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though the gross metaphysics of the Hindoos have given it a very different meaning.' Little, indeed, did they adhere to the primitive use of the symbols which were handed down to them by their forefathers; and many of the traditions which they repeated they did not understand. Thus, in enumerating the jewels, as they are termed, of the deluge, which are all delineated in the same drawing, the ship or ark, though sufficiently conspicuous, is omitted altogether; and, on the other hand, two females are introduced, one of whom is Rhemba, the Venus Anadyomene of the Hindoos, seated on a lotus, as she is described in the Ramayana; but the other no where appears 2 : her name, however, will account for her not having a female form. Sri is a term applied both to Ceres, i. e. Isis, and to Parvati, the mountain-born goddess. She is, therefore, the same as Siri or Sirius in Egypt; the place of confinement; the great ship; and in no other way can the description be made consistent with the picture.

The whole of the fourteen products of the deluge may be thus explained; the male and female figures are the patriarch and his wife: the eight-headed horse represents the total number of

1 Ipsa quoque vulgaris superstitio communis idololatriæ, cum in simulacris de nominibus et fabulis veterum mortuorum pudet, ad interpretationem naturalem refugit, et dedecus suum ingenio adumbrat, figurans Jovem in substantiam fervidam, &c. — Tertull. Marcion, 1. i. c. 13.

2 Moor's H. P. 183.

3 Ceres is Isis-Isis is Io-Io is the moon

Ark. These identities have been already made out.

con.

the moon is the

the preserved family. The ship is the ark: the circle, the moon, the sea-shell, and the horns of the cow or bull are well-known emblems of Arkite worship. The elephant is Ganesa', the Janus of the Romans; perhaps one of the sons of Noah : for Fil, in Ethiopian, signifies an elephant; but it is also probably the root of Filius, a son. The Bow is undoubtedly the rainbow. Wine was the invention of Noah. The tree, the poison, and the Amrita, or beverage of immortality, point to earlier traditions, which are only referred to the deluge by confounding the second with the first origin of mankind. They seem to record the trees planted in the garden of Eden, the tree of life, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The Persian zodiac offers another clue for the ex

3

plication of Ophiuchus. There, the figure representing the planet Saturn holds also in his hand a serpent. Now of Saturn, whose very name implies his concealment in the ark, and who was

1 He was the God who presided over the beginning of all undertakings, and the first libations of wine and wheat were offered to him. These, and many other coincidences, serve to establish the identity of Janus and Ganesa as initial deities. The final letter of the Hindoo name is seldom used in conversation. Moor's Hindoo Pantheon,

p. 173. In the Ganesa of the Hindoos, we discover the Janus of the Romans: the god of wisdom in both. Crawford's Researches into the Laws and Theology of India. The sounds of G and J are interchangeable. Jaffa is written by Volney, Yaffa, and by Benjamin of Tudela, Gapha; so Kelembe is written by Thevenot, Djelembe.

2 The Iris is called the bow of Indra in the Institutes of Menu, c. 4. v. 59.

3 A painting in the Debistaun, in Sir J. Malcolm's History of Persia.

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latuit. Hence Italy, which was the land of Saturn,

fabled by the mythologists to have been confined, or bound, till the close of the year', when his festival was a signal for the relaxation of all ties, and even the bonds of slavery were loosed, and the slave placed on the same footing with his master2: of him, Bochart says, it is almost out of question, that he was the patriarch Noah." It has been shown before, that the form of the Caduceus 4 borne by Mercury was a sort of Egyptian anaglyph representing the Baris floating on the surface of the deluged globe; but that was not the only inuendo of the mystery. Its value was enhanced by complexity; and its relation to the same event might be viewed in another light. If the Caduceus destroyed repose, it also gave it'; it was the signal of peace and safety, and the bearer of it claimed to be secure from violence: hence the Privernates are said to have carried it before them

was also called Latium. Dicta fuit Latium terra latente Deo. Ov. Fast. 1. The Germans worshipped him by the name of Seatur; and Verstegan describes him as standing on a fish. See Bryant's Analysis.

1

Apollodorus says, "Saturnum alligari per annum laneo vinculo, et solvi ad diem sibi festum."

2 In Saturnalibus exæquato omnium jure passim in conviviis servi cum dominis recumbunt. — Justin. lib. xliii.

3 Noam esse Saturnum tam multa docent, ut vix sit dubitandi locus. Bochart. Geograph. Sacra, lib. i. c. 1. Vossius is of the same opinion. De Orig. et Progr. Idololatriæ, p. 118.

4 Salmasius supposes that Caduceus is derived from Kapúkεlov: if so, the original root is probably the same from which come the

-Car) קָרְקוּמִין Carcom), Propugnaculum, and) כַּרְקוֹם Chaldee

comin), Catenæ, Naves. - Castell.

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5 Dat somnos, adimitque.

Virg. Æn. iv. 244.

when they surrendered to the Consul Plautius. 1 For this character of the Caduceus no probable reason has ever been assigned; but by recurring to first principles we may account for it sufficiently. The lower part of the figure displayed the evil principle embracing and fastening itself round the pole, like the Hindoo serpent round the mountain2; and in the upper portion, the separation of the serpents' heads imported the opening of that closely-twisted coil, the giving of freedom to those confined within the inclosure of the ark, the untying of the knot, which was called the knot of Hercules; for to undo this knot was equivalent to untwisting the close embraces of the serpent, and to that loosening of the bands of Orion, which is spoken of in the book of Job.

1 Lib. viii. c. 20. Caduceum enim gestantes ab omni violentia tuti erant. Quippe cum pacis insigne esset apud Græcos. Varior.

not.

2 The king of the assurs or demons, was also, in Hindoo mythology, the prince of the nagas, or snakes, who reigned in Patala, below the waters. In the Siamese representations of the ten states of the existence of Buddha previous to his last appearance, Rajah Naga is represented climbing up, or twisting round a pyramid of earth, emblematical of Siva. - · Trans. Asiat. So. iii. 97.

3 Herculanus nodus. Ἡρακλειωτικὸν ἅμμα, vel ηράκλειος δεσμός, qui in congressu serpentum spectatur, ex matris magnæ mysteriis celebris et sacer habitus est, et in caduceum Mercurii translatus. Jacob, Nicol. Loens. Epiphyll. lib. v. c. 13.

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ΤΟ BE ACCOUNTED FOR BY THE BURSTING OF THE EUXINE. THE CUP OF HERCULES. THE CUP OF THETIS. SIMILAR MYTHS OF ACHILLES. -THE MEANING OF HYLAS CALLED HIS SON, AND OF HIS ARROWS GIVEN TO PHILOCTETES, AND OF THE TROJAN WAR.

THE next inquiry therefore is, who was Hercules? Voltaire observes that, since every nation had its Bacchus and Hercules, they must have existed; but he professes himself utterly at a loss to fix within several centuries, the time when they lived. The very circumstance, that they were claimed by such various people, should have taught

1 Tant de nations en parlent, on a célébré tant d'Hercules et tant de Bacchus différents, qu'on peut supposer qu'en effet il y a eu un Bacchus, ainsi qu'un Hercule. Nouveaux Mélanges, v. i. Je suis si ignorant, que je ne sais pas même les faits anciens dont on me berce; je crains toujours de me tromper de sept à huit cent anneés au moins; quand je recherche en quel tems sont vécu ces antiques héros, qu'on dit avoir exercé les premiers le vol, et le brigandage dans une grande étendue de pays, et ces premiers sages qui adorèrent des étoiles, ou des poissons, ou des serpents, ou des morts, en quel tems vivait le premier Bacchus, ou le premier Hercule. Ibid. vol. iv.

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