Page:Ante-Nicene Christian Library Vol 4.djvu/404

400 Dactyli were the first wise men; to whom are attributed the invention of what are called the " Ephesian letters," and of numbers in music. For which reason dactyls in music received their name. And the Idoean Dactyli were Phrygians and barbarians. Herodotus relates that Hercules, having grown a sage and a student of physics, received from the barbarian Atlas, the Phrygian, the columns of the universe; the fable meaning that he received by instruction the knowledge of the heavenly bodies. And Hermippus of Berytus calls Charon the Centaur wise; about whom, he that wrote The Battle of the Titans says, "that he first led the race of mortals to righteousness, by teaching them the solemnity of the oath, and propitiatory sacrifices and the figures of Olympus." By him Achilles, who fought at Troy, was taught. And Hippo, the daughter of the Centaur, who dwelt with iEolus, taught him her father's science, the knowledge of physics. Euripides also testifies of Hippo as follows:

By this Æolus, Ulysses was received as a guest after the taking of Troy. Mark the epochs by comparison with the age of Moses, and with the high antiquity of the philosophy promulgated by him.