DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.7416#0039
29
credulity of the vulgar Heathens, sprang from abstruse philosophy
conveyed in figurative and mysterious expressions.
41. The elements Fire and Water were supposed to be those, in
which the active and passive productive powers of the universe re-*
spectively existed ;' since nothing appeared to be produced without
them 5 and wherever they were joined there was production of some
sort, either vegetable or animal. Hence they were employed as the pri-
mary symbols of these powers on numberless occasions. Among the
Romans, a part of the ceremony of marriage consisted in the bride's
touching them, as a form of consecration to the duties of that
state of life, upon which she was entering.1 Their sentence of ba-
nishment, too, was an interdiction from fire and water; whiclv
implied an exclusion from any participation in those elements, to
which all organised and animated beings owed their existence.
Numa is said to have consecrated the perpetual fire, as the first of
all things, and the soul of matter ; which, without it, is motionless
and dead.3 Fires of the same kind were, for the same reasons,
preserved in most of the principal temples both Greek and Barba-r
1 Quippe ubi temperiem surapsere humorque calorque,
Concipiunt: et ab his oriuntur cuncta duobus.
Ovid. Met. i. 430.
avi/iCTaTai (.isv ovv ra fwa, to re aXAa -rravra, Kai <5 avdpanros, airo Svoiv 5ia(popoiv'\
pev rr\v Svvaniy, o-vu.<popoiv Se tt\v ^pijiriv. Trvpos Aeya> Kai Metros. Hippocrat.
Aiciit. i. 4.
To /j.tvyap irvp dwarai iravra 5ia iravros Kivi)fTai, to 5e vfiwp iravra Zia Tamos Qpetyai.
—to jxtv ovv irvp Kai to i>5a>p aurapKea eaTi -nao-i 5ia -rravros es to ^kkttov Kai to t\aKi'
otov aaavras. Hippocrat. Dia.-t. i. 4.
Eo"ep7rez 5' es avBpicirov '^vxVt nupos koi vSaTos cvyKpijaiv e%ouo"a, p.oipav ooi/xaTos
avQpicTrov. Ib. s. 8.
Touro wtb fiia iravTos Kvfiepvq, Kai t£t5e Kai eKeiva, ou5e7TOTe aTpe/j.i£ov (to Ttyp).
Ib. s. n.
Xlvpi Kai CSaTi iravTa £vvio-TaTai, km £*&>a Kai tyvra, Kai vtto rovreav av|er£u, Kai es
ra,vra SiaKpiveTai. Ib. 1. ii. s. 31.
2 Aia ti TTjV yafXov^vt]v arrreaOai Trvpos Kai vdaTos KtXevuvo'l ; iroTtpov tovtwv, ws cv
(TTOixeiois Kai apxais, to appev eo~Tt, to 5e 9r]\v Kai to fxev apxas Kivqatus €Vt7]crit to 5e
vroKei/j.evov Kai v\t]s Svva/xiv. Plutarch. Qa. Kom. sub. iriit.
3 tris apxyv airavTiav—-to. 5' aWa tt}s v\i)s fi-opia, 6tp[ioTirros eTriK^movariSj
apya iceifisva Kai utKpois eoiKOTa, xoOci tt)U irvpos 5vvap.iv ws tyvxtlV' Plutarch, ill
N uma.
credulity of the vulgar Heathens, sprang from abstruse philosophy
conveyed in figurative and mysterious expressions.
41. The elements Fire and Water were supposed to be those, in
which the active and passive productive powers of the universe re-*
spectively existed ;' since nothing appeared to be produced without
them 5 and wherever they were joined there was production of some
sort, either vegetable or animal. Hence they were employed as the pri-
mary symbols of these powers on numberless occasions. Among the
Romans, a part of the ceremony of marriage consisted in the bride's
touching them, as a form of consecration to the duties of that
state of life, upon which she was entering.1 Their sentence of ba-
nishment, too, was an interdiction from fire and water; whiclv
implied an exclusion from any participation in those elements, to
which all organised and animated beings owed their existence.
Numa is said to have consecrated the perpetual fire, as the first of
all things, and the soul of matter ; which, without it, is motionless
and dead.3 Fires of the same kind were, for the same reasons,
preserved in most of the principal temples both Greek and Barba-r
1 Quippe ubi temperiem surapsere humorque calorque,
Concipiunt: et ab his oriuntur cuncta duobus.
Ovid. Met. i. 430.
avi/iCTaTai (.isv ovv ra fwa, to re aXAa -rravra, Kai <5 avdpanros, airo Svoiv 5ia(popoiv'\
pev rr\v Svvaniy, o-vu.<popoiv Se tt\v ^pijiriv. Trvpos Aeya> Kai Metros. Hippocrat.
Aiciit. i. 4.
To /j.tvyap irvp dwarai iravra 5ia iravros Kivi)fTai, to 5e vfiwp iravra Zia Tamos Qpetyai.
—to jxtv ovv irvp Kai to i>5a>p aurapKea eaTi -nao-i 5ia -rravros es to ^kkttov Kai to t\aKi'
otov aaavras. Hippocrat. Dia.-t. i. 4.
Eo"ep7rez 5' es avBpicirov '^vxVt nupos koi vSaTos cvyKpijaiv e%ouo"a, p.oipav ooi/xaTos
avQpicTrov. Ib. s. 8.
Touro wtb fiia iravTos Kvfiepvq, Kai t£t5e Kai eKeiva, ou5e7TOTe aTpe/j.i£ov (to Ttyp).
Ib. s. n.
Xlvpi Kai CSaTi iravTa £vvio-TaTai, km £*&>a Kai tyvra, Kai vtto rovreav av|er£u, Kai es
ra,vra SiaKpiveTai. Ib. 1. ii. s. 31.
2 Aia ti TTjV yafXov^vt]v arrreaOai Trvpos Kai vdaTos KtXevuvo'l ; iroTtpov tovtwv, ws cv
(TTOixeiois Kai apxais, to appev eo~Tt, to 5e 9r]\v Kai to fxev apxas Kivqatus €Vt7]crit to 5e
vroKei/j.evov Kai v\t]s Svva/xiv. Plutarch. Qa. Kom. sub. iriit.
3 tris apxyv airavTiav—-to. 5' aWa tt}s v\i)s fi-opia, 6tp[ioTirros eTriK^movariSj
apya iceifisva Kai utKpois eoiKOTa, xoOci tt)U irvpos 5vvap.iv ws tyvxtlV' Plutarch, ill
N uma.