STNONTMOUS TERMS. 97 



The diftin&ive character of pojlulare feems to reft on the ac- 

 knowledged reafonablenefs of that which is demanded. " Geo- 

 " metra: folent non omnia docere fed pojlulare, ut qusedam fibi 

 " concedantur, quo facilius qua? velint explicent*." When 

 geometers require any conceffion of thofe they are about to in- 

 ftruC*l, they appeal to their reafon, and tacitly bind themfelves 

 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 populate or 

 entreated maxim. Other philofophers, as well as mathemati- 

 cians, eftabliih poftulates, though often in terms lefs definite, 

 and of courfe more readily miftaken. " M. Dame igitur hoc, 

 " Pomponi, Deorum immortalium vi, natura, ratione, naturam 

 " earn regi ? A. Do fane fi pojlulas j\" 



Cicero ufes the expreflion, " Impudenter rogare, impu- 

 *' dentimme pojlulare % ;" 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. 



It appears from Qui nt us Curtius, that the infolence of 

 Darius, after a fevere defeat, provoked Alexander. He 

 not only took to himfelf the appellation of King, without gi- 

 ving it to his Conqueror, but prefented his requefts in terms 

 that became not his fituatkm. The hiftorian of Alexander 

 accordingly fays, " Pojlulabat autem magis quam petebat §." 



Pose ere agrees with pojlulare, in fuppoling, 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 requefted, 

 or to the acknowledged equity of the demand. Thus, Cicero 



Vol. III. „ fays> 



* Cic. de Off. 58. b. \ Cic. de Off. r. 88. 



f Gig. de Legg. i. 7. § Q„ IN> CuR , ^ u 



