DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4010#0003
list *"•
Vfi.
sS5
607
servavi. Inde poll sex dies e portu disce- Departing that port after fix days, a gentle
dens, odlo dierum spatio, ssantibus lenicer easterly gale, in eight days, brought me to
Etesiis, Alexandriam perveni; ubi corrup- Alexandria ; where bribing the Jews, who
tis Judseis, qui vectigalibus ibi prassunt, have the collecting the cufloms, I landed my
inllrumenta mea astronomica sine periculo agronomical inftruments in fafety. I had
exposui. ' Erant autem diversa, ex aere ut feveral of them, moji of them of brafs, and
plurimum fabrefacla, & ab egregio arti- made by a notable workman, with extraordi-
fke summa cum diligentia constructa, quo- nary accuracy; the biggeji whereof was a brafs
rum maximum quadrans erat totus seneus, quadrant, whofe radius was seven ancient
radium obtinens septem eorum pedum, qui Jiatutefoot of England. I continued fix whole
apud Anglos veteri ediclo regio usurpan- months at Alexandria, observing the fun and
fiars, as often as fogs and rains would per-
mit \ which, contrary to the received opinion,
1 found to be srequent and violent, efpecially
in the depth, os winter. Being spent with
labour and watching, I went twice to divert
tur. Alexandria sex menses continues
ha^si, soli stellisque intentus, quoties per
caligines, aut pluvias, licebat, quas illic,
media prascipue hyeme, contra receptam
opinionem, & crebras, & violentas, esse
sensi. Laboribus & vigiliis defessus, re- myself to Memphis, or, to fpeak more pro-
iaxandi animi gratia bis Memphim petii, perly, Elkahira : for the prefent Elkahira
s A's lmn r 9 <b IKJJ n r" Ai (Grand Cairo) is at leaf (even miles to the
9 \ •> '7 4 eastward of the ancient Memphis. Thence
Memphi oricntalior est hodierna Elkahira / repaired to the fepulcres of the ancient
septem ad minimum millibus passuum. Egyptians, and entered thofe subterranean
Inde ad sepulcra veterum iEgyptiorum ac- cells, or caverns -, thence I went to the pyra-
cessi, & cryptas illas subterraneas subii •, mids, and, having fit inftruments sor that pur-
poll ad pyramides me contuli, earumque pofe, took their exacl dimensions; obferving
justam magnitudinem,' idoneis ad earn rem there ?nany things, as I curioufly viewed them,
adjutusinstrumentis, deprehendi; & multa which have not been delivered in zvriting either
illic, dum omnia curiosius perlustro, nee by the ancient or modern authors.. They are
a priscis scriptoribus, nee a recentioribus, indeed amazing ftrubiures, and defervedly
literis mandata annotavi. Opera sane reckoned by the ancients among the wonders of
slupenda, & ab ipsis antiquis inter orbis the world, but not yet defcribed as they ought
miracula merito judicata, sed a nemine to be by any one that I know of.
(quod sciam) pro eorum dignitate satis de-
scripta.
Interiorem cameram, & non nulla secre- I carefully took the dimenfions os the inner
tiora adyta, temporis injuria nondum cor- chamber, and some more private places, which
rupta, nee unquam, si recle judico, cor- time has not yet, nor, if linisiake not, ever
rumpenda, mensuris Anglicis diligenter will deftroy, with English measures\ and
mensus sum, adeo exa£le, ut e viginti that fo exactlyy that I believe there is not one
mille partibus, in quas viginti pedes, lineis part over or under of 20000, into which
transversis, sive potius diagoniis, divisi, ne twenty soot are divided by crofs, or rather
unam quidem, vel deesse, vel superesse, ex- diagonal lines. Which I was the more exacl
illimem. Quod ideo tanto accuratius pras-
iliti, ut ex ista comparatione omnium gen-
tium mensurse, quae hodie sunt, aut olim
fuerunt , e duraturo aliquo monumento
in, to the end that the'mea fur es of all nations
that now are , or sormerly were, may be
transmitted to pofterity srom fome lafting- mo-
nument, by comparing them with thefe. Had
posteris signari possint. Quod quidem si this been formerly done by mathematicians,
a Mathematicis olim prasstirum suisfet, se
lectis aliquibus idoneis locis', ternporum
injuria non obnoxiis, minus' Hodie incerti
effemus in antiquorum : mdnsu'ris invesli- '' aster the measures of the ancients. I leave it
gandis. Quid de meo consilio Cerisendunv. to the learned to determine, what judgment
sit, eruditorum judicio permitto ; me cer
choofing, sor the pur pofe fome proper places
not expofed to the injury of time^ we fhould
not at prefent be so uncertain hi the fearch
te, neque propositi, neque laboris, fufcepti
pcenitet; Te vero (vir clarillime) inter
alios prascipue oro, & obteftor, ut pon
dera, & mensuras Gallicas, summa dili-
gentia cum archetypis collatas, & regio
ligillo, ut fieri alTolet, munitas, ad me trans-
is to be made of this my. defign : sor my part
1" neither repent my attempt, nor my labour. \
I intreatjznd, conjure you (moss worthy fir) to ■,
fend me the French weights ana meajures,
carefully compared with the standards, and
sealed by the.king? s authority, as is ufual-,
and if any corns, old vesfels, or ancient feet
mittas ; & si qua nutnifmata, vafa pri- can be obtained os the heirs of the mofl noble.
fca, vel pedes vetufti, ab hferedibus nobi- Perefcius, that you will buy them upon my
lissimi D. viri Perefcii recuperari poffint, account.. ~ He laboured much in this afsair,
meo aere compares, Multiim ille in hac and, as may. be: conjectured by his letters,
palrestra desudavit,. &, ^quantum ex literis had he brought'forth what he had fo long
ipsius conceived,
Vfi.
sS5
607
servavi. Inde poll sex dies e portu disce- Departing that port after fix days, a gentle
dens, odlo dierum spatio, ssantibus lenicer easterly gale, in eight days, brought me to
Etesiis, Alexandriam perveni; ubi corrup- Alexandria ; where bribing the Jews, who
tis Judseis, qui vectigalibus ibi prassunt, have the collecting the cufloms, I landed my
inllrumenta mea astronomica sine periculo agronomical inftruments in fafety. I had
exposui. ' Erant autem diversa, ex aere ut feveral of them, moji of them of brafs, and
plurimum fabrefacla, & ab egregio arti- made by a notable workman, with extraordi-
fke summa cum diligentia constructa, quo- nary accuracy; the biggeji whereof was a brafs
rum maximum quadrans erat totus seneus, quadrant, whofe radius was seven ancient
radium obtinens septem eorum pedum, qui Jiatutefoot of England. I continued fix whole
apud Anglos veteri ediclo regio usurpan- months at Alexandria, observing the fun and
fiars, as often as fogs and rains would per-
mit \ which, contrary to the received opinion,
1 found to be srequent and violent, efpecially
in the depth, os winter. Being spent with
labour and watching, I went twice to divert
tur. Alexandria sex menses continues
ha^si, soli stellisque intentus, quoties per
caligines, aut pluvias, licebat, quas illic,
media prascipue hyeme, contra receptam
opinionem, & crebras, & violentas, esse
sensi. Laboribus & vigiliis defessus, re- myself to Memphis, or, to fpeak more pro-
iaxandi animi gratia bis Memphim petii, perly, Elkahira : for the prefent Elkahira
s A's lmn r 9 <b IKJJ n r" Ai (Grand Cairo) is at leaf (even miles to the
9 \ •> '7 4 eastward of the ancient Memphis. Thence
Memphi oricntalior est hodierna Elkahira / repaired to the fepulcres of the ancient
septem ad minimum millibus passuum. Egyptians, and entered thofe subterranean
Inde ad sepulcra veterum iEgyptiorum ac- cells, or caverns -, thence I went to the pyra-
cessi, & cryptas illas subterraneas subii •, mids, and, having fit inftruments sor that pur-
poll ad pyramides me contuli, earumque pofe, took their exacl dimensions; obferving
justam magnitudinem,' idoneis ad earn rem there ?nany things, as I curioufly viewed them,
adjutusinstrumentis, deprehendi; & multa which have not been delivered in zvriting either
illic, dum omnia curiosius perlustro, nee by the ancient or modern authors.. They are
a priscis scriptoribus, nee a recentioribus, indeed amazing ftrubiures, and defervedly
literis mandata annotavi. Opera sane reckoned by the ancients among the wonders of
slupenda, & ab ipsis antiquis inter orbis the world, but not yet defcribed as they ought
miracula merito judicata, sed a nemine to be by any one that I know of.
(quod sciam) pro eorum dignitate satis de-
scripta.
Interiorem cameram, & non nulla secre- I carefully took the dimenfions os the inner
tiora adyta, temporis injuria nondum cor- chamber, and some more private places, which
rupta, nee unquam, si recle judico, cor- time has not yet, nor, if linisiake not, ever
rumpenda, mensuris Anglicis diligenter will deftroy, with English measures\ and
mensus sum, adeo exa£le, ut e viginti that fo exactlyy that I believe there is not one
mille partibus, in quas viginti pedes, lineis part over or under of 20000, into which
transversis, sive potius diagoniis, divisi, ne twenty soot are divided by crofs, or rather
unam quidem, vel deesse, vel superesse, ex- diagonal lines. Which I was the more exacl
illimem. Quod ideo tanto accuratius pras-
iliti, ut ex ista comparatione omnium gen-
tium mensurse, quae hodie sunt, aut olim
fuerunt , e duraturo aliquo monumento
in, to the end that the'mea fur es of all nations
that now are , or sormerly were, may be
transmitted to pofterity srom fome lafting- mo-
nument, by comparing them with thefe. Had
posteris signari possint. Quod quidem si this been formerly done by mathematicians,
a Mathematicis olim prasstirum suisfet, se
lectis aliquibus idoneis locis', ternporum
injuria non obnoxiis, minus' Hodie incerti
effemus in antiquorum : mdnsu'ris invesli- '' aster the measures of the ancients. I leave it
gandis. Quid de meo consilio Cerisendunv. to the learned to determine, what judgment
sit, eruditorum judicio permitto ; me cer
choofing, sor the pur pofe fome proper places
not expofed to the injury of time^ we fhould
not at prefent be so uncertain hi the fearch
te, neque propositi, neque laboris, fufcepti
pcenitet; Te vero (vir clarillime) inter
alios prascipue oro, & obteftor, ut pon
dera, & mensuras Gallicas, summa dili-
gentia cum archetypis collatas, & regio
ligillo, ut fieri alTolet, munitas, ad me trans-
is to be made of this my. defign : sor my part
1" neither repent my attempt, nor my labour. \
I intreatjznd, conjure you (moss worthy fir) to ■,
fend me the French weights ana meajures,
carefully compared with the standards, and
sealed by the.king? s authority, as is ufual-,
and if any corns, old vesfels, or ancient feet
mittas ; & si qua nutnifmata, vafa pri- can be obtained os the heirs of the mofl noble.
fca, vel pedes vetufti, ab hferedibus nobi- Perefcius, that you will buy them upon my
lissimi D. viri Perefcii recuperari poffint, account.. ~ He laboured much in this afsair,
meo aere compares, Multiim ille in hac and, as may. be: conjectured by his letters,
palrestra desudavit,. &, ^quantum ex literis had he brought'forth what he had fo long
ipsius conceived,