CHAP. XXIV. Of the Nemean Games. t HE Nemean Games were fo call'd from Nemea, a Village and T Grove between the Cities Cleona and Phlius, where they were ce lebrated every third Year, upon the twelfth of the Corinthian Month Пaveμ, call'd fometimes Invía, which is the fame with the Athenian Boedromion. The Exercifes were Chariot-races, and all the Parts of the Pentathlum. The Presidents were elected out of Corinth, Argos, and Cleona, and apparel'd in black Cloaths, the Habit of Mourners, because these Games were a Funeral Solemnity inftituted in Memory of Opheltes, otherwise call'd Archemorus, from day, i. e. a beginning, and op, i.e. Fate or Death, because Amphiaraus foretold his Death foon after he began to live: Or, according to Statius", because that Misfortune was a Prelude to all the bad Succefs that befel the Theban Champions; for Archemorus was the Son of Euphetes and Creusa, or Lycurgus, a King of Nemea or Thrace, and Eurydice, and nurs'd by Hypfapyle, who leaving the Child in a Meadow, whilt fhe went to fhew the Befiegers of Thebes a Fountain, at her return found him dead, and a Serpent folded about his Neck; whence the Fountain before call'd Langia, was nam'd Archemorus; and the Captains to comfort Hypfipyle for her Lofs, inftituted these Games *, t Una tamen tacitas, fed juffu Numinis, undas Langia alone, and fhe fecurely hid, Lurk'd in a dark, and unfrequented fhade, Before Hypfipyle was known to Fame, Strabo, Lib. viii. Paufanias Corinth. Eliac. B. Pindari Schol. Nemeon. Thebaid. lib. v. * Statius Thebaid. lib. iv. When they fhall fad Triennial Games ordain } H. H. Others are of Opinion, that these Games were inftituted by Hercules after his Victory over the Nemean Lion, in Honour of Jupiter, who, as Paufanias tells us, had a magnificent Temple at Nemea, where he was honour'd with folemn Games, in which Men ran Races in Armour ; but perhaps thefe might be diftinct from the Solemnity I am now fpeaking of. Laftly, others grant indeed, they were firft inftituted in Memory of Archemorus, but will have them to have been intermitted and reviv'd by Hercules, and confecrated to Jupiter. 66 66 66 The Victors were crown'd with Parfly, which was an Herb us'd at Funerals, and feign'd to have fprung out of Archemorus's Blood: Concerning it Plutarch relates a remarkable Story, with which it will not be improper to conclude this Chapter; "As Timoleon (faith he) was marching up an Afcent, from the Top of which they might take a View of the Army and Strength of the Carthaginians, there met "him by chance a Company of Mules loaden with Parfly, which his "Soldiers conceiv'd to be an ill-boding Omen, because this is the very "Herb wherewith we adorn the Sepulchres of the Dead, which Cuftom gave Birth to that defpairing Proverb, when we pronounce of one "that is dangerously fick, that he does i orλive, i. e. want nothing but Parfly, which is in effect to fay, he is a dead Man, juft dropping into the Grave: Now, that Timoleon might ease their "Minds, and free them from thofe fuperftitious Thoughts, and fuch a fearful Expectation, he put a Stop to his March, and, having alledg'd many other things in a Difcourfe fuitable to the Occafion, he "concluded it by faying, that a Garland of Triumph had luckily fallen "into their Hands of its own Accord, as an anticipation of Victory, in"afmuch as the Corinthians do crown thofe that get the better in their Ifthmian Games with Chaplets of Parfly, accounting it a facred "Wreath, and proper to their Country; for Parfly was ever the conquering Ornament of the Ifthmian Sports, as it is now also of the Nemean; it is not very long fince Branches of the Pine-tree came to fuc"ceed, and to be made ufe of for that purpofe; Timoleon therefore, having thus bespoke his Soldiers, took part of the Parfly, wherewith "he firit made himfelf a Chaplet, and then his Captains with their Companies did all crown themfelves with it in Imitation of their "General." 66 66 66 7 Pindari Schol. *Timoleonte, CHAP. T CHA P. XXV. Of the Ifthmian Games. HE Ifthmian Games were fo call'd from the Place where they were celebrated, viz. the Corinthian Ifthmus, a Neck of Land by which Peloponnefus is join'd to the Continent: They were inftituted in Honour of Palamon, or Melicertes, the Son of Athamus King of Thebes, and Ino, who, for fear of her Husband (who had killed her other Son Learchus in a Fit of Madness) caft herself with Melicertes in her Arms into the Sea, where they were receiv'd by Neptune into the Number of the Divinities of his Train, out of a Compliment to Bacchus nurs'd by Ino. At the change of their Condition, they alter'd their Names; Ino was call'd Leucothea, and her Son Palamon; however Palamon's Divinity could not preserve his Body from being tofs'd about the 'Sea, till at length it was taken up by a Dolphin, and carried to the Corinthian Shore, where it was found by Sisyphus at that time King of Corinth, who gave it an honourable Interment, and instituted these funeral Games to his Memory; thus Paufanias. Others report, that Melicertes's Body was caft upon the Ifthmus, and lay there fome time unburied, whereupon a grievous Peftilence began to rage in thofe Parts, and the Oracles gave out, that the only Remedy for it was to inter the Body with the ufual Solemnities, and celebrate Games in Memory of the Body; upon the Performance of thefe Commands the Diftemper ceas'd; but afterwards, when the Games were neglected, broke out again, and the Oracles, being confulted, gave Anfwer, that they must pay perpetual Honours to Melicertes's Memory, which they did accordingly, erecting an Altar to him, and enacting a Law for the perpetual Celebration of these Games. Others report, that they were inftituted by Thefeus in Honour of Neptune; others are of Opinion, that there were two distinct Solemnities obferv'd in the Ifthmus, one to Melicertes, and another to Neptune ; which Report is grounded upon the Authority of Mufæus, who wrote a Treatife about the Ifthmian Games. Phavorinus reports, that these Games were firft inftituted in Honour of Neptune, and afterwards celebrated in Memory of Palemon. Plutarch on the contrary tells us, that the first Inftitution of them was in Honour of Melicertes, but afterwards they were alter'd, enlarg'd, and re-inftituted to Neptune by Thefeus: He gives alfo feveral other Opinions concerning the Original of them: His Words are thefe in the Life of Thefeus; Thefeus inftituted Games in Emulation of Hercules, being ambitious, that as the "Greeks, by that Hero's Appointment, celebrated the Olympian Games to the Honour of Jupiter, fo by his Inftitution they fhould celebrate "the Ifthmian Games to the Honour of Neptune; for thofe that were before dedicated to Melicertes were celebrated privately in the 66 Initio Corinthiac. Gg 4 66 Night, and confifted rather of religious Ceremonies, than of any open Spectacle, or publick Festival. But fome there are, who fay that "the Ifthmian Games were firft inftituted in Memory of Sciron, at the 66 Expiation which Thefeus made for his Murther, upon the Account "of the nearness of Kindred between them, Sciron being the Son of "Canethus and Heniocha, the Daughter of Pittheus, tho' others write "that Sinnis, and not Sciron, was their Son, and that to his Honour, "and not to Sciron's, these Games were ordain'd by Thefeus. Helld"nicus and Andro of Halicarnaffus write, that at the fame time he "made an Agreement with the Corinthians, that they should allow "them, that came from Athens to the Celebration of the Ifthmian "Games, as much Space to behold the Spectacle in, as the Sail of the "Ship that brought them thither ftretch'd to its full Extent could cover, " and that in the first and moft honourable Place:" Thus Plutarch. D The Eleans were the only Nation of Greece, that abfented themselves from this Solemnity, which they did for this Reafon, Paufanias • relates; the Corinthians having appointed the Ifthmian Games, the Sons of Acter came to the Celebration of them, but were furpriz'd and slain by Hercules, near the City Cleona: The Author of the Murder was at the first unknown, but being at length difcover'd by the Induftry of Molione the Wife of Actor, the Eleans went to Argos and demanded Satisfaction, because Hercules at that time dwelt at Tiryns, a Village in the Argian Territories. Being repuls'd at Argos, they apply'd themselves to the Corinthians, defiring of them that all the Inhabitants and Subjects of Argos might be forbidden the Ifthmian Games, as Difturbers of the publick Peace; but meeting with no better Succefs in this Place, than they had done at Argos, Molione forbad them to go to the Ifthmian Games, and denounc'd a dreadful Execration against any of the Eleans that fhould ever be prefent at the Celebration of them; which Command was fo religioufly obferv'd, that none of the Eleans dare venture to go the Ifthmian Games to this Day, (faith my Author) for fear Molione's Čuries fhould fall heavy upon them. Thefe Games were obferv'd every third, or rather every fifth Year, and held fo facred and inviolable, that when they had been intermitted for fome time, through the Oppreffion and Tyranny of Cyp Jelas, King of Corinth; after the Tyrant's Death the Corinthians, to renew the Memory of them, which was almoft decay'd, employ'd the utmoft Power and Induftry they were able in reviving them, and celebrated them with fuch Splendor and Magnificence as was never prac tis'd in former Ages. When Corinth was fack'd and totally demolish'd by Mummius the Roman General, thefe Games were not discontinu'd, but the Care of them was committed to the Sicyonians till the rebuilding of Corinth, and then reftor'd to the Inhabitants of that City, as Paufanias reports d The Victors were rewarded with Garlands of Pine-leaves; afterwards Parfly was given them, which was also the Reward of the Ne Eliac, d. Corinthiac. Alex, ab Alexandro Gen. Dier. lib. v. cap. viii. d Initio mean mean Conquerors, but with this difference, that there it was fresh and green, whereas in the Ifthmian Games it was dry and wither'd. Afterwards the ufe of Parfly was left off, and the Pine-tree came again into request, which Alterations Plutarch has accounted for in the fifth Book of his Sympofiacks e. T CHA P. XXVI. Of the Greek Year. HE Writers of antient Fables report, that Ovegròs, whom the Latins call Calus, King of the Atlantick Iflands, was reputed the Father of all the Gods, and gave his Name to the Heavens, which from him were by the Greeks term'd grds, and by the Latins, Cœlum, because he invented Aftrology, which was unknown till his Time f Others afcribe the Invention both of Astrology, and the whole a opauginds, Science of the Celestial Bodies, to Atlas: From him these Difcoveries were communicated to Hercules, who firft imparted them to the Greeks. Whence the Authors of Fables took occafion to report, that both these Heroes fupported the Heavens with their Shoulders B The Cretans pretended that Hyperion first observ'd the Motions of the Sun, Moon, and Stars b. He was Son to the primitive God Uranus, and, from his Knowledge of the Celestial Motions, is fometimes taken by the Poets and other fabulous Authors for the Father of the Sun, fometimes for the Sun himself. The Arcadians reported, that their Countryman Endymion first discover'd the Motion of the Moon i: Which gave occafion to thofe early Ages to feign, that he was belov'd by that Goddess. Laftly, others reported that Actis, by fome call'd Acteus, who flourish'd in the Ifle of Rhodes about the time of Cecrops King of Athens, invented the Science of Aftrology, which he communicated to the Egyptians *. But to pass from fabulous to more authentick Hiftories, the first improvement and ftudy of Aftronomy is generally afcrib'd to the Grecian Colonies, which inhabited Afia. And it is thought to have been first learnt from the Babylonians or Egyptians, and communicated to the Grecians either by Thales of Miletus, Pythagoras of Samos, Anaximander of Miletus, Anaximenes the Scholar and Fellow-Citizen of Anaximander, Cleoftratus of Tenedos, Oenopidas of Chios, or Anaxagoras of Clazomena, the Mafter of Pericles, who was the first that taught the Ionick Philofophy at Athens, where he open'd his School in the fame Year that Xerxes invaded Greece. Every one of these seems to • Quæft. iii. f Diodorus Siculus, lib. iii. p. 132. & Scriptores Mythologici, Diodorus Siculus, lib. iii. pag. 135. lib. iv. pag. 163. Clemens Alexandrinus Strom. i. p. 3c6. Plinius, lib. vii. cap. lvi. h Diodorus Siculus, lib. v. pag. 231. i Lucianus in comment, de Aftrologia, Apollonii Scholiaftes in lib, iv. Diodorus Siculus, lib, v. pag. 247, haye |