Note 511 — GRECIAN WRITERS.

It may be said, that the writers, to whom I chiefly appeal, are, in great measure, dry and artless, without any grace and ornament to recommend them. They were likewise posterior to the Helladians; consequently farther removed from the times of which they treat. To the first objection I answer, that the most dry and artless historians are, in general, the most authentic. They who colour and embellish, have the least regard for the truth. In respect to priority, it is a specious claim; but attended with no validity. When a gradual darkness has been overspreading the world, it requires as much time to emerge from the cloud, as there passed when we were sinking into it: so that they who come later may enjoy a greater portion of light, than those who preceded them by ages. Besides, it is to be considered, that the writers, to whom I chiefly appeal, lived in parts of the world which gave them great advantages. The whole theology of Greece was derived from the east. We cannot therefore but in reason suppose, that Clemens of Alexandria, Eusebius of Cæsarea, Tatianus of Assyria, Lucianus of Samosata, Cyril of Jerusalem, Porphyry of Syria, Proclus of Lycia, Philo of Biblus, Strabo of Amasa, Pausanias of Cappadocia, Eratosthenes of Cyrene, must know more upon this subject than any native Helladian. The like may be said of Diodorus, Josephus, Cedrenus, Syncellus, Zonaras, Eustathius: and numberless more. These had the archives of antient [511]temples, to which they could apply: and had traditions more genuine than ever reached Greece. And though they were posterior themselves, they appeal to authors far prior to any Helladians: and their works are crowded with extracts from the most curious and the most antient [512]histories. Such were the writings of Sanchoniathon, Berosus, Nicholaus Damascenus, Mocus, Mnaseas, Hieronymus Ægyptius, Apion, Manethon: from whom Abydenus, Apollodorus, Asclepiades, Artapanus, Philastrius, borrowed largely. We are beholden to Clemens[513], and Eusebius, for many evidences from writers, long since lost; even Eustathius and Tzetzes have resources, which are now no more.