It is fancifully supposed that the name was derived from myrmaex, an _ant,_ "because they imitated the diligence of the ants, and like them were indefatigable, continually employed in cultivating the earth; the change from ants to men is founded merely on the equivocation of their name, which resembles that of the ant: they bore a further resemblance to these little animals, in that instead of inhabiting towns or villages, at first they commonly resided in the open fields, having no other retreats but dens and the cavities of trees, until Ithacus brought them together, and settled them in more secure and comfortable habitations."-- Anthon's "Lempriere." 57 Eustathius, after Heraclides Ponticus and others, allegorizes this apparition, as if the appearance of Minerva to Achilles, unseen by the rest, was intended to point out the sudden recollection that he would gain nothing by intemperate wrath, and that it were best to restrain his anger, and only gratify it by withdrawing his services.
The same idea is rather cleverly worked out by Apuleius, "De Deo Socratis." 58 Compare Milton, "Paradise Lost," bk.

ii: "Though his tongue Dropp'd manna." So Proverbs v.

3, "For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honey-comb." 59 Salt water was chiefly used in lustrations, from its being supposed to possess certain fiery particles.

Hence, if sea-water could not be obtained, salt was thrown into the fresh water to be used for the lustration.

Menander, in Clem.Alex.vii.