Gleanings of antiquities / By John Beaumont, Gent.

  • Beaumont, John, -1731.
Date:
1724
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Gleanings of antiquities / By John Beaumont, Gent. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    131/226 (page 119)
    by : And if in celebrating the Myfteries of Rhaa, or the Mother of the Gods, Perfons under the Name of Curetes, Coribantes, &c. made noifes with their Tym- brels, Cymbals, &c. this was only outwardly to per* fonate and typify what the Genii inwardly performed. So Bullialdus, in his Notes on Theon-Smyrnaus, c» 1. which Author he tranflated from the Greek into La- tiny obferves that Euftathius on this Verfe of Homer's Iliad 16» 5E& wqvJqio Qupa^s Amy Says, wo™, that is, wom, fignifies vocal; for of all ina¬ nimate things, Brafs alone teems to have a Voice : and the Pythagoreans fay, That Brafs rings, omni Spiritui di~ viniori ; and therefore the Fripod made of that Metal, was confecrated to Apollo. And all Winds ceafingy the Air being calm, and all other things being filem and ft if hol¬ low Bafons feem to be flruck, and made to ring. And to my certain Knowledge, thefe ringings are heard by fome Perfons ftill, as I have fet forth at large in my Book of Genii, or Familiar Spirits, c. 5. Where I have given an account of what Perception Men have had of Spirits by the Senfe of Hearing; which Book was extant long before I met with this Paffage of Euftathiusy and which I was glad to fee, as it fatisfies me that many of the Ancients were wont to hear fuch Ringings ; and doubtlefs thefe harmonious Ring* ings were what the Pythagoreans are faid to have called fhe Harmony of the Spheres. At the famous Temple of Jupiter Dodonms, the ringing of the Do dona an Brafs was fo celebrated, as Philoftratus tells us, that the Brafs Statue of the Nymph Echo was there fet up, holding her Finger on her Mouth, to fhew that fhe was filent, being overcome by the refonant Dodonaan Bafonsy much more fonorous than herfeif. The Epi* tomator of Strabo, for Strabo himfelf, through the Injury of Time, was defective in this place, fays thus :