I. SECT. cles. It has been fuppofed, that both the Egyptian and the Grecian Thebes were fo denominated from Theba nan an ark, on account of the prevalence of thofe rites which respected the Baris. If this hypothefis be adopted, the reason will then be evident, why oracular perfons proceeding from Theba, the very place where the Ifiac fuperstition principally flourished, should mythologically be ftyled doves. Perhaps one of the moft fignal gentile atteftations to the truth of the Mofaical account of the deluge, is a coin struck at Apamea in the reign of Philip the elder, on the reverfe of which is represented a kind of fquare cheft floating upon 'the waters. A man and a woman are advancing out of it upon dry land, while two other perfons remain within. A dove bearing an olive branch is fluttering above it, and another bird, poffibly a raven, is perched upon its roof. In one of the pannels of the cheft is the word Noe in Greek characters y. By Mr. Bryant. y, See a print of it in Bryant's Anal. vol. ii. p. 230. deed There is a paffage in the Theogony of CHAP. Hefiod refpecting the rainbow, which is IV. not unworthy of notice. Iris, the daughter of Thaumas, is defcribed as hovering over the broad furface of the ocean; and is faid to be the meffenger of Jupiter, whenever he is about to take a folemn oath by the waters of Styx2. If we may be allowed to fuppofe Thaumas a word not of Grecian, but of oriental extraction, we fhall immediately perceive the propriety of the poet's defcription; and be led to fee the connexion between the rainbow perfonified under the character of Iris, and the deluge. The daughter of Thäum 17a, the vaft central abyss, which, when diflodged from its proper fituation, principally occafioned the cata deed been controverted by Mr. Barrington, Mr. Combe, and Παύρα δε Θαυμαντος θυγατηρ ποδας ωκέα Ιρις Ζευς δε τε Ιριν επεμψε θεων μεγαν όρκον ενεικα HESIOD. Theogon. v. 779. a The being pronounced like the French e, which feems to be the universal pronunciation of that letter, the English alone differing from the reft of the world. strophe 1. SECT. ftrophe of the flood, is faid to hover over the broad furface of the ocean. It is needlefs to mention the natural cause of the phenomenon of the rainbow; it is fufficient to say, that at the time when it was firft made a fign to Noah, the drops of rain, of which it confifted, must have been exhaled from the waters of the retiring abyfs. Hence Iris, with the most exact propriety, is faid to have been the daughter of Thâum, or, if the Grecian termination be added, of Thaumas ; and her primary appearance, over the fea, is precifely fuch as it must have been to Noah. She is further faid, always to have fome connexion with the oath of that deity, whom the Greeks venerated as fupreme; and the oath is reprefented as having a reference to certain waters, ftyled thofe of Styx, or hatred. The whole of this tradition will appear in a more ftriking light, if we confider the Mofaical account of the rainbow. "God fpake unto Noah, and to his fons b If Thaumas be confidered as a compound word, Thaumas -on the abyss and fire, the accuracy of this allegory will be yet more confpicuous; the rainbow, or Iris, being formed by the reflexion of the rays of the fun from the drops of falling rain. "with him, faying, And I, behold I estab- CHAP. "lish my covenant with you, and with 14. your feed after you, and with every liv 65 ing creature that is with you; of the "fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of "the earth with you; from all that go out "of the ark, to every beaft of the earth. "And I will establish my covenant with you; neither fhall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither "shall there any more be a flood to destroy "the earth. And God faid, This is the token of the covenant which I make be-"tween me and you, and every living "creature that is with you, for perpetual generations. I do fet my bow in the "cloud; and it fhall be for a token of a "covenant between me and the earth. "And it fhall come to pafs, when I bring "a cloud over the earth, that the bow "fhall be feen in the cloud: and I will "remember my covenant, which is be"tween me and you, and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters "shall no more become a flood to destroy "all flesh. And the bow fhall be in the "cloud; and I will look upon it, that I SECT."between God and every living creature "of all flesh that is upon the earth." 1. XI. Number of Upon the whole we find, that both in the inspired history, and in the profane tradition, the Supreme Being is uniformly reprefented, as making the rainbow the fign of his oath. The waters of hatred, so celebrated in ancient mythology, and connected in fo peculiar a manner with the oath of Jupiter, and the fign of the rainbow, naturally lead the mind to the waters of the deluge; those waters, by which God, in fo eminent a manner, teftified his hatred and abhorrence of fin. "God faw "that the wickednefs of man was great in "the earth, and that every imagination of "the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord "that he had made man on the earth, and "it grieved him at his heart. And the "Lord faid, I will deftroy man whom I "have created "." XI. The number of perfons faved in the perfons pre- ark, amounting precisely to eight, has been already noticed more than once, in the course ferved in the ark. b Gen. ix. 8. c Gen. vi. 5. of |