The Digital Ark: Early Modern Collections of Curiosities in England and Scotland, 1580-1700
Socrates (469 BC - 399 BC)
Greek philosopher and teacher. Dictionary of National Biography entry: http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780198606413.001.0001/acref-9780198606413-e-5980?rskey=YBkAxp&result=1 Other biography: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socrates Authority - ancientRelationships: Aristippus (c. 435 BC-c. 356 BC) was a associate or acquaintance (general) of Socrates
References in Documents:
Bargrave's catalogue: Rara, Antiqua, et Numismata Bargraviana (Canterbury Cathedral Lit MS E 16a) 8. Solon Socrates
Inventarie of the Gabions, in M. George his Cabinet (1638)
The Inventarie of the
M. George
OF f
Like Peacoks, and like Indian apes,
Like Leopards, and beasts spoted,
Of clubs curiously knoted,
Of wondrous workmanships, and rare,
Like Eagles flying in the air,
Like Centaurs, Maremaids in the Seas,
Like Dolphins, and like honie bees,
Some carv'd in timber, some in stone,
Of the wonder of Albion ;
Which this close cabine doth include;
Some portends ill, some presage good:
What sprite Dædalian hath forth brought them,
Yee Gods assist, I thinke yee wrought them,
Your influences did conspire
This comelie cabine to attire.
Neptune gave first his awfull trident,And Pan the hornes gave of a bident,
Triton his trumpet of a buckie[*]DOST: The shell of a whelk or other mollusc ,
Propin'd[*]to offer, as a gift to him, was large and luckie:
Mars gave the glistring sword and dagger,Wherewith some time he wont to swagger,
Cyclopean armour of Achilles ,Fair Venus purtrayed by Apelles ,
The valiant Hectors weightie spear,
Wherewith he fought the Trojan war ,
The fatall sword and seven fold shield
Of Ajax , who could never yeeld:
Yea more the great Herculean club
Brusde Hydra in the Lernè dub[*]Scots: to consign, condemn .
Hote Vulcan with his crooked heele
Bestow'd on him a tempred steele,
Cyclophes were the brethren Allans,Who swore they swet more then ten gallons
In framing it upon their forge,
And tempring it for George :
But Æsculapius taught the lesson
How he should us'd in goodly fashion,
And bad extinguis't in his ale,
When that he thought it pure and stale[*]Scots: chiefly of ale: having stood for a time and become clear, free from lees, ready for drinking
With a pugill[*]measurement: a large pinch of polypodium[*]extract of the fern genus :
And Ceres brought a manufodium[*]Parkinson: a nonce formation, perhaps macaronic (manu, ‘by hand’ + fodium, ‘food’? ‘dug up’?); bread is conventionally the gift of Ceres (Ovid, Met. 11.145, 13.639) :
And will'd him tost it at his fire
And of such bread never to tyre;
Then Podalirius did conclude
That for his melt was soverainge good.
Gold hair'd Apollo did bestow
His mightie-sounding silver bow,
With musick instruments great store,
His harp, his cithar[*] OED: Any of various plucked stringed instruments similar in form to, or believed to have derived from, the cithara (citing Adamson) , and mandore[*] OED: A large early form of mandolin (citing Adamson) ,
His peircing arrowes and his quiver:
But Cupid shot him through the liver
And set him all up in à flame,
To follow à Peneïan Dame:
But being once repudiat
Did lurk within this Cabinet,
And there with many a sigh and groane,
Fierce Cupids wrong he did bemoane,
But this deep passion to rebet
Venus bestow'd her Amulet,The firie flame for to beare downe,
Cold lactuce and pupuleum;
And thenceforth will'd the poplar tree
To him should consecrated be.
With twentie thousand pretious things,
Mercurius gave his staffe and wings:And more this Cabine to decore,
Of curious staffs he gave fourescore,
Of clubs and cudgels contortized:
Some plaine worke, others crispe and frized,
Like Satyrs, dragons, flying fowles,
Like fishes, serpents, cats, and owles,
Like winged-horses, strange Chimaeraes,
Like Unicorns and fierce Pantheraes,
So livelike that a man would doubt,
If art or nature brought them out.
The monstrous branched great hart-horne,
Which on Acteon's front was borne:
On which doth hing his velvet knapsca[*]Scots: A kind of close-fitting metal defensive headpiece, a metal skull-cap, commonly worn under a bonnet or other fabric covering (DSL). Parkinson: Writing to his father-in-law Andrew Simson, James Carmichael recalled how, in 1560, as schoolmaster of Perth, Simson led the forces of reform ‘with the reade knapska’ (Wodrow Misc., pages 441–2, qtd in Durkan , 132). .
A scimitare cut like an haksaw[*]i.e. hacksaw. OED: A saw with a narrow fine-toothed blade set in a frame, used esp. for
cutting metal, citing Adamson ,
Great bukies[*]DOST: The shell of a whelk or other mollusc , partans[*]DOST: crab , toes of lapstares,
Oster shells, ensignes for tapsters,
Gadie[*]Gaudy beeds and crystall glasses,
Stones, and ornaments for lasses,
Garlands made of summer flowres,
Propin'd him by his paramoürs,
With many other pretious thing,
Which all upon its branches hing:
So that it doth excell but scorne
The wealthie Amalthean [*]Amalthea ("tender goddess"), nursed and nurtured Zeus. In some versions she suckled him in the form of a female goat, and in others, she is a nymph who gives Zeus milk from a goat. In both cases, Zeus broke off one of the goat horns, which became the cornucopia, or horn of plenty (Leeming, ). .
This Cabine containes what you wish,
No place his ornaments doth misse,
For there is such varietie,
Looking breeds no sacietie.
In one nooke stands Loquhabrian axes[*]DOST: Lochaber-ax(e), n. A variety of long-handled battle-axe, described as having a single elongated blade, appar. originating in the
Highland district of Lochaber.
,
And in another nooke the glaxe[*]glaxe OED, glaik, n., sense 3, ‘A child’s toy or puzzle’, citing W. Gregor’s note on Dunbar’s use of glaiks (65.497): ‘I have seen a toy called ‘the glaykis’ which was composed of several pieces of notched wood fitted into each other in such a manner that they can be separated only in one way.’ is.
Heere lyes a book they call the dennet,
There lyes the head of old [*]A Kennet is a small hunting dog (DOST). Possibly the name of a “defunct” hunting dog, whose head was preserved in some way.
Here lyes a turkasse[*]Turkis. Scots: a pair of smith's pincers , and a hammer,
There lyes a Greek and Latine Grammer,
Heere hings an auncient mantua bannet[*]i.e. bonnet. OED: A hat or cap of a kind traditionally worn by men and boys; esp. a soft,
round, brimless cap resembling a beret; a tam-o'-shanter. Now chiefly
Scottish. ,
There hings a Robin and a Iannet,[*]DOST cited Adamson but can provide no definition
Upon a cord that's strangular
A buffet stoole[*]OED: A low stool; a footstool. Now only Scottish and northern dialect. In
the 15th cent. described as a three-legged stool sexangular:
A foole muting in his owne hand;[*]
lines 105-108. Parkinson: The earthy image is dispelled with an allusion to Proverbs 27.22; raising and suppressing interest in bodily functions is characteristic of ‘M. George’, as in the outcomes of his account of a horn-blowing competition, XXI.61–76.
Soft, soft my Muse, sound not this sand,
What ever matter come athorter[*]Athwart ,
Touch not I pray the iron morter.
His cougs,[*]A wooden vessel made of hooped staves (DOSL) his dishes, and his caps[*]A wooden bowl or dish (DOST). ,
A Totum,[*]Parkinson: a four-sided disk with a letter transcribed on each side: T
and some bairnes taps[*]A child's spinning-top (DOST, citing Adamson) ;
A gadareilie,[*]Parkinson: not in DOST or OED. Related to gaud, ‘a plaything, toy … a gewgaw’ (OED, gaud, n.2, sense 2)? Or DOST, gade, n1, sense 3, ‘A bar of wood’? See DOST, (rele,) reil(l, n., sense 1b, ‘A reel on to which cord or rope may be wound up in a controlled manner …’; or sense 2, ‘A whirling or turning motion; an action that communicates such motion; a roll or stagger.’
and a whisle,
A trumpe, an Abercome mussell,[*]Could be either a mussel or a muzzle (both senses in the DOST)
His hats, his hoods, his bels, his bones,
His allay bowles, and curling stones,
The sacred games to celebrat,
Which to the Gods are consecrat.
And more, this cabine to adorne,
Diana gave her hunting horne,
And that there should be no defect,
God [*] :
Only * * *,[*]Parkinson: possibly Eris, giver of the golden apple of discord that led to the Judgement of Paris and hence the Trojan War
was to blame
Who would bestow nothing for shame;
This Cabine was so cram'd with store
She could not enter at the doore.
This prettie want for to supplie
A privie parlour,[*]An apartment in a monastery set aside for conversation (DOST)
stands neere by
In which there is in order plac't
Phœbus with the nine Muses grac't,In compasse, siting like a crown.
This is the place of great renown:
Heere all good learning is inschrynd,
And all grave wisedome is confin'd,
Clio with stories ancient times,Melpomené with Tragick lines,Wanton Thalia's comedies,
Euterpe's sweetest harmonies,Terpsichore's heart-moving cithar,Lovely Erato's numbring meeter,
Caliope's heroick songs,Vranias heavenly motions;Polymnia in various musickPaints all with flowres of Rhetorick,
Amidst sits Phœbus laureat,
Crown'd with the whole Pierian State.
Here's Galene and Hippocrates ,
Divine Plato and Socrates ,
Th' Arabian skill and exccellence,
The Greek and Romane eloquence,
With manie worthie worke and storie
Within this place inaccessorie.
These models, in this Cabine plac'd,
Are with the world's whole wonders grac'd:
What curious art or nature framd,
What monster hath beene taught or tamd,
What Polycletus in his time,
What Archimedes rich ingine,
Who taught the Art of menadrie[*]The sub-discipline of mechanics pertaining to machines that leverage force, such as cranes and pulleys. See Jessica Wolfe,
The Syracusan synedrie.
What Gods or mortals did forth bring
It in this cabinet doth hing,
Whose famous relicts are all flowr'd,
And all with precious pouldar stowr'd:
And richly deckt with curious hingers,
Wrought by Arachne's nimble fingers.
This is his store-house and his treasure,
This is his Paradise of pleasure,
This is the Arcenall of Gods,
Of all the world this is the oddes:
This is the place Apollo chuses,
This is the residence of Muses:
And to conclude all this in one,
This is the Romaine
Gabions
in
his Cabinet.
Master
horne
The Oxford Companion to World Mythology
Brown Kennet,
totum, A
aufer, D
deponeand N
nihil. The disk was spun like a top, the player’s fortune being decided by the letter uppermost when the disk fell’ (DOST).
Momusgift did not inlake
inlaik,
v. to be deficient; to come or run short; to be wanting or missing (DOST)
Humanism, Machinery, and Renaissance Literature(CUP, 2004), p. 59.
Pantheon.