Parcæ. In her right hand fhe held a fceptre, in her left a diftaff. Her head was encircled with rays of glory, and crowned, like that of Cybelè, with turrets; while her waist was girt with the ceftus, which is usually given only to Venus Urania ©.

In fine, to adopt the language of Kircher, hoc unum ex omnibus hifce demonftratis hactenus collige. Cabar illam Arabum aliam nullam effe, quam communem illam Venerem Afiaticam, Uraniam coeleftem, quam Ægyptii fidem; Babylonii Dagon, Derceto, Atargatis; Phoenices Aftarten; Græci nunc Lunam, nunc Hecaten, Lucinam, Dianam, Proferpinam; aut, alio nomine, Arabes Alilath vocant rem eandem, nominibus diverfitatem effectuum denotantibus diverfam esse ©.

Και τα μεν

- Ἡ δὲ Ἡρη σκοπεοντι τοι πολυειδεα μορφην εκφανεια. ξύμπαντα ατρεκεει λογῳ Ηρη επι έχει δε τι και Αθηναίης, και Αφρο δίτης, και Σεληναίης, και Ριης, και Αρτεμιδος, και Νεμέσιος, και Μοιρεων. Χειρι τε τη μεν έτερῃ σκηπτρον εχει, τη έτερη δε ατρακτον, και επί τη κεφαλη ακτίνας τε φορέει, και πύργον, και κέρον, τῷ μένην την Organ nope. Luc. de Dea Syra, fect. 32.

d I fufpect however, that Kircher is mistaken when he enumerates Dagon in this lift, for he was a mafculine idol, fymbolical not of the Ark, but of Noah the god of the Ark.

Kirch, apud Beyer. Addit. ad Seld. de Diş Syris, p. 293.

СНАР. IV.

THE POLYONYMY OF THE SUN; AND THE

UNION OF THE ARKITE AND THE SOLAR
WORSHIP.

PREVIOUS to any further inquiries into the nature of the Cabiric fuperftition, it will be neceffary to offer fome obfervations upon the connection, which feems almoft immemorially to have fubfifted between the worfhip of the hoft of heaven, and the adoration of the Noëtic Ogdoad,

The early poftdiluvians, unawed by the recent judgment of God, foon converted the pious remembrance of their ancestors, into a blind fuperftition; and, as error is rarely ftationary, the idolatrous veneration of the Sun, the Moon, and the Stars, was ere long fuperadded. Such glorious bodies were esteemed a fit refidence for their deified progenitors; and from thofe lofty ftations they were thought to overlook and direct the affairs of this fublunary world. Hence the whole host of heaven was called after the names of different heroes and hence we fhall be able to ac

count

count for an apparent confufion in the theology of the Gentiles.

If the several hiftories of the principal deities, revered by most of the ancient nations, be considered, we shall find them at once allufive to the Sabian idolatry, and to the catastrophe of the deluge. Thus, the account, which is given of Ofiris and Ifis, if taken in one point of view, directs our attention to the Sun and the Moon; but, if in another, it places immediately before our eyes the great patriarch, and the veffel in which he was preferved. Accordingly, we learn from Plutarch, that Ofiris was a husbandman, a legiflator, and a zealous advocate for the worship of the Gods; that Typhon, or the fea, confpired against him, and compelled him to enter into an ark ; and that this event took

a Ofiris and Ifs were fometimes efteemed the children of Cronus, who, as we have feen, was also the father of the Titans and Titanides. Ofiris however was in reality the fame as Cronus, or Noah; and accordingly both his hiftory, and that of Ifis, is immediately connected with the war of the Titans, or in other words the catastrophè of the deluge. Diod. Bibl. lib. i. P. 23, 24. Cronus was called by the Egyptians the youngest of the gods, as being the fon of Uranus and Ge, the allegorical children of Eliun. Ibid.

b 'Plut. de Ifid. p. 356.

c I am aware, that this legend has been applied to the hiftory of Mofes; and there are doubtlefs fome circumstances, which favour fuch an opinion: (fee Plut. de Ifid. p. 357.)

place on the feventeenth day of the month Athyrd, the very day on which Noah is faid to have embarked. In a fimilar manner, a ship was the peculiar emblem of Ifis; and, while the fymbolical bull was alike dedicated both to this goddess, and to her mythological confort, the history of her wanderings prefents to us the image of the erratic ftate of the Ark upon the furface of the waters: yet there is no doubt, that the Sun was worshipped by the Egyptians under the title of Ofiris, and the Moon under that of Ifis, or Ceresh. This fingular union of the two

but at the fame time, though the Egyptians might be acquainted with the fortunes of the Jewish legiflator, it is not easy to conceive how other nations should, most of which have. nevertheless a tradition precifely resembling this respecting Ofiris.

d Plut. de Ifid. p. 356.

e Tac. de Mor. Germ. cap. 9. Pauf. Phoc. P. 866.

* Μνευιν βεν Αιγυπτιοι Ηλιου φασιν ἱερον επει τον γε Απιν αναInua eivay Zedny deyovou. Elian. de Animal. lib. xi. cap. 11. Τετον (fcil. Απιν) Αιγυπτιοι τιμωσι Σελήνη, και ἱερος ην ὁδε ὁ βες της Σελήνης, ὥσπερ ὁ Μπένις το Ήλιου. Suid. vox Μεμφις. Ο δε εν Ηλιου πολει τρεφομενος βους, ὃν Μνευιν καλεσιν, μέλας εσι. Plut. de Ifid. Ρ. 354. Τις δε ταυρος τις ἱερες, τον τε ονομαζόμενον Απιν, και τον Μνειιν Οσιριδι καθιερωθηναι. Diod. Bibl. lib. i. p. 19.

8. Υπολαβείν είναι δυο θεός αϊδίως τε και πρώτες, τον τε ήλιον και την σεληνην, ὧν, τον μεν Οσιριν, τον δε Ίσιν ονομασαι. Diod. Bibl. lib. i. p. 10.

b Ifis, as I have already obferved, was not only esteemed the Ark and the Moon, but also the Earth; and the fame remark

may

fuperftitions will fatisfactorily explain fome particulars in the history of Ofiris, which cannot otherwise be very eafily accounted for. The Egyptians, according to Plutarch, inftituted two yearly feftivals in his honour; one of which was defigned to perpetuate the remembrance of his inclofure within the Ark ', and the other, that of his entrance into the Moonh: and he further adds, that a part of the ceremony, which was commemorative of his myftic death and burial, confifted in inclosing his ftatue within an ark shaped like a lunette'. All these different rites however allude to one and the fame event, the entrance of Noah into his veffel, which was afterwards worshipped in conjunction with the Moon. The inclosure of the Noëtic family within

may be extended to Venus. Thus, Varro fuppofes the Cabiri to be Heaven and Earth, and pronounces them the fame as Serapis and Ifis, Taautes and Aftartè, Saturn and Ops. Principes Dei Cœlum et Terra: hi dei iidem qui in Ægypto Serapis et Ifis, qui funt Taautes et Aftartè apud Phonicas, ut idem principes in Latio Saturnus et Ops. Terra enim et cœlum, ut Samothracum initia docent, funt Dei Magni, et hi quos dixi multis nominibus. Varr. dé Ling. Lat. lib. iv. p. 17. Thus alfo Macrobius: Nec in occulto eft neque aliud esse Ofirin quam Solem, nec Ifin aliud effe quam Terram. Saturn. lib. i. cap. 21.

i Plut. de Ifid. p. 366.

* Ibid. p. 368.

! Ibid.

the