[40] Vid. Serv. Comment. in Virgil. Æneid, l. iii. v. 57. [41] This was a kind of _Expiatory Sacrifice_, as the _Scape-Goat_ among the Jews, _Levit._ xvi. And the Wretches thus devoted to dye for the Sins of the People were called +Katharmata+, _Purgations_. Vid. Aristophan. in Plut. ver. 454. et in Equit. ver. 1133. et Scholiast. ibid. _Suidas_ adds that when the Sacrificed Person was cast into the Water, these Words were pronounced, +Peripsêma hêmôn genou+, _Be thou our Cleansing_. And I observe, by the by, that the Apostle _Paul_, 1 _Corinth._ iv. 13. alluding very probably to this wicked Custom, makes use of both these Words, where speaking of himself in the plural number, he says, +Hôs perikatharmata tou kosmou egenêthêmen, pantôn peripsêma+; for some of the best MSS. instead of +Os perikatharmata+, read +Hôsper+, or +Hôsperei katharmata+; that is, _We have been looked upon as Wretches fit only to be Sacrificed for the Public good, and cast out of the World by way of Attonement for the Sins of the whole Society._ [42] Vid. Le Brun Voyage au Levant, c. 38. [43] Vid. Ludolf. Histor. Æthiop. lib. i. c. 13. et D. August. De civitat. Dei, lib. iii. c. ult. [44] Vid. Ludolf. Histor. Æthiop. lib. i. c. 5. et Comment. [45] J. Leo Hist. Afric. lib. i. [46] Lib. vi. v 1100. [47] Rhas. et Avicen. [48] Essay on Poysons, p. 178. [49] Cicero de Nat. Deor. lib. i. § 36. speaking of these Birds, says: _Avertunt Pestem ab Aegypto, cum volucres angues ex vastitate Libyae vento Africo invectas interficiunt atque consumunt; ex quo fit ut illae nec morsu vivae noceant, nec odore mortuae._ [50] Newton's Optics, Qu. 18 to 24. [51] Gastaldi, De Peste, p. 116. [52] Journal de ce qui s'est passé à Marseilles, _etc._ [53] Vid. The London Gazette, July 23, 1743. [54] Kircher, Langius, _&c._ [55] Toulon, Traité de la Peste. [56] _Hippocr._ Epid. l. iii. That _Hippocrates_ describes here the Constitution of Air accompanying the true _Plague_, contrary to what some have thought, _Galen_ testifies in his Comment upon this Place, in libr. De Temper. l. i. c. 4. and in lib. De differentiis Febr. lib. i. c. 4. [57] Vid. _Mercurial._ Prælect. De Pestilent. [58] Notitia Eccles. Diniensis. [59] Histor. lib. lxii. [60] Sydenham De Peste. [61] Vid. Caium, De Febr. Ephemer. Britan. and Lord _Bacon_'s History of _Henry_ VII. [62] Pag. 162. Edit. Lovan. [63] Vid. Rondinelli Contagio in Firenze, et Summonte Histor. di Napoli. [64] Lord _Herbert_'s History of _Henry_ VIII. [65] Thuani Histor. lib. 5. [66] Lord _Verulam_'s History of _Henry_ VII. [67] Vide Sydenham, De Peste, An. 1665. [68] Boccaccio Decameron. Giornat. prim. [69] De Contagione, l. iii. c. 7. [70] Observat. l. vi. Schol. ad Observ. 22. [71] Diemerbroeck, De Peste, l. 1. c. 4. [72] Memorials presented by the Deputies of the Council of Trade, in _France_, to the Royal Council, Pag. 44 and 45. [73] Alex. Benedict. De Peste, cap. 3.