FABULOUS HISTORY of the GREEKS.

355

I. FABULOUS HISTORY OF CRETE.

SATURN.

THE most ancient king of Crete was SATURN*, the fon of Cælus or Ouranos, Heaven, and Terra, the Earth, Apollodor. i. 1.; Lactant. i. 11. & 15. His elder brother TITAN yielded the kingdom to him, on this condition, that he should rear no male offspring. Therefore he is faid to have devoured all his fons as foon as born †, Ib. 13.; Diodor. v. 70.; Ovid. Faft. iv. 200. But his wife OPS or RHEA ‡, when she brought forth Jupiter, artfully deceived her hufband, by giving him a stone wrapped round with fwaddling clothes, instead of the child, and Saturn is faid not to have perceived the difference, Paufan. viii. 8. & 36.; Ovid. Faft. iv. 205. The fame. artifice was used at the birth of Neptune and Pluto, Lactant. i. 14.

Jupiter was entrusted to the care of certain young men, called CURETES, CORYBANTES, or DACTYLI IDEI, Serv. in Virg. G. iv. 149. &c.; Æn. iii. 131.; Ovid. Met. iv. 282. who, by beating on cymbals and on brazen shields, made a noise around the child to prevent Saturn from hearing his cries, Hygin. 139.; Lucret. ii. 633. whence the priests of Cyběle were called by these names, and used the fame kind of noise in her facred rites, Strab. x. 466.; Horat. od. i. 16. 8.; Stat. Theb. iv. 792. They nurfed Jupiter with honey in a cave on mount Dice (Dictao fub antro, whence he is called DICTEUS, Stat. Theb. iii. 481.) whither the bees are faid to have been attracted by the found of the cymbals and fhields, Virg. G. iv. 150. and with the milk of a goat, called AMALTHEA, which had

SATURNUS, quia fe faturat annis, Cic. Nat. D. iii. 24.

Hence he is called IMPIUS, Horat. od. ii. 17. 22. and GRAVIS, Perf. v. 50. or rather because it was thought unlucky to be born under the planet Saturn, Propert. iv. £. 84.; Juvenal. vi. 569.; Plin. ii. 8.

The fame was also his fifter, and likewife called CYBĚLE, Virg. Æn. ¡¡¡, III. xi. 768. vel CYBELE, or rather CYBEBE, Ib. x. 220. or CYBELLE, Propert. iii. 17. 35. Mater BERECYNTHIA, Virg. Æn. vi. 785. ix. 82. IDEA, Ib. ix. 620. and DINDYMENE, Horat. od. i. 16. 5. Martial. viii. 81. from Cyběle, Ovid. Faft. iv. 249. & 363. Berecynthus, Ida, and Dindžmus, mountains in Phrygia, where he was worthipped, Strab. x. 469.

Y y 2

twe

two kids, Hygin. Aftr. ii. 13. In return for which fervice, (pro qua mercede,) Jupiter, when he became king of heaven, (ubi res cœli tenuit,) placed the goat and her kids among the conftellations, where they are still called CAPELLA and HÆDI, (termed by Ovid, pecus OLENIUM, ep. xviii. 188. from Olenos, a town in Æolis, Hygin. ib. or Ætolia, Serv. in Virg. Æn. xi. 239. near which they were produced;) and endued the bees with the wonderful fagacity which they now poffefs, Virg. G. iv. 149. and gave them the faculty of producing their young with fuch facility *, Serv. ib. 153.

Saturn received from his mother a scythe, made of the metal extracted from her bowels, Strabo, xiv. 654. whence he is called FALCIFER, Ovid. Faft. i. 234. v. 627. in Ibide, 216. With this scythe he is faid to have mutilated his father, (patrem exfecuiffe, Cic. Nat. D. iii. 24.; Paufan. vii. 23. Genitalia ei abfcidiffe, Macrob. Sat. i. 8.; Lactant. i. 12.)

Titan being informed that the fons of Saturn were preferved and educated privately, made war upon Saturn; and having vanquished him, fhut him up in prifon, together with Ops his wife. But Jupiter, being now grown up to manhood, having collected a body of Cretans, defeated Titan and his fons (Titanes,) liberated his parents, and replaced his father on the throne. Soon after, however, Saturn being warned by an oracle to beware of his fon, left he should be dethroned by him, began to form plots againft his life; on which account he was expelled by Jupiter from the kingdom †, Lactant. i. 14.

Lactantius fays, that Jupiter was nurfed by Melissa and Amalthea, two daughters of Meliffeus, the first king of Crete, with goat's milk and honey; and that this gave occafion to the fable of bees (i) coming and filling the mouth of the child with honey, i. 22. Ovid fays, that Jupiter was concealed in the woods by Amalthea, a nymph (Näis, -idis,) on mount Ida, who had a beautiful fhe goat, the mother of two kids, which fed Jupiter with her milk. This fhe-goat having broken one of her horns on a tree, the nymph took it up; and having bound it round with fresh herbs, and filled it with apples, brought it to Jupiter, who afterwards made it the born of Plenty, (Fertile Cornu, i. e. CORNUCOPIE V. CORNUCOPIA,) Ovid. Faft. v. 113.-129. This Pliny calls the horn of Amalthea, præf. but Ovid chewhere makes it the horn of Achelōus, Met. ix. 87. The Genius of Rome was ufually reprefented with a rudder of a ship in one hand, and a cornucopia in the other, Marcellin. xxv. 2.; Gruter. Infeript.

With the skin of this goat Jupiter covered his fhield; hence it is called GIS, -idis, Serv. in Virg. Æn. viii. 354. from diž, diyos, capra; and himfelf 'Ayoxos, i. e. agida geftans vel habens, Homer. II. i. 201.

+ Saturnus regnis ab Jove pulfus erat, Ovid. Faft. iii. 796. or, as others fay, imprisoned in Tartarus, (tenebrofa in Tartara miffus, Ovid. Met. i. 113. Vinctus a filio Jove, Cic. Nat. D. ii. 24.) whence he afterwards made his escape. Paufanias fpeaks about a contest between Jupiter and Saturn at Olympia, concerning the empire, v. 7. viii. 2.

Saturn,

Saturn, having wandered over many countries, (orbe pererrato,) came into Italy, whence that country was called SATURNIA, and the part of it where he fettled, LATIUM, (latente DEO,) Ovid. Faft. i. 235. In memory of his having come by fea, the figure of a fhip was afterwards impreffed on the Roman coins, Ib. 239. Saturn was kindly received by JANUS*, then king of the country, who gave him a fhare of his kingdom. --Saturn civilifed the rude inhabitants of the place, (Queis neque mos, neque cultus erat, &c.) by teaching them agriculture, and prescribing to them laws, Virg. Æn. viii. 315. &c. The happiness which these improvements produced made the time of his reign (Saturnia regna, Virg. Ecl. iv. 6.) be called the Golden Age +, (aurea fecula, Ib. 324. Aurea atas, Ovid. Met. i. 89.) which Ovid beautifully describes, Ib. and Virgil, Ecl. iv. 6. &c. G. i. 125.; Æn. vii. 202.- After Saturn difappeared from the earth, (cum non comparuiffet,) Janus inftituted a feftival to his honour, called SATURNALIA, which was afterwards obferved by the Romans with the greatest solemnity in the middle of December; when flaves were permitted the greatest freedom, in commemoration of that liberty which all men had enjoyed under Saturn, Macrob. Sat. i. 7. The woollen cord with which the image of Saturn was bound through the year, was then loofed, Stat. Silv. i. 6. 4.

JUPITER.

UNDER Jupiter the manners of men are fuppofed to have degenerated; hence that age is called deterior ac decolor ETAS,

JANUS was a god peculiar to the Romans. The Greeks had no fuch di vinity, (par nullum Græcia numen habet,) Ovid. Faft. i. 90. He was fuppofed to be the moft ancient of the gods, and addressed by the title of PATER JANE, Juvenal. vi. 393. or MATUTINE PATER, Horat. Sat. ii. 6. 20. He was first invoked in all facred rites, Cic. Nat. D. ii. 27.; Ovid. Faf. i. 172.; Macrob. Sat. i. 9.; Martial. x. 28. Ovid confounds him with Chaos, Faft. i. 103. and he is faid to have arranged the universe, Macrob. Sat. i. 9. It was his office to prefide over the gates of heaven, Ovid. Faft. i. 125. and to open and shut every thing, Ib. 118. hence the entrances to houfes were from him called JANUE, Cic. Nat. D. ii. 27. and the first month of the year JANUARIUS, Varr. Lat. Ling. v. 4. He was reprefented with two faces, (BIFRONS, Virg. Æn. vii. 180. xii. 198.) or two heads, (BICEPS, Ovid. Faft. i. 65.) His temple at Rome was fhut in time of peace and open in time of war. It was only twice fhut from the origin of Rome to the battle of Actium; first under Numa, and next at the end of the first Punic war, Liv. i. 19. There was another god peculiar to the Romans, called TERMINUS, who prefided over limits or boundaries, Ovid. Faft. ii. 640. &c.

+ Whence Saturn is called AUREUS, Virg. G. ii. 538. He is alfo named VITISATOR, the planter of vines, (curvam fervans fub imagine falcem,) Æa. vii. 179. although this epithet feems at first fight to be here applied to SABINUS, (who gave name to the Sabines,) but the best commentators refer it to Saturn.

Virg. Æn. viii. 326. Argentea proles, i. e. atas, the filver age. Auro deterior, fulvo pretiofior are, Ovid. Met. i. 114. defcribed Ib.& Virg. G. i. 129. &c. Then followed the brazen age, and laft of all, the iron age, (De duro eft ultima ferro,) Ovid. ib. 127.

Although the poets fometimes. speak of Jupiter as king of Crete, yet he is usually represented as the fovereign of heaven and of earth, as the father of gods and of men; from whom most of the other gods, and almost all the heroes, were defcended *. How he came to be confidered under this character, or how the family of Jupiter came to be acknowledged as divinities by other countries, is not afcertained. Diodorus Siculus fimply obferves, that most of the gods came from Crete; and wandering over many parts of the world, improved the nations of men by communicating to them their inventions, v. 77.

There were feveral of the name of Jupiter, (PLURES JOVES,) Cic. Nat. D. iii. 16.; Cicero mentions three, Ib. 21. and others more. Jupiter divided with his brothers the empire of the world: to Neptune he gave the command of the fea; to Pluto, of the infernal regions; to himself he reserved the government of the heaven and earth, Ovid. Faft. iv. 599. divifion is faid to have been made by lot, Apollodor. i. 2. 1.

This

Jupiter is usually represented as fitting on an ivory throne, holding a fceptre in his right hand and a thunderbolt (fulmen) in his left, with an eagle, (hence called Minifter fulminis, Horat. od. iv. 4. 1.) and Hebè, the daughter of Juno and goddess of youth, or the boy Ganymedes, the fon of Tros his cupbearer, attending on him. This boy was carried off from mount Ida by an eagle to heaven †, Virg. Æn. v. 254.; Stat. Theb. i. 548.

SISTERS

• Divum atque bominum pater, Cic. Nat. D. ii. 25. Divûm pater atque bominum rex, Virg. Æn. i. 65. &c.

+ JUPITER (ZU Пarip, the voc. of Zive Пarnp, quafi juvans pater, Cic. Nat. D. ii. 25.) was called by various names: SUMMUS, Virg. Æn. xi. 785. or SUPREMUS, Horat. od. i. 32. 13.; CAPITOLĪNUS, from his temple in the capitol; OPTIMUS, from his beneficence; and MAXIMUS, from his power, Cie. Dom. 57.; FERETRIUS, from Romulus carrying into the city in triumph the fpoils of Acron, king of the Cæninenses, whom he had flain in single combat, fufpended on a frame (feretro), Liv. i. 10.; ELICIUS, because they drew (elicie bant) Jupiter, as it were, from heaven, by a set form of words (certo carmine), to explain prodigies, Liv. i. 20. & 31.; Ovid. Faft. iii. 327.; STATOR, be cause he stopped (fiftebat) the flight of the Romans when engaged with the Sabines, upon the prayer of Romulus, Liv. i. 12. fee alfo x. 36.; LATIARIS, i. e. prefiding over or worshipped in Latium, Liv. xxi. 63. xxii. 1. rather perhaps because he was jointly worshipped on mount Albanus by the Romans and La

SISTERS of JUPITER.

THE fifters of Jupiter were, Juno, Vefta, and Ceres, Ovid. Faft. vi. 285.

1. JUNO, whom he married; whence fhe became the queen of the gods, (divum REGINA, Virg. Æn. i. 46.) She prefided over marriage and child-birth, Ib. iv. 166.; Terent. And. iii. 1. 15. (toris quæ præfidet alma maritis,) Ovid. ep. ii. 41.; alfo over the air, (AERIS ARBITRA, Macrob. Sat. i. 15.) hence put for the air, Id. in Somn. Scip. i. 17.; likewife for the earth, Virg. G. ii. 326.; and then Jupiter is put for the sky or air, (ÆTHER,) lb. as in these phrafes, fub Jove, fub Dio, under the air or open fky, Horat. od. i. 1. 25. ii. 3. 23. Juno is commonly represented in ancient statues, and on medals, in a long robe, covering her from head to foot, with an air of majesty, and large eyes, (BоWяIC TOτVIα Hpn, Homer.) wearing a crown fet round with rofes and lillies, holding a fceptre in her hand, and riding in a chariot drawn by peacocks, Ovid. Met. ii. 531. hence called volucres JUNONIA, Ovid. Medic. fac. 33.; Stat. Silv. ii. 4. 26. attended by the Aura or air nymphs, and IRIS, the daughter of Thaumas, (THAUMANTIS), Stat. Silv. iii. 3. 8. The diftinguishing character of Juno is that of a jealous and imperious wife, often upbraiding her husband; for which Jupiter, by his amours, gave her frequent cause, Ovid. Trift. ii. 292.; Met. vi. 103.

&c.

Juno was worshipped chiefly in the island Samos and at Carthage, Virg. Æn. i. 15. She was called Regina or Regia, Pronuba, Matrōna, and Lucina.

2. VESTA, the goddess of fire; who is fometimes confounded with Cybyle, the goddess of the earth; hence Vefta eadem eft, qua Terra; fubeft vigil ignis utrique, sc. Vefla et

tins, Cic. Mil. 31.; OLYMPIUS vel OLYMPICUS, worshipped at Olympia in Elis, where he had a celebrated temple and statue made by Phidias, Strab. viii. 353. & 354.; SALUTARIS ET HOSPITALIS, the guardian of the safety of men and of hofpitality, Cic. Fin. iii. 20.; MINIANUS, having his ftatue painted with vermilion (minio) on festival days, Cic. ep. ix. 16. as the faces of those who triumphed were, Plin. xxxiii. 7. S. 36.; TONANS vel FULMINANS, Horat. od. iii. 3. 6.; MALUS, angry, hurtful, Stat. Theb. x. 373.; Malus Jupiter, bad air, Horat. od. i. 22. 19.; puro numine Jupiter, a clear sky, as in a keen froft, Ib. iii. 10. 8.; Jovem lapidem jurare, fc. per Jovem et lapidem, to fwear by Jupiter, holding a flint in the right hand, Cic. Fam, vii. 1. & 12.; Liv. xxi. 45.; Gell.

Terre