wherein all the reason and philosophy of atheism is confuted, and

Chap. IV. Tlse Polytheifm of the Egyptians. 309before Lucian^ Herodotus'', the father of hiftory, reporting likewife, that theEgyptians were the lirll, that erefted temples and ftatues to the Gods. Butwhether the Egyptians or Chaldeans were the firfl: Polytheifts and Idolaters,there is no quellion to be made, but that the Greeks and Europeans generallyderived their polytheifm and idolatry from the Egyptians. Herodotusaffirms in one place % that the Greeks received their twelve gods frooithence ; and in another % that ^s"" ^ ttxvIx to. i-Ay.x]x ruv S-sau i^ Alyd-n-lveAjiAuOeu £1? rfiv 'E\>JJx, ai/iwfi all the names of the gods came firjl out of Egyptinto Greece. In what fenfe this might be true of Zeuj itfelf, though theword be originally Greckilh, fhall be declared afterwards : but it is probable,that Herodotus had here a further meaning, that the very names of manyof the Greekifli gods were originally Egyptian. In order to the confirmationof which, we fhall here propound a conjefture concerning one ofthem, vi'z. 'ASvi.x, calkd otherwife by the Greeks Pallas, and by the LatinsMinerva. For firft, the Greek etymologies of this word feem to be all ofthem either trifling and trivolous, or violent and forced. Plato in his Cratylus• having obfcrved, that according to the ancient allegorical interpretersof Homer, 'A^y.vx was nothing elfe but k?? or Sicnoix, Mind or Underjiandingyperfonated and deified, conceived, that the firft impofers of that name, intendingto fignify thereby divine wifdom, called it 'ASuu^, as Sfs i'o'r(^ii/, theUnderjlanding of God, or the Knowledge of divine things ; as if the word hadbeen at firft Qivjlri, and thence afterward transformed into 'AS-wa. Butbeinonotfully fatisfied himklf with this etymology, he afterwards attempts another,deriving the word from lojic-i? iv tm v^h, knoivtedge concerning manners,or praliical knavlcdge ; as if it had been at firft 'HSovc'n, and from thencechanged into 'A^wx, Others of the Greeks have deduced this word aVora aS-jai, becaufe it is the property of wifdom, to collect all into one, fuppofingthat it was at firft 'A9^r,v:x. Others would fetch it from-&~Au? and Jiphaprivative, becaufe Alinerva or wifdom, though fhe be a goJdefs yet hathnothing of feminine imperfecftion in her. Others again would etymologizeit, a.-7ro T8 fJi-ri ntlp'Jxi'JXi ^wsSxi Xj -jwoTciTli^Xi rriv x^tTr,:, bccaufe virtHC Or wif~dom is of fuch a noble and generous temper, as that it fcorns to fuhjeSl itfelf toany hafe and unworthy fervitude, Laftly, others would derive ir, aVo tsftiSff®^, affirming it to have been at firft Ai3ff(-v£ia ^ From all which uncertaintyof the Greeks concerning the etymon of this word 'a3->iv^, and from thefrivoloufnefs or forcednefs of thefe conjeftuns, we may rather conclude, thatit was not originally Greekifh, but exotical, and probably, according to Herodotus,Egyptian. Wherefore let us try, whether or no we can find anyEgyptiaaword, from whence thib 'A-Snva might be derived. P^fJo in his Tim^us'',making men:ion of Sals, a city in Egypt, where Solon fometimes fojourned,tells U?, OTi trK ttoAew; ^foc a.^yjri-/Oi iriv, AyWItri j"Ev rvvou-x N>ii9, 'EWr.jiTi Si,w,- £D£(va)y Aa'j^;^, 'A juv^, that the prefident or tutelar God of that city wascalled in the Egyp''an language Neith, /»«/ in the Greek, as the fame Egyptiansa^lr,/!, 'A^nix. Now, why niigh: not this very Egyptian word Neith, by aneafy* Lib, ir. Cap, IV. p. go. ^ Vide Phornut. in Libro de Natur. Deor.* lo.d. & Lib. IV. Op. L. p. 108, C.i> .XX. p. 185-. inter Scriptor. ISIytholog.i Lib. IV. Cap. L. p. 1 08. a 1 ho. Gale ediios.* ?. itf. f P- 524. Oper.