wicked men as receiving their punishment in the lower world, was certainly only in order to make the punishment appear the more terrible. Collateral ideas of the eternal duration of the punishment, and the like, should not be connected with it. All they intended was, to determine the locality of the place, and nothing more. They have, therefore, an equal number of fables, according to which the impious and offenders of the gods suffer the same punishment in the upper world as those above mentioned do in the lower. To these, belong the stories of Prometheus, who was chained to the Caucasus, that of Atlas, one of the Titans, who stormed the heavens, and many more. Nothing, however, has contributed more to make the lower world be considered as a place of torment, than the confounding of two ideas together, which originally were quite distinct from each other; namely, that of Tartarus, and of the realm of shades. Tartarus was properly a large cavern under the earth, the abode of Chronus and the Titans, after they had been expelled by Jupiter from heaven. As such, Homer describes it in many passages *; but he never makes it the abode of departed souls. Hesiod also, in his principal passage concerning Tartarust, mentions nothing of its being the abode of the shades; though, in another passage, he seems already to have confounded the two ideas with each other. In after times, Tartarus and the realm of shades, became synonymous terms: all the attributes of the former were transferred to the latter; and thus the lower world came to be considered as a place of torment. In the same manner as the idea of punishment after death arose, that of a future state of felicity was gradually formed. Friends and relations of the gods were either received by them into Olympus, or they were placed in the Elysian fields and the Fortunate islands. Homer has, relative to this subject, a passage much in point, "It is not your destiny," thu Proteus addresses Menalaus, "to die in Argos. The god shall send you to the Elysian fields, on the confines of the earth, because you are the husband of Helena, and the sonin-law of Jupiter. There dwells the fair Rhadamanthus; there men lead a life free from care; there is no snow, nor frost, nor rain; but mild westerly breezes, wafted from the ocean, refresh the inhabitants." This passage informs us, that the reason why Menalaus was to be sent to the Elysian fields was, because he was | Od. IV. related * e. g. 11. VIII. 477. + Theog. 717, 820. * Ασπ. 154: 561, 570. related to Jupiter. Rhadamanthus, who is mentioned by the poet, was also a son of Jupiter*. It further shews us, that the most ancient notion concerning this place was, not that men were sent thither after death, but that it was done whilst they were still living. In Hesiod, we find these notions carried already farther. He places in the Fortunate islands, which, with him, are synonymous with the Elysian fields of Homer, the whole race of the heroes that lived before and during the period of the Trojan wart. Homer's idea, that they were sent thither without previously undergoing death, is no more to be found in this poet. In subsequent times they went still farther, and assigned these regions for the abode of all great men, particularly of the preservers and deliverers of the country. Thus Harmodius and Aristogiton, who freed Athens from the yoke of the Pisistratides, are supposed, in the scholion of Callistratus, to dwell here. " Beloved Harmodius, thou art not dead; thou livest in the islands of the blessed, where dwells the swift Achilles, and Diomed, the son of Tydeus." We find still other opinions in Pindar |, of which, I shall speak hereafter. The idea of the Elysian fields and the Fortunate islands, was still farther embellished, by applying them to all the descriptions given by Hesiod, and probably also by many other poets of the golden age. As a proof of this, we find, that Pindar§, in direct contradiction to the most ancient mythology, makes Chronus king of the Fortunate islands. According to Homer and Hesiod, he dwelt, with the rest of the Titans, in Tartarus; though, before he was banished thither, he had reigned in the golden age As the most ancient poets did not limit the place of punishment for the impious to the lower world alone, so neither did they suppose the Elysian fields to be the only place in which good men received their reward. It was a very ancient, perhaps the most ancient opinion, that men who were particularly beloved, on whatever account, by the gods, were translated, either living or after death, into Olympus itself. This is evident, from the stories of Hercules, Pelops tt, and Ganymede. Others are supposed to dwell in other places where the gods have their residence, as Melicertes in the sea. Thus Circe and Calypso offer immortality to Ulysses, on condition, that Tom. I. p. 155. * II. XIV. 322. + Hesiod. Eer Brunk's Anacteda OL. II. 128 ** Hesiod. he he shall reside with them on their islands. By comparing all these fables together, we plainly see, that according to the most ancient opinion, punishments or rewards in a future state were consequences only of the personal friendship or personal enmity of the gods towards men. Had the writings of those poets, that flourished between Homer and Eschylus, been transmitted down to us, we should have been enabled to trace the gradual developement of these notions, till it at length became the universal belief, that the future happiness or misery of man depended on his moral conduct in the present life. The few fragments, however, which we possess of those works, are not sufficient to throw any light upon the subject. One might naturally be led to imagine, that the legislators of Greece, who lived during that period, had a great share in forming and spreading abroad this opinion. Such, however, was not the case. Solon, indeed, threatened the transgressors of the laws with the wrath of the gods, but he confined the punishment that awaited them, to their present state of existence. This we learn from a considerable fragment of that poet, quoted by Demosthenes*. Eschylus goes already a step farther than Homer and Hesiod. Heinious crimes, such as perjury, violation of the laws of hospitality, but especially murder, are, according to him, punished both in the present life and in the future. Hades is represented by him, as the judge of mankind†. "Hades, the stern judge of mortals, dwells under the earth. All their actions he writes in the book of his heart." And in v. 335, the chorus of the furies says: "To us is committed the duty of pursuing the murderer to his grave. But even when dead he shall not escape from us." The same is said of those who violate the laws of hospitality. Of rewards after death, we find no mention in this poet. Even the souls of the heroes and kings, such as Agamemnon and Darius, dwell in the kingdom of Hades, and rise out of their graves when they make their appearance. Tartarus is with him a deep cavern under the kingdom of Hades. In Pindar, we find notions totally different concerning all these things. The subject of a future state, with its rewards and punishments, had already been handled by the philosophers before the time of the poet; and their ideas, Pindar has introduced into his poems. His principal passages upon this subject are, Olymp. ii. 102-148, and a fragment preserved * Demost. de fals. legat. Op. T. p. 422. Ed. R. + Supl. 421. Prometh, vinch. 152. + Eumenid. 273, &c. by by Plato, in his Meno*. The first passage shews us, that Pindar certainly believed the future destiny of man to depend upon his conduct in the present life. The just enter, immediately after death, into a state where, free from all cares and laborious employments, they enjoy constant happiness; the wicked, on the contrary, are punished after death. But with these ideas, Pindar combines certain others which he has borrowed from the philosophy of the age. The souls of the departed return at several successive periods to the earth, and again animate human bodies. If they conduct themselves well, and lead, three different times, a virtuous life, they are placed in the Happy islands. The description of these islands is, as I have already remarked, copied partly from the Elysian fields of Homer, and partly from the golden age of Hesiod. Pindar, moreover, considers the abode of the souls in the lower regions as a state of purification, in which they are cleansed from the remaining imperfections of mortality. This appears from the following fragment: "The souls of those whom Proserpine thinks fit to punish for their former transgressions, she sends back, in the ninth year, to the upper world. These then become great kings, mighty in power, and venerable for wisdom; and in the next period, they are called by men sacred heroes," (namely, when they inhabit the Happy islands.) The idea, therefore, is this: The souls of all great men have arrived at so high a degree of excellence, by having been purified in the lower world, after separation from the bodies which they first inhabited. These notions, however, were merely the notions of particular individuals, and never formed the popular creed. They seem to have been chiefly promulgated in he mysteries: as appears from a passage in Plato's Phoedot. But that our happiness in a future state depends upon our own good conduct in the present, became an universally prevailing opinion amongst the people, chiefly by means of the songs of subsequent poets. There is a fine passage upon this topic towards the end of Plato's Apology. I think it, however, unnecessary to follow my subject through all the works of the later poets, since whatever they have altered in it, or added to it, resolves itself almost entirely into poetical embellishment. S. * Op. T. W. p. 350, 351. + Op. T. 1. p. 157. ON ON PREJUDICES AND SUPERSTITIONS. [BY ZÖLLNER.] friend of humanity feels it a sacred to contribute his utmost towards the extermination of prejudice and superstition. They are the offspring of the barbarism of ancient times, and are not only disgraceful to the understanding, but, as long as they retain their influence, become the foundation of infinite unseen evils. How many virtuous wives and mothers, instead of enjoying present happiness, indulge childish fears and absurd presentiments regarding the future? How many insignificant trifles fill their minds with alarms and terrors, while they not only devour, as it were, every remnant of the antiquated simplicity of old wives and grandmothers, but oppose the enjoyment of the most innocent gratifications? Thus Ariovistus neglected an excellent opportunity of giving the Romans battle, merely because some soothsaying formen, that accompanied his army, forbid his engaging till the new moon. And thus, alas, to this day, innumerable advantages are lost, or give place to incalculable evils, because some idle superstitious prejudice stands in their way. In Russia, inoculation was long rejected, because people of all conditions were firmly convinced, that the person from whom the matter was taken would inevitably die. But why should we look for examples in the north, since innumerable instances are daily occuring before our eyes? It is unfortunate, that the root of this evil is so difficult to be discovered. Opposed to sayings of deep and early impression, the authority of a doting nurse or grandmother, an old worm-eaten book of dreams or an almanack of the last century, and still more the pride of not confessing ourselves mistaken-opposed to these, the arms of sound reason are unavailing. Serious argument and ridicule, even the demonstration of their impossibility are in vain. Of what use is reasoning with one who defends that which is incomprehensible, for no other reason than because he does not comprehend it? The philosopher ought not to suffer himself to be discouraged from continuing his benevolent exertions by the small effects they produce. Every just idea that is disseminated among the people will take a deep and permanent root, and draw 1 |