Tetradymus. Containing I. Hodegus ... II. Clidophorus ... III. Hypatia. ... IV. Mangoneutes

P R E F A C E.

...as has often happened elsewhere, will be considered a miracle by no one who is not strongly biased by the errors of their education. Several years have passed since I wrote this Dissertation. I sent the plan for it to a learned gentleman still living, who showed it to some good judges and received their approval. Since then, I have seen a discourse on this subject written by HERMAN VON DER HARDT, professor of Oriental languages at Helmstedt—a man no less insightful and honest than he is judicious and learned, though, despite these good qualities, he is not infallible.

His idea ¹ is that there was a sacred fire kept unextinguished on an altar in ADAM's time, preserved by NOAH, and successively passed down by all the Patriarchs to MOSES. He claims that MOSES ordered it to be carried by AARON before the army of the Israelites as a symbol of DIVINE presence and favor. He attempts to defend this account against various people who have sent their objections to him in Letters ²; but in the 24th section of my Dissertation, I prove his theory to be not only uncertain but in every respect false and groundless. However, my arguments were actually directed against another author who wrote to the same effect long before Mr. VONDERHARDT, whose work I had not yet seen at that time.

In other respects, I gratefully acknowledge that I have benefited from his labors, and I am confident he will not think less of me for differing from him in this or any other particular. I have lately seen a book against him by one ³ MUNDENIUS, whom I have likewise answered without naming him by refuting the common notions that he defends. He would have succeeded better had he made proper use of what ⁴ LIPSIUS, ⁵ BUXTORF, ⁶ SCHURTZFLEISCH explicitly, and others occasionally—such as ⁷ BRISSONIUS, ⁸ SPENCER, and the Annotators on some of the Classic

¹ HERMAN VON DER HARDT, etc. Philological Journals original: "Ephemerides Philologicae", Helmstedt 1703. Discourse VI; see page 90 of the volume and page 5 of the discourse.
² In the same volume, pages 206–296.
³ Mr. CHRISTIAN MUNDENIUS's A Commentary on the Pillar of Cloud and Fire original: "de Columna Nubis et Ignis Commentatio".
⁴ JUSTUS LIPSIUS's Treatise on Vesta and the Vestal Virgins original: "Syntagma de Vesta et Vestalibus".
⁵ History of the Sacred Fire original: "Historia Ignis Sacri".
⁶ CONRAD SAMUEL SCHURTZFLEISCH's dissertation On the worship of Fire practiced by all tribes and nations original: "de cultu Ignis apud omnes gentes nationesque recepto".
⁷ On the Persian Kingdom original: "De Regno Persico".
⁸ On the Ritual Laws of the Hebrews original: "De Legibus ritualibus Hebraeorum".