DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5179#0331
292 TEMI*LE OF DIANA.
drawn by bulls, because as these till the ground, so
the moon governs all those parts which surround
the earth.1. Hence Diana was called Tauropolis,
and hence those of the Phocgeans, who founded
the city Tauroeis or Tauroentium in Gaul, and
established the worship of Diana Ephesia, called
the city by this name from the sacred sign of
their vessel.3
Diana was believed to assist at generation, from
the circumstance of the time of bearing: being;
regulated by the lunar month :3 and Proclus says
of her, or the moon,—she " is the cause of nature
to mortals, as she is the self-conspicuous image
of fontal nature.'" The following address to this
divinity, in Apuleius, will show us in what respect
the moon was held by heathen nations.
" Lucius awaking from his sleep, and seeing
the moon shining in full splendour, recollected that
the power of Diana was most extensive, that all
earthly things were directed by her governance;
that not only animals, but even inanimate beings,
feel the effects of her light and divinity ; and that
all things, whether in heaven, or earth, or the
waters, augment and diminish as the moon in-
creases or diminishes, and he therefore prayed to
her to change his metamorphosis back again to
1 Taylor's Paus. vol. iii. p. 196. z Ptolemy, citing Apollodorus.
3 Cic. Nat. Deor. ii. 27. 4 Proc. in Tim. p. 260.
drawn by bulls, because as these till the ground, so
the moon governs all those parts which surround
the earth.1. Hence Diana was called Tauropolis,
and hence those of the Phocgeans, who founded
the city Tauroeis or Tauroentium in Gaul, and
established the worship of Diana Ephesia, called
the city by this name from the sacred sign of
their vessel.3
Diana was believed to assist at generation, from
the circumstance of the time of bearing: being;
regulated by the lunar month :3 and Proclus says
of her, or the moon,—she " is the cause of nature
to mortals, as she is the self-conspicuous image
of fontal nature.'" The following address to this
divinity, in Apuleius, will show us in what respect
the moon was held by heathen nations.
" Lucius awaking from his sleep, and seeing
the moon shining in full splendour, recollected that
the power of Diana was most extensive, that all
earthly things were directed by her governance;
that not only animals, but even inanimate beings,
feel the effects of her light and divinity ; and that
all things, whether in heaven, or earth, or the
waters, augment and diminish as the moon in-
creases or diminishes, and he therefore prayed to
her to change his metamorphosis back again to
1 Taylor's Paus. vol. iii. p. 196. z Ptolemy, citing Apollodorus.
3 Cic. Nat. Deor. ii. 27. 4 Proc. in Tim. p. 260.