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OLYMPIAN or PYTHIAN (0) Games; others curb fiery Steeds, or draw up Chariots and Troops in Form of Battle: As when, to give Warning to proud Cities, there appears War in the troubled Sky, and Armies rush to Battle in the Clouds, before the Van the airy Knights fpur and level their Spears, 'till thick Legions clofe; and the Firmament feems to be on Fire with warlike Apparitions.

OTHERS of the Fallen Spirits, with Rage like that of TYPHON, and more fierce, tear up the Rocks and Hills, and ride the Air in Whirlwinds, fo that

the fecond Month after the fourth Year, every fifth Year, or every fiftieth Year monthly for five Days together; because the Dactyli were five Brothers, who fettled in Elis, and inflituted the Solemnity. In thefe the valiant Youths exercised themselves at Running, Whirlbating, Quoit ing, Jumping, and Wrestling; for high Rewards: But Women were not fuffered to be at them. They were very famous, and more manly (abating the Immodefty of the Players, who were all naked) than the cruel Diverfions of the Romans, who pleaf ed themfelves with tearing Men and Beafts into Pieces, upon their Theatres; and became their E. pocha or Date of Time. The Olympiads were the firft certain Periods of Chronology among the Greeks. The firft Olympiad began in the 35th Year of Uz xiah, King of Judah, on the Yith of our June, A. M. 3174 or 3228. After the Deluge, 1518 Years, 400 after the Deftruction of Troy; 30 Years before the Building of Rome; 730

before the Incarnation; and con. tinued in Ufe to the Reign of Conftantine; foon after the Chriftian Era took Place.

(0) Pythian, of Python ; Hib. Pethen, i. e. An Afp or Cockatrice,

Gr. i. e. Corruption. These Games were inftituted in Honour of Apollo, who shot a huge Serpent called Python: (0thers fay, it was fome cruel Ty rant whom he flew,) because it was generated of the impure Mud of the Earth after the Deluge, by the River Cephifus, near Parnaffus: therefore he was called Pythius, thefe Games Pythi ci, the City of Delphi (where his Oracle was kept) Pythia; the Priefteffes, Pythia or Pytho niffe. They were celebrated every ninth Year at first, but afterward on every fifth Year, according to the Number of the five Nymphs, that went to congratulate Apollo on his Victory over the Python; and the Conquerors were rewarded with Fruits confecrated to him. Apollo is the Sun, who by his icorching Rays destroyed this dreadful Monster.

Hell

Hell scarce holds the wild Uproar: As when HERCULES (P), crowned with Conqueft from THESSALY (9), after he had put on the poifoned Robe, through Pain tore up Pines by the Roots, and threw LICHAS (r) from OETA (s) into the Black Sea. Others more mild retreated into a filent Valley, and fung to Harps in Angelical Notes their own heroick Deeds and unhappy Fall, by Chance of War, and complain that Fate fhould enflave free Virtue: Their Song was partial, but the Melody fufpended the Pains of Hell, and gave a great Delight to the thronging Audience; what lefs could be, feeing that they were immortal Spirits that fung?

(P) Hercules, the Son of Ju piter and Alcmena, and Grandfon of Alcaus. After many mighty Deeds, called his twelve Labours, he ran mad, by putting on a poisoned Veft, ftained with the Blood of Neffus the Centaur, whom he had killed with a poisoned Arrow, for a foul Affront offered to his Wife; Neffus in Revenge perfuaded her to put it upon Hercules, as an Antidote to the Love of other Women When he put it on he ran mad, burnt himself to Death, and was afterwards deified.

9) Theffaly Lat. Gr. i. e. Situated upon the Sea; or from Theffalus, one of the antient Kings; and Pelafgia, when the Pelafgi fettled there. A Country of Greece, having Athaia on the South, Epirus on the West, and a Part of Macedónia; very woody and fruitful. The People were given to Horsemanship and the

Knowledge of poisonous Herbs, which abounded in it.

(r) Lichas; Lat. Gr. i. e. A Man of Lychia; i. e. A Stature: Because it was the Country of the Giants, Men of a large Stature. He was the Servant of Hercules, by whom Dejanira fent him that poisoned Garment, which made him fo outragious, that he threw Lichas headlong into the Sea, where he perished.

(5) Oeta: Lat. from the Gr. i. e. Destruction: From Oetus, a Giant, who dwelt on it, and deftroyed all before him; a very high Mountain, dividing Thef faly from Macedonia, whereupon Hercules burnt himself to Death': Hence the Poets call him Octaus, and from which he threw Lichas into the Sea, though many Miles diftant from it ; now Bannia. Near it are the famous Straits, called Thermopyla, twenty-five Feet broad.

IN Difcourfe ftill more fweet (for Eloquence charms the Soul, and Song only the Senfe) others fat apart retired upon a Hill, in Thoughts more elevated, and they reasoned high of PROVIDENCE, of FOR EKNOWLEDGE, WILL, and FATE: FIXED FATE, FREE WILL, and ABSOLUTE FORE-KNOWLEDGE; and in thefe perplexing Contemplations were loft in wandering Mazes, and found no End: Then they urged much about Good and Evil, of Happiness, and of eternal Mifery, of the Paffions, of Apathy, and Glory, and Shame; all which was vain Wisdom, and falfe Philofophy; yet with pleafing Sorcery it could charm Pain and Sorrow of Mind for a Time, and raife deceitful Hope, or arm the hardened Heart with ftubborn Patience, as it were with Steel.

ANOTHER Part bend their flying March four Ways in Squadrons and great Bands, upon a bold Adventure, to make fresh Difcoveries in that difmal World, if peradventure any Part of it might yield them a happier Habitation. Their Way was along the Banks of the four Rivers of Hell, that difcharge their deadly Streams into the burning Lake; abhorred STYX (1), the River of Hatred; fad ACHERON (u): COCYTUS (x); the River of Lamentation; and fierce

(1) Styx; I. Lat. Gr. i. e. Hatred and Horror The Poets feigned four Rivers in Hell, to whom they gave Names from fuch horrible poisonous and deadly Springs as were known to them, to fet forth the Dreadfulness of future Torments. They fay, this River ran nine Times round Hell.

(u) Acheron, or Acheras; II. Lat. Gr. i. e. Sad, forrowful, and comfortless; Heb. i. e. Out

most. A poifonoos Spring in Peloponnefus. This Fable nplies Death, the King of Ter

rors.

(a) Cocytus ; III. Lat. Gr. i. e. Lamentation, Weeping; for it is faid to have fwelled with the Tears of the Tormented. Homer places it in Cimmeria (which is Scythia, now Tartary, and makes Hell to be there ; because of the Blackness and Darkness of that Country.

PHLEGE TON

PHLEGETON (y), whofe Waves boil with raging Fire. Not far from thefe runs a flow and filent Stream in a watry Labyrinth (z), called LETHE (a), the River of Oblivion, whereof whoever drinks, forgets all his former State and Being, both Joy and Grief, Pleasure and Pain. Beyond this Flood lies a frozen Continent, dark and wild, beat with continual Storms of Whirlwind and Hail, which not thawing on the firm Land, gathers to a Heap, and feems like the Ruins of fome old Building, all befides being deep Snow and Ice; a Gulph as deep as that SERBONIAN (b) Bog, betwixt DAMIATA

(3) Phlegeton, or Phlegethon IV. Lat. Gr. i. e. Burning ; for the Waters of it are faid to boil for ever. This is the laft of the Rivers of Hell, as the Poets reprefented it.

(z) Labyrinth; Teut. Dut. Fr. Lat. from the Gr. i. e. Not having a Door, receiving or devouring. A Building full of Turnings and Windings, fo that it was very difficult for one to get out of it. A Maze. Pliny reckons four of them. The first and greatest was built in Egypt by Menis, an antient King, to be a Funeral Monument for himself, confifting of twelve Palaces, fifteen hundred Rooms, and twelve Halls. The fecond in Crete, made by Dadalas, by the Order of Minos, from a Model of that, and for the fame End, or rather for a Prifcn. The third in Lemnos, having an hundred and fifty Pillars of Marble: It is under the whole Concavity of Mount Ida, and still to be feen. The fourth in Italy, by the Order of Porfenna, King of Tuscany.

(a) Lethe Lat. Gr. i. e. For

getfulness. A River of Africa, which after a long Course hides itfelf under Ground, and appears again; wherefore Antiquity feigned that all the Dead drank a Draught of its Waters before they entered Hell, which made them forget all their faft Sorrows. The Fable is Death, when all the Pleafures and Pains are quite forgotten.

(b) Serbonian of Serbon, or Sibon: Strabo calls it Serbonis; Ptolomy and Pliny, Sirbonis, Arab. i.e. The Lake; though Strabo ignorantly takes this for the Lake of Sodom. A Bog or Lake upon the utmost Borders of Palestine and Egypt, fifty Miles from Arabia ; now Lagos di Tervefo, by the Italians, Bayrena by the Natives, and Barathrum, by the Latins, i. e. a deep Gulph. It was fifty two Miles in Length, one thoufand Furlongs in Compafs, narrow and very deep, furrounded with Hills of loofe Sands, which thickened and difcoloured the Waters; that Paffengers did not difcern them from the dry Sands,

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DAMIATA (c) and Mount CASIUS (d), where whole Armies have funk: The parching Air burns in Froft, and Cold performs the Effect of Fire: Thither at certain Revolutions all the Damned are dragged by their Torments, and by Turns feel all the bitter Change of fierce Extreams, which by Change are made more fierce; their foft etherial Warmth forced from Beds of raging Fire, to ftarve in Ice, there to pine immoveable, fixed in and frozen round for Periods of Time, and from thence be hurried back to Fire. They pafs over this River LETHE, both to and fro, to heighten their Sorrow, and wish and struggle as they pass to reach the much defired Stream; with one Drop of its Water, to lofe in fweet Forgetfulness all Sorrow and Pain in one Moment, being fo near the Brink: But Fate opposes, and Spirits of Honour, like MEDUSA (e), with GORGONIAN (f) Terror guard

and fo were fu a'lowed up therein and loft. Indeed that large Tract of Land abounds with Quicklands, Mountains, and Heaps of Sands, wherein many Travellers have been buried alive, as Cambyfes loft fifty thoufand Men in the Sands of Lybia. This Lake has been filled up long ago, and is not to be found now.

(c) Damiata, or Damieta; Heb. i. e. Dirt or Mud. A Town in Egypt upon the Mouth of the Mediterranean Sea, and the moft Eafterly Bank of the Nile, near old Pelufium, which fignifies alfo Dirt; because both are fituated in a dirty, Clay Soil. These Cities were the Key and Bulwark of Egypt. Dami ata was founded by Ifis, and destroyed by the Saracens, in the Holy War; but is now a Place of great Trade.

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(d) Cafius, or Caffius; Syr. i. e. A Boundary; because it parts Egypt and Palefine: A fandy

Mountain on the farther Side of Pelufium, .near the Serbonian Bog, between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, extending Southward to Arabia Pe træa: At the Foot of it flood once a Town called Cafium, famous for the Temple of Jupiter Cajus, wherein stood a Statue of him in full Proportion, ftretching out his Right Hand with a Pomegranate, the Emblem of his being the Terminal God, defending the Borders of that Nation.

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(e) Medufa; Lat. Gr. i. e. An imperious Queen, the Daughter of Ceto Phoreas, a King of Corfica and Sardinia; very beautiful, having golden Hair; of which he was exceeding proud,

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