fear or awe.' Their poets, however, soon debased his dignity, and made him the subject of as many wild and extravagant fables, as any of his subject progeny; which fables became a part of their religion, though never seriously believed by any but the lowest of the vulgar. 5. Such appear to be the general principles and outlines of the popular faith, not only among the Greeks, but among all other primitive nations, not favored by the lights of Revelation: for though the superiority and subsequent universality of the Greek language, and the more exalted genius and refined taste of the early Greek poets, have preserved the knowledge of their sacred mythology more entire; we find traces of the same simple principles and fanciful superstructures, from the shores of the Baltic to the banks of the Ganges: and there can be little doubt, that the voluminous poetical cosmogonies still extant among the Hindoos, and the fragments preserved of those of the Scandinavians, may afford us very competent ideas of the style and subjects of those ponderous compilations in verse, which consituted the mystic lore of the ancient priests of Persia, Germany, Spain, Gaul, and Britain; and which in the two latter countries were so extensive, that the education of a Druid sometimes required twenty years.5 From the specimens above mentioned, we may, nevertheless, easily console ourselves for the loss of all of them, as poetical compositions; whatever might have been their value in other respects. 3 4 6. But besides this vulgar religion, or popular mythology, there existed, in the more civilized countries of Greece, Asia, and Egypt, a secret or mystic system, preserved, generally by an hereditary 1 Παρα τισι δε και Δευς λεγεται (ὁ Ζευς). Phurnut. de Nat. Deor. c. 2. The letter Z was, as is well known, no other than AΣ, or ΣA, expressed by one character; and in the refinement of the language, and variation of dialects, the was frequently dropped, as appears from the very ancient medals of Zanclè in Sicily, inscribed AANKAE. In the genuine parts of the Iliad and Odyssey, there is no instance of a vowel continuing short before ΔΕΟΣ, ΔΕΙΝΟΣ, ΔΕΙΔΩ, &c.; so that the initial was originally a double consonant, probably ▲Σ; which at first became ▲▲, and afterwards A, though the metre of the old bards has preserved the double time in the utterance. 2 Vicies centum millia versuum a Zoroastre condita. Hermippus apud Plin. lib. xxx. c. 1. 3 Celebrant (Germani) carminibus antiquis, quod unum apud illos memoriæ et annalium genus, Tuistonem deum terra editum, et filium Mannum originem gentis conditoresque. Tacit. de M. G. 4 Της παλαιας μνημης εχουσι τουρδουλοι) τα συγγράμματα και ποιήματα, και νομους εμμετρους εξακισχιλιων ετων, ὡς φασι. Strab. lib. iii. p. 139. 5 Magnum ibi numerum versuum ediscere dicuntur: itaque nonnulli annos vicenos in disciplina permanent; neque fas esse existimant ea litteris mandare. Cæs. de B. G. lib. vi. priesthood, in temples of long-established sanctity; and only revealed, under the most solemn vows of secresy, to persons who had previously proved themselves to be worthy of the important trust. Such were the mysteries of Eleusis, in Attica; which being so near to the most polished, powerful, and learned city of Greece, became more celebrated and more known than any others; and are, therefore, the most proper for a particular investigation, which may lead to a general knowledge of all. 7. These mysteries were under the guardianship of Ceres and Proserpine; and were called reλerai, endings or finishes; because no person could be perfect that had not been initiated, either into them, or some others. They were divided into two stages or degrees; the first or lesser of which was a kind of holy purification, to prepare the mind for the divine truths, which were to be revealed to it in the second or greater. From one to five years of probation were required between them; and at the end of it, the initiate, on being found worthy, was admitted into the inmost recesses of the temple, and made acquainted with the first principles of religion ;2 the knowledge of the God of nature; the first, the supreme, the intellectual; by which men had been reclaimed from rudeness and barbarism, to elegance and refinement; and been taught not only to live with more comfort, but to die with better hopes.+ 8. When Greece lost her liberty, the periods of probation were dispensed with, in favor of her acknowledged sovereigns; but, nevertheless, so sacred and awful was this subject, that even in the lowest stage of her servitude and depression, the Emperor Nero did not dare to compel the priests to initiate him, on account of the murder of his mother. To divulge any thing thus learnt was every where considered as the extreme of wickedness and impiety; and at Athens was punished with death; on which account Alcibiades was condemned, together with many other illustrious citizens, 1 Μυστηρια δε δυο τελειται του ενιαυτου, Δημητρι και Κορῃ, τα μικρα και τα μετ γαλα. και εστι τα μικρα ὥσπερ προκαθαρσις και προαγνευσις των μεγαλων. Scholiast. in Aristoph. 2 Salmas. not. in l. Spartan. Hist. p. 116. Meurs. Eleusin. c. viii. &c. 3 ὧν τελος εστιν ἡ του πρωτου, και κυριου, και νοητου γνωσις. Plutarch de Is. et Osir. 4 Mihi cum multa eximia divinaque videntur Athenæ tuæ peperisse-tum nihil melius illis mysteriis, quibus ex agresti immanique vita exculti, ad humanitatem mitigati sumus : initiaque, ut appellantur, ita revera principia vitæ cognovimus: neque solum cum lætitia vivendi rationem accepimus, sed etiam cum spe meliori moriendi. Ciceron. de Leg. l. i. c. 24. και μην & των αλλων ακουεις, οἱ πείθουσι πολλους, λεγοντες ὡς ουδεν ουδαμη τω διαλυθεντι κακον, ουδε λυπηρον εστιν, οίδα ότι κωλύει σε πιστεύειν ὁ πατριος λόγος, και τα μυστικά συμβολα των περι τον Διονυσον οργιασμων, συνισμεν αλληλοις οἱ κοινωνουντες. Plutarch. de Consol. 1. x. 5 Plutarch. in Demetr. 6 Sueton. in Neron. c. 34. Sam. Petit. in leg. Attic. p. 33. whose loss contributed greatly to the ruin of that republic, and the subversion of its empire." 9. Hence it is extremely difficult to obtain any accurate information concerning any of the mystic doctrines: all the early writers turning away from the mention of them with a sort of religious horror; and those of later times, who have pretended to explain them, being to be read with much caution; as their assertions are generally founded in conjecture, and oftentimes warped by prejudices in favor of their own particular systems and opinions in religion and philosophy. Little more direct information is, indeed, to be obtained from ancient writers, than that contained in the above cited passages; from which we only learn that more pure, exalted, and philosophical doctrines concerning the nature of the Deity, and the future state of man, were taught, than those which were derived from the popular religion. 10. From other passages, however, we learn that these doctrines were conveyed under allegories and symbols; 3 and that the completely initiated were called inspectors: whence we may reasonably infer that the last stage of initiation consisted in an explanation and exposition of those allegorical tales and symbolical forms, under which they were veiled. "All that can be said concerning the gods," says Strabo, "must be by the exposition of old opinions and fables; it being the custom of the ancients to wrap up in enigma and fable their thoughts and discourses concerning nature; which are not therefore easily explained." "In all initiations and mysteries," says Proclus," the gods exhibit themselves under many forms, and with a frequent change of shape; sometimes as light, defined to no particular figure; sometimes in a human form; and sometimes in that of some other creature.' The wars of the 1 Thucyd. lib. iv. c. 45, &c. 2 Τ' αλλα μεν ευστομα κείσθω, καθ' Ηρόδοτον, εστι γαρ μυστικωτερα. Plutarch, Symp. 1. ii. q. 3. Eschylus narrowly escaped being torn to pieces on the stage for bringing out something supposed to be mystic; and saved himself by proving that he had never been initiated. Clem. Alex. Strom. ii. Aristot. Nicom. Eth. 1. iii. c. 1. 3. Ορφικοι δια συμβολων, Πυθαγορειοι δια εικονων τα θεια μηνυειν εφιεμενοι. Procl. in Theol. Plat. l. i. c. 4. -διο και τα μυστηρια εν αλληγορίαις λεγεται προς εκπληξιν και φρικην, ώσπερ εν σκοτῳ και νυκτι. Demetr. Phaler. de Eloc. s. 100. 4 ETOTTαL. All that is left in ancient authors concerning the ceremonies of initiation, &c., has been diligently collected and arranged by Meursius in his Eleusinia. 5 Πας δ ̓ ὁ περι των θεων λογος αρχαιας εξετάζει δόξας και μύθους, αινιττομένων των παλαιων, ὡς ειχον εννοιας φυσικας περι των πραγματων, και προστιθέντων αει τους λογοις τον μυθον· άπαντα μεν ουν τα αινιγματα λυειν ακριβως ου ράδιον. lib. x. p. 474. 6 Εν άπασι γαρ τουτοις οἱ θεοι πολλας μεν ἑαυτων προτεινουσι μορφας, πολλα δε σχηματα διαλλαττοντες φαινονται και τοτε μεν ατύπωτον αυτων προβεβληται φως, τοτε δε εις ανθρωπου μορφην εσχηματισμενον, τοτε δε εις αλλοιον τυπον προεληλυθος. εις την πολιτ. Πλατ. p. 380. Giants and Titans; the battle of the Python against Apollo; the flight of Bacchus, and wandering of Ceres, are ranked, by Plutarch, with the Ægyptian tales concerning Osiris and Typhon, as having the same meaning as the other modes of concealment employed in the mystic religion.' 11. The remote antiquity of this mode of conveying knowledge by symbols, and its long-established appropriation to religious subjects, had given it a character of sanctity unknown to any other mode of writing; and it seems to have been a very generally received opinion, among the more discreet Heatheus, that divine truth was better adapted to the weakness of human intellect, when veiled under symbols, and wrapt in fable and enigma, than when exhibited in the undisguised simplicity of genuine wisdom, or pure philosophy.2 12. The art of conveying ideas to the sight has passed through four different stages in its progress to perfection. In the first, the objects and events meant to be signified, were simply represented: in the second, some particular characteristic quality of the individual was employed to express a general quality or abstract idea; as a horse for swiftness, a dog for vigilance, or a hare for fecundity: in the third, signs of convention were contrived to represent ideas; as is now practised by the Chinese: and, in the fourth, similar signs of convention were adopted to represent the different modifications of tone in the voice; and its various divisions, by articulation, into distinct portions or syllables. This is what we call alphabetic writing; which is much more clear and simple than any other; the modifications of tone by the organs of the mouth, being much less various, and more distinct, than the modifications of ideas by the operations of the mind. The second, however, which, from its use among the Egyptians, has been denominated the hieroglyphical mode of writing, was every where employed to convey or conceal the dogmas of religion; and we shall find that the same symbols were employed to express the same ideas in almost every country of the northern hemisphere. 13. In examining these symbols in the remains of ancient art, which have escaped the barbarism and bigotry of the middle ages, we may sometimes find it difficult to distinguish between those compositions which are mere efforts of taste and fancy, and those * Τα γαρ Γιγαντικα και Τιτανικα παρ' Έλλησιν ᾳδομενα, και Κρονου τινος αθεσμοι πραξεις, και Πυθωνος αντιτάξεις προς Απολλωνα, φυγαι τε Διονύσου και πλαναι Δημητρος, ουδεν απολείπουσι των Οσιριακων και Τυφωνικών, αλλων τε, ὧν πασιν εξεστιν ανεδην μυθολογουμενων ακουειν· όσα τε μυστικοῖς ἱεροις περικαλυπτομενα και τελεταίς, άρρητα διασώζεται και αθεατα προς τους πολλους, ὁμοιον εχει λογον. Plutarch. de Is. et Osir. 2 Maxim. Tyr. Dissert. x. s. 4. which were emblems of what were thought divine truths: but, nevertheless, this difficulty is not so great, as it, at first view, appears to be for there is such an obvious analogy and connection between the different emblematical monuments, not only of the same, but of different and remote countries, that, when properly arranged, and brought under one point of view, they, in a great degree, explain themselves by mutually explaining each other. There is one class, too, the most numerous and important of all, which must have been designed and executed under the sanction of public authority; and therefore whatever meaning they contain, must have been the meaning of nations, and not the caprice of individuals. 14. This is the class of coins, the devices upon which were always held so strictly sacred, that the most proud and powerful monarchs never ventured to put their portraits upon them until the practice of deifying sovereigns had enrolled them among the gods. Neither the kings of Persia, Macedonia, or Epirus, nor even the tyrants of Sicily, ever took this liberty; the first portraits, that we find upon money, being those of the Egyptian and Syrian dynasties of Macedonian princes, whom the flattery of their subjects had raised to divine honors. The artists had indeed before found a way of gratifying the vanity of their patrons without offending their piety, which was by mixing their features with those of the deity, whose image was to be impressed;, an artifice which seems to have been practised in the coins of several of the Macedonian kings, previous to the custom of putting their portraits upon them.' 15. It is, in a great degree, owing to the sanctity of the devices, that such numbers of very ancient coins have been preserved fresh and entire for it was owing to this that they were put into tombs, with vases and other sacred symbols, and not, as Lucian has ludicrously supposed, that the dead might have the means of paying for their passage over the Styx: the whole fiction of Charon and his boat being of late date, and posterior to many tombs in which coins have been found. 16. The first species of money that was circulated by tale, and not by weight, of which we have any account, consisted of spikes, or small obelisks of brass or iron; which were, as we shall show, symbols of great sanctity and high antiquity. Six of them being as many as the hand could conveniently grasp, the words obolus and drachma, siguifying spike and handful, continued, after the in See those of Archelaus, Amyntas, Alexander II., Perdiccas, Philip, Alexander the Great, Philip Aridæus, and Seleucus I., in all which the different characters and features, respectively given to the different heads of Hercules, seem meant to express those of the respective princes. For the frequency of this practice in private families among the Romans, see Statii Sylv. I. V. i. 231-4. |