Roman Antiquities, and Ancient Mythology Part 14

SILENUS. As Bacchus was the G.o.d of good humor and fellowship, so none of the deities appeared with a more numerous or splendid retinue, in which Silenus was the princ.i.p.al person; of whose descent, however, we have no accounts to be relied on. Some say he was born at Malea, a city of Sparta; others at Nysa in Arabia; but the most probable conjecture is, that he was a prince of Caria, noted for his equity and wisdom. But whatever be the fate of these different accounts, Silenus is said to have been preceptor to Bacchus, and was certainly a very suitable one for such a deity, the old man being heartily attached to wine. He however distinguished himself greatly in the war with the giants, by appearing in the conflict on an a.s.s, whose braying threw them into confusion; for which reason, or because, when Bacchus engaged the Indians, their elephants were put to flight by the braying of the a.s.s, it was raised to the skies, and there made a constellation.

The historian tells us that Silenus was the first of all the kings that reigned at Nysa; that his origin is not known, it being beyond the memory of mortals: it is likewise said that he was a Phrygian, who lived in the reign of Midas, and that the shepherds having caught him, by putting wine into the fountain he used to drink of, brought him to Midas, who gave him his long ears; a fable intended to intimate that this extraordinary loan signified the faculty of receiving universal intelligence. Virgil makes Silenus deliver a very serious and excellent discourse concerning the creation of the world, when he was scarcely recovered from a fit of drunkenness, which renders it probable that the sort of drunkenness with which Silenus is charged, had something in it mysterious, and approaching to inspiration.

He is described as a short, corpulent old man, bald-headed, with a flat nose, prominent forehead and long ears. He is usually exhibited as over-laden with wine, and seated on a saddled a.s.s, upon which he supports himself with a long staff in the one hand, and in the other carries a _cantharus_ or jug, with the handle almost worn out with frequent use.

SYLVa.n.u.s. The descent of Sylva.n.u.s is extremely obscure. Some think him son of Faunus, some say he was the same with Faunus, whilst others suppose him the same deity with Pan, which opinion Pliny seems to adopt when he says that the aegipans were the same with the Sylvans. He was unknown to the Greeks; but the Latins received the worship of him from the Pelasgi, upon their migration into Italy, and his worship seems wholly to have arisen out of the ancient sacred use of woods and groves, it being introduced to inculcate a belief that there was no place without the presence of a deity. The Pelasgi consecrated groves, and appointed solemn festivals, in honor of Sylva.n.u.s. The hog and milk were the offerings tendered him. A monument consecrated to this deity, by one Laches, gives him the epithet of Littoralis, whence it would seem that he was worshipped upon the sea-coasts.

The priests of Sylva.n.u.s const.i.tuted one of the princ.i.p.al colleges of Rome, and were in great reputation, a sufficient evidence of the fame of his worship. Many writers confound the Sylvani, Fauni, Satyri, and Sileni, with Pan.

Some monuments represent him as little of stature, with the face of a man, and the legs and feet of a goat, holding a branch of cypress in his hand, in token of his regard for Cyparissus, who was transformed into that tree. The pineapple, a pruning-knife in his hand, a crown coa.r.s.ely made, and a dog, are the ordinary attributes of the representations of this rural deity. He appears sometimes naked, sometimes covered with a rustic garb which reaches down to his knee.

Sylva.n.u.s, as his name imports, presided over woods, and the fruits that grew in them; agreeable to which, (in some figures) he has a lap full of fruit, his pruning-hook in one hand, and a young cypress tree in the other. Virgil mentions the latter as a distinguishing attribute of this G.o.d: the same poet, on another occasion, describes him as crowned with wild flowers, and mentions his presiding over the cornfields as well as the woods.

SATYRI, _or_ SATYRS, a sort of demi-G.o.ds, who with the Fauns and Sylvans, presided over groves and forests under the direction of Pan.

They made part of the _dramatis personae_ in the ancient Greek tragedies, which gave rise to the species of poetry called satirical.

There is a story that Euphemus, pa.s.sing from Caria to the extreme parts of the ocean, discovered many desert islands, and being forced by tempestuous weather to land upon one of them, called Satyrida, he found inhabitants covered with yellow hair, having tails not much less than horses. We are likewise told, that in the expedition which Hanno the Carthaginian made to the parts of Lybia lying beyond Hercules' pillars, they came to a great bay called the Western Horn, in which was an island where they could find or see nothing by day-light but woods, and yet in the night they observed many fires, and heard an incredible and astonishing noise of drums and trumpets; whence they concluded that a number of Satyrs abode there.

It is pretended there really were such monsters as the pagans deified under the name of Satyrs; and one of them, it is said, was brought to Sylla, having been surprised in his sleep. Sylla ordered him to be interrogated by people of different countries, to know what language he spoke; but the Satyr only answered with cries, not unlike those of goats and the neighing of horses. This monster had a human body, but the thighs, legs, and feet of a goat. To the above stories may be added that of the Satyr who pa.s.sed the Rubicon in presence of Caesar and his whole army.

The Satyrs of the ancients were the ministers and attendants of Bacchus.

Their form was not the most inviting; for though their countenances were human, they had horns on their foreheads, crooked hands, rough and hairy bodies, feet and legs like a goat's, and tails which resembled those of horses. The shepherds sacrificed to them the firstlings of their flocks, but more especially grapes and apples; and they addressed to them songs in their forests by which they endeavored to conciliate their favor.

When Satyrs arrived at an advanced age they were called Sileni.

FAUNI, _or_ FAUNS, a species of demi-G.o.ds, inhabiting the forests, called also _Sylvani_. They were sons of Faunus and Fauna, or Fatua, king and queen of the Latins, and though accounted demi-G.o.ds, were supposed to die after a long life. Arn.o.bius, indeed, has shown that their father, or chief, lived only one hundred and twenty years. The Fauns were Roman deities, unknown to the Greeks. The Roman Faunus was the same with the Greek Pan; and as in the poets we find frequent mention of _Fauns_, and _Pans_, or _Panes_, in the plural number, most probable the Fauns were the same with the Pans, and all descended from one progenitor.

The Romans called them _Fauni_ and _Ficarii_. The denomination _Ficarii_ was not derived from the Latin _ficus_ a _fig_, as some have imagined, but from _ficus_, _fici_, a sort of fleshy tumor or excrescence growing on the eyelids and other parts of the body, which the Fauns were represented as having. They were called Fauni, _a fando_, from _speaking_, because they were wont to speak and converse with men; an instance of which is given in the voice that was heard from the wood, in the battle between the Romans and Etrurians for the restoration of the Tarquins, and which encouraged the Romans to fight. We are told that the Fauni were husbandmen, the Satyrs vine-dressers, and the Sylvani those who cut down wood in the forests.

They were represented with horns on their heads, pointed ears, and crowned with branches of the pine, which was a tree sacred to them, whilst their lower extremities resembled those of a goat.

Horace makes Faunus the guardian and protector of men of wit, and Virgil, a G.o.d of oracles and predictions; but this is, perhaps, founded on the etymology of his name, for f??e?? in Greek, and _Fari_ in Latin, of which it has been supposed a derivative, signify to _speak_; and it was, perhaps, for the same reason, they called his wife _Fauna_, that is, _Fatidica_, _prophetess_. Faunus is described by Ovid with horns on his head, and crowned with the pine tree.

PRIAPUS is said, by some, to have been the son of Bacchus and Nais, or as others will have it, of Chione; but the generality of authors agree, that he was son of Bacchus and Venus. He was born at Lampsachus, a city of Mysia, at the mouth of the h.e.l.lespont, but in so deformed a state, that his mother, through shame, abandoned him. On his growing up to maturity, the inhabitants of the place banished him their territories, on account of his vicious habits; but being soon after visited with an epidemic disease, the Lampsacans consulted the oracle of Dodona, and Priapus was in consequence recalled. Temples were erected to him as the tutelar deity of vineyards and gardens, to defend them from thieves and from birds.

He is usually represented naked and obscene, with a stern countenance, matted hair, crowned with garden herbs, and holding a wooden sword, or scythe, whilst his body terminates in a shapeless trunk. His figures are generally erected in gardens and orchards to serve as scarecrows.

Priapus held a pruning-hook in his hands, when he had hands, for he was sometimes nothing more than a mere log of wood, as Martial somewhat humorously calls him. Indeed the Roman poets in general seem to have looked on him as a ridiculous G.o.d, and are all ready enough either to despise or abuse him.

Trimalchio, in his ridiculous feasts described by Petronius, had a figure of this G.o.d to be held up during his dessert: it was made of paste, and, as Horace observes on another occasion, that he owed all his divinity to the carpenter, Petronius seems to hint that he was wholly obliged for it to the pastry cook in this. Some mythologists make the birth of Priapus allude to that radical moisture which supports all vegetable productions, and which is produced by Bacchus and Venus, that is, the solar heat, and the fluid whence Venus is said to have sprung.

Some affirm that he was the same with the Baal of the Phnicians, mentioned in scripture.

ARISTaeUS, son of Apollo, by the nymph Cyrene, daughter of Hypseus, king of the Lapithae, was born in Lybia, and in that part of it where the city Cyrene was built. He received his education from the nymphs, who taught him to extract oil from olives, and to make honey, cheese, and b.u.t.ter; all which arts he communicated to mankind. Going to Thebes, he there married Autonoe, daughter of Cadmus, and, by her, was father to Actaeon, who was torn in pieces by his own dogs. At length he pa.s.sed into Thrace, where Bacchus initiated him into the mysteries of the Orgia, and taught him many things conducive to the happiness of life. Having dwelt some time near Mount Hemus, he disappeared, and not only the barbarous people of that country, but the Greeks likewise decreed him divine honors.

It is remarked by Bayle, that Aristaeus found out the solst.i.tial rising of Sirius, or the dog-star; and he adds, it is certain that this star had a particular relation to Aristaeus; for this reason, when the heats of the dog-star laid waste the Cyclades, and occasioned there a pestilence, Aristaeus was entreated to put a stop to it. He went directly into the isle of Cea, and built an altar to Jupiter, offered sacrifices to that deity, as well to the malignant star, and established an anniversary for it. These produced a very good effect, for it was from thence that the Etesian winds had their origin, which continue forty days, and temper the heat of the summer. On his death, for the services he had rendered mankind, he was placed among the stars, and is the Aquarius of the Zodiac.

TERMINUS was a very ancient deity among the Romans, whose worship was first inst.i.tuted by Numa Pompilius, he having erected in his honor on the Tarpeian hill a temple which was open at the top. This deity was thought to preside over the stones or land-marks, called Termini, which were so highly venerated, that it was sacrilege to move them, and the criminal becoming devoted to the G.o.ds, it was lawful for any man to kill him. The Roman Termini were square stones or posts, much resembling our mile-stones, erected to show that no force or violence should be used in settling mutual boundaries; they were sometimes crowned with a human head, but had seldom any inscriptions; one, however, is mentioned to this effect, "Whosoever shall take away this, or shall order it to be taken away, may he die the last of his family."

VERTUMNUS, the Proteus of the Roman ritual, was the G.o.d of tradesmen, and, from the power he had of a.s.suming any shape, was believed to preside over the thoughts of mankind. His courtship of Pomona makes one of the most elegant and entertaining stories in Ovid. The Romans esteemed him the G.o.d of tradesmen, from the turns and changes which traffic effects. There was no G.o.d had a greater variety of representations than Vertumnus. He is painted with a garland of flowers on his head, a pruning hook in one hand, and ripe fruits in the other.

Pomona has a pruning hook in her right hand, and a branch in her left.

Pliny introduces this G.o.ddess personally, even in his prose, to make her speak in praise of the fruits committed to her care. We learn from Ovid that this G.o.ddess was of that cla.s.s which they anciently called Hamadryads.

Both these deities were unknown to the Greeks, and only honored by the Romans. Some imagine Vertumnus an emblem of the year, which, though it a.s.sume different dresses according to the different seasons, is at no time so luxuriant as in autumn, when the harvest is crowned, and the fruits appear in their full perfection and l.u.s.tre; but historians say that Vertumnus was an ancient king of the Tuscans, who first taught his people the method of planting orchards, gardens, and vineyards, and the manner of cultivating, pruning, and grafting fruit-trees; whence he is reported to have married Pomona. Some think he was called Vertumnus, from turning the lake Curtus into the Tiber.

CHAPTER VI.

_G.o.ddesses of the Woods._

Diana, daughter of Jupiter and Latona, and sister of Apollo, was born in the island of Delos. She had a threefold divinity, being styled Diana on earth, Luna, or the moon, in heaven, and Hecate, or Proserpine, in h.e.l.l.

The poets say she had three heads, one of a horse, another of a woman, and the third of a dog. Hesiod makes Diana, Luna, and Hecate, three distinguished G.o.ddesses.

Of all the various characters of this G.o.ddess, there is no one more known than that of her presiding over woods, and delighting in hunting.

The Diana Venatrix, or G.o.ddess of the chase, is frequently represented as running on, with her vest flying back with the wind, notwithstanding its being shortened, and girt about her for expedition. She is tall of stature, and her face, though so very handsome, is something manly. Her feet are sometimes bare, and sometimes adorned with a sort of buskin, which was worn by the huntresses of old. She often has a quiver on her shoulder, and sometimes holds a javelin, but more usually her bow, in her right hand. It is thus she makes her appearance in several of her statues, and it is thus the Roman poets describe her, particularly in the epithets they give this G.o.ddess, in the use of which they are so happy that they often bring the idea of whole figures of her into your mind by a single word. The statues of this Diana were very frequent in woods: she was represented there in all the different ways they could think of; sometimes as hunting, sometimes as bathing, and sometimes as resting herself after her fatigue. The height of Diana's stature is frequently marked out in the poets, and that, generally, by comparing her with her nymphs.

Another great character of Diana is that under which she is represented as the intelligence which presides over the planet of the moon; in which she is depicted in her car as directing that planet. Her figure under this character is frequently enough to be met with on gems and medals, which generally exhibit her with a lunar crown, or crescent on her forehead, and sometimes as drawn by stags, sometimes by does, but, more commonly than either, by horses. The poets speak of her chariot and her horses; they agree with the artists in giving her but two, and show, that the painters of old generally drew them of a perfect white color.

A third remarkable way of representing Diana was with three bodies; this is very common among the ancient figures of the G.o.ddess, and it is hence the poets call her the triple, the three-headed, and the three-bodied Diana. Her distinguishing name under this triple appearance is Hecate, or Trivia; a G.o.ddess frequently invoked in enchantments, and fit for such black operations; for this is the infernal Diana, and as such is represented with the characteristics of a fury, rather than as one of the twelve great celestial deities: all her hands hold instruments of terror, and generally grasp either cords, or swords, or serpents, or fire-brands.

There are various conjectures concerning the name _Hecate_, which is supposed to come from a Greek word signifying an _hundred_, either because an hundred victims at a time used to be offered to her, or else because by her edicts the ghosts of those who die without burial, wander an hundred years upon the banks of the Styx. Mythologists say that Hecate is the _order_ and _force_ of the Fates, who obtained from the divine power that influence which they have over human bodies; that the operation of the Fates are hidden, but descend by the means and interposition of the stars, wherefore it is necessary that all inferior things submit to the cares, calamities, and death which the Fates bring upon them, without any possibility of resisting the divine will.

Hesiod relates of Hecate, to show the extent of her power, that Jupiter had heaped gifts and honors upon her far above all the other deities; that she was empress of the earth and sea, and all things which are comprehended in the compa.s.s of the heavens; that she was a G.o.ddess easy to be entreated, kind, and always ready to do good, bountiful of gold and riches, which are wholly in her power; that whatever springs from seed, whether in heaven, or on earth, is subject to her, and that she governs the fates of all things.

PALES was a rural G.o.ddess of the Romans. She was properly the divinity of shepherds, and the tutelar deity and protectress of their flocks. Her votaries had usually wooden images of her. A feast called Palilia or Parilia was celebrated on the twenty-first of April, or, according to some, in May, in the open fields. The offerings were milk and cakes of millet, in order to engage her to defend their flocks from wild beasts and infectious diseases. As part of the ceremony, they burned heaps of straw, and leaped over them. Some make Pales the same with Vesta or Cybele. This G.o.ddess is represented as an old woman.

FLORA, the G.o.ddess of flowers, was a Roman deity. The ancients made her the wife of Zephyrus, to intimate that Flora, or the natural heat of the plant, must concur with the influence of the warmest wind for the production of flowers. Varro reckons Flora among the ancient deities of the Sabines, which were received into Rome on the union of the Sabines with the Romans. Ovid says, that her Greek name was Chloris, and that the Latins changed it into Flora.

FERONIA was the G.o.ddess of woods and orchards. She is called Feronia from the verb _fero, to bring forth_, because she _produced_ and _propagated_ trees, or from _Feronici_, a town situated near the foot of Mount Soracte, in Italy, where was a wood, and a temple dedicated to her; which town and wood are mentioned by Virgil, in his catalogue of the forces of Turnus. The Lacedemonians first introduced her worship into Italy under Evander; for these people, being offended at the rigor of the laws of Lycurgus, resolved to seek out some new plantation, and arriving, after a long and dangerous voyage, in Italy, they, to show their grat.i.tude for their preservation, built a temple to Feronia, so called from their _bearing patiently_ all the fatigues and dangers they had encountered in their voyage. This edifice casually taking fire, the people ran to remove and preserve the image of the G.o.ddess, when on a sudden the fire became extinguished, and the grove a.s.sumed a native and flourishing verdure.

Horace mentions the homage that was paid to this deity, by washing the face and hands, according to custom, in the sacred fountain which flowed near her temple. Slaves received the cap of liberty at her shrine, on which account they regarded her as their patroness. How Feronia was descended, where born, or how educated, is not transmitted to us; but she is said to have been wife to Jupiter Anxur, so called, because he was worshipped in that place.

[Ill.u.s.tration:

NEPTUNE RISING FROM THE SEA

HE SITS SUPERIOR & THE CHARIOT FLIES.

Pope's Homer's Iliad. B. 13. L. 41 Pl. 7.]

NYMPHae, _the_ NYMPHS, were certain inferior G.o.ddesses, inhabiting the mountains, woods, valleys, rivers, seas, &c. said to be daughters of Ocea.n.u.s and Tethys. According to ancient mythology, the whole universe was full of these nymphs, who are distinguished into several ranks and cla.s.ses, though the general division of them is into celestial and terrestrial. I. The Celestial Nymphs, called _Uraniae_, were supposed to govern the heavenly bodies or spheres. II. The Terrestrial Nymphs, called _Epigeiae_, presided over the several parts of the inferior world; these were again subdivided into those of the water, and those of the earth.

The Nymphs of the water were ranged under several cla.s.ses: 1. The Oceanides, or Nymphs of the ocean. 2. The Nereids, daughters of Nereus and Doris. 3. The Naiads, Nymphs of the fountains. 4. The Ephydriades, also Nymphs of the fountains; and 5. The Limniades, Nymphs of the lakes.

The Nymphs of the earth were likewise divided into different cla.s.ses; as, 1. The Oreades, or Nymphs of the mountains. 2. The Napaeae, Nymphs of the meadows; and 3. The Dryads and Hamadryads, Nymphs of the woods and forests. Besides these, there were Nymphs who took their names from particular countries, rivers, &c. as the Dardanides, Tiberides, Ismenides, &c.

Pausanias reports it as the opinion of the ancient poets that the Nymphs were not altogether free from death, or immortal, but that their years wore in a manner innumerable; that prophecies were inspired by the Nymphs, as well as the other deities; and that they had foretold the destruction of several cities: they were likewise esteemed as the authors of divination.

Meursius is of opinion, that the Greeks borrowed their notion of these divinities from the Phnicians, for _nympha_, in their language, signifying _soul_, the Greeks imagined that the souls of the ancient inhabitants of Greece had become Nymphs; particularly that the souls of those who had inhabited the woods were called Dryads; those who inhabited the mountains, Oreades; those who dwelt on the sea-coasts, Nereids; and, lastly, those who had their place of abode near rivers or fountains, Naiads. Though goats were sometimes sacrificed to the Nymphs, yet their stated offerings were milk, oil, honey and wine. They were represented as young and beautiful virgins, and dressed in conformity to the character ascribed to them.