from place to place over the face of the whole earth! Moreover, the oracular mast of the Argo, connected, as has been shewn, with traditions of the tree of knowledge, became ultimately the death of Jason, by crushing him with its fall.

We find that all these divine heroes were supposed to have been the founders of various cities, and especially those of the greatest note and antiquity, such as Troy, Thebes, and other places; in all of which will be discovered the usual sacred symbol of "the tree in the midst," connected also with the mythic tradition of a victory over the serpent. Athens presents another instance of this kind, in the circumstances connected with the history of her first king Cecrops.* He is represented as a mighty personage, in whose time a wonderful tree sprang up in the midst of a sacred enclosure, at the command of Minerva. This tree was an olive, the emblem of knowledge, and it was also called by a particular title, which denoted death, as there were traditions connected with

*Diod. Sic. i. 28. Ovid. Metam. ii. 555. Pausan. Att. 24. Plutarch in Them. p. 87. August. Civ. Dei. xviii. 9.

Justin ii. 6.

Varro ap.

† Μορος-φονος, θανατος, φθορος, πονος, νόσος, μοιρα το Biov.-Hesych.

The Pelopennesus at this day is called the Morea.

it of the dissolution of the son of a deity. Cecrops also overcame a serpent, was reported to have been the first institutor of sacrifices, and the author of marriage; one of the rites of which was, that the man and woman should partake of an apple. He was moreover declared to have been buried on the Acropolis, once denominated from him, Cecropia; and near the foot of it was a temple of Apollo and Pan, on the north side in a sacred cave or grotto, where were most probably certain symbolic stones or Koves similar to the Ambrosia Petræ before mentioned; for the name of the place was called Μάκραι Πετραι Macræ Petra, or Kεxρoniaι Пerpaι Cecropiæ Petræ. There were games also established, in which the conqueror was crowned with the leaves of the sacred olive, which grew in the midst of the Academia.*

* Potter's Archæl. Græc. vol. i. p. 35, and the verses from Euripides there cited. The Athenians, moreover, always boasted that they derived their origin from the first of mankind; and that their city was the first place in the world which was ever inhabited. In commemoration of this they wore golden grasshoppers in their hair, perhaps alluding obscurely to the uninterrupted serenity of the paradisaical climate. Athens had also the title of Omphalos. Dion. Hal. de. Verb. Comp. tom. ii. pp. 23, 24, et pp. 145–173.

The same remarks may be applied to the ancient history of the foundation of Rome, and its early kings. The reader of Dionysius Halicarnasseus cannot but be struck with the various vestiges of paradisaic memorial which appear throughout the whole.* Romulus was exposed at the foot of a sacred tree, which seems represented as having been in the centre of a consecrated grove or garden. The palatine hill had an asylum before alluded to between two groves of oaks, or, according to some, between two trees, which is more likely. He is described, though obscurely, as having been the author of the institution of marriage

*Dion. Halic. Ant. lib. i. pp. 12, 13, 16, 44, 48, 52, lib. x. p. 649. In pages 54 and 55 of the first book, there is a curious mention made of a very ancient temple at Rome, not far from the forum, vulgarly said to be " YII EAAIAIΣ under "the Olives;" wherein images of the Trojan and Cabiric deities were worshipped, under an inscription AENAZ, which the historian imagines to have meant Penates, but with the prefix of one letter only (and that one very likely to have been dropped in course of time) it would read EAENAE, denoting a Temple of Eden, like that mentioned in Amos i. 5, See also of the same book, as to the birth of Romulus and Remus, page 65. the Asylum, lib. ii. p. 88. Also of an Diana, on the Aventine, lib. iv. p. 230. ex Vet. Auct. Coll. p. 779.

.Beth-Eden בית עדן

For an account of Asylum sacred to Orig. Rom. Gent.

amongst his people. He is said, also, after having gained a great victory, to have set up a Tроnalov or trophy, so named from Tor-ope-on, the tower or temple sacred to the worship of the solar serpent. This trophy consisted of the consecrated trunk of a tree (generally an oak) set up in the midst of an enclosure, and adorned with the arms of the conquered enemy. What is remarkable here, is, that these arms were termed "spolia opima," as Festus declares, from Ops, which is the contraction of Opic or Opis, the serpent! The title of the rock on which the capitol stood was derived from the same source; Tarpeius being from Tor-ope, the temple of the serpent deity. It may in fact be doubted whether the history of the first seven monarchs of this great city is not altogether legendary, or at least mainly founded upon certain symbolic memorials.

Such are a few specimens of the manner in which the traditions of the great paradisaic promise, were preserved by the heathen posterity of the common father of mankind. Immediately on the fall, we are told that, "unto "Adam and his wife did the Lord God make "coats of skins, and clothed them;" which was surely a typical action, and must have been full of important meaning, since these skins

were doubtless those of animals slain in sacrifice. Memorials, moreover, of this solemn rite, prevailed to some considerable extent throughout the Gentile world. We have seen how Jacob consulted the sacred oracle at Beershebah previous to his going down into Egypt. Here was the sacred grove which Abraham had planted, and when Israel had offered the appointed sacrifices, God vouchsafed him an answer "in the visions of the night;" and just in the same manner many of the heathen consulted some of their false oracles, preserving the memory of the paradisaical rite derived to them by tradition. Thus, those who applied to the oracle of Amphiaraus, were first to purify themselves by general sacrifices, then to fast for twenty-four hours, and abstain three days from wine and their wives. After all this was done, a ram was offered, and the offerer lying down, clothed in the skin of the victim, waited in that posture for the response of the oracle. The same rites also existed in Apulia Daunia at the tomb and grove of Podalirius, where the victims used in sacrifice were the choicest of the flock. These oracles were held in high esteem, and near the temple of Amphiaraus was a famous fountain, out of which he was said to have ascended up into heaven, when he was