Thaumaturgia Part 5

The animals sacrificed to Aesculapius were the goat; some say on account of his having been nursed by this animal; others because this creature is unhealthy, as labouring under a perpetual fever. The dog and the c.o.c.k were sacrificed to him, on account of their fidelity and vigilance; the raven was also devoted to him for its forecast, and being skilled in divination. Authors are not agreed as to his being the inventor of physic, some affirming he perfected that part only which relates to the regimen of the sick.

The origin of this fable is as follows:--the public sign or symbol exposed by the Egyptians in their a.s.semblies, to warn the people to mark the depth of the inundation of the Nile, in order to regulate their ploughing accordingly, was the figure of a man with a dog's head, carrying a pole with serpents twisted round it, to which they gave the name of Anubis,[35] Thaaut,[36] and Aesculapius.[37] In process of time, they made use of this representation for a real king, who by the study of physic, sought the preservation of his subjects. Thus the dog and the serpents became the characteristics of Aesculapius amongst the Romans and Greeks, who were entirely strangers to the original meaning of these hieroglyphics.

Aesculapius was represented as an old man, with a long beard, crowned with a branch of bay tree; in his hands was a staff full of knots, about which a serpent had twisted itself: at his feet stood an owl or a dog--characteristics of the qualities of a good physician, who must be as cunning as a serpent, as vigilant as a dog, as cunning and experienced as an old bashaw, to handle a thing so difficult as physic.

At Epidaurus his statue was of gold and ivory,[38] seated on a throne of the same materials, with a long beard, having a knotty stick in one hand, the other entwined with a serpent, and a dog lying at his feet.

The Phliasians depicted him as beardless, and the Romans crowned him with a laurel, to denote his descent from Apollo. The knots in his staff signify the difficulties that occur in the study of medicine. He had by his wife Epione two sons, Machaon and Podalirius, both skilled in surgery, and who are mentioned by Homer as having been present at the siege of Troy, and who were very serviceable to the Greeks. He had also two daughters, called Hygiaea and Jaso.

FOOTNOTES:

[32] Ovid, who relates the story of Coronis in his fanciful way, tells us that Corvus, or the raven, who discovered her armour, had by Apollo, his feathers changed from _black_ to _white_.

[33] From these tablets, or votive inscriptions, Hippocrates is said to have collected his aphorisms.

[34] The Romans who sent for Aesculapius from Epidaurus, when their city was troubled with the plague, say, that the serpent that was worshipped there for him followed the amba.s.sadors of its own accord to the ship that transported it to Rome, where it was placed in a temple built in the isle called Tiberina. In this temple the sick people were wont to lie, and when they found themselves no better, they reviled Aesculapius: so impatiently ungrateful and peevish were often the afflicted, that they made no scruple to reproach the very G.o.d who administered to their maladies.

[35] From Hann.o.beach, which, in the Phoenician language, signifies the _barker_, or _warner_, Anubis.

[36] This word signifies the dog.

[37] From _Aeish_, man, and _caleph_, dog, comes _Aescaleph_, the man-dog, or Aesculapius.

[38] This image was the work of Thrasymedes, the son of Arignotus, a native of Paros.

CHAPTER VII.

INFERIOR DEITIES ATTENDING MANKIND PROM THEIR BIRTH TO THEIR DECEASE.

It would be almost an endless task to enter into a detail of all the inferior deities of the Greeks and Romans; our object being to refer to such only as preside over the health of the human race, every part and parcel of whom had their presiding genius.--During pregnancy, the tutelar powers were the G.o.d Pelumnus,[39] and the G.o.ddesses Intercedonia,[40] and Deverra.[41] The import of these words seems to point out the necessity of warmth and cleanliness to ladies in this condition.

Besides the superior G.o.ddesses Jemo-Lucien, Diana Hythia, and Latona, who all presided at the birth, there were the G.o.ddesses Egeria,[42]

Prosa,[43] and Manageneta,[44] who with the Dii Nixii,[45] had all the care of women in labour.

To children, Ja.n.u.s performed the office of door-keeper or midwife; and in this quality was a.s.sisted by the G.o.ddess Opis or Ops;[46] c.u.ma rocked the cradle, while Carmenta sung their destiny; Levana lifted them up from the ground;[47] and Vegeta.n.u.s took care of them when they cried; Rumina[48] watched them while they suckled; Polina furnished them with drink; and Edura with food or nourishment; Osslago knit their bones; and Carna[49] strengthened their const.i.tutions. Nudina[50] was the G.o.ddess of children's purification; Stilinus or Stata.n.u.s instructed them to walk, and kept them from falling; Fabulina learnt them to prattle; the G.o.ddess Paventia preserved them from frights;[51] and Camaena taught them to sing.

Nor was the infant, when grown to riper years, left without his protectors; Juventas was the G.o.d of youth; Agenoria excited men to action; and the G.o.ddesses Stimula and Strenua inspired courage and vivacity; Horta[52] inspired the fame or love of glory; and Sentra gave them the sentiments of probity and justice; Quies was the G.o.ddesses of repose or ease,[53] and Indolena, or laziness, was deified by the name of Murcia;[54] Vacua protected the idle; Adeona and Abeona, secured people in going abroad and returning;[55] and Vibilia, if they wandered, was so kind as to put them in the right way; Fessonia refreshed the weary and fatigued; and Meditrina healed the sickly;[56] Vitula was the G.o.ddess of mirth and frolic;[57] Volupia the G.o.ddess who bestowed pleasure;[58]

Orbona was addressed, that parents might not love their offspring; Pellonia averted mischief and danger; and Numeria taught people to cast and keep accounts; Angerona cured the anguish or sorrow of the mind;[59]

Haeres Martia secured heirs the estates they expected; and Stata or Statua Mater, secured the forum or market place from fire; even the thieves had a protectress in Laverna;[60] Averruncus prevented sudden misfortunes; and Conius was always disposed to give good advice to such as wanted it; Volumnus inspired men with a disposition to do well; and Honorus raised them to preferment and honours.

Nor was the marriage state without its peculiar defenders. Five deities were esteemed so necessary, that no marriages were solemnized without asking their favours; these were Jupiter-Perfectus, or the Adult, Juno, Venus, Suadela,[61] and Diana. Jugatinus tied the nuptial knot; Domiducus ushered the bride home; Domitius took care to keep her there, and prevent her gadding abroad; Maturna preserved the conjugal union entire; Virginensis[62] loosed the bridle zone or girdle; Viriplaca was a propitious G.o.ddess, ready to reconcile the married couple in case of any accidental difference. Matuta was the patroness of matrons, no maid being suffered to enter her temple. The married was always held to be the only honourable state for woman, during the times of pagan antiquity. The G.o.ddess Vacuna,[63] is mentioned by Horace (Lib. 1. Epist.

X. 49.) as having her temple at Rome; the rustics celebrated her festival in December, after the harvest was got in (Ovid. Fast. Lib.

XI).

The ancients a.s.signed the particular parts of the body to particular deities; the head was sacred to Jupiter; the breast to Neptune; the waist to Mars; the forehead to Genius; the eye-brows to Juno, the eyes to Cupid; the ears to Memory; the right hand to Fides or Veritas; the back to Pluto; the knees to Misericordia or mercy; the legs to Mercury; the feet to Thetis; and the fingers to Minerva.[64]

The G.o.ddess who presided over funerals was Libitina,[65] whose temple at Rome, the undertakers furnished with all the necessaries for the interment of the poor or rich; all dead bodies were carried through the Porto Libitina; and the Rationes Libitinae mentioned by Suetonius, very nearly answer to our bills of mortality.

FOOTNOTES:

[39] Either from _pilum_, a pestle; or from _pello_, to drive away; because he procured a safe delivery.

[40] She taught the art of cutting wood with a hatchet to make fires.

[41] The inventress of brooms.

[42] From casting out the birth.

[43] Aulus Gellius.

[44] Aelian.

[45] From _erritor_, to struggle. See Ausonius, Idyll 12.

[46] Some make her the same with Rhea or Vesta.

[47] Among the Romans the midwife always laid the child on the ground, and the father or somebody appointed, lifted it up; hence the expression of _tollere liberos_, to educate children.

[48] This G.o.ddess had a temple at Rome, and her offerings were milk.

[49] On the Kalends of June, sacrifices were offered to Carna, of bacon and bean flour cakes; whence they were called Fabariae.

[50] Boys were named always on the ninth day after the birth, and girls on the eighth.

[51] From Pavorema vertendo.

[52] She had a temple at Home which always stood open.

[53] She had a temple without the walls.

[54] Murcia had her temple on Mount Aventine.

[55] From _abeo_, to go away; and _adeo_, to come.

[56] The festival of this G.o.ddess was in September, when the Romans drank new wine mixed with old, by way of physic.

[57] From _vitulo_, to leap or advance.

[58] From _voluptas_, pleasure.

[59] In a great murrain which destroyed their cattle, the Romans invoked this G.o.ddess, and she removed the plague.

[60] The image was a head without a body. Horace mentions her (Lib. 1.

Epist. XVI. 60). She had a temple without the walls, which gave the name to the Porta Lavernalis.