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| Chapter XVI.—That the Inventors of Other Arts Were Mostly Barbarians.
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Chapter XVI.—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 temples1976
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 (ἅρπη),—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 (θυρέος).
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,1977
| 1977 νάβλα
and ναυλα,
Lat. nablium; doubtless the Hebrew
נִבֶל
(psaltery, A. V.), described by Josephus
as a lyre or harp of twelve strings (in Ps. xxxiii. it is said
ten), and played with the fingers. Jerome says it was triangular
in shape. | 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.1978
| 1978 ἀυτὀχθων,
Eusebius. The text has αὐτοσχέδιον,
off-hand. | 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.1979
| 1979 Literally, fist-straps, the cæstus of the
boxers. | In music, Olympus the Mysian practiced the Lydian
harmony; and the people called Troglodytes invented the sambuca,1980
| 1980 σαμβύκη,
a triangular lyre with four strings. | 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,1981
| 1981
“King of the Egyptians” in the mss. of Clement. The correction is made
from Eusebius, who extracts the passage. | 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.”1982
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,1983
| 1983 By one or other
of the parties in the case, it being a practice of advocates in ancient
times to compose speeches which the litigants delivered. | 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.1984
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