in the fhuttle, and then with the flay to make them unite and thicken the cloth! He was pleafed alfo to fay, that the whole art of weaving was the invention of wife men, forgetting that more fubtile way, which was afterwards found out, wherein h Quod lato feriunt infecti pectine dentes (†). The web inwraps the beam, the reed divides, Which the fwift hand receives; then pois'd with lead The fwinging weight strikes clofe th' inferted thread. Sewell. What if he had feen the weaving of our days; whereby they, make our apparel fo very fine that it conceals nothing beneath it. I do not fay that it is no covering to the body, but it does not even hide our fhame (u). He then paffeth on to the husbandman; nor lefs elegantly deferibes the foil, as torn up, and renewed by the plough (x), that the loofen'd earth may the more easily permit the roots to shoot out; and then he describes the manner of fowing feveral forts of feeds, and of plucking up the weeds by hand, that no cafual and wild plants may choak the This he likewife attributes to the invention of the wife men; as if in our days there are not many things invented by our farmers to render the ground more fertile. corn. And not contented with thefe arts alone, he thrufts the wife man into the bakehoufe; and tells you that from an imitation of Nature, he first began to make bread. For obferving, fays he, that whenever grain is put into the mouth, by joining the hard teeth together, it is broken in pieces, and what escapes this preffure is gathered and put under it again by the tongue; and then it is mingled with fpittle, to pafs the more glibly down the throat; and when it comes into the ftomach it is there digefted, by the natural heat of the maw; and at laft is converted into nutriment, and the fubftance of the body. The wife man, he faith, obferving this operation of Nature, first placed VOL. II. R one one rough ftone upon another, to refemble teeth, the upper part of which, being immoveable, expects the motion of the other, and then, by thefe rubbing together, the grain between them is broken, and well pounded, 'till it is reduced to meal; this he then sprinkled with water, and by kneading it into dough, made bread thereof: which at first they baked under warm afhes, or upon a hot tile or stone; and after this ovens were invented, and other kinds of ftoves, to be heated, as would beft ferve the turn. It is a wonder he did not tell us that the fhoemaker's art was also owing to the wife men (y); all these things indeed were the invention of Reason, but not of philofophic Reafon: they are the invention of man, but not of a wife man, any more than fhips: in which men pafs over great rivers, and even the fea itself; the fails being fitted to receive the force of the winds, and rudders being joined to the stern of the ship, which turn it either one way or the other. And this was learned from obferving how fish guide themselves by their tails, and by the least motion thereof give a direction to their swiftness. All these things, faith Pofidonius, were invented by fome wife man, but being too low for himself to be concerned with, he left the working part to meaner heads. But in truth these things were invented by none other men than fuch as are living at this day, and who bufy themfelves therein. We know that in our time many inventions have been first published; for instance, the windows made of fine transparent tiles (≈); alfo hanging baths (aa); and pipes, of ftoves, fo concealed in the walls as to fpread an equal heat through every part of the room: not to mention feveral works in marble, by which our temples, and even our houses are fo finely decorated: or the huge piles of ftone (pillars) which being made round and smooth form our portico's, and support fuch spacious buildings as will contain a multitude of people: nor need I mention the cyphers and characters (bb) whereby a man can take down a whole oration, be it ever so swiftly pronounced, and with his hand keep pace with the speaker's tongue. These are, or may be, the invention of the meanest slaves. True True wifdom fitteth aloft, and inftructeth not the hand, but the mind. Would you know what is of her invention, and what her work? Not the unfeemly motions of the body in dancing; not the flute or the trumpet, through which the breath paffing or held, gives. the tone of a voice; not weapons, nor walls, or the art of war; fhe contrives things of more use and confequence; fhe loves peace, and invites mankind to amity; fhe is not, I fay, the author of inftruments even for neceffary uses; fhe forms the life and manners; and hath indeed all the other arts in fubjection. For as life, fo all the ornaments of life are subservient to her: but her chief end is blefedness; thither she leads; thither fhe opens to us the way. She fheweth us what is truly evil, and what only feems fo; fhe roots out vanity from the mind, and implanteth solid greatness: all that is arrogant and pompous without foundation, she entirely fuppreffeth; nor suffers men to be ignorant of the difference between grandeur and a proud appearance; fhe giveth the knowledge of all Nature, and particularly of herfelf: fhe also teacheth who, and what the gods are, the infernal, the household, the guardian (ce); and what those ever-living fouls, that are admitted in the second rank of deities (dd); where they dwell (ee); how employed (ff); what their power, and their will, These are the first principles, or grounds, wherein the instructs her pupils; and by which no private hallowed place, but this universe, the great temple of all the gods (gg), is open to them; the true images whereof, and true representations, the discovers to the eyes of the understanding; thofe of the body being too dull to discern such a great and noble object. She then goes back to the beginning of things, and heweth eternal wifdom diffused throughout the whole; and the power of every feed forming its own particular body (bb). She next enquire into the nature of the foul; from whence it was derived, where it fubiis, how long, and into how many parts to be distinguished (i). And thus fhe paffeth on from things corporeal, to things incorporeal, examining the truth and all the arguments relating thereto. After this the points out the ambiguities concerning life and (f) Al. 7o xavovindy, canonical.] And this, as it forms, and prepares the mind, is faid to be, Tepi xpernpío, xài áρxñs, xài OTOIXHтatov, Of the criterion, beginning and elementary. Vid. Laert. in Epicurus. (g) He was cotemporary with Zeno, and one of the difciples of the founder of the Stoical fect. He published several philofophical treatifes, by which he acquired the reputation of an agreeable and elegant, rather than of a folid and judicious writer. See Melmoth, on Cicero's Cato, N. 5. Laertius fays of him, τὸν τε φυσικὸν τοπον καὶ τὸν λογικὸν ἀνήρεις, λέγων τὸν μὲν εἶναι ὑπὲρ μας, Tòv dè ¿dèv æçòs duas. He took away from the common divifion, both the natural and the rational part, faying, this was far above us, and that nothing to us. (b) Sc. Thy TapaεTI See Ep. 94. (i) i. e. God; or, as the Stoics speak fometimes, His Reason, or Wisdom: and by elements, we understand, the first and constituent principles of things, as derived from him. (k) Lipfius obferves that in fome books, this is the beginning of another Epistle, (1) Hor. Carm. iii. 1. 34. Contracta pifces æquora fentiunt Iactis in altum molibus. Huc frequens Camenta remittit redemptor Cum famulis, dominufque terræ Faftidiofus. The fish that in the ocean rang'd Perceive their territories chang'd. The moles thrown in extend the shore; The Lord grown weary of the land, New builds upon the fettled fand, And fcorns the bounds that Nature fix'd before. Salluft. Bell. Cat. Quid ea memorem, quæ nifi his qui vidêre, nemini credibilia funt? A privatis compluribus fubverfos montes, maria conftrata, &c. What need I mention other things, that will hardly meet with credit from those who have been eyewitnesses of their truth? fuch as levelling hills and mountains, and raising palaces in the fea itself by private men for the purposes of pleasure, &c. See alfo Suetonius in Caligula, c. 37. Luxuriam fpoliorum, et cenfum in damna furentem Edificant auro fedefque ad fidera mittunt. Expelluntur aquæ faxis; mare nafcitur arvis Et permutatâ rerum ftatione rebellant. See, all around luxurious trophies lie, Parum locuples continente ripâ. The moles and thy encroaching mounds But But as fome read in Seneca, arva, instead of maria, we may apply the words that follow in Horace: On Philofophy, and the Invention of Arts. WHO can doubt, my Lucilius, but that it is from the bleffing and gift of the immortal Gods that we live; but from Philofophy that we live well (a)? that confequently we owe more to this than to the Gods; inafmuch as a good life is better than mere existence. Undoubtedly we ought to think fo, unless Philosophy itself might be also thought the gift of the Gods (b), the knowledge whereof they have given to no one, but the ability of acquirement to all. For if they had vouchfafed this as a common good, and we had been all born good, wisdom would have loft what is of greatest account therein, that it is not to be reckoned among cafual things: for it hath this most precious and noble quality, that it comes not accidentally; that every one owes it to himself, an acquisition not to be fought for elsewhere. What would there be in Philofophy worthy admiration, if it was holden of the donor ? One of her principal offices is to fearch out truth, in things both divine and human: juftice, piety, religion, and the whole train of virtues, that are in perfect union with one another, are all attendant upon her: the teacheth us to worship God, and to love our neighbour (c); that government is the prerogative of heaven †; and the focial virtues neceffary upon earth; which for fome time remained |