Soon as high Jove their cruel purpose saw, He sent them down to Tartarus consign'd. 26 If we look into the grounds of these fictions, we shall find that they took their rise from this true history. A large body of Titanians, after the dispersion settled in Mauritania, which is the region styled Tartarus. Diodorus Siculus mentions the coming of Cronus into these parts; and gives us the names of the brotherhood, those sons of Titæa, who came with them. The principal of these, exclusive of Cronus, were Oceanus, Cœus, Iapetus, Crius, and Hyperion: who were supposed first to have settled in Crete. Atlas was another of them, from whom they had the name of " Atlantians; and they were looked upon as the offspring of heaven. The above historian describes the country, which they possessed, as lying upon the great ocean: and however it may be represented by the poets, he speaks of it as 26 Diodor. Sic. 1. 5. p. 334. According to Apollodorus, their names were Ouranus, Ceus, Hyperion, Crius, Iapetus, and the youngest of all, Cronus. 1. 1. p. 2. 27 Diodor. 1.3. p. 189. 28 a happy region. The mythologists adjudged the Titans to the realms of night; and consequently to a most uncomfortable climate; merely from not attending to the purport of the term ζόφος. Ενθα θεοι Τίτηνες ὑπὸ ζοφῳ περιεντι 29 8 It is to be observed, that this word had two significations. First, it denoted the west, or place of the setting sun. Hence Ulysses being in a state of uncertainty says, " & γαρ τ' ιδμεν, όπη ζοφός, 88' όπη πως. We cannot determine, which is the west, or which is the east. It signified also darkness and from this secondary acceptation the Titans of the west were consigned to the realms of night being situated in respect to Greece towards the regions of the setting sun. The vast unfathomable abyss, spoken of by the poets, is the great Atlantic Ocean; upon the borders of which Homer also places the gloomy mansions, where the Titans resided. The antients had a notion, that the earth was a widely-extended plain; which terminated abruptly, in a vast cliff : of immeasurable descent. At the bottom was a chaotic pool, or ocean; which was so far sunk beneath the confines of the world, that, to express the depth and distance, they imagined, an anvil of iron tossed from the top would not reach it under ten days. But this mighty pool was the ocean abovementioned; and these extreme parts of the earth were Mauritania, and Iberia: for in each of these countries the Titans resided. Hence Callimachus, speaking of the latter country, describes the natives under the title of 3 Οψιγονοι Τιτηνες ; by which is meant the offspring of the antient Titans. They were people of the Cuthite race, who also took up their habitation in Mauritania; and were represented as the children of Atlas. He was described as the son of Iäpetus the Titan; and of so vast a stature, as to be able to support the heavens. 30 31 Των προσθ ̓ Ιαπετοιο παίς έχετ' ουρανον ευρυν 30 Ζοφος, σκοτος. Hesych. Λέγει δε ὁ ποιητης και το σκότος, και There Atlas, son of great Iäpetus, With head inclin'd, and ever-during arms, To this Atlantic region the Titans were banished; and supposed to live in a state of darkness beyond the limits of the known world. Προσθεν δε, θεων εκτοσθεν άπαντων, Τίτηνες ναιεσι περην χαεος ζοφεροιο. Farthest remov'd Of all their kindred Gods the Titans dwell, By xaos Copegov we must certainly understand the western ocean; upon the borders of which, and not beyond it, these Titanians dwelt. By the Nubian Geographer the Atlantic is uniformly called, according to the present version, Mare Tenebrarum. "Aggressi sunt mare tenebrarum, quid in eo esset, exploraturi. They ventured into 32 Ibid. v. 813. "Geog. Nubiensis. p. 4. p. 6. and p. 156. the sea of darkness, in order to explore what it might contain. ́ ́ Another name for Tartarus, to which the poets condemned the Titans and Giants, was Erebus. This, like gopos, was a term of twofold meaning. For Ereb, ay, signified both the west, and also darkness; and this served to confirm the notion, that the Titans were consigned to the regions of night. But gloomy as the country is described, and horrid, we may be assured, from the authorities of 34 Diodorus and Pliny, that it was quite the reverse; and we have reason to think, that it was much resorted to; and that the natives for a long time kept up a correspondence with other branches of their family. Homer affords some authority for this opinion, in a passage where he represents Jupiter as accosting Juno, who is greatly displeased. 35 σεθεν δ' εγω εκ αλεγίζω Χωομένης, εδ' είχε τα νειατα πειραθ ̓ ἱκησε Τερποντ, ετ' ανέμοισι, βαθυς δε τε Ταρταρος αμφις. I shall not, says Jupiter, regard your resentment; 34 Χωραν ευδαίμονα νεμόμενοι (Ατλαντες). 1. 3. p. 189. |