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.