DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5264#0019
18
of Crete, and the Bellona of the Romans. In-
deed in proportion as we advance to the source
of those opinions which gave birth to the Pagan
Mythology, the confusion which at first view
seemed to bewilder the enquirer, begins to dis-
appear. The most ancient expositors of heathen
Fables teach us to believe that all their divini-
ties were modifications of the active and passive
Principle of Creation. The Giver of Light
might be worshipped as the Sun, and the Re-
ceiver was rationally typified by the Moon.
Once in possession of this clue, the complicate
labyrinth of Paganism, whether surveyed in
Egypt, in Greece, in Persia, or the more dis-
tant eastern countries, may be explored. The
agency of light upon a chaotic fluid, that im-
portant truth, recorded in the annals of every
people, and resulting from the latest researches
into the History of Nature, was known to all
nations. Hence the transition is natural to those
various titles and personifications which became
so numerous. Sol, Mithras, Osiris, Aramon,
and Bolus, were multiplied to such an extent,
that Varro relates there were no less than three
hundred different modes by which Jupiter alone
was represented. The same may be said of the
personifications of the passive principle. The
Magna Mater was I sis, Luna, Juno, Vesta,
Ceres, Proserpine, Minerva, or Diana, according
as their respective rites and appellations suited
of Crete, and the Bellona of the Romans. In-
deed in proportion as we advance to the source
of those opinions which gave birth to the Pagan
Mythology, the confusion which at first view
seemed to bewilder the enquirer, begins to dis-
appear. The most ancient expositors of heathen
Fables teach us to believe that all their divini-
ties were modifications of the active and passive
Principle of Creation. The Giver of Light
might be worshipped as the Sun, and the Re-
ceiver was rationally typified by the Moon.
Once in possession of this clue, the complicate
labyrinth of Paganism, whether surveyed in
Egypt, in Greece, in Persia, or the more dis-
tant eastern countries, may be explored. The
agency of light upon a chaotic fluid, that im-
portant truth, recorded in the annals of every
people, and resulting from the latest researches
into the History of Nature, was known to all
nations. Hence the transition is natural to those
various titles and personifications which became
so numerous. Sol, Mithras, Osiris, Aramon,
and Bolus, were multiplied to such an extent,
that Varro relates there were no less than three
hundred different modes by which Jupiter alone
was represented. The same may be said of the
personifications of the passive principle. The
Magna Mater was I sis, Luna, Juno, Vesta,
Ceres, Proserpine, Minerva, or Diana, according
as their respective rites and appellations suited