170

was paid to Minerva, and he affigns it to her birth, obferving that he was born out of the head of Jupiter, and fo from thence obtained thefe diftinguishing privileges. The nod of Jupiter is univerfally known, and the fine defcription of it in Homer admired by all: fo that I have no need to fpeak of it here. The ftory of Minerva's birth, to which the poet alludes, has occafioned great enquiries amongst the mythologifts and many learned men have been of opinion that it veiled the fublime myfteries of the divine word and light, whereby all things were created but I am apt to conceive it had a philofophical reference, and that, all which is faid of Minerva can only be applied to facred things through the veil of that material light, which the represented in the heathen fyftem, and which was the known and acknowledged emblem of the true and fpiritual light. Macrobius fays, p. 243. Minerva folis virtus eft: ficut & Porphyrius teftatur Minervam effe virtutem folis, quæ humanis mentibus prudentiam fubminiftrat: nam ideo hac dea Jovis capite prognata memoratur, id eft, de fumma atheris parte edita, unde origo folis eft. "Minerva is the virtue of the Sun as alfo Porphyry witneffes, that Minerva is that virtue of the Sun which minifters prudence to human minds: for therefore this Goddess is faid to be born out of Jupiter's head, that is, iffuing forth from the highest part of the ather, whence the origin of the Sun is." Hence Phurnutus fays, Kopun de Oswv, &c. But the head of the Gods, according to Euripides, is the fhining ether which furrounds the earth." But what shall

And

we make of the peculiar circumftance in this story concerning Vulcan, who, with his axe cleft the fkull of Jupiter, whence leaped out this Pallas in compleat armour? Turner gives a full explanation of this matter, as you may read in his book, p. 233, &c. at large. Having proved that Vulcan and Prometheus (for Prometheus, by fome, is faid to have done this office for Jupiter) were the fame, and no other than the Sun, he goes on, p. 237. Now the true explication of this fable in Apollodorus, that Vulcan or Prometheus cleft the head of Jupiter, to make a more eafy paffage for the birth of Pallas, is this: Jupiter in this cafe is the whole æther, whose head is the body of the Sun, whose rays are here compared to axes or hatchets, by which the ather is pierced and cleft, as to our outward fenfe it feems to be: and that from this cleaving, Pallas was born, the meaning is no other than this, that the Sun or rays of the Sun do at least enliven and invigorate, if not create and cause that agility and motion which is to be found in Pallas or Jupiter, or the wide fpacious ather, whofe parts all about, though they are of a finer confiftence, and more agil nature than those of which this earth and its atmosphere are compofed; yet they themselves, as they are nearer to the Sun, or at a farther distance from it, fo they partake more or less of that influence, that warmth, and heat, and brifknefs of activity and motion, which is communicated and imparted by him; as may be feen by that part of the ether, which, being mingled and interfperfed with this atmosphere

U

which

calls them, ver. 127. orig, were alfo carried in this proceffion. Of each when we come to that part of the hymn, it will be more convenient to fay fomething. The chorus, which I fuppofe was always fung upon this occafion, and which the author repeats at the latter end of of the hymn, ver. 120. fhews fufficiently who Ceres was, and what was the defign of this folemn feftival. By Ceres, in the heathen fyftem, is meant that power which caufes the feeds to spring and grow out of the earth, lo gives fertility, nourishment, encreafe, &c. and therefore thefe attributes in this chorus are affigned her. Her Greek name Anning is a compound of An or Anw, Dio, as he is called in Latin, which is her proper appellation, and Marng, which many etymologifts have fuppofed to be quafi Inuntnę, by a change of A for r Mother-earth: others have fuppofed An derived from Anw, a verb fignifying to feek, because Geres fought her daughter Proferpine: but it appears to me, as if the original of the name Die must be found amongft the Hebrews, and that it is a corruption of " Di, fufficiency, and fo fignifies that power which gives a fufficiency of all things which caufes fertility, encreafe, plenty, &c. From this word, it is univerfally confeffed, come Divus, Deus; the Arabic De, to poffefs; Aida, do, to give; and various other names of the like found and import, as you will find in all the best lexicographers. And from hence comes that great name of Gcd She Di, omnipotent, all-fufficient, he who hath in and from himself all fufficiency and all abundance. From hence, I doubt not, Ceres had her name Anw, and was hence called Aaparip, as by our author, the fertile mother, as agreeable to the import of the word I have tranflated it, or the who is fufficient to give nourishment, encrease and plenty to the earth, according to Callimachus, πολυτροφε, συλομεδίμν. Some have imagined her to be no other than the Moon, and their opinion is founded on good authority. That she was supposed to be that power in the Moon particularly which promotes fertility and encreafe, is highly reafonable; for we are to remember, 3.

Behold

that herein the Moon is greatly concerned, ast hinted hymn to Diana p. 53 note, and Diana's fpeech, &c. note 276. and this doubtlefs is alluded to in that fine defcription of the plenty and happiness of the ftates regarded by Diana, ver. 180, & feq. of that hymn. Macrobius, Sat. p.. 247, having proved that Liber or Bacchus is the fame with the Sun, advances upon the authority of Virgil, that Ceres is the fame with the Moon.-Hinc & Virgilius fciens Liberum patrem Solem effe & Cererem Lunam, qui pariter fertilitatibus glebæ, & maturandis frugibus, vel nocturno temperamento vel diurno calore moderantur,

-Veftro, ait, fi munere tellus

Chaoniam pingui glandem mutavit aristâ.

where you obferve that Macrobius, upon the authority of Virgil, afcribes the fertility of the earth, and the ripening of its fruits as well to the nightly temperament of the Moon, as to the diurnal heat of the Sun. The paffage in Virgil is very explicit.

--

- Vos, o clariffima mundi.
Lumina, labentem Coelo quæ ducitis annum,
Liber & alma Ceres; veftro, &c.
GEORG. I. ver. 5.

where it is obvious, that Liber and alma Ceres
are to be referred to clariffima lumina mundi,
the Sun and Moon: and it is amazing fo good a
critic as Dr. Trapp fhould have fo puzzled and
confounded himself by fuppofing the contrary.
As thus Ceres was, in the heathen fyftem, that
power, that fufficient fertile mother, which caufed
the encreafe and fecundity of the earth, therefore
this feaft was celebrated to her honour, as a .
grateful memorial of the fruits of the earth,
received from her bounty. Very able writers
have concluded, that all the feafts of this fort
were derived from the Jewish feftivals of the
like nature, when they offered to the true Giver of
all encrease the first-fruits of their harvest, &c.
See Exod. xxiii. 16. and Bibli. Biblica ver. 2.
p. 276. note 6. and ver. 3. 364.

Ver. 5. The paffing, &c.] All the prophane

or

or uninitiated, of what fex, age or ftate foever, were ordered to view this facred basket only ftanding on the earth, and that for a very obvious and plain reason, because the earth being facred to Ceres, as nourishing, enriching and giving it fertility, it would have been an abomination not to have stood upon it, and fo confeffed the power of the Goddefs. Spanheim gives the fame reafon. What I have tranflated virgin, is a xaTEXEVATO Xaitav, ea quæ diffudit Capillos, a paraphrafe for a virgin, who, amongst the Greeks and Romans used to have their hair loose and unbound, as Spanheim has, with a great labour of learning, proved in his note on this place. The original of the 8th and 9th line is very difficult: commentators fay it alludes to the fafting of Ceres mentioned in the fubfequent lines, of which the Goddess was by no means to be reminded by any at this facred time, when more efpecially they honoured her as the giver of plenty.

Ver. 10. The bright-hair'd Vefper, &c.] This is no more than to inform us of the time when this ceremony was begun, namely, at the evening, when Hesperus or the evening-ftar appeared; and the reafon of their beginning at this time, as those of Pallas in the morning, as mentioned in the former hymn, note 34. was, because the Moon, whofe vegetative power Ceres reprefented (as obferved above) rifes at this time, fhewing herself at the evening, when the Sun departs. What the poet fays concerning Hefperus or the evening perfuading Ceres to drink, &c. Spanheim is of opinion, alludes to the cuftom of fafting on this folemnity, which they usually did till the evening; in remembrance of the faft which Ceres kept till the evening when seeking her daughter. But it seems probable fomething more is meant hereby, particularly by the poet's expreffion of drinking: he does not fay that Hesperus perfuaded her to eat and drink, but only we, to drink; which probably alludes to the notion they had of the

. 10

Beholds

Moon's being fupported by the Sea, as well as Air, which Support, fhe might then be supposed to take when the appeared, namely, at the evening. Confult hymn to Diana, note 231. However, be that as it will, this whole ftory of her feeking her daughter Proferpine has plainly and confeffedly a philofophical meaning; for Proferpine is no other than that power that hides and preferves, even in their state of corruption and diffolution, the feeds under or in the earth, apud inferos, during the earth's recefs in the winter from the Sun. Hence fhe was feigned to have been the winter half of the year in the fhades below, in the fate of death, with Pluto, and the fummer half of the year with her mother and hence, in the antient remains, Ceres is found drawn by ferpents, with a torch in each hand, feeking her daughter, to fhew, that by the influence of the light only, and its power in vegetation, Proferpine can be recovered and brought up from the infernal kingdom. See the hymn to Diana for the meaning of the torches, note 15. and to Pallas for the ferpents, note 168, ad fin. But fome lines from the Orphic hymn to Proferpine set this matter in the clearest light:

Ειαρίνη, λειμώνιασιν χαίρεσα πνοιήισι,
Ιερον εκφαίνεσα δέμας βλασοις χροοκαρποις"
Αρπαγίμαία λέχη μετοπωρινα νυμφευθείσα,
Ζωη και θάνατος μενη θνητοις πολυμόχθοις,
ΦΕΡΣΕΦΟΝΕΙΑ· ΦΕΡΕΙΣ γαρ αει και παντα ΦΟ.

ΝΕΥΕΙΣ

Κλύθι, μακαίρα θεα, καρπες δ' αναπεμπέ απο γανητά Vernal, rejoicing in the gales that feed The fertile meads; thy facred body shewing In the first germens of the yet green fruit : Ravifh'd and carried to thy marriage bed After the autumn: thou only life and death To mortals toiling and laborious; thou Art Proferpine, for thou 'ere beareft all things, Yet all destroyeft and corruptest all. Hear, Goddefs, and from earth fend forth the

fruits.

Nothing