How improperly some of the Mythologists resolve the Allegory of -
Adonis, and ascribe him sometimes to the SunneSun, the BoareBoar, by which
heehe was slayneslain, to a hard winter, sometimes to the seed of wheat, -
which is six monethsmonths with Proserpina under the earth, and as many
above the earth with Venus, is elswhereelsewhere sufficiently explained and
refuted by us. Here weewe doedo with the consent of all men declare the
PhilosophicallPhilosophical SunneSun to be meant by Adonis: From whence the Versicle:
And Orpheus:------
All which are by noeno means to be understood of the cœlestiallcelestial, but -
PhilosophicallPhilosophical SunneSun; for this expressethexpresses both sexes, that not: SoeSo all=
soalso they attribute the very same thing to Dionysus, and the SunneSun, -
as to Adonis, and on the contrary, as allsoalso to Osiris. Adonis is killdkilled by a
BoareBoar, that is, by Acetum acerrimum, or the solutive water, which hathhas
terrible teeth like a boar, with which heehe tushethtushes Adonis; because the -
PhilosophicallPhilosophical Sol is mortally wounded by that boar, loosened in the
members and cuttcut ofoff; But Venus endeavoursendeavors to helpehelp her Paramour, -
who being dead, sheeshe laydlaid him amongst LetticesLettuces, and watchdwatched him. After
the same manner is Osiris killdkilled by Typhon, and cut into severallseveral peicespieces,
which Isis, the wife of Osiris, gathered up, and being joyndjoined together bu=
ryedburied. The same mourning, which followed the death of Osiris every -
year in ÆgyptEgypt, was allsoalso celebrated after the death of Adonis in Syria
and the bordering kingdoms; where for some dayesdays weeping and wailing
being heard, afterwards were signs of joy given, and dancing, as if heehe,
that was dead, now lived anew being conveyed to heaven: From whence
arose the vanity of their religion or heathenish superstition, which -
grew to an excessive height, the DevillDevil giving occasion, and procuring
false miracles. Adonis was (as they feignefeign) borneborn of Cinyre King of
Cyprus, and Myrrha his daughter, heehe is saydsaid to be borneborn in incæstincest (if
history be considered) wicked, if an allegory, not unlawfullunlawful, but prin=
cipally necessary: For if the mother and SonneSon, or the father and -
daughter be not joyndjoined together, and an offspring produced from thence,
nothing is perfected in this art. For here, the nearer the man and
wife are one to the other in blood, in the first degree of consan=
guinity, or second, the more fruitfullfruitful they are,

and on the con=
trary, the more remote, the more unfruitfullunfruitful, which is not tolerable
in the matrimony of men. For this cause ŒdypusOedipus marrydmarried his owneown
mother, Jupiter his Sister, soeso allsoalso Osiris, SaturneSaturn, Sol, the red
servant, Gabritius; Sol (in a Metaphor of Belinus in the Rosary) -
speaks thus of Adonis, that is, of himselfehimself: Know yeeyou, that my father Sol
hathhas given meeme power above all power, and cloathedclothed meeme with the gar=
ment of glory: And a little after: For I am his onelyonly SonneSon and more
like my father, etc. I divest my servants of their power and nature, -
and cloathcloth them with my beautifullbeautiful splendoursplendor and light (which my
father gave meeme) in all their works: For I am excellent, who doedo exalt
and depressedepress all things, and none of my servants is above meeme, but one, -
who is permitted to be repugnant and contrary to meeme: And heehe destroyesdestroys
meeme, yet destroyesdestroys not my nature: And heehe is SaturneSaturn, who separates all
my parts: Afterwards I goego to my mother, who gathers together all my -
divided and separated members: I illuminate all those things that -
appertaineappertain to meeme, and cause light to appear openly in the way from
my father SaturneSaturn, as allsoalso from my mother, who is an enemy to meeme.
The words hitherto spoken are soeso clear, as to discussediscuss darkenessedarkness from
the eyes of the mind even to him that is but meanly conversant in -
the reading of authors, and discover the light of the SunneSun, which is
abundantly perspicuous in the cohærencyescoherencies insinuated of things and per=
sons: For those things which are true, though shaded under the veyleveil
of an allegory, doedo consent in wonderfullwonderful harmony one with another, -
but those things which are false are repugnant, and inconsistent with
themselves, and others . . . . . . . . .