:

mixture of the thick chyle with the blood; which, mixture intricates the volatile parts of it, that otherwife would be fecerhed by the glands of the brains. We are inclined to fleep after hard labour, walking, and the like; for this reafon There is a certain quantity of spirits neceffary for every muscular motion; now all motion diffipates the fpirits, and confequently the more violent the motion is, the greater will be the diffipation; and this diffipation muft of neceflity produce a relaxation of the parts and members of the body: Among the reft, of the brain, which then, according to fome, fubfides, and thus hinders animal fecretion. For the fame reason too, we are fleepy after having been long awake; as alfo, becaufe the brain being relaxed for want of spirits, which, keeping the fibres turgid, are the cause of all the ftiffness and ftraitness of the body, the dull and heavy ferum inundates in the brain.

Sleep, therefore, is a thing which the frailty of human nature makes necessary: and fince all our motions and actions depend on parts that are fo eafily diffipated as the fpirits are, it is of abfolute neceffity that we allow fome time to recruit, by fleeping, what we lose by being awake. Thus fleep may properly be defined, a certain feriation of the external fenfes, that is to fay, a total ceffation of all fenfation and voluntary motion, proceeding from a defect of, or an impaired and diminished motion in the animal spirits, not from any fault in the blood, or in the brain: Or otherwife: Sleep is a fufpenfion of action, and an impotence in which the foul is in a manner disjoined from the body, at least so far as not to perceive or know any thing that paffes in it: And thus the caufe of fleep must be the defect or fault of that part by which the foul is united to the body, i. c. of the animal spirits, which, by their motion to the brain, excite in the foul the perception of all fuch things as occafioned their redux to the brain : For the operations of the exterior fenfes are performed when we are awake, and in this manner : The nerves of the organs of fenfation being extended and turgid with spirits, that are tranfmitted to them from the brain, are ftruck by the fpecies of things; then the fpirits themselves, by a certain refilition towards the brain, make an impreffion on the faculty that refides within it : Whence it follows, that unless the interior faculty be moved, and perceive, there can be no fenfation. This being granted, it neceffarily follows, that the feriation of the exterior senses, of which we were speaking, therefore happens, because the orifices of the nerves grow weak and flag; and by that means are ftopped up: And thus the nerves being no longer turgid by the afflux of the fpirits, but rather relaxed, the members begin to fail, the spirits no longer result towards the brain, nor can propagate or carry on to the interior fa culty the ftrokes they receive from exterior objects. But these things require a longer difputation than this interpretation will permit.

Ver. 970. Here the poet begins to treat of dreams. Now Epicurus, as was faid before, was of opinion, that the minds of fleeping animals are

ftruck and moved by external and adventitious images, and that these are the causes of dreams. And the reason, says Lucretius, why we chiefly dream of those things about which we are mostly taken up and bufied in the day, notwithstanding that images of all kinds are conftantly at hand, is, because the paffages through which the images had so often entered, are not closed up, and there. fore more easily receive and admit the images that belong to the actions in which we have been employed, than those that appertain to other things. And not only the dreams of men, but of other animals, may be explained in this manner. Nor is it to be wondered at, that fome dreams fright us more than others; for they whose images are composed of rough seeds, that rudely grate and wound the mind upon which they strike, must of neceflity be the most frightful. This is the account Lucretius gives of the caufe of dreams in general; and he enumerates several dreams that are moft ufual to men, and ascribes the chief cause of them to the various defires, employments, and diverfions with which they have been taken up and bufied when they were awake, and in which their thoughts were principally employed. Ari ftotle says, that dreams are the relics of those things which the fenfes, when awake, perceive; and that, fince the objects of our waking fenfes do not immediately vanish, as foon as the fenfes ccafe to be affected with them, but remain fome fmall time, and at least leave behind them a strong impreffion on our thoughts, it is nothing strange that the images of those things which, when we were awake, we either did or spoke of, or thought of, fhould offer themselves to us when we are afleep: Macrobius, in Somn. Scip. lib. i. cap. iii. enumerates five feveral forts of dreams which the ancients had obferved, and diftinguished by as many feveral names. The Greeks called them, όνειρος, ὅραμα, χρηματισμὸς, ἐνύπνιον, and φάντασμα. The Latins, " Somnium, vifio, oraculum, infomnium," and " vifus," which laft is the word Cicero always uses when he has occasion to express the parlarua of the Greeks. It would be too tedious to give an account of each of them, and of the fuperftitious credulity of the ancients concerning dreams: We therefore refer the reader to Macrobius, in the place above cited, where he will abundantly find wherewith to fatisfy his cu riosity. Chaucer, in his tale of the Cock and the Fox, gives us a phyfical reafon of dreams: We will be obliged to Dryden for his thoughts, which, as he has tranflated them into modern words, are as follows:

-All dreams

Are from repletion and complexion bred,
From rising fumes of undigested food,
And noxious humours that infect the blood:
When choler overflows, then dreams are bred
Of flames, and all the families of red :
Red dragons, and red beafts, in fleep we view;
For humours are distinguish'd by their hue.
From hence we dream of war, and warlike things,
And wafps, and hornets, with their double ftings.

Dreams are but interludes which fancy makes;
When monarch reafon fleeps, this mimic wakes;
Compounds a medley of disjointed things,
A court of coblers, and a mob of kings.
Light fumes are merry; groffer fumes are ad;
Both are the reasonable foul run mad:
And many monstrous things in dreams we fee,
That never were, nor are, nor e'er can be.
Sometimes we but rehearse a former play :
The night reftores our actions done by day,
As hounds in fleep will open for their prey.
Sometimes forgotten things, long caft behind,
Rush forward to the brain, and come to mind:
The nurfes legends are for truth receiv'd,
And the man dreams but what the boy believ'd:
In short, the farce of dreams is of a piece;
Chimeras all, and more abfurd, or lefs.

Ver. 979. The meaning is, that they who go to fee plays for fome days together, are apt to dream of them at night, and in their dreams fancy they fee the actors, hear them repeating their parts, and the mufic playing as alfo that they fee the audience and the decorations of the flage. This is the fenfe of Lucretius, which I the rather take notice of because the words fport and play, in the first line of this paragraph, exprefs but ill the comedics and tragedies of which the poet is speaking.

Ver. 1005. Here the poet begins to treat of frightful dreams, and teaches. that they are caufed by images that flow from things which are compofed of rough feeds.

Ver. 1007. The words of the text are, At variæ fugiunt volucres, pennisque repentè Sollicitant divùm nocturno tempore lucos, &c. In which we may obferve a fcoff even worthy of Lucretius: Lucus, a grove, is thus defcribed by the Scholiaft upon Homer: was ros culiers ὕδωρ ἔχων, καὶ θεοις ἀφιερώμενος. Every place planted with trees, having water, and confecrated to the gods. Now Lucretius impioufly infinuates, that the gods cannot protect their inmate birds from the image of a hawk.

Ver. 1012. Dreams of this nature, which are of the fort the ancients called infomnia, are elegantly defcribed by Petronius, in thele verfes: Somnia que mentes ludunt, volitantibus umbris, Non delubra Deum, nec ab æthere numina mit

tun',

Sed fibi quifque facit. Nam quum proftrata fopore
Urget membra quies, et mens fine pondere ludit,
Quicquid luce fuit, tenebris agit: oppida bello
Qui quatit, et flammis miferandas fævit in urbes,

Tela videt, verfafque aciés, et funera regum, Atque exundantes perfufo fanguine campos, &c. To which I add these two excellent verfes of the

author of the Difpenfary, in a defcription of night:

The flumb'ring chiefs of painted triumphs dream, While groves and ftreams are the foft virgin's theme.

Ver. 1026, 1021. Thefe four verses are omit ted by Creech.

He was, according to fome, the fon, according to others, the fervant of Somnus, the god of fleep, and father of dreams. Morpheus was fo called, because his province was to imitate raspi the looks and forms of men. He is defcribed by Ovid, Metam. xi. ver. 364, where, fpeaking of Somnus the god of fleep, he says, that Excitat artificem, fimulatoremque figuræ Morphea. Non illo juffus folertior alter Exprimit inceffus, vultumque, modumque lo quendi :

Adjicit et veftes, et confuetiffima cuique
Verba: fed hic folos homines imitatur-
Thus rendered by Dryden :

Somnus, the drowsy god,

Excited Morpheus from the fleepy crowd:
Morpheus, of all his num'rous train, exprefs'd
The thape of man, and imitated beft:
The walk, the words, the geftures could fupply,
The habit mimic, and the mien bely:
Plays well, but all his action is confin'd,
Extending not beyond our human kind.

But Mr. Rowe, in his Ulyffes, extends his power much farther, nay, even makes him a god, bet, I think, without authority: However, the pa fage is well worth the tranfcribing:

Still, when the golden fun withdraws his beams, And drowfy night invades the weary world, Forth flies the god of dreams, fantastic Mor

pheus:

Ten thousand mimic fancies fleet around him,
Subtle as air, and various in their natures:
Each has ten thousand thoufand diff'rent forms,
In which they dance, confus'd, before the fleeper;
While the vain god laughs to behold what pain
Imaginary evils give mankind.

This Morpheus had two brothers, or fellow-fervants, Phobetor or Icelos, and Phantafus, who likewife had their peculiar offices allotted them: This too we learn from Ovid, in the place above cited. I omit the original, and will give it only as tranflated by Dryden:

Another birds, and beafts, and dragons apes,
And dreadful images, and menfter-shapes:
This demon, Icelos, in heav'n's high hall,
The gods have nam'd, but men Phobetor call:
A third is Phantafus, whofe actions roll
On meaner thoughts, and things devoid of foul:
Earth, fruits, and flow'rs, he reprefents in dreams,
And folid rocks unmov'd, and running streams.

Idque petit corpus mens, unde 'st faucia amore: Namque omnes, &c.

Which I thus interpret: Thofe parts being enraged by the feed, fwell; and thence arifes a defire of ejecting the feed on that part to which the raging luft is ftriving to attain: and the mind tends to that body from which fhe received her wound of love. "Namque omnes," &c. For all men, for the most part, fall upon their wound; and the blood gushes with violence towards the part from whence we are wounded; and if the murderer be near us, the red liquor will fpout upon him. What follows, makes the connection appear yet more plain:

Sic igitur veneris qui telis accipit ictum,
Unde feritur, eo tendit.-

That is to fay, in like manner, he who is wounded by the darts of Venus, tends to the place from whence he was ftruck. But Nardius gives another interpretation to the last of these verses, and fays, the poet fpeaks of a dead body that bleeds afresh if the murderer approach it; of which I the rather difapprove, because even he himself will not allow the fact to be true; but that the wounded fall upon the fide on which they are wounded, is not only confirmed by experience, but a natural reafon may be given, why, in all probability, it cannot be otherwife: for all things

bend, and incline to fall on the fide on which is their imbecility, and whatever is fupported by a certain force, when that force comes to be im

paired, from whatever cause it happens to be fo, muft of neceflity incline to the fide on which is its weakness; and when the weak part gives way, it drags along with it into ruin the parts that are annexed to it, and which, together with it, make the whole. This we may obferve daily of buildings, and of cripples. Now, the wounded part must grow weak, not so much by reafon of the diffolution of its contexture, as because of the lofs of blood and animal fpirits, which Hippocrates himself, lib. de Aliment. allows to be the caufes of ftrength; therefore wounded animals muft naturally fall on the fide on which they receive their wound. "Coruit in vulnus," fays Virgil of Pallas, whom Turnus flew. Æn. x. ver 488 And this I prefume fufficient to juftify the retaining thefe verfes, notwithstanding the cenfure of thofe learned interpreters who have abfolutely rejected them, fince it proves them to have a visible and natural connection, not only with what went before, but likewife with what follows, which Dryden has thus rendered:

So likewife he who feels the fiery dart
Of strong defire transfix his am'rous heart;
Whether fome beauteous boy's alluring face,
Or lovelier maid, with unrefifted grace,
From her each part the winged arrow fends,
And whence he firft was ftruck, he thither tends:
Reftlefs he roams, impatient to be freed,
And eager to inject the sprightly feed.

For, ftung with inward rage, he sings around, And strives t' avenge the smart on that which gave the wound.

Ver. 1057. Some copies read frigida, other fervida cura: Creech, in this place, takes notice of neither. Faber is abfolutely for fervida, and fays, every man will approve that reading, who can truly fay from his heart," Nunc fcio quid fit amor- The care that is caused by love, is hot, it glows, it burns: asgòv Bíλos, wupośvja ßí. depera, wugi wáila Bilasjas. Creech also, in his Latin edition, is of the fame opinion, and fays, he too will approve of it, who obferves, that Lucretius is explaining the rife and increafe, or pro. grefs of love: First, A drop of it diftills upon the heart, thence proceeds a vehement defire, which is nourished by the images that are continually prefenting themselves to the wounded lover, in fomuch, that though the object of his flame be abfent, yet her name is always founding in his ears. But Dryden feems to approve of frigids cura, as we may judge by his tranflation of this paffage :

For fierce defire does all his mind employ,
And ardent love affures approaching joy.
Such is the nature of that pleasing smart,
The fever of the foul fhot from the fair,
Whose burning drops diftil upon the heart:
And the cold ague of fucceeding care.
If absent, her idea still appears,
And her sweet name is chiming in your ears,

ber, numerous as they are, there is not, in my Ver. 1063. In all the Latin authors, says Fa opinion, any thing that equally ought, or deferves there have been some men heretofore, and at this to be read, as the following verfes. And yet day many of the fame fort are to be found, who ftrenuously contend, that they ought, if poffible, to be concealed from the eyes of mankind, as abounding with manifeft abominable impurities. whofe fo falutary advices have been thus ill reHard fate of our poet! whofe fo useful counfels, ceived, and met with fo improfperous fuccess: For though he cry out with all his might, Sirenas, hilarem navigantium pœnam, Blandafque mortes, gaudiumque crudele, Effugete, ô miferi, tortumque ab littore funem Rumpite;

Though he prove, by many arguments, that luft incontinence, and debauchery, are the directeft roads that lead to inevitable ruin and perdition, and that we ought therefore to have in abomina tion, and to avoid and fly from, more than we would from the jaws of devouring ferpents and wild beasts, thofe infamous prostitutes, who lead by the nose their inconfiderate admirers: though he fhows, that estates, reputation, and the health and welfare, both of the mind and body, are ruin ed that way, notwithstanding all this, I say, there are fome fo fupercilioufly tender of their own and other's modefty, as to exclaim against, and as to give us warning to avoid thefe obfcene expref

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fons, thefe bawdy verfes, that are not fit to be read, nor worthy to be remembered. 1, for my part, confefs, that I discover in this difputation nothing of impurity, nothing obfcene, nothing unfit to be read, or unworthy to remember: and if any thing of fuch nature appear to others, the reader is in fault, not the poet. If nothing of this kind may be read, phyficians must leave off to study nature, and anatomies must no longer be exposed to view. At least, this I think I may affirm for a truth not to be controverted, that, if what Lucretius has here written must be deemed impure and obscene, yet expreffions, far more impure and obfcene, may be found in a certain book which no man will dare to blame. I know it will be objected, that that holy writer, whom it is no matter to name in this place, handled that subject, even though it be of a most filthy | nature, fo plainly, and with fuch open broadnefs, that he might, by the perspicuous turpitude of the defcription, create the greater abhorrence of that vice, and render it the more deteftable. I own it; nor was I ever of another opinion. But to what end, or in what defign did Lucretius write in this manner? Was it that he might inftruct in the art of playing the bawd, and thus make his fortune by the vileft commerce? Other poets have, indeed, in many ages, followed that trade, and found their account by it; and perhaps too fome do fo at this day: But the integrity of his life, the feverity of his manners, and the many most falutary precepts that are scattered here and there throughout this whole poem, leave us no room to fufpect any fuch base design in Lucretius. Let us fee at one view the wholefome advice he gives us in the affair of love.

Sed fugitare decet fimulacra et pabula amoris,
Abfterrere fibi, atque aliò convertere mentem,
Nam certa et pura eft fanis magis inde-voluptas,
Quam miferis: Etenim potiundi tempore in ipfo
Mu&uat incertis erroribus ardor amantum;
Nec reperire malum id poffunt quæ machina vin-

cat.

Ufque adeo incerti tabefcunt vulnere cæco.
= Adde quod abfumunt vires, pereuntque labore:
Adde quod alterius fub nutu degitur ætas.
Labitur interea res, et vademonia fiunt;
Languent officio, atque ægrotat fama vacillans.
Si nefcis, etiam medio de fonte leporum
Surgit amari aliquid, quod in ipfis floribus angat:
Aut quod confcius ipfe animus fe forte remordet,
Defidiosè agere ætatem, luftrifque perire;
Aut quod in ambiguo verbum jāculata reliquit,
Quod cupido affixum cordi vivefcit ut ignis:
Uti fit, ut melius multo vigilare fit ante,
Quâ docui ratione, cavereque ne inlaqueeris.
Of which the English reader will not be difpleafed
to fee Dryden's interpretation:

But ftrive thofe pleafing phantoms to remove,
And thun th' aërial images of love,

That feed the flame

For on one object 'tis not fafe to stay;

Force then the tide of thought fome other way: TRANS. II.

For purer joys in purer health abound,
And lefs affect the fickly than the found.
When love its utmost vigour does employ,
Ev'n then 'tis but a reftlefs wand'ring joy.
All ways they try, fuccef-lefs all they prove,
To cure the fecret fore of ling'ring love.
Besides-

They waste their strength in the venereal ftrife,
And to a woman's will enslave their life.
Th' eftate runs out, and mortgages are made;
All offices of friendship are decay'd;

Alloffices of friendship are decay'd; teras'd; }

And in the fountain where the fweets are fought,
Some bitter bubbles up, and poifons all the draught.
For guilty confcience does the mirror bring,
And sharp remorfe fhoots out her angry fting:
And various thoughts within themselves at ftrife,
Upbraid the long mif-fpent luxurious life.
Perhaps the fickle fair one proves unkind,
Or drops a doubtful word that pains his mind,
And leaves a rankling jealousy behind.
Therefore, far better is it to prevent,
Than flatter the disease, and late repent:

Because to fhun th' allurement is not hard

To minds refolv'd, forewarn'd, and well prepar'd!
But wondrous difficult, when once befet,
To ftruggle through the freights, and break th
involving net.
Dryd.

Is this the language of a man, who intended to corrupt his readers, or rather of one who defigned ufefully to inftruct and advise them: Thus Faber, concerning the poet's intention in this difcourfe of love. Creech, too, fubfcribes to his opinion, and ful of his diction, and that it is at least as pure adds, that the poet has in this place been as caseand correct as in any other part of the whole poeni; and fo plain and fignificant likewife, as not to need an interpreter.

Ver. 1065. Dryden has rendered this paffage otherwife; and, indeed, more clofe to the fenfe of Lucretius than our tranflator.

-When one molefts thy mind, Discharge thy loins on all the leaky kind: For that's a wifer way than to restrain Within thy fwelling nerves that horde of pain For every hour fome deadlier fymptom shows, And by delay the gathering venom grows, When kindly applications are not us'd: The fcorpion love muft on the wound be bruis'd, On that one object 'tis not safe to stay, But force the tide of thought fome other way: The fquander'd fpirits prodigally throw, And in the common glebe of nature sow.