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363 On the Early Kings of Attica. 363 'Ittttio? appears from the only circumstance mentioned re- specting him : Toi! Tpia'^iKiai 'ittttol eo9 /cara fiovKoXeovro QrjXeiai^ ttwXoiglv ayaWojmepat aTaXrjcn, It is thus that mythology dwindles down into history ; the god who created the horse becomes in the historic s^arb a wealthy sovereign with a stud of three thousand mares. The Erichthonius of the Trojan dynasty is then no other than the Neptune who built the walls of Troy. There is one circumstance, however, which distinguishes Erichthonius from Erechtheus ; it is to the former that a joint descent from Vulcan and Minerva is attributed. As Vulcan and Minerva were irape^poi^ and as a great object with fabulists was to connect their supposed sovereigns and heroes with the gods of the country, this must be done also with respect to Minerva and Vulcan. It was not an easy matter in the case of the virgin goddess, and the difficulty was got over by a fiction, founded on the name of Erichtho- nius (epiov x^ctJi/) which is no example of the elegance of Greek mythology. Apollod. 3. 14. That part of the fable, at least, Avhich represented Minerva as flying from Vulcan was ancient, for it was exhibited on the throne at Amyclae. Paus. 3. 18. Erysichthon^ though he appears in the Attic legends as we now have them, as a son of Cecrops (Paus. i. 2) seems to me to belong properly to a different mythus. The Ery- sichthon, whose history is related by Callimachus (H. in Cer. Cal. SS seq.) and who is punished for his impiety towards Ceres, is a poetical personification of the mildew which blights the corn, as is evident both from his hostility to Ceres and the etymology of his name. The first part of the word is the same as in epvaifirj^ epvaiireXa^^ from epevOa) to redden, from the redness of the spot which marks the disease, both in the human race and in the corn. So riihigo in Latin is connected with ruher^ and the English rust^ the appropriate name of the disease, with roast^% Germ, rost, rosten. The •^ In the English edition of Noah Webster's Dictionary, this word is absurdly referred to the same root as rastaHum, a rake ; or an unknown root meaning crisp. But what is this compared with another etymology in the same work? '^Egad Qu.