to teach the world this lesson;-that great crimes are attended with as great and signal punishments from the offended gods. Menalaus, on his return from Troy, called at the court of king Proteus, who restored Helen and all the treasure. RHAMPSINITUS succeeded to the throne, but the events of his reign are so blended with fable as to deserve no mention. CHEOPS, Successor to Rhampsinitus, rendered himself odious by his cruelty; he reigned fifty years, and his brother Chephren fifty-six years after him, who was equally inhuman in disposition. They kept the temples closed during the whole of their long reigns, and forbade the offering of sacrifices under the severest penalties. They oppressed their people by employing them in painful and useless works; and sacrificed the lives of multitudes, merely to gratify a senseless ambition of immortalizing their names, by erecting edifices of enormous magnitude and immense expense. Several of the pyramids are said to have been erected during the reigns of these two kings. MYCERINUS, the son of Cheops, ascended the throne on the death of Chephren, but was of a character quite opposed to his predecessors. He opened the temples of the gods, restored the sacrifices, and did every thing in his power to alleviate the miseries of his people. He obtained the love of his subjects, and all Egypt resounded with his praise. The happy reign of this prince was, however, very short; he died after governing Egypt seven years, during which he contributed more to the happiness of his subjects than most of his predecessors. Asychis succeeded Mycerinus; it was he who enacted the law regarding the borrowing of money. He prided himself on building a pyramid of brick, which he considered more magnificent than any hitherto seen, and engraved on it the following inscription: "Compare me not with pyramids built of stone, which I as much excel, as Jupiter does all the other gods." From the reign of Asychis to that of Sabachus, the Ethiopian, there is an interval of nearly three hundred years, and during this period several events, mentioned in ScripA. M. 2991. ture, took place. Pharaoh, king of Egypt, gave A. c. 1013. his daughter in marriage to king Solomon. Jeroboam fled to Shishack, king of Egypt, to A. M. 3026. A. c. 978. avoid the wrath of Solomon, and he remained there until the death of the king. He then returned to Jerusalem, and won from Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, ten tribes, over whom he declared himself king. A. M. 3033. SHISHACK, king of Egypt, marched against Jerusalem with a large army, and made himself master of the strongest cities of Judah. Rehoboam and his subjects, however, humbled themselves before God, who in mercy withdrew their enemies; but not until Shishack had made Rehoboam his tributary, and carried off the greater part of the treasures of the temple. ZERAH, king of Ethiopia, and also of Egypt, A. C. 941. made war upon Asa, king of Judah; but he, in firm reliance upon God, besought Him to avert the threatening danger. God heard his prayer, and struck terror into the hearts of the Egyptians, who fled before the king of Judah and were entirely defeated. A. M. 3063. A.M. 3229. A. c. 775. ANYSIS succeeded Zerah, and in his reign, Sabachus, king of Ethiopia, invaded and conquered Egypt. He reigned with clemency and justice, and built several magnificent temples. After fifty years governing Egypt, he retired to his own kingdom of Ethiopia, and left the throne of Egypt to Anysis, who had all these years concealed himself. A. M. 3285. A. M. 3299. SETHON. He reigned fourteen years; but instead of discharging the duties of a king he aimed at the sacerdotal office, and caused himself to be consecrated high priest of Vulcan. Abandoning himself entirely to superstition, he wholly neglected the defence of his kingdom and sought not to gain the love of his people; but deprived them of their privileges and dispossesed them of their property. After the death of Sethon, Tharaca ascended the throne, and governed the kingdom eighteen years. He was the last Ethiopian who reigned in Egypt. The Egyptians, upon his death, not being able to agree about the succession, were for two years in a state of anarchy; at length, twelve of the principal noblemen seized upon the kingdom, and divided it amongst themselves into as many parts. It was agreed that each should govern his own district with equal power and authority, and that no one should attempt to invade or seize the dominions of another. This arrangement they thought necessary, and A. M. 3319. pledged themselves to observe it by the most dreadful oaths, to elude the prediction of an oracle, which had foretold that he among them who should offer his libation to Vulcan out of a brazen bowl, should gain the sovereignty of Egypt. These twelve kings reigned for fifteen years in the utmost harmony; and to leave to posterity a lasting monument of their concord, they built the famous labyrinth which has been described. One day, as the twelve kings were assisting at a solemn sacrifice in the temple of Vulcan, the priests presented eleven of them with a golden bowl, one was wanting, and Psammetichus, one of the twelve kings, without any design, supplied the deficiency with his brazen helmet, and with it performed the ceremony of the libation. This accident struck the rest of the kings and recalled to their memory the prediction of the oracle, and to avert it they banished him to the fenny parts of Egypt. Here Psammetichus passed several years, waiting a favourable opportunity for revenge, at length a courier brought him advice that brazen men had landed in Egypt. These were Grecian soldiers, Ionians, and Carians, who had been cast upon the coast by a storm; and were clad in brass armour. Psammetichus immediately called to mind the oracle which had informed him that he should be succoured by brazen men from the sea coast. He concluded that the prediction was now fulfilled, and engaged these strangers by great promises to stay with him; privately levied other forces and put these Greeks at their head; when, giving battle to the eleven kings, he defeated them, and became sole possessor of Egypt. A. M. 3334. PSAMMETICHUS. As this prince owed his pre4. C. 670. servation to the Ionians and Carians, he settled them in Egypt (from which all foreigners had been hitherto excluded), and by assigning them lands and revenues, he made them forget their native country. He commanded Egyptian children to be placed under their care, who were instructed in the Greek language; and by this means the Egyptians began to have correspondence with the Greeks. As soon as Psammetichus was settled on the throne, he made war against the king of Assyria, not being satisfied regarding the boundaries of the two empires. He also engaged in several other wars and with various success. Psammetichus died in the twenty-fourth year of Josiah, king of Judah, and was succeeded by his son Nechao. A. M. 3388. NECHAO. This prince is often mentioned in A. C. 616. Scripture by the name of Pharaoh-Necho. He attempted to connect the Nile with the Red Sea, but after losing an immense number of workmen he desisted; the oracle he consulted having told him that this canal would open a passage to the barbarians (for so the Egyptians called all other nations) to invade Egypt. Nechao was more fortunate in another enterprise. He employed some Phoenician mariners, whom he had taken into his service, to explore the coasts of Africa, who made a successful passage from the Red Sea round the Cape of Good Hope, and returned to Egypt by the Straits of Gibraltar three years after their setting out. This was a very extraordinary voyage, when we consider that the compass was unknown at that time. The Babylonians and Medes, having destroyed Nineveh, and with it the empire of the Assyrians, were become so powerful that they excited the jealousy of the neighbouring nations. Nechao, alarmed for the safety of his kingdom, advanced to the Euphrates with a large army to check their progress. Josiah, king of Judah, finding that he took his route through Judea, resolved to oppose his march; and, with this intention, raised all the forces of his kingdom, and posted himself in the valley of Megiddo, west of Jordan. Nechao informed him by a herald, that his enterprise was not intended against him, and that he had undertaken this war in the name of God, who was with him; and he cautioned him not to interfere. Josiah, however, disregarded his advice, fearing that if he was victorious over the Babylonians, he would dispossess him of part of his dominions. He therefore marched to engage Nechao, and was not only defeated, but received a wound of which he died at Jerusalem, whither he had ordered himself to be carried. Nechao, elated with this victory, continued his march and gave battle to the Babylonians, whom he defeated, and took Carchemish, one of their large cities, and secured the possession of it by a strong garrison, and then returned to Egypt, after an absence of three months. Nabopolassar, king of Babylon, observing that A. M. 3397. since the taking of Carchemish by Nechao, all A. C. 607. Syria and Palestine had shaken off their allegiance to him; and being incapable, through age and infirmity, to march against the rebels in person, associated his son Nebuchadnezzar with him in the government, and sent him with an army into these countries. Nebuchadnezzar vanquished the army of Nechao near the Euphrates, recovered Carchemish, and reduced the revolted provinces to their former allegiance; and thus dispossessed the Egyptians of all that belonged to them between the borders of Egypt and the Euphrates. A. M. 3404. 600. Nechao died, after a reign of sixteen years, and left the kingdom to his son Psammis, who reigned only six years. History mentions nothing memorable of him, except that he made an expedition into Ethiopia. It was to this prince that the Eleans, after instituting the Olympic games, sent a splendid embassy to inform him of them; not that they wished his opinionas they considered them faultless-but desired to obtain the approbation of the Egyptians, who were considered. the wisest and most judicious people in the world. The king assembled the sages of his nation, and after hearing all that the Eleans had to advance in praise of the institution, an Egyptian asked whether citizens and foreigners were admitted indifferently to these games; to which the Eleans replied that they were open to every one. Egyptians objected to this, as being contrary to the rules of justice-it being very difficult for the judges, in their award of victory and the prize, not to be prepossessed in favour of their fellow-citizens. A. M. 3410. The APRIES. In Scripture this king is called Pharaoh Hophra. He succeeded his father Psammis, and reigned twenty-five years. In the early part of his reign he turned his arms against the island of Cyprus, besieged the city of Sidon by sea and land, took it, and became master of all Phoenicia and Palestine. Infatuated with his rapid conquests, he boasted that it was not even in the power of the gods to dethrone him: but the God of heaven proved to him afterwards that he had a master; and |