The
original
connexion is probably found in Macrobius'
statement (_Saturn.
statement (_Saturn.
John Donne
_Liber XIIII_ is a digest, or
'defloratio', of Philo (of whom later); _Liber XV_ of Berosus,
a reputed Chaldaean historian ('patria Babylonicus; et dignitate
Chaldaeus'), cited by Josephus. From him Annius derives this
identification of Janus with Noah: 'Hoc vltimo loco Berosus de tribus
cognominibus rationes tradit: Noa: Cam & Tythea. De Noa dicit quod
fuit illi tributum cognomen Ianus a Iain: quod apud Aramaeos et
Hebraeos sonat vinum: a quo Ianus id est vinifer et vinosus: quia
primus vinum invenit et inebriatus est: vt dicit Berosus: et supra
insinuavit Propertius: et item Moyses Genesis cap ix. vbi etiam Iain
vinum Iani nominat: vbi nos habemus: Cum Noa evigilasset a vino. Cato
etiam in fragmentis originum; et Fabius Pictor in de origine vrbis
Romae dicunt Ianum dictum priscum Oenotrium: quia invenit vinum et
far ad religionem magis quam ad vsum,' &c. , XV, Fo. cxv. Elsewhere
the identity is based not on this common interest in wine but on
their priestly office, they being the first to offer 'sacrificia et
holocausta', VII, Fo. lviii. Again, 'Ex his probatur irrevincibiliter
a tempore demonstrato a Solino et propriis Epithetis Iani: eundem
fuisse Ogygem: Ianum et Noam . . . Sed Noa fuit proprium: Ogyges verum
Ianus et Proteus id est Vertumnus sunt solum praenomina ejus,' XV, Fo.
cv. No mention of the ark as a link occurs, but a ship figured on the
copper coins distributed at Rome on New Year's day, which was sacred
to Janus.
The original connexion is probably found in Macrobius'
statement (_Saturn. _ I. 9) that among other titles Janus was invoked
as 'Consivius . . . a conserendo id est a propagine generis humani quae
Iano auctore conseritur'. Noah is the father of the extant human race.
PAGE =299=, ll. 114-17. There can be no doubt, I think, that the 1633
text is here correct, though for clearness a comma must be inserted
after 'reasons'. The emendation of the 1635 editor which modern
editors have followed gives an awkward and, at the close, an absurdly
tautological sentence. It is not the reason, the rational faculty,
of sceptics which is like the bubbles blown by boys, that stretch too
thin, 'break and do themselves spill. ' What Donne says, is that the
reasons or arguments of those who answer sceptics, like bubbles which
break themselves, injure their authors, the apologists. The verse
wants a syllable--not a unique phenomenon in Donne's satires; but if
one is to be supplied 'so' would give the sense better than 'and'.
PAGE =300=, l. 129.
'defloratio', of Philo (of whom later); _Liber XV_ of Berosus,
a reputed Chaldaean historian ('patria Babylonicus; et dignitate
Chaldaeus'), cited by Josephus. From him Annius derives this
identification of Janus with Noah: 'Hoc vltimo loco Berosus de tribus
cognominibus rationes tradit: Noa: Cam & Tythea. De Noa dicit quod
fuit illi tributum cognomen Ianus a Iain: quod apud Aramaeos et
Hebraeos sonat vinum: a quo Ianus id est vinifer et vinosus: quia
primus vinum invenit et inebriatus est: vt dicit Berosus: et supra
insinuavit Propertius: et item Moyses Genesis cap ix. vbi etiam Iain
vinum Iani nominat: vbi nos habemus: Cum Noa evigilasset a vino. Cato
etiam in fragmentis originum; et Fabius Pictor in de origine vrbis
Romae dicunt Ianum dictum priscum Oenotrium: quia invenit vinum et
far ad religionem magis quam ad vsum,' &c. , XV, Fo. cxv. Elsewhere
the identity is based not on this common interest in wine but on
their priestly office, they being the first to offer 'sacrificia et
holocausta', VII, Fo. lviii. Again, 'Ex his probatur irrevincibiliter
a tempore demonstrato a Solino et propriis Epithetis Iani: eundem
fuisse Ogygem: Ianum et Noam . . . Sed Noa fuit proprium: Ogyges verum
Ianus et Proteus id est Vertumnus sunt solum praenomina ejus,' XV, Fo.
cv. No mention of the ark as a link occurs, but a ship figured on the
copper coins distributed at Rome on New Year's day, which was sacred
to Janus.
The original connexion is probably found in Macrobius'
statement (_Saturn. _ I. 9) that among other titles Janus was invoked
as 'Consivius . . . a conserendo id est a propagine generis humani quae
Iano auctore conseritur'. Noah is the father of the extant human race.
PAGE =299=, ll. 114-17. There can be no doubt, I think, that the 1633
text is here correct, though for clearness a comma must be inserted
after 'reasons'. The emendation of the 1635 editor which modern
editors have followed gives an awkward and, at the close, an absurdly
tautological sentence. It is not the reason, the rational faculty,
of sceptics which is like the bubbles blown by boys, that stretch too
thin, 'break and do themselves spill. ' What Donne says, is that the
reasons or arguments of those who answer sceptics, like bubbles which
break themselves, injure their authors, the apologists. The verse
wants a syllable--not a unique phenomenon in Donne's satires; but if
one is to be supplied 'so' would give the sense better than 'and'.
PAGE =300=, l. 129.
