528 
thither after his prifoner, and other in- 
genious novelties, by way of affording 
variety to the fpeétators, and to refift 
the torrent of cuftom as far as he was 
able. It muft be -obferved, however, 
that the dance was alfo an aét of religion, 
as we find the choir fometimes ficpping, 
while a part of the band advances before 
the reft to chaunt the praifes of the gods, 
after which the dance is renewed. 
The general charaéter of Ariftophanes’s 
comedies is thus fketched out by Lodz- 
neau: “In all the pieces of Ariftophanes 
a vein of wit and genuine Attic humour 
is difcoverable; a delicate raillery, al- 
though often fatirical; a grand seu de 
theétre ; magnificence and diguity in the 
choruffes ; a furprifing liberty or {peech 
in eyery thing relating to. public affairs; 
an eafy verfification ; a fiyle remarkably 
pure ;—yet little unity of action, time, 
or place. Ariftotle was not then in being, 
and if his rules are to be confidered as 
laws, it cannot be faid that Ariftophanes 
has brokenthem. ‘This laf had found 
out the art of pleafing, and thefe who 
afterwards adopted at Athens the rules 
of Ariftotle, need not take umbrage, if 
their fathers had frequently been merry 
in f{pite of thofe rules.” 
The author then adds, “ J have read 
fomewhere, that Dionyfius the Tyrant 
was. one day enquiring of Plato what 
books he ought to read, 1n order to per- 
fe&t himfelf in his own laiiguage, and to 
inftru€t himfelf fully in the manners of 
that nation of Greece which fpoke the 
pureft dialect, and had the moft reputa- 
tion? andthat this juft and difinterefied 
philofopher recommended to him to ftudy 
the comedies of Ariftophanes, as con- 
taining all that purity of the Grecian 
language, and all that- perfect know- 
ledge of the manners of the Athenians, 
which he was defirous to acquire. 
This anfwer of Plato to Dionyfius, 
furnifhes Father Lopine au with a fuf- 
ficient reafon, as he himfelf obferves, for 
felecting out OF ARISTOPHANES, every 
thing which has any relation to the reli- 
gion, the manners, the cuftoms, &c. or 
that ingenious people. 
“T thall, in my turn, colle& from thefe 
extracts, under the heads of religion and 
manners, whatever fhall appear to me to 
be of the moft importance in the reft of 
the preface. 
_ RELIGION OF THE ATHENIANS. 
The divinity the moft refpected at 
Athens, was Minerva. Her veil was 
carefully preferved there, on which was 
os 
Religion of the Athenians drawn from Ariflophanes, — [Sup, 
reprefented, in embroidery, her vidtory 
over the giant Enceladus. It was con- 
fidered as a heinous crime to enter inte 
her temple after amorous intercourfe, 
legitimate or not. In the month an- 
fwering to that of May, a feftival was 
celebrated in honour of her, called 
Arrhephoria, or Arrhetophoria; in this, 
four noble virgins, under eleven years of — 
age, were felected to carry the bafkets, 
containing the myfteries which it was 
unlawful to reveal. At this ceremony 
the prieft wore a white har, called 
Squitros;, and hence the month took-the 
name of Sgurrophorion. There was ans 
other feftival of. Minerva, . called’ the 
Panathenez, in-which young men, armed 
at all points, danced the Pyrrhic dance. 
A ceremony was alfo obferved - three 
times in the year, in honour of Minerva, 
Vulcan, and Prometheus, called the 
lamp race, a foot-courfe by the Athenian 
youth, the fignal for beginning whick 
was made by lowering down a lamp frem 
one of the windows in the tower of 
Ceramicus. Each runner carried in his 
hand a flambeau, which, after running 
{ome time, he gave to the firft perfon he 
met, who alfo, after running. a fpace, 
paffed it to a third, &c. Hence arofe 
the proverb: To give the lamp to another, 
to.denote a perfon who, after havin 
finithed his part of a taf, develves the 
remainder on a fucceffor. : 
The queen of Hades and her mother 
were alfo treated with great religious 
honours by the Athenians, there being 
few who did not make it a point to be 
initigted in their myferies, as a means 
of infnring hapvinets in the other world, 
if not in this. There were two forts of 
the myfteries of Ceres, the great and the 
little; the latter were celebrated at 
Eleufis, a village near Athens. In the © 
procefiions to Eleufis, all the parapher- 
nalia of the myfteries were carried by 
aifes. 
Three feftivals were obferved at 
Athens, in honour of Ceres; the Deme- 
tria, the Thefmopboria, andthe Eleufina. 
Fhe fecond of thefe was celebrated by 
women alone, who, en that occafion, 
fafted rigoroufly, but made themfelves 
amends, by drinking largely. This fefti-- 
val lafted five days, during which the 
courts of juftice were fhut up, and the 
equncil was not held. Then i was 
that the women fang the lufcious canticle 
of Iikvphallos, or the reprefentation of 
the virile member. The myfteries were 
celebrated in a confecrated grove; flaver 
ear " were 
