Spare ye such cost: no gratefull victimes these
Are unto me, others lesse costly please.
A Mountaineer, a wood-man clad in skin
Am I: your wine in earthen vessels bring.
But the Sacrifices anciently offered at Stoneheng (already remembred) were Buls or Oxen, and severall sorts of beasts, as appears by the heads of divers kinds of them, not many years since there digged up.
As for that of the Pantheon, it is very well known the Ancients so called it, not in any relation to Pan, but because it was sacred to Jove the Revenger, and according to others to Cibele, and all Gods. For which reason, Boniface the fourth obtained licence from the Emperour Phocas,Platin. in Bon. to consecrate it to the Virgin Mary, and all Saints. And who knows not the Architecture thereof wholly different from this of Stoneheng? The Pantheon hath its Cell enclosed with a continued solid wall, and the Portico only in front, of the delicate Corinthian Order; of which Order the inner part consisted likewise, being vaulted in most admirable and magnificent manner. From whenceDion. lib. 53. Dion Cassius delivers his opinion, inde id nominis habere, quod forma convexa fastigiatum, cœli similitudinem ostenderet, it to be called the Pantheon, because by the form of that vault wherewith covered, it represented the concave of Heaven, or (as others will) the figure of the world; for the world being mans house, the firmament is as the vaulted roof thereof. At the crown of the vault it had an opening, by which only it received light and air. But, this Antiquity Stoneheng built of a grave and humble Order (as is said before) had a double Portico continuing round about it, the Cell thereof free and open, and every way exposed to the air, received light from all parts.
Wherefore leaving these, Stoneheng was dedicated, as I conceive, to the God Cœlus, by some Authors called Cœlum, by others Uranus, from whom the Ancients imagined all things took their beginning. My reasons are, First, in respect of the situation thereof; for it stands in a Plain, remote from any Town or Village, in a free and open air, without any groves or woods about it.
Secondly, in regard of the Aspect; for Stoneheng was never covered, but built without a roof. Which Decorum the Romans ever observed, both in the Situation and Aspect of the Temples dedicated to this their God, and to Jove the Lightner, the Sun, and the Moon.Vitr. li. 1. cap. 2. Jovi fulguratori, & Cœlo, & Soli, & Lunæ, ædificia sub divo Hypæthráque constituuntur. To Jove the Lightner, and to Cœlus, and to the Sun, and to the Moon, they erected buildings in the open air and uncovered, saith Vitruvius in the second Chapter of his first Book. Take with you also his reason. Horum enim Deorum & species & effectus in aperto mundo atque lucenti præsentes videmus, because both the forms and effects of these Deities, we behold present before our eyes, in a clear and open view. Another reason I find also why they built their Temples to Cœlus,Godw. Antiq. l. 1. cap. 20. and those other Deities uncovered as Stoneheng: because they counted it an hainous matter to see those Gods confined under a roof, whose doing good consisted in being abroad.
Thirdly, in regard of the Form of Stoneheng, which is circular.Pier. Valer.
Hier. lib. 39. This figure was proper to the Temples of Cœlus and Tellus, whom the Ancients called Vesta, as Valerianus (in his Hieroglyphicks) affirms. Non solamente la palla, ma una simplice piegatura di ruota, appresso gli Egizziani demostrava il Cielo. Not only (saith he) the circular form, but the meer segment of a circle amongst the Egyptians was an Hieroglyphick of Cœlus. And to this purpose also, Leo Baptista Albertus useth these words.Leo Bapt.
Alb. lib. 7. Ædem Vestæ, quam esse terram putarent, rotundam ad pilæ similitudinem, faciebant. Unto Vesta, whom they reputed to be the Earth, they built Temples of a round form globelike. Besides, observe what Philander commenting on Vitruvius tels us.Philand. in 4. lib. Vitr. cap. 7. Templorum quanquam alia fiant quadrata, alia multorum angulorum, Cœli naturam imitati veteres, imprimis rotundis sunt delectati: Although (saith he) the Ancients made some Temples square, some of six sides, others of many angles, they were especially delighted with making of them round, as representing thereby the Form or Figure of Cœlum, Heaven.
Fourthly, in respect of the Order whereof Stoneheng built. The severity of this Tuscane work, retaining in it a shew (as it were) of that first face of Antiquity (as A. Palladio terms it)An. Pal. li. 1. being most agreeable to the nature of this their God, reputed the ancientest of all their Deities, and Father of Saturn. For, it was the custome of the Ancients (as in part I remembred before) to appropriate the severall Orders of Architecture, according to the particular qualifications of those they deified.Vitr. lib. 1. cap. 2. Minervæ, & Marti, & Herculi, ædes Doricæ fient: his enim diis propter virtutem, sine deliciis ædificia constitui decet. To Minerva, and Mars, and Hercules, Temples of the Dorick Order were made; for, to these Deities in respect of their valiant actions, it was requisite to build without delicacy. Veneri, Floræ, Proserpinæ, Fontium Nymphis, Corinthio genere constitutæ, aptas videbuntur habere proprietates, quòd his diis propter teneritatem, graciliora & florida, foliísque & volutis ornata opera facta augere videbuntur justum decorem. To Venus, Flora, Proserpina, the Fountain Nymphs, the Corinthian Order was thought most proper: because unto these in regard of their tender natures, the work seemed to advance a just decorum, when made delicate and flourishing, and adorned with leaves and volutes. Junoni, Dianæ, Libero Patri cæterísque diis qui eadem sunt similitudine, si ædes Ionicæ construerentur, habita erat ratio mediocritatis, quod & ab severo more Doricorum, & à teneritate Corinthiorum, temperabitur earum institutio proprietatis. To Juno, Diana, Bacchus, and to the other Deities of the same quality, building Temples of the Ionick Order, they had regard unto the mean, that from the severe manner of the Dorick, and delicacy of the Corinthian, the condition of their indowments might be duly moderated, saith Vitruvius. To Jupiter, Sol, and Luna, though they made Temples sub divo open to the air and without roofs like this Antiquity; yet were they not built of severe and humble but most delicate Orders, and accordingly were adorned with costly ornaments, and beautified with various enrichments in severall sorts of sculpture, as by the ruines of them in divers parts of Italy remaining to this day, evidently appears. Respecting therefore, this Decorum used by the Ancients in building their Temples, and that this work Stoneheng is principally composed of a most grave Tuscane manner, by just proportions of an agreeable form; it is in mine opinion, as I said before, most agreeable to the quality and condition of that ancient Cœlus, whom Antiquity reputed the very stem whence all those Deities in the succeeding Ages proceeded. Cœlus ex eadem conjuge (scilicet Tellure) procreavit Oceanum, Cœlum, Hyperionem &c. & Apollod. lib. 1. novissimum omnium Saturnum suscepit. Cœlus, by the same wife (to wit Tellus) had Oceanus, Cœlum, Hyperion &c. and last of all begat Saturn. To which purpose also Lactantius, I finde Uranius by his wife Vesta had Saturn and Ops: Saturn attaining the government, called his father Uranius, Cœlus, and his mother Terra; that by this change of names, he might the more magnifie the splendor of his originall &c. Further, I conceive it will not be impertinent to our purpose in hand, to deliver what the Ancients have reported of Cœlus; and wherefore they ascribed divine Honours unto Him.