Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 1.djvu/57

 iEOL

JE R A

Nomcn

Et ami/it & non antifit

AUenum fumeret, proprium dimijii

Homo & miilicr

Neque dice

Mas £3° fcemiria

Nee hermapbrodhiis

Virgo non caru'tt prole

Non pater rum mater

Filtum habiiit

^uandoque vera pater

Nunquam vere mater

Halted ejfe non potuit bis ejfe voluit

ghtia

ghwd bis ejfe potuit ejfe noluit.

./ENIGMATICAL, fomething that relates to, or pattakes of, the nature of /Enigma**. See /Enigma. The philofophy of the Druids was altogether (enigmatical. V. Rowl. Mon. Antiq. p. 61. See Druids, Cycl. The antient fages in general affected an enigmatical way of writing 3, to conceal their doctrines from the populace. The Romans in Nero's time were obliged to have recourfe to the like method, though for different reafons b . The enigma- tical characters of the Egyptians were a fpecies of hierogly- phics, confirming of fuch as bore no natural refemblance to the tilings they reprefented. Such was the beetle, ufed to exprefs the fun ; the ferpent, to reprefent the ffors c .— [ a Mem. de Trev. an. 1718. p. 763. b Ibid. an. 1719. p. 559. c Id. an. 1704. p. 988.] See Hieroglyphic, Cycl.

We read of an enigmatical medal prefented by the Huguenots to Henry III. d Schott has published an explication of an ^enigmatical coin of the emperor Auguftus, concerning which, antiquaries have been long divided c. — [ d Mem. de Trev. 1 704. p. 2127. c Explic. d'une Medatlle Enigmatiquc d'Auguft. Bed. 1711. 410. Le Clerc, Bib). Anc. Mod. T. 3. p. 212. Jour, des Scav. T. 51. p. 535.]

jENIGMATOGRAPHER, or ./Enigmatist, a maker or explainer of /Enigma's, See ./Enigma. Hardouin, Vander Hardt, &c. are great Mnigmatijis. Heu- mannus feems to have proved, that the famous Mnigmato- grapher Sympofius, or Sympofitus, as the name is fometimes written, is no other than the eloquent father Laflantiusj and Sympofius only a corruption of the Sympofium, or banquet mentioned by St. Jerom b, to have been written by that author. In reality, it appears, by the preface to the /Enig- ma's, that they were propofed at a banquet ; befides, St. Jerom informs us, that Ladtantius's hook was written in hexameter verfes ; fo is the book of /Enigma's. Laftly, Cce- Kus Firmianus, which is the firname of Lactantius, is alfo that of the imaginary Sympofius. 'Tis more than probable, therefore, this laft came no other wife to be a poet, than Articulus Smalcaldienfis, and Alcoranus, to be heretics c. — p Fabric. Bibl. Lat. 1. 4. c. 1. p. 208. b Catal. Script Ecclef. c. 80. c Bibl. Germ. T. 2. art. 7. p. 152. feq.l

iENIGMATOGRAPHY, jEnigmatographia, the art of making and refolving, or of collecting /Enigma's. See ./Enigma. The word is compounded of Amypx and y^w, to defcribe.

iENiGMATOGRAPHY, othcrwife called Mnigmatology, may be divided into general and particular. The firft gives rules concerning the nature, kinds, compofition, and ufe of /Enigma's ; the fecond confiders the /Enigma's in particular fciences, or languages, Greek, Latin, Hebrew, philological, philofophical, theological, &c.

Nic. Reufner has a treatife, under the title of Mnigmaiogra- phia a, containing the Mnigma's of Sympofius, Lorichius, Hadormarius, &c b .— [ a Francf. 1602. i2mo. b Fabric. Bibl. Lat. 1. 4. c. 1. p. 208. Heitm. Prsef. ad Sympof. Lactant. Amxn. Litt. T. 1. p. 477. feq.]

/ENITTOLOGIUS, in poetry, a kind ofverfe, confifting of two datlyls, and three trocbeus's Such is, Seal. Poet. P. 2. c. 24.

Preelia dira placent truri juvente.

./FOLIC, (Cycl.) — TheiEor,ic digamma is a name given to the letter F, which the JEolians ufed to prefix to words be- ginning with vowels, as Fowoc, for »»?; ; alfo to infert between vowels, as oF«, for 01s. Vcnvcy. Nov. Via Doceiid. Grasc.

1.8. c. 4 .§. 4.

-Eolic verje, carmen Molicum, a kind of meafure, confining firft of an iambtc\ or fpondec, then of two anapejts, divided by a fyllable, and laftly, a fyllable common. This is otherwife called Etdogic, and, from the chief poets who ufed it, Archilochian and Pindaric. V. Seal. Poet. I. 2.

c. 16.

p. 142.

Its type i s — *l vv \ — |«

E. gr t O Jlelliferi conditor orbis,

Suppt. Vol. I,

.EOLIPILE, (Cycl.)— Dr.- Plot gives ah inflance where the Molipile is actually ufed to blow the fire : the lord of the manor of Ellington, is bound by his tenure to drive a ^oofe every New-year's-day three times round the hall of the lord of Hilton, while Jack of Hilton (a brazen figure having the ftructure of an Molipile) blows the fire. Ploit, Nat. Hift Stafford. c. 6. §. 65. p. 433-

In Italy it is faid, flint the s£olipi!e is c'om'monly made ufe of to cure fmoaky chimney's : for being hung over the fire, the blaft arifing from it carries up the loitering fmoak alon°- wlth it.

F. Merfctinus, and fotfie others, have made ufe of this machine, to meafure the gravity and degree of rarefaction of the air.- But this method is liable to confiderabfe objections. Vid. Merjen. Phasnom. Pneum. prop. 29. Boyle, Phyf. Mech. exper. 36. Hcinrk. Kpiit. ad Boy I. in fin. Paulin. O'bferv. p. 127. feq.

Some late authors have difcovcrcd a ftHI more extraordinary ufe, to which the frauds of the heathen priefthood applied the JFoUpile, viz. the working of fham miracles. Befides Jack of Hilton, which had been an antient Saxon image, or idol^ M. Weber fhews, that Plujhr, a celebrated German idol* is alfo of the Molipile kind ; and in virtue thereof, could do notable feats ; being filled with a fluid, and thus fet ori the fire, it would be covered with fweat ; and as the heat increafed, would at length burft out into flames. Vid. Staube, Plufterus Vet. Germ. Idol. Jour, des Scav. T. 61. P-593- , ^EORA, in the medical writings of the antients, h ufed for geftation i which fort of exercife was often prefcribed by the phyficians of thofe days. Other exercifes confifted princi- pally in the motion of the body, but in the JEora the limbs were at reft, while the body was carried about and moved from place to place, in fuch a manner as the phy- fician prefcribed. It had therefore the advantages of exer- cife, without the fatigue of it. Aethts, Tetrab. Serm. 1. c. 6.

This exercife was promoted feveral ways : fometimes the' patient was hud in a fort of hammoc, fupported by ropes, and moved backward and forward ; fometimes his bed run nimbly on its feet. And befide thefe, the feveral ways of travelling were accounted fpecies of the Mora, whe- ther in the litter, in a boat or fhip, or on even ground in a chariot. jEQUABILE diaionum, in rnufic. Sec Genus. ^EQUILIBRATOR ngis t in fome writers of the middle age, denotes the king's preceptor, or governor ; fo called, becaufe he balanced, or kept his pupil fteady. Du Cange y GlofH- Lat. T. 1. p. 92. /ERA (Cycl.) amounts to the fame with epocha ; though fome authors make a difference between them : but wherein it con- fifts, they do not agree. A late critic affigns this difference, that in ftrictnefs of (beech, epocha is that fixed point where an /Era made ufe of commences. Thus the 26th February, 747 (abating fifty-feven days) before the Chriftian /Era* may be faid to be the epocha of the /Era of Nabonaflar. 'Within this Mra other cpocha's may be noted ; as that of the death of Auguftus, that of the death of Alexander, &c. But thefe cannot properly be called epocha* s of the Mra of Nabonaflar. V. Bib].. Germ. T. 5. p. 172.

Vallemont makes another difference, viz. that an epocha is a point fixed by chronologers, and an Mra a like point, only fixed by the popular ufage of a country, or nation. Perhaps it might not be amifs, if chronologcrs would keep to this dif- ference; but 'tis, certain the current of them hitherto ufe the two words promifcuoufly. V. Vallem. Eiem. de PHift. \. 1, p. 6. See Epocha, Cycl.

The Spanifh Mra was introduced after the fecond cfivtfion' of the Roman provinces, between Auguftus, Anthony, and Lc- pidus, in the year of Rome 7 14, the 4676th year of the Julian period, and the 38th year before Chrift. In the 447th year of this Mra, the Alani, the Vandals, Suevi, &c. entered Spain. We find frequent mention of it in the Spanifh affairs;- their councils, and other public acts, being all dated according to it. Some fay it was abolifhed under Peter the iVth. king of Arragon, in the year of Chrift 1358, and the Chriftian Mra fubftituted in its place. Mariana obfefves, that it ceafed in the year of Chrift 1383, under John t. king of Caffile. The like was afterwards done in Portugal. If to any year of the Spanifh Mra we add the number 4675, the fum is the Julian year ; or if from the fame year we fub- tract 38, the remainder is the year of the Chriftian Mra. V. Straucb. Brev. Chron. B. iv. c. 37. ./Era is alfo ufed, in fome writers of the barbarous age, for any year.

In which fenfe, we meet with entering doivn the Mra, the eleven hundred and eighth Mra, &c* t>u Cange, GlofT. Lat. T. 1. p. 92. Chrijlian jEra. It is generally allowed by chronologers, that the computation of time from the birth of Chrift, was not introduced till the fixth century, in the reign of Juftinian, and is commonly afcribed to Di'onyfius Exiguus. See Petav. Doctrin, Temp. 1. 12. c. 2, % Bcver. Inft. Cnron. I. 2. c. 10. Strauch. Breviar. Chron. 1. 4. c. 40. qmeft. 4.

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