AN GAOḊAL
713
there is no work open for them. How, then, can
employment be provided for these idle men? By
the manner above suggested.
We need not go to the prairies of the West to look
for land, there is lots of it in the neighborhood of
our large town and cities.
But though we would nationalize the land and
make it pay all governmental expenses, yet we
would repay all who honestly purchased it under
the conditions which have for centuries obtained.
The honest mechanic, who, by the sweat of his brow
bought a little home for himself, should not be de¬
prived of its value. It is quite different with Crom¬
well's buccaneers in Ireland, who never paid a pen¬
ny for the land, but by robbery and murder wrest¬
ed it from the people. — Ed.]
THE NEW PANTHEON.
PART I. CHAP. I.
Mythology, an expression compounded of the
two Greek words muthos, a fable, and logos a dis¬
course, signifies a system of fables, or the fabulous
history of the false gods of the heathen world.
The term Idolatry is derived from the two Greek
words eidolon and latreia signifying worship and
representation, or image; and consequently, it
means the worship of images, or symbols of gods
or superior powers.
Idolatry appears to have had its origin in very
early ages, in India, Egypt and Phenicia whence it
spread into Chaldea, Mesopotamia and the neigh¬
boring countries. From them it passed into Asia
Minor, Greece and the adjacent islands. In the
time of Moses, the illustrious Hebrew lawgiver,
Idolatry had attained to so great a height, that
through him, the only true God gave the children
of Israel a number of peculiar rites and ceremon¬
ies to remove them, as far as possible, from its per¬
nicious contagion, and to keep them separate from
the surrounding nations, among whom it prevailed.
CHAP. II.
GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY.
The Mythology of the Greeks and the Romans is
evidently derived from that of the Oriental nations.
Orpheus, Pythagoras, Thales, and other founders
of Greek philosophy and mythology, traveled and
studied in Egypt, where they learned those doct¬
rines, which, having modeled according to their
own ideas, they introduced into Greece. These were
in the course of time, diversified and augmented,
until they expanded into that bulky, complicated
system of mythology, which the poets adorned with
all the charms of imagery and verse.
The Deities of Grecian and Roman Mythology
are generally arranged in the following classes ;—
The Celestial; the Marine; the Terrestial; the
Infernal. To these may be added the class of In¬
ferior Divinities, of whose residence no determinate
ideas were given.
The Celestial Deities were ranked in four dis¬
tinct orders.
The first order comprised the Supreme Gods,
who were likewise called Gods of the Nations, be¬
cause they were known and revered by every na¬
tion. They were twenty in number.
They were divided into two classes; the first
was called the Council of Jupiter, the supreme di¬
vinity, and was composed of six gods, namely,
Jupiter, Neptune, Mercury, Apollo, Mars and Vul¬
can and six goddesses, namely, Juno, Ceres, Min¬
erva, Vesta, Diana and Venus.
The second class was composed of eight divini¬
tis, who did not assist at the supreme Council.
They were named Dii Selecti — elect Gods. These
were Cœlus, Saturn, Genius, Orcus, Sol, Bacchus,
Terra and Luna.
The second order included the gods whom Ovid
styled the celestial populace. They were called
the Inferior Gods of Nations. They had no place
in heaven; nor were they admitted to the Council
of Jupiter: Pan, Pomono, Flora and other rural
Deities were of this class.
The third order was composed of demi-gods, who
derived their origin from a god and a mortal, or
from a goddess and a mortal. Such were Hercu¬
les, Esculapius, Castor, Pollux &c. Heroes, like¬
wise, who by their valor, had raised themselves to
the rank of immortals, had a place among these.
The fourth order contained the virtues which
had formed great men; Fidelity, Concord, Courage
Prudence and others; and even in the miseries of
life, as Poverty, Pain &c.
Those divinities were not of the first or second
class. The word, Semones, signifies half men, as
being descended from an immortal and a mortal.
Indigetes signifies deified mortals, or the peculiar
gods of any country.
CHAP. III.
Cœlus, or Heaven, whom the Greeks called Ura¬
nus, was by their account the most ancient of the
Gods, as Vesta Prisca, or Terra, different names
for the earth, was of the goddesses. Their sons
were called Titan and Saturn, which latter was the
same as Chronos or time.
The right of seniority assigned to the kingdom
of Titan, who, in compliance with his mother's de¬
sire, yielded his right to his younger brother Sat¬
urn, on condition that he should destroy all his
male children. Conformably to this agreement
Saturn devoured his sons as fast as they were
born.
The name Chronos, given to Saturn signifies
time: and as time sees all things produced, and all
things perish, it is allegorically said, that Time or
Saturn devours his own offspring.
Rhea or Cybele, the wife of Saturn, concealed
one of her sons, and had him privately educated:
but all her precautions could not prevent Titan,
the elder brother, from being informed of what
had passed, who, wishing to preserve to his chil¬
den the right of succession, made war on Saturn,
conquered him, and confined both him and Cybele,
till their son Jupiter released them by vanquishing
Titan. But, taking the government into his own
hands he drove away his father, Saturn, who
sought refuge in Italy, with Janus, king of that
country, by whom he was hospitably received. In
gratitude for the kind reception he met with, Sat¬
urn endowed Janus with extraordinary prudence,
with knowledge of future events, and with perpet¬
ual remembrance of the past. This the ancients
wished to express by representing him with a
double face, hence he is called Bifrons. We
learn from history that Janus was represented with
two faces, because he governed two different peo¬
ple, and because he divided his kingdom with Sat¬
urn. He likewise caused me to be struck with
two faces, to show that his dominions should be
governed by the joint counsels of himself and Sat¬
urn.
(To be continued)
