f, the great absurdity
of making the Grecian Argo the first ship which sailed upon the seas: Illa
rudem cursu prima imbuit Amphitriten: when the poet, at the same instant,
is describing Theseus, previous to the Argo, _in a ship_, and attended with
_fleet of ships_.

Namque fluentisono prospectans littore Diae
Thesea _cedentem celeri cum classe_ tuetur,
Indomitos in corde gerens Ariadna furores.

Catulli. Epithal. Pel. et Thet. v. 52. See Famiani Stradae Prolus. l. 3. p.
285.

[227] Nonni Dionysiaca. l. 41. p. 1070.

[228] Orphica ex Macrobio Saturn. l. 1. c. 18. p. 202.

[229] Maps, and books too, when writing was introduced, were made of skins,
called [Greek: diphtherai]. [Greek: Tas biblous diphtheras kaleousi apo tou
palaiou hoi Iones.] Herodot. l. 5. c. 58.

A Zone, of curious imagery, is given by Homer to Hercules. Odyss. l.
[Lambda]. v. 609.

[Greek: Chruseos en telamon, hina theskela erga tetukto.]

A remarkable passage, from Isidorus Basilidis, quoted by Clemens
Alexandrin. [Greek: Kai gar moi dokei tous prospoioumenous philosophein,
hina mathosi, ti estin he hupopteros drus, kai to ep' autei pepoikilmenon
PHAROS. Panta hosa Pherekudes allegoresas etheologesen, labon apo tes tou
Cham propheteias.] Strom. l. 6. p. 767.

In the former verses from Nonnus we may see the method of deviation.
Pharos, a tower, is taken for Pharos a garment; and this altered to [Greek:
Chiton]: and, after all, the genuine history is discernible,
notwithstanding the veil which is spread over it. The author says, that, at
the bottom, [Greek: eueklostoio Chitonos], of the well-woven garment, flowed
the Ocean, which surrounded the world. This is certainly a
misinterpretation of the term [Greek: pharos]: and, in the original
writings, whence these verses were copied, the history related to a tower:
and it was at the foot [Greek: PHAROU EUKLUSTOIO] that the ocean beat, by
which the earth was encircled.

[230] Bochart Geog. Sacra. l. 1. c. 228. p. 524. of [Hebrew: TWR].

[231] Strabo. l. 16. p. 1110.

[232] Diodorus Siculus. l. 4. p. 231.

[233] Strabo. l. 11. p. 762.

[234] [Greek: Tundarioi skopeloi]. Ptolemaeus. p. 122. See Strabo. l. 17. p.
1150.

[235] Dionysius. v. 688. Pliny styles them oppida.

Oppida--in ripa celeberrima, Tyndarida, Circaeum, &c. l. 6. c. 4.

[236] The Minotaur was an emblematical representation of Menes, the same as
Osiris; who was also called Dionusus, the chief Deity of Egypt. He was als