Some of them seem to have gained access at Delphi; as did likewise others from Egypt: and by such was that oracle first founded. Egypt, among other names, was called Ait, and Ai Ait, by the Greeks expressed Aeria: 27 Exλnon de xar Εκλήθη δε AETIA, The natives, in consequence of it, were called Ario, and AT&; which was interpreted eagles. Hence, we are told by Plutarch, that some of the feathered kind, either eagles or swans, came from the remote parts of the earth, and settled at Delphi. 28 Αετούς τινας, η Κύκνος, ο Τερεν τιανε Πρισκε, μυθολογεσιν απο των άκρων της γης επι το μέσον φερομενες εις ταυτο συμπεσειν Πυθοι περι τον καλαμετον ομφαλόν. These eagles and swans undoubtedly relate to colonies from Egypt and Canaan. recollect but one philosopher styled Cygnus; and, what is remarkable, he was of Canaan. Antiochus, the Academic, mentioned by Cicero in his philosophical works, and also by 29 Strabo, was of

I

27 Eustathius in Dionysium. v. 239. See Steph. Byzant. A.

γυπτος.

28 Plutarch περι των εκλελοιπότων χρηςηρίων. vol. 1. p.409.

29 Strabo. 1. 16. p. 1101. There was supposed to have been a person in Thessaly named Cycnus, the son of Apollo. He lived upon a lake Uria; which was so called from his mother.

Inde lacus Hyries videt, et Cycnëia Tempe,

Quæ subitus celebravit olor. Ovid. Metam. 1.7. v. 371. Uria was also a river in Boeotia: and here was a Cycnus, said to have been the son of Poseidon. Pausan. 1. 10. p. 831.

Ascalon, in Palestine; and he was surnamed Cygnus, the Swan: which name, as it is so circumstanced, must, I think, necessarily allude to this country.

As in early times colonies went by the name of the Deity whom they worshipped, or by the name of the insigne and hieroglyphic under which their country was denoted, every depredation made by such people was placed to the account of the Deity under such a device. This was the manner in which poets described things: and, in those days, all wrote in measure. Hence, instead of saying that the Egyptians, or Canaanites, or Tyrians, landed and carried off such and such persons; they said, that it was done by Jupiter, in the shape of an eagle, or a swan, or a bull: substituting an eagle for Egypt, a swan for Canaan, and a bull for the city of 3 Tyre. It is said of the Telchines, who were Amonian priests, that they came to Attica under the conduct of Jupiter in the shape of an eagle.

30

31 Αιετος ἡγεμονευε δι αιθερος αντιτυπος Ζευς.

30 Ερασθεντα δε Πασιφάης Δια γενεσθαι μεν Ταύρον νυν δε αετον και XV. Porphyry de Abstin. 1. 3. p. 285.

Πε νυν εκείνος ὁ αετος ; πω δαι ὁ κύκνος; πω δαι αυτος ὁ Ζευς. Clemens. Alex. Cohort. p. 31.

1 Nonni Dionysiaca. 1. 24. p. 626.

By which is meant, that they were Egyptian priests; and an eagle was probably the device in their standard, as well as the insigne of their nation.

Some of the same family were to be found among the Atlantes of Mauritania, and are represented as having the shape of swans. Prometheus, in Eschylus, speaks of them in the commission which he gives to Io: "You must go, says he, as far as the city Cisthene in the Gorgonian plains, where the three Phorcides reside; those antient, venerable ladies, who are in the shape of swans, and have but one eye, of which they make use in common. This history relates to an Amonian tem- · ple founded in the extreme parts of Africa; in which there were three priestesses of Canaanitish race; who, on that account, are said to be in the shape of swans. The notion of their having but one eye among them took its rise from an hieroglyphic very common in Egypt, and probably in Canaan this was the representation of an eye,

32 Προς Γοργόνεια πεδία Κισθένης, ἵνα Αι Φορκίδες ναιασι, δηναίοι κόραι,

p. 48.

Τρεις κυκνόμορφοι, κοινον όμμ' εκτημεναι. . Æschyli Prometheus.

Αι μεν Φορκίδες τρεις- είχον ειδος Κύκνων, Scholia ibidem. Φορκυν ην ανης Κυρηναιος· διδε Κυρηναίοι κατα γένος μεν εισιν Αιθιοπές. Palæphatus. Edit. Elz. p. 76.

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which was said to be engraved upon the pediment of their " temples. As the land of Canaan lay so opportunely for traffic, and the emigrants from most parts went under their conduct, their his tory was well known. They navigated the seas very early, and were necessarily acquainted with foreign regions; to which they must at one time have betaken themselves in great numbers, when they fled before the sons of Israel. In all the places where they settled they were famous for their hymns and music; all which the Greeks have transferred to birds, and supposed that they were swans who were gifted with this harmony. Yet, sweet as their notes are said to have been, there is not, I believe, a person upon record who was ever a witness to it. It is, certainly, all a fable. When, therefore, Plutarch tells us that Apollo was pleased with the music of swans, 34 μεσικη τε ήδεται, και κυκνων φωναις; and when Æs

33 Τατε ώτα, και τις οφθαλμες οι δημιεργέντες εξ ύλης τιμίας καθιε ρυσι, τοις Θεοις ανατιθεντες εις τες νεως· τ8το δηπα αινισσομενοι, ὡς παντα θεος όρα, και ακέει. Clemens Alexand. 1. 5. p. 671.

See Diodorus. 1. 3. p. 145. This may have been one reason, among others, why the Cyclopians and Arimaspians are represented with one eye: τον μουνωπα σρατον Αριμασπον. Æschylus Prometh. p. 49. The Arimaspian history was written by Aristeus Proconnesius, and styled Apuaomia ETT.

34 Plutarch. E.. vol. 2. p. 387.

1

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chylus mentions their singing their own dirges; they certainly allude to Egyptian and Canaanitish priests, who lamented the death of Adon and Osiris. And this could not be entirely a secret to the Grecians, for they seem often to refer to some such notion. Socrates termed swans his fellow-servants: in doing which he alluded to the antient priests, styled Cycni. They were people of the choir, and officiated in the temples of the same Deities; whose servant he professed himself to be. Hence Porphyry assures us, 'Ou παίζων ὁμοδέλες αυτε ελεγεν τες κύκνες (Σωκρατης), that Socrates was very serious when he mentioned swans as his fellow-servants. When, therefore, Aristophanes speaks of the 3 Delian and Pythian swans, they are the priests of those places, to whom he alludes. And when it is said by Plato, that the soul of Orpheus, out of disgust to womankind, led the life of a 3 swan, the meaning certainly is, that he retired from the world to some cloister, and lived a life of celibacy, like a priest. For the priests of many countries, but particularly of Egypt, were recluses, and devoted themselves to

28

37

36

celibacy: hence monkery came originally from

35 Porph. de Abst. 1. 3. p. 286.

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Aristophanes. Aves. Kun Пu za Anλiw. v. 870. 37 Plato de Republicâ. 1. 10. p. 620. vol. 2.

38 Porph. de Abstin. 1. 4. p. 364.