Liber

LIBER¹. Bacchus. The Scripture never mentions the Name of Bacchus, but we find that of Liber, which is the same Thing in the Maccabees. See 2 Macc. vi. 7. Cum Libri sacra celebrarentur, cogebantur hederâ coronati Libero circuire. And xiv. 33. Istud Dei fanum in planiciem deducam, & Templum hoc Libero patri consecrabo. Lastly, there is Mention of him in the third Book of Maccabees, where it is said, that King Ptolemy Philopater ordered the Leaf of an Ivy, a Tree consecrated to Bacchus, to be impressed on such Jews as refused to renounce their Religion.

Profane Authors speak of several Bacchus’s or Dionysius’s. Cicero names three; Cicer. l. i. De Naturâ Deorum.the first the Son of Jupiter and Proserpine; the second the Son of Nile, who is said to have killed Nysa; the third, the Son of Caprius, who reigned in Asia, and was Author of the Sabæan Laws; the fourth was the Son of Jupiter and the Moon; the fifth, the Son of Nisus and Thione: He might have added another who was the most celebrated of them all, and this was the Son of Jupiter and Semele, who was the Theban Bacchus, There was besides Bacchus the Indian, Son to Ammon and Amalthea: And there is Mention likewise made of Bacchus the Assyrian: But the most famous of them all is Bacchus the Son of Jupiter and Semele. The Poets give the following Account of his Birth: Semele being with Child of Bacchus, desired Jupiter to come and visit her as he did Juno, that is to say with Thunder and Lightning. Jupiter granted her Request; but the Splendor of his Appearance was insupportable to her. She died of the Fright, or was stifled by the Flames. Jupiter took young Bacchus out of Semele’s Womb, and enclosed him in a Hole which he had made in his Thigh, wherein the Child continued till the Time was come for his Production; then Jupiter took him out, and gave him to Mercury, who carried him to Nysa in Arabia, where he was brought up by the Muses.

Bacchus is the God of Wine. Some pretend that he planted the Vine, and taught Men to extract the Juice of the Grape. He is said to have made several Conquests, and performed several Journies into Arabia, and to the Indies. The Ivy is consecrated to him as well as the Vine, and several Particulars are observed in his Life; which have persuaded some learned Men, that Part of his History has been confounded with that of Moses. For Example, Bacchus is said to have been the Son of Nile, that he was of an uncommon Beauty, that he was shut up in a Box, and exposed upon the Water; that he had two Mothers, and was born out of his Father’s Thigh. Moses, in some Sort, was the Son of Nile, having been exposed and found upon the River in a kind of Box made of Rushes. He was of an extraordinary Beauty, and had for his first Mother the Wife of Amram, and for his second the Daughter of Pharaoh. No one doubted, when he was discovered, but that he was the Son of an Hebrew, and issued out of his Thigh according to the Scripture Expression, Egressi sunt de femore illius; but his Mother was not known.

Gen. xlv. 26. Ex. i. 5. & passim.Bacchus was bred up by Nymphs in the Mountains of Nysa in Arabia; Moses was brought up by the Care of Pharaoh’s Daughter in the Land of Goshen, which lies between Egypt and Phœnicia, in like Manner as the Mountains of Nysa. The first made great Conquests, and undertook great Voyages. He had Bacchanalians in his Army, advanced as far as the Indies; and while he was in the Light, the Indians were in Darkness. Moses was at the Head of the Men and Women of his People in Arabia, about Mount Sinai, which Countrey is sometimes called the Indies. The Female Bacchanalians who accompanied Bacchus with their Drums and Cymbals, describe very well the female Israelites, who upon their coming out of the Red Sea, fell a dancing and playing with these Instruments. We know that the Egyptians were for three Days in such Darkness as might have been felt, whereas in the Land of Goshen, where the Israelites were, there was the clearest Light.

Bacchus is said to have passed the Rivers Orontes and Hydaspes dry shod, having first struck them with his Thyrsus; that his Ivy Wand crawled along when it was thrown upon the Ground; that the Bacchanals who accompanied this God, produced Water out of a Rock, by striking it with the Thyrsus: It is farther added, that Streams of Wine, Milk and Honey were seen to flow wherever they passed. These are Particulars which suit so well with Moses, that it is impossible not to know him by them. The God Liber was dressed in a magnificent Manner, his Head was bound about with a Ribband. He is sometimes represented with Horns; he granted an Exemption from all Offices to those who applied themselves to Musick; he is called Legislator; his Ass spoke to him. These are so many Marks of Resemblance borrowed from the sacred History, and applied to Bacchus. Moses had Rays upon his Face, which in Scripture are termed Horns: He granted considerable Privileges to the Priests and Levites who were imployed in the Service of God, and in chanting his Praises. The Ass which spoke to Balaam, and the magnificent Ornaments of Aaron, relate no farther to Moses, than as Legislator and sacred Historian. The Reader may see these Matters treated more at large in Vossius, Bochart, Huet, &c.

The Heathens accused the Jews of worshipping Bacchus. Tacitus² takes Notice of this Charge against them; it was founded, he said, upon the Hebrew Priests playing on Instruments of Musick, on the Flute and Drum; on their being crowned with Ivy, and the Discovery of a golden Vine in their Temple; upon which Observations it was believed that they adored Bacchus. But then he adds, that the Laws and Manners of the Jews are too different from the Genius of Bacchus. This God is a Friend to Joy and Cheer, and the Jews live in a vile, absurd and sordid Manner. Quippe Liber festos lætosque ritus instituit: Judæorum mos absurdus, sordidusque. What he says of the Jewish Priests being crowned with Ivy, is without Foundation. The golden Vine in the Temple was a Present made to it, and had no Relation to the Religion of the Jews. This supposed Worship of Bacchus is as real as that of an Ass, which some Heathens imputed to the Jews. Bacchus is called Liber, because of the Liberty which Wine inspires. Antiochus Epiphanes having resolved upon compelling the Jews to forsake the Law of God, persecuted them in a very severe Manner, and upon the Day when the Feast of Bacchus was celebrated, they were constrained to go through the Streets covered with Ivy, in Honour of their false God³. The Greek literally imports, that they were compelled to follow the March, or Procession, of Dionysius or Bacchus, having Ivy either on their Heads or in their Hands; that is to say, wearing Crowns of Ivy, or carrying Thyrsus’s, which were Spears wrapped about with Ivy. Nicanor, one of Antiochus’s Generals, threatened if they did not deliver up Judas Maccabæus, to demolish their Temple, and erect one in the Place of it, consecrated to Bacchus.

Ptolomy Philopater King of Egypt, having taken the cruel Resolution of extirpating the Jews out of his Dominions, who should refuse to renounce the Religion of their Ancestors, first of all divested them of the Privileges they enjoyed as Freemen of Alexandria, then branded them with a hot Iron, and an Ivy Leaf, which is the Sign of any Thing’s being consecrated to Bacchus. This Prince is said to have had an Ivy Leaf impressed upon himself, in Imitation of the Priests of the Great Goddess.

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