SYNONYMOUS TERMS. 97 
Tue diftintive character of po/fulare feems to reft on the ac- 
knowledged reafonablenefs of that which is demanded. “ Geo- 
“ metra folent non omnia docere fed pofulare, ut quedam fibi 
“ concedantur, quo facilis que velint explicent*.” When 
geometers require any conceflion of thofe they are about to in- 
ftruct, they appeal to their reafon, and tacitly bind themfeives 
to allow the validity of that which they require. The axiom 
again, which is an undeniable principle, carrying with itfelf 
its own proof, is not to be confounded with the poftulate or 
entreated maxim. Other philofophers, as well as mathemati- 
cians, eftablifh poftulates, though often in terms lefs definite, 
and of courfe more readily miftaken. ‘‘ M. Dafne igitur hoc, 
* Pompon!, Deorum immortalium vi, natura, ratione, naturam — 
“ eam regi? <A. Do fane fi poffulas +.” 
Ciczro ufes the expreflion, ‘ Impudenter rogare, impu- 
** dentiffime poflulare { 5’? and thus intimates, that the inde-~ 
cency which was culpable in the bare fuggeftion of a defire, as 
implied in the former verb, rofe in a fuperlative degree, when 
to this was fuperadded the idea of a claim, as implied in the 
latter. 
Ir appears from Quintus CurrTius, that the infolence of 
Dartus, after a fevere defeat, provoked ALEXANDER. He 
not only took to himfelf the appellation of King, without gis 
ving it to his Conqueror, but prefented his requefts in terms 
that became not his fituation. The hiftorian of ALEXANDER 
accordingly fays, “ Po/fulabat autem magis quam petebat §.” 
PosceRE agrees with po/lulare, in fuppofing, that the petitioner 
has a claim to have his requeft granted ; but it befides denotes, 
that he himfelf is entitled to judge as to the validity of that 
claim, without regard to the opinion of the perfon requetted, 
or to the acknowledged equity of the demand. Thus, Cicero 
Vor. Ill. 7 
* Cie. de Off. 58. 5. ' ° t+ Cic. de Off. 1. 88. 
+ Cre. de Legg. 1. 4, — § Quin. Cur. uke 
fays, 
