Westward empire

by Elias Lyman Magoon

The Etruscan race were early subject to the Grecian influence, through a current of Tyrrhenian Pelasgi, and they continued the westward development of science thence received, by penetrating the north of Italy, and across the Alps. The influence which they exerted upon the political character and scientific progress of the ancient Romans, was very great. The impression which the latter left upon universal civilization, vastly extended the scope of thought, but very much of it grew out of a particular element in primitive Etruscan character. This consisted in their close intimacy with natural phenomena. Many of their most sagacious minds were organized into a college, who gave themselves to divination and the observation of meteorological occurrences. The Fulgatores, or interpreters of the lightning, occupied themselves with the direction of the electric fluid, and with turning it aside, or drawing it down. An account is given by Father Angelo Cortenovis, perhaps fabulous, that the tomb of Lars Porsena, described by Varro, was furnished with a brazen helmet, and a brazen chain appended, which formed a collector of atmospheric electricity, or a conductor of lightning. If such was the fact, or, as Michaelis believed, the metallic points upon Solomon's temple were for the like purpose, they must have been formed at a time when mankind possessed the remnants of an ante-historical knowledge of natural philosophy, which was speedily beclouded to be unfolded under fairer auspices. That the connection between lightning and conducting metals was early discovered, is clear from the notice taken of it by Ctesias. He said, "He has two iron swords in his possession, presents from the king (Artaxerxes Mnemon) and his mother (Parysatis); these swords, if planted in the earth, turned aside clouds, hail, and lightning. He has himself seen their effect; for the king had made the experiment twice before his eyes." Humboldt says, "The close attention paid by the Tuscans to the meteorological processes of the atmosphere, and to every thing which varied from the ordinary course of nature, makes it certainly a subject of regret that none of the lightning-books have come down to us. The epochs of the appearance of great comets, or the fall of meteoric stones, and the crowds of falling stars, were, without doubt, as clearly laid down in them, as in the more ancient Chinese annals used by Edward Biot." Creuzer, in his Symbols and Mythology of the Ancient Nations, has attempted to show that the peculiarity of the country in Etruria produced the characteristic direction of the mind of its inhabitants. There is a strong analogy between the power over lightning, attributed to Prometheus, and the wonderful pretended attraction of the lightning of the Fulgatores. But there was no science in the operation, which consisted in exorcising only, and possessed nothing more effective or practical than the carved ass's head, by means of which, according to their religious customs, they defended themselves during a thunder-storm. Otfried Mūller states that, according to the complex Etrurian theory of Auguries, the soft, warming lightning, which Jupiter sent down, by his own authority and power, was distinguished from the more violent electrical mode of castigation, which, according to the constitution of the heavens, he only dared send down after a previous consultation with all the twelve gods. Lightning from the higher cloud-region they carefully distinguished from those flashes which Saturn caused to arise from below, and which they called terrestrial lightning, a distinction much more intelligently discriminated by modern science. After an imperfect but continuous mode, complete registers of the daily condition of the weather were established.

The Aquileges, those who were specially skilled in drawing forth springs of water and examining its properties, originated a somewhat critical investigation of geological phenomena, such as the strata of rocks and the inequalities of earth-formations. Diodorus extols the Tuscan race as a people addicted to the study of nature. They were undoubtedly, in their day, the most efficient promoters of physical knowledge, and laid the foundation of science for the Augustan age.

The knowledge of a great part of the surface of the eastern world was first attained by the conquests made by Alexander. These occurred at a time when the Grecian language and philosophy were so widely spread, that scientific observation and the systematic arrangement of general phenomena, could be rendered most lucid to the mind, and most profitable to the world. By another most providential coincidence, at the moment when an immense store of new materials was thus gathered for study and use, the great Stagirite was at hand to direct inquiry into the facts of natural history, with a comprehensive sagacity never before known. Having explored every possible depth of speculative investigation, and spread out all realms in a map of practical improvement, bounded and defined by definite scientific language, he gave the immense treasure to the West, then just prepared for the donation. Anterior to the Augustan age, science had accumulated many materials, but could hardly be said to exhibit a growing body of determinate results. The Alexandrian school opened on the eastern edge of a new cycle, whose unfolding was manifestly one of great advancement. It was among the Romans that the idea of progressive science was first conceived and declared as a law. Pliny would not despair of seeing proficiency perpetually increased. Seneca, also, felt assured that the time would come when what was now dark would be luminous, and that which is now most admired would be entirely eclipsed by infinitely more resplendent discoveries. Such hopeful sentiments show a confidence of the increase of knowledge, which was not expressed in earlier times. It is especially to be observed that this anticipation, both in Pliny and Seneca, was prompted by the discoveries at that time made in astronomy; which, as Whewell remarks, was "the only progressive science produced by the ancient world." At a later period, Ovid, in the chorus to his Medea, expressed a like confidence in regard to maritime discovery. But the prospect of scientific progress was not connected with much, if any, general improvement of mankind, even in the estimation of those who entertained the fondest expectations. It must, therefore, have afforded some consolation to those who lived when the old world was decomposing, and when its heart, mind and soul, all bore tokens of a great and radical change, to gaze on any bright gleams which science revealed through the clouds of the future.

The Ptolemies, by their love for the sciences, their splendid establishments for promoting intellectual development, and their unwearied endeavors to extend the advantages of commerce, gave an impulse to the study of nature and the knowledge of geography, such as had not existed in any preceding nation. Even before the first Punic war had shaken the power of Carthage, Alexandria had become the greatest emporium of trade and thought in the world. When martial force had laid the broad foundations of empire far down the track of national destinies, Egypt became a province, and all its immensely valuable attainments in science were transferred to the Romans. As the companions of Alexander had become acquainted with the monsoon winds, which render such powerful assistance in voyages between the east coast of Africa and the west coast of Asia, so the Cæsars, in due time and order, were put in possession of means by which they might compass the western shores of Europe. Thus greater portions of the globe have become accessible, the nations have been drawn together more closely, and the sphere of human knowledge has been progressively enlarged. This direction of Greek thought, which was productive of such grand results, and had been so long in a quiet state of preparation, was manifested in the noblest way at the era of transition from Pericles to Augustus. Its extension at the time of the Lagides may be considered as a very important step in the general knowledge of nature ultimately attained.

Before the appearance of Aristotle, the phenomena of nature had not been studied by the aid of acute observation, and for their interpretation they were surrendered to obscure guesses and arbitrary hypotheses. But in the new age which succeeded, much more careful attention to empirical analysis was manifested. Facts were sifted, and synthetical results obtained. The securer road of induction was opened, and speculations in natural philosophy assumed more and more the form and worth of practical knowledge. An ardent desire to study facts succeeded the power and passion to amass them, and a science was born of nobler aspect than a merely spiritless and empty erudition. The peculiar character of Ptolemean scholasticism preserved itself until near the fall of the western empire, and formed an all-prevailing element in Roman science. Much assistance was derived from the great collections originally in the museum at Alexandria, and the two libraries at Bruchium and at Rhacotis. Connected with the first was a large body of learned men, whose diversified talents and universal knowledge enabled them to generalize all the elements that had been agglomerated for the advantage of a yet more critical age. The library of Bruchium was the oldest, and suffered at the burning of the fleet in the time of Julius Cæsar. The library of Rhacotis made a part of the Serapeum, where it was united to the museum. The collection of Pergamus was, by the generosity of Anthony, incorporated with the library of Rhacotis.

Doubtless the germ of all subsequent progress in the natural sciences was to be found in Plato's high regard for the development of a mathematical mode of thought, and in the system which Aristotle set forth respecting all organized beings. These were the guiding-stars which conducted all great masters of learning amid fanatical errors for many centuries, and prevented the utter loss of a scientific method. Step by step the progress went forward. Eratosthenes of Cyrene projected a systematic "Universal Geography;" and, outstripping the "System of Floodgates," by Strato of Lampsacus, followed the rush of waters through the Dardanelles, and went forth in thought beyond the Pillars of Hercules to attempt the solution of the problem concerning the similarity of the level of the ocean around all the continents. A corresponding illustration of the intellectual activity of the age appeared in the attempt to determine, by approximation, the circumference of the earth. The data arrived at by Bematist, were indeed incomplete; but the device to raise himself from the narrow segment of his native land, measure adjacent degrees, and finally obtain a knowledge of the size of the entire globe, is a striking index to the Augustan age.

But the splendid progress made in the scientific acquaintance with the celestial bodies at that time, is most worthy of note. Aristyllus and Timochares determined the position of fixed stars. Aristarchus of Samos, the cotemporary of Cleanthes, was acquainted with the ancient Pythagorean ideas, attempted to explore thoroughly the construction of the universe, and guessed at the double movement of the earth round its axis, as well as its progress round a central sun. Seleucus of Euthræ, a century later attempted to confirm the opinion of the Samian writer; and Hipparchus, the founder of scientific astronomy, became the greatest original observer of the stars in the whole of antiquity. He was the first author of astronomical tables, and the discoverer of the precession of the equinoxes. His own observations were made at Rhodes, and upon comparing them with those of Timochares and Aristyllus, he was led to this great discovery. In the same hands, celestial phenomena were first employed to determine the geographical position of certain places. The new map of the world, constructed by Hipparchus, touched upon eclipses, and the measurement of shadows, for the determination of the geographical latitudes and longitudes. Improvements cluster, and a new aid of great value soon appeared, in the hydraulic clock of Ctesibius, which measured time much more accurately than the Clypsydra, or water-glasses, formerly in use. For a corresponding improvement in the determination of space, better instruments were invented from time to time, dating from the ancient sun-dial and the scaphæ to the discovery of the Astrolabes, the solstitial rings, and the dioptric lines. Wider views and keener organs were afforded to increased scientific skill, which gradually led to a closer acquaintance with the loftiest planetary movement. But the knowledge of the absolute size, form, and physical properties of these bodies, made no progress whatever, that being reserved as the leading glory of a posterior age.

The Augustan period, though it attained not to true astronomical science in the highest form, was yet remarkable in some departments of mathematics. Euclid, Appollonius of Perga, and Archimedes, were geometers of the highest class, who were intermediate between Plato and the Menæchmean figures and the age of Kepler and Tycho, Galileo and Laplace.

Archimedes was born B.C. 287, and is said to have been related by blood to Hiero, king of Syracuse. He was too late to associate with Euclid, but found a friend and genial companion in Conon, another distinguished mathematician of that age. In his researches Archimedes used "his beloved Doric dialect," and contributed much to the improvement of mathematical science. His first discoveries related to the area of the parabola, the surface and solidity of the sphere and cylinder, the properties of spheroids, and of that spiral which is called indifferently the spiral of Conon or of Archimedes. The speculations respecting the sphere and cylinder appear to have interested this great man the most, for he wished to have his grave marked by these solids, and was the first mathematician who caused his scientific discoveries to be inscribed on his tomb. Of his astronomical studies, none have reached our times, excepting the method of determining the sun's apparent diameter. Cicero speaks of an orrery, as it would be called in modern times, made by Archimedes, and exhibiting the motion of the sun, the moon, and the planets; which he uses as an argument against those who deny a Providence. "Shall we," says he, "attribute more intelligence to Archimedes for making the imitation, than to nature for framing the original?"

Perhaps the most remarkable of his discoveries were those he made in mechanics, and their adaptation by him to practical use. The lever, the wheel and axle, the polyspact or pulley, the wedge, and the screw were known to him. He seems to have turned much of his attention to the construction of powerful machines, and boasted of the unlimited extent of his art in the well-known expression, "Give me a spot to stand on, and I will move the earth." He is said to have enabled Hiero, through a mechanical contrivance, to push a large ship into the sea, by his individual strength. His application was so intense that he required to be reminded of the common duties of eating and drinking by those about him; and while his servants were placing him in his bath, he would still continue drawing mathematical diagrams with any materials within his reach. "So that," according to Plutarch, "this abstraction made people say, and not unreasonably, that he was accompanied by an invisible siren, to whose song he was listening."