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AN ATTEMPT TOWARDS AN EXPLANATION OF THE THEOLOGY AND MYTHOLOGY OF THE Antient Pagans. The Firſt Part. By John Turner Hoſpitaler of St. Thomas Southwark.
Licenſed,Aug. 29th. 1687.
London, Printed by H. Hills Jun. for Walter Kittleby at the Biſhops-Head in St. Pauls-Church-Yard. 1687.
WHEN I had written that diſDeuteronomy c. 25. 5. which I preſumed humbly Appendix
Paradiſe, as out of that Orchard, that Garden, that Shady Grove, and Flowery Mead of Antiquity in which I had ſo fortunately loſt my ſelf, a place whoſe Clime was as happy and as ſweet as that of the Golden Age, whoſe Banks were waſh'd with RiTigris and Euphrates, with which the Old Seat of Innocence was ſurrounded.
For in the Mythology of the Anti
there is every thing to be met with,
Heſperian Gardens, and pull the delicious Apples of Alcinous; we ſit down as gueſts at the Aetherial BanGolden Fleece, more pretious and more worthy of a toilſom Voyage than the Wrecks of Spain, and in the Wealthy Streams of Tagus and of Ganges, we find our ſelves refreſh'd and rich toge
Beſides that, in the Theology of the Ancient Pagans, which is combined and twiſted with the other, being all of it envelop'd and obſcur'd in Fables; we are ſurpriſed with a noble and comprePhiloſophy of thoſe early Times; for when all is done, the Religion of the Pagans was little elſe but the Phyſiology of Ancient Days, or of the more knowing Architects of Religious Worſhip, who wrapt up their Opinions concerning the Omniſcient, omNumen, in the covert of Shadows and Hieroglyphic Fables, which putting on ſeveral Perſons, Names, Appearances and Shapes, according to the ſeveral Powers, Attributes, Reſpects and Operations of that one ſupream and independent BeVulgar, who could not ſee Juno ſtanding behind the Cloud, but worſhip'd the Cloud it ſelf inſtead of Juno, ſo many ſenſible and material Objects of ſtupid Adoration; and this is that which the Apoſtle charges them with, That they changed the Truth of God into a lie, and worſhipped and ſerved the Creature more than the Creator. But yet, my Lord, it cannot be deny'd, notwithſtanding the abuſe to which theſe things are ſubject, but that there is an excellent and an wholHeathens and Idolaters, are after all their Piqueantry deſcended from them, and ow the power of blackning their MemoNoah, ought not by us their Sons with too much raſhneſs and petulance to be reHeathen, wanting the means and opportuSt. Paul was of this mind, when he ſaid, That when the Gentiles which have not the Law, do by nature the things contained in the Law, theſe having not the Law are a Law unto themſelves, which ſhew the work of the Law written in their Hearts, their Conſcience alſo bearing witneſs, and their Thoughts the mean while accuſing or elſe excuſing one another.
But whatever may be ſaid of the Vail and Cloud it ſelf, which the Heathens for the moſt part ignorantly worſhipped inſtead of the divine Subſtance that lay hidden under it, yet it cannot be deny'd to be an uſeful OperaVail, and look through the Symbol and Hieroglyphic Emblem, into the Subſtance and the Truth of Things; the effect of which Enquiry will be this, that it will appear that even the Pagans themſelves, thoſe I mean, that contrived and molded their Religion; the Prieſts, and Poets, and Philoſophers of the Heathen World, had a juſt and true Notion of the divine BeSacrifices, their Ceremonies and Luſtrations, which were all or moſt of them Symbolical Adumbrations of the infiis of purer Eyes than to behold Iniquity, and cannot converſe with unrepenting SinImpenitence and Obduration.
It is at once a pleaſant and a profitable Contemplation, when we converſe either with Eaſtern Sages, or with the Mythology of the Greeks and Latins, which was borrowed from them in a great meaſure at leaſt, to think how the Principles of Vertue and good Life, as in the Symbols of Pythagoras, and in many of the Rites and Myſteries of the Gentil Worſhip, notwithſtanding the Heat of the reſpe
If Antiquity with too profuſe a VeneGods, and paid them a Worſhip ſuitable to that Opinion, yet this hinders not but we may reap advantage, even from the Superſtition and Ignorance of our blind Forefathers, and though we do not adore them as Divinities; yet we may bleſs their Memories, and pay that ReveHeroes and Illuſtrious Perſons, and we may lay them before us, as Copies and Examples to imitate and tran
Neither would the Antients have been ſo much to blame, that they dividOmnipreſent Numen into ſo great variety of Names and Notions, according to the ſeveral relations and reſpects which that Omnipreſence bears to ſeveral and diſtant parts of the Creation, as that in the Heavens they called him Jupiter and Minerva, Ceres and Ops upon the ſurface of the Earth and underneath it, Pluto and Proſerpina, in the Sea Neptune, upon the Shore Priapus, and in the Port Portunus and Palaemon, but that it gave occaVulgar ſort, who could not diſcern the Philoſophy of theſe things to look upon them, becauſe of their ſeveral Names, and of the ſeRites and Ceremonies uſed in their Worſhip, as ſo many diſtinct and independent Beings, to each of which
Divinity by it ſelf, in which if I am not very much miſtaken, the true Myſtery of moſt of the Pagan Idolatry conſiſted.
That which I now preſent your Lordfour of that which I deſign; the next will be a comDiatriba by it ſelf of the Perſian, Aegyptian, Aſſyrian, and Chaldean Deities, which with a great deal more, is now already finiſh'd from my hands, and ſhall very ſoon be publiſh'd to the World, if this which I now put abroad ſhall meet with that Encouragement and Acceptance which I hope it will; and the reaſon why I broke off here, was only, that not intending any ſuch thing at firſt, but only to write a Sheet or two by way of Notes upon the former Treatiſe; I had not affixt the Numbers upon the top of the Pages, which I fore
I hope without Vanity, I may pre
THE Reader is humbly deſir
PAge 4. Since men did Sacrifice AniGrotius in his Notes upon Gen. 4. 4. who ſaith there was no other SacriAnimals before the Floud, then only an Offering of their Wool and Milk; but becauſe in ſome obſervations of my own, which I made long ſince at the Univerſity, as I read along upon the Old Teſtament, I have among other things ſubſtantially ConGrotius, who is likeOutram in his Book De Sacrifici is, therefore I ſhall ſet down what I have written, as I find it upon Gen. 4. 4. Obtulit de primogenitis gregis ſui & de adipibus eorum) dura ſunt omnia & vioGrotianâ, qui primogenita gregis de lanâ, adipes de lacte inMechelbehen, ex adipibus eorum, quorum verò? primogenitorum nempè, quoadipes, lac intelligi debeat, per primogenita, lana,
Ex lactibus lanae, quo quid abſurdius? verum quae tandem ratio imGrotium ut hujuſeemodi interpretaCum nihil, inquit, deo ſacrari ſoleat, niſi quod in uſu ſit hominum, animantibus autem veſci ante diluvium, ut probabilior fert ſententia, permiſſum non fuérit, dici poſſet oblatam lanam ac lac ping
cheleb vocetur, nam cheper
PorphLanâ contextis nondum uterenAbele oblatam non fuiſſe, legimus autem pelles & tergora fe(cothnoth hor Gen. 3. 21.) pelles autem animalium ex quibus veſtes primitùs confectae fuerunt, ex iis ſolummodò aut certè potiſſimum de
Quod ſi concedamus etiam pellibus oviGrotio fatente, potuiſſe etiam in ſacrificiis ritè Deo offerri.
Si quis hic interroget, quare animali
Lana autem, inquiet fortaſſe Grotius, quando ſimul cùm pellibus ovinis fuerit detracta, quid impedit, quo minus ritè potuit offerri? reſpondeo, primum, à poſſe ad eſſe non valet conſequentia, deinde ſi hoc de lanâ concedimus, certè idem in pelle, cujus praecipuus in veſtibus uſus fuit, cùm nondum panni conficiendi artes inve
Si dicas haec tergora morticinorum aniMoſaicam legem extitiſſe, liquet ex diluvii hiNoachici dico & Mofaici, eandem ratiſymbolicis iſtius munditiei rationibus, (non enim arbitraria res fuit) de quibus nos alibi fuſiùs egimus, amplius conſtabit. Utrum autem iſta diNoacho primum inceperit, cùm de eo nihil in ſacris literis diſertim affirmeMoſaicâ utriuſque partitione videre eſt, ſed tantum de ejuſmodi animantibus in ge
Sed & alia quaedam porrò reſtant dicenGrotianae non minus forAbelem obtuliſſe Mebecoroth Tſono, oumechelbehen, Mebechoroth gelaneam impugnat, neque clarius oſtenmechelbehen legitur cüm affixo faecüm adipibus iſtarum primogenitarum, igitur ſi bechoroch ſunt animalia, chelbehen erunt adipes iſtorum animalium quod ſi utrumque ſumatur, pro eo quod optimum eſt, aut pulcherrimum, aut pinguiſſimum, ſicut Grotio viſum eſt, idem erit, eodemque omninò recidet ac ſi dixoptimum optimi, pulcherrimum pulcherrimi, quod cùm niſi valde impropriâ locutione dici non poſſit, cumque obſtet conjunctio copulativa, quae diſtinguere vibecoroth & chelbehen, hoc eſt, ſi Grotio credimus, inter idem & idem, quod eſt abſurdum, omninö concludimus conträ Hugonum Grotium, virum alias
Quibus accedit, quod manifeſtum ſit, ſacrificari à Noacho caeptum eſſe, tum de pecuino, ſum de volucrum genere, Genec. 8. priuſquam illi carnium eſus perc. 9. quod ſi quis eum ideò ſacrificâſſe exiſtimet, quod jam certò ſciret, ſe etiam ex animalibus divino permiſſu propediem veſciturum, a
Page 15. And the Lord ſaid, my ſpirit ſhall not always ſtrive with man) that the Floud was brought upon the Old World, for their many and great ſins, and particu
Page 33. We have two known inſtances in the Ancient Roman Storie) this power of Fathers over their Children by the Old Roman Law, ſo as to put them to death if they pleaſed, is mentioned and referred to by Conſtantine C. Th. l. 4. tit. 8. l. 2. Liv. D. Gothofred ib—
Page 44. That very fact being made death afterwards by the Law of Moſes) this was my opinion when I writ it, and I have ſtill a ſtrong impreſſion that it is true, though I cannot find it, however the infer
Page 63. Neither was this all, but the Husband was an abſolute Lord over his Wife, and the Wife was in the nature of a Servant to her Husband) The dominion of Husbands over their Wives by the AnRome, which in this partiEaſt, is thus
A. Gellius out of an Oration of M. Cato noct. Att. l. 10. c. 23. Imperium, quod videtur, habet. That is, the Husband hath as much Power, as he pleaſeth over his Wife; and then it follows, Si quid perCato are, In Adulte
Page 88. Yet ſo as he was only to enjoy it till the ſaid Year of Jubilee, &c.) that is, In caſe he did not Marry the Woman to raiſe up Seed to the deceaſed, otherwiſe, not
Page 92. That it hath never been bro&c.) See Tacitus and Suetonius in the Life of Claudius, where they ſpeak of that Emperours Marriage to Agrippina.
Page 100, 101. They have their name from Oblivion, as Men have theirs from Remembrance) The Women are called in Hebrew Naſhim, from a word that ſignifies to forget, the Men Zecarim, from another that ſignifies to remember.
Page 104. Which name is from habad, ſervivit, and was given him, as I conceive, &c.) this reaſon may very well be allowed, notwithſtanding another which I have giMeſſias c. 1. for they are not inconſiſtent together.
Page 109, 110. Joſephus tells you it was any of the Kindred) Our Cuſtom of Appeals in caſe of Murther, ſeems to have been taken from this Law among the Jews, though whether through ignorance or inrevenger of Blood had any thing to do, in Ours it is only wilfull Murther, in Theirs the Wife could not reopinion that one of theſe Laws was taken from the other.
Page 117. Out of Judea) or rather out of Aegypt, for in Judea this Law was now Antiquated and aboliſhed—
Page 117. Quod poſt illorum mortem manſiſſe virgines dicebantur) This plainly ſhows the Aegyptian Cuſtom to have deJewiſh, only in the word virgines which is unqueſtionably to be underſtood in this Law of Zeno's in the ſtricteſt ſenſe, as apJewiſh Law the obligation to this ſort of Marcùm corpore non convenerint, do plainly ſhew the Roman Emperor, when he made this Law was utJewiſh Cuſtom, for by the Moſaic Law though they had cohabited never ſo long together, yet in defect of Male Iſſue, the next of Kin was obliged to propagate inſtead of the dequod certis legum conditoribus placuit, may and I beJewiſh LawAegyptian, ſo that upon the whole matter I am inclined to believe, if you are not otherwiſe ſatisfied with what I have written, p. 118. that the Aegyptians who ſeem to have continued this practice long after it was antiquated and aboliſhed among the Jews, impoſing upon the igRomans, alledged, in their own excuſe that they were Virgins whom they Married, but meant nothing elſe by that word, but only that they had not had Iſſue, or Heritable Iſſue by their former Husbands, and the Romans ſeem only to have imitated them thus far, but this exRoman Laws.
Page 135. Numb. 27. 8. If a Man die have no Son, &c.) in the Hebrew it is ou ben een lo, which are the very words uſed Deut. 25. 5. and in this place of numbers there is no queſtion, but the word ben is to be underſtood ſtrictly, of the Male Iſſue, for it follows, then he ſhall cauſe his Inheritance to paſs unto his Daughter, ſo that the words being exactly the ſame in both places, this, beſides other Arguments which I have produced, is ſtill the ſtronger ſign that my Interpretation is right, when I expound the place of Deuteronomy after ſuch a manner, as to reſtrain it to the Male Iſſue.—
Page 151. Somewhat of a priviledge in it, by inheriting the double Portion) or rather in this caſe the whole Eſtate, which was to deſcend to the Heir of the vicarious Bed, and in the mean time to be enjoyed by the Levir himſelf.
Page 179. I ſhall give almoſt innumeRomans with the Eaſt, both as to their Manners and Language, that it can be
Romans were certainly a Colony from the Eaſt, I think I am excuſed from any fur
Page 180. If their Prieſts and their SacriNuma and his Laws, and of the Rites and Ceremonies inRomans, the very Name of Pontifex, is not à ponte faciendo, a moſt ridicuHebrew, and is as much by the Interpoſition of a Digamma and the changing of a Tſade or a ſhin into the Latin x, as phoneh eth hets or phoneh
eth eſh. he that lays the Wood in order, and prepares the Fire for the Sacrifice, which was one part of the Prieſtly Office, as the ſprinkling of Blood was another, and both of theſe Abraham is deſcribed as doing, with relation to his Son Iſaac, Gen. 22. 6. And Abraham took the wood of the burnt Offering and laid it upon Iſaac his Son, and he took the Fire in his hand and a Knife, and they went both of them together. and again, v. 9. And they came to the place which God had told him of, and Abraham built an Altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Iſaac his Son, and laid him on the Altar upon the wood. Of the inſertion of the Aeolique Digamma in the Roman words derived from the Eaſt, I have given ſeveral other inſtances towards the concluſion of this work, and of the changing of the ſhin inx, though that and the change of a Tſade into the ſame, be ſo natural that noſhiſh is the Latin ſex, and from Reiſh is the Latin rex, which latter word though it be not extant any where in the Bible, yet that there was forHebrew word, may be ſeen from the words reſhith, and riſhon derived from it, and this very word is ſtill to be ſeen in the moſt Ancient of the Rabbinical
N. T. calls Reſh Gabbaei, as Caninius de loc. diffic. N. T. and Hottinger in his Exercit. Antimorin. have obſerved. See alſo, B
the Algerines at Raes, and the Turks have alſo an OfRiſeffendi, mingling an Hebrew word and the corruption of a Greek together, it being as much as Hebrews call Reſh, that the Arabians call Rebis, by the Interpoſition of a Digamma, and by the ſame Analogy from the Hebrew din or doun ſignifying Judgment, is the Turkiſh and Algerine Divan, for a Conn corruptly (to mention that by the way) the Tunitines call their chief Magiſtrate the Dey, that is, the Judge, as the Carthaginians of Old called him ſuffetes from the Hebrew ſhophet, ſignifying the ſame. Laſtly, As a ſhin ſo alſo a ſamech a letter of much the ſame ſound and nature, is by the Latins changed into an x, as from nous, fugit, is the Latin nox, becauſe then all things vaniſh and diſappear.
This for the Prieſts, then for the Sacrimola aRomans was fron the Hebrew melach ſignifying Salt, as by the ſame AnaHebrew keren is the Latin cornu, from the Hebrew Bier ſignifying a Ditch or Well, is by a reduplication the Greek
Slime or Dirt, and from the Hebrew Hen, ſignifying Grace or Comelineſs, not only the Latin Venus by changing the h into v conſonant or Aeolique Digamma as Heinſius in his Ariſtarchus hath with great probability obſerbenus and bene, and benignus, and bonus. The Romans indeed in latter time not knowing the true ſignification of their own word, gave it the needleſs EpiSalſa, which it included in it ſelf beCuria Kalabra, though the Hebrew word Kahal, which is a part of the compoſition of Kalabra included the ſignifiCuria within it ſelf, as I have ſhown in another part of this Diſcourſe. Further, the Sacrifice, was called ſomevictima and ſometimes Hoſtia, victima though it be not an Hebrew word, yet it includes an imitation of an Hebrew Cuſtom) for victima is quaſi vittima à vinciendo, whence alſo the Latin vitta is derivGeneſis conIſaac, part of which hath been alv. 22. v. 9, 10. And Abrabuilt an Altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound bound Iſaac his Son, and laid him upon the Altar, upon the wood, and Abraham ſtretched forth his hand and took the Knife to ſlay his Son. And to this it was that David alluded when he ſaid Pſalm 118. 27. bind the Sacrifice with Cords, even unto the Horns of the Altar. as for hoſtia, the very name is Hebrew, it is without queſtion from the Hebrew word haſah, which I have ſhown in theſe papers ſometimes to have a ſacrificial meaning, and in that ſenſe the Latin facio by the help of a Digamma is derived from it, and thence it was that Hoſtis in its firſt and pureſt ſignification did not ſignifie an Enemy, but a Pledge or Pawn which was given for the performance of conditions, and thence hoſtimentum, hoſtire, and redhoſtire are deEnemies Country, and out of their number, therefore by degrees it came conſequently to ſignifie an Enemy, but its direct and primary ſignification is a Pawn or Pledge, as every Sacrifice is in the ſtead of him for whom it is Offered
hoſtes, otherwiſe called in Latin obſides, were to be hoſtiae in the prohaſah in Hebrew and of mactare in Latin, if the conditions ſtipulated were not performed.
Page 183. As appears from the Books of Daniel and Eſther, &c. and alſo from thoſe of Ezra and Nehemiah) I cannot alDaniel and Ezra, that they have a great deal of Chalday in them, but the name of Eſther is Chalday, though the Book be not, and ſo is the name of Nehemiahs Office, who was made Governour of his own Country under the name of Tirſhatha.
Page 200. To whom e're it be long, I ſhall give another opportunity) this reP. W. as it is long ſince Printed with additions, and I think I may pretend in what I have ſaid in that Diſcourſe and in the Preface, to have clearly repreſented all the natural reaſons upon which the preſent excellent eſtabliſhment may defend it ſelf, and though I do not ſay they are the only Ar
Page 210. But of this and other mat&c.) in my middle way betwixt neceſſity and freedom.
Page 228. I do therefore diſown and recant thoſe reaſons, &c.) this referrs to a part of thoſe papers in the Additions to the Sermon before Sir P. W. which, for the reaſons I have already Publiſht, I thought it but juſt and neceſſary to ſuppreſs; and ſo does that paſſage alſo a little before beJoſeph Scaliger—and the Book of Scaliger, which I referr to is his Elenchus Trihereſii, written againſt the Jeſuit Nicholas Serarius.—
Page 230. And though theſe reaſons are ſufficient to prevail with me to retract that opinion, &c.) this is alſo referred to ſome
Page 267. If the Nones were quintanae fell upon the fourteenth, but if they were ſeptimanae upon the ſixteenth day of the Month) this is a miſtake, I ſhould have ſaid, the thirteenth and the fifteenth.
Page 286. Who were uſed to abuſe the Jews for their abſtinence from Swines fleſh) as in that of Juvenal ſpeaking of Judea.
Obſervant ubifeſta mero pede ſabbata Reges, Et vetus indulget ſenibus clementia Porris.
And in another place of the Jews he ſays, Nec diſtare putant humanâ carne ſuillam.
And Petronius repreſents them as worſhip
Judaeus licet & Porcinum Numen adoret.
Page 309. Which was nothing elſe, but aliquid extrà & intrà muros, &c.) ſo the Pomaeria are deſcribed by the Roman AuJews, as appears by comparing the 4th. and 5th. verſes of the 35th. of Numbers together. For v. 4. it is ſaid, The Suburbs of the Cities which ye. ſhall give unto the Levites, ſhall reach from the Wall of the City and outward a thouſand Cubits. but v. 5. Ye ſhall meaſure from without the City on the Eaſt-ſide
two thouſand Cubits, and on the Southſide two thouſands Cubits, and on the Weſtſide two thouſand Cubits, and on the Northſide two thouſand Cubits, and the City ſhall be in the middeſt, this ſhall be to them the Suburbs of the Cities. now there is no poſpomaerium without the Wall, but the other of both together, of the empthe City was to be in the middeſt, that is, in the middeſt of the inward pomaerium, for that which the Hebrews call hir, and we render City, does not begin with the Wall, but the Houſes, and there are many places ſo called in the Old Teſtament which had no Walls at all, or in the Scripfenced Cities, as the Levitical, all of them were, and ſo were the fitter for that uſe, to which I have conjectured Jeroboam to have put them, but then, if this way of reconciliation be admitted, as I think it is highly reaſonable, then the Seventy are not to be excuſed, who have put down two thouſand Cubits in both places, which I bepomaeria among the Romans, which were two fold, there was pomaerium poſt muros, that is, the outward pomaerium, and there was murus poſt pomaerium, that is to ſay the inward, and this Livy makes to be the Etymon of the place in theſe words: Pomaerium, verbi vim ſoHetruſci, quà murum ducturi erant, certis circà terminis inauguRomani appellarunt. And perhaps there is another Etymology more natural then this, and which will anſwer both of theſe ſignipomaerium, and that is common Greek calls Dorique calls Lexicons, and taken, as I ſuppoſe, out of
Dorique writers of the Italique or Pythagorean ſect, and this way, Addition or Appendix, whether within or without the Walls of a City, that is, it is the pomaerium indifferently in both ſenſe.
Page 310. Which the Latins call othertabanus) from tabes, becauſe they breed in the faintly and Autumnal time of the Year, or from the Hebrew teben ſigſtraw or reeds, becauſe they are chiefly found in locis arundineis & Vliginoſis.—
Page 311. I could ſhow the ſame of the reſt of the Roman Hills, &c.) I dare ſcarce undertake for them all, but there is one more notwithſtanding, which I have not mentioned, and which I take to be of Eaſtern Origination, and that is the mons Aventinus, whieh I take to be from the Chalday Aben, ſignifying a Stone, the place where Jupiter Lapis, as Agellius tells us they had ſuch a Deity and they were uſed to ſwear by him, was worſhipped among the Romans. For in many of theſe caſes b and v conſonant are the ſame, as may be ſeen in a thouſand inſtances in the ancient gloſſaries, but it ſhall be ſufficient to inHebrew or Oriental growth tranſlated into Latin, that is,
Hebrew ab, whence by the addition of a Roman termination is the Latin Avus, ſignifying a progenitor or forefather, for that is its firſt and true ſignification, though the uſe of the Latin ſpeech have reſtrained it to him, whom we call the Grandfather, and this is plainly the ſenſe of proavus, being from the Latin pro with the Hebrew ab, and ſignifying in general a progenitor or Forefather, as in that known place of Ovid
but yet in this word we have a manifeſt inſtoance of the ignorance of the Genus & proavos & quae non fecimus ipſi,
Vix ea noſtra voco—Romans in the Antiquities and true Etymologies of their own Language, for avunculus which is from avus, and conſequently from ab, is not the
Ʋncle by the Father, but the Mother's ſide.
Ib. which is derived from the Hebrew Joreſh, ſignifying an Inheritance) Joreſh does not ſignifie the Inheritance, but the heir in ſtrictneſs of ſpeech, but yet even this way the Etymon holds very well, for the principle is as it were the Heir or Landlord to whom the intereſt is due, or if you would rather it Shoreſh,
Root, from whence the intereſt ſprouts out and grows, it is all one to me, only this latter Etymon, though in ſenſe it have ſcarce any advantage, yet in ſound it is more natural then the other.
Page 312. Faenus is hanouſh) from thence is alſo the Latin pignus, and by omitting the laſt letter (as from the Hebrew routs is the Latin ruo) is the Greek
Latin paena, and the Engliſh pawn, all theſe words implying an exchange or penalty, or barter of one thing for another, and
Page 319. What the Latins call quintus when it is a praenomen, that the Greeks call Old Scholiaſt upon Homer,
ad Il. n. 214. and this no doubt was a Roman Author though writing in Greek and his Latin name was Quintus.
Page 322. Are by Catullus Epigr. 17. called ſaliſubſuli) I deny not but the Etyà ſaliendo was the ancient, and indeed the only received one among the Romans, and to this Catullus himſelf alludes, in the Epigram cited, ad Coloniam; his words are,
And a little after.
O Colonia, quae cupis ponte ludere longo
Et ſalire paratum habes—
And Varro l. 4. de l. 1. ſalii à ſaltando quod facere in comilio in ſacris quotannis & ſolent & debent. But I only argue from the repetition of the ſame word, which to me is very uncouth and ſcarce to be mached in all the Latin Tongue, or perMars himſelf, who according to Macrobius was the ſame with the Sun was anciently called ſalſubſulus, as appears by this fragment of Pacuvius concerning him
Quod procul dubiò eſt, ſaith Pro imperio ſic ſaliſubſulus voſtro excubet.
Scaliger, ex fine prologi cujuſdam ut illud Plautinum,
Page 323. Lou parothka, or Lou parothk) from the Hebrew pharah without all queſtiLatin pario, and partus.
Page 326. Whe have not only the Greek Acheron, which the common Etymològiſts, for want of ſomepure Hebrew, and ſignifies the ſtate after this life, for achar is poſt, and acharon, poſterius, poſtremum, and by the EliAleph is the word charon, which is the name of the Ferryman in the Poets, who was to waft men over into that ſtate, not from the ſame Antiphraſis, a very cold interpretation, though I perceive Apulejus was of this opinion; his words are theſe in Apol. pro Aemiliano, where he tells us that Charon had likewiſe another name, and that was Mezentius, igitur agnomenta ei duo indita, Charon, ob oris & animi duritatem, & alterum quod libentius audit, ob deorum contemptum, Mezentius. which latter name of his is likeHebrew as the other, from the verb, maas, ſprevit, contempſit, from
maaſan or meeſan or ſome ſuch word, ſignifying contemptor, as from the Chalday Tirgem, is Drogermau for an Interpreter, from the Hebrew ſhallem, the Turkiſh muſleman, for a Perfect or Faithful perſon, from Aram Arman for an Aſſyrian, whence Armenus, and Armenia. So that theſe things do ſtrengthen and and confirm one another; upon this occaſion, I will mention another of thoſe names by which the future ſtate was anciently expreſſed by the Poets, and that is Cocytus, which the Grammarians would have to be bewail and lament, but I had rather have it from Greek Anthology our Anceſtours or Progenitors are denoted, as much as to ſay, the place or ſeat whether our Forefathers are gone, and from this word, if I am not miſtaken, is the other derived, becauſe of mens mourning and lamentation for the dead, and for their Parents eſpecially, to whom the moſt Solemn and Religious juſta were performed, neither does it ſignifie any thing in this caſe that the one of theſe words is ſpelt by an voces fictitiae that the ſound may in ſome meaEaſtern origination then the other two words that have been newly mentioned, to which purpoſe it is to be noted that of Ancient time there were two proper names, viz. Og and Agag, which I take to be the ſame, that is, the one to be only a reduplication of the other, though the latter be ſpelt with an Aleph, the former with an Haiin, for theſe two letters are, as to their poteſtas much what the ſame, as I have ſhewn already by the ſeptuagint, in their rendition of proper names, taking no notice of the latter of theſe, ſometimes, as if it were perfectly
Hebrew, haphar, and ephar, the former by an Haiin, the latter by an Aleph are the ſame, though the former be uſually tranſlated, pulvis, the latter cinis, which are much what the ſame, and they are exſynonymous and expreſſive of one anoGen. 18. 27. where they are both uſed, And Abraham anſwered and ſaid, behold now, I have taken upon me to ſpeak unto the Lord, which am but duſt and aſhes, in the Original it is haphar veepher and in the Seventy Job 2. 8. by a Dunghill, a ſignification coming much nigher to Gen. 13. 16. and 28. 14. and by Num. 19. 17. ſo that it is plain theſe words are ſynonymous and expreſſive of each other, to all which it is to be added that Ophir, which is by an Aleph, and which, as I have obſerved, is the name of Africa in Scripture, was ſo called becauſe of the drowth and duſtineſs of the place, by reaſon of the heat of the climate, which is the confeſſed ſignification of haphar, by an haiin.
So that it being now clear that Og and Agag are poſſibly, and may be very probaBaſhan, conquered by Joſhua is called, the name Ochus which belonged to one of the Perſian Kings is derived, of whom mention is made by Diodorus l. 17. Aelian. var. Hiſt. l. 6. c. 8. v. Lloyd. lex. Geog. & Poet. in Ogyges.Juſtim. l. 10. and from the other Ogyges, an Ancient King of Thebes, and if we may believe others, the firſt King of Athens, as alſo of Aegypt, Boeotia, and Lycia had their names, and indeed any ancient thing or perſon was of Old expreſt and repreHeſychius interSuidas, the Etymologer and Euſtathius agree, and ſo Nicander uſes it in Theriacis
Where the Scholiaſt interprets it after the ſame manner, or rather more EmphatiNum. 24. 7. in the benedictory PaBalaam, He (Jacob) ſhall poure out the water out of his buckets, and his ſeed ſhall be in many waters, and his King ſhall be higher then Agag, and his Kingdom ſhall be exalted: Now there is no mention of any Agag before this, and yet if I am not veSaul, who was to be the firſt King of Iſrael, and was a tall and comely perſon, with another Ancient King of great renown and fame in thoſe times, and who probably lived before the Floud, beGigantick ſtature, for the Scripture tells us Gen. 6. 4. that there were Gyants in thoſe days and he probability, as being the talleſt, biggeſt and moſt Gigantick was their King, according to that known ſaying, which was Anciently the great rule of Elective Kingdoms,
And God complying with this humour of mankind, that prevailed then ſo much in the World, was pleaſed to appoint Saul to be their firſt King; of whom it is ſaid, 1 Sam. 9. 2. that from his ſhoulders upward
he was higher then any of the People, which conjecture if it be admitted as true, as it muſt be acknowledged not to be imOgygian Floud, and the Floud of Noah are the ſame, notwithſtanding that the generality of Chronologers have placed them at ſo great a diſtance from one another, but the Hiſtory of thoſe times being ſo very confuſed and imperfect, we are not obliged by their Authority ſo much, as to neglect other reaſons that offer themſelves, but it is in this as in many other things, that are perplext, uncertain and obſcure that he is
And ſtill further to confirm this, it is to be obſerved, that notwithſtanding ſome have made the deluge of Oggges to have been only a ſmall and inconſiderable inAttica or ſome one ſingle CounNonnus in his Dionyſiaca makes it to have been univerſal. where ſpeaking of the Ogygian Floud he ſaith l. 3.
Secondly,
Juſtin Martyr expreſly puts Inachus and Ogyges as cotemporary togeInachus is withNoah, and though they are both made by the ſame Iuſtin Martyr and others to have been contemporary with Moſes, yet this proAgag, whom they thought and not without reaſon, to have been the ſame with Ogyges mentioned in the Moſaic writings, as I have ſhewn, but does it folMoſes was cotemporary with Adam, and with the Creation it ſelf? or is it not more likely that Balaam in his benedictory Prophecy, reBalak and the Iſraelites might take an eſtimate of that happineſs which was afterwards to attend the latter of theſe? Thirdly, When it is Prophecyed of Saul by Balaam, that he ſhould be higher then Agag, this, as I have ſaid referrs to the great bulk and and ſtature of the Autidiluvian mortals, and is another argument that Agag and Ogyges are the ſame, and thence iGreek did not only ſignifie that which was Antient, but alſo that which was monſtrous for its bulk and greatneſs,
Suidas hath interpreted it, and Heliodorus uſes a man of an extraordinary ſize and ſtature, and Heſiod
Styx in his Theogonie,
For the ſame that Homer calls in Il.
And in another place where Achilles ſwears by his Scepter, that is, by Juſtice, and by God the Fountain of it, he concludes
Fourthly as it is now plain, why ſo maOgyges in the time of Moſes, ſo it is no leſs plain why they
Attica, and why the Floud of Ogyges was by them ſuppoſed onAttica, as I have ſhown p. 354. of this Treatiſe was ſo called from the Hebrew hathik, ſignifying Ancient, and the InhabiEaſt, were called by an Hebrew name hathikin, or the Ancient people, by which it came to paſs that the Greeks having a Tradition that the Floud of Ogyges happened among the hattikim, or, as they would call it, acOgyges was an Ancient Athenian King and that the Floud in his time, happened in the Province or Territory of Attica where he Reigned.
Fifthly, If we lay both theſe Graecian Traditions together, that Ogyges lived in the time of Moſes, and that he Reigned over Attica in that Age, the latter of which miſtakes I have now diſcovered upAgag or Ogyges mentioned in the Moſaick writings, I ſay, if we comBalaam referAttica, a place with which neither Balack nor the Iſraelites had at that time any Correſpondence, much leſs was he ſo Iſrael who was to come many Ages after, ſhould be Proverbially compared to him, and that it ſhould be ſaid of him, that he ſhould be higher then Agag, and that his Kingdom ſhould be exalted, as if Attica, a ſmall and inconſiderable ſpot of Ground, had been ſome vaſt and Formidable Empire; nay, I dare vouch for moſt, if not all the Jews now living, or that have lived ever ſince this Story was firſt broached, that they are and have been ignorant, of any ſuch Athenian King, and ſo at this rate this Prophecy would not have been only obſcure and unintelligible when it was firſt uttered, but would remain to this day aElias.
If it be urged that Balaam in this ProAgag the King of the Amalekites, who was afterwards ConquerSaul, I anſwer, that I do believe Balaam in part to have referred to this,
Agag was a Succeſſor, though at a great diſtance, of Balack, and Ruled over the ſame Country that the other did, and it was in requital of the injuries done by Balak, that this overthrow fell upon the Amalekites in the days of Saul, 1. Sam. 15. 2, 3, Thus ſaith the Lord of Hoſts, I remember that which Amalek did to Iſrael, how he laid wait for him in the way, when he came up from Aegypt; now go, and ſmite Amalek, and utterly deſtroy all that they have, and ſpare them not, but ſlay both Man and Woman, Infant and Suckling, Ox and Sheep, Camel and Aſs. But yet I ſay, that this, though it was a partial fulfilling of this Proyhecy, yet it is not all that proſAgag in compariſon, was but an inIſraelites when they came out of Aegypt, though nothing ſo ſtrong as in the time of Saul, were more then a match for the Moabites and Amalekites, at that time, wherefore it is ſaid, Num. 22. v. 3, 4, 5. that, Moab was ſore afraid of the People: and Moab was diſtreſſed becauſe of the Children of Iſrael, and Moab ſaid unto the Elders of Midian, now ſhall this company lick up all that are round about us, as the Ox licketh up the
Graſs of the Field. and v. 5, 6. the words of Balak in his Meſſage to Balaam, are, Behold, there is a People come out from Aegypt: behold, they cover the face of the Earth, and they abide over againſt me, come now therefore I pray thee, curſe me this People, for they are too mighty for me: peradventure I ſhall prevail, that we may ſmite them, and that I may drive them out of the Land; for I wot, that he whom thou bleſſeſt, is bleſſed, and he whom thou curſeſt, is curſed. So that deſBalaam himſelf expreſthere was no Enchantment againſt Jacob, neither any divination againſt Iſrael. And if they were ſo little able to reſiſt them then, what ſhall we think after ſo many ſeveral ſucceeding generations, when the Children of Iſrael were for numSaul? Or how could that be thought ſo great an acceſſion to the Iſraelitiſh power and Kingdom; as that it ſhould deSaul that he ſhould be higher then Agag, there is no queſtion, as I have ſaid, a manifeſt alluſion here made to the TallSaul, and therefore if this Agag who lived in his time, were only pointed at, it would have required ſuch another deſcription of his perſon alſo, that ſo the completion of this Prophecy might the more clearly and manifeſtly appear, for to ſay, that Saul ſhould be higher then a Dwarf, or then a perſon of ordinary Stature, was cerAgag is no where deMoab were Elective, he might probably be Taller then the uſual ſort of People, for the reaſon already mentioned, and perhaps for this reaſon, for the Comelineſs of his Perſon, and the Majeſty of his Character, he was ſpared by Saul when the reſt of the
Amalekites were deſtroyed) and this is another indication that ſome other be
Thirdly, In the Book of Eſther the Story is Famous concerning Haman the Son of Hammedatha, who is frequently called the Agagite, c. 3. 1, 8. c. 8. 3, 5. c. 9. 24. in the firſtof which places for they have omitSeventy have Jews have always been in the preGreeks, or any other nation, how often it is repeated in the Hebrew, whereas it is but once mentioned in the Greek, how much more likely it is that a corruption ſhould ſteal into one place, then into four; and again how unHebrew from the Seventy, but the Seventy from the Hebrew. WhereOg, and Gog and Agag are the ſame, and
Num. 24. 7. where it is in the Hebrew, vejarim meagag malco. His King ſhall be higher then Agag. There the Seventy render it the Kingdom of Gog ſhall be exalted, where though they appear to have followed another readHebrew Copies do at preſent, and a reading certainly much inferiour to it, or rather directly oppoſite to the ſenſe of the place, yet thus much is certain, that what the Hebrew calls Agag, they have rendred by
Haman the Agagite, is as much as Haman that was deſcended of Agag, not that Agag who together with his whole Family, and conſequently his poſterity too, was deSaul and Samuel; but ſome other, and I chuſe to Interpret it of this Antidiluvian Agag or Ogyges, and that this is ſpoken of him to make him appear the more Illuſtrious, that ſo his fall in the ſequel of the Story might be the more remarkable and ſignal, and if you ſay that he alſo periſhed together with all his Family and dependents in the Floud, and therefore could leave no poſterity beNoah) that
Greeks had a Tradition among them, which, without queſtion, they received from the Eaſt, that Ogyges eſcaped in the Deluge, that happened in his time, for ſo Africanus in Euſebius ſpeaking of that Ogyges, (or as he calls him from whom the firſt deluge took
Euſeb. praep. evang. l. 10.its name, ſaith that he was ſaved, when others generally periſhed in the waters; ſo that by this TraNoah, who did really make his eſcape; but there is a Teſtimony of Cedrenus which makes him to have periſhed, and this depended upon a Tradition that made Ogyges to be a diſtinct perſon from Noah who was ſaved; by all which it appears, that the Hiſtory concerning him is, as I have already ſaid, and proved, very obſcure, confuſed and uncertain, partly by the corruption of the Tradition it ſelf, to which all Antiquity is unavoidably ſubject, and partly by the miſtakes and Anachroniſmes of the Greeks, the cauſes of which I have already partly repreſented, the words of Cedrenus are in the time of Moſes there was a certain great or Gigantick man, of the ſeed of Japheth, who being a native of Attica, reigned over it for the ſpace of thirty and two Years, his name was Ogygus, and in his time happened that Floud, which was peculiar to Attica, in which himſelf periſhed, and all that province was drowned; in which words there is nothing at all true, as I think I have already made it appear, by diſcovering the grounds of the miſtakes in them, but only that there was ſuch a man, as Ogygus or Ogyges, that he was a great or Gigantick perſon, and that a great Floud happened in his time, only when he ſaith that this Gigantick Ogygus was of the ſeed of Japheth, there ſeems in this alſo, as well as in what hath been ſaid concerning his being King of Attica and co-temporary with Moſes, to be a ſtricture of truth in the corruption it ſelf, for in the firſt place the Scripture ſpeaking of the men that lived before the Floud, ſaith expreſly, that there were Gyants in thoſe days,
Gen. 6. 4.the Sons of God, ſaw the Daughters of Men
that they were fair, in the Hebrew it is chi toboth hennab, that they were goodly or
had a goodly aſpect, and the ſenſe would have been the ſame, if it had ſaid, chi japhoth hennah, that they were fair, as our Tranſlation renders it; wherefore ſince by the Sons of God are underſtood the the Sons of the Great men or Princes of thoſe times, who did what they pleaſed without Controll, as ſome of the Ancient Interpreters have rendred it; Ogyges at this rate will be a Prince deſcended of one of thoſe Japhoth, thoſe fair ones, to whom the Sons of God went in, and begat Sons and Daughters upon them, and this is all that was at the bottom of that miſtake of the Greeks, that Ogygus was deſcended of the Family of Japheth; to confirm which yet further, it is to be obſerved, that Scripture ſtories delivered down by TraEaſt from thence, yet were not always delivered in Scripture words, but only in words of a like ſignification, or words relating to the circumſtances of the Story, as I have elſewhere obſerved out Diſcourſe of the Tetragrammaton and alſo in that of the Meſſias, c. 1.Bochartus, who took his hint from ſanchuniathon that Sarah in the Eaſtern Tradition was called Annobret, becauſe ſhe was paſt the time of Child-bearing, and Iſaac
Jachid, becauſe he was the only Son, and the like: ſo that Japhoth, being perfectly ſynonymous to Toboth, and
beauty, then the other, here is all that can be deſired to make it at leaſt a tollerable conjecture.
Again, as from Agag is Ogyges, ſo from Gog, by the Eliſion of the Guttural is Gyges, both of them the ſame perſon, as I will now prove, and as Cedrenus ſaith of Ogygus, that he was great or Gigantick perſon, ſo Ovid repreſents the Ancient Gyges, for there were ſeveral afterDe Triſtibus Eleg. 7.
— Credam prius ora MeduſaeGorgonis anguineis cincta fuiſſe comis.Et canes utero ſub virginis; eſſe ChimaeramA truce quae flammis ſeparet angue leam,Quadrupedeſquehomines cum pectore pectora junctos, • Tergeminumvirum, tergeminum que canem, que Sphinga& harpyias, ſerpentipedeſ que Gigan que tes, CentimanumGygen, ſemibovem que virum, que Haec ego cuncta prius, quàm te, cariſſime, credamMutatum & curam depoſuiſſe mei.
Where though he reckons all theſe as ſo many impoſſibilities and figments of AnGreeks; particularly, as to Gyges, when he calls him Centimanum hundred handed, it may very well be Interpreted of the exſemibovemque virum, halfe man, half Ox, may refer to the brutiſh and belluine manners of the Antiduilvian times, or rather it belongs not to Gyges at all, but to the Fabulous of Minotaur of Crete. But not to Argue from bare poſſibilities, that is, from things that are very uncertain; there is a place of Tully in his, 3d. De Officiis that will fully make it out, that Gyges and Ogyges, and that the Ogygian and the Noachic Deluge are exactly the ſame, his words are theſe: Hinc ille Gyges inducitur à Platone, qui cùm terra deceſſiſſet magnis quibuſdam imbribus, in illum hiatum deſcendit, aeneumque equum (ut ferunt fabulae) animadvertit, cujus in lateribus fores eſſent; quibus apertis mortui vidit corpus magnitudine inuſitatâ, annulumque aureum in digito, quem ut detraxit, ipſe induit, (erat autem Regius Paſtor) tunc in concilium paſtorum ſe recepit, ibi cùm palam ejus annuli ad palmam converterat, à nullo videbatur, ipſe autemomnia videbat, idem rurſus videbatur, cum in lucem annulum inverterat, itaque hâc opportunitate annuli uſus, reginae
ſtuprum intulit: eâque adjutrice, regem dominum interemit, ſuſtulit quos obſtare arbitrabatur: nec in his eum quiſquam facinoribus potuit videre, ſic repentè annuli beneficio Rex exortus eſt Lydiae. I do not ſay that there was not a certain Gyges King of Lydia, for it is certain there was, nothing is more known in the Grecian ſtory then this, and it is concerning him the Epigrammatiſt ſpoke when he ſaid,
, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Anthol. l.1., 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉
And in another Epigramme in the ſame Anthology,
But I ſay that here are two &c.
Gyges's plainly confounded together, the Ancient Gyges or antidiluvian Ogyges, with the Lydian King, and beſides, abundance of Fable into the bargain, for it is plain in the beginning of this Story, he ſpeaks of a certain Gyges, in whoſe time a great Floud happened, cùm terra magnts imbribus deceſſiſſet, which anſwers exactly to the Moſaic deſcription of the Floud of Noah, in which the rains from
In the ſix hundreth year of Noah's life, in the ſecond month, the ſeventh day of the month, the ſame day were all the fountains of the great Deep broken up, and the windows of Heaven were opened. For the Story of the ring it is all of it Fabulous, but yet ſo, as the very Fable it ſelfe diſcovers the truth, and ſhows the Story to have travelled into Greece from the Eaſt, for it proceeded only from a different underſtanding of the ſame word, which two differences were aftabah ſignifies to be immerſt or drown'd in Hebrew, and the ſame word with the addition only of an he, which can hardly be diſtinguiſhed in pronunciation ſignifies, a ring, and by this means it happened that the Floud, and the Ring came both into the ſame Story, but for the inprovements that are built upon this foundation, I am not bound to give an account of them, for the progreſs of Fables, and oftentimes their riſe too, is owing to nothing but impudence on the one hand, and credulity on the other.
For the brazen horſe which this Citation ſpeaks of, it is no other then the Ark of Noah; and whoever it was that brought
Greece, made Noah and Gyges or Ogyges to be the ſame perſon, as it is indifferent to me whether they be or no, only this in the general I contend for, that the Floud of Noah and the Deluge of Ogyges are the ſame; but now to make this out, that the brazen Horſe in this Fable, is the ſame with Noah's Ark in the reality, and truth of the Hiſtory it ſelf, it is to be conſidered what he ſays of the brazen Horſe, that it had fores in lateribus, doores in the ſides, for thus the Ark it ſelf is deGen. 6. 16. where God gives inNoah concerning the faſhion of it—A window ſhalt thou make to the Ark, and in a cubit ſhalt thou finiſh it above, and the door of the Ark ſhalt thou ſet in the ſide thereof, with lower, ſecond, and third ſtories ſhalt thou make it.
Secondly, When it is ſaid, quibus apertis vidit corpus magnitidine inuſitatâ, that, opening the doors of this houſe, he ſaw in it the body of a man of an extraordinary bulk, this is alſo literally true if you do but inhorſe he ſaw the body within, but that opening the door or window of the Ark, he ſaw the ſame without it, as Noah certainly, did when the waters were dried up, ſee many
Gigantick ſtature, accordcorpus magnitudine inuſitatâ, ſhews this Deluge to have been very Ancient, when the ſize of men was much greater, then any the Greek Hiſtories, if they will ſpeak truth, can give us an ac
Laſtly, The reaſon why this corrupt and interpolated ſtory calls the Ark a brazen horſe, is this, in Hebrew Tſi ſignifies a Ship, and ſous perhaps alſo ſis, for jod and vau, in Chalday and Hebrew at leaſt, which is no great difference, are actually exchanghorſe, and ſis at this day among the Turks, is the word for a Groom, or one that looks after horſes, to which if we add the conſihatſei gopher, gopher wood, that is, Wood daub'd over and covered with pitch, as all Ships uſe to be; the whole verſe in Hebrew runs thus, hatſei gopher tahaſeh otſoh, vecapharta otſah mibaith onmichouts bacopher, where gopher, and copher are without quſtion the ſame, as appears by the word, gaphrith which hath the ſignification of copher, and is as much
pix bitumen, ſulphur, the caph being exchanged into a gimel, a letter very nigh of kin to it, as from the Hebrew gamal, is the Greek
Latin camelus, and copher did not only ſignifie pitch, or any ſuch bituminous matter or ſubſtance, but it is alſo uſed for a certain ſweet ſmelling Flower, Cant. 1. 14. &c. 4. 14. which the Greek Interpreters in the firſt of theſe places render by Latins from the Greek call cyprus, whence becauſe of the abundance and plenty of this ſort of Flower that is to be found in it, the Iſland of Cyprus took its name, as Euſtathius and Stephanus are of opinion, and as the Iſland took its name from the Flower, ſo there is a certain ſort of Braſs, which took its name from the Iſland, which is called in Greek Cuprum or aes Cyprium, or as we call it in our LanCopper, and the Hebrews without queſtion, as they did the Cyprian Flower, and the Iſland that took its name from it, ſo they would alſo have called that ſort of Mettal which took its name from the Iſland by the name of Copher, but whether they did or no, it was obvious for the Greeks when they underſtood that the Ark was made of a certain ſubſtance which had the Epithet of Copher, to interpret it of that
Hebrew word, which was the true reaſon of this adulteration of the ſtory; and this it ſelf was enough without any likeneſs in ſound as to the words by which an Horſe and a Ship are denoted, though they are at no great diſtance from one another, to make the ſtory paſs among the Greeks rather with the circumſtance of an Horſe, then a Ship, becauſe a brazen Ship was impoſſible to conceive, and the ſtory of the Trojan horſe, which was of very great antiquity among them, was a thing that might poſſibly give credit and autho
To conclude, as from Agag, is Ogyges, and from Gog by the Eliſion of the guttuGyges, ſo from the name Gyges, is the Greek
Latin Gigas; and to reGreek
Hebrew quieſcent, and is actually cut off in Anthology, for Anceſtors or Progenitors, whence the word Cocytus, is derived, and
Etymology, neither as I preſume, will any man elſe, who hath been converſant about ſuch matters; though I perceive Claudian was of another mind, and therefore I am not ſoll. 2. in Rufinum
and ſuch another paſſage there is in his 2d. Eſt locus infauſtis quo conciliantur in unum
Cocytos Pblegethon
Alveus, hic volvit lachrymas, hic igne redundat.
De raptu Proſerpinae: but whether this conDeucalions Floud, as well as I have done of that of Ogyges that it was the ſame with Noahs, becauſe by this means there will be a ſtrong current of antiquity, and an unanimous conſent of ſacred and profane Authors together, for the aſſerting the truth of ſuch an univerDeucalion that I have done of Ogyges, viz. that his Floud and Noahs were the ſame. And I begin with the words of our Country-man Mr. Lloyd, the late learnCharles Stephans his Geographical and Poetical Dictionary, whoſe words under the word Deucalion are very remarkable and ſufficient of themſelves to demonſtrate all that I intend, they are theſe: Haec fabula Poetica, ſub verborum & nominum involucris veram univerſalis diluvii à Moſe Dei ſervo deſcriptam hiſtoriam propoſuit, & artibus Satanae factum eſt, ut quaecunque in ſacrâ hiſtoriâ occurrerent, Ethnicorum figmentis in fabellas verterentur: Apud Lucianum libello de
extat locus, ex quo manifeſtum eſt per diluvium Deucalionis intelligi, non inundationem illam quâ olim Graecia abſorpta eſt, ſed diluvium univerſale quod fuit Noae temporibus. Quinetiam Plutarchus libello de animalium induſtriâ, ſcribit columbam ex arcâ Deucalionis emiſſam attuliſſe indicium recedentis diluvii. Secondly, The old Scholiaſt upon Homer citeing Apollodorus for his Author, tells us that when Jupiter had reſolved to deſtroy the Brazen Age or Generation of Men, Deucalion by the council and inſtigation of Prometheus built an Ark, Al the Arabian
Hebrew Aron ſignifying an Ark, and this confirms what I have ſaid, that Scripture Traditions, that is, Traditions that were got into the Heathen World, and were derived from thence, were frequently deNoah built an Ark, and that he did it by the exAnd God ſaid unto Noah the end of all fleſh is come before me, for the Earth is filled with violence through them; and behold I will deſtroy them with the Earth, make thee an Ark of Gopherwood. And when Deucalion in the Fable is ſaid to have done this by the inſtigation of Prometheus (Prometheus is that name of God by which his providence and wiſdom is denoted, and that ſometimes in the Heathen Mythology, however diſguiſed and adulterated with inconſiſtent and ridiculous Fables, Prometheus was no other then the Supreme Numen, appears by this, that the ſame things are attributed to him, which are aſcribed to God in Scripture, as his ſtealing fire from Heaven to animate his firſt man, which is an argument that he himſelf was
ſtolen, with reverence be it ſpoken, out of the Hiſtory of the Creabreath'd the niſhmath chajim, the breath of life into Adam, and ſo likewiſe his making the firſt man of the duſt of the Earth, of which all the Ancient Poets are ſo full, is manifeſtly Tranſcribed from the ſame Original. Laſtly, The Fable of the Vulture or Eagle perpetually knawing upon his Liver, without being ever able to deHierogliphick Myſteries of the Eaſt, from whence this Fable was derived, have repreſented as done by way of punHieroglyphical or Symbolical adumbration of the Eternity of the Divine Nature, and of its neceſſary or ſelf exiſtence; for this Vultur or Eagle, is Time, which is as it were, perpetually preying upon the EterHeſiods deſcription of the thing, who tells us, that matters were ſo ordered, that whatſoever the Eagle ate in the day-time, was repaired in the night, where ſpeaking concerning this Hieroglyphick Eagle, he ſays,
— 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉
But what Heſiod calls an Eagle, Petronius will have to be a Vultur, in Hendecaſyllabo.
And the meaning of Cur Vultur Jecur ultimum pererrat,
Et pectus trahit intimaſque Fibras?
Heſiod, when he ſays that reparation was made in the night, for what was conſumed in the day, is to be explained by the courſe of the Sun, which ſets out freſh and luſty every mornis, as the Pſaimiſt excellently words it, as a Bridegroom coming out of his Chamber, and rejoyceth as a ſtrong Man to run a race, but when he is got to his Meridian he begins to decline, he is firſt, as it were, hot and fiery, and then, having ſpent his vigor, languiſhing and faint, till the day is concluded by the night, and time it ſelf ſeems to be at an end; but the next morning theſe decays and wearineſſes are again repayred, and he ſets out as freſh and vigorous as ever, which is a very plain and natural explication of this place of Heſiod, and ſhowes Prometheus to have been the ſame with the Sun, who was worſhipped by all the Idolatrous Nations for the Supreme Numen, no wonder therePrometheus.
And by this diſcription of Prometheus (which I confeſs ſuppoſes the Eternity of this Univerſe, as it is now ordered and framed, at leaſt à parte poſt, but that is not to the purpoſe) we ſee what notion the Ancients had of Eternity, namely that it was not a ſtanding or quieſcent, but a ſucceſſive duration, notwithſtanding that our Schoolmen will not hear of any ſuch thing, and as they thought of duration that it was ſucceſſive, ſo of the Divine NaPlato and Ariſtotle and other Scholaſticks began by ſubtleties while they pretended, and per
Furthermore, As the gnawing of the Eagle or Vultur ſignifyed, without queſtiſucceſſion of an Eternal duration, ſo the Pillar to which Prometheus was tied, ſignified the ſtability, the ſtrength and laſtingneſs, and never failing Eternity of that ſucceſſion, and the Cords or Bands with which he was tied to it, was the
Immortality or permanency of the Divine Nature, which is commenſurate with, and cloſely linked to, the utmoſt poſſibility of the moſt unbounded, unfathomable, and bottomleſs duration; and the Mountain Caucaſus upon which the Poets feigned him to lie bound, is another indication that by Prometheus they underſtood the Sun, by reaſon of the great, and as it is uſually repreſented the Fabulous height of that Mountain, which was ſo great that Philoſtratus in his Second De Vitâ Apollonii, hath had the impudence to report that the top of it does, as it were, paſs through the Sun, and ſeems to divide it into two parts.
I will not deny that I have a ſhrew'd ſuſpition, that it was the opinion of the ancient World as farr as from the firſt behoſt of Heaven) which is very ancient, that all vitality and life, nay, ſo much as thought and ſpeculation themPrometheus his ſtealing fire from Heaven, which was that divinae aurae particula, or in the Language of the Scripture that Niſhmath chajim, that breath of life, by which the firſt Mortals
Moſes, that God made the World in ſix days, which they ſo interpreted, by diſtinguiſhday and night from one another, as indeed hereb does properly ſignifie that time, when things are mixt and confounded, and cannot be diſtinguiſht from one anoſix days work, as if in the night the Opificer had reſted (as he did afterwards upon the ſeventh day) which was always thought to be the Suns method, to work in the day and to repoſe and cool himſelf in his WeſtAntipodes were diſcovered, and that opinion vaniſht, together with the errour by which it was occaſioned, not that they looked upon all things to have come by chance as the Democriticks and Epicureans afterwards did, for this in compariSun and the Stars, that they were wiſe and underſtanding beings, and that they did not only ſee all things that happened upon Earth, but that they
See Dr. More in his immortality of the Soul, and myſtery of Godlineſs, and in his defence against Butler.from Sto be for ſignes, and for ſeaſons, and for days, and for years, which expreſſions in the Moſaic writings derived from the Cabbala of Aſtrology, as I have elſewhere noted; yet it is enough that their moſt plain, obvious, and eaſie ſenſe is not this, and that we are aſſured from other conſiderations, that Aſtrology is as vain as the pretenders to it, and that the predicting tribe are now themſelves of opinion that the Sun and the Stars are ſtark blind, in the middeſt of all the wonderful diſcoveries, which they have made by their light; but enough of this,
Prometheus was, that he was the Sun, who was worſhipped by Idolatrous Antiquity as the Supreme Numen, and that by his imDeucalion was perſwaded to build him an Ark, as Noah did by the Command of God, ſo that theſe things have a perfect reſemblance, and hitherto there is a very fair correſpondence of the Stories of Deucalion and Noah with one another.
Nay, in the Third place, there is not only mention made in the profane AntiDeucalions Ark, but alſo of the mountain upon which it reſted, as the Scripture tells us it reſted upon the Mountain of Ararat, for ſo Juvenal ſpeaks,
— Deucalion, Nimbis tollentibus aequor,Navigio montem aſcendit, ſorteſque popoſcit,Paulatimque animâ caluerunt mollia ſaxa,Et maribus nudas oſtendit Pyrrha puellas.
Fourthly, What Juvenal ſpeaks in the latter part of this citation, which is more or leſs inſiſted upon by almoſt all the Poets, that Deucalion and Pyrrha by caſtEben is Aben is Filius, both of them conſiſting of exactly the ſame Letters, and both of them derived from the ſame Root, banah, which is indiffeHebrew to building and generation, which gave occaſion to the Tradition, that they begat or produced Children by caſting of Stones, for Children and Stones are both of them in the plural called Abanim; and from hence, becauſe of the likeneſs or rather ſameneſs of theſe two words, Ben or Aben and Eben, proJews, expreſſing the extent and largeneſs of the Divine Power, to which nothing is inacceſſible or impracticable, which does not imply a contradiction to be done, Matth. 3. 9. Think not to ſay within your ſelves, we have Abraham for our Father, for I ſay unto you that God is able of theſe Stones to raiſe up Children unto Abraham,
For if it be true that the Goſpel of St. Matthew was Originally written in Hebrew, an Hebrew Copies of it extant at this day, then the beauty of this ſentence conſiſted in this, that banim and abanim chimed to one
Greeks call Latins adnominatio, and to which the Hebrews are wonderfully addicted, as in that place of Geneſis concerning the Ark, which hath been already produced, hatſei gopher tahaſeh othah, vecaphartu othah mibaith oumichouts bachopher, but more eſpecially in another, where the chiming is admirable to conſider, he that ſpilleth Mans Blood, by Man ſhall his Blood be ſpilt, in the Hebrew it is, ſhophek dam haadam baadam damo jiſhaphek. And the attending with good heed and judgment to this one thing, that is, to the different acceptation of words, which, being altogether the ſame or very like in ſound, have yet notwithHeathen Mythology, which are not yet underſtood for want of this one obſervation.
Fifthly, The Scholiaſt upon Homer does not only ſay, as Iuvenal does that the Ark being carryed upon the Water, reſted at laſt upon the top of a Mountain, and he names Parnaſſus, according to the ignoGreeks, who applyOgyges, and is ſtill further exemplified in
Deucalion, but he expreſſes the time of its toſſing and fluctuation upon the Waters, after ſuch a manner as gives us to perceive, from whence the relation was Originally taken, for nine days and as many nights. I know the Scripture tells us that it rained upon the Earth in the times of Noah's Floud, for fourty days and fourty nights, and that the Ark was floting upon the Wanine days and nine nights, as the Scripture ſaith, fourty days and fourty nights, which is plainly an Oriental mode of expreſſion, and the one is borrowed from the other, for the Greek Language would have expreſſed all this by twenty four hours, unleſs when the day and night are oppoſed to one another, as in the citation of Heſiod above produced, or ſomeSun above the Horizon, and for the difference of the numbers, it is nothing to the pur
Sixthly, The firſt thing which Apollodorus in the Scholiaſt makes Deucalion to have done, after the Waters were dryed up and he came out of his Ark, is to pay his thanks for his deliverance by a SacriJupiter, or God that. had diſſipated and driven away the WaNoah did, after he came out of his Ark, when the Waters were dryed up, Gen. 8. 20. he builded an Altar unto the Lord, and took of every clean Beaſt, and of every clean Fowl, and offered burnt Offerings on the Altar.
But Seventhly, There is ſtill another place of the ſame
Scholiaſt upon Homer, which is more to the purpoſe, then, or at leaſt as much as, all that hath been already ſpoken, it is upon Il.
Upon which place the Scholiaſt puts this queſtion, What is the ſtory of this Dodonean Juand what is the place from whence he received this name; to which queſtion he returns this anſwer, alledging Thraſibulus for his Author, after the Floud which happened in his time, having got ſafe upon the firm Land of Epirus, preached, or raProphecyed in or by an Oak, and by the admonition or Counſel of an Oraculous Dove, having gathered together ſuch as were ſaved from the Floud, made them to inhabit together in a certain Place or Country,
which from Jupiter and Dodone, one of the Sea Nymphs, or one of the Daughters of Oceanus, they called Dodone; in which words there are ſeveral things very worAnachroniſm in the Greek Story, as I ſhall ſhew manifeſtly there is another very great one by and by, then it is true of Noah, what Thraſybulus in this Relation aſcribes to Deucalion,
that he Preached or Prophecyed by or under an Oak or Tree, not after the Flood, as this Story would have it, but before it, for ſo St. Peter expreſly calls him, a Preacher of Righteouſneſs, 2 Pet. 2. 5. and in the Firſt Epiſtle, c. 3. 19, 20. ſpeaking of the Spirit of Chriſt, he ſays, by which (Spirit) alſo he went and Preached unto the Spirits in
See my Diſcourſe of the Meſſias, c. 1.Priſon, which ſometime were diſobedient, when once the long ſuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, when the Ark was a preparing; which words are to be underNoah Preaching by the Spirit of Chriſt, to the Spirits in Priſon, that is, not which were ſo then, but were ſo for their diſobedience when this Epiſtle was Written, and long before it, and contiProphecy, being Acted and Poſſeſſed by a Divine, or reputedly Divine Spirit, which the Ancient Mortals uſed to do with ſo much Zeal, and ſo Enthuſiaſtick, and Rapturous a concern, that they difEliſha to Anoint Jehu, 2 Kings 9. 11. where one of the Captains of the Hoſt puts this Queſtion, Wherefore came this Mad fellow to thee? and it is cerGreek, which is the moſt Ancient name of a Prophet or inſpired perſon, is from inſanio, and the Ancient Prieſteſſes of Bacchus, were for the ſame reaſon called Latin Authors, are called Lymphatici, Ceriti (that is, acti à cerere) Furore, vel aeſtro perciti, and by the Greeks,
Noah was not believed when he foretold the Deluge to
Madman than a Prophet.
But yet I do not ſo wholly confine the Prophetick Spirit of Noah to the times beSee my Diſcourſe of the Meſſias, c. 1.9th. of Gen. upon occaſion of Cham's diſrev. 24, 25, 26, 27. And Noah awoke from his Wine, and knew (by that Prophetick Spirit, wherewith he was then Acted) what his younger Son had done unto him, and he ſaid, Curſed be Canaan, a Servant of Servants
ſhall he be unto his Brethren, and he ſaid bleſſed be the Lord God of Shem and Caſhall be his Servant; God ſhall enlarge Japhet and he ſhall dwell in the Tents of Shem, and Canaan ſhall be his Servant. It is true therefore that Noah was a Prophet, that is, a Preacher of Righteouſneſs, and praemoniſher of things to come, both beDeucalion given by Thraſybulus, and though it be true that the great and principal part of his Prophetick Miniſtry was tranſacted in the times before the Flood, yet, for ought I know, this AuCham is prophetically blaſted and accurſed, and Sem and Japhet are pronoun
For Secondly, Which is the ſecond thing obſervable in the Words of the Scholiaſt, it is not only ſaid in general of Deucalion, that he was a Propbet, but that he did Prophecy by or under ſome Oak, or other tall and ſpreading Tree, for the Text tells us that this thing happened while Noah was in his Tent, Gen. 9. 20, 21. Noah began to
be an Husbandman, and he planted a Vineyard, and he drank of the Wine and was drunken, and he was uncovered within his Tent, Now it is to be obſerved that the firſt Mortals were uſed to pitch their Tents in Shady and Woody places, for the greatJuvenal ſpeaks of the Reign of Saturn and the Golden Age,
Sylveſtrem montana torum cùm ſterneret uxor
Frondibus & culmo.—
And Macrobius ſpeaking of the moſt AnciCùm rudes primum homines & incuriâ ſylveſtri non multum à ferarum aſperitate diſſimiles meminerit vel fabuletur antiquitas, nec hunc eis, quo nunc utimur, victum fuiſſe, ſed glande prius & baccis altos, ſerò ſperâſſe de ſulcis alimoniam—but what is ſtill more to the purpoſe it is ſaid of Abraham, Gen. 13. 18. that he removed his Tent and came and dwelt in the Plain, of Mamre; where the Seventy have it, c. 14. 13. ſpeaking of the ſame Perſon, c. 18. 1. we find him to have had Communion
Deucalion is ſaid to have Prophecyed Seventy Interpreters above all others that have ever appeared, their conſtancy in the rendition of this word, and that in all theſe places the word occurs in the PluBeelonei Mamre, it will be more rational for us to follow their exRabbinical and other Modern Expoſitors, and to InterBeth, could not be rendered by Latin propè or juxtà, as the Seventy have done, but only by the Prepoſition in, which would indeed have made the place abſurd, as if the Tent of Abraham wherein he and his numerous Family had their HabiElan in Chalday, is rendred by the Rabbinical Interpreters themſelves by Arbor, and the ſame without queſtion is the ſignification of Elon in Hebrew, not for any Tree in general, but more eſpeciOak, under which as being the
Pliny ſpeaking expreſly of the Druids, who dec. 44. Roborum eligunt lucos nec ulla ſacra ſine eâ fronde conficiunt, and from thence the Luci in Latin had their name à lucendo, from the Light and Blaze which the Sacrifices afforded. Elon thereEl Deus, as much as to ſay the Tree of God, as Alah which is rendred by execratus eſt, juravit, adjuravit, is from the ſame root, and is as much as to Swear by God, and to call down the Divine Vengeance in Caſe of Perjury and falſe Swearing, and hence it is that the Oak among the Greeks and Romans was arbor Jovi ſacra, Dedicated and devoted to the Service of God, as the Holly ſeems to have been of later times and from thence it had its name, being nownes, are alſo rendred by Querand from the latter in the Plural is found Elim, which differs but very little in ſound from Elohim, and does very ſtrongly patronize this conjecture.
ſacra arbor, and the confounding of theſe three following wordstoEl, and Elon and
heljon, which is the Name of God in the Story of Melchiſedeck, gave occaſion to the Fable that Mankind, whom the ScripOaks cleft in ſunder, according to that paſſage in the Anthology which I have already pointed at, and will now cite,
And Juvenal ſpeaks alſo to the ſame pur
Where when he ſays that they were Quippe aliter tunc or be novo caelo
Vivebant bomines, qui rupto robore nati,
Compoſitique luto, nullos habuere parentes.
luto compoſiti, the Original of this is well enough known, and hath been already acluto compoſiti, yet thus they received it from Graecia mendax, the great depraver of all Hiſtory, and who was her ſelf as often deceived as ſhe impoſed upon others, as in this and other inſtances which I have produced:
Hebrew Elon or Elan, by the Addition of a b or g, as from the Latin uro is buſtum, is the common Greek
Aeolick
Latin glans, ſignifying an Acorn or the Fruit of the Oak.
Thirdly, As a third obſervable from theſe words of the Scholiaſt upon Homer, or of Thraſybulus from whom he borrows them, it is to be obſerved, that he alſo takes notice of the Dove or Pigeon, which was ſo remarkable a circumſtance in the Hiſtory of the Flood, &c. that by the Oracle or indication of a Dove he ſetled a Colony, and together with thoſe others that had eſcaped the Deluge took up his Habitation in a certain place, which from Jupiter and Dodona one of the Sea Nymphs, or one of the Daughters of Oceanus he called Dodona: now this Oracle of the Dove is nothing elſe, but that Noah made uſe of this Animal, to know whether or no, and when and how far the Waters were abated, firſt he ſent out a Raven from which he had no intelligence, becauſe it returned no more, for it is ſaid that it went forth to and fro, until the Waters were dried up from off the Earth, Gen. 8. 7. not but that the Waters muſt at that time be ſupv. 8, 9. that he ſent forth a Dove from him to ſee if the Waters were abated from off the face of the Ground, but the Dove found no reſt for the ſole of her Foot, and ſhe returned unto him into the Ark; and v. 10, 11. and he ſtayed yet other ſeven days, and again, he ſent forth the Dove out of the Ark, and the Dove came into him in the Evening, and lo, in her mouth was an Olive-leafe pluckt off, ſo Noah knew that the Waters were abated from off the Earth, becauſe the Olive was a Tree of no conſiderable height, and the Dove a ſort of Bird that is not found to Perch or reſt it ſelf upon any ſort of Tree, from which two things compared together he
v. 12. He ſtayed yet other ſeven days, and ſent forth the Dove which returned not again unto him any more; by which Noah underſtood now, that the Ground was dry, as before, and that the Dove had not only a place for the ſole of her Foot, but alſo met with Food and ſubv. 13. That Noah removed the covering of the Ark, and behold the face of the Ground was dry, and this I think does as plainly confirm and explain the the Oracle of Deucalions Dove, which taught him when and where to come out of his Ark, and betake himſelf again to the dry Land, as it is poſſible for any two agreeing Stories in Antiquity, to explain, confirm or vindicate one another.
But Fourthly, The fourth thing to be obſerved from theſe words, is that Deucalion called this place, where he and the reſt that had eſcaped came out of the Ark, and as it ſeems pitched a Tent and took their Abode, at leaſt for ſome certain time, in it, by the Name of Dodona, which Dodona, if we can give a clear and intelligible account, who or what it was, or why ſo called, this will give new light to the
Deucalion, and may perhaps conNoah were the ſame: the Scholiaſt here tells us, the place was ſo calJupiter and Dodona, but why from Jupiter I pray? when Dodone is ſufficient, for there is the whole name of the one in the other, ſo that if this pretended Nymph gave name to the place, there is no need of Jupite
or any other to help her in it, ſince the names of the Place and the Nymph, are both of them exactly and to a Letter the ſame; but here we ſee a manifeſt inſtance of the IgnoGreeks, and of their corrupEaſt, for want of underſtanding the Language in which they were delivered, for it is true, as the Greeks did ſtill retain a ſmattering of the buſineſs, that Dodona was ſo called word, but the perſon ſo called, who is in Hebrew called Adonai, and by the Carthaginians or Phaenicians Donai, as I have proved elſewhere from that ſalutation of Plautus in his Penulus
Avo Donni, and from thence by a reduplication is Dodone, for a place DeJupiter, or of the Supreme God, as from the Hebrew Tor is the Latin Turtur, and this is certain
Noah did after he came to Land, was to do Sacrifice, and uſually ſuch places by vertue of any Sacrifice at any time Offered, retained their name and Conſecration for ever after; ſo Jacob when he Conſecrated Bethel by pouring Oyl upon the Stone which he had uſed for his Pillow, the Conſecration ſeems to have remained for ever, for ſo the words of Jacob ſeem to entimate, Gen. 28. 22. This Stone which I have ſet up for a Pillar ſhall be God's houſe: and of all that thou ſhalt give me, I will ſurely give the tenth unto thee, and the ſame is to be ſeen in the Hiſtory of Abraham, of whom it is ſaid, Gen. 12. 8. that, he removed from thence, (viz. from the plain of In Hebrew it is Elon Moreh, and the 70.
Moreh, v. 6.) unto a Mountain on the Eaſt of Bethel, and pitched his Tent, having Bethel on the Weſt, and Hai on the Eaſt: and there builded he an Altar unto the Lord, who appeared unto him, and again, c. 13. v. 3, 4. and he (Abraham) went on his journeys from the South even to Bethel, unto the place where his Tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Hai, unto the place of the Altar which he had made there at the firſt: and there Abraham called
on the Name of the Lord, by which it is plain that this place being once ſet apart by Abraham for the performance of ReliAbraham called the Altar which he built and the place in which it ſtood, Gen. 22. 14. (upon which his Son Iſaac was to have been Sacrificed) Jehovahjireh, and Moſes upon Gods promiſe to deſtroy and root out Amalek, Exod. 17. v. 14, 15. built an Altar and called the name of it Jehovah niſſi, for he ſaid, v. 16. becauſe the Lord hath Sworn, that the Lord will have War with Amalek from generation to generation, and Gideon upon the Angel of the Lord ſaluting him, and ſaying, peace be unto thee, Jud. 6. 23. and ſo removing the conſternation he was in v. 22. Alaſs O Lord God, for becauſe I have
ſeen an Angel of the Lord face to face (therefore I ſhall ſurely die) built an Altar in the ſame place unto the Lord, v. 24. and called it Jehovah-ſhalom, and the Text goes on to tell us, unto this day it is yet in Ophrah of the Abiezrites, he does not mean that the place ſtands ſtill where it was, which it will certainly do as long as the World endures, but that the Altar was ſtill to be ſeen at the time when that Book was Written, and that the memory of what had happened was carryed on by Tradition to ſucceeding Generations.
Wherefore the Altar which Noah built and the Sacrifice which he Offered upon it, being perhaps upon the moſt memoraEaſt, and could not but be perpetuated by ſome name or other, expreſſing the occaſion and meaning of its Conſecration, and this as I have ſaid might be Dodone or Dodonai by reaſon of its being ſet apart to the SerSupreme Numen, by whom both the Flood was brought upNoah, his Family and poſterity from it was graEtymology yet behind, which is both more expreſſive, and more natural than the former, when the Sacrifice of clean Beaſts and Fowls had been Offered upon the Altar, it is ſaid, Gen. 9. 21. that the Lord ſmelt a ſweet ſavor, and the Lord ſaid in his heart, I will not again curſe the Ground any more for Mans ſake, &c. ſo that Dodone is plainly as much as Doddonai, beloved of God, as this place above all others might well deſerve to be called, in which God accepted ſo graciouſly the firſt Sacrifice after the Flood, and was reconciled to Mankind upon it.
I am not poſitive that it was called thus by Noah himſelf, it is enough if it had any other Name of an aequipollent or Synonymous notion, as Jacobs Gal heed, and the Chaldeans Jegar ſahadutha were the ſame; as the Phaenician Annobret, and Sarah and Iſaac among the Hebrews, and the Name of this Altar might poſſibly be Jehovah ſhalom, as that of Gideon was called, or Jehovah Jariach, the Lord ſmelt, meaning what follows, eth riach hanichach, a ſweet ſavor, or a ſmell of reſt, with alluſion to the Name of Noah, and this by the Phaenicians might be called by the Eliſion of the Aleph out of Adonai, according to their Cuſtom, (which is ſtill a further confirmation of my Etymology of Chaldean Saroas) Doddonai, that is, haſor by the Eliſion of the guttural.
beloved of God. But yet the Phaenicians, though they did ſometimes curtail the Hebrew Adon, or Adonac, yet this was not perpetual among them, ſometimes they pronounced it at length, as From
is the Latiu ſtella qu. ſterula.Greek are the ſame, and ſo Heſychius explains it without the omiſſion of the Guttural as a Phaenician word Greeks received as well the Name as Worſhip of Adonis. again, I deny not that there was
Epirus as Dodone, only I ſay it was a Colony of Phaenicians, and was built in memory of that deliverance from the univerſal deluge which happened in the time of Noah or Deucalion, and had its name from that other Dodona or Doddonai which Noah himſelf conſecrated by eYork and Boſton in New-England are ſo called in remembrance and imitation of the ſame Names and places here at home, and for the proof of this, it is ſufficient to conſider, Firſt, That Bochartus a Man of ſingular knowledge in this ſort of Antiquities, tells us expreſly that the Iſlands adjacent to the main Land of Epirus were Anciently Planted and InhabitPhaenicians, and therefore it is very likely the diſtance being ſo very ſmall, that they Landed upon the continent likewiſe. Secondly, that the Scholiaſt ſo often cited, tells us, that the place took its name Etymology ſo natural, that nothing can be more, ſo it is to be conſidered, that not onPhaenicians, but the Greeks themCarthaginian ſaAvo Donni, contract and cut off the firſt Letter of Adonis, only upon this acTheocritus.
Fourthly, as another indication that this Dodona had its Name Scholiaſt expreſſes it, we find no mention of Dodona in Antiquity, but there is a connexion of Jupiter together with it, ſometimes Dodona is made to be a Perſon, and then ſhe is the Daughter of Jupiter and Europa, ſometimes it is a City of Chaonia in Epirus, and then we are told, that the place was Conſecrated to Jupiter, and that there was a Wood hard by it which conſiſted all of Oaks, which was Jupiters Tree, as hath been already proved and explained, and Herodotus hath delivered it as the report of AnOraculous or Prophetick Pigeons or Doves, which though he explains by ſaying, that in Theſſaly they were uſed Anciently to call Soothſaying or cunning Women by the Name of Herodotus his telling, who does not always tell truth, notwithNoah and Ducalion, that this is only a traditionary relick of the Ark, and of the Dove that was ſent forth from it, which Ark was probably built of Oak (for the Gopher Wood in the Hebrew is indifferent to any ſort of Pitched Wood Seventy after all that Iſaac Voſſius hath offered concerning it; may be explained of any ſort of plained Wood whatſoever, which is by that means made quadrangular) the Oak by its natural ſtrength and firmNoah and his Family from it, and as the Ship was probably built of Oak, ſo the Dove that was in it, though it was not reGreeks, and perhaps even among the Eaſterlings themſelves, at a con
Fifthly, As a Fourth indication of the ſame thing, that
Dodone was Greek, but an ExoScboliaſt ſaith of her, that ſhe was Sea Nymphs, or one of the Daughters of the Ocean, which is not inconſiſtent with what was ſaid before, that ſhe was the Daughter of Jupiter too, but only the meaning is, that this Name Travelled by Sea into Greece, as all things that came that way, before the Art of Navigation was known, and when the Sea was thought to be the boundary of Nature, (as Seneca expreſſes it upon occaAlexanders deliberating with himClymene the
Japetus is by, Heſiod in Apollodorus, l. 2. c. 1. concerInachus that the was the Son of Oceanus and Tethys, our Learned Dr. Gale
hoc ideo finxerunt Greci quoniam navi in Pelopanneſum venit—
Theogonie called born or bred of, or belonging to the Ocean,
For I ſhall ſhow by and by, what in the Mythology of the Ancients was meant by Clymene, and that this very word and the whole ſtory concerning Japetus and Clymene is of Eaſtern Growth.
Sixthly, as the Sixth and Laſt obſervable from theſe words of Thraſybulas in the Scholiaſt upon Homer, I would have it taken notice of, that when he ſaith of Ducalion, that he did after the Floud Hebrew Alah or Elon, and is as much as to ſay the Tree of God, or the Oak under which the moſt AnPatriarchs were uſed to pitch their Tents, and though I am not ſoliciDeucalion be in the reality of the thing, placed before or after the Floud, knowing how ſubject and prone the Greeks are in matters of ſo remote Antiquity to miſtakes and Anachroniſms concerning them, and though it may be ſaid, that all the taller and more ſpreading ſort of Trees were deScholiaſt, that there are ſome exceptions of neceſſity to be admitted, from what hath been ſaid above concerning the Ravens not returning to the Ark; that the Oak, by reaſon of its natural firmneſs and large ſpreading Root, was perhaps the fitteſt to withſtand the force of this univerſal deluge; that the preſſure of the Water was lateral and in a manner equal on all ſides, as Mr. Boyle hath obſerved and proved in his Hydroſtaticks, of common Waters not determined any whither in a certain Stream or ChanHook in his Micrography imputes to this, that by reaſon of the great weight of the ſuperincumbent Water, the Salt particles are ſqueezed upwards, and the pure aqueous parts are brought ſo cloſe toSaline any longer, and if this be the caſe of Water it ſelf, a thing
Holland and the Fenny parts of England are, are uſually plain and flat, becauſe of this preſſure of the Water, which was once equal and of long contiAegypt it ſelf, as large a Tract of Ground as it is, was once recovered out of the Water, or at leaſt was forſaken by it, becauſe of its flat and equal Soil: not that I believe the force of any Floud to be ſuch, as that it ſhall turn a Mountainous Country into a plain, but it is ſufficient in general to ob
To all which it is to be added, that it is certain that Noah pitched his firſt Tent there where the Ark it ſelf reſted, and where he came out of it, when the Waters were aſſwaged, and this was upon the MounArarat, upon the top of which the Waters could not have any thing near ſo much force, as in the Plains underneath, where there was a ſo much greater weight of ſuperincumbent Waters, beſides that it was ſo much the longer before theſe places were overflown, and in proportion to their height they were ſo much the ſooner dry, than other places, neither could the Waters fall with ſo great force upon them, as upThat God made a Wind to paſs upon the Earth and the Waters aſſwaged, this Wind, as it muſt be acknowArarat upon which the Ark reſted almoſt Three Months before the tops of the other Mountains were ſeen, and almoſt Five Months before the Ground was wholNoah did firſt pitch his Tent upon a Mountain, and particularly upon that of Ararat, is plain from this, not only that the Ancient Patriarchs and firſt Mortals were uſed to Inhabit upon ſuch Mountainous places, for the conveNoah ſhould chuſe ſuch a place for his firſt Habitation, Firſt, Becauſe it was moſt wholeſome, conſidering the Damps which the Earth had contracted by ſo long an inundation: and Secondly, Becauſe, otherwiſe we muſt ſuppoſe Noah not to have ſtirred out of his Ark for Two Months and an half after ſhe ſtruck upon the Land, and by conſeqence to have deArarat, which are repreſented as the higheſt of all, did thereHomer deſcribes Oaks upon the top of Mountains, as ſtandIl.
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But as I ſaid before, ſo I ſay ſtill, I am not ſollicitous for the credit of Thraſybulus as to this particular, whether John a Nokes or Deucalion, who is ſaid to have PropheThraſybulus produced by the Scholiaſt upon Homer, and for that other cited out of Apollodorus,
ed. Paris. 1675.Apollodorus his Bibliocheca.
But there are ſtill Two other reſemblanDeucalion and Noah, which I have not yet mentioned, the Firſt is this, the Scripture ſaith of Noah, Gen. 6. 9. Noah was a juſt Man and perfect in his Generation, and Noah walked with God, and ſo Ovid ſaith of Deucalion and Pyrrha his Wife,
And with theſe Two Non illo melior quiſquam nec amantior equi,
Metam. l. 1.Vir fuit aut illâ reverentior ulla Deorum.
Lucian exactly agrees T. 2. p. 883. ed. Solmurii, 1619.De Deâ Syriâ,
was the only perſon that was left to the ſecond Generation or the Generation after the Floud, for
the ſake of his piety and his wiſdom, and then deſcribing the manner of his deliverance, he does it almoſt in ſuch terms, as if he had tranſcribed it from the Original of Moſes himſelf, in theſe words, the manner of Deucalions eſcape was this, he betook himſelf to a large Ark or Ship which he had, and cauſed his Women & Children to do the ſame, and he was followed by Hogs, and Horſes, and Lyons, and Serpents, and all other Animals that breed and feed upon the Earth, which entred into his Ark two by two, and he received them all, who did him no hurt, laying by their fierce and Savage nature, and maintaining an entire friendſhip both with him and one another, ſo that they all Sailed in the ſame Ark together, ſo long as the Waters prevailed. This is what the Greeks have recorded concerning Deucalion, where when he ſays that all Animals entered into the Ark by two's, the thing ſpeaks for it ſelf, and tells us undenyably from whence the Greeks
Seavens which is the number of each ſpecies of the clean Beaſts and Birds that entred into the Ark, it was manifeſtly for this and no other reaſon, that the Greeks had no ſuch diſtinction aclean and unclean in the ſeveral ſpecies, and that the propagaclean with the unclean Animals themſelves, that Two of them only were preſerved meerly upon account of propagation, if nothing elſe had been to be conſidered, but the odd one of each kind was to be for a Sacrifice, as it afterwards proved, when Noah came out of the Ark, and the other Four were added in regard of the great conſumption and expence which there was to be afterwards of the clean ſpecies, as well for Sacrifice as Food for ever, not but that in reality the Greeks had ſuch a diſtinction of clean and unclean among them, for we do not find that the unclean kind were uſed in the Sacrifice and very rarely in the Food of any nation, as I have obſerved already, in the beginning of this Treatiſe, but I ſay, they did not attend to this diſtinction, neither had they any ſuch expreſs and explicit par
Further Lucian, as well as Thraſybulus
Jaiim is vinu
and jonak in Hebrew is columba, which likeneſs of ſound made ſome attribute the Dove to Pachus.
Dove, with reference to the Floud, though he ſeems not to have underſtood it himſelf, p. 903. ib. where ſpeaking of a certain Image or Statue he ſays Semiramis is, Semiramis was WorſhipDove, but it is maDeucalion as well as her, and that it was the Dove made it ſuſpected to be Deucalions Image.
Again, It is further obſervable in Lucian, what he ſays concerning the manner of the Floud it ſelf, which agrees very well with the Moſaic deſcription, and with the ſtory of Gyges above mentioned out of Cicero, and by him Tranſcribed out of Plato in his 2d. De Rep.
the Earth guſhed out with abundance of Water, and great Rains deſcended from above, as alſo great Rivers or currents from the higher Grounds, and the Sea overflowed its banks, till all things were covered and immerſt in Water; and all that Generation was deſtroyed.
Good and Virtuous perſon which Ovid and Lucian have given of Deucalion, is likewiſe allow'd him by Apollonius the writer of the Argonauticks, who gives him the Title of l. 3.
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Where wen he ſays that Deucalion was the firſt that built Cities and Temples, and that he was the firſt Monarch, this muſt be underſtood of the Period after the Floud, for there were Kings and Cities, and the true God, to ſay nothing of Idolatry, was Worſhipped by Adam, by Cain and Abel, by Seth and Enos, and others before it, but all that Period, though it were not utterly forgotten by the Greeks, yet it ſhall be very clear before I have done, that they had but a very obſcure remembrance of it.
Plato in his deſcription of the many Flouds which from time to time were ſuppoſed by the Greeks Anciently to have happened, affirms every Floud to have wiped away the memory of all things that
v. Plat. in Critiâ. p. 1100, 1101. & in l. 3. de leg. ſtatimi ab initio. & Euſeb. ex Platone. praep. Evang. l. 12. c. 15.
Mountainous and Barbarous People, igPlato maniSpecies of Animals muſt have periſhed, being bred and overtaken by the Floud in the Plains below, ſo that unleſs we ſuppoſe the Earth after every Deluge to have been ſo prolifick, that it could produce all the ſeveral ſpecies anew, which yet, as abſurd as it is, I perPlato ſometimes to have done, and then there would be no need, to ſalve the credit of an univerſal Deluge, for any to be ſaved upon the tops of Mountains, ſince mankind and all other Species might by this expedient be repaired without it, there
Ark or Ship, as the Scripture, and from thence ſeveral profane Authors have done, whether ſome of each Species might betake themſelves and be reſerved for the repleniſhing a new World, and therefore when Lucian, who ſpeaks expreſly of the Ark, and of all the ſeveral Species entring into it, ſpeaks afterwards of a Tradition, as if Men in the time of Deucalions Floud, had ſaved themſelves upon the tops of Mountains, and upon the top Branches of the talleſt Trees, where, if they could be ſaved from the Deluge, they would have been ſure to have ſtarved with hunger, he ſubjoyns immediately ib. p. 899.theſe things are altogether incredible to me.
But yet notwithſtanding, thus much of Plato is agreeable to truth, that after any ſuch univerſal Deluge, and by conſeNoah too, partly for want of any ſtanding Monuments to preAntidiluvian perſons, and things, muſt be almoſt utterly extinct, and that the Tradition concerning them muſt needs be very uncertain and obſcure, and therefore it is no wonder to find Deucalion, that is indeed Noah, though Apollonius ſpeaks of him as a Native of Theſſaly, according to the uſual vanity of the Greeks, who aſcriGreeks had a more certain and particular knowledge than of that before it, though at other times we find ſome little ſparks and ſtrictures among them, even of the Antidiluvian interval likewiſe.
Further though Plato were miſtaken as to the manner of the preſervation of Mankind from the Floud, and though he is very unAntient Tradition, according to the that many ſuch univerſal calamities had happened to mankind, by Deluges and Plagues, wherein a very
ſmall and inconſiderable remnant eſcaped to repair the loſs, and propagate themſelves to after Ages, another while he is very parDeucalions was the Fourth ſuch univerſal Deluge that had happened, p. 1102.there being Three other fatal Deluges before that of Deucalion. And at others, he ſeems inclinable to believe that Mankind and the World had no beginning at all, ſo that theſe things might very well have happened though at a good diſtance from one another, yet a prodigious number of times, for ſo he ſpeaks in the Perſon of an Athenian whom he introduces. L. b. De Leg. p. 875.that it becomes every Man to know, that either Mankind had never any beginning nor ſhall have end, or at leaſt that its Original is at ſo vaſt a diſtance, that it is impoſſible to trace it to its firſt beginning. Yet notwithuniverſal Deluge, and that not founded only upon Fancy or Opinion or Philoſophical conjecture but
Ancient Tradition, which if you compare with theſe Two things, Firſt the improbability, if not utPlato's expedient to Salve and account for the reparation of Mankind and of all other Animals after ſuch an univerſal Deluge; and Secondly, if you conſider, that even in Plato himDeucalion's
Gyges mentioned out of him by Cicero, which I take to be the ſame with it.Noah, all this is no leſs than a manifeſt atteſtation to the truth of the Moſaic account, and the very Deviations from it, do but ſerve to con
With Apollonius, Ovid, and Lucian, Homer alſo agrees in his Character of Deucalion, for he gives him the Epithet of Il. v. where Idomeneus addreſſing himſelf to Deiphobus, thus deſcribes Deucalions Genealogy and his own,
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Which place of Homer I have therefore cited thus largely, that I may take notice of the differing accounts which Homer and other Genealogiſts have given us of the pedigree of Deucalion, and that I may reHomer makes him to be the Son of Minos, but others of Prometheus, which Two, though the Names be different, are the ſame perſons. Prometheus is, as I have already proved in the Heathen Mythology no other than God himſelf, or it is that partial conſideration of the Divine Nature, which is taken from his Providence and Wiſdom, whereby he foreſees and orders all things, both in Heaven and Earth, and ſo is Minos; only the one of them is the Greek Name by which that Wiſdome was ſignified, the other the Hebrew or Oriental, for Minos is from Min ſpecies, or from Manah numeravit, and thence alſo is the Greek
Mother of the Muſes)
Coin which in Latin is called Mina and the Latin Minerva for the Goddeſs of knowledge and Patroneſs of all the liberal and ingenious Arts, becauſe all knowledge is a ſort of remembrance a kind of Calculating or computation, a diſtinguiſhing of thoſe things whoſe Natures are diſtinguiſht, and a ſorting thoſe
things and notions into the ſame claſſis, which have an agreement or reſemblance with each other. From the ſame root is likewiſe the Greek
Ʋnites, and Grammarians uſually expound it, ira menſtrua, or Lunatica, a Lunatic MadLuna which Hebrew Manah numeravit, this being the Ancient way of meaſuring Time, by the motion of the Moon, and as from ſuch a Madneſs as is Govern'd and influenced by certain Periods and ſeaſons of the Moon.
For this reaſon, Becauſe his Name inMinos is made by the Poets the Judge of the infernal ſhades, that is, the great and juſt diſpenſer of Rewards and PuniſhClaudian, though ignorant of any Oriental Language, yet gives him his Character from the diſtinctiEtymon which I have given from Min ſpecies or Manah numeravit., in the Second in Eutropium.
— Quaeſitor in altoConſpicuus ſolio pertentat crimina Minos,Et Juſtis dirimit ſontes.
Neither is it at all repugnant to what hath been ſaid, that he is made by the Poets, to be the Son of Jupiter, as Minerva is his Daughter, which does not hinder them from being Jupiter or the Supream Numen himſelf under that partial conſideration which I have mentioned, for all the attriSons and Daughters, that is, they are the conſtant, natural and inſeparable effects, properties, and emanations of the Divine ſubſtance. Neither am I ignorant that the Scholiaſt upon Apollonius makes the Son of Minos and the Son of Prometheus to be Two different and diſtinct Perſons from one another, where, upon the place lately produced out of that Poet, he tells us, there were Four ſeveral Perſons that went by this Name of Deucalion, and I ſhall prove by and by that there were a great many more. there is alſo another Deucalion (beſides the
Prometheus) of whom Hellanicus makes mention, and another the Son of Mimentioned by Pherecydes, and a Fourth the Son of Abas of whom Ariſtippus ſpeaks in his Arcadica. And Apollodorus alſo mentions theſe Two as diſtinct, as may apl. 1. c. 7. and l. 3. c. 2. of his Bibliotheca together; but even acDeucalions is made the Son of Minos, that Deucalion will have lived in the Age immediately preceding the Trojan War, for Idomeneus his Son was preſent at it, and if we conſider, that that is the higheſt diſtance of time of which the Greeks afLucretius,
If we conſider that both of theſe lie at the very furtheſt end of the Cur antè bellum Thebanum & funera Trojae,
Non alias alii quo
Greek Antiquity, though if they be the ſame with Noah, they muſt in reality have lived before this Period alſo, if we conſider that the Names of Minos and Pometheus, as I have proved, have both of them exactly the ſame ſenſe and ſignification, the one being only a TranſlaGreek Chronology in thoſe Ancient times, from all this I leave it to the Judgment of Learned and Ju
But Secondly, The Second and Laſt reNoah and Deucalion, is, that the Flouds which happened in their times are ſaid to have been ſent as a particular judgMoſes himſelf, Gen. 6. v. 5, 6, 7. And God ſaw that the Wickedneſs of Man was great in the Earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his Heart was only evil continually, and it repented the Lord, that he had made Man on the Earth and it grieved him at his Heart, and the Lord ſaid I will deſtroy Man whom I have Created, from the Face of the Earth, both Man and Beaſt, and the creeping thing and the Fowles of the Air: for it repenteth me that I have made them. And juſt thus Ovid deſcribes the time immediately preDeucalions Floud, where Jupiter ſpeaking of the Cruelty and Inhumanity of Lycaon and his Family and dependants, he
Lycaon was accuſed.
Contigerat noſtras infamia temporis aures:Metam. 1. • Quam cupiens falſam ſummo delabor olympo,Et deus humanâ luſtro ſub imagine terras.Longa mora eſt, quantum noxae ſit abique repertum Enumerare, minor fuit ipſa infamia vero.
And a little after having ſpoken of the deLycaon and his Houſe, he adds,
Occidit una domus, ſed non domus una perireDigna fuit, quà terra patet fera regnatErynnys.In facinus jurâſſe putes, dent ocyus omnesQuas meruere pati, ſic ſtat ſententia, paenas.
And then follows the ſtory of Deucalion's Floud.
Apollodorus calls the Generation that was deſtroyed by the Floud Brazen Age implying their degeneracy from the purer times of Gold and Silver which were the Two firſt Periods, of huBrazen and Iron interval that followed after; the ſame Apollodorus in another place, though he ſeem to attribute that Biblioth. l. 3. p. 187, 188, 189. ed Paris, 1675.Ovid does in Lycaons times, yet he rather blames the Sons of Lycaon than himſelf, and ſaith that it was in the Reign of Nyctimus the only Son of Fifty that was ſpared, in which this Deluge happened, and that it was their extream Wickedneſs and Inhumanity that was the Cauſe of it, and the Reign of this Nyctimas over the Arcadians, if we will believe him in anoCranaus the Son of Cecrops, over Athens, for ſo ſpeaking of Cranaus he tells us, in whoſe time it is ſaid, the Floud of Deucalion happened.
Lucian alſo ſpeaking of the manners of thoſe Men who lived immediately before De Deâ Syr. p. 882.&c. that is, it is reported concerning thoſe Men that lived in that Age when Deucalions Floud fell out, that they were a ſort of Arbitrary Men, inured to
all manner of violence and rapine, whoſe will was their Law and their only meaſure of Juſtice, that they neither kept Oaths nor were Hoſpitable to Strangers, nor merciful to the ſuppliant and the afflicted, for which things ſake a great and dreadful calamity befel them, the Earth immediately guſhed out with abundance of Water, &c.
Laſtly, Suidas ſpeaking of Cecrops the Suid. in
Athenian King, who firſt introCecrops,
This was done by Cebeing an Aegyptian, and being skilled in the Laws of Vulcan or Hephaeſtus one of the Kings of Aegypt, and being of Opinion that the Deluge with which Attica was overwhelmed, was inflicted by way of Judgment upon them, for the ſake of that Promiſcuous Luſt of which they were guilty; which anGen. 6. 2. that the Sons of God ſaw the Daughters of Men that they were fair, and they took them Wives of all which they choſe. which words
Attica before the time of Cecrops, if this ſtory be true, and which, though in themſelves they were very heinous, as being flattly repugnant to the great Law of Nature, which is the intereſt and welfare of Mankind, yet the Text tells us, at leaſt according to our Tranſlation, that they took them Wives, which implies a ſtate of Marriage in oppode jure, either with Polygamy on the one hand, or with Fornication, Adultery, or Arbitrary divorce on the other.
If we Interpret Naſhim by Wives, as our Interpreters do, and underſtand it ſo, as we do uſually that Engliſh word, then all thoſe inſerences hold good which I have made from the place, but if we expound it of Women in general, as the Word will very well bear that Interpretation, and indeed this is the moſt proper and familiar notion of it, then this Anſwers exactly to this place of Suidas and ſhews without diſpute, that one of thoſe ſinsfor which Noahs Floud was brought upon the World, was the uſe of a wandring and promiſcuous Luſt, without diſtinction of property on the one hand,
Suidas in this place refers was not that of Deucalion but Ogyges, the latter of which, or rather the firſt in order of time, the Greek Writers are generally uſed to confine to the Province of Attica, and the other to that of Theſſaly, but I have affirmed both of theſe to be the ſame, and if the reaſons I have given for it may be allowed, this place of Suidas will belong to Deucalion, as well as any of the other that have been produced, though Suidas meant it only of Ogyges as diſtinct from him, and to ſhow once for all how very uncertain the Greeks are as to the time wherein Ogyges lived. There is a place in Euſebius which from the AuPhilochorus affirms all the preOgyges in the domiAttica to have been meer figments and impoſtures of Antiquity, and that no ſuch real Perſons were ever in being. Euſeb. praep. Evarg. l. 10.neither Actaeus nor any other of thoſe feigned Perſons who are pretended to have been ſucceſſors to Ogygus, had ever yet ſo much as a being in nature, if we will believe Philochorus; now it is very ſtrange they ſhould be ſo clear, or may be ſo ſafeOgyges and yet be ſo much in the dark, as to his imGreek Hiſtorians, ſince Chriſtianity was introducOgyges in the time of Moſes, is to be taken from the mention of Agag in the Prophecy of Balaam, as I have alEuſebius does not only ſpeak of him as contemporary with Moſes, but places him exactly in that part of it, when Moſes was upon his journey out of Aegypt, which does ſo accurately and ſo patly ſuit with the mention of Agag in the Prophecy of Balaam, which was uttered at that very time, that nothing can do more. And this is a new confirmation that the Floud of Noah and Ogyges were the ſame, being brought upon the World for the very ſame cauſe and reaſon and not only ſo, but this is alſo a new and clear indication, that this Floud being confined by the Greeks to the Province of Attica, we are to underſtand by this, as I have ſaid, no more but that it happened among the Hathikim, the Ancient Inhabitants and People of the World, from whence
Attici had their name, as being a Colony from the Eaſt of great Antiquity in Greece. And for a further proof of the ſolidity of this conceit, I will here proJuſtin the EpitoTrogus ſaith of the Athenians, Soli enim Athenienſes praeterquam incremento, etiam origine gloriantur: quippe non advenae neque paſſim collecta populi colluvies originem urbi debit, ſed in eodem nati ſolo quod incolunt, & quae illis ſedes, eadem origo eſt. that is, that they were not like other Nations, Strangers, and Colonies from another Country, but that their firſt Anceſtours were born of the Earth, and ſprung up in that Country where they and their Poſterity have ever ſince dwelt: and the very ſame thing is aſſirmed of them by Plato, where ſpeaking of Attica. he uſes theſe words, In mene
518.another juſt commendation of Attica is this, that at that time when all the reſt of the Earth brought forth all manner of living Creatures, as well Wild Beaſts, as Tame, or
Beaſts of paſture, then Attica Barren of any ſuch productions, choſe Man out of all the Creatures to be her offspring, a Creature far more Noble and Excellent than any of the reſt, and to whom Juſtice and Religion do peculiarly belong. Not that in reality the ProAttica did ever yield ſuch a Crop as Plato and Juſtin and others have recordHathikin, the firſt and moſt Ancient Mortals were born after this manGreek Tradition concerning the firſt Mortals, that they were born out of the Earth, as appears by another paſſage of the ſame Plato; where Socrates ſpeaking of thoſe early times thus enquires of the ſtranger another perſon in the Dialogue concerning them. what ſort of Generation was there
Plat. in Politic. p. 537.then, O Stranger, of Animals, and after what manner were they produced from one another, to which he returns this Anſwer, it is manifeſt, O Socrates, that in that ſtate of things, Animals were not born by generation of one another. That brood of Creatures, which we have juſt now affirmed to have ſprung out of the Earth, returning to the Earth again from whence it came, ſprung up anew from thence again, as it hath been delivered down by Tradition to us from our Eldeſt Anceſtours, who bordered upon that primitive ſtate, and were the firſt Inhabitants of this, and we believe theſe things upon the credit of their teſtimony, though there be ſome ſo raſh now a days, as to reject them for Fabulous and Romantick. What that primitive ſtate or revolution of things, which he ſpeaks of, is I ſhall explain more largely by and by, but now I go on to obſerve that this Tradition, which the Greeks had of Men at Firſt being produced from the Earth, though it were miſerably Corrupted and Adulterated, as appears by this that they confined it only to Attica, and that one whole Age or Revolution or Period of time was ſpent in this ſort of aequivocal prounivocal Generation all this while, yet that in its
Original it was an Eaſtern Tradition, and conſequently that by the Attici we are not to underſtand the People of that parGreeks, but in general the Hathikin, that is, the Ancient and firſt Mortals, though this was more than the latter Greeks themſelves underPlato; where ſpeaking in a Fabulous manner, for he himſelf calls it a Fable, though there were more truth in it then he was aware of, he ſays, Firſt concerning the production of all other AniProtag. p. 223, 224.there was a time when the Gods were, but none of the mortal Species were yet produced into being, but when the fatal or predetermin'd time came that they alſo ſhould be produced, then the Gods formed them within the Earth, by mingling Earth and Fire together, and whatſoever elſe is capable of a vital union with thoſe Two, and having ſpoken after this manner of the Creation and Production of all other Animals, he ſpeaks of that of Man laſt of all, as the Scripture does, which ſhowes undenyably
Greeks was derived, ib. p. 224.at length the fatal or praeappointed time was come, wherein Man alſo from the Earth was to be brought to light. to all which it is to be added that in his Critias he deſcribes the primitive ſtate of innocency before the Fall, juſt after ſuch a manner, as if he had received it, not from Moſes himſelf, but at ſome diſtance, from others that had, for it is not delivered without ſomething of corruption, though theſe Three things are ſtill very plain in his account, Firſt, That Man was made after the Image of God, as the Scripture expreſſion is, and Secondly, That the meaning of this Image was a kind of participation of the Divine Nature, partly by all the inward habits and outward efRighteouſneſs and true Holyneſs, as the Apoſtle hath explained it, and partly by a marvellous rectitude of underſtandAthenians, that is again the Hathikin, the Ancient and firſt Mortals, Plat. in Critiâ. p. 1108.&c. that is, for many Generations, ſo long as the nature or life of God continued powerful and prevalent among them, they were Obedient to Laws, and had an affectionate and warm ſenſe of the Divinity to which they were nighly related. Their ſentiments were true and generous, they converſed with one another, and they encountered all the diverſities of Fortune, with meekneſs and humility, and with a wiſe and ſteady temper, they deſpiſed every thing beſides (or in compariſon of) virtue, and had a very little eſteem for preſent things, they looked upon Gold and Silver and other poſſeſſions under the notion of a burthen, they uſed a very ſparing and temperate Diet, and were not ſubject to be deceived and blinded by the Fumes of Wine. In another place as the Scripture ſaith of our Firſt Parents, Gen. 2. 25. that they were both naked, the Man and his Wife and
were not aſhamed. So Plato ſaith alſo of the Firſt Mortals,
Politic. p. 537.for the moſt part they were naked and without any covering, expoſed to the open Air, and living ſub Dio. And Laſtly in another place, he ſaith they abſtained from all manner of Fleſh, as the Scripture intimates the Firſt Mortals till after the Floud to have done, L. 6. de Leg. p. 875.Leg. Fortè
Mallem,
& ſtatim,
it is familiar even to this day in ſome places for Men to Sacrifice one another; but formerly we have heard they were ſo far from it, that we of Athens particularly (for it is an Athenian that ſpeaks) did not hold it Lawful ſo much as to taſt of the Fleſh of an Ox, and our Sacrifices to the Gods were not made with Animals, but Cakes and Fruits ſprinkled with Honey, and other ſuch like pure oblations, but thoſe firſt Mortals abſtained wholly from Fleſh, as thinking it a
ſin to eat it, or to defile the Altars of the Gods with Blood: they lived a ſort of Orphick lives, as they are called, enjoying and feeding upon all things whatſoever they pleaſed, that were void of Life, and abſtaining Religiouſly from every animated or living ſubſtance.
Where, when he attributes this peculiarAthenians, this is again to be underſtood of the Hathikin, that is the Ancient or Antidiluvian Mortals, and when he calls this ſort of diet, the Orphick life, it is to be noted that Giants in Scripture ſuch as the Antidiluvian Mortals, who abſtained from Fleſh, are generalRephaim, to which it is but adding an Aleph at the beginning, and we have all but the Greek termination of Orpheus, and this Aleph is indifferently either added or ſubRam and Aram are the ſame, and ſo Heſychius inRam in Hebrew, and Armenia was ſo called, not only from Aram its firſt ſuppoſed planter, but alſo with rehigh ſituation, and to the MounArarat or the Gordiaean and other Mountains to be met with in it, ſo alſo Shur and Aſhur are the ſame, as hath been already declared, and Dam which ſignifies
Blood, is but a contraction of Adam, which hath the ſignification of Red and Hebrew Arbah ſigFour, is the adjective Rebihi and other words by the ejectiAleph.
Hebrew Mar by the addition of the ſame Aleph, the Latins have made their Adjective Amarus, and the Derivatives from it, ſo that according to this Etymology the Orphick Diet, will be the Diet of the Rephaim, or Antidiluvian Mortals, which was altogether upon vegetables without the uſe of Fleſh, which does not appear to have been permitted in Food, till after the Floud was over or otherwiſe it is literally true, at leaſt the Poets have told us ſo, that the Ancient and ſo much celeOrpheus did abſtain from Fleſh himHorace,
Sylveſtres homines ſacer interpreſque DeorumHor. de Art. Poe tic. ad Pi ſones. Caedibus & victu Faedo deterruit Orpheus,Dictus ob hoc lenire tigres, rabidoſque leones.
But then if it be asked who this Orpheus was? this is an hard Queſtion, which hath very often baffled the Endeavours of Learned Men, Gerhard Voſſius after Tully, who cites Ariſtotle for his Author is of
G. Voſſ. de orig. & progr. Idololat. l. 3. c. 44. & de art. poet. nat. & conſtit. p. 78, 79.wiſe or ſage and skillful Perſon in the LanPhoenicians, becauſe Arifa in Arabick ſignifies to know, and Arif a Man of knowledg and learning, and Tatianus ſaith Exreſly that the Ancient Verſes Pythagoras are thought to be, but that they were compiled and put together by Onomacritus the Athenian, and nothing is more certain than that the Argonauticks, which at this day go under his Name, howVoſſius as to the Etymology, and I had that which was Equivalent to it in my mind, before I met with his conjecture, and beſides I am certain that I have light upon the true Myſtery of this Ancient Orpheus, which is this;
The Arabick Arifa by the addition of an Aleph, is from the Hebrew Rapha Sanavit, ſo that, it ſignifies moſt properly a
skillful in Herbs, or in the practice of Phyſick, or a good Phyſician or an Healing or Sanative Perſon: and ſo this Orpheus is the ſame with Apollo, who is Herbarum pater & Deus, and is withal the God of Knowledg and Wiſdom, the Sun, as hath been ſaid, being looked upon by all the Pagan World as the Supream Numen, and skill in Herbs or the knowledge of Nature, being in good earneſt an argument of the greateſt and trueſt Wiſdom, and he was made by Antiquity to preſide over Herbs, becauſe the vegetable World is ripened and concocted by his Beams, and all the ſeveral Species are fitted for that uſe, to which they are appointed and ordained by Nature; therefore Orpheus as well as Apollo was made by Muſick, as well as Medicine, beSpecies, and for that Fable of Orpheus that he drew Stones and
Trees after him by the Charms of his Muſick, this is partly that they are generated by his influence, and that they flouriſh and proſper under it, and partly that CiStones and Trees after him for the Building of Cities, becauſe when he is once ſet, the Work of the day ceaſes together with him, as alſo to make Macrobius ſaith, l. 1. c. 17. cognominaverunt (Antiqui) non ex officio paſtorali & Fabulâ, per quam fingitur Admeti regis Pecora paviſſe, ſed quia ſol paſcit omnia quae terra progene rat, unde non unius geueris ſed omnium pecorum paſtor canitur, &c.
Bears and Tygers and Wolves and other the moſt fierce Animals to dance after him, becauſe all the Animal World does, as it were, bask it ſelf in his kindly heat, and does rejoyce and is glad in his Beams, whereas in the night they either ſleep or howle and are diſturbed with a melanAmphion, for Orpheus and Amphion are the ſame, but you will ſay how comes the Sun to be called Amphion? to which the Anſwer is eaſie, it is not as the Grammarians triflingly ſuppoſe, Amphion is a Greek name of the Sun, as Orpheus is an Hebrew or Oriental, and his name is plainly goes about, or fetches a perpetual Circuit as the Sun ſeems to do, and was believed to do according to the moſt AnAſtronomical Doctrine, and the conpenultima of this word is long in all the Poets, ſo that here is all the Analogy that can be required.
According to this Etymology, which is without queſtion the true one, the Orphick life, is the dyet upon Herbs, becauſe though all things are warmed and cheriſhApollo is ſaid more parAnimal World, though it could not endure his total exHerbs, or the Orphick life is the moſt Ancient and Primitive way of Feeding, which comes to the ſame thing, becauſe of the great Antiquity of the Fable of Orpheus, which was ſo very great that the Greeks themſelves were ſtrangers to its meaning, as I think hath been abundantly manifeſted, from what hath been ſaid concerning him and Amphion.
But though the Greeks did not underOrpheus and the Sun were the ſame, yet from the Fabulous account which they give of his Birth, it is plain they had once ſuch a Tradition though afterwards they loſt it, Apollonius the Writer of the Argonauticks puts him down firſt in the CaHeroes that were ſo famous in the Graecian Story for that expedition, and makes him to have been the Son of Oeagrus and Calliope, l. 1. v. 23, 24, 25.
〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 v. Etiam Orphea〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 or, in fine Argonaut. quae ſub ejus nomine circumferuntur, & Plat. in ſympoſio, & Apollod. Biblioth. l. 1. c. 3. & 9. ut & ipſum Apollon. ib. l. 4. v.1193, 1194.〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉
Now this Oeagrus and the Sun are the ſame, for as haſta, and venator haſtatus, ſo is Oeagrus, from ſolus, with the Addition of the ſame Word and Signification, as much as to ſay venator ſolitarius, as Hunting is aſcribed to Apollo,
Wiſdom, or Medecine, or Poetry, or Muſick,
Macrob. l. 1. c. 17. Sagittarum autem nomine, non niſi radiorum Jactus oſtenditur; qui tun
dictus,
è longiſſimo altiſſimoque radios in terram uſque demittens.
Greek Poets he hath the Epithets of Hunt alone becauſe all the Stars are extinguiſht by his PrePherecydes, in the Scholiaſt upon the place of Apollonius laſt cited, thought there was, betwixt Oeagrus and Apollo,
Pherecydes ſaith that, Orpheus according to Aſclepiades was the Son of Apollo and Calliope, but according to others of Oeagrus and Polymnia, for this Oeagrus and Apollo are the ſame, and that he is ſaid to be the Son of Apollo, though indeed he were the very ſame perMedecine is but one of thoſe perfections for which Apollo was Celebrated by the Ancient Poets, Greek TerminaApollo Medice, Apollo P
paulò ſuprà hinc eſt quod eidem attribuitur medendi poteſtas: quia temperatus ſolis calor morb
—Medicus or Sanator: neither are we to wonder at all that Orpheus is placed ſo low by the WriArgonauticks, as the expedition which he CePoem, for it is a vanity to think that all his Heroes were contemporary, but he amarſſes together all the great names of Antiquity, of which Orpheus was the chief, to make his Catalogues the more auguſt and ſplended, and to adorne the drapery of his Poem; for it is a great miſtake to think that the Ancient Poets were any exact obſervers of Chronology, but they frequently not only out of miſtake, but de ſigne, to grace and embelliſh their performance, brought the greateſt Names together out of all quarters and times, without any regard to truth, which is not the virtue of a Poet, and this was the true reaſon why their Hiſtorians were in many things guilty of ſuch groſs and palpable impoſtures, becauſe they took their meaHierogliphick meaning, a truth and juſtice or natural pro
It is the more ſuſpicious concerning Orpheus, that Apollonius was guilty of a deHeroe in Antiquity, and Celebrated unVoſſius obVeterum mos erat, quo
G. Voſſ. de orig. & progr. Idololat. l. 1. c. 19.magis ad mirandae eſſent virtutes eorum, quos in Deos retuliſſent, varios eximiae virtut is in unum conflare, unique omnium geſta attribuere, quod difficile non erat in rebus ab aetate ſuâ remotis, & geſt is in terris longè diſſitis.
To all that it is to be added, that Linus alſo, another pretended Poet of the remotApollodorus ſaid to have been the Son of the Oeager or Oeagrus,
Oeagrus, yet he was reputed the Son of Apollo, and paſſed for ſuch by common fame, his words are, Biblioth. l. 1. c. 3. So the Scholiaſt upon Homer ad Il. Z. 155. ſays of Belle prophon, that he was by nature and in truth the Son of Neptune, but by common fame of Glauens, and other inſtances there are very obvious to be met with.Apollo by common fame, notwithſtanding that he was really the Son of Oeager, not as the Tranſlator hath very unskilfully rendred it, qui & patrem habuiſſe Apollinem dicitur, but the whole place ought to have been rendred thus, Calliopes & Oeafilius reâpſe Linus fuit, quem vulgi tamen rumor perhibet Apollprognatum, and this is alſo to be applied Orpheus himſelf, of whom it is immediately ſaid, real Son of Oeager, though the pretended of Apollo, but Apollodorus is out, as well as his Tranſlator, for Orpheus and Linus are the ſame with one another, and the ſame with Oeager and Apollo themVirgil no contemptible Author in theſe matters, makes Linus to
Apollo, at v. de Pirithoo ſchol. ad odyſſ.
Calliope was Orpheus his Mother, and they ſay the Mother's is the ſurer ſide.
Non me carminibus vincet necThraciusOrpheus, Virgil. Eclog.4.NecLinus,huic mater quamvis at que huic pater adſit,Orphei Calliopea, Lino formoſusApollo.
Voſſius gives it as his Judgment, that there De art. Poet. nat. & conſt. p. 78.Linus nor Muſaeus neither, no more than there was a certain and determinate Orpbeus, and he makes the ſignification of Linus to be only general, ſignifying a Writer of Mournful or Elegiack Verſes, becauſe Telounah in Hebrew ſignifies Murmuring and as he ſays Lamentation, though of this latter ſigniLinus, who according to the Mythologers and the Poets, was the Son of Oeagrus or Apollo and Calliope, is in reality no other than Apollo or the Sun himſelf, and he hath his name from his brightneſs, which is the ſignification of Linus or Lunus, as Heſychius Interprets
Latin
Luna is derived, as Learned Men have alCommon Greek
Greeks themſelves would pronounce it, Jonique
Latin unus, and our very Engliſh word Sun, hath its name and Latin Lux or Luceo is the Engliſh Lict or Light, and from the Greek
Latin Nox Noctis is the Engliſh Night.
Shining, and yet might he well be called the Son of Apollo, though he were indeed no other than Apollo or the Sun himſelf, becauſe Light is an attribute or perfection of the Sun, and the Sun is juſtly called the Father of Light.
Further yet; Orpheus is ſometimes ſaid to be the Son of Calliope, as others of Polymnia, of Calliope, becauſe being the FaMuſick, as the Sun was thought by the Ancients for the reaHarmony in her Name, and becauſe the Ancients uſuHa
which was the inOrpheus, adding inſtrumental Muſick to Vocal, to this when it is well performed is ſaid to be done Homer, where ſpeaking of the Feaſt of the Gods he ſays.
—— 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Il. . pro 〈◊〉 pè. fin. , 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉
And as he was ſaid to be the Son of Calliope with reſpect to the harmony and ſweetneſs of his Muſick, ſo of Polymnia too with reſubject matter of his Poetical Song, (for Apollo was the Patron of Poetry as well as Muſick) which is ſupcommemoration of gallant Perſons and Deeds, the proper ſubject of an Epick or Heroick Poet, ſo that Calliope and Polymnia are indeed the ſame, and ſo are all the Muſes, the Daughters of Polymnia or Poeſie in the geHerodotus when he called the Books of his Hiſtory by their names might look upon them as real per
And as Orpheus was the ſame with Apollo or the Sun, ſo was Eurydice his ſuppoſed Wife, no other than the Moon, whom Orpheus is ſaid to have followed to the Shades below, and to have obtained leave of Pluto for her return from thence; though for a
Eurydice is ſaid to have Dyed, that is, by the bite of a Serpent, which is nothing elſe but the Moons Diurnal motion, the Serpent in the Eaſt being an Epidaurus under which form Apollo or Aeſculapius (for theſe are both the ſame) was WorſhipPeloponeſus and Rome was but an EaHieroglyphick of time, which is meaſured principally by the Suns moMacrob. v. l. 1. c. 20. initio.
Emblem of time, and every entire revolution of any HeavenSerpent biting it ſelf by the Tayl, becauſe every CirEurydice as much as to ſay latè jura dans, beMoon hath the Government of the Night, and this Government in Scripture is called Memlecheth, her Kingdom or Dominion, Gen. 1. 16. and for the ſame reaſon the Sun is called Care and Government of the Day is com
Having ſaid thus much upon occaſion of the laſt mentioned place of Plato, where he ſpeaks of the Orphick or Orphaick life, which I have ſhown to have conſiſted in abſtinence from Fleſh, I cannot but obſerve one thing more in it, which to me ſeems to have been a great miſtake and a manifeſt corruption of the primitive Tradition, and that is, that he makes their Sacrifices as well as their Diet to have conin incruentis, and that they thought it a very great offence defile the Altars of the Gods with Bloud, for beſides what hath been ſaid already in Anſwer to Grotius his conceit concerning the Sacrifice of Abel, it is to be conſidered, that there were Two main reaſons of all Sacrifice, the Firſt was Thanksgiving for the Goods and Comforts of Life, of which a part was to be offered up by way of humble Acknowdona incruenta, ſo long as Mankind continued to abAbel himſelf was not ſo, Plato calls them, chaſt and pure Oblations,
Cakes and Fruits beſprinkled with Honey, which belonged
Genus Euchariſticum, and were offered up by way of Thankſgiving, or in way of faederal Communication, with a reconciled and propitiated Numen. But there was alſo the expiatorium, there were Sacrifices offered by way of expiation or Attonement, which were always without Queſtion Bloudy SaAnimals ſlain beBloud was ſhed by way of commutation, inſtead of that of the Offender himſelf, which, though I do not ſay, is depended upon a Law of Nature, for then it could never have been diſpenſed with, yet nothing is more cerLaw of Moſes, and a Cuſtom whoſe beginning canPorphyrie and Plato, and thoſe who eſteem
To confirm which yet further, it is to be conſidered, what is reported of Pythagoras, by thoſe that have wrote concernEuclid, that in a reclangular Triangle, the ſquare of the Subtender is equal to the ſquare of the two other ſides, he is ſaid by way of ThankfulHecatomb to the Gods, notwithſtanding that he and his Diſciples abſtained from all manAnimals in Sacrifice, among thoſe very People who did Religiouſly abFood, for as for thoſe who would have this paſſage in the Life of that Phyloſopher, to be ſo underHecatomb of Meal or fine Flower molded into the ſhape of ſo many Animals as the Hecatomb conſiſtGreek Grammarians tell us were Twenty five in Number, and that where there were not Hecatomb, properly ſo called, they are to be heard, Firſt becauſe the Imitation
Animals in Flower and Paſt, would not in reaſon be acceptable in Sacrifice, ſo long as the Animals themſelves were proGreek writer, is uſed for any inanimate oblation, But yet after Antients give of Cecrops, who is by them ſuppoſed to have been the firſt King of Athens, one thing which they ſay of him is, that he forbad all Animal Sacricruenta Sacrificia were unlawful, only I ſay, that, geneAbel, for of Adam we do not read that he ever offered up any Sacrifice at all, and if we ſpeak of Adam in his firſt and Innocent eſtate, it is very true of him that he did not Sacrifice by way of expiation, becauſe there was no need, there being no ſuch thing as Sin yet ſtirring in the World, and explatory Sacrifices were, as I conAnimal Sacrifices in uſe beCecrops and Adam were the ſame perſons, as I do veriAncients in the account which they give of him, that he forbad the uſe of Animals in Sacrifice, which Tradition of theirs aroſe only from hence, that in the ſtate of Inno
Now that Cecrops and Adam were the ſame, I can make it very probable from ſeveral conſiderations, Firſt as to the Etymology of his Name, I make account that as Greek Tongue, as in our Lexicons may be ſeen; where we have Cecropia is the hidden Land, or the Land of Paradiſe, whoſe ſituhidden, that is, the Ancient King of Athens, or he, in the Language of Seneca, cujus origo ultrà memoriam jacet. Secondly, He is called the Firſt King of Athens, that is, as I interpret it, according to what hath been frequently inculcated already, the firſt King among the Ancients, or the firſt King in Antiquity, which is as agreeable to Adam, as can be imagin'd, he being the firſt Father and Monarch of Mankind. Thirdly, Though by ſome of the Greek Writers he be repreſented as an Athenian, yet by the Scholiaſt upon Ariſtophanes, by Cedrenus, and Euſebius, by Suidas, by John and Iſaac Tzetzes, and among the Latins by Papinius Statius he is repreſentAegyptian, that is, an Eaſterling, For of this extent is the ſenſe of the word Greek Writers, who, for want of particuEaſt, are by no means accurate in their relations concernDeucalion, that is, as I inNoah, ſo Juſtin ſaith of the Athenians, Antè Deucalionis tempora
regem habuere Cecropem. And Apollodorus
Deucalion to have Apollod. Biblioth. l. 3. p. 225.Cranaus who was the ſecond from Cecrops, ſo that there is as much agreement between theſe things as can be expected in ſo great confuſion of the Graecian account of time, for in ſtrictneſs of Chronology, according to the account of Moſes which is the only true one, Adam was Ten Generations before Noah.
And this account of Apollodorus placing Deucalion in the next Generation to Cecrops, is the leaſt to be regarded, becauſe the profane Writers themſelves do not all of them concur with him, for Juſtin makes the Floud to have happened in the time of Amphitryon, whom Apollodorus calls Cranaus and the Third from Cecrops, his words are theſe in the place laſt cited out of him, huic (Cecropi) ſucceſſit Cranaus, cujus filia Athis regioni nomen dedit, poſt hunc Amphiregnavit, qui primus Minerte urbem ſacravit, & nomen civitati Athenas dedit. hujus temporibus aquarum illuvies majorem partem Graeciae abſumpſit, ſuperfuere quos refugia montjum receperunt, aut ad Regem Theſſaliae Deucalionem ratibus vecti ſunt, à quo proptereà genus humanum conditum dicitur. FifthCecrops by the Generality of Greek Authors is called Ovid,
Geminus and by Juſtin, biformis, of which there are Two reaſons aſſigned, Firſt that upwards he had the ſhape of a Man, but downwards of a Serpent, and in this ſenſe the Schol. upon H
Centaurs are ſomewhere called Apollodorus, though at preſent I cannot bring the place to my rememCecrops at firſt had been a good and Gracious Prince, but afterwards degeneraTyrant, but Plutarch for I know not what reaſon, will have the clean contrary of this to have been repreſented by it; Demoſthenes will have it refer to the Gigantick ſtature of thoſe firſt Mor
The true account of ancient this Story is this, Cecrops was the firſt Man, and his being made up, after a Monſtrous manner, as the Fabulous antiquity hath repreſented him, of the parts of a Man and a Serpent
Dragon put together, was to ſignifie the Two Natures in Man, the one of which is the rational or intellectual, the other the animal, ſerpentine or ſenſual, exSerpent, becauſe of their winding and inſinuating-Nature; or elſe the Man and the Serpent, are to ſignifie the Two ſeveInnocence and ſimplicity, the purely humane and intellectuMoral rectitude and virtue. The Second, or the Serpentine Eſtate, is the State of Degeneracy from that happy condition, by the Temptations of the Serpent, that is, by the ſuggeſtions of the lower Life, which did more eaſily inſiDevil made uſe of
lower and ſenſual Life in our ſelves, or temptaDevil from without, are repreAncient Story, which I take it for granted in the ScripSerpent, becauſe of their winding and inſinuating Nature.—
And both of theſe Interpretations agree excellently well, with that particular deſAncients have left us of their Cecrops, in whom they place the Humane Nature uppermoſt, and the Serpentine beneath, for in the Firſt of my Interpretations the Humane or Intellectudignity but in place too, with reſpect to the ſenſual or concupiſcible, which keeps its reſidence and performs its operations below, beſides that the rational Nature was intended to be the guide and counGreeks called Cecrops is deſcribed by Nonnus, Dionyſ. l. 41.
And by Ariſtophanes in Veſpis.
Where the Scholiaſt thus Gloſſes upon the place, the Ancients ſay that Cecrops had Two Natures, his lower parts being made after the faſhion of a Serpent.
The Second reaſon aſſigned by Authors of this Name of Cecrops,
Matrimony or conjugal Obligation between Man and Wife, Athenaeus, Deipnos. l. 13.
Juſtin l. 2. part of which words have been already produced, Ante Deucalionis tempora (AtheRegem habuere Cecropem, quem, ut omnis Fabuloſa eſt Antiquitas biformém prodidere, quia primus marem Faeminae matrimonio junxit. Syrianus in Hermogenem: Nonnus ubi ſupra.
, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉
Than all which teſtimonies I think there neither is, nor can be any thing more ſuitable to the caſe of our Firſt Parent in the ſacred Story, who was without all queſtion the very firſt by whom the Matrimonial band was tyed, only whereas in the Citation of Athenaeus, it is ſet forth that before the time of Cecrops, Copulabefore him, ſo that at this rate he could not be the firſt Man. This is no more then Suidas alſo
Suid in
at that time (in the time of the Judges, when he makes Prometheus to have lived) Cecrops ſirnamed
Reigned in Athens, he was ſo called according to ſome, becauſe of the bulk and bigneſs of his Body, or rather as others would have it, becauſe of a Law which he Enacted, that Women, being yet virgins, ſhould be diſpoſed of to one Man only, and for this reaſon he called them
ſponſae (quod eſſent uni viro whereas before, Copulation was brutal and every Woman was common to all without diſtinction, being no Mans Wife, but proſtituting her Chaſtity to every one as it happened, ſo that no one could tell whoſe Child it was that was at any time Born——and a little after he gives the reaſon why Ceorops made this Law, in words that have been already produced This Cecrops d
Aegyptiand being acquainted with the Laws of Hephaeſtus or Vulcan, an Aegyptian King, and he ſaid moreover that it was for this promiſcuous and brutal uſe of Venery, that Attica in the time of Ogyges was overwhelmed with Waters, which words, though, as I have ſaid already, they may be, and they are a very great confirmation to the truth of that opinion which I have enNoah and Ogyges were really the ſame, becauſe the Floud, which is ſaid to have happened in their times, is in profane and ſacred Writers ſo plainly imputed to the ſame reaſon, the great Debauchery and Senſuality which then Reigned among Men, and particularBelluine Conjunctions and promiſcuous Copulations, without diCecrops is concerned, nothing hinders but there may be an Anachroniſme committed by the Greeks, or a confounding of Two Times and Stories together, for I am inCecrops his being the ſame with Adam, will be of greater weight with any conſidering Man to prove them to have been the ſame, than the Two laſt Teſtimonies of Athenaeus and Suidas put together will be to part them in ſunder from each other.
To which purpoſe it is ſtill further to be obſerv'd, that theſe Ancient writers ſpeak not only of Deucalions Floud, which they make to have happened after the time of Cecrops, and of that of Ogyges, which according to them was before it, but we have alſo an account of a Floud which happened in the time of Cecrops himſelf, by which all Attica was overNeptune and Minerva to whoſe Patronage or Guardianſhip the City of Athens ſhould belong, which beCecrops was given in favour of Minerva againſt the other, at which Apollodorus tells us, Apollod. Biblioth. l. 3. p. 222.being very angry overflowed the Thriaſian Field, and laid all Attica under Water. The Moral of which Fable is this:
Attica is the Ancient or newly created Earth, Athena or Minerva is, as I ſhall ſhew more largely by and by, the Aetherial or ſubtle matter of the univerſe, and Neptune is the Element of Water, or all kind of MAether and the Water contended together, to which of them the Fertility and Fruitfulneſs of the Earth was chiefly due, which being referred to the deciſion of Cecrops or the reaſonable Nature, he gives Judgment in favour of Minerva or the Aetherial matter, which is the great principle of Life and Vegetation in the Univerſe, and which though, in the productions of this lower World, it make uſe of the Moiſt and Watry Subſtance as its Inſtrument in all its operations, yet is that ſubſtance Phlegmy and unactive, having nothing vital or operative in it ſelf, any otherwiſe than as it is actuated and impregnated by the fruitful and enlivening influences of the Aetherial or Heavenly matter, and then he adds, without any ſtrict and ſacred regard to truth, but minding only to fill up the outward form and Scheſmatiſm of the Fable, that Neptune being angry at this determiThriaſian Field, &c. by which nothing elſe is meant than
Neptune or the Watry ſubſtance of the Univerſe, does ſtill continue, though in an inferior and ſubſervient way, to be aiding and aſſiſting to the Aetherial matAnimal, Vegetable, or Mineral productions. And this is the meanApollodorus tells us Biblioth. l. 3. c. 13.Neptune and Minerva, Neptune making the firſt tryal of his skill, and ſtriking with his Trident upon the middle of the Acropolis or higheſt eminence of the City of Athens, he made that Water to guſh out, which (continuing to after Gewas (in the time of Apollodorus, who was himſelf an Athenian) called Erectheis, from terra, becauſe it was forced out of the Earth, by the ſtroke of Neptunes Trident, and this is nothing elſe but a Mythological deſcription of the EEarthquakes, and thence Neptune had his A. Gell. Noct. A
28.Agellius. Quaenam elſe cauſa videatur, quamobrem
terrae tremores fiant, non modò his communibus hominum ſenſibus opinionibuſque compertum non eſt, ſed nè inter Phyſicas quidem Philoſophias ſatis conſtitit, ventorum nè vi accidant ſpecus hiatuſque terrae ſubeuntium, an aquarum ſubter, in terrarum cavis undantium fluctibus pulſibuſque, ità uti videntur exiſtimâſſe antiquiſſimi Graecorum, qui Neptunum appellaverunt.
But after Neptune had made this effort to obtain the Dominion of Athens, then it came to Minerva's turn to ſhew what ſhe could do, and the taking Ceto witneſs of the feat ſhe was about to perform, produced that Olive-tree, which to the time of Apollodorus remained in Pandroſium: that is, it was firſt neceſſary that Neptune or the Watry Element ſhould moyſten and prepare the Ground, before Minerva or the Aetherial, could impregMoſes in the Book of Geneſis,
Gen. 2. 5, 6.Cecrops, that is, not a waſting and deAnd every Plant of the Field before it was in the Earth, and every Herb of the Field before it grew; for the Lord God had not cauſed it to Rain upon the Earth, and there was not a Man to Till the Ground, but there went up a miſt from the Earth and Watred the whole Face of the Ground. FurtherAetherial ſubſtance be the cauſe and principle of all manner of Fruitfulneſs and Plenty, yet the Olive is here only inſtanced in, as being ſo Fat and Rich a production, that it is a fit emgeneral conſiOlive being Anciently looked upon as a Symbol of Peace, is fitly aſcribed to Minerva or the Aetherial matAtmoſphere, by which all Storms and Tempeſts are occaſioned, is the ſeat and region of reſt and Peace, as Homer deſcribes the region upon the top of Olympus, which was thought to carry its Head above the Clouds,
〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Hom. edyſſ. Z. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉
Neither is it any wonder to hear Apollodorus ſpeaking of this contention between Neptune and Minerva, as if it had been a literal and real Emulation between Two Divine Perſons, and ſaying that the Olivetree which Minerva upon that occaſion had produced, was even in his time to be ſeen in Pandroſium, and that the Water which Neptunes Trident had at that time forced out of the Earth, much after the ſame manner, as the Rod of Moſes is recorded in Sacred Story to have done out of the Rock, continued ſtill to be a Monument of what had happened even in his Days, for nothing is more certain than that the Ancient Greeks, as far off and farther than the time of Apollodorus, did not underMythology, which had
Myſtical and Hieroglyphick meaning, and ſo Apollonius ſpeaks of Orpheus his drawing Trees and Rivers after him, which I have ſhewn plainly in what ſenſe it is to be underAntient Orpheus nothing but the Sun is or can poſſibly be conceived to be meant, as of a thing that was really and literally performed, and directs us to a place where ſome of thoſe Trees were Anciently to be ſeen,
Apallon. Argon. l. 1. v.26. &c.〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉
There is alſo a Third reaſon of this ſirname Cecrops, which the Ancients have mentioned, but ſuch a reaſon it is, as I ſcarce thought worth ſetting down, being manifeſtly nothing to the purpoſe, and that is, that being an
Aegyptian born, and coming afterwards into Greece, he came by this means to be Maſter of Two Languages, the Aegyptian and the Greek, as if Two Languages, and Two Natures were the ſame. Euſebius,
Euſeb. Chron. l. 1.Suidas,
Suid. in
v. eund. etiam in
ubi alias quaſdam cauſas
adducit, ſed meo judicio futiles & inept as. v. etiam de his omnibus Phavorin. in voce.
But in the Sixth place, to evidence yet ſtill more clearly how contradictory to themſelves the Ancients are in their acCecrops to have Reigned after the Ogygian Floud, it is to be conſidered what Hyginus hath reGenealogy; that he had to his Mother the Earth, and to his Hygin. Fab. 48. collat. cum Fab. 158.Vulcan: nay not only Hyginus but Antroninus Liberalis, the Author of the Metamorphoſes calls him expreſly the Son of the Earth. NoAnton. lib.
c. 6. initio.
Adam, than this account of AnCecrops to have been
Son of the Earth, and by his being alſo the Son of Vulcan, nothing elſe is meant, but that he was alſo the Son of God, or of the Sun who was Worſhipped as the Supream Numen by the Ancient Heathens, for Vulcan and the Sun are the ſame, who had not his Name, as is commonly thought, from Tubal Cain in Geneſis, to whom Moſes in the ſame place gives this character, that he was an inſtructor of every Artificer in Braſs and Iron, which added to the likeneſs of the ſound, created this conceit that Tubalcain and Vulcan were the ſame, but Vulcan with the Addition of an Aeolique Digamma is El Kanna. Deus Zelotypus, as God is expreſly called Exod. 20. 5. And Fire and Jealouſie are frequentHebrew Kanna, is the Latin Candeo, Candens, Candidus, Candor, (all which words do ſignifie, firſt and moſt properly the coCandela, and cicindela, and the Verb excandeſco, with its derivaexcandeſcentia, as alſo the comincendo, ſuccendo, ſuccenſus, ſuccenſeo, and as by the Latins he is called Vulcanus, ſo by the Greeks Hephaeſtus, that
ab eſhta, the Father of Fire, as Bochartus before me hath obſerved, though he apply it only to the Fire of Smiths Forges or other Culinary or Artificial Fires, of which Vulcan was thought to be the inventor, but in truth Vulcan is the Element of Fire, and more particularly the body of the Sun it ſelf, to which all our ſublunary Fires, whether Artificial or NaSun, is yet notAnalogy, Aeſculapius or Sun, is as much as Eſhel ab, the Father of the Fields, or the God of Herbs, becauſe all vegetation is owing to his influence, and I have already obſerved in Plato, Chryſippus, Speuſippus, Chanthes and others in Macr
which are all of them very frigid and plainly fGreeks arEtymologies, Macrob. Saturn. l.
17.ab helion or pater excelſus, and Priapus, as much as Pri ab, or pater fructuum, both of which are but Two other Names of the ſame multifarious and Polyonymous Numen.
Vulcan and the Sun are the ſame, will appear not only from the Etymology of this word it ſelf in Latin and of Hephaeſtus in Greek, but alſo from the FaJupiter, or by the univerſal Nature, or that Divine providence and Eternal wiſdom to which the Fabrick and contriHomer meaſures his fall by the motion of the Sun, with whom he firſt ſets out in the Morning, and with whom in the Evening he ends his courſe, as much as to ſay, that theſe Two motions, the motion of Vulcan and of the Sun are the ſame, being ſo exactly agreeable to one another, for thus Vulcan ſpeaks to his Mother in Homer, perſwading her to be quiet, when Jupiter, whoſe Power is irreſiſtible, was angry,
And then it follows ſoon after,
—
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But in the Hymn to Apollo which is aſcribHomer, it is Juno her ſelf, not Jupiter, who is ſaid to have caſt him down, which though it be a new ArAthenaeus, whom I remember ſomewhere to have called the Legitimacy of theſe Hymns into Queſtion, that the Author of the Hymns is not the ſame with the writer of the Ilias and the Odyſes, yet it is out of all diſpute that theſe Hymns are very Ancient, and in this very paſſage in the Hymn to Apollo, Vulcan is made to have fallen into the lap of Thetis who took care of him, which is no more than a Poetical deſcripſetting of the Sun, who is by the Poets ſuppoſed to refreſh himſelf and his weary Horſes every Night in the Ocean. It is Juno her ſelf that ſpeaks.
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With ſo long a fall as this it ſo happened, as well it might, that —Vulcan was miſeraLucian hath expreſly obſerved, Poetical deſcription of the inequality of the Days and Nights according to the different ſeaſons of the Year, and different periods of the Suns motion; and all this I hope, may paſs for as tolerable an account who Vulcan was, and for as good a proof, that Intell. Syſt. c. 4. p. 489, 490.Sun or the Supream Numen was Anciently underſtood, as that which the Author of the Intellectual Syſtem hath given us, a Man that hath heaped a great many Authorities together to very little purpoſe, and is nothing but meer induſtry without a Genius in any thing of this Nature, though in the Preface to his work he pretends great familiarity with Philological Learning; and yet to prevent Jealouſy he declares, as his manner is, in Proclamation ſtile, that for our parts, we neither call Philoſophy nor yet Philology our Miſtreſs; but it ſeems they are both of them kind Friends at a need, for we ſerve our ſelves of either as occaſion requireth, and perhaps it is true of them, with relation to his Worſhip, what Agamemnon ſaid of his Charming Chryſeis,
But it does not follow that the kindneſs is equal on all ſides, for I doubt Philology is coy, though the Doctor be willing, and it is uſually ſeen in Miſſes and ſuch kind of Harlotry Creatures, that they are but the more ſhy for being Courted ſo much, howDoctor muſt not hereafter think it ſtrange or unjuſt, if Philology, who after all his braggs was never half ſo inward with him, as he is pleaſed to pretend, be now more cautious, more ſullen and reſerv'd, than ever ſhe was before.
Furthermore, as by Vulcan it is manifeſt beyond contradiction, that the Sun is to be underſtood in the Mythology of the AnciCyclops who are by the Poets fained to be his Miniſters in the forming of the Thunder and Lightening, will admit of no other meaning or interSupream Numen. For the Sun in the Greek Poets by reaſon of his raiſing thoſe exhalations from whence the Clouds, Rain, Snow, Winds, Hail, ThunEpithets of Latins for the ſame reaſon he is called Altitonans, Altiſonus, and Tonans, and becauſe of the great noiſes, and terrible eruptions of the Furnaces of Aetna, and Veſuvius, therePoets he was wittily repreſentVulcan, though he were indeed nothing elſe but the Supream Numen, in the ſenſe of the Ancients, who eſteemed the Sun as ſuch, yet conſidering him as the Author and maker of the Thunder, he is repreſented as the Son of Jupiter, and Juno; of Jupiter, becauſe Jupiter as I ſhall prove is the ſame with the Sun, by whom Cic. de. N. D. inter pl
Jovis ac Juqui Lemni fabric
609.Juno, becauſe Region of the Aire or Atmoſphere, within which compaſs the Thunder is confined, and to whoſe reſiſtance it owes the double terror of its noiſe and flaſhing. The very Name Cyclops is a ſufficient argument, who it was that was meant by it, for the Cyclops were ſo called from their being ſuppoſed to have one circular or orbicular Eye in the
middeſt of their Forehead, as the Sun is a Circular or Orbicular luminary in the middeſt of Heaven, which may not unjuſtly be called the Forehead of the
Ʋniverſe, as being to ſenſe the higheſt and moſt elevated part of it, ſo Heſiod deſcribes the Cyclops in his Theogony,
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And to this purpoſe it is that Macrobius produces a fragment of an Ancient Greek Writer, wherein the Sun is expreſly called Macrob. Saturnal. l. 1. c. 23. See alſo the anſwer of Serapis in the OraNicocreon the King of Cyprus, where repreſenting himſelf as the univerſal omnipreſent Numen, he calls the Sun
bright or refulgent Eye. ib. 2. 20. in Fine—v. etiam c. 21. ib. p. 256, 257. ed Lug. Pat. 1628. Cic. de Divin. p. 449. ed Lond. 1681.Jupiter,
Where by Jupiter the Aether or the Azure Sky is to be underſtood, of whom the Sun is here called the Eye, for this was one ſenſe in which the Name Jupiter was taken, though at others it were reſtrained
the body of the Sun, beAether, differ only in degree, that is, in greater or leſſer proportions of purity and tenuity from one another, and this according to the ſenſe of the Ancients themſelves, as appears by a fragment of Tully cited by himſelf in his Book De Divinatione,
Principio, Aetherio flammatusJupiterigniVertitur, ac totum colluſtrat lumine mundum,MentequeDivinâcaelum terraſque peteſſit;Quae penitus ſenſus hominum vitaſque retentat, Aetheris aeternis ſepta atque incluſa cavernis.
And that the
Aether it ſelf is ſometimes expreſly called by the Name of Jupiter, we have the Authority of the ſame Tully for it, who cites a fragment of Ennius to this purpoſe,
Adſpice hoc ſublime candens, quem invocant omnes Jovem.
And alſo of Euripides which he thus Tranſ
quia ſolem mundi mentem eſſe dixerunt, mundus autem vocatu
Jovem, unde Aratus de caelo dicturus, ai
id ib. c. 21. ſolem Jovis (i. e. Aetheris) oculam appellat antiquitas.
Vides ſublime fuſum, immoderatum Aethera,Qui tenero terram circumjectu amplectitur,Hunc ſummum habeto Divûm: hunc perhibeto Jovem.
The Cyclops therefore, that is, the Eyes of the Ʋniverſe, are the ſame with the Sun, who is expreſly ſo called, and for their different Names, Brontes, Steropes, and Pyracmon, they are all but ſo many partial conſiderations of the ſame Numen, conFabulous Anvil in the Cavernes of Aetna and other places of Sicily, and the Two firſt of them ſignifing the Two different effects, the one of Noiſe or ThunClaudian, having firſt named Mulciber, that is, Vulcan himſelf, to whom he aſcribes the formation of Thunder, which
Mulciber, is as much as Melec Abir, the Potent or Powerful King, as the Sun in the ſenſe of the Ancients did very well deſerve to be called, being by them looked upon as the Supream Numen, he then deſcribes his Three Miniſters, that are ſuppoſed to be aſſiſtant to him in his operation, as it were dividing the Genus into the ſeveral Species of which it conſiſted, in his Third Book De conſulatu Honorii.
—Vobis jamMulciberarmav. Etiam Virgil. Aeneid. l. 8: Praeparat, & ſiculâCyclopsincude laborat:Brontes innumeris exaſperat aegida ſignis:Altum fulmineà criſpare in Caſſide conumFeſtinatSteropes,nectit ThoracaPyracmon,Ignifluiſque gemitLiparefumoſa cavernis.
Neither is it any wonder to find the opera fabrilia, all kinds of working in Iron, Braſs or Steel, or any other hard Metal aſcribed to Vulcan, as well as the making of Thunder; becauſe Vulcan as I have ſaid, being the Sun or the Element of Fire, whatever works are performed by Fire, are rightly aſcribed to him as their cauſe, and therefore all ſorts of Weapons whatever are by Juvenal called Arma Vulcania,
Malo pater tibi ſitTherſites,dummodo tu ſisJuv. ſat.8.Aeacidae ſimilisVulcaniaque Arma capeſſas,Quam teTherſitaeſimilem producatAchilles.
Nay, not only ſo, but becauſe of the Analogy and reſemblance which all the Works of Art have to one another, as to the skill and contrivance by which they are effected at leaſt, though not as to the maPoets to Vulcan, as the ſeveral Houſes and Apartments of the Gods in Homer are, though ſuch do not uſe to be built of Iron or Braſs or any other Metal, but by this was only meant that the Sun accordArchitect and Demiurgick nature by which all the Symmetry of the Univerſe was contrived.
Hom. Il.
ſpeaking of the Gods after revelling all Day, going to their ſeveral apartments at Night.
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In which words there are Two things eſHomer give us the concluſion, by conAncient Poets looked upon the greateſt part of their reputed Gods, as the Epicureans, and Stoicks afterAetherial matAnimal World is always infinitely pleaſed and delighted, but in his abſence they are Sad and Melancholy, and betake themJuno, that is, the Aire or Atmoſpherical region receivCup from the hands of Vulcan, that is, the Sun, by which the Atmoſphere is rarified and warmed, and all its numerous Inhabitants are wonderfully delighted and refreſht, and of the ſame Vulcan's Miniſtring to the reſt of the Gods, that is, to all other Animated Aetherial concretions, who are repreſented as full
Homer himſelf.
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The Second thing obſervable from the words of Homer above cited is the EpiVulcan in that and other places of that Poet, which word the Scholiaſt renders by Vulcan's being Lame, the inequality of the Days and Nights in ſeveral places, according to the various reſpects and diſtances of the Sun is to be underſtood, ſo that this Lameneſs is not of both Feet at once, but of each at different times
Vulcan which is the ſhorteſt in Winter, being in Summer the longeſt with reſpect to the ſame place. Wherefore utroque pede malè affectus, which is true of both Feet at once, with reſpect to their diſproportion, though the ſhort one be only properly ſaid to be Lame, or if you will, he may be ſaid to be Lame on both Feet, becauſe this inequality of Days and Nights, conſidered at equal diſtances on both ſides of the Aequator, makes the one Foot as much too long, as the other is too ſhort, and the Sun according to this Mythological way of ſpeaking, can no where be ſaid to be
But to theſe Two things there is alſo a Third to be added, which comes now into my mind, and that is, that in this place of Homer, he is not only called Prepoſition
on all ſides environed and encompaſſed.
So true is it what Macrobius tells us, Macrob. Saturnal. l. 1. c. 17.Vettius Praetextatus, who thus replies upon his friend Avienus demanding of him ſome rational account of the ſeveral Names by which Apollo or the Sun was called in the Mythology of the Ancient Heathens, Cave aeſtiAviene, Poetarum gregem cùm de Diis Fabulantur, non ab Adytis pleHave a care, Avienus, whatſoever you do, that you be not guilty of ſo great a miſtake, as to think the Poets did not conſult Nature in the Fables which they made concerning the Gods, or that they did not borrow the Firſt Seeds and Principles of all their Mythology from the depths of Philoſophy and from the inmoſt receſſes of Phyſiological Learning. And whoever he is that goes about to ex
Again, as the Cyclops were nothing elſe, as hath been ſhewn, but ſo many Poetical deſcriptions and adumbrations of the Sun, ſo the Shield or Target of Minerva, which by Greek and Latin Authors is called Aegis, and which the Scholiaſt upon Homer ſomewhere calls a piece of Armour of Vulcans making, is nothing elſe but another ſuch Poetical deHieroglyphick adumbration of the ſame thing, for firſt of all, this Shield is attributed to Jupiter, and thence it is that in the Greek Poets he hath the EpiVirgil Aeneid. 8.
—— Arcades ipſumCredunt ſe vidiſſeJovem,cùm ſaepe nigrantem Aegida concuteret, dextrâ nimboſque cieret.
Where by nigrantem Aegida nothing elſe is meant but the Sun himſelf wrapt up and darkned in Clouds, as appears by the words immediately following, nimboſque c
and by Jupiter in this place, not the Sun, but the whole Aether or Sky is underſtood as in the Inſtances already produced. But at other times by Jupiter, nothing elſe but the Sun is meant, as appears by thoſe Epithets given to him in Homer, of Sun, to whoſe exhaling and attracting virtue both the Thunder
Principal Inhabitant and as it were Lord of the Aether, and therefore this Epithet or Character, Horizon, the Stars are all ſunk into their ſockets, and ſeem to be utterly extinguiſht and put out, ſo that he hath all the Aether to himſelf, and there is no other Luminary to be ſeen in all that vaſt Region of ſubtle matter but he, though ſometimes this Character is likewiſe given to the Earth, which is as manifeſtly, as ſenſibly, and to ſenſe more conſtantly, an Inhabitant of the Aether than he, as in that of Euripides produced by Macrobius,
Macrob. Saturnal. l. 1. c. 23.
And the drift of that Chapter where this paſſage of
Euripides is alledged, is to prove that Jupiter and the Sun are the ſame, which is that which I am now aHomer at the latter end of Iliad,
The Interpretation of which place in him is very ingenious, but it being long, I ſhall not Tranſcribe it, the thing it ſelf that Jupiter and the Sun are ſometimes the ſame, being already ſufficiently clear, and to this place of Homer he adds another of Plato from his Timaeus where the word Jupiter is plainly to be underſtood in that of Ovid in his Faſti,
Vendicat Auſonias Junonis cura Kalendas,
Idibus alba Jovi grandior agna cadit.
Where Juno is the Moon, the Wife of Jupiter, and the Queen of Heaven, to whom the Patronage of the Calends belonged, they being computed from her Renovation, at leaſt Antiently they were ſo, before the Intercalary Days were added to the Roman Month, though Juno or Moon, but all the ſublunary Region, or more particularly the Atmoſphere, which we Inhabit, which is the reaſon of the frequent quarrels that happen in the
Jupiter and Juno, becauſe Juno is the Region of Clouds, and Storms, and Tempeſts, by which Jupiter, that is, the Liquid Aether, in which the Atmoſphere ſwims, is, as it were, ruffled and diſSun is freJuno in this place of Ovid is the Moon, ſo is Jupiter the Sun, to whoſe illumination the Ides, that is, the Full Moon is owing, and therefore to him they then Sacrificed a White Lamb, whoſe Whiteneſs was an EmDay of which the Sun is Lord and Maſter, and for the ſame reaſon the Flamen Dialis, or Prieſt of Jupiter was uſed to wear a White Hat; they are the words of Varro cited by Agellius, who alſo confirms this obſervation of the White Sacrifices being Offered to Jupiter. Is ſolus
Agel. Noct. Att. l. 10. c. 15.album habet galerum; vel quod maximus eſt, vel quod Jovi immolata hoſtia alba fieri oporteat. And what theſe Authors ſay of Jupiter, that Macrobius affirms of Apollo, that he alſo was appeaſed and Worſhipped with White Sacrifices; where ſpeaking of the firſt riſe of the Ludi Apollinares among the Romans, he ſays, Decemviris praeceptum eſt, ut Graeco Macrob Sa
1. c. 17.ritu hiſce hoſtiis ſacrum ſacerent, Apollini
bove feminâ auratâ. and to all this we may add that of Orpheus produced by Macrobius,
And that of the Oracle of Clarius Apollo in the ſame Author,
But when it is further ſaid in that place of Homer, which Macrobius alledging Cornificius for his Voucher in it applies to the Sun,
That all the Gods followed him, by this, ſaith Macrobius, Sidera intelliguntur; quae cum eo ad occaſus ortuſque quotidiano impetu caeli feruntur, eodemque aluntur humore.
enim dicunt ſidera & ſtellas,
id eſt;
quod ſemper incurſu ſint,
Etymologies, which I matter not, haTetragrammaton.
Homer, the Aetherial concretions of ſubtle matter, whether they be Stars, or other to us inviſible conſiſtencies are to be underſtood, and ſo alſo in the place of Plato produced by Macrobius out of the Timaeus, as noSun can poſſibly be unStars; his words are theſe, the great Captain of the Heavenly hoſt, ſitting in, and driving himſelf his flying Chariot or Caleſh, leads the Eternal Dance or March of Heaven, ordering and diſpoſing all things as ſeems beſt to himſelf, and being followed by an Army or Hoſt of Gods and Daemons. where it is not only moſt evident what Macrobius immediately ſubjoynes: His verbis magnum in caelo ducem ſolem vult ſub appellatione Jovis intelligi, alato curru velocitatem ſideris monſtrans. But it is every whit as undenyable that the Gods and Daemons that follow him, can be noStars, and other ſubtle concretions of Caeleſtial Bodies, and the exPlato was in the Eaſtern Learning, Scripture it ſelf, Gen. 2. 1. The Heavens and the Earth were finiſhed and all the Hoſt of them. in the Hebrew, col Tſebaam. the Seventy,
Plato
all their Army; though Seventy to ſignifie the order of an Army in their March, which is otherwiſe more properly, as well in March as in Battalia called Sun Moon, and Stars are called the Hoſt of Heaven, but all that I take notice from it is that the Phraſe of Plato is of Eaſtern growth, and that this is a new confirmation that by Stars are to be underſtood; but yet notwithſtanding it is not without ſomething of improPlato, as if they were the ſame thing, for as Aetherial ſubſtance endued with life a
ſo Aerial, whoſe place of abode is much inAir or Atmoſphere, and parts nearer adjoyning and bordering to the Earth, and therefore Poſſidonius in Macrobius endeavours to exDaemons have ſomething of the Aether mixt and incorporated into their Airy Vehicles, though not ſo pure, or of ſo fine a conMacrobius are, Nomen autem Demonum cùm Deorum appellatione conjungit; aut quia Dii ſunt
id eſt, ſcientes futuri, aut ut Poſſidonius ſcribit in libris quibus titulus eſt
quia ex Aetheriâ ſubſtantiâ parta atque diviſa qualitas illis eſt. And then follow ſome very ſilly Etymologies which I think much to Tranſcribe; this which hath been already mentioned by Macrobius,
Greeks are generally very fond of it, for want of ſufficient skill in their own Language. For qu.
terra, as v. noſ. ſuprâ p. 366. ut & in diatribâ de Tetraterra, is as much as the rent of Land, the Land being conſidered as the Principle and the Rent as the
Ʋſe accuring from it, and other inſame ſort of beings are otherwiſe called Heroes, from region of the Air to which they are conHeſiod deſcribing them gives them expreſly this Character, that they are clothed with Airy Vehicles, and that at all times and in all places, they are perEarth,
And ſo alſo
——Apollonius deſcribes the Nereides or Sea Nymphs, which are converWater, as theſe Land, as like to or Clothed with Vehicles of Air, as being moſt ſuitable and congenerous to the Region of the Atmoſphere to which they are confined.
Demons or Nymphs whether by Land or Sea, were not ſuppoſed to wander all about by perpetual long Journies and unApollonius calls them the inhabiting Daemons; where taking his leave of the Iſland of Electra, which the Scholiaſt Interprets of Samothrace, and ſpeaking of the Religious Myſteries there in uſe, he ſays,
And ſuch
Daemons as theſe by the Latins, are ſometimes called Penates, perhaps from the Greek
Pampinus is thought to be from pubes from Greeks otherwiſe J. Voſſ. de permut. lit.
underground or ſubterraneous Daemons, as the other with reſpect to the whole Earth, not reguarding any particular place, to which they belonged were called Aerial Daemons too, having Bodies or Vehicles made of the ſubterraneous VaTartarus which was ſuppoſed to be of an Aerial conſiſtSun, or any other Heavenly body, and this was the true notion of Tarratus, it was a Dark and Gloomy Hemiſphere on the other ſide of the Earth, of an
conſiſtence, which is the reaſon Homer expreſly gives it the Epithet of Hemiſphere which we Inhabit. This is plainly and undeniably the ſenſe of Homers words where he gives us a deſcription of it, in Jupiter ſeverely threatening any of the Gods that without his conſent or privity ſhould offer to aſſiſt or take part either with the Greeks or Trojans, ſays,
And that this is indeed the true meaning of Tartarus in the ſenſe of the Ancients,
Scholiaſt concerning them, which is expreſſed in theſe following words, By this the Poet ſignifies that the World is a Sphere, of which the Earth is the Centre, and that the ſtrait lines drawn from it on both ſides from the circumference are equal. And again, As the Heaen or the upper Hemiſphere is divided into Three parts or regions, there is the regio of Aire, extending to the Clouds, and that of Aether to the Stars, and then the Starry Region it ſelf, ſo it is alſo in the ſubterraneous ſpace, firſt there is the body of the Earth it ſelf, and then there is Hades, (which this AuAtmoſphere to the neither Surface of the Earth,) and all behind is Tartarus.
Moreover Macrobius having alledged that place of Homer concerning Jupiters going to Supper in the Ocean, to prove that Jupiter and the Sun are the ſame, which
Aſſyrians that they Worſhipſub nomine Jovis calling him by the Name of Orphaick Verſes, wherein Jupiter, Bacchus, and the Sun are affirmed to be the ſame, and he is alſo expreſly af
Yet as hath been ſhewn already, he does not ſo obſtinately ſtick to his ſenſe of the word
It is manifeſt that by
Sun it ſelf, but the whole Aether is to be underſtood, of which the Sun is here called the Eye, and in this ſenſe it was that the Sun is called the Shield of Jupiter, taking Jupiter for the
Aether, and this Aegis or Shield, was ſaid to be made of the Skin of the capra Amalthea, or Amalthean Goat, which was onAether, which is, as I have ſaid, the cauſe of all plenty and fruitfulneſs in the Univerſe, for the Goat by reaſon of its Milk, and of the delicacy and nutritive Nature of its Fleſh, and of the uſefulneſs of its Skin and Hair for Clothing, was a very proper Emblem of Plenty, and the Addition of Amalthea to it makes it more, for Male in Hebrew ſignifies plenum eſſe, and millah or millath is plenitudo, and from thence there is no Queſtion but the word Amalthea is derived, and the true meancopiae cornu, after all the Fabulous repreſentations of the Greeks and Latins concerning it, is noSun, which rayes diffuſe Plenty and Fruitfulneſs whereKeren in Hebrew ſignifies an Horn, and perhaps it might alſo ſignifie, though we have no ſuch ſiga ray of the Sun, for Karan derived from it, ſiglucere, and thence the Greeks uſed Eaſt, ſo alſo of this; but to make it ſtill more evident that by the capra Amalthea, the Aether is to be underShield which was made of her Skin we are to unthe Sun, I will here produce a fragment of the Orphaick Verſes cited by Macrobius, where he ſpeaks as that Author words it, De ornatu veſtituque ſolis in ſacris Liberalibus, which will put the matSun, he aſſigns him as a Garment, the Skin of a ſpotted Deer, which for all the reaſons above mentioned, may be as proper an Emblem of Plenty as the other, and over and above by reaſon of the nimbleneſs and agility of both theſe Animals, the reſtleſs Activity and SwiftOrpheus are,
That is, that the Sun was firſt to be Clothed with a Vail of a Purple, or Azure or Flame
colour, like to his bright and ſplendid rayes and over that to wear the broad and motley Skin of an Hind or Deer full of Spots on the Right Shoulder, which he tells us in the very next words was,
An Imitation or Emblem of the Stars and the Heavens.
This Shield of his, Jupiter is afterwards ſaid to have given to Minerva, upon which ſhe clapped the Head of Meduſa, otherwiſe called the Gorgon's Head, which whoever beheld was immediately petrifi'd or converted into Stone, and this Shield of Jupiter or Minerva thus ordered and circumſtanced according to this latter deVirgil in the Eighth of his Aeneids,
Aegidaque horrificam turbatae Palladis arma,Certatim ſquamis ſerpentum auropolibant, que Connexoſangues, ipſum que in pectore Divae que Gorgona, deſecto vertentem lumina collo.
The meaning of all which, which is withPhyſiological way, is this, Minerva is the ſame with Jupiter, as that word is ſomeAether or ſubtle matter of the Heavens, and in this I perceive all the expoſitors are generally agreed, though I owe not mine own opinion to any of them, which is the greater Argument of its truth, when I conLearned writer of the intellectual Syſtem, who ſeems to be extravagantly fond at every turn of a Trinity, notwithſtanding, as I have proved elſewhere, he hath made it his buMinerva ſmell a Second Hypoſtaſis, and out of her in conjunction with Jupiter and Juno, ſhould be able to make out ſo plainly and ſo fully that the Romans had a Trinity, though he has none. The Firſt
Intell. System. p. 451.of theſe Divine Hypoſtaſes called Jove, being the fountain of the Godhead, and the Second of them called by the Latins, Miner(which as Varro Interprets, was that wherein Ideae & exempla rerum, the Ideas and firſt exemplars or patterns of things were contained) fitly expreſſing the Divine Logos, and the Third Juno, called amor ac delicium Jovis, well enough Anſwering, as
De Theol. Gent. l. 8. c. 12.thinks, to the Divine Spirit.
For if Jupiter and Minerva are both of them exactly the ſame, then they cannot
Hypoſtaſes in the pretended Trinity of Pagan Rome, a thing ſo utterly fantaſtick, and depending upon no Ground or Colour, or ſo much as ſhadow of reaſon, that this alone might be enough to blaſt the Reputation of any leſs Celebrated Author, but aliquando bonus dormitat Homerus, it is the priviledge of great Men to doat when they pleaſe.
It is true indeed St. Auſtin makes a maniJupiter and Minerva, repreſenting Minerva as the uppermoſt, and Jupiter as the inferior and lower Aug. de Civ. D. l. 4. c. 10.Aether, in theſe words, Si Aetheris partem ſuperiorem Minerva tenere dicitur & hâc occaſione fingere poetas, quod de Jovis capite nata ſit, cur non ergo ipſa potius deorum Regina deputatur, quod ſit Jove ſuperior? but I ſhall prove by and by, that in this notion St. Auſtin and thoſe from whom he had it were palpably miſtaken, however if it be admitted for true, and if we ſuppoſe alſo, what hath been already proved, and what Cicero and St. Auſtin
v. Loc. Augustini & Ciceronis cit. Intel Syst. p. 493.Juno the Aire or Atmoſphere is to be underſtood, from hence there reſults a Trinity not of Divine perſons, but a Manichean compothe Doctor upon ſecond thoughts, will not
Chriſtian Doctrine, and I am ſure the Romans never dreaIb. p. 151.Varro, that Minerva was that wherein Ideae & exempla rerum, The Ideas and firſt exemplars and patterns of things were contained. This agrees exactly well with that notion of Minerva which I preMinerva nothing elſe is meant, but the ſubtle matJupiter in Mythological Writers, and in which the firſt Ideas and patterns of things may very reaſonably ſeem to have been drawn, as I Meſſias;
144, 145, 146.Seneca, to find alſo ſo great a Man as Varro, who was thought by Cicero, a very good Judge to deſerve the Name of Doct
ſo favour
But this will be further made out by conſidering firſt the Epithet which is in Homer given to Minerva, of Greeks are uſed to call her, caeſios, or caeruleos oculos habens, which refers to the A
colour of the SAether
Epithets, which are beperſonated parts of the Univerſe by Homer, and which are all to be Interpreted in a Phyſiological way, as Juno, that is, the Aire or Atmoſphaerical Region, is by the ſame Poet called white Elbow'd, or white Armed, not only becauſe this is in it ſelf a beauty, and therefore is in general aſcribed to any fair and Beautiful Woman, but alſo beAire in a fair and ſerene Day is white, and if we compare the whole Univerſe, as Homer does in theſe Epithets to an Organized body, Minerva is the Eye, as being the uppermoſt, and the ſeat and Region of the Stars, and Juno is the Hand or Arme, being ſeated betwixt the Head and the Foot, and Thetis or the Sea, being lowermoſt, is the Foot, from whence ſhe hath the Epithet in Homer of Silver footed, and the Earth in Heſiod is called broad Breaſted, not ſo much by reaſon of its Situation in the Univerſe, conſidered as Organical, as for another Phyſiological reaſon, becauſe the Earth is the Dea Multimammia of Antiquity, ſhe that gives Food and nouriſhment to all things, and whoBreaſts are, as it were ſucked, by all the Animal World.
Further,
Juno is not only called in Homer,
Phyſiological meaning, but being only the general Epithet of a grave and venerable Matron. The Firſt of theſe Two Epithets is given her, not only becauſe in general, large Eyes were, as they are ſtill, accountGreece, which is the uſe of largeneſs and exceſs, as in Sun and Moon in their riſing and ſetting by the refraction of the Atmoſphere appear uſually larger than at other times, or if this will not paſs, as I am not very much concerned whether it do or no, yet ſetting Sun, when the Sky by refraction uſually appears redder than at other times, and for the ſame reaSuns appearance at his riſing, the Morning in Homer, that is that part of the Atmoſphere which borders neareſt upriſing Sun, is called roſie Fingered, for if the Atmoſphere, as hath been ſhewn, be compared to the Arme of the Univerſe conſidered as Organical, then the Horizon is the Finger of
Arme. Now that ſitting or lying upon a Golden Couch or Seat, is the Phyſiological Epithet of the Atmoſphere next adjoyning to the ſetting Sun, will apHomer where it is uſed, at the end of his firſt Iliad,
And for the ſame reaſon the Morning ſeaLatin is called Aurora, qu. aurea Hora, according to the common Etymon, which when I compare it with this Epithet of Juno in Homer, I believe to be the true one, from the more than ordinary brightneſs and refulgency of the Atmoſphere at that time. From this place of Homer there are alſo two other things to be obſerved, Firſt, That by Sun, to whom he gives the Epithets of
And ſo it is alſo no leſs clearly to be un
For that —Aether which is every where preſent, in which ſenſe it was that Aratus ſaid,
It muſt therefore refer to the Sun, who is the great and diſtant inhabitant of the Aether and who was Worſhipped by antiSupream Numen.
Secondly, From this place of Homer we may obſerve one of thoſe reaſons, for which Antiquity made Juno or the Atmoſphere to be the Wife of Jupiter or the Sun, becauſe ſhe lies by him every Night, as Juno in this place of Homer is repreſented to do,
But there is alſo another reaſon of this Fiction among the Ancients, and that is, that the Region within the Atmoſphere is the Region and Seat of Generation, in
Suns influence hath ſo great and principal a ſhare, and the Atmoſphere is ſo neceſſary, as well to the proAnimals, that are to be met with in it, therefore Jupiter is ſaid to be the Husband of Juno, who accordingly ſetteth out every Morning, freſh and luſty as a Bridegroom, and rejoyceth as a Gyant to run his courſe.
And as theſe are the
Phyſiological Epithets of the ſeveral parts of the Univerſe conſidered aſunder, ſo all of them conPan, at others Proteus, Thetis, and Jupiter. Pan is the
Ʋniverſal nature conſidered together, as it were, in a lump, without diſtinction of parts. Proteus is the ſame nature differently modified, and putting on ſeveral ſhapes in ſeveral parts and Species of the Univerſe; ſo Homer ſaith of him Odyſſ.
And the ſame things are affirmed of him by
Virgil, Ovid, Horace, and Silius Italicus,
Orpheus in his Hymns to the
Ʋniverſal nature, putting on, as I have ſaid, ſeveral ſhapes and colours, and appearances in ſeveral parts and Species of the World; his words are as follows,
The ſame is alſo the true Interpretation of
Thetis, how that ſhe might avoid the MarPeleus, (Apollodorus ſhe is ſaid to have done the ſame to avoid the conJupiter himſelf, his words are, l. 1. c. 3. Fire and Water, and different ſorts of Animals, they are the words of Apollodorus, l. 3. c. 12. There are ſome ſay that Thetis being
Juno. the AirJupiter or the pure Aether was interceptv. Natal. Com. Mythol. l. 8. c. 2.bred up by Juno, would by no means
Jupiter, at which Jupiter being very angry was reſolved to Marry her to a Mortal, wherefore Pebeing inſtructed by Chiron how to catch her, and wacthing her narrowly through all her ſhapes, at length apprehends her, for ſhe was ſometimes hid in the appearance of Fire, ſometimes in that of Water, and at others in that of ſome Animal or other, but Peleus never left her till ſhe returned to her own proper ſhape again, which was that of a fair Nymph or Goddeſs of the Sea. This is the ſenſe of what Apulejus ſaith concerning the Goddeſs Iſis, whom he repreſents, though Macrobius ſomeEarth, as another Name or Emblem of the Univerſal Nature. Cujus Numen unicum, multiApul. M
12.whoſe ſingle (but Univerſal and Omnipreſent Deity) is worſhipped by the whole World, in ſeveral ſhapes and ſpecies, by ſeveral Names, and after ſeveral manners. Laſtly, the UniJupiter; as in theſe paſſages
Aeſchylus in the Grotian excerpta.
And again,
—
But yet it is in different ſenſes that the Univerſal Nature is repreſented by the Ancients under theſe Three Names of Proteus, Thetis, and Jupiter. It is called Proteus, from Orpheus in the Verſes above cited, alluding to his Name gives firſt Begotten, but firſt Exiſting and in this ſenſe he is ſaid to put on ſeveral ſhapes, as diſplaying himſelf in ſeveral effects of his Wiſdom, Power, and Goodneſs, and as many ſuch effects as there are, more numberleſs than the Stars of Heaven, or the Sands of the Sea ſhore, which all of them put together make but a ſmall and inconſiderable parMythological Proteus.
Again, When the Catholick or Univer
Thetis, who is repreſented as putThetis in this caſe does not ſignifie as in the other of Proteus, the efficient cauſe or the cauſa per quam, but the cauſa ex quâ or the cauſa materialis, the
Ʋniverſal Maſs out of which this vaſt diverſity of InnuSpecies was formed, for Thetis is the Feminine of the Aegyptian or Alexandrian
Euſebius frequently expreſſes it, Hebrew Tohu, a word by which in the Moſaick account of the Crechaos or Univerſal Maſs is denoted, which Tetragram.
choſhek, or darkneſs becauſe it is ſaid in that ſtate of things that there was choſhek hal phnei Tehom, darkneſs upon the face of the Abyſs. And therefore in a fragment of Ariſtophanes preſerved by Lucian and by Suidas,
And a little after he gives
For as chaos is from choſhek, ſignifying darkneſs, ſo does hereb ſignifie that confuſion and blindneſs which is occaſioned by it, and nous, fugit, becauſe all things then vaniſh and diſappear. But at other times the Greeks not underſtanding the true meaning and oriPoetical ſophiſtications corrupted the Tradition, which was, as it is repreſented in the writings of Moſes, that there was once a time when this beauHeſiod tells us that Chaos begat Erebus and Erebus in conAether and the Day, which is nothing elſe but a plain Interpolation of the ſacred Story, which makes the Night always as being prior to it in order of time, to preChaos from the more groſs and heavy; the words of Heſiod in his Theogonie are,
And ſuch another place as this is that of Cicero, where after other diſcourſe the conSaturne, he ſays, Qui ſi eſt Deus, patrem quoque ejus Caelum eſſe Deum confitendum eſt. Quod ſi ità eſt, Caeli quoque parentes Dii habendi ſunt, Aether & Dies, eorumque fratres & ſoroAnor, Dolus, Metus, Labor, Invidentia, Fatum, Senectus, Mors, Tenebrae, Miſeria, Querela, Gratia, Fraus, Pertinacia,
Parcae, Heſperides, Somnia: quos omnes Erebo & Nocte natos ferunt. The true meaning of which, to put this Mythological and Myſtical way of talking into a plainer dreſs, is this, that night and darkneſs as the Moſaick account does ſufficientSuperiour or antecedent to light or day that out of the Dark and Gloomy Chaos, the more ſubtle and volatil particles being ſeparated, the Aether or the Day began to appear, and that the Brothers and Siſters, that is, the Companions, the Objects, the perpetual entertainment of both Day and Night are all theſe paſſions and accidents of Life, Amor Dolus, Metus, Labor, &c. or in the language of Juvenal,
Quicquid agunt homines, votum, timor, ira, voluptas,
Gundia, diſcurſus.
Further that by Thetis we are to underprimigenial Maſs, and that it is no other than the Aegyptian Thoth or the Tohu, will be ſtill more clear by reflecting upon Tethys, which differs only by a Metatheſis from the other, or rather by the change of of an aſpirate for a lene in both places, than which there is no ſort of permutation more familiar
Tethys is the ſame with Toth or Thoth or Tohu, I prove veEarth in oppoſition to the Sea, as in that of Homer,
Hom. Il.
And ſo alſo in theſe places of
Heſiod in his Theogonie,
And again,
ib. p. 262,
And ſo alſo the old Scholiaſt upon the place of Homer expounds it, calls the Earth Tethys as being the Tithene, that is, the Nurſe and Foſtermother of all things, that are born or bred upon it, or out of it. Which place of the Scholiaſt is Tranſcribed by Suidas, and the Etymologiſt ſays thus,
which is the ſame thing.
And ſometimes again it is taken no leſs plainly for the
Sea in diſtinction from the Earth, as in that of Suidas,
Greek Poet, or Epigrammatiſt, where it can be taken for nothing elſe,
So it is alſo expounded by the Videtur hoc quicquid eſt fragmenti decerptum ex veteri quodam Epigrammate
Etymologiſt, though the place is corrupt, and I will take this occaſion to mend it, &c. that is, For Water nouriſheth and feedeth all things, or elſe Tethys is taken for the Water, becauſe ſhe is the Miſtreſs or Goddeſs of the moiſt or Watery ſubſtance, by which all things are nouriſhed.
Laſtly, In this ſenſe likewiſe
Tethyos
—Luna Lucian
p. 1050. edit, ut ſuprà
Tragopodagra, where he alſo alludes to the Etymon of Tithene, which ſeems to have been very generally received among the Greeks,
In the Latin Poets it is evermore taken in this latter ſenſe, without any one exception that I know of, unleſs it be theſe Two places of Ovid, both of them to be met with in the Fifth of his Faſti,
And again a little after,
Duxerat Oceanus quondam Titanida Tethyn.Qui terram liquidis, quà patet, ambit aquis.
In both of which places Pars Bacchum nutriſſe putant: pars credidit eſſe
has neptes Oceanique ſenis.
Tethys is the Earth, as in the places of Homer and
Heſiod above produced. But otherwiſe it is univerſally taken for the Sea or the Watery ſubſtance, as in that of Virgil, Georg. 1.
And Teque ſibi generum Tethys emat omnibus undis.
Lucan, l. 1.
And unda vagae.
l. 6.
And Aut vaga cùm Tethys, Rutupinaque littora fervent.
Silius Italicus. l. 3.
immiſſis percaerula bigis, Fertque refert
Tethys.
Now the true reaſon why Tethys in theſe Ancient Writers is taken ſometimes for the Earth, and at others for the Sea, is becauſe the Hebrew Tohu, or the Aegyptian Thoth from whence it was derived, did ſignifie both of theſe together, the Primigenial Maſs being deſcribed by Moſes as overflown with Water, and as conſiſting of a poachy
Earth and Water together, and any otherwiſe than this it is almoſt impoſEarth and Water.
From whence it was that the Ancient
Greeks were uſed to aſcribe the Original of all their Gods, that is, all whether Aetherial or Aerial animated concretions ſometimes, to the chaos, or cohſhek, that is, the univerſal Maſs, where the Aerial, Aetherial, Terreſtrial and Aqueous parts were all of them jumbled in confuſion toChaos was the Firſt and Ancienteſt of all the Gods, as he muſt needs be, if he were the Source and Fountain of them all, according to that known Fragment of Epicharmus,
But expreſly aſſerting that all the
Gods were derived from thence, ſo Orpheus ſpeaks in his Hymn of the Night,
Where
choſhek are the ſame, and there is no other poſſible Etymology that I can think of, of this word, unleſs it be from Analogy, though not in Propriety of ſignification, but the latter in both of theſe reſpects, and that the Orpheus is exactly the ſame with what other Authors call the Orphaick fragment, with another of Ariſtophanes, part of which hath been already produced, where having firſt ſaid that Love in conjunction with Chaos, produced the race of Mankind and firſt brought it to light, he then goes on to ſay further, that there were no Gods neither, that is, no Aetherial or Aerial Animated and intelligent concretions, till the ſame Love, by which we are to underſtand, though Ariſtophanes himſelf does not ſeem to have done it, the Supream Numen, or
Ʋniverſal Mind endued with infinite goodneſs as
Chaos,
And whereas, I have ſaid above that Ariſtophanes makes all theſe words, Synonymous to one another, it is as much as the thing will bear, or rather I find my ſelf obliged to retract that opinion, becauſe in the words immediately following he makes Love, though very abſurdly, being as it is, a principle of underſtanding and goodneſs, to have been the offspring of Erebus, and that by this the ſeparation of the Heterogeneous parts of the Univerſe was made, which turns exactly to the ſame account, with what hath been above produced out of Heſiod and Tully, which ſhowes plainly, notwithſtanding that the Ancient Greeks were beholden for all theſe things to the Eaſt, their very Love, being nothing elſe but a Tranſlation of the Hebrew Rouach with its Epithet Merachepheth
Moſes, as well as their Chaos, their Erebus, and their Nox, have been all of them ſhown to be owing to the ſame fountain; yet that they did not underſtand their own Traditions, and were ignorant from whence they had them.
Furthermore, Ovid likewiſe as well as Epicharmus affirms Chaos to have been the Ancienteſt and Firſt of all the Gods, where ſpeaking of Janus, whom in the foregoing Treatiſe, I have ſhewn to be the ſame with Time, which is meaſured by certain ſhanoth or reiterated and repeated Periods of duJanus thus ſpeaks concerning himFast. l. 1.
Me Chaos Antiqui (nam ſum res priſca) vocabant
Accipe quam longi temporis acta canam.
And if he be the Ancienteſt of all the Gods, as time is coextended to Eternity it ſelf, then it follows plainly according to the ſenſe of the Ancients, who confounded time, and the Chaos, whoſe duration was meaOvid ſoon after aſcribing omnipotence to his Chaos or Janus, for this is one ſenſe of his words,
Quicquid ubique vides, caelum, mare, nubila, terras,
Omnia ſunt noſtrâ cláuſa patentque manu.
And again a little after that,
Praeſideo foribus caeli cum mitibus horis Et redit officio Jupiter itque meo.
Though I confeſs there is alſo another ſenſe of theſe words; in the former diſtich, that, time is the meaſure of all things as to their duration, and in what ſenſe they may be ſaid to be ſhut and opened by him ſhall be hereafter explained. In the Second, that time is meaſured and diſtinguiſhed by cerſilently and inſenſibly gliding away,
Praeſideo foribus caeli cum mitibus horis
And that Jupiter or the Sun by whom theſe ſeaſons are diſtinguiſhed, is the Miniſter, and is, as it were, ſent every day and hour upon the errant of time,
Et redit officio Jupiter itque meo.
Which is another confirmation of what hath been already ſufficiently proved, that Jupiter among the Latins, as well as Greeks, was frequently taken for the body of the Sun.
To conclude this diſcourſe concerning ſome of the Ancients making Chaos to have been the firſt ſource and Origin of all things; notwithſtanding the great ſimiHebrew Hereb and the Greek Erebus, yet when we conſider that moſt perfect, the moſt black, and pitchy Darkneſs, whence it had the Epithet of black, whereas Hereb ſignifies rather the Twilight or crepuſculum than the Night, which is moſt properly in Hebrew called Lajelah; this might be enough to ſhake the ſolidity of this Etymon, not withſtandPaſſover is commanded to be Killed ben haharbaim between the Two Evenings, one of thoſe Evenings begins immediately after Twelve a Clock, upon
Sun towards the Horizon, and the other at Six in the Afternoon, which, at ſometimes of the Year eſpecially, is ſufficiently light; were it not in behalf of this Etymon to be conſiderHereb do ſomefirſt declenſion of the Sun, and the firſt approach of that which we are uſed to call the Evening, yet that ſomeHereb was taken for the whole Night, appears by the general diviſion of the whole Geneſis into Hereb and Boker, the Evening and the Morning, which are ſaid to have been the Firſt, the Second and the Third Day, and ſo on, by which it is manifeſt, that as by Boker or Morning in this diviſion of the Day, we are to underſtand all the time of the Suns continuance above the Horizon, ſo by the Hereb or Evening, the whole time of his continuance under it, is to be underſtood; and this appears further by the Name of Horeb derived from it, by which word the Hebrews are uſed to ſignifie a Crow from its blackneſs, and from hence perhaps is the Latin orbus, and orbo, and orbitas, becauſe perſons in this circumſtance and condition were uſed to put on Mourning or Black, though the Romans did not attend to any ſuch Etymology.
But admitting that Hereb does indeed ſignifie not the pich Darkneſs, but the doubtful crepuſculum, or the glimmering Twilight, yet this will well enough comErebus, though the Greeks and Latins did not underſtand it, for in the Chaos the Aetherial and Volatil and the more groſs and heavy parts lay mixt and jumbled in great confuſion and diſorder together, which Volatil parts neither were, nor could be ſo wholly ſeparated and disjoyned from each other, but that getting ſometimes toTwilight, had there been then any Animal in being, or any Eye rightly Organized and prepared to diſcern it, or to be duly moved and affected by it, but it was ſuch a Twilight as by the uncertain motiStrugling
Aetherial matter, or as that Aetherial matter very nigh extinguiſht and expelled, returns with new force, and by attenuating and rarifying that Floud of moyſture, turns it into nouriſhment and fewel for the Flame, inſtead of deſtroying and oppreſſing it, as before—
At other times thoſe Ancient Writers aſſigned the Original of all things, as well Gods, as Men, and all other Animated concretions and ſubſtances whatever, not to the Chaos at large, but to the Moiſt and Watery part of it, as the Scripture makes the firſt ſeparation of the diſordered and confuſed parts of the Maſs, and the firſt vital impreſſions communicated to the matter, to have happened from the Spirit
v. Intell. Syſt. p. 123, 124.of Gods moving upon the face of the Waters, whence Thales, and after him Anaxagoras derived their opinion, who affirmed the firſt principle of all things to have been Water, Animated and Enlivened by a Mind or Soul, running through and coHomer, which hath been al
Scholiaſt makes this obſervation, that by the Father of the Gods.
becauſe ſome Phyſiologers have repreſented Water as the Firſt Element, from which the other Three were derived, whence Pindar ſaid,
Water was the beſt, as being the Firſt of all things. This was the true reaſon why Venus, who is by the Greeks upon that account called Spume of the Sea, for by Venus nothing elſe was meant but the prolifick Life and Power of the UniPhyſiologers was ſuppoſed to ariſe out of the Watery ſubſtance or the Fluid matter, which they looked upon to be the firſt ſource and prinPriapus whoſe exceſſive great Pudendum was but an Emblem of the plaſtick Virtue, or Generative power of Nature, was not only worſhipped in Fields and Gardens, (whence I have conjectured his Etymology to be pri ab, the Father of Fruits, as all the productions of Nature may in ſome ſenſe be called, which I take to be much more Natural than thoſe Etymologies
Scholiaſt upon Theocritus hath preſented us withal, Ports and by the Sea ſide, whence by the Greek Epigrammatiſts he had the Epithets given him, of v. Dempl. 2. c. 20. ut & Voſſ. de Idolol. l. 2. c. 7. Nat. Com. l. 5. c. 20. p. 521. fuit Portus Priapi nomine propè Dardaniam, & urbs ad mare ſita, quibus in locis eximiè Priapus celebratur.
Anthology by Dempſter upon Roſinus, which was but another Hieroglyphick adumbration of this Ancient Tradition, that all things did at firſt ariſe and ſpring from the Water.
Further yet, Venus, who at ſome times was ſaid to be born out of the Water, and for that reaſon was called Cyprus, and from thence had the Epithet of Jupiter was fabled to be born at Crete, and Apollo at Delos, all Three of them Iſlands encompaſſed by, and as it were, riſing out of the Water, which was but another Emblematical reVenus
prolifick Nature, was born of the Moiſt and Watery Subſtance, or that all things ſprang from thence, and that Apollo and Jupiter, by both of which the Sun is underſtood, or the Aetherial matter of the Heavens, were made what they are, by the ſeparation of thoſe ſubtle particles, of which they conſiſt, from the Moiſt and Watery Subſtance of the Abyſs or Chaos, which was overwhelmed with Waters; and for the ſame reaſon Priapus whom I have afProlifick power of Nature, (and thence it was that an Aſs was uſed to be Sacrificed to him, as being furniſhed with Genitals of a more than ordinary ſize), was ſaid to have been born at Lampſacus or Lampſacum on the bank of the Helleſpont, and by the Waters ſide, but for Priapus being the Son of Bacchus and Venus which is another thing that Nat. Com. ubi ſuprà. Alii Priafilium fuiſſe crediderunt, quia vinum propter calorem excitet libidinem.—
This notion ſeems ſomewhat to be faMacrobius, though the ſenſe of his words be not altogether the ſame, where ſpeaking of Apollo and Diana, who were both of them by the Poets feigned to
Delos, he ſays, proptereà in inſulâ
Macrob. Saturn. l. 1. c. 17.dicuntur nati, quod ex mari nobis oriri videntur, that is, Apollo and Diana, or the Sun and Moon, are therefore ſaid to have been born in an Iſland, becauſe they ſeem, to ſenſe, to riſe out of the Sea, but as for what follows, though it be ingenious, Haec inſula ideo Delos vocatur, quia ortus & quaſi partus luminum omnia facit
id eſt, aperta, clareſcere; much leſs can Delos was, Sic dicta
quod cùm antà mari tecta eſſet, Latonae locum ad pariendum quaerenti, repentè ſe oſtenderit, nor with Bochartus his account neither, who would have it be from the Syriack, Dachal, Timor, for this far fetcht reaſon becauſe there is a Poet that tells us, though that Poet himſelf or at leaſt the perſon whom he repreſents were mightily miſtaken, that
Primus in orbe Deos fecit timor.—
But the true meaning of Delos is this, Delos is truly and properly the Sun it ſelf, for this is properly the ſignification of Greek, it is titio, torris, lampas, to which ſort of things the Sun and Moon, by reaſon of their bright and
Sun, Moon, and Stars in the firſt of Geneſis are called Meoroth, Luminaria, or Lucernae, Lights or Lamps, as the ſame word is plainly uſed Exod. 25. 6. and c. 35. 8. they being comVrim which ſeems to have been nothing elſe but a certain light ſhining and diſplaySeventy rendered by Luminaria, Num. 27. 21. and 1 Sam. 28. 6. which thing being ſeriouſly conſidered and reflected upon, will conVulcan, that his true Etymology is as much as El Kanna or Deus Zelotypus, becauſe of the Metaphorical likeneſs and reſemFire and Jealouſie or Indignation, for ſo it is alſo in Greek,
common Greek calls Aeolian dialect is Aeolique
Priſcian
Mezentius was by the Ancient Latins called Medentius, and the ſame may be ſeen likewiſe in the formation of tenſes
Odor, and Laſtly that the Zeta does manifeſtly and undenyably contain in it the poteſtas of Delta or d, which makes them the more eaſily convertible into each other, may be ſeen in all thoſe permutations in the ſeveral dialects, wherein, beſides what hath been already repreſented, it is ſomedd, ſometimes into ds, and at others into ſd, inſtances of which as they are obvious to all that have been converſant in the Greek Poets, ſo there are many of them collected ready at hand by Voſſius in his little but excellent Tract De Permutatione Literarum.
To this purpoſe it is, that not only in Scripture, but even in Profane Greek AuJealouſie and Fire are compared toPlato gives Jealouſie or Indignation burning like Fire, or that breaths and belches it out, and Plutarch hath ſuch an exthe vehement, or excandeſcent ſtate of a Glowing Fire.
This notion that Delos is nothing elſe in its firſt and moſt proper ſignification but a name of the Sun, though afterwards
N. C. Mythol. l. 5. c. 20. p. 521.Natalis Comes obſerves a Port and a City to have been called Priapus, becauſe Priapus was worſhipped in them, will be ſtill more clear by conſiderDelos was Antiently and Primitively repreſented as a Floating Iſland, which is plainly the caſe of the Sun and Moon, which to ſight are as two Floating Iſlands or Homogeneous, Tracts and Continents of Light and Fire, ſwimming as it were in the Ocean of the Aether; and whereas, after the Birth of Apollo and Diana, the Iſland of Delos, the TerAegean Sea, is ſaid to have reſted, whereas before it floated to and fro: This may poſſibly have depended either, Firſt, upon a corruption of the Antient Tradition; for in the beginSun and Moon and other Stars were created, that is, when the Aetherial Parts were ſeparated from the more Groſs and Heavy, and when the Watery were derived into their proper Cavities, RecepSun, did now begin to ceaſe floating and poaching any longer, and was, as we call it, terrafirma, firm and uſeful Land, and conſidering the Sun as the Supream Numen, as the moſt Ancient Idolaters unqueſtionably did, the whole Earth is his Delos, or his Temple where he is Worſhipped, an Iſland ſtanding in the fluid Aether, to outward ſenſe and vulgar opinion immoveable, though in reality, if we give credit to the beſt AſtroSun, beGreek corruption of the Hebrew El, from whence is the Greek
Fire or Light, or had a Metaphorical Reſemblance to them, was called by the Names of Greeks, only remaining ſtill in the Name of this Iſland, which had been given it from the Worſhip of Delus or the Sun, it ſo happened by the miſtake and ignorance of the Greeks, that what was attributed in the Cabbaliſtical and Arcane Language of Antiquity to their Delus or the Sun, viz, that he was as a
A ſecond Conſideration, by which this notion of the word Anciently, or at leaſt in a Cabaliſtical and Hieroglyphic way, ſignified the Sun, may be confirmed, is this, That in thoſe Sacra or Ceremonies or Religious Rites which were inſtituted in honor of Minerva, Vulcan, and Prometheus, there were among other things, the Natalis Comes obſerves out of Pauſanias
N. C. Mythol. l. 4. c. 6. p. 314, 315.Prometheus, Scriptum eſt à Pauin Atticis non ſolum aram illi (Promefuiſſe erectam in Academiâ, ſed etiam Lampadipherorum curſùs certamen inde incepiſſe, qui in urbem accenſas faces decurrentes deferebant, in quo certamine ſtudebant ut accenſae faces ſervarentur, nam cujus fax extincta fuiſſet, is victoriam ſuccedenti concedebat, atque hic eodem modo ſequenti, ſi ſua extingueretur, & reliqui eodem ordine, quod ſi nemo accenſam facem, tuliſſet, palma in medio relinquebatur, atque
haec fiebant in honorem Promethei, quod is omnium artium fontem & autorem ignem putabatur inveniſſe, &c. And a little after what he here attributes peculiarly to Prometheus, he aſcribes in common with him to Minerva and Vulcan likewiſe, where he puts this Queſtion, Quid vero ſignificant
Ib. p. 323.quae in honorem Minervae, Vulcanique, & Promethei celebrabantur, in quibus curſores accenſis facibus currebant? Which he thus reſolves into a Moral meanNihil aliud ſanè quàm univerſum praeſentis vitae curſum eſſe nobis moleſtiarum atque curarum plenum, quae ubi ceſſaverint, à cùrſu ipſius vitae ceſſandum eſt, & ſuccedentibus lampades, lites, morbi, calamitates, animorumque ſollicitudines in manus tradendae; atque, ut ſummatim colligam ſignificare voluerunt per haec ſapientes maximam eſſe vitae praeſentis perturbationem, avaritiam cuncta recta ſubvertere: viris bonis eſſe ſemper adverſus difficultates pugnandum, omnem mortalium vitam eſſe curarum plenam, neque ulli ſperandam eſſe quietem dum vivimus. Where, though I will not deny that this Ceremony among the Ancients was ſignificative of the Succeſſion of the Human, or in general of the Animal Life, or of the departure of one Generation to make way for another; the Lamps being ſo
flamma vitalis, and their ſucceſſive extinction of the frailty and ſhort duration of this mortal Life, as is ſufficiently evident from the alluſion of Lucretius, which had a reſpect to this Rite among the Ancients.
Tanquam curſores vitalem lampada tradunt.
Yet as for the account which our Mythologiſt here gives, that it was an Emblem of the trouble and vexation to which HuVulcan, Minerva, and Prometheus, certainly there muſt ſomeAnimal Vitality
Aetherial Influence from above. For Minerva, as I have ſaid and proved already, and ſhall do ſtill further by and by, is noAetherial Matter, and Vulcan and Prometheus were but two Names of the Sun, which is ſometimes reShield of Minerva, being exactly of the ſame ſort of fluid and Aetherial Subſtance, only differing in greater decommon Aether; ſo that thoſe Torches had a twofold reſpect, the Firſt lookt downwards upon the Animal World, whoſe ſhort conCurſores that held them; the other upwards, towards the Aetherial Matter, and more particularSun himſelf, the Father and Fountain of Light, and, as it was then betemporary Candles, enlighteverlaſting Lamp of Heaven, the Sun, and propagated ſucceſſively by the means of
Hieroglyphic Pageantry of the Ancients, did ſignifie and repreſent the Sun, why then might not Flambeau or Torch in the Arcane uſage of Hieroglyphic Speech, equally denote and ſignifie the ſame?
From this that hath been obſerved conLampadophoria, that they were Celebrated equally in honor of Pallas, Vulcan, and Prometheus, compared with the explication of thoſe Names which hath been already given; we may be ſtill further convinced that Prometheus and Vulcan are the ſame with the Sun, and by conſequence with one another. Which is ſtill further confirmed from what the Scholiaſt upon Sophocles reports, That they had all Three of them one common Altar in the Temple of Pallas at Athens, as I find it taken notice out of him, Firſt by N. Comes, and after him by our Learned Countryman Doctor Gale, in his Notes upon Apollodorus, and this certainly is a ſhrew'd ArguPrometheus and Vulcan, with relation to one another; the other of Pallas, with reſpect to the other Two.
Furthermore, It is obſervable to this purApollod. Biblioth. l. 1. c. 3. p 10.Apollodorus reports, that when Jupiters Head was in Labor with Minerva, Vulcan, as ſome ſay, and as others, Prometheus cleft it with an Ax or Hatchet, by that means to facilitate and expedite the Birth, (Pallas and Minerva have been by ſome Authors, and partiApollodorus himſelf, diſtinguiſht from one another, though they are really and in truth the ſame. v. Apollod. Bibl. l. 3. & N. Com. Mythol. l. 4. c. 5. p. 296.—Prometheus and Vulcan to be the ſame; and this was the reaſon that Lyſimachides, an Ancient Greek Writer, cited by Natalis Comes, makes Prometheus to have been Senior to Vulcan, not underſame; nor conſiſameneſs of the Perſons, yet as to the Names by which this Indentity was differently expreſt, Vulcan as being the Eaſtern Name, was much the Senior to Prometheus.
Now the true explication of this Fable in Apollodorus, that Vulcan or Prometheus cleft the Head of Jupiter, to make a more eaſie paſſage for the Birth of Pallas, is this, Jupiter in this caſe is the whole Aether, whoſe Head is the Body of the Sun, whoſe Rayes are here compared to Axes or Hatchets, by which the Aether is pierced and cleft, as to our outward ſenſe it ſeems to be; and that from this cleaving, Pallas was born, the meaning is no other than this, that the Sun or the Rayes of the Sun, do at leaſt enliven and invigorate, if not create and cauſe that agility and motion, which is to be found in Pallas or Jupiter; or the wide, ſpacious Aether, whoſe Parts all about, though they are of a finer conAtmoſphere is compoſed, yet they themſelves, as they are nearer to the Sun, or at a farther diAether, which being mingled and interAtmoſphere which we inSun ſhines upon us with a directer Influence, and with Rayes more piercing and vigo
Laſtly, This was the reaſon, why, when other of the
Poets make the firſt Man to have been formed out of the Earth by Prometheus, Heſiod aſcribes the ſame effect to Vulcan, becauſe they are indeed both of them the ſame, the ſame with the Sun, and with one another; the words of Heſiod in his
Which Grotius hath thus Tranſlated.
Though this indeed be ſpoken of Mulciberumque moras Jubet omnes ſolvere & undas.
Commiſcere ſolo, atque humanam imponere vocem.
Heſiod, not of the makeing or animating Mankind by Prometheus, but of the forming of Pandora by Vulcan, which Pandora is nothing elſe but a Mythological Emblem of our Firſt Parent Eve, or of the miſchiefs that are
Grot. de. v. R. G. l. 1. p. 63. ed. Amſtel. 1674.Prometheus, and that animated with Celeſtial Fire, ſhews that Vulcan and Prometheus are the ſame, though in this Story of Heſiod they are Mythologically oppos'd to one another.
And particularly as to Prometheus himVultur or Eagle perpetually preying upon his Heart or Liver, which was repaired every Night proportionably to what it was ſpent and waſted in the Day, which, as I have ſaid, cannot bear any natural Interpretation, than only by explaining it of the diurSun; this Story is related, and with the ſame cirHeſiod and Petronius av. Phavor. in
& Apollod. l. 1. c. 7. p. 22.Pherecydes in Phavorinus, and by Apollodorus in his Bibliotheca.
I cannot forbear upon this occaſion to confirm likewiſe another Notion, though of the ſame nature with this, which in what hath been ſaid above, I have endeaviz. That the Ancient Orpheus was the ſame with the Sun, by a
Lactantius, never yet taken notice of that I know of, to this purpoſe,—where ſpeaking of the Angels and Miniſtring SpiJudaiſm and Chriſtianity, but alHeathen Philoſophy and Theology hath favored, he ſaith, Si eos (Genmultitudo delectat, non duodecim dicimus, nec trecentos Sexaginta quinque, ut Orpheus, ſed innumerabiles, & arguimus eorum errores in diverſnm, qui tam paucos putant. The reaſon of which diviſion of their Angels or Miniſtring Spirits among the Pagans, ſometimes into Twelve, and at others Three hundred ſixty five, was this, That the Sun was looked upon by them as the Supream Numen, and his annual MoZodiac, is either divided into Twelve Parts or Sections, which we call Months, over every one of which a particular Tutelar Genius or Subminiſtring Spirit was ſuppoſed to preſide, or elſe inThree hundred ſixty five, which are calDays, which ſpace of Time being ſpent by the Sun in his motion; his annual PeZodiac from whence he ſet out ſo long ago, and every one of
Days too, which are all of them owSun, and are meaſured by his motion, for Dies is Genius or Tutelar and Guardian Spirit preſiding over it, and performing ſuch Offices as the great Author and Finiſher of the Day, thought it fit and neceſſary to appoint; but when this Opinion is aſcribed by Lactantius to Orpheus as the Author, I rather think him to have been the Subject of it, and that the geniun Tradition was this, That Orpheus, that is, the Sun, was looked upon by the Ancients, as having Three hundred and ſixty five Miniſtring Spirits about him, according to the number of the Days of the Year, both becauſe this Opinion which depended upon the proneneſs of Antiquity to Superſtition, who never thought they had Gods and Demons enough, do's not ſeem to have been ſo particular as Lactantius makes it, and becauſe Orpheus was certainly a name of the Sun, as I have proved already; and this corrupted TradiLactantius ſeems to have been anoCenſorinus obſerves the Ancient Aegyptian or Eaſtern ſolar Year to have conſiſted of Three hundred ſixty five Days without any intercalation,
To put an end to this Diſcourſe concernOcean or the Water, being the firſt Cauſe and Principle of all things, as well Gods as Men, and all other whether aniPlato expreſſes it in his Theaetaetus,
all things were begotten by fluidity and motion, that is, according to the preſent Sentiments of the Corpuſcularians, that all the ſeveral Differences, Qualities, Appearances, and various Modifications to be met with in the material World, were but the effects of Motion or Fluidity, variouſly proportion'd order'd and diſpoſed; for this is the true and firſt meaning of fluid Matter from volatil, or ſwift, and from the ſame Greek word is the Latin Aqua and Aquila, ſo called from the ſwiftneſs of its Flight and Motion, and Aquilo for the Northwind, for the ſame reaſon, which is called in Greek
Hebrew Boreach,
Barach, Fugit, as Daniel Heinſius in his Ariſtarchus hath before me obſerved. And from the ſame Greek Root is alſo the Latin Acus, and Acuo, and Acies, becauſe things that are ſharp and have an Edge paſs with more eaſe and ſwiftneſs, and cut their way with greater ſpeed and diſpatch through all obſtacles and impediments that they meet with, and thence Acies in the Metaphorical Senſe, ſignifies ſharpneſs or quickneſs, or ſubtlety and minute perſpicacity of ſight, becauſe they whoſe Eyes are thus happily diſpoſed, do eaſily, and clearly, and ſwiftly, or quickly diſcern things that are removed at a great diſtance from them, and for the ſame reaſon it ſigdiſpoſition and order of an ArBattalia, that is, firſt and moſt properly, as I conceive, the Cuneus or the Phalanx, where the whole Body is terAngle or an Edge; and ſo alſo Acumen has not only its proper and firſt Senſe, to ſignifie a material Edge or ſharpneſs, but alſo its Metaphorical or Derivative, to denote the intellectual quickneſs or ſharpneſs of the Mind, by which it do's, as it were, cut its way through the greateſt difficulties and abſtrucſities of NaRain, whence alſo Orion was feighned to have his Name, as being the cauſe of TemFlouds and Inundations, which by the Poets was variJulius Pollux are the ſame with what Phyſicians and Anatomiſts otherwiſe call Etymology, to any Man that ſhall conſider it, is cerEtymologies of St. Ambroſe, Ariſtotle, and Philo, which may be found in any Lexicon, together with this; not that I would confine the ſignification of the word Atmoſphere, within which compaſs the Clouds and Rain are contained, but it is enough that the moſt remote Antiquity looked upon the Clouds, as at a far greater diſtance than we do; and therefore the
Pſalmiſt makes the Clouds to be, as it were, the more peculiar and Beatifical Seat of him who is Omnipreſent, which is otherAether, when he affirms of God, as he do's ſometimes, that he maketh the Clouds his Chariot, and that he rideth upon the Wings of the Wind, or elſe it might happen that the whole Aether might be call'd by the Name of Ancient Mortals that firſt call'd it by this Name, did not underPhiloſophy of Exhalations, but thought all Rain was diſpenſed from the Treaſury of Waters above the Firmament, as it is called in the Firſt of Geneſis, not according to the truth and reality of Things, but according to vulgar Opinion, with which the Language of the Scripture, though of divine Inſpiration, do's not diſHebrew Rakiah, not by Firmamentum, as the vulgar Latin hath done, by a falſe Tranſlation of the Greek
Region of the Stars, but only by expanſum, a ſeeming empty ſpace, in which we
ſublunary Region, it will not imply that there is indeed any ſuch celeſtial Treaſury of Water beyond the Atmoſphere or the Region of the Clouds.
This Notion of Thetis being nothing elſe but the Tohu or
Ʋniverſal Maſs, beſides what hath been already produced to that purpoſe, will receive further confirmation, by reflecting a little upon the meaning and derivation of theſe three words, Titan, and Tithonus: I begin with the Firſt, Homer Il.
Old Scholiaſt interprets Euſtathius upon the ſame place, we are to underſtand a certain ſort of Oyſter, for ſignifies the Earth, and Shell Fiſh, by reaſon of the hardneſs of that Shell wherewith they are incompaſſed, are of a more earthy Nature, than any other ſort of Fiſh
a, a, a, ſo Suidas exwhatſoever; but it had been better to de(a)
double capacity, as it ſignifies both (a) Earth and (a) Water, becauſe, by reaſon of the hardneſs of their Shell, and the ſoftneſs or fluidity of their
inward Pulp and Subſtance, and of their liTohu or Primigenial Maſs, called by Heſychius with a veſignifies a ſort of Oyſter or Shell Fiſh, and it is alſo the Slime or Dirt which Rivers in their Courſe throw off upon their Banks, which is as exactly as can be the ſignification of the Hebrew Tohu, which was a thin ſubſtance of Earth and Water together; and this is a further confirmation, that by Tethys in the Mythology of the An
Ʋniverſal or Primigenial Maſs was denoted, and likewiſe explains the reaSuidas;
Tohu or Primigenial Maſs, which was the Mother, or Grandmother, and Firſt Parent of all Things, and an Aunt is ſo like a Mother, ſo nearly related by Blood, and uſually by Affection, and by all Offices of Parental kindneſs, that it is no wonder to find Earth or Globe of Earth and Water, in which all ſublunary Animals are bred and nouriſh'd being truly ſtiled the Nurſe, as well as Parent of all her productions, and the Analogy of Tithene, comes nigh to that of Tithonus, of which I ſhall ſpeak in the third place.
But Secondly, The word Titan alſo being from the ſame Root of Thoth, or Tohu, is another confirmation of the truth of what I have ſaid concerning Thetis, that by her was ſignified the Tohu, or the
Ʋniverſal and Primigenial Maſs, for all theſe Names being probabEtymology, give natural ſtrength and confirmation to each other. Titan ſignifies properly a Son of the Earth, or of the Tohu, and ſo the Sun is called in the firſt place, according to that of Ovid in his Metamorphoſes.
Nnllus adhuc mundo praebebat lumina Titan.
And in Juvenal, Prometheus whom I have more than once affirmed to be the ſame with the Sun, is called by this Name,
E meliore luto finxit praecordia Titan.
And ſo alſo in Sophocles, out of whom this citation is produced by N. Comes,
N. C. Myth. L. 2. c. 4. p. 150.
And not only the Sun was called Titan, but the Stars likewiſe by the Latin Poets are ſometimes called Aſtra Titania, as in that of Virgil in the ſixth of his Ae
Principio caelum & terras campoſque liquentes, Lucentemque Globum Lunae,Titaniaque AſtraSpiritus intus alit, totamque, infuſa per artus,Mens agitat molem, & magno ſe corpore miſcet.
The reaſon of which was either that the fluid Matter of the Aether, of which the Sun and Stars conſiſt, was once jumbled together with the reſt of the Chaos, and was ſeparated from it, which was, as it were, its Birth out of the Womb of
Chaos, or the Tohu, or elſe that they ſeem all of them, as often as they Emerge above our Horizon, to riſe out of the Earth or Sea, as if they ſprang from thence as Flowers do out of a Bed, or from their ſeveral Principles and Seeds, and as often as they ſet and were ſubmerſt again unAncients as their return to their Mother, (there being according to them but one enlightned Hemiſphere, as hath been already declared,) to ſuck her Breaſts of Conſolation, and to refreſh and cool themſelves in the Bath of the Ocean, after the Fatigue of a long and toilſom Journey.
Neither can there be any other reaſon but this aſſigned, why the Earth ſhould be called Greek Poets, as well as the Sun was called Titan, and the Stars Titania; for certainly the Sun, and Stars, and the Earth, any otherwiſe than ſome ſuch way as this, are not any whit of kin to one another, and yet this is the Name of the Earth in the Etymologer, who hath theſe remarkable words, ſome called the whole Earth by this Name, and ſome only the ſingle Province of Attica, both of which were in the right, for the whole Maſs of Earth, and Water, and Aether,
Thoth or Tohu, and this was the true Name of ſingle Province of Attica, as the Etymologer himſelf underſtood his own words, but the Ancient Earth or Primigenial Maſs, which was the Cabbaliſtical or Traditionary ſignification of Attica and Attici, as hath been already frequently deGreeks themſelves did not underſtand it. Epithet of Earth, either ſigEarth was a part of the Tohu or
Ʋniverſal Maſs, as indeed it is the moſt confuſed and Heterogeneous part of it, Tohu and Bohu being Names in Hebrew, that ſeem to ſignifie diſorder and confuſion, or that the Earth was the Mother of the Titans, which is the ſame thing; by the Winds and Vapours which are exhaled from the Earth, or the Tohu, or being kept up and pent in ſubterraneous Caverns, are the natuEarthquakes, and Volcano's, and ſuch like Eruptions of ſubterraneous Vapours; ſo the word is explained by Euſtathius upon Homer, with whom the AuHeſiod agrees, Heſiod. p. 244. Ed. Heins.
they are called Titans, for as much as they diſpenſe and are the Authors and Occaſions of Damage and Detriment to Men; for by Earthquakes Houſes are overturned, and the Earth is broken up or cleft in ſunder, and Men are overwhelmed and immerſt in Waters, and many other Calamities there are that happen upon the ſame account; and as I have ſaid formerly of Juno, that the reaſon of the many Quarrels that happen between her and Jupiter in the Poets, is to be taken without all queſtion, from the Phiſiology or natural Philoſophy of the Ancients, Juno being the Air or Atmoſphere, or the Region of Storms and Tempeſts, by which Jupiter or the pure Aether is troubled and diſturbed; the ſame is true likewiſe of the Wars betwixt the Titans or the Giants, that is, the Sons of the Earth and the Gods, for by the Gods was meant, as hath been already obſerved from Plato and Macrobius, the Sun and Stars, the pure Aether, and all ſorts of Aetherial Concretions, which Aether by the Titans, that is, by Storms and Tempeſts, is, as it were, aſſaulted and invaded, and a War ſeems to be threatned againſt the Sun and the Stars themſelves, to which purpoſe it is remarkable what the Etymologer ſaith,
that the Earth was called
from Titanus, one of the Titans, who of all the number was the only Perſon that did not make War againſt the Gods; which, though it be plainly falſe and clean contrary to the truth, yet by what we may learn from this place, what I have ſaid already may be confirmed: It is falſe that the Earth was called Titanus, for by Titanus or Titan, as hath been ſhewed already, was meant the Sun, and he was ſo called from the Tohu, or the Earth, not the Earth ſo called from him, the reaſon of which hath been already explained; and whereas, I have ſaid, that the Earth in a Mythological way, may be ſaid ſo often to be the Mother of Titan, or the Sun, as often as he Emerges above the ſenſible Horizon, and ſeems as it were, to be renewed and born again; this ſeems to be confirmed by a Paſſage of Aeſchylus concerning Prometheus, who is the Eſchyl. ed. Stanl. p. 26.Titan or the Sun; in his Prometheus Vinctus, which I will here produce, it is Prometheus himſelf that ſpeaks,
Which is thus rendred by the Learned Interpreter.
Sed mihi mater, non ſemel tantum, Themis,Quae & terra (multarum appellationum una forma.)
Ʋt res eventura eſſet, praedixerat.
Where if we refer non ſemel tantum, to Mater, the ſenſe is according to what I have ſaid, that Prometheus or Titan was born of the Earth more than once, and ſo he muſt needs, if he be born every day; but if we refer thoſe words to praedixerat, then it bears clear another ſenſe, which I need not explain; and to any Man that underſtands the Greek Language, and conſiders the or
But there is one thing ſomewhat ſtrange in this place of Aeſchylus, which I cannot paſs by without ſome notice, and that is, that he calls the Earth by the Name of Themis.
For they interpret that Learned Stanly Tranſlates it, Quae & terra, and ſo the Scholiaſt
my Mother is equally called
and
ſingular Verb, plural Number, had theſe two been ſeveral and diſtinct from one another, beſides that Parentheſis that would in this place be impertinent, and would ſigniEarth and Themis were not the fame, and were not intended by theſe very words to be declared as ſuch. Laſtly, This is put out of all doubt by a place of John
Tzetzes upon Heſiod, which I will tranſIo. Tzetzes in Heſiod. p. 26. 1. ed. Heins.
Prometheus, that he ſpeaks, Prometheus is either taken in a more groſs and practical ſenſe, for one that tamed and humaniz'd Men, and made them from barbarous to become courteous and civil, or elſe more ſpiritually or ſpeculatively; Prometheus, is Human Providence and Foreſight, the Son of Japetus, or inward Ratiocinatian; and of Clymene, that is, outward, ſenſible and practical Wiſdom; for Themis or the Earth, is the Mother of the Elementary Prometheus, that is, as I conceive of Prometheus in the firſt ſenſe, otherwiſe I know not what he means, is, though I rely not much upon his Allegorical Interpretations, having ſhewn, as I think, that the Phyſiological is more natural, and certainly the onPrometheus, as hath been already largely proved, but all that I obſerve is, that he makes Themis and the
Earth to have been the ſame, which though it ſtartled me at firſt, yet now I think I have found the reaſon of it, and the reaſon is Hieroglyphical, and this it is: Tamam or Tam in Hebrew, has the ſignification of
Ʋprightneſs and Integrity, and Themis among the Ancients was the Goddeſs or Preſident of Iuſtice, of which the Earth, by reaſon of its antiently ſuppoſed Stability and Permanency, (while the Air, the Water, the Aether, and all the heavenly Bodies were thought to be always in perpetual motion,) was a very natural and proper Symbol; for it is the nature of Error and Falſhood, which proceeds by no certain Rule, to be Fleeting and Inconſtant, but Juſtice and Integrity are always the ſame, conſtant, and ſteady, and immovable, as the Foundations of the Earth were ſuppoſed to be
But to return to the Etymologiſt, he tells us, as hath been already obſerved, that the Titans were ſo called, from Titanus, one of the Titans, who, it ſeems, was the only Perſon among them, that did not make War againſt the Gods, where it is ridiculous to ſay, that the Titans were ſo called from Titanus, one of the Titans; for if he himſelf were one of the number, and if it be asked why he was ſo called? All
himſelf; but when he ſays that he was the only PerTitans, that did not make War upon the Gods; from this there are two things to be obſerved, Firſt, That there was ſuch a War betwixt the Titans and the Gods, as the Poets have deſcribed; and Secondly, We have here a very broad intimation what kind of War that was; for if by Titan or Titanus, be meant the Sun, as I have already declared, then he could not be one of thoſe Titans that were engaged in this Rebellion, becauſe it was indeed made againſt himſelf, and againſt the pure Aether; and the Stars that InhaEarth and its Atmoſphaere affords, and that Titan was antiently one of the Names of the Sun: BeOrpheus, produced by the Writer of the Allegories upon Heſiod, wherein Titan, Hyperion, Phoſphorus, Paean and Zeus, are all of them Heſiod, in Theog. p. 268. 1. v. et H. Steph. in Theſauro L. G. Vol. 3. p. 1580.one and the ſame.
, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉
But when the Etymologer tells us, that this Titan or Titanus was the only Perſon of all the Titans that did not make War upon the Gods; this is another palpable miſtake of his, or of the Author, whoever he be, from whom he borrows it; for I have ſhewn that all the Stars, againſt whom this War was made, as well as aSun, are called actually by the Poets Aſtra Titania, and might as well have been called Titanes, as the Sun, for the reaſons already given, and the Greek Proverb proverbially uſed for ſharpneſs of Sight, may refer as well to the Stars as the Sun, they all bepiercing Eyſight, and to diſcern all things that were TranſSun; and this was one reaſon, beſides what hath been already ſaid of the Serpents biting it ſelf by the Tail, why the Sun was antiently Worſhiped in the Form of a Serpent? Becauſe this ſort of Animals is found to be endued with ſo ſharp, and vigorous, and piercing a Sight; and from this it was that the Greek
Latin Draco, took their Names from the Aoriſt of ſee which is Horace to the Epidaurian Serpent, which was the ſame with the Sun.
Cum tua pervideas oculis mala lippus inunctis,Cur in amicorum vitiis tam cernis acutum Quam autAquilaautSerpens Epidaurius?
And this was the reaſon why the Eagle above all other Birds, was dedicated to the Honor and Service of the Sun, not only beſwiftneſs and loftineſs of its Flight and Motion, but alſo becauſe of the extream ſharpneſs and piercingneſs of its Sight.
But beſides all this, not only the
Sun is called Titan, and the Stars Titania, but alſo the Moon by Nicander, in Theriacis is called
Where Scholiaſt upon the place of Diana, or the Moon, but not for the reaſon which the ſame Scholiaſt aſſigns, becauſe
Diana was the Daughter of Caeus, the Titan and Latona; but becauſe all the Stars are rightly called Titans, as ariſing from the Tohu or the Earth, or from the Primigenial Maſs, from whence they were ſeparated and disjoyned in the beginning of Things, and aſſigned each of them to the ſeveral Orbs and Regions which they now inhabit; or elſe according to the Scholiaſt himſelf, if ſhe be called the Daughter of Caeus the Titan and Latona, it is only for this reaſon, Becauſe Caeus the Titan, was but one of the Names of the Earth, as Latona was anoForm and Faſhion of the Fable requiring it, there being no Generation without a Male and a Female; and this together with that Notion which I have endeavored to eſtabliſh, that the Stars were called Titans, becauſe of their ſeparation in the beginning of Things from the Primigenial Maſs, may be excellently confirmed by a Paſſage of Macrobius, concerning Latona and Apollo, which is very well worth ſetting down. Saturnal. L. 1. c. 17.pariturae Juno dicitur obſtetiſſe, ſed ubi quando
vocitabatur, invaſiſſe cunas Deorum; Apolin primâ infantiâ ſagittis belluam
confeciſſe. Quod ità intelligendum naturalis ratio demonſtrat, nam
Chaos, ubi primùm cepit confuſa deformitas in rerum Formas & in Elementa niteſcere, terra
Latonam Phyvolunt terram videri; cui diu intervenit Juno, nè numina quae diximus ederentur; hoc eſt, aer qui tunc humidus adhuc graviſ
And with this Notion of Latona, that nothing elſe was meant by her but the Earth; it agrees very well that Ovid in the Sixth of his Metamorphoſes, gives her alſo the Epithet of Titanis, which we have ſeen above by the ſame Poet in his Faſti, to have been beſtowed upon Tethys for the ſame reaſon, becauſe Tethys and the Earth, or the Primigenial Maſs, were the ſame. The words of Ovid are,
Genitam Titanida Caeo
Where he makes Earth See what follows preſently concernCaeus to be the Father of Latona, as oHusband; but, as I have ſaid, when theſe things are ſtript of their Mythological diſguiſe, I rather conſame.
Furthermore, not only the Moon is called Nicander, but alſo the Sun and all the Planets in common are ſometimes found to be called by the ſame Name, as appears by a Teſtimony of Euſebius
Euſeb. praep. Evang. L. 1Evangelical Preparation, which I will here ſet down, his words are theſe, that Cronus and Aſtarte had ſeven Daughters called Titaor Artemides, in which citation by Time, according to that of Macrobius. Saturnus ipſe qui Auctor eſt temporum, &
Saturnal, L. 1. c. 22. ſo alDionys, Halicarnaſs, Anti
L. 1. ſpeaking of Saturn, ſays, v. & Ma
c. 8ut & Arnob. L. 3. & Ib. Elideò à Graecis immutatâ litera
quaſi
vocatur; and by Aſtarte, If I am not miſtaken the Aetherial RegiAether, of whoſe Subſtance
Planets, whoſe opaque and gloomy ConStars differing, as I have ſaid, from the reſt of the Aether, only in greater deAſtarte:
I am of Opinion that Aſtarte is the ſame with the Moon, ſaith Lucian in his de Deâ Syriâ, and ſo I conceive it is to be underKings, L. 1. c. 11. v. 5. Where it is ſaid of Solomon, that he went after Aſhtoreth the Goddeſs of the Siand after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. For there is nothing more certain than that by Moloc and Milcom, the Sun was underſtood, to whom, as to the Supream Lord and Sovereign of all things, the Ancient Heathens gave the Title of King, which is the true ſignificaSun, have both of the Epithet of Homer; and thereMoloc is ſo plainly the Sun, that Aſhtoreth, which the ſeventy Interpreters in this place, have rendred by Moon, as Lucian would have it; but it is eaſie to diſcern,
Euſebius, and therefore another muſt be ſought for, and another Interpretation of Aſtarte, if I am not very much miſtaken, is, that it ſigniStar in general, as when it is ſaid of the Children of Iſrael, Iud. 2. 13. That they forſook the Lord, and ſerved Baal and Aſhtaroth; which the ſeventy have rendBaal without all queſtion is the Sun, (as alſo Chemoſh of the Moabites was but a corruption of the Hebrew Shemeſh,) he being in the Opinion of his Worſhipers, the Supream Lord and Governor of all Things, and the Aſhtaroth or the Stars or the Hoſt of Heaven. For Eſther in Chalday, ſignifies a Star, and thence with the Addition of Shour, which ſignifies to contemplate; Zoroaſter is ſupAſtronomy, or his Contemplation of the Stars; and there is no difference beEſther, and Aſhtoreth, or Aſhtaroth, but that the firſt of them is written with an Aleph, the two latter with an Hajin, but the Poteſtas of theſe two Letters is much what the ſame, being both of them in a manner perfectly quieſcent; and of this, as I conceive, we have an
Baal himſelf, the ſecond SyllaHajin, anHebrew Aleph. For El or Al with an Aleph, was the Eaſtern Name of God, and by this the Pagans called the Sun, and from it are derived the Latin Sol, and the Greek
Baal was nothing elſe but the AcclamaPagans wellcoming, ſaluting, and adoring the Morning Sun, with this Ingemination frequently, and joyfully, and loudly repeated, Ba Al, Ba Al, that is, Dominus venit, Dominus venit, as one of the ancient forms of Excommunication was called Maranatha, or Dominus venit, with joy to his faithful Worſhipers and SerHebrews, Chereth or Exciſion; and by the Aſſyrians, or Syrochaldaeans Shamta, as much as to ſay, Shem Atha, or Nomen venit, underſtanding by Shem or Nomen, veRabbinical Language, the Nomen
Sacred and Eſſential Name of God, and from thence proceeded that Rabbinical Effatum, Hou Shmo, Veſhmo Hou. He is his Name, and his Name is He; alluding to the conſtant practice and cuſtom of the Rabbius, who
Haſhem, or the Name. And ſuch anoLea
when ſhe was ſafely delivered of her Son Gad, Bagad, a Troop cometh, where the Aleph is left out in the Maſorethical Bibles, as well as in the inſtance of Bahal, and perhaps there being two Alephs in theſe two words, Ba and Al, an Hajin which is a Letter, ſomewhat the harder and harſhCoalition of them both, running and diſſolving into one another; and if from this morning ſalutation of the Riſing Sun, he came at laſt to be called by the Name of Bahal, which ſeems to me a very natural Conjecture; then the Sun being the Sovereign and Lord of all in the ſenſe of the Ancient Pagans, and this Dominion of his being properly expreſt and denoted in the latter part of his Name, This gives an eaſie account of all thoſe Expoſitions which we meet with in our Lexicons, and how they came to ſignifie what they do; ſuch as Bahal, Dominari, Maritum, (hoc eſt, Dominum uxoris) eſſe. Bohel, Conjux, Maritus, and Bahal Dominus; Maritus, Conjux, and Bahala Domina. But neither will this way of explaining the word Aſtarte, afford a genuin Interpretation of
Euſebius, as may be eaſily diſAſtarte in this place, either of the Aether or Starry Region in general, of whoſe Subſtance the Stars and the very Planets themſelves, in this remote AntiSuidas,
Aſtarte is the ſame that the Greeks call Venus, which if we underſtand, not of the Star or Planet of Venus, but of the
Ʋniverſal Nature, as I have already explained it, then the ſenſe of this place of Euſebius,
ſeven Titanides or Artemides, that is, as I interpret it, the ſeven Planets were not, but that in time they were produced by the
Ʋniverſal NaDemiurgique Power of the Univerſe, and they are called Titanides, becauſe of their ſeparation from the Tohu, or of their daily emerging above the Horizon, and ſeeming as it were to ſpring out of the Earth; and for that other Name of Artemides, though the word Greek Language, be peculiar to Diana or the Moon; yet if that
Etymon of this word, which I have elſeMoon in its Paſſage cuts and divides the Air or Aether, in ſo much, that to ſenſe, in a Moonſhiny Night it ſeems to make holes in the Clouds, and as it were to force its Paſſage through them, though indeed her Orb be far ſupeClouds; then this beall the Planets, for they do all by their Motion divide and cut the Aether in their Paſſage through it; but becauſe this was moſt plainly and ſenſibly the Caſe of the Moon, and becauſe the ReClouds or the Atmoſphaere through which ſhe ſeems to paſs, is that which is moſt properly called the Airy Region, in oppoſition to the pure Aether above it, which is of a Greek Language, was more peculiarly attributed to the Moon.
And becauſe I have ſaid above concernVenus or the
Ʋniverſally Prolifique and Architectionique Nature, that the reaſon why ſhe was ſaid at ſometimes to be born from the Sea, and at others in an Iſland, as likewiſe Jupiter and Apollo were, and Priapus by the Sea-ſide, was to ſignifie that
Ancients received by Tradition, that all things at firſt ſprang out of the Waters, or out of that Chaos or Primigen
which was overwhelmDerceto or Atergatis, for they are both conceived to have been the ſame, whoſe Statue and Image among the Aſſyrians had the upper Parts of a beautiful Woman, but from the Thighs downwards, ſhe had the Appearance of a larger ſort of Fiſh; for this Atergatis was no other than the Prolifique or Demiurgique Nature of the
Ʋniverſe; and the Beauty of her upper Part, was to denote that exquiſite ſymmetry and proportion of the
Ʋniverſe, which was of her contrivance; the lower which had the reſemblance of a Fiſh, was to ſignifie from whence this Digeſtion and Separation was made, which had afterviz. out of the Chaos or that Maſs of Waters, with which the confuſed Seeds and Principles of Things were Anciently and Originally over whelmed; and that this Adargatis was no other than the
Ʋniverſal Nature, called at other times Pan, and Venus, and Priapus, and Proteus, and Thetis, and Tethys, and Jupiter, and Iſis; and
Macrobius, where he expreſly makes her, if not to be all in all, yet at leaſt to be that Maſs of Earth and Water, which perhaps was another reaſon of her Amphibious Image, from whence the SeSaturn. L. 1. c. 23.Sun, he ſays, Accipe quid Aſſyrii de Solis potentiâ opinentur. Deo enim quem ſummum maximum
Adad nomen dederunt, ejus nominis interpretatio ſignificat,
Idem quod Hebreum Evel Achad.unus, hunc ergo ut potentiſſimum adorant Deum. Sed ſubjungunt eidem Deam nomine Adaromnem
Adad inſig
Adargatis ſimulachrum ſurſum Verſum reclinatis Radiis inſigne eſt; monſtrando Radiorum vi ſuperne miſſorum, enaſci quaecun
Phryges
But now if Adargatis, accordMacrobius himſelf, be the ſame with the Mater Deûm, the Mother of the Gods, then is ſhe neither the Earth nor the Sun, in diſtinction from each other; but both of theſe and all things elſe together, ſhe is the Mother of the Gods, that is, the Primigenial Maſs from whence the Separation of Aetherial and Starry Concretions was made, which are here called Gods; and the Beauupper Parts conſidered together, with the deformity of thoſe underneath, was but a ſymbolical Confuſion of the Efficient and the Material Cauſe together. To the firſt of which the Symmetry of the World was owing; and the latter, that is, the Fiſh or the Maſs of Waters, or the Chaos covered with them, out of which the SeProteus, for he is properly the Efficient Cauſe, as is plainly diſcernible in his Name; but yet when the Poets repreſent him as a Sea God, this was only for that reaſon, beOriginally ſuppoſed to have ſprung out of the Waters, and
Efficient and the Material Cauſe together.
So likewiſe in the Story of Iſis, whoſe ſignification is by Macrobius confined to V Macrob. Satur. L. 1. c. 20. in fine.
c. 21. circà Med. Cap.
Earth, or to the Natura rerum ſubjace
which he confirms by this obſervaHinc eſt quod continuatis uberibus corpus Deae omne denſetur, quod terrae vel rerrum Naturae altu nutritur Ʋniverſitas. And this was the reaſon why Iſis or Io, by the Egyptians, was Worſhiped in the Form of an Ox; that Animal among them being a Symbolical Emblem of that Fruitfulneſs and Plenty which the Ox contriAnimals are by its productiEarth produces, as apfat and lean Kine in Pharaoh's Dream, which was interpreted by Joſeph, of the Barrenneſs and Fertility of the Earth; and perhaps from that InterpretaSymboliſm which had divine Authority to make it Sacred, began, as perApis, which with a little mutation, was as much as Alphis, from the Hebrew Eleph, ſignifying an Ox; and thence alſo was the Greek and Latin Elephas, and Elephantus, as being looked upon only as a larger ſort of Ox or Bufaloe in the Eaſt.
But this is further confirmed by what Macrobius ſaith in another place, where among other Arguments, by which he
Mercury and the Sun were ſometimes antiently taken for the ſame, he uſes this,
Argiphontes praetereà cognominatur,
Macrob. Satur. L. 1. c. 19non quod Argum peremerit, quem ferunt per ambitum capitis multorum Oculorum luminibus ornatum, cuſtodiſſe JuImperio Inachi filiam Io ejus deae pellicem converſam in bovis Formam: Sed ſub hujus modi Fabulâ Argus eſt Caelum ſtellarum luce diſtinctum; quibus ineſſe quaedam ſpecies Caeleſtium videtur Oculorum. Caelum autem Argum vocitari placuit à candore & velocitate,
& videtur terram deſuper obſervare, quam Aegyptii Hieroglyphicis literis c
Mercurio, cum Sol diurno tempore obſcurando ſidera, velut enecat, vi luminis ſui conſpectum eorum auferendo mortalibus.
But yet there are ſome that will needs Intel. Syſt. c. 4. p. 350. falſly marked 410.Iſis to be the Supream Numen, or the Eternal and Omnipreſent Mind, by whoſe Providence all things are forecaſt and conCapuan Inſcription.
TIBI.
But by their leave, this do's not prove any more than that by this Iſis, was meant the
Ʋniverſal Matter or Primigenial Maſs, which in ſome ſenſe may be ſaid to be una or one, conſidered all together, and omnia or all, with reſpect to the infinite variematerial or aſpectable World, which is all of it compoſed out of ſeveral Modifications of this Primigenial Maſs. And ſo alſo Thetis in what hath been ſaid before; which is ſometimes taken ſtrictly for the Watery Maſs, or the Genius, Nymph, or Daemon appertaining to it, is alſo, and that moſt properly, as hath been ſhewed, taken for the whole Chaos or
Ʋniverſal Maſs, conſiſting of Earth and Water; and She was therefore by the Greek and Latin Poets, appropriated to the Water, becauſe the Chaos was antiently over whelmed with them; and all things were ſuppoſed, in the beginning of Things, to have ariſen and ſprung from thence; and the Earth and Water having at firſt been mingled togequota or proportion, to the making up an entire Globe; and that they are ſtill not onShowrs, but by ſubterraneous Springs, and by the ſecret Paſſages both of the Seas and Rivers into the Caverns of the Earth, incorporated into one another; And laſtEarth, which is called Iſis, or from the Sea, which the Poets call Thetis, or from both of theſe, as Homer do's, when he makes the Ocean to have been the Father, and the Earth the Mother of all the Gods, that is, of all kind of Starry or Aetherial Concretions, of a more fine, and mi
Neither am I at all moved from my SenPlutarch, who, Intel. Syſt. p 349. falſly marked 409.Iſis and Neith, were really one and
Egyptians, and therefore the Temple of Neith or Minerva at Sais, is called by him, (that is, Plutarch,) the Temple of Iſis. For that the Aegyptian Neith or Neithas, the Latin Minerva, and the Greek Pallas or Athena are the ſame, is that which I ſhould have eaſily granted, and this Learned Author himſelf hath ſufficiently proved it. Firſt, From the Teſtimony of Proclus upon the Timaeus, who ſaith that the Grecian Athens and the Egyptian Sais had but one and the ſame Tutelar preſiding over it. Secondly, By comparing a place of Athenagoras, and another of Jamblichus together, the forMinerva, to be that Wiſdom or Providence which pervades or paſſes through all things; and the latter ſaith of the Aegyptian Deity, that it was the Name of a God penetrating and inſinuating himſelf through the whole World; to which he adds likewiſe a Paſſage of Horapollo, who ſaith of God according to the Aegyptians, That he was a Spirit diffuſing it ſelf through the World, and intimately pervading all things; that is, both the Egyptians by their Neith or Neithas, the Latins by their Minerva, and the Greeks
Pallas and their Athene, underan Omnipreſent divine Mind or Ʋnderſtanding united to a certain Subtle or Aetherial Matter, of which it makes great uſe in its external Operations. Thirdly, He proves the ſame by comparing the InſcripSais, concerning Neith or Neithas,
I am all that was, is, and ſhall be, and my Peplum or Vail no mortal hath ever yet uncovered, with a place of Servius concerning Minerva. Peplum eſt propriè palla picta Feminea Minervae conſecrata; in both which places the Peplum or Vail is the ſubtle Matter of the Ʋniverſe, which was looked upon as the Cloathing or Body of the Deity; as in what hath been ſaid above, it was called the Skin of the Amalthean Goat, the Reaſons of which have been alPherecydes by another word, but ſtill pointing and aiming at the ſame Notion, that the Aether was the Garment or Covering, or Body of the Divinity, calls it the Cloak of Jupiter.
, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉
That is, Jupiter makes himſelf a large and beautiful Cloak, and in it he Paints or Weaves
the Ocean, and the Habitations thereof, that is, the Iſlands, and the greater Continents that are to be met with in it; and ſo the ſenſe of this Egyptian Monument, And my Vail no mortal Man hath ever uncovered, will be this, My Vail it ſelf which is, as it were, my Body compoſed of Subtle and Aetherial Matter; this, as being a ſenſible Object, you may behold with mortal and material Eyes, but my immortal and immaterial Part in which my Underſtanding, my Will, my Power, my Goodneſs, my Juſtice, and all my Perfections and Attributes reſide; this no morno material Eye can ſee, nor any finite UnNeith or Minerva, that it is the Subtle or Aetherial Matter of the Univerſe, actuated and animated by a divine Mind, very different from the dull, ſtupid, groſs and unEarth; it would be very ſtrange if Iſis, who is without queſtion, the ſame with the Earth, ſhould be the ſame with Neith or Minerva alſo; beſides, that when Pherecydes compares this Globe of Earth and Water, with its OrnaTrees, Flowers, and Inhabitants, to the Painting or Weaving of a Device upon a Garment, or to the Badge upon it, and if we conſilittle inconſiderable Maſs, and the vaſt Circumference of the ſpacious Aether, we may as well ſay, not only that a Watermans, a Porters, or a Bedles Badge, is the Coat or Cloak upButton or Shoulderknot upon a Coat, are the Coat or Garment it ſelf upon which it is worn, as that Neith, or Minerva, and Iſis, are the ſame.
But, becauſe the Authority of Plutarch, which is deſervedly Great, is not for that reaſon ſlightAegyptian Miſtakes: Of Serapis, he ſays that he was ſo called from the Egyptian word a Feaſt of Joy and Gladneſs for the return of the Sun out of the Winter Signs, to bring a new Spring, a new Summer, new Plenty, and a new Harveſt into Egypt, and thus much is true. Firſt, That Egyptian Language, which was very nigh of kin to the Hebrew. For in Hebrew Shour is Cantavit, Cecinit, and Shir is Canticum, and the Song of Solomon is called in Hebrew by the Name of Shir ha ſhirim, the Song of Songs, and Songs were always a principal Expreſſion of the Joy and Gladneſs of ſuch Feſtival Solemnities.
Secondly, It is true that there was ſuch a Feaſt as he ſpeaks of, which Macrobius calls Hilaria, and points us to the very day upon which it was uſed to be Celebrated in theſe words, where ſpeaking of the Names and Ceremonies belonging to the Sun among the Phrygians, Aegyptians and others, he ſays, Praecipuam autem Solis in his Ceremoniis verti rationem, hinc etiam poteſt colligi, quod ritu eorum (Aegyptiorum) catabaſi finit â ſimulatione
Hilaria appellant, quo primum tempore Sol diem longiorem nocte protendit. And what he means by the Catabaſis or Deſcent of the Sun, he ſufficiently explains in ſeveral places of this Chapter,
Zodiac into Superiora and Inferiora, by the former underSummer, and by the latter the Winter Signs of every reſpective place; ſo in the beginSol annuo greſſu per duodecim ſignorum ordinem pergens, partem quo
and again a little after, Cum Solemerſit ab Inferioribus partibus terrae, vernaliſ
&c. And other Expreſſions there are to the ſame pur
But now in the firſt place, This Etymon from the Egyptian
Hebrew Shir, by the Addition of an Aleph, which I have ſhewn alAram, Armenia, Aſſyria, Acheron, Orpheus, and others, had been a much more toOſiris than Serapis.
Secondly, It would be a puzling Queſtion, if Plutarch had been alive, and a Man ſhould have put it to him, why had he not his Name from Grief as well as Joy? or indeed rather from the former than the latter. For they mourned for his abſence ſix Months together; but this Feſtione days continuance.
Thirdly, The Aegyptians did not rejoyce for the return of the Sun, under the name of Serapis, but Oſiris, as is evident from Macrobius, who tells us expreſly, that the Phrygians perA
and the Aegyptians to Oſiris; for ſo having ſaid what was laſt before cited concerning the Phrygians wellAttines, by which Name they call the Sun; after a ſix Months Period of LamentaIdem ſub diverſis nominibus Religionis effectus eſt apud Aegyptios cum Iſis Oſirin luget; where, what he ſays, ſub diverſis nominibus, is not ſo to be underſtood, as if the Aegyptians in the performance of this Religious Cuſtom, were uſed to invoke the Sun by divers Names, who in the Celebration of this Myſtery was neOſiris, acSatyriſt.
Exclamare libet populus quod clamat Oſiri Invento.
But only that whereas, the Phrygians welcomreturning Sun under the name of Attines, and the Earth was repreſented as mourning for his abſence, under the Name of Mater Deûm; the Aegyptians meaning the ſame thing, and uſing the ſame Ceremony, and at the ſame time that the Phrygians did, yet had different Names for the Objects of their Devotion, calling the Earth Iſis, and the Sun Oſiris.
Laſtly, The true and unqueſtionable Etymology of Serapis, is from the Hebrew Saraph, ſignifying to burn, in which all the Radicals of this Name Serapis, are evidently contained, and the ſcortching Heat and fiery Nature of the Sun, is alſo very aptly expreſt and ſignified by it, and from hence the Seraphim had their Names, being not Aerial Demons, but an Order of Spirits, whoſe Vehicles were of an Aetherial Conſiſtence, conigneous or lucid Parts, as the Cherub at the Entrance of Paradiſe, is deſcribed, holding a Flaming Sword in his hand; and according to what the Pſalmiſt ſaith of God in a very known
he maketh his Angels Spirits, and his Miniſters a Flame of Fire.
Secondly, Another inſtance which I ſhall give of Plutarchs unskilfulneſs in theſe Matters, ſhall be taken from what he ſaith concerning Oſiris; of which he gives two ſeveral Interpretations, Firſt, That it is as much as Os, as he ſays, among the Aegyptians,
many, and Irin an Eye. Secondly, That it is as much as an active and beneficent Power; and in another place, it is The firſt and higheſt of all things, the ſame with the Tagaſupream Good; which is alſo confirmed by a Paſſage of Jamblichus,
Intel. Syſ. p 151 falſly marked 411.ſupream Numen from its beneficent Nature, or from its Attribute of Goodneſs, is called Oſiris. Now in the firſt place, it may ſeem very ſtrange that the ſame word in the ſame Language, ſhould ſignifie two things ſo different from one another, as that which hath many Eyes, and that which hath abundance of goodneſs and beneficence in its Nature, though indeed in a ſymbolical way ſuch a thing might be, in as much as many Eyes may be a pretty natural ſymbol of Care and Circumſpection, but then this Care ſo far as it depends upon this Symbol, is perfectly indifferent either to Good or Evil, and there is no reaſon why it ſhould be reſtrained to one, rather than the other, for Watchfulneſs and Circumſpection may be to bad purpoſes as well as to good. But Secondly, If by Oſiris be meant the Sun, as there is no manner of queſtion but that was the meaning, why ſhould he be called one Eye, as hath been already diſcourſed in what hath been ſaid above concerning the Cyclops, nay, whoſe Hieroglyphic and Symbol was not many Eyes, as this InterPlutarch may ſeem to inſinuate but one,
Macrob. concerning him. Satur. l. 1. c. 21.ut Solem eſſe aſſerant, quotiens Hieroliteris ſuis exprimere volunt, inſculpunt ſceptrum,
Oſirin monſtrant; ſignificantes hunc Deum Solem eſſe, regali
(i. e. Aetheris,) oculum app
Thirdly, It is to be obſerved, that there was antiently a very great AfAegyptian, Chaldean, Perſian, and Hebrew Tongues. Now there is nothing in Hebrew to make up the Name of Oſiris, that ſignifies either Plutarch tells us that Irin in the Aegyptian, ſignifies an Eye, which I believe to have been a miſtake, and that this Irin of his was nothing but a corruption of the Hebrew Hajin, which ſignifies an Eye, but will not do his buſineſs for want of anHebrew that comes any thing nigh the other part of the compoſition, unleſs it be Hatſam, multum, numerorum eſſe, and at that rate it ſhould be Otſ
not Oſiris, without the Eliſion of the M. which is in this caſe very uncouth and hard; or from Phouſh, Abundare, Augeſcere, Multiplicare, and ſo it ſhould be Phoſiris; beſides, that theſe two Significations aſſigned by Plutarch, are therefore inconſiſtent with each other, becauſe the former of them ſuppoſes the word Oſiris to be a compound, but the latter a ſimple, as ſhall be hereafter declared; in the mean time, to ſhew the validity of this Argument, which is drawn from the great likeneſs of the Aegyptian and Hebrew, and other Oriental TPerſian and Aegyptian Gods that came to my mind, moſt of which were but ſo many Names of the Sun, and ſhew plainly that they are all of them as to their ſignification agreeaHebrew, though as to their particular AppliSun or the Earth, they were peculiar to the Perſian or Aegyptian Soil.
Page. 6. line 5. for ſum read tum. p. 25. l. 20 r.
p. 26. l. 7, r. comitio. p. 33. l. 19. r. Ogyges. p. 35. l. 10. r.
p. 47. l. 10. r. Dele, of. p. 64. l. 1. for Capius r. Lapis. p. 67. l. 21. r. p. 78. l. 12. r. ſo as. p. 85. l. 10. r. Saros, and in the Margin Haſar. ib. l. 21. Adonai. p. 89. l. 10. r. as a fifth, and in the Margin r. Suaſor 1. p. 90. in the Margin, l. 1. r. ſo, l. 8. r. that he. p. 92. l. 8. r. no violent VVind. p. 101. in the Margin, l. 1. r. Jaiin. l. 3. Jonah. l. ult. Bachus. p. 132. in the Margin, r.
p. 132. l. 19. l. 20. p. 136. in the Margin, l. 3, 4. Bellerophon. l.
p. 138. l. 17. r. at others. l. 27. r. ſo this. p. 142. l. 13. r. it depended. p. 143. l. 9. r. rectangular. l. ult. r. are not to be heard. p. 14. l. 2. for leaſt, r. leſs. l. 22. r. Minervae. p. 148. l. 26. r. this antient. p. 158. l. 14. r. and ſhe. p. 203. l. 14. r. who that. in the Margin ib. r. of the ſame, &c. p, 264. l. 24. Dele, of.
Other Errata there are, and ſome of theſe of lit