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My friend is shipwreck'd on the Brutian strand,
His riches in th' Ionian main are lost ;

And he himself stands fhiv'ring on the coaft:
Where, deftitute of help, forlorn and bare,
He wearies the deaf Gods with fruitless pray'r.
Their images, the relics of the wreck,
Torn from their naked poop, are tided back
By the wild waves; and rudely thrown afhore,
Lie impotent, nor can themselves restore.
The veffel fticks, and fhews her open'd fide,
And on her shatter'd mast the Mews in triumph
ride.
Mr. Dryden.

You will think perhaps I carry my conjectures too far, if I tell you that I fancy they are these kind of Gods that Horace mentions in his Allegorical veffel, which was fo broken and shattered to pieces; for I am apt to think that integra relates to the Gods as well as the lintea.

non tibi funt integra linea,

Non Dii, quos iterum preffa voces malo.

Hor. Od. 14. Lib. I.

Thy ftern is gone, thy Gods ate loft,
And thou haft none to hear thy cry,
When thou on dang'rous fhelves art toft,
When billows rage, and winds are high.
Mr. Creech:

FIG. 2.

Since we are engaged fo far in the Roman shipping, fays Philander; I'll here fhow you a Medal that has on its reverse a Roftrum with three teeth to it; whence Silius's trifidum roftrum and Virgil's oftrifque tridentibus, which in fome editions is

fridentibus, the Editor choofing rather to make a falfe quantity than to infert a word that he did not know the meaning of. Flaccus gives us a Roftrum of the same make.

volat immiffis cava pinus habenis

Infinditque falum, et fpumas vomit are tridenti. Val. Flac. Argon. Lib. I.

A Ship carpenter of old Rome, fays Cynthio, could not have talked more judiciously. I am afraid, if we let you alone, you will find out every plank and rope about the vessel among the Latin Poets. Let us now, if you please, go to the next Medal.

The next, fays Philander, is a pair of Scales, which we meet with

FIG. 3.

on feveral old Coins. They are commonly interpreted as an emblem of the Emperor's Juftice. But why may not we fuppofe that they allude fometimes to the Balance in the Heavens, which was the reigning conftellation of Rome and Italy? Whether it be fo or no, they are capable methinks of receiving a nobler interpretation than what is commonly put on them, if we fuppofe the thought of the reverse to be the fame with that in Manilius.

Hefpeream fua Libra tenet, quâ condita Roma
Et propriis franat pendentem nutibus orbem,
Orbis et Imperium retinet, difcrimina rerum
Lancibus, et pofitas gentes tollitque premitque :
Qua genitus cum fratre Remus hanc condidit urbem.
Manil. Lib. 4.

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The Scales rule Italy, where Rome commands,
And fpreads its empire wide to foreign lands:
They hang upon her nod, their fates are weigh'd
By her, and laws are fent to be obey'd:
And as her pow'rful favour turns the poife,
How low fome nations fink and others rife !
Thus guide the Scales, and then to fix our doom,
They gave us Cafar, founder of our Rome.
Mr. Creech

*

The Thunderbolt is a reverse of

FIG. 4 Auguftus. We fee it ufed by the greatest Poet of the fame age to exprefs a terrible and irrefiftible force in battle, which is probably the meaning of it on this Medal; for in another place the fame Poet applies the fame metaphor to Auguftus's perfon.

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While mighty Cafar thund'ring from afar,
Seeks on Euphrates banks the fpoils of war.
Mr. Dryden.

I have fometimes wondered, fays Eugenius, why the Latin Poets fo frequently give the Epithets

*So affus reads it.

of

of trifidum and trifulcum to the Thunderbolt. I am,now perfuaded they took it from the fculptors and painters that lived before them, and had generally given it three forks as in the prefent figure. Virgil infifts on the number three in its defcription, and feems to hint at the wings we fee on it. He has worked up fuch a noife and terror in the compofition of his Thunder bolt as cannot be expreffed by a pencil or grav ing-tool.

Tres imbris torti radios, tres nubis aquofie
Addiderant, rutili tres ignis, et alitis auftri.
Fulgores nunc terrificos fonitumque metumque
Mifcebant operi, flammifque fequacibus iras.

Virg. Æn. Lib. 8,

Three rays of writhen rain, of fire three more, Of winged fouthern winds, and cloudy ftore As many parts, the dreadful mixture frame, And fears are added, and avenging flame..

Mr. Dryden..

FIG. 5.

Our next reverfe is an Oaken Garland, which we find on abundance of Imperial Coins. I fhall not here multiply quotations to fhow that the garland of Oak was the reward of fuch as had faved the life of a citizen, but will give you a paffage out of Claudian, where the compliment to Stilico is the fame that we have here on the Medal. I queftion not but the old Coins gave the thought to the Poet.

Mos erat in veterum caftris, ut tempora quercu
Velaret, validis qui fufo viribus hofte
D 3

Cafurum

Cafurum potuit morti fubducere civem.
At tibi quæ poterit pro tantis civica reddi
Manibus? aut quanta penfabunt facta coronæ ?
Claud. de Laud. Stil. Lib. 3.

Of old, when in the war's tumultuous ftrife
A Roman fav'd a brother Roman's life,

And foil'd the threatning foe, our Sires decreed
An Oaken Garland for the victor's meed.

Thou who haft fav'd whole crowds, whole towns fet free,

What groves, what woods, fhall furnish crowns for thee?

It is not to be fuppofed that the Emperor had actually covered a Roman in battle. It is enough that he had driven out a tyrant, gained a victory, or reftored Juftice. For in any of these or the like cafes he may very well be faid to have faved the life of a citizen, and by confequence intitled to the reward of it. Accordingly we find Virgil diftributing his Oaken garlands to thofe that had enlarged or ftrengthened the dominions of Rome; as we may learn from Statius that the ftatue of Curtius, who had facrificed himfelf for the good of the people, had the head furrounded with the fame kind of ornament.

Atque umbrata gerunt civili tempora quercu.
Hi tibi Nomentum, et Gabios, urbemque Fidenam,
Hi Collatinas imponent montibus arces.

Virg. Æn. Lib. 6.

But they, who crown'd with Oaken wreaths

appear,

Shall Gabian walls and ftrong Fidena rear:

Nomen

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