173 



We have, also, strong reasons to presume, that the loni- 

 ans, on the continent, had books, previous to the arrival 

 of Ogyges in Greece. Where else could those astronomi- 

 cal observations be made, or those treatises composed, 

 which the inundation swept away? That the letters they 

 used, were the most ancient known in Greece, appears 

 by several testimonies. Tacitus tells us, Annal. Lib. XI. 

 c. xiv. that the Latin letters were formed as were the most 

 ancient letters in Greece; forma Uteris Latinis- quce veterri- 

 mis Grcecorum: and, Pliny tells us, these forms were the 

 Ionic; gentium consensus taeitus primus omnium conspiravit, 

 tit lonum Uteris liter entur; veteres Grfccas fuisse, easdem pane 

 quce nunc Latince. Ilistor. Natur. Lib. VII. c. Ivii. and Iviii. 



Mr. Astle, than whom no man penetrated deeper into 

 this subject, tells us, p. 56, of his treatise on the Origin 

 of Writing, that, " after the Romans had established the 

 " use of the Ionic letters, they seem not to have acknow- 

 " ledged the Pelasgic and Etruscan to have been Greek 

 " alphabets. The most learned of them knew none older 

 " than the Ionic; as appeal's, by the Greek Farnese in- 

 " scriptions of Herodes Atticus.* This learned man, out 

 " of a sacred regard to antiquity, caused the oldest ortho- 

 " graphy to be observed in the writing; and the letters to 

 " be delineated after the most antique forms that could 

 " be found; and they are, plainly, no other than the Ionic, 

 *' or right-handed characters." But we shall presently see, 

 that the Pelasgic and Ionic letters Avere nearly the same. 



It 



* He was prefect of Asia, A. D. 97. 



