[191] Ste. Croix (_Recherches sur les Mystères_, i. 56) says that in the Samothracian Mysteries it was forbidden to put parsley on the table, because, according to the mystagogues, it had been produced by the blood of Cadmillus, slain by his brothers. [192] "The Hindoos," says Faber, "represent their mundane lotus, as having four large leaves and four small leaves placed alternately, while from the centre of the flower rises a protuberance. Now, the circular cup formed by the eight leaves they deem a symbol of the earth, floating on the surface of the ocean, and consisting of four large continents and four intermediate smaller islands; while the centrical protuberance is viewed by them as representing their sacred Mount Menu."--_Communication to Gent. Mag._ vol. lxxxvi. p. 408. [193] The _erica arborea_ or tree heath. [194] Ragon thus alludes to this mystical event: "Isis found the body of Osiris in the neighborhood of Biblos, and near a tall plant called the _erica_. Oppressed with grief, she seated herself on the margin of a fountain, whose waters issued from a rock. This rock is the _small hill _mentioned in the ritual; the erica has been replaced by the acacia, and the grief of Isis has been changed for that of the fellow crafts."--_Cours des Initiations_, p. 151. [195] It is singular, and perhaps significant, that the word _eriko_, in Greek, ἐρίϗω, whence _erica_ is probably derived, means _to break in pieces, to mangle_. [196] Histoire Pittoresque des Religions, t. i. p. 217. [197] According to Toland (_Works_, i. 74), the festival of searching, cutting, and consecrating the mistletoe, took place on the 10th of March, or New Year's day. "This," he says, "is the ceremony to which Virgil alludes, by his _golden branch_, in the Sixth Book of the Æneid." No doubt of it; for all these sacred plants had a common origin in some ancient and general symbolic idea. [198] "Under this branch is figured the wreath of myrtle, with which the initiated were crowned at the celebration of the Mysteries."--WARBURTON, _Divine Legation_, vol. i. p. 299. [199] "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread." Gen. iii. 19. Bush interprets the decree to mean that "some species of toilsome occupation is the appointed lot of all men." [200] Aristotle says, "He that cannot contract society with others, or who, through his own self-sufficiency αὐτάρϗειαν, does not need it, forms no part of the community, but is either a wild beast or a god." [201] "Der Arbeiter," says Lenning, "ist der symbolische Name eines Freimaurers"--the Workman is the symbolic name of a Freemason.--_Encyclop. der Fraumererei._ [202] John iii. 19-21. [203] I Corinth, iii. 9. [204] Orbis Miraculum, or the Temple of Solomon, pourtrayed by Scripture Light, ch. ix. p. 192. London, 1659.