APOLLO, in MrrnoLony, one of the most celebrated of the heathen deities. This deity was in great repute, both amongst the Greeks and Romans. He is a great favourite with the poets, who claim him as their patron, and have exerted all their powers to celebrate his praise. But though the history of Apollo be thus familiar to us, it is nevertheless extremely difficult to give any thing like a rational account of the fable,. Without, there fore, perplexing our readers with fruitless conjectures, we shall content ourselves with offering a few observa tions on the name, the attributes, and the exploits of this deity, as they are recorded by the poets and my thologists of antiquity.
.A'ame.—There are various opinions, both amongst an cients and moderns, respecting the origin of the name, " Apollo." The evident meaning of the word, if it is of Greek extraction, is a destroyer, from coroAAvi.ct, to destroy. The Greeks, however, could not endure that their favourite deity should derive his name from such an unpropitious source ; they therefore set themselves to devise an origin of the name more suitable to his at tributes. With this view, some derived the name from a, jzriv. and ?rows, nzultus ; because the sun, which Apol lo represents, is the only great luminary in the universe ; in the same manner as the Latins imagined that the sun was named Sol, from so/us. This is mere fancy : the opinion of Socrates is more plausible, and more agree able to the notions which the ancients entertained of this god. He derives the name from evro and Aow, to free ; hence the word "Apollo," or A7roAAvwv, signifies a deliverer. " Some," says he, " not understanding this, have dread ed that name, as importing ruin and destruction." We shall state some reasons why we are rather inclined to adopt the opinion which this amiable philosoper rejects. In Rev. ix. 11, mention is made of the angel of the bot tomless pit, " whose name, in the Hebrew tongue, is Abaddon, but, in the Greek tongue, bath his name Apollyon." Both these words signify destroyer. On this passage Heinsius makes the following observation : " Non dubitandum est, quin Pythius Apollo, hoc est spureus ille spiritus quern Hebmi Ob, et Abaddon Hel lenism ad verbum A7roAAveaa exteri AmoAA6.)va, dixerunt, sub hac forma, qua miseriam humano gencri invexit, primo cultus." There can be no doubt that the Pythian Apollo is the same as the Ob and Abaddon of the Hebrews, which the Greeks translated literally APOLLYON, Sze.
Whether this notion of Hcinsius be true to the full ex tent, we shall not take upon us to determine ; we adduce it in support of our opinion, that Apollo derived his name from his hurtful, rather than from his beneficent qualities. This opinion is farther confirmed by a pas sage in Aulus Gellius, 1. 5. c. 12. He mentions Dijovis and Vejovis, ancient names of two heathen deities, the one of a beneficent, the other of a malignant nature. He
thus describes the image of Vejovis : Simulacrum Dei Vejovis sagittas tenet, sent videlicet paratre ad diem, guapropter eum Deum plerigue Apollinum dixerent.
" The image of Vejovis holds arrows in its hands, as the instruments of destruction, on which account, most people think that he is the same as Apollo." He far ther alleges, that Virgil was of the same opinion, at least, that he reckoned Apollo amongst the number of the unlucky deities. In proof of this he quotes the two lines from the Georgics, in which the poet deprecates the unpropitious deities, and particularly mentions A pollo.
But if the name of this favourite god have this omi nous meaning, how came he to be reckoned the patron of elegance and refinement, the bright ornament of the sky, and the most benignant of the celestial inhabitants It is easier to propose questions than to answer them ; and nobody need be ashamed to confess their utter ina bility to reduce into order and consistency the hetero geneous materials of the pagan mythology. With re gard, however, to the transformation of Apollo from a malignant into a propitious deity, we submit to the learned reader the following observations. It has been said, primus in orbe Deos fecit timor, the worship of the gods originated in terror. Many of the piles of idolatry betray evident marks of this origin; and it is not unlike ly that the whole system of superstition was founded on this principle, that the wrath of the gods must be ap peased. It is also pretty evident, that, in the pagan theology, all the gods were supposed to exert a malig nant influence, till once they were rendered propitious by expiations and sacrifices. On this principle, those deities, who were supposed to have the greatest power and disposition to hurt, would naturally become the chief objects of worship ; and hence Apollo the Destroyer would be worshipped with peculiar devotion. Nor need •we be surprised, that this malignant demon should af terwards receive so many honourable designations ; they who approach a tyrant, must address him as most gra cious and most merciful; and we have no doubt that those nations which worship the devil, reckon it good policy to approach him with fair speeches and flattering epi thets. That this was the origin of the worship of Apollo, appears farther from this circumstance, that he was al ways considered as one of the principal of the 0Eoz aAEiosaxot, Dii averrunci malorum, gods who averted evil. Hence the Carmen Seculare, which was compo sed, and sung with the view of propitiating the gods, was dedicated chiefly to Apollo and Diana, because it was a current opinion amongst the ancients, that all who died were slain by the arrows of these two deities. Zosim. 1. 2. hist. Tit. Liv. 1. 37. Macrob. Saturn. 1. i. c. 17. Horace alludes to this opinion, in his Carmen Sec.