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^^mm^mmS^mmm^m^ :iipff»pi3^ Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2009 with funding from Research Library, The Getty Research Institute http://www.archive.org/details/antiquitiesexplaOOogle Antiquities Explained. Being a COLLECTION of FIGURED GEMS lUuflrated by SIMILAR DESCRIPTIONS CLASSICS.Taken from the By GEORGE OGLE, Efq; VOL. I. L N D Ni Printed by James Bettenbatny For Cl, Du Bosc, at the Golden Head in Charles-Street, Covent'Garden. M.DCC.XXXVU. To His GRACE LIONEL CRANFIELD SACKVILLE Duke of Dorset, Earl of Dorset and Mid- dlesex, Baron of Buckhurst, and Ba- ron Cranfield c/Cranfield ; Conjlabte of Dover-Caftle.^ Warden and Admiral ofthe CiNauE-PoRTs, Gustos Rotulorum of the County of Kent, and ofthe Citj and Coun- ty of Canterbury, P^ice-Admiral of the County of Kent, One of the Lords of his Majeftys moji Honourahle Trivy Council^ Knight of the moft Nohle Order of the Gar- ter^ Lord Lieutenant-General, and General Governour of the Kingdom of Ireland. Sir, H A L L need all your Grace's Humanity and Good ISNature, to gain Ejfcufe for the Liberty 1 have ta- ken, in pre-fixing your Name to this Performance; whofe many Imperfedions, I am but too fenfible, will ill admit of a fevere Examination. I would plead, that it has long been the common Ufage of Authors (in almoft every Species of Literature) to feek Shelter under the Patronage of a Sackville ; could I be as certain that the Work, 1 have now the Ho- nor of prefenting to your Grace, better merited your Attention. A 2 Yet ; iv DEDICATION. Yet AddrefTes of this Kind, my Lord, are never more properly offer'd, than when direded to Perfons, whofe known Abilities and Virtues have plac'd Them, (and plac'd Them to fhine) in high Stations ; and I was unwilling to omit any Opportunity of acknowledging the grateful Senfe I retain of thofe Favors, confer'd by your Grace, on Relations fo near to me as Brothers nor can I be totally lilent on the Manner in which thofe Favors were confer'd ; that M anner which makes every Favor a double Obligation 1 1 fhall not trouble your Grace, in the Way of Au- thors, with a long Detail of the Pains I have taken to improve this * CoUedion. I fhall only fay. That it fell by Accident into my Hands; That the Difficulty of Accefs to the Cabinets of the Curious, made me turn my Thoughts to the Explication of a Suite of Gems al- ready publifh'd ; whofe Subje<fts of Compofition brought back to my Memory many parallel Defcriptions in the ancient Claffics. As the Fre^ich Edition was attended with a very fhort Explanation, I conceiv'd it might be of Service to make fome f Additions; and, for the fake of All who are Admirers of the Greek and Roma?t Po- ets, to infert fuch Paffages as appeared {imilar to the Gems produc'd. To every Quotation it was thought proper to fubjoin an EngliJlD Verfion, for the Benefit of thofe who are not Mafters of the learned Languages. Wherever I could meet an elegant Tranflation to my Hand, I made bold to ufe it: I am much indebted oa * This Collection was firft publifh'd at Far'n in 1732. + Whatever follows the Afterifm in each Article, is added to this Edi- tion. this ; DEDICATION. v this Account to the Labors of many ingenious Gentlemen, whofe Works have furnifla'd me with the befl Ornaments of my Book; and 1 hope the Pleafure your Grace will receive by comparing thefe Tranflations with the Ori- ginals, will make amends for thofe Paflages which I have been oblig'd to Eng/ijh myfelf j whenever I found Occafion to cite an ancient Author not yet attempted a Cafe that has happen'd but too frequently in the Courfe of this Work ! For all that regards the Collec- tion itfelf, I muft refer your Grace to the Author's Preface. There arifes in moft People an Averlion and Preju- dice againft the Study of Antiquities; and, if your Grace will fpare me a Moment on this Subjedl, I muft confefs, not altogether without Foundation. But whe- ther this Prepoffeflion be not more juftly laid to the Charge of the Profeflbrs of this Study, than of this Study itfelf, I leave to your equal Candor and Judg- ment. It muft be granted, that the Profefibrs of this Study, generally feem to have no other Point in View, than merely to gratify a Particular Tafte, or to exercife a Kind of out-of-the-way Curioftty. Whatever the Learn- ed World may owe to this Turn of Humor, (and cer- tainly to this it owes the Prefervation of fo many valu- able Remains) a Reafonable Man will yet find juft Caufe to condemn the Condudl of thofe Paffionate Ad- mirers, who, to acquire the Character of Profeft Anti- quarians, lay out all their Time in the Search, and all their Subftance in the Purchafe of Curiofities : With- out knowing, or even defiring to know, what Good They vi D EH I CAT 10 N. They may produce. It is fufficient that They have Them in their Pofleffion; They take no Pleafure in the Ufe ; whereas in the Ule only confifts their true Va- kie. Is it poffible for your Grace not to laugh at a Collector of Manufcripts, who proves the Value of his venerable Parchments by fecreting Them; who gives you Permifiion, perhaps, to look on them ; but would fooner bury than fuffer Them to be collated ? Would not our Fathers have chronicled it, as a moft fingular In- ftance of Whimfical Avarice, had Stephens or Elziver, after completing their neat and beautiful Types, con- ceiv'd, that a private Pofleffion of Them was the bell Ufe ; inftead of imploying Them to the Public Service of the Learned World, and bringing to Light fo many fplendid and corredt Editions of Greek and Roman Au- thors ? There is a Clafs of Antiquarians liable to this or any other Ridicule ; who colled:' out of Vanity, and hoard out of Avarice. But your Grace will ealily al- low, that the Abufe of any Art or Profeflion, is an Ar- gument, relative indeed to Thofe who abufe it, but that carries no further Weight, if the Art or Profeflion be in itfelf of Ufe. That a Knowledge of Antiquities is of eminent Ser- vice, towards clearing up the Dates and Fads of Hi- ftory in particular, is a Point univerfally admitted; but the vifible Ufe that has been made of them, by the two Learned Fathers who have lately publiihed the Ro- man Hiftory, is an unconteftable Proof The great Advantages that may be drawn from this Study, in order to explain and illuftrate the whole Bo- dy of Claffic Authors in general, is equally evident. 4 For DEDICATION. vii For wherever mention i* made of any ancient Fable, Habit, Utenfil, Cuftom, or Ceremony, (whether Do- meftic. Civil, or Religious) no Comment of Words can give that Satisfaction to the Inquifitive Modern Reader, as when He fees the very Pi<fture of that An- tient Habit, 8fc. laid before Him. I apprehend it is much eafier to convince the Eyes, than the Ears; and fhould the warmeft and the beft Judge of Painting in England entertain your Grace with all the Beauties and Elegancies of Paul preaching at Athens^ he could not, I believe, leave fo ftrong and lading an Impreffion on your Mind, as you receive from the View of the Pic- ture itfelf, whenever you pafs the Gallery of Hampton Court. I inftance that Piece of Rubens^ not only by Way of Argument but with Defign, becaufe the whole Ordonance of that Compofition, was taken from an Antique. For I will venture to advance, in further Commen- dation of this Study, that the flow Progrefs of Paint- ing in thefe Kingdoms is chiefly owing to the Negled: in fome, or to the Want of Opportunity in others, of Confulting the beautiful Remains of Antiquity. Your Grace will readily recoUedl, that the beft Matters of the He}7iifii Lombard,2in6. Italian Schools, were equally famous for their Knowledge of the Antique. If we have arriv'd at no greater Perfedion in Coining, Ingra- vure. Founding, or Sculpture, I am apt to imagine the Defed arifes from the fame Caufe; but I fliall not in- trude fo far upon your Patience, as to enter into a Dif- cuflion of all thefe Points; meaning fingly to confine myfelf at prefent, to the Article of Painting. There ; viii DEDICATION. There are, my Lord, many Qualities requifite to conftitute the perfed: Painter. QuaUties, as well natu- ral as acquired ! And to many of Thefe, the learned Antiquarian can lend no Improvement nor AfTiftance. A happy and copious Invention, a rich and agreable Fancy, a bold and fublime Genius, are Talents, the Gifts of Nature. By Obfervation and Experience, the Artift may acquire the neceflary Skill, in the Mixture and Union of his Colors, and in the Caft and Diftri- bution of his Lights and Shadows: Hence he may give the proper Strength, Heightning, Sweetnefs, Round- nefs. Life, and Spirit to his Figures. But in Matter of Defign^ your Gx'^sAce will grant me, He muft perfe<Sb Himfelf in the School of Antiquity. Where can He learn ajufteror finer Air for his Heads, a more fuitable Adornment, or a more beautiful Dilpofal of the Hair ? And as the Ancients were inimitable in their Manner of Defigning their Heads, fo were they equally fuccefsful in their Arms, Hands, Legs, Feet, and other Parts of the Body.

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