SIRENES;
Syrens; the Pagans feigned they were Sea-monsters, with Womens Faces and Fishes Tails. They were thought to be the Three Daughters of the River Acheloüs, whose Names were Parthenope, Ligea and Leucosia, dwelling upon the Shoar of Sicily, they sung ad∣mirably well, and threw themselves into the Sea for having been slighted by Ʋlysses, or Grief for the Loss of Proserpina their Companion; but the Gods transformed them into those Monsters, who drew Passengers to the Rocks, where they lost their Lives, and were devoured by them. The Syrens, of whom Homer in his Odysses makes so long a Discourse, had in all appearance no other Foundation, than the Likeness there is between She-Tritons and Women. People have experienced in their Course of Sailing, that there are some Sea-shoars and Promonto∣ries, where the Winds by the various Reverbe∣rations they make there, cause a kind of Har∣mony, that surprizes and stops Passengers: This, perhaps, was the Ground of the Syrens Song, and was the Cause of giving the Name of Syrens to these Rocks.
The Syrens are undoubtedly an Invention of the Phoenicians; they were Three Female Mu∣sicians, half Birds and half Virgins, of whom Servius gives this Description: Sirenes secundùm fabulam tres, in parte virgines fuerunt, in parte volucres; Acheloi fluminis & Calliopes Musae filiae. Harum una voce, altera tibiis, altera lyrâ canebat: & primò juxta Pelorum, post in Capreis insulâ habi∣tarunt, Aen. L. 5. Near unto the Isle of Caprea stood the Isles called Sirenussae, the City and Promontory of Sorento, where there was a Tem∣ple dedicated to the Syrens, according to Strabo; lastly, the City of Naples, where stood the Fu∣neral Monument of Parthenope, one of the Sy∣rens. Tho' the Syrens by these Authorities, and divers Testimonies of the Poets, seem to be con∣fined either to Sicily, or the Coasts of Italy; yet 'tis very certain their Name is Hebrew, Sir, Sirum, Canticum, Cantica, and that they were the Phoenicians who peopled these Islands and Sea-Coasts, that left there some Footsteps of their