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£- 12 : 
in the qualify of censor. His office answered 
pretty nearly to that of master of the sacred 
palace at Rome'. 
EPiSTRQPllE, in rhetoric, a figure 
wherein that which is supposed of one tiling, 
is strongly affirjned of another: tints, Are 
they Hebrews; So am I. Are they Israel- 
ites? So am 1. Are they of the seed of Abra- 
ham ? So am I, &c. 
EPISTYLE, in the antient architecture, 
a term used by the Greeks for what we call 
architrave. See Architecture. 
LP1 1 HAEAM1UM, in poetry, ft nuptial 
song, or composition, in praise of the bride 
and bridegroom, praying for their prosperity, 
foi’ a happy offspring, &c. 
EPITHET ', in poetry and rhetoric, an ad- 
jective expressing some quality of a substan- 
tive to which it is joined.; or such an adjec- 
tive as is annexed to substantives by way of 
ornament and illustration, not to make up an 
essential part of the description. 
EPI POME, in literary history, an abridg- 
ment or summary of any book, particularly of 
a history. See Abridgment. 
EPITIUTUS, in prosody, a foot consist- 
ing of three long syllables, and one short. 
Of these grammarians reckon four kinds; 
the first consisting of an iambus and spondee, 
as salutantes; the second of a trocheus and 
•spondee, as coucitatl : the third of a spondee 
and an iambus, as cbmmumcans: and the 
fourth oi a spondee and a trocheus, as Incan- 
tare. 
EPITROPUS, among the modern Greeks, 
a kind ot arbitrator chosen by the Greek 
Christians under the dominion of the Turks, 
to terminate their differences, and avoid car- 
rying them before the Turkish magistrates. 
EPlZEUXiS, in rhetoric, a figure which 
repeats the same word, without any other 
intervening; such is that of Virgil/ Nunc, 
nunc, insurgite remis. 
EPOCH A, in chronology, a term or fixed 
point of time, whence the succeeding years 
are numbered or accounted. The most re- 
markable epochas are those that follow. 
Epocha of the creation of the world. 
Ac cording to the Vulgate, archlfishop Usher 
places this event 4004 years before the birth 
of Christ; Scaliger makes it 3950, Petavius 
3984, andRicciolus 4184 years before Christ. 
According to the Septuagint, Eusebius places 
the Creation 5200 years before the nativity of 
our Lord; the Alphonsine tables, 6934; and 
fticciolus 5634. The creation, therefore, as 
we follow tiie archbishop, happened in the 
year 710 of the Julian period. Sir Isaac 
Newton, again, makes the creation of the 
world later by 500 years than all other ehro- 
nologists; and the proofs by which this illus- 
trious philosopher supports his opinion are of 
two different kinds. The Egyptians counted 
34 1 generations from Men es. to Setho, allow- 
ing a hundred years for three generations ; 
and the antient Greeks computed one gene- 
ration at about forty years. Now, says sir 
Isaac, it is true, three ordinary generations 
may be computed at about 120 years ; but ge- 
nerations are longer than the feign of kings, 
because it is evident that mankind in general 
live longer than kings reign. The duration 
of a reign, therefore, taking one with another, 
is according to him about twenty years: 
whence lie concludes, that the antients have 
erred in their calculation in allowing forty 
years for every generation. The second kin d 
of proof is taken from the precession of the* 
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equinoxes. According to Clemens Alexan- 
drines, Chiron, who was in the expedition of 
the Argonauts, fixed the vernal equinox at 
the fifteenth degree of Aries, and consequently 
the summer solstice at the fifteenth degree of 
Cancer. Meto fixed the summer solstice at 
the eighth degree of Cancer, a year before the ■ 
Peloponnesian war. Now since one degree 
answers to the retrograde motion of the equi- 
noctial points in 72years, there areseven times 
72 years from the expedition of the Argo- 
nauts to the beginning of the Peloponnesian 
war: that is, 504 years, and not 507 years, as 
the Greeks affirm. By combining these two 
different proofs, sir Isaac concludes, that the 
expedition of the Argonauts ought to be placed 
909 years before Jesus Christ, and not 1400, 
as is generally believed ; and therefore that 
the creation of the world ought to be placed 
about 500 years later than chronologists 
generally place it. 
Epocha of the deluge. According to the 
Hebrew text, there are 1656 years from the 
creation to the deluge; 1307 according to 
the Samaritan; 224 2, according to Eusebius 
and the Septuagint; 2256, according to Jose- 
phus ami the Septuagint ; and 2262 accord- 
ing to Julius Atricanus, Petavius, and the Sep- 
tuagint. In following the Hebrew text this 
epocha begins in the year 2366 of the Julian 
period. 
Epocha of the olympiads, used princi- 
pally by the Greeks, had its origin from the 
Olympic games, which were celebrated at the 
beginning of every fifth year. This epocha 
begins 776 years before the incarnation, or in 
the year 3938 of the Julian period. 
Epocha, Varronian, of the building of 
Rome, is fixed 753 years before our Saviour’s 
birth, and in the year 3961 of the Julian 
period. 
Epocha of Nahonassar king of Babylon, 
made use of by Ptolemy, Censorious, and seve- 
ral other authors, began 747 years before the 
incarnation, and in the year 3967 of the 
Julian period. 
Epocha, Julian. The first year of Julius J 
Caesar’s correcting the calendar stands 45 
years before our Saviour’s birth, and coin- 
cides with the year 4669 of the Julian period. 
Epocha of Christ. The Christian world 
generally reckoned from the epocha of the 
creation, .the building of Rome, the consuls’ 
register, or the emperor’s reign, till about 500 
years after Christ, when the epocha of the 
nativity of our blessed Lord was introduced 
by Dionysius Exiguus. He began his ac- 
count from the conception or incarnation, 
properly called Lady-day. Most countries 
in Europe, however, at present reckon from 
the first of January next following, except the 
court of Rome, where the epocha of the in- 
carnation still obtains for the date of their 
hulls and briefs. But here we are to observe, 
tha; there are different opinions respecting the 
year of our Saviour’s birth. Capellus and 
Kepler fix it at about the 758th year from 
the building of Rome. Deckar and Petavius 
place the incarnation in the 749th of Rome. 
Scaliger and Vossius make it fall on the 751st 
of Rome. Dionysius Exiguus, Bede, &c. fix 
the birth of our Saviour to the year 751 of 
Rome; the diversity of these opinions pro- 
ceeding from the difficulty of fixing Herod 
the Great’s death, who, as is evident from 
the evangelists, was living at our Saviour’s 
birth, the taxation of Cyrenlus, and the time 
of our SaviourVbegiuning his minis try. But 
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it is generally agreed, that as to computation 
and use, the common epodia is to be followed 
which places the birth of Christ in the 4713th 
of the Julian period, although the true birth 
rather corresponds with the 4711th of the 
same period. 
Epocha, Dioclesian, or Epocha of Mar- 
tyrs, called also the sera of the Cophti or 
Egyptians, because the emperor D.ociesian 
made a great many martyrs in Egypt, begins 
in the year 283 of our Lord, and the 4997 of 
the Julian period. 
Epocha of the hegira, or flight of Maho- 
met, used among the l urks, is the year of 
the Julian period 5335, answering to the year 
of Christ 622. 
Epocha, Persian, or Yezdejerd, is the 
year of the Julian period 5345, answering to 
the year 622. To reduce the years of one 
epodia to those of another, observe the fol- 
low ing rule ; add the given year of an epocha 
to the year of the Julian period corresponding 
with its rise, and that will give the year of 
the period. For example, if to 1806, the 
present year of the Christian epocha, we add 
4713, the year of the Julian period corres- 
ponding with its rise, the sum, 6529, will be 
the present year of the Julian period; now if 
we subtract from the year thus found, the 
year of the Julian period corresponding with 
the rise of any epocha, the remainder shews 
the true method of making a just connection 
betwixt that epocha and the known year of 
Christ Again, if we want to find the \ ear of 
the Julian period corresponding to a* given 
year before Christ, we subtract the given 
year from 4714, and the remainder is the 
year required. See Chronology. 
EPODE, in lyric poetry, the third or last 
part of the ode ; the antient ode being divided 
into strophe, antistrophe, and epode. The 
epode was sung by the priests, standing stiil 
before the altar, after all the turns and re- 
turns of the strophe and antistrophe, and 
was not confined to any precise number or 
kind of verses. The epode is now a general 
name for all kinds of little verses that follow 
one or more great ones, of what kind soever 
they be; and, in this i-ense, a pentameter is 
an epode after an hexameter. And as every 
little verse, which being put after another, 
closes the period, is called epode, hence the 
sixth book of Horace’s odes is entitled Liber 
Epodon, Book ofEpodes; because the verses - 
are all alternately long and short, and the 
short ones generally, though not always, 
close the sense of the long one. 
EPOPGKA, in poetry, the story, fable, 
or subject treated of, in an epic poem. 
EPULONES, in Roman antiquity, minis- 
ters who assisted at the sacrifices, and had the 
care of the sacred banquet committed to 
them. At first they were only three in num- 
ber, but afterwards increased to seven. r l heir 
office was, to give notice when feasts were to 
be held in honour of the gods, and to take 
care that nothing was wanting towards the 
celebration. 
EQUABLE, an appellation given to such 
motions as always continue the same in de- 
gree of velocity, without being either accele- 
rated or retarded. Vv hen two or more bodies 
are uniformly accelerated or retarded, with 
the same increase or diminution of velocity 
in each, they are said to be equally accelerat- 
ed or retarded. 
EQUATION, in algebra, the mutual com- 
paring two equal things of different denomi- 
