Note 1038 — ANTIENT HEROES.

To remedy the inconsistences, which arise in the history of Orpheus, writers have supposed many persons of this name. Suidas takes notice of no less than four in [1038]Thrace. But all these will not make the history consistent. Vossius therefore, with good reason, doubts whether such a person ever existed. Nay, he asserts, [1039]Triumviros istos Poeseos, Orphea, Musæum, Linum, non fuisse: sed esse nomina ab antiquâ Phœnicum linguâ, quâ usi Cadmus, et aliquamdiu posteri. There is great truth in what Vossius here advances: and in respect to Orpheus, the testimony of Aristotle, quoted by him from Cicero, is very decisive. [1040]Orpheum poetam docet Aristoteles nunquam fuisse. Dionysius, as we learn from Suidas, affirmed the same thing. Palæphatus indeed admits the man; but sets aside the history. [1041]Ψευδης και ὁ περι του Θρφεως μυθος. The history too of Orpheus is nothing else but a fable. From what has been said, I think it is plain, that under the character of this personage we are to understand a people named [1042]Orpheans; who, as Vossius rightly intimates, were the same as the Cadmians. In consequence of this, there will sometimes be found a great similarity between the characters of these two persons.