CHAP. IV. the Hercyna. Validity of the remarks by Pausanias. into a bath, the interior of which is faced with large hewn stones and pieces of marble: here the Lebadéan women wash their linen; and at the distance of a few paces from this bath, as before stated, is the spot where the river Hercyna bursts forth, receiving almost in the instant of its birth the tributary streams from the fountain. The river Sources of therefore may be described as having two sources; and this agrees with the account given of it by Pausanias. The bath was used by those who came to consult the oracle; for these persons were obliged to purify themselves, and, abstaining from the use of hot baths, to wash in the river Hercyna'. Indeed nothing can accord more accurately with the present appearance of the place than his description of the Hieron; and we ought to rely upon it with the greater confidence, because we receive it from a writer always accurate, who in this instance is pre-eminently entitled to notice, having not only visited the spot, but also himself descended into the Adytum, and consulted the oracle. "WHAT IHERE RELATE," says he, "WAS NOT RECEIVED AT SECONDHAND, BUT EITHER AS BY OCULAR DEMONSTRATION I HAVE PERCEIVED IN OTHERS, OR WHAT I HAVE PROVED TRUE BY MY OWN EXPERIENCE." Laying aside the reserve he sometimes assumes, with regard to the sacred mysteries of the country, he gives a succinct and very interesting detail (1) Vid. Pausan. in Boot. c. 39. p. 790. ed. Kuhnii. (2) Γράφω δὲ οὐκ ἀκοὴν, ἀλλὰ ἑτέρους τε ἰδὼν καὶ ἀ ντὸς Τροφωνίω χρησάμενος, Ibid. CHAP. IV. Water of Oblivion. Water of Memory. detail of all he witnessed upon the occasion; and his readers, with a prospect of the scene itself, become almost as well acquainted with every thing that was necessary to sustain this most curious example of antient credulity, as if they had themselves been present with him; the jugglery of a stupid superstition, as far as it related to the oracle, being easily divined, without any præternatural communication from Trophonius. The two sources are called, by Pausanias, the waters of LETHE and MNEMOSYNE, or, in other words, the Water of Oblivion, and the Water of Memory'. But a remarkable observation previously occurs, respecting the place where they rise: he says', they are both of them ( tậ oznλaiw) "6 WITHIN THE CAVERN." Hence we may learn that the Adytum and the Cavern were two distinct things: the first was a small aperture within the other: and the appellation ΣПнAАION was applied to the whole of the chasm, or range of precipitous rock, around the place, which contained not only the "sacred aperture" (σróμa rò isgòv), but also the source of the Hercyna, and perhaps the Grove of Trophonius, with all its temples, statues, and other votive General aspect offerings. The stoma is described, as it now appears, to have been a small opening like unto an oven; and it was near to the terrace or floor; for the votary, lying down, was thrust into it with his feet foremost; the rest of his body being rapidly hauled in afterwards by some person or persons of the Hieron. (1) Vid. Pausan. in Baotic. c. 39. p. 790. ed. Kuhnii. (3) Τοῦ δὲ οἰκοδομήματος τούτου τὸ σχῆμα εἴκασται κριβάνω. Paus. Beot. c. 39. p. 791. ed. Kuhnii. persons within the Adytum. These leading facts being stated, an accurate description of the place, according to its present appearance, will be rendered more perspicuous: and it is proper that it should be well understood, because it serves to illustrate a very curious part of the religion of Greece, and all that Plutarch, and Pausanias, have written upon a subject, for whose investigation Archbishop Potter dedicated an entire chapter of his work*. The main body of water which constitutes the principal source of the Hercyna is very different from that of the fountain represented in the Plate. The first is troubled, and muddy; the second, clear, and much better fitted for use. The first is evidently the gushing forth of some river, from a subterraneous channel, that had been previously exposed to the surface; having been swallowed up, during its course, in some chasm of the earth. This appears, both from the substances found floating in the water, and from its perturbed muddy aspect. We observed at this principal source an antique terra-cotta cylinder, used formerly to compress the current within a narrower channel: it was fixed into the rock with cement and tiles. That this was the source called LETHE, must be evident; because the other, being close to the throne of MNEMOSYNE, as will presently appear, was necessarily the Water of Memory: and perhaps the origin of the name of the Water of Oblivion, and the superstition thereon founded, may be deduced from this singular circumstance of its re-appearance after being once buried; receiving (4) Archæologia Græca, vol. I. chap. 10. p. 289. Lond. 1751. VOL. IV. S CHAP. IV. |