A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

CABEIRI.
and that Aeneas brought them from thence to Italy.
(Macrob. Sat. iii. 4; Serv. ad Aen. i. 378, iii. 148.)
But the authorities for this opinion are all of a late
period. According to one set of accounts, the Samothracian gods were two male divinities of the
same age, which applies to Zeus and Dionysus, or
Dardanus and Jasion, but not to Demeter, Rhea,
or Persephone. When people, in the course of
time, had become accustomed to regard the Penates
and Cabeiri as identical, and yet did not know
exactly the name of each separate divinity comprised under those common names, some divinities
are mentioned among the Penates who belonged to
the Cabeiri, and vice versk. Thus Servius (ad
Aen. viii. 619) represents Zeus, Pallas, and Hermes
as introduced from Samothrace; and, in another
passage (ad Aen. iii. 264), he says that, according
to the Samothracians, these three were the great
gods, of whom Hermes, and perhaps Zeus also,
might be reckoned among the Cabeiri. Varro (de
Ling. Lat. v. 58, ed. Miller) says, that Heaven
and Earth were the great Samothracian gods;
while in another place (ap. August. De Civ. Dei,
vii. 18) he stated, that there were three Samothracian gods, Jupiter or Heaven, Juno or Earth, and
Minerva or the prototype of things,-the ideas of
Plato. This is, of course, only the view Varro
himself took, and not a tradition.
If we now look back upon the various statements we have gathered, for the purpose of arriving at some definite conclusion, it is manifest, that
the earliest writers regard the Cabeiri as descended
from inferior divinities, Proteus and Hephaestus:
they have their seats on earth, in Samothrace,
Lemnos, and Imbros. Those early writers cannot
possibly have conceived them to be Demeter, Persephone or Rhea. It is true those early authorities are not numerous in comparison with the later
ones; but Demetrius, who wrote on the subject,
may have had more and very good ones, since it is
with reference to him that Strabo repeats the assertion, that the Cabeiri, like the Corybantes and
Curetes, were only ministers of the great gods.
We may therefore suppose, that the Samothracian
Cabeiri were originally such inferior beings; and
as the notion of the Cabeiri was from the first not
fixed and distinct, it became less so in later times;
and as the ideas of mystery and Demeter came to
be looked upon as inseparable, it cannot occasion
surprise that the mysteries, which were next in
importance to those of Eleusis, the most celebrated
in antiquity, were at length completely transferred
to this goddess. The opinion that the Samothracian gods were the same as the Roman Penates,
seems to have arisen with those writers who endeavoured to trace every ancient Roman institution
to Troy, and thence to Samothrace.
The places where the worship of the Cabeiri occurs, are chiefly Samothrace, Lemnos, and Imbros.
Some writers have maintained, that the Samothracian and Lemnian Cabeiri were distinct;
but the contrary is asserted by Strabo (x. p.
466). Besides the Cabeiri of these three islands,
we read of Boeotian Cabeiri. Near the Neitian
gate of Thebes there was a grove of Demeter
Cabeiria and Cora, which none but the initiated
were allowed to enter; and at a distance of seven
stadia from it there was a sanctuary of the Cabeiri.
(Paus. ix. 25. ~ 5.) Here mysteries were celebrated, and the sanctity of the temple was great as
late as the time of Pausanias. (Comp. iv. 1. ~ 5.)

CACUS. 523
The account of Pausanias about the origin of the
Boeotian Cabeiri savours of rationalism, and is, as
Lobeck justly remarks, a mere fiction. It must
further not be supposed that there existed any connexion between the Samothracian Cadmilus or
Cadmus and the Theban Cadmus; for tradition
clearly describes them as beings of different origin,
race, and dignity. Pausanias (ix. 22. ~ 5) further
mentions another sanctuary of the Cabeiri, with a
grove, in the Boeotian town of Anthedon; and a
Boeotian Cabeirus, who possessed the power of
averting dangers and increasing man's prosperity,
is mentioned in an epigram of Diodorus. (Brunck,
Anal. ii. p. 185.) A Macedonian Cabeirus occurs
in Lactantius. (i. 15, 8; comp. Firmicus, de Error.
Prof. p. 23; Clem. Alex. Protrept. p. 16.) The
reverence paid by the Macedonians to the Cabeiri
may be inferred from the fact of Philip and Olympias being initiated in the Samothracian mysteries,
and of Alexander erecting altars to the Cabeiri at
the close of his Eastern expedition. (Plut. Alex. 2;
Philostr. de Vit. Apollon. ii. 43.) The Pergamenian
Cabeiri are mentioned by Pausanias (i. 4. ~ 6), and
those of Berytus by Sanchoniathon (ap. Euseb.
Praep. Evang. p. 31) and Damascius. (Vit. Isidor.
cclii. 573.) Respecting the mysteries of the Cabeiri in general, see Diet. of Ant. s. v. Kaeeiplca;
Lobeck, Aglaoph. p. 1281, &c. For the various
opinions concerning the nature of the Cabeiri, see
Creuzer, Symbol. ii. p. 302, &c.; Schelling, Ueber
die Gitter von Samothrake, Stuttgard, 1815; Welcker, Aeschyl. Trilog.; Klausen, Aeneas u. die Penat. [L. S.]
CACA or CA'CIA, a sister of Cacus, who, according to some accounts, betrayed the place where
the cattle were concealed which Cacus had stolen
from Hercules or Recaranus. She was rewarded
for it with divine honours, which she was to enjoy
for ever. In her sanctuary a perpetual fire was
kept up, just as in the temple of Vesta. (Lactant.
i. 20, 36; Serv. ad Aen. viii. 190.) [L. S.]
CACUS, a fabulous Italian shepherd, who was
believed to have lived in a cave, and to have committed various kinds of robberies. Among others,
he also stole a part of the cattle of Hercules or
Recaranus; and, as he dragged the animals into
his cave by their tails, it was impossible to discover
their traces. But when the remaining oxen passed
by the cave, those within began to bellow, and
were thus discovered. Another tradition stated,
that Caca, the sister of Cacus, betrayed the place
of their concealment. Cacus was slain by Hercules.
(Liv. i. 7.) He is usually called a son of Vulcan,
and Ovid, who gives his story with considerable
embellishments, describes Cacus as a fearful giant,
who was the terror of the whole land. (Ov. Fast.
i. 554; comp. Virg. Aen. viii. 190, &c.; Propert.
iv. 9; Dionys. i. 32, 43; Aurel. Vict. De Orig.
Gent. Rom. 6.) Evander, who then ruled over the
country in which Cacus had resided, shewed his
gratitude to the conqueror of Cacus by dedicating
to him a sanctuary, and appointing the Potitii and
Pinarii as his priests. The common opinion respecting the original character of Cacus is, that he
was the personification of some evil daemon, and
this opinion is chiefly founded upon the descriptions of him given by the Roman poets. Hartung
(Die Relig. d. RIm. i. p. 318, &c.), however, thinks
that Cacus, whom he identifies with Cacius (Diod.
iv. 21; Solin. i. 1), and his sister Caca were Roman penates, whose names he connects with KaiW,