The figure of Equity1 differs but little from that our painters make of her at present. The scales she carries in her hand are so natural an emblem of justice, that Persius has turned them into an allegory to express the decisions of right or wrong. Quirites, Hoc puto non justum est, illud male, rectius istud; Ancipitis Libræ. SOCRAT. AD ALCIBIAD. Sat. 4. Romans, know, Against right reason all your counsels go : This is not fair; nor profitable that; Nor t'other question proper for debate. But thou, no doubt, canst set the business right, Know'st with an equal hand to hold the scale, &c. MR. DRYDEN. The next figure I present you with is Eternity. She holds in her hand a globe with a Phoenix on it. How proper a type of Eternity is each of these you may see in the following quotations. I am sure you will pardon the length of the latter, as it is not improper to the occasion, and shows at the same time the great fruitfulness of the poet's fancy, that could turn the same thought to so many different ways. Hæc æterna manet, divisque simillima forma est, Cui neque principium est usquam, nec finis: in ipso Sed similis toto remanet, perque omnia par est. DE ROTUNDITATE CORPORUM, MANIL. lib. i. This form's eternal, and may justly claim A godlike nature, all its parts the same; Nought can molest its being, nought control, MR. CREECH. Par volucer superis: stellas qui vividus æquat Cuncta revoluntur: nosti quo tempore pontus In Te dura legunt, non jus habuere nocendi. DE PHON. CLAUD. Sire of himself he is, and of himself the son: Scorched up the skies, and scared the deathless gods. Nor second Chaos bound thy endless reign; Fate's tyrant laws thy happier lot shall brave, Baffle destruction, and elude the grave. The circle of rays that you see round the head of the Phoenix, distinguish him to be the bird and offspring of the sun. Solis avi specimen Una est quæ reparet, seque ipsa reseminet ales Fertque pius cunasque suas, patriumque sepulchrum, OV. MET. lib. xv. -Titanius ales. CLAUD. DE PHŒNICE. From himself the Phoenix only springs: Is formed, and rises round; then with the spoil Of cassia, cinnamon, and stems of Nard, (For softness strewed beneath,) his funeral bed is reared: Funeral and bridal both; and all around The borders with corruptless myrrh are crowned, On this incumbent; till æthereal flame First catches, then consumes the costly frame; He lived on odours, and in odours dies. An infant Phoenix from the former springs, His father's heir, and from his tender wings Shakes off his parent dust, his method he pursues, And the same lease of life on the same terms renews. When grown to manhood he begins his reign, And with stiff pinions can his flight sustain, He lightens of its load the tree that bore His father's royal sepulchre before, And his own cradle (this with pious care And decently lays down his burthen in the porch. MR. DRYDEN. CLAUD. DE LAUD. STIL. lib. ii. So when his parent's pile hath ceased to burn, The radiated head of the Phoenix gives us the meaning of a passage in Ausonius, which I was formerly surprised to meet with in the description of a bird. But at present I am very well satisfied the poet must have had his eye on the figure of this bird in ancient sculpture and painting, as indeed it was impossible to take it from the life. If Ter nova Nestoreos implevit purpura fusos, AUSON. Eidyl. 11. Quam novies terni glomerantem secula tractûs CLAUD. DE PHEN. His fiery eyes shoot forth a glittering ray, Ales, odorati redolent cui cinnama busti. CL. DE LAUD. STIL. lib. ii. you have a mind to compare this scale of beings with that of Hesiod, I shall give it you in a translation of that poet. AusON. Eidyl. 18. Ter binos deciesque novem super exit in annos Their breath the longest is the Fates bestow; A man had need be a good arithmetician, says Cynthio, to understand this author's works. His description runs on like a multiplication table. But methinks the poets ought to have agreed a little better in the calculations of a bird's life that was probably of their own creation. We generally find a great confusion in the traditions of the ancients, says Philander. It seems to me, from the next medal,1 it was an opinion among them that the Phoenix renewed herself at the beginning of the great year, and the return of the golden age. This opinion I find touched upon in a couple of lines in Claudian. Quicquid ab externis ales longæva colonis CLAUD. DE RAPT. PROS. lib. ii. The person in the midst of the circle is supposed to be Jupiter, by the author that has published this medal, but I should rather take it for the figure of Time. I remember I have seen at Rome an antique statue of Time, with a wheel or hoop of marble in his hand, as Seneca describes him, and not with a serpent, as he is generally represented. Life posts away, HERC. FUR. act. i. And day from day drives on with swift career As the circle of marble in his hand represents the common year, so this that encompasses him is a proper representation of the great year, which is the whole round and comprehension of Time. For when this is finished, the heavenly bodies are supposed to begin their courses anew, and to measure over again the several periods and divisions of years, months, days, &c., into which the great year is distinguished. -consumpto, Magnus qui dicitur, anno, Rursus in antiquum venient vaga sidera cursum : Qualia dispositi steterant ab origine mundi. Auson. Eidyl. 18. In their old ranks the wandering stars shall stand, To sum up, therefore, the thoughts of this medal. The inscription teaches us that the whole design must refer to the golden age, which it lively represents, if we suppose the circle that encompasses Time, or if you please Jupiter, signifies the finishing of the great year; and that the Phoenix figures out Fig. 14. |