1 Vobis immunibus hujus Effe mali dabitur 6. Baucis and Philemon escape by leaving their House, and following the Gods to a Mountain, after the fame manner as Lot and his Daugh ters. Modò veftrar elinquite tecta Ac noftras comitate gradus, & in ardua montis 7. The Neighbours of Baucis and Philemon are punished, their Town turned into a Pool of standing Water, as the Valley of Siddim became a Lake. Tellus habitabilis olim Nunc celebres mergis, fulicifq; paluftribus undæ. 8. The Scene of this furprifing Event, Ovid lays ad phrygios colles, in the Hills of Phrygia, but does not mark out the place more diftinctly: Perhaps he had fomewhere read,that it hapned or ngtanengvue, by which name, part of Phrygia is called. Nay, the very name guía, is derived and 78 guy, from Roafting or Burning. Therefore, the Country about Sodom, may as well be meant by both Apellations, as that Region in Afia Minor, as fufficiently appears by what has been already faid; but Ovid, according according to the custom of Poets, puts down a better known name, instead of one that was less known. We might eafily make a Parallel between that part of Phrygia, and the Country about Sodom, and fhew wherein they agree, as any one will soon find out, who will attentively confider what Strabo, l. 13. has written, περὶ τῆς κατακεκαυμένης, but we have not time to discuss this matter more prolixly. Altho' I am not of the opinion of fome Learned Men, who fuppofe, that all the Fables of the Grecians are derived from Histories in the Bible, changed and corrupted: yet the concurrence of fo many Circumftances, inclined me to believe, that the Hiftory of Lot, is in fome manner fhadowed in the Fable of Baucis and Philemon. We have shown in our Annotations upon Gen. c. 18. v. 1. That fomething like this, might have happen'd in the Fable of Orion; and indeed 'tis reasonable to imagine, that the Phænicians, relating to the Greeks, things done in the Land of Canaan, partly mingled them with fome Additions of their own; and partly might be misunderstood by the Greeks who had Vanity enough to adorn whatever they heard, with new fictions of their own Invention; which is the reafon, that the footsteps of Truth can scarce be traced in their Fables; altho' they arofe from true Hiftories. Confult our Obfervations upon ch. 9. 20. From this Conflagration of Sodom,the Author of the small Poem,De Sodoma, pretends the Fable of Phaethon arose. Flinc Hinc habet in falfo de vero fabula famam But as there is no manner of likeness be. tween this History and that Fable, fave only, that fingle Circumftance of Burning, one cannot affirm any thing on this occafion. Others, with more probability, find fome refembling footsteps of this History in the Fable of Typhaus, and therefore we will in a few words, lay down their Opinion, with the Arguments they bring to fupport it, 1. The name of Tupaeus, may be deduced from the Chaldee, Radix,Touph, which fignifies to overflow; and therefore will be the fame as Tipho, i. e. one overflown; which name well enough fits the men that were drowned in the Lacus Asphaltites. 2. This fame Typhæus, whether a Man, or a Monster, was an Enemy, both of Gods and Men, as the Sodomites and their Neighbours were. mer's Hymn upon Apollo, and Hefiod's Theogonia. 3. The beds of Typhæus, are faid by Homer, Il. 2. to be a 'Aeiuas, that is, in Aramea or Syria: for which, confult the Interpreters upon Stheph.Byzant,upon the word 'Ama. 4. Lycophron in his Caffandra, p. 137. Ed. Steph. places the feat of his Wife in a Lake, which feems to have a refpect to the Lacus Afphaltites. See Ho 5. He was flain by Jupiter with a Thunderbolt, which Homer, in the place above cited, and Hefiod, in his Theogonia, describe after such a manner, that they may feem to relate to the Conflagration of Sodom: confult the latter, from v. 840. to v. 867. 6. In the very place where Typhæus is faid to be overcome, and killed by Jupiter, Fire and Smoak is reported to break forth,which(as we have already obferved) agrees with the the Country about Sodom. 'Tis true, both the Greek and Latin Poets have added several things to this Fable, and not knowing where to place the "Aeo, mentioned by Homer, ftrangely disagree from one another, as to that particular efpecially, but agree in thofe Circumftances we have here taken notice of VIII. Since it is most probable, that these Cities of the Plain of Jordan, were overthrown in the fame manner, as we have related it: However, fome inquifitive Reader may be still inclined to ask, whether we fuppofe the Ground was burnt and fubverted by Miracle, or only by the common methods of Nature. Seneca was of opinion, that the Gods never concerned themselves in any thing of this kind; and that the diforders of Heaven nor Earth, were occafioned by the anger of the Deities, Those things, fays he, are produced by their own Caules; neither do they rage, because they are commanded fo to do, but when they are di fturbed, it proceeds from fome failing or irregularity, as it happens with human Bodies; and and then, when they chiefly feem to give an injury, they receive one. But to us, who are ignorant of the true Caufe, every thing appears frightful, and our apprehenfions are increafed by the rarity of them. But to lay afide Rhetorical Figures, which only amuse and deceive ignorant People; the thing itself, if we confider it divefted of all Circumstances, does not seem to exceed the ordinary power of Nature, as we have fufficiently demonftrated from feveral Inftances of Earthquakes. In a Soil, impregnated with Bitumen, which is above, may be fhaken and fwallowed up with a fudden hiatus. Thunder-bolts too may fall, and fet the veins of Sulphur and Bitumen on fire, which afterwards breaking out, and mingled with the Water, may in a low Valley, eafily cause a Lake full of Asphaltus. But if these things were done before the natural Caufes were in a difpofition to produce this Effect, and had not happened at that inftant, unless it had been for fome extraordinary Intervention of God, or his Angels; it ought to be no lefs reputed a Miracle, than if every particular in the Tranfaction, plainly furpaffed the ufual order of Nature. And that the business happened after this manner, the two Angels difpatched by God Almighty, upon this important occafion, and their Difcourfes are Arguments fufficiently convincing. Nay, one of the Angels feems to have intimated this, who, before the thing happened, foretold it to Abraham, as we have obferved |