my Son, when he could by no fair means procure his Consent, he endeavoured to carry him away by main Force out of the Wrestling-Place: But the President of the Exercises opposing him, with the Assistance of several of the Young Men, Aristodemus was constrained to retire; but the next Day, having provided a Galley to be in a readiness, he ravished away my Son, and sailing from Oreum to the opposite Continent, endeavoured, when he had the Boy, there to abuse his Body, and because the Lad refused to submit to his Lust, cut the Child's Throat. Upon his Return, he made a great Feast at Oreum, to which he invited all his Friends. In the mean while, I being soon informed of the sad Accident, presently went and interred the Body; and having so done, I made hast to Sparta, and preferred my Complaint to the Epori, but they gave me no Answer, nor took any notice of the Matter.  
Skedasus having heard this Relation, remained very much dejected, believing he should have no better Success. However, in his Turn, he gave an Account to the Stranger of his own sad Mischance; which when he had done, the Stranger advised him not to complain to the Ephori, but to return to his own Country, and erect a Monument for his two Daughters. But Skedasus not liking this Advice, went to Sparta, made his Case known to the Ephori, and demanded Justice, who taking no notice of his Complaint, away he went to the Kings, but they as little regarding him, he applied himself to every particular Citizen, and recommended to them the Sadness of his Condition. At length, when he saw nothing would do he ran through the City, stretching forth his Hands to the Sun, and stamping the Ground with his Feet, called upon the Furies to revenge his Cause; and when he had done all he could, in the last place slay himself; but afterwards the lacedæmonians dearly paid for their Injustice. For being at that time Lords of all Greece, while all the chiefest Cities of that spacious Region were curbed by their Garrisons, Epaminondas the Theban was the first that threw off their yoke, and cut the Throats of the Garrison that lay in Thebes. Upon which, the lacedæmonians making War upon the Revolters, the Thebans met them at Leuctra, confident of Success from the Name of the Place, for that formerly they had been there delivered from Slavery; at what time Amphyctyon being driven into Exile by Sthenelus, came to the City of Thebes, and finding them Tributaries to the Chalcidians, after he had slain Chalcodon, King of the Eubaeans, eased them altogether of that burden. In like manner it happened that the lacedæmonians were vanquished not far from the Monument of Skedasus's Daughters. It is reported also that before the Fight, Pelopidas being then one of the Theban Generals, and troubled by reason of some certain Signs that seemed to portend some ill Event of the battle, Skedasus appeared to him in a Dream, and bid him be of good Courage, for that the lacedæmonians were come to Leuctra to receive the just Vengeance which they owed to him and his Daughters; only the Ghost advised him, the Day before he encountered the lacedæmonians, to Sacrifice the fool of a white mere, which he should find ready for him close by his Daughters Sepulchre. Whereupon Pelopidas, while the lacedæmonians yet lay encamped at Tegea, sent certain Persons to examine the Truth of the Matter, and finding by the Inhabitants thereabouts that every thing agreed with his Dream, he advanced with his Army boldly forward and won the Field.  
Phocus was a Boeotian by Birth( for he was born in the City of Cleisas) the Father of Challirrhoe, who was a Virgin of matchless Beauty and Modesty, and courted by thirty young Gentlemen, the Prime of the Baeotian Nobility. Phocus therefore seeing so many Suitors about her, still pretended one Excuse or other to put off her Marriage, afraid least some Force or other should be put upon her. At length, when he could hold out no longer, the Gentlemen being offended at his dilatory Answers, he desired them to refer it to the Pythian Deity to make the Choice. But this the Gentlemen took so heinously, that they fell upon Phocus and slay him. In this Combustion and Tumult, the Virgin making her Escape, fled into the Country, and was as soon pursued by the young Sparks; but lighting upon certain Country People that were piling up their Wheat in a Barn, by their Assistance she saved her self: for the Country-men hide her in the Corn; so that they who were in chase of her, passed her by. The Virgin thus preserved, kept her self close till the General Assembly of the Boeotians, called Pamboiotia, and then coming to Coronea, she there sate as a Suppliant before the Altar of 
Rather Iconian.  Iconian Minerva, and there gave a full Relation of the villainy and murder committed by her several Suitors, discovering withal the Names of the Persons, and Places of their Abode. The Boeotians commiserating the Virgin, were no less incensed against the young Gentlemen; who having notice of what had passed, fled to Orchomenus; but being shut out by the Citizens, made their Escape to Hippotae, a Village near to Helicon, seated between Thebes and Coronea, where they were received and protected. Thither the Thebans sent to have the Murtherers of Phocus delivered up, which the Inhabitants refusing to do, they marched against the Town with a good Force of other Boeotians, under the Leading of Phaedus, then the chief Ruler of Thebes, and laying Siege to it, for it was a strong Place, at last they took it for want of Water; and in the first place, having apprehended all the Murtherers, they stoned them to Death; then they condemned the Inhabitants to perpetual Slavery, broken down the Walls, ruined the Houses, and divided the Land between the Thebans and Coroneans. The Report goes, that the Night before Hippotae was taken, there was a Voice heard from Helicon, several times uttering these Words, I am come; and that when the thirty Rivals heard it, they knew it to be the Voice of Phocus; and it was said moreover, that the very Day the Rivals were stoned, the Monument of the old Man, which was erected in Cleisas, was covered with Saffron. And as Phaedus, the Governor and General of the Thebans, was upon his March homeward from the Siege, News was brought him upon the Way, that his Wife had brought him a Daughter, which for the good Omens Sake, he called by the Name of Nicostrata.  
Alcippus was a Lacedaemonian by Birth, who marrying Damocrita, became the Father of two Daughters. This Al●●ppus being a Person that always advised the City for the best, and one that was always ready to serve his Country-men upon all Occasions, was envied by a contrary Faction that bandy'd against him, and continually accused him to the Ephori, as one that endeavoured to subvert the ancient Laws and Constitutions of the City, and never left till the Ephori had banished the Husband who being condemned, forsook the City; but when Damocrita and his Daughters would fain have followed him, they would not permit them to stir. Moreover they confiscated his Estate, to deprive his Daughters of their Portions. Nay, more then this, when there were some that courted the Daughters for the Sake of their Fathers virtue, his Enemies obtained a Decree, whereby it was forbid that any Man should make Love to the young Ladies, cunningly alleging, that the Mother had often prayed to the Gods to favour her Daughters with speedy Wedlock, to the end they might the sooner bring forth Children to be revenged of the Injury done their Father. Damocrita thus beset, and in a Streight on every side, stayed till the General Festival, when the Women, together with their Daughters, Servants and little Children Feast in public together; on which day, the Wives of the Magistrates and Persons in Dignity, Feast all Night in a spacious Hall by themselves. But then it was that Damocrita, with a Sword gird about her, and taking her Daughters with her, went in the Night-time to the Temple, and watching her Opportunity, when the Women were all busy in the great Hall, performing the Mysteries of the Solemnity, after all the Ways and Passages were stopped up, she fetched the Wood that was ready prepared for the Sacrifices appertaining to the Festival, and piled it against the Doors of the Room, and so set Fire to it. All was then in a Hurry, and the Men came crowding in vain to help their Wives; but then it was that Damocrita slay her Daughters, and upon their Dead Bodies her self. Thus the lacedæmonians not knowing upon whom to wreck their Anger, were forced to be contented with only throwing the dead Bodies of the Mother and the Daughters without the Confines of their Territories. For which barbarous Act of theirs the Deity being highly offended, plagued the lacedæmonians, as their Histories record, with that must dreadful Earthquake, so remarkable to Posterity.   

PLUTARCH's Discourse to an unlearned Prince.  Translated from the Greek by Mr. John Kersey. 
PLato being desired by the Cyreneans to prescribe to them good Laws, and to settle their Government, refused to do it; saying, That it was a hard matter to give them any Law, whilst they enjoyed so much Prosperity; since nothing is so fierce, arrogant and untameable, as a Man that thinks himself to be in a happy Condition: Wherefore it is very difficult to give Counsel to Princes in Matters of Government; for they fear to receive Advice as a thing seeming to command them, least the Force of Reason should seem to lessen their Power, by obliging it to submit to Truth. And they consider not the Saying of Theopompus, King of Sparta, who being the first in that Country that joined the 
Certain Magistrates, whose Office it was to inspect the Affairs of the Commonwealth.  Ephori with the Kings, was reproached by his Wife, because by this means he would leave the Kingdom to his Children less than he found it, to whom he replied, that he should render it so much the greater, by how much the more firm it was; for by holding the Reins of Government somewhat loose, he avoided all Envy and Danger; nevertheless, since he permitted the Stream of his Power to flow so freely into other Channels, what he gave to them must needs be a Loss to himself. Though Philosophy possessing a Prince as his Assistant and Keeper, by taking away the dangerous part of fullness of Power, leaves the sound. But many Kings and Princes foolishly imitate those unskilful Statuaries, who think to make their Images look Great and Fierce, if they make them much straddling and distended; after the same manner, they, by the grave Tone of their Voice, stern Countenance, and morose Behaviour, would affect a kind of majestic Grandeur, not unlike those Statues, that without seem to be of an Heroic and Divine Form, but within, are filled with nothing but Earth, ston and led, with this only Difference, that the weight of these massy Bodies renders them stable and unmovable, whereas unlearned Princes, by their internal Ignorance, are often shaken and overthrown, and in regard they do not build their Power on its true Basis and Foundation, they fall together with it: For as it is necessary at first that the Rule itself should be right and streight, before those things that are applied to it can be rectified and made like unto it. So a Potentate ought in the first place to learn how to govern his own Passions, and to imbue his Mind with a Tincture of Princely virtues, and afterwards to make his Subjects conformable to his Example; for it is not the Property of one that is ready to fall himself, to hinder another from Tripping; nor of one that is Rude and Illiterate, to instruct the Ignorant; neither can a Person Govern, that is under no Government. But many being deceived by a false Opinion, esteem it the chiefest Good in Ruling, to be subject to no Authority; and thus the Persian King accounted all as his Servants and Slaves except his Wife, whose Master he ought more especially to have been. Who then shall have Power to govern a Prince? The Law, without doubt, which( as Pindar saith) is the King of Mortal and Immortal Beings, and is not written without in Books, nor engraven on Wood or ston, but is a clear Reason imprinted in the Heart, always residing and watching therein, and never suffering the Mind to be without Government. The King of Persia indeed, commanded one of his Lords that lay in the same Chamber, to attend him every Morning, and to sound these Words in his Ears: Arise, O King! and take care of those Affairs and Duties that 
One of the Gods of the Persians.  Oromasdes requires of thee. But a Wise and Learned Prince hath such a Monitor within his Breast, that always prompts and admonishes him to the same effect. It was a Saying of Polemon, that Love was the Minister of the Gods, appointed to take care of the Education of Youth, but it might be more truly affirmed, that Princes are the Administrators of the Divine Power, for the Safety and Protection of Mankind, to distribute part of those Goods that God bestows on Men, and to reserve part for themselves.  
Dost thou behold the vast and azure sky,  
How in its liquid Arms the Earth doth lye?  
The Air indeed dispierces the first Principles of convenient Seeds, but the Earth causeth them to spring forth; some grow and thrive by the means of moderate and refreshing showers, some delight in gentle Breezes of Wind, and some are cherished by the Influence of the Moon and Stars; but 'tis the Sun that perfects and beautifies all, inspiring them with the Principle of mutual Sympathy and Love. Nevertheless, all these, so many and so great Benefits that are the Effects of the Divine Munificence and Liberality, cannot be enjoyed, nor duly made use of, without a Law, Justice and a Prince; for Justice is the end of the Law, the Law is the princes Work, and the Prince is the Image of God, that disposeth all things; he doth not stand in need of a Phidias, a Policl●tus, or a Myro; but by the practise of virtue, makes himself most like the Divine Nature, and becomes a most delectable Object to God and Man; for as God hath placed the Sun and Moon in Heaven, as manifest Tokens of his Power and Glory, so the Majesty of a Prince is resplendent on Earth, as he is his Representative and Vice-gerent.  Who doth like God most Righteous Laws dispense. 
Viz. Such a one as is endowed with the Wisdom and Understanding of the Deity, but pretends not to brandish his sceptre, Thunder or Trident, as some here vainly caused themselves to be painted in such a Posture; thereby exposing their egregious Folly to the World, in affecting that which they are not able to attain to: For God cannot but be incensed against those that presume to imitate him, in producing Thunder, Lightnings, and in such like Works of his Omnipotence; but if any strive to emulate Goodness and Mercy, being well pleased with their Endeavours, he will assist them, and will due them with his Justice, Truth and Gentleness, than which, nothing can be more Sacred and Pure, not Fire, not Light, not the Course of the Sun, not the Rising and Setting of the Stars, nor even Eternity and Immortality itself: For God is not only happy by reason of the Duration of his Being, but because of the Excellency of his virtue, this is properly Divine and Transcendent, and that is also good which is governed by it. Anaxarchus endeavouring to comfort Alexander who was very much afflicted for the murder he had committed on the Person of clytus,  told him, that Justice required it, and that the the Gods had determined, that whatsoever was done by a King, should be accounted Lawful and Just; but by this means he indiscreetly prevented his Repentance, and encouraged him to attempt the committing the like Crimes again. But if we may be permitted to guess at these Matters, Jupiter hath not Justice for an Assessor or counselor, but is himself Justice and Right, and the Original and Perfection of all Laws; and therefore the Ancients devised and taught these things, that they might thereby show, that Jupiter himself could not Rule well without Justice, for she is( according to Hesiod) a pure and undefiled Virgin, and the Companion of Modesty, Chastity and 
Instead of {αβγδ}, I red {αβγδ}  Simplicity; hence Kings are called Venerable, for they deserve most Veneration that fear least; but a Prince ought to be more afraid of doing Ill, than of suffering, for this is the Cause of the other, and this is a noble and generous sort of Fear, well becoming a Prince; to be solicitous least any Harm should befall his Subjects unawares, and not expected.  
As faithful Dogs surprised with sudden Fear,  
When once they see the Savage Beasts appear,  
Not for themselves, but of their Flocks take care.  
Epaminondas, when on a certain Festival Day, the Thebans gave themselves up wholly to Drinking and carousing, went about alone and viewed the Arsenal and the Walls of the City, saying, That he was Sober and Vigilant, that others might have Liberty to be Drunk and to Sleep. And Cato at Utica, when he called together by Proclamation, all his Souldiers that had escaped the Slaughter, to the Sea-side, caused them to embark in Ships, and having prayed for their prosperous Voyage, returned home and killed himself, leaving an Example to Princes, for whom they ought to fear, and what they ought to contemn. Clearchus, King of Pontus, creeping into a Chest, slept therein like a Snake; and Aristodemus lay with his Concubine in a Bed, placed in an upper Room over a Trap door, her Mother removing the Ladder as soon as they were got up, and bringing it again in the Morning: How then did he Fear to be seen in the Theatre, in the judgement Hall, in the Court, or at a Feast, who had turned his Bed-Chamber into a Prison? For indeed good Princes are possessed with Fear for their Subjects, but Tyrants are afraid of them, insomuch that their Timorousness increaseth with their Power, since by how much the more People they have under their Dominion, so much the more Objects they see of Dread and Terror. Neither is it probable nor convenient( as some Philosophers affirm) that God should be mingled together with Matter that is altogether passive, and obnoxious to innumerable Necessities, Chances and Mutations; but to us he seems to be pl●ced somewhere above with an eternal Nature, that always operates after the same manner, and proceeding( as Plato saith) on Sacred Foundations, according to Nature, brings his Works to Perfection: And as he hath placed the Sun in the Firmament, as a clear Image of his most Sacred and Glorious Essence, in which, as through a Glass, he exhibits himself to the Contemplation of Wise Men: So in like manner the splendour of Justice that appears in some Cities, is a Kind of Representation of the Divine Wisdom, which happy and prudent Persons describe by the help of Philosophy, addicting themselves to the Study of things of a most sublime and excellent Nature. It is certain that this Disposition of Mind cannot be attained but by the Doctrine of Philosophy; otherwise we shall lie under the same Circumstances as Alexander, who seeing Diogenes at Corinth, and being astonished at his Ingenuity and majestic Gravity, let fall this Expression, If I were not Alexander, I would choose to be Diogenes; for being almost oppressed with the Weight of his own Grandeur and Power, which are the Impediments of virtue and Meditation, he seemed to envy the Happiness of a Threadbare Cloak and Pouch, with which the Cynic rendered himself as invincible, as he could be with all his armour, Horses and Spears: However, he had an Opportunity to Philosophize, and to become Diogenes in his Mind, though he remained Alexander in his outward State and Condition; and be might more easily be Diogenes, because he was Alexander, forasmuch as to keep the Vessel of his Prosperous Fortune steady, which was tossed with the Winds and Waves, he stood in need of a good quantity of Ballast, and of a skilful Pilot: Amongst the mean and inferior sort of People, Folly mingled with Weakness is destitute of an Ability to do Mischief, and the Mind is vexed and distracted by it at a distempered Brain is with troublesone Dreams, insomuch that it hath not strength enough to execute what it desires; but Power joined with a corrupt and deprived Inclination, adds the Fuel of Madness to the Fire of the Passions; so true is that Saying of Dionysius, who declared that he then chiefly enjoyed his Authority, when he speedily performed what he designed; but herein lies the greatest Danger, lest he that is able to do all things that he desires, should desire those things that he ought not.  The Word's no sooner said but th'act is done. 
'vice being furnished with Wheels by Power, sets all the Faculties of the Soul in a violent Fermentation; of Anger it makes murder, of Love Adultery, and of Covetousness, the Confiscation of other Mens Goods.  The Word's no sooner said— 
But the Offender is Executed, and the accused Person is put to Death merely upon Suspicion; and as Naturalists affirm, that the Lightning breaks forth after the Thunder, as the Blood follows the Wound, but is seen first, since whilst the Ear expects the Sound, the Eye discerns the Light, so under some Governments the Punishments precede the Accusation, and the Condemnation prevents the proving of the Crime.  
There Fury reigns, as Cables can't assuage,  
Nor Anchors stop the foaming Billows Rage,  
Unless this exorbitant Power be restrained and kept within its due Bounds by the force of sound Reason. Therefore a Prince ought to imitate the Sun, which being come to its greatest height in the Northern Signs, moves slowest, whereby he renders his Course the more safe: For 'tis not possible that the Vices and Faults of Persons in Authority can be concealed in Obscurity; but as People that are troubled with the Falling-Sickness, if they wander about in the could, are seized with a Giddiness in the Head, and a Dimness in the Sight, which are the usual Symptoms of that Disease; so Fortune, when she hath a little exalted illiterate and foolish Men with Riches, Glory, or Authority, suddenly hastens their ruin: And as amongst empty Vessels, it cannot easily be discerned which are whole and which are leaky, but by the powring in of any liquour; so corrupt and exulcerated Minds, after the Infusion of Power, are not able to contain it, but immediately overflow with concupiscence, Anger, Arrogance and Folly. And what need is there of mentioning these Particulars? since the least Faults and Miscarriages of renowned and famous Men lie under the lash of Slander and Calumny; Cimon was accused for being too much addicted to the Drinking of Wine, Scipio was blamed for delighting in immoderate Sleep, and Lucullus for making too liberal and costly Entertainments.   

Plutarch's Morals: Vol. IV.  
Of Herodotus's Malice.  Translated out of the Original Greek, by A. G. Gent. 
THE style, O Alexander, of Herodotus, as being simplo, free, and easily suiting itself to its Subject, has deceived many; but more a persuasion of his Dispositions being equally sincere. For 'tis not only( as Plato says) an extreme Injustice, to make a show of being Just, when one is not so; but 'tis also the highest Malignity, to pretend to Simplicity and Mildness, and be in the mean time really most Malicious. Now since he principally exorts his Malice against the Boeotians and Corinthians, though without sparing any other, I think myself obliged to defend our Ancestors and the Truth against this part of his Writings, since those, who would detect all his other Lies and Fictions, would have need of many Books. But, as Sophocles has it, the Face of persuasion is prevalent, especially when delivered in good Language, and such as has Power to conceal both the other Absurdities, and the ill Nature of the Writer. King Philip  told the Greeks, who revolted from him to Titus Quinctius, that they had got a more polished, but a longer-lasting Yoke: So the Malice of Herodotus is indeed more polite and delicate than that of Theopompus, yet it pinches closer, and makes a more severe Impression, not unlike to those Winds, which blowing secretly through narrow Chinks, are sharper than those that are more diffused. Now it seems to me very convenient to delineate, as it were in a rough draft, those Signs and Marks that distinguish a malicious Narration From a candid and unbiased one, applying afterwards every Point we shall examine, to such as appertain to them.  
First then, Whoever in relating a Story shall use odious Terms, when gentler Expressions might do as well, he is not to be esteemed impartial, but an Enjoyer of his own Fancy in putting the worst Construction on Things; as if any one, instead of saying Nicias is too precise, should call him fanatic, or should accuse clear of Presumption and Madness, rather than of Inconsiderateness in Speech.  
Secondly, When a Writer, catching hold of a Fault which has no reference to his Story, shall draw it into the Relation of such Affairs, as need it not, extending his Narrative with Circumlocutions, only that he may insert a Mans Misfortune, Offence, or discommendable Action, 'tis manifest that he delights in speaking Evil. Therefore Thucydides would not clearly relate the Faults of clear, which were very numerous; and as for Hyperbolus the Orator, having touched at him in a Word, and called him an ill Man, he let him go. Philistus also passed over all those Outrages committed by Dionysius on the Barbarians, which had no Connexion with the graecian Affairs. For the Excursions and Digressions of History are principally allowed for Fables and Antiquities, and sometimes also for Encomiums. But he, who makes Reproaches and Detractions an Addition to his Discourse, seems to incur the Tragedians Curse on the Collector of Mens Calamities.  
Now the Opposite to this is known to every one, as the omitting to relate some good and laudable Action, which, though it may seem not to be reprehensible, yet is then done maliciously, when the Omission happens in a Place, that is pertinent to the History. For to praise unwillingly, is so far from being more Civil than to dispraise willingly, that 'tis perhaps rather more Uncivil.  
The Fourth Sign of a partial Disposition in writing of History, I take to be this, when, a Matter being related in two or more several manners, the Historian shall embrace the worst. Sophisters indeed are permitted for the obtaining either of Profit or Reputation, to undertake the Defence of the worse Cause; for they neither create any firm Belief of the Matter, nor yet do they deny, that they are often pleased in maintaining Paradoxes, and making incredible things appear probable. But an Historian is then just, when he asserts such things, as he knows to be true, and of those, that are uncertain, reports rather the better, than the worse. Nay there are many Writers, who wholly omit the Worse. Thus Ephorus writes of Themistocles, that he was acquainted with the Treason of Pausanias, and his Negotiations with the Kings Lieutenants; but that he neither consented to it, nor hearkned to Pausanias's Proffers of making him partaker of his Hopes. And Thucydides left the whole Matter out of his Story, as judging it to be false. Moreover in things, confessed to have been done, but of doing which the Cause and Intention is unknown, he, who casts his Conjectures on the worse side, is partial and malicious. Thus do the Comedians, who affirm the Peloponnesian War to have been kindled by Pericles for the Love of Aspasia, or the Sake of Phidias, and not through any Desire of Honour or Ambition of pulling down the Peloponnesians Pride, and giving place in nothing to the Lacedemonians. For those who suppose a bad Cause for laudable Works and commendable Actions, endeavouring by Calumnies to insinuate sinister Suspicions of the Actor, when they cannot openly discommend the Act; as they, that impute the Killing of Alexander the Tyrant by Theba not to any Magnanimity, or Hatred of 'vice, but to a certain feminine jealousy and Passion; and those, that say, Cato slay himself for fear, Caesar should put him to a more shameful Death: such as these are manifestly in the highest degree envious and malicious.  
An Historical Narration is also more or less guilty of Malice, according as it relates the manner of the Action; as if one should be said to have performed an Exploit rather by Money, than virtue, as some affirm of Philip; or else easily, and without any Labour, as 'tis said of Alexander; or else not by Prudence, but Fortune, as the Enemies of Timotheus painted Cities falling into his Nets, as he lay sleeping; for they undoubtedly diminish the Greatness and Beauty of the Actions, who deny the Performers of them to have done them generously, industriously, virtuously, and by themselves.  
Moreover, those who will directly speak ill of any one, incur the Reproach of Moroseness, Rashness, Madness, unless they keep within Measure. But they who sand forth Calumnies obliquely, as if they were shooting Arrows out of Corners, and then stepping back, think to conceal themselves by saying, they do not believe, what they most earnestly desire to have believed, whilst they disclaim all Malice, condemn themselves also farther of Disingenuity. Next to these are they, who with their Reproaches intermix some Praises; as did Aristoxenus, who, having termed Socrates Unlearned, Ignorant and Libidinous, added, Yet was he free from Injustice. For, as they who flatter artificially, and craftily, sometimes mingle light Reprehensions with their many and great Praises, joining this Liberty of Speech, as a Sauce to their Flattery: so Malice, that it may gain Belief to its Accusations, adds also Praise. We might here also reckon up more Notes, but these are sufficient to let us understand the Nature and Manners of Herodotus.  
First therefore, beginning, as the Proverb is, with Vesta, whereas all the Grecians affirm jo, Daughter to Inachus, to have been worshipped with Divine Honour by the Barbarians, for her Glory, to have left her Name to many Seas and principal Ports, and to have given a Source and Original to most Noble and Royal Families; this famous Author says of her, that she gave her self to certain phoenician Merchants, having been not unwillingly destowr'd by a master, and fearing, left she should be found by her Friends to be with Child. And he belies the Phaenicians, as having delivered these things of her, and says, that the Persian Stories testify her being carried away by the Phaenicians with other Women. Presently after he gives Sentence on the bravest and greatest Exploits of Greece, saying, that the Trojan War was foolishly undertaken for an ill Woman. For 'tis manifest, says he, that had they not been willing, they had never been ravished. Let us then say, that the Gods also acted foolishly, in inflicting their Indignation on the Spartans, for abusing the Daughters of Skedasus the Leuctrian, and in punishing Ajax for the Violation of Cassandra. For 'tis manifest, if we believe Herodotus, that, if they had not been willing, they had never been defiled. And yet he himself said, that Aristomenes was taken alive by the Spartans; and the same afterwards happened to Philopaemen, Praetor of the Achaians; and the Carthaginians took Regulus, the Consul of the Romans; than whom there are not easily to be found more valiant and warlike Men. Nor is it to be wondered, since the very Leopards and Tigers are taken alive by Men. But Herodotus blames the poor Women that have been abused by Violence, and Patronizes their Ravishers. Nay, he is so favourable to the Barbarians, that acquitting Busiris of those Human Sacrifices, and that Slaughter of his Guests, for which he is accused, and attributing by his Testimony to the egyptians much Religion and Justice, he endeavours to cast that abominable Wickedness, and those impious murders on the Grecians. For in his Second Book, he says, that Menelaus having received Helena from Proteus, and been honoured by him with many Presents, shew'd himself a most unjust and wicked Man. For wanting a sit Wind to set Sail, he found out an impious Device, and having taken two of the Inhabitants Boys, consulted their entrails; for which villainy being hated and persecuted, he fled with his Ships directly into Africa. From what egyptian this Story proceeds, I know not. For on the contrary many Honours are even at this day given by the egyptians both to Helena and Menelaus. The same Herodotus, that he may still be like himself, says, that the Persians learnt the Defiling of the Male Sex from the Greeks. And yet how could the Greeks have taught this Impurity to the Persians, amongst whom, 'tis confessed by all, that Boys were castrated, before ever they arrived in the graecian Seas? He writes also, that the Greeks were instructed by the egyptians in their Pomps, Solemn Festivals, and Worship of the twelve Gods: that Melampus also learnt of the egyptians the Name of Dionysius[ or Bacchus] and taught it the other Greeks; that the Mysteries likewise and Rites of Ceres were brought out of egypt by the Daughters of Danaus; and that the egyptians were wont to beat themselves and make great Lamentation, but yet would not tell the Names of their Deities, but concealed them in Silence. As to Hercules and Bacchus, whom the egyptians named Gods, and the Greeks very aged Men, he no where makes use of this Distinction, although he places also the Aegyptian-Hercules amongst the Gods of the second Rank, and Bacchus amongst those of the third, as who had some Beginning of their Being, and were not Eternal, and yet he pronounces those to be Gods, but to these as having been Mortal, and being now Demi-Gods, he thinks we ought to perform Anniversary Solemnities, but not to Sacrifice to them as to Gods. The same also he said of Pan, overthrowing the most venerable and purest Sacrifices of the Greeks by the proud Vanities and Mythologies of the egyptians. Nor is this impious enough. But moreover, deriving the Pedigree of Hercules from Perseus, he says, that Perseus was an Assyrian, as the Persians affirm. But the Leaders, says he, of the Dorians may appear to be descended in a right Line from the egyptians, reckoning their Ancestors from before Danae and Acrisius. For he has wholly passed by Epaphus, jo, Jasus, and Argus, being not only ambitious to make the other Herculeses egyptians and Phoenicians, but to carry this also, whom himself says to have been the third, out of Greece to the Barbarians. But of the ancient learned Writers, neither Homer, nor Hesiod, nor Archilochus, nor Pisander, nor Stesichorus, nor Alcman, nor Pindar, make any mention of the egyptian or Phenician Hercules, but do all aclowledge this our one Baeotian and Argive Hercules. Now of the seven Sages, whom he calls Sophisters, he affirms Thales to have been a Babarian, descended of the Phaenicians. Speaking ill also of the Gods under the Person of Solon, he has these Words: Thou, O Craesus, askst me concerning Human Affairs, who know, that every one of the Deities is envious and tumultuous. Thus attributing to Solon, what himself thinks of the Gods, he joins Malice to Blasphemy. Having made use also of Pittacus in some trivial Matters, not worth the mentioning, he has passed over the greatest and gallantest Action that was ever done by him. For when the Athenians and Mitylenians were at War about the Sigaeum, Phegnon, the Athenian General, challenging, whoever would come forth, to a single Combat, Pittacus advanced to meet him, and catching him in a Net, slay that stout and giant-like Man, For which, when the Mitylenians offered him great Presents, darting his Javelin, as far as he could, out of his Hand, he desired only so much Ground, as he should reach with that Throw, the Place being to this Day called Pittacium. Now what does Herodotus, when he comes to this? Instead of Pittacus's valiant Act, he tells us the Flight of Alcaeus the Poet, who, throwing away his Arms, ran out of the Battle; by this his not writing of honourable Deeds, and not passing over such, as are dishonourable, giving his Testimony to those, who say, that from one and the same Malice proceed both Envy, and a rejoicing at other Mens Harms.  
After this, he accuses of Treason the Alcmaeonidae, who shew'd themselves generous Men, and delivered their Country from Tyranny. He says, that they received Pisistratus after his Banishment, and got him called Home, on condition he should mary the Daughter of Migacles; but that the dansel saying to her Mother, Do you see, Mother, how I am, contrary to Nature, known by Pisistratus? The Alcmaeonidae were so offended at this villainy, that they expelled the Tyrant. Now that the lacedæmonians might have no less Share of his Malice than the Athenians, behold how he bespatters Othryades, the Man, most admired and honoured by them. He only, says Herodotus, remaining alive of the three hundred, and ashamed to return to Sparta, his Companions being lost, slay himself in the Place. For having before said, the Victory was doubtful on both sides, he here, by making Othryaders ashamed, witnesses, that the lacedæmonians were vanquished. For 'twas shameful for him to survive, if conquered; but glorious if Conqueror. I pass by now, that having represented Craesus, as foolish, vainglorious, and ridiculous in all things, he makes him, when a Prisoner, to have taught and instructed Cyrus, who seems to have excelled all other Kings in Prudence, virtue and Magnanimity. Having testified of the same Craesus nothing else that was commendable, but his honouring the Gods with many and great Oblations, he shows that very Act of his to have been the most impious of all. For he says, that he and his Brother Pantaleon contended for the Kingdom, while their Father was yet, alive; and that Craesus having obtained the Crown, caused a Companion and familiar Friend of Pantaleons to be torn in pieces in a Fulling-Mill, and sent Presents, made of his Money, to the Gods. Of Deioces also, the Median, who by virtue and Justice obtained the Government, he says, that he got it not by real, but pretended Justice. But I let pass the Barbarian Examples, since he has offered us Plenty enough in the graecian Affairs. He says, that the Athenians, and many other jonians were so ashamed of that Name, that they wholly refused to be called jonians; and that those, who esteemed themselves the noblest amongst them, and descended from the very Prytaneum[ or Senate] of Athens, begot Children on Barbarian Wives, whose Parents and former Children they had slain; that the Women had therefore made a Law among themselves, confirmed it by Oath, and delivered it to be kept by their Daughters, never to eat with their Husbands, nor to call any of them by his Name, and that the present Milesians are descended from these Women. Having afterwards added, that those are true jonians, who celebrate the Feast called Apaturia: They all, says he, keep it, except the Ephesians and Colophonians: In this manner does he deprive these two States of their Nobility. He says moreover, that the Cumaeans and Mitylenians agreed with Cyrus, to deliver up to him for a Price Pactyas, who had revolted from him: I know not indeed, says he, for how much, since 'tis not certain what it was. But he ought not to have cast such an Infamy on a graecian City, without a more assured Knowledge. He says farther, that the Chians drew Pactyas, who was brought to them out of the Temple of Minerva Poliuchus[ or Guardianess of the City] and delivered him up, having received the Field Atarnes for their recompense; and yet Charon the Lampsacenian, a more ancient Writer, relating this Matter concerning Pactyas, charges neither the Mitylenians nor the Chians with any such Action. These are his very Words. Pactyas, hearing, that the Persian Army drew near, fled first to Mitylene, then to Chios, and fell into the Hands of Cyrus.  
Our Author in his third Book, relating the Expedition of the lacedæmonians against the Tyrant Polycrates, affirms, that the Samians think and say, that the Spartans, to recompense them for their former Assistance against the Messenians, both brought back the Samians, that were banished, and made War on the Tyrant. But that the lacedæmonians deny this, and say, they undertook not this Design to help or deliver the Samians, but to punish them for having taken away a Cup sent by them to Craesus; and besides, a Breast-plate sent them by Amasis. And yet we know, that there was not at that time any City, so desirous of Honour, or such an Enemy to Tyrants, as Sparta. For what Breast-plate or Cup was the Cause of their driving the Clypselioae out of Corinth and Ambracia, Lygdamis out of Naxos, the Children of Pisistratus out of Athens, Aeschines out of sition, Symmachus out of Thasus, Aulis out of Phoceae, and Aristogenes out of Miletus? and of their overturning the domineering Powers of Thessaly, pulling down Aristodemus and Angelus by the help of King Leotichides? which Facts are elsewhere more largely described. Now if Herodotus says true, they were in the highest degree guilty both of Malice and Folly, when denying a most honourable and most just Cause of their Expedition, they confessed, that in remembrance of a former Injury, and through highly valuing an inconsiderable Matter, they invaded a miserable and afflicted People. Now perhaps he gave the lacedæmonians this Stroke, as directly falling under his Pen; but the City of Corinth, which was wholly out of the Course of his Story, he has in his passing by it, as they say, bespattered with a most filthy Crime, and most shameful Calumny. The Corinthians, says he, studiously forwarded this Journey of the lacedæmonians, as having themselves also been formerly affronted by the Samians. The Matter was this; Periander, Tyrant of Corinth, sent three hundred Boys, Sons to the principal Men of Corfu, to King Alyattes, to be gelded. These, going ashore in the iceland of Samos, were by the Samians taught to sit, as Suppliants, in the Temple of Diana, where they preserved them, setting before them for their Food Cakes made of Sesam-Seed and Honey. This our Author calls an Affront, put by the Samians on the Corinthians, who therefore instigated the Lacedemonians against them; to wit, because the Samians had saved the Children of the Greeks from being unmann'd. By attributing this villainy to the Corinthians, he makes the City more wicked than the Tyrant. He indeed revenged himself on those of Corfu, who had slain his Son. But what had the Corinthians suffered, that they should punish the Samians for putting an Obstacle to so great a Cruelty and Wickedness? And this, after three Generations, reviving the Memory of an old Quarrel for the Sake of that Tyranny, which they found so grievous and intolerable, that they are still endlessly abolishing all the Monuments and Marks of it, though long since extinct. Such then was the Injury done by the Samians to the Corinthians. Now what a kind of Punishment was it, the Corinthians would have inflicted on them? Had they been indeed angry with the Samians, they should not have incited, but rather diverted the lacedæmonians from their War against Polycrates, that the Samians might not by the Tyrants Overthrow, recover Liberty, and be freed from their Slavery. But what is most to be observed, why were the Corinthians so offended with the Samians, that desired indeed, but were not able to save the Corcyreans Children, and yet were not displeased with the Cnidians, who both preserved them, and restored them to their Friends? Nor indeed have the Corcyreans any great Esteem for the Samians on this Account; but of the Cnidians they preserve a Memorial, having granted them several Honors and privileges, and made Decrees in their Favour. For these, sailing to Samos, drove away Perianders Guards from the Temple, and taking the Children aboard their Ships, carried them safe to Corfu, as 'tis recorded by Antenor the Cretan, and Dionysius the Chalcidian in his Foundations. Now that the Spartans undertook not this War on any design of punishing the Samians, but to save them by delivering them from the Tyrant, we have the Testimony of the Samians themselves. For they affirm, that there is in Samos a Monument, erected at the public Charge, and Honours there done to Archias a Spartan, who, fighting valiantly, fell in that Quarrel; for which Cause also his Posterity still keep a familiar and friendly Correspondence with the Samians, as Herodotus himself witnesses.  
In his Fifth Book he says, that Clisthenes, one of the best and noblest Men in Athens, persuaded the Priestess Pythia to be a false Prophetess, always exhorting the lacedæmonians to free Athens from the Tyrants; calumniating this most excellent and just Action by the Imputation of so great a Wickedness and Imposture, and taking from the God the Credit of that true and good prophesy, beseeming even Themis her self, who is also said to have joined with him. He says farther, that Isagoras prostituted his Wife to Cleomenes, who came to her. Then, as his manner is, to gain Credit, mixing some Praises with his Reproaches, he says: Isagoras, The Son of Tisander, was of a Noble Family, but I cannot tell the Original of it. His Kinsmen indeed Sacrifice to Jupiter Carius. O this pleasant and cunning Scoffer of a Writer, who thus disgracefully sends Isagoras to the Carians, as it were to the Ravens. As for Aristogiton, he puts him not forth at the Back-door, but thrusts him directly out of the Gate into Phaenicia; saying, that he had his Original from the Gephyraeans, and that the Gephyraeans were not, as some think, Eubaeans or Eretrians, but Phaenicians, as himself is fully persuaded. And since he cannot altogether take from the lacedæmonians the Glory of having delivered the Athenians from the Tyrants, he endeavours to cloud and disgrace that most honourable Act by as foul a Passion. For he says, they presently repented of it, as not having done well, in that they had, by the Inducement of spurious and deceitful Oracles, driven the Tyrants, who were their Allies, and had promised to put Athens into their Hands, out of their Conntry, and restored the City to an ungrateful People. He adds, that they were about to sand for Hippias from Sigaeum, and bring him back to Athens; but that they were opposed by the Corinthians, Sosicles telling them how much the City of Corinth had suffered under the Tyranny of Cypselus and Periander; and yet there was no Outrage of Perianders more abominable and cruel, than his sending the three hundred Children to be emasculated, for the delivering and saving of whom from that contumely, the Corinthians, he says, were angry, and bore a Grudge against the Samians, as having put an Affront upon them. With so much Repugnance ●●d Contradiction is that Malice of his Discourse filled, which on every Occasion insinuates itself into his Narrations. After this, relating th● Action at Sardis, he, as much as in him lies, diminishe● and discredits the Matter; being so audacious, as to call the Ships which the Athenians sent to the Assistance of the jonians, who had revolted from the King, the Beginning of Evils, because they endeavoured to deliver so many and so great graecian Cities from the Barbarians. As to the Eretrians, making mention of them only by the way, he passes over in silence, a great, gallant, and memorable Action of theirs. For when all Ionia was in a Confusion[ and Uproar] and the Kings Fleet drew nigh, they, going forth to meet him, overcame in a Sea Fight the Cyprians in the Pamphilian Sea. Then turning back, and leaving their Ships at Ephesus, they invaded Sardis, and besieged Artaphernes, who was fled into the Castle, that so they might raise the Siege of Miletus. And this indeed they affencted, causing the Enemies[ to break up their Camp, and] remove thence in a wonderful Fright, and then seeing themselves in danger to be oppressed by a Multitude, retired. This not only others, but Lysanias Mallotes, also in his History of Eretria relates, thinking it convenient, if for no other Reason, yet after the Taking and Destruction of the City, to add this valiant and heroic Act. But this[ Writer of ours] says, they were defeated, and pursued even to their Ships by the Barbarians, though Charon the Lampsacenia● ●as no such thing, but writes thus word for wor● The Athenians set forth with twenty Gallies to the Assistance of the jonians, and going to Sardis, took all thereabouts, except the Kings[ Fortress or] Wall; which having done, they returned to Miletus.  
In his Sixth Book[ our Author] discoursing of the Plataeans, how they gave themselves to the lacedæmonians, who exhorted them rather to have Recourse to the Athenians, who where nearer to them, and no bad Defenders; he adds, not as a Matter of Suspicion or Opinion, but o● a thing, certainly known by him, that the lacedæmonians gave the Plataeans this Advice, not so much for any good Will, as through a Desire to find Work for the Athenians, by engaging them with the Boeotians. If then Herodotus is not Malicious, the lacedæmonians must have been both fraudulent and spiteful, the Athenians Fools, in suffering themselves to be thus imposed on, and the Plataeans were brought into play, not for any good Will or Respect, but as an Occasion of War. He is farther manifestly convinced of belying the lacedæmonians, when he says, that, whilst they expected the Full Moon, they failed of giving their Assistance to the Athenians at Marathon. For they not only made a thousand other Excursions and Fights at the beginning of the Month, without staying for the Full Moon; but wanted so little of being present at this very Battle, which was fought the sixth Day of the Montn Boedromion, that at their coming they found the Dead still lying in the Field. And yet he has written thus of the Full Moon. 'twas impossible for them to do these things at that present, being unwilling to break the Law; for 'twas the beginning of the Month, and they said, they could not go forth on the ninth Day, the Orb of the Moon being not yet full. And therefore they stayed for the Full Moon. But thou[ O Herodotus!] transferrest the Full Moon to the Beginning of the Mo●● when she is but yet in her first Quarter, and at ●he same time confoundest the Heavens, Days, and all things. And professing to writ of the Greek Affairs, but more particularly and carefully those of Athens, thou dost not so much as say a Word of that solemn Pomp, which the Athenians, even at this Day, sand to Agra, celebrating a Feast of Thanksgiving to Hecate for their Victory. But this helps Herodotus to refel the Crime, with which he is charged, of having flattered the Athenians for a great Sum of Money, he received of them. For if he had rehearsed these things to them, they would not have omitted or neglected that wicked Philippides, who, going from the Fight, called the lacedæmonians to it, especially since he went, as himself says, in two Days from Athens to Sparta; unless the Athenians sent for their Allies to the Fight, after their Enemies were overcome. Indeed Diyllus the Athenian, none of the most contemptible Historians, says, that he received from Athens a Present of ten Talents, Anytus proposing the Decree. Moreover Herodotus, as many say, has in relating the Fight at Marathon, derogated from the Credit of it, by the Number he sets down of the Slain. For he writes, that the Athenians made a Vow to Sacrifice so many Kids to Diana Agrotera, as they should kill Barbarians; but that after the Fight, the Number of the Dead appearing infinite, they appeased the Goddess by making a Decree, to immolate five hundred to her every year. But letting this pass, let us see, what was done after the Fight. The Barbarians, says he, retiring back with the rest of their Ships, and taking the Eretrian Slaves out of the iceland, where they had left them, doubled the Point of Sunium, desiring to prevent the Athenians, before they could gain the City. The Athenians suspected this to have been done by a Plot of the Alcmaeonidae, who by Agreement shew'd a Shield to the Persians when they were got into their Ships. They therefore doubled the scape of Sunium. Let us in this place take no notice of his calling the Eretrians Slaves, who shew'd as much Courage and Gallantry in this War, as any other of the Grecians, and suffered things, unworthy their virtue. Nor let us insist much on the Calumny, with which he defames the Alcmaeonidae, of whom, were both the greatest Families, and noblest Men of the City. The Greatness of the Victory itself is overthrown, and the End of that so celebrated Action comes to nothing; nor does it seem to have been a Fight, or any great Exploit; but only a light Skirmish with the Barbarians, as the Envious and Ill-willers affirm, if they did not after the Battle fly away, cutting their Cables, and giving themselves to the Wind, for to carry them as far as might be from the attic cost; but having a Shield lifted up to them as a Signal of Treason, made strait with their Fleet for Athens, in hope to surprise it, and having at leisure doubled the Point of Sunium, were discovered above the Port Phalerus, so that the Chief and most Illustrious Men, despairing to save the City, would have betrayed it: for a little after, acquitting the Alcmaeonidae, he charges others with the Treason. For the Shield indeed was shown, nor can it be denied, says he, as if he had seen it himself. But this could no way be, since the Athenians obtained a solid Victory; and if it had been done, it could not have been seen by the Barbarians, flying in an Hurry amid Wounds and Arrows into their Ships, and leaving every one the Place with all possible speed. But when he again pretends to excuse the Alcmaeonidae of those Crimes, which he, first of all Men, objected against them, he speaks thus. I cannot bear this Discourse, that the Alcmeonidae by agreement, lifted up a Shield to the Persians, and would have brought the Athenians under the Power of the Barbarians and Hippias. I remember a certain Clause,[ the Tenor of which, is this:] You will take me, and having taken me, let me go. Thus you first Accuse, then Apologize, and writ Calumnies against Illustrious Men, which again you refute; to wit, discrediting yourself. For you heard yourself say, that the Alcmaeonidae lifted up a Shield to the vanquished and flying Barbarians. And in those very things, which you allege for the Alcmaeonidae, you show yourself a Sycophant. For if, as here you writ, the Alcmaeonidae were more, or no less Enemies to Tyrants, than Callias the Son of Phoenippus, and Father of Hipponicus, where will you place their Conspiracy, of which you writ in your former Books, that assisting Pisistratus, they brought him back from Exile to the Tyranny, and did not drive him away, till he was accused of unnaturally abusing his Wife? Such then are the Repugnancies of these things, and by his intermixing the Praises of Callias, the Son of Phoenippus, amid the Crimes and Suspicions of the Alcmaeonidae, and joining to him his Son Hipponicus, who was, as Herodotus himself says, one of the richest Men in Athens, he confesses, that he brought in Callias, not for any necessity of the Story, but to ingratiate himself, and gain Favour with Hipponicus. Now, whereas all know, that the Argives deny not to enter into the common League of the Grecians, though they thought not sit to follow, and be under the Command of the lacedæmonians, who were their mortal Enemies, and that this was no otherwise,[ our Author] subjoins a most malicious Cause for it, writing thus, When[ they saw] they were comprised by the Greeks, knowing that the lacedæmonians would not admit them into a share of the Command, they requested it, that they might have a Pretence to lie still. And of this, he says, the Argive ambassadors afterwards put Artaxerxes in mind, when they attended him at Susa, and that he said, He esteemed no City more his Friend than Argos. Then adding, as his Manner is, to cover the Matter, he says. Of these things I know nothing certainly; but this I know, that all Men have Faults, and that the worst things were not done by the Argives. But I must tell such things a are reported, though I am not bound to believe them all; and let this be understood of all my Narrations. For 'tis farther said, that the Argives, when they were not able to sustain the War against the lacedæmonians, called the Persian into Greece, willing rather to suffer any thing than the present Trouble. Therefore, what himself reports she Aethiopian to have said of the Ointment and Purple, Deceitful are the Beauties, deceitful the Garments of the Persians; may not any one say the same of him; Deceitful are the Phrases, deceitful the Figures of Herodotus's Speeches, as being perplexed, unsound, and full of Ambiguities? For as Painters set off, and render more eminent the luminous part of their Pictures, by adding shadows, so he by his Denials extends his Calumnies, and by his dubious Speeches, makes his Suspicions take deeper Impression. If the Argives joined not with the other Greeks, but stood out through an Emulation of the lacedæmonians Command and Valor, it cannot be denied, but that they acted in a manner, not beseeming their Nobility and Descent from Hercules. For it had been more honourable for the Siphnians and Cythnians to have defended the graecian Liberty, than contending with the Spartans for Superiority, to have avoided so many, and such signal Combats. And if it were they, who brought the Persian into Greece, because their War against the lacedæmonians succeeded ill, how came it to pass, that they did not at the c●ming of Xerxes openly join themselves to the Medes? or, if they would not fight under the King, why did they not, being left at Home, make Incursions into Laconia, or again attempt Thyreae, or by some other way disturb and infest the lacedæmonians? Since they might have greatly damaged the Grecians by hindering the Spartans from going with so great an Army to Plattae. But in this place indeed he has highly magnified the Athenians, and pronounced them the Saviours of Greece, doing herein rightly and justly, if he had not intermixed many Reproaches with their Praises. But now, when he says, that the lacedæmonians were betrayed by the other Greeks; and that being left alone, and having undertaken great Exploits, they died generously, having before seen that the Greeks, favouring the Medes, held Intelligence with Xerxes, 'tis manifest, he speaks not these things so much to the Commendation of the Athenians, as that, praising the Athenians, he may speak ill of all the rest. For how can any one now be angry with him for so bittery and outrageously, at every turn, upbraiding the Thebans and Phocaeans, when he charges even those, who exposed themselves to all Perils for Greece, with a Treason, which, as himself says, was never acted? Nay, of the lacedæmonians themselves, he makes it doubtful, whether they fell in the Battle, or yielded to the Enemy, distinguishing them by very slight Conjectures from those that were slain at Thermopylae.  
After this, when he ●●●lares the shipwreck, that befell the Kings Fleet, and how, an infinite Mass of Wealth being cast away, Aminocles the Magnesian, Son of Cresines, was greatly enriched by it, having gotten an immense Quantity of Gold and Silver; he could not so much as let this pass without snarling at it. For this Man, says he, who had till then been none of the most Fortunate, by those Wrecks became exceeding Rich; for the Misfortune, he had in Killing his Son, much afflicted his Mind. This indeed is manifest to every one, that he brought this golden Treasure, and this Wealth, cast up by the Sea, into his History, that he might make way for the inserting Aminocle's Killing his Son. Now, whereas Aristophanes the Boeotian wrote, that having demanded Money of the Thebans, he received none, and that going about to discourse and reason with the young Men, he was prohibited by the Magistrates through their Clownishness and Hatred of Learning; of which there is no other Argument. But Herodotus bears Witness to Aristophanes, whilst he charges the Thebans with some things falsely, with others ignorantly, and with others, as hating them, and having a Quarrel with them. For he affirms, that the Thessalians at first, upon necessity, inclined to the Medes, in which he says the Truth; and prophesying of the other Grecians, that they would betray the lacedæmonians; he added, that they would not do it willingly, but upon Necessity, one City being taken after another. But he does not allow the Thebans the same Plea of Necessity, although they sent to Tempo five hundred Men under the Command of Mnamia, and to Thermopylae as many, as Leonidas desired; who also alone, with the Thespians, stood by him, the rest leaving him, after he was surrounded. But when the Barbarian, having possessed himself of the Avenues, was got into their Confines, and Demaratus the Spartan, favouring in right of Hospitality Apaginus, the Chief of the Oligarchy, had so wrou●●●, that he became the Kings Friend and Familiar, whilst the other Gre●ks were in their Ships, and none coming on by Land; then at last being forsaken, did they acc●pt Conditions of Peace, to which they were compelled by great Necessity. For they had neither the Sea and Ships at hand, as had the Athenians, nor did they dwell far off, as the Spartans, who inhabited the most remote parts of Greece; but were not above a Day and an halfs Journey from the Medians Army, whom they had already with the Spartans and Thespians alone resisted at the Entrance of the Streights, and were defeated. But this Writer is so equitable, that having said the lacedæmonians being alone, and deserted by their Allies, would perhaps make a Composition with the Enemy, when he could not wholly obliterate this most great and glorious Act of the Thebans, yet went about to deface it with a most vile Imputation and Suspicion, writing thus: The Confederates, who had been sent, return'd back, obeying the Commands of Leonidas; there remained only with the lacedæmonians the Thespians, and the Thebans; of these, the Thebans stayed against their Wills, for Leonidas retained them as Hostages; but the Thespians most willingly, as who said, they would never depart from Leonidas, and those that were with him. Does he not here manifestly discover himself to have a peculiar Pique and Hatred against the Thebans, by the Impulse of which he not only falsely and unjustly calunniated the City, but did not so much as take care to render his Contradiction probable, or to conceal, at least from a few Men, his being conscious of having knowingly contradicted himself? For having before said, that Leonidas, perceiving his Confederates not to be in good Heart, nor prepared to undergo Danger, wished them to depart; he a little after adds, that the Thebans were, against their Wills, detained by him; whereas, if he had believed them inclined to the Medians, he should have driven them away, though they had been willing to tarry. For if he thought that those, who were not brisk, would be useless, to what purpose was it to mix among his Souldiers those, that were suspected? Nor was the King of the Spartans, and General of all Greece, so senseless as to think, that four hundred armed Thebans could be detained as Hostages, by his three hundred, especially the Enemy being both in his Front and Rear. For though at first he might have taken them along with him as Hostages; tis certainly probable, that at last having no regard for him, they would have gone away from him, and that Leonidas would have more feared being encompassed by them, than by the Enemy. Furthermore, would not Leonidas have been ridiculous, to have sent away the other Greeks, as if by staying, they should soon after have died, and to have detained the Thebans, that being himself about to die, he might keep them for the Greeks? For if he had indeed carried them along with him for Hostages, or rather for Slaves, he should not have kept them with those, that were at the point to perish, but have delivered them to the Greeks, that went away. There remained but one Cause, that might be alleged for Leonidas's unwillingness to let them go, to wit, that they might die with him, and this our Historian himself has taken away, writing thus of Leonidas's Ambition: Leonidas, considering these things, and desirous that this Glory might redound to the Spartans alone, sent away his Confederates rather for this, than because they differed in their Opinions. For it had certainly been the height of Folly to keep his Enemies against their Wills, to be Partakers of that Glory, from which he drove away his Confederates. But 'tis manifest from the Effects, that, Leonidas suspected not the Thebans of Insincerity, but esteemed them to be his steadfast Friends. For he marched with his Army into Thebes, and at his request obtained that which was never granted to any other, to sleep within the Temple of Hercules, and the next Morning related to the Thebans the Vision, that had appeared to him. For he imagined, that he saw the most illustrious and greatest Cities of Greece, irregularly tossed, and floating up and down in a very stormy and tempestuous Sea; that Thebes, being carried above all the rest, was lifted up on high to Heaven, and suddenly after disappeared. And this indeed had a Resemblance of those things, which long after befell that City. Now Herodotus in his Narration of that Fight, hath obscured also the bravest Act of Leonidas, saying, that they all fell in the Streights near Colonus. But the Affair was otherwise managed. For when they perceived by Night, that they were emcompass'd by the Barbarians, they marched streight to the Enemies Camp, and got very near the Kings Pavilion, with a Resolution to kill him, and leave their Lives about him. They came then to his Tent, killing, or putting to slight all they met. But when Xerxes was not found there, seeking him in that vast Camp, and wandring about, they were at last with much difficulty slain by the Barbarians, who surrounded them on every side. What other Acts and Sayings of the Spartans Herodotus has omitted, we will writ in the Life of Leonidas. Yet that hinders not, but we may here set down also some few. Before Leonidas went forth to that War, the Spartans exhibited to him a Funeral Fight, at which the Fathers and Mothers of those who went along with him, were Spectators. Leonidas himself, when one said to him, You led very few with you to the Battle: answered, They are many to die there. When his Wife, at his Departure, asked him, what Commands he had for her; he turning to her, said, I command you to mary a good Man, and bring him good Children. After he was enclosed by the ●●emy at Thermopylae, desiring to save two, that were related to him, he gave one of them a Letter, and sent him away; but he rejected it, saying, angrily, I followed you as a soldier, not as a Post. The other commanded on a Message to the Magistrates of Sparta; but he answering, 'tis a Messengers Business, took his Shield, and stood up in his Rank. Who would not have blamed another, that should have omitted these things? But he, who has collected and recorded the Fart of Amasis, the coming of the Thiefs Asses, and the giving of Bottles, and many such like things, cannot seem to have omitted these gallant Acts, and these remarkable Sayings, by Negligence and Oversight, but as bearing ill Will, and being unjust to some. He says, that the Thebans, being at the first with the Greeks, fought, but compelled by Necessity. For belike not only Xerxes, but Leonidas also, had Whipsters following his Camp, by whom the Thebans being scourged, were forced against their Wills to fight. And he says, that the fought upon Necessity, who might have gone away and fled; and that they inclined to the Medes, whereas not one came in to help them. After this, he writes, that the rest making to Colonus, the Thebans separated themselves from them, lifted up their Hands to the Barbarians, and coming near, cried with a most true Voice, that they h●d favoured the Medes Affairs, had given Earth and Water to the King, that now being forced by Necessity, they were come to Thermopylae, and they were innocent of the Kings Wound. Having said these things, they obtained Quarter; for they had the Thessalians for Witnesses of all they said. Behold, how amid the Barbarians Exclamations, Tumults of all sorts, Flights and Pursuits, their Apology was heard, the Witnesses examined, and the Thessalians in the midst of those, that were slain and trodden under Foot, all being done in a very narrow Passage, patronized the Thebans, to wit, because the Thebans had but a little before driven a●●y them, who were possessed of all Greece as far as Thespiae, having conquered them in a battle, and slain their Leader Lattamias. For thus at that time stood Matters between the Bo●etians and the Thessalians, without any Friendship or Good Will. But yet how did the Thebans escape, the Thessalians helping them with their Testimony? Some of them, says he, were slain by the Barbarians. Many of them were by Command of Xerxes marked with the Royal Mark, beginning with their Leader Leontiades. Now the Captain of the Thebans at Thermopylae, was not Leontiades, but Anaxander, as both Aristophanes, out of the Commentaries of the Magistrates, and Nicander the Colophonian have taught us. Nor did any Man, before Herodotus, know, that the Thebans were stigmatized by Xerxes. For otherwise this would have been an excellent Plea for them against his Calumny, and this City might well have gloried in these Marks, that Xerxes had punished Leonidas and Leontiades as his greatest Enemies, having outrag'd the Body of the one when he was Dead, and caused the other to be tormented, whilst living. But he, who makes the Barbarians Cruelty against Leonidas, when dead, a Sign, that he hated him most of all Men, when living; and yet says, that the Thebans, though favouring the Medes, were stigmatized by them at Thermopylae, and having been thus stigmatized, again cheerfully took their Parts at Platea, seems to me not unlike to Hippoclides, who being  told, as he was dancing over the Tables at a Festival, that he had danced away the Truth, made answer, Hippoclides cares not for that.  
In his Eighth Book, our Author says, that the Greeks being frighted, designed to fly from Artemisium into Greece, and that being requested by the Euboeans to stay a little, till they could dispose of their Wives and Families, they regarded them not, till such time as Themistocles, having taken Money of them, divided it between Eurybiades and Adimantus, the Captain of the Corinthians, and that then they stayed, and had a Sea-Fight with the Barbarians. Yet Pindar, who was not a Citizen of any of the Confederate Cities, but of one, that was suspected to take part with the Medians, having made mention of Artemisium, broke forth into this Exclamation. [ This is the Place] where the Sons of the Athenians laid the glorious Foundation of Liberty. But Herodotus, by whom, as some will have it, Greece is honoured, makes that Victory a Work of Bribery and Theft, saying, that the Greeks, deceived by their Captains, who had to that end taken Money, fought against their Wills. Nor does he here put an end to his Malice. All Men in a manner confess, that, although the Greeks got the better at Sea, they nevertheless abandoned Artemisium to the Barbarians, after they had received the News of the Overthrow at Thermopylae. For 'twas to no purpose for them to stay there, and keep the Sea, the War being already within Pylae, and Xerxes having possessed himself of the Avenues. But Herodotus makes the Greeks contriving to fly, before they heard any thing of Leonidas's Death. For thus he says: But they, having been ill treated, and especially the Athenians, half of whose Ships were sorely shattered, consulted to take their Flight into Greece. But let him be permitted so to name, or rather to reproach this Retreat of theirs before the Fight; for having before called it a Flight, he both now stiles it a Flight, and will again a little after term it a Flight; so bitterly does he adhere to this Word Flight. Presently after this[ says he] there came to the Barbarians in a Pinnace a Man of Hestiaeae, who acquainted them with the Flight of the Grecians from Artemisium. They, because the thing seemed incredible, kept the Messenger in Custody, and sent forth some light Gallies to discover the Truth. But what is this you say? That they fled as conquered, whom the Enemies after the Fight could not believe to have fled, as having got much the better? Is then this[ a Fellow] fit to be believed, when he writes of any Man or City, who in one Word deprives Greece of the Victory, throws down the Trophy, and pronounces the Inscriptions, they had set up to Diana on the East Side of Artemisium, to be nothing but Pride and vain Boasting? The Tenor of the Inscription was, as follows.  
When Athens Youth had in a Naval Fight  
All Asias Forces on this Sea o'erthrown,  
And the Medes Army put to Flight,  
Than which a greater scarce was ever known,  
To show, how much Diana they respected,  
This Trophy to her Honour they erected.  
Moreover, not having described any Order of the Greeks, nor  told us, what Place every City of theirs held during the Sea-fight, he says, that in this Retreat, which he calls their Flight, the Corinthians sailed first, and the Athenians last. He indeed ought not to have too much insulted over the Greeks, that took part with the Medes, who, being by others thought a Thurian, reckons himself among the Halicarnasseans, which, being Dorians by Descent, went with their Wives and Children to the War against the Greeks. But he is so far from giving first an Account of the Streights, they were in, who revolted to the Medes, that relating how the Thessalians sent to the Phocaeans, which were their mortal Enemies, and promised to preserve their Country free from all damage, if they might receive from them a Reward of fifty Talents, he writ thus of the Phocaeans: For the Phocaeans were the only People in these Quarters, who inclined not to the Medians, and that, as far as I upon due consideration can find, for no other Reason, but because they hated the Thessalians; for if the Thessalians had been affencted to the graecian Affairs, I suppose the Phocaeans would have joined themselves to the Medes. And yet a little after he will say, that thirteen Cities of the Phocaeans were burnt by the Barbarians, their Country laid wast, and the Temple, which was in Abes, set on fire, and all of both Sexes put to the Sword, except those, that by Flight escaped to Parnassus. Nevertheless, he puts those, who suffered all Extremities, rather than they would lose their Honesty, in the same Rank with those, who most affectionately sided with the Medians. And when he could not blame the Phocaeans Actions, he devised false Causes, framing Suspicions against them with his Pen, and judging them, not by what they did, but by the Construction, put on their Intentions by the Thessalians, who gaped after their Dominions, as if they therefore refused to enter into the Treason, because others had prevented them. Now if any one, going about to excuse the Revolt of the Thessalians to the Medes, should say, that they would not have done it, but for the Hatred, they bare the Phocaeans, whom when they saw joined to the Greeks, they, against their Inclinations, followed the Party of the Medes; would not such an one be thought most shamefully to flatter, and for the Sake of others, to pervert the Truth, by feigning good Causes for evil Actions? Indeed, I think, he would, why then should not he be thought openly to calumniate, who says, that the Phocaeans choose the best, not for the Love of virtue, but because they saw the Thessalians on the contrary side? For neither does he refer this Device to other Authors, as he is elsewhere wont to do, but says, that himself found it out by Conjecture. He should therefore have produced certain Arguments, by which he was persuaded, that they, who did things like the best, followed the same Counsels with the worst. For what he alleges of their Enmities, is ridiculous. For neither did the Difference between the Aeginetae and the Athenians, nor that between the Chalcidians and the Eretrians, nor yet that between the Corinthians and the Megarians, hinder them from fighting together for Greece. Nor did the Macedonians, their most bitter Enemies, plaguing the Thessalians, divert them from their Friendship with the Barbarians. For the common Danger did so bury their private Grudges, that banishing their other Pussions, they applied their Minds either to Honesty, for the Sake of virtue, or to profit through the Impulse of Necessity. And indeed after that Necessity, which compelled them to obey the Medians, was over, they return'd again to the Greeks, as Laocrates the Spartan has openly testified of them. And Herodotus, as constrained to it, in his Relation of the Affairs at Plataeae, confessed that the Phocaeans took part with the Greeks. Neither ought it to seem strange to any, if he thus bitterly inveighs against the Unfortunate; since he reckons amongst Enemies and Traytors those, who were present at the Engagement, and together with the other Greeks, hazarded their Safety. For the Naxians, says he, sent three Ships to the Assistance of the Barbarians, but Democritus, one of their Captains, persuaded the other two to take the Party of the Greeks. So unable he is to praise without dispraising, that if he commends one Man, he must condemn a whole City or People. But in this there give Testimony against him, of the more ancient Writers, Hellanicus, and of the l●ter Ephorus, one of which says, that the Naxians came with six Ships to aid the Greeks, and the other with five. And Herodotus convinces himself of having feigned these things. For the Writers of the Naxian Annals say, that they had before beaten back Megabates, who came to their iceland with two hundred Ships; and after that, put to flight the General Datis, who had set their City on Fire. Now if, as Herodotus has elsewhere said, the Barbarians burnt their City, so that the Men were glad to save themselves by flying into the Mountains; had they not just Cause rather to sand Aid to the Destroyers of their Country, than to help the Protectors or the common Liberty? But that he framed this lie, not so much to honor Democritus, as to cast Infamy on the Naxians, is manifest from his omitting and wholly passing over in Silence the valiant Acts then performed by Democritus, of which Simonides gives us an Account in this Epigram.  
When as the Greeks at Sea the Medes did meet,  
And had near Salamis a Naval Fight,  
Democritus third time lead up the Fleet,  
Charging the Enemy with all his Might.  
He took five of their Ships, and did another,  
Which they had taken from the Greeks, recover.  
But why should any one be angry with him about the Naxians? If we have as some say, Antipodes inhabiting the other Hemisphere; I believe, that they also have heard of Themistocles and his Counsel, which he gave the Greeks to fight a Naval battle before Salamis, where the Barbarian being overcome, he built in Malta a Temple to Diana the counselor. This gentle Writer, endeavouring, as much as in him lies, to deprive Themistocles of the Glory of this, and transfer it to another, writes thus Word for Word: Whilst things were thus, Mnesiphilus, an Athenian, asked Themistocles, as he was going aboard his Ship, what had been resolved on in Council. And being answered, that 'twas decreed, the Ships should be brought back to Isthmus, and a battle fought at Sea before Peloponnesus; he said, If then they remove the Navy from Salamis, you, Themistocles, shall never fight for your Country; for they will every one return to his own City. Wherefore, if there be any way left, go, and endeavour to break this Resolution, and if it be possible, persuade Euribyades to change his Mind and stay here. Then adding, that this Advice pleased Themistocles, who, without making any Reply, went streight to Euribyades, he has these very Expressions. And sitting by him, related, what he had heard from Mnesiphilus, feigning, as if it came from himself, and adding other things. You see how he accuses Themistocles of Disingenuity in arrogating to himself the Counsel of Mnesiphilus. And further deriding the Greeks, he says, that Themistocles, who was called another Ulysses for his Wisdom, was so blind, that he could not foresee, what was fit to be done. But that Artemisia, who was of the same City with Herodotus, without being taught by any one, but by her own Consideration, said thus to Xerxes. The Greeks will not long be able to hold out against you; nor is it probable, if you march your Army by Land to Peloponnesus, that they will sit still, or take care to fight at Sea for the Athenians. But if you make hast to give them a Naval battle, I fear, lest your Fleets receiving damage, may prove also very prejudicial to your Land-Forces. Certainly Herodotus wanted nothing but Verses to make Artemisia another Sibyl, so exactly prophesying of things to come. Therefore Xerxes also delivered his Children to her to be carried to Ephesus; for he had( it seems) forgot to bring Women with him from Susa, if indeed they wanted a Train of Female Attendants. But 'tis not our Design to search into the Lies of Herodotus; we only make inquiry into those, which he invented, to detract from the Glory of others. He says, 'tis reported by the Athenians, that Adimantus, Captain of the Corinthians, when the Enemies were now ready to join battle, was struck with such Fear and Astonishment, that he fled; not thrusting his Ship backward at the Stern, or leisurely retreating through those, that were engaged, but openly hoisting up his Sails, and turning the Heads of all his Vessels. And that about the farther part of the Salaminian cost, he was met by a Pinnace, out of which one spake thus to him: Thou indeed, Adimantus, fly'st, having betrayed the Grecians, yet they overcome, and according to their Desi●es have the better of their Enemies. This Pinnace certainly was let down from Heaven. For what should hinder him from erecting a Tragical Machine, who by his Boasting excelled the Tragaedians in all other things? Adimantus then crediting him, return'd to the Fleet, when the Business was already done. This Report, says he, is delivered by the Athenians; but the Corinthians deny it, and say, they were the first at the Sea-sight, for which they have the Testimony of all the other Greeks. Such is this Man in many other Places: He spreads different Calumnies and Accusations of different Men, that he may not sail of making some one appear altogether Wicked; as it has succeeded well with him in this place: for if the Calumny is believed, the Corinthians; if it is not, the Athenians are rendered infamous, or else the Athenians did not bely the Corinthians, but he has belied them both. Certainly Thucydides, bringing in an Athenian Ambassador, contesting with a Corinthian at Sparta, and gloriously boasting of many things about the Median War, and the Sea-Fight at Salamis, charges not the Corinthians with any Crime of Treachery, or leaving their Station. Nor was it likely the Athenians should object any such thing against Corinth, when they saw it engraven in the third place after the lacedæmonians and themselves on those Spoils, which, being taken from the Barbarians, were consecrated to the Gods. And in Salamis they had permitted them to bury their Dead near the City, as being Men, who had behaved themselves gallantly, and to writ over them this Elegy.  
Well-water'd Corinth us, when living, gave  
Abode; now dead, dry Salamis a Grave.  
We, sacred Greece defending, put to flight  
Phoenicia's Ships, did Medes and Persians fight.  
And their Honorary Sepulchre in Isthmus has on it this Epitaph.  
We, who all Greece, near brought to Slavery,  
Did with our Lives set free, here buried lie.  
Moreover, on the Offerings of Diodorus, one of the Corinthian Sea-Captains, reserved in the Temple of Latona, there is this Inscription.  
These, of their Fight with th' Medes a Monument,  
Diodores's Sea-men to Latona sent.  
And as for Adimantus himself, against whom Herodotus frequently inveighs, saying, that he was the only Capt●in, who went about to fly from Artemisium, and would not stay the Fight: behold in how great Honour he is.  
Brave Adimantus, who set free, when doomed  
To Slavery, all Greece, lies here entombed.  
For neither is it probable, that such Honour would have been shown to a Coward and a traitor after his Decease; nor would he have dared to have given his Daughters the Names of Nausinica, Acrothinius, and Alexibia, and his Son, that of Aristeas, if he had not performed some illustrious and memorable Action in that Fight. Nor is it credible, that Herodotus was ignorant of that, which could not be unknown even to the meanest Carian, that the Corinthian Women alone made that glorious and Divine Prayer, by which they besought the Goddess Venus to inspire their Husbands with a Love of Fighting against the Barbarians. For it was a thing divulged abroad, concerning which, Simonides made an Epigram to be inscribed on the brazen Images, set up in that Temple of Venus, which is said to have been founded by Medea, desiring the Goddess, as some affirm, to deliver her from loving her Husband Jason; or, as others, to free him from loving Thetis. The Tenor of the Epigram follows.  
These Statues those fair La●ies represent,  
Whose Vows, for Grecia to Venus sent,  
obtained, she would not leave them as a Prey,  
Nor to the Medes the citadel betray.  
These things he should rather have written, and recorded, than have inserted Aminocles's Killing of his Son. After he had abundantly satisfied himself with the Accusations brought against Themistocles, of whom he says, that unknown to the other Captains, he incessantly robbed and spoiled the Islands, he at length openly takes away the Crown of Victory from the Athenians, and sets it on the Head of the Aeginetae, writing thus: The Greeks having sent the First Fruits of their Spoils to Delphos, asked in general of the GOD, whether he had a sufficient part of the Booty, and were contented with it. He answered, That he had enough of all the other Greeks, but not of the Aeginetae; for he expected a Donary of them, as having won the greatest Honor in the Battle at Salamis. See here, how he attributes not his Fictions to the Scythians, to the Persians, or to the egyptians, as Aesop did his to the Ravens and Apes; but using the very Person of the Pythian Apollo, takes from Athens the chief Honour of the Battle at Salamis. And the second Place in Honour being given to Themistocles at Isthmus by all the other Captains, every one of which, attributing to himself the first Degree of Valor, gave the next to Themistocles, and the judgement not coming to a Determination, when he should have reprehended the Ambition of the Captains, he said, that all the Greeks weighed Anchor from th●●ce, not being willing to give the chief Honour of the Victory to Themistocles.  
In his ninth and last Book, having nothing left, to vent his Malice on but the lacedæmonians, and their glorious Action against the Barbarians at Plataeae, he writes, that the Spartans at first feared, lest the Athenians should suffer themselves to be persuaded by Mardonius, to forsake the other Greeks; but that now, the Isthmus being fortified, they, supposing all to be safe at Peloponnesus, easily slighted the rest, Feasting and making merry at home, and deluding and delaying the Athenian Ambassadors. How then did there go forth from Sparta to Plateae a thousand and five Men, having every one of them with him seven Heilots? or how came it, that exposing themselves to so many Dangers, they vanquished and overthrew so many thousand Barbarians? Hear now his probable Cause of it. It happened, says he, that there was then at Sparta a certain Stranger of Tegea, named Chileus, who had some Friends amongst the Ephori, between whom and him there was mutual Hospitality: He then persuaded them to sand f●rth the Army, telling them, that the Fortification on the Isthmus, by which they had fenced in Peloponnesus, would be of no avail, if the Athenians joined themselves with Mardonius. This Counsel then drew Pausanias with his Army to Plataeae. Now if any private Business had kept that Chileus at Tegea, Greece had never been victorious. Again, not knowing what to do with the Athenians, he tosses to and fro that City, sometimes extoling it, and sometimes debasing it. He says, that contending for the second Place with the Tegeates, they made mention of the Heraclidae, alleged their Acts against the Amazons, and the sepulchers of the Peloponnesians, that died under the Walls of Cadmeia, and at last brought down their Discourse to the battle of Marathon, ambitiously desiring the Command of the left Wing. A little after he says, that Pausanias and the Spartans yielded them the first Place, desiring them to fight in the right Wing against the Persians, and give them the Left, who excused themselves as not skilled in fighting against the Barbarians. Now 'tis a ridiculous thing to be willing to fight against no Enemy, unless one has been used to him. But he says farther, that the other Greeks being lead by their Captains to encamp in another Place, as soon as they were moved, the Horse fled, not without Joy, towards Plataeae, and in their Flight came as far as Juno's Temple. In which place indeed he charges them all in general with Disobedience, cowardice and Treason. At last he says, that only the lacedæmonians and the Tegeates fought with the Barbarians, and the Athenians with the Thebans; equally defrauding all the other Cities of their Part in the Honour of the Victory; whilst he affirms, that none of them joined in the Fight, but all of them, sitting still hard by in their Arms, betrayed and forsook those, who fought for them. That the Phliasians and Megarians indeed; when they heard, Pausanias had got the better, came in, and falling rashly on the Theban Horse, were cut off: that the Corinthians were not at the battle; but, after the Victory was got, making hast through the Hills, they escaped the Theban Cavalry. For the Thebans, after the Barbarians were overthrown, going before with their Horse, affectionately assisted them in their Flight, to return them Thanks( forsooth) for the Marks, they had stigmatized them with at Thermopylae. Now what Rank the Corinthians had in the Fight at Plataeae against the Barbarians, and how they performed their Duty, you may hear from Simonides in these Verses.  
I'th midst were Men, in warlike Feats excelling,  
Who Ephyre, full of Springs, inhabited,  
And who in Corinth, Glaucus City, dwelling,  
Great Praise by their great Valour merited;  
Of which, they, to perpetuate the famed,  
To th'Gods of well wrought Gold did offerings frame.  
For he wrote not these things, as one that taught at Corinth, or that made Verses in Honour of the City, but as recording these Actions in elegiac Verses. But Herodotus, whilst he desires to prevent that Objection, by which those might convince him of Lying, who should ask, whence then are so many Mounts, Tombs and Monuments of the Dead, at which the Plataeans, even to this Day, celebrate Funeral Solemnities in the Presence of the Greeks? has charged, unless I am mistaken, a fouler Crime, than that of Treason on their Posterity. For these are his Words. As for the other sepulchers that are seen in Plateae, I have heard, that their Successors, being ashamed of their Progenitors Absence from this battle, erected every Man a Monument for Posterities Sake. Of this treacherous Deserting the battle, Herodotus was the only Man, that ever heard. For the Greeks, who withdrew themselves from the battle, deceived Pausanias, Aristides, the lacedæmonians, and the Athenians. Neither yet did the Athenians exclude the Aeginetae, who were their Adversaries, from the inscription, nor convince the Corinthians of having fled from Salamis before the Victory, Greece bearing Witness to the contrary. Indeed Cleadas a Plataean, ten years after the Median War, to gratify, as Herodotus says, the Aeginetae, erected a Mount bearing their Name. How came it then to pass, that the Athenians and lacedæmonians, who were so jealous of each other, that they were presently after the War ready to go together by the Ears about the setting up a Trophy, did not yet repel those Greeks, who fled in a Fear from the battle, from having a Share in the Honour of those, that behaved themselves valiantly, but inscribed their Names on the trophies and Colosses, and granted them part of the Spoils? Lastly, they set up an Altar, on which was engraven this Epigram.  
The Greeks, by Valor having put to flight  
The Persians, and preserved their Countreys Right,  
Erected here this Altar, which you see,  
To Jove, Preserver of their Liberty.  
Did Cleadas also, O Herodotus, or some other, writ this, to oblige the Cities by Flattery? What need had they then to employ fruitless labour in digging up the Earth, to make Tombs, and erect Monuments for Posterities Sake, when they saw their Glory consecrated in the most illustrious and greatest Donaries? Pausanias indeed, when he was now aspiring to the Tyranny, set up this Inscription in Delphos.  
Pausanias, of Greeks the General,  
When he the Medes in Fight had overthrown,  
offered to Phaebus a Memorial  
Of's Victory, this Monumental ston.  
In which he gave the Glory to the Greeks, whose General he professed himself. Yet the Greeks not enduring, but utterly misliking it, the lacedæmonians, sending to Delphos, caused this to be cut out, and the Names of the Cities, as it was fit, to be engraven instead of it. Now how is it probable, that the Greeks should have been offended, that there was no mention made of them in the Inscription, if they had been conscious to themselves of deserting the Fight? or that the lacedæmonians would have eras'd the Name of their Leader and General, to insert Deserters, and such as withdrew themselves from the common Danger? For it would have been a great Indignity, that Sochares, Deipnistus, and all the rest, who shew'd their Valor in that Fight, should calmly suffer the Cythnians and Melians to be inscribed on the trophies; and that Herodotus, attributing that Fight only to three Cities, should erase all the rest out of those and other Sacred Monuments and Donaries. For there having been then four Fights with the Barbarians; he says, that the Greeks fled from Artemisium; that, whilst their King and General exposed himself to Danger at Thermopylae, the lacedæmonians sat negligent at Home, celebrating the Olympian and Carnean Feasts. And discoursing of the Action at Salamis, he uses more Words about Artemisia, than he does in his whole Narrative of the Naval battle. Lastly, he says, that the Greeks sate still at Plataeae, knowing no more of the Fight, till it was over, than if it had been a Skirmish between Mice and Frogs, in which, as Pigres, Artemisias's Brother, merrily and scoffingly said, it had been agreed to fight silently, lest they should be heard by others; and that the lacedæmonians excelled not the Barbarians in Valor, but only got the better, as fighting against naked and unarmed Men. To wit, when Xerxes himself was present, the Barbarians were with much difficulty compelled by Scourges to fight with the Greeks; but at Plataeae, having taken other Resolutions, they were no way inferior in Courage and Strength; but their Garments being without armor, was prejudicial to them, since being naked, they fought against a completely armed Enemy. What then is there left great and memorable to the Grecians of those Fights, if the lacedæmonians fought with unarmed Men, the other Greeks, though present, were ignorant of the battle, empty Monuments are set up every where, and Tripuses and Altars, full of lying Inscriptions, placed before the Gods: if lastly, Herodotus only knows the Truth, all others, that give any Account of the Greeks, being deceived by the famed of those Actions, as the Effects of an admirable Prowess?  
What then is to be said? But that he is an acute Writer, his style is pleasont, there is a certain. Grace, Force, and Elegancy in ●is Narrations; and as he has, like a Musician, proposed his Discourse, though not knowingly, however sweetly, these things delight, please, and affect all Men. But as in Roses we must beware of[ the venomous Flies, called] Cantharides; so must we take heed of his Calumnies and Envy, lying hide under smooth and well-couch'd Phrases and Expressions, lest we imprudently entertain absurd and false Opinions of the most excellent and greatest Cities and Men of Greece.   

Plutarch's Morals: Vol. IV.  
Of common Conception against the stoics.  Translated out of the Greek, by Samuel White, M. D. Lamprias. 
You, O Diadumenus, seem not much to care, if any one thinks, that you philosophize against the common Notions; since you confess, that you contemn also the Senses, from whence the most part of these Notions in a manner proceed, having for their Seat and Foundation the Belief of such things, as appear to us. But I beseech you, with what speed you can, either by Reasons, Incantations, or some other manner of Discourse, to cure me, who come to you, full, as I seem to myself, of great and strange Perturbation: so much have I been shaken, and into such a Perplexity of Mind have I been brought by certain stoics, in other things indeed very good Men, and my familiar Friends, but most bitterly and hostilely bent against the Academy. These for some few Words, modestly spoken by me, have( for I will tell you no Ly) rudely and unkindly reprehended me; angrily calling and reputing the Ancients Sophisters, Corrupters and Subverters of those that walk in the way of Doctrines, and saying yet things more absurd than these, they fell at last upon the Conceptions, as into which the academics had brought a certain Confusion and Disturbance. At length one of them said, that he thought, it was not by Fortune, but by the Providence of the Gods, that Chrysippus came into the World after Arcesilaus, and before Carneades; of which the one was the Author of the Contumelies and Injuries done to Custom; and the other flourished most of all in the academics. Chrysippus then, coming between them, by his Writings against Arcesilaus, stopped also the way against the Eloquence of Carreades, leaving indeed many things to the Senses, as Provision against a Siege; but wholly taking away the Trouble about Anticipations and Conceptions, directing every one of them, and putting it in its proper Place: that they, who will again embroil and disquiet Matters, cannot but be convinced of being Malicious and Deceitful Sophisters. I, having been this Morning set on Fire by these Discourses, want some cooling Remedies to extinguish and take away this Doubting, as an Inflammation, out of my Mind.  Diadumenus. 
You perhaps have suffered the same things with some of the Vulgar. But if you believe the Poets, who say, that the ancient[ City] Sipilus was overthrown by the Providence of the Gods, when they punished Tantalus: believe also the Companions of the Stoa,[ saying] that Nature, not by Chance, but by Divine Providence, brought forth Chrysippus, when she had a mind to turn things upside down, and alter the Course of Life; for which purpose, never any Man was fitter than he. But as Cato said of Caesar, that never any[ but he] came to the[ Management of] public Affairs, sober and considerately resolved on the ruin of the State: so does this Man seem to me, with the greatest Diligence and Eloqence, to overturn and demolish Custom; and that do they, who magnify the Man, testify, when they dispute against him concerning[ the Sophism] called Pseudomenos[ or the Liar.] For to say, my best Friend, that a Conclusion, drawn from contrary Positions, is not manifestly false; and again to say, that some Arguments, having true premises, and true Inductions, may yet moreover have the contrary to their Conclusions true; what Conception at Demonstration, or what Anticipation of Faith does it not overthrow? They say, that the Polypus in the Winter gnaws his own Claws and pendant hairy Feet: But the logic of Chrysippus, taking away and cutting off its own chiefest Parts and Principles; What other Notion has it left unsuspected of Fasthood? For the Superstructures cannot be steady and sure, if the Foundations remain not firm, but are shaken with so many Doubts and Troubles. But as those, who have Dust or Dirt upon their Bodies, if they touch or rub the Filth, that is upon them, seem rather to increase than remove it: so some Men blame the academics, and think them guilty of the Faults, with which they show themselves to be burdened. For which of these do at length more pervert the common Conception? But if you please, let us leave accusing them, and defend ourselves from the things, with which they charge us.  Lamprias. 
Methinks, Diadumenus, I am this Day become a certain various and unconstant Man. For erewhile I came dejected and trembling, as one, that wanted an Apology; and now I am changed to an Accuser, and desire to enjoy the Pleasure of Revenge, in seeing them all convict together, of what they philosophize against the common Conceptions and Anticipations, whence they think chiefly[ to magnify] their Sect, as in** and say, that it alone agrees with Nature.  Diadumenus. 
Shall we then first attack those common and celebrated[ Doctrines of theirs] which themselves, gently admitting their Absurdity, style Paradoxes; as that only wise Men are Kings, that they only are rich and fair, they only Citizens and Judges? or shall we sand all this to the Brokers, as old decayed Frippery, and make our Enquiry into such things, as are most practical, and with the greatest Earnestness delivered by them?  Lamprias. 
I indeed like this best. For who is there, that is not already full of the Arguments, brought against those[ Paradoxes?]  Diadumenus. 
First then consider this, whether, according to the common Conceptions, they[ can be said to] agree with Nature, who think[ all] natural things indifferent, and esteem neither Health, Vigorousness of Complexion, Beauty, nor Strength desirable, commodious, profitable, or any way contributory to the completing of natural Perfection? Nor that their Contraries, as Maims, Pains, Disgraces, and Diseases, are hurtful, or to be shunned. To the latter of which, themselves say, that Nature gives us an Abhorrence, and an Inclination to the former. Which very thing is not a little repugnant to common Understanding: that Nature should incline us to such things, as are neither good nor available, and avert us from such, as are neither ill, nor hurtful; and which is more, that she should render this Inclination and this Aversion so violent, that they, who either possess not the one, or fall into the other, with good Reason detest their Life, and withdraw themselves out of it. I think also, that this is said by them against common Sense, that Nature her self is indifferent, and yet that 'tis good to agree with Nature. For 'tis not our Duty, either to follow the Law, or be persuaded by Argument, unless the Law and Argument be good and honest. And this indeed is the least [ of their Errors.] But if, as Chrysippus has written in his first Book concerning Exhortation, an happy Life consists only in living according to virtue, other things, as he says, being nothing to us, nor cooperating any way towards it, Nature is not only indifferent, but foolish also and stupid, in inclining us to such things, as belong nothing to us; and we also are fools in thinking Felicity to be an agreeing with Nature, which draws us after such things, as contribute nothing to Happiness. For what can be more agreeable to common Sense, than that, as desirable things are requisite to live commodiously, so natural things are necessary, that we may live according to Nature. Now these Men say not so; but having settled the Living according to Nature for their End, do nevertheless hold those things, which are according to Nature, to be indifferent. Nor is this less repugnant to common Sense, that an intelligent and prudent Man should not be equally affencted to equal good things; but should put no value on some, and be ready to undergo and suffer any thing for others, though the things themselves are neither greater nor less one than another. For they say, 'tis the same thing to abstain from the Enjoyment of an old Woman, that has one foot in the Grave,[ and to venture ones Life in defence of ones Country:] since both do, what their Duty requires. And yet for this, as a great and glorious thing, they should be ready to die; when as to boast of the other, would be shameful and ridiculous. And even Chrysippus himself in his Commentary concerning Jupiter, and third Book of the Gods, says, that 'twere a poor, absurd, and impertinent thing to glory in such Acts, as proceeding from virtue, as are to bear valiantly the Stinging of a Wasp, or to abstain chastened from an old Woman, that lies a dying. Do not they then philosophize against the common Conception, who profess nothing to be more commendable than those things, which yet themselves are ashamed to praise? For how can that be desirable, or to be approved, which is worthy neither of Praise nor Admiration; but the Praisers and Admirers of which, they esteem absurd and ridiculous? And yet this will( I suppose) appear to you more against common Sense, that a wise Man should take no care, whether he enjoys, or not enjoys the greatest good things, but should carry himself after the same manner in these things, as in those, that are indifferent, and the Management and Administration of them. For all of us, whoever we are, that eat the Fruits of the Earth, judge that desirable, good, and profitable, which, being present, we use, and absent, we want and desire. But that, which no Man thinks worth his Concern, either for his Profit, or Delight, is indifferent. For we by no other means distinguish a laborious Man from a Trifler, who is for the most part also employed in Action, but that the one busies himself in useless Matters and indifferently, and the other in things commodious and profitable. But these Men act quiter contrary: for with them, a wise and prudent Man, being conversant in many Comprehensions and Memories of Comprehensions, esteems few of them to belong to him, and not caring for the rest, thinks he has neither more or less by remembering, that he la●ely had the Comprehension[ or certain Knowledge] of Dion sneezing, or Theon playing at Ball, although every Comprehension in a wise Man, and every Memory, having Assurance and Firmness, is a great, yea, a very great Good. When therefore his Health fails, when some Organ of his Senses is disordered, or when his Wealth is lost, is a wise Man so careless, as to think, that none of these things concerns him? Or does he, when sick, give Fees to the Physicians? for the gaining of Riches sail to Leucon, Governor in the Bosphorus, or travail to Indathyrsus, King of the Scythians, as Chrysippus says? and being deprived of some of his Senses, grow weary even of Life? How then do they not aclowledge, that they philosophize against the common Notions, employing so much Care and Diligence on things indifferent, and carrying themselves indifferently, when they either have, or have not great good things?  
But this also is yet against the common Conceptions, that he, who is a Man, should not rejoice, when coming from the greatest Evils to the greatest Goods. Now their wise Man suffers this. For being changed from extreme viciousness to the highest virtue, and at the same time escaping a most miserable Life, and attaining to a most happy one, he shows no sign of Joy, nor does this so great Change lift him up, or yet move him, being delivered from all Infelicity and 'vice, and coming to a certain sure and firm Perfection of virtue. This also is repugnant to common Sense, that the being Immutable in ones Judgments and Resolutions, is the greatest of Goods, and yet, that he, who has attained to the height, wants not this, nor cares for it, when he has it; nay, many times will not so much as stretch forth a Finger for this Security and Constancy, which nevertheless themselves esteem the sovereign and perfect Good. Nor do the stoics only say these things, but[ add] also this to them, that the continuance of Time increases not any good thing; but that, if a Man shall be wise but a minute of an hour, he will not be any way inferior in Happiness to him, who has all his time practised virtue, and lead his Life happily in it. Yet, whilst they thus boldly affirm these things, they on the contrary also say, that a short-lived virtue is nothing worth: for what Advantage would the attaimment of Wisdom be to him, who is immediately to be swallowed up by the Wave, or tumbled down headlong from a Precipice? What would it have benefited Lichas, if, being thrown by Hercules, as from a Sling into the Sea, he had been on a sudden changed from 'vice to virtue? These therefore are the Positions of Men, who not only philosophize against the common Conceptions, but also confounded their own; if the having been but a little while endued with virtue is no way short of the highest Felicity, and at the same time nothing worth. Nor is this the strangest thing, you will find in their Doctrine, but their being of Opinion, that virtue and Happiness, when present, are frequently not perceived by him, who enjoys them; nor does he discern, that having but a little before been most miserable and foolish, he is of a sudden become wise and happy. For 'tis not only childish to say, that he, who is possessed of Wisdom, is ignorant of this thing alone, that he is wise, and knows not that he is delivered from Folly; but, to speak in general, they make Goodness to have very little Weight or Strength, if it does not give so much as a Feeling of it, when 'tis present: for, according even to them, 'tis not by Nature imperceptible; nay, even Chrysippus in his[ Books] Of the End, expressly says, that Good is sensible, as he thinks, and demonstrates. It remains then, that by its weakness and littleness it flies the Sense, when being present, 'tis unknown and concealed from the Possessors. 'twere moreover absurd[ to imagine] that the Sight, perceiving those things, which are but a little whitish, or inclining to white, should not discern such as are white in perfection, or that the Touch, feeling those things, which are but warm, or moderately hot, should be insensible of those, that are hot in the highest degree. And yet more absurd it is, that a Man, who perceives, what is commonly according to Nature, as are Health and good Constitution of Body, should yet be ignorant of virtue, when it is present, which themselves hold to be most of all, and in the highest degree according to Nature. For how can it but be against Sense, to conceive the difference between Health and Sickness,[ and so little to comprehend that between Wisdom] and Folly, as to think, the one to be present, when it is gone, and possessing the other, to be ignorant, that one has it? Now because there is from the Highest Progress a Change made to Felicity and virtue, one of these two things must of necessity follow; either that this Progress is not 'vice and Infelicity; or that virtue is not far distant from 'vice, nor Happiness from Misery; but that the Difference between Good and Evil is very small, and not to be perceived by Sense: for otherwise they, who have the one for the other, could not be ignorant of it. Since then they will not depart from any of these Contrarieties, but confess, and hold them all. That those, who are proceeding towards virtue, are Fools and vicious; that those, who are become Good and Wise, perceive not this Change in themselves; and that there is a great difference between Folly and Wisdom, do they not seem to you wonderfully to preserve an Agreement in their Doctrines?  
[ Now if in their Doctrines they are repugnant to Common Sense, and contradictory to themselves] they are yet more so in their[ Negotiations and] Affairs, when affirming all Men, who are not wise, to be equally wicked, unjust, faithless and Fools, they on the otherside abhor and detest some of them, nay, sometimes to such a Degree, that they refuse even to speak to them when they meet them; and others of them, they trust with their Money, choose to Offices, and take for Husbands to their Daughters. Now if they say these things in jest, let them smooth their Brows; but if in earnest, and as Philosophers, 'tis against the common. Notions, to reprove and blame all Men alike in Words, and yet to deal with some of them, as moderate Person●, and with others, as very wicked: and exceedingly to admire Chrysippus, to deride Alexinus, and yet to think neither of them more or less mad than the other. 'tis so, say they; but as he, who is not above a Cubit under the Superficies of the Sea, is no less drowned, than he, who is five hundred Fathom deep: so they, that are coming towards virtue, are no less in 'vice, than those, that are farther off: and as blind Men are still blind, though they shall perhaps a little after recover their Sight: so those, that have proceeded towards virtue, till such time as they have attained to it, continue foolish and wicked. But that they, who are in the way towards virtue, resemble not the Blind, but such, as see less clearly, nor are like to those, who are drowned, but to those, which swim, and that near the harbour, they themselves testify by their Actions. For they would not use Counsellors, and Generals, and Law-givers, as blind Men do Guides; nor would imitate the Works, and Actions, and Words, and Lives of some, if they saw them all equally drowned in Folly and Wickedness.  
But leaving this, wonder at the Men in this behalf, that they are not taught by their own Examples, to let alone these wise Men, who are ignorant of themselves, and neither know, nor are sensible, that they are recovered from boing drowned, and see the Light, and being gotten above 'vice, fetch Breath again. This also is against common Sense, that it should be convenient for a Man, who has all good things, and wants nothing[ requisite] to Felicity and Happpiness, to make away himself; and much more this, that for him, who neither has, nor ever shall have any good thing, but who is, and ever shall be accompanied with all Adversities, Difficulties and Mishaps, it should not be fitting to quit this Life, unless some of the indifferent things befall him. These Laws are enacted in the Stoa, and by these they incite many wise Men[ to kill themselves] as who shall be thereby more happy. Although the wise Man is fortunate, blessed, every way happy, secure, and free from Danger; but the vicious and foolish Man, full, as I may say, of Wickedness, so that there is not room to put them in; and yet they think, that continuing in Life is fit for the latter, and departing out of it only for the former. And not without cause, says Chrysippus, for we are not to measure Life by good things or evil, but by those, that are according to Nature. In this manner do they maintain Custom, and philosophize according to the common Conceptions. What do you say? Ought not he, who enters upon a Deliberation of Life and Death, to consider, What Good or Ill in his own House there is? Should he not weigh, as in a balance, what things have the greatest Sign of serving to Felicity or Infelicity? But argue, whether he should live or die, from those things, which are neither profitable nor prejudicial? and follow such Principles and Sentences, as command the choosing of a Life full of all things, to be avoided, and the shunning of one, which wants nothing of all those things, that are desirable? For though 'tis an absurd thing, Friend Lamprias, to shun a Life, in which there is no Evil; 'tis yet more absurd, if any one should leave what is good, because he is not possessed of what is indifferent, as these Men do, who leave present Felicity and virtue for want of Riches and Health, which they have not.  Saturnian Jove from Glaucus took his Wits, 
When he went about to change his svit of golden armour for a brazen one, and to give, what was worth an hundred Oxen, for that, which was worth but nine; and yet the brazen armour was no less useful for Fight than the golden: Whereas Beauty and Health of Body, as the stoics say, contribute not the least Advantage or Help towards Felicity; and yet they are willing to take Health in exchange for Wisdom. For they say, it would well enough have become Heraclitus and Pherecydes to have partend with their virtue and Wisdom, if the one of them could have thereby been freed from his lousy Disease, and the other from his dropsy. And if Circe had used two sorts of Magical Drinks, one to make wise Men Fools, and the other to make Fools wise*** Ulysses[ would have done well] rather to have drank that of Folly, than to have changed his[ Human] Shape for the Form of a Beast, though having with it Wisdom, and consequentially also Happiness. And they say, that Wisdom itself dictates to them these things, exhorting them thus: Let me go, and value not my being lost, If I must be carried about in the Shape of an Ass. But this, will some say, is an Ass-like Wisdom, which teaches thus: since to be wise and enjoy Felicity is good, and to wear the Shape[ of an Ass] indifferent. They say, there is a Nation of the Aethiopians, where a Dog reigns, is called King, and has all regal Honors and Services done to him; but Men execute the Offices of Magistrates and Governors of Cities. Do not the stoics act in the very same manner? They give the Name and appearance of Good to virtue, saying, that it alone is desirable, profitable, and available; but in the mean time they act these things, they philosophize, they live and die, as at the Command of things indifferent. And yet none of the Aethiopians kills that Dog; but he sits in State, and is revered by all. But these Men destroy and corrupt their virtue, that they may obtain Health and Riches.  
But the Corollary, which Chrysippus himself has given for a Conclusion to his Doctrines, seems to free us from the Trouble of saying any thing more about it. For there being, says he, in Nature some things good, some things bad, and some things between them both, which we call indifferent, there is no Man, but would rather have the Good than the Indifferent, and the Indifferent than the Bad. And of this we call the Gods to witness, begging of them by our Prayers, principally the Possession of good things; and, if that may not be, Deliverance from Evil; not desiring that, which is neither good nor bad, instead of Good; but willing to have it instead of Evil. But this Man, changing Nature, and inverting its Order, removes the middle out of its own place into the last, and brings back the last into the middle; not unlike to those Tyrants, who give the first Place to the Wicked; and giving us a Law, first to seek for the Good, and secondly, the Evil, and lastly, to judge that worst, which is neither Good nor Evil; as if any one should place Infernal things next to celestial, thrusting the Earth and earthly things into tartarous, 
Where very far from hence, deep under Ground,  
Lies a vast Gulf—  Having therefore said in his third Book, that 'tis more expedient for a Fool to live, than not, though he should never attain to Wisdom, he add these Words: For such are the good things of Men, that even evil things do in a manner precede others in the middle place. Not that these things themselves really precede; but Reason, which makes us choose rather to live, though we are to be Fools: therefore also, though unjust, wicked, hated of the Gods, and u●●appy; for none of these things are absent from those, that live foolishly. Is it them convenient rather to live miserable, than not to live miserable, and better to be hurt, than not hurt; to be unjust, than not unjust; to break the Laws, th●● no● to break them? That is, is it convenient to do things than are not convenient, and a Duty to live even against Duty? Yes indeed, for 'tis worse to mans Sense and Reason, than to be a Fool. What then all them, that they will not confess that to be Evil, which is worse than Evil? Why do they say, that Folly alone is to be avoided, if 'tis not less, but rather more convenient, to shun that Disposition, which is not capable of Folly?  
But who can complain of this, that shall remember what he has written in his Second Book of Nature, declaring, that 'vice was not unprofitably made for the Universe. But 'tis meet, I should set down his Doctrine in his own Words, that you may understand, in what place those rank 'vice, and what Discourses they hold of it, who accuse Xenocrates and Spensippus for not reckoning, Health indifferent, and Riches useless. 'vice, says he, has its Limit in reference to other Accidents. For 'tis also in some sort according to the Reason of Nature, and, as I may so say, is not wholly useless in respect of the Universe, for otherwise also there would not be any Good. Is there then no Good among the Gods, because there is no Evil? And when Jupiter, having resolved all Matter into himself, shall be alone, other Differences being taken away, will there then be no Good, because there will be no Evil? But[ is it true, that] there is Melody in a choir, though none in it sings faultily? and Health in the Body, tho no Member is sick? and yet cannot virtue have its Existence without 'vice? But as the poison of a Serpent, on the gull of an Hyena, is to be mixed with some Medicures: was it also of necessity, that there must have been some Conjunction of the Wickedness of Melitus, with the Justice of Socrates, and the Dissoluteness of clear, with the Probity of Pericles? And could not Jupiter have found a Means to bring into the World Hercules and Lycurgus, if he had not also made for us Sardanapalus and Phalaris? 'tis now time for them to say, that the Consumption was made for the sound Constitution of Mens Bodies, and the Gout for the Swiftness of their Feet; and that Achilles would not have had a good Head of Hair, if Thersites had not been bald. For what difference is there between such Triflers and Ravers, and those, who say, that Intemperance was not brought forth unprofitably for ꝯtinence, nor Injustice for Justice? that so we may pray to the Gods, there may always be Wickedness, Lies, fawning Speeches, and deceitful Manners: If these being taken away, virtue will also vanish and be lost.  
Or do you desire to understand the greatest Sweetness of his Eloquence and persuasion? For, says he, As Comedies have in them sometimes ridiculous Epigrams, which, though bad in themselves, give nevertheless a certain Grace to the whole Poem: so, though you may blame 'vice in itself, yet is it not useless to other things. First then[ to say] that 'vice was made by the Providence of God, as a wanton Epigram by the will of the Poet, transcends in Absurdity all Imagination. For this being granted, how will the Gods be rather Givers of Good than Evil? How will Wickedness be displeasing to them, and hated by them? And what shall we have to oppose against these ill-sounding Sentences of the Poets?  
— A Cause to Men God sends,  
When to chastise some House his Wrath intends?  
And again, What God these Seeds of Strife 'twixt them did sow. Moreover, a lewd Epigram adorns the adorns the Comedy, and contributes to its End, which is to delight the Spectators, and make them laugh? But Jupiter, who is surnamed Fatherly, Supreme, Just, and, as Pindarus has it, the most perfect Artist, framing the World, not as a great interlude, full of Variety, and great Learning; but as a common City of Gods and Men, living together in Concord and Happiness with Justice and virtue. What need had he, for the attaining to this excellent End, of Thieves, Murderers, Parricides and Tyrants? For 'vice entred not as a Morisk dance, pleasing and delightful to the Divinity; nor was brought in amongst the Affairs of Men, for to cause Mirth and Laughter by its raillery and Facetiousness, since there is not to be seen in it so much as a Dream of that celebrated Agreement[ with Nature.] Besides, that foolish Epigram is a very small part of the Poem, and takes up but a very little Place in the Comedy; neither do such things abound in it, nor do they corrupt any of those things, which seem to have been well done, or spoil their Grace. But all[ Human] Affairs are repleat with 'vice, and the whole Life from the very Prologue and Beginning to the End, being disordered, depraved, and disturbed, and having no part of it pure, or inreprehensible, as these Men say, is the most filthy and most unpleasant of all Farces. Wherefore I would willingly ask, in what 'vice is profitable to the Universe. Not surely in respect of heavenly things, and such, as are Divine by Nature: for 'twould be ridiculous[ to say] that, if there had not arisen, or were not amongst Men, Malice, and Covetousness, and Lying, or that, if we did not Rob, Plunder, Slander, and murder one another, the Sun would not run his appointed Course, the World enjoy its Seasons and Periods of Time, or the Earth, which is seated in the midst of the Universe, afford the Principles of Wind and Rain. It remains then, that the Existence of 'vice must be profitable for us and our Affairs; and that perhaps these Men mean. Are we then more healthy for being vicious, or do we more abound with Necessaries? or does 'vice contribute any thing to our Beauty or Strength? They say, No Is it then only a Name of Silence, and a visionary Opinion of the Night-walking Sophisters, not lying above all things, and conspicuous to all, as 'vice, so that it cannot partake of any thing, as unprofitable; but least, O ye Gods! of virtue, for which we were created? Is it not then absurd, that the Utensils of the Husbandman, master, and Carter, should be serviceable and aiding towards his intended End, whilst that, which was by God made for virtue, destroys and corrupts virtue? But perhaps 'tis time now to leave this Point, and pass to another.  Lamprias. 
Not for my Sake, my dear Friend, I beseech you; for I desire to understand, in what manner these Men bring in evil things before the good, and 'vice before virtue.  Diadumenus. 
It is indeed, Sir, a thing worth knowing. They babble indeed much; but in conclusion they say, that Prudence, being the Knowledge of Good and Evil** and be wholly taken away: For, as, if there are Truths, 'tis impossible, but there must be some Lies also near to them: so it stands with Reason, that, if there are good things, there must also be evil things.  Lamprias. 
One of these things indeed is not said amiss. And I think also, that the other is not unapprehended by me. For I see a Difference[ showing] why that, which is not true, must immediately be false; but that is not of necessity presently Evil, which is not Good: because that between True and False there is no Medium; but between Good and Evil there is Indifferent. Nor is it of necessity, that the one must subsist with the other: for Nature may have Good without having any need of Evil, but only of that, which is neither Good nor Evil. But if there is any thing said by you to the former Reason, let us hear it.  Diadumenus. 
Many things indeed are said; but at present we shall make use only of what is most necessary. In the first place, 'tis a Folly to imagine, that Good and Evil have their Existence for the Sake of Prudence: for, Good and Evil being already extant, Prudence came afterwards: as the Art of physic was invented, there being already things wholesome and unwholesome. For Good and Evil are not therefore extant, that there may be Prudence: But the Faculty, by which we judge between Good and Evil, that are already in being, is name Prudence. As Sight is a sense, distinguishing White from Black: which colours were not therefore made, that we might have Sight; but we rather wanted Sight, to discern these things. Secondly, When the World shall, as they hold, be set on Fire, there will then no Evil be left; but all will then be prudent and wise. There is therefore Prudence, though there is no Evil: nor is it of necessity for Evil to exist, that Prudence may have a Being. But supposing, that Prudence must always be a Knowledge of Good and Evil, what Inconvenience would it be, if, Evil being taken away, Prudence should no longer subsist; but instead of this we should have another virtue, not being the Knowledge of Good and Evil, but of Good only? So, if Black should be wholly lost from among the colours, and any one should therefore contend, that Sight also is lost, for that 'tis not the Sense of[ discerning] Black and White: what should hinder us from answering him? 'tis no Prejudice to us, If we have not, what you call Sight, but in lieu of that have another Sense and Faculty, by which we apprehended Colours, that are White and not White. For I indeed think, that neither our Taste would be lost, if bitter things were wanting, nor our Feeling, if Pain were taken away, nor Prudence, if Evil had no Being; but that these Senses would remain, to apprehended things sweet and grateful, and those that are not so, and Prudence to be the Science of things Good and not Good. But let those, who think otherwise, take the Name to themselves, leaving us the Thing. Besides all this, what should hinder, but there may be an Understanding of Evil, and an Existence of Good? As the Gods, I believe, enjoy Health, but understand the fever and pleurisy. Since even we, who, as they say, have abundance of Evils, but no Good, are not yet destitute of the Knowledge, what Prudence, what Goodness, and what Happiness is. And this also is to be admired, that, virtue being absent, there should be those, who can teach us, what it is, and give us a Comprehension of it; but[ 'vice] not being extant, it should be impossible to have any Understanding of it.  
For see, what these Men persuade us, who Philosophize against the Conceptions, that by Folly indeed we comprehend Prudence; but Prudence without Folly cannot so much as comprehend Folly itself. And if Nature had absolutely stood in need of the Generation of Evil, yet might one or two Examples of 'vice have been sufficient; or if you will, it might have been requisite, that ten, a thousand, or ten thousand vicious Men should be brought forth, and not, that the Multitude of Vices should be so great, as to exceed in Number the Sands of the Sea, the Dust of the Earth, and the Feathers of all the various kinds of Birds in the World; and yet, that there should not be so much all this while, as a Dream of virtue. Those, who in Sparta had the Charge of the[ public Halls or Eating-places, called] Phiditia, were wont to bring forth two or three Heilots, drunken and full of Wine, that the young Men, seeing what Drunkenness was, might learn to keep Sobriety. But in Human Life there are many such Examples of 'vice For there is not any one sober to virtue; but we all stagger up and down, acting shamefully, and living miserable. Thus does Reason inebriate us, and with so much Trouble and Madness does it fill us, that we fall in nothing short of those Dogs, of whom Aesop says, that seeing certain Skins swim on the Sea, they endeavoured to drink it up, but burst, before they could get at them. For Reason also, by which we hope to gain Reputation, and attain to virtue, does, e're we can reach to it, corrupt and destroy us, being before filled with abundance of heady and bitter 'vice. If indeed, as these Men say, they who are got even to the uppermost Step, have no Ease, Cessation, or Breathing from Folly and Infelicity.  
But let us see, what manner of thing he shows 'vice to be, who says, that 'twas not brought forth unprofitably, and of what use he makes it to be to those, who have it: writing in his Book, Of perfect Offices, that a wicked Man wants Nothing, has need of Nothing: Nothing is useful to him, Nothing proper, Nothing fit for him. How then is 'vice useful, with which, neither Health, nor abundance of Riches, nor Advancement[ in virtue] is profitable? Does then none want these things, of which some are precedent and preferable, and therefore useful, and others according to Nature, as themselves term them? Has none need of them, unless he become Wise? Does neither the vicious Man stand in need of being made Wise? Nor are Men hungry and thirsty, before they become Wise? The Thirsty then have no need of Water, nor the Hungry of Bread: like those courteous Guests, who requested only Shelter and Fire. So he had no need either of Entertainment, or a Cloak, who said: Give Hipponax a Cloak: I'm stiff with could.  
But will you speak a Paradox indeed, both extravagant, and singular? Say, that a wise Man has need of Nothing, that he wants Nothing. He is fortunate, he is free from Want, he is self-sufficient, blessed, perfect. Now what Madness is this that he, to whom nothing is wanting, has need of the Goods, he has; but that the vicious indeed wants many things, but stands in need of Nothing. For thus indeed says Chrysippus, that the Vicious wants, but stands not in need: removing the common Notions, like Chess-men, backward and forward. For all Men think, that having Need precedes Wanting, esteeming him, who stands in need of things, that are not at hand, or easy to be got, to want them. For no Man wants Horns or Wings, because he has no need of them. But we say, that those want Arms, and Money, and clothes, who are destitute of them, when they have occasion for them. But these Men are so desirous of seeming always to say something against the common Notions, that for the Love of Novelty they often depart from their own Opinions, as they do here:[ which that you may the better perceive] recall yourself to the Consideration of what has been said a little above.  
This is one of their Assertions against the common Conceptions, that no vicious Man receives any Utility: And yet many, being instructed, profit; many, being Slaves, are made free; many, being besieged, are delivered; being Lame, are lead by the Hand; and being Sick, are cured: But possessing all these things, they are never the better, neither do receive Benefits, nor have they any Benefactors, nor do they slight them. vicious Men then are not ungrateful, no more than are wise Men. Ingratitude therefore has no Being: because the Good, receiving a Benefit, fail not to aclowledge it, and the Bad are not capable of receiving any. Behold now, what they say to this:[ to wit] that Benefit is ranked amongst[ mean, or] middle things, and that to give and receive Utility, belongs only to the Wise; but the Bad also receive a Benefit. Then they who partake of a Benefit, partake not also of its Use: and whither a Benefit extends, there is nothing useful or commodious. Now what else is there, that makes a kind Office a Benefit, but that the Bestower of it is in some respect useful to the needy Receiver?  Lamprias. 
But let these things pass. What[ I beseech you] is this so highly venerated Utility, which preserving as some great and excellent thing, for the Wise, they permit not so much as the Name of it to the vicious?  Diadumenus. 
If,[ say they] one wise Man does but any way prudently stretch out his Finger, all the wise Men all the World over receive Utility by it. This is the Work of their Amity, in this do the virtues of the wise Men terminate by their common Utilities. Aristotle then and Xenocrates doted, saying, that Men receive Utility from the Gods, from their Parents, from their Masters, being ignorant of that wonderful Utility, which wise Men receive from one another, being moved according to virtue, though they neither are together, nor yet know it. Yet all Men esteem, that laying up, keeping, and bestowing are then useful and profitable, when some Benefit or Profit is recovered by it. The thriving Man buys Keys, and diligently keeps his Stores, With's Hand unlocking Wealths sweet Treasury.  
But to store up, and to keep with diligence and Labour such things, as are for no use, is not seemly or honourable, but ridiculous. If Ulysses indeed had tied up with the Knot, which Circe taught him, not the Gifts, he had received from Alcinous, Tripodes, cauldrons, Cloths, and Gold; but heaping up Trash, Stones, and such like Trumpery, should have thought his Employment about such things, and the Possession, and Keeping of them, an happy and blessed Work: would any one have imitated this foolish Providence, and empty Care? Yet this is the Beauty, Gravity, and Happiness of the Stoical Consent, being nothing else but a gathering together, and keeping of useless and indifferent things. For such are things according to Nature, and more, exterior things: If they compare the greatest Riches to Fringes and golden Chamber-pots, and sometimes also, as it happens to Oil Cruets. Then, as those, who seem proudly to have affronted and railed at some Gods or Demi-Gods, presently changing their Note, fall prostrate, and sit humbly on the Ground, praising and magnifying the Divinity: so these Men, through a certain Punishment of this Arrogancy and Vanity, again exercise themselves in these indifferent things, and such as pertain nothing to them, crying out with a loud Voice, how good, how specious, and how honourable a thing, the storing up of these things, and the Communication in them is, and that 'tis not meet for those, who have them not, to live, but to dispatch out of the way, and famish themselves, bidding a long farewell to virtue.  
They esteem indeed Theognis to have been a Man altogether of a base and abject Spirit, for saying, as one over-fearful,[ in Verse:] 
From Poverty to fly, into the Deep  
Throw thyself, Cyrnus, or from Rocks so steep.  Yet they themselves exhort the same thing, and affirm, that a Man, to free himself from some great Disease, or exceedingly acute Pain, if he have not at hand Sword or poison, ought to leap into the Sea, or throw himself headlong from a Precipice. Neither of which is hurtful, or evil, or incommodious, or makes them, who fall into it, miserable. With what then, says he, shall I begin? and what shall I take for the Principle of Duty, and Matter of virtue, leaving Nature, and that, which is according to Nature? With what, O good Sir, do Ar●stotle and Theophrastus begin? What Beginnings do Xenocrates and Polemon take? Does not also Zeno follow these, supposing Nature, and that, which is according to Nature, to be the Elements of Happiness? But they indeed persisted in these things, as desirable, good, and profitable, and joining to them virtue, which employs them, and uses every one of them according to its Property, thought to complete and consummate a perfect Life, and one every way absolute, producing that Concord, which is truly suitable and consonant to Nature: Not like those, who, leaping up from the Ground, and presently falling down again upon it, were disturbed, terming the same things acceptable, and not desirable; proper, and not good; unprofitable, and yet useful; nothing to us, and yet the Principles of Duties. But the Life of those Men was such, as their Speech exhibiting their Actions suitable and consonant to their Sayings. But they, who are of the stoics Sect, not unlike to that Woman in Archilochus, who deceitfully carried in one Hand Water, in the other Fire, by some Doctrines draw Nature to them, and by others drive her from them. Or rather by their Deeds and Actions they embrace those things, which are according to Nature, as good and desirable; but in Words and Speeches they reject and contemn them, as indifferent and of no use to virtue, for the acquiring Felicity.  
Now, forasmuch as all Men esteem the sovereign Good to be joyous, desirable, happy, of the greatest Dignity, self-sufficient, and wanting nothing: compare their Good, and see,[ how it ag●ees with this common Conception.] Does the stretching out a Finger prudently produce this Joy? Is a prudent Torture a thing desirable? Is he happy, who with reason breaks his Neck? Is that of the greatest Dignity, which Reason often chooses to let go for that, which is not Good? Is that perfect, and self sufficient, which though they enjoy, yet if they have not also indifferent things, they neither can nor will endure to live? Was there ever any other Discourse, by which Custom was more injured, taking and plucking from her her genuine Notions, being as her Legitimate Children, and supposing other bastardly, wild, and illegitimate ones in their room, and necessitating her to nourish and cherish the one instead of the other? and that in those which concern things good and bad, desirable and avoidable, proper and strange, the Energy of which ought to be more clearly distinguished, than that of Hot and could, Black and White. For the Imaginations of these things are brought in by the Senses from without; but those have their Original bread from the good things, which we have within us. But these Men entering with their logic upon the topic of Felicity, as on the Sophism, called Pseudomenos, or that named Kyrieuon, have removed no Ambiguity, but brought in very many.  
Indeed of two good things, of which the one is the End, the other belongs to the End, none is ignorant, that the End is the greater and perfecter Good. Chrysiptus also acknowledges this Difference, as is manifest from his third Book, of good Things. For he dissents from those, who make Science the End, and sets it down in his Treatise of Justice. And if any one supposes Pleasure to be the End, he does not think, that Justice can be safe; but grants, it may, if Pleasure is not said to be the End, but simply a Good. Nor do I think, that you would now hear me repeating his Words: since his third Book of Justice is every where to be had. When therefore, O my Friend, they elsewhere say, that no one Good is greater or less than another, and that what is not the End, is equal to the End, they contradict not only the common Conceptions, but even their own Words. Again, if of two Evils, the one, when it is present, renders us worse, and the other hurts us indeed, but renders us not worse, that in my Opinion is the greater, which renders us worse. Now Chrysippus indeed confesses, that there are some Fears, and Sorrows, and Errors, which hurt us, but render us not worse. red his first Book of Justice against Plato: for in respect of other things, 'tis worth the while to note the babbling of the Man in that Place, delivering indifferently all Matters and Doctrines, as well proper to his own Sect, as foreign, against common Sense: as when he says, that there may be two Ends or Scopes proposed of Life, and that all the things we do, are not to be referred to one. And yet this is more against common Sense, that there is an End, and yet that every Action is to be referred to another, and nevertheless they must of necessity endure one of these. For if those things, that are first according to Nature, are not eligible for themselves and the last End, but the Choice and taking of them is agreeable to Reason, and that every one therefore does all his Actions for the acquiring the first things according to Nature, and that all things which are done, have their Reference to this, that the principal things, according to Nature may be obtained. For if they think, that they who neither aim nor aspire to get these things, have an end, there must be something else, to which the Choice of these things must be referred, and not the things themselves. For the end indeed is to choose and receive these things prudently But the things themselves, and the enjoying of them, is not the End, but is subjected as a certain Matter, having a Worthiness to be chosen. For this is my Opinion, that they both use and writ this very Expression, to show the Difference.  Lamprias. 
You have exactly related, both what they say, and in what manner they deliver it.  Diadumenus. 
But observe, how it fares with them, as with those, that endeavour to leap over their own Shadow: for they do not leave behind, but[ always] carry along with them in their Speech some Absurdity, most remote from common Sense. For as, if any one should say, that he, who shoots, does all he can, not that he may hit the Mark, but that he may do, all he can, such an one would rightly be esteemed to speak enigmatically and prodigiously: so these doting Dreamers, who contend, that the obtaining of natural things is not the End of aiming after natural things, but only the taking and choosing them; and that the Desire and endeavour after Health is not in every one terminated in the Enjoyment of Health; but that on the contrary, the Enjoyment of H●alth is referred to the Desire and endeavour after it, and that certain Walkings, and Contentions of Speech, and suffering Incisions, and taking of Medicines, so they are done by Reason, are the End of Health, and not Health of them:[ they, I say] trifle like to those, who say, Let us Sup, that we may Kill, that we may Bath. But this rather changes Order and Custom, and all things, which these Men say, carry with them the total Subversion and Confusion of Affairs. Thus we do not desire to take a Walk in fit time, that we may digest our Meat; but[ we digest our Meat] that we may take a Walk in fit time. Has Nature also made Health for the Sake of Hellebore, instead of producing Hellebore for the Sake of Health? For what is wanting to bring them to the highest Degree of speaking Paradoxes, but the saying of such things? What difference is there between him, who says that Health was made for the Sake of Medicines, and not Medicines for the Sake of Health; and him, who makes the Choice of Medicines, and their Composition, and Use, more desirable than Health itself? or rather, who esteems Health not at all desirable, but placing the End in the Negotiation about these things, prefers Desire to Enjoyment, and not Enjoyment to Desire: For to Desire; forsooth, is joined the Proceeding wisely and discreetly. 'tis true indeed, we will say, if Respect be had to the End,[ that is] the Enjoyment and Possession of the Things, it pursues; but otherwise 'tis wholly voided of Reason, if it does all things for the obtaining of that, the Enjoyment of which is neither honourable nor Happy.  Lamprias. 
Now since we are fallen upon this Discourse, any thing may rather be said to agree with common Sense, than that those, who have neither received nor have any Conception of Good, do nevertheless desire and pursue it: For you see, how Chrysippus drives Ariston into this Difficulty, that he should understand an Indifference in things, inclining neither to Good nor Bad, before either Good or Bad are themselves understood: for so its Indifference will appear to have subsisted before, if the understanding of it cannot be perceived, unless Good be understood: now this is no other thing, but only Good.  Diadumenus. 
Understand now, and consider this Indifference taken out of the Stoa, and called Consent: whence, and in what manner it gives us the Knowledge of Good, for if without Good the Indifference to that, which is not Good, cannot be understood: much less does the Prudence of good things give any Intelligence to those, who had not before some Prenotion of the Good. But as there can be no Knowledge of the Art of things wholesome and unwholesome in those, who have not first some Knowledge of the things themselves: so they cannot conceive any Notion of the Science of Good and Evil, who have not some Fore-knowledge of Good and Evil. What then is Good? Nothing, but Prudence. And what is Prudence? Nothing, but the Science of Good. There is much then of Jupiters Corinth, [ that is, much Begging of the Question] admitted into their Reasoning. For I would have you let alone the Turning of the Pestle, lest you should seem to mock them: Although an Accident, like to that, has insinuated itself into their Discourse. For it seems, that to the Understanding of Good one has need to understand Prudence, and to seek for Prudence in the Understanding of Good, being forced always to pursue the one by the other, and thus failing of both: since to the Understanding of each, we have need of that, which cannot be known, without the other be first understood. But there is yet another way, by which you may perceive not only the Perversion, but the Eversion of their Discourse, and the reduction of it entirely to nothing.  
They hold the Essence of Good to be the reasonable Election of things according to Nature: Now the Election is not reasonable, which is directed to some End, as has been said before. What then is this? Nothing else, say they, but to reason rightly in the Election of things according to Nature. First then, the Conception of Good is lost and gone: For to reason rightly in Elections is an Operation, proceeding from an Habit of right Reasoning: and therefore being constrained to take this from the End, and the End not without this, we fail of understanding either of them. Besides, which is more, this reasonable Election must be a Choice of things good, and reasonable, and cooperating to the End: for how can it be reasonable to choose things, which are neither convenient, nor honourable, nor at all eligible? For be it, as they say, a reasonable Election of things, having a Fitness for the causing Felicity: see then to what a beautiful and venerable Conclusion their Discourse brings them. For the End is( it seems) according to them, to reason rightly in the Choice of things, which have a Fitness for the procuring of Happiness. Now when you hear these Words, does not, my Friend, what is said, seem to you strangely extravagant?  Lamprias. 
[ Yes indeed:] but I farther want to know, how this Happens.  Diadumenus. 
You must then be more attentive: for 'tis not for every one to understand this Riddle. Hear therefore and answer. Is not the End, according to them, to reason rightly in the Elections of things according to Nature?  Lamprias. 
So they say.  Diadumenus. 
And these things according to Nature, are they chosen, as good, or as having some Fitness or Preferences[ conducing to Happiness?  Lamprias. 
For this last.]  Diadumenus. 
And is this for the End, or for something else?  Lamprias. 
I think not[ for any thing else;] but for the End.  Diadumenus. 
Now then, having discovered the Matter, see, what befalls them. They say, that the End is to reason rightly, and that Men neither have nor understand any thing of Felicity, but this precious Rectitude of Reasoning in the Elections of things, that are of worth. But there are some, who think, that this is spoken against Antipater, and not against the whole Sect: for that he, being pressed by Carneades, fell into these Fooleries.  
But as for those things, that are against the common Conceptions taught in the Stoa concerning Love, they are all of them concerned in the Absurdity. They say, that those Youths are deformed, who are vicious and foolish; and that the Wise are fair: and yet that none of these beautiful ones is either beloved, or worthy of being beloved. Nor yet is this the worst; but they add, that those deformed ones, who are beloved, cease to be so, when they are become fair. Now, whoever knew such a Love, which is kindled, and has its Being at the Sight of the Bodies Deformity, joined with that of the Soul; and is quenched and decays at the Accession of Beauty, joined with Prudence, Justice and Temperance? These Men are not unlike to those Gnats, which love to settle on the Dregs of Wine, or on Vinegar, but shun and fly away from potable and pleasant Wine. As for that, which they call and term an appearance of Beauty, saying, that it is the Inducement of Love: first it has no Probability: for in those, who are very foul, and highly wicked, there cannot be an Appearance of Beauty, if indeed the Wickedness of the Disposition fills the Face with Deformity. And what is this at last, which some of them say, that the Deformed is worthy of Love, because he one Day will be fair, and expects to have Beauty; but that, when he has obtained it, and is become fair and good, he is beloved of none? For Love, they say, is a certain Hunting after a young Person, as yet indeed unperfect, but naturally well-disposed towards virtue.  Lamprias. 
And what do we now else, O my best Friend, but demonstrate, that their Sect perverts and destroys all our common Conceptions with improbable things, and unusual Expressions? For none would hinder the solicitude of these wise Men towards young Persons, if it were free from that passionate Affection, which all think and say[ to be such, as Penelope's Suitors in Homer seem to aclowledge,] Who all desired to be with her in Bed. Or as Jupiter in another place says to Juno.  
For neither Goddess yet, nor mortal Dame,  
E're kindled in my Heart so great a flamme.  Diadumenus. 
Thus casting moral Philosophy into these Perplexities, in which there is nothing sound, they contemn and deride all about them, as if they were the only Men, who, regulating Nature and Custom, as it ought to be, do accordingly frame their Speech. And yet Nature by its Desires, Pursuits, and Impulses, diverts and induces every one to what is fit. But the Custom of logic being rendered contentious, has received no Benefit or Good, but, like the Ear, diseased by vain Sounds, is filled with Difficulty and Obscurity. Of which, if you think good, we will elsewhere begin a new Discourse. But now we will run through the chief and principal Heads of their Natural Philosophy, which no less confounds the common Conceptions, than that other concerning Ends. First, this is altogether absurd, and against Sense,[ to say] that is, which is not, and that things, which are not, are. But above all, that is most absurd, which they say of the Universe. For putting round about the Circumference of the World an infinite Vacuum, they say, that the Universe neither is a Body, nor bodiless. It follows then from this, that the Universe has no Being: since with them, Body only has a Being. Since therefore 'tis the Part of that, which has a Being, both to do and suffer, and the Universe has no being: it follows, that the Universe will neither do nor suffer, neither will it be in a Place. For that which takes up Place, is a Body, and the Universe is not a Body. And since that only rests, which continues in one and the same Place, the Universe rests not, because it takes not up Place. Neither yet is it moved, for what is moved must have a Place and Space subjected. Moreover, what is moved, either moves itself, or suffers Motion from another. Now that, which is moved by itself, has some bends and Inclinations, proceeding from its Gravity or Levity: Now Gravity and Levity are certain Habits, or Faculties, or Differences of every Body. But the Universe is not a Body: It follows then of Necessity, that the Universe is neither heavy nor light, and consequently that it has not in itself any Principle of Motion. Nor yet will the Universe be moved by any other: for there is nothing else, besides the Universe. Thus are they necessitated to say, as they do, that the Universe neither rests, nor is moved. Lastly, since, according to their Opinion, it must not be said, that the Universe is a Body; and yet the Heaven, the Earth, Animals, Plants, Men, and Stones, are Bodies: that, which is no Body, will have Bodies for its Parts, and things, which have Existence, will be parts of that, which has no Existence: and that, which is not heavy, will have parts, that are heavy, and what is not light, Parts, that are light: than which there cannot be any Dreams imagined more repugnant to the common Conceptions. Moreover, there is nothing so evident, or so agreeing to common Sense, as that what is not animate, is animate; and what is not inanimate, is inanimate. And yet they overthrow also this Evidence, confessing the Universe to be neither animate nor inanimate. Besides this, none thinks the Universe, of which there is no part wanting, to be unperfect: But they deny the Universe to be perfect: saying, that what is perfect, may be defined; but the Universe, because of its Infiniteness, cannot be defined. Therefore, according to them, there is something, which is neither perfect, nor unperfect. Moreover, the Universe is neither a Part, since there is nothing greater than it; nor the Whole, for the Whole, they say, is predicated only of that, which is digested into Order: but the Universe is through its Infiniteness undetermined, and unorder'd. Moreover, there is not any Cause of the Universe, there being nothing besides the Universe: nor is the Universe the Cause either of other things, or of itself: for its Nature suffers it not to act: and a Cause is understood by Acting. Suppose now, one should ask all Men, what they imagine Nothing to be, and what Notion they have of it; would they not answer, that it is neither a Cause, nor has a Cause, that 'tis neither the Whole, nor a Part, that 'tis neither perfect, nor unperfect, that 'tis neither animate nor inanimate, that that it is neither moved, nor rests, nor subsists, that 'tis neither corporeal, nor incorporeal; and that this, and no other thing, is meant by Nothing? Since then they alone predicate that of the Universe, which all others do of Nothing, it seems plain, that they make the Universe and Nothing to be the same. Time must then be said to be Nothing,[ the same also must be said of] Predicate, Axiom, Connex, Complex: which[ Terms though] they use more than any of the other Philosophers,[ yet] they say, that they are Non entia,[ or things, that have no Being.] But farther to say, that what is true, has no Being, or Subsistence, but is comprehended; and that that is comprehensible and credible, which no way partakes of the Essence of Being; does not this exceed all Absurdity?  
But least these things should seem to have too much of Logical Difficulty, let us proceed to such as pertain more to Natural Philosophy. Since then, as themselves say, Jove is of all Beginning, Midst and End: They ought chiefly to have applied themselves to Remedy, redress, and reduce to the best[ Order] the Conceptions concerning the Gods, if there were in them any thing confused or erroneous; or if not, to have left every one in those Sentiments, which they had from the Laws and Custom concerning the Divinity: 
Since neither now nor yesterday began  
These Thoughts; but have been ever; nor yet can  
A Man be found, who their first Entrance knows.  But these Men, having begun as it were from Vesta to disturb the Opinions settled, and received in every Country concerning the Gods, have not( to speak sincerely) left any thing entire and uncorrupted. For what Man is there, or ever was, except these, who does not believe the Divinity to be immortal, and eternal? Or what is in the common Anticipations more unanimously chanted forth concerning the Gods, than such things, as these: 
There the blessed Gods eternally enjoy  
Their sweet Delights—   
And again, Both Gods immortal, and Earth-dwelling Men.  
And again, 
Exempt from Sickness, and Old Age, are they  
And free from Toil, and have escaped the Bay  
Of roaring Acheron—  One may perhaps light upon some Nations so barbarous and savage, as not to think, there is a God; but there was never found any Man, who, believing a God, did not at the same time believe him immortal, and eternal. Certainly, those who were called Atheists, the Theodores, Diagorases, and Hippons, durst not say, that the Divinity is corruptible; but they did not believe, that there is any thing incorruptible: not indeed admitting the Subsistence of an Incorruptibility, but keeping the Anticipation of a God. But Chrysippus and Cleanthes, having filled, as one may say, Heaven, Earth, Air, and Sea, with Gods, have not yet made any one of all these Gods immortal, or eternal, except Jupiter alone, in whom they consume all the rest: so that in him to consume, is nothing better than to be consumed. For 'tis an Infirmity both to perish by being resolved into another, and to be saved by being nourished by the Resolution of others into himself. Now these are not like other of their Absurdities, gathered by Argument from their Suppositions, or drawn by Consequence from their Doctrines; but they themselves, proclaiming it aloud in their Writings concerning the Gods, providence, Fate and Nature, expressly say, that all the Gods were born, and shall die by the Fire, melting away, in their Opinion, as if they were of Wax or Tin. 'tis indeed as much against common Sense, that God should be mortal, as that Man should be immortal: nay, indeed I do not see, what the Difference between God and Man will be, if God also is a reasonable and corruptible Animal. For if they oppose this fine and subtle Distinction, that Man is mortal, and God not mortal, but corruptible, see, what they get by it. For they will either say, that God is at the same time both immortal and corruptible, or else that he is neither mortal nor immortal: the Absurdity of which even those cannot exceed, who set themselves industriously to device Positions, repugnant to common Sense. I speak of others: for these Men have left no one of the absurdest things unspoken or unattempted.  
To these things Cleanthes, contending for the Conflagration of the World, says, that the Sun will make the Moon, and all the other Stars, like to himself, and will change them into himself. Indeed if the Stars, being Gods, should contribute any thing to the Sun towards their own Destruction, 'twould be very ridiculous for us to make Prayers to them for our Salvation, and to think them the Saviours of Men, whose Nature it is to accelerate their own Corruption and Dissolution. And yet these Men leave nothing unsaid against Epicurus, crying, Out, out, fie, fie upon him, as confounding their Presumption concerning God, by taking away Providence; for God is not only presumed and understood to be immortal and happy, but also a Lover of Men, and careful of them, and beneficial to them: and herein they say true. Now if they, who abolish Providence, take away the Pre-conception concerning God: what do they, who say, that the Gods indeed have care of us, but deny them to be helpful to us, and make them not Bestowers of good things, but of indifferent ones; giving to wit, not virtue, but Wealth, Health, Children, and such like things, none of which is helpful, profitable, desirable or available? Or do not those indeed take away the Conceptions concerning the Gods, but these also scoff at them, and deride them, saying, that one God is a Fruiterer, another a Marriage-Broker, another a Physician, and another a Divine? And yet neither Health, nor Issue, nor plenty of Fruits, are good, but unprofitable to those, who have them.  
The third Point of the Conception concerning the Gods is, that the Gods do in nothing so much differ from Men, as in Happiness and virtue. But, according to Chrysippus, they have not so much as this Difference: for[ he says] that Jupiter does not exceed Dion in virtue, but that Jupiter and Dion, being both wise, are equally aided by one another, when the one enjoys the Motion of the other. For this, and none else, is the Good, which the Gods do to Men, and Men likewise to the Gods, when they are Wise. For they say, that a Man, who falls not short in virtue, comes not behind them also in Felicity: and that he, who, being tormented with Diseases and violent Pains of the Body, makes himself away, is equally happy with Jupiter the saviour, provided he be but Wise. But this Man neither is, nor ever was upon the Earth; but there are infinite millions of Men, unhappy to the highest degree, in the State and Government of Jupiter, which is most excellently administered. Now, what can be more against Sense, than that, Jupiter governing exceedingly well, we should be exceedingly miserable? But if, which 'tis unlawful even to say, he would no longer be a Saviour, nor a Deliverer, nor a Protector, but the contrary to all these glorious Appellations, there can no Goodness be added to the things, that are, neither as to their Multitude, nor Magnitude, as these Men say, all Men living to the height miserable and wickedly, and 'vice neither receiving Addition, nor Unhappiness Increase.  
Nor is this the worst; but they are angry with Menander for saying upon the Stage; 
The chief Beginning of Mens Miseries  
Are things exceeding good.—  For that this is against Sense. And yet they make God, who is good, the Beginning of Evils. For Matter produced not any Evil of itself: for it is without Quality, and whatever Differences it has, it has received them all from that, which moves, and forms it: if indeed Reason, which is within, does also form it, not being made to move and form itself. So that of necessity, Evil, if[ it come] by. Nothing, must have been produced from that, which has no Being; but if by some moving Principle, from God. But if they think, that Jupiter has not the Command of his Parts, nor uses every one of them according to his Reason, they speak against common Sense, and imagine an Animal, many of whose Parts are not subservient to his Will, using their own Operations and Actions, to which the whole gives no Incitation, nor begins their Motion. For there is nothing, which has Life, so ill compacted, as that against its Will, its Feet should go, its Tongue speak, its Hours push, or its Teeth bite. The most of which things God must of necessity suffer, if the Wicked, being Parts of him, do against his Will ly, cheat, rob, and murder one another. But if, as Chysippus says, the very least part cannot possibly behave itself otherwise, than according to Jupiters Pleasure, and if every living thing is so framed by Nature, as to rest, and move according as he inclines it, and as he turns, stays, and disposes it: This Saying is more impious than the former. For 'twere more tolerable to say, that many Parts of Jupiter are through his Weakness and Want of Power, hurried on to do many absurd things against his Nature and Will, than that there is not any Intemperance or Wickedness, of which Jupiter is not the Cause.  
Moreover[ since they affirm] the World to be a City, and the Stars Citizens, if this[ be so, there must be also] Tribes and Magistrates, the Sun[ must be some] Consul, and the Evening Star a Praetor or Mayor of a City. Now I know not, whether any one, that shall go about to confute them for asserting and affirming such things, can show any greater Absurdities than those things, which, they say, are most natural.  
Is it not therefore against Sense[ to say,] that the Seed is more and greater than that, which is produced of it? For we see, that Nature in all Animals and Plants, even those, that are wild, has taken small, slender, and scarce visible things for Principles of Generation to the greatest. For it does not only from a Grain of Wheat produce an Ear-bearing Stalk, or a Vine from the ston of a Grape, but from a small Berry, or Acorn, which has escaped being eaten by the bide, kindling and setting a fire Generation, as it were from a little Spark, it sends forth the Stock of a Bush, or the tall Body of an Oak, Palm, or Pine-Tree. Whence also they say, that Seed is in Greek called {αβγδ}, as it were {αβγδ}, or the wraping up of a great Mass in a little Compass, and that Nature has the Name of {αβγδ}, as if it were {αβγδ}, the Inflation and Diffusion of Reasons and Numbers, opened and loosened by it. And again, the Fire of the World, which, they say, is its Seed, shall after the Conflagration change into its own Seed the World, having a copious Nature from a smaller Body and Bulk, and possessing an infinite space of Vacuum, filled by its Increase, and the World being made, the Weakness again recedes and settles, the Matter being after the Generation gathered and contracted into itself. You may hear them, and red many of their Writings, in which they jangle with the academics, and cry out against them, as confounding all things with their Aparallaxes,[ that is,] in distinguishable Identities, vehemently contending, that there is but one qualified in two Substances. And yet there is no Man, who understands not this, and would not on the contrary think it wonderful and extremely strange, if there should not at all times be found a Stock-Dove to a Stock-Dove, a Bee to a Bee, a Grain of Wheat to a Grain of Wheat, nor, as the Proverb has it, one Fig to another, exactly, and in all respects, alike.  
But these things are plainly against common sense, which the stoics say, and feign, that there are in one Substance two particularly qualified, and that the same Substance, which has particularly one qualified, receives and equally conserves them both. For if there may be two, there may be also three, four and five, and even as many, as you can name, in one and the same Substance, I say not, in its different Parts, but all equally, though even infinite in the whole. Chrysippus then says, that Jupiter is like to Man, as is also the World, and Providence to the Soul. When therefore the Conflagration shall be, Jupiter, who alone of all the Gods is incorruptible, will retire into Providence, and they being together, will both perpetually remain in one Substance of the Aether.  
But leaving now the Gods, and beseeching them to give[ these stoics] common Sense, and a common Understanding, let us look into their Doctrines concerning the-Elements. 'tis against the common Conceptions, that one Body should be the Place of another, or that a Body should penetrate through a Body, neither of them containing any Vacuity; but the Full passing into the Full, and that, which has no distance, being full, and not having any Place by reason of its Continuity, receiving the Mixture. But these Men, not thrusting one thing into one, nor yet two, or three, or ten together; but jumbling all the Parts of the World, being cut piecemeal, in any one thing, which they shall first light on, and saying, that the very least, which is perceived by Sense, will contain the greatest, that shall come unto it, boldly frame a new Doctrine, as in many other things, of that, which convinces them, taking for their Suppositions things repugnant to common Sense. And presently upon this[ they are forced] to admit into their Discourse many monstrous and strange Positions, mixing whole Bodies with whole; of which this also is one, that three are four: for this others put as an Example of those things, which cannot be conceived even in thought. But to the stoics it is a Matter of Truth, that one Cup of Wine, being mixed with two of Water, it will not fail but equal them, extending the whole, and confounding it, to make that, which is one, two, by the Equality of the Mixture with two: For that one remains, and is extended as much as two, and makes that, which is equal to the Double. Now if it happens in the Mixture with two to take the Measure of two in the Diffusion, this is together the Measure both of three and four; of three, because one is mixed with two; and of four, because being mixed with two, it has an equal Quantity with those, with which it is mixed. Now this fine subtlety is a Consequence of their putting Bodies into a Body, and the untelligibleness of the Manner, how one is contained in the Other. For 'tis of necessity, that of Bodies, passing one into another by Mixture, the one should not contain, and the other be contained, nor the one receive, and the other be received within; for this would not be a Mixture, but a Contiguity and Touching of the Superficies, the one entering in, and the other enclosing it without, and the rest of the Parts remaining unmixed and pure, and so it would be one of many different things. But there being a Necessity, according to their Axiom of Mixture, that the things, which are mixed, should be mingled one within the other, and that the same thing should together be contained by being within, and by receiving, contain the other, and that neither of them can possibly be again,[ what it was before,] it comes to pass, that both the Subjects of the Mixture mutually penetrate each other, and that there is not any part of either remaining separate; but that they are necessary all filled with each other. Here now that Leg of Arcesilaus comes in, with much Laughter insulting over their Absurdities; for if these Mixtions are through the whole, what should hinder, but that, this Leg being cut off, and putrify'd, and cast into the Sea, and diffused, not only Antigonus's Fleet, as Arc●silaus said, might sail through it, but also Xerxes's twelve hundred Ships, together with the Gr●cians three hundred Gallies, might fight in it? For the Progress will not thenceforth fail, nor the lesser cease to be in the greater, or else the Mixture will be at an end, and the Extremity of it, touching, where it shall end, will not pass through the whole, but will give over being mingled. But if the Mixture is through the whole, will not the Leg indeed afford the Greeks room for a Sea-fight; but to this there is need of Putrefaction and Change? But if one Glass, or but one Drop of Wine shall fall from hence into the Aegean or Cretian Sea, it will pass into the Ocean or main atlantic Sea, not lightly touching its Superficies, but being spread quiter through it in Depth, Breadth and Length. And this Chrysippus admits, saying immediately in his first Book of Natural Questions, that there is nothing to hinder one Drop of Wine from being mixed with the whole Sea. And that we may not wonder at this, he says, that this one Drop will by Mixtion extend through the whole World. Than which, I know not any thing, that can appear more absurd.  
And this also is against Sense, that there is not in the Nature of Bodies any thing either supreme, or first, or last, in which the Magnitude of the Body may terminate; but that the Phaenomenon of it, still going on, carries the Subject to Infinity and Undeterminateness. For one Body cannot be imagined greater or less than another, if both of them may by their Parts proceed in Infinitum; but the Nature of Inequality is taken away: For of things, that are esteemed unequal, the one falls short in its last Parts, and the other goes on, and exceeds. Now if there is no Inequality, it follows, that there is no Unevenness, nor Roughness of Bodies: for Unevenness is the Inequality of the same Superficies with itself, and Roughness is an Unevenness, joined with Hardness: neither of which is left us by those, who terminate no Body in its last part, but extend them all by the Multitude of their Parts unto an Infinity. And yet is it not evident, that a Man consists of more Parts, than a Finger, and the World of more than a Man? This indeed all Men know and understand, unless they become stoics; but if they are once stoics, they on the contrary say and think, that a Man has no more Parts than a Finger, nor the World than a Man. For Division reduces Bodies to an Infinity; and of Infinites neither is more, or less, or exceeds in Multitude, nor will the Parts of the Remainder cease to be divided, and to afford a Multitude of themselves. How then do they extricate themselves out of these Difficulties? Surely with very great Cunning and Courage. For Chrysippus says, that being asked, if we have any Parts, and how many, and of what, and how many other Parts, they consist, we are to use a Distinction, making it a Position, that the whole Body is compacted of the Head, Trunk, and Legs, as if that were all, which is enquired and doubted of. But if they extend their Interrogation to the last Parts, no such thing is to be undertaken, but we are to say, that they consist not of any certain Parts, nor yet of so many, nor of infinite, nor of finite. And I seem to myself to have used his very Words, that you may perceive, how he maintains the common Notions, forbidding us to think, of what, or how many Parts every Body is compacted, and whether of infinite or finite. For if there were any Medium between Finite and Infinite, as Indifferent is between Good and Evil, he should by telling us, what that is, have solved the Difficulty. But if, as that, which is not equal, is presently understood to be unequal, and that, which is not mortal, to be immortal, we also understand, that, which is not finite, to be immediately infinite: to say, that a Body consists of Parts, neither finite, nor infinite, is, in my Opinion, the same thing, as to affirm, that an Argument is compacted of Positions, neither true, nor false,[ and Number neither of Even, nor Odd.] To this, he with a certain youthful Rashness adds, that, a pyramid consisting of Triangles, the Sides, inclining according to the Juncture, are unequal, and yet do not extend one another, in that they are greater.  
Thus does he keep the common Notions. For if there is any thing greater, and not exceeding, there will be also something less, and not deficient; and so also some thing unequal, which neither exceeds, nor is deficient: that is, there will be an equal thing unequal, a greater not greater, and a less not less. See yet farther, in what manner he answered Democritus, inquiring philosophically and earnestly, if a Cone is divided by a Level at the Basis, what is to be thought of the Superficies of its Segments, whether they are equal or unequal: for if they are unequal, they will render the Cone uneven, receiving many Step-like Incisions and Roughnesses; but if they are equal, the Sections also will be equal, and the Cone will seem to be affencted in the same manner, as the Cylinder, to wit, to be composed not of unequal, but of equal Circles; which is most absurd. Here, that he may convince Democritus of Ignorance, he says, that the Superficies are neither equal or unequal; but that the Bodies are unequal, because the Superficies are neither equal nor unequal. Indeed to ass●rt this for a Law, that Bodies happen to be unequal, the Superficies not being unequal, is the part of a Man, who takes to himself a wonderful Liberty of Writing, whatever comes into his Head. For Reason and manifest Evidence on the contrary give us to understand, that the Superficies of unequal Bodies are unequal, and that the bigger the Body is, the greater also is the Superficies, unless the Excess, by which it is the greater, is voided of a Superficies. For if the Superficies of the greater Bodies do not exceed those of the less, but sooner fail, the Part of that Body, which has an End, will be without an End, and infinite. For if he says, that he is compelled to this[ lest the Inequality of the Superficies might make unequal Incisions, there is no Reason for it.] For those rabbotted Incisions, which he suspects in a Cone, are made by the Inequality of the Body, and not of the Superficies. 'twere ridiculous therefore, that the taking away the Superficies should leave a manifest Unevenness in the Bodies.  
But to persist still in this Matter, what is more repugnant to Sense, than the imagining of such things? For if we admit, that one Superficies is neither equal nor unequal to another, we may say also of Magnitude, and of Number, that one is neither equal nor unequal to another, and this, not having any thing, that we can call or think to be a Neuter, or Medium between Equal and Unequal. Besides, if there are Superficies, neither equal nor unequal, what hinders, but there may be also Circles, neither equal nor unequal? For indeed these Superficies of conic Sections are Circles. And if Circles, why may not also their Diameters be neither equal nor unequal? And if so, why not also Angles, Triangles, parallellograms, Parallelepipeds, and Bodies? For if Longitudes are neither equal nor unequal to one another, neither will Weight, Percussion, or Bodies be equal or unequal. How then dare these Men inveigh against those, who introduce Vacuities, and suppose, that there are some Individuums, and things, combating each other, which neither move, nor are still? when themselves affirm such Axioms, as these, to be false: If any things are not equal to one another, they are unequal to one another: and these things are not equal to one another, therefore they are unequal to one another. But because he says, that there is something greater, and yet not exceeding, it were worth the while to ask, whether these things quadrate with one another. For if they quadrate, how is either the greater? and if they do not quadrate, how can it be, but the one must exceed, and the other fall short? For if neither of these be, it will not quadrate with the greater, or it will also quadrate, that the other is the greater. For those, who keep not the common Conceptions, must of necessity fall into such Perplexities.  
'tis moreover against Sense to say, that nothing touches another; nor is this less, that Bodies touch one another, but touch by nothing. For they are necessitated to admit these things, who leave not the least Parts of a Body, but receive any thing, which is before that, which seems to touch, and never cease to pass still on farther. What therefore these Men principally object to the Patrons of[ those] indivisible[ Bodies, called Atoms] is this, that there is neither a touching of the whole, nor of the Parts by the Parts: for that this makes not a Touching, but a Mixture, and that this is not possible, these Individuals having no Parts. How then do not they themselves fall into the same Inconvenience, leaving no first or last Part, whilst they say, that whole Bodies mutually touch one another by a Term[ or Extremity] and not by a Part? but this Term is not a Body. Therefore one Body shall touch another by that, which is incorporeal, and again shall not touch, that, which is incorporeal, coming between them. And if it shall touch, the Body shall both do, and suffer something by that, which is incorporeal. For 'tis the Nature of Bodies mutually to do and suffer, and to touch. But if the Body has a Touching by that, which is incorporeal, it will have also a Contact, and a Mixture, and a Coalition. Again, in these Contacts and Mixtures, the Extremities of the Bodies must either remain, or not remain, but be corrupted. Now both of these are against Sense. For neither do they themselves admit Corruptions and Generations of incorporeal things; nor can there be a Mixture and Coalition of Bodies, retaining their own Extremities. For the Extremity determines and constitutes the Nature of the Body: and Mixtions, unless the mutual laying of Parts by Parts are thereby understood, wholly confounded all those things that are mixed. And, as these Men say, we must admit the Corruptions of Extremities in Mixtures, and their Generation again in the Separations of them. But this none can easily understand; for by what Bodies mutually touch each other, by the same they press, thrust, and crush each other. Now to do or suffer this by things, that are incorporeal, is impossible, and not so much as to be imagined. But by this they[ would] constrain us to understand it. For if a Sphere[ or round Body] touch a Plain[ or flat Body] by a Point, 'tis manifest, that it may be also rolled upon the Plain by a Point, and if the Superficies of it is painted with Vermilion, it will imprint a read Line on the Plain, and if it is fiery hot, it will burn[ or scorch] the Plain. Now for an incorporeal thing to colour, or a Body to be burnt by that, which is incorporeal, is against Sense. But if we should imagine an earthen or glassy Sphere to fall from an high on a Plain of ston, 'twere against Reason to think, it would not be broken, being struck against that which is hard and solid; but 'twould be more absurd, that it should be broken, falling by an Extremity, or Point, that is incorporeal. So that the Anticipations concerning things Incorporeal and Corporeal are wholly disturbed, or rather taken away, by their joining to them many Impossibilities.  
'tis also against common Sense, that there should be a Time future, and past, but no time present, and that Erewhile and Lately subsist, but Now is nothing at all. Yet this often befalls the stoics, who admit not the least time[ between] nor will allow the Present to be indivisible; but whatsoever any one thinks to take and understand, as present, one part of that they say to be future, and the other part past: so that there is no Part remaining or left of the present Time; but of that, which i● said to be present, one part is distributed to the future, the other to the past. Therefore one of these two things follows, either that holding there was a Time, and there will be a Time, we must deny, there is a Time; or must hold, that there is a Time present, part of which has already been, and part will be; and say, that of that, which now is, one part is future, and the other past; and that of Now, one part is before, and the other behind; and that of Now is that, which is neither yet Now, nor still Now: for that, which is past, is no longer Now, and that, which is to come, is not yet Now. And dividing[ thus the present, they must needs] say of the[ Year, and of the Light] that part of it was of the Year past, and part will be of the Year to come; and that of what is together, there is a first, and a last. For no less are they perplexed, confounding together these Terms, Not yet, and Already, and No longer, and Now, and Not now. But all other Men suppose, esteem, and think, Erewhile, and a While hence to be different parts of Time from Now, which is followed by the one, and preceded by the other. But Archedemus, saying, that Now is the Beginning and Juncture of that, which is past, and that, which is near at hand, perceived not( 'tis likely) that he thereby took away all Time. For if Now is no Time, but only a Term[ or Extremity] of Time, and every part of Time is such, as Now, all Time seems to have no Parts, but to be wholly dissolved into Terms, joints, and Beginnings. But Chrysippus, desiring to show more Artifice in his Division, in his[ Book] of Vacuity, and some others, says, that the past and future Time are not, but either have subsisted, or will subsist, and that the present only is; but in his third, fourth, and fifth Book concerning Parts, he asserts, that of th● present time one part is past, the other to come. Thus it comes to pass, that he divides subsisting Time into non-subsisting[ Parts] of a subsisting[ Total] or rather leaves nothing at all of Time subsisting, If the present has no part, but what is either future, or past. These Mens Conception therefore of Time is not unlike the Grasping of Water, which, the harder it is held, the more it slides and runs away. As to Actions and Motions, all Evidence is utterly confounded. For if Now is divided into past and future, 'tis of necessity, that what is now moved, partly has been moved, and partly shall be moved; that the End and Beginning of Motion be taken away; that nothing of any Work has been done first, nor shall any thing be last, the Actions being distributed with Time. For as they say, that of Present Time, part is past, and part to come: so of that, which is doing,[ it will be said] that part is done, and part shall be done. When therefore had to Dine, to writ, to Walk, a Beginning? when shall they have an End? if every one, who Dines, has dined, and shall Dine, and every one, who Walks, has walked, and shall Walk? But this is, as 'tis said, of all Absurdities the most absurd, if he, who now Lives, has already lived, and shall live,[ for then] to Live, neither had Beginning, nor shall have End; but every one of us, as it seems, was born without beginning, and shall die without ceasing to live. For if there is no last part, but he, who lives, has something of the present still remaining for the future;[ to say] Socrates shall live, will never be false, as long as it shall be true[ to say] Socrates lives;[ and as long as it shall be true to say, Socrates shall live] it will be false[ to say] Socrates is dead. So that if[ to say] Socrates shall live, is true in infinite parts of Time, it will in no part of Time be true[ to say] Socrates is dead. And verily what End will there be of a Work? and where will you terminate an Action, if as often, as 'tis true[ to say] This is doing, 'tis likewise true to say, This shall be doing? For he will ly, who shall say, there will be an End of Plato's Writing and Disputing: since Plato will never give over to[ writ and] Dispute, if 'tis never false[ to say] of him who disputes, that he shall dispute, and of him who writes, that he shall writ. Moreover, there will be no part of that, which now is, but either has been, or is to be, and either past or future; but of what has been, and is to be, of past and future there is no Sense: therefore is absolutely no Sense of any thing. For we neither see, what is past or future, nor do we hear, or have any other Sense of what has been, or is to be. Nor is, what is present, to be perceived by Sense, if of the present part is always future, and part past; part has been, and part is to be.  
Now they indeed say, that Epicurus does intolerable things, and violates the Conceptions in moving all Bodies with equal celerity, and admitting none of them to be swifter than another. And yet it is much more intolerable, and farther remote from Sense, that nothing can be overtaken by another, 
Not, though Adrastuses swift-footed stead  
Should chase the Tortoise slow,—  As the Proverb has it. Now this must of necessity fall out, if, things moving according to Before and Behind, the Intervals[ or Spaces] through which they pass, are, as these Mens Tenet is, divisible in infinitum: for if th● Tortoise[ is] but a furlong[ before] the Horse, they, who divide this[ Furlong] in insinitum, and move them both according to Prius and Posterius, will never bring the swiftest to the slowest; the slower always adding some Interval[ or Space] divisible into infinite Spaces. Now to affirm, that, Water being poured from a Bowl or Cup, it will never be all poured out, is it not both both against common Sense, and a Consequence of what these Men say? For no Man can understand the Motion according to Before of things, divisible in infinitum, to be consummated; but leaving always somewhat divisible, it will make all the Effusion, all the Running and Flux of a Liquid, Motion of a Solid, and Fall of an heavy thing imperfect. I pass by many Absurdities of theirs, touching only such, as are against Sense.  
The Dispute concerning Increase is indeed ancient: for the Question, as Chrysippus says, was put by Epicharmus. Now, whereas those of the Academy think, that the Doubt is not very easy, these Men have mightily exclaimed against them, and accused them of taking away the Anticipations, and yet themselves are so far from preserving the common Notions, that they pervert even Sense itself. For the Discourse is simplo, and these Men grant the Suppositions, that all particular Substances flow, and are carried; some of them emitting forth somewhat from themselves, and others receiving things coming from elsewhere: and that the things, to which there is made an Accession, or from which there is a Decession by Numbers and Multitudes, do not remain the same, but become others by the said Accessions, the Substance receiving a Change: and that these Changes are not rightly called by Custom Increasings or Diminutions; when 'tis fitter, they should be styled Generations and Corruptions: because they drive by force from one State to another; whereas to increase and be diminished are Passions of a Body, that is subject and permanent. These things being thus in a manner said and delivered, what would these Defenders of Evidence, and caconical Reformers of Conceptions have? Every one of us to be double, twin-like, and composed of a double Nature: not as the Poets seign'd of the Molionidae, that they in some parts grow together, and in some parts are separated; but every one of us to have two Bodies, having the same Colour, the same Figure, the same Weight and Place** things never before seen by any Man; but these Men alone have discerned this Composition, Doubleness, and Ambiguity, how every one of us is two Subjects, the one in Substance, the other*** and the one is in perpetual Flux and Motion, neither increasing, nor being diminished, nor remaining altogether, the other remains, and increases, and is diminished, and suffers all things contrary to the former, with which it is concorporate, conjoined and confounded, and exhibits not any difference, to be perceived by Sense. Indeed that Lynceus is said to have penetrated Stones and Oaks with his Sight, and a certain Man, sitting on a Watch-Tower in Sicily, beholded the Ships of the Carthaginians setting forth from their harbour, which was a Days and a Nights Sail from thence. Callicrates and Myrmecides are said to have made Chariots, that might be covered with the Wings of a Fly, and to have engraved Homers Verses on a Sesam seed. But none ever discerned or discovered this Diversity and Motion in us; nor have we perceived ourselves to be double, in one part always flowing, and in the other remaining the same from our Birth, even to our Death. But I make the Discourse more simplo: since they make four Subjects in every one, or rather every one of us to be four. But two are sufficient to show their Absurdity. For if, when we hear Pentheus in the Tragedy affirm, that he sees two Suns, and two Cities of Thebes, we say, that he does not see, but that his Sight dazzles, he being transported and troubled in his Discourses: why do we not bid those farewell, who assert not one City alone, but all Men, and Animals, and all Trees, Vessels, Instruments, and clothes, to be double, and composed of two, as Men, who constrain us to dote, rather than to understand. But this feigning other Natures of Subjects, must perhaps be pardoned them: for there appears no other Invention, by which they can maintain and uphold the Augmentations, of which they are so fond.  
But by what Cause moved, or for the adorning of what other Suppositions, they frame in a manner innumerable Differences and Ideas of Bodies in the Soul, there is none can say, unless it be, that they would remove, or rather wholly abdicate and destroy the common and usual Notions, for to introduce other foreign and strange ones. For 'tis very absurd, that making all virtues, and Vices, and with them, all Arts, Memories, Fancies, Passions, Impulses, and Assents to be Bodies, they should affirm, that they neither lie nor subsist in any Subject, leaving them for a Place one only Hole, like a Prick, in the Heart, where they crowd the principal part of the Soul, enclosed with so many Bodies, that a very great number of them lies hide, even from those, who think, they can separate and distinguish them one from another: Nay, that they should not only make them Bodies, but also rational Creatures, and even a Swarm of such Creatures, not friendly or gentle, but a Multitude, rebelling by their Malice against Evidence and Custom. But they say, that not only Virtues and Vices, not only the Passions, as Anger, Envy, Grief, and Maliciousness; not only Comprehensions, Fancies, and Ignorances, nor only Arts, as Shoo-making, and working in Brass are Animals; but besides these, also they make even the Operations Bodies and Animals,[ saying, that] Walking is an Animal, as also Dancing, Supposing, Saluting, and Railing. The Consequence of this is, that Laughing and Weeping are also Animals; and if so, then also Coughing, Sneezing, Groaning, Spitting, Blowing the Nose, and other such like things sufficiently known. Neither have they any Cause to take it ill, that they are by ●●●son, proceeding leisurely, reduced to this, if they ●hall call to mind, how Chrysippus, in his first Book of Natural Questions argues thus. Is not Night a Body? And are not then the Evening, Dawning, and Midnight Bodies? Or is not a Day a Body? Is not then the first Day of the Month a Body? and the Tenth, the Fifteenth, and the Thirtieth,[ are they not Bodies?] Is not a Month a Body? Summer, Autumn, and the Year,[ are they not Bodies?]  
These things,[ which we have already mentioned] they hold against the common Conceptions; but those, which follow, also against their own, engendering that, which is most hot, by refrigeration, and that, which is most subtle, by Condensation. For the Soul, to wit, is[ a Substance] most hot, and most subtle. But this they make by the Refrigeration and Condensation of the Body, changing, as it were by Induration, the Spirit, which of Vegetative is made Animal. Moreover, they say, that the Sun became animated, his Moisture changing into intellectual Fire. Behold how the Sun is imagined to be engendered by Refrigeration. Xenophanes indeed, when one  told him, that he had seen Eels living in hot Water, answered, We will boil them then in could. But if these Men engender Heat by Refrigeration, and Lightness by Condensation, it follows, they must also generate could things by Heat, thick things by Dissolution, and heavy things by Rarefaction, that so they may keep some Proportion in their Absurdity.  
And do they not also determine the Substance and Generation of Conception itself, even against the[ common] Conceptions? For Conception is a certain Imagination, and Imagination an Impression in the Soul. Now the Nature of the Soul is an Exhalation, in which it is difficult for an Impression to be made, because of its Tenuity, and for which to keep an Impression, it may have received, 'tis impossible. For its Nutriment and Generat●●● consisting of moist things, has a continual Succession and Consumption. And the Mixture of Respiration with the Air, always makes some new Exhalation, altered and changed by the Flux of the Air, coming from abroad, and again going out. For one may more Easily imagine, that a Stream of running Water can retain Figures, Impressions, and Images, than a Spirit, which being carried in vapours and Humors, is continually mingled with another idle and strange Breath from without. But these Men so far forget themselves, that having defined the Conceptions to be certain stor'd-up Intelligences and Memories, to be constant and habitual Impressions; and having wholly fixed the Sciences, as having Stability and Firmness, they presently place under them a Basis and Seat of a slippery Substance, easy to be dissipated, and in perpetual Flux and Motion.  
Now the common Conception of an Element and Principle, naturally imprinted in almost all Men, is this, that it is simplo, unmixed, and uncompounded. For that is not an Element or Principle, which is mixed; but those things[ are so,] of which it is mixed. But these Men, making God, who is the Principle[ of all things] to be an intellectual Body, and a Mind seated in Matter, pronounce him to be neither simplo, nor uncompounded, but[ to be composed] of, and by another. Matter indeed, being of itself without Reason, and voided of Quality, has Simplicity, and the Property of a Principle. If then God is not incorporeal and immaterial, he participates of Matter, as a Principle. For if Matter and Reason are one and the same thing, they have not rightly defined Matter to be reasonless; but if they are different things, then is God constituted of them both, and is not a simplo, but compound thing, having to the Intellectual taken the Corporeal from Matter.  
Moreover, calling these four Bodies, Earth, Water, Air and Fire, the first Elements, they do, I know not how, make some of them simplo and pure, and other● compound and mixed; for they hold, that Earth and Water neither contain themselves nor other things, but preserve their Uni●y by the Participation of Air, and Force of Fire; but that Air and Fire do both fortify themselves by their own strength, and being mixed with the other two, give them Force, Permanence, and Subsistence. How then is either Earth ●or Water, an Element, if neither of them is either simplo, or first, or self-sufficient; but wanting somewhat from without, to contain and keep it in its Being? For they have not left so much as a Thought of their Substance; but this Discourse concerning the Earth has much Confusion and Uncertainty,[ when they say, that it subsists] of itself; for if the Earth is of itself, how has it need of the Air, to fix and contain it? But neither the Earth nor Water can any more be[ said to be] of itself; but the Air, drawing together, and thickening the Matter, has made the Earth, and again, dissolving and mollifying it, has produced the Water. Neither of these then is an Element, since something else has contributed Being and Generation to them both. Moreover, they say, that Substance and Matter are subject to Qualities, and do so in a manner define them; and again, they make the Qualities to be also Bodies. But these things have much Perplexity; for, if Qualities have a peculiar Substance, for which they both are, and are called Bodies, they need no other Substance, for they have one of their own. But if they have only under them that, which is common, which they call Essence and Matter, 'tis manifest, they do but participate of the Body, for they are not Bodies. But the Subject and Recipient must of necessity differ from those things, which it receives, and to which it is subject. But these Men see by halves, for they say indeed, that Matter is voided of Quality; but they will not call Qualities immaterial. Now how can they make a Body without Quality, who understand not Quality without a Body? For the reason which joins to all Quality a Body, suffers not the Understanding to comprehend any Body without some Quality. Either therefore he, who oppugns incorporeal Quality, seems also to oppugn unqualify'd Matter; or separating the one from the other, he mutually parts them both. As for the Reason, which some pretend, that Matter is called unqualify'd, not because it is voided of all Quality, but because it has all Qualities, is most of all against Sense: for no Man calls that unqualify'd, which is uncapable of no Quality; nor that impassable, which is by Nature always apt to suffer all things; nor that immovable, which is moved every way. And this Doubt is not solved, that, howsoever Matter is always understood with Quality, yet 'tis understood to be another thing, and differing from Quality.   

Plutarch's Morals: Vol. IV.  
The Contradictions of the stoics.  Translated out of the Greek, by E. Smith, M.A. 
I First lay down this for an Axiom, that there[ ought to] be seen in Mens Lives an Agreement with their Doctrines. For 'tis not so necessary, that the Pleader( as Aeschines has it) and the Law, speak one and the same thing, as that the Life of a Philosopher be consonant to his Speech. For the Speech of a Philosopher is a Law of his own, and voluntarily imposed on himself, unless they esteem Philosophy to be a Game, or an Acuteness in Disputing[ invented] for the gaining of Applause, and not, what it really is, a thing, deserving[ our] greatest Study[ and Industry.] Since then there are in their Discourses many things written by Zeno himself, many by Cleanthes, and most of all by Chrysippus, concerning Policy, Governing, and being Governed, concerning Judging and Pleading; and yet there is not to be found in any of their Lives, either leading of Armies, making of Laws, going to Parliament, pleading before the Judges, fighting for their Country, traveling on Embassies, or bestowing of L●rgesses on the People; but they have all, feeding[ If I may so say] on Rest, as on the Lotus, lead their whole Lives, and those not short, but very long ones, in foreign Countries, amongst Disputations, Books, and Walkings: 'tis manifest, that they have lived, rather according to the Writings and Sayings of others, than their own Professions, having spent all their Days in that Repose, which Epicurus and Hieronymus[ so much] commend.  
Chrysippus indeed himself, in his fourth Book Of Lives, thinks, there is[ little or] no difference between a scholastic Life, and a voluptuous one. I will set down here his very Words. They[ says he] who are of Opinion, that a scholastic Life is from the very Beginning, most suitable to Philosophers, seem to me to be in an Error, thinking that they ought to do this for the sake of some Recreation, or some other thing like to it, and in that manner to spin out the whole[ Course of their] Life: that is, if it may be explained, to live at ease. For this Opinion of theirs is not to be concealed, many of them delivering it clearly, and not a few more obscurely. Who therefore did more grow old in this scholastic[ or idle] Life, than Chrysippus, Cleanthes, Diogenes, Zeno, and Antipater? who left their Countreys, not out of any Discontent, but that they might quietly enjoy their Delight, studying and disputing at their leisure.[ To verify which] Aristocreton, the Disciple, and intimate Friend of Chrysippus, having erected his Statue of Brass upon a Pillar, engraved on it these Verses.  
This brazen Statue Aristocreon  
To's Friend Chrysippus newly here has put,  
Whose sharp-edg'd Wit, like Sword of Champion,  
Did academic Knots in sunder cut.  
Such an one then was Chrysippus, an old Man, a Philosopher, one, who praised the Regal and Civil Life, and thought, there is no difference between a scholastic and a voluptuous one.  
But those others of them, who intermeddle in State Affairs, act yet more contradictorily to their own Doctrines; for they govern, judge, consult, make Laws, punish, and honour, as if Those were indeed Cities, in the Government of which they concern themselves; Those truly Counsellors and Judges, who are at any time allotted to such Offices; Those Generals, who are chosen by Suffrages; and Those Laws, which were made by Clisthenes, Lycurgus, and Solon, whom they affirm to have been vicious Men and Fools.  
Indeed Antipater, in his Writings concerning the Difference between Cleanthes and Chrysippus has related, that Zeno and Cleanthes would not be made Citizens of Athens, lest they might seem to injure their own Countreys. I shall not much insist upon it, that, if they did well, Chrysippus acted amiss, in suffering himself to be enrolled, as a Member of that City. But this is very contradictory and absurd, that removing their Persons and their Lives so far off amongst Strangers, they reserved their Names for their Countreys:[ which is the same thing] as if a Man, leaving his Wife, and cohabiting and bedding with another, and getting Children on her, should yet refuse to contract Marriage with the second, lest he might seem to wrong the former. Again, Chrysippus, writing in his Treatise Of rhetoric, that a wise Man will so pled, and act in the Management of a Common-wealth, as if Riches, Glory, and Health were[ really] good, confesses that his Speeches are inextricable and impolitic, and his Doctrines unsuitable for the Uses and Actions[ of human Life.]  
'tis moreover a Doctrine of Zeno's, that Temples are not to be built to the Gods; for that a Temple is neither a thing of much value, nor holy: since no Work of Carpenters, and Handicrafts Men can be of much value. And yet they, who praise these things, as well[ and wisely] said, are initiated in the sacred Mysteries, go up to the Castle,[ where Minerva's Temple stands,] adore the Shrines, and adorn with Garlands the Sacraries, being the Works of Carpenters, and mechanical Persons. Again, they think, that the Epicureans, who sacrifice to the Gods[ and yet deny them to meddle with the Government of the World] do thereby refute themselves; whereas they themselves are more contrary to themselves, sacrificing on Altars and in Temples, which they affirm ought not to stand, nor to have been built.  
Moreover, Zeno admits, as Plato does, several Virtues according to their differences, to wit, Prudence, Fortitude, Temperance, and Justice, as being indeed inseparable; but yet divers and different from one another. But again, defining every one of them, he says, that Fortitude is Prudence in executing, Justice Prudence in distributing, as being one and the same virtue, but seeming to differ in its relations to Affairs, according[ as they come] to Action. Nor does Zeno alone seem to contradict himself in these Matters; but Chrysippus also, who blames Ariston for saying, that the other[ virtues] are[ different] Habits of one and the same virtue, and yet defends Zeno, who in this manner defines every one of the virtues. And Cleanthes, having in his Commentaries concerning Nature said, that the vigour[ of things] is the striking of Fire, which, if it is sufficient in the Soul to perform the[ Duties] presented to it, is called Force and Strength, subjoins these very Words: Now this Force and Strength, when it is in things apparent, and to be persisted in, is ꝯtinence; when in things to be endured, 'tis Fortitude; when about Worthiness, 'tis Justice; and when about Choosing or Refusing; 'tis Temperance.  
Against him, who said, Give not thy judgement, till both Sides are heard, Zeno on the contrary made use of such an Argument as this. If he, who spake first, has plainly proved[ his Cause] the second is not to be heard, for the Question is at an end; and if he has not proved it, 'tis the same Case, as if being cited, he did not appear, or appearing, did[ nothing but] wrangle: so that, whether he has proved or not proved his Cause, the second is not to be heard. And yet he, who made this Dilemma, has written against Plato's Common-weal, dissolved Sophisms, and exhorted his Scholars to learn logic, as enabling them to do the same. Now Plato has either proved, or not proved those things[ which he writ] in his Common-weal; but in neither Case it was necessary to writ against him, but wholly superfluous and vain. The same may be said concerning Sophisms.  
Chrysippus is of Opinion, that young[ Students] should first learn logic, secondly ethics, and, after these, physics, and likewise in this, to meddle last of all with the Disputes concerning the Gods. Now these things having been often said by him, 'twill suffice to set down, what is[ to that purpose] found in his fourth Book Of Lives, being thus word for word. First then, says he, it seems to me, according as it has been rightly said by the ancients, that there are three Kinds of Philosophical Speculations; Logical, Ethical, and Physical, and that of these, the Logical ought to be placed first, the Ethical second, and the Physical third, and that of the Physical, the Discourse concerning the Gods ought to be the last: wherefore also the Traditions concerning this have been styled {αβγδ}, [ or the Endings.] But that very Discourse concerning the Gods, which he says ought to be placed the last, he usually places first, and sets before every moral Question; for he is seen not to say any thing, either concerning the Ends, or concerning Justice, or concerning Good and Evil, or concerning Marriage and the Education of Children, or concerning the Law and the Commonwealth, but, as those, who propose Decrees to States, set before them some Wish of good Fortune, so he also premises something of Jupiter, Fate, Providence, the Worlds being one, and finite, and maintained by one Power. None of which any one can be persuaded to believe, who has not penetrated deeply into the Discourses of Natural Philosophy. Hear what he says of this in his third Book of the Gods. For there is not,[ says he] to be found any other Beginning, or any other Generation of Justice, but what is from Jupiter, and common Nature. For thence must every such thing have its Beginning, if we will say any thing concerning Good and Evil. And again in his Natural Positions[ he says:] For one cannot otherwise, or more properly come to the Discourse of Good and Evil, to the virtues, or to Felicity, than from common Nature, and the Administration of the World. And going farther on,[ he adds] For to these we must annex the Discourse concerning Good and Evil, there being no other better Beginning or Relation thereof, and the Speculation of Nature being learn for nothing else, but[ to understand] the Difference between Good and Evil. According to Chrysippus, therefore the Natural Science is both before and after the Moral: or rather, 'tis an Inversion of Order altogether absurd, if this must be put after those things, none of which can be comprehended without this; and his contradicting himself is manifest, when he asserts the Discourse of Nature to be the Beginning of that concerning Good and Evil, and yet commands it to be delivered, not before, but after it.  
Now if any one shall say, that Chrysippus, in his Book concerning the Use of Speech, has written, that he, who applies himself to logic first, needs not absolut●ly to abstain from the rest, but should take as much of them, as shall fall in his way, he will indeed say the truth, but will withal confirm the Fault. For he oppugns himself, one while commanding, that the Science concerning God should be taken last, and for a Conclusion, as being therefore also called {αβγδ}; and again, another while saying, that this is to be learnt together with the very first. For Order is at an end, if all things must be used at all times. But this is more, that having made the Science concerning the Gods the Beginning of that concerning Good and Evil, he bids not those, who apply themselves to the ethics, to begin with that; but learning these, to take of that also, as it shall come in their way, and then to go from these to that, without which, he says there is no Beginning or Entrance upon these.  
As for disputing on both sides, he says, that he does not universally reject it, but exhorts us to use it with caution, as is done in Pleadings, not with Approbation, but to dissolve their Probability. For to those, says he, who endeavour a Suspension of Assent concerning all things, 'tis convenient to do this, and it cooperates to what they desire; but as for those, who would work in us Science, according to which we shall professedly live, they ought to found the contrary, and to direct those, who are entred, from the Beginning to the End; and where there is occasion to make mention of contrary Discourses, to dissolve their Probability, as is done in Pleadings. For this he has said in express Words. Now that it is absurd, for Philosophers to think, that they ought to set down the contrary Opinion, not with all its Reasons, but like Pleaders, disabling it, as if they contended not for Truth, but Victory; we have elsewhere spoken against him. But that he himself has, not[ only] in his Disputations, but frequently confirmed the Discourses, which are contrary to his own Opinions,[ and that] stoutly, and with so much earnestness and Contention, that 'twas not for every one to understand what he liked, they themselves affirm, who admire the Mans Acuteness; and think, that Carneades said nothing of his own, but catching hold of those Arguments, which Chrysippus alleged for the contrary Opinion, assaulted with them his Positions, and often cried out; Wretch, thy own Strength will thee undo— As if he had given great Advantages against himself to those, who would disturb and calumniate his Doctrines.  
But of those things, he has set out against Custom, they are so proud, and do so glory[ in them,] that they fear not to affirm, that all the Sayings of all the academics together, if they were collected into one Body, are not comparable to what Chrysippus has writ in disparagement of the Senses. Which is an evident sign of the Ignorance or Self-love of the Speakers; but this indeed is true, that being afterwards desirous to defend Custom and the Senses, he was inferior to himself, and the latter Treatise was much weaker than the former. So that he contradicts himself: for having always directed the proposing of an Adversaries Opinions, not with Approbation, but with a Demonstration of their Falsity, he has shew'd himself more acute in opposing, then defending his own Doctrines; and having admonished others to take heed of contrary Arguments, as withdrawing Comprehension, he has been more sedulous in framing such Proofs, as take away Comprehension, than such, as confirm it. And yet he plainly shows, that he himself feared this, writing thus in his fourth Book of Lives. Repugnant Arguments, and Probabilities on the contrary side, are not[ rashly] to be proposed, but with caution, lest[ the Hearers,] distracted by them, should let go their Conception, not being able sufficiently to apprehended their Solutions, but so weakly, that their Comprehensions may easily be shaken. For even those, who have, according to custom, preconceiv'd both sensible and other things, quickly forego them, being distracted by Megarian Interrogatories, and others more numerous and forcible. I would willingly therefore ask the stoics, whether they think these Megarian Interrogatories to be more forcible than those, which Chrysippus has written in six Books against Custom, or[ rather] this should be asked of Chrysippus himself. For observe, what he has written about the Megarian Reason, in his Book Concerning the Use of Speech,[ where he says] thus: Some such things fell out in the Discourse of Stilpon and Menedemus: for, whereas they were renowned for Wisdom, their Disputing has turned to their Reproach,[ their Arguments] being part clumsie, and the rest evidently sophistical. And yet, good Sir, you fear, lest those Arguments, which you deride, and term the Disgrace of their Proposers, as having a manifest Faultiness, should divert some from Comprehension. And did not you yourself, writing so many Books against Custom, in which you have added, whatever you could invent, ambitiously striving to exceed Arcesilaus, expect, that you should perplex some of your Readers? For neither does he use slender Arguments against Custom, but, as if he were Pleading, he with some Passion[ in himself] stirs up the Affections[ of others,] telling[ his Opponent,] that he talks foolishly, and labours in vain. And that he may leave no room to deny his speaking of Contradictions, he has in his Natural Positions written thus. It may be lawful for those, who comprehend a thing, to argue on the contrary side, applying it to the Defence, which is in the thing itself; and sometimes, when they comprehend neither, to discourse, what is[ alleged] for either. And having said in his Book Concerning the Use of Speech, that we ought no more to use the Force of Reason, than of Arms, for such things as are not fitting, he subjoins this: For they are to be employed for the finding out of Truths, and for the Alliance of them, and not for the contrary, though many Men do it. By the Many, perhaps he means those, who withhold[ their Assent.] But they indeed, comprehending neither, argue on both sides, as may be perceived: for thus only, or chiefly, does Truth afford a Comprehension of itself. But you, who accuse them, and do yourself writ contrary to those things, which you comprehend concerning Custom, and exhort others with Approbation to do the same in unprofitable and hurtful things, confess, that using the Faculty of Disputing, you, through Ambition act like a young Scholar.  
They say, that a good dead is the Command, and Sin the Prohibition of the Law; and therefore that the Law forbids the Wicked many things, but commands them nothing, because they cannot do a good dead. But who is ignorant, that he, who cannot do a good dead, cannot also sin? Therefore they make the Law to contradict itself, commanding Men those things, which they cannot perform, and forbidding them those things, from which they cannot abstain. For a Man, who cannot be temperate, cannot but act intemperately; and he, who cannot be wise, cannot but act foolishly. And they themselves affirm, that those who forbid, say indeed one thing, forbid another, and command another. For he, who says, Thou shalt not steal,[ at the same time, that] he says this Word, Thou shalt not steal, forbids also to steal. The Law therefore forbids the Wicked nothing, unless it also commands them something. And they say, that the Physician[ or chirurgeon] bids his Disciple[ or Apprentice] to cut and cauterize, without adding these Words, Seasonably and Moderately; and the Musician commands his Scholar to play on the Harp, and Sing, without adding, Tuneably, and keeping Time. Wherefore also they punish those, who do these things unskilfully and faultily: for that they were commanded to do them well, and they have done them ill. If therefore a wise Man commands his Servant to say, or do something, and punishes him for doing it unseasonably, or not as he ought, is it not manifest, that he commanded him to do a good Action, and not an indifferent one? But if wise Men command wicked ones indifferent things, what hinders, but the Commands of the Law may be also such? Moreover, the Instinct, called {αβγδ}, is, according to him, the Reason of a Man, commanding him to do something, as he has written in his Book Of the Law. Is not therefore also the Aversion, called {αβγδ}, a prohibiting Reason, and an Inclination, and that Inclination agreeable to Reason? Caution therefore is also Reason, prohibiting a wise Man: for to be cautious, is proper only to the Wise, and not to the Wicked. If then the Reason of a wise Man is one thing, and the Reason of the Law another, wise Men have caution contrary to the Law; but if the Law is nothing else, but the Reason of a wise Man, the Law is found to forbid wise Men the doing of those things, of which they are cautious.  
Chrysippus says, that nothing is profitable to the Wicked, that the Wicked have neither use nor need of any thing. Having said this in his first Book Of Good Deeds, he says again, that both Commodiousness and Grace pertain to mean[ or indifferent] things, none of which, according to them, is profitable. In the same place he affirms, that there is nothing proper, nothing convenient for a vicious Man: and consequently, that there is nothing strange[ or unfitting] for a good Man, nothing familiar or fitting for a bad one: since, as Goodness is the ones, so Badness is the others. Why then does he break our Heads, writing particularly in every one of his Books, as well Natural as Moral, that as soon as we are born, we are appropriated to ourselves, our Parts, Off-spring? And why in his first Book Of Justice does he say, that the very Brutes, proportionably to the Necessity of their Young, are appropriated[ or affencted] to them, except Fishes, for their Young are nourished by themselves? For neither have they Sense, who have nothing sensible, nor they Appropriation, who have nothing proper: for Appropriation seems to be the Sense and Perception of what is proper. And this Opinion is consequent to their principal ones.  
'tis moreover manifest, that Chrysippus, though he has also written many things to the contrary, lays this for a Position, that there is not any 'vice greater, or any Sin more grievous than another; nor any virtue more excellent, or any good dead better than another: so that he says in his first Book Of Nature: As it well beseems Jupiter to glory in himself and his Life, to magnify himself, and( if we may so say) to bear up his Head, have an high Conceit of himself, and speak big, for that he leads a Life worthy of lofty Speech: so the same things do not mis-beseem all good Men, who are in nothing exceeded by Jupiter. And yet himself, in his third Book Of Justice says, that they, who make Pleasure the End, destroy Justice; but they, who say, 'tis only a Good, do not destroy it. These are his very Words: For perhaps, if we leave this to Pleasure, that 'tis a Good, but not the End, and that Honesty is[ one] of those things, which are eligible for themselves; we may preserve Justice, making Honest and Just a greater Good than Pleasure. But if that is only good, which is honest, he, who affirms Pleasure to be a Good, is in an Error, but he errs less than he who makes it also the End: for the one destroys Justice, the other preserves it; and by the one[ human] Society is overthrown, but the other leaves a Place to Goodness and Humanity. Now I let pass his saying farther in his Book Concerning Jupiter, that the virtues increase and go on, lest I may seem to catch at Words; though Chrysippus indeed is in this kind very sharp upon Plato and others. But when he forbids the praising of every thing, that is done according to virtue, he shows that there is some difference between good Deeds. Now he says thus in his Book Concerning Jupiter: For of Works that are according to virtue, the principal only are to be praised; for he would show himself to be very frigid, that should undertake to praise and extol any Men for holding out the Finger sloutly, for abstaining continently from an old Woman, ready to drop into the Grave, and patiently hearing[ it said,] that three are not exactly four. What he says in his third Book of the Gods, is not unlike to this: For I moreover think, says he, that the Praises of such things, though proceeding from virtue, as are to abstain from an old Woman, who has one Foot in the Grave, and to endure the Stinging of a Wasp, would be very impertinent. What other Reprehender of his Doctrines does this Man then expect? For if he, who praises such things, is frigid, he, who asserts every one of them to be a great, nay, a very great good dead, is much more frigid. For if to bear the Stinging of a Wasp is equal to the being Valiant; and to abstain from an old Woman, who is near her End, to the being Temperate; there is, I think, no difference whether a virtuous Man is praised for these, or for those. Moreover, in his second Book of Friendship, teaching, that Friendships are not for every Fault to be dissolved, he has these very Expressions: For 'tis meet that some[ Faults] should be wholly passed by, others lightly reprehended, others more severely, and others deemed worthy a total Dissolution[ Of Friendship.] And which is more, he says in the same Book, that we will converse with some more, and some less, so that some are more, and some less Friends; this Diversity extending very far: for some are worthy of such an Amity, others of a greater; and these will deserve to be so far trusted, those not so far, and the like. For what else has he done in these Places, but shown the great Diversities, there are between these things? Moreover, in his Book Concerning Honesty, to demonstrate that only to be good, which is honest, he uses these Words: What is good, is eligible; what is eligible, is acceptable; what is acceptable, is laudable; and what is laudable, is honest. And again, What is good, is joyous; what is joyous, is venerable; what is venerable, is honest. But these Speeches are repugnant to himself: for either all Good is commendable, and then the abstaining chastened from an old Woman is also commendable; or all Good is neither venerable, nor joyous, but this Reason is at an end. Or may it perhaps be frigid in others, to praise any for such things, and not ridiculous for him to rejoice and glory in them?  
Such indeed he frequently is; but in his Disputations against others he takes not the least care of speaking things contrary and dissonant to himself. For in his Books Of Exhorting reprehending Plato, who said, that to him, who has neither learnt, nor knows how to live, 'tis profitable not to live; he speaks in this manner: For this Speech is both repugnant to itself, and not at all exhortatory: for first insinuating, that 'tis best for us not to live, and in a sort counseling us to die, he will excite us rather to any thing else, than to be Philosophers: for neither can he, who does not live, philosophize, nor he, who shall live long wickedly and ignorantly, become wise. And going on, he says, that 'tis convenient for the Wicked also to continue in Life. And afterwards thus word for word: First[ as] virtue, barely[ taken,] has nothing towards our Living; so neither has 'vice any thing to oblige us to depart. Nor is it necessary to turn over other Books, that we may show Chrysippus's Contradictoriness to himself; but in these same he sometimes with Commendation brings forth this Saying of Antisthenes, that either Understanding, or an Halter, is to be provided; as also that of Tyrtaeus, Come nigh the Bounds of virtue, or of Death. Now what else will this show, but that to wicked Men and Fools, not to live is more profitable than to live? And sometimes correcting Theogni●, he says, that the Poet should not have written, From Poverty to fly— But rather thus; 
From Wickedness to fly, into the Deep  
Throw thyself, Cyrnus, or from Rocks so steep.  What therefore else does he seem to do, but to set down himself those things and Doctrines, which, when others writ them, he expunges: condemning indeed Plato, for showing, that not to live, is better than to live viciously and ignorantly; and yet with Theoguis counseling a Man to break his Neck, or throw himself into the Sea, that he may avoid 'vice? For having praised Antisthenes for directing Fools to an Halter, he again blames him, saying, that 'vice has nothing that should oblige us to depart out of Life.  
Moreover, in his Books against the same Plato, Concerning Justice, he immediately, at the very beginning, leaps into a Discourse touching the Gods, and says, that Cephalus did not rightly avert Men from Injustice by the Fear of the Gods, and that he may easily be refuted, and that he affords to the contrary many Arguments and Probabilities, impugning the Discourse concerning Divine Punishments, as nothing differing from the Tales of Acco and Alphito,[ or Raw-Head and Bloody-Bones,] with which Women are wont to frighten little Children from their unlucky Pranks. Having thus traduced Plato, he in other places again praises him, and often alleges this Saying of Euripides.  
howe'er you may deride it, there's a Jove,  
With other Gods, who see Mens Facts, above.  
And likewise in his first Book of Justice citing these Verses of Hesiod, 
Then Jove from Heaven Punishments did sand,  
And Plague and Famine brought them to their End.  He says, the Gods do these things, that, the Wicked being punished, others, admonished by these Examples, may less dare to attempt the doing of such things.  
Again, in his Book of Justice, overdoing, that 'tis possible for those, who make Pleasure a Good, but not the End, to preserve also Justice, he said in express Terms: For perhaps if we leave this to Pleasure, that 'tis a Good, but not the End, and that Honesty is one of those things, which are eligible for themselves, we may preserve Justice, making Honest and Just a greater Good than Pleasure. So much[ he says] in this Place concerning Pleasure. But in his Book against Plato, accusing him for seeming to make Health a Good, he says, that not only Justice, but also Magnanimity, Temperance, and all the other virtues will be taken away, if we make Pleasure, Health, or any thing else, which is not Honest, to be a Good. What therefore is to be said for Plato, we have elsewhere written against him. But here his contradicting himself is manifest, when he says in one place, that if a Man supposes, with Honesty, Pleasure also to be a Good, Justice is preserved; and in another, accuses those who make any thing besides Honesty, to be a Good, of taking away all the virtues. But that he may not leave[ any Means of making] an Apology for his Contradictions, writing against Aristotle Concerning Justice, he affirms him not to have spoken rightly, when he said, that Pleasure being[ made] the End, Justice is taken away, and together with Justice, every one also of the other virtues. For that Justice will indeed be taken away; but that there is nothing to hinder the other virtues from remaining, and being, though not eligible for themselves, yet good, and virtues. Then he reckons up every one of them by Name. But[ 'twill be] better to set down his own Words. For Pleasure, says he, appearing, according to this Discourse[ to be made] the End, yet all this seems not to me to be contained in it. Wherefore we must say, that neither any of the virtues is eligible, nor any of the Vices to be avoided for itself, but that all these things are to be referred to the proposed Scope. Yet nothing, according to their Opinion, will hinder, but that Fortitude, Prudence, ꝯtinence, and Patience, may be good, and their Contraries to be avoided. Has there ever then been any Man more peevish in his Disputes than he, who has blamed two of the principal Philosophers; the one for taking away all virtue, by not making that only to be good, which is honest; and the other, for not thinking all the virtues, except Justice, to be preserved, though Pleasure is[ made] the End. For 'tis a wonderful Licentiousness, that discoursing of the same Matters, he should,[ when] accusing Plato, take away again those very things, which himself sets down,[ when] reprehending Aristotle. Moreover, in his Demonstrations concerning Justice, he says expressly, that every good dead is both a lawful Action, and a just Operation; but every thing which is done according to ꝯtinence, Patience, Prudence, or Fortitude, is a good dead, and therefore also a just Operation. Why then does he not also leave Justice to them, to whom he leaves Prudence, Fortitude, and ꝯtinence; since whatever they do well according to the said virtue, they do also justly?  
Moreover, Plato having said, that Injustice, as being the Corruption and Sedition of the Soul, loses not its Power even in those, who have it within them; but sets the wicked Man against himself, and molests, and disturbs him: Chrysippus, blaming this, affirms, that 'tis absurdly said, a Man injures himself: for that Injustice is to another, and not to ones self. But forgetting this, he again says in his Domonstrations concerning Justice, that the unjust Man is injured by himself, and injures himself, when he injures another, becoming to himself the Cause of Transgressing, and undeservedly hurting himself. In his Books indeed against Plato contending, that Injustice is not said against ones self, but against another, he has these Words. For those who are particularly unjust, consist of many such, speaking contrary things; Injustice also being besides so taken, as to be in many, so affencted to one another; and no such thing extending to one alone, but inasmuch as he is affencted towards his Neighbour. But in his Demonstrations he has such Discourses, as these, concerning the unjust Mans being injurious also to himself: The Law forbids the being any way the Author[ or Cause] of Transgression; and to act injustly will be a Transgression: He Therefore, who is to himself the Author[ or Cause] of acting injustly, transgresses against himself. Now he that transgresses against any one, also injures him; therefore he, who is injurious to any one whomsoever, is injurious also to himself. Again, Sin is an Hurt, and every one, who sins, sins against himself; every one therefore, who sins, hurts himself undeservedly, and if so, is also unjusts to himself. And farther thus: He, who is hurt by another, hurts himself, and that undeservedly. Now that is to be unjust. Every one therefore, that is injured, by whomsoever it is, is unjust also to himself. He says, that the Doctrine concerning Good and Evil, which himself introduces and approves, is most agreeable to Life, and does most of all reach the inbred Praenotions; for this he has affirmed in his third Book Of Exhortations. But in his first Book, he says, that this Doctrine takes a Man off from all other things, as bei●●●othing to us, nor co-operating any thing towards Felicity. See now, how consonant he is to himself, when he asserts[ a Doctrine,] which takes us off from Life, Health, Indolence, and Integrity of the Senses, and says, that those things, we beg of the Gods, are nothing to us, to be most agreeable to Life, and to the common Anticipations. But that there may be no Denial of his speaking Contradictions, in his third Book Of Justice he has said thus: Wherefore also for the Excellence of their Greatness and Beauty, we seem to speak things, like to Fictions, and not according to Man or Human Nature. Is it then possible that any one can more plainly confess his speaking things contrary to himself, than this Man does, who affirms those things, which he says for their Excellency seem to be Fictions, and to be spoken above Man, and Human Nature, to be agreeable to Life, and most of all to reach the inbred Praenotions?  
In every one of his Natural and Ethical Books, he asserts 'vice to be the very Essence of Unhappiness: writing and contending, that to live viciously is the same thing as to live unhappily. But in his third Book Of Nature, having said, that 'tis profitable for a Fool to live, rather than to dy, though he is never to become Wise, he subjoins: For such are good things to Men, that evil things do in some sort precede indifferent ones. I let pass therefore, that having elsewhere said, Nothing is profitable to Fools, he here says, that to live foolishly is profitable to them. Now those things being by them called indifferent, which are neither bad nor good, when he says, that bad things precede them, he says nothing else, but that evil things precede those, that are not evil, and that to be unhappy is more profitable than not to be Unhappy; and if so, he esteems not to be unhappy to be more unprofitable; and if more unprofitable, more hurtful than to be unhappy. Desiring therefore to mitigate this Absurdity, he adds concerning Evils: But 'tis not these Evils that prec●de, but Reason, with which 'tis more convenient to live, though we shall be Fools. First therefore he says, that 'vice, and things participating of 'vice, are Evil; and that nothing else[ is so.] Now 'vice is something reasonable, or rather depraved Reason. For those therefore, who are Fools, to live with Reason, is nothing else but to live with 'vice: thence to live being Fools, is to live being unhappy. In what then does this precede indifferent things? For he meant not, that to be happy, does by Nature precede to be unhappy. But neither, say they, does Chrysippus altogether think, that the remaining in Life is to be reckoned amongst good things, or the going out of it amongst bad; but both of them amongst indifferent ones according to Nature. Wherefore also it sometimes becomes meet for the Happy to make themselves away, and again for the Unhappy to continue in Life. Now what greater Repugnance can there be than this in the Choice and avoiding of Things, if 'tis convenient for those, who are in the highest degree happy, to forsake those good things, that are present, for the want of some one indifferent thing? And yet they esteem none of the indifferent things either desirable, or to be avoided; but only Good desirable, and Evil only to be avoided. So that it comes to pass according to them, that the Reasonings about Actions are placed neither upon things desirable, nor upon things refusable; but that aiming at other things, which they neither shun nor choose, they live and die according to them.  
Chrysippus confesses, that good things are totally different from bad, and it must of necssity be so, if these make them, with whom they are present, miserable to the very utmost Point, and those[ render their Possessors] in the highest degree happy. Now he says, that good and evil things are sensible, writing thus in his first Book Of the End: That good and evil things are perceptible by Sense, we are by these[ Reasons] forced to say: for not only the Passions with their Species, as Sorrow, Fear, and such others, are sensible; but we may also have a Sense of Theft, Adultery, and the like, and generally of Folly, cowardice, and other Vices not a few,: And again, not only of Joy, Beneficence, and many other Dependencies on good Deeds, but also of Prudence, Fortitude, and the other virtues. Let us pass by the other Absurdities of these things; but that they are repugnant to those[ things, which are delivered by him] concerning a wise Man, that knows nothing of his being so, who does not confess? For Good, when present, being sensible, and having a great difference from Evil, is it not most absurd, that he, who is of Bad become Good, should be ignorant of it, and not perceive Virtue when present, but think, that 'vice is still within him? For either none, who has all virtues, can be ignorant, and doubt[ of his having them;] or the Difference of virtue from 'vice, of Happiness from Misery, and of a most honest Life from a most shameful one, is little, and altogether difficult to be discerned, if he, who possesses the one for the other, does not perceive it.  
[ He has written] one Volume of Lives,[ divided into] four Books: in the fourth of these, he says, that a wise Man meddles with no Business but his own, and is employed about his own Affairs. His Words are these: For I am of Opinion, that a prudent Man shuns Affairs, meddles little, and at the same time minds his own Occasions, civil Persons being both Minders of their own Affairs, and meddlers with little[ else.] He has said almost the same in his Book Of things eligible for themselves, in these very Words: For indeed a quiet Life seems to have[ in it] a certain Freedom from Danger and Security, though there are not very many, who can comprehend it. 'tis manifest, that he does not much dissent from Epicurus, who takes away Providence, that he may leave God in Repose. But the same Chrysippus in his first Book Of Lives says, That a wise Man willingly takes upon him a Kingdom, making his Profit by it, and if he cannot reign himself, will dwell with a King, and go with him to the Wars,[ though he be] such an one as was Hydanthyrsus the Scythian, or Leucon the pontic.[ But] I will[ here] also set down his very Discourse, that we may see, whether, as from the triple and the Bass Strings there arises a Symphony in music, so the Life of a Man, who chooses Quietness, and meddling with little, accords with him, who upon any necessity rides along with the Scythians, and manages the Affairs of the Tyrants in the Bosphorus: For, says he, that[ a wise Man] will both go to the Wars, and live with Potentates, we will again consider this hereafter; some indeed upon the like Arguments, not so much as suspecting these things, and we for semblable Reasons admitting them. And a little after: Not only with those, who have proceeded well, and are become[ Proficients] in discipline and[ good] Manners, as with Leucon and Hydanthyrsus.  
Some there are, who blame calisthenes for sailing to Alexander, in hopes to obtain the Re-building of Olymthus, as Aristotle[ had procured that] of Stagira; and commend Ephorus, Xenocrates, and Menedemus, who rejected Alexander. But Chrysippus thrusts[ his] wise Man Head forward for the sake of Gain, as far as Panticapeum, and the Desert of the Scythians. And that he does this for the sake of Profit and Gain, he has shew'd before, supposing three ways of gaining most suitable for a wise Man: the first by a Kingdom, the second by his Friends, and the third, besides these, by[ teaching of] Literature. And yet he frequently, even tires us with his Praises of this Saying: What need have Men of more, than these two things? But in his Books Of Nature, he says, that wise Man, if he has lost the greatest Wealth[ imaginable, valves it so little, that he] seems to have lost[ but] a single Groat. But having there thus elevated and puffed him up, he again here throws him down to Mercinariness, and[ teaching of] Sophistry; nay, even to asking and receiving beforehand, sometimes at the very entrance of his Scholar, and otherwhiles after some time past: which he says indeed to be the more civil, but to receive before hand the more sure, Delay being subject to sustain Injuries: Now he says thus: All, who are well advised, do not require their Salary in the same manner, but differently: a Multitude of them, as Opportunity offers, not promising to make[ their Scholars] good Men, and that within a Year; but to do this, as far as in them lies, within a time agreed on. And again, going on,[ he says:] But he will know his Opportunity, whether he ought to receive his recompense presently at the very Entrance,( as many have done) or to give them Time, this Manner being more liable to Injuries, but withal, seeming the more courteous. And how is the wise Man a Contemner of Wealth, who upon a Contract delivers virtue for Money, and if he has not delivered it, yet requires his Reward, as having done what is in him? Or how is he above being endammag'd, when he is so cautious, lest he be wronged of his recompense? For no Man is wronged, who is not endammag'd. Therefore, though he has elsewhere asserted, that a wise Man cannot be injured, he here says, that this manner[ of Dealing] is liable to Injury.  
In his Book Of a Common-weal he says, that his Citizens will neither act, nor prepare any thing for the sake of Pleasure, and praises Euripides for having uttered this Sentence: 
What need have Men of more, than these two things,  
The Fruits of Ceres, and Thirst-quenching Springs?  And yet a little after this, going on, he commends Di●genes, who forced his Nature to pass from himself in public, and said to those, that were present. I wish I could in the same manner drive Hunger also out of my Belly. What Reason then is there to praise in the same Books, him, who rejects all Pleasure, and withal him, who for the sake of Pleasure does such things, and proceeds to such a Degree of Filthiness? Moreover, having in his Books Of Nature written, that Nature has produced many Creatures for the Sake of Beauty, delighting in Pulchritude, and pleasing her self with Variety, and having added a most absurd Expression, that the Peacock was made for the sake of his Tail, and for the Beauty of it: he has in his Treatise Of a Common-weal sharply reprehended those, who breed Peacocks and Nightingales, as if he were making Laws contrary to the Law-giver of the World, and deriding Nature for pleasing her self in the Beauty[ and Production] of s●ch Animals, to which a wise Man would not give a Place in his City. For how can it but be absurd to blame those, who nourish these Creatures, if he commends Providence,[ which created them?] In his Fifth Book Of Nature, having said, that Bugs profitably awaken us out of our Sleep, that Mice make us cautious not to lay up every think negligently, and that 'tis probable, that Nature, rejoicing in Variety, takes delight in the Production of fair Creatures, he adds these Words: The Evidence of this is chiefly shown in the Peacocks Tail: for here she manifests, that this Animal was made for the sake of his Tail, and not the contrary: so, the Male being made, the Female followed. In his Book Of a Common-weal, having said, that we are ready to paint even dunghills, a little after he adds, that some beautify their Corn-fields with Vines, climbing up Trees, and Myrtles set in rows, and keep Peacocks, Doves, and Partridges, that they may[ hear them] cry and cooe, and Nightingales[ to hear them sing.] Now I would gladly ask him, what he thinks of Bees and Honey. For 'twas of Consequence, that he, who said, Bugs were created profitably, should also say, that Bees were created unprofitably. But if he allows these a Place in his City, why does he drive away his Citizens from things, that are pleasing, and delight the Ear? To be brief, as he would be very absurd, who should blame the Guests for eating Sweet-meats, and other Delicacies, and drinking of Wine; and at the same time commend him, who invited them, and prepared such things for them: so he, that praises Providence, which has afforded Fishes, Birds, Honey, and Wine, and at the same time finds fault with those, who reject not these things, nor content themselves with The Fruits of Ceres, and thirst-quenching Springs, Which are present, and sufficient to nourish us, seems to make no Scruple of speaking things, contradictory to himself.  
Moreover, having said in his Book of Exhortations, that the having carnal Commerce with our Mothers, Daughters, or Sisters, the Eating any sort of Food, and the Going from a[ Womans] Bed, or a dead Carcase to the Temple, have been without reason blamed, he affirms, that we ought for these things to have a Regard to the brute Beasts, and from what is done by them, conclude, that none of these is absurd, or contrary to Nature. For that the Comparisons of other Animals are fitly made for this Purpose,[ to show,] that neither their Coupling, Bringing forth, nor dying in the Temples, pollutes the Divinity. Yet he again in his Fifth Book Of Nature says, that Hesiod rightly forbids the Pissing into Rivers and Fountains; and that we should rather abstain from making Water against any Altar, or Statue of the Gods; and that 'tis not to be admitted for an Argument, that Dogs, Asses, and young Children do it, who have no Discretion or Consideration of such things. 'tis therefore absurd to say in one place, that the Savage Example of irrational Animals is fit[ to be considered,] and in another, that 'tis unreasonable[ to allege it.]  
To give a Solution to the Inclinations, when a Man seems to be necessitated by exterior Causes, some Philosophers place in the principal Faculty of the Soul, a certain adventitious Motion, which is chiefly manifested in dubious things, compared with one another. For when of two things, altogether alike, and of equal Importance, there is a Necessity to choose the one, there being no Cause inclining to either, for that neither of them differs from the other, this adventitious Power of the Soul, seizing on its Inclination, determins the Doubt. Chrysippus discoursing against these Men, as offering Violence to Nature by the contrary, in many[ Places] alleges the Dy and the balance, and several[ other] things, which cannot fall, or bend, either one way or other, without some Cause or Difference, either wholly within them, or coming to them from without: For that what is causeless, is wholly insubsistent, as also what is fortuitous; and that in those Motions, devi●'d by some, and called Adventitious, there occur[ certain] obscure Causes, which, being concealed from us, move our Inclinations to one side or other. These are some of those things, which are most evidently known to have been frequently said by him; but what he has said contrary to this, not lying so exposed to every ones Sight, I will set down in his own Words. For in his Book Of Judging, having supposed two, running[ for a Wager,] to have exactly finished their Race together, he examines what is fit for the Judge[ in this Case] to do. Whether, says he, may the Judge give the Palm to which of them he will, although they both happen to be so familiar to him, that he would in some sort rather bestow on them somewhat of his own,[ than deprive them of what is theirs:] so that, the Palm being common to both, may he, as if Lots had been cast, give it to either, according to the Inclination, he chances to have? I say the Inclination, he chances to have, such, as when, two Groats, every way else alike, being presented to us, we incline to one of them, and take it. And in his sixth Book Of Duties, having said, that there are some things not worthy of much Study or Attention, he thinks we ought, as if we had cast Lots, to commit the Choice of those things to the casual Inclination of the Mind: As if, says he, of those, who try the same two Groats, some should say this, and others that to be good, and there being no more Cause for the taking of one than the other, we should leave off making any farther Enquiry into their Value, and take that, which chances[ to come first to hand] In another place he says, that casting Lots for this, we shall yet[ perhaps] take the worst of them. For in these Passages, the Casting of Lots, and the casual Inclining of the Mind, which is without any Cause, introduces the[ Choice, or] Taking of indifferent things.  
In his third Book Of logic, having said, that Plato, Aristotle, and[ those, who came] after them, even to Polemon and Straton, but especially Socratos, diligently studied logic, and having cried out, that one would even choose to err with these, such and so great Men, he brings in these Words: For if they had spoken of these things cursorily, one might perhaps have cavil'd at this place; but having treated of logic, as one of the greatest ●nd most nec●●●ary Faculties, 'tis not probable, they should have been so much mistaken, having been such in all[ the Parts of Philosophy,] as we esteem them. Why then might some one say to him, do you never cease to oppose and argue against such and so great Men, as if you thought them to err in the principal and greatest Matters? For[ 'tis not probable] that they writ seriously of logic, and[ only] transitorily, and in sport, of the Beginning, End, Gods and Justice; in which you affirm their Discourse to be blind, and contradictory to itself, and to have a thousand other faults.  
In one place he says, that[ the 'vice, called by the Greeks] {αβγδ}, or the rejoicing at other Mens Harms has no Being, since no good Man ever rejoiced at anothers Evils. But in his second Book Of Good, having declared Envy to be a Sorrow at other Mens Good, to wit, in such as desire the Depression of their Neighbours, that themselves may excel, he joins to it this rejoicing at other Mens Harms,[ saying thus:] To this is contiguous the rejoicing at other Mens Harms, in such, as for like Causes desire to have their Neighbours low; but in those, that are turned according to other natural Motions, is engendered Mercy. For he manifestly admits the Joy at other Mens Harms to be subsistent, as well as Envy and Mercy, though in other places he affirms it to have no subsistence; as[ he does] also the Hatred of Wickedness, and the Desire of dishonest Gain.  
Having in many places said, that those, who have a long time been happy, are nothing more so, but equally, and in like manner with those, who have but a moment been Partakers of Felicity, he has again in many other places affirmed, that 'tis not fit to stretch out so much as a Finger for[ the obtaining] momentary Prudence, which flies away like a Flash of Lightning. 'twill be sufficient to set down, what is to this purpose written by him in his sixth Book Of Moral Questions. For having said, that every good thing does neither equally cause Joy, nor every good dead[ the like] Glorying, he subjoins these[ Words:] For if a Man should be to have Wisdom only for a Moment of Time, or the last Minute of Life, he ought not so much as to stretch out his Finger for such a short-lived Prudence, though Men are neither more happy for being longer so, nor is eternal Felicity more eligible than that, which lasts but a Moment. If he had indeed held Prudence to be a Good, producing Felicity, as Epicurus thought, one should have blamed only the Absurdity and the Paradoxicalness of this Opinion; but since Prudence of itself is not another thing[ differing] from Felicity, but Felicity itself; how is it no● a Contradiction to say, that momentary Happiness is equally desirable with eternal, and yet that momentary Happiness is nothing worth?  
Chrysippus also says, that the virtues follow one another, and that not only he, who has one, has all, but also that he, who acts according to any one of them, acts according to them all; and he affirms, that there is not any Man perfect, who is not possessed of all the virtues, nor any Action perfect, to the doing of which all the virtues do not concur. But yet in his sixth Book Of Moral Questions he says, that a good Man does not always act valiantly, nor a vicious Man always fearfully; for Certain Objects being presented to the Fancies, the one must persist in his Judgments, and the other depart from them: and he says, that 'tis not probable, a wicked Man should be always indulging his Lust. If then to act valiantly is the same thing as to use Fortitude, and to act timorously, as to yield to Fear, they[ cannot but] speak Contradictions, who say, that he, who is possessed[ of either virtue or 'vice] acts at the same time according to all the virtues, or[ all the] Vices, and yet that a valiant Man does not always act valiantly, nor a vicious Man timorously.  
He defines rhetoric to be an Art concerning the Ornament, and the ordering of a Discourse, that is pronounced. And farther in his first Book he has written thus: And I am of Opinion, that there ought not a Regard to be had to a liberal and simplo adorning of Words; but also[ that Care is to be taken] for proper Gestures, according to the interjected Stops of the Voice, and the Compositions of the Countenance and Hands. Yet he, who is in this place so curious and exact, again in the same Book, speaking of the Collision of the Vowels, says: We ought not only, to let these things pass, minding[ somewhat, that is] better, but also[ to neglect] certain Obscurities and Defects, nay, Solecisms also, of which others,[ and those] not a few, would be ashamed. Certainly in one place to allow those, who would speak eloquently,[ so carefully] to dispose their Speech,[ as even] to[ observe] a Decorum[ in the very Composition] of their Mouth and Hands; and in another place[ to forbid] the taking Care of Defects and Absurdities, and the being ashamed even of committing Solecisms, is the Property of a Man, who[ little cares, what he says, but rashly] utters, whatever comes[ first] into[ his Mouth.]  
Moreover in his [ Natural Positions] having warned us[ not to trouble ourselves, but] to be at quiet about such things, as require Experience and History, he says; Let us not think after the same manner with Plato, that liquid Nourishment is conveyed to the Lungs, and dry to the Stomach, nor let us embrace other Errors, like to these. Now 'tis my Opinion, that to reprehend others, and then not to keep ones self from falling into those things, which one has reprehended, is the greatest of Contradictions, and shamefulest of Errors. But he says, that the Connexions,[ made] by the ten[ principal] Axioms, amount to above a Million in Number, having neither searched diligently into it by himself, nor attained to the Truth by Men experienced in it. Yet Plato had to testify for him, the most renowned of the Physicians, Hippocrates, Philistian, and Dioxippus the Disciple of Hippocrates, and of the Poets, Euripides, Alcaeus, Eupolis, and Eratosthenes, who[ all] say, that the Drink passes through the Lungs. But all the Arithmeticians refel Chrysippus, amongst whom also is Hipparchus, demonstrating, that the Error of his Computation is very great; if indeed the Affirmative makes of the connexed Axioms one hundred and three thousand forty and nine, and the Negative three hundred and ten thousand, nine hundred fifty and two.  
Some of the Ancients have said, that the same besel Zeno, which befalls him, who has sour Wine, which he can sell neither for Vinegar nor Wine; for his Precedent, as he called it, cannot be disposed of, either as good, or indifferent. But Chrysippus has made the Matter yet far more intricate, for he sometimes says, that they are mad, who make no account of Riches, Health, Freedom from Pain, and Integrity of the Body, nor take any Care to attain them, and having cited that Sentence of Hesiod, Work hard, O God born Perses— He crys out, that 'twould be a madness to advice the contrary, and say, Work not, O God-born Perses— And in his Book Of Lives he affirms, that a wise Man will for the sake of Gain live with Kings, and teach for Money, receiving from some of his Scholars his Reward before hand, and making Contracts with others of them; and in his seventh Book Of Duties he says, that he will[ not scruple to] turn his Heels thrice over his Head, if for so doing he may have a Talent. In his first Book Of Good Things, he yields and grants to those that desire it, to call these Precedents Good, and their Contraries Evil, in these very Words: If any one will, according to these Permutations, call one thing good to himself, and another evil, having a regard to these things, and not wandring elsewhere, nor failing in the Understanding of the things signified, let him in the rest accommodate himself 〈◇〉 Custom for the Denominations. Having thus in this place set his Precedent so near, and mixed it with Good, he again says, that none of these things belongs at all to us, but that Reason withdraws and averts us from all such things: for he has written thus in his first Book Of Exhortations. And in his third Book Of Nature he says, that some esteem those happy, who reign, and are rich: which is all one, as if those should be reputed happy, who make Water in golden Chamber-pots, and wear golden Fringes. But to a good Man, the Losing of his whole Estate is but as the losing of one Groat, and the being sick no more, than if he had stumbled. Wherefore he has not filled virtue only, but Providence also, with these Contradictions. For virtue would seem to the utmost degree sordid and foolish, if it should busy itself about such Matters, and enjoin a wise Man for their sake to sail to Bosphorus, or tumble with his Heels over his Head. And Jupiter would be very ridiculous to be styled Ctesius, Epicarpius, and Charidotes: because forsooth he gives the Wicked golden Chamberpots, and golden Fringes, and the Good such things, as are hardly worth a Groat, when through Jupiters Providence they become rich. And yet much more ridiculous is Apollo, if he sits to give Oracles concerning golden Fringes And Chamber-pots, and the recovering of a Stumble. But they make this Repugnancy yet more evident by their Demonstration: For they say, that what may be used both well and ill, the same is neither good nor bad: But Fools make an Ill use of Riches, Health, and Strength of Body: therefore none of these is good. If therefore God gives not virtue to Men, but Honesty is eligible of itself, and yet bestows on them Riches and Health without virtue, he confers them not on those, who will use them well, but ill, that is, hurtfully, shamefully and perniciously. Now, if the Gods indeed can bestow virtue, and do not, they are not good; but if they cannot make Men good, neither can they help them. Now[ to say,] that the Gods judge those, who are otherwise made good, according to virtue and Strength, is nothing[ to the purpose:] for good Men also judge evil ones according to virtue and Strength: so that they do no more aid Men, than they are aided by them.  
Now Chrysippus neither professes himself to be virtuous, nor any one of his Disciples and Teachers. What then do they think of others, but those things which they say: That they are mad, Fools, impious, Transgressors of the Laws, and in the utmost degree of Misery and Unhappiness? And yet they say, that our Affairs, though we act thus miserable, are governed by the Providence of the Gods. Now if the Gods, changing[ their Mind,] should desire to hurt, afflict, overthrow, and quiter crush us, they could not put us in a worse Condition, than we already are, as Chrysippus demonstrates, that Life can neither admit an Excess of Misery, nor unhappiness: so that if it had a Voice, it would pronounce these Words of Hercules: 
I am so full of Miseries, there is  
No Place to stow them in—  Now who can imagine any Assertion more repugnant to one another; than that of Chrysippus concerning the Gods, and that concerning Men; when he says, that the Gods do in the best manner possible provide for Men; and yet Men are in the worst Condition imaginable?  
Some of the Pythagoreans blame him for having in his Book Of Justice written concerning Cocks, that they are usefully procreated, because they awaken us from our Sleep, hunt out Scorpions, and animate us to Battle, breeding in us a certain Emulation to show Courage; and yet that we must eat them, lest the Number of Chickens should be greater, than were expedient. But he so derides those, who blame him for this, that he has written thus concerning Jupiter the Saviour, Creator, and Father of Justice, Equity and Peace, in his third Book Of the Gods. As Cities, overcharged[ with too great a Number of Citizens,] sand forth Colonies into other Places, and make war upon some: so does God give the Beginnings of Corruption. And he brings in Euripides for a Witness with others, who say, that the Trojan War was caused by the Gods, to exhaust the Multitude of Men.  
But letting pass their other Absurdities,( for our Design is not to inquire, what they have said amiss, but only what they have said dissonantly to themselves:) consider, how he always attributes to the Gods specious and kind Appellations; but at the same time cruel, barbarous and Galatian Deeds. For those so great Slaughters and Carnages, as were the Productions of the Trojan War, and again of the Median and Peloponnesian, were no way like to Colonies, unless these Men know of some Cities, built in Hell, and under the Earth. But Chrysippus makes God like to Deiotarus, the Galatian King, who having many Sons, and being desirous to leave his Kingdom and House to one of them, killed all the rest: as he that cuts and prunes away all the other Branches from the Vine, that one, which he leaves remaining, may grow strong and great; but the Vine-dresser does this, the Sprig● being slender and weak. And we, to favour a Bitch, take from her many of her new-born Puppies, whilst they are yet blind. But Jupiter, having not only suffered and seen Men to grow up, but having also both created and increased them, plagues them[ afterwards,] devising Occasions of their Destruction and Corruption;[ whereas] he should[ rather] not have given[ them] any Causes and Beginnings of Generation.  
However this is but a small matter; but that,[ which follows,] is greater. For there is no War amongst Men without 'vice. But sometimes[ Luxury, or] the Love of Pleasure, sometimes[ Avarice, or] or the Love of Money, and sometimes[ Ambition, or] the Love of Glory and Rule is the Cause of it. If therefore God is the Author of Wars,[ he must be] also of Sins, provoking and perverting Men. And yet himself says in his Treatise Of judgement, and his second Book Of the Gods, that 'tis no way rational to say, that the Divinity is in any respect the Cause of Dishonesty. For as the Law can no way be the Cause of transgressing: so neither can the Gods of being impious: therefore neither is it rational, that they should be the Causes of any thing that is filthy. What therefore can be more filthy to Men, than the mutual Killing of one another; to which Chrysippus says, that God gives Beginnings. But some one perhaps will say, that he elsewhere praises Euripides for saying, If Gods do ought dishonest, they're no Gods:  
And again: 'tis a most easy thing t' accuse the Gods: As if we were now doing any thing else, than setting down such Words and Sentences of his, as are ●●pugnant to one another. Yet that very thing, which is now praised, may be objected, not once, or twice, or thrice, but even ten thousand times against Chrysippus: 'tis a most easy thing t'accuse the Gods. For first having in his Book Of Nature compared the Eternity of Motion to a Drink, made of divers Species, confusedly mixed together, turning and jumbling the things, that are made, some this way, others that way, he goes on thus: Now the Administration of the Universe proceeding in this manner, 'tis of Necessity, we should be in the Condition we are, whether contrary to our own Nature we are sick, or maimed, or whether we are Grammarians, or Musicians. And again a little after: According to this Reason, we shall say the like of our Virtue and 'vice, and generally of Arts, or the Ignorance of Arts, as I have said. And a little after, taking away all Ambiguity,[ he says:] For no particular thing, not even the least, can be otherwise, than according to common Nature, and its Reason. But that common Nature, and the common Reason of Nature is[ with him] Fate, and Providence, and Jupiter, is not unknown even to the Antipodes. For these things are every where inculcated by them; and he affirms, that Homer said very well, — The Will of Jove was done, Having Respect to Fate, and the Nature of the Universe. How then do these things agree, both that God is no way the Cause of any dishonest thing; and again that not even the least thing[ imaginable] can be otherwise done, than according to common Nature and its Reason? For amongst all things, that are done, there must of necessity be also dishonest things. And though Epicurus indeed turns himself every way, and studies Artifices, devising how to deliver, and set loose our voluntary Free Will from this eternal Motion, that he may not leave 'vice irreprehensible;[ yet Chrysippus] gives, it[ to wit 'vice,] a most absolute Liberty, as being done, not only of Necessity, or according to Fate, but also according to the Reason of God, and best Nature. And these things are yet farther seen, being thus Word for Word: For common Nature extending to all things, it will be of necessity that every thing, howsoever done in reason, and in whatsoever of its Parts, must be done according to this[ common Nature,] and the Reason of this, proceeding on without any Impediment. For there is nothing without, that can hinder the Administration, nor is there any of the Parts, that can be moved, or habituated otherwise, than according to common Nature. What then are these Habits and Motions of the Parts? 'tis Manifest, that the Habits are Vices and Diseases, Covetousness, Luxury, Ambition, cowardice, Injustice: and that the Motions are Adulteries, Thefts, Treasons, Murders, Parricides. Of these Chrysippus thinks, that no one, either little or great, is contrary to the Reason of Jupiter, the Law, Justice and Providence: so that neither the transgressing of the Law is done against the Law, nor the acting injustly against Justice, nor the committing of Sin against Providence. And yet he says, that God punishes 'vice, and does many things for the chastising of the Wicked. As in his second Book Of the Gods he says, that many Adversities sometimes befall the Good, not, as they do the Wicked, for Punishment, but according to another Dispensation, as it is in Cities. And again in these Words: First we are to understand of Evils in like manner, as has been said before; then, that these things are distributed according to the Reason of Jupiter, whether for Punishment, or according to some other Dispensation, having in some sort[ Respect] to the Universe. This therefore is indeed severe, that Wickedness is both done, and punished according to the Reason of Jupiter. But he aggravates this Contradiction in his second Book Of Nature, writing thus: 'vice, in reference to grievous Accidents has a certain Reason of its own. For 'tis also in some sort according to the Reason of Nature, and, as I may so say, is not wholly useless in respect of the Universe: for otherwise also there would not be any Good. Thus does he reprehend those, that dispute indifferently on both sides, who out of a Desire to say something wholly singular, and more exquisite concerning every thing, affirms, that[ Men] do not unprofitably cut Purses, calumniate, and play the Madmen, and that 'tis not unprofitable, there should be unprofitable, hurtful, and unhappy[ Persons.] What manner[ of God] then is Jupiter, I mean Chrysippus's [ Jupiter,] who punishes an Act, neither done willingly, nor unprofitably. For 'vice is indeed according to Chrysippus's Discourse, wholly irreprehensible; but Jupiter is to be blamed, whether he has made 'vice, being an unprofitable thing, or having made it not unprofitably, punishes it. Again in his first Book Of Justice, having spoken of the Gods, as resisting tho Injustices of some, he says, But wholly to take away 'vice, is neither possible nor expedient.[ Whether it were not better,] that Law-breaking, Injustice, and Folly, should be taken away, 'tis not the Design of this present Discourse to inquire. But he himself, as much as in him lies, by his Philosophy taking away 'vice, which 'tis not expedient to take away, does something repugnant both to Reason, and God. Besides this, saying, that God resists some Injustices, he again insinuates the Inequality of Sins.  
Having often written, that there is nothing reprehensible, nothing to be complained of in the World, all things being finished according to a most excellent Nature; he again elsewhere leaves certain Negligences to be reprehended, and those not concerning small or base Matters. For having in his third Book Of Substance related, that some such things befall honest and good Men, he says: Whether it be, that some things are not regarded, as in great Families some Bran, yea, and some Grains of Corn also are scattered, the Generality being[ nevertheless] well ordered; or whether there are[ any] evil Genii set over such things, in which indeed there are faulty Negligences: and he also affirms, that there i● much Necessity intermixed. I let pass, how inconsiderate it is, to compare such Accidents, befalling honest and good Men, as were the Condemnation of Socrates, the Burning of Pythagoras, whilst he was yet living, by the Cyloneans, the putting to Death, and that with Torture, of Zeno by the Tyrant Demulus; and of Antiphon by Dionysius, with the letting fall of Bran. But that there should be evil Genii placed by Providence over such Charges; how can it but be a Reproach to God, as[ it would] to a King to commit the[ Administration of his] Provinces to evil and rash Governours and Captains, and suffer the best[ of his Subjects] to be despised and ill treated by them? And furthermore, if there is much Necessity mixed amongst Affairs, then God has not Power over them all, nor are they all administered according to his Reason.  
He contends much against Epicurus, and those, that take away Providence from the Conceptions, we have of the Gods, whom we esteem beneficial and gracious to Men. And these things being frequently said by them, there is no necessity of setting down the Words. Yet all do not conceive the Gods to be good[ and favourable,] to us. For see what the Jews and Syrians think of the Gods; look also into the Poems, with how much Superstition they are filled. But there is not any one in a manner to speak of, that imagines God to be corruptible, or have been born. And to omit all others, Antipater the Tarsian, in his Book Of the Gods, writes thus word for word: But to render all the Discourse perspicuous, we will briefly repeat the Opinion, we have concerning God. We understand therefore God to be an Animal, blessed, and incorruptible, and beneficial to Men. And then expounding every one of these[ Terms,] he says: And indeed all esteem the Gods to be incorruptible. Chrysippus therefore is, according to Antipater, none of all: for he thinks none of the Gods, except Jupiter, to be incorruptible; but that they all were equally born, and shall dy. These things are in a manner every where said by him. But I will set down his Words out of his third Book Of the Gods, according to another Discourse. For some of them are born and corruptible; but others not born. And to demonstrate these things from the beginning, will be more fit for a Treatise of Nature. For the Sun, the Moon, and other Gods, who are of like Nature, were begotten; but Jupiter is eternal. And again going on: But the like will be said concerning dying and being born, both concerning the other Gods, and Jupiter. For they indeed are corruptible, but his Parts incorruptible. With these I will compare a few of the things said by Antipater. Whosoever they are, that shall take away from the Gods Beneficence, they touch but in part the Prenotion of them, and according to the same Reason, they also, who think, they participate of Generation and Corruption. If then he, who esteems the Gods corruptible, is equally absurd with him, who thinks them not to be provident and gracious to Men, Chrysippus is no less in an Error than Epicurus. For one of them deprives the Gods of Beneficence, the other of Incorruptibility.  
And moreover, Chrysippus in his third Book Of the Gods,[ treating] of the other Gods being nourished, says thus: The other Gods indeed use Nourishment, being equally sustained by it; but Jupiter and the World after another manner than those, who are consumed, and were engendered by Fire. Here indeed he declares, that all the other Gods are nourished, except the World, and Jupiter; but in his first Book Of Providence he says, that Jupiter increases, till he has consumed all things into himself. For since Death is the Separation of the Soul from the Body, and the Soul of the World is not indeed separated, but increases continually, till it has consumed all Matter into itself, 'tis not to be said, that the World dies. Who therefore can appear to speak things more contradictory to himself, than he, who says, that the same God[ is nourished, and not nourished?] Nor is there any need of gathering this by Argument: for himself has plainly written in the same place: But the World alone is said to be self-sufficient, because it alone has in itself all things, it stands in need of, and is nourished, and augmented of itself, the other Parts being mutually changed into one another. He is then repugnant to himself, not only by declaring in one Place, that all the Gods are nourished, except the World, and Jupiter, and saying in another, that the World also is nourished; but much more, when he affirms, that the World increases by nourishing itself: Now the contrary had been[ much more] probable,[ to wit] that the World alone does not increase, having its own Destruction for its Food; but that Addition and Increase are Incident to the other Gods, who are nourished from without, and that the World is rather consumed into them, if so it is, that the World feeds on itself, and they always receive something, and are nourished from that.  
Secondly, The Conception of the Gods contains in it Felicity, Blessedness, and Self-perfection. Wherefore also Euripides is commended for saying: 
For God, If truly God, does nothing want  
Of these: and all their Speeches are but Cant.  But Chrysippus, in the Places, I have alleged, says, that the World only is self-sufficient, because this alone has in itself all things, it needs. What then follows from this, that the World alone is self-sufficient? That neither the Sun, Moon, nor any other of the Gods, is self-sufficient, and not being self-sufficient, they are not happy, or blessed.  
He says, that the Infant in the Womb is nourished by Nature, like a Plant; but when it is brought forth, being cooled and hardened by the Air, it changes its Spirit, and becomes an Animal: whence the Soul is not unfitly named Psyche, because of this Refrigeration. But again, he esteems the Soul the more subtle and fine Spirit of Nature, therein contradicting himself: for how can a subtle thing be made of a gross one, and be rarify'd by Refrigeration and Condensation? And what is more, how does he, declaring an Animal to be made by Refrigeration, think the Sun to be animated, which is of Fire, and made of an Exhalation, changed into Fire? For he says in his third Book Of Nature: Now the Change of Fire is such: It is turned by the Air into Water: and the Earth subsisting of this, the Air exhales: the Air being subtiliz'd, the Aether [ or Fire] is produced round about it: and the Stars are with the Sun kindled from the Sea. Now what is more contrary to Kindling than Refrigeration, or to Rarefaction than Condensation?[ of which] the one makes Water and Earth of Fire and Air, and the other changes that, which is moist and earthy, into Fire and Air. But yet in one place he makes Kindling, in another Cooling to be the Beginning of Animation. And he moreover says, that, when the Inflammation is throughout, it lives and is an Animal; but being again extinct and thickened, it is turned into Water, and Earth, and Corporeity. Now in his first Book Of Providence, he says: For the World indeed, being wholly set on fire, is presently also the Soul and Guide of itself: but when being changed into Moisture, and the Soul remaining within it, it in some sort passes with that into a Body and Soul so as to consist of them, it is then after anot er manner: Here forsooth he plainly says, that the inanimate parts of the World are by Inflammation turned into an animated thing; and that again by Extinction the Soul is relax'd and moistened, being changed into Corporeity. He seems therefore very absurd, one while by Refrigeration making Animals of sensele●● things; and again, by the same changing the greatest part of the Worlds Soul into senseless and inanimate things.  
But besides this, his Discourse concerning the Generation of the Soul, has a Demonstration contrary to his own Opinion: for he says, that the Soul is generated, when the Infant is already brought forth, the Spirit being changed by Refrigeration, as by hardening. Now for the Souls being engendered, and that after the Birth, he, chiefly uses this Demonstration, that the Children are for the most part in manners and Inclination like to their Parents. Now the Repugnancy of these things is evident. For 'tis not possible, that the Soul, which is[ not] generated[ till] after the Birth, should have its Inclination before the Birth; or it will fall out, that the Soul is like, before it is generated; that is, it will both be in likeness, and yet not be, because it is not yet generated. But if any one says, that, the Likeness being bread in the Tempers of the Bodies, the Souls are changed, when they are generated, he destroys the Argument of the Souls being generated. For thus it may come to pass, that the Soul, though not generated, may at its Entrance[ into the Body] be changed by the Mixture of Likeness.  
He says sometimes, that the Air is light, and mounts upwards, and sometimes, that 'tis neither heavy nor light. For in his second Book Of Motion, he says, that the Fire, being without Gravity, ascends upwards, and the Air like to that; the Water approaching more to the Earth, and the Air to the Fire. But in his Physical Arts, he inclines to the other Opinion, that the Air of itself has neither Gravity nor Levity. He says, that the Air is by Nature Dark, and uses this as an Argument of its being also the first could: for that its Darkness is opposite to the Brightness, and its Coldness to the Heat of Fire. Moving this in his Book Of Natural Questions, he again in his Treatise Of Habits says, that Habits are nothing else but Airs. For Bodies are contained by these, and the Cause, that every one of the Bodies, contained in[ any] Habit, is such[ as it is,] is the containing Air, which they call in Iron Hardness, in ston Solidness, in Silver Whiteness: these[ Words] having[ in them] much Absurdity and Contradiction. For if the Air remains such, as it is of its own Nature, how comes Black in that, which is not White, to be made Whiteness, and Soft in that, which is not Hard, to be made Hardness: and Rare in that, which is not thick, to be made Thickness? But if b●●ng mixed with these, it is altered and made like to them, how is it an Habit or Cause of these things, by which it is subdued? For such a Change, by which it loses its own Qualities, is[ the Property] of a Patient, not of an Agent, and not of a thing containing, but languishing. Yet they every where affirm, that Matter, being of its own Nature idle and motionless, is subjected to Qualities, and that the Qualities are Spirits; which, being also aëreal Tensions, give a Form and Figure to every Part of Matter, to which they adhere. These things they cannot[ rationally] say, supposing the Air to be such, as they affirm it. For if it is an ●●bit and Tension, it will assimilate every Body to it s●●●, so that it shall be black and soft. But if by the Mixture with these things it receives Forms contrary to those, it has, it will be in some sort the Matter, and not the Cause or Power of Matter.  
It is often said by Chrysippus, that there is without the World an infinite Vacuum, and that this Infinity has neither Beginning, Middle, nor End. And by this the stoics chiefly refute that spontaneous Motion of the Atoms downward, which is taught by Epicurus, there not being in Infinity any Difference, according to which, one thing is thought to be above, another below. But in his fourth Book Of things possible, having supposed a certain middle Place, and middle Region, he says, that the World is situated there. The Words are these: Wherefore 'tis to be said of the World, that it is incorruptible; which though it seems to want Proof, yet nevertheless it rather appears to me to be so. However the Comprehension of Place cooperates very much towards its Incorruptibility, because it is[ seated] in the Midst: since if it were thought to be any where else, Corruption would absolutely take hold of it. And again a little after: For so also in a manner has Essence happened eternally to have possessed the middle Place, being immediately[ from the B●●inning] such[ as it is] so that both by another manner, and through this Chance, it admits not any Corruption,[ and] is therefore eternal. These Words have one apparent and visible Contradiction,[ to wit] his admitting a certain middle Place and middle Region in Infinity:[ They have also] a second, more obscure indeed, but[ withal] more absurd than this. For thinking that the World would not have remained incorruptible, if its Situation had happened to have been in any other part of the Vacuum, he manifestly appears to have feared, lest, the Parts of Essence moving towards the Middle, there should be a Dissolution and Corruption of the World. Now this he wou●● not have feared, had he not thought, that Bodies 〈◇〉 by Nature tend from every Place towards the Middle, not of Essence, but of the Region containing Essence: Of which also he has frequently spoken, as of a thing impossible, and that is contrary to Nature: for that there is not in the Vacuum any Difference, by which Bodies are drawn rather this way than that way; but that the Construction of the World is the Cause of Motion,[ Bodies] inclining and being carried from every side to the Center and Middle of it. 'tis sufficient for this Purpose, to set down the Text out of his second Book Of Motion: For having discoursed, that the World indeed is a perfect Body, but that the Parts of the World are not perfect, because they have in some sort respect to the whole, and are not of themselves: and going forward concerning its Motion, as having been framed by Nature to be moved by all its Parts to its Compaction and Cohaesion, and not to its Dissolution and Breaking, he says thus: But the Universe thus tending and being moved to the same Point, and the Parts having the same Motion from the Nature of the Body, 'tis probable, that all Bodies have this first Motion according to Nature, towards the Middle of the World, the World being thus moved towards itself, and the Parts, as being Parts. What then ailed you, good Sir,( might some one say to him) that you have so far forgotten these Words, as t●●ffirm, that the World, if it had not casually possessed the middle Place, would have been dissoluble and corruptible. For if it is by Nature so framed, as always to incline towards the Middle, and its Parts from every side tend to the same, into what Place soever of the Vacuum it should have been transposed, thus containing, and[ as it were] embracing itself, it would have remained incorruptible, and without danger of breaking. For things, that are broken and dissipated, suffer this by the Separation and Dissolution of their Parts, every one[ of them] hasting to its own Place from that, which it had contrary to Nature. But you, being of Opinion, that, if the World should have been seated in any other Place of the Vacuum, it would have been wholly liable to Corruption, and affirming the same, and therefore[ asserting] a Middle in that, which naturally ca● have no Middle, to wit, in that which is infinite, have indeed dismissed these Tensions, Coherences and Inclinations, as having nothing available to its Preservation, and attributed all the Cause of its Permanency to the Possession of Place, and, as if you were ambitious to confute yourself, to the things, you have said before, you join this also. In whatsoever manner every one of the Parts moves, being coherent to the rest, 'tis agreeable to Reason, that in the same also it should move by itself; yea, though we should, for Arguments sake, imagine and suppose it to be in some Vacuity of this World: for, as being kept in on every side, it moved towards the Middle, so it would continue in the same Motion, though by way of Disputation[ we should admit, that] there were on a sudden a Vacuum round about it. No Part then whatsoever, tho encompassed by a Vacuum, loses its Inclination, moving it towards the middle of the World; but the World itself, if Chance had not prepared it a Place in the Middle, would have lost its containing vigour, the Parts of its Essence being carried some one way, some another. And these things i●●●ed contain great Contradictions to Natural Reason; but this is also repugnant to the Doctrine concerning God, and Providence, that assigning to them the least Causes, he takes from them the most principal and greatest. For what is more principal than the Permanency of the World, or that its Essence, united in its Parts, is contained in itself? But this, as Chrysippus says, fell out casually. For if the Possession of Place is the Cause of Incorruptibility, and this was the Production of Chance, 'tis manifest, that the Preservation of the Universe is a Work of Chance, and not of Fate and Providence.  
Now as for his Doctrine of Possibles, how can it but be repugnant to his Doctrine of Fate? For if that is not possible, which either is true, or shall be true, as Diodorus has it; but every thing which is capable of being, though it never shall be, is possible: there will be many of those things possible, which will never be according to invincible, inviolable, and all-conquering Fate.[ And] either Fate will lose its Power, or if that, as Chrysippus thinks, has Existence, that, which is susceptible of Being, will often fall out to be impossible. And every thing, indeed which is true, will be necessary, being comprehended by the Principal of all Necessities; and every thing that is false, will be impossible, having the greatest Cause to oppose its ever being true. For how is it possible, that he should be susceptible of dying on the Land, who is destinated to die at Sea? and how is it possible for him, who is at Megara, to come to Athens, being prohibited by Fate?  
But moreover, the things that are boldly asserted by him concerning Fantasies[ or Imaginations;] are very opposite to Fate. For desiring to show, that fantasy is not of itself a perfect cause of Consent, he said, that the Sages[ or wise Men] will prejudice us by imprinting false Imaginations[ in our Minds,] if Fantasies do of themselves absolutely cause Consents: for wise Men often make use of Falsity against the Wicked, representing a probable Imagination, yet not the Cause of Consent: for then it would be also a Cause of false Apprehension and Error. Any one therefore, transferring these things from the wise Man to Fate, may say, that Consents are not caused by Fate: for[ if they were] false Consents, and Opinions, and Deceptions would also be[ by Fate,] and Men would be endammag'd by Fate. Thus the Reason, which exempts the wise Man from doing hurt, at the same time also demonstrates, that Fate is not the Cause of all things. For if Men neither opine, nor are prejudiced by Fate, 'tis manifest[ also,] that they neither act rightly, nor are wise, nor remain firm in their Sentiments, nor have Utility by Fate; but that there is an End of Fate's being the Cause of all things. Now if any one shall say, that Chrysippus makes not Fate the absolute Cause of all things, but only a Procatarctical [ or antecedent] one, he will again show, that he is contradictory to himself, since he excessively praises Homer for saying of Jupiter: 
Receive, whatever Good or Evil He  
Shall sand to each of you—  As also Euripides[ for these Words:] 
O Jove, how can I say, that wretched we  
Poor Mortals understand ought? For on thee  
We all depend, and nothing can transact,  
But as thy sacred Wisdom shall enact.  And himself writes many things agreeable to these. In fine, he says, that nothing, be it never so little, either rests, or is moved, otherwise than according to the Reason of Jupiter, which is the same thing with Fate. Moreover, the Catarctick[ antecedent, or principiating] Cause is weaker than the absolute one, and attains not[ to its effect,] being subdued by others, that rise up against it. But he himself, declaring Fate to be an invincible, unimpeachable, and inflexible Cause, calls it 
That i●, unchangeable.  Atropos, 
That is, vnavoidable.  Adrasteia, Necessity, and Pepromene, as putting a Limit[ or End] to all things. Whether then shall we say, that neither Consents, nor virtues, nor Vices, nor doing well, nor doing ill, are in us,[ or in our Power?] or shall we affirm, that Fate is deficient, that terminating Destiny is unable to determine, and that the Motions and Habits of Jupiter[ and his Reason] are unaccomplish'd? For the one of these[ two Consequences] will follow from Fates being an absolute, the other from its being only a procatarctick Cause. For if it is an absolute Cause, it takes away our Free Will, and what is in us; and if it is[ only] procatarctick, it loses its being unimpeachable and effectual. For not once, or ten times, but every where, especially in his physics, he has written, that there are many Obstacles and Impediments to particular Natures and Motions, but none to that of the Universe. And how ca● the Motion of the Universe, extending[ as it does] to particular ones, be undisturbed, and unimpeach'd, if these are stopped and hindered? For neither can the Nature of Man be free from Impediment, if that of the Foot or Hand is not so; nor can the Motion of a Ship but be hindered, if there are any Obstacles about the Sails, or the Operation of the Oars. Besides[ all] this, if the Fantasies are not according to Fate,[ ●either are they the Causes] of Consents; but if when it imprints Fantasies, leading to Consent, the Consents are said to be according to Fate, how is it not contrary to itself, imprinting in the greatest Matters different Imaginations, and such, as draw the Understanding contrary ways? Since, they say, that those, who adhere to one of them, and withhold not their Consent, do amiss: for if they yield to obscure things, they stumble; if to false, they are deceived; if to such as are not commonly comprehended, they opine. And yet one of these three is of necessity, either that every fantasy is not the Work of Fate, or that every receipt and Consent of fantasy is faultless, or that Fate itself is not irreprehensible. For I do not know how it can be blameless, proposing to us such Fantasies, that not the resisting, or going against them, but the following and yielding to them is blamable. Moreover, both Chrysippus and Antipater, in their Disputes against the Aca●●micks, take not a little pains to prove, that we neither act, nor are incited without Consent, saying, that, they[ build on] Fictions, and false Suppositions, who think, that, a proper fantasy being presented, we are presently incited, without having either yielded, or consented. Again Chrysippus says, that God imprints in us false Imaginations, as does also the wise Man, not that they would have us consent, or yield to them, but only that we should act, and be incited to that, which appears; but that we, being evil, do through Infirmity consent to such Fantasies. Now the Perplexity and Discrepancy of these Discourses from themselves is not very difficult to be discerned. For he, that would not have Men consent, but only act, whether it be God, or a wise Man, knows that the Fantasies are sufficient for acting, and that Consents are superfluous. So that if Knowing, that the Imagination gives us not an Instinct to work without Consent, he ministers to us false and probable Fantasies, he is the ●oluntary Cause of our falling and erring, by assenting to incomprehensible things.   

Plutarch's Morals: Vol. IV.  
Of the Word {αβγδ}, engraven over the Gate of Apollo's Temple at Delphi.  Translated out of the Greek by R. Kippax, M.A. 
I happened not long since, dear Sarapion, on certain, not unelegant Verses, which Dicaearchus supposes[ the Poet] Euripides to have[ heretofore] spoken to[ King] Archelaus: 
I 'm poor, you rich, I'l therefore nothing give,  
Lest me, or Fool, or Beggar, you believe.  For he, who out of his little Estate makes small Presents to those, that have great Possessions, does them no Pleasure, nay,[ which is yet worse,] being not believed to give[ even that little gratis, or] for nothing, he incurs the suspicion of being of a sordid and ungenerous Disposition. But since pecuniary Presents are both in Bounty and Beauty far inferior to such, as proceed from Learning and Wisdom, 'tis honourable both to make such Presents, and at our giving them, to desire suitable Returns from the Receivers. I therefore, sending to you, and for your Sake, to our Friends in those Parts, as a First-fruit Offering, some Discourses concerning the Pythian Affairs, confess, that I do[ in requital] expect others, both more, and better from you, as being[ Persons] conversant in a great City, and enjoying more Leisure amongst many Books and Conferences of all sorts. For indeed our good Apollo seems to cure and solve such Difficulties, as occur in[ the ordinary Management of our] Life, by giving his Oracles to those that resort to him; but as for those, which concern Learning, he leaves and proposes them to that Faculty of the Soul, which is naturally addicted to the Study of Philosophy, imprinting in it a Desire leading to Truth; as is manifest both in many other Matters, and in the Consecration of[ this Inscription] {αβγδ}. For 'tis not probable, that 'twas either by chance, or by a Lottery( as it were) of Letters, that this[ Word] alone was by the God, placed in the principal Seat, and received the Dignity of a sacred Donary and Spectacle; but[ 'tis highly credible] that those, who at the beginning philosophiz'd concerning this God, gave it that Station, either as seeing in it some peculiar and extraordinary Power, or using it as a Symbol, to[ signify] some other thing, worthy of[ our] Attention.  
Having therefore often formerly declined and avoided this Discourse, when proposed in the School, I was lately surprised by my own Children, as I was debating with certain Strangers, who being on their Departure out of Delphi, I could not in Civility hold them in suspense, nor yet refuse discoursing with them, since they were exceeding earnest to hear something. Being therefore sate down by the Temple, I began myself to search into some things, and to ask them concerning others,[ being] by the Place, and the very Talk,[ we had, put in mind of those things] we had heretofore at such time, as Nero passed through these Parts, heard Ammonius and some others Discourse, the same Difficulty having been [ then] likewise in this very place propounded. Because therefore this God is no less a Philosopher than a Prophet, Ammonius seemed to all[ of us,] rightly to have applied every one of his Names to this purpose, and to have taught[ us,] that he is Pythius,[ or a Questionist,] to those, who begin to learn and inquire; Delius and Phanaeus, or a Manifester and Approver] to those, to whom somewhat of the Truth is already manifested and shines forth; Ismenius[ or Knowing,] to those, that have acquired Knowledge and a Readiness of Speech; and Horius[ or a Finisher] when they practise and enjoy[ their Science,] making use[ of it] to discourse and philosophize with one another. Now forasmuch as to Pholosophize, implies to inquire, to Wonder and to Doubt; 'tis probable, that many of the things, that concern this God, are not unfitly concealed under Aenigms,[ or mystical Speeches and Ceremonies, and[ therefore] require[ one should ask] the Reason why, and[ seek] to be instructed in the Cause: as, Why of all Wood, Fir only is burnt in the eternal Fire: Why the laurel only is used in Fumigations: Why there are erected but two[ Statues of the] Parca,[ or fatal Sisters,] they being every where[ else] thought to be three: Why no Woman is permitted to have Access to the Curtain: What is the Reason of the Tripus[ or three-footed Chair,] and other such like things, which being proposed to those, who are not altogether irrational and Soul-less, 'allure, and inc●●e[ such Persons], to consider, hear and discourse something about them. And do but behold, how many questions these Inscriptions, Know thyself, and Nothing too much, have set afoot amongst the Philosophers, and what a Multitude of Discourses has sprung up from each of them, as from a Seed: than neither of which, I think the Matter now in question to be less fruitful.  
Ammonius having spoken thus, Lamprias the Delphian said: The Reason indeed, which we have heard of this, is plain and very short: for they say, that those wise Men, who were by some called Sophisters, were but five, Chilon, Thales, Solon, Bias, and Pittacus. But after that Cleobulus, the Tyrant of the Lindians, and Periander the Corinthian, though wholly destitute of virtue and Wisdom, had by[ their] Power, Friends, and courtesy, forced a Reputation, set forth, and dispersed all over Greece, certain Sentences and Sayings, not unlike to those, which had been spoken by these[ others,] the[ five former Sages, or wise] Men, being discontented at it, would not however reprove their Arrogancy, nor openly contest, and enter into Quarrels for Glory, with Men of so great Power; but assembling here together, and consulting with one another, they consecrated the Letter E, which is in the Order[ of the Alphabet] the fifth, and signifies five in Number, protesting of themselves before the God, that they were but five, and rejecting and abdicating the sixth and seventh, as not belonging to them. Now that these things are not spoken beside the Cushion, any one might understand, who should have heard those,[ who have care] of the Temple, naming the golden {αβγδ}[ the {αβγδ}] of L●via the Wife of Augustus Caesar, and the brazen one,[ the {αβγδ}] of the Athenians; but the first and ancientest of all▪ which is the wooden one, they call[ the {αβγδ}] of the Sages, as not being of any one, but the common Dedication of them all.  
At this Ammonius gently smiled, supposing Lamprias to have delivered an Opinion of his own, but to have feigned, that he had heard the Story from others, lest he might be obliged to give an Account of it. But another of those, that were present, said, that this had some Affinity with what a certain Chaldean Stranger had lately babbl'd,[ to wit,] that there are[ in the Alphabet] seven Letters, rendering a[ perfect] Sound of themselves, and in the Heavens seven Stars, moved by their own proper Motion, not bound[ or linked to that of the others:] That E is from the beginning the second in order of the Vowels, and the Sun of the Planets[ the second, or next] to the Moon, and that the Greeks do all unanimously repute Apollo to be the same with the Sun. Bu● these things, said he, wholly savour of his[ Astrological] counting Table[ or Scheme,] and his Mountebank-like Harangue. But Lamprias, it seems, is not sensible of his having stirred up all those of the Temple against his Discourse: for there is not a Man of the Delphians, who knows any thing of what he has said; but they all have alleged the common and current Opinion, holding, that neither the Sight, nor Sound of this Writing, but the Word alone,[ as it is written,] contains some Symbol[ or secret Significaon.] For[ the Syllable {αβγδ}, with which our English IF is correspondent,] is, as the Delphians conceive it, and as Nicander the Priest, who was then present, also said, a Conveyance and Form of Prayer to the God, and has the[ first or] leading Place in the Questions of those, who at every turn use it, and ask, If they shall overcome: If they shall mary: If 'tis convenient to go to Sea: If to till the Ground: If to travail. And the wise God, bidding adieu to the Logicians, who think, nothing at all can be made of this Particle {αβγδ},[ or If,] and any Proposition[ joined] with it, understands and admits all Interrogations annexed to it, as real things. Now, because 'tis proper for us to consult[ him, as] a Prophet, and common to pray to[ him, as] a God, they suppose, that this Word has no less a Precatory, than an Interrogatory Power. For every one, who preys,[ or wishes,] says: {αβγδ}: If it might come to pass;[ or, If it might please God.] And Archilochus[ has also this Expression:] 
" If I might be so happy, as to touch  
" My Neobules Hand—  And they say that the second Syllable in this Word {αβγδ} is redundant,[ signifying nothing,] like[ {αβγδ} in] this of Sophron: 
" {αβγδ}:  
" Desiring also Children:  And[ in] this of Homer:— 
" {αβγδ}:—  
" As I will also foil thy Strength: [ in both which {αβγδ} signifies nothing.] But in the Word {αβγδ}, there is sufficiently declared an optative Power.  
Nicander having delivered these[ Words,] our Friend Thee, whom you know asked Ammonius, if he might have Liberty to pled for logic, which was so highly injured. And Ammonius bidding him speak, and defend it,[ as well as he could,] he said: Now that this God is a most expert Logician, many of his Oracles show: for 'tis, to wit, the Part of the same[ Artist] to dissolve and frame Ambiguities. Moreover, as Plato said, when an Oracle was given[ to the Greeks,] that they should double the Altar in Delos, which is a Work of the utmost Perfection in Geometry, that the God did not order[ or intend] the doing of that very thing, but commanded the Greeks to apply themselves to Geometry: so the same God, by giving ambiguous Oracles, honor● and recommends logic, as necessary to those, who desire to understand him aright. Now this Conjunction[ {αβγδ}, or If,] so fit for the Connexion of a Speech, has very great Efficacy in logic, as forming the most rational Proposition. For how can it be otherwise, since the very Brutes have indeed the Knowledge of the Substance of things; but to Man only has Nature given the Consideration and judgement of Consequence. For that there is both Day and Light, Wolves, and Dogs, and Birds are sensible. But that if it is Day, there must be Light, no other Animal understands, but Man, who only has the Conception of Antecedent and Consequent, of the Coherence and Connexion of these things with one another, and of their Habitude and Difference, from which things Demonstrations take their principal Beginning. Now since Philosophy is conversant about Truth, since the Light of Truth is Demonstration, and the Beginning of Demonstration this[ Coherence and] Connexion[ of Propositions,] the Faculty, which contains and effects this, was by wise Men with good reason consecrated to the God, who most of all loves Truth. Now the God indeed is a Prophet, and the Art of Prophesying is[ a Divination] concerning the Future from things, that are present and past. For neither is the Original of any thing without a Cause, nor the Fore-knowledge of any thing without Reason. But since all things, that are done, follow, and are connexed to those, that have been done, and those, that shall be done, to those, that are done, according to the Progress, proceeding from the Beginning to the End; he, who knows how to look into the Causes of this together, and naturally to connect them one with another, knows also, and divines, " What things now are, shall be, or e'rst have been. And Homer indeed[ excellently] well places first things, that are present, and afterwards what is future and past. For the Argument is according to the virtue of the Connexion taken from the Present: Thus, If this is, That preceded: and again, If this is, That shall be. For the Knowledge of the Consequence is, as has been said, an artificial and rational thing; but Sense gives the Anticipation to Reason. Whence( though[ it may seem] undecent to say it) I will not be afraid to aver this[ Assertion,] that the Tripus[ or Oracle] of Truth is Reason, which, joining the Consequence of the Subsequent to the Antecedent, and then assuming the present, infers the Conclusion of the Demonstration. If then the Pythian[ Apollo] delights in music, and[ is pleased] with the Singing of Swans, and the Harmony of the Lute[ or Harp,] what Wonder is it, that for the sake of logic, he embraces and loves this argumentative Particle, which he sees the Philosophers so much and so frequently to use? Hercules indeed, not having yet unbound Prometheus, nor conversed with the Sophisters, that were with Chiron and Atlas, but being still a young Man, and a plain Boeotian, at first abolished logic, and derided this Word {αβγδ}, but afterwards he seemed by force to have seized on the Tripus, and contended with[ our] God[ himself] for[ the pre-eminence in] this Art. For being grown up in Age, he appeared to be most expert both in Divination and logic.  
Theon having ended[ his Speech,] I think, 'twas Eustrophus the Athenian, who said to us: Do you not see, how valiantly Theon vindicates logic, having in a manner got on the Lions Skin, and not suffering even us, who comprehensively place all the Affairs, Natures and Principles of things, both Divine and human in Number, and make it most especially the Author and Lord of honest and estimable things, to be at quiet, but willingly to offer the First Fruits of[ our] dear mathematics to the God, since we think that this[ Letter] E does of itself neither in Power, Figure, or Expression, differ from,[ or exceed] the other Letters; but that it has been preferred as[ being] the Sign of that great Number, having an Influence over all things, called[ the Quinary, or] Pemptas, from which the Sages have expressed the Art of numbering by the Verb {αβγδ},[ signifying to account by Fives.]  
Now Eustrophus spake these things to us, not in jest, but because I did at that time studiously apply myself to the mathematics, and perhaps also in every thing to honor that Saying, Nothing too much, as having been[ conversant] in the Academy. I answered therefore, that Eustrophus had excellently solved the Difficulty by Number. For, said I, since all Number being distributed into Even and Odd, Unity is in efficacy common to them both, for that being added to an even Number, it makes it odd, and to an odd, it makes it even, Two constituting the Beginning of the Even, and Three of the Odd:[ The Number of] Five, composed of these two, is deservedly honoured, as being the first[ Compound] made of the first[ simplo] Numbers, and is called the Marriage for the Resemblance of the Odd with the Female, and the Even with the Male: for in the Divisions of the Numbers into equal Parts, the Even, being wholly separated, leaves a certain capacious Beginning and Space in itself; but in the Odd, suffering the same thing, there always remains a Middle, of generative Distribution, by which it is more fruitful than the other, and being mixed, is always Master, never mastered. For by the Mixture of both[ Even and Odd] together; there is never produced an Even[ Number,] but always an Odd. But which is more, either of them added to, and compounded with itself, shows the Difference: for no Even, joined with another Even, ever produced an Odd, or went forth of its proper[ Nature,] being through[ its] Weakness unable to generate another, and imperfect. But Odd Numbers, mixed with Odd, do, through their being every way fruitful, produce many Even ones. Time does not now permit us to set down the other Powers and Differences of Numbers. Therefore have the Pythagoreans, through a[ certain] Resemblance, said, that Five is the Marriage first Male and[ first] Female. This also is it, for which it is called also Nature, by the Multiplication of itself determining again into itself. For as Nature, taking a Grain of Wheat for Seed, and diffusing it, produces many Forms and Species between, by which she brings her Work to an End, but at last shows again a Grain of Wheat, restoring the Beginning in the End of all: so the rest of the Numbers, when they multiply themselves, terminating by the Increase in others, only those of Five and Six, multiplied by themselves, bring back and reserve themselves. For six times six makes thirty six, and five times five makes twenty five. And again, Six does this once, and only after one manner, becoming of itself that four square Number; but this indeed befalls Five, both by Multiplication, and by Composition with itself, to which being added, it alternatively makes Ten, and this as far as all[ Number can extend,] this Number imitating the Beginning,[ or first Cause,] which[ governs and manages the Universe. For as that[ first Cause,] preserving the World by itself, does reciprocally perfect itself by the World,[ as] Heraclitus says[ of Fire;] " Fire turns to all things, and all things to Fire. As wears are changed for Gold, and Gold for wears: so the Congress of Five with itself is framed by Nature to produce nothing imperfect or strange; but has limited Changes: for it either generates itself, or Ten, that is, either[ what is] proper[ to it,] or[ what is] perfect.  
Now if any one shall say, what is all this to Apollo? We will answer,[ That it concerns] not [ Apollo] only, but Dionysus[ or Bacchus] also, who has no less to do with Delphi than Apollo himself. For we have heard the Divines, partly in Verse, partly in Prose, saying and singing, that the God, being of his own Nature incorruptible and eternal, yet through a certain fatal Decree and Reason, using Changes of himself, is sometimes by Nature kindled into a Fire, making all things alike, and other whiles becoming various, in different Shapes, Passions, and Powers, as the World now is, he is named by the most known of Names. But the Wiser, concealing from the Vulgar the Change into Fire, call him both Apollo, from his Uniting, and Phoebus from his Purity and Unpollutedness. But[ as for] the Passion and Change of his Conversion into Winds, Water, Earth, Stars, and the[ various] Kinds of Plants and Animals, and of its[ Order and] Disposition,[ this] they obscurely propose as a certain Distraction, and[ in these respects] call him Dionysus[ or Bacchus] Zagreus, Nyctelius, and Isodates, exhibiting and chanting forth certain Corruptions, Disparitions, Deaths, and Regenerations,[ which are all Riddles,] and[ enigmatical] Fables, fit for[ the veiling and mysteriously representing of] the said Mutations: to the one indeed[ that is, Dionysus, or Bacchus singing] Dithyrambie Verses, full of Passions and Change, joined with a certain Wandring and Agitation backward and forward: for, as Aeschilus says, 
" The Dithyramb, whose Sounds are dissonant,  
" 'tis fit, should wait on Bacchus—  But to the other,[ that is, to Apollo,] they sing the well-ordered Paean, and a discreet Song. And this[ last indeed] they do both in their Sculptures, and Statues, always make to be young, and never declining to old Age; but that[ former] they represent in many Shapes and Forms. Lastly, to the one they attribute Equality, Order, and unmixed Gravity; but to the other a certain Mixture of Sports, Petulancy, Gravity, Madness, and Inequality: surnaming him 
" Evius Bacchus, who to Rage incites  
" Women on Tops of Mountains, and delights  
" In frantic Worship.— [ By which] they not unfitly touch the Property of both Changes. Now because the Time of the Revolutions in these Changes is not equal, but that of the one, which they call Coros,[ that is, Satiety,] longer, and that of the other,[ named] Chresmosyne,[ or Want,] shorter: observing in this the Proportion, they all the rest of the Year use in their Sacrifices the Paean; but at the beginning of Winter, rousing up the Dithyramb, and laying the Paean to rest, they do for three Months invocate this God instead of the other, esteeming the Restauration of the World to be the same in[ proportion of] time to the Conflagration of it, as Three is to One.  
But these things have[ perhaps] had more than sufficient Time spent on them. This however is evident, that they properly attribute to this God the Number of Five, saying, that it sometimes of itself produces it self like Fire, and other whiles the Number of Ten, like the World. But do we think, that this Number is not also concerned with music, which is[ of all things] most acceptable to this God? For the chiefest Operation of Harmony is, as one may say, about Symphonies[ or Accords.] Now that these are five, and no more, Reason convinces[ even] him, who will by his Sense[ of Hearing only] without reasoning, make Trial either on Strings or Pipe-holes. For all[ these Accords] take their Original in Proportions from Number: and the Proportion of[ the Symphony] Diatesseron is sesquitertial, of Diapente sesquialter, of Diapason duple, of Diapason with Diapente triple, and of Disdiapason quadruple. But as for that, which transcending all Measures, the Musicians add to these, naming it Diapason with Diatessaron, 'tis not fit, we should receive it, gratifying the unreasonable Pleasure of the Ear against Proportion, which is as the Law. That I may therefore let pass the five Positions of the Tetrachords, and also the five first, whether they are to be called Tones, Tropes, or Harmonies, as which change by rising or falling either to more or less, the rest are bases or Trebles: Whereas there are many, or rather infinite Intervals, are not five of them only used in music?[ to wit,] Diesis, Hemitonion, Tonos, Triemitonion, and Ditonon. Nor is there any other Space, either greater, or less in the Voice, that, being distinguished by Bass or triple, comes into Melody. Passing by many other such like things, said I, I will only produce Plato, saying, that there is but one World, but that if this were not alone, so that there were others besides it, they would be in all five, and no more. For indeed though there is but this one only World, as Aristotle is also of Opinion, yet this World is in some sort composed and assembled of five[ others,] of which one indeed is of Earth, another of Water, the third of Fire, the fourth of Air, and the fifth, being Heaven, some call Light, and others the Sky; and some also name this same the fifth Essence, to which alone of[ all] Bodies 'tis natural to be carried about in a circled, not of Necessity, or otherwise by Accident. Wherefore knowing, that of the Figures, which are in Nature, there are five most excellent and perfect,[ to wit,] the pyramid, the Cube, the Octaëdron: the Eicosaëdron, and Dodecaaedron, he has fitly accommodated each[ of them] to each[ of these Worlds or Bodies.] There are some also, who apply the Faculties of the Senses, being equal in Number, to these five first Bodies, seeing the Touch to be firm and earthy, and the Taste to perceive the Qualities of savours by Moisture. Now the Air, being struck upon in the Hearing, is a Voice and Sound; and as for the other two, the Scent, which the Smell has obtained[ for its Object,] being an Exhalation, and engendered by Heat, is fiery; and for the Sight, which shines by reason of its Affinity to the Sky and Light, it has from both of them a Temperature and Complexion equally affencted. Now neither has any Animal any other Sense, or the World any other Nature simplo and unmixed; but there has been made, as appears, a certain wonderful Distribution and Congruity of five to five.  
Having here stopped a little, and made a small Pause between, I said: What a Fault, O Eustrophus, were we like to have committed! having almost pass by Homer, as if he were not the first, that distributed the World into five Parts, who assigned the three, which are in the midst, to three Gods, and left the two extremes, Olympus and the Earth, of which one is the Limit of things above, the other of things below, common and undistributed. But we must, as Euripides says, return to our Discourse. For those, who magnify the Quaternary or Number of Four, teach not amiss, that every[ solid] Body had its Generation by reason of this. For since every Solid consists in Length and Breadth, having also received a Depth, and since before Length there is extant a Point, answerable to Unity, and Length without Breadth being called a Line, and consisting of two, and the Motion of a Line towards Breadth exhibiting also the Procreation of a Superficies, composed of three, and the Augmentation of this Depth, added to it, going on to a Solid; 'tis manifest to every one, that the Quaternary, having carried on Nature hitherto, and even to the perfecting of a Body, and the exhibiting it double, massy, and solid, has at last left it, wanting the greatest[ Accomplishment.] For that which is inanimate, is to speak sincerely, Orphan-like, unperfect, and fit for nothing at all, unless there is some Soul to use it; but the Motion or Disposition, introducing a Soul, being a Change, made by[ the Number] five, adds the Consummation to Nature, and has a Reason so much more excellent than the Quaternary, as an Animal differs in Dignity from that, which is inanimate. Moreover the Symmetry and Power of[ this Number] Five, having obtained greater Force, has not permitted the animate Body to proceed to infinite sorts, but has exhibited five Species of all things that have Life: For there are Gods, Genii, and Heroes, and then after them the fourth sort is Men, and the fifth and last the irrational and brutish Animal. Furthermore, if you divide the Soul itself according to[ its] Nature, its first and most obscure[ Part or Faculty] is the Vegetative, the second the Sensitive, then the Concupiscible, after that the Irascible, and having brought on and perfected Nature in the Faculty of the Rational, it rests in this fifth, as in the Top[ of all.] Now the Generation of this Number, which has so many and so great Faculties, is also beautiful, not that, which we have already discoursed of, being composed of two and three, but that, which the[ first] Principle, joined with the first Square has exhibited. For the Principle of all Number is Unity, and the first Square is the Quaternary: Now the Quinary is composed of these, as of Form and Matter, having[ attained to] Perfection. And if 'tis right, which some hold, that Unity is also square, as being the Power of itself, and terminating in itself, the Quinary, being made of the two first Squares, could not have a nobler Original.  
But[ as for its] greatest Excellency, I fear, lest being spoken, it should press our Plato[ as much,] as he himself said, Anaxagoras was by the Name of the Moon, who made a certain Opinion concerning her Illuminations, which was very ancient,[ to be an Invention of] his own. For has he not said this in[ his Dialogue, entitled] Cratylus?  
Yes indeed, answered Eustrophus; but I see not any thing that has fallen out like it. And yet you know, that in[ his Treatise, which has for its Title] The Sophister, he demonstrates five principal Beginnings,[ to wit] Ens[ or, That which is,] The Same, Another, adding] to these for a fourth and fifth Motion and Rest. Again, in[ his Dialogue, called] Philebus, using another manner of Division, he says, that there is one thing infinite, and another the Extremity,[ or End:] and that all Generation consists of these[ two] mixed[ together.] Then he puts the Cause, by which they are mixed, for the fourth Kind: and has left us to conjecture the fifth, by which the things that were mixed, have again a Division and Dissipation. Now I am[ altogether] of Opinion, that these[ last] are delivered as the Images[ or Representations] of those[ before, to wit,] The things engendered of Ens[ or, That which is,] Infinite of Motion, and the Extremity of Rest; the Mixing Principle of The same, and the Separating of The other. But if these are different[ from those,] yet both that way and this way[ these Principles are still distingusht] in five Kinds and Differences. Now some one, said he, being persuaded of these things,[ and] seeing them before Plato, consecrated to the God two E E, for a Mark and Symbol of the Number of all things. And having perhaps further understood, that Good also appears in five Kinds, of which the first is Mean[ or measured,] the second Commensurate[ or proportioned,] the third Understanding, the fourth Sciences, Arts, and true Opinions in the Soul, and the fifth, a certain Pleasure, pure and unmixed with Sorrow; he stops there, overdoing that of Orpheus: In the sixth Age stay your Desire of Singing.  
After he had spoken these things to us, he said, Yet one short[ Word] to those about Nicander, I'l sing to Men of Skill.— For on the sixth Day of the New Moon, when he introduces[ the Prophetess] Pythia into the[ Hall, called] Prytaneum, the first of the three Lots tends with you towards five, casting neither three, nor two, one to another. For is not this so?  
It is so, said Nicander; but the Cause is not to be  told to others.  
Well then, said I smiling, till such time as the God admits us, being consecrated to know the Truth, this also shall be added to those things, that have been spoken concerning the Quinary.  
This End, as I remember, had the Discourse of the Arithmetical and Mathematical Encomiums of E. But Ammonius, who had himself also bestowed not the worst[ part of his Time] in Mathematical Philosophy, was delighted with what had been spoken, and said: 'tis not meet too eagerly to oppose these young Men about these things, except[ it be by saying,] that every one of the Numbers will afford you, if you desire to praise it, no small[ Subject of Commendations.] And what need is there to speak of others? For the Septenary, sacred to Apollo, will take up a Days time, before one can in Words run through all its Powers. We shall therefore pronounce, that the wise Men[ or Sages] do at once contest both against common Law, and a long[ Series of] Time, if, throwing the Septenary out of its Seat, they shall consecrate the Quinary to the God, as being more suitable to him. I am therefore of Opinion, that this Syllable signifies neither Number, Order, nor Connexion, nor any other of the deficient Parts, but is a self-perfect Appellation and Salutation of the God, which together with[ the Pronunciation of] the Word, brings the Speaker to the Conception of his Power. For the God in a manner calls upon every one of us, who comes hither, with this Salutation, Know thyself: which is nothing inferior to[ that other Expression] All hail. And we again, answering the God, say to him {αβγδ}, thou art; attributing to him the true, unfeigned, and Sole Appellation of Being,[ as] agreeing to him alone.  
For we indeed do not at all essentially partake of Being, but every mortal Nature, being in the midst between Generation and Corruption, exbibits an Appearance, and obscure and weak Opinion of itself: and if you fix your Thought, desiring to comprehend it, as the hard Grasping of Water, by the pressing and squeezing together, that which is fluid, loses that, which is held: so the Passions changing, Reason, pursuing too evident a Perception of every thing, is deceived, partly as to its Generation, and partly to its Corruption, being able to apprehended Nothing, either remaining, or really subsisting. For we cannot, as Heraclitus says, descend twice into the same River, or twice find any perishable Substance in the same State; but by the Suddenness and Swiftness of the Change it disperses, and again gathers together, comes and goes: whence what is generated of it, reaches not to the Perfection of Being, because the Generation never ceases, nor is it at an End; but always changing, of Seed it makes an Embryo, next an Infant, then a Child, then a Stripling, after that a young Man, then a full-grown Man, an elderly Man,[ and lastly,] a decrepit old Man, corrupting the[ precedent or] former Generations and Statures by the subsequent[ or later.] But we ridiculously fear one Death, having already so often died, and dying. For not only, as Heraclitus said, in the Death of Fire the Generation of Air, and the Death of Air the Generation of Water; but you may see this more plainly in Men themselves: for the full-grown Man perishes, when the old Man comes, as the Youth terminated in the full-grown Man, the Child in the Youth, the Infant in the Child: so Yesterday died in To day, and To day dies in To morrow: so that none remains, nor is one, but we are generated many about one Phantasm, and common Mould, the Matter sliding and turning about. For how do we, if remaining the same, delight in other things,[ than we delighted in before?] How do we love, hate, admire, and contemn things, contrary to the former? How do we use other Words, and other Passions, not having the same Form, Figure, or Understanding? For neither is it probable, we should be thus differently afflicted without Change, neither is he, who changes the same. And if he is not the same, neither is he at all, but changing from the same, changes also his Being, being made one from another. But the Sense is deceived through the Ignorance of Being, supposing that to be, which appears.  
What then is it that has really a Being? That which is eternal, unbegotten, and incorruptible, to which no Time brings a Change. For Time is a certain movable thing, appearing as a Shadow with fleeting Matter, always flowing and unstable, like a Vessel of Corruption and Generation: of which the Saying, After, and Before, It has been, and It shall be, is of itself a Confession, that it has no Being. For to say, that what never was, or what has already ceased to be, is in being, how foolish and absurd it is. And as for that, on which we chiefly ground the Understanding of Time, saying, the Instant, Present, and Now, Reason again, wholly discovering it, does immediately overthrow it: for it is pressed between the Future and the Past, as desiring to see it necessary separated into two.  
Now if the same thing befalls Nature, which we measure by Time, as does the Measure of it, there is nothing in it permanent or subsistent, but all things are either breeding, or dying, according to their Commixture with Time. Whence also it is not lawful to say of any thing, which is, that it was, or shall be: for these are Inclinations and Departures, and Changes of that, whose Nature is not to continue in Being. But GOD, we must say, IS, and he is not according to any Time, but according to Eternity, which is immovable, without Time, and free from Inclination, in which there is nothing first, or last, or newer; but being one, it has filled its eternal Duration with one[ only] Now, and that only is, which is really according to this,[ of which it cannot be said, that it] either was, or shall be, or that it begins, or shall end. Thus ought those, who worship, to salute and invocate this eternal Being, or else indeed, as some of the Ancients[ have doom, with this Expression] {αβγδ}, Thou art one. For the Divinity is not many, as[ is] every one of us, who are made of ten thousand Differences in Affections, being a confused Heap, filled with all Diversities, and a Mixture of all sorts of Alterations. But that, which is, must be one, as One must have a Being. But Diversity,[ which is esteemed] the Difference of Being, goes forth to the Generation of that which is not. Whence both the first of his Names agrees rightly with this God, as do also the second and third. For he is called Apollo, as denying Plurality, and rejecting Multitude: and Ieios, as being only one; and Phoebus was the Name given by the Ancients to every thing, that is pure and chast: as the Thessalians even to this Day, if I am not mistaken, say of their Priests, when on vacant Days they[ abstain from the Temples, and] keep themselves retired, that they do Phoebonomize, that is, purify themselves. Now that which is one, is sincere and pure: For Pollution is by the Mixture of one thing with another: as Homer, speaking of a Piece of Ivory died read, said, it was polluted by the die, and Diers say of mixed Colours, that they are corrupted, and call the Mixture itself Corruption. 'tis therefore always requisite for that, which is incorruptible and pure, to be one and unmixed. Now as for those who think Apollo and the Sun to be the same, they are to be caressed and loved for their Ingenuity,[ as] placing the Notion of God in that, which they most reverence of all things, that they know and desire.  
And now, as if we were dreaming of God the most glorious Dream[ imaginable,] let us stir up and exhort ourselves to ascend higher, and to contemplate what is above us, and[ principally to adore his] Essence; but to honour also this his Image,[ the Sun,] and to venerate that Generative[ Faculty, he has placed] in it, exhibiting in some sort by its Brightness, as far as 'tis possible for a sensible thing[ to represent] an Intellectual and a movable thing, that, which is permanent, certain Manifestations and Resemblances of his Benignity and Blessedness. But as for those his Sallyings out and Changes, when he casts forth Fire, which, as they say, at the same time distracted him, and when he again draws himself in, afterwards extending himself into the Earth, Sea, Winds, Animals, and strange Accidents both of Animals and Plants, they cannot so much as be hearkned to without Impiety, or else the God will be worse than the Child in the Poet, who made himself Sport with an Heap of Sand, first raised, and then again scattered abroad by himself, if he shall do the same in respect of the Universe, first framing the World, when it was not, and then destroying it, when made. On the contrary, whatsoever of him is in any sort infused into the World, that binds together its Substance, and restrains the Corporeal Weakness, which tends to Corruption. And this Word seems to me to have been chiefly opposed to that Doctrine, and that {αβγδ},[ or Thou art] is spoken to this God, as testifying, that there is never in him any going forth or Change. But to do and suffer this, agrees to a certain other God, or rather Daemon, ordained[ to take care] about Nature in Generation and Corruption, as is immediately manifest from their Names, being wholly contrary, and of different Significations. For the one is called Apollo,[ or Not many,] the other Pluto,[ or Many;] the one Delius[ from Clearness,] the other Aidoneus[ from Obscurity;] the one Phoebus,[ or Shining,] the other Scotius,[ of Dark;] with the one are the Muses and Mnemosyne,[ or Songs and Memory,] with the other Lethe and Siope,[ or Forgetfulness and Silence:] The one is[ from Contemplating and showing,] named Theorius and Phaneus, the other is 
" Prince of dark Night, and sluggish Sleep, whose Fate  
" Is, that Men him most of all Gods do hate.  Of whom also Pindarus not unpleasantly sung, " He is condemned to be for ever Childless. And therefore Euripides rightly also said: 
" These mournful Songs svit well with Men deceased,  
" With which gold-hair'd Apollo's no way pleased.  And before him Stesichorus: 
" Apollo joys in Sports and pleasant Tones;  
" But Pluto takes delight in Griefs and Moans.  Sophocles also evidently attributes to either of them his proper Instruments, in these Words: 
" Neither the Lute nor Psaltery is fit  
" For mournful Matters—  For 'tis but very lately, and in a manner of yesterday, that the Pipe or Hautbois has dared to introduce itself into delightful Matters; having in former times drawn Men to Mourning, and possessing about these things no very honourable or splendid Employment, though it was afterwards wholly intermixed. But those especially, who confounded the Affairs of the Gods with those of the Genii, brought them into Reputation.  
But the Sentence, Know thyself, seems in one respect to contradict this Note {αβγδ}, and in another to agree with it. For the one is pronounced with Admiration and Veneration to God, as being eternally, and the other is a Remembrance to mortal Men of their Nature and Infirmity.   

Plutarch's Morals: Vol. IV.  
The Lives of the Ten Orators.  Translated out of the Greek, by Charles Barcroft, Lecturer of St. Mildred Bread-street. 

ANTIPHON I.  
ANtiphon, the Son of Sophilus, by Descent a Rhamnusian, was his Fathers Scholar, for he kept a Rhetorick-School, to which, 'tis reported, that Alcibiades himself had recourse in his Youth. Having attained to competent measure of Knowledge and Eloquence, and that, as some believe, from his own Natural Ingenuity, he dedicated his Study chiefly to Affairs of State. And yet he was for some time conversant in the Schools, and had a controversy with Socrates the Philosoper, about the Reason of Disputing; not so much for the Sake of Contention, as the Profit of Arguing, as Xenophon tells us; in his Commentaries on the Sayings and Actions of Socrates. At the Request of some Citizens he wrote Orations, by which they defended their Suits at Law; and some say, that he was the first that ever did any thing of this Nature: For it is certain there is not one Juridicial-Oration extant, written by any Orator that lived before him, nor by his Contemporaries neither, as Themistocles, Aristides and Pericles, though the Times gave them opportunity, and there was need enough of their Labour in such Business. Not that we are to impute it to their Want of Parts, that they did nothing in this way, for we may inform ourselves of the contrary from what Historians relate of each of' em. Besides, if we inspect the most ancient, viz. Alcibiades, Critias, Lisias and Archinous, who we shall find, that though they wrote in one and the same style, and had the same Form and Method in their Pleadings, yet they were in a great Measure beholding to Antiphon, when he was old. For being a Man of incomparable Sagacity, he was the first that published Institutions of Oratory; and by reason of his profound Learning, he was surnamed Nestor. Caecilius, in a Tract which he wrote of him, supposes him to have been Thucidides's Pupil, from what Antiphon delivered in praise of him. He is most accurate in his Orations; in Invention subtle; and would frequently baffle his Adversary at unawares, by a covert sort of Pleading; in troublesone and intricate Matters he was very judicious and sharp; and as he was a great Admirer of Ornamental Speaking, he would always adapt his Orations to both Law and Reason.  
He lived about the Time of the Persian War, and of Gorgias the Rhetorician, being somewhat younger than he. And he lived to see the Subversion of the Popular Government in the Common-wealth, which was wrought by the four hundred Conspirators, in which he himself is thought to have had the chiefest Hand, being sometimes Commander of two Gallies, and sometimes holding the Praetorship, and having by the many and great Victories he obtained, gained them many Allies, he armed the young Men, man'd out sixty Gallies, and on all their Occasions went Ambassador to Lacedaemonia, at what time ●etionia was fortified. But when those four hundred were overcome and taken down, he, with Archiptolemus, who was likewise one of the same Number, was accused of the Conspiracy, Condemned and Sentensed to the Punishment due to Traytors, his Body cast out unburied, and all his Posterity infamous on Record. But there are some, who tell us, that he was put to Death by the thirty Tyrants; and among the rest, Lysias, in his Oration for Antiphon's Daughter, says the same, for he left a little Daughter, whom Callaeschius claimed for his Wife by the Law of Propinquity. And Theopompus likewise in his fifteenth Book of his philippics, tells us the same thing. But he is more tender of his Reputation than Lycidonidas his Father; and so is Cratinus in his Pytine, in that he does not mention the Evil he was guilty of. But how could he be Executed in the Time of the four Hundred, and afterward live to be put to Death by the Thirty Tyrants? There is likewise another Story of the Manner of his Death. That when he was old he sailed to Syracuse, when the Tyranny of Dionysius the First, was most famous; and being at Table, a Question was put, What sort of Brass was best? When others had answered, as they thought most proper, he replied; That is the best Brass, of which the Statues of Hermodius and Aristogiton were made. Which the Tyrant hearing, and taking it as a tacit Exhortation to his Subjects to contrive his ruin, he commanded Antiphon to be put to Death; and as some say, he unjustly gave out, that he was put to Death for deriding his Tragedies.  
This Orator is reported to have written sixty Orations; but Caecilius supposes twenty five of them to be spurious and none of his. Plato, in his Comedies with Pisander, traduces him as a Covetous Man. He is reported to have composed some of his Tragedies alone, and others with Dionysius the Tyrant. While he was Poetically inclined, he invented an Art of Curing the Distemper of the Mind, as Physicians are wont to promise Cure of bodily Diseases. And having at Corinth built him a little House, in or near the Market, he set a Postscript over the Gate, to this effect: That he had a way to cure the Distemper of Mens Minds by Words; and let him but know the cause of their Malady, he would immediately prescribe the Remedy, to their Comfort. But after some time, thinking that Art not worth his while, he betook himself to the Study and Teaching of Oratory. There are some who ascribe the Book of Glaucus Rheginus concerning Poets, to him as Author of it. His Orations concerning Herodotus, to Erasistratus concerning Ideas, are very much commended: and that which, when he was accused, he penned for himself, against a Law not recorded; and that against Demosthenes the Praetor, touching public Offences. He likewise had another against Hippocrates the Praetor, in which he condemned him for his Contempt, in that he did not appear on the Day appointed for his trial: and this was done in the very time when Theopompus was Governor of the City, under whose Government the Power of the four hundred Conspirators was overthrown.  
Caecilius has recorded the Decree of the Senate, for the Judicial trial of Antiphon, in these Words: That on the one and twentieth Day of Prytaneia, Demonicus Alopecensis being then Notary-Publick, Philostratus Pellenensis preferred a Bill from the Senate, wherein it was decreed, that those Men, viz. Archeptolemus, Oromacles, and Antiphon, whom the Praetors had declared against, for that they went in an ambassage to Lacedaemonia, to the great Damage of the City of Athens, and departed from the Camp in an Enemies Ship, and so went through Decelia by Land; that they should be apprehended and kept in Prison, till they should be brought to a legal trial: That the Praetors themselves, with others of the Senate, to the Number of ten, whom it should please them to name and choose, should look after them to keep them safe till judgement should be passed upon 'em: That Thesmothetes should on the Morrow after their Commitment, judicially city the said Prisoners before the Judges, both the Leaders, and others of the Conspiracy, where the Bill being red, wherein they were accused of Treason, whoever had any thing to say against 'em, he should be heard: That whoever should then be condemned, should have Sentence pronounced against him, according to the prescript Form of Condemnation, appointed by the Law in the Case of Treason. At the bottom of this Decree was subscribed, Archeptolemus, the Son of Hippodamus Agrylensis; and Antiphon, the Son of Sophilus the Ramnusian, being both present in Court, are condemned of Treason. And this was to be their Punishment; That they should be delivered to the eleven Executioners, their Goods confiscated, the tenth part of 'em being first consecrated to Minerva; their Houses to be levelled with the Ground, and in the Places where they stood, this Subscription to be engraven on Brass: The House of Archeptolemus and of Antiphon Traytors.*** That Archeptolemus and Antiphon should neither of 'em be butted in Athens, nor any where else under that Government. And besides all this, that their Memory should be accounted infamous to Posterity, as well the Memory of Bastards as of their lawful Progeny: and he too was looked upon with the same Contempt, who should adopt any one of their Progeny for his Son. In a Word, that all this should be engrossed and engraven on a Brass Column, and that Column to be placed, where that stands, on which is engraven the Decree concerning Phrynicus.   

ANDOCIDES II.  
ANdocides, the Son of that Leogoras, who once made a Peace with the Athenians against the lacedæmonians, by Descent a Cydathenian or Phucian, of a Noble Family, and as Hellanicus tells us, if we may believe him, the Off-spring of Mercury himself: for the Race of heralds belong to him: and on this account he was chosen by the People to go with Glaucen, with twenty Sail of Ships to aid the Corcyreans against the Corinthians. But in process of time, being accused of some notorious Acts of Impiety; as that he was of the Number of those who defaced the Statues of Mercury, and divulged the Sacred Mysteries of Ceres; and withal, being accused of Wildness and Intemperance, and that he had been seen in the Night in Masquerade to break one of the Statues of Mercury; and when he refused to bring his Servant to Examination, whom his Accusers name, he was not only convicted of the first, but also was very much suspected to be guilty of the second Crime too. Which later Action was laid to his Charge soon after the Expedition of the Navy sent by the Athenians into Sicily. For as Cratippus informs us, when the Corinthians sent the Leontines and Aegesians to the Athenians, who were to lend them Assistance in cognito, they in the Night defaced and broke all the Statues of Mercury which were erected in the Market. To which Offence, Andocides having added another, that of divulging the Mysteries of Ceres, he was brought to his trial, but was acquitted, on condition he would discover who were Companions with him in the Crime. In which Affair, being very diligent, he found out who they were that had been guilty, and among the rest, he discovered his own Father. He proved all guilty, and caused them all to be put to Death, only his Father, whom he saved, though in Prison, by a Promise of some eminent Service he would do to the Common-wealth. Nor did he fail of what he promised; for Leogoras accused many who had acted in several Matters against the Interest of the Common-wealth, and for this was acquitted of his own Crime.  
Now, though Andocides was very much esteemed of for his Skill in the Management of the Affairs of the Common-wealth; yet his Inclinations lead him rather to traffic by Sea: and by this means he contracted Friendship with the Kings of Cyprus, and other great Princes. At which time he privily stolen a dansel of the City, the Daughter of Aristides, and his own niece, and sent her as a Present to the King of Cyprus: But suspecting he should be called in question for it, he again stolen her from Cyprus, for which the King of Cyprus took him and clapped him up in Prison; whence he broke loose and return'd to Athens, just at that time when the four hundred Conspirators had usurped the Government. By whom being confined, he again escaped, when the Power of Governing was lodged in a few. But when the thirty Tyrants were uppermost, he withdrew to Elis, and there lived, till Thrasybulus and his Faction returned into the City, and then he also repaired thither. And after some time, being sent into Lacedaemonia to conciliate a Peace, he was again suspected to be faulty, and on that Suspicion banished.  
He himself has given an account of all these Transactions in his Orations which he has left behind him. For some of 'em treat of the Crime of him who shakes off his Religion by a Violation of its Laws, as he did when he divulged the Mysteries of Ceres: Others represent a convicted Person begging Mercy of the Judge: and there is one extant, wherein he makes a Discovery of the wicked practices of others, and one to Phaeax, and one concerning Peace. He flourished at the same time with Socrates the Philosopher; he was born in the seventy eighth Olympiate, when Theogenides was governor of Athens, so that he should seem to be almost an hundred years before Lysias. There is an Image of Mercury, called from his Name Andocideum, being given by the House of Aegis, and it stood near the House where Andocides dwelled. This Andocides himself was at the Charge of a public Revel, in memory of the Name and House of Aegeis, at the Celebration of the 
Feasts or Songs dedicated to Bacchus.  Dithyrambicks. And having gained a Victory, he erected a Tripos on an Ascent opposite to the Country of Perinus Selinus. His style in his Orations is plain and easy, without the least Affectation, or any thing of a Figurative Ornament.   

LYSIAS III.  
LYsias, the Son of Cephalus, Grand-Son of Lysanias, and Great Grand-Son of Cephalus, was by Descent a Syracusian, but partly for the Love he had to the City, and partly in condescension to the persuasions of Pericles, the Son of Xantippus, a great and rich Man there, who entertained him as his Friend and Guest, he went to live at Athens. Some say, that he was banished Syracuse, when the City was under the Tyranny of Gelo. However, he entred Athens when Philocles, the Successor of Phrasicles was governor, in the second Year of the eighty second olympiad. At his first coming, he was educated among the most Noble of the Athenians. But when the City sent a Colony to Sybaris, which was afterwards called Thurii, he went thither with his elder Brother Polemarchus, his Father being now dead, for he had two other Brothers, Eudemus and Brachillus, that he might receive his Portion, or part of his Fathers Estate. This was done in the fifteenth Year of his Age, when Praxiteles was governor. There then he stayed, and was brought up under Nicias and Tisias, both Syracusians. And having purchased a House, he lived as a Citizen for about sixty three years, till the Regency of Clearchus, having been governor himself in his turn. In the Year following, in the Time of Gallias, viz. in the ninety second olympiad, when the Athenians had War with the Sicilians, and when other of their Allies revolted, and especially the Italians, he being accused of favouring the Athenians, with three others of his Association was banished; when coming to Athens, in the Year wherein Gallias succeeded Cleocritus in the Government, which then laboured under the Tyranny of the four hundred Conspirators, he there sate down. But after the Fight at 
i. e. The River of Goats.  Aegospotamos, when the Thirty Tyrants had usurped the Government, he was banished thence for seven Years, his Goods confiscated, and having likewise lost his Brother Polemarchus, he himself escaped by a Back-door of the House in which he was kept, fled to Megara, and there lived as one without hope of Recovery. But when the Citizens endeavoured to return from Phila, he also behaved himself very well, and appeared very active in the Affair, having, to forward this great enterprise, deposited two thousand Drachms of Silver, and two hundred Targets, and being commissioned with Hermanes, he maintained three hundred and two Men in Arms, and prevailed with Thrasilaeus the Elian, his old Friend and Host, to contribute some Talents. Upon his entering the City Thrasibulus proposed, that for a Consideration of his good Service to the public, he should take upon him the Administration of the Common-wealth, and be invested with the Government before Euclides. Which Proposal being ratified by the People, Archimus objected that it was against the Laws, and a judgement without Authority, and therefore voided of itself. Whereupon being deceived of his Right of Governing, he lead the Remainder of his Life in private, and died at last at Athens, being fourscore and three years old, or as some would have it, seventy six: and others again say, that he lived above fourscore years, till after the Birth of Demosthenes. 'tis supposed he was born in the Year of Philocles. There are four hundred and twenty five Orations which bear his Name, of which Dionysius and Cecilius affirm only two hundred and thirty to be genuine: and he is said to have been overcome but twice in all. There is extant also the Oration which he made in defence of the forementioned Decree against Archimus, wherein he shows what Right he had to it, by his Conversation in the Common-wealth: as also another against the thirty Tyrants. He was very cogent in his persuasions, and was always very brief in what he delivered. He would commonly give Orations to private Persons. There are likewise his Institutions of Oratory, his Lectures and Epistles, his eulogies, Funeral Orations, Discourses of Love, and his Defence of Socrates, accommodated to the Minds of the Judges. His style seems plain and easy, though hardly imitable. Demosthenes in his Oration against Neaera, says that he was in Love with one Metanira, Neaera's Serving maid; but afterwards married his Brother Brachillus's Daughter. Plato in his Phedrus makes mention of him, as a most eloquent Orator, and ancienter than Isocrates. Philiscus, his Companion, and Isocrates's Votary, composed an Epigram concerning him, whence the 
That he was before Isocrates.  same that we have urged from Plato is deducible: and it sings to this effect: 
Thou witty Daughter of Callippe, show,  
If ought of Wit or Eloquence thou hast:  
For 'tis decreed that thou shalt bear a Son,  
Lycias by Name, to spread the Name of him,  
Whose great and generous Acts do fill the World,  
And are received for Glorious above.  
Let him who sings these Praises of the Dead,  
Let him, my Friend, too, praise our Amity.   
He likewise wrote an Oration for Iphicrates, against Harmodius; and another accusing Timotheus of Treason, in both which he overcame. But when Iphicrates took upon him the Examination of Timotheus's Actions, and would purge him of the Allegation of Treason, Lycias wrote an Oration for him to deliver in his Defence: upon which he was acquitted; but Timotheus was fined in a considerable Sum of Money. He likewise delivered an Oration at the olympic Games, in which he endeavoured to convice the Greeks, of how great Advantage it would be to 'em, if they could but unanimously join to pull down the Tyrant Dionysius.   

ISOCRATES IV.  
ISocrates was the Son of Theodorus, and Erechthian, reckoned among the meaner sort of Citizens, and a Man who kept Servants under him to make Flutes, by which he got so much Money, as enabled him not only to bring up his Children after the most gentle Manner, but likewise to maintain a Choire,( for besides Isocrates, he had other Sons, viz. Telesippus, and Diomnestus, and one Daughter.) And hence we may suppose those two comical Poets, Aristophanes and Stratis, took occasion to bring him on the Stage. He lived about the eighty sixth olympiad, Lysimachus the Myrrhinusian being governor, about two and twenty Years after Lysias, and seven before Plato. When he was a Boy, he was as well educated as any of the Athenian Children, being under the Tuition of Prodicus the Cean, Gorgias the Leontine, Tisias the Syracusan, and Theramenes the Rhetorician, whom when he was to be apprehended by the Order of the Thirty Tyrants, and flying for succour to the Altar of the Senate, only Isocrates stood his Friend, and for a long time concealed him. But after some time Theramenes advised him to desist, because, he  told him, it would be an Aggravation of his Grief, if any of his Friends should come into Trouble for and with him. And 'tis said, that he made use of certain Institutions of rhetoric, composed by him when he was slandered in Court: which Institutions have since born Boton's Name.  
When Isocrates was come to Man's Estate, he meddled with nothing of State Affairs, both because he had a very weak Voice, and because he was something timorous; and besides these two Impediments, his Estate was much impaired by the Loss of a great part of his Patrimony in the War with the lacedæmonians. It is the Opinion of some, that he composed some Orations, and especially one concerning Barter. Having set up a School, he gave himself much to Writing, and the Study of philosophy, and then he wrote his Panegyrical Oration, and others which were used for Advice, some of which he delivered himself, and others he gave to others to pronounce for him; aiming thereby to persuade the Greeks to the Study and practise of such things as were of most immediate concern to them. But his Endeavours in that way proving to no purpose, he gave those things over, and opened a School in Chios first, as some will have it, having for a Beginning nine Scholars: and when they came to him to pay him for their Schooling, he weeping said, Now I see plainly that I am sold to my Scholars. He admitted all into his Acquaintance who desired it. He was the first that made a Separation between Brawling, and solid Pleading and Arguments, to which latter he rather addicted himself. He instituted a Form of Magistracy in Chios, much the same with that at Athens. No School-master ever got so much Money by the Profession as he did: for he got so much, that he built and maintained a Galley at his own Charge. He had more than an hundred Scholars, and among others, Timotheus the Son of Conon was one, with whom he visited many Cities, and composed these Epistles which Timotheus sent to the Athenians; who for his pains gave him a Talent out of that which he got of Samos. Theopompus likewise, the Chian, Ephorus the Cumean, Asclepiades the Writer of Tragedy, and Theodecles, who afterwards wrote Tragedies too, were all Isocrates's Scholars.( The last of these had a Monument in the way to Cyamites, as we go to Eleusines, of which now remains only Rubbish, there also he set up with his, the Statues of other famous Poets, of all which, only Homer's is to be seen.) Leodamus also the Athenian, and Lacritus who gave Laws to the Athenians, were both his Scholars: and some say Hyperides and Isaeus too. They add likewise, that Demosthenes also was very desirous to learn of him; and because he could not give the full Rate, which was a thousand Drachms, he offered him two hundred, the fifth part, if he would teach him but the fifth part of his Art proportionable: to whom Isocrates answered, We do not use, Demosthenes, to impart our Skill by halves, but as Men sell good Fish whole, or altogether, so, if thou hast a Desire to learn, we will teach thee our full Art, and not a piece of it. He died in the Year when C●aeronides was governor; when being at Hippocrates's public Exercise, he received the News of the Slaughter at Chaeronea; for he was the Cause of his own Death by a four Days Fast, which he then made, pronouncing just at his Departure the three Verses which begin the three Tragedies of Euripides: 
Danaus, Father of the fifty Sisters.  
Pelops, Son of Tantalus, in quest of Pisa.  
Cadmus, in time past going from Sidonia.   
He lived ninety eight Years, or, as some say, a hundred, not being able to behold Greece the fourth time brought into Slavery. The Year, or as some say, four Years before he died, he wrote his Panethenaic Oration: his panegyric Oration ten Years before, or as some tell us, fifteen, which he is supposed to have translated out of Gorgias the Leontine, and Lysias. His Oration concerning Barter, he wrote when he was eighty two years old; and that to Philip a little before his Death. When he was old, he adopted Aphareus, the youngest of the three Sons of Plathane, the Daughter of Hippias the Orator, whom he married for his Son. He was very rich, both in respect of the great Sums of Money he exacted of his Scholars; and besides that, he had at one time twenty Talents of Nicocles, King of Cyprus, for an Oration which he dedicated to him. By reason of his Riches he became obnoxious to the Envy of others, and was three times name to build a Galley, which he evaded twice by the Assistance of his Son and a Counterfeit Sickness; but the third time he undertook it, though the Charge proved very great. A Father telling him, that he had allowed his Son no other Companion than one Slave: Isocrates replied, Go thy way then, for one Slave thou shalt have two. He striven for the prise which Artemisia dedicated to the Honour and Memory of her Husband Mausolus; but that Oration is lost. He wrote also another Oration in praise of heal, and one for Areopagus. Some say, that he died when he had fasted nine Days, some again, at four days end; and that his Death took its Date from the Funeral Solemnities of those that lost their Lives at Cheronea. His Son Aphareus likewise wrote several Orations. He lies butted with all his Family near Synosarges, on the Left-hand of the Hill: For there are interred Isocrates and his Father Theodorus, and his Mother, and her Sister Anaco, and his adoptive Son Aphareus, Socrates the Son of Anaco, and Isocrates his Brother, bearing his Father's Name, and Isocrates's Nephews, the Sons of Aphareus, Aphareus and his Father Theodorus, and his Wife Plathane, the Mother of his adopted Aphareus▪ On the Tombs of whom were erected six Tables, which are now demolished. But upon the Tomb of Isocrates himself was placed a Ram thirty Cubits high, and on that a Mermaid of seven Cubits; which was an Emblem of his Eloquence; there is nothing more extant. There was also near it a Table having his Poets and School-master on it; and among the rest, Gorgias inspecting a celestial Globe, and Isocrates standing by him. There is likewise a Statue of his of Brass in Eleusine, dedicated by Timothy the Son of Conon, before the Entry of the Porch, with this Inscription; 
To the famed and Honour of Isocrates,  
This Statu's Sacred to the Goddesses;  
The Gift of Timothy.  This Statue was made by Leochare●. There are threescore Orations which bear his Name; of which, if we credit Dionysius, only five and twenty are genuine; but according to Cecilius, twenty eight; and the rest are accounted spurious. He was an utter Stranger to Ostentation, insomuch, that when there came at one time three Persons to hear him declaim, he admitted but two of them, desiring the third to come the next Day, for that two at once were to him as a full Theatre. 〈◇〉 used to tell his Scholars that he taught his Art for 〈◇〉 Pounds; but he would give any Man ten thousand, that could teach him to be bold, and give him a good utterance. And being once asked, how he who was not very eloquent himself, could make others so: he answered, Just as a Whetstone cannot cut, yet it will sharpe● Knives for that purpose. Some say, that he wrote Institutions to the Art of Oratory; others are of Opinion, that he had no Method of Teaching, but only Exercise▪ He would never ask any thing of a Free●om Citizen. He used to enjoin his Scholars being present at public Acts, to repeat to him what was there delivered. He conceived no little Sorrow for the Death of Socrates, insomuch, that the next Day he put himself in Mourning. Being asked what was the Use and Force of rhetoric, he answered, To make great Matters appear small, and small great. At a Feast with Nicocre●●, the Tyrant of Cypr●●, being desired by some of the Company to declaim upon some Theme, he made answer, That that was not a Season for him to speak his Mind, and he had no mind, then, to be Seasonable. Happening once to see Sophocles the Tragedian amorously eyeing a comely Boy, he said to him, It will become thee, Sophocles, not only to restrain thy Hands, but to turn away thine Eyes. When Epherus of Cunes left his School, before he had arrived at any good Proficiency, his Father Demophilus sent him again with a second Sum of Money in his Hand; at which, Isocrates smiling, he jocosely called him Diphorus: that is, 〈◇〉 that pays twice for his Learning. However, he took a great deal of Pains and Care with him, and went so far, as to put him in the way of writing History.  
He was wantonly given: and used to lye upon a Straw Mat for his Bed, and his Bolster was commonly made moist with Saffron. He never married while he was young, but in his old Age he kept a Miss, whose Name was Lagisca, and by her he had a Daughter, who died in the twelfth Year of her Age, before she was married. He afterward married Plathane, the Wife of Hippia the Rhetorician, who had three Sons, the youngest of which, Aphareus by Name, he adopted for his own, as we said before; and he erected a brazen Statue to him near Olympius, as it were a Column, with an Inscription to this purpose: 
In veneration of the mighty Jove,  
His noble Parents and the Gods above,  
Aphareus this Statue here has set,  
The Statue of Isocrates his Father.  He is said to have run a Race on a swift Horse, when he was but a Boy; for he is to be seen in this Posture in the citadel or Tower, in the Tennis Court of the Priests of Minerva, in a Statue. There were but two Suits commenced against him in his whole Life: one whereof was with Megaclides, who provoked him to Barter; at the trial of which, he could not be personally present, by reason of Sickness; but sending Aphareus, he nevertheless overcame. The other svit was commenced against him by Lysimachus, who would have him come to a Barter, and likewise to be at the Charge of maintaining a Galley for the Commonwealth. In this Case he was overthrown, and forced to deposit the Money. But there was likewise a piece of Painting of his in Pompeium. Aphareus also wrote Orations both judicial and deliberative; as also a few Tragedies, to the Number of thirty seven; of which, two are answered. He began to make his Works public in the Year of Lysistratus, and continued it to the Year of Sisigenes, that is, eight and twenty Years: He wrote likewise six civil Plays, and twice together went away with the prise, and by other Actors he played two more, which he called 
From Lenaeus, one of the Names of Bacclus.  Lenaicks.  
There were to be seen in the citadel, the Statues of their Mother, of Isocrates, Theodorus, and Anaco their Mothers Sister. That of the Mother is placed just by the Image of Health, or, the Inscription being changed, of Anaco. She had two Sons, Alexander by Coenes, and Usicles by Lysias.   

YSOEUS V.  
ISoeus was born in Chalcis, when he came to Athens, he red Lysias's Works, whom he imitated so well, both as to his style, and his way of Reasoning, that he who was not very well acquainted with their manner of Writing, could not tell which of the two was Author of many of their Orations. He flourished after the Peloponnesian War, as we may conjecture from his Orations, and was in repute till the Reign of Philip. He taught Demosthenes, not at his School, but privately, who gave him ten thousand Drachms, by which Business he became very famous. Some say that he composed Orations for Demosthenes, which he pronounced in opposition to his Tutors. He left behind him sixty four Orations, of which fifty are his own; as likewise some peculiar Institutions of rhetoric. He was the first that used to speak or writ figuratively, and who addicted himself to Civil Matters: which Demosthenes chiefly followed. Theopompus the Comedian makes mention of him in his Theseus.   

AESCHINES VI.  
HE was the Son of that Atrometus, who being banished by the thirty Tyrants, was thereby a Means of reducing the Common-wealth to the Government of the People, and of his Wife Glaucothea; by Descent a Cothocidian. He was neither nobly born, nor Rich; but in his Youth, being strong and well set, he addicted himself to all sorts of bodily Exercises; and afterwards, if we may credit Demosthenes, having a very clear Voice, and good Pronunciation, he took to playing of Tragedies, and in this he served Aristodemus in his Bacchanals, playing in the School only the third Parts of the ancient Tragedies. When he was but a Boy, he was assisting to his Father in teaching little Children their Letters, and when he was grown up, he listed himself a private sentinel. Some think he was brought up under Socrates and Plato; but Caecilius will have it that Leodamus was his Master. Being concerned in the Affairs of the Common-wealth, he openly acted in opposition to Demosthenes and his Faction; and was therefore employed in several Embassies, and especially in one to Philip, to treat about Articles of Peace. For which Demosthenes accused him for being the Cause of the Overthrow and ruin of the Phocaeans, and the Enflamer of War; which part he would have him thought to have acted in the Diet of the Amphyctions, who choose him one of their Deputies in that Assembly; and having made them a convenient Haven, put themselves under Philips Protection, who being assisted by Aeschines, took the Affair in hand, and soon conquered all Phocis: But Aeschines, notwithstanding all that Demosthenes could do, being favoured by Eubulus the Son of Spintharus, a Proballusian, who pleaded in his Behalf, he carried his Cause by thirty Voices, and so was cleared. Though some tell us, that there were Orations prepared by some Orators; but the News of the Conquest of Chaeronea put a stop to the present Proceedings, and so the svit fell.  
Some time after this, Philip being dead, and his Son Alexander marching into Asia, Aeschines impeached Ctasiphon for acting against the Laws, in passing a Decree in favour of Demosthenes. But he having not the fifth part of the Voices of the People on his side, he was forced to go in Exile to Rhodes, because he would not pay the Mulct of a thousand Drachms, in which he was fined, being overthrown at the Bar. Others say, that to add to his Crime, he would not depart the City; and that he went to Alexander at Ephesus. But upon the Death of Alexander, when the Tumult was at the highest, he went to Rhodes, and there opened a School and taught. And on a time pronouncing the Oration which he had formerly made against Ctesiphon to pleasure the Rhodians, he did it with that Grace, that they wondered how he could fail of carrying his Cause, if he pleaded so well for himself: But, wonder not, said he, that I was overthrown, because ye did not hear Demosthenes pleading against me. He left a School behind him at Rhodes, which was afterwards called the Rhodian School. Thence he sailed to Samos, and there in a short time died. He had a very good Voice, as both Demosthenes and Demochares testify of him.  
Four Orations bear his Name, one of which was against Timarchus, one concerning a false embassage, a third against Cetesiphon, which three are really his own; but the fourth, called Deliaca, is none of his; for though he was name to pled the Cause of the Temple at Delos, yet Demosthenes tells us, that Hyperides was chosen in his stead. He says himself, that he had two Brothers, Aphobus and Demochares. He was the first that brought the Athenians the News of the Victory obtained at Tamyne, for which he was crwoned. Some report that Aeschines was never any Mans Scholar; but having learned to writ● indifferently well, he by that means arrived to his Skill in rhetoric. His first public Appearance was in a Speech against Ph●●●●p; with which the People being pleased, he was immediately chosen to go Ambassador to the Arcadians, and being come thither, he raised some thousands of Men against Philip. He indicted Timarchus for keeping a Brothel, who fearing the Issue, deserted his Cause and hanged himself, as Demosthenes somewhere informs us. Being employed with Ctesiphon and Demosthenes in an ambassage to Philip, to treat of Peace, he appeared the most accomplished of the three. Another time also he was the tenth Man sent in embassage to conclude a Peace, and being afterward called to answer it, he was acquitted, as we said before.   

LYCURGUS VII.  
LYcurgus was the Son of Lycophron, and Grand-Son of that Lycurgus whom the thirty Tyrants put to Death, by the Procurement of Aristodemus the Batesian, who also being quaestor, or Treasurer of the Greeks, was banished in the time of the Popular Government. He was a Butadian by Country, of the Line or Family of the Etrobutades. He received his first Institutions of Philosophy from Plato the Philosopher. But afterward entering himself a Scholar to Isocrates the Orator, he employed his Study about Affairs of the Common-wealth. And to his care was committed the Disposal and Management of the City Stock, and so he executed the Office of Treasurer General for the space of fifteen Years: in which time there went through his Hands fourteen Millions of Talents, or, as some will have it, fourscore Millions, six hundred and fifty. It was the Orator Stratocles that procured him this Preferment, who as his Friend recommended him to the People, though he was first chosen for his own Sake, for there was a Law, that no Man should be chosen Treasurer for above the Term of five Years. But Lycurgus plied his Business closely, both Summer and Winter, in the Administration of public Affairs, and being entrusted to make Provision of all Necessaries for the Wars, he reformed many Abuses that were crept into the Commonwealth. He built four hundred Galleys for the use of the public: And prepared and fitted a Place for public Exercises in Lyceum, and planted Trees before it; he likewise built a Wrestling Court, and was at last made surveyor of the Theatre of Bacchus. He was likewise of so great repute among all sorts, that he was entrusted with two hundred and fifty Talents of private Citizens. He adorned and beautified the City with gold and silver Vessels of state, and golden laurels: He likewise finished many things that were as yet imperfect, as the Arsenals, armouries, &c. He built a Wall also about the spacious Panathenaick Cloister, and made level a piece of uneven Ground, given by one Disicas to Lycurgus for the use of the City. The keeping of the City was committed wholly to his Care, and Power to apprehended Malefactors, of whom he cleared the City by degrees: so that some Sophisters were wont to say, that Lycurgus did not dip his Pen in Ink, but in Blood. And therefore it was, that when Alexander demanded him of the People, they would not deliver him up: When Philip made the second War upon the Athenians, he was employed with Demosthenes and Polyeuclus in an embassy to Peloponnesus and other Cities. He was always in great repute and esteem with the Athenians, and looked upon as a Man of that Justice and Integrity, that in the Courts of Judicature his good Word was at all times prevalent on the Behalf of those Persons for whom he undertook to speak. He was the Author of several Laws; one of which was, that there should be certain Comedies played at the Chytrian Solemnities, and whoever of the Poets or Players should come off Victor, he should thereby be invested with a Freedom, which before was not lawful: and so he revived a Solemnity, which for want of Encouragement, had for some time before been out of request. Another of his Laws, was, that the City should erect Statues to the Memory of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides; and that their Tragedies being fairly engrossed, should be preserved in the public Consistory, and that they should be red by the public Notaries, because it was not lawful for the Players to act them. A third Law proposed by him, was, that no Athenian, nor any Person inhabiting in Athens, should be permitted to sell a Captive, who was free before, to be a Slave, without the Consent of his former Master. Further, that in Piraeeum there should be at least three circular Dances played to Neptune; and that to the Victor in the first, should be given ten Pounds; to the second, eight; and to the third, six. Also, that no Woman should go to Eleusine in a Coach, lest the Poor should appear more despicable than the Rich, and so be dejected and cast down: and that whoever should ride in a Coach contrary to this Law should be fined six thousand Drachms. And when even his own Wife was taken in the Violation of it, he paid to the Discoverers of it a whole Talent, for which being afterwards called in question by the People: See therefore, said he, I am called to answer for giving, and not for receiving Money.  
As he was walking one Day in the Streets, he saw an Officer lay Hands on Xenocrates the Philosopher, and when nothing would serve his turn but the Philosopher must to Prison, because he had not deposited the Tribute due from Strangers; he with his Staff struck the Officer on the Head for his unmannerly Roughness toward a Person of that Character, and, freeing Xenocrates, cast the other in Prison in his stead. And not many Days after, Xenocrates meeting with the Children of Lycurgus, I made the more hast, said he, to them, to give your Father Thanks for his Friendship to me, because I heard his undeserved Kindness commended by all People where I go. He made likewise several Decrees, in which he made use of the Works of Euclides, one very expert in such Matters. Though he was rich enough, yet he was used to wear the same Coat, and the same shoes every Day, both Summer and Winter. Because he was not so ready and apt as some others, to speak to any thing ax tempore, he used to meditate and study Day and Night. And to the end he might not at any time oversleep himself, and so lose time from his Study, he used to cover himself on his Bed only with a Sheep's-skin, with the wool on, and to lay a hard Bolster under his Head. When one reproached him for being in see with Rhetoricians, when he studied his Orations, he answered; That, if any Man would promise to restore his Sons better, he would give him not only a thousand Deniers, but half what he was worth. He took the Liberty of speaking boldly upon all occasions, by reason of his Greatness: as when once the Athenians interrupted him in his speaking, he cried out, O thou Corcyraean Whip, bow many Talents art thou worth? And another time, when some would rank Alexander among the Gods; What manner of God, said he, must he be, when all that go out of his Temple had need to be dipped in Water to purify themselves?  
After his Death, Menesaechmus accusing and indicting them by Virtue of an Instrument drawn by Thracyclos, his Sons were delivered to the eleven Executioners of Justice. But Demosthenes being in Exile, wrote to the Athenians, to let them know that they were wrongfully accused, and that therefore they did not well to hear their Accusers: upon which they recanted what they had done, and set them at liberty again; Democles, who was Theophrastus's Scholar, likewise pleading in their Defence. Lycurgus and some of his Posterity were butted publicly, at, or near the Temple of Minerva Paeonia, where their Monuments stand in the Garden of Melanthius the Philosopher, on which are Inscriptions to Lycurgus and his Children, which are yet extant. The greatest thing he did while he lived, was his raising the Revenue of the Commons totally from sixty Talents, as he found it, to twelve hundred. When he found he must die, he was by his own appointment carried into the Temple, and into the Senate-house; being willing before his Death to give an account of his Administration: And no Man daring to accuse him of any thing except one Menesaechmus; having purged himself from those Calumnies he cast upon him, he was carried Home again, where in a short time he ended his Life. He was always accounted Honest, his Orations were commended for the Eloquence they carried in them, and though he was often accused, yet he never was overthrown in any svit.  
He had three Children by Callisto, the Daughter of Abron, and Sister of Caloeus Abrons's Son, by Descent a Batesian, I mean, of him, who when Chaerondas was Governor, was Treasurer, or Pay-master to the Army. Of this Affinity Dinarchus speaks in his Oration against Pastius. He left behind him three Sons, Abron, Lycurgus and Lychophron; of which, Abron and Lycurgus died without Issue, though the first, Abron, did for some time act very acceptably and worthily in Affairs of the Common-Wealth. Lycophron marrying Callistomacha, the Daughter of Philip Aixenes, begot Callisto, who married Cleombrotus the Son of Dinocrates the Acharnanian, to whom she bare Lycophron, who being adopted by his Grand-Father, died without Issue. He being dead, Socrates married Calisto, of whom he had his Son Symmachus. To him was born Aristonymus, to Aristonymus Charmides, who was the Father of philip. Of her and Lysander came Medius, who also was an Interpreter, one of the Eumolpides. He begot two Children of Timothea, the Daughter of Glaucus, viz. Laodamia and Medius, who were Priests of Neptune Erectheus; also Philippae a Daughter, who was afterward Priestess of Minerva; for before, she was married to Diocles the Milettean, to whom she bare a Son name Diocles, who was a colonel of a Regiment of Foot. He married Hediste, the Daughter of Abron, and of her begot Philippide and Nicostrata; whom Themistocles the Torch-bearer, Son of Theophrastus married, and by her had Theophrastus and Diocles, and he likewise constituted the Priesthood of Neptune Erectheus.  
'tis said, that he penned fifteen Orations. He was often crowned by the People, and had Statues dedicated to him. His Image in Brass was set up in Ceramicum, by order of the public, in the time of Anaxicrates; in whose time also it was ordered that he and his eldest Son should be provided for with Diet in Prytaneum: and he being dead, Lycophron his eldest Son sued for that Donation. This Lycurgus also was used frequently to pled on the account of Sacred things; and accused Antolycus the Areopagite, Lysicles the Praetor, Demades the Son of Demius, Menesaechmus, and many others, all whom he caused to be condemned as guilty. Diphilus also was called in question by him, for impairing and diminishing the Props of the Metal Mines, and so unjustly making himself Rich, and caused him to be condemned to die, according to the Provision made by the Laws in that Case. He gave, out of his own Stock, fifty Drachms to every Citizen, the Sum-total of which Donation, amounted to one hundred and sixty Talents; but some say he gave a pound of Silver to each. He likewise accused Aristogiton, Cleocrates and Antolimus, for appearing as Free-men, when they were known to be but as it were Slaves. He was surnamed Lycurgus Ibis, which in English sounds, A black Stork: and they would compare him to Xenophon Nycteris, which in plainer terms, is, Owl. His Ancestors derived their Pedigree from Erectheus, the Son of the Earth and of Vuloan; but he was nearest to Lycomedes and Lycurgus, whom the People honoured with public Solemnities. There is a Succession of their Race of the Priests of Neptune, in a complete Table, which is placed in the Temple at Erectheium, drawn by Ismenias the Chalcidian: in the same place also stood the Images of Lycurgus, and of his Son Abron, Lycurgus and Lyciphron; and by them Timarchus and Cephisodotus the Son of Praxiteles. His Son Abron dedicated the Table, and coming to the Priesthood by right of Scoession, he resigned to his Brother Lycophron, and hence he is painted as giving a Trident. But Lycurgus had made a draft of all his Actions, and hung it on a Column before the Wrestling-Court built by himself, that all might red that would; and no Man could accuse him of any Offence. He likewise referred to the People, the Crowning of Neoptolemus, the Son of Anticles, and to dedicate Statues to him, because he had promised and undertaken to cover the Altar of Apollo in the Market with Gold, according to the Order of the Oracle. He decreed Honours likewise to Dio●imus, the Son of Diopithes of Euon mos, in the year when Clesicles was governor.   

DEMOSTHENES. VIII.  
DEmosthenes, the Son of Demosthenes, by Cleobul●, the Daughter of Gilon, a Paeanian by Descent: he was left an Orphan by his Father, when he was but seven years old, together with a Sister of the Age of five. Being kept by his Mother during his Non-age, he went to School to Isocrates, say some, but the Generality are of Opinion that he was Pupil to Isaeus the Chalcidian, who lived in Athens, and was Isocrates's Scholar. Some say he was initiated by Thucydides and Plato, and they affirm that he more especially followed the last of these two. Hegesias the Magnesian writes, that he entreated his Master's Leave to go hear Callistratus the Son of Empaedus, an Amphidura●, a noble Orator, and sometime Commander of a Troop of Horse, who had dedicated an Altar to Mercury Agoraids, and was to make an Oration to the People: Whom, when he heard him, he loved, and so long as he continued at Athens, became his Disciple.  
But Callistratus being some time after banished, Demosthenes being arrived to some years of maturity, he joined with Isocrates and Plato. After this, he took Isaeus into his House, and for the space of four years laboured very hard in imitation of his Orations. Though Clesibius in his Book of Philosophy, affirms, that by the help of Callias the Syracusian, he got the Orations of Zethus the Amphipolite, and by the assistance of Charicles, those also of Alcidamus the Ca●istian, and devoted himself to the Imitation of them. When he came to Age, in the Year of Timocrates, he called his Tutors and Guardians to account for their maladministration, in not allowing him what was fitting and requisite out of his Estate, while he was under their Tuition. And these Tutors or Guardians were three, Aphobus, Therip●des and Demophon, alias Demea, the last of whom, being his Uncle, he charged more severely than the other two. He arrested each of them in an Action of ten Talents, and cast them, but did not exact of them what the Law had given him.  
When Aristophon, by reason of his Age, could not hold the Government any longer, he was chosen Chorager, or Overseer of the Dances. During the Execution of which Office, Media● the Anagiratin striking him as he was ordering the Dances in the Theatre, he sued him upon it, but let fall his svit upon Medias's paying him three thousand Drachms.  
'tis reported of him, that while he was a Youth, he confined himself to a Den or Cave, and there studied his Orations, and shaved half of his Head, that he might not be alured to divert himself from it; and that he lay upon a very narrow Bed, that he might awake and rise the sooner. And for that he could not very well pronounce the Letter R. he accustomend himself very much to that, that he might master it if possible: and using likewise an unseemly Motion of his Shoulder when he spake at any time, he remedied that by a Spit, or, as some say, a Sword stuck in the Ceiling just over his Shoulder, that the Fear of being pricked with it might break him off that indecent Gesture. They report of him further, that when he could declaim pretty well, that he had a sort of Looking-glass as big as himself, and used always in declaiming, to look in that, to the end he might see, and correct what was amiss. He used likewise at some certain times to go down to the Phalerian Shore, to the end, that being accustomend to the Surges, and Noise of the Waves, he might not be daunted by the clamours of the People, when he should at any time declaim in public. And being naturally short winded, he gave Neoptolemus a Player, ten thousand Drachms to teach him to pronounce long Sentences in one Breath.  
Afterwards, betaking himself to the Affairs of the Common-wealth, and finding the People divided into two different Factions, one in favour of Philip, and the other standing for the Liberties and Properties of the People; he took part with them that opposed Philip, and always persuaded the Citizens to help those who were in danger and trouble by Philips Oppression; taking for his Companions in Council, Hyperides, Nausicles, Polyenctus and Diotimus; and then he drew the Thebans, Euboeans, Corcyreans, Corinthians, Boeotians, and many more into a League with the Athenians. Being abroad one day, and his Memory failing him, his Oration was hissed; which made him return home very heavy and melancholy: and being met by Eunomus the Thriasian, an old Man, by him he was comforted and encouraged. But chiefly he was animated by Andronicus the Player, who  told him that his Orations were excellent, but that he wanted something of Action. And so when he was asked what was the first part of Oratory, he answered, Action; and which was the second, he replied, Action; and which was the third, he still answered, Action. Another time, declaiming publicly, and using Expressions too youthful for one of his Years and Gravity, he was laughed at, and ridiculed by the Commedians, Antiphanes and Timocles, who in derision used to repeat such Phrases as these, as uttered by him— 

{αβγδ}.   

By the Earth, by the Fountains, by the Rivers, by the Floods.   For having sworn thus in presence of the People, he raised a Tumult about him. He likewise once swore by Asclepius, and made the Ante pemiltima long through some Mistake, and yet afterward defended it. For this Asclepius was called, {αβγδ}, that is, a mildred God, by which Name he often invoked him. But all these things he reformed in time, being sometime conversant with Eubulides the Milesian Rhetorician. Being on a time present at the olympic Games, and hearing Lamachus the Terinaean sound the Praises of Philip, and of Alexander the Great, his Son, and decry the cowardice of the Thebans and Olynthians, he stood up in their Defence against him, and from the ancient Poets he proclaimed the great and noble achievements of the Thebans and Olynthians; and so elegantly he behaved himself in this Affair, that he at once silenced Lamachus, and made him convey himself immediately out of the Assembly. And even Philip himself, when he heard what an Harangue he made against him, replied, That, if he had heard him himself, he should have been apt to commend him, and to have chosen him to make War against himself. He was used to compare Demosthenes's Orations to Souldiers, for the Force they carried along with them: but the Orations of Isocrates to Fencers, because of the Theatrical Delight that accompanied them.  
Being about the Age of seven and thirty, reckoning from Dexitheus to Callimachus, in whose time the Olynthians sent to beg Aid of the Athenians against Philip, who then made War upon them, he persuaded them to answer the Olynthians Request: but in the following Year, in which Plato died, Philip overthrew and destroyed the Olynthians. Xenophon also, the Scholar of Socrates, had some knowledge of Demosthenes, either at his first Rise, or at least, when he was most famous and flourishing: For he wrote the Acts of the Greeks, as touching what passed at the battle of mantinaea, in the Year of Charicles: our Demosthenes having some time before overthrown his Guardians, in a svit he had commenced against them, of which mention is made already. When Aeschines, being condemned, fled toward Athens, Demosthenes hearing of it, he took Horse and road after him; which Aeschines understanding, and fearing to be apprehended again, he came out to meet Demosthenes, and fell at his Feet, covered his Face, and begged his Mercy; upon which Demosthenes bid him stand up, assured him of his Favour, and as a Pledge of it, gave him a Talent of Silver. He advised the People to maintain a Company of mercenary Souldiers in Thasos, and thither sailed himself as Captain of the Galleys. Another time, being entrusted to buy Corn, he was accused of defrauding the City, but cleared himself of the Accusation, and was acquitted. When Philip made War upon Elatia, and overcame it, Demosthenes with others went to the War of Caeronea, where he is said to have deserted his Colours, and flying away, a Bramble caught hold of his rest behind, when turning about in hast, thinking an Enemy had overtaken him, he cried out, Save my Life, and say what shall be my Ranson. On his Buckler he had engraven for his Motto, Good Fortune. And it was he that made the Orations at the Funerals of such as died in the Field.  
After these things, he bent his whole Care and Study for the reparation and adorning of the City and Walls; and besides what Money he expended of the City Stock, he laid out of his own Pocket at least an hundred pounds. And besides this, he gave ten thousand to those who were concerned about things Sacred, and taking Ship, he sailed from cost to cost to collect Money of the Allies: for which he was often by Damoteles, Aristonicus, and Hyperides, crwoned with golden Crowns: and afterwards by Ctesiphon. Which afterward had like to have been retracted, Diodotus and Aeschines endeavouring to prove it to be contrary to the Laws; but he defended himself so well against their Allegations, that he overcame all Difficulties, his Enemies not having the fifth part of the Votes of the People.  
After this, when Alexander the Great made his Expedition into Asia, and Harpalus fled to Athens with a great Sum of Money; at first he would not let him be entertertain'd, but afterwards, he being landed, and having given him a thousand Daricks, he was of another Mind; and when the Athenians determined to deliver Harpalus up to Antipater, he opposed it, averring that the Money was laid up in the citadel, ordering the Sum to be declared to the People, and accordingly Harpalus  told them, it was seven hundred and fifty Talents, or somewhat more, according to Philochorus. But when Harpalus broken out of the Prison wherein he was kept till some Person should come from Alexander, and was escaped into Crete, or, as some will have it, into Taenarus in Laconia; Demosthenes was accused that he had let him go for a Sum of Money; and that he had not given a true Account of the Sum delivered to him; nor had he impeached the Negligence of the Keepers of both him and the Money; and so he was judicially cited by Hyperides, Pytheus, Menesaechmus, Himereus and Patrocles, who prosecuted him so severely, as to cause him to be condemned in the Court of Areopagus; and being condemned, he went into Exile, not being able to pay five fold; for he was accused of receiving thirty Talents: Others say, that he would not run the risk of a trial, but went into Banishment before the Day came. After this Tempest was over, when the Athenians sent Polyeuctus to the republic of Arcadia, to draw them off from the Alliance of the Macedonians, he not succeeding, Demosthenes appeared to second him, where he reasoned so effectually, that he easily prevailed. Which procured him so much Credit and Esteem, that after some time a Galley was dispatched to call him Home again. And the Athenians decreed, that whereas he owed the State thirty Talents, as a Fine laid on him for the misdemeanour he was accused of, he should be excused only for building an Altar to Jupiter Servator in the Piraeeum: which Decree was first proposed by Damon his near Kinsman.  
This being agreed on, he return'd to the Administration of Affairs in the Common-wealth again. But when Antipater was blocked up in Lamia, and the Athenians offered Sacrifices for the happy News, he happened, being talking with Agesistratus, one of his intimate Friends, to say, that his judgement concerning the State of Affairs, did not jump with other Mens, for that he knew the Greeks were brisk and ready enough for a short Encounter, but were not able to endure a lasting War. When Antipater had taken Pharsales, and threatened to besiege Athens itself, if they refused to deliver up such Orators as had declaimed against him: Demosthenes suspecting himself to be one of the Number, left the City, and fled first into Egina, that he might take Sanctuary in the Temple of Aeacus; but being afraid to trust himself long there, he went over to Calauria: and when the Athenians had decreed to deliver up those Orators, and him especially as one of them, he continued a Suppliant in the Temple of Neptune. When Archias, who from his Office of pursuing Fugitives, was called Phygatotheres, came thither, who was the Scholar of Anaximenes the Orator; when he, I say, came to him, and persuaded him to go with him, telling him, that no doubt he should be received by Antipater as a Friend; he replied, When you play a part in a Tragedy, you cannot persuade me to believe you the Person you represent; no more shall you now persuade me by your Counsel. And when Archias endeavoured to force him thence, the Towns-men would not suffer it. And Demosthenes  told them, that he did not flee to Calabria to save his Life, but that he might convice the Macedonians of their Violence committed, even against the Gods themselves. And with that he called for a Writing-Table, and if we may credit Demetrius the Magnesian, on that he wrote this Distich, which afterwards the Athenians caused to be affixed to his Statue; and 'twas to this purpose: 
Hadst thou, Demostenes, an outward Force,  
Great as thy inward Magnanimity;  
Greece should not wear the Macedonian Yoke.  This Statue, made by Polyeuctus, is placed near the Cloister, where the Altar of the twelve Gods is erected. Some say this Writing was found; Demosthenes to Antipater Greeting. Philochorus tells us that he died by drinking of poison; but Satyrus the Historiographer will have it, that the Pen was poisoned with which he wrote his Epistle, and putting it into his Mouth, soon after he tasted it he died. Eratosthenes is of another Opinion, viz. that being in continual Fear of the Macedonians, he wore a poisoned Bracelet on his Arm. Others say again, that he died with holding his Breath; and others, lastly, say, that he carried strong poison in his Signet** two and twenty.  
When King Philip was dead, he appeared publicly in a glorious rob or Mantle, as rejoicing for his Death, though he but just before mourned for his Daughter. He assisted the Thebans likewise against Alexander, and animated all the other Greeks. So that when Alexander had conquered Thebes, he demanded Demosthenes of the Athenians, threatening them, if they refused to deliver him. When he went against Persia, demanding Ships of the Athenians, Demosthenes opposed it, saying, Who can assure us, that he will not use those Ships we should sand him, against ourselves?  
He left behind him two Sons by one Wife, the Daughter of one Heliodorus Eudocimus. He had but one Daughter, who died unmarried, being but a Child. A Sister, too, he had, who married with Laches the Leuconian, his Kinsman, and to him bore Demochares, who proved inferior to none in his time for Eloquence, Conduct and Courage. His Statue is still standing in the Pritaneum, on the Right of the Entry, the first that ever was clothed with a Coat, and gird with a Sword; because in this Habit he delivered an Oration to the People when Antipater demanded of them their Orators.  
Afterwards, in process of time, the Athenians decreed Nourishment to be given to the Kindred of Demosthenes in the Prytaneum; and likewise set up a Statue to his Memory, when he was dead, in the Market, in the Year of Gorgias: Which Honours were paid him at the Request of Demochares his Sisters Son. And ten years after, Laches, the Son of Demochares a Leuconian, in the Year of Pytharatus, required the same Honour for himself; viz. That his Statue should be set up in the Market, and that both he and his Posterity, that is, the Eldest of his Line for the future should have their Allowance in the Prytaneum, and the highest room at all public shows and Triumphs. These Decrees concerning both of them, are engrossed, and to be found among the Statute Laws. The Statue of Demochares, as we have said before, was afterwards removed out of the Market into the Prytaneum.  
There are extant sixty five Orations which are truly his. Some report of him, that he lived a very dissolute and vicious Life, appearing often in Womens Apparel, and being frequently conversant at Masks and Revellings; whence he was surnamed Batalus: though others say, that this was a Diminutive of his Nurses Name, and that from her he was called Batalus in derision. Diogenes, who for his churlish humour, was surnamed Canis, a Dog, espying him one day in a Victualing-house, he was very much ashamed, and to shun him, went to withdraw: But Diogenes called after him, and  told him: The more you shrink inward, the more you will be in. The same Diogenes hearing him once upon the Banter, said of him, that in his Orations, he was a Scythian, a robust, valiant Warrior; but in War a delicate nice Citizen. He was one of them who received Gold of Ephialtes, one of the popular Orators, who being sent in an Emb●ssie t● the King of Persia, took Money privily, and dist●ibuted among the Orators of Athens, that they might use their utmost Endeavours to kindle and inflame the War against Philip; and 'tis said of Demosthenes, that he for his part, had at once three thousand Daricks of the King. He apprehended one Anaxilles of Oreites, and caused him to be tortured for a spy, and when he would confess nothing, he procured a Decree that he should be delivered to the Eleven Executioners. When once at a Meeting of the Athenians, they would not suffer him to speak, he  told them, he had but a short Story to tell them. Upon which all being silent, thus he began; A certain Youth, said he, hired an Ass in Summer time, from hence to Megara. About Noon, when the Sun was very hot, and both he that hired the Ass, and the owner being desirous of sitting under, or on one side of the Ass, that he might shade them, they each thrust the other away, the Owner arguing, that he let him only his Ass, and not the Shadow; and the other replying, that since he had hired the Ass, all that belonged to him was at his Dispose. Having said thus, he seemed to go his way. But the Athenians willing now to hear his Story out, called him back, and desired him to proceed. To whom he replied; How comes it to pass, that ye are so desirous of hearing a Story of the Shadow of an Ass, and refuse to give ear to Matters of greater Moment? Polus, the Player, boasting to him, that he had gotten a whole Talent by playing but two days, he answered, And I have gotten five Talents by being silent but one Day. One Day his Voice failing him, when he was declaiming publicly, being hissed, he cried out to the People, saying, Ye are to judge of Players, indeed, by the Clearness and Tuneableness of their Voice; but of Orators, by the Gravity and Excellency of their Sentences. Epicles upbraiding him, for his premeditating what he was to say, he replied, I should be ashamed to speak what comes uppermost to so great an Assembly. They say of him, that his Lamp never went out; that he used always, to the Age of fifty years, to peruse often, correct and publish his Orations before he deliver d them. And he says of himself, that he drank always fair Water. Lysias the Orator was acquainted with him; and Isocrates knew him concerned in the Management of public Affairs till the Battle of Chaeronea; as also some of the Socratical Sect. He delivered some of his Orations 
This is supposed to have been added by some other Hand, because a contrary sentence is given of him before.  ex tempore; Nature having qualified him for it. The first that proposed the Crowning him with a Coronet of Gold, was Aristonicus, the Son of Nicophanes the Anagyrasian: though Diondas, indeed, interceded for it likewise.   

HYPERIDES IX.  
HYperides was Son of Glausippus, and Grand-son of Dionysius, of the Borough of Colittea. He had a Son who bare the same Name with his Father Glaucipput the Orator, who wrote many Orations, and begot a Son name Alphinus. He was Plato's Scholar, and had the Management of public Affairs with Lycurgus, or, as some will have it, he was the Scholar of Plato, Lycurgus and Isocrates: However, his Concern in the Common-wealth, was at that time, when Alexander accosted Greece, whom he vigorously opposed, in his Demands of Officers and Ships of the Athenians. He advised the People not to discharge the garrison of Taenara; and this he seemed to do for the Sake of a Friend of his, who was Commander of it. At first he used to pled Causes for a Fee, and was suspected to have received part of the Money which Ephialtes brought out of Persia. When Philip besieged the City byzantium, he was sent as Captain of the Galleys for the Assistance and Relief of that City. In that Year he had the Charge and Care of the solemn Dances, when others were dismissed from all public Offices. He obtained a Decree for some Honours to be paid to Demosthenes; and when that Decree was repealed at the Instance of Diondas, as being contrary to the Laws, he being called in question upon it, cleared himself. He did not continue his Friendship with Demosthenes, Lysicles, and Lycurgus to the last; for, Lysicles and Lycurgus being dead, and Demosthenes being accused of having received Money of Harpalus, he, among all the rest, was pitched upon as the only Person who was not corrupted with Bribery, to draw up his Indictment, which he accordingly did. Being once accused of publishing Acts contrary to the Laws; as, that all Inhabitants of Athens should be accounted Citizens; that Slaves should be made free; that, all sacred things, Children and Women, should be confined to the Piraeeum, he cleared himself of all, and was acquitted. And being blamed by some, who wondered how he could be ignorant of the many Laws that were directly repugnant to those Decrees; he answered, that, The Arms of the Macedonians dazzled his Sight, and it was not he, but the battle of Chaeronea that made that Decree. But Philip being affrighed at somewhat, gave leave to carry away their Dead out of the Field, which before he had denied to the heralds of Lebadia.  
After this, at the Overthrow at Cranon, being demanded by Antipater, and the People being resolved to deliver him up, he fled out of the City with others who were under the same Condemnation, to Aegina: where meeting with Demosthenes, he excused himself for the Breach of Friendship between them. Going from thence, he was apprehended by Archias, surnamed Phygadotheres, by Country a Thurian, formerly a Player, but at that time in the Service of Antipater; by this Man, I say, he was apprehended, even in the very Temple of Neptune, though he grasped the Image of that God in, his Arms, and was brought before Antipater, who was then at Corinth. Where being put upon the Rack, he bit out his Tongue, because he would not divulge the, Secrets of his Country, and so died, on, or about the ninth Day of October. Hermippus tells us, that as he went into Macedonia, his Tongue was cut out, and his Body cast out unburied; but Alphinus his Cousin Germen, or, according to the Opinion of others, his Grandson, by his Son Glausippus, obtained Leave, by means of one Philopithes a Physician, to take up his Body, which he burnt, and carried the Ashes to Athens to his Kinsfolk there, contrary to the Edicts both of the Athenians and Macedonians: which not only banished them, but likewise forbade the Burial of them any where in their own Country. Others say, that he went to Cleonae, where with others he died; having his Tongue cut out, as above. However, his Relations and Friends took his Bones when his Body was burnt, and butted them among his Ancestors before the Gate Hippades, as Heliodorus gives us the Relation in his third Book Of Monuments. His Monument is now altogether unknown and lost, being thrown down with Age and long standing.  
He is said to have excelled all others in his way of delivering himself in his Orations to the People. And there are some, who prefer him even to Demosthenes himself. There are seventy seven Orations which bear his Name, of which only two and fifty are genuine, and truly his. He was much given to Venery, insomuch, that he turned his Son out of Doors, to entertain that famous courtesan, Murrhina: In Pyraeeum he had another, whose Name was Aristagora; and at Eleusine, where the greatest part of his Estate lay; he kept another, one Philete, a Theban, whom he purchased for twenty Pounds. His usual Walk was in the Fish-Market. It is thought that he was accused of Impiety with one Phryne, a courtesan likewise, and so was sought after to be apprehended, as he himself seems to intimate in the beginning of an Oration: and 'tis said, that when Sentence was just ready to be passed upon her, he produced her in Court, opened he clothes before, and discovered her naked Breasts, which were so very white, that for her Beauty's sake, the Judges for that time acquitted her. He at leisure times drew up several Declamations against Demosthenes, which he thus discovered; Hyperides being sick, Demosthenes came one Day to visit him, and caught him with a Book in his Hand written against him; at which seeming somewhat displeased, Hyperides  told him; This Book shall hurt no Man that is my Friend; but as a kerb it may serve to restrain my Enemy from offering me any Injury. He obtained a Decree of some Honours to be paid to Iolas, who gave the poisoned Cup to Alexander. He joined with Demosthenes in fomenting the Lamian War, and made an admirable Oration at the Funerals of those who lost their Lives therein.  
When Philip embarked for Eubaea, and the Athenians were at the News of it in no little Consternation; Hyperides in a very short time, by the voluntary Contributions of the Citizens, fitted out forty Sail: and was the first that set the Example, by setting out two Gallies, one for himself, and another for his Son, at his own Charge.  
When there was a controversy between the Delians and the Athenians, who should have the pre-eminence in the Temple at Delos: Aeschines being chosen on the behalf of the Athenians, the Areopagites pitched upon Hyperides for their Advocate, and his Oration is yet extant, and bears the Name of the Deliack Oration.  
He likewise went Ambassador to Rho●es, where meeting other Ambassadors from Antipater, who commended him very highly for his Goodness and virtue; We know, replied he, that Antipater is good, but we have no need of a good Master at present.  
It is said of him, that he never affencted much Action in his Orations to the People; his chief aim being to lay down the Matter as plainly, and make the Case as obvious to the Judges as he could.  
He was sent likewise to the Elians, to pled the Cause of Callippus the Fencer, who was accused of carrying away the prise at the public Games unfairly: in which Cause he got the better. But when he opposed the Sentence of paying Honours to photion, obtained by Midias the Son of Midias the Anagyrasian, he was in that Cause overthrown. This appeared on the twenty fourth, or, as some suppose, the twenty seventh Day of May, in the Year when Xenus was Governor.   

DINARCHUS X.  
DInarchus, the Son of Sostrates, or Sortratus, born, as some think, at Athens, but according to others, at Corinth, came to Athens very young, and there took up his Dwelling, at that time when Alexander made his Expedition into Asia. He used to hear Theophrastus, who succeeded Aristotle in his School. He was frequently conversant with Demetrius the Phalerian too. He betook himself more especially to the Affairs of the Commonwealth, after the Death of Antipater, when some of the Orators were killed, others banished. Having contracted Friendship with Cassander, he became in a short time vastly Rich, by exacting great Rates for his Orations, of those for whom he wrote them. He opposed himself to the greatest and most noble Orators of his time, not by being over forward to declaim publicly, for his Faculty did not lie that way, but by composing Orations for their Adversaries. And when Harpalus had broken out of Prison, he wrote several Orations, which he gave to their Accusers to pronounce against those that were suspected to have taken Bribes of him.  
Some time after, being accused of a Conspiracy with Antipater and Cassander, about the Matter of Munichia, when it was surprised by Antigonus and Demetrius, who put a garrison into it, in the Year when Anaxicrates was governor, he turned the greatest part of his Estate into Money, and fled to Calchis, where he lived in Exile about fifteen Years, where he increased his Stock, and afterwards, by the Mediation of Theophrastus, he and some other banished Persons, return'd to Athens. Then he took up his Abode in the House of one Proxenus, his intimate Friend; where, being very Aged, and withal dim Sighted, he lost his Gold. And because Proxenus refused to make inquiry after the Thief, he apprehended him; and this was the first time that ever he appeared in Court. That Oration against Proxenus is extant: And there are sixty four that bear his Name, whereof some are received and approved; as namely, that against Aristogiton. He imitated Hyperides; or, as some incline to judge, rather Demosthenes, because of that vigour and Force to move the Affections, and the Rhetorical Ornaments that are evident in his style.   

Decrees proposed to the Athenians.  
DEmochares the Son of Laches the Leuconian, requires that a Statue of Brass be set up for Demosthenes the Son of Demosthenes the Paeanian, in the Market-place: as likewise that Provision of Diet be made in the Prytanaeum for himself, and the Eldest of his Progeny successively, and the chief Seat of all public shows. For he had done many good Offices for the Athenians, had on most Occasions been a good counselor, had spent his Patrimony in the Common-wealth, that he had expended eight Talents for the fitting out and maintenance of one Galley, when they delivered Eubaea; another, when Cephisodorus sailed into the Hellespont; and a third, when Chares and photion were commissioned by the People to go Captains to byzantium; that he at his own Charge, had redeemed many who had been taken Prisoner by Philip at Pydene, Methone and Olynthus: That himself had maintained the Choire, when the solemn Dances had been sometime laid aside, through the Neglect of the Pandionides: That he had furnished many indigent Citizens with Money and Arms: That being chosen by the People to oversee the City Works, he had laid out three Talents of his own Stock towards the repairing of the Walls, and ten thousand Drachms for making two Trenches about the Pyraeeum: That after the battle of Chaeronea, he deposited one Talent for the Use of the public; and after that, another to buy Corn in time of Scarcity and Want: That by his Beneficence, wholesome Counsels, and effectual persuasions, he allured the Thebans, Eubaeans, Corinthians, Megarenses, Achians, Locrians, Byzantines and Messenians to a League with the Athenians: That he raised an Army of ten thousand Foot, and a thousand Horse, and contracted Plenty to the People and their Allies, That being Ambassador, he had persuaded the Allies to a Contribution of above five hundred Talents: That in the same Quality he obtained of the Peloponnesians that they should not sand Aid to Alexander against the Thebans: And in Consideration of many other good Offices performed by him, either as to his Counsels, or his personal Administration of Affairs of the Common-wealth, in which, and in defending the Rights and Properties of the People, no Man in his time had done more, or deserved better. And in regard of his Sufferings on the Account of the Common-wealth, being banished by the Insolence of a few, and at last died at Calaura for his Good Will to the public, and his unchangeable Love to the People of Athens, there being Souldiers sent from Antipater to apprehended him; and that notwithstanding his being in the Hands of his Enemies, in so great and imminent Danger, his hearty Affections to his Countrymen was still the same, insomuch, that he never to the last offered any thing unworthy to the Injury of his People. Subscribed Pytharatus governor.  
Laches, the Son of Demochares the Leuconian, requires of the Athenian Senate, that a Statue of Brass be set up for Demochares, the Son of Laches of Leucon, in the Market-place, and Table and Diet in the Prytanaeum for himself and the Eldest of his Progeny successively, and the first Seat at all public shows; for that he had always been a Benefactor and good counselor to the People; that he had done these and the like good Offices to the public; he had gone in Embassies in his own Person; that he proposed and carried in Bills relating to his ambassage; that he had been chief Manager of public Matters; he repaired the Walls, prepared Arms and Machines; that he fortified the City in the time of the four years War, and composed a Peace, Truce and Alliance with the Baeotians. That for these things he was banished by those who overturned and usurped the Government; and being called Home again by a Decree of the People, in the Year of Diocles, he contracted the Administration, not sparing his own Pains, he went in ambassage to Lysimmachus; that at one time he levied thirty, and at another time an hundred Talents of Silver, for the use of the public; that he moved the People to sand an embassage to Polemeus, by which means the People got fifty Talents: That he want Ambassador to Antipater, and by that got twenty Talents, and brought it to Eleusine to the People: That he did all these things, for which he was banished; and would never take part with Usurpers against the Popular Government; neither did he after the Overthrow of that Government, bear any public Office in the State: That he was the only Man of all that had to do in the public Administration of Affairs in his time, who never promoted or consented to any other Form of Government, but the Popular: That by his Prudence and Conduct, all the Judgments and Decrees, the Laws, Goods and all things else belonging to the Athenians were preserved safe and inviolate; and in a Word, That he never said or did any thing to the Prejudice of the Popular Government.  
Lycophron, the Son of Lycurgus of Buta, requires, that he may have Diet in the Prytanaeum, according to a Donation of the People to Lycurgus, in the Year of Anaxicrates, the Tribe of Antiochus in Prytanaeum. Stratocles, the Son of Euthydemus, of Diomedia, proposed: That since Lycurgus, the Son of Lycophron of Buta, had, as it were, a generated Good-Will in him towards the People of Athens; and since his Ancestors Diomedes and Lycurgus lived in Honour and the Esteem of all People, and when they died were honoured for their virtue, so far, as to be butted at the public Charge in the Ceramicum; and since Lycurgus himself, while he had the Management of public Affairs, was the Author of many good and wholesome Laws, and was the City Treasurer for above fifteen Years together; during which time he passed through his own Hands eighteen thousand and nine hundred Talents, besides other great Sums of Money that he had in his Hands, and was entrusted with of private Citizens, to the Sum of at least six hundred Talents; in all which concerns he behaved himself so justly, that he was often crowned by the City for his Fidelity: Besides, being chosen by the People to that purpose, he brought much Money into the citadel, and provided Ornaments, viz. Vessels of Gold and Silver for the Goddess Minerva, and Ornaments for the 
i. e. Persons who carried Baskets or Panniers on their Heads, of Sacred things.  Cenephorae. That being Commissary General, he brought into the Stores a great number of Arms, and at least fifty thousand Shot of Darts: That he set out four hundred Galleys, some new built, and others only repaired: That finding many things out of repair, as the armoury, the Theatre of Bacchus, he repaired them, and finished the Panathenaick Race, the Court for public Exercises, and the Lycaeum, and adorned the City with many fair new Buildings: That when Alexander having conquered Asia, and assuming the Empire of all Greece, demanded Lycurgus as the principal Man, that confronted and opposed him in his Affairs, the People refused to deliver him up: That being often called to account for his Management of Affairs in so free a City, which was wholly governed by the People, he never was found faulty in any particular. That all People, therefore, might know, that the People do highly esteem all such as act in the Defence of their Liberties and Rights, not only while they live, but likewise that they pay them Honours after Death, for the Encouragement of all others, it is decreed by the People that such Honours be paid to Lycurgus the Son of Lycophron of Buta, for his Justice and Magnanimity; as that a Statue of Brass be erected in Memory of him in any part of the Market, that the Laws do not prohibit; as likewise that there be provision of Diet for every eldest Son of his Progeny sucessively for ever: Also, that all his Decrees be ratified, and engrossed by the public Notary, and engaven on Pillars of ston, and set up in the citadel just by the Gifts consecrated to Minerva; and that the City Treasurer shall deposit fifty Drachms for the Engraving of them, out of the Money set apart for such Uses.    

Plutarch's Morals: Vol. IV.  
Whether an aged Man ought to meddle in State Affairs?  Translated out of the Greek by F. Fetherston, D.D. 
WE are not ignorant, O Euphanes, that you, being a[ frequent] Extoller of the[ Poet] Pindar, have often in your Mouth[ this Saying of his,] as a thing, well, and to the purpose spoken by him: 
When as the Combat's once agreed,  
Who by Pretence seeks to be freed,  
Obscures his virtue quiter.  But since Sloth and Effeminacy[ or want of Courage] towards[ the Management of] Civil Affairs, having many Pretences, do for the last, as if it were drawn from the Sacred Line, tender to us old Age, and thinking by this chiefly to abate and cool our honourable Desire, allege, that there is a certain[ fitting and] decent Dissolution, not only of the Athletical, but also of the Political Period,[ or that there is in the Revolution of our Years, a certain set and limited time, after which 'tis no more proper for us to employ ourselves in the Conduct of the State, than in the Corporeal and robust Exercises of Youth. I esteem myself obliged to communicate also to you those Sentiments of mine concerning old Mens intermeddling with public Matters, which I am ever and anon ruminating on by myself: so that neither of us may desert that long Course, we have to this Day held together, nor rejecting the Political Life,[ which has been] as it were an intimate Friend of our own Years,[ growing all along up with us,] change it for another, to which we are[ absolute] Strangers, and with which we have not time to become acquainted and familiar; but that we may persist in what we had chosen,[ and have been enured to] from the Beginning, putting the same Conclusion to our Life, and our Living honourably; unless we would by the short[ Space of Life,] we have remaining, disgrace that longer Time,[ we have already lived,] as having been spent idly, and in nothing,[ that is] commendable. For Tyranny is not an honourable Sepulchre, as one[ heretofore]  told Dionysius, whose Monarchy,[ obtained by, and administered] with Injustice, did by its Non-cessation[ and long Continuance,] bring on him but a more perfect Calamity; as Diogenes afterwards let his Son know, when seeing him at Corinth, of a Tyrant become a private Person, he said to him: How unworthy of thyself, Dionysius, thou actest! For thou oughtst not to live here at Liberty and fearless with us, but to spend thy Life, as thy Father did, even to old Age, immured within a Tyrannical Fortress. But the popular and legal Government of a Man, accustomed to show himself no less profitable in obeying, than in commanding, is an honourable Monument, which really adds to Death the Glory, accrueing from Life. For this thing, as Simonides says, goes last under the Ground: unless[ it be in those,] in whom Humanity, and the Love of Honour dies first, and whose Zeal for Goodness sooner decays, than their Covetousness after Temporal Necessaries; as if the Soul had its active and Divine Parts weaker than those, that are passive and corporeal: which 'twere neither honest to say, nor yet to admit from those, who say[ it, and affirm,] that only of Gaining we are never weary. But we ought to a better purpose to produce the Saying of Thucydides, that not the Desire of Honour alone never grows old, but much more also the Inclination to Society and Affection to the State, which continues even in Ants and Bees to the very last. For never did any one know a Bee to become by Age a Drone, as some think it requisite of States-men,[ of whom they expect,] that, when the vigour of their Youth is past, they should retire, and sit moldy at Home, suffering their active virtue to be consumed[ and eaten up] by Idleness, as Iron is by Rust. For Cato[ indeed excellently well] said, that we ought not willingly to add the shane,[ proceeding] from 'vice, to those many Afflictions, which Old Age has of its own. For of the many Vices,[ every where abounding,] there is none, which more disgraces an old Man, than Sloth, Delicacy, and Effeminateness, when[ retiring] from the Court and Council, he mues himself up at Home like a Woman, or[ getting into the Country, oversees his Reapers and Gleaners:[ for of such an one we may say with Sophocles:] Where's Oedipus, and all his famous Riddles?  
For as for him, who should in his old Age, and not before, begin to meddle with public Matters,( as they say of Epimenides, that having fallen asleep,[ while he was] a young Man, he awakened[ not till] fifty years after,[ when he was] grown old) and shaking off so long and so close-sticking a Repose, should thrust himself, being unaccustomed and unexercis'd into difficult and laborious Employs, without having been experienced in Civil affairs, or[ enured to the Conversations] of Men,[ such a Man] may perhaps give[ occasion] to one, that would reprehend him, to say with the[ Prophetess] Pythia, 
If that thou seekest to govern in the State,  
And rule the People, Friend, thou comest too late,  
And at an hour unfit, knock'st at the Palace Gate.  Like an ill-bred Guest, coming late to a Banquet, or a Stranger,[ looking in the Dead of the Night for a Lodging,] thou wouldst change, not thy Place, or Region, but thy Life[ for one,] of which thou hast made no trial. For that Saying of Simonides.  — The State instructs a Man, 
is true in those, who[ apply themselves to the Business of the Common-weal, whilst] they have yet time to be taught, and learn a Science, which is scarce attained with much Labour through many strugglings and Negotiations, even when it timely meets with a Nature, that can easily undergo Toil and Difficulty. These things seem not to be impertinently spoken against him, who in his old Age begins to act in the Management of the State. And yet on the contrary we see, how young Men, and those of unripe Years, are by Persons of[ great] judgement diverted from meddling in public Matters: and the Laws[ also] testify the same, when by the Cries in the Assemblies they summon not first the Alcibiadae and the Pytheae to come to the Desk, but those, who have passed the Age of fifty years, to make Speeches, and consult together[ for the Good of the People.] For the being unused to Boldness, the want of Experience, and the first Heat is not to every soldier so** Here is a Defect in the Original. But Cato, when[ at the Age of] above eighty years, he was to pled his own Cause said, That 'tis a difficult thing for a Man to make his Apology,[ and justify his Life] before others, than those, with whom he has lived[ and been conversant.]  
All Men indeed confess, that the Actions of [ Augustus] Caesar, when he had defeated Anthony, were no less Royal, and useful to the public, towards the End of his Life,[ than any he had done before.] And himself severely reprehending[ the Dissoluteness of] young Men by[ establishing Good] Customs and Laws, when they were in an Uproar,[ only] said to them: Young Men,[ refuse not to] hear an old Man, to whom old Men[ not unwillingly] gave Ear, when he was young. The Government also of Pericles exerted itself with most vigour in his old Age, when he both persuaded the Athenians to make War, and at another time, when they were eagerly bent unseasonably to[ go forth, and] fight sixty thousand armed Men, withstood, and hindered them, sealing up in a manner the Arms of the People, and the Keys of the Gates. Now as for what Xenophon has written of Agesilaus, 'tis fit it should be set down in his own Words. What Youth, says he, [ ever] was there, than which his old Age did not appear gallanter? Who was[ ever] so terrible to his Enemies in the very Flower of his Virility, as Agesilaus in the De●lension of his Days? At whose Death were Adversaries[ over seen] more joyful, than at that of Agesilaus, though he departed[ not this Life, till] stooping under the burden of his Years? Who more[ encouraged and] emboldened his Confederates, than Agesilaus, though being at the utmost Period of his Life? What young Man was[ ever] missed more by his Friends, than Agesilaus, who died not till he was very old? Age then hindered not these Men from performing such[ gallant] Actions; and yet we, forsooth, being at our Ease in States, which neither have Tyranny, War, nor Siege,[ to molest them,] are afraid of[ being troubled with] such bloodless Debates and Emulations, as are for the most part terminated with Justice only by Law, and Words, confessing ourselves by this not only worse than those ancient Generals and States-men, but even than Poets, Sophisters and Players. Since Simonides in his old Age gained the Victory in[ composing of Songs for] Dances, as the Epigram testifies in these concluding Verses: 
Fourscore years old was Leoprepes Son  
Simonides, when he this Glory won.  And 'tis said of Sophocles, that, to avoid being condemned of Dotage[ at the Instance] of his Children, be repeated the Entrance of the Chorus in[ his Tragedy of] Oedipus in Colonus, which begins thus: 
Welcome, Stranger, come in time  
To the best place of this climb,  
White Colonus, which abounds  
With brave Horses. In these Grounds,  
Spread with Natures choicest Green,  
Philomel is often seen.  
Here She her Hearers charms with sweetest lays,  
Whilst with shrill Throat,  
And warbling Note,  
She moans the sad Misfortunes of her former Days.  And that, this Song appearing admirable he was dismissed from the Court, as from the Theatre, with the Applause and Aco●mations of all that were present. And this short Verse is acknowledged to be of him: 
When Sophocles framed for Herodotus  
This Ode, his Years were fifty five—  Philemon also the Comedian, and Alexis were snatched away by Death, whilst they were acting on the Stage, and crowned with Garlands. And as for Polus the Tragaedians, Eratosthenes and Philochorus related of him, that, being seventy years of Age, he a little before his Death, acted in four Days eight Tragedies.  
Is it not then a shane, that those, who have grown old in Councils and Courts of Judicature, should appear less generous than such, as have spent their Years on the Stage, and forsaking those Exercises, which are really sacred, cast off the Person of the States-man, to put on instead of it, I know not what other. For to descend from the State of a Prince, to that of a ploughman, is all over base and mean. For since Demosthenes says, that the Paralus, being a sacred Galley, was unworthily used[ in being employed] to carry Timber, Pales, and Cattle to Meidias: would not a Man, who should after his having quitted the Office of superintendant at the public Solemnities, governor of Boeotia, or President in the council of the Amphictyons, be seen measuring of Corn, weighing of Raisins, and bargaining about Fleeces and Wooll-Fells? Would not such an one, I say, wholly seem to have brought on himself, as the Proverb has it, the old Age of an Horse, without any ones necessitating him to it? For to set ones self to Mechanical Employments and Trafficking, after one has born Office in the State, is the same, as if one should strip a wel●bred virtuous Gentlewoman out of her Matron-like Attire, and thrust her with an Apron tied about her into a public Victualing-house. For the Dignity and Greatness of political virtue is overthrown, when 'tis debased to such mean Administrations and traffics for Gain. But if( which is[ the only thing] remaining) they shall by giving Effeminacies and Voluptuousness the Name of living at Quiet, and enjoying ones self, exhort a Statesman leisurely to wast away and grow old in them, I know not, to which of the two shameful Pictures his Life will seem to have the greater Resemblance: whether to the Mariners, who, leaving their Ship, not in the harbour, but under Sail[ in the open Sea,] spend all the Remainder of their Time in celebrating the Feasts of Venus; or to Hercules, whom, as some[ Painters] merrily,[ but yet ridiculously and] irreverently, represent wearing in Omphales Palace a yellow Petticoat, and giving himself up to be boxt and combed by the Lydian Damsels: so we, stripping a Statesman of his Lions Skin,[ or of that Magnanimity and Courage, which renders him profitable to the public,] and seating him at a[ luxurious] Table, will there be always cloying his Palate with Delicacies, and filling his Ears with[ effeminate] Songs and music: being not a whit ashamed[ or put to the blushy] by the Saying of Pompeius Magnus to Lucullus, who having after his public Services both in Camp and Council addicted himself to Bathing, Feasting, Conversing with Women in the Day, and much other Dissoluteness, even to the raising[ and extravagantly furnishing] of sumptuous Buildings, fitter for Men of younger Years, and upbraiding Pompey with an Ambition and Desire of Rule, unsuitable to his Age, was by him answered: That it was more mis-becoming an old Man to live voluptuously than to govern.[ The same Pompey,] when in his Sickness his Physician had prescribed him the eating of a Thrush, which was then hard to be got, as being ou● of Season, being  told, that Lucullus bread great store[ of such Birds,] would not sand to him for one, but said: [ What?] Cannot Pompey live, unless Lucullus be Luxurious? For though Nature seeks by all means to delight and rejoice her self, yet the Bodies of old Men are incapacitated for[ the enjoying] any Pleasures, except a few, that are[ absolutely] necessary[ for the Preservation of their Lives.] For not only Venus to old Men is averse,— As Euripides has it; but their Appetite also to their Meat and Drink is for the most part dull, and as one would say, toothless; so that they have but little Gust and Relish in them.  
They ought therefore to furnish themselves with Pleasures of the Mind, not ungenerous or illiberal, as Simonides said to those, who reproached him with Covetousness, that being by his Years deprived of other Pleasures, he recreated his Old Age with the only Delight, he took in heaping up Riches. But[ the Political Life, or] the Management of the Common-wealth has in it Pleasures exceeding great, and no less honourable;[ being such,] as 'tis probable the[ very] Gods do only, or[ at least] chiefly enjoy themselves in: and these are[ the Delights] which proceed from doing good,[ or being beneficial to many,] and performing what is honest,[ and laudable.] For if Nicias the Painter took such Pleasure in the Work of his Hands, that he often[ so far forgot himself, as that he] was fain to ask his Servants, whether he had washed, or dined; and if Archimedes was so intent upon the Table,[ in which he drew his Geometrical Figures,] that his Attendants were obliged by force to pluck him from it, and strip him of his Clothes, that they might anoint him, whilst he[ in the mean time] drew new Schemes on his anointed Body; and if Canus the Piper, whom you also know, was wont to say, that Men knew not how much more he delighted himself with his Playing, than he did others: for that then his Hearers would rather demand of him, than give him a Reward: do we not thence conceive, how great Pleasures the virtues afford to those, who practise them, from their honest Actions, and public-spirited Works, tending to the Benefit of Human Society? not tickling or stroking, as do such sweet and gentle Motions as are made on the Flesh: for these indeed have a furious and unconstant Itching, mixed with a feavorish Inflammation; whereas those do by such gallant Actions, as he, who rightly administers the State, is Worker of, not with the golden Plumes of Euripides, but with those celestial Wings of Plato, elevate the Soul, which has received a Greatness of Courage and Wisdom,[ accompanied] with Joy. Call to mind[ a little, I entreat you,] those things, you have so often heard. For Epaminondas indeed, being asked, what was the most pleasant thing that ever befell him, answered: His having gained the Victory at Leuctra, whilst his Father and Mother were yet living. And Sylla, when having freed Italy from Civil Wars, he came to Rome, could not the first Night fetch the least Wink of Sleep, having his Soul transported with excessive Joy and Content, as with a strong and mighty Wind▪ and this he himself has written in his Commentaries. For be it indeed so, as Xenophon says, that there is no Sound more pleasing[ to the Ear,] than[ the hearing ones own] Praises: there is also no Sight, Remembrance or Consideration, which gives[ a Man] so much Satisfaction, as the Contemplation of his own Actions,[ performed by him] in[ Offices of] Magistracy, and Management of the State, as in eminent and public Places.  
'tis moreover true, that the courteous[ and amiable] Thanks,[ attending as] a Witness on[ such virtuous] Acts, and the emulous Praise,[ conferred on them, which is as] a Guide,[ conducting us in the Way] of just Benevolence, add a certain Lustre and shining Gloss to the Joy,[ proceeding] of virtue. Neither ought a Man negligently to suffer his Glory to whither in his old Age like a Wrestlers Garland; but, by adding always something new and fresh to awaken, meliorate, and confirm the Grace of his former[ Actions.] For as those Workmen, on whom was incumbent the Charge of[ maintaining and] keeping in repair the Delian Ship[ or Gallion,] by supplying, and putting into the Place of the decayed[ Planks and Timber,] others,[ that were new and sound,] seemed to have preserved it from ancient times,[ as if it were] eternal and incorruptible: so the preserving[ and upholding] of ones Glory, is as the keeping in of a Fire,[ a Work] of no difficulty, as requiring only[ to be supplied with] a little fuel; but when either of them is wholly extinct and suppressed, one cannot without great[ Toil and] Labour[ revive and] rekindle it again. Lampis, the Sea Commander, being asked, how he got his Wealth, answered: My greatest[ Estate I gained] easily enough, but the smaller slowly and with much labour. In like manner 'tis not easy at the beginning to acquire Reputation and Power in the State; but to augment and conserve it, when it is grown great, is not at all hard for those who have obtained it. For neither does a Friend, when he is once had, require many and great Services, that he may so continue; but Assiduity does by small Signs[ and Testimonies of Love] preserve his good Will: nor does the Friendship and Confidence of the People expect to have a Man always bestowing Largesses, defending their Causes, or executing of Magistracy; but is maintained by a Readiness, and a not leaving, or being weary of Carefulness and solicitude for the public. For even Wars themselves have not always Conflicts, Fights and Sieges; but there sometimes intervene Sacrifices, and Parleys, and[ Truces, affording] bloodless Leisure for Sports and Pastimes.  
Whence then comes it, that the Administration of the Common-wealth should be feared, as inconsolable, laborious, and unsupportable, where theaters, Processions, Largesses, music, Joy, and at every turn the Service and Festival of some God or other, unbending the Brows,[ and dissipating the Cares] of every Council and Senate, yield a manifold Pleasure and Delight? As for Envy, which is the greatest Evil attending the Management of public Affairs, it least attacks old Age. For Dogs indeed, as Heraclitus has it, bark at[ a Stranger,] whom they do not know; and Envy opposes him, who governs, at the very Door, as it were, of the Tribunal, hindering his Access[ and Entrance;] but meekly bears an accustomed and familiar Glory, and not churlishly or difficultly. Wherefore some resemble Envy to smoke: For it arises thick at first, when the Fire begins to burn; but when it grows clear, it vanishes away. Now Men usually quarrel and contend about other Excellencies, as virtue, Nobility, and Honour, as if[ they were of Opinion, that] they took from themselves, as much as they give to others; but the precedency of Time, which is properly called by the Greeks {αβγδ},[ or the Honour of old Age,] is free from jealousy, and willingly granted[ by Men to their Companions.] For to no Honour is it so incident more to grace the honourer, than the honoured, as to that, which is given to Persons in Years. Moreover, all Men do not expect to gain themselves Authority from Wealth, Eloquence, or Wisdom; but as for the Reverence and Glory, to which old Age[ usually] brings Men, there is not any one of those, who act in the Management of the State, but hopes to attain it.  
He therefore, who having a long time contended[ and born up,] against Envy, shall, when it ceases, and is appeased, withdraw himself from the State, and together with public Actions desert Communities and Societies, differs nothing from that Pilot, who, having kept his Ship out at Sea, when in danger of being overwhelmed by contrary[ and tempestuous] Waves and Wind, seeks to put into harbour, as soon as ever the Weather is grown calm and favourable. For the longer time there has been, the more Friends and Companions he has made, all which he can neither carry out with him, as a Singing-Master does his choir, nor is it just to leave them. But as 'tis not easy to root up old Trees,[ so neither is it to extirpate] a long continued practise in the Management of the State, which, having many Roots, is involved in Affairs, which create more Troubles and Vexations to those, who retire[ from them,] than who continue[ in them.] And if there is any remainder of Envy and Emulation against old Men from[ former] Contentions about Civil Affairs, they should rather extinguish it by Authority, than turn their Backs on it, going away naked and disarmed. For envious Persons do not so much assail those, who contend against them, as they do by Contempt insult over such, as retire. And to this bears Witness that Saying of the great Epaminondas to the Thebans, when in the Winter the Arcadians requested them to come into their City, and dwell in their Houses; for he would not permit it, but said to them: Now the Arcadians admire you, seeing you exercise yourselves, and wrestle in your armour; but if they shall behold you sitting by the Fire, and pounding of Beans, they will think you to differ nothing from themselves. So an old Man, speaking[ to the People,] acting[ in the State,] and honoured, is a venerable Spectacle; but he, who wasts away his Days in his Bed, or sits discoursing of trivial Matters, and blowing his Nose in the Corner of a Gallery, easily renders himself an Object of Contempt. And this indeed Homer himself teaches those, who hear [ and understand him] aright. For Nestor, who fought before[ the Walls of] Troy, was highly venerated and esteemed; whilst Peleus and Laertes, who stayed at Home, were slighted and despised. For the Habit of Prudence does not continue the same in those, who give themselves to their Ease; but by little and little diminishes and is dissolved by Sloth, as always requiring some Exercise of the Thought, to rouse up and purify the rational and active[ Faculty of the Soul.] For Like glittering Brass, by being used it shines. For the Infirmity of the Body does not so much incommode the Administrations of those, who, almost spent with Age, go up to the Bench, or to the Council of War, as they are advantaged by the Caution and Prudence, which[ attend their Years, and] keeping them from thrusting themselves precipitately into Affairs, abused partly by want of Experience, and partly by Vain-glory, and hurrying the People along with them by Violence, like a Sea, agitated by the Winds, cause them mildly and moderately to manage those, with whom they have to do.  
Whence Cities, when they are in Adversity and Fear, desire the Government of[ grave and] ancient Personages; and often having drawn out of his Field[ and covetous] some old Man, who had not so much as the least thought of it, have compelled him, though unwilling, to put his Hand to the Helm, and conduct[ the Ship of] the State into[ the Haven of] Security, rejecting such Generals and Orators, as[ not only] knew how to speak loud, and make[ long] Harangues without drawing their Breath,[ but were able] also valiantly to march forth, and fight their Enemies. So when the Orators,[ one day] at Athens, uncovering before Timotheus and Iphicrates, Chares the Son of Theochares, a vigorous and stout-body'd young Man,[ said, they] were of Opinion, that the General of the Athenians ought to be such an one. Not so, by all the Gods, answered Timotheus, but such an one he should be, that is to carry the Generals Bedding: But the General himself ought to be such an one, as can at the same time, see both the Antecedents and Consequents of Affairs, and suffers not his Reasonings about things, convenient[ for the public,] to be disturbed by any Passion.  
For Sophocles indeed said, he was glad, that he was got free from[ the Tyranny of] wanton Love, as being a furious and raging Master: But in the Administrations of State, we are not to avoid this one only Master, the Love of Women or Boys, but many, who are madder than he,[ such as are] Obstinacy in contending Ambition, and a Desire of being always the first and greatest, which is a Disease, most fruitful in bringing forth Envy, jealousy, and Conspiracies; some of which[ Vices] old Age abates and dulls, and wholly extinguishes and cools the others, not so much detracting from the practical Impulse[ of the Mind,] as repressing its impetuous and over-ho● Passions, that it may apply a sober, and settled Reasoning to its[ Considerations and] solicitude[ about ●he Management of Affairs.] Nevertheless let this Speech of the[ Poet,] Ly still at ease, poor Wretch, in thy own Bed, Both be, and seem to be spoken for the dissuading of him, who shall, when he is now grown grey[ with Age,] begin to play the Youth, and for the ●estraining an old Man, who, rising from a long Administration of his domestic Affairs, as from[ a lingering] Disease, shall set himself to led an Army to the Field, or perform the Office of Secretary in the State.  
But altogether senseless, and nothing like to this is he, who will not suffer one, that has spent his whole time in Political Administrations, and been thoroughly beaten to them, to go on to the[ extinguishing of his] Torch, and the Conclusion of his Life, but shall call him back, and command him, as it were, to turn out of the long Road,[ he has been traveling in.] For, as he, that to draw off[ from his Design,] an old Fellow, who is powdering his Peruke, 
I have so rendered the Greek Words {αβγδ} and {αβγδ}, which signify crowned with Garlands, and anointed, to render it more suitable to the modern practise  and perfuming himself to go a wooing, should say to him, as[ was heretofore said] to Philoctetes, 
What Virgin will her blooming Maiden-headBestow  
on such a Wretch? Why wouldst thou Wed?  Could not be at all absurd, since even old Men break many such Jests upon themselves, and say: I, old Fool, know, I for my Neighbors Wed. But he, who should think, that a Man, which has long cohabited, and lived irreprehensibly with his Wife, ought, because he is grown old, to dismiss her, and live alone, or take a Concubine in her Place, would have attained the utmost Excess of perverseness. So he would not act altogether unreasonably, that should admonish an old Man, who is making his[ first] Approaches to the People, whether[ he be such an one, as] Chlidon the Farmer, or Lampon the master, or some[ old dreaming] Philosopher out of his Garden, and advice him to continue in his accustomed Unconcernedness for the public. But he, that taking hold of photion, Cato, or Pericles, should say to him, My Athenian, or Roman Friend, who art come to thy withered old Age, make a Divorce, and henceforth quit the State, and dismissing all Conversations and Cares about either council or Camp, retire into the country, there with an old Maid servant looking after thy Husbandry, or spending the Remainder of thy Time in managing thy domestic Affairs, and taking thy Accounts:[ such an one] would persuade a Statesman to do things mis-beseeming him, and unacceptable.  
What then? may some one say: do we not hear the soldier in the Comedy affirming, Henceforth my gray Hairs exempt me from Wars? Yes indeed, my Friend, 'tis altogether so; for it becomes the Servants of Mars to be young and vigorous, as managing War, and Wars toilsome Works:— In which, though an Helmet may also hid the old Mans gray Hairs, Yet inwardly his Limbs are all decayed, And his Strength falls short of his good Will. But from the Ministers of Jupiter, the counselor, Orator, and Patron of Cities, we expect not the Works of Feet and Hands, but of Counsel, Providence, and Eloquence, not such, as raises a Noise and Shouting amongst the People, but such, as has in it Understanding, prudent Sollicitousness, and Safety; by which the derided Hoariness and Wrinkles appear as Witnesses of his Experience, and add to him the Help of persuasion, and the Glory of Ingenuity. For Youth is made to[ follow and] be persuaded, and Age to guide[ and direct,] and that City is most secure, where the Counsels of the Old, and the Prowess of the Young bear sway. And this[ of Homer,] 
A Counsel first of valiant old Men  
He called in Nestors Ship—  Is wonderfully commended. Wherefore the Pythian[ Apollo] called the Aristocracy[ or Council of Noblemen] in Lacedaemon, joined[ as Assistants] to their Kings {αβγδ}[ or the ancients,] and Lycurgus named it plainly {αβγδ},[ or the council of old Men:] and even to this Day the council of the Romans is called the Senate[ from Senium, signifying old Age.] And as the Law places the Diadem and Crown, so does Nature the Hoariness of the Head, as an honourable Sign of Princely Dignity. And I am of Opinion, that {αβγδ},[ signifying an honourable Reward,] and {αβγδ},[ signifying to honor,] continue[ still in use amongst the Greeks,] being made venerable from[ the Respect paid to] old Men, not because they wash in warm Water, and sleep[ on] softer[ Beds than others;] but because they have as it were a King-like Esteem in States for their Prudence; from which, as from a late bearing three, Nature scarcely in old Age brings forth its proper and perfect Good. Therefore none of those marshal and magnanimous Achaians blamed that King of Kings [ Agamemnon] for praying thus to the Gods, 
O that among the Greeks I had but ten  
Such Councellors, as Nestor—  But they all granted, that not in Policy only, but in War also, old Age has great Influence: 
For one discreet Advice is much more worth  
Than many Hands,—  And one rational and persuasive Sentence effects the bravest and greatest of public[ Exploits] Moreover, the Regal Dignity, which is the perfectest and greatest of all Political Governments, has exceeding many Cares, labours and Difficulties; insomuch that Seleucus is reported ever and anon to have said: If Men knew, how laborious the only Writing and Reading of so many Epistles is, they would not[ so much as stoop to] take up a Diadem thrown[ on the Ground.] And Philip, when, being about to pitch his Camp in a fair and commodious Place, he was  told, that there was not there Forage for his Juments, cried out: O Hercules, what a Life is ours, if we must live for the Conveniency of Asses. 'tis then time to persuade a King, when he is now grown into years, to lay aside his Diadem and Purple, and putting on a course Coat, with a Crook in his Hand, to betake himself to a Country Life, lest he should seem to act superfluously and unseasonably, by reigning in his old Age. But if the very mentioning such a thing to an Argesilaus, a Numa, or a Darius, would be an Indignity; let us not, because they are in Years, either drive away Solon from the council of the Areopagus, or[ remove] Cato out of the Senate; nor yet let us advice Pericles to abandon the Democracy For 'tis besides[ altogether] unreasonable[ and ahsurd,] that he, who has in his Youth leaped into the Tribunal[ or Chair of the State,] should, after he has discharged all his furious Ambitions, and impetuous Passions on the public, when he is come to that Maturity of Years, which by Experience brings Prudence, desert and abandon the Common-wealth, having abused it, as if it were a Woman,[ for the Satsfaction of his Lust.]  
Aesops Fox indeed would not permit the hedgehog, who offered it, to take from him the Ticks,[ that fed upon his Body:] For, said he, if thou remov'st those, that ara full, other hungry ones will succeed them: so 'tis of necessity, that a Common-wealth, which is always casting off those, who grow old, must be replenished with young Men, thirsting after Glory and Power, and voided of Understanding in State Affairs. For whence,[ I pray, should they have it,] if they shall have been neither Disciples nor Spectators of any ancient Statesman? For if[ Sea-Charts and] Treatises of Navigation cannot make those skilful Pilots, who have not often in the Stern been Spectators of the Conflicts against the Waves, Winds, and[ pitchy Darkness of the] Night, 
When the poor trembling Sea-man longs to see  
The safety boding Twins, Tyndaridae;  How should a[ raw] young Man take in hand[ the Government of] a City, and rightly advice both the Senate and the People, having only red a Book, or written an Exercise in the Lycaeum concerning Policy, though he has seldom or never stood by the Reins or Helm, when grave Statesmen, and old Commanders, have in debating alleged both their Experiences and Fortunes, whilst he was wavering on both sides, that so he might with Dangers and transacting of Affairs, gain Instruction? This is not to be said. But if it were for nothing else, yet ought an old Man to manage in public Affairs, that he may instruct and teach those, who are young. For as those, who teach[ Children] Reading and music, do by pronouncing the[ Letters, Syllables, and Words,] and singing Notes and Tunes before them, led and bring on their Scholars: so an[ old] Statesman, not by speaking, and dictating exteriorly, but by acting and administering public Affairs, directs[ and breeds up] a young one, who is by his Deeds, joined with his Words, interiorly formed and fashioned. For he, who is exercised after this manner, not amongst[ the Disputes of] nimble tongued Sophisters, as in the Wrestling-Schools, and Anointings where there is not[ the least Appearance of] any Danger, but really, and as it were in the Olympian and Pythian Games,[ will tread in his Teachers Steps,] Like a young Colt, which runs by th' Horses side, As Simonides has it. Thus Aristides[ followed those of] Clisthenes, Cimon of Aristides, photion of Cabrias, Cato of Maximus Fabius, Pompey of Sylla, and Polybius of Philopoemen: for these, when they were young, joining themselves with their Elders, afterwards as it were flourishing and growing up by their Administrations and Actions, gained Experience and were enured to the Management of public Affairs with Reputation and Power. Aeschines therefore the academic, being charged by certain Sophisters, that he pretended himself a Disciple of Carneades, when he was not so, said: I was then an Hearer of Carneades, when his Discourse, having dismissed Contention and Noise, contracted itself to what was useful, and fit to be communicated. Now an aged Mans Government being not only in Words, but in Deeds, far remote from all Ostentation and Vain-glory: as they say of the bide Ibis, that when she is grown old, having exhaled all her venomous and stinking savour, she sends forth a most sweet and aromatical one: so in Men, grown into Years, there is no Opinion or Counsel disturbed, but all grave and settled. Wherefore, even for the young Mens Sake, as has been said, ought an old Man to act in the Government of the State: that, as Plato said of Wine, allayed with Water, that the furious God was made Wise, being chastised by another, who was sober: so the Caution of old Age, mixed among the People with the Fervency of Youth, transported by Glory and Ambition, may take off that, which is furious, and over-violent.  
But besides[ all] this, they are under a Mistake, who think, that as Sailing, and going to the Wars, so also Acting in the State, is done for something else, and ceases, when that is obtained. For the Managing of State Affairs is not a Ministry, which has Profit for its End; but the Life of gentle, civil and sociable Animals, framed by Nature to live civilly, honestly, and for the Benefit of Mankind. Wherefore 'tis fit, he should be such an one, as that it may be said of him, he is employed in State Affairs, and not he has been so employed; as also, that he is true, and not he has been true; he acts justly, and not he has acted justly; and that he loves his Country and Fellow Citizens, and not he has loved them. For to these things does Nature direct, and these Voices does she sound to those, who are not totally corrupted with Sloth and Effeminacy: 
Thy Father has engendered thee a Man,  
Worthy of much Esteem with Men—  And again, Let us not cease to benefit Mankind.  
Now as for those, who pretend Weakness and Impotency, they accuse rather Sickness, and Infirmity of Body, than old Age: for there are many young Men sickly[ and weak,] and many old ones lusty[ and healthy:] so that we are not to remove[ from the Administration of the State] aged, but impotent Persons; nor call[ to it] such as are young, but such as are able[ to bear the burden of it.] For Aridaeus was young, and Antigonus old, and yet the latter conquered in a manner all Asia, whereas the former, as if he had only been to make a dumb show with his Guards upon a Stage, was but the bare Name of a King, a Property, always mocked by those, who were in Power. As therefore he would be a very Fool, that should think Prodicus the Sophister, and Philetas the Poet, Men indeed young, but withal weak, sickly, and most an end confined by their Infirmity to their Beds, fit to be concerned in the Management of the State: so he[ would be no less absurd,] that should hinder such[ vigorous] old Men, as were photion, Masanissa the Libyan, and Cato the Roman, from governing, or leading forth of Armies. For photion, when the Athenians were at an unseasonable time hurrying to War, made Proclamation, that all, who were not above sixty years of Age, should take up Arms and follow him; and when they were offended at it, he said, There is no Hardship put upon you: for I, who am above fourscore years old, will be your General. And Polybius relates, that Masanissa, dying at the Age of ninety years, left behind him a young Son of his own begetting, not above four years old; and that having a little before been in a great Fight, he was the next Day seen at the Door of his Tent eating a piece of brown Bread, and that, he said to those, who wondered at it, that he did this** 
For used, to shine, as polished Brass, 'tis known;  
But unemploy'd, in time with Rust's oregrown.  As Sophocles has it: we all say the same of that Light and Lustre of the Soul, by which we reason, remember, and think.  
Wherefore also they say, that Kings become better in Wars and military Expeditions, than when they live at ease. Attalus therefore, the Brother of Eumenes, being enervated with long Idleness and Peace, was with little Skill managed by Philopoemen, one of his favourites, who fattened him[ like an Hog in a Sty:] so that the Romans were wont in derision to ask those, who came out of Asia, whether the King had any Power with Philopoemen. Now one cannot find amongst the Romans many stouter Generals than Lucullus, as long as he applied his Mind to Action; but when he gave himself up to an unactive Life, to a continuing lazily at Home, and an Unconcernedness for the public, being dulled and mortified, like sponges in calm Weather, and then delivering his old Age to be dieted and ordered by calisthenes one of his Free-men, he seemed bewitched by him with Philters and other Incantations: till such time as his Brother Marcus, having driven away his Fellow, did himself govern and conduct the Remainder of his Life, which was not very long. But Darius, Father of Xerxes,[ speaking of himself,] said, that by Difficulties he grew wiser than himself. And the Scythian Ateas affirmed, that he thought there was no Difference between himself and his Horse-keepers, when he was idle. And Dionysius the Elder, when one asked him, whether he was at leisure, answered, May that never befall me. For a Bow, they say, if over-bent, will break; and a Soul, if too much slackened. For even Musicians if they[ over-long] omit to hear Accords; Geometricians, if they leave off demonstrating their Propositions; and Arithmeticians, if they discontinue their casting up of Accounts, do together with the Actions impair by the Progresses of Time the Habits, though they are not practical, but speculative Arts; but the Habit of Statesmen, being wise Counsel, Discretion, and Justice, and besides these, Experience, taking hold of Opportunities, and a Faculty[ to make use] of Words, working persuasion, is maintained by frequent speaking, acting, reasoning and judging. And an hard thing it would be, that the avoiding to do these things should suffer such and so great virtues to run out of the Soul. For 'tis probable also, that Humanity, friendly Society, and Beneficence will also decay, of which there ought to be no End or Limit.  
If then you had Tith●●●s to your Father, who was indeed immortal, but yet by reason of his old Age, stood perpetually in need of much Attendance, I do think, you would shun, or be weary of looking to him, discoursing with him, and helping him, as having a long time done him Service. Now our country, which[ as the Greeks in general name it {αβγδ}, as if it resembled out Father, so] the Cretians call {αβγδ},[ as being more like our Mother,] being older, and having greater Rights than our Parents, is indeed long lasting, yet neither free from the Inconveniences of old Age, nor self-sufficient, but standing always in need of a serious Regard, succour and Vigilance, pulls to her, and takes hold of a Statesman, And with strong hand restrains him, who would go. And you indeed know, that I have these many Pythiads served the Pythian[ Apollo;] but yet you would not say to me: Thou hast sufficiently, O Plutarch, sacrificed, gone in Procession, and lead Dances[ in honour of the Gods:] 'tis now time, that being in years, thou shouldst in favour of thy old Age, lay aside the Garland, and leave the Oracle. Therefore neither do you think, that you, who are the chief Priest and Interpreter of Religious Ceremonies in the State, may leave the Service of Jupiter, the Protector of Cities, and Governor of Assemblies, for[ the Performance of] which, you were long since consecrated.  
But leaving, if you please, this Discourse[ about things] withdrawing[ old Men] from[ performing their Duties to] the State; let us make it a little the Subject of our Consideration and Philosophy, how we may enjoin them no Exercise, unfitting, or grievous to their Years, the Adminstration of a Common-wealth having many Parts, beseeming and suitable for such Persons. For, as if we were obliged to finish[ our Days with persevering in the practise of] singing, it would behove us, being now grown old, of the many Tunes and Tensions, there are of the Voice, which the Musicians call Harmonies, not to aim at the highest and shrilest[ Note,] but[ to make choice of that] in which there is an Easiness,[ joined] with a decent Suitableness: so since 'tis more natural for Men to act and speak even to the end of their Lives, than 'tis for Swans to sing, we must not reject Action, like an Harp, that is set too high, but[ rather] let it a little down, accommodating it to such Employs in the State, as are easy, moderate, and fitting for Men in years. For neither do we suffer our Bodies to be altogether motionless, and unexercis'd, because we cannot[ any longer] make use of Spades and Plummets, nor yet throw Coits, or skirmish in armour, as we have formerly Done; but some of us do by Swinging and Walking, others by playing gently at Ball, and some again by Discoursing, stir up our Spirits, and revive our[ natural] Heat. Therefore neither let us permit ourselves to be wholly chilled and frozen by Idleness; nor yet on the contrary, let us by burdening ourselves with every Office, or intermeddling with every public business, force our old Age, convinced of its Disability, to break forth into these Exclamations, 
The Spear to brandish, thou, Right Hand, art bent;  
But weak old Age opposes thy Intent.  Since even that Man is not commended, who in the vigour and Strength of his Years, imposing all public Affairs in general on himself, and unwilling to leave any thing for another, as the stoics say of Jupiter, thrusts himself into all Employs, and intermeddles in every Business, through an insatiable Desire of Glory, or Envy against those, who are in some measure Partakers of Honour and Authority in the State. But to an old Man, though you should free him from the Infamy, yet painful and miserable would be an Ambition, always laying wait at every Election of Magistrates, a Curiosity, attending for every Opportunity of Judicature, or Assembling in Counsel, and an humour of Vain-glory, catching at every embassy and Patronage. For the doing of these things, even with the Favour[ and good Liking of every one] is too heavy for that Age; and yet the contrary to this happens: for they are hated by the young Men, as leaving them no Occasions of Action, nor suffering them to put themselves forth: and their ambitious Desire of Primacy and Rule is no less odious to others, than the Covetousness and Voluptuousness of other old Men. Therefore, as Alexander, unwilling to tyre his Bucephalus, when he now began to grow old, did before the Fight ride on other Horses, to view his Army, and draw it up for battle: and then, after the Signal was given, mounting this, marched forth, and charged the Enemy: so a Statesman, if he is wise, moderating himself, when he finds Years coming on, will abstain from[ intermeddling in] unnecessary Affairs, and suffering the State to make use of younger Persons in smaller Matters, will readily exercise himself in[ such, as are of] great[ importance.] For Champions,[ or such as play public Prizes,] indeed keep their Bodies untouched and unimploy'd in necessary Matters,[ that they may be in a readiness] for unprofitable[ and superfluous Engagements;] but let us on the contrary, letting pass little and frivolous, carefully preserve ourselves for worthy[ and gallant Actions.] For all things perhaps, as Homer says, equally become a young Man;[ now all Men] esteem and love him: so that for[ undertaking frequently] little and many Businesses, they say, he is laborious and a good Commonwealths-man, and for[ enterprising none but] splendid and noble Actions, they style him generous and magnanimous; nay, there are also some Occurrences, when even Contention and Rashness have a certain Seasonableness and Grace, becoming such Men. But an old Mans Undertaking in a State such servile Employs, as are the farming out of the Customs, and the looking after the Havens and Market-place, or else his running on Embassies and Journeys to Princes and Potentates, when there is no necessary or honourable Affair to be treated of, but only compliments, and a maintaining of Correspondence, such an one, dear Friend, seems to me a thing miserable, and not to be imitated; but to others, perhaps odious and intolerable.  
For 'tis not even seasonable for such Men to be employed in Magistracies, unless it be such, as bear somewhat of Grandeur and Dignity; such is the Precedency in the council of Areopagus, which you now exercise, and such also by Jove is the Excellency of the Amphictronian Office, which your country has conferred on you for your Life, having an easy Labour, and pleasant Pains. And yet old Men ought not ambitiously to affect even these Honours, but to accept them with Refusal, not seeking, but being sought; nor as taking Government on themselves, but bestowing themselves on Government. For 'tis not, as Tiberius Caesar said, a shane for those that are above threescore years old, to reach forth their Hands to the Physician; but it far more mis-beseems them to hold up their Hands to the People, to beg their Votes or Suffrages for the obtaining Offices; for this is ungenerous and mean; whereas the contrary has a certain Majesty and Comeliness, when, his country choosing, inviting, and expecting him, he comes down with Honour and courtesy to welcome and receive the Present, truly befiting his old Age and Acceptance. After the same manner also ought he, that is grown old, to use his Speech in Assemblies, not ever and anon climbing up to the Desk[ to make Harangues,] nor always like a Cock, crowing against those that speak, nor letting the Reins of the young Mens Respect to him, by contending against them, and provoking them, nor breeding in them a Desire and Custom of Disobedience, and Unwillingness to hear him; but to pass by, and let them strut and brave it against his Opinion; neither being present, nor concerning himself much at it, as long as there is no great Danger to the public Safety, nor any Offence against what is honest and decent.  
But in such Cases[ on the contrary] he ought, though no Body call him, to run beyond his Strength, or to deliver himself to be lead, or carried in a Chair, as Historians report of Claudius Appius in Rome. For he, having understood, that the Senate[ after their Army had been] in a great Fight worsted by Pyrrhus, were[ debating about] receiving Proposals of Peace and Alliance, could not bear it, but, although he had lost both his Eyes, caused himself to be carried through the common Place straight to the Senate-house, where entering amongst them, and standing up in the midst, he said, That he had formerly indeed been troubled at his being deprived of his Sight, but that he now wished he had also lost his Ears, rather than to have heard, that the[ Roman Senators] were consulting and acting things so ungenerous and dishonourable. And then partly reprehending, and partly teaching and exciting them, he persuaded them to betake themselves presently to their Arms, and fight with Pyrrhus for[ the Dominion of] Italy. And Solon, when the Popularity of Pisistratus was discovered to be[ only] a Plot[ for the obtaining] of a Tyranny[ over them,] none daring to oppose or impeach it, did himself bring forth his Arms, and setting them before[ the Doors of] his House, called out to the People to assist him; and when Pisistratus sent to ask him, what gave him the Confidence to act in that manner: My old Age, answered he.  
For Matters, that are so necessary as these, inflame and rouse up old Men, who are in a manner extinct; so that they have but any Breath yet left them; but in other Occurrences[ an old Man,] as has been said, shall be careful to avoid mean and servile Offices, and such, in which the Trouble to those, who manage them, exceeds the Advantage and Profit, for which they are done. Sometimes by expecting also, till the Citizens call, and desire, and fetch him out of House, he is thought more worthy of Credit[ and Authority,] by those who request him. And even when he is present, let him for the most part silently permit the younger Men to speak, as if he were an Arbitrator, judging, to whom the Reward and Honor of this their Debate about public Matters ought to be given; but if any thing should exceed a due Mediocrity, let him mildly reprehend it, and with Sweetness cut off all obstinate Contentions, all injurious and choleric Expressions, directing and teaching( without reproof) him, that errs in his Opinions, boldly praising him, that is in the Right, and often willing●● suffering himself to be overcome, persuaded, and brought about, that he may hearten and encourage them, and sometimes with Commendations supplying, what has been omitted, not unlike to[ aged] Nestor, whom Homer makes to speak in this manner; 
There is no Greek, can contradict, or mend,  
What you have said; yet to no perfect End  
Is your Speech brought. No Wonder: fort appears,  
You're young, and may my Son be for your Years.  But it were yet more[ Civil, and] politic, not only in reprehending them openly, and in the Face of the People, to forbear that Sharpness of Speech, which exceedingly dashes[ a young Man,] and puts[ him] out of Countenance; but rather[ wholly abstaining from all such public Reproofs,] privately[ to instruct] such, as[ one shall discern to] have a good Genius for the Managing of State Affairs, drawing them on by setting gently before them useful Counsels and political Precepts, inciting them to commendable Actions, enlightening their Understanding, and showing them, as those do, who teach to Ride, how at their beginning to render the People tractable and mildred; and if any young Man chances to fall, not to suffer him to ly gasping and panting on the Ground, but to help him up, and comfort him, as Aristides dealt by Cimon, and Mnesiphilus by Themistocles, whom they raised up, and encouraged, though at first they were harshly received, and ill spoken of in the City, as audacious and intemperate. 'tis said also, that, Demosthenes being rejected by the People, and taking it to Heart, there came to him a certain old Man, who had in former Years been an Hearer of Pericles, and  told him, that he, naturally resembling that great Man, did unjustly cast down himself. In like manner E●ripides exhorted Timotheus, when he was hissed at for introducing of Novelty, and thought to transgress against[ the Laws of music,] to be of good Courage, for that he should in a short time have all the theaters subject to him.  
In brief▪ as in Rome the Vestal Virgins have their Time divi●ed[ into three parts,] in one of which they were to learn,[ what belonged to the Ceremonies of their Religion,] in the second to execute what they had learnt, and in the third, to[ teach the younger:] and as in like manner they call every one of those, who are consecrated to the Service of Diana in Ephesus, first Melliere,[ or one, that is, to be a Priestess] then Hiere,[ or Priestess,] and thirdly, Pariere,[ or one that has been a Priestess:] so he, that is a perfect Statesman, is at first a Learner in the Management of public Affairs, then a Practitioner, and at last a Teacher and instructor in the Mysteries[ of Government.] For indeed, he, who is to preside or oversee others, that are[ performing their Exercises, or] fighting of Prizes, cannot[ at the same time exercise and] fight himself. But he, who instructs a young Man in public Affairs and Negotiations of the State, and prepares him Both to speak well, and act heroickly For[ the Service of] his Country, is in no small or mean Degree useful to the Common-wealth; but in that, at which Lycurgus chiefly and principally aiming himself, accustomed young Men to persist in Obedience to every one, that was elder, as if he were a Law-giver: For to what,[ think you,] had Lysander respect, when he said, that in Lacedaemon Men most honourably grew old? Was it, because old Men might there chiefly look after the Tilling of their Ground, put out Money to Use, sit together at Tables, and after their Game 〈…〉 a chirping Cup? You will not,[ I believe,] say ●●y such thing. But because all such Men, being after some sort in the Place of Magistrates, fatherly Governors, or Tutors of Youth, inspected not only the public Affairs, but also made inquiry,[ and that] not slightly into every Action of the younger Men, both as concerning their Exercises, Recreations, and Diet, being terrible indeed to Offenders, but venerable and desirable to the Good. For young Men indeed always venerate and follow those, who increase and cherish the Nearness and Generosity of their Disposition without any Envy, For this 'vice, though beseeming no Age, is nevertheless in young Men veiled with specious Names, being styled Emulation, Zeal, and Desire of Honour; but in old Men 'tis altogether unseasonable, savage, and unmanly. Therefore a Statesman, that is in years, must be very far from being Envious, and not like those old Trees and Stocks, which, as with a certain Charm, manifestly withdraw the nutritive Juice from such young Plants, as grow near them, or spring up under them, and hinder their Growth; but kindly to admit, and even offer himself to those, that apply themselves to him, and seek to converse with him, directing, leading, and educating them, not only by good Instructions and Counsels, but also by affording them the Means of administering such public Affairs, as may bring them Honor and Repute, and executing such unprejudicial Commissions, as will be pleasing and acceptable to the Multitude. But for such things, as, being untoward and difficult, do, like Medicines, at first gripe and molest, but afterwards yield Honor and Profit; upon these things he ought not to put young Men, nor expose those, who are unexperienced, to the Mutinous clamours of the rude and ill-natured Multitude, but should rather take the Odium upon himself for such things, as[ though harsh and unpleasing] may yet prove beneficial to the Commonwealth; for this will render the young Men both more affectionate to him, and more cheerful in[ the Undertaking] other Services.  
But besides all this,[ that we have already said,] we are[ to consider and] keep in mind, that to be a States-man, is not only to bear Offices, go on Embassies, talk aloud in public Meetings, and thunder on the Bench, speaking and writing such things, in which the Vulgar think the Art of Government to consist: as they also do, that those only philosophize, who dispute from a Chair, and spend their Leisure-time in Books. But the Policy and Philosophy, continually exercised in Works, and conspicuous in Actions, was no wise unknown to them: for they say, as Dicaearchus affirmed, that they, who fetch Turns to and fro in Galleries, walk; but not they, who go into the Country, or to[ visit] a Friend. But the being a Statesman is like the being a Philosopher. Wherefore Socrates did not only philosophize, when he neither placed Benches, nor seated himself in his Chair, nor kept the Hour of Conference and Walking, appointed for his Disciples, but also when, as it happened, he played, drank, went to War with some, bargained, finally, even when he was imprisoned, and drank the poison: having first shown, that[ Mans] Life does at all times, in every part, and universally in all Passions and Actions, admit of Philosophy. The same also we are to understand of Civil Government,[ to wit,] that Fools do not administer the State, either when they led forth Armies, writ Dispatches[ and Edicts,] or make Speeches to the People, but that they either[ endeavour to insinuate themselves into the Favour of the Vulgar, and] become popular, seek applause by their Harangues, raise Seditions and Disturbances, or[ at the best] perform some Service, as compelled by necessity. But he, that seek the public Good, loves his Country and Fellow Citizens, has a serious regard[ to the Welfare of the State,] and is a true Common wealths-man, such an one,] though he never puts on[ the military Garment, or Senatorial] rob, is yet always employed in the Administration of the State, by inciting[ to Action] those, who are able, guiding[ and instructing] those, that want it, assisting[ and advising] those, that ask counsel, deturning[ and reclaiming] those, that are ill given,[ and about to do mischief] and confirming[ and encouraging] those, that are well minded: so that 'tis manifest, he does not for fashions sake apply himself to the public Affairs, nor go[ then] to the Theatre or council, when there is any hast, or he is sent for[ by Name,] that he may have the first Place there, being otherwise[ only] present for his Recreation, as when he goes to[ see] some show, or to hear[ a Consort of music;] but[ on the contrary,] though absent in Body, yet is he present in Mind, and being informed of what is done, approves some things, and disapproves others. For neither did Aristides amongst the Athenians, nor Cato amongst the Romans often execute the Office of Chief Magistrate, and yet[ both the one and the other] employed their whole Lives perpetually in the Service of their Country. And Epaminondas indeed, being General, performed many and great Actions; but yet there is related an Exploit of his, when he had neither Command in the Army, nor Office in the State, not inferior to any of them:[ performed] about Thessaly: for, when the Commanders, having[ through Inadvertency] drawn a Squadron into a difficult and disadvantageous Ground, were in a maze, for that the Enemies pressed hard upon them, galling them with their Arrows; he, being called up from amongst the heavy-arm'd Foot, first by his encouraging them dissipated the Trouble and Fright of the Army, and then having arrang'd and brought into Order that Squadron, whose Ranks had been broken, he easily disengaged them[ out of those Straits,] and placed them in front against their Enemies, who, thereupon changing[ their Resolutions,] marched off. Also when Agis, King[ of Sparta,] was leading on his Army, already put in good Order for Fight, against the Enemies, a certain old Spartan called out aloud to him, that he thought to cure one Evil by another; showing, that he was desirous, the present unseasonable Promptness to fight should salue the Disgrace of their over-hasty Departure from before Argos, as Thucydides says. Now Agis, hearing him, took his Advice, and at that present retreated; but[ afterwards] got the Victory. And there was every day set a Chair[ for him] before the Doors of the Palace, and the Ephori, often rising[ from their Consistory, and going] to him, asked[ his Advice,] and consulted him about the greatest[ and most important Affairs:] for he was esteemed very prudent, and is recorded to have been a Man of great Sense. And therefore having now wholly exhausted the Strength of his Body, and being for the most part tied to his Bed, when the Ephori sent for him to the common Hall of the City, he strave to get up, and go to them; but walking heavily, and with great Difficulty, and meeting by the way certain Boys, he asked them, whether they knew any thing stronger than the Necessity of obeying their Master. And they answering him,[ that] Inability[ was of greater Force,] he supposing, that this ought to be the Limit of his Service, turned back again homeward. For a Readiness[ and Good Will to serve the public,] ought not to fail, whilst Ability lasts; but when that is once gone, 'tis no longer to be forced. And indeed Scipio, both in War and Peace, always used Caius Laelius for a councillor: insomuch that some said, Scipio was the Actor of those noble Exploits, and Caius the Poet,[ or Author.] And Cicero himself confessed, that the honourablest and greatest of his councils, by the right performance of which he[ in his Consulship] preserved his Country, were concerted with Publius Nigidius the Philosopher. Thus is there nothing, that in many manners of Government hinders old Men from helping the public by the best things,[ to wit, by their] Reason, Sentences, Freedom of Speech, and solicitous Care, as the Poets term it. For not only our Hands, Feet, and corporal Strength are the Possession and Share of the Common-weal; but chiefly our Soul, and the Beauties of our Soul, Justice, Temperance, and Prudence, which receiving their Perfection late and slowly, 'twere absurd, that Men should [ come to] enjoy House and Land, and other Wealth, and yet should not be beneficial to their common Country and Fellow Citizens, by[ continuance of] Time, which does not so much detract from their Ministerial Abilities, as it adds to their Directive and Political. And this is the reason, why they portrayed the elder Mercuries without Hands and Feet, but having their natural Parts stiff, enigmatically representing, that there is no great need of old Mens corporal Services, if they have but their Reason, as is convenient, active and fruitful.   
FINIS.