cation Ogugus, was the same as
Ogyges, in whose time the flood was supposed to have happened. Ogyges is
represented both as a king of Thebes in Egypt, and of Thebes in Boeotia:
and in his time Cadmus is said to have left the former country, and to have
come to the latter, being sent in quest of his sister Europa by his father.
Caanthus was sent by his father with a like commission. His sister Melia
had been stolen away; and he was ordered to search every country, till he
found her. He accordingly traversed many seas, and at last lauded in
Greece, and passed into Boeotia. Here he found, that his sister was
detained by Apollo in the grove of Ismenus. There was a fountain [1121]of
the same name near the grove, which was guarded by a dragon. Caanthus is
said to have cast fire into this sacred recess; on which account he was
slain by Apollo. His [Greek: taphos], or tomb, was in aftertimes shewn by
the Thebans. We may perceive, that the main part of this relation agrees
with that of Cadmus. Melie, the sister of Caanthus, is by some spoken of as
the mother of [1122]Europa: which shews, that there is a correspondence
between the two histories. The person also, who sent these two adventurers,
the sister, of whom they went in quest, and the precise place, to which
they both came, exhibit a series of circumstances so similar, that we need
not doubt, but that it is one and the same history. It is said, that
Caanthus threw fire into the sacred [1123]grove: which legend, however
misconstrued, relates to the first establishment of fire-worship at Thebes
in the grove of Apollo Ismenius. The term Ismenius is compounded of Is-Men,
ignis Menis. Meen, Menes, Manes, was one of the most antient titles of the
Egyptian God Osiris, the same as Apollo, and Caanthus. What has been
mentioned about Cadmus and Caanthus, is repeated under the character of a
person named Curnus; who is said to have been sent by his father Inachus in
search of his sister [1124]Io. Inachus, Oceanus, Ogugus, and Agenor, are
all the same personages under different names; and the histories are all
the same.

That Cadmus was of old esteemed a Deity may be farther proved from his
being worshipped at Gortyna in Crete, as we learn from [1125]Solinus. Iidem
Gortynii et Cadmum colunt, Europae fratrem. He had moreover an Heroum at
Sparta, which was erected by people styled the sons of [1126]Huraeus. We
learn from Palaephatus, that according to some of the antient mythologists,
Cad