Note 1032 — ANTIENT HEROES.

Many of the things, reported to have been done by Orpheus, are attributed to other persons, such as [1032]Eetion, Musæus, Melampus, Linus, Cadmus, and Philammon. Some of these are said to have had the same [1033]parents. Authors in their accounts of Orpheus, do not agree about the manner of his [1034]death. The common notion is, that he was torn to pieces by the Thracian women. But, according to Leonides, in Laërtius, he was slain by lightning: and there is an [1035]epitaph to that purpose. The name of Orpheus is to be found in the lists of the Argonauts: and he is mentioned in the two principal poems upon that subject. Yet there were writers who placed him eleven generations before the war of Troy, consequently ten generations before that expedition. [1036]Γεγονε προ ια γενεων των Τρωικων—βιωναι δε γενεας θ· ὁι δε ια φησιν. He was born eleven ages before the siege of Troy, and he is said to have lived nine ages; and according to some eleven. This extent of [1037]life has been given him in order to bring him down as low as the aera of the Argonauts: though, if we may believe Pherecydes Syrus, he had no share in that expedition.