THE METAMORPHOSES OF PUBLIUS OVIDIUS NASO

92
P. OVIDII NASONIS
Perdidit effuso per vulnera nigra veneno.
Neve operis famam possit delere vetustas ;
Instituit sacros celebri certamine ludos,
Pythia, de domiti serpentis nomine dictos.
29. Effuso veneno. The very blood of
the serpent is spoken of as a poison.
31. Instituit. The Pythian games, ac
cording to Pausanias, were instituted by
Diomcdo; by Eurylochus, according to the
Scholiast on Pindar; and by Apollo, ac
cording to Ovid and others.
31. Sacros ludos. The Pythian games
were celebrated near Delphi, and were the
first insiituted of the four sacred games of
Greece. The contests were in music, run-
ning.wrest ling, boxing, and the chariot-race.
32. Pythia. Supply certamina.
32. Domiti serpentis. The serpent that
watched the apples of the Hesperides, and
which, after it waa slain by Hercules, be
came a constellation, was evidently the
serpent that tempted Eve. See note on
Draconi, page 293. On account of its sub
tlety, and its prophecy to Eve, the serpent
was first regarded as oracular afterwards
became a symbol then a talisman and
eventually a god. Its worship pervaded
the whole world, and was at length con
nected with the solar worship. We accord
ingly find the ophite hierogram on coins,
medals, temples, and pillars, under various
modifications, as the original worship of the
serpent was blended with that of tlj/i sun
and moon. Sometimes it is a rude repre
sentation of a serpent with a singly coil,
forming a globe, (Fig. 1). Seldejj says
this figure in abbreviated writing signifies
laifiuj, deiti/; and Kircher says its use
among the Brahmins was the same. Some
times the hierogram is a globe, with a ser
pent passing around it, (Fig. 2). Again, it
is a winged clobe.'with a serpent passing
through it, (Fig. 3). It is also represented
as a globe, with two serpents emerging
from it, (Fig. 4). The caduceus of Hermes
is another form of the hierogram, and
ia a symbol of the serpent-worship con
nected with that of the sun and moon,
wherein we have the sun's disk, and the
crescent, (Fig. 5). The early repre«enta-
tions of the head of Medusa (Fig. 6) are
also modifications of the ophite hierogram.
The serpents around and beneath the face
are the undulations of the tides, and the
two serpents above are the crescent of the
moon by which they are produced. The
form of the serpent? of Eden, shown to be
the constellation Draco, as it appears on
the celestial globe, is the grand original of
the whole, (Fig. 7). The learned Kircher
has show n, that the Egyptians represented
the different elements by serpents in vari
ous attii udes, and that a serpent moving in
n undulating manner denoted water.
LlBEK I
capreis, perdidil huna
_ gravem mille lelis,
oO pharelra tjus pene einausta,
vent.-o effuso
per nigra vuj.icra.
33. rlis quicunquo
Hence, the waters of the Deluge decreasing
by the sun's rays, would be represented on
in Fig. 8; which is a serpent-temple con
necter! with the solar worship, and typifies
Python, the Spirit of Evil at the Flood,
" the dragon that is in the sea," slain by
Apollo. The large circle in this evidently
represents the sun's disk, and the serpent's
path through it the revolution of thr sphere
among the stars. Eusebius, Praep. Ev.
Lib. i., tells us, " with the Egyptians the
world was described by a circle, and a ser
pent passing diametrically through it."
In the note on ver erat, page 42, I have
shown, that changes took place in the re-
voluiion of the earth, either at the time of
thr transgression in Eden, or at the Flood;
hence, it la not a little remarkable, that on
the celestial globe, the serpent (Fig. 7),
which w«s the cause of the derangement
ot the sphere, is placed at the very polea of
the ecliptic. It is not a little remarkable,
too, that the name of this constellation,
the "crooked serpent," see Job xxvi. 13,
(ma CTU, nachash bariach), refers to it as an
emblem of the sun's path, for ma, barach,
signifies fo pass through. It is very possi
ble, that Noah's altar after the flood was
simple pillars (/JmriiXia), like those Jacob
set up at Bethel; and like the stones which
Joshua set up as a memorial after the cross
ing of the Jordan. These would be imi
tated and multiplied as the traditions of the
Flood spread among the heathens, until, as
solar worship was connected with that of
the serpent, regular serpent-temples would
be formed like Fig. 8. For figures from 1 to
8 inclusive, see plate, page 289.
Homer, in the Hymn 10 Apollo, v. 294,
describes him as building a temple where
he slew Python of " stones broad and very
long," in part of a circular form, 'A/i^t ii
vijov IvaatTan. Again, the god considers what
kind of priests he shallput in his "stony
Pytho," IWJoi in raipqoxrjr. Hence Python,
" tot jugera ventre prementem," was,
doubtless, a temple of upright stones, de
voted to the worship of the solar-serpent,
like that at Abury, or Anbury, (-iis-aix,
aitb-aur, serpent of the snn\ in England,
which covered twenty-eicht acres, and
was a mile in length. We copy from a
a treatise by Rev. J. B. Deane:
From a circle of upright stones (without im
posts), erected at equal distances, proceeded
two avenues, in a wnvy course, in opposite di
rections. These were the fore and hinder parts
of the serpent's body, passing/roin west 10 cast.
Within this grent circle were four others, con
siderably smaller, two ulld Uvo, described nboiu
two centres, bul neither of them coinoident v'ith
the centre of the great circle. They lay in *ho
FABULA XI. METAMORPIIOSEON.
His juvenum quicunque manu, pedibusve rotave
Vicerat; esculese capiebat frondis honorem.
Nondum laurus erat; longoque decentia crine
Tempera cingebat de qualibet arbore Pheebus.
line drawn from the north-west to the south
east points, passing through the centre of the
great circle. The head of the serpent was
formed of two concentric ovals, and rested on
an eminence—which is the southern promontory
of the Hakpeu (Serpent's head) hills.—WORSHIP
OF THE SERPENT, p. 330.
The etymology of Hakpen is Hdk, a
serpent, and Pen, the head. Dickinson, in
Velph. Phoen., shows thai L in Larnassus
is not a radical. It is therefore Arnassus,
or with the accent Harnassus. Har is a
headland, or promontory of a hill; and
nahns, a serpent. Parnassus is therefore
identical with Hakpen, (serpent's head),
of Abury. The serpentine temple Pytho,
then, probably extended its length along
the bottom of Parnassus, and laid its head
on a promontory of it, like that at Abury
does on Overton hill. The remains of a
similar temple are evidently alluded to by
Pausanias:
On proceeding in a straight line from Thebes
to Glisas, you will see a place surrounded with
rough stones, which the Thcbans call the Ser
pent's head.—DESCRIPTION OF GREECE, Lib. ii.
Cap. xii.
And, again, to one at Pharce, for Ham is
the same as Apollo, the sun:
In Fharte, likewise, there is a fountain sacred
to Hermes. The name of the fountain is Hama
(Ham), worshipped as the snn. Very near this,
there are thirty quadrangular stones. These
the Phnrenses venerate, calling each by the
name of some particular god. Indeed, it was
formerly the custom with ull the Greeks to re
verence rude stones in the place of statues of the
gods.—DESCRIPTION OF GREECE, Lib.vii.Cap.nii.
Another is referred to near Potnia5; for,
the name Amphiaraus signifies a circular
temple of the sun :
How were animals produced after the
flood?
Were all the former animals restored ?
What animals were not reproduced after
the flood ?
What effect had the sun upon the moist
earth ?
How many channels did the Nile an
ciently have ?
How many has it at present ?
What annually occurs in the Nile, and
what is the cause of it ?
What figure does the words discors con-
cordia constitute ?
What monster did the earth produce ?
From what is this fable of the Python
derived ?
What ia the name of the Egyptian dc-
utrover ?
NOT.E.
QU^ESTIONES.
93
Juvenum viceral ma
nu, pedibusve rolave,
capiebat honorem es-
oe culeee frondis. Laurul
" nondum erat; Fhce-
busque cingebal tem-
pora deceuiia longo
As you go from hence to Thebes, 5 ou will
see on the right hand of the road an enclosure
not very large, and in it certain pillars. They
are of opinion that the earth opened in this place
to Amphiaraus.—DESCRIPTION OF GREECE, Lib.
ii. Cap. viii.
Since the stones in the serpent-temples
were set like teeth, the dragon slain by
Cadmus was probably a solar serpent-
temple, for the hill adjacent was sacred to
Apollo:
Near it they show a place, in which they say
the teeth of the dragon which was slain by
Cadmus by the fountain were sown, and be
came men. There is a hill on the right hand
of the gates, which is sucred to Apollo.—DB-
SCTUPTION OF GREECE, Lib. ii. Cap. It).
The transformation of Cadmus and Her-
mione refers to a serpent-temple. See
Fab. V., Lib. IV.
33. Manu: with the hand; in boxing.
33. Pedibus: on foot; in the foot-race.
33. Sola: with the wheel; in the cha
riot-race.
34. Esculea frondis : of the beechen
bough. Crowns of beech were first used
in the Pythian games. As these were the
earliest games known in Greece, and were
instituted in commemoration of the deluge;
and as the existence of the divine Trinity
appears to have been known, as we might
infer from the note on rate, line 80, in the
preceding Fable, it is probable that the
shape of the beech-nut caused its use as
the emblem of the Trinity, for it is a tri
angular pyramid of equal sides and angles.
35. Lonffo crine: with long hair. The
rays of light streaming over the heavens
have somewhat the anpearance of hair;
hence Apollo is said to have long hair.
Who was the Horus of the Egyptians?
How is he represented ?
How are we to regard the Python of the
present Fable ?
How is Apollo said to destroy him ?
To what kind of a temple may the story
of Python relate?
What were the Pythian games, and
where celebrated ?
What early prizes in these games would
seem to indicate a confused idea of the
Fall?
Is the destruction of the power of the
serpent by a mediator adumbrated in the
mythology of all nations?
What is the name of this mediator in
Egyptian mythology ?
^What ir Persian mythology? In Go
thic ? la Indian mythology ?
t