[[220]]Balænarumque prementem
Ægæona suis immania terga lacertis.
The Scholiast upon Lycophron informs us farther, that the river had three names; and imagines that upon this account it was called Triton. [[221]]Τριτων ὁ Νειλος, ὁτι τρις μετωνομασθη· προτερον γαρ Ωκεανος αν εκαλειτο, δευτερον Αετος·—το δε Νειλος νεον εστι. I shall not at present controvert his etymology. Let it suffice, that we are assured, both by this author and by others, that the Nile was called Oceanus: and what is alluded to by Pherecydes is certainly a large map or chart. The robe of which he speaks was indeed a Pharos, Φαρος; but a Pharus of a different nature from that which he describes. It was a building, a temple, which was not constructed by the Deity, but dedicated to him. It was one of those towers of which I have before treated; in which were described upon the walls, and otherwise delineated, Ωγηνος και Ωγηνου δωματα, the course of the Gehon, or Nile; and the towns and houses upon that river.
I imagine that the shield of Achilles, in Homer, was copied from something of this sort which the poet had seen in Egypt: for Homer is continually alluding to the customs, as well as to the history, of that kingdom. And, it is evident, that what he describes on the central part of the shield, is a map of the earth, and of the celestial appearances.
[[222]]Εν μεν Γαιαν ετευξ', εν δ' Ουρανον, εν δε θαλασσαν.
Εν δ' ετιθει ΠΟΤΑΜΟΙΟ μεγα σθενος ΩΚΕΑΝΟΙΟ.
The antients loved to wrap up every thing in mystery and fable: they have therefore described Hercules, also, with a robe of this sort:
[[223]]Ποικιλον ἑιμα φερων, τυπον Αιθερος, εικονα Κοσμου:
He was invested with a robe, which was a type of the heavens, and a representation of the whole world.
The garment of Thetis, which the poets mention as given her upon her supposed marriage with Peleus, was a Pharos of the same kind as that described above. We may learn, from Catullus, who copied the story, that the whole alluded to an historical picture preserved in some tower; and that it referred to matters of great antiquity, though applied by the Greeks to later times, and ascribed to people of their own nation.