of the Assyrians and Medes; in which is an account of Sisithrus, who, when Saturn had foreshewn to him that an abundance of rain should fall, and had directed him to conceal every thing which was contained in his writings upon the subject, at Heliopolis of the Sippari, he, obeying the command of the god, immediately sailed to Armenia, and was involved in the completion of circumstances which had been predicted; but on the third day, when the storm of rain began to subside, he sent out birds to try whether the land was covered with water: but they finding water every where diffused, and no place whereon to rest, came back to Sisithrus, and after these, others were sent out; but when he employed them a third time, they were fortunate, for they returned with their wings (or soles of their feet, Tagros,) covered with mud. Immediately after, the gods removed him from the sight of men; but the vessel touching in Armenia, afforded wood to be worn by the inhabitants as amulets. against disease.

It is sufficiently clear that this narrative, as well as that of Berosus, is a compiled account

Euseb. Præp. Evangel. lib. ix. c. 12.

of what is related of the deluge in the Sacred Writings, which were deposited in the city of Jerusalem.

The extract is given in other places by Eusebius and Syncellus more at large, in which Cronus is related to have warned Sisithrus, in a vision, of the flood by which mankind should be destroyed, and directed him to take friends and relations into the vessel; which he did, with all kinds of animals. appears from all the accounts that the vessel was a covered ark, and that it rested on an inland spot *.

It

Abydenus relates that "men, confiding in their gigantic strength, and impiously imagining themselves to be superior to the gods, raised up a lofty rampart of towers where afterwards Babylon stood; which, when it mounted to the heavens, was overturned by the winds employed by the gods, and that from the ruins of it Babylon was constructed: he adds, that from that time, men, who had before used one language, were impelled by the gods to speak in various tongues †: and that afterwards a war arose between Saturn and Titan."

Euseb. Chron. lib. v. and Syncel. Chronograph. p. 30. + Euseb. Præp. Evangel. lib. ix. c. 14.

Abydenus gives also some vague accounts of Nebuchadnezzar having prophesied of a Persian mule, who should subject the Babylonians to his yoke: these were founded probably on some knowledge of divine intimation imparted by the prophet Daniel to the Babylonian kings *.

Alexander Polyhistor, a man highly esteemed among the Grecians for his erudition, has preserved records of different writers, and extracts from their works, which exhibit a remarkable conformity to those accounts, which have received the sacred seal.

Among these is Eupolemus, who mentions. the building of Babel by the Giants, the destruction of the tower, and the dispersion of men. He speaks of the distinguished eminence and knowledge of Abraham, of his abode and actions in Phoenicia, of his receiving gifts from Melchisedec, the priest of God, and of his settling in Egypt; of the king of Egypt being harrassed with plagues on account of Abraham's wife, and of his restoring her to the patriarch. He relates

also that Abraham instructed the priests at Heliopolis; and further that the Babylonians traced up their origin, and that of the Phonicians and Canaanites, as likewise the descent of the Ethiopians and Egyptians, from the same family. He observes that Atlas, whom the Greeks believed to be the inventor of astrology, was the same as Enoch, the son of Methusalem; and that he had learnt all things from the angel of God, the knowledge of which flowed down to later times .

*

In his work concerning the Prophecy of Helias (Elijah), he continues a sketch of the history of Joshua, Samuel, David, and Solomon, of the extended dominion of David, and the building of the temple by Solomon. He mentions also Jeremiah and his prophecies §. Clement, of Alexandria, has preserved a fragment from his history of the Jewish kings, in which he speaks of Moses as the first wise man, from whom the rudiments of learning had been derived to the Jews, and from them to the Phoenicians and Greeks .

* The father of Methuselah, Gen. v. 21.

+ Euseb. Præp. Evang. lib. ix. c. 17.

Ibid. lib. ix. c. 30. 34. § Præp. Evan, lib. ix. c. 39. || Clemen. Alexandrinus. Strom, lib. i. § 148. p. 413. Edit. Potter.

Aristaus the Proconnesian, who lived in the time of Cyrus and of Cræsus, about 565 years before Christ, draws a sketch of the history of Job, which agrees with what is related in the Sacred Book under his name *. This writer gives also a description of the temple at Jerusalem .

Chærilus, an ancient poet, in treating of the nations that fought under Xerxes, mentions a people which

"With an admirable grace
Brought up the rear, their language Tyrian was,
Themselves unknown; the mountain their abode,
By Solymis that near a vast lake stood;

Their hair cut round, and their heads covered o'er
With head pieces of tann'd horse hides they wore ‡."

Præp. lib. ix. c. 25.

+Ibid. lib. ix. c. 38.

Joseph cont. Apion. lib. i. Euseb. Præp. Evang. lib. ix. c. 9. It seems probable, that this description refers to the Jews, though Bochart supposes it to apply to the Solymi in the neighbourhood of Cilicia. Vide Chanaan, Part II. lib. i. c. 2.