t 4) ] 



into thofe parts from whence alone, according to the received 

 opinion, it could be gathered, and from whence his predecef- 

 fors had imported into their i^ative land all the knowledge it 

 then poffefled. Can any thing then be more natural, or indeed 

 more, necefl'ary, than that, in reciting his hiflory to his coun- 

 trymen afTembled at the Olympic games, he fliould fully and 

 even indifcriminately inform them of all he had heard in a 

 country by them deemed the mother of fcience, and more 

 efpecially from that clafs of men whom they efteemcd as 

 oracles ? 



Yet even here he atfted with caution. His own good fenfe 

 got the better even of the credulity of his age, and we accord- 

 ingly find in many parts of his work hints thrown out, 

 which fufficiently evince that he himfelf did not thoroughly, 

 believe all thofe fadls and opinions which he thought himfelf 

 bound to relate. In his fecond book, page 161-2, after having 

 related fome wonderful flories concerning Rampfinitus, one of 

 which he plainly tells us he does not believe — 6|tts< jitei/ oj TrjV/a, he 

 concludes his narration with the following words : — To.a-i |«sv 

 WiV VTT AiyUTTTiuv XByo^svoKTt ^cccdu oreai tcc roiocvjoc TnSccvct. £0"/;" eu,oi 

 oe TTcxpx Travja. rot Xoyov V7roKSijai„ on rx Xtyof/^ivcx, Jtt' B«,a.(fluv UKOtf 

 ypa.<;>u — " Thefe things however which the Egyptians relate 

 " let every man think credible according as he likes ; for my 

 " part through my whole difcourfe I have determined to 

 " write whatever has been told me." Nay in his feventh book, 

 page 574, he goes ftill farther, and makes the following pro- 



VoL. V. [ G ] teflation 



