id 
Farther ftill, they affert thar the fun is 
drawn by four horfes, and that he is per- 
petually young, fignifying by this his 
power, which is motive of the whole of 
nature fubjeét*to his dominion, his four- 
fold converfions, and the vigour of his 
energies. But they fay that the moon is 
drawn by two bulls: by two, on account 
of her racreafe ard diminution; but by 
bulls, becaufe as thefe till the ground, fo 
the moon governs all thofe parts which 
-furround the earth. 
T perfuade myfelf every liberal and in- 
telligent mind will immediately perceive 
the propriety and accuracy of the above 
interpretations ; and be coavinced, from 
this {pecimen, that the fables of the an- 
cients are replete with a meaning no lefs 
interefting than novel, no lefs beautiful 
than fublime. 
That your readers may be ftill farther 
convinced of this, I fhall fubjoin the divi- 
fon of fables given by the Platonic philo- 
fopher Salluft, in his elegant Treatife on 
the Gods and the World: “ Of fables, 
fome are theological, others phy/ical, others 
animaftic (or belonging to foul) others 
material, and, laftly, others mixed from 
thefe. Rolie 
“ Fables are theological, which employ 
nothing corporeal, but fpeculate the very 
effences of the gods; fuch as the fable 
which afferts that Saturn devoured his 
children: for it ob{eurely intimates 
the nature of an intelleétual god, fince 
every intelleét returns into.itfelf. 
“But we fpeculate fables phyfcally, 
when we fpeak concerning the energies 
of the gods about the world; as when 
confidering Saturn the fameas Time, and 
calling the parts of time the children of 
_€ne univerfe, we affert that the children 
are deveured by their parents. 
_“* We employ fables in an ammaffic 
mode when we contemplate the enerzies 
ef fouls becaufe the intelleétions of our 
fouls, though by a difcurfive energy they 
proceed into other things, yet abide in 
their parents. 
“Lafily, fables are maverial, fuch as' 
the Egyptians ignorantly employ, con- 
fidering and calling corporeal natures 
Givinities ; fuch as Ifis, earth; Oftris, 
Humidity ; Typhon, heat: or again, de- 
‘nominating Saturn, watcr; Adonis, fruits, 
and Bacchus, wine. Indeed, to affert 


ably tothe Orphic theology. Mf critics, not 
perceiving that Plato’s defign iu this, dialogue 
was to fpeculate names /hilgfophically, and not 
grammatically, have very ridiculoufly confidere 
ed his etymologies az for the molt part falfe. 
Mr. Taylor on the Fables of Antigutty. 
r Jan. 
that thefe are dedicated tothe gods, in 
the fame manner as herbs, ftones, and 
animals, is the part. of wife men ; but to 
call them gods, is alone the province of 
mad men; unlefs we fpeak in the fame 
manner as when, from eftablifhed cuftom, 
we call the orb of the fun, and its rays, 
the fun irfeif. 
‘¢ But we may perceive the wzxed kind © 
of fable, as well in many other particu- 
lars, as in the fable which relates that 
Difcord, at a banquet of the gods, threw 
a golden apple, and. that a difpute about 
it arifing among the goddeffes, they were 
fent by Jupiter to take the judgment of 
Paris, who, charmed with the beauty of 
Venus, gave her the apple in preference 
tothe reft. For in this fable the ban- 
quet denotes the fupermundane * powers: 
-of the gods; and on this account they 
fubfift in conjunétion with each other: 
but the golden apple denotes the world, 
which, on account of its compofition 
from contrary natures, is not improperly 
faid to be thrown by Difcord, or Strife. 
But again, fince different gifts are im- 
parted to the world by different gods, 
they appear to conteft with each other 
for the apple. And a foul living ac- 
cording to fenfe (for this is Paris) not 
perceiving other powers in the univerfe, 
afferts that the contended apple fubfifts 
alone through the beauty of Venus.” 
If the intelleétual ‘philofophy, then, is 
alone the true key to ancient mythology, 
furely nothing can be more ridiculous 
than the attempt of the Abbé Banier, to 
explain ancient fables by hiftory; not to. 
mention that his interpretations are al- 
ways trifling, and frequently imperti- 
nent; are neither calculated to inftrné 
nor amuie; and are equally remote from 
elegance and truth. That this is not 
mere declamation, the following imftance 
from his Mytoolégy, will, I perfuade my- 
felf, abundantly evince: ** I fhall make 
it appear (fays he +) that the Mzcnofaur, 
with Pa/ppae, and the reft of that fable, 
contain nothing but an intrigue of the 
queen of ‘Crete -with a captain n&@med 
‘Paurus ; and the artifice of Dedalus, 
only a fly confident.” Let the reader 
contraft with this, the following explana- 
tion of this fable, given by Olympiodorus 
in his Ms. Commentary on the Gorgias 
of Plato: “* The Minotaur fignifies the 

* By this is to be underftood, powers which 
are whclly unconnected with every thing of 
a corporeal nature. " he hg ame mm 
t Vol. I, of the tranflation of bis Mytho- 
logy Dp» 29 | 
 favage 
