offspring of Saturn, the
birth of the Giants, and the origin of man[21]. These were favourite
topics among the first Poets, and the discussion of them tended at once
to enlarge the imagination, and to give the reasoning faculty a proper
degree of exercise. This Poet however, though he obtained the highest
honours from his contemporaries, yet seems to have managed his subjects
in so loose a manner, that succeeding Writers will not allow him to have
been a Philosopher[22]. At present we are not sufficiently qualified to
determine his character, as most of the pieces which pass under his name
are ascribed to one Onomacritus, an Athenian who flourished about the
time of Pisistratus. That the writings of Orpheus were highly and
extensively useful, is a truth confirmed by the most convincing
evidence. The extraordinary effects which his Poetry and Music are said
to have produced, however absurd and incredible in themselves, are yet
unquestioned proofs that he was considered as a superior Genius, and
that his countrymen thought themselves highly indebted to him. Horace
gives an excellent account of this matter in very few words.

_Sylvestres homines, Sacer, Interpresque Deorum
Caedibus, & victu foedo deterruit Orpheus,
Dictus ob hoc lenire tigres, rabidosque leones._[23]

The wood-born race of men when Orpheus tam'd,
From acorns, and from mutual blood reclaim'd.
The Priest divine was fabled to assuage
The tiger's fierceness, and the lion's rage. FRANCIS.

[Footnote 21: Orph. Argonaut.]

[Footnote 22: +Ego de ei ton peri theon exagoreusanta toiauta; chre
philosophon kalein ouk oida tina dei prosagoreuin ton to anthropeion
pathos apheidounto tois theois prostripsai, kai ta spasios hupo
toion anthropon aischrourgoumena, kai to tautes phones organo.+
Laer. ub. sup.]

[Footnote 23: Hor. de Art. Poet.]

Museus, the Pupil of Orpheus, is as little known to posterity as his
Master. His only genuine production which has reached the present times
is an Ode to Ceres, a piece indeed full of exuberance and variety[24].
The Ancients in general seem to have entertained a very high opinion of
his Genius and writings, as he is said to have been the first person who
composed a regular Theogony, and is likewise celebrated as the inventor
of the Sphere[25]. His principle was that all things would finally
resolve into the same materials of which they were originally
compounded[26]. Virgil assigns h