Thus we find that the idea of the creation of the world has been transmitted down from the emotest ages, by the hieroglyphic or symbol of an egg, by the Japanese, the Bramins of India, the Egyptians, and the Phoeni cians ; that the same notion was adopted by the Druids o Britaiii and Gaul, appears to be sufficiently evident, from their wearing the serpent's egg, as the insignia of the priesthood ; from the miraculous accounts they gave of its formation by serpents, and from the astonishing virtues which they had the address to per suade the people it possessed. We shall now enquire into the only circumstance, in which these different nations vary, in representing their idea of the formation of the world, by the mundane egg; namely, the manner in which it has been broken, and the different emblems by which that action has been expressed. • The production of the egg by a serpent, or serpents, appears to have been, not only the opinion of the Druids, from the account of its formation given at the beginning of this article, but also that of the Phoenicians, who besides, if we believe Ptilo Byblius, looked upon the serpent as a good genius. But on the other hand, the traditions of the Bramins, the Japanese, the Egyptians, and the general voice of antiquity, which always associ ates Typhon, the evil genius of the Egyptians, with the mundane egg, all concur in attributing the breaking of the egg to an evil principle. That the Egyptians wor shipped the serpent is well known. There is to be seen in the British museum, engraven on a large block of basaltes, sent from Egypt by the late Wortley Montagu, a priest on his knees, in the act of presenting an offer ing to a serpent, placed in a position nearly erect upon an altar, belo•e which the priest is kneeling : and bi shop Pocock infOrms us, that he himself witnessed the superstitious homage that was still paid in Egypt to that reptile. Herodotus also, who in much more ancient times was in Egypt, says, that to the sacred serpents were granted the rites of sepulture.
Now, it it could be made a question, whether the ser pent was worshipped, really or emblematically, as a good or malignant genius or principle, our doubts might be resolved, by being assured, that the Persians as well as the Egyptians actually acknowledged and worshipped two principles, the good and the evil : for, as the ancient Persians considered ?lliriman, the evil principle, to have been the enemy of Ormuzd ; in the same manner, the Egyptians represented Try/thon, as the inveterate enemy of Osiris. Yet we must confess,' that this question has its difficulties ;. for several ancient authors concur in asserting, that the serpent was emblematical of the Be ing who gave existence to the world. Zoroaster, accord ing to Philo Byblius, wrote several books upon the re ligion of the ancient Persians, in which he mentions the God, represented by the serpent, as the parent of all things, exempted from death, eternal in duration, with out beginning, and without parts ; and, among other instances of the same opinion, we may refer to the 77th hymn of Orpheus, generally ascribed to the ancient poet Onomacrilus, in which the serpent is addressed, in the first instance in terms corresponding to the nature of the animal, and to the horror which he excites ; but, at the same time, there is given to him the title of, genera tor of all things. It is he who gives life to men—who governs them—lie is the meek, the great Jupiter. After
having quoted thus far these very ancient hymns, so re plete with the most horrible magical incantations, we cannot resist this opportunity of expressing our agree ment with the learned Heinsius, when he calls them, "the true liturgy of the devil." Yet, notwithstanding these ancient authorities in fa: your of the opinion, that the serpent was, in the earliest times, intended to have been the hieroglyphic or sym bol of the Creator of all things, we still venture to assert, that the most striking memorials of antiquity concur in roresenting him, as the evil spirit, the breaker of the mundane e g, and the destroyer of the peace of the human ra nde• whatever circumstances the absurd and shoe superstition of worshipping the serpent, the symbol for the thing signified by it, may have been ignorantly introduced by one nation, and copied by ano the•, there are still memorials handed down and record ed, sufficient to chew, that the serpent was considered, in times of very remote antiquity, as the emblem of the destructive, or evil spirit. The doctrine most general-: ly known, and probably the earliest recorded in Pagan history, is that of the good and evil principles, worship ped by the ancient Persians. That they addressed pray ers to 4hriman, the evil principle and enemy of Ornzuzd, we are assured by Plutarch, and it is equally certain that his worshippers held him, at the same time, in de testation; for when they had occasion to write his name, they always inverted the letters of which it was com posed. (See POLYTHEISNI.) The ancient Greeks had a similar aversion to pronounce the name of their Demo'.
•orgon, who from his cavern in the centre of the earth, by the pains and anguish of Chaos, sent Discord, the first of his children, and afterwards the Fates, the serpent Python, &c. &c. to dwell on the surface of the earth.
Plutarch, in his Isis and Osiris, enters very minutely into the opinions of the ancients on the origin of evil, and shows, that they generally attributed its existence to an evil demon, or principle. He then details the Persian doctrine, which says, that Oromazes (Ormuzd), spring ing from the purest light, and Ariman, on the other hand, from pitchy darkness; these two are, therefore, at war with one another. That Oromazes made a number of gods, the author of all the virtues, all of whom he placed in an egg-shell ; but that Ariman likewise made the same number of contrary dispositions to oppose them, who, breaking a hole into this beauteous and glazed egg-shell, bad things came by this means to be mixed with good. " But," continues he, " the fatal time is now approach ing, in which Ariman must himself be utterly destroy ed, when the earth, being made plain and level, there will be one society of mankind, of one speech, and all made happy." But, adds Plutarch, " Theopompus says, that, according to the opinion of the Magi, each of these gods subdues, and is subdued by turns, for the space of three thousand years, destroying each others works ; but that at last Pluto (i. e. Ariman) shall fall, and man kind shall be happy, and neither need food, nor yield a shadow ; and that the god who projects these things, doth for some time take his repose and rest; but yet, this time is not so much to him, although it seems so to man, whose sleep is but short. Such then," says Plu tarch, "is the Mythology of the magi." See AR1MANws.