6 AMERICA. Chap, h 



from the Coafts of Africa Weft- ward, falling at laft upon a great and altoge* 

 ther unknown Ifland, which our late Expofitors take for America ; Muft it 

 therefore be fo ? Surely not, for it is onely a bare Story, without arxy Proof or 

 ^udttf raftdilinm ' tne * ea ft Teftimony. They endeavor to make Arijiotle bolfter up their opinion 

 that he had a knowledge of this New- World, which with no fmall pains they 

 pump from thefe Words : a Beyond the Herculean Pillars , certain Carthaginian 

 li Merchants penetrated the Atlantick Ocean fo far , that at laft they found a 

 " vaft, yet un-inhabitecHfland, producing nothing but Herbage, Plants, and 

 " WildsBeafts, yet interlac'd with many Meandring Rivers, abounding with 

 " feveral forts of Fifh, lying fome days Sail from the Continent- they Landing, 

 found a Soyl fo fertile, and Air fo temperate, that there they fetled, and were 

 the firft Planters of that Ifle. But the Carthaginians having intelligence thereof, 

 Prohibited all Perfons whatfoever, upon Pain of Death, to go thither, fear* 

 11 ing the place being fo much commended , all the People would be ready 

 €i to flock thither, and defert their own , and fo utterly unfurnifli and debili- 

 " tate their then growing Common-wealth. 



But how could the Carthaginians find America , without the ufe of the Com- 

 pafs ? How happen'd it, that they were fo taken with the fertility of this their 

 Ncw*found-Land, when the Adjacent Countreys and Fields about Carthage arc 

 every where Flourishing, and moft Luxurious ? So that it may better be fup- 

 pos'd, that what Arijiotle found fo long fince, may rather be the Canary*ljles, or 

 Great»$rittain, than America. The Greeks having then alfo made fome Infpcction 

 into the Urittiflj-Jjles. They would alfo make you believe, that Virgil the Prince 

 ^Heid.\ib.6; of Latin Poets, had known the New- World in thefe Verfes 5 dlncid.lib.6. 



cc 



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a 



Tliere y there's the Trince , oft promts' d us before, 

 DiVine Auguftus Caefar, "toho once more 

 Shall Golden Days bring to t//Aufonian Land, 

 Kingdoms that once old Saturn did command, 

 Andjball His power to India extend, 

 Beyond the jinnual Circle , and beyond 

 Tlie Sun's long Trogrefs ,7bhere great Atlas bears, 

 Laden with Golden Stars, the glittering Sphears • 



Hie vir, hie eft, tibi quern promitti faepius audis, 

 Auguftus C<ejar, di\um genus, aurea condet 

 Saecula,qui rurfus Latio, regnata per arva 

 Saturno quondam, fuper 8c Garamantas & Indos 

 Proferet impcrium. Jacet extra fidera tellus, 

 Extra anni Solifque vias, ubi ccelifer Atlas 

 Axem humero torquet ftellis ardentibus aptunu 



America was not known 

 to the Ancients. 



if 



taflnnt. i.j.c. 24. 



But what of all this i W r ho finds in any of thefe Writings, any Marks of 

 America, or the leaft Defcription thereof? Though we cannot deny that the 

 Antient Sages and Wife Philofophers of former times might eafily make out, 

 and no queftion did,that the Earth and Sea made the perfect Figure of a Globe ; 

 firft from the round Shadow of the Earth that Ecclipfes the Moon 5 the diffe- 

 rent Rifings and Settings of the Celeftial Luminaries, and the ftili Variati- 

 on of the Pole 5 fo that the Earth and Sea making one Ball , they might 

 eafily conjecture, that the South-fide of the Equinoctial might be Inhabited as 

 well as the North : But all this was more grounded upon Natural Reafon and 

 Right Judgement, than any Experience of theirs , or the leaft certain know- 

 ledge thereof, which fince thefe later times had the firft happinefs to obtain - 

 fo laying thefe Conjectures afide, there have been none more grofly erroneous, 

 and fo utterly miftaken in this Point, than fome of the Ancients , and efpeci- 

 ally the Fathers of the Church. 



Latlantius Firmianus, and St. Auftin , who ftrangely jear'd at as ridiculous, 

 and not thinking fit for a Serious Anfwer the Foolifh Opinion of Antipodes, or 



another 





