This is a reproduction of a library book that was digitized by Google as part of an ongoing effort to preserve the information in books and make it universally accessible.

http://books.google.com

III l: I‘ ' V .V ‘ v. - ' ‘ . V. .I \_ ' DI ‘ I - I t ‘l 1 ‘ . i a A In

INQUIRY

ANTIENT GREEK GAME,

SUPPOSED TO HAVE BEEN INVENTED

BY PALAMEDES,

ANTECEDENT TO THE SIEGE OF TROY;

WITH

REASONS FOR BELIEVING THE SAME TO HAVE BEEN KNOWN FROM REMOTE ANTIQUITY IN CHINA,

AND PROGRESSIVELY IMPROVED INTO THE

CHINESE, INDIAN, PERSIAN, AND EUROPEAN CHESS.

' ALSO, TWO DISSERTATIONS:

I. ON THE ATHENIAN SKIROPHORIA. II. ON THE MYSTICAL MEANING OF THE BOUGH AND UMBRELLA, IN THE SKIRAN RITES.

m “ Quem ms QUINQUE 'vin' sanrerunt.” Hor “ QUINTA (Me nam) LINEA tarigitur UMBRAA.” Persius.

LONDON:

PRINTED BY W. BULMER AND CO- CLEVELAND-ROW, ST. JAMES’S, FOR T. BECKET, PALE-MALL. 1801.

in. I1... _ I ...~. 1| TO THE REV. JOSEPH GOODALL,.

D. D. AND F. S. A.

IN GRATEFUL ACKNOWLEDGMENT

FOR

INSTRUCTION, AND NUMEROUS KINDNESSES,

EXPERIENCED IN AN EARLY DAY,

AND AS

A MARK OF GENUINE RESPECT AND ESTEEM,

THESE RESEARCHES,

ARE VERY AFFECTIONATELY

IN S C R I B E D,

BY HIS MOST OBLIGED,

AND HUMBLE SERVANT,

THE AUTHOR.

PREFACE.

THE three following Tracts, written in the hours of relaxation from business, are presented to the Public with the hope, that what was taken up for private amusement, may prove acceptable as a matter of more general entertainment, if not of literary use. The first is designed, if possible, to illustrate a subject upon which much has been very learnedly advanced, but not with the most satisfactory effect; for the precise nature of the antient Games of Skill remains yet undetermined; and many passages in the most favourite classic authors having reference to them, wait for an explanation, which they can only receive from a still more lucid exposition. The examination of this subject has, however, in volved in it the discussion of another; for no sooner was the form of the antient Pettez'a ascertained, than \ it presented itself in the Chinese game of Chess. If vi PREFACE. a conclusion has been drawn from this discovery, that may be thought injurious to the credit of the Hindus, it will yet be seen, that whilst the genuine records of history have been respected, common tradition only is combated; the vanity and error of which, it must at all times be considered a service rendered to literature to expose. If the reader shall approve of the eXplanation here given of the Petteia, he will perhaps be induced to conceive, that the. claim of the Hindus t0 originality in their invention of Chess, has been too incautiously admitted. In attempting to elucidate the Grecian games, re course has been had to the authority of Julius Pollux, as far as he has treated 0f the Petteia and the Plin tliion ; but as this writer has also observed, that the use of the latter game was formerly permitted in the temple of Minerva Skiras at Atheizs, a further investi gation into the meaning both of the title, and the ceremonies performed in honor of that goddess, was considered necessary to render the Whole complete. To have entered upon such a disquisition digres sively, would have interrupted the regular [order of the first inquiry; a temporary illustration of another kind has therefore been resorted to, and the reader PREFACE. vii will accordingly have an early insight into the general nature. of the Skiran festival, from a design, which, with two others, has been obligingly furnished by Mr. Tresham. But it is hoped that the reader’s curio sity may be more completely satisfied by the two Dissertations annexed: in one of them will be dis played, the external ceremonies of a very interesting Athenian festival ; and in the other, will be submitted some general conjectures, which may possibly bring to light Whatever mysteries were concealed in the Skiran rites; and which, by explaining What were really the religious principles of the Greeks from their appropriate symbols, may afford some useful hints in the study of antiquities. ‘ It is probable, that many opinions submitted in these pages will be found liable to be controverted; but if this little work shall have the merit only of calling forth a more acute investigation, from those who have gone farther than the Writer, his purpose will be answered ; and he will at any time be content to move his Pebble from the sacred, whenever urged by opinions, which those, who are interested in these researches, shall see reason to prefer.

INTRODUCTION.

THE learned Dr. Hyde, in treating the Games of the East, has condemned the Scholiast upon Theocritus, for asserting that the passage which occurs in the 6th Idyll, l. 18,* alludes to the Zaire/mow of the later Greeks, or the Chess of the present day; and adds, that the passage refers solely to the [Is-flair», which was a very different game.+ Now, that Theocritus alluded to the Her7eia, is evident; butat the same time it is not so clear, that the difference to be found between the two, is any more than what may be naturally sup posed to exist between an infant game, and the same when enlarged and grown into a state of maturity. In that part of his work, where he has given any account of the HET7eiu, his information is so scanty and defective, that we have not the fair opportunity of judging what the nature and the merits of it might have been. He is more particularly deficient ~ upon the subject of the leading feature of it, the {5502 yewpllnl, which has served as a head-mark, by which we may recognise this game in countries very widely separated, and which mark, beyond a doubt, was endowed with those certain properties and privileges,

' Kin 1'3! n'm'r‘: yeapue'i; unit A19". 1- Hist. Sllalliludii, p. 17. b I INTRODUCTION. which have been since attached to the king and pieces on the modern board. I know not how it is, but many prejudices are imbibed by the study of foreign languages, either antient or modern. From an acquaintance with a particular language, we become familiar to the manners of the people; our imagination introduces us to their society, and we seem, as it were, to mix with the natives: we are by this time so well pleased with our new friends, and so prepos sessed in their favour, that, in considering their history, and the state of the arts and sciences amongst them, we are apt to set too high a date upon their antiquity, and by far too high a value upon their ingenuity and inventions. Dr. Hyde, in common with most who have treated the anti quity of Chess, seems to have been warped by a partiality of this kind. He has contented himself with following implicitly the Oriental authors whom he consulted, and who uniformly wish to secure the exclusive merit of the origin and invention of Chess to the natives of India. But notwithstanding the respectability of these authorities, I cannot but think, that a fair examination of the Antient Greek Game, which he has hastily passed over in his learned Treatise, would have given him a higher opinion of its consequence, and shewn him, that what credit the Orientals have gained by their assumed invention, has been owing entirely to it. Throughout the whole of his Treatise, indeed, the Indian and Persian nations are considered as so intimately connected, that although Chess is said by him to have been the invention of an Indian named Nassir Daher, or Nassir the son of Daher, yet he has given the names of the game and pieces, and even the terms used ruraonvc'rron. xi

in playing, in the Persian language ; and these, it must be acknow ledged, are the sources from which have flowed the different terms relating to Chess, as they have been received byimany countries

in Asia, and generally throughout Europe. This, I must own, is a matter I could wish were cleared up ; for if the game were solely * of Indian invention, it would appear more likely that the terms should likewise be Indian, which the Persians, I think, when they received it from them, would have gladly adopted; as the very novelty and ingenuity of the game might have prevailed over that national prejudice, which might otherwise have refused the admission of foreign words into their own language. The subject, however, of the antiquity of Chess, has been so ably discussed by many learned and ingenious men, whose conclu sions have received the decisive stamp of our great and lamented countryman, Sir William Jones, that the controversy seems now closed, never more to be opened ; for who would be hardy enough to appeal from authority SO competent to decide upon the ques tion? And yet there are particular circumstances, which not being immediately subject to the test of historic evidence, are to be considered rather as matters of opinion; and which, conse quently, if ever they should be accepted in a contrary sense from what has been already established, will never be deemed, I hope, presumptuously taken up, so long as they appear grounded on what is reasonable, and are treated consistently with proba bility. Of this nature may be considered the question,—-In what manner this game was invented .9—This I conceive to be the chief matter, touChing the history of Chess, which remains to be cleared up :— b 2 xii INTRODUCTION. whether it be more natural to conceive the game to have been invented by an effort of the mind of one person, and devised, formed, and perfected at one instant of time ;. or whether it may not be considered probable that some rude materials existed, which, falling into the hands of ingenious and able workmen, at different periods, were variously fashioned by them, and united at last in the elegant structure of the modern game. I am sensible that it behoves me to treat this subject with some caution, because a late eminently learned man inclined to the contrary opinion; and however venturous it may seem even to appeal from the authority of Dr. Hyde, upon a matter depending entirely upon literary proof; yet it might also be deemed too daring to differ from so distinguished a literary character as the one I have alluded to, even in a matter of opinion.

“ Clament periisse pudorem “ Cuncti pené patres ,' ea cum reprehendere coner, “ Queegravis Esopus, qute doctus Roscius EDIT :” Hon.

Whilst _I concur, then, with the general opinion as to the country where the improved game was formed, my endeavour will be, with the utmost deference, to state the improbability of such an effort of the mind effecting instantaneously so complex an invention; and to endeavour to prove that a game of pastoral origin was already in general use, which being expanded as to the super ficies of its board, augmented in the number of its men, and varied in the properties of its pieces, might have been fashioned and completed by the ingenuity of Nassir Daher, into the modern game of Chess; and whilst this idea will leave sufficient credit INTRODUCTION. xiii to the Indian nation for their ingenuity in devising the com binations, and the moves of Chess, it will reflect some honor upon that country for which so many of us have imbibed an early affection, and vindicate the game of the Greek He-r'kt’u from the obscurity under which Dr. Hyde, from a notion, perhaps, of its unimportance, had suffered it to remain.

“ Quem tufastidz's, habitatum quinquefocis, et “ Quinque bonos solitum (in bellum) dimittere patres.” Hon.

If then, by a sober comparison of the game, as adopted by each nation, we separate and deduct from the perfect game what is due to each original contributor to it, we shall be able to give to each their fair proportion of credit ; we shall find that inven tions, as well as improvements, may in some measure be said to be progressive; and perhaps from this trifling specimen, we may learn to lower our enthusiasm in extolling the ingenuity of parti cular nations to whom the tendency of our studies has attached us, or at least to withhold the full degree of our admiration until we have weighed the claims, and are fully satisfied of the title, by right of which they hold our prejudices in their favour.

CONTENTS.

PREFACE - - _ _ - _ use. v Introduction ------ix

CHAPTER I. Of the III-r'lzia - - .. - - .. 3 The Game of Merrills - - - - - 13 Of Palamedes, and whether he invented the Hn'lu'a - - 14

CHAPTER II. Of the Ludus Latrunculorum - - - - 17

CHAPTER III. Of the Roman Alveus - - - - - 29

CHAPTER IV. Of the HMleov - - - _ - - 3g Of the Terms adopted in the Antient Games - - - 43

CHAPTER V. Of the 'Ieeal Fgapwi, considered as a VALLUM, or MOUND, and qf the Scythian Origin qf the Her'leia - - - _ - - 4-8

CHAPTER VI. Of the Her'lela, as known amongst the Chinese - - - 55

CHAPTER VII. Origin qf the King and Pieces, from the Sacred Square.——King never taken at Chess.—Checking—and Check-mate - - - 62

CHAPTER VIII. Of the Game of elevated Pebbles, and whether there was ever an intermediate Game 67 xvi CONTENTS.

CHAPTER IX. _ use. Of the Indian Game of Chess - - - - 73

CHAPTER X. Hindu Claims to the Invention of Chess—Phirdausi’s Aebount of the same.——-Imlo Scythians.—Communieation between India and Europe through their means.— Conclusion ------79

APPENDIX. Of the Scythian Rites _ - - - '. _ 89 A Dissertation upon the Athenian Skiropho-ria - - - 97 Second Dissertation on the mystic .Meaning of the Bough and Umbrella, in the Skiran Rites - - ' - - - 126

N. B. In the Voyages dc Lc Brun,Vol. I. p. 96, may be seen a representation ofthe chapels and waggons of the Tar-tars; the former of these being a sheep/bid covered with sail-cloth; or, probably, of skins of beasts. Although it has not been judged proper to insert a copy of the engraving in this Tract, yet, as it presents a 'very curious illustration of what has been here said respecting the 21116;, and the Lotka, the reader who is in possession of the work Qf Le Brun, may be pleased to avail himself of this reference. _

ERRATA.

Page 12, line 23, after in theform, read 0 . 39, -—- 23, and p. 40, in the note, or Pentagram, read I’entegram. ‘4-0, -— 21, after Dice, insert a semicolon; and ib. l. 24, after table, insert a colon. 52, — 24-, for disclipline, read discipline. 63, —- 26, for pebble’s, read pebbles'. 14, 66, 74, and 75, read reap/1.1;, with an acute. i153, —— 20, for “Ayu'iq', read "Aym'ie. 56, —— 11, and p. 60, l. 9, for Kid h6, read KiA'r-Ho. This error has been copied from Dr. Hyde; it is however corrected in Plates III. and IV. The true meaning of the word is as follows: Kiai, terminus; divisio; lineas ducere: also LINEA OF THE

ANTIENT GAMES OF SKILL.

OF THE

1787782'62, nga'a’zov, and Ludus Latrunculorum.

OF THE

ANTIENT GAMES OF SKILL.

CHAPTER I. '

0f the Her7ez'a.

BELIEVING, as I do, that there exists a very close connexion between the early games of antiquity, and the modern Chess, it becomes absolutely necessary that the former should be examined, and their particularities clearly understood in the first instance, before we take a view of the later game. The Heflela of the Greeks, from its simplicity, must be allowed to bear the marks of very early invention; and although we may suppose it to have been received by them from some other nation, yet, as we have the form of it delineated only by Greek writers, we must be content to take it up in the state it was in when practised by the Greeks, and complete the sketch from the faint outlines they have left us. I think it necessary to begin the investigation of my subject by a view of this game, because, upon it hinges the whole of the question now to be considered; and if the point of view in which I see it be just, it contains within itself the seeds of improve ment, which only required an observing mind to bring them forward to perfection. ' B i 4 l I could have wished, that with the same acuteness which Dr. Hyde has displayed, in treating of the other Greek and Roman games, he had equally enlarged upon the subject of the Her'leiai; but as he chiefly professed to treat of the games in use amongst the Orientals, he possibly did not conceive this to be a necessary part of his plan; and if he therefore contented himself with saying little on the subject, it is a fault that Julius Pollux had been guilty of before him. There are, however, some other writers who have made short mention of it; and I shall be able to collect from them sufficient information to answer my purpose; in doing which, I will endeavour to confine myself chiefly to what Dr. Hyde has left imperfect, or seems not to have clearly understood. Dr. Hyde has justly blamed Mr-zunsrus for having confounded the Zafetllwv with the milder, and for supporting his opinion with some Latin verses, which refer solely to the Ludus Latrun culorum: “ He-r'lei'u, AUTEM, (q. d. Hews/a), talis erat Lucius, in quo uterque “ collusorum quinque caleulos habebat in Laterculo totidem lineis “ distincto, i. e. Quinque ex utrdque parte," dra" But notwithstanding the significant force of this last objection, by which he would imply that the Her’lei’pi, differing in this point from the Ludus Latrunculorum, had but rrvr. lines, and as many men, yet Dr. Hyde couldnot bring proof to shew that the Ludus Lalruncnlorum did not consist of the same number. For, he observes in another place, that “ the antients have been silent both as to the number of squares contained in the board of the Ludus. Lalrunculorum, and also as to the number of pieces with which that game was played:"+ therefore, we have no reason, as yet, to,

“ Hist. Shakiludii, p. 18. f “ Quot autem areolas dicta tabella contineret, uti etinm quot essent calculi, apud rttcres “ siletur.” Hist. Damiludii, p. 184-. l 5 l disbelieve that they were one and the same game. But more of this in its proper place. The quotations from classic authors, referring to the Ludus Latrunculorum, are trite; and have been so often repeated by every writer on Chess, that it would be irksome to detail them here, in order to prove any similarity between the two games, which Dr. Hyde denies to exist: and besides, considering the He-r'lsla as a Greek game, it will be my business rather to treat of it by means of authorities drawn from Greek writers only. I will reserve, there fore, any Latin lines that apply to the Roman game, for another place, where I will make as concise mention of them as the nature of my inquiry will permit. In the mean time, we must allow to Dr. Hyde the signal merit of having been the first who challenged the Scholiast upon Theocritus, and opposed the assertion of Meursius; in doing which, if he has not explained the nature of the 'He-fln'a, he has at least cleared the way for others, and rendered the attempt easy, by freeing the question from the numerous contradictions in which all the various commentators had involved it. Amongst these, the learned Saumaise undoubtedly takes the lead: and as he has devoted no less than twenty-five octavo pages of notes to the subject of the games of Pebbles, in the Var. Ed. of the Historiw Augusta Scriptores, in Vopiscus's Life of Proculus; and, as his remarks have furnished copious materials for all who have gone after him, it is a mass of critical observations too important to be passed over in silence. In the midst of this display of erudition, we meet with many inconsistencies :-—thus he says, “ Puto ex his, qua: diximus, jam satis inter omnes- c0n'stare “ Zm-er’mav eumdem esse ludum cum Latrunculis.” And again, “ Ho’ai; vero‘ veterum Gracorum idem omnino fuit cum Zatrioio ‘ B 2 l 6 l “ rccentiorum, et cum Latruneulis Romanorum." Where the Za'ret'mov, or modern Chess, the Ludus Latrunculorum, and conse quently the Hsr'lu'a, and the nam which answered to the Alveus of the Romans, are all treated of as one game. In the midst of this confusion, Saumaise has recollected himself, by drawing a distinction in favour of the navita/aa which he treats of in the following mannerz—I will add the different forms in which he has delineated it, that they may stand the fair test of scrutiny against that which I have conjectured to be the real one. The reader may see the first of these described in Plate I. Fig. l, annexed to this work. “ Tessera in illo genere ludi nullum locum habebanL-Solis ‘6 calcatis res agebatura qui de lined in lineam promovebantur, usque ad mediam, ad quam qui perucnerat, ultima necessitate compulsus, et ad incitas redactus, calculum inde movebat in extremum subsidiunL-A/ihil enim post hanc restabat, ct manus “ erant vietori danda ; inde Prat/erbium," dra But I should observe that in cases of distress, the Pebbles—minimé PROMOVEBANTUR, sed COGEBANTUR ad mediam tineam It would further be difficult to conceive, how any pebble could be said to have been nearer to the Sacred or middle line, after pursuing his career to the 6th point, than he was when he first set out. The Sacred, however, was a middle line; in his next attempt, therefore,- he places it more to the purpose. “ Possit autem aliquis putare lineas omnes in illd tabuld paral “ lelasfuisse descriplas, ad hunc madam." (See Plate I. Fig. 2.) “ Ut ut sit, quince ab utraque parte tineæ dabantur lusoribus. “ Uterque 1'02; me iam-ay habebaL-Media inter illas Sacra tra “ kebatur, ad quam victus quasi ad ultimum anehoram con “fugiebat.” The parties here march forward to the attack, and the Sacred is certainly a middle line between the two. But the utility of the [ 7 ] Sacred is contradictorily explained. He had previously said,— “ Calculum inde movebat in extremum subsidium," that the Pebble 7 sought relief by moving from* the Sacred; which Sacred, however, is here represented as the line—“ AD QUAM victus, quasi ad ultimam “ anchoram, confugiebat ;"-—to which the party who had the worst of it, betook himself as his last support. The foregoing may suHice as a specimen of the erroneous con ceptions entertained of this game by the different commentators upon it. For besides the remarks I have quoted from Saumaise, we ‘ find those of Meursius, Souter, Bulengerus, and even the great Casaubon, equally contradictory and inconclusive. I should not have even thought it necessary to notice these, had it not been that Dr. Hyde himself seems ' to have placed some degree of reliance upon them; particularly as to the scheme of the board, and the disposition of the lines: —— “ In quarum media erat iseai “ ypaeptlmi, qua: omues junctim, and cum medizi, seu Sacrd, undecim “ lineasfaciebaril,” p. 18; where he evidently took Saumaise for his guide. ' - ' ' ' It may now be expected that we shohld produce something of our own upon the subject. We learn from Polybius, that the Hsr'lei’a was a game of which the merit consisted in cutting off, and inclosing, _or blocking up. This is fully expressed in the following words: “ HoMori; fair 70;? aainiiv iv TaZ'g xdr'ai Iu'ea; xea'm; aircrsuvriusvag, xai “ o'v'yxMr'wv, aiio'vregai'yaeo‘; Hafisuriis-s bipaxeii' ire'tp0sies."i Polybius, lib. i. sect. 84.'

" Ithua translate the “ inde” of Saumaise, .because it is obviously a paraphrase of the proverb—“ xim 11‘» ea“ heig." . f I adopt Reislre’s conjecture instead of 82;“: uai. v _ - . 1 If any doubt can arise whether Polybius here alludes to the fln'lsia, since he makes use of the' term Uri-limit, the words of Julius Pollux will decide it in the affirmative. “ To \ ’3 wl'r'lrvm, I Ian \ 5 Ht'r'laia, xau \ 13 11001“! in”. m, 1' uni aria-donut"; II: anti 5 Hl'r'lwrr'n.” l 8 l “ For cutting of many of them by detachments, and, like a “ skilful player at the Ila-75in, inclosing, or blocking them up, he, “ without a battle, destroyed them." I think we need not hesitate to believe, therefore, that it was a game of circumvention, and, in this one respect, like the game called Hair/010v, in which the object was to inclose, or circumvent any one piece by two of the other party. This was effected in the l'IMEl/ov, by the throw of a die, and in the He-flelu, by skill in moving. We find that when a piece was put to its shifts, it was compelled to move from the line, or mark, in the centre of the board :—-“ minim “ Ta‘v éo’ isedg"—-—“ I will move my pebble from the Sacred," says Suidas ; and adds, “ 10510 girl will! Triv ia'xnirqv fimidemev nivévrwv “Iran-rm." “ And this is said of those who adopt a measure (like this move in “ the Her'lela) as their last resource." Not that any auxiliary attack was made, by this move from the Sacred, to rescue any piece in distress; but that danger was avoided by moving from the Sacred, and as it were “ out of check."—“'Adpericulum evilandum, “ potius qudm injuriam inferendam;n and which so far agrees with the move of the king, alluded to by Dr. Hyde in those words.* . The manner of thus throwing the piece into difficulty, may be learnt from Eustathius, who says of the iseu‘ yeapufi,—-“ Ears) $ “ wxw'pcevo; in, iaxai-r-nv xii-nil! is'rau.” “ Since the player, who had the worst of it, was forced into a “ middle station between the piece attacking, and the Sacred mark, “ which was (Ea-xd-rnv), an extreme boundary beyond it." Thus the Sacred was the extreme boundary to the territory of each player; and Constantine, in his Lexicon, understands it in the same sense: v z “ Media linea erat extremusfinis, ultra quem calculi promoveri “ non poterant, et vocabatur etiam ised, quare quum alteruter ex

" Page 17. l 9 l “ lusoribus ad insitam" hanc lineam cogebalur, lune mowbat cal “ culum ab eddem, hoe dlclvp—mw'; Ttiv altp’ iset'ig.+ “ The middle line was the extreme boundary beyondi: which the “ men could not be moved, and this was also termed the Sacred “ line; wherefore when either of the parties was driven up to this “ fixed line, or mark, in the centre of the board, he then moved his “ piece from it, saying, I move my pebble from the Sacred." Of this Dr. Hyde observes—“ a linea' ltaque media”, (non quinta', “ u: male Meursius.) quee Sacra dicebatur, non temeré calculum 9‘ movebant, sed summa’ urgenle necessitate." When Dr. Hyde, however, asserts that the. pebble was not to be moved from the Sacred upon every occasion, but only in cases of extreme necessity, he leaves a doubt in those who may consult him, whether he does not speak of some stationary piece. He had noticed the error of the Scholiast, who asserted that the game alluded to by Tlteocritus, was the game of Chess;§ but he here would seem to partake of the Scholiasl’s' error, by supposing that any piece was ever stationed upon the Sacred. For, as we shall presently see, the pebble could at'ali times be moved near the Sacred, but. in cases of circumvention; and then, it was compelled to move from it. Besides, the admission of- a. pebble upon the Sacred would have increased the number to eleven, whilst Julius Pollux-informs us, that there were but five to each party‘s nor can “ én’ éa-xaimv ufirfiv it’rm” be under stood of the piece being forced upon the Sacred,'but being driven up to it. In every sense, then, I conceive-the sacred was always left uncovered. One instance, indeed, occurs, where a pieCe was stationed on the central, or Sacred line; but then it is to be observed,

" V el potiiu, “ incitam.” f Constantin. in race Ila-13;. I I would rather understand “ trans”—“ across.” § Montfaucon is one of those who have been deceived by the Scholiast :—-“ II 31 aroit de chaque c6té un roi, au un empereur, qui ne marchoit que dans les necessitt's urgenter.”—But Montfaucon’s account is incorrect throughout. [ ml] that it'was stationary, and only emblematical. his in the account quoted by the Honourable Dairies Harrington from Atheneus, which the Ithacensian Cteso gave of the Hafiz/a, as played by the suitors of Penelope. But it was a perversion of the intent and meaning of the Hsr'isi'a; and Athenaeus infers (lib. i. cap. l4.) that there was no great ingenuity in their game; for, says he, “ it would not seem as “ if they. had ever taken a lesson from such a player as Diodorus, or “ Theodorus"* (whichever was his name), “ of .Megalopolis, or of “ the Milylenrean Leo (of . Athenian extraction), who, as Phaenias “ relates, was invincible at the [Is-fla'a." From hence we may collect, that the He-r'lsi'a was a game of considerable skill, and that it was thought meritorious to be expert in playing it. The Hon.- Dairies Barrington very justly conceives the game of the suitors of Penelope to have resembled the modern Hop-scot.+ Further reasons why there could not have been a piece upon the iepai 73am“) are; 1st. Because such a piece must have been common to both parties, or the Sacred must have been a station for two men, one belonging to each party which would be absurd. 2dly. That if it was allowed to move only in cases of extreme necessity, every, attack upon a piece would be deemed necessity, and theprivilege would be per— petually claimed; and as attacks might be made in two places at once, and those even on the extremity of the board, any help that could be brought by the Sacred pebble would be insufficient to rescue the pieces in distress. ' These difficulties respecting the use and application of the Sacred, are what have hitherto prevented our having a clear knowledge of the game of the Hafist/a‘. We are informed that the board of

' Dalecllamps, whose Latin version accompanies the editions of this author, has, by some unaccountable mistake, rendered this “ Diodoro rel Theoxenof’ but it is most probable that Athenaaus's memory only faultercd between the sense of Aui; 35501, and Gn? Sign, from one of which the name of this skilful Eubtnan was derived. 1- See the Hist. Disquisition on the Game qf Chess, by the Hon. D. BarringIon, public/red in tire Arc/Mologia. ' [ 11 ] Palamedes was publicly shewn at Troy, and that another was also exhibited at Ancos: but as neither of them are to be produced in these days, we must rely upon our own conclusions to supply the deficiency. We will endeavour, then, to place it in a more conspi cuous light, by attempting to delineate the board, and to shew the nature of the, moves upon it. See Plate I. Fig. 3. This figure, I conceive, will be consistent with the form of the board, and the disposition of the men, as laid down by Julius Pollux.——"‘“ Now as the tablemeu were pebbles, each player had “ five of these upon five lines, as it is said by Sophocles—

Thefive-lined Petteia, and the throws of dice.

“ But between the five lines, which formed the stations on the “ board, there was one drawn in the centre, which was termed the “ Sacred line; and the player moving his piece From thence, gav’e “ rise to the proverb—He moves from the Sacred ; or, he is put to “ his shifts." From this view of the position of the men at the commencement of the game, the Sacred line+ appears to be left uncovered; and as we have already shewn that it had the property of a piece, inas~ much as that with the co-operation of any wen-8;, it could check any of the adversary’s men, there could be no necessity that it should be covered; and I therefore consider that it was left open during the whole of the game. But as we are now provided with the board, and the necessary

a r Emmr; N 3i \ \l/T;¢0t ~ fur \ “an s oi Heaven, \ wsrn I Exa'xlgo; six: rm .. waigérrw iqu tun/w: yeappwv, ~ :ixci'ruq siem'm, ZoQoxMi Kai wwaa‘t werre'yganpa, xai itle Sakai. T5» 3i we'v-r: 75v ixa'réguiln nay. wzv Firm 1'“; ii! 'Iiga‘z xaitivpl'm yeast/41.6. Mai 5 Ti» ixsi'Qn mva ars'r'lz‘n, wagon/Jar Earnin— x'vn 1'31 “if him.

1 To obviate any objections on account of the term line, here made use of,I should observe that yeapph, which signifies either line, or point, might be still more significantly rendered, described mark, or space “ calamo descriptum,’ I yiygaippnor, unde nappi’i. G [12] men for playing, we may easily collect from the foregoing remarks, the nature of the moves, and the manner in which the game was to be won. It would appear from what has been said, that the olI'ensive moves were of two kinds: either the temporary circumvention, where the pebble was checked between the Sacred and any other piece, from which it was withdrawn with an expression—“ 1 move “ my pebble from the Sacred ;"—or where the circumvention of any pebble took place between two hostile pieces, and where the retreat of the pebble so inclosed was cut off, in which case the latter was taken. This may be seen, Plate I. Fig. 4. i

In this scheme the move No. 3, is driven by No.4, E7.- Ea-xérqv leedv; and, being checked, is forced to “ move from the Sacred ;" and, by imprudently advancing, and suffering its retreat to be cut off, is, after a course of moves, completely circumvented between Nos. 10, 12, and 14. And so on of the rest, until they are all indi vidually circumvented; or until one party has penetrated into the adversary’s ground, and crowded his men in such a way that he has no move left: which finishes the game. I believe I have now accounted for every thing relating to the He-r'ln’a, excepting that it remains for me to say something of the shape of the ieeti yeafefe'vi, which, in an arbitrary way by giving it breadth, l have rendered in the form a square. I have several reasons for delineating it in that form. 1st. Because it seems to have been a mark, or boundary, placed on the centre of the five Fenland}; and it was probably shorter than the lines upon the board; because, if it had been drawn quite across, as it was in violal/le, it would have effectually impeded the men advancing upon each other’s ground: 2dly. It seems convenient that it should have extended out, somewhat every way from the central point, to shew its obtrusive power upon any pebble that might be forced by an enemy upon the nearest station to it. And lastly, I believe it [13] to have been a square, from a similarity which the board of the. He-r’ln’a, as already laid down, bears to another game composed of a like number of stations, though differently disposed, in the centre of which such a square existed. This game, I doubt not, was played originally by the shepherds in the western parts of Asia, and thence made known by the Celts over all the north of Europe. I allude to

THE GAME OF MERRILS, known to the Greeks by the name of Tew’o‘mv, which was prbbably more antient than the Her’lei’a, and perhaps the parent of it; inas much as depositing the pebbles alternately, must have been more antient than the moving them.* Dr. Hyde observes, that the Oriental name for this central square upon the board of Merrils, is Zinda'n; Career. Anglicé, “ the P0und,"—“ quasi peeorum career.” And indeed it is very probable that it was originally intended to represent something of this kind. For as the Eastern shepherds amused themselves by playing with the pebbles, whilst they watched their folds, they might afterwards have introduced the figure of the fold itself, as an ornament to the board. This 'had likewise its use; the pebbles being probably first deposited there, and taken from it, as occasion required, in the course of the game. ' ‘ And here, I think I observe the origin of the Sacred mark; for, as I'have'no doubt of the Her'lu’a having taken its rise from this ‘simple game, the sheep-fold was retained in the centre of the board

~ ' The scheme of this board, as known amongst the shepherds of this country, and men tioned by our poet Shakspeare as the Nine—men’s Morrice, may be seen Plate I. Fig. 5. But Dr. Hyde observes that the Armenians, as also the inhabitants of the Holy Land, and lifesopotamia, describe their board of lilerrils in a different manner. (See Plate I. Fig. 6.) Omitting the lines which connect the angles together. The faint lines will shew how, by a' slight alteration, it might have been converted into the board-of the Greek mild“. I C2 [ 14 l of the Her-72h: also, and styled by the Greeks Emir, the sheep-fold. But in process of time, we find this word accepted in a very different sense.* And it came first to signify the square inclosure, or railing ' within which the images of the gods were placed; and, at last, the iseov, or temple itself. And thus, from want of discriminating between the antient and modern sense of the word Zigzag, the space in the centre of the board was called “ the Sacred ;” and because it covered the central station, or point of intersection, the “ iegai “ WWW

OF PALAMEDES;

AND wus'rnen HE INVENTED THE He-r'lu’u.

And here it may not be amiss to drop an observation or two, by the way, respecting Palamedes; and the opinion which, I suspect, has been erroneously entertained, that the Hafiz/u owes its invention to him. I do. not think indeed that Palamedes can be fairly agreed upon as the author of the game, because the mention made of him, by two Greek tragic writers, who are generally resorted to as. authority for this opinion, does not appear to me to be consistent, nor to amount to any convincing testimony in his favour. And Dr. Hyde is not inclined to give much credit to those who have borne witness of him, since their time; for it is most probable that they were guided by what had been said before them. Sophocles, it is true, declares that Palamedes invented the 11:17:!“ as a diversion in the time of a famine; but as he attributes the joint invention of the Ila-field and Dice to him, which last, as Dr. Hyde pro'ves, were only known at a much later date, this authority is not to be deemed sufficient proof.

' Potter’: Antiquities, Vol. I. p. 176. r. 1 The-other tragic writer I allude to (Euripides), has raised a doubt in the mind of Dr. Hyde, respecting a passage "in the chorus to the first act ‘of the Iphigenia in Aulis.* But I do not conceive there can be much difficulty'in ascertaining the real meaning of the Greek poet.” Thus far, I think, may be concluded from the passage, that Palamedes was not the inventor. For we find Ajax Oi'leus, Ajax Telamon, and Protesilaus, playing at the Hafiz/u, whilst Palamedes, who would be imagined to be particularly interested by the game, had he been its inventor, is described ascasting the Discus with Diomedes. And as this was during the time that the fleet lay wind-bound at Aulis, before they had arrived olf Troy, this must fix the date earlier than those authors have done, who attribute the invention to Palamedes, during the siege.+ But further, it is a singular circumstance that the poet does not represent the game as being played by two, but by three players.

“ Kureidov dd 81; Alter-rs ours/dew, “ Tdv ’Oihiwg, Tekufedwig 1's 'ytivov,

1 i ‘ fl ‘ ' D I l i. “ Hemmer/Muir 'r’, ie'n'i Selma; “ Hea’o'liv sirlopcs'vovg peop “ -tpai"a'r wokuorktiieoig.”i Here we must either consider it as a tripartite game, which we cannot easily reconcile, or that two played against the third person; or that one of the three was merely a looker-on. And indeed in Euripides the expression is not area-asuoue’vovg, but fiioue’vavg; by which

" Quid sibi vult Euripides in Aulide haud satls certum est: ibi enirn introducit duos Ajaces, et Protesilaum, et mox Palamedem: “ iorl seiner; mer Indoiu'mm; peep“??- woawaénm,” quod de Pessis, et aliis pluribus ludis intelligi quest—Hyde Hist. Nerdiludii, p. 64. 1- Pltilostratus (who is one of the later authorities), must have had this passage in view, when he said Of Palamerles, “ irrm a 15v 'Axaufir ir IAukil‘l, unlit; iiigih”—See Hyde Hist. Alere. p. 112.-—But this will not agree with Sophocles, who says that it was invented during the time of a famine. I Eurip. Iplr. Aul. v. 192. l 16 ] there is no necessity to understand that they were all engaged in play, but that they were iJan’mg, amusing themselves. And I see no reason why the game played by the Grecian leaders should not have been the Hsr']e[¢,as I have described it ;> which in itself appears to have been a military game; more particularly as no other, played with pebbles, could have existed at this early period, but the Ila-field, or the ruder game of Merrils; every other of the kind requiring the use of dice , and these, as Dr. Hgde,has shewn, were not yet invented. in]

‘ CHAPTER II.

0f the Ludus Latrunculorum.

We may presume that the Ludus Latrunculorum was the first of the antient games that appeared amongst the regular descendants of the Ila-flat“; but it seems to have departed much from the inge nuity of the original game, having lost, as it were, a considerable degree of its lustre in passing into Italy, out of Greece. This may have been caused either by a want of sufficient attention, in those who transported it, to the nature and peculiarities which marked the He'r'lei'u, or by the lateness of the period'in which it was known in the country that so received it. From this deteriorated state of the Roman game it has happened, that although the allusions to it, Which we meet with in the works of Latin authors, are far more numerous than what we have found in Greek to lead us to a knowledge of the Hafiu’a, yet they are by no means so determinate or satisfactory; and it is with difficulty we can trace in them the_form and particularities that may have dis tinguished the game. - ' ' ' An account of this Roman game, sufficiently intelligible in some respects, has however been transmitted to us in some verses ascribed to Lucan, or Ovid, but which have been questioned as of suspi cious authority: however, as general assent seems to have ascribed - them to the times of one of theseipoets, provided that this can

be agreed upon, the name of the real author may be a matter of indifference to us. Certain it is, that, as no mention is made in them of dice, they can allude to no antient game but the Ila-flat“, or the i[ 18 l] Ludus Latrunculorum;* and we may most reasonably refer them to the latter, because the author is silent as to any central, or Sacred line. This is the mark of particular ingenuity which the Roman game appears to have 101st; and Whiltstitve conclude from this, and indeed from other authorities, that the object of the game, and the mode of playing it, were similar with the Her'lei’a, yet we can neither observe this leading feature in it, nor do we know for certain whether it was the same, or differed from it, as to the number of stations and pieces. . . k I have already, upon one occasion, termed this Sacred line, a boundary. I shall have more to adduce upon this head when I come to the historical view of the game: I shall then endeavour to prove that it was a wall, or mound, serving as a boundary to the territories of the two Contending partiesf And thus we may observe, that even if the Romans had omitted to delineate this mark upon the centre of the board, yet they retained the meaning and purpose of it, by making frequent allusions to it, as if it was present: and thus we find them, in the Ludus Latrunculorum, breaking down the mound, and making an immediate irruption into the enemy's territory— “ Clausaque dejecto populetur mania vallo."+ By the loss of the central line the beauty of the game was gone, for the power of checking was lost; and the circumvention of the pieces, which was all that was left, still exhibited something of a military game, but more simple, and infinitely less ingenious than it must have been, as known to'the Greeks. ' It is probable that this game might have become a common relaxation amongst the soldiers of the Roman empire, and have served as the'amusement of their leisure hours, when in garrison.

' I omit, of course, the other Roman game played without dice, and known in Cold by the “ Ternis 1* Ecloga lapiflis ad Calpumiuml’isonem,;” answering to the Merrils, apart Hyde,p. to which 191. these lines cannot \ allude. ‘_ I I 49 3 From the frequent intercourse they had at last; with' the Germans, that people learnt the uselofitihis- military game, :and' they seem to have continued something like it to this day, nearlyin the unadorned state in whichthe Romans practised it; exhibiting, with somedili‘e rence, an imperfect circumvention of‘the pieces; and, like the Romans, keeping'up the tradition respecting the object of the game in its military'st'ate, by calling it the game of'Mounds; and, at last, simply the Mounds: thus, damm, Germanicé, a mound; and perhaps damen, to play at JWounds; whichimay have been the source from whence the French, and other nations in the south of Europe, have taken the names for this game. In French, Dames, lejeu des Dames; Italicéi il giuoco delle Dame; Hispanicé, eljuego de las Dumas. And this will be no prejudice to my hypothesis, because, among-st whatever nations practising this game the central mark has been retained, there have always been feund along with it the seeds, as it Were, of the modern Chess; and it was owing to the Romans having departed from that original form of the Heflefu, that we became [acquainted with the game of Draughts. We are upon a better certainty as to the Object of this game; and we'can readily Collect, that however it might be impaired2 in other respects, in this it bore strict resem blance to the Hefiefa-z like that, it was a game of circumvention, effected by skill alone, according to Ovid, ' I

“ Cum medias gemino calculus hiosie peril." Trist. lib. ii.

h Where the pebble .vvascircumvented (alligalus) between tWo of the enemy, and if he had. it not in his power.(exire),* to move out of check,ihe pebble was taken; and this was repeated, according to the expertness of the player, until the whole were individually circum vented, or till oneparty had penetrated into the enemy's ground, and crowded his men in such a manner (asl before observed of the [ls-Flint), that he had no move left to make, which likewise finished ' Hyde, Hist.DamiIud£i, p. 188. D [ 20 ] I this game. This general blockadetis thus aptly eitpres's'ed: ‘-‘ redigere “ ad incitas:" and by Plautus, in Panulo, act iv. sc. ii. ver. 85. 5y. “ Pro/ecto ad incitas lenonem rediget, si eas‘abdux'erit. .Mil. “ Quin pricis disperibitfaxo, qudm unam ca'lcem civerit." From the loose expressions which we meet with in a note ’upon' this passage in the Panalus,‘ I am convinced that the commentator was ignorantpf' the true meaning of these lines of Plautus, which however it, is necessary that we should clearly understand, since they have been perpetually resorted to by those who have undertaken to explain the nature of the Roman game. ‘ Of these unsatisfactory remarks are the following: “ Itaque non in, ultimis lineis erant inciti calculi, sed in medid." And again, , ‘ _ “ Quar'e cum'alteruter'ex lusoribus ad incitam lineam cogcretur, “ tunc movebat 'calculum ab eddem media’ lined hoc dicta—m5 15v “ 02¢, Z5639" The question must be, what is the word incitas, in the proverb, connected with ?—Was the Ludus Latrunculorum provided 'with a {£902 yea‘ufcri equally with the TIE-fisia. ?--If the connection‘between the two was apparent from the Latin adage, the words of Plautus should then be—“ ad incitam lenonem rediget;"—if it may be said that the word “ lineas” is implied, the connection would not be the more evident on this account; for we never hear of iced; yeapcpwi; in the Hafiu'u, but Only of the ieeai ygappifi; and this last word is mdre satisfactorily understood of the described space, than of the lines which inclose it. But we should pay attention to the old Latin word calcem, implying a tableman, which appears in the second of these lines, as if pointing out what should claim the word incitas in the preceding; and I conceive that this last alludes to the general blockade at the end of the game. Thus:

" Ed. Var. l 21 ] Prqfechi ad t'ncitas (sc. calces) lenonem, kc. Sac. ' Sy. “ He will hamper him in the end (of the game) ; i. e. he will “'make him smart for it in the END, if," 84c. Sec. ch. ' I To whom Mil/ihio ans'wers—“ Quin prius disperibil/axo,” Sac. 8cc. Nay more than-that,¥-“ I will win the game of him before he has “ made a single move ."——that is, he shall feel the immediate effects of my resentment. ~ So again in the Trinummus, act if sc. 4. ver. [36. “ Ut ad incitas redactusl—(scil. calces.) “ How completely the game is up with him !" alludes to no partial circumvention, but to the final catastrdphe of a general blockade. This is necessary to be remarked, because in the passage I quoted from Constantine relating to the Reflu'a, he has improperly, in my opinion, applied the word incitam" to the Feed yeot‘ufui, for which he had no authority, from what Julius Pollux, or any other antient authorhad said of that game. It is true, that in a note to the passage in the Trinummus of Plautus, something is adduced respecting the boundaries of the ancients being termed inciti, fixed, or unmoved; and as I'have considered the Sacred as a boundary, this might answer my purpose for proving that the Sacred actually. had a place in the Roman game. But besides that the proverb is very inconsistently referred, in this note in the Var. ed. to the game of Alveus or Hxiwéi'ov, which I cannot, in any way, allow; the sup position of redigere ad incitas implying, the driving up to the fixed boundary lines, would not be conclusive: for in such cases, they moved from the boundary; and such an advantage being only tern: porary, it would not have finished the game. - .'. Various quotations are given in the treatise of Dr. Hyde, which confirm this account of the mode of playing the game ;. which, (excepting it might have been the case that the Sacred line was

‘ This I presume only; for imitam must be a typographical error. D2 [' 22 1 wanting in the centre of the board), has not, in any other respect, difl'ered from the He-flsia, from which I am persuaded it was bor rowed. But perhaps Dr. Hyde has not availed himself in the best manner of the authorities he has produced; lor'the lines of Ovid, as I understand them, by no means authorise his opinion that the pebbles moved in straight lines, and took transversely, as in the case of the pawns at Chess. The lines of Ovidare, __ .k g “ Discolor til recto grasselur limile_ miles, “ Cum medias genlino calculus haste peril. . -\“-Ul mage velle sequi scial, et revocare prwrem ; “ JVec“ tuldfugiens incomitalus cal." . 3 ' : _ Trist. lib. ii. ver. 477. ‘1 No mention is made in these verses'of moving any otherwise than in a directline; and since the only mode of taking was by circumvention, I cannot be brought to think that the oblique move was ever permitted in playing the Roman game: and yet, Dr. Hyde observes, “ Ex his colligimus Romarwrum ludum, ut scil. unus dis “, color-d duobus iconcoloribus Icapialur: deinde qudd recto limile,

“ i. e. recla' eumlo progrediantur calculi; oblique enim quasi ex insi “ diis cwdunt, feriunlque, uti pedites in Shahiludivfaciunl."+ And at'the same time he does not seem to have compared them 'solely to‘the pawns at Chess, but has laboured to make the Ludus Lafrunculorum square exactly with the modern Draughts. And this is the real cause of his misconstruction as to the oblique move. He therefore adds, that it was the imitation of an equestrian military game: that the pebbles 'were cavalry ;—“ quiaaalii alias calcium, “feriunlque sallandofi But here again Weare at a loss for some authority to prove thatthey ewer‘leaped over heads, as is permitted to the 'ttr'blemen iu the'g‘arne of Draughts; ’ -- ' . '. .' 2 I - . . . 1 ' Or, as Burmann reads it, Ne, 3w. 1 Hyde, Hist. DaauYudii, p. 185. $1bid_p_187. - ‘IJI-J S:.-- '. .-';L. . l 23 l Dr. Hyde, in forcing a strict comparison between the Ludus Latrunculorum and .Draughts, (which last game is evidently a variation from the former,) asserts, that the pebbles could not retreat until they were crowned, asat Draughts. But I am confident not a word in the lines of Ovid, from which Dr. Hyde has made his Comment on the game, does, in any way, give the smallest hint of the ceremony of crowning: and as far as I can determine, from, the same authority, there is no reason to believe but that the pebbles. had the free power of retreating whenever they were attaCkfid., . But'I will transeribesthe'other passage he quotes,lthat wemay judge fairly on the subject. _ i ': H 1“ Cautaque non stulté latronum przelia ludat: - " ' -' ' “ Unus ctim’gemino calculus haste peril. i i

“ Bellatoriyue suo“ prensus sine compare bellat : ’- ' “ Emulus et captum scepe recurrit iteri"~+ ' ‘ 'Ovid Art. Amand. lih. iii. ver. 351.

From this, and the former, I have reason to conclude. that the pebble could retreat at any period of the game; and if this should hold good in the Ludus Latrunculorum, it will also become a-general rule in the Her'hiu. I v V

The former of these passages I should consider in this light: Q “ Others have told (says Ovid) the art of playing these games; “ ——how the diflerently-coloured soldier should match forward in “ a straight line, at the moment that some comrade is. perishing “ between the double enemy;——how he may know more of. the “ game, and be willing (sequi) to advancea move, that his comrade

- ' In tbebesl editions, such as those of Burmann and Clippingius, we meet with and can compare ; although the reference in the. note, in both of these, is into. The former has been retained, from a. supposition that the game mentioned by Ovid, was Chess: IIeinsiOs therefore ' explains sud compare, by more ,- but as no allusion to the queen at Chess can be here intended, is“? have preferred " no,” as the genuine reading. 1 Al. orus. [ 24 l “ may fall back upon him :-—nor should the pebble (prior revocatus) “ having escaped the danger, tutdfizgiens (by having been supported “ before) proceed again in the attack, without support." And with regard to the two last lines of the latter passage :— “ And when the warrior fights, caught without his comrade, and “ in rivalry often recommences his attack: or, again goes over the “ way he had before attempted."— In other words, the pebble retreats from the circumvention prepared for it, and commences its career again. The foregoing, I trust, will appear a more simple construction of the passage than what Dr. Hyde has given of it :—-“ Porrd, si “ volumus revocare ealculum, (quad solis coronatisfit, ul oficiarii “ privilegium in schachisJ ul antea‘ progrediens, ita‘ nunc, nec rece “ dens, seu fugiens, sine comile laid ire polest. Nam. semper ‘f moleslum opus, iterque zeloso bellatori, sive lusori reeurrel, si “ depre/zensus sit, at sine compare bellet."*—Throughout the whole view that Dr. Hyde has taken of the Ludus Latrurzculorum, he has invariably considered it as the same with the modern Draughts; and instead of explaining the former, by comparing the testimonies 6! classic writers, who have treated of it, he has endeavoured to explainit by the modern game. Hence we meet with several incon sistencies, such as—taking obliquely ;—leaping over heads ;—ina bility to retreat ;-—cr0wning the pebbles ;-—none of which occur in the Ludus Lalrunculorum ;-and,I may add, deciding that the stations upon the boards of each game were the same in number. With respect to the latter, we have no information as to what their number actually was; but, I think, it plainly appears from whence the mistake, as to crowning the pieces, arose. For, as Dr. Hyde him self observes, a general who had overthrown in battle an army of 10,900 men, was saluted emperor; and as it happened that in a familiar party at‘the game of the Lalruneuli, one of the players had - Hm. Damiludii, p. m. [25] beaten his adversary in ten games successively, the conqueror Was saluted by a wit in company, “ imperalor," and by way of joke was crowned by him. And this might have afterwards become a com mon piece of humour, frequently said of the conquering player, but assuredly never of any conquering piece. As the Honourable Daines Barrington has treated of this Roman game, I will take the liberty of setting right a misapprehension on his part, as to the meaning of the lines of Ovid quoted by him. And first: . I - ' ' i

“ Reticuloque pile lavesfunduntur aperto,” does not mean that the pebbles were thrown as dice were, out of a box,* which would be erring against the rule,— That “ dice are “thrown, but tablemen, on the contrary, are moved (liarpe’ezi lé “ 115775th xstiug, iv 1-; yelp 1'05; utizou; aimééivr'raa'l, iv a"; iii Hsr7eiqz, ati'rd “ po'vav 1d; illitpou; [ceramvga'tfln but it implies that the pieces WCI'B preserved, as the chessmen commonly are at this day, in a net or bag; and,as Dr. Hyde observes of the Orientals, “ in Marsupio, “ seu sacculo condi, et servari solent ;"+ and from this they were t‘ turned out upon the board, previous to commencing the game. I would further observe that the lines— “ Est genus in totidem tenui ratione redactum “ Scriotala, quot menses lubricus annus habet," allude to the game of Alveus et calculi, played with dice, and answering nearly to our Backgammon. And lastly, that the lines— “ Parva tabella capit ternos utrinquelapillos, . , “ In qud vicisse est continudsse subsfl; . . , describe the game of Merrils, in which the victory 'eonsisted in the three “ lapilli” of either party being ranged in one continued, or * See the Historical Disquisition before mentioned. 1 Hist. Shahiladii, p. rail l 26 ] uninterrupted line,,~which is aptly expressed by the word “ conti “nua'sse.” So that Ovid, in the lines quoted, having previously spoken of the Ludus Latrunculorum, has given a succinct account of all the three games in practice amongst his countrymen. the I He-r'lsfu will add in one its Roman remark form. more, and with that dismiss the .subject i of

There is one critical situation in the game, which does not appear to have been touched upon by any one, and I only submit it as a conjecture; whether a piece being circumvented by two pebbles, one of which is stationed upon the corner of the board, and thus protected in its rear; and the pebble on the other side of the cir cumvented piece being incomitatus, it might not have been permitted to any piece, (friendly to the party which was already alligatusJ to place itself beyond the unaccompanied, or unsupported pebble, by which means a double gcircumvention would take place, ending to the disadvantage of those which first attacked? - _T0 exemplify this upon the board, in Plate I. fig. 7, B, No. 2, is circumvented between Nos. 1 and 3,; but No. 3 being incomitatus, the pebble ,8, No. 4, comes up, and circumvents No. 3; which last, if unable (exire) to escape from its situation, from the neighbouring stations being already occupied, loses its power of taking No; 2, and is itself taken. And thus the player {3 may be conceived, according to the author of the verses to Piso,——- - ‘

“ similt'Sque ligato “ Obligat "ille mat-4— '_ s with the appearance of being circumvented himself; to hem in one > of his adversaries, and to circumvent the other. Nevertheless I do not state this with absolute confidence :' Iv fear I shall be thought to trifleualthough it~,ought- not to be deemedan idle discussion, where the ,tleaxingmp of any passage in'a classic author is object of theIinquiryh , v [27]

OF THE

MIXED GAMES OF CHANGE AND SKILL.

, is .1: a \‘ . V p

a I“. I " . ‘5 s 4, V i" I i I ;. n . f ‘0' t ‘ ’ 9 ‘ ‘ ’ l h ‘I. “,»,\_039¢v_.., ‘ . ,, ‘ '. ‘ . e | n . |o~< ‘ ~ ‘ ' a l l. [1‘ I O 7 ~ H I

OF THE

- Alueus and szv3z'av.

[29]

CHAPTER III.

Of the Roman Alveus.

IN the preceding Chapter I observed, that the SACRED LINE was the mark of particular ingenuity that the Ludus Latrunculorum might be supposed to have lost; nevertheless, I would not venture altogether to assert that some central line was not expressed upon the board, although its appellation of“ SACRED" might by this time have grown obsolete; and my reason is founded upon the circum stance of the old Alveus, (which answered in some degree to our game of Backgammon, and which, like that, was played with dice,) mentioned by Dr. Hyde (Hist. Nerdiludii, p. 7,) as having been found at Rome, in the region or ward called Piscina Publica, in a vineyard, near what was formerly the Armilustrium; and which, on account of its inscription, he placesamongst the pious frauds, or superstitious acts of the early Christians. It is given by Crater, in his Inscriptions, under the head 'of “ Monumenta Christiano/um," p. 1049, Fig.1 ; and as it has not been copied by Dr. Hyde, I give it here. See Plate I]. Fig. l. The characters upon this board have been thus decyphered by Saumaise .‘—“ (we warCo'v-rwv ti; 1a}, BriMm'Iqa'gg Xetgo‘; mm; ital Bangs? “ 11}; yeaitlmwu; @618”, and firm/{awn sir; 'rai Erika." . “ If after this manner one should play at the throws of the “ Alveus, jssus CuRisT gives victory, and assistance to those who “ wrote his name, even in such trifling matters as playing this “ game.” E [ 3° ] Hoffmann, in his Lexicon, has properly observed upon this— “ E quibus apparet hane tabulam Christiani hominisfuisse: nam “ et crucem in mediofigendam curavit, et Christi nomen TC, if], “ scribendum, parum Christiane: Impié quoque adjutorem Illum “futurum dicit ludentibus aleam, legibus vetitam, bonisque moribus “ contrariam; omnibus olim Christianis impermissam, postedque “ solis interdictam clericis."* To the charges which Hoffmann has attached to these pernicious implements of amusement, another might perhaps be added, which is suggested by this very inscription: that those who addict them selves to games of chance, have a fainter conviction of the inter vention of Providence in the affairs of human life, than they ought; and are too apt to attribute to fortune that which is in truth the effect of providential interference. This was perhaps what the Christians of those times disapproved of, and exerted their blind and mistaken zeal to oppose, with as much unintentional impiety, not to say absurdity, as those missionaries displayed, who, as Mr. Mallet informs us, in order to wean the Goths from their favourite custom of drinking to their gods, Odin, .Ni'ord, Frey, and Brage, proposed the health of OUR SAVIOUR, as a substitute, in their ban quets and solemn festivals, to whom, as the true God, they “ de voutly drank to many ages.”+ This board, with its inscription, would certainly appear to have been a superstitious act, or contrivance to turn the thoughts of the players to Christianity: but to have effected this, it would be necessary that it should have a reference to something that was already familiar to the people. And if the line we have mentioned had been ever expressed on the centre of boards for play, in use at Rome, and more particularly on that of the Ludus Latrunculorum, which seemed to correspond with the He-r'Is/a of the Greeks, it would,

’ Hqfl'mann. inroce Avaus. 1 Northern Antiquities, Vol. I. p. 310. l 31 1 even upon the ALvrtis,* have been strongly emblematical, and at the same time a natural commutation of that unknown Sacred, which had become obsolete, or little understood, for that Sacred mark which was so much better worth their contemplation. i It might be objected to the idea of such a mark being in general use at Home, that the board copied by Grater is inscribed with Greek characters; but these might have been engraved upon it, to give a more mysterious appearance to the Sacred sign; and if my conception of the meaning of the iced 'ypdlufml, or Sacred line upon the 11517.1“ is correct, it would appear that the Greeks themselves admitted it, without fully comprehending the object it represented. This cross, however, upon the Alveus, may be considered as the first Christian moralization upon any game; and from an endeavour to make the relaxations of men subservient to religion, the custom of drawing moral reflections from the game of Chess became after wards common with the monks of the middle ages. Of the manner in which this game was played, I shall say nothing in this place, as it will be fully explained in the account of the IIMinav, which forms the subject of my next Chapter, which I accordingly hasten to, that we may observe the connection which subsisted in all these games, even to their decline.

" This will appear more evident in the following Chapter, where the connection between the HMO?“ and the Hrr'hla is explained. A similar dependence of the Alecus upon the Ludus Latrunculorum is here presumed. 1- St. Paul had said, on a much more important occasion, —-‘.‘ riigor mi flupt‘n h im'yi'ygarm “ -—'A7u'arp 9:97—31 J, dyvoiir'rr; slid-agriirl, 're'ror i'yni nmwyft'm dub." Although this unknown Sacred had no further connection with religious ceremony than its inviolability, yet, what antiquity has viewed with respect, later times are apt to venerate; and such objects, if properly taken up, are what may be most successfully converted into channels for wholesome instruction. It will be hereafter seen, that the wMOiw was actually a religious astronomical game among the Athenians.

E2 [‘32]v

CHAPTER lV. Of the levflz'ov.

Tm: antient game which took its rise from the Merrils, upon the first adoption of the moves, assumed a military appearance: instead of the sports of shepherd boys near their fold, it now appeared to represent their quarrels, which ended in declared hostilities. The parties separated from each other; proper territories were assigned to each; and what before was considered as a sheep-fold, was now converted into a mound, or barrier, against their mutual incursions. A misconception had attributed a certain Sacred property to the central mark, and it was deemed expedient to avail themselves of the imaginary property ascribed to it. As this inviolability seemed to promise some utility in the course of the game, it was mutually agreed upon that it should be abstained from; and by the co-opera tion of any pebble, it had the power of circumvention allowed to it, and was thus, in fact, endowed with the properties of a piece. Under this form, the [Is-r'lsr’e had now arrived at its perfect state; we have since seen it declining in the Ludus Latrunculorum; but its downfall seems to have been completed by the application ofthe mischievous invention of Dice to this game: a system of warfare was not to be carried on by chance; and accordingly we find, that when skill was nearly excluded, the game lost much of its military appearance, and began to relapse’into its pastoral state. From hence arose a mixed game, called Hat-16hr, constructed by the Orientals upon the foundation of the Ila-r'lu'ef which, from the

’ “rith regard to the precise time of this game being made known, although we cannot speak with certainty, the following observations may come near to the fact. It is probable that the H1091» might have been somewhat earlier than the Nerd, although I 33 1 moves in playing it being directed by the cast of the die, resembled rather the wagers of shepherds, than the stratagems of war; not withstanding which, the object in pla'yingtthe‘game, and even (as may. appear upon minute investigation,) thelv'ery construction of the board, and disposition of the pieces, shew it"to'harve'been but a perversion of the military'l'Iefle/a, whilst the terms resptecting‘ it'were' purely pastoral. ' . . . I As. it: Will be material. .to shew by every proof, collateral as Iwelh the latter does not . appear to have difiered from it. I have already - iobscrvedt ' that the , former F

owed its origin to the Dice. Now, in the opinion‘of Dr. HYDE, the K6€m or Dice were invented between the time of Homer and Aristopth This leaves a large interval: for cot» jecture; but, perhaps, it might not be presuming too much, if. we should fix date of the invention about 600 years before the birth of Our Saviour. The HAuQior and Dice seem to have been invented for each other: for although the 'Argéymt were possibly known, as Dr. Hyde observes, from the. time of the Deluge, yet we do not find that the use of them was-ever applied to the pebbles; nor would they seem to be strictly appropriate to the playing of this game.v Dr. Hyde remarks, that the six points in each. quarter of the board were devised, in order to correspond with the six sides of the dice :—“ Cubis enim, scu teaser-is, (invento scit. antiquiori,) “ addita et' conformataest' tabelta postliminid ercogitata, qua dicta linearum seu ductuum uumero “ instructa, sex teseerarum laterilnis- responderet."—Hydc, liist. Nerd. p. 12. Thus the board of the divers, or must», might not probably have been known before the invention of dice, because the Astragali, or Itucktetones, were marked on four sides only, the top and bottom. being left blank. spaces. I

The Nerd is supposed by Dr. Hyde to have been first known in Persia, about'the time of Arlaxera'cs Loogimanus, 01-5500 years before the birth of Olin. Sevroun; but even were we to suppose an interval ofv several years between the invention of the dice,.and the application of them to the game of Pebbles, adding also something to the 500 years from which Dr.. Hyde has'dated the origin of the Nerd, still the mash, may be conceived to be somewhat anterior; and it is a part of my objectin this TreatiSeto shew the connection that the IIAuBii' had with the military game of the I‘In'ltta, which was first of pastoral origin, and had its birth. rather in-the west and northwest parts of Asia; As the circumstance of the Nerd being first known in.Persia could not have. happened at any;very distant period from the time of Herodotus, .he may be considered safe authority upon. this matter; and-when he expressly tells us,.that.the Lydians invented dice, and these form so material av part'ofthe game of 1'1M105w,_we may be. content to believe that the game was not. invented in Persia, but. rather travelled eastward, from Asia Minor; and perhaps was learnt. by, the Rereians, from the shepherd nations in the neighbourhood of the Leeann. 1- Certainly known to lEschylus ;-,-“ oi. M; Mot? l 34 l as immediate, that the Ila-field. wasof pastoral origin, it will be worth our while to enter into some particulars respecting it, even in its perverted form, and to collect the degree of evidence that the HAwO/ov will present us with, towards 'corroborating the fact: for which purPose it will be proper to consider it, first, according to the object of the game, and secondly, as to the form of the board; and if, after this examination, we shall prove in a satisfactory way the identity‘of the two games, the IDovéi'ovand Her'lu’a, it will follow, that the terms in the former are equally applicable to the original nature of the Hefler’u, however the later military appearance of that game may have rendered those same terms upon the Her'kvniem" unnecessary or obsolete. l. The object oft/1e game of [IAerth is clearly expressed by Julius Pollux, in the short mention he has made of it; but he is equally silent as to the manner in which the game was conducted, and the parts of which it was composed. This might be deemed an effectual bar to our further investigation of the subject; but, fortunately, the distinguishing features of the game are prominent, and Dr. Hyde has handed down to us some authorities from certain writers respecting an Eastern game, which, by a singular coincidence, proves, itself to be the same with the l'IMvgiav, and supplies us with all that was} wanting for our information in the other quarter. julius Pollux observes —“ 'H 8% 3rd mMJv Mow wailial Hhvgt'ov “ 2;}, leea; Ev yeapluaig Exov dtauufee'vag—xai 15 pin! HAivelov nahefrau “ Hihg, 15v 5% tlnitpav Erwin Klimt." lib. ix. C. 7.

‘ l have ventured to avail myself of the word an'llL'régwr, as a commodious term to express the board of the Hrr'laia, but I acknowledge that I have no authority for the liberty I have taken —Slepl|ens, in his Thesaurus joins it with mum; and even then, in truth,it applies only to the Egyptian Alveus, or Orrery. Constantine explains the adj. n-r'lw'rwigm “ id qua uhmtur oi “ rural-oran and since Julius Pollux has not informed us by what name the board of the Hrr’liia was distinguished, I hope to be permitted the free use of it, even with the “0rd Ilmfii" subaudito; and this last which, strictly taken, implies a brick or tile; may, if I should (in a forced sense) apply it to the Hedda, be understood as “ a tessellated pavement or board." l 35 l 7“ But that game which is played with many pebbles, is called ‘i Hatvtt’w, which has certain spaces marked out, and inclosedpby “ lines; and the mlygtlml or board itself is called the city, and‘ each of “ the pebbles is termed a dog.""‘ ' ' I; The Oriental game I allude to is the NERD, which is treated 'of at length, by the Persianauthor Phirdausi, and the Arabians Ibir Chelikdn, and Sokeilter of Damascus, in three passages Quoted by Dr. Hyde from these authors. T 1 .- . ' ‘ ' = From the firstof these it will be suflicien'tfor me to addu'Ce one line, as translated in the treatise of Dr. Hyde, p. 51, which speaks of the pebbles employed in the game :'. ' --_ .1 ~ “ Omnes erant belli-petentes, urbi-eaptantes."

The ring, or city, theref0re, was equally understood in? the HMQ/av and the .Nerd.—Thus the nature of the game might be expressed, as Dr. Hyde observes, brim; watt/(2w, or urbes capture; and as Erasmus has it, civitates tusimus, although the are/Mg, or city, was but a corrupted term, as I shall shew in its place. ' Dr. Hyde informs us, that in the Ge'mara, or jewish Talmud, a person is mentioned,“ ludens eatulis pan/is 1t? Nerdshir,"+ playing

‘ Julius Pollux remarks that theSe terms, the city and_the dogs, gave rise to a joke of the Greek dramatic writer Cratinus, where he stigmatises, in an opprobrious sense, the city of Athens, and the numerous parasites with which__it abounded, by the names of the points and men in the game of HMBior,—“ 6’6" xai Kga/riny wiwatx'rm :f ' ' ' _ "- I J “ Havd‘torid‘a wéhu; Baaths'w; I ' i i ' L

* , ~ ' " Ti; tetfiéaaxoq ciao, hr Myoun‘, ,_, , tr- ; \ ~ 7 a “ rte-i mire. xai min: in maigurrn.” ’ “ Do you know the tribe or district, named after King Pandion, in that city with many divi “ sions? and do you know the Dog and the City, which people play at i" _ ‘ ' "Eustatln'us, having this passage of Cratinus in view, has observed of the game—“ xai infirm " ai Fir ygauumai xa'igau Hahn; o'inui'ngor, ui di intricahuiea-m Winn; \I/GQM, Kxim, ad‘t +8 859" " émth';.”--“ They called the points in the tables,” says he, “ cities out of mere rlrbunity of “ speech, and the tablemen they called dogs, as if from their impudence.” - 1’ Hyde Hill. Nerd. P. 25. 1 Atrigmikznoe. At. wagthxag. l 36 l with the little ' dogs of the game of .Nierd ; or, in other words, playing with the pebbles, each of which was termed Kiiwv, a dog, as Julius Pollux has already told us.* - But the names of the board and men, are not the only points in which these two games Corresponded. They were similar in the object of their moves.—'Julius Pollux continues: “ diyeqneiw all ti; “ dtia 1511 doith itqu 1d; xetiag, vi re'xm T‘Z; waiting; 25:, wsgthitl/u 15v dtia “ tinitpwv apaxetiwv Tviv greezixeev nimrgeTv." ‘ “ The men then being divided according to their colours, the art ‘V‘ of the game is, to take, by a circumvention of two of thesame “ colour, any pebble of a different one." Let us hear Phirdausi + again .— “ El quando unum solitarium capiant duo homines, “ Tum ecce unus de exercilu venil in fracturam." Thus then upon the first head, we find the time/w and the IIs-r'let'a were the same. They strictly corresponded in their object, in the material point of circumvention, which constituted the _very essence of the earlier game. _ 2. Our next inquiry will be, what was the form of the board, and the disposition of the men? and how far in this view the remains of the He-flu’u may be traced, and discovered in the mixed game? From the author next quoted,i we find that there were 12 points on each side of the board, and that the men were thirty in number; and this is confirmed by Sokei/cer, that the whole of the points on the two sides of the board were divided into four quarters;§ and

' In a game played by the Arabs in Palestine, called Kidz, and mentioned by Dr. Hyde, p. 293,; we find likewise that the pegs with which it was played were called Itelb (ecu canes.) 1‘ P.51,ut supra. I 1' By an extract (from Ilm Cbelila'n) in the Commentary of the Arabian Al-St'pliadi. Hyde, p. 53. 5 This corresponds with the account of Pltirdausi:-—-“ dzkposuit cmcitz’u locum quadriv t 3-1 1 that the men' were 15 white pebbles on the one side, and the same number of black on the contrary. a - - The foregoing account agrees also with the form of the board of ldlveus; or} rather, perhaps, I should call it the Greek game} transported to Rome, which I have already delineated; although I conceive that it is erroneously described, from the engraver (employed by Grater) net having been attentive to place the divisions marked thus, |1><11 in the centre 0f th'e'Al'veus, so as to divide the board into, two equal parts. -\ _- . I should observe, likewise, an apparent error in Dr. Hyde's account of the Hawélov; for, besides thath have shewn that the lines in the verses addressed to Piso cannOt apPIy to it, from his. silence authorityas to the foruse stating of dice, the I do number not conceive of'rneni‘upon that Dr. the Hyde Hméi’ov has to any be sixty. For julius Pollux only says I“ 1] £810? mXAzZv 1114on #0413102,” that it was played with many pebbles, in comparison with the old HET'Ielaa, which employed only fiw'tl/iom on each side of the board But Dr. Hyde was prObably misled by' the resemblance vvhich Julius Pollux asserted that' the Aluygapuurpt}; bore—to the Halve/am?" which Hesychius says consisted of'sixty'pebbleshL and which might have been, as DraHyde observes, the same'With the Mid; but differing, perhaps, in this, that it was twice as large, and consequently might require twice-the number of men. There is no reason, therefore, why we should not believe tlle'l'lathi’ov to have consisted of an equal number of men with the JVerd; since Julius Pollux says nothing to the contrary; and it will then agree with the Roman Alveus, which employed thesame number of calculi:

“ partitum ;” or,‘as the modern Backgammon-board is divided into four tables. But I ownI do not understand_what is meant by the “ Binoaque exercitus in octo partes :" nor again,— “ Duosgue reges—ut-essent ambo simul in bello, et tamen anus ab altero non caperet vindictam.”, - ° " ’E'yl'ir; ii in rau'rp 'rlii mandrel ital 6 diat'ygaupwutig.” 1- “» Aiaygapuw'pl's inside); it $6?» iii/intern." x. 1'. to F [8-81 “ Trigieta magnos, adversosque orbibus arias.“ There is another particular, in which the Hxivét’av, the .Nerd, and the Alveus,plikewise concurred; namely, that they were all played with three dice. Thus the old Epigrammatist with regard to the former: ' i

“ Tetxgaidia; 02.80/16,an Baha‘i! \ll'qtpidat'.” Hyd€,_ P. 45; And Phirdausi of the JVerd: “ Triplices tesseras jussitfacere ex ebore.“ Of the Alveus: “ Terna tibi has primumfundo votvuntur in imo.”+

OF THE DISPOSITIONv OF THE MEN. 3. The men being 15 to each party, the most uniform manner of disposing them, (and which might have been adopted at first.) would be by an alternate arrangement of three and two, whilst the. adversary might be conceived to.- place his in the correspondent Order of two and three ;—if the men then were to. be thus drawn up in array, the actual number on each point, and its opposite new, I'QCthlfid Kauai goi'xav, would b5 fitVQJl' hence WQ may C011

' Epigrammatista "vetus. f Ep. vet. Hyde, p. 17. I Something of this arrangement may be seen in the Backgammon, as in use amongseus,‘ wherq the disposition of the men, though dispensed over the board, consists of' one point 07 three men, another of twat and two doublepoints ofijicc. This classification of the pebbles, varies frommy supposed arrangement above, which however may serve to illustrate the origin of the Hatrtliov. We may suppose the modern arrangement tohave been soon adopted in the' Nerd, from its conveniency; and this may be what is alluded' to in‘ the words—“ibinosque “ erercitus in octo partes."—But the game of Backgammon has retained nothing of the IIMQior but the board; the object of circumvention is wanting, and the conducting ofi fire game appears to be a. calling-in ofthe scattered tablemen; whereas invthe I'DmOtn, the-pebbles-were to make the circuit of the board,'and- to repeat this until' they had circumvented-the men lot" the adversary, as they respectively fell in the_way. It should be remarked, that there is a kind of_ Backgammon, though mat, in, frequent, use, [39] jecture that the UAW!” took its original form, from a board of the‘ HE-r'lo’a completely covered with pebbles in all its stations, the Sacred also included. Let us suppose this board so Covered to be divided indented wise, and the. upper and lower halves‘being drawn asunder, we then obtain the form of one half Of the board of the IIMQt’ov. It is true that the board ‘of the Hails/u was a square of five, whilst the half of the HAin'ov is six points in length. But we are to bear indmlnd: thew this mixed game owed its origin tothe dice; and that, each quarter. was composed of six points, on account of the six sides of thedt'tg as I have before observed to have been the opinion of Dr. Hyde, And hence, to the divided board of the HET7Et/IZ, an extra pentad of pebbles Was added to answer this purpose. See Plate ll. F (I have-marked the contrasted numbers with stars and dots,~ to prevent the men on each side of the board from being confoan together.) To this, another (but vacant) board of the mfla’a. Was added collaterally, for-the men to be moved into; and the Zinddn orpo‘undst of the two boards, being likely to irnpede the game in its-pregress, were removedlfrom the centre to the sides of' each board, thus dividing the'one-from the Other. See Plate ll. Fig. 3. That this Conjecture may not appear ex'tr'avaga-nt,l will observe further, that these Pentagrams, or boards with five lines, are com mon ‘in‘alrnost every game played with pebbles, either of skill or. chance. One in particular, called Talk described by Dr. Hyde, p. 2-17., is composed of five lines, or four squares in breadth; and 13, 19, 21, or 29 in length, which is not material, provided the number is unequal. Dr. Hyde'has- described one, which is five in which consists'in placing all the fifteen men on the sin: points in the first table, and then making“ the circuit of the board: that is to say, relinquishing the place from which the men Were first moved, to obtain possession of the adversary’s table; whilst the other player attempts the same on his part. ‘ ‘ I - ' F2 [40.] breadth, and played with 19 men, which makes 20 lines in. length. I hesitate not to consider this a game of Pebbles, composed of four boards of the He-r'lu’a placed laterally. This board, as shewn by Dr.. Hyde,\may,be seen Plate ll. Fig. 43" :1 his of .no consequence that the men are placed and'moved in squares _; for lines, or points of intersection, were the only stations upon the board ever known by the antients; the disposing of the men upon the squares being a modern custom. _ ' To this may be added the Ludus subjugandi rebelles, consisting, in breadth of five lines ; (Hyde, p. 215.) but more especially the Ufliba Wahulana, (Ibid. p. 233.) which was almost a board of the He'flsla, with the omission of the Sacred Feetlulwfi, the stations for the pieces being also removed from the lines to the squares inclosed by them. ,, Having made a, reference to the old Epigrammatist, respecting the dice employed in the game of l'ImQt’ov, I‘will avail myself of his information, by way offurther illustrating the game. This epigram,‘ written not in the purest Creek, 'is descriptive2 of a party at, the game of Motionof which the King Zeno made one, ' _ The sense of it is as follows :— , _ ' ', v , Mf‘ This critical situation once happened to the powerfulKing “ Zeno, at the ingenious game of the Dice : as he :was playing with. “ the white men, and (having already made the circuit of the board,) “ as he returned to the. table from which. he commencedhis career, “ or as he returned from the white corner to his own table,zther_e. f‘ were seven 3of, his, pebbles on the 6th point, one On the 9th, and “ the last (5 replace) or 24th point,,was equal to, the 10th, each of

J "" Niebuhr has exhibited the board of the Tdb (ashe saw it played by the Maronites at. Cairo,) differently from this of Dr. Hyde, "viz. a. Pentgram of 21 lines in length; and he differs from him likewise in an account of a particular throw: for it is a mane of chance, played by throwing sticks, white on one side and black on the other._ It is played with potshcrds of different colours. However, Niebuhr has said enough for us not to be difficult. as to the manner of playing it; for he says, that in different towns they play it according to different rules. [ 41 l “ them being occupied by two pebbles, and the point behind the‘ “ 24th had also two, and the 2d point took up the last pebble he? “ had to play;* “ The antagonist had left two black pebbles upon the 8th point, “ and as many on the 11th; two on the 12th, and a single one on “ the 12th. The point Antigonufl was graced with two, and the “ 15th had two also; being in this respect correspondent with the “ 18th; and the 4th from-the last (or 24th), namely, the 21st point “ was occupied by two more. But the King, to whose turn it came “to throw, having the white men, and not aware of the snare “ that awaited him, having heedlessly thrown the triple dicei from “ the dice~box within the-rugged sides of the tower, brought out i ' i115?“ 'rin' wv‘ué-r-m vip¢|iwrn| Aicu. l. 8. v _

f Aigu'ysg 'Av-rt-ymv hwéqtm. l. 13. From the regular order in which the points are enu merated, no doubt but Dr. Hyde has correctly rendered this the 14th. And here, I cannot refrain from offering some slight defence for Saumaiae, whose conjecture upon the point Anrrooxus has been severely ridiculed by D. Souter. Saumaise understood the mum" to be a military game, representing the contests of the llIacedonians and Romans: That there were two kings, the Macedonian Antigonus on the one side, and a Roman on the other, who was styled by the imperial title Di'cus (AiCog). Souter properly objects to the different quantities of these words AiCo; and Dams. Besides, AlCo; can only allude to the deuce point, and Anti-genus to some other point in the tables. That Saumaise's “joculare commentum" (as Souter terms it,) was not entirely unfounded, the lines of Pbirdausi upon the Nerd, which I have more than once alluded to, will testify: “ Duosque reges ‘ “ U t scil. cssent ambo simul in bello, “ Et tamen unus ab altcro mm capcret vindictam. a s Q o a o o o 0‘ “ Amborum regum pugiles. “ Et tum ambo regcs, cum militibus rursus conveniunt.” Hyde, p. 51. .As the Nerd and the HAnOior have been proved to be the same, we must agree with Saumaisc in giving a place to two kings upon the board, although Pltirdausi gives us to understand they were of little use. I I “ Tglxeud‘iaq id‘rixm'a Bald! Midas éelopg-”_Dr. Hyde reads iglepq‘i, but the genuine reading is surely that suggested by Saumajse ; 5m" 50111.05, from the dice-box. The dice being shaken in the box, were thrown into a tower, carved in the inside after the fashion of a dice box, down which they fell, and were extracted through holes at the bottom, left for that purpose. Hyde, p. 28. [ 42 l “ from the bottom of the tower a deuce, size, and cinq, by which “ means he had eight blots dispersed in different parts of the board. “ Let every one, therefore, fly the tables, for. even our sovereign “ could not avoid the unaccountable ill luck that attends the game " In Plate II. Fig. 5, may be seen what I conceive would be the scheme qfthe board, according to the Elaigrammalist’s desen'ption of it. In this we areto understand, that the unguarded points, or blots, being more numerous in the game of the one party, he was more exposed to the danger of being circumvented; and the Epigram seems to point out King Zeno’s want of skill in moving, rather than any final catastrophe that might determine the event of the game. But the reader will be better pleased to exercise his own judgment upon this difficult point; and as the Epigram should, in fairness, be quoted, I will subjoin it here.* q Av'nro'rl yhg Ziwm 'IroNcra'i-I'xol Hawaii“ I'Iai'ynor itpea’as'm iu'nM/or'ra attic” Toin woimhi'rwx'roq :7“; 950m, :51" aivri MHE Ti} xai Emceia‘im ii; 5831 igxo/M'w; 'E'Ir'nie luir i'x'ro; ixn, [Lieu si'm'roq, 01.51%? 5 mini“; Awning dintpn'qrm ice; in: drawing. ‘0; 3i m'Au [.et‘rrie edgy.” i'xn No, uzydi‘m yin», \llfit‘Por Tin 'n'upd-mv einn'maxa AiCoq. 'AMh print; (head; pi! i! 5730qu Mm xiv/g9), Kai 1'60an i-rigaq i; Sim: iyh‘mai'rqq.‘ ,Ap.¢i duuis’xa'ror 8i iii-Kenny siszm iMm, Kai 'rgtgauiexai'ry \I/rwo; i'xu'ro (Lia. AiCu'yu; 'Arr'vymor Students”, a'tNuit xai min; 'Ia'o; Illa-IF." 'ni'rroq mr'rsmmeEuaiTg-i, 'Ox'ruumiexai'rq: wagoyoi'iofl sic-En 3" ai'Maq Eixn sixeasia-q 'rf'rga'ro; Ex err/Indra. Abrag aims Munoi'o Alexei! chi/1.13111 vrra'v§, Kai 'r-in ia‘anpz'vu a': rainy way/‘3‘“, Tgtxoaa‘ia; 5‘86ng Baldy ~J,»¢Ta“a; n’wr' iswii H1508, Meadow xhiuzxi uw-Sopémv, 1 Aota‘u, atai iii, mi m'rre xa'ri'ywyn; ani'rixee 315x111 uACv'ya; fix" but; @3559: urging/mg, Tuuihn @6717: mirnq, imi 'ya‘ug uoigavo; mini; Kaine, 'rt‘zq M8; ex: imdAufe 11/1701“.

' Leg. irirxd're. T Leg. IEUSO‘UJ’IGQ‘ [43]

OF THE TERMS ADOPTED IN THE ANTIENT GAMES.

From the view we have already taken of the games of the Hmér’ov and HET7ELIU, as to their object and form of the board, the corre spondence, if not the identity of the two, would seem to_ have been made sufficiently evident; and we might thence infer, that the terms adopted in the former, were equally applicable to the original intent and nature of the latter game. But that this may not be too rashly concluded upon, some. inquiry into the meaning of these terms may be necessary. It may be easily conceived,tha-t the Her'lér’u might have represented the incursions of wandering Nomades, for the purpose of mutually dispossessing each other of what was most valuable to each—their flocks and pasturage. The stations on the board would probably have been considered as so many folds for cattle; for that the central, or inviolable mark, was a sheep-fold originally, I have already shewn; and this signification was certainly retained in the Romanv game, where a breach in the mound or sheep-fold once effected, the‘ hostile parties rushed into each other’s ground to seize their plunder. It will not be surprizing then, if this should be found to be equally the object of the mixed game, which we are now more particularly» treating of. Such a coincidence may lead us to conclude that the whole was borrowed from the shepherd nations, and was descriptive of pastoral manners. Respecting the terms of. this game, we may be ready to allow the pastoral allusion of the word “ dog,” by Which the pebbles 0n- the Hair/95v were known. But with regard to the Hémgl—I‘s it to! the politeness and refinement of the Greeks, that we are to attribute the applicatinnrefiit to_this game'?--l\am convinced it is- a word of l 44 ] pastoral meaning. Notwithstanding my wish to treat the great Eusrn'rnrus with all due eighth-17;, yet I think I can have safer recourse to the good sense, and sound learning of our venerable countryman, Mr. BRYANT, to explain the meaning of this leading term in the HMQ/ov, in a much more ingenious and satisfactory way, than by referring it to that urbanity, from which the 'Scholiast had 'imagined it took its rise. ' The names of the stations on the board of the Greek game, were ortiM-‘t; and xueumiuum, “ cities” and “ mounds.” This was answered by the Roman mandra; a hovel, or fold for cattle. But the 7rd)“; and mandra, as to import, were the same. W e learn in Mr. BRYANr’s excellent treatise upon the Plagues of the Egyptians, that many towns in Egypt bore allusion to the pastoral life in the very signifi cation of their names, and were only receptacles for the droves of cattle belonging to the natives. Hence the names of towns, such-as Mali/83m, Exmh Molvdpat, .S'cenrzMandrw,* being pens, and booths, upon the higher places, whither the shepherds drove their flocks, and there established their folds, and fenced them in. They pitched their tents on these spots for the protection of themselves and their cattle; and perhaps in reference to this, the Kzlwu, or'watch-dog, which is men tioned by julius Pollux, may have some figurative meaning. The same may be inferred of the Roman “ septa,” answering likewise to the mandra, or sheep-fold, which again was applicable to the word city, being an inclosure. Thus'of the city ol'Jericho, Mr. Bergien observes —“ Jericho a regu son nom de I'm (rich,) enceinte, cldture, “ lieu fermé. Le Crec 'Piixa; sepes, septum, macert'w, est la méme “ racine, et le nomgénéral de ville n’a pas une autre signyication.”+ '1 he points in the tables were termed. by the later Greeks daidsim animal, which was latinised by the words “ cassi, capsi,” (i. e. septa, inclosures). From this word “ wing,” perhaps, is derived the mo dern European “ casa,” house, or hovel, amongst the Italians and ' P. 358. ‘ 1 Bergier, Elam Primith des Langues, p. 211. , - l 45 '1 Spaniards; and the French, “ case:" and from these words employed by the Southern Europeans, the English word “ house," has been made to signify the squares upon our boards; That all these last mentioned words refer to the mandra, or sheep fold, and were borrowed from. the East, may be easily discovered ;" for the Oriental shepherds, who employed the vatant hours of the night in viewing the stars, and by observing the stated returns of them, were thus enabled to ascertain the duration of the seasons, the better to. impress the situation of the constellations on their memory, classed and divided them into imaginary sheep-folds. The Greeks, who borrowed their notions of astronomy from them, imitated their example; and thus the 3m, mi cpé-i-m, which Mr. Bryant has noticed, had a place in the 'sphere; and I remember to have met with this passage—“ alqu-e illas in auto m'andras‘f' that the antients, not content with deifying their heroes, had even crowded the heavens with folds (i. e. herds) of monsters and wild beasts. It appears that mandra'signified equally a sheep-fold and house; i the latter, therefore, became a common term, when the study of astrology was. formerly affected r—-“ esttwa el sol, 84c. en la “ casa de:leon,."-“ the sun was in the house of the lion," says the bombastic biographer of De Solis, “ when our historian was "" born."-¥lt signified the square, or. space, in which each constel~ lation was separately quartered; and has, in like manner, been adopted in later times, to eXpress the. squares which contain the tablemen upon the modern boards. By the néatg, or city, therefore, was implied the Mdvdea, in a general or. collective sense, and the Word was consequently a pastoral term. It was for this reason, no doubt, that we find the game of 'Hmtr'ou

'- ’ Mandra was of itself an Oriental word':—“ pm Graeme-Italic-oooem a-Chaldm's, et a “ Graecis Latinos accepisae.” Martinii Lex. Philol. in voce Mandra.. I

f “ Ma'sdga, idem, was also; -—u. 1'. 7t." Martinii IkX. Phil. G I46] adopted by the Athenians, as a part of a religious ceremony, and as an emblem of their antient pastoral state. For the Greeks, sensible of their origin, and of the advantages they enjoyed by having quitted a wandering life; employed various means of expressing their gratitude to the gods, for having established them in regular societies. An annual festival was therefore celebrated, under the name of Suvam'e, or Meronc/x, to commemorate their coming together, when their antient dwellings in villages, near their mandm, were collected, and formed into the city of 'Athens. Thus also, among other ceremonies instituted in honour of Minerva Skiras at Athens, it would appear that the mixed game of Harvér'av had a place in later times; and it was more particularly played in her temple,* from the allusion it bore to their antient pastoral life, when their leisure hours were passed in diverting themselves with rude and simple games, composed of the pebbles they might pick up on the turf, which was cut out in lines to answer the purpose of their boards, and for other reasons which shall be elsewhere explained. I may possibly have enlarged beyond what was necessary, in these observations upon the games of the Her'lu'a and IIMer’av'; but Ihope that sufficient proof has been adduced, to shew that these two games, in their object and'meaning, were the same; and that the origin of them must be traced to some shepherd nation. I shall presently have occasion to observe the Her'lu'a existing, with some variations, in so distant a part of the world as Gama; and as the Greek game has been already, referred to a pastoral

‘ Places set apart for playing with dice, (or at the Kfiqia) says J. Pollux, were called Znsganua.—“ Alan uang-a 2401",," ixxlvu kl Zzigq, iv 71177;; Exlgqidp; 199,3, he?” lib. ix, cap. 77 It‘may be obserVed, that whenever the word upgstiru, (to play with dice) occurs, the game of HMQ?» seems to be implied. For to play only by wager upon the highest throw, was termed “ waits-QCWTIJ’ andnhegame itself quarts-£92,164." But in the mi:ged,y,gqme 0t" Dice, and Pebbles, i. e. I‘linov, .they were said to play at the Kvgsiafl'. e. {flaming—fie 1. iii. cap. 1. “ mi slit?“ Myers-cu, ole oi “Quinn's; wages-u.” _ , c l 47 ] nation, it will follow, that the Chinese game must be equally attri buted to some intermediate people, who could have communicated the same to both. But other material discoveries will follow close in the train of the first. We shall see the game of the Her'lefu, as practised by the Chinese, dawning into the game of Chess; or, in other words, already blended with it, and assuming its general name : we shall therefore, perhaps, be led to suspect that the former of the two was the parent game. But this becomes an object of separate inquiry, and shall be treated of hereafter.

G2 [48]

CHAPTER V.

Of the ’Iega‘z 1‘ @aaaiz, considered as a VALLUM, 0r MOUND; and of the Scythian Origin of the 1.187782%. .

As the game of the I'Isfleia owed all its ingenuity to the central or Sacred mark, and as this underwent various changes, according to the advancement and decline of the game, it may be worth while to - notice the different names by which it was known, till, in the end, it disappeared as a square upon the board, and displayed itself in a new character; which, at the same time that it gave a different com plexion to the game, reflected upon it an unexpected lustre. We have already explained the nature and office of the central mark; the difficulty will be, how to reconcile to ourselves the violent transition it appears to have undergone in the Greek game; first, from the Ennis, or temple, which was afterwards more generally expressed by the word Ieeiv; then the Sacred; and, lastly, the Sacred Line; and how this again, in the later games deduced from the He-flst’a, should have experienced a further change, by repre senting the VALLUM, or Moum). The change to which idiom in language is unavoidably subject in the lapse of time, might have effected this; and this again is directed, no doubt, by the change of manners, and habits of nations. Thus we may suppose the sheep-fold to have been applied to the central mark, at the time of the formation of the Hafiz/a, out of the board of the pastoral Teio'diov. Upon the game of Pebbles being received by the Greeks, and on their quitting the pastoral life, their language was enlarged in conformity with their habits; and admitted [49] words, Which, though new in meaning, yet still referred to the pastoral origin of the people. Here was a confusion arising‘from, the ambiguous sense of: certain 'words‘, of which we haVe produced a sample in the term 21125;. This, notwithstanding its assumed meaning, yet in the succeeding military ages, when every party was jealOus of determining their own, and securing it from the rapacity of their neighbours,was accommodated to the manners of the people; and as the game itself became a representation of a combat for ter— ritory, or property, the central mark was made to signify the artless, and only means which the people of those days knew to employ,- as the boundary to determine, or the barrier to defend what was legi-v timately their own. ' Hence the central mark became a mound, or land-mark ; and it was not only expedient, but natural, that it should retain its inviolability, which the misconception of a term had accidentally attached to it.-—-Like the land-marks of the Jews, which were to. bring down a curse upon whoever removed or violated them, so this mark, which was fixed in the centre of the combat, was held sarcasm—This determining of territories by mounds, and the same being deemed Sacred, was no new thing among the Asiatics; nay, by adverting to the ceremonies which they attached to boundaries, we are almost in possession of an apology for the apparent miscon ception of the Greeks; and shall be led to conceive, that the Oriental shepherd nations uniformly determined the tracts of land which their flocks and sheepfolds occupied, by temples and mounds, as we know to have been the custom of the Gentoos, in very early times.* Thus we find, as the ni'flillfi was originally borrowed from the Oriental Nomades, the transition from the sheep-fold, to the temple,

‘ Thus their code of laws insists, “ That to ascertain boundaries, on the confines of those “ boundaries, certain trees shall be planted, &c. &c. &c. &c. or a mound of earth must be “ made, 310. &c. &c. or a temple shall be built there to S/uig/iur (i. e. the deity)" See Halhed’s Gentoo Laws, p. 181. [5°] and mound, is but a natural train of consequences, easily to be explained by the manners of the pastoral people, which this game kept pace with, and was ever intended to represent. / ' ' These' mounds became in course of time objects of defence for whole provinces, which gladly embraced the security they afforded against the incursions of the pastoral tribes. Di: PAUW has given an account‘iof more than twenty great mounds erected for such purposes? in Egypt, Gala-Syria, Palestine, Asia Minor, Media, Tarta'r'y', China, “Russia, Greece and‘the Peloponnesus, Bulgaria, SWitzeflarid, Britain, Germany; besides the countries round Bo cha'm, and Samhrcantl, which were “fortified by walls 2+ in all which instances, we may observe this mode of defence prevailing at a very early period, in different parts of the world, widely distant from earth ether;l but‘more particzularlyiin countries lying towards the northern and middle parts of Asia; and these were peopled by that numerous race, the Scythian JVomades, from whom the Tat-tars are descended: it is no wonder, therefore, that so striking a circum stance as the VALLUM, should have had a place in a game which was designed more particularly to represent the manners, and way of life, of this wandering people. > If, in the'course of this inquiry, we shall have cause to suspect, that the Sacred mark had been erased from the board, and its pro perties transferred to a piece, the game will further appear to represent wouldthat consistent have suggested line of conduct, to statesithat which improved had to repel systems the of irregular policy invasions of the wandering tribes. These would presently betake themselves to electing chiefs; nor would they care to trust the

' Dissertation upon the Egyptians and Chinese, Vol. II. p. 69. 1- To these might have been added the celebrated wall of Tlac‘cdla, in North America, which the Spaniards had to pass through, on- leaving the frontiers of that province, upon their march to Mexico. See Dc Solis, Conquista dc Mes-ice, lib. ii. 0. 17.—-lib. v. c. 1. Also, Cullen’s Translation of Clavigero’s History of Mexico, Vol. I. - p. 373 l 51 ] defence of their territories to mounds, but to discipline, and resolute forces 2—— '

“ nec fossa, et vallis patriam, sed Marte taeri." In short, the more we consider this antient game, the more we shall find it imitating the military art, through all its stages of improvement. ' It would be going into too wide a field of inquiry, were we now to examine the degree of intimacy which certainly existed, from earliest times, between the Scythians and the Greeks, by way of ascertaining the source from which the pastoral game was imparted to the latter- Nor would I here wish to adduce all the Various authorities, which Innst be fresh in every memory, tending to establish the identity of the northern inhabitants of Greece with the Hyperboreans,’ and proving how generally Scythian manners, and religious ceremonies were diffused over every part of Greece.+ Besides, it would be irksome to continue upon beaten ground, after the reference we have made to the pastoral manners of the wandering Asiatics, -by wayof accounting for the VALLUM, which was so fre quently alluded to in this game, and particularly when on its declinei It is enough to point out that the Greeks, at one time, were associated with, and partook .of the manners of the Scythian Nomades, to establish the possibility of' their having received the ne-flet’a from them. In accounting for the coincidence of antient customs, we must look for some probable reason, which will equally

‘ Tanaquil Faber, Ep. li. to Fabricius :—-“ Scythe: autem ipsi e genera Thracum, id quad non i“ Milli sed Hermolao cretlas licet ,-"2169at favor Gga'ixiov, ixahfirro 8i ugh-rigor Noaai'ol.” ' r]- Amongst these may be ranked the Sungiat, as practised at Alea in Arcadia; the Amhari wig, and the Taugwémm; all of which were celebrated in honour of the Scythian Diana :- even the famous oracle at Delphi, was understood to be of Hyperborean institution. Pausanias hits preserved a. tradition to this effect. Phoc. p. 8,09, ed. Kuhnii. I _ t The Nerd is sometimes called Sitésdere by the Persians, which signifies Szxévxrrs. See Hyde, p. 12, De Nerdiludia. . . » .- . [52] apply to every party concerned in the question. Now, the purpose of this inquiry could not be answered, by referring the origin of the game to any other country. It is hardly probable that Chaldaa, or Egypt should have sent the Her'lefu into Greece. The former was a polished, as well as a powerful nation, long before the Greeks had quilted the wandering state; therefore little likely to have commu nicated to them a pastoral game. On the other hand, it may be justly doubted whether the Egyptians communicated it to the Greeks; for, notwithstanding a hearsay report of Plato, concerning their god Theut being the inventor, we have no reason to believe they ever considered it as a relaxation, if they ever were acquainted with it; but rather made it subservient to their favourite study of astronomy; and by disposing the pebbles upon the He-flevriem, so as to eXpress the relative situation of the planets, they formed from it the first idea ofthe Orrery. But the material difficulty will be, to convey the game from Greece to the north of China, where it certainly was known: for, in the following Chapter, we shall see that the tablemen in these two countries were the same. The Mom and Prxc, of the Creek and Chinese games, will appear as armed natives of the same country, and engaged in the same warfare, however widely distant the field in which the operations of each were_carried on; the former, seeming to confide on their own unassisted exertions, the latter, acting with auxiliaries, ill adapted to the nature of- their disclipline, and serving rather as an incum brance than an ornament to the game. 'We shall be at no loss to fix upon the intermediate wandering tribes of Asia, as the commu nicators of the game to all these countries, whose several confines they touched upon. Numerous as these tribes must have been, and varying from each other, both as to distinguishing names and language, in this point they agreed, that they were Nomades; and they may be therefore allowed an indiscriminate right to the merit of the invention. [53]

OF THE

CHINESE, INDIAN, PERSIAN,

AND

EUROPEAN CHESS.

~J~

OF THE

HET7EZ'Q, as known among the Chinese.

['55]

CHAPTER VI.

Of the H8776id, as known amongst the Chinese.

THAT the antient game of the He-flet'a should have found its way to so remote a country as China, may be deemed a singular instance of the early communication of distant nations with each other. That the Chinese were acquainted with it we need not hesitate to believe, since it is to be seen at this very day, in the midst of the game of Chess, as in use amongst them. Our wonder at this apparent connection between the two countries must in some measure subside, if we should allow (as we reasonably may), that the Greeks themselves were indebted to a strange'people for their knowledge of the game. In the preceding Chapters, I have shewn what was the nature of the He-r'lst'u in its perfect state; and we have had an opportunity of remarking, that it was distinguished by some particular leading points, which prevailed more or less, in every game derived from it. These were, 1. The pentad of pebbles with which the game was played. 2. The stations and moves, which were upon lines, and not on squares, as in the modern European games. 3. The central mark, or boundary. _ And, 4. The object of circumvention, which was forwarded by that mark; either when the piece attacked was obliged to retire, or where there were no means of escaping from the attacks of the adversary, by which the game was finished, as it were, by blockade. These may be considered as the characteristics of the Greek game; and wherever they may otherwise be found, more parti~ H [ 5'5 ] cularly if they should all concur at once, the game possessing those characteristic marks may be safely ranked as a descendant from the Hails/z. ‘ It would seem that the Hafia’a had- already assumed its military appearance, at the time of its being introduced into China. Hence the five Mom, or pebbles, were termed in the language of the country, PING, or soldiers, of which there were FIVE to each party._ These, as in the Greek game, were stationed, and moved upon LINES. The central mark, or boundary, was extended, so as to touch the sides of the board, and received the appellation of the Kid-H6, 0r dividing river. That the properties of this central boundary gave rise to the temporary attack of cuecuxc, and the ultimate BLOCKADE, or CHECK-MATE, I have no reason to doubt; but as the material alte rations in the game were devised by another nation, and brought by them into China, I will reserve any further inquiry upon this last head until another opportunity, when the Indian improvements shall be treated of by themselves. That these improvements were so communicated, will be readily allowed; but it is for me here to shew, how a nation, at all times jealous of preserving its old and received customs, has, in this instance, shewn itself fearful of inno vation; and how, to this caution we are indebted for the discovery, that it has been formerly in the knowledge and possession of the classic game; and also, of the process by which the same was enlarged, and converted into the modern Chess. But it is time to bring forward proofs of my assertion; for which purpose I will copy the board of the Chinese Chess, as it was delineated for Dr. Hyde by his friend Shin-Fo-Cung, a native of .Nankin, on whose information and veracity Dr. Hyde has placed the strongest reliance. In this, the Greek Hs-r'fst’a will appear with the few variations 1 have already stated—At the extremities of this board, the additions to the game will be observable, and marked by L 57 1 this singular circumstance; that although the Indians, who taught their improvements to the Chinese, placed their pieces upon the squares of the board, yet, in compliance with the form of the antient game, the latter have retained the lines, or points of intersection for the stations of their pieces. See Plate 111. Fig. I. For a particular account of this game, the treatise of Dr. Hyde may be consulted. I shall here confine myself to the view of it,‘ only as far as it is' connected with the Rifle/a; first, however, explaining the names by which the pieces are termed. The five PING, as I have already observed, which in the adver sary’s game are always termed (90, represent soldiers. The pieces are, FAQ, or the cannon ; On, the chariot;' MA, the horse; , _ Smne, the elephant; which in the adversary’s game is always termed the assistant; ‘ SU, the assistant mandarin; and, QIANG, the general. ‘ . It is to be observed that all these pieces, except the PAC, which answer nearly to the castles in the European game, are restrained from passing the river,* and-are obliged to remain near the general, to protect his person. The glANG, or general, and the two 30, or mandarins, who are on his right and “left hand, are never permitted the move out of the space marked thus:

‘ Thus says Dr. Hyde, (p. 17],) upon the information of a. native; but it is probable that H2 l 58 1 So that in the time of Dr. Hyde, the pieces were almost confined within the two rear ranks, and had but little power to interfere with the game that was going on in the centre of the board. Hence it appears, that the Chinese Chess is a compound game, consisting of a combat of five soldiers on the bank ofa river; to which are added a set of extraneous pieces, whose chief office, excepting an attack should be made upon the person of the general, is, to pick up such straggling PING, or Co, as may have passed beyond the boundaries of the central portion of the board. The Pao, it is true, which are placed on the edge of the rear ranks, have the liberty of moving to any part of the board; but from their signification, and their being but two in number, they may be considered as a later addition to the game by the Chinese themselves.* The pieces were altogether received by them from India; nor would these have differed in number from the EIGHT in the Indian game, but that the desire of retaining the stations upon the lines, necessarily obliged them to add a NINTH piece. From these restrictions upon the pieces, I think I am justified in considering them, and the two rear ranks in which they move, as partly detached from, and almost unconnected with the central game. It is this last that we must therefore examine, in order to understand the spirit and object of the Chinese Chess. Divesting ourselves therefore of any consideration as to the pieces in the rear ranks, the central part of the board will exactly represent the Greek Her'iu'a; in which, however, the middle line of the five Feannai is

the pieces have been allowed greater liberties since his time; for Mr. Van Braam, in his Embassy to China. (Vol. II.) informs us, that the horses and the chariots have the liberty of crossing the river. In his account, the general is also termed Taytocq, from which we may conclude that the Chinese Chess has admitted of some improvements. * “ An 'verb ab hujus ludi primordiis eodem prorsus modo factum fuerit, ut scil. Milites “ cjusmodi sclopetis, ct dicto pulvere ab initio semper instructi fuerint, vel an posterior-a secula “ in hum: Iudum talia introduxerint, pronuntiare non. possum.” Hyde dc Shahiludio Chincnsipm, p. 176. [59,] concealed under the. dividing river. The alteration of the Greek game may be conceived to have taken place as described. Plate IV. Fig. I. And between the five pebbles* were drawn four other intermediate lines, which served as roads for the Pao, or cannons, to traverse. The pieces and men in the Chinese Chess, (as was the case in the Greek ni'r’litlu) have no distinction as to form, being flat counters of ivory, an inch in breadth, and a quarter of an inch in thickness; and being distinguishable from each other only by the characters marked upon them.- — Thus much for the similarity between the Chinese and Greek games, considered as to form ; + but their connection will be more apparent, upon their object and meaning being examined. The former represents the combat of two hostile armies across a river; which, as Dr. Hyde remarks, may be imagined to be that celebrated river, the largest in all China, known by the name of the Yellow River from the colour of its waters; which‘separates that country from India, Thibet, and Tartary on the west; and which returning, dividescrosses thethe Great whole Wall empire in intoan oblique two parts. line, and proceeding i forwards,

This is net very far from the purpose of the Greek game, in which two hostile armies are engaged across a central mound, or boundary. Now the Yellow River was in fact a boundary; and considering it as such, we shall be able to Collect the history of the

j' A typographical error. occurs in Dr. Hyde's Treatise on the Chinese Chess, which is worthy of being noticed: it is in p. 174.—“ Paulo antcn'us in tabelld in ipsd lined slant “ militcs grrgarii quatuor,” 81c. &c.——che “ quinquc," agreeable to the disposition of the men on the board, as delineated in page 166. - 1- The missionary Tuean’r, who had been long in China, has described the Chinese game of Chess in a. much more simple form than the one I have followed, by representing it as played with five pawns, and five pieces on each side, with two powder-pans admitted between the ranks; but as Dr. Hyde objects materially to his evidence, I have preferred-the game delineated by _Dr. Hyde, which corresponds so strictly with the Greek game, as fully to answer the purpose of my inquiry. [60] game, and the source from which it was communicated to the Chinese. According to the most approved opinion, SHENSI, and the northern parts of China, were first peopled by an outcast race of Hindus. These settlers extended themselvessouthward, as far as the Huang ho, whilst the provinces below that river were, at that time, but thinly peopled by straggling Tartarsf‘ who first opposed by arms, and afterwards coalesced with the Indian strangers, till in the end, they were united as one people—Thus, however, the KiA‘-H6 re presented the original boundary between the territories of the two. ———The PING, and Co, were Chinese and Tartars; and their former antipathy to each other may have laid, a very probable foundation for the subject of the game“ It would be no unreasonable conjecture to suppose, that the Har'hi’u had long been known among the Tartar tribes; that the Chinese, who learnt it 'from them, afterwards received the Indian impmvements; and whilst their prejudices prevented them from rejecting the pastoral game, the acknowledged ingenuityoi'the newly-invented piecesinduCed them by common consent to admit them, and blend themfwithit. ' g The pastoral, or military game has been universally expressive of the manners of every nation, by whom it has been, at any time, adoptedg This remark ,will partitularly‘ apply to the Chesszotv the Chinese, in' which the. manners, and history of the people may, in a certain measure, be said to be depicted—Its conformity with the (classic game, With respect to the pentad of pebbles, the lines, and central mark, is so evident, that the'mere examination of the board, renders 'l'urther comparison under these heads unnecessary. It yetremains for me to shew, that the pieces, and their properties, were deriVed'from the Sacred mark in the Her7e/a.+“—-'-In this last

- ‘ See the Seventh. Discourse ofythe late President, Sir W. Jones, to the Asiatic Society. 1- The circumvention which was efiected by the assistance of the Sacred mark, I presume, was the source of the modern practice of checking—but the mere circumvention effected [ 61 ] inquiry, the credit of the Indians as the inventors of Chess, and the communicators of it to CHINA, becomes immediately implicated. It shall therefore be entered upon in the following Chapter, where I think I shall be in possession‘of a clue, that will conduct me through the intricacy of this inquiry, and enable me to place in a clear point of view, a conneCtion that has never yet been adverted to, but carries with it such reasonable evidence, as may establish our belief in its consequences, upon a firmer base than the ordinary ambiguity of conjecture.

. c: . J . by the pebbles was also known in China, and fumished the subject of a. game called by them “ Wu 1:? K1," or the game of circumvention. This must have corresponded with the Lone; LnrnunceLonunqot' the Romans, but upon a larger scale. I

q ,_I' [621.

CHAPTER VII.

Origin of the King, and Pieces, from the Sacred Square. —King never taken at Chess—Checking—mnd Check mate. ' '

OUR next inquiry will be, how the improvements may be supposed to have been effected? and whether they were not suggested by'the very nature of the original game? Ifthe latter point can be made clear, I shall hope that sufficient proof will be obtained of the modern Chess having proceeded, not, as the world has been lately taught to imagine, from any instantaneous invention, but from a series of circumstances, all gradually tending to its ultimate per fection. We have seen an aukward specimen of improvement, in the ill associated pieces of the Chinese game engrafted upon the genuine He-r'lela. It was upon accidentally meeting with the small work of the Pe’re Trigaut, that I was struck with the actual existence, as it appeared to me, of an intermediate state between the perfect Chess, and the genuine He-flu'u. Upon afterwards consulting Dr. Hyde, I found that his very objections to the correctness of the Missionary, served but to confirm my suspicion, and give encouragement to my inquiry, whether the game of Chess was not altogether indebted to modern improvement for its present embellishments. From the description of the Chinese game by Dr. Hyde, I con clude that the Pmc, and Co, have progressively passed from the state of the antient pebbles, to that of the pawns in the Chinese, Indian, and European Chess; and it will be curious to see whether the same progression has not insensiny altered the other parts of l 6* ] the He-r'lei’a, in like manner. With this intent, I will enter upon a re-examination of certain parts of the Grecian game. In my Chapter upon the He-r'le/a I have explained the meaning and office of the Sacred mark; and have shewn, that as the object of the game was to effect a circumvention ofany one pebble, between two of the adverse party, so, the same could be produced by forcing a pebble into an intermediate station, between the Sacred and a hostile piece. This was an advantage only to be found in the centre of the board. But the purpose of the iseal yeawtfi was not complete; for the assistance of the Sacred would often have been desirable for effecting a circumvention in the distant parts of the board. Hence arose the idea of making it moveable. By its power of co-operating with a pebble in circumventing, it was already endowed with the properties of a piece, and it was therefore no great stretch of inno vation to raise it to the dignity of one; thereby giving it in form, what it already possessed virtually. ~ As the advantages of it, in its first inactive state, had been common to both, so, it was now but fair that each party should have a pebble endowed, as the {seal yewpbfl»; had been. T o distinguish this from the rest, it was perhaps called the inviolable pebble. 4 As the central mark was sacred, so this was inviolable: as the former was never moved upon, or invaded, so the' latter was never taken: and hence the custom of maven TAKING THE KING AT Cnsss. As it would not have been prudent to expose the sacred person of this pebble in the front line, and the scanty dimensions of the Her'leu-r'iewv would not allow of the pebble’s being obtruded further upon the middle \of the board, a place was assigned to it in the centre of an additional or rear rank. l An imperfection yet remained. The properties of-the ispal yealufbfl‘ were two-fold; irwiolabilily, and the power of making any- pebble RECEDE from it. We have only found a representative for itsv first pro- _ perty. The whole virtue of the Sacred was to be called into action. . I [64] The inviolable pebble was the solitary occupier of the rear rank :— it was thought proper that attendants should be given, to the right and left of it, who should share amongst them the oflensive powers of the Sacred, which it might not have been so consistent with the character of the first dignified pebble to assume. The power of causing to retire, was therefore vested in the companions of the inviolable piece; and hence we have derived the custom of cnscxmc. And with all this, the original object of the l'Is-flet’a was still retained, namely, the blockade; to which the CHECK-MATE of the modern Chess is certainly analogous; only, that in the early game, it was attempted indiscriminately upon the pebbles, in general; and in the improved game, the effect of it is exclusively directed to the most conspicuous piece. _ ' The finish, improved after this fashion, excepting as to the titles and moves of the pieces, would give us nearly such a game as the Chinese Chess is represented to be, by the Missionary Trigaut; but as Dr. Hyde will not admit of his evidence, my appeal must be again to the Chess of his friend Shin-Fo-Q'u'ng.v From that, I should be inclined to adduce, in evidence of my supposed origin of the king from the Sacred mark, the space in the rear rank, to which the CIAN'e,or general, is restricted—This I believe, from its appearance, to be only the Sacred mark removed from the centre to the end of the board. See Plate IV. Figs. 2 and 3. In this too, we perceive the honesty of the Chinese, not only in avowing the vSacred mark, which they ventured to remove, but likewise'in making reference to the Tetéé‘tov, from which the Hafiz/oz itself Was derived; for the transverse lines which spring from the central point of the space allotted to the Crane, are only continua tions of those transverse lines which intersected the corners of the board in the game of Merrilsf" See Plate IV. Fig. 4. The centre of this board is the space we have been speaking of.

" 1 hate bd'are shewn.th the board of the Merrils was altered into that of the Her-16¢. [65] But the Chinese assert that they received this game from India: and certain it is, that this connection between the inviolable person of the Crane, and the Sacred square, is to be found upon the board in use amongst the Persians resident in India. Whether these Indo Persians, or the Hindus, communicated the game to the Chinese, we can be at no loss to determine. The correspondence I am about to explain, is strong evidence that it was imparted to them by the former; and in this idea we shall be confirmed, when we have occasion to speak of the Indian Chess, or the game of Cashmir. This consisted of ten pieces,* and, as I presume, of ten stations. But the Chinese Chess must have been formed out of some such game as that of the Indo-Persians, whose men and stations were but eight in number: I must therefore be permitted to suggest it as highly probable, that the board' of the Persians resident in India was made known to the Chinese, and that they were induced to adopt the pieces and moves attached to it, which they readily engrafted upon that rude military game ofwhich they were already in the possession. The form of the board I speak of, is delineated by Dr. Hyde, p. 60. See Plate 1V. Fig. 5. It is embellished with bands of roses and crosses;+ nor are these to be considered as mere embellishments. Dr. Hyde informs us, that upon this board there were square spaces, specified by orna mental designs, to which the King betook himself in cases of extreme necessity: here, his person was beyond the reach of danger; and this safety he owed to the Sacred and inviolable properties of the square spaces, within the precincts of which he sought his defence. In what light, then, are we to consider this dependance of the

"' “ IIlc antiquior ludus duobus camelis auctior est vulgari." Hyde, p. 50. 1- If we take the rear rank of this Indo-Persian board, and transfer the station; from the squares to the points of intersection, preserving also the sacred asylum for the King, or general, it gives us the rear rank of the Chinese Chess board. I2 l 66 1 King at Chess upon the inviolable properties of the square, but as the relation he still claimed to it, in right of being the representative of the ispa‘ yealiqui ? This may serve to elucidate what I have suggested concerning the space to which the Chinese CIANG is restricted, at the same time that it gives considerable weight to my opinion, that the King is but a personification of the inviolable square. [67]

CHAPTER VIII.

Oft/te Game of elevated Pebbles, and whether there was ever an intermediate Game.

Tm; foregoing conjectures respecting the origin of the pieces may possibly be commended as ingenious; but this is not suHicient: perhaps some further proof may be conceived, to strengthen the opinion, and render it at least probable, if we dare not pronounce it certain. Such may be derived from considering the name by which the game of Chess is styled amongst the Chinese. They call it Stung-Ki, or the game of Elephants. But surely such a title is little applicable to a game in which elephants bear so small a part: for we find but one piece distinguished by that character in the Chinese Chess; the correspondent piece, in the adversary‘s game, is even denied that appellation. To compensate for this, however, we have ,a confusion of names, or I should rather say of sounds, presented us, from which something satisfactory may be drawn. We find one sound applied to three pieces differently characterised. We have a Qiang,-—or general; Siang,--or elephant; and Siang,—-—an assistant.*

"‘ It is true that Dr. Hyde observes of this last, that although it is termed assistant, it is represented by an elephant ,' but, as we find a piece named So, the assistant mandarin, I presume that even this last-mentioned piece took its rise from the former: for the confusion. of the word Sumo, or elephant, is evident in both: viz. Sumo SIANG,—the assistant elephant. Sune Sv,-the assistant mandarin. [ 68 1 I conjecture therefore that some equivoque is latent here, which it may not be very difficult to detect. The Chinese language, which employs certain characters to express the object under contemplation, to the eye, yet possessing no arbitrary signs for sounds, which should convey that object to the ear, must particularly abound with homophonous words, the sure attendants upon poverty, and imperfection of language. To remedy this defect, in some slight degree, the constructors off it had recourse to accents. The written language of the Chinese thus became, as it were, a collection of accented paintings; the accents served to direct the pitch of the voice, but the sound attached to each character still remained to be guessed at, and depended upon the memory of the reader. A Chinese would probably find the means of discriminating betWeen the three sounds of the word Siang, either by the use of such accents, or of aspirates; which last Dr. Hyde leads us to suspect,* from his attempt to vary the pronunciation of the sibitating aspirate at the beginning of the word glANG. To an English ear, however, the difference is by no means evident; and one might inquire why the game should have been styled the game ol'Elephants, rather than that of generals, or assistants: but for this the' Chinese must answer; for they were best judges of the propriety of its being so termed. From their preference, we may presume that the elephant is the original meaning of the sound; and since the word siang has this signification, perhaps the pieces were at one time known by one indiscriminate name of SIANGZ the name affixed to the game by the Chinese, authorizes us to believe this. But the Chinese assert that they received their Chess from India: I have found an intimate connection between the Indo-Persian and Chinese boards, exempli plified in the inviolable space, which served as a safeguard to the.

‘ And which is actually the case, as may be seen in Le Compte's Mémoz'rcs de la Chine. Vol. I. p. 249, in his Account of the Structure of the Chinese Language. l 69 ] person of the king in the one, and the general in the other. I trust therefore I am not presuming too much, when I seek to explain this enigma of the Chinese, by making reference to the Indo-Persian game, with which theirs has so close an alliance. If Chess was known to the Chinese as a game of Elephants, we are to believe that it must have borne a similar name in the country from which it was borrowed. The elephant amongst the Indo Persians was called Phil, and Chess would consequently have been termed the game of Phil. Without being an Orientalist, I think I may hazard a conjecture here :—Mr. Bergier renders this word Phil, by the participle e’levé ,' and we may collect from him, that it might have been applied to the elephant, as being a word expressive of size, as well as of elevation.* Here we arrive at the fountain-head of this error. When the Sacred was personified by particular pebbles, raised above the rank of the rest, in order to become worthy representatives of its pro perties, they might naturally be distinguished from the die“ in general, by the name of Phil, or elevated. The double meaning of this word, perhaps, first suggested the character of the elephant, which the Chinese received into their game. Hence with them it became SlANG-Kl, or the game of Elephants; and the various signification of the former of these sounds, as used with different accents, led them to appoint a general, and an assistant mandarin.+

" So of the word Nephilim: —“ Les noms donnés aux géans expriment tons la grandeur, " la taillc élevée: Nephilim de Ne' augmentatif, et Phil éle'cé." Bergier lee Elemcns primitgfi des Leagues, p. 209. 1- My conviction increases as I advance in my inquiry. The confusion of the sound Siang is only applied to the general, the two assistants, and the two elephants. These are the five elevated pieces which represent the :I€& ygannh; and they still shew their respect for the Sacred square, as it is extended across the Chinese board; for these five pieces only are restricted from passing the river. § A recent perusal of the “ System of Brahminical Mythology,” published at Rome by

5 La Loubére, in his account of Siam, Vol. II. p. 124, 125, confirms this: and since it agrees “ith the report of Mr. Van Bream, in his very authentic narrative before alluded to, I now conclude that Dr. Hyde must have misunderstood his Chinese friend, who explained the game to him. l 70 l Could an lndo-Persian have then witnessed the progressive formation of the game amongst the Chinese, he'would have instantly been reminded of the invention of the pieces amongst his countrymen; where, from the game of Phil, or elevated Pebbles, arose the several dignities of the pieces: one being (PHIL or) elevated to royal com mand underthe character of the Sheik, a second elevated to the rank of PHERZ, or assistant in council: the Persian equivoque would have been retained in the third piece, under the character of the elephant; and these being once devised, a way would probably have been opened for the introduction of the rest. And here it may properly become a question, whether any inter mediate game between the l'Ie-r’lei’u and the perfect Chessever existed? At least I have shewn that the He-r'le/m was capable of producing such a one; and until the arbitrary characters of the pieces were invented, the existence of a‘ game of elevated Pebbles would not be improbable. From the manner indeed in which the games appear .to have been blended together, we have as fair grounds for sup posing that the game of Chess once existed without the pieces as now characterised, as from an examination of the actual state of

Pau-llini, the Missionary to Malabar, has thrown in my way a. hint, by which I am enabled to apply, even to this game of elevated Pebbles, the remark which I have so often insisted upon in the course of this work, viz. that the game of Chess, in all its various stages of improvement, has imitated the prevailing mode of warfare of every country, in which the game itself has been known, or practised. The form of the game, which I have here imagined would actually have represented (as to number) the advanced guard of the Indian army, as it has been established from. the earliest time, and as, in the opinion of Paullim', it was actually drawn out, when Porus opposed his numbers to the army of Alexander. He observes, “ Erercitus Indic'us olim non per legiozies, “ cobortes—congregabatur ut apud Macedonus, sed sequenti modo : “ I. Ordine instar velitum constituebatur elephas unus, currus unus, equi TEES, PEDITI‘IS “ QUINQUE.” “ Hic ordo vocabatur Patti," p. 224-. Then follow eight other divisions, each increasing in its number of elephants, chariots, cavalry, and infantry.~—“ Hoe itaque ordine antique Indica prtelia gerebantur, et Izoc ordine probabilius “ Pori copiee Alexandra Magoo occurrerunt," p. 225. l 71 l the Chinese game, we must necessarily allow, that the Ila-field itself is still practised with the addition of them. ' Dr. Hyde lamented. that he could not obtain any satisfactory information respecting a game called (his, in use amongst the Persians resident in India; which, as far as he could collect, consisted of white and black men, disposed in double rows, as in the game of Chess,* to which it bore a near resemblance, adding, that it seemed to be of the more polished and liberal class of games. I would not' absolutely assert that the game of Cits was exactly what I have supposed ofv the game of elevated Pebbles: although. it might-have conformed to it in some particulars; and its name would seem to imply that it had its origin from some Cuthite, or Tartar people, whose tribes not only, surrounded, as it were, the western parts of India, but a few of whom even penetrated into the Panje-ab, and established themselves in that country.+ It might naturally be sup posed that such a people would bring with them their pastoral games, of which no doubt the He-r'leta, they had before communi cated to China, was a leading one :1 and although the practice of it, whether in its simple or elevated state, might long have been eon fined to themselves, yet an intelligent native, struck with the capa bilities it offered for improvement, might have availed himself of

\ " “ Duo erercitus ordine instructi sun! ad instar Sbaltiludii er ebore et' ebeno.” Quoted of the game from Sheich Nizdmi, by Dr. Hyde, p. 272. 1- See a remark by the learned defender of the Journal of N earclius, upon the manners of a people called Killer“ by ARRIAN, p. 69. 1 The Uftlba Wabalana, to which I have. before alluded, and which may be seen in the treatise of Dr. Hyde, p. 233, exhibits a very curious specimen of an intermediate game between the five-lined Petteia and the modern Chess. The only degree of advancement it displays is, that the stations are removed from the lines to the squares they inclose, whilst the pebbles are placed five upon each row; but the game in this state, is actually termed the game of Chess. -— “ Nam Uffiba. (says Dr. Hyde) simpli “ citer Shahiludium natat." K l 72 ] those capabilities, in order to construct a game, which should reflect a lasting credit upon himself, and his countrymen. But to return to the subject of the elevation of the pebbles. I am sensible that all I have asserted on this head, Would be of no avail towards establishing the origin of the game of Chess from the Greek He'r'lefu, unless I could adduce some general and striking similitude, that had lasted down to the present day. By my hypothesis of the elevation of the pebbles, and the endowing them With the characters of pieces, I obtain only five elevated pebbles, because the Defleia of the Greeks consisted but of five stations, and consequently could admit no more. But I contend that this same number is preserved to the present day, upon the board of the European Chess. If the tI/thm of the Hafiz/u were but five, the pieces in the Persian and European Chess are no more. Their names are—— l. The Saint. 2. The PHERZ- 3. The PHIL. 4. The ASP. 5. The Rucu. Or, as we express them, 1- The King. 2. Queen 3. Bishop. 4. Knight. And, 5. Rook.

The rest are but duplicates of the three last-mentioned. [73]

CHAPTER IX.

Of the Indian Game qf Chess.

HAVING discovered that a reduplication of certain pieces was resorted to, in order to obtain the entire number adopted in the European game, I am induced to rest the jbrmal part of my hypo thesis upon this proposition: That the first expansion of the board was produced, by the simple process of doubling the number of stations and pebbles in the Hs-r'letu; that is to say, that in lieu offive pebbles to each party, and a similar number of elevated pebbles, the number to each was increased to TEN. This was actually the case in the antient game described by Phirdausi,* in his life of Anushirrawin, in whose time Chess was said to be invented. In that game we find two camels employed, more than appear in the Indian game of the present day. If any proof were requi site to support what 'should be evident of inventions in general, this may serve as one: that beyond a first intuitive glance, the bringing of them into energy, is a work of progression and per severance. And we may venture to conceive from this instance, that Chess was, certainly, not invented by the first intention, as the learned President of the Asiatic Society adopted for his opinion. The very recording of two additional pieces, implies that those two have been retrenched. And we may suppose that other changes might have taken place before the perfection of the game, but which have not been faithfully transmitted to our notice. ‘ Hyde, p. 65. K2 l 74 1 In the case I have supposed, of the pebbles of the [It-flair» being first elevated to the rank of pieces, and then doubled in number (if my conception be just), there would be to each party, upon this newly-devised expansion of board, two inviolable pieces, and two sets of the four assistants, endowed With the offensive powers of illfi ispai ypafepe'ri. \Ve will not, at this moment, consider the arbitrary characters (the wearerva which the pieces assumed; suffice it to say, that two ofthe number, the camels, were withdrawn. But have we no memorials which will assure us that the game in this, its retrenched, state was known in India? I think, at this period of its advancement, we discover the game described by the learned President,* which, in the very country which claims its invention, is guided in its moVes by the cast of the die! This Indian game, called Chaturanga, or Chess, or the Four Kings, represents four princes with their troops, forming two allied armies on each side'.+ Our surprise at this four-fold game may cease : the two kings on each side can be no other than the two inviolable pieces: their attendants are the ofl’ensive armed assistants. We will in vest them with their dignities, and arrange them in their martial order: Camel. Ruch. Asp. Pil. snail lShah. Pil- Asp. Ruch. Camel.:t 5 I 4 s 2 1 1 2 s 4 l 5 Queen. KING.

‘ Asiatic Researches, Vol. II. Art—Clues. 1- A game of considerable ingenuity, I am informed, is practised in Germany, consisting of tWo chess-boards joined together laterally. It is played by two persons on each side, each of whom is concerned to defend his own game, at the same time that he co-operates with his ally, to distress, by every means in his power, the two armies opposed to them. 1 I should remark here, that the camels had their place between the Pit, and the Asp ; but I have placed them at the extremities, to show the effect of the remaining pieces upon their being discarded. l ‘75 I 3 'Do we-wonder at the height of the queen as represented upon our European boards? This Will account for it. She is hardly discernible from the king; their size is equal, and their carving nearly the same. The politeness of the more liberal Chess players induces them sometimes to announce the warning check, when her safety is threatened; which amounts nearly to a concession of inviolability to her Person, equally with the king. Let one of the above kings change his sex, and we 'shall account for this degree of courtesy. . The queen at Chess, who is endowed with such extensive privi leges, was originally one of the inviolable pebbles; and passed through the succeeding characters of the King, Viceroy, MiniSler, or Pherz, to the Vierge, and Queen of the European game. By giving a distinct and approPriate character to the second inviolable piece, a compensation was thus made for the dismission of the camel ; and in lieu of the first order, viz. g 1. King. 2. Elephant. 3. Camel. 4. Horse. 5. Book. . the subsequent arrangement succeeded; which, with a slight cor ruption, arising chiefly from sound, has lasted to the present day. 1. King. 2. Queen. 3. Elephant.*_ 4. Horse. 5. Rook. These are the five tl/qu of the Greek He-r'i'u’a, elevated, as repre sentatives of the keel yeapqni. They exhibit the number of pebbles in the Greek game, and retain its distinguishing properties, which are divided amongst them. The reduplication of these five pebbles produced the Chess of Cashmir, described by the Persian author Phirdausi, which, upOn his authority, we are to consider as the original game. The game made known to us by the learned Presi~ dent, comes second in order. Whether the use of dice, in determining the moves of it, was common to the original game, as well as this,

* In French, Fou, or For., corrupted from PHIL. But the derivation of this, and likewise of the other pieces of the modern game, may be learnt from the Letter of Francis Dance, 1qu. upon the subject of the European Chessmcn, published in the Archaeologia. _ __ I I 76 ] we should have dilIiculty to ascertain; but it leads me to suspect that, after all, the Indians, who invented the characters of the pieces, and the moves at Chess, were not the people who brought the game to its highest polish; but, that the completion of it was effected by the Persians resident in India. The rudeness of the second Indian game; the near conneXion that I think I discover in it with the He-r'leta; the general adoption of the Persian names of the pieces by all nations; and the certainty that the Indo-Persians borrowed the name of one piece, and of the game itself, without understanding the true meaning of either; all this, I say, confirms me in my opinion. i

The piece called the Book, signifies, in the Indian game,* a boat: The Persians borrowed it, without seeming to comprehend the meaning of the word, and made it to represent a dromedary; and to solve the difficulty. ariSing. from the impropriety of the title, gave out that it signified Ruch, the cheeks; i. e. the wings of an army. I ~ - I - _ v .. Still worse is their attempt to account for the game itself, which was derived from thelndian Chaturanga, or the four constituent parts of the army. They corrupted it into SHATRANG,'0r SHA~ mums, and termed it. Mandrake; taking their comparison of the mimic warriors at Chess from the faint and imperfect resemblance Of the huinanfigure in that root. Dr.'Hyde has implicitly followed them, and termedthe game Mandragorias, or the Mandrake-play. 'l have shewnwith how' much more propriety it might be called the .game; of Elevated Pebbles, in allusion to its origin.. Dr. Hyde, enamoured of the derivation he had discovered, indulges himself by illustrating the comparison with uncommon sportiveness, and .elegance of language.+ But, if fondness for one's own conjectures

' " This is to'be understood of the second Indian game; for we know not what it represented in the original game of Caskmir; Phirdausi’s account being, in this respect, imperfect. 1 Hyde, p. 23—25. ‘ [ 11 1 could, in any measure, authorize rhapsody, I should be inclined to ask, whether any doubt could now subsist, from whence the game of Chess originated; and from what Sacred stock the line of Chess kings is descended? The king at Chess, like Paris of old,

' Banhho; dp'yewaei'g gredtpvy ’Idaiaug aran phaxoig. Eurip. Iph Ant. v. 574-. was nursed in the sheep-fold, and reared amongst Scythian herds men, even previous to the siege of Troy :—but the former, when afterwards elevated to the command of his pastoral subjects, bore constant reference to his origin, becoming, like Homer's Kings, the shepherd of his people. ‘ In short, the traces of the Hsr'leiat are constantly evident in the game of Chess. We discover the five pebbles in the Chinese Chess, and the five pieces in the European game; and we have the double complement of five pebbles, and five pieces, in the old game of CASHMIR; which TEN were reduced to eight in the second Indian game; and these, again, were received into that of the Indo Persians. This commutation of five pieces for eight, becomes, as it were, a mere numerical question. And here we have need of an able calculator to determine for us. But it occurs, that we have a specimen of Pythagorean arith metic given us in Lucian; and as Pythagoras had visited India, and conversed with the Brahmins of the country, he may probably aid us in our present enquiry.

~ ¢ Opqtg, a c\ an \ donut; / Tar-japan, I raw-roe ~ Ae'na sio'i, ’ \ nut \ 'rpifywvov I EVTEMQ' I Lucian, Bin areaa'. l 78 l i @Touse the terms ‘Qf'.’ arithmetic, let us multiply, and divide by 2a and see what will be the product :~ ' lOptbiig, 52 mi danger; ’OKT'Q\, iufim ITE/NTE eia'i, nail IIETTETTH’-_

PION, ’Ev-reke'g .

“ Thus, what you conceived to be EIGHT pieces, and EIGHT “ stations, are in fact but FIVE; and the game (MiG/less, considered " as to its original component parts, appears to be neither more “' nor less than the Greek Her'Iei’u."

:U ' | i r \1 ,I 7' ' l i " IL in, l l I l

I I l ' _ .. l

a r " :xi ~ I l 4.1) 11 2

,. r y l I, | v' -.'_1 , ' H - . ... l f. 1.} 1 '\ ' '.‘ .. I

- " \ r i' s. r I - p

l a .. ‘

J I I "l. l , l . p A '_.'|' __ i 2 I U: \

-.~ Y\ \i) i ll" _ _ . ' '

- . 1 - t, ,_ ‘ \ a n l I ' \ v\,_ _ [79]

CHAPTER X.

Hindu claims to the Invention ff Chess—Phirdausi’s Account (f the same.—-Indo- Scythians—Communi cation between India and Europe through their means. -—-Gonclusiion.

THESE conjectures, it is true, appear to have been anticipated by a strenuous assertion, that Chess was invented by the Hindus, and known to them from time innnemoria'l. But it would be satisfactory to know, what duration of ages, speaking in round numbers, may be fairly termed—time 'immemorial. Dr. Hyde has produced evi dence from Orienta'l‘authors, that it had its origin only 500 years since the birth of Gun SAVIOUR, which is 1300 years ago; and it appears that no Sansorit authorities 'have, as yet, been known to exist, which may either corroborate his assertion, or prove that it was earlier than that period. But, if I should succeed in establishing my hypothesis, the consequence of the game can be in no manner diminished, since, by proving it the same with the He-r'lsta, "we shall be able to add near 1700 years to its antiquity, reckoning back to the siege of Troy; and after all, we shall be authorized in'laying claim to time int-memorial before that period, for the praCtice of the game; which, as Dr. Hyde observes of the Astragati, might have been “ prorse‘ts a Dituvio." The authorities concerning the Indian invention Of the game have been collected, and very ably examined by Dr. Hyde, in his Treatise upon the Games of the East, where, from many erroneous, L [ 8° ] and contradictory accounts, the following may be separated, and considered as genuine: That Nassin the son of DAHER, a Philosopher of India, invented the game for Pari-tche'hra Queen of Cashmir, as a representation of the conflict, the event of which proved fatal to her son Ta'lac hand: that his surviving brother Chdv succeeded his mother to the throne,'and in his reign the game was transmitted to Persia, which was in thettime of'Anushirmvan, about 500 years after the birth of CHRIST.* -. I But allowing this information to be correct, are we bound to conceive that a man of genius and information (as the supposed inventor must have been), had never travelled beyond the limits of his own country?--lf NASSiR hadneverr'set his foot beyond the mountainstvi'hich encircleahis' native province of Cashmir, he must have trodden upon. groundjthat. was already occupied by the Indo-Scylhians. ‘If-cur'io‘sity' had ever led him northward, passing this barrier, he would have arrived at the mountains of Imaus, and the city of Soé'la, at the foot Of them, which Was one-of the only five cities in'Scythia: or'if he=had floated down the Behut, the course of its stream would have carried him southward into the Panje-abflwhere .he might have met with the Kitheans, and the northern invaders, who had established themselves inithose western parts of India. ' _ ' It maybe objected to my hypothesis, that themfiu'u being in use a'mongst'these strangers, -it would have been likewise known to the natives, who, apprised of the/source from whence the Gashm-irian drew his .hints for the formation of the game, would have denied him any merit for originality in this invention. This will, hoWever, be consistent with what I before advanced:—namely, that the use of the vPastoral game was more particularly confined to the wanderingtribes; ~,_but that the game was generally rejected, or O " Hyde, p. 51. l 81 l disregarded, by the polished and sedentary nations. This [affirmed of the Egyptians; and such might have been the case with the contemplative Hindus, who might have thought it beneath their notice, as an unimportant and trifling game; and on this account have remained strangers to the construction of it, and consequently net aware of its capabilities of improvement. Whether this original game of Cashmir was the sole invention of this learned Indian, or formed, as I am rather indirced to suppose, by him, from what he had observed amongst his Indo-Scythian neighbours, yet I cannot help suspecting that it was inferior in point ofby ingenuity, Sir William even Jones. to that second Indian I game of Chess, described

In the former, Phirdausi enumerates two Ruchs amongst the pieces, which he represents as hiding their faces with their hands, to stifle their animosity and eagerness to engage in the conflict.

“ Strenui sunt duo Rucur ad utriusque ordinis extremum, “ Quiprte sanguine jecoris efluso manum ori admovent." ' Hyde, p. 65. The general meaning of the Bach, in the Indian game, is a chariot: therefore, to make the Ruchs in the game of Cashmir agree with the angry characters assigned to them by Phirdausi, we must understand them to be two warriors in the wings of the army, conducting the war-chariots, and bringing them forward to the combat. , ' That the second Indian game diliered from that of Cashmir, and the common Chess of India, with respect to these pieces, we collect from the words of the learned President, when he speaks of the ship, or boat, being substituted in the complex game for the Rat'h, or chariot. It is from this complex game that the Russians seem to. have borrowed their pieces; which however they afterwards, in all probability, corrected after the model of the Persian Chess. L 2 [82] Now, as there were two games of Chess in use in India, we have every reason to believe that the Russians would have borrowed from the more perfect of the- two; which gives a preference in point of merit to the second game, over that of Cashmir. The Russians retain the second Indian Bach, styling it by the Sanscrit word, and represent it as a boat. Since no such piece is to be seen in Phir dausi’s game, this must consequently have been introduced by the Indians at a later period; and as such introduction must imply a change, we may collect that Chess was not completely formed in India, by the first intention, but perfected by gradual improvements. It might be an unfair proceeding to judge of any antient people by facts that can be proved of their descendants; ,but the; customs of many Asiatic nations have been so little changed, or affected by time, that a near approach to truth may he sometimes made by consulting them. If the reference Irhave made to the Scythians, as the communicators of the Pastoral game to China, Greece, and India, should be objected to, this fact can be adduced with relation to modern times, which shall exemplify, at least, the possibility of such an antient communication, by a similar one, which has been silently carried on by the descendants of this very people. The Roth’, or boat, which only takes place in the com plex Indian game, has been transferred to the Russian Chess: it there appears under the name of the Lot/ta,* having undergone a trifling change in the final aspiration, which is only expressed somewhat harder in the Russian derivative. Thus from Roth', or Loth’, with the final aspiration extended, “ Lotya, or Lodya," the orthography of the word requires that it should be written “ Lot/ta ;" but, upon the authority of a native I learn, that the final ha, is softened down in the pronunciation to Lodya. ' i. e. Navigium, seu Naoicuta, Cymba, seu potihs Carina ejus. Hyde, p. 75. ,[ 83“ g _ Thus the Rush upon the Russian Chesssboard is taken, not from the Indo-Persian, but from the Indian game.* " There is a second piece, which, from its name, may likewise have emigrated from Hindostan. It is the horse of the Russian game. This piece is not styled by the word in common'use, “ loschett," or horse, but ,by Iron, horse; pl. ko'nier'and this is proper- to the game of Chess alone. Dr. Hyde has rightly observed of this: ' “ Est autem Ko'nje peculiariter equus Tatari'cus, ex Ahgai'a‘, scill “ Equus Generosus ; nam alia habent nomina quibus equum appeh “ lare solent." p. 75. , ' ‘ ‘ ‘ Here then‘. is a. singulargcoincidence between two distant couné tries, to whom alone the: lad/ca, is, known. Since the terms by which it. is. expressed by each, differ only- by- a change, which is common to all 'wordspassing from one language to another, may we not consider them 'as the same? and in the pointed meaning of the/tome, have we not strong inducement to accbunt for the conveyance of the. term from the one country torthe other, by the intermediate Tartars'l , j- ' If such a' fact'should be established with regard‘to modern times, why {should we. deny. the possibility of a similar intercourse to the original ,Tartars, the. Scythians; who were to the full as much addicted to wandering as their- descendants !‘~ I__a'rn;, convinced that. their intimacy. with every surrounding nation would admit of more 'particu'lar inquiry, thanr(as far as my

’ These observations lead me further to conjecture,_ what perhaps has never been adverted to. Chess is supposed to have been first received into Europe by the modern Greeks, and from them, brought intoltaly in the time of the first Crusades.. “ The Chess of the southern Europeans is astrict copy of the finished Persian game; but as the Russians have admitted at part of the second Indian game into their Chess, it may be believed that this admired game was practised by the Russians, sometime before it was com municated to the rest of Europe. [84] means of information extend,) has yet been made,‘ and that the result would be, that'these wandering tribes were, formerly, the Carriers of Asia; that as they (traversed from Hindostan to Archangel, and from China to the =Bosporus, customs and cere monieswithin those stood limits, them admittedin lieu of of merchandise; their traflic.' and that every ‘ i ' nation Q '

In contemplating the trionuments of a great and learned nation, I can conceive the mind of the observer impressed with their grandeur, giving into many prepossessions intheir favour; and even offering a voluntary belief in assertions, which may have no betterifoundatio'n than uncertain rumour, and the national vanity of the people.—" Until the expected documents Shall appear, that may place the unqualified claim of the Hindusupon a surer footing,-it may be fair to request that these, or any other conjectures, that are not repug nant to probability, and the ordinary operations of the human mind, may be candidly examined, and weighed: for I can no more conceive a single and immediate effort of the mind+ producing an ingenious invention, which shall be complete in all its parts, .thanI can suppose a poem to be framed without numerous detached-first thoughts, and flights of fancy, vor alcompOsitioniin painting'to be executed, without manyIv previous sketches- and designs. "It-“is. by frequently reconsidering a subject; viewing it-under different aspects, adding and retrenching, that we bring-a first thought to bear: and so ‘generally has this been acknowledged'by seme, that they have? even ventured to assert, that genius'islbut labour and diligence. It If my

*. At the time of wiitingthe above, I had no knowledge of that: very curious and valuable work of D'Hancarvillc, upon the origin and meaning of the Arts in Greece. _ I 1- The following ‘words of Mr. Bailly are too apposite to be withheld on this occasion :— “ Toutes les vérités son! enchainées, nous passons successicement dc l'une d Z'autre, et si le genie “ par6it s’elancer, c'est pour tea was ordinaires, qui n’alnlerpoieent pas les liaisons." Lettres cur “’lea Sciences, p. 192. v v i 4 I See this vSubject admirably treated in the Biographiana of Mr. Seward, V 0i. II. article Bufon, who expressed it more briefly, “ Intention depends upon patience.” In referring to this [85] suppositions should be thought reasonable, we may yet, in this view, commend the ingenuity of the Hindus; nor need it even then be alleged as a discredit to their invention, that they devised the combinations and moves of so interesting a game, by improving upon a first thought, which had been thrown in their way by casual observation. I have now endeavoured. to clear up the difficulties in which the classic games of skill have been involved, and to display the several coincidences which connect them together; and especially those leading points, which may have furnished materials for the con struction of the game of Chess. Since much of what I have adduced as proof upon this last head, may be thought to amount to little more than probabilities, I leave the first question——-whether Chess was invented by the first intention, or passed through various stages of improvement, to thejudgment of the candid and unpreju diced reader.

interesting work, the Author cannot help lamenting the loss of Mr. Seward, which has been already very generally felt: for his favourite pursuits were, to inform, or advise; to relieve the distresses, and sweeten the converse of mankind. Who can pass by the name of Seward, without stopping, to throw in his spice of praise, towards embalming the memory of so benevolent and good a man'.

iv. .3

M1 Q - .|\ . l a o D s Q o o an - ' - . I a ' - . I . I . . . n | I u i . it I a | I . all... In a . v . 1 a t - I i . . (III i a a . o .. .\ l .-\\I c . I . aI-| - I s ~ . i l Kul-.srl ‘ \ll I a ‘ ..|.t a t II u i . l-tiv . . 0. I U q n a I e . . d i a s . . 4 a u . ‘ an . . . | O II \ i a a - (I I \|I hll a i v.0.- I, o. 0. I .I o .l \. o e n I. u .1. . u» s a . . ‘Ql q ~ . . I. n e .I\ Q, 1‘ I fix a . I v a \ l s cl nails . o s . 0v n . -. \v 0 . - .0 Q I . .1. 0 .u . s a. - i - l I - ' t l . .0.- invulnrfl... ‘ no... . . a p a I a I 8 . 0- \ n s a» n ' u - . u .. I. a . . I u I - n. I . I . . l i .- - u I

r o ho a . a u n. I v - a a - . u a I . . - a a o s n 0 - . s n . n a p . . . - - 1 I , I . I ... . I. tilt-lil-h-r L. . o . s c l l y. -. v s ti! a I . l . )0 lol '\. a o u t. t a \ Sslhlbla. :0. I l. n . a - a , I. I I - n - . - l v . I . . In). cal: I . A . n u . u a \. l- t | l 0 a I ill II l I . . - . e a 4 a vlv\ll|-‘\.s| . Q\ s I i..| m I e n O . - 0 . . O u u C - ‘ 0 i . s ... I . . 0 l u a» .0 I \ Q . . \ .. . - a n " v - Q

he

040/4444 $.11 --——-K-n V

it;

swath —---v

Hal-*—

.5. my. as; .> P1472: H.

We! WW P film as l s r as it Or r 5 f

:1 pl

JL '

cu m ‘ w I .m’ ma: are

{/ml'm (gr/Queue, an. I '4 Arneaéb thitflaru/hur ~ ~ Knit-IE, , . Jae Merv/£00.20 -( , u/ well an. mon m/T‘ ' Ma 1M (mam p.166. .

1’0 a 06.8.. y?“ 0,, 0r 17.471: 1V.

1121/1.

y/7f0/, ~ (mayeé/hy /"

/ ii ' ' ilk/ill. a (I.

ééi

s tr. em

a ® asses ®

%@

® , . % . _ 3. 2 z I . Q : U , i g Q #%®® . t *%® ...... c...... l ...... g ~

.»

~ . . , _ - ‘ a . ~ . i .. . ‘ _ _ I Q l a O

O

. \ l , . 0 I -_ \ v . ,

H

‘ r

i I I u

I .. . \

I . ' a l I ' I

a \ \ , . . a.»\ I -r . a - ....--u.-

. I

.a»---.-. >> a , -.- -.. . Q -.-~ 0 ...... - .9- ~-. \ . vu \ n I , 4 t 0 -. I .. ‘ a 0 _ . . - . . -.

p 9

a u - t I o ~ a'

_ ‘0 - . o - . | - I O \ .0 N . I ' I! . . ~

‘I o s \

_ . ‘ u . a - + ‘

. a - a. I a . u ' Q

s t ‘ ' ' ‘ ' "' ' ~0\ s - --.‘ v ~o--psv-v..onu

a

‘ P .I I - ‘D. ,1

' \

n . ' I - .~ ,. . a»... I

' o ' 0 O I _ a . v i

an i- a-.-- - - - r

- o u . I . | _. I .~» .- . .

5

I n

.00‘»_ Im-o “a” a u l-l - ~ ’

4 —¥___ _ _.____ _.,, __ _. Il- __ -—=Ei‘. l l

APPENDIX. IN [89}

"or THE_ .'-. 'SGYT-H‘IAN RITES. I .

HAVING completed my inquiry upon the subject of the Antient Games, and having had occasion to allude in the course of this Work to the intimacy which subsisted between the Scythians and the Greeks, I now feel myself more at liberty to enlarge upon those remarks, and the general dissemination of Scythian rites, which, for the sake of conciseness, I but slightly noticed in my Chapter upon the VALLUM. It is singular that Scythian religious ceremonies should appear in different parts of Greece, at a time when the whole religion of the country partook so much of the Egyptian worship. This appears, however, evident from those ceremonies I have already mentioned ; such as the Ald‘udgll'ywo'lg, the Tmueom'miu, and the Emset'u, as practised at Alea in- Arcadia; and we may consequently presume, the latter likewise, as celebrated-at Athens, though with the omission of the severe discipline, which still kept its ground in the Arcadian festival. These rites were introduced at a very early period, and must have owed their continuance to some singular circumstance. I cannot help suspecting that they were brought into Greece by the Pelasgi; and that these were Scythians, who over-ran the penin sula of Greece, until they were dispossessed by the Hellencs from Asia Minor, and by adventurers from Egypt. The Pelasgi, who had spread themselves over Greece like a flood, were then penned hiZ [90] up within bounds in the northern parts of it; but they left behind them certain customs and ceremonies, which adhered, as it were, to the soil, after the inundation had subsided. The north of Greece seems to have been indiscriminately assigned to the Thracians, Scythians, and Hyperboreans, and, at the same time, these tracts were styled by one general name, Pelasgia. The most celebrated oracles of Greece were in these parts, and, no doubt, were of Pelasgic, or Scythian origin; though afterwards blended with Egyptian rites by new-comers, who brought with them their pre tensions to prophecy, and the Other superstitions of their country. Thus Jupiter of Dodona was called Pelasgic—(Zeii, Jim, AwdwvaTe, HEXDZd'leEJ and the oracle of Delphi was of Hyperborean insti tution. The tradition preserved by Pausanias, to this effect, deserves to be inquired into: it is as follows— ‘I 15an I TO! w'uvqgov I xqunemv / eureka-awn ’ I fluids; (Twspcoeng I'Ia'yaureg, xai die; ’A'yviezig.* “ It was there that PAcitsus, and the .god-ti/te Achsus, of Hyper “ borean descent, established your much recorded oracle.” Of this Pagasus we can know but little with certainty. .There was a sea-port town in Thessaly of the name; but should we attempt to ascertain the foundation of it by the aid of etymology, it would hardly avail us; whether we should derive it from 7rd'y3‘;,+ which would hardly be admissible; or whether, disregarding prosody, we should agree with Catepine, who derives it aivra‘ n} wayaimig because the ship Argo was built and put together there. 'Be it as it may, this was a very early title of Apollo, and he is accordingly termed Pagasean by Hesiod.§

" Pliocic. p. 809. Ed. Kulnu'i. 1 Haya‘q idem cum—moi; glacier, rupes, scopulus. Constant. 1 I do not comprehend whence Catepine has obtained this word; in either case, I presume, we must have recourse to the 2d aorist of whyrviu. The Scholiast of Apoll. Rhod.lib. i. ver. 238, has it better: aim-5 n? in? mas-5769a“ Th1 'Ae-ysi. § 11ch d, dikes; xmi 8441.5; 'AvniNkma; flayaaaia Acipvrsl. Hesiod, Soul. Herc. ver. 70._ He was also called [Ia-yaa’mm. [911 It would appear, that the priests of old had frequently affected the titles of the gods they served; for the Iii-yaw; of Pausanias (lib. i. de All- p. 7.) is called iE-Aefisestic, Eleutherensis; which may be considered as, alluding to his; office, as a Priest of Bacchus, or the Sun, as well as .to the, place fi'Om which he came; and Pausanias has informed us, that it ,was Pegasus who brought the worshipof that deity into Attica. The horse Pegasus would. seem, at this rate, to beef. thesame familywith the Pagasean Apollo; like Balder’s horse in the Northern Mythology, who was deemed worthy to partake of the funeral rites of his master. And thus, notwithstanding the acknowlegedIetyniology, of Pegasus, we should find that myaig, and Pegasus, as well as wayai; and Pagasus, were equally derived from the obsolete verb aniyw, unde mi'yvtmi; but as it might be pre suming too much to look for their origin amidst Hyperborean frost, the safer way will be, to disengage ourselves from an obscure question, by supposing that neither Hayaco'b; nor 'Aywetig were of Greek original.‘ The latter was also .a title of Apollo, and under it he maybe supposed to have been worshipped as the God -of Fire; since the 'Aymalg, whichwas sacred to him, was a ,pyramidical column,+ placed in the open, air, and generally by the way side, as being most frequented. ' The Greeks, who were fond of accounting for foreign words byexplanations' in their own language, found that this might be derived from oi and 'vaa, “without limbs ;" and Consequently determined the ’Aywst); to .be a rude statue of the god,

' Jason is also called Pagas‘a'us by Ovid; vt/hence it seems that it was a term of national distinction. In‘IjIesychi'us we meet with wayain. £15m. Invfln'i. which, in a note subjoined, is derived from the Parthian word pagga, signifying catulus ; which may, after all, be the true theme. The title might have been given to Apollo, as the god of the hunter tribes, from which Jason might also have been descended. 1- This is the “ hwis Agyieus”_ of Horace, Carm. lib. iv. ode vi. ver. 28 ;—not politus, i. e. imberbis, but “ the polished obelisk ;”n.s it is well explained by a. second note in the Delph. ed. -“.ri-0e Dorico isto vocabulo signg'jicantur column: in coni formant dcsinentes, Apollini vet “ Baccho sacra’, yuas ante fares adium pridem erigebant.”—Agyieus and Pagasus were titles oh the same god; and if, under the one, he gave his name to the street, the house dours were called after the-latter, HayaaaP—Heiyaaa, Sign. Hesyclt. m ,. ' l 92 1 upon which they commuted the pointed‘top of the obelisk- for a head ofthe deity, but denied him hands and feet; and the trading inhabitants of towns were, perhaps, b'étter pleased to reverence the ’Aywa); under the more favourite character of Hermes-J ' . ~ - The titles of Apollo were generally shared between himself, and his-sister Diana; and as he was termed Hecatos from-her appella~ tion Hecate, so, from the ’A'ywedg, she may be supposed to have been named "Aymk', and the streets in which these-obelisks-wene exposed were, after her, named ’Ayum'.* Obelisks of a larger-"size were placed. as sea-marks, to direct navigators into harbour.i T hese'; possibly, might also serve in the night time for lighted beacons; and hence Gallimachus has said of Diana: > a ' - - r . .. I J}'. h 1‘a I ’A'inaTg , , . , . T l I ' n ,' , a! Ea'a'y, - mu \ Mluevsa'a'w I evrw'xovrog.a I . Hymn. m’Dlan. 'I l‘i'” '1 ' . i “ 77101: shalt preside over Streets, Iand'Harbourst’: . ,, But the religious rites of the Scythians took a more =e'x'tensiiv‘e‘ range; A most singular proof of the fdiliusien'bf‘them' is ‘not'iced'by'Mr. Bryant, at Easter Island in the Pacific ocean, in the instance oftWtr pyramids, rudely carved at- top in the lfashione'tif/a- human-head, and venerated by the natives as deities, under the names (if Dagé,’ and Tauricofi May not these be the Dells~14gyieus,'and the Bat! Tauricafi't The following observations- maythrow some furtheii light upon the subject." ~ ‘ 1‘ - '1 ‘l 7' I' '1

There are 'two ‘islands in the Baltic sea, near the coast of‘ Livonia, the names ofwhich areDago, and Esel, L I could like to know whence they took their names; perhaps they may imply the Apottinis Insulce.‘ ' I) ‘- - ’ ‘ ‘ ' - -

“ May not this be more satisfactory than the etymology which we find in Heoytfbim." 'A'ymai . a'rfl In? 3|, “MI 17m 5.14.5; 'ra‘t 'yvi'a—s'e'rirn margarita-9m. ’ h s ' ' '\' d "'5 ’2 ' i

- 1- -If, as Mr. Peg/rouse thought, these monuments were not considered astidols,‘ theiugh held' in veneration by the natives, this alone would be a fair argument fer their" having /bee'n¢set'up by a people 'of-‘m'nch earlier antiquity than the present-race of inhabitants. ‘ They are tonil~ intents Obelisks, as is; obsenfable the bonnet on the head of each, being thefrustum of a cone; and they may be considered as very curious specimens of the origin of the Terminua. ‘ [93] From the inlormationof an intelligent native I learn,'that Dago has no significant, Sense in 'the Russian language; and by his enquiries, amOngst hi‘s'countrymen frdm Livonia,'l am . given to understand that it i’smqhallywithout meaning in that dialect; although""Tago,".in.Livortian, implies “ wish ,""—was presently confirmed, by seeing a place named Dagerort,* in the_former,.which would be expressed in modern German, “ des Tagas 0d,” i'. e. the place 'of DAY; and in Esel I met with Sonuzburg, or the towns of the SUN: and hence we may be almost certain, thatthese islands Were sacred to Apollo, under the title of the god Dago. . " ~ I In Esel,. written, I believe, indifl‘erently,Esel, Oesel,.Aesel, we may perhaps find some reference. to the Asiatic origin of the northern nations of. Europe, am'dngstwhomthe word Ases signified indifl‘erently-,~Asialics, or godst '1 This-may therefore have been the island of ,the.As,'>or Asiatic god, from whom the'Scandinavians mayhave consideredthemselves deScended; and it thus might be thought tin-answer to the Osericta of Pliny, .renderedby Mr. Bailly, “ile drjs ‘Dieuar \Rois;"~‘.‘ 'ile Boialc' des- Dieux;,'.:+ 'and nearly approaching to: the, German Miser, or. 'OsEréreic/l, the empire of - the Ases. However ludicrous ‘thetitle of'A-s, -hestOWed uponthe gods by'the Scandinavians, may-sound mzani.English: ear, Yet I'conceive it_Was,-- undoubtedly, a signifiCant'term, ‘as'it is commemorated to this dayin the sense of the word Esel, whi‘ch,lconsidered as modern German,.irn:p:lies; the Ianimalwe term theirs.st and this, thelearned min the Geographibal -Gazetteers- Dagerort' is~terrhed=thecapital of Hugh} b'ut‘rliam informed there is no town in the whole island, but many villages; and that Dagerort is a point, on which is a light-house, well known by Russian mariners. ' ' 1* bdrm wrll’Allaatfde, p. 368. 390. - - ’ '- ‘ '\ ‘.\ ‘ [94] Mr. Cesner has shewn,* was an animal honoured by the Scythians as being sacred to the Sun. We might further add, that as the As, and Alt, of the northern nations equally signifiedGod, and Asiatic, so, as the art of coining has been deduced from-Asia, in like manner we may obser'vea reference to it'slASia‘tic‘ origin in“ the words As, and is, which the'Romans made use of to signify the coin, and the material of which it Was composed. ->: - 1 ' a , The foregoing observations will coincide with what the ingenious Mr. Bailly, in his fancilia} and elegant letters to Voltaire, has asserted ofthese islands, Daga, andzEsel ; that they were the islands where the sisters of Phaéton wept amber, which is chiefly oollect'ed' on these shores ;. and that the Dwerna, (or rather the Dwina,) Which empties itself into the Baltic, one league below Riga,'i's the real Eridanus, which the antient Latians' aPpropriated to themselves,-and foundla place fonin Italy..+ ‘ -\\ an . p ' a ' ,-, ;, , , \,-,'_'\__-.' ~ It is not improbable that future invebtigations may‘ thrmv- a clearer light upon the national alliance, that may be thus presumed to eXist, between these northern Eurbpeans,and the distant islanders in the Pacific ocean; in the meantime, I have met With the follow: ing remark of a traveller'fi'om Berlin to, Moscow,1 who observes of the F innishlanguage, that, from its pronUnciation,“ resembles-that of Otaheile, Which word, is itself F inhisha'“ La langue‘Fi/moise' “ n’a aucun rapport av'zc'd'aulrés langues connues: cependant ’elle “~a' quelques mots an. .cominum av'ec l'Hébreu, et quelques autres ‘I‘ avec le Hongrais..' ‘Elteparoit aussi ‘res'sembhr'p'azlr la prorz'on “ ciation, a la langu'e del’isle. d’Ota'iti. Le» mot méme d'Ota-heitae “ est Finnois,‘ etsigmfié saisi'Ssezll'es ;'" p. 81. 1, . r. If the Scythian rites'constituted the vearly religibnof Greece, and were afterwards lost in the mass of Egyptian fable; nevertheless we. may believe that the learned, in after-times, were Well aware'of the distinction; and. considered them as two great streams, which

'YMatthqanr, dc Antiquflcilorum ham-state. Comment. Rag. Ac. Gottingens. Vol. II. p. 82. non. 1752. , , “e . pl; 1 Mr. Bailly excludes this; river altogether from Italy. 1 Observations d’un V oyagcur sur la Russia, ac. par Abel Burja. Svo. Maestricht, 1787. [95] were afterwards blended together, and of which their religion in later times was compounded. It was with this, discrimination, perhaps, that the Roman satyrist observed: “ jures licet et Samothracurn, “ Et nostrorum aras.” ' jut/anal, Sat. iii. I44. I conceive that these circumstances relating to the iAgyieus, and the Hyperborean origin of the name, if properly investigated, might tend to prove, that the fire-worship was brought north-about intoHyperborean Greece by rites the in Scythians, the earlier and system lead to of the Greek 'discovery worship, of which: many n have been too indiscriminately referred to Egyptian origin.

Q

A

DISSERTATION

UPON THE

ATHENIAN SKIROPHORIA;

THE

SOLSTITIAL FEAST OF THE UMBRELLA,

OR

THE BOUGH.

Qumu (lute 1mm) LINEA tangitur UMBRK. Persius, Sat. ver. 4. \4

[w]

CONTENTS

1. The Skirophoria left in Arcadia by the Pelasgi—the Scythian Custom of Scourging retained there. -— 2. Skiros implies the North-west.—3. Grecian Tear, what .9—4. Feast of the Umbrella took place at the Solstice. —- 5. Whether instituted by Skiron of Salamis, or rather by Skiros of Dodona.—-6. Renewed by Theseus, on his Return from Crete—7. The Umbrella, by whom borne.— 8. In Honour of the Sun. —- 9. The Umbrella, originally a spreading Bough—10. Mistletoe of the Hyperboreans—Emblem of .Night.—-ll. Bough, Umbrella, and Tree upon Hetruscan Vases, what ?— Mistletoe of [Eneas in Inferis—Land of Shades. —12. Additions to the Skirophoria by Theseus—13. Attempt to reconcile the contradictory Accounts of Plutarch and Athenaeus -—and of Corsini, as to the Race with Vine B0ughs.—l4. ’Oa-xoobeia, what .9—15. Theseus establishes the Government of Athens—Game of Plinthion, why permitted in the Temple of Minerva Skins—~16. Meaning of the Cup of Five Ingredients. ---1 7. Northern Custom of electing under Trees.—Ceremonies at the Eton Election.—— Athenian Prytanes, or Magistrates chosen at the Feast of the Bough—l8. The Prytane'tim named after the Bough—Conjecture of Corsini upon the Word EHIEKIAA02.— 19. The Prytaneiim first instituted for the Preservation of the Fire Worship—Heliastae, or Oficers of the Sun. —-—20. Secret Mysteries performed in the Temple of Minerva Skiras— Of the ,EKIf-Nfld’tw/Zb’d'dl of Aristophanes—Invocation to, the Sun discovered in that Play—The INVOCATION.

N2

[101]

ZKIPO o o'PIA;

FEAST OF THE UMBRELLA, OR THE BOUGH.

1

1. Amones'r' the many Hyperborean rites brought into Greece by the Pelasgi, which continued even after the expulsion of that people by. the Hellenes, we may rank the Skirophoria. Upon the' successes of the latter, no doubt but many of the antient possessors of the country secured to themselves a shelter in the mountainous parts of Greece, and particularly in Arcadia, where, the feast we have mentioned was long preserved;v and betrayed its origin by the Hyperborean ceremonies employed in the celebration of it. It is sufficient .to say that the Erase/x, as conducted at Alea in Arcadia,_ admitted the cruel custom of scourging, which clearly indicates the quarter from whence the whole was derived. The more enlightened Athenians, however, from motives of humanity perhaps, omitted this practice in the festival, which they were in the habit of 'eele brating equally with the Arcadians, and which, no doubt, they equally received from the same source. 2. A further inducement for my believing that the Skirophoria were of Hyperborean, or' Scythian origin, arises from the following considerations: 'that although this ceremony has been generally referred to the. ZKtleov, or Umbrella, yet, as this word (accordingly

0 as its termination may be va-ried,) is applied to many different [ 102 I objects Which must have been totally unconnected with this theme, we are to conclude that the word itself had some other generic meaning. Amongst the various significations of it, we find that 21¢!ng implies the north-west wind; and this may possibly have been its original sense with regard to those other words; Thus, the Ensiemt’d‘e; WE’Teatt, were large rocks lying to the N W ; and the robber Shiron, whom Theseus slew, was perhaps a hardy and cruel Hyperborean. The aimie pairing of Pausanias, who founded the antient temple of Minerva at the port of the Phalerus, came fiom Dodo'na,-'and was therefore of Pelasgic descent; to which we may add, that he possibly received the title of Skiros, on account of his coming from the N W. We might continue these remarks, by observing,_that the picket and advanced guard of the Lacedaemonian army was composed of troops called Enter-rat. These were? Arcadians,.accord-i ing to Hesych'ius'f‘ for-Enfeog was a- settlement in Arcadia, established, no doubt, by a people who came- from the north-west; and it was in the fastnesses of this country, that I have supposed the rest of the Pelasgi had taken shelter. 'But it would be tedious to multiply instances; I am however led to conceive that Arcadia, of all the provinces of antient Greece,must be the richest in Pelasgic remains; and that iF‘a moderate attention were paid to those parts, many valuable discoveries might present themselves to the inquirer, which would amply repay his search ' . But as I am about. to enter upon my inquiryinto the nature. and meaning of the Skirophoria, the first material point to be ascer tained, is the time of “year at which~ this feast was held; previous to' which, however, a few words respecting the nature of the Athenian year may be necessary. ' _ ' ‘ ' ‘ 3._ The Greeks considered their yearto be contained within that revolution which the sun appeared to describe, beginning from the»

" Exttgi'npq.—-7tbxo¢, ii'ru xaha'puoq, 1'1 wgoxnburtbm.—-hw 3i 'Agxusmbg. Hesych. Alberti in '0096. Scltot. thgi'tjq, mixer,- Aqxurmiig, ii-ru Azyripttvoe. lib. V. C_. 67 [103] highest point of his exaltation, (at the tropic),.until his-returr'i to the same point in the heavens. But as the divisions of time could not be marked with sufficient Certainty by referring to the different situations of; the .sun','and the moon, by the regular return of her phases, afforded the 'means. of computing it with the greatest pre cision, the Greeks, therefore, notwithstanding they considered their year to be determined by the Summer solstice,'we‘re contented to defer the commencement of their computation until the first new moon that should Succeed it. ' a t ' . Castellkmu's, when treating of the Greek monthsf“ gives an ex ample from Dionysius of Halicarnass'us, which may be serviceable, if quoted here. Dt'onysius observes, that Troy was taken on the 23d .of the 'month Thargelion, 17 "days before the summer Solstice; after which there. still remained 20' days in that year, before the new title 'began. We should remark‘b'y the way, that Thargelion, and, after it, Skirophorion closed the old, mdeecatombaeon began .the new year. Now, 17 days from the 23d of Tharge-lion,.will fix'the-solstice on the 10th of Skirophoarion which succeeded it; and 20 days more -will make this last a complete month of 30 days. _ _ j The Scho'liast upon Arislvphanes has informed us, that the feast of the Umbrella fell upon the 172th of Skirophorion; so that, in the year in which Troy was taken, this festival would have fallen only two days from the solstice. , ' . . It is true, that the citation from Dionysius is no proof whatever, except as to the particular year of which he treats; and we might '_hence be inclined to pass a'simi-lar judgment upon the Scholiast’s :report, and to suppose that he had guided himself byan authority _which alluded only to a' particular year, since his own words, in another place, seem to fix this festival at the solstice, when here _clares,—-:o'-n o'mérlmv édiVTJZOII iv in”; 1'; ramifmrog—“ That they devised _“ the'fj'emt of the) Umbrella, when the weather was at the hottest.”

, ‘* Castellanus dc Festis erconu'n, p_. 251. ‘ [104] But we must render due justice to the valuable authority of the Scholiast of Aristophanes. For when Meta regulated the compu tation of time for the Athenians, he fixed the summer solstice at the 13th of Skirophorion; which appears from Diodorus, as quoted by Corsini, (Fast. Att. Vol. III. p.227). It was then, perhaps, that the Skirophorla first became a fixed feast; and being appointed for the 12th of Skirophorion, were ever afterwards celebrated upon the de-_ mise of the Solar year. 4. From the celebration of this feast about the summer solstice, and from the circumstance'of the Athenian year beginning at the same time, we might conclude, that the Skiran rites were intended to solemnize the opening of the year; 'in which opinion We should be considerably encouraged, were we to advert to certain rites adopted by other nations, which would be found to have the same allusion with the Skirophorfia, notwithstanding the new year of those nations began‘difl'erently from the other solstice, or from the eanoctial points. But whatever has been here advanced respecting the Athenian year, must only be LunderStood of those times which were subse~ quent to the close of the 86th Olympiad, (about the beginning of the Peloponnesian war,) when Meta first made known the lunar cycle of 19 years .; at Which time the commencement of the Greek year was transferred from the winter to the summer solstice.* Whether, previous to the 86th Olympiad, the Skiran rites were celebrated in .the winter; or Skiropho'rion held a different place in the Athenian calendar; or even whether, as Carsini seems inclined to suggest of the feast of Adonis, (which had a similar allusion,) the Skirophoria ever occurred twicein the same year,+ and were held at both solstitial points; these several questions I leave to the inquiry of others, who may be better versed in researches Of this kind: in my present uncertainty, I must take the liberty of supposing, that Skirophorion ' Fan. Art. Vol.11. p. 402. 1 ma. Vol.1]. p.300. [105] always held'the 'same place in the order of the Athenian months, and received its title from the solstitial feast of the same name. 5. "The circumstance of Eat/gar; implying a‘termof national descent never having been adverted to, has greatly embarrassed those who have-sought to ascertain the author of this festival; and it has even created a' confusion of.~certain characters with'Ptutarch, who finds the same name applied 'to ,a very good, and a very worthless character, tie. to Skiron of Salamis, and the robber Shir-on.* The truth appears‘; to be, that many personstiof northern descent, in Antient Greece, ‘Were indiHerently: named Skiron, ,or'S/tiros. Har‘pocratio’n, (as'Casteltanus observes;) has'asserted upon the authority of Praxion, that the feast was instituted by Skiron, who settled in Salamis, 'and' Strabo is'also cited, to prove that this island received the epithet] qf-Skiran, from one of those heroes who founded the rites of Minerva ‘S/tiras in Attica; so that both these eyidenCes point out but one personage, for the hero of Strabo could be no other than the Pelasgic Shiros of Pausanias, who came frOm Dodona to, Eleusis, and afterwards founded the temple of Minerva at the Phalerus; whence he mighthave passed QV6I‘ into Salamis, and left-powerful descendants in that island, who were named after him. He himself was dignifiedby the name of ‘Hero, after his death; a title he" seems 'to have well' deserved; for, in addition to‘ the prophetic‘characterhe bore,- he: had distinguished buriedhimhimself as a near'a warrior, brook, and died in a fighting,.for 'spot‘which the was Eleusinians; everiafte'rwards who distinguished by his name} "Upon the opinion of . Pausanias, thus supported, wemayitherefore concludeythatthe festival was introduced by- the__same Shims who erected,- the temple at jthe

Phalerus. ' i .. , . , - ' i v": u -' 2 .. ,',....., 1‘. _. I.) it. I , But the Scholiast upon Aristophanes. and. his twpyist. Suidas. report it, 10 have been referred to,Th'eseus-"-—5' i? 8’ M'mi new.

'\ Plutarch. in Theseo. p. Qa—Ed. Staph; "731' :.mewuias, Alt. 0. 36. p_. 8&5 _ e 0 [106] aZNtai dial Tsiv'ain'o‘ Exieau ’Aenva'ir, iiv 971761); ivroi'na'ev, 'o're Emir-via, oZ-rrou-reiva; 1'59 MtvodeUeOV.—“ Alii verd non ob id aiunt, sed ob Minerva “ staluam,v quam in Scira slaluit Theseus, cum occiso Minolauro “ revertissel,"'-—-adding, that d'm'eat means gypsum. But when Theseus landed at the port ofthe Phalerus, he sacri ficed t0 the gods he found there; and since Pausanias informs us, that the antient temple at the Phalerus—ni 0239404701: ieeév—(and therefore perhaps one of the very first ever erected to -Minerva near Athens,) was founded by the priest Skiros of Dodona, we may presume that the temple was already established before the time of Theseus, and that Minerva Shiras was one of the deities to whom he offered sacrifice. I V I i I 6. All that we can collect then from the Scholiast and Suidas, will be, that Theseus, after his return from Crete, renewed these rites with increased splendour, and set up a statue of the goddess in plaSter, 0r gypsum, which word in 'Greek'was termed o-m’eu. ' He might also have availed himself 'further of this occasion, to perpe? tuate the memory of himself, and of his exploits, by adding, to the rites of Minerva Shims, ceremonies which should recall his own deeds to the minds of the Athenians. Thus, a race with vine-boughs was afterwards instituted by Theseus. They ran from the temple of Bacchus, to that of Minerva at the Phalerus.’ The processionof the Umbrella walked nearly over the sameground; and since we are informed by Athenaeus, (lib. xi.)* that the former of these ceremonies took place in the Skiran festival, we may conclude that the race was also celebrated at the summer solstice. '--- _ - - i ’ But to pass over-the later additions to the Shirophoria, we'will 'colleCt from Meursius and Caslellanus, the manner in which it was conducted, and then examine, how far we may be justified in“ Perse vering to deem it a Hyperborean ceremony. - ' ' '7. We find that an Umbrella was carried in procession upon this

' V ide Meim. dc Populis Atticis, p. 118. The passage is unfairly quoted by Castellanus. [101] occasion, from the Acropolis 'to‘the Phalerus ;-. (for I hope enough has been said, to warrant my setting aside the opinion of those who would transfer the festival, toithe spot where the Hero of Pausanias was buried;) and in the authorities quoted, the office of hearing it is variously assigned to thepriest of Erect/zeus,* or the priests of Minerva, Neptune,v and the Sun;+ but it was thought necessary that he should be lineally descended from the Hero Butas. In an inscription discovered some .years ago at Athens, Bulas is styled a priest. As I purpose in the present Dissertation to confine myself to remarks upon the outward. forms of thisfestival, any minute enquiry, now, into the character of Butasf; might be premature; for the present, it may be‘suificient to remark, thank: the temple of Erectheus, in the Acropolis, were three'altars; on (one of these the Athenians sacrificed, indifferently, to Erectheus, and Poseidon; the second Was sacred tQ-the Hero Butas; and the third to Hepha'stus; where it appears that Butas held a place of honour centrally be‘ tween the two. I have formerly observed that the priests of old had frequently affected the titles of the gods they served; but hereafter we may have reason to suspect, that Butashad not only affected the title, but even assumed the powers of the SUN; and in right of this assumption, that he still holds millions of Asiatic votaries attached to his worship. ’

. (O irerin; 1'; .Eglxelu; Qiin “water Await. Schol. Aristoph. 1 T3 nigin 0114le in, #10, 1; @iééplroi if ’Aneowémug, ri'g 'rua 'ro'iror nahélanov inlet» nognior'rm :11 1%"; 'Aonnii; ileum, ital 5 7E Henld‘iilo; 'hetiu, anti 5 TE ‘Hhiu. Harpocration, in T066 Saigon. 1 Mr. Stuart, in his Antiquities bf Athens, has considered Butas as the brother of Erect/teas; but Lycurgus instituted a. festival in honour Hoe-“Mia; ’Eeixth’og; and we know that the flattery of the Greeks often induced them to confound illustrious personages with their gods. In that splendid work Mr. Stuart has also shewn, in a. vignette, a fragment found near the ruins of the temple of Erect/tens. It is ornamented with lions’ heads, which animal was an emblem of the sun; but it must have been placed there long after the time of Butas, as we may be certain from the modern characters of the inscription: IEPE02 BOYTOY. [ 1'08 ], A connection might even, I think, be traced bet'ween'Butas and Minerva; but I will here suppose that the latter was admitted to an honorary share in this ceremony, as patrdneSs of the city; for we learn from Pausanias, that however different villages in'Attica might have had,- each, their favourite deity, yet-they paid equal honours to Minerva; and she may be thus supposed tohave always partaken, in some degree, of the worship paid to their other gods.* 8. Thus -.the point whencethe procession set out will be ascer-l tained; + at the-Same time that the apparent contradiction between the Scholiast and Harpocration, Will be reconciled, asto the priest who officiated on the occasion: and though some have thought that Ceres, who had also a temple at the Phalerus,'was referred to in this festival, yet there is every reason. to conclude that the whole was instituted in honour of the Sun. - The author, and the forms 'of the ceremony, thus explained, we may proceed to ascertain thepurport, and spirit of it; for which' end, I conceive, we must direct 'our search to that quarter only, which the Skiros, or Umbrella, evidently points out to us: we must turn our view to the north-west. "I e ._ ' ' 9. If we look to the nature of the. year, 'as established amongst those antient northern nations, afterwards known'by the name of Scandinavians, we shall find that it began from the winter solstice, but the months were computed from one new moon to the next. The individual meaning of the ancient“, (or extent, q. erat a-mseim was, an Umbrella, or Shade; madthav, quasi midg, vel amaldeu; which last is rendered by Constantine, “ Ramiprzegrandes umbram *‘facientes ;" from which we may conclude, that the Umbrella was originally a spreading bought 10. The mistletoe-bough was equally an attendant emblem ‘upon

" Pausanz'as, lib. i. c. 26. p. 63. '- 1' Viz. from the temple ‘of Et'ectheus.’ ' 1 The observations which follow will, Ltrust, be thought to have sufficient probability on their side, to authorise my discrediting the conjecture of Harpocration ,- 24,43an 81 7510 74mm [109] theIHyperbOrean year. As it was particularly venerated on-the night- o'htheold year, I have little -scruple in construing it into an emblem of night?) '- ‘ - v ' ~ ' InHolsteinl‘says the intelligent Editor-of the Northern-Anti qtiities, it is called the “ Marentalten," or branch of speetres. What can this imply, but that it was an emblem of- night, which the ghosts were said to be attendant upon? “ Jam te'ma-net Nox, “ fabulaque Manes.” As the Roman pOet combined them together, so theimistletoe, repreSenting the shades, was properly termed “ the branch of speetresfl _. ' When we read, in the Edda, that Balder, (who was the same as the Sun,) was killed by the mistletoe thrown at him,"‘ this can only denote, that— i

“ The sun set, and the shades of night were?“ spread over him.” I - . i . \ Keysler relates a singular ceremony inGermany and Gaul, that on the last day of December, youths go about with the mistletoe, crying, “ To the mistletoe ."’——“ The new year is at hand ."' The Christians of northern Europe fondly continue their reverence for this bough to the present moment, and they suspend it in their halls on Christmas Eve, (which is about the winter solstice,) as an emblem-of the night, which, for them, precedes a new year of Redemption. 11. The Hyperboreans called night, “ the Mother of the Team"? The mistletoe Was a lit emblem of it; and the Greeks, who borrowed much of their religious worship from them, only exchanged the

1?: M? Emit-um ml 0’7",th wmn; jam oportere adificare et‘ trgmenfaCere, quippe quad id tempus ad adi/icandum sit marimé idoneum. 'n; raw 4% xgo'vu nigirs iir'ro; e148; oixol‘oulm. Together with which I should also discard the was“, and the ma... Mr... or the white Umhrella. “ Northern Antiquities, Vol. II. p. 73. ‘ 1- Let the reader compare the description of the Juul feast on the mother-night, (or the last of the old year,) North. Ant. Vol. I. p. 130, with the whole ceremony of the Zntgooéem, and he will find sufficient reasons for believing that their meaning was the same. i ' [110]

winter, for the summer solstice, and in other respects adopted the ceremony. The priest of the sun carried, for this purpose, a bough, which, from its shade, was called Erased, Zm’ea, or Znieov. It was, with the Greeks, an emblem of the night, or the old year, to which the day of the new year was on the point of succeeding; and from this allusion of the bough to night, whenever we see' a bough, or an umbrella, or a tree depicted upon Hetruscan vases, it invariably implies the shades, and alludes to the Inferi: and it is av very curious circumstance, that the golden bough, which [Eneas finds in Inferis, is compared by Virgil to the mistletoe, and is actually represented as growing upon the oak tree. ” Quale solet sylvis brumalifrigore Viscum " Fronde virere novd,” * * * * * * * " Talis erat species aurifrondenlis opaai " Ilice."-—-———— Eneid, lib. vi. ver. 204.

We now shall learn to account for the otherwise difficult meaning _ of the word Zm'eog, as applied to the N W; it is, even in this sense, to be understood as amepo‘g', or shady, for these rites were brought by the Hyperboreans from the JVI’V, which may thus be rendered, “ The Land of Shades.“ It was there that the Cimmerian Tar tarus was placed, and the Orcus of the Greeks, and Romans, which last still remains in our Orcades, or Orkney Islands; as has been amply proved‘by Mr. Bailly, and by almost every other-writer who has taken up the subject of Northern antiquities. I The .Pelasgic institution of the Skirophoria was therefore the procession of the bough; which might possibly have been borne, in earlier times, on the day preteding the winter solstice; but

* What shall we say of the Umbri, the “ gens antiquissima Italirz?” whose name has hitherto been derived from 'OFCM, or from their having been overshadowed by the Apenninesi Were they not rather Zniguni, from the Land of Shades? {111] which certainly formed, in the later ages, a religious festival-lat Athensron the day- which preceded the opening of the new solar year. It was attended likewise with other ceremonies, in'which the sun was called upon by- the Athenians to assist, and favour their agricultural labours. What this invocation was, shall be shewn hereafter. 12. I have lobserved, that additions were made to this festival by

Theseus,- but the authorities which assert the fact, abound with difficulties, and contradictions to such a degree, thatI should gladly wave the discussion of it, did I not think it probablethat I might discover some conformity to Pelasgic customs, even in these acts of Theseus, which might render the view I have taken of the feast of the Umbrella still more complete. ‘ ' Plutarch, upon the faith of a writer named Demon, has been very accurate in describing the solemnities whichtoo'k plaCe on the return {Of Theseus. Amths't them, he states the ceremony of the ’O'a-xoeépm, (which literally accepted, can only mean a bearing of vine-boughs), 'either, he adds, as'a tribute. of thanks to Bacchus, and Ariadne, or on”account"of-the return of-‘Theseus in autumn. The feast, it appears from him,was_'celeb'rated' on the 7th of Pyanepsion, i. e. in October; but he'rna-ke's no mention of a race. F ar different'however is‘, the report of Athemeus: he tells us, upon the authority‘of one Afisloden'tus, that there was a race of youths, bearing (each) a vine-bough, called "00-7504; and that this took place at the'time' of the Skirail festival, i. e. in the menth Skirophorion, or June, ' ' .. ' a a; 13. The ceremonies related by Plutarch, and Athenceus, vary from each otherlas to many points; and if the time of their celebration were different, we may be convinced they had, each, a different lallusion; and yet the learned Potter has not scrupled to blend them together, without adding any comment upon the times of year at which they were held. [112]

The words ofAthemeus are, ’Aezgisqpo; 5" iv reier weel Hmlaies, T012 ZKI’POIE :pqa'lv ’Ae'ilvugs 02')!ng é'TflTSAETO’S'dl 75v £91;va dehpsf and I should observe, that 1022; th'eau; must certainly mean,—.-“xat the time of the feast of the Skirophoria," in the same way as it is used by Aristophanes, in his ’Exmnégam. ‘ ‘ ‘ "Owe EKI’POIE 28055 m"; that"; mm. v. 18. “ Whatever seemed good to my female companions, during the “ Skiranfestival.” By omitting these prefatory words of Athenaus, and by adopt ing only the latter part of the passage which describes the race, Castellanus has managed well enough; and has determined the Emeaoéem, and the ’Oa-xooégm, to have been distinct festivals ;: and in his Athenian Calendar,’he_ has given' the former 'tof-the‘ month Skirophorion, and the latter to Pyanepsion; v . - ‘ _ . Meursius, on the other hand,-having quoted the passage entire, has abided by the 'words of Athemeus; and thus, having spoken of the carrying the Umbrella, he has added, t‘ pra'terea‘ turn quoque ‘.‘ cursu ephebi certabant, vitis ramum gestant-es uvis onustum." It may be said that ref; zm’gm; may imply the places near to the temple of Minerva Skiras ; but I 'must observe, that the spot upon which the temple was built, isinvariablyiexpressed in ,the‘singular number, as, 21:} Zm'gzy; and thus Eustath'ius has said, ml mime (86”. imifisuov), iv 1:; Ti; Emeniiog',A6qv£g-, 1r; QEHr'ZKI’PQI; and the n. pl. Em’pa, can only imply the feast .Of' the Umbrella, in themame way as many other Athenian festivals, 102 HavaSq'z/ata; 102 Alumina, were so expressed. ‘ , Other writers have-also mentioned this festival; and these, to

" The remainder of the passage is as follows. Teéxm 8" nui'rirg i'xWrag égwéaa miller ami xaevrov 'rlr xah'rinrov 30x01. Tgixsm 8' ix 1'; free} 15 Alanine, pixel 1'5 Ti; Exlgéd'oc' 'Aemi; “eg- an.) 5 union; Macaw :uihxa Tin Myopia»)! nrrawM'av, ami- xuyééu 11.1575“ xoeg. Htrrawkia SE 1'; Ami xaMT-rar, 1119600! aim ix“, xai FIN, uni 'rvgav, nail a'iwl'rov, ital iAaia Bgaxzi. News. (1': Pop. Att. p. 118. [113] increase our difficulties contradict each other, and themselves: but it may be satisfactory to sum up their evidences. First then, Philochorus (quoted by Harpocration) says, that the ’Oa-xocpa’em were but two; and that they bore vine-branches, as a (fie bute of thanks for their safe return. , ’ Secondly, Suidas to the same effect. The bearers of vine boughs were but two: and ' ' Thirdly, Proclus: two youths in female attire, with vine-boughs', opened the ceremony. ' ' On the other side of the question we- have, a - ' First, the Scholiast upon Meander; the ’Oa'xotpbeoi were Athenian youths, whose parents, on both sides, were living; who were elected according to the number of the tribes, to contend in a race, hear ing vine boughs in their hands, and who ran 'from_the temple of Bacchus to that of Minerva Skiras. ' ' t ' rv Secondly, Proclus appears again (as if with a sub-pwmd,from both parties): ' ' ,-_‘ i “ Boys," he says, “ were chosen from each tribe, (if indgn; 3E “- ouaig) to contend in a race, and the winner ate from the cup of “ five ingredients.” ' Be it observed, however, that the tribes of Athens were four in number in the time of Theseus; and since he had not yet had communication with the city, when be sacrificed 'at the Phalerus on his return, and consequently had no opportunity of electing candidates from the tribes of Athens, this last witness therefore prevaricates, and contradicts himself. ' ' ' The result then of this trial will be, that the accounts of the ’Oa-xoeéem, as delivered by the two parties; (including the reports of Plutarch, and Athenaus,) differ; ' ' ' 1. As to the nature of the ceremony. 2. As to the time of its celebration; and - . ' '_ -.~ ,=_ 3. As to the number of the youths concerned in it‘.' ' ' '. " P [114] The only way then to save the credit of Proelus, and to reconcile the whole, will be to suppose that the information collected by Proclas, referred to two different ceremonies, styled by the same name; nor did Plutarch judge that it concerned him to make mention of a race when he spoke of the sacrifices at the Phalerus. In this stage of the question, chance threw in my way the learned work of Corsini. He has canvassed the merits both of Castellanus, and Meursius, but approves of the decision of the former,th had distinguished the ’Otrxaqpéem from the Empatpciemt: and the fairest reason that he has offered, is the supposition that the fruit of the vines must have been ripe; which would have better suited the autumn than the summer months. I 'should doubt whether it would be absolutely necessary'to allow this nOtion in its fullest extent, but certainly there are other points in which the opinion of Corsini does not appear to me to be conclusive or correct. I -“ I am“ aware,” he observes, 9‘ that Athemeus, and Aristodemus, “ fix the celebration of the ’Oo-xotpéem, at the Skiran festival.” ‘.‘. Sedfieri forlasse [latest at Scriptor ille Sciradis Minerva! tem s‘lolam in Seir'o positum' cum altero ejusdein Sciradis -Minervze “fano, quad in Phalero fuerat, idedque Oschophoria cum Sciris “ confuderit." Corsini, Vol. II. p. 355. I But the reader, perhaps, is satisfied by this time, that the temple‘ of Minerva Eqri 2141991, (in Sciro positum) was the same with that at the Phalerus. ' F _ " ~ ' "1' Fieri etiam poteist at in viliato ipsius textu pro 107; Exifééoig, “ rescribi debeat, 1ng 1'1]; Exteaifog.”—Ibid. But this word 107;, I again observe, must always be connected with “ ceremonies,” or- “ rites," understood. Still Corsini persists, ' “ Fieri poslremd poles! at Oschophoria quoque alio jbrtasse “ nomine Zm'pat Scira vocarentur—(Tms I BELieve)—--qu0d ipsorum “ pompa in Phalericum- Sciradis Minerva: templum dirigerelur, _[ 115] “ quod Seiro auetore conditumfuerat, Scironisquefano, Plutar'eho “ teste, proximum erat, et honores etiam Seironi exhibitos eom “ pleaterelur.”——Ibid. This, I presume, is already answered by my observations as to 102'; Enigma, and Evri Zia/ea. And lastly. “ Ceterum, quocumqae demum exfonte error ille, sive “ opinio projluxerit, gravior est certe, longéque clarior, Plutarchi “ auetoritas, atque narratio, quam ut ambiguis Aristodemi verbis “ refelli, vel in dubium revocari posse videatur."—Ibid. Here we get rid of the question at once, and I join issue with Corsini; excepting, that I see no ambiguity in the words of Aristodemus. Let us abide then by the more respectableauthority of Plutarch, who makes no mention of a race in the ’Oa-xaoéem. Let us, however, do justice separately to Aristodemus: for each author may be right. We will therefore, with Corsini’s permission, refer the race to some other festival, but Corsini must after all allow; Zitt'emg),that the in race, the which Skiran was festiv‘al. distinct from the ’Oo-xooéela, took place (1ng I

14. But the truth appears to be, that the ’Oo-xooéem have been improperly termed a festival, whereas they were only a ceremony which formed a part of the Pyanepsia: in the same way, the race might have been a ceremony attached to the feast of the Skirophor-ia ; and we may remark, that the bearing of boughs was common to every festival at Athens, as we may know from the circumstance of Harmodius, and Aristogeiton, who concealed their swords in their myrtle-branches, that these might not be observed in .the crowd ;' and if, in the festivals instituted by him, Theseus adopted the vine instead of the myrtle, it could only have‘bee'n to do more honour to Hercules, or Bacchus, whom he professed to imitate. Where all these varieties of opinion leave the matter undecided, we may presume it is still open for conjecture; and since the point best agreed upon is, that these ceremonies took place after the return P 2 [116] of Theseus from Crete, in order to understand the meaning of each institution, we should examine what remarkable event particularly distinguished his return. When Theseus paid his vows to Minerva Shims, at the Phalerus, two youths might have been attired as females, to commemorate the two who went in that disguise on the expedition to Crete; and women might have recited stories to them, at this festival, in imitation of the mothers who thus encouraged their children, and bade them be of good cheer upon their voyage: his attendants also might have borne vine-boughs, with allusion to the particular time of year when he returned; and the herald might have uttered his mixed expressions of joy and distress,“ with the chaplet on his staff, to shew how the pleasure at their return was damped by the death of /Egeus. Thus far the account of Plutarch is intelligible: and thus the original ’Oa'xotpbpwe might have been celebrated ever afterwards in autumn, at the Pyanepsia, or Beanfeast, in which they dressed up in one cauldron all the provisions that remained of their sea-stock, when their voyage was completed. The bearing of vine-boughs at that time was ordered by Theseus, with reference to the particular object of his return. But as we collect, that there might have been a second festival of the same nature, this perhaps was intended to perpetuate the memory of his exploits after his return. 15. His first act was, to collect into one body all the small boroughs dispersed in the neighbouring country, each of which had its Prytane'um, and municipal officers; ofthese he formed the city of Athens, and consolidated their petty courts into one general Pry lane'um, or court of judichture. This meritorious event, though commemorated in a general way in the Euroimoe,-i- was here more particularly alluded to, as l conceive, in the race of vine-boughs;

' 'Eumi‘i, a, ié. Plutarch. in Thesco. f Which fell on the 16th of Hecatomtuzon. [117] which was afterwards blended with the festival of the Skiran goddess, near whose temple he first made good his landing.‘ We are given to understand that the establishment of the new government, which he had taken in hand when he first went up into the city, in October, was not completed until the following summer: the sun would by this time have arrived at the solstice, and his return would have been greeted by the usual Hyperborean

' The game of moss, was also on this account encouraged, in later times, in the temple of Minerva Skiras; namely, because it bore a double allusion: first, to the annual course of the Sun through the twelve Mandrze, or points in the heavens; which it appeared in some measure to describe, and which Ovid has thus noticed respecting the ALvnus of his countrymen: “ Est germs in totidem tenui ratione redactum “ Scriptula, quot memes lubricus annus babel.”

And further, on account of the construction of the game itself; which, as I have elsewhere endeavoured to shew, was an assemblage of Mardgai united in one Brim, and might therefore be supposed to represent the collecting of the people of Attica from their pastoral dwellings and their villages, and forming of these collected numbers the city of Athens. We should be at no loss to discover why this temple was thronged with prostitutes, and the idle dregs of the people; for where dice are admitted, every species of profligacy will follow. But I fear dice were not the only cause. The northern nations had to answer for these irregularities perhaps long before the game of 11me was invented. The rejoicings of the Yule feasts were not less indecent. (See North. Ant. Vol. II. p. 68.) From the remark of Festus upon the word Umbra, (“ Inlbe oocabantur N eptunalibus casefrondetepro tabemaeulis”) we might almost conclude that similar ceremonies, as to the bough, were used in Rome at the Neptunalia; and we have seen that Poseidon was concerned in the Athenian Sh'ropltoria Whether the N eptmlt'a Were disgraced by such attendants as were admitted at the Skimplion'a, or whether the Romans imparted such customs to the conquered countries along the Mediter ranean, might be difficult to say; but those who are acquainted with the Spanish language will be aware of the etymology given by Covaaavvr'as for the word “ anera."v Mom,

68 lo memo que cerca de lo: Latinos meretrir. Esta: oioian fuera de lo: muros de la: ciudades, 34 more was edaCfl-I armavon sue cltopuelas, y los cubn'en c011 ramas, de donde ee dixeron Rameraa. Quad (sifas sit) vertcmus lloc modo :-—Ramcra idem signified! quad opud Latinos merctrir. He verb extra mania habitabant, et tuguria ma palie suflulta ramis operiebant, unde nomen eis Romero: indiftlm. [ 1’18 ]' ceremonies. Theseus would of course conform to them; and' his- work being then accomplished, he might avail himself of the oppor tunity to- add other ceremonies of a different allusionzand this might have happened in the words of Athena'us and Aristodemus, iv 10?; Eat/em, or, in other words, at. the feast of the. Skirophoria, or/ the Umbrella, 16. The race of youths which then took place would have: alluded, as I. conceive, to the first election of the magistrates-out of the tribes, by the-free suffrage-of the. people, in order to form the new Prytane'um'. By the winner eating out of the wev-rmraéa em»), or cup of five ingredients, viz. wine, honey,.cheese, Hour, and oil, might have been implied, that each of these, in his turn, was to be appointed receiver of the Hey-routine, or public revenues ; .which were perhaps originally paid into the Heuravsi'ov, 0r treasury, in these. FIVE nuns. This we have fair reasonto conclude, because the Prytané'um at~ Athens was, at the same time, the treasury, and public magazine of provisions and c0rn,—quasi, awe; muefov.*—It was likewise the court-house, where the magistrates held their sittings : . and thus the Ugo-mint; naturally became trustees for orphans,.and those who had deserved well of the state, who were fed from the Prytane'um, or treasury; which could not have been so readily the case had not' the first revenues of the state been paid in kind. And when Theseus appointed the race, in addition to the Skiro phoria, to commemorate the free election of the magistrates, he seems to have conformed to the customs of the Pelasgi, or Hyper boreans, who instituted the Skirophoria, or, as I have before termed them “ the procession of the Bough." 17. From the elegant translator of, and commentator upon, Mr.

" According to the ordinary (but suspicious) derivation of this word. [119]

Mallet's work, to whom I have been already so much indebted, I learn that the northern nations conceived that their gods were seated, and administered justice from, under an ASH-TREE; that many customs still remain of courts being held, and magistrates and officers chosen under trees. AN ETONLAN also will be pleased with recollecting, on this occasion, the ceremonies of his college :_-the “ cascefronderepro tabernaculis," in the window recesses of the Lower School, and the arbours in Long Chamber, for which, if I mistake not, a waggon load of boughs is provided at the expence of the college; and this happening at the time of the annual election of candidates for the university, seem referrible to this, and may be remains of the old northern custom of “ electing under the bough." And I hope it may not be deemed too fanciful, if I suppose that Theseus elected his magistrates at the feast of the Bough, at the summer solstice, that they might enter upon their office at the first new moon. 18. The notion ofthe candidates being elected at the Skimphoria, receives further confirmation from the intimate connection we observe between the Umbrella and the Prytane'um; for not only may the magistrates be supposed to have been chosen at this feast, but the Prytane'um,or their court-house, was termed Emit-f which conveys to us an idea of the Hyperborean custom of administeringjustice under the bough; and, like Shakspeare's Ariel, they may be said to have “ lived merrily under the bough;" for the Gian-Jr in the Prytane'um was the banqueting-room of the magistrates, and this vaulted chamber was more particularly termed Zung; Hence we must applaud the ingenious conjecture of Corsini, (Vol. II. p. 152.) upon the word

‘ In)“, real 'rb 90M:qu muddle), i. ii. 3. A. n-——uai 1'5 I'Igv'rami'or. Hesych. The house of assembly for the magistrates at Sparta was also called 2m“; and it had retained its Pelasgic name even to the time of Pausanias. Enid“, i'v9a m? m E'n EuMma'Q'em. Lacon. lib. iii. cap. 12. p. 237. ' 1- Properly, denoting dome, or cnpola. [1201 EHIZKIAAOE, which he remarked in an antient inscription [that recited the titles of various officers assisting at public sacrifices—— “ Prytanei prafectum aliquem ab illei designatum esseputaverim"-— that he was the ’EmueA-q-rfig, or curator of the Prytané'um, 6 éni Ema/ado; appellatus. 19. We shall now likewise be ready to admit the judicious etymology suggested by the venerable English mythologist for the word Prytane'umf Mr. Bryant has well remarked, that the Prytane'a were properly sacred towers, where a perpetual fire was preserved ; and when we consider, that before the time of Theseus every village in Attica had its Prytane'um, we may collect how generally the fire-worship prevailed in those times. Hence it is, that we hear of such Athenian magistrates as the Hetiastar-or officers of the sun; and of others, who, when appointed to their office, were obliged to make oath, that they would maintain the antient fire-worship of' Attica; and that they had actually within their dwellings an altar, or sacred hearth, with perpetual fire upon it, in honour of the Sun. There is every probability, therefore, in favour of the observation of I

Corsini, that the ’Emo-xwiio; was the curator who superintended the establishment of the Prytane'um; and as he must also have acted under the patronage of that deity, who seems to have had the magistrates of Athens particularly beneath his care, the public sacri-' free at which he might be supposed to assist, might have been that‘ which forms the subject of this Treatise; and thus, in the Emma“, perhaps, we may even recognise the priest of the Sun who bore the Umbrella, or the bough, and who returned the magistrates to serve in the Prytane'um 20. But besides the ceremonies of the procession, and the race, which were performed without the temple of Minerva Skiras, other rites, no doubt, were celebrated within; and we, who are not of the initiated, might in vain have attempted to discover the secret

* From [1%, fire. [ 121 ]‘ mysteries of the temple; but Aristophanes, who probably had been admitted, has babbled, and we have but to cite his verses to extort the truth from him. V

From the circumstance of the magistrates for the ’ExuMa-i’a, or council, being chosen at the Skirophoria; and from the liberties which were allowed to the lower class of Athenian women upon this occasion,* the comic Poet, indulging his favourite passion for the burlesque, has formed his notion of the petticoat administration, in his play of the 'Enuma-iézea-m; and I have no hesitation in assert ing that the address of the woman to her lamp, at the opening of the drama, is no more than a broad and irreverent parody upon an invocation to the Sun, by whose priest, as we have seen, the feast of the Umbrella was conducted; and during the celebration of which the Poet has laid the scene of his action. It is natural to suppose that, at this time, an invocation would have been made to that luminary, who ripened their harvest, and who gave them cellars filled with corn and wine,+ which formed the first revenuesof the state. ‘ But Aristophanes shall explain the whole himself; and as the severest punishment we can inflict upon him, for the obscenity with which he has offended and disgusted his many readers, he shall be compelled to declare the secret in modest language. I will therefore add the Invocation, and with it conclude this long, and I fear tedious, memoir upon the Skirophoria.

" Suia'as gives all the mirth in the Shirophoria (and another feast called Z-nina) exclusively to the women :—-Z'rr'ma., anti inga—dioe'ral I'vraumiiv. 1‘ Eroa'tq 'n xagorfi Baiter 'rr IE’FGTO; még|.;-_-_ Ver. 14.

(O [122]

HYMN TO THE SUN; From the opening of the 'ExxMa-tdgza-m.

(d Aauvrpbv bye/nae 1'; reoquaira Nixvs.)

Yon Lamp of Heav’n, which in continual roll Lights up the spheres and animates the whole, I’Vhirl’d through its orbit as with force it flies, And spreads its blazing honours o’er the skies; For life and nature fit, its quickening ray Wev mortals court, to wake us into day.

Wherefore, bright Sun, in ample streams of light, Within these walls thy votive crowd delight; Here, as in secret met, to' thee alone ‘ Our vows we pay, thy mighty power we own; And wreath'd in mystic dance our limbs we move, Before Minerva’s shrine, thine eye above Unroof’d our temple shall admit to see Theriteswe pay to Bacchus, and to thee.

What fertile valley, with its produce gay, But feels the blessing of thy searching my? Hence loaded harvests shall our peasants bring, And streams that flow from Bacchus’ genial spring; For these our Prytané'um opes its door, - For these her vows shall thankful Athens-pour: Then at our Skiran feast, bright Sun appear, And gild with light the morning of the year.

SECOND DISSERTATION.

Q2

DA

SECOND DISSERTATION

UPON THE MYSTICAL SIGNIFICATION OF THE BOUGH AND THE UMBRELLA,

AMONGST THE ANTIENT NORTHERN NATIONS,

In 'rnn

FEAST OF ADONIS, AND IN THE HINDU MYTHOLOGY;

WITH AN APPLICATION OF THE SAME TO THE RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES AND OPINIONS OF THE GREEKS.

VENII‘OdeI, “AIPTIITON éetgmi, t ii'ye Kr’nPON, "H E; ‘THEPBOPE'OTZ, ii Euagelpw.—E; be reAsu-njv VEK eror' Eeei' min} 15 (Pt/A85, nail n'bjfea-ra- weir-roe.

Hymn. in Bacclnun. Apollonii Rbodii suppositivus, ver. 28.

‘J Um]

CONTENTS.

§I. V eneration paid to the Mistletoe by the Scandinavians, and Celts.— Influence of the Yule upon the Religious Ceremonies of the Greeks. § II. Probability of the Rites of the Bough having been brought from Persia.—Solemn ploughing of the Chinese and Grecian—Use of the Bough in the Feast of Adonis.

§ 111. Allegorical meaning of the Palm-branch in the Hindu Mythology. —Umbrella, wherefore substituted for it.——The Umbrella as a mystic Emblem communicated from India to Greece. i W. _ Use of these Remarks in the Study of Antiquities.

POSTSCRIPT. Upon the Religion of the Pelasgi. u.

SECOND DISSERTATION, 8cc.

‘- j SSI.

Veneration Paid to the Mistletoe by the Scandinavians, and Celts—byluence of the Yule upon the Religious Cere monies of the Greeks.

IN the former Dissertation Icollected whatever I thought could be advanced with certainty upon the subject of the Skirophoria. I there contented myself also with making slight allusion to the northern nations, and the respect they entertained for the Mistletoe; meaning to make them my guide in tracing the original institution [130] of this Grecian festival.—-I now propose to submit a few observa tions upon the particular mystical signification by them attached to this plant; and to shew how the same might have been applied to the early rites of the Grecian worship; adding also, by way of imperfect sketch, some hints as 'to the source whence the whole might have been derived, and as to the use we may make of these remarks, by applying them to the study of antiquities. In speaking of the northern nations, I have hitherto purposely avoided making mention of the Celts; both for the sake of con sistency, and that I might pay due respect to the opinion of the learned Editor of the Northern Antiquities; who has drawn a nice distinction between the Celtic and Gothic nations, and has jealously corrected the text of Mr. Mallet, upon every occasion where he has been inclined to speak of them as the same people. The total dissimilarity of their language, must always' be deemed sufficient proof that the Celts and Goths were distinct nations; nevertheless they may be supposed to have agreed as to particular ceremonies, which, I presume, in the instance of their equally venerating the Mistletoe, about that time of the year when the sun approached the winter solstice, may be fairly conceded. But the writer I have quoted seems to object to the similarity for which I contend, by urging that the You: of these nations was, with each, a symbol of ‘different import; being considered amongst the Scandinavians as an emblem of destruction, but reverenced by the Celts as a plant ' endowed with peculiar virtue, and of ALL-HEALING eflicacy. I presume that his objection to the supposed noxious qualities of the Scandinavian JUUL, will have lost something of its force by the simple explanation I have given of the fable of BALDER. _ The name of this plant might indeed have varied in its signification amongst the Goths and Celts; but I suspeCt that the difference only con sisted in a secondary, or allegorical sense, accordingly as it expressed the difi'erent properties attributed to it. [ 131 1

From a slight acquaintance with the curious work of Romance, I have collected, that the real meaning of the Scandinavian J UUL was rota, a wheel,* signifying conversion, i. e. the return of the sun from thewinter to the summer half of the year, above the horizon: ——In a secondary sense, I. find it (ibidem) explained as Jolayjula, Jala, hilarem se prabere,+_ expressive of the joy that took place at the sun’s return. May not the You-1, or All-heal of the Celts, have received its name on account of the all-healing effects of the sun upon nature in general, upon his conversion, or return from the Shades of winter; of all which circumstances this» bough was the general sign, or emblem? ‘ I

These combined ideas are equally to be found in- the descent of zineas to the Inferi, which might almost be explained to be an astronomical fable: for if the Mistletoe alluded to by the Roman poet, was that Bough which presented itself to;/Eneas in the Shades; yet, at the same time, it was that all-healing plant, the possession of which only could insure to the Trojan hero his conversion, or return from Tartarus to the realms of light. We find by this allusion'of Virgil, 'who compared the” golden bough in Inferis to the Mistletoe, that the Use of thisplant was not unknown in the religious ceremonies ofthe antients, particularlyz the Greeks, of whose poets he was-the acknowledged imitator. A very probable inducement for the first establishing the oracle at Dodona, might have been the extensive oak groves of the place, which must have furnished an abundance of thisemblematical plant; but as these religious rites were afterwards disseminated in various parts of Greece, in which, perhaps, theYULE could only be procured with difficulty, substitutes for the all-healing plant were devised,¢which however still retained its name, and/were supposed tolanswer- all its expiatory purposes. If the Mistletoe presented the double emblem

* OI. Rudbecln'i Atlantica, cap. v. § 2. p. 90, 91. 1- Rudbeck. cap. v. 5 12. p. 124-. [132] of the shade of night and winter, and also the light of the summer sun, (for this is what I understand by alt-healing, which actually became an attribute of Apollo, amongst the Greeks; he being, with them, the god of medicine, as well as of solar light,) so this plant must of necessity have recalled to the mind the two opposite senses of wretchedness and comfort, conformably with the opposite nature of the seasons. In these different senses, the northern You: has furnished a numerous family of Greek words, which have inherited the apparent contradiction of their original theme. We need go no farther than-the 05M; exitiatis,.and 03M; integer, sanus, of the Greeks, which I have every reason to believe were derived from the .IUUL, or YULE, and exhibit, under one sound, the opposite significations which form the objection of the Commentator upon Mr. Mallet. So, also, in the known exclamation of joy, and distress, the same word ('12, ’Ia) was applied, perhaps with the difference only of an acute or grave accent, as .the artist, who portrays these passions, well, knows-that the'same lines in the human face, accordingly as they are accented, or, in other words, thrown up or down, will produce the‘eontrary effects of laughter or weeping, The foregoing I presume to class under the head of words employed in the antient religious language of Greece. But further; the Greek student may have often been surprised to find, that in sacrifices the word 06m} is used to signify the offerings of barley; whereas, upon all other occasions, the word by which this particular grain is expressed is KeiS»).—Again; the salt cake which was placed on the head of the victim was termed Otimi. The meaning is evident from the fore going remarks: this offering was a substitute for the sacrificial YULE; it was termed Ov’mi (pronounced, perhaps, ootai, yulai); and wherefore? but that the honor of the deity,'which had been wounded by the violence or disrespect of his votaries, was heated and satisfied by this oblation. This word 06m), therefore, (strictly speaking) should be rendered healing-cake. ' [ 1'33 ]

We may observe, likeWise, that “Ian; upon some occasions, is used to denote wool, for which, as every scholar knows, the ordi~ nary word is E'ewv. But this, I‘doubt not, is a sacrificial word, and has been also derived‘from the northern YULE. It will be curious therefore to examine what ALL-HEALING properties the Greeks could have ascribed to wool, in common with the sacrificial and expiatory‘ Yum-branch. When the Greeks at any time conceived they had incurred the displeasure of the deity, they‘appeased him with prayers; and these they offered up ixsrsziovrsg,iln' a suppliant posture, when, kneeling til thewith altars, flakes they of wool. stretched _ forth a'branch of olive, or of x laurel, covered . No doubt but this suppliant bough was designed as a substitute for the Yule, which they once had gathered in the sn0wy'forest‘s"o'f the north, or in the sacred oak-groves of Dodona. This br'ancli therefore being an imitation, as well as a substitute for the Yuma, was what the Greeks would have termed OtiAbtPuAAag. This the Lexicons explain to us, with crisp leaves; an epithet which may with great propriety be applied to the appearance of the Mistletoe. It might however be still more justly rendered, “ fotiis instar rami “ 1i} Juul.“ But the Greeks in later times, no longer aware of the object it represented, transferred the epithet from the bough to the wool which enveloped it. Be it as it may, this wool was probably termed "IeMg, i.e. Yule, or All-heal ; nempe, quo lassum SANABATUR _ JVumen. I will conclude these remarks by observing, that Apollo, or the Sun himself, was called by the Milesians Ob’Aiog, salutifer, the all healing deity,"‘ quasi Pceanicus, et rN'rEcRosfaciens. "" The following beautiful passage, in the 4th chap. v. 2. of the Prophet Malachi, has been pointed out to me by an ingenious friend, and I submit it to those who are versed in Biblical learning to judge, whether it might not have been directed to Pagan, as well as to Jewish understandings. “ But unto you that fiar my name shall the sun {If righteousness arise with “ HEALING in his wings.” R [ 134 >]

From the whole of these observations I infer, that the meaning of the Yule, or Mistletoe, was fundamentally thesame amongst all the northern nations; that it actually formed the basis of the expiatory sacrifices of the Greeks; and that as other emblems were occasionally adopted to answer this purpose, so the bough in the Skirophoria must have been a substituted emblem of the same kind. It was adopted in the antient Skiran rites to denote the conversion of the sun, when emerging from night, or the shades, that is, from the withwinter him half the of hisday,* journey, and dispensing'the he returned to all-healingieffects the solstice, bringing of backlight and heat, during the remainder of his course. - i

" It was thus (according to Procopiue, as cited by Rudbeclr,)l that the northern nations divided the year into day and night. “ Ubi igitur ad illudjiniton's punctum se circumegit, (scil. “ Sol) unde ca'tcro anni emergentem contueri aolebant, noctem,,die1nyue transits“ intelligurtti" Lib. ii. 01. Rudbec/rii Atlant. Vol. I. p. 96. - [135]

I § 11.

Probability of the Rites of the Bough having been brought from Persia—Solemn Ploughing of the Chinese, and Greeks—Use of the. Bough in the Feast of Adonis.

IT is far from my intention to suggest that these ceremonies, which appear to have been borrowed from the north-west of Europe, had their origin in that quarter. I leave it to such as the learned Rudbecketohis follower -Mr. Bailly, and to D’Hancarville, to contend that the sciences, and all religious ceremonies, originated in the northern parts of Europe, or of Scythia. With regard to the latter, in particular, I am better satisfied with my own idea, that the Scythians Were‘the carriers only of whatever customs may'be' found in distant parts of Asia, agreeing with others that prevailed in Greece. With regard to theformer, it is sufficient for me that the Scandinavian annals and mythology uniformly refer me to Armenia, and the nearer branch of Caucasus, for the origin of that people; but by involving the Celts in the question [have agitated, I am enabled to advance considerably in my researches; for the ingenious and learned investigations ofGeneral Valancey, have long since opened to the curious a path, which terminates only in the very heart of ancient Persia. May not, therefore, the veneration attached to the bough, both by Goths and Celts, at the opening of the new year, have been brought 'with them from the centre of Asia? A slender example might, I think, be'produced from the remains of Persepolis towards proving the fact; in stating R 2 [136] which, I may be able, perhaps, to elucidate a point that D'Han carville does not seem to have cleared up with entire satisfaction to himself. The grove of pillars, as he terms it, at Persepolis, is elevated upon a square terrace, which is faced with one immense-bas-relief of black marble; representing the procession of the Nnuauz, or the new' year; In this, the people were ranged in three classes: 1. Priests and Military. 2. Husbandmen. 3. Artisans. To the second class, the king addressed himself in a public harangue on the occasion. ‘ This may be compared with the Chinese ploughing, and the address of the Mandarins to the husbandmen. (Du Halde, Vol. II. p. 118.) But D'Hancarville seems to have been at a loss to accotmt for the cypress trees which were placed at intervals in the procession. Because the extensive platform upon which it moved was a smooth and solid rock, incapable of bearing vegetation of any kind, he concludes therefore that it/ represented a distant avenue of cypress trees which led towards the temple. I own I shall not advance my opinion with absolute confidence, but preceding circumstances lead the way to the conjecture, and almost induce me to think that the cypress tree at dilferent intervals denoted the bough, which marked the opening of the new year. This, amongst the Persians, began when the sun entered Aries, and On this day the feast of the JVeuruz was celebrated. , If the foregoing conjecture should be thought to carry with it any degree of probability, we should find ourselves not far distant from that central point, from which customs and religious ceremonies, and population, as well as language, issued in Radii to every part of the world. _ . As we discover from the foregoing'account, that the new year of the Persians was opened with agricultural ceremonies, _(as is also the case with the Chinese at the present day,) this maybe the proper place to inquire, whether the sacred ploughing of the [131] Athenians, which Meursius has noticed, actually toolg place in the Skiran rites. Meursius, who has collected all the authorities which relate to the Skirophoria, informs us, from Plutarch, that there were three sacred ploughings. instituted by the Athenians; of which the most distinguished* was celebrated on the spot called S/ciron, (near the temple of Minerva Skiras,) and which he terms, 15 wamiaréra 15v, fire/emu dflepvqfeaa.. “ The Athenians (saysPlutarc/z) celebrate three sacred plough~ “ ings, the first upon the spot called Skiron, as the most antient “ record of the act' of sowing; the second in the Rharian plain; “ and the third,. which is called the Ox—ploughing, immediately “ under the wallsof the city.”+ From the testimony of Plutarch, we cannot actually determine, that this ploughing formed a part of the‘S/tiran rites; but, as it must have taken place under the very walls of the temple of Minerva, and as he terms it the most antient record of the act of sowing, we may conceive that it might have been held during the. celebration of the Skirophoria, and that it was of A much earlier institution than: the ordinary Heoneo'a'm, which were sacred to Ceres, and were first performed in obedience to the oracle of Delphi, upon the occasion. of a particular scarcity. The Chinese-ploughing took place on the first day of-their (solar) new year, i which however happened at an earlier season than with.

" 'Aanmi'or 'rgi'i'; nigd'rav; iig‘aq ail'youm, urgi'rov M 111ng, 1'5 IaMio'rni'i-a 15: 010'ng Lwépnpa, dating" iv 15 'Paeiqe, 7:17" {we $57M (leg. mihn) 'rin XMMSILUOI BUZJYHQI- Plutarch in v117186. and. Ed Stqrh. Vol. I. p.250. 1- I think it unnecessary to comment upon the manner in which De Pauw has rendered this passage of Plutarch, in his Dissertation on the Greeks, Vol. I. p. 5-1.. He might certainly have better informed himself on this point from Dfeursius, whom, however, with his usual modesty, he terms, “ the greatest of compilers, and the worst of critic/rs." I The same ceremony is practised in Tunquiu, Cochin-china, and Siam. See La Loubére, Vol. I. p. 69. Turpin, Hist. de Siam, v01. 11. p. .432. [138] the Greeks, viz. when the sun entered the 15th deg. of Aquarius; but the difference of season need not be objected to, since we have observed that similar rites were adopted by the antient Persians, the beginning of whose year differed again from that of the Greeks and Chinese; but all these ceremonies may be presumed to have sprung from the same source. The Grecian ploughing was perhaps at first but a civil institution, although a mystical meaning was afterwards attached to it. The use of the bough, in expressing the conversion of the sun from the determining points of the ecliptic, also appears in the Arcadian Skieria, which, I conceive, must have been nearly con nected with. that well-known ceremony the feast of Adonis, which was first devised in Syria, and was thence brought into Greece. Some observations which I made in the former Dissertation, will be serviceable in explaining these rites. For as I there remarked of the allegorical death of Balder under the shade of the Mistletoe, thus it was also that the shade of night was spread over Bacchus, or the sun, in the Arcadian Emeei’a, for we find in Hesychius, Emeig, uni: 15 907.585; o'nwidwv iv 5 Alix/uni; mam-nu. But we have the nature of this more clearly shewn in the ’Aé‘wvaCaa-m of Theocritus, where Adonis was exposed on a couch under the shade of the anethum, which formed an arbour over him: '

XAupai 82 emails; Inductee; Bet'Saa'au oimiSzg Ae’dpcave', —-——_--—-—- v. 119.

This anethum, or the dill-plant, was chosen for the purpose, as being an annual, and it had a similar meaning with the northern Mistletoe. They thus expressedthe departure of Adonis, or the sun, from under it: ' '

"Esau; 3 MN vArlww, nui 211912282 x, sig’Axe'gov'r-a. v. 136. [139] The Adonia took place in June,* or about the month Skirophorion ; but as to the time of the celebration of them at Athens we are not so certain. At this time they sowed wheat and barley, and dressed out what they called the gardens of Adonis: 51490401 70;? iv 1'07; ’Adww'otg, crusade; xui @1981; UWHIEEW gv Tm weoxger'otg, + nod 15}; ebureuee'v-ra;

£67184, ’Adzaw/e; ergoa'ayoestiew. Scholiast. Theocrit. Idyll. 15, v. l12. The mystical meaning of this ceremony, which seems to have been so nearly connected with the Athenian. ploughing, shall be explained hereafter. '

* Mr. M'alrice, in his Antient History of Hindustan, Vol. I. p. 579. observes that Thammuz, mentioned by Ezecltiel, is generally allowed to imply Adonis,- and is also the name of the fourth Hebrew month, which answers to June: and although Mr. ZVIaurice considers that this was not-the season of the year when the feast of Adonis was originally instituted, yet the variation as to theperiod of observing it, lie-conceives may be accounted for by the precession of the equinoxes. 1 Mr. Valckenazr would read iv 'rw'ir éyl'dotq, in certain earthen vessels; also, ,Ad‘w'vtdo; for 'Al‘miagz with regard to the former, however, may not the similarity of the Adonia with these ceremonies which took place (Ea-i 213(9) at the Phalerus, and under the walls thlte city, justify the usual reading? " [140]

55 III.

Allegorical meaning of the Palm-branch in the flindu Mythology—Umbrella, wherefore substituted for it.— The Umbrella, as a Mystic Emblem, communicated from India to Greece.

OUR inquiries hitherto have chiefly tended to illustrate the meaning of the Bough, in the application of that astronomical symbol to several rites in the religious worship of the Greeks. It remains for us to speak of the Umbrella, which we may conclude had taken its rise from, and was afterwards employed as a substitute for, the Bough. From the many instances in which we find the Umbrella expressed upon bas-reliefs, and other antient works of art, we must suppose that it had a mystic, as well as an astronomical meaning, and that it must be referred to that country whence the Grecian mysteries were derived. 'In fact, we may conceive that at whatever period it happened the astronomical feast of the Bough was first allegorized, and made to serve as a commentary upon their religious tenets, it was then, perhaps, that the Umbrella was first introduced amongst the Greeks. ‘ It may appear repugnant to my own system, in which I have laboured to derive the use of the Bough from the north-west of Europe, that I should have recourse to India to find a solution of the allegories which were embellished by this sacred emblem. But did not all idolatry originate in the same way, from astronomical science? and did not all nations emanate from one central point? This I have already hinted with respect to the Celts—By the [141]

brilliant discoveries of Sir W. jones, we are instructed that the Brahmins who settled in India, were emigrated Iranians, or Persians, and even though Istehhar, or Persepolis, might have been founded after their departure; nevertheless, if D'Hancarville and the traveller Le Brun before him, have not seen too much in those antient remains, the procession which appears upon the terrace at Persepolis, still shewing the Hindu distribution of the people into classes,* will prove, at least, that many civil rites which originated in that country under the Brahminical government, were afterwards preserved in it; and we might argue, from the similarity between the agricultural rites used on that occasion, and those annual cere monies of the Chinese, who were outcast Hindus, and formed into a nation, many centuries after the times I speak of, that the use of the Bough, (as connected with astronomy) as well as these agri~. cultural ceremonies, originated in Persia, and was conveyed to India and China, where the Bough and the Umbrella still appear as emblems of decay, or the shades; but this idea has been enlarged upon, and more particularly illustrated in the Indian Mythology. ‘ Sufficient has been already said of the feast of the Bough, by which the Hyperbdreans, and Greeks, and the ancient Persians celebrated the conversion of the Sun, when he passed the boundary of day and night; from which we have collected that the Bough itself, became an emblem of night, and of the Sun’s conversion from it. Perhaps it may be proved that the Bough was of similar import amongst the Brahmins of India. In the sixth+ incarnation of Vishnu, when that god, under the

“ The Hindu distribution of 'the people differs from that of Persepolis in this trifling respect ; that in the former, the priests and military are divided into two classes. T The Hindus do not agree amongst themselves as to the order of these incarnations: those in the north of India. ranking this the seventh, which the southern Hindus consider as the sixth. Mr. Maurice, I presume, has followed the former order, Paulh'm' the latter. S {142]

form of Shira'ma, fought with Rdvana, king of Ceylon; which contest, in the words of Paullini, “ Solis seu Shirdmte junioris “ Bacchi immersionem in mare seu occasum el ad Infernum tran “ silum q'us innuere videlur,"* (on which account this deity is also represented of a sea-green colour,) the apes which accompanied Shira'ma to the attack, are represented hurling fragments of rocks at Rdvana, and at the same time bearing branches of the palm-tree. v1'? Provided with these, they met the God of Night and his army; and although Paullini in another plaCe has compared this. fable to the invasion of India by Bacchus, with his army of satyrs bearing vine~ boughs, for the Indian palm, he observes, produces a sort of wine; yet I conceive it probable that as this occurrence took place in the Island of Ceylon, or in Inferis, the bearing 0f the boughs wOu-ld rather have some reference to the place where the seene of action was laid. It might imply that the combatants were,~by these means, enabled to meet‘the God of Mglzt upon equal terms; and it strongly reminds us of the Seandinavian fable, where Bolder is consigned to . the shades by the mistletoe thrown at him..i Hanumén, who accom panied Rdvana on this expedition, is therefore worshipped under the form of an ape, by. the Nepalese; and he is described as an idol of a dusky-red colour, holding a mountain in his hand, a bough of a tree, a hammer, and a trident. §l This last, in thelndian mytholbgy, always alludes to the Infiri ; and the whole of these'emblems, but particularly the Bough, may have been meant ’to commemorate the combat at which Hanumdh assisted in the shades. '

" Systeme Brackmmticum, p. 143. f This may be seen in the engraving given by Paullini (Tab. 18.) It is copied from an Indian painting in the Borgia): Museum at Velitri. V 1 Iwill remark, by the way, that ‘Paullim' supposes Scandinavia to have been so called after the Indian god Scanda ( q. (I. add eiator). Ibid. p. 192. § “ De Hanumén simio, quem pictum exhibet ea forma, qua inter Nepalenses adoratur, " haec habet R'. P. Constantinus ab Ascula :"—-“ Hanuman, idolo di mm colors, lien: in diam) “ 2m mente, un ramo d’aibcro, il martello, ed il tridente.” Ibid. p. 144-. [143] I .had long been persuaded of the identity of signification between the Umbrella and the Bough, and had been struck with the appear ance'of the latter in this Hindu fable, but I had almost despaired of meeting with any probable cause for the adoption of the former in the place ofthe latter emblem. It has since been suggested to me, that the Indian umbrella is actually formed from the Borassus, or palm, a fact which is advanced by Mr. leunberg;* and if the palm branch, as adopted in Inferis by the followers of Shirama, were emblematical of the shades, it may be easily conceived, when converted into the umbrella, to‘have a similar signification in the following astronomical allegory. In the fifth incarnation of Vishnu, that god, assuming the form ofa pigmy, descended to Bali, the presiding spirit of Patalam, or the infernal regions; and he descended “ UMBELLA instructus." Mr. Maurice, in his very meritorious work, the Ancient History of Hindostan, has found an ingenious explanation of this fable, by supposing it to allude to the deity descending to punish Bali, or Belus, an impious monarch, which may also be true; for an early enmity appears to have subsisted between the Hindus and the Assyrians. Paullini supposes the former to have settled in the north of India, about the time of the first foundation of the Assy rian monarchy; for in their early history, frequent mention occurs of their contests with Titans, or giants, who are always termed Assurer, or Assyrians.+ For the present, Iwill only consider this fable in an astronomical sense- What follows may be accepted as an interesting commentary upon it. . Those who are conversant with Indian antiquities, will not be.

" Thunberg’s Travels, Vol. IV. p. 252. SW). t The Brahmins emigrated from Iran, on account of a religious dissention, which can only mean that they separated from the worshippers of Buddha, whose rites were adopted in Assyria, themselves adhering to the religion of Brahma. But I refer the reader to some subsequent rcficxions, in which I have ventured to compare Bali with Buddlm. See Postscript. S2 [ 144 ] ’ surprised when I shall prove that this very incarnation of Vishnu was known to the Greeks. We are indebted to the Abbé Winchel mann for having published a memorial of it, which I have shewn in an etching prefixed to this Dissertation. It may serve as one individual proof that the Eleusinian rites,‘ which gave a new form to the simple worship of the Pelasgi, were received by the Greeks from India. ' In a has relief published in the Monumenti Inediti of W'inckelmann (Fig. CXI.) the descent of Bacchus ad Inferos, is elegantly expressed \ by a boy, or genius, mounted on a dolphin; the head of which is depressed as it swims, to shew that it is descending with its charge; whilst the infant Bacchus holds a small umbrella over his head, to denote the object of his voyage. It may appear that this very ingenious design is injured by the introduction of other irrelevant emblems; but I must remark, that even these have a connected meaning : for the candelabrum, the rudder, and the umbrella, repre sent the creating, the guiding or preserving, and the destroying powers of the deity. The coincidence between this antique relief, and the Hindu fable, will even appear more strong when we con sider that Vishnu, upon this occasion, was incarnate as a pigmy; in the Grecian monument he is therefore represented as a boy, or genius; and as every minute passage in a Grecian work of art has some appropriate signification, so the infant Bacchus, in this marble, is aptly represented on the waters; for Vishnu, the second attribute of the great Indian deity Para Brahma, implies, in a secondary sense, the element water, as we are assured by Paullini; and it must be remarked, that the Bacchus of the Greeks was not so much the god of wine, as the god of humid nature in general. Upon this point the Missionary observes: “ Mylhici nostri hazc omnia ad

“ Herodotus affirms that these mysteries were taught to the Pelasgic women by [Egyptian priestesses.—E.gypt, no doubt, was the channel through which they passed from India into Greece. [145] “ vinum, ad fertililatem glebre, ad abundanliam frugum, aut ad “ ebrietalem vini (fleclum referunl, quasi antiquitas tota, atque “ Indi, qui nunquam vinum bibunt, semper ebriifuissent."* And Mr. Maurice has well remarked, “ in fact, we can have little to do “ with Bacchus, as god of wine,where the Brahmins are positively “ forbiddento taste. fermented li'quors."+ We may now, perhaps, be induced to differ a little from the opinion of Mr. Gibbon,.who supposed that the descent of such as Hercules, Orpheus, Castor and Pollux, Theseus, and Pirithoiis, was a wild imagination of the Greeks: for although we should allow the beautiful fable of Orpheus to have been of their invention, yet the whole. of these allegories originated in the descent of Bacchus, or the Sun, who was, personified by the Greeks as Hercules, and whose exploits are still to be read in the celestial sphere. Theseus professed to make Hercules his model, and he found the Greeksin a fabulous age, willing to believe the falsehoods he detailed, respecting adventures that he sought in imitation of that. god. Of Castor and Pollux, the twin stars which alternately rise and set, there can be no question; but when we consider that Vishnu, as the Dwarf, went down to punish Bdli ; and again, when incarnate as Shira'ma, he waged actual war with Rdvana, we may readily account, to use the words of Gibbon, for the forcible intrusion of Theseus and Piri- lhoils, and the. triumph of Hercules over the King. of Terrors; “ Tartareum ille manu cuslodem in vincla pelivit, “ 'Ipsius. a solio Regis lraxilque lrementem." VIRG.

If it were necessary to insist further upon the allegorical allusion of the Umbrella, I doubt not but it cbuld be sufficiently proved, from. the ceremonials of many eastern» nations, in which the Umbrella

" Page 189. T Vol. II'. p. 128; 1 Critical observations on the 6th book of the .Eneid. In the Miscell. works of Mr. Gibbon, Vol. II. p. 513. [146] has a place, and where it must be suppossd‘to‘cover somev secret meaning. ' . ' ‘ In the instances hitherto produced, the Umbrella has implied decay, death, and the shades.* I suspect that the Umbrella, which is a mark of the imperial dignity in China, has the same allusion; for ‘when Du Halde informs us (Vol. II. p. 31.) that twenty-four umbrellas were carried in state before the Emperor, as he proceeded to take the diversion of hunting in Tartary, we are not to suppose that it was on account of the sun, or that the monarch could be in commoded with its beams in. those mountainous and chilly regions; the intense cold in the north of China, must render such insignia an unnecessary appendage. Besides, the following words of the Missionary are very remarkable: “ the power of the Prince is not “ limited to the living only, but extends also overthe deadf’ (Vol. II. p. 16.) The Umbrella of the Chinese, therefore, may imply, that the emperor has the power of life and death over his subjects. But we need not doubt that the Umbrella of the Chinese implies the shades, or death; for in one of the plates to Earl Macartney’s Embassy to China, we see an umbrella fixed in the ground near a sepulchre, in the Vale of Tombs; and the appearance of it is striking, the folds of it being shut up, which seem to exhibit a mournful sign of anima tion having ceased. De la Loubére, when describing the Hall of Audience of the

“ In Capt. C. Mackenzie’s Account of the Pagoda at Perwuttum, inserted in the 5th vol. of the Asiatic Researches, p. 312, it is said that the intervals between the battlements upon the outer wall “ are alternately sculptured with the figures of the lingam, and a cow shaded “ by an umbrella." I must take the liberty of suggesting, that the latter emblem, being here used in a. religious sense, does not imply [Ire-eminence, but decay ,- and is thus contrasted with the former, which is the well-known Hindu symbol of production. The combination of the two would aptly express the properties of Siva, the destroyer and regenerator. The pagoda itself was probably founded by sectaries of this deity, as may be presumed from other orna ments of the pagoda, wherein the merits of Sin: are represented outweighing those of Virlmu. [ m ]

King of Siam, informs us that the whole furniture of the apartment consisted but of three parasols, one with nine in the centre, and one on each side of it with seven shades. He adds, that the parasol is with them what the canopy is with us.* This last observation induces me to revert for a moment to a subject which I had sometime since dismissed, by remarking that Bacchus, who was exposed under an UMBRELLA at Alea in Arcadia, was exhibited -under a canopy of boughs at Alexandria; and this may lead us to consider the procession of the Indian deity, deinda, undercover of a palanquin, as. mentioned by Sir-IV. Jones, to. have had the same meamihgyas the feast 'of'Adoizis. . ' _ Turpin reports,1': that, amongst the Siamese, the Umbrella serves not Only to distinguish the king' from his subjects, but that the different classes ’of. the peopbe are. known by the. form of their WraSols: but .this must have arisen from; the vanity 0f the lower classes aifecting the 'consequenbe 'ofthegreat. . In'the voyage of Tui/errlier to. the East, it isremarked, that; upon each side of the-throne of the Mdgul were placed-two. umbrellas, each of them eight feet high, covered. With crimson velvet, richly embroideredt In thesexiastances» we may-remark. the useof _ the umbrella, as a distinguishing signsof/powerybut‘l‘ Contie'iveft‘bat the original meaning of it isaonly to. be found, in. the‘religious- and mystical reference of it to ihesbades; over which the despotism of eastern princesvhad afllzcterbhrcextendiiflspov't'er. " “1;; » l‘ .E

a “ Pour tout metlble il n’j/ a trois parasols, un devant la,fen€tre.d:t_icufiront\1s, :et dew: d “ sept ronds auz deua: ct’itc's de la fenétre, Le parasol est en ce‘pais-ldiqe Que le eat as “ celui-ci,” Vol. I. p. 381. ' K . 5 1- Histoz'rechiam, Vol.1. p. 85. ' ' .ia 1411.). Y: . . . . . I Iq‘l‘mt {mm M" MuWit-Historasfflisdsstw».YetiJr- B-lSS'. ‘ j; V . ., . , § Umbrellas, (the Buddlumn insignia-0f royalty,) ialso‘decorated the _Ijlfi-ll.9f'A\-ldier}°° 9" ‘ ' - " ' ....J~... Ml... I 1.41M“ ~|za.-._ s. the king of Ava; as may be seen in C01. Synies's elegant narrative of his 'Embassy to that

~ I . J - r I i an; Ht 9“. [148]

§ 'IVL

User; tliese Remarks in the Stud) of Antiquities.

Havmc found a ready explanation of one allegory represented upon an antient marble, by comparing the subject of it with the mythology of the Hindus, I feel encourageddo offer something furthers-upon this head; and to make a general application of these remarks to; the study'of antiquities. In inquiries of this kind, we must, in a great measUre, lose sight‘of the mythology of the poets, 'which furnished a'shewy and attr'activeform of worship for the lower orders, but had little connection with the religious principles of the more enlightened of :the ‘antientsi for whilst the deities venerated by the vulgar, werepublicly spoken of,and even supplied bufl'oonery for the stage, the true religious principlesvof the'Greeks were care fully withheld from-:tbe'public' ear, and were only revealed to the initiated in theEleu'sinian mysteries. They appear, however, veiled under allegories, upon antient'monumen'ts of-every kind; and they may, generally speaking, be referred either to, . IL The attributes-of-thezDeity, consideredsas Creator, Preserver, and Destroyer. 1I 3.2. 'To To the-the decay,Cosmogony; and reproduction or, of Nature. “

4. To the Immortality of the Soul. Under the first head -a variety-of emblems were'adopted, to illustrate the cr'eating'power of the Deity, such as—Hame, the lotus plant, vfruits, 'rams’ horns, the goat, the rabbit, and other more gross devices. [149] The sign of his'preserving providence was, the paddle, or rudder, to which, perhaps, might be added the pillar ;——whilst the character of the Destroyer was designated by the sea monster, devouring animals, the larva or mask, the pedum, the falx, or pruning bill, the trident, weapons of every description; and what is more particularly to my present purpose, the Bough, the Tree, and the Umbrella. On all these, excepting the three last, (which have not been noticed even by that minute inquirer D'Hancarville,) I would not here descant, because, they either present an evident allusion in themselves, or they have been already treated by others; but I will‘v'enture to cite a few instances in which the three last emblems occur, as an examination of them may account to us for any mystical meaning that might have been attached to the Skiran rites. _ I , . 5

'OF THE BOUGH. We may confidently assert, that wherever the Bough may occur, it invariably alludes to the Injkri: it was the appropriate emblem of the later Roman deity Silvanus, who was named from it by the general appellation of the Bough Bearer;* Some attention to the peculiar signification of this emblem will open to us a kndwledge of the properties of this deity, his office, and his powers. Upon an antient altar, .found on enlarging the walls of the city of Turin, (of which an engraving is’given' in the Dissertations of Rivau tella and Ricalvi, .upon the Turin .Marbles,) Silvanus is represented with the Bough, and a spear; a. hog and a tree are likewise beside him. The first of-these emblems must indicate at once that Silvanus is a personification 'of the destroying power of the deity; and thus,

* So, in the antient inscription “ SILVANO. “ Dmmnornono.” Vide llIarmor. Taurin. Vol. I. p. 134-. T [150] notwithstanding the learned Saumaise has objected to his being confounded with the rural deity Faunus, we may, nevertheless, be satisfied that the properties of the two deities, as destroyers, were the same. For when Horace deprecates the latter, lib. iii. ode 18. “ Faune nympharumfugientium amator, “ Per meos fines et aprica rura “ .enis incedas, abeasque parvis “ quuus alumnis:” ' ' " " I | We immediately recognise an avenging' spirit, whose engines :of destruction were blights,_ and mildews. Silt/anus is therefore honoured in another inscription by the title of Mars “ MART! . CAMPESTRI.” i. e. “ Sacred to the avenging spirit of the plains." ' " "-\\'-' ' This signification of the Bough in the hand of Silt/anus may be 7 further proved; for helis OCcasionally addressed as the deity pre the.siding Deus ov_er-highways;;;in Aggielisilwlro was which afterwards instance eha’nged he is the for substitute 'Hermes, for or ensureMercury the ;;_and safety or} of this the traveller;account vows were made to Silt/anus, ' I to '

"“ SeraNo . Auous . SACR “ PR0. SALUTE . ITUS . ac . uni-nus. '1 - J “ IMP QAuc .. - .1)..I r The force of the emblem is more particularly conspicuous in this instance; for Hermes, who provided with the caduceus,* was the deity who consigned to the shades, found in this case a repre sentative in Silt/anus, whose Bough was accordingly endowed with equal virtue with the caduceus.+

'* “ Imle Mercurium etiam aspicimus in antiquis gemmis apud Donium supra sarorum strucm “ sedentcm, cum caduceo.” Marm. Tour. Vol. I. p. 127. 1* Warlmrton has made a similar remark upon a. passage in Apulez'us:—“ Ibat tcrtius, [151] 'NTo the same‘ deity, in the character of Terminus, the Bough had also 'its u'se;* for Silt/anus thus beCame the guardian of private rights; and whoever might attempt tolviolate the sacred limits he watched over, was threatened with'this funereal emblem ; and such a one-would have been warnedfto withhold his sacrilegious hands, from a dread of the avenging power indicated by this symbol. But the circumstance of Silvanus representing the third property of the deity is amply proved by the Oxford Marble, upon which are inscribed in a circle- the names of'Hercules, Bacchus, and Silvanus, whereby is shewn that each was of equal power, and that the three properties of Creator, Preserver, and Destroyer, were concentered in one supreme deity.

“ attollens palmam aura subtiliter foliatam, vnee non Mercurialem etid'ln cirdriceu'rii.’-’-—“ '1110'

“ golden branch, then, and the caduceus, were related; and accordingly Virgil makes the “ former do the usual office of the latter, in affording a. free, passage into the regions of the “ dead.” Divine Legation, Vol. I. p.‘ 238. "‘ ‘.‘ Silmw 'db auctore (Ie agrorum jinibus Orientalis tertia loco dict-us est, cui laws) in “ continuoqositus ‘erat, quiqya Terminais Deus uuncupabatur, quia prizuus in terrdjinaiem “ Iapidem posucrit.” Hid. p. 124-. T 2

\ . [152]

In another Marble, produced in the Dissertation I have referred to, Silvanus is represented with the Bough in one hand, and the falx in the other: these are of similar import with the Bough and spear, expressed upon the altar first mentioned. Inthe very fine collection of Charles Townley, Esq. is a small cippus, where Silt/anus bears a fizlx, or pruning bill; a tree 'i‘n'leaf appears on one side of him, which may be the pine, or palm, and on the other side is also a tree, but this is leafless; and presents a more striking symbol of decayf Virgil is particularly pointed in the choice of his emblem, 'when he invests the god with the funeral cypress Bough: '. . '

“ El teneram ab radiceferens Silvana cupre'ssum.” V irg.* And, following the series of useful authorities, collected under one point of view by Rivau‘tella, and his coadjutor, Iwill repeat what he has adduced from Pluldrch,_with reference to Silt/anus, that he was one of the Lares; and “ some of these," says that antient writer, “ are endowed with the property of Furies, being punishing “ deities, who. have constant watch over the lives and actions of “ men.”+ We‘ma'y determine, therefore, the character of Silt/anus, from the emblem he bore, to have been ’ngvuml‘i, xai miwpov; and that by virtue of this symbol he had the power of consigning to the shades. ' 0 ‘- ‘ OF THE TREE. This emblem appears in the compartments, and on the bottom of the Barberini, or Portland vase,t to shew that the scene is laid in

“ See the’ Dissertation, p. 128. 1- 051»; oi Anigm'r; ’Eemvu'due 'rm'e rim, xai arcing.“ Animus; iria-xoqrol Him. I The subject of this vast: has been very satisfactorily explained by Dr. Darwin in a note to his Botanic Garden, to be qf-a general nature. This rule, I conceive, should be observed in explaining all works of art that have any relation to the Mysteries. [153] lnferis. It is also to be seen upon the Turin Marble I have been treating, where the hog is overshadowed by it, as, in that instance, a devoted animal. The Tyrian coin, which has a place in an earlier part of this work,* represents two stones, which are generally called the pillars of Hercules. They were'set up by the Phoenicians a-s sea-marks, in the course of their extensive navigations, in order that they might recognise particular coasts upon any future visits, and are to be found in the west of England, in China, Africa, and other parts. The two pyramidical mountains at the Straits of Gibraltar answered thev same purpose, and were therefore sacred to Hercules. Mr. Bailly reports the one to have been dedicated to the sun, and the other to the Winds; and this might have been originally the case. But if we apply the observations that have been made upon the Umbrella, and the Tree, to this coin, we shall discover that one of these ambrosial stones being overshadowed by the Tree, is imme diately to be understood as being in Inferis: they therefore repre sented Hercules, or Bacchus; that is, the sun in his double capacity, as the day and thelnight sun- They answered to the ’Ayutstig, and the "Ag/w"; of the Pelasgl ,' they were the same as the Apollo and Hecate of the Hellenes ; and the Dago and Taurico of the islanders. in the Pacific Ocean. - _ In the museum of a collector which was lately dispersed, was. a has-relief, the whole subject of which consisted of a Tree, and a husbandman at plough beneath it. The mutilated. state of the marble, and the indifference of the sculpture, would scarcely have attracted the eye of the artist, or the antiquarian; but the subject of it was highly interesting. As I suspect that allegories of this kind frequently occur on antient works: of art, in which cases these representations of agricultural employment are not to be considered as indifferent subjects, a reference to it on the present, may- be " See page 95. [154] useful upon future occasions. I have elsewhere suggested that, independent of the procession and the race, certain mysteries were performed within the temple of Minerva Shims. It is not impro: bable that subjects like the present might have been let into the friezes of the temple, to embellish the interior of the building; and as antient has-reliefs and other works of art, were the volumes in which the theological notions of the Greeks were chiefly preserved, these might have been referred to by their priests, and explained by them in the course of their mysteries. The Tree, as I have observed, was introduced in this relief: it is needless to repeat that it again implies the shades; and whilst this work of art would have pre_ sented to the vulgar eye the sacred ploughing at the opening of the new year, to the initialed, it enforced that main principle of their religion, the decay and reproduction of nature. The Tree of night, or the shades, expressed the first; the latter was aptly implied by the act of sowing. The antients even made the soul subject to their favourite scheme of alternate decay and renovation, which amounted only to a very imperfect notion of its immortality: and every feeling mind must agree, that the interest and pleasure excited in the sixth book of the fluid, is completely dissipated at the end, by the disappointment one necessarily feels, at finding the souls of the approved re-ascending from Tartarus, merely to be doomed again to mix with matter. But Paganism, unassisted by Revelation, could go no further. It was this particular doctrine for which the “fool.'—-thatApostle rebuked whichvthou the Corinthians sowssr, in is those not powerfulquickened, words: except “it Thoudie!"

-—And when, in the grandeur of his eloquence, he proceeded to shew them what was the real nature of that reproduction, of which their notions were so pitiful and absurd :—“ It is sown in wealt “'ness, it is RAISED in power," m. drc. rb'c. The whole of that awful and sublime address, is the most useful commentary we can make upon this bas-relief. [ 155 ]

OF THE UMBRELLA. By way of applying my remarks upon this emblem, I will select a has-relief from the Museum Clementinum,* in which, if the reader will not thinkl view too much, I presume that the Umbrella appears, and is applied with peculiar elegance of signification. A reference to this Marble will also give me an opportunity of saying a few words upon the third principle of the religion of the Greeks, viz. 'rnr. cosnoconv. (The subject of this Marble has been explained by V isconti to be the triumphal procession of Bacchus on his Indian expedition. The emblem, which I suppose to be introduced upon this occasion, is an Umbrella with a double shade, borne by a female behind the car, who, however, is considered by V isconti as bearing a trophy—“ e “ una Vittoria che solleva un trofeo.”+ But if I shall prove that no allusion is here meant to the wars, or victories ofthe Indian Bacchus, (the account of which is only a later historical incident ingrafted upon an antient astronomical and religious fable,) it will follow, that there can be no occasion for a trophy; nor can this emblem be designed for such. In an engraving from a b'as-relief, with which Snahenborg has embellished his edition of Quintus Curlius, (lib. iii. cap. 12.) the Umbrella actually appears behind the car of the deity; and as in his preface he has named the work from which the engraving is copied, I doubt not but, such a relief is still preserved in the museum of some curious collector; and it certainly in some degree encourages my conjecture. This procession, in my opinion, alludes solely to the cosmogony. It is the procession of Bacchus, who sets out, not to subdue the Indian empire, but to create the Universe. Hercules and Bacchus, who (as we also saw upon the Oxford Marble) are the two first

“‘ Vol. IV. pl. 26, intitled :—-B¢cco ed Errolc, sul carro tirato da’ Contauri. 1v Vol.1V. p. 54. [156]

personages of the Grecian triad, the Creator and Preserver, are seated in one car, to shew their equality in power. In a fable, which relates solely to the creation of the universe, the third property of the deity cannot be expected to appear in equal dignity with the two former personages. We recognise it therefore, 'only in a faint degree, by the pedum in the hand of a faun, who runs by the side: a dog crouches beneath him, to shew how savage nature, upon this occasion, is subdued by the deity. A female, behind the car, bears ('what I conceive to be) the Umbrella; the emblem of night, or the shades; which may therefore represent the night of chaos. She turns her back upon the two-fold deity, and seems departing, as if discarded. The work of creation now commences; the Umbrella of night, which is no longer of use, is therefore folded up; she has done her Office, and retires from the scene. Bacchus, emerging from night, moves onward to perform hiS'work, as the demiurgic deity; whilst the GREAT Fmsr Gauss, who is always withheld from action, like the Indian Para Brahma, (who never appears, but leaves his three properties, Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva, to do his will,) is represented-in the back ground, as-ifsuperintending, and authorising the transaction. This character is, in fact, the Pan of the Greeks, which is explained by their own language: 18 will, the deity who is all in all. His superior dignity and power over the demiurgic pair, is shewn by his gigantic figure. He plays upon the reed-Ipipe, by which we may understand that he is directing the work of creation, and reducing the universe to harmony. ' But the favourite scheme of reproduction,-and decay, shews itself in this subject: the operation of the sun upon nature is, therefore, expressed by two centaurs who draw the car of Bacchus. These represent the day and the night sun; and the harmonious vicis situde, according to which this alternate rising and setting is ordained, is indicated by the infant satyr guiding the centaurs, who modulates his reeds at the same instant. This notion is further [151] implied by the two blazing altars: at the foot of one of them is the kid, the emblem of creation, and the larva at the foot of the other enforces a recollection of the shades, which were the proper abode of the lawn, or spectres. ' ' But the reader may be better pleased to see an instance of the Umbrella expressed in a more familiar form; [I am proud to acknowledge, in this place, the politeness of a distinguished Col lector; and his condescension, and readiness at all times, to' enlighten the studious inquirer, both from'the treasures 'of his magnificent Collection, and from the rich stores of his own exten~ sive information. By his favour I have obtained a drawing from an Hetruscan vase, in the possession of R- P. Knight, Esq. the subject of which will enable me more completely to satisfy my reader as to the mystic signification which the Greeks attached to the Umbrella. This elegant composition may be considered a sequel to the has-relief which'I have copied from Winchelmann, the subject of which was the descent of Bacchus ad Inferos. In the relief cited from the Museum Clementinum, I produced an instance of Bacchus emerging from the shades. The former of these represented the decay, the latter the creation, or birth of nature. It remains for me to examine the intermediate state; to view Bacchus in Inferis ; that is to say, nature INERT, and previous to resuscitation. By thus combining the three monuments, we have a complete view of the notions entertained by the Greeks of that revolution which took place in the material world, after the nature of which they also reasoned of the immortality of the soul. This inactive state of nature is designedly expressed by the attitudes of the figures depicted on this vase. It appears in the female who is seated; her head is gently inclined, and her eyes are oppressed with a sleepy languor. The figure by her side also-appears in a quiescent state; her leg is thrown across, and her arm rests upon U [158] the stem of the lotus. The same is also to be understood of Bacchus, whose weight is supported by the pillar:* this is the pqu or column, substituted for the 'A-ymedg, or pyramid, and designed to represent fire, the active principle_of creation. It is here contrasted with the passive symbol the lotus, which denotes water: for by the co-opera tion of these two, the Pagan cosmogony was supposed to be effected. Hence we discover the character and office of Bacchus upon this vase: for by an apparent absurdity both in the system of the Greeks and Hindus, the deity, though inert, had the power of animating. Bacchus, therefore, although in a state of rest, appears as the vivify ing Dioscurus; naked, unembarrassed, in the free exercise of his power, he presents the dove, the life-giving symbol, to inert nature, who is personated by the seated+ female; whilst her companion looks with anxious expectation for the moment, when it may be her turn to be also roused from inaction. The Use of the Umbrella is conspicuous; both females placed beneath its shade being equally to be considered in Inferis: it is contrasted by the cisla mystica, which contained the emblems of production, in the hand of one; and by the lotus, which forms a support for the other. By this mystic combination of symbol is shewn, that only a temporary decay or inactivity is meant, and that-each female, though inert, yet possesses within herself (lfirapw) a capability of being called into energy and life. The subject of the Barberini vase, concerning which so much. has been written, is nearly the same with the foregoing, and may be explained by a similar mode. of solution; if the tree in the former,

’ Figures represented in these several attitudes, on the monuments of the anticnts, generally refer to the inert state. ‘ 1- The reader may be reminded, in this plitce, of the fate of Theseus, to whom this gift was denied, as it is related by Virgil in those heart-breaking words,— “ Sena-r cternumque Snnnhr'r “ Iqflrliz Theseus."--_ En. lib. vi. The posture of Theseus explains the nature of his punishment.

‘ v[159] be only substituted for the umbrella, the serpent for the cisla mystica, and the winged ”Eewg, or genius for the dove.

OF THE PETASUS. lam sensible that these discussions are, by this time, become rather extensive, and it would be unfair to put the reader’s patience to too severe a trial. Still, however, the view I have taken of the Umbrella would be incomplete, were I not to add some words upon the meaning of it when displayed in the form of the Pelasus; for these two emblems in the mystic, as well as in the familiar language of the Greeks, were considered as the same.* The connection between the two will be evident in the Thracian coin, (No. I.) copied from the work of Mr. Pellerin.+ Mercury, under the Emilia, or Pelasus, there appears as the conductor of the ghosts ad Inferos, and for this reason, the griffon, the emblem of the destroyer, is represented upon the reverse. Upon No. 2, a coin of Magnesia, in Thessaly, the Petasated Hermes appears in the character of the bough-bearer, (dendrophorus,) with the body of ‘a horse;i which animal denoted the pervading or vivifying power: the two opposite qualities being thus combined in one figure.

* When the Syracusan woman, in the 15th Idyll. of Thcecritus, calls for her cloak and hat, powixorov ¢fe| 1.4.0:, and 'rtiu Solid”; The Scholiast apprises us that the Umbrella and the Petasus were indifferently expressed by the same word: 'rin $07641, 57w 1'3 ama'tltav, 1'31 drawer—sigma; iii n'tmi 73 96M: iotxérau. Both were named from their resembling, in shape, the Soda, or 96).“, which not only signified a dome, or cupola, but also implied the pointed roof of any building—llama»; If; 68. wni'y‘uuoq. Constant. f Des Peuples, et des V tiles, Vol. I. Pl. XXXIII, fig. 9. And No. 2. from Vol. I. Pl. XXVII, fig. 27. See page 162 of this work. I That no allusion can be meant by this emblem to the breed of horses in Thessaly, we may be satisfied by reference to a frieze upon the Temple of the Sun at Palmyra, (Wood's Palmyra, Plate XV.) where the horse, as the active principle of creation, may be seen springing from the calyx of the lotus. Upon antient paterae, the Sun is occasionally represented as a head surrounded by lotus leaves instead of rays. U2 [160] The use of the Petasus also occurs with very appropriate elegance in the instance of a delicate sleeping youth, who is covered with it, in the collection of Charles Townley, Esq. This figure represents one of the Dioscuri in Inferis, by the slumber of whom is expressed the temporary inaction of the animating or productive power. If the student in antiquities should wish a further illustration of this doctrine of the inert state, he will find a very ingenious and complete exemplification of it in the same Collection: it is displayed in the figure of an infant winged genius, sleeping, with the attributes of Hercules, upon the lion's skin. Upon a minute examination of the plinth, this will be found to be chiselled in waved lines, giving the idea of water, and discovering to us that the subject of the marble is to be referred to the cosmogony. This genius, as Hercules, or Brahma, the creating power, who generally appears seated on the lotus, is shewn to us in the inert state,* and,

' The Indian deity, Brahma, was matterf personified, and he was symbolized by earth, in the same way as Vishnu and Siva were by water and fire; and this will serve to explain the zenigmatical answer of the Birmans to Col. Symes, respecting Silvana/100 Praw, which is con~ sidered by Col. Symes as implying the golden llIa/ta Deva. If I might venture to dissent from the opinion of one so highly qualified to judge upon this subject, I should with great deference be inclined to explain the title of this deity, Su .Madlzu Prd,-——tlte beautiful Mad/m, the Excellent, following the orthography and nations of Paullini and La Loubére ; for Madlm, Blili, Rdvana, Gat'idama, and Buddha, were equally enemies to Vishnu, and ministers of Siva, who is therefore termed Bhude'slta, i. e. “ dominus dmmum, larvarum, malorum spirituum," in the same way as Hermes was subordinate to the Destroying Power; which distinction unless we preserve, we shall make the Brahmins themselves to be Buddhists, or the Buddhists, on the contrary, to be mere sectaries of Malta Déra or Sira. The general emblem of these spirits was the Tee or Umbrella, and, like Siva, they were symbolized by fire: in the whole of these rites, indeed, I think I see remains of] the antient fire-worship of Chaldzea. If the Birmans acknowledge to have received their religion from Ceylon, I risk but little in referring their

1- " Quare cum ego e1: supra dicto Brahmane qmzsirissem, quanam rerw et genuime Izorum “ 111. deorum proprietates sint, is mild respondit: Pannuvr seu termm esse naturam et pro- ' “pr-ietalem dei BRAIIMA, ac proinde ouxnrvrs INERTEM sole tamen et AQUA omnia pro " ducmtem.” Paullini Syst. Brae/rm. p. 68. Could the Brahmin have used words more descriptive of the sleeping genius in the Townh-y .Collection ? [161] like the spirit in the Chaldean cosmogony, he floats upon the watersf" That instinctive and affectionate reptile the lizard, appears licking the hand, whilst another of the same species approaches the foot of the infant deity. The lizard, from its corresponding character of alternate activity and inertion, being the united symbol of the animating and destroying powers, denotes that these properties are inherent in this representative of the deity: for the same reason the emblems of destruction, the club, the bow, and the quiver, lie by his side: he is further provided with wings, which shew his per~ vading power, and the incessant retention of these qualities, even in a state of inaction. ' I have dwelt the longer upon these marbles, because they give me an opportunity of remarking what I had before omitted to enforce; that although the system of decay and renovation is, as it were, the main spring of the Greek theology, yet the intermediate inert state must always be taken into consideration, as it forms an essential part'of their favourite scheme. It is expressed'upon numerous antient monuments by the chrysalis of the butterfly, under the allegory of sleep, and by those unnatural and frequently

deity, Su Iliadhu, to the province of Madura, upon the opposite Peninsula: from the city Madura, the giant or evil spirit, lkfadhu was named : who, I am convinced, was 9. representa tive of the Buddhzean power. The superior dignity of fire over the two other elements, and the worship of .Madhu, or Gar'tdama, in preference to Brahma or 1"is/unl, was what the Birmans meant to enforce to Col. Symes, when they styled their deity a promontory that overlooked land and water. , Since writing the above remarks upon the remains of fire-worship in Ava, and the title of Su Mad/la Prd, I have unexpectedly met with a curious coincidence in the Anal. of Mr. Bryant, Vol. III. p. 288; where I am apprizcd, that Babylon was built by Chaldeans, some of whom were styled, by pre-eminence, lords, or priests of fire; and that Babylon is termed by the Prophet Isaiah, ch. xiii. ver 19. “ The BEAUTY Qf the Chaldees’ “ nxcaumrca.” “ Sec further striking illustrations in the figure of lifdicerta, upon the Corinthian Coins of Sabina, p. 235. Antoninus, 245. Also, sleeping, 24-6. M. Aurelius, 263, 4, 5: and Com modus, p. 805. V aillant Numismuta in Coloniis percussa. [162] disgusting representations of Hermaphrodites.‘ The Collection to which I have lately referred, and from a frequent view of which I have drawn most of the hints that are thrown together in these pages, furnishes many interesting instances of the various ways in which these allegories are expressed. But the subject is inex haustible: and it is sufficient to have presented the reader with a few examples of the application of those emblems to which I chiefly wished to confine myself, whence an idea may be formed of the nature of those mysteries that were concealed under the Skiran rites.

' This word sufficiently expresses its meaning. The Hermaphrodite is the joint personifi cation of decay and generation; or rather the intermediate state between both. It is Hermes and Venus combined in one figure.

1 POSTSCRIPT

[165]

Of the Religion of the Pelasgi.

IN the foregoing researches I have invariably considered the Pelasgi as Scythians, and have ventured to term Pelasgic those antient Shiran rites, upon which, I have supposed,were afterwards engrafted the Brahminical or Eleusinian doctrines, which inculcated the im mortality of the soul, connected with, and dependant upon, the Metempsychosis. Reflecting upon the whole, I am now tempted to throw out a conjecture, that the simple Pelasgic rites were the same as the religion of Buddha, and that the Bough and the Umbrella Were the distinguishing emblems of that deity.* In this point ofview I shall have advanced nothing that can savour of paradox, in sup posing the .S‘kirophoria at Athens to have been of Pelasgic origin: for the Umbrella was always borne by one of the family, i. e. by a, priest of Bé-mg; and Bouta was a name of Buddha, as we know from Clemens Alexandrinus. This idea is suggested to me by having read the very interesting

' To these may be added the ram-z. I refer the reader to La Loubérc. (Vol. I. p. 487. in his Account of Siam,) concerning the Pré si mall!) Pout, or the excellent tree of the great Pout, i. e. Buddbafi who officiated in In eris. In the same spirit Horace consecrated a pine tree to Hecate : “ Imminens villa: tua pinus esfo.” But instead of Buddha or Hermes, he has preferred a deity who corresponds with the Indian Par'vadi, or Bha'oani, who, however, was the wife of Sira the destroyer, and the ,night sun, The meaning of the first title of this goddess, according to Paullini, is montimn domino, which corresponds with the “ montium custos" of Horace; whilst Bhardni, “ existentiam (Ian-r, pro “ creatrir," is aptly paraphrased by “ qua: laborantes utero puellas,” dye. (3-0. in the same ode. The truth is, that Par-oadi and Diana were the same deities.

1‘ Hence the 031th 0f Socrates, mi fed 1'51 Kline and Th1 qrMi'rauor, by Billith and the Tree. See Mr. Bryant, Vol. I. p. 34-5, upon the word Calien, Cohen, Kzim, as a title of Hermes ; and his remark upon, Hermes (i. e. Buddha) and the Goose. Art. Canaan and Kéxm. [ice] chapter upon the Buddha Avatar, in the second volume of Mr. Maurice’s Hindostan, where I am reminded that Buddha, Bodd, Fol, F0, Woden, Odin,* Thaut, Theut, That, and Hermes, were but one deity, who was represented by mercurial heaps, stones, obelisks, terms, drc. Q/J'C. in different countries; and Herodotus affirms that the Ithyphallick Termini were left in Greece by the Pelasgi. What were precisely the principles of the religion of Buddha, is a question that has long perplexed the curious amongst the learned: they certainly differed from the tenets of the Brahmins,+ as we may be assured from the enmity still subsisting between these two sects. The worship of the Pelasgi was perhaps the same as that of the Palli, who were driven out of India by the followers of Brahma; and as this was perverted and differently fashioned by the Brahmi nical or Eleusinian mysteries afterwards brought into Greece, we may no longer wonder that the Thracian or Pelasgic women, who professed the religion of Buddha, wreaked their summary vengeance upon Orpheus, who had made so serious an attack upon their theo logical opinions. This will solve at once the doubts of Rivautella,

5‘ I cannot forbear remarking in this place, that the antient attachment of many nations to the worship of Buddha, induced them even to retain this deity as the first personage of the triad, which they after-wards venerated. Mr. Maurice has noticed, in his Dissertation on the Oriental Trinities, p. 402, that the Scandinavian triad was composed of Oden, Fnea, and Thor. In the same way we find altars were erected to Butas, Poseidon, and quluzstm, within the temple of Erectheus at Athens; and Jupiter, whose attributes as creator, preserver, and destroyer, no doubt, were represented by these three deities, was worshipped at the approach to the temple. Pausan. cap. xxvi. p. 62. + I am inclined to think that the chief distinction between the tenets of the Brahmins and the Buddhists is, that after the necessary lustration by the Metempsychosis after death, the former look forward to eventual bliss,-—the latter apprehend eventual extinction—Consult Paultini Syst. Braclml. p. 18—30; and La Loubére, Vol. I. chap. xxii. Nevertheless I acknow— ledge some difficulties which occur in the Embassy to Ava respecting the Birman laws, and also ib. p. 487 ; but it would be rashness to offer any conjecture by way of solving those dif ficulties, until further information is obtained from that interesting quarter.

a‘_ \ [167] in his remarks upon the death of Orpheus ;* for whatever Orpheus taught, agreeable with the opinions of the Brahmins, who never emigrated from India, must have been novel doctrine in Greece. If the case be thus, D’Hancarville may in some instances appeal from the caustic strictures of Paullini, and if he has been harshly treated by the missionary, because What he has advanced does not square with the researches of the latter, at the pure fountain of Brahminical knowledge, it is, that D’Hancarville, in those instances, has treated Buddhxan rites, whilst Paullini has more particularly displayed those of Brahma. When D’Hancarville however looked for the source of Buddhaean rites in Scythia, he erred: the proofs of their having been followed in those regions he has collected, in various instances, with great discernment and success.+ Two objections will probably be urged in this place; first, that the scourging, and secondly, that the bloody sacrifices of the Scythians were inconsistent with the mild rites of Buddha; but the former, it might be answered, had taken its rise from the penance recom mended by this deity, and the second might have been chiefly confined to the natives of Tauris, who were of, a savage and sanguinary disposition. But I doubt very much the propriety of this expression, as applied to the rites of Buddha; and I adopt it only in order to answer an objection which arises from the use made of it by Mr. Mauricei By Vishnu becoming incarnate as Buddha, we must understand that the latter deity and his

* “ Quodque magic miserabik, luctuosumque est, impotenlissimw fiemimr orgia celebrantes, “ ever-antes occultatumfictd religitmefurorem ipsum sacroruni orgiorum, uti fama est, auctorem “ trucidant." Marin. Taurin. Vol. I. p. 91. T It may be acceptable information to many, that D’ Hancarville is engaged in revising his work, he will now probably repair his oversight. I Mr. Maurice, in a former part of his work, Vol. I. p. 399, has properly animadvertcd upon the principles of the Buddhists. The expression I now allude to, can only have arisen from an oversight in his having considered the incarnate deity as Buddha, instead of Vishnu in the form of Buddha. In justice, however, to this meritorious writer, I should add, that the error was not originally his own. X [168] rites had been known long before the date of this AVATAR; and Vishnu, who wished to reclaim the followers of Buddha, assumed the form of that deity, as being the most likely to insure atten tion. I consider that all the Avatars, excepting the three first, and the last, allude to the dissentions between these two Indian sects. This is very Probable in the two incarnations which I have already attempted to explain; for I presume that Bali and Rdvana can be no other than representatives of the Buddhzean power, who were overcome by the Brahminical deity Vishrzu.* The Brahmins, we are told, accuse the votarics of Buddha of materialism. Serious as is the charge, I am inclined to believe that such might also have been the tendency of the religious opinions of the Pelasgi. Having laid down a [cw rules in the preceding pages, which I had employed with success in some instances, I thought I had been. in possession of a key which would have opened every chamber of the Greek theology; but applying it to the story of Atys I own I am partly foiled. Still, however, the principles by which [judge may not be in limit. The story of digs took place in Phrygia, which was contiguous with, and consequently partook

“ Upon mentioning Rérana, an idea occurs to me at the moment. I suspect that the As: is always to he understood, in antient monuments, as the emblem of the night sun; for Rdrana is represented asiniuo capile, over and above the ten heads which were lapped off by the arrow of Shirama. Esol, or the island of the Ass, in the Baltic sea, was therefore dedi cated to the night sun, as Dago was sacred to the Dens Agyicus, or the god of day; and in an antient bus-relief in the Illuscma Clwnenliuum, (Vol. IV. pl. 34-.) where Prometheus is represented creating woman, over head are seen the animals Taurus and Asians; not, as l'iscolrli, with unintentional want of gallantry would infer, that I’ronzelhtns could take any particlet from the latter animal which could enter into the amiable composition of his creature ; but that, as he stole fire from heaven to animate his work, the sun, therefore, appears ready to furnish it, under the double character of Dago, (the 'l'auric or scythian Apollo, ) and of had, “hich together would denote the day and the night sun. It is on this account that two asses generally draw the carpcutum, or scpulchral car; whence, perlmps, the expression, "in; Q7“ yew-rig“.

1 ‘-' thur PromcthCIH—-—-—PARTICULAM undique," dc. dc. Hor. [169] of the frantic orgies which were celebrated in Thrace. For a moment, I will analyze the poem of Calullus upon the subject. Atys crosses the seas in a boat. The approach to the Inferi was by water; as we know from the Styx of the poets, and as we have seen in the has—relief of Winckelmann. He enters the grove of Cybele; Atys is therefore in the shades: his l'renzies are merely designed to be contrasted with the quiescent state that follows. His emasculation is the decay of nature; his sleep the inert state: the destroying emblem, the lion of Cybele, is let loose upon him, and although he does not fall a complete victim, yet he sinks into the grove, i. e. into the shade of night; but it is “ a bourn from. “ which” he has no prospect of “ return ;" witness his pathetic lamentation, and adieu to his country! The Phrygian or Pelasgic theology, therefore, seems to terminate here: we see the first and second states of nature plainly allegorized, but no mention is made of reproduction?“ ThesePelasgic opinions therefore are what, I conceive, the benevolent Orpheus endeavoured to reform, by inculcating a belief in' the third state; but he fell a sacriliee in the orgies of the frantic people who professed them. He succeeded however in part, and others who came after him established the I'ileusinian doctrine; and l have elsewhere suggested, that the religion of the Greeks was afterwards compounded of\ whatever was best worth preserving in both systems.

" In the mystic language of Greece, Vmus implies nothing more than a personification of the generating or reproducing power of the deity. That a belief in this property was discou raged by Jig/s, we. may almost eoilect from those words in Catullus, “ Vcncrz's nimio 0150;" and from a similar allusion which may also he suspecth in the words, “ Son/mun sine Cererc ,-" for a full comment upon which, I refer the reader hack to my remarks upon the bas-nliervith tile husbam/rnan and the tree. These were however the principles of a. sect of which Afys n as the leader: “ Srrtam meam exccuta‘.” Ib.—~This aversion of the followers of Alys may be Com pared with the celibacy of the priests of Buddha.

THE END

==== Printed by W'. Bulmcr and C0 Clcveland-row, St. james'a. nl-_- _

fin/t

. . K.£h.e..ikgwt .\ Us O a . .