Classical Theology.—Xxi.

CLASSICAL THEOLOGY . —XXI .

LONDOX , SATURDAY , JUXK 2 , 1 S 0 O .

VII . —VULCAN AND SEPTEJirSEK . Is- the fables of tlie poets Neptune and Ampliifcrite ivere said to have been the parents of the Cyclops . These latter derived their name from Kus-X . cc ( ciraalus ) , and <" ni / ( oculus ) , because they had but one eye , of a eirculav figure , in the middle of their foreheads . There wero many of these

attciulants Avho laboured at the art of smifchery under Vulcan , whose names are not separately mentioned ; Sfceropes , Brontes , and Pyraemon , were the chief of them .

" Brontcsquc , Steropesquc , et mtilus membra Pyraemon . " And as we avo further instructed in tho delightful story of Virgil , — " One stirs the fire , and one the bellows blows—The hissing steel is in the smithy droivn'd ; The grot with beaten anvils groans around . By turns their arms advancein equal time

, ; By turns their hands descend , and hammers chime . They turn the glowing mass with crooked tongs , 'their fiery work proceeds with rustic songs . " There was one Polyphemus , likewise a servant of Vulcan , a one-eyed monster of this brood , born of Neptune , of whom it is said he got his living by successive murders and

robberies , and fco crown the whole , lived upon human flesh . His abode was in the island of Sicily , which appears destined at present , without any great lapse of time , to be delivered from ogres of another kind who have too long flourished there —¦ the monster Polyphemus and his atrocious deeds have been paralleled by other destroyers and deseerafcors of

God ' s image in that fair island . Polypheme , we read , enticed to his palace , or rather den , in Sicily , four of Ulysses ' s companions , ' whom he devoured at one meal thinking further to fill his maw or dungeons ivith all the rest of their crew . And as the Grecian chieftains rejoiced at the defeat of tho giant in the fable we are treating of , so let ns in common with all friends of civilization and freedom rejoice in the approaching doivnfal of a brutal oppression on the same classic soil .

" With spouting blood the purple pavement swims , While the dire glutton grinds the trembling limbs . 5 for unrevenged Ulysses bore their fate , . "Nor thoughtless of his own unhappy state . For gorged with flesh , and drunk with human wine , Whilst fast asleep the giant lay supine ; Snoring aloud , and fetching from his maw

His undigested foam and morsels raw ; We pray- —Ave cast the lots—and then surround The monstrous body stretched along the ground ; Each , as he could approach him , lends a hand . To bore his eyeball with a flaming brand ; Beneath his frowning forehead lay his eye , For onlone did this vast frame suppl

y y ; Like the sun ' s disc , so red , his front it fill'd , Eound as a globe , or like the Grecian shield . " Thus liaving brought the huge beast reeling to tho earth by a rapid succession of wine charges , and put out his sight with a blazing stake thrust through his eye , the wise Ulysses saved his companions from the fate of those who had passed

down the giant ' s throat , and ivas enabled to effect tho escape of all of them from the dreadful habitation of the gigantic cannibal . Bufc the vilest of rogues on record of those ancient days , and the very ensample of later tyrants , was Vulcan ' s son Cacns , a name given him , dirt ) -on t : at ; oTi , front his wickedness . He tormented all Latium with his incendiarisms ,

robberies , assassinations , poisonings , and cold blooded wanton and heartless cruelties ; but like the Dragon of Wantley , the " snapjiing turtle , " and other public nuisances , lie met wifch his match at last . Your Tells , your Wallaces , your Washington , your King Alfreds , King Arthurs and Henries were not as yet . Yet still heroes , men . of renown—the sons of gods , or so esteemed upon , tho earth—such as Castor and Pollux , Perseus and Alcides or Hercules , Avere found to do

battle with giants aud w'ith monsters . From this last mentioned illustrious hero the villain Cacus contrived , as we all know , to steal in the most artful and crafty manner ( much resembling the approved " dodge" of our modern horsechaunters ) , somo fine fat steers , whose dimensions might have vied with the bc & uf gras of a Paris carnival , or the prizes of

even a London cattle SIIOAV . Astute Cacus adopted the Irish pig driver ' s plan , but for a very different reason , dragging tho beasts by their tails , or making them by persuasion or force fco go backwards , by ivhich means he hoped to preclude as much as possible their footmarks being traced to the repository of his thefts . We conclude without hesitation ,

from our reliance on the voracity of Virgil , that the heroic master of the OXIMA prided himself upon their condition , and was wroth at their loss . At all events , when Hercules accidentally passed their place of concealment and discovered them by their lowing , he lost no time in breaking open the doors of the felon ' s cave , so horribly decorated and supplied with human bones , skulls , and flesh . Seizing the rascal , the deini god strangled him in . his mighty arms , and added his misshapen corpse to the defilements of the floor , already

lubricated and saturated wifch the blood perpetually shed upon it . But why should we render into prose what Iins been more graphically done into verse" The monster spewing futive flames , he found : He squeezed his throat , he wreathed his neck around -, And in a knot his crippled members bound . Then from their sockets tore his burning eyes

; Boiled in a heap the breathless robber lies . " In the accomplishment of this feat it is evident that Hercules considered Cacns , although the son of a , god , to have forfeited all claims to knightly courtesy . But to proceed with our epiotation—the following lines , as will be seen , give rather a strong descri ption of tho robber ' s abiding

place : — '" Ttvas once a robber ' s den , enclosed around With living stones , and deep beneath the ground . The monster Cacus , more than half a beast , This hold , impervious to the sun , possess'd—The pavement ever foul with human gore—Heads , and their mangled members , hung the door , Vulcan this plague begot ; and , like his sire , Black clouds he belched , and flakes of livid fire . "

Wo wonder if at the present day there still exists any family which may be considered , at Ptome , the representative ' s of the noble family of the Csecilii ? The moderns have prided themselves in their old aristocratic generations and pedigrees , on being tho descendants of kings , for " all is vanity under the sun "; the ancients went hi gher still , and .

were dissatisfied with any genealogy that could not be traced , to their gods . Calculus , tho son of Vulcan , was so named from the smallness of his C 3 'es , and tho great family of the Ctecilii ivere believed to have received their origin from him . This is a strange instance of human folly j men take pleasure in deceiving themselvesand there is no knowing of what

, deformity and notoriety some individuals will not . be proud of . Caiculus , as Cacns his brother , and such like marauding chieftains , lived by iniquitous fraud , violence and plunder . Out of his ill gotten wealth he built or founded the famous city of Pramestc or Palestrina , in Italy . This was in itself enough to establish his fameand at that remote period

, ( about fifteen hundred years before Christ ) more than sufficient to achieve for him the reputation of a supernatural ori gin , and a name and immortality as a member of the family of the gods . Riches , power , and mi ght , prevailed against right—merit , goodness , and the ri ght were then , and until the golden age returns will continue to be , as nouo-ht

against might . Then , as now , power and wealth were con . sidered the best claims to respect and honour . The ancients with move elaborate hypocrisy indeed , actuall y pretended to worship the fortunate man , and conferred upon him divine honours . Had Virgilins Maro then lived , he mi ght have been so blessed as to become the great laureat or loyal poet