C. A B 



motliracianj, »nd others, ctlchiatcd tlK-m in tlie niglit, 

 and, as it is related, with great indecency ; and to this cir- 

 ciiniiUncc it is owing, tliat they have- tranfmitted no written 

 account of them to pollerity. The " phallus" is faid to 

 have been one of their fymbols in the Cabirian myfleries of 

 Samothrace. M. dc St. Cr, ix in hii " Memoirs concern- 

 ing the facred Religion of ancient Nations," (Paris, 17S4), 

 f'sg^eds, that the origin of the nfe of this fv!!iboI was as 

 foUows. Cadinilhis, the youngell of the Cnbiri, liaying 

 been killed by two of his brothers, who cut <i!T his privities 

 and fl.d to mount Olympus, where they buried them ; this 

 Cabin's death was commemorated by that fymbol, and by 

 ir.any various exprclTions of grief on the part of the initiated. 

 This author, combining the above relation of Herodotus 

 with a p:ilTi\ge in Paufanias, where the mylleries of the Ca- 

 biri are laid to have been founded on a " prefcnt that was 

 made to them by Ceres," concludes, that this " prefcnt," 

 which Paufanias did not dare to fpecify, was no more than 

 the obfeure reprefcntation of the mutilated parts of Cidniil- 

 lus J and this, he adds, was the venerable objedl that was 

 committed to the cullody of the Vellals in after-times, as a 

 facred pledge of t!ie fafety of Rome, whither the SaiTiothra- 

 cian priells, who to ik refuge in Italy, carried the religious 

 rites and myfteries of the Cabiri. Whether this account be 

 true or not, it is certain that the " phallus" was introduced 

 under one form or name or another into the religious mylle- 

 ries of ancient nations, aivJ that the celebration of thefe 

 myfteries was accompanied with many indecorous rites. 

 Under the appellation of Cabiri, the ancients comprehended 

 ■divinities of each fcx, of all ages, of every rank and condi- 

 tion, celeftial, terrellrial, maritime, and infernal, to which 

 they appropriated various attributes. To fome of the Ca- 

 biri, who were the inventors of navigation, they afcribtd 

 the difcovery of iron ; to others, the origin of laws, letters, 

 and writing ; and to others again the difcovery of various 

 modes of incantation and ma<rii-, the medical ufe of plants, 

 &c. Sec. The worfliip that was paid to them in diflerent 

 places referred more direilly or indirectly to thofe feveral 

 attributes. Such was the ellimation in which thefe deities 

 were held in the remote ages of ant'quity, and afterwards 

 by the Greeks under various appellations, by which they 

 were didinguidied, that princes and perfons of rank reforted 

 to Samothrace in order to be initiated into their myfteries. 

 Accordingly, we find that Cadmus, Orpheus, Herciiles, 

 Caftor and Pollux, UlyfTes, and other heroes of the Tro- 

 jan war, Philip the father of Alexander, and many others, 

 made a voyage to this ifland, probably, under a notion 

 that they might derive fuccour from the Cabirian deities in 

 tempefts and perilous voyages. Such was the veneration in 

 which the Cabiri were held in the idand of Samothrace, that 

 it was thought an aft of irreverence even to pronounce their 

 names. Thofe who were admitted to the facred ceremonies 

 performed in honour of thefe deities ufed to affemble in a 

 wood, which became a place of refuge for offenders, and 

 was more refpcfled than even the temple of Delphi or the 

 ifland of Delos. To this ifland, Perfes, king of Maccdon, 

 fled for refuge, and took up his habitation in a temple of 

 Caftor and Pollux, hoping that the Romans would not pro- 

 fane a fancluary revered by all the nations of the world ; 

 and, indeed, the Romans did n Jt make any atternpt upon 

 his hfe or perfon fo long as he continued there. Of all the 

 oaths that were in ufe among the ancients, that by the 

 Gods of Samothrace was deemed the moft facred and invio- 

 lable. Thofe who were found to have falfified this oath, 

 were looked upon as the curfe of mankind, and perfons de- 

 voted to deftruclion. Of courfe, thefe myfteries were 

 highly refpedlcd, and care was taken that they fhould not 



CAB 



be revealed. With this view, the priefts had a language pc^ 

 culiar to themfelves, which was not underftood by the 

 people. The Corybantes were the minifters of thefe myf- 

 teries, not only at Ijcmnos and Imbros, but through the 

 whole of Phrygia. For a inore ample account of the va- 

 rious opinions of the fabulous ages, with regard to the 

 names, origin, num.bor, attributes, myfteries, and worfliip 

 of the Cabiri, the reader, who is defirous of further informa- 

 tion, may confult the writings of Clemens Alexandrinus, and 

 Bochart. See Ceres, Eleusis, and Mysteries. See 

 alfo Corybantes, Curetes, aod Dioscuri. 



Cabiri is alfo ufed to denote the GaLri, or Pcrfian fire- 

 'zvorjh'i'open. Hyde de Rtl. Perfarum, cap. 29. See Ga- 



BRVS. 



Cabiri, in Ancient Geography, a people who inhabited 

 the vicinity of mount Ida. Straho fays, that in his time, 

 many fuppnfed them to be the fame with the Curetes. See 

 Cabiri, fiiprn. 



CABIRIA, in Mythology, a furname of Ceres, who was 

 the principal Cabirian deity: (he had a facred grove under 

 this name in Bocotia. 



CABIRIA, Ka?£i;ia, religious feafts inftituted in honour 

 of the gods Cabiri. They were celebrated at tirft at Lem- 

 nos, afterwards adopted by the inhabitants of the iflands of 

 Samothrace and Imbros, and from thence pafled into Greece 

 to Athens, and particularly to Thebes, where they became 

 famous. 



Thefe feafts were very ancient, and prior even to the time 

 of Jupiter ; who is faid to have reftored them : they were 

 held by night. Children above a certain age were here 

 confecrated ; which conftcration was fuppofed to be a pre- 

 fervative againft all dangers of the fea, &c. 



The ceremony of coiifecration called Sjovi'Tif, or SfoviTj^o,-, 

 q. d. en/hronizing, confifted in placing the initiated youth on 

 a throne, the priefts dancing round him : the badges of the 

 initiated were a purple girdle or fcarf, and a crown of olive. 

 When a perfon had coirirr;itted any murder, the cabiria gave 

 him an afylum. — Meuifius is very particular in the proof of 

 each of thefe points. 



CABI RIDES, nymphs, who were the daughters of 

 Vulcan and Cabira. 



CABIRUS, in Ancient Geography, a mountain of Afia 

 Minor, in Phrygia. — Alfo, a river of Afia, in the territory 

 of the Suerii, at the raouth of which was good anchorage. 

 Phny. 



C ABISTRA, a town of Cappadocia, mentioned by Ci- 

 cero in his Letters, lib. xv. Epift. 11. ad Senat. & ad Attic. 

 lib.v. Epift. 18. 



CABLE, in A^iivigation, a thick, long, three-ftrand rope, 

 ordinarily of hemp, ferving to hold fhips firm at anchor, and 

 to tow veftels in large rivers. In Europe, the cables are com- 

 monly made of hemp ; in Africa, of long ftraw, or ruflies 

 called iiifs ; and in Afia, of a peculiar kind of Indian grafs. 



The word cable comes from the Hebrew w'ord chebel, 

 cord. Dii-Cange derives it from the Arabic, habh cord, or 

 habala, vincire : Menage, from eapidum, or cabuhim ; and 

 that from the Greek KapijAQ,-, or the Latin cameltu. 



The term cable isfometimes alfo applied to the cordage ufed 

 to raife mafty loads, by means of cranes, wheels, and other like 

 engines ; though in ftriftnefs, cable is not to be applied to 

 ropes of lefs than three inches in circumference. Every cable, 

 ot whatever thicknefs it be, is compofed of three ftrands ; 

 each ftrand of three twifts ; and each twift of a certain 

 number of caburns, or threads of rope yarn, more or lefs, as 

 the cable is to be thicker or fmallcr. 



Every merchant-veffcl, how fmall foever, has three cables ; 



viz. the main oc naafter-cable, which is that of the chief 



6 anchor. 



