sacrifice to them that they may help me ; but they were the ruin of him and all Israel. 2 Chron. xxviii. 23.

478 Osiris.

A king and philosopher of Egypt, A. M. 2500, who first taught the Egyptians tillage. They built him a temple at Memphis, and worshipped him under the form of an Ox; the same as Bacchus among the Greeks and Romans.

478 Isis.

Also To, the wife of Osiris, and queen of Egypt, daughter of Inachus and Ismena, turned by Jupiter into a cow.

478 Orus.

Son of Isis and king of Egypt, deified after death; he represented the sun, presided over the hours, and was the god of time.

484 The calf in Horeb.

They made a calf in Horeb, and worshipped the molten image. Thus they changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass. They forgat God their Saviour, which had done great things in Egypt. Psalms, cvi. 19. 20. 21. 485 In Bethel and in Dan.

Jeroboam made two calves of gold, and said: Behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And he set the one in Bethel, and the other put he in Dan. 1 Kings, xii: 28. 29.

488 From Egypt marching.

I will pass through the land of Egypt, and will smite all the first-born in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and, against all the gods of Egypt,

I will execute judgment: I am Jehovah. Exod.

xii. 12.

495 Turns atheists, as did Eli's sons.

503

And the man said unto Eli: I am he that came out of the army; and I fled to-day out of the army. And he said, what is there done, my son? And the messenger answered and said: Israel is fled before the Philistines; and there hath been also a great slaughter among the people: and thy two sons also, Hophni and Phineas, are dead; and the ark of God is taken. And it came to pass, when he made mention of the ark of God, that he fell from off the seat backward, by the side of the gate, and his neck brake, and he died; for he was an old man and heavy; and he had judged Israel forty years. 1 Samuel, iv. 16, 17, 18.

Of Belial.

the sons

The sons of Eli were the sons of Belial; they knew not Jehovah. 1 Samuel, ii. 12.

Sodom.

The capital of several cities in the plains of Jordan, which God destroyed by fire and brimstone from heaven, for their wickedness. 508 Th' Ionian Gods.

The Greeks were called Iones, from Javan; and Greeks, from Gracchus, one of their ancient kings.

508 Of Javan's issue held.

Javan was the fourth son of Japhet, and the grandson of Noah. Javan and his posterity first

510

peopled that part of Greece, which was called Ionia from him.

Titan, heaven's first born.

Titan, the son of Coelus and Terra, or heaven and earth; and brother to Saturn. The wars of the Titans, against the gods, are very celebrated in mythology: they are often confounded with that of the giants; but it is to be observed, that the war of the Titans was against Saturn, and that of the giants against Jupiter.

512 By younger Saturn.

512

He was the first among the ancients, to whom they paid divine honours. Likewise the emblem of time. Some suppose Saturn to be the same as Noah; but the history of the early heathen nations is so obscured by fable, as to render conjecture fruitless. Saturn is said to have devoured his children, which has an allegorical meaning, that the present time swallows up the memory of the past, and is itself thrown into oblivion, by the future.

he from mightier Jove.

Jove, a title of Jupiter.
His own and Rhea's son.

Rhea, the daughter of Cœlus and Terra, who married Saturn. Rhea, after the expulsion of her husband to the throne, followed him into Italy, where he established a kingdom; her benevolence in this part of Europe, was so great, that the golden age of Saturn is called the age of Rhea. 514. So Jove usurping reign'd.

Jupiter, the most powerful of all the gods of the ancients. According to the opinion of

514

mythologists, Jupiter was saved from destruction by his mother, and entrusted to the care of the Corybantes. Saturn, who had received the kingdom of the world from his brother Titan, on condition of not raising male children, devoured all his sons as soon as born; bnt Ops, offended at her husband's cruelty, secreted Jupiter, and gave a stone to Saturn, which he devoured on the supposition that it was a male child. Saturn, apprehensive of the power of Jupiter, conspired against him, and was for this treachery, driven from his kingdom, and he fled for safety to Latium. Jupiter now became the sole master of the empire of the world.

these first in Crete.

The ancient name of the Island of Candia, one of the largest in the Mediterranean sea. It was once famous for its hundred cities. Jupiter, as some report, was educated in that island by the Corybantes, and they could shew his tomb.

515 And Ida known.

A mountain in the Island of Crete, famous for being the birth-place of Jupiter.

516 Of cold Olympus.

Mount Olympus, (as the poets say,) was the spot wherein Jupiter held his court: it has accordingly been endowed with singular privileges, such as an exemption from winds, clouds and rain: an eternal spring was supposed to flourish on its summit, which, it was pretended, reached to the heavens. But the proper description of Olympus is, that it is a mountain in Macedonia, covered with grottoes and woods, with an elevation of a

mile, or a mile and half, which is considerably less than that of Mount Etna or the Alps.

Delphi, a town of Phocis, situate in a valley at the south west side of Mount Parnassus. It was famous for a temple of Apollo, and for an oracle celebrated in every age and country. The origin of the oracle, though fabulous, is described as something wonderful. A number of goats, that were feeding on Mount Parnassus, came near a place which had a deep and long perforation. The steam which issued from the hole seemed to inspire the goats, and they played and frisked about in such an uncommon manner, that the goatherd was tempted to lean on the hole and see what mysteries the place contained. He was immediately siezed with a fit of enthusiasm: his expressions were wild and extravagant, and passed for prophecies. This circumstance was soon known about the country, and many experienced the same enthusiastic inspiration. The place was revered, and a temple was soon after erected in honour of Apollo, and a city built. The oracles were always delivered by a priestess called Pythia. The temple was built and destroyed several times. It was customary for those who consulted the oracle, to make rich presents to the god of Delphi; and no monarch distinguished himself more, by his donations, than Croesus. This sacred repository of opulence was often the object of plunder; and Nero carried from it, no less than five hundred statues of brass, partly of the gods, and partly of the most

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