that Armenia, Media, Colchis, Iberia, the whole coaſt of the Euxine ſea, the Propontis, and the Helleſpont, were full of heroic [1]monuments bf this expedition. It is indeed ſomewhat extraordinary that any of theſe ſhould have remained even to the time of Strabo, ſince he tells us, that they were induſtriouſly deſtroyed by Alexander's Generals, from a ridiculous jealouſy, left the ſame of Jaſon might outrival that of their mailer. Parmenio, as [2]Strabo tells us, deſtroyed one of this kind at Abdera.
This account is confirmed by [3] Juſtin, who alſo ſays, that nearly the whole of the Eaſt paid divine honours to Jaſon as to their founder, and that the jealouſy of Parmenio prompted him to deſtroy ſeveral of the temples erected in honour of Jaſon.
Tacitus obſerves, that the Iberians and Albanians, nations almoſt barbarous, retained notwithſtanding, even in his time, the tradition reſpecting Jaſon, and the Argonautic expedition [4]. Theſe are facts which cannot be forged, and aford arguments of the authenticity of the hiſtory much ſuperior to any, that can be urged againſt: it from its ſeeming improbability and abſurdity, things of which we are at preſent very incompetent judges, conſidering the difference of our age, climate, and manners, and alſo the obſcure and mutilated accounts, which we have of thoſe remote ages. But
- ↑ Ἡρώειον—μνημεῖον. Heſych. et Phavor. monument um heroi dicatum.
- ↑ Strab. lib. xi. p. 530.
- ↑ Itaque Jaſoni totus ferme Oriens, ut conditori, divinos honores templaque conſituit, quæ Parmenion, dux Alexandria Magni, poſt multos annos dirui juſſit, ne cujuſquam nomen in Orient: vencrabilius quam Alexandria eſſet. Juſtin. lib. xlii. cap. 3.
- ↑ Feruntque ſe Theſſalis ortos, qua tempeſtate jaſon, poſt avectam Medeam genitoſque ex ea libcms, inanem mox rcgiam Æetæ, vacuoſque Colchos,repetivit. Multaque de no mine ejus, et oraculum Phyrxi celebrant. Tacit. Anual. lib. vi. cap. 34.
