appear, and lead his footsteps to the desired object : Inde ubi venere ad fauces graveolentis Averni, The poet seems studiously attentive to retain the term "Aura," though it almost appears like tautology in the last verse. It may, moreover, be observed, that the "gemina arbor" before us, is closely allied to the sacred trees, "of a "mixed nature," which stood in the midst of the Cades in Spain; both being derived from traditionary accounts of the trees which grew in paradise. The rites of the sacred Branch will be met with very frequently throughout mythology; and are, I believe, invariably connected with more or less of paradisaical tradition. Generally, though not by any means exclusively, the palm appears to have been the tree from whence the "Aureus Ramus" was gathered. Now the palm, from its peculiar nature, its straight and lofty growth, its wonderful longevity and * Æneid vi. 202. great fecundity, the permanency and perpetual flourishing of its leaves, was looked upon as a proper emblem to represent the Tree of Life.* Hence, even in the sanctuary of the temple of Solomon,† palm trees were represented on the walls and doors, between the Cherubim. The heathen supposed the palm to be immortal, or at least, that if it did die, it of itself revived, and enjoyed a second life. The Greeks calledit do Phoenix, and gave the same title, as is well known, to the fabulous bird so famous in all antiquity, as representing the revivification and immortality of the soul. The Phoenicians‡ and Egyptians, however, called the palm, or * The Prophetess Deborah dwelt under a palm tree, where probably she worshipped. Judges iv. 5. +1 Kings vi. 29. et seq. vii. 36. There was a precept in the Levitical law to take on a certain festival "branches of "palm trees, and rejoice before the Lord seven days." Levit. xxiii. 40. There is a place, mentioned Judges xx. 33. called Baal Tamar, or "the palm tree of the god Baal,” which perhaps there received idolatrous worship. Branches, or at least a branch of palm, was made use of in the mysteries among the heathen. Apuleius. Metam. lib. xi. p. 383. Judea, a small part of which was anciently called Phonicia, (from Phoenix, however that title may be analysed,) seems to have been considered as emblematical of a future paradise or state of celestial happiness, and consequently its emblem from time immemorial, has been the Palm. the Branch of the palm, BAI or BAIA; and both likewise conferred upon the soul of man, which partly from tradition, and partly from other internal evidence, they knew to be immortal, the same appellation - Εστι μεν γαρ το ΒΑΙ ψυχη. Accordingly, we find in this very part of Campania which we are describing, an ancient town near the scite of the Elysian fields, which bears to this day, the name of Baiæ. The origin of this place, mentioned by the oldest mythologists, is sufficiently evident; and another instance of the same kind we shall have to notice hereafter. The Hades of Campania, moreover, had its fire-tower or Tursis, here called Triton, or Tarit-On; the latter radical denoting the sacred fire or flame, to the commemoration of which, the temple or tower called Tarit, was set apart and consecrated. It also answered the purpose of a defence to the sacred enclosure, and was supposed to be inhabited by a compound figure, represented upon coins and vases under the form of half a man and half a fish, blowing a concha or sea shell; which was in fact the usual custom of the priests who really inhabited * Horapollo, lib. i. cap. 7. p. 11. See also Parkhurst's Gr. Lexicon, vox Balov. places of this nature, when situated upon the coast of any country. From the summit of the Tarit they gave notice of the approach of any vessel to their shores; the crew of which were generally obliged to sacrifice at least one of their company as an atonement for the rest, and also as the customary means of obtaining an oracular answer to direct their future progress. Virgil, indeed, unwilling to deface and disfigure his poem with so cruel a rite, has represented Misenus as finding a watery grave, and yet he sufficiently hints at what was the real catastrophe.* Misenum in littore sicco Ut venere vident indignâ morte peremptum ; Had the unhappy trumpeter really fallen into the sea, inter saxa, it is perhaps little likely they would have been able to procure his corse, for the magnificent funeral afterwards described, and which contributes so materially to the * Æneid vi. 162–174. sublime solemnity of that part of the Æneid. The matter is explained, however, by considering him as the usual victim offered up to the deity supposed to reside in the Triton or firetower, represented as above mentioned under a compound figure, the customary vestige of the Cherubim. Within a day's sail from the Hades of Campania was the celebrated island of Circe the enchantress, which was in fact only another spot dedicated to idolatrous worship arising out of paradisaical traditions, similar to those we have already considered. Its situation was considered by the ancients in the same light with that of Hades; for Homer makes Ulysses say;* Ω φίλοι, ου γαρ τ' ιδμεν οπη ζοφος, ουδ οπη ηως, We know not here, what land before us lies, Or to what quarter now we turn our eyes, Or where the sun shall set, or where shall rise. * Odyss. x. 190. Circe was, in Italy, what her sister Medea was in the sacred enclosure at Colchis, which we shall consider presently. This, however, furnishes another proof that these traditionary memorials were all derived from one and the same source; for on no other ground can their exact analogy be explained. |