The thoughts he has left us in the Lamberlo, concerning the
revolutions of our globe, are.bold and ingenious ; but thofe are
no lefs profound and fublime, which he has extended in the
Contarim, in which he gives an account of a long cofmological
difoourfe pretended to have been made by the old Egyptian hermit
Ammun to the Archbifhop Antonio Marcello de Petris, who
met. with him ¡on his journey to the holy land. The learned
folitary fppke to him about difiblutions, and renovations o f the
world as i f by way o f prophecy, but in fuch a manner as not-
withltanding be has wrapt up his conjeitures in Platonic dark-
nefs, and expreffed.his ideas in a language like that o f Prifme-
gijlus, the- metaphyfical contemplator difcovers himfelf as well as
the diligent obferver o f natural phenomena. Patrizio was really
fuch, as appears by his works, and particularly the Nuova Fllo-
fofior in the twenty.fcventh book of his. Pancqfimus, treating o f
the motions o f the .fea, he defcribes the Euripus o f Ofero, comparing
it to that o f Cbalcis, into which Ariftotle is faid to have
thrown himfelf, becaufe he could not comprehend the caufe of
the tide. * He made many voyages by fea, and joining his own
obfervations withthofe of-others, formed aferies o f the kno wn
Euript, fome o f which fuffer no violence.of flux and re-flux and
others in various degrees. The Euripus o f Cbalers buffers eftuati-
on feven times a day.: but near the city o f Ofero in Lthtmia
there is the narrowed Euripus o f all. “ In it, fays our philofo-
pher, I have feen the fea .rife and fall more than twenty times
“ a day, and I ftaid feveral days there on purpofe to obferve this
‘ ‘ phenomenon. It is about fifty paces long, and not ten broad-
Us depthts about feven feet.” He has not perhaps been fo happy
in explaining this curiofity, as he was exa<3 in obferving it.
It
Pancofmias lib. 27. De maris mivirfi motibut. p. jjj,
It is evident that the currents, winds, and flux and re-flux force
into the large and deep bays which lie at each end o f the Euripus
a quantity of water difproportionable to the narrownefs o f the
paflage. The different combinations of thefe caufes, producing
greater or lefler reii fiances in the outlet, a greater or lefler number
o f daily eftuations follows, as well as the various degrees o f their
violence. As in his fea voyages he made many and curious ob-
iervations, fo when travelling by land, he did the fame relative
to foffil hiftory, aftronomy, and meteorology ; he mentions that
he went in perfon to interrogate fome fiihermen in the mouths o f
the Arfia, on wbofe boat a flying ball o f fire had ftopt, and broke
there without doing any harm. * And in the iftarid o f Cyprus
he was overtaken, in the plain o f Collopfida, by a fudden fhower
o f rain, accompanied by a great deal o f lightening, which wetting
him from head to foot covered him with art infinity o f filming
points. T o this purpofe he takes notice o f the phofphors of
the fea water; and reàforis concerning light in a vèry fatisfaâory
manner. He alfo difcourfes fenfibly on the real influence o f the
heavenly bodies on fubkinary things, confuting aftrology, and
treating it with ridicule, though much in vogue in thofe times, -f
I thought it not amifs to- enlarge' a little iti .fpeaking o f this
man, t h o u g h without giving an extrait o f all his works, which
would be too tedious, chiefly to renew his memory in the ifland
w h e r e he was born, and to reftore, to the noble family from
which he fprung, the fplèndor it juflly derives from him. + I
I Would
* T h e long obfervations made on the channel.of Ofero., and this excurfion to
the mouth o f the Arfia prove, that Patrizio had come to live fometime in his native
country after he was far advanced in his ftu'dies. Pancofmias, lib 15.
f Pancofm. lib . 21. AnJitllee aliquid again.
1 In the dialogue entitled il Contarino, our Patrizio fays, that the fr ia r Anton-
francefco Marcello Patrizio, general o f his order, afterwards archbifhop o f Patrafi,
and