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goddess of Hinges now is very appropriately brought into connexion with 

 Janus the god of Doors, who protects the dwelling at whose entrance he 

 is placed during the day, as she does by night ; for she drives away the 

 night bi|;ds, and, no doubt, spectres and other dangers. Whilst she is 

 thus associated with Janus as a guardian divinity of the dwelling, she has 

 also a higher astronomical meaning in connexion with him. There can 

 be no doubt, that she is the Moon, as Janus is the Sun. This is clearly 

 expressed in Ovid's statement, that she was considered to be the sister of 

 Phoebus, i. e. the Sun god. Her identity with Phoebe, Diana, or Artemis, 

 is further proved by her being represented as a coy maiden and as a 

 huntress. Her festival is very appropriately placed on the kalends of 

 June, a month dedicated to Juno, with whom she was originally iden- 

 tical ; for there can be no doubt, that Juno also was a Moon Deity, and 

 at first identical with Jana and Diana. For this reason the first days of 

 all the months, i. e. Moons, were dedicated to her, and she was wor- 

 shipped in connexion with Janus, who was called also Junonius. Perhaps 

 the word Cardea was originally only an adjective attributed to Juno, or 

 Jana in her quality as protectress of hinges ; for it has often happened, 

 and is quite in the true spirit of polytheism, that certain qualities of the 

 great gods were detached as it were from the parent stem, and struck 

 root as distinct plants. 



But what is the meaning of the myth related by Ovid ? 



It is an astronomical phenomenon clothed in mythological language : 

 The Moon is a chaste Maiden, She flees from all suitors. She bids 

 them mockingly to follow her into a dark cave ; this cave is the vault of 

 the heavens. Janus, i. e. the sun, also courts the Maid ; he precedes 

 her into the remote vault; she follows; but the Sun sees her and 

 embraces her. What is this embrace of Janus, the god of doors, and 

 Cardea, the goddess of hinges, but a conjunction of the Sun and the 

 Moon ? At the time of the New Moon we do not see her orb ; she has 

 hidden herself in the dark vault of heaven, but the Sun god espies her 

 to enjoy her embrace. If it were possible to doubt the identity of Janus 

 and the Sun after the evidence previously given, it seems that this myth 

 is too palpable and striking a proof to be resisted even by the most 

 sceptical. 



We have thus arrived, by a series of independent reasoning, and by a 

 combination of various isolated facts, at the same result, which is 

 expressed in the words of Nigidius Figulus, by Macrobius, (Saturn. I. 9,) 

 " that Janus is Apollo and Jana Diana," a statement which has too long 

 been overlooked, perhaps, as unfoimded and whimsical. It is, however, 

 the simple truth, and by it every thing becomes clear. We have found 

 the key of Janus which will unlock every door and solve every difficulty : 



