ed the arrival of the Cadmians, and other Cuthites, in these parts,
is utterly unknown. With them commences the history of the country. It is
true, there are accounts concerning Erectheus, Ericthonius, Cecrops, and
other antient kings: but they were superadded to the history of Attica,
just as the names of Inachus, Phoroneus, Apis, were to that of Argos. It
was therefore matter of great surprise to Solon, when he was informed by
the Egyptian priests of the antient occurrences of their country, and of
the wars of the Atlantians, to find the same names stand at the head of
their histories, as were observable in those of Greece: [1271][Greek:
Kekropos te, kai Erechtheos, kai Erichthoniou, kai Erisichthonos, ton te
allon.] _For instance, the names of Cecrops, Erectheus, Ericthonius,
Erisicthon, and others._ [Greek: Kai ta ton Gunaikon kai tauta.] _The names
also of their women were the same._ In reality, they were all titles of the
Deity, as might be easily shewn. Erectheus for instance was the God of the
sea, and as such worshipped by the very people who enlisted him among their
kings. This may be proved from Athenagoras. [1272][Greek: Athenaios
Erechthei Poseidoni thuei.] _The Athenian sacrifices to Erectheus the same
as Poseidon_. Strabo seems to think, that most of the antient names were
foreign; [1273]such as Cecrops, and Codrus, and Arclus, and Cothus: and he
is certainly right in his opinion.

What I have here said, may in some degree prove a basis for the history of
Greece. We may indeed talk of Xuthus, Ion, and Hellen: also of the Leleges,
and Pelasgi, and thus amuse ourselves in the dark: but no real emolument
can possibly arise, till the cloud, with which history has been so long
obscured, be done away. This cannot well be effected, till some of the
first principles, upon which we are to proceed, be made out, and these
great truths determined.

This inquisition I have been obliged to make concerning some of the
principal personages in the annals of Greece. For it is impossible to lay a
foundation for a future history unless what is true, and what is false, be
previously determined. All those, of whom I have been treating, stand
foremost in the lists of antiquity, and have been admitted with too little
consideration. Many of the first Fathers in the Christian church, seeing
the high pretensions of the Grecians, tried to invalidate their claim, by
shewing that all their antient heroes were subsequent to Moses. This