II i i I 8 I i i 1 3 5 a s N i i 1 I S 1 I t. I S 1 I 1 A NEW SYSTEM OF MYTHOLOGY, IN TWO VOLUMES; GIVING A FULL ACCOUNT OF THE IDOLATRY OF THE PAGAN WORLD, ILLUSTRATED BY Analytical Tables, and 50 elegant Copperplate Engravings, Representing more than 200 subjects, In a third volume, particularly adapted to the capacity of Junior Students, COMPILED, DIGESTED, AND ARRANGED, BY ROBERT MAYO, M. D. Author of a View of Ancient Geography, and Kstary. PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR, t By T. S. Manning, JV. W. corner of Sixth and Chesnut ttreets, 1815. DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA, TO WIT: Be it Remembered, That on the tenth day of July, in the for- SEAL. ** tieth year of the Independence of the United States of Ame. pica, A. D. 1815, ROBERT MAYO, M. D., of the said dis- trict, hath deposited in this office, the title of a Book, the right whereof he claims as Author in the words following, to wit: " A new System of Mythology, in two -volumes; giving a full ac- count of the Idolatry of the Pagan World: Illustrated by Analy- tical Tables*, and 50 elegant cofifierfilate engravings, representing more than 200 subjects, in a third -volume, particularly adapted to the capacity of junior students: Compiled, digested, and arranged, by Robert Mayo, M. Z). Author of a Vieiu of Ancient Geography, and History." In conformity to the Act of the Congress of the United States, inti- tuled, " An Act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the co- pies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned." And also to the Act, enti- tled " An Act supplementary to An Act, entitled ' An Act for the Encour- agement of Learning, by securing the Copies of Maps, Charts, and Books, to the Authors and Proprietors of such copies during the times therein mentioned,' and extending the benefits thereof to the Arts of designing, engraving, and etching Historical and other Prints." D. CALDWELL, Clerk of the District of Pennsylvania. NEW SYSTEM MYTHOLOGY. VOL I. StacK Annex 5 v.t ADVERTISEMENT. THE object of the author in undertaking this work originally, was confined chiefly to the convenience of Seminaries. But find- ing it impossible to dissect away the objectionable, from the inno- cent part, and sometimes instructive moral, of the subject, so as to render its use admissible among young ladies and gentlemen -without mutilating, and destroying its true character, and lay- ing a foundation for a false conception of history, or rather con- firming errors already industriously propagated by the partial works or.epitomies extant on the same subject he resolved to compromise the difficulties on either hand, by giving every thing that is material to a clear conception of so interesting a science to all lovers of antiquity, and then digesting the same into a se- ries of concise analytical tables, especially explanatory of the plates, with which they might make a separate volume for the use of schools, so that the work may be complete in the enlarged or epitomized form. We may add that a well-digested elementary book, in any science, is, in general, the more precious, as it is more rare. Yet we see daily coming from the press, new efforts of this kind, and each aspiring to offer a method, either more simple, or more clear, or more concise, than any which have yet appeared. Such pro- ductions as the latter, seldom fail to make assurances, through the medium of a preface, of the most decided and complete suc- cess; and their persuasive tone would unquestionably secure our confidence, if the abortions of their text did not contradict to our better judgment, what their prefatory egotism had so daringly promised. This is decidedly true of the herd of elementary books for the instruction of youth. Whether the presenr work will de- serve a place in the latter or the former class, awaits the decision of learned professors, from whose judgment there is no appeal. vi Al) V F, HT1 SEMEN T . Of the utility of Mythology) as a vehicle of moral precept, we will express our high estimation in the language of the immor- tal BACON. In his Critique upon that subject, he says: " Every man, of any learning, must readily allow, that this method of in- structing is grave, sober, or exceedingly useful, and sometimes necessary in the sciences; as it opens a familiar and easy passage to the human understanding, in all new discoveries that are ab- struse and out of the road of vulgar opinions. Hence, in the first ages, when such inventions and conclusions of the human reason as are now trite and common, were new and little known; all things abounded with fables, parables, similies, comparisons, and allusions; which were not intended to conceal, but to inform and teach: whilst the minds of men continued rude and unpractised in matters of subtility and speculation; or even impatient, and in a manner incapable of receiving such things as did not directly fall under and strike the senses. For, as hieroglyphics were in use before writing, so were parables in use before arguments." ****** ' To conclude, the knowledge of the early ages was ei- ther great, or happy; great, if they by design made this use of trope and figure; happy, if, whilst they had no other views, they afforded matter and occasion to such noble contemplations. Let either be the case, our pains, perhaps, will not be misemployed, whether we illustrate antiquity or things themselves.' By examining the table of contents to this volume, an estimate may easily be made of its comprehensiveness and method. In regard to the sequel of the work, we will subjoin that The SE- COND VOLUME will contain, in a series of Chapters and Sections, a methodical and full account 1st, of the Egyptian, Phenician, Carthaginian, Ethiopian, Arabian, Syrian, Chaldean, Babylonian, Persian, Sythian, German, and Gallic deities, together with such as are only mentioned in Scripture: 2d, of the Greek and Roman deities whether they be heavenly, infernal, terrestrial, or sea- deities, 8cc, &c: 2d, of their demi-gods; giants; heroes; and he- roines: 4th, of their fabulous nations; monsters, and sacred ani- mals, &c, Sec. ADVERTISEMENT. vii These Volumes will be accompanied by a Volume of Ana- lytical Tables, and fifty elegant Copperplate Engravings, repre- senting more than two hundred subjects such as the altars; tem- ples; instruments used in sacrifice; the ceremonies of a sacri- fice; the modes of consulting and receiving the oracles; and the various exercises in celebrating the games: together with the fi- gures of the deities; giants; heroes; heroines; monsters, &c; re- presenting their symbols; metamorphoses; and wonderful ex- ploits; whether purely fabulous-, or partly historical. To enable the enlightened public to decide upon the merits of this essay towards a System of Mythology, and to induce them to patronise our undertaking, we have ventured to publish the fii*st Volume in anticipation of the custom of soliciting subscriptions, with the hope that so much of the demonstration of our plan will make a deeper impression upon public confidence, than the mere promise of a prospectus. In the execution of a plan suggested and designed purely to facilitate the progress of junior students, and to remove the diffi- culties accumulated upon them by the defects of the epilomies of Mythology, it was not only deemed unnecessary to make re- references to authorities for the facts stated in the course of the work, inasmuch as they will seldom have it in their power, or would be at the trouble to examine them, but that it would even be derogatory to the principal consideration continually kept in view, such as the preserving a strict continuity, and rapid succes- sion of the parts, whether contained or containing, so that the in- evitable result of little more than a single attentive reading might be, a happy comparison of the relative importance of the lesser parts to each other, and of the greater divisions to the entire sub- ject. But to supply this omission as well as possible in a few words, for the satisfaction of the learned, whose inspection we shall solicit, and to whom we shall ever feel amenable on the score of candour, will here make a general reference to. The Mytho- logy and Fables of the Ancients explained from History, four Volumes 8vo, without plates, by the Abbe BANIER; The Anti- viii ADVERTISEMENT. guides explained and represented by Sculfiture, five volumes folio, by BERNARD DE MONTFAUCON; The Polymetis, \vith superb en- gravings, one volume folio, by the REV'D. MR. SPENCE; KEN- NET'S Roman Antiquities, with plates, one volume 8vo; Le Tem- ple des Muses, with many superb engravings, one folio volume; The Usages, religious, civil, tsfc, of the -Indents, in four volumes, \vith plates, by M. DANDRE BARDON; besides a variety of other authors superfluous to mention. Confiding in these and other profound interpreters of original authors, my object of facilitating the classical studies of American youth, will warrant me in ma- king a free use of their labours. Whoever feels particular soli- citude for the improvement of American literature, let him be- stow a portion of his leisure, to the modification of the elements of general science, for the capacity ofyoui/is and they will demon- strate to him in his old age, the wonderful effects of his fostering care for their early studies, which will infinitely exceed any thing that he could have effected by attempts at originality with an im- perfect education the necessary result of the present defects of our juvenile instruction. Having been deeply sensible of these defects, which are chiefly owing to the want of suitable books for the tyro, Is the circumstance that has actuated me in my present undertaking. If my success should be equal to my zeal, my re- ward will be accomplished. ERRATA. Pages 7, substitute tenebra for tenebre; 85, read the second line first 115, substitute Hymenxus for Hymeniusf 116, Pavor for Pravor; 180, Ur- ceolus for Urcolus; 135, first line, from for or; 137, Kidron for Cedron; 178, Censer for Cencer, and Thuribulum for Thurebulam; 227, Paphos for Paphas; 239, teternus for - braces or its mode of illustrating them, it appears to be a work of real merit; ornamental to the classical scholar, useful to every one, aiid essen- tial to all who are ambitious of a knowledge of general history. To some of the most interesting portions of the history of ancient nations, as well as of several modern ones, an able and correct system of Mythology might be emphatically denominated the master key. Such a key I feel persuaded your countrymen will not fail to find in that of which you have commenced the publication. RECOMMENDATIONS. Thus far of what you have published Respecting that portion of your work which is yet to appear, it may be regarded as premature in me to speak. Judging, however, from the specimen in my possession, candour and reason unite in obliging me to augur well of it. The third volume, in particular, if executed with equal ability with that which has just been printed, promises to be a production of no common in- terest. While the first and second volumes will be calculated to communi- cate information on a broader scale, and in a more detailed form, the third, being an analytical epitome of the entire system, and addressed to the eye, the best of the senses, will, if I mistake not, be well adapted to the use of schools. On the whole, enough has already appeared to encourage the belief, that when complete, the work will be an addition to American literature, honorable to yourself, and useful to your country. May it be welcomed under a patronage correspondingly liberal. I am, truly and respectfully, your obedient and very humble servant, CH. CALDWELL, M. D. Robert Mayo, M. D. Philadelphia, July 27, 1815. I have examined the first volume of your " New System of Mytholo- gy." Without arrogating to myself the right of deciding on its merits, a task which I willingly leave to abler critics, I may be permitted to ex- press my high opinion of the usefulness of such a work; and to add my belief, that competent judges will be less backward than myself in bestow- ing their commendations on it. The industry and talents of the author are the grounds of this belief. Very respectfully, I am, sir, your humble servant, J. S. DORSEY, M. D. Dr. Mayo. Philadelphia, July 20th, 1815. Dear Sir, The studies which engross my attention are so entirely foreign to the subject of the work which you are now publishing, that I should think it inexcusable arrogance in me to speak minutely on its merits. It gives me pleasure, however, to remark, that the work is arranged with admi- rable method, written with great perspicuity, and filled with interesting- matter. Believe me, with the greatest respect, your obedient servant, R. M. PATTERSON, M. D. Dr. R. Mayo. University of Pennsylvania. July 17th, 1815- Dear Sir, I HAVE read your work with as much attention as my leisure. would admit, and experience very great pleasure in adding my suffrage to the distinguished testimonials which you have received to its merits. I am, dear sir, very respectfully, yours, &c. N. CHAPMAN, M. D. R. Mayo, M. D. Philadelphia, July 28th, 1815- CONTENTS. INTRODUCTION. OF THE SENTIMENTS OF THE ANCIENTS, ABOITT THE ORIGIN OF THE WORLD, AND OF THE GODS. page 1*;, T/ie Cosmogony and Theogony of the Chaldeans. 1 THE antiquity of the Chaldeans; their historians; their Cosmo- gony and Theogony; what they say respecting the deluge Re- flection on the above. 2d, The Cosmogony and Theogony of the Phenicians. 8 SANCHONTATHOX the authenticity of his fragment, its division into three parts, viz, 1st, of the origin of the world; 2d, of the ten generations before the deluge; 3d, of those who lived after the deluge. PHILO'S remarks upon this fragment: additional reflections upon the same fragment. od, The Cosmogony and Tkeogony of the Egyptians. 18 THOT his Cosmogony and Theogony the most ancient; explain- ed by DIOBORUS SICULUS. Reflections upon the above. 4th, The Theogony of the Jltlantid* . 22 THE Atlantidte claim the birth-place of the Gods. Uranus and Titaea deified; their progeny the Titans, &c. Rhaea, 'Hyperion, and their progeny persecuted by the Titans and are deified. The Em- pire of Uranus divided among the Titans; their progeny. Re- flections on the above Theogony. 5th, The Cosmogony and Theogony of the Greeks. 25 ERRORS of the Greeks as to the sources of their Theogony. The Cosmogony and Theogony of ORPHEUS. Remarks on the same. The Theogony of HESIOD 1st, The line of Chaos. 3d, The line of Terra. 3d, The line of JVbx. 4th, The line of Pontus. 5th, The line of Tethys. 6th, The line of Thea. 7th, The line of Creius. 8th, The line of Phcebe. 9th, The line' of Rheal 10th, The line of Japetus. (Of the war of Jupiter and the Titans at Mount Olympus.) llth, The line of Jupiter. 12th, The line of Neptune. 13th, Gods descended of mortal men and Goddesses. CONTENTS. INTRODUCTION. page 14th, The Demons and Genii. The Theogony of PLATO'S dia- logue, The Banquet. The Theogony of PBOPANIDES the precep- tor of HOMER. The Theology, copied as it were, by HOMER. The Cosmogony of OVID General reflections upon the fore- going Cosmogonies and Theogonies. HESIOD and MOSES' Cos- mogony compared. A trait of resemblance between that of OVID and MOSES. These Cosmogonies and Theogonies are but dis- tortions of ancient traditions: Additional example in proof of the same. Reflections upon the latter example. Comparison of the Greeks and Romans, in systematising these fables. 6th, The Theogony and Cosmogony of the Indians. 42 THE Theogony of the Brahmin priests. The Cosmogony of the Brahmin priests. 7th, The Theogony of the Chinese. 44 IN the first ages, the Chinese worship was not corrupted by Idola- try: nor had they either Cosmogony or Theogony: but in process of time, LAO-KIUN introduced the Idolatrous sect of Taose; in- vented a Cosmogony; and with his proselytes, gave rise to a sort of Theogony. Another sect founded by the emperor Mingti, called Jlo-Chang. 8th, The Cosmogony and other fables of the aboriginal Americans. 50 LAFFITEAU'S account of the Cosmogony of the American Indians. Remarks upon that Cosmogony. Their Fables and Idols. Their superstitions, religious rites, and persuasions; particularly in re- gard to fire. Their human sacrifices; a parallel: continued in regard to other savage nations. 9th, Of the Pagan Theology in general, and that of the Poets in particular. 57 ITS absurdity, and the arguments of the Fathers, compel the Phi- losophers to explain it by allegory. The Pagan Theology is dis- tinguished by VARRO into three parts. Theology of the Poets; its partisans make a parallel of it with the Sacred Writ. Why we should entertain a very different sentiment of their Theology; confirmed by deductions from HOMER'S account of the Trojan war; and from that of JEneas and Turnus in Italy; also from num- berless other examples, in which the Poets abounded. Reflec- tions upon the Theology of the Poets. CONTENTS. HISTORY OF IDOLATRY. MYTHOLOGY. CHAPTER I. HISTORY OF IDOLATRY. SECTION I. page ITS ORIGIN. 69 THE worship of the children of God pure that of the children of Men idolatrous. Idolatry, whether it commenced before the de- luge. Idolatry, how early restored after the deluge, and where. From Egypt Idolatry propagated itself through Phenicia to other countries. SECTION II. ITS FIRST OBJECTS. 73 THE opinion of Vossius, viz, 1st, Two Principles Good and Evil: these are enveloped in the fable of Osiris and Typhon of Egypt; which are copied in the fables of the Phsenicians, and Greeks: how treated by ancient and modern philosophers: 2d, Spirits or Genii their worship: 3d, Souls departed,- their worship, the effect of two causes-^/frs*, Gratitude; second, Fear. M. LE CLERC'S opinion differs, in favour of Jlngels. The Sun and Moon, in reality, were the first objects t>f Idolatry, according to the opinion of MAIMONIDES; and according to the opinion of EUSE- BIUS; which is confirmed by profanQ authors: also, inferable from its prohibition by MOSES; and from the position of the Pagan temples; and to them MACROBIUS reduces all the Pagan Deities. Their worship called Sabism, the most universal, and of the longest duration. . ' ' -! -- , - V . ' SECTION III. ITS PROGRESS TO SYSTEM. 84 General remarks. The causes of Mythological Fables, viz. 1st, Igno- rance in Physics; 2d, The Scripture, &c, misunderstood; 3d, Ignorance of Chronology and ancient History; 4th, Ignorance of languages; 5th, The Plurality, or Unity of Names; 6th, The mar- vellous relations of travellers; 7th, False eloquence of eulogizing Orators; 8th, Poetic Fictions and exaggerations; 9th, The Paint- ers and Statuaries, &c; 10th, Pretended interviews with the Gods, llth, A desire to be reckoned of Divine origin. System of CONTENTS. page Deities,\iz, 1st, The adoration of physical objects, theirjtutelar Deities; 2d. The adoration of many of the human species their tutelar Deities; 3d, The adoration of brute animals their tutelar Deities; 4th, The adoration of reptiles, insects, and stones; 5th, The Deities assigned to the Passions and Affections; 6th, The tutelar Deities for particular professions, and other occasions; 7th, The Deities that received peculiar honour in particular pla- ces. 8th, Of the Demi-Gods, Heroes, Genii, and Junones. A few individual exceptions from Pagan corruption. SECTION IV. ITS DECLINE. 122 Admiration at Pagan extravagance; which was kept in vogue chiefly by habit and the convenience of it; and which Divine in- terposition alone could eradicate. CHAPTER II. THE MACHINERY OF IDOLATRY. SECTION I. THE STATUES OF ITS DEITIES. 126 THE Pagan Gods how represented through several periods, &c, viz, 1st, By shapeless stones, pillars, trunks of trees, &c; 2d, By the figure of an Ox or Calf, and statues called Termes; 3d, By statues of perfect symmetry. The materials of statuary were earth, -wood, stone, marble, ivory, metals, iaax, &.c. The sizes of statues varied from the Pigmy to the Colossus. The statues were set up in temples, in private houses, and in the/eWs. Of the usa- ges in regard to the expression, and the symbols, of the Statues. SECTION II. 77*5 ALTARS. 132 THE Etymology of the word Altar. The antiquity, matter, and form, of the Altars; their height, and the places where they were erected. CONTENTS. SECTION III page ITS SJCRED GROVES. 134 THE antiquity of Sacred Groves; their universality; a refuge for criminals, 8tc; the Jews were interdicted their use, by MOSES. They became greatly frequented; and were applied to religious festivity. To fell them was the greatest sacrilege. SECTION IV. ITS TEMPLES. 137 THE several terms which design a Temple. The antiquity of Tem- ples; the Tabernacle probably their model. From small chapels, Temples became examples of magnificence and wonder in Art. The parts of the Temples, and their ornaments. The ceremony of founding a Temple among the Romans. The places prescribed for some Temples to be erected. The veneration of the Idolaters for their Temples. 1st, The Temple of Belus. 143 THIS Temple was originally the Tower of Babel; its plan, &c. It was embellished by Nebuchadnezzar, and destroyed by Xerxes. 2rf, Temple of Vulcan at Memphis; vrith other Egyptian Temples. 144 THE antiquity of the Temple of Vulcan; by whom founded and embellished. Other Egyptian Temples, with one of a single stone. 3d, Three Temples of Diana at Ephesus. 147 1st, THE first Temple of Diana by whom established, and what it was. 2d, The second, the famous Ephesian Temple an ac- count of it. 3d, The third Ephesian Temple was but little infe- rior to the last mentioned. 4th, Temple of Jupiter Olympius. 149 DESCRIPTION of the Temple of Jupiter Olympius The Statue and Throne it contained of that God. 5th, Temple of dpollo at Delphos. 152 THIS Temple was built five times an account of each. 6th, The Pantheon at Rome. ^ 154 THE age of the Pantheon is uncertain; it yet subsists in All-Saints: Of its foundation and its ornaments. CONTENTS. MACHINERY OF IDOLATRY. page 7th, Of the nature of Sanctuaries, or Jlsyla. 156 ORIGIN of the right of Asylum, or Sanctuary: for what purpose it was instituted, and to what places or structures it attached. The right was not always inviolable. It was abolished by Tibe- rius for its abuses. SECTION V. ITS VICTIMS OR SACRIFICES. 159 THE simplicity of Sacrifices in general, in the early ages. At length, bloody Sacrifices became general; but the time of their introduc- tion is uncertain, excepting Abel's offering: nevertheless, the former simplicity of sacrifice was not forgotten. At last, human sacrifices were offered up; which originated from Abraham's sa- crifice being misunderstood: but several prodigies caused them to be abolished. Of public and private sacrifices; and the choice of victims, in which something was peculiar to each Deity. Each ' Deity had also their consecrated birds, animals, fishes, and plants. The ceremonials of a Sacrifice. Purification of the Priests, preparatory to a sacrifice. The Sacrifice called the Hecatomb^ offered on public emergencies. The Sacrifice of Agroterx, in honour of Diana. The Sacrifice called Taurobolium, in honour of Cybele,- on what occasions offered, and what kind of victims: the form of prayer, &c, it required. SECTION VI. INSTRUMENTS USED IN SACRIFICE, &c. 177 THE Acerra. The Cencer. The Cochlearia. Praeferriculum. The Simpulum. The Patera. Malleus and Ax. The Secespita. The . Dolabra. The Lingula. The Enclabris. The Augural Staff. The Discus. The Olla. The Candelabrum. The Trumpet. The Dou- ble Flute. The Uscolus. The Tripod of three sorts. SECTION VII. THE PRIESTS AND OTHER MINISTERS OF SACRIFICES. 181 WHO exercised the Priesthood in early times. Defects of person, &c, excluded from that office. The Greek Hierarchy. The Roman Hierarchy; of which the Pontiffs were the first in rank; next to whom were Flamines who were Majores and Minores; lastly, the Epulones, and those who kept the Sibylline Books. The Priests common to the Greeks and Romans, viz, 1st, those of Cybele; 2d, The Priests of Mithras; 3d, The Priests and Priestesses of Bacchus. CONTENTS. SECTION VIII. THE VESTAL VIRGINS. page 193 THE object, origin, qualifications, and service, of these Priestesses: the punishment for neglect of the sacred Fire, Palladium, &c, un- der their care: their privileges: their restrictions; their dress and luxury: by whom the order was abolished. SECTION IX. THE SIBYLS. 196 THE subject considered under five heads, viz, 1st, Whether there really were Sibyls; 2d, How many there were of them; 3d, Why they were supposed to be gifted with prophecy; 4th, The long life attributed to them; two reflections thereupon; 5th, Lastly, whether they were reputed Divinities. The Tomb and Epitaph of the Erythrxan Sibyl. CHAPTER III. SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. SECTION I. OF ORACLES JJV GENERAL. 207 ORACLES, the language or will of the Gods, are public and private. Oracles were as universal as Idolatry. Were they mere impos- tures? and did they cease at the coming of Christ? Of the time and manner of consulting the Oracles. 1st, The Oracle of Do dona. 211 THE origin of this Oracle, and that of Jupiter Hammon. How the Oracle of Dodona was given. 2d, The Oracle of Jupiter Hammon. 213 THE antiquity of this Oracle, character of its Priests. How the responses were given. 3d, The Oracle of Apollo at Heliopolis. 215 THIS Oracle, and that of Jupiter Phifais, were given as that of Hammon. CONTENTS. SUPRSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. III. page 4th, The Oracle of Apollo at Delphos. 215 THE origin of this Oracle. Several Gods had this Oracle succes- sively: which was transferred voluntarily, or by force. This Oracle became highly celebrated. How the Inspiration was ac- quired; by whom delivered; and when. The ceremony of receiv- ing the responses. Other ministers of the Oracle of Jlpollo. 5th, The Oracle of Trophonius in Lebadca. 221 THE origin of this Oracle. The manner of consulting this Oracle, &c. 6th, Other Oracles of less note. 225 OTHER Oracles of Jlpollo. Other Oracjes of Jupiter. Other Oracles of several other Deities. The Oracles of Demi-Gods, Heroes, and Emperors. The Oracles of the Fountains. Oracles were owing partly to the instigation of the Devil, and chiefly to the imposture of the Priests. They were of all dates; old ones declining, and new ones coming in vogue. 7th, The- Oracles of the Sibyls. 232 How the Cum/eon Sibyl delivered her Oracles. The Sibylline Verses; how they were collected; and how they were destroyed. The Romans repaired their loss by a second collection. To whose care it was entrusted, and on what occasions consulted. Its fate is uncertain; but it is not to be confounded with a Third, the pro- duct of pious fraud; of which we give several remarkable predic- tions; Reflections on the same. These three collections of the Sibylline Verses, in a manner distinguished. The second collection is burnt, and their veneration terminated. f 8th, Various ways of delivering Oracles; -with several remarkable Responses. 242 MODES of delivering Oracles afore-mentioned. Other modes of delivering Oracles, Viz, 1st, From the hollow of the Statue; 2d, By letters under a seal; 3d, The names and number only of the suppliants required; 4th, The response is communicated by a dream. 5th, By the first words heard after interrogating the statue of the God; 6th, Oracular responses were given by lots; lastly, Many were given by equivocal phrases. Extraordinary responses, viz. 1st, That of the priestess of Delphos to Croesus; 2d, That of the Oracle of Mopsus, to the governor of Cilicia. 3d, That of the priestess of Dodona to the Boeotians. Remarks on the decline of the Oracle of Jpollo. CONTENTS. SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. SECTION II. page OF DIVLVJTIG.V. 250 GENERAL reflections on the subject of Divination. Numerous infe- rior modes of Divination. 1st, Divination of the four Elements. 253 1st, The divination of water, called ffydromancy. 2d, The divina- tion of fire, called Pyromancy. 3d, The divination of earth, called Geromancy. 4th, The divination of air, called Jleromancy. 2d, The Auguria. or Jluapicia. THE nature of this sort of Divination, its antiquity. This art was entrusted to a college of Augurs educated in Etruria. Of the election of the Augurs; and the importance of their office. The time, place and manner, of taking the Auguries, and from what signs, viz. 1st, From the flight of birds; 2d, From the feeding of the sacred Chickens. 3d, From ordinary signs in the air, as thunder, lightning, winds. 4th, From Prodigies, viz, -first, such as are supernatural, (if we allow of their existence); second, from extraordinary signs in the air, as meteors, &c. Remarks upon this latter kind of Prodigies. Remarks upon the former^ class of Prodigies. The public consternation occasioned by Prodigies. 3d, The Aruspicia. 266 THE office and the institution, generally, of the Aruspices. The manner in which the Aruspices drew their presages. 4reasmi. The Brauronia. The Cabiria. The Callisteria. The Canephoria. The Carneia. The Cha- rila. The Charisia. The Chelidonia. The Cissotomia. The Crania. The Cynophontis. The Dxdala. The Daidis. The Daphnephoria. The Delia. The Demetria. The Diamastigosis. The Diasia. The Dionysia. The Dioscuria. The Elaphebolia. The Eleusinia. The Eleutheria. The Encoenia. The Eoria. The Erotidia. The Eume- nidia. The Gamelia. The Hecatesia. The Hecatomboia. The Hecatomphonia. The Helenia. The Hephxstia. The Heracleia. The Ilermxa. The Horaea. The Hyacinthia. The Hydrophoria. The Leonidea. The Lycsea. The Lycurgides. The Menelaia. The Mussea. The Nemesia. The Nephalia. The Niccteria. The Nu- menia. The Oscophoria. The Plynteria. The Septerion. The Soteria. The Thargela. The Theoxenia. The Thesmophoria. The Triclaria. The Xanthica. 3d, Roman Festivals. 326 THE Romans adopted the Greek festivals, and instituted others pro- per to themselves: First, Of those that were common to both. Second, Of those of Roman institution their motives. The Ago- nalia. The Agones Capitolini. The A.rgeronalia. The Armilus- triutn. The Augustalia. The Caprotinx. The Carmentales. The Charistia. The Compitalia. The Consuales Ludi. The Equiria. The Faunalia. The Feralia. The Feriae Latinae. The Floralia. The Hilaria. The Lemuria. The Minervalia. The Nemoralia. CONTENTS. CHAP. III. page The Palilia. The Parentalia. The Portumnalia. The Regifugium. The Kemuria. The Robigalia. The Septimontium. The Termina- lia. The Vestalia. The Vinalia. The Vulcanalia Comparative remarks between Festivals and Games. SECTION VII. OF GAMES. 337 GAMES were religious institutions; they were also politic. Their origin. They were instituted by Heroes, and participated by all classes. They were highly celebrated in Greece; which was ow- ing to the honours decreed to the conquerors. Some Games were repeated; others occurred only once: their modes of exercise, viz, the Race; the Coit; the Gauntlet; the Pancrace; Leaping; the Javelin; the Gladiators. The Hellanodices or Judges of the Games. LUCIAN'S derision of the Combats. Some exercises re- quired more, some less ground: in the earlier ages they were performed in the open fields; but afterwards, in appropriate places, wherein convenient structures were raised. Fifteen foun- ders of the Games. GRECIAN GAMES. 1st, The Olympic Games. 350 THE origin of these Games. Their frequent interruptions and final establishment. The time and place of their celebration. The parts of the Stadium; the dangers of the Race- The combatants prohibited the use of fraud; its punishment. The concourse to see these Games enriched the city and state. The descendants of Helen, only, admitted to dispute the prizes. 2d, ThePythic Games. 356 THE origin of these Games: the earlier exercises and disputants in these Games: Other exercises afterwards introduced. The period for celebrating these Games. Their adoption by the Romans. 3d, The Nemean Games. 359 THE origin, and the period of celebrating these Games. The exer- cises of these Games were the same as the former. The reward of the conquerors therein. 4th, The Isthmic Games. 360 THE origin of these Games. The trials of skill; and the reward to the victors. CONTENTS. CHAP. 111. page 5th, The Scenic Games. 361 THE exercises of these Games; and to whom they were dedicated. The conqueror received the title of Poet Laureat. The scenic ex- ercises were introduced into several Games, besides those proper- ly Scenic. ROMAN GAMES. 1st, The Trojan Games, or Games of the Youth, 363 THE founder of these Games, their patrons. VIRGIL'S account of them. 2d, The Secular Games. 369 THE origin of these Games, and their periods. Their solemnization. 3d, The Games of Ceres. 369 THE origin of these Games. Their solemnization. 4th, The Games of Cybele, and those of the other great Gods. 370 THE origin and celebration of the Games of Cybele. Those of other great Gods different from the former. 5th, The Games of Castor and Pollux. 371 THE origin and celebration of these Games. 6th, The Cercensian Games. 372 THESE were of Greek origin, and adopted by Romulus. 7th, The Capitoline Games. 372 ON what occasion founded; their exercises. 8th, The Games celebrated in the Camps. 373 THESE were instituted for the health of the soldiers.. 9th, Some other Games. 373 CONCLUSION. INTRODUCTION. OF THE SENTIMENTS OF THE ANCIENTS, ABOUT THE ORIGIN OF THE WORLD, AND OF THE GODS. SINCE the opinion of the ancients about the origin of the Gods was always mixed with that of the origin of the world, I shall in the way of Introduction to this MYTHOLOGY, say some- thing about both their Cosmogony and their Theogony, derived from the writings of the early historians, whether Chaldean, Phe- nician, Egyptian, Atlantidae, Greek, Chinese, or Indian. 1st, Cosmogony and Theogony of the Chaldeans. THERE is no disputing the Chaldeans the Antiquity of , P r . . . the Chaldeans; n nor ^ being one of the most ancient nations in their historians;-- the world. NIMKOD. their first king, lived even ' in the time of PELEG, and he is looked upon to be the author of the mad project of the toiver of Babel, This peo- ple according to JOSEPHUS, took care from the earliest periods of time, to preserve, by public inscriptions and other monuments, the memory of all occurrences, and to employ the wisest men of their nation in writing their annals; but there are no better proofs of the antiquity of the Chaldeans, than the agreement of their opinion about the origin of the world, the ten generations that went before the deluge, and the other ten that came after it, with the writings of MOSES. The history of the Chaldeans had been written by four ancient authors, BEROSUS, ABYDENUS,* APOLLO- DORUS, and ALEXANDER POLYHISTOR. We have some fragments of their works now remaining in JOSEPHUS, EUSEBIUS, and SYN- CELLUS; and it is in the last of these authors we find that small piece of BEROSUS upon their Cosmogony, viz. INTRODUCTION. CHALDEAN COSMOGONY AND THEUGONY. . In the reign ot Amenon, a monster, half man, their Cosmogony anc ] na if fi sn b y tne name o f Qannes, sprung from and Theogony; tne red sea, appeared near a place m the neigh- bourhood of Babylon. He had two heads; that of the man^ was below that of thejis/i. To his fish's tail were joined the feet of a man, and he had human voice and sfieech: his image is preserved to this very day in painting. This monster, according to the Chaldean author, abode with men by day, without food, and taught them the knowledge of letters and sciences, and the prac- tice of arts; to build cities and temples, to enact laws, to apply themselves to geometry, to sow and gather grain and fruits; in a word, whatever could contribute to civilize their manners. The same author adds concerning Oannes, that he had written a book about the origin of things, wherein he taught, that there was a time when all was water and darkness, in which were contained animals of a monstrous form some men with two wings; others with four, having also two heads upon the same body, one of a man, the other of a woman, with the distinctions of either sex; that some were seen with the legs and horns of a goat; while others had the fore or hind parts of a horse, like the Hijifiocen- taurs; others were born with the head of a man and the body of a bull: that the dogs had four tails, with the hind parts of a fish: in short, that all the animals were of a monstrous and irregular make, like the representations of them to be seen in the tem- ple of Belus. This author added farther, that a woman named Omoroca, was mistress of the universe, and that the god Belus clove her asunder, formed earth of the one part, and heaven of the other, and put all those monsters to death. Then this god divided the darkness, separated earth from heaven, and arranged the universe in order; and after the destruction of the animals, \vho could not support the splendour of the light, seeing the world desolate, he ordered his own head to be cut off by one of the Gods, to mix with earth the blood which flowed from the wound, and of it to frame men and animals; after which, he' framed the stars and the planets, and thus finished the produc- tion of all beings. SYNCELLUS, who has preserved to us the fragments of several other ancients, says, that, according to ABYDENUS, a second Annedotus or an animal resembling Oannes, had likewise come out of the sea, under the reign of Amillarus^ INTRODUCTION. CHALDEAN COSMOGONY AND THEOGONY. (see the table in the note) who dwelt in the town of Pantibibla* six and twenty &are&\ from the foundation of the Chaldean mon- archy. But APOLLODORUS said, as the same SYXCELLUS has it, that it was only under the succeeding reign he appeared, that is, in the time of Amenon. POLYHISTOR, like BEROSUS, introduced his Oannes in the first year; that is, probably, at the beginning of that same monarchy; which would fain be a third Oannes. The same APOLLODORUS speaks of a fourth Oannes or Annedo- tus, who had likewise come out of the sea under the reign of Daonus. In addition to these, ABYDENUS mentions four persons, who came at that time by sea, to give the Chaldeans a more full explication of what Oannes had taught them only in a summary way; he names these four doctors^ Euedocus, Eneugamus, Eneu- bulus, and Anementus4 We shall subjoin what the above histo- rians say respecting the deluge, and conclude with such reflec- tions as the occasion suggests. * SCALIGEH upon EusEBius, p. 406, remarks very justly that the an- cients have taken no notice of the town named Pantibibla. What if it was the Sipphara of PTOLEMY, where XIXUTRUS, who is the same with NOAH, deposited the remains he had composed before the deluge? Since the name may be derived from the Chaldaic word sepher, meaning a book, a collection; and that is precisely the same sense, which the word Pantibibla bears in Greek. Sir ISAAC NEWTON, in his chronology, takes that town for the Sfpharvaim mentioned in the second book of Kings, ch. 19, v. 13. f The ancients divided time into sares, neres, and eases. The tares, (saros according to SYNCELLUS) denoted three thousand six hundred years. i Such was the tradition of the Chaldeans about the origin of the world, where it is plain they suppose the Gods prior to the formation of the world. We see there is no mention of their birth as in the tradition of the Phenicians. Be that as it will, here are the ten first generations ac- cording to the opinion of the Chaldeans, with the duration of each reign in sares. Thus, AFRICAXUS. Thus, ABYDENUS. Thus, APOLLODORUS. Kings. Sares. Kings. Sares. Kings. Sares. 1 Alorus, reigned 10 1 Alorus, reigned 10 1 Alorus, reigned, 10 2 Alasparus, 3 2 Alaparus, 5 2 Alaparus, 3 Amelon, 13 3 Amillarus, 13 3 Amelon, 4 Amenon, 12 4 Amenon, 12 4 Amenon, 5 Metalarus, 18 5 Megalarus, 18 5 Megalarus, 18 6 Daonus, 29 6 Daos, 10 6 Daonus, 10 7 Evedorachus, 18 7 Evedorescus, 18 7 Evedoriscus, 18 INTRODUCTION. CHALDEAN COSMOGONY AND THEOGONY. Chronus or Saturn, having appeared to Xixu- '' TRUS in a dream, forewarned him, that on the fif- uge. teenth of the month D Tt is true ALEXANDER POLYHIS- TOR thought the whole system allegorical; but what allegories could render it supportable? However, monstrous as it is, it appears to be only a disfigured tradition of the history of the creation, taken either from the books of MOSES, or from a tra- dition still more ancient. It seems plain, that the place where MOSES speaks of the darkness that covered the earth, then mixed with the water, et tenebre erant super facum abyssi, is the founda- tion of this whole cosmogony, in which the Chaldeans had feigned those monsters, whose history we have now read, to give a more sensible and hideous description of that state of confusion which reigned in the world immediately after the Creation. As to what regards the forming of man, it is evident that the history thereof is likewise taken from the description of MOSES, who says, that God, after he had as it were exerted himself in the production of this masterpiece, took of the earth which he tempered with water, and breathed into it a living spirit. These last words, it would seem, gave the author of the Chaldean system occasion to say, that Belus had ordered his head to be cut off; or, according to another tradition, that he himself had cut off that of Omoroca; whence BEROSUS concludes, this was the cause of man's being endued with intelligence! As for those man-monsters who had two heads, four wings, and both sexes, we may reckon the idea of them to have been likewise taken from those words of MOSES, where the historian, in the second chapter, making a recapitula- tion of what he had said in the first, subjoins, in speaking of ADAM and EVE, masculum et faminam creavit illos. By the by, it is this notion of the Chaldeans, if we may be allowed the digres- sion, that has given rise to the fable of the Androgynes, so cele- brated in PLATO'S dialogue, intitled The Banquet; a fable, which this philosopher puts into the mouth of Aristophanes, *one of the speakers. " The Gods, says he, formed man at first of a round figure, with two bodies, two faces, four legs, four feet, and both sexes." These men were of such extraordinary strength, that they resolved to make war upon the Gods. Jupiter incensed by INTRODUCTION. FHENICIAN COSMOGONY AND THEOGONY. this enterprize, was going to destroy them, as he had done the Giants, who attempted to scale Heaven; but foreseeing that he must have entirely extinguished the human race, he contented himself with parting them asunder; to the end, that, being thus divided into two parts, hencefoith they migljt neither be so strong, nor so daring. At the same time he gave orders to d/iollo to adjust these two half bodies, and to stretch over the breast and the other parts of the body, the skin, as it is at present, and which bears a mark in the navel that it has been fastened to it, and knotted as one shuts a fiurse. These two parts of one body thus disjoined, want to be reunited; and this is the origin of Love. It is easy to see, that this fiction is drawn from the history, which MOSES gives of the formation of the woman, who was taken from one of ADAM'S ribs, and was bone of his bone, and flesh of his flesh: but to return In vain does the mind of man use all its efforts to corrupt the truth; it leaves always some rays of light to lead us to find it out: for the name of Oannes or Oes, as HEL- LADIUS calls him, seems to be formed from the Syriac word Onedo, which signifies a traveller or a stranger. Thus the whole story amounts to this, that at a time, which cannot be determined, there arrived by sea, a man who taught the Chaldeans some prin- ciples of philosophy, and some knowledge of ancient traditions, and left them memoir* upon that subject which no doubt had the books of MOSES for their foundation. The Cosmogony and Th-eogony of the Phenicians. SANCHONIATHON, priest of Berytha, who is the'^authemidty reckoned to have lived before the war of Troy, of his fragment, had written upon the Cosmogony and Theogony ofthe phenic ' ans - EusEBius, who has preserved to us a long fragment of this treatise, recites a passage relative to this author, which needs not be suspected, since it is taken from PORPHYRY, the greatest enemy the Chris- tians ever had. This author reports, that SANCHONIATHON had written about the Jews, things very true; that he agreed with their own writers, and learned several circumstances, which he relates, from Jerombaal priest of Je~vo, that he had dedicated his INTRODUCTION. PHENICIAN CO-M OONY AND THEOOONY. work to dbibail king of Phenicia; and that not only this prince, but they who were commissioned to examine his books, were agreed as to the truth of this author's history: In fine, that he had taken what he advanced, partly from the registers of particular towns, and partly from the archives, which were carefully preserved in the temples. The work of this ancient author was yet extant in the first ages of Christianity, since it is about that time, that is, about the reign of the dnionines, that PHILO of Byblos, translated it into Greek, and divided it into nine books. In the preface he had annexed to them, he said, " that SANCHONIATHUN^ man of learning and great experience, being passionately desirous to know the histories of all nations, and thut from their origin, had made an exact scrutiny into the writings of THAAUTUS, from an assurance, that as he had been the inventor of letters, he must have been likewise the first historian." It was therefore from the works of this chief of the learned, THAAUTUS or the celebrated Mercury^ that the Phenician author had taken the foundation of his history. This translation appears, from what remains we have of it preserved by EUSEBIUS. to have been interpolated by PHILO, and adapted to the ideas of the Greeks in his time. What is farther unlucky, (for it is proper that we give a plain and ex- act account of this fragn.ent) besides its being interpolated by PHILO, as has been just said, KUSEBIUS too, in reciting it, instead of having copied it as it was, has intermixed with it, as one who reads it with attention will easily perceive, not only the reflec- tions of the Greek translator, but also others of his own, which very much weaken the authority of this valuable remain of Phe- nician antiquities; while it is not always easy to distinguish what is SANCHONIATHON'S from the additions of PHILO or EUSEBIUS. The fragment may be divided into three parts; and they who would see the entire translation of it, need only read the reflec- tions of M. FouiiMONTUpon ancient nations. 1st, The first contains the Cosmogony of the Phenicians; 2d, the second, die history of the primitive world before the deluge, although this author says not a word of that noted event; 3d, and the third treats of those who lived after the deluge, among whom we shall recognise many names of the Pagan Deities. 10 INTRODUCTION. FHENICIAN COSMOGONY AND THEOGONY. - 1st, According to this ancient author, "the f Vhe'worid^ 111 " ^ rst P" nc 'P^ e ^ tne universe was a dark and - "spirituous air, a Chaos full of confusion, and " without light, eternal, and of an endless dura- tion. The spirit falling in love with its own principles, entered "into close union with them; and this union was called Love. " Hence sprung Mot or Mod, that is to say, a slime, or rather " an aqueous mixture, which was the seminal principle of all the creatures, and the generation of the universe. The first " animals were void of sensation; they engendered .others " endued with intelligence, who were named Zojihazemin, that <' is, contemplators of the Heavens. Immediately after Mot, " the Sun, the Moon, the Stars, smaller and greater, began to ap- " pear and shine forth. The earth being strongly illuminated by " the intense heat communicated to the land and the sea, the " winds were produced, wiih clouds that fell down in showers of rain; and the waters, with which the earth had been over- " flowed being dissipated by the heat of the Sun, were again united in the air, where they formed lightning and thunder, " whose noise awakened the intelligent animals, and terrified " them so, that they began to stir in the earth and in the sea." This system of the Phenicians led to atheism God being left out in the formation of the universe. SANCHONIATHON even says, that the spirit, such as he conceives it to be, had no know- ledge of its own proper production. 2d, The Phenician author, after this account f the ori g in of the wodd ' enters u P on the his ' the deluge. tory of the first man and first woman, whom ........ PHILO his translator calls Protogonus and JEon; " and adds that the latter found the fruits of trees to be firofier nour- "ishment. The children of these parents of human kind, who " were Genus and Genera, dwelt in Phenicia. In time of a great "drought, they stretched forth their hands towards the SUN, " whom they looked upon as the sole God and sovereign of Hea- " ven, and gave him the name of Bcelsamen; which, in the Phe- " nician language, signifies Lord of the Heavens. Genus after- wards begat other men, who were named Phos, Pur, Phlox, INTRODUCTION. 11 PHENICIAN COSMOGONY AND THEOGONY. " that is, light) Jire, and Jlame: these are they, who by rubbing "two pieces of wood against one another, found out the use of " fire. Their sons, who were of an enormous size, gave their " names to the mountains which they possessed; hence the "names of mount Cassius, Libanus, Antilibanus, Brathys, &c. The offspring of those Giants were Memrumus and Hyjisura- nius. The latter dwelt at Tyre, and invented the art of building " cottages of reeds, and rushes, and the papyrus; and his bro- " ther, with whom he quarrelled, taught men to clothe them- " selves with the skins of beasts. Nor was this all, for an impet- " uous wind having kindled a forest hard by Tyre, he took a tree, "cut off its branches, and having launched it into the sea, made " use of it for a ship. He also paid a religious homage to two " stones he had consecrated to the tuind and Jire, and poured out " libations to them of the blood of certain animals. ' After the " death of Memrumus and Hyfisuranius, continues SANCHONIA- " THON, their children consecrated to them misshapen pieces of "wood and stone, which they adored, and instituted anniversary " festivals to their honour. Several years after this generation, " which is the sixth, came Agreus and Hulieus, inventors of fishing " and hunting, as their names import. These had offspring, two " sons, who invented the art of making instruments of iron. He of " the two whose name was Chrysor, the same with Hefihestus, or " Vulcan, gave himself to the abominable study of incantations " and sorceries; invented the hook, the bait and fishing-line, the " use of barks fit for that purpose, with sails. So many inventions " procured him after death divine honours, under the name of Zeumichius, or Jufiifer the engineer. These two ingenious bro- " thers are also thought to have invented the art of making walls " of brick. Their sons were, Tec/mites or the artist, and Geinus Autocthon, that is, home-born man of the earth; they having " found out the secret of mixing straw with brick, formed tiles "thereof, which they dried in the sun. Their two sons named Agrai the swain, and Agrotes the husbandman, devoted them- " selves to the rural life and to hunting. They were "also styled Alctx and Titans. In fine, Amijnus and Magus, the counter-wi- " zard and the conjurer, were the last of this primitive race; and S( they taught men the art of building villages, and of gathering B 12 INTRODUCTION. I-HKNICIAN COSMOGONY AND THEOGONY. " thrir flock into them.* There wits also in their time, in the "neighbourhood of Eyblos, one Elion, a name that may be ren- " dcicd in Greek, Hvjisistuv, the most high, who had to wife Be- " ruth They had a son named Efiigcus, who was afterwards call- " ed Uranus, and a daughter, who went by the name of Ge; and " it is the names of those two children the Greeks have given " to Heaven and Earth. Hyfisistus having died in a hunting-match, " was advanced to divine honours, and had libations and sacrifices " offered to him. Uranus possessed his father's throne, and hav- " ing married his sister Ge, had several children by her; Hits, who "was styled Chronus or Saturn; Betylus; Dagon; and Atlas." - - " Of those, says SANCHONIATHOV, meaning 3d, Those who u Amunus and Mavus* were born Misor and 8yd' lived after the c j t } U( ,, c " ic, the tree and the just, who round out the use . . -. " of salt. The former was father to Thaautus, " who first invented letters; this is the Thoot or Thoor of the Egyp- * Thse, according to the Phenician author, except that of Elion or Hyp- sislus, who is next, but incidentally, mentioned, were the ten first genera- tions, and were of the line of CAIN; on which we have four remarks to make. First, that this ancient author, who had a mind to favour idolatry, was willing to mention none but CAIN'S descendants, who are reckoned, not without reason, to have been the founders of idolatry. Secondly, that he makes no mention of the deluge, which, according to the fathers of the church, was sent to punish this race for their crimes, the greatest of which was the sacrilegious worship they paid to the creatures. A third re- mark is, that SANCHONIATHON counts ten generations in the lineage of CAIN, though MOSES reckons only eight, passing from the third to the sixth, or from ENOCH to IRAD. But we may suppose that MOSES, whose aim was principally to take notice of the race of SETH, or that of the just, has not in the same way followed that of CAIN, especially the fourth and fifth generations, because, perhaps, they did not deserve to be named; for it is not likely, that the eight generations of CAIN were of equal duration with the ten of SETH, of whom MOSES makes mention. The last remark is ih^the Phenician author, as well as MOSES, ascribes to these descen- dants of CAIN, the greater part of useful inventions, although the two authors are not always agreed as to the time when, nor the persons by whom, these discoveries were made; SANCHONIATHON giving to one race what MOSES gives to another, as one may be convinced by reading the first chapter of Genesis. These ten generations I have said, belonged to CAIN'S descendants, except Hypsistus in the neighbourhood of Byblos, be- caus.e the learned, after CUMBERLAND, who has given a large explication INTRODUCTION. PHENICIAK COSMOGONY AND THEOGONY, " tians, the Thogit or Thoyth of the Alexandrians, and the Her- " 77?fs of the Greeks: the sons of Sydic were the Dioscuri or Cabin, "afterwards named Corybantes or Samot/iraces. These built a ship "and improved the art of navigation; and among their children "there were some who found out the use of simples; remedies " against the bite of animals; and in fine, the art of enchantment or " the method of curing these bites by spells. Uranus, whose chil- " dren were alive in the time of those we have just been speak- " ing of, having succee led Ins father Elian, had by his sister Ge "the four sons already nan. eel; C/ironus; Betylus; Atlas; and Da- " gon or Siton, whose surname was Zeus drotrius, or Jupiter the u tiller, from his having invented the art of sowing corn; he had " also several other children by different concubines. Ge, dis- " pleased with the gallantries of her spouse, made bitter com- " plaints to him' upon that account; which obliged him to turn her off. But having an affection for her, he took her back, uncl of this fragment of the Phenician author, contend that this Hypsistus \v;is the father of NOAH, and that the reason of his being mentioned so tran- siently is, that he was an enemy to the idolaters, whose cause SANCHO- NIATHON pleads. For the reader's satisfaction, I shall set down the two tables of GAIN'S descendants, or the ten first generations according to MOSES and SANCHONIATHON. According to M o s E s. According to SANCHONIATHOX. 1 Adam, Eve. 1 Protogonus, ^Eon. 2 Cain. 2 Genus, Genea. 3 Enoch. 3 Phos, Pur, Phlox. 4 4 Cassius, Libanus. 5 5 Memrumus, Usous. 6 Irad. 6 Agreus, Halieus. 7 Methusael. 7 Chrysor or Hephestus. 8 Mehujael. 8 Technites, Geinus. 9 Lamech. 9 Agrus, Agrotes. 10 Jabal, Jubal, Tubal-Cain. 10 Amynus, Magus. - By MOSES, as we see, CAIN'S race ends with the last of the persons I have now named, because they themselves or their descendants perished in the deluge, not so much as one of them being saved. If you ask how it comes then to be continued by SANCHONIATHON, in the.fhird part of bis abstract I am going to transcribe; the answer is easy, that he has taken in NOAH'S descendants to make up his second decade: this will appear evident by the reflections afterwards to be made. 14 INTRODUCTION. PHENICIAN COSMOGONY AND THEOGONY. " had several other children by her, all of whom he sought to de- * l stroy. Chronus arriving at the age of manhood, espoused his " mother's quarrel, placed at the head of his counsel Hermes " Trismegivtus, who was his secretary, made vigorous opposition " to the designs of Uranus, expelled him from his kingdom, and " succeeded to his power; in the scuffle having taken a concubine " whom his father tenderly loved, he gave her, though big with " child, in marriage to his brother Dagon; soon after he had her " she was delivered of a male child, who was named Demaroon. " Chronus, for security, built a wall round his house, and found- " ed Byblos, the first city of Phenicia. Some time after, having "conceived a violent jealousy against his brother Atlas, by the " advice of Trismegistus, he caused him to be thrown into a pit, " where he perished. Chronus had at that time, two daughters; "Persephone or Proserpine, who died a 'virgin; and Athene or " Minerva; he had also a son named Sadid, whom he put to death. " He also cut ofT his daughter's head, and by these actions, greatly " amazed the Gods; those I mean of his party, who were deno- " minated Eloim. About that time, continues the Phenician au- " thor, the offspring of the Dioscuri, having built ships, put to " sea; and being driven ashore .near mount Casstus, there built a "temple. In the mean time, Uranus, though in exile, was still "plotting against his son Chronus, and sent him three of his " daughters, Astarte, Rhea, and Dionc, on purpose to cut him off. " But he having seized upon them, took them into the number of " his concubines, as he had done Eimarmene and Hora, who were " sent to him upon the same design. He had seven daughters by Astarte, named Titanidx or Artemida; and two sons, Pathos " and Eros, or Desire and Love. By Rhea he had seven sons, the " youngest of them (to whom the author gives no name) was ad- ded to the number of the Gods at the very moment of his birth; " that is, he was consecrated to the Gods, and to divine service; " he had likewise some daughters by Dione, who are not named. " The same Chronus or Saturn, had in Perm three sons, Chronus after the name of his father, Zeus-Belus and Apollo. Sydic or " the just, having married one of the Titanide above mentioned, " hod a son by her named Aaclejrius,* who was contemporary with * Here it is proper to remark, that Sydic, being, according to some au- INTRODUCTION. PHENICIAN COSMOGONY AND THE.OGONT. " Pontus, with JVerua, and with Ty/ihon. Pontus had two chil- dren; a son named Poseidon or JVe/ttune; and a daughter called " Sidon, who being a charming singer, was the first who corr- " posed odes. Demaroon was father to Mi licertus, otherwise ca'l- " ed Hercules. Then it was that Uranus engaged in a new war " against Pontus, whom he had deserted, and joined with Derm- roon; who fell upon Pontus and was routed by him, so that he was " obliged to make a vow to the Gods for his life. Ilus, that is " Chronus or Saturn, in the thirty-second year of his reign, hav- "ing laid an ambuscade for his father Uranus in a thicket wa- " tered by fountains and rivulets, cut his privities with the stroke "of a sabre; and in that very place was Uranus deified. There it " was he gave up the ghost, and there they shew the blood that "issued from his wound, mingled with the streams; and the "place where this happened is still to be seen. "t After some other things, the author thus goes on: " Axtarte the great, Jufiit- " er Demaroon, and Adodus the king of Gods, reigned in the " country, according to the counsels of Chronus or Saturn. As- " tarte, as a sign of her royalty, set upon her head, the head of a " bull. Traversing the earth, she found a star fallen from Heaven; "this she took and consecrated in the holy island of Tyre. As- " tarte, according to the Phenicians, is Afihrodite or Venus. Chro- " nus, in like manner, taking the touf of the earth, gave his daugh- " ter Athene the kingdom of Attica. In the mean time, pestilence " and famine having arose, Chronus offers up to his father Uranus " his son Sadie, and circumcises himself, ordering all the soldiers "of his army to do the same. Some time after, a son whom he thors, Shem, the son of JVoaA or Uranus, he must, according to SANCHO- NIATHON, have passed over into the land of Canaan, and there married a daughter of Ham, who is the Chronus of this author. Jlsclepius, his son, is the only one of Sydic's children whom the author mentions; -for he con- cerned himself only for his own country, which was Phenicia, peopled by Sam and his descendants. | Here then (and it is a reflection which EUSEBIUS has subjoined to the recital of the Phenician author) you have the history, of Chronus or Satuin,- and what is a true matter of fact in relation to a prince, whose reign the Greeks have looked upon as so happy, that of it they have made the golden age. INTRODUCTION. PHKMCIAN COSMOGONY AND THEOGONY. had by Rh>-a, called Mouth,* was ranked among the Gods. Chro- Vnus afterwards gave away two of his cities, to wit, Byblos to the "Goddess Baaltia or Dione, Beryl to Neptune, to the Cabiri, to "'.he Agroti or labourers, and to the fishers. But before this hap- pened, the God Thaautus drew the portraiture of the other "Gods of Saturn or Chronus, of Dagon, 8cc. thence to form the "sacred characters of the letters. As an emblem of sovereignty, " he gave Chronus four eyes, two before and two behind. Of "these four eyes two were shut while the other two were awake. " In like manner, upon each shoulder he placed a pair of wings, "two of which were expanded, the others remaining in a state " of rest his design being to represent by the eyes, that C/iro- "nus, when gone to rest was still awake, and while awake was at rest; and, by the wings, that though in repose, he was inces- " santly flying, while with that motion he enjoyed undisturbed "tranquillity. To the othei Gods he gave only two wings, one " upon each shoulder, to shew that they were only to be upon the " wing to accompany Chroruts. He likewise added to the figure "of Chronus two wings more upon the crown of his head; the " one to denote the superior wisdom of his government, the other " to point out the delicacy of his sensations. Chronus having gone "to the country of the South, made over to the God Thaautus the full property of the kingdom of Egypt." Such is. the fragment of SANCHONIATHON*. ^^"ft-lg! After havin S translated th>s fragment, PHILO of ment. Byblos adds, that this history was left to the pos- " terity of Sydic; and that SANCHONIATHON the son of Thabion, after he had turned it to allegory, and interspersed it with some physical ideas about the origin of the world, had de- livered over the scheme thereof to the prophets of the Orgies. The Greeks, continues the same translator, who in refinement of genius excelled all other nations, appropriated every ancient his- tory to themselves, exaggerated and embellished them, and aimed at nothing but to amuse by their narrations: hence they have turn- ed those histories into quite a new shape; and hence it is that HE- * The name given to this son by the Greeks, may be rendered Plutt. INTRODUCTION. PHEN1C1AN COSMOGONY AND THEOGOXY. SIOD and the o : her bistdrical put-ts iia-e forced hcogonie*, gigan- tomachies, titanomachies, and other pieces, by which they have in a manner stifled the truth. Our ears accustomed from our infancy to their fictions, and prepossessed with opinions that have been in vogue for several ages, retain the vain impressions of those fa- bles as a sacred depositum. And because time has insensibly rivetted those idle tales in our imaginations, they have now got such fast hold thereof, that it is extremely difficult to dislodge them. Hence it comes to pass, that even truth, when it is dis- covered to men, appears to have the air of falsehood, while fabu- lous narrations, be they ever so absurd, pass for the most authen- tic facts. As I shall have occasion in the course of this tbe fragment. by that author, 1 shall subjoin here only a few ==^=5= reflections. 1st, As to the genuineness of this piece, authors are greatly divided; some maintaining that it is really the Phenician author's, though interpolated by PHILO his translator, and intermixed with several reflections which are none of SANCHONIATHON'S, while the far greater number have always looked upon it as spurious. The celebrated CUMBERLAND, and M. FOURMONT the elder, are the two writers, who have main- tained its genuineness with most strength and learning. In the latter especially, you may see the history of the opinions of the learned upon this subject, and the arguments he brings to refute them. 2d, The author is clearer and freer from interpolations as to those ten first generations, of which we have given the ta- ble, than in relation to those that followed the deluge, where we find more confusion, and less connection, although it is easy to see he was willing to carry them as far down as to the family of ABRAHAM, and to some of his descendants. 3d, It is not to be doubted but S-ANCHOMATHOX had taken the idea of this theogony from traditions of very great antiquity, though they had been al- ready corrupted by t! e Phenicians, who had mixed fictions with them; but at the same time it is evident, that the author with a view to gain credit to idolatry, has said nothing of the genealo- gies before the deluge, except in the line of CAIN, no mention being made of that of SETH. 4th. Next to the gaining credit to idolatry, the author's main scope seems to have been, to shew INTRODUCTION. EGYPTIAN COSMOGONY AND THEOGONY. who were the inventors of arts; wherein he sometimes agrees with MOSES, and at the same time, gives the history of apotheo- ses; never failing to point out those, who for useful inventions, had been ranked among the Gods, and honoured with a public worship; whence it follows, that having given to the supreme being little or no share in the formation of the world, his cosmog- ony is a scheme of atheism. 5th, EUSKBIUS, to whom we are in- debted for this fragment, maintained that the Phenician cosmog- ony was a direct introduction to d theism; and in this he is followed by the famous CUMBERLAND V who justly considered this system concerning the origin of the world, as solely designed to apolo- gize for the idolatrous worship paid to different parts of the uni- verse, and to mere mortals THAAUTUS having involved SAN- CHONIATHON, his copyer, in the grossest of all Pagan darkness, which is to leave out the supreme being in the formation and government of the world, and having attempted to introduce the religion of the Egyptians and Phenicians, who honored the crea- ture instead of the Creator. Yet, a celebrated modern contends, that by giving a favourable interpretation to SANCHONIATHON'S words, it will appear evident the Phenicians supposed two princi- ples, the one a Chaos, darksome and obscure; the other a wind, or rather an intelligence endued with goodness, which arranged the world into its present order; and that the Phenician author, by saying this intelligence knew not his own production, means only that it was eternal, and had never been produced. But this Phenician cosmogony being taken from the books of THAAUTUS, it is proper to suspend our judgment, till we have given the Egyptian cosmogony and theogony, which are to be the subject of the following section. 3d, The Cosmogony and Theogony of the Egyptians. = The apologists for Christianity were obliged Cosmogony and tO , search into the earliest antiquity for the ori- Thcog-ony the gin of other religions, and none has laboured most ancient; herein more success fully than EysEiuusof Ce- """, sarea. What precious remains has he pre- served, which must have been destroyed by the injuries of time* INTRODUCTION. 19 EGYPTIAN COSMOGONY AND THEOGONY. had not he been at the pains to collect them into his work! Be- sides the celebrated fragment we have spoken of in the last sec- tion, we owe to him a great many other pieces upon the ancient religion of the Egyptians, Greeks, and several other nations. It is in his works we can trace by what steps idolatry came to its growth and how various and fluctuating the opinions of philoso- phers have been about physical principles, and about the origin of the world in particular. The fragment we have just now tran- scribed, has properly a regard to none but the Phenicians; but what were the Gods of Phenicia but the Gods of Egypt? And whence ha^. Greece hers according to HEUODOTUS, PLATO, PLU- TARCH, and so many others, but from Egypt and Phenicia? SAN- CHONIATHON appears to have copied THOT, or THAATUS: now THOT was an Egyptian, and the most learned man of his time. We must therefore expect to find the ideas of the Egyptians as to the origin of the world, and of the Gods, to be pretty near the same with those of the Phenicians we have just been speaking of, and withal, to be the most ancient of any wherewith tradition advises us. DIODORUS SICULUS, in the passage I am now going to quote, has explained ihem, without naming however the Egyp- tians in particular; and EUSEBIUS seems to have copied him, though the chapter where he treats of that subject be intkled,. " The Cosmogony of the Greeks" But we know that these had it from the Egyptians. . In the beginning," says DIODORUS, " the explained by Di- HEAVENS and the EARTH had but one form, " their natures being blended together; but being = ^^^ ==== ^ = afterwards separated, the WORLD assumed that " orderly disposition which we now see. By the agitation of the " az'r, the fiery particles mounted upwards, and gave the Sun the Moon and the Slars their form, lustre and circular motion. The " solid matter sunk downward and formed the earth and sca> " whence sprung the Jlshcs and animals much after the manner " as we still see in Egypt, swarms of insects and other animals " spring from the earth that has been overflowed wit^h the waters of the Nile." " Chronus" continues DIODORUS, " having mar- ried Rhea, became according to some, the father of Isis and " Osiris, and according to others, of Jujiiter and Juno. From Ju- C 20 INTRODUCTION. KGYPT1AN COSMOGONY A\D THEOGONY. " fitter ^ according to the latter, sprung five other gods, Osiris, Isis, " Tiifihon* sl/wllo, and Afihrodite or Venus. Odris, added they, was "the same with Bacchus; and /'* -the same with Ceres. Anubis and Micedo sprung from Apollo, who accompanied Osiris in his " conquests. Osiris, setting out on his expeditions, left in his room Busiris his brother; upon his return from the Indies, Tyfihon as- ' s is.-im-.ted him, and they deified him upon .account of his heroic " ck-eds, and the oxen Apis and Mnrvis, that had been consecrated "to him, were themselves worshipped as Divinities. But, as in " apotheoses they frequently changed the names of the persons " deified, Osiris was called Serafiis-Dionysius, Pluto, Jupiter, Pan, " &c., and Isis his wife who was also ranked among the Goddess- " es, was worshipped under the names of Tesmojihoros, of Selene "or the Moon, of Hera or Juno, &c.; Orus, son of Isis, and the " last of the Gods, having escaped the ambuscades of the Titans, " reigned over Egypt, and after his death was numbered with the " gods ..ncl it is he whom the Greeks named Afiollo." Indeed, according to SOCRATES, whose testimony is quoted by EUSEBIUS, the Egyptians struck with the view of the sun and the other lumi- nance, imagined them to be the sovereigns of the world, and the primary deities who governed the same. Accordingly the sun they si yled Osiris, and the moon they called his. Osiris, said they, signifies, /K// of eyes, or extremely quick-sighted: Isis is the same as, the ancient, or the aged, and this name was appropriated to the moon, on accoui t of her eternal birth But they did not stop here: when one has set out in the dark, he loses himself in propor- tion as he advances. DK.DORUS SICULUS who had carefully col- lected the Egyptian traditions, tells us, their great Gods were the Sun; Safurn; R/iea; Jupiter; Juno; Vulcan; Vesta; and Mercury^ whom they reputed the last; but were not agreed whether the Sun or Vulcan had reignedj5r?. Here, to mention it by the by, are the eight great Gods of the Egyptians, of whom HERODOTUS spe iks several times, though he does not name them. ' Such, according to DIODORUS SICULUS; was the COSM Sony and theogony of the Egyptians; and it is easy to see that it had been corrupted by the Greeks, and adapted to their manner. EUSEBIUS has well observed, that their cosmogony, as well as that of the PheniJans which was derived from the same origi- INTRODUCTION. 21 EGYPTIAN COSMOGONY AN'D THEOGONY. nal, excludes the creator from having any hand in the formation of the universe. In confirmation of his judgment, he cites a pus- sage of PORPHYRY, who, in his epistle to ANEBO the Egyptian priest, writes that CH.SREMON and others believed there was no- thing prior to this visible world; that the filanets and sta.ru were the true gods of the Egyptians, and that the Sun was to be reck- oned the artificer of the universe: and it is proper to remark, that this is the amount of that abstract of the Egyptian theology, given by DIOGENES LAERTIUS, who had himself taken it from MANETHO and from HECATJEUS, who before him had said, lint matter was theirs? firinci/ilc, and the xun and moon the first Di- vinities of that ancient people, adored by them under the names of Osiris and Isis. It is worth remarking, however, that a modern of great abilities, Dr. CUDWGRTH, has done more jus- tice to the Egyptians, proving from EU^EBIUS himself, that they believed that an intelligent being, whom they named Cnefih, pre- sided over the formation of the world. They represented this be- ing, according to PORPHYRY, under the figure of a man holding a. girdle and a sce/ilre, with magnificent plumes upon his head, and out of his mouth proceeded an egg, from which, in its turn* proceed another god whom they named Phta, and the Greeks Vulcan. They themselves gave the explication of this mysteri- ous fable. The plumes that overshadowed his head, denoted the hidden invisible nature of that intelligence, the power he had of communicating life, his universal sovereignty, and the spirituality of his operations. The egg which proceeds out of his mouth, sig- nified the world which is his workmanship These same people sometimes represented the Divinity under the emblem of a ser- pent, with the head of a hawk, which by opening its eyes fills the world with light, and by shutting them covers it with darkness. The opinion of this modern author may be confirmed by the testimony of JAMBLICUS, who in the time of EUSEBIUS had ap- plied himself much to the study of the ancient Egyptian theolo- gy, and he endeavours to make good what CH.&REMON hud ad- vanced, that they did not generally believe that an inanimate na- ture was the original of all things; but that in the world, as well as in ourselves, they acknowledged a soul superior to nature, und an Intelligence who created the world, supeiior to the soul. What we may conclude with most certainty concerning their the- 22 INTRODUCTION. THEOGONY OF THE ATLANTID X. ogony, is, that this ancient people adored two sorts of Deities, viz. the Stars, especially the Sun and Moon of the one part; and illustri- ous men, of the other part, to whom, for their good services, they paid a religious worship. But be this theology drawn from the books of THAUT or THOT, or from some tradition preserved by the Egyptian priests, still we are sure the Greeks formed their system upon it, as we shall see in order. 4th, The Theogony of the Atlantide. DIODORUS SICULUS is the only one of the an- The Atlantic!* cients, by whom the T/ieogony of the people in claim the birth- place of the gods. tlie western parts of Africa, called the Atlanti- i i dae, has been preserved to us. As these people, says he, relate some things concerning the origin and birth of the gods, which have a considerable affinity with what the Greeks them- selves say of them, it is not improper to repeat them. They val- ued themselves, continues our historian, upon their being pos- sessed of a country that had been the birth-place of the Gods, and cited for a proof of it, that part of HOMER where he makes Juno say, she was going to the extremities of the earth, to visit Oceanus and Tethijs, the father and mother of the Gods. Uranus, or Ccelus, according to them, was their TitJa^deified ^ rst king: ne taught his subjects, who had hith- their progeny the erto wandered without any fixed residence, to live in society, to cultivate the ground, and to enjoy the blessings it afforded them. Uranus, applying himself to astronomy, regulated the year by the course of the sun, and the months by that of the moon; and by calcula- ting the motions of the stars he formed predictions, whose ac- complishment astonished the Atlantidac so much, that they be- lieved their prince had somewhat divine about him, and after his decease they enrolled him among the Gods. Uranus had by seve- ral wives, forty- five children; Tittea alone had brought him eigh- teen. These last though each had a name of his own, went by the general designation of Titan*, from that of their mother. This princess, after her death, received likewise divine honours, INTRODUCTION. THEOGONY OF THE ATLANTIDJE. and the earth was called after her name } as Heaven had been after that of her husband. 1 : Among the daughters of Uranus and Titaa, Rhxa, Hyperi- ^he two eldest distinguished themselves by their on, and their pro- . . . *" ~ . peny persecuted merit and virtue. I he nrst who was called queen by the Titans by way of eminence, and who is thought to have been the same with Rhea or Pandora, took great care of th'e education of her brothers and sisters; and this, DIODORUS remarks to have been the reason of calling her the Great Mother. This princess, who had always professed great chastity, being desirous at last to leave heirs to her father, married Hyperion her brother, and by him had two children Helion and Selene, who distinguished themselves as much by their pru- dence and wisdom, as they were remarkable for their beauty. Their uncles, jealous to see in Helton a prince so perfect, and in Selene all the beauty of her sex united to' the most consummate wisdom, and fearing that the empire might devolve upon them, assassinated Hyperion, and flung Helion into the river Po: Selene, who bore the most tender affection to her brother, threw herself down from the top of the palace. The queen seeking her son along the banks of the river, fell asleep through fatigue and an- guish; and saw in a dream Helion, who foretold her that the Titans were to be punished for their cruelty, and she and her children advanced to divine honors; that the celestial fire by which we are enlightened, should henceforth bear the name of Helion, and the planet formerly called Mene, should take the name of Selene. Rhea awaking, related her vision; ordered divine honours to be paid to her children, commanded that none should ever touch her body, and on a sudden, seized with an outrageous madness, ran all over the fields with her hair dishevelled, and holding cymbals in her hands, whose noise mingled with her howlings, spread ter- ror wherever she passed. Her subjects seeing their queen in such a deplorable condition, were going to stop her; but no sooner had a presumptuous hand touched her, than Heaven gave a signal in her behalf it appeared all inflamed a violent rain uoured down in torrents, accompanied by violent peals of thunder, when the queen -was suddenly snatched out of sight! After this event the Atlantidae conferred divine honours upon their queen, whom they INTRODUCTION. THEOGONY OP THE ATLANTID.E. named the great mother of the Gods, and woi shipped the two great luminaries under the names of .Helton and Selene. In the mean time the Titan princes, especially Saturn and Atlas ^ after the death of their father among the Titans Uranus, made a division of his empire. The -their progeny. western parts of Africa fe j, to the lastj who gave his name to that celebrated mountain that has since been denominated mount-Atlas: and this prince having en- tirely devotqd himself to astronomy and to the study of the sphere, gave rise to the fiction that this mountain bore up the. Heavens. Hesjierus was he of his sons who distinguished himself most by his piety and other virtues; but one day as he had ascended mount- Atlas to study the Heavens, he was snatched away in a cloud, and to him they assigned a place in the Star that bears his name, and paid him the same honours that are given to the other Gods. To Atlan were born seven daughters, named the Atlantida, viz. Mala, Electro.^ Taygete, Asterope, Merope, Halcyone, and Celirno. They were all married either to heroes or Gods; and as several nations valued themselves for having derived their original from them, hence they came to be placed after their death in the Heavens, where they form the constellation called Pleiades. The Atlantidae were far. from making the same encomiums on Saturn, who shared the empire with his brother Atlas: for he was cruel and extremely avaricious. This prince married his sister Rhea, had by her, Jufiiter^vfho was surnamed Olymfiius. It is true that they acknowledged another Jupiter, brother to Uranus, and king of Crete, but far less celebrated than his nephew, who after he had made a conquest of the world, and conferred many blessings upon mankind, became the greatest of all the Gods. Such, according to DIODORUS SICULUS, is the th? Ibov^Theo " The S Qn y of the Atlantidae,which bears a consider- ony. able resemblance to that of the Greeks; though it ====== is not certain whether they had it from these peo- ple of Africa, or whether these learned it from the Greeks. I shall make only a remark or two upon this piece of history, because I shall explain it in the history of the Gods of Greece. 1st, I must ob- serve what is very surprising, that DIODORUS makes no mention of Neptune, the knowledge and worship of whom, according to HERODOTUS, came into Greece from Libya, where he was known INTRODUCTION. 25 GREKK COSMOGONY AND THEOGONY. and worshipped from time immemorial. 3d, Tht he says as little about Tritonian Minerva, v, hom.the ancients believed to have been born upon the banks of Lake Triton in ATuca, and who must likewise have been known to the Atlantidae. 5th, The Cosmogony and Theogony of the Greeks. . , Greece never had but a very confused idea of Errors of the the history of her own religion. Devoting herself sources "f ^heir implicitly to her ancient poets, in this so impor- Theogony. tant an article, she looked upon them as her first ======== ^ == divines; while these poets, as STRABO judiciously remarks, whether from ignorance of antiquity, or from flattery to the Greek princes, had, in complaisance to them, contrived all the genealogies of their Gods so as to make it be believed that they were descended from them. Thus whenever we meet with any hero in their works, we need not trace far back till we find at the head of his genealogy, a Hercules, a Jufiitcr, or some other God. That foolish humour of laying claim to great antiquity, betrays iiself in almost every people; but never were any so intoxicated with it as the Greeks. Thus it is surprising to see them, who could not but know that they had received several colonies from Egypt and Phenicia, and by them their Gods and the ceremonies of their religion, still pretending that these same Gods were originally from Greece; for this is the amount of the whole system of their poets. Two or three words of HERODOTUS, who says, that the Gods of the Greeks came from Egypt, are preferable to all that the poets have delivered upon this subject. Be that as it will, we shall take a view of their Theogony, in which ORPHEUS and HE- SIOD shall be our vo'uchers; for it is plain, the other poets who came after, have done no more than copied them. It is true, none of OUPHEUS'S works are now extant; but his testimony may be gathered 1st, from the Pythagorean fi/iiloxofihers, who renewed this doctrine; 2d, from a manuscript of Dam.ascius* cited by CUM- BERLAND, and by CUDWORTH; 3d, from an abstract of Or/iheus's Cosmogony, done by TIMOTHEUS, a writer on chronology. These are the sources whence we shall borrow the system of this ancient poet. 26 INTRODUCTION. GREEK COSMOGONY AND THEOGONY. Very different accounts are given of the Cos- m S n y and "Thefgany of ORPHKUS. As it was he ORPHEUS. " who first introduced among the Greeks, the reli- ====== gious rites of paganism, some have accused him of having invented the names of the Gods, and forged their gene- alogies; adding, that in this he has been imitated by HOMER and HESIOD. *DAMASCIUS, in that same manuscript I just mentioned, says, he represented one of the principles of the world, under the figure of a dragon, with one head of a bull, and another of a lion, with the face of a god between them, and on his shoulders wings of gold. However, notwithstanding this extravagant assertion, he was looked upon to be a profound philosopher, and a man endued \vith inspiration; and by the help of allegory, they found out, in this same whimsical device, the sublimest of mysteries. Though it appears from what the ancients have quoted of this poet, that he is to be considered as the apostle of polytheism; yet several learned men are persuaded of his having acknowledged one God, supreme and uncreated, the author of the universe; and they found their opinion, not only upon that high esteem he held in the sects of philosophers who set most up for religion, namely, the Pythago- reans or Platonists; but also because it was probably from his writ- ings that these two sects derived their ideas in philosophy and divinity. This opinion, advantageous for ORPHEUS, has a better foundation, if credit be given to the abstract of TIMOTHEUS; for we learn from him, that this ancient poet, in describing the gene- ration of the Gods, the creation of the world, and the formation of man, had advanced nothing near ^so extravagant as what some authors have laid to his charge. According to that abridgment, ORPHEUS'S Theogony amounts nearly to this: In the beginning God formed the JEther, or the Gods, and on every side of the Mther there was a Chaos, and night covered all that was under the JEther (meaning thereby that night was prior to the creation); that the earth was invisible by reason of the obscurity that covered it; but that the light darting through the Mther, enlightened the whole world. This is that light he calls the eldest of all beings, to \vhich an oracle had given the names of counsel, light, fountain of life. TIMOTHEUS adds, that according to the doctrine of ORPHEUS, it was by the power of this being, all. the other immaterial beings, as also the Sun, the Moon, 8cc., were created. That mankind were INTRODUCTION. 27 GREEK COSMOGONY AND THEOGONY, formed from the earth by the same divinity, and received from, thence a reasonable soul. But what is more particularly observa- ble as to the doctrine of this ancient poet, is, that he was the first who taught the Greeks the doctrine of the firimiti-ve egg, whence all other beings proceeded; an opinion very ancient, which without doubt he had learned from the Egyptians, who, as well as several other nations, represented the world under this emblem. The Phe- nicians gave their Sofihasemim the form of an egg, and made use of this representation in their orgies. The same symbol was em- ployed by the Chaldeans, the Persians, the Indians, and even the Chinese; and it is not improbable that this was the primary opinion of all those who undertook to explain the formation of the world. In fine, TIMOTHEUS asserts, that ORPHEUS had published another piece, wherein he taught, that all things had been produced by one sole God, who had three names, and this God was himself all things. But whatever be in that, for it is a very easy Remarks on the . . above, matter to palm opinions upon an author ol such antiquity, and whose writings possibly were lost long before TIMOTHEUS wrote in his behalf; one thing is certain that the primitive fathers of the church preferred the Theology of ORPHEUS to that of any other Pagan; whence it should seem, if that ancient poet introduced polytheism, he did it rather in com- pliance with the gross conceptions of those he had a mind to civilize, than that he was convinced of the thing. The Orp/ucs, that is, the mysteries established by ORPHEUS, at least if they be taken according to the system of PROCLUS the Platonic philoso- pher, form likewise another kind of Theogony. According to these philosophers, ORPHEUS believed the government of the world had not always belonged to the same God, but that six of them had successively contended for it, and wrested it out of one another's hands. Phanes had been invested with it in his turn; and this Phanes was no other than the Egyptian Bacchus, that is to say, Osiris* Now we come to the Theogony of JHESIOD, of The Theogony w hi c h the following is an abstract. In the begin- ef HESIOD 1st, . ... The line of Chaos, ning was the CHAOS; after this, Terra or the Earth; then Love, the fairest of the immortal Gods. D 28 INTRODUCTION. GREEK COSMOGONY AND THEOGONY. CHAOS engendered Erebus and Nox; from whose mixture was born JEther, and the Day. TERRA formed afterwards Ccelus or Heaven; and lhe Stars > the mansion of the immortal Gods. She likewise formed the mountains; and by her marriage with Cadus, she brought forth Oceanus the Ocean; and by him Ca?us, Creius, Hyperion, Japetus, Then, Rhea, Themis, Mnemrjsyne, Phoebe, Tethys and Saturn. She engendered likewise the Cyclops Brontes, Steropes, and Arges, who forged the thun- der that Juf liter was armed with. These Cyclops resembled the other Gods in every thing, except that they had but one eye in the middle of their forehead. Ccelus and TERRA had other children* as the proud Titans, Coitus, Briareus, and Gyges who had an hundred hands, and fifty heads. In the mean time Ccelus kept his sons so close shut up, that they were not allowed to see the day; which was so very afflicting to their mother TERRA, that having forged a scythe, Saturn seized it, and laying in ambuscade, sur- prised Ccelus as he was coming to lie with TERRA, and cut off his pi hides. Of the blood that came from the wound, were formed the giants, furies and nymphs; and these same parts being thrown into the sea, and mixing with the foam, gave birth to the beau- tiful Venus who took up her residence at Cythera. They named her Aphrodite, because she was born of the sea foam; Cyprina, because it was near the isle of Cyprus she had her birth; and Cythera, because she came first into the island of that name. Love and Cupid were her inseparable companions, and this God- dess became the darling of Gods and men. In the mean time, Ccelus was continually at odds with the Titans his sons, and threatening to punish them. Farther, Nox of herself alone, without the in- jVox' lhC lmeof tervention of any other God, brought forth the - hateful Destiny, and the black Parca; More, Soumus, and Dreams of all sorts; then Momus, jErumna or Anxi- ety, accompanied with pain and discontent; the Hesperides, who have the keeping of the golden apples, and of the trees that bear them on the other side of the ocean; the three Parcse, or destinies, as Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos, the unrelenting Goddesses who spin out our days, and are always ready to avenge the crimes of Gods and men; Nemesis, the eternal bane of human kind; Fraud, INTRODUCTION. 29 GREEK COSMOGONY AND THEOGONY. Old Age, and Discord who brought into the world painful travail, oblivion, pestilence, and doleful sorrows, bloody battles, slaughters, massacres, and all the scenes of human destruction, quarrels, dissentions, false and treacherous speeches, contempt of lavts, knavery, and the oath that often brings the greatest ruin upon the perjured. ^ PONTUS, from his commerce with Terra, had p m tus the just JVereus, Tliaumas, Phorcys, the beauti- " ful Ceto, and Eurybia. From .\~ereus and Doris the daughter of Oceanus, came the Nereids, to the number of fifty. Thaumas wedded Electra daughter of Oceanus, who was mother of Iris, and of the Harpies slello, and Ocypete. Phorcys by Ceto had Pephrcdo and Enyo, who got the name of Graiae, because they had gray hairs from their birth; he had likewise by the" same marriage, the three Gorgons, Stheno, Euryale, and Medusa from whose blood, when Perseus had cut off her head, sprung the horse Pegasus, and Chrysaor who having married Callirhoe, daughter of Oceanus, had by her, Geryon with his three heads. The same Callirhoe brought forth a monster that neither resembled Gods nor men, Echidna, the one half of whose body was that of a lovely -nymph, the other half a serpent, ugly and terrible. Though the God kept her imprisoned in a den in Syria, yet by Typhon, she conceived Oreus, Cerberus, the Hydra of Lerna,the Chimara whom JRellerophon slew, the S/ihinoc who occasioned so many disasters to Thebes, the Lion of Nemea, put to death by Hercules. Phorcys had also by Ceto, the Dragon that kept the garden of the Hesfierides. TETHYS had by Oceunus, all the rivers, the Nile, jLffag ' Alpheus, Sec. and a great many nymphs who in- ===== habit the fountains and floods. Here the poet enumerates several of these nymphs, and says, there were three thousand of them, answering to the same number of rivers, all the offspring of Oceanus and TETHYS. We reckon as the descendants of THE A by her 6th, The line of Brother Hyperion, the Sun, the Moon, and the fair Aurora. CREIUS by his marriage with Eurybea, had -dstreus, Perses, and Pallas. A,tr fUS , having matched with Aurora, begat the Winds, Lucifer that beautiful morning star, and the other Stars that adorn the 30 INTRODUCTION. GREEK COSMOGONY AND THEOGONY. Heavens. From the conjunction of Pallas with Styx, the daughter of Oceanus and Tethys, were born Zelun, the fair Nice, Force and Violence, the inseparable companions of Jupiter; for when this God wanted to be avenged of the Titans, and called all the Gods to his assistance, Styx was the first that arrived at Olympus with her sons; which pleased Jupiter so much, that he conferred high honours upon this Goddess, loaded her with presents, ordered her name to be used in the inviolable oath of the Gods, and kept her children with him. = PHOEBE had by Caeusthe charming Latona, and Ph^lg wisteria. Some time afterwards dsteria was mar- ~ ried to Perscs, and became the mother of the renowned Hecate) whom Jupiter honoured above any other Goddess, giving her an absolute power over earth, sea, and heaven, insomuch that there is never a sacrifice or prayer offered to the Gods without invoking her. She presides over war, over the councils of kings, and bestows victory in battles. ~9tli The line of ^ HEA having united with Saturn, had by him Jihea. illustrious children; as Vesta, Ceres, Juno, Pluto, =i==== Neptune, and Jupiter the father of Gods and ii: en: but Saturn, learning from an oracle delivered by Calus and 7'ufierfaciemabyssi;r>\: rather from the traditions dispersed through the country where this Phenician author had lived, and that were of greater antiquity than the writings of the sacred Jewish legislator. I am far from LNTRODUCTION. GREEK COSMOGONY AND THEOGONY. being able to find, with some learned men, a great conformity be- tween this tradition of the creation of the world, and what SAN- CHONIATHON, HESIOD, and OVID have written about it; but I am not so far prepossessed, as not to believe they have formed the idea of their Chaos upon it. As to the rest, nothing can be more different. They are lively geniuses, who, from a single hint, gave full scope to their imagination, which no sooner abandoned the guidance of reason, than it lost itself in the unbounded region of fictions. A short comparison of the beginning of Gene- sis with HESIOD'S cosmogony will shew the reader wherein they either correspond or differ. I say nothing of the creation of the world from nothing^ as it is what neither HESIOD nor any profane author knew any thing of. HESIOD 8t MO- SES' Co smog my compared. MOSES begins thus The Earth was void, and dark- ness was spread over the abysi. And the Spirit moved upon the waters; ct sfiiritus fertbuii.r sujier aquas. MOSES tells us next, that God said,./a Lux^etLuxfacta est let there be Light, and there was Light: words which a pro- fane author, Longinus, thinks so sublime. The Jewish legislator goes on to tell us, that God made the firmament et fecit Deum Fir- mentum; and that he divided the waters that were above the fir- mament, from those that were -under it. To which he subjoins, and HESIOD thus The Chaos was before all things; then the spacious Earth; next the Mansion of immortal beings; and then Tartarus far remote from thence. HE^ID next speaks of Lo-ve, the most beauteous and amiable of the immortals, who expels and drives away cares from the hearts of Gods and men. HESIOD likewise says, that from the Mgfit sprung the JEthcr and the Day. The author of the Greek the- ogony corresponds with the learned Jew here likewise pret- ty much: the Earth says he, at fiist brought forth Heaven with the Stars, and by her union with Heaven she had the Ocean. INTRODUCTION. 39 GREl'K COSMOGONY AND THEOGONY. thut God commanded the watei s that were under the Heaven to be gathered together into one place; and that he called this collection of waters the Sea, and that part of the earth which by this means became dry was call- But in what follows, the profane .uthor loses himself; and let one be ever so prepossessed in his favour, yet I think it would be impossible to trace any far- ther resemblance between him and MOSES. ed the dry-Land. OVID displays the formation of the world in between anotner nianner, and his description bears no si- tbat of OVID and militude to that of HESIOD, as has been observed. MOSES. But there is one thing worth remarking-, namely, that he considers Man as the last production of the author of nature; in which he comes nearer to MOSES than any other Pagan author. Another great stroke of resemblance is where he says, man was formed of c lay mixed with water; but who that Prometheus was, whom he makes the author of so fine a work, is not easy to conjecture. The poet who thus far ascribes the dis- position of the universe either to God or nature, when he comes to the formation of man, makes a Prometheus appear, of whom he had not said one woid before. HESIOD indeed mentions Prome- theus,bul he does not honour him as OVID has done, with the form- ing of man. Besides, the breath of life, with which the poets say Miner-va animated Prometheus's work, is plainly copied from the words of MOSES, who says, that God having formed man of the clay, breathed into him the breath of life; insfiiravit infuciem ejus sfiiraculum ~uit<. -' Upon all we have now seen, we might well onies^nd Theof- excit; in', what a monstrous and heterogeneous onies are butdis- composition of history and fables, where we see ever y moment Posies of a gross nature blended \\ith distorted traditions! natural generations mixed with metaphorical ones ! names plainly allegorical along with those that are real ! the whole collected by HESIOD, in a kind of poem, that has neither art, invention, nor any charm, unless it be a few splendid epithets with which he has set it off. I judged it necessary however to give an account of this in particular as being the foundation of the Greek fables, which I explain in the second volume of this work. In a word, the Greeks considered 40 INTRODUCTION. GREEK COSMOGONY AND THEOGONY. all those as Gods, who had lived from the beginning of the world, till the supposed division of the universe between Jupiter, JVcfi- tune, and Pluto; that is, if we would reconcile fables with history, till the time of Peleg and JVimrod. They had but a very confused knowledge of the first times, which has happened to them in com- mon with all the nations that preserved ancient annals, such as the Egyptians, the Chinese, Sec. It is easy to see, that they have only disguised the true ancient tradition which MOSES alone has preserved, and that they have thereby fallen into the most mon- strous errors, of which the following is a very authentic example 5 in addition to what we have already said. . We find in the text of the Sefituagint, that the Additional ex- Giants came from Angds embracing the dauglr amples in proof of the same. ters of men: this opinion has also been followed by the most ancient interpreters of scripture; as also by PHILO, JOSEPHUS, S. JUSTIN, ATHENAGORAS, CLEMENS ALEXANDRINUS, Sec. It has been adopted by several learned Rab- bins, and is still generally received by all the Mahometans. Was not this a sufficient handle for those who were acquainted with this tra- dition, to say the Gods had been enamoured of mortal women, and had children by them? The Angels in scripture are styled sons of God, so that it is probable, the Gods of Greece were formed upon the idea of the Angels^ good and bad: thence proceeded the Egre- gores of the Hebrews, the Annedots of the Chaldeans, in short, the Gehnes, the Genii, the JEons, the Archontes, the Titans, the Giants, and all the Gods or demi-Gods of Paganism. The Book of Enoch too no doubt, contributed a great deal to the adopting of the opinion that Angels had been familiar with the daughters of men. This work, withal, is very ancient, since it was known to the apostles, by whom it is cited; but it is certainly spurious. DODWEL and father PEZRON were in the wrong to call its antiquity in question, merely because the Greeks were strangers to it, as if they had been ac- quainted with all the ancient books before they had them trans- lated in their own language. It will not be amiss that we give some short account of this book, and then lay open the origin of the fable it contains, which PHILASTRIUS ranks in the number of the He- resies. When men multiplied, says the author, they had daughters of an exquisite beauty, so amiable that the Egregores, or the guar- dian Angels, conceived a violent passion for them. They came INTRODUCTION. 41 GREEK COSMOGONY AND THEOGONY. down from Heaven, alighted upon mount Herman, joined in league together, and bound themselves by oath to stand to one another. After this, having embraced these virgins, they conceived the Giants; and from the AfofiAelim, sons of the Giants, came the Eliud. The author names twenty of these leading Angels, who taught men several arts, especially the pernicious art of magic, and the use of arms. To which he adds, that God seeing what horrid enormities the Giants and their sons committed, sent down to the earth Mi- chael, Gabriel, Raphael and Uriel. Michael, the archangel, seized Semixas the head of these rebel Angels, bound him with his asso-. ciates, and condemned them to the lowest parts of the earth, where they are reserved to the day of their judgment. After this he sowed dissentions among their children, who extirpated one another. ' This Fable of the Book of Enoch, is founded Reflections upon the latter mere ty u P on a phrase in scnjiture not well under- example. stood, and of course upon an ambiguity: the first "~"~~~"~"~~~ interpreters, finding in Tod, the epithet son of God ascribed to the Angels, applied it likewise to the Angels in the pas- sage in Genesis, where it is only the sons of Seth are meant, who are designated sons of God in contradistinction to the sons of Cain. They being smitten with the beauty of the daugh- ters of Cain's race, matched with them, and had sons by them, who became terrible more for the enormity of their crimes than of their stature; for the word Nefihelim, applied to them in Genesis, signifies equally Giants, or persons dissolute and immoral in thdr lives. But passing that, I shall only borrow a reflection from M. FOUBMONT, who may be consulted on this article, wherein he takes the names of twenty apostate Angels from the fictitious Book of Enoch, and explains them with erudition. The reflection is, that the author of this book introduces five sorts of personages, viz. 1st, Men, of the seed of Adam; 2d, The Egregores, or Angels of Heaven; 3d, The Giants, sprung from the Egregores; 4th, The Wejihelim, sons of the Giants; 5th, The Eliud, sons of the Nephe- Jini: in which this author seems to correspond with HESIOD, in whose theogony we find these Jive classes, with little variation. From what we have seen in this section, it ap- Companson of the Greeks and pears hot only that the Greeks hud several Theog- SSng^uS om> *' but that the y had di s ested into a s >' stem fables. the Theology they derived from the eastern nati- ons. With the Romans, the case was quite other- 42 INTRODUCTION. INDIAN COSMOGONY AND THEOGONY. wise: content with the religion of the Greeks, and other nations whom they conquered, they borrowed their Divinities, worship, ceremonies, sacrifices, priests, festivals; in a word, the whole afi/iaralus which idolatry drew after it, without once having a thought of reducing so fantastical a religion in'.o a system; and the most idolatrous city in the world was the least concerned about the history of its Gods. CICERO indeed, in histieatise of the nature of the Gods, gives some of their genealogies; but since, for tlu; most part, his notions are borrowed from the writings of the Greeks, and he only reasons upon the subject like an Academic, this piece of his is not to be looked upon as a System of Theology. 5 The Theogony and Cosmogony of the Indians. I am now to give the Theogony of those Indian of the Brahmin P r i ests we ct 'U Brahmins, or Brachmans;* who priests. make the first and most respectable class among the Indians, and are solely set apart for the wor- ship of their Gods, and the ceremonies of religion. The Brachmans got this name from Brahma, who, according to the Indian doctrine, is the first of the three beings whom God created, and by whose means he afterwards formed the world this name moreover sig- nifying, in the Indian language, he ivho fienetrutes into all things. This Brahma, say the Brachmans, composed and left to the Indi- ans the four books which they call Beth or Bed, in which all the sciences and all the ceremonies of religion are comprised; and that is the reason why the Indians represent this God with four heads. Father HIRCHEU, who has given a print of the God Brahma, has enlarged a good deal upon the mythology of the Indians, in relation to him. The Gods of the Brachmans, says the learned Je- suit, are Brahma, Vesne or Vichnou, and Butzen; and they are the * These are the same with those whom the Greeks called Gymnosophists. Pythagoras studied their doctrine and manners.. They were the Babylonian and Assyrian philosophers, who went naked in the woods, abstaining from all the pleasures of human life. INTRODUCTION. 43 INDIAN COSMOGONY AND THEOOONY. chiefs of all the other Gods, whose number amounts to thirty-three millions, According to the same author, these Indian of theBrahm I in P riests sa y> that all mankind are sprung from priests. Brahma, and that this God has produced as many " " worlds as there are parts in his body. Theirs; of these- worlds, which is above the heavens, sprung from his brain; the second, from his eyes; the third, from his mouth; the fourth, from the left ear; the fifth, from the palate and from the tongue; the sixth, from the heart; the seventh, from the belly; the eighth, from the genitals; the ninth * from the left thigh; the tenth, from the knees; the eleventh, from the hed; the twelfth, from the toes of the right foot; the thirteenth, from the sole of the left foot; and lastly, {he fourteenth, from the air which encompassed him at the time of these productions. If the Brachmans be asked the rea- sons of a theology so ridiculous, they answer, that the different qualities of men gave rise to it. The wise and learned are meant by the world sprung from Brahma's brain; \he gluttons came from his belly; and so of the rest. Hence these priests are so curious in observing physiognomy and personal qualities, pretending thereby to divine, to what world every one belongs. When once men are delivered up to superstition, there is no opinion so wild but they may fall into it. These same Brachmans have imagined seven seas: one of water;, one of milk; one of curds; a fourth of buffer; a fifth of salt; a sixth of sugar; and in fine, a seventh of wine: and each of these seas has its particular paradises, some of them for the wiser and more refined, and the rest for the sensual and volufituous; with this difference, that the first of these paradises, which unites us intimately with the Divinity, has no need of any other sort of de~ lights; whereas the rest are stored with all imagini\ry*fileasures. As for the other wild notions of the Indians, about the formation of the world, which they believe to be a work spun by a spider, and which shall be destroyed when the work returns into the bow- els of that insect, I here wave them, because they are too riuicu- lous for the curiosity of the most zealous antiquarians. 'It appears from what I have been saying above, that the Indians follow the ancient doctrine of the Egyptians, which the author just quoted calls Divine Transformation. F INTRODUCTION. CHINESE THEOGONY. 7lh, The Theogony of the Chinese. rr The Chinese began to improve letters from In the first ages, , ... r . r the Chinese wor- "ie earnest times ot their monarchy, at least irom ship was not cor- the reigns of Yao and Chum, who lived upwards rupted by k i- of twothousandtwo hundred years before CHRIST. r ' " It is a common opinion, and universally received by those who have gone farthest in investigating the origin of a people of such unquestionable antiquity, that the sons of NOAH were dispersed over the eastern parts of Asia, and that there were some of them who penetrated into China, a few years after the deluge, and there laid the first foundations of the oldest monarchy we know in the world. It is a thing not to be denied, that these first founders, instructed from a tradition not very remote from its source, in the greatness and power of the PIRST BEING, taught their posterity to honour this sovereign LORD of the universe, and to live agreeably to the principles of that law of nature he had en- graved on their hearts. Their classical books, some of them writ- ten even in the time of the two emperors just named, leave no room to doubt of it. There are five of these books among them, they call the Kink, for which they have an extreme veneration. Though these books contain only the fundamental laws of the state, and dont directly meddle with religion, their author's inten- tion having been to secure the peace and tranquillity of the empire; yet they are very proper to inform us what was the religion of that ancient people, and we are told in every page, that in order to compass that peace and tranquillity, two things were necessary to be observed, the duties of religion, and the rules of a good govern' ment. It appears through the whole, that the first object of their worship was one being, the supreme LORD and sovereign principle of all things, whom they honoured under the name of CHANGTI, that is, supreme emperor, or TIEN, which in their language is of the same import. TIEN, say the interpreters of these books, is, the spirit who presides over Heaven. It is true, the same word often signifies among the Chinese, the material Heavens, and now since atheism has been for some ages introduced among the literati, it is restricted to this sense; but in their ancient books they under- stood by it, the LORD of Heaven, the sovereign of the world. In them there is mention, upon all occasions, of the providence of INTRODUCTION, CHINESE THEOGONY. TIEN, of the chastisements he inflicts upon the bad emperors, and of the rewards he dispenses to the good. They likewise represent him as one, who is flexible to vows and prayers, appeased by sa- crifices, and who diverts calamities that threaten the empire, with a thousand other things which can agree to none but an intelligent being. To convince us of this, we need but read the extracts which father HALDEhas taken from these ancient books, in the second volume of his large history of China, and what he farther says in the beginning of the third. The fear of being tedious, and of wan- dering from my purpose, may justify me in not copying him; but one cannot forbear concluding with him, after the long detail he makes, that it appears from the doctrine of the standard Chinese books, that from the foundation of the empire by Fo-hi, through a long tract of ages thereafter, the supreme being, known among them under the name of CHANGTI, or of TIEN, was the object of public worship, and that they looked upon him to be the sow/, as it were, and the firimum mobile of their national government; that this first of beings was feared, honoured, and revered; and that not only the emperors who at all times have been the leaders and priests of their religion, but the grandees of the empire, and the vulgar, knew they had a LORD and judge above, who knows how to reward those who obey him, and to punish offenders. It is certain, that if in these ancient books proofs are to be found of the knowledge the Chinese had of the supreme being, and of the re- ligious worship they have paid him for a long series of ages, it is no less certain that no footsteps are there to be seen of an idola- trous worship. But this will appear less surprising when we con- sider, 1st, That idolatry spread itself through the world but slowly, and step by step; and that having probably taken its rise in Assyria, as EUSEBIUS alleges, where there was not even the appearance of an idol till long after Belus, or according toothers in Phenicia,or in Egypt, it could not have made its way so soon into China, a na- tion that has ever been sequestered from others, and separated by the great Indies from the centre of idolati-y. 2d, That there was always in China a supreme court, to take care of the affairs of reli- gion, which with the utmost exactness kept a watchful eye over their principal object. Thus it was no easy matter to introduce new laws and new ceremonies among a people so much attached to their ancient traditions. Besides, as the Chinese have always been accustomed to write their history with great care, and have 46 INTRODUCTION. CHINESE THEOGONY. arv never have failed to take notice of what innovations had happened in religion as they have done at great length, when the idol l'"o and his worship were introduced. " ' Such was the established religion of China, in nor had they ei- the first ages o f their empire: I call it establish- ther Cosmogony or Theogony: ed religion, because the vulgar continued to ac- i knowledge subaltern spirits who watched over the towns and fields; and to them they used to pay a superstitious worship, to pray to them for health, success in their affairs, and plentiful harvests; as also did they intermix with this worship sev- eral superstitious usages, that had something of the nature of magic, to which that people has always been strongly addicted: but this was not the religion of the state, and the usages of that kind have always been condemned by the Court of rites, though frequently some of the Mandarins, of whom it was composed, were themselves tinctured with them. Thus, to speak accurate- ly, the Chinese had not what we call a Theogony or Cosmogony. Their philosophers solely attached to morality, politics, and his- tory, have always neglected natural philosophy; and we do not find in their writings, those I mean of the ancients, the systems so well known in Europe, in Egypt, and in some parts of Asia, about the formation of the world, and the bodies it is made up of, or about the Gods, of whom we have so many genealogies. I said their ancient philosophers, because the modern ones, who at- tempted to give some kind of Cosmogony, have fallen into an atheism resembling that of STRATO and SPINOZA. We can as little find that they spoke clearly about the soul, of which they dont appear to have had a distinct idea. However, we can be in no doubt of their believing the &oul's subsistence after death, not only from the stories of apparitions, which are to be found in the books of CONFUCIUS himself, the wisest and most knowing of their philosophers, btu from the opinion of the Metempsychosis,, which they have received many ages ago. === However, as man deprived of revelation, and SP/L?<^K?JX left to the bias of his own heart) has ahva >' s introduced the been a prey to error, I am far from believing S!*i*7 ""eSed f lhe Cllimse have been exempted from it; and a Cosmogony; ' we have a favourable enough opinion of them, when we think they were perhaps somewhat INTRODUCTION. 47 CHINESE THEOGOXY. later than other nations in giving themselves up to practise idola- try. Let us consider them, if you will, as the philosophers the Afiostle speaks of; who, by the light of nature, rose to the know- ledge of the supreme being: are not these as guilty as those, of having known him, without having glorified him? At length the sect of the Taose appeared in China, near six hundred years be- fore Christ. LAO-KIUN is the philosopher by whom it was found- ed. The birth of this man, if we may believe his disciples, was one of the most extraordinary: carried four and twenty years in the loins of his mother, he opened himself a passage through the left side, and occasioned the death of her who conceived him. The morals of this philosopher came very near to those of EPI- CURUS, and he wrapped up his physics in impenetrable obscurity: I take no more of them than what regards the Cosmogony. Fao, said he, or reason, produced One, One produced Two, Two pro- duced Three, and Three produced all things." The whole happi- ness of man, according to this philosopher, consisted in that state of mind which the Greeks called apathy, a state wherein man divested of fear, and all tormenting passions, must be free from disquietude of every kind; and as it is exceeding hard for one to get rid of the uneasy apprehensions of death and futurity, they who made profession of this sect, were addicted to magic and chemistry, to find out the secret whereby to become immortal; presuming they should be able to find it at length by the assist- ance of the spirits they invoked. There were some of them who flattered themselves with that discovery, by means of certain po- tions they made up; and more than one emperor has tried the fruitless experiment. One, who is acquainted with the temper of mankind, can easily judge, that a sect which to a sort of The- raised such flattering hopes, would very soon S nv - _ make proselytes; accordingly it was embraced by several of the Mandarins, who gave their minds entirely to the magic- art, which it prescribed. But it made yet greater advances among the women, naturally curious and extremely fond of life. In fine, the author of the sect wash mself ranked among the Gods; a stately temple was erected to him; and the emperor Hium Tsong caused the statue of this new God to be brought into his palace. His disciples got the name of Heavenly 48 INTRODUCTION. CHINESE THEOGONY. teachers, and his descendants are still honoured with the dignity of Mandolins. These are they who have introduced that vast multitude of Spirits, subordinate to the supreme being, whom they honour in temples, and in particular chapels, and to whom they saciifice three sorts of victims, a hog, -A fish, and a piece of a fowl. They have even car'ied superstition the length of deifying several of their emperors; whereby we see that the Chinese, a people otherwise very ingenious, after their first ages of pure worship, are nothing short, in point of superstition and idolatry, of the other nations whom they have always taken a pride to con- temn. This sect has filled China with divines and impostors, who impose upon the vulgar, and sometimes upon the great, by delu- sive arts and magic rites, wherewith they are too apt to be infa- tuated. - About the sixty-fifth year after Christ, the em- f nded he b The P eror ^ n ff f ^ through a vain curiosity, was the emperor MING- means of introducing a sect still more dangerous. H lhis ern l )eror ' struck with some words which CONFUCIUS had often repeated, namely, that it was in the went they would find the holy One, sent ambassadors into the Indies in quest of him, and to learn the law he taught. These envoys believed they had at last found him out, among the wor- shippers of an idol named Fo or Fee. They transmitted into China the idol, together with the fables of which the Indian books were full, their superstitions, metempsychosis, and in fine, atheism. They reported that in this part of India which the Chinese call Chun- tien-cho, Moye the king's wife dreamed that she was swallowing an Elephant; and that when the time came that she was to be deli- vered of the child, he tore her right side, and no sooner had he come from the womb of his mother, than he stood up and made six steps, and pointing with one hand to Heaven, 'and the other to the earth, he pronounced these words: there is none but I in heaven or ufion earth that deserves to be honoured: they gave him the name of Che-Kin or Cha-Ka. At the age of nineteen years he for- sook his wives, his sons, and all his terrestrial cares, retired into a solitary life, and put himself under the conduct of four philoso- phers. At thirty years he had a plenteous infusion of the divinity, and became Fo, or Pagodc, as the Indians express themselves, and thought of nothing but propagating his doctrine every where. His INTRODUCTION. 49 CHINKSE THEOGONY'. lying miracles were surprising to all, and produced him the vene- ration of the whole country, and a prodigious number of disciples, who were his instruments in infecting the east with his impious tenets. The Chinese call these disciples Ho-Chang; the Tartars call them Lamas; the Siamese call them Jalajioins; andthe Ja panese denominate them Bonzes; for this sect is diffused among all the people now mentioned. In the mean time, Fo arrived at the age of seventy-nine years, convened some of his disciples, and after having explained to them his doctrine, died; and they invent- ed manv fables about his death. As the Metempsychosis was the principal article of this doctrine, they gave it out that their master was born eight thousand times, and that he had appeared in the world sometimes under the figure of an ape, sometimes under that of a dragon, then of an elephant. Sec. All this probably was to estab- lish the worship of this pretended divinity, and that under the symbol of these different animals, which actually became objects of the Indian worship. The Chinese having received this idol, erected to him a world of temples; and his sect, though always outlawed by the Court ofrites, has made immense progress in the country, under the direction of the Ho-Chang, the most despica- ble of mortals, the most superstitious, and the most ignorant. In fine, to abridge what is to be found at very great length, in the beginning of father Du HALDE'S third volume of the history of China, the doctrine of Fo is divided into external and internal. The first, full as it is of gross superstitions, is taught by the greater number of the Ho-Chang. The second is reserved for the more learned, and it consists in saying, that vacuity is the prin- ciple and the end of all things; that from nothing our first parents derived their original, and to nothing they returned after their death; that vacuity is what constitutes our being and substance, and that it is from this nothing, and from the mixture of the ele- ments, that all productions came, and thither they afterwards re- turn; in fine, that all beings only differ from one another by their figures and qualities: and in this manner they pretend, their mas- ter, when dying, explained his" doctrine, that is to say t his atheism, to his favorite disciples. I shall say but little of the Theogonies of the other nations, except what occurs incidentally under the following head, for they seem hardly digested into a system. For example, the Brachmans in the East-Indies have a tradition SO INTRODUCTION. COSMOGONY OF THE ABORIGINAL AMERICANS. of their God Vichnou, metamorphosed into a tortoise; and by way of explication they tell us, that by the fall of a mountain the world began to stagger, and to sink down gradually towards the abyss, where it had perished, if their beneficent God had not trans- formed himself into a tortoise to bear it up The Chinese have adopted this tradition, and they apply it, as father KIRCHER re- marks, to their flying dragon,, who, they say, sprung from a tor- toise, and became the prop of the universe that rests upon him. The Troglodytes had probably the same fable among them, since they had a high veneration for the tortoise, and had an abhorrence of their neighbours the Helinophagi, so called, because they fed upon the flesh of the tortoise. 8(h, The Cosmogony and other fables of the Aboriginal Americana. We are not to imagine that the savages of acomnt^of^the America, a wandering and unsettled race, ever Cosmogony of the applied themselvss to form a system of religioh. American Indi- ^here are however, traditions to be found among ' some of them, which may form a kind of Theog- ony. In this manner, according to father LAFFITEAU,! the Iro- quois, one of the most considerable of these savage nations, account for the origin of the world. In the beginning, say they, there were six Men, (the people of Peru and of Brasil agree upon the same number;) as yet there being no earth, these men were carried in the air at the mercy of the winds. Having no Women, they fore- saw that their species would soon come to an end; but having * If some of our readers should be startled at seeing here introduced so modern a subject as this title indicates, on a single reflection they will readily admit, that in all probability it is not the more modern because it is the less ancient, but the rather, because it owed its longevity to the providential grace of a seclusion from a more ambitious, turbulent, ran- corous, and intolerant Hemisphere: And if this be not a sufficient apology, we will vouch for the subject being sufficiently interesting, from its strik- ing analogy with what has gone before, to justify its introduction. { Mceurs des Sauvages. As most of the examples I here make use of are taken from that work, it may suffice to have cited it once for all. INTRODUCTION. COSMOGONY OF THE ABORIGINAL AMERICAN'S. got notice there was one in heaven, they resolved th&t one of them, named the Wolf, should transport himself thither. The enter- . prize was difficult and dangerous; but the birds wafted him thither upon their wings. Being arrived there, he waited till this Woman came out, as her way was, to draw water, ho soon as she appeared, he offered her some present, and seduced her. The LORD of Heaven, knowing what had happened, banished the Woman, and a Tortoise received her upon its back. This Woman at first had two sons, of whom the one, who was armed with offen- sive weapons, slew his brother who had none. She was afterwards delivered of several children; from whom the rest of mankind are sprung The otter and the fishes drawing up mud from the bot- tom of the water, formed upon the body of the Tortoise just men- tioned, a small island, which grew greater and greater by degrees; and such, according to these savages, is the original of our Earth. - This tradition, if it be exactly reported, is un- <.u Reir i. arks l i? n doubtedly a remnant of the primitive history of the above Cos- ' . inogony. the creation, of EVE banished from the terrestrial i paradise, and of the murder of ABEL by CAIN. For in short, it is possible that these savages, descended from the same stock with the rest of mankind, may have preserved a tra- dition, which they .might well alter, though they could not totally erase out of their memory. Although we had no knowledge of the traditions of the other American nations, it is highly probable that their notions were mostly the same with those of the Iro- quois, since the people of Peru and Brazil in South America, agree with them as to the number of men there were at the be- ginning, as we have said. ====== But it is not only by their Cosmogony that the Their Fables Americans have equalled the Greeks and other === ^ === ^^ == nations of the old continent, in the whimsical system they invented concerning their original; they resemble them too pretty often in their Fables. Thus, for instance, their way of accounting for the production of rain, was, that a young girl was in the clouds, sporting with her little brother, and he broke her fiitcher full of water. Is there not here a great simili- tude to lho::.e fov-'cJi'^nrnhhs, and river-Gods, who poured fovth 52 INTRODUCTION. COSMOGONY OF THE ABORIGINAL AMERICANS. tvater from their urns? They too were persuaded like the Greeks that there were Gods who inhabited the Rivers and other collec- tions of water, since at one of their festivals, the people of Mexi- co had a solemn practice of drowning a young boy, to be company for these Gods. According to the traditions of Peru, the Ynca, JVIanco-Guina-Cafiac, Son of the Sun, found a way, by his elo- quence, to make the inhabitants of the country quit their retire- ments in the woods, where they lived after the manner of the beasts, and brought them to live under reasonable laws. Just so did ORPHEUS with the Greeks, and he too passed for the Son of the Sun. It is remarkable that both these people, so remote the oi>e from the other, should have agreed to fancy that such as had extraordinary accomplishments were the offspring of the Sun. If the Greeks, and, in imitation of them, the ancient Gauls, had a religious veneration for Trees, and believed them to be the abode of Dryads and Hamadryads the Abenaquis too, as father LAFFITEAU reports, had a famous Tree, whereof they told seve- ral wonders, and it was always loaded with offerings; nor did they doubt of its having something divine. We find they had likewise among them, consecrated groves, much like all the rest of the idolatrous world Their Idols, often monstrous, as in the old continent, either charged with symbols like those we call Pant/teas, or sometimes even resembling those of Priafius, prove, that the people i am speaking of, were nothing short of the old inhabi- tants of the old world, in the extravagance of their idolatry and fables. Their veneration for Idols, which are nothing but either mis-shapen stones, or sometimes of a conical figure, is a farther proof, that their idolatry resembled that of the ancients, who, be- fore the art of sculpture, paid honours to such like slones, or sim- ple pillars, as we shall see elsewhere. As for what relates to sorceries, conjurations, 1 heir supersti- diviners, and enchantments, the people of the tions, religious rites and persua- new World resemble but too much those of the sions; Old. Their belief was every where the same about the benevolent and malignant Genii, of whom the universe was imagined to be full; over whom presided, as Lord and sovereign of the other Gods, the Manitou of the Al- gonquine nations, the Chemien of the Caribbees, the Okki or the Ares-Kvui of the Flurons. As for the festivals and mysteries, we INTRODUCTION', 53 COSMOGONY OF THE ABORIGINAL AMERICANS. shall find by reading the author I just now quoted, that those of the Americans had a great affinity with the orgies of the Greeks. As to the immortality of the soul, and its state after death, the sa- vages thought much the same way with the Greeks, even at the time when they were most civilized. Did not the Americans be- lieve that the souls of the wicked were condemned to dwell in certain Lukes, miry and loathsome, as the Greeks sent them to wander along the banks of Styx and Acheron ? Was it not like- wise their opinion that the souls of those who had led a regular life, had places of delightful abode, -which hore a considerable resemblance to the Elysian Jiclds? They have, like the old Ro- mans, their women hired to mourn at' funerals, and like them celebrated feasts for the dead; and what is still more surprising, they distinguish, like the Greeks, between the soul and its shade or phantom, and believe that while the soul is in a happy mansion, the shade is hovering about the place of interment. ====== The sacred fire, preserved by almost every " nation of the world, as I shall shew in the article of Vesta, was also the object of the superstitious worship of the Americans. The nations most adjoining to Asia, have temples, where the sacred fi re is carefully preserved; and these temples are mostly built in a round form, as were those of Vesta. In Louisiana, 'the Natchez had one of them, where a guard watched continually for the preservation of the fire, which is never suffered to go out. Every body knows how famous those -temples were under the reign of the Yncas; but what appeared very sur- prising, was those companies of virgins set apart for the service of the Sun, whose laws were even more severe than those of the Roman -vestals; and the punishments, when they broke their vows, precisely the same, since they were buried ali-ve. They who had debauched them were punished with far more rigour than at Rome, since the punishment extended not only to the whole fa- mily, but even to the place where they were born; its whole inha- bitants were utterly extirpated, nor did they leave so much as one stone in it upon another. The sacred fire was equally revered in Mexico, and committed to the care of vestals, who letTa very re- gular life; and if the savages- of this vast continent had not all of them temples to maintain it there, the halls of their counsel, made much after the fashion of the Prytanea of the Greeks, INTRODUCTION. COSMOGONY OF THE ABORIGINAL AMKRICANS. were employed foi this use, chiefly among the Iroquois and the Huron s. 'i . Would it have been consistent with the cor- Their human mption of the human heart, not to place upon the sacrinces; a pa- ' . . . . ra ll e l. altars, every thing that soothed vice' and irregu- . laihy of manners? The custom of sacrificing upon nigh places, a custom so ancient, and whereof the prophets so often accuse the idolatrous nations, was likewise known among the Americans. To be convinced of this, we need only read the relations of ROCHE^ORT, is the place where he speaks of the mountain Olaimi, upon which the Apalachites,a people of Florida, , offer sacrifices yearly to the Sun, in a cavern which serves for a temp,le to this divinity. The sacrifices of these savages were at first very simple, as they were among the Jirimitive Idolaters of the old world; and this simplicity still remains among some of their nations, where they content themselves with offering up to the Gods, the fruits of the earth, or with making libations to them of water; others hang upon trees or pillars, the skins of the beasts they have slain in hunting; there are of them who throw some leaves of tobacco into the fire, in honour of the Sun, and into the rivers and streams to appease the Genii that preside over them. Those of the Caribbee islands offer up the cassave and the ouicou, that is, their bread and their drink, to the Gods who are the guar- dians of these plants, as the Greeks and the other nations offered their sacrifices to Bacchus and Ceres. What though the names of those Gods are not the same in either continent, the ideas are still the same, and it is precisely the same kind of idolatry! But with these savages, as with other nations, these ancient manners not having always subsisted in that primitive simplicity which is the characteristic of the first ages of the world; they, like the Pa- gans of the old continent, carried superstition to the length of sacrificing human victims. The sacrifices of this sort were in use especially in Mexico; and though they were less known among the other savages, yet there were of them however, who, at certain seasons of the year, offered their children to the Gods, who watched ovei the fruits t ; i ie earth. 1 "!-e relation of LE MOYNE informs us, thu't in Florida the aborigines look-ed upon the Sun as the father of their chiefs; offered up to that luminary, their great Divinity, their children in sacrifice; as the Canaanites sacrificed them to INTRODUCTION. COSMOGONY OF THE ABORIGINAL AMERICANS. their Moloch, who was likewise the Sun, only with this difference in the ceremony, that the latter burned them in a furnace which was contrived within their Idol, as I shall shew in speaking of that God; whereas the former knocked them on the head in the midst of an assembly of the people, and in the firesence of the Chief, who himself represented the God who was believed to be his father. The sacrifices in the new World, as in the Old, were accompani- ed with instruments, with dances, and with all the marks of public rejoicings but I will not carry this parrallel any farther, which would oblige me to copy the work which I have cited, where the learned author descends to a very particular detail. What I have said is sufficient to shew, that the mind of man, leff merely to its own light, is carried out to nothing but error and delusion; and that in spite of the refinement of the best regulated nations, their sen- timents have been pretty much the same all the world over, where they wanted the knowledge of the true religion. ' In fine, there are few countries, where much continued in re- the same f ables nave not b een f ounc ] : every where gard to other sa- . vage nations, ideas of things no where found in nature; an ex- 1 traordinary race of men, who called themselves the sons of Heaven, or of the stars, or of the rivers, &cc.; every where cheats, who wanted to carry on imposture, by the story of a singular and extraordinary birth.. The Egyptians and the Pheni- cians, from whom the Greek and Romans derived their fables, are not the only people who have invented them: there are some that bear a resemblance to theirs, to be found among nations that can- not be suspected of having borrowed from them. Kaisou-ven boast- ed, that he was born of a river-God, the more easily to delude the people of Corea by the dazzling idea of this imaginary birth. The Coreans must needs have attributed Divinity to the rivers and mountains, like the Greeks and Romans, since upon their becom- ing tributary to China, the emperor confirmed their king in the privilege he enjoyed of sacrificing alone to the rivers and moun- tains. The origin of one nation of the eastern Tartars, named Kao-Kiuli, of the race of the Fou- Ya, bears a considerable resem- blance, in respect to the fables with which it is 5ntermixed,'to our fictions in the western world; and the Roman history, notwithstand- ing its being so grave and serious, presents us with notions near akin to what I am going to relate of the former. The prince of 56 INTRODUCTION. COSMOGONY OF THE ABORIGINAL AMERICANS. the Kao-Kiuli had in his dominions a daughter of the God Hohang- Ho, whom he kept shut up in a prison. One day as she was struck with the reflections of the Sun-beams, she conceived; and she brought forth an egg, which they broke, and in it they found a male child. When he was grown up, they gave him the name of Tchu-Mong, which imports a good /lilot. The king of the country, \vho took a liking to him, one day carried him out to hunt, and seeing his address, became jealous of him; which Tchu-Mong per- ceiving, fled from him; and being ready to fall into the hands of those who pursued him, at the passage of a river, he addressed his prayer to the Sun his father: then thejishes of the river raising up to the surface of the water, supplied him with a bridge, on which he crossed over. What is there in this more .extravagant, than in the fables of Perseus's birth, and that of Leda's children? If we know nations that sacrificed, their children to their false Dei- ties; and if the Greeks offered up Ifihigenia to procure a favoura- ble wind; are we not told by Du HALDE of most the ancient histories wherein we may read of islanders in the eastern sea, who during the seventh Moon of every year, used solemnly to drown a young virgin? If the Romans fabled that their Janus had two, nay four faces, as is to be seen upon ancient monuments, have not the Indi- ans their idol Menifius, who has many heads of different shapes? Does it not pass current among the same Indians, that there is a country where men have two visages; that withal, they are ex- tremely wild and untractable; that they speak no language, and suf- fer themselves to die for hunger when they are taken: they add, that they had taken one of them clad in linen, who rose out of the sea; a story not much unlike to that of Cannes, which we have mentioned above. If the Egyptians, and after them PYTHAGORAS, taught the Metempsychosis; is not the same doctrine spread over all the Indies, and is it not the foundation of the idolatry of foe? Which is so far true, that the great Lama, who calls himself a living Foe, gives.it out, that he has been born several times, and that he shall be born again; insomuch that when he dies, they make diligent search for the child whose figure he reassumes, that they may substitute him in his room: and though it is easy to see, that this is a child he has artfully provided to succeed him, the mystery whereof is well known to the other Lamas his confi- dants, yet this farce has been acted for several ages, without being INTRODUCTION. 57 PAGAN THEOLOGY. suspected by the people. We shall remark, when we are upon the origin of the fables, that numbers of them had been introduced by means of a gross kind of philosophy; perhaps there never was one in Greece of so extraordinary a nature as was that of the Chinese philosophers, with relation to the ebbing and flowing of the Sea. A princess, said they, had an hundred children; fifty of them dwelt along the Sea-shore, and the other fifty in the mountains: hence came two great nations, who are often at war together; when the inhabitants of the shores get the better of those in the mountains, and put them to flight, the sea flows; when they are repulsed by them, and fly from the mountains towards the shores, the Sea ebbs. This manner of philosophizing, says M. FONTENELLE, is not unlike the meta- morfihoses of OVID: so true it is, that the same ignorance has pro- duced the same effects in every nation Such are the Cosmogonies and Theogonies of the most ancient nations. Others whose religion and fables ate considered in the sequel of this work, though sunk in an abyss of the grossest idolatry, yet had not a genius philoso- phical enough to form any conceptions about the formation of the world, or the origin of the Gods, whom they contented themselves to worship according to the tradition of their country. Of the Pagan Theology in general, and that of the Poets in particular. Its absurdity Having represented the different Theogonies j lts Dsumit y of the ancients, peculiar to every nation; it may and the argu- ' ments of the Fa- be of use to shew more particularly the general thers compel the Theology of the Pagan world, especially that of Philosophers to , .__ , ' . explain it by al- the Greek poets My design is not to lay open legory. all its abominations; for this would now be use- less: the primitive fathers of the church, and the defenders of the Christian religion, as they found themselves ne- cessarily engaged in that task, in order to sap the -foundations of Paganism, which was the predominant religion of their times, they acquitted themselves in it with so much learning and strength of argument, that they at last obliged the most knowing philoso- phers, to explain by allegories, oftentimes ingenious, a system, 58 INTRODUCTION. PAGAN THEOLOGY. the bare representation whereof was shocking. To this dilemma they were reduced by JUSTIN; ARNOBIUS; ATHENAGORAS; LAC- TANTIUS; CLEMENS ALEXANDRINUS; MINUTIUS FELIX; but above all by TERTULLIAN in his Apologetics, one of the most excellent performances antiquity has left us; and by S. AUGUS- TINE in his book of the City of God, a work which, abstracted from the other views of the author, may be considered- as a treasure of profane literature. To speak accurately, the philosophers did not wait for the time of those great men I have been naming, to per- ceive the absurdity of their Theology. Allegory had been intro- duced to help out the' monstrous fables that were intermixed with religion, upwards of 400 years before the' Christian aera. PLATO had brought it in fashion, and his disciples improved it: nay PYTHAGORAS, long before PLATO'S days, had represented the established religion of his time in such a light, as made its absur- dity partly disappear. This way of allegorizing was never more in vogue than in the time of JAMELICUS and PORPHYRY, who lived both of them in the first ages of Christianity. But every body knows the little success which attended the allegorical manner of explaining the fables and mysteries of religion; and, that notwithstanding the subtilties of the philosophers who used it, that same religion, and the fables upon which it was founded, still continued, even to the entire destruction of itself, in one quarter of the world at least. .. VARRO distinguished Theology into three parts, The Pagan The- i stj ih e fabulous, 2d, the natural, and 3d, the/zo- giushed by Varro UticaL Tih&Jirst was the Theology of the poets; into three parts, the second that of the philosophers; and the third n that of the ministers of religion. VARRO endea- voured to promote this distinction, whereof the high-priest Q. SC.KVOLA is thought to have been the founder, the same who was slain by one of those assassins employed by Marius. 1st, The Theology of the poets was rejected by the wiser Pagans. VARRO, as we have it from S. AUGUSTINE, acknowledged that it imputed to their Gods, actions, which one would have blushed to ascribe to the vilest men. 2d, VARUO did not condemn the second kind of Theology, that of the philosophers; but he was of opinion, it ought to be confined to the schools, because it reasoned with freedom upon the nature of the Gods, which- according t-o him. hail a dan- INTRODUCTION. 59 PAGAN THEOLOGY. gerous tendency. 3d, The third kind of Theology made up the system of religion, and was the foundation of the worship paid to the Gods; and if it was not the most esteemed by the abler judges, it was at least the most venerable, and the only one that was fol- lowed in practice. Though the Theology of the jioets was explo- ded ' as we have seen; y et " has found sans make a pa- in these last ages. Several modern authors, rallel of it with charmed with the fine strokes that occur in the the sacred writ. ====== ^ == works ot the poets, concerning the most sublime truths, have spoken of them in such high strains 6f encomium, that it would seem they consider them as the most excellent di- vines. Father THOMASSIN has been at great pains to collect what- ever they have said upon divinity and upon morality, and he thinks he has discovered in them several passages conformable to holy writ, and to the light of nature. The author of the book en- titled, Homer Hebraizing, has not contented himself with consi- dering the poets as great divines; he has undertaken to prove, that HOMER, in both his poems, had in several places copied MOSES and the prophets. A celebrated English author, CUD- WORTH, after he has cried up the Theology of the poets, that of ORPHEUS especially, recites the finest of their sentiments upon the divinity. In fine, a modern author, whose works have occa- sioned his being more than once disgraced, has gone further than any I have yet named, since in his remarks upon VIRGIL, he makes no scruple of preferring that poet to most of our divines; alleging, that, with respect to providence and the Deity, his sen- timents are most orthodox. He has even had the presumption to compare the conduct of Jupiter in relation to ^ENEAS, with that of GOD in respect to DAVID. According to these authors, piety, and the worship of the true GOD, are taught in a sublime manner, in the works of these poets; and nearly all the most essential truths are there to be found, though veiled under sensible images. Thus, to single out some of these truths, among others, they find, the unity of a God; his omnipotence; his infinite goodness; his immensity; his eternity. The council of the Gods, which HOMER speaks of, where Jufiiter always presides, is, according to them, an imitation of those mysterious councils, which God, in the H 60 INTRODUCTION. PAGAN THEOLOGY. Book of Job, holds with the dngrls. When they tell us, that all good and evil came from the hand of God, by the ministration of subaltern Deities; this is a copy of what the scripture says of the Angels, who are his ministers. When they give Jupiter such a peculiar pre-eminence, it is evident, that under this name they understood the true God, and not Jupiter the son of Saturn and king of Crete. In fine, when ARATUS says, all is full of God, the earth, the sea, the^?c/rfs, and man himself; or, as S. PAUL ex- presses himself, in the precise words of this poet, sumus genus Dei, in i/iso -vivimus, movemur, et sumus, is it not evident, that he must needs be speaking of the immensity of GOD? To these speculative truths, the authors I mention join others which are practical; and think the poets have settled, not only what duties we owe to God, but those of men to one another, as well as the other purely moral precepts. Their infernal regions, and their Elyxianjiclds, they say, are proper restraints from lust, and incen- tives to the practice of -virtue. Those Judges, who examine with so much severity the actions of men; and the Furies, who chastise the guilty with such rigour; could all this have been contrived without a deep insight into morality? In fine, to represent the sentiment of these authors in a few words, it suffices to say, that upon all occasions they rack their invention to draw parallels be- tween the truths they find in the fiocts, and those in the sacred writings. - I own, for my part, the reading of the poets Why we should , it another idea of their Theolo- entcrtam a very different senti- gy- It is true, they sometimes speak of the Di- ment of. their v i n i tv j n a sublime manner, but they are by no Theology. .. means consistent with themselves upon this sub- ject; and after they have given their Gods the magnificent epi- thets of immortal, omnipotent, 8cc., they represent them with im- perfections, which, as has been said, belong only to the worst and most corrupt of, men. Insomuch that I am astonished, how learn- ed men can so highly extol their Theology, while PLATO, for this same Theology, which to him appeared so monstrous, banish- ed them from his Commonwealth. CICEKO had not such favourable thoughts of the poets, as the authors I have spoken of; on the contrary, he censures them for setting before us the debaucheries of the Gods, their quarrels, their battles, their dissentions, their INTRODUCTION. 61 PAGAN THEOLOGY. adulteries, Sec. It is true, that they.style these fabulous Gods of theirs immortal, but at the same time there is not one of them of whose genealogy, they have not informed us; they name their fathers, their mothers, the place of their birth, andll the circum- stances of their life from their infancy; sometimes they speak of their sepulchres loo. In HOMER, the greatest of their poets, we see the Gods squabbling together, falling foul of one another, wounded by mortals, and pouiing forth shrieks and lamentations at seeing their blood shed: they are every now and then giving gross abusive language; instance Jupiter and Juno represented eternally at odds, a thing so scandalous between husband and wife. EURIPIDES, willing to excuse Phxlra, who had conceived a vio- lent passion for the son of her husband, throws the blame upon Venus, who wanted to revenge, upon Hippolytus, the contempt he had thrown upon her worship and votaiies. Another tradition which RACINE has followed, no less dishonourable for Venus, intimated that she was thus taking her revenge upon the Sun, .F7rrfra'sgreat-God-father,for having discovered her intrigue with the God Mars; and it is from the same motive of resentment, that this Goddess had inspired Pasiphae, Phaedra's mother, with that infamous passion which made so much noise. In the same play, EURIPIDES brings in Diana to comfort Hififiolytus in his dying moments, the Goddess telling him that she could not in- deed reverse the order of destiny, but to give him revenge, she would kill one of Venus' s gallants with her own hand. These then are their powerful Gods, subjected to the fates, and not be- ing able to accomplish all the mischief they -would, perpetrate that which they can. What thoughts can one have of a Theology, whose end being to exalt man to the Gcds, has depressed these same Gods, I say, not only to the condition of men, but even to their greatest frailties? Can any thing be conceived more fantas- tical? What shall we say of that mixture of power and weakness, of eternity and death, of happiness and misery, of tranquillity and disturbance? What shall we think of the railleries which ARIS- TOPHANES throws out against the Gods in some of his comedies, and of the blasphemies which JLSCHYLUS pours forth against them in his Prometheus? 6iJ INTRODUCTION. PAGAN THEOLOGY. But, it is said, the poets speak often of the/jro- confii-med by de- vidence of the Gods, and of the care they exercise auctions from ' , HOMER'S account overmen. What providence: let us single out of the Trojan war. one o f tne subjects of fable where it is most con- spicuous, a subject described by the greatest of poets with peculiar care; I mean the Trojan war. This war de- stroyed multitudes of people, and ruined a flourishing kingdom; it was attended with miseries without number, with seditions, broils, and all the other companions of sweeping desolation. All the Gods took part in it; Heaven was divided into two factions: there was no plot, no stratagem, no sly artifice, but every one of the Gods put in practice. To be sure they can't be accused of being idle during the course of this war; their firovidence was sufficient- ly employed. HOMER describes all their motions in the fullest manner; and the other poets have followed his example. Here then is a proper point of view, whence we may clearly discern their theological senli?nents about firo-vidence: let us see then what was the motive of this war; let us trace it back to its source. Was the chastising an impious nation, the thing in question? was it to avenge oppressed innocence, or the indignities offered to the Gods themselves? or to give the world a signal example of justice and equity? Nothing like it: but to glut the resentment of a God- dess, for a slight put upon her beauty, was all the affair; the story is this At the marriage of Thetis and Peleus, an afifile is thrown by Discord, for the fairest of the company. The Gods not daring to make themsehes umpires in the difference that arises upon this occasion between three Goddesses, send them to Phrygia, to get the decision of a YOUNG SHEPHERD who was renowned for equity. The SHEPHERD, whom each of the three Goddesses would fain corrupt by magnificent promises, decides in favour of Venus; she being actually the greatest beauty, nothing could be said against the equity of his sentence: yet here was enough to exas- perate the other two. Juno, the wise Juno, from that moment re- solves upon the destruction, not of PARIS only, though even that had been a very unjust piece of icvenge, but of the whole empire of PRIAM his father, and of all Phrygia. The rape of HELEN, who had been betrothed to PARIS, became the signal pretence of a bloody war: all Gieece rises in arms, while Juno leaves no stone unturned to engage all the powers above in her interest; she INTRODUCTION. 63 PAGAN THEOLOGY. makes use of a thousand stratagems to bring over the other G> ds, and gives them the most insinuating promises; she runs over all the cities of Greece to animate them to the war, Troy Z'A besieged) and for a course of ten years the queen of the Gods plays the game of a woman quite frantic, and tries to lay her husband asleep, that he may not see the overthrow of the Trojans, or impede her de- praved revenge. Minerva has the contrivance of the wooden horse; Juno appears in arms, and herself throws open the gates of the city, rouses the Greeks, too cool for her vengeance; while Ne/itune, her ally, beats down the walls with his trident. The Greeks enter the town, a thousand disorders are there committed, which it is unnecessary to describe: but we must not forget, that VIRGIL is at great pains to let us see, that they are to be attributed to the wrath and revenge of the Gods. Troy is i educed to ashes; PARIS, PRIAM and the rest of his family are massacred or made slaves. Thus it was full time for the wrath of Juno to ^Jasnd*Tur. be a PP eased> But wilh th ^ P oels ' a Goddess, nus, in Italy; whose beauty has been injured, is not so easily " atoned. They represent her pursuing the remains of the fugitive Trojans with implacable rage; she will needs cut them off from that retreat in Italy, which was promised them by the fates. Here she meanly supplicates yEo/ws, a subaltern Di- vinity, to move him to raise a storm, contrary to the orders of Nefitune, who had changed sides, and whose firovidcnce was then interested for the Trojans. Sometimes she endeavours to detain JENEAS in Africa by the charms of pleasure: there she makes Iris appear under the figure of Beroe, to oblige the Trojan ma- trons to burn their fleet. No sooner has ./ENEAS arrived in Italy, than she despatches the Furies to TURNUS and AMATA, to excite them to expel him their country, and kindles a bloody war; and not being able absolutely to hinder the execution of the orders of destiny, she strives at least to retard it by all sorts of means. As the decree of destiny intimated, that LAVINIA was to be married to the Trojan'HERo, she will needs cause him to pay her dowry in the blood of an infinite number of his own countrymen. Every body knows what this Goddess did to support TURNUS'S party, and all the game VIRGIL makes her play in the course of this war. In fine, finding Destiny too powerful for her, as the last effort of her vengeance, she tries if Jupiter will grant that the 64 INTRODUCTION. PAGAN THEOLOGY. Latins shall not assume the name of the Trojans their conquer- ors, th;it Troii and its memory might the more easily be abolished. Is it possible to conceive a more complete re- also from num- ven?e i Wa s ever resentment carried farther! er berless other ex- ....-". amples, in which was it ever raised on a more frivolous foundation! thePoets abound. r y U p a f ter tn j s t | ie theology of the fioets, as to " the firovidence of their Gods, and the care which they take of the most notable events. These, according to them, are the motives whence they act. Alas! what could they teach more impious! What a fine pattern of resentment and revenge were they able to give, especially to ladies ivho idolize their beauty! Were I at liberty to run over the other examples, of which the poets are full, we should see that the spring of all the actions of the Gods is either revenge-, or love, or some other fiassion: that the true motive of Jufiiter's travels up and down the earth, was nothing else but to debauch some mistress; that while the reparation of the disas- ters done by the deluge, or by the conflagration of Phaeton, were made the pretext, Calisto and Eurofia were the real occasions of his pilgrimages: that if Diana sends a boar to lay waste the Caly- donian plains, it was owing to (XLneus's having neglected her in a sacrifice: in fine, that Venus for the same reason, afflicted the daughters of Tyndarus with madness. If Niobe's fourteen children are killed before her eyes by invisible darts, it is for her having presumed to compare herself to Latona. If Cadmus sees his house filled with disorder and blood-shed, dcteon his grandson devoured by his dogs, Pentheus another grandson torn in pieces by the Bacchanals, and himself transformed into a serpent, the reason of all this cruelty is, that he had a sister and a daughter, whose beauty had charmed Jufiiter, and excited the jealousy of Juno. Ino for having nursed Bacchus, is condemned to madness, together with her husband Athamas; the latter dashes his own son against a rock, and the former, the unfortunate queen of Thebes, throws herself headlong into the sea with Melicertes. If Andro- meda sees herself exposed to the fury of a sea-monster, it is be- cause her mother had compared her beauty to that of the Nereids. Venus, to be avenged of Diomede, who had wounded her at the siege of Troy, made his wife become a prostitute. However much recourse may be had to allegory, yet what can we think, when we see Cybele,ihe great mother of the Gods, running after INTRODUCTION. 65 PAGAN THEOLOGY. the youthful Atys, making so many advances to captivate his heart, and punishing him so severely for his indifference? Such, according to the poets, are the motives of revenge in the Gods, and for the most part, it is not upon the guilty they inflict such dreadful punishments; or if that is sometimes the case, it is not in order to reclaim them, but to render them more criminal. Clio upbraids Venus for being so excessively fond of Adonis; in- stead of improving so wholesome an admonition, the Goddess returns it by wounding her with love for a young man, by whom she had Hyacinth. Cyanippus forgets Bucchux in a sacrifice, he makes him drunk, in consequence of which, he commits incest. The daughters of Prxtus prefer their own beauty to that of Juno; the Goddess turns them frantic, and makes them become prosti- tutes. One of the daughters of Danaus having gone to draw wa- ter for a sacrifice, was attacked by a Satyr, who offered violence to her; she invoked JVe/itune to her assistance; who having res- cued her from the attacks of the Satyr, made the same assault upon her, which she had just now declined: miserable relief ! L ' '.... This now is what the poets teach, in relation Reflections up- th p rovidence o f tne j r Gods: a providence on the i neology of the poets. anxious and disturbed; disgraced by resentments ===^^ dreadful for exceeding slight provocations; and chastisements not for the punishment of vice or the support of virtue, which would be good Divinity, but inflicted intentionally to avenge seme personal affront, not upon the guilty, but upon the innocent or if the guilty too are involved therein, it is only to make them more wicked and abandoned. You won't see those Gods forward to chastise imfiiety and injustice; they vent their spite upon none but those who forget them in sacrifice, or who compare the hair or complexion to that of some Goddess: like those petty Lords, who have very little concern that their vassals be firojligate and licentious, so they do but forbear hunting upon their grounds, and give presents from time to time to their wives'. Was any thing more apt to excite ambition and the most unjust designs, than the history of Saturn, who had used his father Ura- nus so ill, and that of Jupiter who had treated his father in like manner, and dethroned him? This would be the proper place to explain the theology of the poets, with respect to the morals of their Gods; but I should be afraid of disgusting the reader, by reciting INTRODUCTION. PAGAN THEOLOGY. their infamous characters: Yet I cannot forbear expressing my admiration at that Jupiter of theirs! No chastity on earth was proof against his assaults! no beastly figure he had not assumed to en- snare sometimes virtuous princesses, sometimes innocent shep- herdesses!! All the other Gods were stained with the like crimes. ARNOBIUS, LACTANTIUS, and the other fathers, bring a thousand stories of those Gods, from the writings of the poets, which are shocking to modesty. There is no crime, disorder, or lewdness, that they were not guilty of; and the poets, those fir et ended sublime di-vines, are they who have been at most pains to perpetuate their memory. HOMER, and after him OVID, tell us how the Sun sur- prized Mars and Venus in adultery; the last subjoins very loose reflections. In a word, all the metamorphoses he speaks of, are ra- ther monuments of the imperfection of the Gods, and of their de~ baucheries, than of their providence and power. These considera- tions should be a seasonable warning to all reasonable perso'ns to be upon their gu;:rd against that value, which so many people have for the divinity of the poets; and shew those who want to defend them, that, excepting a few vague expressions that have dropped from them about the immortal essence of their Gods, their -vigila nee, that universal spirit which animates all things (a strain to which they by no means keep up in the rest of their works), their whole system consists in representing to us Gods inconstant and self-in- terested in their providence, turbulent and outrageous in their re- sentment, debauched and infamous'm their moral character, After all these preliminaries, which I thought fining to treat at some length, it is time to enter upon the PROPER SUBJECTS of THIS VOLUME. A NEW SYSTEM OF MYTHOLOGY CHAPTER I. HISTORY OF IDOLATRY. SECTION FIRST. ITS ORIGIN. .. AT the beginning of the world, men knew thJ h children P of and served m} f ne God > the CilE ATOR, OMNI- God/wre thatof POTENT, ETERNAL. ADAM, formed by the im- tlie children of Men idolatrous. mediate agency ot the hands of GOD, preserved 1 " the purest idea of the Deity in his own family; and there need be no doubt of its having continued uncorrupted in the branch of SETH until the deluge. GOD had given our first parents too many manifestations of himself, for them to be un- acquainted with him- HE thought it not enough to draw his image on the works of nature, and to enlighten their minds by the illuminations of his grace; he conversed with them, and in- structed them either immediately, or by the mediation of his ANGELS: thus they had the clearest and soundest idea of the su- preme bring, which it is possible for man to have; and consequently the worship they paid to GOD, and which he himself had pre- scribed: was pure and undefiled. We cannot entertain the same I 70 HISTORY OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. I. ITS ORIGIN. SECT. T. belief in relation to CAIN'S family: his posterity not only fell into idolatry, but ii'to all the other crimes which brought on the del- uge; whereof to be sure, idolatry, which the scripture frequently terms either fornication or adultery, was one of the principal causes. The sons of men, that is, according- to interpreters, the offspring of Cain , were abandoned to the most infamous passions. With these carnal men, the pure idea of an all-perfect being be- gan insensibly to wear out, and to be corrupted by that of sense: thus they very soon affixed it to sensible objects; and that which appeared most beneficial and perfect to their eyes, was worship- ped as their greatest God. -' The learned MAIMONIDES, in his treatise Idolatry, wheth- . . P . .... er it commenced u P on t ' ie origin or laolatry, which is translated before the deluge. i, Uo Latin in a piece by Vossius upon the same subject, thus expresses himself: " The first origin of idolatry must be referred to the time of ENDS, when . UK- 1 1 began to study the motion of the Sun and Moon and the other heavenly bodies, and reckoned them created by GOD to govern the world. They imagined GOD had set them in the heuvens to make them partake of his own glory and serve him as ministers; whence they concluded it was their duty to give them honour. Upon this foundation they began to build temples to the Stars, to offer sacrificed to them, and to prostrate themselves before them, in ordfer to obtain favours from HIM who had created them and this was the fust origin of idolatry. Not that they believed there was no other GOD besides the Stars; but they were persuaded that by adoring, them, they fulfilled the will of the CREATOR. In process of time, however, certain ./a/se prophets arose, pretending to be Kent from GOD, and that they had revela- tions for appointing such and such a Star to be worshipped nay, for appointing sacrifices to be offered to the whole host of hea- ven; they also made figures of them which they exposed to be publicly worshipped. Thereupon they began to set up their repre- entalions in temples, under trees, and upon tbe tops of mmm- CHAP. I HISTORY OF IDOLATRY 71 SECT. I. ITS ORIGIN. tains. They flocked together for their adoration, and the prosperity they enjoyed was attributed to the worship they pi.id to them. Hence it came about, conlcudes MAIJIONIDES, that the name of GOD was entirely banished from the hearts and mouths of men." TEUTULLIAN also, believed idolatry had commenced before the deluge: and this is likewise the sentiment of the generality of the most learned Rabbins. They found it upon a passage in Genesis, where it is said of Exos, iste c#/iit invocare nomen Domini; which is thus expressed in another version, tune firc- fanatum est in invocando nomine Domini; and this difference arises from the word chalal in the original, which equally im- port?, to begin, or to profane. But we are not to dwell long upon the period which Jireceded the deluge; a period about which MOSES has said little, and from what he says of it, we can draw no conclusions with respect to idolatry. For, in short, the pas- sage they solely rely upon, is very hard to be understood, and would require the discussing of some questions that would lead us too far from our subject. 1 However it be as to the beginning of idolatry, Idolatry, how ..... . early restored af- certain it is, that the knowledge and toorshi/i of ten the deluge, the true GoD were again united j n the fam jj of and where. '" NOAH, which remained alone upon the earth, after the deluge. That holy patriarch, in gratitude to GOD for his preservation, offered him a solemn sacrifice of every clean animal that came out of the ark; and no doubt he would be sure to re- commend to his children and grand-children, to preserve \\ith veneration the worship prescribed to him by God himself. Thus before the division of tongues, and while the children and grand- children of that patriarch made up but one family and people, there is the highest probability that this worship was not altered in its purity. NOAH was still alive, and was the head of that peo- ple. In all likelihood therefore, it was not till after the disper- sion of that fieo/ile, that idolatry arose; at which period most pro- bably, while the true religion was yet for a long time preserved 72 HISTORY OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. I. ITS ORIGIN. SECT. I. in some Lmilies, especially in that from which ABRAHAM sprung, others abandoned it for the service of vain idols, which their ig- norance, or rather the corruption of their hearts had formed.- However, if we do not date the restoration of idolatry, (suppos- ing it had pre-existed the flood) so early as the dispersion of man- kind, we shall not descend as low, to fix its date, as the time of NINUS, who was the first who introduced that particular species of idolatry only which had for its object the worship of the manes of great men having built a temple to the honour of his father BELUS; for there was an idolatry of much greater antiquity in Egypt and Phenicia, and even among the Chaldeans or Babylo- nians themselves, in their worship of Jire and the heavenly bodies. Doubtless, very shortly after the dispersion, whose allotment dis- posed Egypt to MITZKAIM, and Phenicia to CANAAN, two of the sons of the accursed HAM, idolatry made its appearance in those countries; whence it very readily propagated itself to the east, the north, and north-west. Egypt, and Phenicia, then were the first nurseries of idolatry: this is. the opinion of EUSEBIUS, who had not a little examined into this subject; also of LACTANTIUS, and of CASSIAN, the former of whom ascribes its original to CANAAN, and the latter to MAM his father. This is what several Rabbins have thought upon the subject, who even reckon that those two patriarchs had been idolaters before the deluge. Vossius says, it is beyond doubt, that idolatry had its rise in the family of HAM, and by consequence in Egypt; this author adds, that it is agreed to by all the ancients. And without mentioning DIODORUS, and several others, it suffices to quote Luc IAN, who says in so many words, that " the Egyptians were the first who honoured the gods and paid them a solemn worship." HERODOTUS, in the beginning of his history, is not so positive on this head as LUCIAN, but what he says is much the same: the Egyptians, according to this learned historian, are the first who knew the names of the twelve great Gods, and from them it is that the Greeks learned them." Indeed Egypt has always been early celebrated for idolatry; so CHAP. I. HISTORY OF IDOLATRY. SECT. II. ITS FIHST OBJECTS. it is represented in several places in scripture: there prevailed magick, divination, auguries, the interpretation of dreams, &c, the unhappy fruits of a superstitious worship. Even in the time of MOSES, idolatry was there at its highest pitch, which supposes a great antiquity; for, in short, it requires a considerable time before a complete system of religion can be established. MOSES even seems to have given the JEWS such a multitude of precepts, only to oppose them in every thing, to the Egyptian ceremonies: what concerns the sacrifices, the use of meats, and polity, these were established merely to keep them at a distance from the practices of that idolatrous people. From Egypt idolatry passed into Phenicia, (if idoSr7 prop?- indeed it did not begin there at the same time), gates itself thro' p rom Phenicia it was propagated to the East, Phenicia to other countries. to the places inhabited by the posterity of SHEM, ===== into Chaldea, Mesopotamia, and the places ad- jacent; and to the West, where the posterity of JAPHET fixed their residence; that is to say, in Asia minor, in Greece, and in the Isles. This is the course it is made to take by EUSEBIUS and other ancient fathers: so we are not to hearken to the Greeks, when they tell us that idolatry took its rise, either in the island of Crete under the reign of MELISSUS, or at Athens under CECROPS, or in Phrygia, since they were not acquainted with the true an- tiquity; for we are sure they had their religion and ceremonies fi'om Egypt and Phenicia, with the colonies that came to them from these ancient kingdoms, as all the learned are agreed, and as HERODOTUS expressly declares. SECTION SECOND. ITS FIRST OBJECTS. ======= AFTER having settled the most probable The opinion of r . , , , ,. Vossius viz raol idolatry, and ciscovered the places where it began; we shall now endeavour to ascertain HISTORY Ol' IDOLATRY. CHAP. I ITS FIRST OBJECTS. SECT. II. its FIRST OBJECTS If we believe the famous Vossius, the most ancient objects of idolatry were, first, the two principles, Good and E-vil; second, Spirits or Genii; third the Souls departed. We shall give the substance of what he says of each, in succession. 1st, Men seeing the world full of good and PRINCIPLES'^ evil, and not being able to conceive, that a being Good and Evil.- of essential goodness could be the author of evil, invented two corresponding divinities, equal, and eternal. They believed all good came from the GOOD PRINCIPLE, and that the BAD PRINCIPLE did all the evil he possibly could; that the latter seeing the former designed to create a world, had thwart- ed his purpose as far as he was able; that upon this ensued a sharp war between thesfc two beings, which was the thing that retarded this creation, until the moment that the GOOD PRINCIPLE got the better; that the other in revenge, hud scattered up and down in it all sorts of evils and miseries. This learned author adds, " there is no possibility of determining the precise date of this error, or who was its original author," but he looks upon it, with reason, to be very ancient. He seems of opinion elsewhere, how- ever, that this error had its rise among the Chaldeans; though the strongest probability is in favour of an Egyptian original. -" Vossius maintains, that the idolatry of the TWO loped in^thTfa- PRINCIPLES spread itself in a little time over ble of Osiris and a u Egypt, except Thebais, where the worship Typhon of Egypt; __ _ , of the true God was preserved; and he'alleges, that all that the Egyptians fabled about Osiris and Ty/ilion^ and the persecutions of the latter against his brother, ought to be understood of these TWO PRINCIPLES, and their eternal war. This, without doubt, is what that ancient people, whose whole theology was full of symbols, intended to teach us by the mys- terious fable which intimated that Osiris had shut up in an egg twelve white pyramidical figures, to denote the infinite blessings he had designed to multiply upon mankind; but that his brother Tyfihon having found a way to open this egg, had secretly con- CHAP. I. HISTORY OF IDOLATRY. SECT. II. ITS FIRST OBJECTS. veyed thither twelve other pyramids that were black > by which means evil came to be always blended with good, . . , We may add, that whatever the philosophers in t^e^ablesT'of nave sa ^ c ' concerning the GOOD and BAD PHINCI- the Phenicians, PLE; whatever the Persians have given out, of and Greeks: ; ====== ^ === their two divinities Oromasdes and Arimanius; the Chaldeans, of their benign or noxious planets; the Greeks, of their salutary or pernicious Genii; all these, I say, derive their origin from lhat ancient Egyptian theology, veiled under the fa- ble of Osiris and Tyjihon. This opinion, if we would trace it back to its true source, was owing to men having been always puzzled how to account for the introduction of evil into a world, which was the work of a God infinitely good and beneficent. As for the other fables that were there intermixed, they took their origin, no doubt, from the tradition of the combat between the good and bad angels. ' ' ~ ' Be that as it will, this opinion made vast pro- how treated by _ t u r -n ancient and mod- S ress< PYTHAGORAS brought it from Egypt, ern philosophers. an( j tnen propagated it through all Italy. The famous MANES, not to mention what other pro- gress this error made, spread it through the Christian world in the fourteenth century, where he had several disciples. S. AU- GUSTINE himself went into it for sometime, but having discover- ed its absurdity, he afterwards combated it with so much success, that it was from that time looked upon as a cause quite indespc- rate; till M. BAYLE resolved .to revive it, and to set up for the advocate of the Manicheans, whether, as is highly probable, to cut out work for the divines of all parties, or to show that the most desperate cause, by falling into able hands, may be so managed as to puzzle the greatest wits, or for some other reason which we shall not dive into; and seeing himself attacked on all hands by illustrious adversaries, he has employed all the artifice of a curious, refined sophist, to give some credit to so bad a cause. 76 HISTORY OF IDOLATRY. ClIAP. 1. ITS FIRST OBJECTS. From the idolatry of wo principles, Vossius 2d,SpiR ITS or Q ENII th e i r proceeds to that 01 SPIRITS or GENII; and he ex- worshlp. amines the causes that influenced men to -wor- ship them, of which he finds TWO; 1st, the knowledge they had of the excellency of their nature, 2cl, the surprising effects believed to be produced by them. Doubtless oracles, apparitions, and magical operations, contributed not a little to make their power and sovereignty be acknowledged. Their worship was almost every where established, especially towards the bad angels; and this to be sure is the sense of the scripture language, which calls all the Gods of the Gentiles de- mons. This sort of idolatry is still to be found in all the countries where the gospel has not been embraced, as the relations of all our missionaries attest. But here we must apply the judicious remark of M. LE CLERC, "that it is a mistake to believe, that those idolaters who worship two beings, the one benejicent and the other malicious, understand thereby the good and bad angels? as if they knew the system of the full of the one, and of the fidel- ity of the others; whereas by GENII they mean certain powers dis- persed through the world, \\ho produce in it good and e-vil" which, though similar, is not of the identity of the worship of the tivo principles. ' To the worship of Genii, Vossius joins that 3d. SOULS DE- r ... i i- i i PARTED- their SOULS DEPARTED, winch was established in se- worship, veral countries, if we credit MELA, HERODOTUS, and TERTULLIAN, especially in Africa, where those of great men were held in high veneration: but as this is the species .of idolatry that has made great progress in the world, since, as we shall shew, most of the Pagan Gods were none other than the great men who distinguished themselves among them, let us enlarge upon this point, and propose- the conjectures of a person of great ability, about the origin of this species of it. H1STOKY OF IDOLATRY. 77 ITS FIRST OBJECTS. ====== Two causes, he reckons, introduced it into the effect of two causes. first, tne wor M l st > gratitude, or the veneration they Gratitude. bore to the in ustr i ous dead: 2d,/for, or appre- hension of the evils to which we are obnoxious. 1st, Gratitude The regard they had for their ancestors, brought in the custom of funeral solemnities; their ambition to please the living, made them run out extravagantly in praising the ac- tions of the dead; panegyrics \\ere sung at their funerals, their names cried up to the skies; and, as, before the introduction of the poetical hell and elysian jields, it was the opinion, that the souls wandered in the houses and places which they had frequented during their union with the body, they erected in the most vene- rable part of the house a sort of altar, where their portraits were preserved with respect, and there they burned incense and sweet odours. They had Priests constituted to have the oversight of the worship they paid them; and hither they repaired upon pressing exigencies, to implore their assistance. A desire of continuing a lucrative service, made those Priests invent stories, where they intermixed miracles and many things supernatural, sometimes to alarm the incredulous, sometimes to animate the devout. These ministers framed romances too, upon the lives of those great men, which they concealed for a long time, and passed them upon the world afterwards for true histories: and however their contempo- raries might be proof against the cheat, those who came a long time after, had no opportunity of learning the history of those great men but from the mouths of their Priests. Every thing they saw, carrying an air of divinity, and public temples having come in the room of private chapels, it became the fashion in good earnest to honour those first men as gods. It was even dan- gerous to be prying into the original of established^ worship: it was like to have cost JE.SCHYLUS his life, that in one of his plays he was thought to have revealed somewhat of the mysteries of Ceres. Accordingly, in the temples, in those especially of Osiris, 78 HISTORY OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. I. ITS FIRST OBJECTS. SECT. II. was to be seen a statue of Harpocrates holding a finger on his mouth, to denote, as VAKKO has it, that the mystery of his life and death was prohibited to be revealed; and this was likewise the signification of the Sphinxes in the same country, placed at the entrance of the temples, as the emblem of silence. ' The second cause of this species of idolatry) ^ econt , ^ according to the same author, is, the fear of evils to which tve are liable: they had a notion, for example, that many evils were occasioned by the influence of the Stars; these were thought to be animated with SOULS DEPARTED and immortal, be- cause they saw them without alteration. Thus, the most effectual way, they thought, to obtain their favour, was to appease them whenever they believed them incensed; and from that time they began to prostrate themselves before the Sun and the Moon, and all the host of heaven, as the prophets so often upbraided the na- tions. Thus in short, religious worship was regulated according to human exigences the exigences of society introduced the wor- ship of illustrious men, those of nature that of things inanimate. M. LE CLERC alleges the most ancient spe- .R . ~ . . . , - . . ... opinion differs in cies of idolatry to be that of giving a religious favor of ANGELS, worship to ANGELS. The opinion that prevailed about their mediation between God and man, procured them certain regard out of gratitude and fear, in pro- portion to the blessings that were thought to be derived from them: then they came to pay them a worship subordinate to that of the first being; and at last they gave them full adoration, and they spared not incense nor sacrifices in order to appease them when they were thought to be out of humour. From the worship of ANGELS, according to this author, they proceeded to that of the souls of illustrious men: then, taking into their heads that those souls, when departed from bodies, were united to certain stars, which they animated, they came at last to worship those stars themselves. CHAP. I. HISTORY OF IDOLATRY. 79 ITS FIRST OBJECTS. Without entering into a critical examination MOON in" reality ^ tnese different opinions, which want not pro- were the first ob- bability, I am persuaded that idolatry beeran by jects of idolatry- . the worship of heavenly bodies, and especially of the SUN. As men could have no other reason for abandoning the true GOD, but that the idea of a being purely spiritual was defaced from their carnal minds, it is not probable they would choose men like themselves to be the first objects of their adoration; it is more likely they would cast about for such sensible objects as bore the character of the Divinity, whose idea they had not en- tirely lost, and which might be a more significant symbol of HIM. Now nothing was more capable of seducing them than the hea- venly bodies, and the SUN especially: his beauty, the bright splen- dour of his beams, the rapidity of his course, exulta-vit ut gigas ad currendam -viam; his regularity in enlightening the whole earth by turns, and in diffusing light and fertility all around, essential characters of the Divinity, who is HIMSELF the light and source of every thing that exists; all these were but too capable of im- pressing the gross minds with a belief, that there was no other God but the SUN, and that this splendid luminary was the throne of the Divinity. Indeed they saw nothing that bore more marks of Divinity than the SUN We cannot therefore question the an- tiquity of the worship of the SUN and other luminaries : and if there was occasion for adding authority to such natural arguments, I should have upon my side not only several great men who have been of the same mind, but also almost all the Rabbins, and espe- cially the learned MAIMONIDES, who, in his treatise upon the ori- gin of idolatry, thinks it began in this manner, and that before the deluge. "' Considering what ignorance men -were in as according to the _ , _, opinion of MAI- to tne nature of the true GOD, says that learned Rabbi, nothing must needs have struck them more than the sight of the SUN and MOON. Men 80 HISTORY OP IDOLATRY. CHAP. I. ITS FIRST OBJECTS. SECT. II. never lost sight ot this principle, that the Divinity essentially com- prehends sufircme beauty; and not having sufficient lights to rise to the idea of an immaterial and invisible PRINCIPLE, they found nothing more amiable in nature than these luminaries. Gratitude, natural enough to men when they receive a benefit, fortified them still more in the same persuasion: they could not doubt that the SUN was the source of fertility, that it was to his heat they ought to ascribe the fruitfulness of the earth, which without the warm- ing influences of his beams, would be but a barren mass, without trees and without fruits. The regular motions and revolutions of the celestial spheres, soon persuaded them that the STARS were animated: and this error has found but two many partisans. Even learned men and philosophers came to espouse this opinion, es- pecially the Platonics, and PLATO, their master. It was from that philosophy, PHILO the Jew derived his doctrine, that the STARS are so many souls incorruptible and immortal. It was upon the principles of this same doctrine, that ORIGEN laboured to estab- lish the same opinion. S. AUGUSTINE seems to waver in his senti- ments about this matter; but he afterwards retracts. There is a good deal of probability that it was likewise ARISTOTLE'S senti- ment; for however some of his commentators say, he only gives the STARS intelligences, to direct them, yet there are others of them who hold, that he looked upon these intelligences as the internal and essential forms of the STARS. ' EUSEBIUS delivers his thoughts more clearly and according 1 to the opinion of upon this article: " That man, says he, in the _ first and earliest times, never dreamed either of erecting temples, or idols, having neither painting at that time, nor the potter's art, nor sculpture, nor masonry, nor architecture, is, I suppose, what every thinking man evidently sees: but over and above all these, they had not so much as heard of those gods and heroes so renowned since; and that they had then neither Ju- piter, Saturn, Neptune, Juno, Minerva, Bacchus, nor any other CHAP. I. HISTORY OF IDOLATRY. 81 SECT. II. ITS FIRST OBJECTS. God, male or female, such as have been found in latter times by thousands both among Greeks and barbarians; finally, that there was no Demon, whether good or bad, whom men revered; but that they adored the STARS only, we are told by the Greeks them- selves. Moreover that the STARS themselves were not honoured as they ai-e now by animal sacrifices, nor by rites of worship since invented, is a fact that depends not upon our single testimo- ny, but is attested by the Pagans themselves." . , . ' I might subjoin the authority of profane au- which is confirm- ed by profane au- thors, who have been of the same opinion; but ' I content myself with two testimonies; one from DIODORUS SICULUS, who says, " men in earlier times, struck with the beauty of the universe, with the splendor and regularity which every where shines forth, made no doubt but there was some divinity who therein presided, and they adored the SUN and MOON under the names of Osiris and Isis." Hereby this learned author gives us to understand, that the worship of the STARS was the commencement of idolatry, and that Egypt was the place where it began. The other is that of PLATO, if indeed he be the author of the dialogues, intitled Efiinomis, where we have these words: " the first inhabitants of Greece, as I conjecture, ac- knowledged no other gods but those which are at this very day the gods of the barbarians, namely, the SUN, the MOON, the earth the stars, and the heavens." But nothing proves so much the antiquity of also, inferable from its prohibi- this kind of idolatry, as the care MOSES took to tion by MOSES; prohibh h . u take heed> says he to the l srae li tes , lest, when you lift up your eyes to heaven, and see the SUN, the MOON, and all the STARS, you be seduced and drawn away to pay worship and adoration to the creatures, which the Lord your GOD has made for the service of all the nations under heaven." On which R. LEVI BEN GERSON remarks, that Moses mentions the SUN* before the other STARS, because his beauty and usefulness are 82 HISTORY OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. I. ITS FIRST OBJECTS. SECT. II. more apt to seduce, than they. As it was after their depar- ture out of Egypt, and when the Jews were yet in the desert, GOD indited to them this precept of the law, there is the highest ground to believe, that it was to make them forget the Egyptian superstitions of this nature, and to guard them against being drawn into those of the other nations, whom they were very soon to be among; for this worship was at that time spread over all, the East, as we shall shew presently, and this is the reason why JOB, to testify his innocence, says: if I beheld the SUN when he shined, or the MOON walking in her brightness; if my heart has been tickled with a secret joy, and I have put my hand to my mouth to kiss it; this also is the height of iniquity, even a renunci- ation of the most high God." - In the last place we observe, it is with a view and from the po- sition of the Pa- to acknowledge the divinity of the SUN, that the San temples. Pagans i n prayer turne d to the East, and had all their temples directed to that quarter; whereas the Jews, that they might not imitate them, were always in the habit of turning their sanctuary towards the West. The primitive Christians likewise used to turn their churches towards the rising SUN, not to adore that luminary, but to pay their devotion to " the Son of righteousness, who diffuses light over the mind, and warms the hearts of those who worship him, by the influences of his grace." ' ' Authors are not agreed as to- the place where Their worship commenced in the worship of the SUN was introduced; some 1 hold it was in Chaklea, because that ancient peo- ple were always addicted to astronomy, and were the first who observed the motion of the Stars; as if it required astronomical observations to be capable of admiring the SUN, and knowing its influences, when indeed we need but open our eyes, to be struck with his glory and his beauty. It is much more probable, that Egypt, which I but just now proved to have been the nursery of idolatry, was the place where the SUN began to be worshipped tin- CHAP. I. HISTORY OF IDOLATRY. 83 SECT. II. ITS FIRST OBJECTS. der the name of Osiris. From Egypt, this idolatry was spread through the neighbouring countries, or rather through the world, since this luminary has been the divinity of every nation, even those that are most barbarous, under different names as we shall see in the sequel. '" Every body knows that MACROBIUS under- and to them MAC- , , ,, , /-, , r n ROBIUS reduces takes to prove, that an the (jrods or Paganism all the Pagan de- roay b e reduced to the SUN. This author allows ities. the poets the honour of having followed the sen- timents of the philosophers, especially in reuniting all the divi- nities in the SUN, who, being the ruler of the other orbs, whose influences act upon this lower world, must of consequence be the author of the universe. This same author, and after him Vossius, reduced almost all the divinities of the feminine sex to the MOON; who were only formed from the Egyptian goddess Isia, whose name imports ancient, and who was among that people, the sym- bol of the MOON; and here, without doubt, we have the FIRST OBJECTS of idolatry, and the foundation of the whole pagan the- ology. From the adoration of the SUN and MOON, they went to that of the other stars, especially of the planets, whose influences were more sensible; in a word, they worshipped the whole host of heaven. And this sort of idolatry which has the stars and filan- ets for the objects of its worship, goes under the name of Sabism. As to what may have given rise to this denomination, the learned are not agreed among themselves; the thing at bottom is of no great consequence: but what is more essential to be known, is, that this sect is the most ancient of all, as cannot be doubted. ====== There are learned men of opinion, that the calletlSaWsm.the anc J ent philosophers, those especially of Chal- most universal, & dea had g i ven the handle for Sabitm. It is true, of the longest du- ration, indeed, that they reason a great deal about the "^ = ^ ======== Stars; about their influences, and their beauty: perhaps too they believed them to be eternal beings, and conse- 84 HISTORY OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. J. ITS PROGRESS TO SYSTEM. SECT. III. quently so many divinities, or at least that there were gods who resided in them, and regulated their courses and influences. They even gave out, and it is a very ancient opinion, that the body of the star was no more than the vehicle, or a sort of machine, that served to carry the gods who conducted it: but what occasion was there for such refined reasoning, to influence gross and car- nal men to address their first prayers to those luminous and re- splendent bodies? Was it not enough for them to turn their eyes towards the SUN, to behold how he both enlightens the world, and communicates to it heat and fertility, in order to judge that he was the parent of nature, that by him it was vivified, and without him would be nothing but a lifeless expanse, without light, and without any production, as we noted before? All the savage na- tions, who worshipped the SUN, even the Mexicans, the Peruvi- ans, and other savages of America, did they wait for the decision of philosophers to teach them to prefer their vows and prayers to this luminary? But be'that as it will, Sabism is to be looked upon as the most ancient sect in the pagan world. It arose not long after the deluge, since it was known to ABRAHAM'S ancestors, to TERAH and SERUG, and perhaps before them too. This is the sect which has made the greatest progress; I have mentioned the different nations that adopted it; and if we believe the most learn- ed Rabbins^ and the eastern authors, almost the whole world has been infected by it. In fine, of all the sects, this has been of the longest duration, since there are numbers of idolaters who still adhere to it. SECTION THIRD. ITS PS O Git ESS TO SYSTEM. THE first race of men, some time after their General re- ,. marks. dispersion, were extremely rude; even the Greeks, who became afterwards so polite, were CHAP. I. HISTORY OP IDOLATRY. 85 SEC. III. ITS PROGRESS TO SYSTliM. they were wont to call barbarians. We are not therefore to ima- no better at first, if we credit DIODORUS SICULUS, than those whom gine that idolatry, in its first setting out, was a studied system; that theology was then encumbered with that apparatus of cere- monies they added to it in aftertimes. Nothing could be more sim- ple, nor at the same time more gross, than the religion of the primitive Idolaters. They were at little or no charge either to represent their Gods, or pay them a religious worship. But Idola- try did not long remain in this simple state. Various causes, as time progressed, perhaps totally independent of sincere devotion, gradually enlisted along with the Sun, the Moon, and the Stars, nearly all the objects of the physical and animal world the Elements, the Rivers , the Mountains, on the one hand; with va- rious living animals down to the meanest insect, and the souls of the departed, on the other. And thus far, their ideal Divinities were founded upon objects that had a real existence. But, a fruit- ful imagination actuated by a rage for the mult-plication of the objects of a depraved worship, did not permit them to stop here. They not only deified the noble virtues, but every intermediate measure of moral quality down to the basest-vice: They not only bestowed divine honours upon the most dignified of humanfunc- tions, but extended those honours to the most degrading offices that human oppression or corruption can devise till at last it as- sumed the form of an universal system, whose parts, though at first physically founded and simple, were now perhaps ninety-nine in the hundred Poetical distortions and exaggerations of true history, or purely fabulous, and proportionally complicated, not to say occasionally impenetrably mysterious. We will proceed in this SECTION,./?;^, to examine into the principal Causes of this fabulous extension of the Pagan worship; and then, secondly, to enumerate the Deities of that worship in its full latitude, whether their prototype or original be physical, animal, or souls departeds 'whether they be virtues or vices; or whether they be dignified L 86 HISTORY OF IDOLATRY. CHA*. I. ITS PROGRESS TO SYSTEM. SEC. III. functions, or degrading offices. But I will be in no danger of being understood to insinuate that these objects of Idolatry were insti- tuted in succession, in classes, as I shall enumerate them; for it is equally doubtless that each class \vas yet increasing while ano- ther was not perfected, as it is evident that physical objects were the first, and abstract qualities the last that received Divine ho- nours. Nor will we be understood to attribute all the causes of Fable to the poets, who truly, as the earliest among the profane historians, contributed a very abundant share together with the painters and sculptors; for there were many other fruitful causes with which these artists co-operated only as instruments. We shall, forthwith, see more particularly how the case is! for we shall treat the subject somewhat at length, as the perspicuity of all Mythology materially rests thereon. -- Ignorance in philosophy, and especially in fihy- T * 8 sicS) ' ias S^ ven " se to many fables. That curiosi- M GICAL FABLES, ty, which is so natural to men, has always deter- First, Ignorance . in Physics. mined them to seek alter the causes ot astomsh- 1 ing events; and in the barbarous ages, when so little advancement had been made in the knowledge of nature, Ihey had recourse to gross and sensible representations: they gave life to every physical thing: here was an admirable expedient for shortening their enquiries; as nothing is more easy than to refer effects, whose principles are unknown, to some visible rse. They proceeded, through length of time, to deify these objects; which they represented in human form: the Sun was worshipped under the name of djiollo, and the Moon under that of Diana. A dread of their influences, which are thought to extend to all things here below, was certainly the cause of their deification, and of that worship which was introduced in order to appease their imaginary resentment. The priests, for that purpose, in- vented stories, and published apparitions of their pretended Dei- ties, and thereby kept up a gainful worship. They made people believe;, for example, that Diana, had fallen in love with Endy- CHAP. I. HISTORY OF IDOLATRY. 87 SEC. III. ITS PROGRESS TO SYSTEM. mion, and that the cause of her eclipses, was owing to the inter- views she had with her gallant on the mountains of Caria; but as ill luck would have it, these amours could not last forever, and this put them upon the hard shift of accounting for her eclipses another way. They gave out that sorceresses^ especially those of Thessaly, where poisonous plants were common*, had power by their enchantments to draw down the Moon to the Earth. In like manner, as they were unacquainted with the causes of the winds, they believed, that boisterous Deities raised such commo- tions in the Earth and Sea; and to check their daring insults, they set over them a superior Deity. Thus jEolus, for reasons to be given in his history, was appointed their king. Every river and fountain had also a tutelar Deity; and whether it was the rivers got the names of theirs;" kings who inhabited the country through which they ran, or whether it was the kings were named from the rivers, in a course of years they came to be confounded together, and they made a Divinity of the prince, for the sake of the river. Had they occasion to talk about the Rainbow, whose nature they knew nothing of, they forged a Divinity of it; its beauty made it pass for the daughter of Thaumas, a poetical personage, whose name signifies marvellous; and because, in all appearance, they had learned from the traditional accounts of the Deluge, that God had set forth the rainbow as a token of reconciliation, hence they looked upon their Iris as the messenger of the Gods, and of Juno especially, because the rainbow declares the disposition of the air, which that Goddess represents. The very name of Iris was given her, if we will take PLATO'S word for it, to point out her employment. In this manner were formed several physical Divinities, and so many astronomical fables. What wretched phi- losophy this was! But it was the best they had; and when it came of course to the Poets' turn to embellish those gross ideas, with * By reason of the foam Cerberus had dropt there, when he was brought from Hell by Hercules, according to another fable. 88 HISTORY OP IDOLATRY. CHAP. I. ITS PROGRESS TO SYSTEM. SEC. III. all the ornaments their MUSE so fertile in invention could furnish them with, men become so fond of considering nature only under these captivating images, that it was a considerable time before they so much as dreamed of carrying their discoveries to any greater length. What is worst of all, religion was concerned in this system; every new Divinity brought in a load of ceremonies; and those who pretended to see with their own eyes, were looked upon as impious. Thus the unfortunate ANAXAGORAS was pu- nished with death, for having taught that the Sun was not anima- ted, and that it was nothing but a mass of red hot iron, about the bigness of the Peloponnesus. From the whole, we may conclude, that they are in the right, who thought a part of the ancient phi- losophy was couched under their fables; but then they must needs own it was a philosophy of a gross nature, and a system founded on the report of the senses, and suc/i as might have entered into the imagination of a clown. . Many of the learned in the last age, and some Scripture/ &c^ * n lne present, have alleged, that most of the misunderstood. fables derived their origin from the Sacred Books not well understood; and that the traditions of the chosen fieofile, preserved in Phenicia, Egypt, and the other adja- cent countries, adulterated in process of time, had given rise to vast many fables. They add farther, that colonies having come from the countries bordering upon Palestine, and settled in the islands of the Mediterranean, and in Greece, had brought thither these traditions thus disfigured, and that they were still more viti- ated afterwards by the additional fictions of the poets; in fine, that the Patriarchs, especially those who lived after the deluge, Abra- ham, Jacob, Esau, Moses, and some others, were the first Gods of the Pagan world; and that their illustrious achievements, their con- quests, and laws, had influenced the people to deify them. Among these learned authors, we may reckon the famous BOCHAUT, GERAND Vossius, HUETIUS, THOMASSIN, &c. It is agreed, that Mwsand Joshua were well known, not only in Egypt and Pheni- CHAP. I. HISTORY OF IDOLATRY. SEC. III. ITS PROGRESS TO SYSTEM. cia, but likewise in several other countries; that the last especially having carried his conquests a great way into Palestine, spread such a terror over the coast of Syria, that several, it is thought, shipped themselves off with their goods for foreign parts, rather than come under his dominion; that some of them came as far as the confines of the ocean, where, asweure assured, they set up pillars with this inscription, we are the persons ivhojledfar shelter from that robber Joshua the son of A'un. It is likewise certain, that Inachus, Cecrofis, Danaus, Cadmus, and some others, came out of Egypt and Phenicia, and introduced their respective colonies into Greece, and the neighbouring isles; and probably, having their heads full of the exploits of those great men, they would reUearse them to the inhabitants of the country; and the Greeks, fond of the pompous and supernatural, would be sure to make use of them for the embellishing the history of their heroes in aftertimes. As a proof of it, the accounts of Hercules especially and Bacchus, are thought to agree in many things with the history of those famous Israelites. Accordingly, very curious parallels have been drawn: a celebrated prelate has even gone the length of confounding all the heroes in fable with those of the bible, and finds in Moses alone the origin of Afiolh, Priapus, Esculafiius, Prometheus, Tire- sias, Tyfihon, Perseus, Orpheus, Janus, Adonis, and numbers of others; and in Zififiorah the wife of Moses, or in Miriam his sis- ter, he finds almost all the Goddesses, as Astarte, Venus, Cydele, Ceres, Diana, the Muses, the Destinies, 8cc. And another learned author even alleges that HOMER, in his poems, has given a histo- ry of the scripture heroes under borrowed names. In fine, some years ago this very ancient opinion has been revived by two au- thors, who have carried it yet farther than any I have named. The first is M. DE LAVAUX, in a piece enti.led, comparison of fable inith sacred history; who, to give greater weight to his opinion, quotes two of the fathers, and some ecclesiastical writers, by whom it was maintained before him; these are, Justin, Grigen, Tertullian, Minutius Felix^ Cyril, drnobius, Lactantius, St.Augus- 90 HISTORY OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. i. ITS PROGRESS TO SYSTEM. SEC. III. tine, Thcodoret, St. ~4ttwnanius, Philo, Josephua, and others. The second is M. FOURMONT, of the Academy of Belles Lettres, in his critical reflections upon the history of ancient nations. As this learned Academic understands ancient languages to the bottom, he is the man who has enlarged most upon this subject; and he has applied, with much exactness, to the Patriarchs, the characters of the first men drawn by SANCHONIATHON: he finds so great affinity between their names, and those given them in Scripture, and the characters and actions so nearly resembling what is there said of them, that it is often pretty difficult to hold out against his argument. Farther, says he in his preface, can one be blamed for following a multitude of authors, all of them eminent either for knowledge or piety, and for endea- vouring to find in the patriarchs the Gods whom the Pagan world revered Saturn in Noah, Pluto in Shem,Jufiiter Hammon in Cham, Nefitune in Japhet, as BOCHAHT has made out; Belua and Jupiter in Nimrod, as others have maintained; Minerva in the idea we have of the Trinity, which is the opinion of father TOUR- NEMINE the Jesuit; Apollo in Jubal, with father THOMASSIN; and so of the rest? Besides, continues he, nothing is more advantage- ous to religion than this opinion; and in the same way HUETIUS delivers himself upon the subject. However great an esteem I have for these great men, I can never be induced to think that any wrong use the poets could make of the Old Testament, was capable of producing such a heap of fables, as is alleged: for, in the first place, the Jews were a people greatly contemned by their neighbours, little known to distant nations, and extremely jealous of their Law and their Ceremonies, which they concealed from strangers, as being profane in their eyes, even at a time when they were obliged to live among them. In like manner, granting the miracles wrought by God in Egypt in the time of MOSES to have been published, yet it is very unlikely that they who reported them to the Greeks, would have any great value for a man who must have been so odious to them: I make no doubt but they gave the CHAP. I. HISTORY OF IDOLATRY. 91 SEC. III. ITS PROGRESS TO SYSTEM. preference even to their own Magicians; or rather, would they not do all that in them lay, to cut off the very memory of a man who had plagued them so much? Farther, shall we contradict all anci- ent history, and the most authentic monuments which mention the heroes of Greece, their names, their parentage, and the place of their nativity, to believe upon the authority of a few trifling ety- mologists, or some slight traces of resemblance, that they were only copied from MOSES? Might not several similar events have happened in different places? Might not Agamemnon have thought of sacrificing his daughter Ifihigeflia, under the apprehension of losing the command of a fine army, without any necessity of con- founding this event with Jefithu's sacrifice, whatever resemblance we may find between the two princesses in their name and the time when they lived? The same may be said of Deucalion's de- luge; of Minerva sprung from Jufiiter's drain; and some other fa- bles, that seem to have an affinity with scripture truths. Is it impossible to see the same events return upon the theatre of the world? Will there not always be sacrifices made to ambition? Will not murders, parricides, &c. be seen every day? So true it is, that one perfectly acquainted with the history of past ages, would see a variety of things as recurring only, which have already come about more than once. After all, if there be an affinity between fables and the history of MOSES or of SAMPSON, it is only to be con- sidered as a remnant of tradition, which nothing has been able to deface. There is no denying, for instance, that the resemblance of the universal deluge, preserved among all nations, has contributed to the embellishing of Deucalion's; that some circumstances have been borrowed from JVoah's history, to that of Saturn and his chil- dren, who lived shortly after; especially with respect to the divi- sion of the world, as also in some other things: but to think almost all the fables may be accounted for by that pretended abuse of MOSES'S books, is to grope in the dark Are men really in earnest when they tell us, the transformation* of Proteus were invented merely for what the scripture says of Moses's rod ? That Mercury 92 HISTORY OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. I. ITS PROGRESS TO SYSTEM. SEC. III. was taken for the messenger of the Gods, and the confidant in their amours from nothing else but the story of Canaan's curiosity^ which drew down NOAH'S curse upon him? That the history of the Muses has no other foundation but the corruption of Moses's name? and that they ascribed to them the invention of dancing and music only because Miriam, whom the Greeks might pos- sibly call Musa, sung a song to a dance? That the fable which speaks of Mercury's conducting the souls into Hell is founded upon Moses's causing the earth to swallow up Dathan and Abiram? That Euristheus prosecuting Herculesis Moses giving Joshua the management? That Vulcan falling from Heaven is Moses coming down from the mount? That Hercules' combat with Ache- lous is the passing over the Jordan? That Prometheus loosed from mount Caucasus by Hercules is Moses's praying upon the mount while Joshua is defeating the Arnalekites? If one was to refine upon every minute resemblance, I too might say, that the clog which knew Ulysses upon his return to Ithaca is the same with the dog of Tobit, which caressed his young master upon his return to Raguel: that Achilles's discourse to his horse is in imi- tation of Balaam's conversation with his Ass: that the expedition of the Argonauts is but a diversified relation of Abraham's jour- neyings, and those of the Israelites in the desart: that the story of Philemon and Baucis is that of Abraham and Sarah, or of Lot and his wife: that the fable of Niobe and her childrenis a copy of Job's afflictions; as that of Lasmedon, and of the Gods who built Troy is the history of Laban and Jacob: that the story of Orion- is drawn from that of Jacob and Surah; and so of a world of others 1 could name, which however, is not such easy matter to firove. Farther, if there be such a perfect conformity between the heroes of the bible and the heroes iu fable, why do our most celebrated authors differ among themselves? Why is Mercury, according to BOCHART the same with Canaan, and in HUETIUS the same with Moses? How comes the one to tell us Hercules is Sampson, and the other that he is Joshua? The one that Noah is Saturn, and the CHAP. I. HISTORY OF IDOLATRY. 93 SEC. III. ITS PROGRESS TO SYSTEM. other that he is Abraham? This variety of opinions is a strong pre- sumption against the hypothesis of the learne'd moderns: it must also be owned that however studied these comparisons be, of which ^ their books are full, there are still some things there which are but mere suppositions, to say no worse. Should the learned author, who, in examining the annals of China, found a considerable re- semblance between one of their emperors and one of the kings of France in name, disposition, and manners, take it into his head, that either the king of France must have been the emperor of China, or the Chinese monarch king of France, 1 would fain know what reception he would expect from the world? There is no- thing so arbitrary as the etymologies ofnumes we may often .read of, and the interpretation of them is wholly in the power of fancy. I am of opinion, that ORPHEUS and others travelled into Egypt, in that very period when the Israelites dwelt there; but at the same time, I believe they got more information from thence in the per- nicious science of magic, or at least in the vain superstitions of that idolatrous people, than in (he knowledge of the true GOD, whatever several of the learned, after S. JUSTIN, have thought on that head; and besides, we have nothing remaining of this OR- PHEUS. In what, I pray you, do those who travel into foreign countries take care to be informed, if it is not in their religion, laws, and customs? Do they not consult the Priests and Doctors of the country, rather than those of a people under captivity, hated persecuted, and withal not very forward to reveal their mysteries to strangers? I dont indeed deny, that those ancient poets were acquainted with several TRUTHS, as the unity of the Godhead, the immortality of the soul, the punishments of Hell, the rewards of Pa- radise; TRUTHS which notwithstanding that afifiaratus of fictions, with which they are dressed up, are conspicuous in severul places of their works: but are we therefore to believe they borrowed them from our INSPIRED WRITINGS? Are they not rather the precious M 94 HISTORY OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. I. ITS PROGRESS TO SYSTEM. SEC. III. remains of tradition, which nothing can deface; sparks of reason and nature's light, which are, to use TERTULHAN'S words, 'the testimony of a soul naturally Christian?' In a word, they are the s eeds of eternal truth, that remained rooted in the mind of man) in his primitive state of innocence, and had the GOD OF NATURE for their author as well as the Sacred Books, We may add, that fables having taken their rise but a few ages after the deluge, when there was still a recent enough tradition of what had happened, even before NOAH, it is pretty probable that they who followed them, would be sure to adopt some strokes of those ancient truths. Thus the Chaos, the golden age, and many other fables are copied from the account MOSES gives of the Creator, the state of innocence and the ha/ifiy society primitive mortals lived in. But as to those numberless circumstances, wherein THOMASSIN and after him the author of Homer Hebraizing, find MOSES and that ancient poet agreeing together; I am of opinion, they would not have seen quite so many, unless they had been favourably disposed to Jind them. Let us then leave Greece in the possession of her heroes and heroism, and content ourselves with saying, that however there are some fables whose original is owing to that Pagan practice of perverting scripture and tradition; yet the number of such is- not so great, as is commonly believed. " '" A more plentiful source of fables, and more Third, l^no-- ,. ...... ranee of Chrono- favourable to their introduction, is the ignorance logy and ancient of chronology and ancient history. As it was very History. ' late before they came to have the use of letters, especially .in Greece, several ages passed, during which they had no other way of preserving the memory of remarkable events but by tradition, or at best by some monuments, which in time be- came very ambiguous. Even, when they began to use writing, their first compositions were not connected histories, but enco- miums, songs, and genealogies, stuffed with fables, which the priests took pains to dress up in the manner already hinted; in- CHAP J HISTORY OF IDOLATRY. 95 SEC. III. ITS PROGRESS TO SYSTEM. somuch, that nothing was to be found but confusion over all; and even such as were inclined to see farther into the history of anti- quity, after tracing back about three or four generations, found themselves in the labyrinth of the history of the 1 Godsj where they were every moment stumbling upon Jupiter, Saturn, Ccelus, and Tellus. The Greeks especially had no farther account to give of their original; this was the limiting point of their whole tradi- tion, even among persons of better understanding. As for others, they innocently gave out, that their ancestors had sprung from the earth like mushrooms, or pismires in the forest of Egina, or from Cadmus's dragon's teeth. However, as they were fond of being thought ancient, like most other nations, they forged a fabu- lous history of imaginary kings, Gods, and heroes, that never had a being: and when they wanted to speak of the early times, about which they had got a few hints fiom the colonies that had settled among them, they only substituted fable in the room of true his- tory. If the creation of the world was the point in question cut came the fable of a C/iaos: if it was about the first inventors of arts, instead of Adam and Cain, who were the first that cultivated the ground they ascribed the whole honour of the invention to Ceres and Triptolemus; Pan, according to them, instead of Abel, was the first that led a pastoral life; to Apollo was given the invention of music whereas it is Jubal'a invention\>y right: Vulcan with his Cyclops, passed for him who had taught to forge iron and other metals, in place of Tubal-Cain: Bacchus, with them, was the God of the vine, which Noah dressed; substituting at every moment their modern divinities, in room of the ancient patriarchs, whom we learn from Scripture to have been the first and true inventors of arts. They were mere children, as ARISTOTLE taxes them, whenever they had occasion to speak of remote times. They were even so weak as to believe, that it was their colonies who had peopled all the other countries, and derived the names of such of them as they knew, from .the names of their heroes. Thus Eu 96 HISTORY OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. I. ITS PROGRESS TO SYSTEM. SEC. III. rope was derived from Euro/ia the sister of Cadmus; Asia from the mother of Prometheus; Africa from the daughter of Efiajihc; Armenia from drmenus; Media from Medus; the Persians from Perseus; and So of others: not knowing that such names were given to places at their being first inhabited, as denoted the quali- ties of the country or the manners and customs of the people who came to it, as the learned BOCHART proves. Thus Europe got the name from the whiteness of its inhabitants, 8cc. Indeed the smallest ambiguities gave rise to a fable. PLUTARCH, in the life of LYCURGUS, tells us, upon the authority of an ancient, that dpollo having given some Cretans a Dolphin for their guide, they came to Phocis, where they built the town Cyrra: we plainly see they had been conveyed thither in a shift named the Dolphin. Whenever they had occasion to find out the origin of towns and the founders of them, it was always some hero, a son of some of their Gods. The city of Cyparisso in Phocis, was environed with cypress trees, whence it had the name; and that of Daulis in the same country, was also encompassed with trees, whence its name was borrowed: these originals were too simple, they chose ra- ther to have recourse to one Cyparisaus^ and to the pretended Duulis a tyrant, who gave their names to these two cities. Lijco- reus had built that of Lycoreus upon the Parnassus, which had got its name from the many wolves that were there. We might add here an infinite number of examples, but these may suffice for what I have just now advanced. So that it is not among the Greek writers we are to seek for the origin of ancient nations^ nor other monuments of antiquity; they did nothing but copy from the Egyptians and other Eastern people, who had themselves filled their ancient history vt\\\\ fables. It is therefore in the Sacred Scripture that the truth of antiquity must be sought after: the profane historians commence only at the time of EZRA, that is, the last of the sacred historians, unless you take in the author of the Maccabees. HOMER himself, and HESIOD, their most ancient CHAP. I. HISTORY OF IDOLATRY. 97 SEC. III. ITS PROGRESS TO SYSTEM. poets, and their greatest divines too, lived not till a long time af- ter the war of Troy. As for DARES the Phrygian, DICTYS of Crete, and some others, granting they were not fictitious authors, as they really were, they must have lived but about the time of the Trojan war, a period corresponding to the time of the Judges; and would still have been much later than the events recorded by MOSES. So that the Greeks were far from being instructed in the history of the times a little farther back, and their history never had any shew of probability, till the time of the Olym/riads, before which VARRO owns, there is nothing to be seen in it but confusion and c/iimteras. But to clear up this whole matter, and to ascer- tain the time when fables arose, we must distinguish three sorts of time; the times unknown, the fabulous, and the historical. The Jirst, the times unknown, which are as it were the infancy and nonage of the world, comprehended what had passed from the Chaos, or rather from the creation, to the deluge of Ogyges, which fell out towards the 1600th year before Christ. The second, the fabulous times, take in a series of events from this deluge until the first Olympiad, where the third division called historical time, begins. It is proper to remark, that this famous division made by VARRO, has a regard only to the Greek history; for not only the Israelites, but even the Egyptians and Phenicians, had some knowledge of the earliest times, by mfans of tradition and annals, though often dashed with fables: butjjjiere we have*o do only with the Greeks, who had but a very confused knowledge of the first ages of the world; and it is within the compass of the se- cond period that we are to place the origin of that prodigious number of fables we find dispersed through their poets. It must however be acknowledged, that all the ages of the fabulous pe- riod, were not equally fruitful in fables and heroism: without doubt, the one that has furnished us with the greatest stock of them, was that of the siege of Troy. That famous city was twice taken; the first time by Hercules; and 30 or 35 years after, that is *b HISTORY OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. L ITS PROGRESS TO SYSTEM. SEC. III. to say, the year before Christ 1282, by the Grecian army, under the conduct of dgumemnon. At the time of its being first taken, we see upon the stage, Telamon, Hercules, Theseus, Jason, Or- pheus, Castor and Pollux, and all those other heroes of the golden jftecce. At the second siege appear the sons or grandsons of the former, Agamemnon, Menelaus, Achilles, Diomede, Ajax, Hector^ Paris, JEneas, 8cc.; and in the time which intervened between these two epochs, happened the two wars of Thebes, where ap- peared Adrastus, QLdi/ius, Etheocles, Polynices, Cafifianeus, and numbers of others, the eternal subjects of poetical fables: Happy age for poems and tragedies! Accordingly the theatres of Greece have a thousand times resounded with these illustrious names. To which we may add, that those of the present time ring with them every day; insomuch that the heroes of our own age, who often deserve the name better than those of antiquity, dare not appear there but under borrowed names. Nor is this the thing that surprises most; no, it is to see the Divinities of Pagan fashion introduced every day upon our stages: despicable Divinities! ex" . hibiting in Christian cities the hideous representation of their de- baucheries; insomuch that one is doubly shocked, to see ancient idolatry revived there with all the pomp and pageantry it former- ly wore at Athens or Rome, and to think on the dangerous lessons our youth imbibe from a system of mere Pagan morality. Ignorance of languages, the Phenician espe- rance' of'langua- cially, has also been a source of an infinite deal es - of fables. It is certain that several countries in Greece were peopled by colonies from Pheni- cia; whose language, without doubt, would mix itself with that of the countries they came into; and as the Phenician language has many equivocal words, the Greeks, who in aftertimes read their ancient history, which abounded with Phenician idioms, finding therein these equivocal -words, were sure to explain them in a sense that was most to their taste. There is even little room to doubt, CHAP. 1. HISTORY OP IDOLATRY. SEC. III. ITS PROGRESS TO SYSTEM. but that the Phenicians, knowing what stroi g propensity they had towards fictions, would impose upon their credulity as often as they were consulted. This was the origin of numberless fables; of which the following are examples, most of them taken from Hoc HART. The word Alfiha, or Ilfiha, in the Phenician lan- guage, signifying either a bull or a shift; the Greeks instead of saying Murofia had been conveyed in a ship into Crete, gave out that Jufiiter, transformed into. a bull, had carried her off. In the same language, the Phenicians call themselves Heveens, or Achi- viens; and as the word Chi-va signifies a serfient, the Greeks lighting upon it in the annals of Cadmus, feigned the story of that prince's being changed into a serpent. And from the word Sir, which imports a song, they have made up the fable of Sirens. Molus had never passed among them for the god of the winds and tempests, but for the word Mol, or Choi, which signifies a tem- pest. That fable, which says the shiji of the Argonauts sfwke, and that Minerva had set at the helm one of the oaks of the forest of Dodona, that gave oracular responses, owes its origin likewise to a double entendre in the Phenician tongue, where the same word signifies, to sfieafc, and to govern a shift. From the word Moun, or Man, which imports vice, they have made thfe God Momus, the censor of the faults of men. The fable of the famous fountain of Castalia, in Bceotia, takes its rise in like manner from an equivocal sourtd; for, as it runs with a murmuring noise that appeared to have something singular, and the effect of its water being to disorder the imagination of those who drank it, they fan- cied at first it communicated the gift of firofihecy; and when the question was, how it came by this virtue, they invented this fable: A nymfih, say they, was beloved by Afiollo; while the god was one day in pursuit of her, she threw herself into this fountain; Afiollo, as a consolation for his mistress, imparted to the water the gift of firofihecy. Had the Greeks understood the Hebrew language, they might easily have seen that the word Casfalia, comes from 100 HISTORY OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. I. ITS PROGKESS TO SYSTEM. SEC. III. Castala, which signifies noi-e; nor would they have run into such ridiculous fables, the ordinary resort of their ignorance. We have much the same account to give of the origin of the fountain Hippocrene, which, they say, sprung forth upon Pegasus's striking his foot against mount Helicon, because the word Pigran, whence comes Hififiigrana, and them e Hippocrene, imports to spring from the earth. The fable of the fountain Arethusa and Alpheus her lover, so well described by OVID., has its foundation in nothing else but such a poor quibble. The Phenicians, upon their arri- val in Sicily, seeing that fountain environed with willows, named it perhaps Alphaga, as much as to say, the fountain of ivillows* The Greeks who landed afterwards in the same place, not under- standing the signification of the word, and calling to mind their river Alpheus, imagined, that since \\\Q fountain and the river had nearly the same name, they must have had the same original too; and upon this, some sprightly wit made up the romance of the amours between the god uf the river and the n'ymjih Arethusa. Almost all the succeeding historians were befooled by this fable, and gravely told that Alpheus sunk under ground, crossed the sea, and re-appeared in the island of Sicily, nigh to the fountain of Arethusa. One and the same Phoenician root of the word Nahhasch might easily stand for a keeper, or a dragon: wluen they read any history where this word occurred, to denote the keeper of something of value, they were sure to say it was a dragon. Hence all those fables of the famous dragons, whom they set to keep the garden of the Hesperides, the golden fleece, the cave at Delphi, and the famous fountain of Thebes. In the room of men they have set over them so many monsters; and what has authorised the freedom they took, in applying the Phenician word to that sense, is, that to be the guardian of a thing of worth, and to watch for its preservation, one must be vigilant and sharp-sighted. This is what has often deceived PAL^EPHASTUS, DIODOR.US, and some others, who, for explaining these fables, have substituted others CHAP. I. HISTORY OF IDOLATRY. 101 SEC. III. ITS PROGRESS TO SYSTKM. in their room, and introduced personages to whom they have given the name of Draco Just so when the poets tell us, that the Gods terrified by the menaces of the Giants, disguised them- selves in Egypt under the figures of several animals; which is founded upon bare allusions to the Phenician or Hebrew names, v.'hich gave occasion to these fables. And to condescend upon examples, it is unquestionably certain, that their reason for trans- forming the God Anubis into a dog, is, that Nobeah signifies, to bark: Afiis into an ox, because Abir signifies an ox; Juno into a heifer, because jistaroi, which was Juno's name, signifies Jlocks: and Venus into zjish, because Dag, which was that of Venus, or Astarte, imports a Jiah. Here a world of examples might be produced; for, not only the equivocal words in the eastern lan- guages have made way for numberless fables, but those of other languages besides. The equivocal words in Greek, for instance, have produced a vast number. From Crios, which was the name of the governor to Athamas's children, and signified a ram; they have made up the fable of the ram with the golden Jleece, as \ve shall show at more length, when it comes to be explained. In like manner, they have turned Lycaon into a wolf, because his name and the name of that animal are the same. They have given it out that Cyrus was suckled by a bitch, because his nurse, the wife of Astyages's cow-herd, was called in Greek, Cijno, and in the language of the Medes, Sfiaco, names which import a bitch. That Venus sprung from sea-foam, because dfihrodite, which was the name given to that goddess, signified foam. That the temfile of Delphi had bfren built with ivax by the wings of the bees which Apollo had brought from the Hijfierborean regions, because Peteras, whose name imports a King, had been the archi- tect. The same thing is to be said of other fabjes, where we meet with some infants that have been nursed by she-goats, as JEgisthes; or by a hind, as Telephus, the son of Hercules; tr- eatise their names answer to the names of these animals. N 102 HISTORY OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. I. ITS PROGKESS TO SYSTEM. As it frequently happened that one and the Fifth, The Plu- rality or Unity same person had several names, a case very com- of Names. mon among the Eastern nations; in process of time, they who came to read their undigested histories, and inconsistent adventures, mistook them for different persons. Hence that multiplicity of heroes; the actions and tra- vels of one were distributed among several; by Mercury^ for ex- ample, was designed Thaut in Egypt; Teutat among our ancient Gauls; Hermes among the Greeks: Pluto is the Dis of the Celtae, iheddes of the Greeks; the Summanus of the Latins; the Soranus of the Sabines. And as sometimes the hero or Gocl was not known in one country, but under a single name, and they knew little about his exploits elsewhere; when they came to read of other adventures, other names, or other qualities than those they had heard of, they never questioned but they related to different per- sons; hence that prodigious number of Jufiiters^ Mercurys^ Sec. Sometimes again we have this practice inverted; and when the case was, that several persons went under the same name, they ascribed to one what belonged to many, and the adventures of all were crowded into the history of him who was best known. Such is the history of the Hercules of Thebes, where they have foisted in the actions and travels of the Phenician Hercules^ and several other heroes of the same name. Such likewise is the history of Jupiter, the son of Saturn, where they have amassed the adven- tures of several kings of Crete, who bore the same name, which was common with their ancient kings; as that of Pharaoh or Ptolemy was in Egypt, or that of Ctssar among the Roman em- perors. ====== History has likewise suffered a great deal from marvellous relal the man y fabulous relations, that have been in- tions of travel- troduced by travellers* and merchants. People in that way of life are often ignorant and inclined to falsehood; thus it was easy for such to deceive others who had CHAP I. HISTORY OF IDOLATRY. 103 SEC. III. ITS PROGRESS TO SYSTEM. but little means of detecting them; for in those early times geo- graphy was but little known, and navigation was brought to no great perfection; wherefore the circumstances of distant regions were enveloped in darkness, and were made to assume whatever character such travellers chose to impose, which were generally of a doleful or hideous cast. Accordingly when they came to relate their voyages, they mingled with them a deal of fable; they never spoke of the Ocean but as a place overspread with dark- ness, where the Sun went every evening to bed in the palace of Tethys. The rocks that form the streights of Scylla and Charyb- dis, passed for two monsters that swallowed up their ships. The Symfilegad.es or the Cyanex, at the mouth of the Euxine sea, were represented as though they run together to devour vessels as they were sailing between them. The Cimmerians were represented as a people buried in eternal darkness; the Arimasfiians and Isse- donians, as men that had but one eye; the Hyperboreans, as a race that lived a thousand years without pain or sickness, and distressed with none of the injuries of life. Here was a people covered over with feathers; there man-monsters who wanted heads, as the Aco- fihali; or having dog's heads, as the Cynocefihali; some whose ears reached down to their heels; others, in fine, who had but one foot; for such are the ridiculous fictions their relations of the Indies and northern regions were made up of: every where they were obliged to quell tremendous monsters. If any one visited the Per- sian gulph, he told how he had come to the extremity of the rising Sun, and to that region where Aurora opens the barrier of the day. Perseus, for having stoutly ventured to pass the streights of Gibraltar, in his way to the Orkneys, had the winged Pegasus given him, with the equipage of Pluto and Mercury; as if it had been impossible to accomplish so long a voyage without some supernatural assistance. What ridiculous fable.9, what childish fictions do we meet with in the spurious Orpheus, in APOLLO- NIUS RHODIUS, on the subject of the return of the Argonauts! 104 HISTORY OF IDOLATHY. CHAP. I. ITS PROGRESS TO SYSTEM. SEC. HI. how many unknown countries and people do they light upon in that chimerical voyage! Who is there can tell where lay the Cim- merians of HOMEK, and where the island of Calyfiso? It was a custom with the ancients to praise their l^tience'of '"eif neroes a f ter tne "' death, anc i upon their festival logizing- Orators. d a ys, in studied panegyrics, where the young " Orators, whose genius they wanted to prove by these first essays, gave themselves full liberty to feign and invent, believing this would gain them a character for sprightliness. Thus they made it their business to /epresent their heroes, not what they had been, but such as they ought to be, according to the chi- merical notions of greatness they had formed to themselves. They especially never failed to exalt them to Heaven, and confer divin- ity upon them without the least reserve; this was the title to nobi- lity most sought after in early times. These Orators, far from being blamed, were praised for their fertile inventions; their best perfor- mances were preserved; they frequently learned them by heart; and if they were verses or songs, they sung them in public. Out of these memorials they afterwards composed histories: the historian himself was not sorry to be the publisher of extraordinary things which were warranted only by these relations. DIODORUS tells something like this of the Egyptians, with respect to their deceas- ed kings: he says, the whole kingdom went into mourning, and that they sung the praises of the dead in verse: these funeral pieces, no doubt, were preserved by the priests, who made use of them in writing the history of these princes. The Greeks, great imitators of the Egyptians, practised this method, not only towards their kings, but likewise towards those who had planted colonies, or brought any art to perfection among them. It is easy to con- ceive that this practice must have introduced numbers of fables into history; for what is not a lively wanton imagination capable of, when licensed to roam unconfined over the wide field of flattering ideas! If one was to attempt, even now-a-days, to compile a his- CHAP. I. HISTORY OF IDOLATRY. SEC. III. ITS PROGRESS TO SYSTEM. tory of our own heroes from most of their panegyrics, or their funeral sermons, it would be no less fabulous than those of anti- quity, except in point of deification. I am not at all surprised that ancient history should be so full of fables, when it was written upon such precarious memorials; but I am astonished to see the sottish vanity of the Roman historians, who have so often given into the fabulous, cither to flatter their emperors, or that they might not come short of the Greeks in the marvellous, or to shew the visible protection of the Gods over their great men. Hence those frequent apotheoses, that multitude of prodigies they relate so gravely, and whatever else of the supernatural kind their histo- ries are full of. ===== Poets are undoubtedly the persons by whom Fictions 'and ex- k'bles have been mostly produced in the world, aggerations. ^ s they have always aimed at pleasing more than instructing, they preferred an ingenious falsehood to a known truth. If a Poet had occasion to flatter, or console a dejected prince upon the loss of a son, it was but giving him a place among the Stars or among the Gods, as LACTAN- TIUS has it. Such as had been lovers of the Belles- Lettres, were considered either as sons, or favorites of Apollo: this was the rea- son why Hyacinth passed for the minion of that God; and because he was killed by the stroke of a coit which unluckily glanced aside, they feigned that Boreas m a fit of jealousy was the author of that accident. Success justified the happy rashness of the poets; their works were read with pleasure, and nothing in them pleased so much as fiction: they laid it down as a maxim in poetry, never to tell a thing in a natural way. The shepherdesses were nymphs or naides; ships became sometimes ftying horses, as in the story of Bellerophon; and sometimes dragons, as in that of Medea: the shepherds were all satyrs or fauns; and men on horseback were Centaurs: every lover of music was Apollo; and every physician, an Esculapius: youryfne singers all, so many Muses; and every beauty 106 HISTORY OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. I. ITS PROGRESS TO SYSTEM. SEC. III. a Venus: lewd women were Syrens and Harfiies; and every celebrated huntress, a Diana: oranges, must be apfiles of gold; and arrows and darts were lightning and thunder-bolts. They even went farther: for finding they were masters of painting and caricaturing persons and things as they pleased, to shew that their art lay chiefly in fiction, they made it their particular study to contradict the truth; and for fear of agreeing with the histo- rians, they changed the characters of the persons they spoke of. HOMER, of a faithless prostitute, has made his prudent chaste Penelofie; and VIRGIL, of a traitor to his country, has given us the pious hero; of a renegado who lost a battle against Mazentius, and with it his life, he has made a conqueror and Demi-God. The same poet has made no scruple to dishonour a princess of strict virtue, and to divest her of the reputation she had for chastity and courage, to give her an infamous passion, and a cowardice capable of despair. All of them have conspired to make Tantalus pass for a miser, and have set him as such in the centre of Hell, where he suffers a cruel punishment, in proportion to his avarice; though as PINDAR relates it, he was a most religious firince, and a very generous man. But it was not merely inclination to soothe and flatter, that laid the poets under the necessity of forgery and lies; they were often obliged to it by the meanness of their subjects. What they had to say would frequently have been low and vulgar, unless they had artfully brought in something Jictitious and su- pernatural. If one were to make an analysis of their poems, they might be reduced to almost nothing: there are numbers of mer- chants and soldiers, who have gone through many more occa- sional dangers, than either JEneas, Ulysses, or Achilles. What would the JEndd, Iliad, or Odyssey be, was it not for the eternal interposition of the Gods, and perpetual mixture of truths of small concern, with the most interesting fictions? A man saved from his country's ruin, in company with other exiles, fits out a few ships; embarks, and arrives in Thrace, in Macedon, and CHAP. I. HISTORY OF IDOLATRY. 10? SEC. III. ITS PROGRESS TO SYSTEM. some of the Archipelago islands; after staying some time in Crete, he goes on to Sicily, where having passed the streights of Messana, he arrives at length in Italy by the mouth of the Tiber, where he first killed his rival, and then married. Another is ab- sent from his native home for many years; in the mean time his family affairs are all in disorder, his estate is squandered away, his wife and son are harassed; at length, after having undergone some dangers, he finds out some of his domestics, who had per- severed in their duty, and with their assistance, sets all again to rights by destroying his enemies. Another having fallen out with Agamemnon, withdraws to his tent: the Trojans take advantage of the misunderstanding between the generals, gain the superiori- ty, beat the Greeks, force their entrenchments, set fire to their ships; Patroclus borrows the armour of Achilles and kills Sarfie- don; Hector avenges the death of his friend, and kills Patroclua, then dchilles leaves the tent, and drives the Trojans back to their walls; and having forced them to enter the town, finds Hector alone, kills him, and drags his dead body round the tomb of his friend, to whom he performs magnificent funeral rites. Here you see the three finest poems we have now extant, founded on very ordinary pieces of history, and supported by the merit of heroes of no extraordinary character; thus, their authors were obliged to furnish numberless fables to bear them out, and to embellish the truths they blended with them. Instead of saying, for example, Ulysses arrived incognito at Alcinour's house, HO- MER makes him be conducted by Minerva, who covers him with a cloud. VIUGIL, who faithfully imitates the Greek poet, brings JEneas and Dido together after the same manner, under the con- duct of Venus. If the delights of the country of the Lotojihagi detained Ulysses's companions too long, we are told, it was the fruits of that island made those who eat of them lose all remem- brance of their native home. Do they loiter at Cercc'a court, giving a loose to riot and debauchery? this pretended sorceress is 108 HISTORY OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. I. ITS PIIOGRESS TO SYSTEM. SEC. III. said to have transformed them into siyine. We are not to be told simply, that Ulysses was exposed to a great many storms; he must likewise suffer the addition of Neptune's resentment, who takes this way to avenge his son Polyphemus. What mysteries, what preparations before Achilles kills Hector! his mother brings him the armour of Vulcan's manufacture, and had dipt him into the Styx to make him invulnerable. Minerva takes the form of Deiphobus, to impose upon Hector by the imagined assistance of his brother. Jupiter takes the scales, weighs the destinies of those two heroes; and seeing Hector's sink down as far as Hell, he aban- dons him, and Achilles takes away his life. Nothing is done among them but by machinery; for every purpose they employ the power of some Deity. " There every method of enchanting us is practised, all nature assumes a Body, and looks, and lives, and thinks; every virtue becomes a Divinity; Minerva is pru- dence, and Venus beauty. It is no longer the exhalations that pro- duce the thunder it is Jupiter armed, to affright mortals. The mariners behold the threatning storm arise it is angry Ne/itunc chiding the waves. Echo is no longer a sound that vibrates in the air it is a nymph in tears bewailing her Narcissus" so says Boileau. Thus it is the poets adorn their subjects, and fill them with sprightly and ingenious images. You need not be apprehen- sive of their saying in a simple way, that the troops of the two Alaiclis, those proud Giants who made war upon Jupiter, increased their forces by new levies; they will say, these Giants themselves grew a cubit every day. HOMER, instead of describing, that after the bloody battle which was fought upon the banks of Xanthus, the channel of the river having been chocked up with dead bodies, the water overflowed its banks and flooded all the plain, till they took these bodies out of the water, and kindling a funeral-pile consumed them to ashes; instead of this, the poet images that the river feeling himself oppressed in liib channel, complained of it tu vA-/.:'/:o-6. and not receiving satisfaction from that hero, he swell- CHAP. I. HISTORY OP IDOLATRY. 109 SEC. III. ITS PROGRESS TO SYSTEM. ed against him, and pursued him with so much rapidity that he had certainly drowned him, if Neptune and Minerva, commis- sioned by Jupiter, had not given him promises of a speedy satis- faction. The same poet, when he would let us know that the inundations of the sea, sometime after the retreat of the Greeks, demolished the famous wall they had reared up during the siege of Troy, to screen themselves from the attacks of the enemy, says that Neptune provoked by this enterprise of the Greeks, asked permission from Jupiter to beat it clown with his trident; and having engaged Apollo in his quarrel, they laboured in con- cert to overturn the work. If the Phenician vessel which had car- ried Ulysses to Ithaca, is shipwrecked in its return, we are sure to be told that Neptune was so angry, that he turned it to a rock. If Turnus caused JEneas's fleet to be burned, VIRGIL brings Cy- bele into play, who transforms these -vessels into sea-nymphs. Wherever any fine buildings were to be seen, such as the walls of Troy, the towers of Argos, and others, it was always the Gods who had been their architects. We must add to what has been just said, that almost the whole of those we find in the metamor- phoses of OVID, in HYGINUS, and ANTONINUS LIBEHALIS, are merely founded upon figurative and metaphorical ways of speak- ing: they are commonly real matters of fact, with an addition of some supernatural circumstance by way of embellishment. - The Painters and Statuaries, sV., working upon Painters^and Sta- P oet ' ca ' fancies, may be reckoned instrumental tuaries, &c. in propagating some fables; and to them, per- " haps, we owe in part at least, the existence of centaurs, sirens, harpies, nymphs, satyrs, and fauns, which they have painted from the portraitures of them given by the poets, or from some relations of travellers and fishermen. They have even frequently promoted the credit of fabulous stories, by represent- ing them with art; a thing so true, as I shall take notice afterwards, O 110 HISTORY OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. r. ITS PROGRESS TO SYSTEM. SRC. III. that the Pagans owed the existence of many of their Gods, to some fine statues, or pictures well finished. To all these sources of fable we may add, a Tenth, Pretended ,. ,. tr r ., interviews with concern to save the honour oj the laaies. It a trail the Gods. princess yielded to her lover, there were flatterers enough to call in some friendly Deity to screen her .reputation: he could be no other than a God in human form who had triumphed over the coy, insensible fair; by this means her reputation was safe, and the gallantries of that sort, far from being infamous, were highly honourable. There was not a man, not ex- cepting even the good-natured spouse himself, but humoured the thing; and the story of Paulinaand Mundus is not the only monu- ment we have of the sottish credulity of husbands. Mundus, a young Roman knight, had deeply fallen in love with Paulina, a married lady, and after all his efforts to touch her heart had prov- ed in vain, he bethought himself of gaining the priest of Anubis, who assured Paulina that the God was enamoured with her that very night was Paulina led to the temple by her strangely im- pressed, credulous husband. A few days after, Mundus, whom she chanced to meet, let her into the secret of his base artifice. Paulina, in a desperate fit, carried her complaint before Tiberius; who, as much Tiberius as lie was, caused the priest of Anubis to be burnt, the statue of the God to be thrown into the Tiber, and Mundus to be sent into exile. Certain it is, that an infinite deal of fables draw their origin from this source: witness that of Rhea Silvia, the mother of Rhemus and Romulus: tier uncle Amulius got into her cell, and her father Numitor spread it abroad that the twins she brought forth had been the offspring of the God of war. Often the priests themselves, when they were not proof against a woman's charms, made her believe she was the favourite of the God they served, and she put herself in order for lying in the temple, whi- ther she was conducted by the parents in form. Thus at Babylon, a woman, one or another of those whom Jupiter Belus had autho- CHAP. I. HISTORY OF IDOLATRY. Ill SEC. III. ITS PROGRESS TO SYSTEM. vised his priests to single out, laid in the temple every night: from such practices arose that great stock of children the poets have fathered upon the Gods. And this, in effect, generated the follow- ing ridiculous cause of many fables and fabulous Deities, viz. ====== That the great men of those times were com- ^'-konedof raon 'y actuated by a foolish ambition of being thought descended from Gods. To be heroes, nothing less would satisfy them, than to have Jufiiter or Apollo for their ancestors; and we may be sure there were genealogists to be found then, full as complaisant as at pre- sent; so that they were at no great loss to get the branches of their family commenced from the stock of some God: according- ly almost all the ancient pedigrees were much in this manner, Jupiter was the founder of the family, after him came Hercules, Sec. Sec. ===== From the worship of the Sun, the Moon, and ^SYSTEM_ o ^EI- ^ Stars, whom we have shown lo have been The adoration of t | ie g rst Gods of the Paeans, they proceeded to physical objects their tutelar the worship of other physical objects; when they ie3 ' looked upon Nature herself, or the World, as a Divinity. This universal Nature is what the Assyrians adored un- der the name ofHelus; the Phenicians, under that of Moloch; the Egyptians of Hammon; the Arcadians, of Pan; the Romans, of Jupiter: and, as if the World had been too great to be governed by one sole God, they assigned to every part of it a particular Deity, that he might have the more leisure and less trouble in governing it; or, in other words, it was Nature in her various scenes they intended to adore; and over each of her parts a Divinity was made to preside. They worshipped the Earth, under the name of Rhea, Tellus, Ojis, Cybele; the Fire, under those of Vulcan and Vesta; the Water of the sea and rivers, under those of Oceanus, Nefitune, Nereus, the Nereids, Nymphs and Naiads; the Air and Winds, un- der the names of Jupiter and &olus. Salacia was the goddess of 112 HISTORY O* IDOLATRY. CHAP. t. ITS PROGRESS TO SYSTEM. SEC. III. tempests; Vollonia and Efiunda took care of things exposed to the air. The Woods had their Satyrs, Fauns, and Hamadryads, ap- pointed them, with Pan and Sylvanus at their head. The God Terminus presided over the fields and marches; Ceres presided over the harvest fields; and Flora, Pomona, Vertumnus, and Pria- jius, were guardians of orchards, flowers and fruits; as Deverrona watched over the cro/is: Seia had the care of the grain newly sown; Proserpina, when the stalk was forming; Segetia, when it began to spring up; Patelina, when it was ready to put forth the ear; and Tutilina to preserve it in the granaries, with many others. ====== \y e have seen the reasons that induced men 2d, The adora- _ , _, . . tion of mankind to adore some of their own s/iecies. Gratitude, their tutelar th a ff ect ion of a wife to her beloved spouse, or Deities. of a mother to her darling son; the beauty of the works of the statuary, illustrious achievements, the invention of necessary arts; all these made them honour the memory of some great men, and were obligations upon them to preserve their pictures, and distinguish their sepulchres, which at last became public temples, as proved by EUSEBIUS and CLEMENS ALEXAN- DKINUS: such were the tombs of jicrisitis, of Cecrofis, Erichthoni* us, Cleinachus, Cinyras, and several others. It was in Egypt and Phenicia that this sort of idolatry began; and in the former, pro- bably not long after the death of Osiris and Isis. They having dis- tinguished themselves by their shining merit, the people whom they had taught agriculture, and several necessary arts, thought they could not otherwise acquit themselves of the infinite obliga- tions they had laid them under, but by honouring them as Divini- ties. But because it might have appeared shocking to see divine honours paid to persons but newly dead, it was probably given out, that their souls were reunited with the orbs, from which they had formerly come, according to their conception, to animate their corporeal frames. From that time, they were taken for the Sun CHAP. I. HISTORY OP IDOLATRY. 113 SEC. III. ITS PROGRESS TO SYSTEM. and Moon, and their worship was confounded with that of these two luminaries. This custom of deifying men, was propagated from Egypt to other nations, and we find that the Chaldeans, much about the same time, raised their Belus tu the order of the Gods. The Syrians, Phenicians, Greeks, and Romans, all of them imitat- ed the Egyptians and Chaldeans; and Hea-ven, as CICERO observes, was soon peopled with deified mortals: which was likewise true in another sense, since upon their deification, they gave out that their souls were united to certain Stars, which they chose for their ha- bitation. Thus, Andromeda, Cefiheus, Perseus and Cassio/ieia, made up the constellations that bear their names; Hififiolytus, the sign of the charioteer; Esculafiius, that of the Serpents; Ganymede, that of Aquarius; Phaeton, that of the Chariot; Castor and Pollux, that of Gemini, or the twins; Erigone and dstrea, were Vir- go; jltergatis, or rather Venus and Cufiid, took that of Pisces or the Fishes; and so of others. This custom passed to almost every country, and penetrated even into China, where the astronomers called the twenty-eight constellations, which in their system comprehended all the stars, by the names of as many of their heroes, whom they affirmed to have been trans- formed into stars. The Egyptians only gave the names of animals to the constellations, and this was the foundation of that worship they afterwards paid to them. For children, were invok- ed the Goddess Nascio or Natio, 0/iis, Rumina, Patina, Cumina, Levana, Pavenlia, Carnea, Edusa, Ossilago, Statilinus, Vagitanus, fabulinus, Ju-uenta, Nondina, Orbona; and this last Goddess was for orphans, or to comfort fathers and mothers for the loss of their children. When the' child was laid upon the ground, they recom- mended him to the Gods I'ilumnus and Picumnus: for fear too that the God Syl-uanus should do him harm, there were three other Divinities who watched at the gates, Interddo, Pilumnus, and De-uerra; it being a custom at the nativity of a child, to knock at the gate first with an axe, then with a mallet, and last of all to sweep 114 HISTORY OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. I. ITS PROGRESS TO SYSTEM. SEC. III. the porch; believing that Sylvanus seeing these three signs, durst not attempt to harm the children, whom he thus judged to be under the protection of those three Divinities. Siatilinus presided over children's educaiiun, fabulinus taught them to speak; Pa- ventia kept away from them frightful, terrifying objects; jVondina presided over the names given them; Cumina had the charge of the cradle; in fine, Rumia preserved the milk of their mothers. The Efiidotes were Gods that presided over the growth of children, as their names declare. The beauteous Hebe and flora also pre- sided over youth, and Scnuius over old age. They likewise invent- ed Gods for every part of the body: the Sun presided over the heart; Jupiter over the head and liver; Mars over the entrails; Minerva over the eyes and fingers; Juno over the eye-brows; Pluto over the back; Venus over the veins; Saturn over the spleen; Mercury over the tongue; Tethys over the feet; the Moon over the stomach; Genius and Modesty over the forehead; Memory over the eyes; Faith or Bona Fides over the right hand; and Compassion over the knees. To complete the absurdity, brute animals of 3d, The adora- . , . . . tion of brute ani- a ' most every description, enjoyed a considerable mals their tute- portion of the Pagan worship: nor was it only lar Deities. particular persons that offered them incense and sacrifices, but whole cities, where their worship was established: thus Memphis and Heliopolis adored the Ox; Sais and Thebes the Sheep; Cynopolis the dogs; Mendes \.\\G goats; the Assyrians \hefiigeons. In some towns they worshipped the monkeys, in others the crocodiles and lizards, the ravens, the storks, the eagle, the lion; and these towns even frequently bore the names of the animals that were the objects of their worship, as Cynopolis, Leontopolis, Mendes, Sec. Tnejfishea too became the object of a superstitious worship, not only among the Syrians, who durst not so much as eat of them, but also in several towns in Egypt, Ly- dia and other countries. Some placed upon their altars eels, others CHAP. I. HISTORY OF IDOLATRY. 115 SEC. III. ITS PROGRESS TO SYSTEM. tortoises, and others pikes. They had likewise a Hippona for horses; a Bulona for oxen; and a Mellona for bees, &c. === They did not stop here; even the reptiles and ration olrcptnes; the insects received divine honours. The ser- insects & stones, fonts were worshipped in Egypt, and in several other countries. Epidaurus and Rome had tem- ples erected to the adder, which they believed represented JEscu- lapius. The Thessalians honoured the pismires, to whom they thought they owed their original; the Acarnanians the flies; and if the inhabitants of Accaron did not worship them, they at least offered incense to the genius who drove them away, and Beelze- bub was their great Divinity. In fine, the very stones were the object of public worship; as that called Abidir which Saturn had swallowed, instead of his son Jupiter when an infant; and that which among the Phrygians represented the mother of the Gods; as also that which represented the God Terminus, who was a sort of march-stone or rock used as a land mark. ===== The passions too and affections had Divinities assigned to them, and there was no crime but the Passions and i ia( j a n a tr O n Deity: Venus and Priapus presided Affections. - over generation; Morpheus over sleep; Juturna among the Latins, and Hygieia among the Greeks, were the God- desses of health; and Jaso of sickness. Murcia was the Goddess of sloth; and dgenoria inspired courage. They established a Bel- lona and a Mars for war. The adultress owned Jupiter; the ladies of gallantry, Venus; jealous wives, Juno; and the pick-pockets, Mercury and the Goddess Laverna. This is not all; there were Destinies to over-rule every action in life. Over marriage pre- sided Juno, Hymenius, Thalassius, Lucina, Jugatinus, Domiducus, and several others, whose infamous occupations are enough to put every virtuous person to the blush. Momus wasMie God of raille- ry; for jollity, Vctula; for pleasures, Volupta. The great talkers invoked Aius Locutius; while Harpocrates and Sigalion were the 116 HISTORY OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. I. ITS PROG11ESS TO bYSTEM. SEC. III. Gods of silence. Pra-vor, Timor, Pallor, were those whose inven- tion was owing to terror, fear, and paleness which accompanies them. Imprudence itself had its tutelar Divinity, whom they made Coalemus: Calius made persons smart and witty; and Comus the God of revels, gay and contented. In fine, there was nothing which had not a friendly divinity. The Romans had two of them for love; the one for mutual flames, the other to avenge slighted love; and this passion was a Divinity of the greatest antiquity, and most universally adored. The same people had likewise two temples of modesty, one dedicated to the chastity of the nobles, and the other to that of the populace. To be brief, the Pagans deified every virtue, as well as every -vice. Every where there were to be seen temples erected to peace, to -victory, to faith, to cle ?nency, to piety, to poverty, to justice, to liberty, to concord, to fortune, to discord, to ambition, to mercy, to modesty, \K> prudence, to ivisdom, to honour, to truth, and an infinity of others. ,'. ' Men were apprehensive of evil, desirous of 6th, The tutelar .. ..... Deities for parti- g"> anc * wanted to gratify their inclinations cularprofessions, w j t i, out rem orse; this was the original of all those and other occa- sions. Divinities,natural and metaphorical,whose names ^ correspond to their employments, who were look- ed upon as so many Genii dispersed through the world to regulate the motions of men; and believing them to be of a malevolent disposition, therefore they courted their favour by prayers and sacrifices. The poets invoked Jpollo, Minerva, and the Muses; the orators, Suada and Pitho; the physicians, Esculapius, Medi- trina, Consus, Hygieia and Telesfihorus; the servants and maids, the Gods named Anculi and Anculx; shepherds, the God Pan; cow-herds, the Goddess Bubona; horsemen, Cantor and Hippona, As each profession had its Gods, so had every action and func- tion in life: thus over different actions presided, Volumnus, Volu- pia, Libentia, Horsa, Horgilia, Stimula, Strenua, Stata, Meona^ 8) Jtbevna.) Fessoria t Fugia^ Catius, JFidiut or CHAP. I. HISTORY OF IDOLATRY. 117 SEC. III. ITS PROGRESS TO SYSTEM. Sanctus-Fidius, Dius, Murcia, JVonia, Numerica, Vacuna, Vertutn- nus, Fietus) Vestitus, Vibilia. Pellonia was established to free them from whatever was annoying; Pojiulonia, to dhert all sorts of devastation. They had made a Divinity of life under the name of Vitutd) and Fe-vcr too had its altars. They had a God of ordure, named Stercutius; one for other conveniences, Crefiitus; a God- dess for the common sewers, Cloacina. Over justice presided Astrea, Themis, and Dice. Over the coining of brass money, ^Es, jEsculanus, and JEres; and over specie of all sorts, Juno-Mo- neta, or simply, Moneta. Plutus and 0/zs, for riches; Janus, Car- dea, and Limentina^ to take care of the gates of cities, &c.; Clu~ sius and Patulius were the Gods they invoked at opening or shut- ting them; Later culus and the Penates, for the hearths; Jufiiter Erceus for the walls. It is not to be expected that I should give a larger account of the subaltern Divinities; their names suffici- ently point out their offices, and the bare naming them is enough to give one a notion of them, when they occur in the poets and mythologists. I shall only remark, 1st, That almost the whole of these latter Divinities were of Roman invention, as their names sufficiently discover; whereby we see how many Gods, known to none but the Romans themselves, had been introduced by those Lords of the world, though they had besides adopted almost all the Gods of every nation which they subdued. 2nd, That the greater part of these Divinities were the invention of sculptors and painters. 3d, That some of them were peculiar to certain families, and sometimes even to single persons. 4th, That all the deified virtues were nothing but symbols that represented them, either upon medals, where numbers of them are to be found, or upon other monuments, and in inscriptions. 5th, That their worship was neither in so great reputation nor extent, as that of the great Gods: and yet a great many of them had their altars and chapels, and were invoked at certain times; as before P 118 HISTORY OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. I. ITS PROGRESS TO SYSTEM. SEC. III. harvest, at the vintages, when they gathered fruits, in diseases upon men or beasts, &c. Sec. " ' Besides these Gods, whose number is already ties that received exorbitant, every nation had some peculiar to peculiar honour i tse if. as others were proper to certain towns, in particular pla- ces, particularly among the Greeks and Romans, whether they were believed to have been born in those towns, or to afford them a particular protection. In a Avord, the whole world was divided among numberless Divinities. The great Gods were acknowledged universally, though honour- ed more particularly in certain places; the rest were worshipped only among some nations, and in some countries. Thus, besides his universal worship, Jufiiter was peculiarly honoured in Crete, where he was believed to have been brought up; at Dicte, or Mount Ida; on Mount Olympus; at Pirea in Epirus; and at Do- dona. Juno at Argos; at Mycenae; at Phalisca; at Samos; and at Carthage. Ceres in Sicily, and at Eleusis. Vesta or Cybele, throughout all Phrygia; above all at Berecynthus, and Pessinus. Minerva at Alalcomene; at Athens, and at Argos. Jlfiollo at Chrysa, a city in Phrygia; at Delphos; at Cylla; at Claros, one of the Cyclades; at Cynthus, a mountain in Delos; at Grynium; at Lesbos; at Miletos; at Phaselis, a mountain in Lycia, at Smyn- thus; at Rhodes; at Tenedos; at Cyrrha; among the Hyperbo- reans, and elsewhere. Diana at Ephcsus, at Delos; at Mycenae; at Brauron in Attica; at Magnesia; upon mount Menala; at Se- gesta, fccc. Venus, at Amathus in Cyprus; at Cythera; at Gnidus, at Paphos, at Idalia; upon mount Eryx in Sicily; and upon Ida in Phrygia. Mars at Rome; among the Getes, and other northern people; and among the Thracians. Vulcan in the jEolian islands; at Le.mnos, near mount JEma; and in earlier times, in Egypt, whose first Divinity he was, according to the best authors. Mer* cury upon Helicon, and the Cyllenian mountains; at Nonacria; and generally through all Arcadia. Neptune in the Isthmus of CHAP. I. HISTORY OF IDOLATRY. 119 SEC. III. ITS PROGRESS TO SYSTEM. Corinth; at Taenarus; and upon all tlie Seas. Nereus upon the sea-coasts, and by seamen. Saturn in several places of Italy. Pluto in all the sacrifices offered to the dead. Bacchus at Thebes, Nysa, Naxos, &c. Esculafiius at Epidaurus; at Rome; and else- where. Pan upon Menalus in Arcadia, Sec. Fortune at Antium; and JEolus in the Isles that bore his name. Theses were the principal places in Greece, in Asia minor, and in Italy, where the Gods were honoured with a particular worship. ====== We will now speak of the Demi-Gods and Demi-Gods He- Heroes; and what a prodigious number of them roes, Genii, and a i SOj s h a ll we find! Their temples were diffused Junones. ^^ ==== ^^^ over all the earth, and their worship, though less solemn than that of the Gods, made a considerable part of the Pagan religion. ^Eneas, surnamed Jufiiter-Indigetes had a chapel erected to his honour upon the bunks of the river Numi- cus; Janus, Faunus, Picus, Evander, Fatua, or Carmenta, Acca- Laurentia or Flora, Matuta, Portumnus, Mania, Anna-Perrenna, Vertumnus, Romulus, and several others, were honoured among the Latins. Hercules, Theseus, Castor and Pollux, Helen, Aga- memnon, and most of the heroes of the golden fleece, or of the siege of Troy, had temples and altars in most of the cities of Greece. Laconia honoured Hyacinthus who fought against the . Amyclaeans; not to mention Agamemnon, Menelaus, Paris and Ddlihobus. The Messenians offered incense and sacrifices to Polycaon, to his wife Messena, to their son Triofias, and to the celebrated Macfiaon, son of Esculafiius. The Arcadians granted divine honours to Calisto, to his son Areas, to Aristeus who had quitted the island of Cos where he was born, for Arcadia, where he taught that people the art of training up bees. The people of Argos honoured Perseifs, Lynceus, Hyfiermnestra, lo, Afiis. The Arcadians revered Amfihilochus, and consulted his oracles. The people of Athens had filled that famous city with the temple of Cecrops of his daughters Aglauros, Herse t and fandrososj of V * 129 HISTORY OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. I. ITS PROGRESS TO SYSTEM. SEC. III. Celeus and Trifitolemus his son, of Erectheua and his daughters: there also were to be seen the temples of jEgeus; of Theseus; of Dedalus, and Perdix his nephew; of Androgeos, Alcmena, JEacus, and Inlaus the famous companion of Hercules in his labours; of Codrus, and an infinity of others. At Delphos was to be seen that of Neoptolemus; at Megara that of Alcathous; among the Oropians that of Amfihiaraus. Thebes was famous, not only for the worship of Bacchus, Semele, Cadmus and Hermione, but also of that whole illustrious family; thus Ino and Melicerta had their temples and their altars there, as well as Hercules, lolaus and Amfihiaraus. In Elis, the women sacrificed once a year to Hiji- fiodamia, the daughter of Pelofis. Telesfihorus was honoured at Pergamus; Damia or Lamia, Epidaurus; Nemesis at Rhamnus; Sanctus or Sangus, among the Sabines; Adramus and Palicus^ in Sicily; Coronis at Sicyon; Boreas in Thrace; Tellenus at Aqui- leia; Tanais in Armenia; Ferentina at Ferentum; Tages in Etru- ria, the modern Tuscany; Feronia in several places of Italy; Marica at Minternae; tiie Graces at Oachomenos; the Muses in Pieria, and at Lesbos; and Amfihilochus at Oropos. Thessaly sacrificed to Pelt-us, to Chiron, to Achilles. The island of Tene- dos to Tenrs; that of Chios to Aristeus and Drimachus; Samos to Lysand in the time of Minos H., symmetry. and of Theseus, had the art of giving to his Sta- " tues, eyes, feet, and hands. In some measure he put soul and life into them, and so surprising was this change, as to give rise to a common report of his having animated them, made them walk, 8cc. The statues of the Gods improved by this, 128 MACHINERY OP IDOLATRY. CHAP. II. THE STATUES OF ITS DEITIES. SEC. I. it was to bring them to perfection that the most skilful artists mainly applied themselves; and time at length produced the master-pieces of a PHIDIAS, PRAXITILES, and MYRON, which were the principal ornaments of Greece, and drew the just admi- ration of persons of taste, as at this very day do those of them that are yet remaining. Such, among others, are the Venus of Medicis, the Antinous, the Hercules, and the fine Jupiter still to be seen at Versailles. However I know not from what veneration of anti- quity, they still kept up the old taste, in those statues they called Hermes or Termes. 4th, Sculpture beine: an art which imitates Fourth, Them* teriuh of statuary nature, both in the design and solidity of Us wereearth^wood, materia i s . j t nas f or j ts SUD j e ct, timber, stone, ivory, metals, ma rble, ivory, and different metals, as cold, sil- wax, &c. - ver, brass, precious stones, 8cc. As it compre- hends also the art of founding, which is subdivided into the art of moulding figures in wax, and that of castingall sorts of metals, the statuaries were at liberty to use all these materials^ and all these forms for the statues of the Gods. History informs us, there Avere some of them of each sort; some made of wood, the most precious of its kind and least liable to corruption. That of Jupiter at Sicyon, was of box- wood; and at Ephesus, that of Diana was of cedar. Elsewhere, they were to be met with of citron-wood, of palm tree, of olive-wood, of ebony, and of cypress. We have also accounts of the golden ones that were in the temple of Belus at Babylon, and of Apollo at Delphos. We shall give a des- cription of that of Jupiter Qlympius^ where gold was artfully blended with ivory, ebony, and precious stones; a master-piece which, as PLINY tells us, nobody durst imitate. It would be to no purpose to dwell upon those of marble, or of stone, whose number was immensely great. I have mentioned above, the principal artists, who, of those different materials, had composed master- pieces of skill. One who has the curiosity to find statues of Gods CHAP. II. MACHINERY OF IDOLATRY. 129 SEC I. THE STATVES OF ITS DEITIES of all the forms and materials I have mentioned, needs but read PAUSANIAS, who describes of them of all sorts. Generally speak- ing, the statues of the Gods, after the invention of sculpture, were chiefly but of moulded earth, and brittle like simple vases. This art of moulding earth or clay, is called Jictillis, and the works it produces, Jictillia. The sacred writers, especially the prophets, are continually reproaching the Pagans for worshipping these sorts of idols. In later times, those statues were laid over with different colours, and at last^they were gilt. The Romans, whose religion fora long time declared the simplicity of their manners, were very late in beginning to have these gilded statues; till then they had only the colour of the earth of which they were made. PLINY praises the primitive Roman simplicity. Men, says he, who sincerely honoured such Gods, give us no reason to be ashamed of them. To them, continues he, gold was of no con- sideration, either for themselves or their Gods. JUVENAL, speak- ing of the earthen statue which Tarquin the elder set up in the temple of Jupiter^ calls it the earthen Jupiter^ whom gold had not tarnished nor defiled. TITUS LIVIUS has informed us at what period gilt statues were first introduced; it was according to him, under the consulship of P. Cornelius Cethegus. 1 5th, As there was no fixed rule as to the mate- of Statues ^ary rials ^ tne statues of the Gods, there was as little from the Pigmy to f or t j ie j r size anc j j t depended upon the caprice the Colossus. == ^^ === ^^ of the workmen, or the will of those by whom they were employed, either to make them great or small. Ac- cordingly while the Egyptians valued themselves upon those colossal statues that were to be seen in the porches of their tem- ples, frequently nothing was to be found within those edifices but some pitiful monkeys or pigmies, which provoked the contempt and ridicule of spectators; witness Cambyses, when he was introduced into the temple of Vulcan at Memphis, as we said above. Greece chose sometimes to imitate the Egyptian manner in those colos- 130 HISTORY OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. II. THK STATUES OF ITS DEITIES. SEC. I. suses, and had several statues of her Gods of an enormous bigness. That of Jupiter Olympus, and several others besides were much larger than life; but the most extraordinary one, was the colossus at Rhodes, representing Apollo, which was looked upon as one of the seven wonders of the world. This statue, done b\ CHARES, was twelve years in finishing, and its height was seventy cubits: it was so placed, that its two feet stood upon the two moles, winch formed the harbour of Rhodes, and. ships at full sail passed between its legs. We may judge of what an enormous size this Colossus must have been, when few persons were able to embrace one of its thumbs. Notwithstanding the weight of this prodigious mass; notwithstanding the dangers of the sea, and the length of time it was exposed, yet it continued standing for the space of 1 360 years; and its fall at last was only owing to an earthquake. A Jewish merchant bought it of the Saracens; and having taken it to pieces, loaded 900 camels with it. Nor was it only the Egyptians and Greeks who had those colossal figures; the Romans would needs imitate their example, as in that metropolis there were no fewer than five of them, two of Apollo, two of Jupiter, and one of the Sun, (for the Sun was often distinguished from Apollo;} not to mention two others, one of them represented Domitidn, the other Nero: but as if statues of this sort had of right belonged to none but Gods, they caused an Apollo's head to be set on the latter. These works were curiosities of their kind; but for the most part the statues of the Gods imitated beautiful nature, especially when they were to be planted within the easy reach of the eye. Thus, those of the Gods were a degree larger and more robust than those of the Goddesses, with respect to whom the expert artists made it their business chiefly to imitate the softness and delicacy of the sex. There were however Gods, whose statues were or- dinarily little, and perhaps there was a necessity for them to be so. Those of the Pataici or Patceci, which they set upon the sterns of ships, were of this kind, if we credit HERODOTUS, as also those CHAP. II. HISTORY OF IDOLATRY. 151 SEC. I. THE STATUES OF ITS DEITIES. of the Lares, the Penates, the Cabiri, and some others. There were others, whose statues were monstrous, representing the heads of a dog, a cat, a goat, a monkey, a lion, Sec., as we shall shew when we come to the Gods of Egypt. 1 " 6th, The number of statues of the Gods was tues^were set^up" immense, not only in Greece and Italy, but like- in temples, in pri- w j se m tne eastern countries; and nothing sets vate houses, and in the fields. it forth to us more strongly than the scrip- "" ture expression, which styles Chaldea a land of idols. Accordingly they occurred every where, in temples, where they were upon pedestals, or set in niches; in public places; at the gates of houses; and without the cities, on the highways and in the Jields. t 7th, Though the manner of representing the usagTsTifreglrd Gods was not uniform, there were however, cer- to the expression, ta j n usa g es generally observed. Thus, to Jupi- and the symbols of the Statues. ter was given a noble and majestic air, which -- spoke the sovereignly of the world; and he ap- peared always with a beard, Apollo, is painted like a young man, and wears no beard. Bacchus sometimes has one, and then he is called Barbatus; but mosi frequently he has it not. Juno appears with an air becoming the consort of Jupiter, and the queen of the Gods. Minerva has a masculine beauty, but sweet, such as is befitting the wisest and chasest of Goddesses. Venus, on the contrary, exhibits I know not what softness and effeminacy, which speaks forth the mother of love. Mars has a warlike mein; Ncp- tune has a stern awful look. They, generally, wore upon their Statues the symbols consecrated to them. Thus Jupiter appears with his thunder; Apollo with his lyre; Neptune with his trident; Pluto with his bidented sceptre; Bacchus holds in his hand clusters of grapes; Ceres has ears of corn; Hercules his club; and Diana her arrows and quiver: The dog appears in the statues of Mercury; the owl in those of Minerva; and the serpent wreathed 132 MACHINERY OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. II. ITS ALTARS. SEC. II. about a pillar in those of Esculapius The chariot of Neptune is drawn by sea-horses; that of Venus by doves; that of Juno by peacocks; and that of Cybele by lions. Sometimes those symbols are single, sometimes multiplied; and when it appears that they are proper to several Gods, the statues that bear them get the name of Pantheons', such as are for the most part those of Har- pocrates, and some others. The Egyptian Statues were more charged with symbols than those of the Greeks and Romans, as may be seen in the antiquaries. The symbols were taken either from trees or plants, or such animals as, for some particular rea- sons, were dearer to the Gods than others, as shall be shewn in speaking of the sacrifices, offerings, and victims, which were commonly taken from things wherein they were thought to take delight. The reasons of this preference given by the Gods were sometimes mysterious, and the ancients durst not reveal them; but then it is frequently an easy matter to see through them. Thus, to give but a few examples, the laurel was beloved by Apollo, for the sake of Daphne; the pine by Cybele, u on account of jitys; and the poplar by Hercules, because he had brought one from the country of the Hyperboreans, &c. For the most part, the Statues of the Gods were simple, and presented but a single figure; sometimes they were grouped, and contained several figures together. SECTION SECOND. ITS JLTARfi. Without insisting npon the etymology of the Jtltar. The Efr Tiol- of tin w -d ''' tf -irare, a name which we commonly reck- lave been given to AltaYs, because they are high built, we say with SEKVIUS, that the nade some distinction be! .and'^rc,- for .'.. CHAP. II- MACHINERY OF IDOLATRY. 133 ITS ALTARS. though the last was equally used either in speaking of the celes- tial or infernal Gods, yet the word Mare was peculiarly set apart to denote the Altars of the former. This was SERVIUS'S distinction, though some authors acid another, and say, that to the celestial Gods, sacrifices were offered upon Altars; to the terres- trial Gods, upon the earth itself; and to the infernal God*, in holes; F. BERTHOLD subjoins, that to the nymphs, victims were offered in dens and caverns. ===== The antiquity of Altars is not to be called The antiquity, . ques iion: No doubt it was prior to the matter and form of Altars; building of temples, not only among tli ' triarchs, but among the Pagans too. And as the superstitious Pagan worship commenced in Egypt, this is probably the country where the fii st Altars were erected. Ac- cordingly, this is the opinion of HERODOTUS, and of CJEMUS RHODIOINUS, who has copied him. Simplicity having always been a concomitant of usages newly invented, it is plain that the first Altars were nothing but simple heaps of ea"rth or turf, which were called Ar* cesfntiti*, or gramint*; or of rough stone*, &c.; and idolaters at first imitated the simple manner of rhising Altars, which was used by NOAH and the other primitive Patriarchs; but in later times, Altars came to be .quite changed, both in m ter and/orm. Accordingly, Paganism had of them these several forms; square, oblong, round, and triangular; and of different ma- terials, as stone, marble, brats, and gold itself, at least HERODO- TUS says so of the table that was used as an Altar in the temple tfBelus, at Babylon. PAUSANIAS observes, that some of them were of wood, but that it was rare to find any of that sort. That ofJufiiter Olymfiius was nothing but a heap of ashes; others were but a mere collection of /lorn* of different animals. EUSTATIUS who mentions such an Altar, says it was at. Ephesus, and that jtfiollo had built it of the bulls' horns which Diana had killed in 1 134 MACHINERY OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. H. ITS SACRED GROVES. SEC. III. hunting. MOSES, speaking of the horns of the Altars, means thereby nothing but the corners of the Altars. - - Altars were no less distinguished in their ei S ht * than b ? thdr matter and form they were erect- reached no higher than to the knee, others came ed. up to the waist; some were yet higher, espe- cially those of Jupiter, and the other celestial Gods; while those of Vesta, and the other terrestrial Deities, were the lowest. Among these Altars, some were solid, others were hollow at the top, to receive the libations and blood of the victims; others, in fine, were portable, to be used in travelling, and upon other occasions. Altars were not all in temples; there were some of them in the aacred groves; and others exposed in the open fields, as those of the Gods Terminus, Sylvanus, Pan, Vertumnus, and those which Epimenides caused the Athenians, in the time of a plague, to set up in places where the victims, left to their own liberty, happen- ed to stop: These last are the same that ST. PAUL speaks of, which were dedicated to unhnown Gods. But it was still more common to set up Altars upon the mountains, where, frequently too, they had sacved groves; and this custom of going to sacrifice upon high places, was so ancient and universal, that the scripture incessantly reproaches the Israelites with it, and even blames the' better kings for not having abolished it. SECTION THIRD. ITS SACRED GROVES. --- THE institution of Sacred Groves, is so an- Antiquity of Sacred Groves cient, that it is even thought to have been ante- thcir universality ce( ] ent to lhat o f Temples and Altars. As the refuge for cri- minals, &c.; Romans called these Groves Luci, SERVIUS " thinks they got that name, because they kind- led fire to let the mysteries be seen that were there celebrated. CHAP. II. MACHINERY OF IDOLATRY. 135 SEC. III. ITS SACRED GROVES. The original name Luci or Lucendo apart, whether they first chose for the purpose natural woods, with which every place was anciently furnished; or planted them on purpose, as was done in later times; they were always the thickest groves of the kind, places dark and gloomy, impenetrable even to the sun-beams. 'It \vas in these dark retreats, apt to overcast the mind with I know not what horror, that the first mysteries of Paganism were celebrated. Here it was the ancient Druids assembled, who got their very names from the oaks which they frequented. It ap- pears however, to have been the opinion of the ancients, that these Groves, at first consecrated to Lucina, who was the same with Diana and Hecate, had been so called from the name of that Goddess. Be that as it will, the use of sacred Groves for the celebration of mysteries, is of very great antiquity, and perhaps of all others the most universal. At first, there were in these Groves neither Temples nor Altars: they were simple retreats, to which there was no access for the profane; that is, such as were not devoted to the service of the Gods. Afterwards they built Chapels and Temples in them; and even to preserve so an- cient a custom, they took care, whenever it was in their power, to plant Groves around their Temples and Altars, to inclose them with walls, hedges, and ditches; and these Groves were not only consecrated to the Gods, in honour of whom the Temples in the centres of them had been built, but they were themselves a place of sanctuary for criminals, who fled thither for refuge. - MOSES, to hinder the Hebrews, too prone to interdicted their imitate the idolatrous practices of the people use, by MOSES; about them, from following this pernicious cus- tom, forbids them to plant Grpves about the Altars of the true God. Nay, every time this sacred legislator commands the Jews to destroy idols, he orders'them at the same time to cut down the hallowed Groves. The same orders were renewed to Gideon; and the prophets always speak with indigna- 136 MACHINERY OF IDOLATRY. CHAP II. ITS SACRED GROVES. SEC. III. tion of the kings of Judah and Israel, who hud a custom of sacri- ficing in the consecrated G;oves. The Jews were so prone to imitate the idolatrous nations in this, that one of their kings car- ried l.is in piety so far as lo plant at Jerusalem one of these Groves, which Josiah cut down, and burned in the valley of Ce- dron. The Rabbins add, that the Jews were not permitted to enter these Groves, to cut a tree of them for their use, to rest under their shade, to eat the eggs or the little birds that nestled there, nor to take the dead wood; nay, nor to eat the bread that had been baked with that wood. " The sacred Groves, in after ages, became ex- they became lreme iy frequented. There, assemblies were greatly frequent- ed, and applied held on holidays, and after the celebration of the to religious fes- tivity; mysteries, they kept public entertainments there accompanied with dancing, and all other demon- strations of vigorous mirth. TIBULLUS describes these festivals and entertainments with a good deal of humour. They were at the pains to deck these Groves with flowers, chaplets, garlands, and nosegays; and hang them about, with donations and offer- ings, so lavishly, that though they had been less bushy and con- densed, they would have been quite darkened thereby, shutting out the very light of day. ' To cut down the sacred Groves, or to waste to fell them was the ore ate st them, was a piece ot sacrilege, and perhaps that sacrilege. which they thought the most unpardonable. Lu- CAN, speaking of the trees which Caesar caused to be felled near Marseilles, to make warlike engines of them, well describes the consternation of the soldiers, who refused lobe instrumental in this work, till that great general, taking an ax, felled one of them himself. " Struck with a religious awe for the sanctity of the Grove, they were full of the belief, that if they presumptuously attempted to cut down one of its trees, the ax would have recoiled upon themselves." It was lawful, however, CHAP. II. MACHINERY OP IDOLATRY. 137 SEC. IV. ITS TEMPLES. to prune and dress them, and lo cut out the trees which they thought attracted the thunder. We have the history of some of these sacred Groves handed down to us by the Ancients, such as those of Lucina.) of Feronic, of the emperor Augustus, and others: all of which resembled each other, and were held in equal vene- ration. SECTION FOURTH. ITS TEMPLES. AS the Latins used a variety of words for a terms that^esTgli Tem P le ' as Templum, Fanum, JEdes, Sacrarium, a Temple. Delubrum, &c., the grammarians and commen- tators have searched into the etymology of each of these denominations; but when all is well examined, it appears 'that each of these names signified a place consecrated to the Gods, distinguished from one another more by their size, than other re- spects, though very good authors make other distinctions between them. We shall pass over those distinctions, with observing by the way, that if the single word Temfilum was not always confined to denote a building since the Augurs applied it to the plots of ground inclosed with fiallisadoes or ncts^ which they had marked out with their augural staff, in order to take the auguries why multiply distinctions between terms, of which either most pro- bably applied to whatever places were consecrated to the Gods, with no other difference perhaps than that of local use. The antiquity of Temples is as unquestiona- of Tempks the ble ' as the time vvhen the y be g an to be used is Tabernacle prob- uncertain. As it was in Etypt and Phenicia ably their model. ===== that idolatry took its rise shortly afier the de- luge, these are the two countries where we are to seek for the origin of whatever concerns the worship of false Gods, and the use of temples which they introduced. HEUODOTUS and LUCIAN 138 MACHINERY OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. II. ITS TEMPLES. SEC. IV. expressly tell us so of the Egyptians but we are to observe at the same time, that the system of that false religion was not established all at once. At first, the Gods were honoured after a very gross manner simple altars of rough stone or turf, set up in open fields, were all the apparatus of the sacrifices that were offered them. Chapels, that is to say, close places, and at last Temples, were introduced in later times; accordingly, we do not find that the Egyptians had any Temples in the time of MOSES, or he had mentioned them, as he had frequent occasions so to do. Thus, I am confident that the Tabernacle he made in the desart, which was a portable Temple, is the first of the kind that was known, and perhaps the model of all the rest. The Tabernacle had a place more sacred than the rest, the sancta sanctorum, an- swering to the more sacred and holy places in the Pagan Tem- ples, which they called Adyta. This Temple, exposed to the view of the nations bordering upon the tract through which the, Israelites were sojourning forty years, might give occasion to those idolaters to build others like it, though not portable: At least, it is certain they had of them before the building of the Temple of Jerusalem. The first we find mention of in Scrip- ture, is that of Dagon, the God of the Philistines: But all circum- stances being duly considered, we must conclude that the custom of erecting Temples in honour of the Gods, was derived from Egypt to other nations. LUCIAN says it was propagated trorn that country to the Assyrians, under which name he doubtless comprehends the adjacent countries of Phenicia, Syria, and oth- ers. From Egypt and Phenicia it passed to Greece with the colo- nies, and from Greece to Rome the course of fables and idola- try. This opinion is founded upon the authority of HERODOTUS, and all the evidence that antiquity can afford. Deucalion has the glory ascribed to him, of having built the first Temple in Greece. Janus has the like honour ascribed to him in relation to Italy; though others will have it, that the honour of building the first CHAP. II. MACHINERY OF IDOLATRY. 139 SEC. IV. ITS TEMPLES. Temple in Italy belongs to Faunus, from whom was derived the name of Fanum, which with the Latins signifies a Temple. But these enquiries are equally frivolous and uncertain. 1 The small chapels, mostly reared up by pri- From small chapels, Temples vale persons, in the open fields, were very soon of^m^Snce succeeded by regular buildings, and at last by and wonder m master-pieces of architecture. We may see in HERODOTUS and other authors, what was the magnificence of the Temple of VULCAN in Egypt, which so many kings had much ado to finish: a prince gained no small honour, if in the course of a long icign, he was able to build one portico of it. In PAUsAMAsyou have the description of the Tem- ple of Jufiiter Olijmpius, which I shall presently mention. That of Delphos, as famous for its Oracles, as for the immense presents with which it was enriched, deserves also to be known. That of Diana at Ephesus, that master-piece of art, and so renowned, that a despicable fool thought to immortalize his name by burning it, was as rich as magnificent. The Pantheon, a specimen of the magnificence of Agrippa, Augustus' son-in-law, is still subsist- ing, and is dedicated to all the Saints, as it was formerly to all the Gods. In fine, the Temple of Belus, or rather that grand Tower, composed of eight stories, whereof the highest contained the statue of that God, with other things of which HERODOTUS speaks, as it was the most ancient, so it was the most singular, and the most magnificent. These are the most stately of the Pagan Temples, whereof the memory is preserved to us in histo- ry. The others of less distinction are so numerous that it would require several volumes to describe them, nor would there be any utility in it. In Rome alone, there are reckoned to have been upwards of a thousand, large and small together. The antiqua- ries have given us the plan and elevation of some of those Tem- ples, especially MONTFAUCON, who may be consulted, 140 MACHINERY OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. II. ITS TEMPLES. SEC. IV. The temples of the ancients were divided into several P arts which h is P l 'P er tO distin g uish their ornaments. J n order to understand the descriptions they give of them. Theirs/ was the Porch where stood the pool, whence the priests drew the holy-water for the expia- tion of such as were to enter into the Temple; the second was the Na-ue, or middle of the Temple; the third was the holy place called Penetrate, Sacrarium, or Adytum, into which private per- sons were not permitted to enter; lastly, the back Temple, which division, indeed, was not in every one. The Temples had often jiorlicoes, and always steps of ascent. There were some of them with galleries carried quite around; which were composed of a range of pillars set at a certain distance from the wall, covered with large stones: Temples of this sort were called Peri/iteres, that is, \\inged all around; but Temples whose galleries had t\vo ranges of pillars, were called Dipteres; and Prostyles, when pil- lars formed the portico without a gallery; and lastly, Hyfiethres, when they had two rows of pillars on the outside, and as many on the inside, the middle being wholly uncovered, after the form of a cloyster. The inner part of the Temple was often very much adorned; for, besides the statues, of the Gods, which were some- * times oi' gold, ivory, ebony, or of some other precious materials, and those of the great men which were sometimes very nume- rous, it was ordinary to see there paintings, gildings, and other embellishments, among which we must not forget the offerings of the ex voto, that is to say, prows of ships, dedicated upon their being saved from shipwreck, by the assistance, as they thought, of some God; tablets, or fabellas, for the cure of a disease; arms, colours, tripods, and -votive bucklers won from an enemy. There were, especially in the Temple at Delphos, and in several Tem- ples at Rome, immense riches of this kind. Besides these sorts of ornaments, they were not wanting, on holidays, to deck the . Temples with branches of laurel, oli-oe, and ?'r/. CHAP. II. MACHINERY OF IDOLATRY. 141 ITS TEMPLES. Among the Romans, when they were to build a Tem P le the Auruspices were employed to Temple among choose the place where, and time when, they the Romans. should begin the work. This place was purified with great care; they even encircled it with fillets and garlands. The Vestals accompanied with young boys and girls, washed this spot of ground with water, pure and clean, and the priests expi- ated it by a solemn sacrifice. Then he touched the stone that was to be first laid in the foundation, which was bound with a fillet; when the people, animated by enthusiastic zeal, threw it in with some pieces of money or metal which had never passed through the furnace. When the edifice was finished, there was also a consecration of it, with grand ceremonies, wherein the priest, or in his absence, some of his college presided. TACITUS, speak- ing of the restoration of the Capital, has transmitted to us the forms and ceremonies in consecrating the ground set apart for building a Temple. Of those Temples, some were not to be built The places pre- scribed for some Wlt hm the precincts ot the cities, but without Temples to be their wa]ls; as those of M v u i can an d Venus, erected. ===== for reasons given by VITUUVIUS: says he, " When Temples are to be built to the Gods, especially to those of them who are patrons of the City, if it be to Jupiter, Juno, or Minerva, they must be set on places of the greatest eminence, Avhence one may have a view of the bulk of the Town-walls. If it is to Mercury, they must be set in the forum or Market-place, as the Egyptians observed in those of Isisvnd.Serafizs. Those of Apollo and Bacchus must be near the Theatre. Those of Hercules, when there is neither Gymnasium nor Amphitheatre, should be placed near the Circus. Those of Mars wjkhout the City, in the fields; and those of Venus at the City-Gates. We find in the writings of the Tuscan Soothsayers," continues he, " that they S 142 MACHINERY OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. II. ITS TEMPLKS. SEC. IV. had a custom of placing the Temples of Venus, of Vulcan, and of Mars, without the walls, lest, if Venus were in the city itself, it might be a means of debauching the young virgins and the ma- trons too: as, in regard to Vulcan, his was placed without, that houses might not be in danger of taking fire: and as to Mars, while he is without the walls, there will be no dissentions among the people; nay more, he will be in the place of a rampart, to se- cure the walls of the city from the hazards of war. The Temples of Ceres were likewise without the cities, in places not much fre- quented, lest, when offering sacrifices to her, their purity might be defiled." These distinctions however, were not always strictly observed. 1 The Idolaters had all possible veneration for of T the V Idokters their Temples. If we may believe ARRIAN, it for their Tern- -was even forbid to blow one's nose, or spit there; pies. ' and DION adds, that sometimes they clambered up to them on their knees. In times of public calamity, the wo- men prostrated themselves in these sacred places, and swept the pavements with their hair. Sometimes, however, when public disasters obstinately continued, the people lost all due reverence for the Temples, and became so outrageous, as to fall a pelting the walls with stones; an instance whereof we find in SUETONIUS. We shall presently derive a further idea of their veneration for their Temples, consecrated Groves, Altars, &c., when we speak of them as Asyla, or Sanctuaries for criminals, debtors, &c. Though commonly both men and women entered into the Tem- ples, yet there were some into which men were forbid to enter; for instance, that of Diana at Rome, in the street called the Vicits Patriciiis, as we learn from PLUTARCH, although they might enter into the other Temples of that Goddess. The reason of this pro- hibition is thought to have been, that a woman, as she was pray- ing in that Temple, had received a most cruel insult. We will subjoin to this general account of Temples, a particular descrip- CHAP. IT. MACHINERY OP IDOLATRY. 143 SEC. IV. ITS TEMPLES. tion of some of the most famous; from which we may judge to what pitch of profusion and magnificence the Ancients were carried by their idolatrous zeal. 1st, The Temple of JBelits. As this Temple was the most ancient in the This Temple _ was originally the Pa g an world > so was lts structure the most cu- Tower of Babel r i ous . BEROSUS, as JOSEPHUS relates, ascribes its plan, &c. 1 the building of it to Belus, who was himself wor- shipped there after his death. But certain it is, his design was not to build a Temple, but to erect a Tower, in order to shelter himself and his people from inundations, if such a one as the deluge should again happen. We know in what manner God put a stop to that mad design. The work continued in the same state it was in at the confusion of tongues, and was afterwards set apart for a Temple of Belus, who was deified after his death. This famous Tower commonly called the Tower of Babel, formed a square in its base, of which each side contained a stadium in length, making a half mile in circumference. The whole work consisted of eight Towers raised the one upon the other, which diminished gradually from the lowest to the uppermost. Some authors, as PRIDEAUX remarks, being misled by the latin version of HERODOTUS, allege that each of these Towers was a furlong in height, which would make the whole a mile high; but the Greek text says no such thing, nor is any mention made of the height of the edifice. We learn from HERODOTUS that the ac- cess to the top of this building was by a winding stair on the outside of it. These eight Towers composed, as it were, so many stories, each of which was seventy-five feet high. In each of them were disposed several great chambers supported by pillars, and other lesser ones, where people might rest themselves in going up. The highest or uppermost, was the most richly adorn- ed, and was that for which the people had the greatest venera- tion. In this, according to HERODOTUS, there was no statue, but 144 MACHINERY OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. I' ITS TEMPLES. SEC. IV a table of massy gold, and a stately bed that no one was allowed to lie in, except a woman of the city whom the Priest of Bdus chose every day, first making her believe that she would be honoured there with the presence of the God. - Until the time of Nebuchadnezzar, this Tern- It was embel- .... lished by Nebu- P^ e contained nothing but the towers and cham- chadnezzar, and k ers : ust ment ioned; which were so many pri- destroyed by Xerxes. vate chapels. But that monarch, as BEROSUS re- lates, enlarged it by edifices which he built all around it; and encompassed the whole with a wall, having brazen gates. In executing this work he employed the Sea of jBrassi and other utensils of which he had rifled the Temple of Jerusa- lem. This Temple was still subsisting in the time of Xerxes, who, as he returned from his unfortunate expedition against Greece, ordered it to be demolished; having first pillaged it of its immense riches, among which were statues of massy gold. One of these statues, as DIODORUS SICULUS has it, was forty feel high; which was [probably the same that Nebuchadnezzar had consecrated in the plains of Dura. The Scripture indeed, gives this Colossus ninety feet in height; but this is to be under- stood of the statue and pedestal taken both together. There were likewise in the Temple several Idols of solid gold, and a great number of sacred vases of the same metal, whose aggregate weight, according to the same author, amounted to 5030 talents! how wretched and needy indeed, must have been the condition of the subjects of these splendid monarchs, who could bestow such .boundless profusion, only by the privation of those who la- boured to produce it 1 ! "2d, Temple of Vulcan at Memfiliix; with other Egyfitian Temfiles. The antiquity The E gyP tians > according to HERODOTUS, of the Temple were the first people in the world, who built whom founded Temples in honour of the Gods. The Temple and embellished. of Vu kan, at Memphis, and some others of other CHAP. II. MACHINERY OF IDOLATRY. 145 SEC. IV. ITS TEMPLES. principal cities, deserve a particular consideration on account of their antiquity Although we have not any very full de- scription of the temple of Vulcan, we may judge, from what HEHODOTUS says of it in several parts of his history, that it must have been of surpassing magnificence. First, as to its antiquity, that seems to be inevitable, since this historian tells us it was built by MENES, the first who reigned in Egypt after the Gods and Demi-Gods. Probably it was not that prince who gave all that beauty to the work for which it was afterwards so much ad- mired; although HERODOTUS says, that it was even then grand and highly celebrated, since the primitive building spoke nothing but a noble simplicity. But the successors of MENES ambitiously vied with one another in embellishing the work of the founder of their monarchy, as we are going to mention, particularly with statues, wherewith the interior of the ancient temples of Egypt, according to the best authorities, were not adorned. M.ERIS, a powerful prince, and extremely opulent, added to this first Tem- ple, the stately porch that was on the north side of it. Rhamsini- tus, Proteus' successor, raised according to the same author, that which fronted to the west, and placed over against the porch, two Colossal statues, each twenty-five cubits, that is thirty-seven or eight feet in height. The one, which the Egyptians worship- ped, was called summer, because it faced from the south; the other, for which they had no regard, they called winter, because it looked from the north. Finally, Amasis set up before the same Temple an inverted statue, seventy-five feet high, and upon this Colossus, which served as a foundation or pedestal, he erected two other statues, each twenty feet in height, and of the same marble with the former. . In the meantime the inner parts of the edifice, so far from inviting the admiration of those who entered into it, only provoked the contempt of Cambyses, who broke out with an immoderate fit of laughter, at seeing the ima- ges of Vulcan, and other Gods, like pygmies; which in truth must 146 MACHINERY OP IDOLATRY. CHAP. II. ITS TEMPLES. SEC. IV. have made a very ridiculous contrast with the colossuses in the porches of which we have just spoken. Egypt had many other very rich Temples, Temples^ SyP with amongst which were, the Temple of Jupiter at one of a single Thebes or Diospolis; that of Andera at Her- stone. === ^ ======== munthis; that of Proteus at Memphis; and that of Minerva at Sais, which as HERODOTUS tells us, Amasis had taken great pains to embellish with a Porch, which far surpassed in grandeur, all the monuments which his kingly predecessors had left. He also added to it statues of a prodigious size; for the Egyptians were greatly devoted to colossal figures, not to say stones that were hardly to be measured for their enormous big- ness, which came chiefly from Elephantina, a town at the dis- tance of twenty days sail from Sais. The particularities neces- sary to be entered upon in order to give a tolerable notion of so many fine works, would be too great a digression; but we cannot forbear to take notice of a sort of Temple, the only one of its kind, that Chapel of a single stone which the same Amasis had caused to be cut out of the quarries in Upper Egypt, and to be transported with incredible labour and pains, as far as Sais, where it was to have been set up in the Temple of Minerva. HERODO- TUS speaks of it thus; " But what I admire more than all the other works done by Amasis, is this he caused to be brought from Elephantina, a house made of one entire stone, which 2,000 men, all of them pilots and sailors, were not able to transport in less than three years. The front of this house was twenty-one cubits in breadth, by eight in height; and within the walls, five cubits high by eight in length." This house never entered the Temple of Minerva; but was left at the gate, whether Amasis was provoked to see the architect, who conducted it, complain heavily of the labour this work had cost him, or because one of those who had been assisting to convey it along the Nile> was crushed to death, as the same historian relates. CHAP. II. MACHINERY OF IDOLATRY. 147 SEC. IV. ITS TEMPLES. 3d, Three Temples of Diana at Efihesus. == DIONYSIUS the Geographer, informs us that 1st, The first , ,., _ Temple of Diana, tne most ancient Temple of Diana, at Ephesus by whom estab- was built b the Amazons, which remarkably hshed, and what it was. declares the simplicity of the first ages; since it "~~~" only consisted of a nich hollowed out of an Elm, where was probably the statue of Diana. That of which I am going to speak, was not so ancient; but how magnificent it was, the following description from PLINY will show. 1 The celebrated Temple of Diana at Ephesus 2d, The se- , ., . cond, the famous was built in a marshy ground, to secure it from Ephesian Tern- earthquakes, and openings of the earth, which pie, an account of it. sometimes happened there; and that the foun- * dation of such a weighty building might stand solid upon this soft and fenny ground, they strewed over it a quantity of beaten coal, and laid over them sheep skins with their wool. This Temple was four hundred and twenty-five feet long, and two hundred feet wide. The hundred and twenty-seven co- lumns which supported the edifice were placed there by so many kings, and were each of them sixty feet high. Of these pillars, there were thirty-six beautifully carved; one of which was done by the famous Scopas. The architect who carried on this great 'work was Chersiphron or Ctesiphon; and it is a wonder how he could place architraves of so prodigious a weight. It is credible enough, that the roof of the Temple was made of cedar planks, as the same author tells us, but I do not know how to credit what he says of the stairs by which they ascended to the very top, as being made of a single vine stock. Neither Chersiphron, nor his son Metagenes finished this edifice of unrivalled grandeur; other' architects wrought at it, since, according to PLINY, all Asia con- spired for two hundred and twenty years, or as he says elsewhere, for four hundred years, to adorn and embellish it. PINDAR in one of his Odes, says, it was built by the Amazons, when they 148 MACHINERY OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. IT. ITS TEMPLES. SEC. IV. were going to make war upon the Athenians and Theseus; but PAUSANIAS assures us that this great poet was ignorant of the an- tiquity of that Temple, since those very Amazons had come from the banks of the Thermodon, to sacrifice to Diana of the Ephe- sians in her Temple, with which they were acquainted; for, sometime before, being defeated by Hercules, and antecedently to him, by Bacchus, they had fled thither for refuge as into a sanc- tuary. The riches of this Temple must have been immense, since so many kings contributed to embellish it; and since nothing in all Asia was more famous than this fabric, either for devotion or the infinite concourse of people attracted to Ephesus by it. The account given by ST. PAUL, of the sedition kindled by the Gold- smiths of that city, who earned their living by making small gold and silver statues of Diana, shows us effectually how celebrated the worship of that Goddess was. This Temple was burnt by Erostratus, for a pitiful motive that every body knows. ======== The Temple which subsisted in PLINY'S time, Fnhes'ian Temple nac ^ ueen raised by Cheiromocrates, who built was but little in- t h e town of Alexandria, and proposed to cut ferior to the last mentioned. Mount Atlas into a statue of Alexander. This last Temple, which STRABO had seen, was little inferior in riches and beauty to the former; for there were to be seen the works of the greatest statuaries in Greece. The Altar was almost wholly of Praxiteles's workmanship. XENOPHON speaks of a statue of massy gold, whereof HERODOTUS, who had visited this temple, says nothing. STRABO assures us likewise, that the Ephesians, in gratitude, had erected in the same place a statue of gold, in honour of Artemidorus. VITRUVIUS tells us, that this temple, of the Ionic order, was dipteric, that is, that there went quite round it two ranges of pillars, in form of a dou- ble portico; that it was seventy-one toises in length, with more than thirty-six in breadth; and that there were reckoned in it one hundred and twenty-seven pillars of sixty feet high. This CHAP. II. MACHINERY OP IDOLATRY. 149 SEC. IV. ITS TEMPLEb. temple was one of the most celebrated asylums, which, according to the author last quoted, extended to one hundred and twenty- five feet of the adjacent ground. Mithridates had confined it to the space of a bow-shot. Marc Antony doubled that extent; but Tiberius, to correct the abuses that were occasioned by those sorts of privileges, abolished this asylum. Nothing remains at this day of so stately a fabric but some ruins; of which the reader may see an account in SPON'S voyage. 4>th, Temple of Jupiter Olympius. ' Greece had so many Temples, Chapels, and the temple" of Altars, that they occurred every where, \vhether Jupiter Olympi- j n cities and villages, or in the open fields. To be convinced of this, we need but read the Ancients, especially PAUSANIAS, who has applied himself parti- cularly to describe them, and speaks of them in almost every page of his travels through Greece. In pursuance of my design, I shall single out two of these Temples, that of Jupiter Olymfiius, and that of Apollo at Delphos which were the two most magnifi- cent. The former, according to PAUSANIAS, with the admirable statue of Jupiter which it contained, were the product of the spoils which the Eleans had won from the Pisans and their Allies, when they sacked the city of Pisa. This Temple, whereof LIBO, a native of the country, was the architect, was of the Doric order, and surrounded with columns, insomuch that the place where it was built, formed a stately peristyle. In this fabric they made use of the stones of the country, which however, were of a singular nature, and exquisitely beautiful. The height of the Temple, from the area to the roof, was sixty-eight feet, its breadth ninety- five, and its length two hundred and thirty. The roof was not of tiles, but of a fine pentelic marble, cut in the form of tiles. From the middle of the roof hung a gilded victory, and under this sta- tue, a golden shield^ on which was represented Medusa's headi T 150 MACHINERY OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. Jl. ITS TEMPLES. SEC. IV. and at each extremity of the same roof hung two golden kettles. On the outside, above the columns, a rope bound around the Temple, to which were fastened twenty-one gilt bucklers, conse- crated to Jufiiter by Mummius, after the sacking of Corinth. Upon the pediment, in the front, was represented with exquisite art, the Chariot-race between Pelops and Oenomaus, with Jupiter in the middle. Oenomaus and his wife Sterope, one of the daugh- ters of Atlas, the chariot with four horses, and Myrtilus the cha- rioteer of Oenomaus were on the right hand of the God; Pelops with Hippodamia, and his charioteer with his horses, were on the left. All these figures were done by Pseonius, a native of Thrace. The back pediment, the work of Alcamenes, the best statuary in his time next to Phidia, represented the battle of the Centaurs with the Lafiithx, at the marriage of Pirithous. A num- ber of the labours of Hercules were represented upon the inside of the fabric; and upon the Gates, which were all of brass, were to be seen, among other things, the hunting of the boar of Ery~ manthus, together with the exploits of the same Hercules against Diomcdes) king of Thrace, Gcryon, &c. In fine, to pass over ma- ny important particulars which it would be tedious to mention, there were two ranges of columns supporting two Galleries rais- ed exceedingly high, under which passed the way that led to Jujiiter's throne. This THRONE and the STATUE of the God The Statue and Throne it con- were Phidias master-piece, than which antiqui- tained of that ty produced nothing more magnificent or more . highly finished. The STATUE, of an immense height, was of gold and ivory so artfully blended, that it could not be beheld but with astonishment. The God wore upon his head a Crown which resembled the olive leaf to perfection; in his right hand he held a Victory likewise of Gold and Ivory; and in his left a Sceptre of exquisite taste, refulgent with all sorts of metals, and supporting an Eagle. The Shoe* and the Mantle of the God CHAP. II. MACHINERY OF IDOLATRY. 151 SEC. IV. ITS TEMPLES. were of gold; and upon the latter were all sorts of animals and flowers engraved. The THRONE was all sparkling with gold and precious stones. The ivory and ebony, the animals there repre- sented, and several other ornaments by their assemblage formed a delightful variety. At the four corners of the THRONE were as many Victories who seemed to be joining hands for a dance, be- sides two others which were at Jupiter's feet. The foot of the THRONE, on the front part, was adorned with Sphinxes, who were plucking the tender infants from the bosoms of the Theban Mothers; while underneath were to be seen Apollo and Diana wounding Niobe's children to death with their arrows. Four cross- bars that were at the foot of the THRONE, and passed from one end to the other, were adorned with a great number of figures extremely beautiful; upon one were represented seven conquer- ors at the Olympic Games; upon another appeared Hercules, ready to engage with the Amazons, the number of combatants on either side being twenty-nine. Besides ihcfect of the THROVE, there were likewise pillars to support it. In fine, a great ballus- trade painted and adorned with figures, railed in the whole work. Panaeus, an able painter of that time, had represented there, with inimitable art, Atlas bearing the heavens upon his shoulders, and Hercules in the attitude of stooping to relieve him from his load; Theseus and Pirithous; the combat of Hercules with the Nemean Lion; Ajax offering violence to Cassandra; Hippodamia with her mother; Prometheus in chains; and numberless other subjects of fabulous history. In the most elevated part of the THRONE, above the head of the God, were the Graces and Hours, of each three in number. The Pedestal which supported this pile was equally adorned with the rest: there, Phidias had en- graved upon Gold, on the one side, the Sun guiding his Chariot; and on the other, Jupiter and Juno, the Graces, Mercury, and Vesta: there Venus appeared rising out a of the sea, and Cupid receiving her, while Pitho, or the Goddess of persuasion was 152 MACHINEHV" OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. II. ITS TEMPLES. presenting her with a crown: there also appeared Apollo and Diana, Minerva and Hercules: At the bottom of the Pedestal might be seen Amphitrite and Neptune; and Diana mounted on horseback: in fine, a woollen -veil, of purple dye, and magnificent- ly embroidered; the present of Antiochus, hung from top, to bot- tom. I say nothing of the other ornaments of this noble Struc- ture^ nor of the pavement which was of the finest marble; nor of the presents consecrated to the Gods by several princes; nor of the prodigious number of statues that were in the Temple, as well as in the neighbourhood of it: for all these PAUSANIAS may be consulted. I only add, that in order to judge of the greatness of Jupiter's Statue, about which the ancients are not agreed, it is sufficient to observe, that the THRONE and STATUE reached from the pavement to the roof, whose elevation is marked above. It will readily be granted, that a work of such a nature of so pro- digious an extent; of so considerable a height; where gold blended with ebony and ivory, casting a dazzling splendour; where so ma- ny figures, bas-reliefs, and painting were to be seen; the whole done by the greatest masters would not fail to produce a very sublime effect upon those who entered into the Temple. We must not forget that this Edifice was of the Doric Order, the most ancient of all the Orders in Architecture, and at the same time the most suitable for works of grandeur. 5th, Temple of Apollo at Delphos. If the Temple of Apollo at Delphos was not This Temple . T , was built five so magnificent in structure as that I have just times an ac- described, it was a great deal richer in the im- count of each. ==========; mense presents which were sent to it from all quarters: I say richer, if indeed it be possible to estimate Jupiter's statue, the master-piece of Phidias, just described. At first the Temple of Delphos was of very little consideration. A Cavern, whence issued certain exhalations which infused vivacity and a sort of enthusiasm into those who approached it, having impress- CHAP. O. MACHINERY OF IDOLATRY. ITS TEMPLES. ed people with a belief that there was in it something divine, an Oracle was founded there, as I shall explain at a greater length in speaking on the subject of Oracles. The concourse which this pretended miracle drew, obliged the neighbouring inhabitants to consecrate the place; and the first temple they built there was a sort of chapel, or rather a hut made of laurel boughs. The second Temple, they gave out, adds PAUSANIAS, was raised by Bees, and made of wax; and that Apollo sent it to the Hyperboreans. . This is evidently a fable which will be explained when speaking of Oracles. The third Temple of Delphos was built of brass. This need not seem very surprising, since Acrisius, king of Argos, caused an apartment to be made of brass, to shut up in it his daughter Danae; in the time of PAUSANIAS, there was ex- tant, at Sparta, the Temple of Minerva Chalcixcos. so called be- cause it was wholly of brass: but that it was built by Vulcan, is what PAUSANIAS says he does not believe; nor that there Were upon the ceiling, Golden Virgins who sung charmingly, as PINDAR re- presented, in imitation, no doubt, of the Sirens in HOMER. The Ancients were not agreed about the manner in which this Tem- ple was destroyed: some said the earth had opened and swallowed it up; others, that it had taken fire and the brass whereof it was chiefly made, melted down. Be that as it will, the Temple was built a fourth time, when its materials were of Stone, and its arch- itects were Agamedes and Trophonius. This edifice was burnt to the ground, on the first year of the fifty-eighth Olympiad. Ajfiftk Temple, in fine, was erected by the direction of the Amphicty- ones, with the money which the people had consecrated for that use. This temple was subsisting in the time of PAUSANIAS, and greatly excelled the preceding, in grandeur and riches; for, al- though we have not a particular description of this Temple, it is easy to judge of its extent, and of the immense riches it contained, from that concern which so many princes, and whole nations took 154 - MACHINERY OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. II. ITS TEMPLES. SEC. IV. in sending presents to it. Few came to consult the Oracle of Afrollo, without bringing some offering to the God; and who were there but either came or sent to it!! Of these offerings there must have been uncountable numbers, whether of one kind or of every variety; since, although the Temple had been pillaged several times, Nero carried off from it Ji-ve hundred statues of brass, chiefly of Gods, and partly of illustrious men. 6th, The Pantheon at Rome, Rome and Italy in general, abounded with p a m\ e eon e is f un* Temples as much as Greece. They were to be certain; it yet met with every where; and several of them re- subsists in All Saints. markable either for their singularity or tnagnifi- 1 cence. Among the most elegant, we are to reckon that of Jupiter Cafiitolinus, and that of Peace; which, ac- cording to PLINY, were two of the finest ornaments of Rome. But as none of them were more noble, nor more solidly built than the great Pantheon, commonly called the Rotunda, and since it sub- sists at this day entire, under the name of All Saints, to whom it is consecrated, as in Paganism, it was to all the Gods; I choose to give the description of it in preference to others. The draught of it maybe seen in the second volume of MONTFAUCON'S Antiqui- ties, who has taken the plan of it from SERLIO, and the profile from LAFRERI. The most common opinion is, that it was built by the direction, and at the expense of Agi ippa, Augustus' son-in- law; though there are authors who maintain, that it was before his time, and that he only repaired it, and made an addition to it of that fine Portico, which is there still to be seen. Be that as it will, that grand fabric, which receives light only from a hole in the middle of the dome, so ingeniously contrived, that the whole is sufficiently lighted by it, is of a round figure, the architect, it seems, designing to imitate the figure of the world, as is to be re- marked of a great number of other Temples of the earliest anti- CHAP. II. MACHINERY OF IDOLATRY. 155 SEC. IV. ITS TEMPLES. quity. The Portico, the work of Agrippa, more beautiful and more surprising than the Temple itself, is composed of sixteen columns of granite marble, each of one entire stone. These co- lumns are five feet in diameter, and above seven and thirty feet in height, without including the bass and capital. Of these sixteen columns, there are eight in front, and as many behind them, all of the Corinthian order. As in the time of Pope Eugenius, there was found near this edifice, a part of Agrippa's head in brass, a /torse's foot, and a piece oTa ivhrel of the same metal; it would seem that this great man had himself been represented in brass upon this Portico, riding in a chariot \\i\\\ four horses. ' When I say that this Temple is subsisting en- tion and 8 its'orna- ^ re at tn ' s ^ a y' * wou ^ be understood to mean ments - the body of the work, raised on such solid foun- dations, that nothing has been able to affect it. And no wonder; for, according to a Roman architect, these foun- dations were a mass not only extending itself under the whole edifice, but also a great way beyond its walls. As for the magni- ficent works, the statues, and other firecious things, of which it was full, these are all gone to wreck. The plates of gilt brass, that covered the whole roof, were carried off by the emperor Constan- tius III. Pope Urban made free with the beams of the same metal, to form the canopy of St. Peters, and the great pieces of artillery, which are in the castle of St. Angela. The,statues of the Gods which were in the niches still to be seen within the Temple, have either been pillaged, or buried under ground; nor is it very long ago, since in digging near this edifice, they found first a lion of basalt, which is a fine Egyptian marble, and then another, which served for ornaments to the fountain of Sextus V., not to mention a large beautiful -vase otfiorfihyry, that was placed by the Portico. nl general, this edifice 'was exceedingly magnificent, perfectly well built, in just proportions, and it still makes one of the fairest ornaments of Rome. 156 MACHINERY OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. II. ITS TEMPLES. SEC. IV. 7th, Of the nature of Sanctuaries, or Asyla. The Altars, Sacred Groves, and Temples, ri ^ht^of As Iwn navm g been places of refuge for criminals among or Sanctuary. t ne Pagans, we must explain wherein this right ~ of Asylum consisted; what were the privileges belonging to it; and whence the origin of the custom was derived. From the time that men began to devote places to the worship of the Gods, there to acknowledge them in an authentic manner as their lords, and the sovereign disposers of their destinies, and to conceive hopes of being aided by them, they believed them to be there present in a peculiar manner; and hence, that they might not seem inexorable towards others, while they were supplicating the Gods to be propitious to themselves, it is highly credible that they looked upon those sacred places, whither the guilty had re- paired, perhaps fortuitously at first, though afterwards by design, as sanctuaries inviolable. The Tabernacle and the Temple of Jerusalem were places of refuge, and doubtless the first Altars raised by the Patriarchs were so too, since MOSES excludes mur- derers, who fled for refuge to those he himself setup. The cities of refuge appointed by MOSES and JOSHUA, were likewise Asyla. Paganism, which imitated many of the customs of God's people, from them, no doubt, had likewise taken this of appropriating Asijla; thus, could we know the date of the foundation of their first Temple and Altars, -this would lead us to the original of this pri- vilege. We can only affirm, that it is very ancient, without being able to determine the precise time when it commenced. We know from PAUSANIAS, that Cadmus granted it to the city or citadel, which he built in Baeotia; and it is probable, as M. SIMON re- marks, that this prince, a native of Phenicia, and from the neigh- bourhood of Palestine, having learned how much the confluence of criminals and debtors into the Jewish*Vz>* of refuge had been of use to that people, had used the same means to draw inhabi- tants into his. Theseus for Athens, and Romulus for his new CHAP. II. MACHINERY OF IDOLATRY. 157 SEC. IV. ITS TEMPLES. city, had recourse to the same piece of policy, if we believe PLU- TARCH. DIODORUS SICULUS assures us that Cybele founded an Asylum in Samothrace. The Egyptian Hercules passed for the author of that of Canopus: That of Diana Stratonia at Smyrna, and that of the Tenean Nefitune owed their institution to Oracular responses. But as this privilege, granted to criminals not onl y in the Temples and near the Altars, but and to what pla- even j n the cities which claimed it, and actually ces or structures it attached. enjoyed it time immemorial, was capable of pro- ducing very bad consequences, such as autho- rising crimes, in hopes of impunity, the Asylum was restrained to in-voluntary offences. This, according to THVCYDIDES, was the way the Athenians repelled the charge of the Boeotians asserting that their Altars were only Sanctuaries for crimes of this sort. We learn from TITUS LIVIUS, that the murderer of king Eume- nes was obliged to quit the Temple of Samothrace, where he had taken Sanctuary. Thus the Asyla were properly for involuntary delinquencies; for those who were oppressed by unjust power; for slaves ill used by cruel masters; and for debtors who were unjustly dealt with, &c. But as the wisest institutions are liable to be abused, even criminals condemned to death, found a secure Sanctuary in the Temple of Pallas at Lacedemon; bankrupts, in that of the Goddess Hebe at Phliusj and in that of Diana at Ephe- sus. It was not only Cities and Temples that served for Sanctua- ries; the Sacred Grove, the Altars, the Statues of the Gods, those of the Emperors, and the Tombs of Heroes, wherever they were, had the same privilege; and it was enough for a criminal to be within the compass of those Groves; or to have embraced an Altar, the Statues of some God, or Tomb ^of some Hero, to be in perfect safety. Being once within the protection of an Asylum, the criminal remained there, commonly at the feet of the Altar or U 158 MACHINERY OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. It. ITS TEMPLKS. SEC. IV - Statue, and had his victuals brought to him, till he found an oppor- tunity of making his escape, or of satisfying the oifended party. The Asylum was hot always inviolate; either The right was . , .... not always invio- tne offender was sometimes forcibly torn from it; or permitted to die of hunger, by cutting off his provisions, and sometimes erecting a wall about the place of refuge, as the Ephori did in the case of Pausa- nias, of which we are told by CORNELIUS NEPOS. The sanctity of the Asylum would, no doubt, have been oftener violated than it was, had it not been for the punishments appointed by Gods and men against the Profaners: I say by the Gods, because the cala- mities which sometimes ensued upon the profanation of those places, were construed to be the effect of Divine vengeance. This accordingly was the judgment pronounced upon the desolating plague, that befel Epirus, after the murder of Laodamia, who was slain in the Temple of Diana. The history is thus related by JUSTIN: There were none remaining in all Epirus, of the blood royal, but Nereis and Laodanria, her sister. The former married the son of Gelo, king of Sicily, and JLaodamia, who fled for refuge to the Temple of Diana, was assassinated there by the people: but the Gods revenged this sacrilege by plagues and calamities, which proved the ruin of almost the whole nation. To barren- ness, famine, and civil war, succeeded other wars, which brought all to the greatest extremity} and Milo, who had given that un- fortunate princess her mortal blow, was seized with such furious madness as to tear out his own bowels, of which he died in ex- treme agony, on the twelfth clay after the murder. They pro- nounced the same judgment upon the infamous disease that finished the days of Sylta, who had violated the right of Asylum. The Oracles consulted after such kinds of profanations, prescrib- ed not only for the offender, but for whole cities, solemn expiations, or jmblic reparations, to be modes thus the Lacedemonians were CHAP. H. MACHINERY OP IDOLATRY. 1.59 SEC. V. ITS VICTIMS OR SACRIFICES. obliged to erect two Statues of brass to the unhappy Pausaniaa, in the very place where he died. ' M. SIMON seems to think that all the Temples, SaC1>ed Grove8 alld Altars ' &C " WC1 ' e As >' la: its abuses. there is however, a great probability that all these places did not enjoy that privilege. Be that as it will, the Asyla occasioned more harm, by the impunity they gave to offenders, than they did good by the protection it offered to some who were innocent; wherefore Tiberius abolished them. SECTION FIFTH. ITS VICTIMS OR SACRIFICES. Sacrifice is an act of religion, whereby man The simplicity . . T> . . . P . . of Sacrifices in acknowledges the Divinity of him to whom he general, m the o ff ers j t U p, professes to honour him in a solemn- early ages. ;=s== manner, to thank him for blessings received, and to supplicate him for new ones. In the earliest times of Pa- ganism the worship paid to the Gods was exceedingly simple. The Egyptians, if we believe TIIEOPHRASTUS, cited by PORPHY- RY, made an offering in ancient times to their Gods, not of incense and perfumes, but of the green herds, which they gathered, and presented to them as the first productions of nature. OVID paints very well the simplicity of those primitive Sacrifices: No incense, says he, as yet was brought from the banks of Euphrates, nor the fragrant costus from the extremity of India. They were strangers then to the blushing saffron; and the richest offerings with which the Altars were crowned, were simple herbs or bay- leaves. The same THEOPHRASTUS adds, that they joined libation to those first Sacrifices; and doubtless it was -water they poured out in honour of the Gods: For the Egyptians, of whom he speaks, made use of no other liquor, as we shall see afterward^. 169 MACHINERY OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. li. ITS VICTIMS OR SACRIFICES. SEC. V. PLINY, MACROBIUS, PLUTARCH, DIONYSIUS of Halicarnassus, and THUCYDIDES, make frequent mention of the simplicity of the festivals and Sacrifices of the ancient Egyptians, and of the Greeks and Romans, as may be seen in Vossius, who has cited them in proof of this truth. This primitive simplicity lasted a very long time, and there were places where it always subsisted. PAUSANIAS, speaking of an Altar at Athens, consecrated to Jujiiter the most high, tells us, that no living thing was offered there, but that they made only simfllc offerings, without so much as using wine in the libations. This custom was derived from Cecrofis, who, in regulating the worship of the Gods, and the ce- remonies he had brought from Egypt into Greece, ordained that nothing which had life should he given in sacrifice, but that they should only ofFer simfilc cakes, as we learn from the same author. As they offered in sacrifice the same things blood^Sacrilfces ^J" ^ e( ^ u P on > when bread came to be substitut- became general; et l j n the room of herbs, they applied to that use a sort of flour and cakes baked with salt. To these sacrifices they joined the productions of the earth, honey, oil, and wine; and when they came afterwards to feed upon the flesh of animals, they began also to make offerings of bloody sacri- fices, in honour of the Gods: For there always was a remarkable connexion between the food of mankind and the matter of the Sacrifices, since the law ordained, that one part of them should be eaten; and they are always accompanied with feasting, as we shall see in the sequel. ....... * It would be hard to determine at what period of time the use of bloodl J wrfa was intro- tion is uncertain, duced amone the Pagans. No great stress will excepting Abel's offering: be laid on the authority of OVID, who alleges, ' that the sow was the first animated victim which was offered to Ceres, upon account of the ravages which that ani- mal makes in the fields. HOMER, at least, will tell us, that the CHAP. II. MACHINERY OF IDOLATRY. 161 SEC. V. ITS VICTIMS OR SACRIFICES. use of this sort of sacrifices was common in the time of the Tro- jan mar; and I do notbelieve we have more early examples. I know that PAUSANi^Pspeaks of the human sacrifice which Ly- caon offered up to Jufiiter Lycetus; that the authors of the Argo- nautics tell us, the heroes of the golden fleece stowed a hecatomb in their ship, as an offering to Afiollo; they also mention a sacri- fice of the deer taken in hunting, which those heroes sacrificed instead of the other animals; but these authorities are to be less regarded than HOMER, the most ancient of poets, and conse- quently nearer to the events he described. Be that as it will, there can be no doubt but the use of bloody sacrifices in the Pagan world is of very great antiquity, if what is advanced by some of the fathers of the church be true, that God accepted that sort of sacrifice, and MOSES enjoined them to the Israelites, only to pre- vent their offering them to the Pagan Gods, as was done by the neighbouring nations. But this account is by no means just; and it is certain, that in the true religion, these sacrifices were as old as the world, since CAIN offered to God the fruits of the earthy and ABEL sacrificed to him -victims taken from his flocks. Now as idolatry is but a corruption of the true religion, there is no doubt of its having borrowed its rites from thence, and in particu- lar, the use of bloody sacrifices, and that from the earliest ages. It is however as true, that there were countries where this prac- tice was not received till very late, and with reluctance too, as the fact I am going to relate testifies sufficiently. Among the Athenians, the saciificer, after having struck the animal that was to be offered up, was obliged to fly with all his might. He was pursued, and to prevent his being arrested, he threw away the ax he had made use of, as being alone guilty of the death of the victim. The pursuers seized the ax, and entered an action against it. He, who spoke in defence of 'the ax, alleged it was less guilty than the grinder, who had sharpened it; the grinder being questioned, laid the blame upon the sharpening stone he 162 MACHINERY OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. II. ITS VICTIMS OR SACRIFICES. SEC.V. had used, and thus it became an endless process: A ceremony ridiculous indeed, but which proves the aversion the Athenians had to bloody sacrifices. r ' ' But it is fit to observe, that at the very time former Simplicity tne X were accustomed to offer up victims which of sacrifice is not ha( j /^j, they did not f or4 , et the anc i ent f orm o f forgotten. - sacrifices, which consisted only in herbs, salt, and meal, and to this they had still recourse, as the most proper way to appease the Gods. Thus, according to FESTUS and SERVIUS, they always threw meal and salt upon the -victims, upon the^re, and upon the sacrificing knives. Numa Pompilius, as PLINY has it, even laid the Romans under a prohibition not to use bloody -victims, or any other sacrifice, but those in which they employed fruits, salt, and corn. DIONYSIUS of Hulicarnassus seems to as- % cribe to Romulus what we have been saying of Numa; and he adds, that this usage was still subsisting in his time, although they had superadded to it that of bloody sacrifices. Plutarch observes there were Gods among the Romans, of whom the God Terminus was one, towards whom they preserved the ancient custom of offering up nothing that had life. In process of time, they came to such a pitch At last, human f superst i t i on as lo o ff er up human -victims. sacrifices were offered up; Who was the first author of these barbarous sa- crifices is not known; but whether it be Chro- nus or Saturn, as it is in the fragment of SANCHONIATHON, or Lycaon, as PAUSANIAS seems to insinuate, or some other, it is certain, that this barbarous custom was propagated to almost every known nation. Fathers themselves, actuated by a blind fu- ry, sacrificed their children, and burned them instead of incense. These horrid sacrifices, prescribed even by the oracles of the Gods, were known in MOSES'S days, and constituted a part of these abominations with which that holy legislator reproaches the the Amorites. The Moabites sacrificed their children to Moloch, CHAP II. MACHINERY OF IDOLATRY. i63 SEC. V. ITS VICTIMS OR SACRIFICES. and burned them in the cavity of the statue of that God. Accord- ing to DIONYSIUS of Halicarnassus, they offered men in sacrifice to Saturn, not only at Tyre, and Carthage, but even in Greece, and Italy. The Gauls, if we may believe DIODORUS SICULUS, sa- crificed to their Gocls their prisoners of war; those of Tauris, all the strangers who landed upon their coasts; the inhabitants of Pella sacrificed a man to Peleus. Those of Temessa, as PAUSA- NIAS has it, offered every year a young virgin to \hegenius of one of Ulysses's associates, whom they had stoned. STRABO men- tions those abominable sacrifices offered by the ancient Germans. ATHANASIUS gives the same account of the Phenicians and Cre- tans; and TERTULLIAN of the Scythians and Africans. In the Iliad of HOMER we see twelve Trojans sacrificed by Achilles to the manes of Patroclus. In' fine, PORPHYRY gives a long detail of all the places, where, in old times, they offered up human sa- crifices. From all these testimonies put together, and from sev- eral others, which it is needless to quote, it follows, that the Phe- nicians, the Egyptians, Arabians, Canaanites, the inhabitants of Tyre and Carthage, those of Athens and Lacedemon, the loni- ans, nay, all Greece; the Romans, the Scythians, the Arabians, the Allemans, the Angles, the Spaniards, and the Gauls, were equally guilty of this horrid superstition. - The late Abbe DE BOISSI, ascribes the origin fr'm ^AnaAam's ^ *^ a * barbarous custom of sacrificing men, to sacrifice being an imperfect knowledge of Abraham's sacrifice. misunderstood: =^=^^=^ The Canaanites, says he, the Amorites, and the other people in the neighbourhood of those places, where that holy Patriarch had lived, no doubt would hear honourable men- tion made of the zeal and steadiness of that holy man, who sti- fled all the impressions of natural affection to an only son; they probably knew something of the rewards God promised to his faith; but being ignorant that the sacrifice was not accomplished, they understood the thing in the literal meaning, and thought, by 164 MACHINERY OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. II. ITS VICTIMS Oil SACRIFICES. SEC. V. imitating so heroic an action, to obtain the same benediction from heaven: and indeed, according to the poets and historians, it was Saturn who introduced the detestable custom of sacrificing men; now Saturn, in the judgment of the best authors, is the same wit!) Abraham. The proofs of it are clear; but I must defer them till we come to the article of that God. ====== The ancients came at last to see those inhu- man sacrifices in a true 15ht ; and the facts to be abolished. which I am going to relate, were the occasion at last of their ceasing by degrees. An oracle, says PLUTARCH, having ordered the Lacedemonians, in time of a plague, to sacrifice a virgin; and the lot having fallen upon a young maid named Helena, an eagle carried off the sacrificing knife and laid it on the head of a heifer^ which was sacrificed in her stead. The same author tells us that Pclopiclas, the Athenian general, having been directed in a dream, the night before a bat- tle, to sacrifice a fair virgin to the manes of the daughters of Sce- dassus, who had been ravished and assassinated in the same place; he, under great terror, deliberated about the inhumanity of such a sacrifice, which he believed to be odious to the Gods; when seeing a red mare, he sacrificed it by the advice of Theocritus the soothsayer, and gained the victory. In Egypt Amasis made a law, that only the figures of men should be offered up instead of themselves. In the island of Cyprus, in the room of human sacri- fices, Diphilus substituted sacrifices of oxen; as Hercules did in Italy waxen heads named OscilU, instead of real men. Anciently the head of the family was equally Hficrst kin S ancl P licst and lle was the person by whom and the choice of sacr ifices were offered; but in later times, every victims, in which something was state had priests and other ministers, ordained to this f u ction > as we sha " s ow in the follow - ing SECTION. But yet at that very time when there were priests instituted* the head of the family still retained CHAP. II. MACHINERY OF IDOLATRY. 165 SEC. V. ITS VICTIMS OR SACRIFICES. the same right. Thus we may distinguish two kinds of sacrifices; the private ones, which every one might offer in his own house, to his Lares or 'Penates; and the public sacrifices established by the laws, for which there were ministers authorised, and a priest who presided over them. These sorts of sacrifices were offered at Rome and in Greece, according to certain rules they were strictly to observe. To this purpose CICERO says, "our ances- tors have laid down rules for divine things, so that for the cere- monies instituted at high solemnities we have recourse to the Priests, who are well instructed in them; and for managing the affairs of the commonwealth, we consult the Augurs, &c. &c. The principal business of these ministers, consisted in making a right choice of victims; for of whatever nature they were, great care was to be made in the choice of them; and the same ble- mishes which excluded them from sacrifices among the Jews, also rendered them imperfect among the Pagans; whence it would seem that the latter received from, or communicated to, the former, several of their rites. Vossius in his learned treatise upon idolatry, has, on this branch of it, entered into very curious philological dissertations, to which we must refer. We will only say here, with POLLUX, that the victim ought to be clean, with- out blemish, neither lame, nor deformed: white, and of an odd num- ber, for the celestial Gods; while, on the contrary, they should be black, and of an even number, for the infernal Gods. They should also be chosen from among those animals, plants, or fruits, which were agreeable to the Gods to whom they were offered; for all sorts of victims were not offered indifferently to every Divinity. It was commonly a sow big with young, that they offered to Cy dele, and to the goddess Terra; the bull to Jupiter; to Juno, heifers, ewe-lambs, and at Corinth a she-goat; tc Neptune, a bull, and lambs, as appears from HOMEII: to Pluto, a black bull; and to Proserpine, a black cow; but when that Goddess is taken for X 166 MACHINERY OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. II. ITS VICTIMS OB. SACRIFICES. SEC* V. Hecate, they sacrifice to her a dog, whose barking they supposed drove away the apparitions sent by her. The most acceptable victim to Ceres, was the boar and the sows they made her like- wise an offering of honey and of milk: to Venus was offered the dove, the he-goat, the heifer, the she-goat, Sec.: to Bacchus the he- goat. To the Sun was sometimes offered honey, but the Persians, the Armenians, the Massagetes, and others, sacrificed to him the horse. To Apollo, (for he was frequently distinguished from the Sun} they offered the ram, the she-goat, the ewe, and the he-goat; but when they confounded him with the Sun, they offered him a bullock, with gilded horns, as an emblem of his beams; they offered him likewise a raven. To Mars was generally offered the horse, the bull, the boar, and the ram; but the Lusilanians in particular, sacrificed to him, goats of either sex, and sometimes, their ene- mies; while the Scythians offered him asses, and the Carians dogs, We learn from HOMER, that the victims most grateful to Miner- va, were the bull, the lamb, and oxen that had never known the yoke. To Diana, stags and she-goats, more especially among the Athenians; and with some others, cows. To the Dii Lares, a bul- lock, or an ewe-lamb, according to the ability of those who sacri- ficed, these being of a private nature: to them they also sacrificed cocks, and swallows, and hogs, from which latter these Deities were sometimes called Grundiles. '' In fine, each Deity had their favourite, or con- also their conse- Derated birds, animals,Jishes and plants; between crated birds, ani- w hich, and their appropriate victims just spoken mals, fishes, and plants. of, there seems to be some ground of distinc- "^^ ====== tion. 1st, of the BIRDS, the eagle was conse- crated to Jupiter; the peacock to Juno; the cock and the owl to Minerva; the cock, the vulture and the wood-pecker to Mars; the cock also to Apollo, and to Esculapius; the dove and sparrow to Venus; the king-Jisher to Tethys; the fihanix to the Sun; and the cicada> assort of insect, to Apollo. 2d, Among ANI VIALS, theflo7z CHAP. IT. MACHINERY OF IDOLATRY. 16.7 SEC. V. ITS VICTIMS OR SACRIFICES. was consecrated to Vulcan; the wolf to Apollo and Mars; the dog to the Lares and to Mars; the dragon to Bacchus and Minerva; the griffin to Apollo; the serpent to Esculapius; the /, to //ze was consecrated to Cybele, for the sake of Atys; the oa and the AeecA to Jupiter; every species of oak to Rhea; the o//r** and the myrtle to Apollo and Venus; the cypress to Pluto; the narcissus and the maiden-hair or capilli -veneris, to Proserpine; the csA to Mars; the purselane to Mercury; the myrtle and the poppy to Ceres; the iwe to Bacchus; the poplar to Hercules; dittany and the poppy to Lucina; garlic to the Penates; the a/o'er, the cca'ar, the juniper, and the narcissus, to the Furies; the /ja/m to the Manes; the plane-tree to the Genii; the aWer to Sylvanus; the />z}' ablution; and for that purpose, there was ordinarily at the entry into CHAP. II. MACHINERY OF IDOLATRY. 173 SEC.V. ITS VICTIMS OR SACRIFICES. the temple, water where he purified himself. In ancient times, it would seem that they bathed themselves in some river; at least VIRGIL makes JEneas say, when he is ready to offer a sacrifice, that he will not enter upon that action till he has jiurijied himself in running water. But it is to be observed, that this kind of ablu- tion was only requisite in sacrifices offered to the celestial Gods; simple sprinkling being sufficient for the terrestrial and infernal Gods. At Rome they never offered sacrifice, till they had ushered it in with a prayer to Janus, for the reason given by OVID, that he kept the gate which led to the other Gods. This prayer being ended, a second was addressed to Jujiiter, then a third to Juno, or, according to others, to Vesta. Afler this, the priest embraced the altar several times, lifting his hands to his mouth; then he pour- ed wine upon the altar, from the Patera: lastly he ordered the sacrifice! 1 to strike the victim; which he did either with the knife called Secesfiita,or he knocked it on the head with a mallet. MONT- FAUCON explains most of the sacrifices that are still to be found represented upon marbles, and upon bas-reliefs; so that there is little occasion for me to speak further of them here, and the ra- ther, that his explications suppose the figures which one ought to have before his eyes: but as in that multitude of sacrifices, some were more solemn than others, such as the Hecatomb, the Agro- terte, and the Taurobolium, with some others, I suppose it is in- cumbent upon me to give a short detail of them here. - '" In great victories, or in time of some public The Sacrifice . , , . called Hecatomb calamity, they sometimes ottered in the same offered on public sacr ifi ce , no less than an hundred oxen, or other emergencies. - animals; this is what they called a Hecatombs sometimes it amounted to a thousand, though very rarely, and then it got the name of a Chiliomb. CAPITOLINUS, speaking of the Hecatomb which was offered by Balbinus, after Ma-ximinus's de- feat, informs us at the same time, in what manner this sort of sa- Y 174 MACHINERY OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. II. ITS VICTIMS OR SACRIFICES. SEC. V. orifice was offered. " They set up in a place appointed, an hun- dred altars of turf, and sacrificed an hundred sheefi, and as many Jiogs; if 'the sacrifice is imperial, they offer up an hundred lions, an hundred eagles, and as many other animals. The Greeks, says this author, did the same thing when they were infected with the plague." ATHENjEus-adds, that they took the same course after signal victories, for which he cites the example of Conon the La- cedemonian captain; who offered, says he, a (rue Hecatomb. By this phrase, true Hecatomb, the author gives us to understand, that the general actually offered up an hundred oxen, for sometimes the name Hecatomb was given to sacrifices, where the hundred animals were of another species. From the passage in CAPITO- LINUS, we may refute the error of those who maintain, that the Hecatomb was so called, on account of an hundred oxen or bulls which were therein sacrificed. HESYCHIUS, and several other au- thois, confirm what CAVITOLINUS says, that in Hecatombs they sacrificed other animals as well as oxen. To conclude, this kind of sacrifice was of very great antiquity, since there is mention of it in HdMER, who says, JVefitune went into ^Ethiopia to receive the sacrifice of the Hecatomb, of bulls and lambs. It is a noted story that PYTHAGORAS offered a Hecatomb for having found out the demonstration of the forty-seventh proposition in the first Book of EUCLID. ====== We must not omit the sacrifice of Agrotera, calleci Jlgrolerx wnere tne y sacrificed Jive hundred goats every in honour of Dia- year at Athens, in honour of Diana, surnamed nn. -ii.._;,." '-- -- dgreierti, whether from the city Agros in Attica, or, according to RHOIUGINUS, because she was always in the field*. XENOPHOH refers the institution of this sacrifice, to a vow made by the Athenians, of sacrificing to that Goddess as many goats as they should kill of Persians; but the slaughter they made of them was so great, that it was impossible for them literally to accomplisli their vow, which obliged them to make a decree, CHAP. II- MACHINERY OP IDOLATRY. 175 SEC. V. ITS VICTIMS OR SACRIFICES. binding themselves to*bffer up every year, five hundred goats in honour of her, which was siill kept up in the time of that histo- rian. - ' ' The Taiiroboliiun was a sacrifice offered to the The sacrifice , r . /-^ , n-i -c called Tauroboli mother ot the Uods. 1 his sacrifice does not ap- um, in honour of p eal < [ O have been known in the first aees of Pa- Cijbele: ===== ganism; since the oldest inscription that mentions it, which was found at Lions, A. D. 1704, in the mountain Four- viere, informs us, that this Tunrobolium was offered under the reign of Antoninus, A. D. 160. But then it was very late before it was laid aside; the last inscription of it that we know, is in the reign of Valentinian III. We have hardly ;>.ny way of knowing this sort of sacrifice, but from inscriptions; the Ancients, at least such of them as are extant, being quite silent upon this article; except JULIUS FIRMICUS, a Christian author, PRUDENTIUS, and perhaps LAMPRIDIUS, who speaking of Heliogabalus, says, he was so devoted to Cybele, that he received the blood of the bulls that were offered up to that Goddess. This sacrifice was offered to Cybcle,for the consecration of the high priest, for the expiation of sins, or for the health of the prince, or of those who offered it. It was a sort of baptism, of blood, which they thought conveyed a spi- ritual regeneration, and whose lites and ceremonies were different from other sacrifices. But, as the poet PRUDENTIUS has left a particular description of the Taurobolium, I shall, for the satisfac- tion of the reader, give it here. " In order," says he, " to conse- crate the high priest, that is, to initiate him into the Taurobolium, a great hole was made in the earth, into which he entered, dress- ed in an extraordinary garb, wearing a crown of gold) with a toga of silk tucked up after the Sabine fashion. Above the hole was a sort of floor, the boards of which, not being close joined, left seve- ral chinks, and besides, they bored several Roles therein: then they led up a bull, crowned with festoons, upon his shoulders fillets co- vered with flowers, and having his forehead gilt- Here the vie- 176 MACHINERY OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. 11. ITS VICTIMS OR SACRIFICES. SEC. V. tim's throat was cut, so that the reeking mood came streaming down upon the floor, which being made like a sieve, let it fall into the hole as it were like a shower, which the priest received upon his head, upon his body, and upon his clothes. Not content with this, he even held back his head to receive the blood upon his face, he let it fall upon both cheeks-, upon his ears, his lips, and his nostrils; nay, he opened his mouth ,to bedew his tongue with it, and some of it he swallowed. When all the blood was drained, the victim was removed, and the high priest came out of the hole. It was a horrible spectacle to see him in this plight! his head covered over ' on this sub j cct into several articles. 1st, I five heads, viz.; sna ii examine whether there really were Sibyls. 2d, How many there were of them. 3d, Upon what ground the ancients believed they had the gift of prophecy. 4th, What we are to think of the long life that was attributed to them- Lastly, Whether they were reputed Divinities, and what worship was paid to them. - '-^ 1st, The ancients gave the name of Sibyls to thef-freaUy were a certain number of young women, whom they Sybils. believed to be endowed with the gift of prophe- cy. This name was originally either Hebreiv^ as T)ELBIO, PEUCERUS, NEANI>ER< and some others contend; or CHAP. II. MACHINERY OF IDOLATRY. 197 SEC. IX. THE SIBYLS. Latin, as SUIDAS says; or African, as PAUSANIAS will have it; or in fine, Greek, as most of the learned assert. This last was the opinion of DIODORUS, who derives the name from a word im- porting in the Greek language, inspired, enthusiast, because they were fully persuaded that the Sibyls were inspired by the Gods: but of all who have inquired into the etymology of this name, LACTANTIUS is he whose opinion is generally followed. This learned author says, it signified the counsel of God. Be that as it will, all antiquity concurs in establishing the existence of some such persons, and though there is a considerable variation with respect to their number, as we shall see afterwards, that does not however destroy the certainty of their having existed. One dis- putes about their number, another about their country, a third about the time when they lived, 8cc. But these very disputes prove their existence to be taken for granted; so that it cannot be deni- ed, without overturning whatever is most certain in antiquity, and without contradicting, at the same time, several Fathers of the first centuries, who have given into the unanimous opinion of the Ancients. | 2d, If the Ancients are agreed as to the ear- there were * of ^ stence f the Sibyls, they are far from being so them. as t o their number. The cause of their uncer- tainty about this subject is, that one and the same Sibyl travelled into several countries, and after having staid sometime in one place, and. delivered oracles there, she passed into another: frequently too, different names were given to the same, sometimes that of the country, sometimes that of .the places of her abode. The opinion, however, most generally received, is that of VARRO, recited by LACTANTIUS; and the ac- count of them given by that learned father of the church, is as follows. " VARRO in the books which he composed upon divine things dedicated by him to C. Caesar the High-Priest, when he 2 B 15* MACHINERY OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. II. THE SIBYLS. SEC. IX. comes to the article of the Sibylline Books, says, that those Books were not the work of only one Sibyl, but of ten, for there wtre that number in all. Then he names them one after another, with the authors who had spoken of them before him. "Theirs/, says he, and the most ancient one, was a Persian by birth, as we learn from NICAMOR, whom the Persians called Sambethe, the same who had written the history of Alexander of Macedon. The second w r as born in Libya, and of her EURIPIDES makesmention, in the prologue to his tragedy, intitletl Lamia, saying that she was the daughter of Jufiiter and Lamia. The third was of Del- fihos< as we learn from the book of divination composed by CHRYSIPPUS, DIODORUS SICULUS names her Dajihnc. The fourth had her birth among the Simmerians in Italy; NJEVIUS speaks of her in his history of the Punic war, and Piso in his annals. The Jifth, the most famous of all, was of Erythrta, ac- cording to APOLLODORUS, who was of the same country; she prophesied to the Greeks who were goLig to besiege Troy, the h; ppy success of their enterprise, and at the same time, that HOMER should one day write a great deal of fictions upon that subject. The sixth was of Samos, and her history was to be found in the most ancient unnals of the Samians, as we learn from ERA- TOSTHENES; she was called Pitho or Persuasion, according to SUIDAS, but EUSEBIUS termed he Erifihile. The seventh, born at Cuma, was named Amalthxa, according to some authors, and ac- cording to others, Dcmofihile, or Hicrofihile: it was she who offer- ed to Tarqtiin the elder, a collection of Sibylline -verses, in nine books. The eighth was the Hellesfiontine, born at Marjiems near the town of Gergis in Traos: HERACLIDES of Pontus said, she lived in the tin>c of Cyrus and Solon. The ninth, likewise a Phrvgi.tn by birth, gave her Oracles at s/ncyra, the place of her re -idence. The tenth, in fine, named jflbuntsa, was of Tibur or Ti'iili, and was honoured as a Divinity in the neighbourhood of the i her ./faze/." These ore the fen Sibi/lx whom VAHRO admit- CHAP. II. MACHINERY OF IDOLATRY. 195* SEC. IX. THE SIBYLS. ted. SUIDAS, also speaks of the Sibyls, but not very accunieiy: he has given us two articles about them which don't rest-nil. le one another, though in both he reckons ten of them. JLIAN. on the contrary, allows but four of them, namely, the Erythr&an y the Egyptian, she who was born at Samos, and another at ar'dia in Lydia. SOLINUS seems persuaded, that their number uuglit to be reduced to l/irec, those of Sardzs and Cum*, and the A ;/- thrtan, wherein he is followed by AUSONIUS, who likewise adir-its not more of them than three. This would be the proper place to examine when the Sibyls lived; their parentage, the place of their birth, and the order wherein they ought to be placed; but so many different opinions in relation to these four articles are to be found among both ancients and moderns, that after strict ex- amination, one is at a loss what to fix upon. I have chcsen to mention them in the same order as LACTANTIUS had done nfier VARRO, although I am not ignorant that several of the learned have inverted that order, as if it was a thing worth while to m;v nics upon the union which Man may have with the Godn: taking it for granted that this was one of the fundamental articles of the Pagan theology, we may say that what made them believe the Sibyls were possessed of a prophetic gift, must have been owing to their having had a persuasion that they enjoyed this intimate union with the Gods, especially with Aficillo the master of Divina- tion. It was likewise for this reason that they gave the same privilege to the Pythia of Delfihos, and to ihe Priestesses of Dodo- na whom they believed to be intimately united with the Deity by whom they were inspired. But other philosophers had very dif- ferent sentiments about the firofihetic sfiirit of the Sibyls, which they attributed to the influence of a black and melancholy humour, or some other disease. Others again were of opinion, that the fury to which they were wrought up, enabled them to know and foretell future events, as IAMBLICUS and .AGATHIAS maintain. To this fury, CICERO added dreams, which sometimes inform us of things to come. This illustrious author says elsewhere, " there are persons, who without .any science, and without any observa- tion, foretel future events, by I know not \vhalfurious impulse" We also find ancient authors who ascribe this faculty of divina- tion which the Sibyls had, to the -vafiours and exhalations of the caverns inhabited by them, as was ascribed to the caveofDel/ihos. Lastly, ST. JKROM maintained that this gift was imparted to them as a reward of their chastity: true it is that chastity has al- ways been looked upon, even by the Pagans, as a necessary quali- fication in those who approached the altars; that the Priests, be- fore they offered up the sacrifices, were obliged to prepare them- selves for that service by continence, and that there were even some of them who used medicinal means to acquire this gift: it is likewise true, that in order to be assured of the chastity of the Priestess of Del/ihos^ they chose her in the earliest time of life, from among the country fieofilr, with whom this virtue is less ex- posed than with the citizens. I know not, however, what founda- CHAP. II. MACHINERY OF IDOLATRY. 201 SEC. IX. THE SIBYLS. tion ST. JEROM hud, for entertaining such a favourable notion of the chastity of the Sibyls, since there is one of them who boasts of having had si great number of lovers, without being married, in this verse which I have taken from the Latin translation; mille mihi lecti, connubia nullafuere. - The Sibyl of Persia too, speaks of her husband who was with her in NOAH'S Ark, as we shall see in the sequel. Our opinion therefore is, that the Sibyls, being of a sullen melancholy humour^. Iniug retired, and giving way to a fanatic impulse, as VIRGIL describes the Sibyl of Camxa, de- livered at a venture what came into their mind, and that in the course of their frequent predictions, they sometimes hit right; or rather by the help of & favourable commentary, people per- suaded themselves that they had divined. And indeed, how easy was it for those who collected their predictions, and pui them in verse, as was done to those of the Priestess of Deiphos, to retrench or add what they pleased, and that frequently even after the event? Some have been prophets in spite of themselves, and the public frequently gives itself the trouble to Accommodate words spoken at random, to facts which were never dreamed of by him who uttered them. Do we not see instances of this every day among ourselves, in relation to our pretending prophets. 4th, I cannot pass in silence, what OVID tells 4th, The long life attributed to us in his Metamorphoses, of the amours of the Cum an *%' with ^ oll - Thai God, says he, falling in love with her, she promised to receive his addresses, if he would grant Hfer to live as many yeai s as she had grains of sand in her hand: but after she had obtained her re- quest, she repaid the God with ingratitude; who, in turn, pun- ished her in the enjoyment of her -vain desire, for having forgot to ask, that her youthful vigour might be continued through that length of years, she lived till she became a burden to herself, op- pressed with old age, and so emaciated, that she had nothing left but her voice. It is easy to see, that this fable is founded upon a 202 MACHINERY OP IDOLATRY. CHAP. II. THE SIBYLS. SEC. IX. double tradition; the one, that they looked upon jifiollo to be the God, who had deepest insight into futurity, and who communica- ted the same to his favourites, which accounts for their saying, he had been in love with this Sibyl, who was believed to be greatly endued with the prophetic gift: And what accounts for the other part of the fuble is the general persuasion that prevailed of the Sibyl having lived to a very great age. VIRGIL, in two passages, calls the Sibyl of Cumae the aged Priestess, Longx-va Sacerdos. ERASMUS assures us, it was from this longevity of the Sibyls, that the proverb came, Sibylla -uivacior; and PROPERTIUS says, in the second book of his elegies, u though you should live as many ages as the Sibyl:" to the same purpose are usually quoted the verses of an old poet, who gives three examples of persons who were long-lived, viz Hecuba^ the wife of Priam; JEthra, the mother of Theseus; and the Sibyl. OVID tells us, that at the time when ./Eneas consulted the Cun sean Sibyl, she had already lived seven hundred years, und that she had three hundred more to live. PHLEGON gives the same account ot the Erythraean Sibyl; and she herself, in her predictions, boasts of this privilege. These testi- monies for the longevity of the Sibyls, induce me to make two reflections: First, that they are nothing but exaggerations of the poets. That some of them lived as long as Hecuba and jEt/ira, that is fourscore, or fourscore and ten years, has nothing in it ex- traordinary; but this is the most we can allow. Even LUCIAN, who gnes a long detail of persons who were long-lived, makes no mention of the Sibyls; whfbh is a strong presumption against the great age which is assigned to them. But as poetical fictions have always some foundation, learned authors will have it, that the Sibyl of Cumsa was said to have lived a thousand years, only because she had foretold what was to befal the Romans in that sp t .ce of time. The transformation of that Sibyl into Voice, is nothing but ;.n emblem, which imports that her Oracles were to last forever. The second reflection is, that in all appearance, the CHAP. II. MACHINERY OP IDOLATRY. 203 SEC. IX. THE SIBYLS. Sibyl o> Cume was the same with thai of Erytlirxa, who having quitted her native country, came and settled in Italy. And indeed if we credit SERVIUS, the amour, which we have just now taken from OVID, concerns the Sibyl of Erythnea. That author, speak- ing of folio's amiurs with that virgin, subjoins to what we have said of her, that the God granted her the long life she sought, only upon condition she would abandon the isle Erythrga, the place of her birth, to come and settle in Italy. Accordingly she came thither, and fixed her residence near Cum Is. If \vere reputed D'u they did not always look upon them to be Divini- . tics, they at least reputed them of a middle na- ture between Gods and men. This is what one of the Sibyls said of herself, according to PAUSANIAS. While she acknowledged, that after a life of several ages, she was to pay the tribute which all human kind owe to death; at the same time she said, she was to be one day transformed into that face which appears in the ^T:- as maybe seen iu PLVTARCH: r.s if before the Sibyls were. 204 MACHINERY OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. II. THE SIBYLS, SEC. IX. that Planet had not exhibited the same appearance of a face, which is thought to be there discerned. Mythologists, ancient and mo- dern, have trifled egregiously in making moral and physical lec- tures upon this metamorphosis of the Sibyls, and I hope it will not be expected 1 am to copy them. And indeed what reasonable allegories can be imagined as a foundation for a fiction so frivo- lous? Such was the idea the ancients had of the Sibyls. In later times, at least some of them, had divine honours paid them. LAC- TANTIUS, who had read the work of VARRO, in which he speaks of the Sibyls, is positive that the Tiburtine was worshipped as a Goddess at Tibur. It would likewise seem, that the worship which those of her own country paid to her, was brought to Rome, since that learned father of the church subjoins, cujus sacra, Sena- tius in Ca/ritolum transtnlit. The highest mark of supreme wor- ship given to any one, was to consecrate temples to him; now it is certain, that someof the Sibyls had temples. ST. JUSTIN MAR- TYR mentions that of the Sibyl of Cumx in Italy, built over the very care where she had delivered her Oracles: and as he had the curiosity to visit it when in Italy, he has given a very full descrip- tion of it. VIRGIL makes mention of this temple; or rather he considers as a temple the grotto where the Sibyl delivered her Oracles, because in after-times there was one actually built there. We read in M. SPON'S travels, that near the place which the people of the country give out to be the cave of the Tiburtine Sibyl, are to be seen the ruins of a small temple, which is thought to have been consecrated to her. We may add farther, that the inhabitants of Gergis, in the lesser Phrygia, had a custom of re- presenting upon their medals, the Sibyl who was born in that city, as being their great Divinity. Another proof of the wor- ship paid to the Sibyls, is that there were statues erected to them, which were placed in the temples; those of which GALL^EUS has given us prints, were even in the church of Sienna, where proba- bly they had been left at its consecration. Now, if we would CHAP. II. MACHINERY OP IDOLATRY. 205 SEC. IX. THE SIBYLS. know what honours were paid to statues in the temples, ARXO- BIUS will inform us: they prostrated themselves before the statues of the Gods, and kissed the very ground. We may add farther, that they would not touch the book containing the Oracles of the Sibyls, unless their hands were covered; which was the practice in all the other religious ceremonies. These are the most posi- tive arguments we find for the worship paid to the Sibyls. 1 I will briefly take notice of the Tomb and Epi Ep!taph T f b the te/M of the Erythraean Sibyl, the most celebrat- Erythrsean Sibyl, edofall; but as the passage where it is men- tioned by PAUSAXIAS, contains some other par- ticularities concerning this Sibyl, which are not to be met with elsewhere, I shall copy it entire. " The Sibyl Herophile, says PAUSANIAS, is later than she who was daughter to Jufiiter and Lamia, and yet she lived before the siege of Troy; for she pro- phesied, that Helen should be educated at Sparta, to be the curse of Asia, and that upon her account all Greece should one day conspire the ruin of Troy. The inhabitants of Delos have hymns in honour of ^pvllo, which they ascribe to this woman. In these verses, she gives herself out not only for fJerophil?,but for Diana too. Sometimes she makes herself the -wife, sometimes the sister, and sometimes the daughter of Apollo; but then she speaks like one inspired, and as it were delirious: for elsewhere she says she was born of an immortal mother, one of the Nymphs of Ida, and a mortal father; < I am, says she, the daughter of an immortal J\'ymph, but of a mortal father; a native of Ida, that country where the soil is so parched and light; Marpessus is the birth-place of my mother, and the river ddoneus.' Accordingly about Mount Ida in Phrygia, there are to' be seen at this day, the ruins of Marpessus, where are still remaining about sixty inhabitants. Marpessus is about two hundred and forty furlongs from Alexandria, a city of Troas. The inhabitants of Alexandria say, Htrophile was the 206 MACHINERY OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. II. THE SIBYLS. SEC. IX. keeper of the temple to Afiolh Smintheus, and that she had given an interpretation of Hecuba's dream, whereof the truth was justi- fied by the event. This Sibyl passed a good part of her life at Samos; then she came to Claros, which belongs to the Colopho- nies; then to Delos; from that to Delphos, where she delivered her Oracles from the rock I have spoken of. She ended her days in Traos: her Tomb is still subsisting in the sacred grove of Ajwllo Smintheus, with an epitaph in elegiac verse, engraved on a Column, which is to this effect: ' I am that famous Sibyl, whom jlfiollo had for the interjireter of his Oracles; once an eloquent -vir- gin, now lying speechless underneath this marble, and condemned to an eternal silence: nei>ert/ieless, by the favour of the Corf, dead as I am, I enjoy the siveet society of Mercury, and of the Nymphs my companions.' And indeed, nigh her monument stands Mercury in a quadrangular figure; on the left, a fountain of waterfalls into a bason, where statues of Nymfihs are to be seen. The Eryth- raeans are they of all the Greeks who claim this Sibyl with the greatest warmth. They vauntingly shew their mount Corycua, and in this mountain a cave, \\ here they pretended Herophile had her birth. According to them, a shepherd of the country, named Theodorus, was her father, and a Xymfih her mother. This Nymfih was surnamed Idxa, because every place was then called Ida, which was planted with a number of trees. As for those verses, which speak of Marpessus and the river Aidoneus, as her native country, the Erythi aeans strike them out of the poems of Hero/ihile." We shall speak of the Sibyline Books and their Oracles, when speaking of Oracles in general, in the following CHAPTER. CHAPTER III. THE SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. THE ceremonies of Su/icrstition authorised by idolatry, are very numerous. Among them I reckon, 1st, The veneration that was paid to Oracles in general, and to the Sibylline Books in par- ticular, which, with the Romans, were a standing Oracle consult- ed by them upon all occasions; 2d, the Presages; 3x1, the Prodi- gies; 4th, Expiations; 5th, Magic; 6th, Judicial Astrology; 7th, Divination; 8th, the Lots; 9th, the Prsestigiae; 10th, the Augu- ries; llth, the Auspices; 12th, Public Supplications, and Devo- tions; 13th, Ceremonies of founding Cities; 14th, the Festivals; 15th, the Games; besides some others. SECTION FIRST. OF ORACLES 7JV GENERAL. As the Oracles, which SENECA defines to be language or will * ne w '^ f tne Gods declared by the mouths of of the Gods, are men an( j w hich CICERO simply calls the Ian- public & private. ===== guage of the Gods, Deorum Oratio, depended upon the Pagan religion, and were a considerable part of it, their history belongs to a treatise upon Mythology. Nothing was more famous than these Oracles: they were cdnsulted not only for na- tional enterprise, but even in affairs of private life. In public matters^ were the points in question, to make peace or war, to enact laws, reform states, or change the constitution; in all these 208 SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. HI. OF ORACLES. SEC. I. cases they hdd recourse to the Oracle by public authority. In private, lift, if a mi>n had a design to marry, if he was to enter upon a journey, or in short, whatever business he was to under- take, was he sick and out of order, he must directly consult the Oracle. Men's desire of knowing futurity, and of securing the success of their designs, led them to consult those Gods who were reputed prophetic; for all the Gods had not that character.* Hence, the institution of Oracles, the eagerness to consult them, and the immense donations wherewith their temples were filled; for an anxious mind, subdued by vain curiosity, sticks at nothing. Upon this principle, we need not doubt but as universal *" as thal everv nation, where idolatry prevailed, had Idolatry. j ts Q rac ] eS) O r some other means of searching into the hidden events of futurity. There never was any nation where impostors were wanting, and a tribe of covetous mortals, who pretended to the gift of foreknowing and predicting mysterious future events. They have been found even among the most gross and barbarous nations, such as the Iroquois, and other savages of America. The ancient Gauls had their Druids, who were regarded by them as prophets. Among the Egyptians and Phenicians, the Priests were clothed with this character, and thus doubtless it was among other nations. But as a particular examination into the Oracles of every idolatrous people, would carry us too far, and as we Avant records, from which to compile their history, we shall confine ourselves to the Oracles of the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans; especially those of the Greeks, who were both very numerous, and highly cele- brated. * In older times there were hardly any who delivered Oracles but The- mis, Jupiter, and Jipollo; but afterwards this privilege was granted to al- most all the Gods, and to a great number of Heroes, as AVC shall see in due time. CHAP. III. SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. 209 OF ORACLES. Before we enter upon the particular history imposture?; "Tnd of these Oracles, it is necessary to examine in did they cease at a f ew worc i s two important questions. 1st, Were the Coming of Christ? the numerous predictions which authors ascri- " " bed to them, the mere imposture of priests, or did they proceed from the Devil? 2d. Did the Oracles actually cease at the coming of Christ? VAN DALE, in a treatise, which cannot be censured for want of learning, has attempted to prove that all of those predictions proceeded entirely from the tricks of those who had the charge of the Oracles; and that they did not cease when Christ came into the world As the opinion of VAN DALE seemed to contradict the unanimous sentiments of all the Fathers, and the constant tradition of the Church, which ascribed a great part at least of the Oracular responses to the Devil, who was not chained up till the coming of Jesus Christ, father BAL- THUS the Jesuit, in a learned treatise, undertook the defence of the tradition of the Church, and the Fathers; and without denying the imposture of the Priests, which was often mixed with the Oracles, he proves in an equally perspicuous and solid manner, the intervention of the Devil in some predictions, which all the efforts of incredulity were incapable of ascribing to the cheats of the Priests alone. And as for the time of the cessation of these Oracles, he proves with the same erudition, that if they did not cease altogether at the coming of Christ, they at least began then to decline; they were no longer in such high reputation; they were no longer consulted with the usual apparatus: though it is unquestionable that they did not entirely cease, till Christianity triumphed over idolatry. It is not to my purpose to enlarge farther upon these two questions, the particulars of the case being in every body's hands. Yet I cannot help making some reflections upon the first, that serve to overthrow VAN-DALE'S scheme. Is it then credible, that if the Oracles had been nothing but the offspring of priestcraft, whatever artful methods they may be SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. III. OF ORACLES. SEC. I. thought to have used; and however successful in pumping out the secrets and schemes of those who came to consult them; is it credible, I say, that these Oracles would have lasted so long, and supported themselves with so much splendour and reputa- tion, had they been merely owing to the forgery of the priests? Imposture betrays itself: falsehood never holds out. Besides, there were too many witnesses, too many curious spies, too many people whose interest it was, not to suffer themselves to be delu- ded. One may put a cheat for a time upon a few private persons, \vho are over-run with credulity, but by no means upon whole nations for several ages. Some princes who had been played upon by ambiguous responses, a trick once discovered, the bare curio- sity of a free-thinker, any of these, in short, was sufficient to blow up the whole mystery, and at once make the credit of the Oracle fall to the ground. How many people deluded by hateful respon- ses, were concerned to examine, if it was really the priests by whom they were seduced. But why was it so hard a matter to find one of the priests themselves, capable of being bribed to betray the cause of his accomplices, by the fair promises and more sub- stantial gifts, of those, who omitted no means of being thorough- ly informed on a subject of such concern? It seems then there were no mercenary souls in that virtuous age! Gold had no be- witching charms! contempt and dishonour had lost their power! Why else, would not the priests of an Oracle, whose credit was low, or entirely sunk, have revealed, either through despair or revenge, the impostures of those who carried off from them all their gain? they, who by practising the like tricks, had good rea- son at least to suspect those of others. What an odd combination is this, and how unparalleled, to hold out against interest, and against reputation: to unite so many impostors in a secret so re- ligiously kept! To these reflections, father BALTHUS adds ano- ther, drawn from human sacrifices that were required by the Oracles; since man, says he, however inthralled to his passions, never would have demanded such victims. CHAP. m. SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. 211 SEC. I. OF ORACLES. In order to co suit the Oracles, the lim e was Of the time tQ be chosen M hen j t was believed the Gods ana manner ot consulting the delivered them; for all days were not equally Oracles. * igreeable to them for that purpose: at Delphos there was but one month in the year, when the priestess answered those who came to consult .ifiollo. In after-times, there was one day in each month, when that God pronounced his Oracles. Nor were all the Oracles delivered in the same manner: here, it was the priestess who answered for the God whom they consulted; there, it was the God himself who pronounced the Oracle; in an- other place they received the response of the God in their slrefl, for procuring which they used certain preparatory means of a mysterious nature; sometimes they received the responses in letters under a seal; and in fine, in other places, by casting lots, as at Preneste in Italy. Sometimes they were obliged to use many preparatives, in order to qualify themselves for receiving the Oracles, such as fastings, sacrifices, lustrations, Sec At other times, so little ceremony was reqviisite, that the consulter receiv- ed his answer instantaneously upon coming up to the Oracle; as Alexander did, when he came to Libya to consult that of Jufiiter- Hammon: for no sooner did the priest see him, than he gave him the compellation of, son of Jufiiler; to obtain which, was the whole end of his journey. But it is time to pass on to the par- ticular history of the most celebrated Oracles: and as those of Dodona, and Jupiter ffammon, were the most ancient, I shall be- gin with the history of them. 1st, The Oracle of Dodona* We learn from HERODOTUS, that the Oracle this OracleT n and f Dodona,\\ie most ancient of Greece, and that that of Jupiter of j u p iter Hammon in Libya, had the same ori- Hammon. l, and both owed their institution to the The honours of this Oracle were divided between Jupiter and Apollo, 212 SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. III. OF ORACLES. SEC. I. Egyptians, as did all the other antiquities of Greece. Here is the allegoi-y, under which this piece of history is transmitted to us: Two pigeons, said they, taking flight from Thebes in Egypt, one of them came to Libya; the other having flown as far as the forest of Dodona in Chaonia, a province of Epirus, alighted there, and let the inhabitants of the country know, that it was the will of Jupiter to have an Oracle in that place. This prodigy -aston- ished those who were witnesses to it, and the Oracle being found- ed, there was very soon a great concourse of consultors. SERVIUS adds, that Jupiter hud given to his daughter Ttbe these two pigeons, and communicated to them the gift of speech. HEHO- DOTUS, who judged rightly that the fact which gave rise to the institution of the Oracle, was couched under the fable, has ex- amined into its historical foundation. " Phenician merchants, says this author, sometime ago carried off two priestesses of Thebes; she who was sold in Greece, took up her residence in the forest of Dodona, where the Greeks came to gather acorns, their ancient food; and there she erected a small chupel at the foot of an Oak, in honour of Jupiter, whose priestess she had beeii at Thebes: this was the foundation of that Oracle, so famous in succeeding ages. The same author subjoins, that this priestess was called the pigeon, because they understood not her language; but soon coming to be acquainted with it, they reported that the pigeon spoke." == In ancient times, the Oracle of Dodona was How the Oracle of Dodona was g lven b X the murmuring of a fountain in the g iven - forest of Dodona, whose purling stream rippled along the foot of an Oak. Afterwards, it seems, they had recourse to more formalities, and this was the artifice they fell upon; they suspended in the air some brazen kettles^ near a statue of the same metal which was likewise suspended, and held a lash in its hand: this figure being agitated by the wind, struck against the kettle that was next to it, which communicating CHAP. III. SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. 213 SEC. I. OF ORACLES. the motion to the rest of the kettles- raised a clattering din which continued sometime; and upon this noise they formed predictions. Hence the forest of Dodona had even taken its name, for fJodo in Hebrew signifies a kettle. If you ask, what gave rise to the fable of those Oracles being delivered by the Oaks themselves? the answer I take to be this; that the ministeis of that Oracle hid themselves in the hollow of the Oak, when they gave their res- ponses. From these speaking Oaks, to mention it by the by, came the origin of that other fable about the ma fits of the ship Argo, cut in the forest of Dodona, which, according to ONOMA- CRITUS, APOLLONIUS of Rhodes, and VALERIUS FLACCUS gave Oracles to the jirgonauts, as we shall see in the history of iheir expedition. SUIDAS, speaking of the Oaks of this forest, says, they spoke, and gave responses to the supplicants in this form; " Thus saith Jitfiiter, &c." VAX-DALE, in his history of Oracles, after remarking that SUIDAS has barely copied EUSTATHIUS, reports the opinion of ARISTOTLE and several other authors, and takes particular notice how much the ancients vary in their ac- counts of this Oracle; this variation among them, no doubt, is owing to the care that was taken, not co allow those who came to consult the Oracle, to approach too near it so that they could only hear a certain sound, but by no means could judge whence it proceeded. But whatever be in that, no sooner was the sound of the kettles over, than the women whom they named Dodonida, delivered their Oracles, either in verse, as appears from the col- lection made of them; or by the tots, as CICERO seems to think, in his book of Divination. 2f/, The Oracle of Jufiiter Hammon. ' What I have taken from HERODOTUS at the The antiquitv , . . ... of this Oracle, beginning of the preceding art:rle,,pro\es the character of its Q rac i e o f J ufl iter Hammon in Libya, to have Priests. been as ancient as that of Dodona, whose history 2 D 214 SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. III. OF ORACLES. SEC. I- we have seen. This Oracle became likewise very famous, and they flocked from all parts to consult it, notwithstanding the in- conveniences of so long a journey, and the burning sands of Li- bya they had to go through. One knows not well what to think of the fidelity of the priests who ministered to the God. Some- times they were proof against corruption, as appears from the charge they gave in at Sparta against Lysander, who had offered to bribe them, in that scheme he was projecting, to change the order of succession to the throne: but sometimes they are not so scrupulous; witness the story of Alexander, who, either to screen the reputation of his mother, or from pure vanity, affected to be reputed son ofJufriter; since the priest of that God, as has been said, stood in readiness to receive him, and saluted him, Son of the king of Gods. We learn from QCINTUS CURTIUS, and ponsel-were gtv- otner ancient authors, that the statue of Jupiter Hammon had a ram's head, with its horns. And from DIODORUS SICULUS we learn the manner in which that God delivered his Oracles, when any one came to consult him; Twenty-four of his priests bore upon their shoul- ders, in a gilded barge, the statue of their God sparkling with precious stones, and moved on whithersoever they thought the impulse of the God carried them: a troop of matrons and virgins accompanied this procession, singing hymns in honour ofJufiiter, STRABO remarks, upon the authority of CALISTHKNES, that the responses of that God were not words, as at Delphos, and among the Bi'anchidae, but a sign; and he quotes upon this occasion, that verse in HOMER which says, Jupiter signified his consent by bending his brow.?. CHAP. III. SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. 215 SEC. I. OF ORACLES. 3d, The Oracle of Apollo at Heliopolis. According to MACROBIUS, Apollo gave his ancHhS o- responses in the city of Heliopolis in Egypt, in ter Phlius, were tne same way w ith Jufiiter Hammon. The given as that of Hammon. Statue of that God, says he, is carried in the ========== same manner as those of the Gods in the pro- cession at the i'irceneian games. The priests, attended by the principal persons of the country who join in the ceremony, hav- ing their heads shaved, and after a long continence, set forward, not as they are inclined themselves, but according as they are impelled by the God whom they bear, by motions resembling those of the statues of Fortune at Antium." We may add here a remark on another Oracle; that it was, probably, by the same kind of motions of the statue of Jufiiter Phlius, that his priests delivered their Oracles, as may be seen in EUSEBIUS and in RUFINUS. 4:t/2) The Oracle of Apollo at Delphoa, If the Oracle of Delphos was not the most ancient of those of Greece, it was at least the most celebrated, and that which continued longest. To relate all that has been said about this Oracle, would oblige me to copy almost all the ancient authors, and not a few of the moderns: and therefore, to satisfy those who are not fond of long narrations, I shall only give an abstract of its history. At what lime this Oracle was founded is not known; which, in the first place, proves it to be of great antiquity, nor was Apollo the first who was consulted there. DIODORUS SICULUS, who was at the pains to inquire into the origin of this Oracle, reports a tra- dition, which he had taken from monuments of the greatest an- tiquity: Goats, says he, that were feeding in the valleys of Par- nassus, gave rise to the discovery of this Oracle. There was, in the place afterwards called the Sanctuary, a hole, the mouth of which was very straight. These Goats having come near it with 216 ' SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. Ill OF OKACLES. SEC. I. their heads, began to leap und frisk about so strangely, that the Shepherd, being struck with it, came up to the place, and leaning- over the hole, was seized with a fit of enthusiasm, whereby he was prompted to utter some extravagant expressions, which passed for prophecies. The news of this wonder drew thither the people of the neighbourhood, who no sooner approached the hule, than they too were transported into the like enthusiasm. Sur- prised with so astonishing a prodigy, they supposed it to proceed from some friendly Deity, or from the earth itself; and from that time, they began to confer a particular worship upon the Divinity of the place, and to look upon what was delivered in these fits of enthusiasm as predictions and Oracles. The place where this hole was observed, was on a rising ground, near Parnassus, a mountain in Phocis, on the south side; and here they afterwards built the temple and city of Delphos. ' But the ancients not being agreed as to the Had this* Oracle Gods vv ^ ^ lad ll " s orac l e successively, it is ne- successively; cessary to give their opinions. ^ESCHYLUS, in the beginning of his tragedy of the Eumenides, says Terra was the first who gave Oracles there; after her Themis; then Pluebe, another daughter of Terra: Phatbe accord- ing to the mythologists, was mother to Latona, and grandmother to Apollo; and he, in short, was \\\e. fourth. OVID only informs us, that Themis delivered Oracles at the foot of Parnassus; and that Pyrrha and Deucalion came to consult her about the means of replenishing the earth, whose inhabitants had been destroyed by a deluge. PAUSANIAS adds, that before Themis, Terra and Neptune had likewise given their Oracles there; and if we take the authority of the old s; holiast upon LYCOPHRON, Saturn too, had been consulted there with Neptune and Terra. ======= Several Gods having given Oracles succes- t^ , lC ,/\ WH y hir? 8 " s i ve ty' tne historians and poets give a very odd rily or by force, account of the manner of their transferring their right. Terra and Neptune possessed it in com- CHAP. III. SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. 217 SEC. I. OF ORACLES. mon; with this difference, that Terra gave her Oracles herself, and Nefitune gave his by the ministration of a priest named Pyrcon. From Terra the Oracle passed to Themis, her daugh- ter, who possessed it sometime, and resigned in favour of Afiollo, whom she fondly doated upon: but according to an ancient tradi- tion, followed by EURIPIDES, the resignation was far from being voluntary. APOLLO, whom Pan had taught the art of prediction, being arrived at Parnassus, with the equipage described by HO- MER, that is clothed in his immortal robes, perfumed with es- sences, and in his hand a golden lyre, on which he played melo- dious airs, seized the sanctuary by force, slew the dragon, which Terra had posted there to be the keeper, and made himself master of the Oracle. Ne/itune, who likewise had his share therein, not being inclined to dispute it with his nephew, exchanged with him for the island of Calauria, over against Trezene. From that time, none but dfiollo delivered Oracles at Delphos. It is easy to per- ceive, that this fiction had no other fou&datidh but the interest of the priests, who seeing the zeal of the people become cool, tried to awaken it, by presenting them with new objects of worship. ===== Whatever be in that, the Oracle of dfiolio got came highly cele- tne better of all the rest, both in its high reputa- brated. t j on> ant ] j on g standing. Thither they flocked fiom all parts to consult the God; Greeks and Barbarians, princes and private persons, men of all characters, upon every minute enterprize, as well as affairs of great impor- tance, came to Delphos, either in person, or sent a deputation, to know the will of jipotlo. Hence the vast donations, and immense riches, wherewith the temple and city were filled, and which be- came so considerable, as to be compared to those of the Persian kings. 218 SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. III. OF ORACLES. About the time when this Oracle was first dis- How the Inspi- . . . . . ration was acqui- covered, all the mystery requisite to obtain the red; by whom p ro phetic gift, was to approach the cavern, and delivered; and ) when. inhale the vapour which issued from it; and at === "^ = " =====: that time, the Gud inspired all sorts of persons indifferently: but at length, several of those enthusiasts, in the excess of their fury, having thrown themselves headlong into the gulf, they thought fit to provide a remedy against that acci- dent, which frequently happened. They set over the hole a ma- chine, which they called a trijiod. because it had three feet, and commissioned a woman to get upon this sort of chair, whence she might catch the exhalation without any danger, because the three feet ol the machine stood upon the rock. This priestess was called Pythia, from the serpent Python, slain by Jjiollo, as we shall see in his history. At first there were promoted to this ministration, young women, who were yet virgins, and great pre- caution was taken in the choice of them. The Pythia was ordi- narily chosen from a poor family, where she had lived in obscurity, free from luxury, and affectation of dress, and other gaudy orna- ments with which young women set themselves to show. Igno- rance itself was one of the things that qualified them for being promoted to this dignity, and no more was required in her who was to be elected, but to be able to speak and repeat what the God dictated. The custom of choosing young virgins lasted very long, and would have been continued, had it not been for an accident which occasioned its being abolished: A young Thes- salian named Echecraies, being at Delphos. fell in love with the priestess, who was extremely beautiful, and ravished her. To prevent any abuses of the like nature for the future, the people of Delphos made an express law, ordaining that none should be chosen but women above fifty years old. At first they had only one priestess, and she sufficed for giving responses to those who came to Delphos; but in aftertimes there were two or three of CHAP. in. SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. SEC. I. OF OKACLES. them. The Oracles were not delivered every day; sacrifices, repeated over and over again, until the God whose will they ex- pressed, was pleased, consumed frequently a whole year; and it was only once a year, in the beginning of spring, that Afiollo in- spired the priestess. Except on this set clay, the priestess was forbid, under pain of death, to go into the sanctuary to consult Apollo. Alexander, who before his expedition to Asia, came to Delphos, on one of those silent days during which the sanctuary was shut, entreated the priestess to mount the tripod: she refu- sed, and quoted the law which stood in her way. This prince being naturally hasty, and impatient to set out, drew the priestess by force from her cell, and was leading her himself to the sanc- tuary; which gave her occasion to say, " my son, thou art in-vinci- ble." At these words, he cried out that he was satisfied, and would have no other Oracle. As nothing served so much to raise or keep The ceremony . c _ of receiving the U P l ^ e reputation of an Oracle, as that air of Response. mystery which was given to every thing about it, we may be sure that nothing was neglected at Delphos to procure it -veneration. They used infinite precau- tion in choosing the victims, inspecting the entrails, and in the omens they drew from them. The neglecting the smallest punc- tilio, was a sufficient motive to renew the sacrifices that were to precede the response of Apollo, and they repeated them till all was right. The priestess herself made great preparation for discharging her duty: she fasted three days, and before she mounted the trifiod, she bathed herself in the fountain of Casta- lia. There she ordinarily washed \\erfeei and hands^ sometimes her whole body; and she swallowed a certain quantity of water from the fountain, because Afiollo was thought to have commu- nicated to it a part of his enthusiastic virtue. After this she was made to chew some leaves of the laurel tree, gathered near the fountain; for the laurel was the symbol of divination, and wanted 220 SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. III. OF OKACLES. SEC. I. not its influence to promote enthusiasm. After these prepara- tions, d/iollo gave signals himself of his arrival in the temple; the whole fabric, by I know not what artifice, trembled and shook to its very foundations, as likewise a laurel tree which was at the entry of the temple. Then the priests, who were likewise called prophets, took hold of the priestess, led her into the sanctuary, and placed her upon the trifiod. As soon as she began to be agi- tated by the divine exhalation, you might have seen her hair stand on end, her mein grow wild and ghastly, her mouth begin to foam, and her whole body suddenly seized with violent trembling. In this plight she attempted to get away from the prophets, who were holding her, as it were, by force, while her shrieks and howlings made the whole temple resound, and filled the by-standers with a sacred horror. In fine, being no longer able to resist the im- pulse, she gave herself up to the God, and at certain intervals ut- tered some incoherent words, which the prophets carefully picked up, arranged them in order, and put them in form of -verse. The Oracle being pronounced, she was taken down from the trifiod and conducted back to her cell, \\here she continued for several days, to reco\er herself from the conflict. We are told by Lu- CAN, that sfieedy death was frequently the consequence of her enthusiasm. ============== As the priestess was only the instrument made Other Ministers of the Oracle of use * to revea ' t' ie w "' W apQUO, so the Oracle Apollo- had several other ministers, priests or prophets, \\ho took care of every thing belonging to it; who chose the victims; offered up the sacrifices; repeated them when they were not propitious; conducted the priestess to the trifiod, where they placed her in a convenient posture for receiv- ing all the vafiour that issued from the cave, at the mouth of which she sat; put her words together, and delivered them to the poets, who were another sort of ministers, by whom they were put into verse. From a passage in PLUTARCH, it appears, that CHAP. III. SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. 221 SEC. I. OF OKACLES. three poets, together with the prophets, were about the priestess when she pronounced the words which the God dictated to her. The verses composed by those poets, were often stiff, of a wretch- ed composition, and always obscure; which gave occasion to that piece of raillery, that slpollo the prince of the Muse s^noas the 'worst of poets. Sometimes the priestess herself pronounced her Ora- cles in verse, at least we are told so of one of them, called I'he- momon'oe; but in later times they contented themselves with de- livering them in prose; and this PLUTARCH reckons to have been the cause of the declension of the Oracle. There were belong- ing to this Oracle several other ministers, whose names and func- tions may be seen in the third dissertation of M. HARDION; inso- much that, as M; FONTENELLE has it, the whole town of Delphos was opulently maintained by the Oracle The sanctuary where the priestess was, being covered with branches of laurel, she her- self surrounded with prophets and poets, and there being two women besides to hinder the piofane from coming near her, it was difficult to know precisely what was done there; and had it not been for persons of curiosity, who pried more narrowly into the secret of the priesthood, we should not have been able to speak so positively as we have done, concerning the manner in which this Oracle was delivered. 5lh, The Oracle of Trophonius in Lebadea. ' Though Trophonius was only a hero-, nay, ac- this Oracle* 1 " cording to some authors, an execrable robber; . yet he had an Oracle in Bceotia, which became exceedingly famous, and where grand ceremonies were used, before obtaining the responses. As to the time when the Oracle of Trophonius was founded, we are not able to determine: only we know from PAUSANIAS, that he was not heard of in Boeotia it- self, till that country being distressed with a great drought, they had recourse to Jlpallo at Delphos, to learn from that God, by 2 E 222 SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. III. OF ORACLES. what means they might put a stop to the famine. The priestess answered, that they were to apply themselves to Trofihonius, whom they would find in Lebadea. The deputies obeyed; but not being able to find an Oracle in that city, &zon,the oldest of them, spied a swarm of Bees; and observing that they flew towards a Cave, he followed them, and thus discovered the Oracle. They say, continues PAUSANIAS, that T'rofihonius himself instructed him in all the ceremonies of his worship, and after what manner he would be honoured and consulted; which makes me think ^that this Saon was himself the founder of that Oracle, which, no doubt, was instituted upon occasion of the famine I have men- tioned. As nobody has described it more fully and more accu- rately than PAUSANIAS who had consulted it, and submitted to all its irksome formalities, we cannot do better than transcribe what he says of this personage and his Oracle. Erginus^ says he, son of Clymcnus king of Orchomenos, being far advanced in years, and inclined to marry, came to consult the Oracle of Afiollo^ whether he should have children. The priestess puzzled with his question, answered him in enigmatical terms, that though he was rather too late in coming to a resolution, yet he might entertain good hopes if he married a young woman. Conformably to this response, he married a young wife, by whom he had two sons, Trofihonius and Agamedes, who, both of them, became afterwards great architects. By them was built the. temple of Afiollo at Del- phos, and Hy ileus's treasure-house. In the construction of this latter edifice they had recourse to a secret stratagem, known to none but themselves: by means of a stone in the wall, which they had the art of taking out and putting in again, so that nobody could discover them, they had access every night to this treasu- ry, and robbed Hyrieus of his money. He observing his money diminished, and yet no appearance of the doors having been opened, sr t a trap about the vessels which contained his treasure, and there Jgamedes was caught. Trojihonius not knowing how CHAP. IH. SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. 223 SEC. I. OF ORACLES. to extricate him, and fearing lest if he was the next day put to the rack, he should discover the secret, cut off his head. Without entering into a critical examination of this story, -which seems to be but a copy of what HERODOTUS fully relates of one of the kings of Egypt, and two brothers who robbed his treasure, by a like stratagem, I would have it be observed, that PAUSANIAS gives us no account of the life of Trofihonius; only as to the man- ner of his death he tells us, that the earth opened and swallowed him up alive, and that the place where it happened was still called at that day, Agamtdejs pit, which. was to be seen in a sacred grove of Lebaclea, with a pillar set over it. The death of those two brothers is told otherwise by PLUTARCH, who cites PINDAR. After the building of the temple of Delphos, whose foundation was laid by Afiollo himself, as it is in HOMER, they asked their reward of that God, who ordered them to wait eight days, and in the mean time to make merry; but at the expiration of that term they were found dead. Lebadea, continues PAUSANIAS, is a city as The manner of ^ consulting this mucn adorned as any throughout Greece: the Oracle, &c. sacred Grove of Trofihonius is but a very little distance from it, and in this grove is the Tem- ple of Trofihonius, with his Statue, which is the work of Praxi- letes. They who come to consult his Oracle, must perform cer- tain ceremonies. Before they go down into the Cave where the res/ionseis given, they must pass some days in a chapel dedicated to good Genius and to fortune. That time is spent in purification, by abstinence from all things unlawful,*and in making use of the cold bath, the warm baths being prohibited; thus, the suppliant is not allowed to wash himself, unless in the water of the river Hercyna. He must sacrifice to Trofihonius and all his familyi to Jufiiter surnamed King, to Saturn, to Ceres sutnamed Eurofia, who was believed to have been Trofihonius' s nurse; thus the God had plentiful provision of flesh offered to him in sacrifice. There 224 MACHINERY OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. ill. OF OKACLE3. SEC. I. were Dinners also to consul' "the entrails of every victim, to know if it was agreeable to Trophonius that.4he person should come down into his Cerix-ybut lie especially revealed his mind by the entrails of a ram, which was offered up to him last of all. If the Omens were favourable, the suppliant was led that night to the river ffercyna, where two boys about twelve or thirteen years old, anointed his whole body with oil. Then he was conducted as far as the source of the river, and was made to drink two sorts of water; that of Lethe., which, effaced from his mind all profane thoughts, and that of Mnemosyne, which had the quality of ena- bling him to retain whatever he was to see in the sacred Cave. After all this apparatus, the priests presented to him the statue of Trophonius, to which he was to address a prayer: then he got a linen tunic to put on, which was adorned with sacred fillets; and after all, was solemnly conducted to the Oracle. This Ora- cle was upon a mountain, with an inclosure made of white stones, upon which were erected obelisks of brass. In this enclosure was a Cave of the figure of an oven, cut out by art. The mouth of it was narrow, and the descent into it was not by steps, but by a small ladder. When they were got down, they found another small Cave, the entrance to which was very straight: the suppliant pi ostrated himself on the ground, carrying a certain composition of honey in either hand, without which he is not admitted; he first puts down his feet into the mouth of the Cave, and instantly his whole body is forcibly drawn in. They who were admitted, were favoured with revelations, but not all in the same manner: some had the knowledge'of futuiity by vision, others by an audi- ble voice. Hd\ing got their response, they came out of the Cave the same way they went in, prostrated on the ground, and their feet foremost. Then the suppliant was conducted to the chair of Mnemosyne, and theie being set clown, was interrogated as to what he had seen or heaid: from that he was brought back quite stupified and benseless, into the chapel of good Genius, till he CHAP. III. MACHINERY OF IDOLATRY. 225 SEC. I. OF ORACLES. should recover his senses; after which he was obliged to write down in a table-book, all that he had seen or heard; which the priests interpreted in their own way. PAL SAM AS adds, that there never had been any but one man who entered Trofihonius's Cave without coming out again. This was a spy sent thither by De- metrius, to see whether in that holy place there was any thing worth plundering. His body was found far from thence, and it is likely that his design being discovered, the priests assassinated him in the Cave, and carried out his body by some passage, whereby they themselves came into the Cave without being per- ceived. The same author concludes: " What I have wrote is not founded upon hearsay; Trelate what I have seen happen to others, and what happened to myself: for to be assured of the truth, I went down into the Cave and consulted the Oracle." PLUTARCH who tells us that in his time all the Oracles of Boeotia had ceased, except that of Tro/ihonius, makes mention in his treatise concern- ing SOCBATES'S genius, of one Timaduis, who gave account of, what he pretended to have seen in Trofihonius's Cave; but he seems to have been but an impostor, who regards not whether the thing be true or false, but only cares that it be wonderful or extraordinary; and therefore deserves much less to be believed than PAUSANIAS. 6th, Other Oracles of less note. After having spoken at some length of the Other Oracles of Apollo. principal Oracles, it will not be amiss to say something of those that were of less note. Afiol- lo, of all the Gods, had the greatest number, of which I shall name the principal: 1st, That of CYuros, a town in Ionia, near Co- lophon, though of less antiquity than several others, was yet very famous, and very often consulted. The city Claros is thought to have been founded by Munto, the d-aighter of Tireaiaft, after the second war of Thebes, some years before the taking of Troy. This daughter, of whom antiquity tells many wonders, with re- 226 SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. III. OF ORACLES. SEC. I. spect to her prophetic gifts, depleting the miseries of her coun- try, melted into tears, and those tears formed a fountain and a lake, whose water communicated the gift of prophecy to those who drank it: but the water not being wholesome, it likewise brought on diseases, and was a means of shortening life. 2d, There was one, and that a very famous one too, in the suburbs of Daft/me at Antioch. 3d, According to LUCAN there was one in the island of Detos, the supposed birth-place of that God. 4th, According to HERODOTUS, he had one at Didyone among the Branchid*. 5th, He had one at Jrgos, as \ve learn from PAUSA- NIAS. 6th and 7th, He had one in Troas, and another in Eolis, according to STEPHANUS. 8th, CAPITOLINUS informs us of one at Baix in Italy: and besides the above cited, there were Oracles of Afiollo, in Cilicia, in Laconia, in Arcadia, at Corinth, in Thrace, and in the Aljis; in fine, in an infinity of other places, as may be seen in the modern author just cited. Though the other Gods had not an equal number of Orycles with d/iollo, the God of divi- nation, yet, in process of time, almost every one of them had his Oracle. Jujiiter had several of them, besides that of Hammon aforementioned, as well as that of Dodona and some others, whereof he shared the honour with Apollo. 1st, He had one in Bceutia under the name of Jufiiter the thunderer. 2d, He had one in Elis. 3d and 4th, He had one at Thebes, and ano- ther at Meroe. 5th, He had one at dntioch, and several others. 1 We shall give a slight glance at the Oracles ofsl h v7ral r other of other Gods in numerical order. 1st, Osiris, Deities. j s f s ^ ant j Seraflis, delivered Oracles by dreams, as we learn from PAUSANIAS, TACITUS, AR- RIAN, and several others This manner of givii g Oracles, to mention it by the by, was very common. Sera/ns had an Ora- cle at Alexandria, which Vespasian went to consult: the priest who ministered to the God, would only reveal to him in secret CHAP. III. SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. 227 SEC. I. OF ORACLES. what he had to tell him concerning the grand designs he had in view. It was a very rare thing for those who came to consult the Oracles, to be permitted to enter the sanctuary; and VAN DALE, who has exhausted the subject, finds but two examples of it, viz. that of Alexander, who as PLUTARCH reports after CALISTHENES, entered alone into the sanctuary of Hammon; and that of Vespa- sian, who, according to TACITUS, was introduced into that of Serapis. 2d, The Ox'./f//z> had also his Oracle in Egypt: the manner of consulting him was singular: If he eat what was of- fered him by the suppliant, it was a good sign; but a bad one when he refused it; as it happened to GERMANIC us: Whereon we will remark that it was much the same with the ceremony prac- tised at Rome. When they drew good or bad omens from what they called their sacred Chickens; as if the events of futurity had depended upon the good appetite or full stomach of an Ox or Chickens. 3d, The Gods called Cabiri, if we may credit ST. ATHANASIUS, had their Oracles in Baotia, 4th, Mercury delivered Oracles at Patras upon Hemon, and in other places. 5th, Mars delivered Oracles in Thrace-, Egypt, and elsewhere. 6th, Diana the sister of Apollo had not a few: she had one in Egypt, one in Ciiicia, and one at Ephesus, not to mention several others. 7th, Juno likewise had many Oracles; of which one was near Corinth, another at A'ysa, and others elsewhere. 8ih, Minerva, surnamed fatidica, of consequence was not without her Oracles: she had one in Egypt, one 'vn'Sfiain, one upon mount Etna, one at Myce- na, one in Colchis., and elsewhere. 9th, Latona, according to HERODOTUS, had an Oracle r,t Bates in Egypt. 10th, Those of Venus were dispersed in sundry places; at Gaza, upon mount Libanus, at Paphas, in Cyprus. I cannot'pass in silence that of Venus Ajihacite, mentioned by ZOZIMUS, which was consulted by the Palmarenians, who revolted under the reign of Aurelian about 272 years since the birth of CHRIST. At Aphaca, a place between Heliopclis and Bydlos, Venus had a temple, near which was a lake SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. III. OF ORACLES. SEC. I. resembling a cistern. They who came to consult the Oracle of that Goddess, threw presents into the lake; and it was no matter of what kind they were: if they were acceptable to Venus, they went to the bottom; if she rejected them, they swam on the sur- face, even .though of gold or silver. The historian whom I have quoted subjoins, that in the ye.ir which preceded the ruin of the Palmarenians, their presents sunk to the bottom, but. that in the following year they floated on the surface. llth. The Oracles of Nefitune were at Del/ihos, at Calauna near Neocesarea, and else- where. 12th, Pan had several Oracles, the most famous of which was in Arcadia. 13th, Saturn also had several Oracles; but the most famous of them were, that of Cumte in Italy, and that of Alexandria in Egypt. 14th, Pluto, as we learn from STRABO, had one at Nysa.: 15th, The Nymphs had their Oracles in the cave of Cory da. ... Nor was it only the Gods who had Oracles; the ^emi-Gods and Heroes had theirs likewise. roes, and Kmpe- i stj Hercules had his at Gades, now Cadiz; at Athens; in Egyfit; at Tivoli, which was given by lots as STATIUS tells us, much after the manner of that of For- tune at Preneste and at Antium; he had an Oracle in Mesopotamia, where according to TACITUS, he gave his Oracles by dreams, whence he got the name of Somnialis, as may be seen in an in- scription of SPON, and in another recited by REINESIUS. 2d, It is hardly credible that Geryon, the three-headed monster who was sluin by Hercules, should have had an Oracle! He had one however, as well as his conqueror. This Oracle was in Italy near Padua, and SUETONIUS tells us that Tiberius went to consult it. There, we are told, was the fountain of A/IOJIUS, which, if we may believe CLAUDIAN, restored speech to the dumb, and cured all sorts of diseases. 3d, sEsculajiius was consulted in Cilicia, -AiAfiol- lonia, in the isle of Cos, at Pergamus, Epidaurus, Rome, and else- where. 4th, LUTATIUS speaks of the Oracle of Castor and Pol- CHAP. III. SUPERSTITIONS OP IDOLATRY. 229 SEC. I. OF ORACLES. lux, which was at Lacedemon. 5th, BARTHIUS makes mention of that of Amphiaraus, at Oropus in Macedonia. 6th, Mopsus likewise had one in Cilicia, as we learn from the Ancients. 7th, The head of Orpheus, according to OVID, delivered responses at Lesbos; 8\\\,Amphilochius,&\.Mallos; 9th, Sarpedon, in Troas; 10th, Hermione, in Macedonia; llth, and Pasiphae, in Laconia, as we learn from TERTULLIAN. 12th, Chalcas delivered respon- ses in Italy;- 13th, Aristceus^'m Baotia; 14th, Autolycus, at Si- nope; 15th, Phryxus, among the Colchi; 16th, and Rhesus at Pangea. 17th, Ulysses, if we may believe the old commentator on Lycophron, likewise had an Oracle; 18th, so had Zamolxis, among the Get.es, as STRABO assures us. 19th and 20th, Even Efihestion too, Alexander's minion; and Antinous, minion of Ha- drian, had Oracles: After the death of Efihestion, nothing would satisfy Alexander, but to have him made a God; and all the cour- tiers of that prince consented to it without the least hesitation: whereupon Temples were built to him in several towns; Festi- vals instituted to his honour; Sacrifices offered; Cures ascribed to him; and Oracles given out in his name. And Hadrian practised the same fooleries towards Antinous; he caused the city Antino- fiolis to be built, to his memory, gave him temples, and prophets to deliver his oracles for prophets belong to oracular temples only, says ST. JEROM. We have still a Greek inscription to this purpose, To Antinous, the companion of the Gods of Egypt; M. Ulfiius Afiollonius his prophet. After this, we shall not be sur- prised at Augustus's having delivered Oracles at Rome, as we learn from PRUDENTIUS. These modern Oracles however were never in so much repute as the ancient ones, and they made these new-created Gods deliver only so many responses, as were thought convenient in order to make their court to the princes who had deified them. 2 F 230 SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. III. OF ORACLES. The Fountains too, delivered Oracles; for to each of them tlivinit y was ascribed: such in par- ticular, was the fountain of Castalia at Delphos; another of the name of Castalia in the suburbs of Antioch; and the firofihctic Fountain near the temple of Ceres in Achaia. What PLINY tells us of that of Limyra, is very singular; it gave Ora- cles by means of Fishes: The consulters having presented food to the Fishes, if they fell-to greedily, it was a favourable omen for the event about which they were interrogated; if they refused the bait, by rejecting it with their tails, it betokened bad success. But there would be no end of it, were I to enumerate all the Pa- gan Oracles. VAN-DALE after having discoursed of the chief of them, contents himself with naming those that occur at the end of his work; a list of which he had collected from the ancients: in his list, which may be consulted, he reckons up nearly three hundred, the most of them belonging to Greece. But certainly he has not named them all; for there were few temples where there was not an Oracle, or some other sort of divination. To be short, the numerous Oracles we have just glanced over, besides others not here mentioned, were not consulted very seriously; for in affairs of great moment, recourse was still had to Del/ihos, to Claras, or to the Cave of Trofihonius. Of all the parts of Greece, Bceotia was that Oracles were * . , , , r . owing partly to w lcn had most Oracles, upon account of the the instigation of mountains and caverns with which it abounded: the Devil, and chiefly to the im- for it is proper to remark with M. FONTENELLE, posture of the . . . r _ . , p r i es t s . that nothing suited better for Oracles than cav- . cms and mountains. It was in these caves, whose view inspired a sort of religious horror, that the Priests could artfully contrive passages whereby to go in, and come out; and convey, without being perceived, machines and hollow statues within which they hid themselves, to give more efficacy and re- putation to their Oracles. For indeed, although I am persuaded CHAP. III. SUPERSTITIONS OP IDOLATRY. 231 SEC. I. OF ORACLES. with the most learned fathers of the church, that the Devil pre- sided over Oracles, and that it was he himself personally present, or the Priests acting by his instigation^ who delivered responses concerning future events; since, let men say what they will, there is no other possible way of explaining all that we learn from an- tiquity relating to responses: yet I am fully convinced, that the imfiosture of the Priests had often, nay, for the most part, if you will, a very great hand in them; and consequently we may be- lieve, that they neglected no method for supporting their impos- tures. The discovery, which DANIEL made, of the tricks of Belus's priests, who came by night through subterraneous passages, and carried off the meat, which they said was eat up by the God him- self; this, I say, is a convincing proof of the cheats that were practised in the Pagan temples; a proof which leaves no room to doubt but the like tricks were used in the Oracles. Accordingly, when the Christian religion had once triumphed over idolatry, and when the Oracles were abolished with it, there were discove- ries made in the caves and dens where there had been Oracles, of several marks of the fraud and im/iosture of the ministers who had had the charge of them. To conclude: we must not think, that all the old O racles we have been speaking of, and cthe s, ones declining-, o f w hich we know but the bare names, did sub- and new ones coming in vogue, sist at one and the same time. 1 here were ' some of them older, some of them later, and of all dates, from that of Dodona, which was looked upon as the most ancient, down to that of Antinous^ which may be reckoned the last. Sometimes even the ancient ones came to be laid aside. Their credit was lost, either by discovering the impostures of their ministers, or by wars, which lakl waste the places where they were, or by other accidents unknown. One .thing we know, that the immense riches, which were at Delfi/ios, had frequently been a temptation to rifle that temple, as was done more than 232 SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. CHAP ill OF ORACLES. SEC. I. once; though at the same time, those pillages did not make the Oracle to cease. And upon the ruin of some Oracles, they took care to found new ones in their room; and these, in their turn, gave place to others: but the precise time of the declension of many of those Oracles, and of the institution of the new, is not known. The Oracles of the SIBYLS next demand our notice. 7th, The Oracles of the Sibyls. - .am GALL^US, in his thirteenth dissertation upon m "an W Sybyl deli-" the Sib y ls ' explains at great length all the modes veredherOracles. by which futurity may be revealed to man. He quotes all the passages of Scripture, wherein they are mentioned, and carefully examines in what sense the Devil may be said to foreknow and reveal it. I have no mind to follow him in questions, which would carry me too far into spe- culation. Let us resume a little of what we have said upon other Oracles, and apply it to those of the Sibyls. As some of the Oracles were sometimes pronounced viva"iioce, as those of the Priestess of Delfihos; so the Sibyl of Cuma in Italy sometimes delivered hers in the same manner, since Helenus tells JEneas, as he is advising him to consult her when he arrived in Italy, to entreat her not to write her predictions upon leaves of trees, as she usually did; but to answer him in the manner just mentioned, viva voce; which jEneas literally obeyed, when he consulted her. As the Priestess of Afwllo, after remaining a while upon the Tri- flod, turned; furious, and in the transport with which she was ac- tuatfd, pronounced her Oracles; so the Sibyl was seized with the same fury when she uttered her predictions: As there were priests at Delphos, whose business it was to gather up what the Priestess pronounced in her fury, and put it in verse; so it is pro- bable, that they did much the same with the responses of the Sibyl, since all those, which antiquity has transmitted down to us, 'are likewise in verse.- VIRGIL informs us of the singular man- ner how the Sibyl of Cu?n to the Romans especially, a kind ' o. standing Oracle, consulted upon all occasions wherein the Republic was threatened with any disaster. As to the manner how the collection of these verses was made, it is not 234 SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. III. OF OKACLES. SEC. I. known. It is not likely that the Sibyls prophesied in verse, far less that they themselves kept their predictions, and digested them in order. Besides they lived in different periods of time, and in countries remote the orue from the other. How then came the world by a collection of those predictions, put in hexameters? In what age did it appear? Who was its author? These are facts which antiquity has not transmitted to us. All that we know is, that a Woman came to Tarqoin the proud, offered him a collec- tion of those verses, in nine books, and that she demanded for them three hundred pieces of gold; that when the prince would not give that sum, she threw three of them into the fire, and ex- acted the same sum for the remaining six; which being refused her, she burnt three more of them, and still persisted in asking the three hundred pieces, for those that were left; at length, the king fearing that she would burn the other three, gave her the sum she demanded. ======= This story has all the air of romance; it is and how they were destroyed. attested, however, by a great many authors, and i perhaps the falsehood of it lies only in the cir- cumstances: for it is certain that the Romans had in their pos- session a collection of the Sibylline -verses, and that they preser- ved it from the reign of Tarquin, to the time of Sylla; when it perished in the burning of the Capitol, where it had been depo- sited: And therefore, that the reader may be able to judge of this fact, I shall put it in a true light. LACTANTIUS, who relates it in the narrative which we have given, says it was the Sibyl of Cunue who presented this collection to Tarquin, and he has been followed by PLINY, SOLINUS, and ISIDORUS. Perhaps LACTAN- TIUS had found it in VAHUO'S books of divine things, whence he had taken his account of the Sibyls; but other authors barely affirm, that a woman offered those books to Tarquin, without say- ing it was the Sibyl herself. SEUVIUS, who agrees to this fact, and appears to have examined it, says, it is not credible that the CHAP. III. SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. SEC. I. OF OKACLES. Sibyl of Cumx, with all the length of years they have given her, having lived in the time of ^Eneas who consulted her, was also alive in the time of Tarquin; that is five or six hundred years after. Be that as it will, the Romans carefully kept this collec- tion, from the time of Tarquin, to the burning of the Capitol; when it was consumed with that edifice. In this long period of time, it was only consulted by the Priests; as we learn from So- LINUS. ===== After this accident, the Romans, to repair The Romans re- . ..... pair their loss by tneir ' oss ' sent ' lis * ACITUS has it, into different a. second collection. p] ac es; to Samos, to Troy, into Africa, Sicily, and among the colonies settled in Italy, to col- lect all the Sibylline -verses that could be found; and the deputies brought back a great quantity of them. As no doubt there were many of them dubious, Priests were commissioned to muke a ju- dicious choice of them. Fenestella,in LACTANTIUS, saysonly, that the Senate after the Capitol was .rebuilt, sent to Erythraa, P. Ga- binius, M. Octacilius, and L. Valerius, to search for the verses of the Sibyl of that name, and that they had found in the hands of private persons, about an hundred of them, which they brought to Rome. Thus was the second collection of Sibylline -verses made up; but I don't believe they had equal faith in them as in the for- mer. They had been in the possession it seems, of private per- sons, who added or retrenched what they had a mind There were none, according to LACTANTIUS, but the verses of the Cu- mtean Sibyl, that were carefully kept by the Romans: and these none had access to see. The Quindecim-uiri were the only per- sons who had permission to inspect and consult them. As to those of the other Sibyls, they were in every body's hands: the consequence. of this was, that upon every event, predictions were propagated in Rome and through all Italy; and this abuse went so far, that Tiberius forbid the keeping of those private collections, and ordered that thev, in whose hands thev were, should deliver 236 SUPERSTITIONS OF 1DOLAT11V. CHAP. III. OF ORACLES. SEC. I. them up to the Pretor, These books were written upon a sort of linen that they might last the longer. ======= There was a College, first of two, then of ten, To whose care r _* r it was entrusted, an ^ afterwards ot fifteen persons, founded to be andonwhatocca- t | ie guardians of this collection, whom thev sions consulted. ===s============s called the Quimdccim-viri of the Sibyls: to them this depositum was committed; by them it was consulted; and so great was the faith that was put in the predictions it contained, that whenever they were to enter upon a war; whenever a plague or famine or other calamity infested either city or country, hither they were sure to have recourse. It was, as we have said, a kind of standing Oracle, as often consulted by the Romans, as that of Delphos was by the Greeks and other nations. We learn more particularly from DIONYSIUS of Halicarnassus, on what occasion they had recourse to the Sibylline books. " The senate, says he, orders them to be consulted, upon the rise of any sedition; upon the defeat of the army; or when some prodigies are observed, which presage a great calamity, for there have been many such." As to this last article, it is confirmed by VARRO; and the Roman history furnishes us with several examples, which prove that they consulted them upon the like occasions. ..- We know not what was the fate of this collec- * tion of Sib V lline vtrseaj for as to that which we not to be con- have at present, consisting of Eight Books, upon founded with a ....-, Third, the pro- which UALLjEus has made a learned commen- framl- * ^ tal ' y ' thou S h lt ma y P ss i bl y contain some of the ancient predictions, yet all the critics look upon it as a very dubious composition, and likely to have been the pro- duct of the pious fraud of some more zealous than judicious Christian, who thought, by compiling it, to strengthen the au- thority of the Christian religion, and enable its defenders to com- bat paganism with greater advantage: as if truth stood in need of forgery and lies, .to effect its triumph over error. What puts the CHAP. HI. SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. 237 SEC. I. OF ORACLES. matter quite out of doubt, is that we find in this indigested col- lection, predictions relating to the mysteries of Christianity, clearer than they are in ISAIAH and the other prophets. There the very name of Jesus Christ and that of the Virgin Mary, oc- cur in every page. It speaks of the mysteries of redemption, of our Saviour's miracles, his passion, his death and resurrection; the creation of the world, the terrestrial paradise, the longevity of the Patriarchs, and the Deluge. One of the Sibyls even vaunts that she had been in the Ark with Noah. There, mention is made of the invention of arts; and they who are said to have excelled in them, are the same with those whom MOSES mentions; with a thousand other particularities which are evidently drawn from the Sacred Books: insomuch that it is amazing to find authors so prepossessed, as to hold that whatever this collection contains was composed by the Sibyls. Would God have revealed to Pa- gans the mysteries of our religion, in a clearer manner than he had done to his own people by the mouth of his prophets? I said, there were probably in this last collection, verses taken from the two former; but it is not easy to distinguish such as were borrowed thence, from those which the author has spun out of his own brain. P. PETIT, it is true, attempted to do it; but to me, it appears, that this otherwise ingenious author has, in this part of his work, shewed more credulity than sound criticism. He even seems so prepossessed in favour of his Sibyl, and allows her such a deep insight into futurity, that the firiestess of Afiollo^ compared to her, was but a learner. But what proves undeniably the difference between this collection and the ancient ones is, that the Sibylline verses, consulted at Rome, breathed nothing but idolatry, and the worship of false Gods, and for the most part prescribed nothing but barbarous sacrifices, and human victims; whereas those we have now remaining, inculcates the worship of the true God, and are mosiiy calculated to lead men to piety. 2 G 238 SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. III. OF ORACLES. ' Before \ve close this article, it will not be amiss of which the fol- lowing are re- to insert some predictions of these Sibyls; by 16 predic " which we ma y J ud s e what account ou s ht to be made of the collection wherein they are contain- ed. 1st, The Persian Sibyl, who speaks of the Deluge, calls her- self the daughter of Noah. But as this Sibyl is not very sure of what she says of herself, or rather as the impostor, who puts words in her mouth, had forgot himself in this place, she asserts else- where, that she had met with the adventure of Lot's daughters; and again in another place, she calls herself Christian, is if there really had been Christians in the days of Noah or of Lot.- 2d, She whom they called the Libyan Sibyl, speaks of the miraculous birth of Jesus Christ, and of his miracles in such terms as would lead you to think it was Isaiah, or one of the evangelists speak- ing. 3d, The Sibyl of Delfihos is equally plain upon our Saviour's conception and nativity; then forgetting that she speaks in the character of a true prophet, she resumes her Pagan style, and mentions her gallantries with dfiollo. 4th, The Cumaan Sibyl, after having spoken of the incarnation, throws out at random se- veral predictions, which the Romans did her the honour to believe had a relation to their Empire. 5th, Among the predictions of the Erythraean Sibyl, we find acrostic verses, the initial letters of which form these words, Jesus Christus, Dei-Filius, Salvator. Of her, ST. AUGUSTINE says to this purpose, " the Erythraean Sibyl has prophesied of Jesus Christ in a very perspicuous manner: I had a translation thereof, but it was a very false one, when Fla- vianus the proconsul, a very knowing man, showed me the origi- nal Greek, where was this prediction in acrostic verses." 6th, The Sibyl of Samos, after having spoken of GOD, in an equally sublime and orthodox manner, says, there is none but HE who in worthy to be adored. 7th, The Sibyl of Cumx in Ionia, speaks of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, of the end of the world, and of the general conflagration; then she foretels the overthrow of CHAP. III. SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. SEC. I. OF ORACLES. Alexander's empire, on whose ruins the power of the Romans was to be formed 8th, The Hellesfiontine Sibyl prophesies of an Age under Jesus Christ, as happy as the golden Age, so much sung by the poets, and mentions the eclipse that was to happen at his death. 9th, The Phrygian Sibyl foretels the annunciation, and the birth of Jesus Christ, miraculously conceived in the womb of a virgin; his death, his passion, his resurrection; and, as if she had copied the Evangelists, she prophesies that he shall show his hands and his feet to his Apostles. To these predictions, so plain and clear, she subjoins others about Idolaters, whom she threatens with the wrath of God, unless they abandon the wor- ship of Idols. She foresees the last judgment, and Jesus Christ seated upon a throne, coming to judge all mankind. She does not even omit the signs that are to usher in the last day, nor the trumpet, which shall be heard in the/bwr corners of the world. 10th, In fine, the Sibyl of Tibur or Tivoli, speaks also of the birth of Jesus Christ at Bethlehem: but if the Cumxan Sibyl foretold the Romans only a train of prosperity, she of Ti-voli, threatened Rome with the most grievous calamities; and after having drawn an ugly picture of that city, she thus denounces its approaching ruin: Nunc Deus xturnus disperdet teque tuosque; JVec super ulla tui in terra monumenta manebunt. ====== The author of this collection had concealed his Reflections on the f . same . forgeries much better, if, instead of inserting so many predictions, which God never revealed to Pagan women, he had interspersed it with several of their Ora- cles, which are to be found in profane authors; but it would seem he had not read them over so carefully as CALLOUS, and others who have collected them. A single example which I am going to quote from PAUSANIAS, will let us see how they vvere con- ceived, and at the same time in what manner they were applied to events. Philip, says that author, having given battle to Fla- 240 SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. HI. OF ORACLES. SEC. I. mini us, was totally routed, and obtained a peace, but upon con- dition, that he should evacuate all the fortresses which he held in Greece; nay, this peace, though dear bought, was but an empty name, since, in effect, he became the slave of the Romans. Thus was fulfilled what had been long foretold by the Sibyl, inspired no doubt from above, that the Macedonian empire, after having arrived to the highest pitch of glory under Philip the son of Amyntas, should sink and fall into .ruin under another Philip; for the Oracle which she delivered was conceived in these terms: 1 Ye Macedonians, who value yourselves on being the subjects of monarchs sprung from the ancient kings of Argos, know, that TWO, of the name of Philip, shall bring about your greatest pros- perity and misfortune. Theirs/ shall give lords to mighty cities and nations; the second, vanquished by a people come from the East and West, shall involve you in irrevocable ruin, and sub- ject you to everlasting infamy.' Accordingly, adds PAUSANIAS, the Romans, by whom the Macedonian empire was overthrown, were in the west of Europe, and they were assisted by Attalus, king of Mysia, and by the Mysians, who were the eastern peo- ple. It is easy to judge from this, and several other examples which might be brought, that most of the predictions of the Si- byls, which are still to be found in ancient authors, had been made after the event. The Sibyls had likewise foretold several other overthrows of empires, earthquakes, and other calamities, which the Pagans believed to have happened conformably to their pre- dictions, as has been said. It would seem they had made particu- lar mention of that great earthquake which shook the island of Rhodes to its very foundations, since the author I have now cited, says upon this occasion, that the prediction of the Sibyl was fully accomplished. CHAP. III. SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. 241 SEC. I. OF ORACLES. ===== We are then to distinguish three collections of collections of the Sibylline verses; for I wave those that some pri- Sibylline Verses, vate persons might have. The first is that which in a manner dis- tinguished, was presented to Tarquiuius, which contained :T ~ contained only three books. The second is that which was compiled after the burning of the Capitol, consist- ing of several shreds, which the deputies we have mentioned had brought back from their travels; how many books it contain- ed is what we don't know. The third, in fine, is what we have in eight books, wherein there is no doubt, but the author has in- serted several predictions of the second, whether he took them from a copy, or picked up such of them as were become public; but he has added a vast number of others, which certainly were not the composition of those Profthetesses. If we credit SER- vius, the ancient collection contained, in all, but a hundred fire- dictions. He says, " there were but a hundred responses, or a hundred predictions of the Sibyls, neither more nor less:" but it is probable, that this learned commentator meant only, in this place, the Sibyl of Cumx, to whom the passage in VIRGIL re- lates. LACTANTIUS, who allowed ten Sibyls, as also doesVARRo, attributes to each of them a book of predictions, though there is no way to distinguish to which of them each of these books be- longed, except that of the Erythraean Sibyl, who had put her name at the head of the book which contained hers. I know not, whence LACTANTIUS had taken what he here says; but it is cer- tain the Romans had but three of those books; the avarice of Tarquin having occasioned the other six to be burned by her who presented them to him. ===== I must not omit that the veneration for the lection Tsburnt," s ^y il ' ne verses lusted a good while under the and their venera- reign of the emperors; but a part of the se- tion terminated. - nate having embraced Christianity, in the time of Theodosius the Great, that superstitious veneration began 242 SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. III. OF ORACLES. ,,. to be laid aside; and at last Stinco. under the reign of Hono- rius, caused them to be burned. So much for the Oracles of these celebrated Virgins, whose predictions were in vogue for so many ages among the Pagans. 8th, Various ways of delivering Oracles; with several remarkable Responses, Before we finish what belongs to Oracles, we Modes of de- - .. ... liverhi Oracles niust touch upon two heads more Hilly, which afore mentioned. as yet we have only hinted at occasionally. The "" frst, concerns the different modes in which the Oracles were delivered. The second^ relates to the more remark- able Responses handed down to us by antiquity. We have seen in what manner several Oracles were given: we have seen, that, at the Oracle of Delphos, they interpreted and put in verse what the priestess pronounced in the time of her/im/; that, at the Oracle of Hammon, it was the priestess who pronounced the re- sponse of their God; that, at the Oracle of Dodona, the response was given from the hollow of an Oak; that, at the Cave of Tro- phonius, the Oracle was gathered from what the suppliant said before he recovered his senses; ttot, at the Oracle of Memphis, they drew a good or bad omen, according as the Ox d/iia re- ceived or rejected what was presented to him; and that it was like the latter, with the Fishes of the fountain Limyra. We must now add, that the responses of the God was often S iven from the 6ottom f ''* Sla ~ cles, viz. First, tue; whether it was the Devil delivered his Ora- from the hollow of the Statue. cles there; or the Priests, who had hollowed == =^=^^ = those statues and found a way to convey them- selves thither, by some subterranean passage; for to repeat it, the suppliants were not allowed to enter the sanctuaries where,the Oracles were given, far less to appear too curious in that point. Accordingly they took care, that neither the Epicureans nor Christians should come near them, and the reason is very obvious. CHAP. in. SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. 243 OF ORACLES. In several places the Oracles were given by ters'unde'r a^seal" letters under a seal; as in that of Mofisus> and at i Mallos in Cilicia. He who came to consult these Oracles, was obliged to give his letter into the priest's hands, or to leave it upon the altar, and to lie in the temple: and it was in time of his sleep, that he received the answer to his letter; whether it was that the priests had the secret of opening these letters, as Luc IAN assures us of his false prophet Alexan- der, who had founded his Oracle in Pontus; or whether there was something supernatural in the case, I shall not determine. ====== ' The manner of delivering the Oracle at Cla- names and'num^ ros ^ acl somewhat still more extraordinary, ber only of the s i nce no more was required but that the person suppliants re- quired, should communicate his name to the priest of 5=== = that God. TACITUS, is my author: " GERMANI- cus, says he, went to consult the Oracle of Claros. The res- ponses of that God are not delivered by a woman, as at Delfihos; but by a man chosen out of a particular family, and who is gene- rally of Miletus. All he requires is to be told the number and the names of the suppliants. Then he retires into a grotto, and having taken water from a secret spring, he gives a response in -verse, suitable to what every one has been thinking upon; though, for the most part, he is extremely ignorant!" ====== Among the Oracles which were delivered in Fourth, the , ,. response is com- a dream i there were some for which prepara- municated by a t i ons were necessary by fastings, as that in Am- ======== Jihiarau8\\\ Attica, and some others, as PHILOS- TRATUS informs us, where the suppliants were obliged to sleep upon the skins of the victims! - One of the most singular Oracles was that of Fifth, by the , . . . . . . . _, first words heard Mer ^ ur y-> m Achaia, which PAUSANIAS treats of. after interrogate After a great many ceremonies, which we need ing the statue of the God. not here enumerate, they whispered in the ear of the God, and asked him, what they were de- 244 SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. III. OF ORACLES. SEC. I. sirous to know; then they stopped their ears with their hands, went out of the temple, and the first words they heard upon their coming out, was taken for the response of the God. Oracles were frequently given by lot; and this lar responses * s w ' ia t we roust explain. The lots were a kind were given by of dice, on which were eneraven certain charac- lots. Ti ters or words, whose explanation they were to look for in the tables made for the purpose. The way of using those dice for knowing futurity was different, according to the places where they were used. In some temples, the person threw them himself; in others, they were dropped from a box; whence came the proverbial expression, the tot is fallen. This playing with dice was always preceded by sacrifices, and other customary ceremonies. They liad recourse to these lots in several Oracles, even at Dodona, as appears in the case of the Lacedemonians, when they came thither for a consultation, as we have it from CICERO; but the most famous lots were at Antium and Prxneste^ two towns in Italy. At Prxncste, it was the Goddess of fortunes and at Antium, the Goddesses of fortune, that is, her Divinity at the latter was represei.ted by several statues. The statues at Antium had this si: gularity, that they moved themselves, according to MACROBIUS'S testimony; and their various movements served either for the response, or signified whether the lots could be con- sulted. From a passage in CICERO, where he says, the lots of Prteneste were consulted by consent of Fortune, it would seem, that the Fortune which was in that city was a sort of automaton, like those at Antium, which gave some sign with iis head, much like that of Jufiittr Hammon; who, as has been said, thus signified to the priests who carried him in procession, what rout they were to take. An event which SUETONIUS relates, undoubtedly raised the lots of Prteneste to great reputation, (contrary to ihe intention of Tiberius, who was going to destroy them) since he tells us, that they were not to be found in a coffer securely sealed, when the CHAP. HI. SUPERSTITIONS OP IDOLATRY. 245 SEC. I. OF ORACLES. the coffer \vas opened at Rome, but when brought back to Pr where was the Oracle of Mofisus. As the deputy was lying in the temple, a man remark- ably well made appeared to him, and pronounced the word black. This answer he bore to the governor, which though it appeared CHAP. III. SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. SEC. I. OF ORACLES. ridiculous to the Epicureans, to whom he communicated it, yet struck himself with astonishment, and upon opening the letter, he shewed them these words which he had there written; Shall I sacrifice to thee a white ox or a black? . We shall finish those examples with a response Third, that of , _ , the priestess of related by OTRABO, which proved fatal to the Dodona to the pr j estess o f Dodona who eave it. During the Boeotians. ===== war between the Thracians and Boeotians, the latter came to consult the Oracle of Dodona. and were answered by the priestess, that they should have happy success, if they were guilty of some impious action. The deputies of the Boeotians, from a persuasion that the priestess had a mind to deceive them, to favour the Pelasgi, from whom she was descended, and who were in alliance with the Thracians, took and burnt her alive; alleging that in whatever light that action was considered, it should not but be justified: And indeed, if the priestess had an intention to cheat them, she was punished for her deceit; if she spoke sincerely, they had only literally fulfilled the Oracle. These reasons how- ever, were not admitted: the deputies were seized; but not daring to punish them before they were judged, they were brought before the two remaining priestesses; for, according to STRABO'S ac- count, there were at that time, three belonging to that Oracle. The deputies having remonstrated against this proceeding, were allowed two men to judge them with the priestesses, who were clear for their being condemned; but the two men were more fa- vourable to them; whereby, the votes being equal, they were absolved. ====== We may here remark, that as the priests turned j into verse what was delivered by the priestess of Oracle of Apollo. Drlphos in her/wri/, of course their poetry was often wretchedly bad. The Epicureans especi- ally, made it their open jest, and s..ic!, in raillery, It was surpris- ing enough, that djiolloy the God of poetry, should be a much 250 SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. III. OF DIVINATION. SEC. II. worse poet than HOMER, whom he himself had inspired. The priests were even frequently obliged to steal from that famous poet, despairing to make so good of their own. No doubt, it was the railleries of these philosophers, and more particularly those of the Cynics and Peripatetics-, that obliged the priests to lay aside the practice of turning the responses of the Pythia into verse; which, according to PLUTARCH, was one of the principal causes of the declension of the Oracle of Delfihos. Let us now pass to other means that were used for knowing the will of the Gods, and that futurity about which human curiosity has always been most keenly exercised. SECTION SECOND. OF DIV&VJlTIOJY. MAN, always anxious about future events, did not content himself with seeking to come at the ject of Divination, knowledge thereof by the Oracles aud predic- ""~ """""""""" lions of the Gods and Sibyls; he attempted to make the discovery by a thousand other ways, and invented several sorts of Divinations, by which he pretended to a forecast upon fu- turity by means of his own artifice; for which he even established maxims and rules, as if such frivolous observations had been capa- ble of being reduced to fixed and certain principles. Accordingly Divination was defined, rerumfuturarum sctentia, or the knowledge of future events; and it was of several sorts, as shall be shewn as we go on. This science is as ancient as Idolatry itself, and made a considerable part of the Pagan mythology. It was even autho- rized by the laws, particularly among the Romans. CICERO has composed two books, equally curious and elegant, upon Divi- nation, in which he, though immersed in Pagan darkness, makes a jest of those pieces of superstition, and turns them into ridicule. CHAP. III. SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. 251 SEC. II. OF DIVINATION. And in truth religion informs us that futurity is not only hid from man, unless God pleases to reveal it to him; but also that it is a criminal tempting of providence, to pry into it; and that all the arts employed for that end, are as criminal as insignificant. Or, would it be for our interest to see into this futurity, which men have strained so hard to know? No, surely not; it is with infinite wis- dom, that God has concealed it from us. Nothing is more moving nor more elegant than what CICERO says upon this occasion. "In what deep melancholy had Priam spent the remainder of his life, had he known the lamentable fate that awaited him? Would the three consulships, the three triumphs of Pompey, have made him sensible of the smallest impression of joy, had he been capable to foresee, what we ourselves are even unable to mention without the deepest sense of sorrow, that on the day after the loss of a bat- tle, and the total defeat of his army, he should be, slain in the de- sarts of Egypt? And what would Caesar have thought, if he too had known, that in the midst of that very senate, which he had filled with his friends and creatures, near the statue of Pompey, in sight of his gi.-.rds,he should be stabbed to death by his best friends, and his body be abandoned, not a soul daring to approach it? It is therefore more for our interest and real good, to remain in our present state of ignorance, than to know the evils that are to come upon us." Certainly the ignorance of ills, at least, is better than prescience. Nor, even were the foresight of good, our gift, would there be much we should foresee; and though it should enable us to. improve the promised blessing, the pleasing contemplation of the good in store, would ever be clouded by the apprehension of an evil surjirisc. Divination was practised more than a hundred rior^mTdes 1 " of different ways. Tbe sacred scri/iture speaks of Divination. n - me sorts of Divination: 1st, By inspection of the Planets, Stars, and Clouds; (of this we shall speak under the head of Astrology.) 2d, By means of Auguries. 252 SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. III. OF DIVINATION. SEC. II. 3d, By Witchcraft. 4th, By Charms. 5th, By consulting Sfiirits; or, as MOSES says, those who interrogated Python, or a familiar Spirit. 6th, By Diviners, or Magicians, whom the same MOSES calls Jedeoni. 7th, By Necromancy, or by calling up the dead. 8th, By Rabdomancy, the mingling of staves or rods, as may be seen in the prophet HOSEA: this may include Bolomancy, which was performed by mingling arrows; the prophet EZEKIEL mentions this in relation to Nebuchadnezzar. In fine, the 9th was by inspect- ing the liver, and was termed Hejiatoscofiia. These nine sorts of Divination are very ancient, since most of them were in use in the time of MOSES: there were besides, an infinity of other sorts of Divination, which I shall only name, that I may come to those which were authorized by the laws, and by religion. They gave the name Ornithomancy to that which they drew from the flight or the chirping of birds; and Cledonismancy to that which they drew from the voice: CICERO remarks on this occasion, that the Pythagoreans not only observed the voice of the Gods, but of the men too. Divination by the lines which appear in the palm of the hand, was denominated Chiromancy; and this sort of Di- \ination has been most in vogue, and of longest continuance. That which was practised by means of keys was named Ctidoman- cy; by a sieve, Coscinomancy ; by meal, Alfihitomancy; by means of certain stones, Lithomancy; by one or more rings, Dactyliomancy; by conjuring up the dead, Psychomancy, or Sciomancy; by the flame of a lamp, Lychomancy; when waxen figures were made use of it was denominated Ceromancy; if it was performed with an ax or hatchet, Axinomancy; and when they had recourse to num- bers, Arithmomancy . We meet with some other kinds of Divin- ation in CICERO'S books; in the fourth book of wisdom, by CAR- DON; in ROBERT FLUDD, and elsewhere: but possibly we have already dwelt too long upon so vain and frivolous a subject, as these inferior sorts of Divination; and as most of them made a part of the science, or higher order of Divinations, of the Augurs^ CHAR III. SUPERSTITIONS OK IDOLATRY. 253 SEC. II. OF DIVINATION. Ausjiices, and Arusfiices, whose functions were authorized by the laws of the Romans, and constituted a part of their religion, we shall see in the subsequent articles, what use they made of them. But first, we will say a few words on four other sorts of Divina- tion, in which the Elements were subservient. 1st) Divination of the Four Elements. The four most general kinds of Divination, 1st, The divi- nation of water, were those in which they had recourse to some " e f the f Ur elements ' Water, Earth, Air, and Fire; whence these divinations derived their names. 1st, As to the first, they made use either of sea water, and then it was called Hydromancy; or Fountain Water, and it was named Pigomancy. This sort of Divination is very ancient, since we are told, it derives its origin from the Persians, who communicated it to the other nations, and particularly to the Greeks, especially to PYTHAGORAS, who, according to VARRO, was very much addicted to it. The ceremony of Hydromancy was performed two ways; first, by filling a basin with water, and suspending a ring to a thread, which they held with one finger, while he who performed the operation pronounced certain words, and according as the ring struck against the sides of the basin, he drew from it his predictions: second, by conjuring up spirits who appeared at the bottom of the basin. It was this kind which Numa Pompilius practised. Pegomancy, or Divination by foun* tain-water, was performed by throwing lots, or a kind of dice. They drew happy presages when they went to the bottom; but when they remained on the surface of the water, it was a bad omen. Rous informs us, that there were other methods besides of prognosticating by means of fountain-water; first, by drinking the water of certain fountains, as that of Castalia in Bceotia, which had the virtue of communicating that gift: second, by throwing cakes into certain fountains, as into that of Ino in Laconia; for if 2 I 254 SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. G1IAP. III. OF DIVINATION. SEC. II. they went to the bottom, it was a good omen, but bad if they floated on the surface, as we learn from PAUSANIAS: the same observations were also made by letters, which they used to throw into the two lakes of the Palici, as shall be said in the history of those Gods. Third, when the image of the thing they wanted to see, appeared in the water, as they tell us it happened in the fountain of Apollo Phryxeus, in Achaia:./0url/;, by throwing glass phials into certain waters, to know the issue of some disease; for it is alleged, that upon taking them out, a judgment could be made whether it was mortal, or if the patient would recover: fifth, by observing the motion of three stones which were thrown into the water: for which that author may be consulted. 2d, Pyromancy was performed by means of 2d, The divina- . . . , , . , ... - , tion of fire, called -fi re -> either by observing the sparkling of the Pyromancy. flame, or by the light of a lamp. For this pur- pose at Athens, they had always a lamp burning in the temple of Minerva Polios, constantly fed by Virgins, who regularly observed the motion of the flame; the Arusfiices obser- ved it in like manner, as we shall take notice afterwards. Ano- ther ancient kind of Pyromancy, was to fill bladders with wine, which they threw into \hefire; and by observing in what manner the wine run out when the bladder burst, they believed they could presage future events. Also, by throwing pitch into the fire, attending to the manner of its burning, and taking particular notice of the smoke, they pretended to Divine. Several other ways of Divining by means of fire, were devised, but I insist only upon those which made a part of Idolatry. .' 3d, Gcromancy was performed by employing nation' of ^arth" earth -> as i ts name sufficiently denotes. It con- called Geroman- sisted mostly in drawing lines or circles, by cy. which they flattered themselves, to be able to Divine whatever they were desirous to be informed about; or in observing the chinks and crannies which naturally break out in CHAP. III. SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. 255 SEC. II. OF DIVINATION. the surface of the earth, whence, said they, issued Divine exha- lations, as we have said of the cave of Delphos. ======= 4th, Divination by means of air, was also per- natfon ""X ^ir," formed in different manners, either by observing called Aeroman- the flight of birds and the cries of certain ani- . mals, or by examining from what side thunder broke, or upon the occasional appearance of meteors and comets; but of these we shall speak in the article of auguries and prodi- gies: in fine, from the inspection of the clouds; and it was a wo- man named Anthusa, who, in the time of the emperor Leo, in- vented this sort of Divination, which, if we credit PHOTIUS, had never been thought of by any body before her. 2rf, The Auguria or Auspicia* The Augurium, to speak accurately, was this sort^DivL taken from the phenomena which appeared in the nation; its anti- s fo es . t h e Auspicium was taken from the flight quity. and chirping of birds; and the Aruspidum was taken from the inspection of the entrails of -victims: but the two former seem to have been confounded in their import, and in that light we shall consider them as one; for the Augurs observed also the chirping of birds, 8cc., and hence the very name Augur is thought to be derived from A-vium Garritu. Be that as it will, the Augur's art is very ancient, since it was in use in the time of MOSES, who prohibits it, as well as every sort of Divination. It is thought to have taken its rise among the Chaldeans, whence the Greeks, and the Romans, came to the knowledge of it. The last had so great an esteem and regard for this science, that there was a law of the twelve tables, forbidding to disobey the Augurs, under pain of death. This art was known in Italy before the time of Romulus, since that prince, did not set about the building of Rome till he had taken the Auguries. The Etrurians or Tus- cans practised it in the earliest times, and had rendered them- 256 SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. 'CHAP. III. OF DIVINATION. SEC. II. selves extreme!;, expert in it since the time they had learned it from Tages, " The kings who were Romulus's successors, This art was . . . . . , entrusted to a not * su " er a science to be lost, which they College of Au- thought so useful, nd at the same time not to gurs educated m Etruria. render it contemptible by becoming too familiar, " brought from Etruria the most skilful dugurs. to introduce the practice of it into the religious ceremonies, and to teach it to their citizens; and from that lime, they sent every year into Tuscany some of the youth of the first families in Rome, to study it there, as I shall prove in the sequel. Romulus at first made up his College only of three Augurs, taken from the three Tribes which then comprehended all the inhabitants of the city; and Servius added a fourth. None were qualified for being mem- bers of this College, but such as were of a Patrician family, and the custom of admitting no others into it, continued till the year of Rome 454, under the consulship of Q. Apuleius Pansa, and M. Valerius Corvinus, when the tribunes of the .people insisted on having Plebeians raised to the Augural dignity; which, after some struggle was granted to them, and^e were chosen from among the people: thus this College consisted of nine persons till the time of Sylla, who added two more to it, as we learn from LIVY and FLOKUS, or Jifteen, according to other historians, who will have it, that under that dictator the College of Augurs was com- posed of twenty-four persons. The head of this College was named JMagister Augurum. The number of Augurs, however, was not limited to those \vho composed this College, since be- sides those who were in commission, the emperors had private ones for themselves, who lived at court, and attended them wherever they went; and some of the cities subject to the Ro- mans, had so many of them, that the College of Augurs at Lions, amounted to three hundred persons. CHAP. III. SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. 257 OF DIVINATION. ======== Great precautions were taken in the election of O tbe e Augurs" of Augurs; and none were qualified for being and the impor- advanced to that dignity, but persons of a blame- tance of their office. less life, and free from all corporal defects: And " * then, his character was sacred and indelible; nor could the Augurs be depose.'! on any account whatsoever. Their functions were of very great consideration, both \\ilh regard to re- ligion and the state. The senate could not assemble but in a place which they had consecrated. And if in the time of an Assembly either of the senate or the people, they observed any bad omen, they had a power to dissolve the meeting; as also had they the power to invalidate the election of magistrates, who had been chosen under bad auspices. No important enterprise was entered upon, no wars, no sieges, without having first consulted the Au- gurs. If the presages which they drew on these occasions were favourable, or firosfiera, as they expressed it, they made answer, id aves addicunt the Birds are for it: if they were adversa, infaus- ta, fiiacularia, or unfavourable, their answer was, id aves abdicunt the Birds are against it. When the Omens offered of themselves, they were called, oblativa; but if they appeared only when sought after, they were called im/ietrata. So high a regard had the Ro- mans for the Augurs, and for their declarations, that those who contemned their persons, or made their predictions the subject of raillery, were accounted impious and profane. Accordingly, they construed as a punishment from the Gods, the overthrow of Clau- dius Pulcher, who ordered the Sacred Chickens to be thrown into the sea, because they had refused to eat what was set before them: if they toon' I eat^ said he, they shall drink. The Auguries were taken after different man- The time, place and manner, of ners > ar >d always with particular ceremonies. Ses" and A frlm They were take "' 1St) fr m the fli S ht a nd chirp- what signs, viz. ing of Birds; 2d, from the eating of the Sacred Chickens; 3d, from the Meteors, or the Pheno- 858 SUPERSTITIONS OP IDOLATRY. CHAP. III. OF DIVINATION. SEC. II. mena which appeared in the Heavens; 4th; from Prodigies. Nor were all days or seasons equally proper for taking the Auguries; and therefore Metellus, as PLUTARCH reports, forbad them to be taken after the month of August, because the IJirds moult in that season. As little were they allowed to be taken immediately after the ides of each month, because the moon then began to -wane; neither were they allowed to be taken after noon on any clay what- soever. The place where the Augury was to be taken, should be on an eminence, and therefore, according to SKRVIUS, it was called Templum, Arx, Auguraculum; and the field consecrated to that use, Ager effatus. When the weather was culm and serene, (for the Augury was not allowed to be taken in any other state of the air) and when all the other ceremonies were performed, the Augur clothed in his robe called Lna or Trabea, and holding in his right hand the augural staff] which resembled our bishop's crosier, sat down at the entry of his tent, surveyed all around, and after hav- ing marked out the divisions of the heavens with his stuff, and drawn one line from east to west, and another from south to north, he offered up sacrifices, and addressed to Jupiter this prayer; fa- ther Jupiter, ifthou art the protector of Rome, and of the Roman people, grant me a favourable Augury. Or as LIVY has it, upon occasion of the election of Numa Pompilius: Jupiter, if it is thy will, that this Numa. Pompilius, on whose head I lay my hands, shall be king of Rome, grant clear and unerring signs within these bounds which I have marked out. This prayer being over, the priest turn- ed his eyes to the right and left, and towards whatever place the birds took their flight, from thence to determine if the Augury was prosperous, or unhappy. As this ceremony constituted a part of the religion of the Romans, it was attended to with high vene- ration, and during the sacrifice and prayer, profound silence was kept. If the Augury was favourable, or unfavourable, he who had taken it came down from his place, and gave intimation of it to the people in this form, which we have already reported; the Birds CHAP. HI. SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. 259 SEC. II. OF DIVINATION. approve it, or disapprove it. Though the Augury was favourable, they sometimes deferred the enterprise till the Gods confirmed it by a new sign: this is what we learn from VIRGIL in these words; Jupiter be propitious to me, and confirm the presages thou hast now given me. 1 st, But to commence with t\ie, flight of Birds: First, From the ...... .... . flight of birds tneir different manner in flying prognosticated =^^== good or bad Omens. If it was an unlucky Omen, it was called sinistra, orfunesta, or arcula, that is, such as prohi- bited any enterprise; devia, to denote that the same enterprise tvould be difficult to accomplish; remora, when it ought to be de- layed; inebra, when the Augury seemed to portend some obstacle in the way; and in fine, altera, when a second presage destroyed the first. The Birds whose flight and chirping they more ex- actly noticed, were the eagle, the -vulture, the kite, the owl, the raven, and the crow. 2d, But the most common way of taking the Second, From . . . . , _ the feeding- of the Augury, consisted in examining the manner of sacred Chickens. the sacrec f Chickens' taking the corn that was of- fered them. They generally brought these Chick- ens from the island of Eubcea, and they had them shut up in coops. He who had the care of th.em was named Pullarius, as we learn from CICERO: so great was the faith which the Romans had in the manner of their feeding, that they undertook nothing of importance, without having previously taken this sort of Au- gury. Even the general of armies had them brought into their camps, and consulted them before they gave battle. The consul, after notice given to the person who had the care of those Chick- ens, to make the necessary preparations for taking the Auspice, threw down grains to them himself: if they fell on with greedi- ness, the Omen was good; but if they refused to eat, spurning away the corn with their feet, and scattering it here and there, SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. HI. OF DIVINATION. SEC. II. it was reckoned so unlucky, that they desisted from the enter- prise for which they consulted them.* 3d, Among the signs in the heavens which Third, From or- dinary signs in tne Augurs observed, there were some that had the air, as thun- no mea ning, and these they called Bruta or Fa- der, lightning', winds. na; others which declared a certain event, were termed Fatidica: of these last, such as appeared while they were deliberating upon an affuir, had the name of Consiliaria Signa: such as did not offer till the thing was deter- mined, were called Auctoritativa or confirming signs. Of these last again, there were two kinds; first, Postularia, which obliged them to renew the sacrifices; and second, Monitoria, which warn- ed them of what was to be avoided. Of all the signs in the hea- vens, which were observed in taking the Augury, the most un- erring were thunder and lightning; especially when it thundered in serene weather. If the thunder and lightning came from the left hand, it was a good omen; and a bad one if it came from the right. DONATUS, explaining this, lets us know that the reason \vhy thunder breaking on the left, was reputed a favourable omen; namely, that all appearances on that hand proceeded from the right hand of the Gods. The thunder which passed from north to east, was reckoned auspicious The winds were another sign of the heavens observed in Auguries, because they looked upon them as the messengers of the Gods, who came to signify their de- * It is a matter of just surprise to find that so grave and wise a people as the Romans, had for whole ages been addicted to such a childish su- perstition, and made the greatest enterprises depend upon a Chicken's having or voanting an appetite; but the fact is nevertheless unquestionably true. CICERO indeed openly ridicules it, without appearing to have made it a serious affair, but the times were changed when he wrote his books of divination: it may be questioned whether in another age it would have been safe for him to rally the thing as he did. CHAP. III. SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. 261 SEC. II. OF DIVINATION. crees to men. LUTATIUS, the ancient commentator upon STA- TIUS, explaining that place where the poet says, that the inspec- tion of the winds and of the flight of birds caused the war to be deferred, observes, that the Augurs drew their presages from the winds: but he lets us know nothing more particular upon this subject. Thus we are at a loss to determine what winds were favourable, and what were unlucky. The Auguries or presages drawn from Meteors of a preternatural or extraordinary nature fall properly to be treated among Prodigies, as follows. 1 4th, Of ail presages, those drawn from Prodi- Prodigies, \ F iz S ies vvere the worst ' and those for which the . Pagan religion prescribed the greatest ceremo- nies. When the Prodigy was followed by any dismal event, they were always credulous enough to believe, that the one had been the cause of the other, or at least sent to prognosticate the same. TITUS LIVIUSJ DIONYSIUS of Halicarnassus, and other histo- rians, have taken care to insert into their works, the Prodigies which the annals they consulted, informed them to have fallen out at different times, and they have marked the calamitous events which followed upon them. PUNY likewise reports a great number of them, as also VALERIUS MAXIMUS; and JULIUS CBSEQUENS has made up a collection of them. All the Prodigies treated of by the ancients "if may be reduced to TWO CLASSES: 1st, In the we allow their Jirst^ we comprehend those miracles of Pagan- existence. ism which seem inexplicable, unless we have recourse to a supernatural cause. Such, among others, was the story of the Dii Penates^ or household Gods Jineas had brought to Italy, which is thus related by DIONYSIUS of Halicarnassus. " While they were employed in carrying on the works of the New Temple, there happened a surprising prodigy. The tem- ple and sanctuary being put in order to receive the Gods which 2 K 262 SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. III. OF DIVINATION. SEC. II. ./Eneas had brought from Troy, and which he had placed at La- vinium, their statues were transported into the new temple; but the next day they were found in the very same place, and upon the same basis whence they had been taken the evening before, though the gates had been shut during the night, nor was there any appearance of a breach in the walls: they were transported a second time from Lavinium in form, after a sacrifice had been offered up to appease the offended Gods; but they were again found set down in the same place at Lavinium." We may take into the same class that of Ju 'fitter Terminalis which there was no possibility of forcing from its place, at the time of building the capitol: also the adventure of Accius JVtevius, who cut, as they say, a flint stone with a razor, to convince the incredulity of a king of Rome who slighted the Augurs, and the Tuscan Divina- tion: that of the vestal JEmilia, who drew water in a sieve: that of another -vestal, who with her girdle drew to shore a ship stranded, which the strongest efforts of others were not able to move: and that of another, who with the skirt of her gown, kindled the sa- cred fire which her inadvertency had suffered to go out. To the Prodigies of this kind we may also join, the ajijiarition of those two young knights, mounted on two white horses, who were seen near the lake Rhegillum, at the time when the dictator Posthmnius was upon the point of losing the battle, and having fought for the Romans till they had gained the victory, disa/i/icarcd in a mo- ment, while the general, who ordered strict search after them, that he might have rewarded their valor, could never hear ac- count of them more: also the adventure which JULIUS OBSE- QUENS relates of that statue of Juno, -who being interrogated by a young man, if she would go to Rome, -visne ire Roman Juno? gave a nod with her head, to signify the Goddess's consent, to go, Jiostea quam ca/iitc annuisset; and not only so, but answered, that she would go with all her heart, to the great astonishment of all who were present at this Prodigy, se libenter ituram^ magna CHAP. III. SUPERSTITIONS OP IDOLATRY. 263 SEC. II. OF DIVINATION. omnium admiratiorie resfiondit: to which we may add, that of the two oxen who spake: and in fine, that of the shield which fell from heaven, under the reign of Numa Pompilius, as is told by the same author; with several others which appear to be supernatural efforts, if we admit the facts to be circumstantially true. " 2d, The Prodigies of the second class were ordinary signs in indeed of the kind of purely natural events; but i- le . ai & aS me ~ being less frequent, and appearing to be contra- - ; ry to the ordinary course of nature, were as- cribed to a superior cause, through the superstition and exces- sive credulity of the Pagans, affrighted with the sight of these effects, either rare, or quite unknown. Such were extraordinary Meteors, as the Parhelia, or the image of the sun reflected on the clouds; the appearances of fire and lights by night; showers of blood, of stones, of ashes, or of fire; monstrous births, whether of men or animals; and a thousand other things purely natural, \vhereofl shall give some examples, drawn from ancient authors, and in particular from JULIUS OBSEQUENS. 1st, Under the reign of Romulus, says this author; and at a time when that prince was besieging the town of Fidenae, there fell a shower of bloody and soon after, Rome was infested with the plague. 2d, Under that of Tullus Hostilius, there fell from heaven a prodigious quantity of stones, much like a shower of hail. 3d, Under the consulship of P. Posthumius Tubero, and of Menenius Agrippa, there were seen in the heavens, during a considerable part of the night, burning arrows. 4th, The same author makes frequent mention of fiery meteors appearing in the heavens, like armies encountering one another. 5th, He also mentions sfiectrcs, and extraordinary -voices that had been heard by night. 6th, The lake of Alba, according to LIVY, swelled to a considerable height without any preceding rain, or other visible cause; and that inci- dent so terrified the Romans, who were then employed in the siege of Veiae> that not having an opportunity to consult the 264 SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. OF DIVINATION. SEC. II. Tuscans, with whom they were then at war, they were obliged to send to the Oracle of Del/ihos. 7th, Under the consulship of M. Valerius Maximus, and of Q. Manilius Vilnius, blood was seen rising out of the earth, while a shower of milk fell from hea- ven. 8th, Under that of C. Qviintus Flaminius, and of P. Furio, a river appeared covered with blood. The other Prodigies report- ed by the ancients, are pretty much of the same kind. To be short, they are either statues of Gods struck with thunder, or overspread with blood; or they are earthquakes, or sudden inun- dations: here, a child of two months cries out, Triumfih; there the heavens are all inflamed, and nights illuminated by the Sun, or rather by a globe of light which resembles him; or else it is thick darkness at noon-day: Sometimes you have the birth of a monster, an infant for instance with two heads and but one hand, or who has the shape of some brute animal; a stone of an enor- mous size falling from heaven; or a rainbow without a cloud, &c. - It would be no hard matter, if one was so dis- thf fatte^ckss of P Sed ' l aCC Ullt for m St . f ^ Prodi S ies f Prodigies. this second kind, from natural causes. All those nocturnal Jircs, those inflamed sfiears, those armies appearing in the heavens, are what we now call the Lumen Boreale, or northern lights, so common some years past, and perhaps as ancient as the world. Those extraordinary inunda- tions; whereof no visible cause could be discovered, might have been owing to some subterraneous fermentation which raised the waters. Showers of t?ones, of ashes, ov fire, were the effect of some Volcano, like those of mount JEtr.a or Vesuvius. Those of milk, a whitish water condensed by some quality in the air: no- body questions now-a-days, but that those of blood, are the stains left upon stones, upon the earth, and upon leaves of trees, by butterflies and other insects,' which hatch in hot and stormy weather. M. DE PEYRESC had guessed at it more than a century agOj upon occasion of one of those showers; having observed) that CHAP. III. SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. 265 SEC. II. OF DIVINATION. the same stains were found in covered places: and M. REAUMUR, in his memoirs for the history of inaects, has put the matter be- yond doubt. . As to the Prodigies of the first kind, I own Remarks upon . , . , . in the former class "**] are harder to be explained: but are they all of Prodigies. we jj attested? Were they all seen and written down by persons of ability, at the very time when we are told they happened? Are they not mostly founded upon popular traditions? May they not, some of them at least, be explained naturally, especially if we strip them of those mar- vellous circumstances, with which excess of credulily had clothed them? We may say with the author of the dissertation just quoted, that those facts, and all others that resembled them, are to be looked upon as fables invented by corrupt priests, and swal- lowed down by an ignorant superstitious populace. The consent of the people, says he, who believe all, though they have seen nothing, and who are always the bubbles of stories of that kind, can hardly be of more weight to gain our beliefs, than the testi- mony of Pagan priests, who, in every age and country, have had too strong motives from self-interest for imposing those sorts of miracles, to be vouchers of great credit. _ Be that as it will, inexpressible was the as- The public con- sternation occa- tomshment and constei nation of the Pagans, up- on the a PP arition of one of those Prodigies, even of such as might easily have been account- ed to be purely natural effects. The whole empire was in per- plexity upon such an occasion, it was the only subject of conver- sation at Rome: the senate gave orders to the Quindecim-viri, to consult the books of the Sibyls, for it was piincipaliy upon those occasions they had recourse to them, as I have aheady remarked, and they prescribed the ceremonies of expiation, whereof we shall presently speak. If in the meanwhile, any calamity happen- ed to befal the commonwealth; if an enemy declared war against 266 SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. CliAl' 111. OF DIVINATION. SEC. II. it; if it was overtaken with an epidemical distemper, &c.; all was imputed to the influence of the Prodigy, which had come to denounce these calamities. 3rf, The Arusfiicia. - The Arusfiices were equally regarded at Rome The office and . . . ~ . , the institution vvltn the Augurs. As their functions consisted generally, of the j n exam i n i n g the entrails of the victims, besides Aruspices. ===== other circumstances attending a sacrifice, they were likewise named Extisfiiccs, a n ime compounded of two Latin words, exta, entrails, and inxpicere, to survey, to observe, as has been said in speaking of the sacrifices. The Tuscans, of all the people of Italy, were most masters of this science, they having been taught it by Tages; and it was from their country that the Romans brought those whom they employed, or at least chose them from among those whom they had sent thither to be in- structed in it; for they sent every year into Tuscany, as the se- nate had ordained, six young persons, according to CICERO, or ten, as VALERIUS MAXIMUS has it, or twelve, as we are assured by other authors, to be instructed in the knowledge of the Arus- Jiices, and other sorts of Divination. And for fear that this sort of science should be undervalued, by the quality of the persons who professed it, they chose these youths from among the best families in Rome. ANDREW GLAREANUS reckons, that as the Tuscans were divided into twelve nations, so we ought to read in VALERIUS MAXIMUS, and in CICERO'S second book of Divina- tion, twelve youths, and not ten, as the former has it, nor six, as it is in the latter; being persuaded that the text in both these au- thors has been vitiated by some transcriber. We said Tages was the first who taught the Tuscans the science of the Arusjiices, and that other sort of Divination, which the Latins call the Tuscan Divination; we shall now say wfio this Tagcs was. CICERO thus relates his history, or rather his fable: " A peasant, says he, la- bouring in a field, and his plough-share going pretty deep into the CHAP. III. SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. SEC. II. OF DIVINATION. earth, turned up a clod, whence sprung a child, who taught him as well as the other Tuscans, the principles of Divination." OVID tells the same fable in the 15th book of his Metamorphoses. As the manner of relating a fact, may considerably alter its circum- stances without destroying it, I am persuaded, that the fable I have now rehearsed has a true foundation, and that it imports, ei- ther that Tages was of an obscure birth, or that he was a native of the country Autochthon; for it was that description of people whom they commonly gave out to be sprung from the earth. However this may be, Tages grew expert in the science of Divi- nation, especially in that which consisted in exploring the entrails; and he afterwards communicated it to the Tuscans, who likewise became great proficients therein. He had even composed upon this subject a treatise, which was kept with peculiar care, and explained afterwards by ANTISTIUS LABEO, who divided it into fifteen books. It is not known whether Tages himself had invented this sort of Divination, or if he had learned it from strangers who travelled into Tuscany in his time: This much we are assured of by several authors, that it was known and practised in other coun- tries. Some have even traced it up to the earliest ages, and maintain that it was in use in Chaldea, and in Egypt; whence the Greeks learned it, and for a long time put it in practice. Nay } there were in Greece two families, the Jamidg, and the Clytid 7 i JAMBLICUS, in his treatise of mysteries, insists co 8 at a S reat length upon this subject, and his work mon: supposes through the whole, this distinction between the Theurgia and Goetia; and of the former he seems to have a high esteem. What both of them had in common, is, that they equally employed certain words, to which a certain virtue was believed to be annexed. Sometimes the mere cliarm of these words wrought all the effect that was expect- ed; sometimes it was necessary to add to them compositions of herbs: there was always a necessity for observing exactly the time when the sacrifices were offered, the days, the hours, the aspect of the stars, the number and quality of the victims. What puzzled them most, was to know what Divinities they were to invoke, what offerings to present them, vrhat plants, what Jierfumes, were most agreeable to them. And indeed, the dose, if too strong or too weak, rendered the whole magical operation abortive, as did the omission of a single Divinity. As one broken string disconcerts the harmony of an instrument; just so, JAMBLICUS remarks, one God whose name had been omitted, or, in whose honour they had neglected, among other ingredients that were offered, the par- ticuiar/it-r/wwe, herb, or whatever else was specially consecrated to CHAP. HI. SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. 279 SEC. III. OF MAGIC. him, defeated the effects of the sacrifice. Thus it was also with the form of prayers and other ivords that were of necessity to be pro- nounced; and though those forms were often composed of words in a strange language, which were not understood, it was neces- sary however to recite them, such as they were, 'without omitting one syllable; as was customary in Evocations and forms of Devo- ting. They were even so fully persuaded of the necessity of keep- ing exactly to the ceremonial, that it was alleged, if Tullus Hos- tilius had consulted the pontiff' set over the religious rites, when he undertook to bring down Juf.itcr from heaven, according to the forms prescribed in the ritual of Numa Pompiiius, he had not been thunder-struck for an omission in some punctilio of the sacrifice, which he offered for that end. PLIXY ridicules a part of this superstition with some humour; when, after mentioning an herb, the mere throwing of which into the midst of an army, was sufficient, they said, to put it to the rout, he asks, " Where was this herb when Rome was so distressed by the Cimbri and Teutones? Why did not the Persians make use of it when Lu- cullus cut their troops in pieces?" Then resuming his serious air, he expostulates with Scipio for having drawn together such quan- tities of arms and warlike engines, since one single plant had been sufficient to open to him the gates of Carthage. ' They who professed Theurgy, did not arrive t!a e tion alS to f the a11 at once ' at that state of perfection to which Theurgic Magic: they aspired; they were first to undergo ex- fiiations; next, they got themselves initiated into the lesser mysteries, for which they were obliged iofast and/iray, to live in strict continence and self-purification, as a preparation for a more advanced state: then came the high mysteries, where their sole employment was to meditate, and contemplate univer- sal Nature, who by that time disclosed all her secrets to them who had passed through those trials Nero who was so foolish that he would needs command the Gods, which he thought there 2X0 SUPERSTITIONS Oi' IDOLATRY. CHAP. III. OF MAGIC. SEC. III. was no way of attaining but by Magic, had such a high esteem for the Magicians, that he sent for them from every quarter, and heaped favours upon them. Tiridates, for his pains in pro- viding him with them, was rewarded with the crown of Arme- nia. 1 The Pagans were so fully persuaded of the kits of * Heroes P we1 ' f Magic es P ecial! y of the Theurgic kind, attributed to this and of the efficacy of mysteries, that they be- lieved those prodigies of valour performed by Hercules, Jason, Castor and Pollux, and other heroes, were owing to their initiation into these mysteries. VAR- RO, the most learned of the Romans, was so convinced of the force and power of that Magic, that he did not doubt that what HOMER, relates of the transformation of Ulysses's companions into /togs, was the effect of Circe's enchantments. He judged the same way of what was given out concerning the Orcadians, who, ac- cording to the story, as they were swimming over a pond, were transformed into wolves, and recovered their former figure at the end of nine ijears, if, after abstaining from human flesh during that time, they repassed the same pond. . As Paganism admitted a vast number of Gods, with Paffan^rlie^ some f them beneficent, others malevolent; and ology. as each had his own particular worship and cere- " monies appropriated to him, so none could obtain a favour from them, nor desired success in their enterprises, un- less they were careful to observe the manner of worshipping them, as it was taught by religion. This principle laid down, it is easy to see that both sorts of Magic above named had a plain con- nexion with their Theology, and that such as professed either of them, must needs have been excellent Pagan Theologues. Thi is what makes PLINY say, that Magic, the offspring of Medicine, after having fortified itself with the help of Astrology, had bor- rowed all its splendor and authority from Religion. CHAP. III. SUPERSTITIONS OP IDOLATRY. 281 Numa, among the religions ceremonies he cy^or ^voc^on tau -^ llt ' had P'' escribed those for Evocation*; of the Manes: which were a consequence of Theurgic Magic. Among the Evocations, the most solemn, and at the same time the most frequently practised, was that of conjur- ing ufi souls departed, commonly called Necromancy* The custom of raising the Manes was so ancient, that its origin is traced as high as the earliest periods of time; and all the anathemas denounced by the sacred authors, against those who consulted familiar spirits, are proofs of the antiquity of this practice. Among the different sorts of Magic which MOSES prohibits, that of calling up the dead is there expressly specified. Every body knows the history of Saul, who went to consult the witch of Endor> to call up the ghost of Samuel. I shall not enter into the effect which this conjuration produced, nor shall I examine if it was really Samuel who appear- ed to that prince, or if it was the Devil who deceived him under a borrowed appearance; or in fine, if the witch herself imposed upon him by some illusion. We know that the fathers and eccle- siastic writers are much divided in their sentiments about it, and that there is nothing in religion to determine us to follow the one opinion rather than the other. I only take notice of the use of the thing, and this, it is certain, was as ancient, as it was univer- sally practised. -. . Profane authors look upon ORPHEUS as the inventor of this cursed art; and so far indeed it the Art: i s true, 'that the hymns which are ascribed to ' him, are mostly real pieces of conjuration: but it is probable this practice came from the eastern people, and was carried into Greece with the other religious ceremonies, by colo- nies which came and settled there. Let this be as it will, it is certain that in HOMER'S time, this sort of conjuration was in prac- tice, as appears from some passages in the Iliad, where mention is made of it. Nor v as it at that time reputed odious or crimi- 282 SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. III. OF MAGIC. SEC. III. nal, since there were persons who nr.dc public profession of con- juring' up. ghosts, and ihere were temples where the ceremony of conjuration was to be performed PAUSANIAS speaks of that which was in Thesprolia, where ORPHEUS came to call up the soul of his wife Eurydice. It is this very journey, and the motive which put him upon it, that made it be believed he went down to hell, Ulysses's travels into the country of the Cimmerians, whither he went to consult the ghost of Tiresias, which HOMER so well de- scribes in the Odyssey, has all the air of such another conjuration; and the same may be said of all the other pretended journeys into Pluto's kingdom. But it is not only the poets who speak of con- juring' up, spirits; history likewise furnishes examples thereof. Periander, the tyrant of Corinth, visited the Thesprotians, to consult about something left with his wife in trust: and historians tell us, that the Lacedemonians, having starved PAUSANIAS to death in the temple of Pallas, and not being able to appease his Manes, which tormented them without intermission; sent for the Magicians from Thessaly, who having brought up the ghosts of his enemies, they banished Pausanias's ghost so effectually, that it was obliged to quit the country. I have no mind to display the horrid rites that were practised by those who dealt in Necroman- cy, when they raised the souls of the dead: it is enough that I have showed the union and connexion, which this execrable art had with the Pagan religion which authorized it. We shall conclude, by remarking that this Phrase, to call up souls, is not accurate: for what souls. the Magicians, and priests, appointed in the temples of the Manes, called up, was neither soul nor body, but a sort of middle substance, between soul and body, which the Latins call Imago, Umbra. When Patroclus prays Achilles to grant him the honours of burial, it is that he might not be hindered from passing the fatal river by the thin phantoms of the dead. It was neither soul nor body that went down to the CHAP. HI. SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. 283 SEC. IV. OF EXPIATIONS. infernal regions, but these phantoms: accordingly, Ulysses sees the phantom of Hercules in the Elysian Jields, while the hero himself is in Heaven. But I shall explain this point of Pagan Theology, when I come to speak of the Infernal Regions. SECTION FOURTH. OF EXPMTIOJVS. -r - : . EXPIATION was an act of religion, instituted finS-'Ssob'etts for tlie P nri fy in S the S uilt 7> and the places which stated. were reckoned defiled. Though this ceremony : to speak accurately, was only to be used for crimes, yet they put it in practice upon several other occasions. Dread of public calamities, and hope of appeasing the incensed Gods, occasioned the institution of several sorts of Expiations: monsters, prodigies, presages, auguries, all were subject to it; and the Expiatory sacrifices were renewed upon a thousand occasions, insomuch that there was hardly any action in life, whether pri- vate or public but had need of them, or which was not either fol- lowed or ushered in with the ceremony of Expiation. Was a ge- neral to assume the command of an army? were games or festi- vals to be celebrated? an assembly to be called? or was a person to be initiated into any mystery? in all such cases they were sure to have recourse to Expiatory sacrifices. As to private life, every individual took care to purify himself, not only for the smallest faults, but even upon occasion of every object which superstition taught to consider as of bad portent. Accordingly, these words, which occur so often in the writings of the ancients, Expiare, Purgare, Februare, signified to perform acts of religion, either for blotting out some fault, or for diverting impending calamities. 284 SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. HI. OF EXPIATIONS. Though in general, public expiations were accompanied with prayers and sacrifices, yet or less solemn. there were of them more or less solemn, en- cumbered with more or fewer ceremonies; nor was it always the same Gods who were to be invoked. Those whom the Latins styled Averrunci, were implored in order to avert the evils which some prodigy or object of bad omen had portended. They were free to make their addresses to others, upon private occasions, wherein they thought there was need of J?.xfiialion.-'Y\\e\e wete then several sorts of Expiations; and particular ceremonies for each kind. I shall say but little of those used by every private man, since it sufficed for him to wash him- selfi or to receive the holy water when he was entering into the temple; but I shall expatiate more fully upon those which reli- gion and the laws had prescribed. One of the most solemn, was what they used "P n the Appearance of some prodigy. The senate, after having ordered the Sibylline books to be consulted by those who had the keeping of them, to see what was to be done upon those occasions, ordinarily appointed days of fasting; as also festivals, especially those of the Lectis- ternia; games; public firayers; and sacrifices. Then you might have seen the whole city of Rome, and in imitation of her, all the other cities of the empire, in mourning and consternation; the Temples adorned, the Lectisternia prepared in the public places, Expiatory sacrifices repeated over and over again. The senators and patricians, their wives and their children, with gar- lands on their heads; every Tribe, every Order, preceded by the high Priest and the Duumviri, marched gravely through the streets; and this procession was accompanied with the youth sing- ing hymns, or repeating prayers, while the Priests were offering Expiatory sacrifices in the temples, and invoking the Gods to divert the calamities, with which they thought themselves threatened. CHAP. III. ^ SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. 285 OF EXPIATIONS. Anciently, but a -few ceremonies were requir- for 2 Homicfde U n ed for the e x P iation of homicide; but in after- i- times, a great many \vere added, and it became even exceedingly burdensome. All that was requisite at first, for a person's purification from murder, was to wash himself in run- ning water; and thus it was, according to ATHEN^US, that^c/t//- les was purified, after having killed Strambelua king of the Lxleges. JEneas, as he was leaving Troy, then in the enemy's hands, left to his father, the care of the household Gods which he was going to take along with him, not daring to touch them with his polluted hands, until he had purified himself in some river; a punishment, if indeed it was one, abundantly gentle, for a crime such as homicide: Accordingly OVID, after having mentioned several heroes who had been purified in this manner, breaks forth into this exclamation; how credulous must they be, who believe that the crime of murder can be purged away at so CdSjTa rate! This sort of Expiation did not last long, since we see in the he- roic ages, it was attended with more irksome and solemn cere- monies: at that time, when the offender was a person of distinc- tion, even kings themselves did not disdain to perfoim the cere- mony. Thus in APOLLODRUS, Co/ircus, who. had sluin Ifihisus, is expiated by Euristheus king of Mycenae. Adrastus, according to the testimony of HERODOTUS, came to receive Expiation from Crcsus king of Lydia. Frequently the hero guilty of man- slaughter, was even obliged to traverse several countries, not lighting upon any body who would give him Expiation; which was the case of Hercules, who was expiated at length by Ceyx king of Trachinia. rNobody has given a fuller description of the ceremonial of this sort of Expiation, than ApoLLoxiusof Rhodes, on occasion of the murder of slbsyrlus, the brother of Medea^ slain by Jason: that prince, says he, being arrived with Medea in the island of ./Ea, sent their addresses to Circe t desiring her to 2 N 286 SUPERSTITIONS OP IDOLATRY. * CHAP. III. OF EXPIATIONS. perform the ceremony of Expiation for them; and having obtain- ed permission to come to the place of that princess, they advanc- ed both of them, with downcast eyes, after the manner of sup- pliants, till they came up to the hearth, where Jason struck into the ground the sword wherewith he had slain his brother-in-law. Their silence and posture made Circe easily perceive that they were fugitives, guilty of some murder, and she prepared herself to expiate them. First she caused a young lug not yet weaned, to be brought, and having cut its throat, she rubbed the hands of Jason and Medea with its blood. Then she offered libations in honour of Jupiter Exfiiator. After which, having ordered the re- mains of the sacrifice to be thrown out of the hall, she burned upon the altar, cakes, which were made of flour, salt, and water, and accompanied these ceremonies with prayers proper to ap- pease the wrath of the Furies, who commonly pursue the guilty. The ceremony being ended, she caused her guests to sit down upon magnificent seats, where they were regaled. The Roman's had ceremonies for the E.xfiiation of murder, different from those of the Greeks. We have a very authentic example of them in DIONYSIUS of Halicarnassus, who relates in what manner Hora- tius was expiated, after having killed his Sister, who reproached him for the death of her lover, one of the Curiatii. " Sentence was given, says he, against young Horatius, and he was after- wanis absolved from the crime: but the king, who did not think the judgment of men sufficient to absolve a criminal, in a city which made profession of fearing the Gods, sent for the pontiffs, and would needs have them to appease the Gods and Genii, and the offender to pass through all the trials that were in use, for expiating involuntary crimes. The pontiffs therefore erected two altars, the one to Juno, the protectress of Sisters, the other to a certain God or Genius of the country, who has since borne the name of the Curiatii, whom Horatius had slain. Upon these altars were offered several sacrifices of expiation^ after which, CHAP. III. SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. 287 SEC. IV. OF EXPIATIONS. the criminal was made to pass under the yoke; that is, under a cross beam, supported by two other pieces of timber." 1 The ceremony of Expiation for cities, was one for Citief^a'nd of the most solemn. In the Roman calendar, other places. there were days marked out for this ceremony; which mostly corresponded with our fifth of February. The sacrifice which was there offered, was denomi- nated, according to SERVIUS, Suburbale, or Suburbium, and the victims there sacrificed, were called, as FESTUS has it, Ambur- btales. Besides this festival, there was another, which returned but once in Jive years, the solemnity whereof was employed in purifying a whole city; and from the word lustrare, to exfiiate, the name lustrum, came to denote the sfiace of Jive years. Im- portant occasions sometimes made it necessary to celebrate this solemnity, out of the ordinary time, as was the case, according to DIONYSIUS of Halicarnassus, when the Tarquins were banished from Rome. If any particular place happened to be defiled, they took care to have it expiated; and these sorts of Expiations had names whereby they were designated. That of the croasivays y for instance, was te.rmed Comjiitalia; that of thejields, was called Ambarvalia. The Greeks had particular Expiations for the Thea- tre^ and for the places where the people assembled. Before and after battle, there was a purifica- l * on ^ tne ^ rm y-> anc * that ceremony was term- ed Arrniluatrium; a word which was taken in aftertimes, to express a review of the troops, as appears from several passages of Caesar's Commentaries; just as that of Lus- trum was taken for the enrolment of the people; but both these ceremonies were always accompanied with sacrifices. The fes- tival of the Armilustrium was celebrated at Rome, on the nine- teenth of October. 288 SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. I If. OF EXPIATIONS. 1 To these public Expiations, I might subjoin Other public expiations to be those which they used in order to be initiated spoken of else- j nto { ^ e g reater an( ] i esser Eleusinian mysteries, ' into those of Mithras, into the Orgies, &c. But of these I shall speak in the history of Ceres, in that of the Per- sian Gods, and in that of Bacchus. It suffices to say here, that Lsting was often prescribed for Expiations of this sort; thus it is we are to understand with CLEMENS of Alexandria, when he says, that those who were to be initiated, being interrogated by the priests, answered, " / have performed ivhat is prescribed in order to the mysteries, I have kefit the Fast." .... The firivate Expiations were far more nume- tionsT lous tlnin l * le P"blic -ones; singe they used these . - in almost every action of life, as we have already remarked: thus, there were neither nuptials, no funerals, nor hardly any matter of consequence, that was not preceded by Ex- piation. Whatever was reputed of bad portent; the encounter of a tveazle, a raven, or a hare} an unexpected storm, a dream, and a thousand other accidents, obliged the people to have recourse to the same ceremony. But it is necessary tp observe, that for these sorts of private Expiations, there was not always a necessi- ty, as in the public ones, of offering sacrifices; but a simple ablu- tion sufficed. The sea-water, however, when it could be had, was preferred to fountain-water; and this latter, to that which stagna- ted. Sometimes the party was obliged to wash his whole body, sometimes only his hands or ears. It is from EURIPIDES we learn this last usage, when he makes flififiotitus say, that as he looked upon himself to be polluted for having been solicited to a crime, so he must needs wash his ears. PROCOPIUS of Gaza, speaking of the Expiations so much in use among the J.ews, informs us that in general they made use of wafer, salt, barley, laurel, and even Jire, which those were made to pass through, who were to be pu- rifiedi and there is no doubt but that the Pagans, in the ceremo- CHAP. III. SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. 289 SEC. IV. OF EXPIATIONS. nies of their Expiations, had imitated most of those which MOSES had prescribed to the Jews, as is proved by learned commentators on the Sacred Books. ... Here I should subjoin what regards Oaths, one sort of Spiations of the most ancient and most solemn acts of re- examined, ligion, since it was a kind of Expiation he who took the Oath, purging himself thereby from the crime that was laid to his charge. But this subject has been han- dled by several authors, whether lawyers or divines. I shall give the substance of two learned dissertations of the Abbe MASSIEU, who examines the following questions. ===== 1st, What was the origin of Oaths? which he fwftf As to sa y s j s near as ancient as the world, since they their origin; f began as soon as men became false and dishonest. 2d, By what Divinities the ancients swore? and Second, by what , . ~ , Gods they swore- ne P rov es, that it was by almost all the Gods, es- ===== pecially by TWO, who were regarded as the gua- rantees thereof, to wit: Bona fides, and Dens Fidius. The Gods themselves swore by the Styx, and this Oath was of all others the most inviolable. . ' ' 3d, What were the ceremonies of the Oath? At first they were very simple, and no more was required but holding up the hand, as is stiil the practice at this day. The Great introduced more formality into it; Kings lifted up their sccfitres, Generals of armies their sfiears or shields, and the Soldiers their swords, the joints of which some of them put to their throats, as we learn from MARCELLINUS. In later times, it was required that the Oath should be taken in the temples, the party, laying his hand upon the altar; and if there was occasion for tuking an Oath when no temples were near, an altar was raised in haste, or there were portable ones ready for immediate use. Frequently too it happen- 290 SUPERSTITIONS OP IDOLATRY. CHAP. lit. OF EXPIATIONS. SEC. IV. ed, that those who swore, dipt their hands in the blood of the sacrificed victims. 1 ' 4th, What were the moral sentiments of the obli Ttkm^of^an anc ' ents a bout Oaths? to which the unequivocal Oath; answer is, they were such, that perjury was looked upon as the greatest of crimes. But more allowances were made for the Oaths of orators, poets, and lovers; yet even the.se were not taken in courts of justice. That fine sentiment of PYTHAGORAS, honour the Gods, and revere an Oath, comprehends according to the commentators on that fa- mous philosopher, the purest, and at the same time, the most sublime morality, with relation to this last act of religion. '' 5th, The use which the ancients made of an occasions*" were ^ at!l * n c * v *' soc ' et y and tn * s was natch the same Oaths used; as among ourselves, that is, it was required of all who entered into an office, or who were to in- termeddle in any manner of way with the government, and the public re-venues. The General, when he assumed the com- mand of an army; the Soldier when he was listed; those who entered into the priesthood, or into other offices which depended upon it; the Vestals, the Augurs, the Feciales; or those who were employed in treaties of peace; all of them were obliged to take an Oath. 6th, In fine, what notion they had in those du y s > of such as violated their Oath? And our author finds that they were looked upon as the basest of all mortals, since they had trampled upon all the sacred lies of religion, and endeavoured to put a cheat upon the GOI.S, as well as upon Men. CHAP. III. SUPERSTITIONS OP IDOLATRY. 291 OF PUBLIC SUPPLICATIONS. SECTION FIFTH. OF PUBLIC SUPPLICJTfONS. SUPPLICATION, among the Pagans, consisted Definition; . r . Private Supplica- m prayer for favours desired, or thanksgiving ticed Slightly n " fo1 ' benefits received, whether public or private. We are not to insist upon private Supplica- tions, which were nothing else but prayers, which every one put up to the Gods, either to obtain health, a good harvest, or to thank them for mercies received, cc A single/or/mi/a of their prayers will be sufficient to give us some idea of them: here is one preserved in an inscription, which Camilla Amata makes to the fe-ver of her son in sickness. Camilla Amata offers up her prayers for her sick son, to the divine Febris, the holy Febris y the great Febris. ' The public Supplications were made either in Public Sut)T)li- i cations on what some crmcal juncture, as in time of a plague, or occasions observ- SO me epidemical calamity; or after an unexpect- ed. ed victory, or when a newly elected general ap- plied to the senate to be confirmed by them, and to have a Sup- plication appointed for obtaining the favour of the Gods; as also for other reasons. These Supplications occasioned solemn days, on which there was to be no pleading upon any account whatso- ever, and they were celebrated by sacrifices, prayers, and public feasts. Sometimes the senate limited the duration of ihis festival to one day; sometimes it took up several; and history informs us, that some of them lasted Jifty days. \st, The Lectisternia.- There was a kind of public Supplication, which the y called the< Lectisternia^ from lectus a bed, and sternere to make up. This ceremony con- sisted in a feast which was prepared, and which was kept in the templej and because, according to the customs 292 SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. III. OF PUBLIC SUPPLICATIONS. SEC. V. of those times, they arranged beds round the tables, and placed upon these beds the statues of the Gods, in whose honour the festival was celebrated, in the same way as men used to lay there- on at meals; hence they got the name of Lectisternia. The Efiu- lones mentioned under the article of the Priests, presided at this ceremony, and were the regulators of it. VALERIUS MAXIMUS takes notice of a Lectisternii;m, celebrated in honour of Jufiiter. That God, that is his statue, was laid there upon a bed; while those of Juno and Minerva were upon chains. TITUS LIVIUS, CICERO, LAMPRIDIUS, and others, make frequent mention of this ceremony; and the first of these authors refers its institution to the year of Rome 354, upon occasion of the plague which raged in the city. This Lectisterninm lasted for eight days, and was celebrated in honour of ^l/iollo, Latona^ Diana, Hercules^ Mercury and Ne/itune. VALERIUS MAXIMUS indeed mentions another rrtore ancient, since according to him, it was celebrated under the consulship of Brutus, and Valerius Poplicola; but it seems it was cither, less solemn, or LIVY knew nothing of it. ================= Until the time of CASAUBON, the Lectister. it was in use, . both amon^ the mum was believed to have been ot Roman insti- Greeks and the tution, and not to have been known out of Italy; Romans: . but that learned critic, examining a passage of the scholiast .upon PINDAR, and finding there mention made of those pillows, or cushions, which they put under statues of the Gods, from thence has justly concluded, that the Lectisternium was in use among the Greeks. Authors have been found to sup- port this discovery, and the truth of- it is now no longer contro- verted. And indeed PAUSANIAS speaks in several places of those sorts of cushions; and in his travels through Arcadia, tells us, that some of them were put under the statues of Peace; and in his Phocica, he speaks of those on which they placed the statues of JEsculafiius. VALERIUS MAXIMUS, says the same of the statues of ffarmadius .and dristogiton. " The statues, says he, of these CHAP. III. SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. 293 SEC. V. OF PUBLIC SUPPLICATIONS. two heroes, who had done so much to rescue Athens from the tyranny it groaned under, having been carried away by Xerxes, Seleucus restored them afterwards; and when the ship that brought them, arrived at Rhodes, the chief men of the city in- vited them to be their guests, and placed them upon pillows." SUETONIUS reckons these fallows among those things that were appropriated only to the Gods; for when speaking of Caesar, he says, " he even suffered such honours to be decreed him as are too high for mere mortals, such as temples, altars, statues as those of the Gods, the sacred pillow" See. JAMES SPON, in his travels through Greece, tells us, that the Lectisternium of Isis and Serapis was still to be seen at Athens. It was a small marble bed, of two feet in length, by one in height, on which those two Divi- nities were represented sitting. This learned traveller says, that others, like them, were found in the same city; as also at Sala- mis and elsewhere. From this relation we learn the true form of the cushions: they were small beds, either of marble, stone, or wood, on which they placed the statues of the Gods, in honour of whom a feast was prepared. After what has been said, it is evident, that the Lectisternium was equally in use in Greece and in Italy. - - The days set apart for this festival were most its celebration, . . . and its immuni- solemn; during which, it was not allowed to in- ties; by whom gj ct p un i s h me nt upon any description of per- sons, so that criminals were even set at liberty. It was the chief magistrate, or high priest, who appointed the festival; and its end was to appease the Gods, or to supplicate them for favours. We have only to say farther, that the table for \\-\efcast, and the beds on which the Gods were to lie, were adornc DUt less solemn than those which I sions, imitated have been describing. The Hebrews, who de- by the Jews, &c. =^==^= rived from the Egyptians that fatal propensity which they had towards Idolatry, imitated them but too often, not only in the solemnity of the golden calf, as has been said, but also in the ceremony of their processions. The prophet AMOS upbraids them for having led about in the wilderness, the taber- nacle of the God Moloch, the image of their Idol, and the star of the God Remjiham. St. STEPHEN, in the Acts of the Apostles, taxes them with the same piece of idolatry. Several other peo- ple practised the same ceremonies, whether they had learned them from the Egyptians, as is very probable, or had invented them themselves. 2rf, Grecian Festivals* The Greeks borrowed several of their Festi- vals from the Egyptians and Phenicians: they na cl likewise many peculiar to themselves. We shall here give an alphabetical calendar of the principal of them. - The Achilla were festivals celebrated in ho- The Achillsa. - nour of Achilles. PAUSANIAS, who tells us they were celebrated at Brasias, where that hero had a temple, gives us no particular account of them. 304 SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. III. OF FESTIVALS. The Actia were festivals sacred to Apollo^ in The .Actia. . commemoration of the victory of Augustus over M. Antony at Actium. They were celebrated every third year, with great pomp; and the Lacedaemonians had the care of them. ====== The Adonia were festivals in honour of Ado- Tlie Adonia. . nis, first celebrated at Byblos in Phoenicia. They lasted two days; theirs? of which was spent in how lings and lamentations; the second in joyful clamours, as if Adonis was returned to life; In some towns of Greece and Egypt they lasted eight days; the one half of which was spent in lamentations, and the other in rejoicings. Only women were admitted, and such as did not appear were compelled to prostitute themselves for one day; and the money obtained by this shameful custom was devo- ted to the service of Adonis. The time of the celebration was supposed to be very unlucky. The fleet of Nicias sailed from Athens to Sicily on that day, whence many unfortunate omens were drawn. ====== In the JEmaturia, celebrated in honour of Tin- jEm;ituria. . . . Pelofis. What was remarkable in this festival is, that boys whipped themselves till the blood came from their la- cerated bodies. The Agraulia was a festival at Athens, in The Agraulia. . =s======== honour of Agraitlos priestess of Minerva. The Cyprians also observed these festivals, by offering human victims. . The Agrionia are thus described by PLU- The Agnonia. =555==^=^^ TARCH. There, says he, the women make search for Bacchus, and not finding him, they give over their pursuit, saying, he is retired to the Muses; then they sup together, and after supper they propose riddles to one another: a mystery, sig- nifying that mirth, and good cheer, should always be seasoned with learning and the Muses; and that if a man happens to have drunk too much, his rage is hid by the Muses, and by them kindly re- strained and kept within bounds. CHAP. III. SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. 305 OF FESTIVALS. ===== The Agrotera is an anniversary sacrifice of The Agrotera. . goats ottered to Diana at Athens. It was insti- tuted by Callimachus, who vowed to sacrifice to the Goddess so many goats as there might be enemies killed in a battle which he was going to engage against the troops of Darius, who had invaded Attica. The quantity of the slain was so great, that a sufficient number of goats could not be procured; therefore they were limited to 500 every year, till they equalled the number of Persians slain in battle. ===== The Aloa were festivals of the barn-floors at The Aloa. - Athens in honor of Bacchus and Ceres, by whose beneficence the husbandmen received the recompense of their labours. The oblations were the first fruits of the earth. 1 The Ambrosia were festivals celebrated in time The Ambrosia. ======= of the vintage, in honour of. Bacchus, in some cities in Greece. They were tiie same as the Brumalia of the Romans. ===== The Amphidroniia was a festival observed by Amphidi'omia. =========== private families at Athens, the first day aiter the birth of every child. It was customary to run round the fire with a child in their arms; whence the name of the festival was de- rived. . The Anthesjihoria. were festivals celebrated in Anthesphoria. = _________ Sicily, in honour of Proserpine, in consequence of her being carried away by Pluto as she was gathering flowers. The Anthesteria was so termed from the month Anthesteria. Anthesterion, partly answering to our November. It had this peculiarity, that the masters served their slaves at ta- ble, during the three days of that festival, which the Romans imitated in their Saturnalia. , At the end of the festival, they turned those slaves out of doors, and as they were almost all of Caria, hence came the proverb; begone ye Carians, the Anthesteria nre ended* 306 SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. III. OF FESTIVALS. " The Afiaturia, a festival of the Athenians, The Apaturia. 11 so called from a word that signifies deceit, owed its institution to the following piece of history. The Boeotians having declared war against the Athenians, upon occasion of a contest between them about the territory of Celaenae or Onoe, which they both claimed, Xanthus, captain of the Boeotians, offer- ed to decide the quarrel in a duel. Thymaetes, king of Athens, having declined the challenge, was deposed, and Melanthius, who accepted it was put in his place. He, seeing his enemy coming up, told him it was not like a brave man to bring a second with him to the duel. Xanthus turned about to see if any one follow- ed him, and in the meantime, Melanthius thrust him through. This festival lasted three days: on theirs/ they kept a feast; they sacrificed on the second, and on the third they inrolled the youths that were to be admitted. The Afihrodisia, were celebrated in honour of The Aphrodisia. ==== Venus, at Cyprus, and in several other places. Here, they who would be initiated, gave a piece of money to Venus, as to a prostitute, and received from her some salt and a fihallua, presents worthy of the Goddess. . The Afiollonia were instituted to Afiollo and The Apolloma. Diana by the people of ^Egialea, on this occa- sion. Afiollo, after the defeat of Python, repaired to /Egialea with his sister Diana: but being driven thence, he was obliged to seek a retreat in Crete. In the mean time, the plague raging in the city which this God had left, the ^Egialeans came to consult the oracle, and were told that they must depute seven young men, and as many young virgins, to go in search tf Apollo and Diana, and bring them back to their city. This deputation pleased the offended Deities, and they returned to ^Egialea, where the peo- ple dedicated a temple to Pytho, the Goddess of persuasion; and in commemoration of this event, they sent out yearly the same CHAP. III. SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. 307 SEC. VI. OF FESTIVALS. number of youths of both sexes, as it were to go in quest oiAfiollo and Diana. ' The Artemisia, festivals of Diana, were cele- The Artemisia. : brated in several parts of Greece, particularly at Delfihos, where they offered to the Goddess, a fish called the inullett, which, as was supposed, bore some affinity to the God- dess of hunting, because it is said to hunt and kill other fish. There was a solemnity of the same name at Syracuse; it lasted three days, which were spent in banqueting and diversions. ===== The Asccilia was a festival in honour of Bac- The Ascolia. chus, celebrated about December, by the Athe- nian husbandmen, who generally sacrificed a goat to the God, because that animal is a great enemy to the vine. They made a bottle with the skin of the victim, which they filled with oil and wine, and afterwards leaped upon it. He who could stand upon it first was victorious, and received the bottle as a reward. Tiiis was called leaping upon the bottle, whence the name of the festi- val is derived. It was also introduced in Italy, where the people besmeared their faces with the dregs of wine, and sang hymns to the God. They always hanged some small images of the God on the tallest trees in their vineyards, and these images they call- ed Os cilia. - The Athcnga were festivals in honour of Mi- The Athenxa. ss^^^s^ss^ss ntr-va the patroness of the Athenians. They were instituted by Erichtheus or Orpheus; but Theseus afterwards renewed them, and caused them to be celebrated and observed by all the Tribes of Athens, which he had united into one, and for which reason these festivals received the name of Panathenxa. In the first years of the institution, they were observed only du- ring one day, but afterwards the time was prolonged, and the ce- lebration was attended with greater pomp and solemnity. The festivals were two; the Panathen&a, which was observed every 5th year, and the lesser Panalhen which we re celebra- ted once every nth year. They sacrificed a goat to the Goddess, and it was usual to sing one of the books of HOMEK'S Iliad. The most remarkable that attended were young virgins in yellow gowns, consecrated to Diana. They were about ten years of age, and not under five There was a bear in one of the villa- ges of Attica, so tame that he ate with the inhabitants, and play- ed harmlessly with them. This familiarity lasted long, till a ' young virgin treated the animal too roughly, and was killed by it. The virgin's brother killed the bear, and the country was soon after visited by a pestilence. The Oracle was consulted, and the plague removed by consecrating virgins to the service of Diana. This was so faithfully observed, that no woman in Athens was married, without this ceremony. -The Cabiria were festivals celebrated with the greatest solemnity at Samothrace, where alii CHAP. HI. SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. SU OF FESTIVALS. the ancient heroes and princes were generally initiated as their power seemed to be great in protecting persons from shipwreck and slorms. The obscenities which prevailed in the celebration have obliged the authors of every country to pass over them in silence, and say that it was unlawful to reveal them. ===== The CaUisteria was a festival at Lesbos, during The Calhatem. ^.^ wQmen contcn d e d for the prize of beauty, in the temple of Juno, and the fairest was rewarded. in a public manner. There was also an institution of the same kind among the Pavrhasians, first made by Cypselus, whose wife was honour- ed with the first prize. The Eleans had one also, in which the fairest man received, as a prize, a complete suit of armour, which he dedicated to Minerva. _ _ The Cane/ihoria were festivals celebrated at The Canephona. Athers in honour of Bacchus, or, according to others, of Diana, in which all marriageable women offered small baskets to the Deity, and received the name of C'aneflhorx, whence statues representing women in that attitude were called by the same appellation. __ The Carnda was a festival observed in most The Carneia. ^ ^ Grecian citieS) but more particularly at Sparta, where it was first instituted, about 675 years B. C. in honour of Jflallo surnamed Carncus. It lasted nine days, and was an imitation of the manner of living in camps among the ancients. ====== The Charila was a festival observed once in The Charila. ^ ^^ fay ^ De , phians . It owes its origin to this circumstance: in a great famine the people of Delphos assembled and applied to their king to relieve their wants. He accordingly distributed the little corn he had among the noblest; but as a poor little girl, called Charila, begged the king with more than common earnestness, he beat her with his shoe, and the girl, unable to bear his treatment, hanged herself with her girdle. The famine increased; and the Oracle told the king, that to re- 312 M PERSTITIOXS OF llXiLATIU. CHAP. Hi. OF FESTIVALS. SEC, VI- lieve his people, he must atone fo.r the murder of Charila. Upon this a festival was instituted, with expiatory rites. The king pre- sided over this institution, and distributed pulse and corn to such as attended. Charila's image was brought before the king, who struck it with his shoe; after which it was carried to a desolate place, where they put a halter round its neck, and buried it where Charila was buried. The Charisia was a festival in honour of the Graces, with dances which continued all night. He who continued awake the longest, was rewarded with a cake. " The Chelidonia was a festival at Rhodes, in The Chelidonia. ====; which it was customary for boys to go begging from door to door, and singing certain songs, Sec. " The Cissotomia was a festival, so called, from The Cissotomia. . , , . . , ,. ========s the ivy they wore at its celebration, in honour ot Hebe the Goddess of youth. The Cronia was a festival at Athens, in honour adians observed the same festival, and generally sacrificed to the God a condemned male- factor. ======= The Cynofihontis was a festival celebrated at The Cynophontis. . ===j^===s= Argos, on the dog-clays, during which they slew all the dogs; whence this solemnity had its name. . The Dtedala were two festivalsin Boeotia. The ' lesser of these was observed by the Plataeans, in a large grove, where they exposed, in the open air, pieces of boiled flesh, and carefully observed whither the crows that came to prey upon them, directed their flight. All the trees upon which any of these birds alighted, were immediately cut down and with them statues were made, called JDxdala, in honour of Dedalus. The greater festival was of a more solemn kind. It was celebrated every sixty days, by all the cities of Boeotia, as a com- pensation for the intermission of the lesser festivals, during the CHAP. III. SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. 313 OF FESTIVALS. sixty years exile of the Plataeans, and in commemoration of that exile. Fourteen of the statues, called Dxdala^ were distributed by lot among the Plataeans, Lebadaeans, Orchomenians, Thes- pi tns, Thebans, Tanagraeans, and Chaeroneans, because they had effected a reconciliation, and caused the Plataeans to be re-called from exile, about the time that Thebes was restored by Cassan- der, the son of Antipater. . , ... The Daidis was a solemnity observed amon? The Uaidis. & - the Greeks. It lasted three days. Theirs! was in commemoration of Latona's labour. The second in memory of Apollo's birth, and the third in honour of Podalirius, and of the mother of Alexander. Torches were always carried at the cele- bration; \vhencethe name. Uu lime ho^T The Da t lhne l :horia was a Festival in honour of Apollo, celebrated every ninth year by the Boeotians. It was then usual to adorn an olive bough with gar- lands of laurel and other flowers, and place on the top a brazen globe, on which were suspended smaller ones. In the middle was placed a number of crowns, and a globe of inferior size, and the bottom was adorned with a saffron coloured garment. The globe on the top represented the sun or Aiiolln; that in the middle was an emblem of the moon, and the others of the stars. The crowns represented the days of the years. This bough was carried in fiont of a solemn procession by a beautiful youth of an illustrious family. The Delia was a festival celebrated every fifth year in the island of Delos, in honour of . It was first instituted by Theseus, who, at his return from Crete, placed a statue there, which he had received from Ariad- ne. At the celebration, theycrov ned the statue with garlands, appointed a choir of music, and exhibited horse races. They afterwards led a dance, in which they imitated, by their motions, the \aiious windings of the Cretan labyrinth, from which Theseus 314 SUPERSTITIONS OP IDOLATRY. CHAP. III. OF FESTIVALS. SEC. VI. had extricated himself by Ariadne's assistance. There was also another festival of the same name, yearly celebrated by the Athe- nians at Delos. It was also instituted by Theseus, who, when he was going to Crete, made a vow, that if he returned victorious, he would yearly visit, in a solemn manner, the temple of Delos. The persons employed in this annual procession were called Deliastte, and the ship in which they made the visit to Delos be- ing the same which carried Theseus to Crete, and which had been carefully preserved by the Athenians, was called Delias. When the ship was ready for the voyage, the priest of Afiollo solemnly adorned the stern with garlands, and an universal lus- tration was made all over the ciiy. The Di-Hastx were crowned with laurel, -and before them proceed men armed with axes, in commemoration of Theseus, who had cleared the way from Trae- zene to Athens, and delivered the count iy fiom robbers. When the ship arrived at Delos, they offered solemn sacrifices to the God of the island, and celebrated a festival in his honour. After this they retired to the ship, and sailed back to Athens, where all the people of the city ran in crowds to meet them. Every appearance of festivity prevailed at their approach, and the citi- zens opened their doors, and prostrated themselves before the Deliasta:, as they walked in procession. During this festival it was unlawful to put to death any malefactor, and on that account the life of Socrates was prolonged for thirty days. ' The Demetria was a festival in honour of The Demetria. - Ceres, called by the Greeks Dtmeter. It was then customary for the votaries of the Goddess to lash themselves with whips made with the bark of trees. The Athenians had a solemnity of the same name, in honour of Demetrius Polior- certes. ,.. . . The Diamastigosis was a festival at Sparta in Diamastigosis. 'v. '- ; honour of Diana, in which boys of the first re- spectability were whipped before the altar of the Goddess. This CHAP. III. SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. 315 SEC. VI. OF FESTIVALS. operation was performed by an officer in a severe and unfeeling manner; and that no compassion should be raised, the priest stood near the altar with a small light statue of the Goddess, which suddenly became heavy and insupportable if the lash of the whip was lenient or less rigorous. The parents of the children attended the solemnity, and exhorted them not to betray any thing either by fear or groans, that might be unworthy of their education. These flagellations were so severe, that the blood gushed forth, and many expired under the lash of the whip without uttering a groan, or betraying any marks of fear. Such a death was reckon- ed very honourable, and the corpse was buried with much solem- nity, with a garland of flowers on its head. The origin of tins festival is unknown. Some suppose that Lycurgus first instituted it to inure the youths of Lacedemon to bear labour and fatigue, and render them insensible to pain and wounds. ' The Diasia were festivals in honour of Jufii- The Diasia. ============ ter at Athens; because by making application to Ju/iiter t men obtained relief from their misfortunes, and were delivered from dangers. During this festival things of all kinds were exposed to sale. ' The Dionysia were festivals in honour of Bac- The Dionysia. chim among the Gieeks. Their form and solem- nity were first introduced into Greece from Egypt, by a certain Melampus, and are the same as the festivals celebrated by the Egyptians in honour of Isis. They were observed at Athens with more splendour and ceremonious superstition than in any other part of Greece. The years were numbered by their celebration, the Archon assisted at the solemnity, and the priests that officiated were honoured with the most dignified seats at the public Games. At first they were celebrated with great simplicity. The wor- shippers imitated in their dress and actions the poetical fictions concerning Bacchus. They clothed themselves in fawn skins, fine linen, and mitres; they carried thyrsi, drums, pipes, and 316 SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. III. OF FESTIVALS. flutes; and crowned themselves with garlands of ivy, vine, fir, &c. Some imitated Silenus, Pan, and the Satyrs, by the uncouth man- ner of their dress, and their fantastical motions. Some rode upon asses, and others drove the goats to slaughter for the sacrifice. In this manner both sexes joined in the solemnity, and ran about the hills and country, nodding their heads, dancing in ridiculous postures, and filling the air with hideous shrieks and clamorous shoutings. The festivals of Bacchus were innumerable. All were celebrated by the Greeks with great licentiousness, and they contributed much to the corruption of morals among all ranks of the people. ====== The Dioscuria were festivals in honour of The Dioscuria. = ^ ======== Castor and Pollux^ who were called Dioscuri. They were celebrated by the people of Corcyra, and chiefly by the Lacedaemonians with much 'jovial festivity. The Elafihcbolia was a festival in honour of Di- The Elaphebolia. ==== ^ ====== ana the huntress. In the celebration, a cake was made in the form of a deer, and offered to the Goddess. The Eleusinia was a great festival in honour of The Eleusinia. Ceres and Proserpine, observed by many cities of Greece, but more particularly at Eleusis in Attica, where it was introduced by Eumolpus, before Christ 1356. Of all the re- ligious ceremonies of Greece, those of this festival were the most celebrated, whence they were often called, by way of emidence, the mysteries. They were sosuperstitiously concealed, that if any one revealed them it was supposed that he had called divine ven- geance upon his head, for which he was publicly punished with an ignominious death. If any one ever appeared at the celebra- tion, either intentionally, or through ignorance, without proper introduction, he was immediately punished with death. Persons of both sexes and all ages were initiated at this solemnity, and it was looked upon as so heinous a crime to neglect this sacred part of religion, that it was one of the heaviest accusations which con- CHAP. III. SUPERSTITIONS OP IDOLATRY. 317 SEC. VI. OF FESTIVALS. tributed to the condemnation of Socrates. The initiated were under the more particular care of the Deities, and therefore their lives were supposed to be attended with more happiness and real security than those of other men. This benefit was not only grant- ed during life, but it extended beyond the grave, and they were honoured with the first places in the Elysian fields. Particular care vras taken in examining the character of such as were pre- sented for initiation; nor were any admitted but citizens of Athens. This regulation, which compelled Hercules, Castor and Pollux, to become citizens of Athens, was strictly observed in the first ages of the institution, but afterwards all persons, barbarians ex- cepted, were freely initiated. The Eleutheria was a festival celebrated at The Eleutheria. Plataea in honour of Jupiter Eleutherius, or the assertor of liberty, by delegates from almost all the cities of Greece. Its institution originated in this; after the victory obtain- ed by the Grecians under Pausanias over Mardonius the Persian general, in the country of Plataea, an altar and statue were erected to Jupiter Eleutherius t who had freed the Greeks from the tyran- ny of the barbarians. It was further agreed upon in a general assembly, by the advice of Aristides the Athenian, that deputies should be sent every fifth year from the different cities of Greece to celebrate the Eleutheria^ festivals of liberty. _ The Enc the day of the dedication of The Encaenia. . every temple was celebrated by a particular fes- tival, called the Enc&nia. - The Eoria was a festival at Athens, in honour _^^__^_^ of Erigone, the daughter of Icarus; for the in- stitution of which, this reason is given that Erigone, being driven by extremity of grief for the'murder of her father, to hang her- self, had prayed the Gods, as she was dying, that unless the Athenians avenged her father's death, their daughters might all 2 R 318 SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. HI. OF FESTIVALS. SEC. VI. perish in the same manner. Accordingly several of them hanged themselves; upon which A{iMo being consulted, he ordered the institution of a festival, to appease the manes of Erigone. . The Erotidia was a festival in honour of Cu- . fitd the God of love. It was celebrated by the Thespians, every fifth year, with sports and Games, when musi- cians, among others, contended. If any quarrels, or seditions had arisen among the people, it was then usual to offer sacrifices and prayers to the God, that he would totally remove them. . The Eumenidia were festivals in honour of the The Eumenidia. : Eumenidcs or Furies. They were celebrated an- nually, with sacrifices of pregnant ewes, with offerings of cakes made by the most eminent youths, and libations of honey and vine. At Athens none but free-born citizens were admitted, who had led the most virtuous life, as others were not acceptable to the Goddesses whose care it was to punish all sorts of wicked- ness in an exemplary manner. The Gamelia, adopted from a surname of The Gamelia. - JunO) was a private festival observed at three pe- riods of one's life. The first was in commemoration of a birth- day; the second was the celebration of a marriage; and the third was an anniversary of the death of a person. The second gene- rally took place about the first of January, wherefore marriages on that day were considered as good omens. - The Hccatesia was a yearly festival observed The Hecatesia. . ..... by the Stratomcensians in honour of Hecate. The Athenians paid also particular worship to this Goddess, who was deemed the patroness of families and of children. From this circumstance the statues of the Goddess were erected before the doors of the houses, and upon every new moon a public supper was always provided at the expense of the richest people, and set in the streets, where the poorest of the citizens were permitted to feast upon it, while they reported that Hecate had devoured it. 'HAl'. III. -il'KHsTJTION.S OF IDOLATRY. 319 SEC. VI. OF FESTIVALS. There were also expiatory offerings to supplicate the Goddess to remove whatever evils might impend on the head of the pub- lic, 8cc. r The Hecatomboia or Her&a were Festivals at Hecatomboia. - Argos in honour of Juno, who was the patroness of that city. They were also celebrated by colonies of the Arrives which had been planted at Samos and ^Egina. There were always two processions to the temple of the Goddess without the city walls. The first was of the men in armour; the second of the wo- men, among whom the priestess, a woman of the first quality, was drawn in a chariot by white oxen. The Argives always reckoned their years from her priesthood, as the Athenians did from their archons, or as the Romans did from their consuls. When they came to the temple of the Goddess they offered a hecatomb of oxen, There was a Festival of the same name in Elis, celebrated every fifth year, in which sixteen matrons wove a garment for the God- dess. -There were also others instituted by Hippqdromia, who had received assistance from Juno when she married Pelops. Sixteen matrons, each attended by a maid, presided at the celebration. The contenders were young virgins, who being divided in classes, ac- cording to their age", ran races each in their order, beginning with the youngest. The habit of all was alike, their hair was dishevel- led, and their right shoulder bare to the breast, with coats reach- ing no lower than the knee. She who obtained the victory was rewarded with a crown of olive, and obtained a part of the ox that was offered in sacrifice, and was permitted to dedicate her picture to the Goddess. There was also a solemn day of mourning at Corinth, which bore the same name, in commemoration of Me- dea's children, who were buried in Juno's temple. They had been slain by the Corinthian*; who, as it is reported, to avert the scandal which accompanied so barbarous a murder, presented EURIPIDES with a large sum of money to write a play, in which Medea, herself, is represented as the murderer of her children, 320 SUPERSTITIONS OP IDOLATRY. CHAP. III. OF FESTIVALS. 1 ' ' " The Hecatomfihonia was a solemn sacrifice of- Hecatomphonia. fered by the Messenians to Ju/riter, when any of them had killed an hundred of the enemy. . The Helenia was a festival in Laconia, in hon- ' our of Helen, who received there divine honours. It was celebrated by virgins riding upon mules, and in chariots made of reeds and bulrushes. ============: The Hefihxstia was a festival in honour of The Hephaestia. Vulcan at Athens. There was then a race with torches between three young men. Each in his turn ran a race with a lighted torch in his hand, and whoever could carry it to the end of the course before it was extinguished, obtained the prize. They delivered it one to the other after they finished their course, and from that circumstance we see many allusions in an- cient authors, who compare the vicissitudes of human affairs to this delivering of the torch. The Heracleia was a festival at Athens, cele- brated every fifth year in honour of Hercules.- The Thisbians and Thebans in Boeotia, observed a festival of the same name, in which they offered apples to the God. This cus- tom of offering apples arose from this: it was always usual to of- fer sheep, but the overflowing of the river Asopus prevented the votaries of the God from observing it with the ancient ceremony; and as the same word signified both an apple and a sheep, some youths acquainted with the ambiguity of the term, offered apples to the God, with much sport and festivity. Hercules was delight- ed with the ingenuity of the youths, and the festival was ever continued with the offering of apples. - The Herm&a was a festival in Crete, whereof The Hermaea. -- the principal ceremony consisted in masters waiting upon their servants. It was also observed at Athens and Babylon. CHAP. III. SUPERSTITIONS OP IDOLATRY. 321 OF FESTIVALS. r - The Hortea The four Seasons of the year . had also their festivals, which were termed Ho- r' had bo rr wed from them, i ~sa they instituted several others unknown to the rest of the world. We will first mention those they had adopted from the Greeks. |T " "' 1st, As the Greeks celebrated the Chronia in First, those that . r ,, .. . , were common to nonour of Saturn, so did the Romans celebrate toth - the same ceremonies under the name of Saturn- " alia. They were instituted long before the foun- dation of Rome, in commemoration of the freedom and equality which prevailed on earth in the golden reign of Saturn. The Sa- turnalia were originally celebrated only for one day, but afterwards the solemnity continued for three, four, five and at last for seven days. The celebration was remarkable for the liberty which uni- versally prevailed. The slaves were permitted to ridicule their masters, and to speak with freedom upon every subject. It was usual for friends to make presents to one another, all animosity ceased, no criminals were executed, schools were shut, hostilities were suspended, while all was mirth, riot, and debauchery. In the sacrifices the priests made their offerings with their heads unco- vered, a custom which was never observed at any other festival. 2d, The festival named Jovialia was the same with what the Greeks called Diasia, and was celebrated in honour of Jupiter. 3d, The festival Junonia> instituted by the Romans, in honour of CHAP. III. SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. 32T SEC. VI. OF FESTIVALS. was known to the Greeks by the name of Herxa, with the same ceremonies; for which see Hecatomboia. 4th, The Megale* sia, common to both of these idolatrous nations, was instituted in honour of Cydele, or of the great mother. The Romans who cele- brated this solemnity on mount Palatine, near the temple of that Goddess, added to it two days called Megalesian days. 5th, The Cerealia and Ambervalia of the Romans corresponded to the De- metria and T/iesmofthoria of the Greeks, all of them festivals of Ceres. 6th, The Mercurialia of the Romans, in honour of Mer- cury, were the same with the Hermaa, of the Greeks. 7th, The Grecian Athensea, or Pauathenxa in honour of Miner-va^ were adopted by the Romans under the name of Mangetia.-^Sth, Both of these nations had the Orgies, the Trieteria^ the Nycteleia, and the Bacchanalia^ all festivals of Bacchus. But because in these last the Romans made some alterations, it is proper to take notice of them. At first they celebrated their Bacchanalia only three times a year; afterwards they solemnized them every month. I shall give, from LIVY, a declaration thereupon, given by Hispala Fecenia a freed-woman, to the consul Porthumius. " In earlier times, says she to him, the Bacchanalia were celebrated by none but women, no man being allowed to join them. Three days in the year were chosen for initiating into these mysteries, and the ceremonial was performed by day. The priestesses who were to preside there were left to the choice of the matrons. A total in- novation was made by Paculla Minia: she initiated her two sons; caused the ceremony to be performed in the night; and instead of three days, she instituted five in each month. This promiscuous meeting of men and women introduced horrid irregularities; whereof if any of the company shewed a detestation, they offered him up as a victim acceptable to their God, or took care to be rid of him by some piece of machinery, and then gave out that he was carried up to heaven. During this festival, the men, counter- feiting madness, and exhibiting various contortions of their bodies, 328 SUPERSTITIONS OP IDOLATRY. CHAP. Ill- OF FESTIVALS. SEC. VI. began to prophesy; while the women, in their Bacchanal dress, and all disshevelled, ran towards the Tiber, with burning torches in their hands, which they plunge into the river, where they remain unextinguished, as being made of sulphur and lime." The senate, to rectify this disorder, passed a decree, suppressing the celebra- tion of these infamous mysteries in Rome, and through all Italy; but the Liberalid) another festival of Bacchus^ surnamed Liber Pa- ter, which they solemnized on the 17th of March, were still con- tinued, as not being quite so licentious. Here they offered up a liquor composed of honey, which they threw into the fire. 9th, The Sufiercalia were equally celebrated in Greece, and at Rome, in honour of Pan; whose ceremony, as we are told by LIVY,PLU- TAKCH, and JUSTIN, was brought by Evander from Arcadia into Italy. The youth, during this festival, run about quite naked, with whips in their hands, lashing all who came in their way without distinction. The women, even those of quality, believing there was a virtue in those whips to make them fruitful, or to bring them to a happy deliverance in case they were pregnant, offered themselves to receive them. VALERIUS MAXIMUS will have it, that this festival was only introduced in the time of Romulus, at the persuasion of the shepherd Faustulus. At the first celebra- tion, they offered up goats to the God Pan. The shepherds who were invited to it, being heated with drink at the feast, divided into two bands, and ran about in a frolicksome way, clad in the skins of the victims they had now offered. To render this festi- val more solemn, the Romans founded two colleges of Lufierci, named the Fabii and Quinu'lii; afterwards they created a third in honour of Caesar, even in his life-time. We will now proceed to mention in alphabet- cal rder ' SUch festivals as were f Roman in ' their motives. stitution; remarking by the way, that they al- ways had a more rational motive for their fes- tivals, than had, for the most part, the earlier institutors of CHAP. III. SUPERSTITIONS OP IDOLATRY. '329 SEC. VI. OF FESTIVALS. those superstitious ceremonies. By them they supplicated the Gods, either for a plentiful harvest, or some other blessing. By them they appeased those whom they thought they had injured, or sought to turn away the calamities they were threatened with, as we may judge from the history of those we shall mention. Oftentimes it was to keep up the remembrance of a benefit re- ceived; and such was the festival named the Luceria^ a word de- rived from Lucus, a sacred grove. This solemnity was celebrated in one of those groves which was between the Via Salaria and the Tiber, in commemoration of the deliverance of the Romans, who were saved from the Guuls by flying into that retreat. Or else it was to keep up the memory of some disaster; such was the festival of the Pofiulifugia, to commemorate the day when the people, and even Romulus's guards fled, upon the news of the confederacy of the Fidenates and the other Latins, against the Romans. Sometimes they were merely to promote mutual joy; of this kind was the festival of Maium As the noblest of all these matches was the The Gladiators. . Race, especially when it was performed on horseback, or in chariots; so the most despicable was that of the Gladiators, who fenced for life and death. Their common weap- ons were two swords, wherewith they sometimes attacked and defended equally with both hands, and then they were called Di~ j44 SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. 111. OF GAMES. ii from an old Latin word, which signifies a double sword. Nothing can parallel the rage with which these combatants fought; but the fury which actuated the Greeks and Romans in seeing them batter one another in blood and wounds, and often kill their antagonists in the middle of the amphitheatre. In vain did the emperors make several edicts to stop this fury; they were illy obeyed, and hardly was this combat abolished till after the es- tablishment of Christianity; nor even then was it laid aside at the same lime, and in all places where it had been practised. . For each celebration of Games, judges were ces T or Judges^ chosen to decide the victor y> and lhese J ud S es the Games. were named Hellanodices. They had a place set apart for them, where they might view and judge best of the advantage which one combatant had over the other, and from their decision there lay no appeal. The number of these judges, especially at Olymfiia, was not always the same: Ijihitus t the restorer of the Games that were celebrated there, would needs be the sole judge of them; and Oxilus^ as well as his suc- cessors, retained the same privilege. In later times, the number of these judges increased to twelve, and there were several changes in this matter, as may be seen in PAUSAXIAS. LUCIAN fell upon a very ingenious contriv- ance ? to expose the fury and infatuation of most of these combats by introducing the Scythian thus discoursing of them to Solon: " What would these young people be at by putting themselves into a rage; by tripping up one another's heels; and tumbling together in the dirt like so many swine; striung to stifle and stop one another's breath? They anoint their bodies, and shave one another, at first, in a peaceable enough manner; but all of a sudden sinking their heads, they run against one another like rams; then the one lift- ing up his companion, lets him fall to the ground with a violent stroke, and throwing himself upon him, hinders him from rising, CHAP. III. SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. 345 SEC. VII. OF GAMES. pressing his throat with his elbow, and squeezing him to the earth with his knees, insomi.ch that I am in terror lest he stifle him, though the other taps him on the shoulder, praying to be released, as acknowledging himself vanquished. How absurd is it that they should first anoint themselves with oil, and then roll in the dirt! For my part, I cannot help smiling to see them mock the grasp of their companion^ and glide away like eels from the hand that holds them: Some of them, nevertheless, roll them- selves in the sand like pullets, before they engage, that the hands of their antagonists may get the better hold, and not slip with the oil and sweat. Others, in like manner, overspread with dust, be- labour one another with blows of fret and fata, without striving, like the first, to overthrow one another; one spits out his teeth with the sand, from a blow he has received in the jaws, while that man clad in purple, who presides at these exercises, gives himself no trouble to part" them. Some make the dust fly about them as they jump and spring in the air, like those who dispute the prize in the race, &c." " The combats and other exercises that were Some exercises required more, exhibited in these Games were very different; lessVound"' re l sonie ref l viilin g more, and some less ground. There were places built on purpose for the cel- ebration of them, whose spaciousness and convenience answer- ed to their magnificence, and to the ornaments that were laid out upon them; and these places, though destined for the same ex- ercises, had not every where the same form, nor did they bear the same name. 1 In the earlier ages, when simplicity reigned, in the earlier ages . _ they were per- !t appears, that for the Games, at least for those formed in the t ^ at were ce ] e brated but once, they contented open fields; =^=== themselves with choosing, in the open fields, a commodious place for the exercises that were to be there per- formed. Thus Achilles did, for the celebration of Fatroclus's fu- 346 SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. III. OF GAMES. neral Games: and JEneas for the anniversary of his father; for which no other preparations were made, but to measure the space of ground that was to be taken up, make it clean, and place boun- daries to it. Adrastus and the other chiefs who instituted the Ne- mean Games, made no other provision for them, though they de- signed to have them represented at stated times. ====== But afterwards proper places were prepared, but afterwards, in .... . . ,. appropriate pla- especially in great cities, tor celebrating them ces, wherein con- w ; tn a jj possible magnificence, and these places venient struc- tures were raised. bore different names. At Pisa, the place allotted " for the Olympic Games was called the Stadium: at Rome it was the Circus, and at Constantinople the Hififiodro- mos. As the races, whether on foot or horseback, or in chariots, required a considerable space of ground, these places were am- ply spacious and of greater length than breadth, such as they ought to have been for the races there performed. For the Sce- nic Games they had public theatres; and for the fencing matches and the gladiators, whether against one another, or against wild beasts, there were structures raised on purpose, that were called Areas, Colisees, Sec. And in both the one and the other, care was taken to provide a vast number of lodges, and other places, to which they got up by little stairs contrived in the thickness of the walls. These places were allotted for persons of different stations. The concourse of people that frequented them was very great, for the Greeks and Romans loved those kinds of shows; the last especially admired those of the gladiators, with a fury not easy to be expressed. In those edifices wherein animals were combatted, there were cells contrived below wherein the animals were shut up, and which opened by means of a sliding door which drew up when they were to be lei out upon the Amphitheatre, where those who were to fight with them stood ready to receive them. Great pains were taken to proucle the fiercest and at the same time the rarest animals, and sometimes they were brought CHAP. III. SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. 347 SEC. VII. OF GAMES. from the extremity of Africa, at extraordinary expense. As sea- fights were sometimes exhibited in some of those places, water was conveyed into them in so great plenty, and the space that contained it was so large, that several gallies plied there with ease; and a real naval engagement was represented there with all possible exactness. Antiquaries have taken great care to give us drafts of those edifices: Onuphrius Panvinus especially has preserved to us those of rhe Circus of Rome, of the Hififiodrome, and several others. There are even some of them still remaining in that city, and some others, which time has not destroyed; such as the Amfihitheatres of Nismes, those of Orange, and several others; but nothing gives a higher idea of the magnificence of those monuments, than the remains of the Colisee that is still to be seen at Rome, and which has something in it that strikes with astonishment, though one of the popes of the past age destroyed a great part of it in order to build a stately palace. ====== HYGINUS names fifteen founders of Games, ers of the games" unt ^ -^neas, who was the fifteenth; but the ===== names of the four first are not now to be found, neither in the manuscripts of that author, nor in the printed co- pies; while neither KUNIUS nor his other commentators have given themselves the trouble- to fill up this blank. This chapter of HYGINUS begins therefore with thejifth founder of Games, as follows: 5th, Danaus, says he, the son of Belus, instituted Games at Argos in honour of the marriage of his fifteen daughters; and as efiithalamiums were sung there, (for those Games consisted of no other trials of skill but those of music,} they got the name of Hymenean Games 6th, Lyndus his son-in-law, one of the sons of Egyptus, whom our author makes the sixth, founded one of them in the same city,* in honour of Juno Argian. The conque- rors in those Games, instead of a crown, received a buckler, be- cause Lynceus having escaped the general massacre of the other sons of Egyptus, took from the temple of that Goddess the buck- 348 SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. III. OF GAMES. SEC. VII. ler which JDanaus had consecrated there, to give it to his son Aba8) who had it after the death of his grand father. These Games were renewed at stated times. 7th, The seventh found- er, according to the same author, was Perseus, who solemnized them at the funerals of Polydectcs, who had taken care of his education; and Perseus, combating there himself, had the misfor- tune to slay his grandfather Acrisius, with the blow of a coit. 8th, The eighth was Hercules, who instituted the Gymnic Games at Olympia, in honour of Pelofis, the son of Tantalus; and this hero won the prize there of the Pancratia, that is according to ARISTOTLE, of the boxing and wrestling matches, or to speak more accurately, of the single wrestling, and the compound wrest- ling. 9th, The seven chieftains who led the army to Thebes, instituted the JVemean Games, in honour of Archemorus, the son of Lycurgus and Eurydice, and they are reckoned by HYGINUS the ninth founder 10th, Eratocles, or rather Theseus, who in- stituted Games in the Isthmus of Corinth, in honour of Melicerta the son of Athamas and Ino, which got the name of Isthmic: the two last were renewed also at stated times. 1 1th, The Argonauts^ whom the same author reckons the eleventh, celebra'ted funeral Games, in honour of Cyzicus, whom Jason had slain by accident: jumping, wrestling, and throwing the javelin, were the three combats there exhibited 12ih, Acastus the son of Pelias, after the return of the Argonauts, appointed the celebration of fune- rals in honour of his father, where most of those heroes disputed the prize. Zethus the son of Aquilo, was conqueror there, as also Calais his brother, in the diaulus or double course; Castor in that of the stadium, and Pollux his brother in the gauntlet fight; 7>/a- mon in that of the coit; Pelius in the wrestling match; Hercules in all the combats; M.-leager in that of the javelin; Cygnus the son of Mars slew therein the son of Diodotus in a desperate fight; Bellerofihon was victorious in the horse-race; lolaus the son of Tphiclus, in the chariot-race, where he outstripped Glau- CHAP. Ill SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. 349 OF GAMES. cus the son of Sisyphus, whose horse became unmanageable. JEurithus the son of Mercury, gained the victory in shooting the bow; Cephalus in singing; Olympus, the disciple of Marsyas, in blowing the trumpet; Orpheus the son of Oeagrus, gained the prize of the harp; Linus, the son of Apollo, that of singing; Eu* molpus that of the -voice in concert with the trumpet. These Games as we may easily see, were very solemn, and almost all sorts of trials of skill were exhibited therein, which were frequently but partial in most of the other Games. 13ih, Priam is the thir- teenth, who after having exposed his son Paris, appointed Games to be celebrated several years after, near a cenotaph which he had raised in honour of him, wherein contended JVeleua the son of Nereus; Helenus, Deiphobus, and Polytesus, three sons of Pri- am; Telephus, the son of Hercules; Cygnns, Sarpedon, and Pa- ris himself, who having vanquished his brothers, was acknow- ledged by his father. 14th, Achilles is the fourteenth in this list, who celebrated funeral Games, in honour of Patroclus, which were so elegantly described in the twenty-fourth book of the Iliad. 15th, In fine, JEneas\'s> the last, who celebrated games at the court of Acestes his host, in honour of Anchises his father, dead a year before, for which I refer to the fifth book of the JEneid. As HVGIXUS makes no mention of the Pythian Games, celebrated in honour of Apollo, nor of some others of much the same antiquity, I make no doubt but that their institutors were those whom he had mentioned in the part of that chapter which is lost. Having given a general idea of those Games, and of the exercises that were therein performed, I shall be some- what more particular upon the chief of them; those especially that were instituted by the Greeks. I begin with the Olympic Games, as the most celebrated, and perhaps the most ancient of Greece: not that the time of their institution is precisely known, there being a diversity of opinions as to this point among the ancients. 2 X SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. Ill, OF GAMES. SEC. VII. GRECIAN GAMBS. \t, The Olympic Games. PAUSANIAS, who seems to have been at parti- cular pains to get information in his travels through Greece, of whatever related to this so- lemnity, says, " as for the Games of Greece, this is what I have learned concerning them from some Eleans, who appeared tome profoundly skilled in the study of antiquity. According to them, Saturn is the first who reigned in heaven, and in the golden age he had a temple at Olympia. Jupiter being born, Kfiea, his mo- ther, committed the education of him to the Dactyli, or Curetes of mount Ida. These Dactyli came afterwards from Crete to Elis, for this mount Ida is in Crete. They were five brothers, name- ly, Hercules, Peoneus, Epimedes, Jasius, and Ida. Hercules, as be- ing the eldest, proposed to his brothers a running match, where 1 - of the prize was to be a crown of olive; for the olive was so com- mon, that they took the leaves of it to strew the ground, and to sleep upon; and Hercules was the first who brought that tree into Greece, from among the Hyperboreans. It was therefore Hercu- lc of mount Ida, who had the honour of inventing these Games, and gave them the name of Olympian; and because he was one of five brothers, he would have these Games celebrated every f.f'h year. Some say that Jupiter and Saturn fought a wrestling mutch in Olympia, and that the empire of the world was the prize of the victor: others allege, that Jupiter having triumphed over the Titans, instituted these Games himself, wherein Jlpollo, among others, signalized his address, and won the prize of the race from Mercury, and that of boxing from Mars." We must not imagine that these Games, from their first institution, were celebrated continu- final establish- ec ]j y: t | iey vvere o f tcn interrupted, for several merit. considerable intervals, and renewed again, till at CHAP. m. SUPERSTITIONS OP IDOLATRY. 551 SEC. VII. OF GAMES. last they assumed a fixed and durable form; their celebration re- turning regularly every four years, that is, in the first month of the jfifth year. The author now cited will instruct us in these in- terruptions and re-establishments. During one of these interrup- tions Greece groaned under the oppression of intestine wars, and was at the same time laid waste by pestilence. Iphitus weru to Delphos, to consult the oracle about these pressing calamites, and the response given him by the Pythia, was that the renewal of the Olympic Games would be the safety of Greece; that he and his Cleans should therefore set about it. I/ikitus foithv.vh ordered a sacrifice to Hercules to appease that God, and then cel- ebrated the Games. These Games were again interrupted for the space of 86 years; they then were resumed, and it was at this first Olympiad that Corf bus gained the prize of the race. This victory is the more remarkable in antiquity, as it was by this same celebration the reckoning by Olympiads began, which were no longer interrupted afterwards; which event happened 1776 years before JESUS CHRIST; a famous aera among the Greeks, though to speak accurately, they never used Olympiads for computing time, till about 50 years before Alexander the- Great. But com- mencing with the Olympiad of Corxbusj these Games served for an important aera to all Greece, in contradistinction to all other Games, which were afterwards used for computing time in coun- tries where they were celebrated, as was the Olympiad through- out Greece: thus the inhabitants of Delphos, and the Boeotians, employed in their chronology the Pythian Games; those of the Isthmus and the Corinthians computed their years by the celebra- tions of the Isthmic Games; and the Argives and the Arcadians, for this purpose, made use of the JVewean Games; for I find none but these four Games^ whose celebration served the Greeks in computing time. 352 SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. III. OF GAMES. The Olympic Games, which were celebrated place of their eel- a but the summer-solstice, lasted five days; for ebration. a single day would not have sufficed for all the trials of skill that were exhibited there. As they were consecrated to Jupiter, and made part of the religious cere- monies of Paganism, the first day was destined for the sacrifices, the second for the Pentathlum and the foot-race, the third for the combat of the Pancrace, and the simple wrestling match; the other two days, for the horse and chariot races. The place where these Games were exhibited was called the Stadium; it was a space of six hundred paces, inclosed with walls, near the city Elis and the river dlfiheus, and was adorned with proper em- bellishments. But being necessitated to take up with ground which was uneven, the Stadium was very irregular. The Stadium consisted of two parts: the first The parts of the Stadium,- whose figure pretty much resembles the prow the race* 6 ^ f a ship ' WaS Called the Barricr: there ' were ====== the stables and coach-houses where the horses and chariots were kept, and where they were matched. The se- cond was called the Lists, and it was within the space of ground it contained that the races were performed, whether on horse- back or in chariots. At the extremity of the Lists was the goal, round which they were to turn; and as he who approached it the nearest, formed a shorter circle, he was sure, all things else be- ing equal, to come in sooner to the place he sat out. It was in this chiefly consisted the address of those who guided the cha- riots, and wherein at the same time they ran the greatest hazard. For besides the danger there was of encountering with another chariot; if they happened to touch the goal, the axle-tree broke into many pieces, or received at least some fatal blow, of which they could not recover. Beyond this goal was another occasion of danger, I mean the figure of the Genius Taraxififius, which CHAP. HI. SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. SEC. VII. OF GAMES. was framed after such a fashion as to fiighten the horses. We cannot determine whether it was placed there of purpose to aug- ment the danger of the race, or if out of respect to that Genius, it had been left to stand there, as it had done before the construc- tion of the Stadium; but still this is certain, that it was a place of very great danger. On both sides of the Lists, through their whole length, were the places for the spectators. The principal ones were for the Judg< s and persons of distinction; the popu- lace, who flocked thither in crowds, planted themselves wherever they could; for nothing equalled the curiosity they had for these exercises. I shall add, that from the Barrier the chariots en- tered the Lists; and that these two places were separated by a rope, which was let down by a kind of mechanism, as the signal that gave notice to enter the Lists. As the athletes or wrestlers fought naked in those games, at least ever since the accident I have mentioned, matrons and maids were prohibited, under pain of death, to be present there, and even to pass the Alpheus dur- ing the whole time of their celebration; and this prohibition, as the inhabitants of the country told PAUSANIAS, was so punctually- observed, that there never was an instance of any but one wo- man's violating that law. This woman whom some call Callifia- tria, and others Phi-venia, Leing a widow, dressed herself after the fashion of the masters of the exercises, and conducted her own son Pisidorus to Olympia. The young man having been de- clared conqueror, the mother was so transported with joy, that she threw aside her man's habit, and jumped over the Barrier where she had been placed with the other masters, and discover- ed her sex. However, she was pardoned for this infringement of the law, out of regard to her father, her brothers, and son, who had all been crowned.at the same games; but from that time the masters of the exercises were forbid to appear otherwise than naked at these shows. The punishment imposed by the law, was 5J4 SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. III. OF GAMES. SEC. VII. to throw the women who durst infringe it, headlong from a very steep rock which was called mount Tijfihxa, on the other side of the Alplvus. =-' ' The men were also prohibited, under pain of The combatants prohibited the a considerable fine, to use the least fraud towards punishment?"" 1 * S ainin the victory; but neither laws nor penal- 1 ties are always a curb sufficient to confine ambi- tion within due bounds. There were tricks committed; and the severe punishments inflicted upon them did not deter others from falling now and then into the same faults. There were, says PAU- SANIAS, in the way from the temple of the mother of the Gods to the Stadium* six statues of Jupiter, all of bronze, which had been made of the produce of the fines to which wrestlers had been condemned, who had used fraud to win the prize, as was signified by the inscriptions in elegiac verse that were inserted there. The verses inscribed upon the first, proclaim that the prize of the Olympic Games was gained, not by money, but by swiftness of foot, and strength of body. Those of the second stated, that this statue had been erected by Jupiter to inspire the combatants with dread of the vengeance of that God, if they durst violate the laws prescribed to them; and it was much the same as to the rest. Eumolpus the Thessalian is thought to be the first "who bribed with money those who offered themselves with him to the gauntlet fight; he was punished for having given this money, and those to whom he had given it, for having re- ceived it. Though nothing was more infamous than this fine, and the monuments which I have mentioned, yet there was an Athe- nian named Calli/ius, who bought the prize of the Pentathlum. He was condemned to the fine; and Hiperides, the deputy for Athens, having solicited his pardon, and not being able to obtain it, the Athenians forbid the offender to pay the fine; but the Eli- ans, firm to the maintenance of their laws, excluded them from CHAP. III. SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. SEC. VII. OF GAMES. the Games; and this interdiction lasted till upon their consulting the oracle of Delphos, the priestess declared she had no answer to give them till they had made satisfaction to the Eleans. Upon this the Athenians submitted to the fine, whereof the produce was employed in consecrating to Jupiter six other statues, with inscriptions containing their history. ======= The prodigious concourse of people which The concourse . . . ,. , _ , to see these " ie celebration ot those viames drew to Olym- Ganes enriched ^ a enriched that city and all Elis: accordingly the city & state. ' " nothing in all Greece was comparable to the temple and statue of Olympian Jupiter. About this ten. pie was a sacred grove, named Altis, wherein besides the chapels, altars, and other monuments consecrated to the Gods, and whereof we have a very full description in the author I have so often quoted, were statues, all by the hand of the most celebrated sculptors, erected in honour of those who had won the prizes in these Games; a valuable reward, which added to the laurel crown wherewith they had their heads incircled in presence of all the grandees and persons of distinction in Greece, and the honour done them by the cities in receiving them, were very capable to support that ardour for victory which animated the combatants. . -' We may remark, before we close this article, The descend- r TT , ants of Helen, t na * the descendants ot rit-len having formed a only, to dispute prO( iiious number of families in Greece, be- the prizes. ====== came so powerful, and gained therein so much interest, that they made a law be passed, ordaining that none but those who derived their origin from those families should be capable of being admitted to dispute the prizes at the Olympic Games; and HERODOTUS informs us to this purpose, that Alex- ander the Great himself was obliged to prove his being one of the Hellenes') before he was received to enter the lists in those Games. But the consequences of this was that all the Greeks made it out tV 1 ?* thev 'veve sprung from some one of those families; so nu- 356 SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. III. OF GAMES. SEC VII. merous and diffused had they been in all the country; and from that time the nan e of Hellenes, peculiar to a particular people, became the general name of all the Greeks. I have insisted at some length upon the celebration of these Games; but as they were at the same time, as has been said, the most ancient and most solemn of Greece; and as much the same laws and regula- tions were observed in the rest; much the same exercises; crowns for reward; and as the judges, and combatants who celebrated them, were bound by oath to submit 10 certain laws I though-lit was necessary to give a full account of them; which shall answer in a great measure for the rest. 2c?, The Pythic Games. It is certain that the overthrow of the serpent The origin of these Games. Python gave rise to the institution of the Pythic " Games; but it is uncertain at what time they were instituted or who was their founder; for when PAUSANIAS gives the honour thereof to Diomedes, who upon his return from Troy built a Temple in honour of sfpollo jK/iibatertut, 1 am per- suaded he is mistaken, since their institution was a long while before the time when that heio lived. What may be said with more probability upon this subject is, that he established in the place where he erected the temple just mentioned, the same Games that had been celebrated long before at Dtljihos. ========== At first these Games consisted only in sing- The earlier ex- . ercises and dis- ing and music matches, as the same PAUSANIAS Game? "* theSC obs>erves > and consequently it would seem that they had been instituted only for celebrating the praises of the God who had delivered the earth from a monster that threatened it with desolation. The other exercises were not admitted there till afterwards. It is sufficiently plain in fact that the thing was so, from those who. disputed there the first prizes, since in the first representation Chnjsolhemis of Crete gained the victory, and next Thamyris the son of Philauimon. What is sin- CHAP. III. SUPERSTITIONS OP IDOLATRY. 357 SEC. VII. OF GAMES. gular in this, considering the veneration that was generally enter- tained for all those Games which religion had consecrated, and which were especially dedicated to some Divinity, is, that neither Orfiheus, who was distinguished by his deep wisdom and pro- found knowledge of the mysteries, nor Musteus, would ever con- descend to dispute the prizes of the Pythic Games. One Eleu- therus was crowned there, merely upon account of his fine voice, for the hymn he sung was not his own. We are told that Hesiod was not admitted to dispute there for the prize, because he could not sing in concert with the lyre. As for Homer, we read that he went to Delphos; but that being blind, he had made but little use of his talent of singing and playing upon the lyre in concert. The painters too were admitted there to dispute the prize, and Tima- gorus was preferred to Peneus the brother of Phidias. Other exercises * n ^ ater ^ mes cnan g es were introduced into afterwards intro- these Games. In the third year of the forty-eighth cluced. ======= ^ =; ^^ Olympiad, the Amfihictyons, leaving the prize of music and poetry 'still to subsist, added two others to them, the first for those who sung in concert with the flute, the other for those who played upon the flute alone: at length the same com- bats and exercises were admitted at those Games as at the Olym- pic. The race in chariots drawn by four horses, after having been a long time excluded, was introduced thither in the time of Ores- tes, Even children were by an express law admitted at the races both of the single and double Stadium. Immediately after, that is, in the Pythiad next after that wherein children were permitted to run, the prize was abolished, and it was regulated that the con- querors there should only have crowns, as in the other Games of Greece. By this it appears that there was anciently a prize in money, or clothes, 8cc., as at the funeral games of Patroclus^ but wherein it precisely consisted is more than we can determine. From these Games they retrenched afterwards the singing, along 2 Y Sa8 SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. III. OF GAMES. SEC. VII. with the flute, because there was something mournful in them which suited only with elegies; but chariot races with four horses \vere admitted in their stead; and Clisthenes^ the same who after- wards became the tyrant of Sicyon, was crowned at the first of those races. To these and some other exercises which PAUSANIAS men- tions, the Pancrace was added at the last, in the 61st Pyttitad, wherein Laidus of Thebes gained the victory. The laurel crown was at first the sole reward of the conquerors, and the branches of this tree were preferred to those of others, from a prevailing opinion that jljiollo had been in love with Dafihne. Afterwards a reward was given in money, even in the places where the use of ciowns prevailed. . , ' To conclude, we may observe that, anciently, The period for celebrating these these Games were celebrated only every eighth ' a 7/car, but afterwards once in four years; and they Served for an ara to the inhabitants of Del/i/ios, and the neigh- bourhood. The time of their celebration, according to DIODORUS SICULUS, PAUSANIAS, and PLUTARCH, regularly coincided with the third year of each Olympiad. This change was introduced by the Amjihictyons, for which I refer to PETAVIUS, SCALIGER, and especially to the Cycles of the ingenious DODWEL. The Romans were induced by some verses of Their adoption _, . , by the Romans. MARTIUS, to adopt these Games in the year of their city 642, and gave them the name of Jjwl- lontares. If you would overcome the enemy, said the prediction of that soothsayer, institute Games in honour of Apollo. At first the pretor presided in the representation of these Games, then 'Quindecimvirs were appointed to take care of them 3 and to ex- hibit them after the manner of the Greeks. CHAP. III. SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. 359 SEC. VII. OF GAMES. 3d, The Nemean Games. " ' The Nemean Games were instituted by ./ft/- The origin, and , . the period of ce- raatua and the other chiefs who accompanied Garnet ****** him ? fter the Sad adventure that befel the y oun g " Archemorus, or, as others call him, Ojiheltes the son of Lycurgus, whom Hyfiaifihile, the daughter of Thoas, nursed. However, this tradition concerning the institution of those Games, though well vouched by antiquity, was not the only one that pass- ed current in Greece; there was another that attributed it to Her- cules, who founded them after having rid the forest of Nemeo. and the neighbourhood, of that Lion so celebrated in fable, whereof he always wore the skin. This is the opinion of TERTULLIAN who had got it, no doubt, from the Greek authors. Farther, these Games, though renewed at stated times, that is, either every third year according to some authors, or every fifth year, were much of the nature of funeral Games. This is the account given of them by STATIUS and ARTEMIDORUS: " the crown that is given at Nemea, says the latter, is one of those that are destined to funeral combats." - In these Games the same exercises were per- The exercises of these Games formed as in the others, even those of vocal and asTlhe foraie^ 16 instrumental music. We have an express pas- '' sage to this point, PAUSANIAS, when it is said that " Philofiemen joining in the Nemean Games, where the play- ers on the harp disputed the prize of Music, Plyades of Megalo- polis, one of the most skilled in that art, and who had already won the prize at the Pythic Games, began to sing a song of Timotheus of Miletus, intitled the Gates, which began with these words: Hero, to whom the Greeks owe their hafifiy liberty! pre- sently all turned their eyes upon Philofiemen, and with one voice cried out, that nothing could be more applicable to that great man." 360 SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. HI. OF GAMES. SEC. VII. The reward of the conquerors in the Nemean The reward of th& conquerors Games, was a crown of green fiar&ly, in memory ' . , of the adventure of the young Archemorus, whom his nurse had iaid down upon some sprigs of that plant, when she left him, to guide the leaders of the Argive army; and their celebration served for an ara to the Argives, and the inhabitants of that part of Arcadia, which lay next to the forest of Nemca. 4th, The Isthmic Games. ' Athamas king of the Orchomeniansj a peo- these^Games" P^ e ^ Beotia, having divorced his former wife, r. named Ne/ihele, by whom he had two sons, Phryxua and Helle, and having married Ino by whom he had also two sons, Learchus and Melicerta; the latter persecuted the chil- dren of the former marriage, so far as to make her husband be- lieve, that the Oracle of Delphos demanded the blood of Phryxus, as ihe means of putting a stop to the famine, whereof she herself was the cause; and the too credulous Athamat was upon the point of sacrificing his son to the safety of his subjects; but upon de- tecting his wife's duplicity, he slew her son Learchus, and pur- sued her so eagerly that she was forced to throw herself down Avith Melicerta, whom she held in her arms, from the top of the rock Moluria, into the sea. A dolphin, we arc told, or rather the waves, carried Melicerta upon the Isthmus of Corinth, and the Corinthians, at the persuasion of Sisyphus, the brother of Athamas, gave him a splendid funeral, and instituted to his honour, Games which got the name of Isthmic, from the place where they were celebrated the first time. -;.' These Games, wherein were exhibited the skill, and the re- same trials of skill as in the others, and chiefly ward to the vie- t j-j OSe o f nius i c a nd poetry, having been intcr- i 1 ' " rupted, probably by some wars, were afterwards re-established by Theseus, who consecrated them to JVeptunc, whose son he pretended to be, as to the God who peculiarly pre- CHAP III, ' SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. 361 SEC. VII. OF GAMES. sided over the Isthmus of .Corinth; and they were renewed so re- gularly e\ery Jive 'years, about the middle of the month Htca- tombion, that they were not even discontinued after the city of Corinth had been destroyed and reduced to ashes by Mumniitis the Sicyonians having received orders to celebrate them, notwith- standing the public grief and desolation. When the city was af- terwards rebuilt, the new inhabitants resumed the care of these Games, and continued to exhibit them with great regularity. Some time after, the Romans were admitted to them, and cele- brated them with so much pomp and apparatus, that besides the ordinary exercises, a hunting match was there exhibited; wherein were presented the most rare animals; the city of Corinth neg- lected no means whereby to please the conquerors in these games: and what still increased their fame is, that they served for an xra to the Corinthians and inhabitants of the Isthmus. A crown of pine leaves was the reward of those who gained the vic- tory in those Games. 5th) The Scenic Games. _ We have seen that amongthe Scenic exercises of these Games, are ranked, the trials of the skill of the tragic wCTededicTted ey fioets > and th Se f the musicians or singers and players on instruments, who disputed the prize there, whence the Scenic Games derived their name. Nothing equal- led the excessive fondness the Greeks had for these shows, but the ardour of those who were to exhibit them, in making prepa- rations for them. The Scenic Games were consecrated to Bacchus, Afiollo^ Venus, and Minerva, and never begun till the ordinary sa- crifices had first been offered to the Gods. The autumn, the time of vintage, was the season made choice of especially for the re- presentation of tragedies, because those shows were especially consecrated to Bacchus. The tragic poets, who were willing to dispute the prizes there, were obliged to prepare four pieces, three tragedies, and one satire; this is what was called Tetralogia. 362 SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. ' CHAP. HI. OF GAMES. ' SEC. VII. It was requisite that those pieces which were hardly represented but upon such occasions, though they sometimes happened to be resumed, should have some connexion with one another; but the satire was only a farce, as appears from the Cyclop of EURIPIDES; the only piece of that kind we have now extant. It is easy to judge that those satires were extremely free, and all full of buf- foonery, and consequently merely designed to entertain the peo- ple, and to gain their applause. It is surprising that the first geniuses of the Athenians should have submitted to degrade the buskin to so mean and* ludicrous a piece of comic humour. In those trials of skill, the voice was accompanied with some instru- ment, especially with the harp; but I believe they sometimes dis- puted with the voice alone without any instrument; as they did with instruments without the voice. YiTRUvius^bserves, that one of the Ptolemies consecrated to ^/tollo this sort of trial, pro- bably at the time of i:s admission into Egypt; but from the ear- liest times we can trace, for the origin thereof is not known, the Greeks had dedicated it to the Gods just named. I say from the earliest times, for we learn from PAUSANIAS and'HyoiNUS, that this sort of combat was exhibited in the Games which dcastus instituted in honour of his father Pelias, after the return of the Argonauts. I have already shown that Linus, Thamyris, and some others, had been conquerors there, in that heroic age. 1 At the end of the representations, the votes, The conqueror received the title which were exactly collected during the per- of Poet Laurent. formance} were mim b e red, and he who had the most votes was publicly crowned. The poet on whom this honour was conferred, took the title of Poet Laurent, because the crown he received was of laurel. His reward, frivolous as it may appear to mercenary souls, was the boundary of those great men's ambi- tion, and procured them the most flattering distinctions. As to what remains of it, the practice of crowning poets has lasted a long time^ especially in Italy. The poets and musicians showed a CHAP. III. SUPERSTITIO:N 7 S OF IDOLATRY. 563 SEC. VII. OF GAMES. great zeal for these Games, and frequently came from a very great distance, to the places where they were celebrated; so much were they charmed at that time with the glory of victory. This sort of trial, in short, must have been very amusing to those who were witnesses of it. ' As to these Games wherein were proposed The scenic ex- ercises were intro- prizes of poetry and music, the one not going Games^Ss witllout the other ' there were of them amon S those properly the Greeks in the earliest periods of time, and ' those not a few. These trials of skill were admit- ted in the great Games, that is, in the Pythian, Nemean, and Isth- mian; as for the Olympic Games, there is some doubt, at least with respect to the heroic age. For SUETONIUS, from whom we learn that Nero disputed therein the prize of music, adds that this was a thing new and unusual. However it may have been as to these combats in the Olympic Games, it is certain that they were common in the other three I have named, especially in ihePythic Games, whereof they made the first and most considerable part. But it was not only in the great Games of Greece, that those prizes oi ' fioetry and music were proposed; they \\ere admitted in several cities of Greece. ROMAN GAMES.* 1st, The Trojan Games, or Games of the Youth. ===== This Game or exercise, \\hich JEncas insti- The founder of d ^ thg -fur ral Games of his father, was these Games, their patrons; for the youth, who, being di\ ided into two bands, Virgil's account of them. showed therein both their valour and address. These Games having suffered some interrup- * I should never have done were I to speak at any length of all the Roman Games, since there were no considerable cities in the Roman em- pire, but valued themselves upon the celebration <5f some Games or other, either upon the arrival of the magistrates who were to govern them, or 364 SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. III. OF GAMES. SEC. VII. lion, when dscanius afterwards built the only city Alba Loriga, he brought them again into repute, and taught that military di- version to the ancient Latins. The Albans having received it from him, transmitted it down to their posterity. Rome, in ho- nour of the memory of its founders, resumed the use of that an- cient carousal, and represented it in the Circus. Sylla, as we read in PLUTARCH, exhibited this show; but civil wars interrupted the performance thereof until Caesar restored it. From that time, the representations thereof were pretty frequent, since the same au- thor informs us, that Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero, ex- hibited it to the Roman people; but none of the emperors did it either with so much pomp, or so often as Augustus, who gave a representation of it for the first time after the victory at Actium, in the year of Rome 726. This prince chose for the purpose two companies from among the Roman youth, one young, and the other of a more advanced age; being persuaded that this exercise would give the youth of quality an opportunity of forming them- selves, and of showing their address. The body of youths that was prepared for this exercise, was still called, in the time of VIRGIL, the Trojan band. To give a just idea of the order of upon occasion of victories and other advantages gained by the common- wealth. The magistrates also took care to exhibit Games at their own ex- pense, when they entered on their office; and though of all offices, that of the Edileship was the least considerable, it was however during the dis- charge of its functions, that the greatest expense was laid out upon those Games, because the people judged from thence how those who were in- vested with it were likely to behave when they came to be advanced to more considerable ones. Lastly, others were exhibited at the birth of great men, which were called Natalitii, and on a thousand other occa- sions. However, as among these Games some were very noted, as most of those I have discoursed upon hitherto, among the Greeks, it will not be amiss to give a summary account of these, proper to the Romans. CHAP. III. SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. 365 SEC. VII. OF GAMES. these Games, I cannot do better than copy the description of it from VIRGIL. Now call'd the prince, before the Games were done, The hoary guardian of his royal son, And gently whispers in his faithful ear, To bid Ascanitis in his arms appear, And w ; th his youthful band and courser come, To pa due honours at his grandsire's tomb. Next e commands the huge assembled train To quit the ground, and leave an open plain. Strarght on their bridled steeds, with grace divine, The beauteous youths before their fathers shine. The blooming Trojans and Sicilians throng, And gaz'd with wonder as they march'd along. Around their brows a vivid wreath they wore; Two glittering lances tipt with steel they bore: These a light quiver stor'd with shafts sustain, And from their neck depends a golden chain. On sprightly steeds advance three graceful bands, And each a little blooming chief commands. Beneath each chief twelve sprightly springling||came, In shining arms, in looks and age the same. Grac'd with his grandsire's name, Polites' son, Young Priam, leads the first gay squadron on; A youth, whose progeny must Latium grace: He press'd a dappled steed of Thracian race: Before, white spots on either foot appear, And on his forehead blaz'd, a silver star. Atys the next advanced, with looks divine, Atys, the source of the great Attian line: Julus' friendship grac'd the lovely boy: And last Julus came, the pride of Troy, 366 SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. Ill, OF GAMES. SEC. VII. In charms, superior to the blooming train; And spurr'd his Tyrian courser to the plain; Which Dido gave the princely youth, to prove A lasting pledge, memorial of her love. Th' inferior boys on beauteous coursers ride, From great Acestes' royal stalls supply'd. Now fiush'd with hopes, now pale with anxious fear, Before the shouting crowds, the youths appear; The shouting crowds admire their charms, and trace Their parents lines in every lovely face. Now round the ring, before their fathers, ride The boys, in all their military pride, 'Till Periphantes' sounding lash, from far. Gave the loud signal of the mimic war; Straight, in three bands distinct, they break away. Divide in order, and their ranks display: Swift at the summons they return? and throw At once their hostile lances at the foe; Then take a new excursion on the plain; Round within round, an endless course maintain; A^l now advance, and now retreat, again; With well-dissembled rage their rivals dare, And please the crowd with images of war. Alternate now they turn their backs in flight, Now dart their lances, and renew the light; Then in a moment from the combat cease, Rejoin their scatter' d bands, and move in peace. So winds delusive, in a thousand ways Perplex'd and intricate, the Cretan maze; Round within round, the blind Mseanders run, Untrac'd and dark, and end where they begun. The skilful youths, in sport, alternate ply Their shifting course; by turns they fight, and fly: CHAP. m. SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. 367 SEC. VII. OF GAMES. As dolphins gambol on the \vat'ry way, And, bounding o'er the tides, in wanton circles play. 2tf, The Secular Games. === c The Secular Games were so called not from The origin ot these Games, and their being repeated only once in an hundred their periods. . years, as is commonly believed; but this name was not given to certain Games that were renewed but seldom, or that were represented but once during any person's life. Ac- cordingly their original, as it is related at very great length by VALERIUS MAXIMUS, and ZOSIMUS, had no relation to the name which they were known by afterwards. Volusius Valerius, says the former of those two authors, having three Children, two sons and a daughter, who were seized by the plague that wasted the pro- vince where they lived, and finding the remedies applied by phy- sicians ineffectual, having addressed himself to the genius of his Gods Lares, heard a voice enjoining him to carry them to the banks of the Tiber, and to make them drink of the water of the river. He at first scrupled to obey, considering the distance he was from the river; but at last the malady and the danger increas- ing, he determined to set out; and having arrived near the Tyber, at a place named Taurentum, he gave them drink, and they were cured. In gratitude to the Gods for so singular a kindness, he offered sacrifices of black victims to Pluto t Proser/iine, and the other infernal Divinities, for three nights successively. Valerius Publicola, continues the same author, who was made consul when Tarquin was banished, believing the Romans had more need than ever of the protection of the Gods, renewed the sacrifices of Volusius, in the year of Rome 245, appointed them to be offered upon the same altar and to the same Gods, and added Games to them. In fine, we learn from VARRO, whose testimony is cited by CENSORINUS, that the Romans, affrighted by several prodigies that happened one after another, consulted, according to custom, the books of the Sibyls, learned that they were to renew the sa= 368 SUPERSTITIONS OF 1DOLAT11Y. CHAP. 111. OF GAMES. SEC. VII. crifices and the Games of Volusius, and to celebrate them for the future every hundred years in the Camfius Martins: this was the origin of the Secular Games. ====== Nothing was equal to the solemnity of these zatTon. 11 ' S lemni " Games. First, heralds were despatched through i all Italy to invite every body to them, as to a solemnity which they would never see again; and when the time of their celebration approached, the Consuls, Decemvirs, and at last the Emperors themselves went into different temples to offer sacrifices, and ordered a distribution to be made to the people of such things as were necessary, that every one might set about the expiating of his sins; such as torches, suljihur, and bitumen, in which none were excepted but the slaves. The people thus fur- nished with materials for expiation, flocked to the temple of Diana, which was upon the Aventine mount, and every one gave his children barley, corn, and beans, to offer the whole in sacri- fice to the Destinies in order to appease them. Then upon the ar- rival of the first festival which was consecrated to Juno, three days and three nights were employed in offering victims to Juno, Jufiiter, Neptune, Vulcan, Mars, Diana, Vesta, Venus, Hercules, Saturn, to Divinities of the fountains, and lastly to the Parca, to Proserpine, and to Pluto; and all this at Tarentum, a place not far from the Campus Martins, where the Games were to be per- formed. On the first night, at the second hour, the consuls in the time of the republic, and afterwards the Emperors themselves, accompanied by the Decemvirs who presided at this solemnity, went to the banks of the Tyber, where they raised three altars, on which they sacrificed three lambs; and after sprinkling the altars with the blood of those victims, they ordered the rest of them to be burnt. This ceremony was illuminated by a great number of lamps, and accompanied with singing several hymns in honour of the Gods, and terminated by the offering of several black victims, such as Volusius and Publicola had formerly offer- CHAP. HI SUPERSTITIONS OP IDOLATRY. 369 SEC. VII. OF GAMES. ed. While they were employed in these religious functions ? artists erected a Theatre, and prepared the place where the exer- cises common to the Games were to be performed; then the next day in the morning they went to the capital, where offering a sacrifice to Jupiter, they returned to the place just mentioned, and began the celebration of the Games in honour tf. Apollo and Diana, The next clay the Roman Ladies repaired to the same capitol to sacrifice to Juno: lastly the Emperor himself, accom- panied by the Decemvirs, went the same day and offered to each of the aforesaid Divinities the victims proper to them On the third day, seven and twenty youths of the first families, all in robes, and as many virgins, marched in procession to the Palatine mount to the temple of Apollo, where they vied with one another in singing hymns and songs, to make the Gods propitious to the Emperor, the Senate, and the Roman people. Lastly, during the three nights that the solemnity of these Games continued, all the Theatres in Rome, the Circuses, and other public places destined for these festivals, were employed in shows that were therein ex- hibited. Among other things, there were also hunting matches, combats with wild beasts, imitation of sea-fights, &c.: the people dividing the whole time between mirth and devotion. M, The Games of Ceres. Though' the Greeks celebrated the greater and lesser m y steries in honour of Ceres, yet no Games or shows were therein represented; thus, those I speak of here, owe their origin to the Romans, and ac- cording to Tacitus, it was C. Mummius while he was Edile, gave the first representation of them in the Circus. But he was not their founder, since we learn from TITUS LIVIUS, that long before him, even from the second year of the Punic war, under the di- rectorship of Servilius Geminus, they had been exhibited. The celebration of these Games, which lasted eight days, commenced on the twelfth of April. 3fO SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. III. OF GAMES. SEC. VII, As in those Games the mourning of Ceres for Their solemni- zation, the rape of her daughter was commemorated, - as well as in the Elusinian mysteries, the Roman ladies appeared there in white robes, with lighted torches in their hands, to represent that Goddess seeking for her dear Proserpine; the men too who joined in them, came thither fasting; for the strictest abstinence was enjoined for the preceding night, especi- ally from women and wine, which was most punctually observed: moreover the smallest blemish excluded the spectators from them, and the public herald took care to warn all who. might pro- fane them, to quit the assembly. If any one was convicted of hav- ing stained his purity, he was punished with no less than death. This is confirmed by the unanimous testimony of all the histo- rians who have spoken of the celebration of these Games. As to what remains the same shows were exhibited there as in the other Games, especially that of the horse-race. I believe they were celebrated every fifth year; at least it was after such an in- terval that the Sibylline oracles ordained a day of fasting by way of preparation for them, to which was added the use of the warm bath, as very conducive to continency and purity, with which they were obliged to come up to the solemnity. 4/;, The Games of Cybele, and those of the other great Gods. f These Games, instituted by the Greeks, and celebration'ofthe adopted by the Romans, went by the name of Games of Cybele. Great Games, or Megalmse.^ from the Goddess in whose honour they were celebrated, and who was called the Great Mother. CICERO, who informs us that a great concourse of people and strangers frequented these Games, adds, that they were exhibited upon the Palatine mount, near the temple, in order to be represented iw the very presence of the Goddess. Their celebration fell on the day before the Ides of April, on which the Romans had received her worship. CHAP. III. SUPERSTITIONS OP IDOLATRY. 3?1 OF GAMES. 1 Some authors have confounded these Games Those of the . - Great Gods dit- Wlt ^ those * lne other Great Gods, who had the former fl m ^ SUm nanie; but CICERO plainly distinguishes -- them. The last had been instituted by Tarquin the elder; the others not till the Romans brought from Pessinus the worship of Cybde> in the year of Rome 543, under the con* sulship of Cornelius Cethegus, and Cornelius Tuditanus. The day of their celebration was likewise different, since those of Cy- bele fell on the day before the Ides of April, as has been said from TITUS LIVIUS, and those of the Great Gods, on the day before the calends of September, as we learn from CICERO. 5th) The Games of Castor and Pollux. ' ' ' The Romans, who conferred upon these two celebration" f heroes a particular worship, as has been said in their history, instituted these Games in the wars they had with the Latins, who had abandoned the Romans, and joined the Tarquins. It was the dictator Aulus Posthumius who made a solemn vow to exhibit those Games in honour of those heroes, if he was successful in that expeditionj and the Senate, in consummation of Aulus Posthumus's vow, pass- ed an act for the continuation of those Games every year. Nothing exceeded the magnificent pomp with which they were ushered in and accompanied, as we learn from DIONYSJUS of Halicarnas- sus. After the ordinary sacrifices, says he, such as presided over the Games, set out from the capitol to march in order through the Forum to the Circus, where this show was exhibited: they were preceded by their children, on horseback, when they them- selves were of the Equestrian order, while the plebeians marched on foot. The former, composed so mnay troops; and the latter, companies of foot soldiers, who came in crowds to this spectacle, and who were received on the occasion with all possible regard: so that strangers might see the resource which Rome had in that illustrious body of youth, who were ready to appear soon in the 372 SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. HI. OF GAMES. SEC. VII. midst of her armies. This procession, followed with chariots, some drawn by two, some by four horses, and with the other knights who were to run in the Circus, was closed by the ath- letes, who were also to fight there. 6f/2, The Circensian Games. i ' " Though by the Circensian Games we are to These were of , Greek origin a- understand only the combats, the races, ana dopted by Romu- o th e r exercises that were performed in the lus. places known by the name of Circus, which had been raised for the representation of all sorts of Games, yet the antiquaries comprehended under that name, the race which was instituted in the Isthmus of Corinth, by (Enomaus king of Pisa, to rid himself of those who were courting his daughter Hifljio- damia, and wherein Pelo/is was conqueror; or that other race which Hercules instituted in Elis, wherein he, having gained the victory, received a crown of olive from the hand of the same Pe- lofis: Romulus, after the rape of the Sabine women, appointed . the same Games to be celebrated in the open fields, for there was no place then destined for that purpose. These first Games of the Romans went by the name of Consualia; and if VIR.GIL gives the name of Circensian Games to those which Romulus ex- hibited on the occasion now mentioned, it is by way of anticipa- tion; for it was only in the time of Tarquinius the elder that the first Circus was built. These Games were also called by the name of the great Games, Ludi magni. 7th, The Cafiitoline Games. - These Games were founded by the Romans, On what occa- , rr> T i_ i i_ /~i i sion founded; accoi 'diiig to TITUS LIVIUS, to thank the Gods their exercises. f or h av i llg save d the capitol, when the Gauls plundered Rome; and to add tS their magnifi- cence, and at the same time that they may be renewed at stated times, a new college of priests was instituted. In these Games three sorts of exercises were commonly exhibited, the horse CHAP. III. SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. 373 SEC. VII. OF GAMES. race, the Gymnasia) and the trial in vocal and instrumental mu- sic; that is, all those which composed the Pentat/ilum. 8(/i, The Games celebrated in the Camps. These Games did not require so much cere- These were in- stituted for the mony and apparatus as the others; they were ce- dSJs h0ftheS01 " Iebrated b 7 th e soldiers themselves in their camps, either for their exercise or recreation. And indeed nothing was more proper to keep them in cheerful preparation, than those sorts of combats, among which besides wrestling, running, and other trials of skill, they it seems fought with the fiercest animals; this is what we learn from a passage of SUETONIUS, who says that Tiberius, to show he enjoyed a perfect state of health, for there was a surmise to the contrary, not only was present at these Games, but himself attacked a bear with his arrows. 9///, Some other Games. ====== We will conclude this subject with a summa- Conclusion. . ry of some other Games of the Romans, whose names at least, ought to be mentioned. 1st, The Games called Decumani, were such as they represented every tenth year, and which the Senate had instituted in honour of Augustus, who every tenth year, proposed to quit the reins of government, which he took good care however, never to perform. 2d, the Games of the Leaves^ were so called either from the leaves that the crowns were made of, or because the people threw leaves upon the conqueror. 3d, The Lustral, Lustrales, or Rubigalia, had been instituted in honour of Mars, and it was during their celebration that the arms, the trumpets, 8cc, were purified 4th, The Games named Novendiles, were the same with those funeral Games we have discoursed of, and which were exhibited at the death of great men, "or of the Emperors. 5th, The Palatine Games, Palatini, were instituted by Augustus in honour of Julius 3A 374 SUPERSTITIONS OF IDOLATRY. CHAP. Ill OF GAMES. SEC. VII. Ctesar, and got that name, from the temple which was upon the Palatine mount, where they were celebrated every year for eight days, beginning with the 25th of December. 6th, Those of the fishes, called Piscatorii, were renewed every year in the month of June, by the pretor of the city, in honour of such of the fish- eries upon the Tyber, whose gain was carried into the temple of Vulcan, as a tribute paid to the dead. 7th, The Plebeian Games were exhibited in honour of the people, who had contributed so much to the extinction of the regal power. 8th, The Pontificals were those exhibited by the priests at entering on their office, in imitation of the Questors, whose Games went by the name of Ludi Quxstorii. 9th, Romani or the Roman Games had been instituted by Tarquin the elder, in honour of Jupiter, Juno, and Minervd,as we learn from CICERO. 10th, The Sacerdotal Games were those which the people in the provinces obliged the priests to present them with. llih, The Triumfihales, those that were represented upon occasion of some triumph. 12th, The Votivi were exhibited in consequence of some vow; and those were either public, when it was a public vow, as was the case either in public calamities, or in the heat of a battle, or on other momen- tous occasions; or private, when some private person gave a re- presentation of them. The former were given by the magistrates in consequence of an act of the Senate: We have an inscription that makes mention of one of these votive and public Games, for the happy return of Augustus. 13th, Ludi Sigillares, were so called on account of the little figures, either of silver or some other metal, which they sent to one another in token of friend- ship, and that commonly during the Saturnalia. \^\.\\,Ludi Tau- rii were instituted to the honour of the Infernal Gods, on account of a plague under the reign of Tarquin the proud, which plague arose from the exposing of bulls flesh to sale. EJVZ) OF THE FIRST VOLUME. )S-ANGflfj> rti f S-ANGElf.> V-*^ n^ S5 L^-^S > Ml i lAINO-JHtf* l ^-" t v * i ^ ^ ^ JI1V3JO^ ^UONY-SO^ uvaan-i^ \\\E-UNIVER% ^clOS-ANCELfj> _^P* X-S_>i A 000025836 8 f-j~ " " ov" 5 y< . r\ 14 \\'' B = ^ME-UNIVERSSfc. >~ i e*<-r T- / s -n *- ^UIBRARYQ^ s i v? % If i ^ I ^ S I P ^ <>M-l!BRARY0,r I I 3 S i I I 5