1798} 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR 
HOUGH the fables of the ancients 
are, in. their fecret meaning, utility, 
and conftruétion, the moft beautiful and _ 
admirable pieces of compofition which the 
mind of man is capable of framing, yet 
mothing has been fo little underftood, or 
fo fhamefully abufed. Of the truth of 
this obfervation, the philofophic part of 
your readers will, I perfuade myfelf, be 
fully convinced, by comparing the fol- 
lowing explanations of fome of thefe 
fables, with thofe given by the Abbé 
Banier, and other modern writers on 
mythology, in thofe ridiculous and con- 
temptible publications called Pantheon. 
That thefe moderns, indeed, fhould 
have grofsly erred in their interpretation 
of ancient fables, is by no means wonder- 
ful, if we confider that they appear to 
have been ignorant that thete fabies were 
invented by theological poets*, and 
adopted by intellectual philofophers + ; 
and, confequently, that their meaning 
can only be unfolded by recurring to the 
theology an@ intelleétual philofophy of 
the ancients. 
It is, indeed, eafy for ingenious men to 
give an explanation of an ancient fable, 
which to the fuperficial obferver fhall ap- 
pear to be the precife meaning which its 
inventor defigned to convey, though it 
be im reality very far from the truth. 
- This may be eafily accounted for by con- 
fidering, that all fables are images of 
truths, but thofe of the ancients of truths 
with which but few are acquainted. 
Hence, like pictures of unknown perfons, 
they become the fubjeéts of endlefs con- 
jeiure and abfurd opinion, from the 
fimilitude which every one fancies he 
difcovers in them to objeéts with which 
‘he has been for a long time familiar. He 
who underftands the explanations given 
by the Platonic philofophers.of thefe 
fables, will fubferibe to the truth of this 
ebfervation ; as it is impoffible that thefe 
interpretations could fo wonderfully har- 
monize with the external or apparent 
' meaning of the fabies, without being the 
true explanations of their latent fenfe. 
Even Lord Bacon himfelf, though he faw 
enough to be convinced that thefe fables 
were replete with the higheft wifdom 
_ of which he had any conception, yet was 
far from penetrating the profound mean- 
ing they contain. He has, indeed, done 
all in attempting to unfold them that 
Sem J cepa RATA acter "or ciao 
* Orpheus, Homer, Hefiod, &c. 
+ Pythagoras, Plato, &c. 
’MontTHLy Mas. XXVII. 
On the Fables of Antiquity. 
$4 4 
great genius, without the affiftance of 
intclleGtual philofophy is abie to effeét : but 
the moft_piercing {agacity, the mof bril- 
liant wit, and the.moft exquifite fubtilty 
of thought, without this affiftance, are 
here of no avail. 
This being premifed, it will be necef- 
fary, in the firft place, to obferve, that 
between us and the higheft god there are 
certain mighty powers, which, though 
rooted in, yet poffefs energies diftinét from 
their ineffable caufe; for we, inreality, are 
nothing more than the dregs of-the uni- 
verfe. Thefe mighty powers are called 
by the poets a golden chain, on account of 
their couneion with each other, and in- 
corre nature. Now, the firft of 
thefe powers you may call /n/eleéual s 
the fecond wrwific; the third pwontan, 
and fo on, which the ancients defiring ta 
fignify to us by names, have tymbolically 
denominated. Hence, fays Olympiddo- 
rus (in M.S, Comment. in Géorgiam) 
we ought not to be difturbed on hearing 
fuch names as a Saturnian power, the 
power Fuprter, and fuch-like,-but explore 
the things to which they allude. Thus, 
for inftance, by a Saturnian power rooted 
in the firft caufe, underftand a pure intel- 
led : for Kesyos, or Salurn, iS xo¢o¢ yous, 1. Ce 
0 xalapos, or a pure intelicéi. He adds, 
hence we Call all thofe that are pure and 
Virgins, xooc. 
On this account, tco, poets * fay, that 
Saturn devoured his children, and after- 
wards again fent them into the light, 
becaufe zuielie@ is converted to itfelf, 
feeks itfelf, and is itfelf fought: but he 
again refunds them, becaufe intelleé not 
only feeks and procreates,. but produces 
into light and profits. Hence, likewife, 
Saturn is called wyxvrounlic, or inflected 
counfel, becaufe an inflected figure verges 
to itfelf. 
Again, as there 1s nothing difordered 
and novel in intelleét, they reprefent 
Saturn as an old man, and as flow in his> 
motion ; and hence it is that aftrologers 
fay, that fuch as have Saturn well fituated 
in their nativity are prudent and endued 
with intellect. ie 
In the next place, the ancient theologifts 
called life by the tame of Jupiter, to 
whom they gave a twofold appellation, 
da and ¢nyz, fignifying, by thefe names, 
that he gives /fe ‘zbrough him(elf +. 
_Farther 
cer | 
v% 
* So in Hefiod in his Theogony. ‘ 
t Thefe etymologies of Saturn and Jupiter, 
are given by Plato in the Cratylus ; a dialogue 
in which he every where etymologifes agree- 
Cc ably 
