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Article CLASSICAL THEOLOGY.—IV. ← Page 3 of 3 Article CLASSICAL THEOLOGY.—IV. Page 3 of 3 Article SYMBOLISM OF COLOUR.—II. Page 1 of 4 →
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Classical Theology.—Iv.
comp leted their full time of blissful but insensorial life in that place of the infernal dominions , abounding with long extended plains of pleasures and delights , and " verdant fields such as with heaven ' s may vie , " called Elysium , or the Elysian fields . These souls—or , to be corrected by Virgil , " Q . uisque suos patimur manes , " spirits , we all must
bearore they went out from the " ivory gate , " had to drink of the oblivious stream , that thereby they might lose all memory of their hapjiiness , and all consciousness of the miseries they had heretofore to endure in the flesh ; so that when they had spent many ages in these fragrant bowers and shadiest groves of their delicious Elysiumirradiant with
, stars of its own and its own sun , they were made once more willing to return even to the struggles and trials homogeneous with this world . The psychological sages ancl poets of the early literary opochs , could not but comprehend the a priori of good and evil , they had an insi ght of the Cabalistic and the Masorithi ,
from which we have gained some knowledge . On the words , "For God doth know that in the day that ye eat thereof , then your eyes shall be opened , and ye shall bo as gods , knowing good ancl evil ; " and , "Behold , the mau is become as one of us , fco know good and evil "—their religion was founded and confounded . They saw , as ifc ivere ,
gods and devils . Their own dee }) analytical investigations taught them to separate the departed good from the departed evil spirits , and to classify their gods . They drove the wicked out from heaven , and awarded to the pure of soul the flowery arcades , umbrageous fountains , and perfumed and ethereal temperate air of their Elysiau paradise . At
the same time they saw no banishment or reformation for the disembodied , unrefined , brutish and the like , unclean spirits . It is true they chained them in the deep dungeons and blitzing lakes of Hades—' Aci ; r ; so called from his dreadful gloominess , yet for all that they thought no place could or would hold them : ancl that they still remained afc large the torments of mankind .
Among the generall y known endowments of Mercury were his arts of speaking and constructing . He is reported to have been the inventor of wei ghts and measures , contracts and bargains , and , what is more , of letters—these honours were his own . For the harp he gave Apollo it is said , that god of the muses iu return presented him wifch his
caducous * , which , after he had stolen the other ' s lyre , made Iheui friends again ; or as the ; strange and incomprehensible story goes , a herdsman , whose name was Battus , saw Mercury stealing from the keeping of Apollo some of King Adnietus ' s herd of cattle on the very day ou which he was horn we marvel not then how lie carried the tools of
; away Vulcan , the cestus of Venus , and , nearly , had he nofc been at ' raid , even the thunderbolts of Jupiter , as he did his sceptre . Vexed , and iu anger , Apollo upbraided him and strung his bow not prone to miss ; but , skilful as be was , within thafc little while he had stolen his lyre and his arrows from him . The philosophical poets wished to
account lor the appearance of the ' yccXcciauc K-UKXOC , that is , the occurrence of that white stream or cleftt of li ght , ycleped the milky way , by the tale that Maiastair babe , whilst suckled once by the unjealous Juno , let fall some of her nulk upon the heavens . Ovid elegantly describes how Hattus was bribed to secrecy , and in which way Hermes tried his probity .
The Romans used to set up statues where the hi gh roads tossed , and called them " indices ; " they had tin arm or finger '' eld out to indicate the way ; likewise , but not in like
man-Hence all ambassadors sent to arrange peace were -styled cad uveal ores ; as those who proclaimed war were termed feciale * . T Aristotle , Plato , and his scholar Eudoxus , contributed much to the " Velopment of scientific astronomy . But Horsohel , instead of making 'at light appearance in the heavens called the milky way or galaxy , a ' mplex of stars , seems to be of the opinion which exhibits it as an leinng 01 . gule in the et ^ regions of light mtviw degrees move i'lkiwel y radiant than our own .
Classical Theology.—Iv.
ner , they placed them in their highways , as the Athenians did at their doors , to drive away thieves . These Cyllenian statues , or Herma 3 , were images having neither hands nor feet ; we cannot tell to what Plutonic period or tertiarydivision they belonged , but the indices must have had a first cause . Mercury had disguised himselfaud Battus was
over-, come by his inveigling promises , thereupon the former turns the latter into a stone , denominated index . We should not either lose sight of the girdle , the magic cestus—the deified thief took it from his sister , Venus . The truth is , the ancient literati had very little reverence even for their most high deitiesof whom Mercury was one ; they translated them into
, fables , monsters , and reptiles , with inclinations vilely suitable ; a little mingling of earth with heaven , and a large admixture of hell . From the beginning antagonist to the true God , what was to be expected of such a religion but fche mockery of righteousness 1
Symbolism Of Colour.—Ii.
SYMBOLISM OF COLOUR . —II .
[ Continued from page Hi . " ] CHEOTZER ( "Symbolik , " vol . iv . p . 593 , ) fully admitting the existence of polychromic symbolism , also acknowledges the difficulty of now explaining it , from one of the causes that we have before stated—the scantiness of objects on which to operate . ? Gorres' "Mythological History , " i . 291 , is cited that Jupiter ' s
image was earth colour , ( asch grau unci feuerfarbig ) ash green and fire colour ; Mars of a reel stone ; and Phoebus golden ; Mercury-of . a blue stone ; Venus red ; the temple of the moon of a green colour . This . significance of colour descended to the early church and scrqitural art . Mrs . Jamieson , iu her " Legendary Art , " ( p . 18 ) , has some pertinent remarks on the subject , here condensed : —
" In very early art we find colours used in a symbolical sense —certain colours were appropriated to certain subjects and personages , and could not be arbitrarily applied or misapplied . In the old specimens of stained glass we tind these significations scrupulously attended to , thus : —While , represented by the diamond or silver , emblem of light , religious purity—our Saviour wears white after his resurrection it was the colour consecrated to the
; Virgin , who , however , never wears white except iu the assumption . lied , —the ruby signified lire , divine love , the Holy Ghost . AVhite and red roses , love and innocence , —iu a bad sense , blood and war . lied and black combined , purgatory and the devil . f "
Blue or sapphire : Christ and the Virgin have red tunics and blue mantles . In Spain the Saviour ' s is generally a deep rich violet . To Sfc . John the Evangelist is attributed a blue tunic and reel mantle , later colours sometimes red and green . Yellow or ? old is the symbol of the sun . St . Peter wears
* He says : — , ; The use which the ancients made of colour iu their symbolism can now only be guessed at from the general destruction of their paintings : still it might be expected ii priori , that the symbolical tendency of thoir minds would not have despised such means , more especially under the influence of their artistic skill . The Greeks , nearer than we to nature , and living under a joyous sky , most certainly observed exactly the effect of the dilfercnt tones of light , ancl of the manifold play of colour in nature produced in the mindDescriptions of paintings
. given us by Philostratus leave us no room to doubt that both light and colour were used by them with deep purpose and the fullest intention . AVith Philostratus , and in an Herculean painting , Bacchus has a red garment , as attributed to him hi au inscription . AViukelman refers this to the colour of wine , for which maybe add ciced—First , the old practice , of painting the images of this deity rod , and not only of this deity , but also particularly of the other pastoral deities Pan , Priapus the Satyrs ; divinities this
nav , even according to Plutarch , of all the other . Hy glaring tint it was perhaps the iutention to represent the full energy of nature , aud when the practice was so general , as Plutarch tells us , possibly sometimes to make these glorious old Olympians thoroughly conspicuous . " . f Monsieur Portal , in his fanciful treatise " 1 > es Contours Symbolicmes , ' ( SvoParis 1827 131 ) full corroborates Mrs . Jamieson for this
., , ., p . , y union of red and black . " Le noir n'est pas une eouleur , mais la negation de toutes les nuances et de ce cju ' elles representent . Ainsi le rouge designera l'amour divin ; uni au noir 11 sera le symbole do Vamonr mtevnaVe , do Vegoismn , de liaum , et de toutes lea passions dc ; 'homtne degrade , "
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Classical Theology.—Iv.
comp leted their full time of blissful but insensorial life in that place of the infernal dominions , abounding with long extended plains of pleasures and delights , and " verdant fields such as with heaven ' s may vie , " called Elysium , or the Elysian fields . These souls—or , to be corrected by Virgil , " Q . uisque suos patimur manes , " spirits , we all must
bearore they went out from the " ivory gate , " had to drink of the oblivious stream , that thereby they might lose all memory of their hapjiiness , and all consciousness of the miseries they had heretofore to endure in the flesh ; so that when they had spent many ages in these fragrant bowers and shadiest groves of their delicious Elysiumirradiant with
, stars of its own and its own sun , they were made once more willing to return even to the struggles and trials homogeneous with this world . The psychological sages ancl poets of the early literary opochs , could not but comprehend the a priori of good and evil , they had an insi ght of the Cabalistic and the Masorithi ,
from which we have gained some knowledge . On the words , "For God doth know that in the day that ye eat thereof , then your eyes shall be opened , and ye shall bo as gods , knowing good ancl evil ; " and , "Behold , the mau is become as one of us , fco know good and evil "—their religion was founded and confounded . They saw , as ifc ivere ,
gods and devils . Their own dee }) analytical investigations taught them to separate the departed good from the departed evil spirits , and to classify their gods . They drove the wicked out from heaven , and awarded to the pure of soul the flowery arcades , umbrageous fountains , and perfumed and ethereal temperate air of their Elysiau paradise . At
the same time they saw no banishment or reformation for the disembodied , unrefined , brutish and the like , unclean spirits . It is true they chained them in the deep dungeons and blitzing lakes of Hades—' Aci ; r ; so called from his dreadful gloominess , yet for all that they thought no place could or would hold them : ancl that they still remained afc large the torments of mankind .
Among the generall y known endowments of Mercury were his arts of speaking and constructing . He is reported to have been the inventor of wei ghts and measures , contracts and bargains , and , what is more , of letters—these honours were his own . For the harp he gave Apollo it is said , that god of the muses iu return presented him wifch his
caducous * , which , after he had stolen the other ' s lyre , made Iheui friends again ; or as the ; strange and incomprehensible story goes , a herdsman , whose name was Battus , saw Mercury stealing from the keeping of Apollo some of King Adnietus ' s herd of cattle on the very day ou which he was horn we marvel not then how lie carried the tools of
; away Vulcan , the cestus of Venus , and , nearly , had he nofc been at ' raid , even the thunderbolts of Jupiter , as he did his sceptre . Vexed , and iu anger , Apollo upbraided him and strung his bow not prone to miss ; but , skilful as be was , within thafc little while he had stolen his lyre and his arrows from him . The philosophical poets wished to
account lor the appearance of the ' yccXcciauc K-UKXOC , that is , the occurrence of that white stream or cleftt of li ght , ycleped the milky way , by the tale that Maiastair babe , whilst suckled once by the unjealous Juno , let fall some of her nulk upon the heavens . Ovid elegantly describes how Hattus was bribed to secrecy , and in which way Hermes tried his probity .
The Romans used to set up statues where the hi gh roads tossed , and called them " indices ; " they had tin arm or finger '' eld out to indicate the way ; likewise , but not in like
man-Hence all ambassadors sent to arrange peace were -styled cad uveal ores ; as those who proclaimed war were termed feciale * . T Aristotle , Plato , and his scholar Eudoxus , contributed much to the " Velopment of scientific astronomy . But Horsohel , instead of making 'at light appearance in the heavens called the milky way or galaxy , a ' mplex of stars , seems to be of the opinion which exhibits it as an leinng 01 . gule in the et ^ regions of light mtviw degrees move i'lkiwel y radiant than our own .
Classical Theology.—Iv.
ner , they placed them in their highways , as the Athenians did at their doors , to drive away thieves . These Cyllenian statues , or Herma 3 , were images having neither hands nor feet ; we cannot tell to what Plutonic period or tertiarydivision they belonged , but the indices must have had a first cause . Mercury had disguised himselfaud Battus was
over-, come by his inveigling promises , thereupon the former turns the latter into a stone , denominated index . We should not either lose sight of the girdle , the magic cestus—the deified thief took it from his sister , Venus . The truth is , the ancient literati had very little reverence even for their most high deitiesof whom Mercury was one ; they translated them into
, fables , monsters , and reptiles , with inclinations vilely suitable ; a little mingling of earth with heaven , and a large admixture of hell . From the beginning antagonist to the true God , what was to be expected of such a religion but fche mockery of righteousness 1
Symbolism Of Colour.—Ii.
SYMBOLISM OF COLOUR . —II .
[ Continued from page Hi . " ] CHEOTZER ( "Symbolik , " vol . iv . p . 593 , ) fully admitting the existence of polychromic symbolism , also acknowledges the difficulty of now explaining it , from one of the causes that we have before stated—the scantiness of objects on which to operate . ? Gorres' "Mythological History , " i . 291 , is cited that Jupiter ' s
image was earth colour , ( asch grau unci feuerfarbig ) ash green and fire colour ; Mars of a reel stone ; and Phoebus golden ; Mercury-of . a blue stone ; Venus red ; the temple of the moon of a green colour . This . significance of colour descended to the early church and scrqitural art . Mrs . Jamieson , iu her " Legendary Art , " ( p . 18 ) , has some pertinent remarks on the subject , here condensed : —
" In very early art we find colours used in a symbolical sense —certain colours were appropriated to certain subjects and personages , and could not be arbitrarily applied or misapplied . In the old specimens of stained glass we tind these significations scrupulously attended to , thus : —While , represented by the diamond or silver , emblem of light , religious purity—our Saviour wears white after his resurrection it was the colour consecrated to the
; Virgin , who , however , never wears white except iu the assumption . lied , —the ruby signified lire , divine love , the Holy Ghost . AVhite and red roses , love and innocence , —iu a bad sense , blood and war . lied and black combined , purgatory and the devil . f "
Blue or sapphire : Christ and the Virgin have red tunics and blue mantles . In Spain the Saviour ' s is generally a deep rich violet . To Sfc . John the Evangelist is attributed a blue tunic and reel mantle , later colours sometimes red and green . Yellow or ? old is the symbol of the sun . St . Peter wears
* He says : — , ; The use which the ancients made of colour iu their symbolism can now only be guessed at from the general destruction of their paintings : still it might be expected ii priori , that the symbolical tendency of thoir minds would not have despised such means , more especially under the influence of their artistic skill . The Greeks , nearer than we to nature , and living under a joyous sky , most certainly observed exactly the effect of the dilfercnt tones of light , ancl of the manifold play of colour in nature produced in the mindDescriptions of paintings
. given us by Philostratus leave us no room to doubt that both light and colour were used by them with deep purpose and the fullest intention . AVith Philostratus , and in an Herculean painting , Bacchus has a red garment , as attributed to him hi au inscription . AViukelman refers this to the colour of wine , for which maybe add ciced—First , the old practice , of painting the images of this deity rod , and not only of this deity , but also particularly of the other pastoral deities Pan , Priapus the Satyrs ; divinities this
nav , even according to Plutarch , of all the other . Hy glaring tint it was perhaps the iutention to represent the full energy of nature , aud when the practice was so general , as Plutarch tells us , possibly sometimes to make these glorious old Olympians thoroughly conspicuous . " . f Monsieur Portal , in his fanciful treatise " 1 > es Contours Symbolicmes , ' ( SvoParis 1827 131 ) full corroborates Mrs . Jamieson for this
., , ., p . , y union of red and black . " Le noir n'est pas une eouleur , mais la negation de toutes les nuances et de ce cju ' elles representent . Ainsi le rouge designera l'amour divin ; uni au noir 11 sera le symbole do Vamonr mtevnaVe , do Vegoismn , de liaum , et de toutes lea passions dc ; 'homtne degrade , "