GEN 



'he fenfo oi from. Thus, a table of wood is a table /com 

 wood, wood being the origin or beginning of it. Again, 

 he is fick of love, i. e, dckfrom love, love being tlie caiife of 

 his ficknefs ; and fo in all other inftances. And this is the 

 reafon why fome prepofitions which fignify origin or iegifi- 

 ning in Greek, Latin, and French, are rendered in our tongue 

 by of. Jones's Greek Grammar, p. 194. 



In the Latin, this relation is cxprefl'cd in divers manners, 

 tlius we fay, caput hominis, tli? bead of a man ; color rofs, ibe 

 colour of a rofe ; opus Da, the niwrk of Cod, &c. 



As the genitive cafe fcrvcs to cxprefs very different, and 

 even oppoiite rel:itions> there fometimes arifes an anibignily 

 from this circiimftance ; thus, in the phrafe, vulnus .'IchiHis, 

 the lurjund of Achilles, the genitive, AchUlis, may either fig- 

 nify paffivcly the wound Achilles has received, or aAively 

 the wound Achilles has given : thus in that pafl'age ol St. 

 Paul, Certus fum qu')d ncijue mors, iieque vita, Isfc. nos potent fe- 

 parare a charitalc DA in Chrijln. oV. the genitive Dti has been 

 taken by interpreters in two different fcnfes ; fome, giving 

 it the re'.jlion of objCtt, undcriland the palTage ot the love 

 which the eledl bear to God in .lefus Chrift ; whereas otliers 

 ii-ive it the relation of fubjeft, and explain it from the love 

 which God bears the cledl in Jefus Chrift. 



In die Hebrew tongue, the genitive cafe is marked after 

 a manner verv different from that of the Greek and Latin : 

 for whereas in thofe languages the noun governed is varied, 

 in the Hebrew the noun governing undergoes the alteration. 



GENITO, St. in Geography, a town of Naples, in Cala- 

 bria Citra ; 21 miles N. W. of Bifignano. 



GENIUS, in Mythology, a good or evil fpirit, or daemon, 

 whom the ancients fuppolcd fet over each perfon, to direft 

 his birth, accompany him in life, and be his guard until 

 death. Thofe that attended women were females, and called 

 Junones, but thofe that attended men were males, and called 

 Genii. They feem, in their original, to be nothing elfe but 

 the particular bent and temper of each perfon deihed ; and 

 as every one's own temper is in a great lueafure the caufe of 

 his happinefs or mifcry, each of thefe were fuppofed to fliare, 

 and have an equal feeling in all the enjoyments and fufferings 

 of the perfons they attended. ( See Horace, lib. ii. ep. ii. ver. 

 189.) The ancients had their Genii of nations, of cities, of 

 provinces, &c. Nothing is more common than the following 

 mfcription on medals : (iUN'ius populi rom. " the Genius 

 of the Roman people :" or, genio pop. kom. " to the Ge- 

 nius of the Roman people." The ancient Gauls acknow- 

 ledged Genii, who took care of each particular province and 

 canton : but the foundation of the worfhip, which they paid 

 to their deified cities, or rather to the genius who protefted 

 them, and became their tutelar divinity, was to engage them 

 to take care of them, to defend them againft enemies, and to 

 remove from them all evils, with which they might be dif- 

 treffed ; fuch as epidemical diftt rapers, and other calamities. 

 The names of thefe tutelar Genii were kept fecret, left, if 

 they fhoidd be known, they fhould be conjured away, and 

 forced to abandon the cities that were committed to their 

 charcje, and pafs into others, where they were promifed a 

 more folcmn worfliip. 



In this fenfe, genius and lar were the fame thing ; as, in 

 tffeft, Cenforinus and Apulcius affirm they were. 



Of thefe genii or demons, Plato fuppufes that every man 

 has his owa, who is his guardian, and the witirefs. not only 

 of his aftions, but of his very thoughts ; but that, at~death, 

 the genius delivers up to judgment the perfon who had been 

 committed to liis charge ; and if, when the perfon is inter- 

 rogated by tlie judge, his anfwer be found not agreeable to 

 truth, the genius cenfures and reprimands liim very fevercly, 

 33, on the other hand, he pronounces an encomium upon him 



G E N • 



when what he fays is true ; and it is upon the approbation of 

 the genius, that the doom is pronounced; for this dsemonknow? 

 whatever pafTes in the man, even his moft fecret thoughts. 



Although Plato and Jamblichus were of opinion that every 

 individual had but one of thefe genii to conduft him, and 

 to preflde over all his adlions, other philofophers of the fame 

 fchool were perfuaded, that he had two, the one good, the 

 other bad. To this purpofe Servius upon Virgil (^n. 1. vi. 

 c. 74 v) fays, " Volunt unicuique gcniam oppofitum, Dacmo- 

 nem bonum et malum ; hoc eil, rationem qus ad meliora fem- 

 per hortatur, et libidinem quae ad pejora ; hie eft Larva ct 

 genius malus ; ille bonus genius ct Lar. " They will have 

 it that every one has two geni', the one good, and the other 

 bad ; that is, reafon, which always excites men to good, and 

 luft, which prompts them to ill: th.e latter is what they call 

 " Larva,'' or evil genius : the other good Genius, or " Lar." 



The Platonifts, and otht^r eaftern philofophers, fuppofed 

 the Genii to inhabit the vaft region, or extent of air, between 

 earth and heaven. They were a fort of intermediate powers, 

 who did the office of mediators between gods and men. 

 Tliey were the interpreters and agents of the gods ; commu- 

 nicated the will of the deities to men ; and the prayers and 

 vows of men to the gods. As it was unbecoming the ma- 

 jelly of the gods to enter into fuch trifling concerns, this 

 became the lot of the genii, whofe nature v/as of a middle 

 kind between the two ; who derived immortality, from the 

 one, and palfions from the other ; and who had a body 

 framed of an aerial matter. Moft of the philofophers, how- 

 ever, held that the genii of particular men were born with 

 them, and died. Thus Plutaixh attributes the ceafmg of 

 oracles pai'tly to the death of the Genii. 



The heathens, who conhdcred the Genii as the guardian 

 fpirits of particular perfons, believed that they rejoiced and 

 were afflifted at all the good and ill fcrtune that befel their 

 wards. Tlicy never or very rarely appeared to them ; and 

 then only in favour of fome perfon of extraordinary virtue 

 or dignity. They likewife held a great difference between 

 the Genii of different men ; and that fome were much more 

 powerful than others ; on wh.ich principle it was, that a wi- 

 zard in Appian bids Antony keep at a dillance from Ofta- 

 vius, becaufe Antony's Genius was inferior to, and flood in 

 awe of, that of Oftavius. 



There were alfo evil Genii, who took a pleafure in pcrfc- 

 cuting men, and bringing them evil tidings : fuch was that 

 in Paterculus, &c. which appeared to Erutus the night 

 before the battle of Philippi. Thefe were alfo called larva, 

 and lemures. 



According to the theogony of Hefiod, the men of the 

 golden age became doemons, or good genii ; thofe, according 

 to him, are the guardians of men, the earth having fallen to 

 their lot. Thofe of the filver age were changed into manes, 

 or fubterraneous genii, happy though mortal. Thofe of 

 the brazen age went down to the infernal regions. Thofe of 

 the heroic age took pofleflion of the Fortunate iflands, or the 

 Elyfian fields, fituate at the extremities of the world. See 

 D.EMO-V, and Djemon of Socrat.s. 



The Mahometans alfo admit the exiflcnce of Genii, 

 fuppofed by them to be a clafs of interniediate beings, be- 

 tween angels and men ; of a groffer fabric than the former, 

 and more aftive and powerful than t'ne latter. Someof thein 

 are good, and otliers bad ; and they are, like men, capable of 

 future falvation or condemnation. 



Geki us is more frequently ufed for the force or faculty of 

 the foul confidered as it thinks or judges. 



Thus, we fay, a happy genius, a iuperior genius, an ele. 

 vated genius, a narrow confined genius. Sec. in like fenfe we 

 alfo fay, a work of genius, a want of genius, &c. 



Giniiit 



