DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.7416#0135
125
Hecate, or Diana, the destroyer. 1 In monuments of Grecian art,
the cock is his most frequent symbol; and in a small figure of brass,
We have observed him sitting on a rock, with a cock on his right
side, the goat on his left, and the tortoise at his feet. The ram,
however, is more commonly employed to accompany him, and in
some instances he appears sitting upon it wherefore it is probable
that both these animals signified nearly the same ; or, at most, only
different modifications of the influence of the nocturnal sun, as the
cock did that of the diurnal. Hence Mercury appears to have been
a personification of the power arising from both; and we accordingly
find that die old Pelasgian Mercury, so generally worshipped at
Athens,3 was a priapic figure,4 and probably the same personage as the
Celtic Mercury, who was the principal deity of the ancient Gauls;5
•who do not, however, appear to have had any statues of him till
they received them from the Greeks and Romans.
160. In these, one hand always holds a purse, to signify that
productive -attribute, which is peculiarly the result of mental skill
and sagacity,6 while the other holds the caducens ; a symbol com-
posed of the staff or sceptre of dominion between two serpents, the
emblems of life or preservation, and therefore signifying his power
over it. Hence it was always borne by heralds; of whom Mercury,
as the messenger of the gods, was the patron, and whose office was
to proclaim peace, and denounce war ; of both which it might be con-
_
1 Tavrqv fXf,v ^<"fel Tap' Ar/trariois tv,v b~wap.iv 6 Avovfiis o'lav rj 'Ekott) Trap' 'EAAtjo-i
XOovios cap bpov Kat lOXvp.-KLos. Ibid.
1 Particularly in an intaglio of exquisite work, in the collection of the Earl
of Carlisle.
3 h&t)va.iwv 5e etm to cxvjiia to r-erpayrn'ov cm rats 'Epjiair, fc-ai Trapa tovtccv ptpa-
0-i)na<riv 01 aXXoi. Paus. in Mess. c. xxxiii.
4 Tov 5e 'Epuew to ayaXpaTa opSa exc'y ra oiSom TOiewres, ovk air kr/virrav fifpa-
Oi]Kao-i, aX\' airo noAao-yuv. Herodot. ii. 51.
Top 'Epfiov Se to ayaXfia, &v ot ravrrj (KvXKrivri) irepiarws o-e/3owiv, opBov ecrrw aitioiov
tin tov PaQpov. Pansan. ill Eliac. ii. c. xxvi. s. 3.
5 Cajsar. de B. G. lib. vi.
0 Occultb Mercurio supplicabat (Julianus) quem mundi velociorem sensum
esst, niotum mentium suscitantem, theologia; prodidere doctrirue. Arnmian.
Marcellin. lib. xvi. c. 5.
Hecate, or Diana, the destroyer. 1 In monuments of Grecian art,
the cock is his most frequent symbol; and in a small figure of brass,
We have observed him sitting on a rock, with a cock on his right
side, the goat on his left, and the tortoise at his feet. The ram,
however, is more commonly employed to accompany him, and in
some instances he appears sitting upon it wherefore it is probable
that both these animals signified nearly the same ; or, at most, only
different modifications of the influence of the nocturnal sun, as the
cock did that of the diurnal. Hence Mercury appears to have been
a personification of the power arising from both; and we accordingly
find that die old Pelasgian Mercury, so generally worshipped at
Athens,3 was a priapic figure,4 and probably the same personage as the
Celtic Mercury, who was the principal deity of the ancient Gauls;5
•who do not, however, appear to have had any statues of him till
they received them from the Greeks and Romans.
160. In these, one hand always holds a purse, to signify that
productive -attribute, which is peculiarly the result of mental skill
and sagacity,6 while the other holds the caducens ; a symbol com-
posed of the staff or sceptre of dominion between two serpents, the
emblems of life or preservation, and therefore signifying his power
over it. Hence it was always borne by heralds; of whom Mercury,
as the messenger of the gods, was the patron, and whose office was
to proclaim peace, and denounce war ; of both which it might be con-
_
1 Tavrqv fXf,v ^<"fel Tap' Ar/trariois tv,v b~wap.iv 6 Avovfiis o'lav rj 'Ekott) Trap' 'EAAtjo-i
XOovios cap bpov Kat lOXvp.-KLos. Ibid.
1 Particularly in an intaglio of exquisite work, in the collection of the Earl
of Carlisle.
3 h&t)va.iwv 5e etm to cxvjiia to r-erpayrn'ov cm rats 'Epjiair, fc-ai Trapa tovtccv ptpa-
0-i)na<riv 01 aXXoi. Paus. in Mess. c. xxxiii.
4 Tov 5e 'Epuew to ayaXpaTa opSa exc'y ra oiSom TOiewres, ovk air kr/virrav fifpa-
Oi]Kao-i, aX\' airo noAao-yuv. Herodot. ii. 51.
Top 'Epfiov Se to ayaXfia, &v ot ravrrj (KvXKrivri) irepiarws o-e/3owiv, opBov ecrrw aitioiov
tin tov PaQpov. Pansan. ill Eliac. ii. c. xxvi. s. 3.
5 Cajsar. de B. G. lib. vi.
0 Occultb Mercurio supplicabat (Julianus) quem mundi velociorem sensum
esst, niotum mentium suscitantem, theologia; prodidere doctrirue. Arnmian.
Marcellin. lib. xvi. c. 5.