Classical Theology.—Xv.

intiinately ^ xhibited the Ambarvalia , of the Romans than in their Grecian prototype , the Thesmophoria . In this opinion we are confirmed by the support of Pindar ( in Isthm . ) , and Pliny ( Lib . xxiv ); besides what Ave cull from the third Eclogue of Virgil : — "Thus in the spring , and summer ' s softening time ,

Ere yet the sickle strews the harvest prime , On Ceres call—let old and young be kind , And Avith the hallowing wreath their temples bind ; Let them on Ceres call , and Ceres praise , With sylvan dances and sylvestral lays : So should each swain adore her sex divine , And milk and honey mix with rosy wine ;

In choral bands , attendant on the show , And long processions , shouting as they go , Invoking blessings on their yearly stores , They invite Ceres to their garner floors . " *

Undoubtedly these rites Avere instituted to purify the fields , and entreat heaven through some tutelar deity for fruitful and plentiful seasons ; and answered to the rogation or asking days appointed by Mamertus , Bishop of Vienna , A . D . -1-G 9 , to avert some particular calamities , the ceremonies and processions of which , as they regard the English church

, were abolished at the reformation . They Avere called ambarvalia , or amburbialia , from ambarvale and amburbale ( a sacrifice carried or led in procession round fields , particularly of hay and corn , or the bounds of a city , for their lustration ) . Here the A'ictim was either a she calf or a sow bi

young ; they brought the calf among the grass , and took the sow into the corn crops , at the commencement of their harvest , three several times , the countrymen all the Avhile leaping and dancing and making the surrounding landscape reecho Avith their joyful and obstreperous acclamations . Then , meanwhile , one of them bedizened with a gala crown on his headsung the C ' ereale anthemaor praises of Ceresin Avhich

, , , they all joined . Then , having offered the oblation of metheglin , composed of the Avine mingled Avith honey and milk , before they began the mowing or the reaping , as the case may be , they sacrificed to the goddess , the calf or the SOAA ' . Ceres is dcpiictecl majestic in demeanour , Avith a countenance beautifully delicate , and Avith silky yelloAV hair crowned

with a twisted coronet of lloAvers and cars oi corn ; her "bosom ' s swell" is as white as SIIOAV . In her right hand she holds a feAv scarlet poppies and heads of corn bound together , and in her left hand she bears a li ghted lampada . or classic torch . It has been said she was fairer than Venus in all her charms , though like her , of such surpassing beauty , that tho gods themselves were her lovers and admirers . By this symbolised figure of singular loveliness , the earth Avas intended to be represented in its sunny glory , diversified

Avith the foliage of trees , adorned Avith fruits and flowers , and enriched and diversified by hills and dates covered Avith verdure , and ever bountiful in its gifts . Thus Ceres Avas styled Mammosa and Alma Mater , the mother , and nurse , as likewise , Altrix Nostra , thc nourishcr of . the country . So also we shall find , the « ods having created something useful for manas for instance an arbor jovis ( an oak ) or

, , vacca laatoria ( a milch COAV ) , she is made , accountable for their parentage . Wc arc informed that Neptune produced a horse in Attica out of thc ground . And from hence comes the story related by Ovid of her giving birth to a horse ; and of the version thus told by Pausanias ( in Arcadicis ) : — " The altar which Avas dedicated to Ceres , erected upon the

mountain Elams , in Arcadia , exhibited her in thc feminine form of a human body , but Avith the head of a horse . " It Avas of marcasite , or some incombustible material , and remained entire and uninjured in the midst of fire . Yet others maintain that this Avas not the image of Ceres , or of any offspring of hers . They repudiate the whole affair both of tho "Sensit

oquum , " or turning into a horse ' s shape , and of the goddess ' s secret retirement from the world in sorrow and disgrace until Jupiter sent to her the Fates , to assuage her « rief by showing her \ pw all things were pyedc . stjp . ated ,

With' truthful respect to classic theology it must be admitted the metempsychoses Avere indoctrinated , but the metamorphoses Avere incongruously spurious . The Arcadians themselves Avere shocked at tho fubulous insinuation referred to , and thought it an abominable iniquity to mention the daughter of their great goddess by any other title than hea-iroLvu , "the Lady" ( Proserpina ) , and Magna Dea , the usual names of her mother Ceres .

When no one had any ground of his own , Ave learn from the Avitty Ovid , and Ave may add Virgil , people did not trouble themselves about fixing landmarks , " aut signare imidem . " Before Ceres ' s time the laud lay unprofitable and roughoverrun with brambles , noxious Aveeds , toadstools , and fuzzballs ; the arts of ploughing , sowing , and planting Avere lost

or unknown ; culture and profit were at a standstill ; Ceres taught their use and exercise , and the rights of property ; for Avhich reason , all things havin g been left in common to all men , she enacted laAvs , and Avas therefore called their foundress , and , inclusively , Terra , Mater . " Ceres , it Avas , the ox brought to the plough , And gave us meal , and sweet fruit on the bough ;

AVho clothed , and tamed us by her gentle laws , And from us iiCA-er her kind hand AvithdniAvs . " It AA as said of old , as Ave have before quoted , Ceres , in her aerial car , had Triptolemus conveyed " all over the world . " It is usual iu Scotland for women to work in the corn fields , as AA'ell as the men . Each man chooses for his helpmate , for the time of the harvestthe maid he likes hastAvhich often ,

, , ends in her becoming his partner for life . By her side is his station in the field—the maiden makes the reap , and moves on ; the man comes up , and adds her cuttings to tho sheaf . We haA'e all read of Burns and his Highland Mary . Among the Italians , as among the Romans and Greeks , and with the Scotch , the Avhole labour of the harvest is lightened and

enlivened by good nature , songs of joy , praise , and merriment . When England Avas merry England , our harvest home AV . IS anything but like Avhat it is Avith us IIOAV , particularly about London ' s proud environs , Avhere it is merged more sadly than Avisely into a mere business affair . It has , however , its pleasant reminiscences , and in many parts of the country it is better kept as a time of thanksgiving . If harvest merrymakings have a classical origin , Ave suppose we must assign the honour to Triptolemus . Yet let us

remember there Avas a period when Ruth , the SAveet daughter of Naomi , " gleaned in the field ; " and Boaz said unto her , " Thou shalt keep fast by my young men until they have ended all my harvest . So she kept fast by the maidens of Boaz to g lean , unto the end of the barley harvest and the Avhcat harvest . " So , too , as in Esdras , Ave arc to recollect it was a cherished custom in ancient timesto alloAv

, something—as in cornfields , so in orchards and vineyardsto remain of the crop for the comers after . "In an orchard of olives , upon every tree there are left three or four olives ; as when a vineyard is gathered , there are left some clusters for them that diligently seek through the vineyard . ' , ' This it Avill be scon is a repetition , of the Levitical

commandment to the same consideration of the poor , in Avhich lies the latent promise of a blessing to the soil ( Lev . xviii ., 9 , 10 ) . " Thou shalt not wholly reap tho corners of thy field ; neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest . Thou shalt not glean thy vineyard , neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard ; thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger : I am the Lord thy God . " The oliveyard appears to have been left out here , but it is mentioned often to the same purpose iu the Sacred Volume .

IJIITATIOX . —This is the mesothesis of Likeness and Difference . I . lie difference is as essential to it as the likeness ; for without the difference it would be a copy or fae-simile . But , ' to borrow a fcenn from astronomy , it is a liberating mesothesis ; for it ^ may verge to likeness as iii pamtinjf . or more to difference , as in f-eulptiire . —Q / UrUl'ie ,