108 On the UTlLItr of defining 



" Maxime vero mirabiles funt motus earum quinque ftellarum, 

 " quae falfo yocantur errantes *." It is in this laft example 

 faid, that there is both defign, and the power of fulfilling de- 

 fign, in the author of that feemingly irregular motion obferved 

 by the planets. Err are is applied to animals grazing. They 

 dircfl their motion not in a ftraight line, and may often mifs 

 the beft of the pafture they are in queft of. 



Mille meae Siculis errant in montibus agnse f . 



armento teneras err ante per herbas %. 



Vagari differs from err are in implying, that the wanderer 

 means only to quit the fpot he occupies, and has no intention 

 to direct his courfe to any particular place. The perfon errans 

 commits a miftake, which the perfon vagans never can, becaufe 

 he has formed no plan that can be fruftrated. " Non fumus 

 " ii quorum vagetur animus errore, nee habeat unquam quid 

 11 fequatur §." — " Curandum eft ne vagum villicum, nee aver* 

 " fum contubernio fuo habeamus **.'■' — " Nam fuit quoddam 

 " tempus quum in agris homines pailim beftiarum more vaga- 

 " bantur\\.' > ' Men, at the period referred to, were vagabonds, 

 who, knowing no place more definable than another, continually 

 changed their abode. 



The following figurative acceptation of errans and vagus 

 feems to confirm what has been faid of the verbs with which 

 they are refpeclively connected. " Eft enim et philofophi, et pon- 

 " tificis, et Cott.£, de diis immortalibus habere non errantem 

 " et vagam, ut academici, fed ut noftri. ftabilem certamque fen- 

 " tentiam ^." In the antithefis, errans is oppofed to Jlabilis, 



and 



* Cic Nat. D. 36. a. ** Colum. 12. 1. 



f Virr. Ec. 2. ai. +t Clc ; de Inv - l - 2 ' 



t Ov. Met. 15. 14. tt Cic. Nat. D. 26. a. 

 § Cic. Off. 34. a. 



