[[334]]Εζομενος τριποδεσσι παρα Κλαριοις Ἑκατοιο.
And Herophile the Sibyl of the same Deity:
[[335]]Μοιραν εχουσ' Ἑκατῳ της τοτ' Ανακτοριης.
The only person who seems knowingly to have retained this word, and to have used it out of composition, is [[336]]Homer. He had been in Egypt; and was an admirer of the theology of that nation. He adhered to antient [[337]]terms with a degree of enthusiasm; and introduced them at all hazards, though he many times did not know their meaning. This word, among others, he has preserved; and he makes use of it adverbially in its proper sense, when he describes any body superlatively great, and excellent. Thus he speaks of Calchas as far superior to every body else in prophetic knowledge, and styles him οχ' αριστος:
[[338]]Καλχας Θεστοριδης οιωνοπολων οχ' αριστος,
Ὁς ῃδη τα τ' εοντα, τα τ' εσσομενα, προ τ' εοντα.
So on the Trojan side Helenus is spoken of in the same light:
[[339]]Πριαμιδης Ἑλενος οιωνοπολων οχ' αριστος.
So [[340]]Φωκηων οχ' αριστον, [[341]]Αιτωλων οχ' αριστος, and [[342]]Τυχιος—Σκυτοτομων οχ' αριστος.
In these and in all other instances of this term occurring in Homer, it is observable, that it is always in the same acceptation, and uniformly precedes the same word, αριστος. It is indeed to be found in the poetry ascribed to [[343]]Orpheus: but as those verses are manifestly imitations of Homer, we must not look upon it as a current term of the times, when that poetry was composed: nor was it ever, I believe, in common use, not even in the age of Homer. It was an Amonian term, joined inseparably with another borrowed from the same people. For αριστος was from Egypt, and Chaldea. Indeed, most of the irregular degrees of comparison are from that quarter; being derived from the Sun, the great Deity of the Pagan world, and from his titles and properties. Both αρειων and αριστος were from αρης, the Arez of the east. From Bel, and Baaltis, came βελτιων, and βελτιστος: αμεινων is an inflection from Amon. From the God Aloeus came λωιος, λωιτερος, and λωιστος: from κερεν changed to κερας, κερατος, were formed κρεσσων, κρεισσων, κρατερος, and κρατιστος.