of Greeks who have
made mention of our nation in their histories. I will, however, bring
those Grecians to light who have not omitted such our history, for the
sake of those that either do not know them, or pretend not to know them
already.

2. And now, in the first place, I cannot but greatly wonder at those
men, who suppose that we must attend to none but Grecians, when we are
inquiring about the most ancient facts, and must inform ourselves of
their truth from them only, while we must not believe ourselves nor
other men; for I am convinced that the very reverse is the truth of the
case. I mean this,--if we will not be led by vain opinions, but will
make inquiry after truth from facts themselves; for they will find that
almost all which concerns the Greeks happened not long ago; nay, one may
say, is of yesterday only. I speak of the building of their cities, the
inventions of their arts, and the description of their laws; and as for
their care about the writing down of their histories, it is very near
the last thing they set about. However, they acknowledge themselves so
far, that they were the Egyptians, the Chaldeans, and the Phoenicians
(for I will not now reckon ourselves among them) that have preserved the
memorials of the most ancient and most lasting traditions of mankind;
for almost all these nations inhabit such countries as are least subject
to destruction from the world about them; and these also have taken
especial care to have nothing omitted of what was [remarkably] done
among them; but their history was esteemed sacred, and put into public
tables, as written by men of the greatest wisdom they had among
them. But as for the place where the Grecians inhabit, ten thousand
destructions have overtaken it, and blotted out the memory of former
actions; so that they were ever beginning a new way of living, and
supposed that every one of them was the origin of their new state. It
was also late, and with difficulty, that they came to know the letters
they now use; for those who would advance their use of these letters
to the greatest antiquity pretend that they learned them from the
Phoenicians and from Cadmus; yet is nobody able to demonstrate that they
have any writing preserved from that time, neither in their temples, nor
in any other public monuments. This appears, because the time when those
lived who went to the Trojan war, so many years afterward, is in great
doubt, and great inquiry is made, whether the