Paran. 1. Meurf. Mifcel. Lacon. lib. 1. cap. 1. So the Lacedemonians worshipped the fupreme Jupiter in a certain Place under the Title of Skotinas or Skotitas. Whence fome reprefented the Nature of God by a black Stone. Porphiry in Eufebius, gomag. lib. 3. cap. 7. - many have fhadowed out his Nature, as not being visible to the Eye, by a black & Stone. Pfanner. Syft. p. 4. Prudentius

daring to place Leeks and Onions in the Clouds for Gods, and Garlickabove the Stars of Heaven."

So they make their Iris (Rain-bow) an Object of Worship. Martin. Lex. Iris"The Poets call Iris the Angel, or Meffenger of the Gods. Comment. in Aristoph. of Heaven, p. 49. Ovid. primo Metamorph.

Iris, the Meffenger of Juno, arrayed in various Colours, draws up the Waters and nourishes the Clouds.

for

Viretus de Minift. Verbi Dei, p. 5. which Reason Plato, and his Commenta

† A Title derived from a Word that fignifies Darkness.

§. Hence a Rock or Stone, as an Emblem of the Spirit or Cloud, which binds other Things and is itself bound hard, is applied to Chrift who was in the Cloud.

tor

tor Proclus, will have her named from Erein, because he was the Angel, i. e. Meffenger; and the Poets call her Thaumantias, from her Father Thaumas; whose Daughter they make her, and place her among the Gods for her being handsome, and of a furprizing Beauty, as Cicero, on the Nature of the Gods, Book 3. explains it, from Thaumazo, to wonder at. Imag. Deor. p. 123. The Antients efteemed her a Goddefs; whom they painted in a Woman's Dress, of various Colours; fometimes in Yellow, and equipped for Expedition. Voffius de Orig. & Prog. Idol. lib. 3. p. 394. The Inhabitants of Peru, as Fofeph Acofta relates, worshipped the Rain-bow; and painted her with two Serpents at her Side. So that we see that Serpents were a Symbol of Divinity not only among the Ægyptians, Phenicians, and Grecians, but even among the Inhabitants of Peru. Pafchal. Coron. p. 24. Such is the being encircled with the Rain-bow, of which Tertullian, citing the Tenth of the Revelation, and another Angel, fays he, is adorned with the heavenly Circuit of the Rain-bow."

So they made their Gods or Images have Clouds, and Irradiations, fometimes all round, fome divided into three Rays, about

about their Heads. Ibid. Pafchal. p. 25. "Of this Sort is that golden Cloud with which Minerva encircled the Head of Achilles in Homer, Iliad. 6.-The Goddess encircled his Head with a golden Cloud, and kindled a Flame which fhone all around him. And afterwards So the Brightness fpread from the Head of Achilles, into the Air. Such a Flame was feen upon the Head of Afcanius. Virgil. 2 Æneid.

From young lulus Head

A lambent Flame arofe, which gently

fpread,

Around his Brows, and on his Temples Dryden, 1.930.

fed.

Virgil alfo places the heavenly Flame upon the Head of Æneas. Virg. 10. Æneid.

The radiant Creft that seem'd in Flames to rife,

And dart diffufive Fires around the Field; And the keen glitt'ring of the golden Shield. Dryden, 1. 377.

Such was that Circle, of which Bebianus,

I fee a flaming Circle of Light
Which no Woman can come into.

-They

They who drew a golden Circle, glittering like the Light of the Sun, between the Horns of the Egyptian Ox, aimed at imitating thefe Circles. Herodot. lib. 2. For this is that Apis, &c. Steph. Thefau. Lat. Nimbus is the Cloud the Gods used to come down to the Earth in. Virg. Geor. 1. Nicholas de Nimbis, p. 68. Taubman, in his Comment on the 2. Æneid. p. 474, 475. defcribes them thus: The Nimbus (or Cloud) is a Brightness round the Bodies of the Gods, and fo the Images of the Saints are painted with a golden Cloud.

Servius's Comment is, that Nimbus in the Language of the Gods, was a Brightness like that of a bright Cloud, which the Heads of the Gods were wrapt in, when they made their Appearance to Men It became the Majefty of the Gods to appear fo to Men: Thence Juno came encircled with the Nimbus, i. e. with Clouds, according to Virgil, Eneid. 10. 633, 634.

involved in Clouds fhe flies,

And drives a Storm before her, thro' the Skies.

When the troubled Goddess darts down thro' the Firmament in a black Cloud,

It is worth remarking, that he fays, (agens hiemem) stirring up a Tempeft, in which he defcribes the Drefs of the Heathen Gods. So the Heathens painted their Gods to ftrike a Terror into Men, and raise the greater Reverence towards them. Ibid. p. 70. So alfo the Heathen Gods were fuppofed to have a flaming Face, that their Heads appeared irradiated by those Flames, as Virgil relates of Minerva's prodigious Eyes. lib. 2. Æneid. verf. 172.

She fternly caft her glaring Eyes around, That sparkled as they rowl'd

Dryden, 1. 23.

Ibid. p. 73. The Nimbi were in various Shapes; fome circular, fome triangular, fome round like a Globe. p. 16. Vincent. Char. de Imag. Edit. Mogun. p. 68. from Martian, lib. 1. de Nupt. Philolog. who painted Jupiter in the Senate of the Gods with his Head in a Flame, or having the Nimbus (Cloud) on it." And exhibits the Figure. p. 32. "Do we not fee Juno in the antient Pictures, who fets on two Lions, in one Hand a Sceptre, in the other a Spindle; her Head adorned with Rays,

as