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Ambrosios alibi spirant alvearia flores.
Nonne vides, incerta volans, ut mellea labro
Pocula tranet apis, palmæque interstrepat umbram?
Explorant comites solertia gentis onustæ
Ingenia, ac tardo reprimunt vestigia gressu ;
Ante alios primus vultu ridere benigno
Tullius, et "Mecum parvos," ait, “Attice, cives
Aspice, quæ felix populo concordia, rerum
Quantus amor, fixis quam pulcher legibus ordo!"

Protinus incumbens Ciceroni Brutus, "Et illis
Haustus' inest quidam divinæ lucis, et auræ
Pars cœlestis," ait; "sunt omnia numine plena;
Numinis in minimo cernas miracula texto.
Nec minus admiranda hominis spectacula prodit
Natura; hanc etiam trepida formidine lustro.
Ergo age, jampridem cæcos recludere fontes
Pollicitum nobis, te munera debita posco.
Hesperus invitat, nec vellere prata madescunt
Nocturno, aut primis stat ros argenteus herbis.
Spero equidem, nec spes umbra me ludit inani
Pertida, non animum, morienti corpore, totum
Posse mori, sed nigro aliquid superesse sepulcro."

2.

Tullius at contra, "Tanto, mi Brute, labori
Impar, immensis errabo incertus in undis;
Sin libeat, cymbæ trepidantia pandere vela
Audebo, rapidisque adeo me credere ventis.

"Mens hominis (ni vana fides) ac mira potestas
Materie terrena parum est ;3 quot plurima tellus
Aspice, parturiat; quænam vis purior ollis?
Aversatur humi crassas mens integra sordes.
Credibile est igitur, deduci simplicis auræ
Particulam cœlo, sensusque ex omnibus astris
Collectos, huc ætherio descendere tractu.

5

Ergo animus multos in corpore conditur annos,

! Vide Virgil. Georg. iv. 220.

2

Itaque dubitans, circumspectans, hæsitans, tanquam ratis in immenso mari nostra vehitur oratio.-Tusc. Disp. lib. i. 30.

3 Animorum nulla in terris inveniri origo potest; nihil enim est in animis mixtum atque concretum, aut quod ex terra natum atque fictum esse videatur.-Tusc. Disp. i. 27.

** Homines enim sunt hac lege generati, qui tuerentur illum globum quem in hoc templo medium vides, quæ terra dicitur; hisque animus datus est ex illis sempiternis ignibus, quæ sidera et stellas vocatis.— Somn. Scip. 3.

5 Immo vero, inquit, ii vivunt, qui ex corporum vinculis tanquam e carcere evolaverunt.-Somn. Scip. 3.

Squalens nocte, suaque sedet ferrugine clausus:
Hinc sibi nota tamen captivus suspicit arva
Mæstior interdum, atque optantia lumina jactat.
Rumpuntur tandem sera retinacula morte;
Nec mora; continuo puræ in confinia lucis
Exiit, ac nullo superavit nubila nisu,

I

Dilectos dum lætus agros, cognataque tangat ·
Limina;2 tunc æquo libratus pondere, demum
Incubet, et passis super æthera pendeat alis.

"Attice, prima vides pallentem cornua Lunam,
Astraque tot vigiles sensim accendentia tædas.
Forsitan et nobis dabitur miscerier istis,
Et volitare vagis, et circum quæque morari;
Jam spectare,3 locis qui sit cœlestibus ordo,
Jam qua lege voluta rotetur machina mundi.
Hunc necnon angustum orbem, desertaque tecta
Desuper e specula, nostrisque tuebimur oris.
Nosque feret celeri curru levis aura, volatu
Molli incumbentes, nec pondere congemet ullo.
Protinus intacti tranabimus æquora ponti,
Tellurisque vias,1 nivea qua Zona sub Arcto
Duratur glacie, aut urit Sol omnia flammis.
Mox et delicias invisam forte senectæ

Tusculum, et hos iterum, vobis comitantibus, hortos;
Dulciaque ut vitæ agnoscam monumenta, juvabit
Hos meminisse dies, atque hæc mea præscia verba.

"Nec tamen, ut perhibent, cœli patet omnibus idem
Ascensus; sed enim depressos pondere culpæ

5

Perplexæ ambages, callisque miserrimus error

Accipiunt; alii tortos verruntur in orbes,

Suspensi ad ventos, dum labem exemerit ætas.

Necesse est ita feratur, ut penetret, dividat omne cœlum hoc, in quo nubes, imbres, ventique coguntur.-Tusc. Disp. lib. i. 19.

Quam regionem cum superavit animus, naturamque sui similem contigit et agnovit, tanquam paribus examinatus ponderibus nullam in partem movetur.-Id.

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3 Quamvis copiose hæc diceremus, si res postularet, quam multa, quam varia, quanta spectacula, animus in locis cœlestibus esset habiturus. -Tusc. Disp. lib. i. 21.

+ Quod tandem spectaculum fore putamus, cum totam terram contueri licebit, ejusque cum situm, formam, circumscriptionem, tum et habitabiles regiones, et rursum omni cultu, propter vim caloris, aut frigoris, vacantes? Tusc. Disp. lib. i. 20.

5 Nam qui se humanis vitiis contaminavissent, et se totos libidinibus dedidissent, iis devium quoddam iter esse, seclusum a concilio Deorum.ibid. lib. i. 30.

• Namque eorum qui se corporis voluptatibus dediderunt, earumque

Vos ergo patriam moniti, legesque tueri
Discite,' nec segni luxus torpere veterno.
Carcere sic animus perrupto corporis, exin
Adjunget sese comitem surgentibus auris,
Devenietque suas rursum incorruptus ad ædes."
Bacchus adhuc sylvis Albana cacumina vestit,
Subridetque Ceres, spicis intexta capillos;
Illa tamen, Tulli, floret pulcherrima sedes
Heu! jampridem oblita tui, ingratique recessus
Immemores: nec jam discunt virgulta sonare
Colloquio, aut solitam saxosa umbracula vocem
Agnoscunt, mediisve albescit villa tenebris.
Ast ibi mosta querens acclivi tramite rivus 2
Desilit: et platanus, tot jam labentibus annis,
Hospitium, ut quondam, dat plurima; mox mola collis
Sub dorso latet, et scatebras occulta loquaces
Accipit; hinc inter flexus, muscumque cavatum
Discedit liquor, et bibulis elabitur herbis.

Nec procul, imposuit qua nunc in rupe sacellum
Religio, veteris restant vestigia famæ.
Quatuor attollunt immani mole gigantis
Effractos simulacra pedes; ædemque columnæ
Contiguam variis incisæ floribus ornant.

Hic senis effigiem videas in pariete; chartam
Læva tenet; frontem meditantis dextera fulcit.

se quasi ministros præbuerunt, corporibus elapsi animi, circum ipsam terram volutantur, nec hunc in locum, nisi multis exagitati sæculis, revertuntur.-Somn. Scip. 9.

Hanc vitam tu exerce in optimis rebus. Sunt autem optimæ curæ de salute patriæ, quibus agitatus et exercitatus animus, velocius in hanc sedem, domumque suam pervolabit.-Somn. Scip. 9.

2 The same alley continues to Grotta Ferrata, once the favorite villa of Cicero, and now an abbey of Greek monks. It is bounded on the south by a deep dell, with a streamlet that falls from the rock; and having turned a mill, meanders through the recess, and disappears in its windings.-Eustace, Class. Tour, vol. ii. 8.

3 The plane-tree, which Cicero notices with so much complacency in the person of Scævola, in the first book De Oratore, still seems to love the soil, and blooms and florishes in peculiar perfection all around.— Eustace, vol. ii. 8.

4 At each end of the portico is fixed in the wall a fragment of bassorelievo one represents a philosopher sitting with a scroll in his hand in a thinking posture; on the other are four figures supporting the feet of a fifth of colossal size, supposed to represent Ajax. These, with the beautiful pillars which support the church, are the only remnants of the decorations and furniture of the ancient villa.-Eustace, vol. ii. 8.

Tristior aspiciens parva heu ! monumenta viator
Avellit nequicquam oculos, amissaque luget
Gaudia; mox ipsis, qua stat defixus, in umbris
Egregii quondam meminit sermonis,' et ardor
Extemplo surgentem animum divinior implet,
Magnaque nunc tandem demissæ gratia lucis!

Scilicet illa tuis arcanæ semina flammæ
Effulsere oculis, quamvis obscura; nec æther
Cognata, Cicero, attraxit dulcedine sensus
Nequicquam; at vates venturi præscius, ultra
Ausus es hos mundi fines errare, recessumque
Optare ignotum, placidique oblivia portus.
Hæc tibi solicita saltem lenimina mentis,
Nec parvum ingentis curæ solamen; et hac spe
Heu! miserum exilium, patriæque ingrata tulisti
Vulnera, servatæ crudelia præmia Romæ.
Hac fretus victricem iram, Antonique ministros
Instantes, gladiique minas tranquillus, et ora
Aspera vidisti, sublataque brachia ad ictum.
Tum forte Elysia sperabas regna quietis
Postremum, et moriens figebas lumina cœlo.

A

J. E. EARDLEY WILMOT,
COLL. BALL.

A CONNECTION of SACRED and PROFANE HISTORY, from the Death of Joshua tothe Decline of the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah (intended to complete the Works of SHUCKFORD and PRIDEAUX). By the REV. MICHAEL RUSSELL, LL.D., Episcopal Minister, Leith. 2 vols. 8vo. Rivingtons: London, 1827.

EVERY reader is well acquainted with Dean Prideaux's Connection of the Old and New Testament. With materials derived chiefly from the pages of profane authors, that learned person undertook to fill up the interval between the conclusion of the canonical Jewish scriptures, and the inspired narrative as resumed in the Christian

1 Tusculanarum Disputationum.

:

writings, about five centuries afterwards: and this task he performed with so much success, that few books have enjoyed a more extensive and enduring popularity than the volumes which bear his name. It is not, perhaps, so generally known, that it was the intention of Dr. Shuckford to bring down the events of the, sacred history from the creation of the world to the epoch at which the other began his valuable labors. But he did not live to complete his plan and his work, accordingly, which should have extended to the reign of Ahaz, proceeds no farther than to the times of Joshua ; leaving about eight hundred years of a very important period to Occupy the pen of some future writer. The numerous events which took place under the government of the Judges, in the brilliant reigns of Saul, David, and Solomon, as well as during those of the successive princes of Israel and Judah, till the ascendency of the Assyrian power threatened the liberty of both these nations, remained to be embodied in a continuous narrative, as also to be connected with the history of such other tribes and kingdoms of the East as had any intercourse with the descendants of Abraham. Hence the object of the publication now before us, is to complete the scheme contemplated by Dr. Shuckford; being a Connection of Sacred and Profane History, from the death of Joshua to the decline of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah.

Dr. Russell has seen proper to begin his work with a "Preliminary Dissertation, containing remarks on Ancient Chronology." He justly observes, that

to the reader who shall enter in earnest on the inquiries which are pursued in his book, it will soon become manifest, that in most cases, the study of ancient history resolves itself into a series of chronological disquisitions respecting the origin of nations and the relative antiquity of events. The last thing which appears of importance to the annalist of a rude age is to mark the precise order of the occurrences which he records, and more especially to afford the means of determining their place in the map of time, by noting their distance from one common point to which they might all be referred.

In our last Number, in the article "On the Difference in the Chronology of the Samaritan and Greek Versions and the Hebrew Text of the Scriptures," we gave an outline of the conclusions to which Dr. Russell's reasoning has carried him on that important subject, and which have been adopted by the Marquis Spineto in his lectures on the elements of hieroglyphics.' He remarks, that

I Since we wrote the above article, the Marquis has given his interesting lectures to the public through the medium of the press; and we observe that in several places he acknowleges his obligation to Dr. Russell in regard to his views of chronology. At the end of the eleventh lecture he refers to certain works; "and, above all, to the Preliminary Disser

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