August 12, 1897] 



NATURE 



157 



black, heavy, close-grained, and having fibres like wrinkles in 

 circular forms over the whole surface above and below. 



The name Sideriles was at a later date applied to the load- 

 stone, but by this writer the two stones are separately described, 

 and are apjiarently distinct. If this name was of Greek origin 

 it seems to be allied to sideros, iron, and this heavy stone, like 

 nearly all meteorites, probably contained iron. If, however, 

 this name came from a Latin source (for it is used both by Greek 

 and by Latin wiiters) it has affinities with Sidiis, a star, and its 

 meteoric character is still more clearly indicated. 



One of the most interesting of the stories about images that 

 have fallen from heaven, is the basis of that beautiful tragedy of 

 Euripides. " Iphigeneia in Tauris." To many of you the 

 story is familiar, but it will bear repetition. 



The goddess Diana detained at Aulis the Grecian fleets by 

 contrary winds, and required the sacrifice of Iphigeneia, the 

 daughter of Agamemnon, before the Greeks could set sail. The 

 father consented ; and the daughter, apparently sacrificed, 

 was really rescued by Diana, and borne to the Tauric, or 

 Crimean peninsula on the north shore of the Black Sea. She 

 was then made a priestess in the temple of the goddess. At 

 this shrine the barbaric inhabitants used to sacrifice before an 

 image of Diana, that fell from heaven, all strangers that were 

 shipwrecked upon the coast. The unhappy Iphigeneia, forced 

 to take a leading part in these human sacrifices, laments her 

 sad lot : — 



" Butnow a stmnger on this strand, 

 'Gainst which the wild waves beat, 

 I hold my dreary, joyless seat. 

 Far distant from my native land ; 

 Nor nuptial bed is mine, nor child, nor friend. 

 At Argos now no more I raise 

 The festal song in Juno's praise ; 

 Nor o'er the loom sweet sounding b«nd, 

 As the creative shuttle flies, 

 Give forms of Titans fierce to rise, 

 And dre.idful with her purple spear 

 Image Athenian Pallas there. 



But on this barbarous shore 



Th' unhappy stranger's fate I moan. 

 The ruthless altar stained with gore. 



His deep and dying groan ; 

 And for each tear that weeps his woes, 

 From me a tear of pity flows." 



Orestes, the brother of Iphigeneia, had avenged upon his 

 mother the murder of his father. For this he was driven by 

 the Furies. While stretched before the shrine of Phcebus he 

 heard the divine voice from the golden tripod, commanding 

 him to speed his way to the wild coast of the Taurians, thence to 

 take by fraud or by fortune the statue of Diana that fell from 

 heaven, and carry it to Attica. Doing this he should have rest 

 from the Furies. 



He was captured, however, along with his friend Pylades, 

 and brought to the altar to be sacrificed. The relationship of 

 the brother and sister became here revealed, and they together 

 fled, carrying with them the image. It was not without a 

 struggle that they reached the shore, but finally, 



" On his left .irm sustained 

 Orestes bore his sister through the tide. 

 Mounted the bark's tall side and on the deck 

 Safe placed her and Diana's holy image 

 Which fell from heaven." 



Neptune favoureil the Greeks, Minerva forbade pursuit, and 

 the image was borne to Halae (or as some said to Brauron) in 

 Attica. 



Cicero spoke of the Trojan Palladium as something that fell 

 from the sky : ijitod de coelo delapsum. Other classical 

 writers, notably Ovid, speak of it in similar terms. The story 

 in its various forms points toward a stonefall as its basis. One 

 form of it runs thus : — 



Pallas and her foster sister Athena were wrestling with each 

 other, when Pallas was accidentally killed. In grief Athena 

 made an image of Pallas and set it up on Olympus. When 

 King Ilus was about building his city on the Trojan plain he 

 prayed for a favourable omen. In response to his prayer Jupiter 

 cast this image down at the feet of the suppliant king. In the 

 new city it was set up in a temple specially erected to contain 

 and protect it. So long as Troy could keep safely this image, 

 the city, it was firmly believed, could not be taken by its foes. 



According to one story, the Greeks stole the image before 

 capturing the city. As many cities afterwards claimed to possess 

 the treasure as claimed to be the birthplace of Homer. Ac- 

 cording to the Romans, ^neas carried the Palladium to Italy, 

 and the image was regarded as the most sacred trea.sure of the 



NO 1450, VOL. 56] 



Roman State. For centuries even in historic limes it was so 

 carefully kept by the Vestal Virgins that the Pontifex Maximus 

 was not allowed to see it. 



We naturally have doubts about the nature, or even the 

 existence, of an object so kept out of sight. What it was that 

 the Vestals thus guarded, or whether they had anything to 

 represent the image of Pallas, will probably never be known. 

 But it is far otherwise with another famous object of Roman 

 worship. To the east of the Trojan plain on which the Pal- 

 ladium fell, rise the mountains of Phrygia and Galatia. In 

 Pessinus, near the border line of these two countries, and in 

 the caves and woods near Pessinus, the goddess Cybele, the 

 mother of the great gods, Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto, was 

 specially worshipped. This worship may not have been more 

 degrading than the worship of many other Asiatic divinities. 

 But it was wretched and unmanly almost beyond our possible 

 conception. It furnished to Catullus the theme for the most 

 celebrated of his poems, one of the strongest pictures in all 

 literature. The Grecian athlete entered her service with joy- 

 ful music and dancing. Too late he looks back from the 

 Asiatic shore, out of his hopeless degradation, on the noble- 

 ness of his former Grecian life. The lion of Cybele drives 

 him in craven fear again into the wild woods, to spend his days 

 in the menial servitude. The Roman poet exclaims, " O god- 

 dess, great goddess Cybele, goddess queen of Dindymus ; far 

 from juy house be all thy frenzies ; others, others, drive tho* 

 frantic." 



At some unknown early time a meteoric stone fell near \o 

 Pessinus. It was taken to the shrine of Cybele, and there set 

 up and worshipped as her image. This image and its worship 

 very early attained a wide celebrity. About two hundred 

 yfears before Christ, in the time of the second Punic war, the 

 stone was transported to Rome. The detailed history of the 

 transfer is given by several writers in varied terms. It forms 

 one of Livy's charming stories, it is told in poetic terms by 

 Ovid, it is given as a tradition by Herodian. For every detail , 

 of the history I do not ask confiding belief, but the prina^l 

 event is, I suppose, historically true. 



In the year 205 before Christ, Hannibal had, since crossing, 

 the Alps, been holding his place in Italy for more than a dozea 

 years, threatening the existence of the Roman State. The 

 fortunes of war were now somewhat adverse to the Carthagenian 

 general. A shower of stones alarmed the Romans. The 

 decemvirs consulted the Sybilline books, and there found 

 certain verses which imported that whensoever a foreign enemy 

 shall have carried war into the land of Italy he may be 

 expelled and conquered if the Idrean mother be brought from 

 Pessinus to Rome. These words were reported to the Senate. 

 Encouraging responses came at the same time from the Pythian 

 oracle at Delphi. 



The Senate set about considering how the goddess might be 

 transported to Rome. There was then no alliance with the 

 States of Asia. But King Attains was on friendly terms with 

 the Romans because they had a common enemy in Philip II. 



of Macedon. The Senate, therefore, selected an 



iposmg 



embassy from the noblest Romans. A convoy of five quin- 

 queremes was ordered for them, that they might make an 

 appearance suited to the grandeur of the Roman people. The 

 embassy landed on their way and made inquiry of the or:icle 

 at Delphi, and were informed "that they would attain what 

 they were in search of by means of King Attalus, and that 

 when they should have carried the goddess to Rome they were- 

 to take care that whoever was the best man in the city should 

 perform the rite of hospitality to her." The king received 

 them kindly, but refused their request ; whereupon an earth- 

 quake tremor shook the place, and the goddess herself spoke 

 from hef shrine, "It is my will, Rome is a worthy place for 

 any god; delay not." The king yielded; a thousand axes 

 hewed down the sacred pines, and a thousand hands built the 

 ve.«sel. The completed and painted ship received the stone, and 

 bore it to the mouth of the Tiber. 



It was the spring of the following year before the ship 

 arrived. Meanwhile new prodigies frightened the people. A 

 brilliant meteor had crossed Italy from east to west, a little 

 south of Rome, and a heavy detonation followed. From this, 

 or from some other meteor, another shower of stones had 

 fallen. In expiation, according to the custom of the country 

 in case of stonefalls, religious exercises during nine days were 

 ordered. The Senate after careful deliberation selected one 

 of the Scipios, deciding that he of all the good men in the 



