Gravelot inv. & sc. CHAP. I. Phyfical obfervations, &c. or an Effay towards the Natural Vid. p. 133, 134, &c. HE air and weather, in thefe coun- The air and * This branch of the Natural history is further taken notice of, 1 Kings xviii. 41, &c.. U u ufually n T ufually dry, notwithstanding they are fometimes exceeding hazy, and Strong afterly tempeftuous; at which times they are called, by the fea-faring people, Levanters, being not confined to any one fingle point, but blow, in all directions, from the N. E. round by the N. to the S. E. The great wind, or mighty tempeft, or vehement E. wind, defcribed bp the prophet Jonas, i. 4, and iv. 8, appears to have been one of these Le winds called Levanters. The Eurocly them. canters. The Euroclydon3 also, which we read of in the history of St. Paul, don quas pro- (Acts xxvii. 14.) was, in all probability, the fame. For it was (as bably one of St. Luke defcribeth it) aveos Tupands +, a violent, or tempestuous wind, bearing away all before it; and, from the circumftances which attended it, appears to have varied very little, throughout the whole period of it, from the true east point. For after the fhip could not apape, bear, (or, in the mariner's term, loaf) up against it, (ver. 15.) but they were obliged to let her drive, we cannot conceive, as there are no remarkable currents in this part of the fea, and as the rudder could be of little ufe, that it could take any other courfe, than as the winds It varied very alone directed it. Accordingly, in the defcription of the ftorm, we little from the find the veffel was first of all under the island Clauda, (ver. 16.) which is a little to the fouthward of the parallel of that part of the coaft of Crete, from whence it may be fuppofed to have been driven; then it eaf point. 3 Eugozaúday, according to the annotations of Erafmus, Vatablus, and others, is faid to be, vox hinc ducta, quod ingentes excitet fluctus; as if those commentators understood it to have been, as Phavorinus writes it (in voce TuQwv) Eúgunλúdwv, and, as fuch, compounded of sugus, (latus, amplus, &c.) and xλudwr, fluctus. But rather, if an etymology is required, as we find xavdav ufed by the LXXII, (Jon. i. 4, 12.) inftead of D, which always denotes a tempeft, as I conjecture, properly fo called, Evgcnaúdov will be the fame with Evey nλúdwv, i, e. an-eastern tempest, and so far ex- prefs the very meaning that is affixed to a Levanter at this time. + Though TuQv or Tucas may fometimes denote a whirlwind, yet it feems in general to be taken for any violent wind or tempeft. According to an observation of Grotius upon the place, Judæis Hellenistis TsQws eft quævis violentior procella. Tos γὰρ καταιγιδώδεις ανέμες Τυφώς καλᾶσι, fays Suidas. Ariftot. De mundo, cap. 4. feems to diftinguish it from the Пgnsng (which he calls a violent firong wind) by not Εὰν δὲ (πνεῦμα) ἡμίπυρον ᾖ, σφόδρον ἢ ἄλbeing attended with any fery meteors. λως και αθρόον, Πρησης [καλεῖται· ] ἐὰν ἢ ἄπυρον ἡ παντελῶς, Τυφών. Τυφών, as Olympiodorus, in his comment upon the foregoing paffage, inftructs us, is so called, καὶ τὸ τύπλειν διὰ τῇ τάχες τῇ πνεύματος ; or Agὶ τὸ τύπτειν σφοδρῶς, as we read it in C. a Lapide. Aες xxvii. 14. Τυφών γάρ ἐσιν ἡ τὸ ἀνέμε σφοδρὰ πνοή· ὃς καὶ εὐρυ nλúdwv nahétæ. Phavor. in lex. One of thefe Levanters is elegantly defcribed by Virgil (Geor. ii. ver. 107.) in the following lines, * 4 -Übi navigiis violentior incidit Eurus, was was toffed along the bottom of the gulph of Adria, ver. 27. and afterwards broken to pieces (ver. 41.) at Melita, which is a little to the northward of the parallel abovementioned: so that the direction and courfe of this particular Euroclydon feems to have been first at E. by N. and afterwards pretty nearly E. by S. Euroaquilo; But Grotius 5, Cluver, and others, authorised herein by the Alex- Euroclydon. andrian MS. and the vulgate Latin, are of opinion, that the true Supposed to be reading should be Eugoanúλav, Euroaquilo; a word indeed as little the fame with known as Euroclydon, though perhaps lefs entitled to be received, the Cacias. For this Euroaquilo, agreeable to the words of which it is compounded, must have been a wind betwixt the Eurus and the Aquilo; and confequently would be the fame with the Cacias" or Kaixías; a name fo frequently taken notice of by the Roman authors, that it appears to have been adopted into their language. Thus we find Vitruvius, 1.i. c. 6. defcribing the pofition of the Cacias, without distinguishing it by Greek characters, or making any apology for the introduction of a foreign name. Pliny likewife calls the fame wind Hellefpontias 9, as blowing from the Hellefpont. The Cacias, therefore, must have been known very early in the Roman navigation; and consequently, even provided the mariners had been Romans, there was no neceffity, at this time, and upon fuch an occafion, for the introduction of Euroaquilo; which must have been altogether a new term. I cians. Befides, as we learn, Acts xxvii. 6. that the fhip was of Alexan- The hip navidria, failing to Italy, the mariners may well be fuppofed to have been gated by GreGrecians, and must therefore be too well acquainted with the received and vernacular terms of their occupation, to admit of this Græco-Latin, or barbarous appellation. For it may be very justly objected, Euroaquilo that, provided the Euroaquilo had been a name fo early received as this voyage of St. Paul, it is much that Pliny, A. Gellius, Apuleius, Ifidore, and other authors, who wrote expressly upon the names and 5 Vid. Grot. Annot. in A&t. xxvii. 14. 6 Ego amplectendam heic omnino cenfeo vocem, quam divus Hieronymus & ante hunc auctor Vulgatæ facrorum bibliorum verfionis, in fuis exemplaribus legerunt EvçoaxAwv, Euroaquilo, quod vocabulum ex duabus vocibus, altera Græca Eve, altera Latina Aquilo, compofitum, eum denotat ventum, qui inter Aquilonem & Eurum medius fpirat, qui recta ab meridionali Creta latere navim infra Gaudum verfus Syrtin abripere poterat. Cluv. Sicil. Antiq. 1. ii. p. 442. 7 Ab oriente folftitiali excitatum, Græci Kauníav appellant: apud nos fine nomine eft. Senec. Nat. Quæft. 1. v. cap. 16. Euri vero medias partes tenent; in extremis, Cacias & Vulturnus. Vitr. Arch. 1. i. cap. 6. 8 Vid. Plin. Nat. Hift. 1. ii. cap. 47. 9 Cacias aliqui vocant Hellefpontian. Plin. ibid. Kauías, ov Enaolíav évioi xañõss. Arift. Meteor. 1. ii. cap. 6. 'Cacias media inter Aquilonem & exortum æquinoctialem, ab ortu folftitiali, Plin. ut fupra. taken notice of by no author. Uu2 diver |