IS'2 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XII. 



and many others, speak of altars raised to unknown 

 Deities ; and, in the Acts of the Apostles, St. Paul 

 mentions an altar to the unknown God. 



" Epemenides, the great prophet of the Cretans, 

 was the author of this notion. 



" Clemens of Alexandria endeavoured to include 

 all the Pagan deities under seven classes. In the 

 first he placed the stars or heavenly bodies ; in the 

 second, the fruits of the earth and the Gods who 

 presided over them, as Ceres, Pomona, Vertum- 

 nus, Bacchus, and others; thethird comprehended 

 the Furies, and otlier Gods of punishment; in 

 the fourth he placed those of the passions and 

 aflections, as love, modesty, and others ; the vir- 

 tues, as Concord, Peace, and the rest, forming, ac- 

 cording to him, the fifth class. The great Gods, 

 or Dii majorum gentium, occupied the sixth ; and 

 those of health, as Esculapius, Hygieia, Teles- 

 phore, and some more, constituted the seventh. 



" lamblichus *, a Platonic philosopher, divided 

 the Gods into eight classes. In the first he placed 

 tlie great Gods, who, invisible by their nature, per- 

 vaded the whole universe : that is, doubtless, tlie 

 universal Spirit. The higher order of spirits, whom 

 he called Archangels, occupied the second rank ; and 

 others of an inferior grade, or angels, formed the 

 third. In the fourth were the Demons (oaz/xovs^); 

 those whom he names greater Archontes, — that is, 

 genii who presided over this sublunary world and 

 over the elements, — constituted the fifth ; and the 



* lainbliclnis dc M3steriis, sect. ii.c. 1. 



