Note 380 — RADICALS.

I have mentioned, that Gaugamela was the temple of Cham-El, or Cham-Il. This was a title of the Deity brought from Chaldea to Egypt; and from thence to Greece, Hetruria, and other regions. The Greeks, out of different titles, and combinations, formed various Deities; and then invented different degrees of relation, which they supposed to have subsisted between them. According to Acusilaus Cham-Il was the Son of Vulcan, and Cabeira. [380]Ακουσιλαος δε ὁ Αργειος εκ Καβειρης και Ἡφαιστου Καμιλον λεγει. He was, by others, rendered Camillus, whose attendants were the Camilli; and he was esteemed the same as Hermes of Egypt. [381]Statius Tullianus de vocabulis rerum libro primo ait dixisse Callimachum, Tuscos Camillum appellare Mercurium, &c. Romani quoque pueros et puellas nobiles et investes Camillos et Camillas appellant, Flaminicarum et Flaminum præministros. Servius speaks to the same purpose. [382]Mercurius Hetruscâ linguâ Camillus dicitur. The reason of the attendants being also called Camilli was in consequence of a custom among the antients of conferring generally upon the priests the title of the Deity whom they served. The Camilli were commonly young persons of good family, as we learn from Plutarch, and were to be found in the temples of Jupiter, or Zeus: for Zeus and Hermes were originally the same: [383]Και τον ὑπηρετουντα τῳ Ἱερῳ του Διος αμφιθαλη παιδα λεγεσθαι Καμιλλον, ᾡς και τον Ἑρμην· ὁυτως ενιοι των Ἑλληνων Καμιλλον απο της διακονιας προσηγορευον. He mentions Ἑρμην—Καμιλλον απο της διακονιας, and supposes that Camillus had the name of Hermes from the similarity of his office, which was waiting upon the Gods. But the Chaldeans and Egyptians, from whom these titles were borrowed, esteemed Hermes as the chief Deity, the same as Zeus, Bel, and Adon. They knew nothing of Mercurius pedissequus, nor Hermes the lacky. They styled their chief God Cam-Il, or Camillus, and his priests had the same title. He did not borrow it from them; but they received it from him. The name is sometimes expressed Camulus: and the Amonians, who travelled westward, brought his rites and worship into the western parts of Europe: hence there are inscriptions to be found inscribed [384]Camulo Sancto Fortissimo. He was sometimes taken for Mars: as we may learn from an inscription in Gruter: