[17]_Who hath taken this counsel against Tyre, that crowning city, whose merchants are princes; whose traffickers are the honourable of the earth?_ The scripture term by which they are here distinguished is שרים, Sarim: but the title which they assumed to themselves was Ph'anac, or Ph'oinac, the Phœnix of the Greeks and Romans. And as it was a mere title, the sacred writers of the old testament never make use of it to distinguish either the people or country. This part of Canaan is never by them called Phœnicia: yet others did call it so; and the natives were styled Phœnices before the birth of Homer. But this was through mistake; for it was never used by the natives as a provincial appellation. I have shewn that it was a title of another sort, a mark of rank and pre-eminence: on this account it was assumed by other people, and conferred upon other places. For this reason it is never mentioned by any of the sacred writers before the captivity, in order to avoid ambiguity. The Gentile writers made use of it; and we see what mistakes have ensued. There were Phœnicians of various countries. They were to be found upon the Sinus [18]Persicus, upon the Sinus [19]Arabicus, in Egypt, in [20]Crete, in [21]Africa, in [22]Epirus, and even in Attica. [23]Φοινικες--γενος τι Αθηνῃσι. _There is a race of people called Phœnicians_ _among the [24]Athenians._ In short, it was a title introduced at Sidon, and the coast adjoining, by people from Egypt: and who the people were that brought it may be known from several passages in antient history; but particularly from an extract in Eusebius, [25]Φοινιξ και Καδμος, απο Θηβων των Αιγυπτιων εξελθοντες εις την Συριαν, Τυρου και Σιδωνος εβασιλευον. _Phœnix and Cadmus, retiring from Thebes, in Egypt, towards the coast of Syria, settled at Tyre and Sidon, and reigned there._ It is said, that [26]Belus carried a colony to the same parts: and from what part of the world [27]Belus must be supposed to have come, needs not to be explained. Euripides styles Cepheus the king of Ethiopia, the son of Phœnix: and Apollodorus makes him the son of Belus: hence we may infer, that Belus and Phœnix were the same. Not that there were any such persons as Phœnix and Belus, for they were certainly titles: and, under the characters of those two personages, Colonies, named Belidæ and Phœnices, went abroad, and settled in different parts. Their history and appellation may be traced from Babylonia to Arabia and Egypt; and from thence to Canaan, and to the regions in the west. It were therefore to be wished, that the terms Phœnix and Phœnicia had never been used in the common acceptation; at least when the discourse turns upon the more antient history of Canaan. When the Greeks got possession of the coast of Tyre, they called it Phœnicia: and from that time it may be admitted as a provincial name. In consequence of this, the writers of the New Testament do not scruple to make use of it, but always with a proper limitation; for