Classical Theology.—Xxiii.

CLASSICAL THEOLOGY . —XXIII .

LOXDOX , SATURDAY , J USE 23 , 1800 .

VII . —VULCAN AND SEPTEMBER . AMONG tho many extraordinary and grotesque attempts which have recently been made to throw some light upon that singular composition , the Apocalyptic Vision , of St . John , it has been thought that the locusts , scorpions , and dragons , described in the . Revelation , are allusions to iron plated war steamers furnished with bomb camion for poisonous shells ; monster pieces of ordnance , and other engines to bo worked b y fire , yet to he invented , though in this instance thus foreshown .

"And they had breastplates , as it were breastplates of iron ; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle . And they had tails like unto scorpions . And thus I saw the horses in the vision , ancl them that sat on them , having breastplates of fire , and of jacinth , and brimstone ; anil the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions ; and out of their months issued fire and smokeand brimstone . Bthese

, y three was the third part of men killed , by the fire , and by the smoke , and by the brimstone , which issued out of their mouths . " It has been furthermore suggested that since ships are decorated with remarkable figure heads , and since it is nothing rare to meet with a vessel of war bearing such a name as "Locust , " "Scorpion , " "Serpent , " and " Dragon ";

ancl since equally unpleasant names have boon given by enthusiastic destroyers of their fellow creatures to favourite models of artillery , that there is not so much incompatibility in trying to reconcile St . John ' s descriptions with nineteenth century inventions . There is nothing for certain that wc know of in the shape

of a brick , a tablet , a book , or a graven stone , hitherto turned up or been discovered which can bo proved to bo a relic of the anttdeluvian ages but as we are assured by Solomon iu all his wisdom that there "is nothing new under the sun , " wc may infer that all we now know has been known before . It is true , we can find no mention made of old cf the use of electricity , perhaps the most momentous as well as the most wonderfully adapted invention of modern science . Yet still we have some right to believe that the

Deucaliouiaii flood answers to the universal deluge , and if so , wc arc not without various records and memorials , preexistent to that terrible event . Moreover , if ive are to suppose that there is any foundation in truth in what has been reported of Deucalion—Themis ( the earth ) herself sustained in spiritual wise the supplied jilace of the electric

telegraph . At all events , the renowned brass tripos , so famous amongst the poets , was wrought by the master hand of Vulcan , the princely god of blacksmiths . It is vague and uncertain whether it was in the city of Dodoua , built by Deucalion , on the mountain of that name , or whether on Mount Parnassusor upon Agclusin Asia

, , , the huge rock on the borders of Phrygia Magna , that this king or patriarch sought refuge , or ou which his ark or bark vested after the abatement of the broken up fountains of the groat deep . Equally hard is it to say what the Cyclopeans really were . Some have supposed them to have constituted in themselves an architectural order ; that they were huge

stones piled one on the other ivithout cement , and to have been watch towers with beacons . Others have considered them as the first inhabitants ofthe mountain iEtna , or , according to Diodorus , of Sicily ; and that they gained their name from the blazing eye or fire of the volcano which they called Vulcan . This wc consider most probableespeciall

, y if we likewise take into account the Gulliverial imaginations of the j > oets who , long before the author of the renowned voyages of the heroic Gulliver , knew as well as the witty Swift , how to disguise jiolitical satire under the fiction of absurd or romantic adventures .

' AouirwaXauir , means " to woep for Adonis , " according to the interpretation of Snicks . Tho ' 'Aeorela wero in most of the cities of Grtecia celebrated in honour and memory of

Venus , and her lost love Adonis . During the two days of the solemnity , images and pictorial representations of the gocl and goddess wero brought forth with all the mournful pomp ancl ceremonies attendant on funerals of old , as with those still of the dark ages . Tho women boat their breasts , tore their hair , and went through all those exhibitions of postures and actions practiced in the outward , lamentations

for the actual dead . These acts of supposed grief were termed uS .. > j'ici < r ; uuc and I ' IOMI- M ; the songs relative to the event were named ' Aowidta . On this occasion were also carried shells filled with earth , in which were herbs , ancl conspicuously lettuces , in recollection of Adonis being laid out by Venus on a bed of lettuces . Tho flutes in use wero

called Tiyypiac , from a Phcenician name of Adonis j tho songs had their names too , called conjointly , ftyytiurra . The sacrifice was styled Kcdhopa , so named after " clays of mourning . " The following clay was kept in memory of the rejoicings on the passing favour of Proserpine to Venus , on tho return of Adonis to lifeand to dwell with her through

, all tho summer part of tho year . All these grave follies and serious vanities of empty pomp serve only to expose tho mock religion and superstitions of the heathen world , which of itself gave birth to tho aphorism , oiTiEi' lepon—on giving a sacred greatness to things which aro in themselves ridiculous ancl worthless . Nevertheless , here

is fully shown , as has been previously mentioned , that this Venus was not tho wife of Vulcan , but rather one of tho mystic nine , that is , Urania the muse . AVe believe there is , in one of the royal collections , a superb picture , by Carlo Maratti , of tho Nereid Galatea . She is represented sitting in a car like shell , drawn by a pair of

dolphins , whom she guides by silken reins . In advance ofthe car is a sea herald , or triton , sounding his shell ; two oceanic nymphs in attendance are holding a floating canopy of gauze over her . Polyphemus , with his pandean flute in his hand , is seen leaning against a rock . There is also another existing piece of this nature , by the inimitable Albano . Galathea , or

Galatea , is again beheld in her pearly car ; her tresses flow loose on the evening air , as also does her veil , which she has gracefully raised from her youthful and lovely face , to look at a rainbow on the li ght misty clouds , which are following her . Her gliding sea car , or shell chariot ( coulcl Albano over have dreamt of steam propulsion ?) is only impelled , by

wheels . In the Farnesina , or Casino of Farnese , is the celebrated Galatea of Raphael . There are also many other well known valuable paintings of this Cyclopean Polyphemus and his beloved Nereid , not the least important amongst tlieni being a fresco by Anibale Caracci , which exhibits Pol yphemus playing on his syrinx , and tenderly gazing on Galatea ; ancl another , in which he is depicted as heaving an enormous mass of rock to crush the ill fated Aeis .

This shepherd king , or gentle youth , Acis , we are told , after having been crushed to death , was changed whilst his blood ran in a stream paler and paler , into a fountain in tho valley of Mount iEtna , still bearing his name ; from him tho river Acis derived its appellation . At Lemnos , Thebes , ancl especially at Berytus , Imbrus ,

and Samothraco , which islands were held sacred to the Gabiri , the sons of Vulcan by Cabcra ( whom some will have it were Phcenician gocls , —we believe they were ivorshi jipecl as deities ) solemn observances , called after their name Kafietpai , were consecrated to them . The initiated into these esteemed mysteries were considered wholly secured

from the injuries of sea storms and other great dangers . The chief ceremony , which may be found described in the works of Diodorus , Ehodiginus , Plato , and others , consisted in the person offering himself being crowned with the olive wreath , ancl having his loins girded with a blue or purple riband and of p lacing him on a throne , round which the priests ancl constituted assembly danced ancl sported , much in tho fashion of onv sailors round a novice on passinothe line , before that affair became a savage aboiui-