But the present story will not be complete without an allusion to that poem of antiquity which was supposed to have suggested the verse of Turgot, and which doubtless did suggest the verse of the “Anti-Lucretius.”  Manilius is a poet little known.  It is difficult to say when he lived or what he was.  He is sometimes supposed to have lived under Augustus, and sometimes under Theodosius.  He is sometimes supposed to have been a Roman slave, and sometimes a Roman senator.  His poem, under the name of “Astronomicon,” is a treatise on astronomy in verse, which recounts the origin of the material universe, exhibits the relations of the heavenly bodies, and vindicates this ancient science.  It is while describing the growth of knowledge, which gradually mastered Nature, that the poet says,—­

    “Eriputque Jovi fulmen, viresque tonandi."[50]

The meaning of this line will be seen in the context, which, for plainness as well as curiosity, I quote from a metrical version of the first book of the poem,[51] entitled, “The Sphere of Marcus Manilius made an English Poem, by Edward Sherburne,” which was dedicated to Charles II.:—­

“Nor put they to their curious search an end Till reason had scaled heaven, thence viewed this round And Nature latent in its causes found:  Why thunder does the suffering clouds assail; Why winter’s snow more soft than summer’s hail; Whence earthquakes come and subterranean fires; Why showers descend, what force the wind inspires:  From error thus the wondering minds uncharmed, Unsceptred Jove, the Thunderer disarmed.”

Enough has been said on the question of origin; but there is yet one other aspect of the story.

The verse was hardly divulged when it became the occasion of various efforts in the way of translation.  Turgot had already done it into French; so had D’Alembert.  M. Nogaret wrote to Franklin, inclosing an attempted translation, and says in his letter,—­“The French have done their best to translate the Latin verse, where justice is done you in so few words.  They have appeared as jealous of transporting this eulogy into their language as they are of possessing you.  But nobody has succeeded, and I think nobody will succeed."[52] He then quotes a translation which he thinks defective, although it appeared in the “Almanach des Muses” as the best:—­

    “Cet homme que tu vois, sublime en tous les tems,
    Derobe aux dieux la foudre et le sceptre aux tyrans.”

To this letter Dr. Franklin made the following reply:[53]—­

    “Passy, 8 March, 1781.

“SIR,—­I received the letter you have done me the honor of writing to me the 2d instant, wherein, after overwhelming me with a flood of compliments, which I can never hope to merit, you request my opinion of your translation of a Latin verse that has been applied to me.  If I were, which I really am not, sufficiently skilled in your excellent language to be a proper judge