SOME ENQUIRIES CONCERNING THE FIRST INHABITANTS LANGUAGE RELIGION LEARNING and LETTERS O F EUROPE. By a Member of the Society of Antiquaries in London. Anttquam exquirite Matrem, Virgil. Nullius in verba, Hor. OXFORD Printed at the Th e at r e for J. Fletcher, S. Parker, D- Prince, Bookfellers in Oxford, and Meflb Rivington and Fletcher in Pater-nofter Row Lond. M DCC LVIII. ADVERTISEMENT. THE following fljeets were at firjl dejigned for a fhort introduction to a work of a more particular nature ; but growing up- on the author s hands, till they exceeded the reafon- able fze of a preliminary differ tat ion, he judged them large enough to make afeparate treatife. The courfe of his enquiries led him infenfibly to an un- known country, a fcene wild and dark to a pro- verb ; where it was no lefs difficult to find the way, than, if it could be found, to perjwade others to follow him. Tho"* the ta/k was intricate, long, and tedious, yet he jhall think it a fufjicient recompence for all his pains, if he has opened the way to truth. At the fame time, he is not fo vain, as to afjume the charaSfer of an infallible guide. The fubjecl, to be treated as it ought, requires greater abilities, than he can pretend to be mafler of-, greater depth in fciences, languages, hi/lory, both ancient and modern. If he has had the good fortune only to point out the road, and make it eafer to thofe who come I come after him; it is all the merit that he can claim, and perhaps wore than zvi/l be granted him. The heathen Mythology is a free and open Chafe, where men of letters are privileged to fport, and purjue the game, each according to his fancy. As the author has taken this liberty himfelf fo he means not to interrupt the diverfton of others : nor will be difpleafed with them for parting a new feheme, rcen directly oppofte to his. He is not bigotted to an opinion, nor defrous of entering in- to controverjy. 'Tloerefore if fome /hall fet them- fives to prove, that the Gods never had a being ; or if they had, that they came from Phenicia, Egypt, or Ethiopia ; he can wijh them all fuccefs in their endeavours. And provided, that fo many and plaufble reafons jhall be brought in favour of their hypothefs, as he has produced for his ; can be content, that what he has here faid, Jhall pafs for nothing. C * ] O F THE FIRST INHABITANTS, LANGUAGE, RELIGION, LEARNING AND LETTERS O F EUROPE. WE are allured from the very beft authority, that for an age, or two, after the Floud, the whole world was of One Speech ; and that this unity was broken about the time of the difperiion of mankind. Since the firft confufion of tongues, reafon and experience teach us, that languages, like ftreams flowing from the fame fountain, for a while continue pure and unmixt ; till by deviating from each other in their courfes, and by receiving adventitious fup- plies, they become at laft entirely different : the nearer therefore we can trace them to the fountain head, the greater affinity we find between them. Of j Diverlity of languages begins with Dia- j n- i cT ' lects, or different modes ol utterance. The and Dialects. c r i j-/r •* c j i organs or ipeech are diilerently framed by nature in different climates and countries ; and even in the 2 Of the Firfl Inhabitants, Language, the feme country, feme men pronounce their words broad- er, loiter, harder, quicker or flower, than others: and forae are unable to pronounce this or that letter. Thefe accidents, by example and imitation, bring on a change of vowels and confonants ; whence a language foon be- comes very unlike to what it was at flrft. But when we add to this the increafe of words, which new arts, new cuftoms, produced ; the privilege mankind has always ta- ken of lengthning or abridging words at pleafure ; the care that fome nations took to improve their language ; to add harmony to their periods, by compound words, by lonorous terminations, inflexions of nouns and verbs, and other properties of grammar and rhetorick : Thofe, which were only dialects before, are now fo difguifed, that they become different languages. P . . The origin of the different languages f ' ' Jr L °^ Europe muft be fought for among the / C very firfr. inhabitants. If Europe was peo- pled, as it feems to have been, before the invention of (i) Shipping, or at leaft before the art was grown com- (i) The Ark of Noah, which fome have thought was defigned for a fam- ple of ihip-building, was wrought in an inland country, and might be a proof, and memorial, that people had faved themfelves upon the water in time of a deluge ; an event, which they had reafon to expect, would never happen again, and therefore it could be no fubject For imitation. Shipping was certainly the invention of a maritime people, not found out till ages af- ter the Hood •, and probably in the Ifles or" the A-'.gean lea : nor could it be brought to any tolerable perfection, till long after the dilperfion of mankind. The firfl great fleets we hear of, were thofe of Saturn and Minos, both in Crete ; but the firfl: navigations were made in hollowed trees, boats, and fmall veflels, by coafting near the Jhoar, and it was long before men ventured far out to fea. Such veflels were utterly unfit for tranfporting colonies, with their implements, provifions, cattle, and other incumbrances, nor can be thought to have been ufed for that purpofe, fo early as the firfl migrations by land. ' mon: Religion ', Learning & Letters of Europe. * mon : it is not probable, that large colonies from Afia could at firft come any other way than by land, or over frozen lakes and rivers ; and therefore the Northern and Eaftern parts received the firft inhabitants. cj., . r In the divifion of the countries after firfl people of k is impoffible to compute. The firft, hurope. t j ia( . a pp ear U p 0n record, are called by the Greeks ( i ) Cimmerians, who are faid to have been (2) driven out of their country by an inundation ; which to me is one argument of their very great antiquity. For thofe fabulous traditions that convey to us any imperfect notices of the general deluge, fuch as the ftories of Ogyges and Deucalion, feem to belong to the moft early times wherein facts were remembered. _» _. . The Cimmerians have left their name The Cimmerians . . „ r 1 . ,->• n j . in the Boiporus, and town Cimmermm were ocythians. . v. • c . 111 J near the Euxine Sea, where probably were their firft habitations in Europe. And from hence (1) The firft notice of the Cimmerians occurs in Homer OdyfT. a. v. 14. who defcribes them as a people living in perpetual darknefs, and in the road to the internal regions. The firft account of their motions is found in Eufebius Chron. Incur/us in Afiam Atnazonum pariter id Cimmeriorum. This he places about a hundred years after the Trojan war. Herodotus mentions another irruption into Afia, in the time of Cyaxares and Pfammitichus. But their ririt migrations are unknown, and mull have happened many hundreds of years before the oldeft of thefe incurfions. (2) 'O7/ y*ft',Y»m* «IOT7tf, /xtjaAn rt.iifjLwjeiJi i^iK^uv ix. T -nmov. Strabo Lib. VII. p. 292. Strabo here fpeaks of the inhabitants of the Cimbric Cherfonefe or Jutland, and efteems the account altogether fabulous. But as Ephorus, Po- fidonius, and others before him, thought thefe the fame people with the Cim- merians of the Tauric Cherfonefe ; the inundation mentioned was probably an old tradition derived from their anceftors ; fince it can by no means agree to the Ombrians. the Religion , Learning & Letters of Europe. 5 the reft of Europe feems to have been peopled ; either by voluntary motions of the Cimmerians, or when they were pufhed forward by their neighbours. Many queftions have been raifed about the word Cimmerians ; as whether they were fo called from Gomer eldeft fon of Japhet, as if they were (1) Gomerians ; and whether they were the fame with the Cimbrians as (2)Strabo, (3) Plutarch, and other Greek writers were of opinion. They were without difpute fome of thofe roving northern people, whofe firft migrations were of too early a date, to come within the Sphere of (4) Grecian hiftory. And as to their name, I think they (1) Goropius Becanus Antiqu. Antwerp. Lib. IV. p. 374> 375- Camden. Proleg. de Britan. Pezron Antiq. of Nations. (2) Bxrlum /.' 01 Kiyuietoi utyttd/Jj m75 h w EoOTtpiu Jlwafuv Mm? n^\ Yjy.yAexQf Vhxat£?f unu£sr ov'jua,va.VTz»v T E*>dwav. Idem Lib. J. (2) K/^i,uj£(aiy p. i& £$%ir, -m\ o Ki/j£$w, in- ^5™ t?o'Xk t3t$&. Euftath. in loc. Cimmerians fccms to me to be only the older name of the Scythians, and common to all the Northern nations. Kinmer, Kimber, Kemper, and Kempfer, may mean on- ly a Souldier, or Man of War. (4) That the Greeks had but a very imperfect knowledge of the North- ern nations in the time of Herodotus, appears from the fourth book of his hiftory ; the account of them there given being not to be depended upon, nor believed by Herodotus himfelf. Several particulars of his relation are merely poetical fables, fuch as "The air of the Hyperboreans being darken- "ed with feathers;" which the hiftorian himfelf could explain by the falling of Snow : " The Gryphons, who guarded the Gold country •," which may have a poetical meaning, not fo eafily accounted for as the former: ° The " Arimafpians or people with one eye," which may allude to the Scythian manner of taking aim in (hooting, by clofing the other. So fays Euftathius. Aijj^sr j MoraTm St^to'v [Arimafpios] Ivofjuify:, J:'.n n£/Ki>T*-re/ o/TEf £huu*8i T 'iTt- e«r op-SttAjwis a/# -re not -jiw /3oAiuJ luso^r. Comm. in Dion. Perieg. v. 31. He- rodotus fcems to acknowledge that he took his account chiefly from the B 2 three 6 Of the Firft Inhabitants, Language, may be fafely comprehended under the common one of (l) Scythians, given by the ancient Greeks to all the Northern nations in general. _- rt V. Hiftory informs us that the (2) Scythians - were always reputed a moft ancient peo- a*' pie; and that they difputed the prize of antiquity with other nations. S. Epiphanius, recounting the leveral inftitutions, tenets, and herefies that prevailed in the world, and reducing them to chronological order, three books of Arimafpian verfes, written by Arifteas the Proconnefian, who lived feveral hundreds of years before him, and was older than Homer ; and by fome thought to have been his mafter : Strabo calls him a jugler, ivJip yi»t ci -ttf lokQT. Lib. XIII. p. 589. be that as it will, he was the firft, that we can trace, who gave the Greeks any account of the Northern nations. The Cyclopes of the poets, were of the higheft antiquity, as being the Sons of Coelus and Terra. Vid. Hefiod. Theog. v. 139. And Strabo tells us that Homer took his one-eyed Cyclopes from the Scythian Hiftory, and the Ari- mafpian verfes of Arifteas. To^a Ji v& vis f^vo^iTus %iomwu i* £ Sxc/Sncar i?b- ejdf fUTtt'nmjg' mens yap 77/01$ Ttt \eifAO-o3fif Qasw-, 'is h -nis KtiiMttma'As tiiity IkSco%- up Ati^iat n£«»n»ei®'. Geogr. Lib. I. pag. 21. This fhews from what quar- ter the oldeft fables of the Greeks were derived. I am not ignorant, that Snidas brings Arifteas down to the time of Cyrus and Crcefus ; but chufe rather to abide by the authority of Strabo. (1) TIu) yk fMK 'a&THyotitU! au-mv i|*.0;p4>f '*piv 01 -aa-Kax avpoi Jiimfifx-^vou*' "Qvutj.& ;c / KifAtueivs auns f£s\ci' HgfJbTts 3) w Ylif^jya. myyga\a.fj^as 'S.yju-ya.s TJQKvciSiis' I y Ycufmovt w.sTzif^t Kifj£f«( *&i Tci!mya(. Niceph. Gregoras Hift. Lib. II. de Scy- thlS. $»pj yoq X* 1 liu> fif ify^airor ImJjxiw ££i/utnv{ r *£**■ HZfairltv uf hsiiu KixXuu- "nr, iim/a>iA(L&HGu.ir •s-avTSr rj" -duj V£JKM i-Tav.'/vcn SKT0AI, %-n(pc\ 3 -riui FIi/p} ons/iae, ^ twJhi/Hiei T VaZut.vya.. Id. p. 6. (2) Jofeph. Antiqu. Jud. Lib. I. §. 3. & Lib. XX. §. 2. (3) Berofus affirmed that the Ark. was in being in his time, on the Gor- dixan mountains ; and that the people brought away the bitumen or pitch that was upon it, and ufed it by way of amulets. The inhabitants of Geor- gia ftill make an advantage of the ltory, by furnifhing travellers with little pieces of black wood, which, they tell them, are relicks of Noah's Ark. See Oleaiius's Holftein Ambaffadors Travels. Book VII. p. 403. Mr John Struys has given us a view of Ararat, and would perfwade us that he afcend- ed 8 Of the Fir ft Inhabitants , Language ', fcws, and Chriftians. I call it an (i)errour, becaufe a (2) learned modern hath proved, I think beyond contra- diction, that Ararat could not be fituated in Armenia, or on that part of mount Caucafus. And one obvious reafon iiuift occur to any one, who reads the hiftory ; which fays a They journeyed from the Eaft to the plains of Shinar;" whereas Armenia lies to the North- Weft of Shinar. „ (7) Some Chriftian writers, of great Ararat a moun- p r 1 • j r j-/r .. . . r, , . fame tor learning, and or different per- tatn vi bey t bin. r r . ,.°. . * . J iwahons in religious points, agree to place the Ark in Scythia, on the mountains called Imaus ; cd five days journey on the mountain ; being called by fome religious to the afliftance of an Hermit, who lived there, and had been as high as the Ark on top, and brought away pieces of it ; one of which he gave to Struys as a reward for curing him of a rupture : telling him withal how valuable fuch a relick would be at Rome, and giving him a Latin certificate of this whole interview-, which the reader may find printed in Struys's Voyages. Book III. c. 20. p. 226. MrTournefort met with too many difficulties in afcending, and was forced to return before he got half way : and feems to give but lit- tle credit to Struys's relation. However the inhabitants allured him, that the Ark was ftill in being, only buried in the Snow. See Tournefort's Voyage to the Levant Vol. III. ( 1 ) Jofephus de montibus Armenia fat is mirabilia fcribit, cir mminit reliquias Ar- cs fuo tempore ibi invent as. Sed nemo opinor me ideo koi» ■t^ iim KtJvl/u, mt^a t> y7' |£idf •OT».iif if»fcvsu. BAPE.IS. Tciyp, TAhsta., "S.t>bjl, Alhcu, Iluf- >!/, SOatfzi' ti;i< -j hiyvetr, aj uiyahcu ij -csnj&t^o/ Tn-riou. Etym. Magnum. With the Jews it only fignified a Stone tower-, or Fortification. BAl'iS verbum tfa%a- etiv Pal,fjiindifiaitMt&* l \LyQj', y^S m ^ p»- virj, tjZa i'j/jiTD, *j to %Kta 4o0or i. r m-nhi&>t, Iaj«Tt>r it( av' oia. y> « (pavd. PhurnUt. De Nat. Deor. pag. 41. Ed. Gale. (2) Procopius makes the fame remark upon the different Goths of his time. 4>*■ Tot^ikii' w uot JbKvv Ve, tvlf pi Xt) a.T7a.v\ai to Tnthxuw tQvvf, hyl/Mtat j vit£?v toc ej^scif lyHauyfcuy 2tld.KtKfiebzu. Bell. Vandal. Liu. I. C. 2. 1i( ft iu>.\sf yj>iva< p. "ZyjjSat orouaQumv, \Si% j iyg.$v(. Strabo Lib. X. p. §11- (3) Salmafius forms the Greek word 2yj/'5tu from rew, r£3w, rJ3t/, by ap- portion of the JEoWc Sigma. De Helleniftica. Pag. 369. But this derivation leems too far {trained ■, it is more eafy perhaps to find it in their own lan- guages, as in the Saxon Scyran and Sceoran. Sagittarc, Co fetflOOt, whence Sceora Scots, the proper name of the Irifh, whom Nennius calls in Latin Scythe, the Saxons Sceoran, Scyttan, and Scyrnrc, which is likewife Scy- thians. And fo the Dutch Scutten, the Welch 2'fcot, means both Scots and Scythians. See Camden Proleg. de Scotis. Arngrim Jonas upon the Runic C letter 1 2 Of the Fir ft Inhabitants ', Language, _ ,. . r That we may enter upon the af- Scythiam the fame { ^ of £ where hi £ ory beginS) With Barbarians. ^ fc be remembered> that the firft in- habitants of Greece were ( i ) Barbarians ; by which word, I imagine, the older Greeks always meant Scythians, it being the common epithet beftowed upon that people; infomuch that the terms Barbarian and Scythian are in a manner (2) fynonymous. In later times, it is true, the letter A has this remark. rf> vacatur YR, a qua litera quidam putant Trlandos •vocari, quod in eorum lingua, quam aliis fit frequent icr. Nee bujus element i not alio mult urn abludit, Yr bender bogie /'. e. Yr fignat Arcum intenfum ; quo impri- mis utuntur Irlandi. Worm. Lit. Run. c. 1 7. p. i o i . The firft Hercules, out of whom the Greeks have made (6 many, was renowned for his Bow, and may be allowed to have been a Scythian, fince the fable in Herodotus makes him fomething more, the grandfather of the Scythians. Scythes, from whom the country was denominated, being the youngeft of three fons of Hercules, and preferred to reign, for his greater rtrength in drawing his father's Bow. Herod. Lib. IV. Diodor. Lib. II. (i) Ej^tow j* tv MiKieiof «fe< j TIthniWY'nm Quay, 077 /ats kh° outw BapGct£«r 2«/aV >af UJbuay fjutvav, mvmv >m -raV yjlicm r 2fp«^ wa^*,^®" ^ 751 wr E*A»a*> \z7eta4. Reip. ad Epift. Acacii. Kau i^-w iy$ivJi ^agaimi^ r Ivfaiop.* p$ r EA- ahnismom. Adv. Hasref. Lib. I. pag. 9. Am jj to 2«f«% lix 70J AS^a.^ ^ kj UJ&k, -rizmpii x} Zk&Zvsi*, C&wiu/] {ii<£nft4 t hMJJk Jli/atrzviavT&v ct^ao-WTo/ hiywnu. Strabo Lib. VII. P-3*7- (2) See Mr Jackfon's Chronological Antiquities. Vol. 3. (3) To p? rh/.«7} to Sxo^u:; «if«, *jh ■hTk ainu.1 e^ijin 'ot'ir^y^nm •. Hence Salmafuis derives the Greeks rrom Ra- gau : Pelafgos a PbdJeg, fc? Gra-cos, five r^altf, a Rbagau dittos ej/'e, carta fides eft ex nominis indidi, ii re if>fa. De Hellenillica, Pag. 342. of 1 6 Of the Firft Inhabitants^ Language ', of many excellent authors, has been preferved from cor- ruption for many ages; and is likely to continue fo for ever. But when refined to the utmoft, it could not other- wife happen, but that it muft retain many words brought in at firit by Barbarians, as (i) Plato affirms. It is there- fore an crrour in thofe learned men, who are fond of de- riving all words, and efpecially the Northern ones, from the Greek. ; for this is only going fo far out of the way to prove a point : the Greek being not the (2) parent, but only a fifter of the Northern languages ; and with as much, if not more, juftice, may be laid to be derived from them. One mark of antiquity yet remains in the Northern languages, which they had in common with the Greek, though it is not to be found in the Roman ; and that is the (2) Dual Number in Grammar. This, though extinct in Englifh, is full preferved in the Saxon, Gothic, Franco-Teutonic, and in the modern Runic, or Icelandic. rri ^ 1 rrr n The names for the three divifions I he Leltes or Ivet- r .l 1 j ut- \r j n , . J or the old world, hurope, Alia, and em bcythians. T ., ' 1 r* j • f j y Libya, are not to be round in lacred writ ; nor could the Greek (4) hiftorians difcover, how or (1) In Cratylo. ubi fupra. (2) Ucet vero plurimas or iginat tones videar ad font es Gr(tH Tjpigji; tLo 7raKai£i> •wy , rff "afe* T Kfotcor, y&\ -riw -)lw> tvttuiv (<< Ttxmga ,«?f» fi>\c,»[j&u:', to f tdv kmihtcoTLu IyJar tytiv' iiz°s vi-nv /fe AiSiomLt' xj 1 "riw KihTV}a}.ttTTaW tf» Mivuf hipri-jlw y^A»,t«v. Quadripart. Lib. II. c. 2. (4) 0-^4 Ji 7TO71 ajJTgf ygKaJfru VAKoL-ntf ifynvjun. Ke*.7B/ }aa rg.'m. te cyst 7» a^-ycuov, *J ^^ 71)7? h>M( avofMifyrni. Paufan. Attic, pag. 6. Ed. Sylb. (5) Vid. Plutarch, in Camillo. (6) Vid. Parthen. Nic. Amat. c. 30. Diodor. Lib.V. (7) Vid. Appian. Bell. Illyric. (8) Ivf p. y& vuZ lp ¥J>ijiim Ta/JLia: ygAxulk-vt-, Tttua^af 3 f-f^0;Jf.tf, Vi/Mt(j{ t/.TJtn. Jofeph. Antiq. Lib. I. (9) Mayans' ni titi avri Mujujw onfMJSirmf tfUiri S>:iv [Grs- cis ) ■wmyofJLoutitr. Idem Antiqu. Lib. I. Celts, 1 8 Of the Firft Inhabitants^ Language ; Celts, or Cclto-Scythse, were cotemporary with the Cim- merians, or perhaps before them in their migrations ; nor whether they were only Cimmerians, who affumed that name after their fettlements in Europe. If they brought it with them from Afia, they mould feem to be the firft, diftinguifhed by a proper name, who difperfed themfelves over thefe Weftern parts. T7 r n r j A ' ate l earne d and ingenious (i)au- Tbep-Jt Uods or ^ bri ^ , orig inally from Titans, were Scy- ^ y^» Afia | ^ ^ giyen ^ a moft prodigious empire, extending almoft from one end of Europe to the other, and con- taining befidcs immenfe territories in Alia and Africa. He with fome reafon fixes the centre of this empire in Greece, and the Ifles of the Mediterranean : and further proves, that Uranus or Coelus, Saturn, and Jupiter, the firft dei- ties of the Greeks, were no imaginary beings ; but the true names of Celtic Emperors, who were likewife known by the more general one of Titans. The Titans indeed, in ftrict propriety of fpecch, were the offspring of Coelus and his fifter Terra, Titasa I i-rcJa, Tit, or Tid, in Hebrew and Scythian fignifying Earth ; whence they are called Ynyviui, Gigantes, Terrigence, or Sons of the Earth ; and, I fuppofe, were what both Greeks and Romans meant by Aii-ro^oves, I?idigencc, and Aborigines. Becaufe they had no knowledge of any people before them : and therefore call- ed them the (2) parents of mankind. This opinion has ( 1 ) Dr Pezron. Antiquities of Nations. (2) Kims w , . . „, 1 Pf* 2 rehned imagination, an opportunity of difplaying abundance or curious knowledge. And yet, at the fame time a common under- standing may perceive, that the hiltorical records of both thofe ancient nations could go no higher than Uranus, Sa- turn, and the Titans ; whofe aclions are likewife the flrft events mentioned in Grecian hiftory. But when we con- fider the turn and humour of thofe nations; the pride they took in (2) arrogating to their feveral countries the origin of human race, as well as of all arts and fciences ; we need not wonder at their claiming the firft Gods or Heroes, of whom there was any memory, or tradition. I think it cannot be denied, that thefe Gods reigned over all thofe countries ; but it is not certain that they were born in any of them. The Egyptians and Phenicians, it muft be owned, are not fo eafily detected in their preten- tions as the Greeks ; who by the many exploits attributed to their feveral Gods and Heroes, difcover, that though they often went by one name, yet they muft have been different perfons, and lived in very different times ; and I (1) Jackfon's Chronological Antiquities. Vol. 3. pag. 76. (2) M»7j«p A~i)v7?,Qr ® f ww Ao>ii). Hcrodot. Lib. II. §. §2. (4) To difguife and conceal the true nature, origin, and hiftory, of the Gods, feems to me to have been the chief defign of all the Egyptian myfte- ries, that have made fo much noife in the world •, and the Greeks, and other nations copied, and enlarged the plan. Euhemerus the Meflenian was the firft, who dared to divulge the fecret •, and taught that the Gods were mor- tal men deified, Generals, Admirals, and Kings : but he only got the name of Atheift for his pains. Lux/^i^ m MtaUuU qn.mxjfp.oif Tra^aiw J)Jirn{> of tw-nr tLr-ny^fifa. gw,3cv i.-m*v $&) ourvTHficns fw^n?,cyitt(, ro'-o/u«t p. iJiov t^CY-ms ira.&if-, Kotlrii 3 TOVTOf ion -f (jtMT£}( hvo/Mt{au}^oif Tiiuvdf. Diodor. Lib. III. p. 133. (2) Imperium Afia ter quxal A iv 71 7B/f l/Avpair rjq ■nit tuyjjui.Ka'f'M fc/pt3>io TuucuKif i jmiwcjl t d.vSfo'V ttiii;Mfm tyv- oai' -ns \i Ty yg.Kxulfy» vuZ Aqygjla.' tfjut j 7Er Ncwy litinmyrawn t) t{w Safjtantv 'it^cajji. Clem. Alex. Strom. Lib. I. T\a.L) i(>t?vlv ciy4>if t^vmv. Homer. Odyf. A. V. C2. (2) flKEANOS. O T^izt/xof TstH^av -jiw ■}Lu' QaSaetvof iv V Tig* 7t Jkinut l&etaut' n^myofcvvin Ji iku L^a HaKOTJeti' imivov /£ o'i ■m})\o) uavof tyAtmu, xj 1 xM/Mtlot 5 AJjt^ipar \yj, f7mru/4. 13 in oppido Aulatia fepultum. De Falf. Relig. Lib. I. §. 11. For Aulatia, I would here read Atlantia ; tho' the fituation of the one is no more known, than of the other. (2) Sanchoniath. Phoenic. Hift. apud Eufeb. Apollodor. Lib. I. p. 2. Ed. Gale. Hefiod. Theogonia. v. 1 64. &c. Af/vo7tt75f -muitiy. Hefiod. Theog. v. 137. (4) Opxw %h to cuuoKm \v -nits <*-u/ uu$tut£tu. rillt. Rom. Lib. 51. p. 530. (3) Apollodor. Lib. I. c.6. Ovid. Metamorph. Lib.V. Antoninus Li- beralis Metamorph. c.28. (4) Zu**%m( ifM%rn Aty. stew rhuurit. Hefiod. Theog. v. 636. Mi;fv'»? j gjj-rCy hiwre; Ji/j,. Apollod. Lib. I. c.6. E been 28 Of the Firft Inhabitants , Language ^ been a principal (i) character of the Scythians, whether under the denomination of (2)Celtes, or (3) Cimbrians. The Hyperboreans were of the Titan race, according to the poet (4) Pherenicus : (5) Titan himfelf gave name to the Cimmerian Bofphorus, if we may believe the oldeft traditions : the Thracians, who were undoubtedly of Scy- thian extraction, are called by a Thracian, or one who perfonated a Tliracian poet, the (6) defcendants of the Ti- tans : and the fcene of fome of the Titan battles was in Thrace. If we defcend to the Grecian mortal kings, or to thofe who came after the Gods ; we fhall find that Deucalion, one of the firft, if not the very firft, was a Titan king ; for he was the fon of (j) Prometheus a Ti- tan, the fon of Japetus brother of Saturn ; and confequent- (1) Ultra Tanaim amnem cokntes Scythes, quorum neminem adeo humilem ejfe, ut humeri ejus non pofi'ent Macedonis militis verticem square. Quint. Curtius Hift. Lib. VII. c 4 . (2) E/S7 3 0/ Ke^TO fiutxfZ 7mvTu; v^ipwnr (jjvku ivf as/tya-mis. Paufan. in Pho- cic. Pag. 647. Ed. Sylb. (3) Kai fJL&htsa. (a itngipvn [Cimbri] Ttptwiyg. -ffjx t ya^xjovmy &ri t jSopffov uxttU'W Vt) -niis fn}isnai r onfjAiuv. Plutarch, in Mario. (4) Ter TTrepfopias', t TnwiXAs 'jpvs <&ffiviyjf v, oit tyx-TO. va/fm\m No* vsr A-m)J.wo{ enrcifimii TnKtfjAio. iniuiuy ^XcttTsfTOf, \ssn> SfLfXDY tuZp'nlvm X\iIto.Svu Boficu yLvlw Aet/uttany clvouto.. Schol. in Pind. Olymp. III. (5) ■ BOOS nOl'ON i*iyluc.gto. hijtmt, orn /JLitmyj fioov im; vtkti TITAN Ttwfj) itptfy/jfyor @e«tfi m&y t^n hSfunt. Orph. Argon. V 1054. (6) Tniwif Touts ~n >i) Ovgyv* a.y?.acL 7iVia n,uiTipay /a&yovoi TOTEpiw. Orph. Hymn, in Titan. (7) '&> 3 rr^pafQr S43f Ti7w n£«jun^&uV. Sophocl. CEdip. Colon. Ictm-rwitTHf i^cSwf ti'jw Afjy&klw*. Apollon. Arg. Lib. 3. Religion ', Learning & Letters of Europe. 29 \y only two generations removed from the true Titans. This vaft antiquity has render'd his hiftory as obfeure as that of the Gods, for it has never yet been made clear ; the Greeks having perplexed it with another of the fame name, who muft have lived long after him. The firft Deucalion however was a (1) Scythian; and that there were other Titans among the Scythians, will be feen here- after. At prefent our bufinefs with the Titans goes no further than Europe. How largely they were interefted there, fufficiently appears from what has been already men- tioned of Uranus and Saturn ; and is further confirmed by the victories of Jupiter, who fubdued the Titans from (2) Pallene in Thrace, to (3) TartefTus in the fartheft boundaries of Spain. en cfu 7 It is more than probable, that Ihe lit an lanpuave , * , r r 1 F (4-) one common language once pre- J vailed over all Europe ; nor can any ' ' other period be afligned for an uni- verfal language, than this of the Titan empire. The re- mains of fuch a language are ftill found in various parts (1) O; p. ft ts».o/ bjcAngtitPM r Sx^Sta -m /£«V t'isjtSt, Ktytti' niw Ava th ¥ ■n ttm.-a' SJite hfjjvn. Lucian de Dea Syria. (2) Msto 3 TT/j-nt t vi7ay}f.Qr, x} >vo}K\ss ky'Xwv r/u Tyi-jpuv ^nJbpff tiu^v >? ,ui}is. Diodor. Lib.V. p. 222. Tiyums, o't Tut > ' W • ^ ie Titan war has hitherto been -* * ' / rr treated in the light of fable and alle- over the Titans. . , & , n . _ r gory, but demands a ltncter lcrutiny in this inquifitive age; as being the moft ancient, and moft memorable event in all profane hiftory. It was the great theme of the firft European (3) bards, and furnifhed (1) Vid. Jo. Scheffer. Lapponia Cap. XV. (2) In Finnonica incredibile quam mult a voces Graca reperiantur. Unde mihi orta fu/picio, Gentem Finnonicam ex gente aliqua Gratis coloniis mixta, jam olim multis abhinc faculis, originem traxijfe. Finnonica dialetli funt EJlhonica & Lap- ponica. Pnef. in Evang. Septentrion. (3) O/cAt 077 -dm TITANOMAXIAN TXiliras en Bufuihis obv o KoetVdraf, » Af/.m@ / . Athenieus. Lib. VII. Arctinus and Eumelus flourifhed about the beginning of the Olympiads : but there was a much older poet who wrote upon the fame fubjeft, viz. Thamyris the Thracian, mentioned by Homer, Iliad. B. V. 595" fAMTPIN 3 ^ -fyof Qga/^t, il$av,T\gyi y&i \y.Wihi.7i oww/" at r Religion , Learning & Letters of Europe. 33 defigns for the mod ancient (i)fculptors and painters of Greece ; till it was eclipfcd by the war of Troy, and the immortal work of Homer. This war was carried on with vigour on both fides for many years, and during the con- teft, the Titans had once got Saturn into their power ; and detained him till he was (2)refcued by Jupiter, fcarce then arrived to man's eftate. r> t- • -hjr a ■ ,l r n. From this firft victory of Tu- Labtnc My teries the hr/t . . r T , < , J t i 1 r r» piter, it 1 am not deceived, a- iaolatry of Lrreece. r r , rn .. . . r J J role the nrit religious rites or Greece -, which were celebrated in fuch a manner, that MB3«/f, yj 1 Ti( TruaTuf, u; a.ywtt ^.th^Imcu' 7i%~mr<.-:;'u '■} tvtc:' fsvftmu TITANHN in&t TSf @ix( -nii'tfuv. Plutarch De Mufica. The oldcft poets celebrated, and claim- ed for theirs, by the Greeks, fuch as Thamyris, F.umolpus, Linus, Or- pheus, Mulkus, were all Thracians, who are fcarce one degree removed from Scythians. There were, I think, later poets of all theie names, ex- cepting Thamyris only, whom I take to be the mod ancient. His name founds like Scythian ; and it is faid that he was in fo great favour with the Scythians, on account of his poetry, as to be chofen their king. eAuuetv 3? ItCtiTai th Ttnrnv »Ki xihtfullai, at >tj BaoiAea J- ywnv kvmf.iuov ntnetWj b-mm. j utx? ret kiwik (ic)a^xivj. -to. u k twj -a/ f yjftim >zh b)my *j Ttyaviw /ud^n %•%%> Paufan. Corinth, p. 1 14. Ed. Sylb. (2) This particular is preferved by Ladtantius from Euhemerus's hiftory now loft. Reliqua kijhriafic ccntcxitur: Jcvem adultum, cum audrvijjet Pattern at- que Matron atjtodtu lircnmjiptos, a! que in vinculo ccnjeclcs, venijft cum magna Crc ten/aim multitudhu \ Titanumque & Jilios ejus pugnav.do vicijfc : / 'is ex- emijjh : Patri regmtm reddidijfe : ataue ita in Cretan rctntajje. De Falfe Rel. 1 lib. I the 34 Of the Firft Inhabitant 's, Language, the Greeks themfelvcs fcarce knew to what gods their wor- ship was directed. Tiieir proper names were concealed under the general one of Cabiri, and the rites were call- ed the Cabiric Myfteries, infhituted at firft by the Pelaf- gians in (i)Samothracc, from thence transferred to other (2)Illands, Lemnus, Imbrus, Rhodes and Crete; and car- ried by (3) Dardanns to mount Ida in Phrygia. Some (4.) authors have endeavoured to prove that the Cabiric rites came originally from Phenicia ; but after all the pains taken in this matter, I fee no reafbn to think, that the Phenicians knew any thing at all of thefe myfteries, till they came with Cadmus into Greece. Cadmus was one of the firft ftrangers initiated into the myfteries ; na- tives of Greece, or Samothrace only, having been admit- ted before that time. This favour was indulged to him, upon his marrying the princefs Hermione, or Harmonia, fifter of (5) Jafion and Dardanus ; and the rites feem to (i) OS7f .i*zi, Tacjt\r£jVTi< 7rU0. WiKwyii. Herod. Hilt. Lib. 2. TLu) SecfceSgnTixtcu o/jc*o» 3pJ7«f to ofjra w£jt^au£ct-.nn. IdeiTl cap. 5 I . (2) Pratereo Samolbraciam, eaque Qus ici Q&y-Mf 'n(o Kafcipm;'. Stephanus Byzant. de Urb. b\iht<&. h"lfj£f^ f/Mf T^ytir, mt£a.JiiS,cu ain't t ^j fwpittar W.sw, mhai p. vozw ir r» v»3"», 7075 3 irus 'W^.it^m^-, tl>v I St/jus cl/mtox idiiv •Tfj lliwjvi/yjm. AoKtt 5!f fa>7&f CfiVtf fWM?TU, yef) T-hi'djJJ 2J* 7875 ivJcCW 7T0/HTOI. Muto touts Kiifaay r Aylujo^sf xj 1 C*-nnny ■f B^urnr i.$iy.i£X i • a c ,-u r> u- • "and High rneit or the Cabinc " myfteries : and this marriage of Cadmus and Hermione " was the flrft that was folemnized in the prefence of the " Gods ; each according to cuftom making their prefents "to the bride. (1) Ceres, who was in love with Jaflon, "gave Corn; Mercury an Harp; Minerva the celebrated " Necklace, Veil, and Pipes; Eleclra mewed them the my- " fteries of Magna Mater; Apollo played upon his Harp ; " the Mufes on their wind inftruments ; and the reft of " the Gods with joint acclamations encreafed the folemni- " ty of the nuptials." What is here reported of the Gods may be true in every particular ; admitting only the Ca- biric Priefts and Prieftefles to be their proxies. Here we difcover the original fraud of impofing the priefts upon us, inftead of the Gods whom they reprefented : and learn, without a fi&ion, to account for the birth of Bacchus the fon of Semele, and for the (2) refentment which her fa- ther Cadmus exprefted upon the occafton. ( 1 ) Toy $ yausi muiv rjf/pTw Jliumi Slit, *& A»fxvi7fdw pi \ac\oyk t^Ssam* r Kaemr r tectv -re -f Ms;aA«r y*A*u^V M»T&t 7 Stay Utf, /u£ xufxCdihur x^ Tt/fx-mvav, Xj ifjttfyr- Tt,.v' i> S».u4Aj« 7T- koi -nv TnuJa. «/. Acr, i&t \azv to6 Ko.SU.ii QaiyiSfm is KcLfYayg. out* *&4 Ai^wr tuototax. Paufan. Lacon. Lib. 3. p. 209. F Cadmus 3 6 Of the Fir ft Inhabitants ', Language , Cadmus thus inverted with the x Cabin in Bceotia. Cadmus s Cabiri in myfterieSj (l) eftab li me d a Tribe, or College, of priefts in Bceotia, from whom defcended the Gephyreans ; and from the time of Jalion the rites grew common, and were difperfed by the Pelafgians over all Europe, as well as Afia, the genuine inltitution being ftill kept up in Samothrace. I rauft here obferve, that Cadmus tho' called a king's fon, feems to have been no better than an outlaw, and an apoftate from the religion of his country : and what that country was, it is uncertain. By fortifying the citadel of Thebes, and by being matter of the Cabiric myfteries, he intended no doubt to perpetuate his name, and to found a powerful ftate. But after reigning fome time, he was forced to leave his kingdom, and probably died a violent death : himfelf with Harmonia being (2) reported to be turned in- to ferpents. CT7 • r 7 The Scythian or Pelafgic language, The meaning of the , r 3 ,- •«. u j • * *% r-> J merely from its antiquity, when dia- wora Labin. 1 «. r j i_ lects were few, and more homoge- neous, could be but little different from the Hebrew ; and therefore learned men have very properly fought for the original of the word cabiri in the Hebrew. Scaliger, Selden, VoiTius, Bochart, and others derive it from cabar, (i) n :> />■ y/- r 77575 b Tti-m Quay "it), ^ aySfa; ovo,wa£oyVW KABEIPOTS — An/j.nTfQr' ;1-i kabeipaiois Ju&y SJ»r » nhxiii. Paufan. Boeotic. p. 579. Thofe Boeotians whom Paufanias here calls Cabiri and Cabireans ; Herodotus called Gepfyreaxs, Tfp^fauiK, and fays they were defcended from the Phenicians who came with Cadmus ; that is, from the Cabiri, or Cadmus's priefts of the myfteries. of 3 rE*TPAIOI — o>! A i-)a eurjii£hef cveunta, tarn ttiviKtt T cCv KcLfyza i.-myj>ij%ai. Herodot. Lib.V. § 57. (i) Hygini Fab. VI. Ovid. Metam. Lib. IV. Cabarif/ty Religion , Learning & Letters of Europe. 37 Cabarim, i. e. Dii Magni, or Potentes, Mty^Aoi w jWcitoi as they are fbmetimes called by the Greeks : Reland more luckily from (1) chabar Chabarim, i. e. Dii Socii, Jun- Sii, becaufe they are always mentioned in the plural num- ber. But he feems not to have entered into the full fenfe of the word, which ought to be rendered Dii Confociati, Conjuratiy or the Allied Gods. Eratofthencs, as we learn from the (2) fcholiaft on Aratus, fpeaking of the Altar, or Conftellation in the Southern hemifphere, faid " It was " That upon which the Gods took the oath of confedera- " cy, when Jupiter levied war againft the Titans." Thefe Gods I take to be the perfons meant by cabiri, who af- ter the victory might juftly be ftiled Great and Powerful \ or T6e Gods, by way of eminence. The flrft beginning of the rites feems to have been only a fort of Triumph, a feftival in memory of the victory, and inauguration of Jupiter ; which as Idolatry grew up was made to ferve the purpofes of religion ; and being difperfed over diffe- (1) Sic ui meo judicio Dii Cabiri idem fonet, quod Dii Socii, vel Conjuncti. Mifcell. Par. I. de Diis Cabiris. pag. 196. Quod ft qiiis etymon Cabirorum talc quod commune ejfe poteji quatuor illis Diis Inferis & duobus Diofcuris habere vult, meo judicio aptius non inveniet, quam chabarim, i. e. Socii, Jun6ti. Idem, pag. 198. Our own language, which full retains great marks of antiquity, will afford us a word, not yet quite difufed, of the fame found and mean- ing, and evidently a relick of the Pelafgic-, viz. (Bflffcr or Fellow, from the Saxon Eiepejia Socius, and that from the Hebrew Chabar, or Chavar, by an ufual change of the labial letter. Of the fame root are the Cornifh Kyved, and the Welch Cyffal, i. e. Socius, Conjux, Amicus, Compar. Yid. Davies Diclionar. Cambrobrit. By the fame change of the labials comes dimmer, or She-Fellow, from the Celtic Cymmar, i. e. Conjux, Socius, Scdalis. Idem. (2) Kyyt Atm WTTIIPION kafi-nu. Arati Phrvnom. v.402. bgtf.Tv-finr Jl tp»svt, tSto td Ounetw ft) \$ u -n Tzv of fc)fci nwaiMcitw mtitmm, otb j^i t»>- Timvat isfATdsTiv z Z:\if, K-jOMTTtnY ya.-rt.n.z-ji.Ta.iiui . Schol. in locum. F 2 rent 38 Of the Firjl Inhabitants^ Language ', rent countries, received new forms in compliance with the cuftoms of" different people ; and this has occafioned that confufion in the accounts given of them by the ancients : only one primitive mark, I think, they always retained, by (1) concealing the proper names of the Gods. As their names were unknown, their (2) number muft be fo too ; ( 1 ) Ni?jrf l/Auf Ki%Zfom, it) 0/ Ka&w of)ut. MM AaJfMYtr tvYai-nu, to pi i Si/Mf tLH/xiv ic'tSetv. Apollon. Arg. Lib. I. V.92I. (2) Strabo in his tenth book has collected the various reports of the Ca- biri; I will here give the reader at length the different opinions of the an- cients concerning their number. two. The Diofcuri, or Caftor and Pollux, are often called Cabiri, in a peculiar manner, and as if there were no other •, though it is well known that the Cabiric rites were in being many ages before their time. Varro cif alii comphrcs MACNOS DEOS affirmant Jimulacra duo virilia Caftoris & Politi- cise in Samotbracia ante portum ftta, quibus naufragio liberati votafolvebant. Ser- vius ad iEn.III. v. 12. They were the fons of Jupiter, Youths, and infepa- rable companions, and fo far Diofcuri, Curetes, and Cabiri ; but all the right they had to be called dii magni, came from their being initiated, with other Argonauts, into the Myfteries : and from hence they became the tutelar Gods vt Sailors. Others who reckoned only Two, chofe Neptune and Apollo, who were true, but not the only, Cabiri. Quos tamen Penates alii Apollinem & Neptu- num volunt. Servius in /En. II. v. 325. Others the elder Jupiter, and the younger Bacchus, o'i Si sU wax Ka£e'i(j>if' tififCii-nejv ft AiV ml-n^w Si cJmmi. Etym. Magnum. Nonnus in his Dionyfiacs makes them to be Two, the Sons of Vulcan. &fMIXJ)l( Si SduBIO 7TVet^Vti( TTOA/HTOt AxijMiLhf J\i'j TlauSif iCet/.y^-jorrs KctCngti. Lib. XXIX. V. 1Q2. He gave us their names before viz. Alcon & Eurymedon. Lib. XIV. v. 22. three Cabiri only among the Etrufcans, according to Servius. Apud Tufcos Cabiros ejje Deos Penates, eofque Ccrerem, Palem & Fortunam vocari ab illis. Ad JEn. II. v. 325. four according to the Scholiaft on Apollonius. Miw h -v* 2*f»3piwi t.k Ka£{i£;;r, uv klvcwutt t fjcpo AwjevSuq®'. Schol. in Argon. Lib. I. v. 9 1 7. Authors lay great ftrefs upon this partake, as though it made the cafe quite clear •, and have taken the pains to explain the words Axieros, Axiokerfos, Axiokerfa, Cafmilus, from the Hebrew. See Bochart Canaan. Lib. Religion , Learning & Letters of Europe. 39 however fome authors have reckoned them only Two, o- thers Three, Four, Six, Eight, Nine, Ten, Eleven ; but Lib. I. c. 1 2. But it appears to me in another light ; for all that I conclude from hence is, that Mnafeas and Dionyfiodorus were no initiated perfons, and knew little of the myfteries : but from the fecrecy, with which they were performed, judged them to belong to the infernal deities ; for whom they likewife coined thole hard names. s 1 x. Strabo from Pherecydes reckoned Three Males and Three Females, the fons and daughters of Vulcan and the nymph Cabira. r* si K«£« f »r nt w^vnas, »& 'Hipcas-x, lidSc^a ifw, *& v'jpQtts T^tis- KaCaeiSk;. Geogr. Lib. X. p. 473- eight. The Phenician Hiftoiy calls the Cabiri the fons of Sydcc, JE(- culapius and leven others, whofe names are unknown. oJ t~\k St/^x. muJke Kzoctf-ji, -^ of/jor oji-jHi k-hx\ Strabo Lib. X. p. 473. The Telchincs of Rhodes, the fame with the Corybantes, who accompanied Rhea into Crete, and nurfed Jupiter there, were likewife Nine in Number, and Called CureteS. Oi $ 1't^^vav h VlSu Bunta, ivm-:, T6t Virt 7wucLKcKx^rcu,Ta; nr KfiiTJu, rtH Tvi Ai'a Y.v£9Tp3$'vr>i! kqmvas falS^' of Xj aqjatrwrn) irf 5075/, yj^ a.i>.% Ttfh*. rfc Strabo Lib. X. p. 473. I/ouo/ Au/.Tvf.oi' ol j As/st vsrap^vra.-, ts/iyi imiTht f irfoffii- yoetis, T>i( ir V ^m ±a./.Tuhon 'ivm; ijaeifywr. Diodor. Lib.V. p. 333. eleven. This number we find in the Scholiaft on Apollonius, and here he comes neareft to the truth. Au/.-wmi Ubuoi Kf»TKH<\ Argonaut. Lib. I. v. 1 129. F4 w nira who J a were Colonies of the Pelafgians ; and therefore thc Roman rites may ferve as a comment to ex- plain the dark myfteries of the Greeks. The Romans had an old order of deities, whofe names religion forbad them to divulge, no lefs than the Greeks ; they were called (i) dii consi, or consentes, a fort of Tutelary Gods, who prefided not only over the ftatc, but over each par- ticular family; when they were called (2) lares and pe- nates. The consentes arc (riled "Jo-vis Conjiliariiy Se- ?iatores Dcorum, Jovis Colleges, Penates Tonantis ipjins ; and from that circumftance of concealing their proper names, I think, could be no other than the Samothra- cian Gods cabiri, or Jupiter s Allies. NtMf ifllJWSfy, h. T nua>:' ^Il^LKA fir iviWnV3a. uoi. Paufan. Bceotic. p. 578. Ed. Sylb. (1) Their gilt ftatues were remaining in the Forum at the time when Varro wrote: Et quoniam, ut aiunt, Dei facientes adjuvant, invocabo eos : nee, v.t Moments Of Ennius, Mufas, fed Duodecim DEOS CONSENTIS ; Neque fa- men eos urbanos, quorum imagines ad forum auratx fiant, Sex mares if fa-minx ta- ndem. Varro de Re Ruftica. Lib. I. c. 1. (2) Curetes Grace funt appellati, alii Cory ban tes dicuntur, hi autem LARES appellantur. Hygin. Fab. 139. Caffms Hemina dicit Samothraces Deos, eofdem- qucRomanorum PENATES, did ©sir tvty&Mt, Gt*f w^ r *> Wi * f A>/*toV. Macrob. Saturn. Lib. 3. c.4. Apud Tufcos Cabiros eJJ'e Deos Penates. Servius in JEn. Lib. II. v. 325. This Religion, Learning & Letters of Europe. 41 n r, r This being a matter that is left Penates. Con entes. 1 y . , / r< 1 ■ • n undetermined by the ancients, nor ana Cabin, all , \ , ,. r ~ , . ' , +h r r J was ever thoroughly ddcufied by the J moderns ; the reader mult excule me, if I am more than ufually prolix upon this article. I mail firft obferve that the name, and fituation of the (1) ifland, in which the Pelafgians founded the Cabiric rites, fhevv that the Pelafgians were feafaring Thracians : and the Thracians at hrft were no more than Scythians. The reign of Jafion in Samothrace was a mofl remarkable Epoch, in the hiftory of the Cabiric rites. He is faid to be, " The firft who initiated ftrangers ;" which denotes, that the myfteries in his time began to be communicated to other nations ; as appears by Cadmus's fetting them up in Boeotia. And Jafion probably reaped great advantage by this kind of traffick. The Lares and Penates were the gods of Troy that iEneas brought with him into Italy : but then we are to remember that Dardanus the founder of Troy, was brother of Jafion, and without doubt con- veyed the Samothracian myfteries to Phrygia ; as the Pe- lafgic Greeks did to Italy. The Roman religion was efta- blifhed by Numa a Sabine, who perhaps had never heard of ^neas ; and yet his gods might be the fame with the Trojan, the thing being fo eafily accounted for. Lares and Penates feem to be Phrygian names anfvvering to the word cabiri : for it is (2) abfurd to give them a Latin (1) Tbrekiamque Samon qu 1 p 7. . that ieems to be copied trom Caa- mus's wedding, the gods and god- defies being invited to it ; fays, (3) Mox Jovis fcribce pne- cipitur, pro fuo or dine, £sf ratis modis, ccelicolas advocare t prcecipueque senatores deorum, qui penates fereban- tur tonantis ipjius. Quorum nomina quoniam publicari congruity. Varro feems to me to have had another reafon, and more to his purpofe. As that after he had mentioned Serapis and Ifis, Harpocrates enjoin- ed him filence : He was permitted to fay no more. And in truth he had faid too much already ; if Ccelus and Terra, or Serapis and Ifis, were the only gods ■meant in the Samothracian myfteries. (1) Amobius Adverfus Gentcs. Lib. j. i) In reading this pafiage of Amobius, I ftuck at the words, Et mife- raiionis pcvciffim.e ; and upon further enquiry found that Canterus, and later editors, only bore with them, becaufe they ftood in the full edition, print- ed at Rome 1544; which yet, as all acknowledge, was pubiifhed from a very faulty manufcript. The Bafil edition 1546 by Sigifinuiui Gelenius, has Et its nations barbarijfanx j which Ln my judgment, is a much better reading than the former-, and a ftrong confirmation of my opinion, That the firtt God:. V re Scythians. ._ D< Nupt. Philolog. Si Mercur. Lib. I. G ftcretum 44 Of the Fir ft Inhabitants, Language , fecretum ccelefle non pertulit ; ex eo quod omnia pariter re- promittunt, nomen ex consentione perfecit. The myfte- ries, as Martianus here tells us, would not fuffer the names to be made publick ; and yet he has revealed them him- felf juft after, without knowing it. He was ignorant that Euhemerus the MefTenian, who wrote the hiftory of the Gods, paid no regard to the prohibition ; and that ( i ) En- nius the poet tranilated Euhemerus's work into Latin. Tunc etiam ut inter alios potissimi rogarentur ipsius college jovis, qui bijfeni cum eodem Tonante numeran- tur, quofque dijlichon comple&itur Ennianufn : Juno, Vejla, Minerva, Ceres, Diana, Venus, Mars, Neptunus, jfovf, Mercurius, Vulcanus, Apollo. Thefe are the Twelve Confederate Gods; the penates of Jupiter; the dii magni, or majorum gentium, of the Romans ; the ahaeka ©eoi MErAAOl of the Greeks and Egyptians ; and who fees not that they are the compli- ces, or consentes, Sex Mares & Tot id em Fcemince, of the Etrufcans ? Nor let it feem ftrange, that the number of Females mould be equal to that of the Males ; women at that time of day being of as much (2) importance in war, as the men. It is eafy to perceive that all this con- fufion arofe from the primitive cuftom of concealing the ( 1 ) Qua ratio maxme traclata ab Euhemero eft : quern nojier & interpretatus, cr fecutus eft, prater cy e>«foc na.C7tr, QxKcuu 71 j^cy Apjivsr yiujlti lUiyoi, TnltZit n Stat' xj oavi KgsVa ift^um. Hefiod. Theog. v. 666. The Dii Majores of the Romans were all alike military allies of Jupiter ; as in thole lines of Plautus. Duodecim Deis plufquam in cxlo eft Deorum immortalium, Mihi nunc auxilio adjutorcs funt, &? mecum Militant. Plant. Epidic. names Religion r , Learning & Letters of Europe. 45 names of the Gods. So long as there were no other my- fteries befides the Cabiric, the names were of courfe kept fecret, except among the priefts. But when in later times, the Gods had their peculiar rites allotted to them ; it was proper to proclaim thofe rites under the" refpedtive names of each God. Thus by degrees the names of all the ca- biri were feparately made publick ; but'ftill in their ge- neral capacity of Jupiter's Confederates, they remained in- violably fecret, as long as the Cabiric Myfteries lafted. And when they were thus feparately publifhed, a parti- cular regard was paid to them : they were not put upon the common level with the reft ; but had a fuperiour degrec allowed them, and were called the Great Gods. (1) Virgil indeed, according to the vulgar notion of his time, makes a diftinclion between Penates and Dii Mag- ni ; but Varro affirmed that they were both the fame. rrv tt- 1 n ■ n t The Superintendant of the Ca- Ihe Hizh friet ana ... n • n j / \ 71/r- n r 1 bine myltenes was called (2)coes, Mini /tcrs of the , r ] . , , TT , v y „ j. . J the lame with the Hebrew cohen or High P?'iejl : the inferiour mi- lliners went by different names in different countries ; Co- rybantes in Samothrace, and Lemnus; Idaei Daclyli in Phrygia ; Curetes in Crete ; Telchines at Rhodes ; and Salii at Rome. They are frequently (3) confounded with (1) CumSociis, Natoque, Pcnatibus, 13 Magnis ~D\s. iEn. j. v. 12. larro Utium ejfe dicit Penates & Magnos Deos. Servius in locum. (2) KOIH2 fepovf KaSeffor— 0? Ji KOH5. Hefychius. ( j) T'jJOUjTH J\' 'o^tV {•/ 7T)iV hbyttf TtTMf rrcixMltf, 'T/j" [iiv 7W apra, 7Wf KO'I PHSI Tit KOPTBANTA2 r& KABEU'OI^; *, IAAI0T2 AAKTTAOTS xj Tl.AXINAS J^sjAytw- Lib. X. p. 466. G 2 th< 46 Of the Firjl Inhabitants, Lang/sage, the gods ; for the Priefts are often called Cabiri, and the gods Curetes, Corybantes, Dactyli 8cc. ._ . , , „ Vulcan, who is reprefented by Vulcan and theCy- (l)Homcr as a peacemaker in the C lTn S ° f Private quarrels of the Gods, has Myjlenes. ^ fingular honour of bdng ca]lcd (2) cabirus, and (3) The father of the Cabiri. This I think is to be underftood of his being the oldeft perfon concern- ed in, and perhaps the chief promoter of, the confedera- cy ; for all the reft appear to be (4) young deities. In later ages he feems to have engroffed to himfeli the fole privilege of the rites: if the cabiria, mentioned on fome Greek (5) coins of the emperors, were the remains of the (1) Iliad a. v. 571. (2) n(«TK u \v. tJtfVHM Tn/eryh-'tyvo? lenrmt ♦hjUH eC*)iXMt0jtt Sotjun Tra^tf. fixTi-Si VWKIft Q,nua. uniflf i^vnt; luoyvioy' \ss Tm&s a.y^t» Ofyzvto } a l u^o7if<»$', touths J^/i»0ho c -t g\ XceMWi Strab. Lib. XIV . p. 654. (3) A)a\UUTX Tt T StSt <8©°7W ci 7iX%v-f jg.TTMKouJLmt KtJOtTVU. Diodot". Llb.V. (4) Via; tk'/^-m f'tfciv 0/ 7a VLvftrrw ~xt% V/>.>\ti ShrtKwTtt ncjt' rjy >& unm Ma&ivi « 7wV i-ansv/ iim\/\i/j}^t¥ vot rfj "ty^ietJixv -^^Wj ei 71 Ju 70ir k*>ax::< 7Sxuiiei«<3a< >'}&>™ >ia.-nt^:-Jy^u. Ibid. SatMtbraces borum Venatittm amijlt- > 0. l ../■.:>//, qui pojka *.Romanis S,1L1J • . . ::>U. Scry, ad A n. 11. ' • - W1TC 48 Of the Firft Inhabitants, Language, were the priefts of the Confentes. TJie Sabines were de- fcendants of the Laconian Pelafgi : Numa came from Cu- res the chief town in the Sabine country, whofe name carries with it fome intimation of the Cabiric rites; and from this place without quemon the Salii came, and were there called Curetes, as in Greece. But when Numa tranf- lated that order to Rome, he had the addrefs to dedicate them to Mars the patron god of the Romans ; in return for their calling themfelves Curetes, or Quiritcs. The word salii is purely Latin, and given them upon account of their dancing ; but the Romans notwithstanding preferved fome obfeure notion of their defcent from the Cabiri : ei- ther by means oi (1) Dardanus who carried the rites to Troy, from whence their Gods and Penates came ; or from one (2) Salius a Samothracian, who taught them the dance. I muft add that the Salii at Rome feem to have preferved the original fongs, ufed in the Cabiric rites at Samothrace ; compofed in the old Pelafgic dialect, and which religion forbad them to alter. Thefe fongs in the Auguftan age, were no more underftood by the (3) Ro- mans, than they were by the (4) Greeks in Samothrace. (1) Alii dicunt SAL1UM quendam Arcadem fuiffe, qui Trojanis juntlus hunc In- dian in facris inftituerit ; nonnulli (amen bos a Dardano inftitutos volunt, qui Samo- tbracibus Diis Jacra perfoherent. Servius ad jfEn.VIII. v. 285. (2) 5AAI0I ix>ii5tiiii 2AMO0PAKOS kySfts, h Mcutj- v'tvs, 'oro;xa SAAIOT, 7&0 ivL'rfjw h.iivy*e\v' a.»\i. fxathoy Jot f l$%ifftas ct?,v- J-.HS-. Plutarch in Numa. (3) Saliorum cannina, iv'.v facer dotibus fuis [atis intellefta, mutari vet at religio, £f? confecratis utendum eft. Quintilian. Lib. I. e. II, Prifca lingua eft, qua ve- tuftijfimi Italici fub Jano & Saturno funt ufi y incondita, ul fe habeant cannina Sa- liorum. Ilidor. Orig. Lib. IX. c. 1. (4) hpvyj.0 3 -xu>cuav tJmv Am£mmm> 01 t)jjv>^oyif, [SacwSpaJcnfj W otM* h ¥ Sveious H*%i t vtw rx'.uivji. Diodor. Lib.V. In Religion ', Learning & Letters of Europe. 49 l- • n ■ In all ancient cuftoms we arc to The Cabiric my levies „ r , . . „u j , .1 i-n expect lomething analogous to the allude to the hi/lory r %, , . p , to - of y b't • u P on vvnicn tne y uere roun d- J J * ed : and this is often minutely ex- plained by ancient authors. The Cabiric myfteries were performed with fuch fecrecy, that little has been revealed concerning them ; but what is known will bear an allu- fion to the true hiftory of Jupiter, without the neceility of ftraining it to allegory. The firft article of the rites enjoined the votaries to conceal the names of the Gods ; and this, in a religious view, perhaps may only prove their great (1) antiquity. Idolatry was then in its infancy ; men before that time knew but one god ; unlcfs it may be thought, that they worfhipped the Sun, Moon, and Stars. It was unlawful to make any reprefentation, or even to pronounce the name, of god : precepts which the Jews religioufly obferve to this day. But if we take it in a po- litical fenfe, it may allude to the fecrecy with which the' alliance of the Gods was concerted : and the rites were performed in the night, perhaps to denote that the victo- ry was gained by fome ftratagem, or furprize. Thofe who were initiated into the myfteries were generally (1) Herodotus Book II. §.52. fays, "The Pelafgians at firft facrificed, "and invoked the Gods in general, without calling them by their names;" which plainly points to the inftitution of the Cabiric rites. But what he adds, "That the Egyptians firft invoked the Gods by name, and that the "Greeks received thofe names from them;" feems to be a fiction of the Egyptian pricfts. The worftiip of dead men, at rirft could not but be ihock- ing to human reafon; which was probably the true caufe of concealing the names : but when it became lefs relerved, and more fa;uil;.ir with all nations; then they began to dillinguiih the Gods, and made no fcruple, cither of calling them by their names, or of increafing their number. And I think the Greeks and Scythians might as well let the example as the Egyptians. (1) youths. 50 Of the Firft Inhabitants, Language, ( i ) youths. The perfon initiated was placed on a (2) throne, the priefts dancing round him; which has all the appearance of proclaiming the young Jupiter king. The priefts too were young perfons, and (3) equal in number to the gods. It was the office, or privilege, of the high prieft to (4) abfolvc a criminal, who had killed even a brother ; and for this the heathens are reproached by the (5) Chriftians. But in lighting againft their nearer! relations the Titans, the Gods muft have been often re- duced to that neccility ; and an indemnity was probably provided for fuch accidents, when they firft entered into the confederacy. <— „ , The chief, and only, thins in thefe The Corybantme . , , • 1 1 j j „ r rites, that the ancients acknowledged Dance m ar- , , . T . *=\ to bear any relation to upiter, was the dance or the Cory ban tes in armour ; ltriking upon their fhiclds in imitation of a battle. The common reafon given for this cuftom, is a fable too grofs to be believed as a fact ; and I don't remember, that it has ever been explained in an allegorical way. If we take it in conjunction with the other part of the ceremony, the enthronizing a young perfon; we cannot but think ( 1 ) Terentius Apllodorum fequitur, apud t quern legitur in Infula Sametfoacum a certo tempore Pucros initiari more Athenienjium. Donatus in Terentii Phorm. AcT:. I. Seen. 1 . (2) ©PONJiSIS. Kc/7a.'^i -art* Tar fwc/fooif. Hefych. Uoiu— v fi tvjwjvv ami 0/ h Tf 7rKir7> r Ki^Cxvn-/, trm» -riuu ©PON £12 IN ■xiivvtva, >Ai tbtzv ov O.V y.;».asi Ttt.ct:' ;i- •/i hut XOPELA 77<- t<7 *, imuJi'itt. Plato in Euthydemo. (3) This I think appears from the number of the Salii, mentioned by Dionyfius Halicarnafleniis, as above. (4) KOI US. UfUUf KttScipav &$tuftn fovia.' b; jj KOH2. HefychillS. (5) Oiliviom etiam Corybantia Sacra donaitur^ in quibus fanSum Mud myfte- rium traditur; Fratcr trucidatus a Fratribus. Arnobius Adver. Gentes. Lib.V. that Religion \ Learning & Letters of Europe. 5 1 that it alludes to a fad:, fomething later than the mere infancy of that God. The dance in armour was a moft ancient (i)cuftom with thofe who had gained a victory ; and this of the Gods is the firft, whereof we find any (2)footfteps in hiftory. The Bacchanalian rites, in me- mory of Bacchus's victories, were formed upon this plan ; and from hence came the famous (3) Pyrrhic dance, fo celebrated by Greeks and Romans, nor yet entirely effa- ced by time ; traces of it frill remaining in (4) feveral parts of Europe. ( 1 ) Saltabant autem ritu veteri armati pojl vicloriam Tiburtinorum de Volfc'u. Servius ad /Eneid. Lib. VIII. v. 285. (2) Epicharmus afcribed the origin of the Dance to Minerva: o g hm^af- fxor -riw A5lwa.v -mt &h Tt-mvav ajpaitiTjjZi ^i^cuar, l^w. Lib. VII. Vide Meurfii Panathenxa. (3) mPPixH. eSJ®' ivLt** op^W,-. Jul. Pollux. Lib. IV. c.13. Er p „ TO ,- Si TA-m.v q>nm 0/ uiv K«p»7a;, of Ji Tlvifeti iiv h.%»Aat. Proclus in Chreftomath. The Romans called it Troja, and Ludus Trojanus. Trcjaque nunc pueri Trojanum dicitur agmen. ^En.V. v. 602. Ludus ipfe, quern vulgo Pyrricham appellant, TROJA vocatur. Servius in loc. E-mji&etw 3 X'apMut p. mn nyum o KOTPHTI2MOS, at Ik Tn^vv p. Xj k>Xay iya avfi- £ii>^ofjM, fjuiKt^a. J\ Ik r/ftsti -mt ■^K.fj.nas -ntt 7t lv l-TrrnSfo/jUf), ^nS/Mu.vm< it -nJ TrzKi/jM k_iaw, TElian. Var. Hift. Lib. 12. c. 23. Bo.rdi quidem fortia vircrum iBkflrium faffs, heroicis compofita vcr/ibus, cum dukibus lyr Tiwvv Viz JbSSfnu .sj£?ure-\5:>- T8r K^jJirra,- \y. f Bxx.TUti/)ir £$iyt£t>*r. of A ir. \L\^,v fuen, Strabo Lib. X. p. 472. (2) Strabo and Herodotus agree, that the Dodonean oracle was founded by the Pelafgians; by which is implied time immemorial. Therefore what the latter relates, at leaft a thoufand years afterwards, upon the credit of the Egyptian priefts, concerning the "Two Black Pigeons, or Theban Prieft- " eifes ;" is a ftory, that others may believe if they pleafe, but it feems to me inconfiftent with the antiquity of the Oracle : which I take to be older than that of Thebes, or Amnion in Libya. This is not the only inftance, wherein the hiftorian was impofed upon by the Egyptian priefts -, whole va- nity it was, to deduce both oracles from the Theban Jupiter. The ancient Scholiafts judged more rightly, that the Dodonean, or Pelafgic, Jupiter was an Hyperborean : the North being the country of the Great Gods. i4«<, Hsxetyjou, THAOGI NAIftN. Horn. Iliad. 11. v.233. i.n \opin t rnf'.PBOPUfiK, t? i». a^yaxt-n-m. yj/xuavcwmt, K&vov "ntv tv Kgc/v y&v @&e^73i'> *) lv O^ix-mct ■miH^lwau H&ycii va.iv \mn T 7D7S a.v5fa?mv, 01 ovo/xa^ovTZ X.fjT*y Tc- vQr. — WtyOtt oum izziThst tw iJbua Sozp. tuv 71 a.^avot, 2^.ifiycu 'Ofc-jTw, ^ OKv/jL-na. wo- /xa^S^. — Y,cu T N'O'-Hffwra f(; axt-niv r.}a.$a <^tpaj'j>nx Kou/a — KofuSs'jZau j (K T 5 T7nt£o- fiu)/ )»( t K'jjivv Qttaiv vsro t H^. . » If we fix our footino- here, per- Tfje Cabin were the , , ,p * * - r a tj j r* j na P s we ma Y ta ke a clearer view of fir It Heathen Lroas. , r r ,/ r , , r . J J the lucceeding fabulous ages or the Greeks. It is certain that the Cabiric rites were the (1) firft religion of their country. That the myfteries of Magna facred writ. But the whole, as it is drefled up by the editor Philo, and vouched for by Porphyry, is attended with fo many fufpicious circumltan- ces, that I cannot fee how men of learning can take it for any thing more than an impofture. The greateft truth declared in it, feems to be that of the heathen Gods being once inhabitants of the earth ; which was no more than the fentiments of the wifer Greeks, who underftood the origin of their, religion. (l) XfAuf fur tw.tIui Gsfpnt m?;7nxn t5i£t AAt'/rt^i KupJw. Orph. Hymn, in Curetas. Mater, 56 Of the Fir/} Inhabitants, Language, Mater, Ceres, Bacchus, Sec. were only branches that fprung from the Cabiric ; and are therefore fometimes confound- ed with them. That Pan, Bacchus, Silenus, Sylvanus, Plu- to, and others, by fome reckoned among the older dei- ties, muft be pofterior to the Twelve Great Gods. That Hercules was not in the firft grand alliance of the Gods, tho' he is reported to have fought on their fide ; and is therefore to be accounted a later deity. And now the reader may confider at his leifure, whether (1) Vulcan, the moft ancient deity of Egypt, was not originally a Grecian god ; and (2) Hercules, the oldeft Tyrian god, a Scythian. Whether it is more probable, that Cybele, the great god- defs of the Sidonians, came from Egypt, rather than Greece or Phrygia. And in fhort, whether the boafted antiqui- ties of Phenicia and Egypt, are not fragments of the true hiftory of Mofes, blended with the older fables of the Greeks. o . . t? . * The Titan language then, call science tn tLurope be- . ~ . ^ ?• -r. 1 r • . , , ,rJ. it Cimmerian, Celtic, Pelaigic, or ga?i with the lita?is. , , \ ,° ' 6 by any other name, is to be con- fidered, as the vehicle of the firft knowledge that dawned in Europe. The progrelTion of ancient fcience, a fubjecT: of the moft entertaining nature to the human mind, is frequently touched upon by fome of the fineft pens, both ancient and modern. And yet, of thofe who have pur- fued it thro' the dark ages, few, I think, have hit upon the right track ; and moft have taken, what feems to me to be the laft ftage of it, for the very beginning. If learn- (1) The (lately temple of Vulcan at Memphis, was built by the firft mortal king of Egypt, kin or menes. See Herodotus Book II. c. 4, 99. z) Herodotus Ibid. C.44. ed Religion , Learning & Letters of Europe. 57 cd men without prejudice, and without paying too "Teat a deference to precarious authorities, would only attend to a natural induction of particulars ; I believe that in- ftead of (r) deriving all religion and learning from Egypt, they might trace it back from thence to the Phenicians, Carians, Phrygians, Getes, and Thracians, and Co to the iEgean ifles, which were the feats of the firft civilizers of mankind ; and thcfe were Scythians, or, if you choofe rather to call them, Scytho-Grecians. Tie Egyptians not , Th r C , E m«™ j"% challenged to the firf authors 'hemfelves very great ant.qu.ty the r v ■ lacred writings confirm their title to or Science. . , , P r , . , , . . „ J it ; neverthelels they yielded the fu- periority in this refpect to the Scythians according to (2) Juftin, and to the Phrygians according to (3) Herodo- tus ; which two accounts are not irreconcileable. They pretended to no Icience till the time of Thoth, or Hermes Trifmegiflus ; who does not appear to have been a native of Egypt, and, if we may believe Sanchoniathon's hifto- ry, came no further off than from Phenicia ; but I rather fufpect, that he was a (4) Scythian. We have no other ( 1 ) This is one of the faults, with which Plutarch charges Herodotus. T* auTtL itj EOI MWAAOI " -d* htysxfa A»- ? f- 1 i.t'i ■■ tv iykf/tri Xeufi'fiUM tvrocut, 'p^iunixuC^Qf Ttieu-dw m-i. thvifiluf y.KiiSt-at S\ 7wfc«or, it btofyh <■ tMmt. Strabo Lib.VII. p. 806. (2) Hie (ft vefu/HJ/tmus referendi bene mertntibus gratiam mos, ut tales numini- bus adferibantur. ^uippe & aliorum ncmina Deoum, fcf qiis fnpra retuli Sydcruiu, ex bomimtm nc! a [tint melius. Plin. Hift. Lib. II. c. 7. I inftance 60 Of the Fir ft Inhabitants , Language , inftance in the great father of thefe Gods ; (i) " Who firft "reftrained his fubjects from their favage manners, and " reduced them into communities ; taught them the know- c< ledge of the milder fruits of the earth, and the way of " ftoring them ; with many other things ufeful to life ; and " being a diligent obferver of the heavenly bodies, was a- " ble to foretell events that were to happen in the world ;" and in fhort, was (2) perfect in all knowledge. This then was the Golden Age, fo juftly celebrated by the ancients, the age of politenefs, however disfigured it may now ap- pear to us. The Greeks indeed, to whom we owe all our profane hiftory, fcemed to have loft their due reverence tor it, and thought themfelves beholden to other nations for their learning ; but a little reflexion might have taught them, that their country from the firft ages was the feat of arts and fciences. ^ , r c I affect not to be thought fin- Lrreece the fountain of 1 • . \ , , r , /. J malar in an opinion, much Jeis to arts and ciences. & , r ji r 1. \- r J advance a groundlels hypothehs ; and therefore fhall endeavour to reft it upon two of the greateft names for learning among the moderns, who, I am perfvvaded, faw clearly enough into this matter, tho' they have not delivered themfelves fo fully as might be wifhed, or as a point of fuch confequence deferved. Sal- (1) OTPANON fietsiKzvatu Kj TW av^puTnif anzgyj'jjj oiKtivms tru/d^ayetv c/r -mKius! rafti- Cohn, 1&1 j fi hopiai iC) r SneiclJovs /Sib ttmitvu rat ijva.y.iorm<, lifyv-ro. -rof t 'n/xi^av x.af- mgpmifinlw, Txrt.o. laotkyav 'flu rgsm r xaay.ni (t*toJ>rit& jtvidiu. Diodor. Lib. III. p. 132. (2) Trifmegiftus auclcr eft, qui cum Secret admodum paucos extilijje, in quilus ejfet perfetta doftrina, in bis Uramm, Saturnum, Mercuriam, cognatos fuos nonn- nardt. Ladlant. de Falf. Relig. Lib. I. c. 11. mafius Religion ■, Learning & Letters of Europe. 6 1 mafius after repeating feveral times, that the firft inhabi- tants and language of Greece came from Scythia, adds ( i ) Satis certtim ex his colligi pot eft, linguam, ut gen tern Hellenicam, a jepte?itrione & Scythia originem traxiffe, non a meridie. £%uo pofito ^f Mud certiftimo conftabit Pefapon- ?iefum, cum reliqua Gratia qua extra Ifthmum, a TJoeJfa- lis Jive Macedonibus Gratis, populos, quibus excidta eft, & urbes quibus inftrutla eft, accepijfe. Inde liter je Gkje- CORUM, INDE MuSTE PlERIDES, INDE SaCRORUM InITIA. Scaliger, a little more to the purpofe, fays, (2) Si enim rem ab ultima origine repetamus, deprehendemus artes non folum antiquitus a Gratis inventas & per feci as fuijfe -, fed etiam ab illis ad eas nationes derivatas, a qui- bus Gr^cos hausisse volunt isti. cjj p . r " Agreeably to the natural courfe of g }e J s °J t}ji n g S the Arts had their periods ; iiounihed for a lealon in one age and country, then funk, and rofe in another. The difficulty lies in tracing them through that vaft wafte of time, where we have no other guide, than fabulous hiftory. The Greeks, like unnatural children, branded their Scythian an- ceftors with the opprobrious names of barbarous and illi- terate ; and we at this diftance finding nothing to the contrary, form our judgment of them from what they really were, when the arts had left them. But mould we in the fame manner eftimate the ancient Phenician, E- gyptian, and even Grecian learning, by the prefent inha- bitants of thofe countries, what a mean opinion mult we ( 1 ) Salmafius de I Iclleniftica Pag. 400. (2) Scaliger Prarf. ad Manila Albon. I 2 entertain 6 1 Of the Fir ft Inhabitants , Language ', entertain of it ? We learn from hiftory their former fioit- rifhing ftate ; and this evidence, it is true, is wanting on the part of the Scythians, or is only to be picked up from the Scattered fragments of the Greek writers, and of thofe who copied them. They who think the frories of the fa- bulous age all (i) pure fiction, without any foundation in fact, feem to me, to believe too much on the one hand, or too little on the other : he who takes the middle way between both, may have a better chance to be in the right. Let me therefore fuppofe, with the ancient defen- ders of Chriftianity, that the heathen Gods were mortal men, and had once a real exiftence ; and that what is re- lated of their actions, may fairly be believed, if it comes within the verge of probability. Many of them are re- ported to have been the firft inventors of ufeful arts ; if that mould be thought improbable, let them have at leaft the honour of conveying thofe arts to the feveral countries where they fettled. l77 , . . r To traverfe the whole circle of Arts *n ■ ' • would be an endlefs work. We need '■J -^ only, in order to judge of the reft, en- hurope. , y> r i i i • • r i * deavour to nnd the beginning or the principal, and moft fublime, of all the Sciences, that of the Heavenly Bodies. The Sabians or worfhippers of the hea- (i) Strabo remarks, That Homer never raifed any thing new or marvel- lous, but out of fome truth, E/. pn mifa.- '«v (j.r,J\v y/iSX, tatjX. iuoi &' iPi dti oxtiaj «JW <3s~a^,vi. AK\a. a^n^jiv -ra "saja, «3 vrot ;.-^or - It derogates too much from the Lame from the li- r . c % . u • J f , , . dignity or our nature, and the image tans or Scythians. P^ \ ■ , , . ,- a y or God implanted in our iirit parent, to fuppofe that men in the primitive ages were but a little above the level of brutes. There were then, and at all times, fome groveling geniuses that looked no further than the earth ; but the generality had more exalted views, minds fitted to enquire into the reafons and caufes of things. The different magnitudes of the liars, and their diftances from each other, were objects perpetually before their eyes. By this means the Planets muft foon be dif- tinguiihed from the Fixed Stars ; and the latter by their aiTemblages reprefented to the imagination the different forms of animals, men, birds, beafts, and fifhes. The arc of the heavens taught them to range thefe figures in their proper order, and to reduce them to fome degree of ex- actnefs, by imaginary lines or circles. In this manner men might be enabled to form a Syftem of the feience, or an artificial fphere ; a thing that could hardly be unknown to the Antediluvians. The revolutions of the Sun and Moon taught them to (1) meafure time by days, months, ( 1 ) In the days of Noah, they muft have proceeded very far in this fort of computation ; if the year then confifted of 365 days, as a modern author thinks he has proved from the Mofaic account of the Deluge. Vid. Luc. Cuperus Paratitla Chronol. & Hift. Sacr. Amft.1721. pag.34. Whether the author has proved his point, or not ; I believe the belt chronologers are of opinion, that this was the known length of the year long before the time of Moles : nor can I afcribe the invention to the Egyptians, becaufe the Chi- nefe accounts place it 2338 years before our Saviour's Nativity. See Jack- lbn's Chronol. Antiquities. Vol. 2. pjg. 66. and Religion ', Learning & Letters of Europe. 6 5 and years. Obfervations and Calculations followed ot courfe; rude and imperfect, we may well imagine, and void of that accuracy which diftinguiihes the modern Af- tronomy. A long feries of years was neceflary to bring the fcience to fome perfection, but improvements were continually making ; and fome nations, as the Chaldeans and Egyptians, by dint of application made themfelves famous in antiquity, for their fkill in this way : but it de- tracts nothing from their merit, to fay that they received the firft rudiments from the Scythians. Arguments drawn from the (1) advantages of their countries, prove not that they were the firft inventours of the art : the high moun- tains, and long nights, of the Scythians were as proper helps for promoting the ftudy, as the wide plains of E- gypt, or Chaldea. After all, I cannot but think that the great fame, which the Chaldeans and Egyptians ac- quired upon this account, was chiefly owing to their ma- king a myftery of Aftronomy, by afcribing fupernatural virtues and influences to the Stars : a fcience, of which they pretended to be great mailers, nor fhall I deny that they were the firft authors. This trifling art grew into vogue with the later Greeks and Romans, and from them fpread itfelt thro' the feveral countries of Europe ; but is now exploded by the learned, and retains its credit onlv with the vulgar and fuperftitious. ( 1 ) &gyptii £5? Babylonii in camporum patentium , . c , We muft not forget, that, whilft The Barbaric Sphere. Aftrology flouri(hed 5 under the Ro _ mans, mention is made of a (i) Barbaric Sphere; by which (2) iome underftand the Egyptian or Chaldean Sphere, (3) others the Sphere of the Ccltcs or Gauls. Whatever may be meant by the word Barbaric, it ap- pears to me, that the Scythians, or Titans, could not be without a Sphere ; which they might, and did, commu- nicate to many diftant nations of the world, till that time ignorant of Aftronomy. _- ., 1 tt • I grant that the Greeks, Chal- T/jc Northern He mi- , & „, . . , Jr* . r , r n 1 ■ deans, rhenicians and hgyptians, fphere firft culti- , , ' , c . . &{.* ' Ji J J by the advantage or their climates, ed. u y 1 • • r • 1 had greater opportunities or enrich- ing the Southern Hemifphere with conftellations, than the Scythians had ; but the Northern feems to be what was firft cultivated. The Sphere ufed by all thefe nations was (1) Nigidius Figulus in the time of Julius Csefar wrote Two Books now loll, the one on the Greek, the other on the Barbaric, Sphere : a diftinction that has not a little puzzled the learned. Scaliger thought that by the word Barbaric, he meant the Egyptian, or Chaldean, Sphere, as different from the Greek. But Salmafius is of opinion, that he only explained the hiftory of the fame Sphere, by the different fables of the Greeks and Egyptians •, and that Hyginus has preferred the fubftance of what Nigidius wrote on the Greek Sphere. About four hundred years afterwards, when Aftronomy had degenerated into Aftrology ; Julius Firmicus likewife mentions the Signs in the Barbaric Sphere, which Signs are not different from the Greek. But by this time, fays Salmafius, the word Barbaric had acquired a new meaning, and fignified not the Sphere of the Barbarians, but the Conftellated, or Pilft/red, Sphere of the fixed ftars ; as Aurum Barbaricum means wrought gold, Barba- rica vejles garments ornamented with figures : accordingly Donatus interprets the word Barbaricarii in the Code, Qui barbarica i. e. Ornamenta ex auro confi- cerent. Vid. Salmaf. de Ann. Climaft. p. 580, 581, &c. (2) Scaliger Not. in Manilium. pag. 368. j ) Pezron's Preface to Antiq. of Nations. probably Religion ', Learning & Letters of Europe. 6y probably the fame, but by degrees varied a little from the primitive plan. Some new conftellations were perhaps formed by conjoining, or dividing, the old ones ; or new names might be given to them, the affemblages conti- nuing ftill the fame ; for this we know has been done in much later times. But I cannot be perfwaded, that any of thefe nations deviated fo far from the (i) old fyftem, as to form one entirely new : for the Two Bears, the Wain, the Whale, Engonaiin, the Swan, the Harp, the Arrow, with many others, feem to me to be original afterifms in the Scythian Sphere : and thefe afterifms, the groundwork of the Egyptian and Grecian fables. No one can think that we have fet the antiquity of this Science too high, (i) A lover of truth ought not to be born down by any great name, even by that of Sir Ifaac Newton, who has eflablifhed a new fyltem of Chrono- logy, upon very precarious Poftulates, viz. "That the Greek Sphere is no " older than the time of the Argonauts ; that it was formed by Chiron the " Centaur for their life •, and that the hiltory of the expedition is delineated "on the Sphere." Skill in Aftronomy was never before reckoned a part of Chiron's character; and the verfes brought to prove it, from one of the old poets who wrote of the Titan war, are too Mender a foundation for fuch a fuperflrucliure. hi! TE Jiyj/Mivjlrju SrHmy ■f/j®' »jap«> efe^oif Clem. Alex. Strom. Lib. I. p. 306. Thefe lines feem to reprefent Chiron under the character of a Lawgiver, ex- cepting the two laft words S^fut-r OAufore, The figures of the Heavens-, a phrale for which it will be hard to find any parallel authority. A fmall Greek cri- ticifm will reconcile matters, and make them all of a piece ; and at the lame time overturn all reafonings that are built upon a falfe reading, by lubftitu- ting in its room, zi^r' OaJ^o-k, The Signs of the Heavens-, that note the Sea- fons of the year, the prognoftics of the weather Sec. Emuato, s*|uc/*, ±tinfuut are the proper words ufed by Homer, And Aratus. See Mifcelbneous Obfer- vaiions 011 authors. Publiihed by Mr Jortin. Lond. 1732. Vol. 2. p. 233. K who 68 Of the Fir ft Inhabitants, Language, who recollects that the (i) Chaldeans had preferved aftro- nomical obfervations, for nineteen hundred years before the time of Alexander; and that the (2) Chinefe, accord- ing to the relations of modern travellers, had the know- ledge of the Sphere, very near as early as the Titan age, if not before. Nor is there any reafon to think, that it was unknown at the fame time to their neighbours, the ancient Tartars ; by whom, as I conjecture, Aftronomy was hrft tranlplanted into Europe. er* r ? The Planets, from the full ages The ?iames of the \ n c +\ o - *u i*r a „, cr- • almoit or the Science in the V\ elt, Planets litamc. r , , , ieem to have been appropriated to thofe deities, whofe names they bear in Latin ; and which are not improperly (3) derived from the Scythian, or Cel- ( 1 ) A/<* 78 (M7m \. KcOXi&evii? Ik Ka&uxZvQf 77t iA.aJk, 7B() hcwnXxt tbto 6hmli-^ajmt axnut' a.!in Fl i ura - Vid - Plutarc - de Facie in Orbe Lunas. mercvrivs Merc-Ur. i.e. Mercium Fir. tic. Religion ', Learning & Letters of Europe. 69 tic. The Romans received their improved Aftronomy from the Greeks, but we fee, that they kept to the Ti- tanic appellations ; and no author has ventured to fay, when thefe names firft took place. Six of them are Ca- biric, and Saturn being added to thefe, makes it proba- ble, that they all owed this honour to the Aborigines of Italy. And the names, by which they are diftinguiihed in other languages, will I believe be found to be expref- iive of the characters and properties of thefe deities. y, L „ j r\- Apollo and Diana, more than any Apollo a?id Duma . l ~ , , . ,, . { J T , r> • • other Gods, are ierviceable to us, both Northern Deities. . _.: , n , . ,' in connecting the Scythian and Gre- cian hiftory, and in cftablifhing the antiquity of the Arts. Apollo was the god of medicine, harmony, poetry and divination. The Greeks, as ufual, feigned, fome that he was born in the iiland Delos, others in Crete ; but he was really a Scythian, and a Titan, and is often called Titan by the (1) poets. He was the fon of (2) Latona and Hy- perion, elder brother of Saturn. His mother (3) accord- ing to the fable, brought him forth in a place inaccefTible to the fun ; which feems to be the land of the Cimme- rians. (4) Servius upon that verfe of Virgil Hie genus antiquum terrce Titania pubes. ./En. VI. v. 5 80. (1) Extulerit Titan, radiifque rctexerit orbem. Virg. /En. IV. Nul'us adbuc mundo prxbebat lumhia Titan. Ovid. Metam. Lib. I. (2) Apollodor. Lib. I. pag. 2. Ed. Gale. Diodor. Lib.V. (3) Eo tempore Jovis cum Latona Poli filia cotnubuit. Hoc cum Juno refciit, facit ut Latona ibi pareret ubi Sol non accederet. Python ubi fenftt Latomm ex Jo- ve gravidam ejfe, perfequi ccepit, ut earn intcrficeret. At iMonam Jovis juJJ'u ven- tus Aquilo fublatam ad Neplinuim pcrtuiit. Hygin. Eab. CXL. Ex bis [Titanibus] autem folus Sol abjlmuijfe narralur ab injuria mwiinum, unde & cxlum meruit. Servius In loc. K 2 tells jo Of the Firft Inhabitants, Language, tells us, " That Apollo, of all the Titans, was the only "one who abstained from injuring the Gods, for which " reafon he was taken up into heaven." By this is meant, that he was in alliance with the Gods, and was reward- ed by them with fome territories, wherever thofe were. Whereas the other Titans, with their fons the Giants, were fent to hell ; that is, were either flain, imprifoned, or dri- ven out of theirs. That the Delphic Apollo was a Scy- thian, is clear from the Greek writers, from whom Tully received it ; for fpeaking of the feveral gods who went by that name, he fays, (i) Terttus Jove & Latona 7iatus^ quern ex Hyperboreis Delphos fcrunt advenijfe. Apollo was the chief deity of the (2) Northern nations; and this, with his being called the God of the bow, is to me a fufficient proof of his country. The Cretans who boafted of being inftru&ed by him in archery, called the Bow (3) Scythian. (4.) Diodorus from Hecataeus fays, " There is an Ifland not " lefs than Sicily, in the Ocean over againft Celtica, un- " der the Arctic circle, extremely fruitful in every thing, (1) De Natura Deorum. Lib. 3. That the Son of Latona was the firft and true Apollo we learn from the fame author. Reliqui omnes Jilentur, om- tiefque res aliorum gefta ad unum Joris (3 Latona filium referuntur. Ibid. (2) liuxLm Ji i( TTRfCopHMf o K-m>\av. Schol. in Apollonii Argonaut. Lib. II. v. 677. He was called hel, vjel, bel, belen, by the Celtes; by the Goths balder. (3) Kal ii TefjDr Sw3n»r IvouaSrlZiu. Diod. Lib.V. The learned Weflelin- gius, the laft editor of Diodorus, choofes to read K^vmv for ZkuSduv, with- out any warrant from the MSS : but had he fufficiently attended to Apollo's country, perhaps would have acquiefced in the old reading. (4) E/ 7B/f iwTngpv A<» /uu- \cjtt t ttMor Stay tmj twnis VfM.SK,' V!) J\ auiis rWsp hpts mat A-m^ayQr', XA. Diod. Lib. II. p.91. " inhabited Religion ', Learning & Letters of Europe. 7 1 " inhabited by the Hyperboreans ; who worshipped Apol- " lo more than any other deity, and were in a manner "his priefts, — That in their city they had his (i)Tem- " pie — And that once in Nineteen years, the God came "among them.' 1 [By which it mould feem that Cycles were a northern invention.] " They faid likewife that La- " tona was a native of their country, — that the inhabi- " tants had a great regard for the Greeks, and particular- " ly for the Athenians and Delians. And that Abaris their " countryman, went from thence into Greece, and renew- "ed the ancient league with the Delians." Add to this, the report of the Delians themfelves to (2) Herodotus, " That their facred rites were tranfmitted to them from "Scythia by certain Hyperborean virgins, Argis and Opis " who came with the Gods ; and after them Hyperoche " and Laodoce, who died in Delos, and whofe fepulchre " in the temple of Diana, was to be feen in his time." In the Hyperborean Ifland then we are to look for the birthplace of Apollo, and of his fifler Diana, the goddefs of the bow, a (3) Northern deity; for Medea, when fhe (1) This temple Mr Toland thought was ftill remaining in the village of ClafTernefs in the Ifle of Lewis, confilting of a Circle of Twelve Stones, with another of greater height than the reft in the centre. Hiftory of Druids, pag. 89, 158, 160. See Martin's account of the Hebrides or Weftern Ifles of Scotland, pag. 9. Where the form of the temple, and the approach to it, are exhibited on a copper plate. (2) taat '$ ol OJJTM y& iLu Apjtf rjH T 1-ttv, ut'Ci It ^»Aii> r.o&Y^) Xj cu Kcqau Xj 01 irotJW 0/ Anx/ay — -n j Aj7>/m57s/ icilvTi a£t$\- tf f we<><- Herod. Lib. IV. §. 33, 34, 35. (3) Et Tariinis Scftbic* non mtior ara Diatue. Lucan. Lib. I. Quajublime nanus, Scytbica qua regno Diatue. Idem Lib. III. came 72 Of the Firjl Inhabitants, Language, came with Jafon and the Argonauts from Colchis, (i) pre- tended that " She brought Diana with her from the Hy- " perboreans." By Genus antiquum terra, as above, (2)Ser- vius fays is meant the Firft Race, or Titans properly fpeak- ing, the Giants being the Second Race. (3) Tityus, one of thefe giants, was (lain by Apollo's arrows, for endea- vouring to force Latona ; and he was, what his (4) name implies, a Titan or Son of the earth ; and, I prefume, from this account of him, an Hyperborean. So that I think there can be no room to doubt, that the Titans were Scythians, as we have all along afTerted. _7 tt The Harp is a fymbol of Apollo, and ' lie whether he, or Mercury, is to be called Z 11 the inventor, the Greeks received it from P the Scythians ; tho' I fuppofe that they im- proved it, and afterwards changed its name. But in our language we retain the original (5) word to this day. Dio- dorus tells us that " The inhabitants of the Hyperborean "city were for the moft part Harpers." And every one knows in what efteem this ancient mufical inftrument has been always held by the northern nations. (1) Diodor. Lib.V. (2) antkjoum. i.e. Prinmm. Titanas enim contra Saturnum genuit : Gigan- tes pojiea contra Jovem. Scrv. in locum. (3) Hie [Tityus] amavit Latonam: propter quod Apcllinis confixus eft fagittis. Servius in Aui.VI. §. 59. (4) T/t-h©' i. e. 7"err n-r.y c;^ii $ aini \t. TmjCtMMir. I' rutoilh. C.U.ll- tcrifmi. Cap. 29. p. 124. Ed. Gale. (5) Herodotus Lib. IV. J.imblichus Vit. Pythag. Lib. I. C. 28. die 74 Of the Fir ft Inhabitants , Language ', the editor of Diodorus fuppofed it to be our Albion or Britain : (i) Mr Rowland only the Ifle of Anglefey : (2) O- laus Rudbeck the peninfula of Scandinavia : (3) Mr To- land the Weftern Iiles of Scotland : though, when he was fo near, I wonder he never thought or his native country Ireland, which feems by its ancient type to have as good a claim to the title, as any of the others. T , , 7 Iceland beft anlwers to Diodorus's Ice/ana the country , r . . . ., T /i j a r n / defcnption, both as an Illand, and or Bards. r r . , . , , ; ' T T J as to lituation, being placed "Un- " der the Arctic circle in the Hyperborean ocean :" and likewife as to extent, " Being not lefs than Sicily." Tho' how to reconcile it to the other charader of " Fruitful- u nefs" I am at a lofs ; unlefs it mould be thought that this article is fabulous, which is not improbable. Iceland tho' unknown to the Romans, was certainly known to the Greeks, and was the Thule of (4) Pytheas Maflilieniis, tho' Strabo looks upon his account as a fable. Modern authors who deny that Thule is Iceland, appeal chiefly to Pliny, Tacitus, and Solinus, who knew nothing of its fi- tuation ; their knowledge of the Hyperborean ocean, go- ing no further than Scandinavia, the northern continent of Germany, and the Britifh Ifles, beyond which they thought nothing habitable. If Iceland was inhabited in Pytheas's time, it mud have been depopulated afterwards ; the prefent inhabitants being the defendants of a colony from Norway, which fettled there A. D. 874: for which (1) Mona Antiqua reftaurata. Pag. 76. (2) Ol. Rudbeck. Atlantica. Par. I. c. 9. (3) Hiftory of the Druids, p. 154, 155, &c. (4) Strabo Geogr. Lib. IV. p. 201. reafon Religion ', Learning & Letters of Europe. 75 reafon the Icelandic (1) writers themfelves difclaim all right to Thule. Their Ifland however has been productive of many excellent geniuses ; and was from ages the great (2)ftorehoufe of Northern learning. Wit is the product of all countries, and, though it may be more refined in fouthern climates, yet gains life and ftrength in all ; nor have the northern ones ever wanted their fhare of it. Ice- land has been always (3) celebrated for its Bards; more are thought to have been produced upon that fpot, than on any other, by a particular deftiny. And whoever reads (4) Magnus Olaus's account of his countrymens natural (1) Arngrim Jonas Crymogaea. Hamb. 1610. Pag. 13. (2) Nee Tylenfium (Thulenfium i.e. Iflandorum) indujtria filentio obliteran- da : qui cum ob nativam foli Jlerilitatem luxuria nutrimentis carentes, officia conti- nue fobrietatis exereeant, omnia vita momenta ad excolendam alienorum operum no- titiam confetre foleant, inopuim ingenio penfant. Cunclarum quippe nationum res geftas cognojfe, memoriaque tnandare, voluntatis loco reputant : nan minor is gloria judicantes alienas virtutes dijferere, quam proprias exhibere. Quorum thefauros bif- toricarum rerwn pignoribus refer tos curiofius confulens, baud parvam prafentis operis partem ex eorum relationis imitatione contexui : nee arbitros habere contempfi, quos tanta vetufiatis peritia callere cognovi. Saxo Grammat. Praef. ad Hift. Dani- cam. (3) In IJlandia ubi lingua ejus ufus pracipue confervatur, magno numero poet a extant prempti &f ingenioft. Magn. Olaus apud 01. Worm. Lit. Run. p. 196. (4) Deinde £s? hoc noftra poefis peculiar e habet; quod cum in vulgaribus Unguis quilibet pro more gentis fua Rhytbmos condere, verba in numeros aliquales cogere y ufuque id prompt um redder e pofftt : in noftra nemo poet a exiftat, nee facillimum genus Rhythmifine magno negotio conneclat, etfi maxim affeclat, nifi qui poetico fpiritu fingulariter afflatus eft. Qui quidem afflatus ut cateri natura tnotus, aliis acrior y aliis remifftor contingit. Quidam prameditati Rhytbmos feliciter edunt, aliqui fer- vent 'tori quodam impetu omnia genera Rhytbmi fponte profundunt, ut Rhythmus fit> quicquid conentur dicer e ; ut ingeniofifftmus olim apud Rotnanos poeta de fua vena prqfitebatur ; nee foluta oratio, quam ifta ligata, illis promptior eft. Addt quod in prima Jlatim infantia, ejufmodi natura mantfeftis fe proferat indtciis. Nee prater- eundum, quod mot us tile ingenii in novilunio fit ferventifftmus, 13 Rbytbmiftam nota- bilem res poeticas aliis enucleantem, aut in Rhytbmis fundendis occupatum, vino ma- dentem, melancholia graviore infeftatum, aut furore quodam correptum dixeris ; fc? fapius bac indoles eliam in ignotis ex fingulari aliquo geftti confpicitur, qucm nos L Skallvijngl j 6 Of the Fir ft Inhabitants , Language ', talents in that way ; will be inclined to pronounce them, in poetical phrafe, Apollo's genuine Sons, and under his more immediate influence. ~, . j „. c Should it be afked, how and when I he introduction of i •-> > L • .. • _„,. / ///?-/// Greeks became ignorant in mat- /)'/? f ters tnat ^° muc h concerned their ^ J J J honour and original : I anfwer that their ignorance began to appear, at a time when they prided themfelves moft upon their knowledge : this is often the cafe with particular perfons, and cuftom and example make it more general. From the firft ufe of reafon, men took a pleafure, and found their advantage, in tranfmitting to pofterity paft tranf- actions : at firft by the help of memory, and then by fome more lafting tokens, fuch as the fetting up of rough ftones, which was one of the moft ancient methods. But when in time fuch marks could not be underftood with- out tradition, and where that failed, were of no further ufe ; fomething more flgnificative was required, which perhaps gave birth to Sculpture and Writing. Thefe be- gan upon ftones or trees, with rude delineations of the things intended to be recorded ; which by degrees were reduced to more contracted figns and characters, fufficient- ly intelligible to the learned of the feveral countries where they were ufed. In this manner all knowledge was con- veyed for many ages ; witnefs the ancient learning of E- gypt, and the living inftance of the practice in China. Skallvijngl /'. e. Poeticam vertiginem, appelhmus. Sunt qui nojlram poefin in malts avertendis & inducendis mirabiles affeftus habere exijliment, qu7s "kWvitfl -frjoyS+x *a-ntx> i/eju?, >i) i/# tiw 1-rcfiZeicur T Susut r iinKo/j^av, cfxolcx mvit w\ to. aj# iff -)^fxfxA-nr \g3iiui>fta.Ta. nu^^Cn f-jajlu/ai. Diodor. Lib.V. p. 328. (2) See The introduction to his Chronology. (3) a &;Kuy, Sfoari "v-tiuiu iu l\sy7ir, ^ Aoctbj- j ^agjtK/iifctj f/r cmfua.tncu/ av \iy&y i£e\crn' «iw w twm ng.Su. xj r Cst£?v 'SxxiZrtv im/ueuvov a. ItStAoy, liSuKa. ma. jg4 TwKueiJii ya.fj.(uyai Biqua-m iy^ai 'tL»jt n Jti /.«)«*' Oth tOjj Voito-nitr, inra \p»n6ta>r, iti?..fxrt> vau if 7o« •sv-nyi %J>*w, >-"£ tia&Ktm xouiJ*. Plutarch, de Orac. Defect. The So Of the Firft Inhabitants , Language, m , , r r i The Titan language yielded to 71? e ikclcnfwn of the . , .1 1 _. . J J . time, and to the common revolu- „ , tions incident to men and things ; 1 P ' to improvement of arts, conquefr, commerce, and the like. Whilft the two prevailing lan- guages of Europe, firft the Greek, and then the Roman, were making advances towards perfection, the Celtic gra- dually funk of courfe. But we fee that it kept its ground longeft in the Weftern parts ; where it might ftill have flourilhed in a greater degree, had it not been expofed to the continual irruptions from the North. The country be- tween the Cafpian and Euxine feas was a common tho- roughfare for the Northern nations into Southern Ada : but when that became fufficiently peopled, the inhabitants of Media, Armenia, Alia Minor &c. were able in fome meafure to repel the later colonies. The mountains lying between the two feas, were a fort of natural fence, but not fuflicient to reftrain thofe fierce fpirits, without fome afliftance from art. One eafy, but narrow, pafiage, ran on the fide of the Cafpian fhore ; thro' which in the ear- lieft times they feem to have taken their route. At a proper place were fituated, what the ancients called the (1) Cafpian Gates ; fortified, as it is probable, by the an- cient kings of Media or Hyrcania ; and according to fome late authors made (2) impregnable by Alexander the great. Another pafiage went through Mingrelia or Colchis, on (1) c aspire port-iE a Lazaris [qu. an Chazaris ?] pro Romanis defenfe : in eo loco ubi pqfth to his words. Sax. Bpcot). Sax. Blob. Goth. EA£Gmfcrs\£&S- i. r. Vtnta. (i) Omnibus vero difliottilus frofonrf/a! articulum 1 ho cut The noflratui, cut forum differentia.. Ibid. Salt Broe Pants li5renb Plut Sanguis 15louD Scul Sedes g>tool Hus Domus poufe Wingarc I 'tit* Glincpflifc 88 Of the Firfl Inhabitants, Language, Rcghcn Pluvia Hani Brudor Frater ISrotljcc Schwcftcr Soror §>iftei; Alt Senex did Wintch Vtntus UKUlmb Silvir Argentum ©tlbcr. Goltz Aurum (Efolo Kor Triticum Com Sale Sal fealt pua Psfcis] m Hocf Caput ^cao Thurn Porta Qoot Stern Stella §>tar- Sunc Sol gum Mine Luna ^OOlt Tag Dies £>ap Oeghcne Oculi <5pfiS Scot. <5en Bars /. Barts Barba 13earb Handa Manus ^ano Boga Arcus 15oto Miera Formica |M*niuc ^ifcant Rinck, vel Annulus King Ringo Brunna Fons Bourne Waghen Currus tflGHaggoit or TjMaiit, Apel Pomum £pplc Schicten Mittere Sa- gittam g)t|00t Schlipen Dormire S)lccp Kommen Venire Come Singhen Canere £>ing Lachen Rid ere DUugti Sax. ftp^n, Ren. Goth. JtirtJ. Sax. Bpcr5ep. Goth. Bji^K- Sax. Spurtep. Goth. SVISTAK* 5<»x. €alo. Go/Z>. AA<\. »• f. ^£f<«. £\*x. J7int>. Go//;. VIN^S- Sax. Seoljrep. Gori. SlAtlBK.. 5<»x. Dolo. Sax. Eopn. Gor£. K AflJtN. unde C«- ranum vel Granum. Sax. Sealr. Gcf£. SAA*T. Sax. Fij-c. Go/A. |:ISK- Sax. Oeopoo, Dxpb. Tox Coedmon. Sax. Dup. Gof£. AA^K- Sax. Sceoppa. Goth. STAIKN£- Sax. Sunna. Go/A. SHNNX* Sax. CYJona. Gof/>. MSN A* Sax. Daja. Gont>, #anb. Goth, h AN&DS. Sax. Boga. Sax. Ring. Sax. Bypna. Go;A. BKnNNA* Sax. Scytan. Sax. Slapan. Goth. XAGIIAN' Sax. Eoman. Goth. mMA^ Sax. Singan. Sax. Liban. G«£ hAAhrAN- Critcn Religion^ Learning & Letters of Europe. 89 Criten Flere dtg. Gecn Ire C50, G5tt Sax. Canaan. Goth. rjVrrjVN. Breen Ajfare 13ttl'It Sax. Bpennan. Gotb. BKINN£. '• e. Febris. faulttg or 5* y?>// preferved as a termination, an- fwering to the Roman Or ; as in 3lafo*toer or lutuper, §)ato; per, JlSotupcr, ISuil&rr, &c Vid. Marefchall. Obf. in Verf. Angl. Sax. p. 548. Statz Terra Sax. Scape Ripa, 3Ull&. Ada Ovum or Gothic language, is that vene- the standard of Go- , , b °J ^ n . r j ■ T J rabie monument lhe Iran nation of the Language. ^ ^^ ^ Mg> ^ & ^ preferved, is called (i) codex argenteus, from being wrote in Silver capital letters, with a mixture of Gold. (2) Ulphilas Bifhop of the Goths in Moefia invented the Gothic letters, and tranflatcd all the fcriptures into that language; fo that we cannot prefume to think the tranf- lation older than his time, or the middle of the Fourth (1) It is now in the Library of Upfal in Sweden. See Celfius's Bibl. Up- fal Hiftoria. Upfal. 1745. Pag. 86, 116. See a Specimen of the writing in Serenius's Dictionarium Anglo-Suethico-Latinum. Hamb. 1734. Eric. Ben- zel. Pref. pag. 10. (2) Olhtpihoi t Tl-Am hnmsr& rPAMMATA Itp-Jvp Torir/j.' y& tvs Gt'w T (*$*.( at t rirW ftZ\a£,uv, ivs GafCa.ixi uat&tlysst to £«* kwo. mpunauam. Socrat. Eccl. Hift. Lib.IV. c.33. Century. Religion^ Learning & Letters of Europe. 91 Century. And without any violence offered to antiquity, I think, the MS. itfelf may be of that age; tho' (1) others bring it down a century lower. The language of this book has been called in queftion by late writers, tho' per- haps without any reafon. (2) Junius, who firft published it, and was certainly a good judge, thought it the Gothic language of Ulphilas's time; but (3) others Teutonic or Longobardic : becaufe there are fome modes of fpeech in it, that are likewife to be met with in the High Dutch or German, but are not to be found in the ancient Scano- Gothic, or Runic ; which they reckon the pureft, as be- ing more immediately derived from Odin. And yet we do not learn, that the Teutones or Lombards ufed diffe- rent characters from other nations, as we have it recorded of the Goths ; and therefore I think this Tranflation ought to pafs for Gothic, or the Teutones and Lombards fpoke and wrote in the Gothic language and character, which amounts to the fame thing. And moreover, we are in- formed by (4) thofe who have made it their buiinefs to en- quire, that thefe letters are ufed, and this language is ftill fpoken, in Walachia. But the reader will fee the queftion more fully difcuffed by the late (5) Archbifhop of Upfal, and his learned editor. After all the reafonings and con- (1) Olav. Celfius Bibl. Upfel. Hift. pag. 118. (2) Quatuor Evangelia Gothica & Anglo-Saxonica. Dordraci 1665. 4to. . ( 3 ) Exijiimare capi, aut UlpNlam ejufque popu'.um, a (Ir.eds Gotbos diilos, rc- ipfa Teutones fuij/e, aut quod magis credo, Teutonem aliquem Argentei Ccdicis eJJ'e autlorem. Hickes PrasfV ad D. Joh. Packinton. Vide etiam Guil. Wotton Conlpeftum Thef. Hickes. Loud. 1708. in Notis Pag. 3 & 4. (4) Ol. Rudbeck. Atlantica Par. 3. pag. 210. (5) Eric. Benzelii Prx-f. ad Evang. Goth. Oxon. 1749. 4to. & Edvardi Lye Edit. Praef. N jeclurcs 92 Of the Fir ft bihabitants^ Language, jedlures upon the point, it (i) appears to be the language and character ufed by thofe conquerers, who were in poi- feflion of Italy in the fifth or fixth century ; whether Goths or Lombards let others determine. The Gothic lan- guage, after reigning in moil of the provinces of Europe, died away by degrees, being melted down into many dia- lects ; and at laft made room for the Sclavonian, which at prefent occupies near the better half of Europe. rr7 ~ . . r As our conceptions owe their prefer- Ihe Ungtn of . r i_ j i r i 6 j vation to lpeecn and language, io lan- guage is preferved by writing. The ufe of letters has been fo common for fome thoufands of years that few men now fearch into their original, and (2) fome have vainly thought them coeval with language itfelf. Whoever has thoroughly confidered the nature of an Al- phabet, will, I believe, allow that it far exceeds all other human inventions. Men of very great abilities have at- tempted to give us the natural and rational grounds of its beginning ; but their different fchemes are fufficient to Sa- tisfy me, that it requires more than the talents of them all put together, to give us fuch as fhall be free from ex- ceptions ; and therefore I take it to be a thing as infcru- table, as its author. If it has not been ordained by fome (1) A fpecimen of the fame language and character was, not many years fince, brought to light from the Manufcript papers of Seignior Donius •, who about the beginning of the laft century copied many pieces of old wri- ting, which he found in Rome, and other parts of Italy. It is an inftrument of bargain and fale of fome lands, between two Ecclefiaftics j and is pub- lifhed by Seignior Gori among Donius's Infcriptions at Florence. 1731. See Pag. 497. and Preface pag. xxv. The original was found at Arezzo, not far from Ravenna, the capital of the Gothic Emperour Theoderic. (2) Ex quo apparet netcrma literarum ufus. Plin. Lib.VII. c.56. fecret Religion ', Learning & Letters of Europe. 93 fecret decree of providence, we ought to lament, that the firft divulger of the moft wonderful art, that was ever yet found out to inlarge the mind of man, fhould be fo little known at prefent: efpecially fince the invention does not feem to be of the very remoteft antiquity. If in order to trace it out, we go back to nature in its primitive fimpli- city, as it is to be found among the wild (1) Indians: it there appears that men, as rational creatures, have not only founds and fpeech, but a way of communicating their thoughts at a diftance by artificial figns, or pictures. This then is the firft fort of writing ; an art that arofe from the innate faculty of (2) imitation peculiar to man; and might be capable of many improvements. But how it could enter into the human underftanding, to cloath founds in a few vifible forms, which yet, by their diffe- rent arrangements, are fufficient to exprefs diftinctly all words in all languages, is I muft own above my compre- henfion. No two things can be more widely diftant than thefe two arts : and therefore in our enquiries of this kind we ought never to lofe fight of the diftinction, between writing in general, and alphabetical writing. M r 1^1 I believe it is agreed on all hands. o/es and Cadmus , , , L . , f , , J r n i- 1 that alphabetical letters were known the fir It dwutp-ers , r . r x , r T r J /ti. 1 1 in the time of Mofes : nor can I of an Alphabet. , . , , , J r think that they are more ancient ; nor that any other man has a better title to the inven- (1) See Baron Lahontan's Travels. Vol. 2. p. 88. Colden's Hiftory of the Five Nations, p. 8. Purchale's Mexican Hieroglyphics. &c. (2) Ta J\ yi M/fiddC, t\iu-Tt Trwfv' ttW. ^fX^ P- ' c ^ t0 ' W E*p«Tii fMyayxu&w ■7dJL-fit£X l , a.f\h- q!i< 'nfTmafiivHf -tkuiSK) Qntmr' i% i >i) •? EJfJcwf /w9ct nymi w ^jiAwn. Conon. Nar- rat. XXXVII. (2) This particular we learn from Athenasus, as likewife that Harmonia was the King's Minftrel, and that Cadmus ran away with her. Ei»,<«p®' Kaof h Tti TeiTa f ll£$s Aya^aUpiis T»S l&fci, as 'XiJaviay Kiyiy]ay nn' 'in KaSaos Mct- -/(i^Qr" toy t (iaaihtats-, !tj TTa&haCay r Aquay'icw, ewKnewa. ^ a/j-dut Zmt r (iurthias, e „ r y vince me, that he was either a ( 1 ) Ca- J ' naanite, Phenician, or Egyptian ; for fo many and different are the conjectures about him : but have often wondered that hiftorians have never thought him an Hebrew, whieh feems to be his true appellation. Danaus and Cadmus are exprefty called (2) tl Leaders of " thofe exiles, who, upon the general expulfion of ftran- " gers, left Egypt, and came into Greece ; the greater " part falling into the country now called Judaea." Diodo- rus, in the loft book of which this is a fragment, profefs- ed to fpeak of the affairs of the Jews ; a people but little known to heathen writers, whole accounts of them are accordingly very defective, and fometimes falfe ; and are to be fupplied and corrected by the Jewifh hiftory. Dio- dorus fuppofed the exiles to be a mixture of ftrangcrs of different countries ; but the Jewifh hiftory explicitly men- tions no other people, as going from Egypt, bciidcs the Hebrews. Therefore I think nothing more probable, than that Danaus and Cadmus were fome of thofe Murmurers in the wildernefs, (3) Captains chojen by the people^ and li- terally fell back from Mofes, or Jofhua. _, w. ly/r 1 ■ i Mention is indeed made of a The Mixt Multitude /"%»>. ** n-* 1 .1 a ul r p (4) Mixt Multitude that went up ii-itb J UP ■ them y with flocks and herds and very (1) See Bp Stillingfleet. Orig. Sacr. Lib. I. c. i. (2) EJ."W *■/ \-n$t.v'i,?lTA /.: J>oCS7XH"7tt7B/ - i^'iTTiSl/ (K T rZr rgKHfuyn? lajajtw. DlOUUl". 1 JCCCipC. apud Photium Lib. XL. (2) Numbers XIV. v. 4. (4) Exodus XII. V.38. much 96 Of the Firjl Inhabitants^ Language^ much cattle ; and I find the Jcwifh Rabbies make thefe a diftinct people from the Ifraelites. But they feem to me to be only their fervants or flaves, diftinguifhed from the fighting men, muttered juft before at Six hundred Thou- fand ; attendants upon the camp, baggage, and cattle ; the Lixi, or Calories \ for without fuch a company an ar- my is fcarce ever known to march. Thefe might be a mixture of Egyptians, or other people, and probably hired for the fervice. We find that they were the (i)firft who began to murmur ; pofiibly becaufe in their diftrefTes they fared harder than the reft of the army. Mutinies broke out at feveral times, and even (2) after the death of Mo- fes. Therefore whether Danaus and Cadmus were at the head of the mixt multitude ; or were rather Hebrew mur- murers, as feems moft likely to me ; in a cafe fo obfcure every man muft be left to his own judgment. Cadmus was certainly a perfon of abilities, and of great considera- tion among the exiles; and from the (3) name of his ca- pital city, and the model of his new State, in Bceotia, we may, not without reafon, take him to have been fome bold rival of Mofes or Jofhua. ,. c We live in an age and country, Letters came from , ^, . a - • • 1 r M r r .1 where a Chnitian is in danger or re- p / .' . -^ prehenfion, who mould affirm that Letters were difcovered by a God or by fome divine man, though a (4) heathen might openly (1) Numbers XI. v. 4. (2) Jofhua IX. v. 18. (3) Cadmus urbem fuam Ebrav nomine appellavit T'bcbas, nempe POD quod Na- vem jignificat ; a mvicula qua lrajecerat. Selden. De Diis Syr. Prol. c. 2. (4; h.TciJ;i far'jjj a.rre-tgfv yjirnv'^mnv ti-n 77f G'-cr, an )^ Ouor A'.Cj^eo-xQr' >cA. PlatO Vol. z. pa^. 1 8. Ed. Serran. §>uid ilia vis, qiuc tandem ejl, qua invejligat occul- ta? Religion, Learning £j? Letters of Europe. 97 profefs fuch an opinion. I hold myfelf therefore cxcufed from declaring, That the firft alphabet was marked out by the finger of God ; or that even Mofes was the author of it. Let it be left to the judgment of the reader, whe- ther he received it from the Phenicians, or they from him ; for, from what appears at prefent, it mull come from the one or the other. We are ready enough to give the teftimony of an heathen author its due weight, when brought in competition with the Scriptures ; and if we deal impartially, cannot refufe it in this cafe. (i)Eupo- lemus afTerts in exprefs terms that " Mofes firft delivered "letters to the Jews, from whom the Phenicians received " them, as the Greeks from the Phenicians." This afTer- tion too is confirmed by (2) Diodorus ; who fays u The Sy- rians were the inventers of letters, from whom the Phe- " nicians learnt them, and conveyed them to the Greeks." When we compare this paflage of Diodorus, with the tef- timony of Eupolemus an older author, there can be no doubt, that Diodorus by Syrians here meant the yews> Judea being a province of Syria. Thus (3) Herodotus fpeaking of the great battle of Magdolus, or Megiddo, ta? — out qui fonos vocis, qui infiniti videbantur, paucis liter arum not is iermimi- •vit? — Pbilofophia vero omnium mater artium, quid ejl aliud, ni/i, ut Plato ait t Donum, ut ego Invent urn Deorum? Ciceron. Tufc. Qiireft. Lib. I. (i) Ej7rcAf^@' - topCctAuv h M*£ft*ty twum. Herod. Lib. II. §. i wherein 98 Of the Firft Inhabitant 's, Language., wherein king Jofiali was flain, fays, that " Pharaoh Ne- "cho obtained this victory over the Syrians." Diodorus often mentions thefe firft, or Syrian, letters, as ufed by Semiramis, Darius Hyftafpis, the Arabians after the time of Alexander, and as being different from the Greek ; tho' the latter were certainly derived from them. „-, ,, 1 . We affirm then upon the authority I he Arabians not ri , , r , ,,., r r A. , T r 01 heathen authors, that " Moles tint the Inventers or , , T , J "gave letters to the ews : and no letters. . •* . authority can be produced, to fhew that any nation ufed them before. (1) Plato has amufed his readers with a conference between Thamus king of Egypt and his minifter Thoth, upon the fubjeel: of let- ters ; and would perfwade us that the diftinftion of Mutes and Liquids was known at that time : but that this is all fabulous, will appear prefently. The only fpecious argu- ment for the antiquity of letters before Mofes, is taken from the book of (2) Job ; where we are told of Words written or engraved with a pen. Job as appears from the hiftory was an Idumean, or Arabian ; and, no mention of the Jewifh law being found in the book, is fuppofed to be an old patriarch, who lived before Mofes : this prevail- ed with (3) Sir Ifaac Newton fo far as to make him think, that Mofes learnt the alphabet from the Midianites, who were Arabians. But it mould be confidered that the book of Job is poetical and dramatical ; and that it is in the power of poets to draw characters, that fhall fuit with the (1) See his Phasdrus and Philebus. (2) Cap. XIX. v. 23,24. (3) See Chronology of Egypt. Pag. 205. Svo. patriarchal Religion , Learning & Letters of Europe. 99 patriarchal times, tho' the authors themfelves lived long after. The age of the book, of which I pretend not to be a judge, is much controverted among the learned : fome make Solomon the author, others bring it down to the times of the captivity. However granting that it is oi the higheft antiquity ; nothing more, I think, can be in- ferred from the paffage, than that the Arabs had at that time the art of publiihing their thoughts by writing or engraving ; which might be done other ways than by al- phabetical letters. Of all nations, the Arabians feem to be one of the laft that were acquainted with letters. Their moft ancient characters are called the Cuftc, and thought to be but little older than the Saracen empire. They are ftill to be found in fome few books, and on the Silver coins of the firft Caliphs an alphabet confifting of Twenty Two letters, in name and order anfwering to the Syriac, and fcemingly derived from it. This fimilitude, between the Cufic and Syriac, may poflibly raife a doubt, whether of the two is the older : and thofe, who are fwayed by Sir Ifaac Newton's opinion, may be fanguine enough to pronounce in favour of the Curie, that " Thefe are the " letters meant in the book of Job." But what, I think, invalidates all pretences of this kind: (1) The Arabian (1) For this information I am obliged to my learned friend the Rew Mr George Coitard, who was pleal'ed to tranihue for my life, the folloi paffage from an Arabic author of good note. The firft per, Ara- bic was ljhmael . . . but the Truth as it is agreed upon among the Men of learning is, that is was Mortimer Ebn Morrah the Anbarite ; and it is t from the .Sons of Morrah and the Anbarite s, writing (Arabic) bread amongjl other people. Al-A/mahi fays, they tell you that the Koreifij were ajled from whom did you writing and that they anfwered from Uirab. That the people of liirah were afked from whom did you learn writing and they faid from the Anbarites. Eh and A-Heifham Ebn Admi relate that the perfon who brought i O f rcm ioo Of the Fir ft Inhabitants, Language, writers themfelves acknowledge the novelty of their al- phabet. from Ilirah into Al-Hegaz was ILirb the Son of Otnyah the Son of AbdoV Shems the Son of Abd Meniif the Koreiffjite of the Family of Omyah ; that he went into Al-Hirah and returned to Meccah with this way of writing. Both thefe writers ■at Abi Softan the Son of liarb was ajked from whom did your Father receive this form of writing and that he faid from Aflilam Ebn Sidrah, and that Afhlam being ajked from whom did you receive writing, his Anfwer was from the Perfcn that invented it Morumer Ebn Morrah ; and that they received this form of writing but little before IJlamifm. Ebn Chalican in his Life of Abul' Hofen Ali Ebn Helal called Ebn Al Bowab. NB. Abi Sofian was Mahomets great Oppofer when he fet up for a Prophet. Dr Pococke has given us the fubftance of this paffage, but has added a caution at the end. Hac autem qua diximus, pot/us de Koraifhitis, aliifque Arabum IJlaemitarum tribubus, quam de Hamyarenfibus intelli- genduni; in confejfo enim ejl fuiffe illis jam antea not am fcribendi artem. Specimen Hilt. Arabum Oxon. 1648. pag. 154. The Hamyarites were an ancient kingdom in Arabia Felix, that nourifhed in the times of Ignorance, accord- ing to the diftincYion of their writers. Status Arabian Ignoranti* temporibus ro- bot e & potentia Celebris eft. Fuitque regnum ipforum penes tribus Kahtan, & pra- cipua regum familia apud Hamyarenfes, e quibus fuerunt Reges, Domini, Tyran- ni, i£ Tobbai. Specimen Hift. Arab. pag. 2. The Hamyarite way of wri- ting was different from that of the Mahometans : Characleres eorum ab illis quibus utuntur Arabes multum divafi, quod genus fcriptura Al Mofnad vocabant, Uteris inter fe implcxis minimeque diftintlis, quas tamen vulgo difcere non permitte- bant, nee cuipiam, nifi poji impetratam ab ipfis veniam, iifdem utendi facultatem. Idem pag. 155. Till a fpecimen of this occult writing can be produced, I humbly conceive from the defcription of it, that it may remain a doubt whe- ther Al Mofnad was not a fort of hieroglyphic : or if it confided of alphabe- tical letters, how long the Arabians ufed it before the Cufic. What credit the whole hiftory of the Hamyarite dynafly may deferve, I leave to be de- termined by the reader, after he has perufed the following paffage. Ultimum hunc (Did Jadan) Jlatuit Abul Feda Regum Flamyarenfmm, quorum imperium, jun- ta ipfum, duravit annos 2020, at fecundum Al Jannabium & Ahmedem, ultra 3000. " i^v.ot annos ftnguli regnarunt non deftgnavimus, inquit, quod omnino in- "cer turn Jit, quod iis vulgo attribuitur fpatium. Unde eft quod dixerit Author JE- " rarum i. e. Hiftoriie Gentium, non effe inter omnes hiftorias ?>ii;ius fana, quam "■hiftcria regum Hamyarenftum ; cum pro tot amorum fpatio tarn pauccs reges nu- "merent. Sex enim & viginti reges numerant ', quorum regnum 2020 annorum fpa- " tium ccmplet." Idem pag. 62 . If we admit Sir Ifaac Newton's method of computation, by twenty years to a reign, the beginning of the Hamyarite dynafty fcarce reached fo high as the Chriftian sera. There Religion ', Learning & Letters of Europe. 101 The Greeks had letters , The u re are different opinions a- before the Canaanites \T aY ^ M ° feS ' ^ ™ and Phenicians. l f ^agreement among authors about the age or Cadmus ; but upon the general view of the hiftory of their times, I think there could not be many years diftance between them. Cadmus was certainly later than the other ; and the time of his coming into Europe, according to Diodorus, could not be long after the (i) Exodus: and therefore I take the alphabet of Cadmus to be one, and the fame, with that of Mofes. The Jews, as they were unmixt with o- ther nations, in all probability kept the fecret of letters to themfelves for a confiderable number of years. Mofes (2) ffrote the law and delivered it to the priejls \ fo that letters feem at firft to have been locked up in the book of the Law, and therefore not to be communicated to the (i) To give my readers the belt information I am able, about the time of this great event, the tranfmigration of letters into Europe ; I will here fix the time of the Exodus, according to the judgment of a late worthy friend, whofe accurate skill in chronology is well known to the learned. The Sum of his argument ltands thus. The Sothiac, or Canicular, period of the Egyptians, beginning July 20th, contained Egyptian years i.;.6~r. A New Canicular period commenced July 20th, in the Confullhip of Antoninus P. and Bruttius PnsfenB, in the year after Chrift — 139. (Vid. Cenforin. de Die Natali. c.n.) Therefore the Old Canicular period began in the year before Chrill 1322. Mofes came out of Egypt 345 years before this period began — 345. (Vid. Clem. Alexand. Strom. Lib. I. pag. 235-) Therefore the Exodus happened in the year before Chrill 1 667. See Mr Maflbn's Sacred Chronology of the Pentateuch; printed at the end of Mr Parker's Riblwthaa Riblica. \x.o. Oxon. 1727. Deuteron. Cap. XXXI. v. 9. O 2 heathen. 102 Of the Fir ft Inhabitants ; Language, heathen. It was probably fome time, before they were ufed by the Jews themfelves in tranfacting their fecular affairs ; and therefore could not be eafily known to their enemies, unlefs by fome extraordinary accidents. For this reafon I cannot believe that the Canaanites, and Pheni- cians knew letters near fo early, as fome authors have ima- gined, nor indeed till long after the Greeks; nor that Cadmus was a Canaanite, or Phenician. _,, . , The learned of late have wifhed, The Samaritan the , , . r , tU , j. r ... y,i r j and (i)propoled methods, to dilcover Primitive Alphabet , r n. i l u r u r i. • i r *sr r i r- i the nrit alphabet of Moles: which of Mo es and Lad- T , • , r , , .-, ' , J I think may be done without much difficulty. For if we compare the oldeft alphabet of Judea, with the oldeft alphabet of Greece, and find that they agree in the main ; we may be faid in effect to have found the primitive alphabet, both of Mofes and Cadmus. Allowance muft be made for time and improvement, when the agreement between fpeech and letters came to be more nicely examined. The firft alphabet probably confifted of a few letters ; till the number increafed, from perhaps Sixteen to Twenty Four, and in fome countries to Twenty Eight, Thirty, Fourty, and more. The alphabet was never a matter of legal in- ilitution, and therefore liable to alterations in every age and country. It was adopted by common confent of na- tions, as a thing of univerfal benefit ; and then left to the difcretion, or caprice, of fcribes, who formed the letters in various attitudes, erect, inclining, fupine, or reverfed ; ( i ) See A Journey from Grand Cairo to Mount Sinai, and back again : By the Prefetto of Egypt. With remarks on Hieroglyphics and the Heathen Mythology. By Robert Lord Bilhop of Clogher. 1753. but Religion \ Learning & Letters of Europe, i o but ftill preferved the effential duds. The oldeft letters, now to be found on monuments, are the Greek written from the left hand ; unlefs it may be thought that fome of the Etrufcan inscriptions, which begin from the right, may be of equal, if not fuperiour, antiquity. The Etruf- can letters are for the moft part the Greek inverted, and therefore probably the older alphabet of the two. For the conftant practice of thofe nations, who were firft acquaint- ed with letters, has been always to write from the right hand : and the Greeks themfelves at firft wrote in that way, as we fhall fhew in a proper place. The Jewifh let- ters do not appear on monuments, till that nation coined ( i ) money in the time of the Maccabees : and thefe are the letters preferved by the Samaritans after the captivity. They likewife (2) agree very well with the Etrufcan, and therefore have the belt claim to be called the oldeft al- phabet. The Samaritan characters on the coins are a lit- tle different from thofe which we find in manufcripts ; and in the fame manner, the letters on the older coins and marbles of the Greeks are more rude than thofe which were ufed in the time of Alexander the great : but this is no more than might be expected from improvement. The Syrians likewife afterwards gave a more beautiful turn to the forms of the letters, but in a manner different from the Greeks. By the primitive traces the (3) learned find the Aftyrian, Chaldce, or common Hebrew characters de- rived from the Samaritan ; and I take the Syriac to be de- (1) Vide Hadr. Rcland de Num. Vet. Hebr. Trajed. 1709. (2) Vide Chifhull naturve atque orbis alphabetum. Antiq. Afut. pag. 24. (3) V. Em. Locfchcr De Caufis Linguae Hebneac. Franc, 1706. rived 1 04 Of the Firfl Inhabitants , Language ', 1 ivcd from the Chaldee : and that thefe are three diffe- rent gradations of the Jewiih alphabet. The coins of the (i)Syrian kings, (truck near two thoufand years ago, have inscriptions both in Greek, and in the letters of the coun- try ; and thefe laft are very unlike the modern Syriac, but approach near to the Samaritan ; which therefore fcems to have been at that time the vulgar character of the whole Syrian empire. Thefe letters being found on ftoncs and coins of the maritime cities of Syria, has given occasion to call them Phcnician : which is only a tacit confeilion, that they are the oldeft alphabet, or the letters mentioned by Eupolemus and Diodorus. M r 1 r< j Let us next enquire, whether there o/es and Ladmus j 1 ' 1 1 ~ , J , , j r are any "rounds to think, that Cad- coidd not learn the y ° _ . ' yruL 7 , • c A . mus was an Egyptian ; and here we Alphabet vi hvypt. n „ u b J r . , r . r ^ [ mult expect to meet with oppoiiticn, both from ancients and moderns. The prefent age has been immoderately prejudiced in favour of the Egyptians and their learning ; nothing of this fort is thought to have efcaped them ; all other nations in comparifon are looked upon as barbarous. But if they had no better claim to other inventions, than they had to that of letters, I think we might be a little more fparing of our praifes. The high opinion that has been entertained of their {kill in fpeculative philofophy, mathematicks, &c. I am afraid, is not fo much owing, to any real merit of theirs, as to our ignorance of what it was ; for ignorance is the mother of admiration. Their ancient hiftory appears to be as fabu- (1) Vaillant Hid. Reg. Syr. Num. Dcmetrii Secundi, & Anticchi Septi- mi. Haym Tefor. Britan. Vol. I. Num. Demetrii Tertii. & pag. 105, 106, 107. lous, Religion, Learning & Letters of Europe. 105 lous, obfcure, and confufed, as any other. The remains of their greater!: works only fhew, that their country was once very populous, and abounded with the bed materials for building ; and that they fpared no coft or pains in railing ftupendous monuments. Even in thefe they have been ( 1 ) rivalled by barbarous nations ; and in the finer arts of Statuary and Drawing, were fir excelled by the Greeks and Romans. The Greeks however, who were (1) The learned are too apt to overlook the monuments of their own, and other countries, which ought to raiie their wonder no lefs than diofe of Egypt. Thus our monuments of Stonehenge and Abery, required as much skill in mechanics, as to raile the Obelisks. And perhaps as much art was ufed in tranfporting thofe bulky monuments to Rome, as in cutting them out of the quarries in Egypt. Statues of Giants, magnificent ruins of build- ings, Portals, Pedeftals, &:c. monuments feemingly of the firft ages, are found in Peru. See GarcilafTo de la Vega, Book I. c. i. Two Pyramids of the fame form with the Egyptian, have been found in Mexico. See Gcmcl- li Careri, Par. IV. Book 2. c. 8. p. 546. Coll. Voyag. Thefe may poMibly give fome light into the age and authors of the other ; and fliew that they were built foon after the replenifhing of the earth, and by Northern artifts. For I make no doubt, but many more monuments of this kind might be difcovered, if the North Eaftern deiarts of Afia were as carefully furveyed as thofe of Egypt and Libya. The mifiionaries, if I miftake not, found a pyramid near the ruins of an ancient city in Chinefe Tartary. See Du Halde's Hift. of China. Vol. 4. p. 108. 8vo. Gemclli Careri adds that the ufe and defign of the Mexican Pyramids was for bafes, or altars, to the two deities whom they worfhipped, the Sun and Moon ; whofe broken ima- ges lay at a little diftance from the Pyramids. And this notion, of the E- gyptian Pyramids being defigned for Altars, lias I think been entertained by fome of our own learned men. And Wanfiebius fays, that there are evident marks of a Colofial Statue having been once placed on the top of the largeft Pyramid. Of all the wonders that Herodotus law in Egypt, he was mod aitonilhed at the houle of Amafis, cut out of one rtone, and after a \ oyage of three years incefiant labour, under the conduct of 2000 pilots, brought from Elephantis to Sais. Herod. Lib. II. But even this is matched bv an- other, of nearly the fame form and dimenfions, called the Dicarfy Stciii\ now to be found in the Highlands of Scotland, Sec Wa hue's Additions to the Britannia, in Orkney lllands, Ilk of Hoy. pag. lub'j. Ed. 1695. only 1 06 Of the Firft Inhabitants , Language ', only travellers into Egypt, are fuppofed to have brought away abundance of knowledge ; how much more rauft the Jewilh. Legiflator, who received his birth and educa- tion there, and was certainly inftrudted in all their learn- ing ? Writing is faid to have been firft found out by their (i)Thoth or Mercury, Mofes therefore could not be ig- norant of the art of letters ; nor will fome people fubmit to believe, that he could learn it any other way. But 1 think it ought firft to be made appear, that the Egyptians underftood this art, which has not hitherto been done. Mofes often cautions his people againft the cuftoms of E- gypt, and in this has moft remarkably diftinguifhed the two nations : for the Second Commandment feems direct- ly levelled againft the Egyptian manner of writing. So that wherever Mofes learnt his art, neither he, nor Cad- mus, I think, could learn it in Egypt. He Errttians had l can alIoVV the E gyP tians a11 the /Jlhl k / wildom and learning, that is com- * monly aicnbed to them, without ad- mitting that they underftood elementary letters. What knowledge they had was kept pretty much among them- felves : not that I believe they made fo great a fecret of it, as is pretended, but revealed it to any one who would be at the expence of it. Their (2) books, being written ( 1 ) Litems femper arbitror Ajfyrias fuijfe ; fed alii apud sEgyptios a Mercurio, ut Cellius: alii apud Syrcs reptrtas volunt. Tlin. Lib. VII. c. 56. Atgyptii literarum femel inventores perhibent ; inde Pktemcas quia mart prjpollebant intulijfe, gloricm- que adcptos tanquam reppererint qiut acceperr.nt. Tacitus Anna]. Lib. XI. c. 14. (2) Books of this fort were in being in the laft century, if we may be- lieve Athanafms Kircher, or rather his correfpondent. P. Jofephus Marccllaia retulit, fe dum in JEgypto degeret banc bibliothecam [in Madrafe Cayri] lujlraffe, vudtaque millia MSS. comperijfe, quos tanta cuftodiunt cura, ut nulli fub pcena capi- tis inde librum extrcbere liceat ; addit quojue fe inter catera admiration effe certcs quofdam Religion ', Learning & Letters of Europe. 107 in Symbolic and Hieroglyphic characters, were unintelli- gible to thofe nations, that knew the ufe of an alphabet. It required fome time, pains, and inftruction, to become acquainted with them ; and this made initiation into their learning and myfteries, (o tedious a bufinefs. If the firft Hermes Trifmegiftus, Taautes, or Thoth, was the inven- ter of their letters, as ( 1 ) fome have averted, this will car- ry their antiquity almoft as high as the Gods. And if the fecond Hermes or Thoth, fecretary of Oliris, who is the perfon meant by (2) Plato and Diodorus; this will ftill raife them fome centuries above the time of Mofes. But in anfwer to all this, it may be replied, that the words Z-rei^ei, r&l,u,u,a.vx, Litercc, tho' they properly fignify ele- ments, yet when applied to Egyptian writing, will (3) mean only Hieroglyphic marks, or characters. The letters there- fore which the firft Thoth carried into Egypt, or the fe- cond, fince authors are pleafed to diftinguifh them, in- vented there, feem to have been no more than Hierogly- phics ; for if the Egyptians ever received alphabetical let- quofdam papyraceos codices, feu hieroglyphicos, iis figuris qua: in obelifcis Romanis confpiciuntur, confcriptos ; & quamvis Turce nullam fere, ft Alchoranum excipias, hbrorum curam fufcipiunt, horum tamcn, cb antiquitatem, magnam curam haberi. Ling. /Kgypt. Reitit. Rom. 1643. Pag. 512. But their oldeft books were Walls and Pillars infcribed with Hieroglyphics. Such are thofe at Dendery, or Tentyris, in upper Egypt, which Paul Lucas delineated; and from him Dr Perry, Travels, pag. 364. which are fo numerous, that the building may rather defcrve the name of a Library, than a Temple-, and perhaps ferved for both. (1) Sanchoniathon Phocnic. Hift. apud Eufeb. Prep. Evang. (2) Phardrus. Vol. 3. p. 274. Ed. Serran. Diod. Hift. Lib.Lp.ja (3) Sculptor* UU effigiefque quas videmus Algypti* funt LITERAL. Plin. I lilt. Lib. XXXVI. c.8. AirtjS KuJ«f, lr*Ji li&&, w iCtr fiitr, dbffjwii w yjilia ti -rioMy: t i-ythyAiut uSute. TE22APA rPAMMAl A. Clem. Alexaild. Strom. V. p. 567. Ed. Sylb. P tcrs, 108 Of the Firjl Inhabitants ^ Language , tcrs, they cither made but little ufe of them; or have been unfortunate in not preferving them upon their an- cient monuments. The Pyramids, which I take to be the oldeft of all, have no characters of any kind. The Obe- lifks and Mummies contain only Hieroglyphics. And as the Obelifks were without queftion defigned for publick monuments, I can never believe that they preferve any myfterious fcience known only to the priefts ; but that they were to be read and underftood by all people. The fame may be faid of the Mummies, tho' of a lefs publick nature : and therefore I conclude that they had no other fort of writing. If the famous (i) Men/a Ifiaca fhould prove to be only a Calendar or Almanack, as I think I have fomewhere read, it will be a further confirmation of my opinion. We find indeed upon all thefe monuments fome characters of a more fimple form, and which have feemingly lefs of picture in them ; and (2) learned men, if they pleafe, may call thefe alphabetical letters ; tho' no one yet has been able to form the alphabet. They are in- termixt with the others, and feem to be of the like im- port ; that is, to fignify things, whole words, or fenten- ces. Few of them bear any fimilitude to other alphabeti- cal letters ; and I believe that fuch a variety of them may be found, as will be fufficient to conftitute feveral full al- phabets of twenty four letters each. I do not remember to have feen more than one Egyptian infcription, that could deferve the name of alphabetical writing, and it is (1) Vide Laurent. Pignorium Menf. Ifiac. Explic. Ven. 1605. Montfau- con Antiq. Expl. Tom. II. p. 338. fa) JEgyptios fulinde Hierogb/pbicis not is vulgar es Alphabet i lit eras inferttijfe. Kircher Hift. Cbel. Pamph, Art. L that Religion ', Learning & Letters of Europe. 1 09 that (1) given us by P. Montfmcon. But we are not told from whence this monument came ; and, befides its fin- gularity, it appears at firft fight to be different from thofe very ancient ones, of which we have fo many hundreds now remaining in Europe, and which are undeniably E- gyptian. If I may be permitted to pafs my judgment up- on it, I cannot think it fo old as the time of the Ptole- mies ; nor that it was done in Egypt, but in India ; and that the characters belong to fome one or other of thofe Indian nations, to whom the Egyptians carried their rites and fuperftitions, after their empire was deftroyed by Cam- byfes. If a people ever ufed alphabetical writing, it muft undoubtedly appear upon their publick monumental in- fcriptions, if they had any, as the Egyptians had : and therefore whatever may be advanced to the contrary, by inference from ancient writers ; or the moderns have af- ferted upon their own authority ; ought to have but little weight againft this negative evidence. Upon the whole I conclude, that the Egyptians were entirely ignorant of an alphabet, till they received what is called the Coptic ; which whether introduced in the time of the Ptolemies, or much earlier, under Pfammitichus or Amafis, is ma- ny ages later than Cadmus, and plainly derived from the Greek. .-p. ^ j T , That Cadmus was the firft who The Crreekr had no , , , . ^ T , . , , r brought letters into Greece, is, I alphabet before ^ f as ^ attefted as Cadmus. . . , ^u • in antiquity. And yet it is the opi- nion of fome late eminent authors that the Greeks had (1) Antiquit. Expliq. Vol.11. Par. 2. PI. CXL. P 2 (0 an no Of the Firfl Inhabitants , Language , (i)an alphabet before his time: and fome (2) ancient ac- counts fay that he only changed the forms of the letters. That the Greeks, like other nations, had a way of wri- ting long before, is unqueftionable ; but that it was by an alphabet, is by no means clear to me. The judgment of Herodotus ought to be decifive in the cafe, if well fup- ported, as I think it is. (3) Thofe Phenicians, fays he, at Tupj^atw, iw^ct n Tn>Xx, oiKwmvTtf txwtLui rlw %o%'mj, i ^4 Y(c/yL(uoiyix.nf tx. y^hi/jS^a. rPAMMATA, i-j^-mv at r EA" Religion, Learning & Letters of Europe. in c 4fays, that Linus the Thcban Poet was the firft inventcr "of rythms and melody ; and that Cadmus bringing with " him from Phenicia what we call Letters, Linus firft in- " troduced them into the Greek language, and gave each " their (a) names, and copied their (b) forms : Letters " therefore were called by the common name of (c) phe- " nicians, becaufe the Greeks received them from the " Phenicians ; but from the (d) Pelafgians being the firft "who ufed thefe newly (e) introduced characters, they "were called by their own name pelasgic Phenicians." This is the fenfe of the pafTagc, as it appears to me ; which I fhall beg leave to illuftrate by a few notes. (a) Their names.'] Their firft and foreign names were Alph, Beth, Garni, Dalth 8cc. with Eaftern termina- tions, which founded unnatural in the Greek idiom. The Mafter of harmony therefore called them Alpha y Beta, Gamma, -Delta &c. (b) Their Forms.] Thefe too accorded with the Eaft- ern manner of writing, from the right hand to the left ; and were fo ufed by Linus and the Pelafgians. The Ionians, or later Greeks, afterwards inverted the forms, to accommodate them to their way of writing from the left hand to the right ; from whence they were called ionic letters. Ncverthelefs the hrft, or Pclafgic, way of writing was not totally difufed till many ages after, as appears by the names of kings and cities, now nut. Kclv* »V -m - / (JiJ.ua.T3. *OINIKIA x>»$bZeu a|# -to 'S^f. TVe "E».tu«f ix •oWJWf ,uin- nyblwtu U)x Jl T TU/utrjSr -Wf J*7i Vw 7»JV MUTATE': Ll^l ^ftffKTtftl, Fitter- vd 3bMiu. Dioiloius Lib. III. to H2 Of the Firft Inhabitants^ Language ', to be found on (i) Greek coins, ftruck near a thoufand years after the time of Cadmus : and from the Sigean and other inferiptions, which are wrote both ways jSv^o- qm&t as they called it, the letters being retrograde, and the line returning back like the Ox in plowing. It was to avoid the inconvenience of inverting the forms, that the later additional letters, as H, 0, 3, , x, *-, n, were made of fuch a figure as to be ufed both ways. (c) phenicians.] Here I take the word (2)*H\s. Harpocration. A-flnot T^iju/xcL- to. Tx ap^ia, Vfo^sc. Hefychius : and it is as certain that they were different from the Ionic : "SZtu&Uas is v raV Attwcis y^ifytaoi i ^ nit ■^aifj.iua.0 %*m.tfoa. Diodorus Lib. III. (2) Una folummodo Athens legis pralextti centum fere ami re/lit ere: unde fac- tum, ut Cadmes Liters non raro apud hiftoricos fiib AiilCAisLM ncmin: brentur. Chifhull in Infcript. Sigeam Cap. III. (e) Newly, 1 1 4 Of the Firjl Inhabitant % Language, (e) Newly introduced.'] I tranflate the word Me&T*9e«R in the fame fenfe, in which the verb MwaSenw was ufed juft before ; which I think the true and natural con- ftruclion. If it mould be taken in the fenfe of Altered or Changed^ it may perhaps mean no more than the other : the Greek Characters, Symbols, or Hierogly- phics, being now changed into Alphabetical letters. T . i r n r I advife the reader not to over- Luuts the fir/t refiner , , , . n r T . r i r* i i look that circumltance or Linus s ot the Lrreek tan- , . , r „ , , J being the inventer ot Rythm and * & * Harmony ; which feems to be mentioned not without a peculiar propriety. For Lan- guage being now reduced to its elements, he was enabled to form the rules for this art ; which could be but very imperfeclly done before that time. And here I think we ought to give Linus, tho' a Pelafgian, and a Boeotian, the honour of being the firft refiner of the Greek tongue. - mqrnt uiv •& r? VtSfdw Qwhivmi mo* men fownu, 04 ■( it. T hlp/.lif' J, IStTB T TV B9WV Ttf^UTV, U KaAt/jaC fynStH TT.' At- Euftath. in locum. (3) n?«7w $> EMiuMV Em tfftmSnrnt r iJrm whim y«MW i-mMsci ~a.y,irQr twn> Dion. Halic. Lib. 1. pag.9. Q^ Dionyiius 1 1 6 Of the Firft Inhabitants , Language ', „ T r . r , Dionyfius HalicamafTeniis, from Pelafetan ettlements ^ i a i r a . J£ r J authors now loir, lias preierved a J J' more accurate account of fome la- ter Pelalgic fettlements. (i) a Hellanicus the Lefbian fays, " that the Tyrrhenes were formerly called Pelafgians, and " that they took the name of Tyrrhenes after they fettled "in Italy. In his Phoronis he has thefe words: Phrajior li was the f on of their king Pelafgus and Menippe the daugh- " ter of Peneus j Amy fit or was f on of Phrajior ; Teutami- u des of Amyntor ; and Nanas of Teut amides j in whofe " reign the Pelajgians were driven out by the Hellenes ; £nvjis Ji AirCtor mr Tu^lwif y) bh "S.7nvnTt rms-fiy iv -n>) laviu Koh-ru tv.s rxes i/jltuKitxvtis-, K^tuva imhiy tv tMcvyeiu eihov, jtj tyn-v- $*y offxuy^ioi r yuZ <5tA8,u,Vku Ti/^Luidji tmiatu. Dion. Halic. Ant. Lib. I. p. 22. (2) ' E-reiS' ol iii-n%wn; Ik i p. toti A'luoyiitf, yuZ 3 QfHaKiat TItiutujot. Id. p. 49. (3) M*-ra h)}Jjjjix&{ Hf 7numt to. yutiu. Ija^Jdi yg.ixyt') , l&»zc?a> /ju>,hi<&. iri T TfyiKav, if oxjtoi Pa/muti hihciy, h. WaKaj/Ti* -mKiaf AfygJiKrt a.vu- sce' lytm A j linixjaf KlewJfQr'' — OJ scAof {& kk iiri uivoS t yrdfms £77*^5*, kn.a. sajia<7ur-7Br r /it^«, to 'tha.T.o§iv txxoioy (i&gps v~;^iiASji'. tTbyycm jj ran liuu t?aai?>ai,i> r$T Aloetyyav xiuTu-, vtari Qu/HTWi A^/J.0. Dion. Halic. Lib. I. p. 24, 26. Evander turn ea, Religion \ Learning & Letters of Europe. 117 " man account, another fleet of Greeks arrived on the " fame coaft of Italy, from Palantium a town in Arcadia, " under the condudt of Evander. — This colony was not " fent out by general confent of the citizens ; but the peo- ple being divided into two factions, [I fuppofc Pelaf- " gians and Hellenes] the weaker party retired of their " own accord. — Faunus was then king of the Aborigines. " — Thefe are reported to be the firft who brought into " Italy the ufe of the Greek Letters, which were then but " newly known to the Arcadians." Criticks, from the men- tion of thefe two colonies, have raifed a difficulty, where I think there was no occalion ; by making an unneceffary ( 1 ) diftin&ion between Pclaigians and Arcadians. For if all the inhabitants of the feveral diftricls of Greece, in the fame manner, were to be reckoned diftinct from the Pe- lafgians ; the latter would have no place left them in the country, tho' they were confeiTedly in (2) pofTeilion of the whole. Both colonies therefore were Pelafgians the firft of ThefTaly, the fecond of Arcadia ; for it is certain that (3) Pelafgia was the old name for both thofe countries. ca, frcfi'.gus ex Peloponnefo, aufioritate magis quam imperio, regebat loca, Ycnera- bilis Vir miraculo Literarum, ret nova: inter rudes artium homines. Liv. Hill. Lib. I.e. 7. ( 1 ) Sed five Pelafgis, five Jrcadibus, is debciur bones, in eo Tacito Plinioque cenvenic, quod uterque Latinos a Gratis eas [literasj veltt acceptjje. Yoflius Gram- mat. Lib. I. c. 1 1. (2) ^o/.c'i Jh uU iJi ri/iuxL tati \ Vy».af] typ-mm 77TJ u',-.;, i>Xi tw •© WO BttJuG" r towngtimtj Kj mru i Ji u) '* ir,y.>*» Ji *»cL Ti, *<£ -n TltKitsyiUI eri -*t~sry apiau-T^y tUjj iTmrvwav, aapMdt. TllUCVdides I lilt. Lib. I. \ -< fli \\>*r- Cade] pctaiKcAJOvnx Afifa.Jia.Tlj ini lhKaT)'*vX7uv7ii.v, ovoua \jg Ha.fte.VTW, ya.-nr. funftlui ■T iv Acyg.f)tt. \&vu> .ej/Ti^G\v ik tzrj.ias [Antonino P.] l-$Js/7» Jiipcu. Paufanias in Arcad. p.525, 526. (2) Carre educatus apud hofpites [M. Fabius Casfo] Etrufcis inde Uteris erudites erat, linguamoue Etrufcam probe noverat. Habeo autlorcs, vulgo turn Romanos pue- rc f, ficut nunc Creeds, ita Etrufcis Uteris erudiri folitos. Liv. Hilt. Lib. IX. inftructed Religion^ Learning & Letters of Europe. 119 inftructed in the Etrufcan language, by way of accom- plishment. ct? r> ; r ■ ; The Etrufcans then were the Ihe Fela ?tc la?i o becomes a prey to another Jefs civi- and letters. ,. , ,. r ' . r . lized : tins was the cafe with the Etrufcans and Romans. The Romans, if we confidcr their firft beginning, were the very (1) dregs of the people of Italy ; but by fubmitting to wholefome laws, a conftant exercife of arms, and a fteady adherence to virtue, they raifed themfelves to a Superiority over all the reft. Their language was at firfr. the language of Italy ; a mixture of Pelafgic dialects, from the Etrufcans, Ofcans, Sabincs, Sam- nites, and others. This language was improved bv their conquefts, but came not to its full growth, till the for- tune of Greece declined ; and brought the Romans to an acquaintance with the more refined Greek language, which foon made its way into their own. That grate, harmony, and majefty, fo much admired in the Roman language, 1 Et tamcn ut longe repetas, tongeque revol Noiiei:, ab infami gnitcm dtdm is ahlo : Majorum quijqtas primus full tilt lucrum, Ant pajicrfuit, ant illuJ qucd dictre nolo. Juvenal Satyr. VHL v. 27a (eems 1 20 Of the Firft Inhabita?its^ Language ', feems to be derived from adopting the Greek into it ; tho' after all it never came up to the other. As the Romans increafed in power, the Etrufcans, who before were the moft accomplished nation, funk in efteem, as is ufual with a conquered people ; but under thefe difadvantages frill cultivated the polite arts, and preferved their old way of writing. It would be flattering their memory too much, to fiy that their performances in fculpture and painting, vied with the finiihed pieces of the Greeks in the time or Alexander; for then they Greeks had attained to fuch a perfection in thofe arts, as never fince could be equalled. After the cuftom of their anceftors, the Etrufcans com- mitted their records to the moft durable materials, Stones and Brafs ; which by good fortune have long outlived their language. This language too was only an obfoletc Greek, which became generally neglefted, fo as not to be under- ftood by their mafters : though when learning was at its greateft height in Rome, they looked upon it with a more favourable eye, as being the parent of their own ; and then began to ftudy it as a fcience. .y, r , The Etrufcan language being at Ihe Ktm ca7i monu- , j .. w ^ ° • i , P J j. r . length extinct, the materials delign- ments and in crip- , ° r . r * n J r ed to prelerve it were loon deitroy- ed, or buried in ruins ; the too com- mon fate of monuments wherever ignorance prevails. Here they underwent a long night of oblivion, till the revival of true learning, which is always accompanied with a ve- neration for antiquity. Thefe monuments, as time and chance brought them to light, were carefully preferved by perfons of curiofity ; who though they underftood them not, yet judged that hereafter they might be intelligible to others, Religion ', Learning & Letters of Europe. 121 others, and therefore worth preferving. It is more than a (1) century fince fome of theie inscriptions have been made publick, and in this laft age a new fcene of literature has been opened by their means. Whole (2) volumes have been filled with Etrufcan fculptures and infcriptions, and attempts have been made to illuftrate and explain them. It is to be wiflied that fuccefs may anfwer the generous intentions of thofe learned perfons who have undertaken the tafk ; but at prefent I am obliged to fay, that they frill continue doubtful, if not as obfeure, as before. And I defpair of feeing them explained to any purpofe, till they are taken in hand by fome one well fkilled, not on- ly in Greek and Latin, but in the Hebrew, and its kin- dred dialcdr. the Britifh or Celtic. Thus much I thought proper to fay in behalf of our ancient language, which, not without fhame be it fpoken, is now as much defpifed by Englifhmen, as it is efteemed by the learned in foreign parts. ^ „ , , The (7) Italian antiquaries con- The htrucan letters c r . \./r u r , • • tl r A , r ■ 1 r. iels the difficulty or explaining theie Pela pic. the Roman . \ r * & . , , / 6 ' monuments, and leem not entirely Ionic. 1 „t r 1 J agreed among themlelves, even a- (1) Vid. Bernardinus Baldus Divinat. in Tabulam .ftineam Eugubinam lingua Hetrufca veteri perfcriptam. Aug. Vind. 1613. (2) Vid. Ant. Fran. Gorius Mufeum Etrufcum exhibens infignia veteran) Etrufcorum monumenta /Eneis Tabulis 200 edita & illultrata. 3 Vol. Flo- rent. 1737. Tho. Dempfter De Etruria Regali Lib. VII. Florent. 1 um Florentinum. Flor. 173 1, 1732, &c. Sripio Maffei Mufeum Vcro- nenfe. Vcron. 1749. Mufeum Cortonenfe. Rom. ] &c. (3) Non deerunt qui opine, ifcarum txpticatimm me aggrejfitnm eft, a quo taincn conftlio ego quidem longiffwic abfum : hoc fcilictt eruditi 6? Romam tarn divcrfum, ac dij/iium cji, tot btitm fc? obfitum, ut pima's difcuti ac pertraBari nequaqtutm fqQU. Scip. Maffei Mu£ Vt - ron. Praef. ms*. 11. . 1 3 bout 122 Of the F/rJi Inhabitant l s, Language ', bout the names of the letters. One who has very well de- ferved of the learned world, and of this province of Lite- rature, (i) denies that they are Pelafgic, "Becaufe formed " from the right j" which is the very reafon I affign for their being Pelafgic. A no lefs able antiquary or that country without fcruple (2) calls the Etrufcan letters Pelaf- gic, in which I think he is right; but not fo, when he calls them Latin, at the fame time. The Etrufcan, it is true, were the oldcfr. letters of Latium, but Seignior Gori lightly diftinguifhes between the Etrufcan and Latin, or what may be more properly called the Ionic, or Roman, letters. (3) Pliny fays " The ancient letters of the Greeks "were the fame as the Latin;" but he muft here mean the old Ionic letters, which were undoubtedly the fame with the Roman ; being written from the left hand, the way ufed by the Romans : and lo (4.) Tacitus is to be 1111- dcrllood, when he fays " The forms of the Latin letters " were the fame with the oldeft of the Greeks." The Ionic way of writing did not univerfally prevail even in Greece, till ages after it was found out. The (5) Athe- nians did not' comply with it till the Archonfhip of Eu- clides A.V.C. 350. The Sigean infeription which is older ( 1 ) Nam charaileres Etrufci plane funt a dextra Jinijlrorfum fcrtpti •, quum Pe- lafgici qui iidern prorfus ac Lathii funt, a f.nijlra dextrorfum tendant. Er. Gori. Prol. ad Muf. Etrufc. pag. 54. (2) Siquidem hoc cerium eft adeo quam quod certiffmum, charatleres tabular urn [Eugubinarum] Pelafgicos ej/e ac Latinos. Scip. Maffei Orig. Etrufc. & Latin, pag. 63. (3) Veteres lit eras Gracerum eafdem effc ac La! 'was. Hift. Lib. VII. c. 58. (4) Et forma Uteris Latinis, qua veterrimis Grxcorum. Annal. Lib. XI. c. (5) T«? J\ ASOjjcuot; victim Pff/^l 7 \mm y^L^uAm h^.v; o AHwoior it A$jovt& Fi.'z.viis. Suidas in s^uia,/ 5 A^gr. than Religion ', Learning & Letters of Europe. 1 25 than that iEra, begins with Ionic writing ; but the line returns in the Pelafgic manner, as the Etrufcans wrote. In time, as (1) Pliny fays, " The tacit confent of all na- " tions agreed to ufe the Ionic letters." But the Etrufcans never confented, for they wrote ftill in the Pelafgic way. When then did the Romans confent ? I anfwer, about the time of Tarquinius Prifcus their fifth king. (2) Tacitus afligns two Epochs for the reception of the Greek letters ; " The Etrufcans in Italy, fays he, received their letters " from Damaratus the Corinthian ; the Aborigines from " Evander the Arcadian." Damaratus the Corinthian fled from the tyranny of Cypfelus about the beginning, or per- haps the middle, of the fecond Century of Rome ; and if he brought letters with him, as Tacitus fays, I think they muft have been the new or Ionic alphabet ; as being dif- ferent from what the firft Etrufcans, or Aborigines, had received from Evander, above five hundred years before. Tarquinius Prifcus was the fon of Damaratus, and proba- bly introduced his father's letters into the Roman language. (3)Dionyfius HalicarnafTenfis fpeaks of a Pillar remaining in his time in the temple of Diana at Rome, "With an " Infcription in Latin letters, whole forms were fuch as " the Greeks anciently ufed." But I fuppofe, that thefe were only the oldeft Ionic letters, the pillar being fet up by Servius Tullus, the fucceflbr of Tarquinius Prifcus. (1) Gentium confenfus tacitus omnium confpiravit, ul Ionum Uteris uterentur. Hift. Lib.VII. c. 57. (2) Liter as in Italia Etrufci ab Corinthio Damaratc, Aborigines ab Arcade E- ■vandro acceperunt. Annal. Lib. XI. c. 14. (3) AJto Jiifjuntiv J 27»'a» fU'/Jt 4 f.ui'f 'r>ixjm h irJ * ;?*,"."*- ■n./ tYirat %iyts htf>UbiKay, tit -n imfju.r « i-Jhi< *;n;*™- Antiq. Lib. IV. R Pliny 1 24 Of the Firfl Inhabitants , Language ^ Pliny likevvife proves from die Delphic brafs table prefer- ved in the Palatine Library, (i)"That the ancient Greek " letters were almoft the fame with the Latin letters of his " time :" and the infcription, as he has given it, mews that they were only Ionic letters. After the Romans had eftablifhed the ufe of the Ionic letters, they feem not to have acknowledged the Etrufcan to be a Greek alphabet. The moft learned of them knew none older than the Io- nic : as appears from the Greek (2)Farnefe infcriptions of Herodes Atticus. This learned man, out of a facred re- gard to antiquity, caufed the oldeft orthography to be ob- ferved in the writing, and the letters to be delineated af- ter the moft antique forms that could be found : and they are plainly no other than the Ionic, or righthanded cha- racters. All Alphabets de- AU JfW*! ^r ^f^ u°T . 7 / one : and it is but realonable to think rroed from one. :, 7 r ,, , , , XT J the lame or all alphabets. Nor is it eafy to fay which of the two has been moft corrupted : it being as hard a matter to difcover the original of fome alphabets, as of the languages themfelves. It is much to be regretted, that the publick paid no attention to the ( 1 ) Vetercs Gracas fuijje pene qua nunc funt Latins, indicia erit Delphica Ta- bula antiqui aris, qua eft hodie in Palatio, dono principum Minerva dicata in Bib- tiotheca, cum Infcriptione tali. NATSIKPATH2 TI5AMENOT O A0HNAIO2 KO- PA KAI AOHNA ANE0HKEN. Plin. Hift. Lib.VII. C.58. (2) Vid. CL Salmafri Duarum Infcriptionum Veterum Herodis Attici & Regills conjugis explicatio. Lut. Parif. 1619. Scaliger Animadverf. in Eu- febium. pag.no. Montfaucon Pafceogr. Grace, p. 135. Chifhull Antiq. A fiat. p. 11. propofal Religion •, Learning & Letters of Europe. 1 25 propofal which (i)MrWanley once made, to give us the hiftory of all the different alphabets of Europe j a work not likely to be undertaken in this age, and perhaps the next may want materials for it. We mail only remark that the firft alphabets confifted of what we now call Capital Letters ; and that the Greek and Roman letters, which prevailed for the moft part in Europe ; by degrees decreafed in their fize, for the fake of difpatch in writing \ which produced all thofe alphabets of fmall letters, that we find in MSS. corrupted from the larger ones, accord- ing to the genius and humour of different countries. en r» • s> It does not appear, what letters The Runic, or Go- ^ moft ^ Celt£ ufed in wri . tbtc t from the ^ . the remains of their l anguage now to be found in books, being written in the common character of the country, where their defendants lived. I think it may be taken for grant- ed, that they made ufe of hieroglyphics only, as we faid before of the Scythians in general. But the Goths are an exception ; for they had an alphabet peculiar to them- felves, confuting formerly of (2) fixteen letters, which is thought to be the juft number in the Greek and Pheni- ( 1 ) Si publico jubente, & fub publicis aufpiciis id mibi demandatum fore!, ut Hijloriam Literarum fcriberem, quibus populi Europo-i, prsferlim Gr.ni, Komani, Hifpnni, Galli, Hibenu, sfnglo-Normanm, csV. in omni tempore ufi funt, ut om- nia meaftudia in Mud conferrem ; fie benevalere & vticre Deo hrgienh; non dubi- to, quin eo officio it a perf lingerer, ut nullius expetlationem fallcrem. l'nvi. .id Lib. Anglo-Sax. Catal. (2) Sit e. F. U. D. O. R. K. H. N. I. A. S. T. B. L. M. YR. This is the old alphabet of the Runes, confifting of Six- teen letters in their proper (3) order ; before the reft were added, to compleat the number of Twenty Four, con- formable to other alphabets. or? j r j.l The alphabet is an endlefs fund of The order of the r , , , , t , r> • /ru; ? . enquiry to the learned: much has been Runic Alphabet. T/ . , . » „ , , * written by the ancients, Greeks and Ro- Portugaize de fon Globe des Canons SS. apud Claud. Duret. Threfor de 1* Hift. des Langues. Col. 161 3. p. 860. ( 1 ) Quin tanta onmino fit cum Gr r /• , figure, reiembling one Gamma iur- note or guttural ° L ° , , r.-.- mounting another, was always acknow- J' ' ledged to be a letter of the Greek al- phabet. Its (i)form is well known, but neither its pow- er, nor place in the feries, have been thoroughly under- ftood. It feems to me to have been an auxiliary letter (2) prefixed to fome particular fyllables, to denote that they required a ftronger force in fpeaking ; and was of the moft general ufe in pronouncing the oldeft languages, which, as all know, were chiefly guttural. It was nei- ther vowel nor confonant, but a letter or note of afpira- tion ; and for this reafon was placed at the head of the alphabet. The uncouth harfhnefs of afpirating words in the initial, middle, and final fyllables, brought it into dif- ufe with the Greeks in general, when they came to ftudy the harmony of language; and at length made it (3)ceafe to be a letter. (1) Eadem liter a fcilicet V ', Digamma a Gratis vceatur, quando fibimet aliifque voealibus jungitur ■, qua idto Digamma dieitttr, quia duplex ejl inftar F liter -a, qua duplex Gamma babet. Ifidor. Orig. Lib. I. c. 4. £.?i>- >d »-.• -ni< ap^aoir EM*™, iif 7a ttoXXsc, -tre.577>.:cu T IvifjArav, l-iiwuv at *p2?" >in tom lrUn SjWTOi "rim OT ffv//.*- etu) iti wxli? X*? 3 .^'"' ^to ^ '»» "<""? TAM.MA ^ITTAIS Enr MIAN OP0HN ZnU ZEITNTMLNON TAI2 IIAATIAIS. at FtA^», x, Fa^, x) Fc?w<-, £ Faiif, x, -r<».x •ntaxi-n. Dionyf. Halic. Ant. Lib. I. p. 16. (2) <$uod Digamma, nift Vocali pro-pen; , & in printipio fyllakr, mn potejl. Prilcian. p. 547. (3) The Roman Criticks rejected fevcral letters upon the fame account. Autoritas tarn Vatrtmu, quam Macri, tcfte Cenforino, r.cc K, me Q11, neque H in numero adhibet literarum. Prilcian. apud Pudch. Voflius Gram. p. hi, 82. The x 3° Of the Fir ft Inhabitants , Language ', rr7 /?-•;• ta- The (i) iEoles, who retained The S&olic Di$ra?nma. ,. , _ v y , a . . _■ .. , ,. , ru . 6 this letter longeit, mitigated its « /rf0/tf/ a pirate. , n r , °. . . P r t y/ harihneis, by giving it the lound of the labial afpirate, the Roman f, or Greek * Phi, by which name it is ftill known in the Runic. The letter f is the fixth in the Roman alphabet, the place of the He- brew ) Vau, Waw, or rather Whaw ; which is now pro- nounced as an hard f, or v confonant, but was formerly the afpirate. The moderns have been milled by the au- thority of Dionyfius Halicarnaflenfis, Prifcian, and other grammarians, who feem to have known only this fecon- dary found of the Digammaj but to have been wholly ignorant of its firft power, as a guttural. The Runic F Phi, or Fee, in its primitive northern pronunciation feems to have been the fame with our Ch, Gh, £$h, or Wh, a deep guttural afpirate. Its found is for the moft part loft in the weftern languages of Europe, but Englifh men and others preferve fome traces of it, as appears from their way of fpelling words, compared with the pronunciation of them. „ 7 , 7 When the Digamma became Common to all the na~ r r , . ° „ , . . r -p lortened into f, or rhi, it was V * ' not confined to the iEoles, but common to all the nations of Europe. Where therefore we meet with the found of f, we fometimes find the re- mains of the rougher letter. As for inftance, the Englifh (i) A»m (lev E>X!u/ff Jhrnulvji -n iat'wju.' KioKcif Si IJkfxu;. Apollon. Alex, de Syntax. Lib. L p. 44. Sciendum tamen quod hoc ipfum, [Digamma] Moles qui- dem ubique loco afpirationis ponebant, effugientes Jpiritus ajperitatem. Prifcian. fbl. 3. F .'Eolicum Digamma, quod apud antiquiffmas Latinorum eandem vim quam apud j£oles habuit : turn autem prope fonum quern nunc habit F, f.gnificabat P cum sfpiratione. Idem pag. 2. vvords Religion ', Learning & Letters of Europe. 1 3 1 words pronounced Laff, Draft, Enuff, and the like, are by good luck ftill fpelt (1) Laugh, Draught , Enough ; which proves that their firft pronunciation was guttural. In like manner the Sclavonian names Menzikow, Czerni- kow 8cc. with a guttural termination, are pronounced Men- zikoff, Czernikoff. On the other hand, the true found of the Gothic fcjVN, or Lord, is ftill preferved in the afpira- ted fyllable han of the Tartars, or chan of the Perfians: and (2) Salmafius obferves, that the number which En- glifhmen call Fewer, and the Germans Vier, the fame Perfians pronounce ghihar. Thus the Spaniards feem to preferve the primitive found in the words Haba, Habla, Hado> Hembra, Hogo ; though they were written by the Romans, Faba, Fabula, Fatum, Femina, Focus ; and Hi jo, Fi lius, is in Greek Ti@-. ,-,- ~. As the vowel- founds conftituted Ihe Di?a?nma not , ^ c r ,, , , m t-v ri n 1 elience or a iy liable, the Digam- Ir P ' J J ma principally belonged to them, and to vowels. , r v • r ] 1 T ..u: 1 u wherever it is round, 1 think, could hardly be without its power and effect : tho' a very great (3) critic is of opinion, that it was quiefcent between two ( 1) Accordingly near a thoufand years ago, to Laiigll was Lihan, to Ding or SDrata) Drta^an, and Cnouglj was 6noh, in fome places ftill pro- nounced Ciioton (2) Sic ergo Per/is ghihar pro fihar, vel fier. Salmaf. de I lellenift. p. 3 8 9- (3) Nunc vera ut idem Vau quiefdt, (J hiatum inter duns vocaks fine forw im- pkt. Chiflmll Antiq. Afiat. p. 19. The true Greek Digamma, if 1 remem ber right, is only once to be found upon an authentic monument \ viz. The Delian infeription given us by Mr Tournetbrt. Travels Vol. I. p. jij. which inlcription, by the by, I take to be the okleft now in being. . . OArrTOMeOBMIANAPIASKAITOafBAAS "iii tuiTV Ai^u i'i/ju axSfitH vpi to 0£«Ao{ Jem lapidis fum Jfatua is! bafts. S 1 cannot 132 Of the Firfl Inhabitants , Language , vowels. Nor was it appropriated folely to the vowels, as the ancients thought, but was fometimes affixed to con- fonants, as particularly to the (1) Greek p, or R6o, which is naturally a guttural, as is c, g, k, q_; and in the moft ancient languages the (2) letter l. For, to omit an hun- I cannot fee the reafon for placing the Digamma here, in the word aftto, if it was intended to be quiefcent only. For if the Greeks at that time pro- nounced at as a diphthong, it feems abfurd to interpofe a third letter. Was it therefore placed there to afpirate the diphthong, as in town ? Or rather was it not defigned to diftinguiih. the vowels, as in SaweS ; and to fhew that they did not coalefce in a diphthong ? But that the fecond vowel was to be afpirated, and fo the word to be made a trifyllable, as ahttot. This I think moft probable, as diphthongs were at that time very rare : for u and » we fee, are wrote t and -, nor does it appear that kai was not a difiylla- ble, and mould be wrote >&i. Prifcian, where he fpeaks of the Digamma, quotes from the poet Alcman the word aafion, which mould be wrote &£tw, or perhaps rather cxa'iov, an inftance that feems to make for our pur- pofe. He mentions befides fome names which he found on the tripod of Apollo at Byzantium, as aemcmofON, aafokofon ; thefe words could ne- ver be read in the TEolic manner demophovon, lavocovon, but rather AHtxetpcuv, hmsw ; Hiatus caufa, folebant Moles interponere F Digamma, as he fays ; that is, That the afpirate might fill up the hiatus between the vowels. Many fyllables of Greek words, in later times pronounced with a foft breath, were at firft afpirated •, of which the Sigean infeription alone will afford us more than one inftance, as in HE0MO2, HAisonos, haaea*oi : to which we may add thole of Dionyfius, as above, fANA=, foikos, fanhp, and many others. ( 1 ) Per <^sSnJby apud Molios. Sed illud ,6 videtur ejfe loco Di- gamma, quia \lJbv adfpiratur. Hoc igitur pro F&Jbv : quomodo Moles -n \lJbv pro- nuntiabant. Sed Moles nihil adjpirabant. Loco enim adfpirationis Digamma pone- bant. ®uod Digamma litera erat, & in numero literarum ponebatur. Salmaf. de Hellenift. p. 64. (2) Lh elementum, lingua in primorem palati regionem valido nifu impulfa, fo- mque per dentes utrinque maxillares halituofe emijfo, profertur. EJl autem Britannis adeo J eculiaris & propria, ut apud nullos alios Europa incolas (quod fciam) repe- riatur. Henr. Salesbury Gram. Britan. Lond. 1593. 8vo. Tradit Jo. Aventi- ttus veteres Germanos I_ cum afpiratione ufurpaffe. £>uod etiam nonnulli exijlimant de b Hebraico. Jo. Davies Lingua; Cambro-Britan. Rudimenta. Lond. 1-621. P a g- Religion ', Learning & Letters of Europe. 133 dred inftances of the fame kind, the fyllable which En- glishmen in the R.oX\z way pronounce floyd, in true Celtic orthography is lhvyd ; a name ever to be remem- bered with refpect by Britifh antiquaries. /ii a/ *i u 7 The affinity between alphabets, Aleph the Hebrew , ,. r J , n , * f1 ' P>; when diicovered, ihews that all were ^ derived from the Hebrew or Cad- mean ; in which this remarkable letter could hardly be wanting. And I think we need not defpair of finding it ; tho' not in the (1) place where it is commonly looked for; but in the front of the alphabet, as in the Runic. For the Hebrew (2) Aleph, tho' made a vowel by the Greeks, will, I believe be found to be no more than a Digamma, or mark of afpiration. The oldeft form of the Gamma now extant, as in the (3) Sigean and (4) Baudelotian in- fcriptions, is not erect, but {looping A : the Digamma ac- cordingly, in the (5) Delian infeription, is a reclining ^ : and Aleph appears under the like form in the oldeft al- pag. 7. Verelius thought this property of the letter was peculiar to the Ru- nic. t> refpondet Ijitino L. Hoc autem peculiare babet, quod cum in altis linguis fit dentale, apud nos gutturale eft, & exteris pronunciatu in/uetum. Verelii Runo- graphia Scandica. pag. 32. (1) In the place of Vau. (2) The name of this leading letter, viz. Aleph or Alph, fignifying in Hebrew an Ox or Heifer, (whence the fable of Cadmus's Cow) was at Hrft pronounced gutturally, as its property required ; and dierefore the learned Meric Cafaubon was not deceived in his conjecture. Mibi certe magis arridet h, Z, A, Et mijit epif- tolas in u?iiverjas civitates regni Jui, ut fie pueri docerentur, ac libri antiquitus fcripti planati pumice refcribere?itur. This paffage is certainly corrupt as to the forms of the charac- ters, z and a could fcarce be wanting in any alphabet of that time. The n of the Greeks may be admitted, as be- ing a letter well known ; and \ is only the Ulphilo-Go- thic ty Theta, or Thorn, which feems to be mifplaced in the order ; for Z feems to reprefent the diphthong je. The greateft (2) difficulty then remaining will be about the let- ter A. And yet Gregory himfelf feems to have folved this difficulty, by calling it uui : for what can this mean, but W ? Give me therefore leave to add one ftroke to A, as thus A, and it will appear to be the very letter of which we have been fpeaking. P feems to be formed from the Digamma f, by drawing the horizontal ftrokes to a point: And this conftitutes the form of the letter a in the Delian and Sigean inferiptions. The mutilated Digamma 4 in the fame manner, feems to make the Runic vowel a. But the later Runes to exprefs the power of W, added a point to (1) Gregorius Turonenfis Hid. Franc, per Ruinartum. Lib.V. c.45. (2) Supereft nonnihil difficult atis in lit era a, quam his dementis uui Gregorii edi- tio exprimit. Liter am Jane qua vim habeat hujus font figni fie andi Argent eus Codex babet, quam in fecunda petitionis Orationis Dominica invenies ; etfi earn per liter am Qj>erperam, ni fallor, in letlione exprejfam video. At olim Wimai leclum fuijfe vi- de tur, crajfo quidem & adfpirato fono, qui fenfim in lingua Gcrmanica in Q, vel K, immutatus Jit, & in lingua Gallica in liter am G, ut nomen illud Wilhelmus oftendit, quod Galli modo omnes Guilielmum pronunciant. Atqui cum ea liter a (CI) nonnihil ad D Latinum in illius /A&, Co cultivated by the Greeks, wrought numberlefs innovations in their tongue, till by degrees they had diverted it of all its barbarity, or northernefs : and as the Romans imitated the Greeks, their language became ftill more heteroge- neous. But if the Digamma, the radical confonants, to- gether with the idiom and genius of each language, were duly confidered ; I am perfwaded, that all the Scythian dialects of Europe, Celtic, Greek, Roman, Gothic, 8cc. would be found much nearer (i)akin to each other, than they appear to be in modern writing. The flrft intention likewife of hundreds of Greek and Roman words could not now be difcovered, had they not been preierved in dialects, that are called barbarous. And therefore the Greek and Roman grammarians, by feeking for the fource o£ almoft all their words in their own tongue, have only expofed their weaknefs; and fometimes made moft ridi- culous work with etymology. ( i ) The reader will find this to be true in many instances, only by com- paring words with others of the fame fignification, as they fiand in the vo- cabularies of each language. In the mean time let him take thefe few as a fpecimen. canis Ku fc? Kun Celt. Kly, yCv, vel Zy Gr. Hund Goth. Hound Engl. caput Gaph Hebr. Y.itp L . • . . Au 1 From the Hiftory of the Greek lhe primitive Alpha- , , , r r \ 1 , l j rr 1 alphabet or twenty tour letters, we bet had no rowels. , r , . J '. learn, that it was many centuries before it was compleated ; the ( 1 ) Romans feem to ac- knowledge the fame of theirs. Whence I think we may juftly infer that all have been improved ; and that the old- eft now to be found was derived from fome other, which I mail call the Primitive alphabet of Mofes. The order ol the Greek letters, as well as their names, was plainly ta- ken from the Phenician or Hebrew, as they now ftand : but the Runic or Gothic feems to be of an original fome- what different. Tho' this alphabet confifts of only fixteen letters, yet I am of opinion, that it has admitted feveral adfeititious ones into the original number. If there is any truth in what I have juft now advanced, the vowel a could not be fo ancient a letter as the Digamma. And therefore it may with fome reafon be queftioned, whether in the firft alphabet there were any vowels : for the firft writing feems to have been carried on without them, their founds being included in the confonants ; and fome (2) northern men have been of opinion, that they are not at all ncceffary to fpeech. Even when it was thought ex- expedient to give fome written form to thofe founds, it (1) Vetuflijfima tranfeo tempora, quibus i£ paucicres liter. e y nee funiles bis t: earum fornix fuerunt, & vis quoque diverfa. Quintilian. Inftit Orat. c. 8. Ei forma Uteris Latinis qtu: vetarimis Gr F. *. K. I. K. T. B. b- T- . f. d. r. k. h. n. i. s. t. b. 1. m. yr. (1) Seignior Gori in his Mufeum Florent. Vol.1. Proleg. p. 49, reckons Sixteen letters in the Etrufcan alphabet, whereof V is one. But our learned friend Mr John Swinton, who feems to have entered further than any other before him, into that abftrufe part of literature, admits of only thirteen, and excludes both O and V. See the alphabet itfelf in the Etrufcan Hiltory compiled by him. Univerfal Hiltory. Vol. 16. 8vo. (2) Some of the ancients held that Thirteen was the original number of the letters, but what grounds they had for their opinion, or which were the letters meant, is uncertain, 'o a.e<^r ■$ ou-mv ow Ric i \iiwi wxm a.y.etCaf' i-ja ■77t».bjj OTfJ^i ;tj -nis tt£ «v j / The learned have not been able to 1 he letter rod the . s ,. . , c *\ n. 1 J i s- (2) divine, now one ot the molt com- general rria/R tor \ r r m ill 1 tt 1 P' cx ng ures °1 the alphabet came to be reduced to the moft fimple ; and therefore it may be lawful to offer a conjecture in this cafe, tho' I fhall lay no very great ftrefs upon it. The Jod, or general mark for the Vowel, might at hrft be an auxiliary letter, like the Digamma ; and both requilite to diftinguiih the fyllables. The one denoted the explofion, the other the attraction ot the breath. We fee how near they approach to each other in their forms rr m, the vowel mark having the advantage o[ one ftroke extraordinary, perhaps becaufe it was necefiary to all fvllablcs ; whereas the Digamma belonged only to the afpiiated ones. When (1) Extrcmam ijlius vocis Jyilatam turn per E, turn / • I, firiptam bgi [,:,::■ quart m Us vttetHbus fiurit, htttris bis uti mSffermttr. Aul. CJdlius. Lib. X. c. 24. (2) I. $uo rafu cvenerit, ut b.rc .'■ turn mmmh . tinet, tanlum a prifca forn. * ailatis fuptrius ajfms J:t, inca- tum eft. Montiauc. Piheogr. p. i harmony 144 Of the Firft Inhabitants, Language, harmony began to be ftudied, and it was found that the vowel found might be varied into particular notes: then perhaps it was thought necenary that each mould be ad- mitted to a place in the alphabet ; and that it would be more proper to begin the feries with a vowel. The place of the afpirate was accordingly appropriated to the found of a, and the vowel mark allotted to that of e ; the Jod in the mean time frill preferving its name and place, but reduced, like the Digamma, to a more diminutive form. Whether the vowels o and u came fo early into the alpha- bet, • as the two former, muft be left to the difquilition of others. 4> 5> 6 - they Religion, Learning & Letters of Europe. 1^.5 they were brought in by the firft Saxons, or rather by the Danes, is a queftion : and it is certain that they ne- ver grew into common ufe. We have no remains of Sa- xon writing fo old as the iixth century, nor during that time do the Saxons Teem to have had much leifure to employ themfelves in that way. In the feventh century, after they became Chriftians, it is clear that they applied themfelves to writing of books ; though I think we have none remaining even of that century, excepting a few ( 1 ) Charters. Before the Saxons arrival, the corrupted Ro- man letters were in ufe with the natives, Britifh, Scotch, and Irifh : and thefe the Saxons were contented to make ufe of, in writing hoth Latin and Englim, inftead of their own the Runic : The Runic characters were perhaps at that time accounted Pagan, and unhallowed ; tor they had an ill (2) name, as being ufed to bad purpofes ; at leaf!:, being capital letters, they were not fo commodious as the others. It is true that the Saxons added two letters to the Latin alphabet ; for D J\ TH or T7jon.' t and p p, W or TVen> are of Northern growth. (1) Thef. Ling. Sept. Par. I. pag. 169. Charta Odilredi ad Mon. Bcrk- ing. v. Cafley Cat. MSS. Reg. Bibl. &c. (2) Hofce auiem cbaratleres ramrvner, feu Runas Amaras & Accrbas vo- carunt, eo quod inot'ejlias, dokres, mcrbos, aliaque perniciofa htfee infiigere MKBI foliti funt Magi. Mihi judicium clariffimi & in antiquttatibus nojiris i-erfatiffmi z'iri D. Amgrimi Jon* IJlandt, de ramrvnis expelenti, tale cbtigit refponfum. " l.xijlimo vcrifvnile ejj'e Magos illos literatura aliquafuos, (3 qu , ma- "jori ex parte, fed virgulis & punilis fuo murte tXCOgitatis ccrrnp:.t : in: I::. 1 "nr, fu conupt.i\ Satban.r perfoa/u, inn & <[>' mstcimm* inejj'e an ■ "rint, 13 ipfo agente, ac tlludente, expcrii funt:' Ol. Wonnius Lit. Runica. c. 5. By this one might be induced to think, that fomc of thole deformed alphabets, given us by Dr Hickes, were of the ramkvnlr kind. Tins 146 Of the Firfl Inhabitant s y Language ', &c. *>, n , r This alphabet, whilft the Saxon lan- Tbe Condition. a W7. ,-. , , • j 1 J g ua g e nounihed in England, varied but little as to the forms of the letters ; tho' it cannot be call- ed entirely the fame. In every age fome fcribes excelled others in writing, and all differed a little from thofe who went before them ; but ftill the humour and duel: of the letters was pretty well preferred for about four hundred years ; for I think that period will take in all the Saxon writing, that is now remaining. When the Normans en- forced their language upon us, another fort of character crept in with it by degrees ; however the old Saxon books frill remained, and the letters in which they are written, have by courtefy been called Saxon tn this day. As there are but few of them that differ from the common cha- racters now in ufe ; every Englifh reader is, or ought to be, acquainted with them; and therefore it will be un- neceffary to dwell any longer upon them. F. W. R. L. Errata. Pag. 87. lin. 10. Dele May. Pag. 89. lin. 1. Adde QjteiTAN. Pag. 138. Not. 2. lin. 3. In Secundre /, Initio Secun&t. 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