:m
time from the beginning of the world unto the reign ofAlexander; as rendered by Annius of Vitulo, in his com-mentary upon Berosus .
The second period they denominated MvSixov, Mythicon,or the fabulous, because the accounts of that periodare delivered as certain truths, so involved in fabu-lous uncertainty, that nothing- sure or conclusive can bedepended upon : some accounts and illustrations of thatperiod are however given in the works of Dares Phygius,Dictys Cretensis, Herodotus, Diodorus Siculus , and Tro-gus Pompeius. The most famous of the Grecian poets alsoflourished in that period; as, Orpheus , Linus, Musaus,Homer, and Hesiod . From whom came the origin of thosebeautiful allegories and mysterious fables, which were sub-sequently adopted by historians and philosophical writers,—and which perturb the records of Egypt and Chaldea withfabulous additions, confounding real names and relationswith the creatures of their poetical invention.
The third period they called Hurrogucov, Historicon, orthe historical epoch, wherein matters have been correctlyrelated, and may therefore be believed. The historians towhom they assigned credit are Herodotus, Thucydides ,Xenophon , Diodorus Siculus , —the lirst and last of thesehave written universal histories,—sometimes chronological;Philo and Josephus , (whose narrations relate chiefly to theHebrews, of which people they were,) Eusebius, JuliusAfricanus, Orosius, Ado of Vienna, Marianus Scotus , theauthor of Historica Tripeuta, Vespergensis, Carion, Plinedas,Salian, and Sir Walter Raleigh .
Previous to the conquests of Alexander, the Greciantravellers coidd not easily communicate historical memoirsof those countries through which they occasionally passed,as the barbarous manners of that time (the Greeks denomi-nating all other people besides themselves barbarous) didnot atford them the necessary advantages for that purpose;and even when those were allowed, their ignorance of themanners and language of the country, might preclude theirbenefiting from public records, and other monuments ofnational antiquity. Particularly, when we consider Dr. Wil-kins, the learned editor of Richardsons Persian and Arabic Lexicon, hath observed, 4 that the literal tongue of a peopleis but a bare outline of its language ;—contending thatpopular manners, local customs, and idiomatical habits,are necessary to be known to arrive at the true knowledgeof any language. If this position be admitted, then itnecessarily follows, that years of residence among a people
* Vide preface.