TO THE BOOK.

Rich mine of Art; Minion of Mercury ; True Truch-man of the mind of Mystery:

Invention's ftorehouse; Nymph of Helicon; Deep Moralift of Time's tradition:

Unto this Paragon of Brutus' race Present thy service, and with cheerful grace

Say, (if Pythagoras believ'd may be)

The foul of " Antient Wisdom" lives in thee.

THE WISDOM OF THE

ANCIENTS.

1. Caffandra, or Divination.

HE Poets Fable, that Apollo being enamoured of Caffandra, was by her many Shifts and cunning Sleights still deluded in his Defire; but yet fed on with hope, until such times as she had drawn from him the Gift of Prophefying; and having, by fuch her Diffimulation, in the end attained to that which from the beginning fhe fought after; at laft flatly rejected his Suit. Who finding himself so far engaged in his Promise, as that he could not by any means revoke again his rash Gift, and yet inflamed with an earnest desire of Revenge, highly disdaining to be made the scorn of a crafty Wench, annexed a Penalty to his Promise, to wit, that she should ever foretell the Truth, but never be believed. So were her Divinations always faithful, but at no time regarded; whereof she still found the Experience, yea, even in the ruin of her own Country, which she had often forewarned them of; but they

neither gave Credit nor Ear to her Words. This Fable feems to intimate the unprofitable Liberty of untimely Admonitions and Counsels: For they that are so over-weened with the sharpness and dexterity of their own Wit and Capacity, as that they difdain to submit themselves to the Documents of Apollo, the God of Harmony, whereby to learn and observe the Method and Measure of Affairs, the Grace and Gravity of Discourse, the differences between the more judicious and more vulgar Ears, and the due times when to speak, and when to be filent; be they never so sensible and pregnant, and their Judgements never fo profound, and profitable; yet in all their Endeavours either of persuasion, or perforce, they avail nothing, neither are they of any moment to advantage or manage Matters; but do rather haften on the Ruin of all those that they adhere, or devote themselves unto. And then at last, when Calamity doth make Men feel the event of Neglect, then fhall they too late be reverenced as deep, foreseeing, and faithful Prophets. Whereof a notable Inftance is eminently set forth in Marcus Cato Uticenfis, who, as from a Watch-tower, discovered afar off, and, as an Oracle, long foretold the approaching Ruin of his Country, and the plotted Tyranny hovering over the State, both in the first Confpiracy, and as it was profecuted in the Civil Contention between Cafar and Pompey, and did no good the while, but rather harmed the Commonwealth, and haftened on his Country's Bane; which M. Cicero wifely obferved, and writing to a familiar Friend, doth in

these Terms excellently describe, Cato optime fentit, fed nocet interdum Reipublica: Loquitur enim tanquam in Republica Platonis, non tanquam in fæce Romuli. Cato (faith he) judgeth profoundly, but in the mean time damnifies the State; for he speaks in the Commonwealth of Plato, and not as in the Dregs of Romulus.

11. Typhon, or a Rebel.

UNO being vexed (fay the Poets) that Jupiter had begotten Pallas by himfelf without her, earnestly preffed all the other Gods and Goddesses that she might alfo bring forth of herself alone without him; and having by violence, and importunity obtained a Grant thereof, fhe fmote the Earth, and forthwith sprang up Typhon, a huge, and horrid Monster. This ftrange Birth fhe commits to a Serpent, (as a Fofter-Father,) to nourish it; who no fooner came to ripeness of Years, but he provokes Jupiter to Battle. In the Conflict the Giant getting the upper hand, takes Jupiter upon his Shoulders, carries him into a remote and obfcure Country, and (cutting out the Sinews of his Hands and Feet) brought them away, and fo left him miferably mangled and maimed. But Mercury recovering thefe Nerves from Typhon by stealth, restored them again to Jupiter. Jupiter being again by this means corroborated, affaults the Monfter afresh,

and at the first strikes him with a Thunderbolt, from whofe Blood Serpents were engendered. This Monster at length fainting, and flying, Jupiter cafts on him the Mount Etna, and with the Weight thereof crushed him.

This Fable feems to point at the variable Fortune of Princes, and the rebellious infurrection of Traitors in a State: For Princes may well be said to be married to their Dominions, as Jupiter was to Juno; but it happens now and then, that being debofhed by the long custom of Empiring, and bending towards Tyranny, they endeavour to draw all to themselves, and (contemning the Counsel of their Nobles and Senators) hatch Laws in their own Brain; that is, dispose of Things by their own Fancy, and abfolute Power. The People (repining at this) study how to create, and fet up a Chief of their own Choice. This Project, by the fecret instigation of the Peers and Nobles, doth for the most part take his beginning; by whofe Connivance the Commons being set on Edge, there follows a kind of Murmuring or Discontent in the State, shadowed by the Infancy of Typhon, which being nurfed by the natural Pravity and clownish Malignity of the vulgar fort, (unto Princes as infeftuous as Serpents,) is again repaired by a renewed Strength, and at last breaks out into open Rebellion, which (because it brings infinite Mifchiefs upon Prince and People) is represented by the monstrous Deformity of Typhon: His hundred Heads fignify their divided Powers; his fiery Mouths, their inflamed Intents; his ferpentine