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:* 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

1 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. 19

2 Pindar. Olymp. xii. 10.

3 Herodot. lib. ii. 82.

4 Προσποιούνται δε τινες (των Χαλδαίων) γενεθλιαλογειν, ους ου καταδεχονται οἱ repo. 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-mediantibus spiritibus mediatoribus, universi fere Orientis dogma fuit Brucker, ibid.

other female, called Beel and Mylitta by the Assyrians, and Zeus and Apodin 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, and probably in many other countries; it being, as Herodotus observes, the practice of all mankind, except the Greeks and Egyptians, 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; 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."

'Herodot. lib. i. 2 Herodot. lib. i. 3 Ibid. c. 199.

4 Lib. ii. 64.

5 Strabo, lib. viii. Diodor. Sic. lib. iv. Philodemi Epigr. in Brunck. Analect. vol. ii. p. 85.

6 Nuper enim, ut repeto, fanum Isidis et Ganymeden,
Pacis, et advecta secreta palatia matris,

Et Cererem (nam quo non prostat femina templo ?)
Notior Aufidio machus celebrare soleba".

Sat. ix. 22.

NO. XLVII.

D

50

NOTÆ ET CURÆ SEQUENTES IN ARATI

DIOSEMEA.

a TH. FORSTER, F. L. S.

No. VI. [Continued from No. XLVI. p. 262.]

ὀψὲ δὲ μισγομένων αἰγῶν, μηλῶν τε συῶν τε,

340

· Χαίρει ἄνολβος ἀνὴρ, ὅ οἱ οὐ μάλα θαλπιόωντι
Εὔδιον φαίνουσι βιβαιόμεναι ἐνιαυτόν.
Χαίρει καὶ γεράνων ἀγέλαις ὡραῖος ἀροτρεὺς
Ωριον ἐρχομέναις, ὁ δ ̓ ἀώριος αὐτίκα μᾶλλον.
Αὕτως γὰρ χειμῶνες ἐπέρχονται γεράνοισι·
Πρώτα μὲν καὶ μᾶλλον ὁμιλαδὸν ἐρχομένησι
Πρώϊον αὐτὰρ ἔτ ̓ ὀψὲ καὶ οὐκ ἀγεληδὰ φανεῖσαι,
Πλειότερον φορέωνται ἐπὶ χρόνον οὐδ ̓ ἅμα πολλαὶ,
* Αμβολίῃ χειμῶνος ὀφέλλται ὕστερα ἔργα.
Εἰ δὲ βόες καὶ μῆλα μετὰ βρίθουσαν ὀπώρην
Γαῖαν ὀρύσσωσιν, κεφαλὰς δ' ανέμοιο βορῆος
*Αντία τείνωσιν, μάλα κεν τότε χείμαρον αὐταὶ
Πληϊάδες χειμῶνα κατερχόμεναι φορέοιεν·
Μηδὲ λίην ὀρύχοιεν· ἐπεὶ μέγας οὐ κατὰ κόσμον
Γίνεται, οὔτε φυτοῖς χειμων φίλος οὔτ ̓ ἀρότοισιν.
̓Αλλὰ χιων εἴη πολλὴ μεγάλαις ἐπ ̓ ἀρούραις,
Μήπω κεκριμένῃ μηδὲ βλωθρῇ ἐπὶ ποίῃ,
Οφρα τις εὐετύϊ χαίρῃ ποτιδέγμενος ἀνήρ·

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 tuosæ hyemis ex ovibus et bobuscalenti monstrat serenum annum. Sin autem boves et oves post ple343349. Signa tempestatum num autumnum terram cornu per anni e migratione gruum-Gaudet tant, capita vero contra Boream 'etiam gruum catervis tempestivus arator tempestive venientibus. Pari modo enim hyemes consequuntur grues, cito quidem magis, et constipatim venientes cito ; sed quando sero et non gregatim visæ, majus volant ad tempus neque simul multæ, dilatio hyemis promovet serotina opera.De quibus ita Theophrastus : Γέρανοι ἐὰν πρωῒ πέτωνται καὶ · Αθρόοι, πρωῒ χείμασι, ἐὰν δὲ ὀψὲ καὶ πολὺν

tendunt, tum tempestuosam hyemem ipsæ Pleiades occidentes afferre solent-E Theophrasto: Μετοπώρῳ ἐὰν πρόβατα ἢ βόες ὀρύττωσι καὶ κοιμῶνται ἀθρόοι πρὸς ἀλλήλους ἔχοντες τὰς κεφαλὰς, τὸν χειμῶνα χειμέριον σημαίνει.

[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,
Μήθ' εἷς μήτε δύω, μηδὲ πλέονες κομόωντες·
Πολλοὶ γὰρ κομόωσιν ἐπ' αὐχμηρῷ ἐνιαυτῷ.
Οὐδὲ μὲν ὀρνίθων ἀγέλαις ἠπειρόθεν ἀνὴρ,
̓Εκ νήσων ὅτε πολλαὶ ἐπιπλήσσωσιν ἀρούραις
Ερχομένου θέρεος χαίρει· περιδείδιε δ' αἰνῶς
̓Αμήτῳ, μὴ οἱ κενεὸς καὶ ἀχυρμιὸς ἔλθῃ
Αὐχμῷ ἀνιηθείς· χαίρει δέ που αἰπόλος ἀνὴρ
Αὐταῖς ὀρνίθεσσιν ἐπὴν κατὰ μέτρον ἴωσιν,
̓Ελπόμενος μετέπειτα πολυγλαγέος ἐνιαυτοῦ.
Οὕτω γὰρ μογεροὶ καὶ ἀλήμονες ἄλλοθεν ἄλλοι
Ζώομεν ἄνθρωποι· τὰ δὲ πὰρ ποσὶ πάντες ἕτοιμοι
Σήματ ̓ ἐπιγνῶναι καὶ ἐς αὐτίκα ποιήσασθαι.
*Αρνασι μὲν χειμῶνας ἐτεκμήραντο νομῆες,
̓Ες νομὸν ὁππότε μᾶλλον ἐπειγόμενοι τροχόωσιν
*Αλλοι δ' ἐξ ἀγέλης κριοί, ἄλλοι δὲ καὶ ἀμνοὶ

Εἰνόδιοι παίζωσιν ἐρειδόμενοι κεράεσσιν.
*Η ὁπότ ̓ ἄλλοθεν ἄλλοι ἀναπλήσσωσι πόδεσσι
Τέτρασιν οἱ κοῦφοι, κεραοί γε μὲν ἀμφοτέροισιν.
Η καὶ ὅτ ̓ ἐξ ἀγέλης ἀεκούσια κινήσωσι,
Δείελον εἰσελάοντες ὁμῶς· τὰ δὲ πάντοθι ποίης
Δάκνωσιν πυκνῇσι κελευόμενα λιθάκεσσιν.
̓Εκ δὲ βοῶν ἐπύθοντ ̓ ἀρόται καὶ βουκόλοι άνδρες
Κινυμένου χειμώνος· ἐπεὶ βόες ὁππότε χηλὰς
Γλώσσῃ ὑπωμαίοιο ποδὸς περιλιχμήσωνται
Η κοίτῳ πλευρᾶς ἐπὶ δεξιτέρας τανύσωνται,
Αμβολίην αρότοιο γέρων ἐπιέλπετ' ἀροτρεύς.
Η δ' ὅτε μυκηθμοῖο περίπλειοι ἀγέρωνται,
Ερχόμεναι σταθμόνδε βόες βουλύσιον ὥρην,
Σκυθραὶ λειμῶνος πόριες καὶ βουβοσίοιο,
Αὐτίκα τεκμαίρονται ἀχείμεροι ἐμπλήσεσθαι.
Οὐδ' αίγες, πρίνοιο περισπεύδουσαι ἀκάνθαις,
Εὔδιοι, οὐδὲ σύες φορυτῷ ἐπιμαργαίνουσαι.
Καὶ λύκος ὁππότε μακρὰ μονόλυκος ὠρύηται·
Η ὅτ ̓ ἀροτρίων ὀλίγον πεφυλαγμένος ἀνδρῶν
*Εργα, κατέρχηται σκέπαος χατέοντι ἐοικώς
Εγγύθεν ἀνθρώπων, ἵνα οἱ λέχος αὐτόθεν εἴη,

agnelli in itinere ludunt, innixi cornibus, aut quando alibi alii referiant pedibus quatuor leves, cornuti vero duobus.

978380, Prognosticum tempes. tatis, vel quando aliqui e grege inviti moveantur vespere ad stabulum redeuntes, simul et undique herbam arrodunt crebris impetiti lapillis.bot S

380 385. Signa tempestatis e bubus-Sed et a bobus signa capere solent agricola et armentarii surgentis tempestatis; siquidem boves quando ungulas anterioris pedis lingua circumlingant; aut stabulo latere super dextero jaceant extenti. Sumpta e Theophrasto: Βοῖς τὴν προστ θίαν ὁπλὴν λείξας χειμῶνα ἢ ὕδωρ σημαίνει. [Theoph. Sign Plus.] Et inter serenitatis signa: Καὶ βοῦς ἐπὶ τὸ ἀρίστερον ἴσχιον κατακλινόμενος εὐδίαν σημαίνει, καὶ κύων ὡσαύτως· ἐπὶ δέξιον δὲ χειμῶνα. [Theoph. Sign. Seren.] Scriptum est in Fragm. de Sympath. et Antipath. apud Fabr. Εγκεκλειμένοι δὲ βόες ἀγέρα 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 βους
ἐὰν μέλλη ὕσειν ὁ Ζεὺς ἐπὶ τὸ ἴσχιον τὸ δεξιὸν
κατακλίνεται· ἐὰν δὲ εὐδία, ἐπὶ τὸ λαῖον
ἢ οὐδείς.
θαυμάζει τις

[lian. Hist. Anim. vii. 8.J

386-389. Alterum e bobus pregnosticum-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. υίες ἥδονται βορβόρω μᾶλλον, ἢ καθαρῷ ὕδατι, καὶ ἐπὶ φορετῷ μαργαίνουσι κατὰ Δημόκριτον.

[Cit. Bochart. Hieroz. r. ii. 57.

392-396. Prognosticum e lupisItem lupus quando alte solus ab aliis ejulet; vel quando agricolarum