Chapter XLI.
But the matter of principal importance is to endeavour with all accuracy to make it clear
that Moses is not only older than Homer, but than all the writers that were before him—older
than Linus, Philammon, Thamyris, Amphion, Musæus, Orpheus, Demodocus, Phemius,
Sibylla, Epimenides of Crete, who came to Sparta, Aristæus of Proconnesus, who wrote the
Arimaspia, Asbolus the Centaur, Isatis, Drymon, Euclus the Cyprian, Horus the Samian,
and Pronapis the Athenian. Now, Linus was the teacher of Hercules, but Hercules preceded
the Trojan war by one generation; and this is manifest from his son Tlepolemus, who served
in the army against Troy. And Orpheus lived at the same time as Hercules; moreover, it is
said that all the works attributed to him were composed by Onomacritus the Athenian, who
lived during the reign of the Pisistratids, about the fiftieth Olympiad. Musæus was a disciple
of Orpheus. Amphion, since he preceded the siege of Troy by two generations, forbids our
collecting further particulars about him for those who are desirous of information. Demodoc-
us and Phemius lived at the very time of the Trojan war; for the one resided with the suitors,
and the other with the Phœacians. Thamyris and Philammon were not much earlier than
these. Thus, concerning their several performances in each kind, and their times and the
record of them, we have written very fully, and, as I think, with all exactness. But, that we
may complete what is still wanting, I will give my explanation respecting the men who are
esteemed wise. Minos, who has been thought to excel in every kind of wisdom, and mental
acuteness, and legislative capacity, lived in the time of Lynceus, who reigned after Danaus
in the eleventh generation after Inachus. Lycurgus, who was born long after the taking of
Troy, gave laws to the Lacedemonians. Draco is found to have lived about the thirty-ninth
Olympiad, Solon about the forty-sixth, and Pythagoras about the sixty-second. We have
shown that the Olympiads commenced 407 years after the taking of Troy. These facts being
demonstrated, we shall briefly remark concerning the age of the seven wise men. The oldest
of these, Thales, lived about the fiftieth Olympiad; and I have already spoken briefly of those
who came after him.
Chapter XLI.
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Chapter XLI.