“Eripuitque Jovi fulmen, viresque tonandi.”[278]

The meaning of this line is seen in the context, which, for plainness as well as curiosity, I quote from a metrical version of the first book, entitled “The Sphere of Marcus Manilius made an English Poem, by Edward Sherburne, Esquire,” and dedicated to Charles the Second:—

“Nor put they to their curious search an end,

Till reason had scaled heaven, thence viewed this round,

And Nature latent in its causes found:

Why thunder does the suffering clouds assail;

Why winter’s snow’s more soft than summer’s hail;

Whence earthquakes come, and subterranean fires;

Why showers descend; what force the wind inspires:

From error thus she wondering minds uncharmed,