was sought through for that purpose. He was known by certain signs, which distinguished him from all other animals of that species; upon his forehead was to be a white spot, in form of a crescent; on his back, the figure of an eagle; upon his tongue that of a beetle. As soon as he was found, mourning gave place to joy; and nothing was heard, in all parts of Egypt, but festivals and rejoicings. The new god was brought to Memphis, to take possession of his dignity, and there installed with a great number of ceremonies. The reader will find hereafter, that Cambyses, at his return from his unfortunate expedition against Ethiopia, finding all the Egyptians in transports of joy for the discovery of their new god Apis, and imagining that this was intended as an insult upon his misfortunes, killed, in the first impulse of his fury, the young bull, who by that means had but a short enjoyment of his divinity. *Several reasons are assigned for the worship paid to animals by the Egyptians. The first is drawn from fabulous history. It is pretended that the gods, in a rebellion made against them by men, fled into Egypt, and there concealed themselves under the form of different animals; and that this gave birth to the worship which was afterwards paid to those animals. The second is taken from the benefit which these several animals procure to mankind." Oxen by their labour; sheep by their wool and milk; dogs by their service in hunting, and guarding houses, whence the god Anubis was represented with a dog's head: the ibis, a bird very much resembling a stork, was worshipped, because he put to flight the winged serpents, with which Egypt would otherwise have been grie vously infested; the crocodile, an amphibious creature, that is, living alike upon land and water, of a surpris It is plain, that the golden calf set up near mounting strength and size, was worshipped, because he Sinai by the Israelites, was owing to their abode in Egypt, and an imitation of the god Apis: as well as those which were afterwards set up by Jeroboam (who had resided a considerable time in Egypt) in the two extremities of the kingdom of Israel. The Egyptians, not contented with offering incense to animals, carried their folly to such an excess, as to ascribe a divinity to the pulse and roots of their gardens. For this they are ingeniously reproached by the satirist: 1 Who has not heard where Egypt's realms are named, 2 It is astonishing to see a nation which boasted its superiority above all others with regard to wisdom and learning, thus blindly abandon itself to the most gross and ridiculous superstitions. Indeed, to read of animals and vile insects, honoured with religious worship, placed in temples, and maintained with great care and at an extravagant expense; to read, that those who murdered them were punished with death, and that these animals were embalmed, and solemnly deposited in tombs assigned them by the public; to hear, that this extravagance was carried to such lengths, as that leeks and onions were acknowledged as deities; were nvoked in necessity, and depended upon for succour and protection; are absurdities which we, at this distance of time, can scarce believe; and yet they have the evidence of all antiquity. You enter, says Lucian, into a magnificent temple, every part of which glitters with gold and silver. You there look attentively for a god, and are cheated with a stork, an ape, or a cat; a just emblem, adds that author, of too many palaces, the masters of which are far from being the brightest ornaments of them. Quis nescit, Volusi Bithynice, qualia demens Egyptus portenta colat? Crocodilon adorat Pars hæc; illa pavit saturam serpentibus Ibin. Effigies sacri nitet aurea Cercopitheci, Dimidio magicæ resonant ubi Memnone chorda, Atque vetus Thebe centum jacet obruta portis. Illic cœroleos, hic piscem fluminis, illic Oppida tota canem venerantur, nemo Dianam. Porrum et cœpe nefas violare, ac frangere morsu. O sanctas gentes, quibus hæc nascuntur in hortis Numina ! Juven. Satir. xv. 2 Diodorus affirms, that in his time the expense amounted to no less than one hundred thousand crowns, or 22,500l. sterling. Lib. i. p. 76, Imag. defended Egypt from the incursions of the wild Arabs; the ichneumon was adored, because he prevented the too great increase of crocodiles, which might have proved destructive to Egypt. Now the little animal in question does this service to the country two ways. First, it watches the time when the crocodile is absent, and breaks his eggs, but does not eat them. Secondly, when the crocodile is asleep upon the banks of the Nile, (and he always sleeps with his mouth open,) the ichneumon, which lies concealed in the mud, leaps at once into its mouth; gets down to his entrails, which he gnaws; then piercing his belly, the skin of which is very tender, he escapes with safety; and thus, by his address and subtilty, returns victorious over so ter rible an animal. Philosophers, not satisfied with reasons which were too trifling to account for such strange absurdities as dishonoured the heathen system, and at which themselves secretly blushed; have, since the establishment of Christianity, supposed a third reason for the worship which the Egyptians paid to animals; and declared, that it was not offered to the animals themselves, but to the gods, of whom they are symbols. Plutarch," in his treatise where he examines professedly the pretensions of Isis and Osiris, the two most famous deities of the Egyptians, says as follows: Philosophers honour the image of God wherever they find it, even in inanimate beings, and consequently more in those which have life. We are therefore to approve, not the worshippers of these animals, but those who, by their means, ascend to the Deity; they are to be considered as so many mirrors, which nature holds forth, and in which the Supreme Being displays himself in a wonderful manner; or, as so many instruments, which he makes use of to manifest outwardly his incomprehensible wisdom. Should men, therefore, for the embellishing of statues, amass together all the gold and precious stones in the world, the worship must not be referred to the statues; for the Deity does not exist in colours artfully disposed, nor in frail matter destitute of sense and motion. Plutarch says in the same treatise, that as the sun and moon, heaven, earth, and the sea, are common to all men, but have different names according to the difference of nations and languages; in like manner, though there is but one Deity, and one Providence which governs the universe, and which has several subaltern ministers under it; men give to this Deity, which is the same, different names; and pay it different honours, according to the laws and customs of every country. But were these reflections, which offer the most rational vindication that can be suggested of idolatrous worship, sufficient to cover the absurdity of it; could it be called a raising of the divine attributes in a suita ble manner, to direct the worshipper to admire and seek for the image of them in beasts of the most vile and contemptible kinds, as crocodiles, serpents, and cats? Was not this rather degrading and debasing the Deity, of whom even the most stupid usually entertain a much greater and more august idea? And even these philosophers were not always so just, as to ascend from sensible beings to their invisible Author. The Scriptures tell us, that these pretended sages deserved on account of their pride and ingratitude, to be given over to a reprobate mind; and whilst they professed themselves wise, to become fools, for having changed the glory of the incorruptible God, into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things. To show what man is when left to himself, God permitted that very nation, which had carried human wisdom to its greatest height, to be the theatre in which the most ridiculous and absurd idolatry was acted. And, on the other side, to display the almighty power of his grace, he converted the frightful deserts of Egypt into a terrestrial paradise; by peopling them, in the time appointed by his providence, with numberless multitudes of illustrious hermits, whose fervent piety and rigorous penance have done so much honour to the Christian religion. I cannot forbear giving here a famous instance of it; and I hope the reader will excuse this kind of digression. The great wonder of Lower Egypt, says Abbé Fleury in his Ecclesiastical History, was the city of Oxyrinchus, peopled with monks, both within and without, so that they were more numerous than its other inhabitants. The public edifices and idol-temples had been converted into monasteries, and these likewise were more in number than the private houses. The monks lodged even over the gates and in the towers. The people had twelve churches to assemble in, exclusive of the oratories belonging to the monasteries. There were twenty thousand virgins, and ten thousand monks in this city, every part of which echoed night and day with the praises of God. By order of the magistrates, sentinels were posted at the gates, to take notice of all strangers and poor who came into the city; and the inhabitants vied with each other who should first receive them, in order to have an opportunity of exercising their hospitality towards them. SECTION II. THE CEREMONIES OF THE EGYPTIAN FUNERALS. I SHALL now give a concise account of the funeral ceremonies of the Egyptians. The honours which have been paid in all ages and nations to the bodies of the dead, and the religious care which has always been taken of sepulchres, seem to insinuate a universal persuasion, that bodies were lodged in sepulchres merely as a deposit or trust. We have already observed, in our mention of the pyramids, with what magnificence sepulchres were built in Egypt; for, besides that they were erected as so many sacred monuments, destined to transmit to future times the memory of great princes; they were likewise considered as the mansions where the body was to remain during a long succession of ages: whereas common houses were called inns, in which men were to abide only as travellers, and that during the course of a life which was too short to engage their affections. When any person in a family died, all the kindred and friends quitted their usual habits, and put on mourning; and abstained from baths, wine, and dainties of every kind. This mourning continued forty or seventy days; probably according to the quality of the person. Bodies were embalmed three different ways. The most magnificent was bestowed on persons of distin | guished rank, and the expense amounted to a talent of silver, or three thousand French livres." Many hands were employed in this ceremony." Some drew the brain through the nostrils, by an instrument made for that purpose. Others emptied the bowels and intestines, by cutting a hole in the side, with an Ethiopian stone that was as sharp as a razor after which the cavities were filled with perfumes and various odoriferous drugs. As this evacuation (which was necessarily attended with some dissections) seemed in some measure cruel and inhuman; the persons employed fled as soon as the operation was over, and were pursued with stones by the standers-by. But those who embalmed the body were honourably treated. They filled it with myrrh, cinnamon, and all sorts of spices. After a certain time, the body was swathed in lawn fillets, which were glued together with a kind of very thin gum, and then crusted over with the most exquisite perfumes. By this means, it is said, that the entire figure of the body, the very lineaments of the face, and even the hairs on the lids and eye-brows, were preserved in their natural perfection. The body thus embalmed was delivered to the relations, who shut it up in a kind of open chest fitted exactly to the size of the corpse; then they placed it upright against the wall, either in their sepulchres (if they had any) or in their houses. These embalmed bodies are what we now call Mummies, which are still brought from Egypt, and are found in the cabinets of the curious. This shows the care which the Egyptians took of their dead. Their gratitude to their deceased relations was immortal. Children, by seeing the bodies of their ancestors thus preserved, recalled to mind those virtues for which the public had honoured them; and were excited to a love of those laws which such excellent persons had left for their security. We find that part of these cere monies were performed in the funeral honours paid to Joseph in Egypt. I have said that the public recognised the virtues of deceased persons, because that, before they could be admitted into the sacred asylum of the tomb, they underwent a solemn trial. And this circumstance in the Egyptian funerals, is one of the most remarkable to be found in ancient history. It was a consolation among the heathens, to a dying man to leave a good name behind him; and they imagined that this is the only human blessing of which death cannot deprive us. But the Egyptians would not suffer praises to be bestowed indiscriminately on all deceased persons. This honour was to be obtained only from the public voice. The assembly of the judges met on the other side of a lake, which they crossed in a boat. He who sat at the helm was called Charon, in the Egyptian language; and this first gave the hint to Orpheus, who had been in Egypt, and after him, to the other Greeks, to invent the fiction of Charon's boat. As soon as a man was dead, he was brought to his trial. The public accuser was heard. If he proved that the deceased had led a bad life, his memory was condemned, and he was deprived of burial. The people admired the power of the laws, which extended even beyond the grave; and every one, struck with the disgrace inflicted on the dead person, was afraid to reflect dishonour on his own memory, and his family. But if the deceased person was not convicted of any crime, he was interred in an honourable manner. A still more astonishing circumstance, in this public inquest upon the dead, was, that the throne itself was no protection from it. Kings were spared during their lives, because the public peace was concerned in this forbearance; but their quality did not exempt them from the judgment passed upon the dead, and even some of them were deprived of sepulture. This custom was imitated by the Israelites. We see, in Scripture, that bad kings were not interred in the monuments of their ancestors. This practice suggested to princes, that if their majesty placed them out of the reach of men's judgment while they were alive, they would at last be liable to it, when death should reduce then to a level with their subjects. When therefore a favourable judgment was pronounced on a deceased person, the next thing was to proceed to the ceremonies of interment. In his panegyric, no mention was made of his birth, because every Egyptian was deemed noble. No praises were considered as just or true, but such as related to the personal merit of the deceased. He was applauded for having received an excellent education in his younger years; and in his more advanced age, for having cultivated piety towards the gods, justice towards men, gentleness, modesty, moderation, and all other virtues which constitute the good man. Then all the people besought the gods to receive the deceased into the assembly of the just, and to admit him as 'partaker with them of their everlasting felicity. To conclude this article of the ceremonies of funerals, it may not be amiss to observe to young pupils, the different manners in which the bodies of the dead were treated by the ancients. Some, as we observed of the Egyptians, exposed them to view after they had been embalmed, and thus preserved them to afterages: others, as the Romans, burnt them on a funeral pile; and others, again, laid them in the earth. The care to preserve bodies without lodging them in tombs, appears injurious to human nature in general, and to those persons in particular to whom respect is designed to be shown by this custom; because it exposes too visibly their wretched state and deformity; since whatever care may be taken, spectators see nothing but the melancholy and frightful remains of what they once were. The custom of burning dead bodies has something in it cruel and barbarous, in destroying so hastily the remains of persons once dear to us. That of interment is certainly the most ancient and religious. It restores to the earth what had been taken from it; and prepares our belief of a second restitution of our bodies, from that dust of which they were at first formed. CHAPTER III. OF THE EGYPTIAN SOLDIERS AND WAR. THE profession of arms was in great repute among the Egyptians. After the sacerdotal families, the most illustrious, as with us, were those devoted to a military life. They were not only distinguished by honours, but by ample liberalities. Every soldier was allowed twelve Arouraæ; that is, a piece of arable land very near answering to half a French acre,' exempt from all tax or tribute. Besides this privilege, each soldier received a daily allowance of five pounds of bread, two of flesh, and a quart of wine. This allowance was sufficient to support part of their family. Such an indulgence made them more affectionate to the person of their prince, and the interests of their country, and more resolute in the defence of both; and as Diodorous observes, it was thought inconsistent with good policy, and even common sense, to commit the defence of a country to men who had no interest in its preservation. Four hundred thousand soldiers were kept in continual pay; all natives of Egypt, and trained up in 1 Twelve Aroure. An Egyptian Aroure was 10,000 square cubits, equal to three roods, two perches, 554 square feet of our measure. The Greek is, oïvov réσcapes åpverñpes, which some have made to signify a determinate quantity of wine, or any other liquid: others, regarding the etymology of the word dovorno, have translated it by haustrum, a bucket, as Lucretius, lib. v. 51; others by haustus, a draught, or sup. Herodotus says, this allowance was given only to the two thousand guards, who attended annually on the kings. Lib. ii. c. 168. Lib. i. p. 67. Herod. 1. ii. c. 164. 168. the exactest discipline. They were inured to the fatigues of war, by a severe and rigorous education. There is an art of forming the body as well as the mind. This art, lost by our sloth, was well known to the ancients, and especially to the Egyptians. Foot, horse, and chariot-races, were performed in Egypt with wonderful agility, and the world could not show better horsemen than the Egyptians. The Scripture in several places' speaks advantageously of their cavalry. Military laws were easily preserved in Egypt, because sons received them from their fathers; the profession of war, as all others, being transmitted from father to son. Those who fled in battle, or discovered any signs of cowardice, were only distinguished by some particular mark of ignominy; it being thought more advisable to restrain them by motives of honour, than by the terrors of punishment. But notwithstanding this, I will not pretend to say, that the Egyptians were a warlike people. It is of little advantage to have regular and well-paid troops; to have armies exercised in peace, and employed only in mock fights: it is war alone, and real combats, which form the soldier. Egypt loved peace, because it loved justice, and maintained soldiers only for its security. Its inhabitants, content with a country which abounded in all things, had no ambitious dreams of conquest. The Egyptians extended their reputation in a very different manner, by sending colonies into all parts of the world, and with them laws and politeness. They triumphed by the wisdom of their counsels, and the superiority of their knowledge; and this empire of the mind appeared more noble and glorious to them, than that which is achieved by arms and conquest. But, nevertheless, Egypt has given birth to illustrious conquerors, as will be observed hereafter, when we come to treat of its kings. CHAPTER IV. OF THEIR ARTS AND SCIENCES. THE Egyptians had an inventive genius, but directed it only to useful projects. Their Mercuries filled Egypt with wonderful inventions, and left it scarcely ignorant of any thing which could contribute to accomplish the mind, or procure ease and happiness. The discoverers of any useful invention received, both living and dead, rewards worthy of their profitable labours. It is this which consecrated the books of their two Mercuries, and stamped them with a divine authority. The first libraries were in Egypt; and the titles they bore inspired an eager desire to enter them, and dive into the secrets they contained. They were called the remedy for the diseases of the soul, and that very justly, because the soul was there cured of ignorance, the most dangerous, and the parent of all other maladies. As their country was level, and the sky always serene and unclouded, the Egyptians were among the first who observed the courses of the planets. These observations led them to regulate the year from the course of the sun; for, as Diodorus observes, their year, 5 Cant. i. 9. Isa. xxxvi. 9. • Diod. p. 76. Ψυχῆς ἰατρεῖον. 7 It will not seem surprising that the Egyptians, who were the most ancient observers of the celestial motions, should have arrived to this knowledge, when it is considered that the lunar year, made use of by the Greeks and Romans, though it appears so inconvenient and irregular, supposed nevertheless a knowledge of the solar years such as Diodorus Siculus ascribes to the Egyptians. It will appear at first sight, by calculating their intercalations, that those who first divided the year in this manner, were not ignorant, that to three hundred sixty-five days some hours were to be added, to keep pace with the sun. Their only error lay in supposing, that only six hours were wanting: whereas an addition of almost eleven minutes more was requisite. from the most remote antiquity, was composed of three hundred sixty five days and six hours. To adjust the property of their lands, which were every year covered by the overflowing of the Nile, they were obliged to have recourse to surveys: and this first taught them geometry. They were great observers of nature, which, in a climate so serene, and under so intense a sun was vigorous and fruitful. By this study and application they invented or improved the science of physic. The sick were not abandoned to the arbitrary will and caprice of the physician. He was obliged to follow fixed rules, which were the observations of old and experienced practitioners, and written in the sacred books. While these rules were observed, the physician was not answerable for the success; otherwise, a miscarriage cost him his life. This law checked, indeed, the temerity of empirics; but then it might prevent new discoveries, and keep the art from attaining to its just perfection. Every physician, if Herodotus may be credited, confined his practice to the cure of one disease only; one was for the eyes, another for the teeth, and so on. What we have said of the pyramids, the labyrinth, and that infinite number of obelisks, temples, and palaces, whose precious remains still strike the beholder with admiration, and in which the magnificence of the princes who raised them, the skill of the workmen, the riches of the ornaments diffused over every part of them, and the just proportion and beautiful symmetry of the parts, in which their greatest beauty consisted, seemed to vie with each other; works, in many of which the liveliness of the colours remains to this day, in spite of the rude hand of time, which commonly deadens or destroys them : all this, I say, shows the perfection to which architecture, painting, sculpture, and all other arts, had arrived in Egypt. The Egyptians entertained but a mean opinion of those gymnastic exercises, which did not contribute to invigorate the body, or improve health; as well as of music, which they considered as a diversion not only useless but dangerous, and only fit to enervate the mind. CHAPTER V. the meanest plebeian, when his descent is traced back to the source, is equally noble with those of the most elevated rank and titles. Be that as it will, no profession in Egypt was considered as grovelling or sordid. By this means arts were raised to their highest perfection. The honour which cherished them mixed with every thought and care for their improvement. Every man had his way of life assigned him by the laws, and it was perpetuated from father to son. Two professions at one time, or a change of that which a man was born to, were never allowed. By this means, men became more able and expert in employments which they had always exercised from their infancy; and every man adding his own experience to that of his ancestors, was more capable of attaining perfection in his par ticular art. Besides, this wholesome institution, which had been established anciently throughout Egypt, extinguished all irregular ambition; and taught every man to sit down contented with his condition, without aspiring to one more elevated, from interest, vain-glory, or levity. From this source flowed numberless inventions for the improvement of all the arts, and for rendering life more commodious, and trade more easy. I once could not believe that Diodorus was in earnest, in what he relates concerning the Egyptian industry, viz. that this people had found out a way, by an artificial fecundity, to hatch eggs without the sitting of the hen; but all modern travellers declare it to be a fact, which certainly is worthy our investigation, and is said to be practised also in Europe. Their relations inform us, that the Egyptians stow eggs in ovens, which are heated to such a temperament, and with such just proportion to the natural warmth of the hen, that the chickens produced by these means are as strong as those which are hatched the natural way. The season of the year proper for this operation is, from the end of December to the end of April; the heat in Egypt being too violent in the other months. During these four months, upwards of three hundred thousand eggs are laid in these ovens, which, though they are not all successful, nevertheless produce vast numbers of fowls at an easy rate. The art lies in giving the ovens a due degree of heat, which must not exceed a fixed proportion. About ten days are bestowed in heating these ovens, and very near as much time in OF THEIR HUSBANDmen, shepherds, AND ARTIFICERS. hatching the eggs. It is very entertaining, say these HUSBANDMEN, shepherds, and artificers, formed the travellers, to observe the hatching of these chickens, three classes of lower life in Egypt, but were never- some of which show at first nothing but their heads, theless had in very great esteem, particularly husband- others but half their bodies, and others again come men and shepherds. The body politic requires a su- quite out of the egg: these last, the moment they are periority and subordination of its several members; hatched, make their way over the unhatched eggs, and for as, in the natural body, the eye may be said to hold form a diverting spectacle. Corneille le Bruyn, in his the first rank, yet its lustre does not dart contempt Travels, has collected the observations of other upon the feet, the hands, or even on those parts which travellers on this subject. Pliny likewise mentions are less honourable. In like manner, among the Egyp-it; but it appears from him, that the Egyptians, antians, the priests, soldiers, and scholars, were distinguished by particular honours; but all professions, to the meanest, had their share in the public esteem, because the despising any man, whose labours, however mean, were useful to the state, was thought a crime. A better reason than the foregoing might have inspired them at the first with these sentiments of equity and moderation, which they so long preserved. As they all descended from Cham,' their common father, the memory of their still recent origin occurring to the minds of all in those first ages, established among them a kind of equality, and stamped, in their opinion, a nobility on every person derived from the common stock. Indeed, the difference of conditions, and the contempt with which persons of the lowest rank are treated, are owing merely to the distance from the common root; which makes us forget that ciently employed warm dung, not ovens, to hatch eggs. I have said, that husbandmen particularly, and those who took care of flocks, were in great esteem in Egypt, some parts of it excepted, where the latter were not suffered. It was, indeed, to these two professions that Egypt owed its riches and plenty. It is astonishing to reflect what advantages the Egyptians by their art and labour, drew from a country of no great extent, but whose soil was made wonderfully fruitful by the inundations of the Nile, and the laborious industry of the inhabitants. It will be always so with every kingdom, whose governors direct all their actions to the public welfare. The culture of lands, and the breeding of cattle, will be an inexhaustible fund of wealth in all countries, Diod. l. i. 67. p. 7 Tom. ii. p. 64. 8 Lib. x. c. b4. Swineherds, in particular, had a general ill name throughout Egypt, as they had the care of so impure an animal. Herodotus (1. ii. c. 47.) tells us, that they were not permitted to enter the Egyptian temples, nor would any man give them his daughter in marriage. where, as in Egypt, these profitable callings are supported and encouraged by maxims of state and policy: and we may consider it as a misfortune, that they are at present fallen into so general a disesteem; though it is from them that the most elevated ranks (as we esteem them) are furnished, not only with the necessaries, but even the luxuries, of life. For, says Abbé Fleury, in his admirable work, Of the Manners of the Israelites, where the subject I am upon is thoroughly examined, it is the peasant who feeds the citizen, the magistrate, the gentleman, the ecclesiastic: and whatever artifice and craft may be used to convert money into commodities, and these back again into money; yet all must ultimately be owned to be received from the products of the earth, and the animals which it sustains and nourishes. Nevertheless, when we compare men's different stations of life together, we give the lowest place to the husbandman; and with many people a wealthy citizen, enervated with sloth, useless to the public, and void of all merit, has the preference, merely because he has more money, and lives a more easy and delightful life. But let us imagine to ourselves a country where so great a difference is not made between the several conditions; where the life of a nobleman is not made to consist in idleness and doing nothing, but in a careful preservation of his liberty; that is, in a due subjection to the laws and the constitution; by a man's subsisting upon his estate without a dependance on any one, and being contented to enjoy a little with liberty, rather than a great deal at the price of mean and base compliances: a country, whose sloth, effeminacy, and the ignorance of things necessary for life, are held in just contempt; and where pleasure is less valued than health and bodily strength: in such a country, it will be much more for a man's reputation to plough, and keep flocks, than to waste all his hours in sauntering from place to place, in gaming and expensive diversions. But we need not have recourse to Plato's commonwealth, for instances of men who have led these useful lives. It was thus that the greatest part of mankind lived during near four thousand years; and that not only the Israelites, but the Egyptians, the Greeks, and the Romans, that is to say, nations the most civilized, and most renowned for arms and wisdom. They all inculcate the regard which ought to be paid to agriculture, and the breeding of cattle: one of which (without saying any thing of hemp and flax, so necessary for our clothing) supplies us by corn, fruits, and pulse, with not only a plentiful but delicious_nourishment; and the other, besides its supply of exquisite meats to cover our tables, almost alone gives life to manufactures and trade, by the skins and stuffs it furnishes. Princes are commonly desirous, and their interest certainly requires it, that the peasant who, in a literal sense, sustains the heat and burden of the day, and pays so great a proportion of the national taxes, should meet with favour and encouragement. But the kind and good intentions of princes are too often defeated by the insatiable and merciless avarice of those who are appointed to collect their revenues. History has transmitted to us a fine saying of Tiberius on this head:-A præfect of Egypt having augmented the annual tribute of the province, and doubtless, with the view of making his court to the emperor, remitted to him a sum much larger than was customary; that prince, who, in the beginning of his reign, thought, or at least spoke justly, answered, That it was his design not to flay, but to shear his sheep.1 CHAPTER VI. OF THE FERTILITY OF EGYPT. UNDER this head, I shall treat only of some plants peculiar to Egypt, and of the abundance of corn which it produced. 'Xiphilin. in apophthegm. Tib. Cæs. Κείρεσθαί μου τὰ πρόβατα, ἀλλ ̓ οὐκ ἀποξύρεσθαι βούλομαι, 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; 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 Oft turn your style, if you desire to write The meaning of which is, that a good performance is : Nondum flumineas Memphis contexere byblos Memphis as yet knew not to form in leaves Pliny calls it a wonderful invention, 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. 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 a 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 tabour: Moreover, they that work in fine flax, and they that weave net-works, shall be confounded. 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. This storm was in March. |