Book I. lA^e Temple (?/Wifdome. 141

words, which we have before ciccd. All thePAi- toniftfiti a manner, were likewife of thcfame Pcr- fwafion : and this is the rea Ton that Por/^^j/nV afTures us, that when he had refolved to have killed him- fclfe, flotmuf^ having read his Intention in the Stars hindered him from doing it. Orpheus alfo had knowledg of thefe Secrets^as appears by thefc verfeg of his:
Certus tuus Orddy ImmutahilihuitnandaHs^currit in Ajiris.
As for our modern Writer?, it would even amaze a man toconfider, that among fuch infinite num- bers of Books, wherewith our Libraries are ftufFed, there is hardly live, or fix to be found, that have taken any notice at all, of this Wife piece of Anti- quity, concerning this Celellial writing, 1 know ve- ry well, that ignorance will be prefencly ready with this anfwer j chat the vanity ofthefubje^, is the reafon ofchis their Silence. But why then have fuch an infinite number of other fooleries been taken into confideration, and thought a fie fubjeft for their learned Pens, which area thoufand times more Ridiculous in appearance, then this is > where- as, on the contrary, there is no ^ ftrologer,co whom this Science is not necelTary , nor any fearchcr into the choifer pieces of Theological antiquity, to whom in like manner it may not be ufeful ^ if at leaft it be true. I am therefore apt to believe, that the true reafon is, the Neglect rather of the Oriental Lang- luges 5 whereon thefe wife Secrets do fo ncceffarily
depends
1 42 rte Temple ofWiidome. Book L
depend^ as that, without the knowledge of them^ they cannot poffibly be explained, or underftood : infomuch that we had no notice at all of thefe Mi- fteries, tillfuch time as they were brought into Ek- r^/>f by thofe men, that addifted themfelves to the Itudy of the Eaftern Languages. Capnio was the firft, de Art. Cab, that, in an rtge when Barbarifaie reig- nedj adventured to make fome of thefe choife dif- coveries. Vkus MiranduU iikewife, who was the fhxnix of the Age he lived in, took fome pains in fearching into thefe Secrets , and alfo propofed the Queftion in hand, in thefe terms : ^ejl. 74. Vtrkm in Cxlofiftt defcripta^ & fignificata omnia^ cuilibetfcienti legere : Famous Cornelius Agrippa, Knight, alfo hath delivered his opinion herein, fierim Vderianus^ in his Hierofi;lyphicks, hath thefe words. Occult. Fhilof^ Lib. 44. fol :^66c. Ilia Extenfio in niodum pellis^ tanquam liter ii^ infcript£ luminaribus^ & jielli^^dicitur Rakia, &c. Banelli^ an Italian, hath faid more to thispurpofe, then all the others, upon thofe Words of St. Lu^e : Gaudete^ quod nomina veftra fcripta fint in Ccelii. Kiin- rath^ inAmphith. according to his ufual manner of foohng, makes a Pciddle of it 5
In quo flint pueri quotquot in Orbc Viri,
Itfeems, that thefe kind of Authors write to no other end^ but that they may not be underftood: by this means feemiuf^ tomake war againft Nature ; which hath given us aTonguc, and the ufeoffpeech, that might be able to exprefs our Conceptions ; whereas thefe men, on the contrary, endeavour to beObfcure,and Dark. Kobcrt llud^ in his Apology for the Brethren of the KofieCrofi^ hath gone on very far with this Celefiid writing ^ theCharafters where- of