Two of the quarterly solemnities or general sacrifices of the Druids were on the two equinoxes, when are the highest tides. A curious observer being upon the spot, for some years together, at these times, might possibly make some notable discovery concerning the difference of the surface of the sea, since the current of 5 or 6000 years: for I persuade myself this temple was made by the very first inhabitants of the isle, and not long after the flood, on account of the interment here of some great hero, that advanc’d so far in peopling the country. And if our reasonings and testimonies hitherto be any whit agreeable to truth, we may point out the species of many of these most ancient temples built at the place of sepulture of heroes, spoken of in writings of those times. For instance, we infer a serpentine temple was made by the tumulus of Orpheus, from the fable of a serpent offering to devour his head, which serpent was turn’d into stone.
Hic ferus expositum peregrinis anguis arenis
Os petit, & sparsos stillanti rore capillos
Lambit, & hymniferos inhiat divellere vultus.
Tandem Phœbus adest, morsusque inferre parentem
Congelat, & patulos, ut erant, indurat hiatus.
Again, we may reasonably suppose that an alate temple was built by the tomb of Memnon, said to be buried in Phrygia, who was turn’d into a bird on the funeral pile, at the request of his mother Aurora. We see some hints of it even from Ovid’s telling the story. This was done at the request of his mother Aurora, who petitions Jupiter for this favour to her son, for herself she desires none. Thus she begins:
Omnibus inferior, quas sustinet aureus æther
(Nam mihi sunt totum rarissima templa per orbem,)
Diva tamen venio: non ut delubra, diesque