Page:History of Greece Vol I.djvu/470

 438 HISTOEY OF GREECE. But this theory, though advocated by several learnt d men, has been shown to be unsupported and erroneous. It implies a mis- taken view both of the antiquity and the purport of the myste- ries, which cannot be safely carried up even to the age of Hesiod, and which, though imposing and venerable as religious ceremo- nies, included no recondite or esoteric teaching.! iiidutam, quasi do intcgro Grieca specie procrcantcs ; videmus poetas, illos, quorum omnium vcra nomina nominibus ab arte, quft clarebant, petitis - obliterate sunt, diu in Thracii hserentes, raroque tandem etiam cum aliig Graeciaj partibus commcrcio junctos : qualis Pamphus, non ipse Atheniensis, Athcniensibus hymnos Deorum fecit. Videmus denique retrusam paulatim in mysteriorum secrctam illam sapientum doctrinam, vitiatam religionum perturbatione. corruptam inscitii interpretum, obscuratam levitate amoeniora sectantium adeo ut earn ne illi quidcm intelligerent, qui hoereditariam a prioribus poOsin colentes, quum ingenii prajstantii omnes pracstinguerent, tantA illos oblivione merserunt, ut ipsi sint primi auctores omnis eruditionis habiti." Hermann thinks, however, that by pursuing the suggestions of etymology, vestiges may still be discovered, and something like a history compiled, of Grecian belief as it stood anterior to Homer and Hesiod : " Est autem in hac omni ratione judicio maxime opus, quia non testibus res agitur, sed ad intcrprctandi solcrtiam omnia revocanda sunt" (p. 172). To the same gene- ral purpose the French work of M. Emerie David, Rechcrches sur le Dieu Jupiter reviewed by O. Miiller: see the Klcine Schriften of the latter, vol. ii. p. 82. Mr. Bryant has also employed a profusion of learning, and numerous etymological conjectures, to resolve the Greek mythes into mistakes, perver- sions, and mutilations, of the exploits and doctrines of oriental tribes long- lost and by-gone, Amonians, Cuthites, Arkites, etc. " It was Noah (ha thinks) who was represented under the different names of Thoth, Hermes, Menes, Osiris, Zeuth, Atlas, Phoroncus, Prometheus, to which list a farther number of great extent might be added : the NoCf of Anaxagoras was in reality the patriarch Noah" (Ant. Mythol. vol. ii. pp. 253, 272). " The Cuth- ites or Amonians, descendants of Noah, settled in Greece from the east, celebrated for their skill in building and the arts" (ib. i. p. 502; ii. p. 187). The greatest part of the Grecian theology arose from misconception and blunders, the stories concerning their gods and heroes were founded on terms misinterpreted or abused" (ib. i. p. 452). " The number of different actions ascribed to the various Grecian gods or heroes all relate to one people or family, and are at bottom one and the same history" (ib. ii. p. 57). " The fables of Prometheus and Tityus were taken from ancient Amonian temples, from hieroglyphics misunderstood and badly explained" (i. p. 426) : see especially vol. ii. p. 160. 1 The Anti-Symbolik of Voss, and still more the Aglaophamus of Lobeck,