DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5309#0040
;
account like this for the four figures, one masculine, and three feminine, seen in the
cave, nor that will so exactly agree with all the circumstances of the place.
That Cecrops himself was worshipped in that cavern, Euripides5 gives us to under-
stand, when he calls it the cavern of Cecrops, ad antra Cecropis.—
With respect to his daughters, the fable, that made the Cecropian rock so conspi-
cuous, seems to give us sufficient reason to suppose that the Greeks honoured them
almost as Goddesses ; but we have a much less equivocal proof of this supposition in
some fines of Euripides,6 in the so often mentioned tragedy ; for there we find it to
have been the common opinion of the Athenians, that the spirits of our three heroines
used to haunt the sacred cavern, and the rocks that had been so fatal to them.
" Ye rustic seats, Pan's dear delight,
Ye caves of Macree's rocky height,
Where oft Aglauros' daughters meet,
And weave the dance with nimble feet."
The reference these words have to our bass-relief is too evident ; we see in it the
Arcadian Deity, and the inner part of the cavern, which is rendered accessible by an
aperture made in the rock, where some figures of men appear in the attitude of sup-
pliants ; lastly, we have before us the three daughters of Cecrops, who join hands, as
ready to begin a dance.
The first of the three daughters is wrapt up in an ample robe. She may represent
Aglauros, who being priestess of Minerva, according to Hesychius,7 was held by the
Athenians in greater veneration than her sisters ; she might equally be taken for Pan-
drosos, the only daughter of Cecrops who was supposed to have preserved her virgin
purity : for Aglauros enjoyed the embraces of Mars, and Herse those of Mercury.
Which of these two opinions is better grounded I will not pretend to determine.
We might perhaps be at a loss for the motive or meaning of the large mask,
that appears in profile at the bottom of our bass-relief ; but fortunately there is a
passage in Pausanias, which removes every difficulty. We know, that among the
ancients it was a custom to ornament the mouths of fountains with bearded heads of
Bacchus, or old Satyrs, and Sileni ; for which r eason in Latin Silani was a common
word for fountains, pursuant to the Doric and iEolic pronunciation of the word Silenus.
Now Pausanias8 assures us, that in this very cave there was a fount; so that the Bac-
chanal mask in our marble cannot be a subject of doubt.
It remains for us to throw some light on the epigraphe or inscription, which, were it
all legible, might probably point out the very same illustrations given by us on the
ground of the rational conjectures we have been able to form by confronting the
authority of the Classics with the particulars of our bass-relief.
I am of opinion that the inscription contained the names of the heroes, to whom the
marble was inscribed, and also the name of the person who dedicated it, with that of
his father.
20
account like this for the four figures, one masculine, and three feminine, seen in the
cave, nor that will so exactly agree with all the circumstances of the place.
That Cecrops himself was worshipped in that cavern, Euripides5 gives us to under-
stand, when he calls it the cavern of Cecrops, ad antra Cecropis.—
With respect to his daughters, the fable, that made the Cecropian rock so conspi-
cuous, seems to give us sufficient reason to suppose that the Greeks honoured them
almost as Goddesses ; but we have a much less equivocal proof of this supposition in
some fines of Euripides,6 in the so often mentioned tragedy ; for there we find it to
have been the common opinion of the Athenians, that the spirits of our three heroines
used to haunt the sacred cavern, and the rocks that had been so fatal to them.
" Ye rustic seats, Pan's dear delight,
Ye caves of Macree's rocky height,
Where oft Aglauros' daughters meet,
And weave the dance with nimble feet."
The reference these words have to our bass-relief is too evident ; we see in it the
Arcadian Deity, and the inner part of the cavern, which is rendered accessible by an
aperture made in the rock, where some figures of men appear in the attitude of sup-
pliants ; lastly, we have before us the three daughters of Cecrops, who join hands, as
ready to begin a dance.
The first of the three daughters is wrapt up in an ample robe. She may represent
Aglauros, who being priestess of Minerva, according to Hesychius,7 was held by the
Athenians in greater veneration than her sisters ; she might equally be taken for Pan-
drosos, the only daughter of Cecrops who was supposed to have preserved her virgin
purity : for Aglauros enjoyed the embraces of Mars, and Herse those of Mercury.
Which of these two opinions is better grounded I will not pretend to determine.
We might perhaps be at a loss for the motive or meaning of the large mask,
that appears in profile at the bottom of our bass-relief ; but fortunately there is a
passage in Pausanias, which removes every difficulty. We know, that among the
ancients it was a custom to ornament the mouths of fountains with bearded heads of
Bacchus, or old Satyrs, and Sileni ; for which r eason in Latin Silani was a common
word for fountains, pursuant to the Doric and iEolic pronunciation of the word Silenus.
Now Pausanias8 assures us, that in this very cave there was a fount; so that the Bac-
chanal mask in our marble cannot be a subject of doubt.
It remains for us to throw some light on the epigraphe or inscription, which, were it
all legible, might probably point out the very same illustrations given by us on the
ground of the rational conjectures we have been able to form by confronting the
authority of the Classics with the particulars of our bass-relief.
I am of opinion that the inscription contained the names of the heroes, to whom the
marble was inscribed, and also the name of the person who dedicated it, with that of
his father.
20