i 3 8 - M K E. 
tioned by Euftathius; and another on Divine Appearan¬ 
ces, or The Declarations of Providence. 
/ELI PONS, one of the fortreffes near the wall or ram¬ 
part, or, in the words of the Notitia, through the line 
of the hither wall; built, as it is thought, by Adrian. 
Now Porteland, in Northumberland, between Newcaftle 
and Morpeth. 
/ELIUS PONS, now il Ponte S. Angelo, a (tone-bridge 
at Rome, over the Tyber, which leads to the Burgo and 
Vatican from the city, along Adrian’s mole, built by the 
emperor Adrian. 
/ELURUS, in Egyptian mythology, the deity or god 
of cats ; reprefented fometimes like a cat, and fometimes 
like a man with a cat’s head. The Egyptians had fo fu- 
perltitious a regard for this animal, that the killing it, 
whether by accident or dclign, was punilhed with death : 
and Diodorous relates, that, in the time of extreme famine, 
they chofe rather to eat one another than touch thefe fa- 
cred animals. 
AEM, Am, or Ame, a liquid meafure ufed in moft 
parts of Germany; but different in different towns; the 
aem commonly contains 20 vertils, or 80 maffes ; that of 
Heidelbergh is equal to 48 maffes; and that of Wirtem- 
berg to 160 maffes. 
/EMILIUS (Paulus), the fon of Lucius Paulus, who 
was killed at the battle of Cannae, was twice conful. In 
his firlt confulate he triumphed over the Ligurians ; and 
in the fecond fubdued Perfeus king of Macedonia, and 
reduced that country to a Roman province, on which he 
obtained the furname of Macedonicus. He returned to 
Rome loaded with glory, and triumphed for three days. 
He died 168 years before Chrift. 
/Emilius (Paulus), a celebrated hiftorian, born at Ve¬ 
rona, who obtained fuch reputation in Italy, that he was 
invited into France by the cardinal of Bourbon, in the 
reign of Louis XII. in order to write the hiftory of the 
kings of France in Latin, and was given a canonry in 
the cathedral of Paris. He w as near thirty years writing 
that hiftory, which has been greatly admired. He died at 
Paris on the 5th of May, 1529. 
/ENOBOLIUM,y in antiquity, the blood of a bull or 
ram offered in the facridces, called taurobolia and criobolia ; 
in which fenfe the w'ord occurs in ancient inferiptions. 
/ENARIA, an idand on the bay of Cumae, or over- 
againft Cumse in Italy. It is alfo called Inarime, and now 
Ifchia: fcarcely three miles didant from the coad, and the 
promontory Mifenus to the wed; twenty miles in com- 
pafs; called Pithecufa by the Greeks. It is one of the 
Oenotrides, and fenced round by very high rocks, fo as to 
be inaccellible but on one fide ; it was formerly famous 
for its earthenw'are. 
/ENEA,/i [<w, Lat.] An epithet given to the indrument 
called a catheter, from its being formerly made of brafs. 
/ENEAS, a famous Trojan prince, the fon of Anchifes 
and Venus. At the deftruftion of Troy, he bore his aged 
father on his back, and faved him from the Greeks ; but, 
being too folicitous about his fon and houfehold gods, lod 
his wife Creufa in the elcape. Landing in Africa, he was 
kindly received by queen Dido: but, quitting her coad, 
he arrived in Italy, where he married Lavinia the daugh¬ 
ter of king Latinus, and defeated Turnus, to whom fhe 
had been contracted. After the death of his father-in- 
law, he was made king of the Latins, over whom he reign¬ 
ed three years: but, joining with the Aborigines, he was 
flain in a battle againd the Tufcans. Virgil has rendered 
the name of this prince immortal, by making him the he¬ 
ro of bts poem. 
/ENEATORES,y. in antiquity, the muficians in an ar¬ 
my, including thofe who played trumpets, horns, &c. 
The word is formed from ceneus, on account of the brazen 
indruments ufed by them. 
/ENEID, the name of Virgil’s celebrated epic poem. 
The fubjedt of the /Eneid, which is the edablifhment of 
/Eneas in Italy, is extremely happy. Nothing could be 
more mtereding to the Romans than to look back to their 
JE N I 
origin from fo famous a hero. While the object was 
fplendid itfelf, the traditionary hidory of his country 
opened an intereding field to the poet; and he could glance 
at all the future great exploits of the Romans, in its an¬ 
cient and fabulous date. 
As to the unity of adtion, it is perfectly well preferved 
in the /Eneid. The fettlement of /Eneas, by the order of 
the gods, is condantly kept in view. The epifodes are link¬ 
ed properly with the main fubjedt. The nodus, or intrigue 
of the poem, is happily managed. The wrath of Juno, 
who oppofes /Eneas, gives rife to all his difficulties, and 
connects the human with the celedial operations through¬ 
out the whole poem. 
One great imperfection of the /Eneid, however, is, that 
there are alrnoli no marked characters in it. Achates, 
Cloanthes, Gyas, and other Trojan heroes, who accompa¬ 
nied /Eneas into Italy, are infipid figures. Even /Eneas 
himfelf is without intered. The character of Dido is the 
belt fupported in the whole /Eneid. 
The principal excellency of Virgil is tendernefs. His 
foul was full of fenfibility. He mud have felt himfelf all 
the affecting circumftances in the feenes he deferibes; and 
he knew how to touch the heart by a lingle ftroke. In an 
epic poem this merit is the next to fublimity. The fe¬ 
cond book of the /Eneid is one of the greated mafter- 
pieces that ever was executed. The death of old Priam, 
and the family-pieces of /Eneas, Anchifes and Creufa, are 
as tender as can be conceived. In the fourth book, the 
unhappy paflion and death of Dido are admirable. The 
epifodes ot Pallas and Evander, of Nifus and Euryalus, 
of Laufus and Mezentius, are all l’uperlatively fine. In 
his battles, Virgil is far inferior to Homer. But in the 
important epifode, the defeent into hell, he has outdone 
Homer by many degrees. There is nothing in antiquity 
to equal the dxth book of the /Eneid. 
/ENGINA, one of the illands of the Archipelago. It 
lies in the bay of Engia, and the town of that name con¬ 
tains about 800 houfes and a cadle; and near it are the 
ruins of a magnificent druCture, which was probably a 
temple. 
/ENIGMA, /I denotes any dark faying, wherein fome 
well-known thing is concealed under obfeure language. 
The word is Greek, auiywa, formed of amlrsc-Sai, obfeure 
innuere, to hint a thing darkly, and of amor, an obfeure 
fpeech or difeourfe. The popular name is riddle-, from 
the Belgic raeden, or the Saxon araelhan, to interpret. Fa. 
Bouhours, in the Memoirs of Trevoux, defines an tenig- 
ma, A difeourfe or painting, including fome hidden mean¬ 
ing, which is propoled to be gueffed. 
Painted /Enigmas, are reprefentations of the works of 
nature or art, concealed under human figures, drawn from 
hiftory or fable. 
A Verbal /Enigma, is a witty, artful, and abllrufe, de- 
feription ot any thing. In a general fenfe, every dark 
faying, every difficult queftion, every parable, may pals 
for an asnigma. Hence obfeure laws are called fRnigmata 
Juris. The alchemifts are great dealers in the Enigmatic 
language, their proceffes for the philofophers (tone being 
generally wrapped up in riddles. F. Meneftrier has at¬ 
tempted to reduce the compofition and refolution of ;eni<r- 
mas to a kind of art, with fixed rules and principles, which 
he calls the philofophy of aenigmatic images. The fub- 
jedt of an aenigma, or the thing to be concealed ana made 
a myftery of, he juftly obferves, ought not to be fuch in 
itfelf: but, on the contrary, common, obvious, and eafy 
to be conceived. It is to be taken, either from nature, as 
the heavens or (tars ; or from art, as painting, the com- 
pafs, a mirror, or the like. 
The Form of j Enigmas conlifts in the words, which, 
whether they be in profe or verfe, contain either fome de- 
feription, a queftion, or a profopopafia. The laft kind 
are the inoft pleafing, inafmuch as they give life and ac¬ 
tion to things which otherwife have them not. To make 
an Enigma, therefore, two things are to be pitched on, 
which bear fome refemblance to each other; as the fun 
and 
