Hæc tibi pro nato plená dat lætus acerrâ
Mart. Lib. 4. Epig. 45.
The figure of Equity differs but FIG. 12.
little from that our painters make
of her at present. The fcales fhe carries in her hand are so natural an emblem of justice, that Perfius has turned them into an allegory to express the decifions of right or wrong.
Hoc puto non juftum eft, illud malè, rectiùs iftud;
Scis etenim juftum gemina fufpendere lance
Socrat. ad Alcibiad. Sat. 4.
Against right reason all your counfels go;
This is not fair; nor profitable that:
Nor t'other question proper for debate.
But thou, no doubt, canft fet the business right,
And give each argument its proper weight:
Know'ft with an equal hand to hold the fcale, &c.
Mr. Dryden.
The next figure I prefent you FIG. 13 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 fee in the following quotations. I am fure you will pardon the length of the latter as it is not improper to the occafion, and shows at the fame time the great fruitfulness of the poet's fancy, that could turn
the fame thought to fo many different
Hæc æterna manet, divifque fimillima forma eft,
Cui neque principium eft ufquam, nec finis: in ipfa
Sed fimilis toto remanet, perque omnia par est.
de rotunditate corporum. Manil. Lib. 1.
This form's eternal, and may justly claim.
A godlike nature, all its parts the fame;
Alike, and equal to its self 'tis found,
No end's and no beginning in a round:
Nought can moleft its being, nought control,
And this enobles, and confines the whole.
Par volucer fuperis: Stellas qui vividus aquat
Durando, membrifque terit redeuntibus ævum.—
Nam pater eft prolefque fui, nulloque creante
Emeritos artus fæcunda morte reformat,
Et petit alternam totidem per funera vitam.
O fenium pofiture rogo, falfifque fepulchris
Natales habiture vices, qui fæpe renafci
Exitio, proprioque foles pubefcere letho.-
O felix, hærefque tui! quo folvimur omnes,
Hoc tibi fuppeditat vires, præbetur origo
Per cinerem, moritur te non pereunte fene&tus,
Vidifti quodcunque fuit. Te fecula tefte
Cuneta revolvuntur: nofti quo tempore pontus
Fuderit elatas fcopulis ftagnantibus undas:
Quis phaetonteis erroribus arferit annus.
Et clades te nulla rapit, folufque fuperftes
Edomitá tellure manes: non ftamina parce
In te dura legunt, non jus habuere nocendi.
A god-like bird! whofe endless round of years
Outlast the stars, and tires the circling fpheres ;-
Begot by none himself, begetting none,
Sire of himself he is, and of himself the son;
His life in fruitful death renews its date,
And kind deftruction but prolongs his fate--
O thou, fays he, whom harmless fires shall burn,
Thy age the flame to fecond youth shall turn,
An infant's cradle is thy fun'ral urn.
Thrice happy Phenix! heav'n's peculiar care
Has made thyfelf thyfelf's furviving heir.
By death thy deathless vigour is supply'd,
Which finks to ruin all the world befide.
Thy age, not thee, affisting Phabus burns,
And vital flames light up thy fun'ral urns.
Whate'er events have been thy eyes furvey,
And thou art fix'd while ages roll away.
Thou faw'ft when raging ocean burft his bed,
O'er-top'd the mountains, and the earth o'er-
fpread;
When the rash youth inflam'd the high abodes,
Scorch'd up the fkies, and fcar'd the deathlefs
When nature ceases, thou fhalt still remain,
Nor fecond chaos bound thy endless reign;
Fate's tyrant laws thy happier lot shall brave,
Baffle deftruction, and elude the grave.
E 3
The circle of rays that you fee round the head of the Phenix diftinguish him to be the bird and offspring of the fun.
Una eft que reparet feque ipfa refeminet ales;
Affyrii Phænica vocant: non fruge neque herbis,
Sed thuris lacrymis et fucco vivit amomi.
Hæc ubi quinque fue complevit fecula vitæ,
llicis in ramiş, tremuleve cacumine palma,
Unguibus et duro fibi nidum conftruit ore:
Quo fimul ac cafias, ac nardi lenis ariftas
Quassaque cum fulvâ fubftravit cinnama myrrha,
Se fuper imponit, finitque in odoribus ævum.
Inde ferunt totidem qui vivere debeat annos
Corpore de patrio parvum phænica renafci.
Cum dedit huic atas vires, onerique ferendo eft,
Ponderibus nidi ramos levat arboris altæ,
Fertque pius cunafque fuas, patriumque fepulcrum,
Perque leves auras hyperionis urbe potitus
Ante fores facras hyperionis ade reponit.
From himself the Phenix only fprings: Self-born, begotten by the parent flame, In which he burn'd, another and the fame, Who not by corn or herbs his life sustains, But the fweet effence of Amomum drains: And watches the rich gums Arabia bears, While yet in tender dew they drop their tears.
He (his five centuries of life fulfill'd)
His neft on oaken boughs begins to build,
Or trembling tops of palm, and first he draws
The plan with his broad bill and crooked claws,
Nature's artificers; on this the pile
Is form'd, and rifes round; then with the spoil
Of Caffia, Cynamon, and ftems of Nard,
(For softness ftrew'd beneath) his fun'ral bed is
rear'd:
Fun'ral and bridal both; and all around
The borders with corruptlefs myrrh are crown'd,
On this incumbent; 'till æthereal flame
First catches, then confumes, the coftly frame;
Confumes him too, as on the pile he lies;
He liv'd on odours, and in odours dies.
An infant-Phenix from the former fprings,
His father's heir, and from his tender wings
Shakes off his parent duft, his method he pursues,
And the fame leafe of life on the fame terms
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 fepulchre before,
And his own cradle: This (with pious care,
Plac'd on his back) he cuts the buxom air,
Seeks the fun's city, and his facred church,
And decently lays down his burden in the porch.
Sic ubi fæcundâ reparavit morte juventam,
Et patrios idem cineres, collectaque portat
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