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Quam nostro illius labatur pectore vultus.

Parthians, and for the Parthian to
drink the water of the Soane in Ger-
many: but this is little better than
a quibble. For my own part, I see
no great difficulty in understanding
this passage according to the most
obvious meaning of the words. The
Parthians had at that time extended
their empire even beyond the Tigris,
and had made such conquests, that
they were become formidable to the
Romans. Strabo tells us expressly,
that the border of the Parthians
began from the Euphrates; the
country on the other side, as far
as to Babylon, being under the
dominion of the Romans, and the
Princes of Arabia; the neighbour-
ing people joining either with the
Romans or Parthians, according as
they were nearer to one or the other;
"Oftor δ ̓ ἐστὶ τῶν Παρθυαίων ἀρχῆς ὁ
Εὐφράτης καὶ ἡ περαία· τὰ δ ̓ ἐντὸς
ἔχουσι Ῥωμαῖοι καὶ τῶν ̓Αράβων οἱ φύλο
λαρχοι, μέχρι Βαβυλωνίας, οἱ μὲν μᾶλ-
λον ἐκείνοις, αἱ δὲ τοῖς Ῥωμαίοις προς
ai
έχοντες οἷσπερ καὶ πλησιόχωροι εἰσίν.
It was not far from the banks of the
Euphrates, that Surena, the Par-
thian general, defeated Crassus: so
that Tigris must have been within
the bounds of the Parthian empire.
The extent and situation of this em-
pire has been with great beauty and
justness described by Milton, in the
third book of his Paradise Regained:

Here thou behold'st

Assyria, and her empire's ancient bounds,
Araxes and the Caspian lake; thence on
As far as Indus east, Euphrates west,
And oft beyond: to south the Persian
bay,

And, inaccessible, th' Arabian drouth:
Here Nineveh, of length within her wall
Sev'ral days journey, built by Ninus old,
Of that first golden monarchy the seat,
And seat of Salmanassar, whose success
Israel in long captivity still mourns;

than his countenance shall slide out of my heart.

Led captive, and Jerusalem laid waste,
Till Cyrus set them free; Persepolis,
His city, there thou seest, and Bactra
there;

Ecbatana her structure vast there shews,
And Hecatompylos her hundred gates;
There Susa by Choaspes, amber stream,
The drink of none but kings; of later
fame

Built by Emathian, or by Parthian hands,
The great Seleucia, Nisibis, and there
Artaxata, Teredon, Ctesiphon,
Turning with easy eye, thou may'st be-
hold.

All these the Parthian, (now some ages
past,

By great Arsaces led, who founded first
That empire,) under his dominion hodls,
From the luxurious kings of Antioch

won.

It remains now to shew, how the Soane can be said to belong in any manner to Germany. It is past all controversy that the Rhine was always accounted the boundary between Germany and Gaul. It was the eastern limit of Gaul, accord ing to Strabo; Τὴν Κηλτικὴν ταύτην ἀπὸ μὲν τῆς δύσεως ὀρίζει τὰ Πυρηναῖα ὅρη τῆς ἑκατέρωθεν θαλάττης, τῆς τε ἐντὸς καὶ τῆς ἐκτὸς προσαπτόμενα· ἀπὸ δὲ ἀνατολῶν ὁ Ρῆνος παράλληλος ὢν τῇ Πυρήνῃ. The Arar, according to the same author, rises in the Alps, passes between the countries of the Sequani, Edui, and Lincasii, who are inhabitants of Gaul, and receiving the Dubis, or Doux, falls into the Rhone: 'P de xali "Agag ix Tav Αλπεων, ὁρίζων Σηκουανούς τε καὶ Αἰδουἱοὺς, καὶ Λιγκασίους· παραλαβὼν δ ̓ ὕστερον τὸν Δοῦσιν ἐκ τῶν αὐτῶν ὀρῶν φερόμενον πλωτὸν, ἐπικρατήσας τῷ ὀνό ματι, καὶ γενόμενος ἐξ ἀμφοῖν Αραρ, συμμίσγει τῷ 'Ροδανω. This confux of the Soane and the Rhone is at Lyons, and without doubt in Gaul. The Sequani, a famous people of Gaul, were bounded, according to

There Babylon, the wonder of all tongues, Strabo, on the east by the Rhine,

As ancient, but rebuilt by him who twice
Judah and all thy father David's house

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and on the west by the Soane: Αλλος δ' ἐστὶν, ὁμοίως ἐν ταῖς Αλπεσι

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Quam nostro illius labatur pectore vultus.

Parthians, and for the Parthian to drink the water of the Soane in Germany: but this is little better than a quibble. For my own part, I see no great difficulty in understanding this passage according to the most obvious meaning of the words. The Parthians had at that time extended their empire even beyond the Tigris, and had made such conquests, that they were become formidable to the Romans. Strabo tells us expressly, that the border of the Parthians began from the Euphrates; the country on the other side, as far as to Babylon, being under the dominion of the Romans, and the Princes of Arabia; the neighbouring people joining either with the Romans or Parthians, according as they were nearer to one or the other; Ὄριον δ ̓ ἐστὶ τῶν Παρθυαίων ἀρχῆς ὁ Εὐφράτης καὶ ἡ περαία· τὰ δ ̓ ἐντὸς ἔχουσι Ῥωμαῖοι καὶ τῶν ̓Αράβων οἱ φύλλαρχοι, μέχρι Βαβυλωνίας, οἱ μὲν μᾶλλον ἐκείνοις, αἱ δὲ τοῖς Ῥωμαίοις προς έχοντες οἷσπερ καὶ πλησιόχωροι εἰσιν. It was not far from the banks of the Euphrates, that Surena, the Parthian general, defeated Crassus: so that Tigris must have been within the bounds of the Parthian empire. The extent and situation of this empire has been with great beauty and justness described by Milton, in the third book of his Paradise Regained:

Here thou behold'st

Assyria, and her empire's ancient bounds, Araxes and the Caspian lake; thence on As far as Indus east, Euphrates west, And oft beyond: to south the Persian bay,

And, inaccessible, th' Arabian drouth: Here Nineveh, of length within her wall Sev'ral days journey, built by Ninus old, Of that first golden monarchy the seat, And seat of Salmanassar, whose success Israel in long captivity still mourns ; There Babylon, the wonder of all tongues, As ancient, but rebuilt by him who twice Judah and all thy father David's house

than his countenance shall slide out of my heart.

Led captive, and Jerusalem laid waste,
Till Cyrus set them free; Persepolis,
His city, there thou seest, and Bactra
there;

Ecbatana her structure vast there shews,
And Hecatompylos her hundred gates;
There Susa by Choaspes, amber stream,
The drink of none but kings; of later
fame

Built by Emathian, or by Parthian hands,
The great Seleucia, Nisibis, and there
Artaxata, Teredon, Ctesiphon,
Turning with easy eye, thou may'st be-
hold.

All these the Parthian, (now some ages past,

By great Arsaces led, who founded first That empire,) under his dominion hodls, From the luxurious kings of Antioch

won.

It remains now to shew, how the Soane can be said to belong in any manner to Germany. It is past all controversy that the Rhine was always accounted the boundary between Germany and Gaul. It was the eastern limit of Gaul, according to Strabo; Τὴν Κηλτικὴν ταύτην ἀπὸ μὲν τῆς δύσεως ὀρίζει τὰ Πυρηναῖα ὅρη τῆς ἑκατέρωθεν θαλάττης, τῆς τε ἐντὸς καὶ τῆς ἐκτὸς προσαπτόμενα· ἀπὸ δὲ ἀνατολῶν ὁ Ρῆνος παράλληλος ὢν τῇ Πυρήνῃ. The Arar, according to the same author, rises in the Alps, passes between the countries of the Sequani, Edui, and Lincasii, who are inhabitants of Gaul, and receiving the Dubis, or Doux, falls into the Rhone: Pa de xai: "Agag in rav Αλπεων, ὁρίζων Σηκουανούς τε καὶ Αἰdovïous, nai Alyxacious magaracàv d ὕστερον τὸν Δοῦσιν ἐκ τῶν αὐτῶν ὀρῶν φερόμενον πλωτὸν, ἐπικρατήσας τῷ ὀνό ματι, καὶ γενόμενος ἐξ ἀμφοῖν Αρας, συμμίσγει τῷ Ροδανῷ. This conflux of the Soane and the Rhone is at Lyons, and without doubt in Gaul. The Sequani, a famous people of Gaul, were bounded, according to Strabo, on the east by the Rhine, and on the west by the Soane: Αλλος δ' ἐστὶν, ὁμοίως ἐν ταῖς Αλπεσι

Mel. But we shall depart

from hence, some of us to the parched Africans: part of

MEL. At nos hinc alii sitientes ibimus Afros:

us shall go to Scythia, and Pars Scythiam, et rapidum Cretæ veniemus

the rapid Oaxes of Crete,

66

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Oaxem,

τὰς πηγὰς ἔχων, Σηκουανὸς ὄνομα ῥέων. Ρεῖ δ ̓ εἰς τὸν ̓Ὠκεανὸν, παράλληλος τῷ Ρήνῳ διὰ ἔθνους ὁμωνύμους, συνάπτοντας τῷ Ρήνῳ τὰ πρὸς ἕω, τὰ δ ̓ εἰς τἀναντία T "Agag. We learn from Cæsar, that the south border of these people was the Rhone; "Quum Sequanos a provincia nostra Rho"danus divideret." Therefore the country of the Sequani answers nearly to that province of France which is now called Franchecomte. These people, as Strabo tells us, were the ancient enemies of the Romans, and assisted the Germans in their incursions into Italy. They were enemies also to the Edui, who were the first allies of the Romans in Gaul, and had frequent contentions with them about the Soane, which divided their borders: Oid Ἐδούοι καὶ συγγενεῖς Ῥωμαίων ὠνομάζοντο, καὶ πρῶτοι τῶν ταύτη προσῆλθον πρὸς τὴν φιλίαν καὶ συμμαχίαν. Πέραν δὲ τοῦ ̓Αραρος οἰκοῦσιν οἱ Σηκουανοὶ, διάΦοροι καὶ τοῖς Ῥωμαίοις ἐκ πολλοῦ στεγονότες καὶ τοῖς Ἐδούοις· ὅτι πρὸς Γερμανοὺς προσεχώρουν πολλάκις κατὰ τὰς ἐφόδους αὐτῶν, τὰς ἐπὶ τὴν Ἰταλίαν . πρὸς δὲ τοὺς Εδούους, καὶ διὰ ταῦτα μὲν, ἀλλ ̓ ἐπέτεινε τὴν ἔχθραν ἡ τοῦ ποταμοῦ ἔρις, τοῦ διείργοντος αὐτοὺς, ἑκατέρου ἔθνους ἴδιον ἀξιοῦντος εἶναι τὸν ̓Αβαρα, καὶ ἑαυτῷ προσήκειν τὰ διαγωγικὰ τέλη. Cæsar tells us, that the Gauls were divided into two principal factions, at the head of which were the Ædui on one side, and the Sequani on the other. The latter, not being able to subdue the former, called the Germans from the other side of the Rhine to their assistance, who seated themselves in Gaul, grievously oppressed the Ædui and their friends, and in Cæsar's time amounted to the number of a hundred and twenty

...

66

thousand, under the command of Ariovistus. Casar sent an embassy to this king, requiring only, that he would restore to the dui their hostages, permit the Sequani to do the same, and not bring over any more Germans into Gaul. But Ariovistus insisted on his right of possession of the country, and claimed the Ædui as his tributaries; esteeming the country on that side of the Rhone to be as much his province, as that on the other side belonged to the Romans. Thus we find the Germans had extended their bounds to the west of the Rhine, as far as to the Arar or Soane, and claimed all the country between the two rivers as their own: so that the Germans drank of the waters of the Arar, as they are represented by Virgil to have done: and though Ariovistus was beaten by Caesar, and at that time compelled to retreat to the other side of the Rhine, yet it is highly probable that many German families remained among the Sequani, who never were cordial friends to the Romans. Besides, it appears both from Cæsar and Strabo, that other German nations had seated themselves in Gaul, who had time enough, during the civil wars between Cæsar and Pompey, to settle themselves with greater security.

65. At nos hinc alii, &c.] Melibous continues his discourse, and having praised the felicity of Tityrus, enlarges upon the miseries of himself and his banished companions.

Sitientes Afros.] He calls the Africans sitientes, because of the great heat of that part of the world.

66. Scythiam.] The ancients com

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