by large and fierce dogs. If we may compare great things with small, we may affign Homer's knowledge of the canine difpofition, to the fame principle with that of our noted mendicant, the late Bampfylde Moore Carew, who was faid to understand dogs better than any man in England. Argus is defcribed as of very large fize, but whether he was a true buck-hound or a greyhound, or what, is not clear. I fhould rather suppose the latter, from his name, which fignifies "fwift."* Critics object to the advanced age of this animal, for he was at that time at least twenty years old. Ariftole, the great naturalist and universal philofopher, who lived in Greece, must be the best judge in this matter; and if I remember rightly from quotations and extracts, (for I never pretend to have read Ariftotle's works at large) he favours Homer's idea of canine longevity. The critics next are puzzled to find out the cause of the fudden death of Argus; fome say he died for joy. The poet had a better reason for dispatching him so suddenly; for had the dog lived, he would have followed, and thereby betrayed the old king under the appearance of a beggar. Vide Clarke's Homer. I cannot I cannot help exclaiming-Argus! happy dog! for thou art the only one whofe death is recorded in the fame pages with the most renowned heroes of antiquity. P. S. In answer to your last letter, I now inform you, that the juice of the poppy, (in Arabic, affion,) first obtained the name of opium from Galen; who formed the word from "owòs," juice, as if he meant to ftile it the juice, by way of eminence; in the fame manner as modern physicians call Peruvian bark, the bark, from its fuperior virtue to any other. You fay you cannot comprehend why the Greek word "g," in the fingular number, fhould fignify "mind,” and “Qgeves," in the plural, should fignify "præcordia," I can only account for it this way, that many of the ancient philofophers thought, (a little abfurdly) that the heart, and parts adjacent, were the feat of the foul. I fancy this was in some measure the doctrine of the wife men of Egypt; the Hebrews were evidently a colony from thence; and there are some expreffions in the Hebrew language that confirm this idea. The Greeks certainly derived most of their knowledge from Egypt; and it is very unfortunate, that almost all Egyptian records are loft. 1. Galen Galen and Pliny, however, inform us, that the science of anatomy was ftudied in Egypt at a very early period; and that it was patronized by some of her most antient monarchs.* The fact is highly probable in itself, for bodies could not be embalmed without being first opened. Homer, in his travels through Egypt, certainly gathered the first rudiments of his chirurgical, medical, and anatomical knowledge; and of which he made a most judicious use, in his Iliad and Odyssey. * Eufebius, (on the credit of Manetho, an Egyptian,) relates that Athotis, a King of Egypt, wrote fome treatifes on anatomy at an incredibly early period, viz. within a few ages after the creation of the world, and the formation of man. LETTER LETTER X. REMARKS ON THE ATHENIAN PESTILENCE. SIR, Nanswer to your last letter, I have perused, though Nan in a curfory manner, Lucretius's Philofophical Poem "De Rerum Naturâ," but had never seen that Book when I gave you my remarks on the Peftilence in the Grecian Camp, as described by Homer. Lucretius is a fingular kind of a poet, little known and little read at public grammar fchools; he was a teacher of what Horace calls "Infanientis Sapientia-foolish wisdom, or insane philosophy," fince he followed the Epicurean system implicitly: he was, I think, a cotemporary with that ornament of Roman literature, Marcus Tullius Cicero, who is said to have corrected his verses. This circumftance is not very probable; for the Roman orator, though almost Lucretius has of late been much studied at both Universities. an an univerfal genius, was but an indifferent poet; befides, in his treatise on "the Nature of the Gods," he displayed his usual eloquence against the pernicious doctrines of the philofopher of Gargettum * Cornelius Nepos ranks Lucretius among the most elegant poets: Ovid affected to admire him very much; and Virgil is reported to have studied him greatly, and doubtlefs meant to exhibit him, or rather Epicurus himself, under the name of Silenus, in his 6th Paftoral Eclogue Namque canebat, uti magnum per inane coaða He fung the fecret feeds of Nature's frame; How feas, and earth, and air, and active flame, Were blindly gather'd in this goodly Ball. DRYDEN But the judicious Virgil, in his 6th Æneid, hath availed himself of the nobler and fublimer philofophies of Pythagoras and Plato. So much for the history of the Bard,―his defcrip * Epicurus was born at Gargettum, about 350 years before the Chriftian æra; when Philip (the father of Alexander) was King of Macedon, his |