[62] See Goguet, Origines. Bailly, Hist. de l’Astron. Ancienne.
[63] Jablonski, Pantheon Ægypt. 1750, p. 49.
[64] These contradictions are pointed out by Goguet, in a note, p.
370. A better view of them may be found in Hygini Astronom. (ed. Van
Staveren), xlii. p. 496.
[65] Jablonski, Panth. p. 55. Vossius de Idololatria, ii. 34, p. 489.
Bruckeri Histor. Philosoph. i. p. 1055.
[66] Origenes Contra Celsum, lib. vi. 22. I expected to have received
some explanation of this passage from the editors of Origen, and in
those authors who have treated expressly on the religious worship
of the Persians; but I find that they are quoted neither by Hyde;
Philip a Turre, whose Monumenta Veteris Antii is printed in Thesaurus
Antiquitat. et Histor. Italiæ; nor by Banier in his Mythology.
[67] Borrichius arranges the words in the following manner: “Secundam
portam faciunt Jovis, comparantes ei stanni splendorem et mollitiem;
tertiam Veneris æratam et solidam; quartam Martis, est enim laborum
patiens, æque ac ferrum, celebratus hominibus; quintam Mercurii propter
misturam inæqualem ac variam, et quia negotiator est; sextam Lunæ
argenteam; septimam Solis auream.”--Ol. Borrichius De Ortu et Progressu
Chemiæ.” Hafniæ, 1668, 4to, p. 29. Professor Eichhorn reminded me, as
allusive to this subject, of the seven walls of Ecbatana, the capital
of Media, the outermost of which was the lowest, and each of the rest
progressively higher, so that they overtopped each other. Each was of
a particular colour. The outermost was white; the second black; the
third purple; the fourth blue; the fifth red, or rather of an orange
colour; and the summit of the sixth was covered with silver, and that
of the seventh, or innermost, with gold. Such is the account given by
Herodotus, i. 98; and it appears to me not improbable that they may
have had a relation to the seven planets, though nothing is hinted on
that subject by the historian.
[68] Philostrat. Vita Apollonii, iii. 41, p. 130. How was the ring for
Wednesday made? Perhaps it was hollow, and filled with quicksilver.
Gesner, in Commentaria Societat. Scien. Gotting. 1753, iii. p. 78,
thinks that these rings might have been made or cast under certain
constellations.
[69] Oneirocritica, v. 37.
[70] Isthm. Od. ver. 1. Of the like kind are many passages in
Eustathius on Homer’s Iliad, b. xi., and also the following passages
of Constantinus Manasses, where he describes the creation of the
stars, in his Annales (edit. Meursii, Lugd. 1616), p. 7, and p. 263:
“Saturnus nigricabat, colore plumbeo; Jupiter ut argentum splendebat;
Mars flammeus conspiciebatur; Sol instar auri puri lucebat; (Venus
uti stannum;) Mercurius instar æris rubebat; Luna in morem glaciei
pellucida suam et ipsa lucem emittebat,” &c.
[71] In his Preface to Critias. Platonis Opera; Francof. 1602, fol. p.
1097.
[72] It is probable that Ficinus had in view a passage in Olympiodori
Commentar. in Meteora Arist. Ven. 1551, fol. lib. iii. p. 59.
[73] This distribution, which is ascribed to the Platonists, may be
found also in the scholiasts on Pindar, at the beginning of the fifth
Isthmian Ode, p. 459.
[74] Jablonski, Pantheon Ægypt. i. p. 282, 283, 287; and ii. p. 131.
This author makes it the representation of something which cannot be
well named. Kircheri Œdipus Ægypt. t. ii. pars ii. p. 399. Romæ, 1653,
fol.
[75] Goguet, ii. pp. 370, 371, considers them as remains of the
original hieroglyphics; but he is of opinion that we received them in
their present form from the Arabians.
[76] Plinianæ Exercitat. in Solinum, p. 874.
[77] Gloss. ad Script. Med. et Infimæ Græcitatis.
[78] In his Annotations on Manilii Astronomicon (in usum Delphini).
Par. 1679, 4to, p. 80.
[79] In his Annotations on Manilii Astron. Strasb. 1665, 4to, p. 460.
[80] In Gorii Thesaurus Gemmarum antiquarum astriferarum, Florent.
1750, 3 vols. fol., I found nothing on this subject. Characters of the
moon and of the signs in the zodiac often occur; but no others are to
be seen, except in tab. 33, where there is a ring, which has on it
the present characters of Mars and Venus. In general the planets are
represented by seven small asterisks, or by six and the character of
the moon. Besides, the antiquity of this gem cannot be ascertained.
[81] See the collection of Greek letters of Eilh. Lubbinus. Commelin.
1601, 8vo.