tom, and whence that custom had come.

Instead of the three

Fig. 13.

horns, three horn-shaped leaves came to be substituted, (fig. 13);* and thus the horned band gradually passed into the modern coronet or crown with the three leaves of the fleur-de-lis, or other familiar three-leaved adornings.

Among the Red Indians of America there had evidently been something entirely analogous to the Babylonian custom of wearing the horns; for, in the "bufffalo dance" there, each of the

dancers had his head arrayed with buffalo's horns;

and it

is worthy of especial remark, that the "Satyric dance," or dance of the Satyrs in Greece, seems to have been the counterpart of this Red Indian solemnity; for the satyrs were horned divinities, and consequently those who imitated their dance must have had their heads set off in imitation of theirs. When thus we find a custom that is clearly founded on a form of speech that characteristically distinguished the region where Nimrod's power was wielded, used in so many different countries far removed from one another, where no such form of speech was used in ordinary life, we may be sure that such a custom was not the result of mere accident, but that it indicates the wide-spread diffusion of an influence that went forth in all directions from Babylon, from the time that Nimrod first "began to be mighty on the earth.”

* From KITTO's Illust. Comm., vol. ii. p. 301. The groove in the middle of the central prominence seems to prove that it is not really a horn, but a leaf. + CATLIN'S North American Indians, vol. ii. p. 128.

BRYANT, vol. iv. p. 250. The Satyrs were the companions of Bacchus, and "danced along with him" (Elian Hist. p. 22). When it is considered who Bacchus was, and that his distinguishing epithet was "Bull-horned," the horns of the "Satyrs" will appear in their true light. For a particular mystic reason the Satyr's horn was commonly a goat's horn, but originally it must have been the same as Bacchus's.

There was another way in which Nimrod's power was symbolized besides by the "horn." A synonym for Gheber, "The mighty one," was "Abir,” while “Aber” also signified a “wing.” Nimrod, as Head and Captain of those men of war, by whom he surrounded himself, and who were the instruments of establishing his power, was "Baal-abirin," "Lord of the mighty ones." But “Baal-aberin” (pronounced nearly in the same way), signified "The winged one," and therefore in symbol he was represented, not only as a horned bull, but as at once a horned and winged bull-as showing not merely that he was mighty himself, but that he had mighty ones under his command, who were ever ready to carry his will into effect, and to put down all opposition to his power; and to shadow forth the vast extent of his might, he was represented with great and wide-expanding wings. To this mode of representing the mighty kings of Babylon and Assyria, who imitated Nimrod and his successors, there is manifest allusion in Isaiah viii. 6-8: Forasmuch as this people refuseth the waters of Shiloah that go softly, and rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah's son; now therefore, behold, the Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the river, strong and mighty, even the king of Assyria, and all his glory; and he shall come up over all his banks. And he shall pass through Judah; he shall overflow and go over; he shall reach even unto the neck; and the STRETCHING OUT OF HIS WINGS shall FILL the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel." When we look at such figures as those which are here presented to the reader (figs. 14 and 15), with their great extent of expanded wing, as symbolizing an Assyrian king, what a vividness and force does it give to the inspired language of the prophet! And how clear is it, also, that the stretching forth of the Assyrian monarch's WINGS, that was to "fill the breadth of Immanuel's land," has that very symbolic * This is according to a peculiar oriental idiom, of which there are many examples. Thus Baal aph, "Lord of wrath," signifies "6 an angry man ;" Baal lashon, "lord of tongue," "an eloquent man;" Baal hatzim, "lord of arrows," 'an archer;" and in like manner, Baal aberin, "lord of wings," signifies winged one."

66

a

meaning to which I have referred, viz., the overspreading of the land by his "mighty ones," or the hosts of armed men, that

the king of Babylon was to bring with him in his overflowing invasion! The knowledge of the way in which the Assyrian monarchs were represented, and of the meaning of that representation, gives additional force to the story of the dream of Cyrus the Great, as told by Herodotus. Cyrus, says the historian, dreamt that he saw the son of one of his princes, who was at the time in a distant province, with two great "wings on his shoulders, the one of which overshadowed Asia, and the other Europe,"* from which he immediately concluded that he was organizing re

bellion against him.

* HERODOTUS, lib. i. cap. 209, p. 96.

and to whose power he had succeeded, were entirely familiar to him, and if the "wings" were the symbols of sovereign power, and the possession of them implied the lordship over the might, or the armies of the empire, it is easy to see how very naturally any suspicions of disloyalty affecting the individual in question might take shape in the manner related, in the dreams of him who might harbour these suspicions.

Now the understanding of this equivocal sense of "Baalaberin" can alone explain the remarkable statement of Aristophanes, that at the beginning of the world "the birds" were first created, and then, after their creation, came the "race of the blessed immortal gods."* This has been regarded as either an atheistical or nonsensical utterance on the part of the poet, but, with the true key applied to the language, it is found to contain an important historical fact. Let it only be borne in mind that "the birds "-that is, "the winged ones "-symbolized "the Lords of the mighty ones," and then the meaning is clear: viz., that men first "began to be mighty on the earth," and then, that the "Lords," or Leaders of "these mighty ones" were deified. The knowledge of the mystic sense of this symbol accounts also for the origin of the story of Perseus, the son of Jupiter, miraculously born of Danaë, who did such wondrous things, and who passed from country to country on wings divinely bestowed on him. This equally casts light on the symbolic myths in regard to Bellerophon, and the feats which he performed on his winged horse, and their ultimate disastrous issue; how high he mounted in the air, and how terrible was his fall; and of Icarus, the son of Dædalus, who, flying on wax-cemented wings over the Icarian sea, had his wings melted off through his too near approach to the sun, and so gave his name to the sea where he was supposed to have fallen. These fables all referred to those who trode, or were supposed to have trodden, in the steps of Nimrod, the first "Lord of the mighty, ones," and who in that character was symbolized as equipped with wings.

* ARISTOPHANES, Aves, v. 695-705, p. 404.

Now it is remarkable, that, in the passage of Aristophanes already referred to, that speaks of the birds, or "the winged ones," being produced before the gods, we are informed that he from whom both "mighty ones" and gods derived their origin, was none other than the winged boy Cupid.* Cupid, the son of Venus, occupied, as will afterwards be proved, in the mystic mythology the very same position as Nin, or Ninus, "the son," did to Rhea, the mother of the gods.+ As Nimrod was unquestionably the first of "the mighty ones" after the flood, this statement of Aristophanes, that the boy-god Cupid, himself a winged one, produced all the birds or "winged ones," while occupying the very position of Nin or Ninus, "the son," shows that in this respect also Ninus and Nimrod are identified. While this is the evident meaning of the poet, this also, in a strictly historical point of view, is the conclusion of the historian Apollodorus; for he states that " Ninus is Nimrod." And then, in conformity with this identity of Ninus and Nimrod, we find, in one of the most celebrated sculptures of ancient Babylon, Ninus and his wife Semiramis represented as actively engaged in the pursuits of the chase§-" the quiver-bearing Semiramis" being a fit companion for "the mighty Hunter before the Lord."

SUB-SECTION II.-THE CHILD IN EGYPT.

When we turn to Egypt, we find remarkable evidence of the same thing there also. Justin, as we have already seen, says that "Ninus subdued all nations, as far as Lybia," and consequently Egypt. The statement of Diodorus Siculus is to the same effect, Egypt being one of the countries that, according to him, Ninus Aristophanes says that Eros or Cupid produced the "birds" and "gods" by mingling all things." This evidently points to the meaning of the name Bel, which signifies at once "The mingler" and "the confounder." This name properly belonged to the father of Nimrod, but, as the son was represented as identified with the father, we have evidence that the name descended to the son and others by inheritance. See Chap. V. Sect. IV.

‡ APOLLODORI, Fragm. 68, in MÜLLER, vol. i. p. 440. § DIODORUS, lib. ii. p. 69.