om Philistim: and hence these outlets of
the river were named Philistinae. The river betrays its original in its
name; for it has no relation to the Celtic language, but is apparently of
Egyptian or Canaanitish etymology. This is manifest from the terms of which
it is made up; for it is compounded of Ur-Adon, sive Orus Adonis; and was
sacred to the God of that name. The river, simply, and out of composition,
was Adon, or Adonis: and it is to be observed, that this is the name of one
of the principal rivers in Canaan. It ran near the city Biblus, where the
death of Thamuz was particularly lamented. It is a circumstance taken
notice of by many authors, and most pathetically described by Milton.

[172]Thammuz came next behind,
Whose annual wound in Lebanon allur'd
The Syrian damsels to lament his fate
In amorous ditties all a summer's day:
While smooth Adonis from his native rock
Ran purple to the sea; suppos'd with blood
Of Thammuz yearly wounded.

It is said that the Eridanus was so called first by [173]Pherecydes Syrus:
and that my etymology is true, may in great measure be proved from the
[174]Scholiast upon Aratus. He shews that the name was of Egyptian
original, at least consonant to the language of Egypt; for it was the same
as the Nile. It is certain that it occurred in the antient sphere of Egypt,
whence the Grecians received it. The great effusion of water in the
celestial sphere, which, Aratus says, was the Nile, is still called the
Eridanus: and, as the name was of oriental original, the purport of it must
be looked for among the people of those parts. The river Strymon, in
Thrace, was supposed to abound with swans, as much as the Eridanus; and the
antient name of this river was Palaestinus. It was so called from the
Amonians, who settled here under the name of Adonians, and who founded the
city Adonis. They were by the later Greeks styled, after the Ioenic manner,
Edonians, and their city Edonis. [175][Greek: Strumon potamos esti tes
Thrakes kata polin Edonida, prosegoreueto de proteron Palaistinos.] _The
Strymon is a river of Thrace, which runs by the city Edonis: it was of old
called the river Palaestinus_. In these places, and in all others where any
of the Canaanites settled, the Grecians have introduced some story about
swans.

Some of them seem to have gained access at Delphi; as did likewise others
from Egypt: and by such was that oracle first founded. Egypt, among other
names,