TWO ESSAYS ON THE WORSHIP OF PRIAPUS

RICHARD PAYNE KNIGHT

AND THOMAS WRIGHT

CELEPHAS PRESS

Originally scanned and proofed by Eliza

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Dicourse on the Worhip of Priapus,

AND ITS CONNECTION WITH THE MYSTIC
THEOLOGY OF THE ANCIENTS

BY RICHARD PAYNE KNIGHT, ESQ.

(A NEW EDITION)
TO WHICH IS ADDED AN

ESSAY ON THE WORSHIP OF THE GENERATIVE

POWERS DURING THE MIDDLE AGES
OF WESTERN EUROPE

LONDON
PRIVATELY PRINTED
1865
(Reprinted 1894)

An account of the Remains of the Worhip of Priapus and A

dicoure on the Worhip of Priapus privately publihed
in London, 1786. New edition, with the addition of
An Eay on the Worhip of the Generative
Powers, London: privately printed (London:
J. C. Hotten), 1865; reprinted again, with a
new preface and ome corrections,
London, 1894.

F!
This electronic edition iued by Celephas Pres,
omewhere beyond the Tanarian Hills (i.e.,
Leeds, England) October, 2003.
This document is in the
public domain.

k!
Reviion 1.22a: March 2004.

PREFACE TO THIS EDITION

ICHARD PAYNE KNIGHT, one of the mot

ditinguihed patrons of art and learning in England during his time, a cholar of great attainments,
an eminent antiquarian, member of the Radical
party in Parliament, and a writer of great
ability, was born at Wormeley Grange, in Herefordhire,
in 1750. From an early age he devoted himelf to the tudy of
ancient literature, antiquities, and mythology. A large portion
of his inherited fortune was expended in the collection of antiquities, epecially, ancient coins, models, and bronzes. His collection, which was continued until his death in 1820, was bequeathed to the Britih Mueum, and accepted for that intitution
by a pecial act of Parliament. Its value was etimated at 50,000.
Among his works are an Inquiry into the Priniples of Tate;
Analytical Eay on the Greek Alphabet; The Symbolical
Language of Ancient Art; and three poems, The Landcape, the
Progres of Civil Society, and The Romance of Alfred.
The Worhip of Priapus was printed in 1786, for ditribution
by the Dilettanti Society, with which body the author was

ii

PREFACE TO THIS EDITION

actively identified. This ociety embraced in its memberhip

ome of the mot ditinguihed cholars in England, among others
the Duke of Norfolk, Sir Joeph Banks, Sir William Hamilton,
Sir George Beaumont, the Marquis of Abercorn, Lord Charlemont, Lord Dundas, Horace Walpole, and men of equal prominence.
The bold utterances of Mr. Knight on a ubject which until
that time had been entirely tabooed, or had been treated in a
way to hide rather than to dicover the truth, hocked the enibilities of the higher claes of Englih ociety, and the miniters
and members of the various denominations of the Chritian
world. Rather than endure the torm of criticim, aroued by the
publication, he uppreed during his lifetime all the copies of
the book he could recall, conequently it became very carce, and
continued o for nearly a hundred years.
In 1865 the work was reprinted, with an eay added, carrying
the invetigation further, howing the prevalence during the middle ages of beliefs and practices imilar to thoe decribed in
Knights eay, only modified by the changed conditions of ociety.
The upplementary eay is now generally conceded to have been
the work of the eminent author and antiquarian, Thomas Wright;1
aited by John Camden Hotten, the publiher of the 1865
edition. In their work they had the benefit of the real additions
made during this century to the literature of the ubject, and of
1

Perhaps no Englihmen of modern times, or of any time, has intelligently

treated o many different departments of literary reearch : Archology, Art,
Bibliography, Chritianity, Cutoms, Heraldry, Literary Hitory, Philology,
Topography, and Travels, are among the topics illutrated by the learning, zeal and
indutry of Mr. Thomas Wright.S. AUSTEN ALLIBONE.

PREFACE TO THIS EDITION

iii

the dicoveries of objects of antiquity at Herculaneum and Pompeii, alo in France, Germany, Belguim, England, Ireland, and
in fact in nearly every country in Europe, illutrating the ubject
they were conidering.
The numerous illutrations are engraved from antique coins,
medals, tone carvings, etc., preerved in the Payne Knight collection in the Britih Mueum, and from other objects dicovered
in England and on the continent, ince the firt eay was written.
Thee are only to be found in mueums and private collections
cattered over Europe, and are practically inacceible to the tudent;
they are here engraved and fully decribed.
The edition of 1865 was of a limited number of copies, and
was oon exhauted. When a copy occaionally appears in the
auction room, or in the hands of a bookeller, it brings a large
advance on the original high publihed price. The preent
edition, an exact reproduction of that of 1865, but correcting ome
manifet miprints, is publihed in the interets of cience and
cholarhip. At a time when o many learned invetigators are
endeavoring to trace back religious beliefs and practices to their
origin, it would eem that this is a branch of the ubject which
hould not be ignored. The hitory of religions has been tudied
with more zeal and ucces during the nineteenth century, than
in all the ages which preceded it, and this book has now an
interet fifty fold greater than when originally publihed.
October, 1894.

PREFACE

HE following pages are offered imply as a contribution to cience. The progres of human ociety
has, in different ages, preented abundance of horrors and abundance of vices, which, in treating
hitory popularly, we are obliged to pas over gently, and often
to conceal; but, nevertheles, if we neglect or uppres thee facts
altogether, we injure the truth of hitory itelf, almot in the ame
manner as we hould injure a mans health by detroying ome of
the nerves or mucles of his body. The upertitions which are
treated in the two eays which form the preent volume, formed
a very important element in the working of the ocial frame in
former ages,in fact, during a very great part of the exitence
of man in this world, they have had much influence inwardly and
outwardly on the character and pirit of ociety itelf, and therefore it is neceary for the hitorian to undertand them, and a
part of the duties of the archologit to invetigate them. The
Diertation by Richard Payne Knight is tolerably well known

vi

CONTENTS.

at leat by nameto bibliographers and antiquaries, as a book

of very coniderable learning, and at the ame time, as one which
has become extremely rare, and which, therefore, can only be
obtained occaionally at a very high price. It happened that, in
a time when the violence of political feelings ran very high, the
author, who was a member of the Houe of Commons, belonged
to the liberal party, and his book was pitefully mirepreented,
with the deign of injuring his character. We know the unjut
abue which was lavihed upon him by Mathias, in his now littleread atire, the Puruits of Literature. Some of the Continetnal archologits had written on kindred ubjects long before
the time of Payne Knight.
It was thought, therefore, that a new edition of this book,
pro-duced in a manner to make it more acceible to cholars,
would not be unacceptable. Payne Knights deign was only to
invetigate the origin and meaning of a once extenively popular
worhip. The hitory of it is, indeed, a wide ubject, and mut
include all branches of the human race, in a majority of which it
is in full force at the preent day, and even in our own more
highly civilized branch it has continued to exit to a far more
recent period than we might be inclined to uppoe. It is the
object of the Eay which has been written for the preent
volumeof which it forms more than one halfto invetigate
the exitence of thee upertitions among ourelves, to trace
them, in fact, through the middle ages of Wetern Euroipe, and
their influence on the hitory of medival and on the formation
of modern ociety, and to place in the hands of hitorical cholars

PREFACE

vii

uch of their monuments as we have been able to collect. It is

hoped that, thus compoed, the preent volume will prove
acceptable to the clas of readers to whom it pecially addrees
itelf.
It mut not be uppoed or expected that this Eay on the
medival part of the ubject can be perfect. A large majority of
the facts and monuments of medival phallic worhip have
long perihed, but many, hitherto unknown, remain till to be collected, and it may be hopes that the preent Eay will lead
eventually to much more complete reearches as to the exitence
and influence of this Worhip in Wetern Europe during medival
times. Notes of uch upertitions are continually turning up
unexpectedly; and we may mention as an example that a copy
of Payne Knights treatie now before us contains a marginal
note in pencil by a former poeor, Richard Turner, a collector
of curious books formerly reiding at Grantham in Lincolnhire,
in the following words:In 1850, I met with a Zingari, or
Gypy, who had an amulet beautifully carved in ivory, which he
wore round her neck; he aid it was worth 30l, and he would
not part with it on any amount. She came from Florence. It
was the Lingham and the Yoni united. This is curious as
furnihing apparent evidence of the relationhip between the
gipies of Wetern Europe and India.
London, September, 1865.

CONTENTS

REFACE to this Edition

. . . . .
Preface to the Edition of 1865 . . . .
Contents . . . . . . . . .
Lit of Plates, with references to explanatory text

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Page.
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ix
xiii

ACCOUNT OF THE REMAINS OF THE WORSHIP OF PRIAPUS

Letter from Sir William Hamilton . . . .
Lettera da Iernia, 1780 . . . . . .
On the Worhip of Priapus, by R. Payne Knight

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13113

ON THE WORSHIP OF THE GENERATIVE POWERS IN THE MIDDLE AGES OF

WESTERN EUROPE.
Abundant evidence of Phallic worhip in the Roman colonies
. . 117
Aix, in Provence . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Nimes, and its Roman Amphitheatre . . . . . . . . 120
121
Xanten, in Hee, and Antwerp. . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . 122
Britain, and its Priapic remains
. . . . . . . . . . 126
The Teutonic Venus, Friga
Facinum, and its magical influences . . . . . . . . 128
Scotland, and its Phallic celebrations . . . . . . . . 130
Phallic figures on public buildings . . . . . . . . . 131
Ireland, and its Shelah-na-Gig . . . . . . . . . . 132
134
Repreentation of the female organ exhibited in various countries.
Horehoes nailed to table-doors, a remain of the the Shelah-na-Gig
exhibition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
The ancient god Priapus becomes a aint in the Middle Ages . . . 139

CONTENTS.
Marriage offerings to Priapus . . . . . . . . .
Antwerp, and its patron aint Ters . . . . . . . .
M. Forgeais collection of phallic amulets . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . .
The Fig, and its meanings
The German Scrat, and the Gaulih Duii . . . . . . .
Robin Goodfellow. . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . .
Liberalia and Floralia fetivities
Eater, and hot-cros-buns . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . .
Heaving and lifting cutoms at Eater
. . . . . . . . . . .
May-day fetivities
Bonfires . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
St. Johns, or Midummer-eve . . . . . . . . .
Mother Bunchs intruction to maidens . . . . . . .
Plants and flowers connected with phallic worhip. . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . .
The mandrake
Lady Godiva, the Shrewbury how, and the Guild fetival at Preton.
Pagan rites of the early Chritians . . . . . . . .
Gnotics, Manichans, Nicolait, followers of Florian, &c. . .
The Bulgarians, and their practices . . . . . . . .
Walter Mapes account of the Patarini, and their ecret rites. . .
. . . . . . . . .
The Waldenes and Cathari
Popular oaths and phallic worhip . . . . . . . .
Secret ociety in Orleans for celebrating obcene rites . . . .
The Stedingers of Germany, and their ecret ceremonies . . .

THE KNIGHTS TEMPLAR

Charges brought againt them . . . . . . .
Spitting on the Cros, and the denial of Chrit . . . .
The Kis . . . . . . . . . . . .
Intercoure with women prohibited . . . . . .
The Cat and Idol worhip . . . . . . . .
Baffomet, or Baphomet . . . . . . . .
Von Hammers decription of the Templars images or idol

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THE WITCHES SABBATH

The lat form which the Priapeia and Liberalia aumed in Wetern Europe

Page.
141
144
146
148
152
. 153
. 154
. 158
. 160
. 162
. 163
. 164
. 166
167
. 169
170
. 171
. 173
. 176
176
. 178
. 181
. 182
. 184

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185
188
189
190
194
198
199
206

xi

CONTENTS.
Trial of witches at Arras, in France. . . . . . . . .
Sprenger and others on witchcraft in the fifteenth century . . .
Bodins decription of the Sabbath ceremonies . . . . . .
Pierre de Lancres full account of the Witches Sabbath . . . .
Pictorial repreentation of the ceremonies . . . . . . .
Similarity of the proceeding of the Sabbath to thoe of the Templars .
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Intermixture of Priapic orgies with Chritian rites and ceremonies
Traces of phallic worhip till exiting on the wetern hores of Ireland
INDEX .

Page.
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209
210
212
245
246
247
248

. 249

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
NOTE.As frequent references are made to ome of the engraved figures in different
parts of the work, it was found impoible to inert the illutrations always oppoite the explanatory text. The plates, therefore, have been placed, independently
of the text, but in regular order. The following lit, however, will refer the
reader to thoe pages which explain the objects drawn:
Plate
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I. EX VOTI OF WAX, FROM ISERNIA .
II. ANCIENT AND MODERN AMULETS:
Figure 1 .
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2 .
3 .
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III. ANTIQUE GEMS AND GREEK MEDALS.:
. . . . .
Figure 1 .
2 .
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3 .
4 .
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5 .
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6, 7 .
IV. MEDALS POSSESSED BY PAYNE KNIGHT:
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Figure 1 .
2 .
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3 .
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4 .
5 .
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V. FIGURES OF PAN, GEMS, &c.:
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Figure 1 .
2 .
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3 .
4 .
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VI. THE TAURIC DIANA .
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28, 88
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37, 42, 54
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xiv

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Plate
Decribed on Page
VII. GOAT AND SATYR, GREEK SCULPTURE .
. . . . . .
33
VIII. BROKEN STATUE OF CERES .
. . . . . . .
72
IX. COINS AND MEDALS:
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29
Figure 1 .
2 .
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29
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21
3 .
4 .
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71
5 .
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7 .
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11 .
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71
12 .
13 .
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71
X. SISTRUM, WITH VARIOUS MEDALS:
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67
Figure 1 .
2 .
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78, 79, 80
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23
3 .
4 .
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96
5 .
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6 .
7 .
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82
8 .
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81
XI. SCULPTURES FROM ELEPHANTA .
. . . . . . . 47, 48
XII. INDIAN TEMPLE, SHOWING THE LINGAM
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49, 56, 61
XIII. CELTIC TEMPLE, GREEK MEDAL, &c.:
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55
Figure 1, 2, 3 .
4 .
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64
5 .
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6, 7 .
8 .
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9, 10
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59
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58
11 .
XIV. PORTABLE TEMPLE DEDICATED TO PRIAPUS OR THE LINGAM
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55
XV. TEMPLE DEDICATED TO BACCHUS, AT PUZZUOLI:
Figure 1 .
. . . . . . . . . . . 64, 65
2 .
. . . . . . . . . . . 64, 66
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66
3 .

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
Plate

xv

Decribed on Page
XVI. ORNAMENT FROM PUZZUOLI TEMPLE:
. . . . . . . . . . .
81
Figure 1 .
2 .
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78
XVII. ORNAMENT FROM PUZZUOLI TEMPLE: .
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65
XVIII. EGYPTIAN FIGURES AND ORNAMANETS:
Figure 1 .
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51, 87, 89
2 .
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50, 87, 89
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62
3 .
XIX. EGYPTIAN FIGURES AND ORNAMANETS:
Figure 1 .
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89
2 .
3 .
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54
4 .
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5 .
6, 7 .
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13
XX. THE LOTUS, WITH MEDALS OF MELITA, &c.:
. . . . . . . . . . .
50
Figure 1 .
2 .
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88
3 .
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91
XXI. BACCHUS, MEDALS OF CAMARINA, SYRACUSE, &c.
Figure 1 .
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21
2, 3 .
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89
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90
4, 5, 6 .
7 .
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75
XXII. STATUE OF A BULL AT TANJORE .
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34
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74
XXIII. TIGER AT THE BREAST OF A NYMPH
XXIV. SCULPTURE FROM ELEPHANT. (See Plate XI.) .
. . . 47, 48
XXV. ROMAN SCULPTURES FROM NMES:
. . . . . . . . . . .
120
Figure 1, 2 .
3 .
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121
4 .
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122, 136
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119, 121
XXVI. MONUMENT FOUND AT NMES IN 1825. .
XXVII. PHALLIC FIGURES, &c., FOUND IN ENGLAND:
Figure 1, 2, 3, 4 .
. . . . . . . . . .
123
XXVIII. PHALLIC MONUMENTS FOUND IN SCOTLAND, &c.
Figure 1 .
. . . . . . . . . . .
124
2, 3 .
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125

xvi

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Plate
XXIX. SHELAH-NA-GIG MONUMENTS
. . . . . . .
Figure 1, 2, 3, 4 .
XXX. SHELAH-NA-GIG MONUMENTS
Figure 1, 2, 3 .
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XXXI. VENUS OF THE VANDALS, BRONZE IMAGES, &c.:
Figure 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 .
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6 .
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XXXII. ORNAMENTS FROM THE CHURCH OF SAN FEDELE
Figure 1, 2, 3 .
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XXXIII. PHALLIC LEADEN TOKENS FROM THE SEINE .
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XXXIV. LEADEN ORNAMENTS FROM THE SEINE:
Figure 1 .
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2, 3, 4, 5 .
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XXXV. AMULETS, &c., OF GOLD AND LEAD:
Figure 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 .
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XXXVI. ROBIN GOODFELLOW, PHALLIC AMULETS, &c.:
. . . . . . . .
Figure 1 .
2 .
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3 .
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4 .
5 .
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XXXVII. PRIAPIC ILLUSTRATIONS FROM OLD BALLADS:
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Figure 1 .
2 .
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XXXVIII. IDOLS OF THE KNIGHTS TEMPLARS .
. .
XXXIX. SCUPLTURES OF THE TEMPLARS MYSTERIES:
Figure 1 .
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2 .
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3 .
4 .
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XL. THE WITCHES SABBATH, FROM DE LANCRE, 1613

Decribed on Page

133 to 139

133 to 139

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147, 170

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199

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199 to 203
200 to 203
200 to 204
199 to 204
241, 246

AN
ACCOUNT

OF THE

REMAINS

OF THE

WORSHIP
OF

PRIAPUS,
LATELY EXISTING AT

ISERNIA, in the Kingdom of NAPLES:

IN TWO LETTERS:
One from Sir WILLIAM HAMILTON, K.B., His Majestys Miniter
at the court of Naples, to Sir JOSEPH BANKS, Bart., Preident
of the Royal Socieity.
And the other from a Peron reiding at Iernia:
TO WHICH IS ADDED

A DISCOURSE

ON THE

WORSHIP

OF

PRIAPUS

And its Connexion with the mytic Theology of the Ancients.

By R. P. KNIGHT, Eq.
LONDON:
Printed by T. SPILSBURY, Snowhill.
M.DCC.LXXXVI.

A LETTER FROM SIR WILLIAM

HAMILTON, ETC.
Naples, Dec. 30, 1781.

SIR,

AVING lat year made a curious dicovery, that in a

Province of this Kingdom, and not fifty miles from
its Capital, a ort of devotion is till paid to PRIAPUS, the obcene Divinity of the Ancients (though
under another denomination), I thought it a circumtance worth recording; particularly, as it offers a freh proof of the
imilitude of the Popih and Pagan Religion, o well oberved by
Dr. Middleton, in his celebrated Letter from Rome: and therefore I mean to depoit the authentic1 proofs of this aertion in the
Britih Mueum, when a proper opportunity hall offer. In the
meantime I end you the following account, which, I flatter
myelf, will amue you for the preent, and may in future erve to
illutrate thoe proofs.
I had long ago dicovered, that the women and children of the
lower clas, at Naples, and in its neighbourhood, frequently wore,
1

A pecimen of each of the ex-voti of wax, with the original letter from Iernia.
See the Ex-voti, Plate I.

LETTER FROM

as an ornament of dres, a ort of Amulets, (which they imagine to

be a preervative from the mal occhii, evil eyes, or enchantment)
exactly imilar to thoe which were worn by the ancient Inhabitants
of this Country for the very ame purpoe, as likewie for their
uppoed invigorating influence; and all of which have evidently a
relation to the Cult of Priapus. Struck with this conformity in
ancient and modern upertition, I made a collection of both the
ancient and modern Amulets of this ort, and placed them together
in the Britih Mueum, where they remain. The modern
Amulet mot in vogue repreents a hand clinched, with the point
of the thumb thrut betwixt the index and middle1 finger; the
next is a hell; and the third is a half-moon. Thee Amulets
(except the hell, which is uually worn in its natural tate) are mot
commonly made of ilver, but ometimes of ivory, coral, amber,
crytal, or ome curious gem, or pebble. We have a proof of the
hand above decribed having a connection with Priapus, in a mot
elegant mall idol of bronze of that Divinity, now in the Royal
Mueum of Portici, and which was found in the ruins of Herculaneum: it has an enormous Phallus, and, with an arch look
and geture, tretches out its right hand in the form above mentioned;2 and which probably was an emblem of conummation:
and as a further proof of it, the Amulet which occurs mot frequently amongt thoe of the Ancients (next to that which repreents
the imple Priapus), is uch a hand united with the Phallus; of
which you may ee everal pecimens in my collection in the
Britih Mueum. One in particular, I recollect, has alo the halfmoon joined to the hand and Phallus; which half-moon is uppoed
to have an alluion to the female menes. The hell, or concha veneris,
1

See Plate II., Fig. 1.

This elegant little figure is engraved in the firt volume of the Bronzes of the
Herculaneum.
2

SIR WILLIAM HAMILTON

is evidently an emblem of the female part of generation. It is very

natural then to uppoe, that the Amulets repreenting the Phallus
alone, o viibly indecent, may have been long out of ue in this
civilized capital; but I have been aured, that it is but very lately
that the Priets have put an end to the wearing of uch Amulets in
Calabria, and other ditant Provinces of this Kingdom.
A new road having been made lat year from this Capital to the
Province of Abruzzo, paing through the City of Iernia (anciently belonging to the Samnites, and very populou1), a peron of
liberal education, employed in that work, chanced to be at Iernia
jut at the time of the celebration of the Feat of the modern
Priapus, St. Como; and having been truck with the ingularity
of the ceremony, o very imilar to that which attended the ancient
Cult of the God of the Gardens, and knowing my tate for antiquities, told me of it. From this Gentlemans report, and from
what I learnt on the pot from the Governor of Iernia himelf,
having gone to that city on purpoe in the month of February lat, I
have drawn up the following account, which I have reaon to believe
is trictly true. I did intend to have been preent at the Feat of
St. Como this year; but the indecency of this ceremony having
probably tranpired, from the countrys having been more frequented
ince the new road was made, orders have been given, that the
Great Toe2 of the Saint hould no longer be expoed. The following is the account of the Fte of St. Como and Damiano, as
it actually was celebrated at Iernia, on the confines of Abruzzo,
in the Kingdom of Naples, o late as in the year of our Lord
1780.
On the 27th of September, at Iernia, one of the mot ancient
1

The actual population of Iernia, according to the Governers account, is 5156.

See the Italian letter, printed at the end of this, from which it appears the
modern Priapi were o called at Iernia.
2

LETTER FROM

cities of the Kingdom of Naples, ituated in the Province called

the Contado di Molie, and adjoining to Abruzzo, an annual Fair
is held, which lats three days. The ituation of this Fair is on a
riing ground, between two rivers, about half a mile from the town
of Iernia; on the mot elevated part of which there is an ancient
church, with a vetibule. The architecture is of the tyle of the
lower ages; and it is aid to have been a church and convent belonging to the Benedictine Monks in the time of their poverty.
This church is dedicated to St. Comus and Damianus. One of
the days of the Fair, the relicks of the Saints are expoed, and
afterwards carried in proceion from the cathedral of the city to
this church, attended by a prodigious concoure of people. In the
city, and at the fair, ex-voti of wax, repreenting the male parts of
generation, of various dimenions, ome even of the length of the
palm, are publickly offered to ale. There are alo waxen vows,
that repreent other parts of the body mixed with them; but of
thee there are few in comparion of the number of the Priapi.
The devout ditributers of thee vows carry a baket full of them
in one hand, and hold a plate in the other to receive the money,
crying aloud, St. Como and Damiano! If you ak the price
of one, the anwer is, pi ci metti, pi meriti: The more you
give, the more's the merit. In the vetibule are two tables, at
each of which one of the canons of the church preides, this crying
out, Qui i riceveno le Mie, e Litanie: Here Maes and Litanies are received;" and the other, Qui i riceveno li Voti: Here
the Vows are received. The price of a Mas is fifteen Neapolitan
grains, and of a Litany five grains. On each table is a large baon
for the reception of the different offerings. The Vows are chiefly
preented by the female ex; and they are eldom uch as repreent
legs, arms, &c., but mot commonly the male parts of generation.
The peron who was at this fete in the year 1780, and who gave
me this account (the authenticity of every article of which has ince

SIR WILLIAM HAMILTON

been fully confirmed to me by the Governor of Iernia), told me

alo, that he heard a woman ay, at the time he preented a Vow,
like that which is preented in Plate I, Fig. i., Santo Coimo benedetto, coi lo voglio: Bleed St. Como, let it be like this; another,
St. Coimo, a te mi raccommendo: St. Como, I recommend myelf
to you; and a third, St. Coimo, ti ringrazio: St. Como, I thank
you. The Vow is never preented without being accompanied by
a piece of money, and is always kied by the devotee at the moment
of preentation.
At the great altar in the church, another of its canons attends to
give the holy unction, with the oil of St. Como;1 which is prepared by the ame receipt as that of the Roman Ritual, with the
addition only of the prayer of the Holy Martyrs, St. Comus and
Damianus. Thoe who have an infirmity in any of their members,
preent themelves at the great altar, and uncover the member
affected (not even excepting that which is mot frequently repreented by the ex-voti); and the reverend canon anoints it, aying,
Per interceionem beati Comi, liberet te ab omni malo. Amen.
The ceremony finihes by the canons of the church dividing the
poils, both money and wax, which mut be to a very coniderable
amount, as the concoure at this fete is aid to be prodigiouly
numerous.
The oil of St. Como is in high repute for its invigorating
quality, when the loins, and parts adjacent, are anointed with it.
No les than 1400 flaks of that oil were either expended at the
altar in unctions, or charitably ditributed, during this fte in the
year 1780; and as it is uual for every one, who either makes ue
1

The cure of dieaes by oil is likewie of ancient date; for Tertullian tells us, that
a Chritian, called Proculus, cured the Emperor Severus of a certain ditemper by the
ue of oil; for which ervice the Emperor kept Proculus, as long as he lived,
in his palace.

LETTER FROM SIR W. HAMILTON

of the oil at the altar, or carries off a flak of it, to leave an alms
for St. Como, the ceremony of the oil becomes likewie a very
lucrative one to the canons of the church.
I am, Sir,
With great truth and regard,
Your mot obedient humble Servant,
WILLIAM HAMILTON.

LETTERA DA ISERNIA
NELL ANNO, 1780.
N Iernia Citt Sannitica, oggi della Provincia del
Contado di Molie, ogni Anno li 27 Settembre
vi una Fiera della clae delle perdonanze (coi
dette neglAbruzzi li gran mercati, e fiere non di
lita): Queta fiera i fa opra d'una Collinetta, che
t in mezzo a due fiumi; ditante mezzo miglio da Iernia, dove
nella parte piu elevata vi un antica Chiea con un vetibulo, architettura de bai tempi, e che i dice eer tata Chiea, e Monitero de
P. P. Benedettini, quando erano poveri? La Chiea dedicata ai
Santi COSMO e DAMIANO, ed Grancia del Reverendiimo Capitolo. La Fiera di 50 baracche a fabrica, ed i Canonici affittano le
baracche, alcune 10, altre 15, al piu 20, carlini l'una; affittano
ancora per tre giorni l'oteria fatta di fabbrica docati 20 ed i
cometibili olo benedetti. Vi un Eremita della tea umanit del
fu F. Gland guardiano del Monte Veuvio, cittato con ripetto dall
Ab. Richard. La fiera dura tre giorni. Il Maetro di fiera il
Capitolo, ma commette al Governatore Regio; e queta alza bandiera
con limprea della Citta, che la tea imprea de P. P. Celetini.
Si fa una Proceione con le Reliquie dei Santi, ed ece dalla Cattedrale, e v alla Chiea udetta; ma poco devota. Il giorno della feta,
per la Citt, come nella collinetta vi un gran concoro dAbitatori

10

LETTERA DA ISERNIA

del Motee, Mainarde, ed altri Monti vicini, che la tranezza delli

vetimenti delle Donne, embra, a chi non ha glocchi avvezzi avederle, il pui bel ridotto di macherate. Le Donne della Terra del
Gallo ono vere figlie dell'Ordine Serafico Cappuccino, vetendo
come li Zoccolanti in materia, e forma. Puelle di Scanno Sembrano
Greche di Scio. Puelle di Carovilli Armene. Puelle delle Peche,
e Carpinone tengono ul capo alcuni panni roi con ricamo di filo
bianco, diegno ul guto Etruco, che a pochi pai embra merletto
dInghilterra. Vi fra quete Donne vera belezza, e diverit
grande nel vetire, anche fra due popolazioni viciniime, ed un
attaccamento particolare di certe popolazioni ad un colore, ed altre
ad altro. Labito ditinto nelle Zitelle, Maritate, Vedove, Donne
di piacere?
Nella fiera ed in Citt vi ono molti divoti, che vendono membri virili di cera di divere forme, e di tutte le grandezze, fino ad
un palmo; e michiate vi ono ancora gambe, braccia, e faccie; ma
poche ono quete. Quei li vendono tengono un ceto, ed un
piatto; li membri rotti ono nel ceto, ed il piatto erve per raccogliere il danaro delemoina. Gridano S. COSMO e DAMIANO. Chi
prattico domanda, quanto un vale? Ripondono pi ci metti, pi
meriti. Avanti la Chiea nel vetibolo del Tempio vi ono due
tavole, ciacuna con edia, dove preiede un Canonico, e uoleere
uno il Primicerio, e laltro Arciprete; grida uno qui i ricevono le
Mee, e Litanie: laltro, qui i ricevono li voti; opra delle tavole
in ognuna vi un bacile, che erve per raccogliere li membri di
cera, che mai i preentano oli, ma con denaro, come i pratticato
empre in tutte le preentazioni di membri, ad eccezzione di quelli
dellIola di Ottaiti. Queta divozione tutta quai delle Donne, e
ono pochimi quelli, o quelle che preentano gambe, e braccia,
mentre tutta la gran feta saggira a profitto de membri della generazione. In ho inteo dire ad una donna. Santo Coimo benedetto,
coi lo voglio. Altre dicevano, Santo Coimo a te mi raccommando:

LETTERA DA ISERNIA

11

altre, Santo Coimo ringrazio; e queto quello oervai, e i prattica nel vetibulo, baciando ognuna il voto che preente.
Dentro la chiea nell'altare maggiore un canonico fa le ante
unzioni con lolio di S. Coimo. La ricetta di quet'olio la tea
del Rituale Romano, con laggiunta dellorazione delli SS. Martiri,
Coimo e Damiano. Si preentano allAltare glInfermi dogni
male, nundano la parte offea, anche l'originale della copia di cera,
ed il Canonico ungendoli dice, Per interceionem beati Comi,
liberet te ab omni malo. Amen.
Finice la feta con divideri li Canonici la cera, ed il denaro, e
con ritornar gravide molte Donne terili maritate, a profitto della
popolazione delle Provincie; e peo la grazia 'entende enza
meraviglia, alle Zitelle, e Vedove, che per due notti hanno dormito,
alcune nella Chiea de P.P. Zoccolanti, ed altre delli Capuccini, non
eendoci in Iernia Cae locande per alloggiare tutto il numero di
gente, che concorre: onde li Frati, ajutando ai Preti, danno le
Chiee alle Donne, ed i Portici aglUomini; e coi Divii uccedendo gravidanze non deve dubitar i, che ia opera tutto miracoloa, e di divozione.
NOTA I.
Lolio non olo erve per l'unzione che f Canonico, ma anche
i dipena in piccioliime caraffine, e erve per ungeri li lombo
a chi ha male a queta parte. In quet'anno 1780. i ono date par
divozione 1400 caraffine, e i conumato mezzo Stajo dolio.
Chi prende una caraffina da l'olemoina.
NOTA II.
Li Canonici che iedono nel Vetibulo prendono denaro dElemoina per Mee, e per Litanie. Le Meea grana 15. e le Litanie a
grana 5.

12

LETTERA DA ISERNIA
NOTA III.

Li foretieria alloggiano non ola fr li Cappuccini e Zoccolanti,

ma anche nellEramo di S. Como. Le Donne che dormono nelle
chiee de P. P. Sudetti ono guardate dalli Guardiani, Vicari e
Padri piu di merito, e quelli dell Eremo ono in cura dell Eremita,
divie anche dai Propri Mariti, e i anno peo miracoli enza
incomodo delli anti.
Le non le guta, quando lavr letta
Torner bene farne una baldoria:
Che le daranno almen qualche diletto
Le Monachine quando vanno a letto.

ON THE WORSHIP OF PRIAPUS.

EN, conidered collectively, are at all times the ame
animals, employing the ame organs, and endowed
with the ame faculties: their paions, prejudices,
and conceptions, will of coure be formed upon the
ame internal principles, although directed to various
ends, and modified in various ways, by the variety of external circumtances operating upon them. Education and cience may correct, retrain, and extend; but neither can annihilate or create: they
may turn and embellih the currents; but can neither top nor enlarge
the prings, which, continuing to flow with a perpetual and equal
tide, return to their ancient channels, when the caues that perverted
them are withdrawn.
The firt principles of the human mind will be more directly
brought into action, in proportion to the earnetnes and affection
with which it contemplates its object; and paion and prejudice will
acquire dominion over it, in proportion as its firt principles are more
directly brought into action. On all common ubjects, this dominion
of paion and prejudice is retrained by the evidence of ene and
perception; but, when the mind is led to the contemplation of things
beyond its comprehenion, all uch retraints vanih: reaon has then

14

ON THE WORSHIP

nothing to oppoe to the phantoms of imagination, which acquire

terrors from their obcurity, and dictate uncontrolled, becaue unknown. Such is the cae in all religious ubjects, which, being
beyond the reach of ene or reaon, are always embraced or rejected
with violence and heat. Men think they know, becaue they are
ure they feel; and are firmly convinced, becaue trongly agitated.
Hence proceed that hate and violence with which devout perons
of all religions condemn the rites and doctrines of others, and the
furious zeal and bigotry with which they maintain their own; while
perhaps, if both were equally well undertood, both would be found
to have the ame meaning, and only to differ in the modes of conveying it.
Of all the profane rites which belonged to the ancient polytheim, none were more furiouly inveighed againt by the zealous
propagators of the Chritian faith, than the obcene ceremonies performed in the worhip of Priapus; which appeared not only contrary
to the gravity and anctity of religion, but ubverive of the firt
principles of decency and good order in ociety. Even the form
itelf, under which the god was repreented, appeared to them a
mockery of all piety and devotion, and more fit to be placed in a
brothel than a temple. But the forms and ceremonials of a religion
are not always to be undertood in their direct and obvious ene;
but are to be conidered as ymbolical repreentations of ome hidden
meaning, which may be extremely wie and jut, though the ymbols
themelves, to thoe who know not their true ignification, may
appear in the highet degree aburd and extravagant. It has often
happened, that avarice and upertition have continued thee ymbolical repreentations for ages after their original meaning has
been lot and forgotten; when they mut of coure appear nonenical and ridiculous, if not impious and extravagant.
Such is the cae with the rite now under conideration, than which

OF PRIAPUS

15

nothing can be more montrous and indecent, if conidered in its

plain and obvious meaning, or as a part of the Chritian worhip;
but which will be found to be a very natural ymbol of a very
natural and philoophical ytem of religion, if conidered
according to its original ue and intention.
What this was, I hall endeavour in the following heets to explain
as conciely and clearly as poible. Thoe who wih to know how
generally the ymbol, and the religion which it repreented, once
prevailed, will conult the great and elaborate work of Mr. DHancarville, who, with infinite learning and ingenuity, has traced its
progres over the whole earth. My endeavour will be merely to
how, from what original principles in the human mind it was firt
adopted, and how it was connected with the ancient theology: matters of very curious inquiry, which will erve, better perhaps than
any others, to illutrate that truth, which ought to be preent in every
mans mind when be judges of the actions of others, that in morals,
as well as phyics, there is no effect without an adequate caue. If in
doing this, I frequently find it neceary to differ in opinion with
the learned author above-mentioned, it will be always with the utmot deference and repect; as it is to him that we are indebted for
the only reaonable method of explaining the emblematical works of
the ancient artits.
Whatever the Greeks and Egyptians meant by the ymbol in
quetion, it was certainly nothing ludicrous or licentious; of which
we need no other proof, than its having been carried in olemn
proceion at the celebration of thoe myteries in which the firt
principles of their religion, the knowledge of the God of Nature, the
Firt, the Supreme, the Intellectual,1 were preerved free from the
vulgar upertitions, and communicated, under the trictet oaths of
1

Plut. de Is. et Oir.

16

ON THE WORSHIP

ecrecy, to the iniated (initiated); who were obliged to purify themelves, prior to their initiation, by abtaining from venery, and all
impure food.1 We may therefore be aured, that no impure meaning could be conveyed by this ymbol; but that it repreented ome
fundamental principle of their faith. What this was, it is difficult
to obtain any direct information, on account of the ecrecy under
which this part of their religion was guarded. Plutarch tells us,
that the Egyptians repreented Oiris with the organ of generation
erect, to how his generative and prolific power: he alo tells us,
that Oiris was the ame Deity as the Bacchus of the Greek Mythology; who was alo the ame as the firt begotten Love (Erwj
prwtogonoj) of Orpheus and Heiod.2 This deity is celebrated by
the ancient poets as the creator of all things, the father of gods
and men;3 and it appears, by the paage above referred to, that
the organ of generation was the ymbol of his great characteritic
attribute. This is perfectly conitent with the general practice of
the Greek artits, who (as will be made appear hereafter) uniformly
repreented the attributes of the deity by the correponding properties oberved in the objects of ight. They thus peronified the
epithets and titles applied to him in the hymns and litanies, and
conveyed their ideas of him by forms, only intelligible to the initiated, intead of ounds, which were intelligible to all. The organ
of generation repreented the generative or creative attribute, and in
the language of painting and culpture, ignified the ame as the
epithet paggentwr, in the Orphic litanies.
This interpretation will perhaps urprie thoe who have not
been accutomed to divet their minds of the prejudices of education
and fahion; but I doubt not, but it will appear jut and reaonable
to thoe who conider manners and cutoms as relative to the natural
1

Plut. de Is. et Os.

Ibid.

Orph. Argon. 422.

OF PRIAPUS

17

caues which produced them, rather than to the artificial opinions

and prejudices of any particular age or country. There is naturally
no impurity or licentiounes in the moderate and regular gratification of any natural appetite; the turpitude coniting wholly in the
exces or perverion. Neither are organs of one pecies of enjoyment naturally to be conidered as ubjects of hame and concealment more than thoe of another; every refinement of modern
manners on this head being derived from acquired habit, not from
nature: habit, indeed, long etablihed; for it eems to have been
as general in Homers days as at preent; but which certainly did
not exit when the mytic ymbols of the ancient worhip were firt
adopted. As thee ymbols were intended to expres abtract ideas
by objects of ight, the contrivers of them naturally elected thoe
objects whoe characteritic properties eemed to have the greatet
analogy with the Divine attributes which they wihed to repreent.
In an age, therefore, when no prejudices of artificial decency exited,
what more jut and natural image could they find, by which to
expres their idea of the beneficent power of the great Creator,
than that organ which endowed them with the power of procreation,
and made them partakers, not only of the felicity of the Deity, but
of his great characteritic attribute, that of multiplying his own
image, communicating his bleings, and extending them to generations yet unborn?
In the ancient theology of Greece, preerved in the Orphic
Fragments, this Deity, the Erwj prwtogonoj, or firt-begotten Love,
is aid to have been produced, together with ther, by Time, or
Eternity (Kronoj), and Neceity (Anagkh), operating upon inert
matter (Caoj). He is decribed as eternally begetting (aeignhthj);
the Father of Night, called in later times, the lucid or plendid,
(fanhj), becaue he firt appeared in plendour; of a double
nature, (difuhj), as poeing the general power of creation and

18

ON THE WORSHIP

generation, both active and paive, both male and female.1

Light is his neceary and primary attribute, co-eternal with him1

Orph. Argon., ver. 12. This poem of the Argonautic Expedition is not of the
ancient Orpheus, but written in his name by ome poet poterior to Homer; as
appears by the alluion to Orpheuss decent into hell; a fable invented after the
Homeric times. It is, however, of very great antiquity, as both the tyle and manner
ufficiently prove; and, I think, cannot be later than the age of Piitratus, to which
it has been generally attributed. The paage here referred to is cited from another
poem, which, at the time this was written, paed for a genuine work of the
Thracian bard: whether jutly or not, matters little; for its being thought o at that
time proves it to be of the remotet antiquity. The other Orphic poems cited in this
dicoure are the Hymns, or Litanies, which are attributed by the early Chritian and
later Platonic writers to Onomacritus, a poet of the age of Piitratus; but which
are probably of various authors (See Brucker. Hit. Crit. Philos., vol. I., part 2,
lib., c. i.) They contain, however, nothing which proves them to he later than
the Trojan times; and if Onomacritus, or any later author, had anything to do with
them, it eems to have been only in new-verifying them, and changing the dialect
(See Gener. Proleg. Orphica, p. 26). Had he forged them, and attempted to
impoe them upon the world, as the genuine compoitions of an ancient bard, there
can be no doubt but that he would have tuffed them with antiquated words and
obolete phraes; which is by no means the cae, the language being pure and worthy
the age of Piitratus. Thee Poems are not properly hymns, for the hymns of the
Greeks contained the nativities and actions of the gods, like thoe of Homer and
Callimachus; but thee are compoitions of a different kind, and are properly
invocations or prayers ued in the Orphic myteries, and eem nearly of the ame
clas as the Palms of the Hebrews. The reaon why they are o eldom mentioned by
any of the early writers, and o perpetually referred to by the later, is that they
belonged to the mytic worhip, where everything was kept concealed under the
trictet oaths of ecrecy. But after the rie of Chritianity, this acred ilence was
broken by the Greek converts who revealed everything which they thought would
depreciate the old religion or recommend the now; whilt the heathen priets revealed
whatever they thought would have contrary tendency; and endeavoured to how, by
publihing the real mytic creed of their religion, that the principles of it were not o
aburd as its outward tructure eemed to infer; but that, when tripped of poetical
allegory and vulgar fable, their theology was pure, reaonable, and ublime (Gener.
Proleg. Orphica). The collection of thee poems now extant, being pro-bably
compiled and verified by everal hands, with ome forged, and other interpo-lated
and altered, mut be read with great caution; more epecially the Fragments

OF PRIAPUS

19

elf, and with him brought forth from inert matter by neceity.
Hence the purity and anctity always attributed to light by the
preerved by the Fathers of the Church and Ammonian Platonics; for thee writers
made no cruple of forging any monuments of antiquity which uited their purpoes;
particularly the former, who, in addition to their natural zeal, having the interets of a
confederate body to upport, thought every means by which they could benefit
that body, by extending the lights of revelation, and gaining proelytes to the true
faith, not only allowable, but meritorious (See Clementina, Hom. vii., ee. 10.
Recogn. lib. i., ec. 65. Origen, apud Hieronom. Apolog. i., contra Ruf. et
Chryotom. de Sacerdot., lib. i. Chryotom, in particular, not only jutifies, but
warmly commends, any frauds that can be practiced for the advantage of the Church
of Chrit). Pauanias ays (lib. ix.), that the Hymns of Orpheus were few and hort;
but next in poetical merit to thoe of Homer, and uperior to them in anctity
(qeologikwteroi). Thee are probably the ame as the genuine part of the collection
now extant; but they are o intermixed, that it is difficult to ay which are genuine
and which are not. Perhaps there is no urer rule for judging than to compare the
epithets and allegories with the ymbols and monograms on the Greek medals, and to
make their agreement the tet of authenticity. The medals were the public acts and
records of the State, made under the direction of the magitrates, who were gene-rally
initiated into the myteries. We may therefore be aured, that whatever theological
and mythological alluions are found upon them were part of the ancient religion of
Greece. It is from thee that many of the Orphic Hymns and Fragments are proved to
contain the pure theology or mytic faith of the ancients, which is called Orphic by
Pauanias (lib. i., c. 39), and which is o unlike the vulgar religion, or poetical
mythology, that one can carcely Imagine at firt ight that it belonged to the ame
people; but which will nevertheles appear, upon accurate invetigation, to be the
ource from whence it flowed, and the caue of all its extravagance.
The hitory of Orpheus himelf is o confued and obcured by fable, that it is
impoible to obtain any certain information concerning him. According to general
tradition, he was a Thracian, and introduced the myteries, in which a more pure
ytem of religion was taught, into Greece (Brucker, vol. i., part 2, lib. i., c. i.)
He is alo aid to have travelled into Egypt (Diodor. Sic. lib. i., p. 80); but as the
Egyptians pretended that all foreigners received their ciences from them, at a time
when all foreigners who entered the country were put to death or enlaved (Diodor.
Sic. lib. i., pp. 78 et 107), this account may be rejected, with many others of the
ame kind. The Egyptians certainly could not have taught Orpheus the plurality
of worlds, and true olar ytem, which appear to have been the fundamental
principles of his philoophy and religion (Plutarch. de Placit. Philos., lib. ii., c. 13.

20

ON THE WORSHIP

Greeks.1 He is called the Father of Night, becaue by attracting the

light to himelf, and becoming the fountain which ditributed it to
the world, he produced night, which is called eternally-begotten,
becaue it had eternally exited, although mixed and lot in the
general mas. He is aid to pervade the world with the motion of his
wings, bringing pure light; and thence to be called the plendid,
the ruling Priapus, and Self-illumined (autaughk2). It is to be oberved
that the word Prihpoj, afterwards the name of a ubordinate deity,
is here ued as a title relating to one of his attributes; the reaons
for which I hall endeavour to explain hereafter. Wings are figuratively attributed to him as being the emblems of wiftnes and incubation; by the firt of which he pervaded matter, and by the econd
fructified the egg of Chaos. The egg was carried in proceion at
the celebration of the myteries, becaue, as Plutarch ays, it was
the material of generation (lh thj genesewj3) containing the eeds
and germs of life and motion, without being actually poeed of
either. For this reaon, it was a very proper ymbol of Chaos, containing the eeds and materials of all things, which, however, were
barren and ueles, until the Creator fructified them by the incubation of his vital pirit, and releaed them from the retraints of inert
Brucker in loc. citat.) Nor could he have gained this knowledge from any people
which hitory has preerved any memorials; for we know of none among whom
cience had made uch a progres, that a truth o remote from common obervation,
and o contradictory to the evidence of unimproved ene, would not have been
rejected, as it was by all the ects of Greek philoophy except the Pythagoreans, who
rather revered it as an article of faith, than undertood it as a dicovery of cience.
Thrace was certainly inhabited by a civilized nation at ome remote period; for,
when Philip of Macedon opened the gold mines in that country, he found that they
had been worked before with great expene and ingenuity, by a people well vered in
mechanics, of whom no memorials whatever were then extant. Of thee, pro-bably,
was Orpheus, as well as Thamyris, both of whoe poems, Plato ays, could
be read with pleaure in his time.
1
3
See Sophocl. dip. Tyr., ver. 1436.
2 Orph. Hym. 5.
Symph. I. 2.

OF PRIAPUS

21

matter, by the efforts of his divine trength. The incubation of the

vital pirit is repreented on the colonial medals of Tyre, by a erpent wreathed around an egg;1 for the erpent, having the power
of cating his kin, and apparently renewing his youth, became the
ymbol of life and vigour, and as uch is always made an
attendant on the mythological deities preiding over health.2 It is
alo oberved, that animals of the erpent kind retain life more
pertinaciouly than any others except the Polypus, which is
ometimes repreented upon the Greek Medals,3 probably in its
tead. I have myelf een the heart of an adder continue its vital
motions for many minutes after it has been taken from the body,
and even renew them, after it has been cold, upon being
moitened with warm water, and touched with a timulus.
The Creator, delivering the fructified eeds of things from the
retraints of inert matter by his divine trength, is repreented on
innumerable Greek medals by the Urus, or wild Bull, in the act of
butting againt the Egg of Chaos, and breaking it with his horns.4
It is true, that the egg is not repreented with the bull on any of
thoe which I have een; but Mr. DHancarville5 has brought
examples from other countries, where the ame ytem prevailed,
which, as well as the general analogy of the Greek theology prove
that the egg mut have been undertood, and that the attitude of the
bull could have no other meaning. I hall alo have occaion hereafter to how by other examples, that it was no uncommon practice,
in thee mytic monuments, to make a part of a group repreent
the whole. It was from this horned ymbol of the power of the
1

2
See Plate XXI. Fig. 1.
Macrob. Sat. i. c. 20.
See Goltz, Tab. ii. Figs. 7 and 8.
4
See Plate IV. Fig. 1, and Recherches ur les Arts, vol. i. Pl. VIII. The Hebrew
word Chroub, or Cherub, ignified originally trong or robut; but is uually employed
metaphorically, ignifying a Bull. See Cleric. in Exod. c. XXV.
5
Recherches ur les Arts, lib. 1.
3

22

ON THE WORSHIP

Deity that horns were placed in the portraits of kings to how that
their power was derived from Heaven, and acknowledged no earthly
uperior. The moderns have indeed changed the meaning of this
ymbol, and given it a ene of which, perhaps, it would be difficult
to find the origin, though I have often wondered that it has never
exercied the agacity of thoe learned gentlemen who make Britih
antiquities the ubjects of their laborious inquiries. At preent, it
certainly does not bear any character of dignity or power; nor does
it ever imply that thoe to whom it is attributed have been particularly favoured by the generative or creative powers. But this is
a ubject much too important to be dicued in a digreion; I hall
therefore leave it to thoe learned antiquarians who have done
themelves o much honour, and the public o much ervice, by
their uccesful inquiries into cutoms of the ame kind. To their
indefatigable indutry and exquiite ingenuity I earnetly recommend
it, only oberving that this modern acceptation of the ymbol is of
coniderable antiquity, for it is mentioned as proverbial in the
Oneirocritics of Artemidorus;1 and that it is not now confined to
Great Britain, but prevails in mot parts of Chritendom, as the
ancient acceptation of it did formerly in mot parts of the world,
even among that people from whoe religion Chritianity is derived;
for it is a common mode of expreion in the Old Tetament, to
ay that the horns of any one hall be exalted, in order to ignify
that he hall be raied into power or pre-eminence; and when Moes
decended from the Mount with the pirit of God till upon him, his
head appeared horned.2
To the head of the bull was ometimes joined the organ of
generation, which repreented not only the trength of the Creator,
1

Lib. i. c. 12.
Exod. c. XXXIV. v. 35, ed. Vulgat. Other tranlators undertand the expreion
metaphorically, and uppoe it to mean radiated, or luminous.
2

OF PRIAPUS

23

but the peculiar direction of it to the mot beneficial purpoe, the

propagation of enitive beings. Of this there is a mall bronze in
the Mueum of Mr. Townley, of which an engraving is given in
Plate III. Fig. 2.1
Sometimes this generative attribute is repreented by the ymbol
of the goat, uppoed to be the mot alacious of animals, and therefore adopted upon the ame principles as the bull and the erpent.2
The choral odes, ung in honour of the generator Bacchus, were
hence called tragwdiai, or ongs of the goat; a title which is now
applied to the dramatic dialogues anciently inerted in thee odes,
to break their uniformity. On a medal, truck in honour of
Augutus, the goat terminates in the tail of a fih, to how the
generative power incorporated with water. Under his feet is the
globe of the earth, uppoed to be fertilied by this union; and upon
his back, the cornucopia, repreenting the reult of this fertility.3
Mr. DHancarville attributes the origin of all thee ymbols
to the ambiguity of words; the ame term being employed in the
primitive language to ignify God and a Bull, the Univere and
a Goat, Life and a Serpent. But words are only the types and
ymbols of ideas, and therefore mut be poterior to them, in the
ame manner as ideas are to their objects. The words of a primitive
language, being imitative of the ideas from which they prung,
and of the objects they meant to expres, as far as the imperfections
of the organs of peech will admit, there mut necearily be the ame
kind of analogy between them as between the ideas and objects
themelves. It is impoible, therefore, that in uch a language any
ambiguity of this ort could exit, as it does in econdary
1
2

See Plate III.

Ton de tragon aeqewsan (i Aiguer) kai ara toij Ellhsi tetimhsqai

legousi ton Priaon, dia to gennhtik morion. DIODOR. lib. i. p. 78.
3

Plate X. Fig. 3.

24

ON THE WORSHIP

languages; the words of which, being collected from various

ources, and blended together without having any natural connection,
become arbitrary igns of convention, intead of imitative repreentations of ideas. In this cae it often happens, that words, imilar
in form, but different in meaning, have been adopted from different
ources, which, being blended together, loe their little difference
of form, and retain their entire difference of meaning. Hence
ambiguities arie, uch as thoe above mentioned, which could not
poibly exit in an original tongue.
The Greek poets and artits frequently give the peronification
of a particular attribute for the Deity himelf; hence he is called
Taurozoaj, Taurwpoj, Tauromorfoj,1 &c., and hence the initials and
monograms of the Orphic epithets applied to the Creator, are found
with the bull, and other ymbols, on the Greek medals.2 It mut
not be imagined from hence, that the ancients uppoed the Deity
to exit under the form of a bull, a goat, or a erpent: on the
contrary, he is always decribed in the Orphic theology as a
general pervading Spirit, without form, or ditinct locality of any
kind; and appears, by a curious fragment preerved by Proclus,3
to have been no other than attraction peronified. The elf-created
mind (nooj autogeneqloj) of the Eternal Father is aid to have pread
the heavy bond of love through all things (pasin enespeiren desmon
peribriqh Erwtoj), in order that they might endure for ever. This
Eternal Father is Kronoj, time or eternity, peronified; and o taken
for the unknown Being that fills eternity and infinity. The ancient
theologits knew that we could form no poitive idea of infinity,
whether of power, pace, or time; it being fleeting and fugitive,
and eluding the undertanding by a continued and boundles pro1

Orph. Hymn v. et xxxix.

Numm. Vet. Pop. et Urb. Tab. xxxix. Figs 19 et 20. They are on mot of the
medals of Mareilles, Naples, Thurium and many other cities.
3
In Tim, III., et Frag. Orphic., ed Gener.
2

OF PRIAPUS

25

greion. The only notion we have of it is from the addition or

diviion of finite things, which ugget the idea of infinite, only
from a power we feel in ourelves of till multiplying and dividing
without end. The Schoolmen indeed were bolder, and, by a ummary mode of reaoning, in which they were very expert, proved
that they had as clear and adequate an idea of infinity, as of any
finite ubtance whatever. Infinity, aid they, is that which has no
bounds. This negation, being a poitive aertion, mut be founded
on a poitive idea. We have therefore a poitive idea of infinity.
The Eclectic Jews, and their followers, the Ammonian and Chritian
Platonics, who endeavoured to make their own philoophy and religion
conform to the ancient theology, held infinity of pace to be only
the immenity of the divine preence. `O Qepk auto topoj esti1 was
their dogma, which is now inerted into the Confeional of the
Greek Church.2 This infinity was ditinguihed by them from
common pace, as time was from eternity. Whatever is eternal or
infinite, aid they, mut be abolutely indiviible; becaue diviion
is in itelf inconitent with infinite continuity and duration: therefore pace and time are ditinct from infinity and eternity, which are
void of all parts and gradations whatever. Time is meaured by
years, days, hours, &c., and ditinguihed by pat, preent, and
future; but thee, being diviions, are excluded from eternity, as
locality is from infinity, and as both are from the Being who fills
both; who can therefore feel no ucceion of events, nor know any
gradation of ditance; but mut comprehend infinite duration as if
it were one moment, and infinite extent as if it were but a ingle
point.3 Hence the Ammonian Platonics peak of him as concentered in his own unity, and extended through all things, but par1

Philo. de Leg. Alleg. lib. i. Jo. Damac. de Orth. Fid.

Moheim. Note in Sec. xxiv. Cdw. Syt. Intellect.
3
See Boeth. de Conol. Philos. lib. iv. prof. 6.
2

26

ON THE WORSHIP

ticipated of by none. Being of a nature more refined and elevated

than intelligence itelf, he could not be known by ene, perception,
or reaon; and being the caue of all, he mut be anterior to all,
even to eternity itelf, if conidered as eternity of time, and not as
the intellectual unity, which is the Deity himelf, by whoe emanations all things exit, and to whoe proximity or ditances they owe
their degrees of excellence or baenes. Being itelf, in its mot abtract
ene, is derived from him; for that which is the caue and beginning of all Being, cannot be a part of that All which prung from
himelf: therefore he is not Being, nor is Being his Attribute; for
that which has an attribute cannot have the abtract implicity of
pure unity. All Being is in its nature finite; for, if it was otherwie, it mut be without bounds every way; and therefore could
have no gradation of proximity to the firt caue, or conequent
pre-eminence of one part over another: for, as all ditinctions of
time are excluded from infinite duration, and all diviions of locality
from infinite extent, o are all degrees of priority from infinite
progreion. The mind is and acts in itelf; but the abtract unity of
the firt caue is neither in itelf, nor in another;not in itelf, becaue that would imply modification, from which abtract implicity
is necearily exempt; nor in another, becaue then there would be
an hypotatical duality, intead of abolute unity. In both caes
there would be a locality of hypotais, inconitent with intellectual
infinity. As all phyical attributes were excluded from this metaphyical abtraction, which they called their firt caue, he mut of
coure be detitute of all moral ones, which are only generalized
modes of action of the former. Even imple abtract truth was
denied him; for truth, as Proclus ays, is merely the relative to
falehood; and no relative can exit without a poitive or correlative.
The Deity therefore who has no falehood, can have no truth, in
our ene of the word.1
1

Proclus in Theolog. Platon. lib. i. et ii.

OF PRIAPUS

27

As metaphyical theology is a tudy very generally, and very

deervedly, neglected at preent, I thought this little pecimen of
it might be entertaining, from its novelty, to mot readers;
epecially as it is intimately connected with the ancient ytem,
which I have here undertaken to examine. Thoe, who wih to
know more of it, may conult Proclus on the Theology of Plato,
where they will find the mot exquiite ingenuity mot wantonly
wated. No perons ever howed greater acutenes or trength of
reaoning than the Platonics and Scholatics; but having quitted
common ene, and attempted to mount into the intellectual
world, they expended it all in abortive efforts which may amue
the imagination, but cannot atisfy the undertanding.
The ancient Theologits howed more dicretion; for, finding
that they could conceive no idea of infinity, they were content to
revere the Infinite Being in the mot general and efficient exertion
of his power, attraction; whoe agency is perceptible through all
matter, and to which all motion may, perhaps, be ultimately traced.
This power, being peronified, became the econdary Deity, to whom
all adoration and worhip were directed, and who is therefore frequently conidered as the ole and upreme caue of all things. His
agency being uppoed to extend through the whole material world,
and to produce all the various revolutions by which its ytem is
utained, his attributes were of coure extremely numerous and
varied. Thee were expreed by various titles and epithets in the
mytic hymns and litanies, which the artits endeavoured to repreent
by various forms and characters of men and animals. The great
characteritic attribute was repreented by the organ of generation in
that tate of tenion and rigidity which is neceary to the due performance of its functions. Many mall images of this kind have
been found among the ruins of Herculaneum and Pompeii, attached
to the bracelets, which the chate and pious matrons of antiquity
wore round their necks and arms. In thee, the organ of generation

28

ON THE WORSHIP

appears alone, or only accompanied with the wings of incubation,1

in order to how that the devout wearer devoted herelf wholly
and olely to procreation, the great end for which he was
ordained. So expreive a ymbol, being contantly in her view,
mut keep her attention fixed on its natural object, and
continually remind her of the gratitude he owed the Creator, for
having taken her into his ervice, made her a partaker of his mot
valuable bleings, and employed her as the paive intrument in
the exertion of his mot beneficial power.
The female organs of generation were revered2 as ymbols of the
generative powers of nature or matter, as the male were of the generative powers of God. They are uually repreented emblematically,
by the Shell, or Concha Veneris, which was therefore worn by devout
perons of antiquity, as it till continues to be by pilgrims, and many
of the common women of Italy. The union of both was expreed
by the hand mentioned in Sir William Hamilton's letter;3 which
being a les explicit ymbol, has ecaped the attention of the reformers,
and is till worn, as well as the hell, by the women of Italy, though
without being undertood. It repreented the act of generation,
which was conidered as a olemn acrament, in honour of the Creator, as will be more fully hown hereafter.
The male organs of generation are ometimes found repreented
by igns of the ame ort, which might properly be called the ymbols of ymbols. One of the mot remarkable of thee is a cros, in the
form of the letter T,4 which thus erved as the emblem of creation
and generation, before the church adopted it as the ign of alvation; a
lucky coincidence of ideas, which, without doubt, facilitated the
1

Plate II. Fig. 2, engraved from one in the Britih Mueum.

Augut. de Civ. Dei, Lib. VI. c. 9.
3
See Plate II, Fig. 1, from one in the Britih Mueum, in which both ymbols are
united.
4
Recherches ur les Arts, lib. i. c. 3.
2

OF PRIAPUS

29

reception of it among the faithful. To the repreentative of the male

organs was ometimes added a human head, which gives it the exact
appearance of a crucifix; as it has on a medal of Cyzicus, publihed
by M. Pellerin.1 On an ancient medal, found in Cyprus, which,
from the tyle of workmanhip, is certainly anterior to the Macedonian conquet, it appears with the chaplet or roary, uch as is
now ued in the Romih churches;2 the beads of which were ued,
anciently, to reckon time.3 Their being placed in a circle, marked
its progreive continuity; while their eparation from each other
marked the diviions, by which it is made to return on itelf, and
thus produce years, months, and days. The ymbol of the creative
power is placed upon them, becaue thee diviions were particularly
under his influence and protection; the un being his viible image,
and the centre of his power, from which his emanations extended
through the univere. Hence the Egyptians, in their acred hymns,
called upon Oiris, as the being who dwelt concealed in the
embraces of the un;4 and hence the great luminary itelf is called
Kosmokratwr (Ruler of the World) in the Orphic Hymns.5
This general emanation of the pervading Spirit of God, by
which all things are generated and maintained, is beautifully
decribed by Virgil, in the following lines:
Deum namque ire per omne
Terraque, tractuque maris, clumque profundum.
Hinc pecudes, armenta, viros, genus omne ferarum,
Quemque ibi tenues nacentum arceere vitas.
Scilicet huc reddi deinde, ac reoluta referri
Omnia: nec morti ee locum, ed viva volare
Sideris in numerum, atque alto uccedere clo.6
1

See Plate IX. Fig. 1.

Plate IX. Fig. 2, from Pellerin. Similar medals are in the Hunter collection,
and are evidently of Phnician work.
3
4
Recherches ur les Arts, lib. i. c. 3.
Plutarch, de Is. et Oir.
5
6
See Hymn VII.
Georgic. lib. iv. ver 221.
2

30

ON THE WORSHIP

The Ethereal Spirit is here decribed as expanding itelf through

the univere, and giving life and motion to the inhabitants of earth,
water, and air, by a participation of its own eence, each particle
of which returned to its native ource, at the diolution of the
body which it animated. Hence, not only men, but all animals,
and even vegetables, were uppoed to be impregnated with ome
particles of the Divine Nature infued into them, from which their
various qualities and dipoitions, as well as their powers of propagation, were uppoed to be derived. Thee appeared to be o many
emanations of the Divine attributes, operating in different modes and
degrees, according to the nature of the beings to which they
belonged. Hence the characteritic properties of animals and plants
were not only regarded as repreentations, but as actual emanations
of the Divine Power, conubtantial with his own eence.1 For
this reaon, the ymbols were treated with greater repect and
veneration than if they had been merely igns and characters of
convention. Plutarch ays, that mot of the Egyptian priets held
the bull Apis, who was worhipped with o much ceremony, to be
only an image of the Spirit of Oiris.2 This I take to have been the
real meaning of all the animal worhip of the Egyptians, about
which o much has been written, and o little dicovered. Thoe
animals or plants, in which any particular attribute of the Deity
eemed to predominate, became the ymbols of that attribute, and
were accordingly worhipped as the images of Divine Providence,
acting in that particular direction. Like many other cutoms, both
of ancient and modern worhip, the practice, probably, continued
long after the reaons upon which it was founded were either wholly
lot, or only partially preerved, in vague traditions. This was the
cae in Egypt; for, though many of the priets knew or conjectured
the origin of the worhip of the bull, they could give no rational
1

Proclus in Theol. Plat. lib. i. pp. 56, 57.

De Is. et. Oir.

OF PRIAPUS

31

account why the crocodile, the ichneumon, and the ibis, received
imilar honours. The ymbolical characters, called hieroglyphics,
continued to be eteemed by them as more holy and venerable than
the conventional repreentations of ounds, notwithtanding their
manifet inferiority; yet it does not appear, from any accounts
extant, that they were able to aign any reaon for this preference.
On the contrary, Strabo tells us that the Egyptians of his time were
wholly ignorant of their ancient learning and religion,1 though
impotors continually pretended to explain it. Their ignorance in
thee points is not to be wondered at, conidering that the mot
ancient Egyptians, of whom we have any authentic accounts, lived
after the ubverion of their monarchy and detruction of their
temples by the Perians, who ued every endeavour to annihilate
their religion; firt, by command of Cambyes,2 and then of
Ochus.3 What they were before this calamity, we have no direct
information; for Herodotus is the earliet traveller, and he viited
this country when in ruins.
It is obervable in all modern religions, that men are upertitious in proportion as they are ignorant, and that thoe who know
leat of the principles of religion are the mot earnet and fervent
in the practice of its exterior rites and ceremonies. We may
uppoe from analogy, that this was the cae with the Egyptians.
The learned and rational merely repected and revered the acred
animals, whilt the vulgar worhipped and adored them. The
greatet part of the former being, as is natural to uppoe, detroyed
by the perecution of the Perians, this worhip and adoration became general; different cities adopting different animals as their
tutelar deities, in the ame manner as the Catholics now put themelves under the protection of different aints and martyrs. Like
1
3

Lib. xvii.
Plutarch, de Is. et Oir.

Herodot. lib. iii. Strabo, lib. xvii.

32

ON THE WORSHIP

them, too, in the fervency of their devotion for the imaginary

agent, they forgot the original caue.
The cutom of keeping acred animals as images of the Divine
attributes, eems once to have prevailed in Greece as well as Egypt;
for the God of Health was repreented by a living erpent at Epidaurus, even in the lat tage of their religion.1 In general, however, they preferred wrought images, not from their uperiority in
art, which they did not acquire until after the time of Homer,2 when
their theology was entirely corrupted; but becaue they had thus
the means of expreing their ideas more fully, by combining everal
forms together, and howing, not only the Divine attribute, but the
mode and purpoe of its operation. For intance; the celebrated
bronze in the Vatican has the male organs of generation placed
upon the head of a cock, the emblem of the un, upported by the
neck and houlders of a man. In this compoition they repreented
the generative power of the Erwj, the Oiris, Mithras, or Bacchus,
whoe centre is the un, incarnate with man. By the incription on
the pedetal, the attribute this peronified, is tyled The Saviour of
the World (Swthr kosmou); a title always venerable, under
whatever image it be repreented.3
The Egyptians howed this incarnation of the Deity by a les
permanent, though equally expreive ymbol. At Mendes a living
goat was kept as the image of the generative power, to whom the
women preented themelves naked, and had the honour of being
publicly enjoyed by him. Herodotus aw the act openly performed (ej epideixin anqrwpwn), and calls it a prodigy (teraj). But
the Egyptians had no uch horror of it; for it was to them a repreentation of the incarnation of the Deity, and the communication of
1

Liv. Hit. Epiom. lib. xi.

When Homer praies any work of art, he calls it the work of Sidonians.
3
See Plate II. Fig. 3.
2

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33

his creative pirit to man. It was one of the acraments of that

ancient church, and was, without doubt, beheld with that pious awe
and reverence with which devout perons always contemplate the
myteries of their faith, whatever they happen to be; for, as the
learned and orthodox Bihop Warburton, whoe authority it is not
for me to dipute, ays, from the nature of any action morality cannot
arie, nor from its effects;1 therefore, for aught we can tell, this
ceremony, however hocking it may appear to modern manners and
opinions, might have been intrinically meritorious at the time of its
celebration, and afforded a truly edifying pectacle to the aints
of ancient Egypt. Indeed, the Greeks do not eem to have felt
much horror or digut at the imitative repreentation of it, whatever the hitorian might have thought proper to expres at the real
celebration. Several pecimens of their culpture in this way
have ecaped the fury of the reformers, and remained for the intruction of later times. One of thee, found among the ruins of
Herculaneum, and kept concealed in the Royal Mueum of Portici,
is well known. Another exits in the collection of Mr. Townley,
which I have thought proper to have engraved for the benefit of
the learned.2 It may be remarked, that in thee monuments the
goat is paive intead of active; and that the human ymbol is repreented as incarnate with the divine, intead of the divine with the
human: but this is in fact no difference; for the Creator, being of
both exes, is repreented indifferently of either. In the other
ymbol of the bull, the ex is equally varied; the Greek medals
having ometimes a bull, and ometimes a cow,3 which, Strabo tells
us, was employed as the ymbol of Venus, the paive generative
power, at Momemphis, in Egypt.4 Both the bull and the cow are
1

2
Div. Leg. book i. c. 4.
See Plate VII.
See Plate IV, Fig. 1, 2, 3, and Plate III, fig 4, engraved from medals belonging
to me.
4
Lib. xvii.
3

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ON THE WORSHIP

alo worhipped at preent by the Hindoos, as ymbols of the male

and female, or generative and nutritive, powers of the Deity. The
cow is in almot all their pagodas; but the bull is revered with
uperior olemnity and devotion. At Tanjour is a monument of
their piety to him, which even the inflexible pereverance, and
habitual indutry of the natives of that country, could carcely
have erected without greater knowledge in practical mechanics than
they now poes. It is a tatue of a bull lying down, hewn, with
great accuracy, out of a ingle piece of hard granite, which has been
conveyed by land from the ditance of one hundred miles, although
its weight, in its preent reduced tate, mut be at leat one hundred
tons.1 The Greeks ometimes made their Taurine Bacchus, or
bull, with a human face, to expres both exes, which they ignified
by the initial of the epithet Difuej placed under him.2 Over him
they frequently put the radiated aterik, which repreents the un,
to how the Deity, whoe attribute he was intended to expres.3
Hence we may perceive the reaon why the Germans, who, according to Car,4 worhipped the un, carried a brazen bull, as the
image of their God, when they invaded the Roman dominions in
the time of Marius;5 and even the choen people of Providence,
when they made unto themelves an image of the God who was
to conduct them through the deert, and cat out the ungodly, from before them, made it in the hape of a young bull, or
calf.6
The Greeks, as they advanced in the cultivation of the imitative
1

See Plate

XXII.

with the meaurements, as made by Capt. Patteron on the

pot.
2

See Plate IV, Fig. 2, from a medal of Naples in the Hunter collection.
See Plate IV, Fig. 2, and Plate XIX. Fig 4, from a medal of Cales, belonging
to me.
4
5
De B. G., lib. vi.
Plut. in Mario.
6
Exod. c. xxxii., with Patricks Commentary.
3

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OF PRIAPUS

arts, gradually changed the animal for the human form, preerving
till the original character. The human head was at firt added to
the body of the bull;1 but afterwards the whole figure was made
human, with ome of the features, and general character of the
animal, blended with it.2 Oftentimes, however, thee mixed figures
had a peculiar and proper meaning, like that of the Vatican
Bronze; and were not intended as mere refinements of art. Such
are the fawns and atyrs, who repreent the emanations of the
Creator, incarnate with man, acting as his angels and miniters in
the work of univeral generation. In copulation with the goat,
they repreent the reciprocal incarnation of man with the deity,
when incorporated with univeral matter: for Deity, being both
male and female, was both act and paive in procreation; firt
animat-ing man by an emanation from his own eence, and then
employing that emanation to reproduce, in conjunction with the
common pro-ductive powers of nature, which are no other than
his own prolific pirit transfued through matter.
Thee mixed beings are derived from Pan, the principle of univeral order; of whoe peronified image they partake. Pan is
addreed in the Orphic Litanies as the firt-begotten love, or creator
incorporated in univeral matter, and o forming the world.3 The
heaven, the earth, water, and fire are aid to be members of him; and
he is decribed as the origin and ource of all things (pantofuhj
genetwr pantwn), as repreenting matter animated by the Divine Spirit.
Lycan Pan was the mot ancient and revered God of the Arcadians,4
the mot ancient people of Greece. The epithet Lycan (Lukaioj),
is uually derived from lukoj, a wolf; though it is impoible to
1

See the medals of Naples, Gela, &c . Plate

pecimens; but the coins are in all collections.
2
See Bronzi dHerculano, tom. v. Plate v.
4
Dionys. Antiq. Rom. lib. i, c. 32.

IV.

Fig 2 and Plate

3

Hymn. x.

IX.

Fig 11, are

36

ON THE WORSHIP

find any relation which this etymology can have with the deities to
which it is applied; for the epithet Lukaioj, or Lukeioj (which is only
the different pronunciation of a different dialect), is occaionally
applied to almot all the gods. I have therefore no doubt, but that it
ought to be derived from the old word lukoj,or lukh,light; from which
came the Latin word lux.1 In this ene it is a very proper epithet for
the Divine Nature, of whoe eence light was uppoed to be. I am
confirmed in this conjecture by a word in the Electra of Sophocles,
which eems hitherto to have been miundertood. At the opening of
the play, the old tutor of Oretes, entering Argos with his young
pupil, points out to him the mot celebrated public buildings, and
amongt them the Lycan Forum, tou lukoktonou Qeou, which the
choliat and tranlators interpret, of the wolf-killing God, though
there is no reaon whatever why this epithet hould be applied to
Apollo. But, if we derive the compound from lukoj, light, and
ekteinein, to extend, intead of kteinein, to kill, the meaning will be
perfectly jut and natural; for light-extending, is of all others the
properet epithet for the un. Sophocles, as well as Virgil, is known
to have been an admirer of ancient expreions, and to have imitated
Homer more than any other Attic Poet; therefore, his employing
an obolete word is not to be wondered at. Taking this etymology
as the true one, the Lycan Pan of Arcadia is Pan the luminous;
that is, the divine eence of light incorporated in univeral matter.
The Arcadians called him ton thj lhj Kurion, the lord of matter as
Macrobius rightly tranlates it.2 He was hence called Sylvanus by
the Latins; Sylvus being, in the ancient Pelagian and olian
Greek, from which the Latin is derived, the ame as lh for it is
well known to all who have compared the two languages attentively,
that the Sigma and Vau are letters, the one of which was partially,
and the other generally omitted by the Greeks, in the refinement of
1

Macrob. Sat. xvii.

Sat. i. c. 22.

OF PRIAPUS

37

their pronunciation and orthography which took place after the

emigration of the Latian and Etrucan colonies. The Chorus in the
Ajax of Sophocles addres Pan by the title of Aliplagktoj,1 probably
becaue he was worhipped on the hores of the ea; water being
reckoned the bet and mot prolific of the ubordinate elements,2
upon which the Spirit of God, according to Moes, or the Platic
Nature, according to the Platonics, operating, produced life and
motion on earth. Hence the ocean is aid by Homer to be the
ource of all things;3 and hence the ue of water in baptim, which
was to regenerate, and, in a manner, new create the peron
baptied; for the oul, uppoed by many of the primitive Chritians to be naturally mortal, was then uppoed to become immortal.4 Upon the ame principle, the figure of Pan,5 is repreented
pouring water upon the organ of generation; that is, invigorating
the active creative power by the prolific element upon which it
acted; for water was conidered as the eence of the paive principle, as fire was of the active; the one being of terretrial, and
the other of thereal origin. Hence, St. John the Baptit, who might
have acquired ome knowledge of the ancient theology, through its
revivers, the Eclectic Jews, ays: I, indeed, baptie you in water to
repentance; but he that cometh after me, who is more powerful
than I am, hall baptie you in Holy Spirit, and in fire:6 that is, I only
purify and refreh the oul, by a communion with the terretrial
principle of life; but he that cometh after me, will regenerate and
retore it, by a communion with the thereal principle.7 Pan is
1

2
Ver. 703.
Pindar, Olymp. i. ver. 1. Diodor, Sic. lib. i. p. 11.
Il. x, ver 246, and f, ver. 196.
4
Clementina, Hom. xii. Arnob. adv. Gentes, lib. ii.
5
See Plate V. Fig 1. The original is among the antiquities found in Herculaneum, now in the Mueum of Portici.
6
Matth. c. iii.
7
It is the avowed intention of the learned and excellent work of Grotius, to prove
that there is nothing new in Chritianity. What I have here adduced, may erve to
3

38

ON THE WORSHIP

again addreed in Salaminian Chorus of the ame tragedy of

Sophocles, by the titles of author and director of the dances of the
gods (Qewn coropoi' anax), as being the author and dipoer of the
regular motions of the univere, of which thee divine dances were
ymbols, which are aid in the ame paage to be (autodah) elftaught to him. Both the Gnoian and Nyian dances are here
included,1 the former acred to Jupiter, and the latter to Bacchus;
for Pan, being the principle of univeral order, partook of the
nature of all the other gods. They were peronifications of particular modes of acting of the great all-ruling principle; and he, of
his general law and pre-etablihed harmony by which he governs
the univere. Hence he is often repreented playing on a pipe; muic
being the natural emblem of this phyical harmony. According to
Plutarch, the Jupiter Ammon of the Africans was the ame as the
Pan of the Greeks.2 This explains the reaon why the Macedonian
kings aumed the horns of that god; for, though Alexander pretended to be his on, his ucceors never pretended to any uch
honour; and yet they equally aumed the ymbols, as appears from
their medals.3 The cae is, that Pan, or Ammon, being the univere,
and Jupiter a title of the Supreme God (as will be hown hereafter), the
horns, the emblems of his power, eemed the properet ymbols of
that upreme and univeral dominion to which they all, as well as
Alexander, had the ambition to apire. The figure of Ammon
was compounded of the forms of the ram, as that of Pan was of the
goat; the reaon of which is difficult to acertain, unles we uppoe

confirm and illutrate the dicoveries of that great and good man. See de Veritate
Relig. Chrit. lib. iv, c. 12.
1
2
Ver. 708.
De Is. et Oir.
3
See Plate IV, Fig 4, engraved from one of Lyimachus, of exquiite beauty,
beloning to me. Antigonus put the head of Pan upon his coins, which are not
uncommon.

OF PRIAPUS

39

that goats were unknown in the country where his worhip aroe,
and that the ram expreed the ame attribute.1 In a gem in the
Mueum of Charles Townley, Eq., the head of the Greek Pan is
joined to that of a ram, on the body of a cock, over whoe head is
the aterik of the un, and below it the head of an aquatic fowl,
attached to the ame body.2 The cock is the ymbol of the un,
probably from proclaiming his approach in the morning; and the
aquatic fowl is the emblem of water; o that this compoition,
apparently o whimical, repreents the univere between the two great
prolific elements, the one the active, and the other the paive caue
of all things.
The Creator being both male and female, the emanations of his
creative pirit, operating upon univeral matter, produced ubordinate miniters of both exes, and gave, as companions to the fauns
and atyrs, the nymphs of the waters, the mountains and the woods,
ignifying the paive productive powers of each, ubdivided and
diffued. Of the ame clas are the Genetullidej, mentioned by Pauanias as companions to Venus,3 who, as well as Ceres, Juno, Diana,
Iis, &c., was only a peronification of nature, or the paive principle
of generation, operating in various modes. Apuleius invokes Iis
by the names of the Eleuinian Ceres, Celetial Venus, and Proerpine; and, when the Goddes anwers him, he decribes herelf as
follows: I am, ays he, nature, the parent of things, the overeign of the elements, the primary progeny of time, the mot exalted
of the deities, the firt of the heavenly Gods and Goddees, the queen
of the hades, the uniform countenance; who dipoe, with my nod,
the luminous heights of heaven, the alubrious breezes of the ea,
and the mournful ilence of the dead; whoe ingle Deity the whole
1

Pauanias (lib. ii.) ays he knew the meaning of this ymbol, but did not chooe
to reveal it, it being a part of the mytic worhip.
2
3
Plate III, Fig. 1.
Lib. i.

40

ON THE WORSHIP

world venerates, in many forms, with various rites, and various

names. The Egyptians, killed in ancient learning, worhip me
with proper ceremonies, and call me by my true name, Queen Iis.1
According to the Egyptians, Iis copulated with her brother
Oiris in the womb of their mother; from whence prung Arueris,
or Orus, the Apollo of the Greeks.2 This allegory means no more
than that the active and paive powers of creation united in the
womb of night; where they had been implanted by the unknown
father, Kronoj, or time, and by their union produced the eparation
or delivery of the elements from each other; for the name Apollo is
only a title derived from apoluw, to deliver from.3 They made the robes
of Iis various in their colours and complicated in their folds, becaue
the paive or material power appeared in various hapes and modes,
as accommodating itelf to the active; but the dres of Oiris was
imple, and of one luminous colour, to how the unity of his eence,
and univerality of his power; equally the ame through all things.4
The luminous, or flame colour, repreented the un, who, in the
language of the theologits, was the ubtance of his acred power,
and the viible image of his intellectual being.5 He is called, in the
Orphic Litanies, the chain which connects all things together ( d
anedrame desmoj pantwn),5 as being the principle of attraction; and
the deliverer (lusioj),7 as giving liberty to the innate powers of
nature, and thus fertiliing matter. Thee epithets not only expres
the theological, but alo the phyical ytem of the Orphic chool;
according to which the un, being placed in the centre of the
1

Metamorph. lib. xi. 2 Plutarch, de Is. et Oir. 3 Damm. Lex. Etym.

4
5
Plutarch, de Is. et. Oir.
Ibid.
Hymn xlvi.
7
Hymn. xlix. the initials of this epithet are with the bull on a medal of Naples
belonging to me The bull has a human countenance, and has therefore been called
a minotaur by antiquarians; notwithtanding he is to be found on different medals,
accompanied with all the ymbols both of Bacchus and Apollo, and with the initials
of mot of the epithets to be found in the Orphic Litanies.
4

OF PRIAPUS

41

univere, with the planets moving round, was, by his attractive

force, the caue of all union and harmony in the whole; and, by the
emanation of his beams, the caue of all motion and activity in the
parts. This ytem is alluded to by Homer in the allegory of the
golden chain, by which Jupiter upends all things;1 though there
is every reaon to believe that the poet himelf was ignorant of its
meaning, and only related it as he had heard it. The Ammonian
Platonics adopted the ame ytem of attraction, but changed its
centre from the un to their metaphyical abtraction or incomprehenible unity, whoe emanations pervaded all things, and held all
things together.2
Beides the Fauns, Satyrs, and Nymphs, the incarnate emanations of the active and paive powers of the Creator, we often find
in the ancient culptures certain androgynous beings poeed of the
characteritic organs of both exes, which I take to repreent
organized matter in its firt tage; that is, immediately after it was
releaed from chaos, and before it was animated by a participation
of the ethereal eence of the Creator. In a beautiful gem belonging
to R. Wilbraham, Eq.,3 one of thee androgynous figures is repreented leeping, with the organs of generation covered, and the egg
of chaos broken under it. On the other ide is Bacchus, the Creator, bearing a torch, the emblem of ethereal fire, and extending it
towards the leeping figure; whilt one of his agents eems only to
wait his permiion to begin the execution of that office, which,
according to every outward and viible ign, he appears able to
dicharge with energy and effect. The Creator himelf leans upon
one of thoe figures commonly called Sileni; but which, from their
heavy unwieldy forms, were probably intended as peronifications
of brute inert matter, from which all things are formed, but which,
1
3

Il. Q, ver. xix.

See Plate V. Fig. 3.

Proclus in Theol. Plat. lib. i. c. 21.

42

ON THE WORSHIP

being incapable of producing anything of itelf, is properly repreented as the upport of the creative power, though not actively
intrumental in his work. The total baldnes of this figure repreents the exhauted, unproductive tate of matter, when the generative powers were eparated from it; for it was an opinion of the
ancients, which I remember to have met with in ome part of the
works of Aritotle, to which I cannot at preent refer, that every
act of coition produced a tranient chill in the brain, by which ome
of the roots of the hair were looened; o that baldnes was a mark
of terility acquired by exceive exertion. The figures of Pan have
nearly the ame forms with that which I have here uppoed to
repreent inert matter; only that they are compounded with thoe
of the goat, the ymbol of the creative power, by which matter was
fructified and regulated. To this is ometimes added the organ of
generation, of an enormous magnitude, to ignify the application of
this power to its noblet end, the procreation of enitive and
rational beings. This compoition forms the common Priapus of
the Roman poets, who was worhipped among the other peronages
of the heathen mythology, but undertood by few of his ancient
votaries any better than by the good women of Iernia. His characteritic organ is ometimes repreented by the artits in that tate of
tenion and rigidity, which it aumes when about to dicharge its
functions,1 and at other times in that tate of tumid languor,
which immediately ucceeds the performance.2 In the latter cae he
appears loaded with the productions of nature, the reult of thoe
prolific efforts, which in the former cae he appeared o well
qualified to exert. I have in Plate V. given a figure of him in each
ituation, one taken from a bronze in the Royal Mueum of Portici,
and the other from one in that of Charles Townley, Eq. It may
1

Plate V. Fig. 1, from a bronze in the Mueum at Portici.

OF PRIAPUS

43

be oberved, that in the former the mucles of the face are all
trained and contracted, o that every nerve eems to be in a tate
of tenion; whereas in the latter the features are all dilated and
fallen, the chin repoed on the breat, and the whole figure
expreive of languor and fatigue.
If the explanation which I have given of thee androgynous
figures be the true one, the fauns and atyrs, which uually accompany
them, mut repreent abtract emanations, and not incarnations of the
creative pirit, as when in copulation with the goat. The Creator
himelf is frequently repreented in a human form; and it is natural
that his emanations hould partake of the ame, though without
having any thing really human in their compoition. It eems,
however, to have been the opinion in ome parts of Aia, that the
Creator was really of a human form. The Jewih legilator ays
exprely, that God made man in his own image, and, prior to the
creation of woman, created him male and female,1 as he himelf conequently was.2 Hence an ingenious author has uppoed that thee
androgynous figures repreented the firt individuals of the human
race, who, poeing the organs of both exes, produced children of
each. This eems to be the ene in which they were repreented
by ome of the ancient artits; but I have never met with any trace
of it in any Greek author, except Philo the Jew; nor have I ever
een any monument of ancient art, in which the Bacchus, or Creator
in a human form, was repreented with the generative organs of
both exes. In the ymbolical images, the double nature is frequently expreed by ome androgynous inect, uch as the nail,
which is endowed with the organs of both exes, and can copulate
reciprocally with either: but when the refinement of art adopted
the human form, it was repreented by mixing the characters of the
1

Genes, c. i.

Philo, de Leg. Alleg. lib. ii.

44

ON THE WORSHIP

male and female bodies in every part, preerving till the ditinctive
organs of the male. Hence Euripides calls Bacchus qhlummorfoj,1
and the Chorus of Bachannals in the ame tragedy addres him by
maculine and feminine epithets.2 Ovid alo ays to him,
Tibi, cum ine cornibus adtas,
Virgineum caput et. 3

alluding in the firt line to his taurine, and in the econd to his
androgynous figure.
The ancient theologits were, like the modern, divided into ects;
but, as thee never diturbed the peace of ociety, they have been
very little noticed. I have followed what I conceive to be the true
Orphic ytem, in the little analyis which I have here endeavoured
to give. This was probably the true catholic faith, though it differs
coniderably from another ancient ytem, decribed by Aritophanes;4
which is more poetical, but les philoophical. According to this,
Chaos, Night, Erebus, and Tartarus, were the primitive beings. Night,
in the infinite breat of Erebus, brought forth an egg, from which
prung Love, who mixed all things together; and from thence prung
the heaven, the ocean, the earth, and the gods. This ytem is
alluded to by the epithet Wogenoj, applied to the Creator in one of the
Orphic Litanies:5 but this could never have been a part of the
orthodox faith; for the Creator is uually repreented as breaking
the egg of chaos, and therefore could not have prung from it. In
the confued medleys of allegories and traditions contained in the
Theogony attributed to Heiod, Love is placed after Chaos and the
Earth, but anterior to every thing ele. Thee differences are not
to be wondered at; for Aritophanes, uppoing that he undertood
the true ytem, could not with afety have revealed it, or even
mentioned it any otherwie than under the uual garb of fiction and
1
3

2
Bach. v. 358.
W Bromie, Pedwn cqonoj enosi potnia. Vers. 504.
4
5
Metam. lib. iv, v. 18.
Orniq. Vers. 693.
Hymn v.

OF PRIAPUS

45

allegory; and as for the author of the Theogony, it is evident,

from the trange jumble of incoherent fables which he has put
together, that he knew very little of it. The ytem alluded to in
the Orphic veres quoted in the Argonautics, is in all probability
the true one; for it is not only conitent in all its parts, but
contains a phyical truth, which the greatet of the modern
dicoveries has only con-firmed and explained. The others eem
to have been only poetical corruptions of it, which, extending by
degrees, produced that un-wieldly ytem of poetical mythology,
which contituted the vulgar religion of Greece.
The fauns and atyrs, which accompany the androgynous figures
on the ancient culptures, are uually repreented as minitering to
the Creator by exerting their characteritic attributes upon them, as
well as upon the nymphs, the paive agents of procreation: but
what has puzzled the learned in thee monuments, and eems a
contradiction to the general ytem of ancient religion, is that many
of thee groups are in attitudes which are rather adapted to the gratification of diordered and unnatural appetites, than to extend procreation. But a learned author, who has thrown infinite light upon
thee ubjects, has effectually cleared them from this upicion, by
howing that they only took the mot convenient way to get at the
female organs of generation, in thoe mixed beings who poeed
both.1 This is confirmed by Lucretius, who aerts, that this attitude
is better adapted to the purpoes of generation than any other.2 We
may therefore conclude, that intead of repreenting them in the
act of gratifying any diorderly appetites, the artits meant to
how their modety in not indulging their concupicence, but in
doing their duty in the way bet adapted to anwer the ends
propoed by the Creator.
On the Greek medals, where the cow is the ymbol of the deity,
1

Recherches ur les Arts, liv. i. c. 3.

Lib. iv, v. 1260

46

ON THE WORSHIP

he is frequently repreented licking a calf, which is ucking her.1

This is probably meant to how that the creative power cherihes
and nourihes, as well as generates; for, as all quadrupeds lick their
young, to refreh and invigorate them immediately after birth, it is
natural to uppoe, according to the general ytem of ymbolical
writing, that this action hould be taken as an emblem of the effect
it was thought to produce. On other medals the bull or cow is
repreented licking itelf;2 which, upon the ame principle, mut
repreent the trength of the deity refrehed and invigorated by the
exertion of its own nutritive and platic power upon its own being.
On others again is a human head of an androgynous character, like
that of the Bacchus difuej, with the tongue extended over the lower
lip, as if to lick omething.3 This was probably the ame ymbol,
expreed in a les explicit manner; it being the common practice
of the Greek artits to make a part of a compoition ignify the
whole, of which I hall oon have occaion to give ome incontetable
examples. On a Parian medal publihed by Goltzius, the bull licking himelf is repreented on one ide, accompanied by the aterik
of the un, and on the other, the head with the tongue extended,
having erpents, the emblems of life, for hair.4 The ame medal is
in my collection, except that the erpents are not attached to the
head, but placed by it as ditinct ymbols, and that the animal licking itelf is a female accompanied by the initial of the word qeoj,
intead of the aterik of the un. Antiquarians have called this head a
Medua; but, had they examined it attentively on any wellpreerved coin, they would have found that the expreion of the
features means lut, and not rage or horror.5 The cae is, that
1

See Plate IV, Fig. 3. from a medal of Dyrrachium, belonging to me.

See Plate III. Fig. 5, from one of Gortyna, in the Hunter Collection; and
Plate III. Fig. 4, from one of Parium, belonging to me.
3
See Plate III, Fig 4, and Plate III, Fig 6, from Pellerin.
4
5
Goltz, Inul. Tab. xix, Fig 8.
See Plate III, Fig. 4.
2

OF PRIAPUS

47

antiquarians have been continually led into error, by eeking for

explanations of the devices on the Greek medals in the wild and
capricious tories of Ovids Metamorphoes, intead of
examining the firt principles of ancient religion contained in the
Orphic Fragments, the writings of Plutarch, Macrobius, and
Apuleius, and the Choral Odes of the Greek tragedies. Thee
principles were the ubjects of the ancient myteries, and it is to
thee that the ymbols on the medals always relate; for they were
the public acts of the tates, and therefore contain the ene of
nations, and not the caprices of individuals.
As M. DHancarville found a complete repreentation of the bull
breaking the egg of chaos in the culptures of the Japanee, when
only a part of it appears on the Greek monuments; o we may find
in a curious Oriental fragment, lately brought from the acred
caverns of Elephanta, near Bombay, a complete repreentation of
the ymbol o enigmatically expreed by the head above mentioned.
Thee caverns are ancient places of worhip, hewn in the olid rock
with immene labour and difficulty. That from which the fragment
in quetion was brought, is 130 feet long by 110 wide, adorned
with columns and culptures finihed in a tyle very different from
that of the Indian artits.1 It is now neglected; but others of the
ame kind are till ued as places of worhip by the Hindoos, who
can give no account of the antiquity of them, which mut necearily
be very remote, for the Hindoos are a very ancient people; and yet
the culptures repreent a race of men very unlike them, or any of
the preent inhabitants of India. A pecimen of thee was brought
from the iland of Elephanta, in the Cumberland man-of-war, and
now belongs to the mueum of Mr. Townley. It contains everal
figures, in very high relief; the principal of which are a man and
woman, in an attitude which I hall not venture to decribe, but only
1

Archol. vol. viii. p. 189.

48

ON THE WORSHIP

oberve, that the action, which I have uppoed to be a ymbol of

refrehment and invigoration, is mutually applied by both to their
repective organs of generation,1 the emblems of the active and
paive powers of procreation, which mutually cherih and invigorate
each other.
The Hindoos till repreent the creative powers of the deity by
thee ancient ymbols, the male and female organs of generation;
and worhip them with the ame pious reverence as the Greeks and
Egyptians did.2 Like them too they have buried the original principles of their theology under a mas of poetical mythology, o that
few of them can give any more perfect account of their faith, than
that they mean to worhip one firt caue, to whom the ubordinate
deities are merely agents, or more properly peronified modes of action.3
This is the doctrine inculcated, and very fully explained, in the
Bagvat Geeta; a moral and metaphyical work lately tranlated from
the Sancrit language, and aid to have been written upwards of
four thouand years ago. Krehna, or the deity become incarnate
in the hape of man, in order to intruct all mankind, is introduced,
revealing to his diciples the fundamental principles of true faith,
religion, and widom; which are the exact counterpart of the ytem
of emanations, o beautifully decribed in the lines of Virgil before
cited. We here find, though in a more mytic garb, the ame one
principle of life univerally emanated and expanded, and ever partially returning to be again aborbed in the infinite abys of intellectual
being. This reaborption, which is throughout recommended as
the ultimate end of human perfection, can only be obtained by a
life of inward meditation and abtract thought, too teady to be
interrupted by any worldly incidents, or diturbed by any tranitory
affections, whether of mind or body. But as uch a life is not in the
1
3

See Plate XI. [and XXIV] 2 Sonnerat, Voyage aux Indes, T. 1 p. 180.
Niebuhr, Voyages, vol. II. p. 17.

49

OF PRIAPUS

power of any but a Brahman, inferior rewards, coniting of gradual

advancements during the tranmigrations of the oul, are held out
to the oldier, the hubandman, and mechanic, accordingly as they
fulfill the duties of their everal tations. Even thoe who erve
other gods are not excluded from the benefits awarded to every
moral virtue; for, as the divine Teacher ays, If they do it with a
firm belief, in o doing they involuntarily worhip even me. I am he
who partaketh of all worhip, and I am their reward.1 This univeral deity, being the caue of all motion, is alike the caue of
creation, preervation, and detruction; which three attributes are
all expreed in the mytic yllable om. To repeat this in ilence,
with firm devotion, and immoveable attention, is the uret means
of perfection,2 and conequent reaborption, ince it leads to the
contemplation of the Deity, in his three great characteritic attributes.
The firt and greatet of thee, the creative or generative attribute,
eems to have been originally repreented by the union of the male
and female organs of generation, which, under the title of the Lingam,
till occupies the central and mot interior recees of their temples
or pagodas; and is alo worn, attached to bracelets, round their
necks and arms.3 In a little portable temple brought from the
Rohilla country during the late war, and now in the Britih Mueum,
this compoition appears mounted on a pedetal, in the midt of a
quare area, unk in a block of white alabater.4 Round the pedetal
is a erpent, the emblem of life, with his head reted upon his tail,
to denote eternity, or the contant return of time upon itelf, whilt
it flows through perpetual duration, in regular revolutions and
tated periods. From under the body of the erpent prings the
lotus or water lily, the Nelumbo of Linnus, which overpreads
the whole of the area not occupied by the figures at the corners.
1
3

Bagvat Geeta, p. 81.

Sonnerat, Voyage aux Indes, liv. ii. p. 180.

2
4

Ibid. p. 74.
See Plate XII.

50

ON THE WORSHIP

This plant grows in the water, and, amongt its broad leaves, puts
forth a flower, in the center of which is formed the eed-veel,
haped like a bell or inverted cone, and punctuated on the top with
little cavities or cells, in which the eeds grow.1 The orifices of
thee cells being too mall to let the eeds drop out when ripe, they
hoot forth into new plants, in the places where they were formed;
the bulb of the veel erving as a matrice to nourih them, until
they acquire uch a degree of magnitude as to burt it open and
releae themelves; after which, like other aquatic weeds, they take
root wherever the current depoits them. This plant therefore,
being thus productive of itelf, and vegetating from its own matrice,
without being fotered in the earth, was naturally adopted as the
ymbol of the productive power of the waters, upon which the
active pirit of the creator operated in giving life and vegetation
to matter. We accordingly find it employed in every part of the
northern hemiphere, where the ymbolical religion, improperly
called idolatry, does or ever did prevail. The acred images of
the Tartars, Japonee, and Indians, are almot all placed upon it;
of which numerous intances occur in the publications of Kmpfer,
Chappe DAuteroche, and Sonnerat. The upper part of the bae
of the Lingam alo conits of this flower, blended and compoed
with the female organ of generation which it upports: and the
ancient author of the Bagvat Geeta peaks of the creator Brahma
as itting upon his lotus throne.2 The figures of Iis, upon the
Iiac Table, hold the tem of this plant, urmounted by the eedveel in one hand, and the cros,3 repreenting the male organs of
generation, in the other; thus ignifying the univeral power, both
active and paive, attributed to that goddes. On the ame Iiac
Table is alo the repreentation of an Egyptian temple, the columns
of which are exactly like the plant which Iis holds in her hand,
1
3

See Plate XX. Fig 1.

See Plate XVIII. Fig. 2, from Pignorius.

Page 91.

51

OF PRIAPUS

except that the tem is made larger, in order to give it that tability
which is neceary to upport a roof and entablature.1 Columns
and capitals of the ame kind are till exiting, in great numbers,
among the ruins of Thebes, in Egypt; and more particularly upon
thoe very curious ones in the iland of Phil, on the borders of
Ethiopia, which are, probably, the mot ancient monuments of art
now extant; at leat, if we except the neighbouring temples of
Thebes. Both were certainly built when that city was the eat of
wealth and empire, which it was, even to a proverb, during the
Trojan war.2 How long it had then been o, we can form no conjecture; but that it oon after declined, there can be little doubt;
for, when the Greeks, in the reign of Pammeticus (generally
computed to have been about 530 years after the Siege of Troy),
firt became peronally acquainted with the interior parts of that
country, Memphis had been for many ages its capital, and Thebes
was in a manner deerted. Homer makes Achilles peak of its
immene wealth and grandeur, as a matter generally known and
acknowledged; o that it mut have been of long etablihed fame,
even in that remote age. We may therefore fairly conclude, that
the greatet part of the uperb edifices now remaining, were executed,
or at leat begun, before that time; many of them being uch as
could not have been finihed, but in a long term of years, even if
we uppoe the wealth and power of the ancient kings of Egypt to
have equalled that of the greatet of the Roman emperors.
The finihing of Trajan's column in three years, has been jutly
thought a very extraordinary effort; for there mut have been, at
leat, three hundred good culptors employed upon it: and yet, in
the neighbourhood of Thebes, we find whole temples of enormous
magnitude, covered with igures carved in the hard and brittle
granite of the Libyan mountains, intead of the oft marbles of
1

See Plate XVIII, Fig 1, from Pignorius.

Hom. Iliad i, ver. 381.

52

ON THE WORSHIP

Paros and Carrara. Travellers, who have viited that country have
given us imperfect accounts of the manner in which they are
finihed; but, if one may judge by thoe upon the obelic of Ramees, now lying in fragments at Rome, they are infinitely more
laboured than thoe of Trajan's Column. An eminent culptor,
with whom I examined that obelic, was decidedly of opinion, that
they mut have been finihed in the manner of gems, with a graving tool; it appearing impoible for a chiel to cut red granite with
o much neatnes and preciion. The age of Ramees is uncertain;
but the generality of modern chronologers uppoe that he was the
ame peron as Seotris, and reigned at Thebes about 1500 years
before the Chritian ra, and about 300 before the Siege of Troy.
Their dates are however merely conjectural, when applied to events
of this remote antiquity. The Egyptian priets of the Augutan
age had a tradition, which they pretended to confirm by records,
written in hieroglyphics, that their country had once poet the
dominion of all Aia and Ethiopia, which their king Rames, or
Ramees, had conquered.1 Though this account may be exaggerated, there can be no doubt, from the buildings till remaining,
but that they were once at the head of a great empire; for all hitorians agree that they abhorred navigation, had no ea-port, and
never enjoyed the benefits of foreign commerce, without which,
Egypt could have no means of acquiring a ufficient quantity of
uperfluous wealth to erect uch expenive monuments, unles from
tributary provinces; epecially if all the lower part of it was an
uncultivated bog, as Herodotus, with great appearance of probability, tells us it anciently was. Yet Homer, who appears to have
known all that could be known in his age, and tranmitted to poterity all he knew, eems to have heard nothing of their empire or
conquets. Thee were obliterated and forgotten by the rie of
1

Tacit. Ann. lib. ii, c. 60.

OF PRIAPUS

53

new empires; but the renown of their ancient wealth till continued, and afforded a familiar object of comparion, as that of the
Mogul does at this day, though he is become one of the pooret
overeigns in the world.
But far as thee Egyptian remains lead us into unknown ages,
the ymbols they contain appear not to have been invented in that
country, but to have been copied from thoe of ome other people,
till anterior, who dwelt on the other ide of the Erythran ocean.
One of the mot obvious of them is the hooded nake, which is a
reptile peculiar to the outh-eatern parts of Aia, but which I
found repreented, with great accuracy, upon the obelic of Ramees,
and have alo oberved frequently repeated on the Iiac Table, and
other ymbolical works of the Egyptians. It is alo ditinguihable
among the culptures in the acred caverns of the iland of Elephanta;1 and appears frequently added, as a characteritic ymbol,
to many of the idols of the modern Hindoos, whoe aburd tales
concerning its meaning are related at length by M. Sonnerat; but
they are not worth repeating. Probably we hould be able to trace
the connexion through many more intances, could we obtain accurate drawings of the ruins of Upper Egypt.
By comparing the columns which the Egyptians formed in
imitation of the Nelumbo plant, with each other, and oberving
their different modes of decorating them, we may dicover the
origin of that order of architecture which the Greeks called Corinthian, from the place of its uppoed invention. We firt find the
plain bell, or eed-veel, ued as a capital, without any further alteration than being a little expanded at bottom, to give it tability.2
In the next intance, the ame eed-veel is urrounded by the leaves
of ome other plant;3 which is varied in different capitals according
1
3

2
Nieburhr, Voyage, vol. ii.
See Plate XIX, Fig 6, from Norden.
See Plate XIX, Fig 7, from Norden.

54

ON THE WORSHIP

to the different meanings intended to be expreed by thee additional ymbols. The Greeks decorated it in the ame manner, with
the leaves of the acanthus, and other orts of foliage; whilt various
other ymbols of their religion were introduced as ornaments on the
entablature, intead of being carved upon the walls of the cell, or
hafts of the columns. One of thee, which occurs mot frequently,
is that which the architects call the honeyuckle, but which, as Sir
Joeph Banks (to whom I am indebted for all that I have aid concerning the Lotus) clearly howed me, mut be meant for the young
hoots of this plant, viewed horizontally, jut when they have burt
the eed-veel, and are upon the point of falling out of it. The
ornament is variouly compoed on different buildings; it being the
practice of the Greeks to make vegetable, as well as animal monters, by combining different ymbolical plants together, and blending them into one; whence they are often extremely difficult to be
dicovered. But the pecimen I have given, is o trongly characteried, that it cannot eaily be mitaken.1 It appears on many Greek
medals with the animal ymbols and peronified attributes of the
Deity; which firt led me to imagine that it was not a mere ornament, but had ome mytic meaning, as almot every decoration
employed upon their acred edifices indiputably had.
The quare area, over which the Lotus is pread, in the Indian
monument before mentioned, was occaionally floated with water;
which, by means of a forcing machine, was firt thrown in a pout
upon the Lingam. The pouring of water upon the acred ymbols,
is a mode of worhip very much practied by the Hindoos, particularly in their devotions to the Bull and the Lingam. Its meaning has been already explained, in the intance of the Greek figure
of Pan, repreented in the act of paying the ame kind of worhip
to the ymbol of his own procreative power.2 The areas of the
1
2

Plate XIX, Fig 3, from the Ionian Antiquities, Ch. ii. Pl. XIII.
See Plate V, Fig. 1.

OF PRIAPUS

55

Greek temples were, in like manner, in ome intances, floated with

water; of which I hall oon give an example. We alo find, not
unfrequently, little portable temples, nearly of the ame form, and
of Greek workmanhip: the areas of which were equally floated
by means of a fountain in the middle, and which, by the figures in
relief that adorn the ides, appear evidently to have been dedicated
to the ame worhip of Priapus, or the Lingam.1 The quare area
is likewie impreed upon many ancient Greek medals, ometimes
divided into four, and ometimes into a greater number of compartments.2 Antiquarians have uppoed this to be merely the impreion of omething put under the coin, to make it receive the
troke of the die more teadily; but, beides that it is very ill
adapted to this purpoe, we find many coins which appear, evidently,
to have received the troke of the hammer (for triking with a
balance is of late date) on the ide marked with this quare. But
what puts the quetion out of all doubt, is, that impreions of
exactly the ame kind are found upon the little Talimans, or
mytic pates, taken out of the Egyptian Mummies, which have
no impreion whatever on the revere.3 On a little bras medal of
Syracue, we alo find the ateric of the Sun placed in the centre
of the quare, in the ame manner as the Lingam is on the Indian
monument.4 Why this quadrangular form was adopted, in preference to any other, we have no means of dicovering, from any
known Greek or Egyptian culptures; but from this little Indian
temple, we find that the four corners were adapted to four of the
1

See Plate XIV, from one in the collection of Mr. Townley.

See Plate XIII, Fig. 1, from one of Selinus, and Fig. 3, from one of Syracue,
belonging to me.
3
See Plate XIII, Fig. 2, from one in the collection of Mr. Townley.
4
See Plate XIII, Fig. 3. The medal is extremely common, and the quadrangular
Impreion is obervable upon a great number of the more ancient Greek medals,
generally with ome ymbol of the Deity in the centre. See thoe of Athens, Lyttus,
Maronea, &c.
2

56

ON THE WORSHIP

ubordinate deities, or peronified modes of action of the great

univeral Generator, repreented by the ymbol in the middle, to
which the others are repreented as paying their adorations, with
getures of humility and repect.1
What is the precie meaning of thee four ymbolical figures, it
is carcely poible for us to dicover, from the mall fragments of
the mytic learning of the ancients which are now extant. That
they were however intended as peronified attributes, we can have
no doubt; for we are taught by the venerable authority of the
Bagvat Geeta, that all the ubordinate deities were uch, or ele
canonied men, which thee figures evidently are not. As for the
mythological tales now current in India, they throw the ame degree
of light upon the ubject, as Ovids Metamorphoes do on the
ancient theology of Greece; that is, jut enough to bewilder and
perplex thoe who give up their attention to it. The ancient author
before cited is deerving of more credit; but he has aid very little
upon the ymbolical worhip. His work, nevertheles, clearly
proves that its principles were preciely the ame as thoe of the
Greeks and Egyptians, among whoe remains of art or literature,
we may, perhaps, find ome probable analogies to aid conjecture.
The elephant is, however, a new ymbol in the wet; the Greeks
never having een one of thoe animals before the expedition of
Alexander,2 although the ue of ivory was familiar among them
even in the days of Homer. Upon this Indian monument the head
of the elephant is placed upon the body of a man with four
hands, two of which are held up as prepared to trike with the intruments they bold, and the other two pointed down as in adoration of the Lingam. This figure is called Gonnis and Pollear by
the modern Hindoos; but neither of thee names is to be found in
the Geeta, where the deity only ays, that the learned behold him
1

See Plate XII.

2 Pauan. lib. i. c. 12.

OF PRIAPUS

57

alike in the reverend Brahman perfected in knowledge, in the ox,

and in the elephant. What peculiar attributes the elephant was
meant to expres, the ancient writer has not told us; but, as the
characteritic properties of this animal are trength and agacity, we
may conclude that his image was intended to repreent ideas
omewhat imilar to thoe which the Greeks repreented by that
of Minerva, who was worhipped as the goddes of force
and widom, of war and counel. The Indian Gonnis is indeed
male, and Minerva female; but this difference of exes, however
important it may be in a phyical, is of very little conequence in
metaphyical beings, Minerva being, like the other Greek deities,
either male or female, or both.1 On the medals of the Ptolemies,
under whom the Indian ymbols became familiar to the Greeks
through the commerce of Alexandria, we find her repeatedly repreented with the elephants kin upon her head, intead of a helmet;
and with a countenance between male and female, uch as the artit
would naturally give her, when he endeavoured to blend the Greek
and Indian ymbols, and mould them into one.2 Minerva is aid
by the Greek mythologits to have been born without a mother
from the head of Jupiter, who was delivered of her by the aitance
of Vulcan. This, in plain language, means no more than that he
was a pure emanation of the divine mind, operating by means of
the univeral agent fire, and not, like others of the allegorical peronages, prung from any of the particular operations of the deity
upon external matter. Hence he is aid to be next in dignity to
her father, and to be endowed with all his attributes;3 for, as widom
is the mot exalted quality of the mind, and the divine mind the
perfection of widom, all its attributes are the attributes of widom,
1
2
3

Arsin kai qeluj efuj. Orph. eij Aqen.

See Plate XIII, Fig. 5, engraved from one belonging to me.
Hoe. lib. i. Od. 12. Callimach, eij Aqen.

58

ON THE WORSHIP

under whoe direction its power is always exerted. Strength and

widom therefore, when conidered as attributes of the deity, are
in fact one and the ame. The Greek Minerva is uually repreented with the pear uplifted in her hand, in the ame manner as
the Indian Gonnis holds the battle-axe.1 Both are given to denote
the detroying power equally belonging to divine widom, as the
creative or preerving. The tatue of Jupiter at Labranda in Caria
held in his hand the battle-axe, intead of thunder; and on the
medals of Tenedos and Thyatira, we find it repreented alone as
the ymbol of the deity, in the ame manner as the thunder is
upon a great variety of other medals. I am the thunderbolt, ays
the deity in the Bagvat Geeta;2 and when we find this uppoed
engine of divine vengeance upon the medals, we mut not imagine
that it is meant for the weapon of the upreme god, but for the
ymbol of his detroying attribute. What intrument the Gonnis
holds in his other hand, is not eaily acertained, it being a little
injured by the carriage. In one of thoe pointed downwards he
holds the Lotus flower, to denote that he has the direction of the
paive powers of production; and in the other, a golden ring or dic,
which, I hall oon how, was the ymbol by which many nations
of the Eat repreented the un. His head is drawn into a conical,
or pyramidal form, and urrounded by an ornament which evidently
repreents flames; the Indians, as well as the Greeks, looking
upon fire as the eence of all active power; whence perpetual lamps
are kept burning in the holy of holies of all the great pagodas in
India, as they were anciently in the temple of Jupiter Ammon,
and many others both Greek and Barbarian;3 and the incarnate
god in the Bagvat Geeta ays, I am the fire reiding in the bodies of
all things which have life.4 Upon the forehead of the Gonnis is a
1
2

See Plate XIII, Fig. 11, from a medla of Seleucus I. beloning to me.
3
4
Page 26.
See Plut. de Orac. defect.
Page 113.

OF PRIAPUS

59

crecent repreenting the moon, whoe power over the waters of the
ocean caued her to be regarded as the overeign of the great
nutritive element, and whoe mild rays, being accompanied by the
refrehing dews and cooling breezes of the night, made her naturally appear to the inhabitants of hot countries as the comforter and
retorer of the earth. I am the moon (ays the deity in the Bagvat
Geeta) whoe nature it is to give the quality of tate and relih,
and to cherih the herbs and plants of the field.1 The light of the
un, moon, and fire, were however all but one, and equally emanations of the upreme being. Know, ays the deity in the ame
ancient dialogue, that the light which proceedeth from the un, and
illuminateth the world, and the light which is in the moon and in the
fire, are mine. I pervade all things in nature, and guard them with
my beams.2 In the figure now under conideration a kind of preeminence eems to be given to the moon over the un; proceeding
probably from the Hindoos not poeing the true olar ytem,
which mut however have been known to the people from whom
they learnt to calculate eclipes, which they till continue to do,
though upon principles not undertood by themelves. They now
place the earth in the centre of the univere, as the later Greeks
did, among whom we alo find the ame preference given to the
lunar ymbol; Jupiter being repreented, on a medal of Antiochus
VIII., with the crecent upon his head, and the ateric of the un
in his hand.3 In a paage of the Bagvat Geeta already cited we
find the elephant and bull mentioned together as ymbols of the
ame kind; and on a medal of Seleucus Nicator we find them
united by the horns of the one being placed on the head of the
other.4 The later Greek alo ometimes employed the elephant as
the univeral ymbol of the deity; in which ene he is repreented
1
4

Page 113. 2 Ibid. 3 Plate XIII Fig. 10, from one belonging to me.
See Plate XIII. Fig. 9, and Gener, Num. Reg. Syr. Tab. VIII. Fig. 23.

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ON THE WORSHIP

on a medal of Antiochus VI. bearing the torch, the emblem of the

univeral agent, fire, in his probocis, and the cornucopia, the
reult of its exertion, in his tail.1
On another corner of the little Indian pagoda, is a figure with
four heads, all of the ame pointed form as that of the Gonnis. This
I take to repreent Brahma, to whom the Hindoos attribute four
mouths, and ay that with them he dictated the four Beads, or
Veads, the mytic volumes of their religion.2 The four heads are
turned different ways, but exactly reemble each other. The
beards have been painted black, and are harp and pointed, like
thoe of goats, which the Greeks gave to Pan, and his ubordinate
emanations, the Fauns and Satyrs. Hence I am inclined to believe,
that the Brahma of the Indians is the ame as the Pan of the
Greeks; that is, the creative pirit of the deity transfued through
matter, and acting in the four elements repreented by the four
heads. The Indians indeed admit of a fifth element, as the Greeks
did likewie; but this is never claed with the ret, being of an
therial and more exalted nature, and belonging peculiarly to the
deity. Some call it heaven, ome light, and ome ther, ays
Plutarch.3 The Hindoos now call it Occus, by which they eem
to mean pure therial light or fire.
This mode of repreenting the allegorical peronages of religion
with many heads and limbs to expres their various attributes,
and extenive operation, is now univeral in the Eat,4 and eems
anciently not to have been unknown to the Greeks, at leat if we
may judge by the epithets ued by Pindar and other early poets.5
The union of two ymbolical heads is common among the pecimens of their art now extant, as may be een upon the medals of
1

See Plate XIII. Fig. 8, and Gener, Num. Reg. Syr. Tab. VIII. Fig. 1.
Bagavat Geeta, Note 41.
3 Ei apud Delph.
4
See Kmpfer, Chappe dAuteroche, Sonnerat, &c,
5
Such as katogkefaloj, katontakoranoj, katogxeiroj, &c.
2

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61

Syracue, Mareilles, and many other cities. Upon a gem of this

ort in the collection of Mr. Townley, the ame ideas which are
expreed on the Indian pagoda by the ditinct figures Brahma and
Gonnis, are expreed by the united heads of Ammon and Minerva.
Ammon, as before oberved, was the Pan of the Greeks, and
Minerva is here evidently the ame as the Gonnis, being repreented after the Indian manner, with the elephant's kin on her
head, intead of a helmet.1 Both thee heads appear eparate upon
different medals of the Ptolemies,2 under one of whom
this gem was probably engraved, Alexandria having been for a
long time the great centre of religions, as well as of trade and
cience.
Next to the figure of Brahma on the pagoda is the cow of
plenty, or the female emblem of the generative or nutritive power
of the earth; and at the other corner, next to the Gonnis, is the
figure of a woman, with a head of the ame conic or pyramidal
form, and upon the front of it a flame of fire, from which hangs
a crecent.3 This eems to be the female peronification of the
divine attributes repreented by the Gonnis or Pollear; for the
Hindoos, like the Greeks, worhip the deity under both exes,
though they do not attempt to unite both in one figure. I am
the father and the mother of the world, ays the incarnate god in
the Bagvat Geeta.4 Amongt cattle, adds he in a ubequent part,
I am the cow Kamadhook. I am the prolific Kandarp, the god of
love.5 Thee two entences, by being placed together, eem to
imply ome relation between this god of love and the cow Kamadhook; and, were we to read the words without punctuation, as they
are in all ancient orthography, we hould think the author placed
the god of love amongt the cattle; which he would naturally do,
1
3

See Plate XIII, Fig. 7.

See Plate XII.

2
4

Page 80.

See Plate XIII, Fig. 5 and 6.

Page 86.

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ON THE WORSHIP

if it were the cutom of his religion to repreent him by an animal

ymbol. Among the Egyptians, as before oberved, the cow was
the ymbol of Venus, the goddes of love, and paive generative
power of nature. On the capitals of one of the temples of Phil
we till find the heads of this goddes repreented of a mixed
form; the horns and ears of the cow being joined to the beautiful
features of a woman in the prime of life;1 uch as the Greeks
attributed to that Venus, whom they worhipped as the mother of
the prolific god of love, Cupid, who was the peronification of
animal deire or concupicence, as the Orphic love, the father of
gods and men, was of univeral attraction. The Greeks, who
repreented the mother under the form of a beautiful woman,
naturally repreented the on under the form of a beautiful boy;
but a people who repreented the mother under the form of a
cow, would as naturally repreent the on under the form of a
calf. This eems to be the cae with the Hindoos, as well as with
the Egyptians; wherefore Kandarp may be very properly placed
among the cattle.
By following this analogy, we may come to the true meaning of
a much-celebrated object of devotion, recorded by another ancient
writer, of a more venerable character. When the Iraelites grew
clamorous on account of the abence of Moes, and called upon
Aaron to make them a god to go before them, he et up a golden
calf; to which the people acrificed and feated, and then roe up
(as the tranlator ays) to play; but in the original the term is more
pecific, and means, in its plain direct ene, that particular ort of
play which requires the concurrence of both exes,2 and which was
therefore a very proper concluion of a acrifice to Cupid, though
highly dipleaing to the god who had brought them out of
Egypt. The Egyptian mythologits, who appeared to have in1

See Plate XVIII, Fig. 3.

2 Exod. xxxii.

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63

vented this econdary deity of love, were probably the inventors

likewie of a econdary Priapus, who was the peronification of that
particular generative faculty, which prings from animal deire, as
the primary Priapus was of the great generative principle of the
univere. Hence, in the allegories of the poets, this deity is aid
to be a on of Bacchus and Venus; that is, the reult of the active
and paive generative powers of nature. The tory of his being
the on of a Grecian conqueror, and born at Lampacus, eems to
be a corruption of this allegory.
Of all the nations of antiquity the Perians were the mot imple
and direct in the worhip of the creator. They were the puritans of
the heathen world, and not only rejected all images of god or his
agents, but alo temples and altars, according to Herodotus,1
whoe authority I prefer to any other, becaue he had an opportunity of
convering with them before they had adopted any foreign upertitions.2 As they worhipped the therial fire without any medium
of peronification or allegory, they thought it unworthy of the
dignity of the god to be repreented by any definite form, or circumcribed to any particular place. The univere was his temple,
and the all-pervading element of fire his only ymbol. The Greeks
appear originally to have held imilar opinions; for they were long
without tatues;3 and Pauanias peaks of a temple at Sicyon, built
by Adratus,4 who lived an age before the Trojan war; which conited of columns only, without wall or roof, like the Celtic temples
of our Northern ancetors, or the Pyrtheia of the Perians, which
were circles of tones, in the centre of which was kindled the acred
fire,5 the ymbol of the god. Homer frequently peaks of places
of worhip coniting of an area and altar only (tenemoj bwmoj te),
1

Lib. i.
Hyde, Anquetil, and other modern writers, have given us the operoe upertitions of the preent Parees for the imple theim of the ancient Perians.
3
4
5
Pauan. lib. vii. and ix.
Lib. ii.
Strab. lib. xv.
2

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ON THE WORSHIP

which were probably incloures like thee of the Perians, with an

altar in the centre. The temples dedicated to the creator Bacchus,
which the Greek architects called hypthral, eem to have been
anciently of the ame kind; whence probably came the title perikionion
(urrounded with columns) attributed to that god in the Orphic
litanies.1 The remains of one of thee are till extant at Puzzuoli
near Naples, which the inhabitants call the Temple of Serapis:
but the ornaments of grapes, vaes, &c. found among the ruins,
prove it to have been of Bacchus. Serapis was indeed the ame
deity worhipped under another form, being equally a peronification of the un.2 The architecture is of the Roman times; but the
ground plan is probably that of a very ancient one, which this was
made to replace; for it exactly reembles that of a Celtic temple in
Zeeland, publihed in Stukeley's itinerary.3 The ranges of quare
buildings which incloe it are not properly parts of the temple,
but apartments of the priets, places for victims and acred utenils,
and chapels dedicated to ubordinate deities introduced by a more
complicated and corrupt worhip, and probably unknown to the
founders of the original edifice.4 The portico, which runs parallel
with thee buildings5 incloed the temenos, or area of acred ground,
which in the pyrthia of the Perians was circular, but is here
quadrangular, as in the Celtic temple in Zeeland, and the Indian
pagoda before decribed. In the centre was the holy of holies, the
eat of the god, coniting of a circle of columns raied upon a baement, without roof or walls, in the middle of which was probably
the acred fire, or ome other ymbol of the deity.6 The quare
area in which it tood, was unk below the natural level of the
ground,7 and, like that of the little Indian pagoda, appears to have
1

2
Hymn. 46.
Diodor. Sic. lib. 1. Macrob. Sat. lib. i. c. 20.
See Plate XV. Fig 1 and 2, and Plate XIII, Fig 4.
4
5
Plate XV, Fig. 2, aa,.
Plate XV, Fig. 2, bb,.
6
See Plate XV, Fig. 1, a, and Fig 2, c.
7 See Plate XV, Fig. 1, bb.
3

OF PRIAPUS

65

been occaionally floated with water, the drains and conduits being
till to be een,1 as alo everal fragments of culpture repreenting
waves, erpents, and various aquatic animals, which once adorned
the baement.2 The Bacchus perikionioj here worhipped, was, as
we learn from the Orphic hymn above cited, the un in his
character of extinguiher of the fires which once pervaded the earth.
This he was uppoed to have done by exhaling the waters of the
ocean, and cattering them over the land, which was thus uppoed
to have acquired its proper temperature and fertility. For this
reaon the acred fire, the eential image of the god, was urrounded
by the element which was principally employed in giving effect to
the beneficial exertions of his great attribute.
Thee Orphic temples were, without doubt, emblems of that
fundamental principle of the mytic faith of the ancients, the olar
ytem; fire, the eence of the deity, occupying the place of the
un, and the columns urrounding it as the ubordinate parts of the
univere. Remains of the worhip of fire continued among the
Greeks even to the lat, as appears from the acred fires kept in the
interior apartment, or holy of holies, of almot all their temples,
and places of worhip: and, though the Ammonian Platonics, the
lat profeors of the ancient religion, endeavoured to conceive omething beyond the reach of ene and perception, as the eence of
their upreme god; yet, when they wanted to illutrate and explain
the modes of action of this metaphyical abtraction, who was more
ubtle than intelligence itelf, they do it by images and comparions of light and fire.3
From a paage of Hecatus, preerved by Diodorus Siculus, I
think it is evident that Stonehenge, and all the other monuments of
the ame kind found in the North, belonged to the ame religion,
1
3

2
See Plate XV. Fig 1, cc.
See Plate XVII, Fig. 1.
See Proclus in Theol. Platon. lib. i. c. 19.

66

ON THE WORSHIP

which appears, at ome remote period, to have prevailed over the

whole northern hemiphere. According to that ancient hitorian,
the Hyperboreans inhabited an iland beyond Gaul, as large as Sicily,
in which Apollo was worhipped in a circular temple coniderable for
its ize and riches.1 Apollo, we know, in the language of the Greeks
of that age, can mean no other than the un, which, according to
Car, was worhipped by the Germans, when they knew of no
other deities except fire and the moon.2 The iland I think can be
no other than Britain, which at that time was only known to the
Greeks by the vague reports of Phnician mariners, o uncertain
and obcure, that Herodotus, the mot inquiitive and credulous of
hitorians, doubts of its exitence.4 The circular temple of the un
being noticed in uch light and imperfect accounts, proves that it
mut have been omething ingular and important; for, if had been
an inconiderable tructure, it would not have been mentioned at all;
and, if there had been many uch in the country, the hitorian would
not have employed the ingular number. Stonehenge has
certainly been a circular temple, nearly the ame as that already
decribed of the Bacchus perikionioj at Puzzuoli, except that in the
latter the nice execution, and beautiful ymmetry of the parts, are
in every repect the revere of the rude but majetic implicity of
the former; in the original deign they differ but in the form of
the area.5 It may therefore be reaonably uppoed, that we have
1

Naon exiologon, anaqhmasi polloij kekosmhmenon, sfairoeidh tJschmati,

Diod. Sic. lib. ii.
2
3
De B. Gal. lib. vi.
Lib. iii. c. 15.
5
See Plate XV. Fig. 2 and 3. I have preferred Webbs plan of Stonehenge to
Stukeleys and Smiths, after comparing each with the ruins now exiting. They
differ materially only in the cell, which Webb uppoes to have been a hexagon, and
Stukeley a ection of an ellipis. The poition of the altar is merely conjectural;
wherefore I have omitted it; and I much doubt whether either be right in their
plans of the cell, which eems, as in other Druidical temples, to have been meant for
a circle, but incorrectly executed.

OF PRIAPUS

67

till the ruins of the identical temple decribed by Hecatus, who,

being an Aiatic Greek, might have received his information from
ome Phnician merchant, who had viited the interior parts of
Britain when trading there for tin. Macrobius mentions a temple
of the ame kind and form upon Mount Zilmius in Thrace, dedicated to the un under the title of Bacchus Sebazius.1 The large
obelics of tone found in many parts of the North, uch as thoe
at Rudtone,2 and near Boroughbridge in Yorkhire,3 belong to the
ame religion; obelics being, as Pliny oberves, acred to the un,
whoe rays they repreented both by their form and name.4 An
ancient medal of Apollonia in Illyria, belonging to the Mueum of
the late Dr. Hunter, has the head of Apollo crowned with laurel
on one ide, and on the other an obelic terminating in a cros, the
leat explicit repreentation of the male organs of generation.5
This has exactly the appearance of one of thoe croes, which
were erected in church-yards and cros roads for the adoration of
devout perons, when devotion was more prevalent than at preent.
Many of thee were undoubtedly erected before the etablihment
of Chritianity, and converted, together with their worhippers, to
the true faith. Anciently they repreented the generative power of
light, the eence of God; for God is light, and never but in unapproached light dwelt from eternity, ays Milton, who in this, as
well as many other intances, has followed the Ammonian Platonics,
who were both the retorers and corrupters of the ancient theology.
They retored it from the mas of poetical mythology, under which
it was buried, but refined and ublimated it with abtract metaphyics, which oared as far above human reaon as the poetical
1

2
Sat. lib. i. c. 18.
Archologia, vol. v.
Now called the Devils Arrows. See Stukelys Itin. vol. i. Table xc.
4
Hit. Nat. lib. xxxvi. ec. 14.
5
Plate X, Fig. 1, and Nummi Pop. & Urb. Table x. Fig. 7.
3

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ON THE WORSHIP

mythology unk below it. From the ancient olar obelics came
the pires and pinnacles with which our churches are till decorated,
o many ages after their mytic meaning has been forgotten.
Happily for the beauty of thee edifices, it was forgotten; otherwie the reformers of the lat century would have detroyed them,
as they did the croes and images; for they might with equal
propriety have been pronounced heathenih and prophane.
As the obelic was the ymbol of light, o was the pyramid of
fire, deemed to be eentially the ame. The Egyptians, among
whom thee forms are the mot frequent, held that there were two
oppoite powers in the world, perpetually acting contrary to each
other, the one creating, and the other detroying the former they
called Oiris, and the latter Typhon.1 By the contention of thee
two, that mixture of good and evil, which, according to ome
veres of Euripides quoted by Plutarch,2 contituted the harmony
of the world, was uppoed to be produced. This opinion of the
neceary mixture of good and evil was, according to Plutarch, of
immemorial antiquity, derived from the oldet theologits and
legilators, not only in traditions and reports, but in myteries and
acrifices, both Greek and barbarian.3 Fire was the efficient
principle of both, and, according to ome of the Egyptians, that
therial fire which concentred in the un. This opinion Plutarch
controverts, aying that Typhon, the evil or detroying power,
was a terretrial or material fire, eentially different from the
therial. But Plutarch here argues from his own prejudices,
rather than from the evidence of the cae; for he believed in an
original evil principle coeternal with the good, and acting in perpetual oppoition to it; an error into which men have been led by
forming fale notions of good and evil, and conidering them as
1
3

Plutarch, de Is. & Oir.

Ibid., Ed. Reikii.

Ibid., p. 455, Ed. Reikii.

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OF PRIAPUS

elf-exiting inherent properties, intead of accidental modifications,

variable with every circumtance with which caues and events are
connected. This error, though adopted by individuals, never
formed a part either of the theology or mythology of Greece.
Homer, in the beautiful allegory of the two caks, makes Jupiter,
the upreme god, the ditributor of both good and evil.1 The
name of Jupiter, Zeuj, was originally one of the titles or Epithets of
the un, ignifying, according to its etymology, aweful or terrible;2
in which ene it is ued in the Orphic litanies.3 Pan, the univeral
ubtance, is called the horned Jupiter (Zeuj kerasthj); and in an
Orphic fragment preerved by Macrobius4 the names of Jupiter
and Bacchus appear to be only titles of the all-creating power of
the un.
Aglae Zeu, Dionse, pater pontou, pater aihj,
`Hlie paggentor.
In another fragment preerved by the ame author,5 the name of
Pluto, Aidhj, is ued as a title of the ame deity; who appears
therefore to have preided over the dead as well as over the living,
and to have been the lord of detruction as well as creation and
preervation. We accordingly find that in one of the Orphic
litanies now extant, he is exprely called the giver of life, and
the detroyer.6
The Egyptians repreented Typhon, the detroying power,
under the figure of the hippopotamus or river-hore, the mot
fierce and detructive animal they knew;7 and the Chorus in the
Bacchae of Euripides invoke their inpirer Bacchus to appear under
the form of a bull, a many-headed erpent, or flaming lion;8 which
hows that the mot bloody and detructive, as well as the mot
1

2
Il, w, v. 527.
Damm. Lex. Etymol.
5
Sat. lib. i. c. 23.
Sat. lib. i. c. 3.
7
Plutarch, de Is. & Os.

Hymn. x, v. 13.
Hymn lxxii, Ed. Gen.
8
V. 1015.

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ON THE WORSHIP

ueful of animals, was employed by the Greeks to repreent ome

peronified attribute of the god. M. DHancarville has alo
oberved, that the lion is frequently employed by the ancient artits
as a ymbol of the un;1 and I am inclined to believe that it was to
expres this detroying power, no les requiite to preerve the
harmony of the univere than the generating. In mot of the
monuments of ancient art where the lion is repreented, he appears
with expreions of rage and violence, and often in the act of
killing and devouring ome other animal. On an ancient arcophagus found in Sicily he is repreented devouring a hore,2 and on
the medals of Velia in Italy, devouring a deer;3 the former, as
acred to Neptune, repreented the ea; and the latter, as acred to
Diana, the produce of the earth; for Diana was the fertility of the
earth peronified, and therefore is aid to have received her nymphs
or productive miniters from the ocean, the ource of fecundity.4
The lion, therefore, in the former intance, appears as a ymbol of
the un exhaling the waters; and in the latter, as whithering and
putrifying the produce of the earth. On the frieze of the Temple
of Apollo Didymus, near Miletus, are monters compoed of the
mixt forms of the goat and lion, reting their fore feet upon the
lyre of the god, which tands between them.5 The goat, as I have
already hown, repreented the creative attribute, and the lyre,
harmony and order; therefore, if we admit that the lion repreented
the detroying attribute, this compoition will ignify, in the
ymbolical language of culpture, the harmony and order of the
univere preerved by the regular and periodical operations of the
1

Recherces ur les Arts. See alo Macrob, Sat. i, c. 21.

Houel, Voyage de la Sicile, Plate XXXVI.
3
Plate IX, Fig. 5, engraved from one belonging to me.
4
Calliamch, Hymn. adDian. v. 13. Geniter Nympharum Oceanus. Catullus in
Gell. v. 84
5
Ionian Antiquities, vol. i, c. 3, Plate IX.
2

OF PRIAPUS

71

creative and detructive powers. This is a notion to which men

would be naturally led by oberving the common order and progreion of things. The ame heat of the un, which corched and
withered the gras in ummer, ripened the fruits in autumn, and
cloathed the earth with verdure in the pring. In one eaon it
dried up the waters from the earth, and in another returned them
in rain. It caued fermentation and putrefaction, which detroy
one generation of plants and animals, and produce another in
contant and regular ucceion. This contention between the
powers of creation and detruction is repreented on an ancient
medal of Acanthus, in the mueum of the late Dr. Hunter, by a
combat between the bull and lion.1 The bull alone is repreented
on other medals in exactly the ame attitude and geture as when
fighting with the lion;2 whence I conclude that the lion is there
undertood. On the medals of Celenderis, the goat appears intead
of the bull in exactly the ame attitude of truggle and contention,
but without the lion;3 and in a curious one of very ancient but
excellent workmanhip, belonging to me, the ivy of Bacchus is
placed over the back of the goat, to denote the power which he
repreents.4
The mutual operation which was the reult of this contention
was ignified, in the mythological tales of the poets, by the loves
of Mars and Venus, the one the active power of detruction, and
the other the paive power of generation. From their union is
aid to have prung the goddes Harmony, who was the phyical
order of the univere peronified. The fable of Ceres and Proerpine is the ame allegory inverted; Ceres being the prolific power
1

Plate IX, Fig. 4, & Nummi Vet. Pop. & Urb. Table I, Fig. 16.
Plate IX. Fig. 12, from one of Apendus in the ame Collection. See Nummi Vet.
Pop. & Urb. Table VIII. Fig. 20.
3
Nummi Vet. Pop. & Urb. Table XVI, Fig. 13.
4
Plate IX, Fig. 13.
2

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ON THE WORSHIP

of the earth peronified, and hence called by the Greeks Mother

Earth (Gh or Dh-mhtur). The Latin name Ceres alo ignifying
Earth, the Roman C being the ame originally, both in figure and
power as the Greek G,1 which Homer often ues as a mere guttural
apirate, and adds it arbitrarily to his words, to make them more
olemn and onorous.2 The guttural apirates and hiing terminations more particularly belonged to the olic dialect, from which
the Latin was derived; wherefore we need not wonder that the
ame word, which by the Dorians and Ionians was written Era and
Eri, hould by the olians be written Gerej or Ceres, the Greeks
always accommodating their orthography to their pronunciation.
In an ancient bronze at Strawberry Hill this goddes is repreented
itting, with a cup in one hand, and various orts of fruits in the
other; and the bull, the emblem of the power of the Creator, in
her lap.3 This compoition hows the fructification of the earth
by the decent of the creative pirit in the ame manner as decribed
by Virgil:
Vere tument terr, et genitalia emina poeunt;
Tum pater omnipotens fcundis imbribus ther
Conjugis in gremium lt decendit, & omne
Magnus alit, magno commixtus corpore, ftus.4

ther and water are here introduced by the poet as the two prolific elements which fertilize the earth, according to the ancient
ytem of Orphic philoophy, upon which the mytic theology
was founded. Proerpine, or Perstfonieia, the daughter of Ceres,
was, as her Greek name indicates, the goddes of detruction, in
which character he is invoked by Althaea in the ninth Iliad; but
nevertheles we often find her on the Greek medals crowned with
1

See S. C. Marcian, and the medals of Gela and Agrigentum.

As in the word epidoutoj, uually written by him epigdoutoj.
3
4
See Plate VIII.
Georgic. lib. ii, v. 324.
2

OF PRIAPUS

73

ears of corn, as being the goddes of fertility as well as detruction.1 She is, in fact, a peronification of the heat or fire that
pervades the earth, which is at once the caue and effect of fertility
and detruction, for it is at once the caue and effect of fermentation,
from which both proceed. The Libitina, or goddes of death of
the Romans, was the ame as the Periphoneia of the Greeks; and
yet, as Plutarch oberves, the mot learned of that people allowed
her to be the ame as Venus, the goddes of generation.2
In the Gallery at Florence is a colloal image of the organ of
generation, mounted on the back parts of a lion, and hung round
with various animals. By this is repreented the co-operation of
the creating and detroying powers, which are both blended and
united in one figure, becaue both are derived from one caue.
The animals hung round how likewie that both act to the ame
purpoe, that of replenihing the earth, and peopling it with till
riing generations of enitive beings. The Chimra of Homer, of
which the commentators have given o many whimical interpretations, was a ymbol of the ame kind, which the poet probably,
having een in Aia, and not knowing its meaning (which was only
revealed to the initiated) uppoed to be a monter that had once
infeted the country. He decribes it as compoed of the forms of
the goat, the lion, and the erpent, and breathing fire from its
mouth.3 Thee are the ymbols of the creator, the detroyer, and
the preerver, united and animated by fire, the divine eence of all
three.4 On a gem, publihed in the Memoirs of the Academy of
Cortona,5 this union of the detroying and preerving attributes is
1

Plate IV, Fig. 5, from a medal of Agathocles, belonging to me. The ame head
is upon many others, of Syracue, Metapontum, &c.
2
In Nums.
3 Il. z, v. 223.
4
For the natural properties attributed by the ancients to fire, ee Plutarch, in
Camiilo, Plin. Hit. Nat. lib. XXXVI, c. 58.
5
Vol. iv. p. 32. See alo Plate V. Fig 4, copied from it.

74

ON THE WORSHIP

repreented by the united forms of the lion and erpent crowned

with rays, the emblems of the caue from which both proceed.
This compoition forms the Chnoubis of the Egyptians.
Bacchus is frequently repreented by the ancient artits accompanied by tigers, which appear, in ome intances, devouring cluters of grapes, the fruit peculiarly conecrated to the god, and in
others drinking the liquor preed from them. The author of the
Recherches ur les Arts has in this intance followed the common
accounts of the Mythologits, and aerted that tigers are really fond
of grapes;1 which is o far from being true, that they are incapable
of feeding upon them, or upon any fruit whatever, being both
externally and internally formed to feed upon fleh only, and to
procure their food by detroying other animals. Hence I am
peruaded, that in the ancient ymbols, tigers, as well as lions,
repreent the detroying power of the god. Sometimes his chariot
appears drawn by them; and then they repreent the powers of
detruction preceding the powers of generation, and extending
their operation, as putrefaction precedes, and increaes vegetation.
On a medal of Maronea, publihed by Gener,2 a goat is coupled
with the tiger in drawing his chariot; by which compoition the
artit has hown the general active power of the deity, conducted
by his two great attributes of creation and detruction. On the
Choragic monument of Lyicrates at Athens, Bacchus is repreented
feeding a tiger; which hows the active power of generation
feeding and nourihing the active power of detruction.3 On a
beautiful cameo in the collection of the Duke of Marlborough,
the tiger is ucking the breat of a nymph; which repreents the
ame power of detruction, nourihed by the paive power of generation.4 In the mueum of Charles Townley, Eq., is a group, in
1

2
3
Liv. i, c. 3.
Table xliii, Fig. 26.
Stuarts Athens, vol. i, c. 4, Plate X.
See Plate XVIII, engraved merely to how the compoition, it not being permitted to make an exact drawing of it.
4

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75

marble, of three figures;1 the middle one of which grows out of a

vine in a human form, with leaves and cluters of grapes pringing
out of its body. On one ide is the Bacchus difuhj, or creator of
both exes, known by the effeminate mold of his limbs and countenance; and on the other, a tiger, leaping up, and devouring the
grapes which pring from the body of the peronified vine, the
hands of which are employed in receiving another cluter from the
Bacchus. This compoition repreents the vine between the creating and detroying attributes of god; the one giving it fruit, and
the other devouring it when given. The tiger has a garland of ivy
round his neck, to how that the detroyer was co-eential with
the creator, of whom ivy, as well as all other ever-greens, was an
emblem repreenting his perpetual youth and viridity.2
The mutual and alternate operation of the two great attributes
of creation and detruction, was not confined by the ancients to
plants and animals, and uch tranitory productions, but extended
to the univere itelf. Fire being the eential caue of both, they
believed that the conflagration and renovation of the world were
periodical and regular, proceeding from each other by the laws of
its own contitution, implanted in it by the creator, who was alo
the detroyer and renovator;3 for, as Plato ays, all things arie from
one, and into one are all things reolved.4 It mut be oberved,
that, when the ancients peak of creation and detruction, they mean
only formation and diolution; it being univerally allowed, through
all ytems of religion, or ects of philoophy, that nothing could
come from nothing, and that no power whatever could annihilate that
1

2
See Plate XXI, Fig. 7.
Strabo, lib. xv, p. 712.
Brucker, Hit. Crit. Philos. vol. i, part 2, lib. i. Plutarch, de Placis. Philos.
lib. ii, c. 18. Lucretius, lib. v. ver. 91. Cic. de Nat. Deor. lib. ii.
4
Ex noj ta panta genesqai, kai eij t' uton analuesai, in Phd. The ame
dogma is till more plainly inculcated by the ancient Indian author before cited, e
Bagavat Geeta, Lect. ix.
3

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ON THE WORSHIP

which really exited. The bold and magnificent idea of a creation

from nothing was reerved for the more vigorous faith, and more
enlightened minds of the moderns,1 who need eek no authority to
confirm their belief; for, as that which is elf-evident admits of no
proof, o that which is in itelf impoible admits of no refutation.
The fable of the erpent Pytho being detroyed by Apollo,
probably aroe from an emblematical compoition, in which that
god was repreented as the detroyer of life, of which the erpent
was a ymbol. Pliny mentions a tatue of him by Praxiteles,
which was much celebrated in his time, called Sauroktwn (the
Lizard-killer).2 The lizard, being uppoed to live upon the dews
and moiture of the earth, is employed as the ymbol of humidity
in general; o that the god detroying it, ignifies the ame as the
lion devouring the hore. The title Apollo, I am inclined to
believe, meant originally the Detroyer, as well as the Deliverer;
for, as the ancients uppoed detruction to be merely diolution,
the power which delivered the particles of matter from the bonds
of attraction, and broke the desmon peribriqj erowtoj, was in fact the
detroyer.3 It is, probably, for this reaon, that udden death,
plagues, and epidemic dieaes, are aid by the poets to be ent by
this god; who is, at the ame time, decribed as the author of
medicine, and all the arts employed to preerve life. Thee attributes are not joined merely becaue the detroyer and preerver
were eentially the ame; but becaue dieae necearily precedes
1

The word in Geneis upon which it is founded, conveyed no uch ene to the
ancients; for the Seventy tranlated it epoihse, which ignifies formed, or fahioned.
2
Hit. Nat. lib. xxxiv. c. 8. Many copies of it are till extant. Winkleman
has publihed one from a bronze of Cardinal Albani's. Monum. Antichi. inediti,
Plate XL.
3
The verb luw, from which Apollo is derived, ignifies in Homer both to free
and to diolve or detroy, Il a, ver. 20; Il. i, ver. 25. Macrobius derives the
title from apollumi, to detroy; but this word is derived from luw Sat. lib. i, c. 17.

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77

cure, and is the caue of its being invented. The God of Health
is aid to be his on, becaue the health and vigour of one being
are upported by the decay and diolution of others which are appropriated to its nourihment. The bow and arrows are given to
him as ymbols of his characteritic attributes, as they are to Diana,
who was the female peronification of the detructive, as well as the
productive and preerving powers. Diana is hence called the triple
Hecate, and repreented by three female bodies joined together.
Her attributes were however worhipped eparately; and ome
nations revered her under one character, and others under another.
Diana of Epheus was the productive and nutritive power, as the
many breats and other ymbols on her tatues imply;1 whilt Brimw,
the Tauric or Scythic Diana, appears to have been the detructive,
and therefore was appeaed with human acrifices, and other bloody
rites.2 She is repreented ometimes tanding on the back of a
bull,3 and ometimes in a chariot drawn by bulls;4 whence he is
called by the poets Tauropola5 and Bown elateira.6 Both
compoitions how the paive power of nature, whether creative
or detructive, utained and guided by the general active power
of the creator, of which the un was the centre, and the bull the
ymbol.
It was oberved by the ancients, that the detructive power of
the un was exerted mot by day, and the creative by night: for it
was in the former eaon that he dried up the waters, withered the
herbs, and produced dieae and putrefaction; and in the latter,
1

2
Hieron. Comment. in Paul Epit. ad Ephes.
Pauan. lib. iii, c. 16.
See a medal of Augutus, publihed by Spanheim. Not. in Callim, Hymn. ad
Dian. ver. 113.
4
Plate VI, from a bronze in the mueum of C. Townley, Eq.
5
Sophoclis Ajax, ver. 172.
6
Nonni Dionys, lib. i. the title Tauropoloj was ometimes given to Apollo,
Eutath. Schol in Dionys.Perihghs.,. ver. 609.
3

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ON THE WORSHIP

that he returned the exhalations in dews, tempered with the genial

heat which he had transfued into the atmophere, to retore and
replenih the wate of the day. Hence, when they peronified the
attributes, they revered the one as the diurnal, and the other as
the nocturnal un, and in their mytic worhip, as Macrobius
ays,1 called the former Apollo, and the latter Dionyus or Bacchus.
The mythological peronages of Cator and Pollux, who lived and
died alternately, were allegories of the ame dogma; hence the two
aterics, by which they are ditinguihed on the medals of Locri,
Argos, and other cities.
The pans, or war-ongs, which the Greeks chanted at the onet of their battles2 were originally ung to Apollo,3 who was called
Pon; and Macrobius tells us,4 that in Spain, the un was worhipped as Mars, the god of war and detruction, whoe tatue they
adorned with rays, like that of the Greek Apollo. On a Celtiberian
or Runic medal found in Spain, of barbarous workmanhip, is a
head urrounded by obelics or rays, which I take to be of this
deity.5 The hairs appear erect, to imitate flames, as they do on
many of the Greek medals; and on the revere is a bearded head,
with a ort of pyramidal cap on, exactly reembling that by which
the Romans conferred freedom on their laves, and which was
therefore called the cap of liberty.6 On other Celtiberian medals
is a figure on horeback, carrying a pear in his hand, and having
the ame ort of cap on his head, with the word Helman written
1

2
Sat. lib. i, c. 18.
Thucyd. lib. vii.
4
Homer, Il. s, v. 472.
Sat. lib. i, c. 19.
5
Plate X Fig. 2, engraven from one belonging to me. I have ince been confirmed
in this conjecture by oberving the characters of Mars and Apollo mixt on Greek
coins. On a Mamertine one belonging to me is the head with the youthful features
and laurel crown of Apollo; but the hair is hort, and the incription on the exergue
denotes it to be Mars. See Plate XVI. Fig 2.
6
It may be een with th edagger on the medals of Brutus.
3

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79

under him,1 in characters which are omething between the old

Runic and Pelagian; but o near to the latter, that they are eaily
undertood.2 This figure eems to be of the ame peron as is
repreented by the head with the cap on the preceding medal, who
can be no other than the angel or miniter of the deity of death, as
the name implies; for Hela or Hel, was, among the Northern
nations, the goddes of death,3 in the ame manner as Periphoneia
or Brimo was among the Greeks. The ame figure appears on
many ancient Britih medals, and alo on thoe of everal Greek
cities, particularly thoe of Gela, which have the Taurine Bacchus
or Creator on the revere.4 The head which I have uppoed to be
the Celtiberian Mars, or detructive power of the diurnal un, is
beardles like the Apollo of the Greeks, and, as far as can be dicovered in uch barbarous culpture, has the ame androgynous
features.5 We may therefore reaonably uppoe, that, like the
Greeks, the Celtiberians peronified the detructive attribute under
the different genders, accordingly as they applied it to the un, or
ubordinate elements; and then united them, to ignify that both
were eentially the ame. The Helman therefore, who was the
ame as the Moiraghthj or Diaktwr of the Greeks, may with equal
propriety be called the miniter of both or either. The pear in his
hand is not to be conidered merely as the implement of detruction,
but as the ymbol of power and command, which it was in Greece
and Italy, as well as all over the North. Hence euqunein dori, was
1

See Plate IX, Fig. 9, from one belonging to me.

The firt to a mixture of the Runic Hagle and Greek H. The econd is the
Runic Laugur, which is alo the old Greek L, as it appears on the vae of the
Calydonian Boar in the Britih Mueum. The other three differ little from the
common Greek.
3
Edd. Fab. XVI. DHancarville, Recherches ur les Arts, liv. ii, c. 1.
4
See Plate IX, Fig. 11, from one beloning to me.
5
See Plate X, Fig. 2.
2

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ON THE WORSHIP

to govern,1 and venire ub hat,to be old as a lave. The ancient

Celtes and Scythians paid divine honors to the word, the battleaxe, and the pear; the firt of which was the ymbol by which
they repreented the upreme god: hence to wear by the edge
of the word was the mot acred and inviolable of oaths.2 Euripides alludes to this ancient religion when he calls a word rkion
xifoj; and chylus hows clearly, that it once prevailed in
Greece, when he makes the heroes of the Thebaid wear by the
point of the pear (omnusi d'aicmhn3). Homer ometimes ues the
word arhj to ignify the God of War, and ometimes a weapon:
and we have ufficient proof of this words being of Celtic origin in
its affinity with our Northern word War; for, if we write it in the
ancient manner, with the Pelagian Vau, or olian Digamma, #arhj
(Wars), it carcely differs at all.
Behind the bearded head, on the firt-mentioned Celtiberian
medal is an intrument like a pair of firetongs, or blackmith's
pincers;4 from which it eems that the peronage here repreented
is the ame as the `Hfaistoj or Vulcan of the Greek and Roman
mythology. The ame ideas are expreed omewhat more plainly
on the medals of ernia in Italy, which are executed with all the
refinement and elegance of Grecian art.5 On one ide is Apollo, the
diurnal un, mounting in his chariot; and on the other a beardles
head, with the ame cap on, and the ame intrument behind it,
but with the youthful features and elegant character of countenance
uually attributed to Mercury, who, as well as Vulcan, was the
God of Art and Mechanim; and whoe peculiar office it alo was
to conduct the ouls of the deceaed to their eternal manions, from
whence came the epithet Diaktwr, applied to him by Homer. He
was, therefore, in this repect, the ame as the Helman of the
1

Eurip. Hecuba.

Malles, Introd. ;Hit. de Danemarc, c. 9.

4
Plate X. Fig 2.
5
See Plate X, Fig. 6, from one belonging to me.
3

`Epta epi Qhbaj, v. 535.

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81

Celtes and Scythians, who was uppoed to conduct the ouls of all
who died a violent death (which alone was accounted truly happy)
to the palace of Valhala.1 It eems that the attributes of the deity
which the Greeks repreented by the mythological peronages of
Vulcan and Mercury, were united in the Celtic mythology. Car
tells us that the Germans worhipped Vulcan, or fire, with the un
and moon; and I hall oon have occaion to how that the Greeks
held fire to be the real conductor of the dead, and emanci-pator of
the oul. The ernians, bordering upon the Samnites, a Celtic
nation, might naturally be uppoed to have adopted the notions
of their neighbours, or, what is more probable, preerved the
religion of their ancetors more pure than the Hellenic Greeks.
Hence they repreented Vulcan, who, from the incription on the
exergue of their coins, appears to have been their tutelar god,
with the characteritic features of Mercury, who was only a
different peronification of the ame deity.
At Lycopolis in Egypt the detroying power of the un was repreented by a wolf; which, as Macrobius ays, was worhipped there as
Apollo.2 The wolf appears devouring grapes in the ornaments of
the temple of Bacchus perikionoj at Puzzuoli;3 and on the medals
of Cartha he is urrounded with rays, which plainly proves that he
is there meant as a ymbol of the un.4 He is alo repreented on
mot of the coins of Argos,5 where I have already hown that the
diurnal un Apollo, the light-extending god, was peculiarly worhipped. We may therefore conclude, that this animal is meant
for one of the mytic ymbols of the primitive worhip, and not,
as ome antiquarians have uppoed, to commemorate the mythological tales of Danaus or Lycaon, which were probably invented,
1

2
Malles, Hit. de Danemarc, Introd. c. 9.
Sat. lib. i, c. 27.
4
Plate XVI, Fig. 1.
Plate X, Fig. 8, from one beloning to me.
5
Plate IX, Fig. 7, from one beloning to me.
3

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ON THE WORSHIP

like many others of the ame kind, to atisfy the inquiitive ignorance of the vulgar, from whom the meaning of the mytic ymbols,
the uual devices on the medals, was trictly concealed. In the
Celtic mythology, the ame ymbol was employed, apparently in
the ame ene, Lok, the great detroying power of the univere,
being repreented under the form of a wolf.1
The Apollo Didymus, or double Apollo, was probably the two
peronifications, that of the detroying, and that of the creating
power, united; whence we may perceive the reaon why the ornaments before decribed hould be upon his temple.2 On the medals
of Antigonus, king of Aia, is a figure with his hair hanging in
artificial ringlets over his houlders, like that of a woman, and the
whole compoition, both of his limbs and countenance, remarkable
for extreme delicacy, and feminine elegance.3 He is itting on
the prow of a hip, as god of the waters; and we hould, without
heitation, pronounce him to be the Bacchus difuhj, were it not for
the bow that he carries in his hand, which evidently hows him
to be Apollo. This I take to be the figure under which the
refinement of art (and more was never hown than in this medal)
repreented the Apollo Didymus, or union of the creative and
detructive powers of both exes in one body.
As fire was the primary eence of the active or male powers
of creation and generation, o was water of the paive or female.
Appian ays, that the goddes worhipped at Hierapolis in Syria
was called by ome Venus, by others Juno, and by others held to be
the caue which produced the beginning and eeds of things from
humidity.4 Plutarch decribes her nearly in the ame words;5 and
1

Malles, Introd. lHit. de Danemarc.

See Ionian Antiq. vol. i, c. 3, Pl. IX.
3
See Plate X, Fig. 7, from one belonging to me. Similar figures are on the coins
4
5
of mot of the Seleucid.
De Bello Parthico.
In Crao.
2

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83

the author of the treatie attributed to Lucian1 ays, he was Nature,

the parent of things, or the creatres. She was therefore the ame
as Iis, who was the prolific material upon which both the creative
and detructive attributes operated.2 As water was her terretrial
eence, o was the moon her celetial image, whoe attractive power,
heaving the waters of the ocean, naturally led men to aociate
them. The moon was alo uppoed to return the dews which the
un exhaled from the earth; and hence her warmth was reckoned
to be moitening, as that of the un was drying.3 The Egyptians
called her the Mother of the World, becaue he owed and cattered
into the air the prolific principles with which he had been impregnated by the un.4 Thee principles, as well as the light by which
he was illumined, being uppoed to emanate from the great fountain of all life and motion, partook of the nature of the being
from which they were derived. Hence the Egyptians attributed to
the moon, as well is to the un, the active and paive powers of
generation,5 which were both, to ue the language of the cholatics,
eentially the ame, though formally different. This union is repreented on a medal of Demetrius the econd, king of Syria,6 where
the goddes of Hierapolis appears with the male organs of generation ticking out of her robe, and holding the thyrus of Bacchus,
the emblem of fire, in one hand, and the terretrial globe, repreenting the ubordinate elements, in the other. Her head is
crowned with various plants, and on each ide is in ateric repreenting (probably) the diurnal and nocturnal un, in the ame
manner as when placed over the caps of Cator and Pollux.7 This
is not the form under which he was repreented in the temple at
1

2
De Dea Syri.
Plutarch, de Is. & Oir.
Caler felis arefacit, lunaris humectat. Macrob. Sat. VII, c. 10.
4
5
Plutarch, de Is. & Oir.
Ibid.
6
Plate X, Fig 5, from Haym, Tes. Brit. p. 70.
7
Se Plate IX, Fig. 7.
3

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ON THE WORSHIP

Hierapolis, when the author of the account attributed to Lucian

viited it; which is not to be wondered at, for the figures of this
univeral goddes, being merely emblematical, were compoed according to the attributes which the artits meant particularly to expres.
She is probably repreented here in the form under which he was
worhipped in the neighbourhood of Cyzicus, where he was called
Artemij Priapivh, the Priapic Diana.1 In the temple at Hierapolis
the active powers imparted to her by the Creator were repreented
by immene images of the male organs of generation placed on
each ide of the door. The meaures of thee mut necearily be
corrupt in the preent text of Lucian; but that they were of an
enormous ize we may conclude from what is related of a man's
going to the top of one of them every year, and reiding there
even days, in order to have a more intimate communication with
the deity, while praying for the properity of Syria.2 Athenus
relates, that Ptolemy Philadelphus had one of 120 cubits long
carried in proceion at Alexandria,3 of which the poet might jutly
have aid
Horrendum protendit Mentula contum
Quanta queat vatos Thetidis pumantis hiatus;
Quanta queat pricamque Rheam, magnamque parentem
Naturam, olidis naturam implere medullis,
Si foret immenos, quot ad atra volantia currunt,
Conceptura globos, et tela triulca tonantis,
Et vaga concuum motura tonitrua mundum.

This was the real meaning of the enormous figures at Hierapolis:

they were the generative organs of the creator peronified, with
which he was uppoed to have impregnated the heavens, the earth,
and the waters. Within the temple were many mall tatues of
men with thee organs diproportionably large. Thee were the
angels or attendants of the goddes, who acted as her miniters of
1

Plutarch, in Lucullo.

Lucian, de Dea Syri.

Deipnos. lib.

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85

creation in peopling and fructifying the earth. The tatue of the

goddes herelf was in the anctuary of the temple; and near it
was the tatue of the creator, whom the author calls Jupiter, as he
does the goddes, Juno; by which he only means that they were
the upreme deities of the country where worhipped. She was
borne by lions, and he by bulls, to how that nature, the paive
productive power of matter, was utained by anterior detruction,
whilt the therial pirit, or active productive power, was utained
by his own trength only, of which the bulls were ymbols.1 Between both was a third figure, with a dove on his head, which ome
thought to be Bacchus.2 This was the Holy Spirit, the firtbegotten love, or platic nature, (of which the dove was the image
when it really deigned to decend upon man,3) proceeding from,
and conubtantial with both; for all three were but peronifications
of one. The dove, or ome fowl like it, appears on the medals of
Gortyna in Crete, acting the ame part with Dictynna, the Cretan
Diana, as the wan is uually repreented acting with Leda.4 This
compoition has nearly the ame ignification as that before decribed
of the bull in the lap of Ceres, Diana being equally a peronification
of the productive power of the earth. It may eem extraordinary,
that after this adventure with the dove, he hould till remain a
virgin; but myteries of this kind are to be found in all religions.
Juno is aid to have renewed her virginity every year by bathing
in a certain fountain;5 a miracle which I believe even modern
legends cannot parallel.
1

The active and paive powers of creation are called male and female by the
Ammonian Platonits. See Proclus in Theol. Platon. lib. i, c. 28.
2
3
Lucian, de Dea Syri.
Matth. ch. iii, ver. 17.
4
See Plate III, Fig. 5. Kalousi de thn Artemin Qrakej Bendeian, Krhtej de
Diktunnan. Palph. de Incred. Tab. XXXI. See alo Diodor. Sic. lib. v. & Euripid.
Hippol. v. 145.
5
Pauan. lib. ii, c. 38.

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ON THE WORSHIP

In the viion of Ezekiel, God is decribed as decending upon

the combined forms of the eagle, the bull, and the lion,1 the
emblems of the therial pirit, the creative and detructive powers,
which were all united in the true God, though hypotatically
divided in the Syrian trinity. Man was compounded with them,
as repreenting the real image of God, according to the Jewih
theology. The cherubim on the ark of the covenant, between
which God dwelt,2 were alo compounded of the ame form,3 o
that the idea of them mut have been preent to the prophets mind,
previous to the apparition which furnihed him with the decription.
Even thoe on the ark of the covenant, though made at the expres
command of God, do not appear to have been original; for a
figure exactly anwering to the decription of them appears among
thoe curious ruins exiting at Chilminar, in Peria, which have
been uppoed to be thoe of the palace of Perepolis, burnt by
Alexander; but for what reaon, it is not eay to conjecture. They
do not, certainly, anwer to any ancient decription extant of that
celebrated palace; but, as far as we can judge of them in their
preent tate, appear evidently to have been a temple.4 But the
Perians, as before oberved, had no incloed temples or tatues,
which they held in uch abhorrence, that they tried every means
poible to detroy thoe of the Egyptians; thinking it unworthy
of the majety of the deity to have his all-pervading preence
limited to the boundary of an edifice, or likened to an image of
tone or metal. Yet, among the ruins at Chilminar, we not only
find many tatues, which are evidently of ideal beings,5 but alo that
remarkable emblem of the deity, which ditinguihes almot all the
1

Ezek. ch. i, ver. 10, with Lowths Comm.

Exod. ch. xxv. ver. 22.
3
Spencer de Leg. Ritual Vet. Hebror. lib. iii. diert. 5.
4
See Le Bruyn, Voyage en Pere, Planche cxxiii.
5
See Le Bruyn and Niebuhr.
2

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87

Egyptian temples now extant.1 The portals are alo of the ame
form as thoe at Thebes and Phil; and, except the hieroglyphics
which ditinguih the latter, are finihed and ornamented nearly in
the ame manner. Unles, therefore, we uppoe the Perians to
have been o inconitent as to erect temples in direct contradiction
to the firt principles of their own religion, and decorate them with
ymbols and images, which they held to be impious and abominable,
we cannot uppoe them to be the authors of thee buildings.
Neither can we uppoe the Parthians, or later Perians, to have
been the builders of them; for both the tyle of workmanhip in
the figures, and the forms of the letters in the incriptions, denote
a much higher antiquity, as will appear evidently to any one who
will take the trouble of comparing the drawings publihed by
Le Bruyn and Niebuhr with the coins of the Aracid and
Saanid. Almot all the ymbolical figures are to be found repeated upon different Phnician coins; but the letters of the Phnicians, which are aid to have come to them from the Ayrians,
are much les imple, and evidently belong to an alphabet
much further advanced in improvement. Some of the figures are
alo obervable upon the Greek coins, particularly the bull and lion
fighting, and the mytic flower, which is the contant device of
the Rhodians. The tyle of workmanhip is alo exactly the ame as
that of the very ancient Greek coins of Acanthus, Celendaris, and
Lebos; the lines being very trongly marked, and the hair expreed
by round knobs. The wings likewie of the figure, which reembles
the Jewih cherubim, are the ame as thoe upon everal Greek
culptures now extant; uch as the little images of Priapus attached
to the ancient bracelets, the compound figures of the goat and lion
1

See Plate XVIII. Fig. 1 from the Iiac Table, and Plate XIX. Fig 5 from Niebuhr's
prints of Chilminar. See alo Plate XVIII. Fig. 2 and Plate XIX. Fig. 1 from the Iiac
Tables and the Egyptian Portals publihed by Norden and Pococke, on every one of
which this ingular emblem occurs.

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ON THE WORSHIP

upon the frieze of the Temple of Apollo Didymus, &c. &c.1

They are likewie joined to the human figure on the medals of
Melita and Camarina,2 as well as upon many ancient culptures in
relief found in Peria.3 The feathers in thee wings are turned upwards like thoe of an otrich,4 to which however they have no
reemblance in form, but eem rather like thoe of a fowl brooding,
though more ditorted than any I ever oberved in nature. Whether
this ditortion was meant to expres lut or incubation, I cannot
determine; but the compoitions, to which the wings are added,
leave little doubt, that it was meant for the one or the other. I
am inclined to believe that it was for the latter, as we find on the
medals of Melita a figure with four of thee wings, who eems by his
attitude to be brooding over omething.5 On his head is the cap of
liberty, whilt in his right hand he holds the hook or attractor, and
in his left the winnow or eparator; o that he probably repreents
the Erwj, or generative pirit brooding over matter, and giving
liberty to its productive powers by the exertion of his own attributes, attraction and eparation. On a very ancient Phnician
medal brought from Aia by Mr. Pullinger, and publihed very
incorrectly by Mr. Swinton in the Philoophical Tranactions of
1760, is a dic or ring urrounded by wings of different forms, of
which ome of the feathers are ditorted in the ame manner.6 The
ame dic, urrounded by the ame kind of wings, incloes the
ateric of the un over the bull Apis, or Mnevis, on the Iiac
Table,7 where it alo appears with many of the other Egyptian
1

II.

See Le Bruyn, Planche cxxiii. Ionian Antiquities, vol. i. c. 3. Plate IX., and Plate
Fig. 2.
2
See Plate XX, Fig. 2, from one of Melita, belonging to me.
3
See Le Bruyn, Planche cxxi.
4
As thoe on the Figures decribed by Ezekiel were. See c. i, v. 11.
5
See Plate XX, Fig. 2, engraved from one belonging to me.
6
See Plate IX, Fig. 9, engraed from the original medal, now belonging to me.
7
See Plate XIX, Fig. 1, from Pignorius.

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89

ymbols, particularly over the heads of Iis and Oiris.1 It is alo

placed over the entrances of mot of the Egyptian temples decribed
by Pococke and Norden as well as on that repreented on the Iiac
Table,2 though with everal variations, and without the ateric.
We find it equally without the ateric, but with little or no variation, on the ruins at Chilmenar, and other uppoed Perian
antiquities in that neighbourhood:3 but upon ome of the Greek
medals the ateric alone is placed over the bull with the human
face,4 who is then the ame as the Apis or Mnevis of the Egyptians;
that is, the image of the generative power of the un, which is ignified by the ateric on the Greek medals, and by the kneph, or
winged dic, on the Oriental monuments. The Greeks however
ometimes employed this latter ymbol, but contrived, according to
their uual practice, to join it to the human figure, as may be een
on a medal of Camarina, publihed by Prince Torremmuzzi.5 On
other medals of this city the ame idea is expreed, without the
dic or ateric, by a winged figure, which appears hovering over a
wan, the emblem of the waters, to how the generative power of
the un fructifying that element, or adding the active to the paive
powers of production.6 On the medals of Naples, a winged figure
of the ame kind is repreented crowning the Taurine Bacchus
with a wreath of laurel.7 This antiquarians have called a Victory
crowning the Minotaur; but the fabulous monter called the Minotaur was never aid to have been victorious, even by the poets
1

See Plate XVIII, Fig. 2, from Pignorius.

See Plate XVIII, Fig. 1, from Pignorius.
3
See Niebuhr and Le Bruyn, and Plate XIX, Fig. 2, from the former.
4
See Plate IV. Fig. 2, and Plate XIX. Fig. 4, from a medal of Cales, belonging
to me.
5
See Plate XXI, Fig. 2, copied from it.
6
See Plate XXI, Fig. 3, from one belonging to me.
7
See Plate XIX, Fig. 5. The coins are common in all collections.
2

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ON THE WORSHIP

who invented it; and whenever the culptors and painters repreented it, they joined the head of a bull to a human body, as may
be een in the celebrated picture of Theeus, publihed among the
antiquities of Herculaneum, and on the medals of Athens, truck
about the time of Severus, when the tyle of art was totally changed,
and the mytic theology extinct. The winged figure, which has
been called a Victory, appears mounting in the chariot of the un,
on the medals of queen Philitis,1 and, on ome of thoe of Syracue, flying before it in the place where the ateric appears on others
of the ame city.2 I am therefore peruaded, that thee are only
different modes of repreenting one idea, and that the winged figure
means the ame, when placed over the Taurine Bacchus of the
Greeks, as the winged dic over the Apis or Mnevis of the Egyptians. The gis, or naky breatplate, and the Meduas head, are
alo, as Dr. Stukeley jutly oberved,3 Greek modes of repreenting this winged dic joined with the erpents, as it frequently is,
both in the Egyptian culptures, and thoe of Chilmenar in Peria.
The expreions of rage and violence, which uually characterie the
countenance of Medua, ignify the detroying attribute joined with
the generative, as both were equally under the direction of Minerva,
or divine widom. I am inclined to believe, that the large rings,
to which the little figures of Priapus are attached,4 had alo the
ame meaning as the dic; for, if intended merely to upend them
by, they are of an extravagant magnitude, and would not anwer
their purpoe o well as a common loop.
On the Phnician coin above mentioned, this ymbol, the
winged dic, is placed over a figure itting, who holds in his hands
an arrow, whilt a bow, ready bent, of the ancient Scythian form,
1

See Plate XXI, Fig. 4, from one belonging to me.

See Plate XXI, Fig. 5 and 6, from coins belonging to me.
3
4
Abury, p. 93.
See Plate II. Fig. 1, and Plate III. Fig. 2.
2

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91

lies by him.1 On his head is a large looe cap, tied under his chin,
which I take to be the lion's kin, worn in the ame manner as on
the heads of Hercules, upon the medals of Alexander; but the
work is o mall, though executed with extreme nicety and preciion,
and perfectly preerved, that it is difficult to decide with certainty
what it repreents, in parts of uch minutenes. The bow and
arrows, we know, were the ancient arms of Hercules;2 and continued o, until the Greek poets thought proper to give him the
club.3 He was particularly worhipped at Tyre, the metropolis
of Phnicia;4 and his head appears in the uual form, on many of
the coins of that people. We may hence conclude that he is the
peron here repreented, notwithtanding the difference in the tyle
and compoition of the figure, which may be accounted for by the
difference of art. The Greeks, animated by the pirit of their
ancient poets, and the glowing melody of their language, were
grand and poetical in all their compoitions; whilt the Phnicians,
who poke a harh and untuneable dialect, were unacquainted with
fine poetry, and conequently with poetical ideas; for words being
the types of ideas, and the igns or marks by which men not only
communicate them to each other, but arrange and regulate them in
their own minds, the genius of a language goes a great way towards
forming the character of the people who ue it. Poverty of expreion will produce poverty of conception; for men will never be
able to form ublime ideas, when the language in which they think
(for men always think as well as peak in ome language) is incapable of expreing them. This may be one reaon why the Phnicians never rivalled the Greeks in the perfection of art, although
they attained a degree of excellence long before them; for Homer,
whenever he has occaion to peak of any fine piece of art, takes
1
3

See Plate IX, Fig. 10 b.

Strabo, lib. xiv.

2
4

Homers Odys. L, ver. 606.

Macrob. Sat. lib. i, c. 20.

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ON THE WORSHIP

care to inform us that it was the work of Sidonians. He alo

mentions the Phnician merchants bringing toys and ornaments
of dres to ell to the Greeks, and practicing thoe frauds which
merchants and factors are apt to practice upon ignorant people.1
It is probable that their progres in the fine arts, like that of the
Dutch (who are the Phnicians of modern hitory), never went
beyond a trict imitation of nature; which, compared to the more
elevated graces of ideal compoition, is like a newpaper narrative
compared with one of Homers battles. A figure of Hercules,
therefore, executed by a Phnician artit, if compared to one by
Phidias or Lyippus, would be like a picture of Moes or David,
painted by Teniers, or Gerard Dow, compared to one of the ame,
painted by Raphael or Annibal Caracci. This is exactly the difference between the figures on the medal now under conideration, and
thoe on the coins of Gelo or Alexander. Of all the peronages of
the ancient mythology, Hercules is perhaps the mot difficult to
explain; for phyical allegory and fabulous hitory are o entangled
in the accounts we have of him, that it is carcely poible to eparate them. He appears however, like all the other gods, to have
been originally a peronified attribute of the un. The eleventh of
the Orphic Hymns2 is addreed to him as the trength and power
of the un; and Macrobius ays that he was thought to be the
trength and virtue of the gods, by which they detroyed the
giants; and that, according to Varro, the Mars and Hercules of
the Romans were the ame deity, and worhipped with the ame
rites.3 According to Varro then, whoe authority is perhaps the
greatet that can be cited, Hercules was the detroying attribute
repreented in a human form, intead of that of a lion, tiger, or
hippopotamus. Hence the terrible picture drawn of him by
Homer, which always appeared to me to have been taken from
1

Homer, Odys. o, ver. 414.

Ed. Gener.

Sat. lib. i, c. 20.

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OF PRIAPUS

ome ymbolical tatue, which the poet not undertanding, uppoed to

be of the Theban hero, who had aumed the title of the deity, and
whoe fabulous hitory he was well acquainted with. The
decription however applies in every particular to the allegorical
peronage. His attitude, ever fixed in the act of letting fly his
arrow,1 with the figures of lions and bears, battles and murders,
which adorn his belt, all unite in repreenting him as the detructive
attribute peronified. But how happens it then that he is o frequently repreented trangling the lion, the natural emblem of this
power? Is this an hitorical fable belonging to the Theban hero,
or a phyical allegory of the detructive power detroying its own
force by its own exertions? Or is the ingle attribute peronified
taken for the whole power of the deity in this, as in other intances
already mentioned? The Orphic Hymn above cited eems to
favour this lat conjecture; for he is there addreed both as the
devourer and generator of all (Pamfage, paggentwr). However
this may be, we may afely conclude that the Hercules armed with
the bow and arrow, as he appears on the preent medal, is like the
Apollo, the detroying power of the diurnal un.
On the other ide of the medal3 is a figure, omewhat like the
Jupiter on the medals of Alexander and Antiochus, itting with a
beaded ceptre in his right hand, which he rets upon the head of
a bull, that projects from the ide of the chair. Above, on his
right houlder, is a bird, probably a dove, the ymbol of the Holy
Spirit, decending from the un, but, as this part of the medal is
les perfect than the ret, the pecies cannot be clearly dicovered.
In his left hand be holds a hort taff, from the upper ide of which
prings an ear of corn, and from the lower a bunch of grapes,
which being the two mot eteemed productions of the earth, were
the natural emblems of general fertilization. This figure is there1

Aiei Baleonti oikwj. Odys. l, ver. 607.

See Plate IX, Fig. 10 a.

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ON THE WORSHIP

fore the generator, as that on the other ide is the detroyer, whilt
the un, of whoe attributes both are peronifications, is placed between them. The letters on the ide of the generator are quite
entire, and, according to the Phnician alphabet publihed by Mr.
Dutens, are equivalent to the Roman ones which compoe the
words Baal Thrz, of which Mr. Swinton makes Baal Tarz, and
tranlates Jupiter of Tarus; whence he concludes that this coin
was truck at that city. But the firt letter of the lat word is not
a Teth, but a Thau, or apirated T; and, as the Phnicians had a
vowel anwering to the Roman A, it is probable they would have
inerted it, had they intended it to be ounded: but we have no
reaon to believe that they had any to expres the U or Y, which
mut therefore be comprehended in the preceding cononant whenever the ound is expreed. Hence I conclude that the word here
meant is Thyrz or Thurz, the Thor or Thur of the Celtes and
Sarmatians, the Thurra of the Ayrians, the Turan of the Tyrrhenians or Etrucans, the Taurine Bacchus of the Greeks, and the
deity whom the Germans carried with them in the hape of a bull,
when they invaded Italy; from whom the city of Tyre, as well as
Tyrrhenia, or Tucany, probably took its name. His ymbol the
bull, to which the name alludes, is repreented on the chair or
throne in which he its; and his ceptre, the emblem of his authority, rets upon it. The other word, Baal, was merely a title in the
Phnician language, ignifying God, or Lord;1 and ued as an
epithet of the un, as we learn from the name Baal-bec (the city of
Baal), which the Greeks rendered Heliopolis (the city of the un).
Thus does this ingular medal how the fundamental principles
of the ancient Phnician religion to be the ame as thoe which
appear to have prevailed through all the other nations of the
northern hemiphere. Fragments of the ame ytem every where
1

Cleric. Comm. in. 2 Reg. c. i, ver. 2.

OF PRIAPUS

95

occur, variouly expreed as they were variouly undertood, and

oftentimes merely preerved without being undertood at all; the
ancient reverence being continued to the ymbols, when their
meaning was wholly forgotten. The hypotatical diviion and
eential unity of the deity is one of the mot remarkable parts of
this ytem, and the farthet removed from common ene and reaon;
and yet this is perfectly reaonable and conitent, if conidered
together with the ret of it: for the emanations and peronifications
were only figurative abtractions of particular modes of action and
exitence, of which the primary caue and original eence till continued one and the ame.
The three hypotaes being thus only one being, each hypotais
is occaionally taken for all; as is the cae in the paage of
Apuleius before cited, where Iis decribes herelf as the univeral
deity. In this character he is repreented by a mall baaltine
figure, of Egyptian culpture, at Strawberry Hill, which is covered
over with ymbols of various kinds from top to bottom.1 That of
the bull is placed lowet, to how that the trength or power of the
creator is the foundation and upport of every other attribute. On
her head are towers, to denote the earth; and round her neck is
hung a crab-fih, which, from its power of pontaneouly detaching from its body, and naturally reproducing, any limbs that
are hurt or mutilated, became the ymbol of the productive power
of the waters; in which ene it appears on great numbers of
ancient medals of various cities.2 The nutritive power is ignified
1

A print of one exactly the ame Is publihed by Montfaucon, Antiq. expliq. vol.
i. Plate XCIII. Fig. i.
2
See thoe of Agrigentum, Himera, and Cyrene. On a mall one of the firtmentioned city, belonging to me, a cros, the abbreviated ymbol of the male powers
of generation, approaches the mouth of the crab, while the cornucopia iues from It
(ee Plate XX. Fig. 3): the one repreents the caue, and the other the effect of
fertilization.

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ON THE WORSHIP

by her many breats, and the detructive by the lions which he

bears on her arms. Other attributes are expreed by various other
animal ymbols, the precie meaning of which I have not agacity
ufficient to dicover.
This univerality of the goddes was more conciely repreented
in other figures of her, by the mytic intrument called a Sytrum,
which he carried in her hand. Plutarch has given an explanation
of it,1 which may erve to how that the mode here adopted of
explaining the ancient ymbols is not founded merely upon conjecture and analogy, but alo upon the authority of one of the mot
grave and learned of the Greeks. The curved top, he ays, repreented the lunar orbit, within which the creative attributes of the
deity were exerted, in giving motion to the four elements, ignified
by the four rattles below.2 On the centre of the curve was a cat,
the emblem of the moon; who, from her influence on the contitutions of women, was uppoed to preide particularly over the
paive powers of generation;3 and below, upon the bae, a head
of Iis or Nepthus; intead of which, upon that which I have had
engraved, as well as upon many others now extant, are the male
organs of generation, repreenting the active powers of the creator,
attributed to Iis with the paive. The clattering noie, and
various motions of the rattles being adopted as the ymbols of the
movement and mixture of the elements from which all things are
produced; the ound of metals in general became an emblem of
the ame kind. Hence, the ringing of bells, and clattering of
plates of metal, were ued in all lutrations, acrifices, &c.4 The
title Priapus, applied to the characteritic attribute of the creator,
1

De Is. & Oir.

See Plate X, Fig. 4, engraved from one in the collection of R. Wilbbramha, Eq.
3
Cic. de Nat.Deor. lib. ii, c. 46.
4
Clem. Alex. Protr. p. 9. Schol. in Theocrit. Idyll. II, ver. 16.
2

OF PRIAPUS

97

and ometimes to the Creator himelf, is probably a corruption of

Briapoj (clamorous or loud); for the B and P being both labials,
the change of the one for the other is common in the Greek
language. We till find many ancient images of this ymbol, with
bells attached to them,1 as they were to the acred robe of the
high priet of the Jews, in which he adminitered to the Creator.2
The bells in both were of a pyramidal form,3 to how the therial
igneous eence of the god. This form is till retained in thoe
ued in our churches, as well as in the little ones rung by the
Catholic priets at the elevation of the hot. The ue of them was
early adopted by the Chritians, in the ame ene as they were
employed by the later heathens; that is, as a charm againt evil
dmons;4 for, being ymbols of the active exertions of the creative
attributes, they were properly oppoed to the emanations of the
detructive. The Lacedemonians ued to beat a pan or kettle-drum
at the death of their king,5 to ait in the emancipation of his oul
at the diolution of the body. We have a imilar cutom of
tolling a bell on uch occaions, which is very generally practied, though the meaning of it has been long forgotten. This
emancipation of the oul was uppoed to be finally performed by
fire; which, being the viible image and active eence of both the
creative and detructive powers, was very naturally thought to be
the medium through which men paed from the preent to a
future life. The Greeks, and all the Celtic nations, accordingly,
burned the bodies of the dead, as the Gentoos do at this day;
while the Egyptians, among whom fuel was extremely carce,
1

Bronzi dell Hercol. Tom. vi. Plate XCVIII.

Exod. ch. xxviii.
3
Bronzi dell Hercol. Tom. vi. Plate XCVIII. Maimonides in Patricks Commentary on Exodus, ch. xxviii.
4
Ovid. Fat. lib. v, ver. 441. Schol. in Theocrit. Idyll. ii, ver. 36.
5
Schol. in Theocrit. Idyll. ii. ver. 36.
2

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ON THE WORSHIP

placed them in pyramidal monuments, which were the ymbols of

fire; hence come thoe prodigious tructures which till adorn that
country. The oul which was to be emancipated was the divine
emanation, the vital park of heavenly flame, the principle of reaon
and perception, which was peronified into the familiar dmon, or
genius, uppoed to have the direction of each individual, and to
dipoe him to good or evil, widom or folly, and all their conequences of properity and adverity.1 Hence proceeded the
doctrines, o uniformly inculcated by Homer and Pindar,2 of all
human actions depending immediately upon the gods; which were
adopted, with carcely any variations, by ome of the Chritian
divines of the apotolic age. In the Pator of Hermas, and
Recognitions of Clemens, we find the angels of jutice, penitence,
and orrow, intead of the genii, or dmons, which the ancients
uppoed to direct men's minds and inpire them with thoe particular entiments. St. Paul adopted the till more comfortable
doctrine of grace, which erved full as well to emancipate the
conciences of the faithful from the hackles of practical morality.
The familiar dmons, or divine emanations, were uppoed to
reide in the blood; which was thought to contain the principles of
vital heat, and was therefore forbidden by Moes.3 Homer, who
eems to have collected little fragments of the ancient theology, and
introduced them here and there, amidt the wild profuion of his
poetical fables, repreents the hades of the deceaed as void of
perception, until they had tated of the blood of the victims offered
1

Pindar. Pyth. v. ver. 164. Sophocl. Trachin. ver. 922. Hor. lib. ii. epit. ii.
ver. 187.
2

Ek Qewn machanai pasai broteaij, kai sofoi, kai cersi biatai,

pweiflqaaoi t' efun. Pindar, Pyth. i. ver. 79. Pages to the ame purpoe occur
in almot every page of the Iliad and Odyey.
3
Levit. ch. xvii. ver. 11 & 14.

OF PRIAPUS

99

by Ulyes;1 by which their faculties were renewed by a reunion

with the divine emanation, from which they had been eparated.
The oul of Tireias is aid to be entire in hell, and to poes alone
the power of perception, becaue with him this divine emanation
till remained. The hade of Hercules is decribed among the
other ghots, though he himelf, as the poet ays, was then in
heaven; that is, the active principle of thought and perception
returned to its native heaven, whilt the paive, or merely enitive,
remained on earth, from whence it prung.2 The final eparation
of thee two did not take place till the body was conumed by fire,
as appears from the ghot of Elpenor, whoe body being till
entire, he retained both, and knew Ulyes before he had tated of
the blood. It was from producing this eparation, that the univeral
Bacchus, or double Apollo, the creator and detroyer, whoe
eence was fire, was alo called Liknithj, the purifier,3 by a metaphor
taken from the winnow, which purified the corn from the dut and
chaff, as fire purified the oul from its terretrial pollutions. Hence
this intrument is called by Virgil the mytic winnow of Bacchus.4
The Ammonian Platonics and Gnotic Chritians thought that this
eparation, or purification, might be effected in a degree even
before death. It was for this purpoe that they practied uch rigid
temperance, and gave themelves up to uch intene tudy; for, by
ubduing and extenuating the terretrial principle, they hoped to
give liberty and vigour to the celetial, o that it might be enabled
to acend directly to the intellectual world, pure and unincumbered.5
1

Odys. l, ver. 152.

Thoe who wih to ee the difference between enation and perception clearly
and fully explained, may be atisfied by reading the Eai analytique ur lAme, by
Mr. Bonnet.
3
4
Orph. Hymn. 45.
Mytica vannui Iacchi. Georg. i, ver. 166.
5
Plot. Ennead. vi, lib. iv, ch. 16. Moheim, Not. y in Cudw. Syt. Intell.
ch. v. ect. 20.
2

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ON THE WORSHIP

The clergy afterwards introduced Purgatory, intead of abtract

meditation and tudy; which was the ancient mode of eparation
by fire, removed into an unknown country, where it was aleable
to all uch of the inhabitants of this world as had ufficient wealth
and credulity.
It was the celetial or therial principle of the human mind,
which the ancient artits repreented under the ymbol of the
butterfly, which may be conidered as one of the mot elegant allegories of their elegant religion. This inect, when hatched from
the egg, appears in the hape of a grub, crawling upon the earth,
and feeding upon the leaves of plants. In this tate, it was aptly
made the emblem of man, in his earthly form, in which the therial
vigour and activity of the celetial oul, the divin particula mentis,
was uppoed to be clogged and incumbered with the material body.
When the grub was changed to a chryalis, its tillnes, torpor, and
inenibility eemed to preent a natural image of death, or the intermediate tate between the ceation of the vital functions of the
body and the final releaement of the oul by the fire, in which the
body was conumed. The butterfly breaking from the torpid
chryalis, and mounting in the air, was no les natural an image of
the celetial oul burting from the retraints of matter, and mixing
again with its native ther. The Greek artits, always tudious of
elegance, changed this, as well as other animal ymbols, into a
human form, retaining the wings as the characteritic members, by
which the meaning might be known. The human body, which
they added to them, is that of a beautiful girl, ometimes in the age
of infancy, and ometimes of approaching maturity. So beautiful
an allegory as this would naturally be a favourite ubject of art
among a people whoe tate had attained the utmot pitch of refinement. We accordingly find that it has been more frequently and
more variouly repeated than any other which the ytem of emanations, o favourable to art, could afford.

OF PRIAPUS

101

Although all men were uppoed to partake of the divine

emanation in a degree, it was not uppoed that they all partook
of it in an equal degree. Thoe who howed uperior abilities, and
ditinguihed themelves by their plendid actions, were uppoed to
have a larger hare of the divine eence, and were therefore adored
as gods, and honoured with divine titles, expreive of that particular attribute of the deity with which they eemed to be mot
favoured. New peronages were thus enrolled among the allegorical deities; and the peronified attributes of the un were confounded with a Cretan and Thealian king, an Aiatic conqueror,
and a Theban robber. Hence Pindar, who appears to have been
a very orthodox heathen, ays, that the race of men and gods is
one, that both breathe from one mother, and only differ in power.1
This confuion of epithets and titles contributed, as much as any
thing, to raie that vat and extravagant fabric of poetical mythology, which, in a manner, overwhelmed the ancient theology,
which was too pure and philoophical to continue long a popular
religion. The grand and exalted ytem of a general firt caue,
univerally expanded, did not uit the gros conceptions of the
multitude; who had no other way of conceiving the idea of an
omnipotent god, but by forming an exaggerated image of their
own depot, and uppoing his power to conit in an unlimited
gratification of his paions and appetites. Hence the univeral
Jupiter, the aweful and venerable, the general principle of life
and motion, was transformed into the god who thundered from
Mount Ida, and was lulled to leep in the embraces of his wife;
and hence the god whoe pirit moved2 upon the face of the waters,
1

Nem. v, ver. 1.
So the tranlators have rendered the expreion of the original, which literally
means brooding as a fowl on its eggs, and alludes to the ymbols of the ancient
theology, which I have before oberved upon. See Patricks Commentary.
2

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ON THE WORSHIP

and impregnated them with the powers of generation, became a

great king above all gods, who led forth his people to mite the
ungodly, and rooted out their enemies from before them.
Another great means of corrupting the ancient theology, and
etablihing the poetical mythology, was the practice of the artits in
repreenting the various attributes of the creator under human
forms of various character and expreion. Thee figures, being
ditinguihed by the titles of the deity which they were meant to
repreent, became in time to be conidered as ditinct peronages,
and worhipped as eparate ubordinate deities. Hence the manyhaped god, the polumorfoj and muriomorfos of the ancient theologits, became divided into many gods and goddees, often decribed by the poets as at variance with each other and wrangling
about the little intrigues and paions of men. Hence too, as the
ymbols were multiplied, particular ones lot their dignity; and that
venerable one which is the ubject of this dicoure, became degraded
from the repreentative of the god of nature to a ubordinate rural
deity, a uppoed on of the Aiatic conqueror Bacchus, tanding
among the nymphs by a fountain,1 and expreing the fertility of
a garden, intead of the general creative power of the great active
principle of the univere. His degradation did not top even here;
for we find him, in times till more prophane and corrupt, made a
ubject of raillery and inult, as anwering no better purpoe than
holding up his rubicund nout to frighten the birds and thieves.2
His talents were alo perverted from their natural ends, and employed
in bae and abortive efforts in conformity to the tate of the times;
for men naturally attribute their own paions and inclinations to
the objects of their adoration; and as God made man in his own
image, o man returns the favour, and makes God in his. Hence
we find the highet attribute of the all-pervading pirit and firt1

Theocrit. Idyll. i, ver. 21.

Horat. lib. i, Sat. viii. Virg. Georg. iv.

OF PRIAPUS

103

begotten love foully protituted to promicuous vice, and calling

out, Hc cunnum, caput hic, prbeat ille nates.1
He continued however till to have his temple, prietes and
acred geee,2 and offerings of the mot exquiite kind were made to
him:
Criabitque tibi excuis pulcherrima Iumbi
Hoc anno primum experta puella virum.

Sometimes, however, they were not o crupulous in the election

of their victims, but uffered frugality to retrain their devotion:
Cum acrum fieret Deo alaci
Conducta et pretio puella parvo.3

The bride was uually placed upon him immediately before marriage; not, as Lactantius ays, ut ejus pudicitiam prior Deus prlibae videatur, but that he might be rendered fruitful by her
communion with the divine nature, and capable of fulfilling the
duties of her tation. In an ancient poem4 we find a lady of the
name of Lalage preenting the pictures of the Elephanti to him,
and gravely requeting that he might enjoy the pleaures over
which he particularly preided, in all the attitudes decribed in that
celebrated treatie.5 Whether or not he ucceeded, the poet has
not informed us; but we may afely conclude that he did not trut
wholly to faith and prayer, but, contrary to the uual practice of
modern devotees, accompanied her devotion with uch good
works as were likely to contribute to the end propoed by it.
When a lady had erved as the victim in a acrifice to this god,
he expreed her gratitude for the benefits received, by offering
upon his altar certain mall images repreenting his characteritic
1

2
Priap. Carm. 21.
Pertron. Satyric.
4
Priap. Carm. 34.
Priap. Carm. 3.
5
The Elephantis was written by one Philnis, and eems to have been of the
ame kind with the Puttana errante of Aretin.
3

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ON THE WORSHIP

attribute, the number of which was equal to the number of men

who had acted as priets upon the occaion.1 On an antique gem,
in the collection of Mr. Townley, is one of thee fair victims, who
appears jut returned from a acrifice of this kind, and devoutly
returning her thanks by offering upon an altar ome of thee
images, from the number of which one may oberve that he has
not been neglected.2 This offering of thanks had alo its mytic
and allegorical meaning; for fire being the energetic principle
and eential force of the Creator, and the ymbol above mentioned the
viible image of his characteritic attribute, the uniting them was
uniting the material with the eential caue, from whoe joint
operation all things were uppoed to proceed.
Thee acrifices, as well as all thoe to the deities preiding over
generation, were performed by night: hence Hippolytus, in Euripides, ays, to expres his love of chatity, that he likes none of the
gods revered by night.3 Thee acts of devotion were indeed
attended with uch rites as mut naturally hock the prejudices of a
chate and temperate mind, not liable to be warmed by that ectatic
enthuiam which is peculiar to devout perons when their attention
is aborbed in the contemplation of the beneficent powers of the
Creator, and all their faculties directed to imitate him in the
exertion of his great characteritic attribute. To heighten this
enthuiam, the male and female aints of antiquity ued to lie promicuouly together in the temples, and honour God by a liberal
diplay and general communication of his bounties.4 Herodotus,
indeed, excepts the Greeks and Egyptians, and Dionyius of Halicarnaus, the Romans, from this general cutom of other nations;
but to the tetimony of the former we may oppoe the thouand
acred protitutes kept at each of the temples of Corinth and
1
3

Priap. Carm. 34. Ed Sciappii.

Ver. 613.

2
4

See Plate III, Fig. 3.

Herodot. lib. ii.

OF PRIAPUS

105

Eryx;1 and to that of the latter the expres words of Juvenal,

who, though he lived an age, later, lived when the ame religion,
and nearly the ame manners, prevailed.2 Diodorus Siculus alo
tells us, that when the Roman prtors viited Eryx, they laid
aide their magiterial everity, and honoured the goddes by mixing with her votaries, and indulging themelves in the pleaures
over which he preided.3 It appears, too, that the act of generation was a ort of acrament in the iland of Lebos; for the device
on its medals (which in the Greek republics had always ome
relation to religion) is as explicit as forms can make it.4 The
figures appear indeed to be mytic and allegorical, the male having
evidently a mixture of the goat in his beard and features, and therefore probably repreents Pan, the generative power of the univere
incorporated in univeral matter. The female has all that breadth
and fulnes which characterie the peronification of the paive
power, known by the titles of Rhea, Juno, Ceres, &e.
When there were uch eminaries for female education as thoe
of Eryx and Corinth, we need not wonder that the ladies of antiquity hould be extremely well intructed in all the practical duties
of their religion. The tories told of Julia and Mealina how us
that the Roman ladies were no ways deficient; and yet they were
as remarkable for their gravity and decency as the Corinthians
were for their kill and dexterity in adapting themelves to all the
modes and attitudes which the luxuriant imaginations of experienced votaries have contrived for performing the rites of their
tutelar goddes.5
The reaon why thee rites were always performed by night
was the peculiar anctity attributed to it by the ancients, becaue
dreams were then uppoed to decend from heaven to intruct and
1

2
Strab. lib. viii.
Sat. ix, ver. 24.
See Plate IX, Fig. 8, from one belonging to me.
5
Philodemi Epigri. Brunk. Analect. vol. ii, p. 85.
4

106

ON THE WORSHIP

forewarn men. The nights, ays Heiod, belong to the bleed

gods;1 and the Orphic poet calls night the ource of all things
(pantwn genesij) to denote that productive power, which, as I have
been told, it really poees; it being oberved that plants and
animals grow more by night than by day. The ancients extended
this power much further, and uppoed that not only the productions of the earth, but the luminaries of heaven, were nourihed
and utained by the benign influence of the night. Hence that
beautiful apotrophe in the Electra of Euripides, W nux melaina,
chusewn astrwn trofe, &c.
Not only the acrifices to the generative deities, but in general
all the religious rites of the Greeks, were of the fetive kind. To
imitate the gods, was, in their opinion, to feat and rejoice, and to
cultivate the ueful and elegant arts, by which we are made
partakers of their felicity.2 This was the cae with almot all the
nations of antiquity, except the3 Egyptians and their reformed
imitators the Jews,4 who being governed by a hierarchy, endeavoured to make it awful and venerable to the people by an appearance of rigour and auterity. The people, however, ometimes
broke through this retraint, and indulged themelves in the more
pleaing worhip of their neighbours, as when they danced and
feated before the golden calf which Aaron erected,5 and devoted
themelves to the worhip of obcene idols, generally uppoed to be
of Priapus, under the reign of Abijam.6
The Chritian religion, being a reformation of the Jewih, rather
increaed than diminihed the auterity of its original. On particular
occaions however it equally abated its rigour, and gave way to
fetivity and mirth, though always with an air of anctity and
1

Erg. ver. 730.

Strabo, lib. x.
See Spences de Leg. Rit. Vet. Hebror.
6
Reg. c. xv, ver. 13. Ed. Cleric.
4

3
5

Herodot. lib. ii.

Exod. ch. xxxii.

107

OF PRIAPUS

olemnity. Such were originally the feats of the Eucharit,

which, as the word exprees, were meetings of joy and gratulation;
though, as divines tell us, all of the piritual kind: but the particular manner in which St. Augutine commands the ladies who
attended them to wear clean linen,1 eems to infer, that peronal as
well as piritual matters were thought worthy of attention. To
thoe who adminiter the acrament in the modern way, it may
appear of little conequence whether the women received it in clean
linen or not; but to the good bihop, who was to adminiter the
holy kis, it certainly was of ome importance. The holy kis was
not only applied as a part of the ceremonial of the Eucharit, but
alo of prayer, at the concluion of which they welcomed each other
with this natural ign of love and benevolence.2 It was upon thee
occaions that they worked themelves up to thoe fits of rapture
and enthuiam, which made them eagerly ruh upon detruction in
the fury of their zeal to obtain the crown of martyrdom.3 Enthuiam on one ubject naturally produces enthuiam on another;
for the human paions, like the trings of an intrument, vibrate to
the motions of each other: hence paroxyms of love and devotion
have oftentimes o exactly accorded, as not to have been ditinguihed
by the very perons whom they agitated.4 This was too often the
cae in thee meetings of the primitive Chritians. The feats of
gratulation and love, the agapai and nocturnal vigils, gave too
flattering opportunities to the paions and appetites of men, to
continue long, what we are told they were at firt, pure exercies of
devotion. The piritual raptures and divine ectaies encouraged
on thee occaions, were often ectaies of a very different kind, concealed under the garb of devotion; whence the greatet irregularities
enued; and it became neceary for the reputation of the church,
1
3

Aug. Serm. clii.

Martini Kempii de Oculis Diert. viii.

2
4

Jutin Martyr, Apolog.

See Procc de la Cadire.

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ON THE WORSHIP

that they hould be uppreed, as they afterwards were by the

decrees of everal councils. Their uppreion may be conidered
as the final ubverion of that part of the ancient religion which I
have here undertaken to examine; for o long as thoe nocturnal
meetings were preerved, it certainly exited, though under other
names, and in a more olemn dres. The mall remain of it preerved
at Iernia, of which an account has here been given, can carcely be
deemed an exception; for its meaning was unknown to thoe who
celebrated it; and the obcurity of the place, added to the venerable names of S. Coimo and Damiano, was all that prevented it
from being uppreed long ago, as it has been lately, to the great
dimay of the chate matrons and pious monks of Iernia. Traces
and memorials of it eem however to have been preerved, in
many parts of Chritendom, long after the actual celebration of its
rites ceaed. Hence the obcene figures obervable upon many of
our Gothic Cathedrals, and particularly upon the ancient bras
doors of St. Peter's at Rome, where there are ome groups which
rival the devices on the Lebian medals.
It is curious, in looking back through the annals of upertition,
o degrading to the pride of man, to trace the progres of the
human mind in different ages, climates, and circumtances, uniformly acting upon the ame principles, and to the ame ends. The
ketch here given of the corruptions of the religion of Greece, is an
exact counterpart of the hitory of the corruptions of Chritianity,
which began in the pure theim of the eclectic Jews,1 and by the help
of inpirations, emanations, and canonizations, expanded itelf, by
degrees, to the vat and unwieldly ytem which now fills the creed
of what is commonly called the Catholic Church. In the ancient
religion, however, the emanations aumed the appearance of moral
1

Compare the doctrines of Philo with thoe taught in the Gopel of St. John, and
Epitles of St. Paul.

OF PRIAPUS

109

virtues and phyical attributes, intead of minitering pirits and

guardian angels; and the canonizations or deifications were betowed
upon heroes, legilators, and monarchs, intead of priets, monks,
and martyrs. There is alo this further difference, that among the
moderns philoophy has improved, as religion has been corrupted;
whereas, among the ancients, religion and philoophy declined together. The true olar ytem was taught in the Orphic chool, and
adopted by the Pythagoreans, the next regularly-etablihed ect.
The Stoics corrupted it a little, by placing the earth in the centre
of the univere, though they till allowed the un its uperior
magnitude.1 At length aroe the Epicureans, who confounded it
entirely, maintaining that the un was only a mall globe of fire, a
few inches in diameter, and the tars little tranitory lights,
whirled about in the atmophere of the earth.2
How ill oever adapted the ancient ytem of emanations was
to procure eternal happines, it was certainly extremely well calculated to produce temporal good; for, by the endles multiplication
of ubordinate deities, it effectually excluded two of the greatet
cures that ever afflicted the human race, dogmatical theology, and
its conequent religious perecution. Far from uppoing that the
gods known in their own country were the only ones exiting, the
Greeks thought that innumerable emanations of the divine mind
were diffued through every part of the univere; o that new
objects of devotion preented themelves wherever they went.
Every mountain, pring, and river, had its tutelary deity, beides
the numbers of immortal pirits that were uppoed to wander in
the air, cattering dreams and viions, and uperintending the
affairs of men.
1
2

Brucker, Hit. Crit. Philos. p. ii, lib. ii, c. 9, f. i.

Lucret. lib. v, ver. 565, & eq.

110

ON THE WORSHIP
Trij gar murioi eisin epi ctoni pouluboteirh
Aqanatoi Zenous, fulakej qnhtwn anqrwtwn.1

An adequate knowledge of thee they never preumed to think

attainable, but modetly contented themelves with revering and
invoking them whenever they felt or wanted their aitance.
When a hipwrecked mariner was cat upon an unknown coat, he
immediately offered up his prayers to the gods of the country,
whoever they were; and joined the inhabitants in whatever rites
they thought proper to propitiate them with.2 Impious or prophane rites he never imagined could exit, concluding that all
expreions of gratitude and ubmiion mut be pleaing to the
gods. Atheim was, indeed, punihed at Athens, as the obcene
ceremonies of the Bacchanalians were at Rome; but both as civil
crimes againt the tate; the one tending to weaken the bands of
ociety by detroying the anctity of oaths, and the other to ubvert
that decency and gravity of manners, upon which the Romans o
much prided themelves. The introduction of trange gods, without permiion from the magitrate, was alo prohibited in both
cities; but the retriction extended no farther than the walls, there
being no other parts of the Roman empire, except Judea, in which
any kind of impiety or extravagance might not have been maintained with impunity, provided it was maintained merely as a peculative opinion, and not employed as an engine of faction, ambition,
or oppreion. The Romans even carried their condecenion o
far as to enforce the obervance of a dogmatical religion, where
they found it before etablihed; as appears from the conduct of
their magitrates in Judea, relative to Chrit and his apotles; and
1

Heiod. Erga kai 'Hmer, ver. 252. murioi, &c., are always ued as indefinites
by the ancient Greek poets.
2
See Homer, Odys. e, ver. 445, & eq. The Greeks eem to have adopted by
degrees into their own ritual all the rites practied in the neighbouring countries.

OF PRIAPUS

111

from what Joephus has related, of a Roman oldiers being punihed

with death by his commander for inulting the Books of Moes.
Upon what principle then did they act, when they afterwards perecuted the Chritians with o much rancour and cruelty? Perhaps
it may urprie perons not ued to the tudy of eccleiatical
antiquities, to be told (what is nevertheles indiputably true) that
the Chritians were never perecuted on account of the peculative
opinions of individuals, but either for civil crimes laid to their
charge, or for withdrawing their allegiance from the tate, and
joining in a federative union dangerous by its contitution, and
rendered till more dangerous by the intolerant principles of its
members, who often tumultuouly interrupted the public worhip,
and continually railed againt the national religion (with which
both the civil government and military dicipline of the Romans
were ineparably connected), as the certain means of eternal damnation. To break this union, was the great object of Roman policy
during a long coure of years; but the violent means employed
only tended to cement it cloer. Some of the Chritians themelves
indeed, who were addicted to Platonim, took a afer method to
diolve it; but they were too few in number to ucceed. This was
by trying to moderate the furious zeal which gave life and vigour
to the confederacy, and to blend and often the unyielding temper
of religion with the mild pirit of philoophy. We all,
aid they, agree in worhipping one upreme God, the Father
and Preerver of all. While we approach him with purity of
mind, incerity of heart, and innocence of manners, forms and
ceremonies of worhip are indifferent; and not les worthy of his
greatnes, for being varied and diverified according to the various
cutoms and opinions of men. Had it been his will that all hould
have worhipped him in the ame mode, he would have given to
all the ame inclinations and conceptions: but he has wiely ordered
it otherwie, that piety and virtue might increae by an honet

112

ON THE WORSHIP

emulation of religions, as indutry in trade, or activity in a race,

from the mutual emulation of the candidates for wealth and
honour.1 This was too liberal and extenive a plan, to meet the
approbation of a greedy and ambitious clergy, whoe object was
to etablih a hierarchy for themelves, rather than to procure
happines for others. It was accordingly condemned with vehemence and ucces by Ambroius, Prudentius, and other orthodox
leaders of the age.
It was from the ancient ytem of emanations, that the general
hopitality which characteried the manners of the heroic ages, and
which is o beautifully repreented in the Odyey of Homer, in a
great meaure aroe. The poor, and the tranger who wandered in
the treet and begged at the door, were uppoed to be animated
by a portion of the ame divine pirit which utained the great
and powerful. They are all from Jupiter, ays Homer, and a mall
gift is acceptable.2 This benevolent entiment has been compared
by the Englih commentators to that of the Jewih moralit,
who ays, that he who giveth to the poor lendeth to the Lord, who
will repay him tenfold.3 But it is carcely poible for anything to be
more different: Homer promies no other reward for charity than
the benevolence of the action itelf; but the Iraelite holds out that
which has always been the great motive for charity among his
countrymenthe propect of being repaid ten-fold. They are
always ready to how their bounty upon uch incentives, if they
can be peruaded that they are founded upon good ecurity. It
was the opinion, however, of many of the mot learned among the
ancients, that the principles of the Jewih religion were originally
the ame as thoe of the Greek, and that their God was no other
than the creator and generator Bacchus,4 who, being viewed
1
2

Symmach. Ep. 10 & 61. Themit. Orat. ad Imperat.

3
4
Odys. z, ver. 207.
See Popes Odyey.
Tacit. Hitor. lib. v.

OF PRIAPUS

113

through the gloomy medium of the hierarchy, appeared to them a

jealous and iracible God; and o gave a more autere and
unociable form to their devotion. The golden vine preerved in
the temple at Jerualem,1 and the taurine forms of the cherubs,
between which the Deity was uppoed to reide, were ymbols o
exactly imilar to their own, that they naturally concluded them
meant to expres the ame ideas; epecially as there was nothing
in the avowed principles of the Jewih worhip to which they could
be applied. The ineffable name alo, which, according to the
Maorethic punctuation, is pronounced Jehovah, was anciently
pronounced Jaho, Iaw, or Ieuw,2 which was a title of Bacchus, the
nocturnal un;3 as was alo Sabazius, or Sabadius,4 which is the
ame word as Sabbaoth, one of the criptural titles of the true God,
only adapted to the pronunciation of a more polihed language.
The Latin name for the Supreme God belongs alo to the ame
root; Iu-pathr, Jupiter, ignifying Father Ieu, though written after
the ancient manner, without the dipthong, which was not in ue
for many ages after the Greek colonies ettled in Latium, and introduced the Arcadian alphabet. We find St. Paul likewie acknowledging, that the Jupiter of the poet Aratus was the God whom he
adored;5 and Clemens of Alexandria explains St. Peters prohibition of worhipping after the manner of the Greeks, not to
mean a prohibition of worhipping the ame God, but merely of
the corrupt mode in which he was then worhipped.6
1

The vine and goblet of Bacchus are alo the uual devices upon the Jewih and
Samaritan coins, which were truck under the Amonean kings.
2
Hieron. Comm. in Palm. viii. Diodor. Sic. lib. i. Philo-Bybl. ap. Eueb. Prep.
Evang. lib. 1, c. ix.
3
5
Macrob. Sat. lib. 1, c. xviii. 4 Ibid.
Act. Apot. c. xvii, ver. 28.
6
Stromat. lib. v.
FINIS.

ON THE WORSHIP OF THE GENERATIVE

POWERS DURING THE MIDDLE AGES
OF WESTERN EUROPE

B!

ON THE WORSHIP OF THE GENERATIVE

POWERS DURING THE MIDDLE AGES
OF WESTERN EUROPE

ICHARD PAYNE KNIGHT, has written with great

learning on the origin and hitory of the worhip of
Priapus among the ancients. This worhip, which
was but a part of that of the generative powers,
appears to have been the mot ancient of the upertitions of the human race,1 has prevailed more or les among
all known peoples before the introduction of Chritianity, and,
ingularly enough, o deeply it eems to have been implanted in
human nature, that even the promulgation of the Gopel did not
abolih it, for it continued to exit, accepted and often encouraged
by the medival clergy. The occaion of Payne Knights work

r
1

There appears to be a chance of this worhip being claimed for a very early
period in the hitory of the human race. It has been recently tated in the Moniteur, that, in the province of Venice, in Italy, excavations in a bone-cave have
brought to light, beneath ten feet of talagmite, bones of animals, motly pot-tertiary,
of the uual decription found in uch places, flint implements, with a needle of bone
having an eye and point, and a plate of an argillaceous compound, on which was
cratched a rude drawing of a phallus.Moniteur, Jan. 1865.

118

ON THE WORSHIP OF THE

was the dicovery that this worhip continued to prevail in his time,
in a very remarkable form, at Iernia in the kingdom of Naples, a
full decription of which will be found in his work. The town of
Iernia was detroyed, with a great portion of its inhabitants, in the
terrible earthquake which o fearfully detroyed the kingdom of
Naples on the 26th of July, 1805, nineteen years after the appearance of the book alluded to. Perhaps with it perihed the lat trace
of the worhip of Priapus in this particular form; but Payne Knight
was not acquainted with the fact that this upertition, in a variety
of forms, prevailed throughout Southern and Wetern Europe
largely during the Middle Ages, and that in ome parts it is hardly
extinct at the preent day; and, as its effects were felt to a more
coniderable extent than people in general uppoe in the mot
intimate and important relations of ociety, whatever we can do to
thrown light upon its medival exitence, though not an agreeable
ubject, cannot but form an important and valuable contribution to
the better knowledge of medival hitory. Many intereting facts
relating to this ubject were brought together in a volume publihed
in Paris by Monieur J.A. Dulaure, under the title, Des Divin-ities
Gnratrices chez les Anciens et les Modernes, forming part of an
Hitoire Abrige des diffrns Cultes, by the ame author.1 This
book, however, is till very imperfect; and it is the deign of the
following pages to give, with the mot intereting of the facts
already collected by Dulaure, other facts and a decription and
explanation of monuments, which tend to throw a greater and
more general light on this curious ubject.
The medival worhip of the generative powers, repreented by
the generative organs, was derived from two ditinct ources. In
the firt place, Rome invariably carried into the provinces he had
1

The econd edition of this work, publihed in 1825, is by much the bet, and is
coniderably enlarged from the firt.

GENERATIVE POWERS

119

conquered her own intitutions and forms of worhip, and etablihed

them permanently. In exploring the antiquities of thee provinces,
we are atonihed at the abundant monuments of the worhip of
Priapus in all the hapes and with all the attributes and accompaniments, with which we are already o well acquainted in Rome and
Italy. Among the remains of Roman civilization in Gaul, we
find tatues or tatuettes of Priapus, altars dedicated to him, the
gardens and fields entruted to his care, and the phallus, or male
member, figured in a variety of hapes as a protecting power againt
evil influences of various kinds. With this idea the well-known
figure was culptured on the walls of public buildings, placed in
conpicuous places in the interior of the houe, worn as an ornament by women, and upended as an amulet to the necks of children. Erotic cenes of the mot extravagant decription covered
veels of metal, earthenware, and glas, intended, on doubt, for
fetivals and uages more or les connected with the worhip of the
principle of fecundity.
At Aix in Provence there was found, on or near the ite of the
ancient baths, to which it had no doubt ome relation, an enormous
phallus, encircled with garlands, culptured in white marble. At
Le Chatelet, in Champagne, on the ite of a Roman town, a coloal
phallus was alo found. Similar objects in bronze, and of maller
dimenions, are o common, that explorations are eldom carried on
upon a Roman ite in which they are not found, and examples of
uch objects abound in the mueums, public or private, of Roman
antiquities. The phallic worhip appears to have flourihed epecially
at Nemauus, now repreented by the city of Nmes in the outh of
France, where the ymbol of this worhip appeared in culpture on
the walls of its amphitheatre and on other buildings, in forms ome
of which we can hardly help regarding as fanciful, or even playful.
Some of the more remarkable of thee are figured in our plates,
XXV and XXVI.

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ON THE WORSHIP OF THE

The firt of thee,1 is the figure of a double phallus. It is culptured on the lintel of one of the vomitories, or iues, of the econd
range of eats of the Roman amphitheatre, near the entrance-gate
which looks to the outh. The double and the triple phallus are
very common among the mall Roman bronzes, which appear to
have erved as amulets and for other imilar purpoes. In the latter,
one phallus uually erves as the body, and is furnihed with legs,
generally thoe of the goat; a econd occupies the uual place of
this organ; and a third appears in that of a tail. On a pilater of
the amphitheatre of Nmes we ee a triple phallus of this decription,2 with goats legs and feet. A mall bell is upended to the
maller phallus in front; and the larger organ which forms the
body is furnihed with wings. The picture is completed by the
introduction of three birds, two of which are pecking the
unveiled head of the principal phallus, while the third is holding
down the tail with its foot.
Several examples of thee triple phalli occur in the Mue Secret
of the antiquities of Herculaneum and Pompeii. In the examples
figured in that work,the hind part of the main phallus aumes clearly
the form of a dog;3 and to mot of them are attached mall bells, the
explanation of which appears as yet to be very unatisfactory. The
wings alo are common attributes of the phallus in thee monuments.
Plutarch is quoted as an authority for the explanation of the triple
phallus as intended to ignify multiplication of its productive
faculty.4
On the top of another pilater of the amphitheatre at Nmes, to
the right of the principal wetern entrance, was a bas-relief, alo
1

2
Plate XXV, Fig. 1.
See our Plate XXV, Fig. 2.
The writer of the text to the Mue Secret uppoes that this circumtance has
ome reference to the double meaning given to the Greek word kwn, which was ued
for the generative organ.
4
See Augute Pelet, Catalogue de Mue de Nimes.
3

GENERATIVE POWERS

121

repreenting a triple phallus, with legs of dog, and winged, but

with a further accompaniment.1 A female, dreed in the Roman
tola, tands upon the phallus forming the tail, and holds both it
and the one forming the body with a bridle.2 This bas-relief was
taken down in 1829, and is now preerved in the mueum of Nmes.
A till more remarkable monument of this clas was found in
the coure of excavations made at Nmes in 1825. It is engraved in our plate XXVI, and repreents a bird, apparently intended for a vulture, with pread wings and phallic tail, itting on
four eggs, each of which is deigned, no doubt, to repreent the
female organ. The local antiquarians give to this, as to the other
imilar objects, an emblematical ignification; but it may perhaps
be more rightly regarded as a playful conception of the imagination. A imilar deign, with ome modifications, occurs not
unfrequently among Gallo-Roman antiquities. We have engraved
a figure of the triple phallus governed, or guided, by the female,3
from a mall bronze plate, on which it appears in bas-relief;
it is now preerved in a private collection in London, with a
duplicate, which appears to have been cat from the ame
mould, though the plate is cut through, and they were evidently
intended for upenion from the neck. Both came from the collection of M. Baudot of Dijon. The lady here bridles only the
principal phallus; the legs are, as in the monument lat decribed,
thoe of a bird, and it is tanding upon three eggs, apple-formed,
and repreenting the organ of the other ex.
1

Plate XXV, Fig. 3.

A French antiquary has given an emblematical interpretation of this figure.
Perhaps, he ays, it ignifies the empire of woman extending over the three ages
of man; on youth, characterized by the bell; on the age of vigour, the ardour of
which he retrains; and on old age, which he utains. This is perhaps more
ingenious than convincing.
3
See our Plate XXXVI, Fig 3.
2

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ON THE WORSHIP OF THE

In regard to this lat-mentioned object, another very remarkable

monument of what appears at Nmes to have been by no means a
ecret worhip, was found there during ome excavations on the
ite of the Roman baths. It is a quared mas of tone, the four
ides of which, like the one repreented in our engraving, are
covered with imilar figures of the exual characteritics of the
female, arranged in rows.1 It has evidently erved as a bae, probably to a tatue, or poibly to an altar. This curious monument
is now preerved in the mueum at Nmes.
As Nmes was evidently a centre of this Priapic worhip in the
outh of Gaul, o there appear to have been, perhaps leer, centres in
other parts, and we may trace it to the northern extremities of the
Roman province, even to the other ide of the Rhine. On the ite
of Roman ettlements near Xanten, in lower Hee, a large quantity
of pottery and other objects have been found, of a character to
leave no doubt as to the prevalence of this worhip in that quarter.2
But the Roman ettlement which occupied the ite of the modern
city of Antwerp appears to have been one of the mot remarkable
eats of the worhip of Priapus in the north of Gaul, and it
continued to exit there till a comparatively modern period.
When we cros over to Britain we find this worhip etablihed
no les firmly and extenively in that iland. Statuettes of Priapus,
phallic bronzes, pottery covered with obcene pictures, are found
wherever there are any extenive remains of Roman occupation, as
our antiquaries know well. The numerous phallic figures in bronze,
found in England, are perfectly identical in character with thoe
1

See Plate XXV, Fig. 4.

Two Roman towns, Catra Vetera and Colonia Trajana, tood within no great
ditance of Xanten, and Ph. Houben, a notariu of this town, formed a private
mueum of antiquities found there, and in 1839, publihed engravings of them, with a
text by Dr. Franz Fiedler. The erotic objects form a eparate work under the title,
Antike erotiche Bildwerke in Houbens Antiquarium zu Xanten.
2

GENERATIVE POWERS

123

which occur in France and Italy. In illutration of this fact, we

give two examples of the triple phallus, which appears to have
been, perhaps in accordance with the explanation given by Plutarch, an amulet in great favour. The firt was found in London in
1842.1 As in the examples found on the continent, a principal
phallus forms the body, having the hinder parts of apparently a
dog, with wings of a peculiar form, perhaps intended for thoe of
a dragon. Several mall rings are attached, no doubt for the purpoe of upending bells. Our econd example2 was found at York in
1844. It diplays a peculiarity of action which, in this cae at leat,
leaves no doubt that the hinder parts were intended to be thoe of
a dog. All antiquaries of any experience know the great number
of obcene ubjects which are met with among the fine red pottery
which is termed Samian ware, found o abundantly in all Roman
ites in our iland. They repreent erotic cenes in every ene of
the word, promicuous intercoure between the exes, even vices
contrary to nature, with figures of Priapus, and phallic emblems.
We give as an example one of the les exceptional cenes of this
decription, copied from a Samian bowl found in Cannon Street,
London, in 1838.3 The lamps, chiefly of earthenware, form another clas of objects on which uch cenes are frequently
portrayed, and to which broadly phallic forms are ometimes
given. One of thee phallic lamps is here repreented, on the
ame plate with the bowl of Samian ware jut decribed.4 It is
hardly neceary to explain the ubject repreented by this lamp,
which was found in London a few years ago.
All this obcene pottery mut be regarded, no doubt, as a proof
of a great amount of diolutenes in the morals of Roman ociety
in Britain, but it is evidence of omething more. It is hardly likely
1
3

See Plate XXVII, Fig. 3.

Plate XXVII, Fig. 1.

2
4

Plate XXVII, Fig. 4.

Plate XXVII, Fig. 2.

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ON THE WORSHIP OF THE

that uch objects could be in common ue at the family table; and

we are led to uppoe that they were employed on pecial
occaions, fetivals, perhaps, connected with the licentious
worhip of which we are peaking, and uch as thoe decribed in
uch trong terms in the atires of Juvenal. But monuments are
found in this iland which bear till more direct evidence to the
exitence of the worhip of Priapus during the Roman period.
In the parih of Adel, in Yorkhire, are coniderable traces of a
Roman tation, which appears to have been a place of ome importance, and which certainly poeed temples. On the ite of thee
were found altars, and other tones with incriptions, which, after
being long preerved in an outhoue of the rectory at Adel, are now
depoited in the mueum of the Philoophical Society at Leeds. One
of the mot curious of thee, which we have here engraved for the
firt time,1 appears to be a votive offering to Priapus, who eems to
be addreed under the name of Mentula. It is a rough, unquared
tone, which has been elected for poeing a tolerably flat and
mooth urface; and the figure and letters were made with a rude
implement, and by an unkilled workman, who was evidently
unable to cut a continuous mooth line. The middle of the tone
is occupied by the figure of a phallus, and round it we read very
ditinctly the words:
PRIMINVS MENTLA.
The author of the incription may have been an ignorant Latinit
as well as unkilful culptor, and perhaps mitook the ligulated
letters, overlooking the limb which would make the L tand for
VL, and giving A for AE. It would then read Priminus Mentul,
Priminus to Mentula (the object peronified), and it may have
1

Plate XXVIII, Fig 1.

GENERATIVE POWERS

125

been a votive offering from ome individual named Priminus, who

was in want of an heir, or laboured under ome exual infirmity, to
Priapus, whoe aitance he ought. Another interpretation has
been uggeted, on the uppoition that Mentla, or perhaps (the L
being deigned for IL ligulated) Mentila or Mentilla, might be the
name of a female joined with her huband in this offering for their
common good. The former of thee interpretations eems, however, to be the mot probable. This monument belongs probably
to rather a late date in the Roman period. Another ex voto of the
ame clas was found at Weterwood Fort in Scotland, one of the
Roman fortrees on the wall of Antoninus. This monument1
conited of a quare lab of tone, in the middle of which was a
phallus, and under it the words EX : VOTO. Above were the
letters XAN, meaning, perhaps, that the offerer had laboured ten
years under the grievance of which he ought redres from Priapus. We may point alo to a phallic monument of another kind,
which reminds us in ome degree of the finer culptures at Nmes.
At Houeteads, in Northumberland, are een the extenive and
impoing remains of one of the Roman tations on the Wall of
Hadrian named Borcovicus. The walls of the entrance gateways
are epecially well preerved, and on that of the guard-houe
attached to one of them, is a lab of tone preenting the figure
given in our plate XXVIII, fig. 3. It is a rude delineation of a
phallus with the legs of a fowl, and reminds us of ome of the
monuments in France and Italy previouly decribed. Thee phallic images were no doubt expoed in uch ituations becaue they
were uppoed to exercie a protective influence over the locality, or
1

See Plate XXVIII, Fig. 1. Horeley, who engraved this monument in his
Brittania Romana, Scotland, fig. xix. has inerted a fig-leaf in place of the phallus,
but with light indications of the form of the object it was intended to conceal. We
are not aware if this monument is till in exitence.

126

ON THE WORSHIP OF THE

over the building, and the individual who looked upon the figure
believed himelf afe, during that day at leat, from evil
influences of various decriptions. They are found, we believe, in
ome other Roman tations, in a imilar poition to that of the
phallus at Houeteads.
Although the worhip of which we are treating prevailed o extenively among the Romans and throughout the Roman provinces, it
was far from being peculiar to them, for the ame upertition formed
part of the religion of the Teutonic race, and was carried with that
race wherever it ettled. The Teutonic god, who anwered to the
Roman Priapus, was called, in Anglo-Saxon, Fra, in Old Nore,
Freyr, and, in Old German, Fro. Among the Swedes, the principal eat of his worhip was at Upala, and Adam of Bremen, who
lived in the eleventh century, when paganim till retained its hold
on the north, in decribing the forms under which the gods were
there repreented, tells us that the third of the gods at Upala
was Fricco [another form of the name], who betowed on mortals
peace and pleaure, and who was repreented with an immene priapus, and he adds that, at the celebration of marriages, they offered
acrifice to Fricco.1 This god, indeed, like the Priapus of the
Romans, preided over generation and fertility, either of animal
life or of the produce of the earth, and was invoked accordingly.
Ihre, in his Gloarium Sueco-Gothicum, mentions objects of antiquity
dug up in the north of Europe, which clearly prove the prevalence
of phallic rites. To this deity, or to his female repreentative of
the ame name, the Teutonic Venus, Friga, the fifth day of the week
was dedicated, and on that account received its name, in AngloSaxon, Frige-dg, and in modern Englih, Friday. Frigedg appears
1

Tertius et Fricco, pacem voluptatemque larigens mortalibus, cuius etiam imulachrum fingunt ingenti priopo; i nupti celebrand unt, Friccioni [acrificia offerunt.] Adam Bremena, De Situ Dani, p. 23, ed. 1629.

GENERATIVE POWERS

127

to have been a name ometimes given in Anglo-Saxon to Frea himelf; in a charter of the date of 959, printed in Kemble's Codex Diplomaticus, one of the marks on a boundary-line of land is FrigedgesTrow, meaning apparently Freas tree, which was probably a tree
dedicated to that god, and the cene of Priapic rites. There is a
place called Fridaythorpe in Yorkhire, and Friton, a name which
occurs in everal parts of England, means, probably, the tone of
Frea or of Friga; and we eem jutified in uppoing that this and
other names commencing with the yllable Fri or Fry, are o many
monuments of the exitence of the phallic worhip among our
Anglo-Saxon forefathers. Two cutoms cherihed among our old
Englih popular upertitions are believed to have been derived
from this worhip, the need-fires, and the proceion of the boars
head at the Chritmas fetivities. The former were fires kindled
at the period of the ummer oltice, and were certainly in their
origin religious obervances. The boar was intimately connected
with the worhip of Frea.1
From our want of a more intimate knowledge of this part of Teutonic paganim, we are unable to decide whether ome of the upertitious practices of the middle ages were derived from the Romans or
from the peoples who etablihed themelves in the provinces after the
overthrow of the wetern empire; but in Italy and in Gaul (the
outhern parts epecially), where the Roman intitutions and entiments continued with more peritence to hold their influence, it
was the phallic worhip of the Romans which, gradually modified
in its forms, was thus preerved, and, though the records of uch a
worhip are naturally accidental and imperfect, yet we can ditinctly
trace its exitence to a very late period. Thus, we have clear evidence that the phallus, in its imple form, was worhipped by
the medival Chritians, and that the forms of Chritian prayer
1

See Grimms Deutche Mythologie, p. 139, firt edition.

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ON THE WORSHIP OF THE

and invocation were actually addreed to it. One name of the

male organ among the Romans was facinum; it was under this
name that it was upended round the necks of women and
children, and under this name epecially it was uppoed to poes
magical influences which not only acted upon others, but defended thoe who were under its protection from magical or other
evil influences from without. Hence are derived the words to facinate and facination. The word is ued by Horace, and epecially
in the epigrams of the Priapeia, which may be conidered in ome
degree as the exponents of the popular creed in thee matters.
Thus we have in one of thee epigrams the lines,
Placet, Priape? qui ub arboris coma
Soles, acrum revincte pampino caput,
Ruber edere cum rebente facino.
Priap. Carm. lxxxiv.

It eems probable that this had become the popular, or vulgar, word
for the phallus, at leat taken in this point of view, at the cloe of
the Roman power, for the firt very ditinct traces of its worhip
which we find afterwards introduce it under this name, which ubequently took in French the form fene. The medival worhip of
the facinum is firt poken of in the eighth century. An eccleiatical tract entitled Judicia Sacerdotalia de Criminibus,1 which is
acribed to the end of that century, directs that if any one has performed incantation to the facinum, or any incantation whatever,
except any one who chaunts the Creed or the Lords Prayer, let him
do penance on bread and water during three lents. An act of the
1

Martne and Durand, Veterum Scriptorum Ampliima Collectio, tom. vii, p. 35.
Si quis prcantaverit ad facinum, vel qualecumque prcantiones except ymbolum
unctum aut orationum domincam qui cantat et cui cantatur, tres quadrigeimas in
pane et aqua pniteat.

GENERATIVE POWERS

129

council of Chlons, held in the ninth century, prohibits the ame

practice almot in the ame words; and Burchardus repeats it
again in the twelfth century,1 a proof of the continued exitence
of this worhip. That it was in full force long after this is proved
by the tatutes of the ynod of Mans, held in 1247, which enjoin
imilarly the punihment for him who has inned to the facinum,
or has performed any incantations, except the creed, the pater
noter, or other canonical prayer.2 This ame proviion was
adopted and renewed in the tatutes of the ynod of Tours, held in
1396, in which, as they were publihed in French, the Latin
facinum is repreented by the French fene. The facinum to
which uch worhip was directed mut have been omething more
than a mall amulet.
This brings us to the cloe of the fourteenth century, and hows
us how long the outward worhip of the generative powers, repreented by their organs, continued to exit in Wetern Europe to
uch a point as to engage the attention of eccleiatical ynods.
During the previous century facts occurred in our own iland illutrating till more curiouly the continuous exitence of the worhip
of Priapus, and that under circumtances which remind us altogether of the details of the phallic worhip under the Romans. It
will be remembered that one great object of this worhip was to
obtain fertility either in animals or in the ground, for Priapus was
the god of the horticulturit and the agriculturit. St. Augutine,
declaiming againt the open obcenities of the Roman fetival of the
Liberalia, informs us that an enormous phallus was carried in a
1

D. Burchardi Decreturum libri, lib. X. c. 49.

Martene et Durand, Ampliima Collectio Veterum Scriptorum, tom. vii. col. 1377.
Si peccaverit ad facinum, vel qualecumque prcantiones fecerit, excepto ymbolo
et oratione dominica, vel alia oratione canonica, et qui cantat, et cui cantatur, tres
quadrageimas pniteat.
2

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ON THE WORSHIP OF THE

magnificent chariot into the middle of the public place of the

town with great ceremony, where the mot repectable matron advanced and placed a garland of flowers on this obcene figure;
and this, he ays: was done to appeae the god, and to obtain an
abundant harvet, and remove enchantments from the land.1 We
learn from the Chronicle of Lanercot that, in the year 1268, a
petilence prevailed in the Scottih ditrict of Lothian, which was
very fatal to the cattle, to counteract which ome of the clergy
betiales, habitu clautrales, non animotaught the peaantry
to make a fire by the rubbing together of wood (this was the needfire), and to raie up the image of Priapus, as a means of aving
their cattle. When a lay member of the Citercian order at
Fenton had done this before the door of the hall, and had prinkled
the cattle with a dogs teticles dipped in holy water, and complaint
had been made of this crime of idolatry againt the lord of the
manor, the latter pleaded in his defence that all this was done without his knowledge and in his abence, but added, while until the
preent month of June other peoples cattle fell ill and died, mine
were always ound, but now every day two or three of mine die,
o that I have few left for the labours of the field.2 Fourteen
years after this, in 1282, an event of the ame kind occurred at Inver1

S. Augutini De Civit. Dei, lib. vii, c. 21.

Pro fidei divin integritate ervanda recolat lector quo, cum hoc anno in
Laodonia petis graaretur in pecudes armenti, quam vocant uitare lungeouth, quidam betiales, habitu clautrales non animo, docebant idiotas patri ignem contrictione de lignis educere, et imulacrum Priapi tatuere, et per hc betiis uccurrere.
Quod cum unus laicus Citercienis apus Fontone feciet ante atrium aul. ac intinctic teticulis canis in aquam benedictam uper animalia pariet; ac pro invento
facinore idolatri dominus vill a quodam fideli argueretur, ille pro ua innocentia
obtendebat, quo io neciente et abente fuerant hc omnia perpetrata, et adjecit, et
cum ad uque hunc menum Junius aliorum animalia languerent et deficerent, mea
emper ana erant, nunc vero quotidie mihi moriuntar duo vel tria, ita quod agriculmi
pauca uperunt.Chron. de Lanercot. ed. Stevenon, p. 85.
2

GENERATIVE POWERS

131

keithing, in the preent county of Fife in Scotland. The caue of

the following proceedings is not tated, but it was probably the
ame as that for which the citercian of Lothian had recoure to the
worhip of Priapus. In the Eater week of the year jut tated
(March 29-April 5), a parih priet of Inverkeithing, named John,
performed the rites of Priapus, by collecting the young girls of
the town, and making them dance round the figure of this god;
without any regard for the ex of thee worhippers, he carried a
wooden image of the male members of generation before them in
the dance, and himelf dancing with them, he accompanied their ongs
with movements in accordance, and urged them to licentious actions
by his no les licentious language. The more modet part of thoe
who were preent felt candalized by thee proceedings, and expotulated with the priet, but he treated their words with contempt,
and only gave utterance to coarer obcenities. He was cited before
his bihop, defended himelf upon the common uage of the country, and was allowed to retain his benefice; but he mut have
been rather a worldly priet, after the tyle of the middle ages, for
a year afterwards he was killed in a vulgar brawl.1
The practice of placing the figure of a phallus on the walls of
buildings, derived, as we have een, from the Romans, prevailed
alo in the middle ages, and the buildings epecially placed under
the influence of this ymbol were churches. It was believed to be
1

Inuper hoc tempore apud Inverchethin, in hebdomeda pach (March 29

April 5)m acerdos parochialis, nomine Johannes, Priapi prophana parans, congregatis ex villa puellulis, cogebat eas, choreis factis, Libero patri circuire; ut ille
feminas in exercitu habuit, ic ite, procacitatis caua, membra humana virtuti feminari ervientia uper afferem artificiata ante talem choream prferebat, et ipe
luxuriam incitabat. Hi qui honeto matrimonio honorem deferebant, iam inolenti
officio, licet reverentur peronam, candalizabantur propter gradus eminentiam. Si
quis ei eorum ex amore correptionis ermonem inferres, fiabat deterior, et convictis
eos impetebat.Chron. de Lancercot, ed. Stevenon, p. 109.

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ON THE WORSHIP OF THE

a protection againt enchantments of all kinds, of which the people

of thoe times lived in contant terror, and this protection extended
over the place and over thoe who frequented it, provided they cat
a confiding look upon the image. Such images were een, uually
upon the portals, on the cathedral church of Touloue, on more
than one church in Bourdeaux, and on various other churches in
France, but, at the time of the revolution, they were often detroyed
as marks only of the depravity of the clergy. Dulaure tells us that
an artit, whom he knew, but whoe name he has not given, had
made drawings of a number of thee figures which he had met
with in uch ituations.1 A Chritian aint exercied ome of the
qualities thus deputed to Priapus; the image of St. Nicholas was
uually painted in a conpicuous poition in the church, for it was
believed that whoever had looked upon it was protected againt
enchantments, and epecially againt that great object of popular
terror, the evil eye, during the ret of the day.
It is a ingular fact that in Ireland it was the female organ which
was hown in this poition of protector upon the churches, and the
elaborate though rude manner in which thee figures were culptured, how that they were conidered as objects of great importance. They repreented a female expoing herelf to view in
the mot unequivocal manner, and are carved on a block which appears
to have erved as the key-tone to the arch of the door-way of the
church, where they were preented to the gaze of all who entered.
They appear to have been found principally in the very old
churches, and have been motly taken down, o that they are only
found among the ruins. People have given them the name of
1

He adds in a note: Les deins de cet artite, detins lAcadmie des

Belles Lettres, ont pas, on ne fait comment, entre les mains dun particulier qui
en prive le public.J A. Duaure, Hitoire de diffrens Cultes, tom. ii. p. 251,
8vo, 1825.

GENERATIVE POWERS

133

Shelah-na-Gig, which, we are told, means in Irih Julian the Giddy,

and is imply a term for an immodet woman; but it is well undertood that they were intended as protecting charms againt the facination of the evil eye. We have given copies of all the examples
yet known in our plates XXIX and XXX. The firt of thee1 was
found in an old church at Rochetown, in the county of Tipperary,
where it had long been known among the people of the neighbourhood by the name given above. It was placed in the arch over the
doorway, but has ince been taken away. Our econd example of
the Shelah-na-Gig2 was taken from an old church lately pulled
down in the county Cavan, and is now preerved in the mueum
of the Society of Antiquaries of Dublin. The third3 was found
at Ballinahend Catle, alo in the county of Tipperary; and the
fourth4 is preerved in the mueum at Dublin, but we are not informed from whence it was obtained. The next,5 which is alo now
preerved in the Dublin Mueum, was taken from the old church on
the White Iland, in Lough Erne, county Fermanagh. This church
is uppoed by the Irih antiquaries to be a tructure of very great
antiquity, for ome of them would carry its date as far back as the
eventh century, but this is probably an exaggeration. The one
which follows6 was furnihed by an old church pulled down by order
of the eccleiatical commiioners, and it was preented to the mueum
at Dublin, by the late Dean Dawon. Our lat example7 was formerly in the poeion of Sir Benjamin Chapman, Bart., of Killoa
Catle, Wetmeath, and is now in a private collection in London.
It was found in 1859 at Chloran, in a field on Sir Benjamin's etate
known by the name of the Old Town, from whence tones had
1

Plate XXIX, Fig. 1.

Plate XXIX, Fig. 3.
5
Plate XXX, Fig. 1.
7
Plate XXX, Fig. 3.

Plate XXIX, Fig. 2.

Plate XXIX, Fig. 4.
6
Plate XXX, Fig. 2.

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ON THE WORSHIP OF THE

been removed at previous periods, though there are now very mall
remains of building. This tone was found at a depth of about
five feet from the urface, which hows that the building, a church
no doubt, mut have fallen into ruin a long time ago. Contiguous
to this field, and at a ditance of about two hundred yards from the
pot where the Shelah-na-Gig was found, there is an abandoned
churchyard, eparated from the Old Town field only by a looe
tone wall.
The belief in the alutary power of this image appears to be a
upertition of great antiquity, and to exit till among all peoples
who have not reached a certain degree of civilization. The univerality of this upertition leads us to think that Herodotus may
have erred in the explanation he has given of certain rather remarkable monuments of a remote antiquity. He tells us that
Seotris, king of Egypt, raied columns in ome of the countries
he conquered, on which he caued to be figured the female organ of
generation as a mark of contempt for thoe who had ubmitted
eaily.1 May not thee columns have been intended, if we knew
the truth, as protections for the people of the ditrict in which
they tood, and placed in the poition where they could mot conveniently been een? This upertitious entiment may alo offer
the true explanation of an incident which is aid to have been
repreented in the myteries of Eleuis. Ceres, wandering over the
earth in earch of her daughter Proerpine, and overcome with
grief for her los, arrived at the hut of an Athenian peaant
woman named Baubo, who received her hopitably, and offered
her to drink the refrehing mixture which the Greeks call Cyceon
(kukewn). The goddes rejected the offered kindnes, and refued
1

Herodotus, Euterpe, cap. 102. Diodorus Siculus adds to the account given by
Herodotus, that Seotris alo erected columns bearing the male generative organ as a
compliment to the peoples who had defended themelves bravely.

GENERATIVE POWERS

135

all conolation. Baubo, in her ditres, bethought her of another

expedient to allay the grief of her guet. She relieved her exual
organs of that outward ign which is the evidence of puberty, and
then preented them to the view of Ceres, who, at the ight,
laughed, forgot her orrows, and drank the cyceon.1 The prevailing belief in the beneficial influence of this ight, rather than a
mere pleaantry, eems to afford the bet explanation of this tory;
and the ame upertition is no doubt embodied in an old
medival tory which we give in a note as it is told in that
celebrated book of the ixteenth century Le Moyen de Parvenir.2
This upertition which, as hown by the Shelah-na-Gigs of the
Irih churches, prevailed largely in the middle ages, explains another clas of antiquities which are not uncommon. Thee are mall
figures of nude females expoing themelves in exactly the ame
manner as in the culptures on the churches in Ireland jut alluded
to. Such figures are found not only among Roman, Greek, and
Egyptian antiquities, but among every people who had any knowledge of art, from the aborigines of America to the far more civi1

This tory is told by the two Chritian Fathers, Arnobius, Adverus Gentes, lib.
v. c. 5, and Clemens Alexandrinus Protrepticus, p. 17, ed. Oxon. 1715. The latter
writer merely tates that Baubo expoed her parts to the view of the goddes, without
the incident of preparation mentioned by Arnobius.
2
Herms. On nomme aini ceux qui nont point vu le con de leur femme ou
de leur garce. Le pauvre valet de chez nous ntoit donc pas coquebin; il eut beau
le voir.Varro. Quand?Herms. Attendez, tant en fianailles, il vouloit prendre
le cas de a fiance; elle ne le vouloit pas; il faoit le malade, et elle lui demandoit;
Quy a-t-il, mon ami? Hlas, ma mie, je uis i malade, que je nen puis plus;
je mourrai i je ne vois ton cas. Vraiment voire? dit-elle. Hlas! oui, i je
lavois vu, je gurirois. Elle ne lui voulut point montrer; la fin, ils furent
maris. Il advint, trois ou quatre mois aprs, quil fut fort malade; et il envoya a
femme au mdicin pour porter do on eau. En allant, elle avia de ce quil lui
avoit dit en fianailles. Elle retourna vitement, et e vint mettre ur le lit; puis, levant
cotte et chemie, lui prenta on cela en belle vue, et lui dioit:Jean,
regarde le con, et te guris.Le Moyen de Parvenir, c. xxviii.

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ON THE WORSHIP OF THE

lized natives of Japan; and it would be eay to give examples from

almot every country we know, but we confine ourelves to our
more pecial part of the ubject. In the lat century, a number of
mall tatuettes in metal, in a rude but very peculiar tyle of art,
were found in the duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, in a part of
Germany formerly occupied by the Vandals, and by the tribe of
the Obotrites, conidered as a diviion of the Vendes. They
appeared to be intended to repreent ome of the deities worhipped
by the people who made them; and ome of them bore incriptions, one of which was in Runic characters. From this circumtance we hould preume that they belonged to a period not
much, if any, older than the fall of the Wetern Empire. Some time
afterwards, a few tatuettes in metal were found in the iland of Sardinia, o exactly imilar to thoe jut mentioned, that DHancarville,
who publihed an account of them with engravings, conidered himelf
jutified in acribing them to the Vandals, who occupied that iland,
as well as the tract of Germany alluded to.1 One of thee images,
which DHancarville coniders to be the Venus of the Vandal mythology, repreents a female in a reclining poition, with the wings
and claws of a bird, holding to view a pomegranate, open, which,
as DHancarville remarks, was conidered as a ign repreenting
the female exual organ. In fact, it was a form and idea more
unequivocally repreented in the Roman figures which we have
already decribed,2 but which continued through the middle ages,
and was preerved in a popular name for that organ, abricot, or
expreed more energetically, abricot fendu, ued by Rabelais, and
we believe till preerved in France. This curious image is repreented, after DHancarville, in three different points of view in our
1

DHaancarville, Antiquits Etruques, Grecques, et Romaines, Paris, 1785, tom.

v. p. 61.
2
See our Plates XXV, Fig. 4, XXVI, and Plate XXXVI, Fig. 3.

GENERATIVE POWERS

137

plate.1 Several figures of a imilar decription, but repreenting

the ubject in a more matter-of-fact hape, were brought from
Egypt by a Frenchman who held an official ituation in that
country, and three of them are now in a private collection in
London. We have engraved one of thee mall bronzes,2 which,
as will be een, preents in exact counterpart of the Shelah-na-Gig.
Thee Egyptian images belonged no doubt to the Roman period.
Another imilar figure,3 made of lead, and apparently medival,
was found at Avignon, and is preerved in the ame private collection jut alluded to; and a third,4 was dug up, about ten years
ago, at Kington-on-Thames. The form of thee tatuettes eems
to how that they were intended as portable images, for the ame
purpoe as the Shelahs, which people might have ready at hand to
look upon for protection whenever they were under fear of the
influence of the evil eye, or of any other ort of enchantment.
We have not as yet any clear evidence of the exitence of the
Shelah-na-Gig in churches out of Ireland. We have been informed
that an example has been found in one of the little churches on
the coat of Devon; and there are curious culptures, which
appear to be of the ame character, among the architectural
ornamentation of the very early church of San Fedele at Como in
Italy. Three of thee are engraved in our plate XXXII. On the
top of the right hand jamb of the door5 is a naked male figure,
and in the ame poition on the other ide a female,6 which are
decribed to us as repreenting Adam and Eve, and our informant,
to whom we owe the drawings decribes that at the apex7 merely
as the figure of a woman holding her legs apart. We undertand that the urface of the tone in thee culptures is o much
1

Plate XXXI, Figs. 1, 2, 3.

Plate XXVI, Fig. 5.
5
Plate XXXII, Fig. 1.
7
Plate XXXII, Fig. 3.

Plate XXXI, Fig. 4.

Plate XXXVI, Fig. 4.
6
Plate XXXII, Fig. 2.

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ON THE WORSHIP OF THE

worn that it is quite uncertain whether the exual parts were ever
ditinctly marked, but from the potures and poitions of the hands,
and the ituation in which thee figures are placed, they eem to
reemble cloely, except in their uperior tyle of art, the Shelahna-Gigs of Ireland. There can be little doubt that the upertition
to which thee objects belonged gave rie to much of the indecent
culpture which is o often found upon medival eccleiatical
buildings. The late Baron von Hammer-Prgtall publihed a very
learned paper upon monuments of various kinds which he conidered
as illutrating the ecret hitory of the order of the Templars, from
which we learn that there was in his time a eries of mot extraordinary obcene culptures in the church of Schoengraber in Autria, of
which he intended to give engravings, but the drawings had not
arrived in time for his book;1 but he has engraved the capital of a
column in the church of Egra, a town of Bohemia, of which we
give a copy,2 in which the two exes are diplaying to view the
members, which were believed to be o efficatious againt the
power of facination.
The figure of the female organ, as well as the male, appears to have
been employed during the middle ages of Wetern Europe far more
generally than we might uppoe, placed upon buildings as a taliman
againt evil influences, and epecially againt witchcraft and the
evil eye, and it was ued for this purpoe in many other parts of the
world. It was the univeral practice among the Arabs of Northern
Africa to tick up over the door of the houe or tent, or put up
nailed on a board in ome other way, the generative organ of a
cow, mare, or female camel, as a taliman to avert the influence of
the evil eye. It is evident that the figure of this member was far
1

See Von Hammer-Prgtall, Fundgruben des Orients, vol. vi, p. 26.

Von Hammer-Prgtall, Fundgruben des Orients, vol. vi, p. 35, and Plate iv,
Fig. 31.See our Plate XXXI, Fig. 6.
2

GENERATIVE POWERS

139

more liable to degradation in form than that of the male, becaue

it was much les eay, in the hands of rude draughtmen, to delineate
in an intelligible form, and hence it oon aumed hapes which
though intended to repreent it, we might rather call ymbolical
of it, though no ymbolim was intended. Thus the figure of the
female organ eaily aumed the rude form of a horehoe, and as
the original meaning was forgotten, would be readily taken for that
object, and a real horehoe nailed up for the ame purpoe. In this
way originated, apparently, from the popular worhip of the
generative powers, the vulgar practice of nailing a horehoe upon
buildings to protect them and all they contain againt the power of
witchcraft, a practice which continues to exit among the peaantry
in ome parts of England at the preent day. Other marks are found,
ometimes among the architectural ornaments, uch as certain triangles and triple loops, which are perhaps typical forms of the ame
object. We have been informed that there is an old church in Ireland
where the male organ is drawn on one ide of the door, and the
Shelah-na-Gig on the other, and that, though perhaps comparatively
modern, their import as protective charms are well undertood. We
can eaily imagine men, under the influence of thee upertitions,
when they were obliged to halt for a moment by the ide of a
building, drawing upon it uch a figure, with the deign that it hould
be a protection to themelves, and thus probably we derive from
upertitious feelings the common propenity to draw phallic figures
on the ides of vacant walls and in other places.
Antiquity had made Priapus a god, the middle ages raied him
into a aint, and that under everal names. In the outh of France,
Provence, Languedoc, and the Lyonnais, he was worhipped under
the title of St. Foutin.1 This name is aid to be a mere corruption
1

Our material for the account of thee phallic aints is taken mot from the work
of M. Dulaure.

140

ON THE WORSHIP OF THE

of Fotinus or Photinus, the firt bihop of Lyons, to whom, perhaps

through giving a vulgar interpretation to the name, people had
transferred the ditinguihing attribute of Priapus. This was a
large phallus of wood, which was an object of reverence to the
women, epecially to thoe who were barren, who craped the
wooden member, and, having teeped the crapings in water, they
drank the latter as a remedy againt their barrennes, or adminitered
it to their hubands in the belief that it would make them vigorous.
The worhip of this aint, as it was practiced in various places in
France at the commencement of the eventeenth century, is decribed in that ingular book, the Confeion de Sancy.1 We there
learn that at Varailles in Provence, waxen images of the members of
both exes were offered to St. Foutin, and upended to the ceiling
of his chapel, and the writer remarks that, as the ceiling was
covered with them, when the wind blew them about, it produced
an effect which was calculated to diturb very much the devotions
of the worhippers.2 We hardly need remark that this is jut the
ame kind of worhip which exited at Iernia, in the kingdom of
Naples, where it was preented in the ame hape. At Embrun, in
the department of the Upper Alps, the phallus of St. Foutin was
worhipped in a different form; the women poured a libation of
wine upon the head of the phallus, which was collected in a
veel, in which it was left till it became our; it was then called
the ainte vinaigre, and the women employed it for a purpoe
which is only obcurely hinted at. When the Protetants took
Embrun in 1585, they found this phallus laid up carefully
1

La Confeion de Sancy forms the fifth voluime of the Journal dHenri III, by
Pierre de LEtoile, ed. Duchat. See pp. 383, 391, of that volume.
2
Tmoin Saint Foutin de Varailles en Provence, auquel ont ddies les parties
honteues de lun et de lautre exe, formes en cire: le plancher de la chapelle en et
fort garni, et, quand le vent les fait entrebattre, cela dbaicje im [ei ;es dvotions
lhonneur de ce Saint.

GENERATIVE POWERS

141

among the relics in the principal church, its head red with the
wine which had been poured upon it. A much larger phallus of
wood, covered with leather, was an object of worhip in the
church of St. Eutropius at Orange, but it was eized by the Protetants and burnt publicly in 1562. St. Foutin was imilarly an
object of worhip at Porigny, at Cives in the diocee of Viviers, at
Vendre in the Bourbonnais, at Auxerre, at Puy-en-Velay, in the
convent of Girouet near Sampigny, and in other places. At a
ditance of about four leagues from Clermont in Auvergne, there
is (or was) an iolated rock, which preents the form of an immene
phallus, and which is popularly called St. Foutin. Similar phallic
aints were worhipped under the names of St. Guerlichon, or Greluchon, at Bourg-Dieu in the diocee of Bourges, of St. Gilles in the
Cotentin in Britany, of St. Rene in Anjou, of St. Regnaud in Burgundy, of St. Arnaud, and above all of St. Guignol near Bret
and at the village of La Chatelette in Berri. Many of thee were
till in exitence and their worhip in full practice in the lat century; in ome of them, the wooden phallus is decribed as being
much worn down by the continual proces of craping, while in
others the los utained by craping was always retored by a
miracle. This miracle, however, was a very clumy one, for the
phallus conited of a long taff of wood paed through a hole in
the middle of the body, and as the phallic end in front became
hortened, a blow of a mallet from behind thrut it forward, o
that it was retored to its original length.
It appears that it was alo the practice to worhip thee aints in
another manner, which alo was derived from the forms of the
worhip of Priapus among the ancients, with whom it was the
cutom, in the nuptial ceremonies, for the bride to offer up her
virginity to Priapus, and this was done by placing her exual parts
againt the end of the phallus, and ometimes introducing the latter,
and even completing the acrifice. This ceremony is repreented in

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ON THE WORSHIP OF THE

a bas-relief in marble, an engraving of which is given in the Mue

Secret of the antiquities of Herculaneum and Pompeii; its object
was to conciliate the favour of the god, and to avert terility.
It is decribed by the early Chritian writers, uch as Lactantius and
Arnobius, as a very common practice among the Romans; and it
till prevails to a great extent over mot part of the Eat, from India
to Japan and the ilands of the Pacific. In a public quare in
Batavia, there is a cannon taken from the natives and placed there
as a trophy by the Dutch government. It preents the peculiarity
that the touch-hole is made on a phallic hand, the thumb placed in
the poition which is called the fig, and which we hall have to
decribe a little further on. At night, the fertile Malay women go
to this cannon and it upon the thumb, and rub their parts with it
to produce fruitfulnes. When leaving, they make an offering of
a bouquet of flowers to the fig. It is always the ame idea of
reverence to the fertilizing powers of nature, of which the garland
or the bunch of flowers was an appropriate emblem. There are
traces of the exitence of this practice in the middle ages. In the
cae of ome of the priapic aints mentioned above, women
ought a remedy for barrennes by kiing the end of the phallus;
ometimes they appear to have placed a part of their body naked
againt the image of the aint, or to have at upon it. This latter
trait was perhaps too bold an adoption of the indecencies of pagan
worhip to lat long, or to be practiced openly; but it appears to
have been more innocently repreented by lying upon the body of
the aint, or itting upon a tone, undertood to repreent him
without the preence of the energetic member. In a corner in
the church of the village of St. Fiacre, near Mouceaux in France,
there is a tone called the chair of St. Fiacre, which confers fecundity upon women who it upon it; but it is neceary that
nothing hould intervene between their bare kin and the tone. In
the church of Orcival in Auvergne, there was a pillar which

GENERATIVE POWERS

143

barren women kied for the ame purpoe, and which had perhaps
replaced ome les equivocal object.1 Traditions, at leat, of
imilar practices were connected with St. Foutin, for it appears to
have been the cutom for girls on the point of marriage to
offer their lat maiden robe to that aint. This upertition
prevailed to uch an extent that it became proverbial. A tory
is told of a young bride who, on the wedding night, ought
to deceive her huband on the quetion of her previous chatity,
although, as the writer exprees it, he had long ago depoited
the robe of her virginity on the altar of St. Foutin.2 From this
form of upertition is aid to have arien a vice which is undertood to prevail epecially in nunneriesthe ue by women of
artificial phalli, which appears in its origin to have been a religious
ceremony. It certainly exited at a very remote period, for it is
ditinctly alluded to in the Scriptures,3 where it is evidently conidered as a part of pagan worhip. It is found at an early period
of the middle ages, decribed in the Eccleiatical Penitentials, with
its appropriate amount of penitence. One of thee penitential
canons of the eighth century peaks of a woman who, by herelf
or with the help of another woman, commits uncleannes, for
which he was to do penance for three years, one on bread and water;
and if this uncleannes was committed with a nun, the penance
was increaed to even years, two only on bread and water.4
1

Dulaure relates that one day a villager's wife entering this church, and finding
only a burly canon in it, aked him earnetly, Where is the pillar which makes
women fruitful? I, aid the canon, I am the pillar.
2
Spona qudam rutica qu iam in finu Divi Futini virginitatis u prtextam
epouerat. Faceti Facetiarum, p. 277. Thees inaugurales de Virginibus.
3
Ezekiel, XVI, 17. Within a few years there has been a coniderable manufacture
of thiee objects in Paris, and it was undertood that they were chiefly exported to
Italy, where they were old in the nunneries.
4
Mulier qualicumque molimine aut per eipan aut cum altera fornicans tres

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ON THE WORSHIP OF THE

Another Penitential of an early date provides for the cae in which

both the women who participated in this act hould be nuns;1 and
Burchardus, bihop of Worms, one of the mot celebrated authorities on uch ubjects, decribes the intrument and ue of it in
greater detail.2 The practice had evidently lot its religious character and degenerated into a mere indulgence of the paions.
Antwerp has been decribed as the Lampacus of Belgium, and
Priapus was, down to a comparatively modern period, its patron
aint, under the name of Ters, a word the deriviation of which appears to be unknown, but which was identical in meaning with the
Greek phallus and the Latin facinum. John Goropius Becan, who
publihed a learned treatie on the antiquities of Antwerp in the
middle of the ixteenth century, informs us how much this Ters was
reverenced in his time by the Antwerpians, epecially by the women,
who invoked it on every occaion when they were taken by urprie or udden fear.3 He tates that if they let fall by accident a
veel of earthenware, or tumbled, or if any unexpected accident
caued them vexation, even the mot repectable women called aloud
annos pnitat, unum ex his pane et aqua. Cum anctimoniali per machinam
fornicans, annos eptem pnitat, duos ex his in pane et aqua. Collectio Antiqu.
Canon. Pnit. ap. Martene et Durand, Theaurus Anecdotorum, iv, 52.
1
Mulier qualicumque molimine aut eipam polluens, aut cum altera fornicans
quatuor annos. Sanctimonialis fmina cum anctimoniali mer machinamentum polluta, eptem annos. MS. Pnitent. quoted in Ducange, ub. .v Machinamentum.
2
Feciti quod qudam mulieres facere olent, ut faceres quoddam molimen aut
machinamentum in modum virilis membri, ad menuram tu voluntaris, et illud
loco verendorum tuorum, aut alterius, cum aliquibus ligaturis colligares, et fornicationem faceres cum aliis mulierculis, vel ali eodem intrumento ive alio ecum? Si
feciti, quinque annos per legitimas ferias pniteas.Feciti quod qudam
mulieres facere olent, ut iam upradicto molimine, vel alio aliquo machinamento, tu
ipa in te olam faceres fornicationem? Si feciti, unum annum per legitimas ferias
pnitaeas. Burchardi Pnit. lib. XIX, p. 277, 8vo ed. The holy bihop appears
to have been very intimately acquainted with the whole proceeding.
3
Johannis Goropii Becani Origines Antwerpianae, 1569, lib. i, pp. 26, 101.

GENERATIVE POWERS

145

for the protection of Priapus under this obcene name. Goropius

Becanus adds that there was in his time, over the door of a
houe adjoining the prion, a tatue which had been furnihed
with a large phallus, then worn away or broken off. Among
other writers who mention this tatue is Abraham Golnitz, who publihed an account of his travels in France and Belgium, in 1631,1
and he informs us that it was a carving in tone, about a foot high,
with its arms raied up, and its legs pread out, and that the phallus
had been entirely worn out by the women, who had been in the
habit of craping it and making a potion of the dut which they
drank as a preervative againt barrennes. Golnitz further tells
us that a figure of Priapus was placed over the entrance gate to the
encloure of the temple of St. Walburgis at Antwerp, which ome
antiquaries imagined to have been built on the ite of a temple
dedicated to that deity. It appears from thee writers that, at
certain times, the women of Antwerp decorated the phalli of thee
figures with garlands.
The ue of priapic figures as amulets, to be carried on the peron
as preervatives againt the evil eye and other noxious influences,
which we have poken of as o common among the Romans, was
certainly continued through the middle ages, and, as we hall ee
preently, has not entirely diappeared. It was natural enough to
believe that if this figure were alutary when merely looked upon, it
mut be much more o when carried contantly on the peron. The
Romans gave the name facinum, in old French fene, to the phallic
amulet, as well as to the ame figure under other circumtances. It
is an object of which we could hardly expect to find direct mention
in medival writers, but we meet with examples of the object itelf,
uually made of lead (a proof of its popular character), and ranging
in date perhaps from the fourteenth to the earlier part of the
1

Golnitzii Itinerarium Belgico-Gallicum, p. 52.

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ON THE WORSHIP OF THE

ixteenth century. As we owe our knowledge of thee phallic

amulets almot entirely to one collector, M. Forgeais of Paris, who
obtained them chiefly from one ourcethe river Seine, our preent
acquaintance with them may be conidered as very limited, and
we have every reaon for believing that they had been in ue
during the earlier period. We can only illutrate this part of the
ubject by decribing a few of thee medival phallic amulets,
which are preerved in ome private collections; and we will firt
call attention to a eries of objects, the real purpoe of which
appears to be very obcure. They are mall leaden tokens or
medalets, bearing on the obvere the figure of the male or female
organ, and on the revere a cros, a curious intimation of the
adoption of the worhip of the generative powers among Chritians.
Thee leaden tokens, found in the river Seine, were firt collected
and made known to antiquaries by M. Forgeais, who publihed
examples of them in his work on the leaden figures found in that
river.1 We give five examples of the medals of each ex, obvere
and revere.2 It will be een that the phalli on thee tokens are
nearly all furnihed with wings; one has a birds legs and claws;
and on another there is an evident intention to repreent a bell
upended to the neck. Thee characteritics how either a very
ditinct tradition of the forms of the Roman phallic ornament, or
an imitation of examples of Roman phalli then exiting--poibly
the latter. But this is not neceary, for the bells borne by two
examples, given in our next plate, and alo taken from the collection
of M. Forgeais are medival, and not Roman bells, though thee
alo repreent well-known ancient forms of treating the ubject. In
the firt,3 a female is riding upon the phallus, which has mens legs,
1

Notice ur des Plombs Hitoris trouvs dans la Seine, et recueillis par Arthur
Forgeais. 8vo. Paris, 1858.
2
3
See our Plate XXXVIII.
Plate XXXIV., Fig. 1.

GENERATIVE POWERS

147

and is held by a bridle. This figure was evidently intended to be

attached to the dres as a brooch, for the pin which fixed it till
remains on the back. Two other examples1 preent figures of winged
phalli, one with a bell, and the other with the ring remaining from
which the bell has no doubt been broken. One of thee has the dogs
legs. A fourth example2 repreents an enormous phallus attached to
the middle of a mall man. In another,3 which was evidently intended
for upenion, probably at the neck, the organs of the two exes
are joined together. Three other leaden figures,4 apparently amulets,
which were in the Forgeais collection, offer a very peculiar variety
of form, repreenting a figure, which we might uppoe to be a male
by its attributes, though it has a very feminine look, and wears
the robe and hood of a woman. Its peculiarity conits in having a
phallus before and behind. We have on the ame plate5 a till more
remarkable example of the combination of the cros with the emblems
of the worhip of which we are treating, in an object found at San
Agati di Goti, near Naples, which was formerly in the Bereford Fletcher collection, and is now in that of Ambroe Ruchenberger, Eq., of Boton, U. S. It is a crux anata, formed by four
phalli, with a circle of female organs round the centre; and appears
by the loop to have been intended for upenion. As this cros is
of gold, it had no doubt been made for ome peronage of rank,
poibly an eccleiatic; and we can hardly help upecting that it
had ome connection with priapic ceremonies or fetivities. The
lat figure on the ame plate is alo taken from the collection of M.
Forgeais.6 From the monkih cowl and the cord round the body,
we may perhaps take it for a atire upon the friars, ome of whom
wore no breeches, and they were all charged with being great corruptors of female morals.
1

Plate XXXIV, Figs. 2 and 3.

Plate XXXIV, Fig. 5.
5
Plate XXXV, Fig. 4.

Plate XXXIV, Fig 4.

Plate XXXV, Figs. 1, 2, and 3.
6
Plate XXXV, Fig. 5.

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ON THE WORSHIP OF THE

In Italy we can trace the continuous ue of thee phallic amulets

down to the preent time much more ditinctly than in our more
Wetern countries. There they are till in very common ue, and
we give two examples1 of bronze amulets of this decription, which
are commonly old in Naples at the preent day for a carlo, equivalent to fourpence in Englih money, each. One of them, it will be
een, is encircled by a erpent. So important are thee amulets
conidered for the peronal afety of thoe who poes them, that
there is hardly a peaant who is without one, which he uually
carries in his waitcoat pocket.
There was another, and les openly apparent, form of the phallus,
which has lated as an amulet during almot innumerable ages.
The ancients had two forms of what antiquaries have named the
phallic hand, one in which the middle finger was extended at
length, and the thumb and other fingers doubled up, while in the
other the whole hand was cloed, but the thumb was paed between
the firt and middle fingers. The firt of thee forms appears to
have been the more ancient, and is undertood to have been intended to repreent, by the extended middle finger, the membrum
virile, and by the bent fingers on each ide the teticles. Hence
the middle finger of the hand was called by the Romans, digitus
impudicus, or infamis. It was called by the Greeks katapgwn,
which had omewhat the ame meaning as the Latin word, except
that it had reference epecially to degrading practices, which were
then les concealed than in modern times. To how the hand in
this form was expreed in Greek by the word skimalzein, and
was conidered as a mot contemptuous inult, becaue it was undertood to intimate that the peron to whom it was addreed was
addicted to unnatural vice. This was the meaning alo given to it
1

Plate XXXVI, Figs. 1 and 2.

GENERATIVE POWERS

149

by the Romans, as we learn from the firt lines of an epigram of

Martial:
Rideto, multum, qui te, Sextille, cindum
Dixerit, et digitum porrigito medium.
Martial, Ep. ii, 28.

Nevertheles, this geture of the hand was looked upon at an early

period as an amulet againt magical influences, and, formed of
different materials, it was carried on the peron in the ame manner
as the phallus. It is not an uncommon object among Roman antiquities, and was adopted by the Gnotics as one of their ymbolical
images. The econd of thee forms of the phallic hand, the intention of which is eaily een (the thumb forming the phallus), was
alo well known among the Romans, and is found made of various
material, uch as bronze, coral, lapis lazuli, and chrytal, of a ize
which was evidently intended to be upended to the neck or to
ome other part of the peron. In the Mue Secret at Naples, there
are examples of uch amulets, in the hape of two arms joined at the
elbow, one terminating in the head of a phallus, the other having
a hand arranged in the form jut decribed, which eem to have
been intended for pendents to ladies ears. This geture of the
hand appears to have been called at a later period of Latin,
though we have no knowledge of the date at which this ue of the
word began, ficus, a fig. Ficus being a word in the feminine gender, appears to have fallen in the popular language into the more
common form of feminine nouns, fica, out of which aroe the Italian
fica (now replaced by fico), the Spanih higa, and the French figue.
Florio, who gives the word fica, a fig, ays that it was alo ued in the
ene of a woman's quaint, o that it may perhaps be claed with
one or two other fruits, uch as the pomegranate and the apricot,
to which a imilar erotic meaning was given.1 The form, under
1

See before, page 136. Among the Romans, the fig was conidered as a fruit
conecrated to Priapus, on account, it is aid, of its productivenes.

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ON THE WORSHIP OF THE

this name, was preerved through the middle ages, epecially in the
South of Europe, where Roman traditions were tronget, both as an
amulet and as an inulting geture. The Italian called this geture
fare la fica, to make or do the fig to any one; the Spaniard, dar
una higa, to give a fig; and the Frenchman, like the Italian, faire
la figue. We can trace this phrae back to the thirteenth century
at leat. In the judicial proceedings againt the Templars in Paris
in 1309, one of the brethren of the Order was aked, jokingly, in
his examination, becaue he was rather looe and flippant in his
replies, if he bad been ordered by the aid receptor (the officer of
the Templars who admitted the new candidate) to make with his
fingers the fig at the crucifix.1 Here the word ued is the correct
Latin ficus; and it is the ame in the plural, in a document of the
year 1449, in which an individual is aid to have made figs with both
hands at another.2 This phrae appears to have been introduced
into the Englih language in the time of Elizabeth and to have
been taken from the Spaniards, with whom our relations were then
intimate. This we aume from the circumtance that the Englih
phrae was to give the fig (dar la higa),3 and that the writers of
the Elizabethan age call it "the fig of Spain. Thus, ancient
Pitol, in Shakepeare:
A figo for thy friendhip!
The fig of Spain. Henry V, iii. 6.
1

Item, cum prdictus tetis videretur ee valde facilis et procax ad loquendum,

et in pluribus dictis uis non eet tabilis, ed quai varians et vacillan, fuit interrogatus i fuit ei prceptum a dicto receptore quod cum digits manus u faceret ficum
Crucifixo, quando ipum videret, et i fuit ei dictum quod hoc eet de punctis
ordinis, repondit quod numquam audivit loqui de hoc. Michelt, Procs de
Templiers, Tome i, p. 255, 4to. Paris, 1841.
2
Ambabus manibus fecit ficus dicto Serme. MS. quoted in Ducange, ub v.
Ficha.
3
Behold next I ee contempt, giving me the fico. Wits Miery, quoted in
Nares, v. Fico.

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151

The phrae has been preerved in all thee countries down to modern
times and we till ay in Englih, a fig for anybody, or for anything, not meaning that we etimate them at no more than the
value of a fig, but that we throw at them that contempt which was
intimated by howing them the phallic hand, and which the Greeks,
as tated above, called skimalzein. The form of howing contempt which was called the fig is till well known among the lower
claes of ociety in England, and it is preerved in mot of the
countries of Wetern Europe. In Baretti's Spanih Dictionary,
which belongs to the commencement of the preent century, we
find the word higa interpreted as A manner of coffing at people,
which conits in howing the thumb between the firt and econd
finger, cloing the firt, and pointing at the peron to whom we
want to give this hateful mark of contempt. Baretti alo gives as
till in ue the original meaning of the word, Higa, a little hand
made of jet, which they hang about children to keep them from
evil eyes; a upertitious cutom. The ue of this amulet is till
common in Italy, and epecially in Naples and Sicily; it has
an advantage over the mere form of the phallus, that when the
artificial fica is not preent, an individual, who finds or believes
himelf in udden danger, can make the amulet with his own fingers.
So profound is the belief of its efficacy in Italy, that it is commonly believed and reported there that, at the battle of Solferino,
the king of Italy held his hand in his pocket with this arrangement of the fingers as a protection againt the hots of the enemy.
There were peronages connected with the worhip of Priapus
who appear to have been common to the Romans under and
before the empire, and to the foreign races who ettled upon its
ruins. The Teutonic race believed in a piritual being who inhabited the woods, and who was called in old German crat. His
character was more general than that of a mere habitant of the
woods, for it anwered to the Englih hobgoblin, or to the Irih

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ON THE WORSHIP OF THE

cluricaune. The crat was the pirit of the woods, under which
character he was ometimes called a waltcrat, and of the fields,
and alo of the houehold, the dometic pirit, the ghot haunting
the houe. His image was probably looked upon as an amulet, a
protection to the houe, as an old German vocabulary of the year
1482, explains chrtlin, little crats, by the Latin word penates.
The lacivious character of this pirit, if it wanted more direct
evidence, is implied by the fact that critta, in Anglo-Saxon, and
crat, in old Englih, meant a hermaphrodite. Accordingly, the
medival vocabularies explain crat by Latin equivalents, which all
indicate companions or emanations of Priapus, and in fact, Priapus
himelf. Iidore gives the name of Piloi, or hairy men, and tells
us that they were called in Greek, Panit (apparently an error for
Ephialt), and in Latin, Incubi and Inibi, the latter word derived
from the verb inire, and applied to them on account of their intercoure with animals.1 They were in fact the fauns and atyrs of
antiquity, haunted like them the wild woods, and were characterized
by the ame petulance towards the other ex.2 Woe to the modety
of maiden or woman who ventured incautiouly into their haunts.
As Incubi, they viited the houe by night, and violated the
perons of the females, and ome of the mot celebrated heroes of
early medival romances, uch as Merlin, were thus the children
of incubi. They were known at an early period in Gaul by the
name of Duii,3 from which, as the church taught that all thee
1

Piloi, qui Grce Panit, Latine Incubi, appelantur, ive Inivi, ab ineundo
paim cum animalibus; unde et Incubi dicuntur ab incumbendo, hoc et, tuprando.
Iidori Etymol., lib. viii, c. 9.
2
Spe etiam improbi exitent, etiam mulieribus, et earum peragunt concubitum.
Iidor. ib.
3
Et quodam dmones quos Duios Galli nuncupant, hanc aidue immunditiam
et tentare et officere plures taleque aeverant, ut hoc negare impudenti videatur.
Augutin. De Civitate Dei, lib. xv, c. 23. Cf. Iidor., loc. cit.

GENERATIVE POWERS

153

mythic peronages were devils, we derive our modern word

Deuce, ued in uch phraes as the Deuce take you! The term
ficarii was alo applied to them in medival Latin, either from
the meaning of the word ficus, mentioned before,1 or becaue
they were fond of figs. Mot of thee Latin ynonyms are given
in the Anglo-Saxon vocabulary of Alfric, and are interpreted as
meaning evil men, pirits of the woods, evil beings.2 One of the
old commentators on the Scriptures decribes thee pirits of the
woods as monters in the emblance of men, whoe form begins
with the human hape and ends in the extremity of a beat.3 They
were, in fact, half man, half goat, and were identical with a clas of
hobgoblins, who at a rather later period were well known in England
by the popular name of Robin Goodfellows, whoe Priapic character is ufficiently proved by the pictures of them attached to
ome of our early printed ballads, of which we give facimiles. The
firt4 is a figure of Robin Goodfellow, which forms the illutration
to a very popular ballad of the earlier part of the eventeenth century, entitled The mad merry Pranks of Robin Goodfellow; he
is repreented party-coloured, and with the priapic attribute. The
next5 is a econd illutration of the ame ballad, in which Robin
Goodfellow is repreented as Priapus, goat-haped, with his attributes
till more trongly pronounced, and urrounded by a circle of his
worhippers dancing about him. He appears here in the character
1

See before, p. 149.

Satiri, vel fauni, vel ehni (for obcni), vel fauni icarii, unle men, wudewaan, unle wihta. Wrights Volume of Vocubalires, p. 17. See, for further
illutrations of this ubject, Grimms Deutche Mythologie, p. 272 et eq.
3
Piloo, montra unt ad imilitudinem hominum, quorum forma ab humana
effigies incipit, ed betiali extremitate terminatur, vel unt dmones incubones, vel
atyri, vel homines ilvetres. Mamotrectus in Iaiam, xiii, 21.
4
See Plate XXXVI, Fig 5. From a copy of the black-letter ballad in the libray of
the Britih Mueum,
5
Plate XXXVII, Fig. 2. From the ame ballad.
2

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ON THE WORSHIP OF THE

aumed by the demon at the abbath of the witches, of which we

hall have to peak a little further on. The Romih Church created
great confuion in all thee popular upertitions by conidering the
mythic perons with whom they were connected as o many devils;
and one of thee Priapic demons is figured in a cut which eems to
have been a favorite one, and is often repeated as an illutration
of the broadide ballads of the age of James I. and Charles I. 1 It is
Priapus reduced to his lowet tep of degradation.
Beides the invocations addreed principally to Priapus, or to
the generative powers, the ancients had etablihed great fetivals
in their honour, which were remarkable for their licentious gaiety,
and in which the image of the phallus was carried openly and in
triumph. Thee fetivities were epecially celebrated among the
rural population, and they were held chiefly during the ummer
months. The preparatory labours of the agriculturit were over,
and people had leiure to welcome with joyfulnes the activity of
natures reproductive powers, which was in due time to bring their
fruits. Among the mot celebrated of thee fetivals were the
Liberalia, which were held on the 17th of March. A montrous
phallus was carried in proceion in a car, and its worhippers
indulged loudly and openly in obcene ongs, converation, and
attitudes, and when it halted, the mot repectable of the matrons
ceremoniouly crowned the head of the phallus with a garland.
The Bacchanalia, repreenting the Dionyia of the Greeks, were
celebrated in the latter part of October, when the harvet was
completed, and were attended with much the ame ceremonies as
the Liberalia. The phallus was imilarly carried in proceion, and
crowned, and, as in the Liberalia, the fetivities being carried on
into the night, as the celebrators became heated with wine, they
degenerated into the extreme of licentiounes, in which people
1

Plate XXXVII, Fig. 1. From two black-letter ballads in the Britih Mueum,
one entitled A warning for all Lewd Livers, the other, A trange and true
News from Wetmoreland.

GENERATIVE POWERS

155

indulged without a bluh in the mot infamous vices. The fetival

of Venus was celebrated towards the beginning of April, and in it
the phallus was again carried in its car, and led in proceion by
the Roman ladies to the temple of Venus outide the Colline gate,
and there preented by them to the exual parts of the goddes.
This part of the cene is repreented in a well-known intaglio, which
has been publihed in everal works on antiquities. At the cloe
of the month lat mentioned came the Floralia, which, if poible,
excelled all the others in licence. Auonius, in whoe time (the
latter half of the fourth century) the Floralia were till in full
force, peaks of their laciviounes:
Nee non lacivi Floralia lta theatri,
Qu pectare volunt qui voluie negant.
Auonii Eclog. de Feriis Romanis.

The looe women of the town and its neighbourhood, called together
by the ounding of horns, mixed with the multitude in perfect nakednes, and excited their paions with obcene motions and language,
until the fetival ended in a cene of mad revelry, in which all
retraint was laid aide. Juvenal decribes a Roman dame of very
depraved manners as
. . . . Digniima proru
Florali matrona tuba.
Juvenalis Sat. vi, I. 249.

Thee cenes of unbounded licence and depravity, deeply rooted in

peoples minds by long etablihed cutoms, caued o little public
candal, that it is related of Cato the younger that, when he was
preent at the celebration of the Floralia, intead of howing any
diapproval of them, he retired, that his well-known gravity might
be no retraint upon them, becaue the multitude manifeted ome
heitation in tripping the women naked in the preence of a man
o celebrated for his modety.1 The fetivals more pecially dedi1

Catonem, inquam, illum, quo edente populus negatur permiie ib potulare

Florales jocos nudandarum meretricum. Senec Epit. xcvii.

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ON THE WORSHIP OF THE

cated to Priapus, the Priapeia, were attended with imilar ceremonies and imilarly licentious orgies. Their forms and characteritics are better known, becaue they are o frequently repreented to us as the ubjects of works of Roman art. The Romans
had other fetivals of imilar character, but of les importance,
ome of which were of a more private character, and ome were
celebrated in trict privacy. Such were the rites of the Bona Dea,
etablihed among the Roman matrons in the time of the republic, the diorders of which are decribed in uch glowing language by the atirit Juvenal, in his enumeration of the vices of
the Roman women:
Nota Bon ecreta De, quum tibia lumbos
Incitat, et cornu pariter vinoque feruntur
Attonit, crinemque rotant, ululantque Priapi
Mnades. O quantus tunc illis mentibus ardor
Concubitus! qu vox altante libidine! quantus
Ille meri veteris per crura madentia torrens!
Lenonum ancillas poita Saufeia corona
Provocat, et tollit pendentis prmia cox.
Ipa Medullin fluctum criantis adorat.
Palmam inter dominas virtus natalibus quat.
Nil ibi per ludum imulabitur: omnia fient
Ad verum, quibus incendi jam frigidus vo
Laomedontiades et Netoris hernia poit.
Tunc prurigo mor impatiens, tunc femina implex,
Et toto pariter repetitus clamor ab antro:
Jam fas et: admitte viros!
Juvenalis Sat. vi, l. 314.

Among the Teutonic, as well as among mot other peoples,

imilar fetivals appear to have been celebrated during the ummer
months; and, as they aroe out of the ame feelings, they no doubt
preented the ame general forms. The principal popular fetivals
of the ummer during the middle ages occurred in the months of
April, May, and June, and compried Eater, May-day, and the
feat of the ummer oltice. All thee appear to have been

GENERATIVE POWERS

157

originally accompanied with the ame phallic worhip which

formed the principal characteritic of the great Roman fetivals;
and, in fact, thee are exactly thoe popular intitutions and traits
of popular manners which were mot likely to outlive, alo
without any material change, the overthrow of the Roman empire
by the barbarians. Although, at the time when we become
intimately acquainted with thee fetivals, mot of the prominent
marks of their phallic character had been abandoned and
forgotten, yet we meet during the interval with cattered
indications which leave no room to doubt of their former
exitence. It will be intereting to examine into ome of thee
points, and to how the influence they exerted on medival
ociety.
The firt of the three great fetivals jut mentioned was purely
Anglo-Saxon and Teutonic; but it appears in the firt place to have
been identified with the Roman Liberalia, and it was further tranformed by the Catholic church into one of the great Chritian religious feats. In the primitive Teutonic mythology there was a
female deity named, in Old German, Otara, and, in Anglo-Saxon,
Eatre, or Eotre, but all we know of her is the imple tatement of
our father of hitory, Bede, that her fetival was celebrated by the
ancient Saxons in the month of April, from which circumtance,
that month was named by the Anglo-Saxons Eater-monath, or
Eoter-monath, and that the name of the goddes had been ubequently given to the Pachal time, with which it was identical.1
The name of this goddes was given to the ame month by the old
Germans and by the Franks, o that he mut have been one of the
mot highly honoured of the Teutonic deities, and her fetival mut
1

Antiqui autem Anglroum populi . . . Eoturmonath, qui nunc pachalis menis

interpretatur, quondam a dea illorum qu Eotre vocabatur, et cui in illo fata celebrabant, nomen habuit; a cujus nomine nunc pachale tempus cognominant, conueto
antique obervationis vocabulo gaudi nov olennitatis vocantes. Bed De Temporum Rationes, cap. xv.

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ON THE WORSHIP OF THE

have been a very important one, and deeply implanted in the

popular feelings, or the church would not have ought to identify
it with one of the greatet Chritian fetivals of the year. It is
undertood that the Romans conidered this month as dedicated
to Venus, no doubt becaue it was that in which the productive
power of nature began to be viibly developed. When the Pagan
fetival was adopted by the church, it became a moveable feat
intead of being fixed to the month of April. Among other
objects offered to the goddes at this time were cakes, made no
doubt of fine flour, but of their form we are ignorant. The Chritians, when they eized upon the Eater fetival, gave them the form of
a bun, which, indeed, was at that time the ordinary form of bread;
and to protect themelves, and thoe who eat them, from any enchantment, or other evil influences which might arie from their former
heathen character, they marked them with the Chritian ymbol
the cros. Hence were derived the cakes we till eat at Eater under
the name of hot-cros-buns, and the upertitious feelings attached
to them, for multitudes of people till believe that if they failed to
eat a hot-cros-bun on Good-Friday they would be unlucky all
the ret of the year. But there is ome reaon for believing that, at
leat in ome parts, the Eater-cakes had originally a different
formthat of the phallus. Such at leat appears to have been the
cae in France, where the cutom till exits. In Saintonge, in the
neighbourhood of La Rochelle, mall cakes, baked in the form of a
phallus, are made as offerings at Eater, and are carried and preented from houe to houe; and we have been informed that imilar
practices exit in ome other places. When Dulaure wrote, the
fetival of Palm Sunday, in the town of Saintes, was called the fte
des pinnes, pinne being a popular and vulgar word for the
membrum virile. At this fte the women and children carried in
the proceion, at the end of their palm branches, a phallus made of
bread, which they called undiguiedly a pinne, and which, having

GENERATIVE POWERS

159

been blet by the priet, the women carefully preerved during the
following year as an amulet. A imilar practice exited at St. Jeand'Angly, where mall cakes, made in the form of the phallus, and
named fateux, were carried in the proceion of the Fte-Dieu, or
Corpus Chriti.1 Shortly before the time when Dulaure wrote, this
practice was uppreed by a new ous-prfet, M. Maillard. The
cutom of making cakes in the form of the exual members, male
and female, dates from a remote antiquity and was common among
the Romans. Martial made a phallus of bread (Priapus iligineus)
the ubject of an epigram of two lines:
Si vis ee atur, notrum potes ee priapum
Ipe licet rodas inguina, purus eris.
Martial, lib. xiv, ep. 69.

The ame writer peaks of the image of a female organ made of

the ame material in another of his epigrams, to explain which, it is
only neceary to tate that thee images were compoed of the finet
wheaten flour (iligo):
Pauper amiciti cum is, Lupe, non es amic;
Et queritur de te mentula ola nihil.
Illa iligineis pinguecit adultera cunnis;
Convivam pacit nigra farina tuum.
Martial, lib. ix, ep. 3.

This cutom appears to have been preerved from the Romans

through the middle ages, and may be traced ditinctly as far back
as the fourteenth or fifteenth century. We are informed that in
ome of the earlier inedited French books on cookery, receipts are
given for making cakes in thee obcene forms, which are named
without any concealment; and the writer on this ubject, who wrote
in the ixteenth century, Johannes Bruerinus Campegius, decribing
the different forms in which cakes were then made, enumerates thoe
1

Delaure, Hitoire Abrges des Diffrens Cultes, vol. ii, p. 285. Second Edition.
It was printed in 1825.

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ON THE WORSHIP OF THE

of the ecret members of both exes, a proof, he ays of the degeneracy of manners, when Chritians themelves can delight in
obcenities and immodet things even among their articles of food.
He adds that ome of thee were commonly poken of by a gros
name, des cons ucrs.1 When Dulaure wrote, that is jut forty
years ago, cakes of thee forms continued to be made in various
parts of France, and he informs us that thoe repreenting the male
organ were made in the Lower Limouin, and epecially at Brives,
while imilar images of the female organ were made at Clermont in
Auvergne, and in other places. They were popularly called miches.2
There is another cutom attached to Eater, which has probably
ome relation to the worhip of which we are treating, and which
eems once to have prevailed throughout England, though we
believe it is now confined to Shrophire and Chehire. In the
former county it is called heaving, in the latter lifting. On Eater
Monday the men go about with chairs, eize the women they meet,
and, placing them in the chairs, raie them up, turn them round
two or three times, and then claim the right of kiing them. On
Eater Tueday, the ame thing is done by the women to the men.
This, of coure, is only practiced now among the lower claes,
except ometimes as a frolic among intimate friends. The chair
appears to have been a comparatively modern addition, ince uch
articles have become more abundant. In the lat century four or
five of the one ex took the victim of the other ex by the arms and
legs, and lifted her or him in that manner, and the operation was
1

Alias fingunt oblonga figura, alias phrica, et orbiculari, alias triangula, quadrangulaque; qudam ventrico unt; qudam pudenda muliebria, ali virilia (i diis
placet) reprentant; adeo degeneravere bonos mores, ut etiam Chritianis obcna
et pudenda in cibis placeant. Sunt etenim quo cunnos accharatos epp-litent. Jo.
Bruerini Campegii De Re Cibaria, lib. vi, c. 7.Cf. Le Grande dAui, Hitoire de
la Vie Prive des Franais, vol. II, p. 309.
2
Dulaure, vol. ii, pp. 255-257.

GENERATIVE POWERS

161

attended, at all events on the part of the men, with much indecency. The women uually expect a mall contribution of money
from the men they have lifted. More anciently, in the time of
Durandus, that is, in the thirteenth century, a till more ingular
cutom prevailed on thee two days. He tells us that in many
countries, on the Eater Monday, it was the rule for the wives to
beat their hubands, and that on the Tueday the hubands beat
their wives.1 Brand, in his Popular Antiquities, tells us that in
the city of Durham, in his time, it was the cutom for the men, on
the one day, to take off the women's hoes, which the latter were
obliged to purchae back, and that on the other day the women
did the ame to the men.
In medival poetry and romance, the month of May was celebrated above all others as that conecrated to Love, which eemed
to pervade all nature, and to invite mankind to partake in the
general enjoyment. Hence, among nearly all peoples, its approach
was celebrated with fetivities, in which, under various forms, worhip was paid to Nature's reproductivenes. The Romans welcomed the approach of May with their Floralia, a fetival we have
already decribed as remarkable for licentiounes; and there cannot be a doubt that our Teutonic forefathers had alo their fetival
of the eaon long before they became acquainted with the Romans.
Yet much of the medival celebration of May-day, epecially in the
South, appears to have been derived from the Floralia of the latter
people. As in the Floralia, the arrival of the fetival was announced
by the ounding of horns during the preceding night, and no ooner
had midnight arrived than the youth of both exes proceeded in
couples to the woods to gather branches and make garlands, with
which they were to return jut at unrie for the purpoe of decora1

Is plerique etiam regionibus mulieres ecunda die pot Pacham verberant

maritos, die vero tertia uxores uas. Durandus, Rationale, lib. vi, c. 8689, By
ecunda die pot Pacham, he no doubt means Eater Monday.

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ON THE WORSHIP OF THE

ting the doors of their houes. In England the grand feature of

the day was the Maypole. This maypole was the tem of a tall
young tree cut down for the occaion, painted of various colours,
and carried in joyous proceion, with mintrels playing before,
until it reached the village green, or the open pace in the middle
of a town, where it was uually et up. It was there decked with
garlands and flowers, the lads and girls danced round it, and people
indulged in all orts of riotous enjoyments. All this is well decribed by a Puritan writer of the reign of Queen ElizabethPhilip
Stubbeswho ays that, againt Maie, every parihe, towne,
and village aemble themelves together, bothe men, women, and
children, olde and yong, even all indifferently; and either goyng
all together, or devidyng themelves into companies, they goe ome
to the woodes and groves, ome to the hilles and mountaines, ome to
one place, ome to another, where they pend all the night in pleaant
patymes, and in the mornyng thei returne, bryngyng with them
birch bowes and braunches of trees to deck their aemblies withall,
. . . . But their cheeret jewell thei bryng from thence is their
Maie pole, whiche thei bryng home with greate veneration, as thus:
Thei have twentie or fourtie yoke of oxen, every oxe havyng a
weete noegaie of flowers placed on the tippe of his hornes, and
thee oxen drawe home this Maie poole (this tinckyng idoll
rather), whiche is covered all over with flowers and hearbes, bound
rounde about with trynges, from the top to the bottome, and
ometyme painted with variable colours, with twoo or three hundred
men, women, and children following it, with greate devotion.
And thus beyng reared up, with handekerchiefes and flagges treamyng on the toppe, thei trawe the grounde aboute, binde greene
boughes about it, ett up ommer haules, bowers, and arbours hard
by it. And then fall thei to banquet and feat, to leape and
daunce aboute it, as the heathen people did, at the dedication of

GENERATIVE POWERS

163

their idolles, whereof this is a perfect patterne, or rather the thyng

itelf.1
The Puritans were deeply impreed with the belief that the
maypole was a ubtantial relic of Paganim; and they were no
doubt right. There appears to be reaon ufficient for uppoing
that, at a period which cannot now be acertained, the maypole
had taken the place of the phallus. The ceremonies attending the
elevation of the two objects were identical. The ame joyous proceion in the Roman fetivals, decribed above, conducted the
phallus into the midt of the town or village, where in the ame
manner it was decked with garlands, and the worhip partook of
the ame character. We may add, too, that both fetivals were
attended with the ame licentiounes. I have heard it credibly
reported, ays the Puritan Stubbes, and that viva voce by menne
of greate gravitie and reputation, that of fourtie, three core, or a
hundred maides goyng to the woode over night, there have carcely
the third part returned home again undefiled.
The day generally concluded with bonfires. Thee repreented
the need-fire, which was intimately connected with the ancient priapic
rites. Fire itelf was an object of worhip, as the mot powerful of
the elements; but it was uppoed to loe its purity and acred
character in being propagated from one material to another, and
the worhippers ought on thee olemn occaions to produce it in
its primitive and puret form. This was done by the rapid friction of
two pieces of wood, attended with upertitious ceremonies; the
pure element of fire was believed to exit in the wood, and to be
thus forced out of it, and hence it was called need-fire (in Old
German not-feur, and in Anglo-Saxon, neod-fyr), meaning literally
a forced fire, or fire extracted by force. Before the proces of thus
1

Stubbes, Anatomie of Abues, fol. 94, 8vo. London, 1583.

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ON THE WORSHIP OF THE

extracting the fire from the wood, it was neceary that all the fires
previouly exiting in the village hould be extinguihed, and they
were afterwards revived from the bonfire which had been lit from the
need-fire. The whole ytem of bonfires originated from this upertition; they had been adopted generally on occaions of popular rejoicing, and the bonfires commemorating the celebrated gunpowder
plot are only particular applications of the general practice to an
accidental cae. The upertition of the need-fire belongs to a
very remote antiquity in the Teutonic race, and exited equally in
ancient Greece. It is procribed in the early capitularies of the
Frankih emperors of the Carlovingian dynaty.1 The univerality
of this upertition is proved by the circumtance that it till exits
in the Highlands of Scotland, epecially in Caithnes, where it is
adopted as a protection for the cattle when attacked by dieae
which the Highlanders attribute to witchcraft.2 It was from the
remotet ages the cutom to caue cattle, and even children, to pas
acros the need-fire, as a protection to them for the ret of their
lives. The need-fire was kindled at Eater, on May-day, and epecially at the ummer oltice, on the eve of the feat of St. John the
Baptit, or of Midummer-day.3
The eve of St. John was in popular upertition one of the mot
important days of the medival year. The need-fireor the St.
Johns fire, as it was calledwas kindled jut at midnight, the
moment when the oltice was uppoed to take place, and the
young people of both exes danced round it, and, above all things,
1

Sive illos acrilegos ignes quos nedfrates (I. nedfyres) vocant, ive omnes qucumque unt paganorum obervationes diligenter prohibeant. Karlomanni Capitulare
Primum, A.D. 742, in Baluzii Capitularia Regum Francorum, col. 148. Repeated in
the Captiularum Caroli Magni et Ludovici Pii, compiled A.D. 827. See Baluz., ib.,
col. 825.
2
Logan, The Scottih Gael, vol. ii, p. 64, and Jamieons Scottih Dictionary,
Suppl. ub. v. Neidfyre.
3
See Grimm, Deutche Mythologie, pp. 341349.

GENERATIVE POWERS

165

leaped over it, or ruhed through it, which was looked upon not
only as a purification, but as a protection againt evil influences.
It was the night when ghots and other beings of the piritual world
were abroad, and when witches had mot power. It was believed,
even, that during this night people's ouls left the body in leep,
and wandered over the world, eparated from it. It was a night
of the great meetings of the witches, and it was that in which they
mixed their mot deadly poions, and performed their mot effective
charms. It was a night epecially favourable to divination in every
form, and in which maidens ought to know their future weethearts and hubands. It was during this night, alo, that plants
poeed their greatet powers either for good or for evil, and that
they were dug up with all due ceremonies and cautions. The more
hidden virtues of plants, indeed, depended much on the time at
which, and the ceremonies with which, they were gathered, and
thee latter were extremely upertitious, no doubt derived from the
remote ages of paganim. As uual, the clergy applied a halfremedy to the evil; they forebade any rites or incantations in the
gathering of medicinal herbs except by repeating the creed and the
Lords prayer.1
As already tated, the night of St. Johns, or Midummer-eve,
was that when ghots and pirits of all decriptions were abroad,
and when witches aembled, and their potions, for good or for
evil, and charms were made with mot effect. It was the night for
popular divination, epecially among the young maidens, who
ought to know who were detined to be their hubands, what
would be their characters, and what their future conduct. The
medicinal virtues of many plants gathered on St. Johns eve, and
with the due ceremonies, were far more powerful than if gathered
1

Non licet in collectione herbarum medicinalium aliquas obervationes vel incantationes attendere, nii tantum cum ymbol divino et oratione dominica, ut Deus et
Dominus noter honoretur. Burchardi Decretorum Libri, x, 20.

166

ON THE WORSHIP OF THE

at other times. The mot ecret practices of the old popular upertitions are now motly forgotten, but when, here and there, we
meet with a few traces of them, they are of a character which leads
us to believe that they belonged to a great extent to that ame
worhip of the generative powers which prevailed o generally
among all peoples. We remember that, we believe in one of the
earlier editions of Mother Bunch, maidens who wihed to know if
their lovers were contant or not were directed to go out exactly at
midnight on St. Johns eve, to trip themelves entirely naked, and
in that condition to proceed to a plant or hrub, the name of which
was given, and round it they were to form a circle and dance,
repeating at the ame time certain words which they had been
taught by their intructres. Having completed this ceremony,
they were to gather leaves of the plant round which they had
danced, which they were to carry home and place under their
pillows, and what they wihed to know would be revealed to them
in their dreams. We have een in ome of the medival treaties
on the virtue of plants directions for gathering ome plants of epecial importance, in which it was required that this hould be performed by young girls in a imilar tate of complete nakednes.
Plants and flowers were, indeed, intimately connected with this
worhip. We have een how contantly they are introduced in the
form of garlands, and they were always among the offerings to
Priapus. It was the univeral practice, in dancing round the fire
on St. Johns eve, to conclude by throwing various kinds of flowers
and plants into it, which were conidered to be propitiatory, to avert
certain evils to which people were liable during the following year.
Among the plants they offered are mentioned mother-wort, vervain,
and violets. It is perhaps to this connection of plants with the old
priapic worhip that we owe the popular tendency to give them names
which were more or les obcene, mot of which are now lot, or
are o far modified as to preent no longer the ame idea. Thus

GENERATIVE POWERS

167

the well-known arum of our hedge-bottoms received the names,

no doubt uggeted by its form, of cuckoos pintle, or priets
pintle, or dog's pintle; and, in French, thoe of vit de chien and vit
de pretre; in Englih it is now abbreviated into cuckoo-pint, or,
ometimes, cuckoo-point. The whole family of the orchides was
ditinguihed by a correponding word, accompanied with various
qualifications. We have in William Coless Adam in Eden, (fol.
1659) the different names, for different varieties, of doggs-tones,
fool-tones, fox-tones; in the older Herbal of Gerard (fol. 1597)
triple ballockes, weet ballockes, weet cods, goats-tones,
hares-tones, &c.; in French, couillon de bouc (the goat was epecially connected with the priapic myteries) and couille, or couillon
de chien. In French, too, as we learn from Cotgrave and the
herbals, a kind of allet hearbe was called couille lvque; the
greater tone-crop was named couille au loup; and the pindle-tree
was known by the name of couillon de prtre. There are everal
plants which poes omewhat the appearance of a rough buh of
hair. One of thee, a pecies of adiantum, was known even in
Roman times by the name of Capillus Veneris, and in more modern
times it has been called maiden-hair, and our lady's hair. Another
plant, the aplenium trichomanes, was and is alo called popularly
maiden-hair, or maiden's-hair; and we believe that the ame name
has been given to one or two other plants. There is reaon for
believing that the hair implied in thee names was that of the
pubes.1 We might collect a number of other old popular names of
plants of a imilar character with thee jut enumerated.
In an old calendar of the Romih church, which is often quoted
1

Fumitory was another of thee plants, and in a vocabulary of plants in a

MS. of the middle of the thirteenth century, we find its names in Latin, French and
Englih given as follows, Fumus terr, fumeterre, cuntehoare. See Wrights
Volume of Vocabularies, p. 17.

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ON THE WORSHIP OF THE

in Brands Popular Antiquities, the eeking of plants for their

hidden virtues and magical properties is epecially noted as part
of the practices on the eve of St. John (herb diveri generis
qurantur); and one plant is epecially pecified in terms too
myterious to be eaily undertood.1 Fern-eed, alo, was a
great object of earch on this night; for, if found and properly
gathered, it was believed to poes powerful magical proper-ties,
and epecially that of rendering inviible the individual who
carried it upon his peron. But the mot remarkable of all the
plants connected with thee ancient priapic upertitions was the
mandrake (mandragora), a plant which has been looked upon with
a ort of feeling of reverential fear at all periods, and almot in all
parts. Its Teutonic name, alrun, or, in its more modern form,
alraun, peaks at once of the belief in its magical qualities among
that race. People looked upon it as poeing ome degree of
animal life, and it was generally believed that, when it was drawn
out of the earth, it uttered a cry, and that this cry carried certain
death or madnes to the peron who extracted it. To ecape this
danger, the remedy was to tie a tring round it, which was to be
attached to a dog, and the latter, being driven away, dragged up
the root in its attempt to run off, and experienced the fatal conequences. The root was the important part of the plant; it has
omewhat the form of a forked radih, and was believed to repreent exactly the human form below the wait, with, in the male
and female plants, the human organs of generation ditinctly developed. The mandrake, when it could be obtained, was ued in the
middle ages in the place of the phallic amulet, and was carefully
carried on the peron, or preerved in the houe. It conferred fertility in more enes than one, for it was believed that as long as
you kept it locked up with your money, the latter would become
1

Carduus puellarum legitur et ab eidem centum cruces.

GENERATIVE POWERS

169

doubled in quantity every year; and it had at the ame time all the
protective qualities of the phallus. The Templars were accued of
worhipping the mandrake, or mandragora, which became an
object of great celebrity in France during the reigns of the weak
monarchs Charles VI. and Charles VII. In 1429 one Friar
Richard, of the order of the Cordeliers, preached a fierce ermon
againt the ue of this amulet, the temporary effect of which was
o great, that a certain number of his congregation delivered up
their mandragoires to the preacher to be burnt.1
It appears that the people who dealt in thee amulets helped
nature to a rather coniderable extent by the means of art, and
that there was a regular proces of cooking them up. They were
necearily aware that the roots themelves, in their natural tate,
preented, to ay the leat, very imperfectly the form which mens
imagination had given to them, o they obtained the finet roots
they could, which, when freh from the ground, were plump and
oft, and readily took any impreion which might be given to
them. They then tuck grains of millet or barley into the parts
where they wihed to have hair, and again put it into a hole in the
earth, until thee grains had germinated and formed their roots.
This proces, it was aid, was perfected within twenty days. They
then took up the mandrake again, trimmed the fibrous roots of
millet or barley which erved for hair, retouched the parts themelves o as to give them their form more perfectly and more permanently, and then old it.2
Beides thee great and general priapic fetivals, there were
doubtles others of les importance, or more local in their character,
which degenerated in aftertimes into mere local ceremonies and
1
2

Journal dun Bourgeois de Paris, under the year 1429.

See the authorities for thee tatements in Dulaure, pp. 254256.

170

ON THE WORSHIP OF THE

fetivities. This would be the cae epecially in cities and corporate

towns, where the guilds came in, to perpetuate the intitution, and
to give it gradually a modified form. Mot towns in England had
once fetivals of this character, and at leat three repreentatives of
them are till kept up, the proceion of Lady Godiva at Coventry,
the Shrewbury how, and the guild fetival at Preton in Lancahire. In the firt of thee, the lady who is uppoed to ride naked
in the proceion probably repreents ome feature in the ancient
priapic celebration; and the tory of the manner in which the Lady
Godiva averted the anger of her huband from the townmen, which
is certainly a mere fable, was no doubt invented to explain a feature of the celebration, the real meaning of which had in coure
of time been forgotten. The pageantry of the Shrewbury how
appears to be imilarly the unmeaning reflection of forms
belonging to older and forgotten practices and principles. On the
Continent there were many uch local fetivals, uch as the feat
of fools, the feat of aes (the as was an animal acred to
Priapus), and others, all which were adapted by the medival
church exactly as the clergy had taken advantage of the profit to
be derived from the phallic worhip in other forms.
The leaden tokens, or medalets, which we have already decribed,1
eem to point evidently to the exitence in the middle ages of
ecret ocieties or clubs connected with this obcene worhip, beides the public fetivals. Of thee it can hardly be expected
that any decription would urvive, but, if not the fact, the belief
in it is clearly etablihed by the eagernes with which uch
obcene rites were laid to the charge of mot of the medival ecret
ocieties, whether lay clubs or religious ects, and we know that
ecret ocieties abounded in the middle ages. However willing the
Romih clergy were to make profit out of the popular phallic wor1

See before, p. 146, and Plate XXXIII.

GENERATIVE POWERS

171

hip, they were equally ready to ue the belief in it as a means of

exciting prejudice againt any ects which the church choe to
regard as religious or political heretics.
It is very evident that, in the earlier ages of the church, the
converion of the Pagans to Chritianity was in a vat number of
caes les than a half-converion, and that the preachers of the
gopel were atisfied by people auming the name of Chritians,
without inquiring too cloely into the incerity of their change, or
into their practice. We can trace in the expreions of diapproval
in the writings of ome of the more zealous of the eccleiatical
writers, and in the canons of the earlier councils, the alarm created
by the prevalence among Chritians of the old popular fetivals of
paganim; and the revival of thoe particular canons and deprecatory remarks in the eccleiatical councils and writings of a later
period of the middle ages, hows that the exitence of the evil had
continued unabated. There was an African council in the year
381, from which Burchardus, who compiled his condenation of
eccleiatical decrees for the ue of his own time, profees to derive
his proviions againt the fetivals which were held with Pagan
ceremonies. We are there told that, even on the mot acred of
the Chritian commemoration days, thee rites derived from the
Pagans were introduced, and that dancing was practiced in the open
treet of o infamous a character, and accompanied with uch
lacivious language and getures, that the modety of repectable
females was hocked to a degree that prevented their attendance
at the ervice in the churches on thoe days.1 It is added that
1

Illud etiam petendum, ut quoniam contra prcepta divina conviva multis in

locis exercentur, qu ab errore gentili attracta unt, ita ut nunc a paganis ad hc
celebranda cogantur, ex qua re temporibus Chritianorum imperatorum perecutio
altera fiera occulta videatur, vetari talia jubeant, et de civitatibus et poeionibus
impoita pna prohiberi, maxime cum etiam in natalibus beatiimorum martyrum
per nonnullas civitates et in ipis locis acris talia committere non reformident, quibus

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ON THE WORSHIP OF THE

thee Pagan ceremonies were even carried into the churches, and
that many of the clergy took part in them.
It is probable, too, that when Paganim itelf had become an
offence againt the tate, and thoe who continued attached to it
were expoed to perecution, they embraced the name of Chritians
as a cover for the groet upertitions, and formed ects who practied the rites of Paganim in their ecret conventicles, but were
placed by the church among the Chritian hereies. In ome of
thee, epecially among thoe of an early date, the obcene rites and
principles of the phallic worhip eem to have entered largely,
for, though their opponents probably exaggerated the actual vice
car-ried on under their name, yet much of it mut have had an exitence in truth. It was a mixture of the licence of the vulgar
Paganim of antiquity with the wild doctrines of the latter eatern
philoophers. The older orthodox writers dwell on the details of
thee libidinous rites. Among the earliet in date were the Adamiani, or Adamites, who procribed marriage, and held that the mot
perfect innocence was conitent only with the community of women.
They choe latibula, or caverns, for their conventicles, at which both
exes aembled together in perfect nakednes.1 This ect perhaps
continued to exit under different forms, but it was revived among
the intellectual vagaries of the fifteenth century, and continued at
leat to be much talked of till the eventeenth. The doctrine of the
community of women, and the practice of promicuous exual
intercoure in their meetings, were acribed by the early Chritian
diebus etiam, quod pudoris et dicere, altationes celeratiimas per vicos atque plateas
exerceant, ut matronalia honor, et innumerabilium fminarum pudor, devote venientium ad facratiimum diem, injuris lacivientium appetatur, ut etiam ipius anct
religionis pne fugiatur acceus. Burchard, Decret., lib. x, c. 20, De conviviis
qu fiunt ritu paganorum, ex Concil. Africano, cap. 27. See Labbs, Concil.,
tom. ii, col. 1085.
1
Epiphanii Epic. Contant. Panarium verus Hres., vol. i, p. 459, ed. Petav.

GENERATIVE POWERS

173

controverialits to everal ects, uch as the followers of Florian, and of

Carpocratian, who were accued of putting out the lamps in their
churches at the end of the evening ervice, and indulging in exual
intercoure indicriminately;1 the Nicolait, who held their wives
in common; the Ebionei; and epecially the Gnotics, or followers
of Bailides, and the Manichans. The Nicolaites held that the
only way to alvation lay through frequent intercoure between the
exes.2 Epiphanius peaks of a ect who acrificed a child in their
ecret rites by pricking it with brazen pins, and then offering its
blood. 3 The Gnotics were accued of eating human fleh as well
as of laciviounes, and they alo are aid to have held their women
in common, and taught that it was a duty to protitute their wives
to their guets.4 They knew their fellow ectarians by a
ecret ign, which conited in tickling the palm of the hand with
the finger in a peculiar manner. The ign having been recognized, mutual confidence was etablihed, and the tranger was
invited to upper; after they had eaten their fill, the huband
removed from the ide of his wife, and aid to her, Go, exhibit
charity to our guet, which was the ignal for thoe further cenes
of hopitality.5 This account is given us by St. Epiphanius,
bihop of Contantia. We are told further of rites practiced by
the Gnotics, which were till more diguting, for they were aid,
after thee libidinous cenes, to offer and adminiter the emen virile
1

In eccleia ua pot occaum olis lucernis extinctis mceri cum mulierculis.

Philatri de Hreibus Liber, c. 57.
2
Epiphanii Panarion, vol. I, p. 72.
3
Epihphanius, vol. i, p. 416.
4
On the ecret worhip and the character of the Gnotics ee Epihanii Panarion,
vol. i. pp. 84102.
5

k toto d sumposisantej, ka j poj epen, tj flbaj to krou

mplsantej autn, ej osron trpontai. ka mn nr tj gunaikj
pocwrsaj fskei legwn t ato gunaik ti nsta lgwn, pohson
tn gphn met to delfo. o d tlanej migntej llloij. Epihan.
Panarion, vol. i, p. 86.

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ON THE WORSHIP OF THE

as their acrament.1 A imilar practice is decribed as exiting

among women in the middle ages for the purpoe of ecuring the
love of their hubands, and was perhaps derived from the Gnotics
and Manichans, whoe doctrines, brought from the Eat, appear
to have pread themelves extenively into Wetern Europe.2
Of thee doctrines, however, we have no traces at leat until
the eleventh century, when a great intellectual agitation began in
Wetern Europe, which brought to the urface of ociety a multitude of trange creeds and trange theories. The popular worhip
diplayed in the great annual fetivals, and the equally popular
local ftes, urban or rural, were hardly interfered with, or any
ecret ocieties belonging to the old worhip; the medival church
did not conider them as hereies, and let them alone. Thus,
except now and then a proviion of ome eccleiatical council
expreed in general terms againt upertitions, which was hardly
heard at the time and not litened to, they are paed over in ilence.
But the moment anything under the name of herey raied its head,
the alarm was great. Gnoticim and Manichim, which had
indeed been identical, were the hereies mot hated in the Eatern
empire, and, as may be uppoed, mot perecuted; and this perecution was detined to drive them wetward. In the eventh cen1

See details on this ubject in Epiphanii Panarion, ib. Conf. Pretinati

Adverus Hres, lib. i, c. 46, where the ame thing is aid of the Manichans.
2
Gutati de emine viri tui, ut, propter tua diabolica facta, plus in amorem
tuum exardeceret? Si feciti, eptem annos per legitimas ferias pnitere debes.
Burchardi Decretorum lib. xix. The ame practices appear to have exited among the
Anglo-Saxons. Thus, one of the caes in Theodori Liber Pnitentialis. (in Thorpes
Ancient Laws and Intitutes,) is,Mulier qu emen viri ui in cibum mierit, ut inde
amoris ejus plus accipiat, vii. annos pnitat.
Theod. Lib. Pn.
xvi. 30. And again, Mulier qu emen viri cum cibo uo micuerit, et id umperit, ut
maculo carior it, iii. annos jejunet. Ecgberti Confeionale, ec. 29. Sprenger,
Malleus Maleficarum, qut. vii, tells us of witches who made men eat bien autre
choe to ecure their love.

GENERATIVE POWERS

175

tury they became modified into a ect which took the name of
Paulicians, it is aid, from an Armenian enthuiat named Paulus,
and they eem to have till further provoked the hatred of the
church by making themelves, in their own interets, the advocates
of freedom of thought and of eccleiatical reform. If hitory be to
be believed, their Chritian feelings cannot have been very trong,
for, unable to reit perecution within the empire, they retired into
the territory held by the Saracens, and united with the enemies of
the Cros in making war upon the Chritian Greeks. Others
ought refuge in the country of the Bulgarians, who had very
generally embraced their doctrines, which oon pread thence wetward. In their progres through Germany to France they were
known bet as Bulgarians, from the name of the country whence
they came; in their way through Italy they retained their name of
Paulicians, corrupted in the Latin of that period of the middle ages
into Populicani, Poplicani, Publicani, &c; and, in French, into
Popelican, Poblican, Policien, and various other forms which it is
unneceary to enumerate. They began to caue alarm in France
at the beginning of the eleventh century, in the reign of king
Robert, when, under the name of Popelicans, they had etablihed themelves in the diocee of Orleans, in which city a council
was held againt them in 1022, and thirteen individuals were
condemned to be burnt. The name appears to have lated into
the thirteenth century, but the name of Bulgarians became more
permanent, and, in its French form of Bolgres, Bougres, or
Bogres, became the popular name for heretics in general. With
thee hereies, through the more enual parts of Gnoticim and
Manichim, there appears to be left hardly room for doubt that
the ancient phallic worhip, probably omewhat modified, and under
the hadow of ecret rites, was imported into Wetern Europe; for,
if we make allowance for the willing exaggerations of religious
hatred, and conequent popular prejudice, the general conviction

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ON THE WORSHIP OF THE

that thee ectarians had rites and practices of a licentious character

appears too trong to be entirely diregarded, nor does it preent
anything contrary to what we know of the tate of medival
ociety, or to the facts which have already been brought forward
in the preent eay. Thee early ects appear to have profeed
doctrines rather cloely reembling modern communim, including,
like thoe of their earlier ectarian predeceors, the community of
women; and this community naturally implies the abolition of
ditinctive affinities. One of the writers againt the medival
heretics aures us that there were many profeed Chritians, both
men and women, who feared no more to go to their iter, or on
or daughter, or brother, or nephew or niece, or kin or relation,
than to their own wife or huband.1 They were accued, beyond
this, of indulging in unnatural vices, and this charge was o
generally believed, that the name of Bulgarus, or heretic, became
equivalent with Sodomite, and hence came the modern French
word bougre, and its Englih repreentatives.
In the coure of the eleventh century the ectarians appeared in
Italy under the name of Patarini, Paterini, or Patrini, which is aid
to have been taken from an old quarter of the city of Milan named
Pataria, in which they firt held their aemblies. A contemporary
Englihman, Walter Mapes, gives us a ingular account of the
Paterini and their ecret rites. Some apotates from this herey,
he tells us, had related that, at the firt watch of night, they
met in their ynagogues, cloed carefully the doors and windows,
and waited in ilence, until a black cat of extraordinary bignes
decended among them by a rope, and that, as oon as they aw
1

Et hc et caua quare multi credentes, tam viri quam mulieres, non timent
magis ad ororem uam, et filium ive filiam, fratrem, neptem, conanguineam, et
cognatam accedere, quam ad uxorem et virum prorium.
Reinerus, Contra
Waldenes, in Greterus, Scriptores contra Sectam Waldenium, Greteri Opera, tom.
xii, p. 33.

GENERATIVE POWERS

177

this trange animal, they put out the lights, and muttering through
their teeth intead of inging their hymns, felt their way to this
object of their worhip, and kied it, according to their feelings of
humility or pride, ome on the feet, ome under the tail, and others
on the genitals, after which each eized upon the nearet peron of a
different ex, and had carnal intercoure as long as he was able.
Their leaders taught them that the mot perfect degree of charity was
to do or uffer in this manner whatever a brother or iter might
deire and ak, and hence, ays Mapes, they were called Paterini,
a patiendo.1 Other writers have uggeted a different derivation,
but the one firt given appears to be that mot generally accepted.
The different ects or congregations in Italy and the outh, indeed,
appear generally to have taken their names from the towns in
which they had their eats or head-quarters. Thus, thoe who
were eated at Bagnols, in the department of the Gard, in the
outh of France, were called by the Latin writers Bagnolenes; the
ame writers give the name of Concordenes, or Concorezenes,
to the heretics of Concordia in Lombardy; and the city of Albi,
now the capital of the department of the Tarn, gave its name
to the ect of the Albigenes, or Albigeois, the mot extenive
1

Reipuerunt autem multi, reverique ad fidem enarrant quod circa primum

noctis vigiliam, clauis eorum januis, hotiis, et fenetris, expectantes in ingulis
inagogis uis ingul edeant in ilentio famili, decenditque per funem appenum in
medio mir magnitudinis murelegus niger, quem cum vidernet, luminibus extinctis,
hymnos non decantant, non ditincte dicunt, ed ruminant affertis dentibus, acceduntque ubi dominum uum viderint palpantes, inventumque deoculantur quique
ecundum quod ampliore ervet inania humilius, quidam pedes, plurimi ub cauda,
plerique pudenda, et quai a loco ftoris accepta licentia pruriginis, quique ibi
proximum aut proximam arripit, commicenturque quantum quique lubidrium
extendere prvalet. Dicunt etiam magitri docentque novitios caritatem ee perfectam agere vel pati quod deideraverit et petierit frater aut oror, extinguere cilicet
inviciem ardentes, et a patiendo Paterini dicuntur. Mapes, De Nugis Curialium,
p. 61.

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ON THE WORSHIP OF THE

of them all, which pread over the whole of the outh of France. A
rich enthuiat of the city of Lyons, named Waldo, who had collected
his wealth by mercantile puruits, and who lived in the twelfth century, old his property and ditributed it among the poor, and he
became the head of a ect which profeed poverty as one of its
tenets, and received from the name of its founder that of Waldenes
or Vaudois. From their poeion of voluntary poverty they are
ometimes poken of by the name of Pauperes de Lugduno, the
paupers of Lyons. Contemporaries peak of the Waldenes as
being generally poor ignorant people; yet they pread widely
over that part of France and into the valleys of Switzerland, and
became o celebrated, that at lat nearly all the medival heretics
were uually claed under the head of Waldenes. Another ect,
uually claed with the Waldenes, were called Cathari. The Novatians, a ect which prang up in the church in the third century,
aumed alo the name of Cathari, as laying claim to extraordinary
purity (kaqaro), but there is no reaon for believing that the ancient
ect was revived in the Cathari of the later period, or even that
the two words are identical. The name of the latter ect is
often pelt Gazari, Gazeri, Gaari, and Chazari; and, as they were
more epecially a German ect, it is uppoed to have been the
origin of the German words Ketzer and Ketzerie, which became
the common German terms for a heretic and herey. It was
uggeted by Henchenius that this name was derived from the
German Katze or Ketze, a cat, in alluion to the common report
that they aembled at night like cats, or ghots;1 or the
cat may have been an alluion to the belief that in their ecret
meetings they worhipped that animal. This ect mut have been
very ignorant and upertitious if it be true which ome old writers
1

Propter nocturnas coitiones, a voce Germanica caters, id et, feles eu lemures.

See Ducagne, ub v. Cathari.

GENERATIVE POWERS

179

tell us, that they believed that the un was a demon, and the moon
a female called Heva,1 and that thee two had exual intercoure
every month. Like the other heretical ects, thee Cathari were
accued of indulging in unnatural vices, and the German words
Ketzerie and Ketzer were eventually ued to ignify odomy and
a odomite, as well as herey and a heretic.
The Waldenes generally, taking all the ects which people clas
under this name, including alo the older Bulgari and Publicani,
were charged with holding ecret meetings, at which the devil
appeared to them in the hape, according to ome, of a goat, whom
they worhipped by offering the kis in ano, after which they
indulged in promicuous exual intercoure. Some believed that
they were conveyed to thee meetings by unearthly means. The
Englih chronicler, Ralph de Coggehall, tells a trange tory of
the means of locomotion poeed by thee heretics. In the city
of Rheims, in France, in the time of St. Louis, a handome young
woman was charged with herey, and carried before the archbihop,
in whoe preence he avowed her opinions, and confeed that he
had received them from a certain old woman of that city. The old
woman was then arreted, convicted of being an obtinate heretic,
and condemned to the take. When they were preparing to carry
her out to the fire, he uddenly turned to the judges and aid, Do
you think that you are able to burn me in your fire? I care neither
for it nor for you! And taking a ball of thread, he threw it out at
a large window by which he was tanding, holding the end of the
thread in her hands, and exclaiming, Take it! (recipe). In an
intant, in the ight of all who were there, the old woman was
lifted from the ground, and, following the ball of thread, was carried into the air nobody knew where; and the archbihops officers
1

Bonacurus, Vita Hreticorum, in DAchery, Spicilegium, tom. i, p. 209. This

book is conidered to have been written about the year 1190.

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ON THE WORSHIP OF THE

burnt the young woman in her place.1 It was the belief of mot of
the old ects of this clas, as well as of the more ancient Pagans
from whom they were derived, that thoe who were fully initiated
into their mot ecret myteries became endowed with powers and
faculties above thoe poeed by ordinary individuals. A lit of
the errors of the Waldenes, printed in the Reliqui Antiqu, from
an Englih manucript, enumerates among them that they met to
indulge in promicuous exual intercoure, and held pervere
doctrines in accordance with it; that, in ome parts, the devil
appeared to them in the form of a cat, and that each kied him
under the tail; and that in other parts they rode to the place of
meeting upon a taff anointed with a certain unguent, and were
conveyed thither in a moment of time. The writer adds that,
in the parts where he lived, thee practices had not been known to
exit for a long time.2
Our old chroniclers exult over the mall ucces which attended
the efforts of thee heretics from France and the South to introduce
themelves into our iland.3 Thee ects, with ecret and obcene
1

Radulphus Cogehalenfis, In the Ampliima Collectio of Martene and Durand.

On the offences with which the different ects compried under the name of
Waldenes were charged, ee Greter's Scriptores contra Sectam Waldenium, which
will be found in the twelfth volume of his works, Bonacurus, Vita Haereticorum, in
the firt volume of D'Achery's Spicilegium, and the work of a Carthuian monk in
Martene and Durand, Ampliima Collectio, vol. vi, col. 57 et eq.
2
Wright and Halliwell, Reliqu Antiqu, vol. i, p. 247.
Item, habent inter e mixtum abominabile, et pervera dogmata ad hoc apta, ed
non reperitur quod abutantur in partibus itis a multis temporibis.
Item, in aliquibus aliis partibus apparet eis dmon ub pecie et figura cati, quem
ub cauda igillatim oculantur.
Item, in aliis partibus uper unum baculum certo unguento perunctum equitant, et
ad local aignata ubi voluerint congregatur in momento dum volunt. Sed
ita in itis partibus non inveniuntur.
3
See, for example, Guil. Neubrigenis, De Rebus Anglicis, lib. ii, c. 13, and
Walter Mapes, de Nugis Curialium, p. 62.

GENERATIVE POWERS

181

rites, appear, indeed, to have found mot favour among the peoples
who poke a dialect derived from the Latin, and this we might
naturally be led to expect, for the fact of the preervation of the
Latin tongue is itelf a proof of the greater force of the Roman
element in the ociety, that from which thee ecret rites appear to
have been chiefly derived. It is a curious circumtance, in connection with this ubject, that the popular oaths and exclamations
among the people peaking the languages derived from the Romans
are almot all compoed of the names of the objects of this phallic
worhip, an entire contrat to the practice of the Teutonic tribes
the vulgar oaths of the people peaking Neo-Latin dialects are
obcene, thoe of the German race are profane. We have een
how the women of Antwerp, who, though perhaps they did not
peak the Roman dialect, appear to have been much influenced by
Roman entiments, made their appeal to their genius Ters. When
a Spaniard is irritated or uddenly excited, he exclaims, Carajo!
(the virile member) or Cojones! (the teticles). An Italian, under
imilar circumtances, ues the exclamation Cazzo! (the virile
member). The Frenchman apotrophizes the act, Foutre! The
female member, cono with the Spaniard, conno with the Italian, and
con with the Frenchman, was and is ued more generally as an expreion of contempt, which is alo the cae with the teticles, couillons, in Frenchthoe who have had experience in the old days of
diligence travelling will remember how uual it was for the
driver, when the hores would not go quick enough, to addres the
leader in uch terms as, Va, donc, vieux con! We have no uch
words ued in this manner in the Germanic languages, with the
exception, perhaps, of the German Potz! and Potztauend! and
the Englih equivalent, Pox! which lat is gone quite out of ue.
There was an attempt among the fahionables of our Elizabethan
age of literature, to introduce the Italian cazzo under the form of
cato, and the French foutre under that of foutra, but thee were

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ON THE WORSHIP OF THE

mere affectations of a moment, and were o little in accord with

our national entiments that they oon diappeared.
The earliet accounts of a ect which held ecret meetings for
celebrating obcene rites is found in France. It appears that, early
in the eleventh century, there was in the city of Orleans a ociety
coniting of members of both exes, who aembled at certain
times in a houe there, for the purpoes which are decribed rather
fully in a document found in the cartulary of the abbey of St.
Pre at Chartres. As there tated, they went to the meeting,
each carrying in the hand a lighted lamp, and they began by
chaunting the names of demons in the manner of a litany, until a
demon uddenly decended among them in the form of an animal.
This was no ooner een, than they all extinguihed their lamps,
and each man took the firt female he put his hand upon, and had
exual intercoure with her, without regard if he were his mother,
or his iter, or a conecrated nun; and this intercoure, we are
told, was looked upon by them as an act of holines and religion.
The child which was the fruit of this intercoure was taken on the
eighth day and purified by fire, in the manner of the ancient
Pagans,o ays the contemporary writer of this document,it
was burnt to ahes in a large fire made for that purpoe. The
ahes were collected with great reverence, and preerved, to be
adminitered to members of the ociety who were dying, jut as
good Chritians received the viaticum. It is added that there was
uch a virtue in thee ahes, that an individual who had once tated
them would hardly ever after be able to turn his mind from that
herey and take the path of truth.1
1

Congregabantur iquidem certis noctibus in domo denominata, inguli lucernas

tenentes in manibus, et, ad intar letani, dmonum nomina declamabant, donec
ubito dmonum in imilitudine cuiulibet betiol inter eos viderent decendere.
Qui, tatim ut viibilis illa videbatur viio, omnibus extinctis luminaribus, quamprimum quique poterat, mulierum qu ad manum ibi veniebat ad abuntendum arri-

GENERATIVE POWERS

183

Whatever degree of truth there may have been in this tory, it

mut have been greatly exaggerated; but the conviction of the
exitence of ecret ocieties of this character during the middle
ages appears to have been o trong and o generally held, that we
mut heitate in rejecting it. Perhaps we may take the leaden
tokens already decribed, and repreented in one of our plates,1 as
evidence of the exitence of uch ocieties, for thee curious objects
appear to admit of no other atisfactory explanation than that of
having been in ue in ecret clubs of a very impure character.
It has been already remarked that people oon eized upon accuations of this kind as excues for perecution, religious and political, and we meet with a curious example in the earlier half of the
thirteenth century. The ditrict of Steding, in the north of
Germany, now known as Oldenburg, was at the beginning of the
thirteenth century inhabited by a people who lived in turdy independence, but the archbihops of Bremen eem to have claimed
ome ort of feudal uperiority over them, which they reited by
force. The archbihop, in revenge, declared them heretics, and
proclaimed a cruade againt them. Cruades againt heretics were
then in fahion, for it was jut at the time of the great war againt the
Albigeois. The Stedingers maintained their independence uccesfully for ome years. In 1232 and 1233, the pope iued two
piebat, ine peccati repectu et utrum mater aut oror aut monacha haberetur, pro
anctitate ac religione ejus concubitus ab illis timabatur. Ex quo purciimo concubity infans generatus octava die in medio eorum copioo igne acceno piabatur per
ignem, more antiquorum paganorum, et ic in igne cremabatur. Cujus cinis tanta
veneratione colligebatur atque cutodiebatur, ut Chritiana religioitas corpus Chriti
cutodiri olet, gris dandum de hoc eculo exituris ad viaticum. Inerat enim tanta
vis diabolic fraudis in ipo cinere, ut quicumque de prfata hrei imbutus fuiet, et
de eodem cinere quamvis umendo parum prlibaviet, vix unquam potea de eadem
hrei greum mentis ad viam veritatis dirigere valeret. Gurard, Cartulaire de
lAbbate de Saint-Pre de Chartres, vol. i, p. 112.
1
See before, p. 146, and Plate XXXIII.

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ON THE WORSHIP OF THE

bulls againt the offending Stedingers, in both of which he charges

them with various heathen and magical practices, but in the econd
be enters more fully into details. Thee Stedingers, the pope
(Gregory IX.) tells us, performed the following ceremonies at the
initiation of a new convert into their ect. When the novice was
introduced, a toad preented itelf, which all who were preent kied,
ome on the poteriors, and others on the mouth, when they drew
its tongue and pittle into their own mouths. Sometimes this toad
appeared of only the natural ize, but ometimes it was as big as a
gooe or duck, and often its ize was that of an oven. As the novice
proceeded, he encountered a man who was extraordinarily pale, with
large black eyes, and whoe body was o wated that his fleh eemed
to be all gone, leaving nothing but the kin hanging on his bones.
The novice kied this peronage, and found him as cold as ice;
and after this kis all traces of the Catholic faith vanihed from his
heart. Then they all at down to a banquet; and when this was
over, there tepped out of a tatue, which tood in their place of
meeting, a black cat, as large as a moderate ized dog, which
advanced backwards to them, with its tail turned up. The novice
firt, then the mater, and then all the others in their turns, kied
the cat under the tail, and then returned to their places, where
they remained in ilence, with their heads inclined towards the cat.
Then the mater uddenly pronounced the words Spare us!
which he addreed to the next in order; and the third anwered,
We know it, lord; and a fourth added, We ought to obey. At
the cloe of this ceremony the lights were extinguihed, and each
man took the firt woman who came to hand, and had carnal
intercoure with her. When this was over, the candles were again
lighted, and the performers reumed their places. Then out of a
dark corner of the room came a man, the upper part of whom,
above the loins, was bright and radiant as the un, and illuminated
the whole room, while his lower parts were rough and hairy like a

GENERATIVE POWERS

185

cat. The mater then tore off a bit of the garment of the novice,
and aid to the hining peronage, Mater, this is given to me,
and I give it again to thee. The mater replied, Thou hat
erved me well, and thou wilt erve me more and better; what
thou hat given me I give unto thy keeping. When he had aid
this, the hining man vanihed, and the meeting broke up. Such
were the ecret ceremonies of the Stedingers, according to the deliberate tatement of Pope Gregory IX, who alo charges them with
offering direct worhip to Lucifer.1
But the mot remarkable, and at the ame time the mot celebrated, affair in which thee accuations of ecret and obcene ceremonies were brought to bear, was that of the trial and diolution
of the order of the knights templars. The charges againt the
knights templars were not heard of for the firt time at the period
of their diolution, but for many years it had been whipered abroad
that they had ecret opinions and practices of an objectionable
character. At length the wealth of the order, which was very
great in France, excited the cupidity of King Philippe IV, and it
was reolved to proceed againt them, and depoil them of their
poeions. The grounds for thee proceedings were furnihed by
two templars, one a Gacon, the other an Italian, who were evidently men of bad character, and who, having been imprioned for
ome offence or offences, made a confeion of the ecret practices
of their order, and upon thee confeions certain articles of accuation were drawn up. Thee appear to have been enlarged
afterwards. In 1307, Jacques de Molay, the grand mater of the
order, was treacherouly allured to Paris by the king, and there
eized and thrown into prion. Others, imilarly committed to
prion in all parts of the kingdom, were examined individually on
1

Baronius, Annales Eccleiatici, tom. xxi, p. 89, where the two bulls are printed,
and where the details of the hitory of the Stedingers will be found.

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ON THE WORSHIP OF THE

the charges urged againt them, and many confeed, while others
obtinately denied the whole. Amongt thee charges were the
following: 1. That on the admiion of a new member of the
order, after having taken the oath of obedience, he was obliged to
deny Chrit, and to pit, and ometimes alo to trample, upon the
cros; 2. That they then received the kis of the templar, who
officiated as receiver, on the mouth, and afterwards were obliged to
kis him in ano, on the navel, and ometimes on the generative
member; 3. That, in depite of the Saviour, they ometimes worhipped a cat, which appeared amongt them in their ecret conclave;
4. That they practied unnatural vice together; 5. That they
had idols in their different provinces; in the form of a head, having
ometimes three faces, ometimes two, or only one, and ometimes
a bare kull, which they called their aviour, and believed its influence to be exerted in making them rich, and in making flowers
grow and the earth germinate; and 6. That they always wore about
their bodies a cord which had been rubbed againt the head, and
which erved for their protection.1
The ceremonies attending the reception into the order were o
univerally acknowledged, and are decribed in terms which have o
much the appearance of truthfulnes, that we can hardly altogether
dibelieve in them. The denial was to be repeated thrice, no doubt in
imitation of St. Peter. It appears to have been conidered as a trial of
the trength of the obedience they had jut worn to the order, and
they all pleaded that they had obeyed with reluctance, that they had
denied with the mouth but not with the heart; and that they had
intentionally pit beide the cros and not upon it. In one intance
the cros was of ilver, but it was more commonly of bras, and till
more frequently of wood; on one occaion the cros painted in a
mial was ued, and the cros on the templars mantle often erved
1

Procs des Templiers, edited by M. Michelet, vol. i, pp. 90-92.

GENERATIVE POWERS

187

the purpoe. When one Nicholas de Compiegne proteted againt

thee two acts, all the templars who were preent told him that he
mut do them, for it was the cutom of the order.1 Baldwin de St.
Jut at firt refued, but the receptor warned him that if he perited
in his refual, it would be the wore for him (aliter male accideret
ibi), and then he was o much alarmed that his hair tood on end. 2
Jacques de Trecis aid that he did it under fear, becaue his receptor
tood by with a great naked word in his hand.3 Another, Geoffrey
de Thatan, having imilarly refued, his receptor told him that they
were points of the order, and that if he did not comply, he
hould be put in uch a place that he would never ee his own feet.4
And another who refued to utter the words of denial was thrown
into prion and kept there until vepers, and when he aw that he
was in peril of death, he yielded, and did whatever the receptor
required of him, but he adds that he was o troubled and frightened
that he had forgotten whether he pat on the cros or not.5 Gui de
la Roche, a prebyter of the diocee of Limoges, aid that he
uttered the denial with great weeping.6 Another, when he denied
Chrit, was all tupified and troubled, and it eemed as if he
were enchanted, not knowing what counel to take, as they
threatened him heavily if he did not do it.7 When Etienne de
1

Procs des Templiers, ii, 418.

Et tunc ipe tetis fuit magis attonitus, et orripilvait, id et eriguere pili ui.
Procs, i, 242.
3
Procs, i, 254.
4
Subjunxit idem receptor quod ita erant de punctis ordinis . . . . ubjiciens
dictum prceptorem ibi dixie quod, nii prdicta faceret, poneretur in tali loco
quod nunquam videret pedes uos. Procs, i, pp. 222, 223. See alo, i, 321.
5
Et tunc dictus recipiens pouit eum in quodam carcere, in quo tetit uque ad
veperas; et cum vidiet quo eet in periculo mortis, petivit quod exiret, et faceret
voluntatem ejus. Procs, ii, 284.
6
Cum magno fletu. Procs, ii, 219.
7
It ipe fuit totus tupefactus et turbatus, et videbatur ibi quai quod eet in2

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ON THE WORSHIP OF THE

Dijon imilarly refued to deny his Saviour, the preceptor told him
that he mut do it becaue he had worn to obey his orders, and
then he denied with his mouth, he aid, but not with his heart;
and he did this with great grief, and he adds that when it was
done, he was o concience-truck that he wihed he had been
outide at his liberty, even though it had been with the los of one
of his arms.1 When Odo de Dompierre, with great reluctance, at
length pat on the cros, he aid that he did it with uch bitter-nes of
heart that he would rather have had his two thighs broken.2
Michelet, in the account of the proceedings againt the templars in
his Hitory of France, offers an ingenious explanation of thee
ceremonies of initiation which gives them a typical meaning. He
imagines that they were borrowed from the figurative myteries and
rites of the early Church, and uppoes that, in this pirit, the candidate for admiion into the order was firt preented as a inner
and renegade, in which character, after the example of Peter, he
was made to deny Chrit. This denial, he uggets, was a ort of
pantomime in which the novice expreed his reprobate tate by
pitting on the cros; after which he was tripped of his profane
clothing, received, through the kis of the order, into a higher tate
of faith, and clothed with the garb of its holines. If this were the
cae, the true meaning of the performance mut have been very
oon forgotten.
This was epecially the cae with the kis. According to the
cantatus, neciens ibi ipi conulere, cum comminarentur eidem graviter nii noc
faceret. Procs, i, 291.
1
Preceptor repondit ei quod oportebat eum abnegare, quia juraverat obedire
prceptis uis; et tetis abnegavit ore, icut dixit, et non corde; et hoc fecit cum
magno dolore, et voluiet, icut dixit, tunc fuie extra in libertate ua cum uno olo
brachio, quia faciebat contra concientiam uam.
2
Adjiciens e cum magna cordis amaritudine hoc fecie, et quod tunc magic voluiet habuie crura fracta, quam facere prdicta, et fuit per aliquod patium, icut
dixit, reluctans priuquam hoc faceret. Prces, i, 307.

GENERATIVE POWERS

189

articles of accuation, one of the ceremonies of initiation required

the novice to kis the receiver on the mouth, on the anus, or the
end of the pine, on the navel, and on the virga virilis.1 The lat
is not mentioned in the examinations, but the others are decribed
by o many of the witnees that we cannot doubt of their truth.
From the depoitions of many of the templars examined, it would
appear that the uual order was to kis the receptor firt in ano,
next on the navel, and then on the mouth.2 The firt of thee was an
act which would, of coure, be repulive to mot people, and the
practice aroe gradually of only kiing the end of the pine, or, as
it was called in medival Latin, in anca. Bertrand de Somorens,
of the diocee of Amiens, decribing a reception at which more than
one new member was admitted, ays that the receiver next told
them that they mut kis him in ano; but, intead of kiing him
there, they lifted up his clothes and kied him on the pine.3 The
receptor, it appears, had the power of remitting this kis when he
judged there was a ufficient reaon. Etienne de Dijon, a prebyter
of the diocee of Langres, aid that, when he was admitted into
the order, the preceptor told him that he ought, according to the
obervances of the order, to kis his receiver in ano, but that in
conideration of his being a prebyter, he would pare him and
remit this kis.4 Pierre de Grumenil, alo a prebyter, when called
1

Item, quod in receptione fratrum dicti ordinis, vel circa, interdum recipiens et
receptus aliquando e deoculabantur in ore, in umbiloco eu in ventre nudo, et in ano
eu pina dori . . . . aliquando in virga virili. Procs, i, 91.
2
See the Procs, ii, 286, 362, 364.
3
Deinde prcepit eis quod ocularentur eum in ano; ipi tamen non fuerunt eum
inibi oculati, ed, elevatis pannis, prdictum receptorem fuerunt oculati in pinda
dori nuda, et hoc fecerunt, quia dixit eis quod erat de punctis ordinis. Procs, ii,
60. Another aid, on another occaion, Prcepit etiam dictus receptor eis, quod
ocularentur eum in ano et in umbilico, et ipi oculati fuerunt in anca et umbilico
uper carnem nudam. Ib. ii, 159.
4
Item dixit quod, prdictis peractis, dictus prceptor dixit ei quod ecundam ob-

190

ON THE WORSHIP OF THE

upon to perform this act, refued, and was allowed to kis his receiver on the navel only.1 A prebyter named Ado de Dompierre
was excued for the ame reaon,2 as well as many others. Another
templar, named Pierre de Lanhiac, aid that, at his reception into
the order, his receptor told him that he mut kis him in ano,
becaue that was one of the points of the order, but that, at the
earnet upplication of his uncle, who was preent, and mut therefore have been a knight of the order, he obtained a remiion of
this kis.3
Another charge againt the templars was till more diguting.
It was aid that they procribed all intercoure with women, and
one of the men examined tated, which was alo confeed by others,
that his receptor told him that, from that hour, he was never to
enter a houe in which a woman lay in labour, nor to take part as
godfather at the baptim of any child,4 but he added that he had
broken his oath, for he had aited at the baptim of everal children while till in the order, which he had left about a year before
the eizure of the templars, for the love of a woman of whom he
had become enamoured. On the other hand, thoe who replied to
the interrogatory of the king's officers in this proces, were all but
unanimous in the avowal that on entering the order they received
ervantias ordinis eorum recepti debebant ocurali in ano receptores, quia tamen idem
tetis erat prebyter, parcebat ei et remittebat ibi dictum oculum. Procs, i, 302.
1
Deinde prcepit quod ocularetur eum in ano, et cum ipe tetis nollet hoc facere,
prcepit quod ocularetur eum altem in umbilico uper carnem, nudam, et fuit eum
ibi oculatus. Procs, ii, 24.
2
Procs, i, 307.
3
Pot qu dixit eidem quod ecundum dicta puncta debebat eum oculari in ano,
et prcepit quod ibi ocularetur eum, ed, avunculo ipius tetis flexis genibus intatne,
remiit ei oculum memoratum. Procs, ii, 2.
4
Dixit etiam quod ab illa hora in antea non intraret domum in qua aliqua mulier
jaceret in puerperio, nec uciperet aliquem nec teneret in acro fonte. Procs, i,
255.

GENERATIVE POWERS

191

the permiion to commit odomy amongt themelves. Two or

three profeed not to have undertood this injunction in a bad
ene, but to have uppoed that it only meant that, when the
brethren were hort of beds, each was to be ready to lend half of his
bed to his fellow.1 One of them, named Gillet de Encraye, aid
that he at firt uppoed it to be meant innocently, but that his receptor immediately undeceived him, by repeating it in les covert
terms, at which he was himelf o horrified that he wihed himelf
far away from the chapel in which the ceremony took place.2 A
great number of templars tated that, after the kies of initiation,
they were informed that if they felt moved by natural heat, they
might call any one of the brethren to their relief, and that they ought
to relieve their brethren when appealed to under the ame circumtances.3 This appears to have been the mot common form of
the injunction. In one or two intances the receiver is decribed as
adding that this was an act of contempt towards the other ex,
which may perhaps be conidered as howing that the ceremony
was derived from ome of the myteries of the trange ects which
appeared in the earlier ages of Chritianity. Jean de St. Loup,
who held the office of mater of the houe of templars at Soiiac,
aid that, on his reception into the order, he received the injunction
1

Pot qu immediates prcepit idem frater P. ipi teti quod i aliquis frater dicti
ordinis vellet jacere ecum, non deberet recuare. Ipe tamen tetis, ut dixit, non
intellexit quod hoc diceret ut jacentes inimul aliquod peccatum committerentur, ed,
i deficeret lectus alteri, quod reciperet eum in lecto uo honeto. Procs, i, 262. See
again, i. 568.
2
Sed dictus frater Johannes ubjunxit et declaravit quod carnaliter poterant commiceri, de quo ipe tetis fuit multum turbatus, ut dixit, et multum deideravit, ut
dixit, quod tunc eet extra portam dict capell. Procs, i, 250.
3
Quo facto, dixit ibi recipiens quod i aliquis calor naturalis moveret eum ad libidinem exercendam, faceret ecum jacere unum de fratribus uis et haberet rem cum
eo, et permitteret hoc idem imiliter ibi fieri ab aliis fratribus. Procs, ii, 284. Cf.
pp. 287, 288.

192

ON THE WORSHIP OF THE

not to have intercoure with women, but, if he could not perevere

in continence, he might have the ame intercoure with men;1 and
others were told that it would be better to atisfy their lut among
themelves, whereby the order would ecape evil report, than if they
went to women.2 But although the almot unanimity of the confeions leave hardly room for a doubt that uch injunctions were given,
yet on the other hand they are equally unanimous in denying that
thee injunctions were carried into practice. Almot every templar,
as the quetions were put to him, after admitting that he was told
that he might indulge in uch vice with the other brethren, aerted
that he had never done this, and that he had never been aked to do o
by any of them. Theobald de Taverniac, whoe name tells us that
he came from the outh, denied indignantly the exitence of uch a
vice among their order but in terms which themelves told not
very much in favour of the morality of the templars in other
repects. He aid that, as to the crime of odomy, he believed
the charge to be totally untrue, becaue they could have very
handome and elegant women when they liked, and that they did
have them frequently when they were rich and powerful enough
to afford it, and that on this account he and other brothers of the
order were removed from their houes, as he aid.3 We have an
implied acknowledgment that the templars did not entirely
1

Dixit etiam per juramentum uum quod fuit ibi injunctum per eos quod non
heberet rem cum mulieribus, ed, i continere non poet, commiceret e carnaliter
cum hominibus. Procs, 287. Cf. ii, 288, 294, etc.
2
Potea unus prdictorum ervientium dixit eis quod, i haberent calorem et motus
carnales, poterant ad invicem carnaliter commiceri, i volebant, quia melius erat
quod hoc facerent inter e, ne ordo vituperaretur, quam i accederent ad mulieres.
Procs, i, 386.
3
De crimine odomitico, repondit e nihil cire, nec credere contenta in ipis articulis ee vera, quia poterant habere mulieres pulchras et bene comptas, et frequenter
eas habebant, cum eent divites et potentes, et ex hoc ipe et alii fratres ipius ordinis
amoti fuerant a uis domibus, ut dixit. Procs, i, 326.

GENERATIVE POWERS

193

neglect the other ex in a tatement quoted by Du Puy that, if a

child were born from the intercoure between a templar and a virgin,
they roated it, and made an unguent of its fat, with which they
anointed their idol.1 Thoe who confeed to the exitence of the
vice were o few, and their evidence o indefinite or indirect,
that they are deerving of no conideration. One had heard
that ome brethren beyond the ea had committed unnatural
vices.2 Another, Hugh de Faure, had heard ay that two
brothers of the order, dwelling in the Chateau Pelerin, had
been charged with odomy; that, when this reached the ears of
the mater, he gave orders for their arret, and that one had been
killed in the attempt to ecape, while the other was taken and imprioned for life.3 Peter Brocart, a templar of Paris, declared that
one of the order, one night, called him and committed odomy
with him; adding that he had not refued, becaue he conidered
himelf bound to obedience by the rules of the order.4 The evidence is decidedly trong againt the prevalence of uch a vice
among the templars, and the alleged permiion was perhaps a mere
form of words, which concealed ome occult meaning unknown to
the mas of the templars themelves. We are not inclined to reject
altogether the theory of the baron von Hammer-Prgtall, that
the templars had adopted ome of the myterious tenets of the
eatern Gnotics.
1

Prterea, i ex templarii coitu infans ex puella virgine nacebatur, hunc igni

torrebant; exque eliquata inde pinguedine uum imulachrum decoris gratia ungebant. Robert Gaguin, ap. Du Puy, Hitoire de lOrdre Militaire des Templiers,
p. 24.
2
Procs, ii, 213.
3
Audivit dici quod duo fratres ordinis, commorantes in Catro Peregrini, erant
de crimine odomitico diamati; et cum hoc perveniet ad magitrum, mandavit eos
capi, et unus illorum fuit interfectus cum fugeret, et alter fuit perpetuo carcari mancipatus. Procs, ii, 223.
4
Procs, ii, 294.

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ON THE WORSHIP OF THE

In regard to the ecret idolatry with which the templars were

charged, it is a ubject involved in great obcurity. The cat is but
little poken of in the depoitions. Some Italian knights confeed
that they had been preent at a ecret chapter of twelve knights
held at Brindii, when a grey cat uddenly appeared amongt them,
and they worhipped it. At Nimes, ome templars declared that
they had been preent at a chapter at Montpellier, when the demon
appeared to them in the form of a cat, and promied them worldly
properity, but they appear to have been viionaries not to be
truted, for they tated that at the ame time devils appeared in the
hape of women. An Englih templar, examined in London, depoed that in England they did not adore the cat, or the idol, but
that he had heard it poitively tated that the cat and the idol were
worhipped by the templars in parts beyond ea.1 A olitary
Frenchhman, examined in Paris, Gillet de Encreyo, poke of the
cat, and aid that he had heard, but had forgotten who were his
informants, and did not believe them, that beyond ea a certain cat
had appeared to the templars in their battles.2 The cat belongs to
a lower clas of popular upertitions, perhaps, than that of the
templars.
This, however, was not the cae with the idol, which was generally decribed as the figure of a human head, and appears only to
have been hown in the more ecret chapter meetings on particular occaions. Many of the templars examined before the commiioners, aid that they had heard this idol head poken of as
exiting in the order, and others depoed to having een it. It was
generally decribed as being about the natural ize of a mans head,
1

Repondit quod in Anglia non adorant catum nec idolum, quod ipe ciat; ed
audviit bene dici, quod adorant catum et idolum in partibus tranmarinis. Wilkins,
Concilla, vol. ii, p. 384.
2
Audivit tamen ab aliquibus dici, de quibus non recordatur, quod quidam catus
apparebat ultar mare in prliis eorum, quod tamen non credit. Procs, i, 251.

GENERATIVE POWERS

195

with a very fierce-looking face and a beard, the latter ometimes

white. Different witnees varied as to the material of which it was
made, and, indeed, in various other particulars, which lead us to
uppoe that each houe of the templars, where the idol exited, had
its own head, and that they varied in form. They agreed generally
that this head was an object of worhip. One templar depoed that
he was preent at a chapter of the order in Paris, when the head
was brought in, but he was unable to decribe it at all, for, when
he aw it, he was o truck with terror that he hardly knew where
he was.1 Another, Ralph de Gyi, who held the office of receptor
for the province of Champagne, aid that he had een the head in
many chapters; that, when it was introduced, all preent threw
themelves on the ground and adored it: and when aked to decribe it, he aid, on his oath, that its countenance was o terrible,
that it eemed to him to be the figure of a demonuing the French
word un mauf, and that as often as he aw it, o great a fear took
poeion of him, that he could hardly look upon it without fear
and trembling.2 Jean Taylafer aid that, at his reception into the
order, his attention was directed to a head upon the altar in the
chapel, which he was told he mut worhip; he decribed it as of
the natural ize of a mans head, but could not decribe it more
particularly, except that he thought it was of a reddih colour.3
Raynerus de Larchent aw the head twice in a chapter, epecially
once in Paris, where it had a beard, and they adored and kied it,
1

Ipe tetis, vio dicto capite, fuit adeo perterritus quod quai neciret ubi eet.
Procs, i, 399.
2
Interrogatus cujus figr et, dixit per juramentum uum quod ita eti terriblis
figur et apectus quod videbatur ibi quod eet figura cujudam dmonis, dicens
Gallice dun mau, et quod quociencunque videbat eum tantus timor eum invadebat, quod vix poterat illud repicere nii cum maximo timore et tremore. Procs,
ii, 364.
3
Procs, i, 190.

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ON THE WORSHIP OF THE

and called it their aviour.1 Guillermus de Herbaleyo aw the

head with its beard, at two chapters. He thought it was of ilver
gilt, and wood inide. He aw the brethren adore it, and he went
through the form of adoring it himelf, but he did it not in his
heart.2 According to one witnes, Deodatus Jaffet, a knight
from the outh of France who had been received at Pedenat,
the receptor howed him a head, or idol, which appeared to
have three faces, and aid to him, You mut adore this as your
aviour, and the aviour of the order of the temple, and he added
that he was made to worhip the idol, aying, Bleed be he
who hall ave my oul! Another deponent gave a very imilar
account. Another knight of the order, Hugo de Paraudo, aid
that, in a chapter at Montpellier, he had both een, held, and felt,
the idol or head, and that he and the other brothers adored it but
he, like the others, pleaded that he did not adore it in his heart.
He decribed it as upported on four feet, two before and two
behind.3 Guillaume de Arrablay, the kings almoner (eleemoynarius
regius), aid that in the chapter at which he was received, a head
made of ilver was placed on the altar, and adored by thoe who
formed the chapter; he was told that it was the head of one of the
eleven thouand virgins, and had always believed this to be the
cae, until after the arret of the order, when, hearing all that was
aid on the matter, he upected that it was the idol; and he adds
in his depoition that it eemed to him to have two faces, a terrible
look, and a ilver beard.4 It does not appear very clear why he
hould have taken a head with two faces, a fierce look, and a beard,
1

Quod adorant, oculantur, et vocant alvatorem uum. Procs, ii, 279.

Et vidit fratres adorare illud; et ipe fingebat illud adorare, ed numquam fecit
corde, ut dixit. Procs, ii, 300.
3
Procs, ii, 363.
4
Videtur ibi quod haberet duas facies, et quod eet terribilis apectu, et quod haberet barbam argenteam. Procs, i, 502.
2

GENERATIVE POWERS

197

for one of the eleven thouand virgins, but this is, perhaps, partly
explained by the depoition of another witnes, Guillaume Pidoye,
who had the charge of the relics, &c., belonging to the Temple in
Paris, and who produced a head of ilver gilt, having a woman's
face, and a mall kull, reembling that of a woman, inide, which
was aid to be that of one of the eleven thouand virgins. At the
ame time another head was brought forward, having a beard, and
uppoed to be that of the idol.1 Both thee witnees had no
doubt confounded two things. Pierre Garald, of Murac, another
witnes, aid that after he had denied Chrit and pitten on the cros,
the receptor drew from his boom a certain mall image of bras
or gold, which appeared to repreent the figure of a woman, and told
him that he mut believe in it, and have faith in it, and that it
would be well for him.2 Here the idol appears in the form of
a tatuette. There was alo another account of the idol, which
perhaps refers to ome further object of upertition among the
templars. According to one deponent, it was an old kin embalmed,
with bright carbuncles for eyes, which hone like the light of
heaven. Others aid that it was the kin of a man, but agreed with
the others in regard to the carbuncles.3 In England a minorite
friar depoed that an Englih knight of the Temple had aured
him that the templars had four principal idols in this country, one
in the acrity of the Temple in London, another at Britelham, a
third at Brueria (Bruern in Lincolnhire), and the fourth at ome
place beyond the Humber.4
1

Procs, ii, 218.

Item, dixit quod pot prdicta dictus receptor, extrahens de fino uo quamdam
parvam imaginem de leone (apparently a mireading) vel de auro, qu vibebatur
habere effigiem muliebrem, dixit ei quod crederet in eam, et haberet in ea fiduciam,
et bene ibi eet. Procs, ii, 212.
3
Du Puy, Hit. des Templ., pp. 22, 24.
4
Wilkins, Concil., vol. ii, p. 363.
2

198

ON THE WORSHIP OF THE

Another piece of information relating to this idol, which has

been the ubject of coniderable dicuion among modern writers,
was elicited from the examination of ome knights from the outh.
Gauerand de Montpeant, a knight of Provence, aid that their
uperior howed him an idol made in the form of Baffomet;1 another, named Raymond Rubei, decribed it as a wooden head, on
which the figure of Baphomet was painted, and adds, that he
worhipped it by kiing its feet, and exclaiming, Yalla, which was,
he ays, verbum Saracenorum, a word taken from the Saracens.2
A templar of Florence declared that, in the ecret chapters of the
order, one brother aid to the other, howing the idol, Adore this
headthis head is your god and your Mahomet. The word
Mahomet was ued commonly in the middle ages as a general term
for an idol or fale god; but ome writers have uggeted that Baphomet is itelf a mere corruption of Mahomet, and uppoe that
the templars had ecretly embraced Mahometanim. A much more
remarkable explanation of this word has, however, been propoed,
which is, at the leat, worthy of very great conideration, epecially
as it comes from o ditinguihed an orientalit and cholar as the
late baron Joeph von Hammer-Prgtall. It aroe partly from the
comparion of a number of objects of art, ornamented with
figures, and belonging apparently to the thirteenth century. Thee
objects conit chiefly of mall images, or tatuettes, coffers, and
cups.3
1

Que leur uprieur lui montra une idole barbue faite in figuram Baffometi.
Du Puy, Hit. des Templiers, p. 216.
2
Du Puy, Hit. des Templiers, p. 21.
3
Von Hammer publihed his dicoveries and opinions in 1816, in an elaborate
eay in the ixth volume of the Fundgruben des Orients, entitled, Myterium Baphometis revelatum, eu fratres militi Templi, quo gnotici et quidam ophiani apotai, idoloduli et impuritatis convicti per ipa eorum monumenta. In 1832, he
publihed a upplmentary eay under the title Mmoire ur deux coffrets gnotiques
du Moyen Age, du Cabinet de M. le Duc de Blacas, par M. Joeph de Hammer.

GENERATIVE POWERS

199

Von Hammer has decribed, and given engravings of, twentyfour uch images, which it mut be acknowledged anwer very well
to the decriptions of their "idol" given by the templars in their
examinations, except only that the templars uually peak of them as
of the ize of life, and as being merely heads. Mot of them have
beards, and tolerably fierce countenances. Among thoe given by
Von Hammer are even which preent only a head, and two with
two faces, backwards and forwards, as decribed in ome of the depoitions. Thee two appear to be intended for female heads.
Altogether Von Hammer has decribed fifteen cups and goblets,
but a much maller number of coffers. Both cups and coffers are
ornamented with extremely curious figures, repreenting a continuous cene, apparently religious ceremonies of ome kind or other,
but certainly of an obcene character, all the perons engaged in
which are repreented naked. It is not a part of our ubject to
enter into a detailed examination of thee myteries. The mot intereting of the coffers decribed by Von Hammer, which was preerved in the private mueum of the duc de Blacas, is of calcarous
tone, nine inches long by even broad, and four and a half deep,
with a lid about two inches thick. It was found in Burgundy.
On the lid is culptured a figure, naked, with a head-dres reembling that given to Cybele in ancient monuments, holding up a chain
with each hand, and urrounded with various ymbols, the un and
moon above, the tar and the pentacle below, and under the feet a
human kull.1 The chains are explained by Von Hammer as repreenting the chains of ons of the Gnotics. On the four ides of
the coffer we ee a eries of figures engaged in the performance of
various ceremonies, which are not eaily explained, but which Von
Hammer coniders as belonging to the rites of the Gnotics and
Ophians. The offering of a calf figures prominently among thee
1

See our plate XXXVIII.

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ON THE WORSHIP OF THE

rites, a worhip which is aid till to exit among the Noarii, or

Nearenes, the Drues, and other ects in the Eat. In the middle
of the cene on one ide, a human kull is een, raied upon a pole.
On another ide an androgynous figure is repreented as the object of
worhip of two candidates for initiation, who wear maks apparently
of a cat, and whoe form of adoration reminds us of the kis enacted
at the initiation of the templars.1 This group reminds us, too, of the
pictures of the orgies in the worhip of Priapus, as repreented on
Roman monuments. The econd of the coffers in the cabinet of
the duc de Blacas was found in Tucany, and is rather larger than
the one jut decribed, but made of the ame material, though of a
finer grain. The lid of this coffer is lot, but the ides are covered
with culpture of a imilar character. A large goblet, or bowl, of
marble, in the imperial mueum at Vienna, is urrounded by a
eries of figures of imilar character, which are engraved by Von
Hammer, who ees in one group of men (who are furnihed in the
original with prominent phalli) and erpents, a direct alluion to
Ophite rites. Next after thee comes a group which we have
reproduced in our plate,2 repreenting a trange figure eated upon
an eagle, and accompanied with two of the ymbols repreented on
the coffer found in Burgundy, the un and moon. The two
ymbols below are conidered by Von Hammer to repreent, according to the rude medival notions of its form, the womb, or
matrix; the fecundating organ is penetrating the one, while the
infant is emerging from the other. The lat figure in this eries,
which we have alo copied,3 is identical with that on the lid of the
coffer found in Burgundy, but it is ditinctly repreented as androgynous. We have exactly the ame figure on another coffer, in the
Vienna mueum,4 with ome of the ame ymbols, the tar, pentacle,
1
4

Plate XXXIX, Fig. 1.

Plate XXXIX, Fig. 4.

Plate XXXIX, Fig. 2.

Plate XXXIX, Fig. 3.

GENERATIVE POWERS

201

and human kull. Perhaps, in this lat, the beard is intended to

how that the figure mut be taken as androgynous.
On an impartial comparion we can hardly doubt that thee
curious objects,images, coffers, cups, and bowls,have been
intended for ue in ome ecret and myterious rites, and the
arguments by which Von Hammer attempts to how that they
belonged to the templars eem at leat to be very plauible.
Several of the objects repreented upon them, even the kull, are
alluded to in ome of the confeions of the templars, and thee
evidently only confeed a part of what they knew, or otherwie
they were very imperfectly acquainted with the ecrets of their
order. Perhaps the mot ecret doctrines and rites were only communicated fully to a mall number. There is, however, another
circumtance connected with thee objects which appears to furnih
an almot irreitible confirmation of Von Hammer's theory. Mot
of them bear incriptions, written in Arabic, Greek, and Roman
characters. The incriptions on the images appear to be merely
proper names, probably thoe of their poeors. But with the
coffers and bowls the cae is different, for they contain a nearly
uniform incription in Arabic characters, which, according to the interpretation given by Von Hammer, contains a religious formula. The
Arabic characters, he ays, have been copied by a European, and
not very kilful, carver, who did not undertand them, from an Eatern
original, and the incriptions contain corruptions and errors which
either aroe from this circumtance, or, as Von Hammer uggets,
may have been introduced deignedly, for the purpoe of concealing
the meaning from the uninitiated. A good example of this incription urrounds the lid of the coffer found in Burgundy, and is
interpreted as follows by Von Hammer, who regards it as a ort of
parody on the Cantate laudes Domini. In fact, the word under the
feet of the figure, between them and the kull, is nothing more
than the Latin cantate expreed in Arabic letters. The words with

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ON THE WORSHIP OF THE

which this Cantate begins are written above the head of the figure,
and are read by Von Hammer as Fah la Sidna, which is more correctly Fella Sidna, i. e. O God, our Lord! The formula itelf, to
which this is an introduction, commences on the right ide, and the
firt part of it reads Houv Mete Zonar feeba (or ebaa) B. Mounkir
teaala tiz. There is no uch word in Arabic as mete, and Von
Hammer coniders it to be imply the Greek word mtij, widom, a
peronification in what we may perhaps call the Gnotic mythology anwering to the Sophia of the Ophianites. He coniders
that the name Baphomet is derived from the Greek words Baf
mteoj, i. e. the baptim of Metis, and that in its application it is
equivalent with the name Mete itelf. He has further hown, we
think concluively, that Baphomet, intead of being a corruption
of Mahomet, was a name known among the Gnotic ects in the
Eat. Zonar is not an Arabic word, and is perhaps only a
corruption or error of the culptor, but Von Hammer thought it
meant a girdle, and that it alluded to the myterious girdle of the
templars, of which o much is aid in their examinations. The
letter B is uppoed by Von Hammer to tand here for the name
Baphomet, or for that of Barbalo, one of the mot important peronages in the Gnotic mythology. Mounkir is the Arabic word for
a peron who denies the orthodox faith. The ret of the formula
is given on the other ide of the figure, but as the incription here
preents everal corruptions, we will give Von Hammer's tranlation (in Latin) of the more correct copy of the formula incribed
on the bowl or goblet preerved in the mueum at Vienna. In the
Vienna bowl, the formula of faith is written on a ort of large
placard, which is held up to view by a figure apparently intended
for another repreentation of Mete or Baphomet. Von Hammer
tranlates it:-Exaltetur Mete germinans, tirps notra ego et eptem fuere, tu renegans reditus
rwktj fis.

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203

This till is, it mut be confeed, rather myterious, and, in fact,

mot of thee copies of the formula of faith are more or les defective, but, from a comparion of them, the general form and
meaning of the whole is made perfectly clear. This may be
tranlated, Let Mete be exalted, who caues things to bud and
bloom! he is our root; it (the root) is one and even; abjure
(the faith), and abandon thyelf to all pleaures. The number
even is aid to refer to the even archons of the Gnotic creed.
There are certainly everal points in this formula which preent
at leat a ingular coincidence with the tatements made in the examinations of the templars. In the firt place the invocation which
precedes the formula, Yalla (Jah la), agrees exactly with the tatement of Raymond Rubei, one of the Provencal templars that when
the uperior exhibited the idol, or figure of Baphomet, he kied it
and exclaimed Yalla! which he calls a word of the Saracens,
i. e. Arabic.1 It is evident that, in this cae, the witnes not only knew
the word, but that he knew to what language it belonged. Again,
the epithet germinans, applied to Mete, or Baphomet, is in accord
with the tatement in the formal lit of articles of accuation againt
the templars, that they worhipped their idol becaue it made the
trees to flourih and the earth to germinate.2 The abjuration of
the formula on the monuments eems to be identical with the denial
in the initiation of novices to the order of the Temple; and it may
be added, that the cloing words of the formula involve in the
original an idea more obcene than is expreed in the tranlation,
an alluion to the unnatural vice in which the templars are tated
to have received permiion to indulge. There is another curious
tatement in the examinations which eems to point directly to our
1

Du Puy, Hit. des Templiers, p. 94.

Item, quod facit arbores florere. Item, quod terram germinare. Michelet,
Procs des Templiers, i, 92.
2

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ON THE WORSHIP OF THE

images and coffersone of the Englih witnees under examination, named John de Donington, who had left the order and
become a friar at Salibury, aid that an old templar had aured him
that ome templars carried uch idols in their coffers.1 They
eem to have been treaured up for the ame reaon as the mandrake,
for one article in the articles againt the templars is that they worhipped their idol becaue it could make them rich, and that it
had brought all their great wealth to the order.2
The two other claes of what the Baron Von Hammer uppoed
to be relics of the ecret worhip of the templars, appear to us to
be much les atisfactorily explained. Thee are culptures on old
churches, and coins or medals. Such culptures are found, according to Von Hammer, on the churches of Schngraber, Waltendorf,
and Bercktoldorf, in Autria; in that of Deutchaltenburg, and
in the ruins of that of Potyn, in Hungary; and in thoe of
Murau, Prague, and Egra, in Bohemia. To thee examples we are
to add the culptures of the church of Montmorillon, in Poitou,
ome of which have been engraved by Montfaucon,3 and thoe of
the church of Ste. Croix, in Bordeaux. We have already4
remarked the rather frequent prevalence of ubjects more or les
obcene in the culptures which ornament early churches, and uggeted that they may be explained in ome degree by the tone given
to ociety by the exitence of this priapic worhip; but we are not
inclined to agree with Von Hammer's explanation of them, or to
think that they have any connection with the templars. We can
eaily undertand the exitence of uch direct alluions on coffers or
1

Item dixit idem veteranus eidem fratri jurato, quod aliqui templarii portant
talia idola in coffris uis. Wilkins, Concilia, ii, 363.
2
Item, quod divites facere. Item, quod omnes divitias ordinis dabat eis.
Michelet, Procs, i. 92,
3
Montfaucon, Antiquit Expliques, Suppl. tom. ii, plate 59.
4
See before, p. 198. [prob. error for 138 T.S.]

GENERATIVE POWERS

205

other objects intended to be concealed, or at leat kept in private;

but it is hardly probable that men who held opinions and practied
rites the very rumour of which was then o full of danger, would
proclaim them publicly on the walls of their buildings, for the wall
of a church was then, perhaps, the mot effectual medium of publication. The quetion of the uppoed templar medals is very
obcure. Von Hammer has engraved a certain number of thee
objects, which preent various ingular ubjects on the obvere,
ometimes with a cros on the revere, and ometimes bracteate.
Antiquaries have given the name of abbey tokens to a rather
numerous clas of uch medals, the ue of which is till very uncertain, although there appears to be little doubt of its being of a
religious character. Some have uppoed that they were ditributed
to thoe who attended at certain acraments or rites of the Church,
who could thus, when called up, prove by the number of their
tokens, the greater or les regularity of their attendance. Whether
this were the cae or not, it is certain that the burleque and other
ocieties of the middle ages, uch as the feat of fools, parodied
thee tokens, and had burleque medals, in lead and ometimes
in other metals, which were perhaps ued for a imilar purpoe.
We have already poken more than once of obcene medals, and
have engraved pecimens of them, which were perhaps ued in
ecret ocieties derived from, or founded upon, the ancient phallic
worhip. It is not at all improbable that the templars may have
employed imilar medals, and that thoe would contain alluions
to the rites in which they were employed. The medals publihed
by Von Hammer are aid to have been found chiefly on the ites
of ettlements of the order of the Temple. However, the comparion of facts tated in the confeions of many of the templars,
as preerved in the official reports, with the images and culptured
cups and coffers given by Von Hammer-Prgtall, lead to the
concluion that there is truth in the explanation he gives of the

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ON THE WORSHIP OF THE

latter, and that the templars, or at leat ome of them, had ecretly
adopted a form of the rites of Gnoticim, which was itelf
founded upon the phallic worhip of the ancients. An Englih
templar, Stephen de Staplebridge, acknowledged that there were
two profeions in the order of the Temple, the firt lawful and
good, the econd contrary to the faith.1 He had been admitted to
the firt of thee when he firt entered the order, eleven years
before the time of his examination, but he was only initiated into
the econd or inner myteries about a year afterwards; and he
gives almot a pictureque decription of this econd initiation,
which occurred in a chapter held at Dinelee in Herefordhire.
Another Englih templar, Thomas de Tocci, aid that the errors
had been brought into England by a French knight of high
poition in the order.2
We have thus een in how many various forms the old phallic,
or priapic, worhip preented itelf in the middle ages, and how
pertinaciouly it held its ground through all the changes and developments of ociety, until at length we find all the circumtances
of the ancient priapic orgies, as well as the medival additions,
combined in that great and extenive upertitionwitchcraft. At
all times the initiated were believed to have obtained thereby powers
which were not poeed by the uninitiated, and they only were
uppoed to know the proper forms of invocation of the deities
who were the objects of their worhip, which deities the Chritian
teachers invariably transformed into devils. The vows which the
people of antiquity addreed to Priapus, thoe of the middle ages
addreed to Satan. The witches Sabbath was imply the lat form
which the Priapeia and Liberalia aumed in Wetern Europe, and
1

Quod du unt profeiones in ordine templi, prima licita et bona, et ecunda et

contra fidem. Wilkins, Concilia, ii, 383.
2
Wilkins, Concil, ii, 387.

GENERATIVE POWERS

207

in its various details all the incidents of thoe great and licentious
orgies of the Romans were reproduced. The Sabbath of the
witches does not appear to have formed a part of the Teutonic
mythology, but we can trace it from the South through the countries in which the Roman element of ociety predominated. The
incidents of the Sabbath are ditinctly traced in Italy as early as the
beginning of the fifteenth century, and oon afterwards they are
found in the outh of France. Towards the middle of that century
an individual named Robinet de Vaulx, who had lived the life of a
hermit in Burgundy, was arreted, brought to a trial at Langres,
and burnt. This man was a native of Artois; he tated that to his
knowledge there were a great number of witches in that province, and he not only confeed that he had attended thee nocturnal
aemblies of the witches, but he gave the names of ome inhabitants
of Arras whom he had met there. At this timeit was in the year
1459the chapter general of the Jacobins, or friars preachers,
was held at Langres, and among thoe who attended it was a Jacobin friar named Pierre de Brouart, who held the office of inquiitor
of the faith in the city of Arras, and who eagerly litened to the
circumtances of Robinets confeion. Among the names mentioned by him as having been preent at the witches meetings, were
thoe of a protitute named Demielle, then living at Douai, and a
man named Jehan Levite, but who was better known by the nickname of Abb de peu de ens (the abbot of little ene). On Brouart's return to Arras, he caued both thee perons to be arreted
and brought to that city, where they were thrown into prion. The
latter, who was a painter, and a compoer and inger of popular
ongs, had left Arras before Robinet de Vaulx had made his confeion, but he was traced to Abbeville, in Ponthieu, and captured
there. Confeions were extorted from thee perons which compromied others, and a number of individuals were committed to prion
in conequence. In the equel a certain number of them were burnt,

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ON THE WORSHIP OF THE

after they had been induced to unite in a tatement to the following

effect. At this time, in this part of France at leat, the term
Vauderie, or, as it was then written, Vaulderie, was applied to
the practice or profeion of witchcraft. They aid that the place
of meeting was commonly a fountain in the wood of Mofflaines,
about a league ditant from Arras, and that they ometimes went
thither on foot. The more uual way of proceeding, however,
according to their own account, was thisthey took an ointment
given to them by the devil, with which they annointed a wooden
rod, at the ame time rubbing the palms of their hands with it,
and then, placing the rod between their legs, they were uddenly
carried through the air to the place of aembly. They found
there a multitude of people, of both exes, and of all etates
and ranks, even wealthy burghers and noblesand one of the
perons examined declared that he had een there not only ordinary eccleiatics, but bihops and even cardinals. They found tables
already pread, covered with all orts of meats, and abundance of
wines. A devil preided, uually in the form of a goat, with the
tail of an ape, and a human countenance. Each firt did oblation
and homage to him by offering him his or her oul, or, at leat
ome part of their body, and then, as a mark of adoration, kied
him on the poteriors. All this time the worhippers held burning
torches in their hands. The abbot of little ene, already mentioned, held the office of mater of the ceremonies at thee meetings,
and it was his duty to ee that the new-comers duly performed
their homage. After this they trampled on the cros, and pit
upon it, in depite of Jeus and of the Holy Trinity, and performed other profane acts. They then eated themelves at the
tables, and after they had eaten and drunk ufficiently, they roe
and joined in a cene of promicuous intercoure between the exes,
in which the demon took part, auming alternately the form of
either ex, according to that of his temporary partner. Other

GENERATIVE POWERS

209

wicked acts followed, and then the devil preached to them, and enjoined them epecially not to go to church, or hear mas, or touch
holy water, or perform any other of the duties of good Chritians.
After this ermon was ended, the meeting was diolved, and they
eparated and returned to their everal homes.1
The violence of thee witch perecutions at Arras led to a reaction, which, however, was not lating, and from this time to the end
of the century, the fear of witchcraft pread over Italy, France,
and Germany, and went on increaing in intenity. It was during
this period that witchcraft, in the hands of the more zealous inquiitors, was gradually worked up into a great ytem, and books of
coniderable extent were compiled, containing accounts of the
various practices of the witches, and directions for proceeding
againt them. One of the earliet of thee writers was a Swis
friar, named John Nider, who held the office of inquiitor in Switzerland, and has devoted one book of his Formicarium to witchcraft as it exited in that country. He makes no alluion to the
witches Sabbath, which, therefore, appears then not to have been
known among the Swis. Early in 1489, Ulric Molitor publihed a
treatie on the ame ubject, under the title of De Pythonicis
Mulieribus, and in the ame year, 1489, appeared the celebrated
book, the Malleus Maleficarum, or Hammer of Witches, the work
of the three inquiitors for Germany, the chief of whom was Jacob
Sprenger. This work gives us a complete and very intereting
account of witchcraft as it then exited as an article of belief in
Germany. The authors dicus various quetions connected with it,
uch as that of the myterious tranport of witches from one place
to another, and they decide that this tranport was real, and that
they were carried bodily through the air. It is remarkable, how1

The account of the witch-trials at Arras was publihed in the upplementary

additions to Motrelet; but the original records of the proceedings have ince been
found and printed.

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ON THE WORSHIP OF THE

ever, that even the Malleus Maleficarum contains no direct alluion

to the Sabbath, and we may conclude that even then this great
priapic orgie did not form a part of the Germanic creed; it was
no doubt brought in there amid the witchcraft mania of the ixteenth century. From the time of the publication of the Malleus
Maleficarum until the beginning of the eventeenth century, through
all parts of Wetern Europe, the number of books upon orcery
which iued from the pres was immene; and we mut not forget
that a monarch of our own, King James I, hone among the writers
on witchcraft.
Three quarters of a century nearly had paed ince the time of
the Malleus, when a Frenchman named Bodin, Latinied into
Bodinus, publihed a rather bulky treatie which became from that
time the text-book on witchcraft. The Sabbath is decribed in
this book in all its completenes. It was uually held in a lonely
place, and when poible on the ummits of mountains or in the
olitude of forets. When the witch prepared to attend it, he went
to her bedroom, tripped herelf naked, and anointed her body with
an ointment made for that purpoe. She next took a taff, which
alo in many caes he anointed, and placing it between her legs
and uttering a charm, he was carried through the air, in an incredibly hort pace of time, to the place of meeting. Bodin dicues learnedly the quetion whether the witches were really carried
through the air corporeally or not, he decides it in the affirmative. The Sabbath itelf was a great aemblage of witches, of
both exes, and of demons. It was a point of emulation with
the viitors to bring new converts with them, and on their arrival
they preented thee to the demon who preided, and to whom they
offered their adoration by the unclean kis upon his poteriors.
They next rendered an account of all the michief they had perpetrated ince the previous meeting, and received reward or reproof
according to its amount. The devil, who uually took the form

GENERATIVE POWERS

211

of a goat, next ditributed among them powders, unguents, and

other articles to be employed in imilar evil doings in future. The
worhippers now made offerings to the devil, coniting of heep,
or other articles, or, in ome caes, of a little bird only, or of a lock
of the witche' hair, or of ome other equally trifling object. They
were then obliged to eal their denial of the Chritian faith by
trampling on the cros and blapheming the aints. The devil
then, or in the coure of the meeting, had exual intercoure with
the new witch, placed his mark upon ome concealed part of her
body, very commonly in her exual parts, and gave her a familiar
or imp, who was to be at her bidding and ait in the perpetration
of evil. All this was what may be called the buines of the meeting, and when it was over, they all went to a great banquet, which
was et out on tables, and which ometimes conited of umptuous
viands, but more frequently of loathome or unubtantial food, o
that the guets often left the meeting as hungry as though they
had tated nothing. After the feat they all roe from the table to
dance, and a cene of wild and uproarious revelry followed. The
uual dance on this occaion appears to have been the carole of the
middle ages, which was no doubt the common dance of the peaantry; a party, alternately a male and a female, held each others
hands in a circle, with this peculiarity that, whereas in ordinary
life the dancers turned their faces inward into the circle, here they
turned them outwards, o that their backs were towards the interior
of the circle. It was pretended that this arrangement was deigned
to prevent them from eeing and recognizing each other; but
others uppoed that it was a mere caprice of the evil one, who
wihed to do everything in a form contrary to that in which it was
uually done by Chritians. Other dances were introduced, of a
more violent, and ome of them of an obcene, character. The
ongs, too, which were ung in this orgie were either obcene or
vulgarly ridiculous. The muic was often drawn from burleque

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ON THE WORSHIP OF THE

intruments, uch as a tick or a bone for a flute, a hore's kull for a

lyre, the trunk of a tree for a drum, and a branch for a trumpet. As
they became excited, they became more licentious, and at
lat they abandoned themelves to indicriminate exual intercoure, in which the demons played a very active part. The meeting eparated in time to allow the witches, by the ame expeditious
conveyance which brought them, to reach their homes before the
cock crowed.1
Such is the account of the Sabbath, as decribed by Bodin; but we
have reviewed it briefly in order to decribe this trange cene from
the much fuller and more curious narrative of another Frenchman,
Pierre de Lancre. This man was a coneiller du roi, or judge in
the parliament of Bordeaux, and was joined in 1609 with one of
his colleagues in a commiion to proceed againt perons accued of
orcery in Labourd, a ditrict in the Baque provinces, then celebrated for its witches, and apparently for the low tate of morality
among its inhabitants. It is a wild, and, in many parts, deolate
region, the inhabitants of which held to their ancient upertitions
with great tenacity. De Lancre, after arguing learnedly on the
nature and character of demons, dicues the quetion why there
were o many of them in the country of Labourd, and why the
inhabitants of that ditrict were o much addicted to orcery. The
women of the country, he ays, were naturally of a lacivious temperament, which was hown even in their manner of dreing, for
he decribes their headdres as being ingularly indecent, and decribes them as commonly expoing their peron very immodetly.2
He adds, that the principal produce of this country conited of
1

The firt edition of the work of Bodin, De la Dmonomaine des Sorciers, was
publihed at Paris, in 4to, in 1580. It went through many editions, and was tran-lated
into Latin and other languages.
2
Et pour le commun des femmes, en quelques lieux, voulant faire les martiales,
elles portent certains tourions ou morrions indcens, et dune forme i peu ante,

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213

apples, and argues thence, it is not very apparent why, that the
women partook of the character of Eve, and yielded more eaily
to temptation than thoe of other countries. After having pent
four months in dealing out rather everely what was then called
jutice to thee ignorant people, the two commiioners returned
to Bordeaux, and there De Lancre, deeply truck with what he
had een and heard, betook himelf to the tudy of witchcraft, and in
due time produced his great work on the ubject, to which he gave
the title of Tableau de lIncontance des Mauvais Anges et Dmons.1
Pierre de Lancre writes honetly and concientiouly, and he evidently
believes everything he has written. His book is valuable for the
great amount of new information it contains, derived from the
confeions of the witches, and given apparently in their own
words. The econd book is devoted entirely to the details of the
Sabbath.
It was tated by the witches in their examinations that, in times
back, they had appointed Monday to be the day, or rather night,
of aembly, but that in their time they had two nights of meeting
in the week, thoe of Wedneday and Friday. Although ome
tated that they had been carried to the place of meeting in the
middle of the day, they motly agreed in aying that the hour at
which they were carried to the Sabbath was midnight. The place
of aembly was uually choen at a pot where roads croed, but
this was not always the cae, for De Lancre2 tells us that they were
quon diroit que cet plutot larmet de Priape que celuy du dieu Mars; leur
coeffre emble temoigner leur dir, car les veuves porent le morrion an crete pour
marquer que le male leur deffault. Et en Labourt les femmes montrent leur derrire
tellement que tout lornement de leur cotillons pliez et derrire, et afin quil foit
veu elles retrouent leur robbe et la mettent fur la tete et e couvrent ju-quaux
yeux. De Lancre, Incontance des Dmons, p. 40.
1
4to. Paris, 1612. A new and improved edition appeared in 1613.
2
Il a aui accoutum les tenir en quelque lieu dert et auvage, comme au mileu

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ON THE WORSHIP OF THE

accutomed to hold their Sabbath in ome lonely and wild locality, as

in the middle of a heath, which was elected epecially for being far
from the haunts or habitations of man. To this place, he ays,
they gave the name of Aquelarre, which he interprets as meaning
Lane de Bouc, that is, the heath of the goat, meaning that it was
the place where the goat, the uual form aumed by Satan, convoked his aemblies. And he goes on to expres his opinion that
thee wild places were the original cenes of the Sabbath, though
ubequently other places had been often adopted. For we have
heard more than fifty witnees who aured us that they had been
at the Goats Heath to the Sabbath held on the mountain
of La Rhune, ometimes on the open mountain, ometimes in the
chapel of the St. Eprit, which is on the top of it, and ometimes in the church of Dordach, which is on the borders of Labourd. At times they held it in private houes, as when we held
the trial, in the parih of St. P, the Sabbath was held one night
in our hotel, called Barbare-nena, and in that of Mater
de Segure, aeor-criminal at Bayonne, who, at the ame time
dune land; et encore en lieu du tout hors de paage, de voiingage, dhabitation, et de
recontre: et communement ils lappellent Aquelarre, qui ignfie Lane de Bouc,
comme qui dirait la lane ou lande o le Boue convoque es aembles. Et de aict
les orciers qui confeent, nomment le lieu pour la choe, et la choe ou laemble pour le
lieu: tellement quencore que proprement Lane de Bouc, oit le Sabbat qui e tient s
landes, i et-ce quils appellent aui bien Lane de Bouc le Sabbath qui e tient
s eglies et s places des villes, parroies, maions, et autres lieux: parce qu mon
advis les premiers lieux qui furent decouverts, o les dictes aembles e faioyent,
furent s lands, pour la commodit du lieu. Et dautant quon y voit le plus de ces
boues, chvres, et autres animaux emblables. Car nous avons ouy plus de cinquante
tmoins qui nous ont aeur avoir et la Lane de Bouc. au Sabbat ur la montagne
de la Rhune, parfois a lentour, parfois dans la chapelle meme du S. Eprit qui et au
deus, et parfois dans lglie de Dordach, qui et ur les liires
de Labourt: parfois s maions particulires, comme quand nous leur aions
le procs en la parroie de Sainct-P, le Sabbat e tint une nuict dans notre
hotel, appell de Barbare-nena, et en celuy de Maitre de Seguare, aeeur

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215

when we were there, made a more ample inquiition againt

certain witches, by an authority of an arret of the parliament of
Bordeaux. Then they went the ame night to hold it at the
reidence of the lord of the place, who is Sieur d'Amou, and in
his catle of St. P. But we have not found in the whole country
of Labourd any other parih but that of St. P where the devil
held the Sabbath in private houes.
The devil is further decribed as eeking for his places of meeting,
beides the heaths, old decayed houes, and ruins of old catles,
epecially when they were ituated on the ummits of mountains.
An old cemetery was ometimes elected, where, as De Lancre
quaintly oberves, there were no houes but the houes of the
dead, epecially if it were in a olitary ituation, as when attached to
olitary churches and chapels, in the middle of the heaths, or on
the tops of cliffs on the ea hore, uch as the chapel of the Portuguee at St. Jean de Luz, called St. Barbe, ituated o high that it
erves as a landmark to the hips approaching the coat, or on a
high mountain, as La Rhune in Labourd, and the Puy de Dome
in Perigord, and other uch places.
criminel Bayonne, lequel faioit en meme tempes que nous y etions une plus ample
inquiition contre certains orcires, en vertu dun arret de la Cour de Parlement
de Bourdeaux. Puis en allerent en meme nuict le tenir chez le feigneur du
lieu, qui et le Sr. dAmou, et en fon chateau de Sainct-P. Et navons trouv en tout
le pays de Labourt aucune autre parroie que celle de Sainct-Pm o le Diable
tint le Sabbat s maions particulires.
Il cherche aui parfois, outres les landes, de vieilles mazures et ruines de vieux
chateaux, aiz ur les coupeaux des montagnes; parfois dautres lieux olitaires, o,
pour toutes maions, il ny a que des maions des morts, qui ont les cimetires, et
encore les plus ecartez, comme prs des glies ou chappelles eules, ou plantes au
milieu dune lande ou dert, ou ur une haute cote de la mer, comme le chappelle
des Portugais Sainct Jean de Luz appelle de Sainct Barbe, i haut monte quelle fert
dchaugete ou de phare pour les vaieaux qui en approchent, ou ur une haute
montagne, comme la Rhune en Labourt et le Puy de Dome en Perigort, et autres
lieux emblables. Tableau de lIncontance, p. 65.

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ON THE WORSHIP OF THE

At thee meetings, ometimes, but rarely, Satan was abent, in

which cae a little devil took his place. De Lancre1 enumerates
the various forms which the devil uually aumed on thee occaions, with the remark that thee forms were as numerous as his
movements were incontant, full of uncertainty, illuion, deception,
and impoture. Some of the witches he examined, among whom
was a girl of thirteen years of age, named Marie dAguerre, aid
that at thee aemblies there appeared a great pitcher or jug in
the middle of the Sabbath, and that out of it the devil iued in the
form of a goat, which uddenly became o large that it was
frightful, and that at the end of the Sabbath he returned into the
pitcher. Others decribed him as being like the great trunk of a
tree, without arms or feet, eated in a chair, with the face of a
great and frightful looking man. Others poke of him as reembling a great goat, with two horns before and two behind, thoe
before turned up in the emblance of a woman's perruque. According to the mot common account, De Lancre ays he had
three horns, the one in the middle giving out a flame, with
which he ued at the Sabbath to give both light and fire to the
1

Rete maintenant, puis quil a comparu, den avoir la forme, et en quel etat il a
accoutum de e reprenter et faire voire edictes aembles. Il na point de forme
contante, toutes es actions netans que mouvements incontans plien dincertitude,
dilluion, de dception, et dimpoture.
Marie dAguerre aage de treize ans, et quelques autres, dpooient, quedictes
aembles il y a une grande cruche au milieu du Sabbat do fort le Diable en
forme de boue: quetant orty il devient i grand quil e rend epouvantable: et
que le Sabbat finy il rentre dans la cruche.
Dautres dient quil et comme un grand tronc darbre obeur ans bras et ans
pieds, ais dans une chaire, ayant quelque forme de viage dhomme, grand et affreux.
Dautres quil et comme un grand boue, ayant deux cornes devant et deux en
derrire: que celle de devant e rebraent en haut comme la perruque dune femme.
Mais le commun et quil a eulment trois cornes, et quil a quelque epce de
lumire en celle du milieu, de laquelle il a accoutem au Sabbat declairer et donner
du feu et de la lumire, meme ces orcires, qui tiennent quelques chandelles

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217

witches, ome of whom who had candles lit them at his horn, in
order to hold them at a mock ervice of the mas, which was one of
the devils ceremonies. He had alo, ometimes, a kind of cap or
hat over his horns. He has before him his member hanging
out, which he exhibits always a cubit in length; and he has a
great tail behind, with a form of a face under it, with which face he
does not utter a word, but it erves only to offer to kis to thoe he
likes, honouring certain witches of either ex more than the others.
The devil, it will be oberved, is here repreented with the ymbol
of Priapus. Marie dApilecute, aged nineteen years, who lived at
Handaye, depoed that the firt time he was preented to the devil
he kied him on this face behind, beneath a great tail, and that
he repeated the kis three times, adding that this face was made
like the muzzle of a goat. Others aid that he was haped like a
great man, enveloped in a cloudines, becaue he would not be
een clearly, and that he was all flamboyant, and had a face red
like an iron coming out of the furnace. Corneille Brolic, a lad of
twelve years of age, aid that when he was firt introduced to him
he had the human form, with four horns on his head, and without
alumes aux crmonies de la mee quils voulent contrefaire. On luy voit aui
quelque epce de bonet ou chapeau au deus de es cornes. Il a au devant on
membre tir et pendant, et le montre toujours long dune coude, et une grande
queu au derrire. et une forme de viage au deoubs: duquel viage il ne profere aucune parole, ains luy fert pour le donner baier ceux que bon luy emble, honrant
certains orciers ou orcires plus les uns que les autres.
Marie dApilecute, habitante de Handaye, aage de 19 ans, dpoe, Que la premire fpos quelle luy ut prente elle le baia ce viage de derrire au deoubs
dune grande queu: quelle ly a bai par trois fois, et quil avoit aui ce viage
faict comme le mueau dun boue.
Dautres dient quil et en forme dun grand homme vetu tnbreuement, et qui
ne veut etre veu clairement, i bien quils dient quil et tout flamboyant, et le viage
rouge comme un fer ortant de la fournaie.
Corneille Brolic aag de 12 ans, dict, Que lorquil luy ut prent il etoit en forme
dhomme, ayant quatre cornes en la tete, et ans bras, at ais dans une chaire, avec

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ON THE WORSHIP OF THE

arms. He was eated in a pulpit, with ome of the women, who

were his favourites, always near him. And they are all agreed
that it is a great pulpit, which eems to be gilt and very pompous.
Janette dAbadie, of Siboro, ixteen years old, aid that Satan had a
face before and another behind his head, as they repreent the god
Janus. De Lancre had alo heard him decribed as a great black
dog, as a large ox of bras lying down, and as a natural ox in
repoe.
Although it was tated that in former times the devil had uually
appeared in the form of a erpent,another coincidence with the
priapic worhip,it appears certain that in the time of De Lanere
his favourite form of howing himelf was that of a goat. At the
opening of the Sabbath the witches, male or female, preented formally to the devil thoe who had never been at the Sabbath before,
and the women epecially brought to him the children whom they
allured to him. The new converts, the novices, were made to renounce Chrit, the Virgin Mary, and the aints, and they were then
re-baptized with mock ceremonies. They next performed their
worhip to the devil by kiing him on the face under the tail, or
otherwie. The young children were taken to the edge of a tream
for the cene was generally choen on the banks of a tream
and white wands were placed in their hands, and they were entruted
with the care of the toads which were kept there, and which were
of importance in the ubequent operations of the witches. The renunciation was frequently renewed, and in ome caes it was required
quelques femmes de es favorites toujours prs de luy. Et tous ont daccord que cet
une grande chaire qui emble dore et fort pompeue.
Janette dAbadie de Siboro, aage de 16 ans, dit quil avoit un viage devant, et un
viage derrire la tete, comme on peint le dieu Janus.
Jai veu quelque procdure, etant la Tournelle, qui le peignoit au Sabbat comme
un grand levrier noir: parfois comme un grand boeuf dairain couch terre, comme
un boeuf naturel qui e repoe. Tableau de lIncontance, p. 67.

GENERATIVE POWERS

219

every time the witch attended the Sabbath. Janette dAbadie, a

girl of ixteen, aid that he made her repeatedly go through the
ceremony of kiing him on the face, and afterwards on the navel,
then on the virile member, and then on the poteriors.1 After rebaptim, he put his mark on the body of his victim, in ome covered
part where it was not likely to be een. In women it was often
placed on or within the exual parts.
De Lancres account of the proceedings at the Sabbath is very full
and curious.2 He ays that it reembled a fair of merchants mingled
together, furious and in tranports, arriving from all partsa meeting
and mingling of a hundred thouand ubjects, udden and tranitory,
novel, it is true, but of a frightful novelty, which offends the eye
and ickens you. Among thee ame ubjects ome are real, and
others deceitful and illuory. Some are pleaing (but very little),
as are the little bells and melodious intruments of all orts, which
only tickle the ear and do not touch the heart at all, coniting more
in noie which amazes and tuns than in harmony which pleaes and
rejoices, the others dipleaing, full of deformity and horror, tending
only to deolation, privation, ruin, and detruction, where the
perons become brutih and transformed to beats, loing their peech
while they are in this condition, and the beats, on the contrary, talk,
1

Sur qouy elle adjoute une choe notable, que bien ouvent il luy faioit baier
on viage, puis le nombril, puis le membre viril, puis on derrire. De Lancre, De
lIncontance, p. 72.
2
Le Sabbat et comme une foire de marchands melez, furieux et tranportez, qui
arrivent de toutes partes, un rencontre et melange de cent mille ubjects oudains et
tranitoires, nouveaux la vrit, mais d#une nouveaut effroyable qui offence loeil
et oubleve le coeur. Parmy ces memes ubjects il en voit de rels, et dautres
pretigieux et illuiores: aucuns plaians (mais fort peu), comme ont les clochettes et
intrumens mlodieux quon y entend de toutes ortes, qui ne chatouillent que loreille,
et ne touchent rien au coeur; conitant plus en bruit qui etourdit et etonne, quen
harmoine qui plaie et qui rejouie; les autres dplainans, pleins de difformit et
dhorreur, ne tendant qu diolution, privation, ruine, et detruction, o les per-

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ON THE WORSHIP OF THE

and eem to have more reaon than the perons, each being drawn
out of his natural character.
The women, according to De Lancre, were the active agents in
all this confuion, and had more employment than the men. They
ruhed about with their hair hanging looe, and their bodies naked;
ome rubbed with the magical ointment, others not. They arrived
at the Sabbath, or went from it, on their errands of michief, perched
on a tick or beom, or carried upon a goat or other animal, with
an infant or two behind, and guided or driven on by the devil himelf. And when Satan will tranport them into the air (which is
an indulgence only to the mot uperior), he ets them off and
launches them up like fired rockets, and they repair to and dart
down upon the aid place a hundred times more rapidly than an
eagle or a kite could dart upon its prey.
Thee women, on their arrival, reported to Satan all the michief
they had perpetrated. Poion, of all kinds and for all purpoes, was
there the article mot in vogue. Toads were aid to form one of its
ingredients, and the charge of thee animals, while alive, was
onnes y abbrutient et transforment en betes, perdant la parole tant quelle ont
aini. Et les betes au contraite y parlent, et emblent avoir plus de raion que les
peronnes, chacun etant tir hors on naturel.
Les courriers ordinaires du abbat ont les femmes, les mytres duquel paent par
leurs mains, [plu] que par celle des hommes. Or elles volent et courent echeveles
comme furies la mode du pays, ayant la tete i legre, quelles ny peuvent ouffrir
couverture. On les y voit nues, ore graies, ores non. Elles arrivent ou partent
(car chacune a quelque inaute et mechante commiion) perches ur un baton ou
balay, ou portes ur un boue ou autre animal, un pauvre enfant ou deux en croupe,
ayant le diable ores au devant pour guide, ores en derrire et en queue comme un
rude foteur. Et lorque Sathan les veut tranporter en lair (ce qui net encor
donn quaux plus uffiantes), il les effore et elance comme fues bruiantes, et en la
decente elles e rendent audit lieu et fondent bas, cent fois plus vote quun aigle ou
un milan ne auroit fondre ur a proye.
Ces furieues courrires ne portent jamais qui finitres nouvelles, mais vrayes, car
elles ne contiennent que lhistoire vrotable des maux quelles ont faict. Le poion,

GENERATIVE POWERS

221

given to the children whom the witches brought with them to the
Sabbath, and to whom, as a ort of enign of office, little white rods
were given, jut uch as they give to perons infected with the
plague as a mark of their contagion.
The devil was the overeign mater of the aembly, and appeared
at it ometimes in the form of a tinking and bearded goat, as one,
De Lancre ays, which was epecially repulive to mankind. The
goat, we know, was dedicated to Priapus. Sometimes he aumed
a form, if we clearly undertand De Lancre, which preented a confued idea of omething between a tree and a man, which is compared, for he becomes rather poetical, to the old decayed cyprees
on the ummit of a high mountain, or to aged oaks whoe heads
already bear the marks of approaching decay.
When the devil appeared in human form, that form was horribly
ugly and repulive, with a hoare voice and an imperious manner.
He was eated in a pulpit, which glittered like gold; and at his
de toutes ortes et toutes uages, et la plus prcieue denre de ce lieu. Les enfans
ont les bergers, qui gardent chacun la bergerie des crapaux, que chaque orcire qui
les mene au abbat leur baill garder, ayant chacun une gaule blance en main;
telle quon baille aux petiferez pour marque de leur contagion.
Le diable, maitre ouverain de laemble, y reprente parfois en bouc puant
et barbu: la plus horrible et orde figure quil a peu emprunter parmy tous animaux,
et celuy avec lequel lhomme a le moins de commerce. Il sy trouve et sy void
comme ont ces vieux cyprs urannez la cime dune haute montagne, ou ces
chenes chauves que la vieillee faict commencer echer par la tete, vrayment trone,
car il y paroit ecartell, et comme etropiat, et ans bras, et en figure dun gant
tnbreux et object fort recul.
Que sil y paroit en homme, cet en homme gehenn, tourment, rouge et
flamboyant comme un feu qui ort dune fournaie ardente. Homme effac, duquel
la forme ne paroit qua demy, avec une voice ca, morondue, et non articule,
mais imprieue, bruiante, et effroyable. Si bien quon ne auroit bonnement dire
le voir sil et homme, trone, ou bete. Il et ais dans une chaire, dore en apparence, mais flamboiante: la royne du abbat on cot, qui et quelque orcire quil

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ON THE WORSHIP OF THE

ide at the queen of the Sabbath, one of the witches whom

he had debauched, to whom he choe to give greater honour
than to the others, and whom he decked in gay robes, with a crown
on her head, to erve as a bait to the ambition of the ret. Candles
of pitch, or torches, yielded a fale light, which gave people in appearance montrous forms and frightful faces.
Here you ee fale fires, through which ome of the demons were
firt paed, and afterwards the witches, without uffering any pain,
which, as explained by De Lancre, was intended to teach them not
to fear the fire of hell. But we ee in thee the need-fires, which
formed a part of the priapic orgies, and of which we have poken
before (p. 163). There women are preenting to him children,
whom they have initiated in orcery, and he hows them a deep
pit, into which he threatens to throw them if they refue to renounce
God and to adore Satan.
In other parts are een great cauldrons, full of toads and vipers,
hearts of unbaptized children, fleh of criminals who bad been
hanged, and other diguting ingredients, of which they make pots
of ointments, &c. and poions, the ordinary articles of commerce
a debauche, laquelle il aict paroitre pompeue, orne de pluiers faux affiquets, et
courone en royne, pour amorcer les autres. Donnant aui une forme affreue,
preque tous ceux qui sont en cette aemble maudite, les viages dequels, la fauce
lumire de ces chandeles de poix qui sy voyant, paroiet tnbreux, farouches, ou
voilez: et les peronnes de taille et hautur montrueue, ou de baee extraordinaire
et deffectueue.
On y voit de faux feux, au travers dequels il faict paer quelques dmons, puis
des orcires. do il les tire ans douleur pour les apprivoier ne craindre les feux
de notre jutice en ce monde, ny les feux ternals de la jutice divine en lautre.
On luy offre des enfans innocens enorcellez par de mchants femmes, auquels il
repreente des abymes dans lequels il faict emblant de les prcipiter, sils ont tant
oit peu les retifs renoncer Dieu et ladorer.
On y voit de grandes chaudires pleines de crapaux et vipres, coeurs denfans non
baptiez, chair de pendus, et autres horribles charognes, et des eaux puantes, pots de
graie et de poion qui e prete et e debite cette foire, comme etant la plus pr-

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223

in this fair. Of uch objects, alo, were compoed the dihes

erved at the Sabbath tables, at which no alt was allowed, becaue
Satan wihed everything to be inipid, muty, and bad-tated.
Here ee people dancing, either in long, in couples, turned
back to back, or ometimes in round, till turning their backs
towards the centre of the dance, the girls and women each holding
by the hand their demons, who teach them movements and getures
o lacivious and indecent that they would horrify the mot hameles woman in the world; with ongs of a compoition o brutal, and
in terms and words of uch licene and lubricity, that the eyes become troubled, the ears confounded, and the undertanding bewitched, at the appearance of o many montrous things ill crowded
together.
The women and girls with whom the demons chooe to have
connection are covered with a cloud, to conceal the execrations and
ordures attached to thee cenes, and to prevent the compaion
which others might have on the creams and ufferings of thee poor
wretches. In order to mix impiety with the other abominations, they pretended to perform religious rites, which were a wild
cieue et commune marchandie qui y trouve. Et nantmoins ce ont les meilleures
viandes quon recontre en leurs fetins, dequels ils ont banni le el, parceque Sathan
veut que tout y oit inipide, relant, et de gout deprav.
On y dance en long, deux deux, et dos dos, et parfois en rond, tous le dos
tourn vers le centre de la dances, le filles et femmes tenant chacune leurs dmons
par la main, lequels leur apprennant des traicts et getes i lacifs et indcens, quils
feroyent horreur la plus effronte femme du monde; avec des chanons dune
compoition i brutale, et en termes et mots i licencieux et lubriques, que les yeux e
troublent, les oreilles etourdient, et lentendement enchante, de voir tant de
choes montreues qui y rencontrent la fois.
Les femmes et filles avec lequelles il e veut accoupler, ont couvertes dune
nue, pour cacher les excrations et ordures qui y trouvent, et pour oter la compaion quon pourroit avoir des cris et douleurs de ces pauvres mirables. Et
voulant meler limpit avec labomination du ortilge, pour leur faire paroitre
quil veut quelles vivent avec quelque forme de religion, le ervice ou culte divin,

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ON THE WORSHIP OF THE

and contemptuous parody on the catholic mas. An altar was

raied, and a priet conecrated and adminitered the hot, but it was
made of ome diguting ubtance, and the priet tood with his head
downwards and his legs in the air, and with his back turned to the
altar. Thus all things were performed in montrous or diguting
forms, o that Satan himelf appeared almot ahamed of them.
De Lancre acknowledges that there was ome diverity in the
manner of the proceedings of the Sabbath in different countries,
ariing from difference in the character of the locality, in the
mater who preided, and in the various humours of thoe who
attended. But all well conidered, there is a general agreement
on the principal and mot important of the more erious ceremonies.
Wherefore, I will relate what we have learnt by our trials, and I will
imply repeat what ome notable witches depoed before us, as well
as to the formalities of the Sabbath, as to all that was uually een
quil eaye de contrefaire ou reprenter, et i auvage et drgl, et hors de tout
ens commun, que le faux acrificateur ayant dre quelque autel, faict emblant dy
dire quelque forme de mee, pour e moquer des chretiens: Et y faict paroitre
quelque hotie, facte de quelque puante matire noire et enfume, o il et peint en
boue. Ce faux pretre a la tete en bas, et les pieds contremont, et le dos ignominieuement tourn vers lautel. Enfin on y voit en chaque choe ou action des reprentations i formidables, tant dabominables objects, et tant de forfaicts et crimes
excrable, que lair infecteroit i je les vouloy exprimer plus au long; Et peut on
dire ans mentir, que Satan meme a quelque horreur de les commettre. Car outre la
nue de la quelle il voile es accouplemens, il tient les enfans eloignez, de peur de
les rebutter pour jamais par lhorrible veu de tant de choes. Et pluiers peronnes voiles, pour tenir mine de grandeur, ain quon ne les voye rougir nin palir de
la grandeur de cent mille maux, quon y voit commettre tous momens.
A la vrit la decription du abbat qui e faict en diveres contres emble etre un
peu divere. La diverit des lieux o il e tient, du maitre qui y pride, tout divers
et tout variable, et les diveres humeurs de ceux qui y ont appellez, ont la diverit.
Mais tout bien conidr on et daccord pour le principal et pour le plus important
des crmonies plus rieues. Cet pourquoy je raporteray ce que nous avons
apprins par nos procdures, et diray implement ce que quelques notables orcires en
ont dpos devant nous, tant ur la forme du abbat que ur tout ce quon a accou-

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225

there, without changing or altering anything in what they depoed,

in order that every one may elect what he likes.
The firt witnes adduced by De Lancre is not one belonging to
his own time, but dating back as far as the 18th of December, 1567,
and he had obtained a copy of the confeion. Etbene de Cambrue,
of the parih of Amou, a woman twenty-five years of age, aid that
the great Sabbath was held four times a year, in deriion of the four
annual fetivals of the Church. The little aemblies, which were
held in the neighbourhood of the towns or parihes, were attended
only by thoe of the locality; they were called patimes, and were
held ometimes in one place and ometimes in another, and there
they only danced and frolicked, for the devil did not come there in all
his tate as at the great aemblies. They were, in fact, the greater
and leer Priapeia. She aid that the place of the grand convocation was generally called the Lanne de Bouc (the goats heath),
where they danced round a tone, which was planted in the aid
place, (perhaps one of the o-called Druidical monuments,) upon
which was eated a great black man, whom they called Monieur. Each peron preent kied this black man on the poteriors.
tum dy voir, ans rien changer ny alterer de leur dpoition, ain que chacun en
prenne ce quil luy plaira.
Je commenceray par une fort ancienne dpoition que jay trouve puis peu de
jours, dune Etbene de Cambrue, aage de 25 ans, de la paroie dAmou, du 18
Dcembre 1567, qui marque que delors cette pauvre parroie en etoit dj
infecte: qui dict que les orcires nalloient en la grand aembl et au grand
Sabbat que quatre fois lanne, en driion des crmonies que lglise clbre les
quatres festes annuelles. Car les petites aembles qui se ont prs des villes
ou parroisse, o ny va que ceux du lieu, ils les appellent les esbats, et e ont
ores en un lieu de ladite parroisse, ores en un autre, o on ne faict que auter et
olatrer, le diable ny etant avec tout on grand arroy, comme aux grandes aembles. Que le lieu de cete grande convocation sappelle gnralement par tout
le pays la Lanne du Bouc. O ils e mettent dancer lentour dune pierre,
qui et plante audit lieu, sur laquelle est ais un grand hoome noir, quelles

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ON THE WORSHIP OF THE

She aid that they were carried to that place on an animal which
ometimes reembled a hore and at others a man, and they never
rode on the animal more than four at a time. When arrived at
the Sabbath, they denied God, the Virgin, and the ret, and
took Satan for their father and protector, and the he-devil for
their mother. This witnes decribed the making and ale of
poions. She aid that he had een at the Sabbath a notary, whoe
name he gave, whoe buines it was to denounce thoe who failed
in attendance. When on their way to the Sabbath, however hard
it might rain, they were never wet, provided they uttered the words,
Haut la coude, Quillet, becaue then the tail of the beat on which
they were mounted covered them o well that they were heltered
from the rain. When they had to make a long journey they aid
thee words: Pic uber hoeilhe, en ta la lane de bouc bien
marrecoueille.
A man eventy-three years of age, named Petri Daguerre, was
brought before De Lancre and his fellow commiioners at Utarits;
two witnees aerted that he held the office of mater of cereappellant Monieur, et chacun de laemble luy va baier le deirrire. Et e ont
porter juquaudit lieu, ur une bete, qui emble parfois un cheval, et parfoys
un homme; et ne montent jamais plus haut de quatre ur ces mountures qui
portent aini au Sabbat. L ils renient Dieu, la Vierge, et le rete, et prennant
Satan pour leur pre et protecteur, et la diablee pour leur mre. Quaucuns ont l
du poison, desquels les autres le vont acheter, lequel est faict de crapaux, avec une
langue de boeuf ou vache, et une chvre et des oeufs couvez et pourris, et de la
cervelle denfant, et le mettent cuire dans un pot. Dict quelle a veu au Sabbat un
notaire quelle nomme, lequel a accoustam de lever les defauts de celles qui ont
manqu de e trouver au Sabbat, et dict quencore quil pleut pleins eaux, lorquon
et en chemin pour y aller, on ne e moile point, pourveu quon die ces mots,
Haut la coude, Quillet, parce qualors la queu de la beste sur laquelle ils vont au
Sabbat les courvre si bien, quils ne se moillent point. Et quand ils ont un long
chemin, ils dient tels mots: Pic uber hoeilhe, en ta la lane de bouc bien marrecoueille.
En la procdure dUtarits, qui et le ige de la jutice de Labourt, faient le procez
Petri Daguerre, aag de eptante trois ans, lequel depuis a et excut mort

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227

monies and governor of the Sabbath, and that the devil gave him
a gilt taff, which he carried in his hand as a mark of authority,
and arranged and directed the proceedings. He returned the taff
to Satan at the cloe of the meeting.
One Leger Rivaeau confeed that he had been at the Sabbath
twice without adoring the devil, or doing any of the things
required from the others, becaue it was part of his bargain, for he
had given the half of his left foot for the faculty of curing, and the
right of being preent at the Sabbath without further obligation. He
aid that the Sabbath was held about midnight, at a meeting of
cros roads, mot frequently on the nights of Wedneday and
Friday; that the devil choe in preference the tormiet nights, in
order that the winds and troubled elements might carry their
powders farther and more impetuouly; that two notable devils
preided at their Sabbaths, the great negro, whom they called
mater Leonard, and another little devil, whom mater Leonard at
times ubtituted in his place, and whom they called Mater Jean
Mullin; that they adored the grand mater, and that, after having
comme inigne orcier, deux temoins luy maintindrent quil etoit le maitre des crmonies et gouverneur du Sabbat. Que le Diable luy mettoit en main un baton tout
dor, avec lequel, comme un matre de camp, il rengeoit et les peronne et toutes
choes au Sabbat: et quiceluy finy il dendoit ce baton au grand maitre de laemble.
Leger Rivaeau confea en la Cour quil avoit et au Sabbat par deux fois, ans
adorer le Diable ny faire comme les autres, parcequil avoit aini faict on pacte avec
luy, et baill la moiti de on pied gauche pour avoir la facult de gurir, et la libert
de voir le Sabbat implement ans etre oblig autre choe. Et dioit que le Sabbot
e faioit preque toujours environ la minuit, un carrefour, le plus ouvent la nuict
du Mercredy et du Vendredy: que le diable cherchoit la nuict la plus orageue quil
pouvoit, ain que les vents et les orages portaent plus loing et plus imptueuement leurs
poudres; que deux diables notables pridoient en ces Sabbats, le grand Negre quon
appelloit maitre Leonard, et un autre petit diable que maitre Leonard ubrogeoit quelquefois en a place, quils appellent Jean Mullin; quon adorait le grand maitre,

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ON THE WORSHIP OF THE

kied his poteriors, there were about ixty of them dancing without
dres, back to back, each with a great cat attached to the tail of
his or her hirt, and that afterwards they danced naked; that this
Mater Leonard, taking the form of a black fox, hummed at the
beginning a word ill articulated, after which they were all ilent.
Some of the witches examined poke of the delight with which
they attended the Sabbath. Jeanne Dibaon, a woman twentynine years old, aid that the Sabbath was the true Paradie, where
there was far more pleaure than can be expreed; that thoe who
went there found the time o hort by reaon of the pleaure and
enjoyment, that they never left it without marvelous regret, o
that they looked forward with infinite impatience to the next
meeting.
Marie de la Ralde, a very handome woman twenty-eight years
of age, who had then abandoned her connection with the devil five
or ix years, gave a full account of her experience of the Sabbath.
She aid he had frequented the Sabbaths from the time he was ten
years old, having been firt taken there by Marians, the wife of
Sarrauch, and after her death the devil took her there himelf.
et quaprs quon luy avoit bai le derrire, ils etoient environ oixante qui danoient
ans habits, do--dos, chacun un grand chat attach la queu de la chemie, puis ils
danoient tous nuds: que ce maitre Leonard prenant la forme dun renard noir
bourdonnoitau commencent ue parole mal articule, et quaprs cela tout le monde
etoit en ilence. . . . .
Jeanne Dibaon, aage de vingt neuf ans, nous dict que le Sabbat etoit le vray
Paradis, o il y a beacoup plus de plaiir quon nen peut exprimer: que ceux qui
y vont trouvent le temps i court, force de plaiir et de contentment, quils nen
peuvent ortir ans un merveilleux regret, de manire quil leur tarde infiniment quils
ny reviennent.
Marie de la Ralde, aage de vingt huict ans, tr-belle femme, laquelle a quitt cette
abomination puis cinq ou ix ans, dpoe quelle a et orcire et frquen les Sabbats
puis laage de dix ans, y ayant et mene la premire fois par Marians femme de
Sarrauch, et aprs on decez le Diable ly menoit luy meme. Que la premire fois

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229

That the firt time he was there he aw the devil in the hape of a
trunk of a tree, without feet, but apparently itting in a pulpit,
with ome form of a human face, very obcure; but ince he had
often een him in man's form, ometimes red, ometimes black.
That he had often een him approach a hot iron to the children
which were preented to him, but he did not know if he marked
them with it. That he had never kied him ince he had arrived
at the age of knowledge, and does not know whether he had
kied him before or not; but he had een how, when one went to
adore him, he preented ometimes his face to kis, ometimes his
poteriors, as it pleaed him, and at his dicretion. That he had a
ingular pleaure in going to the Sabbath, o that every time he
was ummoned to go there, he went as though it were to a wedding feat; not o much for the liberty and licene they had there
to have connection with each other (which out of modety he aid
he had never done or een done), but becaue the devil had o
trong a hold on their hearts and wills that it hardly allowed any
other deire to enter. Beides that the witches believe they are
going to a place where there are a hundred thouand wonders
and novelties to ee, and where they hear o great a diverity
quelle y fut, elle y vit le Diable en forme de tronc darbre, ans pieds, qui embloit
etre dans une chaire, avec qulque forme de face humaine fort tnbreue, mais depuis
elle la veu ouvent en forme dhomme, tantot rouge, tantot noir: quelle la veu
ouvent approcher un fer chaud prs des enfants quon luy prentoit, mais quelle ne
ait il les marquoit avec cela. Quelle ne la jamais bai puis quelle et en aage
de cognoiance, et ne ait i auparavant elle lavoit bai: bien a veu que comme on
la va adorer, ores il leur premte le viage baier, ores le derrire, comme il luy
plait, et a dicretion. Quelle avoit un ingulier plaiir daller au Sabbat, i bien
que quand on la venoit emondre dy aller, elle y alloit comme nopces: non pas
tant pour la libert et licence quon a de accointer enemble (ce que par modetie elle
dict navoir jamais fait ny veu faire), mais parce que le Diable tenoit tellement lis leurs
coeurs et leurs volontez qu peine y laioit il entrer nul autre dir: Outre que les
orcires croyent aller en quelque lieu o il y a cent mille choes entranges et nouvelles

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ON THE WORSHIP OF THE

of melodious intruments that they are ravihed, and believe themelves to be in ome terretrial paradie. Moreover the devil peruades them that the fear of hell, which is o much apprehended,
is a piece of folly, and gives them to undertand that the eternal
punihments will hurt them no more than a certain artificial fire
which he caues them craftily to light, and then makes them pas
through it and repas without hurt. And more, that they ee there
o many priets, their pators, curs, vicars, and confeors, and
other people of quality of all orts, o many heads of families, and
o many mitrees of the principal houes in the aid country, o
many people veiled, whom they conidered to be grandees, becaue
they concealed themelves and wihed to be unknown, that they
believed and took it for a very great honour and good fortune to
be received there.
Marie dApilcoutte, a girl nineteen years old, who lived at
Handaye, aid that he had frequented the Sabbath ever ince the age
of even, and that he was taken there the firt time by Catherine de
Moleres, who had ince been executed to death for having caued
a mans death by orcery. She aid that it was now two years ince
voir, et y entendant tant de divers et mlodieux intruments quelle ont ravies, et
croyent etre dans quelque Paradis terretre. Dailleurs que le Diable leur peruade
que la crainte de lEnfer, quon apprhende i fort, et une niayerie, et leur donne
entrendre que les peines ternelles ne les tourmenteront pas davantage, que certain feu
artificiel quil leur fact cauteleuement allumer, par lequel il les faict paer et repaer
ans ouffrir aucun mal. Davantage quelle y voyent tant de pretres, leur pateurs,
curez, vicaires, et confeeurs, et autres gens de qualit de toute ortes, tant de chefs
de famille et tant de maitrees des maions principales dudict pas, tant de gens
voilez, quelle pruppoent grans parcequils e cachent et veulent etre incognus,
quelle croyent et prennent trs grand honneur et tiltre de bonne fortune dy etre
receus. . . . .
Marie dApilcoutte, habitante de Handaya, aage de dix neuf ans, dict
quelle a frquent les Sabbats puis laage de ept ans, et quelle y ut conduitte la
premire fois par Catherine de Moleres qui a depuis et excute mort, luy ayant
et maintenu, quelle avoit charg le haut mal par on eul attouchment un fort

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231

he had withdrawn from her relations with Satan. That the devil
appeared in the form of a goat, having a tail and under it the face of
a black man, which he was compelled to kis, and that this poterior
face has not the power of peech, but they were obliged to adore
and kis it. Afterwards the aid Moleres gave her even toads to
keep. That the aid Moleres tranported her through the air to the
Sabbath, where he aw people dancing, with violins, trumpets, and
tabors, which made a very great harmony. That in the aid
aemblies there was an extreme pleaure and enjoyment. That
they made love in full liberty before all the world. That ome
were employed in cutting off the heads of toads, while others made
poion of them; and that they made the poion at home as well as
at the Sabbath.
After decribing the different orts of poions prepared on thee
occaions, De Lancre proceeds to report the tetimony of other
witnees to the details of the Sabbath.1 Jeannette de Belloc,
called Atoua, a damel of twenty-four years of age, aid that he
had been made a witch in her childhood by a woman named Oylarchahar, who took her for the firt time to the Sabbath, and there
preented her to the devil; and after her death, Mary Martin,
honnete homme: que nantmoins il y a deux ans quelle et retire des liens de
Satan, et quelle en a eco le joug. Que le Diable etoit en forme de bouc, ayant
une queu et au deoubs un viage dhomme noir, o elle ut contrainte le baier, et
na parole par ce viage de derrire, quon luy it adorer et baier: puis ladicte
Moleres luy donna ept crapaux garder. Que la dicte Moleres la tranportoit au
Sabbat par lair, o elle voyoit dancer avec violons, trompettes, ou tabourins, qui
rendoyent une trgrande harmonie. Quedictes aembles y a un extrme plaiir et
rejouiance. Quon y faict lamour en toute libert devant tout le monde. Que
pluiers emploient couper la tete des crapaix. et les autres en faire du poion;
quon en faict au logis aui bien quau Sabbat. Tableau lIncontance, pp. 119 et
eqq.
1
Jeannette de Belloc dicte Atoua, fille de 24 ans, nous dict que puis on bas aage
elle avoit et faicte orcire par une femme nomm Oylarchahar, laquelle la mena
au Sabbat la premire fois, et la prenta au Diable, et aprs on decez, Marie Martin,

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ON THE WORSHIP OF THE

lady of the houe of Adamechorena, took her place. About the

month of February, 1609, Jeannette confeed to a priet who was
the nephew of Madame Martin, who went to his aunt and merely
enjoined her not to take the girl to the Sabbath any more. Jeannette aid that at the olemn fetivals all kied the devils poteriors
except the notable witches, who kied him in the face. According
to her account, the children, at the age of two or three years, or as
oon as they could peak, were made to renounce Jeus Chrit, the
Virgin Mary, their baptim, &c. and from that moment they were
taught to worhip the devil. She decribed the Sabbath as reembling a fair, well upplied with all orts of objects, in which ome
walked about in their own form, and others were transformed, he
knew not how, into dogs, cats, aes, hores, pigs, and other animals. The little boys and girls kept the herds of the Sabbath, coniting of a world of toads near a tream, with mall white rods,
and were not allowed to approach the great mas of the witches;
while others, of more advanced age, who were not objects of ufficient repect, were kept apart in a ort of apprenticehip, during
dame de la maion dAdamechorena, print a place. Et dautant quenviron le mois
de Febvrier 1609, elle alla confeer maitre Jean de Horrouteguy, prieur de
Soubernoue, nepveu de ladicte Martin, il enjoignit a tante de la laier en paix et ne
la mener plus au Sabbat. Qus fetes olemnelles on baioit le Diable au derrire,
mais les notables orcires le baioient au viage. Que les enfans environ laage de
deux ou trois ans, et puis quls avent parler, ont la rnonciation Ju-Chrit, la
Saincte Vierge, leur Bapteme, et toute le rete, et commencent ds lors prendre
habitude recognoitre et adorer le Diable. Dict que le Sabbat et comme une foire
clbre de toutes ortes de choes, en laquelle aucuns e promenent en leur propre
forme, et dautres ont transformez, ne ayt pourquoy, en chiens, en chats, anes,
chevaux, pourceaux, et autres animaux: les petits enfans et filles gardent
les troupeaux du Sabbat, qui ont un mode de crapaux, prs dun ruieau avec
des petites gaules blanches quon leur donne. ans les laier approcher du gros
des autres orciers: les mdiocres et ceux qui ont de bon aage parmy eux, on
leur permet implement de voir, et leur en donne-on le plaiir et letonnement, les
tenant comme en apprentiage. Pour les autres il y en a de deux ortes; aucun

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233

which they were only allowed to look on at the proceedings of the

others. Of thee there were two orts; ome were veiled, to make
the poorer claes believe that they were people of rank and ditinction, and that they did not wih themelves to be known in uch
a place; others were uncovered, and openly danced, had exual
intercoure, made the poions, and performed their other diabolical
functions; and thee were not allowed to approach o near the
mater as thoe who were veiled. The holy water ued at the
Sabbath was the devils urine. She pointed out two of the accued
whom he had een at the Sabbath playing upon the tabor and
the violin. She poke of the numbers who were een arriving
and departing continually, the latter to do evil, the former to
report what they had done. They went out at ea, even as far as
Newfoundland, where their hubands and ons went to fih, in
order to raie torms, and endanger their hips. This deponent
poke alo of the fires at the Sabbath, into which the witches were
ont voilez pour donner opinion aux pauvres que ce ont des princes et grans
eigneurs, et quaucun deux nayt horreur dy etre et faire ce quils ont en adorant
le diable. . . Les autres ont decouverts et tout ouvertement dancent, accouplent,
font du poion, et autres fonctions diaboliques, et ceux cy ne ont i prs du maitre, i
favoris, ne i employez. Ils baillent laperges de lurnine du Diable. Ils y vont
loffrande, et y a veu tenir le bain un Eteben Detzail, lors prionnier: et dioit-on
quil en etoit enrichy. Quelle y a veu jouer du tabourin Anugarlo de Han-daye,
lequel a depuis et excut mort comme inigne orcier, et du violon Gatelloue.
Elle nous dioit quon eut veu deloger du Sabbat et voler lune en lair, lautre
monter plus haut vers le ciel, lautre decendre vers la terre, et lautre parfois e
prcipiter dans les grands feux allumez audit lieu, comme fuzes qui ont jettes par
pluieurs, ou comme eclairs: lune arrive, lautre part, et tout un coup pluiers
partent, pluiers arrivent, chacune rendant comte de vents et orages quelle
a excit, des navires et vaieaux quelle a fait perdre: et en vont de Labourt,
Siboro, et S. Jean de Luz, juques Arcachon, qui et une des tetes de lOcean, aui
lappellent ils la tete de Buch, as prs de Bourdeaux, et en Terre-neuve, parcequelles y voyent leur pres, leurs maris, leurs enfans, et dautres parens, et que cet
leur voyage ordinaire, meme en a veu pluiers qui notoirement ont en Terre-neuve

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ON THE WORSHIP OF THE

thrown without utaining any hurt. She had een the frequenters
of the Sabbath make themelves appear as big as houes, but he had
never een them transform themelves into animals, although there
were animals of different kinds running about at the Sabbath.
Jeanette dAbadie, an inhabitant of Siboro, of the age of ixteen, aid that he was taken for the firt time to the Sabbath by a
woman named Gratianne; that for the lat nine months he had
watched and done all he could to withdraw herelf from this evil
influence; that during the firt three of thee months, becaue he
had watched at home by night, the devil carried her away to the
Sabbath in open day; and during the other ix, until the 16th of
September, 1609, he had only gone to them twice, becaue he
had watched, and till watches in the church; and that the lat time
he was there was the 13th of September, 1609, which he narrated
in a bizarre and very terrible manner. It appears that, having
watched in the church of Siboro during the night between Saturday
and Sunday, at daybreak he went to leep at home, and, during
the time of the grand mas, the devil came to her and natched
quelles menoyent au Sabbat. . . . . Quant la transformations, dict quencore que
parfois elles i faent voir hautes comme une maion, pourtant elle na jamais veu
aucune delle e transformer en bete en a prence, mais eulement certaines betes
courier par le Sabbat, et devenir grandes et petites, mais i oudainement quelle nen
a jamais pu decouvrir la faon. En voycy une plus avante.
Jeannette dAbadie, habitante de Siboro, aage de eize ans, dpoe quelle fut mene
la premire fois au Sabbat par une nomme Gratianne: quil y a environ neuf mois
quelle veille et faict tout ce quelle peut pour e remdier: que puis les trois premiers
mois dedicts neuf, parce quelle veilloit la nuit chez elle, le Diable la menoit toujours au
Sabbat de plain jour: et les ix mois retans juque au 16 Septembre 1609, elle ny et alle
que deux fois, parce quelle a veill et veille encore dans lglie: et la dernire fois
quelle y a et, ce fut le 13 de Septembre 1609, ce quelle conte dune bizarre et bien
terrible faon. Car elle dict quayant veill dans lglie de Siboro, la nuict du Samedy
venant au Dimanche, le jour venu, elle en alla dormir chez elle, et pendant quon
dioit la grande Mele, le Diable lui vint arracher un Higo de cuir quelle portoit au
col, comme ont uue infinit dautres; qui et une forme de main au point err, le

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235

from her neck a fig of leather which he wore there, as an

infinity of other people did; this higo, or fig, he decribed as
a form of hand, with the fit cloed, and the thumb paed
between the two fingers, which they believe to be, and wear as, a
remedy againt all enchantment and witchcraft; and, becaue the
devil cannot bear this fit, he aid that he did not dare to carry it
away, but left it at the threhold of the door of the room in which
he was leeping. This Jeanette aid, that the firt time he went
to the Sabbath he aw there the devil in the form of a man, black
and hideous, with ix horns on his head, and ometimes eight,
and a great tail behind, one face in front and another at the back
of the head, as they paint the god Janus. Gratianne, on preenting
her, received as her reward a handful of gold; and then the childvictim was made to renounce her Creator, the Virgin, the
baptim, father, mother, relatives, heaven, earth, and all that was
in the world, and then he was required to kis the fiend on the
poteriors. The renunciation he was obliged to repeat every time
he went to the Sabbath. She added that the devil often made her
kis his face, his navel, his member, and his poteriors. She had
often een the children of witches baptized at the Sabbath.
poulce pa entre les deux doigts, quelle croyent et portent comme remde toute
facination et ortilge: et parce que le Diable ne peut ouffrir ce poignet, elle dict
quil ne loa emporter, ains le laia prs de la porte de la chambre dans laquelle elle dormoit. En revenant au commencement et la premire entre quelle
ut au Sabbat, elle dit queel y vid le Diable en forme dhomme noir et hideux, avec
ix cornes en la tete, parfois huict, et une grande queu derrire, un viage devant et
un autre derrire la tete, comme on peint le dieu Janus: que la dicte Gratianne,
layant prente, recuet une poigne dor en rcompene, puis la fit renoncer et renier
on Crateur, la Saincte Vierge, les Saincts, le Bapteme, pre, mre, parens, le ciel,
la terre, et tout ce qui et au monde, laquelle renonciation il luy faioit renouveller
toutes les fois quelle alloit au Sabbat, puis elle lalloit baier au derrire. Que le
Diable luy faioit baier ouvent on viage, puis on nombril, puis on membre, puis on
derrire. Quelle a veu ouvent baptier des enfans au Sabbat, quelle nous expli-

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ON THE WORSHIP OF THE

Another ceremony was that of baptizing toads. Thee animals

perform a great part in thee old popular orgies. At one of the
Sabbaths, a lady danced with four toads on her peron, one on each
houlder, and one on each writ, the latter perched like hawks.
Jeanette dAbadie went on further in her revelations in regard to
till more objectionable parts of the proceedings. She aid that,1
with regard to their libidinous acts, he had een the aembly intermix incetuouly, and contrary to all order of nature, accuing even
herelf of having been robbed of her maidenhead by Satan, and of
having been known an infinite number of times by a relation of
hers, and by others, whoever would ak her. She always fought to
avoid the embraces of the devil, becaue it caued her an extreme
pain, and he added that what came from him was cold, and never
produced pregnancy. Nobody ever became pregnant at the Sabbath. Away from the Sabbath, he never committed a fault, but
in the Sabbath he took a marvellous pleaure in thee acts of
exual intercoure, which he diplayed by dwelling on the decription of them with a minutenes of detail, and language of uch
obcenity, as would have drawn a bluh from the mot depraved
woman in the world. She decribed alo the tables covered in
qua etre des enfans des orcires et non autres, lequelles ont accoutum fair plutot
baptier leurs enfans au Sabbat, quen lglie, et les prenter au Diable plutot qu
Dieu. De lIncontance des Mauvais Anges, p. 128.
1
Pour laccouplement, quelle a veu tout le monde e mler incetueuement et contre
tout ordre de nature, comme nous avons dict cy devant, accuant elle meme davoir
et dpucelle par Satan et cognue une infinit de fois par un fien parent et autres
qui en daignoient emondre: quelle uyoit laccouplement du Diable, caue
quayant on membre faict en acailles, il fait ouffrir une extreme douleur; outre que
la emence et extrmement froide, i bien quelle nengroe jamais, ni celle des
autres hommes au Sabbat, bien quelle oit naturelle: Que hors du Sabbat elle ne it
jamais faute, mais que dans le Sabbat elle avoit un merveilleux plaiir en ces accouplemens autres que celui de Sathan, quelle dioit etre horrible, voire elle nous
temoignoit un merveilleux plaiir le dire, et le conter, nommant toutes choes par

GENERATIVE POWERS

237

appearance with proviions, which, however, proved either unubtantial or of a diguting nature.
This witnes further declared that he had een at the Sabbath a
number of little demons without arms, who were employed in
kindling a great fire, into which they threw the witches, who came
out without being burnt; and he had alo een the grand mater of
the aembly throw himelf into a fire, and remain there until he was
burnt to powder, which powder was ued by the witches to
bewitch young children, and caue them to go willingly to the
Sabbath. She had een priets who were well-known, and gave the
names of ome of them, performing the ervice of the mas at the
Sabbath, while the demons took their places on the altar in the
forms of aints. Sometimes the devil pierced the left foot of a
orcerer under the little toe, and drew blood, which he ucked, and
leur nom plus librement et effrontmont que nous ne luy oions faire demander,
choe qui confirme merveilleuement la ralit du Sabbat. Car il et plus vrayemblable quelle e oit accouple au Sabbat avec des gens quelle nommoit, que non,
que Satan les y ait faict voir dans on lict par illuion, ou quil les luy ait portez corporellement: nayant peu entir cent fois (comme elle dict) cette femence naturelle que
accouplant corporellement et rellemenent avec un homme naturel quelle nous a nomm
qui et encore vivant. Quelle y a veu des tables drees avec orces vivres, mais
quad on en vouloit preadre on ne trouvait rien oubs la main, auf quand on y avoit
port des enfans bapties ou non bapties, car de ces deux elle en avoit veu fort auvent
ervir et manger: meme un quon tenait etre fils de maitre de Laffe. Quon les
compe quartiers au Sabbat pour en faire part pluieurs parroies.
Davantage dict quelle a veu pluieurs petits dmons ans bras, allumer un grand feu,
jette des orcires du abbat l dedans, et, les retirant ans douleur, le Diable leur dire
quelles nauroient non plus de mal du feu dEnfer. Quelle a veu le grand maitres de
laemble e jetter dans les flammes au Sabbat, e faire bruler juques ce quil etoit
reduit en poudre, et les grandes et inignes orcires prendre les dites poudres pour
enorceler les petits enfants et les mener au Sabbat, et en prenoient aui dans la
bouche pour ne reveler jamais; et a veu pareillement ce mauvais dmon au Sabbat
e rdaire tout en menus vers. Quelle a ony dire ouvent mee quelques pretres et
entre autres Migualena et Bocal, vetas de rouge et de blanc: que le maitre de
laemble et autres petits dmons eoint ur lautel en forme de aincts: que pour

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ON THE WORSHIP OF THE

after this that individual could never be drawn to make a confeion; and he named, as an example, a priet named Francois de
Bideguaray, of Bordegaina, who, in fact, could not be made to
confes. She named many other perons whom he had een at the
Sabbaths, and epecially one named Anduitze, whoe office it was
to ummon the witches and orcerers to the meeting.
De Lancre ays that many others, in their depoitions, poke of
the extreme pleaures and enjoyments experienced in thee Sabbaths, which made men and women repair to them with the greatet
eagernes. The woman indulged before the face of her huband
without upicion or jealouy, he even frequently acted the part of
procurer; the father deprived his daughter of her virginity without
hame; the mother acted the ame part towards her on; the brother
towards his iter; fathers and mothers carried thither and preented their children.
aller au Sabbat elle ne laioit daller lglie, mais elle trembloit quand elle y
voiyoit faire lelevation, et tremble encoure toutes les fois quelle la voit. Et quand
elle e veut approcher du crucifix, pour luy baier les pieds, elle devient tous eperdue
et trouble, ans avoir quelle prire elle fait, parcequelle voit en meme intant
comme un peronne noire et hideue qui et tout au bas et au deoubs des pieds
dudict crucifix, qui faict contenance de len empecher. Quant aux orciers qui
ne confeent ny la torture ny au upplice, elle dict avoir veu que le Diable leur perce
le pied gauche avec un poinon et leur tire un peu de ang au deoubs du petit doigt
dudict pied gauche, lequel ang il ucce, et celuy l ne confee jamais choe qui concerne le ortilge: ce quelle a veu pratiquer en la peronne de maitre Franois de
Bideguarnay, pretre au lieu appell Bordegaina, o le Sabbat a accoutum e tenir,
i bien quelle nous a dict quil ne confeeroit jamais. Quelle a veu au Sabbat entre
une infinit quelle nomme et cognoit, un nomm Anduitze, qui et celuy qui va
donner les aignations aux orcires pour e trouver au Sabbat. . . .
Et pluieurs autres nous ont dict que les plaiirs et la joye y ont i grands et de
tant de ortes, quil ny a homme ny femme qui ny coure tr-volontiers. . . . . La
femme e joue en prence de on mary ans oupon ni jalouies, voire il en et ouvent le
proxenete: le pre dpucelle a fille ans vergogne: la mre arrache le pucelage de
fils ans cruinte: le frre de la oeur; on y voit les pres et mres porter et prenter
leurs enfans. De lIncontance, p. 132.

GENERATIVE POWERS

239

The dances at the Sabbath were motly indecent, including the

well-known Sarabande, and the women danced in them ometimes
in chemie, but much more frequently quite naked. They conited epecially in violent movements; and the devil often joined
in them, taking the handomet woman or girl for his partner. De
Lancre's account of thee dances is o minute and curious that it
may be given in his own words.1 If the aying is true that never
woman or girl returned from the ball as chate as he went there,
how unclean mut he return who has abandoned herelf to the unfortunate deign of going to the ball of the demons and evil pirits,
who has danced in hand with them, who has kied them obcenely,
who has yielded herelf to them as a prey, has adored them, and
has even copulated with them? It is to be, in good earnet, incontant and fickle; it is to be not only lewd, or even a hameles
whore, but to be tark-mad, unworthy of the favours with which
God loads her in bringing her into the world, and cauing her to
be born a Chritian. We caued in everal places the boys and
girls to dance in the ame fahion as they danced at the Sabbath,
as much to deter them from uch uncleannes, by convincing them
to what a degree the mot modet of thee movements was filthy,
vile, and unbecoming in a virtuous girl, as alo becaue, when
1

Et il et vray ce quon dit que jamais femme ny fille ne revint du bal i chate
comme elle y et alle, combien immonde revient celle qui et abandonne, et a prins
ce mal-heureux deain daller au bal des dmons et mauvais eprits, qui a danc
leur main, qui les a i alement baiez, qui et donne eux en proye, les a adorez, et
et meme accouple avec eux? Cet etre bon ecient incontante et volage: cet
etre non eulment impudique, voire putain effronte, mais bien folle enrage, inbigne
des graces que Dieu luy avoit faict et ver ur elle, lor quil la mit au monde, et la
it naitre chretienne. Nous imes en pluieurs lieux dancer les enfans et filles en la
meme faon quelle danoient au Sabbat, tant pour les dterrer dune telle falet,
leur faiant recognoitre combien le plus modete mouvement etoit ale, vilain, et
malant une honnete fille, quaia par-ce quau confrontement la plus part des
orcires accues davoir entre autres choes dance la main du Diable, et parfois

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ON THE WORSHIP OF THE

accued, the greater part of the witches, charged with having among
other things danced in hand with the devil, and ometimes led the
dance, denied it all, and aid that the girls were deceived, and that
they could not have known how to expres the forms of dance
which they aid they had een at the Sabbath. They were boys
and girls of a fair age, who had already been in the way of
alvation before our commiion. In truth ome of them were
already quite out of it, and had gone no more to the Sabbath for
ome time; others were till truggling to ecape, and, held till by
one foot, lept in the church, confeed and communicated, in order
to withdraw themelves entirely from Satan's claws. Now it is
aid that they dance always with their backs turned to the centre of
the dance, which is the caue that the girls are o accutomed to
carry their hands behind them in this round dance, that they draw
into it the whole body, and give it a bend curved backwards,
having their arms half turned; o that mot of them have the belly
commonly great, puhed forward, and wollen, and a little inclining
in front. I know not whether this be caued by the dance or by the
ordure and wretched proviions they are made to eat. But the
fact is, they dance very eldom one by one, that is one man alone
men la dance, nioyent tout, et dioient que les filles etoient abues, et quelles
neuent ceu exprimer les formes de dance quelle dioient avoir veu au Sabbat.
Cetoient des endans et filles de bon aage, et qui etoient dej en voye de alut avant
notre commiion. A la vrit aucunes en etoient dehors tout faict,. et nalloy-ent
plus au Sabbat il y avoit quelque temps: les autres etoient encore e dbatre ur la
perche, et attachez par un pied, dormoient dans les glies, e confeoient et
communioient, pour oter du tout des pattes de Satan. Or on dict quon y dance
toujours le dos tourn au centre de la dance, qui faict que les filles ont i accutumes porter les mains en arrire en cete dance ronde, quelles y trainent tout le
corps, et luy donnent un ply courb en arrire, ayant les bras demy tournez: i
bien que la plus part ont le ventre communement grand, enfl et avanc, et un peu
penchant ur le devant. Je ne ay i la dance leur caue cela ou lordure et mechantes viandes quon leur fait manger. Au rete on y dance fort peu ouvent un

GENERATIVE POWERS

241

with one woman or girl, as we do in our galliards; o they have told

and aured us, that they only danced there three orts of branles,
or brawls, uually turning their houlders to one another, and the
back of each looking towards the round of the dance, and the face
turned outwards. The firt is the Bohemian dance, for the wandering Bohemians are alo half devils; I mean thoe long-haired
people without country, who are neither Egyptians (gipies), nor
of the kingdom of Bohemia, but are born everywhere, as they
purue their route, and pas countries, in the fields, and under the
trees, and they go about dancing and playing conjuring tricks, as
at the Sabbath. So they are numerous in the country of Labourd, on
account of the eay paage from Navarre and Spain.
The econd is with jumping, as our working men practie in
towns and villages, along the treets and fields; and thee two are
in round. The third is alo with the back turned, but all holding
together in length, and, without diengaging hands, they approach
o near as to touch, and meet back to back, a man with a woman;
and at a certain cadence they puh and trike together immodetly
their two poteriors. And it was alo told us that the devil, in his
un, cet dire un homme eul avec une femme ou fille, comme nous faions en nos
gaillardes: ains elles nous ont dict et aur, quon ny danoit que trois fortes de
branles, communement e tournant les epaules lun lautre, et le does dun chacun
viant dans le rond de la dance, et le viage en dehors. La premire cet la Bohmienne, car aui les Bohmes coureurs ont demy diables: je dy ces long poils ans
patrie, qui ne ont ny gyptiens, ny du royaume de Bohme, ains ils naient par tout
en chemin faiant et paant pas, et dans les champs, et oubs les arbres, et font les
dances et batelages demy comme au Sabbat. Aui ont ils frquens au pas de
Labourt, pour laiance du paage de Navarre et de lEpange.
La econde cet auts, comme noz artians font s villes et villages, par les rues et
par les champs: et ces deux ont en rond. Et la troiieme et aui le dos tourn, mais e
tenant tous en long, et, ans e deprendre des mains, ils approchent de i prs quils
e touchent, et e rencontrent dos dos, un homme avec une femme: et certaine
cadence ils e choquent et frapent inpudemment cul contre cul. Mais aui il nous fut
dit que le Diable bizarre ne les faoit pas tous mettre rangment le dos tourn vers la

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ON THE WORSHIP OF THE

trange humours, did not caue them all to be placed in order, with
their backs turned towards the crown of the dance, as is commonly
aid by everybody; but one having the back turned, and the other
not, and o on to the end of the dance. . . . They dance to the
ound of the tabor and flute, and ometimes with the long intrument
they carry at the neck, and thence tretching to near the girdle,
which they beat with a little tick; ometimes with a violin (fiddle).
But thee are not the only intruments of the Sabbath, for we have
learnt from many of them that all orts of intruments are een
there, with uch harmony that there is no concert in the world to be
compared to it.
Nothing is more remarkable than the ort of prurient curioity
with which thee honet commiioners interrogated the witnees as
to the exual peculiarities and capabilities of the demon, and the
ort of atisfaction with which De Lancre reduces all this to writing.1
They all tend to how the identity of thee orgies with thoe of the
ancient worhip of Priapus, who is undoubtedly figured in the Satan
of the Sabbath. The young witch, Jeannette dAbadie, told how
he had een at the Sabbath men and women in promicuous intercoure, and how the devil arranged them in couples, in the mot
unnatural conjunctionsthe daughter with the father, the mother
with her on, the iter with the brother, the daughter-in-law with
couronne de la dance, comme communement dict tout le monde: ains lun aytant le
dos tourn, et lautre non: et aini tout uite juqu la fin de la dance.
. . . . Or elles dancent au on du petit tabourin et de la flute, et parfois avec ce long
intrument quils portent ur le col, puis aalongeant juquauprs de la ceinture, ils
le batent avec un petit baton: parfois avec un violon. Mais ce ne ont les euls
intrumens du Sabbat, car nous avons apprins de pluieurs quon y oyt toute orte
dintrumens, avec une telle harmonie quil ny a concert au monde qui le puiee
egalar. De lIncontance, &c., p. 209.
1
Jeannette dAbadie, aage de eize ans, dict, quelle a veu hommes et femmes e
meler promucuement au Sabbat: que le Diable leur commandoit de accoupler et e
joindre, leur baillant chacun tout ce que la nature abhorre le plus, avoir la fille au

GENERATIVE POWERS

243

the father-in-law, the penitent with her confeor, without ditinction

of age, quality, or relationhip, o that he confeed to having been
known an infinity of times at the Sabbath by a couin-german of
her mother, and by an infinite number of others. After repeating
much that he had aid before relating to the impudicity of the Sabbath, this girl aid that he had been deflowered by the devil at
the age of thirteentwelve was the common age for thisthat they
never became pregnant, either by him or by any of the wizards of the
Sabbath; that he had never felt anything come from the devil
except the firt time, when it was very cold, but that with the orcerers it was as with other men. That the devil choe the handomet of the women and girls for himelf, and one he uually made
his queen for the meeting. That they uffered extremely when he
had intercoure with them, in conequence of his member being
covered with cales like thoe of a fih. That when extended it was
pre, le fils la mre, la oeur au frre, la filleulle au parrain, la pnitente on
confeeur, ans ditinction daage, de qualit, ni de parentelle: de forte quelle confeoit librement avoir et connue une infinit de fois au Sabbat, par un couin germain de a mre et par une infinit dautres: que cet une perptuelle ordure, en
laquelle tout le monde egayoit comme elle: que hors du Sabbat elle ne fit jamais
de faute: quelle le faioit tout autant de fois que le Diable le luy commandoit, et
indiffremment avec toute orte de gens: ayant et dpucelle au Sabbat puis laage
de treize ans: que le Diable les conviant et forant de faire cete faute, oit avec luy,
oit avec des gens de rencontre en ces aembles, la faute netoit ienne: que de ces
accouplemens on ne engrooit jamais, oit quils fuent avec le maitre, oit avec
dautres orciers: ce que pourtant pluiers exemples dans nos hitoires rendent extrmement incertain et douteux: quon ny ent que dplaiir: quelle na jamias
entyy quil eut aucune emence, auf quand il la dpucella quelle la entit froide,
mais que celles des autres hommes qui lont cognu et naturelle: quil e choiit et trie
les plus belles; et de vray toutes celles que nous avons veu qualifies de ce tiltre de
roynes etoient does de quelque beaut plus ingulire que les autres. Si bien que
celle Detail Urrogne, lorquelle fut excute mort, mourut i dedaigneuement
que le bourreau de Bayonne, jeune et de belle forme, voulant extorquer delle, comme
cet la coutume, le baier du pardon, elle ne voulut jamais profaner a belle bouche
qui avoit accoutume detre cole au derrire de Diable. Dict davantage que, lors

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ON THE WORSHIP OF THE

a yard long, but that it was uually twited. Marie dApilcuette,

a girl between nineteen and twenty years of age, who alo confeed
to having had frequent connection with Satan, decribed his member
as about half a yard long, and moderately large. Marguerite, a
girl of Sare, between ixteen and eventeen, decribed it as reembling that of a mule, and as being as long and thick as ones arm.
More on this ubject the reader will find in De Lancre's own text,
given in the note below. The devil, we are further told, preferred
que le Diable les cognoit charnellement, elles ouffrant une extrme douleur, les ayant
ouyes crier, et, au ortir de lacte, les ayant vees revenir au Sabbat toutes anglantes e
plaignant de douleur, laquelle vient de ce que le membre du Dmon etant faict
ecaille comme un poion, elles e referrent en entrant, et e levent et piquent en
ortant: cet pour quoy elles fuyent emblables rencontres.
Que le membres du Diable, il etoit etendu, et long environ dule aulne, mais il
le tient entortill et ineux en forme de erpent: que ouvent il interpoe quelque
nue quand il veut e joindre quelque femme ou fille. Quelle a veu le Diable avec
pluieurs peronnes au Sabbat quelle nous a nomm, et que i veux taire pour certain raion. Et en fin quelle avoit aui et dpucelle par luy des laage de treize ans, et
depuis cognue pluieurs fois en forme dhomme, et en meme faon que les autres
hommes ont accoutum de coignoitre leurs epoues, mais avec une extreme douleur,
par les raions cy deus deduictes: quelle a veu faire tous ces accouplements une infinit de fois, par ce que celle qui le mauvais Dmon a cognes voyent fort bien
quand le Diable en cognoit dautres. Mais il a quelque vergogne de faire voir
cette vilennie celles avec lequelles il na encore eu acointance: qui et caue quil
leur met au devant cette nue.
Marie dApilcuette, fille de dix-neuf vignt ans, dioit le meme, pour ce qui et du
membre en ecailles, mais elle dpooit que lors quil les vouloit cognoitre, il quitoit la
forme de bouc et prenoit celle dhomme. Que les orciers au Sabbat prenoient quon
ny et jamais refu, et que les maris ouffrent que le Diable, ou qui que ce foit avec a
femme: que le membre du Diable et long environ la moiti dune aulne, de
mdiocre groeur, rouge, obcur, et tortu, fort rude et comme piquant.
En voicy dune autre orte. Marguerite, fille de Sare, aage de eize dixept
ans, dpoe que le Diable, oit quil ayt la forme dhomme, ou quil oit en forme
de bouc, a toujours un membre de mulet, ayant choii en imitation celuy de cet

GENERATIVE POWERS

245

married women to girls, becaue there was more in in the connection, adultery being a greater crime than imple fornication.
In order to give till more truthfulnes to his account of the Sabbath, De Lancre caued all the facts gathered from the confeions
of his victims to be embodied in a picture which illutrates the econd
edition of his book, and which places the whole cene before us o
vividly that we have had it re-engraved in facimile as an illutration to the preent eay.1 The different groups are, as will be
een, indicated by capital letters. At A we have Satan in his gilt
pulpit, with five horns, the one in the middle lighted, for the purpoe of giving light to all the candles and fires at the Sabbath. B
is the queen of the Sabbath, eated at his right hand, while another
favorite, though in les degree, its on the other ide. C, a witch
preenting a child which he has educed. D, the witches, each
with her demon, eated at table. E, a party of four witches and
orcerers, who are only admitted as pectators, and are not allowed
animal comme le mieux pourveu: quil la long et gros comme le bras: que quand
il veut cognoitre quelque fille ou femme au Sabbat, comme il faict preque
chaque aemble, il faict paroitre quelque forme de lict de oye, ur lequel il
faict emblant de les coucher, quelles ny prennent point de dplaiir, comme
ont dicts ces premires: et que jamais il ne paroit au Sabbat en quelque action que e
oit, quil nait toujours on intrument dehors, de cette belle forme et mfure: tout
rebouirs de ce que dit Boguet, que celles de on pas ne luy ont veu guire plus long
que le doigt et gros implement proportion: i bien que les orcires de Labourt ont
mieux ervies de Satan que celles de la Franche-Cont.
Marie de Marigrane, fille de Biarrix, aage de quinze ans, dit, Quil embe que ce
mauvais Dmon ait on membre my parti moiti de fer, moiti de chair, tout de
on long, et de meme les genitoires, et dpoe lavoir veu en cette forme pluiers fois
au Sabbat: et outre ce lavoit ouy dire des femmes que Satan avoit cognues: quil
les fait crier comme des femmes qui ont en mal denfant: et quil tient toujours on
membre dehors.
Petry de Linarre dict que le Diable a le membre faict de corne, ou pour le moins
il en a lapparence, cet pourqouy il faict tant crier les femmes. De lIncontance,
p. 223.
1
See our Plate XL.

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ON THE WORSHIP OF THE

to approach the great ceremonies. F, according to the old

proverb, Aprs la pance, vient la dance, the witches and their
demons have rien from table, and are here engaged in one of the
decriptions of dances mentioned above. G, the players on intruments, who furnih the muic to which the witches dance. H, a
troop of women and girls, who dance with their faces turned outwards from the round of the dance. I, the cauldron on the fire, to
make all orts of poions and noxious compounds. K, during thee
proceedings, many witches are een arriving at the Sabbath on
taffs and broomticks, and others on goats, bringing with them
children to offer to Satan; others are departing from the Sabbath,
carried through the air to the ea and ditant parts, where they
will raie torms and tempets. L, the great lords and ladies and
other rich and powerful people, who treat on the grand affairs of
the Sabbath, where they appear veiled, and the women with maks,
that they may remain always concealed and unknown. Latly,
at M, we ee the young children, at ome ditance from the buy
part of the ceremonies, taking charge of the toads.
In reviewing the extraordinary cenes which are developed in
thee witch-depoitions, we are truck not only with their general
reemblance among themelves, although told in different countries,
but alo with the triking points of identity between the proceedings of the Sabbath and the ecret aemblies with which the
Templars were charged. We have in both the initiatory preentation, the denial of Chrit, and the homage to the new mater, ealed
by the obcene kis. This is jut what might be expected. In
preerving ecretly a religious worhip after the open practice of it
had been procribed, it would be natural, if not neceary, to require
of the initiated a trong denial of the new and intruive faith, with
acts as well as words which compromied him entirely in what he
was doing. The mas and weight of the evidence certainly goes
to prove that uch ecret rites did prevail among the Templars,

GENERATIVE POWERS

247

though it is not equally evident that they prevailed throughout

the order; and the imilarity of the revelations of the witch-confeions, in all countries where they were taken, eems to how that
there was in them alo a foundation in truth. We look upon it as
not admitting of doubt, that the Priapic orgies and the other
periodical aemblies for worhip of this decription, which we have
decribed in an earlier part of this eay, were continued long after
the fall of the Roman power and the introduction of the Chritian
religion. The rutic population, motly ervile, whoe morals or
private practices were little heeded by the other claes of ociety,
might, in a country o thinly peopled, aemble by night in retired
places without any fear of obervation. There they perhaps indulged
in Priapic rites, followed by the old Priapic orgies, which would
become more and more debaed in form, but through the effects
of exciting potions, as decribed by Michelet,1 would have become
wilder than ever. They became, as Michelet decribes them, the
Saturnalia of the erf. The tate of mind produced by thee
excitements would lead thoe who partook in them to believe eaily
in the actual preence of the beings they worhipped, who, according
to the Church doctrines, were only o many devils. Hence aroe
the diabolical agency in the cene. Thus we eaily obtain all the
materials and all the incidents of the witches Sabbath. Where this
older worhip was preerved among the middle or more elevated
claes of ociety, who had other means of ecrecy at their command, it
would take a les vulgar form, and would how itelf in the
formation of concealed ects and ocieties, uch as thoe of the different forms of Gnoticim, of the Stadingers, of the Templars,
and of other les important ecret clubs, of a more or les immoral
character, which continued no doubt to exit long after what we
1

See Michelet, La Sorcire, liv. i, c. 9, on the ue and the effects of the Solane,
to which he attributes much of the deluions of the Sabbath.

248

ON THE GENERATIVE POWERS

call the middle ages had paed away. As we have before intimated, thee medival practices prevailed mot in Gaul and the
South, where the influence of Roman manners and upertitions
was greatet.
The worhip of the reproductive organs as repreenting the
fertilizing, protecting, and aving powers of nature, apart from
thee ecret rites, prevailed univerally, as we have traced it fully
in the preceding pages, and we only recur to that part of the
ubject to tate that perhaps the lat traces of it now to be found in
our ilands is met with on the wetern hores of Ireland. Off the
coat of Mayo, there is a mall iland named Innikea, the inhabitants of which are a very primitive and uncultivated race, and
which, although it takes its name from a female aint (it is the
inular anct Geidhe of the Hibernian hagiographers), does not
contain a ingle Catholic priet. Its inhabitants, indeed, as we learn
from an intereting communication to Notes and Queries by Sir
J. Emeron Tennent,1 are mere idolaters, and their idol, no doubt
the repreentative of Priapus, is a long cylindrical tone, which they
call Neevougee. This idol is kept wrapped in flannel, and is
entruted to the care of an old woman, who acts as the prietes. It
is brought out and worhipped at certain periods, when torms
diturb the fihing, by which chiefly the population of the iland
obtain a living, or at other times it is expoed for the purpoe of
raiing torms which may caue wrecks to be thrown on the coat
of the iland. I am informed that the Name Neevougee is merely
the plural of a word ignifying a canoe, and it may perhaps have
ome reference to the calling of fihermen.
1

Notes and Queries, for 1852, vol. v., p. 121.

INDEX.
CANTUS, model of, 71.
Artemidorus, mention of ymbolical
Adamiana or Adamites, horns, 22.
medival ect, and their Arueris or Orus, Greek Apollo, parenpractices, 174.
tage of, 40.
Adel in Yorkhire, objects Athenus, mention of a phallus, 120
with Priapic emblems found there, cubits long, 84.
124.
Auonius, mention of the Floralia, 155.
chylus, 80.
Bacchanalia, 154.
ernia, medals of, 80.
Bacchus, ancient repreentations of, 74.
Agricultural fetivals, 154.
Bagvat Geeta, expoition of Hindu theoAix, phallus found there. 119.
logy, 4850, 56, 58, 59, 61.
Albigenes, early Chritian ect, 177.
Baphomet, idol of the Knights TemAmmon, Pan of the Greeks, 38, 61.
plars, 198.
Amulets, Priapic, worn by Italians, 4, Barrennes in women, Priapic ymbols
148; worn in the middle ages, 145; for the cure of, 142.
leaden, with Priapic ymbols, found Becan, account of antiquities of Antin the Seine, 146, 170.
werp, 144.
Androgynous figures in ancient culp- Bell tolling, origin of, 97.
tures, 4143.
Bodinus, account of the witches SabAnimal worhip, 30, 32, 33, 34.
bath, 210.
Antwerp, Priapus, under the name of Bona Dea, Priapic rites, 156.
Ters, its patron aint, 144.
Brahma, Hindoo deity, 60.
Apis, Egyptian acred bull, 30.
Brands Popular Antiquities, 161, 168.
Britain, remains of Priapic worhip
Apollo, 76.
found in, 122126.
Apollo, Didymus, 82.
Bulgarians, ect of Gnotics, 175, 176.
Appian, 82.
Bull, Indian worhip of, 34.
Apuleius, 39, 95.
Aritophanes, ancient ytem of theo- Burchardus, 129, 144, 171.
Butterfly, ancient religious allegory, 100.
logy, 44.
Aritotle, 42.
Car, 81.
Arras, perecutions againt witchcraft Cakes in form of phallus made at
there, 207, et eq.
Eater, 158.

250

INDEX

Campegius,mention of phallic cakes,159.

Cat, alleged worhip of by the Templars,
194.
Cathari, medival ect, 178.
Cato the younger, anecdote of, 155.
Celenderis, medal of, 71.
Celtic temple at Zeeland, 64.
Ceres and Baubo, tory of, 134.
Ceres and Proerpine, 71, 134.
Chlons, council of, act of, 129.
Chilminar, ancient ruins at, 86.
Chritian (early) ects, 172, et eq.
Chritian fetivals, excees at, 107.
Chyotom, 19, note.
Churches, culptures of phallic
emblems on, 131, et eq., 204.
Coggehall (Ralph de), old Englih chronicler, account of the Waldenes, 179.
Coles (W.) Adam in Eden, obcene
names of plants, 167.
Como, culptures on the church of San
Fedele, 137.
Corinth, temple at, 104, 105.
Corinthian order of architecture, origin
of, 53.
Cow, ymbol of Venus in Egypt, 33, 62.
Cyzicus, ancient medal of, 29; worhip
of Venus there, 84.
DHarcanville, references to his work,
Rcherches ur les Arts, 15, 21, 23,
28, 45, 47, 70, 74, 136.
De Lancre, account of witchcraft in
France, A.D. 1612, 212, et eq.
Diana, the female detructive power, 77.
Diodorus Siculus, 19, note, 65, 105.
Dionyus of Halicarnaus, 104.
Dulaure, reearches on modern Priapic
worhip, 118.
Durandus, mention of ingular Eater
cutom, 161.
Duii, Gallic name for Incubi, 152.
Eater, Teutonic fetival with Priapic
obervances, 157.
Egyptian religious rites, 16, 30, 31, 32,
83 ; ancient Egyptian monuments,
51, 52.

Egypt, phallic images brought thence,

137.
Elephant, repreented in ancient Indian
monuments, 56, 57; Greek, 59.
Elephanta, culptures from the caverns
of, 47, 53.
Elephantis, ancient erotic work, 103.
Embrun, phallus of St. Foutin worhipped there, 140.
Eryx, temple at, 105.
Euripides, 44, 69, 80, 104, 106.
Facinum, Roman name for male organ,
medival worhip of, 128, 145.
Fateux, cakes made in form of phallus,
159.
Fauns and atyrs, 35, 43, 45.
Fetivals of Priapus, 154, et eq.
Fig, obcene geture, called to make the
fig, a Priapic emblem, 150; referred
to in a trial of witches, 235.
Fire, worhip of, 65.
Floralia, Priapic fetival, 155, 161.
Forgeias (M.), phallic amulets found
by him the Seine, 146.
Frea, Anglo-Saxon Priapus, 126.
Fridaythorpe, Yorkhire, and Friton,
probably derivation of the names,
127.
Gems, ancient, illutrative of the ubject, 39, 41, 61, 104, 155.
Generative powers, worhip of during
the middle ages of Wetern Europe,
117, et eq.
Gerards Herbal, obcene names of
plants, 167.
German witchcraft in the fifteenth century, 209.
German worhip of the un, 34, 81.
Gener, medals publihed by, 74.
Gnotics, their practices of hopitality,
&c., 99, 173.
Goat, ymbol of the generative attribute,
23; living goat worhip of ancient
Egyptians.
Godivas (Lady) proceion, a relic of
Priapic celebration, 170.

INDEX
Golnitz, account of a tatue at Antwerp,
145.
Goltizus, medals publihed by, 46.
Gonnis, Hindoo deity, 56, 57, 58, 61.
Greece, ancient theology of, 17, 32, 34.
Grecian repreentations of attributes
of the deity, 16, 45, 60.
Greek temples, 55.
Gregory IX., account of ecret rites of
the Stendingers, 183185.
Grotius, 37, note.
Hammer (Baron von), decription of
idols of the Knights Templars, 138,
199, et eq.
Harmony, daughter of Mars and Venus,
71.
Heaving and lifting, Englih cutoms at
Eater, 160.
Helman, god of detruction, 78, 79, 80.
Herculaeum and Pompeii, relics of
Priapic worhip and attributes found
there, 4, 27, 33, 37, 120.
Hercules, attributes of, 91, 92.
Hermaphrodite, ancient figures of, 41, 43.
Herodotus, 31, 32, 53, 63, 66, 104, 134.
Heiod, 16, 44, 106.
Hierapolis, goddes of, the Priapic
Diana, 83.
Hierapolis, temple at, 84.
Hindoo animal worhip, 34; ymbols of
generative organs on ancient Indian
culptures, 47, 48; ancient Hindoo
theology, 56, et eq.
Homer, 17, 32, 41, 51, 63, 69, 72, 73,
80, 91, 98, 112.
Horace, 128.
Horns, ancient ymbol of power, 22.
Horehoe, modern form of ancient
drawings of the female organ, ued
as a taliman, 139.
Houeteads
in
Northumberland,
culpture found there, 125.
Idolatry among the Knights Templars,
194, et eq.
Incubi, pirits of the woods, 152.
Innikea, an iland on the wetern hores

251

of Ireland, lat trace of Priapic worhip

found there, 248.
Ireland, Shelah-na-gig, repreentations of
the female organ found there, 132
134.
Iernia, 5, 118.
Iis, ancient deity, 39, 40, 50, 83, 95.
Italian Chritian ects, names of, 177.
James I, on witchcraft, 210.
Japanee culptures, 47.
Jewih religion, identity of its ymbols
with thoe of the heathen, 112, 113.
Joephus, 111.
Jupiter, father of Minerva, 57, 58, 69,
85, 93, 101, 113.
Jupiter Ammon, identical with Pan, 38.
Juvenal, 105, 124, 155, 156.
Kandarp, Hindoo god of love, 61, 62.
Ketzer, German name of the Cathari,
178.
Krehna, Hindoo deity, 48.
Labourd, proceedings againt witchcraft
there, A.D. 1609, 212, et eq.
Lactantius, 103.
Lancercot, chronicle of, 129.
Leaden tokens with phallic emblems,
146, 170, 183.
Le Chatelet, phallus found there, 119.
Lebos, ancient rites in the iland of, 105.
Liberalia, Priapic fetival, 154.
Libitina, Roman Goddes of death, 73.
Lingam, Indian repreentation of the
generative attribute, 49, 54.
Lion, ancient ymbol of the un, 70.
Lotus, acred plant of the Hindoos, 49,
50, 54, 58.
Lucian, 83, 84.
Lucretius, 45.
Lycan Pan, god of the Arcadians, 35.
Lycopolis, un worhip there, 81.
Macrobius, mention of a temple in
Thrace, 67, 78, 81.
Malleus Maleficarum, celebrated work
againt witchcrft, 209.
Mandrake, ancient Priapic upertitions
regarding, 168.

252

INDEX

Manichans, early Chritian ect, 173,

174.
Mapes (Walter), account of the ecret
rites of the Paterini in the eleventh
century, 176.
Mars, god of detruction, 78.
Mars and Venus, 71.
Martial, epigrams, 149, 159.
May Day, medival celebration of,
identical with the Roman Floralia,
161; Elizabethan cutom on May
Day, 162, 163.
Mecklenburg Strelitz, tatuettes found
there, 136.
Medallic repreentations of the generative organs, 29.
Medals with phallic emblems, ued by
ecret ocieties of the middle ages, 205.
Meduas head, 90.
Miches, cakes made in the form of the
male organ in France, 160.
Michelet, account of proceedings againt
the Templars, 188, 247.
Middleton (Dr.) Letter from Rome, 3.
Minerva, Greek deity, imilar to the
Hindoo Gonnis, her attributes, birth,
&c., 57, 58, 61.
Minotaur, fabulous monter, 89, 90.
Molay (Jaques de) grand mater of the
Templars, proceedings againt him, 185.
Monitor (Ulric), work on witchcraft,
A.D. 1489, 209.
Moon, ancient attributes of, 59, 83.
Mue Secret, repreentations of phalli,
120, 149.
Naples, Sir W. Hamiltons account of
Priapic worhip there, 3.
Needfire, 127, 163166; introduced in
the witches Sabbath, 222.
Nicolait, early Chritian ect, 178.
Nider (John), work on witchcraft, 209.
Nmes, Roman amphitheatre at, culptures of phalli, 119122.
Novatians, early Chritian ect, 178.
Nymphs, companions of fauns and
atyrs, 39.

Occus, Hindoo deity, 60.

Onomacritus, early poet, 18, note.
Orleans, a ecret ociety with obcene
rites there, in the eleventh century,
182.
Orpheus, Argonauticon, account of,
18, note.
Orpheus, hymns of, 19, note, 20, 24,
29, 40, 44, 65, 69, 92, 93.
Orphic ytem of theology, 17, et eq.
Oiris, ancient deity, 16, 29, 40, 68.
Ovid, 44.
Pon, Greek name of Apollo, 78.
Pagan rites introduced into the worhip
of the early Chritians, 171, et eq.
Pan, attributes of, 3538, 69.
Paterini, Italian ectarians, and their
ecret rites, 176.
Paulicians, ect of Gnotics, introducers
of phallic worhip into Wetern Europe, 175.
Pauanius, 19, note, 39, 63.
Pellerin, medal publihed by him, 29.
Perian worhip, 63, 86.
Philippe IV, proceedings againt the
Knights Templars, 165.
Philo uppoed firt individuals of the
human race to be androgynous, 43.
Phnician medals, 87, 88, 90.
Phnician religion, ancient, 94.
Piloi, pirits of the woods, 152.
Pindar, 60, 98, 101.
Plants connected with Priapic worhip,
obcene names of, &c., 166, et eq.
Plato, 74.
Platonic religion, 25, 37, 65, 67, 89.
Pliny, 76.
Plutarch, 15, 16, 19, note, 20, 30, 38,
60, 68, 82, 96, 120.
Pluto, 69.
Pollear, Hindoo deity, 56, 61.
Polypus repreented on Greek medals, 21.
Popular oaths and exclamations derived
from phallic worhip, 181.
Priapeia, fetival of Priapus, 156.
Priapus, original intention in the worhip

INDEX
of, 15 as repreented by Roman
artits, 42; degradation of, 102; acrifices to, 104; anctified in the middle
ages, 139, et eq.
Proclus, on truth, 26; on the Platonic
theology, 27, 30, 41.
Proerpine, 72.
Ptolmies, medals of, 57, 61.
Ptolemy Philadelphus, 84.
Purgatory, modern form of purification
by fire, 100.
Puzzuoli, temple of Serapis there, 64, 66.
Pytho, the erpent detroyed by Apollo,
76.
Robin Goodfellow, 153.
Roman worhip of Priapus, 118.
Sabbath of the witches, modern form of
Priapic fetivals, 206, et eq.; ecret
practices at, decribed by Bodinus,
210212; decribed by De Lancre,
216, et eq.; identity with rites of the
Knights Templars, 246.
St. Augutine, commands to ladies attending Chriitan fetivals, 107; on the
Liberalia, 129.
St. Como, modern Italian Priapus, account of the feat of, at Iernia, 5, 9.
St. Epiphanius, account of the Gnotics,
173.
St. Fiacre, chair of, 142.
St. Foutin, French Priapus of the middle
ages, 139, 143.
St. Johns eve, cutoms on, 164166,
168.
St. Nicholas, upertition regarding, 132.
Saints, names of everal phallic, 141.
Scottih worhip of Priapus in the 13th
century, 130, 131.
Scrat, German pirit of the woods, 151.
Scriptural emblems, 86.
Sects of the middle ages, 172, et eq.
Serapis, temple of, 64.
Serpent, ymbol of life and vigour, 21;
worhipped by Egyptians, 32.
Shakepeare, ue of the phrae the fig
of Spain, 150.

253

Shela-na-gig, repreentation of the female organ found in Ireland under

that name, 132134.
Shrewbury how, a relic of Priapic
celebration, 170.
Sicyon, temple at, mentioned by Pauanias, 63.
Sileni, attendants on Bacchus, 41.
Snake, hooded, ymbol of the Egyptians,
53.
Societies, ecret, in the middle ages,
for Priapic worhip, 170.
Sodomy practiced by ancient ects, Bulgarians, 176; Cathari, 179; Knights
Templar, 190193.
Solar ytem, 109.
Sonnerat, account of Hindoo antiquities,
48, 53.
Sophocles, 36, 37, 38.
Soul, ancient ideas of the emancipation
of, from the body, 97100.
Sprenger (Jacob), work on witchcraft,
109.
Stedingers, alleged ecret rites of, and
cruade againt, 183185.
Stonehenge, temple for worhip of
Apollo, 65.
Strabo, 31, 33.
Stubbes (P.) decription of May-day
ceremonies, 162.
Sun worhip, 66, 7782.
Sweden, worhip of the god Fricco, 126.
Sylvanas, Pan o called by the Latins,
36.
Symbols, explanation of the Priapic, 17;
ancient ymbols, 20, et eq.; 4547,
55, 67, et eq.; un worhip, 7882;
87, 88, 89; on tatue of Iis, 96;
butterfly, ancient ymbol of the oul,
100.
Syracue, medal of, 55.
Sytrum, mytic intrument of the goddes Iis, 96.
Temples for heathen worhip, 63, et eq.
Templars, Knights, ecret practices, trial
and diolution of their order, 150,

254

INDEX

169, 185, et eq.; identity of their

proceedings with thoe of the witches
Sabbath, 245.
Ters, i.e. Priapus, the patron aint of
Antwerp, 144.
Thebes, ancient temples at, 51.
Theology, Ancient, attributes of a Divine Being, 2426.
Tiger attendant on Bacchus, 74.
Toads attendant at witches Sabbath,
232, 236.
Trajans column, 51, 52.
Typhon, the detroying power, 68, 69.
Urus, or wild bull, Greek ymbol of the
Creator, 21.

Vauderie, French practice of witchcraft,

208.
Venus, 82; fetival of, 155.
Virgil, decription of the emanation of the
pervading Spirit of God, 29, 72, 99.
Vulcan, 57, 80.
Waldenes, origin of the ect, 178; their
ecret rites, 170.
Warbuton (Bihop), 33.
Water, worhip of, 82, et eq.
Witchcraft, the lat form of Priapic worhip, 206, et eq.; ecret rites of the
Vauderie, 208.
Xanten, pottery with Priapic emblems
found there, 122.

THE END.
[Plates follow]

PLATES

F!

PLATE I.

Ex-voto of wax preented in the Church of Iernia in 1780.

PLATE II.

PLATE III.

PLATE IV.
Fig. 1.

Fig. 2.

Fig. 3.

Fig. 4.

Fig. 5.

Fig. 6.

PLATE V.

PLATE VI.

PLATE VII.

PLATE VIII.

PLATE IX.

PLATE X.

PLATE XI.

PLATE XII.

PLATE XIII.

PLATE XIV.

PLATE XV.

PLATE XVI.

PLATE XVII.

PLATE XVIII.

PLATE XIX.

PLATE XX.

PLATE XXI.

PLATE XXII.

Statue of a Bull on the Pagoda of Tanjore.

PLATE XXIII.

PLATE XXIV.

Scuplture from the Iland of Elephanta, near BombayDimenions

2 feet 6 inches by 1 foot 6 inches.

PLATE XXV.

PLATE XXVI.

Loriginal de ce bas-relief a ttrouve dans le foille faites a Nnes dans lannee 1825.
Lalligorie rprente le Vautour, comme lemblne de la maternit, couvant quatres oeufs
en apparence. La queue de loieau forme un phallus, et les oeufs [illegible] lorgane
femelle dans es quatres epoques de lenfance, de ladolecence, de la maturit et de la
vellee.

PLATE XXVII..

PLATE XXVIII.

PLATE XXIX.

PLATE XXX.

PLATE XXXI.

PLATE XXXII.

PLATE XXXIII.

PLATE XXXIV.

PLATE XXXV.

PLATE XXXVI.

PLATE XXXVII.
Fig 1.

Fig 2.

PLATE XXXVIII.

PLATE XXXIX..

[In some of the preceding plates, individual figures have been moved
around and rotated for ease of reading. Part of the French caption for
plate XXVI was illegible in the copy I was working from and my
knowledge of that language is insufficient to restore the missing word.
This edition is based on the posting at sacred-texts.com, as per the
notice following the front cover, but has been further proofed against a
facsimile of the 1894 edition; material omitted in the sacred-texts
posting has been restored and pagination and layout conformed to the
1894 edition.
My thanks to Massimo Mantovani for proof-reading my key-entry of
the Lettera da Isernia.
The lengthy footnotes to On the Worship of the Generative Powers
giving texts in Latin and French, most though by no means all of which
are translated or paraphrased in the body, were almost entirely absent in
the sacred-texts posting, possibly because they were missing from the
edition (not specified, but apparently a twentieth-century re-set in two
volumes) against which the sacred-texts version was proofed. They
should be regarded as unproofed; in particular, those in French may
contain a number of transcription errors owing to my limited knowledge
of that language (some apparent errors though are simply archaic uses).
A number of typographical errors in the Greek in the Discourse have
been corrected; in particular the compositor frequently put z for r.
Further, the 1894 typeset used a glyph looking something like the
Taurus symbol for ou, which got turned into a y between that edition
and the sacred-texts posting. It is not here employed. All Greek text
has been re-typed.
Plate XL follows overleaf; if this was a print edition, it would be on a
fold-out owing to the large amount of detail on it.
Revision 1.22a restores the use of narrow ss throughout, following the
admittedly anachronistic useage of the 1894 edition (I do not recall
seeing any other works belonging to the latter half of the nineteenth
century which followed this convention). T.S.]

THE WITCHES SABBATH, FROM DE LANCRE, 1613.