beheld a tall and comely perfonage, who addreffed him in these ambiguous terms: Brave lion, thy unconquer'd foul compofe In vain th' oppreffor would elude his fate, The vengeance of the gods is fure, though late, As foon as the morning appeared, he disclosed what he had seen to the interpreters of dreams. He however flighted the vifion, and was killed in the celebration of fome public festival. t LVII. The Gephyreans, of which nation were the affaffins of Hipparchus, came, as themselves affirm, originally from Eretria. But the refult of my enquiries enables me to fay that they were Phoenicians, and of those who accompanied Cadmus into the region now called Boeotia, where they settled, having the district of Tanagria affigned them by lot. The Cadmeans were expelled by the Argives; the Boeotians afterwards drove out the Gephyreans, who took refuge at Athens. The Athenians en There were the The feftival was in honour of Minerva. greater and leffer Panathenæa. The leffer originated with 'Thefeus; these were celebrated every year in the month Hecatombeon; the greater were celebrated every five years. In the proceffion on this occafion old men, felected for their good perfons, carried branches of olive. There were also races with torches both on horfe and foot; there was also a mufical contention. The conqueror in any of thefe games was rewarded with a veffel of oil. There was alfo a dance by boys in armour. The veft of Minerva was carried in a facred proceffion of perfons of all ages, &c. &c.-T. rolled them amongst their citizens, under certain reftrictions of trifling importance. LVIII. The Phoenicians who came with Cadmus, and of whom the Gephyreans were a part, introduced during their refidence in Greece various articles of science; and amongst other things letters", with which, as I conceive, the Greeks were' before 9 Amongst other things letters.]-Upon the fubject of the invention of letters, it is neceffary to say something; but so much has been written by others, that the task of selection, though all that is neceffary, becomes fufficiently difficult. The first introduction of letters into Greece has been generally afligned to Cadmus; but this has often been controve ted, no arguments on either fide have been adduced fufficiently ftrong to be admitted as decifive. It is probable that they were in ufe in Greece before Cadmus, which Diodorus Siculus confidently affirms. But Lucan, in a very enlightened period of the Roman empire, without any more intimation of doubt, than is implied in the words famæ fi creditur, wrote thus: Phoenices primi, famæ fi creditur, aufi Then Memphis, ere the reedy leaf was known, E c 4 Rowe. before unacquainted. These were at first such as the Phoenicians themselves indifcriminately use; in procefs of time, however, they were changed both in found and form 7, At that time the Greeks To this opinion, concerning the use of hieroglyphics, bishop Warburton accedes, in his Divine Legation of Mofes, who thinks that they were the production of an unimproved state of fociety, as yet unacquainted with alphabetical writing. With refpect to this opinion of Herodotus, many learned men thought it worthy of credit, from the resemblance betwixt the old Eastern and earlieft Greek characters, which is certainly an argument of fome weight. No European nation ever pretended to the honour of this dif covery; the Romans confeffed they had it from the Greeks, the Greeks from the Phoenicians. Pliny fays the use of letters was eternal; and many have made no fcruple of afcribing them to a divine revelation. Our countryman Mr. Aftle, who has written perhaps the beft on this complicated fubject, has this expreffion, with which I fhall conclude the fubject. "The vanity of each nation induces them to pretend to the noft early civilization; but fuch is the uncertainty of ancient hiftory, that it is difficult to determine to whom the honour is due. It should feem, however, that the contest may be confined to the Ægyptians, Phoenicians, and Cadmeans."-T. 7° In found and form.]—The remark of Dr. Gillies on this paffage feems worthy of attention, "The eastern tongues are in general extremely deficient in vowels. It is, or rather was, much disputed whether the ancient orientals used any characters to express them: their languages therefore had an inflexible thickness of found, extremely different from the vocal harmony of the Greek, which abounds not only in vowels but in diphthongs. This circumstance denotes in the Greeks organs of perception more acute, elegant, and difcerning. They felt fuch faint variations of liquid founds as escaped the dulnefs of Afiatic ears, and invented marks to express them. They diftinguished in this manner not only their articulation, but their quantity, and afterwards their musical intonation.' moft moft contiguous to this people were the Ionians, who learned these letters of the Phoenicians, and, with fome trifling variations, received them into common use. As the Phoenicians firft made them known in Greece, they called them, as justice required, Phoenician letters. By a very ancient cuftom, the Ionians call their books diphteræ or skins, because at a time when the plant of the biblos was fcarce", they used instead of it the skins of goats and fheep. Many of the barbarians have used these. fkins for this purpose within my recollection. LIX. I myself have feen, in the temple of the Ifmenian Apollo, at Thebes of Boeotia, these Cadmean letters infcribed upon fome tripods, and having a near resemblance to those used by the Ionians. One of the tripods has this inscription": Amphytrion's "Biblos was scarce.]-Je ne parlerai point ici de toutes les matieres fur lefquelles on a tracé l'écriture, Les peaux de chevre et de mouton, les differens efpeces de toile furent fucceffivement employeés: on a fait depuis usage du papier tissu des couches interieures de la tige d'une plante qui croit dans les marais de l'Egypte, ou au milieu des eaux dormantes que le Nil laiffe apres fon inondation. On en fait des rouleaux, a l'extremité, defquels eft fufpendre une etiquette contenant le titre du livre. L'écriture n'eft tracée que fur une des faces de chaque rouleau; et pour en faciliter la lecture, elle s'y trouve divifée en plufieurs compartimens ou pages, &c.-Voyage du Jeune Anacharfis. Every thing neceffary to be known on the fubject of paper, its firft invention, and progreffive improvement, is fatisfactorily difcuffed in the edition of Chambers's Dictionary by Rees.-T. 72 This infcription.]-Some curious infcriptions upon the hields of the warriors who were engaged in the fiege of the capital 2.729 Amphytrion's present from Teleboan spoils. This must have been about the age of Laius, for of Labdacus, whofe father was Polydore, the fon of Cadmus. LX. Upon the second tripod, are these hexameter verfes :-- Scæus, victorious pugilist, bestow'd Me, a fair offering, on the Delphic god. This Scæus was the fon of Hippocoon, if indeed it was he who dedicated the tripod, and not another perfon of the fame name, cotemporary with dipus the fon of Laius, LXI. The third tripod bears this infcription in hexameters : Royal Laodamas to Phoebus' fhrine This tripod gave, of workmanship divine. Under this Laodamas, the fon of Eteocles, who had the fupreme power, the Cadmeans were expelled by the Argives, and fled to the Encheleans ". The Gephyræans were compelled by the Beeotians to retire to Athens 74. Here they built capital of Eteocles, are preferved in the "Seven against Thebes of Æfchylus," to which the reader is referred. 73 Encheleans.]-The Cadmeans and Encheleans of Herodotus are the Thebans and Illyrians of Paufanias. 14 To Athens.-They were permitted to fettle on the borders of the Cephiffus, which feparates Attica from Eleufis; there they built a bridge, in order to have a free communication on both fides. I am of opinion that bridges, youpa, took their name |