makes them companions in the glorious equipage that he gives this Virtue. of teemat were sudok

Mecum Honor', et Laudes, et lato Gloria vultu, [Virtus loquitur, -1Et Décus, et niveis Victoria concolor alis.

Ibid.

With me the foremost place let Honour gain, Virtue speaks. - Fame, and the Praises mingling in her train;

Gay Glory next, and Victory on high,

White like myself, on snowy wings shall fly...,

Tu cujus placido posuere in pectore sedem -
Blandus Honos, hilarisque (tamen cum pondere) Virtus, E
STAT. SIL, lib, 2.

i

The head of Honour is crowned with a laurel, as Martial has adorned his Glory after the same manner, which indeed is but another name for the same person.

1

I find, says Cynthio, the Latins mean courage by the figure of Virtue, as well as by the word itself. Courage was esteemed the greatest perfection among them, and therefore went under the name of Virtue in general, as the modern Italians give the same name on the same account to the knowledge of curiosities. Should a Roman painter at present draw the picture of Virtue, instead of the spear and paratonium that she bears on old coins, he would give her a bust in one hand and a fiddle in the other.

The next, says Philander, is a lady of a more peaceful character, and had her temple at Rome*.

-Salutato crepitat Concordia nido.

She is often placed on the reverse of an imperial coin, to show the good understanding between the emperor and empress. She has always a cornu-copia in her hand, to denote that plenty is the fruit of concord. After this short account of the goddess, I desire you will give me your opinion of the deity that is described in the following verses of Seneca, who would have her pro

4

pitious to the marriage of Jason and Creusa. He mentions her by her qualities, and not by her name.

-Asperi

Martis sanguineas quæ cohibet manus,
Quæ dat belligeris fœdera gentibus,
Et cornu retinet divite copiam.

SEN. MED. act, 1.

Who sooths great Mars the warrior god,
And checks his arm distain'd with blood,
Who joins in leagues the jarring lands,
The horn of plenty fills her hands.

The description, says Eugenius, is a copy of the figure we have before us: and for the future, instead of any further note on this passage, I would have the reverse you have shown us stamped on the side of it. The interpreters of Seneca, says Philander, will understand the precedent verses as a description of Venus, though in my opinion there is only the first of them that can aptly relate to her, which at the same time agrees as well with Concord: and that this was a goddess who used to interest herself in marriages, we may see in the following description.

Jamdudum poste reclinis,
Quærit Hymen thalamis intactum dicere carmen,
Quo vatem mulcere queat; dat Juno verenda.
Vincula, et insigni geminat Concordia tædá.

STATII EPITHALAMION, SILV. lib. 1.

Already leaning at the door, too long

Sweet Hymen waits to raise the nuptial song,
Her sacred bands majestic Juno lends,

And Concord with her flaming torch attends.

Peace* differs as little in her dress as in her character from Concord. You may observe in both these figures, that the vest is gathered up before them, like an apron, which you must suppose filled with fruits as well as the cornu-copiæ. It is to this part of the dress that Tibullus alludes.

ན ནཊྛཾ

*Fig 4.

At nobis, Par alma, veni, spicamque teneto,
Perfluat et pomis candidus antè sinus

Kind Peace, appear,

And in thy right hand hold the wheaten ear,
From thy white lap th' o'erflowing fruits shall fall.

Prudentius has given us the same circumstance in his description of avarice.

-Avaritia gremio præcincta capaci.

PRUD. PSYCHOMACHIA.

How proper the emblems of Plenty are to Peace, may be seen in the same poet.

Interea Pax arva colat, Pax candida primùm

Duxit araturos sub juga curva boves;

Pax aluit vites, et succos condidit, uvæ,

Funderet ut nato testa paterna merum :

Pace bidens vomerque vigent.

TIBUL. El. 10. lib. 1.

She first, white Peace, the earth with, plough-shares broke,
And bent the oxen to the crooked yoke,

First rear'd the vine, and hoarded first with care

The father's vintage for his drunken heir.

The olive-branch in her hand is frequently touched

upon in the old poets as a token of peace.

Pace orare manu-
Ingreditur, ramumque tenens popularis oliva.

VIRG. Æn. 10.

Ov. MET. lib. 7.

In his right hand an olive-branch he holds.

Furorem

Indomitum duramque viri deflectere mentem
Pacifico sermone parant, hostemque propinquum
Orant Cecropia pralatá fronde Minerva.

Luc. lib. 3.

To move his haughty soul, they try
Entreaties, and persuasion soft apply:
Their brows Minerva's peaceful branches wear,
And thus in gentlest terms they greet his ear.

Mr. RowE.

Which, by the way, one would think had been spoken rather of an Attila, or a Maximin, than Julius Cæsar.

You see Abundance or Plenty makes the same figure in medals as in Horace.

།

HOR. lib, 1. od. 17.
T

-Here to thee shall Plenty flow-ben

And all her riches show,

To raise the honour of the quiet plain. Mr. CREECH. The compliment on this reverse to Gordianus Pius is expressed in the same manner as that of Horace to Augustus.

-Aurea fruges

Italiam pleno diffudit copia cornu. HoR. Epist. 12. lib. 1.

Golden Plenty with a bounteous hand

Rich harvest freely scatters o'er our land. Mr. CREECH.

But to return again to our virtues.

You have here the picture of Fidelity†, who was worshipped as a goddess among the Romans.

Si tu oblitus es at Dii meminerunt, meminit Fides.

CATUL. AD ALPHEN.

I should fancy, from the following verses of Virgil and Silius Italicus, that she was represented under the figure of an old woman.

Cana Fides, et Vesta, Remo cum fratre Quirinus
Jura dabant-

VIRG. EN. lib. 1.

Then banish'd Faith shall once again return,
And vestal fires in hallow'd temples burn,..
And Remus with Quirinus shall sustain

The righteous laws, and fraud and force restrain.

Ad limina sancta

Contendit Fidei, secretaque pectora tenta.
Arcanis dea læta, polo tum forte remoto
Calicolúm magnus volvebat conscia curas.

Mr. DRYDEN.

Ante Jovem generata, decus divúmque hominumque,
Quâ sine non tellus pacem, non æquora norunt,

Justitia consor

SIL. IT. lib. 2.

He the shrines of

Mine with Faith his steps addrest.

She, pleas'd with secrets rolling in her breast,
Far from the world remote, revolv'd on high
The cares of gods, and counsels of the sky.
Ere Jove was born she grac'd the bright abodes,
Consort of Justice, boast of men and gods; il
Without whose heav'nly aid no peace below

The steadfast earth and rolling ocean know.-

There is a Medal of Heliogabalus*, inscribed Fides Exercitus, that receives a great light from the preced ing verses. She is posted between two military ensigns, for the good quality that the poet ascribes to her, of preserving the public peace, by keeping the army true to its allegiance.

I fancy, says Eugenius, as you have discovered the age of this imaginary lady, from the description that the poets have made of her, you may find too the colour of the drapery that she wore in the old Roman paintings, from that verse in Horace,

Te Spes et albo rara Fides colito.kagi
Velata panno.

HOR. Od. 35, lib. 1.

Sure Hope, and Friendship cloth'd in white,
Attend on thee-

Mr. CREECH.

Ins
One would think, says Philander, by this verse, that
Hope and Fidelity had both the same kind of dress.
It is certain Hope might have a fair pretence to white,
in allusion to those that were candidates for an employ,

Cretuta ambitio

-Quem ducit hiantem`·

*

PERS. Sat. 5.

And how properly the epithet of rara agrees with her, you may see in the transparancy of the next figuret. She is here dressed in such a kind of vest as the Latins call a multicium, from the fineness of its tissue. Your Roman beaus had their summer toga of such a light airy make.

Quem tenues decuere toga nitidique capilli.

HOR. Ep. 14. lib. 1.

* Fig. 7.

+ Fig. 8.