CHAPTER XVIII

Of the Picture of _Jerom_.

[Sidenote: _Clocks no very ancient invention._]

The Picture of _Jerom_ usually described at his study, with a Clock hanging by, is not to be omitted; for though the meaning be allowable, and probable it is that industrious Father did not let slip his time without account; yet must not perhaps that Clock be set down to have been his measure thereof. For Clocks or Automatous organs, whereby we now distinguish of time, have found no mention in any ancient Writers but are of late invention, as _Pancirollus_ observeth. And _Polydore Virgil_ discoursing of new inventions whereof the authors are not known, makes instance in Clocks and Guns. Now _Jerom_ is no late Writer, but one of the ancient Fathers, and lived in the fourth Century, in the reign of _Theodosius_ the first.

It is not to be denied that before the daies of _Jerom_ there were Horologies, and several accounts of time; for they measured the hours not only by drops of water in glasses called Clepsydræ, but also by sand in glasses called Clepsammia. There were also from great antiquity, Scioterical or Sun Dials, by the shadow of a stile or gnomon denoting the hours of the day: an invention ascribed unto _Anaximines_ by _Pliny_. Hereof a memorable one there was in _Campus Martius_, from an obelisk erected, and golden figures placed horozontally about it; which was brought out of _Egypt_ by _Augustus_, and described by _Jacobus Laurus_. And another of great antiquity we meet with in the story of _Ezechias_; for so it is delivered in _King._ 2. 20. That the Lord brought the shadow backward ten degrees by which it had gone down in the dial of Ahaz. [SN: _A peculiar description and particular construction hereof out of_ R. Chomer, _is set down_, Curios de Caffarel. chap. 9.] That is, say some, ten degrees, not lines; for the hours were denoted by certain divisions or steps in the Dial, which others distinguished by lines, according to that of _Persius_

_Stertimus indomitum quod despumare Falernum Sufficiat, quintâ dum linea tangitur umbra._

That is, the line next the Meridian, or within an hour of noon.

[Sidenote: _Doctrine of circular motions._]

Of later years there succeeded new inventions, and horologies composed by Trochilick or the artifice of wheels; whereof some are kept in motion by weight, others perform without it. Now as one age instructs another, and time that brings all things to ruin, perfects also every thing; so are these indeed of more general and ready use then any that went before them. By the Water-glasses the account was not regular: for from attenuation and condensation, whereby that Element is altered, the hours were shorter in hot weather then in cold, and in Summer then in Winter. As for Scioterical Dials, whether of the Sun or Moon, they are only of use in the actual radiation of those Luminaries, and are of little advantage unto those inhabitants, which for many months enjoy not the Lustre of the Sun.

It is I confess no easie wonder how the horometry of Antiquity discovered not this Artifice, how _Architas_ that contrived the moving Dove, or rather the _Helicosophie_ of _Archimedes_, fell not upon this way. Surely as in many things, so in this particular, the present age hath far surpassed Antiquity; whose ingenuity hath been so bold not only to proceed below the account of minutes, but to attempt perpetual motions, and engines whose revolutions (could their substance answer the design) might out-last the exemplary mobility, and out measure time it self. For such a one is that mentioned by _John Dee_, whose words are these in his learned Preface unto _Euclide_: By Wheels strange works and incredible are done: A wondrous example was seen in my time in a certain Instrument, which by the Inventer and Artificer was sold for twenty talents of gold; and then by chance had received some injury, and one _Janellus_ of _Cremona_ did mend the same, and presented it unto the Emperor _Charles_ the fift. _Jeronimus Cardanus_ can be my witness, that therein was one Wheel that moved at such a rate, that in seven thousand years his own period should be finished; a thing almost incredible, but how far I keep within my bounds, many men yet alive can tell.