2
100
A B R
Abraxas was properly the principle of the Gnoftic hierarchy ; the fpring from whence their plurality of ./Eons arofe ». From Abraxas proceeded the primigenial mind ; from the pri- migenial mind the logos, or word ; from the word, phronefis or prudence j from prudence, fophia and dynamis* orwifdom and ftrength ; and from thefe two proceeded principalities) and powers, and angels ; and from thefe, other angels, to the numher of 365, the regents or intelligences of fo many ce- leftial orbs b . — [" Montf. Palsog. Gr. 1. 2. c. 8. p. 177 b Sag'itt. Intr. Hift. Eccl. T. I. p. 883. Micral. Hift. Eccl. 1. 2. Sec, I. p. 291.]
The Bafilidiansj who pafs for the authors of the difciplina ar~ cani, and the Platonic trinity, are fufpected among Chriftians of fome meaning ftill deeper, and more myfterious, in their Abraxas. Several have even fmelled fomething of the gofpel trinity concealed in this word ; which they explain, by fuppo- fmg it compounded of the initial letters of the Hebrew words Ab ben rouah, q. d. father, foil, and fpirit c . Wendelin, Canon of Tournay, and father Hardouin, have given more precife explications of the word, according to this fyftem. The former makes it itand (or pater, filhts, fpiritus fanclus, falus a ligno d .■ the latter* improving fomewhat on the ex- plication, makes it reprefent as hereunder e .
A Ab Pater A 1
B Ben P'ilius B
P Rouah-hakadofh Spir. Sanctus P
A ai.3fi,Viff homines A
C tru§£» falvans C 200
A ayna per facrum A i
£ 4«*» lignum s 60
365 [ c Platon. unveil. P. I* c. 8. p. 25. A Honor. Reflex. Regl. Crit. 1. 4. Diff. 8. p. 597. e Mem- de Trev. Sept. 1701. P- 235- fcq.] Abraxas is alfo ufed, among antiquaries, for a fpecies of graven gem, oh which the word Abraxas is ufually in- ferred ; fuppofed to have been worn by the antient Gno- ftics, Bafilidians, and Carpocratians, as an amulet or talif- man againft difeafes. Baudel. Util. des Voy. p. 340. feq. Nouv. Rep. Lett. T. 6. p. 424. Bibl. Univ. T. 4. p. 260.
Abraxas, in this fenfe, is fyrionyrrious with Bafilidian ftcne % a name by which fome authors call thefe antiques ; or Abraxean Jione b , as they are denominated by others. — [* Macar. de Gemm. Bafilid. Honor. Rcfl. Reg. Crit. 1. 4. DiiT. 8. p. 598. Chiffi. ad Macaf. Capell. Prodr. Icon. Mem. de Trev. Nov. 1703. p. 20l8. b Montf. Palseog. Gr. 1. 2. c. 8. p. 177. feq.]
Abraxas' 's are of divers figures arid fizes ; fometimes in that of rings to be worn on the finger ; in which form they were fup- pofed of great efficacy for driving away flies. Caji. Lex, Med. p. 3,
Abraxas' s are frequent in the cabiricts of the curious : a col- lection of them, as compleat as poifible, has been much de- fired by fcveral c . There is a fine one in the abby of S. Ge- nevieve, which has occafioned much inquiry. They are chiefly of the third century ; moft of them feem to have come from Egypt d ; whence they become of confidcrable ufe for explain- ing the antiquities of that country.
Macarius, ChifHet, and Capello have works exprefs on A- braxas's : the two former have given explications of a great number of thefe Hones ; the laft, figures only, without expli- cations. The former are reproached with excefs of conjectures and erudition e ; the latter, with puzzling the reader with mere riddles f : there is ftill room for fomething better on the fub- je£ *._[< V. Bibl. Ital. T. 4. p. 148. d Baudel. ubi fupra. Bibl. Ital. T. 4. p. 148. c Sagittar. ubi fupra. f Mem. de Trev. loc. cit. & Bibl. Ital. ubi fupra.] Abraxas* s have fometimes no other infeription befidc the word ; hut more ufually fome fymbol of the Bafilidian god h . Befides which, we fometimes find other marks and words adjoined ; as, the names of faints, angels, Bafilidian virtues, apofrles, and the ineffable name Jehovah itfelf, either at length, or in the abbreviature lAfi i fometimes the words tra.@ct<,& A$»*t, or the names of other gods ; as Mithras, or Mithral ; t» ? jVj% Semes, Sol ; Avovp* ; «? Ztfs £tf*w« ; and the like J , Sometimes Ifis fitting on a lotus k , or Apis furrounded with ftars ; fometimes monftrous compofitions of animals, obfeene images, Phalli, and Ithyphalli K The graving of Abraxas 3 s is not uniform, rarely good m ; the reverie, on which is the word, is faid to be fometimes of a lower and a more modern taftc than the face ". The cha- racters are ufually Greek, fometimes Hebrew, Coptic, or Hetrurian ; and fometimes of a mongrel kind, forged as mould feem on purpofe to make their import impenetrable °. 'Tis difputed, whether or no the Veronica of Montreuil p, or the Granite obelifk, mentioned by Gori <i, be Abraxas' 's, — [ h Baudot, ubi fupra. l Capell. Prodr. Icon. N°. 124. Montf. ubi fupra. Journ. Scav. T, 33. p. 93. Mem. de Trev. ubi fupra, p. 2^20. feq. Hardouin. in Mem. Trev. Sept. 1701. p. 239. Spond. Ann. Bar. An. 120. k Capell. ubi fupra. Mem. Trev. loc cit. > Montf. ubi fupra, p. 178. feq. ■ Baudeh ubi fupra, p. 34®. " Hardouin. ubi fupra,
A B R
p. 239.. • Montf, p. 180; p Mabill. Muf. Ital T i» p. 89. Honor. Refl. Reg. Crit. 1. 4 . DiiT. 8. p c Q y, a Salvin. Infer. Ant. P. 1. Bibl. Ital. T. 4. U7 1 * W ABRIDGMENT, {Cyd.)~Abridgments of the common law, are a kind of digefts of the numerous cafes, arguments, readings pleadings, &c. difperfed in the year- books, and other reports, and books of law; reduced under proper heads or common places a . The firft was that of Statham, which comes as low as Henry VL That of Fitzherbert was publifhed in 1516 b . Brook's in 1573 c '> of which Hughes's, publifhed in 1663, is a fequel d . Roll, Danvers, and Nelfon have alfo publifhed Abridgments^ including the cafes of later days. To which may be added the new Abridgment, and Vyner's Abridgment.— [* Nichols} Engl. Hift. Libr. par. 3. p. 233. b mod, Athen. Oxon. T. 1. p. 50. c rW, loc. cit. p. no. d Raj. Cat. Law- Books, p. 3.]
Abridgments of the Jlatutes have been made by fcveral, from Magna Charta to the times of the refpeaive abridgers. The firft by Raftal, publifhed in 1559 c : the fecond by Pulton, in 1606 f : the third by Wingate, in 1641 e : and others fince by Hughes, Manby, Wafhingtou, Bault* Nelfon, and the moft compleat of any by Mr. Cay, in two volumes fol. pub- lifhed 1739.— [ e Wood, lib. cit. p. 148. f Id. ibid. p. 427. s Id. T. 2. p. 208.]
Abridgments of books are numerous ; 'tis the occupation of one fet of literati, to make fhort Abridgments from huge volumes; of another fet, to make huge volumes from fmall Abridge tnents \ — We have Abridgments of the bible, of the talmud, of the alcoran, and the like. Some in the way of analyfis, others of notitia, others of hiftory, others of tables, and others of queftion and anfwer. — We have even Abridgments of Abridg- ments ; fuch is the Abridgment of Fcftus by Paulus Diaconus, the former of which is itfelf an Abridgment of Verrius Flac- cus. Many of the voyages in Harris's collection are Abridg- ments of thole in Purchas, which themfelves are only Abridg- ments. M. de Renneville, being aflured that the late king George, to whom he dedicated his hiftory of the Baftille, would not be at the pains to read it, gave him an Abridgment of it in his preface ; but fearing even this would prove too long, he made an Abridgment of this Abridgment for the Prince of Wales '. Modern authors have even found the way to make an Abridgment of one book from another: an Abridg- ment of the bible was lately publifhed by a French monk, tire de differens auieurs, taken from divers authors k . — The Polyhiftor of Solinus may ferve as an inftance of a bad Abridg- ment l ; wherein the original, which is Pliny's natural hiftory* is mutilated* and miftaken in a thoufand places. On the con- trary,' Mezeray's Abrege de I'hijlo'ire de France^ is an inftance of an Abridgment preferable to the original itfelf; as being more correct^ by ten years labour* and befides improved with the memoirs of the eeclefiaftical hiftory of France, furnifhed him by MeiT. Launois and Dirois ; which, in the opinion of
the connoifTeurs, make the belt part of the work m .
[ h Gladov. Prgef. Apol. ad Naud. Bibl. Polit. p. 3. * Jour. Liter. 1715. p. 207. k Abrege de la Sainte Bible, tire des differens Authcurs, par Dom. R. G. &c. Rou. 1707. V. Jour, des Scav. T. 38. p. 232. > Le Clerc, Bibl. Univ. T. 19. p. 445. m Le Long. Bibl. Hift. Franc. 1. 3. p. 446, Jour, des Scav. Oct. 17.19. p. 369. Id. Jan. 1727. p. 36.] Montaigne lays it down as a maxim, that every Abridg- ment of a good book, is an ill Abridgment ". In effeel, 'tis chiefly the confide ration of fuperfluities in the ori- ginal, that warrants an Abridgment. Writers* whofe ftyle is tedious or difFufe, or order interrupted with digreffions and epifodes, require Abridgment ; ftich are Mr. Boyle and Dr, Cudworth ; and fuch are moft authors repre- fented to be by their refpe£tive abridgers. — [ " Montaign. EfL I. 3. c. 8. p. 950. Tout Abbrege fur un ban livre, ejl un fot Abbrege.]
Abridgments are ufually faid to have had their rife in the times of ignorance ; to have been one of the firft fruits of that bar- barifm which enfucd on the decline of the Roman Empire ; and to have been unknown in thofe happy days, when letters fiourifhed among the Greeks and Romans ° : yet we have fome traces of them in thofe times p . — [° V. Salmaf. Praef. ad Ampel. BailL Jugem. des Scav. T. 1. p. 2. C II. p. 455. feq. p Mem. de Trev. An. 1708. p- 1668.] Many books, which ordinarily pafs for originals, are fufpected by learned men to be only Abridgments ; fuch are thofe of Synefius % Apollodorus, Valerius Maximus r , Stephanus By- zantinus ", Florus, Athenaeus £ , and others. F. Simon has even the temerity to afiert the fame of the books of the bible J . — \} Jour des Scav. Sept. 1710. p. 269. r VoJ. de Hiftor. Lat. 1. 1. c.24. p. 123. feq. » Ryck. Prtef. in Not Hoiften. ad Stephan. Baill. lib. cit. p. 466. feq. * V. Cafaub. Praef. ad Athen. " Act. Erud. Lipf- 1682. p. 97.] In fome books it is hard to difcover which is the Abridgment^ which the original. Thus it is difputed between Dr. Grabe and Mr. Whifton, whether the apoftolical con'ftitutions be an Abridgment of fome antienter constitutions, of which there are fome fragments ftill extant in the MSS. as the former holds : or thefe fragments an Abridgment of the apoftolical conftitutions, as is maintained with great zeal by the latter *. —The common opinion among learned men is, that the fhorter.
epiftks
