Omphale

“ As a punishment for his misdeeds he was sold as a slave to Queen Omphale of Lydia, and it is said was often observed spinning with the Queen's maidens in the women's hall subsequently he married the Queen. ”

“ Then Zeus was very wroth because he had slain him by craft, as he had never slain any man before, and caused that he should be sold for a year as a bond-slave to Queen Omphalé. And when the year was ended, and Hercules was free, he vowed a vow that he would destroy this city from which there had come to him this disgrace; which vow he accomplished. And these women whom thou seest are the captives of his spear. And as for himself, be sure that thou wilt see him in no long space. ”

“ Then madness again overpowered the great hero, and in his wrath he marched through Pylos breathing slaughter. And he slew old Neleus in the market-place, and put his sons and the elders of Pylos to the sword, sparing only the knightly Nestor, most discreet of men. But the fury of the great hero was not to run unchecked. The ever-living powers can never look with favor upon that man who slays his guest in his halls or who deals harshly with old age. And so they caused Heracles to be sold to Omphalé, queen of Lydia, to serve her as a bond-slave for a year and a day. ”

“ PALLADIUS said; ‘The Father is greater than the Son.’
Ambrose, Bishop, said; ‘In respect of the flesh the Son is less than the Father: in respect of Godhead He is equal to the Father: I read therefore that the Son of God is equal to the Father, as also the instances that have been adduced testify. But why should you wonder that He is less in respect of the flesh, when He has called Himself a servant, a stone, a worm, when He has said that He is less than the angels, for it is written: Heb. ”

“ Father Ambrose, as usual, was the first. He turned her round, placed her on her belly, and directing her to extend her plump white buttocks as far back as possible, he stood for a moment contemplating the delicious prospect and the small and delicate slit which was just visible below. His weapon, redoubtable as well provided with nature's essence, rose fiercely and menaced either entry into love's delightful shades. ”

“ In almost every case, an orphan was said to be a child deprived of one or both parents; and, what is very singular, the term orphan occurs but once throughout the Old and New Testaments. In Lamentations it says, ‘We are orphans, and fatherless, and our mothers are as widows.’ Now, in the opinion of many, the orphan and fatherless, and those whose mothers are as widows, here mentioned, are three distinct sets of children—that is, as the lament says, some of us are orphans, meaning children without father and mother, some of us are fatherless ”

“ They are greatly magnified. It would take 240 of them lying side by side to make a row an inch long, so we say they are 1⁄240 of an inch in diameter, but tiny as they are, each ovum contains all the traits or talents that the mother gives to the child of which this particular ovum may form a part. Your mother is English, your father American. Their childhood and youth were spent thousands of miles apart, and yet both were working by the habits of their lives to create you in your peculiar traits and talents. Are you like your parents in any of their capabilities? ”

“ The orphan was adopted by his grandfather, ́Abd-el-Muṭṭalib; and a tender affection sprang up between the chief of eighty years and his little grandson. Many a day the old man might be seen sitting at his wonted place near the Kaạbeh, and sharing his mat with his favourite. He lived but two years more; and at his dying request, his son Aboo-Ṭálib took charge of [Pg xxxviii] Moḥammad, for whom he too ever showed a love as of father and mother. ”

“ Let it not be supposed that the reasons in favor of the idea that the Omphalos became the staff of Æsculapius are entirely insubstantial. Remains of ancient art furnish excellent proof of it. Müller says: “In a Pompeian picture, Æsculapius has beside him the Omphalos, which is entwisted with the well-known net, composed of στέμματα. We see from this that this symbol of Apollo was also transferred to his son. On the coins of the gens Rubria, likewise, it is not an egg, as is usually asserted, but the Omphalos placed on a circular altar that is encircled by the Æsculapian serpent.” ”

“ I am going to appease this insatiable lust for my brother's child. See this member, how he raises his red head, it is my desire for you, Bella feel, my sweet niece, how hard your dear uncle's balls are—they are filled for you. It is you who have made this thing so stiff, and long, and swollen—it is you who are destined to bring it relief. Skin it back, Bella! So, my child—let me guide your pretty hand. Oh! no nonsense—no blushes—no modesty—no reluctance—do you see its length? You must take it all into that hot little slit that dear Father Ambrose has just so well filled. ”

“ ORPHAN, the term used of one who has lost both parents by death, sometimes of one who has lost father or mother only. In Law, an orphan is such a person who is under age. The Late Lat. orphanus, from which the word, chiefly owing to its use in the Vulgate, was adopted into English, is a transliteration of ὀρφανός, in the same sense, the original meaning being “bereft of,” “destitute,” classical Lat. orbus. The Old English word for an orphan was steópcild, stepchild. ”

“ OF THE OMPHI, AND OF THE WORSHIP UPON HIGH PLACES.
The term Omphi is of great antiquity, and denotes an oracular influence, by which people obtained an insight into the secrets of futurity. I have taken notice with what reverence men in the first ages repaired to rocks and caverns, as to places of particular sanctity. Here they thought that the Deity would most likely disclose himself either by a voice, or a dream, or some other præternatural token. Many, for the same purpose, worshipped upon hills, and on the tops of high mountains ”

“ Prayer.—O Sovereign Queen of Angels! you are the Mother of Orphans, as your faithful servant, St. Bonaventure, says: Mater Orphanorum. Sinners are truly orphans—for they have had the misfortune to lose their God, the most tender of Fathers. To you, therefore, I have recourse, O Mother of Mercy. I have had the misfortune to lose my true Father, by sin; and yet, since you have not abandoned me, O my Mother, I feel a lively hope that through your goodness you will deign to intercede for me, and reconcile me to my Father, Whom I have so grievously offended. ”

“ Stay a moment, " at length suggested Ambrose, " if you are in earnest to enjoy her, at least undress without tearing her clothes to pieces, as you both seemed inclined to do. "
" Strip, Bella, " continued he, " we must all share you, it seems; so prepare to become the willing instrument of our united pleasures. "
" Our convent contains others no less exigent than myself, and your office will be no sinecure, so you had better remember always the privileges you are called upon to fulfill, and be ready to relieve these holy men of the fiery desires which you yet know how to assuage. ”

“ After its birth she feeds it from her breasts, before birth through its umbilical vessels, but she originally gives only the eight chromosomes as the father does, and the child's vital principle builds up the body from this foundation. The popular notion that the foetus in the womb is formed through some process of literal abstraction from the maternal tissues is no more true than that the infant is so built up while it is suckling ”

“ I have been again much in prayer yesterday and today about the Orphan-House, and am more and more convinced that it is of God. May He in mercy guide me! The three chief reasons for establishing an Orphan-House are:—1. That God may be glorified, should He be pleased to furnish me with the means, in its being seen that it is not a vain thing to trust in Him; and that thus the faith of His children may be strengthened. 2. The spiritual welfare of fatherless and motherless children. ”

“ Being left a helpless orphan, by the death of his mother, with no one to protect him, it was proposed to bury him with her in the same grave—a circumstance that may serve to give some idea of the ignorance and brutality of his tribe. But the Almighty, who had 143 other purposes in his regard, moved the heart of a young woman to compassionate his helpless condition, and offer to become a mother to him. ”

“ Scarcely had Ambrose withdrawn, than Mr. Verbouc took possession of his niece, and commenced a slow and delicious enjoyment of her most secret charms. After an interval of fully twenty minutes, during which time the salacious Uncle revelled in pleasure to his heart's content, he completed his gratification in a copious discharge, which Bella received with throbs of delight, such as no other than a thoroughly prurient mind could relish. ”

“ Ombra sends you her dear love, and thinks of you, not as a cousin, but as a sister; and I, who have the best right, long for nothing so much as to be a mother to you! Come to us, my sweet child, if your uncle will let you; but, in the meantime, write to me, that I may know you a little even before we meet. With warmest love, my darling niece, your most affectionate aunt and, if you will let her be so, mother,
‘Jane Anderson.’
Now poor Kate had only two or three times in her whole{36} life received a letter before. ”

“ The abbé, then, would break the same lances as myself with my uncle and cousin. The chevalier, who was an ardent admirer of the fair sex, of which he had had but little experience, used to take upon himself, like a true French knight, to defend all the beauties that we were attacking so unmercifully. He would laughingly accuse the abbé of arguing about women as the fox in the fable argued about the grapes. For myself, I used to improve upon the abbé's criticisms; this was an emphatic way of letting Edmée know how much I preferred her to all others. ”

“ The greatest difficulty in the mind of the medical man, with regard to the possibility of maternal impression being communicated in any way to the foetus, is, as we have said, his knowledge of the anatomy of mother and foetus. While it is {67} generally supposed that the mother is very intimately connected with her child in utero, the actual connection is by no means so direct as might be expected from the popular impression. It is usually considered that the mother's blood flows in the child's veins ”

“ No mother ever embraced her newborn child more lovingly, or regarded it [Pg 227] with greater tenderness, than the womb receives the quickened ovum. When the ovum is quickened, every fibre of being thrills with a new purpose. A royal place is speedily prepared for the safety, nurture and development of the ovum. ”

“ But, as I observed in my essay On the Origin and Ancestral Tree of the Human Race in 1870, this offended piety must equally protest against the "shameful and immoral" fact that each human individual is developed from a simple ovum, and that this human ovum is indistinguishable from those of the other mammals, and in its earliest stage is like a naked amoeba. ”

“ The most celebrated ampulla in history was that known as la sainte ampoule, in the abbey of St Remi at Reims, from which the kings of France were anointed. According to the legend it had been brought from heaven by a dove for the coronation of Clovis, and at one period the kings of France claimed precedence over all other sovereigns on account of it. It was destroyed at the Revolution. The word “ampulla” is used in biology, by analogy from the shape, for a certain portion of the anatomy of a plant or animal. ”

“ At a sign Bella entered and stood before the stately presence of the holy man.
An embarrassing silence of some seconds followed. Father Ambrose was the first to break the spell.
"You have done right, my daughter, to come to me so punctually; the ready obedience of the penitent is the first sign of the spirit within which obtains the Divine forgiveness." ”

“ The head of an abbey we call an abbot, a name coming, through the Church-Latin abbas, from the Syriac abba, "father"; here again recurs the correlation of priest and father. It is interesting to note that both the words papa and abba, which we have just discussed, and which are of such importance in the history of religion, are child-words for "father," bearing evidence of the lasting influence of the child in this sphere of human activity. Among the ancient Romans we find a pater patratus, whose duty it was to ratify treaties with the proper religious rites. ”

“ Plato refers to Apollo as “the god whose seat is the middle point of the earth, its very navel.” [161] According to a legend, [162] Delphi was esteemed the centre of the earth, because two eagles sent out by Zeus, one from the east and the other from the west, met at that point. Says Strabo: “In the temple is seen a sort of navel, wrapped in bands and surmounted by figures representing the birds of the fable.” [163]
The etymology of the word Omphalos casts light on its meaning. Olympos, the mount of the gods, is a corruption of it. Omphi-el [164] is the oracle of the sun-god. ”

“ AMBROSE TO IRENÆUS, GREETING.
1. YOU tell me that you have felt a difficulty in the text Exod. viii. 26. We shall sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians to the Lord our God. But you had the means of solving it, for it is written in the book of Genesis, that Gen. xlvi. 34. a shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians, and this not on account of the shepherd himself, but of his flocks. For the Egyptians were tillers of the ground, but Abraham and Jacob, and afterwards Moses and David, were shepherds, and in this function exercised a certain kingly discipline. ”