Note 652 — TEMPLE RITES

Many give an account of the Lestrygons, and Lamiæ, upon the Liris in Italy; and also upon other parts of that coast: and some of them did settle there. But they were more particularly to be found in [652]Sicily near Leontium, as the Scholiast upon Lycophron observes. [653]Λαιστρυγονες, ὁι νυν Λεοντινοι. The antient Lestrygons were the people, whose posterity are now called Leontini. The same writer takes notice of their incivility to strangers: [654]Ουκ ησαν ειθισμενοι ξενους ὑποδεχεσθαι. That they were Amonians, and came originally from Babylonia, is pretty evident from the history of the Erythrean Sibyl; who was no other than a Lamian priestess. She is said to have been the daughter of Lamia, who was the daughter of Poseidon. [655]Σιβυλλαν—Λαμιας ουσαν θυγατερα του Ποσειδωνος. Under the character of one person is to be understood a priesthood: of which community each man was called Lamus, and each priestess Lamia. By the Sibyl being the daughter of Lamia, the daughter of Poseidon, is meant, that she was of Lamian original, and ultimately descended from the great Deity of the sea. Who is alluded to under that character, will hereafter be shewn. The countries, to which the Sibyl is referred, point out her extraction: for she is said to have come from Egypt, and Babylonia. [656]Ὁι δε αυτην Βαβυλωνιαν, ἑτεροι δε Σιβυλλαν καλουσιν Αιγυπτιαν. If the Sibyl came from Babylonia and Egypt, her supposed parent, Lamia, must have been of the same original.