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CHA P. III.

Satan lights upon the bare Convex of the World's uttermoft Orb, where he first finds a Place, fince called the Limbo of Vanity.

M

EAN while SATAN lighted and walked upon that firm opacous Globe of this round World, whofe firft Convex divides the inferior Orbs that are under it, and enclofes them from CHAOS and NIGHT: Afar off it feemed a Globe, but now a boundless Continent, dark, wafte, and wild, under the Darkness of NIGHT, expofed, ftarlefs, with Storms of CHAOS always bluftering round it, and an inclement Sky; excepting on that Side, which though at great Distance from the Walls of Heaven, gains fome small Reflexion of glimmering Air, lefs vexed with loud Tempeft; here the Fiend walked at large; as when a VULTURE (i) upon the Mountain IMAUS (k), (whofe fnowy Ridge bounds in the roving Inhabitants of TARTARY (1) having left a Country where there

(i) Vulture; Lat. i.e, of a piercing fharp Sight. A very voracious Bird, bigger than an Eagle, of an excellent Sagacity of Sight and Smelling above all other Birds; fo that it can perceive the Savour of dead Carcafes fifty Miles off; and appear two or three Days before any great Slaughter. They feed only upon Carcafes, but prey not upon any living Creatures.

(4) Imaus; Lat. Gr. Tat. contracted from Mus Tag, i. e. The Mountain of Snow, as the Tartars call it; being always covered therewith. A vall high

was

Mountain in Afia, a Part of Mount Taurus, rifing from it near the Cafpian Sea; and extending to the. Spring of the Ganges. It parts Tartary from India, dividing it into two Parts, i. e. Tartary within, and Tartary without the Imaus. Now Dalinguer.

(1) Tartary; Syr. i. e. Dark, a Remnant; because they are thought to be the Remainder of the Ten Tribes of Ifrael. Tartary is a very large Country between Muscovy and India, about 3000 Miles in Length, and 2250 Miles in Breadth; the

was Scarcity of Prey, with Intent to devour the Fiefh of Lambs and young Kids, flies towards the Springs of GANGES (m), or HYDASPES (n), (which are Rivers of INDIA) but in his Way lights on the barren Plains of SERICANA (0) where the CHINESE (p) drive

third Part of Afia. The Románs called it Scythia, i. e. Wrathful and furious; or Teut. Schieten, i. e. Shooting; because excellent the Scythians were Shooters or Marks-men. The Perfians and Chine fe call it Tataria and Tata, i. e. Invaders and Robbers, from Tatar, the eldeft Son of Alanza-Chan, who was their Founder. The Tartars became better known in Europe about A. D. 1168, when they fubdued Part of Muscovy, and became Masters of China; though it is not thoroughly known to this Day. The Epithet Roving is very proper; because they wander about in Companies, in Tents, feeding their Cattle, without any fixed Houses, or Habitations. See, the Genealogical Hiftory of the Tartars, tranflated from the Tatar Manufcript, A. D. 1730.

(m) Ganges; Ind. i. e. The River, or from a King of that Name. A famous River of In dia, larger than any in Europe, except the Volga and Danube, efpecially when it overflows; but noted for the Goodness and Lightness of its Water. The Indians fay, it fanctifies them when they drink or wash themfelves in it. Four or Five Hun. dred Thousand of them are seen about it, throwing Money into it, &c. which they think may

be useful to them when dead. The Great Mogul and all others drink the Waters of it; for it is carried far and near, and fold at a dear Price, because they fool. ifhly fancy that it fprings from Paradise. It rifes on Mount I

maus

in Tatary, divides the whole Empire into two Parts after a Course of three-hundred German Miles, or one thousand threehundred English, difcharges itself into the Bay of Bengal in five chief Mouths. In fome Places it is five Leagues over: There are many large Iflands in it befet with fine Trees, which give a delightful Profpect. It overflows at

the

ufual Time of the Year, as the Nile, Niger, Euphrates, &c. from the fame Caufe. Now called Ganga, by the Inhabitants there.

(n) Hydafpes; Ind. from a King of that Name. Another' famous River of India, which runs by Nyfa, Lahor, and other great Cities, into the Indian Ọ

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drive their lightcany Waggons with Wind and Sails: So the Fiend walk'd up and down, alone, upon this new Region, bent on his Prey; alone indeed, for in the Place where he now was, no other Creature might be found, living or dead: none as yet, but afterwards Fike airy Vapours flew up from the Earth great Store of all tranfitory and vain Things, when SIN had filled the Works of MEN with Vanity, and not only all vain Things, but all who in vain Things built their fond Hopes of Glory, or lafting Fame, of their Happiness, either in this or the other Life; all who have their Reward upon Earth, who go about only feeking to gain the Praife of MEN, the Fruits of painful Superftition and blind Zeal; fuch find here a fit Retribution, as empty as their own Deeds: All the unfinished

was called, the Silken Kingdom for in one Province of China (as Le Comte fays) there feems to be Silk, fufficient for all the World. See Pag. 438. OBS. Silk was known in Europe first in Just nian's Time, about the Middle of the fifth Century, by two Monks who came from India,

(P) Chinese, the People of China The ancient Hebrews called it Sin; the Moderns, Zin; the Arabs, Effin: the Perfians and Tatars, fchin; and the Europeans, Sinarum Regio, and China, from the Sine, from one of its antient Monarchs, Cina or Chine; or from Chung ; i. e. The Kingdom of the Middle; Because the Chinese think it lies in the Middle of the Earth: Or, an Excellent, Country; Or, from Sem, whofe Pofterity they are. China is a moft antient and large Empire in the Eaft of Afia: It was founded foon after the Flood, and governed by its own Empe.

rors above four thousand, Years, till the Tatars expelled the laft Emperor, called Faclius or Fachir; A. D. 1278, and was not known to the Europeans till the twelfth Century. It is about one thoufand eight hundred Miles in Length, one thoufand two hundred Miles in Breadth, and confifts of fixteen Provinces, molt of which are as large, as any Kingdom in Europe. The People, for their Numbers, Learning, Laws, Cuftoms, &c. differ from all others, because they had no Conversation with any. They are very cunning, conceited, induftrious, almost all Pagans and Grand Cheats. The Chinese have above fixty-thoufand Letters, yet not above three-hundred Words, and write from the Top to the Bottom of the Page. Their Country is fo plain, that in many Places of it, they drive Waggons made of a Sort of Cane, with Sails and Winds.

ALV Works

Works of Nature, all that are abortive, monstrous, or not mixed according to Kind, being diffolved upon Earth fly hither, and wander vainly here 'till final Dif folution; not in the neighbouring Moon, as ARIOSTQ and fome others have dreamed, (that bright Planet may more likely be fuppofed to be inhabited by tranflated Saints, or Spirits of a middle Nature, betwixt the angelical and human Kind) hither, to this Limbo of VANITY, came firft thofe Giants, who were born when the Sons of GOD joined themfelves ill to the Daughters of those who were not of GoD: The next who came were the Builders of BABEL upon the Plain of SHINAR (q), who still had they wherewithal would build new BABELS: Others came fingle, EMPEDOCLES (r), who, that he might be thought a God, fondly leaped into the Flames of the burning Mount ETNA; and CLEOMBROTUS (s), who leaped into the Sea,

(g) Shinar; Heb i. e. Scattering; Because the People were fcattered over all the Earth: Or, Atriking out of a Tooth, from the Confufion of all Languages, Gen. x. 10. A Part of Chaldea, where Nimrod built his Tower. For Countries were calJed from the Captains of thofe that first fettled in them: But this is fo called, to keep up the Memory of that fad Accident to future Ages.

A

(r) Empedocles; Lat. from the Gr. i. e. Stable in Glory: vain-glorious Philofopher, Hiftorian and Poet; and Difciple of Pythagoras; born at Agrigentum in Sicily, the Son of Meon, who once refufed a King dom. He flourished in the eighty-fourth Olympiad, A. M. 3558, and before Jefus Chrift 468. He

wrote a Book of Natural Philo
fophy in Herioc Verfe, and is
fuppofed to be the firft that had
any Knowledge of Rhetoric.
To be honoured as a God after
Death, he ftole from his Com-
pany by Night, and threw him-
felf into the Mouth of Mount
Etna, as if he had been tran-
flated into Heaven: But the
his Brazen San-
Flames threw up
dals, and foon betrayed his
Ambition. See Horat. de Arte
Poet. But others fay, that he
fell into the Sea, and was
drowned.

(s) Cleombrotus; Lat. Gr. i. e. The Glory of Mortals. A foolish young Greek of Ambracia, a City of Epirus, who was fo much taken with Plato's Book of the Immortality of the Soul, that he leaped headlong from a

O 2

Wall

Sea, to enjoy the Elyfium of PLATO (t); and many more too tedious to mention; Embrio's, Idiots, and Hermits (u); Fryars, white, black, and grey, with all their foolish Trumpery: Hither PILGRIMS (2) roam, that have wandered fo far, to feek him dead in

Wall into the Sea, the fooner to be a Partaker of the Blifs in Ely fum, Cicero. Two of that Name were Kings of Sparta, long before this Man.

(1) Plato; Lat. from the Gr. i. e. Broad: Because he was hunch-backed and broad in his Forehead. His firft Name was Ariftocles, Gr. i. e. The best Glory; for the Name of his Grandfather; but he retained the lat ter. A famous Philofopher, born at Athens in the first Year of the eighty-eighth Olympiad, A. M. 3576, before Jefus Chrift fourhundred and eighty-two, and died in the first Year of the eigh ty-eighth Olympiad, before Jefus Chrift three-hundred and forty. eight, Aged eighty-one, and upon the fame Day he was born. Being an Infant, and fleeping one Day under a Myrtle-Tree, a Swarm of Bees fettled upon his Lips, which was taken for an Omen, that he fhould be very eloquent, which happened to be true; and therefore he was called the Athenian Bee, for the Sweetnefs of his Style. By his Travels into Egypt, Chaldea, India, and reading the Books of Mofes and the Prophets, he attained the Knowledge of God, Religion, and Nature; therefore he is called the Divine Plato. He was Scholar to Socrates Euclid, and the best Masters of the Age. He

was a notable Rhetorician, Chief of the Academics, and produced many eminent Scholars: Nay. the Primitive Christians embraced his Syftem of Philofophy, as far nearer to the Holy Scriptures, than that of the Epicureans. Stoics and Peripatetics. He has left many Books, which are written in the Form of Dialogues, except only his Epiftles. Quintilian fays, that he seems not to fpeak the Language of Men, but of the Gods.

(u) Hermits; Gr. i. e. Devel lers in the Wilderness. At first, Holy Men for the Sake of Chrift and their Lives, in hot Perfecutions, hid themselves in Defarts, Dens and Caves; and gave themfelves wholly to Fafting, Prayer and great Aufterities. Paul the Theban, about A. D. 260, lived about one-hundred Years in a Cave: Anthony inftituted the Hermitical Life in Egypt, and died A. D. 361. But the Church of Rome hath made many Innovations therein fince.

(x) Pilgrims; Fr. from the Lat. i. e. Strangers; Men that travelled through foreign Countries, to pay their Devotions to Saints departed, Shrines, Relicks. The Chriftian Pilgrims went to Jerufalem, Rome, St. lago, &c. and the Turkish to Mecca in Ara. bia, every Year in folemn Proceffions, to vifit the Tomb of Muhummed.

GOLGO

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