Lett. 17. number the Dii Cabiri dicti Gods called Cabirsor Mighty rested in most Nations'. WHO thefe Gods were, and what was the Import of their Myfteries you may learn in one Sentence from the eloquent Roman already mentioned. In his firft Book of the Divine Nature, he pretends to decline treating particularly of the holy august Eleufis, whither Nations came to be initiated from the utmost Ends of the Earth; nor will he fearch Samothrace, nor enquire too curiously, what are the Objects of Worship hid in Lemnos amid the Thickets of a gloomy Wood, to which there was no accefs but in the Silence of Night: But he adds, When they are explained, and their real Import examined, the NATURE of THINGS (the Universe) is rather laid open than the Nature of the Gods ".' The Powers and Parts of the Universe were therefore the ancient Cabir or mighty Gods, and their mutual Connexions, Operations and Productions were typically reprefented in their Mysteries. m 1 There is no doubt of this in the polite States; and here is a Proof that the fame number prevailed among the fierce People, that under the Name of Getes, Goths, Almans, Normans, &c. overran the Weft. + Told eru geler god Kunigir Prætereo Samothraciam, eaque quæ Lemni, nocturno aditu CICERO. Myfteries. As for thofe, fays the fame great Lett. 17. Author, who will have the Gods whom the World adores to be mortal Men taken up to Heaven for their Bravery, Power, or Fame, are they not void of all Religion ⚫ themselves. Yet this is the whole Plan of Eubemerus, who prefumes to narrate how the Gods died, and to point out their Places ' of Burial. But by fo doing, whether does he feem to have promoted Religion, or to • have ruined it from the Foundation ? A By great Chance, the Names of four Gods of the Lemnian Myfteries have been preferved to us in a Citation from the Hiftorian Mnafeas, AXIEROS, AXIOKERSOS, AXIOKERSA and KADMILUS. They found very barbarous, and have fufficiently exercifed the Sagacity of the Etymologifts; their ingenious Conjectures might have had better fuccefs had they more attentively confidered who the Gods were whofe Names they were attempting to explain. The Knowlege of Things is the beft Interpreter of Words; and Mnafèas has left us a general Hint that the first is Ceres, the fecond Pluto, the third Proferpine, and the fourth Mercury: but by not attending fufficiently to the Nature ascribed to these Deities, Men of great Genius? have loft fight of the Subject, and ftruck quickly off to other Views. 4 Lett. 17 THE EOI KABEIPOI, Cabir-Gods, were originally Egyptian. When Cambyfes the Son of Cyrus, was playing the Mad-man at Memphis { after his Return from the unhappy Ethiopian· Expedition, he not only murdered his Brother and best Servants in the Palace, but going abroad he broke up the Tombs of the Dead. (hallowed Things in Egypt) and profaned the Temples of the greatest Gods. Among the reft he burst into the ancient Temple of Vulcan, and made himself extremely merry with the little pigmy Statue of the God: But after that he would needs enter the Sacred Shrine of the Cabir or Mighty Gods, into which it is impious for any Man to fet his Foot but the Prieft: Here he not only fcoffed and blafphemed, but likewife burnt the Statues of the Gods. Thefe, fays Herodotus, resemble that of Vulcan, whofe Children they pretend to : be? The Cabir-Gods therefore are the. Powers and Produce of FIRE impregnating Mother-Earth in the myfterious Work of Vegetation; and in this view their hard Names become of easy Derivation *. The first is the prolific A * ΚΑΒΕΊΡΩΝ Τ ̓ ἀγάλματα ὅμοια ἐπὶ τοῖσι το ΗΦΑΙΣΤΟΥ. Τότε δὲ σφέας παιδας λέγεσι είναι ΗΡΟΔΟΤ. ΘΑΛΕΙΑ. HERACLITUs faid that the GODS (i. e. the World and it's Parts) were originally from FIRE. * ΦΕΡΕΚΥΔΗΣ λέγει ἐκ Καβείρας της Πρωτέως και Ηφαίς, Καβείρες τρεῖς καὶ νύμφας τρεῖς Καβειρίδας γενέθαι τὰ δ ̓ ὀνόματα αυτῶν ἐπὶ μυσικά. ΣΤΡΑΒ. βιβ. ι. Θεολογυμ. d. ; prolific Strength or Warmth of the Earth itself; Lett.17. the second the latent Strength of Grain or Power to expand itself by Heat and Moisture the third that genial Warmth exerted and in Action, or the vegetative Life of a growing Plant, and the fourth is the Servant, or Creature of thefe Gods, laborious, inventive, and prone to Propagation .⠀ EXPERIENCE fhews that the greatest Wonders cease to be fo when they are frequently feen. Some of them pafs daily before our Eyes From 1, in HIPH., in Arabic Roboravit, Virtute et Potentiâ imbuit, by tranflation, Concepit, gravida fuit, Y Erets Terra: But as the CABIRS came of Vulcan, I prefer the Chaldee Aazi, fuccendit, accendit, calefecit, as the truer Compofition. The Word runs through the Eaftern Languages. Azza Bullivit, ferbuit, accendit, commovit, expreffing particularly Fermentation. ? From the fame and D Gheres Frumentum. The few Fragments remaining of the Hebrew afford but narrow Notions: The Syriac and Arabic, copious Dialects, extend our Views of their primitive Analogy. In the latter Gharas, fignifics to plant, Ghirfo Mucus, or generative Slime, (pag. 173.) US, Kirfa, Dung, and Urine of Cattle, Gharif, the first Shoot, or Germ, from whence Aâzi-gherfa, Proferpine; the Derivation of whofe Greek Name ПЕРΣЕØоNH, fee in the Note on Sanchoniathon below. 9 The Feminine of the former. From Kadimon or Kadim, Minifter, Famulus, and all Ilabon Deus. Kadm-iloë. KAAMIAOƐ and KAEMIAO, Mercury. ་ δὲ Supra. page 175. and join to it from Herodotus “0518 - τα Καβείρων "οργια μεμύηται, τὰ Σαμοθρήικες ἐπισ Τελεουσι, δυο π νὴρ διδε (διὰ τίτα τὰ ̔ΕΡΜΕΩ ἀγάλ ματα ὀρθὰ ἔχεσι τα αιδοία, ΕΥΤΕΡΠΗ, Lett.17.Eyes without Notice or Reflexion. The Sun rifes, the Moon changes, the Stars revolve, in the View of thousands blind to fo august a Scene. The Vapours mount, the Rains de- Ir had perhaps been well, cou'd I have introduced the Explication of the Nature of thefe hidden Deities, and the Import of their enigmatical Names, with fome ftriking Ceremony. Cou'd I under Cloud of Night have led you trembling through the thick Mazes of a wild Wood into a Grotto's Gloom; and there hear a folemn Voice pronounce thefe fearful Names, Aaxi-Erez! Aaxi-ghêrez! Aaxi-gherza! and at every Sound made the facred Image of the God to pafs tremendous before you: Then have invoked the KADMELOE to fhew their Operations typified in amazing Symbols, you might poffibly have ftared 6 |