Page:Philological Museum v2.djvu/382

372 On the Early Kings of Attica. Perhaps no other portion of heroic history of equal length could be explained with the same facility on the same principle. The reason is that the Attic inythi have been of later origin and less intermixed than those of other parts of Greece ; they are of a more exclusively domestic character, as might be expected among a people who had themselves undergone so little intermixture with other tribes. Those of the Peloponnesus from the opposite cause^ are blended in a confusion which is perhaps inextricable. Yet the Attic mythi are too closely connected with those of the rest of Greece, to allow of their being withdrawn, as destitute of all historical reality, without endangering the stability of all the others. The mythological substratum which may be seen in its continuity throughout the heroic history of Attica, peeps out elsewhere in innumerable places, and we may fairly conclude that it everywhere lies at the bottom, though often hidden by the luxuriant productions of Greek imagination. M. C. Y. J. K. It has been suggested to me that in quoting (p. 34^^) Hesychius for Yvyairj vv^ rj (rKOT€ii/t]y I have neglected to mention that the com- mentators on that Lexicographer consider Tvyait^ as a false reading for Avyaii], It is certain that the letters are easily confounded^ and that false readings have arisen in Hesychius from their confusion. e. gr. KeXaivou, oKoreivov fjicja evidently for im€av. It is therefore possible that 'yvyait] may be an error of transcription for Xvyairj, but it is also possible that the learned men who have condemned it would have formed a different opinion^ had it occurred to them to consider wyvyio^ as belonging to the same root^ and as primarily signifying dark. It is also by no means improbable that the letters 7 and A may have been interchanged in pronunciation ; for /jloji^ is considered to be the same word as fj6i<; and o-ijao) to be the root of sileo. If however we must acquiesce in dp-^aio^ as the primary meaning of 0)71/7/0?^ then the account that Ogyges was the first king of Attica or Boeotia will have the same probability as if he had been called Archasus. Those who maintain his real existence will not, I think, gain much by the substitution. In the article On the Names of theAnteliellenic Inhabitants of Greece^ in No. III. p. 611. 1. 5. for Tembices read Temmices, ibid. 1. 1 from the bottom, for deep of life read deep of lip, p. 623. 1. 15. for Lydians read Libyans, p. 625. 1. 7. for Lilga read Libya, ibid. 1. 10. for wandering read wondering.