Chapter VI: Of The Fertility Of Egypt (1)

Under this head, I shall treat only of some plants peculiar to Egypt, and of the abundance of corn which it produced.

Papyrus. This is a plant, from the root of which shoot out a great many triangular stalks, to the height of six or seven cubits. The ancients writ at first upon palm leaves;(382) next, on the inside of the bark of trees, from whence the word _liber_, or book, is derived; after that, upon tables covered over with wax, on which the characters were impressed with an instrument called Stylus, sharp-pointed at one end to write with, and flat at the other, to efface what had been written; which gave occasion to the following expression of Horace:

Sæpe stylum vertas, iterum quæ digna legi sint
Scripturus:

_Sat._ lib. i. x. ver. 72.

Oft turn your style, if you desire to write
Things that will bear a second reading——

The meaning of which is, that a good performance is not to be expected without many erasures and corrections. At last the use of paper(383) was introduced, and this was made of the bark of Papyrus, divided into thin flakes or leaves, which were very proper for writing; and this Papyrus was likewise called Byblus.

Nondum flumineas Memphis contexere byblos
Noverat.

Lucan.

Memphis as yet knew not to form in leaves
The wat’ry Byblos.

Pliny calls it a wonderful invention,(384) so useful to life, that it preserves the memory of great actions, and immortalizes those who achieved them. Varro ascribes this invention to Alexander the Great, when he built Alexandria; but he had only the merit of making paper more common, for the invention was of much greater antiquity. The same Pliny adds, that Eumenes, king of Pergamus, substituted parchment instead of paper, in emulation of Ptolemy, king of Egypt, whose library he was ambitious to excel by this invention, which had the advantage over paper. Parchment is the skin of a sheep dressed and made fit to write upon. It was called Pergamenum from Pergamus, whose kings had the honour of the invention. All the ancient manuscripts are either upon parchment, or vellum, which is calf-skin, and a great deal finer than the common parchment. It is very curious to see white fine paper wrought out of filthy rags picked up in the streets. The plant Papyrus was useful likewise for sails, tackling, clothes, coverlets, &c.(385)

Linum. Flax is a plant whose bark, full of fibres or strings, is useful in making fine linen. The method of making this linen in Egypt was wonderful, and carried to such perfection, that the threads which were drawn out of them, were almost too small for the observation of the sharpest eye. Priests were always habited in linen, and never in woollen; and all persons of distinction generally wore linen clothes. This flax formed a considerable branch of the Egyptian trade, and great quantities of it were exported into foreign countries. The manufacture of flax employed a great number of hands in Egypt, especially of the women, as appears from that passage of Isaiah, in which the prophet menaces Egypt with a drought of so terrible a nature, that it should interrupt every kind of labour. “Moreover, they that work in fine flax, and they that weave network, shall be confounded.”(386) We likewise find in Scripture, that one effect of the plague of hail, called down by Moses upon Egypt, was the destruction of all the flax which was then bolled.(387) This storm was in March.

Byssus. This was another kind of flax extremely fine and delicate, which often received a purple dye.(388) It was very dear; and none but rich and wealthy persons could afford to wear it. Pliny, who gives the first place to the Asbeston or Asbestinum, (_i.e._ the incombustible flax,) places the Byssus in the next rank; and says, “that the dress and ornaments of the ladies were made of it.”(389) It appears from the Holy Scriptures, that it was chiefly from Egypt that cloth made of this fine flax was brought: “fine linen with broidered work from Egypt.”(390)

I take no notice of the Lotus, a very common plant, and in great request among the Egyptians, of whose berries, in former times, they made bread. There was another Lotus in Africa, which gave its name to the Lotophagi or Lotus-eaters; because they lived upon the fruit of this tree, which had so delicious a taste, if Homer may be credited, that it made those who ate it forget all the sweets of their native country,(391) as Ulysses found to his cost in his return from Troy.

In general, it may be said, that the Egyptian pulse and fruits were excellent; and might, as Pliny observes,(392) have sufficed singly for the nourishment of the inhabitants, such was their excellent quality, and so great their plenty. And, indeed, working men lived then almost upon nothing else, as appears from those who were employed in building the pyramids.

Besides these rural riches, the Nile, from its fish, and the fatness it gave to the soil for the feeding of cattle, furnished the tables of the Egyptians with the most exquisite fish of every kind, and the most succulent flesh. This it was which made the Israelites so deeply regret the loss of Egypt, when they found themselves in the wilderness: “Who,” say they, in a plaintive, and at the same time, seditious tone, “shall give us flesh to eat? We remember the flesh which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers and melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick.(393) We sat by the flesh-pots, and we did eat bread to the full.”(394)

But the great and matchless wealth of Egypt arose from its corn, which, even in an almost universal famine, enabled it to support all the neighbouring nations, as it particularly did under Joseph’s administration. In later ages, it was the resource and most certain granary of Rome and Constantinople. It is a well-known story, how a calumny raised against St. Athanasius, _viz._ of his having threatened to prevent in future the importation of corn into Constantinople from Alexandria, incensed the emperor Constantine against that holy bishop, because he knew that his capital city could not subsist without the corn which was brought to it from Egypt. The same reason induced all the emperors of Rome to take so great a care of Egypt, which they considered as the nursing mother of the world’s metropolis.

Nevertheless, the same river which enabled this province to subsist the two most populous cities in the world, sometimes reduced even Egypt itself to the most terrible famine: and it is astonishing that Joseph’s wise foresight, which in fruitful years had made provision for seasons of sterility, should not have taught these so much boasted politicians, to adopt similar precautions against the changes and inconstancy of the Nile. Pliny, in his panegyric upon Trajan, paints with wonderful strength the extremity to which that country was reduced by a famine under that prince’s reign, and his generous relief of it. The reader will not be displeased to read here an extract of it, in which a greater regard will be had to Pliny’s thoughts, than to his expressions.

“The Egyptians,” says Pliny, “who gloried that they needed neither rain nor sun to produce their corn, and who believed they might confidently contest the prize of plenty with the most fruitful countries of the world, were condemned to an unexpected drought, and a fatal sterility; from the greatest part of their territories being deserted and left unwatered by the Nile, whose inundation is the source and sure standard of their abundance. ‘They then implored that assistance from their prince which they had been accustomed to expect only from their river.’(395) The delay of their relief was no longer than that which employed a courier to bring the melancholy news to Rome; and one would have imagined, that this misfortune had befallen them only to display with greater lustre the generosity and goodness of Cæsar. It was an ancient and general opinion, that our city could not subsist without provisions drawn from Egypt.(396) This vain and proud nation boasted, that though conquered, they nevertheless fed their conquerors; that, by means of their river, either abundance or scarcity were entirely in their own disposal. But we now have returned the Nile his own harvests, and given him back the provisions he sent us. Let the Egyptians be then convinced, by their own experience, that they are not necessary to us, and are only our vassals. Let them know that their ships do not so much bring us the provision we stand in need of, as the tribute which they owe us. And let them never forget that we can do without them, but that they can never do without us. This most fruitful province had been ruined, had it not worn the Roman chains. The Egyptians, in their sovereign, found a deliverer, and a father. Astonished at the sight of their granaries, filled without any labour of their own, they were at a loss to know to whom they owed this foreign and gratuitous plenty. The famine of a people, though at such a distance from us, yet so speedily stopped, served only to let them feel the advantage of living under our empire. The Nile may, in other times, have diffused more plenty on Egypt, but never more glory upon us.(397) May Heaven, content with this proof of the people’s patience, and the prince’s generosity, restore for ever back to Egypt its ancient fertility!”

Pliny’s reproach to the Egyptians, for their vain and foolish pride with regard to the inundations of the Nile, points out one of their most peculiar characteristics, and recalls to my mind a fine passage of Ezekiel, where God thus speaks to Pharaoh, one of their kings, “Behold I am against thee, Pharaoh, king of Egypt, the great Dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers, which hath said, My river is my own, and I have made it for myself.”(398) God perceived an insupportable pride in the heart of this prince: a sense of security and confidence in the inundations of the Nile, independent entirely on the influences of heaven; as though the happy effects of this inundation had been owing to nothing but his own care and labour, or those of his predecessors: “the river is mine, and I have made it.”

Before I conclude this second part, which treats of the manners of the Egyptians, I think it incumbent on me to bespeak the attention of my readers to different passages scattered in the history of Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, and Moses, which confirm and illustrate part of what we meet with in profane authors upon this subject. They will there observe the perfect polity which reigned in Egypt, both in the court and the rest of the kingdom; the vigilance of the prince, who was informed of all transactions, had a regular council, a chosen number of ministers, armies ever well maintained and disciplined, both of horse, foot, and armed chariots; intendants in all the provinces; overseers or guardians of the public granaries; wise and exact dispensers of the corn lodged in them; a court composed of great officers of the crown, a captain of his guards, a chief cup-bearer, a master of his pantry; in a word, all things that compose a prince’s household, and constitute a magnificent court. But above all these, the readers will admire the fear in which the threatenings of God were held, the inspector of all actions, and the judge of kings themselves; and the horror the Egyptians had for adultery, which was acknowledged to be a crime of so heinous a nature, that it alone was capable of bringing destruction on a nation.(399)

Part The Third. The History of the Kings of Egypt.

No part of ancient history is more obscure or uncertain, than that of the first kings of Egypt. This proud nation, fondly conceited of its antiquity and nobility, thought it glorious to lose itself in an abyss of infinite ages, which seemed to carry its pretensions backward to eternity. According to its own historians,(400) first, gods, and afterwards demigods or heroes, governed it successively, through a series of more than twenty thousand years. But the absurdity of this vain and fabulous claim is easily discovered.

To gods and demigods, men succeeded as rulers or kings in Egypt, of whom Manetho has left us thirty dynasties or principalities. This Manetho was an Egyptian high priest, and keeper of the sacred archives of Egypt, and had been instructed in the Grecian learning: he wrote a history of Egypt, which he pretended to have extracted from the writings of Mercurius, and other ancient memoirs, preserved in the archives of the Egyptian temples. He drew up this history under the reign, and at the command of Ptolemy Philadelphus. If his thirty dynasties are allowed to be successive, they make up a series of time, of more than five thousand three hundred years, to the reign of Alexander the Great; but this is a manifest forgery. Besides, we find in Eratosthenes,(401) who was invited to Alexandria by Ptolemy Euergetes, a catalogue of thirty-eight kings of Thebes, all different from those of Manetho. The clearing up of these difficulties has put the learned to a great deal of trouble and labour. The most effectual way to reconcile such contradictions, is to suppose, with almost all the modern writers upon this subject, that the kings of these different dynasties did not reign successively after one another, but many of them at the same time, and in different countries of Egypt. There were in Egypt four principal dynasties, that of Thebes, of Thin, of Memphis, and of Tanis. I shall not here give my readers a list of the kings who have reigned in Egypt, of most of whom we have only the names transmitted to us. I shall only take notice of what seems to me most proper, to give youth the necessary light into this part of history, for whose sake principally I engaged in this undertaking; and I shall confine myself chiefly to the memoirs left us by Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus, concerning the Egyptian kings, without even scrupulously preserving the exactness of succession, at least in the early part of the monarchy, which is very obscure; and without pretending to reconcile these two historians. Their design, especially that of Herodotus, was not to lay before us an exact series of the kings of Egypt, but only to point out those princes whose history appeared to them most important and instructive. I shall follow the same plan, and hope to be forgiven, for not having involved either myself or my readers in a labyrinth of almost inextricable difficulties, from which the most able can scarce disengage themselves, when they pretend to follow the series of history, and reduce it to fixed and certain dates. The curious may consult the learned pieces,(402) in which this subject is treated in all its extent.

I am to premise, that Herodotus, upon the credit of the Egyptian priests, whom he had consulted, gives us a great number of oracles and singular incidents, all which, though he relates them as so many facts, the judicious reader will easily discover to be what they really are—I mean, fictions.

The ancient history of Egypt comprehends 2158 years, and is naturally divided into three periods.

The first begins with the establishment of the Egyptian monarchy, by Menes or Misraim, the son of Cham,(403) in the year of the world 1816; and ends with the destruction of that monarchy by Cambyses, king of Persia, in the year of the world 3479. This first period contains 1663 years.

The second period is intermixed with the Persian and Grecian history, and extends to the death of Alexander the Great, which happened in the year 3681, and consequently includes 202 years.

The third period is that in which a new monarchy was formed in Egypt by the Lagidæ, or Ptolemies, descendants from Lagus, to the death of Cleopatra, the last queen of Egypt, in 3974; and this last comprehends 293 years.

I shall now treat only of the first period, reserving the two others for the Æras to which they belong.

(M64) THE KINGS OF EGYPT.—MENES. Historians are unanimously agreed, that Menes was the first king of Egypt. It is pretended, and not without foundation, that he is the same with Misraïm, the son of Cham.

Cham was the second son of Noah. When the family of the latter, after the extravagant attempt of building the tower of Babel, dispersed themselves into different countries, Cham retired to Africa; and it doubtless was he who afterwards was worshipped as a god, under the name of Jupiter Ammon. He had four children, Chus,(404) Misraïm, Phut, and Canaan. Chus settled in Ethiopia, Misraïm in Egypt, which generally is called in Scripture after his name, and by that of Cham,(405) his father; Phut took possession of that part of Africa which lies westward of Egypt; and Canaan, of the country which afterwards bore his name. The Canaanites are certainly the same people who are called almost always Phœnicians by the Greeks, of which foreign name no reason can be given, any more than of the oblivion of the true one.

I return to Misraïm.(406) He is allowed to be the same with Menes, whom all historians declare to be the first king of Egypt, the institutor of the worship of the gods, and of the ceremonies of the sacrifices.

BUSIRIS, some ages after him, built the famous city of Thebes, and made it the seat of his empire. We have elsewhere taken notice of the wealth and magnificence of this city. This prince is not to be confounded with Busiris, so infamous for his cruelties.

OSYMANDYAS. Diodorus gives a very particular description of many magnificent edifices raised by this king;(407) one of which was adorned with sculptures and paintings of exquisite beauty, representing his expedition against the Bactrians, a people of Asia, whom he had invaded with four hundred thousand foot and twenty thousand horse. In another part of the edifice was exhibited an assembly of the judges, whose president wore, on his breast, a picture of Truth, with her eyes shut, and himself was surrounded with books—an emphatic emblem, denoting that judges ought to be perfectly versed in the laws, and impartial in the administration of them.

The king likewise was painted here, offering to the gods gold and silver, which he drew every year from the mines of Egypt, amounting to the sum of sixteen millions.(408)

Not far from hence was seen a magnificent library, the oldest mentioned in history. Its title or inscription on the front was, _The office, or treasury, of remedies for the diseases of the soul_. Near it were placed statues, representing all the Egyptian gods, to each of whom the king made suitable offerings; by which he seemed to be desirous of informing posterity that his life and reign had been crowned with piety to the gods, and justice to men.

His mausoleum displayed uncommon magnificence; it was encompassed with a circle of gold, a cubit in breadth, and 365 cubits in circumference; each of which showed the rising and setting of the sun, moon, and the rest of the planets. For so early as this king’s reign, the Egyptians divided the year into twelve months, each consisting of thirty days; to which they added every year five days and six hours.(409) The spectator did not know which to admire most in this stately monument, whether the richness of its materials, or the genius and industry of the artists.

UCHOREUS, one of the successors of Osymandyas, built the city of Memphis.(410) This city was 150 furlongs, or more than seven leagues in circumference, and stood at the point of the Delta, in that part where the Nile divides itself into several branches or streams. Southward from the city, he raised a lofty mole. On the right and left he dug very deep moats to receive the river. These were faced with stone, and raised, near the city, by strong causeys; the whole designed to secure the city from the inundations of the Nile, and the incursions of the enemy. A city so advantageously situated, and so strongly fortified, that it was almost the key of the Nile, and by this means commanded the whole country, became soon the usual residence of the Egyptian kings. It kept possession of this honour till Alexandria was built by Alexander the Great.

MŒRIS. This king made the famous lake, which went by his name, and whereof mention has been already made,

(M65) Egypt had long been governed by its native princes, when strangers, called Shepherd-kings, (Hycsos in the Egyptian language,) from Arabia or Phœnicia, invaded and seized a great part of Lower Egypt, and Memphis itself; but Upper Egypt remained unconquered, and the kingdom of Thebes existed till the reign of Sesostris. These foreign princes governed about 260 years.

(M66) Under one of these princes, called Pharaoh in Scripture,(411) (a name common to all the kings of Egypt,) Abraham arrived there with his wife Sarah, who was exposed to great hazard, on account of her exquisite beauty, which reaching the prince’s ear, she was by him taken from Abraham, upon the supposition that she was not his wife, but only his sister.

(M67) THETHMOSIS, or Amosis, having expelled the Shepherd-kings, reigned in Lower Egypt.

(M68) Long after his reign, Joseph was brought a slave into Egypt, by some Ishmaelitish merchants; sold to Potiphar; and, by a series of wonderful events, enjoyed the supreme authority, by his being raised to the chief employment of the kingdom. I shall pass over his history, as it is so universally known. But I must take notice of a remark of Justin, (the epitomizer of Trogus Pompeius,(412) an excellent historian of the Augustan age,) _viz._ that Joseph, the youngest of Jacob’s children, whom his brethren, through envy, had sold to foreign merchants, being endowed from heaven(413) with the interpretation of dreams, and a knowledge of futurity, preserved, by his uncommon prudence, Egypt from the famine with which it was menaced, and was extremely caressed by the king.

(M69) Jacob also went into Egypt with his whole family, which met with the kindest treatment from the Egyptians, whilst Joseph’s important services were fresh in their memories. But after his death, say the Scriptures,(414) “there arose up a new king, which knew not Joseph.”

(M70) RAMESES-MIAMUN, according to archbishop Usher, was the name of this king, who is called Pharaoh in Scripture. He reigned sixty-six years, and oppressed the Israelites in a most grievous manner. “He set over them task-masters, to afflict them with their burdens, and they built for Pharaoh treasure-cities,(415) Pithom and Raamses—and the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigour, and they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in mortar and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field; all their service wherein they made them serve, was with rigour.”(416) This king had two sons, Amenophis and Busiris.

(M71) AMENOPHIS, the eldest, succeeded him. He was the Pharaoh, under whose reign the Israelites departed out of Egypt, and was drowned in passing the Red-Sea.

(M72) Father Tournemine makes Sesostris, of whom we shall speak immediately, the Pharaoh who raised the persecution against the Israelites, and oppressed them with the most painful toils. This is exactly agreeable to the account given by Diodorus of this prince, who employed in his Egyptian works only foreigners; so that we may place the memorable event of the passage of the Red-Sea, under his son Pheron;(417) and the characteristic of impiety ascribed to him by Herodotus, greatly strengthens the probability of this conjecture. The plan I have proposed to follow in this history, excuses me from entering into chronological discussions.

Diodorus, speaking of the Red-Sea,(418) has made one remark very worthy our observation; a tradition (says that historian) has been transmitted through the whole nation, from father to son, for many ages, that once an extraordinary ebb dried up the sea, so that its bottom was seen; and that a violent flow immediately after brought back the waters to their former channel. It is evident, that the miraculous passage of Moses over the Red-Sea is here hinted at; and I make this remark, purposely to admonish young students, not to slip over, in their perusal of authors, these precious remains of antiquity; especially when they bear, like this passage, any relation to religion.

Archbishop Usher says, that Amenophis left two sons, one called Sesothis or Sesostris, and the other Armais. The Greeks call him Belus, and his two sons Egyptus and Danaus.

SESOSTRIS(419) was not only one of the most powerful kings of Egypt, but one of the greatest conquerors that antiquity boasts of. His father, whether by inspiration, caprice, or, as the Egyptians say, by the authority of an oracle, formed a design of making his son a conqueror. This he set about after the Egyptian manner, that is, in a great and noble way. All the male children, born the same day with Sesostris, were, by the king’s order, brought to court. Here they were educated as if they had been his own children, with the same care bestowed on Sesostris, with whom they were brought up. He could not possibly have given him more faithful ministers, nor officers who more zealously desired the success of his arms. The chief part of their education was, the enuring them, from their infancy, to a hard and laborious life, in order that they might one day be capable of sustaining with ease the toils of war. They were never suffered to eat, till they had run, on foot or horseback, a considerable race. Hunting was their most common exercise.

Ælian remarks(420) that Sesostris was taught by Mercury, who instructed him in politics, and the art of government. This Mercury is he whom the Greeks called Trismegistus, _i.e._ thrice great. Egypt, his native country, owes to him the invention of almost every art. The two books, which go under his name, bear such evident characters of novelty, that the forgery is no longer doubted. There was another Mercury who also was very famous amongst the Egyptians for his rare knowledge; and of much greater antiquity than he of whom we have been speaking. Jamblicus, a priest of Egypt, affirms, that it was customary with the Egyptians, to affix the name of Hermes or Mercury to all the new books or inventions that were offered to the public.

When Sesostris was more advanced in years, his father sent him against the Arabians, in order to acquire military knowledge. Here the young prince learned to bear hunger and thirst; and subdued a nation which till then had never been conquered. The youths educated with him attended him in all his campaigns.

Accustomed by this conquest to martial toils, he was next sent by his father to try his fortune westward. He invaded Libya, and subdued the greatest part of that vast country.

(M73) SESOSTRIS. During this expedition his father died, and left him capable of attempting the greatest enterprises. He formed no less a design than that of the conquest of the world. But before he left his kingdom, he provided for his domestic security, in winning the hearts of his subjects by his generosity, justice, and a popular and obliging behaviour. He was no less studious to gain the affection of his officers and soldiers, whom he wished to be ever ready to shed the last drop of their blood in his service; persuaded that his enterprises would all be unsuccessful, unless his army should be attached to his person, by all the ties of esteem, affection, and interest. He divided the country into thirty-six governments (called Nomi,) and bestowed them on persons of merit, and the most approved fidelity.

In the mean time he made the requisite preparations, levied forces, and headed them with officers of the greatest bravery and reputation, and these were taken chiefly from among the youths who had been educated with him. He had seventeen hundred of these officers, who were all capable of inspiring his troops with resolution, a love of discipline, and a zeal for the service of their prince. His army consisted of six hundred thousand foot, and twenty-four thousand horse, besides twenty-seven thousand armed chariots.

He began his expedition by invading Æthiopia, situated to the south of Egypt. He made it tributary, and obliged the nations of it to furnish him annually with a certain quantity of ebony, ivory, and gold.

He had fitted out a fleet of four hundred sail, and ordering it to advance to the Red-Sea, made himself master of the isles and cities lying on the coasts of that sea. He himself heading his land army, overran and subdued Asia with amazing rapidity, and advanced farther into India than Hercules, Bacchus, and in after-times Alexander himself, had ever done; for he subdued the countries beyond the Ganges, and advanced as far as the Ocean. One may judge from hence how unable the more neighbouring countries were to resist him. The Scythians, as far as the river Tanais, as well as Armenia, and Cappadocia, were conquered. He left a colony in the ancient kingdom of Colchos, situated to the east of the Black Sea, where the Egyptian customs and manners have been ever since retained. Herodotus saw in Asia Minor, from one sea to the other, monuments of his victories. In several countries was read the following inscription engraven on pillars: “Sesostris, king of kings, and lord of lords, subdued this country by the power of his arms.” Such pillars were found even in Thrace, and his empire extended from the Ganges to the Danube. In his expeditions, some nations bravely defended their liberties, and others yielded them up without making the least resistance. This disparity was denoted by him in hieroglyphical figures, on the monuments erected to perpetuate the remembrance of his victories, agreeably to the Egyptian practice.

The scarcity of provisions in Thrace stopped the progress of his conquests, and prevented his advancing farther in Europe. One remarkable circumstance is observed in this conqueror, who never once thought, as others had done, of preserving his acquisitions; but contenting himself with the glory of having subdued and despoiled so many nations; after having made wild havoc up and down the world for nine years, he confined himself almost within the ancient limits of Egypt, a few neighbouring provinces excepted; for we do not find any traces or footsteps of this new empire, either under himself or his successors.

He returned therefore laden with the spoils of the vanquished nations, dragging after him a numberless multitude of captives, and covered with greater glory than any of his predecessors; that glory, I mean, which employs so many tongues and pens in its praise; which consists in invading a great number of provinces in a hostile way, and is often productive of numberless calamities. He rewarded his officers and soldiers with a truly royal magnificence, in proportion to their rank and merit. He made it both his pleasure and duty, to put the companions of his victory in such a condition as might enable them to enjoy, during the remainder of their days, a calm and easy repose, the just reward of their past toils.

With regard to himself, for ever careful of his own reputation, and still more of making his power advantageous to his subjects, he employed the repose which peace allowed him, in raising works that might contribute more to the enriching of Egypt, than the immortalizing his name; works, in which the art and industry of the workman were more admired, than the immense sums which had been expended on them.

A hundred famous temples, raised as so many monuments of gratitude to the tutelar gods of all the cities, were the first, as well as the most illustrious, testimonies of his victories; and he took care to publish in the inscriptions on them, that these mighty works had been completed without burdening any of his subjects. He made it his glory to be tender of them, and to employ only captives in these monuments of his conquests. The Scriptures take notice of something like this, where they speak of the buildings of Solomon.(421) But he prided himself particularly in adorning and enriching the temple of Vulcan at Pelusium, in acknowledgment of the protection which he fancied that god had bestowed on him, when, on his return from his expeditions, his brother had a design of destroying him in that city, with his wife and children, by setting fire to the apartment where he then lay.

His great work was, the raising, in every part of Egypt, a considerable number of high banks or moles, on which new cities were built, in order that these might be a security for men and beasts during the inundations of the Nile.

From Memphis, as far as the sea, he cut, on both sides of the river, a great number of canals, for the conveniency of trade, and the conveying of provisions, and for the settling an easy correspondence between such cities as were most distant from one another. Besides the advantages of traffic, Egypt was, by these canals, made inaccessible to the cavalry of its enemies, which before had so often harassed it by repeated incursions.

He did still more. To secure Egypt from the inroads of its nearer neighbours, the Syrians and Arabians, he fortified all the eastern coast from Pelusium to Heliopolis, that is, for upwards of seven leagues.(422)

Sesostris might have been considered as one of the most illustrious and most boasted heroes of antiquity, had not the lustre of his warlike actions, as well as his pacific virtues, been tarnished by a thirst of glory, and a blind fondness for his own grandeur, which made him forget that he was a man. The kings and chiefs of the conquered nations came, at stated times, to do homage to their victor, and pay him the appointed tribute. On every other occasion, he treated them with sufficient humanity and generosity. But when he went to the temple, or entered his capital, he caused these princes to be harnessed to his car, four abreast, instead of horses; and valued himself upon his being thus drawn by the lords and sovereigns of other nations. What I am most surprised at, is, that Diodorus should rank this foolish and inhuman vanity among the most shining actions of this prince.

Being grown blind in his old age, he died by his own hands, after having reigned thirty-three years, and left his kingdom infinitely rich. His empire, nevertheless, did not reach beyond the fourth generation. But there still remained, so low as the reign of Tiberius, magnificent monuments, which showed the extent of Egypt under Sesostris,(423) and the immense tributes which were paid to it.(424)

I now go back to some facts which took place in this period, but which were omitted, in order that I might not break the thread of the history, and now I shall but barely mention them.

(M74) About the æra in question, the Egyptians settled themselves in divers parts of the earth. The colony, which Cecrops led out of Egypt, built twelve cities, or rather as many towns, of which he composed the kingdom of Athens.

(M75) We observed, that the brother of Sesostris, called by the Greeks Danaus, had formed a design to murder him, on his return to Egypt, after his conquest. But being defeated in his horrid project, he was obliged to fly. He thereupon retired to Peloponnesus, where he seized upon the kingdom of Argos, which had been founded about four hundred years before, by Inachus.

(M76) BUSIRIS, brother of Amenophis, so infamous among the ancients for his cruelties, exercised his tyranny at that time on the banks of the Nile; and barbarously murdered all foreigners who landed in his country: this was probably during the absence of Sesostris.

(M77) About the same time, Cadmus brought from Syria into Greece the invention of letters. Some pretend, that these characters or letters were Egyptian, and that Cadmus himself was a native of Egypt, and not of Phœnicia; and the Egyptians, who ascribe to themselves the invention of every art, and boast a greater antiquity than any other nation, give to their Mercury the honour of inventing letters. Most of the learned agree,(425) that Cadmus carried the Phœnician or Syrian letters into Greece, and that those letters were the same as the Hebraic; the Hebrews, who formed but a small nation, being comprehended under the general name of Syrians. Joseph Scaliger, in his notes on the _Chronicon_ of Eusebius, proves, that the Greek letters, and those of the Latin alphabet formed from them, derive their original from the ancient Phœnician letters, which are the same with the Samaritan, and were used by the Jews before the Babylonish captivity. Cadmus carried only sixteen letters(426) into Greece, eight others being added afterwards.

I return to the history of the Egyptian kings, whom I shall hereafter rank in the same order as Herodotus has assigned to them.

(M78) PHERON succeeded Sesostris in his kingdom, but not in his glory. Herodotus(427) relates but one action of his, which shows how greatly he had degenerated from the religious sentiments of his father. In an extraordinary inundation of the Nile, which exceeded eighteen cubits, this prince, enraged at the wild havoc which was made by it, threw a javelin at the river, as if he intended thereby to chastise its insolence; but was himself immediately punished for his impiety, if the historian may be credited, with the loss of sight.

(M79) PROTEUS.(428) He was of Memphis, where, in Herodotus’s time,(429) his temple was still standing, in which was a chapel dedicated to Venus the Stranger. It is conjectured that this Venus was Helen. For, in the reign of this monarch, Paris the Trojan, returning home with Helen whom he had stolen, was driven by a storm into one of the mouths of the Nile, called Canopic; and from thence was conducted to Proteus at Memphis, who reproached him in the strongest terms for his base perfidy and guilt, in stealing the wife of his host, and with her all the effects in his house. He added, that the only reason why he did not punish him with death (as his crime deserved) was, because the Egyptians were careful not to imbrue their hands in the blood of strangers: that he would keep Helen, with all the riches that were brought with her, in order to restore them to their lawful owner: that as for himself, (Paris,) he must either quit his dominions in three days, or expect to be treated as an enemy. The king’s order was obeyed. Paris continued his voyage, and arrived at Troy, whither he was closely pursued by the Grecian army. The Greeks summoned the Trojans to surrender Helen, and with her all the treasures of which her husband had been plundered. The Trojans answered, that neither Helen, nor her treasures, were in their city. And, indeed, was it at all likely, says Herodotus, that Priam, who was so wise an old prince, should choose to see his children and country destroyed before his eyes, rather than give the Greeks the just and reasonable satisfaction they desired? But it was to no purpose for them to affirm with an oath, that Helen was not in their city; the Greeks, being firmly persuaded that they were trifled with, persisted obstinately in their unbelief: the deity, continues the same historian, being resolved that the Trojans, by the total destruction of their city and empire, should teach the affrighted world this lesson:(430)—THAT GREAT CRIMES ARE ATTENDED WITH AS GREAT AND SIGNAL PUNISHMENTS FROM THE OFFENDED GODS. Menelaus, on his return from Troy, called at the court of king Proteus, who restored him Helen, with all her treasure. Herodotus proves, from some passages in Homer, that the voyage of Paris to Egypt was not unknown to this poet.

RHAMPSINITUS. What is related by Herodotus(431) concerning the treasury built by this king, who was the richest of all his predecessors, and his descent into hell, has so much the air of romance and fiction, as to deserve no mention here.

Till the reign of this king, there had been some shadow, at least, of justice and moderation in Egypt; but in the two following reigns, violence and cruelty usurped their place.

CHEOPS and CEPHREN.(432) These two princes, who were truly brothers by the similitude of their manners, seem to have vied with each other which of them should distinguish himself most, by a barefaced impiety towards the gods, and a barbarous inhumanity to men. Cheops reigned fifty years, and his brother Cephren fifty-six years after him. They kept the temples shut during the whole time of their long reigns; and forbid the offering of sacrifices under the severest penalties. On the other hand, they oppressed their subjects by employing them in the most grievous and useless works; and sacrificed the lives of numberless multitudes of men, merely to gratify a senseless ambition of immortalizing their names by edifices of an enormous magnitude, and a boundless expense. It is remarkable, that those stately pyramids, which have so long been the admiration of the whole world, were the effect of the irreligion and merciless cruelty of those princes.

MYCERINUS.(433) He was the son of Cheops, but of a character opposite to that of his father. So far from walking in his steps, he detested his conduct, and pursued quite different measures. He again opened the temples of the gods, restored the sacrifices, did all that lay in his power to comfort his subjects, and make them forget their past miseries; and believed himself set over them for no other purpose but to exercise justice, and to make them taste all the blessings of an equitable and peaceful administration. He heard their complaints, dried their tears, alleviated their misery, and thought himself not so much the master as the father of his people. This procured him the love of them all. Egypt resounded with his praises, and his name commanded veneration in all places.

One would naturally conclude, that so prudent and humane a conduct must have drawn down on Mycerinus the protection of the gods. But it happened far otherwise. His misfortunes began from the death of a darling and only daughter, in whom his whole felicity consisted. He ordered extraordinary honours to be paid to her memory, which were still continued in Herodotus’s time. This historian informs us, that in the city of Saïs, exquisite odours were burnt, in the day-time, at the tomb of this princess; and that during the night, a lamp was kept constantly burning.

He was told by an oracle, that his reign would continue but seven years. And as he complained of this to the gods, and inquired the reason why so long and prosperous a reign had been granted to his father and uncle, who were equally cruel and impious, whilst his own, which he had endeavoured so carefully to render as equitable and mild as it was possible for him to do, should be so short and unhappy; he was answered, that these were the very causes of it, it being the will of the gods, to oppress and afflict Egypt during the space of one hundred and fifty years, as a punishment for its crimes; and that his reign, which was to have been like those of the preceding monarchs, of fifty years’ continuance, was shortened on account of his too great lenity. Mycerinus likewise built a pyramid, but much inferior in dimensions to that of his father.

ASYCHIS.(434) He enacted the law relating to loans, which forbade a son to borrow money, without giving the dead body of his father by way of security for it. The law added, that in case the son took no care to redeem his father’s body by restoring the loan, both himself and his children should be deprived for ever of the rights of sepulture.

He valued himself for having surpassed all his predecessors, by the building a pyramid of brick, more magnificent, if this king was to be credited, than any hitherto seen. The following inscription, by its founder’s order, was engraved upon it. COMPARE ME NOT WITH PYRAMIDS BUILT OF STONE; WHICH I AS MUCH EXCEL AS JUPITER DOES ALL THE OTHER GODS.(435)

If we suppose the six preceding reigns (the exact duration of some of which is not fixed by Herodotus) to comprise one hundred and seventy years, there will remain an interval of near three hundred years, to the reign of Sabachus the Ethiopian. In this interval, I place a few circumstances related in Holy Scripture.

(M80) PHARAOH, king of Egypt, gave his daughter in marriage to Solomon king of Israel; who received her in that part of Jerusalem called the city of David, till he had built her a palace.(436)

SESACH or Shishak, otherwise called Sesonchis. (M81) It was to him that Jeroboam fled, to avoid the wrath of Solomon, who intended to kill him.(437) He abode in Egypt till Solomon’s death, and then returned to Jerusalem, when, putting himself at the head of the rebels, he won from Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, ten tribes, over whom he declared himself king.

(M82) This Sesach, in the fifth year of the reign of Rehoboam, marched against Jerusalem, because the Jews had transgressed against the Lord. He came with twelve hundred chariots of war, and sixty thousand horse.(438) He had brought numberless multitudes of people, who were all Libyans,(439) Troglodytes, and Ethiopians. He made himself master of all the strongest cities of Judah, and advanced as far as Jerusalem. Then the king, and the princes of Israel, having humbled themselves, and implored the protection of the God of Israel; God told them, by his prophet Shemaiah, that, because they humbled themselves, he would not utterly destroy them as they had deserved; but that they should be the servants of Sesach: in order “that they might know the difference of his service, and the service of the kingdoms of the country.”(440) Sesach retired from Jerusalem, after having plundered the treasures of the house of the Lord, and of the king’s house; he carried off every thing with him, “and even also the three hundred shields of gold which Solomon had made.”

(M83) ZERAH, king of Ethiopia, and doubtless of Egypt at the same time, made war upon Asa king of Judah.(441) His army consisted of a million of men, and three hundred chariots of war. Asa marched against him, and drawing up his army in order of battle, in full reliance on the God whom he served: “Lord,” says he, “it is nothing for thee to help whether with many, or with them that have no power. Help us, O Lord our God, for we rest on thee, and in thy name we go against this multitude; O Lord, thou art our God, let not man prevail against thee.” A prayer offered up with such strong faith was heard. God struck the Ethiopians with terror; they fled, and all were irrevocably defeated, being “destroyed before the Lord, and before his host.”

ANYSIS.(442) He was blind, and under his reign SABACHUS, king of Ethiopia, being encouraged by an oracle, entered Egypt with a numerous army, and possessed himself of it. He reigned with great clemency and justice. Instead of putting to death such criminals as had been sentenced to die by the judges, he made them repair the causeys, on which the respective cities to which they belonged were situated. He built several magnificent temples, and among the rest, one in the city of Bubastus, of which Herodotus gives a long and elegant description. After a reign of fifty years, which was the time appointed by the oracle, he retired voluntarily to his old kingdom of Ethiopia, and left the throne of Egypt to Anysis, who, during this time, had concealed himself in the fens.

(M84) It is believed that this Sabachus was the same with So, whose aid was implored by Hoshea, king of Israel, against Shalmanezer, king of Assyria.(443)

SETHON. He reigned fourteen years.

(M85) He is the same with Sevechus, the son of Sabacon, or So, the Ethiopian, who reigned so long over Egypt. This prince, so far from discharging the functions of a king, was ambitious of those of a priest; causing himself to be consecrated high-priest of Vulcan. Abandoning himself entirely to superstition, he neglected to defend his kingdom by force of arms; paying no regard to military men, from a firm persuasion that he should never have occasion for their assistance; he, therefore, was so far from endeavouring to gain their affections, that he deprived them of their privileges, and even dispossessed them of their revenues of such lands as his predecessors had given them.

He was soon made sensible of their resentment in a war that broke out suddenly, and from which he delivered himself solely by a miraculous protection, if Herodotus may be credited, who intermixes his account of this war with a great many fabulous particulars. Sanacharib (so Herodotus calls this prince) king of the Arabians and Assyrians, having entered Egypt with a numerous army, the Egyptian officers and soldiers refused to march against him. The high priest of Vulcan, being thus reduced to the greatest extremity, had recourse to his god, who bid him not despond, but march courageously against the enemy with the few soldiers he could raise. Sethon obeyed. A small number of merchants, artificers, and others who were the dregs of the populace, joined him; and with this handful of men, he marched to Pelusium, where Sanacharib had pitched his camp. The night following, a prodigious multitude of rats entered the camp of the Assyrians, and gnawing to pieces all their bowstrings, and the thongs of their shields, rendered them incapable of making the least defence. Being disarmed in this manner, they were obliged to fly; and they retreated with the loss of a great part of their forces. Sethon, when he returned home, ordered a statue of himself to be set up in the temple of Vulcan, holding in his right hand a rat, and these words to be inscribed thereon:—LET THE MAN WHO BEHOLDS ME LEARN TO REVERENCE THE GODS.(444)

It is very obvious that this story, as related here from Herodotus, is an alteration of that which is told in the second book of Kings. We there see,(445) that Sennacherib, king of the Assyrians, having subdued all the neighbouring nations, and made himself master of all the other cities of Judah, resolved to besiege Hezekiah in Jerusalem, his capital city. The ministers of this holy king, in spite of his opposition, and the remonstrances of the prophet Isaiah, who promised them, in God’s name, a sure and certain protection, provided they would trust in him only, sent secretly to the Egyptians and Ethiopians for succour. Their armies, being united, marched to the relief of Jerusalem at the time appointed, and were met and vanquished by the Assyrian in a pitched battle. He pursued them into Egypt and entirely laid waste the country. At his return from thence, the very night before he was to have given a general assault to Jerusalem, which then seemed lost to all hopes, the destroying angel made dreadful havoc in the camp of the Assyrians; destroyed a hundred fourscore and five thousand men by fire and sword; and proved evidently, that they had great reason to rely, as Hezekiah had done, on the promise of the God of Israel.

This is the real fact. But as it was no ways honourable to the Egyptians, they endeavoured to turn it to their own advantage, by disguising and corrupting the circumstances of it. Nevertheless, the footsteps of this history, though so much defaced, ought yet to be highly valued, as coming from an historian of so great antiquity and authority as Herodotus.

The prophet Isaiah had foretold, at several times, that this expedition of the Egyptians, which had been concerted, seemingly, with such prudence, conducted with the greatest skill, and in which the forces of two powerful empires were united, in order to relieve the Jews, would not only be of no service to Jerusalem, but even destructive to Egypt itself, whose strongest cities would be taken, its territories plundered, and its inhabitants of all ages and sexes led into captivity. See the 18th, 19th, 20th, 30th, 31st, &c. chapters of his prophecy.

Archbishop Usher and Dean Prideaux suppose that it was at this period that the ruin of the famous city No-Amon,(446) spoken of by the prophet Nahum, happened. That prophet says,(447) that “she was carried away—that her young children were dashed in pieces at the top of all the streets—that the enemy cast lots for her honourable men, and that all her great men were bound in chains.” He observes, that all these misfortunes befell that city, when Egypt and Ethiopia were her strength; which seems to refer clearly enough to the time of which we are here speaking, when Tharaca and Sethon had united their forces. However, this opinion is not without some difficulties, and is contradicted by some learned men. It is sufficient for me to have hinted it to the reader.