THE
LIFE
OF
_SETHOS_.
TAKEN FROM
+Private Memoirs+
OF THE
Ancient _EGYPTIANS_.
Translated from a _Greek_ +Manuscript+
into +French+.
And now faithfully done into _English_ from
the _Paris_ +Edition+;
By Mr. _LEDIARD_.
In +Two Volumes+.
+Vol. I.+
_LONDON_:
Printed for +J. Walthoe+, over-against the
_Royal-Exchange_ in _Cornhill_.
M.DCC.XXXII.
[Illustration: _A MAP_ of EGYPT for the Life _OF_ SETHOS.]
[Illustration: Decorative header]
THE
PREFACE.
_The Greek Manuscript, of which I here offer the Publick a Translation,
was found in the library of a foreign nation, extremely jealous of this
sort of treasure. Those who procured me the reading of it would admit
of my publishing this Translation upon no other terms, but that of
concealing the Library in which the Original is deposited. The author
is no where named: But we find by several Passages in this work, that
he was a Greek born, and lived at Alexandria, under the reign of Marcus
Aurelius._
_There is no room to doubt but this work is a fiction. The event of
sundry enterprizes proving in a manner such as a reader would wish or
hope, the unexpected return and rencounter of several personages, but
above all, the great number of discourses directly from the Persons
themselves, sufficiently evince, that our author has not tied himself
down to such real facts, which the common circumstances of life make
liable to a greater confusion; and that he takes upon him the entire
disposal, not only of the actions, but even of the thoughts of those
persons he brings upon the stage._
_The particular advantage, which he proposed to himself, obliged him
to employ his pen in this kind of writing._ History, _properly so
call’d, has beyond dispute its excellencies. It is an Improvement of
the Mind, which we expect from every one who undertakes to cultivate
education. History is essential to the professions of some, and a
recreation almost universally coveted by others, whose main business
seems the most distant from it. It is one of the chief springs of
true philosophy, by the knowledge it gives us of human passions and
prejudices. It is accounted the most sure guide in politicks, by
furnishing one single person with the experience of all preceding
ages. In short, it is looked upon by some as a great foundation of
moral instructions, by the reiterated examples it lays before us of
good and evil._
_But with regard to this last property; I believe, when we come to
examine the matter narrowly, we shall find history fall far short
of fiction; when the latter is employed in such a manner as becomes
every prudent writer; that is, with an Eye to form the manners of men.
History, in itself, is but a collection of facts, guided by providence,
for ends generally unknown to us: and tho’ every thing be wonderfully
well ordered, pursuant to the mysterious views of the divine wisdom
and justice; the consequences of mens actions are frequently to our
eyes but a series of disappointed projects and crimes unpunished. A
view of what has happened in the world is, strictly speaking, no other
than a view of what passes in a place of publick resort, neither the
one nor the other is in any-wise moral but by the reflections of the
spectator or relator. In a Word, mere history is rather an object than
a doctrine._
_But in a fictitious work the case is very different. The moral Author,
if his undertaking be narrative, generally makes it his business to
represent his hero adorned with all the virtues proper to his state
and condition. He places him in all such circumstances as may give
him room to exercise these virtues. He sets him in opposition not only
to wicked men, but to such whose virtues are weak and wavering; that
their different characters may make that of his hero shine forth with
the greater lustre. His images are accompanied with judgments already
formed, and explicit advices. In a word, his instructions are rendered
perfect, as well by doctrine as example. We might combine and melt down
numbers of the great Men in history, and unite the events of many ages;
before we should find those materials for wonder and imitation, which a
judicious author of a fiction will often produce in but a small part of
the life of one single hero._
_The two works we have hitherto seen of this kind, Telemachus and the
Travels of Cyrus perfectly answer this idea. It is not a comparison
with history, which is of a quite different nature, but a comparison of
good fictitious works, which will more and more discover the pernicious
folly of romances, when by that term we mean an advantageous, or if but
a favourable representation of the frailties or disorders of love. But
a yet more important effect of good fiction will be to explode false
heroism. That cruel ambition and implacable revenge celebrated by so
many orators and poets under the epithet of valour, will be divested
of the lustre they have cloathed it with, and we shall soon look upon
whatever has contributed to raise these false virtues to such an
eminence, as the deceitful beauties of eloquence, or poetry._
_This happy effect seems to be already infused in the minds of men.
The spoil of nations does now no longer appear an object of emulation;
at least among civilized people. Panegyricks upon conquests and
devastations are no more patterns in the education of princes; and
good poets have done with extolling them for making arms alone their
pastime. I find no reason to repent of what I formerly said speaking
of Telemachus: That if the happiness of mankind could be said to arise
from a poem, it would be from that. And tho’ princes may not often
apply themselves much to reading, yet those who have the care of their
education, knowing as well the origine as progress of learning, don’t
suffer them to be ignorant, either in those principles of morality or
maxims of lenity, which even their own times may have produced and
established. Princes now ascend the throne endued with a knowledge of
true glory, and imbibing the very same sentiments on this head with the
publick, they concur in supporting it in that tranquility and happiness
which is expected from them._
_A peace, the long continuance of which has no precedent in our
history, is unquestionably owing to the wisdom of a great minister. And
the French nation acknowledges all the obligations due to him for that
unwearied administration which is the support of their tranquility.
But the princes he has to treat with would perhaps more strenuously
oppose his measures, if an education advanced by a work, which is of
service to all the kings in the universe, had not reconciled them to
the same dispositions of mind as the young and august monarch, in whose
kingdoms Telemachus took its birth. If we are allowed to assert, that
the encrease of literature has introduced a politeness and good taste
in all the courts and cities of Europe, we may justly attribute, at
least in part, that fondness for peace, which at this time seems to be
the favourite passion of all nations, to those works which contain an
excellent moral, set off with all the embellishments that can render it
agreeable. We may certainly number them among the causes of that just
and pacifick temper of mind, which every one is seemingly big with, and
which by degrees extirpates those animosities among nations, which the
bare remoteness of their former inducements, began to render unjust and
reproachful; and in the place of which a mutual value for the virtues,
talents, and every commendable quality of their neighbours is daily
substituted._
_A natural consequence of the success of_ Telemachus _next to
reforming our judgments, and softening our manners, ought to be laying
a foundation for a new kind of work. The first poems of antiquity
produced imitations of the same form and denomination, as Epopeas,
Tragedies, Idylls and the like; but the author of Telemachus has only
been imitated in the essential part; that is by the same intention or
zeal to produce the same effects. Thus Telemachus is an epick poem; but
the Travels of Cyrus, in conformity to their title, contain only the
hero’s rambles in search of instructions from all the wise men of his
times, in order to introduce into his own dominions whatever he found
good and profitable in the different customs of the most celebrated
kingdoms and commonwealths._
_The Work before us is, with regard to the moral design of it, of the
same species with both; but more different in the form of it, than they
are one from the other. They are both properly a system of education:
and tho’ Cyrus was more advanced in years than Telemachus; both heroes
only treasured up instructions for practice, or made trial of what
they were to put in use; the former in the management of a little
kingdom, and the latter in the government of a vast empire. My author,
on the contrary, displays a compleat life, or the actual application
of those principles and sentiments, which his hero had imbibed in the
course of a most excellent education. So that in this history, which is
divided into ten books, the hero, from the fourth, is in a condition
to instruct others; and in the whole sequel acts alone upon his own
motives. Mov’d by a true heroism, he employs the time of a tedious
exile in the quest of unknown people, whom he frees from the bondage of
the most barbarous superstitions, and becomes their law-giver. In his
return, he, by his valour, relieves a mighty republick from an enemy,
that was at its very gates; but demands no other reward for his labour,
than the preservation of the people he had vanquished, whose king or
tyrant had been the aggressor. Being at last returned into his native
country, he becomes a benefactor to those he had reason to look upon as
his enemies and rivals; rejoicing in those junctures, which engaged his
honour to sacrifice his own interest to theirs, and made the happiness
he obtained for them his duty._
_Sethos is not alone virtuous by a natural disposition or from a habit.
The motives of his conduct are drawn from durable and enlightened
principles, which he displays in different rencounters. And he forms
to himself such decisions, as, tho’ always tending towards the highest
perfection, and even to heroism, are more recommendable by their
accuracy than their severity. Hence we have reason to suppose, that,
our author, who liv’d in the second century, had some knowledge of
morals far superior to those of paganism. From these morals, it is very
plain he borrows those adequate definitions of the virtues and vices,
which he sometimes puts into the mouth of his hero, and some others
of his personages. And upon this it is I build the confidence I have
in affirming, that this work contains_ a more refined and profound
moral _than has hitherto been seen in any book, the product of mere
literature, or of the number of those which may be stil’d prophane_.
_As our author, however, leaves his hero a pagan; he confines
himself, in this history or life, wholly to moral virtues; and the
recommendation of such to the practice of mankind is not without its
advantage. It is by means of them, if I may be allowed the expression,
we can have intercourse with the manners of those nations, who differ
the most from us in point of religion. It is by them, that even in
religion itself, we are able to keep up that humanity and probity, so
necessary for the publick good, in men who have the unhappiness of not
enough perceiving those motives of another kind, which are of greater
importance to them. To conclude, by them we can shew those too zealous
persons, who seem to despise such virtues as are merely moral, that
christian virtues are in regard to moral virtues what faith is with
respect to reason; superior, but never contradictory._
_Another of our author’s views has been to lay hold of the opportunity
of an Egyptian hero to throw into his work a great number of learned
curiosities, concerning that once so famous people: And farther, as he
makes his hero travel over a great part of the globe, he had carefully
got together the primary notions of the ancient geography. This was,
without doubt, one of his reasons for giving his work the turn of a
history or life, preferable to that of a poem or romance. In reality,
the examples of Herodotus, Polybius, Diodorus, and especially of
Plutarch, sufficiently justified his inserting in this narrative, not
only political or military antiquities, but even historical passages
relating to the rise and progress of human knowledge. These great
writers looked upon such digressions as very curious for the common
part of readers, who want time or patience to have recourse to other
springs._
_I must own, however, that upon a view of my whole translation, I began
to fear the inconveniency of interruptions, either too frequent or too
prolix, in a life built upon fable, the contexture of whose parts ought
to render it more engaging than common lives. Of all the particulars
on this head in the original, I have therefore only preserved such as
were necessary to give an adequate idea of the education of a hero,
who stood in need of great lights, to undertake a very long voyage,
not before attempted; and then to give proper laws to the different
nations, which were civilized by him. The academies of Memphis, which
he frequents in his most tender youth, and the observatory of Thebes,
which he visits before he imbarks for his voyage, were preparations
essential to the carrying on of this design. And so the reader will
find a plan of the former in the first book, and a sketch of the other
in the fifth. But even in these hints I have considerably abridged our
author’s historical comparison between the sciences of the Egyptians
and those of Greece._
_Nevertheless, the general impression which will arise from the body
of the work, is sufficient to give even a pretty extensive idea of
the Egyptians, Phœnicians, and some other nations: And even the
fiction will be no hinderance to a search into the grounds of their
understanding and manners. Many people have no other notion of the
Greeks and Romans but what they have taken from Tragedy; and a certain
principle, not very easy to define, teaches them to distinguish that
which may reasonably be supposed to be true from what is probably
the product of invention only. This advantage has been improved even
in romances, and the ninth part of Cleopatra gives us as faithful
a picture of the recesses of Augustus’s court, as we could expect
from the Abbot of St. Real. But here the reader will find plainer
indications than are to be found either in tragedies or romances._
_We may at first view rely upon the particular circumstances, as well
of Egypt as of other nations, which the author confirms by quoting any
known writers. He seems himself to have separated the real from the
fictitious, by alledging his anecdotical authors for those facts which
are wholly the children of his own invention, or for such customs as
are founded upon truth, but are refined and amplified in the relation.
Fiction has a right of sacrificing the accuracy of facts, not only
to moral virtues, but even to the embellishment of the narration;
supposing besides that the end of such embellishment is to render the
instruction more agreeable. An example of this conduct in our author,
is the important article of initiation, which alone fills two whole
books. But even this article is very conformable to the essential
part of this renowned institution; as far as it could break thro’
that rigid silence which cover’d it, and as we find any traces of it
in those authors, either Pagan or Christian, who have mentioned it.
The whole work is full of manners and customs, part of which I myself
have confirmed by notes added to the text. As to some other less
considerable passages, for the proof of which I have designedly avoided
over-charging this work with quotations. I dare venture to affirm,
that the more my readers may have examined, the more they will find
our author agree with those testimonies which are either collected or
dispersed in the different writings we have left of antiquity. For
tho’ my intent was to clear this work from all tedious erudition, I
never designed to deprive it of the advantage and support of curious
enquiries: but had always my author’s chief aim in view, who adding his
love for learning to that of virtue, looks upon literature in a nation,
taken in general, as the source and support of every humane and civil
virtue._
_To conclude, our author seems to have drawn all the probability, that
can be expected from a fictitious writer, concerning the knowledge
he could be supposed to have of the actions and sentiments of his
hero, from the place where he lived. He is treating of an Egyptian
prince, born in the century preceding the Trojan war, a time in which
ancient Egypt was in its greatest splendor. Now this period so remote
can have furnished no publick memoirs to any other writer either of
Italy or Greece. But it is very natural to suppose that a citizen of
Alexandria may have been master of memoirs taken in the confusion of
war from the sacred archives of Egypt, and unknown even to the Egyptian
priests of his times; and besides those priests who accompanied Sethos
in his travels, may have been the authors of them. It was to give a
like sanction to her history that Madam de Scudery in the preface to
her Cyrus, a hero posterior to ours by seven or eight hundred years,
studies to have it thought the translation of an ancient manuscript
found in the Vatican library._
_In the second place, as our author mentions the sciences of the
Egyptians only comparatively with those of the Greeks, from whom alone
the Romans had any knowledge of ancient Egypt; the second century, or
the latter end of the first, and the beginning of the second, in which
he lived, was the most proper time for this comparison. A time which
may justly be termed the most favourable to the sciences both for the
Romans and Greeks, then under the same empire. M. de St. Evremont has
already remarked that the days of Augustus were only noted for poetry;
and that we must look something farther back for the days of eloquence.
Our best writers in point of painting and sculpture, M. Felibien and M.
de Piles, seem on the other hand to refer the period of sciences among
the Romans, to that interval of time included in the reign of Vespasian
and the Antonines. The names of Pliny, Ptolemy and Galienus alone give
us reason to fix their greatest eminency thereabouts; and the reader
will find in this life sundry evidences to prove, that Alexandria
was then their principal seat, even for the Romans themselves. These
considerations were sufficient to justify our author with regard to
what I have thought proper to omit on this head, and may perhaps give
him more credit with regard to that little I have retained._
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LICENCE.
By Order of the +Lord Keeper+ of the +Seals+, I have read a
Manuscript, entitled: _The_ +Life+ _of_ +Sethos+; _taken from
private Memoirs of the ancient_ Egyptians, _translated from a_ Greek
_Manuscript_. This Work, which contains excellent Lessons of the
most refin’d Morality, and is full of solid, and the most extensive
Learning, can’t fail of being equally instructive and curious.
_Paris, Jan. 29, 1731._
=Lancelot.=
_ERRATA._
VOL. I. _P._ 64, _l._ 24. _read_ advantage. 103,6. _r._ adopted.
114,2. _in the notes for_ his _r._ the. 160,2. _for_ lanes _r._ lines.
185,23. _r._ complaisance. 240,16. _r._ I had, _&c._ 279,9. _r._ the
discretion. 354,5. _after_ ramparts _add a_ (,). 358,13. _dele_ (,).
383,22. _dele_ (,). 386,19. _r._ ruling. 390,3. _r._ companion.
VOL. II. _P._ 62, _l._ 5. _after_ settlement _add_ in the city. 68,27.
_r._ predecessor. 275,20. _r._ governor. 315,18. _after_ they _add_
likewise. 324,2. _dele_ (,) _after_ were, _and place it after_ yet.
341,15. _after_ judge, _add_ only. 342,1. _r._ besieger. 432,24. _for_
still _r._ swell.
[Illustration: Decorative header]
THE
LIFE
OF
_SETHOS_.
BOOK I.
The Egyptians, who go farther back in the relations of their origine
than our histories reach, say the Gods were their first kings. They
name seven: Vulcan, the Sun, Agathodemon, Saturn, Osiris, Isis and
Typhon. By Vulcan, to whom they assign no beginning, their philosophers
meant that elementary fire, which is diffused every where. This
same fire, re-united into one globe, is the Sun, the son of Vulcan.
Agathodemon, defin’d by his very name, was their good genius or
principle. Saturn, or Time, was the father of Osiris and Isis, brother
and sister, husband and wife, the two sexes of nature. Typhon, their
third brother, was always regarded by them as their evil principle.
Horus was the son of Osiris and Isis, reason, or human wisdom, and he
began the reign of the demi-gods. These were nine in number, Horus,
Mars, Anubis, Hercules, Apollo, Ammon, Tithoes, Sosus, and Jupiter, or
Menes. I shall not speak of every one of these in particular, most of
them being pretty well known to the Greeks and Romans, even in their
allegorical signification. I shall only observe, in order to set the
times of my hero in a clearer light, that the latter of these demi-gods
began the reign of men. He was indeed look’d upon but as a man in
his life-time: but after having rul’d all Egypt alone by the name of
Menes, he was, after his death, in consideration of his happy reign,
number’d with the gods by the name of Jupiter. He had four sons, Thot
or Mercury, Æsculapius, Athotes and Curudes, of which the two first
were, as well as himself, advanced to the skies. Menes, to render the
succession to his states equal, divided Egypt into four kingdoms.
Mercury reign’d in Thebes, Æsculapius at Memphis, Athotes at This, and
Curudes at Tanis. This was the rise of the four great Dynasties of
Egypt, which were collateral or cotemporary for sixteen hundred years,
to the time of the famous Sesostris, king of Thebes, and conqueror of
Asia. [1]The other Egyptian dynasties, which some historians mention,
to the number of twenty, from the times of Menes to Sesostris, were
but separate branches of these four chief divisions; and the different
names they give them, as Heracleopolites, Xoites, Elephantins, and
the like, were taken from the residence of some of the kings of each
dynasty in different cities of the same kingdom.
[1] The preceding genealogies are conformable to those of Marsham; but
what follows seems to agree with the chronology of father Pezron.
As for the Shepherd Kings, who were foreigners, and having dwelt in
Egypt during the space of three or four ages, seem to have interrupted
this succession; they never had any settled possession on this side
Tanis, on the borders of Delta, tho’ they obliged the natural kings
of those regions to retire to Heliopolis. But as these foreigners,
originally Arabians, made frequent incursions into the other parts of
Egypt, the Egyptians, being reunited, attack’d, and having vanquish’d
them, oblig’d them, and their descendants, to furnish all Egypt with
slaves. This victory was obtain’d near two hundred years before the
birth of Sesostris, who found Egypt in a state of tranquillity, and
made it very flourishing. This hero had the ambition to set the
god Osiris for his pattern, and like him, according to the Egyptian
traditions, visited a great part of the earth, teaching the inhabitants
to cultivate it, and to form agreeable and useful societies; thus
Sesostris was the first king, of the race of men, who bore arms in
Asia, and there introduced and establish’d the laws and sciences of
Egypt. He even rul’d all the four kingdoms of Egypt, not indeed by a
sovereign power, but by the superiority of his genius, his virtues and
reputation.
His first successors supported for a time, especially with regard to
foreign provinces, the splendor of so great an empire; and we find,
about one hundred years after Sesostris, Mendes or Memnon, king of
Thebes, ruler of Susa and Phrygia, chastizing the revolted Bactrians,
and re-establishing order among the people conquer’d by his ancestor.
But Ramesses, who succeeded Memnon, wanting both the courage and
conduct of his forefathers, lost, by his weakness, all the conquer’d
dominions, and, by his pride, a title which he had till then retain’d
above the other kings of Egypt. His immediate predecessors having need
of all their cunning as well as force, to keep the distant provinces
under the yoke of obedience, had treated these kings with discretion,
and had not abus’d that right, which they perceived had in truth only
devolv’d upon Sesostris, on account of his personal merit. But young
Ramesses[2] soon discover’d his character by two obelisks, which he
caus’d to be inscrib’d with titles so ostentatious and false, with
regard to him, that in latter ages they have been thought to relate to
Sesostris. This young prince, whose whole study was to deck himself
with a vain and momentaneous glory, the ignominious consequences of
which he never foresaw, took upon him to send these kings, who were
now become his equals, his commands in form. But they soon gave him
to understand, that they insisted upon Egypt’s retaining its pristine
form of four dynasties, which had been always independant since the
four sons of Menes. They alledg’d, that Sesostris himself had not
interrupted them: and that the kings their predecessors, in his
life-time, reserving the royal title and dignities, had accepted of
diverse regulations, by him proposed, only because they appear’d to be
equally advantageous to the whole nation. Such was the division he had
made of all Egypt into thirty-six nomes[3] or provinces, the particular
governors of which could with greater ease keep a watchful eye over
the productions of nature and art, which they furnish for foreign
commerce; and over the taxes they were in a condition to contribute
in case of a general war. It was to him, they said, were owing those
temples which were erected in each city, to the honour of its tutelar
god; the wall which extended from Pelusa to Heliopolis, and put a stop
to the inroads of the Syrians, and bordering Arabians of the desarts,
a people under no manner of discipline; the great canal, by which a
communication was open’d between the Mediterranean and the Red-sea,
and the whole eastern and western commerce made to pass thro’ Egypt;
and lastly those dykes and sluices, which taking in the whole space
from the Cataracts of the Nile, to its mouth or entrance into the sea,
between the mountains of Libya, and the coasts of the red-sea, stopp’d
or received, as occasion requir’d, the inundations of that river. But
they added, that, all these undertakings being finished, they knew how
to maintain them, each in his own dominions, without the advice of
Ramesses, from whom they absolutely refused to receive any commands.
This opposition put an end to a dispute, which a king, more wise than
he, might have kept undecided; and he was obliged to take up with the
title of king of Thebes the great, which devolv’d to Sesostris by right
of his ancestors.
[2] Kirk. Oed. Ægyp. tom. 4 p. 162. & Marsham, p. 431. ed. in fol.
[3] Diodorus, l. 1.
About two hundred years after the death of Ramesses, and fifty or
sixty years before the Trojan wars; Osoroth, a prince advanced in
years, succeeded to the crown of Memphis, a dynasty but little inferior
in power to that of Thebes, but by far preferable to it with regard
to the lenity of its climate, and the beauty of its situation. The
city of Memphis, the metropolis of the dynasty, was situate on the
western bank of the Nile, near the place where that only river of
Egypt divides itself into seven arms, of which those two, which are
at the greatest distance one from the other, enclose the Delta, and
all together form seven mouths at their entrance into the great ocean
(the Mediterranean.) All Egypt has, from the antientest account of
time, been stil’d a gift of the Nile; being suppos’d to be only a heap
of earth, which the waters of this river has successively carry’d
away with its stream from the south to the north. But the formation
of the Delta is held to be more recent: because according to those[4]
monuments, which may well be look’d upon as historical truths,
the Pharus of Alexandria, which is now join’d to the continent, was
formerly twenty-four leagues distant from it in the sea. This region is
so delightful, that, according to fable, the gods form’d it upon the
constellation of the triangle, which passes vertically over the Delta
every Day in the year.
[4] Plin. lib. 2. c. 35. Sen. quæst. nat. lib. 6. c. 26.
Osoroth, not long before his accession to the throne, had marry’d
Nephte, daughter of the king of This, a third dynasty, situate between
Memphis and Thebes, to the west of the river Nile. Of this princess he
soon had the prince, whose life I am about to write. He was the eldest
of the three sons of Osoroth, mentioned in the annals of [5]Manethon
only by the name of the Anonymi. But tho’ this famous historian was a
priest, and even keeper of the sacred archives of Heliopolis; as he
did not write till the reign of Ptolomeus Philadelphus, two hundred
years after the devastation of Egypt by Cambyses, the remains of those
memoirs he was possess’d of were but very imperfect. I have, by means
not to be related, discover’d those which are more ample, and have been
preserv’d more entire; and which give to the first of these Anonymi of
Manethon the name of Sethos, and the surname of Sosis, or Preserver,
for a reason that will be shewn in the sequel of his life.
[5] See the Egyptian origines of Perizonius, p. 47. under the column,
ex African. also the 38, and 49 pages, in which Manethon is alledg’d to
be the first author of the sequels of Africanus and Eusebius.
The birth of this prince fill’d the whole kingdom with joy; so great
was the love the people bore to their king, or rather to the queen,
who, tho’ but young in years, govern’d them with an admirable wisdom
and goodness: For Osoroth, whose character it would be difficult to
trace in one single picture, and which will not be well understood till
towards the conclusion of this history, immediately entrusted the reins
of government in the hands of the queen. This prince did not ascend the
throne till the 50th year of his age: And king Sesonchis his father,
more jealous of his present authority than attentive to the future
felicity of his son and subjects, had kept him ignorant of the affairs
of his realm, even to the moment he left him his successor. So Osoroth,
having fortify’d his natural indolence by a life given up to sloth and
inactivity, had no other taste of the sweets of royalty, but that of
independency, and sought how to disburthen himself of the weight of
government. This part fell, as it were of itself, into the hands of the
queen, more capable than any other of receiving it; and what appear’d
in the eye of the people to be a judicious choice, was in reality the
mere effect of supineness in Osoroth. He was one of those kings, who
being of themselves neither good nor bad, become the very best or worst
of princes, just as they happen by mere accident to fall into the
hands of good or wicked ministers: Unhappy the situation of a people
subject to a prince whose very errors are without controul!
Nephte, from the first dawn of her power, had fill’d her subjects with
the hopes of a gentle government. They were the more sensible of it,
as their deceas’d king, otherwise a great prince, was rigid and stern
in his manners. The minds of the people were sensible of a relief,
even before the queen had eas’d them in the publick burden; because,
without diminishing the king’s revenue, she had found means of rendring
it less perceptible. Even the riches of private persons encreas’d by
the confidence they plac’d in her, and in one another. She, at the same
time, brought up her only son with all the affection of a mother, and
the foresight of a wise queen. She earnestly desir’d to see him attain
to that age in which she might, in her turn, deliver up to him that
administration, which she look’d upon but as a trust committed to her
charge. In the mean time she took as an assistant in the conduct of
her affairs, an excellent person, call’d Amedes; who, tho’ he had not
in the late reign pass’d thro’ all the offices of dignity wherewith
he might have been invested, yet had acquitted himself with great
honour in several eminent stations, as well civil as military, and in
negotiations with foreign princes; and who now advis’d the queen (as
he had before the late king) to conceal from the publick the honour
she did him, to avoid exciting the jealousy of the great, and that
murmuring of the people, which is often rais’d against those ministers
who are most zealous for the publick felicity. Hence the queen,
reserving Amedes for her cabinet counsellor, without any title of note,
preferr’d the best of her subjects, among those whom the different
degrees of birth seem’d to present for every place that became vacant.
Thus her sovereign authority was employ’d in distinguishing merit,
without subverting order; and the number of the disaffected was very
small, and even they were apprehensive of uttering those complaints,
which they knew the voice of the publick would condemn.
While the queen intirely devoted herself to affairs of state, the king
gave himself up to all the amusements of a glittering court. But as
these were never reliev’d by any thing serious, they could scarce keep
him from uneasiness, and manifested in the king of a great people, a
man whose very leisure sate heavy upon him. Among the ladies who were
about him was one, whose name was Daluca, the widow of a great lord of
the court. She had no children, and had already pass’d those years
in which the ladies only cultivate their beauty in order to carry on
their gallantry, and was enter’d into those, in which they are studious
of making the remains of it subservient to their ambition. This lady
had form’d a design of gaining an ascendant over the king. The esteem
and regard the queen was in had deterr’d every one else from the like
attempt. Daluca herself, who was perfectly acquainted with Osoroth’s
temper, was very cautious of saying any thing to him against Nephte,
that might excite any disagreeable emotions in his mind. She made it
her business to be continually near him; and had the art of pleasing
by that obsequiousness and those complacencies, which have by much a
greater power over kings somewhat advanc’d in years, than youth and
beauty, void of stratagem and private views. And she did not find it
difficult to gain the favour of a prince so unguarded and indolent. She
might perhaps have already rais’d her ambition to a greater height,
upon observing that the queen was not in the best state of health. But
without renouncing the view of a more remote happiness, her vanity was
for the present satisfy’d by being a distinguish’d object among the
courtiers, and by standing in some manner in competition with the queen.
Nephte, by the dignity of her person, as well as the situation of
affairs, was far above the uneasinesses which generally affect those
who perceive themselves invested only with a borrow’d power. Wherefore,
tho’ she soon observ’d the stratagems and intrigues of her rival, she
fear’d nothing with regard to herself; but then her foresight laid her
under the greater apprehensions for her son. He had then attain’d but
his eighth year, and she saw with grief, that if she should be snatch’d
away before his father had settled the succession upon him, the fate of
this young prince would be deliver’d into the hands of the rash Daluca.
The right of primogeniture was indeed establish’d in Egypt: But the
choice of a father was of great weight; and history furnish’d more than
one example of a second or third son being preferr’d to the eldest. And
oftentimes this incertitude had been the occasion of quarrels among
brothers, which the fortune of the sword could alone decide. Thus,
tho’ the queen had then no symptoms that foreboded any approaching
distemper, yet the thoughts of a doubtful futurity cast her into great
uneasinesses. Wherefore recommending her son, by means of the priests,
to the protection of all the deities of Egypt, she apply’d herself with
the greater earnestness to the performance of her duty, that she might
engage heaven to second intentions so worthy of her maternal care: but
the gods, who are the sole arbiters of the rewards of the just, do not
always dispense them in the course of this mortal life.
The queen’s too assiduous application to business, even beyond her
strength, and perhaps her too great apprehension of sickness, caus’d
her in a short time to fall into an indisposition, which, being at
first but slight, she strove to conceal, in hopes of overcoming it.
But the fever increasing, the distemper was soon look’d upon as a
thing not to be trifled with; and the reflections she made upon the
circumstances of her son, threw her into the utmost despair. Unhappy
princess! cry’d she, whatever my fears have hitherto suggested is now
coming to pass! Why must my life be of such moment to my son? Tho’ in
bloom of youth, I have tasted enough of the bitterness of life to leave
it without regret, if no one else was concern’d; yet, alas! ’tis I who
die; and ’tis I who mourn for my son! These words were follow’d by a
torrent of tears, which heighten’d her disease, without alleviating
her affliction. In vain her disconsolate damsels, who took care to
keep the prince from her sight, study’d to appease her by persuasion
and entreaty. Alas! said she, I plainly perceive by the confusion in
your discourses, and the cruelty with which you conceal my son from
my eyes, that my fate is fix’d, and all hopes of a recovery lost. My
son! my dearest son! cry’d she, in the greatest agitation of mind, thou
alone makest death my terror! Death, who is the end of all others pain,
is the origin of mine! I shall be deny’d even the peace of the grave!
Madam, answer’d the most venerable of her attendants, who by her birth,
virtue and affection was dearest to her, whither do the hurry of your
thoughts carry you? Do you consider, that, by giving way, as you do,
to an excess of grief, whereby you render your distemper mortal, which
otherwise is but dangerous, you at the same time offend the providence
of the gods, the sovereign arbiters of yours and your son’s destiny?
That virtue, madam, which you have hitherto strictly profess’d, is not
perfectly distinguishable till exercis’d in such trials as this. Well,
answer’d the queen, I submit to your advice, and devote myself with an
absolute resignation to the will of the gods. Acquaint me only when the
time of my dissolution approaches, that I may take my last measures
with regard to my son, upon whose fate I foresee depends the happiness
of my people.
This lady, whose friendship was sincere and resolute, having promis’d
the queen what she demanded, Nephte from that moment endeavour’d to
preserve her mind in a state of tranquillity; but the less visible her
anxieties appear’d in her outward behaviour, the greater effect they
had upon her mind.
In the mean time the most celebrated physicians of the kingdom, who
were then the priests, were assembled in the palace, even by order
of the king; tho’, that it might not break in upon his pleasures,
he always suppos’d the queen’s distemper to be of no dangerous
consequence. Egypt, the mother of arts and sciences, claim’d the
honour, before all other, of having given birth to the medical art.
Æsculapius, one of the sons of Menes, had even reign’d in Memphis, as
we have already observ’d, while his brother Mercury was king of Thebes;
and the six volumes [6]which the former had compil’d upon physick,
added to the six-and-thirty wherein Mercury had given the principles
of all the other sciences, form’d that famous treasure of learning,
by which the priests boasted of having been instructed by the gods
themselves. Be that as it will, these physicians, truly accomplish’d
in their art, put in practice, with regard to the queen, whatever
their reading, reflexions, and experience could suggest. They at first
treated her according to their ancient rules, which were enjoyn’d
them under penalty of death: for every physician, who deviated from
them, was answerable for his patient, and in case of ill success,
the death of the one surely brought on the death of the other. This
indeed often serv’d for a pretext to treat those patients, who were
indifferent to them, with negligence, and not to exceed the letter
of the law. But that concern with which they were sensibly affected
for the preservation of a queen, such as Nephte, and the lamentations
of a people, who recommended their sovereign, whom they styl’d their
mother, soon engag’d them to have recourse to new remedies. They indeed
disguis’d them under ancient names, whereby they found means to justify
themselves by some of the innumerable instances with which their books
were fill’d. They even by turns waited at the gate of the palace to
hear all who might have any advice to offer for the queen’s recovery:
and afterwards gave their opinion of them in their consultations.
For it was of importance to them in so critical a juncture, in some
measure, to comply with an ancient custom, of placing their sick before
the doors of their houses, that they might enquire of all who pass’d
by, if they knew of any remedy for the distemper in question.
[6] Clem. Alex. Strom. 6.
On the other hand, the temples of the gods were open day and night
to a vast concourse of people, who continually resorted thither to
supplicate the recovery of their queen. They began at the[7] temple
of Vulcan, built by Menes, the common ancestor of all the kings of
Egypt, which had been preserv’d during the space of 1600 years in all
the splendor it was left in by the founder. From thence they went to
those of Serapis and Venus: But it was in the temple of Osiris, his
wife Isis, and their son Horus, that they were the most assiduous, on
account of the remarkable relation there happen’d to be between these
three deities, and the persons of whom the royal family then consisted.
The successive concourse of innumerable people continually fill’d not
only the court, the porch, and body of the temple, but all the parts
contiguous to the sanctuary, notwithstanding their large extent.
[7] Strab. l. 17. Herod. l. 2.
In the middle of the sanctuary, upon a very high pedestal, and all
of one single piece of cast metal, were plac’d these three deities,
in such sort, that Osiris, whose image was the highest, held Isis[8]
standing before him, and she Horus in the same manner: For what Strabo
says of the temples of Egypt being without statues, or at most having
only the figure of some animal in the middle of them, is not to be
understood of the times antecedent to the invasion of Cambyses. The
head of Osiris was incircled with a radiant sun. Isis was crown’d with
a bushel, and had her face cover’d with a veil. Under her left arm she
held an urn bow’d downwards, and at her feet lay the bird Ibis. And
Horus was describ’d holding his finger upon his lips. There it was that
numerous troops of musicians sung to slow musick, and in a mournful
tone, hymns, taken from their ancient rites, and adapted to the present
occasion.[9]
[8] Vid. Kirch. tom. 1. p. 113.
[9] This hymn has a conformity to the inscriptions upon the columns
of Osiris and Isis, mention’d by Diod. l. 1. Apul. Metam. l. 11. and
others.
Osiris, pow’r, from earliest times, that springs,
Victor and patron of this mighty ball,
Branch of our gods, and stem of all our kings,
Husband of Isis, sovereign lord of all:
Save from too hard, but, ah! impending fate,
A pious monarch’s wise and watchful mate,
Religion’s prop, and safeguard of the state.
Isis, sole goddess; thro’ the world ador’d;
In mysteries conceal’d, in bounties seen;
One deity by various names implor’d,
In various places; of those regions queen,
Where springs, and is reserv’d, the sacred flood,
Which being gives, and proves earth’s vital blood,
When from thy urn thou pourst th’ irriguous good.
Type of our queen, and ancestor, ordain,
If to thy virtues, as thy worship, true,
Memphis she gave again to feel thy reign,
That these our tears fate’s rigour may subdue.
In saving Nephte, thy own glory save,
The spouse, the subjects, and the son you gave,
All doom’d alike to perish in her grave.
Horus, thou god of silence, wisdom taught,
Who shield’st from harms the weakness of the good,
To full maturity by years unbrought:
Protect our prince, thy image, and thy blood.
O guard his royal youth with tender care,
Assume the task thy mother Isis bare
For thee, of equal years, her infant heir.
While this and the like hymns were repeating, the priests (in robes of
linnen, with chaplets of lotus on their heads, and sandals of the plant
papyrus on their feet) were continually offering sacrifices upon three
triangular altars plac’d before the triple statue. These holy men,
worn away with austere fasting, which had continu’d from the instant
the queen’s distemper begun, and fainting under the cruel scourgings
with which they accompany’d their invocations, were hardly able,
notwithstanding their great number, to put up the prayers the people
demanded of them, or which they offer’d of their own accord.
But what avail temples, and all the vows offer’d in them, against the
irrevocable decrees of fate! The queen, however ready to conform to all
the prescriptions of her physicians, declin’d daily. The most powerful
medicines, tho’ apply’d even before she was reduc’d to extremity,
seem’d to have no more effect upon her than common remedies; and
the physicians, who had been less apprehensive of any extraordinary
event, than of that insensible decay they perceiv’d in her, never let
fall the least word of hopes. Convinc’d of her own fate, she resolv’d
at last to consult the most ancient oracle in the world, which was
in the neighbourhood of Memphis, with regard to her son. It was the
oracle of Latona, the nurse of Horus, at Butos, a city lying between
the Sebennitick and Polbitinick gulph, opposite to which was the then
floating island Chemnis.[10] And this it was which gave the Greeks a
notion of their island of Delos floating till the birth of Apollo,
the son of Latona. The priests of the oracle, inform’d of the queen’s
sickness, had anticipated her deputation, and made great preparations
for obtaining the goddess’s answer. They offer’d up their supplications
to her in a vast temple, dug under that which appear’d. In that
above the sacrifices were offer’d, and the ceremonies perform’d, in
the sight of all the people; but to the mysteries celebrated in the
subterranean temple, none were admitted but those who were initiated.
There it was that so many human victims were sacrific’d, particularly
upon such occasions as this, and the gods entreated to accept of other
young persons, in exchange for a prince or princess greatly belov’d.
There are few nations known, but what may be reproach’d with the same
shameful barbarity: But the Egyptians, more superstitious than other
nations, have, in former days, carry’d it so far as to sacrifice every
foreigner at the tomb of Osiris, in the city of Heliopolis. This tomb
was call’d Busiris; and fable has related it as of a king of Egypt, a
transgressor of the laws of hospitality. However, Amosis, [11]one of
the ancestors of Sesostris at Thebes, had the courage and authority to
abolish this bloody custom in every city. In the room of these human
victims were then substituted images of wax, since so much made use of
in magick superstitions.
[10] Pomp. Mela.
[11] Euseb. Præpar. Evan. l. 4. c. 16. ex. Porph.
The priests deputed to consult the oracle being arriv’d, after one
day’s journeying, at Butos, with the noble offerings the queen had
sent, went the same evening into the temple. All the people having
conducted them thither, were oblig’d to attend without; and they
enter’d into that part of the temple adjoining to the chapel in the
superior temple, of which Herodotus makes mention, and which was hewn
out of one single square stone, the inside whereof was sixty foot
every way. After having pass’d a good part of the night in this place,
they received the answer of the oracle, and were let out privately by
another door, and made the best of their way for Memphis.
The queen, who counted every moment of their journey, and her life,
waited their return with an impatience that added to the ardor of her
fever. That sorrow which had so tortur’d her mind in the first periods
of her indisposition, and which she still continu’d to suppress, was
now as visible in her attendants. They look’d upon her death as an
irrevocable decree of fate; and the consequences of it, which they
foresaw, as well with regard to themselves as the state, threw them
into an inexpressible anguish of mind. It was not only that tender
affliction arising from the approaching and eternal separation from
a mistress, and a friend, to whom they were entirely devoted: Their
concern was like to that of persons who imagin’d they beheld all their
fair possessions on the point of being laid in ashes, by the impetuous
ravages of some sudden fire, which would reduce them from a state
of plenty, to that of extreme indigence: or to the consternation of
a city brought to extremity by a barbarous enemy, ready to destroy
its religion and laws. The anguish of despair was so visible in their
faces, that the most beautiful were become ghastly; and those amongst
them, who were endu’d with the greatest presence of mind, could not
conceal their distraction, even in their attendances upon the queen,
who still kept a profound silence.
The deputies being at last return’d, and taking the young prince, with
the faithful Amedes, whom they found attending him, with them, they
enter’d the queen’s apartment; where, in the presence of both, and of
her confident, without any other witnesses, the chief of the deputation
thus unfolded the answer of the oracle, which the sequel of the life of
Sethos so exactly verifies, that the author of my memoirs may perhaps
be suspected of having copy’d from thence. Vertuous spouse, generous
mother, and wise queen (said he) the gods, adverse, and at the same
time propitious, send you this answer: Be comforted in that death for
which you are already prepar’d. It is only an unhappiness to those in
whom it puts an end to a wicked life, and when it loads the memory of
the deceas’d with the hatred and maledictions of the living. The gods
are attending to bestow upon you that reward which is due to the good
works you have perform’d, and even to those you design’d. You will
still live in the hearts of your people, and your son will one day
restore to them that felicity, which the loss of you is now about to
deprive them of. He himself however will not be happy, according to the
idea common souls form to themselves of the prosperity of princes: But
the gods promise him all that heroick virtue has most satisfactory in
itself, and all that the glory which attends it can indulge him with.
Born for the good of mankind, he will become a benefactor to nations;
preserver of Egypt; and a conqueror of himself. But let those who now
hear me keep as an inviolable secret, whatever concerns the prince, and
suffer the cloud which will overshadow his first years to disperse of
itself.
The priest had hardly made an end of speaking, when the queen,
embracing young Sethos, said: My son, my death is no longer a trouble
to me, the gods deprive you of my relief only to give you a more
eminent merit and lustre in those great actions they propose to effect
by your means. Be faithful to the destiny they have prepar’d for you,
and fulfil all their designs. And then, addressing herself to the
priests, Return, said she, to your temples, and continue your vows
for my son, whom I have long since recommended to you: The presents I
design for the gods shall immediately follow you; may they vouchsafe to
accept of these slender marks of my gratitude.
These presents were all the ornaments of a domestick chapel, which
she had caus’d to be built contiguous to the apartment she slept in.
She had brought them from This, the place of her nativity, where the
news of her lamented death was soon going to shorten the days of
the king her father. Amongst these ornaments were statues of gold,
some of the height of a cubit, which represented the common deities
of all Egypt, and in particular of Apollo, who was held in peculiar
veneration at This, and at Abydus, which was dependant upon it.
Having thus previously sent to the gods what was most dear to her,
she address’d herself to Amedes in the following discourse. Wise and
faithful counsellor, said she, the kingdom will not be so happy to have
you for its support, under the administration which will succeed my
death; devote yourself to my son, and be his governor and council. The
gods assure me that those virtues they have promis’d him will be the
effects of your instructions and example. Amedes immediately embracing
young Sethos with the respect due to him; My prince, said he, to you I
entirely devote the remains of my strength and life. All the services
I am capable of rendering my country, are included in the education I
shall have the honour of giving to him, to whom the sovereignty of it
will one day of right belong.
In that instant the king, who, not to be wanting in his devoirs, had
made it a rule to visit the queen twice a day, enter’d her apartment.
My lord, said she, upon seeing him approach, the oracle has pronounced
my doom. It may not be seemly to recommend a son to his father;
but, since he is going to be deprived of me, vouchsafe to accept
my entreaty, that you will be to him a father and a mother. Madam,
answer’d the king, my son is dear to me for my own sake, and will be
still dearer to me for yours; but I don’t yet despair of moving the
gods to pity for your preservation. Upon which, covering his eyes with
his hand, he departed.
The next thing the queen did, was to distribute jewels to all her
attendants, according to their birth and quality. That serenity which
appeared in her countenance had chang’d their despair into gentle
tears. At last, turning to the young prince; For you, my son, said
she, I have reserved this casket: in it you will find jewels to an
inestimable value, and sufficient for your support, to whatever state
fortune may reduce you. Amedes will keep them for you, or employ them
for your service. But for this emerald, set in the form of a heart,
which I have hitherto caused you to wear about your neck, and which
you shall convert into a ring, when you put off the habit of a child,
never part with it on any account. About four years since, your father
caus’d us all three to be represented in relievo upon the same stone;
himself in the form of Osiris, me in the resemblance of Isis, and you
like Horus, standing between us. The ingenious workman afterwards, by
his command, cut this stone into three pieces, according to the bigness
of the figures. One of them is that you wear, another is set in the
ring I now take from my finger, and put into your casket. These two,
when divested of their ornaments, will exactly correspond with the
third, which your father has himself upon his finger. Adieu, my son!
may the gods protect you, and receive me! Sethos, touch’d with all the
sentiments his tender years were susceptible of, reply’d; I receive,
madam, what you are pleas’d to bestow upon me; I have given attention
to what you have said; and when I am of riper years, I will endeavour
to do as you have done. The queen press’d his hand, and made a sign for
him to be remov’d. She spoke no more, and an hour afterwards yielded to
the fatal stroke.
I will not pretend to give a description of the grief which overspread
Memphis, and all the provinces of the kingdom, as this melancholy news
reach’d them. The tears which were shed upon a bare apprehension of
this catastrophe may give some idea of it. [12]The Egyptians in former
days were so much devoted to their sovereigns, that a mourning in the
royal mansion was generally a domestick mourning in every family. They
gave testimony of it in publick for forty days, by appearing with
their garments rent, and in private by their austere fastings. But
this last loss, the consequence of which every one was apprehensive of
in his private concerns, fill’d each heart with inexpressible grief;
insomuch that the priests, who, upon the like occasions, were wont to
countenance the publick affliction, to do honour to the memory of their
deceas’d kings, found themselves oblig’d, in the present incident, to
calm the minds and hearts of the people, in order to preserve that
decorum which was, as they said, becoming a civiliz’d nation, and to
render to the manes of the deceas’d queen an homage more agreeable
to her virtues. They declared, that she died in peace, and that the
oracles had removed her apprehensions for the destiny of her son and
people. They alledged the state of rest and felicity, into which they
had so much reason to hope the gods would admit her at her approaching
obsequies. They endeavour’d in short, by all manner of consolatory
advices, to asswage the pain of that wound, which time alone could
heal, and which they, however, fear’d time might render more sensible.
[12] Diodor. l. 1.
Preparations were in the mean time making for the funeral pomp. No
people ever came up to the Egyptians in this particular. Their authors,
and even ours say, [13]that they were the first who had any notion of
the immortality of the soul. And, indeed, it appears by the simplicity
of their palaces, in comparison with the magnificency of their tombs,
that they were more sollicitous for the eternal mansions of a future
life, than for the transitory abodes of this. We must however allow,
that their doctrine on this head was not very consistent. For, not to
mention the Metempsychosis, which Pythagoras was for establishing among
them, and which made the souls of men, when freed from the body, pass
from one animal to another, till after the space of three thousand
years, they again enter’d into human bodies; the wisest men allow’d
of a place of torment in hell, for the souls of the wicked, and
delightful fields for those of the good. So that either opinion, or a
mixture, such as it was, of both, left nothing in those costly tombs,
but a dead corpse, which was very far from being eternal; but which,
however, by the art they had of embalming, was more durable than the
tombs themselves.
[13] Herodotus, l. 2.
Those who were appointed to perform this last function, had already
taken charge of the queen’s corpse. [14]They were officers of the second
rank, very much respected in Egypt, for the knowledge they had of the
secrets of the priesthood, though they were no other than domesticks of
the priests. The operation was thirty days in performing. Having, by
means of a lateral incision in the body, taken out all the intestines,
excepting the heart and reins, they anointed it both outwardly and
inwardly with a certain gum compos’d of cedar, myrrh, cinnamon, and
other perfumes; which not only preserved it for several ages, but
caus’d it to diffuse an agreeable odour. They had, besides, the secret
of giving a corpse its pristine form; insomuch that the deceas’d
seem’d to have retain’d the air of his countenance, and the port of
his person. The hairs, not only of his head, but of his eye-brows and
eye-lids, were distinctly preserv’d; and what is yet more surprizing,
they restor’d to him an appearance of plumpness, and a colour and
freshness as natural, as in the healthiest part of his life. Some
private persons chose rather to preserve the bodies of their relations,
thus embalmed, in closets made for that purpose, than to deposite them
in sepulchres already made, or to erect new ones for them; and it was a
singular satisfaction to them to behold their ancestors with the same
physiognomies, and in the same attitudes as when living.
[14] Diodorus, l. 1. sect. 2.
But it was not so with respect to kings: for, if they did not make any
particular disposition to the contrary, they were all, in which-ever
dynasty they reign’d, convey’d to the labyrinth situate in the middle
of the lake Moeris, on the borders of Libya. This edifice, which in
magnificence surpass’d all the labours of Greece put together, even
according to the testimony of the Greeks themselves, was not built,
as Herodotus imagin’d, by the twelve kings who reign’d at one and the
same time, after the retreat of Sabacon the Ethiopian: For he did not
make himself master of Egypt till two or three hundred years before the
invasion of Cambyses: whereas this labyrinth was by far more antient
than Sesostris himself, and was erected when Egypt was only divided
into twelve provinces. The kings of the four dynasties, being all at
peace, had all contributed to this memorable work, of which the upper
part was dedicated to the sun, and the subterranean to the infernal
deities. And this it was occasion’d [15]Homer’s calling the entrance
into hell the gates of the sun. The twelve immense palaces, which it
contain’d, represented, according to their design, all Egypt; and for
that reason they mark’d out their several sepulchres, for them and
their successors, in the subterranean vaults. But the imaginations of
the people, added to the ceremonies performed by the priests before
they admitted a corps into these gloomy mansions, where few of the
living had ever enter’d, gave occasion to a great deal of fiction. It
was an article of religion to believe, that the innumerable windings,
with which they were told, and with truth, that these subterraneous
passages abounded, conducted their good kings to delightful regions,
but that tyrants were forbidden even an entrance into the labyrinth.
The manner of these ceremonies was this. When the corpse was brought
to the bank of a lake call’d Charon, over which the passage lay to the
gate of the infernal deities, it was there stopp’d by an incorruptible
tribunal, compos’d of sixteen priests of the labyrinth, with their
chief, and two judges chosen out of each of the twelve ancient nomes.
The high-priest, who conducted the deceas’d king, having there made
an harangue, the president of the tribunal gave leave to all the
assistants to lay such charges against the deceas’d, as they could
prove. They then proceeded to judgment, by which the corpse was either
sentenc’d to be deliver’d to their ferryman, whom they call’d Charon,
or to be depriv’d of sepulture. This sentence pass’d by scrutiny, that
is, by certain tickets, which the judges threw into that terrible urn,
the very idea of which was powerful enough to keep the ancient kings
within the bounds of justice.
[15] Odyss. 24.
To conclude, To whatever sepulchre the corpse of kings, or even of
private persons, were carry’d, they were liable[16] to an examination
before judges, who were always men of the greatest reputation and
probity. They were only eligible out of those who were initiated; and,
if for a private person, they were upon every occasion chosen by men
taken out of each class of the freemen of a city, or of the subjects of
the kingdom, when for a sovereign. And the tickets in which the names
of the judges were written, were open’d and number’d in publick view.
But for those kings who were to be interr’d in the labyrinth, all
Egypt, according to the division of the twelve ancient nomes, had their
suffrage in the election of the judges. And besides, at this labyrinth
alone was perform’d that great number of other ceremonies, from whence
Orpheus the poet, whom we shall soon see in Egypt, and who being
present at the obsequies of another king, borrow’d thence the greater
part of that description of hell which he has given us in his verses;
and which was afterwards copy’d by Homer in Greek, and by Virgil in
Latin.
[16] Diodor. l. 1. §. 2.
The fortieth day after the queen’s decease being now come, all was
ready for setting forward with the funeral procession, which was to
march the forty leagues between Memphis and the labyrinth in ten days
and ten nights, according as the several stages were regulated. The
porch of the palace was clos’d up from all approaches of the sun, and
illuminated with lamps: Under it was plac’d a large chariot with four
wheels, all cover’d over with gold. At the hinder part of the chariot
was erected a throne, with an ascent of three steps, cover’d with a
large crown of gold, richly adorn’d with precious stones, and supported
by a sphinx of the same metal, with large wings display’d, upon the
head of which the edge of the crown rested. From the top of the crown
fell down in large folds, between the sphinx’s wings, a cloth of purple
in the form of a pavilion, cover’d with hieroglyphicks richly embossed
in gold, and representing all the virtues. The two extremities of this
pavilion join’d and cross’d one another at the front of the chariot.
This chariot had two poles, and was drawn by sixteen horses, four in
front. Their harness was exceeding magnificent, as on a day of triumph.
But nothing was comparable to the richness and elegancy with which the
queen was array’d. She was plac’d upon the throne in a sitting posture,
and so artfully fasten’d into it, that no jolt, however violent,
could give her any motion, which might make her have the appearance
of a corpse. The whole machine was moreover in such manner suspended
between its shafts, that nothing could bring it out of a level. And
besides, the roads, which of themselves were very good in Egypt, had
been levell’d for the conveniency of this procession. In a word, this
chariot seems to have serv’d as a model for that in which afterwards
the corpse of Alexander was transported from Babylon to[17] Alexandria.
The queen, who had her face and bosom bare, but her eyes clos’d,
seem’d to enjoy the sweets of an agreeable slumber amidst the noise
of trumpets and kettle-drums, with which the air resounded while the
procession was rang’d in order. What melancholy reflexions were there
not renew’d in the hearts of those who lov’d her, and had been depriv’d
of her sight since her death, or since her sickness! They saw her,
they spoke to her; but she was no more. Those who had been the nearest
devoted to her, the better to suppress their affliction, avoided
looking on her for a time; but overpower’d at last by their curiosity
and affection, they cast their eyes upon her, and finding yet the same
features, and the same graces, they immediately turn’d them away, and
melted into tears.
[17] Diodor. l. 18.
In the mean time the queen’s houshold, consisting of six thousand
horse, march’d in the front, leaving the care of the royal corpse to
the priests. These officers were rang’d four and four, with their arms
pointed downwards: The din of their warlike instruments sounding in
mournful tone, and mix’d with periodical intervals of silence, pierced
to the soul. Next to these follow’d the societies of the city of
Memphis, distinguish’d by proper habits, but cover’d with black crape,
on horse-back, as the former. And among this number of people, which
already amounted to twelve thousand, not a single word was utter’d
during the whole procession. The great officers of the court, and after
them the princes, excepting the king and the presumptive heir to the
crown, who never appear’d publickly at funerals, came next, four and
four, as the former, clad in purple robes, sitting in a kind of niches,
cover’d with black, and plac’d upon shafts, having the ensigns of their
dignities at their feet, and carry’d each upon the shoulders of eight
slaves. These three numerous troops began their march by day; and at
the close of the evening the ladies, who made the most doleful part
of the procession, began to appear. They were seated four and four in
sixty chariots, cover’d above, but open on the sides, and drawn each by
eight horses, two and two. Both horses and chariots were in a manner
bury’d under their coverings of black silk, strew’d all over with tears
of silver. These ladies, muffled up in their veils from head to foot,
resembled so many spectres. In the last chariot sate the chief lady
of the deceas’d queen’s court, holding before her a child, who, being
veil’d like herself, was known by none, but respected by all. However,
the most prudent did imagine that Amedes, not only willing to let the
young prince see the solemnity of a trial of the dead in the bloom of
his youth, was at the same time cautious of leaving him in the palace
in the absence of all his deceas’d mother’s servants.
After these ladies, whose sobs and groans heighten’d the grief of
the spectators, and who were continually seen drying away their
tears under their veil, as a contrast which could not but be very
affecting, immediately follow’d all those instruments of musick which
in Egypt were made use of at their highest festivals, as the citterns,
shalms, and hautboys; which were answer’d periodically by trumpets and
kettle-drums, to proclaim the approach of the queen’s chariot. Those
who sounded these instruments, and even the leaders of the chariot,
and the twelve body-slaves who march’d on the right and on the left
of it, were clad in their festival habits, which contradiction to
their mournful aspects and profound silence, was to the spectators
a lively emblem of the deceitfulness and brevity of human joy. The
queen herself was adorn’d with a sort of scarf of flowers, which
crossing over her left shoulder, met and join’d under her right arm;
and in her hands she held festoons, which hanging over her knees,
reach’d down to her feet. This custom of the Egyptians was to signify,
that tho’ the death of virtuous persons was a matter of sorrow to
the surviving, it was to them the entrance into peace, a happiness,
and a triumph. The queen’s chariot was follow’d by the priests. The
high-priest of Memphis, who was to present the queen to the judges,
was carry’d next to the chariot, stretch’d out at length in an open
coffin, like a corpse, clad in white, and his head and face cover’d
with a white veil. All the other priests, clad and veil’d in the same
manner, leaning with one hand on an augur’s wand, curb’d at the top,
and holding in the other a ring or circle of gold, to which hung a
sort of Tau, march’d on foot in two single lines of five hundred each,
and as far distant from one another as the breadth of the roads would
allow. In the middle between these two lines, at certain distances,
were carry’d standards, on which were represented the several deities,
or the symbols of the deities of Egypt, as the Apis of Memphis, the
Colossus of Abyddus, the Eagle of Thebes, the Spar-hawk of Tanis, the
Anubis of Cynopolis, the Vase of Canope, the Goat of Mendez, the Wolf
of Hermontis, the Lamb of Sais; and so of the rest. For there were
priests out of all the cities of Egypt at the funerals of their kings,
even tho’ they were actually in war with one another. And the class of
priests, with those of the labourers and traders, were never involv’d
in the differences of the states. On the other hand, the death of
kings was a means of reconciling the priests of different cities, who
seem’d to have very hot disputes concerning the various, and oftentimes
contrary deities they ador’d. Our historians speaking of Egypt[18] have
remark’d, that those kings, who had many cities of different worship
in their dominions, were glad to keep up this spirit of dissention
among the priests; lest, if they should unite, their influence, which
was very great over the vulgar, might set them up above their kings.
To conclude, the whole procession was clos’d by a great number of
baggage-waggons, which kept off the people that follow’d.
[18] Vid. Plut. Treatise of Osiris and Isis, and others.
They frequently pass’d thro’ cities, some greater, some less. The
number of them, as well on this road, as every where else, had given
occasion to the opinion of old, that there were more cities in Egypt
alone, than in all the world besides. In these cities it was that the
stages were mark’d out at almost equal distances; and near every one of
them was the house destin’d for their entertainment; from which they
march’d out again to take their stations at set-times. The queen’s
chariot was plac’d under tents, which were erected for that end at
every stage, where it was guarded by other priests, not belonging to
the procession. This chariot, by which the whole procession was rul’d,
never mov’d but in the night-season, and but three hours together,
during which time it advanc’d about two leagues; and then, resting four
hours, resum’d the march again till day-light, and so lay by, waiting
the return of the evening.
The whole procession being arriv’d, was rang’d in order upon the plain
to leave a free passage for the queen’s chariot, and the people that
had follow’d the procession behind the waggons. They then advanc’d to
the brink of the lake Charon, [19]and there were plac’d on each side of
the chariot on a spacious plain, on the right and on the left: And the
priests remain’d rang’d behind the chariot in a strait line. At the
approach of this awful tribunal, compos’d of judges, who were rever’d
as the gods themselves, the high-priest, who was to be the queen’s
advocate, and all those who were concern’d for her memory, were seiz’d
with unexpected terrors: For if those things which are really good,
are sometimes accounted bad by the injustice of men, it is more to be
apprehended, that those causes which to us appear good, may be really
bad in the judgment of the gods.
[19] By comparing the relations of the ancients to those of the moderns,
the labyrinth seems to have been situate between the two lakes Charon
and Mœris.
The judges were plac’d upon a large and deep scaffold in the form of
an alcove, rais’d two steps; about which their seats, to the number
of forty one, form’d a semi-circle. Their under-habits were a sort of
tunicks, or white vests, like the priests or initiates, over which they
wore scarlet robes like judges. Round their necks they had chains of
gold, at each of which hung an emerald, with the image of truth[20]
engraven upon it; and they were rang’d in the following order: The
high-priest, who presided over the tribunal, was plac’d in the center
on a seat rais’d somewhat higher than the rest, and on both sides of
him sat the two judges elected by the nome of Memphis, who were only
initiates, of whom Amedes was the chief. Below them on either side were
the sixteen priests of the labyrinth, and then the twenty-two initiates
appointed by the other nomes. The urn was plac’d in the front of the
tribunal, on the brink of the uppermost step; and the officers of the
second order were seated upon the lowermost, in habits proper for the
functions they were to perform after judgment given. Every thing being
thus dispos’d, the horses taken out of the queen’s chariot, and the
poles and pavilion remov’d; the high-priest of Memphis, who directed
the procession, being mounted upon the foot of the chariot, standing,
and with his head uncover’d, made the following oration:
[20] Diodor. l. 1. §. 2. & Ælian. variar. hist. l. 14.
“Inexorable deities of hell! behold here our queen, whom you have
appointed a victim, in the bloom of her years, and in the greatest
necessity of her people. We come to intreat you will vouchsafe her
that repose, of which her loss may shortly deprive us. She has been
faithful in every duty to the gods. She has not dispens’d with the
outward exercise of religion under pretext of affairs of state; nor
has that exercise alone supply’d in her the place of virtue. Amidst
the cares which employ’d her in her counsels, and that gaiety which
she sometimes put on at court, the divine law, which was ever present
to her mind, and rul’d in her heart, was always visible. Of all the
festivals, at which the superiority of her rank, the success of her
undertakings, or the love of her people, have engag’d her to be an
assistant, none have been so agreeable and pleasant to her, as those
which have call’d her to our temples. She has not suffer’d herself to
be led into the paths of injustice, as many kings have done, in hopes
of making ample satisfaction by her offerings; and her magnificence
towards the gods, has been the fruits of her piety, not the tributes of
remorse. Instead of countenancing animosity, vexation and persecution,
by the counsels of an ill-tim’d piety, she has drawn no other maxims
from religion but those of lenity; and has never put severity in
practice, but when the common course of justice, and the security of
the state, has demanded it. She has exercis’d all the virtues of the
best of kings with that modest diffidence, which has hardly allow’d
her to enjoy that happiness which she procur’d for her people. A
glorious defence of the frontiers, peace settled both at home and
abroad, and every other ornament and institution, have generally in
other princes been the effect of politick wisdom, which the gods,
judges of their real springs, don’t always reward: But with our queen
all these things have been the result of virtue, and have had no other
principles but a love of her duty, and a view to the publick felicity.
Far from regarding the sovereign power as a means to indulge her
passions, it has been a rule to her to make the tranquillity of the
state the ease of her own mind, and a standing maxim, that patience
and affability could alone make her the ruler of the hearts of men.
Vengeance never so much as enter’d into her thoughts, but abandoning
to those beneath her the shame of embracing every opportunity of
exercising their hatred, she, like the gods, pardon’d, when she had
the power of punishing. She curb’d the rebellious, not so much because
they oppos’d her will, as in consideration that they were an obstacle
to her good designs. She submitted her judgment to the counsel of
the wise, and every order of men in her kingdom to the equity of its
laws. She subdu’d her enemies from without by her courage, and a
strict observation of her ingagements, and her domestick enemies by
her fortitude, and the happy success of her undertakings. She never
suffer’d a secret, or a falsity, to proceed out of her mouth; and that
dissimulation, which is so inseparable from sovereignty, in her never
extended beyond silence. She never gave way to the importunity of the
ambitious; nor did the assiduities of parasites ever run away with the
rewards due to the services of the absent. Distinguish’d favourites
were unknown in her reign; even that friendship which she practis’d and
cultivated, had never with her the ascendant over merit, tho’ often
less affectionate and less engaging. She bestow’d favours upon her
friends, and gave the most important employs to those who best were
able to discharge them. She heap’d honours upon the great, without
exempting them from duty; and eas’d the burden of her people, without
taking away that necessity which was a spur to their industry. She has
not, by creating new offices, given an opportunity to others to take
part with the prince, and unequally for him, of the publick revenue;
and the meanest of the people have paid the taxes rated and levy’d upon
them, without any regret, because they have not serv’d to render their
equals more opulent, haughty, or wicked. Convinc’d, as she was, that
the providence of heaven was not exclusive of the vigilance of man, she
prevented publick misery by a regular and timely provision; and thus
rendring every year equal, her wisdom, in some measure, over-rul’d the
seasons and elements. By her favourable reception of all those whom
the fame of her prudent government drew from other the most remote
countries, she facilitated negociations, maintain’d peace, and rais’d
her kingdom to its highest pitch of opulency and glory; and at the
same time enforc’d, by her example, that hospitality, which till then
was not enough cultivated among the Egyptians. When any of the great
maxims of government were to be put in practice, and it was necessary
to pursue the publick good, tho’ attended with private inconveniencies,
with what a generous indifferency has she not endur’d the murmurings
of a populace, blind, and perhaps stirr’d up by the secret calumnies
of those who, tho’ they knew better, might not find their private
advantage in the publick felicity? Putting frequently her own glory
to stake for the interest of an ungrateful people, she has waited the
event of time for her own justification; and tho’ snatch’d away in
the very beginning of her course, the purity of her intention, the
justness of her views, and her assiduity in the execution of them,
have procur’d her the advantage of a glorious memory, and an universal
regret. To be in the better capacity of watching over the whole of
the kingdom, she confided the several under-branches of management
to able ministers, who were oblig’d to depute subalterns, and these
others, for whose conduct she could be no ways answerable, as well
because of their remoteness, as their number: I dare therefore affirm
before you her judges, and before those of her subjects, who now
hear me, that if, among such a number of inhabitants as this city of
Memphis, and the other five thousand[21] cities of this dynasty are
known to contain, it may appear, that, contrary to her intention, any
one has been oppress’d, the queen is not only excusable in regard of
the impossibility of providing for all, but is praise-worthy, in that,
knowing the bounds of human understanding, she has kept to the center
of publick business, and has fix’d her whole attention upon the first
causes and motions of things. Unhappy those princes with whom some
particular subjects only have cause to be pleas’d, when the publick has
reason to complain! and tho’ private persons may sometimes suffer,
they have no right to blame their princes, when the body of the state
is sound, and the principles of government salutary. However, as
irreproachable as the queen has appear’d to us, with regard to men,
with respect to you, ye just gods, she builds her hopes of repose and
bliss upon your clemency alone.”
[21] There were in Egypt 20,000 cities, Plin. l. 5. c. 9. & Pomp. Mela.
But Theocritus Idyl. 17. reckons 33,339 under Ptolom. Philad.
As soon as the high-priest had finish’d his discourse, he cover’d
his head and face with a veil, and prostrated himself on the chariot
where he stood, in expectation of judgment. The judges immediately
enter’d into consultation in the middle of the place; and after having
conferr’d some few minutes, retook their seats. The president of the
tribunal then ask’d the whole assembly with a loud voice, If any one
had any thing to lay to the charge of the queen’s memory? Some of those
who had been prejudiced in their private affairs, by some regulations
of great advantage to the publick, had prepar’d complaints, more
justifiable on their parts, than of validity against the queen: But
the last plea, made by the high-priest of Memphis in her defence, had
put a stop to their intentions, and they were the most zealous of that
numerous assembly in promoting, by their applauses, her entrance into
the mansions of the blessed. When (as in the case before us) no charge
is enter’d against a deceas’d monarch, the urn is of no use, but he
is admitted by general assent. The president of the tribunal having
therefore look’d round upon all the judges, and receiv’d from each
of them the sign of their consent, said, “Sacred priest of Memphis,
arise; the gods approve the testimony you have born concerning your
queen, and are going to confer upon her the reward due to good kings.
May her successors walk in her footsteps, and, by rendring their
people happy, treasure up greater blessings for themselves.” He then
commanded the chief officer of the second order to touch the queen with
his wand, of which our poets have made Mercury’s Caduceus: At the same
time turning to Amedes, the chief of the two judges appointed by the
nome of Memphis, who sate at his right-hand, he said: “Wise minister
of your queen, you, whose prudent counsels have had so great part in
the actions which bring her this day to glory, accompany the holy
priest, who conducted her hither; help to convey her into the bark,
and from thence into that temple, the gates of which are shut against
the wicked, be they living or dead: We hasten to open these gates to
her, and to receive her ourselves.” The judges immediately arose,
and enter’d the temple of the infernal deities by a private way. The
dead, who were oblig’d to enter the subterranean gate, had no other
passage to come at it, but by crossing the lake, the breadth of which
was in that part about a quarter of a league, and upon which no other
bark was admitted but that of Charon. The officers having loosen’d the
cords with which the queen was fasten’d to her throne, and laid her in
the same coffin which had brought the high-priest, she was convey’d
into the bark, and the high-priest, together with Amedes, having first
paid the usual tribute to Charon, accompany’d her. They were no sooner
arriv’d at the gates of the labyrinth, but the people, who follow’d
them with their eyes, heard a noise as of thunder, which they believ’d
to be real, and look’d upon it as a miracle which always happen’d when
the temple of the infernal deities was open’d: But in reality it was
no more than the hollow sound of the brazen gates at the entrance,
which was redoubled by the repercussion of the vaults, and by the
neighbouring echo’s.
The corpse was no sooner entered into the labyrinth, than a joy
succeeded as general as that of the preceding mourning; and as sudden
as that of a person, seeing his dearest friend risen from the dead.
This joy proceeded from the idea they conceived of the happiness their
sovereign enjoy’d in the mansions of the blessed. Even those, who could
not so soon overcome their grief, were oblig’d to conceal it under
the most visible demonstrations of joy. The populace, in whom nothing
is more easy than a transition from one extreme of passion to another,
and to whom besides every opportunity for merriment is acceptable,
omitted in their return no frolick or jollity to which Egypt could
administer on such a pilgrimage. Persons of the greatest distinction
took pleasure in joining with the commonalty, as well on the road,
as in the several cities they pass’d through: but they were easily
discover’d by the magnificence of their habits, which they had brought
with them in the baggage-waggons, that clos’d the procession; and they
put on these habits, either in the neighbouring cities, or under costly
tents which were erected on every side. As the Egyptians in general
think themselves noble, the peasants, men and women, being neatly
attir’d, mix’d even with princes and princesses, not only at the same
dances, and sports, but at the same tables under tents in the meadows,
or in the middle of the open places in cities. The profusion of wines
and provisions which are expended on this occasion is inexpressible;
and nothing can give a more adequate idea of the plenty of Egypt,
and of the riches of its inhabitants. All familiarity was allow’d in
discourse, and every thing was matter of joy. Not a single instance was
ever known of any quarrel amidst this agreeable confusion; because
nothing was transacted with an intent to offend or prejudice. Even
the great, as they were of easy access, and affable to persons of all
conditions, drew upon themselves, by so much the more, those obsequious
regards, which politeness inspires. All such as excell’d in exercises
of strength or ingenuity resorted thither in companies, and diverted
the spectators with amusing sports on the land and upon the canals.
Troops of satyrs and nymphs, an idea of whom the worship of the god Pan
had cultivated in Egypt, long before it pass’d into Greece, were seen
sallying out of the thickets, or rushing into the waters.
The nights were more dazzling than the days, occasion’d by the
illuminations in the cities, which at a distance, and in the fields,
made a more glorious appearance, than in the cities themselves. Nor
is it possible for painting to represent, or words to express their
lustre; especially on the banks of the lake Moeris, that sea of sweet
water, the work of mens hands, which, according to our best authors,[22]
was one hundred and fifty leagues in circumference, and where those
illuminations were doubly represented by their reflections in the
waters. An infinite number of gallies, richly adorn’d, and illuminated
like palaces, cruis’d upon the lake, or row’d from port to port, at
the will of those who possess’d them, sure always of meeting with
some agreeable amusement which ever way they directed their course.
The prodigious concourse of people, the perpetual sound of musical
instruments, and the frequent shouts of joy, left no room for complaint
in this affluence of all manner of diversions, except it were for want
of silence and sleep. In a word, the feast of Diana at Bubastes, or
the nocturnal festivals of Minerva at Sais, which are yet celebrated
annually, though with less pomp than licentiousness, are but faint
images of these festivals on the return from the labyrinth, the
ceremony of which drew together the most considerable part of Egypt.
[22] Diodorus reckons it 3600 stadia in circumference; 24 stadia making
a league of 3000 paces.
[23]The temperature of the climate in this country is exceeding
favourable to these sorts of festivals. But more particularly in
spring (which was the season at that time) the serenity of the days
is as certain as the coolness of the nights; and what is more, winter
there differs very little from summer. It is true, the four months
of the rise and fall of the Nile, compar’d with the remainder of the
year, make a very different appearance. For in these four months, or
thereabouts, the whole country being overflowed, makes the cities
appear like so many islands of different bigness, which seem to arise
out of the waters: and during the whole remainder of the year, where
these waters were, are gardens cover’d with every species of flowers
of the spring; or fields fill’d with all the fruits of the earth in
autumn. These gardens or fields are surrounded with little canals,
which flow out of others which are larger, as these again do from
others yet larger, even to those which proceed immediately from the
Nile, and which are like unto rivers, being intended to encompass large
provinces, and to distribute themselves successively, till they serve
as inclosures to the possessions of private persons. Funerals were
never perform’d during the time of the inundations, nor never deferr’d,
but on that account. The festivals of return from the labyrinth lasted
always twice as long as the march of the procession thither: So that
the king of Memphis had not an account in form of the accomplishment
of the queen’s obsequies, till the one-and-thirtieth day after the
departure of the procession.
[23] _Vid._ Paul Lucas’s Egypt corrected and amended by M. l’Abbe
Banier.
_End of the_ +First Book+.
[Illustration: Decorative header]
THE
LIFE
OF
_SETHOS_.