WISDOM OF THE ANCIEXTS. 



but the burthen thus rendering the father lame, and causing him pain, 

 the child was thence called Dionysus. When born, he was com 

 mitted for some years, to be nursed by Proserpine ; and when grown 

 up, appeared with so effeminate a face, that his sex seemed somewhat 

 doubtful. He also died, and was buried for a time, but afterwaius 

 revived. When a youth, he first introduced the cultivation and 

 dressing of vines, the method of preparing wine, and taught the use 

 thereof ; whence becoming famous, he subdued the world, even to the 

 utmost bounds of the Indies. He rode in a chariot drawn by tigers. 

 There danced about him certain deformed demons called Cobali, etc. 

 The Muses also joined in his train. He married Ariadne, who was 

 deserted by Theseus. The ivy was sacred to him. He was also 

 held the inventor and institutor of religious rites and ceremonies, but 

 such as were wild, frantic, and full of corruption and cruelty. He had 

 also the power of striking men with frenzies. Pentheus and Orpheus 

 were torn to pieces by the frantic women at his orgies ; the first for 

 climbing a tree to behold their outrageous ceremonies, and the other 

 for the music of his harp. But the acts of this god are much entangled 

 and confounded with those of Jupiter. 



EXPLANATION. This fable seems to contain a little system of 

 morality, so that there is scarce any better invention in all ethics. 

 Under the history of Bacchus is drawn the nature of unlawful desire 

 or affection, and disorder ; for the appetite and thirst of apparent gooa 

 is the mother of all unlawful desire, though ever so destructive, 

 and all unlawful desires are conceived in unlawful wishes or requests, 

 rashly indulged or granted before they arc well understood or con 

 sidered, and when the affection begins to grow warm, the mother of it 

 (the nature of good) is destroyed and burnt up by the heat. And whilst 

 n unlawful desire lies in the embryo, or unripcncd in the mind, 

 which is its father, and here represented by Jupiter, it is cherished and 

 concealed, especially in the inferior parts of the mind, corresponding 

 to the thigh of the body, where pain twitches and depresses the mind 

 so far as to render its resolutions and actions imperfect and lame. 

 And even after this child of the mind is confirmed, and gains strength 

 by consent and habit, and comes forth into action, it must still be 

 nursed by Proserpine for a time : that is, it skulks and hides its head 

 in a clandestine manner, as it were, under ground, till at length, when 

 the checks of shame and fear arc removed, and the requisite boldness 

 acquired, it cither resumes the pretext of some virtue, or openly de 

 spises infamy. And it is justly observed, that every vehement passion 

 appears of a doubtful sex, as having the strength of a man at first, but 

 at last the impotence of a woman. It is also excellently added, that 

 Bacchus died and rose again ; for the affections sometimes seem to 

 die and be no more ; but there is no trusting them, even though they 

 were buried, being always apt and ready to rise again whenever the 

 occasion or object offers. 



That Bacchus should be the inventor of wine carries a fine allegory 

 with it ; for every affection is cunning and subtile in discovering 



