Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/541

Rh CABEIRI. niul that Aeneas brought them from thence to Italy. (Macrob. Sat. iii. 4 ; Serv. ad Aen. i. 37H, iii. 14«.) Hut the authorities for this opinion are all of a late period. According to one set of accounts, the Sa- mothracian gods were two male divinities of the Kuue .nge, which applies to Zeus and Dionysus, or Dardauiis and Jasion, but not to Demeter, Rhea, or Persephone. When people, in tlie course of time, had become accustomed to regard the Penates and Cabeiri as identical, and yet did not know exactly the name of each separate divinity com- prised under those common names, some divinities are mentioned among the Penates who belonged to the Cabeiri, and vice versa. Thus Servius {ad Aen, viii. 61 9) represents Zeus, Pallas, and Hermes as introduced from Samothrace ; and, in anotlier passage (ad Aen. iii. 204), he says that, according to the Samothracians, these three were the great gods, of whom Hermes, and perhaps Zeus also, might be reckoned among the Cabeiri. Varro (de Ling. Lat. V. 58, ed. Miiller) says, that Heaven and Earth were the great Samothracian gods; while in another place (ap. August. De Civ. Dei^ vii. 18) he stated, that there were three Samothra- cian gods, Jupiter or Heaven, Juno or Earth, and ^Minerva or the prototype of things, — the ideas of Plato. This is, of course, only the view Varro himself took, and not a tradition. If we now look back upon the various state- ments we have gathered, for the purpose of aiTiv- ing at some definite conclusion, it is manifest, that the earliest writers regard the Cabeiri as descended from inferior divinities, Proteus and Hephaestus : they have their seats on earth, in Samothrace, Lemnos, and Imbros. Those early writers cannot possibly have conceived them to be Demeter, Per- sephone or Rhea. It is true those early authori- ties are not numerous in comparison with the later ones; but Demetrius, who wrote on the subject, may have had more and very good ones, since it is with reference to him that Strabo repeats the as- sertion, that the Cabeiri, like the Corybantes and Curetes, were only ministers of the great gods. We may therefore suppose, that the Samothracian Cabeiri were originally such inferior beings ; and as the notion of the Cabeiri was from the first not fixed and distinct, it became less so in later times ; and as the ideas of mystery and Demeter came to be looked upon as inseparable, it cannot occasion surprise that the mysteries, which were next in importance to those of Eleusis, the most celebrated in antiquity, were at length completely transferred to this goddess. The opinion that the Samothra- cian gods were the same as the Roman Penates, seems to have arisen with those writers who en- deavoured to trace every ancient Roman institution to Troy, and thence to Samothrace. The places where the worship of the Cabeiri oc- curs, are chiefly Samothrace, Lemnos, and Imbros. Some writers have maintained, that the Samo- thracian and Lemnian Cabeiri were distinct ; but the contrary is asserted by Strabo (x. p. 4(i6). Besides the Cabeiri of these three islands, we read of Boeotian Cabdri. Near the Neitian gjite of Thebes there was a grove of Demeter Cabeiria and Cora, which none but the initiated were allowed to enter ; and at a distance of seven stadia from it there was a sanctuary of the Cabeiri. (Paus. ix. 25. § 5.) Here mysteries were cele- brated, and the sanctity of the temple was great as late as the time of Pausiinias. (Com p. iv. 1. § 5.) CACUS. 523 The account of Pausanias about the origin of the Boeotian Cabeiri sjivours of rationalism, and is, as Lobeck justly remarks, a mere fiction. It* must further not be supposed that there existed any con- nexion between the Samothracian Cadmilus or Cadmus and the Theban Cadmus ; for tradition clearly describes them as beings of different origin, race, and dignity. Pausanias (ix. 22. § 5) further mentions another sanctuary of the Cabeiri, with a grove, in the Boeotian town of Anthedon ; and a Boeotian Cabeirus, who possessed the power of averting dangers and increasing man's prosperity, is mentioned in an epigram of Diodorus. (Brunck, Anal. ii. p. 185.) A Macedonian Ca/jeirus occurs in Lactantius. (i. 15, 8 ; comp. Firmicus, de Error. Prof. p. 23; Clem. Alex. Protrept. p. 16.) The reverence paid by the Macedonians to the Cabeiri may be inferred from the fact of Philip and Olym- pias being initiated in the Samothracian mysteries, and of Alexander erecting altars to the Cabeiri !it the close of his Eastern expedition. (Plut. Alex. 2 ; Philostr. de Vit. ApoUon. ii. 43.) The Pergamenian Cabeiri are mentioned by Pausanias (i. 4. § 6), and those of Berytus by Sanchoniathon {ap. Euseb. Praep. Evang. p. 31) and Damascius. {Vit. Isidor. cclii. 573.) Respecting the mysteries of the Car beiri in general, see Diet, of Ant. s. v. Ka€eipia ; hobeck, Aglaoph. p. 1281, &c. For the various opinions concerning the nature of the Cabeiri, see Creuzer, Si/mbol. ii. p. 302, &c. ; Schelling, Ueber die Goiter von Samoihrake, Stuttgard, 1815 ; Welc- ker, Aeschyl. Trilog.; Klausen, Aeneas u. die Pe- nat. [L. S.] CACA or CA'CIA, a sister of Cacus, who, ac- cording to some accounts, betrayed the place where the cattle were concealed which Cacus had stolen from Hercules or Recaranus. She was rewai-ded for it with divine honours, which she was to enjoy for ever. In her sanctuary a perpetual fire was kept up, just as in the temple of Vesta. (Lactant. i. 20, 36 ; Serv. ad Aen. viii. 190.) [L. S.J CACUS, a fabulous Italian shepherd, who was believed to have lived in a cave, and to have com- mitted various kinds of robberies. Among others, he also stole a part of the cattle of Hercules or Recaranus ; and, as he dragged the animals into his cave by their tails, it was impossible to discover their traces. But when the remaining oxen passed by the cave, those within began to bellow, and were thus discovered. Another tradition stated, that Caca, the sister of Cacus, betrayed the place of their concealment. Cacus was slain by Hercules. (Liv. i. 7.) He is usually called a son of Vulcan, and Ovid, who gives his story with considerable embellishments, describes Cacus as a fearful giant, who was the terror of the whole land. (Ov. Fast, i. 554; comp. Virg. Aen. viii. 190, &c. ; Propert. iv. 9; Dionys. i. 32, 43; Aurel. Vict Dc Orig. Gefit. Rom. 6.) Evander, who then ruled over the country in which Cacus had resided, shewed his gratitude to the conqueror of Cacus by dedicating to him a sanctuary, and appointing the Potitii and Pinarii as his priests. The common opinion res- pecting the original character of Cacus is, that he was the personification of some evil daemon, and this opinion is chiefly founded upon the descrip- tions of him given by the Roman poets. Hartung {Die Relig. d. Rom. i. p. 318, &c.), however, thinks that Cacus, whom he identifies with Cacius (Diod. iv. 21 ; Solin. i. 1), and his sister Caca were Ro- man penates, whose names he connects with Ka/«,