1863.] ]^45 [Chase. 



one or more strongly marked analogues in Chinese. The 

 resemblances are so numerous and striking, especially between 

 the Chinese cursive and our running hand, that it is difficult 

 to resist the conviction that the parallel forms have a common 

 origin. 



The traditions of mythology, if rightly interpreted, would perhaps 

 aid us in tracing alphabetic writing to its source. Although Cecrops, 

 the reputed founder of Athens, is said to have led a colony from 

 Egypt, he has never been credited with the introduction of any por- 

 tion of the Egyptian learning. But we are told that Cadmus, the 

 Phenician, brought letters into Greece, and that on his entrance 

 into Boeotia, he slew the dragon that guarded the fountain of Mars. 

 By the direction of the Goddess of Wisdom, he sowed the dragon's 

 teeth, and armed men immediately sprang up, of whom all but five 

 perished in a mutual contest. With the assistance of the remainder, 

 he built the city of Cadmea, or Thebes. 



Morrison, in his English-Chinese Dictionary, under " Dragon," 

 speaks of the draco, which was the standard of the Roman cohort, 

 and the draconarii, who were the standard-bearers, but he makes no 

 attempt to connect the Cadmean legend with the Chinese. The 

 Lung, or dragon, "the watcher,"* has been the Chinese imperial 

 emblem from time immemorial. It is not only borne on ail the royal 

 standards, but it is embroidered or impressed on the clothing, the 

 furniture, and all other articles belonging to the emperor. If we 

 suppose that on the arrival of Cadmus in Boeotia, he routed the Chi- 

 nese viceroy of the country, — that he fomented a civil war among 

 the Chinese colonists (or dragon's teeth), — that the war raged until 

 the survivors were glad to submit to the rule of the Phenician ad- 

 venturer, and that he was wise enough to use all the elements of educa- 

 tion and civilization in which the former colonists surpassed his own, 

 — the myth becomes intelligible, and points to the probable origin of 

 Greek culture, in one of the early outpourings of that Asiatic hive, 

 that has repeatedly sent its swarms over the plains of Europe, as 

 pioneers in the westward march of empire. 



The horse, which Neptune is said to have presented to the Greeks, 

 and the fountain of Mars, may also have a possible pointing towards 



* The verbs drg, and loc, in Sanscrit, both denote watchfulness. The former 

 is akin to the Greek itpKw, Spaxuv. and the latter may have a common origin with 

 the Chinese lu7ig. Compare Ch. mang, Latin magn-, Gr. jiuk- ; Ch. ping, Gr. 

 ■nrtyv, L. pac. 



