TERRA,
the Earth, a Sublunary Globe looked upon by the Philosophers to be a simple, cold and dry Element; modern Astrologers maintain that the Earth moves round the Sun: Alexander sent Diogenettus and Beto to measure the Earth; the Romans also sent Zenodorus, Theo∣dotus and Policlitus upon the same Account by the Authority of Julius Caesar. Pliny makes an Encomium upon the Earth, where he says, that we have with Reason given it the Name of Mo∣ther, and that God has bestowed it upon us for our Palace, as Heaven is his. The Pagans cal∣led it the Mother of the Gods, because they meant those Gods who had been Men, and they worshipped it under the Name of Rhea, Cybele, Ceres, Atergatis, Isis, Tellus, Ops, Vesta and Pro∣serpina: The Temple of Vesta at Rome was of a round Form, to denote the Rotundity of the Earth: The Earth was also worshipped under the Name of Maia, which signified a Nurse or Mo∣ther. The Germans, says Tacitus, worshipped the Earth as our Common Mother, and called her Herthe, they believed she walked up and down the World, and intermedled with the Af∣fairs of Men; they had also a Forest consecra∣ted to her in one of the Isles of the Ocean, where she had a covered Chariot, that none durst draw nigh to but her Sacrificer: He took notice of the Time when she went into it, and very re∣spectfully accompanied her Chariot which was drawn by two Heifers: where ever she came her Arrival was celebrated with Festivals and pub∣lick Rejoicings: It was not then lawful for them to wage War, every Man locked up his Arms, and Peace and Rest feigned every-where: Then the Sacrificer brought her back to her Temple, wearied with the Conversation of Men, after which the Chariot-Covering and even the God∣dess her self, if we must believe them, plunged down into a Lake, where she was washed by the Slaves, whom they presently drowned.