Vol. IIL.] © Collection of the Chaldean Oracles, by Mr. Taylor. 
Of this lat is highly elegant, its ftyle of 
defign being much more ancient than 
that of any of the other pieces. It is in 
the form of a woman’s head; the eyes, 
the necklace, or collar, and the hair 
ornaments are of fiiver. The vafe is of 
bronze, covered by a patina of very fine 
green. ‘The head is furmounted by the 
neck (gvulean) of the vale, behind which 
is a very elegant handle, formed of vine- 
branches covered with leaves. “The 
handle is attached to the lower extre- 
mity of the head, clofe to the nape of the 
neck, 
From the circumftance of the vine- 
branches and the leaves, andthe woman's 
head, which refembles that of aBacchanal, 
it is highly probable that the vafe has 
J 
been alfo ufed for the purpofe of filling 
‘out wime into the ancient crateres, or 
wine-bowls*. 
The fourth piece, difcovered in the 
laft refearch, is remarkable for its weight, 
being fixty-three ounces of filver, for its 
form, and for its ornaments, which are 
in bas-relief. It is a kind of large pore 
ringer, about afoot and a half in diame- 
ter, having a flat oblong handle, one foot 
long, and four inches wide, attached to 
the porringer, much in the manner of 
the handles of the ancient Paterg, or 
Skillets ‘(poe/ons) of Italian earth (de 
terre a Italie). The bottom ct this vefiel 
is formed by a very large concha, or theil, 
which occupies its whole capacity. In 
the middle is feen a naked Venus comb- 
ing her hair ; the is between two Cu- 
pids +, one of whom is prefentiag her 
with an oval mirror, and the cther with 
a lily, or fome other flower (a fingular 
attribute). “The brim of the porringer 
is decorated with a range of towers made 
of little fhells ; on the handle is another 
demi-relief, reprefenting a naked young, 
man, clad only about his reins, having a 
lance in his hand, and a dog at his feet: 
without doubt an Adonis. 
There is reafon to think that this vafe 
was made ufe of to pour water on thofe 
who praétifed what we term medical 
pumping, a manner of hathing, account-- 
ed by the ancients a high luxury. We 
learn from Pollux { that there were cer- 
tain veffels appropriated tq this ufe; 
firft, to draw water out of the bath, and 
hen to pour it gently on the head, the 

* This fort of vafes was called, by the 
Greeks, zpoxoos. Homer’s Iliad, Lib, xxl. 
¥. 304. 
+ Geminorum Mater Amorumn, 
1 Onomaff. lib. X. fet. 63. 
oo WIONTHLEY Mic, No. XEX, 
a 
309 
back, and the other parts of the body,» 
They were called egu6van, 7. e. take and 
pour. 
It is probable that all thefe laft pieces 
were the property of the fame family, as 
was the cheft.; and that from the pref- 
fure of circumftances there was {carcely 
time fufhicient to conceal them in the 
earth, without taking other precautions. 

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
A° it appears to me that your Mifcel- 
lany, from its very extenfive circu- 
lation, will be a proper vehicle for com- 
municating to the public, the following 
colleétion of Chaldzan Oracles, I accord- 
ingly fend it you for infertion. 
Thefe remains of Chaldean theology’ 
are not only venerable for their antiquity, 
but ineftimably valuable for the un- 
equalled fublimity of the doétrines they 
contain. They will, doubtlefs, toc, be 
held in the higheft eftimation by every 
hberal mind, when it is confidered that 
fome of them are the fources whence 
the fublime conceptions of Plato flowed; 
that others are perfcétly conformable to 
his moft abitrufe dogmas ; and that the 
moft important part of them were ,cor- 
rupted by the Gnoftics, and, in this 
polluted ftate, became the fountains of 
barbarous and gigantically daring im- 
piety. 
That they are of Chaldaic origin, and 
were not forged by Chriftians of any 
denomination, as has been afferted by 
fome fuperficial writers, 1s demonftrably 
evident from the following confidera- 
tions: In the firft place, John Picus, 
earl of Mirandula, in a letter to Ficinus, 
informs hii that he was in poffeffion of 
the Oracles of Zoroafter in the Chaldean 
tongue, with a commentary on them, 
by certain Chaldean wife men. And 
that he did ‘not {peak this from mere 
conjeéture (as Fabricius thinks he did) 
is evident trom his expre(sly afferting, 
in a letter to Urbinatus (p.-256 of his 
works) that, after much labour, he had 
at length learned the Chaldzan lan- 
guage. And ftill farther, as we {hall fee, 
he has inferted in his works fifteen con- 
clufions, founded on this very Chaldean 
manufcript. Phat this circumftance 
fhould have efcaped the notice of mere 
verbalifts, is not furprifing; but it is 
fingular that it fhould not have been at- 
tended to by a man of fuch uncommon 
erudition, and extenfive reading, as 
Fabricius. A 
In the next place, as Porphyry, Iam- 
3 U blichus,: 
