The Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton
page 265 of 2094 (12%)
page 265 of 2094 (12%)
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Dionysius Halicarnassus, with many others that are full of their wonderful
stratagems, and were therefore by those Roman and Greek commonwealths adored and worshipped for gods with prayers and sacrifices, &c. [1227]In a word, _Nihil magis quaerunt quam metum et admirationem hominum_; [1228]and as another hath it, _Dici non potest, quam impotenti ardore in homines dominium, et Divinos cultus maligni spiritus affectent_. [1229]Tritemius in his book _de septem secundis_, assigns names to such angels as are governors of particular provinces, by what authority I know not, and gives them several jurisdictions. Asclepiades a Grecian, Rabbi Achiba the Jew, Abraham Avenezra, and Rabbi Azariel, Arabians, (as I find them cited by [1230]Cicogna) farther add, that they are not our governors only, _Sed ex eorum concordia et discordia, boni et mali affectus promanant_, but as they agree, so do we and our princes, or disagree; stand or fall. Juno was a bitter enemy to Troy, Apollo a good friend, Jupiter indifferent, _Aequa Venus Teucris, Pallas iniqua fuit_; some are for us still, some against us, _Premente Deo, fert Deus alter opem_. Religion, policy, public and private quarrels, wars are procured by them, and they are [1231]delighted perhaps to see men fight, as men are with cocks, bulls and dogs, bears, &c., plagues, dearths depend on them, our _bene_ and _male esse_, and almost all our other peculiar actions, (for as Anthony Rusea contends, _lib. 5, cap. 18_, every man hath a good and a bad angel attending on him in particular, all his life long, which Jamblichus calls _daemonem_,) preferments, losses, weddings, deaths, rewards and punishments, and as [1232]Proclus will, all offices whatsoever, _alii genetricem, alii opificem potestatem habent_, &c. and several names they give them according to their offices, as Lares, Indegites, Praestites, &c. When the Arcades in that battle at Cheronae, which was fought against King Philip for the liberty of Greece, had deceitfully carried themselves, long after, in the very same place, _Diis Graeciae, ultoribus_ (saith mine author) they were miserably slain by Metellus the Roman: so likewise, in smaller matters, they will have things |
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