r effecting Ek£lricity, 291 



Jupiter Elicius, and that it was fituated on a hill, 

 namely, the Aventine Mount. But Tullus 

 Hoftilius, it is faid, was in feme retired part* of 

 his houfe, and alone, 



A fpear, however, might become electrical 

 in a thunder ftorm, in which Tullus Hoftilius 

 is faid to have perifhed, even in a houfe j wit- 

 pefs the ftory from Livy, mentioned above ; 

 but we may fuppofe, that he might be on the 

 houfe top, which was a common place of wor- 

 Ihip, and there have eredled his apparatus for 

 drawing down lightning. That this was a com- 

 mon place for idolatrous worlhip, we learn from 

 the fcriptures. The book of Kings f fpeaks of 

 the altars, that were on the top of the upper 

 chamber of Ahaz. Jeremiah J fpeaks of "the 

 *' houfes, upon whofe roofs they have burned 

 " incenfe unto all the hoft of heaven, and have 

 "poured out drink-offerings to the gods." 

 Zephaniah || mentions thofe " that worfhip the 

 hoft of heaven on the houfe tops." Might not 



* /«7i>iovToj 5e Ti/XAoy ^uauxt riva. k«t* omov ewjtsAeiv, aurouj 

 fjLOVov B0ov)\Fro To^j avayxawvi EtSbai, Kara tux^iv T))f ri/UEfaj 

 tKiivni X"/*^?""' <'9o^§<x yEvo/*£VDf, Kara te o/xjSfoi/ nai fa^Jiv km 

 ffMOTov. Dionyf. Antiq. Rom. lib. III. p. 176, edit. 

 Sylburg. 



Is it not probable from hence, that thefe facrifices wer? 

 commenced on the approach of ftorms ? 



f Kings, book II. chap, xxiii. 12. 

 1 Jerem. xix. 13. |t Zephaniah i. 5. 



U 5 th«n 



