That, arm'd with Scales, and in a dreadful Fold, NOTES. Deb dens to have been the Fortunate Iflands,now the Canaries: which lie below Lixus indeed, but very near to Mount Atlas, and not far from the Shore. Laftly, others will have them to be the have had Gardens planted with Trees that bore golden Fruit. Thefe Gardens were guarded by a vigilant Dragon, whom Her cules flew, by the Command of Euryftheus, and took away the Apples. Befides the Dragon, Vir-Iflands, which the Antients call'd gil adds a Priestefs, and a Tem- Hefperides, and Gorgades, or ple, perhaps of Venus, to whom Gorgones, now the lands of the Apples were confecrated. Cape Verd: but these lie more to the South, at a great Distance from Atlas, towards the Mouths of the River Niger, and at leaft epu-an hundred and fifty Leagues diftant from them. And these laft believe the Dragon to be the tortuous Sea, that divided the Gardens from the Continent. Milton, defcribing the Garden of Eden, gives it Trees Hinc mihi Maffyla gentis mon- Æneid. 4. v. 483. Whofe Fruit, burnish'd with Golden Rind, Hung amiable: Hefperian Fables true; If true, here only, and of delicious Tafte. And the fame Poet, according to the common Opinion, defcribes the Situation of the Gardens to be in the Mauritania Tingitana, now the Kingdoms of Fez and Morocco, about the Town of Lixa, in the extreameft Western -Part of Africa: According to fome, they were in the Continent; according to others, in an 38. Atlantick Shore,] The Ifland. Others place thefe Gar-Weft of Mauritania, which is dens of the Hefperides in the wash'd by the Atlantick O Ocean, quite oppofite Parts of Africa, fo call'd from Mount Atlas, that is to fay, in the very Eaft which, under feveral Names, exof Africa, and on the Eaftern tends itself even to Egypt, and Shore of the Syrtes Major, near dividing all Africa into North Cyrenaica: but this Errour is and South, that is to fay, Ma Maufully confuted by Salmafius to ritania from the inner Lybia, Solinus. Moreover, fome will ends in the Western Ocean. F have it, that the Apples of thefe which Reafon the antient Poets Gardens were only Sheep, whofe comprehended all the People,that Fleeces were very valuable, and lay to the South of Atlas, under which the Greeks call, the Name of Athiopians, and as well as they do Mala, Apples. diftinguish'd them by OrienOthers believe them to have been tal and Occidental. The Spaniwhat we call Citrons or Lemons,ards call all this Extent of Mounand that Hercules firft brought tains, Montes claros. Atlas, them from thence into Greece: Brother of Prometheus, Son of They likewife believe the Gar-Japetus, and King of Maurita For ania Defarts untrod by us, and by the Mooz. Had T Snows hide his Shoulders; from A 39. Defarts untrod by Us, and by the Moor.] 3. Quo neque nofter adit quifquam, nec barbarus audet. Lucret. nia, being admonish'd' by The mis, that he was in Danger of being kill'd by a certain Son of Jupiter, would, for that Reafon, receive no Stranger into his Houfe: and having deny'd the Rights of Hofpitality to Perfeus, the Son of Jupiter by Danae, Daughter of Acrifius King of the Argives,this Perfeus, by thewing him Medufa's Head, chang'd him into this Mountain, which bears his Name: This Fable is related at large by Ovid, Metam. i, e. Whither none of us Romans 4. V. 621. & feq. Now Atlas go, nor any Foreigner dares to was very skilful in Aftrology, go: For the Antients, as well call'd all which gave Occafion to the Ficti- Greeks as Latines, on of fupporting Heaven on his Shoulders. And Virgil defcribes the Mountain as ftill retaining the Figure of a Man, Æneid. 4. v. 246. where fpeaking of Mercury, he fays, " that were not of their own Countrey Barbarians: But I think our Tranflatour can hardy juftify this Exprellion, untrod by the Moor, fince the Moors are the People that inhabit the Countrey of which Lucretius is fpeaking. Be that as it will, Ci cero afferts for certain, that even in his Days there was no Sailing practis'd any farther than from the Mouths of the Euxine Sea, to the Columns of Hercules: i.e. than Abyle, now Ceuta, on the African Coaft, and Calpe, now Gibraltar, on the Coaft of Spain. For Hercules, after he had laid waste the Garden of the Hefperides, fix'd two Pillars on the Mountains Abyle and Calpe, as the Bounds of his Travels: which two - Mountains were before contiguous; but he is faid to have parted them, and by, that Means letting in the Ocean, to have open'd the Sea of Cadiz, now call'd the Straits of Gibraltar. 40. Those others too, &c] For many other notable Exploits are 45 . Had they ftill liv'd, what Mischief had they done? But had not HIS PHILOSOPHY began, 50 (What had not Man endur'd, ungrateful Man?) NOTES. who flourish'd about the Age of Thefeus and Euryftheus, was already among the Gods in the Time of the Giants War. are recorded of Hercules. He teaching that the fame Hercules, kill'd Bufyris, the Son of Neptune and Libya, an Egyptian Tyrant, of fuch incredible Strength, that he could draw an Ox about at his Pleasure, and 42. OEta's Flame] Lucretius who, as well as Diomedes of fays nothing of the Death of Thrace, fed his Horfes with hu- Hercules nor of his rifing a God man Flesh And Antæus, the from OEta's Flame; but fince Son of Neptune and Terra, a our Tranflatour has thought fit Giant fixty four Cubits high; to take Notice of it, it will not who, as often as he was faint or be improper for us to explain it. weary, if he but touch'd the Deianira, growing jealous of her Earth, recover'd his full Strength Husband Hercules, who, the again And Augeas, the King heard, was fallen in Love with of Elis, who refus'd to give him Iole, fent him a Garment that what he had agreed for cleanfing had been dipt in the poysonous his Stables of the Filth they had Blood of the Centaur Neffus ; gather'd in thirty Years: And and which, he had been inforEryx, the Son of Venus, with med, had a Vertue, to make any whom he fought at the Coeftus, one, that wore it, in Love with or Hurl-bats: Befides, he flew her. Hercules had no fooner put feveral of the Centaurs, &c. it on, than all his Limbs began and was of fignal Service to the to burn to that degree, by the Gods, in their Wars with the Force of the poys'nous Dye, that Giants, who durft attack their unable to refift the Violence of Heaven; for the Earth had pro- the Torment, he tore up Trees nounc'd an Oracle, at Phlegra, by the Roots, and built himself a Town in Thrace, and the a Pile, upon the Mountain OEta Place of the Battel, That the in Theffaly, then having fet Giants could not be deftroy'd, Fire to it, threw himself into the without the Help of two Heroes Flames and being thus purg'd or Demi-Gods: Upon which the from all the Filth he had contraGods made Choice of Hercules cted here below, he was believ'd and Bacchus; and by their Affi-to go directly to Heaven, and ftance got the Victory: Thus thus, as Creech fays, Apollodorus: And hence we fee the Vainnels of the Fables, inl Therefore the MAN, who thus reform'd our Souls, 55 That flew thefe Monsters, not by Arms, but Rules, Shall we, ungrateful we, not think a GOD? Efpecially fince HE divinely fhow'd 60 What LIFE the GoDs muft live; and found the CAUSE And fail at laft, loose all their vital Ties; NOTES. And and will one Day have an End: He rofe a God from OEta's Then he will defcribe the Rife of Flame. Milton, in Paradife Loft, B. II. As when Alcides, from OEchalia crown'd With Conqueft, felt th' enve nom'd Robe, and tore Into th' Euboick Sea, &c. 55. But Rules] Epicurus, in his Writings, treated not only of Phyficks, but Ethicks like wife: The firft by the Care of Laertius have efcap'd, most of them, from the Rage of Time: but of his Ethicks, the little that remains, is in his three Epiftles to Herodotus, Menecæus and Pythocles. the World, and of Animals; will teach what Animals were actually produc'd; and what the Vainnefs of the Poets, and the Superftition of the Generality of Men have feign'd and believ'd. He will tell how Names came to be given to Things,and how mu tual Society arofe from Speech; and whence first proceeded Religion, and the Fear of the Gods: Laftly, he will explain the Motion of the Heavens, the Courfes and Revolutions of the Sun, the Moon, and other Planets and Stars, and will demonftrate, that they are whirl'd about by the Force of Nature only, without the Help or Affiftance of Providence: For unless he can make out fuch a Motion of the Heavens, and prove it to be meerly natural, he owns he shall not be able to take away all Belief of Providence: For, as he obferves in the first Book, v. 84. 57. He divinely fhow'd, &c.] Faber fays, that Lucretius here fpeaks of the Treatife that Epi-Long time Men lay opprefs'd curus compos'd wel oσión, of Holiness. 60. His Steps, &c.] In thefe 40. v. the Poet gives us the Argument of this Book, in which he will endeavour to prove, that the World had once a Beginning, with flavish Fear; Religion's Tyranny did domi And that those SHADOWS, which in Dreams appear, 65 And Forms of Friends, and perifh'd Heroes bear, Are but loose SHAPES, by FANSY wrought in Air. Now I muft teach, the WORLD, as YEARS prevail, Muft die; this noble Frame muft fink and fail; And how at firft 'twas form'd; what curious Blows 70 Made SEED,Earth, Seas,Sun,Heav'n, and Stars,compose: What living CREATURES did, what never rose, How LEAGUES, and how SOCIETY began; What civiliz'd the favage Creature, MAN. Whence fprung that mighty Dread of Pow'rs above, 75 That Reverence, that awful Fear and Love, Which firft religious Duties did engage; And now secures their holy Things from Rage. How tow'rds both POLES the SUN's fixt Journey bends, And how the Year his crooked Walk attends: 80 By what juft Steps the WAND RING LIGHTS advance; NOTES. Or means what he calls afterwards Fortuna gubernans,v. 108. which our Tranflatour there calls Chance: And indeed Lucretius means nothing else in this Place: Pliny, 'tis true, calls Nature the Parent and Maker of all Things: And Seneca, lib. 4. de Benef. makes her the God, by whom all Things are made and govern'd. Quid enim, fays he, aliud eft Natura, quam Deus, & diviną ratio toti mundo ac partibus inferta? But Lucretius was of another Opinion, and makes her other than God, and means in Effect nothing more by ruling Nature, than the Power and Motion of the Atoms,that fortu itoufly and without Defign huddled and join'd themselves together into this Frame of the World. Guide the Dance] The Mo tions of the Planets may well be Kkk 2 |