From CARES, and FEARS, and melancholy NIGHT, NOTES. Yet their own Philofophy. Horat. Cujus ego ingreffus veftigia Lib. 1. Od. 33. His Steps I trace Parcus Deorum cultor, & infre- And Cicero certainly had his Thoughts on this Paffage, when in Tufcul. 4. he fays: Quæ quidem cogitans foleo fæpe mirari But the other Philofophers were nonnullorum infolentiam Philo- content to call their Doctrine by fophorum, qui Naturæ cogniti- the Name of the Love of Wifonem admirantur, ejufque In- dom: for fo the Word Philofoventori & Principi gratias exul- phy fignifies. tantes agunt, eumque venerantur 15. Bacchus, &c.] The Son of at Deum; liberatos enim fe per Jupiter and Semele He is faid eos dicunt graviffimis Dominis. to have been the first that planWhen I reflect on thefe Things, ted Vines, and made Wine of the I often wonder at the Infolence Grapes: For which Reason the of fome Philofophers,who admire Poets made him the God of the Knowledge of Nature, and Wine: He travel'd over the give Thanks with Tranfport of whole Earth, conquer'd the InMind to the Inventour and firft dies, and was the firft who triAuthour of Natural Philofophy; umph'd; which he did, riding owning that he has delivered upon an Elephant. The chief them from moft Tyrannous Badges and Emblems of his Lords. Thus our grateful Poet Power were Tygres and the confeffes to whom he owes his Thyrfus: The Tygres were harKnowledge in the Nature of, nefs'd to his Car; and thus he Things: And indeed, if Epi- was wont to be carry'd about: curus did deliver the Minds of Virg. Æneid. 6. v. 804. Men from Cares, and Fears, and Superftition, he justly deferv'd to be rever'd preferably to any of the Heathen Gods. The Words of this Paffage run thus in the Original, Qui primus vitæ rationem invenit eam, quæ Nunc appellatur Sapientia For WISDOM was the Name] which the Epicureans, who were a fort of Men not burden'd with too much Modefty, gave only tól 4 Nec qui pampineis victor juga Liber, agens celfo Nifæ de ver- Nor Bacchus, turning from his By Tygers drawn, triumphant From Nifa's Top defcending to the Plains, With curling Vines around his purple Reins. The The Thyrfus, was a Spear or her Name à creando, because the Javelin, wrapp'd about with conduces very much to the ProVine-Branches and Ivy; whofe duction of Things. Bacchus was Point ended in the Shape of a call'd Liber, either because he Cone: Bacchus, and the mad made free, and reftor'd to Liberdrunken Women, his Compani-ty the Country of Bœocia, where ons, who were call'd Bacche, al- he was born, as we learn from ways carry'd a Thyrfus in their Hands: Moreover, Lucretius, in this Place, calls Bacchus by the Name of Liber: Namque Ceres fertur fruges, Li- Virg. Georg. I. V.5. Vos, O clariffima mundi Plut. in Quæft. Cent. or becaufe Wine delivers the Mind from Cares, infpires with Courage, and occafions a Liberty or Freeness of Speech. Thus Horace, Carm. Lib. 3. Od. 21. fpeaking to a Cask of Wine: Tu lene tormentum ingenio ad moves Curas, & arcanum jocofo Lumina, labentem coelo quæ du-Tu fpem reducis mentibus anxi citis annum, Liber & alma Ceres; veftro fi munere tellus Chaoniam pingui glandem mu- is, Virefque: & addis cornua pau- Poft te neque iratos trementi armia. Of Bacchus fee more, Book II. v. 616. and Book IV. v. 1165. Prima Ceres ferro mortales ver tere terram Upon which the Interpreters fay, that the Poet calls Liber and Ceres the Lights of the World, ei- 16. Ceres] She was Daughter ther because they were esteem'd of Saturn and Ops, and Mother to be the Inventours of, and to of Proferpine. She was believ'd prefide over, the Harveft and to be the firft that fow'd Corn, the Vintage, which are the chief and found out the Art of Ufing Parts or Seafons of the Year, and it. Virgil, Georgick I. v. 147. the chief Ornaments of the World, fince they fupply Mankind with Meat and Drink: or, because by them he means the Sun and Moon. And indeed Prætextatus, in Macrobius Sa- For which Reason they made her turnal. lib. 1. cap. 18. evidently the Goddefs of Corn; and hence proves, that not only Liber and too, as Varro, Cicero, and ArDionyfius, which is another of nobius witnefs, fhe was call'd the Names of Bacchus; but that Ceres, as it were, Geres, because, Jupiter, and Mars, and Mercu- to use the very Words of Arnory, and Hercules too, were the bius, lib. 3. Salutarium femiSun; who was call'd Liber, fays num fruges gerat. See more, he, quòd liberè vagetur, He B. II. v. 616. and B. IV. v. adds likewife, that Ceres was 1165. the Moon, and that fome derive Inftituit. Yet Men might still have liv'd without these two: But what Content could Man, what Pleasure find, 25 ALCIDES Acts, the greatest Son of Jos! NOTES. 18. As other Nations do.] Diodorus Siculus, Book III, fays, That the Inhabitants on the 0 For 19. But what Content, &c.] Lucretius: Coaft of the Gulph of Arabia; At bene non poterat fine puro and of the Countreys of Troglo- pectore.vivi. dytia and South Ethiopia, know not the Ufe of Corn or Wine; Where by puro pectore the Poet but that fome of them live upon means a Mind undisturb'd by Fish and Snails, others upon Ignorance, and not obnoxious to Roots, others upon the Leaves, Errours; a Heart fincere, and Seeds, and Fruits of Trees, and free from all Anxiety: for, as others upon Locufts. Mela wit-Horace fays,..37 neffes, that the Troglodytes live Sincerum eft nifi vas, quodcunin Dens, and feed upon Serpents: que infundis, acefcit. fome of which, fays Pliny, Nat. Hift. lib. 31. cap. 2. are twenty In like manner, without SinceCubits in Length. And Faber, rity of Heart and Purity of in his Note on this Paffage of Mind, 'tis impoffible to lead our Authour, fays, that fcarce happy Life or to pass our Days the fixth Part of Mankind do in Tranquillity: And Cicero yet know what Wheat is. There- teaches us, that the only way to fore we may well, fays Lucretius, acquire this Purity of Mind is live without Corn and Wine, by the Help of Wisdom, which, but not without Wisdom: Sa- by delivering us from all Terpientia enim, fays Cicero, lib. 1. rours and Defires, and from the de Fin. eft una que moeftitiam Temerity of all falfe Opinions, pellat ex animis, quæ nos exhor- is the fureft Guide to Pleasure. refcere metu non finat, quâ præ- Mentem autem puram ut habeas, ceptrice in tranquillitate vivi po- adhibenda eft fapientia, quæ, & teft, omnium cupiditatum ardo- terroribus cupiditatibufque dere reftincto: For Wisdom only tractis, & omnium falfarum oit is that drives away Sorrow and pinionum temeritate direptâ,cerUneafinefs from the Mind, that tiffimam fe nobis ducem præbeat fuffers us not to ftand aghaft ad voluptatem. 1. de Fin. with Fear; and by whofe Advice we may extinguish the Flame of all inordinate Defires, and lead our Lives in Tranquillity, and exempt from all manner of Paffion. 24. His useful, &c.] In these 24. v. the Poet enumerates fome of the Labours of Hercules,which, he tells us, fall as far fhort of the Difcoveries of Wisdom, made by Epicurus, as the Soul is more ex cellent For tell me, how the fierce NE MAE AN Roar NOTES How cellent than the Body: For Her-, Labours of Hercules, according cules did indeed deliver Men to the Order in which the chief from Monsters, that were de-of them, which are thirty four ftructive to the Body; but Epi- in Number, are enumerated. curus, who firft inftructed Men Now there haunted in the Nein the Art of Wisdom, delivered maan Wood, near Cleone, a their Minds from all vain Anxi- City of Achaia, in the Countrey eties, and reftlefs Defires: He of Peloponnefus, a yaft and terchac'd from our Souls the Terrible Lion, that did a World of rours at which we were startled Mischief: Hercules, not being and ftood aghaft; and diffipated able to kill him either with his the Darknefs of Errours, which Club, or with his Darts, laid clouded the Happiness of Life. hold of him, and tore him to 25. Alcides] Hercules; He pieces with his Nails; then took was call'd Alcides from his his Skin, which neither Stone Grandfather Alcxus, who was nor Iron could penetrate,and wore Father of Amphitryo of Thebes: it on his Shoulders, as a Badge For Hercules was the Son of of Honour, Diod. Sicul. lib. Jupiter, by Alcmena the Plaut. in Perf. Virg. En. 8. Wife of Amphitryo. Now be- This gave Occafion to the Inftifore either Hercules, or Euryf- tution of the Nemean Games, theus, King of Mycena, were which were celebrated every (born, Juno, who knew that the third Year in Honour of HercuFates had decreed, that whether les. But fome, particularly Staof them came into the World tius, will have this Solemnity to laft, should serve the other, con- have been firft inftituted to celes triv'd the Matter fo, that Her-brate the Funeral of Opheltes, cules was born after Euryftheus, Son of Lycurgus, and who was who, at her Inftigation, com- kill'd by an Adder. manded Hercules to go upon 27. Th' Arcadian Boar,] This many dangerous Exploits; but was his feventh Labour: for he prov'd fuccefsful in all of Lucretius does not obferve the them, therefore was call'd Her-Order: and mentions only the cules, from "Ho, Juno and xxi, chief of them. He speaks here of Glory, becaufe he was the Caufe the dreadful Boar that haunted of all his Renown, tho' fore a-upon the Mountain Erymanthus gainst her Will. Virgil. En. 8. V. 291. ut duros mille labores Rege fub Euryftheo, fatis Junonis iniquæ Pertulerit. 26. Nemæan Roar,&c.] That is the Nemean Lion. Nemæus magnus hiatus leonis, fays Lucretius. This is the fifth of the in Arcadia, and laid waste all the Countrey round. Hercules Euryftheus, King of Mycena. took him, and carry'd him to 28. The Cretan Bull, This was his ninth Labour. A Bull that infefted the Country about Crete: Hercules brought him alive likewife to Euryftheus. Some fay this Bull was fent into Crete by Neptune, whom Minos King 30 How could GERTON'S Force, cr triple Face? How D 10 MED's firy HORSE,thofe Plagues of THRACE? How could the BIRDS, that o'er th' ARCADIAN Plains With crooked Talons tore th' affrighted Swains, Offend us here? Whom had the SERPENT ftruck, 35 Mighty in Bulk, and terrible in Look, NOTES. That King of Crete had offended: 0- away their Herds of Cattle, and thers, that it was the fame Bull brought them into Italy, Pauwhich brought Europa, the fan. lib. 1. and Diodor. lib. 4. Mother of Minos, into Crete: Virg. Æn. 8. v. 2013 and others, that it was the Bull, for Love of which, Pafiphae, the Wife of Minos, run mad. -Nam maximus ultor, Tergemini nece Geryonis, fpoli-, ifque fuperbus,__ Alcides aderat; Taurofque hac victor agebat Ingentes; vallemque boves amnemque tenebant. The Plague of Lerne's Lakes,] This was his third Labour. It was a Serpent that liv'd both upon Land and in the Water, and was call'd Hydra, from Swp, Water: It kept for the moft 31. Diomed's firy Horse,] This part in the Lake Lerna, between was the fixth Labour. DiomeMycena and Argos: and was des was a King of Thrace, who, dreadful for having feven Heads; to make his Horfes the more nay, Virgil fays, fifty, if, as fierce and wild, fed them, as the many believe, it be the fame above-cited Diodorus fays, not Hydra that Aneas faw when he with Oats and Barley, but with defcended into Hell; human Flesh: Hercules took him, and gave him to his own Quinquaginta atris immanis hia- Horfes to eat. En. 6. v. 576. and others an hundred; and no fooner was one of them cut off, than two fprouted out in its Place: but Hercules kill'd him at length,by fearing the Wounds, as fast as he cut off each of his Heads. 32. The Birds, &c.] This was the eighth Labour. Thefe Birds. were call'd Stymphalides, from Stymphalus, the Name of a Town, Mountain, and Lake in Arcadia ; where thefe Birds haunted: they were of the Size of Cranes; in Shape like the Bird call'd Ibis, which we generally interpret a Snipe, and had Beaks fo hard, that they would 30. Geryon] This was the fix-enter into Iron: Thefe Hercu-, teenth Labour of Hercules. Ge-les kill'd with his Darts, as Pauryon, was a King of Spain, faid fanias and Catullus teftify; But to have three Bodies, either be Diodorus Siculus, lib. 4. fays, caufe he govern'd three Iflands of he frighted them out of the Spain, the greater and leffer Ba- Countrey with a great Brafs leares, now call'd Majorca and Rattle. Minorca; and Ebufus, now Ivi- 34. The Serpent, &c.] The ca; or because he and his two fourteenth Labour. Hefperus, Brothers, who were united in the the Brother of Atlas had three ftricteft Ties of Friendship, were Daughters, gle, Arethufa and all flain by Hercules, who took Hefperethufa, who are faid to |