Tempera quae meffor, quae curvus arator haberet? bat feafons the reaper, and what the bending plowman Should obferve. There is a white and a black Ivy, and a third fort, which is called Helix. Thefe forts are again fubdivided, for one is white only with regard to the fruit; another has the leaves alfo white. Of Of thofe which bear a white fruit, fome have a thicker and larger berry, the clufters being formed * into an orb, which is called cor "rymbus. The felinitium has a ཝ ་་ Imaller berry, and loofer cluffer. Some of them have their berries black, and others of a faffron codour, which the Poets ufe in their crowns. The leaves of it are "not fo black, and it is called by "fome Dionyfia, and by others $5 Bacchica, and has the largest corymbi of any of the black forts. Some of the Greeks make two "kinds of this alfo, from the cos lour of the berries, the erythra$num, and the chryfocarpum. But hothe helix is very distinguishable, 36 being very different in the form "of it's leaves. They are fmall D5 and angular, and more neat; whereas thofe of the other forts are plain. It differs alfo in the "length of the internodia, but chiefly in it's barrennefs; for it bears nor fruit. Some do not ** think it's difference to be fpecifical, but owing only to it's age; and affirm that what at firft is a helix grows afterwards to an ivy. σε But their mistake is evident from "there being feveral forts of helix, of which three are very remarkable. One is herbaceous and green, which is the most common, another is white, and a third variegated, which is called the Thracian. The leaves of the green fort are thinner, difpofed in better order, and fuller: thofe of the fecond fort are quite different "Of the variegated ivy one fort has thinner leaves, difpofed in order, and full; in another fort all thefe properties are neglected. "The leaves alfo are larger in fome than in others and they differ alfo in the form of their fpots. Alfo of the white fort fome are whiter than others. The green 97 " grows chiefly into length. The "white deftroys trees, and by de"priving them of all their juice increafes fo much in thicknels as "to become a tree itself. The "figns of it's beginning to bear fruit, are the fize and breadth of "it's leaves, and the standing up "of it's fhoots, which otherwise <6 are bending and though all forts "of ivy strike roots from their "branches; yet in this fort they are moft branched and ftrong. "The black comes next to it. But "this is peculiar to the white, that is it fends forth branches from amongst the leaves, and girts a tree quite round, which it does alfo upon walls, though it cannot encompass them. Hence, if G 2 66 it I have not yet put my lips, to Necdum illis labra admovi, fed condita fervo. them, but keep them laid up. το NOTES. « it is cut off in feveral places, it σε fill continues to live, and has as many ftrikings of roots as it has branches, by which it preferves itfelf, and fucks and ftrangles the «trées upon which it grows. There is alfo a difference in the fruit of * the white and black ivy ; for in fome the berries are fo bitter, that * no bird will touch them. There *t is allo an upright ivy, which * fands without any fupport, and * is therefore peculiarly called cifos; whereas the chamaecifos always creeps on the ground." The learned reader will compare this paffage of Pliny with what Theophraftus has faid in the eighteenth chapter of the third book of his Hiftory of Plants. It is plain, that there ancient writers defcribe fort of ivy with a white fruit as well known to them, but I cannot find that any of the Moderns are acquainted with it. The white ivy was efteemed more beautiful than the, common fort, as appears from the following verfe in the feventh Eclogue; 11 a the life of Lyfander, as admiral of the Athenian navy. He was fur prized by the Peloponnefians under the command of Lyfander, who deftroyed his fhips, Conon himself efcaping with only eight veffels to Euagoras king of Cyprus. Others, with more probability, think the Conon under confideration to have been a mathematician, and the friend, or as fome fay, the matter, of the famous Archimedes, who fpeaks of having fent fome theo rems to him, at the beginning of his book περὶ ἕλικων; Τῶν ποτὶ Κώνονα αποσταλέντων θεωρημάτων, υπερ ὧν ἀκεῖ τὰς ἀποδείξεις ἐπιστέλα λεις μοι γράψαι, τῶν μέν πλέισίων ἐν τοῖς ὑπὸ Ἡρακλείδα κομισθεντίσσιν έχεις γεγραμμένας. He prefendly afterwards mentions his death as a misfortune, many valuable difco veries being left imperfect; and gives him the character of a geometrician of uncommon fkill, and extraordi nary application. The problems, which he left, remained untouched for feveral years, till Archimedes chimself took them into confideration: • Candidior cycnis, hedera formo- Κώνων μὲν οὐκ ἱκανὸν λαβὼν ἐς τῶν σε fior alba." See the note on that paffage. 40. Conon.] Servius thinks the Conon here intended was the fa mous General of that name, whom the fhepherd mentions exprefsly as being well known ; but forgets the name of the philofopher. This Co is mentioned by Platurch, in μάσλευσιν αὐτῶν χρόνον, μετάλλαξεν τὸν βίον, καὶ ἄδηλα ἐποίησεν, καὶ ταῦτα πάντα ἑυρῶν, καὶ ἄλλα πολλά ἐξευρών, καὶ ἐπὶ τὸ πλεῖον, προάγαγεν τὴν γεω μετρίαν. Ἐπιστάμεθα γὰρ ὑπάρξα σαν αυτῳ σύνεσιν. ου τὴν τυχοῦσαν περὶ τὸ μάθημα, καὶ φιλοπονίαν υπερβάλλουσαν. Μετὰ δὲ τὰν Κώνωνος τελευταν πολλῶν ἐτέων ἐπιγεγενημένων, t ουδ DAM, Et nobis idem Alcimedon duo pocula fecit, ΝΟΤΕS. οὐδ ̓ ὑφ ̓ ἐνὸς οὐδὲν τῶν προβλημάτων αισθανόμεθα κεκινημένον βούλομαι δὲ καθ ̓ ἐν ἕκαστον αὐτῶν προσενέγκασθαι. At the beginning alio of his Τετρα-, γωνισμός Παραβολῆς, he fpeaks of him as an intimate friend of himfelf and of Dofitheus, and calls him. an excellent geometrician, and won derful mathematician : 'Ακούσας Κώ νῶνα μὲν τελευτηκέναι, ὃς ἦν ἔτι λείπων ἐν φιλίᾳ, τινὰ δὲ Κώνωνος γνώριμον γεγενησθαι, καὶ γεωμετρίας οἰκεῖον εἶμεν, τοῦ μὲν τετελευτηκότος εἵνεκεν ἐλυπήθημεν, ὡς καὶ φίλου τοῦ ἀνδρὸς γενομένου, καὶ ἐν τοῖς μαθήμασι θαν μασίου τινὸς. This Conon is allo celebrated by Catullus, in his Epigram on the conftellation of Bere nice's hair, as a famous aftronomer; DAM. And the fame Alci- ~ medon has made two cups for me, Et quis fuit alter, &c.] " This is a true example of paftoral fimplicity for the fhepherd is not here guilty of a blunder, which fome Commentators propofe as an inftance of it in other places: but he forgets the name of the other mathematician, and defcribes him by his works. But the Commentators are as much at a lofs for his name as the fhepherd. Hardly any perfon noted for knowledge in aftronomy has wanted a patron, to place his image on this poetical cup. Servius thinks he was either Aratus, Ptolemy, or Eudoxus. La Cerda mentions befides there, G 3 " Hefiod, and swifted the bandles epirb Et molli circum eft anfas amplexus acantho:45 foft acanthus, NOTES. pre Heliod, Anaximander, and Archimedes, the latter of whom he fers, thinking it most probable, that the artift would join thofe on the fame cup, whom he knew to have; been joined in friendship, and to have excelled in the fame ftudies. Ruacus mentions Aratus, Hefiod, and Archimedes, but thinks it more probable, that the Poet means the lafter, who was the difciple, or at leaft the friend of Conon. If by Ptolemy, Servius means the famous mathematician of Alexandria, he is guilty of a grofs error; for he lived long after Virgil's death, in the time of Antoninus. Eudoxus, the Cnidian, was a famous aftronomer, geometrician, phyfician, and legiflator. He was taught geometry by Archytas, and phyfick by Philiftion of Sicily. He is faid alfo to have been one of Plato's auditors, and to have travelled into Egypt, where he studied a year and four months. He wrote feveral celebrated pieces in aftronomy, geo metry, and other fciences, was very famous among the Greeks, compiled a body of laws for his own country, and died about the year of Rome 401. Suidas fays he wrote of aftronomy in verfe. Cicero, in his fecond book de Divinatione, fays he was an auditor of Plato, and the prince of aftronomers; Ad Chaldaeorum monftra veniamus: de quibus Eudoxus, Platonis auditor, in aftrologia, judicio doctif "fimorum hominum, facile prin❝ ceps, fic opinatur, id quod fcrip "N tum reliquit, Chaldaeis in prae"dictione, et in notatione cujufque vitae ex natali die, minime effe credendum." Thus Eudoxus may poffibly be the perfon intended; though it is much to be doubted, becaufe we do not hear, that he ever wrote concerning agriculture. Hefiod feems to have a much better: claim to the honour of being en graven on our cup. He was born at Afera in Boeotia, and is thought. by fome to have been older than Homer; others make him his contemporary; and others place, him after the age of that great Poet. But, if we may believe himself, he was at leaft contemporary with Homer; for he has told us, that he lived in the age fucceeding the heroes, who warred at. Troy, and at the fame time measures an age by the life of man. His poem concerning the times and feafons for agriculture is fufficiently known; and Pliny tells us, that he was the first who wrote on that fubject, "Hefiodus, qui princeps omnium de agricultura praecepit." Our Poet alfo himfelf. profeffes to write in imitation of this author; ག་ 7 "Afcraeumque cano Romana per 66 oppida carmen." Anaximander, according to Diogenes Laërtius, was a philofopher of Miletus, and flourished under Polycrates, the tyrant of Samos. He was the first inventor of the fundial, and geographical maps, and conftructed Orpheaque in medio pofuit, fylvafque fequentes. NOTES. constructed a sphere. But it does not appear, that he wrote any thing for the fervice of hufbandmen. Archimedes was a famous mathematician of Syracufe, a relation and friend of Hiero, king of that city, He has been celebrated by all hiftorians, for the wonderful effect of his engines in defending that town against the Romans. Marcellus, who laid close fiege to the place, caufed fome of the gallies to be fastened together, and towers to be erected on them, to drive the defendants from the wall. Against thefe Archimedes contrived engines, which threw heavy ftones and great pieces of timber upon those which lay at a diftance, by which means fome of the gallies were broken in pieces. As for those which lay nearer, fome were taken hold of by great grappling-irons, which lifted them up, hook out the men, and then threw them down again into the water: others were lifted up into the air, and dafhed to pieces against the walls, or thrown upon the rocks. In like manner was the army overwhelmed with fhowers" of ftones and timber; fo that Marcellus was forced to lay afide the affault, but after fome time the city was taken by furprize, and Archimedes was killed by a foldier, who did not know him, to the great grief of the Roman General, who made ufe of all poffible means to preferve him. He is faid alfo to have contrived a glass sphere, where and placed Orpheus in the middle, and the woods following. bim. |