I or whether it were not at the same time both hated and reverenced, as many objects are known to have been among particular nations. Of this we may be assured, both from the examples of the Greeks and of the Romans. They worshipped many deities out of dread, such as Ate, Proserpine, and the Furies: and there were others, which they must have hated and despised: witness, Priapus, Fatua, Vacuna, Cloacina, and Mephitis. By this last was signified stink in the abstract: which had a temple at Cremona. Add to these Fear, Fever, Dread Force, Calumny, Envy, Impudence all abhorred, yet personified and worshipped. The Egyptians held serpents in great veneration, yet they reverenced the ibis, which destroyed' them. Whether the frog 2 3 5 was held in this twofold predicament See Lucian de Calumniæ non temere credendo. * See Lilius Gyraldus de Miscellaneis Deis, p. 47. 3 Ibid. 4 P: 59. Calumnia, quam Græci Aany nominant, et Impudentiæ, aras Athenienses consecrâsse, testis est Theophrastus apud Diogenianum. Lilius Gyraldus, Syntagm. I. p. 37. 5 Herod. 1. 2. c. 74. p. 138. 6 Ibid. c. 75. 7 Invocant etiam Ægyptii ibes suas contra serpentum morBus. Pliny, l. x. c. 26, 27. p. 559. D 2 1 may not be easy to determine. Thus much is certain, that it was very consistent with divine wisdom and justice, to punish the Egyptians either by what they abominated, or by what they idly revered. We know, that the Sun, or Apollo, was the same as Osiris and we are informed by Plutarch, that no animal was so little acceptable to this deity as a frog. Yet he acknowledges that it was an emblem of the Sun in Egypt. And in the same treatise he tells us, that the brazen palmtree at Delphi, which was a representation of that tree under which Apollo was supposed to have been born, had many of these animals engraved at its basis. It was the gift of Cypselus, an ancient king of Corinth and Plutarch mentions, that he and many others wondered, how these symbolical representations could have any relation to the deity. And in his banquet of wise 3 men, he makes Pittacus ask Periander the son of Cypselus-T μεν. ' Plut. Isis et Osiris, vol. 2. p. 372. Diod. 1. 1. p. 10. 2 -παντα μάλλον, η ταυτα, είναι προσφιλή τα θηρια νομιζες —γηγενές ζωον (βατραχον) η φυτον έλειον αποφαίνετε τον Ήλιον, εις βατράχων πατρίδα, η ύδωρ εγγραφοντες. vol. 1. de Pyth. Orac p. 400. 3 Vol. 1. αιτίαν των βατραχων εκεινών, τι βελονται περὶ τὸν πυθμένα τα φοινικος ενετετορνευμένοι τοσετοι,---the reason, why those frogs were engraved in such numbers at the bottom of the palm. To this no answer is given: yet we may be sure, that both the tree and the animals had a relation to the deity, by their being of old dedicated to him. Of this we may be certain, that the frog, like the tortoise, crocodile, &c. was an emblem of preservation in floods and inundations also of lymphatic prophecy. Philastrius Brixiensis tells us," that it was held sacred by the Egyptians. As to the palm itself, we may suppose it, on account of its beauty and utility, to have been made an emblem of this god, the same as Osiris: and that it was originally an hieroglyphic imported from Egypt. For we learn from Hesychius, Παλμυτης Θεος Αιγυπτιος, that there was an And 'Some would alter it to Пaauvans: but that term had been taken notice of by Hesychius before, and the place, in which the word Пars is introduced, shews that it is rightly expressed. Whence the Romans got the term Palma, for the Pom of the Greeks, is uncertain. The tree may have been so stiled among other nations; and perhaps by the Egyptians. Even among the Greeks Пavs signified a prince; or, as I should suspect, a conquerour. It came probably from an old word Пaun, Palma: and from thence. Egyptian deity called Palmytes. This deity was generally denominated Hermes; and, according to Apuleius, described with a branch of the palm in his hand; and leaves of the same tree upon his feet. The, palm is an evergreen: and by this emblem was signified Victory, Honour, and Immortality. I Though Plutarch tells us that the frog was not acceptable to the Grecian Apollo; yet we may be assured, that it was a sacred representation in Egypt, by its being found in the Bembine Table sitting upon the water-lily or lotus: and that it was sacred to Osiris Helius. This deity was sometimes described upon the same lotus, and in the midst of waters, under the form of a newly-born child. Both emblems were of the same signification; and related to the prophetic god Osiris; and to his 2 both Παλμυς, and Παλμυτης. For the Palm was certainly a badge of victory and honour. Παλμυς, ὁ βασιλευς, Hesych. Ζευς Παλμυς αφοίτων. Lycoph ron, v. 691. Jablonsk. 1. 4. C. 1. p. 161. 1 * Plutarch says, that the Egyptians described the rising of the sun-παιδιον νεαγμον γράφοντας επι λωτῳ καθεζόμενον, as an infant sitting upon the lotus. De Pyth. Orac. p. 400. But it was not the rising of the luminary, but the renovation and restoration of a person, stiled Helius, Sol: who had been exposed upon the waters, and preserved: whom the Egyptians called Osiris. preservation, when exposed to the deep. This animal upon that particular plant is to be found among several ancient gems. We may likewise be assured, that the frog was sacred to Osiris Helius, from one of the names by which it was signified in the east. There was certainly of old a greater resemblance and conformity between the languages of neighbouring nations, than exists at present. And Bochart tells us, that among the Arabians a frog was stiled Kura. From hence I should be led to think that it was sacred to the reputed god of light, who was distinguished by this name. This is certain, that the same term expressed Kugis, and Kugos, related to princes, and divine personages; and particularly to the Sun, or Osiris. In Greece there was a place sacred to this deity under the name of Apollo; where was an oracular temple, and * lake. The name of it was Kuppa, similar to, p, Kurrha mentioned above: and he was in consequence of it stiled Kuppasos, or, as we express it, Cyrrheüs. Plutarch informs 2 1 3 * Κύρος, Αρχών, Βασιλους. Κυρις et κιρις, Αδωνις. Ηλιον δι Περσαι Κύρον λέγεσιν. Hesychius. 3 Vide Lutatium in Statii Thebaïd. 1. 7. v. 347. Quid tibi cum Cirrhâ? quid cum Permessidos undâ? |