Volume Ii Part 15 (1/2)

Such are the expeditions of Cadmus. But is it credible that any person could have penetrated into the various regions, whither he is supposed to have gone? to have founded colonies in Phenicia, Cyprus, Rhodes, Thera, Thasus, Anaphe, Samothracia? to have twice visited the h.e.l.lespont? to have worked the mines in the Pangean mountains, and in other places? to have made settlements in Euba, Attica, Botia, and Illyria? and, above all, to have had such territories in Afric? He is represented as heir to the kingdom of Egypt: this he quitted, and obtained a kingdom in Phenicia. He leaves this too; and after much wandering arrives in Greece; where he founds several cities, and reigns sixty-two years. After this, hard to conceive! he is made king in Illyria. He must also have reigned in Afric: and his dominions seem to have been considerable, as he founded an hundred cities. He is represented as a king in Armenia; and had there too no small territory. Sure kingdoms in those times must have been very cheap, if they were so easily attainable. But the whole is certainly a mistake; at least in respect to [1100]Cadmus. No person could possibly have effected what is attributed to him. They were not the achievements of one person, nor of one age. And place Cadmus at any given aera, and arrange his history, as may appear most plausible; yet there will arise numberless inconsistencies from the connexions he must have in respect to time, place, and people; such as no art nor disposition can remedy.

It may be asked, if there were no such man as Cadmus, what did the antients allude to under this character? and what is the true purport of these histories? The travels of Cadmus, like the expeditions of Perseus, Sesostris, and Osiris, relate to colonies, which at different times went abroad, and were distinguished by this t.i.tle. But what was the work of many, and performed at various seasons, has been attributed to one person.

Cadmus was one of the names of Osiris, the chief Deity of Egypt. Both Europa, and Harmonia are of the like nature. They were t.i.tles of the Deity: but a.s.sumed by colonies, who went out, and settled under these denominations. The native Egyptians seldom left their country, but by force. This necessity however did occur: for Egypt at times underwent great [1101]revolutions. It was likewise in some parts inhabited by people of a different cast; particularly by the sons of Chus. These were obliged to retire: in consequence of which they spread themselves over various parts of the earth. All, who embarked under the same name, or t.i.tle, were in aftertimes supposed to have been under the same leader: and to him was attributed the honour of every thing performed. And as colonies of the same denomination went to parts of the world widely distant; their ideal chieftain, whether Cadmus, or Bacchus, or Hercules, was supposed to have traversed the same ground: and the achievements of different ages were conferred upon a fancied hero of a day. This has been the cause of great inconsistency throughout the mythology of the antients. To this they added largely, by being so lavish of t.i.tles, out of reverence to their G.o.ds.

Wherever they came they built temples to them, and cities, under various denominations; all which were taken from some supposed attribute. These t.i.tles and attributes, though they belonged originally to one G.o.d, the Sun; yet being [1102]manifold, and misapplied, gave rise to a mult.i.tude of Deities, whose aera never could be settled, nor their history rendered consistent. Cadmus was one of these. He was the same as Hermes of Egypt, called also Thoth, Athoth, and Canathoth: and was supposed to have been the inventor of letters. He was sometimes styled Cadmilus, another name for Hermes; under which he was wors.h.i.+pped in Samothracia, and Hetruria.

Lycophron speaking of the prophet Prulis, in Lesbos, tells us, that he was the son of Cadmus, and of the race of Atlas. And he was the person, who was supposed to give information to the Greeks, when they were upon their expedition towards Troy.

[1103]?? ? se ?ad?? ?fe?' e? pe?????t?

?ss? f?te?sa? d?se??? p?d??et??.

These are the words of Ca.s.sandra: upon which the Scholiast observes; ??????, ???? t?? ?ad????, ?a? ?ad??, ?t?? ????: _Prulis of Lesbos was the son of Cadmilus, or Cadmus, the same as Hermes_. And afterwards he mentions, [1104]? ?ad??, ?t?? ????, _Cadmus, who is the same as Hermes_.

In another place he takes notice, that the name of Hermes among the Hetrurians was [1105]Cadmilus: and it has been shewn, that Cadmilus, and Cadmus, are the same. To close the whole, we have this further evidence from Phavorinus, that Cadmus was certainly an epithet or t.i.tle of Hermes.

[1106]?ad??, ?? ?????? ????, a??a ?a? ???? ep??et??.

Harmonia, the wife of Cadmus, who has been esteemed a mere woman, seems to have been an emblem of nature, and the fostering nurse of all things. She is from hence styled [1107]pa?t??f?? ?????a. And when Venus is represented in the allegory as making her a visit, she is said to go [1108]e?? d???

?????a? pa?t????, _to the house of the all-productive parent_. In some of the Orphic verses she is represented not only as a Deity, but as the light of the world.

[1109]??????, ??s??? faesf??e, ?a? s?fe ?a???.

Harmonia was supposed to have been a personage, from whom all knowledge was derived. On this account the books of science were styled [1110]????a?

?????a?, the books of Harmonia, as well as the books of Hermes. These were four in number, of which Nonnus gives a curious account, and says, that they contained matter of wonderful antiquity.

[1111]??? ??? ?esfata pa?ta, tape? pep??e?a ??s?

???t??????? Fa??t?? ep???afe a?t?p???? ?e??.

The first of them is said to have been coeval with the world.

[1112]???t?? ????? ?p?pe? ate????? ????a ??s??, ??? ??? pa?ta fe???sa?, ?sa s??pt????? ?f???

???se?.

From hence we find, that Hermon, or Harmonia, was a Deity, to whom the first writing is ascribed. The same is said of Hermes. [1113]???? ?e?eta?

Te?? e? ????pt? ??aata p??t?? ???e??. The invention is also attributed to Taut, or Thoth. [1114]???t?? est? ?aa?t??, ? t?? ??aat?? t?? ???es??

ep????sa?,--?? ????pt??? e? e?a?esa? T???, ??e?a?d?e?? de T??, ???? de ?????e? etef?asa?. Cadmus is said not only to have brought letters into Greece, but to have been the inventor of them: from whence we may fairly conclude, that under the characters of Hermon, Hermes, Taut, Thoth, and Cadmus, one person is alluded to. The Deity called by the Greeks Harmonia, was introduced among the Canaanites very early by people from Egypt: and was wors.h.i.+pped in Sidon, and the adjacent country, by the name of [1115]Baal Hermon.

Europa likewise was a Deity; according to Lucian the same as Astarte, who was wors.h.i.+pped at Hierapolis in Syria. He visited the temple, and had this information from the priests: [1116]?? de ?? t?? t?? ??e?? ap??et?, ????p?? est? (t? a?a?a) t?? ?ad?? ade?fe??. He is speaking of the statue in the temple, which the priests told him belonged to a G.o.ddess, the same as Europa, the sister of Cadmus. She was also esteemed the same as Rhea; which Rhea we know was the reputed mother of the G.o.ds, and particularly the mother of Jupiter.

[1117]?st' a? ?e?a te??? pa?da ????? e? f???t?t?.

Pindar speaks of Europa, as the [1118]daughter of t.i.tyus: and by Herodotus she is made the mother of [1119]Sarpedon and Minos.

I have mentioned, that Cadmus was the same as the Egyptian Thoth; and it is manifest from his being Hermes, and from the invention of letters being attributed to him. Similar to the account given of Cadmus is the history of a personage called by the Greeks Caanthus; this history contains an epitome of the voyage undertaken by Cadmus, though with some small variation.

Caanthus is said to have been the son of Ocea.n.u.s; which in the language of Egypt is the same as the son of Ogus, and Oguges; a different name for the same [1120]person. Ogus, and with the reduplication Ogugus, was the same as Ogyges, in whose time the flood was supposed to have happened. Ogyges is represented both as a king of Thebes in Egypt, and of Thebes in Botia: and in his time Cadmus is said to have left the former country, and to have come to the latter, being sent in quest of his sister Europa by his father.

Caanthus was sent by his father with a like commission. His sister Melia had been stolen away; and he was ordered to search every country, till he found her. He accordingly traversed many seas, and at last lauded in Greece, and pa.s.sed into Botia. Here he found, that his sister was detained by Apollo in the grove of Ismenus. There was a fountain [1121]of the same name near the grove, which was guarded by a dragon. Caanthus is said to have cast fire into this sacred recess; on which account he was slain by Apollo. His taf??, or tomb, was in aftertimes shewn by the Thebans. We may perceive, that the main part of this relation agrees with that of Cadmus.

Melie, the sister of Caanthus, is by some spoken of as the mother of [1122]Europa: which shews, that there is a correspondence between the two histories. The person also, who sent these two adventurers, the sister, of whom they went in quest, and the precise place, to which they both came, exhibit a series of circ.u.mstances so similar, that we need not doubt, but that it is one and the same history. It is said, that Caanthus threw fire into the sacred [1123]grove: which legend, however misconstrued, relates to the first establishment of fire-wors.h.i.+p at Thebes in the grove of Apollo Ismenius. The term Ismenius is compounded of Is-Men, ignis Menis. Meen, Menes, Manes, was one of the most antient t.i.tles of the Egyptian G.o.d Osiris, the same as Apollo, and Caanthus. What has been mentioned about Cadmus and Caanthus, is repeated under the character of a person named Curnus; who is said to have been sent by his father Inachus in search of his sister [1124]Io. Inachus, Ocea.n.u.s, Ogugus, and Agenor, are all the same personages under different names; and the histories are all the same.

That Cadmus was of old esteemed a Deity may be farther proved from his being wors.h.i.+pped at Gortyna in Crete, as we learn from [1125]Solinus. Iidem Gortynii et Cadmum colunt, Europae fratrem. He had moreover an Heroum at Sparta, which was erected by people styled the sons of [1126]Huraeus. We learn from Palaephatus, that according to some of the antient mythologists, Cadmus was the person, who slew the serpent [1127]at Lerna. And according to Nonnus he contended with the giant Typhasus, and restored to Jupiter his lost [1128]thunder. By this is meant, that he renewed the rites, and wors.h.i.+p of the Deity, which had been abolished. These are circ.u.mstances, which sufficiently shew, that Cadmus was a different personage, from what he is generally imagined. There was a hill in Phrygia of his name, and probably sacred to him; in which were the fountains of the river [1129]Lycus. There was also a river Cadmus, which rose in the same mountain, and was lost underground. It soon afterwards burst forth again, and joined the princ.i.p.al stream. Mountains and rivers were not denominated from ordinary personages. In short Cadmus was the same as Hermes, Thoth, and Osiris: under which characters more than one person is alluded to, for all theology of the antients is of a mixed nature. He may princ.i.p.ally be esteemed Ham, who by his posterity was looked up to as the Sun, and wors.h.i.+pped under his t.i.tles: a circ.u.mstance, however, which was common to all, who were styled Baalim. That he was the same as Ham, will appear from the etymology of his name. I have before shewn, that the Sun was styled [1130]Achad, Achon, and Achor: and the name, of which we are treating, is a compound of [1131]Achad-Ham, rendered by the Greeks Acadamus and Academus, and contracted Cadmus. Many learned men have thought, that the place at Athens called Academia was founded by Cadmus, and denominated from him: and of the latter circ.u.mstance I make no doubt. [1132]Ab hoc Cadmo Eruditi Academiam, quasi Cadmiam deduc.u.n.t: quo nomine indigitari loc.u.m musis studiisque sacratum notissimum est. The true name of Cadmus, according to this supposition, must have been, as I have represented, Acadamus; or, as the Ionians expressed it, Academus, to have Academia formed from it.

Herodotus informs us, that, when the Cadmians came to Attica, they introduced a new system of [1133]Architecture; and built temples in a style different from that to which the natives had been used. And he describes these buildings as erected at some distance from those of the country. This was the situation of the place called Academia, which stood at the distance of a few furlongs from [1134]Athens. It was a place of exercise and science; and by all accounts finely disposed: being planted with a variety of trees, but particularly Olives, called here (????a?) Moriae. There were likewise springs, and baths for the convenience of those who here took their exercise. The tradition among the Athenians was, that one Ecademus, or Academus, founded it in antient times; from whom it received its name.

Laertius styles him the hero Ecademus: [1135]?p? t???? ????? ???as??

??ad???. And Suidas to the same purpose; ?p? ??ad??? t???? ?????

???as?e?. But Eupolis, the comic writer, who was far prior, speaks of him as a Deity: [1136]?? e?s????? d????s?? ??ad??? Te??. The trees, which grew within the precincts, were looked upon as very sacred, [1137]??t??