FOOTNOTES
[62] See Goguet, Origines. Bailly, Hist. de l’Astron. Ancienne.
[63] Jablonski, Pantheon Ægypt. 1750, p. 49.
[64] These contradictions are pointed out by Goguet, in a note, p. 370. A better view of them may be found in Hygini Astronom. (ed. Van Staveren), xlii. p. 496.
[65] Jablonski, Panth. p. 55. Vossius de Idololatria, ii. 34, p. 489. Bruckeri Histor. Philosoph. i. p. 1055.
[66] Origenes Contra Celsum, lib. vi. 22. I expected to have received some explanation of this passage from the editors of Origen, and in those authors who have treated expressly on the religious worship of the Persians; but I find that they are quoted neither by Hyde; Philip a Turre, whose Monumenta Veteris Antii is printed in Thesaurus Antiquitat. et Histor. Italiæ; nor by Banier in his Mythology.
[67] Borrichius arranges the words in the following manner: “Secundam portam faciunt Jovis, comparantes ei stanni splendorem et mollitiem; tertiam Veneris æratam et solidam; quartam Martis, est enim laborum patiens, æque ac ferrum, celebratus hominibus; quintam Mercurii propter misturam inæqualem ac variam, et quia negotiator est; sextam Lunæ argenteam; septimam Solis auream.”—Ol. Borrichius De Ortu et Progressu Chemiæ.” Hafniæ, 1668, 4to, p. 29. Professor Eichhorn reminded me, as allusive to this subject, of the seven walls of Ecbatana, the capital of Media, the outermost of which was the lowest, and each of the rest progressively higher, so that they overtopped each other. Each was of a particular colour. The outermost was white; the second black; the third purple; the fourth blue; the fifth red, or rather of an orange colour; and the summit of the sixth was covered with silver, and that of the seventh, or innermost, with gold. Such is the account given by Herodotus, i. 98; and it appears to me not improbable that they may have had a relation to the seven planets, though nothing is hinted on that subject by the historian.
[68] Philostrat. Vita Apollonii, iii. 41, p. 130. How was the ring for Wednesday made? Perhaps it was hollow, and filled with quicksilver. Gesner, in Commentaria Societat. Scien. Gotting. 1753, iii. p. 78, thinks that these rings might have been made or cast under certain constellations.
[69] Oneirocritica, v. 37.
[70] Isthm. Od. ver. 1. Of the like kind are many passages in Eustathius on Homer’s Iliad, b. xi., and also the following passages of Constantinus Manasses, where he describes the creation of the stars, in his Annales (edit. Meursii, Lugd. 1616), p. 7, and p. 263: “Saturnus nigricabat, colore plumbeo; Jupiter ut argentum splendebat; Mars flammeus conspiciebatur; Sol instar auri puri lucebat; (Venus uti stannum;) Mercurius instar æris rubebat; Luna in morem glaciei pellucida suam et ipsa lucem emittebat,” &c.
[71] In his Preface to Critias. Platonis Opera; Francof. 1602, fol. p. 1097.
[72] It is probable that Ficinus had in view a passage in Olympiodori Commentar. in Meteora Arist. Ven. 1551, fol. lib. iii. p. 59.
[73] This distribution, which is ascribed to the Platonists, may be found also in the scholiasts on Pindar, at the beginning of the fifth Isthmian Ode, p. 459.
[74] Jablonski, Pantheon Ægypt. i. p. 282, 283, 287; and ii. p. 131. This author makes it the representation of something which cannot be well named. Kircheri Œdipus Ægypt. t. ii. pars ii. p. 399. Romæ, 1653, fol.
[75] Goguet, ii. pp. 370, 371, considers them as remains of the original hieroglyphics; but he is of opinion that we received them in their present form from the Arabians.
[76] Plinianæ Exercitat. in Solinum, p. 874.
[77] Gloss. ad Script. Med. et Infimæ Græcitatis.
[78] In his Annotations on Manilii Astronomicon (in usum Delphini). Par. 1679, 4to, p. 80.
[79] In his Annotations on Manilii Astron. Strasb. 1665, 4to, p. 460.
[80] In Gorii Thesaurus Gemmarum antiquarum astriferarum, Florent. 1750, 3 vols. fol., I found nothing on this subject. Characters of the moon and of the signs in the zodiac often occur; but no others are to be seen, except in tab. 33, where there is a ring, which has on it the present characters of Mars and Venus. In general the planets are represented by seven small asterisks, or by six and the character of the moon. Besides, the antiquity of this gem cannot be ascertained.
[81] See the collection of Greek letters of Eilh. Lubbinus. Commelin. 1601, 8vo.