Ossian Collection > Thoughts on the origin and descent of the Gael

19
river has often changed its name. The Selli re-
sided there, and those who were at that time call-
ed Graikoi, and now are denominated Hellenes.
" Habitabant etenim inibi Selli, et qui tunc ap-
" pellabantur Grseci, nunc autem Hellenes." — " ^l
" « x«A»fte»«< roTi (Aiv r^xmoi, vvv Ss 'EAAjjve?." Avistotelis Mc-
teoralogicorum, lib. i.
It will be observed, that in the passage from
Herodotus first above transcribed, he says, that
the Athenians were also of Pelasgian origin ; but
he adds, that the Athenians must necessarily,
when they came amongst the Hellenes, have
learned their language ; a circumstance which
implies that the language of the ancient Hellenes
and that of the Athenians were diflPerent, and
which seems to be unaccountable, upon the sup-
position of both these people being branches of
the same, viz. the Pelasgic stock. " Some of
" the best supported of ancient Grecian tradi-
" tions," says a very learned and ingenious author,
" relate the establishment of Egyptian colonies
" in Greece ; traditions so little accommodated to
*' national prejudice, yet so very generally receiv-
" ed, and so perfectly consonant to all known
" history, that, for their more essential circum-
" stances, they seem unquestionable. But with
" all the intricacy of fable in which early Gre-
" cian history is involved, the origin of the
" Greek nation, from a mixture of the Pelasgian,
" and perhaps some other barbarous hordes, with