Ovid's Metamorphosis / Englished, mythologiz'd, and represented in figures. An essay to the translation of Virgil's Aeneis. By G. S[andys].

Ovid

Date:: [1640]

Credit: Ovid's Metamorphosis / Englished, mythologiz'd, and represented in figures. An essay to the translation of Virgil's Aeneis. By G. S[andys]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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$n hefides the fe'Oen FUnets; amount not to above one thoufand and two and twenty !• and in thedther one hundred and one and twenty more have lately beene dtfcovefed: fo in all there are eleven hundred fourty and three : however the glimmering and twinckling of fo many make them feeme innu- mcrahle. And ready fo they are, though not by us to be difcerned^ as appearts by Galileos Glafes. Thus Jprung this beautifuU world out of the deformed Chaos 5 and to Chaos (or rathtr into no¬ thing ) fhall it againe returne^ if this opinion crre not: The aged worlds diffolved by the laft And facall houre, (hall to old Chaos haft. Starres, juftling ftarres, fhall in the Deep Confound Their radiant fires: the land fhall give no bound To fwallowing Seas: the Moone fhall crolTe the Suhne With fcorne that her fwift wheelcs obliquely runne 5 Daies throne afpiring Difcord then fhall rend The Worlds crackt frame, and Natures concord end. . -—Sic, cuff* comparefbluta Sceulatct mundi /uprema coe^erit hora, ^ntiqmm repetcnt tterum o7»niay\ miftu ; Sidera fdtribui concurrent : igneapontum ^Jlrapetent ; teU$u extendere Utora noUt. Excutietquefretum ; fratr'i contrdria Phceh Ihitcbliquum bigM agitate per orbem l>idignAta, diem pofiet Jibi : totaguc difcors Machine divulji turbabitfaedera mmdi. Lucari.1,4. • 'if But many of our ’divines doe beleeve that the worldJhaS rather he renewed then annihilated^ which opinion is flrengthned b^ the eight eft he Romanes^ as by other places of the Scriptures, The lajltn but the fir [I in intent ion^ was the creation ofMan^ for whom the Hjl wer^ created .* I m a « extolled by our Foet as a facred creature^ and therefore not to be violated5 indewedwith a Minde^which ' ® ^ ® ® is, with RUfon and underjlanding; the Lord of the refi of the creatures, fo deputed by his Creator, firungof ccelefliallfeed^ in regard oft he ejfenceofhis foule, made of the earth, toteach him humility, yet after theimageofGod: not one ly in regard of his or iginallintegritie (a good mail, Plato, is like unto God) for that had beene loft by his fad, nor in the inviftbiltty, eternity, and wonderfuU faculties of the foule ^ nor in his domination: but alfo. (according to the opinion of the Jewes as ap¬ pear es by Jofephus: as of Zanchius, and many of our moderne Divines) in thefymmetry and beauty ofhisbody.: Beauty is a quick and (prightlj grace [as t he Vhxoni^s hold) infufedatfirft by a hea¬ venly Ray 5 Jhining in thOMindeof man, the concinnitie of the body, and harmony of the voice : which by Reafon, by the Eye, andthe Eare, ftirre-up, and delight, delighting ravijh, andravijh- in^ inflame m with ardent affeBi/in: by contemplating and ajfeiiing of this. We contemplate and af- feU the divine refulgency, as in that the Deity i But if this feeme incongruous in refpe6l of our cor¬ ruptible bodies , yet holds it well as they. fhall be glorified, and clad with a SunneMke brightneffe^ Laftly man was made with an ereBed looke to admire the glory of the Creatorm What Theologian could have If oken more divinely f Alone deceived in the name-of the Artificer. Error is as full of \ contradiBion as truth of conformity. A mantomakethefirft man, and heVtorntthms ihefonne of\ Japhct. Ladlantius writes that he lived in the daies of ]\vpitcv, when Temples and Idols began to be ereBed , and was the firft that ever made Statues. Saint Auguftine reports him for a man of gr eat wifdome, who informed the rude and earthly mindes of men with knowledge aid under {land¬ ing, Andthereforewasfained to have made them of clay : others, inthat he taught the doBrtne ofthe Creation. He is faid to havefetcht fire from the Chariot of the Sunne by the counfed Minerva • becAufe he firflereBed the mindes of men to ccelefliall Jpeculations: But tOConforme the fable to the truth: Prometheus figniftes Providence, and Minerva Heavenly Wifdome: by Gods providence therefore andwifdome lMan was created. The cwleftiallfireis his foule inff iredfrom above: which the philofophersthemfelvesbf the light of nature could difcover. But notbingkherefpokehofthe creation of Woman. AriftopKancs telfs a fabkin VhtohowMunAnhe firft was made double ; af-^ ter cut into two, anddiftinguijhedby their [exes, an obfcure notion of Eves bein^ takenout of the fideofMsixa^^ ‘ •• -v--/ ..-a- ^V ' ■ .v;'..' ThefiBion of the four e Ages degenerating from better to worfIfhould have thought; with others, to have beene deri'vpjfrom that Image inEizXsxtf,where the firft Monarchic is prefented by Gold, the fecondby Silver', the thirdly Braffe^ artdthef^ I'hadmt iLefxoildn^before {frmwhom \ ooidcA our Foet takes his inventiotf) by thofe^nam^j defcribedlhem: •7*\( r* t* \i The Golden Race of many laiiguag’d nfied/ The Gods firft made, who heaven inhabit,T TheScepter Satniine fwai'd: like Gods tbe^liv'd, Secure inmindenor fiveat with toilc, ntlf griev’d. E Jiureum quUem primuni dtvtrjt-ld- que>itium hoftti»HT»'‘ ' ''• Defecermt} calejlium domoruintntvlAt':. ‘ * li qHtdenrJjuit Saturno in, calo re^- naret. . • . -i ; / . SedUt dii vivebavtffecuroaniMoptaditi^ *Tlan0abfjufflaboriCfU, & m%7»M i neque moltjia \ .1 Age Tub #$