But not perceiving any in a great space, he took the liberty, as he passed onward, to put the question again to the boatmen; and to make inquiry about these birds. Pray, gentlemen, says he, at what particular season is it that your swans hereabouts sing so sweetly? It is said, that they were formerly men, and always at Apollo's side; being in a manner of his privy council. Their skill in music must have been very great: and though they have been changed into birds, they retain that faculty, and, I am told, sing most melodiously. The watermen could not help smiling at this account. Why, sir, says one of them, what strange stories you have picked up about our country, and this river? We have plied here, men and boys, for years; and to be sure we cannot say that we never saw a swan: there are some here and there towards the fens, which make a low dull noise: but as for any harmony, a rook or a jackdaw, in comparison of them, may be looked upon as a nightingale. Such are the witty strictures of Lucian upon the story of Phaethon and Cycnus, as described by the poets. Whatever may have been the grounds upon which this fiction is founded, they were certainly unknown to the Greeks; who have misinterpreted what little came to their hands, and from such misconstruction devised these fables. The story, as we have it, is not uni formly told. Some, like Lucian, speak of swans in the plural; and suppose them to have been the ministers, and attendants of Apollo, who assisted at his concerts. Others mention one person only, called Cycnus; who was the reputed brother of Phaethon, and at his death was transformed to the bird of that name. The fable is the same whichever way it may be related, and the purport of it is likewise the same. There is one mistake in the story, which I must set right before I proceed; as it may be of some consequence in the process of my inquiry. Phaethon is represented by many of the poets as the offspring of the Sun, or Apollo: Sole satus Phaethon. But this was a mistake, and to be found chiefly among the Roman poets. Phaethon was the Sun. It was a title of Apollo; and was given to him as the God of light. This is manifest from the testimony of the more early Greek poets, and particularly from Homer, who uses it in this acceptation. 3 Ουδέποτ' αυτές Ηέλιος Φαέθων επιδέρκεται ακτίνεσσιν. 3 Ovid. Metamorph. 1. 1. v. 751. * Homer. Odyss. 1.x. v. 15. Phaethon was universally allowed to Le the Sun by the antient mythologists of Greece; to whom In respect to Cycnus and his brotherhood, those vocal ministers of Apollo, the story, which is told of them, undoubtedly alludes to Canaan, the son of Ham; and to the Canaanites, his posterity. They sent out many colonies; which colonies, there is great reason to think, settled in those places, where these legends about swans particularly prevailed. The name of Canaan was by different nations greatly varied, and ill expressed: and this misconstruction among the Greeks gave rise to the fable. To shew this, it will be proper to give an account of the rites and customs of the Canaanites, as well as of their extensive traffic. Among the many branches of the Amonian family, which settled in various parts of the world, and carried on an early correspondence, we must appeal, and not to the Roman poets. Orpheus says, Ηελιον Φαέθοντα εφ' άρμασι πωλοι αγεσι. de Lapid. v. 90. Ευθυς ότ ̓ εκ περατων γαίης Φαέθων ανοξύσων, κλ. Phaethon was the same as Phanes: and there is something very mysterious in his character. He is represented as the first born of heaven: Πρωτόγονος Φαέθων περίμηκεος Πέρος υιος-Hunc ait (Orpheus) esse omnium Deorum parentem ; quorum causâ cœlum condiderit, liberisque prospexerit, ut haberent habitaculum, sedemque communem: Εκτισεν Αθανατοις δόμον αφθιτον. Lactantius de falsâ religione. 1. 1. c. 5. p. 15. His history will be explained hereafter. the Canaanites were not the least respectable. They traded from Sidon chiefly, before that city was taken by the king of Ascalon: and upon their commerce being interrupted here, they removed it to the strong hold of Tyre. This place was soon improved to a mighty city, which was very memorable in its day. The Canaanites, as they were a sister tribe of the Mizraïm, so were they extremely like them in their rites and religion. They held a heifer, or cow, in high veneration, agreeably with the customs of Egypt. Their chief Deity was the Sun, whom they worshipped together with the Baalim, under the titles Ourchol, Adonis, Thamuz. It was a custom among the Grecians, at the celebration of their religious festivals, to crown the whole with hymns of praise, and the most joyful exclamations. But the Egyptians were of a gloomy turn of mind, which infected the whole of their worship. Their hymns were always composed in melancholy affecting airs, and consisted of lamentations for the loss of Osiris, the mystic flight of Bacchus, the wander Phoenices post multos deinde annos, a Rege Ascaloniorum expugnati, navibus appulsi, Tyron urbem ante annum Trojane cladis condiderunt. Justin. 1. 18. c. 3. See Isaiah. c. 23. v. 12. They enlarged Tyre: but it was a city before: for it is mentioned, Joshua. c. 19. v. 29. as the strong city Tyre. Porphyry de Abstinentià. 1. 2. p. 158. 6 ings of Isis, and the sufferings of the Gods. Apuleius takes notice of this difference in the rites and worship of the two nations: Ægyptiaca numinum fana plena plangoribus: Græca plerumque choreis. Hence the author of the Orphic Argonautica, speaking of the initiations in Egypt, mentions, 7 Θρηνες τ' Αιγυπτιων, και Οσίριδος ἱερα χύτλα. The Canaanites at Byblus, Berytus, Sidon, and afterwards at Tyre, used particularly mournful dirges for the loss of Adonis, or Thamuz; who was the same as Thamas, and Osiris in Egypt. The Cretans had the like mournful hymns, in which they commemorated the grief of Apollo for the loss of Atymnius. 8 Αιλινα μέλπειν, Για παρα Κρητεσσιν αναξ ελίγαινεν Απολλων The measures and harmony of the Canaanites. seem to have been very affecting, and to have made a wonderful impression on the minds of 7 Apuleius de genio Socratis. Argonautica. v. 32. See Clementis Cohortatio. p. 12. 'Nonni Dionysiaca. 1. 19. p. 520. |