his own, the bulk of his subjects even then amounted to but six thousand men. These were the small beginnings of all nations in the world; and Cecrops must be thought to begin his in like manner. One point which he took the greatest care of, was to instruct the people in religion; for all authors who speak of him, are express and more particular in this than one would expect; so that we may guess he was remarkably diligent in this matter. He divided them into four tribes, orders, ranks, or fraternities; in order to their being capable of performing, each sort of men in their rank and order, the several offices of civil life. He taught them likewise all the arts of living, in which he must have been well instructed, by having lived in so flourishing a kingdom as Egypt had been. He applied himself daily in giving them laws and rules for their actions, in hearing and deciding all causes of difference which might arise amongst them, and in encouraging every thing which might tend to their living in peace and good order; and suppressing and dissuading them from all actions which might interrupt their happiness. Before his time, the people of Attica made no marriages, but had their women in common; but he reduced them from this wild and brutish extravagance, and taught each man to marry one wife; for which reason Athenæus and Justin say he was called Apuns, or one born of two parents. Other Euseb. in Chronic. id. Præp. Evang. 1. 10. c. 9. Syncellus, p. 153. Macrob. Saturnal. lib. 1. c. 10. P Suidas in Προμηθε p. 555. Justin. lib. 2. c. 6. Athenæus Deipnosoph. 1. 13. г writers assign other reasons for his having this appellation; but this seems by far the best. The Athenians themselves have given divers accounts of his having this name; but they were so different, and many of them so frivolous, that Diodorus Siculus concluded they had lost the true account of it. Cecrops governed Attica fifty years. He had a son and three daughters; his son's name was Erysichthon, his daughters were Hirce, Aglauros, and Pandrosos. Erysichthon died before his father, and was buried at Prasiæ, a city of Attica. Cecrops died A. M. 2473. t X When Cecrops died, Cranaus, a very potent and wealthy Attican, was made king." He had several daughters, one of whom was married to Amphictyon, who expelled his father-in-law Cranaus, and made himself king; but in a little time Erichthonius made a party, and deposed Amphictyon. All this happened in about twenty years after the death of Cecrops; for, according to the marble, Amphictyon was king within ten years after Cecrops' death, and Erichthonius within ten more." Erichthonius was an Egyptian, and very probably came with Cecrops into Greece. Diodorus says, that Erechtheus came from Egypt, and was made king of Athens; here is only a small mistake of the name, made either by Diodorus, or some transcriber. Erechtheus was the son of Pan r Diodor. Sic. 1. 1. s Euseb. in Chron. * Pausan. in Atticis, lib. 1. c. 2. Ibid. c. 31. I Epoch. 5 & 7. ▾ Epoch. 9. 2 Lib. 1. p. 25. a dion, and grandson of Erichthonius, and Erichtho nius was the person who came from Egypt. Agreeable to this is the account which the Greeks give of him; who say he had no mortal father, but was descended from Vulcan and the earth, i. e. he was not a native of their country; for they had no account to give of his family or ancestors, and so in time they made a fable instead of a genealogy. Attica was a barren country, but Erichthonius taught his people to bring corn from Egypt." с d About sixty-three years after Cecrops began his reign at Athens, and about thirteen years after Cecrops' death, Cadmus came into Boeotia, and built Thebes, A. M. 2486. Tatian and Clemens Alexandrinus thought him much later; but as they assign no reasons for their opinions, so certainly they were much mistaken in this, as they are confessed to be in some other points, which Eusebius wrote after them on purpose to correct. Eusebius himself, if Scaliger indeed placed Cadmus according to Eusebius' meaning, has mistaken this point; for Cadmus stands in the Chronicon above a hundred years lower than his true place, which the marble seems very justly to have fixed, as may clearly appear by considering what Pausanias has given of Cadmus' family, and comparing that and what Pausanias further offers, with Castor's account of the Sicyon kings. Lab a Castor. in Euseb. Pausan. ubi sup. b Pausan. ibid. • Diodorus Sic. lib. 1. с d Marmor. Arund. Ep. 7. • Tatian. orat. ad Græcos, c. 61. Clem. Alexand. Stromat. lib. 1. f See Euseb. ПIgooiμ. Euseb. Num. 587. h k 1 dacus (Pausanias tells us) was the grandson of Cadmus; and being a minor when his father died, he was committed to the care of Nycteus, who was appointed to be his guardian, and regent of his kingdom; now Nycteus was wounded in a battle with Epopeus. Epopeus was the seventeenth king of Sicyon, and was contemporary with the guardian of Labdacus, Cadmus' grandson. Epopeus reigned 1 but thirty-five years; we may therefore suppose Polydorus the father of Labdacus son of Cadmus contemporary with Corax, the predecessor of Epopeus, and Cadmus the father of Polydorus might begin his reign in the time of Echureus, the predecessor of Corax ; and from the third year of Marathonius, in whose time (according to Castor) Cecrops reigned at Athens, to the beginning of Echureus' reign, are but thirty-five years." So that, supposing Cadmus to come to Thebes, according to the marble, sixty-three years after Cecrops began his reign at Athens, we must date Cadmus' coming to Thebes in the twentyeighth year of Echureus, and thereabouts we must place Cadmus; because the grandson of Cadmus was a minor and had a guardian in the reign of Epopeus, who was the second king next after Echureus, in whose time we suppose Cadmus. I might offer another argument to prove that Cadmus cannot be later than the marble supposes him. Oenotrus the youngest son of Lycaon, led a colony of the Pelasgi into Italy." These Pelasgi did not go into Italy until after Cadmus had taught the Greeks the use of letters; for they conveyed into Italy the knowledge of the letters which Cadmus had taught the Greeks. Ly. caon the father of Oenotrus reigned in Arcadia at the same time when Cecrops reigned at Athens." The marble supposes that Cadmus came into Greece about. sixty-three years after Cecrops began his reign at Athens, and we cannot imagine him to be later; for if he was later, how could the son of Lycaon, when Lycaon was contemporary with Cecrops, learn Cadmus' letters time enough to convey the knowledge of them into a foreign country? The reader may perhaps meet with an account of Cadmus' ancestors, taken in part from Apollodorus and other ancient writers; which may seem to argue that Cadmus lived much later than we suppose. It is said that Cadmus was the son of Agenor, Agenor son of Libya, daughter of Epaphus; Epaphus son of Io daughter of Jasus, who was son of Triopas king of Argos. Io was carried into Egypt, and married there. By this account Cadmus will be six descents. lower than Triopas, and consequently as much later than Cecrops, for all writers agree that Cecrops and Triopas were contemporaries; but from the former arguments and computations, we suppose that Cadmus was about sixty-three years only later than Cecrops. But there is an evident mistake in this genealogy: "Pausan. in Arcad. c. 3. P Pausan. in Arcad. c. 2. • Vol. 1. B. 4. Historie. ad Chronic. Marmor. Ep. 7. 4 See Prideaux Not. |
