with great
justice. [506]Est verisimilius ilium ex AEgypto mores magis civiles in
Graeciam induxisse. _It is more probable, that he introduced into Greece,
the urbanity of his own country, than that he was beholden to Greece for
any thing from thence._ In respect to the mixed character of this
personage, we may, I think, easily account for it. Cecrops was certainly a
title of the Deity, who was worshipped under this [507]emblem. Something of
the like nature was mentioned of Triptolemus, and [508]Ericthonius: and the
like has been said above of Hercules. The natives of Thebes in Boeotia,
like the Athenians above, esteemed themselves of the serpent race. The
Lacedaemonians likewise referred themselves to the same original. Their city
is said of old to have swarmed with [509]serpents. The same is said of the
city Amyclae in Italy, which was of Spartan original. They came hither in
such abundance, that it was abandoned by the [510]inhabitants. Argos was
infested in the same manner, till Apis came from Egypt, and settled in that
city. He was a prophet, the reputed son of Apollo, and a person of great
skill and sagacity. To him they attributed the blessing of having their
country freed from this evil.

[511][Greek: Apis gar elthon ek peras Naupaktias,]
[Greek: Iatromantis, pais Apollonos, chthona]
[Greek: Ten d' ekkathairei knodalon brotophthoron.]

Thus the Argives gave the credit to this imaginary personage of clearing
their land of this grievance: but the brood came from the very quarter from
whence Apis was supposed to have arrived. They were certainly Hivites from
Egypt: and the same story is told of that country. It is represented as
having been of old over-run with serpents; and almost depopulated through
their numbers. Diodorus Siculus seems to understand this [512]literally:
but a region, which was annually overflowed, and that too for so long a
season, could not well be liable to such a calamity. They were serpents of
another nature, with which it was thus infested: and the history relates to
the Cuthites, the original Ophitae, who for a long time possessed that
country. They passed from Egypt to Syria, and to the Euphrates: and mention
is made of a particular breed of serpents upon that river, which were
harmless to the natives, but fatal to every body else. [513]This, I think,
cannot be understood literally. The wisdom of the serpent may be great; but
not sufficient to make these distinctions. These serpent