both on the land and in the sea. "These things," says he, "were found written in the cosmogony of Taautus, and in his commentaries, and were drawn from his observations and the natural signs which by his penetration he perceived and discovered, and with which he has enlightened us."

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He afterwards mentions the names of the winds, Notus, Boreas, and the rest, and makes the following epilogue: But these first men consecrated the productions of the earth, and judged them gods, and worshipped those things upon which they themselves lived, and all their posterity, and all before them; to these they made libations and sacrifices. Such were the devices of their worship in accordance with the narrowness of their souls."

HAVING at length succeeded in obtaining some additional materials for this department, for the want of which we were under the necessity of suspending it, we now resume it, and hope hereafter regularly to continue it. We have already given some scattered fragments of certain ancient heathen writers, as we chanced to find them in one historian and another; but inasmuch as it has been our good fortune to obtain a work in which these various fragments are collected and systematized, we prefer giving our readers a more full and regular view of these rare and curious documents. For, it is our determination to furnish every branch of knowledge on the largest and most comprehensive scale, and to render our work the fullest source of information on every subject upon which it treats; insomuch that it will be the source whither not only people in general, but students, will resort for rare and valuable information-information which it would require no little research elsewhere to obtain. As stated in our prospectus, we intend to furnish the substance of universal knowledge, comprised in thousands of volumes; thereby affording every individual who will take the pains to follow us through our little sheeting him Beelsamin, which in the Phoenician dialect sigfrom week to week, the essence of that general information which it would require one's whole time to acquire, were it not for some publication on the plan of this. Having premised this, let us proceed to the antique fragments of which we have already spoken. We shall commence with those of Sanchoniatho, who was considered the most ancient writer of the heathen world. He wrote his history in the Phoenician language, the materials for which he collected from the archives of the Grecian cities. This history was translated into Greek by Philo Byblius, and preserved by Eusebius.

This ancient writer supposes that the beginning of things was a dark, dense, breezy air, and a Chaos perturbed and black as Erebus; and that these were boundless, and for many ages void of form. But when this wind became enamoured of Chaos, and a union between them occurred, that union was called Pothos, which was he beginning of the creation. But Chaos knew not its own production. From its embrace with the wind was generated Môt, called by some, Ilus (Mud.) From this sprung all the seed of the creation, and the generation of the universe. The first animals were without sensaion. From these were produced intelligent animals, called Zophasemin, or overseers of the heavens. They were formed in the shape of an egg. From Mót shone forth the sun, the moon, and the stars. When the air began to send forth light, by its fiery influence on the sea and earth, winds and clouds and great defluxions and torrents of the heavenly waters were produced. And when they were thus separated, and carried out of their proper places by the heat of the sun, and all met again in the air, and were dashed against each other, thunder and lightning were the result. At the sound of the thunder, the beforementioned intelligent animals were roused, and, startled by the noise, moved about,

* Entitled "Ancient Fragments," &c. by Isaac Preston Cory, Esq. Among the heathen, especially the Phoenicians, this union was symbolised by an egg enfolded by a serpent, which disjunctively represented Chaos and Ether, but, united, the hermaphrodite first principle of the universe. Cupid or Pothos.

"Of the wind Colpias, and his wife Baau, which is interpreted Night, were begotten two mortal men, Æon and Protogonus so called: and on discovered food from trees. The immediate descendants of these were called Genus and Genea, and they dwelt in Phoenicia : and when there were great droughts, they stretched forth their hands to heaven towards the Sun; for him they supposed to be God, the only Lord of heaven, callnifies Lord of heaven, but among the Greeks is equivalent to Zeus. Afterwards by Genus, the son of on, and Protogonus, were begotten mortal children, whose names were Phos, Pur, and Phlox. These found out the method of producing fire by rubbing pieces of wood against each other, and taught men the use thereof. These begat sons of vast bulk and height, whose names were conferred upon the mountains which they occupied: thus from them Cassius, and Libanus, and Antilibanus, and Brathu received their names. Memrumus and Hypsuranius were the issue of these men by connexion with their mothers; the women of those times, without shame, having intercourse with any men whom they might chance to meet. Hypsuranius inhabited Tyre: and he invented huts constructed of reeds and rushes, and the papyrus. And he fell into enmity with his brother Usous, who was the inventor of clothing for the body, which he made of the skins of the wild beasts which he could catch. And when there were violent storms of rain and wind, the trees about Tyre being rubbed against each other, took fire, and all the forest in the neighbourhood was consumed. And Usous having tahen a tree, and broken off its boughs, was the first who dared venture on the sea. And he consecrated two pilJars to Fire and Wind, and worshipped them, and poured out upon them the blood of the wild beasts he took in hunting: and when these men were dead, those that remained consecrated to them rods, and worshipped the pillars, and held anniversary feasts in honour of them. And in times long subsequent to these, were born of the race of Hypsuranius, Agreus and Halicus, the inventors of the arts of hunting and fishing, from whom huntsmen derive their names. Of these were begotten two brothers who discovered iron, and the forging thereof. One of these called Chrysor, who is the same with Hephaestus, exercised himself in words, and charms, and divinations; and he invented the hook, and the bait, and the fishing line, and boats of a light construction; and he was the first of all men that sailed. Wherefore he was worshipped after his death as a god, under the name of Diamichius. And it is said that his brothers invented the art

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of building walls with bricks. Afterwards, of this race were born two youths, one of whoin was called Technites, the other, Geinus Autochthon. These discovered the method of mingling stubble with the loam of bricks, and of baking them in the sun: they were also the inventors of tiling. By these were begotten others, of whom one was named Agrus, the other Agrouerus or Agrotes, of whom in Phoenicia there was a statue held in the highest veneration, and a temple drawn by yokes of oxen: and at Byblus he is called, by way of eminence, the greatest of the gods. These added to the houses, courts and porticos and crypts. Husbandmen and such as hunt with dogs, likewise derive their origin from them. They are called Aletæ and Titans. From these were descended Amynus and Magus, who taught men to construct villages and tend flocks. By these were begotten Misor and Sydyc, that is, Well-freed and Just; and they discovered the use of salt. From Misor descended Taautus, who invented the writing of the first letters him the Egyptians called Thoor, the Alexandrians Thoyth, and the Greeks Hermes. From Sydyc descended the Dioscuri, or Cabiri, or Corybantes, or Samothraces: these first built a ship complete. From these descended others, who were the discoverers of medicinal herbs, and of the cure of poisons and of charms. Contemporary with these was one Elioun, called Hypsistus, (the Most High,) and his wife named Beruth; and they dwelt about Byblus. From these sprang Epigeus or Autochton, whom they afterwards called Õuranus (Heaven;) so that from him, that element which is over us, by reason of its excellent beauty, is named heaven: and he had a sister of the same parents, who was called Ge (Earth,) | and by reason of her beauty, the earth was called by the same name. Hypsistus, the father of these, having been killed in a conflict with wild beasts, was consecrated, and his children offered to him libations and sacrifices. But Ouranus succeeding to the kingdom of his father, contracted a marriage with his sister Ge, and had by her four sons; Ilus, who is called Cronus, and Betylus, and Dagon, which signifies bread-corn, and Atlas. But by other wives Ouranus had many children; at which Ge being vexed and jealous of him, so reproached him that they separated; notwithstanding which, Ouranus forcibly returned to her again whenever he chose. he likewise attempted to kill the children that he had by her; but Ge often defended herself by the aid of auxiliary powers.

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his daughter; insomuch that the goas were astonma at his disposition.

"In process of time, whilst Ouranus was still in banishment, he sent his virgin daughter Astarte, with two other of her sisters, Rhea and Dione, to cut off Cronus by treachery. But Cronus took the damsels and married them, notwithstanding they were his sisters. When Ouranus understood this, he sent Eimarmene and Hora, with other auxiliaries, to make war against Cronus; but Cronus won the affections of these also, and detained them with himself.

Moreover, the god Ouranus devised Bætulia, contriving stones that moved as having life.

"By Astarte, Cronus had seven daughters called Titanides, or Artemides. By Rhea he had seven sons, the youngest of whom was consecrated from his birth. Also by Dione he had daughters. And again, by Astarte he had two other sons, Pothos and Eros.

Dagon, after he found out bread-corn and the plough, was called Zeus Arotrius. To Sydyc, who was called the just, one of the Titanides bare Asclepius, and to Cronus there were born also in Peræ three sons, Cronus bearing the same name with his father, and Zeus, Belus, and Apollo. Contemporary with these were Pontus, and Typhon, and Nereus, the father of Pontus. From Pontus descended Sidon, (who, by the excellence of her singing, first invented the hymns of odes or praises :) and Poseidon. To Demarcus was born Melicarthus, who is called Heracles.

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Ouranus then made war against Pontus, but afterwards relinquishing the attack, he attached himself to Demarous, when Demarous invaded Pontus: but Pontus put him to flight, and Demarous vowed a sacrifice for his escape. In the thirty second year of his power and reign, Ilus, who is Cronus, having laid an ambuscade for his father Ouranus in a certain place situated in the middle of the earth, when he had got him into his hands dismembered him over against the fountains and the rivers. There Ouranus was consecrated, and his spirit was separated, and the blood of his parts flowed into the fountains and waters of the rivers; and the place which was the scene of this transaction, is shewed even to this day.

(Then our historian after some other things goes on thus:)

"But Astarte, called the greatest, and Demarous named Zeus, and Adodus, who is entitled the king of gods, But when Cronus, the son of Ouranus, had attained reigned over the country by the consent of Cronus: and manhood, being advised and assisted by Hermes Trisme- Astarte put upon her head, as the mark of her sovereigngistus, who was his secretary, he opposed his father, in ty, a bull's head: and travelling about the habitable revenge for the indignities offered to his mother. Cro-world, she found a star falling through the air, which nus had two children, Persephone and Athena, the former she took up, and consecrated in the holy island of Tyre: of whom died a virgin. By the advice of Athena and and the Phoenicians say that Astarte is the same as Hermes, Cronus made a scimetar and a spear of iron. Aphrodite. Then Hermes addressed the allies of Cronus with magic words, and excited in them an ardent desire to make war against Ouranus in behalf of Ge. Cronus having thus overcome Ouranus in battle, drove him from his kingdom, and succeeded him in the imperial power. In the battle, a well beloved concubine of Ouranus was made prisoner, who was pregnant, and whom Cronus bestowed in marriage upon his brother Dagon. When the child was born, she named him Demarous.

"After these events, Cronus surrounded his habitation with a wall, and founded Byblus, the first city of Phoenicia. Having conceived a suspicion of his brother Atlas, he, by the advice of Hermes, threw him into a deep cavern in the earth, and buried him.

“About this time, the descendants of the Dioscuri having built some light and other more complete ships, put to sea, and being cast away over against Mount Cassius, there consecrated a temple.

"The auxiliaries of Cronus or Ilus were called Eloeim, being so called after Cronus. Cronus having a son called Sadidus, dispatched him with his own sword, because he held him in suspicion. In like manner he beheaded

Moreover, Cronus visiting the different regions of the habitable world, gave to his daughter Athena the kingdom of Attica; and when there happened a plague with a great mortality, Cronus offered up his only begotten son as a sacrifice to his father Ouranus, and circumcised himself, and compelled his allies to do the same: and not long afterwards he consecrated after his death another of his sons, called Muth, whom he had by Rhea this (Muth) the Phoenicians esteem the same as death and Pluto. After these things, Cronus gave the city of Byblus to the goddess Baaltis, which is Dione, and Berytus to Poseidon, and to the Caberi, who were husbandmen and fishermen: and they consecrated the remains of Pontus at Berytus.

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trayed Ouranus, represented also the countenances of "But before these things, the god Taautus, having porthe gods Cronus and Dagon, and the sacred characters of the elements. He contrived also for Cronus the ensign of his royal power, having four eyes in the parts before and in the parts behind, two of them closing as in sleep; and upon their shoulders four wings, two in the act of flying, and two reposing as at rest. And the symbol was, that Cronus whilst he slept was watching,

But the uncles of Meleager were enraged that the hide was given to a stranger, and violently took it from her; upon which Meleager killed them. As soon as his mother Althea understood that Meleager had killed her brothers, she sought revenge like a mad woman. In Althea's chamber was a billet, which, when Meleager was born, the Fates threw into the fire, saying, The new-born infant shall live as long as this stick remains unconsumed. The mother snatched it out of the fire and quenched it, and laid it in a closet. But now, moved with rage, she goes to her chamber, and fetching the stick, she threw it into the fire. As the log burned, Meleager, though absent, felt fire in his bowels, which consumed him in the same manner that the wood was consumed; and when at last the log was quite reduced to ashes, and the fire quenched, Maleager at the same time expired, and turned to dust."

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called Agrotera, Orthia, Taurica, Delia, Cynthia, Aricia, &c. When Typhon waged war against the gods, she is said to have metamorphosed herself into a cat, to avoid his fury.

"The inhabitants of Taurica were particularly attached to the worship of this goddess, and they cruelly offered on her altar all the strangers that were shipwrecked on their coasts. Her temple in Aricia was served by a priest who had always murdered his predecessor, and the Lacedæmonians yearly offered her human victims till the age of Lycurgus, who changed this barbarous custom for the sacrifice of flagellation. The Athe nians generally offered her goats, and others a white kid, and sometimes a boar pig, or an ox. Among plants, the poppy and the ditamy were sacred to her. She, as well as her brother Apollo, had some oracles, among which those of Egypt, Cilicia, and Ephesus, are the most known. "Diana had two temples famous in history. The first was that of Ephesus, one of the seven wonders of the world. This was burnt to the ground on the very day on which Alexander the Great was born. A man named Erostratus, wishing to make his name immortal, set fire to this magnificent temple, imagining that such an aetion would necessarily transmit his name to posterity. "The second celebrated temple of Diana, was that of Taunica Chersonesus, or the modern Crimea.

Although Diana is said to have been a virgin, her claim to this title seems to be disputed. To be sure she abjured marriage, on account of the pangs which her mother realised at her birth; yet, as has been seen, she was pleased with the company of Endymion; and she granted familiar favours to Pan and Orion. She had for her attendants sixty of the Oceanides, and twenty other nymphs, all of whom, as well as herself, abjured marriage. She presided over the travails of women. She had many surnames. She was called Lucina, Ily-was in the ancient Scythia, which comprehended parts thia, or Juno Pronuba, when invoked by women in child- of modern Russia and Tartary. The Scythians there bed; and Trivia, when worshipped in the cross-ways, worshipped Diana with barbarous rites, offering to ber where her statues were generally erected. She was human sacrifices."

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