folar deity, and the intimate connection, which fubfifts between the apparently different goddeffes of heathen mythology. The rites of the Cabiri are in fact a fymbolical hiftory of the union of the arkite and folar fuperftitions; and hence we fhall not be furprized to fee the Dove, the Ark, the Ocean, and the divine Wifdom, worshipped in conjunction with the bright luminaries of hea ven. In confequence of the Ilienfian Mysteries being thus early imported into Italy, we shall find, in the account of the ancient kings of Latium, feveral Trojan, or, to speak more properly, Phenician names. Thus Afcanius, the fon of Enèas, is As-Chan, the priest of fire; and his other appellation, Ilus, is the very fame as that by which the Phenicians defignated their god Cronus d. In a fimilar manner, the mother of Romulus and Remus, the fabulous concubine of Mars or M'Ares, the great Sun, is indifferently denominated Ilia, and Rhea Sylvia; and one of their ancef At puer Afcanius, cui nunc cognomen Iulo Æneid. lib. i. ver. 271. d Eufeb. Præp. Evan. lib. i. cap. 10. tors tors bears the title of Atys, which was also the name both of Bacchus, and of a king of Lydia, whose fon Tyrfenus led the first colony into Etruria. Thus alfo Acca Larentia, the , nurse of Romulus, feems to have derived the first of her names from Ac, the Ocean, and the fecond from El-Aran, the divine Ark; while the Palatium, which was fortified by that prince, was probably fo called from Palas, the father-in-law of Dardanus, as Palas himself received his appellation from P'Al-As, the god of fire. What Livy fays upon this subject is much to the fame purpose: he deduces the word Palatium from Pallantèus, a city of Arcadia; and mentions the rites, which were there instituted in honour of the Lycèan Pan by Evander's colony of Arcadians h. The introduction of the Cabiric rites into Italy will likewife account for the tradition, which brings the arkite Hercules into that country, and reprefents him as the guest of Evander '. To this circumftance a clafs of priests, inftituted by Numa, and denominated Argèan, f Liv. Hift. lib. i. cap. 5. Sabinus Maffurius in primo Memorialium fecutus quofdam hiftoriæ fcriptores Accam Larentiam Romuli nutricem fuiffe dicit. Aul. Gell. Noct. Att. lib. vi. cap. 7. h Liv. Hift. lib. i. cap. 5. i Ibid. cap. 7. owed m owed their origin *, being fo called, according to Varro, from the chieftains, who accompanied the Argive Hercules, and fettled in Saturnia. The Argèan plain at Rome alfo, as we learn from Fabius Pictor, received its appellation from the Argive Hercules TM; who is faid by Pfeudo-Berofus to have been the fon of Ofiris, and to have been furnamed Arnus, Lubarnus, or Mufarnus". All these titles relate to the arkite worship. Arnus is Arn-Nus, the arkite Noah; Mufarnus is MusArn-Nus, the diluvian arkite Noah; and Lubarnus is Lubar- Nus, the Noah of the Armenian bill Lubar. Epiphanius accordingly mentions, that in the high tract of country in Armenia, called the Gordyèan hills, where, as we learn from Jofephus, the Ark rested, one mountain in articular, loftier than the reft, bore in his days the name of Lubar, which, in the Armenian language, fignifies the defcending place. It is poffible alfo, that the preceding obfer Subfidens feptem collibus, campus Argeus dictus eft ab Argo Evandri hofpite, et comitibus Argivi Herculis, qui ad Evandrum venerunt, et in Saturnia fubfederunt. Hinc extrema Argileta dicuntur. Fab. Pictor. de aureo fæculo. Fol. 130. n Berof. Ant. lib. v. fol. 74. • Epiph. adv. Hær. lib. i.-Jofeph. Ant. Jud. lib. i. p. 12. vations, vations, may Stabat in egregiis Arcentis filius armis, The fon of Arcens fhone amid the rest, Dryden. Of the hiftory of these Pi Macrobius gives us the following particulars. The nymph Thalia, having conceived by Jupiter near the Sicilian river Symetus, befought the earth to open, in order that the might escape the vengeance of Juno. Her prayer was anfwered, and fhe brought forth her offspring beneath the furface of the ground; who, afterwards emerging to open day, acquired the VOL. I. Æneid. lib. ix. ver. 582. E e name name of Palici". Near this place were certain lakes of an immenfe depth, which the inhabitants highly venerated, efteeming them the brethren of the Palici. The water contained in them was ftrongly impregnated with fulphur; and if any person swore by them, his oath was deemed peculiarly obligatory, infomuch that they constituted a kind of ordeal for the purpose of deciding differences 3. Macrobius adds, that, according to Polemo, the Palici were reckoned autochthones, or aborigines; and he obferves, that Efchylus the Sicilian particularly notices their paffing from darkness into light: Hefychius however main 4 Απο το παλιν ιεσθαι. Antigonus Caryftius mentions, that there was a small building near the Palician lake, in which if any person lay down, he immediately died; but if he remained in an upright pofture, he experienced no inconvenience. The Exeλias ev ПαΤης Σικελίας ληκίοις οικοδομηθηναι τοπον· εἰς ὃν ὅτις αν εισέλθη, ει μεν κατακλιθείη, αποθνήσκει" ει δε περίπατοιῇ, εδεν πασχει. Antig. Carytt. de Hift. Mir. cap. 133. This place was evidently of the same nature with the famous grotto del cane; in both cafes, the fulphureous vapour rose only to a certain height, and thus fuffocated perfons in a reclining posture, while thofe, who were erect, remained uninjured. Springs of water were always deemed facred by the ancients, but particularly those impregnated with fulphur; hence the very name of fulphur, 90, fignifies fome thing divine. • Macrob. Saturn. lib. v. cap. 19. |