proâ—essors of Christianism but exploded as absurd by the sounder sort of Ethnick Philosophers themselves as you may read in Aristot l. 1. de Anima c. 3. who terms the transmigration of souls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Pythagorean Fable Pythagoras flying the tyranny of Polycrates the invader of his Countryes liberty came to Crotôna in Italy Tarquinius Superbus lording it then at Rome A. Gell. l. 17. c. 21. where setting open his School he published and by this device as Meyênus takes it from Hermippus got credit to his new doctrine Pythagoras sayes he at his first arrival in Italy made himself an habitation under ground where hiding himself he charged his Mother to record carefully all memorable passages during his absence she observant of her sonnes injunction compiled a perfect diurnal of all things in the mean time he having lived thus a whole year at last came forth out of his subterranean mansion lean pale squalid and gastly as if he had risen from the dead then assembling the multitude he told them that he returned from Hell and that he might the better perswade what he intended to instill he repeated to them all what had hapened in that part of Italy during his absence so punctually that the people thinking that there was more than an ordinary spirit in the man without further dispute or examination embraced his doctrine which in Pythagoras his own person is thus delivered by Ovid. Met. l. 15. f. 3. O genus attonitum gelidae formidine mortis Quid Styga quid tenebras nomina vana timetis Materiem Vatum falsique pericula Mundi Corpora sive rogus flammâ seu tabe vetustas Abstulerit mala posse pati non ulla putetis Morte carent animae semperque priore relictâ Sede novis domibus vivunt habitantque receptae Ipse ego nam nemini Trojani tempore belli Panthoides Euphorbus eram cui pectore quondam Haesit in adverso gravis hasta minoris Atridae Cognovi clypeum laevae gestamina nostrae Nuper Abantëis templo Junonis in Argis Omnia mutantur nihil interit errat illinc Huc venit hinc illuc quoslibet occupat artus Spiritus eque feris humana in corpora transit Inque feras noster nec tempore deperit ullo Vtque novis facilis signatur cera figuris Nec manet ut fuerat nec formam servat eandem Sed tamen ipsa eadem est animam sic semper eandem Esse sed in varias doceo migrare figuras We will not so farre injure the Poet as to express him otherwise then what his ingenuous Translatour hath done who renders him thus O you whom horrours of cold death affright Why fear you Styx vain names and endless night The dreams of Poets and feign'd miseries Of forged hell whether last flames surprize Or age devour your bodyes they nor grieve Or suffer pains Our souls for ever live Yet evermore their ancient houses leave To live in new which them as Guests receive In Trojan warres I I remember well Euphorbus was Panthous sonne and fell By Menalaüs lance my shield again At Argos late I saw in Juno's Fane All alter nothing finally decayes Hither and thither still the spirit strayes Guest to all bodies out of beasts it flies To men from men to beasts and never dies As pliant wax each new impression takes Fixt to no form but still the old forsakes Yet it the same so souls the same abide Though various figures their reception hide This doctrine being easily imbibed by his Auditors so farre dispersed it self that even the Gauls a people farre sequestred from those parts of Italy were taught the same by their Druides as you may read in Lucan vobis Authoribus umbrae Non tacitas Erebi sedes noctisque profundae Pallida regna petunt regit idem spiritus artus Orbe alio longae canitis si cognita vitae Mors media est Certè populi quos despicet Arctos Faelices errore suo quos ille timorum Maximus haud urget lethi metus inde ruendi In ferrum mens prona viris animaeque capaces Mortis ignavum est periturae parcere vitae Dislodged souls if you conceive aright To hell descend not and those realms of night The body in another world is by The same spir't ruld in your Philosophy Death to another life the way doth show In your mistake O happiest of those who Are to the North-starre subject whom the fear Of death of fears the greatest doth not skare Hence on drawn steel you rush your great souls hence Disdain to stick at your vile blood's expence Herod it seems was a Pythagorean in this also whilst he said that the soul of St. John the Baptist by him wickedly murdered was entred into the body of our blessed Saviour Josephus l. 2. c. 7. de bell Judaic affirms that the Pharisees were tainted with the same erroneous belief who held that the souls of good men did pass into other bodies but that those of the wicked were for ever tormented in hell But haply we wade too farre in these speculations we shall therefore proceed to the next head which is concerning the creation of things The Poets sense and meaning here is briefly this that there is a certain spirit or soul which doth inform actuate complete cherish and sustain all Beings whether elementary viz. the Fire Air comprehended in the word Coelum or the heaven Earth and Water periphrastically expressed in the words Campos liquentes the liquid or watrie plains or celestial exemplified in the Sun and Moon as the two most glorious operative and powerfull Planets in generation Astra Titania put here by an Enallage for Astrum Titanium signifies the Sun from Titan who was so skilfull an Astrologue that he was feigned to be Brother to the Sun as Cael. Rhodig observes out of Pausan in Corinthiacis lect antiq l. 24. c. 17. and Titan is often taken for the Sun it self hence Astrum Titanium is only a circumlocution of Titan or the Sun But to proceed from the operation of this soul or spirit not only simple bodies as the Elements and Heavens took their being and are by the propitious influx thereof preserved therein but mixt bodies also as he instances in men beasts birds and fishes The sum of all is this viz. that there is a certain spirit or soul to whose operations and powerfull insinuations the world and all therein contained owes both its existence and subsistence If we by the spirit or soul here mentioned understand God himself or his omnipotent Spirit and the powerfull emanations thereof nothing is more consonant not only to reason but also to the analogie of the holy Scriptures then the assertion of our Poet For God is truly that Spirit which being present every where is without extension of it self diffused through all things and doth intus alere cherish and sustain all things This is that soul which actuates the vast Machine of this world which
upholds preserves and governs the great fabrick of the Universe which otherwise would fall into disorder confusion and into that primitive Chaos out of which it was at first educed for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In him we live move and have our being If we give tbis interpretation to the Poet these few verses seem to be an epitome or brief comprehension of the first chapter of Genesis touching the Creation for as Moses sayes there In principio Deus creavit coelum terram so Virgil here Principio coelum terras c. Spiritus intus alit and whereas Moses sayes that Spiritus Dei movebat vel incubabat supra faciem aquarum that the Spirit of God did move or brood upon the face of the waters so Virgil here tels us of a Spiritus or Mens which magno se corpore miscet as mention is made there of the Creation of those two great Luminaries the Sun and the Moon the like is here also Lastly as the Creation of Beasts Birds Fish and then of Man is there specified so Virgil sayes here Inde i. e. à Deo operante hominum pecudumque genus vitaeque volantum Et quae marmoreo fert monstra sub aequore pontus But others and with them I am apt to concurre are of opinion that Virgil here speaks according to the mind and sense of his Master Plato who followed Trismegistus and Pythagoras herein the first founders and fautors of the Academick Philosophy as he did in his opinion concerning the transmigration of souls Plato in his Timaeus and elsewhere as Wendilinus cites him Phys contempl sect 2. c. 6. endeavours to prove that this World or Universe is informed by a soul distinct from the World it self which doing the office which other souls doe in the particular beings they inform doth preserve move and govern this All and all its parts making the world hereby an Animal rul'd and govern'd by its own peculiar soul nor is God meant hereby but some other entity different from that ens entium and by them styled Anima vel Spiritus Mundi But this is throughly winnowed and refuted by the learned Wendilinus in the place above mentioned and the arguments of its assertors fully answered to whom for more ample satisfaction herein as also to the subtile Scaliger Exerc. 6. sect 2. we shall referre the Reader and proceed § 73 Anchises pointing to those souls before him which stood upon the brink of the river Lethe for the Antecedent to illis which the Ancients used for illis is Animae sayes that they are of a fierie nature and that their principles which he here calls semina are of heavenly extraction or composition which is not to be understood onely of those souls there but of the humane soul in general for according to the Theologie of some Gentils the soul was not judged as it really is a simple and spiritual essence but an elementary compound of Fire and Air the two more pure desecated and active elements as the body was thought to be of Water and Earth the two more gross material and inactive principles We shall easily elucidate this dark place if we reduce the Authors sense into this single Theoreme viz. the humane soul is a most excellent being as consisting of the two more excellent principles viz. Fire and Air From the first there is in it igneus vigor from the second it is coelestis originis for coelum is taken here as often it is pro aëre or the air Hence it is plain what the Poet means by Igneus est ollis vigor coelestis origo Seminibus Thus paraphrased But those souls there of fiery vigour share The principles of them celestiall are That the soul consists of fire was the opinion of Hipparchus that of air of Anaximenes that of both of Boethos and our Virgil here Epicurus added to these two a third ingredient whilst he held that it was a speceies igne aëre spiritu mixta as you may read in Macrob. l. 1. c. 14. in Somn. Scip. who there delivers the various opinions of the Ancients concerning the nature of the Soul Hence according to Homers doctrine who held with Hipparchus that the soul was originated from fire the Heroes abhorred nothing more then drowning as most contrary to the fierie nature of the Soul which they thought would thereby be extinguished See how apprehensive Virgil makes Aeneas of drowning l. 1. Aen. Extempló Aeneae solvuntur frigore membra Ingemit duplices tendens ad sidera palmas Talia voce refert c. A cold sweat doth Aeneas limbs surprize He sighs and his hands stretching to the skies He thus begins c. Whereas otherwise he makes him a person of a most undaunted and unshaken constancy 〈◊〉 l. 6. Non ulla laborum O virgo nova mî facies inopináve surgit no dangers unto me Are strange or Virgin shake my constancie Doubtless Virgil herein concurred with Homer in his opinion And from hence the Stoicks opin'd that the soul as soon as freed from the body presently took its flight to the Concave of the Moon the place or region of the element of fire But of these dreams more then enough let us now return to our Author Virgil from these premisses inferres that the Soul is of an active piercing and subtile nature as are the principles whereof it consists that it is of it self free from all passions and perturbations quantum non noxia corpora tardant Unless by the commixtion and conjunction with the body it abate of its naturall vigour and become as that is heavy and drossie All souls are equally intelligent and alike impassionate But according to the variety of complexions the abundance of humors the pureness of the spirits the disposition of the organs especially of the brain they are more intense or remiss § 74 Hence the Poet sayes that as to the intellectual part thereof it becomes heavy dull and inapprehensive so to the appetitive or will it becomes subject to sundry irregularities and passions which he specifies here in four whereof two have for their object an Evil and two a Good The first is Fear which is a passion of the soul touching a future evil as Grief The second is touching an evil present and now upon us The third is Desire or Concupiscence which is a passion of the soul about a good absent as Joy The fourth is about a good present and in fruition or the acquiescence of the Soul in the possession of its desired object Three of these viz. Desire Joy and Grief are placed in the Concupiscible Appetite and one viz. Fear in the irascible He inferres further that the soul is not only subject to error and passion whilst united to the body but that it doth absolutely forâ—â— it s own nature nor is at all sensible of its originall which is of fire and air which he means here whilst he saies nec auras respiciunt the body is
therefore called by him animae carcer the prison of the soul reflecting haply upon that of Plato 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the body is the souls grave or sepulchre For as those who are shut up in a dark prison have all objects intercepted from their eyes so the soul incarcerated in the body is utterly blinded nor can auras respicere have the free prospect of the air whereof it is compounded The Poet here occurres to a tacite objection the soul it is true loseth of its original purity by conjunction with the body but when freed from thence it may recover its pristine state of purity and perfection no it retains still after its separation much of that pollution which it contracted whilst it was immers'd in the body And hence he layes the foundation of his imaginary Purgatory which as necessarily previous to that Transmigration we have already discoursed of he makes of three sorts either by ventilation by air purgation by fire or rinsing by water all according to the doctrine of Plato purging as Physicians doe by contraries for fire which is hot and dry air which is hot and moist water which is cold and moist are the most proper purgatives for earthy contagions i. e. for those stains the soul hath contracted from the commerce with the body which is earthy Earth being both the coldest of the 4. elements and in that most contrary to Fire which is the hottest and the driest and in that most opposite to Water which is the moistest in both to Air which is both hot and moist this is St. Austins conceit l. 21. de Civit. Dei c. 13. we will not say that the Roman Cathâ—lick hath no better authority for his Purgatory then that of a Roman Poet. This we may safely affirm that it was an opinion received amongst the Heathens many centuries before it was introduced into the Church of Rome with this only difference they held that after death the souls went into Purgatory and from thence ascended not into eternall bliss but into this world where they were reinvested with new bodies these that after their purgatory they ascended into heaâ—â—n they both allow of a Purgatory and a subsequent resurrection and differ only in the terminus adquem the place to which that resurrection tends § 75 There is no one passage in this book more obscure then this in the literal construction you shall find more sound of words then soundness of sense for what can you understand by leaving the etherial sense pure and a fire of simple breath or air for so it runs if verbally translated We have therefore paraphrased upon this place as we have done elsewhere where the sense required it therefore by sensus aethereus we are to understand the Soul a heavenly or aethereal Being and therefore said by Virgil a little above to be coelestis originis as here to be aethereus sensus and to be ignis aër simplex for he sayes here auraï i. e. aurae simplicis ignem for auram simplicem ignem according to the opinion of those who held the soul to be compounded of air and fire therefore the sense of Igneus est ollis vigor coelestis orgio Seminibus is here expressed in other words whilst he sayes purumque reliquit Aetherum sensum atque auraï simplicis ignem which I think according to the sense both of the Author and the Context may not unaptly be paraphrased in these words Leaving of spots that heavenly Being clear Of Fire a compound and unmixed Air. But to summe up our precedent discourse and to shew the connexion thereof you must know that there is a certain soul or spirit which actuateth and presideth over this Universe and from whence all things derive their birth and original amongst the rest men whose souls we have and doe still speak according to the principles of Virgil and the Gentiles are compounded of fire and air as their bodies are of water and earth whence they resembling their principles are active and pure these drossie and dull they from the long commerce with the body contract stains from thence which adhere to them even after their separation Hence they are to be purged in the other world after which when purified they are brought by Mercury to the River Lethe the River of Forgetfulness and having drunk thereof they then return into this world and are received into other bodies We have insisted much upon the exposition of the Author in these precedent Paragraphs Interpreters have laboured much herein as upon a place knotty and obscure though full of much learning and abstruse speculations if we have either in our Translation or notes conferred any thing to the explication of the Author and the Readers satisfaction we shall think our pains in the one and our collections in the other not altogether misemployed § 76 We come now to the primarie scope and design of the Poet and which indeed as the end is was primus in intentione though ultimus in executione Virgil composed this Poem on purpose to celebrate the Family of Augustus and to consecrate the names of some of the most deserving and illustrious Houses of Rome to following Ages And to this only tends Aeneas his descent into Hell with all the precedent descriptions We shall here exhibit a Summary of the Roman History from the Alban Kings to Augustus his time following the series and method of our Author who presents them not according to the order of time wherein they were born or lived but as he fancies them to stand before Anchises the person here speaking § 77 The first therefore who appeared and was to ascend was Sylvius Aeneas his Sonne by Lavinia Latinus his Daughter and half-Brother to Ascanius sirnamed Iülus Aeneas his Sonne by Creüsa he is here called an Alban name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by way of excellence because from him all the Alban Kings were denominated Sylvii Aeneas his posthume sonne because born after his Fathers death and Sylvius because born in the Woods The Story is briefly this Lavinia being left with child by Aeneas fled for fear of her sonne in law Ascanius to Tyrrhus the Master of her Father Latinus his flocks but was delivered by the way of a son in the woods whom from thence she called Sylvius i. e. Du Bois or Wood and from him the succeeding Alban Kings were styled Sylvii but being freed from her ill-grounded jealousie she was at last brought back to Ascanius who looking upon her as the dear Relict of his honored Father did not only receive her with all demonstrations of love but leaving Lavinium built by Aeneas and so called from Lavinia his beloved Consort to her he founded Alba or the white City so called from the white Sow the Trojans found at their first landing and Longa from its figure it being extended in length See Aur. Victor de orig gent. Rom. And this became the royal residence of the Alban Kings
Altars did 17 embrace Whil'st shee replies sprung of Coelestiall race Great Anchisiades with ease to 18 Hell Thou may'st descend those Gates are patent still But to retreat and this world to review That is a taske the labour of some few To Whom Jove grace indulg'd whose fames the praise Of active Courage to the skies did raise Some of-springs o th' immortall Deities Such have 't is true amidst dark woods it lies With black Cocytus lazie streame embrac'd But if so longing a desire thou hast Hell twice to see and twice that Stygian lake To ferry o're if thou wilt undertake A taske so uncouth then thou art to know What thou in order to the same must doe Hid in a thick and shadie Tree 19 a bough With golden leaves and golden stem doth grow To Hells-Queen sacred hardly to be found ' Midst those dark Coverts which doe it furround But none can to those lower parts descend Till from the Tree its golden-fruit they rend This to her to be brought fair Proserpine As a most gratefull present doth injoyn Nor wants the ravish'd branch a golden heir But is succeeded by a shoot as fair Around thee looke and when descry'd the bough With care breake off if fates of thee allow It willingly will yeeld if not nor force Or sharpest weapon can the same divorce Beside 20 unknown to thee unburied lies Thy friends dead body his last exequies To him performe him to his Grave commend Who whil'st consulting here thou dost attend Thy Fleet pollutes this done black Beeves for thee Must to Hells powers an expiation bee Then thou shalt ro those Stygian Realms descend Which living none approach she here doth end In gesture sad Aeneas leaves the vau't Th event of things in his perplexed thought Revolving whilst him his still constant friend Achates 21 alike thoughtfull doth attend They with themselves debated as they went For what dead friend these fun'ral Rites were meant When they no sooner came to the Sea-side But they Misenus murdred there espyde Misenus then 22 whom none more Martial fire Could into men by Trumpets sound inspire As Hectors friend he him accompany'd Fam'd for his Art as for his valour try'd When him of life Achilles spoyled had The valiant Heroe a neer friendship made With brave Aeneas nor in this did hee Joyn in a lesse-deserving amitie But him whilst with shrill notes the Ocean he Alarms and does the Gods themselves defie Triton his exc'llence envying betrayes And drowns amid'st the rock-surrounding Seas Wherefore around him all lamenting stand The good Aeneas chiefly the Command Of Sibyll the whole Company obeys And a vast pyre of pyled timber rayse Unto an ancient wood their course they bend Fat Pitch-trees fall redoubled strokes extend The yeelding Holm the Ash the Wedg-riv'd Oake And Alder feele the weighty axes stroke Aeneas also whom like armes invest By his example doth excite the rest And as the lofty Forrest he survayes From his minds sad reflections thus he prayes Oh! That I could this golden bough descry Since too too true it is whatere of thee The Prophetesse Misenus hath fore-told Oh that I could that golden-bough behold Hee scarce had ended when of Doves 23 a brace Before him light upon the tender grasse His Mothers birds he knew and joy'd doth pray Be ye my guides to those groves shew the way Where the rich bough doth with its shade invest The fruitfull ground nor cease thou to assist Mee Goddesse-Mother in all straits then Hee Making a halt observes the Augury And marks their course who 'fore him 24 feeding fly As far as he could follow with his eye Arriv'd then at Avernus noysome Lake With nimble wings through liquid ayr they make Untill that tree their wished perch became Where through the boughs the glit'ring gold did flame As 25 Misletoe of the tree where it growes No seminal production verdant showes In winters cold as that its yellow leaves Around its tender branches interweaves So the rich mettal grew the Gold-foile so Did crackle when the whisp'ring wind did blow Then hastily Aeneas at it caught And when broke off it to Sibylla brought Mean 26 while the Trojans for Misenus mourn And to his ashes the last dues return First they a mighty Pyre erect whose base Of rived Oake and oyly pitch-trees was They with darke boughs the sides th' extremities With Cypresse trim a top his armour lies Warm Baths then they prepare his cold stiffe joynts Part with the same foments part them annoints Then him as dead bewayling on a bed They lay o're which they purple garments spread The usual Hears-cloths these support the Bier Whilst those their faces turn'd flames to the Pyre Apply into the same then others doe Sweets costly meats oyle with the vessels throw Then into ashes when the hungry fire The Corps had turn'd and did it selfe expire The flames remains and thirsty embers they With Wine upon them poured do allay In a brasse-Urn Chorôneus doth inclose Th' assembled bones thrice with fair water does Th' Assistants purge them sprinkling with the same Then the last words lustration done doth name But good Aeneas a fair 27 tomb doth reare His armes his Oar and trumpet carving there Under 28 a lofty Mountain from his name Misenus 29 call'd to his aeternall fame This ended hee proceeds There was a 30 Cave To whose deep womb a vast mouth entrance gave Surrounded with dark shades and a black 31 Lake O're which no birds their flight could safely take Such noysom vapours were from thence exhal'd Hence by the Greeks it was Aornos cal'd To this 32 Caves mouth he four black Bullocks led Upon whose heads the Priest wine having shed The haires hee as a praevious offering Pluck'd from between the victims horns doth fling Into the sacred flames on Hecate In Heav'n and hell a pow'rfull Deitie Hee calls their yeelded throats these cut whilst those In Bowles their blood receive Aeneas does With his own hands unto the Furies Dam And her great sister slay a black-fleec'd Lamb To Proserpine a barren Cow then hee Doth nightly Altars Pluto raise to thee On which of Bulls a Holocaust he fries Pouring fat oyle upon the Sacrifice But when Sol first his morning rayes did shed The Ground beneath to groane the Trees o're-head To shake began Goddesse neer Did draw of fiends they yells and howlings heare Through the darke shades Avant avant prophane The Virgin cries and from these groves abstain But thou with thy drawn steele advance behold It now behooves Aeneas to be bold This said into the yawning 〈◊〉 shee leaps His Guide he follows with undaâ—â—ted steps Gods of dislodged Soules and silent Ghosts Chaos and Phlegeton nights dismal coasts Let mee relate what I have heard reveale What e're in its dark womb earth doth conceale Through Dis 33 his void empty Mansions they In darknesse shrouded grope their doubtfull way Under a
Chest and burned within the same which he confirms out of Theophrastus De la Cerda out of Pliny sayes that the Corps was wrapped up in a sort of linnen by the Latins called linum vivum by the Greeks Asbestînum over which the flames could not in the least prevail we will give you the place and words of that learned Author l. 19. c. 1. Inventum jam est etiam linum quod ignibus non absumeretur vivum id vocant c. There is now in our dayes found out a certain sort of flax called vivum i. e. living because it lives as it were in and is not consumed by fire I have seen napkins made thereof red-hot in the flame by which they are purged and cleansed better then by water Hence the bodyes of Kings being wrapt therein were preserved unmixt from the other ashes It growes in the desarts of India in places scorched with the Sun amongst Adders and Serpents and where there falls no rain he sayes that it doth assuescere vivere ardendo by growing in a hot and sun-burnt soyl contract as it were an habit of resisting the flames It is rare to be found and very hard to be woven or spun by reason of its shortnesse Thus farre Pliny But this is a thing lost long since See Pancerol tit 4. de reb perditis Not unlike to this is that linum Creticum mentioned by Strabo which hath the same property of resisting the fire but this was rather a stone then linnen for it was made of a certain stone which they beat so long with hammers till all the terrene or earthy matter was beaten out of it and there remained nothing but certain threads or strings which being dress'd and comb'd made a very fine sort of linnen The like is made of a stone found in the Island of Cyprus called lapis Amiantus See Salmuth in Pancirol rerum deperd tit 4. And haply both these were well known to the Ancients and made use of by them But although we cannot positively affirm how it was done we may certainly conclude that they had a way and were very carefull therein to separate the remains of the Dead from mingling with other ashes The ashes thus extinguished and bathed with wine were put into certain pitches called urnae which were made sometimes of stone sometimes of earth sometimes of brass as here Homer made Patrôclus's of gold The reliques of the Dead being thus gathered up the Priest cleansed and purified the people who were thought polluted and unclean by assisting at the Funerall as all those who touched or came neer a dead body were by bespringling them with water thrice which number had something of mystery in it and was by the Ancients accounted sacred numero Deus impare gaudet Virgil useth the word circumferre which with those of elder times was all one with purgare which Servius proves out of Plautus te pro larvato circumferam i. e. purgabo whence he also derives lustratio à circumlatione When this purging or lustration was ended the Priest with a loud voice pronounced this word Ilicet thereby dismissing the company the word signifying as much as ire licet which the Poet means here by verba novissima then presently did the company depart taking their farewell of the Dead in this form of words Vale vale vale nos te ordine quo netura permiserit sequemur And thus much for the explication of this place The whole Ceremony ended Aeneas causeth a stately Tomb to be raised over the interred remains of the dead under a Promontory near the sea-side the usuall place where they erected the Monuments of their Heroes and according to the custome carves for although Virgil useth the word imponere it cannot be understood of his reall armes for they were burned with him upon the stone his armes as a Souldier his Trumpet as a Trumpeter for Et lituo pugnas insignis obibat hastâ Virg. he was Fam'd for his art as for his valour tri'd and his Oar at which he was excellent also both which Customes Virgil observes in that of Aeneas to Deiphobus in this very book Tunc egomet tumulum Rhaetaeo in littore inanem Constitui et magnâ manes ter voce vocavi Nomen arma locum servant Then I did raise on the Rhaetaean shore For thee an empty Tomb thrice did implore Thy Ghost thy name and armes still there abide § 28 Servius will have Aerius to be the proper name of the Promontory or Mountain before it was called Misênus but because Aerius is a proper epithet for any thing which is very high as Alpes aeriae we have translated it here as an Appellative § 29 Misenus is called to this day Monte Misêno of which Mr. Sandys writes thus This Promontory is of all others the most famous for the clemency of the air for the City here once standing the Manor-houses adjoyning the Roman Navy here riding antique Monuments Grots Baths Fish-pools and other like admirable buildings surveying all the Sea-coast unto the Promontory of Minerva if measured with the winding shore 54 miles distant all which in the time of the Roman Monarchy shewed like one intire City whereof Naples excepted there is little to be seen which hath escaped the fury of fire water or earthquake Tantum aevi longinqua valet mutare vetustas so great a change attends the dark footsteps of Time § 30 Aeneas here puts in execution the third and last precept of Sibylla which was to sacrifice to the infernal Deities Duc nigras pecudes haec prima piacula sunto § 31 To which end he first repaires to a certain Cave on the Southeast side of the lake of Avernus which Virgil here describes Mr. Sandys who had entred the same writes thus of it On the South-east side of the Lake opens a-to-be-admired Grot with a ruined Frontispice but affording a large and high-roof'd passage into the Mountain cut out of the main rock agreeing in all particulars with our Author This although called vulgarly but erroneously la Grotta de la Sibylla was not that Grot whereof we have spoken within the Temple of Apollo but another adjoyning to the Lake of Avernus as we have just now said Here the Ancients dream'd Hells entrance to be Here Homer made his Vlysses to performe his Necyomancie in imitation of whom Virgil did the same in the person of his Aeneas Nay this present age is so grossely and sottishly ignorant as to have the same opinion of the place which the more excusable Ancients had only with this difference they beleeved this to be the ingresse or inlet into Hell and ours the egress or out-let from thence for as Mr. Sandys reports there are many of the Inhabitants at this day who believe and affirm that Christ from thence made his triumphant Resurrection nor are the credulous vulgar only of this opinion but also those who ought to be better versed in the history and geography of the
holy Scriptures He cites one Aleadînus a Poet as an Assertor of this tradition which he delivers in this Distich Est locus effregit quo portas Christus Averni Et Sanctos traxit lucidus inde patres There Christ Avernus black gates broke in two And holy Fathers thence victorious drew Of this Lake of Avernus the same Author makes this relation viz. That it is circular in form and invironed with Mountains and shadowed heretofore with over-grown woods a main occasion of those pestilent vapours for they being cut down by Agrippa the place became frequently inhabited on every side as approved both healthfull and delightfull the water thereof looketh black so thought heretofore to have been by reason of its unmeasurable profundity but later times have found it out a bottom and that it exceedeth not 253 fathomes No leaf or whatsoever falleth therein is ever after seen c. Which description doth in all particulars so agree with that which Aristotle gives of it in his book de Mirabilibus Aâ—scultationibus that either Mr. Sandys transcribes his verbatim from thence or so long a tract and interval of time from that great Philosopher to our great Traveller hath made no sensible alteration But the major part thereof is now choaked up by the new Mountain This Lake was called by the Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. sine avibus void of birds from whence the Latine Avernus with some small alteration deâ—ives it self The Poet gives you the reason of this denomination and it is given by Lucretius as a generall name to all places over which by reason of the noysome and sulphureous vapours Birds cannot flye so that Avernus is not confined to Italy only but may give name to any place where the same properties are found § 32 Here Virgil describeth most exactly the manner of sacrificing to the infernall Gods which was as different as Hell from Heaven from that of the supernals in time manner place and colour of the sacrifice To these they sacrificed upon an Altar raised above the ground whence Altare takes its name ab alto to those in a Cave under ground digging there a hole or pit which they termed scrobs or screbicklus into which they let the blood of the Sacrifice run Thus Ovid Met. l. 7. speaking of Medea Haud procul egestâ scrobibus tellure duabus Sacra facit cultrosque in gutture velleris atri Conjicit patulas perfundit sanguine fossas Not far from thence i th' hollow'd ground two pits Medâ—a digs and sacrificing slits The throats of black-fleec'd rams with reaking bloud She fils the ditches So Homer makes Vlysses dig a hole a cubit in all its dimensions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Into this they did not only let the blood of the Sacrifice flow but also together with it poured wine and milk Tum super invergens liquidi charchesia vini Alteraque invergens tepidi charchesia lactis Verba simul fundit Ovid. Met. 7. Then pouring bolls of liquid wine commixt With luke-warm milk she prayes Others add hony eggs oyl with an infinite number of the like trash as the foam of mad dogs the bowels of a beast called Lynx eyes of Dragons c. To the Superi they offered white victims and an odd number as alwaies sacred to the Gods to the Inferi black and an even as being by the Ancients esteemed unlucky were presented Virgil comprehends all these circumstances in this one verse Quatuor hic id est ad os hujus speluncae primum Nigrantes terga juvencos Constituit Lastly these infernall Rites were aâ—wayes performed in the night-time this Law being inviolably observed viz. to a male Deity or God they still offer'd a male to a female Numen or Goddesse they constantly presented a female Sacrifice as well to the Inferi as Superi The Sacrifice now brought to the place where it was to be offered the Priest poured wine between the horns which was a common ceremony used in all Sacrifices whether to the powers beneath or those above but with this difference to these they did pour the wine with the palm of the hand turned upward supinâ manu which the Latines called fundere to those with the palm of the hand turned downward towards the ground pronâ manu by them termed invergere Servius his words-are these Fundere est supinâ manu libare quod fit in sacris superis Invergere est conversâ in sinistram partem manu ita fundere ut patera convertatur Virgil ever studious of propriety useth the word invergere we cannot difference them in the English but by a long circumlocution for fundere and invergere with us are rendred promiscuously to pour This Ceremony was used as a probation of the Sacrifice for if it did stupescere stand still and unmov'd it was rejected as sick and diseased and consequently unfit for sacred uses if otherwise it was approved and they did proceed to the next ceremony omitted here by Virgil which was Immolation from Mola which signifies a barley Cake kneaded up with salt which they crumbled and sprinkled upon the head and back of the Sacrifice drawing the knife wherewith they jugulated the Sacrifice thwart his temples both which are expressed by Virg. Aen. 12. Dant manibus fruges salsas tempora ferro Summa notant They salted Cakes present and with a knife His temples markt Which done one cried with a loud voice Macta est hostia i. e. magis aucta more increased and rendred more pleasing to the Gods whence immolare and mactare though but one part of the ceremony signify in the generall to sacrifice The next ceremony to this in order was to pluck off the hairs Virgil useth setae here for pili which grew between the horns casting them into the fire which the Poet here calls libamina prima the Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 primitias these three latter Customes are comprehended by Homer in these two verses Odyss 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Water and Cakes he sprinkling prayes and does Hairs from the temples pluckt to th' flames expose Onely Homer instead of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wine useth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies water to wash the hands with but that maketh no difference as to the probation of the Sacrifice for water will doe that as well as wine And from hence De la Cerda deduceth the custome of shaving the heads of the Priests in the Roman Church his words are these Quemadmodum evulsio pilorum fuit indicium victimae jam devotae separatae à profanis usibus ita hoc quidem indicat clericalis tonsura This done the Priest using certain mysticall words invoked Hecate by which Proserpine is meant in this place But for the fuller understanding of this we must make a more strict and deep research § 33 Hecate was the Daughter of Perses King of Taurica and Wife of Aeeta a neighbouring Prince and King of Colchis Mother
Daughter of Phorcus begotten on the Nymph Cretheis she was Circes Rival in the love of Glaucus and by her incantations changed into a most deformed Monster for infecting the bay where the beautifull Nymph used to bathe her self with her poysonous juices Scylla contracted a monstrous form her upper parts retaining her former shape but her lower were said to be environed with howling wolves and barking dogs attracting and destroying all ships which came neer her Hence the Poet calls her biformis thus by him described in his third book At Scyllam caecis cohibet spelunca latebris Ora eâ—â—â—tantem et naves in saxa trahentem Prima hominis facies et pulchro pectore virgo Pube tenus postrema immani corpore Pistris Delphinum caudes utero commissa luporum But Scylla lurking in dark Caves displayes Her face and ships to crushing rocks betrayes A Virgin to the twist divinely fram'd Her nether parts with shape of Monsters sham'd Deform'd with womb of Wolves and Dolphins tails Scylla was a rock under the Promontory of Rhegium on Italy side over against the Promontory of Pelôrus on the coast of Sicily under which the adverse and equally dangerous rock of Charybdis did lift up its ragged head The lower part of this rock was full of holes and concavities the dogs which are said to bark by reason of the noise of the repercussed waters frequented by Lamprons and greater Fishes which devoured the bodies of the drowned passengers Scylla was said to retain the form and shape of a woman in her upper parts because this rock appeared to be such to those who beheld it at distance it took the name of Scylla from the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to spoil or from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to vex whence she is said by Virgil who haply alluded to the Greek Eccl. 8. Dulichias vexâsse rates And from hence sprung this Fable and her fabulous form but both these formerly-perillous rocks of Scylla and Charybdis have as Mr. Sandys tells us who had sayled those seas lost their terrours by the changing of the current expressed by that marble fountain in Messena where Neptune holds Scylla and Charybdis in chains with these under-written verses Impia nodofis cohibetur Scylla catenis Pergite securae per freta nostra rates Capta est praedatrix Siculique infamia Ponti Nec fremit in mediis saeva Charybdis aquis Fast-binding fetters wicked Scylla hold Sail safely through our streights brave ships be bold ' Th' infamous thief that kept those seas is tane And fell Charybdis rageth now in vain But if you will draw this Fable to a morall sense then Scylla represents a Virgin who as long as chast in thought and in body unspotted appears of an excellent beauty attracting the eyes and hearts of all upon her but if once polluted with the sorceries of Circe id est having rendred her Maiden honour to be deflowred by bewitching pleasure she is transformed into an horrid Monster and not so only but endeavors to shipwrack others such is the envy of infamous women upon those ruining rocks and to make them share in the same calamities § 38 Briareus which in the Greek signifies strong was a monstrous Giant the sonne of Titan and the Earth he was said to have had an hundred arms and fifty heads and to belch forth flames of fire out of his mouth called by the Gods Aegaeon as by mortals Briareus according to that verse of Homer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thus described by Virgil Aeneid lib. 10. Aegaeon qualis centum cui brachia dicunt Centenasque manus quinquaginta oribus ignem Pectoribusque arsisse Jovis cum fulmina contra Tot paribus streperet clypeis tot stringeret enses Aegaeon whom an hundred armes fame lent An hundred hands from fifty mouths who sent Destroying flames when ' gainst Joves power he rose As many shields did rattle swords oppose This Giant conspiring with the rest of his rebellious brethren against Jupiter was with a thunder-clap struck dead by him and buried under the weight of imposed Aetna which is said to tremble and belch forth flames whensoever the wearied Monster changeth his posture The Giants in generall are an emblem of the tumultuous and rebellious Multitude which from the ignoble and earthy soul wherewith they are animated may very truly be styled sons of the earth But that Briareus in particular is said to cause Aetna to cast up stones and flames of fire whensover he moves hath a physicall meaning and by him is understood the wind which struggles in the Caverns of the earth causing it to vomit forth fire and to cast up stones against Jupiter by which we are to understand heaven § 39 This Bellua Lernae Beast or Monster of Lerna a famous Lake in the Country of the Argives was that Hydra so called by the Greeks or Excetra the Latine compellation a prodigious kinde of Reptile with 50 heads which infested the circumjacent Plains killing and destroying whatsoever man or beast came in its way Hercules amongst the rest of his labours was fam'd for subduing this Monster whose heads as soon as cut off did repullulare three succeeding in the place of one insomuch that Hydra's head in a proverbiall acceptation signifies an endless labour or a concatenation and linking of one disaster upon another it is also a type of popular sedition and a National revolt which is no sooner quelled in one place but that it breaks out with triplicated rage and fury in another whence the Vulgar is significantly denominated Bellua multorum capitum that many-headed beast as was this Bellua Lernae But the historicall sense of this fable according to Servius is this Hydra which derives it self from the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. water was a certain place whence so great a quantity of water did issue that it did drown the neighbouring Country nor could they sooner stop one eruption but that the hydroraea or water-flux became multiplied and over-ran them with greater violence which Hercules perceiving he fired those places by which means he stopped that prodigious dropsie and that it is possible so to doe we have the authority of Virgil omne per ignem Excoquitur vitium atque exsudat inutilis humor Which is the reason he gives why they burn the stubble when the corn is taken off Thus Hercules when by multiplication of blows he could not quell this Monster was said to effect this conquest by the application of fire burning those heads which no other force could tame Others say that this Hydra was a terrible water-serpent and so fruitfull that they had no way to destroy it and its ever-multiplying progenie but by setting fire to the place where it hatched its egges Meyênus § 40 Chimaera was a most celebrated Monster amongst the Ancients Daughter of Typhon and Echidna whose upper parts vomiting fire resembled a Lion the middle a Goat and nether