Hudibras . branch of learning. Thoth, saysLactantius, antiquissimus et instructissimus onmi genere doctrinae, adeo ut ei multarum rcrum et artium scientift Trismegisto cognomen imponerct. B. i. cap. 6. The Egyptians anciently engraved their lawsand discoveries in science upon columns, which were deposited in thecolleges of the priests. The column in their language was termed in a country where almost every thing became an ol)ject of worship,it is no wonder that the sacred column should be personified, and thatThoth should he revered as the inventor or great promoter of learning. •• P
Hudibras . branch of learning. Thoth, saysLactantius, antiquissimus et instructissimus onmi genere doctrinae, adeo ut ei multarum rcrum et artium scientift Trismegisto cognomen imponerct. B. i. cap. 6. The Egyptians anciently engraved their lawsand discoveries in science upon columns, which were deposited in thecolleges of the priests. The column in their language was termed in a country where almost every thing became an ol)ject of worship,it is no wonder that the sacred column should be personified, and thatThoth should he revered as the inventor or great promoter of learning. •• Pythagoras, a Greek Philosopher, nourished about the sixth orseventh century before Christ. He was the scholar of Tiiales; and tra-velled forty years in Egypt, Chaldea, and other jiarts of the East, veUitptcdo literarum, for the sake of improvement. See Diog. Laert. Hewas initiated into all their mysteries. At last he settled in Italy, andfounded the Italic sect. He commonly expressed himself by / ,5:^ .?^ ^,v<^- aculf CANTO III.] IIUDIBRAS. 37 To whom they do confess they oweAll that they do, and all they know. Quoth Hudibras,—Alas, what ist t usWhether twas said by Trismeifistus, 6C0 If it be nonsense, false or nivstick,Or not intelligible or sopliistick ?Tis not antiquity, nor author,That makes truth truth, altho times daughter ; Twas he that put her in the pit, ccs Before he pulled her out of it; 2 Many incredible stories are re|)ortecl of him by Laertius, Jamblicus, andothers. Old Zoroaster, so old that authors know not when he make him contemporary with Abraham. Others place him fivethousand yvars before the Trojan war. Justin says of him, Postremum illi (Nino) helium cum Zoroastre, rege Hactrianorum fuit, qui primus dicitur artes magicas invenisse, et mundi principia, siderumque motus diligentissimi! spcctasse. Lib. i. cap. 1. ApoUoniiis, of Tyana, lived in the time of Domitian. He embracedthe doctrines of Pythagoras ; travelled far
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