Herodotus had his account from different people: one half he confessedly [915]disbelieved; and the remainder was equally incredible. For no king of Egypt, if he had made a representation of the sacred [916]bull, durst have prostituted it for a tomb: and, as I have before said, Ἑορτη Πατρικη can never relate to a funeral. * * * * * AN ACCOUNT OF THE GODS OF GREECE; _To shew that they were all originally one_ GOD, _the_ SUN. As I shall have a great deal to say concerning the Grecian Theology in the course of this work, it will be necessary to take some previous notice of their Gods; both in respect to their original, and to their purport. Many learned men have been at infinite pains to class the particular Deities of different countries, and to point out which were the same. But they would have saved themselves much labour, if, before they had bewildered themselves in these fruitless inquiries, they had considered whether all the Deities of which they treat, were not originally the same: all from one source; branched out and diversified in different parts of the world. I have mentioned that the nations of the east acknowledged originally but one Deity, the Sun: but when they came to give the titles of Orus, Osiris, and Cham, to some of the heads of their family; they too in time were looked up to as Gods, and severally worshipped as the Sun. This was practised by the Egyptians: but this nation being much addicted to refinement in their worship, made many subtile distinctions: and supposing that there were certain emanations of divinity, they affected to particularize each by some title; and to worship the Deity by his attributes. This gave rise to a multiplicity of Gods: for the more curious they were in their disquisitions, the greater was the number of these substitutes. Many of them at first were designed for mere titles: others, as I before mentioned, were αποῤῥοιαι, derivatives, and emanations: all which in time were esteemed distinct beings, and gave rise to a most inconsistent system of Polytheism. The Grecians, who received their religion from Egypt and the east, misconstrued every thing which was imported; and added to these absurdities largely. They adopted Deities, to whose pretended attributes they were totally strangers; whose names they could not articulate, or spell. They did not know how to arrange the elements, of which the words were composed. Hence it was, that Solon the Wise could not escape the bitter, but just censure of the priest in Egypt, who accused both him, and the Grecians in general, of the grossest puerility and ignorance. [917]Ω Σολων, Σολων, Ἑλληνες εστε παιδες αει, γερων δε Ἑλλην ουκ εστι, νεοι τε ψυχας ἁπαντες· ουδεμιαν γαρ εν ἑαυτοις εχετε παλαιαν δοξαν, ουδε μαθημα χρονῳ πολιον ουδεν. The truth of this allegation may be proved both from the uncertainty, and inconsistency of the antients in the accounts of their Deities. Of this uncertainty Herodotus takes notice.