400 years had magnified the stories and antiquity of their Gods so exceedingly, as to make them nine thousand years older than _Solon_, and the Island _Atlantis_ bigger than all _Afric_ and _Asia_ together, and full of people; and because in the days of _Solon_ this great Island did not appear, they pretended that it was sunk into the sea with all its people: thus great was the vanity of the Priests of _Egypt_ in magnifying their antiquities. The _Cretans_ [310] affirmed that _Neptune was the man who set out a fleet, having obtained this Præfecture of _his father_ Saturn; whence posterity reckoned things done in the sea to be under his government, and mariners honoured him with sacrifices_: the invention of tall Ships with sails [311] is also ascribed to him. He was first worshipped in _Africa_, as _Herodotus_ [312] affirms, and therefore Reigned over that province: for his eldest son _Atlas_, who succeeded him, was not only Lord of the Island _Atlantis_, but also Reigned over a great part of _Afric_, giving his name to the people called _Atlantii_, and to the mountain _Atlas_, and the _Atlantic Ocean_. The [313] outmost parts of the earth and promontories, and whatever bordered upon the sea and was washed by it, the _Egyptians_ called _Neptys_; and on the coasts of _Marmorica_ and _Cyrene_, _Bochart_ and _Arius Montanus_ place the _Naphthuhim_, a people sprung from _Mizraim_, _Gen._ x. 13; and thence _Neptune_ and his wife _Neptys_ might have their names, the words _Neptune_, _Neptys_ and _Naphthuhim_, signifying the King, Queen, and people of the sea-coasts. The _Greeks_ tell us that _Japetus_ was the father of _Atlas_, and _Bochart_ derives _Japetus_ and _Neptune_ from the same original: he and his son _Atlas_ are celebrated in the ancient fables for making war upon the Gods of _Egypt_; as when _Lucian_ [314] saith that _Corinth_ being full of fables, tells the fight of _Sol_ and _Neptune_, that is, of _Apollo_ and _Python_, or _Orus_ and _Typhon_; and where _Agatharcides_ [315] relates how the Gods of _Egypt_ fled from the Giants, 'till the _Titans_ came in and saved them by putting _Neptune_ to flight; and where _Hyginus_ [316] tells the war between the Gods of _Ægypt_, and the _Titans_ commanded by _Atlas_.