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A new edition of Toland's History of the druids: - Free History Ebooks

A new edition of Toland's History of the druids: - Free History Ebooks

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210 THE HISTORY<strong>of</strong> such travellers asPythagoras and Abaris, butalso by <strong>the</strong> nearness <strong>of</strong> Gaul to Italy: tho' <strong>the</strong>rewill still remahi ano<strong>the</strong>r question, viz. Avhe<strong>the</strong>r<strong>the</strong> Egyptians had not <strong>the</strong>se things before ei<strong>the</strong>r<strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>m ; and <strong>the</strong>refore whe<strong>the</strong>r <strong>the</strong>y did not bothreceive <strong>the</strong>m from <strong>the</strong> Egyptians?VIII.Yet before all things we must here exami<strong>new</strong>hat can be <strong>of</strong>fer'd, with any color, againstour account <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Hyperborean iland ;after thatso many circumstances, and particularly <strong>the</strong> situation,seem to point demonstratively to <strong>the</strong> trueplace:nor certainly, when things are duely consider'd,will <strong>the</strong> objections tl\at have been startedin private conversation (as I know <strong>of</strong> no o<strong>the</strong>r thatcan be publickly made) be found to have <strong>the</strong> leastdifficulty. Thule or Iceland, rightly plac'd byClaudian in <strong>the</strong> Hyperborean* climate, besides<strong>the</strong> incongruities <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>soil and <strong>the</strong> intemperateiiess<strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> air, is distinguish'd by Diodorus himselffrom <strong>the</strong> iland in question: and <strong>the</strong> iles <strong>of</strong>Faroe, being onely a parcel <strong>of</strong> barren rocks <strong>of</strong>very small extent, without any monument <strong>of</strong> antiquity,deserve not so much as to be mention d onthis occasion. Nei<strong>the</strong>r indeed has any <strong>of</strong> my acquaintanceinsisted on ei<strong>the</strong>r <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>se. But Diodorus(says one <strong>of</strong> 'em) tho' exactly agreeing to-Te, quo libet, ire,spquemur:Te vel Hyperboreo damnatam sidere Thulen,Te vel ad incensas Libyae coraitabor arenas.Li Rvfn. lib. 2.

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