Of Orpheus we know little more with certainty, than that the subjects of his poems were the formation of the world, the 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 Cædibus, & victu fœdo 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: Εγω δε ει τον περι θεων εξαγορευσαντα τοιαυτα‧ χρη φιλοσοφον καλειν ουκ οιδα τινα δει προσαγορευιν τον το ανθρωπειον παθος αφειδουντο τοις θεοις προστριψαι, και τα σπασιως ὑπο τοιων ανθρωπων αισχρουργουμενα, και τω ταυτης φωνης οργανω. 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 him a place of distinguishied eminence in the plains of Elysium. _---- sic est affata Sibylla. Musæum ante omnes, medium nam plurima turba Hunc habet, atque humeris extantem suspicit altis[27]._ ---- The Sibyl thus address’d Musæus, rais’d o’er all the circling throng.