7. The origin and progress of this national organization, and the influence wrought upon it by settlers from foreign countries, are difficult subjects to determine. If we allow that Cecrops was the first who introduced marriage in Attica, and that agriculture and the cultivation of the olive were discovered in that country, it unquestionably follows, that the Hellenes were indebted to strangers for the foundation of domestic civilization. And when we consider that the families which subsequently held sway were descended directly from the most powerful of these strangers, their lasting influence can hardly be a matter of doubt. It must, however, be observed, that what the Greeks borrowed from foreigners they previously stamped with their own peculiar character, so that it became, as it were, the original property of the nation. The question, therefore, is deprived of much of the importance which it assumes at the first glance. 8. The case was the same with regard to all branches of intellectual civilization, particularly religion. That many deities and religious rites were introduced into Greece from Egypt, Asia, and Thrace, and generally through Crete, hardly admits of a doubt; but they did not therefore remain Egyptian, Asiatic, or Thracian; they became Grecian gods. Hence it appears that the investigation of those relations can hardly lead to any important conclusion. It is a fact, however, of the highest importance, that whatever gods the Greeks adopted, no separate order of priesthood was established among them, still less any caste laying claim to the exclusive possession of knowledge. Several traces, nevertheless, make it probable, that many of the most ancient sanctuaries were settlements of Egyptian, Phoenician, or Cretan priests, who imported with them their own peculiar forms of worship. And notwithstanding this worship consisted merely of outward ceremonies, many ideas and institutions which were attached to it, became, in this manner, the common property of the nation. 9. It was principally, therefore, by religion, that the rude mind became in some degree polished. But it was the ancient minstrels, ([Greek: aoidoi],) Orpheus, Linus, etc., who, by disseminating religious principles, contributed so much towards abolishing revenge, and with it the perpetual state of warfare which had hitherto distracted the country. These it was who in their mysteries contrived in some measure to impress the narrow circle of the initiated with the advantages resulting from a civilized life. SAINTE-CROIX, _Recherches sur les Mysteres du Paganisme_, Paris, 1765. Translated into German, with valuable observations, by C. G. LENZ; Gotha, 1790.