84 Flint's nattjeal histort. [Book ti. 



voked by King Porsenna. And L. Piso\ a ycyj respectable 

 author, states in the first book of his Annals, that this had 

 been frequently done before his time by Numa, and that 

 Tullus Hostilius, imitating him, but not having properly 

 performed the ceremonies, was struck A'^dth the lightning^. 

 We have also groves, and altars, and sacred places, and, among 

 the titles of Jupiter, as Stator, Tonans, and Teretrius, we 

 have a Jupiter Elicius^. The opinions entertained on this 

 point are very various, and depend much on the dispositions 

 of different individuals. To believe that we can command 

 nature is the mark of a bold mind, nor is it less the mark of 

 a feeble one to reject her kindness^. Our knowledge has 

 been so far useful to us in the interpretation of thimder, 

 that it enables us to predict what is to happen on a certain 

 day, and ,we learn either that our fortune is to be entirely 

 changed, or it discloses events which are concealed from us ; 

 as is proved by an infinite number of examples, public and 

 private. Wherefore let these things remain, according to 

 the order of nature, to some persons certain, to others doubt- 

 ful, by some approved, by others condemned. I must not, 

 however, omit the other circumstances connected with them 

 which deserve to be related. 



CHAP. 55. (54.) — GEIfERAL LAWS OF LIGHTNIlirGI-. 



It is certain that the lightning is seen before the thunder 

 is heard, although they both take place at the same time. 

 Nor is this wonderful, since light has a greater velocity than 

 sound. Nature so regulates it, that the stroke and the sound 

 coincide^ ; the sound is, however, produced by the discharge 

 of the thunder, not by its stroke. But the air is impelled 



1 For a notice of Piso, see Lemaire, i. 208. 



^ We have an account of the death of Tullus Hostilius in Livy, i. 31. 



'* "ab ehciendo, seu quod precationibus coelo evcoaretur, id nomen 

 traxit." This is confirmed by the following lines Irom Ovid, Fast. iii. 

 327, 328 :— 



" EHciunt coelo te, Jupiter : mide minores 



Nunc quoque te celebrant, Ehciumqvie vocant." 



"* " beneficiis abrogare vires." 



* " ictum autem et sonitum congruere, ita modulante natura." This 

 remark is not only incorrect, but appears to be at yariance both with 

 what precedes and what follows. 



