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SILAS WRIGHT DUNNING
BEQUEST
UNIVERSITY
OF MICHIGAN
RARY
أما الملا مشابه بيمييعمم عالللللسيسي عليها
:
B 3 9015 00241 143 0
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University of Michigan - BUHR
edited by Thomas Tyrwhitt
Gri
Lang
Copy
TWO
DISSERTATIONS.
1
I. ON THE
GRÆCIAN MYTHOLOGY,
II. AN
EXAMINATION
OF
Sir ISAAC NEWTON's Objections to the
CHRONOLOGY of the OLYMPIAD S.
BY THE LATE
SAMUEL MUSGRAVE, M.D.F.R.S.
LONDON,
PRINTED BY J. NICHOLS.
MDCCLXXXII.
BL
780
„M98
Dunning
"
'machaich
1-12-16
53725
ADVERTISEMENT.
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[ vi )
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0
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DIS.
1
DISSERTATION I.
ON THE
GRÆCIAN MYTHOLOGY
d
[i]
i
DISSERTATION I.
ON THE
GRÆCIAN MYTHOLOGY.
THE affertion
HE affertion of HERODO-
TUS*, “ that the Theo-
logy of the Greeks was no older
" than the times of Homer and
6 Hesiod,” is, I think, fully
overthrown by PAUSANIAS, whoſe
reſearches into the antiquities of
his country were much more
profound and exact, than thoſe
of any other writer that is come
down to us. HERODOTUS in par-
ticular, who had travelled into
* L. II. c. 53
B
ſeve-
-
t
2
1
ON THE GRÆCIAN
ſeveral neighbouring countries,
to collect materials for thoſe parts
of his hiſtory, appears not to
have been equally attentive to
the ancient traditions of Greece.
Of the kings of Lacedæmon he
has given a very erroneous lift *;
and in reſpect to the age and
family of LYCURGUS of is con-
tradicted by every other writer,
Nor are there any traces of his
having peruſed ſeveral ancient
Poets and Genealogies, which
appear to have been extant even
in the time of PAUSANIAS, This
latter quotes a verſe from Pam-
PHOS I, a writer of Hymns, which
mentions the two different attri-
* Herod. VIII. 131.
of Herod. I. 65.
| Pauſan. p. 577. Ed. Kuhn.
butes
}
MYTHOLOGY. 3
#
butes of NEPTUNE, his being
the author of Chariots and of
Ships. And Pamphos he affirms
to have lived not only before
Homer, but before the Trojan
war, and even before Narcis-
SUS *, whom Ovid makes con-
temporary with TIRESIAS I.
Beſides, the very peruſal of
Homer ſhews, in my opinion,
that he was not the author of
his Mythology;
as he never
attempts to explain it, but fup-
poſes his reader, or rather his
hearer, ſufficiently 'acquainted
with it. To which add, that
ſeveral of the Græcian temples
* Pauſan. p. 773. Ed. Kuhn.
Metam. III. 349. ſeq.
B 2
were
4
ON THE GRÆCIAN
were in being long before Ho-
Mer, particularly that of Dia-
NA at Aulis in Boeộtia, which
PLINY informs us was feculis
aliquot ante Trojanum bellum ex-
ædificata.
There ſeems to be juſt as lit-
tle reaſon for the affertion of
others, that a part of Greece, and
particularly Athens, was peopled
by Colonies from Ægypt. This
opinion is countenanced by STRA-
BO f and DIODORUS SICULUS;
but the firſt broacher of it, I be-
lieve, was the Hiſtorian The-
OPOMPUS. So ſays Proclus ; and
* L. XVI. C. 40.
aftur Strabo, L. VII. p. 321.
Diod. Lib. I. c. xxviii. 9.
In Platon. Timæum, p. 30.
{
alſo,
MYTHOLOG Y.
5
1
Let us
alſo, that he was flatly contra-
di&ted by others, who charged
him with ſpreading this ſtory
out of mere prejudice. The
Athenians alſo, as we learn from
LUCIAN *, conſidered it as the
height of paradox to talk of Ce-
CROPS as a foreigner.
conſider the authorities therefore
as equal, and weigh the ſtory
according to probability. We
know a good deal of the Ægyp-
tian cuſtoms, though not much,
with certainty, of their hiſtory,
The Græcian cuſtoms we know
ſtill better. Now between theſe
two there is a total diverſity.
The Ægyptians were circumci-
ciſed: the Greeks held that prac-
* Περί αποφράδος. ΙΙ.
B 3
tic:
1
6
ON THE GRÆCIAN
tice in contempt and deriſion.
The Ægyptians indulged them-
ſelves in a plurality of wives.
· The Greeks were permitted to
have no iñore than one; and of
this law Cecrops, the pretended
Ægyptian, was the author. ' In
Ægypt, according to SophocLES*,
weaving and other domeſtick
buſineſs was carried on by the
men ; and the care of providing
food was left to the Female. In
Greece the contrary and more
rational cuſtom prevailed.
In.
Ægypt it is ſaid to have been a
rule, that the Son ſhould follow
his father's profeſſion: In Greece
no traces of ſuch a rule are to
e
* Oed. Colon. 330. Philochorus, ap.
Scholiaſt
, ibid.
be
MYTHOLOGY.
7
be found. The Ægyptians wor-
ſhiped Animals and Plants ; the
Greeks deſpiſed and ridiculed
this ſuperſtition. The Ægyptians
paid a ſcrupulous attention to
nativities and the aſpects of the
Planets : In the Græcian Hiſtory,
among the various ways of en-
quiring into futurity by oracles,
the flight of birds, inſpection of
entrails, and the like, there is
not a ſingle inſtance of any at-
tempt to calculate nativities.
Laſtly, the Ægyptians were pare
ticularly ftudious to preſerve the
dead body from diffolution by
their careful and coſtly method
of embalming; whereas the
Greeks, by committing it innme-
diately to the Fire, ſeem to have
been
1
BA
8
ON THE GRÆCIAN
been deſirous of promoting its
diffolution.
}
- Now, if Greece was not peo-
pled by colonies from Ægypt,
according to the aſſertion of
THEOPOMPUS, we have no autho-
rity for rejecting on that pretence
the traditions of the Greeks with
reſpect to their own origin. And
theſe inform us, that the bulk
of the nation were indigenous;
the offspring, if I may ſo ſpeak,
of the ſoil; and that the firſt
foreign ſettlers among them were
Danaus, Pelops, and CADMUS.
After this it is perhaps need-
leſs to refute another affertion of
HE-
MYTHOLOGY.
9
1
99
HERODOTUS * " that the Greeks
66 received the names of their
66 Gods from the Ægyptians.
For if he meant to ſay, that Ho-
Mer borrowed from the Ægyptians
that Theology, or liſt of Gods,
which he publiſhed in Greece,
this has already been refuted
upon the beſt authority. And
if he meant that the Greeks re-
ceived that liſt from the Ægyp-
tians at ſome earlier period, then
he contradicts himſelf, and de-
ſerves no credit either for the one
or the other.
A
But, to put Herodotus for the
preſent out of the queſtion,
what foundation is there for ſaya
* Herod. II. 4.
ing
1
IO
ON THE GRÆCIAN
1
ing that the Greeks received the
names of their Gods from the
Ægyptians ? Is Thoth the ſame
name as Hermes *, or ARSAPHES
as DIONYSUS t, or ARUERIN as
APOLLON I, or NEPhthen as Aph-
RODITES, or Neith as ATHENE?
There were indeed ſuch cities in
Ægypt as DiosPOLIS, HELIOPO-
Lis, and PANOPOLIS ; but were
theſe names uſed by the Ægyp-
tians, or only by the Greeks?
Moſt certainly the latter; becauſe
I find, in THEOPHILUS of Anti-
och, that the Ægyptian word
* Clem. Alex. Strom. I. p. 303. Ed. Par.
of Plut. de. Ifid. & Ofir. p. 365. Ed.
Frankf.
Plut. ibid. p. 355, 6.
§ Plut. ibid.
Plato in Timæo, p. 21. 10.43.
Ed.
Ficin.
for
MYTHOLOGY
II
1
for HÉLIOPOLIS was ON *; and
in DIODORUS SICULUS, that PA-
NOPOLIS was calied by the Na-
tives CHEMMOT.
Put if not the names, per-
haps they derived the diviſion
and attributes of their Gods from
Ægypt. This is a thing much
more difficult of proof. It ſeems
not impoſſible, that ſeveral na-
tions, not communicating with
one another, might have each of
them a ſupreme preſiding God;
a God of War; a God of Love;
a God of Love; a God of Elo-
quence, and ſo forth.
After-
wards, when an intercourſe is
* Theophil. ad Autol. III.
Diod. Sic. Lib. I.
begun,
.
1
12
ON THE GRÆCIAN
*
begun, they each expect to find
their own Gods worſhiped under
fome denomination, or other, by
the ſtranger nation, and there
fore readily find out the points
of reſemblance.
Thus, when
the Latins and Greeks began to
converſe familiarly together, they
ſoon diſcovered a general reſem-
þlance between ATHÆNE and
MINERVA; between APHRODITE
and Venus; between Artemis
and DIANA; although the attri-
butes of the Latin Deities (ſuch
attributes, I mean, as were aſ-
ſigned them by popular ſuperſti-
tion) are far from correſponding
exactly to thoſe of the Græcian.
However, there was fimilitude
enough to encourage the Latin
Poets
I
MYTHOLOGY. 13
q
Poets to apply to their own Deities
every thing, without reſerve,
that had been ſaid of the Græ-
cian. And hence in proceſs of
time they came to be conſidered
as identically the ſame. But
that the Romans did not borrow
their Gods from the Greeks ap-
pears from this circumſtance, that
many of the Græcian Deities *
have no correſpondent Latin Dei-
ties; and many of theſe latter to
have no archetype among the
Gods of Greece.
In confirmation of this we
may obſerve, that the Greeks
were fagacious enough to find
* Latona, Priapus, Hecate.
+ Janus, Vertumnus, Flora, Pomona.“
out
14
ON THE GRÆCIAN
I
out their own Gods in Perfia,
notwithſtanding the known con-
trariety of the two religions.
The Perſians, we are told
worſhiped Jupiter under the
name of OROMASDES; HADES,
under the name of ARIMANIUS;
Venus, under the name of Mi-
TRA; and DIANA, under the name
of ANITINI. It was the fame
thing with reſpect to the Romans
and the Gauls. The hierarchy,
and the many peculiar 'ſuper-
ftitions of the Druids, are lo to-
tally foreign to every thing we
know of the Romans, as to pre-
Ariftot. apud Diog. Laert. in Proc-
mio.
of Herodot. I. 13.
Plut. in Artaxerxe, p. 306. Agathias,
II. p. 4.5. Ed. Venet.
clude
}
MYTHOLOGY.
15
clude every idea of one nation
having borrowed from the other.
Yet CÆSAR does not heſitate to
fay *, that the Gauls worſhiped
APOLLO, Mars, JUPITER, and
MINERVA ; meaning, I ſuppoſe,
certain Gods correſponding in
their attributes to thofe ſo deno-
minated by his countrymen.
The Gods of Scandinavia in la-
ter times were conſubftantiated
in like manner with the Gods of
Latium. No one, I imagine,
will pretend that their THOR,
and Woden, and FRIGA, were the
copies of Jupiter, Mercury,
and VENUS. And yet when the
Goths came to intermix 'with
the Romans, they found refem-
* De Bell. Gall. VI. 15.
1
hab
16 ON THE GRÆCIAN
blance enough between their
Gods to tranſlate one of thoſe
words by the other : which cuſ-
tom appears to have been ſo uni:
verſal, that we have no other
way of rendering WEDNESDAY,
THURSDAY, and Friday' into
Latin, but by calling them Dies
MERCURII; Jovis, and VENERIS:
Such an imperfect refemblance
as this might poſſibly obtain be-
tween ſome of the Ægyptian
Gods and ſome of the Græciari.
But that this reſemblance was
general, or in any caſe fo exact
to indicate imitation, I fee
no reaſon to believe. What
traces have we among the Greeks
of the worſhip of CROCODILES,
and
as
MYTHOLOGY.
IT
änd SERPENTS ? of the Bull
Apis; or the Dog ANUBIS ? Has
not VIRGIL * expreſsly ſet the
Ægyptian Gods in oppoſition to
the Græcian I and would he have
done this, if the former had been
archetypes of the latter, or even
if the oppoſition between them
had not been ſtriking ?
Upon the whole, therefore,
we have the beſt reaſon to coni-
clude, firſt, that the Greeks in
general were an indigenous peo-
ple, aúróxloves: and, ſecondly,
that their RELIGION and MYTHO-
LOGY was radically, if not en-
tirely, their owni. . And now
having cleared the ground, I
* Æneid. VIII. 6y8.
С
ſhall
!
18
ON THE GRÆCIAN
1
ſhall endeavour to place that
MYTHOLOGY upon its proper
foundation.
This intricate fubject will, I
think, be better underſtood, if
we divide the GKÆÇIAN MYTHO-
LOGY into two claffes ; that which
is effential, and that which is
acceſſory. The effential I would
call the worſhip of the SUPERIOR
Gods, ſuch as SATURN, JUPI-
TER, NEPTUNE, PLUTO, APOL-
LO, Mars, MERCURY, VULCAN,
BACCHUS, Juno, PALLAS, CERES,
DIANA, VENUS, Cybele. Theſe
may be conſidered as ſo many
allegorical perſonages, repreſent-
ing either the great diviſions of
Nature, as the Heaven or up-
per
I 포
​MYTHOLOG Y.
19
per ſky, the ‘Air, the Sea, the
Earth, the ſubterraneous world;
or elſe thoſe operations and qua-
lities, which have a more parti-
cular influence upon the Ani.
mal world and upon Society.
Of this latter kind are the pro-
pagation of Animals, Tillage,
Handicrafts, War, the art of
Muſic, Divination; Hunting,
and the Palæítra. The particu-
lar divinities preſiding over each
of theſe departments need not
be pointed out to the claſſical
reader. The only one liable to
be miſtaken is that of JUNO,
who has been thought by ſome to
repreſent the earth: a falſe no-
tion, founded, I apprehend,
upon
C2
ON THE GRÆCIAN
upon theſe verſes of Virgil *
Tum Pater omnipotens fecundis
imbribus æther
Conjugis in gremium læte de-
fcendit
Whereas VIRGIL feems here to
have had neither JUPITER nor
Juno in his eye, but to have
alluded to the more ancient fa-
ble of Ouçavos and r'n, as expreſ-
ſed in a fragment of the OEDIPUS
of EURIPIDES:
Έρά δη και σεμνός έρανές, πληρέμενος
"Ομβρε πεσείν εις γαίαν'Αφροδίτης ύπο. .
which LUCRETIUS of has alſo a-
dopted :
Poftremo pereunt imbres, ubi eos.
PATER ÆTHER
* Georg. II. 325.
of Lib. I. 251.
In
f
MYTHOLOGY.
S
-21
In: gremium Matris Terrai
precipitavit.
According to PHILO. JUDÆ-
Us *, Juno is not the Goddeſs
of the Earth, but of the Air:
"Ηραν δε τον αέρα, και το σύρ "Ήφαι-
σον, και ήλιον Απόλλωνα-μυθογράφους
macédocar. Even the more mi-
nute parts had their appropriated
Gods, though of inferior rank
and power, in proportion as the
ſubſtance to which they were
annexed was of a greater or leſs
conſequence in the viſible world.
Rivers and brooks from the per-
petuity of their ſtream naturally
excite wonder; and that wonder
ſoon begets an idea of divinity.
* Phila Jud. p. 513. Ed. Turn. See alſo
Cic. de Nat. Deor. Il. c. 26.
But
C 3
22
ON THE GRÆCIAN
But the River from its ſuperior
magnitude being a more awful
object was put under the tute:
lage of a more important and
maſculine God; whereas the
Brook, which ſuggeſted only
pleaſurable ideas withoạt. any
mixture of terror, was ſuppoſed
to derive its origin from a ten-
der Female. Nymphs, that is,
Goddeſſes of inferior rank, were
in like manner conſidered as
inhabiting and protecting Trees,
whoſe apparent life was natu-
rally enough attributed to the
power of an inherent Deity.
Theſe I conſider as the ef-
ſential parts or ſtamina of the
GRECIAN MYTHOLOGY.
The
acceſſory
MYTHOLOGY.
23
1
acceſſory conſiſt of either ſome
wonderful phenomena of Na-
ture, or of ſome extraordinary
Hiſtorical Facts, told in an alle-
gorical manner, and improved
into miracles. I ſhall give ſome
clear and, undoubted inſtances
of both forts, which will furniſh
the reader with a clue to inter-
pret the reſt.
Among natural phenomena
there is hardly any more awful
than that of volcanoes, or burn-
ing mountains, in their ordinary
ftate ; but in a time of violent
eruption they become tremen-
dous.
It may be ſuſpected that
the ancient fable of the Giants
attacking the Gods was only an
allegorical
C4
1
i
24
ON THE GRÆCIAN
S.
allegorical piąure of thoſe erup-
tions, which by the great quantities
of melted minerals and aſhes
which they throw up, ſeem in
effect to be making war againſt
heaven. This notion is ſtrongly
countenanced by Strabo *; who
informs us, that the part of Cilicia,
where Typhon was ſuppoſed to
reſide, is called Katakekaumene,
or the Burnt Country, from the
cineritious appearance of the
The commotions and
occaſional eruptions of Ætna are
attributed, we know, to Typhon
and Briareus in another way.
Thoſe phænoinena not ceaſing
even in the later ages, the Poets
were no longer able to impute
earth.
* L. XII. p. 579.
them
MYTHOLOGY.
25
them to the war of the Giants
againſt Jupiter, becauſe that
would have implied that the
Giants were ſtill unconquered,
and in a condition to renew
he attack. They therefore give
the ſtory another turn; and tell
us, that one or other of thoſe Gi-
ants is buried under Ætna, and
produces a freſh commotion of
that mountain as often as he
changes his poſture of lying on
his right or left ſhoulder. The
Solfatara, or Burning Country,
near Naples, is accounted for by
the giants being buried there *
and the thunder yet unquenched
ſending up a vapour through the
çrevices of the earth: thougla
1
1
Strabo, 1. V. p. 248.
others
26
ON THE GRÆCIAN
1
others indeed go ſo far as to ſay,
that this was the true ſcene of the
giants' war. Now, as we find
that volcanoes, and countries
abounding with natural fire, were
attributed one way or other to
giants, it is no extravagant con-
jeĉture to ſuppoſe, that the very
exiſtence of giants was originally
built upon theſe phenomena.
given riſe.
This however is not the only
fable, to which volcanoes have
In one or two in
ſtances, where the diſcharge of
flame has been moderate and
equable, the cavity of the moun-
tain has been conſidered by the
Poets as the workſhop of Vul-
CAN. The iſland of Lipara is one
af
A
A
MYTHOLOGY,
27
of theſe ſhops; and Molyclus, a
hill in the Iſland of Lemnos,
another. The latter is thus de-
ſcribed by VALERIUS Flaccus * : '
Ventum erat ad rupem, cujus pene
dentia nigris
Fumant faxa jugis, coquiturque
vaporibus aer :
Subſtitit Æfonides : atque hic Re-
gina precari
Hortatur, cauſaſque docens, hæc
antra videtis,
Vulcanique, ait, ecce domos.
It is well known that ſeveral
ſmall Iſlands have been protruded
from the bottom of the Sea by
volcanoes, which protruſion has
in ſome caſes been effected gra-
* Lib. II. v. 336.
dually,
28 ON THE GRÆCIAN
dually, and in others by a ſingle
eruption. If we ſuppoſe the
Iland of Delos to have conti-
nued a conſiderable time about
the level of the ſea, it would of
courſe be ſometimes viſible to
the mariner, and ſometimes in-
viſible, according to the calm-
reſs or roughneſs of the water.
It is poſſible alſo that the top
of the Iſland, after being ſome
time above the ſurface, might
fink down below it for want af
ſupport, as the new-formed hills
about Veſuvius not unfrequently
do. In either way the appear-
ance of the iſland at one time,
and its diſappearance at another,
ſufficiently accounts for the fa-
ble of its ſwimming from place
to
: MYTHOLOGY.
29
to place.
That this Idland
was formerly under water, and
diſcovered by the gradual waſh-
ing of the fea, is affirmed by Phi-
10 *, upon the authority of
ancient Hiſtories. This fuffi-
ciently juſtifies my interpretation
of the fable ; though its final
appearance is, I think, better
accounted for from the opera-
tion of a volcano, eſpecially as
it was not a flat Iſland, but had
a conſiderable eminence upon it,
called Cynthos.
Earthquakes were common in
Greece, and were attributed in
their Mythology to one general
TIegi aplaps. 2004. p. 658. Ed. Tur.
neb,
cauſe,
20 ON THE GRÀCIAN
cauſe, the elevation of the earth
by the trident of NEPTUNE.
There is however one faible' which
appears to kave a direct reference
to them, though not explained
in that manner by Mythologifts.
TANTALUS, the King of Phry-
gia, and father of Pelops, re-
fided in a city called: Sipýlus,
fituated upon a mountain of
the fame name *.
was either entirely thrown down,
or greatly damaged, by an earth=
quake during the reign of TAN
TALUS ; who, after that, we
may ſuppoſe, lived in continual
dread of the like event. The
punifhment therefore which the
Poets contrived for him after
This City
i* Strabo, L. I. p. 58. L. XII. p. 579.
Death,
1
MYTHOLOGY.
3i
Death, that he was every mo-
ment in dread of being cruſhed
by a ſtone that hung over him,
is nothing more than the ſitu-
ation in which every man muſt
live, who has experienced, like
TANTALUS, the horrors of an
earthquake.
!
The ſtory of DeucALION'S
Deluge. I do not conſider as a
fable; and I likewife think it
had no reference to the deluge
of Noah.
It cannot be the
latter, becauſe the time of it is
ſpecified in the Græcian Chiono-
logy *, according to which there
muft have been an interval of át
* Clem. Alexand. Strom. I.
Da. Per
f
321
leaft
1
32
ON THE GRÆCIAN
leaſt a thouſand years between
the two.
The tract of country
affected by it is particularly
mentioned by ARISTOTLE *. It
did not even extend to the Pe-
loponneſus, but was in a great
meaſure confined to the plains
of Theffaly. From theſe cir-
cumſtances it appears to have
been a very diftin& event from
the general deluge; and the
ſame circumſtances furniſh alſo
a ſtrong preſumption that it was
not entirely fabulous.
The burning of the world by
PHAETHON muſt be in part hif-
torical, becauſe the Græcian
Chronologers, according to CLE-
* Meteorolog. I. p. 32. Ed. Sylburg:
MENS
M Y T H 0 L 0 G Y.
33
MENS
}
* fixed the time of it to a
year.
The event, that gave
riſe to this fable, is univerſally
allowed by Mythologiſts to have
been a long continuance of heat
and drought. And the
And the reality
of ſuch an event, which is in
itſelf ſufficiently probable, re-
ceives ſome confirmation from
two or three ſcraps of Hiſtory
that are
come down
to us.
CALLIMACHUS & fays that in for-
mer times there was a drought in
Ægypt for nine years:
Αίγυπτος προπάροιθεν επ' εννέα κάρφειο
ποιάς. .
.
* Strom. I. p.332. 325. Ed Par.
rip Fragm. CLXXXII. See Hyginus,
Fab. LVI.
D
And
1
34
ON THE GRÆCIAN
And a ſimilar tradition is fome-
where mentioned by PAUSANIAS,
as being preſerved in one of the
obfcure towns of Greece. But
whence aroſe the fable of PHAE-
THON driving the chariot of the
Sun? It might be ſuggeſted by
the derangement obſerved in the
common courſe of nature, and
by the improbability, that the
Sun, whoſe ordinary influence
is ſo beneficial to mankind,
ſhould, under the management
of the ſame beneficent Gover-
nor, become ruinous and deftruc-
tive. From this ſeeming con-
tradi&ion the Mythologiſt eaſily
extricated himſelf by the fiction
new and unexperienced
Charioteer. Or if we ſuppoſe
with
of a
1
MYTHOLOGY.
35
with Proclus *, that this extra-
ordinary drought was occaſioned
by a Comet, the diſappearance
ór extinction of which, accor-
to PORPHYRY ', was commonly
called κεραύνωσις, this would hew
us, why the Poets deſcribe their
PHAETHON as taking ſuch an
excentrical courſe, and finally
deſtroyed by lightning.
The groteſque figures of rocks
furniſhed alſo fome embelliſh-
ment to the GRÆCIAN MYTHO-
LOGY. To ſay nothing of thoſe
in the Fretum Siculum, which
ſuggeſted the fable of Scylla
and her Dogs; there was a re-
* in Timæum, p. 33, 34.
of Ibid. p. 34.
D2
markable
36
ON THE GRÆCIAN
markable one in Mount ȘIPYLUS,
which at a diſtance preſented
the lineaments of a Woman in
great dejection and drowned in
Tears, though upon a nearer
view, according to PAUSANIAS *,
the reſemblance was loft. The
Mythologiſt found no difficulty
in naming the perſon by whoſe
Metamorphoſis this rock was
produced. Niobe, the Daughter
of TANTALUS, was a native of
this very ſpot; and the ſevere
affliction, which ſhe muſt have
felt from the loſs of her nume-
rous progeny, naturally pointed
her out as the original cauſe of
this peculiar appearance.
* Attic. p.48.
PHILOS-
+
MYTHOLOGY.
37
PHILOSTRATUS informs us
that, near the town of Phæftus
in Crete, there ran out into the
ſea a promontory, terminating
in a rock, which had the exact
form of a Lion. It was natural
that ſuch a rock ſhould be ſup-
poſed to have had ſome diſtin-
guiſhed origin: and accordingly
the Inhabitants reported, that
this was one of the Lions that
ancientiy drew the car of the
Goddeſs CYBELE, The Boeotians
equally ingenious, having in
their country two naked rocks,
reſembling, I ſuppoſe, two ani-
mals, pretended that one was the
Fox of Teumeſſus, whoſe deſtiny
it was never to be caught; the
* Vit. Apollon. L. IV. c. 34.
other
D 3
38
ON THE GRÆCIAN
other the Dog of CephALUS,
whoſe deſtiny it was, that no-
thing ſhould eſcape from him :
which two contrary deſtinies
Jupiter, according to them, re-
conciled by turning them both
into ſtone *
There is in Barbary, according
to Dr. Shaw, a large plain, or
tract of country, ſcattered over
with great numbers of naked
rocks, ſtanding erect, and ſo
proportioned their thickneſs to
their height as to carry the ap-
pearance of Men. He conjec-
tures, and, I think, with great
probability, that this aſſemblage
of natural flatues ſuggeſted the
* Antonin. Lib. c. 41.
idea
c
MYTHOLOGY.
39
idea of the Inhabitants of Africa
having been turned into ſtone
by PERSEUS, when he invaded
and plundered the maritime part
of that country. Seriphus, a
little Iſland near Argos, where
Perseus is ſaid to have performed
another of thoſe miracles, was
equally remarkable for numbers
of naked rocks.
1
There was in the Iſland of
Crete a Plane-tree, remarkable
for not ſhedding its leaves in
Winter *. Such a ſtriking ex-
ception to the common rule im-
plied of courſe the action of
ſome divinity: and the reaſon
aſſigned by the Vulgar was,
* Theophraſt. Hiſt. Plant. Lib. I. cap. 15)
that
D A
40
ON THE GRÆCIAN
1
that under this tree JUPITER
firſt obtained poſſeſſion of the
fair EUROPA. This Plane-tree,
according to THEOPHRASTUS,
grew near a fountain; with
reſpect to which AntiGONŲS
CARYstius afferts *, that thoſe
who ſat round it in time of rain
were not liable to be wet. A
fact which none will believe,
requires no explanation. Yet it
is worth while to remark the
progreſs of credulity. A na-
tural ſingularity created firſt a
religious veneration in the be-
holder, and that in its turn pro-
duced a fi&titious miracle,
* Antigon. Caryſt. cap. 179:
The
MYTHOLOGY1
41
1
1
.
The principles of Chemiſtry
were unknown to the ancients;
and therefore, when they met
with any mineral ſpring, inſtead
of analyſing it to find out the
ingredients from which it derived
its properties, they were con-
tented to derive them from the
interpoſition of ſome Deity, or
from ſome remarkable event of
the Mythologic Age. A falt
ſpring in Illyria, according to
the popular report preſerved by
ARISTOTLE, was an act of boun-
ty from HERCULES to the in-
habitants of that country.
А.
river in Elis, whoſe water was
fætid, was ſaid to have contract-
ed that fætor from the arrows
of Hercules being waſhed in
it,
42
ON THE GRÆCIAN
it, after having been ſmeared
with the gall of the Hydra:
though about this the orthodox
of thoſe days were not agreed,
as ſome imputed it to the ablu-
tions uſed to recover the daugh-
ters of PROetus from their inſa-
nity *
t
A non-
It is pleaſant to obſerve the
different ufe made of the ſame
fact in different ages.
defcript bird or plant is in our
days a treaſure to the Naturaliſt,
who is happy enough to diſa
cover it, and it ferves him as a
ſtep to aſcend into the temple
of Fame. The ancient Mytho-
logiſt applied it to a different
* Pauſan. Eliac. I. p. 387.
purpoſe.
1
MYTHOLOGY.
43
* that
purpoſe. He commonly found
out ſome unfortunate prince or
princeſs, who finking under the
weight of calamity had been
permitted by the Gods to af-
ſume this new ſhape. Thus
PAUSANIAS informs us
the Epops, or Upupa, was not
obſerved till after the cataſtro-
phe of Tereus; nor the Hya-
cinth diſcovered in Salamis till
the death of AJAX. Novelties
of the ſame kind may poſſibly
have ſuggeſted many ſimilar
ſtories : the appearance of new
fpecies of birds being a thing
taken notice of, after the age
* Pauſan. Attic. p. 40–86.
of
44
ON THE GRÆCIAN
of fables was paſt, by ANTIGO-
NUS CARYSTIUs * and Pliny. .
1
I come now to lay open
the
other ſource of MYTHOLOGY,
which conſiſts, as I ſaid, in the
perverſion of hiſtory by allego-
rical and miraculous accounts
of common facts. Of this claſs
one of the moſt common fa-
bles is the deriving the birth of
every eminent perſon from one
or other of the Gods. This
they were tempted to do for
various reaſons. In the firſt
place, as our knowledge of
Antiquity is limited, and every
genealogy muſt begin ſome-
where or other, the Genealo-
* Antigon. Caryſt. cap. 132.
gift,
MYTHOLOGY.
45
gift, when arrived at that point,
would be obliged to confeſs his
ignorance of what went before,
did he not, by making a God
the baſis of his liſt, put a top
to further enquiry. All the
Greek genealogies originate in
this manner, ſome from a River;
ſome from Neptune, but much
the greater part from Jupiter: by
which we are to underſtand no-
thing more than that the Genea.in
logiſt was come to the end of his
line, and had no real anceſtor to
ſubſtitute.
A ſecond cauſe that greatly
increaſed the nun:ber of theſe
ſpurious Gods, was, I ſuppoſe,
the convenient covering that
ſuch
46 ON THE GRÆCÍAN
ſuch a pretence gave to female
frailty. The wife or daughter
of an ancient Chieftain, who
liſtened to the dictates of love,
had this advantage above the
modern Beauty, that ſhe had a
chance of deriving honour from
her gallantries : and if her pa-
rents or husband concurred in
the fraud, or even if they were
unrelenting and ſceptical, might
ſtill hope to be enrolled among
the ſpouſes of the Gods, provi-
ded her pretenſions were not
rendered abortive by an impru-
dent and unſeaſonable diffidence.
To point out particular inſtances
would be blaſting that reputa-
tion, which the Ladies of An-
tiquity wiſhed no doubt to pre-
ſerve
$
MYTHOLOGY.
47
ſerve to the lateſt pofterity. But
it will be no breach of decorum
to obſerve, that EURIPIDES *
mentions it as a common practice
of indiſcreet young women to
extenuate every amorous failing
by making ſome God or other the
partaker of it.
}
1
The Gods had indeed a fet
of retainers, who fonietimes
acted as deputies for them on
thoſe occaſions. The prieſts and
ſubordinate officers of their tem-
ples, who are repreſented as lead-
ing a life of feaſting and drun-
kennefs (έν εορταϊς αει και μέθαις
Cytec +) availed themſelves fome-
* Ton. v. 1513.
ajbur Schol. in Hermog. p. 226.
en
times
48
ON THE GRÆCIAN
-
times of their connexion with
the Deity to obtain poſſeſſion
of a young and beautiful votá-
ry. Josephus * tells a remark-
able ſtory of the prieſts of Isis
ſeducing a Roman ‘Matron of
great virtue, by perſuading her
that the God ANUBIS was ena-
moured of her, and ſolicited the
honour of her embraces; in
whoſe ſtead they introduced to
her a young Roman, called De-
CIUS MUNDUS. And according
to PAUSANIAS † the inhabitants
of Temeſa in Italy were enjoined
to build a temple to the manes
of a man .who had been ſtoned
to death for a rape, and to of-
* Antiquitat. Lib. XVIII. cap. 3.
of Eliac. II. p. 467.
fer
MYTHOLOGY.
49
'fef to him every year the moſt
beautiful of their Virgins, upon
whoni the immortal raviſher ap-
pears to have exerciſed both his
luſt and his cruelty. This prác-
tice continued for a long ſpace
of time, till EUTHYMUS, an
Olympian Boxer, happening to
paſs that way, became ena-
moured of the beautiful victimi,
and undertook to be her cham-
pion, upon condition of becom-
ing afterwards her husband.
For a perſon trained to athle-
tic combats, the inmate of the
temple, though a divinity, was
no match. He was conquered
by Euthymus, and in deſpair,
as the ſtory informsus; threw him-
ſelf into the ſea, and was heard
E
of
}
I
50
ON THE GRÆCIAN
of no more. Theſe well-attefted
ſtories render it probable, that
it was not Apollo, but his
prieſt, that follicited the embra-
ces of CASSANDRA, and that the
courtſhip of lo, ſo particularly
deſcribed in Æschylus *, was
an artful contrivance, ſimilar to
that of the prieſts of Isis in Jo-
SEPHUS, except that the lover of
Io was the Prieft himſelf. When
any of theſe plots fucceeded,
the innocent lady would of
courſe aſcribe her pregnancy to
the God, by whoſe name the
had been feduced.
1
The fuppoſed offspring of
the Gods were ſtill further mul-
* Prom. v. 645. feq.
tiplied
!
MYT HÖLÖ G Ý:
SI
1
i
1
tiplied by a fourth cauſe, the
admiration which excellence of
every kind naturally excites in
the world. This was general-
ly thought to denote, or at leaſt
it was conſtrued as a mark of,
divine parentage ; and the pára
ticular divinity picked out as the
Father, was determined by the
nature of the diſtinction * А
good Archer was reputed to be
the Son of APOLLO; and I re-
member to have ſeen ai paſſage
in ſome ancient author, where
the tradition is accounted for
in this very manner. It wag
probably for ſkill in divination
that Iamus, the Augur men-
* Euſtath. in Iliad. A. p. 14.
tioned
1
E a
1
52
ON THE GRÉCIAN
1
tioned by Pindar*, was ſuppoſed
to derive his birth from the
ſame God. THEAGENES, an
Athlete of remarkable ſtrength,
was reported by his countrymen
the Thafians to be the ſon of
HERCULES H. The great war-
rior and the crafty orator were
in like manner celebrated, one
as the Son of Mars, 'the other
of Mercury Excellence in
Horſemanſhip or in Navigation
denoted the party to be the Son
of Neptune; and extenfive do-
minion; of JUPITER. DÆDALUS,
the famous ftatuary, was cele-
brated as the ſon of VULCAN,
Ol. VI. v. 74.
gio Pauſan. Eliac. II. p. 477.
and
}
MYTHOLOGY.
53
and APOLLONIUS * mentions one
PALÆMONIUS, who attained the
ſame honour on account of his
lameneſs. To call a ſkilful and
fortunate husbandman the ſon
of Ceres would have interfered
perhaps with a known fact ;
and therefore the mythologiſts
were obliged to compliment Ia-
sion in a different way, by pre-
tending that Ceres was ſo ena-
moured of him as to admit him
to her bed.
The meaning of theſe fables
was probably as well underitood
as a modern Poet is, who calls
his Patron a ſon of Mars; with
this difference, that anong the
* Apollon. Rhod. Lib. I. v. 202,
E 3
ancients
1
$4 ON THE GRÆCIAN
ancients the fact might not be
entirely disbelieved, With re-
fpect to death, MYTHOLOGY makes
no diſtinction of ranks. Yet in
fome deaths the Gods were ſup,
poſed to be particularly concern-
ed. It is obſerved by EUSTA-
THIŲS *, that Homer attributes
the ſudden deaths of Men to
APOLLO, as of Women to DIA.
It ſhould ſeem however
that this was not wholly cons
fined to ſudden deaths, as their
arrows are ſaid to have killed
the children of AMPHION and
Niobe, who according to Pau,
ŞANIAS † died of the plague,
CALLIM À CHUS alſo aſcribes the
* Euft. in Iliad. T.
+ Boeot. p.721.
* H. in Dian. V126, 7
deaths
NA.
1
MYTHOLOGY.
55
deaths of women in childbed to
DIANA. Mr. MARKLAND on EU-
RIPIDIS * remarks, that it was
cuſtomary to attributė deaths
from any ſudden caſualty to the
paſſionate regard of ſome God,
taking the beloved object from
the world to himſelf. Thus
ORITHvIA, blown, I ſuppoſe,
from a precipice by the wind,
was reported to be carried off
by Boreas; Hylas, drowned
in a fountain, to be pulled in
by the Water-nymphs; and Am-
PHIARAUS, who in the hurry
of his flight from Thebes fell
with his chariot into a deep
chaſın, to have been ſnatched
into the bowels of the Earth by
* Suppl. v. 929.
E 4
the
56
ON THE GRÆCAIN
the Gods themſelves, as a re-
ward of his virtue. This, as
appears from fome epigrams and
inſcriptions, quoted by Mr,
DORVILLE *, was the common
onſolation of every parent and
relation, to whom fuch difaf-
ters happened. That accidents
from lightning ſhould be imputed
to JUPITER, is not to be won-
dered at, that fire appearing ſo
manifeſtly to
come from hea-
But it is worth remark-
ing, that perſons killed in this
manner were not always looked
upon as objects of the divine wrath,
That idea would have been too
ſevere
upon
their ſurviving
friends; and therefore, though
the Mythologiſts admitted ſuch
* Ad Chariton. p. 258,
ven,
a ca-
MYTHOLOG 57
GY
Y..
a cataſtrophe to be penal, where
the party was obnoxious, yet
their general doctrine was, that
to be ftruck with lightning was
a mark of the ſpecial favour of
JUPITER *•
1
So far we have endeavoured
to point out ſome general prin
ciples of MYTHOLOGY. In what
follows there is no appearance
of any ſuch principle, the tranf-
actions of mankind being indeed
too anomalous to be arranged
into diſtinct claffes. We ſhall
find however, that when any
remarkable fact occurred, the
invention of the Mythologiſts
was always ready to give it a
* Artemidorus Lib. II. cap 8.
ney
!
58
ON THE GRÆGIAN
1
new and a magnificent colour-
ing
3
We will begin with CECROPS,
the moſt ancient of the Atheni-
an Kings. Of him it is report-
ed that he was half a man and
halfa ferpent; which PLUTARCH *
and after him EUSTATHIUS ,
ſuppoſe to mean, that in the
former, or at leaft' one half of
his reign, he governed with the
cruelty of a barbarian; in the
other with mildneſs and huma-
nity. It was by an allegory of
the ſame kind according to Eu-
STATHIUS Is and, if I miſtake
* De ſerà Num. Vindict. p. 551. Ed.
Franc.
+ In Dionyſ. Perieg. y. 390,
# In Dionyf. Perieg, 1. c.
not,
MYTHOLOGY,
59
not, PLUTARCH alſo, that CAD-
Mys was reported, after his expul-
Gion from Thebes, to be meta-
morphofed into a ſerpent; the
fact being no more, than that
living among the -Illyrians, he
loft the humanity of the Greeks
and aſſumed the ſavageneſs of
that uncivilized nation.
j
}
The metamorphoſis of the
people of Ægina from ants into
men is explained by the ancients
themſelves in a manner equally
natural. STRABO * informs us,
that the Inhabitants of that
Iſland, to ſave the trouble of
making bricks, were uſed to
dwell in hollows, which they
* L. VIII. p. 576.
dug
+
60
ON THE GRÆCIAN
dug under ground; a cuſtom
that ſtill prevails in Wallachia,
and ſome parts of Poland, where
dwellings of that ſort are called
Limſinks. The name of ants,
which ſo naturally ſuggeſts itſelf,
and which we can hardly help
applying to a nation living in
this manner, was converted by
the Poets into a ſerious fiction,
that the people of Ægina
originated from ants, who af-
terwards at the intercefſion of
Æacus were turned into men,
Many other ſtories of Metamor-
phoſes are in like manner founded
upon an analogy, that either
the character, or ſituation, of
the perſon had with that of the
bird, or beaſt, into which he
was transformed. LYCAON was
ſuppoſed
{
MYTHOLOGY.
61
1
ſuppoſed to become a wolf, as
reſembling that Animal in his
ſavage cruelty. MEROPs, king
of Cos, was ſaid to be turned
into an eagle *, as an emblem,
according to Ælian, of his hav-
ing been a pirate. After TE-
Reus had been changed into an
Upupa by the Mythologiſts, the
animoſity of that Bird againſt
the Swallow and the Nightin-
gale might poſſibly ſuggeſt the
Idea, that Procne and PHILO-
MELA had aſſumed thoſe ſhapes.
The anxiety of Alce Ne, and
her conſtant waiting on the ſea-
ſhore for the return of CEYX,
bore ſo great a reſemblance to the
life of a Kings-fiſher, that it
* Euſtath. in Iliad. ú.
.
was
62
ON THE GRÆCIAN
1
was little more than a metaphor
to ſay ſhe became one. The
followers of DIOMEDE, who died
of famine on ſome defert part
of the coaſt of Italy, were faid
in like manner to be turned into
Herons, a bird that lives in the
ſalt marſhes upon fiſh.
This
probably was the exact ſituation
of DIOMEDE and his Argives in
the height of their diſtreſs; and
therefore their transformation,
if underſtood of this time, was
hardly to be called fabulous.
The power afcribed to the
fountain SALMACIS, of turning
men into women, is thus explain-
ed by Vitruvius*. That fountain
* Lib. II. cap. 8.
was
MYTHOLOG Y. 63
was ſituated at the very fummit
of the hill, which overlooked the
city of Halicarnaſſus; a ſpot
originally occupied by the bar-
barous Carians, who were dif
poffefſed by a colony of Greeks
from Argos and Troezene. Un-
able to defend themſelves from
this injury, the barbarians en-
deavoured to revenge it by con-
tinual incurfions upon their in-
vaders, At laft however one
of the new ſettlers opening a
ſhop upon the borders of this
fountain, and having furniſhed
it plentifully with all forts of
wares, the barbarians were allu-
red one after another to fre-
quent .it; and in conſequence
of that, fays this Author, e duro
feroque
04 ON THE GRÆCIAN
feroque more commutati in Grea
corum conſuetudinem et ſuavitatem
fuá voluntate reducebantur. So
that the water did not produce
effeminacy, according to the
common tradition, but only that
ſoftneſs of diſpoſition which we
call humanity
The impriſonment of Marsby
Otus and EPHIAltes furniſhes
another inſtance of an hiſtorical
fact converted into a fable. Eus-
TATHIUS informs us*, that OTUS
and Ephialtes were two princes,
who by their power and the
terror of their arms kept all their
- neighbours in awe, and.obliged
them to defift, from their mutual
* In Iliad. E. v.380.
3
invaſions
MYTHOLOGY. 65
invaſions and piracies; which
in the language of the Poets was
putting Mars in priſon.
I
It appears to have been a cuf-
toin among the Greeks, in build-
ing the walls of any new city, to
animate the builders, and give an
air of feſtivity to the undertak-
ing, by muſic. This at leaſt I
infer from the manner, in which
PAUSANIAS ſpeaks of the muſic
uſed at the building of the new
Meſſene by EPAMINONDAS
Hence we may account for what
the Mythologiſts report of Am-
Phion, that the melody of his
lyre was ſo attractive, that the
1
Meffen. p. 345.
F
very
66
ON THE GRÆCIAN
very ſtones followed him, and
formed themſelves fpontaneouſly
into a wall ſurrounding the city
of Thebes; by which, I fup-
poſe, nothing more is meant,
than that the wall was ſo expe-
ditiouſly built under his inſpec-
tion, and to the found of his
muſic, as if the ſtones themſelves
had been animated by it, and
arranged themſelves of their own
accord in their proper places.
The ſtory of Dedalus and
ICARUS is, I think, well ex-
piained by PAUSANIAS *, He
tells us, that fails were the in-
vention of DÆDALUS, and firſt
* Bæotic. p. 732.
uſed
MYTHOLOGY.
,
67
1
uſed to facilitàte his eſcape from
Minos, who was only able to
follow him with oars. The
ſucceſs of the invention to the
father and ſon was ſuitable to
the care of the one, and the raſh-
neſs of the other. The father
got ſafe to the deſired port; the
fon, by carrying too much fail,
was overſet and drowned.
It is however but a ſmall part
of the Greek Fables that is found-
ed upon domeſtic facts. The
principal of them are ingrafted
upon the ſtories of their four prin-
cipal Heroes, Perseus, Bac-
CHUS, Jason, and HERCULES;
who having been engaged, ac-
F 2 cording
68
ON THE GRÆCIAN
cording to the Poets, in expe-
ditions to diſtant or unknown
countries, their adventures would
of courſe be very confuſedly and
variouſly related, and muſt na-
turally give great ſcope for in-
vention and embelliſhment. Had
COLUMBUS, DRAKE, and Ra-
LEIGH, lived in times, when
writing was little practiſed, and
every thing was preſerved in
ſongs; and when moreover there
were no maps to aſſiſt the me-
mory; it is eaſy to gueſs how
ſtrangely their exploits would
have been related; how many
miraculous embelliſhments they
would have received from acci-
dent or deſign ; and, laſtly, how
Geo-
1
1
A
MYTHOLOGY. 69
Geographers, in fubfequent times,
would have been perplexed to
fix the ſcene of them. If this
would certainly have happened
where there was a real founda-
tion of truth, it clearly demon-
ſtrates, that there may be ſuch a
foundation, even where the ad-
ditional circumſtances are im-
poſſible or contradictory. A ra-
tional enquirer will therefore re-
jėct only that part of the ſtory
which is variouſly related; and
admit that, if not manifeſtly ab-
furd, in which all agree. Though
he doubts the miraculous ad-
ventures of thoſe heroes, he will
admit their exiſtence, eſpecially
as the traditions, which atteſt
this,
F 3
70 ON THE GRÆCIAN
this, have alſo handed down to
us an account of their parentage
and their deſcendents.
Perseus, if admitted to be a
ſeal perſon, ſhould ſeem to have
been a piratical adventurer, who,
having collected together a band
of followers, was fortunate enough
to ſucceed in plundering ſome
rich city or temple on the coaſt
of Barbary. His other exploit
in Palæſtine might perhaps be the
reſcuing of ANDROMEDA not from
a ſea-monſter, but from anotheç
pirate like himſelf. After this
he invaded Argos, pretending to
be the Grandſon of Acrisius,
whom he expelled, and reigned
in
។
MYTHOLOGY.
71
in his ftead. The ſtory of his
mother Danae being thruſt out
to ſea in a ſmall boat, with
him an infant, and their being
afterwards found by fiſhermen,
and carried by them to the neigh-
bouring iſland of Seriphos, is
neither impoſſible, nor at all un-
ſuitable to the inhumanity of
thoſe
ages.
BACCHUS, that is, the GRÆ-
CIAN Bacchus, was an adven-
turer contemporary with Per-
seus, but of a very different
kind. He appears to have been
a real perſon, from the diſhon-
ourable circumſtance of his hav-
ing been vanquiſhed in baitle by
Fex-
1
F4
72
ON THE GRÆCIAN
Perseus and the Argives. Pau-
SANIAS, who has recorded this
fact, ſaw himſelf the ſepulchres ,
of ſeveral of the female war-
riors * He appears to have been
equally unſucceſsful againſt Ly-
CURGUS, when he fled for refuge
into the bofom of the ſea up; that
is, to his ſhips. Facts, ſo little
calculated to give luſtre, were
not likely to have been feigned
of a Deity.
Againſt Pen-
Theus indeed he had better fuc-
ceſs, through the indiſcretion of
that prince in coming either dif-
guiſed, or without a ſufficient
eſcort, to be a ſpectator of his
1
* Corinthiac. p. 155:
glo Iliad. Z. 135:
private
j
mer
MYTHOLOGY.
73
private orgies. He ſeems to have
been the firſt perſon who thought
of attaching the populace to him-
ſelf by falſe miracles, and of ce-
menting his connection with them
by nocturnal aſſemblies and re-
vels, By theſe contrivances he
appears to have grown in the
end formidable to government in
ſeveral countries, though never
ſufficiently powerful to aſſume it
himſelf.
}
1
The word belief is too ſtrong
to be given to any notions that
can be formed of a ſubject ſo ob-
ſcure. But the probability of
what I have juſt now mentioned
is rather greater than that this
ad-
1
74
ON THE GRÆCIAN
1
adventurer, who was a man of
full age when he came to Thebes,
Ihould be the ſon of SEMELE,
though it ſerved his purpoſes no
doubt to pretend ſo. Neither is
it neceſſary to fuppoſe, that he
was the fame perſon who con-
quered India, whoſe character and
name he might' affume. In what
manner he made his way may
be gueſſed in part from what is
recorded in Livy * of the young
man, who firſt attempted to in-
troduce the Bacchanalian rites
into Rome. The detail of this
confederacy ſeems to me to be
the beſt key to the arts of the
Theban BACCHUS. It is not im-
* Lib. xxxix. 8.
poſſible
-
MYTHOLOGY.
75
poſſible indeed that he might
have penetrated into India,
through a country, in which
there were neither fortifications,
perhaps, nor great cities : But if
he did, it is more likely that he
ſhould have been overpowered
and expelled by a freſh confe-
deracy of the inhabitants, than
that his retreat ſhould have been
purely voluntary
The ſtory of Jason and his ex-
pedition to Colchis is fuller of
miracles and contradictions than
almoſt any part of the GRÆCIAN
MYTHOLOGY ; and therefore we
ought not to
to wonder that it
ſhould be conſidered by many
of
the
76
ON THE GRÆCIAN
the moderns 'as an abſolute fica
tion, deſtitute of any hiſtorical
baſis. Yet the ancients all admit
it as a fact; their Chronologers
fix the very year in which it took
place; and their Geographers,
with equal gravity, ſpecify the
port from which they ſet ſail, and
thoſe which they touched at in
their voyage out and home. And
as to the perſons concerned in
the expedition, nothing can be
more particular than the account
given by the Grammarians of
their parentage and the places of
their reſidence.
The obje&t of their voyage, as
the poets repreſent it, was truly
6
ridi-,
MYTHOLOGY.
77
Į
1
ridiculous; but, as explained by
hiſtorians, was every way ade-
quate to the difficulty of the un-
dertaking. The fable of the
golden fleece, according to STRA-
BO *, took its riſe - from the
method uſed by the inhabitants
of Phafis to entangle and collect
the gold duſt waſhed down from
the hills; which was by placing
acroſs the rivers a number of
ſheepſkins with the fleeces ad-
hering to them.
And this is
confirmed by APPIAN
who
intimates that Pompey the Great,
after the defeat of MITHRIDATES,
made himſelf an eye-witneſs of
*
3
* L. XI. p. 499.
agu Mithridat. p. 242. Ed. H. Steph.
the
1
78 ON THE GRÀCIAN
the fact. It was natural there
fore for the Greeks to conſider
the country of Colchis as a fort
of Peru, eſpecially when the
riches of it were magnified, as
no doubt they were, by the
marvellous reports, of travellers.
It was not therefore a ſingle fleece
that allured them, but the con-
queſt or general plunder of the
country. Now this, it is ob-
vious, was not to be effected by
ſo ſmall a number of warriors
as one and fifty, which is the
higheſt number mentioned in
any of the liſts: and we are
obliged therefore either to reject
the ſtory entirely, or to ſuppoſe
with CHARAX, an ancient Gram-
marian,
I
M Y THOLOG Y.
79
* that
marian, that, inſtead of one and
fifty '
mariners, each of theſe
ſuppoſed mariners was captain
of a ſeparate ſhip, if not com-
mander of a little fleet. It
ſhould ſeem from STRABO
they at firſt penetrated far into
the country, which the ſudden-
neſs of the attack will very well
account for ; but their precipi-
tate retreat from Colchis, the
formidable fleet fent after them
by the natives, their being com-
pelled to take a different courſe
in their return, and the little
we hear of the Argonauts after-
wards; all this clearly ſhews
that their ſucceſs was not per-
* L. I. p. 77.
manent;
80
ON THE GRÆCIAN
manent; but thát they were
diſgracefully defeated and diſap-
pointed of their booty. Had
it been otherwiſe, I think we
ſhould have heard more of the
Golden Fleece after its arrival in
Theſſaly, than barely what
APOLLODORUS ſays *, that it was
preſented to Pelias.
What I have already faid will
fufficiently obviate one of the
arguments, with which Mr. BRY-
Ant has attempted to annihilate
the hiſtorical baſis of this ſtory.
He is right in ſaying, that the
crew of a little Bilander † could
* L. I. c. 27.
it Analyſis, Vol. II. p. 487.
not
1
i
MYTHOLOGY.
81
not atchieve ſo many exploits ;
defeat armies, build cities, and
leave ſeveral colonies behind
them. This is a point given up
by all attentive and critical en-
quirers, both ancient and modern.
Nor is the conqueſt of Peru by
Pizarro, though effected with
a mere handful of men, at all a
ſimilar caſe. Yet it is far from
impoſſible, that the Mythologiſts,
to render the ſtory more intereſt-
ing and ſurpriſing, may have
dropped all mention of the viles
animæ, that conſtituted the bulk
And this is the
more probable, as we find the
ſame thing practiſed in reſpect
to HERCULES, who is often re-
G
preſented
of the army.
82
ON THE GRÆCIAN
1
preſented as having atchieved by
perſonal ſtrength, what he only
did at the head of his troops.
Thus of the defeating the MINYÆ
EURIPIDES ſays * :
"Ος ας Μινύαισι πάσι δια μάχης μο-
20
Θήβαις έθηκεν όμμ’ ελεύθερον βλέπειν. .
Whereas DIODORUS † expreſsly
tells us, that he was not the ſin-
gle actor in this exploit; but
accompanied by all the young
men of Thebes.
Mr. BRYANT I inſiſts ſtrongly
upon the contradictory accounts
* Herc. Fur, ver. 220.
of L. iv. p. 256. Ed. Weſſeling.
Analyſis, Vol. II. p. 484. ſeq.
given
MYTHOLOG Y. 83
given by different authors of this
expedition : which in his idea
entirely deſtroy the credit of the
ſtory. But this ſurely is inevi-
table in a matter which the
poets, who firſt recorded it, col-
lected only from report, and,
where that was imperfect, ſup-
plied the deficiency from fancy
and conjecture. Before the par-
ticulars of Mr. BANKSES voyage
round the world were commu-
nicated to the public, ſeveral
different reports were circulated
in reſpect to the countries diſco-
vered and viſited; which reports,
if ſuffered to go down to poſ-
terity without contradiction,
would have formed the baſis of
fo
I
G2
84 ON THE GRÆCIAN
ſo many different hiſtories. Yet
I think poſterity would have
reaſoned ill to have denied the
exiſtence of that gentleman, be-
cauſe ſome had inſiſted that he
returned home by the North,
and others by the South, Coaſt
of New Holland. And why
might not the Greeks in like
manner have full evidence of the
exiſtence of Jason, TiPhys,
ANCÆUS and others; and that
they failed upon an expedition
to Colchis, and returned; with-
out knowing exactly the rivers
which they failed down, or the
ſeas and countries which they
traverſed ? The one might be a
matter of public notoriety, but
the
1
MYTHOLOGY.
85
the other required accurate in-
formation from the mouth of the
adventurers themſelves.
But Mr. BryÂNT * contends,
that the Argo muſt be a memo-
rial of the Ark, becauſe it is ſaid
by ERATOSTHENES # to have
been the firſt ſhip ever built ;
which he truly obſerves to be in-
conſiſtent with what the Greek
Poets and Hiſtorians have re-
lated of the ſtill earlier voyages
of Cadmus and DANAUS, to men-
tion no more ; and from this in-
conſiſtency he again infers, that
they knew not the origin of their
own traditions. But it ſhould be
* Analyſis, vol. II. p. 493. feq.
afe Afteriſin. p. 13. ed. Oxon.
G3 obferved,
86
ON THE GRÆCIAN
obſerved, that the ancient writers
are far from being unanimous in
repreſenting the Argo as the firſt
ship ever built. Diodorus Sicu-
Lus tells us *, that it was the firſt
ſhip that had ever been built of
ſo conſiderable a fize; and Pliny
the Naturaliſt it, that it was the
firſt long ſhip: If we only ſup-
poſe, that the ARGO was the firſt
ship, of which any memory or
tradition had been preſerved, that
failed from Greece upon a diſtanț
and hazardous expedition, we
need not be ſurpriſed, I think,
to find, that in time it came to
be conſidered, in the popular
1
* L IV. p. 285. Ed. Weſſeling.
t L. VII. C. 57
MYTHOS
MYTHOLOGY.
87
MYTHOLOGY of Greece, as the firſt
ship that was ever built.
Mr. Bryant further ſays *
that the Argonautic hiſtory muſt
have had its origin in ſome coun-
try ſouth of Greece, becauſe the
conſtellation Argo is not viſible in
So northern a latitude. But this
argument I apprehend is much
more forcibly applied in another
place † to combate the ſuppoſition
of Sir Isaac Newton, that the
ſphere, in which the conſtellation
Argo had a place, was
ſtructed by Chiron for the uſe of
the Argonauts. To make it of
any weight in the preſent quef-
* Analyſis, vol. II. p. 497.
+ Įbid. vol. II. p.479.
tion,
con-
1
G4
88
l
ON THE GRÆCIAN
tion, Mr. BRYANT ſhould have
ſhewn, that the conſtellation ARGO
was not viſible in any country
inhabited by Greeks, or where
the language, and hiſtory, and
fables of Greece, were current.
On the contrary, he allows him-
ſelf *, that it was viſible in
Rhodes, where HIPPARCHỤS is
known to have made ſome of his
obſervations; and in Cnidus, the
birth-place and reſidence of the
famous aſtronomer EUDOX US,
whoſe deſcription of the cæleſtial
phænomena Ararys is ſaid to
have copied. This argument
therefore being put out of the
way, I fee no reaſon for attri-
* Analyſis, vol. II. p. 497.
buting
MYTHOLOGY.
89
buting the groundwork of the
ſtory to any nation but the Græ-
cians, who claim it. And this
is further confirmed by the word
Argo, which is evidently of
Greek origin, being formed from
the adjective appos, ſwift, by the
fame analogy as Togow, Kedauw,
Karasw, Apisw, and, I believe,
ſome other proper names are from
their kindred adje&ives.
Before I quit the ſtory of JA-
son, I will juſt obſerve, that
there are two fables connected
with it, which admit of no very
difficult explanation. The Har-
PIES, who were uſed to come
ſuddenly, and carry off the food
that
ON THE GRÆCIAN
}
that was ſet before Phineus,
were probably pirates, who land-
ed every now and then to plun-
der the coaſt; till finally driven
away by the two winged ſons of
Boreas, who commanded a part
of the Argonautic fleet. Per-
haps the ftory of TANTALUS,
ſtarving in the fight of his food,
may denote, in like manner, the
ſudden incurſions of robbers, who
laid waſte his country juſt before
harveſt. But to wave this. The
other miracle, to which I alluded,
was, the ſpeaking keel of the Argo,
which I take to have been ſuch
another juggle as that of Ser-
TORIUS, pretending to receive di-
rections from heaven through
the
M Y THOLOGY.
gi
the means of a doe: which the
Spaniards readily believing, obey-
ed his orders with a blind ſub-
miſſion * But the ſpeaking keel
might have impoſed upon an af-
ſembly of mariners in a more en-
lightened age; nor did it require
any thing to carry on the impof-
ture, but the faculty of ſpeaking
inwardly, without opening the
lips or teeth, in the manner of
the εβγαςριμυθοι.
1
The ſtory of HERCULES is more
intricate and perplexed than that
of any ancient hero whatever; at
the ſame time that there is very
ſtrong evidence of ſuch a perſon
* Plutarch. Vit. Sertorii.
having
92
ON THE GRÆCIAN
having exiſted in Greece, and
performed many not incredible
exploits.
The old hiſtorical
Mythologiſts ſeem perfectly a-
ware of this, and take care to in-
form us, that the actions attri-
buted to Hercules are not all
to be underſtood of the Theban
Hercules, but ſome of the Æ-
gyptian, and others of the Ty-
rian; and that all theſe have
been blended together by the
fabulous Mythologiſts into one
feries of events. As Heaxans has
ſtrongly the appearance of a
Græcian name, it ſeems at firſt
view difficult to conceive, how
ſuch a name ſhould have been
borne by any one in either of
thoſe
MYTHOLOGY.
93
thoſe nations, whoſe language
was very different, and who were
very unlikely to borrow from
the Greeks in that very remote
period, in which the Tyrian and
the Ægyptian chieftain are plac-
ed. Nor is it all eaſy to com-
prehend, how the actions of one
man ſhould be imputed to ano-
ther, who lived in a remote coun-
try above a thouſand years later.
Yet both theſe ſuppoſitions will
perhaps be rendered credible by
premiſing a few reflections. We
may recollect then, that among
the ancients it was no fingular
piece of vanity for princes to af-
fume, or ſuffer their flatterers to
confer upon them, the name of
fome
94
AN
ON THE GRÆCIAN
ſome Hero or Demigod, whoſe
character might be ſuppoſed to
have ever ſo flight a reſemblance
to their own. To ſay nothing
of COMMODUS, the Roman HER-
cules, whoſe caprices are no
ſtandard of ancient cuſtoms :
HYGINUS, if I miſtake not, ſome-
where fays, that CARANUS, the
firſt of the Argive race who ſet-
tled in Macedonia, aſſumed the
name of his anceſtor Hercules.
The title of BACCHUS was alſo
much coveted. It was aſſumed
by Prolemy Auletes, king of
Ægypt *; and among the Ro-
mans by Marc ANTONY and CA-
* Diod. Sic. Lib. I.
LIGULA
MYTHOLOGY.
95
LIGULA *
The northern tra-
ditions alſo inform us, that ODIN,
from whom their preſent hiſtory
begins, had originally another
name, but afterwards aſſumed
that of a more ancient Odin, of
whom no other circumſtance is
now remembered. In like man-
ner the Heaxans of the Greeks,
who was originally called Αλκαιος, ,
or Anredns, we may ſuppoſe, aſ-
ſumed, or was complimented
with, the name of Heaxans, from
the reſemblance of his exploits
to thoſe of a more antient Her-
cules, well known in that age,
Hence in proceſs of time, when
the memory of the former was
* Euſtathius in Iliad. I.
grown
96
ON THE GRÆCIAN
.
grown obſolete, his actions and
adventures were attributed to the
latter. But whence comes it
then that this foreign hero had a
Græcian name, as Heaxans un-
doubtedly is, and that not mere-
ly a name of Græcian termina-
tion, like Δαρειος, Φαρναβαζος, and
many others, but compounded
of two genuine Greek words, by
the ſame analogy as Diocles and
ATHENOCLES, two names that we
meet with in POLYÆNUS? This
is indeed a hard queſtion to an-
fwer, unleſs we ſuppoſe it to be
a tranſlation of the Ægyptian
word, as HELIOPOLIS is a tranſ-
lation of On, and PANOPOLIS of
CHEMMO. PAUSANIAS * mentions
* Phocic. p. 836.
5
one
: MYTHOLOGY.
97
.
)
>
រ
1
one Maceris, who was ſurname
Hércuces by the Ægyptians and
Libyans *.
: If therefore the ſon of ALCMENA
aſſumed the title of a more ancient
hero, it is not to be wondered that
the itinerant poêts and rhapſodifts
of Greece: ſhould aſcribe to their
own countryman all the brilliant
actions of his nameſake; when
even graye hiſtorians are ſome-
times, milled by the fimilitude of
names, attributing to the younger
AFRICANUS, for inſtance, what
was, atchieved by the Elder.
.Thus then it is poſſible that the
diſtant expeditions to Africa
Spain, Italy, and Indiá, inay
* Phocic. p. 836.
Н
belong
(
'98
ON THE GRÆCIAN
belong to the older HERCULES,
and that the theatre of the Græ-
cian, chieftain extended no fura
ther than from Greece to Lydia
and the Euxine. The words of
Arrian, are very, appoſite« "I
;" apprehend;" fays 'he*, that
-6. The HerculBS worſhiped by
" the Iberians in Tarteſius (near
“ which are the fo+called pillars
“ of HERCULES) was the Tyrian
“ HERCULES ; becauſe Tarter-
“ ſus was built by the Phoeni-
“cians, and the temple of Her-
CULES there is conſtructed, and
" the facrifices alſo performed,
1
* De Expedit. Alexandri, II. p. 88.
Ed. Gron.
See alſo Appian. Iber. p. 256. Ed.
H. Steph.
46 after
MYTHOLOGY.
وفي
1
$6 after the Phoenician tiranner.
os As for GERYONES, againſt
o whomi tħe Argive HERCULES
was ſent by EŬRYSTHEUS, to
“ drive away his kine;' and bring
them to Mycena; HECAT&US
for the hiſtorian lay's, that he had
nd connexion with the country
ft of the Iberianis; and thật HER-
• CULES was not ſent to any
e iſland called Erythea in the
« Atlantic ocean; but that there
« was a king; called GeryoNES;
“ in Epirus, near Ambracia:and
“ Amphilochia ; and that HER-
“ CULES drove's Way the kine from
« thence, being itſelf no mean
“ labour. With reſpect to which
“ I know myſelf, that Epirus is
H2
“ a good
100
O-N THE GRÆCIAN
a good paſture country, and
« breeds excellent kine; and I
" think it not improbable, that
" the fame of the kine of Epirus,
" and the name of ſuch a king as
“ GERYONES, might be carried
" to EURYSTHEUS, but that' he
" would never have known even
“ the name of the king of the
“ Iberians, ſituated as they are
at the extremity of Europe; or
“ the quality of their cattle.” So
far ARRIAN; and in ſupport
of this notion we may obſerve,
that though the ſon of ALCMENA
is mentioned in general terms, as
having cleared the ſeas of pirates,
not one of the Græcian writers
has ſpecified ſo much as a ſingle
exploit
st
.
MYTHOLOGY.. : ios
exploit of that kind. SALLUST
alſo, in his hiſtory of the Jugur-
thine war, mentions an African
tradition, that HERCULES died in
Spain ; and that, after his death,
conſiderable bodies of Medes,
Perſians, and Armenians, which
had compoſed part of his army,
came over and ſettled in Africa;
whereas the army of the Argive
chieftain conſiſted of Greeks, and
principally, according to PIN-
DAR *, of Tirynthians. When
therefore this laſt-mentioned poet
affirms, that Hercules brought
the wild olive-tree (Kotinos) to
Elis from the country of the
* Ol. X. 40. Ifthm. VI. 40.
H 3
Hy-
102
ON THE GRÆCIAN
Hyperboreans", which the learn-
ed Gesner of ſuppoſes to be Por-
tugal, we ought, I believe, to re-
fer the former part of the affer-
tion to the Græcian HercULES ;
and the latter, that is, the expen
dition to Portugal, to the Tyrian,
who might alſo be the perſon that
ſubdued Cacus the robber, and
fought with Eryx.
i
But how then ſhall we recon-
cile this with what Synesius tells
us I, that in the public regiſters
of the city of Cyrene was record-
ed, till the invaſion of the Bar-
barians, a liſt of deſcendents in
* 01. III, 25.
ahlin De Phoenịc. Navig. Præl. II. § 8.
* Opp. P. 302. Ed, Petav.
regular
· MYTHOLOG Y. 103
6
*
!
regular ſuccellion from Hercu-
Les to himſelf ? Does not this
imply, that the Gråcian Her-
Cules viſited Africa, and found-
ed Cyrene? Yet on the other
hand PINDAR, who wrote two
Odes to ARÇESILAUS, king of
Cyrene, gives not the leaſt hint
of HERÇULEs having been there,
and much leſs of his having
founded that city. I preſume,
therefore, that Synęsius muſt
mean only, that Cyrene, having
been fettled from the iſland of
Thera, which was a Spartan co-
lony, the firſt ſettlers brought
with them, and kept memorials
of their deſcent from the kings of
* Pyth. IV & V.
НА
Sparta
104
ON THE GRÆCIAN
Sparta and their progenitors as-
far back as Hercules. And this
I think will tally, ſufficiently
with what Synesius ſays, at the
ſame time that it accounts for
the ſilence of PINDAR.
1
If we ſuppoſe, that the ſon of
ALCMENA never failed to Spain
or Africa; it will ftrike off from
the liſt of his labours the acqui-
fition of the Heſperian apples.
Of the remaining ten (for the
conqueſt of the triple GERYONES,
that is, GeryoNEs and his two
brothers, has been already dif-.
cuſſed), of theſe, I ſay, the
killing of the Nemezan. LION
may be literally true; as it is
far
MYTHOLOGY.
105
1
far froim impoſſible, that a ſtrong
active man, if lucky enough to
give a lion a ftunning blow on
the head with a heavy club, might
eaſily ſeize and throttle him, be-
fore he recovered from his ver-
tigo. PAUSANIAS even mentions
one POLYDAMAS *, who maſtered
and killed a lion without any
weapon at all. The fetching of
Cerberus from hell, PAUSANIASI
explains to mean the deſtroying
of a great ferpent, that inhabited
a chaſm of the earth at Tænarus;
which is ſtrongly countenanced
by what EUSTATHIUS tells us
from other authors (for he does
not appear to have read the tra-
* Eliac. II. p. 469.
+ Lacon. p. 275.
vels
.
1
1
106 ON THE GRÆCIAN
vels of PAUSANIAS), that Cer-
BERUS was repreſented by the
ancients with the head of a fer-
pent. Nor was this an atchieve-
ment unworthy of Hercules.
Serpents are found at this day in
the Eaſt Indies of an enormous
length, from fifty to one hun-
dred and fifty feet : who, except
when gorged with food, are
greatly an overmatch for any
animal. Such a one it probably
was that the Roman army de-
froyed, though not without the
help of a catapult, near the river
Bagrada *. A ſerpent of this ſize,
lying at the mouth of a tremen-
dous chaſm, might naturally be
* A. Gellius, VI. 3.
called
MYTHOLOGY.
107
!
called the Dog of Hell, as the
hydra, a ſuppoſed ferpent, is
called by EURIPIDES the Dog of
Lerna *.
1
: Two or three of the labours
of HERCULES appear to be hiſto-
rical facts, diſguiſed by allegory.
The ſtory of the HYDRA related
probably to ſome crew of Ban-
ditti, who ſheltered themſelves
in the woods and, though de-
feated and driven from place to
place, continually returned, till
IOLAUS, ſetting fire to the woods,
compleated their deſtruction. The
STYMPHALIAN birds muſt alſo be
allegorical, if APOLLODORUS# had
* Herc. Fur. v. 420.
of Lib. II. p. 108.
7
any
108
ON THE GRÆCIAN
any foundation for ſaying, that
they took refuge in the woods,
to avoid being the prey. of wolves.
As they are reported to have de-
ftroyed the grain (xagtes *) it is
not unlikely, that they might be
diſtreſſed people driven from their
own houſes by ſome powerful
enemy, called wolves in the fable,
and reduced from neceſſity to
become robbers in their turn.
The ſtory of their ſhooting of
their wing-feathers like arrows
indicates, I think, the nature of
the weapons which they uſed.
The ſtory concludes with their
being driven from the woods by
the terror of a brazen rattle, af-
* Diodorus Sic. 1. IV. C. 13.
ter
MYTHOLOGY.
109
)
1
&
ter which Hercules deſtroyed
them with his arrows. This
“
máy fignify, that he drove them
into fome ambufcade by a falſe
alarm in the oppoſite quarter
made perhaps by the claſhing of
fhields and ſpears.
.
The STAG run down by Her-
CULES was probably a man of the
name of Elaphus, it being com-
mon among the Greeks 'to give
the names of animals to men.
Thus we find in their writings
perfons called Λεων, Κριος, Αλωπηξ,
Mus, Auxos, and therefore why
not Emapos? - As the ſtag is ſaid
to have been conſecrated to Di-
ANA, the man I ſuppoſe was one
of
ÖN THE GRÀCIAN
of her prieſts, who had been
guilty of ſome crime. HERCU-
LES was deſirous to take him
without hurting him ; but not
being abley, after a year's purſuit,
according to APOLLODOR UŞ
effect this, at laſt lamed biak
with an arrow, and delivered
him, ftill breathing to Eukyse
go
to
THEUS.
As the ſon of ALCMENA was
never unattended with ſomething
like an army, his expedition
againſt the AMAZONS, and that
againſt DIOMEDE; king of Thracej
carry in them nothing marvel-
lous. The fole difficulty here
* Lib. II. p. 1030
arifes
MYTHOLOGY.
III
ariſes from the object, which
hardly ſeems to deſerve a military
- equipment. Yet it, is not diffi-
cult to conceive, that if EURYS
THEUS was ſolicitous, as we find
he was to improve the breed of
his cattle by bringing Heifers
from Epirus, he might think it
a matter of equal importance to
mend the breed of his horſes by
bringing ſtallions or mares, from
Thrace. The girdle of Anti-
OPE may ſeem to have been a
very trivial conſideration ; but
if by girdle was meant a tract of
ceaſt, as in the following verſe
of. APOLLONIUS *;
Ακτής Θρηϊκίης: ΖΩΝΗΣ έπι τηλε-
θέωσαι,.
* Argonant. I. 29.
it
112
ON THE GRÆCIAN
it will not be difficult to difcover
the end which EURYSTHEUS had
in view; as the coaſt adjoining
to the Amazons' country, per-
haps under their goverment, was
preciſely the place, if not the only
place, where iron was forged and
manufactured in thoſe remote
times; and it was ſo much the
employment and ſupport of the
inhabitants, that APOLLONIUS
tells us *, they entirely neglected
agriculture.
Of the twelve labours. of Her,
CULES the only material one .un-
explained is his cleanſing of the
AUGEAN STABLES, that is, the
* Argonaut. II. 1004.
fences,
1
1
!
I13
$
MYTHOLOGY.
fences, in which AUGÉAS ſecured
his cattle by night, and which
are repreſented as being over-
filled with dung, ſo as to require
immenfe labour to remove it.
This however is plainly nonſen-
fical, as AUGEAS no doubt em-
ployed cowherds enough (and
very
few we know would be fuf-
ficient) to remove the dung out
of the ſtalls from day to day.
DIODORUS Siculus tells the ſtory
indeed in a peculiar way. Ac-
c
cording to him *, this was a work
of no great difficultý; but he
ſuppoſes that HERCULÉS, by way
of degradation and ignominy,
was enjoined to cleanſe theſe fta-
*
# Lib. iv. c. 3.
I
bles
IIA
ON THE GRÆCIAN
bles of the dung, without any
affiftance. But this is inconſif-
tent with what all the Mytholo-
giſts ſay, that AUGEAS ftipulated
to give HERCULES a large re-
ward ; which plainly ſhews the
taſk, whatever it was, to have
been of ſome importance, and
too great for the number of la-
bourers engaged in his ſervice.
PAUSANIAS, relates *, that the
country was ſo covered with
dung, as to have been rendered
incapable of cultivation. And
this indeed may have ſome foun-
dation of truth in that warm
climate, fince, according to
THEOPHRASTUS, dung without
* Eliac. I. p. 377.
water
MY THOLOGY.
115
water burns the ground. But a
further ſolution of this difficulty
is, I think, to be found in Pliny,
who informs us *, that AUGEAS,
king of Elis, was the firſt who
pra&tiſed the manuring of lands
with dung in Greece. He pro-
bably therefore had diſcovered
how much his lands ſuffered for
want of water, and employed
HERCULES to remedy the incon-
venience : which the latter ef-
fected, not by any perſonal la-
bour, but by ſetting his foldiers
to turn the courfe of a river, or
lay dams acroſs it, ſo as, one
way or other, to overflow the
country. The fèrvice, it is pro-
* N.H, Lib. XVII. c. 6.
bable,
I.
116
ON THE GRÆCIAN
bable; was beyond expectation;
as Hercules demanded, in re-
turn for it, the half of his king-
dom.
Of the explanations of AN-
CIENT MYTHOLOGY here given,
no inconſiderable number has
been handed down by the an-
cients themſelves, and therefore
may be conſidered as ſtanding
upon ſome ground of evidence
furniſhed by authors and records
now loft; the remainder are
merely conjetures, upon which
criticiſm has its full ſcope. Con-
fidering the fable ás an Ænigma,
the thing required is, to find
ſome probable fact, bearing ſuch
.
a rea
re-
1
MYTHOLOGY.
117
a reſemblance to it, as that the
fable ſhall appear to be only a
natural and eaſy allegory of the
truth. The compleat analogy
between them is the only evi-
dence of which the caſe will ad-
mit.
I 3
DIS-
DISSERTATION II.
AN
*
ΕΧ Α Μ Ι Ν Α Τ Ι Ο Ν
Ο.Ε
SIR ISAAC NEWTON'S
OBJECTIONS
• Τ Ο Τ Η Ε
1
CHRONOLOGY OF THE
OLYMPIAD S.
I 4
[ 121 )
1
DISSERTATION 11,
AN EXAMINATION OF SIR ISAAC NEW
TON'S OBJECTIONS TO THE CHRONO-
LOGY OF THE OLYMPIADS.
TI
HE Regiſter of the Olym-
pic Games, which is the
great baſis of the Græcian Chro-
nology, was, I believe, admit-
ted as authentic by all the Lite-
rati from the revival of letters
to the time of Sir Isaac Newton.
That moſt eminent philoſopher,
after having inveſtigated with
ſucceſs the laws of the material
world, ſeems to have imagined,
that the ſame mathematical know-
ledge,
122 ON THE CHRONOLOGY
ledge, which had enabled him
to do this, would be equally fer-
viceable to him in unravelling
the difficulties of ancient hiſtory,
and reconciling the diſcordant
epochas of different nations. In
the proſecution of this deſign he
has attempted to Thew, that al-
moſt all nations have been fond
of carrying back their origin to
too remote a period; and with
that view have falfified their
chronology ; in particular, that
the Græcians, actuated by the
ſame fooliſh vanity as the reſt of
mankind, have endeavoured to
impoſe upon the world a fictitious
ſeries of Olympic victors,
I muſt here take the liberty
to obſerve, that the diſpoſition
of
9
I
OF THE OLYMPIADS, 123
!
of the Græcians to magnify their
antiquity, is a thing entirely
deſtitute of proof, any further
than it is proved by Sir Isaac's
own book. It ought not there.
fore to be conſidered as a prin-
ciple of argument, being indeed
the conclufion to which his ar-
guments tend : for which reaſon
I ſhall take no further notice of
it at preſent; but proceed to
conſider the probability of his
grand poſition, that the firſt part
of the ſeries of Olympic victors
is purely fi&titious, neither the
victors, nor the games them,
ſelves, having at that time had
any exiſtence.
Naw in order that we may the
better judge, what degree of cre-
dit
A
1
6
124 ON THE CHRONOLOGY
1
dit is due to the liſt of Olym-
piads, I will firſt ſtate what it
was ; with the external evidence
in its favour.
The principal
witneſs is PauSANIAS, who, in
the time of the emperour Mar-
CUS ANTONINUS, travelled over
Greece in ſearch of antiquities,
and was particularly attentive to
thoſe at Elis. He appears to have
himſelf examined the regiſter of
the Olympionica; for ſpeaking
of two ftatues erected to atone for
ſome unfair practices of a Rho-
dian wreſtler, he concludes thus *
“ The Elean guides ſay further,
“ with reſpect to theſe Athletes,
şs that it happened in the 178th
* Eliac. I. p. 432.
$6
Olyme
.
1
OF THE OLYMPIADS. 125
Olympiad, that Eudelus re-
ceived money from Philos-
TRATUS, which PHILOSTRATUS
was a Rhodian. This ſtory I
“ found contradicted by the re-
“ giſter of the Olympionice kept
by the Eleans ; for in that re-
gifter it is, that in the 178th
Olympiad Strato of Alexan-
“ dria in the ſame day carried
“ away the prize of wreſtling,
or and of the Pancratium.” In ano-
ther place *, he tells a remark-
able ſtory of one Lichas, a Lace-
dæmonian, who, at a time when
the Lacedæmonians were exclud-
ed from contending in the games,
entered his chariot in the name
*
* Eliac:II. p. 454.
of
126 ON THE CHRONOLOGY
of the people of Thebes, and
having won the race put a
gårland upon the driver's head
with his own hands. This the
Eleans reſenting ordered him to
be ſcourged; which produced an
invaſion of their country on the
part of the Lacedæmonians.
“ The war being at an end,” ſays
PAUSANIAS, “Lichas erected his
“ ffatue here ; but the records
to of the Eleans ſay, that it was
not Lichas, but the people of
• Thebes, that obtained the
" prize.” In a third paſſage he
ſays *, “the victory of the fons
* of Phidolas is regiſtered in the
r records of the Eleans as hava
* Eliac. II. p. 484.
06
}
ing
7
t
1
OF THE OLYMPIADS. 127
“ing happened in the 68th
“Olympiad, and not before.”
The text has it περί ταύτης, by
miftake for προ ταύτης. From
theſe three paſſages it ſeems
plain, that he had inſpected the
regiſter himſelf. I-ſay, regiſter,
in the fingular number, though
PAUSANIAS commonly ſpeaks in
the plural, τα Ήλάων γράμματα.
For if he had meant private me-
morials kept by the Eleans, he
would hardly have ſaid fo con-
fidently, as he does in the laſt
quoted paſſage, that the victory
of the ſons of PHIDOLAS was re-
giſtered as in the 68th Olympiad,
and not before. Beſides, in ſpeak-
ing of the 104th Olympiad, at
which the Arcadians preſided, he
ſays
128 ON THE CHRONOLOGY
ſays *
If any
66 the Eleans do not eriter
it εν καταλόγων Ολυμπιάδων,” plain-
lý intimating, that it was one
ſingle catalogue, and the public
record of the Eleans.
doubt ſhould remain, it ſeems
to be removed by what he ſays
of EUANORIDAS the Elean ť, that
having obtained the prize of
wreſtling at the Olympic Games,
and afterwards becoming one of
the Hellenodicæ, or preſidents,
he himſelf recorded the names
of the viétors. So that here we
fee it was not only a public re-
cord, but the entries in it were
made by the preſident of the
games.
* Eliac. II. p. 509.
+ Ibid. p. 471.
I thought
OF THE OLYMPIADS. 129
1
I thought it neceffary to exa
plain this at large; becauſe we.
are told by PLUTARCH; in his life
of Numa*, that ſome objected;
to the liſt of the Olympiads, as:
being publiſhed by Hippias the
Elean rather late; and from no
very certain materials. It ap-
pears from PAUSANIAS, an eye-
witneſs; that he had the beſt
materials imaginable ; and being
å man in high eſteem among
the Greeks, and greatly en-
truſted by his own countrymen,
though ridiculed by PŁATO, it is
not to be ſuppoſed; that he
would publiſh a mere invention
* P. 130. Ed. Bryan.
K
of
130 ON THE CHRONOLOGY
of his own as a copy of their re-
cords. Beſides, PAUSANIAS, who
was upon the foot, and infpected
them, gives no hint of their dif-
fering materially, or even at all,
from the lift commonly received.
And we may obſerve, that XE-
NOPHON, who lived in the coun-
try of Elis, and in the very next
generation after Hippias, cites
one Olympiad numerically *
and probably therefore from his
lift. So that Sir Isaac is hardly
correct in ſaying t, that the rec-
koning by Olympiads was not in
ufe among the Greeks till after
EPHORUS.
Hellen. 1.
of Chronol. p. 47
Let
OF THÉ OLYMPÍÀDS. 131
Let us next enquire, whether
this regiſter was kept from the
very beginning of the Olym-
piads. And to this alſo Pats A+
NIÀS bears teſtimony; for he
fays *, that from the time that
there are uninterrupted memo-
rials of the Olympiads, the firſt
prize given was that of the foota
face, which Coroebus the Elean
STRABO alſo mentions
COROEBUS as victor in the firſt
Olympiad † ; and ATHÉNÈUS
particularly remarks I, that he
was by profeſſion à cook. The
ſame PAUSANIAS, ſpeaking of a
victory gained in a war by the
won.
.
* Eliác. I. p. 394.
of L. VIII. p. 544.
* L. IX:- p. 382.
2
people
1
1
52
132 ON THE CHRONOLOGY
people of Megara over the Co-
rinthians, which was prior in
time to the annual Archons of
Athens, ſubjoins, " but neither
“ were the Olympiads as yet re-
giitered by the Eleans *;'
which implies, that they began
to do it ſoon after; and moſt
clearly ſhews, that a public re-
gifter was the thing which he
meant ; ſince no man could ſay
with confidence, that no private
memorials were kept before the
time when COROEBUS was victor.
That ſuch a regiſter ſhould be
at all corrupted, is highly im-
probable. It is well known how
/
* Eliac. II. p. 500.
care-
OF THE OLYMPIADS. 133
careful the Greeks were of their
archives. Thoſe of the Athe-
nians were kept in the temple of
CYBELE, called METROUM, from
whence ApeLLICON the Gram-
inarian found means
to ſteal
ſome of them, which would have
coſt him his life, as ATHENÆUS
informs us *, if he had not fled
out of the country. Even the
alteration of records was a capi-
tal crime among the Rhodians,
as we learn from Dion t; though
in other places, according to
Cicero #, it was only puniſhed
by fine. That the Elean records
I
* L. V, p. 214,
of Orat. XXXI. p. 336.
In Verrem.
K 3
had
134 ON THE CHRONOLOGY
had ever been altered, we have
no reaſon to think, as no traces
of ſuch a crime are to be found
in any ancient author,
A
But what is the alteration
which Sir Isaac ſuſpects, or ra-
ther aſſerts, to have been made ?
Not merely the erạzing of a name
here and there, and ſubſtituting
of another in its ſtead, but the
entire and wilful forgery of about
forty Olympiads, that had no
real exiſtence * This bold fup,
poſition far exceeds any thing
that I recollect in the works of
Dr. BENTLEY, whom a great poet
has figmatized with the epithet
Chronol. p. !22.
Grand
OF THE OLYMPIADS.
135
of flaſhing. But waiving the
boldneſs, let us conſider the
pro-
bability of it. And here two
queſtions occur; firſt, what
could be the motive ? and, je-
condly, how it could be accom-
pliſhed
The motive muſt be either
private or public; private, to
gratify the pride of a number of
families, by attributing to them
Olympic victories which they
had never obtained : or public,
to increaſe the reputed antiquity
of the Olympic inſtitution. Both
theſe motives, and the firſt in
particular, ſuppoſe that the forg-
ed Olympiads were to be imme-
diately
K4
136 ON THE CHRONOLOGY
1
diately publiſhed and citculated,
and not to lie doğmant upon their
regiſter; for in that caſe hów.
çould the pride of any family.be
gratified ? Suppoſing therefore
this ſeries of forty Olympiads,
with the names of their reſpec-
tive victors, to be publiſhed, I
would aſk, as the memory of
real victories was always care-
fully preſerved in families, whe-
ther the families, to whoſe pride
this facrifice was made, muſt not
be perfectly conſcious, that no
ſuch games or victories, as thoſe
recorded in the forged Olym .
piads, had ever exiſted? And as
the victors in forty Olympiads,
if all the games were fupplied
with
1
1
3
1
>
OF THE OLYMPIĄDS, 137.
with fictitious victors, muſt
have been very numerous, and,
upon the narroweſt computation,
could not be fewer than forty,
the number of families entruſted
with this ſecret muſt alſo have
been proportionally numerous,
much too numerous, . in my
judgement, to admit of the for-
gery paſſing without dete&ion,
The public motive comes next
to be conſidered, Now, as the
Eleans, who had the cuſtody of
the Olympic Regiſter, did not
date their origin, as a nation,
from the commencement of the
Qlympic Games, but carried it
inany generations further back,
I can-
138 ON THE CHRONOLOGY
I cannot comprehend "how their
vanity could be materially gra-
tified by proving, that this par-
ticular inftitution was fét on foot
in the fourth century of their
political exiſtence, rather than in
the fifth or fixth. Or will it be
ſaid, that, by carrying back the
origin of the Olympic Games,
they in effect carried back the
original æra of their own hiſto-
ry? Even this could be no ob-
jeet to the Eleans, becauſe their
hiſtory is ſo intimately connected
with that of the petty nations
adjoining, that whatever height-
ens the antiquity of any one
muft equally heighten that of
the others. The whole mafs of
Græcian
Er hans
OF THE OLYMPIADS. 139
Græcian hiſtory muſt move to-
gether. To increaſe the number
of the Olympiads, could not
therefore contribute in the leaſt
to ſet them above the heads of
their neighbours, which is the
common, if not the only, mo-
tive, for pretending to ſuperior
antiquity. Of the more diſtant
and barbarous nations, they either
knew too little to enter into any
competition with them, or elſe
they ſhewed their indifference for
this fancied honour, by readily
ſubfcribing, as in the caſe of the
Ægyptians, to the claim of pri-
ority, which theſe laft, with great
confidence, and perhaps with
juſtice, urged.
We
3
140 ON THE CHRONOLOGY
We are next to enquire into
the poſſibility of impoſing fuch
a fi&ion upon the world. It is
evident, that no ſuch impoſition
could take place, after the time
when Hippias the Elean-publiſh-
ed the liſt of the Olympionicæ, as
mentioned by PLUTARCH *. sir
Is AAC ſays, that he lived in the
105th Olympiad t; and poſſibly
he might live till that time ; but
it appears, that in the time of
Socrates, whoſe death happen-
ed in the beginning of the 95th,
which is no leſs than forty years
before, he had already attained
to great fame; honours, and
wealth : and therefore the pub-
* Vit. Numæ. 1. c.
Chronol. p. 47
lication
7
OF THE OLYMPIADS. 147
lication of his liſt may as proper-
ly be fixed to this time, as to any
other. Now, according to Sir
ISAAC's reckoning, the Olym-
piad, which we now call the 95th,
was in reality the 55th, and the
Olympic Games of conſequence
had only been celebrated about
220 years. It is hard, it is im-
poſſible to conceive, that among
the Greeks, who had ſo long
had the uſe of letters, who had
many ancient writings preſerved
among them, and who were fo
remarkably fond of genealogies,
that they, I fay, ſhould have ſo
entirely loſt all memory of the
inſtitution of the Olympiads, as
to know whether they
had
not
}
142 ON THE CHRONOLOGY
had laſted 380 years, or only
220. Set the date of the pub-
lication by Hippias higher, and
you ſtill increaſe the difficulty.
1
This however is far from being
all. In the catalogue of the
Olympiads, every Olympiad had
its particular victors, whoſe
countries, as well as their names,
were ſpecified. The memory of
an Olympic Vietor was fo care-
fully preſerved in Greece, it was
ſo precious to the nation, as well
as family of the Viator, that,
when a new lift came out of
forty or more Victors that had
never been heard of before, what
muſt have been the aftonilhment
of
OF THE OLYMPIADS.
143
of thoſe cities and countries upon
which this honour was ſo gene-.
rouſly conferred by the Eleans ?
Muſt they not have ſeen through
the impofture at once?' and, if
not at once, how could it eſcape
deteđion, perfect and complete ·
detection, for ſo many centuries.
together, in a nation abounding
with criticks?.. For that the lift
was publiſhed without any
chalms. We
have undoubted
proof, becauſe the names of all
the Victors in the Stadium are
come down even to us, and many
of them alſo are mentioned by
more authors than one, who all
agree as to the date of the vice
tory.
The
144 ON THE CHRONOLOGY
The impoſture, if it took
place at all, müſt relate entirely
to the firſt Olympiads ; becauſe
the nearer it approached to the
time of publication, thë more
certainly it would be detected.
Now, the authenticity of thoſe
Olympiads is ſtill further corros
borated by a variety of little cir-
cumſtances preſerved in Pausa-
NIẢs, no way neceſſary to the
ſuppoſed fraud, and therefore
hot likely to have been invented:
We are told for inſtance *, that
the firſt prize was that of the
foot-race ; that in the fourteenth
Olympiad that of the Diaulos;
or doublé foot-rate, was added;
that in the eighteenth they ret
V
* Eliae. I. p. 394.
vived
OF THE OLYMPIADS. 145
vived the Pentathlon and the
game of Wreſtling; that in the
twenty-third the prize of Boxing
was inſtituted, and in the twen-
ty-eighth that for full-aged horf-
Are not all theſe marks of
reality ? and is there any inſtance
of an impoſture being clogged
with fo many uneſſential circum-
ſtances ?
es.
Upon the whole, it is no ex-
travagance to ſay, that the liſt of
the Olympic Vietors has an au-
thority equal, if not ſuperior, to
that of any documents whatever,
of the ſame kind. It conſifted
of entries made by a public of
ficer, relative to tranſactions of
the
.
OGY
146 ON THE CHRONOLOGY
the greateſt notoriety, which the
parties themſelves, their rela-
tions, and their country, were
highly intereſted to keep in me-
mory. Greater ſecurity than this
for the integrity of any record it
is impoſſible to have ; and there-
fore to doubt the truth of it
would be to introduce univerſal
ſcepticiſm
Having now ſhewn upon what
authority the Olympic Regiſter
ſtands, I come next to conſider
the objections raiſed againſt it
by Sir Isaac Newton; which
will be found, I apprehend, to
be by no means ſufficient to
overturn the evidence in favour
of
OF THE OLYMPIADS. 147
of its general veracity. His firſt
and principal obje&ion is taken
from two liſts of Spartan kings ;
that kingdom by a very particu-
lar conſtitution having been go-
verned by two contemporary
kings, the lineal repreſentatives
of two brothers, EURYSTHENES
and PROCLES, who conquered it.
The beginning of the Meſſenian
war, as calculated by the Greeks,
is fixed by PAUSANIAS
ſecond year of the ninth Olym-
piad, at which time ALCAMENES
of the houſe of EURYSTHENES
was king of Sparta, and Theo-
POMPUS of the houſe of Pro-
*
to the
ghe Meffen. p. 292.
L2
CLES,
148 ON THE CHRONOLOGY
1
ܪܐ
CLES *.
From this year, accord-
ing to the Olympic computation;
it was 263 years to the expedi-
tion of Xerxes, which happen-
ed in the firſt year of the 7.5th
Olympiad. In this long interval
af 263 years, we find only eight
kings of the houſe of EurystHe-
NES, excluſive of ALCAMENES,
and only ſeven, ſtriąly ſpeaking,
of the houſe of PROCLES, exclu-
five of THEOPOMPUS. The lift
of the Eurysthenidæ is as follows:
1. POLYDORUS. 2. EURYCRATES,
3. ANAXANDER. 4. EURYCRA-
.
TES the Second.
5. LEON.
6. ANAXANDRIDES.
7. CLEO-
8. LEONIDAS.
This is
-
MENES.
* Meſſen. p. 288.
the
OF THE OLYMPIADS.
149
1
the liſt of Kings as given by
PAUSANIAS *
That given by
HERODOTUS + leaves out CLEO-
MENES, becauſe it is not a lift
of Kings, but only of the Pro-
genitors of LEONIDAS, the bro-
ther of CLEOMENES. The kings
of the Proclide family, accord-
ing to PAU SA NIAS #, were,
1. ZeuxiDAMUS, who ſucceeded
his grandfather THEOPOMPUS.
2. ANAXIDAMUS.
3. ARCHIDAS
MUS. 4. AGASICLES. 5. Aristo,
6. DEMARATUS, who was de-
poſed, and ſucceeded by, 7. LEO-
The lift given by
TYCHIDES.
* Lacon. p. 209–214.
+ L. VII. C. 204.
* Lacon. p. 220,1.
L3
He-
150 ON THE CHRONOLOGY
3. A.
HERODOTUS*, differs conſiderably
from this. According to him
their names were, 1. ANAXAN-
DRIDAS. 2. ARCHIDAMUS. 3.
NAXILAUS. 4. LEOTYCHIDES the
Firſt. 5. HIPPOCRATIDES, whoſe
ſon HEGESILAUS, and grandſon
MENARES, not ſucceeding to the
crown, the next king in ſucceſ-
fion is, 6. LEOTYCHIDES,
the
ſon of MỆNARES. It is not very
material to ſettle the difference
between HERODOTUS, the older
writer, and PAUSANIAS the more
diligent antiquary, becauſe though
Herodotus leffens the number of
kings, he adds one to the num,
ber of generations. Now what
* Lacon. VIII. C. 131.
.
is
1
1
OF THE OLYMPIADS. 1ši
is the obſervation of Sir ISAAC
upon theſe two lifts? He tells
us *, that " by the ordinary courſe
ss of nature kings reign one with
66 another about 18 or 20 years
^ a piece ;” and having laid
down this rule, he applies it,
among others, to the Spartan
kings abovementioned ; accord
ing to which the interval between
the firſt and the laſt of thoſe
kings amounts to no more than
140 years; whereas, if we rec-
kon by the Olympiads, it makes,
as I ſaid, 263;
1
To all ſuch reaſoning I have
one general anſwer; that the
* Chronol. p. 54.
L 4
reigns
!
152 ON THE CHRONOLOGY
1
reigns of kings not depending
upon the common chance of
mortality, or upon any ſimple
and conſtant natural cauſes, but
upon a variety of natural and
political cauſes, operating in con-
junction; ſuch as their own
folly or wiſdom, the caprice of
the multitude, the treachery of
their own ſubjects, and the in-
vaſion of foreign powers: all
theſe cauſes, 1 ſay, render the
length of reigns ſo uncertain and
yariable, that though we may
form an average of them as we
may of any thing elſe, we can-
not reaſon firmly and ſolidly upon
that average. We cannot ra-
tionally fay; ſo many kings of
Perfia,
OF THE OLYMPIADS. 153
:
Perſia, Macedonia, France, or
England, reigned, one with ano-
ther, about 20 years each, and
therefore ſo many emperors of
Japan did not reign longer. If
we take the three laſt kings of
France, their reigns amount in
the whole to 164 years, which is
at the rate of 55 years for each.
But the reigns of GALBA, OTHO,
and VIȚELLIUS, three ſucceeding
emperors of Rome, did not
amount in all to a year and three
quarters. What dependence can
there be upon a calculation of
things that differ ſo enormouſly?
For either we know the hiſtory
of the reigns which are the ſub-
ject of calculation, or we do not.
If
1
1
154 ON THE CHRONOLOGY,
1
i
If we do not, how can we be
ſure that they did not ſucceed
one another as rapidly as the em
perors of Rome juſt mentioned
or, on the contrary, that the
crown did not devolve ſuccef-
fively to minors, who enjoyed
it peaceably to a good old age,
which was nearly the caſe of the
three French kings? If we da
know the hiſtory, then this me-
thod of calculation is ſuperſeded
by poſitive and ſubſtantial evi-
dence. So that in no caſe is it
.
uſeful as a medium of proof; and
ſhould therefore be rejected, as
totally unworthy of attention.
Generations of men, though
ſufficiently vague, are however a
better
OF THE OLYMPIADS. 155
better ground for calculation than
the reigns of kings; the one
having no other limits than the
period of life; whereas the
gene-
rative faculty does not exiſt in
full force above a third part of
that period. Now, in the pre-
ſent caſe, the learned and dili,
gent PAUSANIAS, who has pro-
bably given us the true lift of
both the races of theſe Spartan
kings *, (for one of thoſe in
HERODOTUS is palpably errone
ous), this fame PAUSANIAS has
alſo given us a very circumſtan-
tial account of their genealogy
Įs it not therefore a little extra-
ordinary that Sir ISAAC NEWTON,
1
* Lacon. p. 209 & 220.
having
156 ON THE CHRONOLOGY
having it in his option to calcu.
late this interval of time by the
more accurate method, ſhould
chuſe to do it by the more vague
and inaccurate?
We ſhall pre-
fently ſee, that had he calculate
by generations, his objection
againſt the authenticity of the
Olympiads would not have been
near fo ftrong: and one cannot
therefore help fufpe&ting, that,
,
great and candid as he unqueſ-
tionably was, he was, in this in-
ſtance, drawn out of the right
path by a bias, imperceptible to
himſelf, in favour of his own
opinions.
Sir Isaac Newton has ſtated
very fairly his method of compu-
tation
A
+
OF THE OLYMPIADS. 157
tation by reigns, and the differ-
ence between them and genera-
tions. He ſays *, that “genes
« rations from father to ſon may
“ be reckoned, one with another,
« at about 33 or 34 years a-piece,
“ or about three generations to å
“ hundred years; but if the
“ reckoning proceed by the eld-
" eſt fons, they are ſhorter, ſo
" that three of them may be
o reckoned at about 75 or 80
years. And the reigns of kingsi
are ſtill ſhorter : becauſe kings
“ are ſucceeded not only by their
" eldeſt ſons, but ſometimes by
" their brothers; and ſometimes
they are Dain or depoſed, and
(6
66
* Chonol. p. 53. 54•
+
6 ſuch
158 ON THE CHRONOLOGY
“ ſucceeded by others of an
“ equal or greater age, eſpecially
“ in elective or turbulent king-
66 doms." All this is undoubt-
edly true; and being ſo, one
does not ſee with what proprie-
ty an average, drawn from this
method of computation by reigns,
can be applied to caſes, where
we know, from good authority,
that there was no revolution,
or change of family, but that
the crown deſcended peaceably
from father to fon. Suppoſe a
calculator was to eſtabliſh this
rule, that the duration of a ſhip,
including accidents from fire
and ſhipwreck, was, upon a
medium, 15 years; would this
be
1
OF THE OLYMPIADS. 159
1
be conclufive with reſpect to the
duration of any number of ſhips,
which we might know from good
authority to have met with nofuch
accident? In like manner, where
the crown deſcends regularly
from father to ſon, we have no-
thing to do with a rule, which
pre-ſuppoſes an interrupted fuc-
ceſſion. Our buſineſs here is to
calculate by generations, where
'the error, we may confidently
ſay, cannot be great; whereas
in calculating unknown time
by reigns, there is no pofſi-
bility of gueſſing what it may
be. If we had no hiftory
of the Roman emperors from
CÆSAR to CONSTANTINE, and
$
were
is
1
160 ON THE CHRONOLOGY
were reduced to the neceſſity
of calculating by Sir Isaac's ave-
rage, how extravagantly would
it miſlead us ? For the number
of reigns being 44, reckoning
the emperors who reigned to
gether only as one, this multi-
plied by 18, which is Sir Isaac's
loweſt average, would give 792
for the number of years, where
as in fact they were only 373.
Let us now fee, how the
calculation by generations will
fuit with the above-mentioned
period of 263 years. According
to PAUSANIAS *, the generations
of the Eurysthenide, from the ſe-
1
* Lacon. p. 210. 2:14:
cond
OF THE OLYMPIADS. 161
1
DORUS.
5. Leon.
.cond year of the ninth Olym-
piad, were ſeven in number, ex-
cluſive of Alcamenes, who is
the head of the lift; I. POLY-
2. EURYCRATES. 3. A-
NAXANDER. 4.
4. EURYCRATES the
Second.
6. ANAX-
ANDRIDES. 7. LEONIDAS. Thoſe
of the Proclide, excluding in like
manner THEOPOMPUS, were, ac-
cording to the ſame author *
1. ARCHIDAMUS, who dying be-
fore his father, never reigned.
2. ZEUXIDAMUS. 3. ANAXIDA-
4. ARCHIDAMUS.
6. ARISTO.
MARATUS, who, though depof-
ed, was ſtill living, and accom-
Lacon. p. 220, 1.
M
panied
I
3
MUS,
GASICLES.
5. A.
7. De-
162' ON THE CHRONOLOGY
panied Xerxes on his expedition.
Divide 263 years by 7, and the
quotient is 37, with a remain-
der of 4, which makes 37 years
and a half for each generation.
This, though rather more than
is commonly allowed, is greatly
within the limits of poffibility;
and therefore the exceſs, even if
there were no way of accounting
for it, would not furniſh any
concluſive argument againſt the
authenticity of a public record.
But I muſt obſerve, that the
cauſe of this irregularity, is to
be found in the hiſtory itſelf,
ANAXANDRIDES, the fixth in our
liſt of the EURYSTHENIDÆ, was
fo
1
.
OF THE OLYMPIADS. 163
1
ſo long without children by his
firtt wife, that, according to Pau-
SANIAS * and HERODOTUS f, he
was compelled by the Ephori to
take another, for fear the race of
EURYSTHENes ſhould be extinct.
This ſecond wife brought him
CLEOMENES, his immediate ſuc-
ceffor ; after which he had three
ſons, Dopieus, and LEONIDAS,
and CleoMBROTUS, by his firſt.
LEONIDAS therefore was born
when his father was advanced
towards the latter part of the
generative period. It was alſo
late in life before LEONIDAS ſuc-
ceeded to the throne ;. for his
* Lacon. p. 211.
* L. V. C. 39, 40.
M 2
half-
164 ON THE CHRONOLOGY
half-brother CLEOMENES, who
was advanced to it before him,
did not become King till his
brother Dorieus was of an age
to command a fleet and army,
and to ſettle a colony. Cleo-
Menes reigned upwards of twenty
years; ſo that LEONIDAS, at the
time of his acceſſion, was pro-
bably near forty; and this being
twelve years before the expe-
dition of XERXES, LEONIDAS at
the time of that event may be
conſidered as a man of about two
and fifty.
*
A ſimilar accident happened
about the ſame time in the fa-
mily of the Proclide. Aristo,
the
/
OF THE OLYMPIADS. 165
the ſixth in our lift, had, ac-
cording to HERODOTUS *, mar-
ried two wives ; but, ftill con-
tinuing childleſs, was defirous
of marrying a third ; and caſt
his eyes upon the wife of his
friend AGETUS, who, having been
betrayed into an oath not to
withhold any thing in his poſ-
ſeſſion from the king, ſurrender-
ed her to him with reluctance.
By this third wife he had De-
MARATUS, who at the time of
the invaſion of Attica by the
Spartans, in ſupport of the fac-
tion of ISAGORAS T,
was old
enough to be joined in command
* L. VI. c. 62, 63.
gju Herod. V. c. 74, 5.
M3
with
166 ON THE CHRONOLOGY
with CLĘOMENEs, and therefore
was probably not leſs than fifty
age,
when XERXES, near
thirty years after, invaded Greece.
years of
1
We have here two kings of
Sparta, neither of them born in
the firſt youth of his father, and
both of them declining in life at
the celebrated epocha of the bat-
tle of Thermopylæ, Taking
theſe circumſtances together, we
may fairly, I think, add an
eighth, or nearly an eighth, ge-
neration to the ſeven, for which
we have an inconteſtable warrant
from hiſtory. And this being
done, if we divide 263, which
is the Olympic number of years,
by
1
1
OF THE OLYMPIADS. 167
by 8, the quotient will be a little
leſs than 33, and it will be half
a year ſhort of Sir Isaac's own
allowance for a generation, which
is between 33 and 34 years.
Neither is this allowance greatly
too much for the duration of
the reigns of Kings, where the
ſucceſſion follows the eldeſt fon;
for if we examine the genealo-
gies from WILLIAM the Conque-
ror to his preſent majeſty, we
ſhall find them to be three and
twenty in number, excluding,
as we ought, either the firſt of
thefe Kings or the laft; and then,
if we divide 713, which is the
number of years between 1066,
'the
year of the Conqueſt, and
th
1
M 4
1
169 ON THE CHRONOLOGY
31.
4
the
year 1779, by 23, we ſhall
find the quotient to be exa&tly
And though the line of
genealogy goes in two inſtances
through a younger ſon, that is,
through Henry the Firſt, and
John of Gaunt, duke of Lan-
caſter, which of courſe adds
ſomething to the length of thoſe
generations : yet in two others
it paſſes through a ſiſter elder
than the male heir, that is, through
MARGARET daughter of HEN-
· RY VII. and the queen of Bohe-
mia, daughter of James 1. ſo
that what is gained by one aber-
ration is loſt by the other.
If it be thought probable, that
kings in particular ſhould marry
and
/
OF THE OLYMPIADS. 169
and have heirs before the
age
of
33: I anſwer in the firſt place,
that both HESIOD and SOLON,
almoſt the only writers from
whom we can learn the cuſtoms
of that age, both theſe, I ſay,
have fixed upon thirty, as the
ſeaſonable
age
for marrying.
The words of Hesiod have been
often quoted * :
Μήτε τριηκόντων ετέων μάλα πολλ'
απολέπων, ,
Μήτ' επιθεις μάλα πολλά. .
Thoſe of Solon are ſtill more
appoſite. Having divided hu-
man life into ſtages of ſeven
years each; he ſpeaks thus of
the fifth *:
* Epy. v. 696.
with Ap. Clem. Alexand. Strom. L. vi.
)
P. 686.
Πέμπτη
170 ON THE CHRONOLOGY
Πέμπτη και ώριον άνδρα γάμε μεμ-
νημένον είναι.
1
But ſecondly; though kings
ſhould be ſuppoſed to marry ear-
lier, fome allowance ſhould be
made for their wives not being
pregnant immediately; or for
the firſt children being daughters;
if males, for their dying as
a great proportion of infants does
before they are paſt their child-
hood.
or,
.
So much for the argument
drawn from the uſual time that
kings, upon an average, may
be ſuppoſed to reign. I come
now to conſider a few ſcattered
par-
OF THE OLYMPIADS. 171
1
paſſages of the ancient Greek
writers, which have been thought
to contradiet and overthrow the
Clympic Chronology.
And firſt, we are told by
PLATO *, that the laws of Ly-
CURGUS had been then eſtabliſhed
a little more than three hundred
years; έτη τριακόσια και ολίγω πλέω.
Here if the reading be right, and
the author well informed, the
argument is concluſive. But as
the change of a letter or two
frequently makes a great change
in the ſenſe, the firſt queſtion to
be conſidered is the correctneſs
of the text, and whether it can
* In Minoe, p. 567. Ed. F.
6
be
1
172 ON THE CHRONOLOGY
be ſo far depended upon, as to
overſet the concurrent teſtimony
of all antiquity. It would be
no great alteration to read ſon
τετρακόσια inftead of τριακόσια, ,
and ſuch a miſtake might be ac-
counted for ſeveral ways ;
ways; either
from the firſt fyllable of tempal-
cócic being obliterated, or elſe
thoſe two letters T, €, might be
dropt, from their ſimilarity to
the laſt ſyllable of fin; after
which the ſubftitution of tplanó-
σια for τρακόσια might very eafily
happen. Adamitting τετρακοσια
to be the true reading, it will
fufficiently quadrate with the
Olympic Chronology. Socrates
is ſuppoſed to have been born in
the
OF THE OLYMPIADS.
173
1
1
the third year of Olym. LXXVII.
that is 307 years after the firſt
Olympiad. Add to this 50
years for the age of SocRATES, at
the time when this converſation
happened. This makes the num-
ber 357. Concerning the time
when Lycurgus flouriſhed there
were ſeveral opinions; ſome
making him coæval with the firſt
Olympiad ; others, according to
PLUTARCH *, ſetting him many
years before it; and others, I
preſume, at other intervening
periods. Now as we are quite in
the dark which of theſe opi-
nions Plato followed, we are at
full liberty to chuſe that, to
* Vit. Lycurg. init.
which
-
174 ON THE CHRONOLOGY
which the expreſſion of étn 7d-
τρακόσια και ολίγω λέω will moft
perfectly agree.
9
f
Secondly, THUCYDIDES, ac-
cording to Sir ISAAC NEWTON
affirms, that « from the time
(+ the Lacedæmonian's had uſed
one and the fame adminiftra-
56 tion of their comnionwealth
6 to the end of the Peloponne-
“ fian war, there were three hun-
* dred years and a few more.”
This difficulty, fuppofing the
quotation exact, would be of leſs
conſequence than the preced-
ing; for it might be got over
without
any alteration
alteration of the
* Chronol. p. 57.
text.
OF THE OLYMPIADS. 175
text. By the words one and the
ſame adminiſtration of the com-
monwealth the Hiſtorian might
mean, not the laws of Lycur-
Gus, but the new form, which
the government aſſumed in the
reign of THEOPOMPUS, by the in-
ftitution of the Ephori ; an event
which we may ſuppoſe to have
happened in the laſt year of
Olymp. XI. exa&ly in the mid-
dle of his reign. From this year
to the taking of Athens by Ly-
SANDER, there is an interval of 82
Olympiads and one year, that is,
of 329 years; to which ſpace the
expreſſion of Thucydides might
naturally and without violence be
applied. But in fact THUCYDI-
DES does not ſay what Sir ISAAC
im-
146 ON THE CHRONOLOGY
*
1
imputes to him. The word in
all the known copies of the ori-
ginal text 1s τετρακόσια, four
hundred, for which three hun-
dred has been ſubſtituted in the
old Latin tranſlation, where
only it is to be found. This
larger number, it is obvious,
muſt be applied to the laws of
LYCURGUS, and there can be
no difficulty in applying it, as
THUCYDIDES has no where told
us, what interval he placed be-
tween LYCURGUS and the firſt
Oympiad.
I ſhall not at preſent examine
the objection which Sir Isaac
makes + to the Græcian Chro-
* L.I. c. i8. Ed. Duker.
☆ Chronol. p. 55.
nology,
OF THE OLYMPIADS. 177
1
nology, from the Lacedæmonian
(not Meſſenian *) army having
been commanded in the ſecond
year of Olymp. X. by one Eury-
Leon, the fixth in deſcent from
Theras, who lived during the
invaſion of the Heraclidæ, be-
cauſe this obje&tion principally
affects the time preceding the
Olympiáds; whereas the preſent
matter of diſcuſſion is the ge-
nuineneſs of the Olympiads them-
ſelves. I proceed therefore to
an objection of much more im-
portance, which affects the
Olympiads only; and, if ſub-
ftantially ſupported, would go a
great way towards overthrowing
ä Pauſan. Meffen. p. 296.
N.
their
1
178 ON THE CHRONOLOGY
Η
their credit. HERODOTUS, in his
lift of the noble youths, who fol-
licited the daughter of CLISTHE-
Nes in marriage, mentions one
LEOCEDES, the fon of PHIDON.
His words are ής, από δε Πελοπον-
νήσε Φίδωνος τ8 'Αργέων τυράννα
σαϊς Λεωκώδης, Φίδωνος δε τα τα.
μέτρα ποιήσαντος Πελοποννησίοισι, και
υβρίσαντος μέγισα δη Ελλήνων απάν-
των ός εξανασήσας τες Ηλείων αγω-
νοθέτας αυτός τον έν Ολυμπίη αγώνα
3θηκε. The words, as they ftand, .
can mean nothing but that Leo-
Cedes was the ſon of PHIDON,
the tyrant of Argos, and the
ſame Phidon, who eſtabliſhed the
Peloponneſian weights and mea-
1
& Lib. VI. C. 127.
4.
fures και
OF THE OLYMPIADS. 179
I
1
fures; who was guilty of greater
exceſſes than any other of the
Greeks, and having ejected the
Agonothete of the Eleans pre-
fided himſelf at the Olympic
Games. The time of the Phi-
DON, who uſurped this office, is
fixed by PAUSANIAS to the eighth
Olympiad *; and with him Stra-
BO £ in effect agrees, by making
PHIDON the tenth in deſcent from
TEMÉNUS. The Arundel Mar-
ble indeed ſpeaks of one PHIDON
an Argive, who coined money
415 years before the expedition
of XERXES I; that is 119 years
before the firſt Olympiad. But
>
* Eliac. II. p. 509.
+ Lib. VIII. p. 549.
Miaſm. Oxon. I. 1. 45.
+
N 2
as
..
180 ON THE CHRONOLOGY
as nothing is ſaid of his tyranny
or invaſion of his neighbours, it
poſſible that in the Marble, as
well as in Herodotus, he may
have been confounded with Phi-
DON of Corinth, a very ancient
Lawgiver mentioned by Aris-
TOTLE * Or even if the fame
Phidon be meant, the miſtake
is not greater than ſome others
which have been found in that
famous Chronology. Be this as
it may, my argument is not at
all benefited by following the
computation of Pausanias and
STRABO, rather than that of the
Marble; becauſe in either caſe,
if it ſhould clearly appear, that
* Politic. II. p. 35. Ed. Sylburg.
Leo-
OF THE OLYMPIADS. 181
1
LEOCEDES, the fon of this pai-
DON, courted the daughter of
CLISTHENES, it will equally
prove the incorrectneſs of the
Olympic liſt, or rather indeed
the non-exiſtence of a great part
of the Olympiads. Sir ISAAC
very juſtly places CLISTHENES in
the 47th Olympiad, and his
daughter being courted by the
ſon of PHỊDON, it follows that he
and Phidon were nearly equal
in age. Now Phidon is faid to
have lived in the eighth Olym-
piad, and Clisthenes 154 years
later, in the 47th. The confe-
quence evidently is, if they were
really contemporaries, that the
Olympiads muſt have been ex-
tended
N3
2
182 O-N THE CHRONOLOGY
tended near 140 years beyond
the truth.
The attentive reader will ob-
ferve, that the whole of this ar-
gument reſts upon one ſingle
paffage in HERODOTUS, and con-
ſequently falls to the ground, if
that paſſage ſhould happen to
have been incorrectly tranſcribed ;
if it has been interpolated or mu,
tilated, ſo as to alter the ſenſe.
Now the perfe&t correctneſs of
any one paffage, conſidering the
many corruptions to which books
are liable, is a thing too uncer-
tain to be relied upon, in oppo-
ſition to the weight of evidence
in fayour of the Olympic Chro-
nology
L
OF THE OLYMPIADS. 183
nology. In this very paſſage,
two of the manuſcripts omit the
important word dats, which
leaves room for ſuppoſing that
LEOCEDES might be only the de-
fcendent of PHIDON, But for
my own part I am inclined to
believe, that the word mais is
genuine, and no interpolation;
though I think that the paſſage
is evidently corrupted. The ad-
verſative particle de comes in very
aukwardly and improperly in the
ſecond
part
of the ſentence, ſup-
poſing the writer to ſpeak of the
ſame PHIDON in both places; and
if we ſtrike it out, the repetition
of the word vádoros has a poeti-
cal air, very unſuitable to hiſtory.
I
NA
184 ON THE CHRONOLOGY
1
I would read therefore Φέδωνος
τ8'Αργέων τυράννε σαΐς Λεωκώδης,
Φίδωνος δε ΟΥ τ8 τα μέτρα ποιή-
OAVTOS, %. 7.2. In Engliſh:"Leo-
cedes the fon of PHIDON, king
« of Argos; but not of that Phi-
DON who eſtabliſhed the Pelop
ponneſian meaſures,” and ſo
furth. This correction ſuppoſes
that PHIDON, the father of LEO-
cedes, though ſeveral genera-
tions later than the enterprizing
PHIDON, ſtill poſſeſſed the fo-
vereignty of Argos: the proba-
bility of which it may be neceſ-
ſary to eſtabliſh, it not being
generally known, that Argos
continued to be a monarchical
ſtatę ſo long. What Sir ISAAC
NEWTON
OF THE OLYMPIADS, 185
NEWTON aſſerts *, that « be-
tween Cisus (the ſon of TEME
NUS) and Phidon they reigned
not,” is a miſtake, ariſing from
his underſtanding the words of
PAUSANIAS in too ſtrong a ſenſe.
That learned antiquary ſays to
that the Argives, being from the
moſt ancient times lovers of equa-
lity and independence, reduced
the power of the kings ſo low-
ως μηδενι των Κάσε και τους απογόνους
ή το όνομα λειφθήναι της βασιλέας
pover" that nothing but the
name of royalty was left to the de-
fcendents of Cisus.” The paf-
fage in the Greek is intricate and
1
* Chronol. p. 123.
of Corinth. p: 1520
cor-
*
7
1.86 ON THE CHRONOLOGY
corrupt"; nor will it be much
mended by reading ws MHAEN
undeve tūv xéos -- which would
fignify, "fo that nothing was left
to any of the defcendents of Cisus
and to his deſcendents, but the
name only of royalty.” PAUSA-
NIAS, in the following fentence,
mentions one MEDON, from
whoin the laft king of Argos was
deſcended; and SATYRUS, an an-
cient hiſtorian, quoted by Theo-
PHILUS, biſhop of: Antioch *
ſpeaks of MARON as the fon and
immediate fucceffor of Cisus. I
would read therefore--ως μηδεν
ΜΗΔΩΝΙ το Κίσε, και τους απογόνους,
ή το όνομα λειφθήναι της βασιλείας
* Ad Autolycum. 1. II. p. 96. Ed. Wolf.
μόνον
OF THE OLYMPIADS. 187
1
pcówox-=-" ſo that nothing was left
to MEDON, the ſon of Cisus, and
his defcendents, but the name only
of royalty.” It is plain from this
paſſage alone, that the lineal de-
ſcendents of Cisus, the ſon of
TEMENUS, continued to be kings
of Argos for ſome time; and
ARISTOTLÉ, in his Politicks *
expreſsly fays, that PHIDON the
Argive of a King became a Ty-
tant; ſo that the kingdom was
his by inheritance. But neither
was PHIDON the laſt to whom it
went in ſucceſſion. For PAU-
SANIAS, in the ſentence imme-
diately following, ſays,
the people [of Argos] being diſ-
L. V. p. 152. Ed. Sylburg.
affected
1
" that
1
188 ON THE CHRONOLOGY
affected to Meltas, the ſon of
LACIDES, and defcendent of ME-
DON, deprived him of the go-
vernment entirely. The king-
dom of Argos therefore was pof-
ſeſſed, as an hereditary, though
limited, monarchy, by the ſon
of Lacides; 4 word, which,
when corrected to LACEDES, as
LEOCIDES in HERODOTUS has
been to LEOCEDES, turns out to
be the ſame name, differing no
otherwife than as Μενελεως does
from Meyehus, or LeodaMAs from
LAODAMAS. DEMOCEDES, a name
repeatedly mentioned in Hero-
DOTUS, is a word of the ſame
import. Upon the whole then
it ſeems highly probable, that
the
OF THE OLYMPIADS. 189
the LEOCIDES, or LEOCEDES, of
HERODOTUS, was ſon to the king
of Argos, whatever the name of
his father was. I ſuppoſe it to
have been Phidon, who being
an obſcure perſon, compared with
his anceſtor the invader of Elis,
it became neceſſary for HERODO-
Tus to caution his readers againſt
confounding one with the other.
If the conje&ture here propoſed,
to which I foreſee no material
objection, be admitted, it entirely
removes the Chronological diffi-
culty inſiſted upon by Sir ISAAC
NEWTON,
A fourth objection to the
Olympic Chronology is taken
from
7
190 ON THE CHRONOLOGY
1
from a paſſage in PAUSANIAS *,
where he is ſuppoſed to ſay, “that
CYPSELUS, king of Corinth, was
the fixth in deſcent from MELAS,
the contemporary of ALETES,
who got poſſeſſion of Corinth
when the Heraclida returned
into Peloponneſust. The reign
of Cypselus began in the 30th
or 31ſt Olympiad ; and by this
Teckoning Melas muſt have lived
only two generations before the
firſt Olympiad ; whereas his con-
temporary ALETES was alſo con-
temporary with TEMENUS I, feven
or eight generations older than
that Period. Admitting there-
* Eliac. I. p. 424.
of Chronol. p. 62.
Strabo, L. VIII. p. 597.
fore
OF THE OLYMPIADS.
I91
3
fore Cypselus to have been only
the fixth from MELAS, we muſt
annihilate about five generations,
which are nearly equal to one
and forty Olympiads, of the in-
terval between them. But the
ſame PAUSANIAS, from whom
this is quoted, tells us in ano-
ther place *, that Aletes and
his deſcendents reigned at Corinth
for five generations, the laſt
being Bacchis, the ſon of Prum-
NIS : that after him the ſo-called
Bacchiade reigned there for five
other generations, ending with
Telestes, the ſon of Aristo-
DEMUS, who was killed by Ari-
EUS and PERANTAS: after which
* Corinthiac. p. 120.
Corinthi
192 ON THE CHRONOLOGY
Corinth was not governed by
kings, but by annual magiſtrates
of the race of the Bacchiade, till
the time of their expulſion by
CYPSELUS.” This account of
PAUSANIAS is clear and circum-
ftantial; and from it we learn,
that there were at leaſt ten gene-
rations between the time of Me-
LAS and CYPSELUS; and how
many more we are not informed.
The word éxtoy therefore, in the
paſſage of PAUSANIAS, quoted
by Sir Isaac, is indiſputably a
corruption. It might be altered
to łydexatov; but a careful exa-
mination of the context has
convinced me, that the ori-
ginal word was
was not a word
of
OF THE OLYMPIADS. 193
of number. The paſſage ſtands
thus in the editions * : Kuvéaw ng
πούς προγόνους έκτoν ήν γένος εξαρχής
Γονέσης της Σικυώνος, και πρόγονος
σφίσιν ήν Μέλας και Αντάσσε. If this
paſſage admits of any ſenſe at all,
it muſt be ſomething like the
following: CYPSELUS and his an-
ceſtors were in the fixth genera-
tion from Gonussa of Sicyon, and
their Progenitor was MELAs the
fon of Antassus. But this, as
the reader muſt fee, is full of ab-
ſurdities. GONUSSA is the name
of a place in the country of Si-
cyon; and not, as Sir Isaac ima.
gined, of a perſon. Ic is more-
over a palpable blunder to ſay,
* Paufan. Eliac. I. p. 424.
O
that
194 ON THE CHRONOLOGY
that CYPSELUS, and his anceſ
tors, were in the ſixth genera-
tion from any body; for if he
was in the fixth, his father muſt
have been in the fifth ; and his
grandfather in the fourth. It
appears probable to me, that
EKTON was formerly EK TON,
and that lovsong does not occu-
py its proper place, but ſhould
follow the præpoſition {x, the
whole ſtanding thus : Kupéaw sj
τους προγόνους ΕΚ ΓΟΝΟΥΣΣΗΣ ήν
γένος εξαρχής της Σικυώνος, και πρό-
γονος σφίσιν ήν Μέλας και Αντάσσε.
“The race of Cypselus and his
anceſtors was originally from
« Gonuſſa in the country of Si-
“ cyon, and their progenitor was
- MELAS,
OF THE OLYMPIADS. 195
* Melas, the ſon of AntAssƯS.”
This agrees exactly with what
he ſays in another place *, that
“ MELAS, the ſon of ANTASSUS,
came from GONussA beyond Si-
cyon, to ſerve in the Dorian army
againft Corinth, and that ALETES
with difficulty was prevailed upon
to receive him." The alteration
which I have propoſed may ſeem
bold; but, I hope, it is not ex-
travagantiy ſo. They who are
acquainted with MSS know, how
common it is for a word, or part
of a word, to be obliterated at
the beginning or end of a line.
Suppoſing this to have happened
to the latter part of the word
* Corinthiac. p. 120.
o
for
196 ON THE CHRONOLOGY
1
ex Toy,
Lovecons, the text would ſtand
Then comes a correct
tor, and puts the word loverons
in the margin, which the next
tranſcriber inſerts in an impro-
per place, changing EK TON at
the ſame time into EKTON.
I cannot diſmiſs this argument
without obſerving, that Sir ISAAC,
who would here make ALETES
only fix generations older than
CYPSELUS, and has urged this as
a fa&t that overturns the common
Chronology; yet himſelf, in ano-
ther place *, reckons up by name
the ſucceſſors : and lineal de-
ſcendents of Aletes to the num-
* Chronol. p. 142.
ber
OF THE OLYMPIADS. 197
ber of eight, and adds to them
42 annual Archons, all inter-
vening between Aletes and Cyp-
So little are the beſt and
wiſeſt of men upon their guard,
when they have a favourite opi-
nion to ſupport
SELUS.
23
I now proceed in the fifth
place to conſider the difficulty
ſuggeſted by the age of TERPAN-
Der, the famous muſician. “Äthe-
neus, to uſe the words of Sir
Isaac *, " tells us out of ancient
“ authors (Hellanicus, Sopimus,
“ and Hieronymus) that Lycur-
gus the Legiſlator was contem-
porary to Terpander the mus
* Chronol. p. 58.
66
Q3
« fician,
198 ON THE CHRONOLOGY
“ fician, and that Terpander was
“ the firſt man who got the vic-
tory in the Carnea, in a foa
lemnity of muſic inſtituted in
" thoſe feſtivals in the 26th
Olympiad.” The inference is
plain, that if Lycurgus lived till
the 26th Olympiad, the preced-
ing Olympiads muſt be fiąitious.
But here I muſt take the liberty
to ſay, that the words of Sir
Is AAC convey a falſe idea, much
too favourable to his ſyſtem. The
natural meaning of them is, that
there are three ancient hiſtorians,
who expreſsly give teſtimony
againſt the common notion of
Lycurgus having lived a hun-
dred years prior to the firſt Olym-
piad
OF THE OLYMPIADS. 199
piad ; and inſtead of that bring
him a hundred years below it.
But the fact is, that not one of
theſe ancient authors ſays either
that, or any thing like it. The
words of Athenæus literally tranſ-
lated, run thus *, “That Ter-
PANDER was older than ANA-
“ Creon is plain from the fol-
lowing teſtimonies.' TERPAN.
“ DER was the firſt who obtained
“ the prize in the Carnea, as
“ HELLANICUS relates, both in
« his metrical and proſe account
“ of the Carneonicæ. Now the
« inſtitution of the Carnea was
“s in the 26th Olympiad, as So-
fimus affirms in his Chronolo-
L. XIV. p. 6356
gy.
04
200 ON THE CHRONOLOGY
1
gy. But HIERONYMUS, in his
book upon Citharoedi, which
" is the fifth of his work upon
“ Poets, ſays, that TERPANDER
66 lived in the time of LYCURGUS
“ the Lawgiver, whom all wri.
“ ters unanimouſly allow to have
66 aflifted IPHITUS the Elean. in
“ that inſtitution of the Olympic
games, which is reckoned the
“ firſt.".. We ſee here three dif,
ferent writers, atteſting three ſe-
parate unconnected facts, plainly
conſidered by AthenÆys as
contradictory one to another, but
which muſt be all brought to-
gether, and all ſuppoſed to bę
true, before Sir Isaac's conclu-
fion can be made out from them,
This
OF THE OLYMPIADS. 201
This-ſurely is very different from
having each of the three witneſſes
ſpeak to all the three facts. Even
HIERONYMUS, the only one of
them who brings LYCURGUS and
TERPANDER together, agreed
with all other writers, I ſuppoſe,
(ſince' all writers, according to
ATHENÆUS, were agreed) that
LYCÚRGUS lived at the time of the
firſt inftitution of the Olympiads
by Iphitus, and therefore, 'had
Hieronymus known the affertions
of the other two, he would cer-
tainly have rejected one or other
of them. So that here we have
a point made out, it ſeems, not
by three unanimous witneſſes in
the common way; but by three
who
1
!
Y
202 ON THE CHRONOLOGY
who contradict and refute one
another.
What ground Hieronymus
might have for his fingular no-
tion, that LYCURGUS and Ter-
PANDER were contemporaries, it
is impoſſible (ATHENÆUs having
ſaid nothing) to conjecture. But
fingular it certainly was ; for
PLUTARCH, in the Book de Muſt
ca*, where he enquires very
mi.
nutely into the age of Terpan-
DER, does not give the leaſt hint
of any ſuch opinion having been
ſtarted. He appears to have
placed him nearly where the
Arundel Marble places him,, a
* Moral, p. 1132
little
OF THE OLYMPIADS.
203
1
little before ARCHILOCHUS;
though the ſtory which he tells,
of his carrying away the prize
four times ſucceſſively at the Py-
thian Games is not conſiſtent
with that marble: unleſs we ſup-
poſe him to mean Pythian Games,
celebrated at irregular intervals,
in ſome period prior to their final
eſtabliſhment *.
The ſame LYCURGUS furniſhes
Sir Isaac with a fixth objection
to the Olympic Chronology t,
which it is much eaſier to an-
fwer, than to preſerve in anfwer-
ing the temper and decorum due
* Compare alſo Clem. Alex. Lib. I..
P. 333. Ed. Par.
+ Chronol. p. 58.
to
204 ON THE CHRONOLOGY
to fo high a character. It ſeems
there was a Diſc at Ołympia,
which had the name of Lycur-
Gus inſcribed upon it. Hence
ARISTOTLE, according to Plu-
TARCH *, inferred, that LycUR-
GUS was contemporary with Iphi-
tús, the founder of the Olympic
Games, and aſſiſted in the eſtab-
liſhment of them. Sir ISAAC
taking it for granted that this
Diſc was one of thoſe uſed by
the. Athletes, finding that the
Diſc was a part of the Pentathlos,
and having learnt from Pausa-
NIAS #, that from the time the
Olympiads were celebrated in a
regular ſeries, the Pentathlos was
* V. Lycurg, p.85.- Ed. Bryan.
mju Eliac. I. P. 394.
never
OF THE OLYMPIADS: 205
I
never practiſed till the 18th of
thoſe. Olympiads, he concludes,
that it was at this very time Lv-
CURGUS was preſent, and conſe
quently that his age has been ſet
near 140 years too high by the
Chronologers. The concluſion
is much too haſty, even though
the premiſes had been true. I need
not inform the reader, that the
invention and cuſtom of caſting
the Diſc, as a trials of ſkill, was
older than LYCURGUS, being,
mentioned by Homer. And
though Homer himſelf, partak-
ing of the common fate of his
countrymen, loſes fomewhat of
his antiquity in the hands of Sir
Isaac, he is ſtill admitted to have
been
I
/
206 ON THE CHRONOLOGY
been prior to Lycurgus. Now
the game of the Diſc being con-
feſſedly older than the Pentathlos,
what abſurdity is there in fup-
poſing that it might be ſeparate-
lý practiſed at the Olympic Feſti-
val, as Pindar expreſsly affirms
it was in ſome places *, before it
was combined with other exer-
ciſes to make the Pentatblos? It
is only in organized productions,
whether animal or vegetable, that
a part cannot exiſt before the
whole, but in civil inſtitutions
nothing is more common. And
when it is ſuppoſed, that the
Game of the Diſc could not exiſt
before the Quinquertium, it might
Ifthm. I.
with
#
OF THE OLYMPIADS 2017
with equal juſtice be ſaid, that
the union of any two unconnect-
ed offices in the ſame perſon is a
proof, that neither of them at any
former period had been ſeparate-
ly exerciſed.
1
This would be a fufficient an-
Iwer. But the reader will be
ſurprized to hear, that the fact
is, not what Sir ISAAC has ſtated
it to be, but exactly the reverſe.
PAUSANIAS does not ſay, that the
Pentathlos, or combination of the
Diſc, with four other Games, was
firſt practiſed, or inſtituted in
the 8th Olympiad. His ac-
count is to this effect *.
" After
* Eliac. I. p. 394
6 IPHITUS
I
208 ON THE CHRONOLOGY
.
“ IPHITUS had revived the feſtis
val in the manner above 'res.
“ lated, the memory of many
" antient cuſtoms was ſtill loft,
“ and it was by ſlow' degrees that
men came to the remembrance
“ of them, and added to the
“ Games whatever they happened
« to recollect. This is manifeft.
“ For reckoning from the time
" when the memorials of the
Olympiads go on without in-
“ terruption, the firſt prize given
was for the foot-race, which
was won by COROEBUS the Ele-
Afterwards in the four-
“ teenth Olympiad the Diaulos
was added, and HYPENUS' of
“ Piſa carried away the olive-
(6 branch
66
an.
A
OF THE OLYMPIADS. 209
+
" branch for the Diaulos, as
“ ACANTHUS did in the next
Olympiad. Then in the 18th
Olympiad they recollected the
* Pentatblos and the wreſtling.”
The Pentathlos therefore was no
new invention of that time, but
the very words of PAUSANIAS
ſhew, that it had been practiſed
long before the revival of the
Olympic games by Iphitus, ſo
long indeed as to have
gone
into
· diſuſe and oblivion. And hence
it follows, not only that the
Diſc and Pentathlos might be as
old as the time at which LycUR-
gus is commonly placed ; but,
if Sir Isaac's inference be juſt,
that the Diſc was given by Ly-
P
CURGUS,
210 ON THE CHRONOLOGY
CURGUS, at the firſt inſtitution of
the Pentathlos, it will lead alſo
to another very unexpected con-
cluſion, that Lycurgus himſelf
muſt have lived a generation or
two before the firſt Olympiad.
But what if the Diſc of Ly-
CURGUS, after all, ſhould have
no relation to the Pentathlos, or
to the Diſc thrown by the Ath-
letes ? PAUSANIAS informs us *
that there was preſerved at Elis a
Diſc of IPhitus, on which was
inſcribed the armiſtice proclaim-
ed by the Eleans, the inſcription
being not in a ſtrait line, but
running circularly round the
* Eliac. I. p. 427,
Diſc.
OF THE OLYMPIADS.
211
1
Diſc. Mr. John JACKSON, in
his Chronology, conjectures with
great probability, that this was
the Diſc alluded to by Plu-
TARCH *; and his opinion ſeems
to be confirmed by the inference
that ARISTOTLE drew from it,
which was, not that Lycurgus
was the companion of IPhitus
in reſtoring the Olympic Games,
as Sir Isaac ſurmiſes, but that he
affifted in ſettling the armiſtice.
The laſt argument of Sir ISAAC
againſt the Olympic Chronology
is taken from the liſt of the Ma-
cedonian kings: and this indeed
his manner of ſtating it has ren-
* See before, p. 204.
P2
dered
į
212 ON THE CHRONOLOGY
dered rather ſtrong. The inter-
val of time which theſe kings are
to fill up terminates in two epo-
chas, one undiſputed and certain,
the expedition of XERXES; the
other much leſs determinate, the
reign of Phidon*, the king of
Argos and invader of Elis. This
: invaſion, according to Pausa-
NIAS, who ſpeaks without any
marks of doubt or heſitation,
happened in the eighth Olym-
piad † ; but the Arundel marble,
if underſtood of the ſame PHI-
DON, carries him a full hundred
years higher. The latter com-
putation was evidently the moſt
to Sir Isaac NEWTON's purpoſe,
* See before, p. 179.
* Eliac. II. p. 509.
and
OF THE OLYMPIADS. 213
7
and therefore when he reaſons
fluently from this, without tak-
ing any notice of the other, he
certainly does full juſtice to his
argument.
In a matter of ſuch
high antiquity, where moſt of
the authors, who might have af-
fifted us, are loft, I ſhould think
that. I had as good a right to
follow the authority of PAUSA-
NIAS, even if it were ſingle and
unſupported, as Sir Isaac has to
follow the marble. But this is
not the caſe. For STRABO, who
was certainly well acquainted
with the old Greek Hiſtorians,
makes PHIDON the tenth from
TEMENUS *, which exaâly falls
* Lib. VIII. p. 549.
P 3
in
1
214 ON THE CHRONOLOGY
t
SANIAS,
in with the reckoning of Paus
Phidon therefore being
ſuppoſed to reign in the eighth
Olympiad, the interval between
the end of that Olympiad and the
beginning of the 75th is exactly
264 years.
The number of Macedonian
princes who are to fill
up
that
interval, is a ſtill more diſputa-
ble point. HERODOTUS * makes
ALEXANDER, the contemporary of
Xerxes, the ſeventh king from
the beginning of the monarchy ;
and with this computation Thu-
CYDIDES in effect agrees of. In
the liſt given by HERODOTUS,
* Lib. VIII. C. 139.
+ Lib. II. C. 100.
PER-
1
)
OF THE OLYMPIADS. 215
PERDICCAs ſtands firſt: which, I
apprehend, is no further true than
that PERDICCAs was the firſt who
reigned under the title of King :
which is preciſely what SOLINUS
afferts * But if we
But if we may believe
other ancient authors, PeRDIC-
CAS was by no means the perſon,
or contemporary with the perſon,
who under the reign of PHIDON
quitted Argos, and removed into
Macedonia. This perfon, by
every author but HERODOTUS, is
called CARANUS, whom we learn
from SYNCELLUS to have been
the brother of PHIDON *. He
is mentioned alſo by PLUTARCHI,
* Cap. IX.
† Syncell. Chron. p. 158. Ed. Venet.
I Vit. Alexand. p. 6.
Pau.
P4
216 ON THE CHRONOLOGY
1
**
PAUŞÁNIAS *, and DIODORUS SI-
CULUS #; by SATYRUS; an ancient
author quoted by THEOPHILUS
biſhop of Antioch I; and among
the Latins by Livy Ś, PATERCU-
LUS ||, JUSTIN
and Soli-
NU'S **. Then follows another
queſtion, whether any genera-
tions intervened between CARA-
NUS and PERDICCAS. The lift
of the Macedonian Kings in Syn-
CELLUS II inſerts two, by the
names of COENUS and TYRIM,
MAS; and he alſo informs us,
* Boeot. p. 794.
oli Ap. Syncell, p. 209.
Ad Autolyc. II. p. 96. Ed. Wolf.
Dec. V. Lib. V.
Lib. I.
*** Lib. VIL ,
# Cap. IX
** Chron. p. 209. Ed. Venet.
that
1
of of
OF THE OLYMPIADS. 217
NUS.
that CoENus was the ſon of CA-
RANUS, and TYRIMMAS of Coe-
In other reſpects his lift
agrees exactly with that of He-
RODOTUS, which I hope will be
no diminution of its authority.
The above quoted SATYRUS alſo
inſerts the ſame two names be-
tween CARANUS and PERDICCAS;
though he differs from HERODO-
TuS and SYNCELLUS, by leaving
out ARGÆUS, the ſon of Perdic-
CAS; whoſe exiſtence however
is eſtabliſhed both by the autho-
rity of Justin *, and by medals t.
Theſe different omiſſions are eaſi-
ly accounted for from the neg-
ligence of tranſcribers in writing
* 1. c.
+ Not. ad Herodot. 1. c.
out
}
218 ON THE CHRONOLOGY
out a tedious genealogy. It
would not be ſo eaſy to account
for their inſerting a name without
authority ; becauſe this would
not be negligence but invention.
In the generations ſubſequent to
PERDICCAS, we find ALCETAS,
the father of AMYNTAS, omitted
by Justin. Yet there can be
no doubt, I think, of his having
been really the ſon of AEROPUS,
and father of Amyntas, becauſe,
as he is placed only three genera-
tions before HERODOTUS, it is
hardly poſſible that he could have
been inſerted by miſtake, and
the other two lifts concur in re-
taining him.
There
A
1
&
OF THE OLYMPIADS. 219
There is upon the whole then
indiſputable evidence, that CA-
RANUS was the perſon who re-
moved from Argos, and laid the
firſt foundation of the Macedo-
nian kingdom. There is alſo
good authority for ſuppofing that
PER DICCAS, who completed the
work of CARANUS, and firſt aſ-
ſumed the title of King, was not
the brother, as Sir Isaac from
the ambiguous authority of He-
RODOTUS preſumes, but the great
grandſon of CARANUS. The liſt
and order of generations will
therefore ſtand thus, preciſely as
in SYNCELLUS: I. CARANUS.
2. COENUS. 3. TYRIMMAS.
4. Per-
220 ON THE CHRONOLOGY
k
+
4. PERDICCAS.
5. .ARGÆUS.
6. PHILIPPUS.
7. AEROPUS.
8. ALCETAS.
9.'
AMYNTAS.
10. ALEXANDER.
Ten, kings
make nine generations, as it is
always neceſſary to ſtrike off
either the firſt or the laſt of the
lift. Divide then 264, the num-
ber of years between Phidon and
the expedition of Xerxes, by 9,
the number of generations, and
the quotient will be 29, with a
remainder of 3: that is, the por-
tion of time for each generation
will be exactly 29 years and 4
months ; which is conſiderably
leſs than Sir Isaac himſelf allows.
And I have already ſhewn at
large, that if we calculate at all,
it
OF THE OLYME
OLYMPIADS.
221
it muſt be by generations, the
number of kings furniſhing no
ground whatever for rational ar-
gument.
And now having, I think,
evinced the inſufficiency of Sir
Isaac's arguments to overthrow
the Chronology of the Olym-
piads, I will, to ſhew my own
fairneſs, produce two which he
has overlooked. The Scholiald
of Pindar, in his Commentary
on the ſecond and third Olym-
pic Odes, gives us, as it ſhould
ſeem, the genealogy of Theron, ,
the contemporary of Pindar. In
the former place he begins it
thus * :
I. LAIUS.
2. OEDIPUS,
* Schol, in Pindar, O II. V. 82.
.
: I.
.
3. Po
I
224 ON THE CHRONOLOGY
1
--
3. POLYNICĘS. 4. THERSANDER,
5. TISAMENUS. 6. ANTESION.
7. THERAS, 8. Samus. 9. TE-
LEMACHUS, who removed from
the iſland of Thera, and ſettled
in Sicily.
IO. CHALCIOPEUS.
II. ÆNESIDAMUS, 12. THERON.
In the latter he gives only the
immediate progenitors of The-
ron * : 1. TELEMACHUS, who
depoſed the tyrant PHALARIS.
2. EMMENIDES. 3. ÆNESIDA
4. THERON.
THERAS,
the ſeventh in the firſt lift, was
contemporary with TEMENUS,
the conqueror of Argos; from
whom, according to this lift,
THERON would only be the fifth
MUS.
* O. III. v. 68.
in
'
OF THE OLYMPIADS. 223
in deſcent. Now PINDAR, hav-
ing been born in Olympiad
LXV. we cannot ſuppoſe The-
RON, whom he celebrates, to
have been born earlier than
Olympiad LV. But from TE-
MENUS to the beginning only of
the Olympiads were eight gene-
rations. So that if the Scholiaft
has given us the compleat gene-
alogy, it will follow that there
were no leſs than 55 fi&titious
Olympiads; which if any one
is diſpoſed to believe, I will not
be his hindrance.
.
A ſecond argument might be
brought from PAUSANIAS, who
tells us *, that PYTHAGORAS the
* Corinthiac. p. 140.
phi-
224 ON THE CHRONOLOGY
]
philoſopher was the great-grand-
ſon of HIPPASUS, and that Hip-
PASUS was contemporary with
REGNIDAS, the grandſon of TE-
Menus. This makes a ſtill greater
defalcation of time; and I ſhall
therefore leave it in full force,
that the advocates for this part of
Sir Isaac Newton's Syſtem of
Chronology may diſpoſe of it as
they pleaſe.
A
Before I conclude, I have one
general remark to make upon Sir
Isaac's book; that he finds fault
with the earlier part of the Græ-
cian Hiſtory for having no Chro-
nology; and yet fuppoſes, that
when Chronology, that is, tech-
nical
1
OF THE OLYMPIADS.
225
nical Chronology, was intro-
duced by TIMÆUS and others,
the only uſe made of it was to
falſify their hiſtory. This makes
it neceſſary to explain, in a few
words, my, notion what Chro-
nology is, and what it is not. I
ſay then, that the Genealogy of
a particular family, a ſeries of
kings or prieſteſſes, a liſt of ar-
chons, or the records of a pub-
liç ſolemnity like the Olympic
Games ; none of theſe are Chro-
nology. But Chronology is that
ſcience, which compares thoſe
lifts, genealogies, and records,
together, and adjuſts them one
to another; making, if poffible,
one conffent whole. This is a
Q
work
1
1
226 ON THE CHRONOLOGY
work that requires, no doubt,
the hand of a maſter, and it re-
quires alſo an unprejudiced mind.
For if the chronologer has any
favourite point to eſtabliſh, if,
for inſtance, he is deſirous of
extending or contracting any
particular period, he will be
tempted in his account of pub-
lic tranſactions to imitate PRO-
CRUSTES ; to mutilate or ſtretch
them out, as may beſt ſerve his
purpoſe. I do not know that
the antient chronologers were
under any fuch temptation ; that
there was any particular ſyſtem
of hiſtory, which they were
obliged at all events to make
good; and therefore whatever
errors
..
OF THE OLYMPIADS. 227.
errors they may have committed,
I preſume they were only errors
of judgement. With reſpect to
the genealogies and records,
which preceded this technical
chronology, they are ſtill fur-
ther removed from any ſuſpicion
of infidelity. The compilers of
them purſued no ſyſtem, and
therefore could be miſled by
none. The want of Chronology
therefore, with which Sir ISAAC
reproaches the older Greeks, is a
circumſtance which, in another
point of view, may be conſidered
as ſtrongly ſupporting their cre-
dit.
Q2
POST-
1
228 ON THE CHRONOLOGY
.
(
P O S T SCR I PT.
}
IN writing p. 179 I overlooked
a very material circumſtance,
mentioned by PAUSANIAS *, and
confirmed by STRABO + ; which
is, that the Eleans made no entry
of the Olympiad at which Phi-
Don the Argive preſided. Now
Pausanias, having inſpected the
record at Olympia, could not be
miſinformed with reſpect to the
particular Olympiad. And hence
the
age
of Phidon is fixed to a
certainty. He could neither be
ſo ancient as the marble makes
him, nor ſo modern as he is fup.
poſed by Sir Isaac Newton.
* Eliąc. II. p. 509,
ajo L. VIII. p. 549.
4
The
A
OF THE OLYMPIADS: 229
The paſſage of STRABO proves
alſo the truth of what I have af-
ſerted from PAUSANIAS *, that
the account kept by the Eleans
of the Olympic Games was in
the nature of a record, and that
it was kept from the time that
the Olympiads are referred to nu-
merically.
!
How perfect this record was,
and how carefully: PAUSANIAS
had examined it, might be fur-
ther proved by what he ſays of
XENODAMUS of Anticyra, upon
whoſe ſtatue there was an in-
ſcription, importing, that he had
* See p. 124-128.
ob-
230 ON THE CHRONOLOGY
obtained a vi&ory in the Pancra-
tium. at the Olympic Games.
« If this infcription be true,"
fays he *, it should feem, that
XENODAMUS obtained this prize
in the 211th Olympiad. For
this is the only Olympiad omit
ted in the regiſter of the Eleans.”
It is plain therefore, that PAU-
SANIAS had inſpected the regif-
tér from beginning to end, and
that he had foufid it perfect in
every inſtance but this.
Thę
reafon of this particular Olym-
piad being omitted was proba-
bly on account of the irregular
interference of NERO, who was
preſent at it.
* Phocic. p. 892.
The
1
1
OF THE OLYMPIADS. 231
The correction of HERODOTUS
propoſed in p. 184. is counte-
nanced by a fimilar paſſage of
PAUSANIAS, Arcad. p. 63I. Δηλα
&ν έςι Χαλκώδούλα, και τον εξ Ευβοίας,
Τελαμώνα, και τον Αιγινήτην, επι
Ηλίας Ηρακλά μετεσχηκέναι της
σρατιάς.
/
Τ Η Ε Ε Ν D.
Σ
!
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