the Chaldæans continued to be the great practitioners of it; and by exciting the hopes of aspiring individuals, or the fears of jealous tyrants, contrived to make themselves of mischievous importance in the Roman empire; the principles of their pretended science being sufficiently specious to obtain credit, when every other of the kind had been exploded. The Greeks do not seem ever to have paid much attention to it; nor, indeed, to any mode of prediction after the decline of their oracles: 2 neither is it ever mentioned among the superstitions of the ancient Egyptians, though their creed certainly admitted the principle upon which it is founded. It is said to have been believed by only a certain sect among the Chaldæans; the general system of whose religion seems to have been the same as that of most other nations of the northern hemisphere; and to have taught the existence of an universal pervading Spirit, whose subordinate emanations diffused themselves through the world, and presented themselves in different places, ranks, and offices, to the adoration of men; who, by their mediation, were enabled to approach the otherwise inaccessible light of the supreme and ineffable First Cause." 82. Like the Greeks, they honored these subordinate emanations, and gave them names expressing their different offices and attributes; such as Michael, Raphael, Uriel, Gabriel, &c.; which the Jews having adopted during the captivity, and afterwards engrafted upon the Mosaic system, they have still retained their primitive sanctity. The generative or creative attribute seems to have held the highest rank; but it was not adopted with the others by the Jews: for as the true Creator had condescended to become their national and peculiar God, they naturally abhorred all pretenders to his high office. 83. At Babylon, as in other countries, the attribute was, divided into two distinct personifications, the one male, and the 'Genus hominum potentibus infidum, sperantibus fallax: See Tacit. Ann. lib. ii. c. 32. lib. xii. c. 52. and Hist. lib. i. c. 22. ; also Plin. lib. xxx. c. 1. 2 Pindar. Olymp. xii. 10. 3 Herodot. lib. ii. 82. 4 Προσποιούνται δε τινες (των Χαλδαίων) γενεθλιαλογειν, ους ου καταδεχονται οἱ Tepo. Strabo. lib. xvi. 5 Fons omnium spirituum, cujus essentiam per universum mundum tanquam animam diffusam esse, &c. &c.-non Chaldæa tantum et Ægyptus, sed universus fere gentilismus vetustissimus credidit. Brucker. Hist. Crit. Philos. lib. i. c. 2. See also Euseb. Præp. Evang. lib. iv. c. 5. 6 Summum universi regem in luce inaccessibili habitare, nec adiri posse nisi me diantibus spiritibus mediatoribus, universi fere Orientis dogma fuit Brucker. ibid. I other female, called Beel and Mylitta by the Assyrians, and Zeus and Apporn by the Greeks: but, as the latter people subdivided their personified attributes and emanations much more than any other, the titles of their deities cannot be supposed to express the precise meaning of those of Assyria. Beel, or as the Greeks write it Bλos, was certainly the same title differently pronounced, as the Baal of the Phoenicians, which signified lord or master; and Mylitta seems to have been in all respects the same as the Venus of the Greeks; she having been honored with rites equally characteristic and appropriate. The Babylonian women of every rank and condition held it to be an indispensable duty of religion to prostitute themselves, once in their lives, in her temple, to any stranger who came and offered money; which, whether little or much, was accepted, and applied to sacred purposes. Numbers of these devout ladies were always in waiting, and the stranger had the liberty of choosing whichever he liked, as they stood in rows in the temple; no refusal being allowed." 84. A similar custom prevailed in Cyprus,3 and probably in many other countries; it being, as Herodotus observes, the practice of all mankind, except the Greeks and Ægyptians, to take such liberties, with their temples, which, they concluded, must be pleasing to the Deity, as birds and animals, acting under the guidance of instinct, or by the immediate impulse of Heaven, did the same. The exceptions he might safely have omitted, at least as far as relates to the Greeks: for there were a thousand sacred prostitutes kept in each of the celebrated temples of Venus, at Eryx and Corinth; who, according to all accounts, were extremely expert and assiduous in attending to the duties of their profession; 5 and it is not likely that the temple, which they served, should be the only place exempted from being the scene of them. Dionysius of Halicarnassus claims the same exception in favor of the Romans; but, as we suspect, equally without reason for Juvenal, who lived only a century later, when the same religion, and nearly the same manners prevailed, seems to consider every temple in Rome as a kind of licensed brothel.6 'Herodot. lib. i. 2 Herodot. lib. i. 3 Ibid. c. 199. 4 Lib. ii. 64. Analect. 5 Strabo, lib. viii. Diodor. Sic. lib. iv. Philodemi Epigr. in Brunck. vol. ij. p. 85. 6 Nuper enim, ut repeto, fanum Isidis et Ganymeden, Et Cererem (nam quo non prostat femina templo ?) Sat. ix. 22. 50 NOTÆ ET CURÆ SEQUENTES IN ARATI DIOSEMEA. a TH. FORSTER, F. L. S. No. VI. [Continued from No. XLVI. p. 262.] Οψὲ δὲ μισγομένων αἰγῶν, μηλῶν τε συῶν τε, 340 Χαίρει ἄνολβος ἀνὴρ, ὅ οἱ οὐ μάλα θαλπιόωντι Μηδὲ λίην ὀρύχοιεν· ἐπεὶ μέγας οὐ κατὰ κόσμον χρόνον, ὀψὲ χείμασι. 345 350 355 340-342. Indicium sereni e capris, ovibus, et suibus tarde coeunti[Theoph. Sign. Pluv.] bus-Tarde autem coeuntibus capris 350-353. Prognosticum tempesgaudet pauper vir, quia ei parum tuosa hyemis ex ovibus et bobus calenti monstrat serenum annum. Sin autem boves et oves post ple343-349. Signa tempestatum num autumnum terrani cornu peanni e migratione gruum-Gaudet tant, capita vero contra Boream etiam gruum catervis tempestivus tendunt, tum tempestuosam hyemem arator tempestive venientibus. Pari ipsæ Pleiades occidentes afferre somodo enim hyemes consequuntur lent-E Theophrasto: Μετοπώρῳ ἐὰν grues, cito quidem magis, et consti- πρόβατα ἢ βόες ὀρύττωσι καὶ κοιμῶνται patim venientes cito ; sed quando ἀθρόοι πρὸς ἀλλήλους ἔχοντες τὰς κεφαλὰς, sero et non gregatim visæ, majus τὸν χειμῶνα χειμέριον σημαίνει. volant ad tempus neque simul multa, dilatio hyemis promovet serotina opera. De quibus ita Theophrastus: Γέρανοι ἐὰν πρωῒ πέτωνται καὶ ἀθρόοι, πρωῒ χείμασι, ἐὰν δὲ ὀψὲ καὶ πολὺν [Theoph. Sign. Pluv.] 354-358. Pergit dicere de bubus, &c.-Ne vero nimium fodiant, quoniam magna et immoderata fit, neque plantis hyems grata, neque Μηδ' εἶεν καθύπερθεν ἐοικότες ἀστέρες αἰεὶ, arationibus; sed nix ft multa spatiosis in arvis, necdum discreta, neque in grandi segete, quo quilibet anni feracitate gaudere possit fruens vir. Theophrastus notat: Μετοπώρῳ ἐὰν πρόβατα ἢ βόες ὀρύττωσι καὶ κοιμῶνται ἀθρόοι πρὸς ἀλλήλους ἔχοντες τὰς κεφαλὰς, τὸν χειμῶνα χειμέριον σημαίνει. [Theoph. Sign. Temp.] Et Democr. πρόβατα γὴν ὀρύσσοντα χειμῶνα σημαίνει. [Dem. apud Fabr. B. G. iv. 338. cit. Buhle, p. 477.] Porci etiam, veniente pluvia, segetes destruunt. Anglis proverbialiter dictum est, when swine destroy the stacks of corn, be sure that rain is coming down. Virgilius pluviam præmonebat, quum Immundi meminere sues jactare maniplos. [Virg. Geor. i. 400.] Et Plinio idem indicant, Turpesque porci alienos sibi manipulos fæni lace rantes. [Plin. Hist. Nat. xviii. 35.] 359-361. Prognosticum e stellis comatis Nec item fuerint desuper visæ stellæ semper vel una, duo, aut plures comatæ; multæ enim comantur in anno arido. Cf. Proclus in Paraph. Tetr. Ptol. Ἔτι δὲ τὰ κατὰ καιροὺς ἐν τῷ ἀέρι ἐπιγινόμενα, οἷον αἱ συστροφαὶ τῶν κομητῶν, καὶ αὗται ὡς ἐπίπολυ 360 365 370 ἀνέμους προσημαίνουσι καὶ ξηρότητας· καὶ τοσοῦτον πλέον ὅσον ἂν καὶ πρὸς πλείονα μέρη σύστωσιν, καὶ ἐπίπολυ διαμείνῃ τούτων ἡ σύστασις. [Proclus Paraph. Tetr. Ptol. ii. 14. cit. Buhle, p. 477.] 363-368. Prognosticum vacuæ messis ex avibus ab insulis in continentem volantibus, malum quidem aratori, bonum vero interdum pastori, quia annus lacte abundans sequitur-Neque quidem volucrum agminibus in continente degens vir ex insulis cum multæ irruant arva veniente tempestate gaudet; sed timet anxie messi ne ei vacua et sine granis veniat squalore læsa; gaudet vero opilio ipsis volucribus, quum non omnino paucæ veniant, spem cupiens sequentis anni lacte abundantis. 369-371. Sic enim ærumnosi et instabiles alibi alii vivimus homires; atque ea quæ ante pedes sunt omnes parati signa cognoscere et in posterum capere. 372-377. Prognosticum tempestatis ex ludentibus agnis-Agnis quidem tempestates observare soliti sunt pastores, ad pabulum quum magis festinantes currant. Alii etiam e grege arietes, alii item Εἰνόδιοι παίζωσιν ἐρειδόμενοι κεράεσσιν. agnelli in itinere ludunt, innixi cornibus, aut quando alibi alii referiant pedibus quatuor leves, cornuti vero duobus. 378-380. Prognosticum tempes. tatis,vel quando aliqui e grege inviti moveantur vespere ad stabulum redeuntes, simul et undique herbam arrodunt crebris impetiti lapillis. 380-385. Signa tempestatis e bubus-Sed et a bobus signa capere solent agricolæ et armentarii surgentis tempestatis; siquidem boves quando ungulas anterioris pedis lingua circumlingant; aut stabulo latere super dextero jaceant extenti. Sumpta e Theophrasto: Βοῦς τὴν προσθίαν ὁπλὴν λείξας χειμῶνα ἢ ὕδωρ σημαίνει. [Theoph. Sign Plus.] Et inter serenitatis signa: Καὶ βοῦς ἐπὶ τὸ ἀρίστερον ἔσχιον κατακλινόμενος εὐδίαν σημαίνει, καὶ κύων ὡσαύτως· ἐπὶ δέξιον δὲ χειμῶνα. [Theoph. Sign. Seren.] Scriptum est in Fragm. de Sympath. et Antipath. apud Fabr. Ἐγκεκλειμένοι δὲ βόες ἀνέρα ἐν χειμῶσι προσημαίνουσι τοῖς 375 380 385 390 395 δεξιοῖσι πλεύροισιν ἐπικλιθέντες. [Frag. de Sympath. et Antipath. apud Fabr. B. Gr. iv. 29. cit. Buhle, p. 479.] Ælianus hoc e bubus. præsagium notavit in Hist. Anim. Ὅτι δὲ βοῦς ἐὰν μέλλη ὕσειν ὁ Ζεὺς ἐπὶ τὸ ἴσχιον τὸ δεξιὸν κατακλίνεται· ἐὰν δὲ εὐδία, ἐπὶ τὸ λαῖον θαυμάζει τις ἢ οὐδείς. [#lian. Hist. Anim. viii. 8.] 386-389. Alterum e bobus prognosticum-Etiam quando mugientes plus solito congregantur venientes ad stabulum boves vespertino tempore; tristes et e pratis vitulæ et pastu; tunc indicant ante tempes. tatem se cupere saturari. 390-391. Tempestatis indicium e capris et suibus-Neque capræ ilicis studiosæ circum ramos serenæ sunt, neque sues in luto furentes.— Clemens Αlex. υἷες ἥδονται βορβορῳ μᾶλλον, ἢ καθαρῷ ὕδατι, καὶ ἐπὶ φορυτῷ μαργαίνουσι κατὰ Δημόκριτον. [Cit. Bochart. Hieroz. r. ii. 57.] 392396. Prognosticum e lupisItem lupus quando alte solus ab aliis ejulet; vel quando agricolarum |