44 



in their accounts of their heroes. Diodorus, Lib. 1. p. 80, 

 agrees with him, as does Josephus against Appion, p. 874; 

 besides, it is a contradiction to what he himself relates, 

 namely, that they were called Gods, from maintaining the 

 order of the universe. This then was their function ; 

 moreover, Cecrops had long before dedicated an altar to Zcti, 

 and to Zen only, the original name of the true God. 



Hesiod personified, and even deified, the circumstances 

 that accompanied the chaotic mass, v. 117; he says that 

 after chaos, the earth, Tartarus or Erebus, and Cupid existed, 

 and Night. Now Gaia, the earth, is in the sequel reputed 

 a goddess. 



Erebus denotes the deepest part of the abyss, as Servius 

 notes.* This then signifies that the chaos was originally sur- 

 rounded with darkness, agreeably to what Moses relates ; and 

 V. 124, Hesiod says that from Erebus and Night, day and 

 aether originated ; that is, from the abyss and darknes, light 

 and the Jirmament were produced. This being exactly the 

 same order in which Moses states their creation, it is a suf- 

 ficient proof that the Greeks were once possessed of the 

 true primitive tradition : this they did not borrow from the 

 Phenicians, for Sanchoniatho did not state it. A God 

 indeed is not mentioned, because Hesiod was a Polytheist, 

 and did not know to what God creation should be 

 ascribed. 



Again, 



* Virgil, Georg. iv. 4" I. 



