Οὐδὲν ἄνευ θεῶν γιγνόμενον ἀνθρώποις ἐς ἀγαθὸν ἀποτελευτᾷ. To this we may cite many parallel passages: πάντες δὲ θεῶν χατέουσ’ ἄνθρωποι, says the son of Nestor to the divine attendant of Telemachus. Hesiod begins and ends his poem of the Works and Days with inculcating piety towards the Gods; the only way to please whom and to be happy, he says, is to be religious and strictly moral—

Nor are the passages, recommendatory of due reverence of the Gods, less numerous in the lyric and tragic poets of Greece, than in her heroic poets:

See also the sublime supplication of Hecuba in the Troades of Euripides, vs. 884.

The hymn of Cleanthes,

is considered the forgery of a later age. Not so, however, the beautiful truths of the Greek poet of the Halieutics:

Ὅσοι ναυτίλλονται, ἀπὸ θεῶν ἄρχονται. The sea-deities were numerous, and of various gradations. Spence arranges them in six classes. See Milton’s invocation of Sabrina, in his Comus, vs. 867. for the names of many of these Dii Marini. Arrian mentions only Neptune, his Queen, and the Nereids—lords of the mediterranean or inland seas: superior to whom were Oceanus, “Pater rerum,” and Tethys. Moreover, it appears from Apollonius Rhodius, that Apollo, for particular reasons,L. i. vs. 359. and vs. 1186. (αὐτὸς γὰρ ἐπαίτιος ἔπλευ ἀέθλων, says Jason, addressing πατρώϊον Ἀπόλλωνα,) was worshipped, under the name of Ἐμβασίος, by the Argonauts at the time of their embarkation, and under that of Ἐκβασίος at disembarking. See also Homer. Odyss. ii. 430. where Telemachus pours forthPope’s Odyss. B. ii. 471. “the holy goblet to the powers divine,” but principally invokes, for a specific reason, “the blue-eyed progeny of Jove.”

Ἀνασωθέντες χαριστήρια θύουσιν,

and again, Æneid. xii. 766.

Several votive monuments are engraven in Père Montfaucon’s Antiq. Expliq. Tom. ii. with inscriptions, SALVOS IRE, SALVOS REDIRE, &c.: and Pitiscus (Lexic. Antiq. Rom. V. ii. p. 164.) has others, NEPTUNO REDUC. SACRUM, &c.

See the indications of the Dii Marini appearing in dreams to sea-faring people, in Artemidorus, L. ii. 38.

Ὅσοι τὴν γῆν ἐργάζονται. Every art and science had, in classic mythology, its divine guardian, from whom it first emanated, and by whose liberal condescension mankind were instructed in the rudiments of their several callings:

The tutelar deities of husbandmen were Ceres, Proserpine, and Bacchus. Hence, in the beginning of the first Georgic, amongst the “agrestum præsentia numina,” Virgil invokes conjointly “Liber et alma Ceres;” and Pindar designates Bacchus,

Δημήτηρ δὲ καὶ Κόρη, καὶ ὁ λεγόμενος Ἴακχος, says the Ephesian visionary, γεωργοῖς καὶ τοῖς κτήσασθαι γῆν προῃρημένοις ἀγαθαί. The department of rural economy under the tutelage of Ceres is succinctly stated by Oppian in the second book of his Halieutics:

The connexion of Proserpine with husbandry is not so clear; but as Nicomedia, our author’s native city, was sacred both to the mother and daughter, and he held the office of priest in the temple of the latter, we may suppose him fully acquainted with all her tutelary distinctions, of which the patronage of agriculture seems to have been one.

Bacchus’s presidency was principally confined, in his character of Vitisator, to the culture of vineyards:Artemidor. Oneirocrit. L. ii. c. 37. Διόνυσος τοῖς γεωργοῖς συμφέρει τοῖς τὸν ξυλικὸν καρπὸν γεωργοῦσι, μάλιστα ἀμπέλους. To the three deities of Arrian here mentioned, Virgil subjoins others, Georgic. L. i. 21.“studium quibus arva tueri,” whom the philosophic courser allows to extend their fostering care to venation—at least some of them, as Pan, the Nymphs, &c.

Οἱ δὲ ἀμφὶ τὰς τέχνας πονούμενοι. The different bodies or colleges of artificers had their particular tutelary deities. Pausanias in Arcadicis mentions a temple of Minerva Machinatrix: ἔστι δὲ Ἀθηνᾶς ἱερὸν ἐπίκλησιν Μαχανίτιδος, ὅτι βουλευμάτων ἐστὶν ἡ θεὸς παντοίων καὶ ἐπιτεχνημάτων εὑρέτις. The connexion of Minerva and Vulcan with handicrafts is noted by Artemidorus: Ἀθηνᾶ χειροτέχναις ἀγαθὴ διὰ τὴν προσηγορίαν, Ἐργάνη καλεῖται γάρ——Ἥφαιστος ... χειρώναξι ἀγαθὸς πᾶσι:—and by Oppian:

Juno tells Latona that Vulcan’s skill as an artificer, is a counterpoise to his claudicant deformity:Lucian. Deor. Dial. Juno et Latona. ἀλλ’ οὗτος μὲν ὁ χωλὸς, ὅμως χρήσιμός γε ἐστὶ, τεχνίτης ὢν ἄριστος, κ. τ. λ.

Οἱ ἀμφὶ παίδευσιν. Instructors—those engaged in education—the μουσοπόλων ἔργων ἐπίσκοποι of the Cilician poet.

Μούσαις. The Muses were thought to preside over the different departments of science, poetry, vocal and instrumental music, and the fine arts generally.

Ἀπόλλωνι Μουσηγέτῃ. When the gods attended the nuptials of Peleus and Thetis on Mount Pelion, Apollo led “the tuneful choir” in the character of Musagetes:

Representations of Apollo in the character of Musagetes or Lyristes, from the Justinian gallery, are given by Père Montfaucon in the first volume of his Antiquities; by Spence, in his Polymetis, Pl. xiii. f. i. ii.; and by Visconti, in the Clementine Museum, Vol. i.

Ἀπόλλων μουσικοῖς ἀγαθὸς, says the Ephesian, λόγων γὰρ εὑρετὴς ὁ θεὸς καὶ μουσικῆς πάσης. In which character the Roman poets of the Augustan age have decked him out to the life. See Ovid’s

Μνήμοσυνῃ. This goddess is celebrated by Hesiod, in his Theogony, as the mother of the Muses:

So Akenside, in The Pleasures of Imagination:

That this mythology is judicious, has been remarked by Plutarch in his rules for the education of children; since nothing so much cherishes learning as memory. There is a statue of Mnemosyne in the Clementine Museum of Visconti, Vol. i.

Ἑρμῇ. Mercury is here introduced in one of his most creditable capacities, as the author of letters, and the god of orators and eloquence:

Ἑρμῆς ἀγαθὸς τοῖς ἐπὶ λόγους ὁρμωμένοις, καὶ ἀθληταῖς, καὶ παιδοτρίβαις, κ. τ. λ.

Οἱ δὲ ἀμφὶ τὰ ἐρωτικὰ Ἀφροδίτῃ. In the Rape of Helen, Venus is called Ἁρμονίης βασίλεια, (v. 26.) θαλάμων βασίλεια, (v. 137.) and γάμων βασίλεια, (v. 306.) queen of marriage. And to the same purport is the description of Nemesian:

μάλιστα δὲ ἀγαθὴ περὶ γάμους καὶ κοινωνίας, καὶ περὶ τέκνων γονὰς, says the dream-interpreter, of the goddess of love,Artemidori Oneirocrit. L. ii. c. 37. συνδέσμων γὰρ καὶ ἐπιγόνων ἐστὶν αἰτία. The reader will remember her angry speech (tangit et ira Deos) in the prologue of the Hippolytus,

and her vengeful and infuriate character, as drawn by Apollonius Rhodius in reference to the Lemnians:

and amplified by Valerius Flaccus, L. ii. vs. 29.

Ἔρωτι. Venus confesses that she has little power without the aid of her favourite son Cupid:

She is accompanied by him and Ἵμερος (whom the Grecian mythologists seem to have distinguished from Ἔρως) in the Theogony of Hesiod.

The Odes of Anacreon afford many graphic sketches of the mischievous little god:

Πειθοῖ. Suada or Suadela—the goddess of persuasion—nuptiarum conciliatrix. In the temple of Jupiter at Olympia, as described by Pausanias, Cupid is seen receiving Venus rising out of the sea, and the goddess Πειθὼ placing a crown on her head: and so in the Rape of Helen, she is the bearer of the bridal chaplet:

Horace unites Suadela and Venus in the attractions of “the well-bemoney’d swain”—“benè-nummatum decorat Suadela Venusque.” AndEpod. L. i. Od. vi. Artemidorus says her appearance is ominous of good to all persons, and on all occasions;Oneirocrit. L. ii. c. 37. Πειθὼ δὲ καὶ Χάριτες, καὶ Ὧραι, καὶ Νύμφαι πρὸς πάντα καὶ πᾶσιν εἰσὶν ἀγαθαί.

Χάρισιν. The Graces of Heathen mythology were ladies of great influence: simplicity of manners, gracefulness of deportment, gaiety of disposition, liberality, eloquence, and wisdom, were all derived from them:

In the Theogony they “keep their court with the God of Love,” and revel in banquets; and in Horace’s supplicatory Ode to Venus, they are associated with the “Regina Cnidi Paphique,” Cupid, the Nymphs, Hebe, and Mercury:

Τοὺς ἐπὶ θήρᾳ ἐσπουδακότας οὐ χρὴ ἀμελεῖν τῆς Ἀρτέμιδος τῆς Ἀγροτέρας. XenophonDe Venat. c. vi. was equally strict in his religious observances towards the rural deities, bidding the sportsman, before he slip a single hound, to vow a participation of the game to Apollo and Diana Agrotera. See Pitisci Lexicon Antiquit. Roman. and Apul. Met. vi. p. 175. The falconer of Demetrius, in later days, offered his morning adoration to the God of heaven before sun-rise, and then flew his hawk at the quarry:Ἱερακοσόφιον. p. 21. τὸν θεὸν ἐπικαλεσάμενος τῇ θήρᾳ εὐμενῶς συλλήψοιτο, κ. τ. λ.

Following his Classic prototypes, Adrian de Castello makes the cardinal hunter supplicate the Sylvan goddess:

as a necessary preliminary to the slaughter of a stag, bayed by the hounds.

Ἀπόλλωνος. Apollo shared with Diana the institution of hunting: Ἀπόλλωνος καὶ Ἀρτεμίδος ἄγραι καὶ κύνες. Whence, with his twin-sister, he is seen on antique relievos with dogs and other emblems of the chase. In his character of Venator, Apollo is described by Maximus Tyrius as a youth armed with a bow, his naked side appearing beneath a chlamys, and his feet raised in the act of running:

The reader is of course familiar with the Apollo of the Belvedere—the Venator of Statuaries—“Venator Apollo:”Statii Achil. L. i. 167. but perhaps not so well acquainted with the Wilton effigy of him, exhibiting in a small compass all the symbols which characterise his presidency over poetry, music, divination, or more probably medicine, and the chase—(προσποιεῖταιLucian. Deor. Dial. Juno et Latona. μὲν πάντα εἰδέναι, καὶ τοξεύειν, καὶ κιθαρίζειν, καὶ ἰατρὸς εἶναι, καὶ μαντεύεσθαι)—in three of which attributes he is cited by our author in the present Chapter. The attitude of the god is easy and graceful; he appears to lean against one of the horns of his lyre, placed on a tripod, around which a serpent twines. Over his right shoulder is seen his quiver, and his head is decorated with a laurelTibull. L. iii. El. iv. 34. crown—“castâ redimitus tempora lauro:” the chlamys of the Venator is thrown off, exposing the belt beneath, and the former with its gem is placed on some fit receptacle beside the right leg.

Πανός. “Officium Panis nullâ alia re,” says Lord Bacon, “tam ad vivum proponi atque explicari potuerit, quàm quòd Deus Venatorum est,” &c. He was the god of the shepherds as well as hunters, the leader of the Nymphs as Apollo was of the Muses, the patron of rural life, and president of the mountains. Happy the man, exclaims the poet of the Georgics in his eulogy of country life, who numbers the rustic deities, and Pan amongst the rest, in the catalogue of his acquaintance:

The most graphic description of the goatish god I have any where seen is in the 13th book of Silius Italicus:

But as this has been cited at length by Spence in his Polymetis, a book of easy reference, I decline introducing it here—wishing, as much as possible, to present my readers with passages omitted by this celebrated scholar. Let Lucian’s more brief delineation be substituted: Deorum Concilium.ὁ μὲν κέρατα ἔχων, καὶ ὅσον ἐξ ἡμισείας ἐς τὸ κάτω αἰγὶ ἐοικὼς, καὶ γένειον βαθὺ καθειμένος, ὀλίγον τράγου διαφέρων ἐστίν.

Νυμφῶν. Beger’s list of these ladies does not much exceed one hundred in number, although it is said that Diana had above a thousand in her retinue. We may suppose those principally interested in Cynegetical pursuits to have been the Oreades, nymphs of the mountains; the νύμφαι Ὀρεστιάδες of Homer (Iliad. vi. 421.) the Ὀρείπλαγκτοι of Aristophanes (Thesmophoriazusæ); the Napææ, nymphs of the meadows, (of whom Virgil, “faciles venerare Napæas,”) and the Dryades and Hamadryades, nymphs of the woods, the φιλορνίθων Δρυάδων χορὸς of Oppian (Cyneg. i. vs. 78.) see claudian. de laudib. stilic. l. iii. for a description of the “acies formosa Dianæ,” and the Epicedium of Hercules Stroza; in which latter the names of many of these inferior Sylvan deities, “turbæ nemoralis,” are registered in chaste hexameters, addressed to the Duchess of Ferrara. Sometimes the Naiads also accompanied the land-nymphs in their hunting pranks:

Ἑρμοῦ Ἐνοδίου καὶ Ἡγεμονίου. “Deum maximè Mercurium colunt,” says Cæsar of the Gauls or Celts: “hujus sunt plurima simulacra; hunc omnium inventorem artium ferunt; hunc viarum atque itinerum ducem; hunc ad quæstus pecuniæ mercaturasque habere vim maximam arbitrantur.” Being the god of every species of gain, and the dog being sacred to him, we have additional reasons for the injunction of the text. He was calledLexicon Antiq. V. ii. 186. Ἐνόδιος or “vialis” according to Pitiscus, “qui viarum præses, in biviis, et compitis ponebatur ad semitas monstrandas:” in which capacity his statues are, what are commonly called Terminal,—that seemingly imperfect, ugly, awkward-looking shape, to which a worthless Roman nobleman, Rubellius Plancus, is assimilated by the satirist of Aquinum;

A Greek medal is extant of Arrian’s native city, of the reign of Antoninus Pius, bearing the impress of the god Terminus. See Nummophylacium Reginæ Christinæ, Tab. lvii.

The old herdsman of Theocritus, with the title εἰνόδιος, affords the reason of its use:

See Eustathius ad Homeri Odyss. xvi. and Ouzelius ad M. Minuc. Felic. Octavium, p. 109.

In his character of guide or conductor, (Ἡγεμόνιος,) amongst many others, the wily god volunteers his services to Cario, in the Plutus of Aristophanes:

Though the messenger of the gods, and supremely Διὸς ἄγγελος, he seems to have been a willing itinerant on earth (ὁδοιπόρος) in the cause of humanity. See Iliad xxiv.

Ὅσοι ἄλλοι ὄρειοι θεοί. Almost every mountain had its tutelar deity; but Arrian probably here means the rural deities hitherto unnamed, as Sylvanus, Silenus, Priapus, Aristæus, the Fauns, Satyrs, Pales, Flora, Feronia, and a host of others. On a due observance of the rites of these gods and goddesses, and demi-deities of “hill and dale, forest and mead,” (to whom might be traced, perhaps, the fairy system of more modern days,) and more particularly on an observance of those of Diana Agrotera, was an abundant supply of game, and avoidance of the ordinary casualties of the chase, entirely dependent:

Καὶ γὰρ καὶ οἱ κύνες βλάπτονται, κ. τ. λ. All that Arrian here anticipates as a consequence of neglect of the rural deities, Savary of Caen, in bitterness of heart, invokes on the ill-fated heads of the brethren of the leash; whom he designates as enamoured of the savage pugnacity of the bull-dog greyhound—with which alone, the wolf-greyhound of his country, this poet was acquainted. Great as may have been his love of the harrier’s chase, and great his admiration of its followers, whom he calls Dian’s legitimate worshippers, I cannot conceive him conversant with the genuine pastime of his Celtic ancestry, nor with thec. xxxiii. κύων τῇ ἀληθείᾳ γενναῖος of Arrian, when he wrote the following virulent anathema:

Ælian tells us there is a temple of Diana in an isle of the Red Sea called Icarus, abounding with goats, roe-deer, and hares, which a sportsman may catch, if the goddess be duly petitioned; but if not, he is not only unsuccessful in his sport, but punished for the transgression—ἐὰν δὲ μὴ αἰτήσῃ, οὔτε αἱρεῖ, καὶ δίδωσι δίκας, ἃς ἄλλοι λεγούσιν.

Ὅμηρος ἐν τῇ ποιήσει. Arrian alludes to the contest for the prize of archery, at the games celebrated by Achilles on the occasion of the funeral of his friend Patroclus. I give Pope’s translation of the passage:

Ἐπειδὴ μὴ ἐπηύξατο τῷ Ἀπόλλωνι. The God of Archers and Archery.

The poet and the courser would both teach us the same lesson—that without addressing supplication to heaven, we cannot succeed in our undertakings. Merion does not conquer because he is the better archer, but because he is the better man.

Τοὺς ἐκγόνους δὲ τῶν ἐπὶ Θήβας σὺν Πολυνείκῃ. The Homeric line cited by Arrian from the speech of Sthenelus, in the fourth book of the Iliad, alludes to the victors of the second Theban war, wherein the sons of the seven captains subdued the city, before which their fathers had perished:

Capaneus, the sire of Sthenelus, was thunder-struck, while blaspheming Jupiter—

Πολυδάμαντι οὐκ ἐῶντι. From Pope’s translation I extract a part of the speech of Polydamas, with the omen referred to:

Pope’s version of Hector’s reply to this speech of Polydamas, is one of the most splendid specimens of his talent to be found in the poem—as the whole incident is perhaps the finest of Flaxman’s beautiful illustrations of the immortal bard.

Οὐκ ἀγαθὸν ἀπειθεῖν τῷ θείῳ. Homer himself draws many similar inferences in the progress of his interesting tales both of the Iliad and the Odyssey—χαλεπόν τοι ἐρισθενέος Κρονίωνος—παισὶν ἐριζέμεναι—and again, θεόθεν δ’ οὐκ ἐστ’ ἀλέασθαι: and Pindar abounds with like injunctions of humble submission to the divinePyth. ii. vs. 161. and 173. will—χρὴ δὲ πρὸς—θεὸν οὐκ ἐρίζειν, κ. τ. λ.—ποτὶ κέντρον δέ τοι—λακτιζέμεν, τελέθει—ὀλισθηρὸς οἶμος. See also vs. 89. ejusd. Carm. The reader cannot but recollect the memorable counterpart to these words, (with reverence be they cited!) in the Act. Apost. c. ix.Apostolic history of the conversion of St. Paul—σκληρόν σοι πρὸς κέντρα λακτίζειν.

How beautiful the metaphor that runs through the following lines of the poet of Cilicia!

See the sensible remarks of Xenophon on the words ΣΥΝ ΘΕΩ ΠΡΑΤΤΕΙΝ, at the conclusion of his treatise De Offic. Magistr. Equit. c. ix.

Ἄρχεσθαί τε ἀπὸ θεῶν. “A Diis immortalibus,” says Cicero, “sunt nobis agendi capienda primordia:” and Julius Pollux, to whom I have frequently referred in the early part of these annotations, concludes his address to Commodus, at the commencement of his Onomasticon, with the same sentiment—ποιήσομαι δὲ τὴν ἀρχὴν, ἀφ’ ὧν μάλιστα προσήκει τοὺς εὐσεβεῖς, ἀπὸ τῶν θεῶν.

Χαριστήρια θύειν εὖ πράξαντα. So in his Anabasis, Arrian writes, θύσαι Ἀλέξανδρον ἐν Καρμανίᾳ χαριστήρια τῆς κατ’ Ἰνδῶν νίκης, κ. τ. λ. These free-will offerings may be considered in the light of grateful acknowledgments to the gods for blessings received. They were paid by soldiers after victory, by husbandmen after harvest, and by sportsmen after success in the field.

Σπένδειν. Wine was generally used in these libations, but not always; for there were νηφάλια ἱερὰ—sober sacrifices, wherein no wine was poured forth. Generally, however, wine was employed, as we learn from Æneid. L. vi. 244.Virgil’s “frontique invergit vina sacerdos.”