iv. 1023) cites more than twenty ancient authors who speak

of Ogyges as appertaining in their eyes to what was _most primitive_ in Greece. He is son of Neptune. He is the first founder of the kingdom of Thebes. Servius represents him _as coming immediately after Saturn and the golden age_ [which directly connects Noah with Saturn, and the golden age with Noah]. Hesychius says of Ogyges that he represented all that was most ancient in Greece. That, indeed, passed into a proverb; they said, 'old as Ogyges,' as if they said, 'old as Adam'" (Gainet, i. 229).

Mr Kenrick says (p. 31):--

"The account of Deucalion, given by Apollodorus (i. 7, 2), bears evident marks of being compounded of two fables originally distinct, in one of which, and probably the older, the descent of the Hellenes was traced through Deucalion to Prometheus and Pandora, without mention of a deluge. In the other, the destruction of the brazen race by a flood, the re-peopling the earth by the casting of stones, is related in the common way. That these two narratives cannot originally have belonged to the same myths is evident from their incongruity; for as mankind were created by Prometheus, the father of Deucalion, there was no time for them to have passed through those stages of degeneracy by which they reached the depravity of the brazen age."

Here are evidently two early traditions, ostensibly Greek, distinct, it is true, yet perfectly compatible. The one the tradition of Grecian descent through Noah to Adam and Eve, the other the tradition of the Deluge. But after what we have already seen (_vide supra_, pp. 157, 158) of reduplications and inversions, can a serious argument be based upon the expression that Deucalion (Noah) was the son of Prometheus (Adam)?[195] Is it not a most natural and inevitable _façon-de-parler_ to connect the descendant directly and immediately with his remote ancestor, _e.g._ "Fils de St Louis--fils de Louis Capet--montez au ciel!"

[195] In the same way we find "Mentuhotep," or "Sesortasen I." named, "when all other ancestors are omitted, as the sole connecting link between Amosis (xviii. dynasty) and Menes." _Vide_ Palmer's "Egyptian Chronicles," i. 385.

So, too, are Fohi (whom I believe to be Adam) and Shin-nong (Noah) connected and linked together in Chinese chronology. "I. Fohi the great Brilliant (Tai-hao), cultivation of _astronomy_ and religion as well as _writing_. He reigned 110 years. Then came fifteen reigns. II. Shin-nong (divine _husbandman_). Institution of _agriculture_ [compare _ante_, ch. x.] The knowledge of simples applied as the art of medicine."--Bunsen's "Egypt," iii. 383, chap. on Chinese Chronology. _Vide ante_, 61; chap. on Tradition, p. 129; Prometheus.

I do not of course attempt, within this narrow compass, to grasp Mr Kenrick's entire view. I am merely dealing with the special argument; but it is curious to note how the line of reasoning adopted by Mr Kenrick, whilst it sustains the Greek traditions, as traditions (though not Greek), unconsciously neutralises the arguments which would dispose of the testimonies derived from them, by saying that they were not traditions of a general, but of a local and a partial deluge.

These latter arguments appear to have had weight with one against whom I hardly venture to run counter, Frederick Schlegel ("Phil. of Hist." p. 79)--"The irruption of the Black Sea into the Thracian Bosphorus is regarded by very competent judges in such matters as an event perfectly historical, or at least, from its proximity to the historical times, as not comparatively of so primitive a date." Compare with passage from Mr Kenrick.[196] Schlegel adds:--"All these great physical changes are not necessarily and exclusively to be ascribed to the last general Deluge. The presumed irruption of the Mediterranean into the ocean, as well as many other mere partial revolutions in the earth and sea, may have occurred much later, and quite apart from this great event" (p. 79). But it may also have occurred much _earlier_, as is clear from the following passage from Schlegel, to which I wish to direct the attention of geologists, and in which Schlegel speaks according to the original insight of his own mind, and not in deference to the opinions of others:--

"These words ('the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; but the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters,' Gen. x.), which announce the presage of a new morn of Creation, not only represent a darker and wilder state of the globe, but very clearly show the element of water to be still in predominant force. Even the division of the elements, of the waters above the firmament, and of the waters below it, on the second day of creation, the permanent limitation of the sea for the formation and visible appearance of the dry land, necessarily imply a mighty revolution in the earth, and afford additional proof that the Mosaic history speaks not only of one but of many catastrophes of nature, _a circumstance that has not been near enough attended to in the geological interpretation and illustration of the Bible_."--_Schlegel_, p. 82.

[196] Kenrick (p. 37) says:--"The fact of traces of the action of water at a higher level in ancient times on these shores is unquestionable; under the name of _raised beaches_ such phenomena are familiar to geologists on many coasts; but that the tradition (in Samothrace) was produced by _speculation_ on its _cause_, not by an obscure recollection of its _occurrence_, is also clear; for it has been shown by physical proofs that a discharge of the waters of the Euxine (Black Sea) would not cause such a deluge as _the tradition supposed_" (Cuvier, Disc. sur les Revolutions du Globe, ed. 1826).

If these speculations were made at the commencement of Grecian history, and the speculations had reference to evidence of diluvian disruption along the highway by which they passed into Greece, should we not expect that theories of the violent rather than the gentler and gradual action of water would dominate in their geological tradition? Colonel George Greenwood, in "Rain and Rivers," p. 2, says on the contrary--("with reference to the theory that valleys are formed by 'rain and rivers'")--"There is, perhaps, no creed of man which, like this, can be traced up to the most remote antiquity, and traced down from the most remote antiquity to the present day. Lyell has himself quoted Pythagoras for it, through the medium of Ovid:--

'Eluvie mons est deductus in æquor Quodquo fuit campus _vallem decursus aquarum_ Fecit.'

But Pythagoras only enunciates the doctrine of Eastern antiquity; that is, of the Egyptians, the Chaldæans, and the Hindoos. But since Pythagoras introduced this doctrine in the West, if it has ever slumbered, it has perpetually _re_-originated. Lyell shows that among the Greeks it was taught by Aristotle; among the Romans by Strabo; among the Saracens by Avicenna; in Italy by Moro, Geneselli, and Targioni; and in England by Ray, Hutton, and Playfair."--_Rain and Rivers_, by Col. George Greenwood. Longmans, 1866. 2d edit.

The point that is material to this discussion is to decide whether or not those disruptions in Thrace are historical and subsequent to the Deluge. Now, here Mr Kenrick's main theory, that "speculation is the source of tradition," comes in with fatal effect to dispose of the arguments I am combating, and yet in no way at this point militates against the view I am urging, that these supposed inundations were localisations of the tradition of the general Deluge which the Pelasgi brought with them from Asia.

Mr Kenrick says (p. 36):--

"It was a [Greek: logos], a popular legend, among the Greeks, that Thessaly had once been a lake, and that Neptune had opened a passage for the waters through the vale of Tempe (Herod. 7, 129). The occupation of the banks of the rivers of this district by the Pelasgi tribes, which must have been _subsequent_ to the opening of the gorge, is the _earliest_ fact in Greek history, and the 'logos' itself no doubt originated in a very simple speculation. The sight of a narrow gorge, the sole outlet of the waters of a whole district, naturally suggests the idea of its having once been closed, and, as the necessary consequence, the inundation of the whole region which it now serves to drain."

Now, if this reasoning is just, it seems to establish two things pretty conclusively: First, That the current legend among the Greeks was _not_ the tradition of a local deluge; but, if not a reminiscence, was at any rate the observation of the evidences of a deluge previous to their arrival. Moreover, the deluge of their tradition exceeding the actual facts is in evidence of their recollection of an event adequate to such effects. Second, That the tradition, if it arose out of a speculation, must have arisen out of a speculation made in the earliest commencement of Greek history.

It is difficult to reconcile the latter conclusion with Mr Kenrick's view that the tradition was imported from Asia in the fifth century B.C.

It is impossible to reconcile the former with the acceptation of a local and historical inundation in the time of the Ogyges and Deucalion of popular history.

This digression on the legend of Deucalion has led me away from what is properly the subject-matter of this inquiry; and I therefore propose now to summarise the results of the last two chapters. To pursue the tradition of Noah in all its ramifications would extend the inquiry beyond the scope which is necessary for the purposes of my argument. It will have been seen, I think, that my object has not been merely antiquarian research. I have sought to bring into prominence the reminiscences of Noah, which recall him at any rate as the depository of the traditions, if not the expositor of the science of mankind, as the channel, if not the fountain-head, of law, which thus became the law of nations--as the intermediary through whom the communications of the Most High passed to mankind, and under whose authority mankind held together during some three hundred years.[197]

[197] Gen. vi. 18; viii. 15; vi. 13; ix. 8; viii. 20; ix. 20; and Ecclesiasticus xliv. 1, 3, 4, 19, "The covenants of the world were made with Him."

Let me collect more directly and more fully the epithets in this sense which are dispersed in the above traditions.

We have seen that Calmet properly identifies Saturn with Noah; that according to Virgil and Plutarch "under Saturn was the golden age;" Saturn of whom Hesiod says:--"Him of mazy counsel, Saturn;" that in the tradition, as we see it in Virgil, he is described as bringing his scattered people into social life, and the noticeable phrase is used _legesque dedit_;[198] that in Bacchus, directly connected with Saturn through the _Saturnalia_, we also see much in his characteristics in common with Saturn, all which equally identifies him with Noah; and Bacchus, as we are told by Cicero, was the author of the "laws called Subazian."[199] In Janus, too, we find great resemblances to Saturn, and in the very respects which would identify him with Noah. Under Janus as under Saturn was the golden age, and it is added that in the time of Janus, "all families were full of religion and holiness," and although his rule is described as singularly peaceful, he is called Quirinus and Martialis, as presiding over war. The closing and opening of his temple, too, had a conspicuous and direct connection with peace and war.

[198] I feel justified in bringing in attestation also the following verses of the "Oracula Sybillina," for, as I have already said, even if they be forgeries of the second century A.D., they at any rate represent the tradition at that date (i. v. 270):--

"Noë fidelis amans æqui servata periclis Egredere audenter, simul et cum conjuge nati Tresque nurus: et vos terræ loca vasta replete, Crescite multiplice numero, _sacrataque jura Tradite_ natorum natis.... Hinc nova progenies hinc _ætas aurea_ prima Exorta est hominum.... ... ast illo se tempore regia primum Imperia ostendent terris quum _foedere facto_ Tres justi reges, divisis partibus æquis, _Sceptra_ diu populis imponent _sanctaque tradent Jura_ viris."...

Compare also the following verses (Orac. Sybil, i. 145) with the Vedic tradition (_infra_, p. 238) of the promise made to Satiavrata, and the Babylonian tradition respecting Hoa (_infra_):

"... Collige, Noë, tuas vires ... ... Si scieris me Divinæ te nulla rei secreta latebunt."

[199] I only instance this as evidence that laws of some sort were attributed to Bacchus, whom the traditions also speak of as King of Asia: to judge of these laws by what we know of the Subazian mysteries, would be as if we were to form our opinion of the Mandan ceremonies (_vide infra_, ch. xi.) by the last day's orgies only. In this matter we may say with Cicero, _De Legibus_, ii. 17--"Omnia tum perditorum civium scelere ... religionum jura polluta sunt."

If we turn back to the mythological prototypes in Assyria we find him as Hoa in connection with "the mystic animal, half-man half-fish, which came up from the Persian Gulf to teach astronomy and letters to the first settlers on the Euphrates and Tigris," himself "known to the first settlers;" he is called "the intelligent guide, or, according to another interpretation, the intelligent fish," "the teacher of mankind," "the lord of understanding;" "one of his emblems is the wedge or arrow-head, the essential emblem of cuneiform writing, which seems to be assigned to him as the inventor, or at least the patron of the Chaldæan alphabet." In the Vedic tradition as Satiavrata (_vide_ Rawlinson's "Bampton Lect.," lect. ii. 67), having been saved "from the destroying waves" in "a large vessel" sent from heaven for his use--which he entered accompanied "by pairs of all brute animals"--he is thus addressed, "Then shalt thou know my true greatness, rightly named the Supreme Godhead; by my favour all thy questions _shall be answered_ and thy mind abundantly instructed;" and it is added that "after the deluge had abated," Satiavrata was "instructed in all _human_ and _divine_ knowledge." In fine, if we recognise him as Hoa, we shall find his benefactions to mankind thus summed up in Berosus. (_Vide_ the original in Rawlinson's "Ancient Monarchies," i. 154.)[200]

[200] Layard ("Nineveh and Babylon," p. 343) says, "We can scarcely hesitate to identify this mythic form (at Kosyundik) with the Oannes or sacred man-fish, who, according to the traditions preserved by Berosus, issued from the _Erethræan_ sea, instructed the _Chaldæans_ in all wisdom, in the sciences and the fine arts, and was _afterwards_ worshipped as a god in the temples of Babylonia.... Five such monsters rose from the Persian Gulf at fabulous intervals of time (Cory's "Fragments," p. 30). It has been conjectured that this myth denotes the conquest of Chaldæa at some remote and pre-historic period by a comparatively civilised nation coming in ships to the mouth of the Euphrates.... The _Dagon_ of the Philistines and of the inhabitants of the Phoenician coast was worshipped, according to the united opinion of the Hebrew commentators on the Bible, under _the same form_." The five apparitions at long intervals may have been the confusion of the previous revelations to the patriarchs with those made to Noah--or they may be reduplications (_vide supra_, p. 157).

"He is said to have transmitted to mankind the knowledge of grammar and mathematics, and of all the arts, of the polity of cities, the construction and dedication of temples, _the introduction of laws_ ([Greek: kai nomôn eisêgêseis]); to have taught them geometry, and to have shown them _by example_ the modes of _sowing the seed_ and gathering the _fruits of the earth_," [the "vir agricola" of Genesis], and along with them to have tradited all the secrets which tend to humanise life. And no one else at that time was found more super-eminent than he."--_Vide_ Rawlinson, i. 155.

We have seen that he was known to "the first settlers on the Euphrates and Tigris." The Abbé de Tressan says, Berosus begins his history with these words:--"_In the first year_ appeared this extraordinary man" (Oannes). Now, with "the early settlers" on the Euphrates and Tigris the commencement of all things would have been naturally dated from the Deluge.

It appears to me worth while, in conclusion, to place more succinctly before the reader the _identical_ terms in which the ancients (various authors) spoke of the first founders of states or their earliest progenitor--compelling the conclusion that allusion was made to one and the same individual and epoch.

Bryant ("Myth." ii. 253) says that Noah was represented as Thoth, Hermes, Menes, Osiris, Zeuth, Atlas, Phoroneus, and Prometheus, &c. &c. "There are none wherein his history is delineated more plainly, than in those of Saturn and Janus." These I will now omit, as we have just seen them to be identical--and so too Bacchus, who equally with them plants the vine, teaches them to sow, and gives them laws.

_Phoroneus_, "an ancient poet quoted by Clemens Alex. (i. 380) calls him the first of mortals, [Greek: phyroneus patêr thnêtôn anthrôpôn]." The first deluge took place under Phoroneus: "He was also the first who _built_ an altar. He first collected men together and formed them into petty communities."--Pausanias, lib. 2, 145. He first gave laws and distributed justice.--Syncellus, 67, 125. They ascribed to him the distribution of mankind, "idem nationes distribuit" (Hyginus' Fab. 143), "which is a circumstance very remarkable."

_Poseidon's_ epithets connected with the ark are very striking (Bryant, ii. 269, _Deucalion, vide ante_, p. 232); but he is also said (Apollon. Rhod. lib. 3, v. 1085) to have been "the first man through whom religious rites were renewed, cities built, and civil polity established in the world."

_Cecrops_ (_vide ante_, p. 220), the identical terms are used.

_Myrmidon_, "a person of great justice." "He is said to have collected people together, humanised mankind, enacted laws, and first established civil polity."--Scholia in Pindar, Ode 3, v. 21.

_Cadmus, vide ante_, p. 221.

_Pelasgus_ also is described as equally a benefactor to mankind, and instructed them in many arts.--Pausanias, 8, 599. He is said to have built the first temple to the deity "ædem Jovi Olympis primum fecit Pelasgus."--Hyginus' Fab. 225, 346. Bryant says, "I have taken notice that as Noah was said to have been [Greek: hanthrôpos gês]," a man of the earth--this characteristic is observable in every history of the primitive persons; and they are represented as '[Greek: nomioi],' '[Greek: agrioi]', and '[Greek: gêgeneis].' Pelasgus accordingly had this title (Æschy. "Supplicants," v. 250), and it is particularly mentioned of him that he _was the first_ husbandman. Pelasgus first found out all that is necessary for the cultivation of the ground."--Schol. in Eurip. "Orestes," v. 930.

_Osiris._--The account of Osiris in Diodorus Siculus is exactly similar. He travels into all countries like Bacchus. He builds cities; and although represented as at the head of an army, is described with the muses and sciences in his retinue. In every region he instructed the people in planting, sowing, and other useful acts.--Tibullus, i. E. 8, v. 29. He particularly introduced the vine, and when that was not adapted to the soil, the use of ferment and wine of barley. He first built temples, and was a lawgiver and king (Diod. Sic.).--Bryant, ii. 60.

_Chin-nong_ (_vide_ also Bunsen, _supra_, p. 63) "was a husbandman, and taught the Chinese agriculture, &c., discovered the virtues of many plants. He was represented with the _head of an ox_, and sometimes only with two horns."--Comp. Bryant, iii. 584.

_Manco Capac._--Peru, _vide infra_, ch. xiii.; very curious.

Strabo, 3, 204, says of the Turditani in Spain (Iberia), "They are well acquainted with grammar, and have many written records of high antiquity. They have also large collections of poetry (comp. ch. vii.), and _even their laws_ are described in verse, which they say is of six thousand years standing."

_Deucalion_, according to Lucian, was saved from the Deluge on account of his wisdom and piety--"[Greek: eubouliês te kai euebiês heineka]." [[Greek: euboulia]--literally, "good counsel."]

_Mercury_ gave Egypt its laws--"Atque Egyptiis leges et literas tradidisse."--Cicero, "De Natura Deorum," iii. 22.

_Apollo._--Cicero says the fourth Apollo gave laws to the _Arcadians_ (comp. _infra_, p. 331): "Quem Arcades [Greek: Nomion] appellant, quod ab eo se leges ferunt accepisse," id. iii. 23; _vide_ also Plato, "Leges," i. 1.