al place of retreat for ignorance to shelter itself. It will therefore
be my endeavour to specify and distinguish the various people under these
denominations, of whom writers have so generally, and indiscriminately,
spoken. I shall say a great deal about the Ethiopians, as their history has
never been completely given: also of the Indi, and Indo-Scythae, who seem to
have been little regarded. There will be an account exhibited of the
Cimmerian, Hyperborean, and Amazonian nations, as well as of the people of
Colchis; in which the religion, rites, and original of those nations will
be pointed out. I know of no writer who has written at large of the
Cyclopians. Yet their history is of great antiquity, and abounds with
matter of consequence. I shall, therefore, treat of them very fully, and at
the same time of the great works which they performed; and subjoin an
account of the Lestrygons, Lamii, Sirens, as there is a close
correspondence between them.

As it will be my business to abridge history of every thing superfluous and
foreign, I shall be obliged to set aside many antient law-givers, and
princes, who were supposed to have formed republics, and to have founded
kingdoms. I cannot acquiesce in the stale legends of Deucalion of Thessaly,
of Inachus of Argos, and, AEgialeus of Sicyon; nor in the long line of
princes who are derived from them. The supposed heroes of the first ages,
in every country are equally fabulous. No such conquests were ever achieved
as are ascribed to Osiris, Dionusus, and Sesostris. The histories of
Hercules and Perseus are equally void of truth. I am convinced, and hope I
shall satisfactorily prove, that Cadmus never brought letters to Greece;
and that no such person existed as the Grecians have described. What I have
said about Sesostris and Osiris, will be repeated about Ninus, and
Semiramis, two personages, as ideal as the former. There never were such
expeditions undertaken, nor conquests made, as are attributed to these
princes: nor were any such empires constituted, as are supposed to have
been established by them. I make as little account of the histories of
Saturn, Janus, Pelops, Atlas, Dardanus, Minos of Crete, and Zoroaster of
Bactria. Yet something mysterious, and of moment, is concealed under these
various characters: and the investigation of this latent truth will be the
principal part of my inquiry. In respect to Greece, I can afford credence
to very few events, which were antecedent