1to the Streets. At the famous City Peruſia,
which has ſeveral little Towers placed here
and there upon the Hills, like the Fingers of
a Man's Hand extending out, if the Enemy
offers to attack one of the Angles with a good
Number of Men, he can find no Place to be
gin his Aſſault, and being obliged to march
under thoſe Towers, is not able to withſtand
the Weapons that will be caſt, and the Sallies
made upon him. So that the ſame Method
for walling of Towns will not ſerve in all Pla
ces. Moreover the Ancients lay it down for
a Rule, that Cities and Ships ſhould by no
means be either ſo big as to look empty, nor
ſo little as to be crowded. Others are for hav
ing their Towns full and cloſe, believing that
it adds to their Safety: Others, feeding them
ſelves with great Hopes of Times to come, de
light in having a vaſt deal of Room: Others,
perhaps, have an Eye to the Fame and Ho
nour of Poſterity. The City of the Sun, built
by Buſiris, and call'd Thebes, as Hiſtories in
form us, was twenty Miles in Circuit; Mem
phis, eighteen Miles, ſix Furlongs; Babylon,
three and forty Miles, ſix Furlong; Nineveh,
threeſcore Miles; and ſome Towns encloſed
ſo much Ground, that even within the Walls
they could raiſe Proviſions for the whole Year.
But, I think, there is a great deal of Wiſdom
in the old Proverb, which tells us, that we
ought in all Things to avoid exceſs; though
if I were to commit an Error of either Side,
I ſhould rather chuſe that Proportion which
would allow of an Encreaſe of Citizens, than that
which is hardly ſufficient to contain the preſent
Inhabitants. Add to this, that a City is not
built wholly for the Sake of Shelter, but ought
to be ſo contrived, that beſides mere civil
Conveniencies there may be handſome Spaces
left for Squares, Courſes for Chariots, Gardens,
Places to take the Air in, for Swimming, and
the like, both for Ornament and Recreation.
which has ſeveral little Towers placed here
and there upon the Hills, like the Fingers of
a Man's Hand extending out, if the Enemy
offers to attack one of the Angles with a good
Number of Men, he can find no Place to be
gin his Aſſault, and being obliged to march
under thoſe Towers, is not able to withſtand
the Weapons that will be caſt, and the Sallies
made upon him. So that the ſame Method
for walling of Towns will not ſerve in all Pla
ces. Moreover the Ancients lay it down for
a Rule, that Cities and Ships ſhould by no
means be either ſo big as to look empty, nor
ſo little as to be crowded. Others are for hav
ing their Towns full and cloſe, believing that
it adds to their Safety: Others, feeding them
ſelves with great Hopes of Times to come, de
light in having a vaſt deal of Room: Others,
perhaps, have an Eye to the Fame and Ho
nour of Poſterity. The City of the Sun, built
by Buſiris, and call'd Thebes, as Hiſtories in
form us, was twenty Miles in Circuit; Mem
phis, eighteen Miles, ſix Furlongs; Babylon,
three and forty Miles, ſix Furlong; Nineveh,
threeſcore Miles; and ſome Towns encloſed
ſo much Ground, that even within the Walls
they could raiſe Proviſions for the whole Year.
But, I think, there is a great deal of Wiſdom
in the old Proverb, which tells us, that we
ought in all Things to avoid exceſs; though
if I were to commit an Error of either Side,
I ſhould rather chuſe that Proportion which
would allow of an Encreaſe of Citizens, than that
which is hardly ſufficient to contain the preſent
Inhabitants. Add to this, that a City is not
built wholly for the Sake of Shelter, but ought
to be ſo contrived, that beſides mere civil
Conveniencies there may be handſome Spaces
left for Squares, Courſes for Chariots, Gardens,
Places to take the Air in, for Swimming, and
the like, both for Ornament and Recreation.
WE read in the Ancients Varro, Plutarch
and others, that their Forefathers us'd to
deſign the Walls of their Town with abundance
of religious Rites and Ceremonies. After the
repeated taking of Auſpices they yoked a Bull
and a Cow together to draw a brazen Plough,
with which they traced out the Line that was
to be the Circuit of the Wall, the Cow being
placed on the Inſide, and the Bull without.
The Fathers and Elders that were to dwell in
the Town followed the Plough, laying all the
Clods of Earth into the Furrow again inward,
ſo that none might lie ſcattering outward, and
when they came to thoſe Places where the Gates
were to be, they lifted up the Plough and car
ried it in their Hands, that the Groundſell of
the Gates might remain untouch'd; and for
this Reaſon they eſteem'd the whole Circle of
the Wall to be ſacred, all except the Gates,
which were by no means to be called ſo.
and others, that their Forefathers us'd to
deſign the Walls of their Town with abundance
of religious Rites and Ceremonies. After the
repeated taking of Auſpices they yoked a Bull
and a Cow together to draw a brazen Plough,
with which they traced out the Line that was
to be the Circuit of the Wall, the Cow being
placed on the Inſide, and the Bull without.
The Fathers and Elders that were to dwell in
the Town followed the Plough, laying all the
Clods of Earth into the Furrow again inward,
ſo that none might lie ſcattering outward, and
when they came to thoſe Places where the Gates
were to be, they lifted up the Plough and car
ried it in their Hands, that the Groundſell of
the Gates might remain untouch'd; and for
this Reaſon they eſteem'd the whole Circle of
the Wall to be ſacred, all except the Gates,
which were by no means to be called ſo.
In the Days of Romulus, Dionyſius of Hali
carnaſſus, tells us, that the Fathers in Beginning
their Towns, uſed, after performing a Sacriſice,
to kindle Fires before their Tents, and to
make the People paſs through them, believing
that they were purged and purified by the
Flame; and they held it unlawful to admit
any Body to this Ceremony that was polluted
or unclean. This is what we find to have
been the Cuſtom of thoſe Nations. In other
Places they uſed to mark out the Foundation
of their Walls by ſtrowing all the Way a Duſt
made of white Earth, which they called pure;
and Alexander, upon laying out the Town of
Pharos, for want of this Earth made uſe of
Meal. From theſe Ceremonies the Diviners
took Occaſion to foretell what ſhould happen
in Times to come; for noting the Nativity, as
we may call it, of the City, and ſome Events
that ſeemed to have ſome Connection with it,
they imagined they might thence draw Pre
dictions of its future Succeſſes. The Hetrurians
too in the Books of their Ceremonies taught
this Art of foretelling the Fortune of Towns
from the Day of their Nativities; and this not
from the Obſervation of the Heavens, which
we mentioned in the Second Book, but from
Principles and Conjectures founded upon
preſent Circumſtances. Cenſorinus informs us,
that the Method they taught was this: Such
Men as happened to be born the very ſame
Day that the City was begun, and lived the
Longeſt of any one born on that Day, were
reckoned by their Death to put a Period to the
firſt Age of that City; next, the longeſt Liver
of thoſe that dwelt in the City; at that Time,
when they died concluded the ſecond Age;
and ſo for the other Ages. Then they ſup
poſed that the Gods generally ſent Omens to
point out the Concluſion of each particular
Age. Theſe were the Superſtitions which
they taught; and they add that the Hetrurians
by theſe Prognoſticks could certainly fix every
Age of their City, which they determined to
to be as follows; their firſt four Ages they
made an hundred Years each; the Fifth, an
hundred and Twenty-three; the Sixth, an
hundred and Twenty, and as many the
carnaſſus, tells us, that the Fathers in Beginning
their Towns, uſed, after performing a Sacriſice,
to kindle Fires before their Tents, and to
make the People paſs through them, believing
that they were purged and purified by the
Flame; and they held it unlawful to admit
any Body to this Ceremony that was polluted
or unclean. This is what we find to have
been the Cuſtom of thoſe Nations. In other
Places they uſed to mark out the Foundation
of their Walls by ſtrowing all the Way a Duſt
made of white Earth, which they called pure;
and Alexander, upon laying out the Town of
Pharos, for want of this Earth made uſe of
Meal. From theſe Ceremonies the Diviners
took Occaſion to foretell what ſhould happen
in Times to come; for noting the Nativity, as
we may call it, of the City, and ſome Events
that ſeemed to have ſome Connection with it,
they imagined they might thence draw Pre
dictions of its future Succeſſes. The Hetrurians
too in the Books of their Ceremonies taught
this Art of foretelling the Fortune of Towns
from the Day of their Nativities; and this not
from the Obſervation of the Heavens, which
we mentioned in the Second Book, but from
Principles and Conjectures founded upon
preſent Circumſtances. Cenſorinus informs us,
that the Method they taught was this: Such
Men as happened to be born the very ſame
Day that the City was begun, and lived the
Longeſt of any one born on that Day, were
reckoned by their Death to put a Period to the
firſt Age of that City; next, the longeſt Liver
of thoſe that dwelt in the City; at that Time,
when they died concluded the ſecond Age;
and ſo for the other Ages. Then they ſup
poſed that the Gods generally ſent Omens to
point out the Concluſion of each particular
Age. Theſe were the Superſtitions which
they taught; and they add that the Hetrurians
by theſe Prognoſticks could certainly fix every
Age of their City, which they determined to
to be as follows; their firſt four Ages they
made an hundred Years each; the Fifth, an
hundred and Twenty-three; the Sixth, an
hundred and Twenty, and as many the