made it for Jupiter; and to have furnished it with all those terrific attributes, which became so splendid and magnificent when personified in poetry. 2 181. Stripped, however, of all this splendor and magnificence, it was probably nothing more than a symbolical instrument, signifying originally the motion of the elements, like the sistrum of Isis, the cymbals of Cybele, the bells of Bacchus, &c.; whence Jupiter is said to have overcome the Titans with his ægis, as Isis drove away Typhon with her sistrum;3 and the ringing of bells and clatter of metals were almost universally employed as a mean of consecration, and a charm against the destroying and inert powers. Even the Jews welcomed the new Moon with such noises; which the simplicity of the early ages employed almost everywhere to relieve her during eclipses, supposed then to be morbid affections brought on by the influence of an adverse power. The title Priapus, by which the generative attribute is distinguished, seems to be merely a corruption of BPIAПrо clamorous; the B and II being commutable letters, and epithets of similar meaning being continually applied both to Jupiter and Bacchus by the poets. Many priapic figures, too, still extant, have bells attached to them;' as the symbolical statues and temples of the Hindoos have; and to wear them was a part of the worship of Bacchus among the Greeks; whence we sometimes find them of extremely small size, evidently meant to be worn as amulets with the phalli, lunulæ, &c. The chief priests of the Ægyptians, and also the high priest of the Jews, 1 Εχε δ' αιγίδα θουριν 8 Δείνην, αμφιδασειαν, αριπρεπε, ην αρα χαλκευς Ήφαιστος Διι δωκε φορημέναι ες φόβον ανδρων. Ο. 308. Δείνην, ἣν περί μεν παντη φόβος εστεφανωται· Εν δ' Ερις, εν δ' Αλκη, εν δε κρυοεσσα Ιωκη Εν δε τε Γοργείη κεφαλη δεινοίο πελώρου, Δείνη τε, σμερίνη τε, Διός τέρας αιγιόχοιο. Ε. 738. 2 Σοι μεν καταρχαι, Ματέρ, παρα Meyado joμßo xvμßarav. Pindar. ap. Strab. lib. x. p. 719. 3 Τον γαρ Τυφώνα φασι τοις σεστροις αποτρέπειν και ανακρούεσθαι, δηλούντες, ότι της φθορας συνδέουσης και ίστασης, αυθις αναλύει την φυσιν, και ανίστησι δια της κινησεως ys. Plutarch. de Is. et Osir. 4 Schol. in Theocrit. Idyl. ii. 36. Temesæaque concrepat æra, Et rogat ut tectis exeat umbra suis. Ovid. Fast. v. 441. 5 Numer. c. x. v. 10. 6 Such as εριβρεμέτης, ερίγδουπος, βρομιος, δε 7 Bronzi d' Ercolano, t. vi. tav. xcviii. 8 Διονυσιακου δε τους βασιλιας κωδωνοφορείσθαι, και τυμπανίζεσθαι κατα της dodou. Megasthen. apud Strab. lib. xv. p. 712. hung them, as sacred emblems, to their sacerdotal garments;' and the Bramins still continue to ring a small bell at the intervals of their prayers, ablutions, and other acts of mystic devotion. The Lacedæmonians beat upon a brass vessel or pan, on the death of their kings; and we still retain the custom of tolling a bell on such occasions; though the reason of it is not generally known, any more than that of other remnants of ancient ceremonies still existing.3 182. An opinion very generally prevailed among the ancients, that all the constituent parts of the great machine of the universe were mutually dependent upon each other; and that the luminaries of heaven, while they contributed to fecundate and organise terrestrial matter, were in their turn nourished and sustained by exhalations drawn from the humidity of the earth and its atmosphere. Hence the Egyptians placed the personifications of the Sun and Moon in boats; while the Greeks, among whom the horse was a symbol of humidity, placed them in chariots, drawn sometimes by two, sometimes by three, and sometimes by four of these animals; which is the reason of the number of Biga, Trigæ, and Quadriga, which we find upon coins: for they could not have had any reference to the public games, as has been supposed; a great part of them having been struck by states, which, not being of Hellenic origin, had never the privilege of entering the lists on those occasions. The vehicle itself appears likewise to have been a symbol of the passive generative power, or the means by which the emanations of the Sun acted; whence the Delphians called Venus by the singular title of The Chariot; but the same meaning is more frequently expressed by the figure called a Victory accompanying; and by the fish, or some other symbol of the waters under it. In some instances we have observed composite symbols signifying both attributes in this situation; such as the lion destroying the bull, 3 "It is said," says the Golden Legend by Wynkyn de Worde," the evil spiry. tes that ben in the regyon of th' ayre doubte moche when they here the belles rongen: and this is the cause why the belles ben rongen when it thondreth, and when grete tempeste and outrages of wether happen, to the end that the feindes and wycked spirytes shold be abashed and flee, and cease of the movying of the tempeste." p. 90. Εκείνα μεν γαρ (τα φάσματα) ην ψοφον ακούση χαλκου η σιδηρου πεφευγε. Lucian. Philops. 15. 4 Ήλιον δε και σεληνην ουχ άρμασιν αλλα πλείοις οχημασι χρωμενους περιπλειν αι, αινιττόμενοι την αφ' ύγρου τροφήν αυτών και γενεσιν. Plutarch. de Is. et Osir. Ουτε Δελφους ελεγχει ληρούντας, ότι την Αφροδίτην άρμα καλουσιν. Plu tarch. Amator. p. 769. VOL. XXVI. CI. JI. NO. LI. D or the Scylla ; which is a combination of emblems of the same kind as those which compose the sphinx and chimæra, and has no resemblance whatever to the fabulous monster described in the Odyssey. 183. Almost every other symbol is occasionally employed as an accessary to the chariot, and among them the thunderbolt; which is sometimes borne by Minerva and other deities, as well as by Jupiter; and is still oftener represented alone upon coins; having been an emblem, not merely of the destroying attribute, but of the Divine nature in general: whence the Arcadians sacrificed to thunder, lightning, and tempest; and the incarnate Deity, in an ancient Indian poem, says, "I am the thunderbolt.""I am the fire residing in the bodies of all things which have life." In the South-Eastern parts of Europe, which frequently suffer from drought, thunder is esteemed a grateful rather than terrific sound, because it is almost always accompanied with rain; which scarcely ever falls there without it. This rain, descending from ignited clouds, was supposed to be impregnated with electric or ætherial fire, and therefore to be more nutritive and prolific than any other water:' whence the thunderbolt was employed as the emblem of fecundation and nutrition, as well as of destruction. The coruscations which accompany its explosions being thought to resemble the glimmering flashes which proceed from burning sulphur; and the smell of the fixed air arising from objects stricken by it being the same as that which arises from the mineral, men were led to believe that its fires were of a sulphurous nature: wherefore the flames of sulphur were employed in all lustrations, parifications, &c., as having an affinity with divine or ætherial fire; to which its name ! See coins of Agrigentum, Heraclea in Italy, Allifa, &c. 1 Και θύουσι αυτόθι αστραπαις, και θυελλαις, και βρονταις. Pausan. lib. vii. c. 29. 3 Bagvat Geeta, p. 86 and 113. Αἱ ἡμετέραι ψυχαι πυρ εισι. Phurnut. de Nat. Deor. c. ii. ✦ Grateful as thunder in summer, is a simile of Tasso's; who, notwithstanding his frequent and close imitations of the ancients, has copied nature more accurately than any Epic poet except Homer. 5 Τα δ' αστραπαια των υδάτων ευαλδη καλουσιν οἱ γεωργοι, και νομίζουσι ταις βρονταις πολλακις ύδως συνεκπιπτει γονιμον αιτια δε ή της θερμοτητες αναμιξις. το κεραύνιον πυρ ακρίβεια και λεπτοτητι θαυμαστον εστι. Plutarch. Symposiac. lib. iv. qu. 2. 6 Αφηκ' αργητα κεραυνον Δείνη δε φλοξ ωρτο θείοιο καιομένοιο. Iliad. Θ. Sulphura cum tædis, et si foret humida laurus. Juvenal. Sat. ii. v. 157. in the Greek language has been supposed to refer. To represent the thunderbolt, the ancient artists joined two obelisks pointing contrary ways from one centre, with spikes or arrows diverging from them; thus signifying its luminous essence and destructive power. Wings were sometimes added, to signify its swiftness and activity; and the obelisks were twisted into spiral forms, to show the whirl in the air caused by the vacuum proceeding from the explosion; the origin of which, as well as the productive attribute, was signified by the aquatic plants, from which they sprang.2 DEFENCE OF PLAGIARISM. MUCH has lately been said respecting the plagiarisms of Lord Byron; and reference has been made to compositions, in prose more particularly, to prove the case against him. I am inclined to doubt the fairness of that criticism. Are not the mightiest productions of genius effected by comparison, by combining impressions made on the mind by external objects, or by resources originally emanating from the labors and writings of others, and from historical facts and relations? Nor can I easily be persuaded that the last are not legitimate sources of composition, when I consider that to them we either are, or appear to be, indebted for the noblest poems. The Iliad and Odyssey of Homer are, with every presumption of truth, supposed to be founded on historical facts, highly embellished with the ornaments of poetry, and owing many of their graces to the fictions of imagination. Yet could we believe, as some have endeavoured to maintain, that the war of Troy and the whole series of events and circumstances connected with it never existed but in the mind of the poet, I doubt whether the bard would be at all raised in our estimation Οι μαι και το θείον ωνομασθαι τη ὁμοιότητι της οσμης, ἣν τα παιόμενα τοις κεραυνοις apine. Plutarch. Symposiac. lib. iv. qu. 2. 2 See coins of Syracuse, Seleucia, Alexander I. king of Epirus, Elis, &c. Upon some of the most ancient of the latter, however, it is more simply composed of flames only, diverging both ways. by such an admission. The Eneid is not only founded on historical facts and relations connected with the Iliad and Odyssey, but is largely indebted to them for its poetical embellishments, for its fictitious graces, and for the construction of its plan, and on many occasions copies the incidents, if not the language, of Homer. The tragedies of the ancients are generally composed from the writings of that great poet, or from historical circumstances of Grecian history, either transmitted in writing, or subjects of traditional relation at the time. And assuredly a poem, which has reality for its basis and support, and which is adorned and ennobled by the imagination of the poet with all the variety of fictitious ornament and all the charms of composition, ought not to be less interesting or praiseworthy than what is merely fabulous. What says Horace? Publica materies privati juris erit, si Nec circa vilem patulumque moraberis orbem ; Unde pedem proferre pudor vetet aut operis lex, And his poems abound in references and allusions to the writings of Homer, Euripides, and Pindar, with not unfrequent imitations and occasional plagiarisms, since we must so call them, from those immortal bards. In the Supplices of Euripides occurs the following passage: χρῆν γὰρ οὔτε σώματα *Αδικα δικαίοις τὸν σοφὸν συμμιγνύναι, Τοῖς τοῦ νοσοῦντος πήμασιν διώλεσεν Τὸν οὐ νοσοῦντα, κοὐδὲν ἠδικηκότα. The second Ode of the third book of Horace has towards its termination the following sentence: Vetabo qui Cereris sacrum Vulgârit arcanum sub iisdem Sit trabibus, fragilemque mecum Neglectus incesto addidit integrum.' A strong analogy may be traced in both, and an almost literal translation in one part. The case stands nearly thus. Adrastus solicits the aid of Theseus in recovering the bodies of the Argive leaders slain under the walls of Thebes. Theseus, after a beautiful dissertation on the |