DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.7416#0041
31
42. Though water was thought to be the principle of the passive,
us fire was of the active power; yet, both being esteemed unpro-
ductive when separate,1 both were occasionally considered as united
•hi each. Hence Vesta, whose symbol was fire, was held to be,
equally with Ceres, a personification of the Earth ;1 or rather of the
genial heat, which pervades it, to which its productive powers
were supposed to be owing; wherefore her temple at Rome was
of a circular form, having the sacred fire in the centre, but no
statue.3 She was celebrated by the poets, as the daughter of
Rhea, the sister of Jupiter and Juno, and the first of the goddesses.4
As the principle of universal order, she presided over the prytaneia
or magisterial seats ; and was therefore the same as Themis, the
direct personification of that attribute, and the guardian of all as-
semblies, both public and private, both of men and gods:5
whence all legislation was derived from Ceres, a more general perso-
nification including the same powers. The universal mother of
the Phrygians and Syrians, called by the Greeks Cybelci, because
' To wvp xwf's vypoTTyros arptxpov earl Kai t,npov, to Se iSup avev Bepiurrrfros ayovov
Kcuapyov. Plutarch. Qu. Rom. sub ink.
\'iilii> haa Jitiiu >r!.;..<•.: y>? ■■••>'|i; ■•) yifH'Jup'jti H ac Th38t3yy >■;,;...}■■
* E/ccvrepa S' (tj Atjutjttjo icai rj 'Eona) foucev oux' erepa -njs yt)s eivat. Phurnut. de
Nat. Deor. c. 28.
Vesta eadcm est qua; Terra, subest vigil ignis utrique.
Ovid. Fast. lib. vi. v. 2G7.
Nec tu aliud Vestam quam vivam intellige flammam.
Ibid. v. 291.
3 Ovid. ibid. The temple is still extant, concerted into a church ; and the
ruins of another more elegant one, called the Sibyl's temple, at Tivoli.
4 nai Peas, aye Tlpvraveia \e\oyKas, 'Eo-na,
7.r}vos vtyixnov Ka(Tiyyt]Ta Kai bfxoBpovov 'Hpas,
* * • • • » »
* * * * ».« *
•-i-aya^oixevoi -rpuravBeuv. Pindar. Nem. xi.
5 ,----Befus
Kai raw, ttoKKwv ovofxaruy nopipT] pua,
^Escliyl. Prom. Vinct. 209.
42. Though water was thought to be the principle of the passive,
us fire was of the active power; yet, both being esteemed unpro-
ductive when separate,1 both were occasionally considered as united
•hi each. Hence Vesta, whose symbol was fire, was held to be,
equally with Ceres, a personification of the Earth ;1 or rather of the
genial heat, which pervades it, to which its productive powers
were supposed to be owing; wherefore her temple at Rome was
of a circular form, having the sacred fire in the centre, but no
statue.3 She was celebrated by the poets, as the daughter of
Rhea, the sister of Jupiter and Juno, and the first of the goddesses.4
As the principle of universal order, she presided over the prytaneia
or magisterial seats ; and was therefore the same as Themis, the
direct personification of that attribute, and the guardian of all as-
semblies, both public and private, both of men and gods:5
whence all legislation was derived from Ceres, a more general perso-
nification including the same powers. The universal mother of
the Phrygians and Syrians, called by the Greeks Cybelci, because
' To wvp xwf's vypoTTyros arptxpov earl Kai t,npov, to Se iSup avev Bepiurrrfros ayovov
Kcuapyov. Plutarch. Qu. Rom. sub ink.
\'iilii> haa Jitiiu >r!.;..<•.: y>? ■■••>'|i; ■•) yifH'Jup'jti H ac Th38t3yy >■;,;...}■■
* E/ccvrepa S' (tj Atjutjttjo icai rj 'Eona) foucev oux' erepa -njs yt)s eivat. Phurnut. de
Nat. Deor. c. 28.
Vesta eadcm est qua; Terra, subest vigil ignis utrique.
Ovid. Fast. lib. vi. v. 2G7.
Nec tu aliud Vestam quam vivam intellige flammam.
Ibid. v. 291.
3 Ovid. ibid. The temple is still extant, concerted into a church ; and the
ruins of another more elegant one, called the Sibyl's temple, at Tivoli.
4 nai Peas, aye Tlpvraveia \e\oyKas, 'Eo-na,
7.r}vos vtyixnov Ka(Tiyyt]Ta Kai bfxoBpovov 'Hpas,
* * • • • » »
* * * * ».« *
•-i-aya^oixevoi -rpuravBeuv. Pindar. Nem. xi.
5 ,----Befus
Kai raw, ttoKKwv ovofxaruy nopipT] pua,
^Escliyl. Prom. Vinct. 209.