THEORY OF THE EARTH. 161 



To this fable, which, despite of all the pre- 

 tended explanations that have been given of it, 

 evinces so gross an ignorance of astronomy, they 

 added, regarding Sesostris, Phero, Helenius, and 

 Rhampsinitus, the kings who built the pyramids, 

 and an Ethiopian conqueror named Sabacos, a 

 set of tales equally absurd. 



The priests of Thebes did better : they shewed 

 Herodotus, and they had before shewn to Heca- 

 taeus, three hundred and forty-five colossal figures 

 of wood, which represented three hundred and 

 forty-five high priests, who had succeeded to each 

 other from father to son, all men. all born the 

 one of the other, but who had been preceded by 

 gods *. Other Egyptians told him that they had 

 exact registers, not only of the reign of men, but 

 also of that of gods. They reckoned 17,000 years 

 from Hercules to Amases, and 15,000 from Bac- 

 chus. Pan had even been prior to Hercules f . 

 These people evidently took for history some al- 

 legories relating to pantheistic metaphysics, which 

 formed, unknown to them, the basis of their my- 

 thology. 



* Euterpe, chap, cxliii. 

 t Ibid, cxliv. 



