a, the son of Phoenix: and Apollodorus makes him the son of Belus:
hence we may infer, that Belus and Phoenix were the same. Not that there
were any such persons as Phoenix and Belus, for they were certainly titles:
and, under the characters of those two personages, Colonies, named Belidae
and Phoenices, went abroad, and settled in different parts. Their history
and appellation may be traced from Babylonia to Arabia and Egypt; and from
thence to Canaan, and to the regions in the west. It were therefore to be
wished, that the terms Phoenix and Phoenicia had never been used in the
common acceptation; at least when the discourse turns upon the more antient
history of Canaan. When the Greeks got possession of the coast of Tyre,
they called it Phoenicia: and from that time it may be admitted as a
provincial name. In consequence of this, the writers of the New Testament
do not scruple to make use of it, but always with a proper limitation; for
the geography of the Scriptures is wonderfully exact. But the Greek and
Roman writers often speak of it with a greater latitude, and include Judea
and Palestina within its borders; and sometimes add Syria and Idume. But
these countries were all separate and distinct; among which Phoenicia bore
but a small proportion. Yet, small as it may have been, many learned men
have thought, that all the colonies, which at times settled upon the coast
of the Mediterranean, were from this quarter; and that all science was of
Phoenician original. But this is not true according to their acceptation of
the term. Colonies did settle; and science came from the east: but not
merely from the Sidonian. I shall shew, that it was principally owing to a
prior and superior branch of the family.

* * * * *

ADDENDA.

_OF THE PALM TREE_.

Phoenix was a colour among horses. They were styled Phoenices, and
[28]Phoeniciati, from the colour of the Palm tree, which they resembled;
and upon the same account had the name of Spadices. This, according to
Aulus Gellius, was a term synonymous with the former. [29]Rutilus, et
Spadix Phoenicii [Greek: sunonumos], exuberantiam splendoremque significant
ruboris, quales sunt fructus Palmae arboris, nondum sole incocti: unde
spadicis et Phoenicei nomen est. [30]Spadix, [Greek: spadix], avulsus est a
Palma termes cum fructu. Homer, describing the horses of Diomedes, says,
that the one was Phoenix, or of a bright Palm colour, with a white spot in