pt, and from Syria, and got footing in this
[492]island. They settled also in Crete, where they increased greatly in
numbers; so that Minos was said by an unseemly allegory, [493][Greek:
opheis ouresai], serpentes minxisse. The island Seriphus was one vast rock,
by the Romans called [494]saxum seriphium; and made use of as a larger kind
of prison for banished persons. It is represented as having once abounded
with serpents; and it is styled by Virgil _serpentifera_, as the passage is
happily corrected by Scaliger.

[495]AEginamque simul, serpentiferamque Seriphon.

It had this epithet not on account of any real serpents, but according to
the Greeks from [496]Medusa's head, which was brought hither by Perseus. By
this is meant the serpent Deity, whose worship was here introduced by
people called Peresians. Medusa's head denoted divine wisdom: and the
island was sacred to the serpent as is apparent from its name[497]. The
Athenians were esteemed Serpentigenae; and they had a tradition, that the
chief guardian of their Acropolis was a [498]serpent. It is reported of the
Goddess Ceres, that she placed a dragon for a guardian to her temple at
[499]Eleusis; and appointed another to attend upon Erectheus. AEgeus of
Athens, according to Androtion, was of the [500]serpent breed: and the
first king of the country is said to have been [501][Greek: Drakon], a
Dragon. Others make Cecrops the first who reigned. He is said to have been
[502][Greek: diphues], _of a twofold nature_; [Greek: sumphues echon soma
andros kai drakontos], _being formed with the body of a man blended with
that of a serpent_. Diodorus says, that this was a circumstance deemed by
the Athenians inexplicable: yet he labours to explain it, by representing
Cecrops, as half a man, and half a [503]brute; because he had been of two
different communities. Eustathius likewise tries to solve it nearly upon
the same principles, and with the like success. Some had mentioned of
Cecrops, that he underwent a metamorphosis, [504][Greek: apo opheos eis
anthropon elthein], _that he was changed from a serpent to a man_. By this
was signified according to Eustathius, that Cecrops, by coming into Hellas,
divested himself of all the rudeness and barbarity of his [505]country, and
became more civilized and humane. This is too high a compliment to be payed
to Greece in its infant state, and detracts greatly from the character of
the Egyptians. The learned Marsham therefore animadverts