in the Temperature of JVtnter, 65 



of Italy, by way of contrast, as cool flowing streams.... 

 Lib. 1. But our best authority is Ovid, who, after re- 

 lating the fact that the " Sarmatic cattle draw carriages 

 upon the Danube," declares, " Vix equidem credar" 

 — " I shall hardly be believed ;" yet he adds, " when a 

 witness has no motive to misrepresent facts, credit is 

 due to his testimony." Now if the freezing of rivers to 

 such a degree as to sustain carriages and cattle appeared 

 incredible to the inhabitants of Italy, to one of whom 

 Ovid was writing, it amounts to full proof that the Ital- 

 ians had never seen such a phenomenon, in their own 

 country. This disproves utterly the degree of cold in 

 ancient Italy, which modern writers have supposed, and 

 confirms what I have before suggested, that the instance 

 of the freezing of the Tiber mentioned by Livy, was an 

 extraordinary event, which excited general surprise, like 

 our winter of 1780. Indeed, all the descriptions of the 

 rigorous winters in Thrace, Germany and Gaul, being 

 given by historians and poets who were accustomed to 

 the m.ild climates of Greece and Italy, wear the features 

 of exaggeration, which must have been impressed upon 

 them by the astonishment of the writers. These facts 

 seem to decide the question, that the winters in Greece 

 and Italy were, 2000 years ago, as mild as they are in 

 this age — and that if any change has e\er taken place in 

 those countries, it must have been anterior to the age of 

 the writers mentioned. Indeed Columella, De Re Rus- 

 tica, lib. i. 61. mentions the opinion of an author, that 

 such a change had taken place — and cites as a proof of 

 it, the fact that vines and olives would thrive in countries 

 where the cold, in preceding ages, had prevented their 

 cultivation. I am satisfied, however, that although the 

 draining and drying of land is often necessary to the cul- 

 tivation of particular fruits, yet most of what has been 

 charged to cold, ought to be ascribed to the indolence or 

 military spirit of savage men, who preferred war and 

 hunting to agriculture. 



In addition to what I have said, on the subject of the 

 winters in America, I have a few remarks to cite from 

 two writers of undoubted credit, 



J 



