[177] Montfauçon, from whom I have quoted, was simply an antiquarian--a very erudite and laborious antiquarian, but one whose sole concern was to discriminate facts without reference to their bearings, and who would have had, I have little doubt, a supreme contempt for the speculations in which I have indulged. He says in his preface--"I have a due regard for those great men who have excelled in this sort of learning, but must own at the same time I have no taste for it.... _It signifies very little to us to know_ whether they who tell us Vulcan was the same with Tubalcain, or they who say he was the same with Moses, make the best guess in the matter." Though the general opinion may not incline any more now than then to the biblical interpretation, yet I think a great change has taken place in public opinion as to the importance of the inquiry. Triptolemus was also said to have been "the inventor of the plough and of agriculture, and of civilisation, which is the result of it," and to have instituted the Elusinian mysteries. Like Bacchus he is also said to have "ridden all over the earth, making men acquainted with the blessings of agriculture."--_Smith. Myth. Dict.; vide_ also _infra_, p. 224: "Deucalion." Vicomte d'Anselme (Gainet, i. 224), asks with reference to his Greek name of Dionysius, "Pourquoi les Grecs donnaient-ils le nom de Dionysos ou de divin Noush (dios nous ou Noë) à l'inventeur du vin?"--_Vide supra_, ch. ix.; vide also Gainet, i. 225. Bacchus is by some called "_Tauri_cornis" (compare _supra_, p. 203, Nin) "or Bucornis, and moreover he is frequently so represented," (_i.e._ not only with the horn in hand, a "_bull's_ horn," as he is sometimes, which might be a drinking horn or cornucopia, in its way emblematical of the vir agricola"), "but also with horns on the head. Horace calls him "Bicorniger," Orpheus, [Greek: Boukerôs]; Nicander, [Greek: Taurokerôs]."--_Montfauçon_, i. 147, 155; comp. p. 204, note to "Nin." One Bacchus, Cicero tells us, "was King of Asia and author of the _Laws_ called Subazian."--_Montfauçon_, i. 144. It is, moreover, said that Bacchus travelled through all nations as far as India,[178] doing good in all places, and teaching many things profitable to the life of man. His conquests are said to have been easy and without bloodshed. But it is also noted that amidst his benevolence to mankind, he was relentless in punishing all want of respect for his divinity, and indeed the _conduct_ and punishment of Chanaan may be said to be narrated in the history of Pentheus.--_Vide_ _Montf._ i. 161.[179]