there were two Grecian Io's, both of whom went into and lived in Egypt; the former was the daughter of Inachus, the latter was the daughter of Iasus; and Cadmus was descended from the former, and not from the latter. If we compute from Castor's table of the Argive kings, comparing and correcting it in respect of Apis, whom Castor has erroneously inserted, by Pausanias' account of them; we shall find that Io daughter of Inachus is exactly six descents higher than Io the daughter of Iasus; so that if the computing Cadmus' genealogy from the latter Io sets him almost six descents too low, as I just now remarked, the computing from the former Io exactly answers and corrects this mistake. That the former Io went to live in Egypt is evident from Eusebius,' as it is from Pausanias that the latter did so; " and further, it is expressly remarked by Eusebius that lo the daughter of Inachus was the mother of Epaphus, and therefore this Io, and not the daughter of Iasus, was the ancestor of Cadmus.

X

It is much disputed by the learned whether Cadmus was a Phoenician or an Egyptian; and there are arguments not inconsiderable offered on both sides; but the true account of him is, that he was born in Phoenicia. His father was an Egyptian, and left Egypt about the time when Cecrops came from thence, and he obtained a kingdom in Phoenicia, as Cecrops did in Attica; and his sons Phoenix and

r

Euseb. in Chronic.

c. xv. xvi.

"Pausan. ubi sup.

$ Pausanias in Corinthiacis,

t Chronic. Can. Num. 160 & 481.

* Euseb. Num. 481,

Cadmus were born after his settling in this country. Hence it came to pass that Cadmus, having had an Egyptian father, was brought up in the Egyptian religion, and not a stranger to the history of Egypt, which occasioned many circumstances in his life, which induced after-writers to think him an Egyptian. At the same time being born and educated in Phoenicia, he learned the Phoenician language and letters, and had a Phoenician name; from hence most who have written about him have with good reason concluded him to be a Phoenician. Diodorus Siculus, Clemens Alexandrinus, Pausanias," and from them Bochart conclude him to be a Phoenician. Sir John Marsham and Dean Prideaux thought him an Egyptian.

C

Sir John Marsham offers one argument for his being an Egyptian, from an inscription found in the tomb of Alcmena, which though it does not seem to prove Cadmus an Egyptian, nor hardly any thing relating to him; yet I would willingly mention it, in order to take an opportunity of remarking how artfully the governors of kingdoms in those days made use of oracles and prodigies merely as engines of state, to serve their political views and designs. The tomb of Alcmena, wife of Amphitryon and mother of Hercules, was at Haliartus, a city of Boeotia; and being opened in the time of Agesilaus king of Sparta, there were found in it a brass bracelet, two earthen pots

y Lib. 4. p. 420. a In Booticis.

ს

z Stromat. lib. 1. p. 363.

In Præfat. ad Canaan.

Marsham Can. Chron. p. 118. Prideaux Not. Histor.

ad Chron. Marm. p. 155,

which contained the ashes of the dead, and a plate of brass, upon which were inscribed many very odd and antique letters, too old and unusual to be read by the Grecian antiquaries; the letters were thought to be Egyptian, and therefore Agesilaus sent Agetoridas into Egypt, to the priests there, desiring them, if they could, to decypher them. Chronuphis, an Egyptian priest, after three days examining all the ancient books and forms of their letters, wrote the king word, that the characters were the same that were used in Egypt in the time of king Proteus, and which Hercules the son of Amphitryon had learned, and that the inscription was an admonition to the Greeks to leave off their wars and contests with one another, and to cultivate a life of peace, and the study of arts and philosophy.. The messengers who were sent, thought Chronuphis' advice very seasonable, and they were more confirmed in their opinion at their return home, by Plato's asking the priests at Delos for some advice from their oracle, and receiving an answer, which as Plato interpreted it, intimated that the Greeks would be happy, if they would leave off their intestine wars, and employ themselves in cultivating the study of the arts and sciences. This is the substance of Plutarch's account of this whole affair; and I cannot see that we have any light about the inscription in the tomb, nor that we are told to any purpose, what the letters were, or by whom written. The discovery of them happened about the end of the war between the Lacedemonians and the Thebans; when the Thebans

Plut. de Genio Socratis.

d

lost their General Epaminondas. At that time Agesilaus had a scheme of being hired to command the Egyptian armies against the Persians, and the Egyptians were fond of having him; but he could not think it safe to go out of Greece, unless he could be sure of settling a firm and lasting peace amongst the several states of it; in order to which, he laid hold of this accident of the antique inscription in the tomb of Alcmena, and he and his messengers and Chronuphis joined all together to frame such an interpretation of it, and to confirm it by a like order from Delos, as might bind the Greeks to a religious observance of the general peace which was at that time just concluded amongst them. Had the brass table been truly decyphered, without doubt it contained nothing else but an account of the persons whose ashes were depo sited in the tomb where it was found, and most probably the letters were such as Amphitryon inscribed upon his Tripod at Thebes. However, it happened luckily to serve the political views of Agesilaus and the Egyptians; and so the Egyptians contrived such an account of it as might render it effectual for that purpose. What became of the original, we are not informed; probably the Egyptians did not send it back to have it further examined. But to return to Cadmus.

When Cadmus came into Greece, he was accompanied by a number of followers whom Herodotus calls the Gephyræi. They were natives of Phoenicia,

• Prideaux Connect. Vol. i. B. vii. p. 661. Herodot. in Terpsichor. c. 59.

f Ibid.

h Id. lib. 5. c. 58.

and went under his direction to seek a new habitation; a custom not very unusual in these days. When they came into Greece, they were at first opposed by the inhabitants of the country; but being better soldiers than the raw and ignorant Bootians, they easily conquered them. Boeotia was inhabited at the time of Cadmus' coming into it by the Hyantes and the Aones; one of these, the Hyantes, Cadmus intirely routed, and compelled them to flee out of the country; but he came to terms of accommodation with the Aones, and having bought a cow, and marked her according to the superstitious ceremonies of the Egyptian religion,* he pretended he had a special command from the gods to build a city where the cow, which he ordered his companions to drive gently into the country, should lie down when weary. So where the cow lay down he built a city and called it Cadmea, and here he settled with his companions; giving the Aones free liberty, either to come and live in his city, and incorporate with his people, or to live in the little villages and societies which they had formed, in the manner they had been used to before he came into their country. It is commonly said that Cadmus began his travels by his father's order, in search of his sister Europa; but some considerable writers think this a fiction," and Pausanias hints that Europa

m

i Pausan. in Bœoticis, c. 5. Prideaux Not. ad Chronic. Marmor.

1 Pausanias in Bœoticis, c. 5.

m Diodorus Sic. 1. 4.

k

Id. ibid. c. 12. See

"See Prideaux not. ad Chron. Marmor. Epoch. 7.