THAT THE INVENTORS OF OTHER ARTS WERE MOSTLY BARBARIANS.
And barbarians were inventors not only of philosophy, but almost of
every art. The Egyptians were the first to introduce astrology among
men. Similarly also the Chaldeans. The Egyptians first showed how
to burn lamps, and divided the year into twelve months, prohibited
intercourse with women in the temples, and enacted that no one should
enter the temples from a woman without bathing. Again, they were the
inventors of geometry. There are some who say that the Carians invented
prognostication by the stars. The Phrygians were the first who attended
to the flight of birds. And the Tuscans, neighbours of Italy, were
adepts at the art of the Haruspex. The Isaurians and the Arabians
invented augury, as the Telmesians divination by dreams. The Etruscans
invented the trumpet, and the Phrygians the flute. For Olympus and
Marsyas were Phrygians. And Cadmus, the inventor of letters among
the Greeks, as Euphorus says, was a Phœnician; whence also Herodotus
writes that they were called Phœnician letters. And they say that the
Phœnicians and the Syrians first invented letters; and that Apis, an
aboriginal inhabitant of Egypt, invented the healing art before Io came
into Egypt. But afterwards they say that Asclepius improved the art.
Atlas the Libyan was the first who built a ship and navigated the sea.
Kelmis and Damnaneus, Idæan Dactyli, first discovered iron in Cyprus.
Another Idæan discovered the tempering of brass; according to Hesiod,
a Scythian. The Thracians first invented what is called a scimitar
(ἄρπη),--it is a curved sword,--and were the first to use shields on
horseback. Similarly also the Illyrians invented the shield (πέλτη).
Besides, they say that the Tuscans invented the art of moulding clay;
and that Itanus (he was a Samnite) first fashioned the oblong shield
(θυρεός). Cadmus the Phœnician invented stonecutting, and discovered
the gold mines on the Pangæan mountain. Further, another nation, the
Cappadocians, first invented the instrument called the nabla,[946]
and the Assyrians in the same way the dichord. The Carthaginians were
the first that constructed a trireme; and it was built by Bosporus,
an aboriginal.[947] Medea, the daughter of Æetas, a Colchian, first
invented the dyeing of hair. Besides, the Noropes (they are a Pæonian
race, and are now called the Norici) worked copper, and were the first
that purified iron. Amycus the king of the Bebryci was the first
inventor of boxing-gloves.[948] In music, Olympus the Mysian practised
the Lydian harmony; and the people called Troglodytes invented the
sambuca,[949] a musical instrument. It is said that the crooked pipe
was invented by Satyrus the Phrygian; likewise also diatonic harmony
by Hyagnis, a Phrygian too; and notes by Olympus, a Phrygian; as also
the Phrygian harmony, and the half-Phrygian and the half-Lydian, by
Marsyas, who belonged to the same region as those mentioned above. And
the Doric was invented by Thamyris the Thracian. We have heard that
the Persians were the first who fashioned the chariot, and bed, and
footstool; and the Sidonians the first to construct a trireme. The
Sicilians, close to Italy, were the first inventors of the phorminx,
which is not much inferior to the lyre. And they invented castanets. In
the time of Semiramis queen of the Assyrians,[950] they relate that
linen garments were invented. And Hellanicus says that Atossa queen
of the Persians was the first who composed a letter. These things are
reported by Scamo of Mitylene, Theophrastus of Ephesus, Cydippus of
Mantinea, also Antiphanes, Aristodemus, and Aristotle; and besides
these, Philostephanus, and also Strato the Peripatetic, in his books
_Concerning Inventions_. I have added a few details from them, in
order to confirm the inventive and practically useful genius of the
barbarians, by whom the Greeks profited in their studies. And if any
one objects to the barbarous language, Anacharsis says, “All the Greeks
speak Scythian to me.” It was he who was held in admiration by the
Greeks, who said, “My covering is a cloak; my supper, milk and cheese.”
You see that the barbarian philosophy professes deeds, not words. The
apostle thus speaks: “So likewise ye, except ye utter by the tongue a
word easy to be understood, how shall ye know what is spoken? for ye
shall speak into the air. There are, it may be, so many kind of voices
in the world, and none of them is without signification. Therefore
if I know not the meaning of the voice, I shall be unto him that
speaketh a barbarian, and he that speaketh shall be a barbarian unto
me.” And, “Let him that speaketh in an unknown tongue pray that he may
interpret.”[951]
Nay more, it was late before the teaching and writing of discourses
reached Greece. Alcmæon, the son of Perithus, of Crotona, first
composed a treatise on nature. And it is related that Anaxagoras of
Clazomenæ, the son of Hegesibulus, first published a book in writing.
The first to adapt music to poetical compositions was Terpander of
Antissa; and he set the laws of the Lacedæmonians to music. Lasus of
Hermione invented the dithyramb; Stesichorus of Himera, the hymn;
Alcman the Spartan, the choral song; Anacreon of Teos, love songs;
Pindar the Theban, the dance accompanied with song. Timotheus of
Miletus was the first to execute those musical compositions called
νόμοι on the lyre, with dancing. Moreover, the iambus was invented
by Archilochus of Paros, and the choliambus by Hipponax of Ephesus.
Tragedy owed its origin to Thespis the Athenian, and comedy to Susarion
of Icaria. Their dates are handed down by the grammarians. But it were
tedious to specify them accurately: presently, however, Dionysus, on
whose account the Dionysian spectacles are celebrated, will be shown to
be later than Moses. They say that Antiphon of Rhamnusium, the son of
Sophilus, first invented scholastic discourses and rhetorical figures,
and was the first who pled causes for a fee, and wrote a forensic
speech for delivery,[952] as Diodorus says. And Apollodorus of Cuma
first assumed the name of critic, and was called a grammarian. Some
say it was Eratosthenes of Cyrene who was first so called, since he
published two books which he entitled _Grammatica_. The first who
was called a grammarian, as we now use the term, was Praxiphanes, the
son of Disnysophenes of Mitylene. Zeleucus the Locrian was reported to
have been the first to have framed laws (in writing). Others say that
it was Menos the son of Zeus, in the time of Lynceus. He comes after
Danaus, in the eleventh generation from Inachus and Moses; as we shall
show a little further on. And Lycurgus, who lived many years after the
taking of Troy, legislated for the Lacedæmonians a hundred and fifty
years before the Olympiads. We have spoken before of the age of Solon.
Draco (he was a legislator too) is discovered to have lived about the
three hundred and ninth Olympiad. Antilochus, again, who wrote of the
learned men from the age of Pythagoras to the death of Epicurus, which
took place in the tenth day of the month Gamelion, makes up altogether
three hundred and twelve years. Moreover, some say that Phanothea, the
wife of Icarius, invented the heroic hexameter; others Themis, one of
the Titanides. Didymus, however, in his work _On the Pythagorean
Philosophy_, relates that Theano of Crotona was the first woman
who cultivated philosophy and composed poems. The Hellenic philosophy
then, according to some, apprehended the truth accidentally, dimly,
partially; as others will have it, was set a-going by the devil.
Several suppose that certain powers, descending from heaven, inspired
the whole of philosophy. But if the Hellenic philosophy comprehends not
the whole extent of the truth, and besides is destitute of strength to
perform the commandments of the Lord, yet it prepares the way for the
truly royal teaching; training in some way or other, and moulding the
character, and fitting him who believes in Providence for the reception
of the truth.