. 651 Horatius Cochles to a certain Place, where, being furrounded by highbuilt- Houses, the Sun might never shine upon it: but, their Treachery being discover'd, they were accus'd before the People, and, being convicted of the Perfidy, were put to Death: And upon this Occasion was made this senary Verse, Malum confilium confultori peffimum est, which was sung about by the Boys in all the Streets of Rome. This Accident of the Thuscan Augurs increas'd the Credit of the Books of the Sybils, which, according to Servius on Æn. 6. were kept in the Temple of Apollo, as well as of those of the Marsians, and of the Nymph Bygois, who had writ the Art of Divination, as practis'd by the Thuscans. We have already spoken in the foregoing Notes of the Matter, of which the Antients held Lightning to confift, and of the manner of its Generation, which 'tis needless to repeat in this Place: we likewise have said already, that the Latines often confounded fulgur and fulmen: and how they came to do so, Festus teaches in these Words: Fulgere Prisci pro ferire dicebant, unde fulgur dictum eft; fulguratum id, quod eft fulmine ictum. And they believ'd there was no other difference between them, than only that of more or less, which among Logicians makes no difference whatever of the Species: And we find a remarkable Passage in Sene ca, who, after an accurate Disputation, concludes, by determining the Difference between fulgur and fulmen, as follows: Ergo, says he, & utramque rem ignem esse constat, & utramque rem inter se meando distare. Fulguratio est fulmen non in terras usque perlatum & rurfus licet dicas, fulmen esse fulgurationem usque in terras perductam. Non ad exercendum verba hæc diutius pertracto, fed ut ista cognata effe, & ejufdem notæ, ac naturæ probem. Fulmen est quiddam plus, quam fulguratio: vertamus istud; fulguratio est pene fulmen. Nat. Quæft. lib. 2. cap. 21. And in Quæst. 57. of the same Book: Et, ut breviter dicam, says he, quod fentio, fulmen est fulgur intentum: And lib. citat. Quæst. 16. Quid ergo inter fulgurationem & fulmen interest? Dicam: Fulguratio est late ignis explicitus: Fulmen est coactus ignis, & impetu factus. The Poets, according to their Custom, shadow'd the Nature of either Fire under the Veil of Fables, which nevertheless Servius accurately explains, upon the following Passage of Virgil, which I am oblig'd to transcribe at length, for the better Understanding of what follows: Insula Sicaniam juxta latus Æoliumque Which is thus render'd by Dryden: Æn. 8. v. 416. Sacred to Vulcan's Name, an Isle does lie This Passage of Virgil is explain'd by Servius, as follows: By Vulcan, says he, is meant Fire, which is call'd Vulcanus, quasi Volicanus, because it flies thro' the Air: For Fire is generated in the Clouds: And for this reason too Homer says, that Vulcan was precipitated from the Air upon Earth, because all Lightnings fall from out the Air: and because it often lightens in the Island Lemnos, therefore Vulcan is said to have fallen upon that Island. Vulcanus, ut diximus, ignis eft, & dictus Vulcanus, quasi Volicanus, quod per aerem volat, ignis enim nubibus nascitur. Unde etiam Homerus dicit eum de mare præcipitatum in terras, quod omne fulmen ab aere cadit: quod quia crebro in Lemnum insulam jacitur, ideo in eam dicitur Vulcanus cecidiffe. Thus Servius: and this Fall of Vulcan is describ'd by Milton in the following Verses, In : - In Ausonian Land. : The same Servius, on the above-cited Passage, teaches, that Vulcan is faid to be lame, because Flame, by Nature, is never strait: Claudus autem dicitur Vulcanus, quia per naturam nunquam rectus est ignis. And, what is more than all this; Virgil says, the Thunder is forg'd in subterranean Caverns: Hic tunc ignipotens cœlo descendit ab alto : : : Dejicit in terras, pars imperfecta manebat: Miscebant operi, flammisque sequacibus iras. Æn. 8. v. 424. Hither the Father of the Fires, by Night, Dryd. The Physiology of which is thus explain'd: Vulcan is faid to have a Forge in those Places, between Mount Etna and the : the Island Lipare, that is to say, between Fire and Wind, because those two Things are very proper, nay, necessary for Smiths: Physiologia est, cur Vulcanus in ipsis locis officinam habere fingatur inter Ætnam & Liparim, scilicet propter ignem & ventos, quæ apta funt fabris; says Nardius, in Prolusione de Igne Subterraneo. The several Offices of his Servants, Brontesque, Steropesque, & nudus membra Pyracmon, their very Names in part declare: For Brontes was so call'd, Ἀπὸ ὁ βροντής, from Thunder: Steropes, ἀπό + σεροπής, from Lightning: and Pyracmon, πὸ τὸ πυρὸς ἐὰ τὸ ἀκμενο, because he never ftirs from the burning Anvil: And Virgil himself more particularly, Georg. 4. v. 170. Ac veluti lentis Cyclopes fulmina massis 'As when the Cyclops, at th' Almighty Nod, Moreover: On the antient Marbles, Thunder is figur'd with twelve Rays, dispos'd into a Circle; the Rays not strait, but bending into several Angles; each of which ends in three sharp-pointed Fangs: Such too is the Figure of this Virgilian Thunder: Of whose Form Cerdanus thus: It generally thunders, either when it hails, or in great Showers of Rain, or when the Air is hot and sultry, or lastly, when the Winds blow: Now by Rain, Imber tortus, Virgil means Hail: 655 Hail: by aquofæ nubes, great Showers of Rain: by ignis,' the heated sultry Air, and by Auster Blasts of Wind: For Tempests are more frequent when Auster, the South Wind,' blows, than when any other.. After this, not useless, but necessary, Digression, it is time to return and keep close to our Subject: First then: The Art and Doctrine of Thunder, according to Seneca, is divided into three Parts: I. Investigation. II. Interpretation. III. Exoration. The first Part relates to the Form: the second, to Divination: the third, to the Propitiation and Pacification of the Gods; of whom, says he, we ought to pray for good Things, and to deprecate from us all manner of Evil: to pray, that they would make good their Promises: to deprecate, that they would remit their Threats: befides, to imprecate and draw down Thunder on the Heads of our Enemies: which last I add to Seneca; not to give occafion to the learned Muretus, to take in ill part the Omission of it. The Form, I interpret to be the Species and Nature of the Lightning, together, with whatever else can conduce to the Physical and perfect Knowledge of it: in the disquisition of which, according to the Thuscans, its Rise, that is to say, whether it bursts out of the Earth, or breaks from the Skies, deservedly claims the first to be inquir'd into. Now the Thuscans held that the earthly Lightning darts in a strait Line; the aerial, obliquely. It was believ'd to be of great Moment too, from what part of Heaven the Lightning came; whither it directed its Course, and where it fell. For we must not forget what Pliny, lib. 2. cap. 54. teaches; That the Thuscans of old divided and quarter'd out the Heavens into fixteen Parts, which they call'd Temples, as is observ'd by Varro de Lingua Latina, lib. 3. Nor did they lay any small Stress upon this Circumstance: whether the Thunder ftruck down the strongest Buildings, and overturn'd the Towers and Castles of Kings; or whether it was weak, and vanish'd inoffenfive in the Air. Its Force and Violence too was likewise consider'd: that is to say, whether it struck in an Instant, or linger'd in its Flight; and, in fome Measure, gave warning of the Blow: They likewise observ'd the Size and Magnitude of it: which they meafur'd and determin'd by the Events and Effects it produc'd. Besides, by the Consent of all, there are properly three forts of Lightning, which, according to Seneca, are, I. That which pierces. II. That which shakes to pieces: And III. That which burns: According to Servius, which blafts, |