(2.) On the whole, the four first ages of Hesiod, with the remarkable subsequent addition of his fifth age, may be considered as exhibiting a very curious instance of the doctrine of a succession of similar worlds comprehending similar cycles: for they shew an attempt to blend together into one narrative the antediluvian and the postdiluvian series of ages. He deduces his whole theogony from Chaos, which he makes the beginning of the World: but his Cronus or great father, as every part of that god's history demonstrates, is at least as much a transcript of Noah as of Adam; and his chaotic ocean, which appears as the common parent of the hero-gods, cannot be more deemed the Chaos out of which the World was originally formed, than the deluge out of which it emerged at the time of what was esteemed its new formation. His three first ages are characteristically antediluvian: yet he brings them down to a fourth heroic age of the Theban and Trojan wars, at which time he places a moral reformation, that, we know, only occurred immediately after the flood: and then, when we seem to be fairly in a postdiluvian period, we find ourselves, through its inseparable connection with the ship Argo or Argha, to be suddenly transported back to the identical awful catastrophè which Ovid rightly places at the termination of his iron age. Lastly, as if the poet were thoroughly bewildered with his own arrangement and yet conscious that he himself was living in any thing rather than a golden age, he proceeds to lament that he had been thrown into a fifth age which might well deserve the name of an iron one: and Asia, and though some such war may have been adopted by Homer as the basis of his poem; it is impossible to admit, that the Iliad is as nearly allied to authentic history as the Jerusalem of Tasso or even as the Orlando of Ariosto. The actors in perhaps a literal war, as exhibited in the great poem of the Hellenic bard, can scarcely be received as literal characters themselves, when we view their immediate connection with the Argo, with the deluge, and with the gods of Egypt and Phenicia and Hindostan. I cannot but think it very inconclusive reasoning, though it has been hailed with loud applause, to argue the actual existence of Homer's heroes, under the circumstances which he attributes to them, from the accuracy of his local descriptions, even if that accuracy had.not been considerably exaggerated. By a similar process I will undertake to demonstrate the exploits of Brute, Corineus, and other British worthies, to be manifest historical verities. The local accuracy of a poet may prove, that he had visited the country where he lays his plot and that he had availed himself of the established popular legends; but I see not what it can prove more. CHAP. I. BOOK 111. but at the same time he uses language, which necessarily involves the doctrine; that each series of ages was always followed by another similar series, and that, when the iron age had arrived, it would be speedily followed by a better age of gold.* V. The remote antiquity and very general reception of the fable of the four ages, also the application of it as a cycle ending in a reform of manners, may, I think, be collected from Scripture itself. In Nebuchadnezzar's vision of the great image, the head of gold, the breast and the arms of silver, the belly and the thighs of brass, and the legs of iron, exhibit the four successive ages of four sovereignties: and, when at length those four ages have fully expired, and when the four sovereignties have been swept away from off the face of the earth; a new age and a new kingdom of pure and holy manners, the age and the kingdom of Messiah and his saints, are described as commencing. It is worthy of observation, that in this symbolical prophecy, though the legs of the image are of pure iron, his feet are of iron mixed with earthy clay. Such a mode of painting, though it admirably represents what has really happened, is yet in strict correspondence with ideas, which must have been perfectly familiar to the pagan king of Babylon. The last age, though usually known as the age of iron, is denominated by the Hindoos the age of earth. Into the vision each hieroglyphic is curiously introduced: and, by the combined use of the two, such a modification of the iron age is exhibited as best shadowed out the realities of futurity. Even the peculiar symbol of the great statue itself has been adopted with the strictest regard to congruity. It is nearly allied to the gigantic image, which the king caused to be erected in the plain of Dura. one of those stupendous statues of Menu or Buddha or toiling devotion of ancient Paganism delighted to set up. larly in the east, are still in existence: and the personage, whom they re This image was Ile expresses a wish, that he had either died before or lived after the iron age, in which he had the ill luck to be placed. But, if his lot would have been mended by living after it, then of course he must have expected that his iron age would usher in a renovated golden age. Oper. et dier. lib. i. ver. 172–174. 2 Asiat. Res. vol. i. p. 236. presented, was he; who reigned indeed through all the four ages, but who visibly manifested himself only in that of gold.' Thus exact is the hieroglyphic in all its parts. I As a king was esteemed the immediate representative of the universal sovereign Menu, who reigns either visibly or invisibly through all the four ages, he is described in the Institutes of Menu as being inseparably connected with them. All the ages, called Satya, Treta, Dwapara, and Kali, depend on the conduct of the king; who is declared in turn to represent each of those four ages. Sleeping, he is the Kali age; waking, he is the Dwapara; exerting himself in action, the Treta; living virtuously, the Satya. Instit. of Menu. chap. ix. p. 284.. In a similar manner, Nebuchadnezzar's great image extends or reigns through all the four ages, and is himself represented by them conjointly. CHAP. I. Pag. Idol. VOL. II. E CHAPTER II. Miscellaneous pagan traditions relative to the period between the creation and the deluge. THE Gentiles have preserved various traditions relative to the period between the creation and the deluge, which from their miscellaneous nature will best be noticed conjointly under a single division of my subject. I. I have frequently had occasion to observe, that, according to the theory of a succession of similar worlds, the great father and his three sons constantly reappear by transmigration at the commencement of every new mundane system whence Noah and his triple offspring were considered only as a revival of Adam and his triple offspring; while the latter were deemed nothing more, than one of the numerous manifestations of the self-triplicating great father. Thus Brahma, Vishnou, and Siva, the three sons of the Indian Brahm, are proved to be the three sons of Noah, both by a large part of their history which is clearly diluvian, and by the very names which they bear in addition to their ordinary titles: for Vishnou is called Sama or Shem; Siva, Ham and Cama which correspond with the scriptural Ham and Cham; and Brahma, Pra-Japati or the lord Japhet. Yet are they also declared to be the sons of the first Menu, who is denominated Swayambhuva; and not only his sons, but likewise, still under the very names of Sama, Cama, and Pra-Japati, the sons of every transmigrating Menu without exception.' Now the first Menu is declared to have been the son of the Self-existent, whence he bore the title of Swayambhuva. He was called moreover Adima; while the consort, assigned to him, was known by the appellation of Iva.* It is plain therefore, that he is the scriptural Adam. Consequently, his three sons, the Sama, Cama, and Pra-Japati, of his peculiar world, are Seth, Cain, and Abel. Such a conclusion is firmly established by a curious legend, which I have already had occasion to notice at large. With respect to this legend, we are told in one fable, that the first Menu had three daughters and two sons, who were particularly distinguished. What became of the third son, or in what manner his brethren were distinguished, it does not inform us, except that the Deity descended from heaven to be present at a sacrifice which they offered up. But the deficiency in both respects is amply supplied by other fables. From them we learn, that, Brahma becoming incarnate, the first woman Satarupa or Iva sprang out of one half of his body, and the first man Adima or Menu-Swayambhuva out of the other half. This pair had three sons: Dacsha, or Brahma in a human shape; Siva, under the appellation of Cardama or Capila or Cabil, which last is the Mohammedan name of Cain; and Vishnou, under the title of Ruchi. Of these, Cardama or Cardam-Eswara, the destructive power united to a form of clay, finding his brother Brahma in the mortal character of Dacsha, slew him as he was performing a sacrifice, and thus reduced the number of the sons of Adima to two agreeably to the specification of the former fable. Dacsha, it is added, had previously reviled his antagonist, wishing that he might always remain a vagabond on the face of the earth. Thus, in one point of view, Adima had three sons; and, in another, only two. Now, in exact accordance with these varying numbers, the traditionary history of the Puranas is constructed. It is asserted in them, that from Cardama, Dacsha, Asiat. Res. vol. viii. p. 254, 255. Asiat. Res. vol. ii. p. 116. vol. viii. p. 254. vol. v. p. 250, 252. 2 3 Asiat. Res. vol. ii. p. 116. Asiat. Res, vol. vi. p. 472-477.. CHAP. 11. |