fpear, held in the fame pofture. In a word, each has the fame make, look, and features. In the descriptions too of the poets, never were twins more alike m

Ovid. Met. viii. v. 375. Stat. Theb. v. v. 440. Apollo, in Lucian, begs Mercury to tell him how to know one from the other.

BOOK

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OOK III

The MORAL DEITIES: or, the DEITIES who prefided over the virtues of men, and the conduct of human life.

THE Romans were injoined in the laws of

Thefe

the twelve tables, to erect altars in honour of those MORAL BEINGS, by whose aid mortals obtained a place in the heavens a. deities were supposed, of old, to infpire men with fome particular virtue, or to beftow thofe things which tend to glory or happinefs, or to prefide over the conduct and events of human life. The poets are very sparing in their defcriptions of these moral beings; they speak of them indeed as perfons, but fay little of their attributes or drefs, or the appearances they make. The artifts are much fuller on this head. There is scarce a

a The law runs thus: Eos qui coeleftes femper habiti, colunto, et ollos quos endo cœlo merita collocaverunt, Herculem, &c. aft olla propter quæ datur homini adfcenfus in cœlum, mentem, virtutem, fidem, &c. eorumque laudum delubra funto, Tab. 11. c. 4, Cic. de leg. 1. 2. €. 8.

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virtue or bleffing of life but what is reprefented on the medals of the emperors b.

MORAL PHILOSOPHY is reprefented on a farcophagus in the Capitoline-gallery, leaning on a column, with a mild and ferene air, and giving instructions to Socrates. She looks kindly while the inftructs, and nothing of the fullen or fevere appears in her face. She is dreffed in a robe of dignity, and is called (in a fragment of Afranius) the daughter of Experience and Memory.

PRUDENCE (or GOOD SENSE) was received very early as a goddess, and had temples dedicated to her, particularly on the Capitoline-hill. On a medal

Thefe figures were put on the reverses out of flattery, and often on those of a Nero or a Domitian, with the distinguishing mark S. C. (fenatus confultum) to fhew it was a piece of national flattery..

• In the front of the relievo are the nine muses, and at the other end, Homer converfing with his muse.

From a line in Cæcilius, the feems to have been fometimes represented in a meaner garb, perhaps in allusion to the poverty of her followers the philofophers.

She is called alfo Providentia, but when they used it för divine providence, the usual inscription on medals is, PROvidentia DeorUM, when for human prudence, ProviDENTIA CÆSARIS. Mens, or mens bona (good sense) is fometimes used for the fame, Cic. de. nat. deo. l. ii. Liv. 1. xxii. c. 9. 10. Petronius calls Poverty the fifter of Mens. bona j

medal of Gordianus, fhe is reprefented with a rule (or measure) in her hand, and a globe at her feet, to fhow not only that the emperor, by his prudence, kept the world in order, but that the affairs of human life are by her regulated as they ought to be.

JUSTICE (or rather EQUITY) is represented on a medal of Galba with a pair of fcales in her hands, held exactly even. Her flight to heaven, when the world grew vile and corrupt, is defcribed by Virgil, but more fully by Aratus in one of his finest digreffions. There is nothing descriptive of her person, except a paffage in Petronius, who, upon the breaking out of the civil wars, describes her as difcompofed, with her hair all loofe and difordered f.

FORTITUDE (on a common medal of Adrian) is reprefented with an erect air, resting on a spear with one hand, and holding her fword in the other. She has a globe under her feet, to fhow that by her the Romans were to conquer the world. From their military turn, they gave Fortitude the name of Virtus, or the Virtue, by way of excellence, by which they understood

bona: and Ovid defcribes her following Cupid's chariot with her hands tied behind her, as his flave, Am. 1. i. el.

2. V' 32.

f Virg. Geo. ii. v. 474. Paw, v. 97. Petr. v. 253.

not

not only military courage, but a firmness of mind, and love of action; a steady readiness to do good, and a patient indurance of all evil &.

VIRTUS is fpoken of perfonally, both in verfe and profe. She had feveral temples at Rome, with reprefentations in them of her. Though thee may be all loft, her figure is common on the medals of the emperors h. On these the is dreffed like an Amazon. She is fometimes in a coat of mail, or a fhort fuccinct veft, with her legs bare, like the Roman foldiers. She has a manly face and air, and generally grasps a sword or fpear in her hand. Her drefs fhows her readinefs for action, and her look a firmness not to be conquered by difficulties or dangers 1.

1. v.

TEMPERANCE

Cicero fpeaks of Virtus and fortitudo as the fame thing, and that it includes a love of action, Tufc. quæft. 1. ii. p. p. 501. de nat. deor. 1. i. p. 23. The best definition of Virtus feems to be St. Paul's, "A patient conti"nuance in well-doing," Rom. ii. 7. Hor. iii. od. 24. V« 44.

.392.

hOur author thinks her figure more common than is imagined, and that in the Admiranda, what Bartoli takes to be the genius of Rome, is this goddefs; as where he is giving the globe to M. Aurelius, and where fhe is guiding Titus's chariot, and conducting Adrian home.

i The difficulties attending the dictates of the goddess Virtus (or of a virtuous life) were ftrongly expreffed in the ancient emblem of a perfon climbing up a steep rocky moun