Hæmus, that he disappeared from the sight of men, and was never after [1048]seen. According to the most common accounts concerning the death of Orpheus, it was owing to his principles, and manner of life. He was a solitary, and refused all commerce with womankind: hence the Mænades, and other women of Thrace, rose upon him, and tore him to pieces. It is said, that his head, and lyre were thrown into the Hebrus; down which they were wafted to Lemnos. What is here mentioned of Orpheus, undoubtedly relates to the Orpheans, and to their temple upon mount Hæmus. This temple was in process of time ruined: and there is great reason to think, that it was demolished upon account of the cruelties practised by the priests, and probably from a detestation of their unnatural crimes, to which there are frequent allusions. Ovid having given a character of Orpheus, concludes with an accusation to this purpose. [1049]Ille etiam Thracum populis fuit auctor amores In teneros transferre mares: citraque juventam Ætatis breve ver, et primos carpere flores. Those of the community, who survived the disaster, fled down the Hebrus to Lesbos; where they either found, or erected, a temple similar to that which they had quitted. Here the same worship was instituted; and the place grew into great reputation. They likewise settled at Lenmos. This island lay at no great distance from the former; and was particularly devoted to the Deity of fire. It is said by Hecatæus, that it received the name of Lemnos from the Magna Dea, Cybele. She was styled by the natives Λημνος, and at her shrine they used to sacrifice young persons. [1050]Απο μεγαλης λεγομενης Θεου· ταυτῃ δε και παρθενους εθυον. They seem to have named the temple at Lesbos Orphi, and Orpheï caput: and it appears to have been very famous on account of its oracle. Philostratus says, that the Ionians, and Æolians, of old universally consulted it: and, what is extraordinary, that it was held in high estimation by the people of [1051]Babylonia. He calls the place the head of Orpheus: and mentions, that the oracle proceeded from a cavity in the earth; and that it was consulted by Cyrus, the Persian. That the Babylonians had a great veneration for a temple named Orphi, I make no doubt: but it certainly could not be the temple at Lesbos. During the Babylonish empire, Greece, and its islands, were scarcely known to people of that country. And when the Persians succeeded, it is not credible, that they should apply to an oracle at Lesbos, or to an oracle of Greece. They were too refined in their religious notions to make any such application. It is notorious, that, when Cambyses, and Ochus, invaded Egypt, and when Xerxes made his inroad into Greece, they burnt and ruined the temples in each nation, out of abomination to the worship. It was another place of this name, an oracle of their own, to which the Babylonians, and Persians, applied. For it cannot be supposed, in the times