A dry and wither'd branch, by time impair'd, Hung from an ample and an aged vine, Low bending to the earth: the warriors axe Lopt it at once from the parental stem. This as a sacred relick was consigned To Argus' hands, an image meet to frame Of Rhea, dread Divinity, who ruled Over Bithynia's mountains. With rude art He smooth'd and fashion'd it in homely guise. Then on a high and lonely promontory Rear'd it amid a tall and stately grove Of antient beeches. Next of stones unwrought They raise an altar; and with boughs of oak Soft wreaths of foliage weave to deck it round. Then to their rites they turn, and vows perform. The same circumstance is mentioned in the Orphic Argonautics[815]; where the poet speaks of Argus, and the vine branch: Αμφιπλακες ερνος Αμπελου αυαλιης οξει απεκερσε σιδηρῳ, Ξεσσε δ' επισταμενως. The Amazonians were a very antient people, who worshipped their provincial Deity under the character of a female, and by the titles of Artemis, Oupis, Hippa. They first built a temple at Ephesus; and according to Callimachus [816]the image of the Goddess was formed of the stump of a beech tree. Σοι και Αμαζονιδες πολεμου επιθυμητειραι Εκ κοτε παῤῥαλιῃ Εφεσου βρετας ἱδρυσαντο [817]Φηγῳ ὑπο πρεμνῳ, τελεσεν δε τοι ἱερον Ἱππω· Αυται δ', Ουπι ανασσα, περι πρυλιν ωρχησαντο. Instead of an image made of a stump, the poet Dionysius supposes a temple to have been built beneath the trunk of a decayed tree. Ενθα Θεῃ ποτε νηον Αμαζονιδες τετυχοντο Πρεμνῳ ὑπο πτελεης, περιωσιον ανδρασι θαυμα. v. 827. It is observable, that the Chinese, as well as the people of Japan, still retain something of this custom. When they meet with an uncouth root, or spray of a tree, they humour the extravagance: and, by the addition of a face, give it the look of a Joss or Bonzee, just as fancy directs them. The vine was esteemed sacred both to Dionusus, and Bacchus; for they were two different personages, though confounded by the Grecians: indeed the titles of all those, who were originally styled Baalim, are blended together. This tree had therefore the name of Ampel, which the Greeks rendered Αμπελος, from the Sun, Ham, whose peculiar plant it was. This title is the same as Omphel before mentioned, and relates to the oracular Deity of the Pagan world; under which character Ham was principally alluded to. The Egyptian and Asiatic Greeks had some imperfect traditions about Ham, and Chus: the latter of which they esteemed Bacchus. And as the term Ampelus did not primarily relate to the vine, but was a sacred name transferred from the Deity, they had some notion of this circumstance: but as it was their custom out of every title to form a new personage, they have supposed Ampelus to have been a youth of great beauty, and one whom Bacchus particularly favoured. Hence Nonnus introduces the former begging of Selene not to envy him this happiness.