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The Pelasgi worshipped divine powers, without having definite names for them (cf. 50. 1 n.), e.g. the sun, but not Apollo. So Preller (Rom. Myth. i. 48, 3rd ed.) says of early Roman religion, ‘most of the names of the oldest Roman gods have such a shifting indefinite meaning that they can hardly be regarded as proper names’; he quotes this passage in illustration.

ἔθυον δὲ πάντα: translate ‘in all their offerings called on gods’.

θεούς. H. forgets that he himself had proved (i. 57. 2) that the Pelasgi were βάρβαρον γλῶσσαν ἱέντες; his derivation from the root of τίθημι is as worthless as that of Plato (Crat. 397 D) from the root of θέω (I run).

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