4?8 
M Y T H O 
few ages loft and obliterated, what was originally a moral 
or theological tenet, aftumed the air and habit of a per- 
fonal adventure. 
The propentky towards personification, almoft universal 
among the Orientals, was another fruitful fource of fable 
and allegory. That the people of the Eaft were ftrongly 
inclined toperfoni'fy inanimate objefts and abftraft ideas, 
we imagine will be readily granted, when it is confidered, 
that, in the formation of language, they have generally 
annexed the affedtion of fex to thofe objects. Hence the 
diflin&ion of grammatical genders, which is known to 
have originated in the eaftern parts of the w'orld. The 
practice of perfonifying virtues, vices, religious and moral 
affe 61 ions, was neceffary to fupport that allegorical ftyie 
which univerfally prevailed in thole countries. This 
mode of writing was in high reputation even in Europe 
fome centuries ago ; and to it we are indebted for fome 
of the molt noble poetical compofitions now extant in. 
our own language. Thofe productions, however, are but 
faint imitations of the original mode of writing ftili cur¬ 
rent among the eaftern nations. The Europeans derived 
this fpecies of compolition from the Mooriih inhabitants 
of Spain, who imported it from Arabia, their original 
country. 
The general ufe of hieroglyphics in the Eaft, mtift have 
contributed largely towards extending the empire of my¬ 
thology. As the import of the figures employed in this 
method of delineating the figns of ideas was in a great 
meafure arbitrary, miftakes muft have been frequently 
committed in afcertaining the notions which they were 
at the firft intended to reprefent. When the deveiope- 
ment of thefe arbitrary figns happened to be attended 
with uncommon difficulty, the expounders w r ere obliged 
to have recourfe to conjeflure. Thofe conjectural ex- 
pofitions were for the moft part tjnftured with that bias 
towards the marvellous which univerfally pervaded among 
the primitive men. This we find is the cafe even at this 
day, when moderns attempt to develope the purport of 
emblematical figures, preferved on ancient medals, en- 
taglios, &c. 
The wife men of the Eaft delighted in obfcure enig¬ 
matical fentences. They feem to have difdained every 
fentiment obvious to vulgar apprehenfion. The words 
of the wile, and their dark fayings, often occur in the 
moft ancient records, both facred and profane. The 
fages of antiquity uled to vie with each other for the 
prize of fuperior wifdom, by propounding riddles, and 
dark and myfterious queftions, as fubjedls of inveftiga- 
tion. The conteft between Solomon and Hiram, and that 
between Amafis king of Egypt, and Polycrates tyrant of 
Samos, are univerfally known. As the import of thofe 
enigmatical propofitions was often abfolutely loft, in 
ages when the art of writing was little known, and ftili 
lefs pra&ifed, nothing remained but fancy and conjecture, 
which always verged towards the regions of fable. This 
then, we think, was another fource of mythology. 
The pagan priefts, efpecially in Egypt, were probably 
the firft who reduced mythology to a kind of fyftem. 
The facerdotal tribe, among that people, were the grand 
depofitories of learning as well as of religion. That order 
of men monopolized all the arts and fciences. They 
feem to have formed a confpiracy among themfelves, to 
preclude the laity from all the avenues of intellectual 
improvement. This plan was adopted with a view to 
keep the laity in fubjeCtion, and to enhance their own 
importance. To accompliih this end, they contrived to 
perform all the miniftrations of their religion in an un¬ 
known tongue, and to cover them with a thick veil of 
fable and allegory. The language of Ethiopia became 
their facred dialeCt, and hieroglyphics their facred cha¬ 
racter. Egypt, of courfe, became a kind of fairy-land, 
where all was jugglery, magic, and enchantment. The 
initiated alone were admitted to the knowledge of the 
occult myltical exhibitions, which, in their hands, con¬ 
stituted the efience of their religion. From thefe the 
LOGY. 
vulgar and profane were prohibited by the moft rigorous 1 
penalties. The Egyptians,, and indeed all the ancients 
without exception, deemed the myfteries of religion too. 
facred and folemn to be communicated to the herd of 
mankind, naked and unreferved ; a mode by which they 
imagined thofe facred and fublime oracles would have 
been defiled and degraded. “ Procul, 6 procul efte profani; 
Odi profanum vulgus et arceo.” Egypt was the land 
of graven images; allegory and mythology were the 
veil which concealed religion from the eyes of the 
vulgar; fable was the groundwork of that impenetrable 
covering. 
In the earlieft and moft unpolifhed ftate of fociety we 
cannot fuppofe fable to have exifted among men. Fables 
are always talcs of other times-, but at this period other 
times did not reach far enough backward to afford thofe 
fruits of the imagination fufficient time to arrive at ma¬ 
turity. Fable requires a confiderable fpace of time to ac¬ 
quire credibility, and to rife into reputation. Accordingly, 
we find that both the Chinefe and Egyptians, the two 
moft ancient nations whofe annals have reached our times,, 
were altogether unacquainted with fabulous details in 
the moft early and leaft improved periods of their refpec- 
tive monarchies. It has been fhown almoft to a demon- 
ftration, by a variety of learned men, that both the one 
and the other people, during fome centuries after the 
general deluge, retained and pradtifed the primitive 
Noachic religion, in which fable and fancy could find no- 
place : all was genuine unfophifticated truth. 
As foon as the authentic tradition concerning the ori¬ 
gin of the univerfe was either in a good meafure loft, or 
at leaft adulterated by the inventions of men, fable and 
fidlion began to prevail. The Egyptian Thoth or Thyoth, 
or Mercury Trifmegiftus, and Mofchus the Phoenician, 
undertook to account for the formation and arrangement 
of the univerfe upon principles purely mechanical. Here 
fable began to ufurp the place of genuine hiftorical truth. 
According, we find that all the hiftorians of antiquity, 
who have undertaken to give a general detail of the 
affairs of the world, have uibered in their narration with 
a fabulous cofmogony. Here imagination ranged un¬ 
confined over the boundlefs extent of the primary chaos. 
To be convinced of the truth of this affertion, we need 
only look into Sanchoniathon’s Cofmogony, Eufeb. Prasp. 
Evang. 1 . i. lub init. and Diodorus Sic. 1 . i. From 
this we fuppofe it will follow, that the firft race of fables 
owed their birth to the erroneous opinions of the forma¬ 
tion of the univerfe. 
Having thus endeavoured to point out the origin of 
mythology, or fabulous traditions, we fhall now proceed 
to lay before our readers a brief detail of the mythology 
of the moft refpeftable nations of antiquity, following the 
natural order of their fituation. 
The Chinefe, if any credit be due to their own annals, 
or to the miffionaries of the church of Rome, who pre¬ 
tend to have copied from them, were the firft of the nations. 
Their fabulous records reach upwards many myriads of 
years before the Mofaic era of the creation. The events 
during that period of time, if any had been recorded, 
muft have been fabulous as the period itfelf. Thefe, 
however, are buried in eternal oblivion. The miffion¬ 
aries, who are the only fources of our information with 
relation to the earlielt periods of the Chinefe hiftory, 
reprefent thofe people as having retained the religion of 
Noah many centuries after the foundation of their em¬ 
pire. Upon this fuppofitioa, their cofmogony muft have 
been found and genuine, without the leaft tinfture of 
thofe fabulous ingredients which have both.difguifed and 
difgraced the cofmogonies of moft other nations. 
According to the moft authentic accounts. Fold laid 
the foundation of that empire about 4.000 years ago. 
This emperor, according to the Chinefe, was conceived 
in a miraculous manner. His mother, fay they, one day 
as file was walking in a defert place, was furrounded by 
a rainbow ; and, being impregnated by this meteor, was 
iiv 
