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heaven_n	body_n	earth_n	see_v	7,359	5	3.8059	3	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A42508	The poetical histories being a compleat collection of all the stories necessary for a perfect understanding of the Greek and Latine poets and other ancient authors / written originally in French, by the learned Jesuite, P. Galtruchius ; now Englisht and enricht with observations concerning the gods worshipped by our ancestors in this island, by the Phœnicians, and Syrians in Asia ... ; unto which are added two treatises, one of the curiosities of old Rome, and of the difficult names relating to the affairs of that city, the other containing the most remarkable hieroglyphicks of Ægypt, by Marius d'Assigny ...; Histoire poétique pour l'intelligence des poéts. English	Gautruche, Pierre, 1602-1681.; D'Assigny, Marius, 1643-1717.	1671 (1671)	Wing G384; ESTC R15913	274,012	534

〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in memory of that famous Victory obtained by their Women of the Messenians their deadly enemies The usual Sacrifices were Doves Pidgeons Sparrows Swans c. The Rose an inducement to Love the Myrtle Tree a symbol of Peace were dedicated to this Divinity who was some times represented with fetters at her feet Her Children were many Pryapus the God of Gardens was the most noted although he was the most deformed It is reported that when Bacchus came from India Venus went to meet him and Crown him with Garlands and Roses he in requital begot on her this mishapen fellow Priapus who came to be thus deformed by the inchantments of Juno for he was bewitched in his Mothers Womb. He was no sooner in the World but when she beheld his ugly shape she caused him to be conveyed out of her sight Hymeneus was the Son of Liber and of Venus he was named Thalassius amongst the Romans he was the Protector of Virginity and the God of Marriages unto whom the new-married Virgins did offer Sacrifice as they did also to the Goddess Concordia In the City of Rome there were two Cupido's called Eros and Anteros to represent mutual love for they strove one against another who should have the branch of a Palm-tree that was between them to express that contention that should be between friends to deserve the Palm or the honor of excelling in love and friendship CHAP. X. Of Aurora and of such like Divinities THat light that we perceive before the rising of the Sun upon our Hemisphere hath been taken for the Goddess Aurora who according to the Opinion of the Heathens doth come upon a Golden Chariot having her fingers dropping with Dew to foretell the arrival of the Sun She fell in love with Tithonus the Son of Laomedon whom Jupiter at her request made Immortal without granting unto him the priviledge of continuing always young When he came to be extreme old he was impatient of those many evils that did trouble him in his decrepit Age therefore he consented to be metamorphosed into a Grashopper This Fable contains much truth for it is certain that Tithonus a great lover of Astrology was wont to rise by break of day to behold the Stars This continual and constant vigilancy had rewarded him with a long life and preserved him from all sickness but as Old Age amongst other Vices is subject to excessive pratling from hence it is that they imagine that Old Tithonus was turned into a Grashopper From this Marriage of Aurora with Tithonus did proceed the couragious Memnon who went to the Trojan War to the assistance of Priamus and was there call'd into the field and kill'd by Achilles in a single fight at which loss Aurora was extremely afflicted therefore when his body was in the flames upon the pile she changed him into a Bird. The Egyptians to honour his valour did dedicate unto him a Brazen Statue of which it is reported that When it was visited with the Beams of the Morning Sun it appeared most pleasant and yielded a harmony grateful to the ear That Star that we call Venus which rises at break of day was the Daughter of Aurora it is called also Lucifer or Phosphorus when it marches before the Sun but at night when it marches before the Sun but at night when it remains behind at Sun-setting it is named Vesper or Hesperus whose Office is to appear at the head of all the other Stars when they come to enlighten the night Aurora is said to be the Daughter of Hiperion and the Nymph Thia or of Titan and the Earth When her Husband grew old and loathsome she laboured by certain Herbs to remedy her own grief for by their virtue she restored unto him in his decrepit Age his youthful heat and vigour and removed from him those weaknesses that were grievous unto both If the Heathens have enrolled Aurora in the number of the Gods we must not wonder at what they have believed concerning the Sun the Moon as we have already seen and of all the other Heavenly Bodies who were as they affirm certain men and Animals translatid from Earth to Heaven and changed into Stars Several of them held the Rank of Gods as Hercules Cepheus and his Wife Cassiope his Daughter Andromede his Son-in-law Perseus Erichtonius who was begot of the Seed of Vulcan when he offered violence to Minerva and was also delivered to the Daughters of Cecrops to be nourished who because they observed not Minerva's advice but curiously searched into the Basket where this new-born Monster was hid they became mad This Erichtonius was the first that invented the use of Coaches and Chariots to hide his deformity because he had nothing but Dragons feet He was King of Athens and governed his people with Justice and Equity At the Northern Pole is that Constellation called Cynosura or the Little Bear that serves to direct the Mariners This She-Bear was one of the Nymphs that had the tuition of Jupiter when he was an Infant The Great Bear is otherwise called Helice or Callisto she was Daughter of Lycaon King of Arcadia and was changed into a Bear by the Goddess Diana because she had dishonoured her Company by suffering Jupiter to rob her of her Virginity which she had promised to keep Jupiter was so much moved with compassion that he carried her into Heaven and changed her into this Constellation Although some do name it the Chariot because of the disposition of the Stars that do form and represent a perfect Chariot the Stars that are next adjoyning are called Arctophylax that is keeper of the Bear or Bootes that is driver of the Chariot Orion also who is the foreteller of Rain is in the Heavens he had done good service to Diana in Hunting and had so much strength and skill that he did not fear to meet with any Savage Beast although it were the most furious The Horse Pegasus was also there promoted and the Serpent that kept the Apples Hesperides with the Eagle that brought Ganimedes to Jupiter the Whale that Neptunus sent to devour Andromedes the Great Dog and the Canicule otherwise named Procyon with many other creatures that are all placed in the Zodiack and in the other parts of the Heaven Orion is said to have been begot of the Vrine of Jupiter Mercury and Neptune who pissed in an Oxes Hide when they were feasted by Hyreus and to requite him for his kind Hospitality they advised him to bury the Hide ten moneths in the ground and promised him then out of it a Child because he had none He became an excellent Hunter and in this imployment he served Diana but when he began to boast of his skill she killed him not long before he adventured to ravish Mecops Daughter of Aenopion who punished him by putting out his eyes but by Vulcans help and assistance he recovered his sight again This Constellation of Orion in the Heavens hath 17

comparison between Light and Darkness between Virtue and Vice between Christianity and Gentilism But I see no reason to believe that the latter was a favourer of the former The Devils who were the first promoters of Poetical Inventions had mistaken their Interest If they ha● taught their Worshippers the Redemption of Man by Christ and entertained them in an expectation of a Messias to come Some wise Heathens ashamed of their Religion have endeavoured to Allegoris● upon all the Fables and cover the impudent stories with a virtuous gloss as Averroes that Mahumetan Philosopher hath done with the Alcoran of his Prophet for the same cause The Grand design of Satan the enemy of Man-kind was to oppose Gods Promises of Salvation and to settle his Interest amongst men by possessing them with Stories and a Belief contrary to the Gospel of Christ and by promoting such Practices as might engage Men in his service and cause them to abhor the sanctity and purity of Christianity And if these Fables have any thing of reality and truth They discover more of the estate of the Devils amongst themselves than the wonders of Nature for we are informed from the Learned Heathens that they did worship the Devils Porphyrius acknowledgeth it and laments because since the Preaching of the Gospel Men could not have so much familiarity with them nor receive from them Instructions as before Plato and his disciples d● call the Heathen Gods Jupiter the rest Daemones Besides others divide them into 3 Orders The highest is above all Elemental substances with which their Beings have not the least relation The second are appointed for the ruling and rouling of the Celestial Globes The third are scattered amongst the Elements according to the Doctrine of the Heathen Philosophers Jupiter himself was named 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Lactantius tells us out of the Pagan Writers and Beelzebub stiled in Scripture the Prince of the Devils is said to be Jupiter by the Heathens for Jupiter is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Muscarius or the driver away of Flies and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the killer of Flies Because the Flies are Creatures formed by his immediate Agencie or because the Sun by whose heat also such Beings are produced seem to have been committed before the apostacyof the Angels to the power of him that is now the chief of the Devils for that cause he is so often named Apollo Mithra Osiris Tharamis c. and the Epithetes proper to the Sun are ascribed to Jupit. as Fulminator for by the Virtue and Influence of the Sun the Thunders and all other Meteors are formed in the second Region of the Air. Diespiter the Father of the Day Lucetius because the Sun is the author of Light 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Lucifer Aethreus Panomphaeus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aristaeus Aratrius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because the Sun is the Universal Cause of Life and of Motion These Epithetes attributed to Jupiter have a relation to the Sun therefore we may conclude from thence that Jupiter and the Sun or the Princes of the Devils are the same in the Theology of the Heathens The rest of the Gods or Devils associates of Beelzebub and subject to his power do also bear the names of the most Glorious Stars of the Firmament They did usurp these names as some do imagine because in the time of their Integrity they had been the moving Angels of these great Bodies of Light or because they were persuaded by that means to oblige the Men of the World to their Worship and Service The Host of Heaven is called in Holy Writ and by the 70. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Suidas understands to be a number of Stars in the Zodiack Now the learned Rabins who have searcht most into the nature and manner of the living of the Spiritual Beings do inform us that there is an order of Angels called Mazouroth the lowest order or that which is degenerated into Devils It seems that they did yet bear the name of the places from whence they are shamefully fallen and do make use of the blessed Influences and universal credit of the most beneficial Stars to procure to themselves the Homages of mortal beings That the Gods of the Heathens were the Devils or Apostate Angels may also appear from the express words of Scripture The Heathens are said to have worshipped the Devils in many places Deut. 32. 17. They Sacrificed unto Devils 1 Cor. 10. 20. The things which the Gentiles Sacrifice they Sacrifice to Devils and not unto God Psal 106. 37. It is said that the Israelites did offer their Children unto Devils and in the 65. of Isaias 11. ver there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 preparing a Table for Jupiter or for Gad Jupiter and Gad were the same This passage is rendred thus by the Seventy Interpreters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where you see that Jupiter and the Star Gad worshipped as the chief God of that place are expresly called the Devil He was also adored in the shape of a Goat The Aegyptians did represent the Sun in their Hieroglyphicks as a Goat from hence it is that they did pay so much respect to the Image of this Animal Of this kind of Worship Moses speaks Leviticus 17. 7. They shall no more offer their Sacrifices unto Devils In Hebrew there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Goats It seems that this worshiping of the Sun in the form of a Goat was the worshiping of the great Devil It was his custom to advance his Interest and persuade the Nations to adore him instead of God by causing the names and the Beings most in favour with the People to be cryed up and worshiped In all the Eastern Nations he bears several different Titles In Rome he was called Jupiter in Graecia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Persia Mithra in Phoenicia Baal in Syria Heliogabalus in England Thor or Belenus in Egypt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Plato saith or Apis and Osiris in India Topan in Arabia Dyonusos in Scythia Mars in Moab Chemos We must take notice of this particular otherwise we shall find our selves intangled in the ordinary confusion of Names of Gods which appear in the Mythologists and shall not be able to discover any sence We are therefore by the chief God worshiped in every place to understand the Chief Prince of the Apostate Angels He did suffer his fellow Devils to share with him in the respects of the nations but they were not so universally adored because their power and inspection was not so universal as his Therefore the Scripture puts a notable difference between the Gods of the several Nations of the East In every place of the world these evil Spirits had usurped Gods Rights and the Peoples Devotions and had drawn them to Sacrifice unto them Creatures and humane victims According to this opinion

pronounced that the safety of their Empire did depend upon the preservationof i● and because pious Aeneas brought it with him from Troy having preserved it with his houshold Gods and his aged Father from the burning of that City They were so much afraid to loose it that L. Caecilius Metellus a man sufficiently renowned for his valour and victories obtained upon the C●rthaginians in Sicily hazarded his life to save it from the flames when the Temple was burning about his ears He did then preserve the Palladium but lost his eyes in the smoak The Senat to acknowledge his care and courage comm●aded that his Statue should be placed in the Capit●l On the top of Vesta's Temple-stood her Effigies which was a woman sitting having little Jupiter in her arms her Priests were to keep their Virginity 30 years which was the time appointed for their attendance They were honoured so much that if they did casually meet in the streets an offender they could procure unto him his pardon but if they did dishonour the service of their Goddess by Carnal Copulation with any man they were to die without mercy they were to be buried alive with water and bread It was a custome also in the solemn Sacrifices to begin the solemnity by praying unto Vesta and to end it by an address unto the same Goddess She was honoured also as the Goddess of Fodder therefore she was called Magna Pales they did offer unto her the first fruits of all things especially of frankincense of flowers and of wheat c. CHAP. III. The Story of Jupiter VVHen Jupiter the Son of Saturnus and Cybele had put his Father to flight he divided the Empire of the world between himself and brothers he took to his share the command of Heaven he assigned the Waters to his Brother Neptune and sent Pluto to dwell in Hell He was called the Father of the Gods and the King of men he only had the power to handle the Thunderbolts and to hold the World in subjection He had not long raigned when the Earth being incensed because he had crusht in pieces the Titans she brought forth against him many dreadful Monsters of an extraordinary bigness and sent them up to besiege heaven and drive him from thence For that intent they had their rendevouze in Thessaly in the midst of the Plegrean Fields where it was resolved by them to raise one Mountain upon another and thus to make an easie ascent unto Heaven They began this difficult work to scale Heaven and assault it with great Rocks and other fearful Engines Amongst the Besiegers was Enceladus Briareus or Aegeon with a hundred hands which he did imploy in casting up against Jupiter the Rocks of the Sea-shore Typhoeus was no less remarkable amongst them because he did exceed all these Monsters in bigness of body and strength for with his head he did reach to the Heavens his arms he could stretch from the Northern to the Southern Pole he was half a man and half a Serpent as many of the rest were he was so dreadful to behold because he did vomit fire and flame that the rest of the Gods that came to the assistance of Jupiter were frighted into a shameful flight they ran into Egypt where they changed themselves into the forms of several Beasts and Herbs that they might not be discovered Nevertheless Jupiter did pursue these Children of the Earth so vigoroustly and did so play upon them with his Thunderbolts that at last he got the Victory after which he destroyed all the Race of these Gyants holding many of them prisoners in the bottom of Hell and that they might never rise again he loaded them with huge Mountains as that of Etna About the same time Prometheus formed the first men of Earth and Water animating them with the fire of Heaven that he had stoln away for which cause Jupiter was so incensed against him that he commanded Vulcan to tye him upon the Mountain Caucasus with iron Chains and to put an Eagle or a Vulture to devour daily his Liver which every night did renew again to his greater and continual torment He remained in this condition until Hercules by his incomparable virtue and valour did release him Jupiter was not content with this revenge he sent for Pandora that wonderful Woman which he and the other Gods amongst them had made in such a manner that every one had bestowed upon her some perfection By the order of Jupiter this Pandora went to Epimetheus the Brother of Prometheus with a Box full of Evils and Diseases as a Present from the Gods As soon as he had opened it to see what was in it they did fly abroad into the ayr and scattered themselves into all the parts of the Earth only in the bottom of the Box there was poor hope left alone Jupiter having so happily overcome all his Enemies did dream of nothing but his pleasures which hurried him into many extravagant and infamous actions Besides that he did commit Incest with his Sister Juno taking her to Wife besides the violence committed upon Ganimedes the Son of Tros King of the Trojans whom he stole in the form of an Eagle and bugred He committed many thousand Rapes and Villanies to satisfie his bruitish passion as when he took the form of a Bull to steal away Europa the Daughter of Agenor the King of the Phoenicians From this Europa the most Noble and glorions part of the World hath borrowed its name Notwithstanding all the diligence the watchfulness and care of Acrisius the King of Argos who had secured his Daughter Danae in a Tower of Brass this lascivious God found a means to enter into it by the top in the form of a Golden Showre and to accomplish his wicked design for he begot on her Perseus as we shall take notice in the following History The World was so full of his shameful pranks that we should scarce find an end if we once began to relate them all We shall have occasion to mention some of them in the following pages we may therefore justly take notice with Tertullian that it was no marvel to see all sorts of men every where so debaucht and guilty of so many abominable crimes seeing they were perswaded and encouraged by the example of those that they did adore and from whom they were to expect punishments or rewards Jupiter was the chief of the Gods therefore Kings and Princes were anciently named Joves The Cretans did own him for their Countryman as the Thebans also and several other people but the former did shew many years the place where he was buried as Lucian informs us He was nursed up by the Nymphs and nourished with the milk of a Goat which he afterwards promoted amongst the Stars and covered his Buckler with her skin therefore he is called by the Poets Aegiochus Jupiter His Mother saved him from the cruelty of his Father and of the Titans her Brethren who were always

where his Altars were erected called Lupercal The Saturnalia were Festival dayes instituted at Rome in honour of Saturn in the month of December while they lasted the People did send gifts to their friends and the Slaves did Lord it over their Masters and commit many extravigancies and disorders The Greeks were mightily addicted to the observance of these Festival dayes as the Athenians in keeping their Panathenea that were appointed in honour of Minerva The Egyptians did consecrate their greatest solemnities to the God Apis or Serapis which was an Oxe bearing upon his hide some particular marks He was to live a certain number ofyears and then the Priests did drown him in the River Nilus and all the Land did mourn and lament for his death until another was found with the same marks upon him which caused an universal rejoycing all over the Countrey exprest by all manner of Sports and Banquets Thus the other Nations did dedicate Festivals in honour of their Gods to such as were proper to certain places called Indigetes as also to their Domestick Divinities and to those illustrious Men who were enrolled among the number of their Gods These last when they were consecrated by an Apotheosis were also named Indigetes dij because they were freed from all want of earthly things The Consecration was a Ceremony invented by the Romans in favour of their Emperors unto whom they did pay Divine honours The manner of it is thus described by Rosinus and by Herodianus The Body of the Emperor being buried according to the usual custom his Effigies of Wax was placed at the entry of the Pallace upon a large bed of Ivory sumptuously adorned The Physicians did visit it during seven days and treat it as if it were alive in the fit of sickness In the mean while all the Senate and Nobility of Rome were present in mourning Habits When these dayes were expired he was held for dead therefore they did transport him to a publick place where the Magistrates did quit their Offices there the new Emperor was wont to ascend to a high Pulpit called Rostra because it was adorned with the Sterns of Ships taken from the enemies in Sea-fights from hence he did make a Funeral oration in hononur of the deceased Afterwards they did carry this Image of the Emperor out of the City to the Field of Mars where a Pile of Aromatick wood was erected to burn it in the mean while the Roman Gentlemen did ride round several times in order At last the new Emperor with a Torch did set the Pile of wood in a flame At the same time an Eagle was dismist from the top of it which was imagined to carry the Soul of this new God into Heaven When this Apotheosis or Conseration was ended the People did Feast and divert themselves with all manner of sports And this day was appointed as a Festival day to be imployed in particular Sacrifices or in Feasting before the Gods as we have said in the second Chapter or in seeing all sorts of Plays The Festival days of Rome were many these were the chief The Kalends of every Month were dedicated to Juno On the first of January the Romans did send gifts to their friends with good wishes for their health In this Month were the Agonalia dedicated to the God of Action Carmentalia in honour of Carmenta Evenders Mother In the following Months were the Terminalia Consecrated to Dues Terminus The Idus or the 15th day of March in which Julius Caesar was murthered was named Parricidium Lemuria in which they did Sacrifice to the Hobgoblins was in May. Bellonaria were the Festivals of Bellona in which the Priests did offer to her nothing but their own blood Lucan lib. 1. Phars quos sectis Bellona lacertis Saeva movet Every God had a Festival appointed for him called by his name Ovid in his Fast mentions them all Juvenilia were appointed by Ne●o at the first shaving of his Beard CHAP. VI. Of the Playes of Greece appointed in Honour of the Heathen Gods THE Playes and the Combats in which the youth exercised themselves anciently were not invented only to fit men for the War or to divert the People but they were instituded in Honour of the Gods whose Festivals were kept with such kind of fports Therefore they did begin them in sacrificing to the Gods and did finish them in the same manner Besides Homerus tells us how in the Temples they did exercise themselves at many petty Playes when he speaks of those who did handle the Dice before the Altars of Minerva He informs us how Palamedes invented in the Siege of Troy the play of Chess not only to entertain the Soldiers in action but also to instruct them in the craft of War so that this was received instead of the play of Dice which remained afterwards amongst none but the ra●cality of the Army for the Persons of Quality did commonly pass the time away with this sort of Play which was also used in the Temples of the Gods Amongst the Combats and publick Plays besides the Instruments of Musick and the Songs there was the running in a Race one of the most Antient and chief of the Exercises The next was Skipping The third was the casting of the Stone or of the Bar which was of Iron or of Brass round and of a considerable weight They who did cast it highest or farthest did get the prize The fourth kind of Play was Wrestling when two Antagonists annointed over with Oyl and all naked did strive to cast one another to the ground The fifth was the dispute at Cuffs the Combatants named Pugiles did tie about their hands hard thongs of an Oxes hide called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 These last Playes were named Gymnici because the Parties did fight all naked Palaestra was the place where they did exercise themselves to attain to a perfect Activity The Masters who did teach there were called Gymnastae Some were wont to act in 5 sorts of Playes they had therefore in Greek the name of Pentathletae such as did overcome were stiled Pancratiastes This word is taken also for a strong wrestler The four General Assemblies or sacred Games that were so famous in Greece and that were kept constantly at the appointed times for a long while did consist of no other sports The most Illustrious and the chief were the Olympick Games instituted by Hercules in Honour of Jupiter Olympius near the City Olympia in the Province of Elide There the Conquerors did receive no other reward than a Crown made with a Branch of an Olive-tree Every five years they did meet upon the place Afterwards the Pythian Games were Consecrated to Apollo in remembrance of the Serpent Python that was kill'd by him In these the Conquerors were Crowned with Lawrel The Isthmian Games dedicated in the Isthmus of Corinth to Neptunus were appointed by Theseus There the Conquerors were Crowned with the Pine-tree The fourth

great Banquets At such times they made use of many sorts of Vessels to drink It was a common custom to have a Horn enricht with silver or gold but their common drinking vessels were made of the earth of the Island of Samos of Beech tree of Olive-tree of Glass of Crystal of Amber of Black-stone of silver of gold of precious stotes and of dead mens skuls This last kind of Drinking-vessels was in use especially amongst the Scythians and the barbarous Nations For when they had destroyed their enemies they caused their skulls to be cleansed and tipt with silver for them to drink in This insolent custom was seldom practis'd unless it be amongst the Getae the Hunni and other Northern people These were the names of their ordinary drinking vessels Calices pteroti or pi●nati or alati cups with ears Trulla or ●ruella was a deep and a large cup proper for Husband-men Phiala was a lesser cup Cymbium was like a ship scyphus was another sort of drinking vessel come from Greece c. They had several sorts of Wine in request at Rome some Wine they did perfume with smoak to render it more potable and pleasant to the taste but Plinius doth not esteem it wholsome Nunt mihi fumosas veteres proferte falernos consulis Chio solvite vincla cado It seems they did preserve their Wine a very long while with smoak for some do speak of wine 100 years old It may be that the Wine was not so old as the vessels that were mark'd with such a Date Vinum albanum was very famous at Rome as Vin de la Ciudad is at Paris Cuidad is a little Canton near Mauseils that yields most excellent Wine it costs at Paris twenty shillings a Quart From the Romans is come the custom of drinking Healths which was first a kind of invocation proper to their Gods and Emperors whose names they did often mention amongst their merry cups with many good wishes At the conclusion of their Meetings they did drink the cup of their good genius which was the same with that of Jupiter sospitator otherwise called Poculum beni dei This custom was also among the Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 CHAP. VII Of the Romans Assemblies appointed for Publick Affairs THE Roman Assemblies were either Concilia when there was a select number met together or Comitia when all the People were called to the meeting Of these there were three sorts Curiata Conturiata and Tributa All of them were named Caata for a publick Cryer did walk about the City to warn them to an appearance The Comitia curiata was when the People were separated into several Parishes called curiae to consult of the Publick business and give their Votes The City of Rome was divided into thirty curia's or Parishes by Romulus afterwards the number did increase when Rome began to enlarge its bounds and Dominion Unto every Parish there was a publick Hall a Meeting-place or Temple where the Parishioners did come together to perform their devotions to their Gods Over every Parish an eminent person was appointed aswel to keep the Inhabitants in order as to see the Worship of the Gods duely administred These Assemblies were first appointed by Romulus to approve of the Kings and choose the Magistrates for the Government of the Empire and for the confirming of Wills which were to be signed in their presence All sorts of People belonging to the Parishes were admitted to speak their minds and give their Votes as private Men Magistrates Senators and generally all Free men who did live within the bounds of the Parishes The place appointed for their meeting was the great Hall of Justice called comitium near uuto the publick Market They did assemble when they were lawfully called by one of the Magistrates and before that they did come together three Augures were to make their Observations and approve of their meeting and of the business they were also to be present But in case any sinister accident did happen the people did then desire the chief Magistrate there present intercedere that is to hinder their further proceedings for that time for the Romans were extreme superstitious in the observance of all casualties The Suffrages anciently were delivered viva voce but since there was a Law made to express every ones mind in a piece of Wood called Tabella If any officers were to be chosen they had as many as there were competitors they did cast in a po● that upon which the name of him was written whom they intended to favor with their Vote But if a Law was to be enacted every one did receive two Tabella's from the Distributors named Diribitores in one there was V. R. that is ut Rogas In the other was a great A. The former signifies a full assent to what was required the latter intimates the contrary for the letter A did stand for Antiquo They did cast that which they did like best into a Chest out of which they were taken to be numbred by the Nongenti or Custodes certain men appointed for that purpose The voices were numbred and the plurality did obtain their desires The common Cryer was wont to declare what had been decreed or who had been chosen It was not lawful for any except the chief Magistrates to prefer a law only the Praetor the Consuls the Interrer the Decemviri the Triumviri the Dictator the Tribunes of the People had this power granted unto them When they intended any such business they caused their Law to be well written in Tables which were to be hung publickly three Market days for all men to view and consult about the necessity of it But before he went so far he did ask the advice of several Men experienced in the Laws and Customs of the Romans He did sometimes imploy the Augures to see how the Gods would approve of it and he did propose the matter to the Senate to have their approbation All these things being first performed the Magistrate did recommend at the publick meeting the Law to the People persuading them to it by a Speech Sometimes it was opposed by Men of a contrary judgement After that the business had been sufficiently examined they did proceed to understand the will of the People In the mean while it was lawful for any of the Magistrates to forbid the examinacion of the business which they did always do when any body was taken with the Falling-sickness at that time or when the Magistrates did † observe any unlucky sign● in the Heavens or when the Augures di● † bring word of any unfortunate omen as o● Thunder which was always esteemed unhappy When the Law was approved in thi● manner it vvas graven in Tables of Brass an● laid up in the Treasury of the Empire and published by affixing it in the places of resort in the City The Comitia