(M77) About the same time, Cadmus brought from Syria into Greece the invention of letters. Some pretend, that these characters or letters were Egyptian, and that Cadmus himself was a native of Egypt, and not of Phœnicia; and the Egyptians, who ascribe to themselves the invention of every art, and boast a greater antiquity than any other nation, give to their Mercury the honour of inventing letters. Most of the learned agree,(425) that Cadmus carried the Phœnician or Syrian letters into Greece, and that those letters were the same as the Hebraic; the Hebrews, who formed but a small nation, being comprehended under the general name of Syrians. Joseph Scaliger, in his notes on the _Chronicon_ of Eusebius, proves, that the Greek letters, and those of the Latin alphabet formed from them, derive their original from the ancient Phœnician letters, which are the same with the Samaritan, and were used by the Jews before the Babylonish captivity. Cadmus carried only sixteen letters(426) into Greece, eight others being added afterwards. I return to the history of the Egyptian kings, whom I shall hereafter rank in the same order as Herodotus has assigned to them. (M78) PHERON succeeded Sesostris in his kingdom, but not in his glory. Herodotus(427) relates but one action of his, which shows how greatly he had degenerated from the religious sentiments of his father. In an extraordinary inundation of the Nile, which exceeded eighteen cubits, this prince, enraged at the wild havoc which was made by it, threw a javelin at the river, as if he intended thereby to chastise its insolence; but was himself immediately punished for his impiety, if the historian may be credited, with the loss of sight.