It was enacted by the Chinese laws, that if any members of a private family performed the ceremony of the adoration of heaven and of the north star, and lighted the lamps of the sky and of that star, they were guilty of profanation, and liable to be punished with eighty blows. When a dead body was laid in the coffin, the mouth of the deceased was filled with corn, rice, silver, and gold; and scissors, tied up in purses, were put into the coffin, that the departed person might cut his nails as often as he pleased.
There was a sect in j.a.pan called Jammabugi, who studied magic chiefly among the rocks and mountains. They procured a subsistence by pretending to tell fortunes. They possessed an almost incredible number of idols, one of which was Abbuto, noted for curing inveterate diseases, and for procuring a favourable wind at sea. To secure a quick pa.s.sage, sailors and pa.s.sengers were wont to throw money into the ocean as an offering to this idol.
The j.a.panese had G.o.ds for almost everything. A most ridiculous account is given of their G.o.ddess of riches. When a mortal, she had no children by her husband, which caused her to supplicate the G.o.ds to give her offspring. Her prayers were heard, and she produced five hundred eggs. Being afraid that if the eggs were hatched they would bring forth monsters, she packed them up in a box bearing a particular mark, and threw them into a river. An old fisherman found the box, and, seeing it full of eggs, carried it home to his wife. Not having a sufficient number of hens to hatch so many eggs, she put them into an oven, and, to the surprise of the aged couple, every egg produced a child. The two old people succeeded in bringing up the strange progeny to manhood, for they were all sons. They became robbers and beggars by turn; and it happened, one day during their rambles, that they came to their mother"s house. From inquiries she made, it became clear that the young ruffians were her own children. She kept them, and reared them up to be virtuous and useful. She was afterwards taken up from the earth to be among the G.o.ds, where she remains, attended by her five hundred sons.
Apes and monkeys, as well as other creatures, were worshipped in j.a.pan. So great faith did the people of that country put in the transmigration of souls, that they had hospitals for the reception of animals in whose bodies souls were supposed to reside. In a wood near Jeddo there were many sacred animals, daily fed by priests. These animals, the priests said, were animated by the souls of the most n.o.ble and ill.u.s.trious heroes that ever lived. The people had such a profound veneration for stags, that they were to be seen in every street as numerous as the dogs in our country. If one killed a stag, not only was he condemned to die, but the houses where the deed was committed were razed to the ground. Dogs were held in great esteem.
The inhabitants of every street were obliged to support a fixed number of them, they being quartered on the people like so many soldiers.
When a dog died, it was buried among human remains. A man who killed a canine creature was punished with death. Fish were looked upon as sacred. Near the capital was a river that was so plentifully stocked with fish, that they thrust one another ash.o.r.e, yet not one of them was injured. The people believed that if they touched one of the finny tribe, they would be smitten with leprosy, and it was considered an unpardonable sin to eat any of them. A belief prevailed, that fish possessed the souls of naval officers. Statues of witches, magicians, and devils find places in the j.a.pan temples.
Charms were sold by the priests, which were represented to possess the virtue of curing diseases and driving away the devil. Money was sometimes borrowed on security of charms, not to be repaid in this world. A note was given, authorizing payment of the money in the land of spirits; and when the holder of the doc.u.ment died, his relations put it into his hand, believing that the debt would be duly paid to the deceased. The j.a.panese thought certain days were more fortunate than others. A table of their fortunate and unfortunate days was hung up in the pa.s.sage of every house, for the guidance of the family when they went out. This table of days was prepared by a celebrated astrologer of universal knowledge in all mysteries, whether relating to the stars, dreams, or omens. Like other men of note in the East, he was born in a miraculous manner. His father was a prince, and his mother a fox. It appears that the lady fox being pursued by huntsmen, ran to and obtained protection from his highness. The creature discovered herself to be a fairy, and, throwing off her false appearance, became a beautiful princess. The prince being enamoured with her charms, married her, and had by her the celebrated astrologer spoken of. When he grew up he invented a set of mysterious terms, which he comprised within the compa.s.s of one verse, as a charm or protection for such persons as were compelled to work on unlucky days; and every one who repeated the verse reverently on the morning of an unlucky day, was preserved from all the evils that would have otherwise befallen him.
THE G.o.dS AND G.o.dDESSES OF HEATHEN NATIONS.
CHAPTER IX.
The Cla.s.sification of G.o.ds and G.o.ddesses--Primeval Parent Chaos--Creation--Influence of Ether--The Human Race in danger of Perishing--Celestial Fire--Birth of Cupid--Banishment of Cupid from the Blest Abodes--Cupid"s Armour--Fate--Eternal Decrees--Throne of Jove--Fortune and Happiness--Misfortune and Misery--Twofold Nature--Rewards and Punishments--First Man and Woman--Pan the Emblem of all Things--Power of Heathen G.o.ds--Descriptions of Juno--Venus the G.o.ddess of Love and Beauty--Rustics turned into Frogs--Vulcan--aeolus--Momus the Jester--The Carping G.o.d"s Fault-finding--Improper Position of the Bull"s Horns--Minerva as a House--Window in Man"s Breast.
We do not intend to notice at great length the ancient opinions and writings concerning the deities which heathen nations thought presided over the world and the heavens, and influenced the affairs of the spheres above and below; but as much of comparatively modern superst.i.tion has been traced to mythology, generally so called, we cannot pa.s.s without observation the history of the G.o.ds, nor avoid giving such extracts therefrom as bear particularly on our subject, "The Collected Mysteries of all Nations."
The G.o.ds and G.o.ddesses of heathen nations were cla.s.sified as follows:--1st, the celestial G.o.ds and G.o.ddesses; 2nd, the terrestrial deities; 3rd, the marine and river G.o.ds and G.o.ddesses; 4th, the infernal G.o.ds; 5th, the subordinate and miscellaneous deities; 6th, the ascriptious G.o.ds, demiG.o.ds, and heroes; and 7th, the modal deities. Ancient writers speak thus:
"When the primeval parent Chaos, h.o.a.ry with unnumbered ages, was first moved by the breath of Erebus, she brought forth her enormous first-born Hyle, and at the same portentous birth the amiable almighty Eros, chief of the immortals. They had no sooner come to light than they produced the terrible t.i.tans."
Again we are informed that--"Ere the universe appeared; ere the sun mounted on high, or the moon gave her pale light; ere the vales were stretched out below, or the mountains reared their towering heads; ere the winds began to blow, or the rivers to flow, or plants or trees had sprung from the earth; while the heavens lay hid in the mighty ma.s.s, and the stars were unknown, the various parts of which the wondrous creation consists lay jumbled without form in the Abyss of Being."
There, it is said, they had lain for ever and ever if the breath of the terrible Erebus, the spirit that dwelt in eternal darkness, had not gone forth and put the ma.s.s into vital agitation.
From another source we learn that, first of all, Chaos existed; next in order the broad Earth; and then Love appeared, the most beautiful of all things. Of Chaos sprang Erebus and dusty Night, and of Erebus and Night came Ether and smiling Day.
The Earth conceived by the influence of Ether, and brought forth man and every description of animal. The human race was in danger of perishing from the face of earth. Naked, needy, and ignorant, they pa.s.sed their dreary days, living in caves and lurking in woods like wild beasts. They were alike dest.i.tute of laws and arts. Their food consisted of herbs. Often were they compelled to fly before the mountain tigers and bears of the forest, while they were nearly frozen to death. Thus they lived in wretchedness until Prometheus came to their relief. He called Pallas, the G.o.ddess of wisdom, to his aid. By her a.s.sistance he mounted to heaven, where he secretly held the reed he carried in his hand to the wheel of the sun"s chariot. In this way he obtained the celestial fire, and conveyed it to Earth, where he presented it to man. Prometheus did not stop here: he instructed man in arts and industry of almost every description.
There is an interesting account of Cupid. The G.o.ddess of beauty, we are informed, brought forth a delicate infant, whom she gave to the Graces to nurse. Unhappily, the child neither throve in person, nor put forth feathers to cover the wings which he had. Under this affliction, Cupid"s mother and nurses had recourse to the most ancient and infallible Themis, who gave this answer: That love came, for the most part, single into the world, but that the child would not thrive until his mother brought forth another son. Then the one would thrive in virtue of the other; but if the one died, the other could not long survive. Venus brought forth another son, Anteros. He no sooner came into being, than his elder brother Cupid grew, and his wings were soon fledged. So strong did the little urchin become, that he flew to heaven. There he a.s.sociated with the Muses, became intimate with Mercury, kept company with Hymen, and grew in favour with every one except the implacable Momus. Unfortunately, Cupid became insolent and vain, behaving with arrogance to the superior powers. He made enmity reign where peace and concord should have been found. Feuds raged among the G.o.ds and G.o.ddesses on his account. To rid themselves of a pest, the rulers of heaven called an a.s.sembly of the G.o.ds, to consider how peace could be restored. Cupid was accused of being a public incendiary, a disturber of good order; and the fomenter of discord being found guilty, he was banished from the blest abodes; ordered to be a retainer of Ceres and Bacchus on earth; and doomed to have his wings stripped of their feathers, that he might not again infest the confines of heaven.
Cupid is now armed with two bows, one of which he bends with the aid of the Graces, to secure a happy smiling lot, and he with the other, blind-folded, lets fly his arrows, to the confusion and misery of many in life. Like his mother, he is constantly in want. He is eager, ravenous, and wandering about bare-footed, without home or habitation, sleeping before doors or by the wayside, under the open sky. But at the same time he is ever forming designs upon all that is beautiful, is forward, cunning, and fond of new tricks.
Fate mysteriously clings round this earth, the heavens, and the creatures in the regions above and below. When Jupiter heard of the death of his son Sarpedon, in great grief he called on Mercury to go instantly to the Fates, and bring from them the strong box in which the eternal decrees are laid up. Mercury went to the Fatal Sisters, and delivered his message. The Sisters smiled, and told him that the other end of the golden chain which secured the box with the unalterable decrees was so fixed to the throne of Jove, that were it to be unfastened, the master"s seat itself might be shaken.
Jupiter holds in his hands the unerring balance of fate. Close to his throne stand the two inexhaustible urns--the one filled with good fortune and happiness, the other with misfortune and misery. Out of these is mixed a dose of life to every mortal man; and as the draught is, so are one"s days embittered with disasters, or made pleasant with serenity, ease, and prosperity. To every star is allotted a mind, and all things have their fixed irrevocable laws. The human nature is twofold; and man, who lives well on earth, returns after death to the habitations of his congenial star, and there leads a blessed life; but, failing in his duties, he is doomed to live a thousand years in a degraded state. Sometimes a human soul is destined to animate a wild beast, never to be relieved until it reattain the purest of its first and best existence.
The Goths and Vandals entertained the opinion that the first man and woman were made of an ash-tree. Odin, it is said, gave them breath, Hener endowed them with reason, and Lodur injected blood into their veins, and provided them with beautiful faces.
Pan has been represented as the emblem of all things, and among the learned of early times he pa.s.sed for the first and oldest of the divinities. His person is composed of various and opposite parts--a man and a goat. According to the most ancient Egyptians and Greeks, he had neither father nor mother, but sprang of Demogorgon at the same instant with the Fatal Sisters, the Parcae.
The power of the heathen G.o.ds and G.o.ddesses is reported as truly wonderful. Apollo turned Daphne, whom he loved, into a laurel, and his boy Hyacinth into a violet. Mars was the son of Jupiter and Juno, or, according to Ovid, of Juno alone, who conceived him at the smell of a flower shown her by the G.o.ddess Flora.
Juno is esteemed the G.o.ddess of kingdoms and riches. She is represented as a majestic beautiful woman, riding in a golden chariot drawn by peac.o.c.ks, waving a sceptre in her hand, and wearing a crown set about with roses and lilies, and encircled with fair Iris, or the rainbow. She is also supposed to preside over matrimony and births, and is the guardian angel of woman.
Venus is the G.o.ddess of love and beauty; she sprang from the foam of the sea. As soon as she was born she was cast upon the island of Cyprus, where she was educated, and afterwards being carried to heaven, was married to Vulcan. Her image is fair and beautiful; she is clothed with purple, glittering with diamonds. There are two Cupids on her side, while around her are the Graces. Her chariot is of ivory, drawn by swans, doves, or swallows.
Whilst Latona was wandering through the fields of Lycia, she desired to drink from a spring at the bottom of a valley, but the country rustics drove her away. In spite of her entreaties, they refused to allow her to slake her thirst, whereupon, in wrath, she, cursing them, said, "May ye always live in this water!" Immediately they were turned into frogs, and leaped into the streams and pools, where they continued to exist.
Vulcan, notwithstanding his n.o.ble descent, is obliged to follow the trade of a blacksmith. On account of his deformity, he was cast down from heaven into the isle of Lemnos. His leg was broken by the fall.
He erected a forge, where he makes thunderbolts for his father Jupiter and armour for the other G.o.ds. His servants are called Cyclops, because they have but one eye. Though Vulcan is unpleasant in the sight of others, Venus thinks him the most beautiful of all the divinities.
aeolus keeps the winds under his power in a cave in the aeolian Islands, where he dwells. He can raise storms and hurricanes, and restrain their rage at pleasure.
Momus is a jester, mocker, or mimic. His life is spent in idleness, merely observing the sayings and doings of the G.o.ds, and then censuring and deriding them. For instance, when Neptune was made a bull, Minerva a house, and Vulcan a man, Momus was appointed to judge as to whom the greatest skill was manifested in creation. The carping G.o.d disapproved of all. He found fault with the bull for not having his horns before his eyes in his forehead, that he might be enabled to push the surer. He condemned the house, because it was fixed and could not be carried away in case it was placed in a bad neighbourhood. But the G.o.d, he said, who made man, was most imprudent because he did not make a window in the human breast, that the thoughts might be seen.
CHAPTER X.
Satyrs described--Diana"s Retirement--Pallas, the G.o.ddess of Shepherds and Pasture--The vile Flora--Pomona deceived--Celestial Nymphs--Terrestrial Nymphs--River G.o.ds and G.o.ddesses--Sirens--Witch Circe--Infernal Deities--Pa.s.sage to Tartarus--Palace of Pluto--Judges of h.e.l.l--G.o.ddesses of Destiny--Furies--Night, Death, and Sleep: by whom presided over--Names of Monsters condemned in the place of Punishment--Tartarian Regions--Delights of the Elysian Fields--Food and Drink of Pagan G.o.ds--Festivals of Heathens--Colour of G.o.ds--Sacrifices to Deities--Things sacred to G.o.ds.
Satyrs are partly of human likeness and partly of b.e.s.t.i.a.l shape. They have heads of human form, with horns and brutish ears; they have crooked hands, rough hairy bodies, goats" legs and feet and tails. The chief of these monsters is the G.o.d Pan, the inventor of the musical pipe.
Diana, out of love to Chast.i.ty, avoids consort with men, retires into the woods, and there diverts herself with hunting, whence she is reckoned the G.o.ddess of the woods and the chase. Pallas is esteemed the G.o.ddess of shepherds and pasture, and is the reputed inventress of corn, and is thought by some to be Ceres or Vesta. Flora is the G.o.ddess of flowers. By a vile trade, she acc.u.mulated a vast amount of money, and made the people of Rome her heirs, who, in return, placed her among the divinities.
Ferona and Pomona are two G.o.ddesses of trees and fruits. The latter was advised by the G.o.d Vertumnus to enter the matrimonial state in the guise of a hagged old woman; but without success, till he appeared to her as a fair young man, and then she felt the power of love, and yielded to his wishes. The Nymphs are a company of neat charming virgins, living near the gardens of Pomona. They are of three cla.s.ses:--1st the Celestial Nymphs, called Genii, who guide the spheres and dispense the influences of the stars to things on earth.
2nd, the Terrestrial Nymphs, as Dryades, who preside over the woods and live in the oaks; and Hamadryades, who are born and die with the oaks; the Oreades, who preside over the mountains; the Napaeae, who preside over the groves and valleys; the Limnatides, who look after the meadows and fields. 3rd, Marine Nymphs.
As the chief of the marine and river G.o.ds and G.o.ddesses, Neptune stands at the head. He is represented with black hair and blue eyes, arrayed in a mantle of azure, holding a trident in his right hand, and embracing his queen with his left arm. He stands upright in his chariot, drawn by sea horses, and is attended by nymphs. Proteus is the son of Neptune, but some say he is the offspring of Ocea.n.u.s and Tethys. His business is to tend the sea-calves. He can turn himself into any shape. Triton, the son and trumpeter of Neptune, is a man to the middle and a dolphin below; he has two fore feet, like those of horses, and is provided with two tails. Ocea.n.u.s is the son of Clum and Vesta, husband to Tethys, G.o.d of the sea, and father of the rivers and springs. Nereus, also the son of Ocea.n.u.s and Tethys, is father of fifty daughters, called Nereides or Sea Nymphs. Palaemon and his mother Ino, together with the fisherman Glaucus, are reckoned among the sea deities. The Sirens resemble mermaids, having the faces of women, but bodies of flying fish. They are reported to be excellent songsters, that play on the Sicilian coasts, and tempt pa.s.sengers on sh.o.r.e, where they sing them asleep and kill them. Scylla and Charybdis are two other sea monsters. Scylla is the daughter of Phorcys, and beloved by Glaucus, whom therefore the witch Circe by her enchantments turned into a rock, with dogs around her. Charybdis is a very ravenous woman, who stole Hercules"s oxen, for which crime Jupiter struck her dead with a thunder-bolt, and then turned her into a gulf or whirlpool in the Sicilian Sea. The Sea Nymphs are the Nereides already referred to.
The Naides or Naiades preside over fountains and springs; the Potameides preside over rivers, and Limniades over lakes.
In noticing the Infernal Deities, we shall describe the dismal regions, where wicked spirits dwell, and over which they are reported to preside. The name commonly given to these regions is Hades or Tartarus, understood to signify h.e.l.l. The pa.s.sage leading thereto is a wide dark cave, through which one has to pa.s.s by a steep rocky descent till he arrives at a gloomy grove and an unnavigable lake called Avernus, from which such poisonous vapours rise as to kill birds flying over it. Yet over this lake the souls of the dead must pa.s.s. To a.s.sist them, an old decrepit, long-bearded fellow, the oft-heard of Charon, attends with a ferry-boat to carry them to the other side, at a fare not less than a halfpenny.
After this there are four rivers to be pa.s.sed over--Acheron, whose waters are very bitter; the Styx, a lake rather than a river, and so sacred to the G.o.ds, that if any of them swore by it and broke his oath, he was deprived of his G.o.dhead, and was prohibited from drinking nectar for a hundred years; the river Cocytus, which flows out of Styx with a lamentable groaning, resembling the painful sounds and exclamations of the d.a.m.ned; the river Phlegethon, so called because it swells with waves of fire and streams of flames.
The souls having pa.s.sed these rivers, are conducted to the palace of Pluto, king of the infernal regions, where the gate is guarded by Cerberus, a dog with three heads, whose body is covered with snakes in place of hair. This dog is the porter of h.e.l.l.
Pluto initiated funeral obsequies for the dead: he sits on a throne covered with darkness, holding a key in his hand, and crowned with ebony. Beside him is his queen Proserpina, whom he stole from Ceres.
Minos, aeacus, and Rhadamanthus are judges in h.e.l.l. The first two are sons of Jupiter by Europa, and the last is his son by aegina. These are believed to judge the souls of the dead.
The Fates are named Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos, and are the G.o.ddesses of destiny. They order and manage the fatal thread of life.
Clotho draws the thread, Lachesis turns the wheel, and Atropos cuts the string asunder when spun to a due length.
The Furies, called sometimes Eumenides, Dirae, and Manes, are the daughters of Nox and Acheron: their names are Alecto, Tisiphone, and Megaera, and are known by the common name of Erinnys. They have faces like women, their looks are full of terror, they hold lighted torches in their hands, and snakes and serpents cling to their necks and shoulders. Their office is to punish the crimes of wicked men, and to torment and frighten them by following them with ghastly looks and burning material.
Erebus and Nox preside over darkness and the night; Mors over death; and Somnus is the G.o.d of sleep, who, by his servant Morpheus, sends dreams to men while asleep.
Besides others, there are in the infernal regions the following monsters:--The Centaurs, whose upper parts are human, but whose bodies and legs are those of a horse. They were begotten of a cloud by Ixion.