they learned of the Pelasgi, will be necessarily convinced; for the Pelasgians before they lived near sometimes taken for the Dioscuri. With regard to their functions, and the places in which they were exercised, opinions equally various are held: some call them the sons of Vulcan, others of Jupiter.-See Montfaucon. "They," says Mr. Larcher, principally from the Scholiast to the Irene of Aristophanes, "who had been admitted to these mysteries were highly esteemed, as they were supposed to have nothing to apprehend from tempests." "They," observes Plutarch, "who had learned their names, availed themselves of them as a kind of amulet to avert calamity, pronouncing them slowly." These names were, according to the Scholiast on Apollon. Rhod. Ceres, Proserpine, and Pluto, to which others add Mercury. Who these Cabirim might be, has been a matter of unsuccessful inquiry to many learned men. The utmost that is known with certainty is, that they were originally three, and were called, by way of eminence, The Great, or Mighty Ones, for that is the import of the Hebrew name. Of the like import is the Latin appellation, Penates: Dii per quos penitus, spiramus, &c. Thus the joint worship of Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva, the triad of the Roman capitol, is traced to that of The Three Mighty Ones in Samothrace, which was established in that island, at what precise time it is impossible to determine; but earlier, if Eusebius may be credited, than the days of Abraham.-Bishop Horsley's Charge to the Clergy, &c.-T. Whilst this second edition was proceeding at the press, an elaborate work on the subject of the Cabiri appeared from the pen of Mr. Faber. From a rapid view he seems to have got together, from various authors, a great collection of facts on this intricate subject. I must be contented, therefore, at present, with referring the reader generally to this performance. near the Athenians, formerly inhabited Samothracia, and taught the people of that country their mysteries. By them the Athenians were first of all instructed to make the figure of Mercury with an erect priapus. For this the Pelasgians have a sacred tradition, which is explained in the Samothracian mysteries. LII. The Pelasgians, as I was informed at Dodona, formerly offered all things indiscriminately to the gods. They distinguished them by no name or surname, for they were hitherto unacquainted with either; but they called them gods, which by its etymology means disposers, from observing the orderly disposition and distribution of the various parts of the universe. They learned, but not till a late period, the names of the divinities from the Ægyptians, and Bacchus was the last whom they knew. Upon this subject they afterwards consulted the oracle of Dodona ", by far the most ancient oracle of Greece, and at the period of which we speak, the only one. They desired to know whether they might with propriety adopt the names which they had learned of the barbarians, and were answered that they might; they have accordingly used them ever since in their rites of sacrifice, and from the Pelasgi, they were communicated to the Greeks. 95 Oracle of Dodona.]-See on this subject Bryant's Mythology, vol. ii. 286. LIII. Of the origin of each deity, whether they have all of them always existed, as also of their form, their knowledge is very recent indeed. The invention of the Grecian theogony 96, the names, the honours, the forms, and the functions of the deities may with propriety be ascribed to 95 Grecian theogony.]-To suppose Homer to have been the author of the theology and mythology contained in his poems, would be as unreasonable as to imagine that he first taught the Greeks to read and write. We find that, in the following ages, when wise men began to reason more upon these subjects, they censured Homer's theology, as highly injurious to the gods, if it were understood in the literal sense. But when Homer wrote, he had sufficient excuse and authority for the fables which he delivered: and he introduced into his poems, by way of machinery, and with some decorations, theological legends, contrived in more rude and ignorant times, and sanctified by hoary age and venerable tradition. Tradition had preserved some memory of the things which the gods had done and had suffered when they were men.-Jortin's Dissertation, 207. This evidence of Herodotus must be esteemed early, and his judgment valid. What can afford us a more sad account of the doubt and darkness in which mankind was enveloped, than these words of the historian? How plainly does he shew the necessity of divine interposition, and of revelation in consequence of it!-Bryant's Mythology, i. 307. Hesiode a laissé un nom célebre et des ouvrages estimés, comme on l'a supposé contemporain d'Homere, quelques-uns ont pensé qu'il étoit son rival, mais Homere ne pouvoit avoir de rivaux. La théogonie d'Hesiode, comme celle de plusieurs anciens ecrivains de la Grèce, n'est qu'un tissu d'idées absurdes, ou d'allegories impénétrables. Voyage du Jeune Anacharsis, iii. 315. Hesiod Hesiod and to Homer 97, who I believe lived four hundred years, and not more, before myself. If I may give my opinion, the poets who are reported to have been before these, were certainly after them. What I say of the names and origin of the gods, is on the authority of the priests of Dodona; of Hesiod and of Homer I speak my own sentiments. LIV. Of the two oracles of Greece and Libya, the Ægyptians speak as follows: I was told by the ministers of the Theban Jupiter, that the Phoenicians had violently carried off from Thebes two priestesses, one of whom had been sold into Libya, the other into Greece; they added, that the commencement of the above oracles must be assigned to these two women. On my requesting to know their authority for these assertions, * Writers are not agreed about the ages of Homer and Hesiod. See Aulus Gellius, book iii. c. 11, and my note upon the subject. Cicero decidedly thought Homer the oldest. They certainly lived at no great distance from one another. 97 Homer.]-To me it seems certain that the life of Homer, attributed to Herodotus, was not written by our historian. This I think might very easily be proved, but it would require a dissertation, and much exceed the limits of a note.-Larcher. Nevertheless the learned Frenchman has translated this life of Homer, and subjoined it to this edition, because he says it is evidently the work of an ancient writer. It has never before appeared in any modern language, which may probably be an inducement with me at some future period of leisure to follow Larcher's example. they they answered, that after a long and ineffectual search after these priestesses, they had finally learned what they had told me. LV. I have related the intelligence which I gained from the priests at Thebes: the priestesses of Dodona 95 assert, that two black pigeons flew from Thebes in Egypt, one of which settled in Libya, the other among themselves; which latter, resting on the branch of a beech-tree, declared with a human voice that here by divine appointment was to be an oracle of Jove. The inhabitants, fully impressed that this was a divine communication, instantly complied with the injunction. The dove which flew to Libya in like manner commanded the people to fix there an oracle of Ammon, which also is an oracle of Jupiter. Such was the information I received from the priestesses of Dodona, the eldest of whom was called Promenea, the second Timarete, the youngest Nicandre; the other ministers em 98 Priestesses of Dodona.]-There is an account given by Palæphatus, of one Metra, or Meestra, who could change herself into various forms. The story at bottom is very plain: Ægypt was frequently called Mestra and Mestraia, and by the person here called Mestra we are certainly to understand a woman of the country. She was sometimes simply mentioned as a cahen or priestess, which the Greeks have rendered Kura, a dog. Women in this sacred character attended at the shrine of Apis and Mnenis, and of the sacred heifer at Onuphis. Some of them in different countries were styled Cygneans, and also Peleiada, of whom the principal were the women at Dodona.-Bryant, ployed |