[ to J 
ters, as appears from Cicero and Plautus, and of this kind were 
the Runes among the northerns, all deducible from an ecafiern 
origin. The ancients alfo ufed thefe Notes and czyara and onsem 
for * fecrecy and expedition. I do not think Prztus’s letters were 
either ftenographic, magical or fteganographic, becaufe his epiftle 
was folded up and fecured, but was written in old obfolete ele- 
ments. 
Tuat the art of writing was unknown to the father of Epic 
- poetry is affirmed by Mr. Wood and others, but his 
Tpaas ev mien mruxre. 
fupplies a double proof of the contrary. The active verb ypagw 
clearly refers to the operation of engraving or tracing letters on 
wood, wax or other fubftance, and the folded tablet evinces no 
novel acquaintance with literary and epiftolary correfpondence. If 
the Batrachomyomachia be Homer’s, he tells us he writ in a trian- 
gular tablet on his knees. 
Hy veevey dearoriv Enos ems yevacs Onno. 
The Greek language, which in his writings is in an highly im- 
proved ftate, muft have + required many years and the iuccetiive 
efforts of ingenious men to bring it to his ftandard. Nor can any 
one 
* Ava onpewy. Cic. Epift. ad Att. 1) 13. ep. 32. Erperm ev ysnpos. Plutarch in Caton. 
Npwros vmaonuewoaynvos. Laert. in Xenoph. Spanheim. fup. p. 123. 
+ Lingua Greca eft lingua que fuit longo ftudio & labore fabricata ab ingeniofis homi- 
nibus, que apud ipfos folum yiguit, non yero apud ignarum yulgus & indocile. Spagn. 
fup. p. 192. 
