proportionate to each degree of virtue, and that there is for the
souls, different ranks according to the luminous body with which they
are clothed. The supreme happiness, according to him, belongs only to
the soul which has learned how to recover itself, by its intimate
union with the intelligence, whose essence, changing its nature, has
become entirely spiritual. It is necessary that this soul be raised to
the knowledge of universal truths, and that it should have found, as
far as it is possible for it, the Principle and the end of all things.
Then having attained to this high degree of perfection, being drawn
into this immutable region whose ethereal element is no more subjected
to the descending movement of generation, it can be united by its
knowledge to the Universal All, and reflect in all its being the
ineffable light with which the Being of beings, God Himself, fills
unceasingly the Immensity.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Addressé à la Classe de la Langue et de la Littérature
françaises, et à celle d’Histoire et de Littérature ancienne
de l’Institut impérial de France.
[2] This expression will be explained in the progress of the
discourse.
[3] _De Dignit. et Increment. Scient._, l. ii., c. 13.
[4] _Ibid._, l. ii., c. 1.
[5] _Ibid._, l. vi., c. 1.
[6] Plat., _Dial. Ion._ Aristotle, who was often opposed to
Plato, did not dare to be on this point. He agrees that
verse alone does not constitute poetry, and that the History
of Herodotus, put into verse, would never be other than
history.
[7] _Ibid._
[8] _De Dignit. et Increment. Scient._, l. ii., c. 13.
[9] Leclerc, known by the multitude of his works; l’abbé
Bannier, Warburton, etc.
[10] _De Dignit. et Increment. Scient._, l. ii., c. 13.
Court de Gébelin cites Chancellor Bacon as one of the first
defenders of allegory. (_Génie allég._)
[11] Pausanias, l. iii., p. 93.
[12] Acron, _In Epist. Horat._, i., 2. Certain authors say
that Penelope had conceived this son when Mercury disguised
as a goat had forced her virginity. (Lucian, _Dialog.
Deor._, t. i., p. 176.)
[13] Héraclides, entre les petits mythologues.
[14] _Geogr._, l. i.
[15] _Antiq. rom._, l. ii.
[16] In his book entitled Περὶ τῆς τῶν θεῶν φύσεως, ch. 17.
[17] In his book entitled Περὶ θεῶν καὶ κόσμον, ch. 3. Court
de Gébelin cites these works. (_Génie allég._)
[18] _Præp. Evang._, l. iii., c. 1.
[19] Court de Gébelin, _Génie allég._, p. 149.
[20] Strabo positively assures it. See Bannier, _Mythol._,
ii., p. 252.
[21] Bailly, _Essai sur les Fables_, ch. 14. Pausanias, l.
ix., p. 302.
[22] _Poetry_, in Greek ποίησις, derived from the Phœnician
פאה (_phohe_), mouth, voice, language, discourse; and from
יש (_ish_), a superior being, a principle being, figuratively
God. This last word, spread throughout Europe, is found with
certain change of vowels and of aspirates, very common in
the Oriental dialects; in the Etruscan Æs, _Æsar_, in the
Gallic Æs, in the Basque _As_, and in the Scandinavian
_Ase_; the Copts still say _Os_, the lord, and the Greeks
have preserved it in Αἶσα, the immutable Being, Destiny, and
in ἄζω, I adore, and ἀξιόω, I revere.
_Thrace_, in Greek θρᾴκη, derived from the Phœnician רקיע
(_rakiwha_), which signifies the _ethereal space_, or, as
one translates the Hebrew word which corresponds to it, the
_firmament_. This word is preceded in the Dorian θρακιᾴ, by
the letter θ, _th_, a kind of article which the Oriental
grammarians range among the _hémantique_ letters placed at
the beginning of words to modify the sense, or to render it
more emphatic.
_Olen_, in Greek ὤλεν, is derived from the Phœnician עולן
(_whôlon_), and is applied in the greater part of the
Oriental dialects to all that which is infinite, eternal,
universal, whether in time or space. I ought to mention as
an interesting thing and but little known by mythologists,
that it is from the word אפ (_ab_ or _ap_) joined to that of
_whôlon_, that one formed _ap-whôlon_, Apollon; namely, the
Father universal, infinite, eternal. This is why the
invention of Poetry is attributed to Olen or to Apollo. It
is the same mythological personage represented by the sun.
According to an ancient tradition, Olen was native of Lycia,
that is to say, of the light; for this is the meaning of the
Greek word λύκη.
[23] Strabo has judiciously observed that in Greece all the
technical words were foreign. (_Voyez_ Bailly, _Essai sur
les Fables_, ch. 14, p. 136.)
[24] The Getæ, in Greek Γέται, were, according to Ælius
Spartianus, and according to the author of _le Monde
primitif_ (t. ix., p. 49), the same peoples as the Goths.
Their country called Getæ, which should be pronounced
_Ghœtie_, comes from the word _Goth_, which signifies God in
most of the idioms of the north of Europe. The name of the
Dacians is only a softening of that of the Thracians in a
different dialect.
Mœsia, in Greek Μοίσια, is, in Phœnician, the interpretation
of the name given to Thrace. The latter means, as we have
seen, _ethereal space_, and the former signifies _divine
abode_, being composed from the word א׳ש (_aïsh_), whose
rendering I have already given, before which is found placed
the letter מ (M), one of the _hémantiques_, which according
to the best grammarians serves to express the proper place,
the means, the local manifestation of a thing.
[25] _Voyez_ Court de Gébelin, _Monde primitif_, t. ix., p. 49.
[26] This mountain was called Kô-Kajôn, according to
d’Anville. This learned geographer has clearly seen that
this name was the same as that of Caucasus, a generic name
given to all the sacred mountains. It is known that
_Caucasus_ was for the Persians, what Mount Merou had been
for the Indians and what Mount Parnassus became afterwards
for the Greeks, the central place of their cult. The
Tibetans have also their sacred mountain distinct from that
of the Indians, upon which still resides the God-Priest, or
immortal Man, similar to that of the Getæ. (_Mém. de l’Acad.
des Inscript._, t. xxv., p. 45.)
[27] Bailly, _Essai sur les Fables_, ch. 14. Conférez avec
Hérodote, l. iv.; et Pausanias, l. ix., p. 302, l. x., p.
320.
[28] _Dionysus_, in Greek Διονύσος, comes from the word
Διός, irregular genitive of Ζεύς, the living God, and of
Νόος, mind or understanding. The Phœnician roots of these
words are ש, יש, or איש (_ash_, _ish_, or _aïsh_), Unique
Being, and נו (_nô_) the motive principle, the movement.
These two roots, contracted, form the word _Nôos_, which
signifies literally the principle of being, and
figuratively, the understanding.
_Demeter_, in Greek Δημήτερ, comes from the ancient Greek
Δημ, _the earth_, united to the word μήτερ, _mother_. The
Phœnician roots are דמ (_dam_) and מט (_môt_), the former
expressing all that which is formed by aggregation of
similar parts; and the latter, all that which varies the
form and gives it generative movement.
[29] Bailly, _Essai sur les Fables_, ch. 15. Court de
Gébelin expressly says, that the sacred mountain of Thrace
was consecrated to Bacchus. _Monde prim._, t. ix., p. 49.
Now, it is generally known that Parnassus of the Greeks was
consecrated to Apollo.
[30] _Theog._, v. 500.
[31] The Greek word Θρᾴκη, Thrace, in passing into the
Ionian dialect Θρῄξ, has furnished the following
expressions: θρῆσκος, a devotee, θρησκεία, devotion,
θρησκηύω, I adore with devotion. These words, diverted from
their real sense and used ironically after the cult of
Thrace had yielded to that of Delphi, were applied to ideas
of superstition and even of fanaticism. The point of
considering the Thracians as schismatics was even reached,
and the word ἐθελοθρησκεία composed to express a heresy, a
cult particular to those who practised it, and separated
from orthodoxy.
[32] Œtolinos is composed, by contraction, of two words
which appear to belong to one of the Thracian dialects.
_Œto-Kyros_ signifies the ruling sun, among the Scythians,
according to Herodotus (l. iv., 59). _Helena_ signified the
moon, among the Dorians. It is from this last word, deprived
of its article _he_, that the Latins have made _Luna_.
[33] Court de Gébelin, _Monde primit._, t. viii., p. 190.
Pausanias, l. x. Conférez avec Æschyl. _In Choephori_, v.
1036; Eurip., _In Orest._, v. 1330; Plat.,, _De Rep._, l.
iv., etc.
[34] Plut., _De Music._ Tzetzes, _Chiliads_, vii.; _Hist._,
108.
[35] _Amphion_, in Greek Ἀμφίων, comes from the Phœnician
words אמ (_am_), a mother-nation, a metropolis, פי (_phi_),
a mouth, a voice, and יון (_Jôn_), Greece. Thence the Greeks
have derived Ὀμφή, a _mother-voice_, that is, orthodox,
legal, upon which all should be regulated.
_Thamyris_, in Greek Θάμυρις, is composed of the Phœnician
words תאמ (_tham_), twin, אור (_aur_), light, יש (_ish_), of
the being.
[36] Plut., _De Music._
[37] Diod. Sicul., l. iii., 35. Pausan., _In Bœot._, p. 585.
[38] _Bibliotheca Græca_, p. 4.
[39] Duhalde, t. iv., _in-fol._, p. 65. These Tartars had no
idea of poetry before their conquest of China; also they
imagined that it was only in China where the rules of this
science had been formulated, and that the rest of the world
resembled them.
[40] Kien-long, one of the descendants of Kang-hi, has made
good verse in Chinese. This prince has composed an historical
poem on the conquest of the Eleuth, or _Oloth_ people, who,
after having been a long time tributary to China, revolted.
(_Mém. concernant les Chin._, t. i., p. 329.)
[41] The commencement of the Indian Kali-youg is placed 3101
or 3102 years before our era. Fréret has fixed it, in his
chronological researches, at January 16, 3102, a half hour
before the winter solstice, in the colure of which was then
found the first star of Aries. The Brahmans say that this
age of darkness and uncleanness must endure 432,000 years.
_Kali_ signifies in Sanskrit, all that which is black,
shadowy, material, bad. From there, the Latin word _caligo_;
and the French word _galimatias_; the last part of this word
comes from the Greek word μῦθος, a discourse, which is
itself derived from the Phœnician מוט (_mot_ or _myt_),
which expresses all that moves, stirs up; a motion, a word,
etc.
[42] _Asiat. Research._, t. ii., p. 140. The Brahmans say
that their imperial dynasties, pontifical as well as laic,
or solar and lunar, became extinguished a thousand years
after the beginning of the _Kali-youg_, about 2000 B.C. It
was at this epoch that India was divided into many
independent sovereignties and that a powerful reformer of
the cult appeared in Magadha, who took the surname of
_Buddha_.
[43] Herod., l. ii. This historian said that in the early
times all Egypt was a morass, with the exception of the
country of Thebes; that nothing was seen of the land, which
one saw there at the epoch in which he was writing, beyond
Lake Mœris; and that going up the river, during a seven
days’ journey, all seemed a vast sea. This same writer said
in the beginning of book i., and this is very remarkable,
that the Phœnicians had entered from the Red Sea into the
Mediterranean, to establish themselves upon its shores,
which they would have been unable to do if the Isthmus of
Suez had existed. See what Aristotle says on this subject,
_Meteorolog._, l. i., c. 14.
[44] _Asiat. Research._, t. iii., p. 321. The excerpts that
Wilford has made from the _Pourana_, entitled _Scanda_, the
God of War, prove that the _Palis_, called Philistines, on
account of their same country, _Palis-sthan_, going out from
India, established themselves upon the Persian Gulf and,
under the name of Phœnicians, came afterwards along the
coast of Yemen, on the borders of the Red Sea, whence they
passed into the Mediterranean Sea, as Herodotus said,
according to the Persian traditions. This coincidence is of
great historical interest.
[45] Niebuhr, _Descript. de l’Arab._, p. 164. Two powerful
tribes became divided in Arabia at this epoch: that of the
Himyarites, who possessed the meridional part, or Yemen, and
that of the Koreishites, who occupied the septentrional
part, or Hejaz. The capital of the Himyarites was called
_Dhofar_; their kings took the title of _Tobba_ and enjoyed
an hereditary power. The Koreishites possessed the sacred
city of Arabia, Mecca, where was found the ancient temple
still venerated today by the Mussulmans.
[46] _Asiat. Research._, t. iii., p. ii.
[47] Diodorus Siculus, l. ii., 12. Strabo, l. xvi. Suidas,
art. _Semiramis_.
[48] Phot., _Cod._, 44. Ex. Diodor., l. xl. Syncell., p. 61.
Joseph., _Contr. Apion_.
[49] Hérod., l. ii. Diod. Siculus, l. i., § 2.
[50] Diodor. Sicul., l. i., § 2. Delille-de-Salles, _Hist.
des Homm._, Egypte, t. iii., p. 178.
[51] Plat., in _Tim. Dial._ Theopomp. _apud_ Euseb., _Præp.
Evan._, l. x., c. 10. Diod. Sicul., l. i., _initio_.
[52] Diodor. Sicul., l. i., _initio_.
[53] Pausan., _Bœot._, p. 768.
[54] This word is Egyptian and Phœnician alike. It is
composed of the words אור (_aur_), light, and רפא (_rophœ_),
cure, salvation.
[55] Eurydice, in Greek Εὐρυδίκη, comes from the Phœnician
words ראה (_rohe_), vision, clearness, evidence, and דך
(_dich_), that which demonstrates or teaches: these two
words are preceded by the Greek adverb εὖ, which expresses
all that is good, happy, and perfect in its kind.
[56] Plat., _In Phædon. Ibid._, _In Panegyr._ Aristot.,
_Rhet._, l. ii., c. 24. Isocr., _Paneg._ Cicero, _De Leg._,
l. ii. Plutar., _De Isid._ Paus., _In Phoc._, etc.
[57] Théodoret, _Therapeut._
[58] Philo, _De Vitâ Mosis_, l. i.
[59] Jamblic., _De Vitâ Pythag._, c. 2. Apul., _Florid._,
ii. Diog. Laërt., l. viii.
[60] _Voyage du jeune Anacharsis_, t. i., _Introd._, p. 7.
[61] Meurs., _De Relig. Athen._, l. i., c. 9.
[62] Apollon., l. iii., p. 237.
[63] Hygin., _Fabl._, 143.
[64] Pausan., _Arcad._, p. 266, 268, etc.
[65] Strabo, l. x; Meurs., _Eleus._, c. 21 _et seq._; Paus.,
_Ath._, c. 28; Fulgent., _Myth._, l. i.; Philostr., _In
Apollon._, l. ii.; Athen., l. xi.; Procl., _In Tim.
Comment._, l. v.
[66] Euseb., _Præp. Evang._, l. xiii., c. 12.
[67] The unity of God is taught in an Orphic hymn of
which Justin, Tatian, Clement of Alexandria, Cyril, and
Theodore have preserved fragments. (_Orphei Hymn. Edente
Eschenbach._, p. 242.)
[68] Clem. Alex., _Admon. ad Gent._, p. 48; _ibid._,
_Strom._, l. v., p. 607.
[69] Apoll., _Arg._, l. i., v. 496; Clem. Alex., _Strom._,
l. iv., p. 475.
[70] Thimothée, cité par Bannier, _Mythol._, i., p. 104.
[71] Macrobius, _Somm. Scip._, l. i., c. 12.
[72] Eurip., _Hippol._, v. 948.
[73] Plat., _De Leg._, l. vi.; Jambl., _De Vitâ Pythag._
[74] _Acad. des Insc._, t. v., p. 117.
[75] Procl., _In Tim._, l. v., p. 330; Cicero, _Somm.
Scip._, c. 2, 3, 4, 6.
[76] Montesquieu and Buffon have been the greatest
adversaries of poetry, they were very eloquent in prose; but
that does not prevent one from applying to them, as did
Voltaire, the words of Montaigne: “We cannot attain it, let
us avenge ourselves by slandering it.”
[77] Horat., _De Arte poét._; Strab., l. x.
[78] Origen, _Contr. Cels._, l. i., p. 12; Dacier, _Vie de
Pythagore_.
[79] Ἱερὸς λόγος.
[80] Θρονισμοὶ μητρῶοι.
[81] Fabric., _Bibl. græc._, p. 120, 129.
[82] Apollon, _Argon._, l. i., v. 496.
[83] Plutar., _De Placit. philos._, c. 13; Euseb., _Præp.
Evang._, l. xv., c. 30; Stobeus, _Eclog. phys._, 54. Proclus
quotes the verses of Orpheus on this subject, _In Tim._, l.
iv., p. 283. Voyez _La Biblioth. græc._ de Fabricius, p. 132.
[84] Fabric., _Bibliot. græc._, p. 4, 22, 26, 30, etc.;
_Voyag. d’Anach._, ch. 80.
[85] From the Greek word κύκλος: as one would say _circuit_,
the circular envelopment of a thing.
[86] Court de Gébelin, _Gén. allég._, p. 119.
[87] Casaubon, _In Athen._, p. 301; Fabric., _Bibl. græc._
l. i., c. 17; _Voyag. d’Anach._, ch. 80; Proclus, cité par
Court de Gébelin, _ibid._
[88] Arist., _De Poët._, c. 8, 16, 25, etc.
[89] It is needless for me to observe that the birthplace of
Homer has been the object of a host of discussions as much
among the ancients as among the moderns. My plan here is not
to put down again _en problème_, nor to examine anew the
things which have been a hundred times discussed and that I
have sufficiently examined. I have chosen, from the midst of
all the divergent opinions born of these discussions, that
which has appeared to me the most probable, which agrees
best with known facts, and which is connected better with
the analytical thread of my ideas. I advise my readers to do
the same. It is neither the birthplace of Homer nor the name
of his parents that is the important matter: it is his
genius that must be fathomed. Those who would, however,
satisfy their curiosity regarding these subjects foreign to
my researches, will find in _La Bibliothèque grecque de
Fabricius_, and in the book by Léon Allatius entitled _De
Patriâ Homeri_, enough material for all the systems they may
wish to build. They will find there twenty-six different
locations wherein they can, at their pleasure, place the
cradle of the poet. The seven most famous places indicated
in a Greek verse by Aulus Gellius are, Smyrna, Rhodes,
Colophon, Salamis, Chios, Argos, and Athens. The nineteen
indicated by divers authors, are Pylos, Chios, Cyprus,
Clazomenæ, Babylon, Cumæ, Egypt, Italy, Crete, Ithaca,
Mycenæ, Phrygia, Mæonia, Lucania, Lydia, Syria, Thessaly,
and finally Troy, and even Rome.
However, the tradition which I have followed, in considering
Homer as born not far from Smyrna, upon the borders of the
river Meles, is not only the most probable but the most
generally followed; it has in its favour Pindar; the first
anonymous Life of Homer; the Life of this poet by Proclus;
Cicero, in his oration for Archias; Eustathius in his
_Prolégoménes sur l’Iliade_; Aristotle, _Poétique_, l. iii.;
Aulus Gellius, Martial, and Suidas. It is known that Smyrna,
jealous of consecrating the glory that it attributed to
itself, of having given birth to Homer, erected to this
great genius a temple with quadrangular portico, and showed
for a long time, near the source of the Meles, a grotto,
where a contemporaneous tradition supposes that he had
composed his first works. Voyez _La Vie d’Homère_, par
Delille-de-Sales, p. 49, et les ouvrages qu’il cite: _Voyage
de Chandeler_, t. i., p. 162, et _Voyages pittoresques de
Choiseul-Gouffier_, p. 200.
[90] Hérod., l. v., 42; Thucyd., l. i., 12.
[91] _Marbres de Paros_, _Epoq._ 28; Hérod., l. i., 142,
145, 149; Plat., _De Leg._, l. v.; Strab., l. xiv.; Pausan.,
l. vii., 2; Ælian., _Var. Histor._, l. viii., c. 5;
Sainte-Croix, _De l’état des Colon, des anc. Peuples_, p.
65; Bourgainville, _Dissert. sur les Métrop. et les Colon._,
p. 18; Spanheim, _Præst._, num. p. 580.
[92] _Bible_, Chron. ii., ch. 12 _et suiv._
[93] _Ibid._, Chron. ii., ch. 32 et 36.
[94] Pausanias, _passim_.
[95] Strab., l. xiv.; Polyb., l. v.; Aulu-Gell., l. vii., c.
3; Meurs., _In Rhod._, l. i., c. 18 et 21; _Hist. univ. des
Anglais_, in-8ᵒ, t. ii., p. 493.
[96] Diod. Sicul., l. i., 2.
[97] In Phœnician מלך־אתע (_Melich-ærtz_), in Greek
Μελικέρτης: a name given to the Divinity whom the Thracians
called _Hercules_, the Lord of the Universe: from הרר or שרר
(_harr_ or _shar_), excellence, dominance, sovereignty; and
כל (_col._), All. Notice that the Teutonic roots are not
very different from the Phœnician: _Herr_ signifies lord,
and _alles_, all; so that _Herr-alles_ is, with the
exception of the guttural inflection which is effaced, the
same word as that of _Hercules_, used by the Thracians and
the Etruscans. The Greeks have made a transposition of
letters in Ἡρακλῆς (_Heracles_) so as to evade the guttural
harshness without entirely losing it.
[98] Goguet, _Origine des Lois et des Arts_, t. i., p. 359.
[99] _Voyez_ Epiphane, _Hæres_, xxvi., _et conférez avec_
Beausobre, _Hist. du Manich._, t. ii., p. 328.
[100] I have followed the tradition most analogous to the
development of my ideas; but I am aware that, upon this
point, as upon many others, I have only to choose. The
historic fact, in that which relates to the sacerdotal
archives which Homer consulted in composing his poems, is
everywhere the same _au fond_; but the accessory details
vary greatly according to the writers who relate them. For
example, one reads in a small fragment attributed to
Antipater of Sidon and preserved in Greece Anthology, that
Homer, born at Thebes in Egypt, drew his epic subjects from
the archives of the temple of Isis; from another source,
Ptolemy _Ephestion_, cited by Photius, that the Greek poet
had received from a priest of Memphis, named _Thamitès_, the
original writings of an inspired damsel, named _Phancy_.
Strabo, without mentioning any place in particular, said in
general, speaking of the long journeys of Homer, that this
poet went everywhere to consult the religious archives and
the oracles preserved in the temples; and Diodorus of Sicily
gives evidence sometimes that he borrowed many things from a
sibyl by the name of _Manto_, daughter of Tiresias; and
sometimes that he appropriated the verse of a pythoness of
Delphi, named Daphne. All these contradictory details prove,
in reality, the truth; for whether it be from Thebes,
Memphis, Tyre, Delphi, or elsewhere that Homer drew the
subject of his chants, matters not with the subject which
occupies me: the important point, serving as proof of my
assertions, is, that they have been, in fact, drawn from a
sanctuary; and what has determined me to choose Tyre rather
than Thebes or Memphis, is that Tyre was the first mother
city of Greece.
[101] I have said in the above that the name of _Helena_ or
_Selena_ was that of the moon in Greek. The root of this
word is alike Celtic and Phœnician. One finds it in Teutonic
_hell_, which signifies clear, luminous, and in Hebrew הלל
(_hêll_), which contains the same sense of splendour, glory,
and elevation. One still says in German _heilig_, holy, and
_selig_, blessed; also _selle_, soul, and _sellen_, souls.
And this is worthy of the closest attention, particularly
when one reflects that, following the doctrine of the
ancients, the moon _helenê_ or _selenê_ was regarded as the
reservoir of the souls of those who descend from heaven to
pass into bodies by means of generation, and, purged by the
fire of life, escape from earth to ascend to heaven. See,
concerning this doctrine, Plutarch (_De Facie in Orb.
Lun._), and confer with Beausobre (_Histoire du Manich._, t,
ii., p. 311). The name of _Paris_, in Greek Πάρις, comes
from the Phœnician words בר or פר (_bar_ or _phar_), all
generation, propagation, extension, and יש (_ish_), the
Being-principle.
The name of _Menelaus_, in Greek Μενέλαος, comes from the
Phœnician words מן (_men_), all that which determines,
regulates, or defines a thing, properly, the _rational
faculty_, the reason, the measure, in Latin _mens_,
_mensura_; and אוש (_aôsh_), the Being-principle acting,
before which is placed the prefix ל (_l_), to express the
genitive case, in this manner, מנה־ל־אוש (_meneh-l-aôsh_),
the rational faculty or regulator of the being in general,
and man in particular: for אש‏, ‏אוש‏,
‏אש‏, ‏איש (_ash_, _aôsh_, _ish_, _aîsh_),
signifies equally _fire_, _principle_, _being_, and _man_.
The etymology of these three words can, as one sees, throw
great light upon the fable of the _Iliad_. Here is another
remarkable point on this subject. Homer has never used, to
designate the Greeks, the name of _Hellenes_, that is to
say, the respondents, or the lunars: it was in his time
quite a new name, which the confederated Greeks had taken to
resist foreign attack; it is only in the _Odyssey_, and when
he is already old, that he employs the name _Hellas_ to
designate Greece. The name which he gives constantly to this
country, is that of Achaia (Ἀχαΐα), and he opposes it to
that of Troy (Τρωία): now, Achaia signifies the strong, the
igneous, the spiritual; and _Troy_, the terrestrial, the
gross. The Phœnician roots are הוי (_ehôi_), the exhaling
force of fire, and טרו (_trô_) the balancing power of the
earth. Refer, in this regard, to Court de Gébelin (_Mond.
prim._, t. vi., p. 64). Pomponius Sabinus, in his
_Commentaires sur l’Enéïde_, said that the name of the city
of Troy signified a sow, and he adds that the Trojans had
for an ensign a sow embroidered in gold.
As to the word _Ilion_, which was the sacred name of Troy,
it is very easy to recognize the name of the material
principle, called ὕλη (_ulè_) by the Greeks and _ylis_ by
the Egyptians. Iamblichus speaks of it at great length in
his _Book on the Mysteries_ (§ 7), as the principle from
which all has birth: this was also the opinion of Porphyry
(Euseb., _Præp. Evang._, l. ix., c. 9 and 11).