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M Y T

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M Y T

tion of he..en; .nd the otber, called

Arimar.iul,

that of

hcll.

.The Ccience of mythology then leaehes the thcogony

of the Pho:nicians; concerning whom

drJws

greal

lights from Sanehooiatho. , a priell of BerYl<, who Itved

bdore the Trojan wars, more lhan four

hundrcd year,

before HeGod and Homer, and of whom Elúebíu. has

preCerved eonGdera!>le fracments. Fro", thencc it pa/fes

tOthe theogony of the Egyptíans; ofwhom

r hol

rhllul,

Ihe foundor of that natioo, was likewiCe. tbey Cay, their

fjr(l hillarian; that SaachODiathon even copied ¡rom him;

.nd of whom we find ñlany relatioos in the Greek hillo–

ri.n•. eCpccially in Herodolus, D iodoru. Siculus, aod in

EuCtbiu. of C.,Carea.

lhen examines lhe lbcogony of

lhe Atlanlides, who dwcll

0 0

Ihe wellern pan of

Afri~a,

and of whom D iouorus alone has preCerved any .ceou.t,

From Ihente

proc<ed,

Ibe Iheogony of Ihe Greeks,

which is fu belter kaown to

US,

as we fiad accounu cf

it,

,"ore or ler, panicular,

numberlefs Grc:ek

aDd

La.

lio wrile.. . Thi, Iheogooy had Ihe Came foúodalÍon a.

th.! of lhe R

om.ns

; lhe latter haviog ooly eXlended il,

by adding to lbe Greek divioities cenaio gods or denli–

god., fornied of their heroe., and cenain Cymbolic and

allegorie diyioilie., whieh mYlhology explain. al the Came

time: and

is on this ocaúon thilt ¡l, eoter! into a parti.

eular .explieation of Ihe coCmogony and theogony of

vid; whofe book of metamorphofes cont"ins as copious

deCeriplion. " we eould 'deGre of tbe fabl.. of ,he anci–

Cnts:

what \Ya, their b'eJief cODceffling the habiu.tioDS of

,he ble/fed after lbeir d<a!h, or of lhe Elyfi.n fields ; a,

well .. of lhéir hell or tarurus; of the dog Cerberus ;

of ,he Cerryrnan Charon ; of Ihe furies; of lhe four ri–

l'rn,

Coeytus, LClhe, PhIcgethon, and Styx, which wa·.

ter Ihe lIrtarian regioos,

Oc.

The le.rtncd have likewife

made

many inq:Jíres, and many ingeniousdifeoveries, con·

cerning Ihe theogony of lhe aneient Gtrmans, Cehs,

Ihe

Séylbian and Hyperborean nalion. In the lall place, this

(ei.nce furnifhes great ligbts on Ihe theogony of the Hra–

mins, the Troglodytes, the Indians, lhe ChineCe, .nd

1'en lbe Amerieaos; all which it eoncludes with a regul;J ,.

and

mimH!

examination of lhe pagan theology, alld pat·

tieul.dy

\ltat

of Ihe poe!!.

AIJ

,h.Ce

rnattero being well digelled in tRe mind. of

IhoCe who would make a regular lludy of pagan theolo·

gy,

they continue theír re[earches ioto lhe time, the epoch

and pl,ce of lhe real origin of pag>niCm and idolatry; and

they proye th. t the pagans be,an by adoring the heaYenly

bodies, lhe Ilars and p1a...nets . T41ey next examine ioto

the progreCs of idola!ry : wha! \Vere ,he temples of the pa–

gans, .theír alt¡rs, Iheir ¡nclorures, theie facred groves,

theír afylums, the idols and natutes of theír deitiel ; in

what manner thty \Vere reprefentt'd

what were theír fa·

crifices. lhe viaims thal were ofrered; what \Vere the fa·

crcd velTeh. the cenfers and other inUrumenn that were

ufc:d in the facrifiees, libu ioos, and other religious cere–

monies: concerning the prieHs. priefleffes, and other ata

tendants on the fervice of

caeh

divinity : what

w~re

lhe

f.llinl. th.. were cclebrated among the Greek.

~nd

Ro·

mans, as

w~1I

as among the orientals ; ... what the days of

pcnitrnce and (uppliealioo, lhe feaCl. or the gods of lec·

l:fierDia, theír :ovocatioDs or ¡ncamatioo" ¡od exorcifms,

lhe relieiou. ccremonies obCerved a! laying tne founda_

tlons of cities,

&c.

Olvioadon, or the prediélion or futurc evenu,

we¡¡k ..

neCs. tha! has a! all times po/fe/fed lhe human minrl,

fo,ms .Ifo an important anicle of p'gan Ih.ology.

thet efore", lhis pi

"e,

Ihat mythology confidcrs ,he na–

tu re of

OracltJ;

and in pucicular,

The oracle of Óo.

dono, the mofl ancient of Grecce;

That of Jupiter,

Hammon or Ammon, in L ibya; 3. Th>t of jupilcr Phi–

lius;

Thal of Apollo, both of Heliopolis;

5. .

That

A pollo of D elphos;

Thlt of Trophoniu•.

HIZotia;

ThAt of Venus of

ph>c., a country between Byblo.

and Heliopolis, Iit\Jate on

°a

fmalllake; ílnd

grear

nUIn.

ber of other oraclcs of le(s note, difperrcJ OTt!r

Gree~e

and other countries.

alfo examines

what mAnoertl{e(e

oracles gave their anfwers, the ceremoDies thar wt!re ob–

ferl'ed io conrulcing them, the frantic emotions of the

prieneC. Pythia on her !ripod; and lhoCe of olh« prie(!'.

{hen endeavours to determine: if chere ever were iD faét

any Sibyh, whieh, whatever ha. beeo Caid, is Hill very

doubtful¡ it draws, however, (rom all the {ources ofanu–

quity.

kind of hillory of lh. re Sibyl. , and of lbeir pro–

phecies. le next pa{[es to theexamc:n of rhe nature of augu–

ries, auCrices. harufpiees, prefages, prodi'gies, and pheno ..

mena, o expíacions and ablutions, of the magic and a{ho–

logyof the aneienrs,

6c.

Whoevcr

Ihroughly Uudied

aJl theCe objeé\!, i. f"lIy provided wilh the prclimina,y

knowledge that is neee/f. ry tO enable him to proeeed

lleodily and Cecurely Ihrougb the darkneC. of aneienl my–

thologl', .nd he may lhereby advtnee more eonr:dcntly

the cx;\mination of the nature of the pagan divinitiesthem–

felveo .

The celí'bratcd

treatif~

Cicero

De n«ltlYa D !o,.uIlt

wiJl here furnifh great lieh,, : bUl modern authoro who

haTe trC:lted on

there

maners, have no[ been

contenl~d

with thi. alone: they have.

to fay, extraéled lhe ./feoce

of aJl aotiquity, of \Vhich they have (orroed Cyllems ; b. t

unluckily lhere (earce ever ogr.e wilh eaeh olher.

philofophers, it is of very liule importance ror us to know

\vhat was the

nat~1re

o{ thefe god" fedng

wr.

koow thar

they were mtrdy fabulous: cut

hillorians and antiqua–

ríes,

concern,

llS

to know wh;u lwas the nature that

\Yas attributed to them

general; and, in particular,

wh.t were the origin. genealogy

rank, fllntlions, autho·

rity,

and operations, that were attribuled to each divini–

ty; and ir is on thefe montees lhal we have fiill fome re.

marks tO make.

The 'godo of the ancient Greek. and Roman. were

.IL

~itherDii

majorulII genliulII;

DirminorufJJ..ltnlium:

th. t is, of Ihe

fidl

or (econd order. The former were al–

fo called

(On/rnlo,

'!t(1gni

cOII[uIIO,.", &cc.

According to

Ennius they were twclve

number, and are included in

theCe verCe. :

Juno, Vena, Minerva, Ceee!, Diana, Venus, Mars,

Mer~ur¡lll,

Jovis, Neptunus. Vuleanus, Apollo.

To theCe were added eight othe" uoder lhe title of

fi–

lelli,

which were Sol, Luna, T ellus, Genius, Janul, Sa–

turnus, Liber, and

1'11.110.

The (econd order,

mintJru",

g(lJlium,

were callcd Ad(criptitii, Medioximi, Minu(cu·

farii, Putalitii, Indigetu, Semone. ,

&c.

che

princip~.I

whieh were A!:CcuJapius, E.cehu., Caflor, Fauoa, Hereu-

les,