[178] The myth of Pandora’s box, which is here referred to, is related in the Works and Days of Hesiod. Epimetheus was the personification of “Afterthought,” while his brother Prometheus represented “Forethought,” or prudence. It was not Epimetheus that opened the box, but Pandora—“All-gift,” whom, contrary to the advice of his brother, he had received at the hands of Mercury, and had made his wife. In their house stood a closed jar, which they were forbidden to open. Till her arrival, this had been kept untouched; but her curiosity prompting her to open the lid, all the evils hitherto unknown to man flew out and spread over the earth, and she only shut it down in time to prevent the escape of Hope.
[179] “Sylla did not know his letters, and so he could not dictate.” This saying is attributed by Suetonius to Julius Cæsar. It is a play on the Latin verb dictare, which means either “to dictate,” or “to act the part of Dictator,” according to the context. As this saying was presumed to be a reflection on Sylla’s ignorance, and to imply that by reason thereof he was unable to maintain his power, it was concluded by the Roman people that Cæsar, who was an elegant scholar, feeling himself subject to no such inability, did not intend speedily to yield the reins of power.—Suet. Vit. C. Jul. Cæs. 77, i. and Cf. A. L. i. vii. 12.
[180] “That soldiers were levied by him, not bought.”—Tac. Hist. i. 5.
[181] “If I live, there shall no longer be need of soldiers in the Roman empire.”—Flav. Vop. Vit. Prob. 20.
[182] “And such was the state of feeling, that a few dared to perpetrate the worst of crimes; more wished to do so; all submitted to it.”—Hist. i. 28.
[183] He probably alludes to the legends or miraculous stories of the saints; such as walking with their heads off, preaching to the fishes, sailing over the sea on a cloak, &c. &c.
[184] This is a book that contains the Jewish traditions, and the rabbinical explanations of the law. It is replete with wonderful narratives.
[185] This passage not improbably contains the germ of Pope’s famous lines:—
“A little learning is a dangerous thing;
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring.”