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be tempted to fuppofe the original idols, while the former 

 were probably the fruit of Grecian conqueft, and confe- 

 quently not more ancient than the time of the Ptolemies, vmder 

 whofe empire Egypt is known to have received a tindlm-e of 

 Grecian manners and tafte, which however fhe mixed with 

 her own ; and indeed I have never yet feen any image of this 

 fort in which, through the Egyptian flyle, the Grecian fculp- 

 ture was not eafy to be diftinguiflied. 



But I ought to afk pardon of my reader for this long 

 digreflion of conje(ftural argument, which I have been induced 

 to hazard from the hope of rendering more probable the 

 aflcrtion of Herodotus, that the figures of the Gods, as 

 worfhipped in his time, were firft invented by Hefiod and 

 Homer. 



If my interpretation be allowed any weight, this moft 

 ancient and venerable of prophane hiftorians may be refcued 

 from the imputation of falfe opinion and abfurdity, his 

 fenfe being no more than that Hefiod and Homer were 

 the firft among the Grecians who reduced the genealogy 

 of the Gods to a complete and regular fyftem, who gave 

 to them certain firnames which they did not poffefs before 

 the time of thefe poets, who diftinguifhed their tutelary func- 



Tcry obfcure, and tery doubtfully explained marble, given us by Montfaucon, torn. ii. part. ii. 

 page 70. 



