Chapter X: Part 10

[55] Eurydice, in Greek Εὐρυδίκη, comes from the Phœnician
words ראה (_rohe_), vision, clearness, evidence, and דך
(_dich_), that which demonstrates or teaches: these two
words are preceded by the Greek adverb εὖ, which expresses
all that is good, happy, and perfect in its kind.

[56] Plat., _In Phædon. Ibid._, _In Panegyr._ Aristot.,
_Rhet._, l. ii., c. 24. Isocr., _Paneg._ Cicero, _De Leg._,
l. ii. Plutar., _De Isid._ Paus., _In Phoc._, etc.

[57] Théodoret, _Therapeut._

[58] Philo, _De Vitâ Mosis_, l. i.

[59] Jamblic., _De Vitâ Pythag._, c. 2. Apul., _Florid._,
ii. Diog. Laërt., l. viii.

[60] _Voyage du jeune Anacharsis_, t. i., _Introd._, p. 7.

[61] Meurs., _De Relig. Athen._, l. i., c. 9.

[62] Apollon., l. iii., p. 237.

[63] Hygin., _Fabl._, 143.

[64] Pausan., _Arcad._, p. 266, 268, etc.

[65] Strabo, l. x; Meurs., _Eleus._, c. 21 _et seq._; Paus.,
_Ath._, c. 28; Fulgent., _Myth._, l. i.; Philostr., _In
Apollon._, l. ii.; Athen., l. xi.; Procl., _In Tim.
Comment._, l. v.

[66] Euseb., _Præp. Evang._, l. xiii., c. 12.

[67] The unity of God is taught in an Orphic hymn of
which Justin, Tatian, Clement of Alexandria, Cyril, and
Theodore have preserved fragments. (_Orphei Hymn. Edente
Eschenbach._, p. 242.)

[68] Clem. Alex., _Admon. ad Gent._, p. 48; _ibid._,
_Strom._, l. v., p. 607.

[69] Apoll., _Arg._, l. i., v. 496; Clem. Alex., _Strom._,
l. iv., p. 475.

[70] Thimothée, cité par Bannier, _Mythol._, i., p. 104.

[71] Macrobius, _Somm. Scip._, l. i., c. 12.

[72] Eurip., _Hippol._, v. 948.

[73] Plat., _De Leg._, l. vi.; Jambl., _De Vitâ Pythag._

[74] _Acad. des Insc._, t. v., p. 117.

[75] Procl., _In Tim._, l. v., p. 330; Cicero, _Somm.
Scip._, c. 2, 3, 4, 6.

[76] Montesquieu and Buffon have been the greatest
adversaries of poetry, they were very eloquent in prose; but
that does not prevent one from applying to them, as did
Voltaire, the words of Montaigne: “We cannot attain it, let
us avenge ourselves by slandering it.”

[77] Horat., _De Arte poét._; Strab., l. x.

[78] Origen, _Contr. Cels._, l. i., p. 12; Dacier, _Vie de
Pythagore_.

[79] Ἱερὸς λόγος.

[80] Θρονισμοὶ μητρῶοι.

[81] Fabric., _Bibl. græc._, p. 120, 129.

[82] Apollon, _Argon._, l. i., v. 496.

[83] Plutar., _De Placit. philos._, c. 13; Euseb., _Præp.
Evang._, l. xv., c. 30; Stobeus, _Eclog. phys._, 54. Proclus
quotes the verses of Orpheus on this subject, _In Tim._, l.
iv., p. 283. Voyez _La Biblioth. græc._ de Fabricius, p. 132.

[84] Fabric., _Bibliot. græc._, p. 4, 22, 26, 30, etc.;
_Voyag. d’Anach._, ch. 80.

[85] From the Greek word κύκλος: as one would say _circuit_,
the circular envelopment of a thing.

[86] Court de Gébelin, _Gén. allég._, p. 119.

[87] Casaubon, _In Athen._, p. 301; Fabric., _Bibl. græc._
l. i., c. 17; _Voyag. d’Anach._, ch. 80; Proclus, cité par
Court de Gébelin, _ibid._

[88] Arist., _De Poët._, c. 8, 16, 25, etc.

[89] It is needless for me to observe that the birthplace of
Homer has been the object of a host of discussions as much
among the ancients as among the moderns. My plan here is not
to put down again _en problème_, nor to examine anew the
things which have been a hundred times discussed and that I
have sufficiently examined. I have chosen, from the midst of
all the divergent opinions born of these discussions, that
which has appeared to me the most probable, which agrees
best with known facts, and which is connected better with
the analytical thread of my ideas. I advise my readers to do
the same. It is neither the birthplace of Homer nor the name
of his parents that is the important matter: it is his
genius that must be fathomed. Those who would, however,
satisfy their curiosity regarding these subjects foreign to
my researches, will find in _La Bibliothèque grecque de
Fabricius_, and in the book by Léon Allatius entitled _De
Patriâ Homeri_, enough material for all the systems they may
wish to build. They will find there twenty-six different
locations wherein they can, at their pleasure, place the
cradle of the poet. The seven most famous places indicated
in a Greek verse by Aulus Gellius are, Smyrna, Rhodes,
Colophon, Salamis, Chios, Argos, and Athens. The nineteen
indicated by divers authors, are Pylos, Chios, Cyprus,
Clazomenæ, Babylon, Cumæ, Egypt, Italy, Crete, Ithaca,
Mycenæ, Phrygia, Mæonia, Lucania, Lydia, Syria, Thessaly,
and finally Troy, and even Rome.

However, the tradition which I have followed, in considering
Homer as born not far from Smyrna, upon the borders of the
river Meles, is not only the most probable but the most
generally followed; it has in its favour Pindar; the first
anonymous Life of Homer; the Life of this poet by Proclus;
Cicero, in his oration for Archias; Eustathius in his
_Prolégoménes sur l’Iliade_; Aristotle, _Poétique_, l. iii.;
Aulus Gellius, Martial, and Suidas. It is known that Smyrna,
jealous of consecrating the glory that it attributed to
itself, of having given birth to Homer, erected to this
great genius a temple with quadrangular portico, and showed
for a long time, near the source of the Meles, a grotto,
where a contemporaneous tradition supposes that he had
composed his first works. Voyez _La Vie d’Homère_, par
Delille-de-Sales, p. 49, et les ouvrages qu’il cite: _Voyage
de Chandeler_, t. i., p. 162, et _Voyages pittoresques de
Choiseul-Gouffier_, p. 200.

[90] Hérod., l. v., 42; Thucyd., l. i., 12.

[91] _Marbres de Paros_, _Epoq._ 28; Hérod., l. i., 142,
145, 149; Plat., _De Leg._, l. v.; Strab., l. xiv.; Pausan.,
l. vii., 2; Ælian., _Var. Histor._, l. viii., c. 5;
Sainte-Croix, _De l’état des Colon, des anc. Peuples_, p.
65; Bourgainville, _Dissert. sur les Métrop. et les Colon._,
p. 18; Spanheim, _Præst._, num. p. 580.

[92] _Bible_, Chron. ii., ch. 12 _et suiv._

[93] _Ibid._, Chron. ii., ch. 32 et 36.

[94] Pausanias, _passim_.

[95] Strab., l. xiv.; Polyb., l. v.; Aulu-Gell., l. vii., c.
3; Meurs., _In Rhod._, l. i., c. 18 et 21; _Hist. univ. des
Anglais_, in-8ᵒ, t. ii., p. 493.

[96] Diod. Sicul., l. i., 2.

[97] In Phœnician מלך־אתע (_Melich-ærtz_), in Greek
Μελικέρτης: a name given to the Divinity whom the Thracians
called _Hercules_, the Lord of the Universe: from הרר or שרר
(_harr_ or _shar_), excellence, dominance, sovereignty; and
כל (_col._), All. Notice that the Teutonic roots are not
very different from the Phœnician: _Herr_ signifies lord,
and _alles_, all; so that _Herr-alles_ is, with the
exception of the guttural inflection which is effaced, the
same word as that of _Hercules_, used by the Thracians and
the Etruscans. The Greeks have made a transposition of
letters in Ἡρακλῆς (_Heracles_) so as to evade the guttural
harshness without entirely losing it.

[98] Goguet, _Origine des Lois et des Arts_, t. i., p. 359.

[99] _Voyez_ Epiphane, _Hæres_, xxvi., _et conférez avec_
Beausobre, _Hist. du Manich._, t. ii., p. 328.

[100] I have followed the tradition most analogous to the
development of my ideas; but I am aware that, upon this
point, as upon many others, I have only to choose. The
historic fact, in that which relates to the sacerdotal
archives which Homer consulted in composing his poems, is
everywhere the same _au fond_; but the accessory details
vary greatly according to the writers who relate them. For
example, one reads in a small fragment attributed to
Antipater of Sidon and preserved in Greece Anthology, that
Homer, born at Thebes in Egypt, drew his epic subjects from
the archives of the temple of Isis; from another source,
Ptolemy _Ephestion_, cited by Photius, that the Greek poet
had received from a priest of Memphis, named _Thamitès_, the
original writings of an inspired damsel, named _Phancy_.
Strabo, without mentioning any place in particular, said in
general, speaking of the long journeys of Homer, that this
poet went everywhere to consult the religious archives and
the oracles preserved in the temples; and Diodorus of Sicily
gives evidence sometimes that he borrowed many things from a
sibyl by the name of _Manto_, daughter of Tiresias; and
sometimes that he appropriated the verse of a pythoness of
Delphi, named Daphne. All these contradictory details prove,
in reality, the truth; for whether it be from Thebes,
Memphis, Tyre, Delphi, or elsewhere that Homer drew the
subject of his chants, matters not with the subject which
occupies me: the important point, serving as proof of my
assertions, is, that they have been, in fact, drawn from a
sanctuary; and what has determined me to choose Tyre rather
than Thebes or Memphis, is that Tyre was the first mother
city of Greece.

[101] I have said in the above that the name of _Helena_ or
_Selena_ was that of the moon in Greek. The root of this
word is alike Celtic and Phœnician. One finds it in Teutonic
_hell_, which signifies clear, luminous, and in Hebrew הלל
(_hêll_), which contains the same sense of splendour, glory,
and elevation. One still says in German _heilig_, holy, and
_selig_, blessed; also _selle_, soul, and _sellen_, souls.
And this is worthy of the closest attention, particularly
when one reflects that, following the doctrine of the
ancients, the moon _helenê_ or _selenê_ was regarded as the
reservoir of the souls of those who descend from heaven to
pass into bodies by means of generation, and, purged by the
fire of life, escape from earth to ascend to heaven. See,
concerning this doctrine, Plutarch (_De Facie in Orb.
Lun._), and confer with Beausobre (_Histoire du Manich._, t,
ii., p. 311). The name of _Paris_, in Greek Πάρις, comes
from the Phœnician words בר or פר (_bar_ or _phar_), all
generation, propagation, extension, and יש (_ish_), the
Being-principle.

The name of _Menelaus_, in Greek Μενέλαος, comes from the
Phœnician words מן (_men_), all that which determines,
regulates, or defines a thing, properly, the _rational
faculty_, the reason, the measure, in Latin _mens_,
_mensura_; and אוש (_aôsh_), the Being-principle acting,
before which is placed the prefix ל (_l_), to express the
genitive case, in this manner, מנה־ל־אוש (_meneh-l-aôsh_),
the rational faculty or regulator of the being in general,
and man in particular: for אש‏, ‏אוש‏,
‏אש‏, ‏איש (_ash_, _aôsh_, _ish_, _aîsh_),
signifies equally _fire_, _principle_, _being_, and _man_.
The etymology of these three words can, as one sees, throw
great light upon the fable of the _Iliad_. Here is another
remarkable point on this subject. Homer has never used, to
designate the Greeks, the name of _Hellenes_, that is to
say, the respondents, or the lunars: it was in his time
quite a new name, which the confederated Greeks had taken to
resist foreign attack; it is only in the _Odyssey_, and when
he is already old, that he employs the name _Hellas_ to
designate Greece. The name which he gives constantly to this
country, is that of Achaia (Ἀχαΐα), and he opposes it to
that of Troy (Τρωία): now, Achaia signifies the strong, the
igneous, the spiritual; and _Troy_, the terrestrial, the
gross. The Phœnician roots are הוי (_ehôi_), the exhaling
force of fire, and טרו (_trô_) the balancing power of the
earth. Refer, in this regard, to Court de Gébelin (_Mond.
prim._, t. vi., p. 64). Pomponius Sabinus, in his
_Commentaires sur l’Enéïde_, said that the name of the city
of Troy signified a sow, and he adds that the Trojans had
for an ensign a sow embroidered in gold.

As to the word _Ilion_, which was the sacred name of Troy,
it is very easy to recognize the name of the material
principle, called ὕλη (_ulè_) by the Greeks and _ylis_ by
the Egyptians. Iamblichus speaks of it at great length in
his _Book on the Mysteries_ (§ 7), as the principle from
which all has birth: this was also the opinion of Porphyry
(Euseb., _Præp. Evang._, l. ix., c. 9 and 11).

[102] Metrodorus of Lampsacus cited by Tatian (_Adver.
Gent._, § 37). Plato, _In Alcibiad._, ii., Cronius,
Porphyry, Phurnutus, Iamblichus, cited by Court de Gébelin,
_Génie allég._, p. 36, 43; Plato, _In Ion._; Cicero, _De
Natur. Deor._, l. ii.; Strabo, l. i.; Origen, _Contr. Cels._
Among the moderns can be counted Bacon, Blackwell, Basnage,
Bergier, and Court de Gébelin himself, who has given a list
of eighty writers who have this opinion.

[103] Dionys. Halic., _De Comp. verb._, t. v., c. 16, 26;
Quintil., l. x., c. 1; Longin., _De Sublim._, c. 13; Ælian.,
_Var. Hist._, l. viii., c. 2; Plat., _Alcibiad._, i.

[104] Plat., _In Vitâ Lycurg._

[105] Allat., _De Patr. Homer._, c. 5; Meurs., _In Pisist._,
c. 9 et 12; Plat., _In Hipparc._

[106] Senec., _Epist._, 117.

[107] _Ibidem_, 88.

[108] Dionys. Halic., _In Vitâ Homer._; Eustath., _In
Iliad_, l. i.

[109] Strabo, l. xiv., p. 646.

[110] Arist., _De Poët._, c. 2, cit. par Barth., _Voyag.
d’Anach._, t. vii., c. 80, p. 44.

[111] The word _Epopœia_ is taken from the Greek ἐπο-ποιός
which designates alike a poet and an epic poem. It is
derived from the Phœnician words אפא (_apho_) an impassioned
transport, a vortex, an impulse, an enthusiasm; and פאה
(_phohe_), a mouth, a discourse. One can observe that the
Latin word _versus_, which is applied also to a thing which
turns, which is borne along, and to a poetic verse,
translates exactly the Greek word ἔπος, whose root אוף
(_aôph_) expresses a _vortex_. The Hebrew אופן (_aôphon_)
signifies properly a _wheel_.

[112] See in the collection of Meibomius, Aristides,
Quintilianus, and _Les Mém. de l’Acad. des Belles-Lettres_,
t. v., p. 152.

[113] Voltaire, _Dict. philos._, art. RIME.

[114] Refer to what I have already said in last footnote p.
40.

[115] Fréret said that the verses of the poet Eumelus
engraven upon the arch of the Cypselidæ were thus
represented. Voyez sa _Dissert. sur l’Art de l’Equitation_.
Il cite Pausanias, l. v., p. 419.

[116] Court de Gébelin, _Mond. primit._, t. ix., p. 222.
Conférez avec Aristotle, _Poët._, p. 20, 21, 22.

[117] Plat., _Dial. Ion_.

[118] Plat., _ut suprà_.

[119] Ælian., _Var. Hist_., l. xiii., c. 14; Diog. Laërt.,
_In Solon._, l. i., § 57.

[120] Plat., _In Hipparc._; Pausan, l. vii., c. 26; Cicer.,
_De Orat._, l. iii.

[121] Eustath., _In Iliad._, l. i., p. 145; l. ii., p. 263.

[122] Dionys. Halic., _De Comp. verb._, t. v., c. 16 et 24;
Quintil., _Instit._, l. x., c. 1.

[123] Athen., l. xv., c. 8; Aristot., _De Poët._, c. 16;
Ælian., _Var. Hist._, c. 15.

[124] Barthel., _Voyag. d’Anarchar._, t. vii., ch. 80, p.
46, 52.

[125] It can be seen that I have placed in the word
Stesi[`c]horus, an _accent grave_ over the consonant _c_,
and it will be noticed that I have used it thus with respect
to many similar words. It is a habit I have contracted in
writing, so as to distinguish, in this manner, the double
consonant _ch_, in the foreign words, or in their
derivatives, when it should take the guttural inflexion, in
place of the hissing inflexion which we ordinarily give to
it. Thus I accent the _[`c]_ in _Chio_, _[`c]hœur_,
_[`c]horus_, _é[`c]ho_, _[`c]hlorose_, _[`c]hiragre_,
_[`c]hronique_, etc.; to indicate that these words should be
pronounced _Khio_, _khœur_, _khorus_, _ékho_, _khlorose_,
_khiragre_, _khronique_, with the aspirate sound of _k_, and
not with that of the hissing _c_, as in _Chypre_, _chaume_,
_échope_, _chaire_, etc. This accentuation has appeared to
me necessary, especially when one is obliged to transcribe
in modern characters many foreign words which, lacking
usage, one knows not, at first, how to pronounce. It is,
after all, a slight innovation in orthography, which I leave
to the decision of the grammarians. I only say that it will
be very difficult for them, without this accent, or any
other sign which might be used, to know how one should
pronounce with a different inflexion, _A[`c]haïe_ and
_Achéen_; _Achille_ and _A[`c]hilleïde; Achêron_ and
_a[`c]hérontique_; _Bac[`c]hus_ and _bachique_, etc.

[126] Vossius, _De Inst. poët._, l. iii., c. 15; Aristot.,
_Rhet._, l. ii., 23; Max. Tyr. _Orat._, viii., p. 86.

[127] Ælian., _Var. Hist._, l. xiii., c. 14, Court de
Gébelin, _Mond. prim._, t. viii., p. 202.

[128] Plat., _In Theæt._; _ibid._, _De Republ._, l. x.;
Arist., _De Poët._, c. 4, etc.

[129] The name of Homeridæ, given at first to all the
disciples of Homer, was afterwards usurped by certain
inhabitants of Chios who called themselves his descendants
(Strab., l. xiv.; Isocr., _Hellen. encom._). Also I should
state here that the name of Homer, Ὅμηρος, was never of
Greek origin and has not signified, as has been said,
_blind_. The initial letter O is not a negation, but an
article added to the Phœnician word מרא (_mœra_), which
signifies, properly speaking, a centre of light, and
figuratively, a master, a doctor.

[130] The surname Eumolpidæ, given to the hierophants,
successors of Orpheus, comes from the word Εὔμολπος, by
which is designated the style of poetry of this divine man.
It signifies _the perfect voice_. It is derived from the
Phœnician words מלא (_mola_), perfected, and פאה (_phoh_),
mouth, voice, discourse. The adverb ἔυ, which precedes it,
expresses whatever is beautiful, holy, perfect.

[131] Fabric., _Bibl. Græc._, p. 36, 105, 240, 469,
_passim_; Arist., _Probl._, xix., 28; Meurs., _Bibl. Græc._,
c. i.

[132] Arist., _De Poët._, c. 8.

[133] Porphyre, _In Vitâ Pythagor._, p. 21; Clem. Alex., l.
vi., p. 658; Plato, _De Leg._, l. iii.; Plutar., _De
Music._, p. 1141; Poll., l. iv., c. 9.

[134] I have placed the epoch of Orpheus, which coincides
with that of the arrival of the Egyptian colony conducted
into Greece by Cecrops, at 1582 B.C., according to the
marbles of Paros.

[135] Schol. Aristoph., _In Nub._, v. 295.

[136] Athen., l. ii., c. 3.

[137] Voyez _L’Hist. du Théâtre Français_ de Fontenelle.
Voici les titres des premières pièces représentées dans le
cours du XIVᵉ siècle: _L’Assomption de la glorieuse Vierge
Marie_, mystère à 38 personnages; _Le Mystère de la Sainte
Hostie_, à 26 personn.; _Le Mystère de Monseigneur S. Pierre
et S. Paul_, à 100 personn.; _Les Mystères de la Conception
de la Passion, de la Résurrection de Notre Seigneur J. C._;
etc.

[138] See _Asiatic Researches_, v. iii., p. 427-431, and
465-467. Also _Grammar of the Bengal Language_, preface, p. v.

[139] See _Interesting Historical Events_, by Holwell, ch. 7.

[140] Aristot., _Probl._, 15, c. 19; Pausan., l. i., c. 7.

[141] See _Asiatic Researches_, vol. vi., p. 300-308.

[142] Rama is, in Sanskrit, the name of that which is
dazzling, elevated, white, sublime, protective, beautiful,
excellent. This word has exactly the same sense in the
Phœnician רמ (_ram_). Its primitive root, which is
universalized by the _hémantique_ letter מ (_m_), is רא
(_ra_), which has reference to the harmonic movement of
good, of light, and of sight. The name of the adversary of
Rama, _Rawhan_, is formed from the root רע (_rawh_) which
expresses, on the contrary, the disordered movement of evil
and of fire, and which, becoming united with the
augmentative syllable ון (_ôn_), depicts whatever ravages
and ruins; this is the signification which it has in
Sanskrit.

[143] From the word רמא (_rama_) is formed in Phœnician the
word דרמא (_drama_) by the adjunction of the demonstrative
article ד (_d’_); that is to say, a thing which comes from
Rama: an action well ordered, beautiful, sublime, etc.
Notice that the Greek verb δραεῖν, _to act_, whence is drawn
very inappropriately the word δρᾶμα, is always attached to
the same root רא (_ra_) which is that of harmonic movement.

[144] Athen., l. ii., c. 3; Arist., _De Poët._, c. 3, 4, 5.

[145] _Tragedy_, in Greek τραγῳδία, comes from the words
τραχίς, austere, severe, lofty, and ὠδή chant.

_Comedy_, in Greek κωμῳδία, is derived from the words κῶμος,
joyful, lascivious, and ὠδή, chant.

It is unnecessary for me to say that the etymologists who
have seen in _tragedy_ a song of the goat, because τράγος
signifies a goat in Greek, have misunderstood the simplest
laws of etymology. Τράγος signifies a goat only by metaphor,
because of the roughness and heights which this animal loves
to climb; as _caper_, in Latin, holds to the same root as
_caput_; and _chèvre_, in French, to the same root as
_chef_, for a similar reason.

[146] Diog. Laërt., l. i., § 59.

[147] Plutar. _In Solon_.

[148] Arist., _De Mor._, l. iii., c. 2; Ælian., _Var.
Hist._, l. v., c. 19; Clem. Alex., _Strom._, l. ii., c. 14.

[149] Plato, _De Legib._,l. iii.

[150] Athen., l. viii., c. 8.

[151] Plutar., _De Music_.

[152] Horat., _De Art. poët_, v. 279; Vitrav., _In Prefac._,
l. vii., p. 124.

[153] Æschylus, _In Prometh._, Act I., Sc. 1, et Act. V.,
Sc. ult.

[154] Æschylus, _In Eumenid._, Act V., Sc. 3.

[155] Aristoph. _In Plut._, v. 423; Pausan., l. i., c. 28;
_Vitâ Æschyl. apud._, Stanley, p. 702.

[156] Dionys. Chrys., _Orat._, l. ii.

[157] Aristoph., _In Ran._; Philostr., _In Vitâ Apollon_, l.
vi., c. ii.

[158] Plutar., _In Cimon._; Athen., l. viii., c. 8.

[159] Philostr., _In Vitâ Apoll._, l. vi., c. ii.

[160] Schol., _In Vitâ Sophocl._; Suidas, _In_ Σοφοκλ.;
Plutar., _De Profect. Vitæ_.

[161] Aristot., _De Poët._, c. 25.

[162] Aristoph., _In Ran._, v. 874 et 1075.

[163] Philostr., _Vitâ Apoll._, l. ii., c. 2; l. iv., c. 16;
l. vi., c. 11; _Vitâ Æschyl. apud_, Robort., p. 11.

[164] Aristoph., _In Ran._; Aristot., _De Poët._, c. 25.

[165] Plato, _De Legib._, l. ii. et iii.

[166] Hérodot., l. vi., 21; Corsin., _Fast. attic._, t.
iii., p. 172; Aristot., _De Poët._, c. 9.

[167] Aristot., _De Poët._, c. 9.

[168] Susarion appeared 580 B.C., and Thespis some years
after. The latter produced his tragedy of Alcestis in 536
B.C.; and the condemnation of Socrates occurred in 399 B.C.
So that only 181 years elapsed between the initial
presentation of comedy and the death of this philosopher.

[169] Aristot., _De Poët._, c. 3.

[170] Aristoph, _In Pac._, v. 740; Schol., _ibid._;
Epicharm., _In Nupt. Heb._ apud Athen., l. iii., p. 85.

[171] Plat., _In Argum._; Aristoph. p. xi.; Schol., _De
Comœd._; _ibid._, p.xii.

[172] Thence arises the epithet of _Eumolpique_ that I give
to the verses which form the subject of this work.

[173] The proof that Rome was scarcely known in Greece, at
the epoch of Alexander, is that the historian Theopompus,
accused by all critics of too much prolixity, has said only
a single word concerning this city, to announce that she had
been taken by the Gauls (Pliny, l. iii., c. 5). Bayle
observes with much sagacity, that however little Rome had
been known at that time, she would not have failed to
furnish the subject of a long digression for this historian,
who would have delighted much in it. (_Dict. crit._, art.
THEOPOMPUS, rem. E.)

[174] Diogen. Laërt., l. i., § 116. Pliny, l. v., c. 29.
Suidas, _In_ Φερεκύδης.

[175] Degerando, _Hist. des Systêm. de Phil._, t. i., p.
128, à la note.

[176] Dionys. Halic., _De Thucid. Judic._

[177] The real founder of the Atomic system such as has been
adopted by Lucretius (_De Rerum Natura_, l. i.), was
Moschus, Phœnician philosopher whose works threw light upon
those of Leucippus (Posidonius cité par Strabon, l. xvi.,
Sext. Empiric., _Adv. mathem._, p. 367). This system well
understood, does not differ from that of the monads, of
which Leibnitz was the inventor.

[178] Fréret, _Mytholog. ou Religion des Grecs_.

[179] Voltaire, who has adopted this error, has founded it
upon the signification of the word _Epos_, which he has
connected with that of Discourse (_Dictionn. philos._ au mot
EPOPÉE). But he is mistaken. The Greek word ἔπος is
translated accurately by _versus_. Thence the verb επεῖν, to
follow in the tracks, to turn, to go, in the same sense.

[180] The Greeks looked upon the Latin authors and artists
as paupers enriched by their spoils; also they learned their
language only when forced to do so. The most celebrated
writers by whom Rome was glorified, were rarely cited by
them. Longinus, who took an example of the sublime in Moses,
did not seek a single one either in Horace or in Vergil; he
did not even mention their names. It was the same with other
critics. Plutarch spoke of Cicero as a statesman; he quoted
many of his clever sayings, but he refrained from comparing
him with Demosthenes as an orator. He excuses himself on
account of having so little knowledge of the Latin tongue,
he who had lived so long in Rome! Emperor Julian, who has
written only in Greek, cites only Greek authors and not one
Latin.

[181] _Voyez_ l’ouvrage de Naudé, intitulé: _Apologie des
hommes accusés de magie_. Le nombre de ces hommes est
très-considérable.

[182] Allard, _Bibl. du Dauphiné_, à la fin.

[183] Duplessis-Mornai, _Mystère d’iniquité_, p. 279.

[184] This Ballad tongue, or rather Romance, was a mixture
of corrupt Latin, Teutonic, and ancient Gallic. It was
called thus, in order to distinguish it from the pure Latin
and French. The principal dialects of the Romance tongue
were the _langue d’oc_, spoken in the south of France, and
the _longue d’oïl_, spoken in the north. It is from the
_langue d’oïl_ that the French descend. The _langue d’oc_,
prevailing with the troubadours who cultivated it,
disappeared with them in the fourteenth century and was lost
in numberless obscure provincial dialects. Voyez _Le
Troubadour_, poésies occitaniques, à la Dissert., vol. i.

[185] Fontenelle, _Hist. du Théâtre Français_.

[186] Voyez Sainte-Palaye, _Mém. sur l’ancienne Cheval._;
Millot, _Hist. des Troubad._ Disc. prélim., on ce que j’ai
dit moi-même dans le _Troubadour_, comme ci-dessus.

[187] It is necessary to observe that _vau_ or _val_, _bau_
or _bal_, according to the dialect, signifies equally a
dance, a ball, and a folly, a fool. The Phœnician, root רע
(_whal_) expresses all that is elevated, exalted. The French
words _bal_, _vol_, _fol_, are here derived.

[188] The sonnets are of Oscan origin. The word _son_
signifies a song in the ancient _langue d’oc_. The word
_sonnet_ is applied to a little song, pleasing and of an
affected form.

The madrigals are of Spanish origin as their name
sufficiently proves. The word _gala_ signifies in Spanish a
kind of favour, an honour rendered, a gallantry, a present.
Thus _Madrid-gala_ arises from a gallantry in the Madrid
fashion.

The sylves, called _sirves_ or _sirventes_ by the
troubadours, were kinds of serious poems, ordinarily
satirical. These words come from the Latin _sylva_ which,
according to Quintilius, is said of a piece of verse recited
_ex-tempore_ (l. x., c. 3).

[189] _Voyez_ Laborde, _Essai sur la Musique_, t. i., p.
112, et t. ii., p. 168. On trouve, de la page 149 à la page
232 de ce même volume, un catalogue de tous les anciens
romanciers français. On peut voir, pour les Italiens,
Crescembini, _Della Volgar Poësia_.

[190] See Laborde. It is believed that this Guilhaume,
bishop of Paris, is the author of the hieroglyphic figures
which adorn the portal of Notre-Dame, and that they have
some connection with the hermetic science. (_Biblioth. des
Phil. Chim._, t. iv. Saint-Foix, Essai _sur Paris_.)

[191] Perhaps one is astonished to see that I give the name
of _sirventes_, or sylves, to that which is commonly called
the poems of Dante; but in order to understand me, it is
necessary to consider that these poems, composed of stanzas
of three verses joined in couplets, are properly only long
songs on a serious subject, which agrees with the _sirvente_.
The poems of Bojardo, of Ariosto, of Tasso, are, as to form,
only long ballads. They are poems because of the unity
which, notwithstanding the innumerable episodes with which
they are filled, constitutes the principal subject.

[192] Pasquier, _Hist. et Recherch. des Antiq._, l. vii.,
ch. 12. Henri-Etienne, _Précellence du Lang. Franç._, p. 12.
D’Olivet, _Prosod._, art. i., § 2. Delisle-de-Salles, _Hist.
de la Trag._, t. i., p. 154, à la note.

[193] D’Olivet, _Prosod._, art. V., § 1.

[194] _Ibidem._

[195] William Jones, _Asiatic Researches_, vol. i.

[196] _Ibid._, vol. i., p. 425.

[197] William Jones, _Asiatic Researches_, vol. i., p. 430.

[198] Wilkin’s _Notes on the Hitopadesa_, p. 249. Halled’s
_Grammar_, in the preface. The same, _Code of the Gentoo-Laws_.
_Asiat. Research._, vol. i., p. 423.

[199] _Asiat. Research._, vol. i., p. 346. Also in same
work, vol. i., p. 430.

[200] W. Jones has put into English a Natak entitled
_Sakuntala_ or _The Fatal Ring_, of which the French
translation has been made by Brugnières. Paris, 1803, chez
Treuttel et Würtz.

[201] See _Asiat. Research._, vol. iii., p. 42, 47, 86, 185,
etc.

[202] _Asiat. Research._, vol. i., p. 279, 357 et 360.

[203] _Institut. of Hindus-Laws._ W. Jones, _Works_, t.
iii., p. 51. _Asiat. Research._, vol. ii., p. 368.

[204] _Hist. génér. de la Chine_, t. i., p. 19. _Mém.
concern. les Chinois_, t. i., p. 9, 104, 160. _Chou-King._
Ch. _Yu-Kong_, etc., Duhalde, t. i., p. 266. _Mém.
concern._, etc., t. xiii., p. 190.

[205] The _She-King_, which contains the most ancient poetry
of the Chinese, is only a collection of odes and songs, of
sylves, upon different historical and moral subjects. (_Mém.
concer. les Chinois_, t. i., p. 51, et t. ii., p. 80.)
Besides, the Chinese had known rhyme for more than four
thousand years. (_Ibid._, t. viii., p. 133-185.).

[206] Le P. Parennin says that the language of the Manchus
has an enormous quantity of words which express, in the most
concise and most picturesque manner, what ordinary languages
can do only by aid of numerous epithets or periphrases.
(Duhalde, _in-fol._, t. iv., p. 65.)

[207] _Ci-dessus_, p. 31.

[208] _Voyez_ la traduction française des _Rech. asiatiq._,
t. ii., p. 49, notes _a_ et _b_.

[209] _Voyez_ ce que dit de Zend, Anquetil Duperron,
et l’exemple qu’il donne de cette ancienne langue.
_Zend-Avesta_, t. i.

[210] D’Herbelot, _Bibl. orient._, p. 54. _Asiat.
Research._, t. ii., p. 51.

[211] Anquetil Duperron, _Zend-Avesta_, t. i.

[212] _Asiat. Research._, t. ii., p. 51.

[213] L’abbé Massieu, _Histor. de la Poésie franç._, p. 82.

[214] In Arabic ديوان (_diwan_). ןאויד

[215] D’Herbelot, _Bibl. orient._, au mot DIVAN. _Asiat.
Research._, t. ii., p. 13.

[216] It must be remarked that the word _Diw_, which is also
Persian, was alike applied in Persia to the Divine
Intelligence, before Zoroaster had changed the signification
of it by the establishment of a new doctrine, which,
replacing the _Diws_ by the _Iseds_, deprived them of the
dominion of Heaven, and represented them as demons of the
earth. See Anquetil Duperron, _Vendidad-Sadè_, p. 133,
_Boun-Dehesh._, p. 355. It is thus that Christianity has
changed the sense of the Greek word Δαίμων (Demon), and
rendered it synonymous with the devil; whereas it signified
in its principle, divine spirit and genius.

[217] _Asiat. Research._, t. ii., p. 13.

[218] _Voyez_ Anquetil Duperron, _Zend-Avesta_, t. iii., p.
527 et suiv. _Voyez_ aussi un ouvrage allemand de Wahl, sur
l’état de la Perse: _Pragmatische-Geografische und Statische
Schilderung_ … etc. Leipzig, 1795, t. i., p. 198 à 204.

[219] Voyez plusieurs de leurs chansons rapportées par
Laborde, _Essai sur la Musique_, t. ii., p. 398.

[220] Laborde, _ibid._, t. i., p. 425.

[221] I will give, later on, a strophe from _Voluspa_, a
Scandinavian ode of _eumolpique_ style, very beautiful, and
of which I will, perhaps, one day make an entire
translation.

[222] It was said long ago that a great number of rhymed
verses were found in the Bible, and Voltaire even has cited
a ridiculous example in his _Dictionnaire philosophique_
(art. RIME): but it seems to me that before concerning
oneself so much as one still does, whether the Hebraic text
of the _Sepher_ is in prose or in verse, whether or not one
finds there rhymed verses after the manner of the Arabs, or
measured after the manner of the Greeks, it would be well to
observe whether one understands this text. The language of
Moses has been lost entirely for more than two thousand four
hundred years, and unless it be restored with an aptitude,
force, and constancy which is nowadays unusual, I doubt
whether it will be known exactly what the legislator of the
Hebrews has said regarding the principles of the Universe,
the origin of the earth, and the birth and vicissitudes of
the beings who people it. These subjects are, however, worth
the pains if one would reflect upon them; I cannot prevent
myself from thinking that it would be more fitting to be
occupied with the meaning of the words, than their
arrangements by long and short syllables, by regular or
alternate rhymes, which is of no importance whatever.

[223] Vossius, _De Poematum cantu et viribus rhythmi_; cité
par J. J. Rousseau, _Dictionnaire de Musique_, art. RYTHME.

[224] Nearly all of the Italian words terminate with one of
four vowels, _a_, _e_, _i_, _o_, without accent: it is very
rare that the vowels are accentuated, as the vowel _ù_. When
this occurs as in _cità_, _perchè_, _dì_, _farò_, etc.,
then, only, is the final masculine. Now here is what one of
their best rhythmic poets, named Tolomèo, gives as an
hexameter verse:

_Questa, per affeto, tenerissima lettera mando
A te_ …

To make this line exact, one feels that the word _mando_,
which terminates it, should be composed of two longs, that
is to say, that it should be written _mandò_, which could
not be without altering the sense entirely. Marchetti has
translated into blank verse the Latin poem of Lucretius. I
will quote the opening lines. Here is evident the softness
to which I take exception and which prevents them from being
really eumolpique, according to the sense that I have
attached to this word.

_Alma figlia di Giove, inclita madre
Del gran germe d’Enea, Venere bella,
Degli uomini piacere e degli Dei:
Tu, che sotto il volubili e lucenti
Segni del cielo, il mar profundo, e tutta
D’animai d’ogni specie orni la terra:_
... etc.

[225] One must not believe that the mute _e_ with which many
English words terminate represents the French feminine
final, expressed by the same vowel. This mute _e_ is in
reality mute in English; ordinarily it is only used to give
a more open sound to the vowel which precedes it, as in
_tale_, _scene_, _bone_, _pure_, _fire_. Besides it is never
taken into account, either in the measure or in the prosody
of the lines. Thus these two lines of Dryden rhyme exactly:

“Now scarce the Trojan fleet with sails and oars
Had left behind the fair Sicilian shores.…”
_Æneid_, b. i., v. 50.

It is the same in these of Addison:

“Tune ev’ry string and ev’ry tongue,
Be thou the Muse and subject of our song.…”
_St. Cecilia’s Day_, i., 10.

or these from Goldsmith:

“How often have I loiter’d o’er thy green,
Where humble happiness endeared each scene.”
_The Deserted Village_, i., 7.

[226] There remains to us of this poetry the very precious
fragments contained in the _Edda_ and in _Voluspa_. The
_Edda_, whose name signifies great-grandmother, is a
collection, fairly ample, of Scandinavian traditions.
_Voluspa_ is a sort of Sibylline book, or cosmogonic oracle,
as its name indicates. I am convinced that if the poets of
the north, the Danes, Swedes, and Germans, had oftener drawn
their subjects from these indigenous sources, they would
have succeeded better than by going to Greece to seek them
upon the summits of Parnassus. The mythology of Odin,
descended from the Rhipæan mountains, suits them better than
that of the Greeks, whose tongue furthermore is not
conformable here. When one makes the moon and the wife (_der
Mond_, _das Weib_) of masculine and neuter gender; when one
makes the sun, the air, time, love (_die Sonne_, _die Luft_,
_die Zeit_, _die Liebe_) of feminine gender, one ought
wisely to renounce the allegories of Parnassus. It was on
account of the sex given to the sun and the moon that the
schism arose, of which I have spoken, in explaining the
origin of the temple of Delphi.

The Scandinavian allegories, however, that I consider a
_débris_ of Thracian allegories, furnishing subjects of a
very different character from those of the Greeks and
Latins, might have varied the poetry of Europe and prevented
the Arabesque fiction from holding there so much ascendancy.
The Scandinavian verses, being without rhyme, hold moreover,
to eumolpœia. The following is a strophe from _Voluspa_:

“Avant que le temps fût, Ymir avait été;
Ni la mer, ni nes vents n’existaient pas encore;
Il n’était de terre, il n’était point de ciel:
Tout n’était qu’un abîme immense, sans verdure.”

“In the beginning, when naught was, there
Was neither sand nor sea nor the cold waves,
Nor was earth to be seen nor heaven above.
There was a Yawning Chasm [chaos] but grass nowhere.…”

_Ár vas aida pat-es ekki vas;
vasa sandr né sær né svalar unnir,
iœr[x]o fansk æva né upp-himinn;
Gap vas Ginnunga, enn gras ekki,_ …

Voyez Mallet, _Monuments celtiques_, p. 135; et pour le
texte, le poëme même de la Voluspa, _in Edda islandorum_,
Mallet paraît avoir suivi un texte erroné.

As to the Gallic poetry of the Scotch bards, that Macpherson
has made known to us under the name of _Ossian_, much is
needed that they may have a sufficient degree of
authenticity for them to be cited as models, and placed
parallel with those of Homer, as has been done without
reflection. These poems, although resting for the greater
part upon a true basis, are very far from being veritable as
to form. The Scotch bards, like the Oscan troubadours, must
be restored and often entirely remade, if they are to be
read. Macpherson, in composing his _Ossian_, has followed
certain ancient traditions, has put together certain
scattered fragments; but has taken great liberties with all
the rest. He was, besides, a man endowed with creative
genius and he might have been able to attain to epopœia if
he had been better informed. His lack of knowledge has left
a void in his work which demonstrates its falsity. There
is no mythology, no allegory, no cult in _Ossian_. There
are some historic or romanesque facts joined to long
descriptions; it is a style more emphatic than figurative,
more bizarre than original. Macpherson, in neglecting all
kinds of mythological and religious ideas, in even mocking
here and there the _stone of power_ of the Scandinavians,
has shown that he was ignorant of two important things: the
one, that the allegorical or religious genius constitutes
the essence of poetry; the other, that Scotland was at a
very ancient period the hearth of this same genius whose
interpreters were the druids, bards, and scalds. He should
have known that, far from being without religion, the
Caledonians possessed in the heart of their mountains, the
Gallic Parnassus, the sacred mountain of the Occidental
isles; and that when the antique cult began to decline in
Gaul, it was in Albion, reckoned among the holy isles by
even the Indians, that the druids went to study. Voyez
_Les Commentaires de César_, iv., 20; _L’Introduction de
l’histoire de Danemark_, par Mallet; _L’Histoire des
Celtes_, par Pelloutier; et enfin les _Recherches
asiatiques_ (_Asiat. Research._), t. vi., p. 490 et 502.

In order to seize the occasion of applying eumolpique lines
to a greater number of subjects, I am going to quote a sort
of exposition of Ossian, the only one I believe, which is
found in his poems; because Macpherson, for more originality,
neglected nearly always to announce the subject of his
songs. I will not give the text, because the English
translation whence I obtained it does not give it. It
concerns the battle of Lora. After a kind of exordium
addressed to the son of the stranger, dweller of the silent
cavern, Ossian said to him:

Le chant plaît-il à ton oreille?
Ecoute le récit du combat de Lora.
Il est bien ancien, ce combat! Le tumulte
Des armes, et les cris furieux des guerriers,
Sont couverts par un long silence;
Ils sont éteints depuis longtemps:
Ainsi sur des rochers retentissants, la foudre
Roule, gronde, éclate et n’est plus;
Le soleil reparaît, et la cime brillante
Des coteaux verdoyants, sourit à ses rayons.

Son of the secret cell! dost thou delight in songs?
Hear the battle of Lora.
The sound of its steel is long since past.
So thunder on the darkened hill roars, and is no more.
The sun returns with his silent beams,
The glittering rocks, and green heads of the mountains
smile.

This example serves to prove that eumolpique lines might
easily adapt themselves to the dithyramb.

[227] The tragedy of the _Cid_, given by Pierre Corneille in
1626, upon which were based the grandeur and dominant
character of the Théâtre Français, as well as the renown of
the author, is taken from a Spanish ballad very celebrated
in Spain. The Cid, who is the hero of it, lived towards the
close of the eleventh century. He was a type of the paladins
and knights errant of the romanesque traditions. He enjoyed
a wide reputation and attained a high degree of fortune.
_Voyez_ Monte-Mayor, _Diana_, l. ii.; et Voltaire, _Essai
sur les Mœurs_, t. iii., stéréotype, p. 86.

In the course of the sixteenth century, the Spanish held a
marked superiority over the other peoples: their tongue was
spoken at Paris, Vienna, Milan, Turin. Their customs, their
manners of thought and of writing, subjugated the minds of
the Italians, and from Charles V. to the commencement of the
reign of Philip III., Spain enjoyed an importance that the
other peoples never had. _Voyez_ Robertson, _Introduction à
l’Histoire de Charles-Quint_.

It would be necessary to overstep considerably the ordinary
limits of a footnote, if I should explain how it happens
that Spain has lost this supremacy acquired by her, and why
her tongue, the only one capable of rivalling and perhaps
effacing the French, has yielded to it in all ways, and by
which it was eclipsed. This explanation would demand for
itself alone a very lengthy work. Among the writers who have
sought for the cause of the decadence of the Spanish
monarchy, some have believed to discover it in the increase
of its wealth, others, in the too great extent of its
colonies, and the greater part, in the spirit of its
government and its superstitious cult. They have all thought
that the tribunal of the Inquisition alone was capable of
arresting the impulse of genius and of stifling the
development of learning. In this they have taken effects for
causes, and consequences for principles. They have not seen
that the spirit of the government and the cult is always not
the motive, but the result of the national spirit, and that
the wealth and the colonies, indifferent in themselves, are
only instruments that this spirit employs for good or evil,
according to its character. I can only indicate the first
cause which has prevented Spain from reaching the
culminating point which France is very near to attaining.
This cause is pride. Whilst Europe, enveloped in darkness,
was, so to speak, in the fermentation of ignorance, Spain,
conquered by the Arabs, received a germ of science which,
developing with rapidity, produced a precocious fruit,
brilliant, but like hot-house fruit lacking internal force
and generative vigour. This premature production having
raised Spain abruptly above the other European nations,
inspired in her that pride, that excessive _amour propre_,
which, making her treat with contempt all that did not
belong to her, hindered her from making any change in her
usual customs, carried her with complacency in her mistakes,
and when other peoples came to bring forth fruits in their
season, corrupted hers and stamped her with a stationary
movement, which becoming necessarily retrogressive, must
ruin her, and did ruin her.

[228] In comparing the first lines of Homer with those of
Klopstock, it is seen that the Greek contains 29 letters, 18
of which are vowels; and the German 48 letters, 31 of which
are consonants. It is difficult with such disparity in the
elements to make the harmony the same.

[229] GOLDEN VERSES OF THE PYTHAGOREANS (1)

PREPARATION

Render to the Immortal Gods the consecrated cult;
Guard then thy faith (2): Revere the memory
Of the Illustrious Heroes, of Spirits demi-Gods (3).

[230] PURIFICATION

Be a good son, just brother, spouse tender and good
father (4)
Choose for thy friend, the friend of virtue;
Yield to his gentle counsels, profit by his life,
And for a trifling grievance never leave him (5);
If thou canst at least: for a most rigid law
Binds Power to Necessity (6).
Still it is given thee to fight and overcome
Thy foolish passions: learn thou to subdue them (7).
Be sober, diligent, and chaste; avoid all wrath.
In public or in secret ne’er permit thou
Any evil; and above all else respect thyself (8).

Speak not nor act before thou hast reflected.
Be just (9). Remember that a power invincible
Ordains to die (10); that riches and the honours
Easily acquired, are easy thus to lose (11).
As to the evils which Destiny involves,
Judge them what they are: endure them all and strive,
As much as thou art able, to modify the traits:
The Gods, to the most cruel, have not exposed the Sage (12).

Even as Truth, does Error have its lovers:
With prudence the Philosopher approves or blames;
If Error triumph, he departs and waits (13).
Listen and in thine heart engrave my words;
Keep closed thine eye and ear ’gainst prejudice;
Of others the example fear; think always for thyself (14):
Consult, deliberate, and freely choose (15).
Let fools act aimlessly and without cause.
Thou shouldst, in the present, contemplate the future (16).

That which thou dost not know, pretend not that thou dost.
Instruct thyself: for time and patience favour all (17).
Neglect not thy health (18): dispense with moderation,
Food to the body and to the mind repose (19).
Too much attention or too little shun; for envy
Thus, to either excess is alike attached (20).
Luxury and avarice have similar results.
One must choose in all things a mean just and good (21).

[231] PERFECTION

Let not sleep e’er close thy tired eyes
Without thou ask thyself: What have I omitted and what done? (22).
Abstain thou if ’tis evil; persevere if good (23).
Meditate upon my counsels; love them; follow them;
To the divine virtues will they know how to lead thee (24).
I swear it by the one who in our hearts engraved
The sacred Tetrad, symbol immense and pure,
Source of Nature and model of the Gods (25).
But before all, thy soul to its faithful duty,
Invoke these Gods with fervour, they whose aid,
Thy work begun, alone can terminate (26).
Instructed by them, naught shall then deceive thee:
Of diverse beings thou shalt sound the essence;
And thou shalt know the principle and end of All (27).
If Heaven wills it, thou shalt know that Nature,
Alike in everything, is the same in every place (28):
So that, as to thy true rights enlightened,
Thine heart shall no more feed on vain desires (29).
Thou shalt see that the evils which devour men
Are of their choice the fruit (30); that these unfortunates
Seek afar the goodness whose source within they bear (31).
For few know happiness: playthings of the passions,
Hither, thither tossed by adverse waves,
Upon a shoreless sea, they blinded roll,
Unable to resist or to the tempest yield (32).

God! Thou couldst save them by opening their eyes (33).
But no: ’tis for the humans of a race divine
To discern Error and to see the Truth (34).
Nature serves them (35). Thou who fathomed it,
O wise and happy man, rest in its haven.
But observe my laws, abstaining from the things
Which thy soul must fear, distinguishing them well;
Letting intelligence o’er thy body reign (36);
So that, ascending into radiant Ether,
Midst the Immortals, thou shalt be thyself a God.

[232] Hiérocl., _Comment. in Aur. Carmin. Proem._

[233] Fabric., _Bibl. græc._, p. 460; Dacier, _Remarq. sur
les Comm. d’Hiéroclès_.

[234] Jamblic., _De Vitâ Pythag._, c. 30 et 33; Plutarch,
_De Gen. Socrat._

[235] Plutarch, _De Repug. stoïc._; Diog. Laërt., l. viii.,
§ 39; Polyb., l. ii.; Justin., l. xx., c. 4; Vossius, _De
Phil. sect._, c. 6.

[236] Hiérocl., _Aur. Carm._, v. 71.

[237] _Voyez_ Dacier, _Rem. sur le Comment. d’Hiérocl._

[238] Plut., _De Gen. Socr._; Ælian., _Var. Hist._, l. ii.,
c. 7.

[239] Bacon, _Novum Organum, Aph._, 65 et 71.

[240] _Asiat. Res._, t. iii., p. 371 à 374.

[241] _Mém. concern. les Chin._, t. ii., p. 26.

[242] _Eulma Esclam. Note du Boun-Dehesh_, p. 344.

[243] Porphyr., _De Antr. Nymph._, p. 126.

[244] Αὐτὸν δ’ οὐχ ὁράω περὶ γὰρ νέφος ἐστήρικται. _Voyez_
Dacier, dans ses _Remarques sur les Comment. d’Hiérocl._

[245] _Vitâ Pythagor._; Phot., _Cod._, 259; Macrob., _Somn.
Scip._, l. i., c. 6, l. ii., c. 12; August., _De Civit.
Dei_, l. iv., c. 9 et 11; Euseb., _Præp. Evang._, l. iii.,
c. 9; Lactant., _De Fals. Relig._, l. i., c. 6 et 7; Plot.,
_Ennead._, iii., l. ii.

[246] Plutar., _De Isid. et Osirid._, p. 377.

[247] The priests of the Burmans, called _Rahans_, but whose
generic name is that of _Sramana_, whence came to them that
of Sramaneras, which the ancients gave them, carry the
spirit of tolerance as far as possible. They visit with the
same devotion pagodas, mosques, and churches; never does one
see them being persecuted, nor persecuting others in the
cause of religion. The Brahmans, Mussulmans, and Christians
occupy important posts among them without their being
scandalized. They regard all men as brothers. (_Asiat._
_Research._, t. vi., pp. 274-279). The Brahmans are of the
same mind. One reads these wonderful words in the _Bhaghavad
Gita_: “A great diversity of cults, similar as to substance
but varying in forms, are manifested by the will of the
Supreme Being. Some follow one cult, others attach
themselves to another: all of these worshippers are purified
from their offences by their particular cult.… God is the
gift of charity, God is the offering, God is the fire upon
the altar; it is God even, who makes the sacrifice, and God
will be obtained by him who makes God the sole object of his
labours.” (_Lect._ iv.)

[248] Hiérocl., _Aur. Carm._, v. 1.

[249] The Greek word κόσμος expresses a thing put in order,
arranged according to a fixed and regular principle. Its
primitive root is in the Phœnician אוש (_aôsh_) a principle
Being, _the fire_. The Latin word _mundus_ renders the Greek
sense very imperfectly. It signifies exactly, that which is
made neat and clean by means of water. Its nearest root is
_unda_, and its remotest root is found in the Phœnician אוד
(_aôd_), an emanation, a vapour, a source. One can see,
according to this etymology, that the Greeks drew the idea
of order and beauty from fire, and the Latins from water.

[250] Diogen. Laërt., l. viii., § 25; Plutar., _De Decret.
philos._, ii., c. 6; Sext. Empir., _Adv. Math._, x., § 249;
Stob., _Eccl. phys._, p. 468.

[251] Plutar., _In Numa_.

[252] Jambl., _Vitâ Pythag._, c. 28, 32 et 35.

[253] Εν, δύο. The symbol of Fo-Hi, so celebrated among the
Chinese, is the same and is expressed by a whole line ―― 1,
and a broken line - - 2. I shall make myself better
understood upon this subject, in speaking as I intend to do
upon music and upon what the ancients understood by the
language of Numbers.

[254] _Vitâ Pythag._; Phot., _Bibl. Codex_, 259.

[255] _Vie de Pythag._ par Dacier.

[256] Hiérocl., _Aurea Carmin._, v. 1.

[257] Ci-devant, p. 81.

[258] Timée de Locres, ch. 3; _Edit. de Batteux_, § 8; Diod.
Sicul., l. ii., p. 83; Herod., l. ii., c. 4; Hyde, _De vet.
Pers. Relig._, c. 19; Plato, _In Tim._, _In Phæd._, _In
Legib._, etc.

[259] Bailly, _Hist. de l’Astr. anc._, l. iii., § 10.

[260] Pythagoras, at an early age, was taken to Tyre by
Mnesarchus, his father, in order to study there the doctrine
of the Phœnicians; later he visited Egypt, Arabia, and
Babylon, in which last city he remained twelve years. It was
while there that he had frequent conferences concerning the
principle of things with a very learned magian whom Porphyry
names Zabratos; Plutarch, Zaratas; and Theodoret, Zaradas.
(Porphyr., _Vitâ Pythag._) Plutarch is inclined to believe
that this magian is the same as Zardusht, or Zoroaster, and
the chronology is not here entirely contrary. (Plutar., _De
Procreat. anim._; Hyde, _De Relig. vet. Pers._, c. 24, o.
309 et c. 31, p. 379.)

[261] _Asiat. Research._, t. vi., p. 174.

[262] Holwell’s, _Histor. Interest. Events_, ch. iv., § 5.

[263] Beausobre, _Hist. du Manich._, t. i., p. 164.

[264] Macrob., _Somn. Scip._, l. i., c. 11.

[265] Böhme, _Les Six Points_, ch. 2.

[266] The word קבל signifies, in Hebrew, Arabic, and
Chaldean, that which is anterior, that which one receives
from the ancients by tradition.

[267] _Aurea Carm._, v. 48.

[268] Synes, _Hymn._, iii., v. 174; _Hymn._, iv., v. 68.

[269] Beausobre, _Hist. du Manich._, t. i., p. 572.

[270] The word _Eon_, in Greek Αἰών, is derived from the
Egyptian or Phœnician אי (_aï_), a principle of will, a
central point of development, and יון (_ion_), the
generative faculty. This last word has signified, in a
restricted sense, a dove, and has been the symbol of Venus.
It is the famous _Yoni_ of the Indians and even the _Yn_ of
the Chinese: that is to say, the plastic nature of the
Universe. From there, the name of _Ionia_, given to Greece.

[271] Herm. Trismég., c. 11.

[272] Plutar. cité par le père Petau. _Notes in Synes_, p. 42.

[273] Clem. Alex., _Eclog. Theod._, § 30.

[274] _Hist. du Manich._, t. i., p. 572.