PART I.

OF THE CELESTIAL DEITIES.

CHAPTER I.

SEC. I-JUPITER. HIS IMAGE.

THE gods commonly called celestial, are Jupiter, Apollo, Mars, Mercury, and Bacchus. The celestial goddesses are Juno, Vesta, Minerva or Pallas, Venus, Luna, and Bellona.

We will begin with Jupiter,* the father and king of gods and men, whom you see sitting in a throne of ivory and gold, under a rich canopy, with a beard, holding thunder in his right hand, which he brandishes against the giants at his feet, whom he formerly conquered. His sceptre, they say, is made of cypress, which is a symbol of the eternity of his empire, because that wood is free from corruption. On his sceptre sits an eagle, either because he was brought up by it, or because an eagle resting upon his head, portended his reign, or because in his wars with the giants an eagle brought him his thunder; and thence received the title of Jupiter's armour bearer.

He wears golden shoes, and an embroidered cloak. adorned with various flowers and figures of animals. This cloak, it is reported, Dionysius the tyrant took from him in Sicily, and giving him a woollen cloak instead of it, said, "That would be more convenient for him in all seasons, since it was warmer in the

* Divûm pater atque hominum rex. Virg. Æn.

winter, and much lighter in the summer." Yet you must not be surprised, if by chance you should see him in another place, and in another dress, for he is wont to be decked in several fashions, according to the various names he assumes, and according to the diversity of the people among whom he is worshipped. You may see him among the Lacedæmonians without ears; whereas the Cretans are so liberal to him in this particular, that they give him four. So much for the figure of Jupiter.

QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION.

Which are the celestial gods?

Who is Jupiter?

Of what is his sceptre the symbol?

What does the eagle on his sceptre denote?

What happened to him with respect to his cloak?

How was he represented by the Lacedæmonians and Cretans?

SEC. 2. JUPITER'S DESCENT AND EDUCATION.

Those who were skilled in the Heathen Theology, reckon up three Jupiters; of which the first and second were born in Arcadia. The father of the one was Æther; from whom Proserpine and Liber are said to be born. The father of the other was Coelus: is; he is said to have begot Minerva. The third was a Cretan, the son of Saturn, whose tomb is yet extant in the isle of Crete. But Varro reckoned up three hundred Jupiters; and others mention a much larger number; for there was hardly any nation that did not worship a Jupiter of their own, and suppose him to be born among themselves. But of all these, the most famous Jupiter, according to the general opinion, is he, whose mother was Õps, and whose father was Saturn; to whom therefore all that the poets fabulously wrote about the other Jupiters is usually ascribed.

He was educated at the place where he was born, ts, upon the mountain Ida in Crete, but it is not

agreed by whom he was brought up. Some affirm, that he was educated by the Curetes and Corybantes; some say, by the Nymphs, and some, by Amalthæa, the daughter of Mellissus, king of Crete. Others, en the contrary, have recorded, that the bees fed him with honey; and some maintain, that a goat gave him milk. Not a few say, that he was nourished by doves; some, by an eagle; many, by a bear. And further, it is the opinion of some concerning the aforesaid Amalthæa, that she was not the daughter of Mellissus, as we have mentioned; but the very goat which suckled Jupiter, whose horn he gave afterwards to his nurses, with this admirable privilege, "that whoever possessed it should immediately obtain every thing that he desired." They add besides, that after this goat was dead, Jupiter took the skin and made a shield of it; with which he singly combated the giants; whence that shield was called Egis, from a Greek word that signifies a she goat, which at last he restored to life again, and, giving her a new skin, placed her among the celestial constellations.

QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION.

How many Jupiters were there, and whence do they derive their origin?

Which was the most famous Jupiter?

What is ascribed to him?

Where was he educated?

What do authors say of those who brought him up ?

What is said of the horn of the goat which is thought to have suckled Jupiter?

Why was his shield called the Ægis?

SEC. 3.-EXPLOITS OF JUPITER.

He overcame, in war, the Titans and the Giants, of whom we shall say more when we speak of Saturn. He also delivered his father Saturn from imprisonment; but afterwards deposed him from the throne and banished him for a conspiracy, and then divide