'Antiqui rex magne poli, _mundique prioris_, Sub quo prima quies, nec labor ullus erat.'--l. 12, E. 63. I have mentioned that he was supposed, [Greek: katapinein], to have _swallowed up his children_; he was also said to have _ruined all things_; which, however, _were restored with a vast increase_."--Orphic Hymn, 12, v. 3. Compare Calmet, _supra_, pp. 211 and 212. Martianus Capella and Varro de Ling. Lat. lib. i. 18, call him _Sator_, a sower, "Saturnus Sator." Now it is curious that the ancient Germans had a god "of the name of _Sator_." He is described by Verstegan as "standing _upon a fish_, with a wheel in one hand, and in the other a _vessel of water_ filled with fruits and flowers." _N.B._--I was surprised to find in Carver's "Travels in North America" (p. 282) the phrase among the North American Indians, of things being done at the instigation "of the Grand _Sautor_." There is no doubt much that is monstrous and grotesque in the classical conception of Saturn, but I must again suggest that as all traditions met in Noah, and were tradited through him, we must not be surprised to find all antediluvian traditions confused in Noah. Thus even the tradition of Lamech, which we have seen (_vide supra_, 178) variously distorted in the legends of Perseus and OEdipus, are again repeated in the legends of Saturn. There are, no doubt, also divers astral complications arising out of Saturn's place in the planetary system. When, however, we are told that Saturn was son of Coelus and Tellus or Coelus and Vesta,[173] the same as Terra (Montfauçon), it seems to occur to us, as a thing "qui saute aux yeux," that this was only a mode of expressing a truth, applicable to all men in general, and Saturn as a primal progenitor in particular, and having reference to the composite nature of man; in other words, that this was simply the tradition which Noah would have handed down that he was created,[174] as were all other men, out of the earth, yet with something ethereal in his composition which came direct from the Deity. What the astral explanation may be I am at a loss to imagine. It cannot by any possibility be supposed to have reference to their relative positions in the heavens. [173] "Saturn is by Plato supposed to have been the son of _Oceanus_."--Bryant, ii. 261. [174] _Vide_ Autochthones, ch. vii. I shall return to Saturn, under the representation of Oceanus, when I come to speak of Janus. II. _Bacchus._--The _Saturnalia_ may be taken as the connecting link between _Saturn_ and _Bacchus_, and I think that it is sufficiently remarkable that there should be this link of connection.