Even the golden grasshopper, with which the Athenians decorated their hair, and which was considered by their vanity as a symbol of their descent from the soil, has been construed into an Egyptian ornament--a symbol of the initiated .-- (Horapoll.Hierogl., lib.ii., c.

55.) "They are the only Grecian people," says Diodorus, "who swear by Isis, and their manners are very conformable to those of the Egyptians; and so much truth was there at one time (when what was Egyptian became the fashion) in this remark, that they were reproached by the comic writer that their city was Egypt and not Athens." But it is evident that all such resemblance as could have been derived from a handful of Egyptians, previous to the age of Theseus, was utterly obliterated before the age of Solon.

Even if we accord to the tale of Cecrops all implicit faith, the Atticans would still remain a Pelasgic population, of which a few early institutions--a few benefits of elementary civilization-- and, it may be, a few of the nobler families, were probably of Egyptian origin.
[71] It has been asserted by some that there is evidence in ancient Attica of the existence of castes similar to those in Egypt and the farther East.

But this assertion has been so ably refuted that I do not deem it necessary to enter at much length into the discussion.

It will be sufficient to observe that the assumption is founded upon the existence of four tribes in Attica, the names of which etymological erudition has sought to reduce to titles denoting the different professions of warriors, husbandmen, labourers, and (the last much more disputable and much more disputed) priests.