Never was the word ergo more injudiciously applied; for, from the things which Juvenal here relates concerning the Egyptians, it by no means follows that Servius is mistaken. But Servius is alfo juftified by the filence of Homer, who never feeds his heroes with boiled meat, but always with roafted or broiled.

Ver. 107.

nec enim omnia quædam

Pro vita facienda putat.

That is, quædam, fed non omnia: But it is not neatly expreffed.

Ver. 123.

- Anne aliam, terra Memphitide ficca, Invidiam facerent, nolenti furgere Nilo.

None of the Commentators, at least none of thofe whom Henninius hath published, understand the fenfe of this phrafe. Invidiam facere alicui, is "to make a perfon appear odious:" to caufe him to be publickly blamed and condemned.

Ver. 159.

parcit

Cognatis maculis fimilis fera. Quando leoni

Fortior eripuit vitam leo? &c.

This is prettily faid; but without truth: Since the male beasts of every kind fight together, when hunger or luft ftimulates them; and act, in this refpect, juft as if they were Men.

LACTANTIUS.

EPITOME DIVINARUM INSTITUTIONUM.*

CAPUT IV.

LONGUM eft recenfere quæ de fummo Deo

vel Thales-vel Stoici-vel Seneca-et Tullius prædicaverint, cum hi omnes, et quid fit Deus definire tentaverint, nec ulli fubje&um effe naturæ, cum ab ipfo fit omnis Natura generata."

Either here is an ellipfis, to be fupplied by the reader, or it fhould be, "nec ulli fubjectum effe naturæ docuerint," or dixerint, or fome other verb.

• Extracted from the Mifcellan. Obferv. Vol. II. 198, and 192.

I incline

I incline to think that the verb is loft, by the fault

of the tranfcriber.

CAP. X.

"Pugnavit ergo cum Amore."

From Virgil, Æn. IV, 38.

- placitonè etiam pugnabis amori?

CAP. XIV.

"Saturni patrem Uranum fuiffe vocitatum, et Hermes auctor eft, et facra hiftoria docet."

This facra hiftoria is the History written by Euhemerus, and tranflated by Ennius. See Lactantius, Div. Inft. I. 11.

CAP. XXII.

Quæ fententia [Ciceronis] eo debet gravior comparari, quod hæc differuit et philofophus et facerdos."

Davies reads computari: I believe comparere would be better.

CAP. XXIV.

"Cujus rei ut poffet memoria fervari, fanum fibi creari jubebat [Jupiter] atque ab hofpitibus fuis annua fefta celebrari."

Fanum creari is an expreffion to be obferved. He

ufes it, Div. Inft. I. 22.

So Ennius, quoted by

him in the fame book, C. II. Ibique in eo monte aram creat cœlo. See also Lib. I. C. II. 46.

CAP. XXV.

"Quanto fatius eft, fpretis inanibus, ad Deum Je convertere, tueri ftatum, quem a Deo acceperis, tueri nomen !"

It should perhaps be, " ad Deum te convertere."

CAP. XXXVI.

Difputing against Epicurus's doctrine of the formation of things by the fortuitous concourfe of Atoms, he fays,

"Si nec videntur, nec ulla corporis parte fentiuntur, unde effe illa fcire potuifti? Deinde, si sunt, quâ mente conveniunt, ut aliquid efficiant ? Si funt levia, cohærere non poffunt; fi hamata et angulata, ergo fecabilia funt. Hami enim et anguli extant et poffunt amputari. Sed hæc delira et inutilia funt."

Dr. Davies obferves that inutilia here means noxia et damnofa, and fhews that it often has this meaning. If inutilia be the true reading, it must be fo understood: But I almoft think it fhould be anilia,

because

because in Div. Inft. III. 17. from whence this is taken, he treats the doctrine of Atoms rather as the dream of a fool and a madman, than as a hurtful and dangerous doctrine. "Cur illa nemo præter unum Leucippum fomniavit? à quo Democritus eruditus hæreditatem ftultitiæ reliquit Epicuro." Epicurus, fays he, was a man, "quo fano et vigente nullus æger ineptius deliravit."

He may join delira with anilia here, as, Div. Inft. V. 1. he fays, Anilia, inepta, vulgaria exiftimantur. Delira, indeed, is rather ftronger than anilia. It fhould perhaps be" delira et futilia;" as the Author of the Remarks on Oppian conjectures.

We have but one manufcript of this part of the Epitome; and it is undoubtedly faulty in many places, as Dr. Davies has fo well fhewn; and it may be fo in the place before us: However, inutilia affords a tolerable fenfe.

In the paffage of Lactantius, Div. Inst. III. 17. quoted above, the invention of the atomick doctrine is afcribed to Leucippus. Concerning the antiquity of Atomic Philofophy you may fee fomething in Burnet, Archæol. L. I. C. v11. Burnet joins with thofe who think that this hypothefis owes its rife to Leucippus, or Democritus. Cudworth has fhewn, I