BOOK II.

If Daluca closely besieg’d the king even when she could not flatter

herself with any approaching hopes; it is easy to believe, that she

redoubled her officiousness after the death of Nephte, who, by the

indolence of this prince, left the government vacant; for as Amedes had

not held that part which he had in the administration, immediately from

Osoroth, he had laid down all his employs, even before he departed to

attend the queen’s obsequies, at which he was to assist as a judge. The

king, whom Daluca never quitted, and who in the first days of mourning

had had more opportunities of being alone with her, was wont to

communicate to her such concerns as he could not avoid knowing, and to

confide in her for the execution of what they had concerted together.

This weak prince, who had enjoy’d that tranquillity, which the wisdom

of Nephte had procur’d him, as a person enjoys health, without knowing

the value of it, look’d upon a peaceable government as a thing easy in

itself, and which any one was capable of supporting: or, if he imagin’d

that any particular talent was necessary, he was tempted to believe,

that Daluca’s courage and vivacity supply’d to advantage the want of

Nephte’s modest and sober virtues. So that whereas considerations of

conveniency only had made him discharge the burden of the government

upon the late queen; it was by a kind of choice that he solemnly

resign’d it to Daluca, who had no title to pretend to it. He advis’d

her however, in particular, to consult with Amedes upon any emergency.

Daluca answer’d him, That the deceas’d queen having intrusted Amedes

with the education of the young prince, this employ was sufficient to

take up his whole time; and she maliciously added, that she would have

the assistance of ministers yet more devoted to the king’s will than he

was.

The new regent, when she took the helm of state into her hands,

behaved with that presumption which is common in persons of no worth,

when succeeding those of the most distinguish’d merit. However, the

aversion of the publick plainly shewn with regard to her, and the

honourable mention continually made of the deceas’d queen, gall’d

her to the soul; and she could never have persuaded herself that the

entrance into sovereign power could have been so disagreeable. This

possess’d her mind, from the very beginning of her administration,

with such asperity, as could not but prove fatal to her in the sequel:

and this lady, who, in the earliest hopes of her future grandeur, was

wont sometimes to distribute her chimerical benevolence to those who

were in her intimacy, without ever proposing to do any good to the

publick, as soon as ever she had attained her wishes, thought no more

of doing service to any one. The hatred which thereby became deeply

rooted in the hearts as well of the courtiers as the people, made her

reflect more seriously upon the project she had before conceiv’d of

espousing the king, and attaining to the royal dignity. This indeed

was the secret inclination of the prince; but till then it had not

been a practice in Egypt for kings to marry below their rank; and

so scrupulous had they been on this head, that they took their own

sisters to wife, if suitable princesses were not to be found in

the neighbouring courts. This custom had taken footing among them

independant of this pretext; and the Ptolemies, though originally

Grecians, comply’d with it.

Notwithstanding the care the king took to absent himself from all

affairs of state, and to be unacquainted with what was transacted in

the heart of his kingdom; he could not, however, be ignorant, that the

choice he had made of Daluca, to confide his authority in, had given

uneasiness to his subjects. But the ambition of this lady, who thought

the power she had over him uncontroulable, prompted her to make use

of that very argument for her ascending the throne, which ought to

have mov’d him to deprive her of the administration. She took a proper

time to inform Osoroth, with tears in her eyes, that the favours he

had honour’d her with, and her intire devotion to him, had excited

envy against her. She observ’d, that her zeal for the king’s person

began at a time when she could not be suspected of any future views.

Even now, added she, that my enemies apprehend it is time I should

receive some reward for my disinterested affection, I abandon all, and

consent that my fidelity become unprofitable to me for your service. I

accepted of the administration, only that it might not devolve into

the hands of some secret enemies to that absolute power inherent in

you: but you may, if you think proper, give yourself up to them. I

will even acknowledge, continued she, in a more resolute tone, that

I set too high a rate upon the continuance of my administration. But

as the reformers of government have dared to bring their complaints

even to you, either you must allow them just, and banish me from your

court, or confound their presumption, by heaping new honours upon me.

Without abandoning my affection for you, which is an impossibility,

I, from this moment, renounce all the functions you have constrain’d

me to accept of, unless attended with the supream dignity, which

alone was the ease and glory of the late queen’s administration: Such

a resolution, hitherto without example, will convince the world you

dare exert your authority. The king, who till then had struggled with

the consideration of his own honour, and his son’s interest, gave way

to his natural weakness, upon false principles of courage; and by a

very improper marriage confirm’d that power, which he had unseasonably

conferr’d upon a woman, who was about to crush his age with care and

troubles: acting in this respect, like other weak princes, who instead

of remedying the errors they have already enter’d into, endeavour to

support them by the commission of still greater evils.

Osoroth, however, conscious of the irregularity of his choice, and

Daluca of the inferiority of her birth, did not presume to convert

the publick discontent into matter of rejoicings. The nuptials and

coronation were both celebrated with very little ceremony: and it was

not without pain, the queen could at first behave in a splendor so much

superior to her former condition. Her pride however soon recover’d

upon the birth of a son, for whose advancement she became immediately

sollicitous. But as she could no ways carry her views to the height her

ambition suggested to her, but to the prejudice of young Sethos, she

perceiv’d the difficulties she had to encounter with, in attempting

that injustice, and pursuing such crimes as she foresaw would be

necessary for attaining her end, so long as that spirit of equity,

reason and order, which had been establish’d for several reigns, was

predominant at court, and amongst the chief men of the kingdom. Her

first attempt then was to corrupt the morals of the court; hoping,

with reason, that she should then find such persons to fill up all the

great offices, as would be base enough not to contradict, or wicked

enough to further her designs. But as a mark of her more refin’d policy

and capacity for perpetrating mischief, she concluded, that the most

unsuspected, and at the same time sure and speedy means of corrupting

the court, was to introduce, as much as possible, a relaxation of

manners, and levity of mind. She knew by particular experience, that

those men who are enemies to all application and business, and wholly

given up to their imaginations and pleasures; tho’ they might at first

be endu’d with that common probity, which costs nothing, were no proof

against those vices which offered them any advantage. Virtue never

takes root in a mind possessed with vanity; and opportunity either

finds or renders such a one capable of every crime.

_Daluca_ judg’d then, that to put this her design in practice, she must

begin by breaking off gradually those assemblies and conversations

which were usually held in the palace towards evening, among men

of sense and discretion, that idle discourses might supply their

place; and that above all, it would be necessary to supplant the

usual exercises of the young Egyptian nobility, and substitute vain

amusements in their room. But before I proceed to the method she

took to introduce this first depravity, which was to be the source

of all the rest, I believe it may be very proper to give an idea of

the manners of this nation, with regard to the intercourse of wit and

science which flourished in it; and the care that was taken to enforce

whatever could ennoble the heart, cultivate the mind, and invigorate

the body[24]. This account will at the same time serve as a general

plan of the education of young Sethos, which we shall speak more

particularly of hereafter.

[24] These very expressions are found in Bossuet, speaking of the

Egyptians, in his discourse upon universal history.

The Greeks were as yet a barbarous nation, with regard to their custom

of locking up their wives, the savage rather than warlike education of

their children, and the preference they gave to bodily force, beyond

the virtues of the mind; when the Egyptians, under the happiness of

an uniform and wise government, had attain’d to politeness, which

consisted more in the great principles of mildness and discretion, than

in tiresome ceremonies. Human learning was the true source of this

politeness: and as the sciences were very ancient in Egypt, the manners

of that nation were early form’d. It has been a true observation,

that good breeding never made its way into any nation but by means

of learning. The Romans were an unciviliz’d people, till they learnt

the sciences of the Greeks; as the Greeks themselves were, till they

became acquainted with the knowledge of the Egyptians. And tho’ learned

men are not always the most civiliz’d, it is nevertheless, to their

writings, in philosophy, history, morality, and even poetry, that

their fellow-citizens are indebted for the true foundation of their

accomplishments.

The king’s palace at Memphis, which was situate on one side of a

large square, opposite to the temple of the three deities, was the

theatre of the arts and sciences. We have already observ’d, that the

ancient kings of Egypt chose rather to shew their magnificence in the

edifices they were to inhabit after their death, than in those they

dwelt in while living. Pursuant to this principle their palaces made no

appearance, either in themselves, or in those ornaments which regard

only pageantry and luxury. But in recompence, nothing was omitted in

them that contributed to the cultivation of the sciences; Witness the

gardens of the king of Memphis, which contain’d every sort and species

of known plants which Egypt had ever produc’d, and even all those

peculiar plants which travellers had brought from the most distant

climates, especially after the conquests of Sesostris. And besides,

all the advantage which the due ordering and ranging of this immense

variety of plants could possibly afford to the eye by beautiful views

and prospects, was nicely observ’d. An elegant choice of the most

agreeable flowers, which are singly planted in our modern parterres,

cannot afford a sight equal to that of many large compartments, in

which were seen in separate borders all the flowers simple or compound;

which blew in the form of roses, pinks or lillies; or whose leaves took

the shape of a vase, an umbrella, or a tuff; or in short, whose colours

were either simple or mix’d.

On the wings of the parterre were planted the twenty species or kinds

of palm-trees, in one single row on each side; one of flower- or

male-palms, and the other of fruit- or female-palms. They thought

this correspondence necessary to render the females fruitful, by the

dust of the flowers which the wind convey’d to them from the males. A

distinction of sex, which, tho’ more perceptible in palm-trees, may

perhaps be the same in many other plants. The parterre had no other

shelter but these two rows of palms; but there were two other shady

walks under arch’d terrasses, to the very bottom of the garden. At the

end of the parterre were two great woods separated by the continuation

of the main walk, which were travers’d by an infinity of other lesser

walks, that the sun never pierced. These two woods consisted of every

species of those trees which are called barren, from the humble broom

to the haughty cedar, ascending gradually from that side towards

the parterre with their tops joining, which from the windows of the

palace resembled a talus or glacis, and by the favour of the climate

were ever green. Behind these woods were all sorts of plants, roots

and pulse necessary in a kitchen-garden. And on the sides continued

downwards, were planted every sort of wall- and other fruit-trees.

But as they were design’d for no other use but to shew the extent of

botany, there were no more than what might be sufficient to exhibit the

several kinds or species.

The priests, who were the orderers and managers of this garden, had a

passage to it thro’ a gallery at the top of a colonnade, which reached

from their college behind the temple, and, bordering one side of the

square by the river side, run along by the north wing of the palace,

and so descended on the same side into the parterre. They had caus’d

to be drawn and painted in natural colours, all the trees and plants

of the whole garden; and all these figures were to be seen in one of

those galleries of the palace, which were always open to the curious,

even to strangers. These figures were more in number than the plants of

the garden, because they represented a great many others which were not

transplantable from the soil where they grew: Tho’ there was nothing

wanting that could possibly be procured, not even coral, madrepores,

lithophyton, and other marine petrifying plants. In short, every

thing was there in the most exact order, according to their kinds

and species: Plants as yet unknown, had in some manner their places

assign’d them; and botany seem’d here to be compleat, independent of

its parts, which in all appearance will never be so.

But as the curiosity of the Egyptians was not limited to this article

alone, they had in the same gallery samples of all the productions

of nature, treasured up in repositories, with grates before them of

that metal call’d electrum, a mixture of gold and silver, ranged under

classes in such excellent order, as rais’d curiosity in the most

indifferent. Even nature herself may be said to have been honour’d in

this collection by the multiplicity and variety of her own gifts, and

her riches thus assorted, under the proper names and inscriptions which

distinguish’d them, seem’d to exceed in number those same productions,

when dispers’d in her own extensive field, and frequently unknown. In

this collection were comprehended all such substances, as are gather’d

from the surface, or taken out of the entrails of the earth, in their

natural form, and but barely cleans’d and purify’d: Such were not

only all manner of concretions, congelations and crystallisations,

but all sorts of fossils, minerals and metals, and that in the

several progressions and degrees from whence they receive different

appellations. Hence they took their notions of all those juices and

gums which proceed from plants or other bodies by exsudation, the

greater part of which were either precious aromaticks, or sovereign

antidotes: An immense treasure of delights in health, and of remedies

in sickness. To conclude; Here was that grotto of Mercury, in which, as

Orpheus says, was treasured up a collection of every good thing, and

from whence no one ever return’d with the infirmities he brought.

From this gallery, set apart for natural history, was a passage into

that destin’d for Chymistry.[25] Some believe this science took its

name from Egypt, formerly call’d Chemia; but that it took its rise

there is certain. The renown’d Mercury of Thebes, whom the Egyptians

look’d upon as the author of all their knowledge, gave name to that

liquid metal which he found the method of extracting out of Cinnober,

and which is found to be exactly the same with the Quicksilver which

runs in the mines, the object of so many chymical experiments, and the

miracle of nature, by the variety of colours which it assumes in its

precipitation, and from whence it has likewise the name of Proteus.

Mercury it was who taught them to reduce bodies by decomposition

into their three principles, salt, sulphur and spirit; the latter of

which, as the most sublime, has retain’d in our authors the name of

Mercury. Several kings of Egypt follow’d his example in the study of

chymistry; and Theophrastus tells us we are indebted to one of them

for the artificial azure. The Egyptians, by an imitation of almost all

compound bodies, had form’d, as it were by art, a second nature; and

chymistry furnish’d them with nitres, vitriols and salts, always more

beautiful, and sometimes more efficacious than those of nature. Seneca

the philosopher assures us,[26] that Democritus had learnt of them the

art of softening ivory, and to give to flints the colour and lustre

of emeralds. We have at least a recent and incontestable proof of the

efficacy of their dissolvents, in that pearl of inestimable value and

uncommon size, which Cleopatra took from her ear, and liquify’d in an

instant in prepar’d vinegar, that Mark Anthony might swallow it: And it

is certain, that this vinegar was no corrosive dissolvent, because it

was drunk without danger.

[25] With regard to this article our reader may consult the works of

Olaus Borrichius, in which he defends the antiquity of chymistry

against Conringius.

[26] Ep. 90.

The testimonies of antiquity have gone yet farther with regard to

the Egyptians; and we are plainly told, that Mercury, or Hermes

Trismegistus, taught them the secret of transforming all metals into

gold, call’d for that reason the Hermetical philosophy. As a proof of

which they alledge the vast extent of their riches, which, say they,

one single mine of gold, the only one they knew, could never have

furnish’d. Witness the ship of cedar, of four hundred and twenty foot

long, which Sesostris caus’d to be plated on the inside with silver,

and to be cover’d with gold without; the astronomical circle of massive

gold in the tomb of Ismandes, which by the account Diodorus gives, was

of the thickness of a cubit, or a foot and a half, and in circumference

three hundred sixty five cubits; a great number of temples of gold

dedicated, according to the same author, by Osiris to Jupiter, Juno,

and other gods; temples so large, that priests were appointed to

officiate in them; and to conclude, so many other works, which, tho’

but of marble or stone, cost more than the former. Notwithstanding all

which, the opinion I am of, that the integral parts of all bodies are

determin’d to their nature from the formation of the earth, would alone

hinder my granting, to any one whomever, the power of transmuting them;

or at least allowing that their change can be effected by operations

so imperfect and so short as are those of mankind, in comparison with

the subtlety and extreme length of those of nature. Besides, wise men

don’t doubt but this true philosopher’s stone, of which Mercury or

Hermes was the inventor, was the commerce which this first king of

Thebes establish’d in Egypt. And in reality, it is not the quantity

of matter, either gold or silver, be it taken from the mines, or the

laboratories of the chymists, that renders a nation opulent. The mines

of Norway, Germany, Spain and Africa, don’t make the inhabitants of

those countries one jot the richer. The continual circulation of a

moderate quantity of this matter, and a perpetual commerce, with the

productions of a soil, and the fruits of industry, have rais’d nations

to extreme plenty, who have no mines either of gold or silver. We

must however grant, that the Egyptians closely pursu’d this secret of

Hermes, taken in its literal sense; and we may even conjecture, that

the real knowledge they attain’d to in the art of physick, was owing to

their vain labours in quest of the philosophical gold.

This chymical gallery led to another appropriated to anatomy. The

dissections were always perform’d in the priests college; but they

brought into the palace entire and natural demonstrations, consisting

of the bones, muscles, arteries and veins of most animals, either of

the air, earth, or water: And their entrails, shewn separately, were

made more discernable by being laid open, or by injections. Pliny

relates, that the ancient kings of Egypt did not think it beneath

them to assist themselves at dissections. It is certain at least, that

Æsculapius, king of Memphis, being the first author of physick, was

likewise the inventor of anatomy. But Egypt having since embrac’d a

more regular form of government, the several functions were better

distributed, and the particular professions of the sciences devolv’d

upon the priests, or their subalterns. The practice of embalming human

bodies, and even those of animals, most of which were sacred with

them, in one city or other, had render’d them extremely knowing in

the outward and inward construction of all living bodies. The several

devastations in Egypt which have robb’d their catacombs of an infinity

of mummies and bones, are even to this day of great help to the

study of this science; And the famous Galen, physician to our august

Emperours Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, excludes from the profound

knowledge of anatomy those who did not come for instruction from these

objects to the academies of Alexandria, tho’ now held by the Greeks.

The knowledge the Egyptians had in anatomy, was a consequence of

their curiosity in living creatures. I don’t speak of the custom yet

in practice in Egypt of hatching the eggs of fowls destin’d for the

nourishment of mankind, in furnaces made for that purpose, which

prodigiously increases their number. But the kings of Memphis had,

besides the garden I have above describ’d, a large inclosure, with a

park and proper conveniencies for four-footed beasts, canals and basons

for fish and amphibious creatures, and aviaries for birds. And here

were frequently represented sundry sports of these animals, tam’d and

train’d up to surprizing exercises. [27]Crocodiles were seen floating

upon the surface of the canals and basons with men on their backs, who

made them perform all sorts of evolutions, or walking on dry land, led

by chains, and often obedient to their master’s voice alone. The same

evolutions were perform’d by the Hippopotamus, or River-Horse, whose

aspect alone was so hideous, that it was believ’d fire proceeded out of

his nostrils. The bones of this animal are shewn in several cities of

Greece for the bones of giants. We have seen, even in the days of the

Ptolomies, when the sciences began to decline in Egypt, Cynocephali, a

sort of apes, of which they made their hieroglyphical Anubis, that were

taught to play regularly on the guitar and the flute.[28]

[27] Plut. c. de solertia anim.

[28] Ælian. de natura animal. l. 6. c. 10.

But we must allow, that the curiosity or ingenuity of the Egyptians,

in what was commendable, does no ways excuse the scandalous and

superstitious abuses they are fallen into with respect to animals. Many

cities in Egypt have borrow’d their names from those monsters they

paid adoration to, as Crocodilopolis and others. The Hippopotamus is

worshipp’d at Pampremis, tho’ this city don’t bear its name. The most

excusable among them seem to be those who worship the animals that are

of use to mankind. The [29]Heracleoti offer’d incense to the Icneumon,

a sort of rat as big as a little dog, which destroy’d the crocodile in

a very singular manner: This little animal, after having daub’d itself

all over with a sort of thick slime, which when dry’d serv’d it as a

coat of mail, jump’d into the jaws of the crocodile, and so kill’d it.

The ancients say, this is the only animal that secures itself with

defensive armour. All Egypt ador’d the bird Ibis, a sort of stork, that

freed their cities from the little wing’d serpents, which the African

wind was wont to bring them; but this bird was itself very troublesome,

by reason of its voracity and filth. It is related, that Cambyses being

upon the point of giving battle to Psammenitus the son of Amasis at

Palusa, on the confines of Egypt, rang’d a row of these birds before

his avant-guard, and that the Egyptians chose rather to submit without

opposition, than to draw their arrows against them. The Greeks with

reason reproach’d the Egyptians for the singularity of their religion.

But they pretend to justify themselves with regard to their worship of

crocodiles, and other such hideous animals; by alledging, that they

defended their country, and render’d the access to it dangerous to the

pirates of Arabia, and the scouts of Libya. They even retort the same

reproach upon the Greeks,[30] and say, that the Thessalonians worshipp’d

a stork, and the Bœotians a weasel. It is indeed a common thing for men

to deride with great haughtiness the superstition of others, when they

are blind to their own folly, tho’ often of the same kind.

[29] Cic. de natura, Deor. l. 1.

[30] Clem. Alex. admon. ad gentes. This father even adds, that it is

less ignominious to worship animals, incapable of crime, than gods,

vitious and unjust, as were those of the Greeks.

After having gone thro’ what regards experimental sciences, the

next gallery was the first of those destin’d for the sciences of

computation. The peculiar necessity incumbent upon the inhabitants

of this country, of adjusting the bounds of their lands after an

inundation of the waters of the Nile, had put them upon the study

of geometry sooner than other nations: But they had carry’d their

contemplations much farther than this necessity oblig’d them; And had

attain’d to those sciences, of which the simple measuring of their

lands, or geometry properly so call’d, was but a very small part. The

canals and other bounds, which in course of time separated the estates

of private persons, made them sufficiently known. But geometry became

the knowledge of every kind of proportion represented by lines.

The first elements of the mathematicks are very ancient. It is

related, that Mercury, the first king of Thebes, whom we have so often

mention’d, being concern’d at the changes, which an universal deluge

then recent had caus’d upon the surface of the earth, and for the want

of all human science, which that terrible catastrophe had so totally

effac’d, thought of an expedient that might prevent so great a loss, if

the disaster should ever happen again. [31]He caus’d subterranean and

winding passages to be dug in the neighbourhood of Thebes, the remains

of which are yet to be seen, and go by the name of the Syringes. These

he fill’d with square and pyramidal columns, upon the surfaces of which

were carv’d the principles of every science; but in hieroglyphical

symbols, that if even the art of writing should be lost, they might be

explain’d by conjecture; and that if any of the race of man should

escape, they might at least have this aid, and not be reduc’d, as they

had then just been, to labours that requir’d so great a length of time

as a new invention of all things. It is added, that Mercury himself had

enjoy’d the same advantage from some columns anterior to the deluge,

which had been erected by the hero-kings or demi-gods, his predecessors.

[31] Ammian. Marcel. l. 22. vid. Marsh. p. 39. & 41.

In the mathematical gallery at Memphis were plac’d columns of the

height of a cubit, but which had all the proportions of those columns

of the Syringes, which contain’d the principles of this science. The

proprieties of numbers were engraven on the first of them; forasmuch as

their proportions being perceptible by operation alone, they serve as

elements and a model for all mathematical proportions.[32] Pythagoras,

who, as the ancients say, receiv’d great instruction by Mercury’s

columns, thence took his idea of numbers. He likewise carry’d it as

far as any of the Greeks before our celebrated Diophantes; and he was

the first amongst them who made use of them for the musical divisions

of the monochord: But he afterwards made allegorical applications of

them, which may have been of some moral use, but were of no advantage

to arithmetick itself. Upon other columns were the elementary

propositions of geometry, with their figures, under each of which was

the name of him who first demonstrated them, and the date thereof,

but not the demonstrations themselves. These monuments formed a very

curious history of the steps and progress of human understanding. The

sciences were pointed out, and the degree they had attain’d to in each

age known; but there were other measures to be taken before they could

be attain’d to. Thales had observ’d there, that an angle taken in the

circumference of a circle, and carry’d to the two extremities of the

diameter, was always rectangular: And it was from the demonstration he

found of it after his return to Greece, that he gather’d all the other

proprieties of the circle, and all the trigonometrical resolutions, or

those which give the measure of inaccessible distances. There it was

that Pythagoras found out the famous proposition upon the hypothenuse

of the rectangular triangle, compar’d to the two other sides.[33] And

it was not without reason he sacrific’d a hecatomb in thanks to the

gods for having at last discover’d it; since this proposition, and that

which establishes the analogy of the sides of such triangles, are the

two axles upon which the whole science of geometry turns.

[32] Jamb. de Myst. Ægypt. l. 1.

[33] See Olaus Borrichius, Hermetis sapientia, where he speaks in

general of the sciences of the Egyptians, c. 8.

Next to the elementary propositions, which respect only figures

terminated by direct or circular lines, were all those parts of

geometry, which require no other assistance. Upon this basis alone

were rais’d all the mathematicks employ’d for the use of man, the

convenience of cities, and the ornament of all Egypt; in a word,

all practical geometry. The principles of this geometry carved upon

columns, tho’ they were not all copy’d from those of Mercury, and the

date of the greater part shew’d that the invention was more modern,

took up one side of this spacious gallery. The other was adorn’d with

discoveries made in compound geometry, or that part which treats of

curvilineal figures. These discoveries being owing to the priests

alone, after they had form’d a peculiar society in Egypt, were not upon

columns, but carv’d with proper figures upon tables of white marble,

higher and larger than the columns. Establish’d theorems, and problems

resolv’d,[34] were only express’d, as those in simple geometry, without

any demonstration.

[34] Those priests who apply’d themselves to the most abstruse

speculations in geometry, were call’d Arsepedonaptes, or Arpedonaptes.

See on these two words the notes of S. Clem. of Alex. in Potter’s

Edition, p. 357. The reader will find in the text, that Democritus

boasted of having learnt of these men as much of geometry as they

themselves could know.

But of all the curiosities in these galleries, nothing came up to

the beauty of the astronomical instruments. The Chaldeans have been

accounted the inventors of this science: But they themselves were but a

colony of the Egyptians, led into Babylon by Belus, who, according to

Diodorus, was born in Egypt. The very climate of this country favour’d

their astronomical observations, not only on account of a continual

serene sky, but because, being near the equator, it discovers the

greatest part of the firmament, whose revolutions over it are almost

direct. It was by this advantage of situation, that the shepherds, who

spent their nights in the open fields, were the first astronomers:

they could not but remark the different elevations of the stars in

different hours of the night, the successive rise of those which

absented themselves from the rays of the sun, during the course of the

year, and the particular course of the planets, generally opposite

to the diurnal motion of the whole firmament. But no sooner did the

more curious and penetrating part of mankind begin to cultivate these

objects, than they converted them into the most noble of all human

sciences, and the only one which can render a prophet infallible. The

situation of Egypt made it so famous for astronomy, that, since the

foundation of Alexandria, all the great astronomers of Greece have been

either born, or have acquir’d their knowledge and fame in that city.

Such as, Timocharis, Denis the astronomer, Eratosthenes, the famous

Hipparchus, Possidonius, Sosigenes; and, to conclude, Ptolomy, the last

and the greatest of them all. The Egyptians were the first who made

spheres according to the two different systems of the universe; upon a

supposition, either that all the heavenly bodies have their revolution

about the earth, or that the earth takes its circuit round the sun as

a planet. Tho’ the Greeks now follow the visible and apparent system

of the diurnal revolution of the sun about us, a system to which our

Ptolomy has added great lustre; we can’t be ignorant that our antient

philosophers, such as Thales and Pythagoras, believed all the planets,

and the earth itself, had their motions round the sun. And as both of

them learnt the sciences in Egypt, it is a certain proof, independant

of my memoirs, that this last system took its rise there. The motion

of the earth has been even admitted by Greeks of a pretty modern date;

and Philolaus has lent his name to the Philolaick astronomy, which

has this hypothesis for its basis. These two systems are equally

satisfactory as to the periodical revolutions of the stars. But if the

Ptolomean system be in some manner better adapted to the senses, and

may serve for astronomers who only observe the celestial appearances;

that of Philolaus, being infinitely plainer in itself, of consequence

comes nearer nature, and is more agreeable to philosophy. I shall say

nothing here of the Egyptian astrology, because it was only taught to

initiates, in the inmost recesses of their temples. But as a search

after the philosopher’s stone has been the parent of chymistry, so we

may say that the vain science of astrology, with which all the nations

of the world are infatuated, has produc’d excellent discoveries in

astronomy. A general knowledge of this great art was common to all the

priests in Egypt; but we must allow that those of Thebes surpassed in

this article[35] all their brethren. I shall therefore defer some other

observations on this science, till I shall have occasion in another

place to speak of this famous metropolis of the upper Egypt.

[35] Diodor. l. 1.

But what attracted the attention of a greater number of people in the

palace of Memphis, were the models of all the machines which had been

made use of to level the soil in Egypt, to water every part of it, to

raise those waters to considerable heights, and to keep them within

bounds. It was after a view of these wonderful machines, of which some

were yet in being in the days of Archimedes, that this famous prince of

Syracusa invented at Alexandria the hydraulick screw or engine which

bears his[36] name. In this gallery was likewise shewn the models of

those multiplied powers, by the means of which they had been able to

hoist out of their quarries, to transport, and to raise to the very

clouds, stones of so prodigious a size, as perpetuate the labours of

Egypt. To conclude, whatever invention had furnish’d for the service of

war, by land or sea, was there carefully treasur’d up. Astronomy, added

to the active genius of the Egyptians, had made them very expert in

navigation; and the models of vessels of every form, and of instruments

proper to build and work them, were not the least among the curiosities

we have been describing.

[36] Diodor. l. 5. p. 217. Ed. Hen.

This extraordinary collection was indeed but a mute object, or

spoke only by means of the inscriptions which were affix’d to each

article. We must likewise allow that foreigners had hardly any other

instructions to expect, but what they could draw from these kinds of

objects, which were in some of the cities of Egypt, before Cambyses,

the son of Cyrus, the most savage and inconsiderate of all conquerors,

had laid them waste. Thales and Pythagoras were the last of the Greek

philosophers, who had the advantage of seeing them before their

destruction. They both resided in Egypt a great number of years;

and had contracted an intimate friendship with some of the Egyptian

priests: They were both initiated, and Pythagoras in particular[37],

desirous of being so, at Heliopolis, where the priests were accounted

the most expert at divination, purchas’d it at the expence of being

circumcised. Notwithstanding which, their travels and labours had

been of little profit to them, if they had not, as great inventors

themselves, drawn large consequences from the little which was

communicated to them[38]. The priests thought themselves indeed oblig’d

to be liberal of their instructions to foreign initiates, with regard

to certain mysteries of their religion, but were very sparing in the

secrets of their sciences. In favour of their own nation however, there

were commonly attending, in other galleries of the palace of Memphis,

the greatest masters of those sciences, of which the principles and

instruments had been expos’d to view in those already describ’d.

Renown’d Athens never produc’d so many schools, nor them more

frequented; tho’ in these of Egypt none were admitted but natives[39].

Besides the hours set apart for regular lectures, the priests, who

were the only teachers in these several academies, were ready every

moment of the day to answer all questions that might be propos’d to

them by any persons whomsoever. But their chymical preparations,

anatomical dissections, and even astronomical observations, were

always in private; that they might in some measure conceal, even from

the Egyptians themselves, the means by which they attain’d to their

knowledge.

[37] Clem. Alex. Strom. l. 1.

[38] Philostrates in the life of Apollonius, l. 1. c. 1. says, that

Pythagoras, as an excellent painter, had embellish’d with colours what

the Egyptian priests had only sketch’d with the pencil.

[39] Monuments of antiquity give so often an idea of these academies,

that F. Lassiteau, in the life of John de Brienne, l. 2. p. 145. having

had occasion to speak of Philippus Augustus, said; That he had made the

university of Paris as famous as those of Athens and Memphis had been,

in their greatest splendour.

Tho’ the Egyptians gave preference, among the labours of the mind, to

natural philosophy, as more directly conducive to the advantage of

the publick; they were not, however, negligent in those which are the

objects of erudition. Their consultations on this head were held in a

vast library, which they increas’d daily. Upon the gate of this library

was written in letters of gold, FOOD FOR THE MIND. An inscription of

greater extent than that of the library of Thebes, plac’d there by

Ismandes the founder: viz. PHYSICK FOR THE MIND[40]. It is not in the

power of a king to collect the curiosities of nature and art, which one

learned man may have describ’d and explain’d in his writings; but no

private person can make so ample a collection of books as a king may.

The library of 700,000 volumes collected under the care of Ptolomeus

Philadelphus, and burnt against the will of the conqueror, when Julius

Cæsar enter’d Alexandria, was a wonder of Egypt, greater than any of

those which now go by the name. At Memphis, and in other cities, the

priests kept in their own possession all the books, which contain’d

the mysteries of their religion, and even the histories of the heroick

times, or those which preceded Menes. They communicated them only to

initiates, to whom they expounded them in private. Having establish’d

it as a maxim, to deprive the laity of all means of becoming arbiters

in points of religion; the people, and especially the women, knew no

more of it than what the priests taught them by word of mouth. But all

histories from the time of Menes, and even those of foreign countries,

which they had collected with as much assiduity as the curiosities

of nature, were preserved in the royal libraries, and shewn to all

Egyptians who desir’d it.

[40] Diodor. Description of the Memnonium, l. 1. §. 2.

[41]The priests in Egypt were the only judges in point of civil right:

But if they themselves had any matter of dispute with private persons,

and by so much the more if with the king, it was decided by the

assembly of initiates: So that the priests and initiates might have

kept the knowledge of the law wholly within themselves. However, as

they thought it reasonable that every one who was cast should judge

of the equity of their judgments; and besides, it was requisite for

private persons to know the laws they were to live up to; the priests

taught this science publickly in a hall of the palace: and that was the

only school into which strangers were admitted. The Egyptians had right

to boast that Solon and Lycurgus borrow’d from them the best of those

laws which they establish’d, one of them in Athens, and the other in

Sparta. [42]Among these was one very remarkable, which oblig’d all the

commoners of Egypt to declare to the judges every year what profession

they propos’d to follow for a livelihood, and they were forbidden, at

least for that time, following any other upon pain of death. This made

them assiduous every one in his way. And that activity yet so visible

in our city of Alexandria, made the emperor Adrian say, [43]there was

not a man in that great city who was not distinguished by some or other

profession or trade. Even the blind, added he, have their work. None

are exempt, no not the gouty, if they have either hands or feet free

from the distemper. This is but one instance, among an infinite number

of excellent laws, which from the Egyptians were propagated among the

wisest nations, and of which some are easily distinguish’d in the Roman

laws[44].

[41] Ælian. var. hist. l. 14.

[42] Herodotus, l. 2. Diodor. l. 1.

[43] Fl. Vopiscus in Saturnino.

[44] Solon sententiis adjutus sacerdotum Ægypti, latis justâ moderatione

legibus, Romano quoque juri maximum addidit firmamentum. Amm. Marc.

lib. 22. See likewise Nicolai de Synedrio Ægyptiorum, where he compares

the 14 chief laws of Egypt to those of other nations.

The kings of Egypt had always been promoters of these academies, being

convinc’d, that a love of the sciences, and the tranquility they

requir’d, were alone sufficient to suppress all thoughts of revolt and

sedition. The sciences not only employ and adorn the mind, but endue

it with a certain solidity and uprightness, which generally prevent

men not only from being vain, but from being wicked. This truth had

been experienc’d by many kings, in the great ministers, magistrates,

and even great commanders, which these schools had furnish’d: For the

exercises of the body were here as little neglected as those of the

mind. I don’t mean only such as wrestling, swimming, running, riding,

and walking a single rope, which latter they suppos’d render’d the

eyes, and footsteps sure; all exercises of great use in the art of war,

whether in battles or at sieges; but every article belonging to the

military art which requires study and science. Here young noblemen,

emulating one another, were employed in taking the distances of

inaccessible places, and delineating every species of fortification.

They diligently followed the most famous architects in the execution of

their immense undertakings, to learn of them the proportions which the

foundations of walls bear to their height; the power of those vaults

which tho’ solid were light; the different sorts of timber, and the

degrees of force it attain’d from different positions.

Even queens, and the ladies that attended them, were endued with this

noble emulation. The set races, and other exercises of these young

noblemen, on their festivals, and days of publick rejoicings, furnish’d

them with very agreeable entertainments, and they took a singular

pleasure in discoursing in the circles which were form’d about them

at court towards evening, thereby to be instructed, and render’d

worthy of that society they were necessarily to be engag’d in with

the most learned men: For, according to a custom as antient in Egypt

as monarchy itself, the priests, as austere as they were in their

sacerdotal functions, frequented the assemblies at court. The first

design of this custom was to keep up a spirit of religion in their

kings, and a decorum in courts, where, contrary to the custom of other

nations, the women were allowed freedom of conversation with the men.

The priests themselves had this advantage by it, that in return for

their sciences they learned politeness from the courtiers: and both

together made up that mixture, which perhaps alone deserves the name

of good company; that is, of persons of distinction join’d with men of

wit and learning. Rules for conversation were needless among persons

whose minds were so form’d: and as no one presum’d to speak beyond the

measure of his genius and knowledge, every person at court, tho’ in

different degrees of learning, render’d himself almost equally valued.

It was even a maxim with the Egyptians, that a refin’d wit was not the

greatest qualification a man could have, not only with respect to the

affairs of state and war, which of course were preferably put into the

hands of men of deep knowledge and experience; but even with regard to

the common intercourses of life, and the agreeableness of conversation:

so that profess’d wits were no otherwise esteem’d than as they render’d

themselves agreeable by their affability, modesty, and other qualities

common to men of honour. In short, in a nation where every subject,

animated by a reciprocal emulation, discharg’d his function or employ

equally well, that real esteem they had one for the other added a

harmony to society, now hardly any where known.

This solidity of mind, which appear’d in the employments, and

even conversations of the Egyptians, extended to matters of mere

entertainment. They were admirers of elegant writing in prose and

verse: but having in general a more favourable opinion of men of a

common genius who render’d themselves useful by their knowledge, than

of those fine wits, who only supply’d the publick with vain amusements,

they reconcil’d both by this unquestionable maxim, that the great man

in point of learning was he who cultivated a profuseness of wit with as

large a degree of knowledge. In consequence of this maxim, universally

received, there appear’d very few authors who had not treasur’d up

a stock of reading sufficient to be the guide and support of their

own reflections. Hence it was that the readers found a great deal of

instruction even in those books, which seem’d to be written only for

pleasure and diversion. And thus those who presided over learning

prevented, as well in authors as readers, that taste for trifles which

is the stumbling-block of polite nations, and soon becomes a greater

hinderance to noble undertakings, than simplicity and impoliteness. As

for poets, they were very severe in examining their notions of virtue

and vice; and undeceiv’d them in the opinion they almost all fell

into, that morality was an innate knowledge, which required no study

to attain to. But poetry was absolutely forbid to persons convicted of

dissolute and irregular morals. By this they secured themselves from a

publick evil, always found among the Greeks; which was, that whenever

authors became scandalous in their persons, they were the first who

took upon them to reform mankind by satire, almost always levell’d at

persons of such merit, whom a just reputation plac’d above them. The

antient Lacedemonians, in imitation of the Egyptians, forbad every

vicious man even to mention a moral maxim. And in effect what are

poets, who, as we have frequent instances among the Greeks, undertaking

to represent the characters of virtuous men in their poems, but who

having themselves no idea or knowledge of virtue, never set it in a

just light: or, which is yet more pernicious, give an advantageous turn

to vice conceal’d under the larve of false heroism?

In the palace of Memphis were two peculiar galleries, which not only

serv’d as schools for sculptors and painters, but for the learned were

the richest monument they could desire for the history of these two

arts. At the entrance into one of these galleries were on the right

and on the left columns of wood or stone, roughly hewn, about the

height and thickness of a man. The name of the god, or hero, which was

design’d to be represented, was written upon some of them; and that

was all the sculpture of the first times. Advancing farther, human

form began to unfold itself more and more: but the two legs were as

yet join’d together, and the two arms glued to the body at their full

length. By degrees the members were loosen’d from the trunk, and plac’d

in the postures of action. From thence they came to elegant attitudes,

and soon to miracles of art. For as soon as man has found out the good

in any art whatsoever, he rises with a prodigious rapidity to the

excellent. The Grecian sculpture pass’d thro’ the same degrees; and

Plutarch relates, that the Spartiates call’d all those figures they had

of the Dioscuri, or the two brothers Castor and Pollux, Docanes. They

were two beams[45] plac’d upright, and join’d together at top by a cross

piece of timber. Dædalus was the first who brought out of Egypt into

Greece the art of putting the arms of statues in an acting, and the

legs in a walking posture. The Greeks were so surpriz’d at this new

attitude, that they chain’d down their statues made in this manner, for

fear they should run away; and Plato observes, that statues which were

fasten’d to pedestals yielded a greater price than others; as slaves

who were not addicted to elopement. There is even something more in

it: for tho’, on the testimony of the Greeks, who had seen the statues

of Dædalus, they were, with respect to the sculpture, not brought to

that pitch of perfection, to which Phidias and Praxiteles brought

theirs; he had given them, by means of some inward springs, a real

motion. Aristotle himself, quoting Philip the comick writer, assures

us, that Dædalus had carv’d a statue of Venus in wood, which mov’d by

means of quicksilver he had pour’d into the inside of it. Be it as it

will with regard to the truth or circumstances of this fact; these

allegations will suffice to make us take the description Homer gives

us of the moving figures in Achilles’s buckler in a literal sense,

notwithstanding those interpreters who will reduce the description of

it to that of a common picture or basso-relievo, the figures of which

are represented as moving, tho’ they are in reality motionless. And it

is easy to discover, that Homer, in his description of this buckler,

had in view this art of Dædalus, more famous in his days than in ours.

But nothing is of greater honour to the Egyptian sculpture, than

that piece of history with which the first book of Diodorus Siculus

concludes. The most famous sculptors of Greece, says this author, were

train’d up in the schools of Egypt. Such are Telecles and Theodorus,

the sons of Roecus, who made the statue of Apollo Pythius, now at

Samos; in such manner that Telecles having made one half of it at

Samos, while his brother Theodorus made the other half at Ephesus, the

two pieces fitted so exactly, that the whole figure seem’d to be by one

hand. This peculiar art, which is but little known, continues he, to

the Grecian sculptors, is very much cultivated by the Egyptians: for

these don’t judge of a figure, as the Greeks, barely by the eye; but

measuring all the parts one by the other, they carve the stones which

are to form a statue separately, and with the utmost accuracy. For

this end they divided a human body into 21 parts and 1/4. So when the

workmen had once agreed among themselves upon the height of the figure,

every one made that part which fell to his share, and they join’d in

such manner as was astonishing to those who were not acquainted with

this art. But the two pieces of Apollo of Samos join according to the

height of the body; and tho’ the arms are stretch’d out, as in action,

and the legs are in the posture of a man walking, it is every where

correspondent, and the whole figure is in the most exact equilibrity.

In short, this piece of workmanship, which is finish’d according to

the Egyptian method, is very little inferior to the most accomplish’d

pieces of Egypt itself.

[45] _Docos_ in Greek signifies a beam.

The other gallery was appropriated to painting. The first that appear’d

in view were boards whited over, upon which the objects, generally

describ’d in black, were so ill drawn, that the painter thought himself

oblig’d to write on the side of each, This is a man; This is a horse;

This is a tree. Advancing farther, were draughts which seem’d to have

been mark’d out round the shadow of an object set in the sun. In the

following pictures the perfection of draught and variety of colours

increas’d visibly. The Egyptians, as the Greeks, had for a long time

only four: and we know that Zeuxis, Polygnotus, and Timanthes made

use of no more. Echion, Nicomachus, Protogenes, and finally Apelles,

were those, who, with their different compound colours, found out all

the shadowings of nature. There are yet to be seen, in a grotto not

far from Thebes, paintings which are remaining from the times of the

antient kings of that dynasty, the colours of which are as lively as if

but just laid on[46]. But the more modern Egyptians did not fall into

the fault with which Denis of Halicarnassus reproaches the modern Greek

painters; that they endeavour’d to cover the neglect of design by the

variety and liveliness of their colours. The Egyptians compar’d those

who preferr’d colours to design in painting, to those who in eloquence

and poetry preferr’d bright thoughts to those which are just. Cicero,

the master and pattern of latin eloquence, applying his reflection to

oratory, says, That we soon grow weary of those pictures which at first

sight attract us by force of colours; whereas we are constant in our

admiration of those that excel in the beauty of design, which is the

true character of antiquity[47].

[46] Paul Luc. t. 6. p. 69.

[47] See, on the two foregoing articles, Junius de picturâ veterum.

To conclude; the musick-gallery, where, on certain days, were held

concerts of voices and instruments, was likewise a treasure for

the antiquities of this art. Here ’twas found that the shalm, the

shepherd’s flute, and other wind instruments, were the first invented;

and here was even shewn the flute of several pipes of unequal lengths,

that was in use before Osiris invented the single flute, which

express’d all the tones of the former. This hero had those hymns which

he sung in honour to the gods accompany’d by it; and the verses,

according to Plutarch, contain’d those precepts which he gave to the

people, whom he had got together, and was desirous to civilize. The

same Osiris in time invented the trumpet and kettle-drums, to animate

the soldiers he made use of in his conquests. Mercury afterwards

invented the harp; which leaves the musician the liberty of adding

his voice and words to the sound of his instrument. In some ancient

monuments this god is describ’d with a harp of seven strings; the two

extremes of which, as they pretended, being struck together, from’d the

diapazon or octave, even before the last string but one, which renders

it compleat, was introduc’d into the diatonick system[48]. Next to the

harps, they shew’d in this gallery at Memphis, the first tables, or the

first bodies of instruments, that are of so much service to strengthen

the sounds, which are too weak in a single circumference of solid wood,

as that which supports the strings of the harp. They came at last to

the instruments with necks, or which were touch’d at a distance; in

which the fingers forming the sounds, find, upon a lesser number of

strings, a greater number of tetra-chords, and even of octaves, can

pass indifferently thro’ all the moods, and have full scope to perform

whatever the imagination of the boldest composer can produce. Diodorus

was but ill inform’d of the fact, when he said, the Egyptians did not

cultivate musick. On the contrary, it was of them Pythagoras got such

a taste of it, as to admit of harmony in the skies, and apply the

proportions of it to the general constitution of the universe. The

Egyptians encourag’d their young men and maidens to learn and perform

every species of musick, to render them more polite and more agreeable:

And, in imitation of them it was, that the Greeks plac’d musick in the

number of those things necessary to the education of youth.

[48] See that excellent treatise of the musick of the antients, ascrib’d

to M. l’Abbe de Chateauneuf.

We see by this faint sketch, that however valuable private education

may be, it never can have the advantages of this publick education of

the Egyptians: But what seems to be the most valuable in it, is, that

youth is not abandon’d, as in our modern educations, as soon as they

come out of their infancy; that is, at a time when their judgments

being better form’d, are susceptible of knowledge, either more

abstruse in itself, or of more service to the publick, and when they

have most need of help to suppress the first flights of youth: So we

see that this Stage, which is the most propitious to the female sex,

because they are more carefully guarded than in any other, is the most

extravagant in the male, who are abandon’d to their own passions, not

easily govern’d, if they be not endow’d with excellent natural talents.

Levity of mind, an aversion to duty, and a neglect of time, now so

fashionable among the Greek and Roman youths, would have been a blemish

upon their honour in Egypt, even in the eyes of the ladies, who had any

concern for them; and, as the only mark of a court truly polite, there

were no advances to their favour but by merit and wisdom. But above all

I must not forget to observe, that the exercises, and even the labours

of the Egyptian youth secured them from that fatal weariness of mind,

that general distaste which accompanies ours even in the very height of

their debauchery.

There were, indeed, at that time, some young men more sollicitous for

present pleasure than future merit, who thought these studies and

conversations a burden: And ladies, who qualify’d only to discourse

of their constitutions, taste and dress, were uneasy that they could

not carry these their only objects of entertainment into the palace,

and make them general. And by such Daluca was soon seconded in her

resolution of bringing into evil repute these learned schools, the

fountains of that merit she had most to fear, and to break off those

instructive conferences of all kinds, in which the rules of a most

refin’d moral were frequently the subject. The method she pitch’d

on, as most expedient for her design, was, to give the privilege of

keeping assemblies, and the sole empire of conversation, to such

ladies of the court as she had observ’d the most vain, and who had the

faculty of talking loud and long upon nothing, when they found it was

countenanc’d. The queen, under pretext of being extreamly taken up with

the affairs of state, appear’d very seldom in these assemblies herself,

and prevented the king from going to them, by amusing him as much as

possible with other private diversions: But having before confer’d

the chief offices at court upon ladies of the character I have just

describ’d, she deputed them to perform the honours of the palace in her

room, and to preside in her name at the conversation of those circles

which were form’d in her absence. These ladies, like the queen, had all

pass’d their meridian, and having made no provision to supply the loss

of exterior beauties, by the more valuable qualities of the mind, were

but just before bewailing their abandon’d state: But being now rais’d

by an excess of favours, which the queen seem’d to heap upon them, were

extreamly subservient to her design, without so much as knowing it.

They were always ready to interrupt any discourse that might but favour

of learning or ingenuity; but they were not often put to the trouble:

for their own perpetual talk was so vain, and so little approv’d,

that no man of sense could find room, or thought it worth while, to

put in a word. It was observ’d, that they were continually whispering

to one another in these assemblies, and ridiculing certain persons,

who in the preceding administration had been greatly respected, tho’

in the present they were not thought necessary. By these odious

freedoms they drew upon themselves a contempt, which waited only for

an opportunity of displaying itself, and which already very sensibly

lessen’d the regard otherwise had to them and the whole sex. In the

mean time, all persons of good sense and merit by degrees absented from

these assemblies, where they perceiv’d their company was a burden: And

thus the court, which was wont to be the center of good taste in all

manner of subjects, and the model of purity for the Egyptian tongue,

was become the abode of ignorance, or of indifferency to every thing

that was the object of good sense and reason. The language itself

being corrupted with improper terms, and a neglected pronunciation,

became a jargon of the fancy; which being without rule, was ty’d down

to none. The writings of those who formerly frequented the court were

known by a just and natural elegancy, in a great measure owing to their

intercourse with ladies of the most polite parts, in whom it eminently

abounded: But the modern wits, who succeeded them, forgetting that

language must always have the sanction of the publick, introduc’d, of

their own private authority, an infinite number of fantastick terms and

expressions, which so far from being adopted by custom, were carefully

avoided by all correct authors.

On the other hand, the young nobility, seeing that probity and good

breeding was as little required in the men, as prudence and behaviour

in the women, and that every thing depended on favour, abandon’d all

those exercises of mind and body which they had till then pursued, that

they might devote themselves to these new creatures of the queen. The

grand art was to persuade them, by force of flattery, to believe they

were possess’d of those charms which they themselves had given over

for lost; and they began to hope, that Daluca having brought their age

into fashion, youth would be no more regarded. The beauties of the

court of Memphis had always had their admirers; accomplish’d merit on

both sides was generally the origin of the passions they excited. A

desire only of gaining the esteem of a charming person, produc’d such

endeavours after virtue and valour, as was admir’d by the publick,

without knowing their first cause: But as for the modern intrigues[49],

they were owing to a mutual conformity of bad taste and bad choice;

their beginning was debauchery, and a communication of vices between

the pretended lovers were the fruits of them. It was an observation

in former times, that those who had been singled out, and train’d up

by certain ladies of the court, became the most accomplish’d men: But

for these, the beauties of the mind, or a total want of them, were

qualities they had no discernment of, and were equally indifferent to;

and they entertain’d no hopes of making any advantage by persons of

a too distinguish’d probity. In times past, the most discerning had

no other way of discovering a passion between two persons, but by a

greater circumspection in the one, and a more irreproachable behaviour

in the other. But now the new favourite of each of these ladies was

immediately known to every one; and they were sooner put out of

countenance, when complimented upon that account, than their mistresses

themselves.

[49] The author seems here to have in view the licentiousness of the

court of the empress Faustina, the wife of Marcus Aurelius. See the

history of the Roman empresses, by M. de Servies.

The queen, who at a distance saw this progress, began already to gather

the fruits of her endeavours, by the contempt, hatred and jealousy

which was fomented among the courtiers. Both men and women, as she had

foreseen, were totally lost to all good manners, by a dissipation and

levity of mind. There was not one among them who had not taken a steady

resolution to sacrifice virtue, honour and duty to the least smile of

fortune; and nothing less than adversity, or the most terrible events,

were capable of awaking them from this infatuation: Even the ministers

of state, who till then had every moment of their time so taken up,

either in their different employs, or in recreating themselves in their

families, that they never stir’d out of their closets, but to council,

or to give audience to the publick, thought themselves now under an

obligation of making their court to these ladies in authority; and all

the assiduity they formerly employ’d in the affairs of state, was now

necessary to keep them in their places: To continue in their favour, it

was not enough to comply with their fantastick humours, to administer

to their ruinous pleasures, to provide immense entertainments for them;

they insisted, that all their recommendations should take place, tho’

they were ever in favour of some unjust cause, or unworthy object;

and that their counsels, tho’ most pernicious to their prince, should

be approv’d, in consideration of a small gain to them. Thus, tho’ the

deceas’d queen had left all things in so excellent an order, that they

might have subsisted, and even held out against mal-administration for

a long time, yet the state was rushing on very fast towards its ruin.

Peace, which, especially in dominions of so small extent as those of

Egypt, is not to be preserv’d but by secret springs of the cabinet, and

by a regard shewn, at least in appearance, to neighbouring princes,

soon was shaken by a neglect of cultivating their friendship, by the

little satisfaction given to their ambassadors, and by the infringement

of several laws, which concern’d the tranquillity of all Egypt, and its

security against enemies from abroad. And thus Daluca, with a view only

of prejudicing Sethos, expos’d the welfare of the kingdom and her own

safety to all the ill consequences of so pernicious a conduct.

But while this unworthy queen was thus fomenting disorders, the wise

Amedes was assiduous in the education of the young prince, whose fate

had destin’d him to be first the victim, and afterwards the repairer

of them. He did not, in express terms, discover to him the disgrace

he perceiv’d he was already fall’n into; a condition not easy to be

conceiv’d by a child of eight or nine years of age, especially when

disguis’d under those professions of kindness and flattering caresses

which Daluca hitherto continued to shew to Sethos. But the chief aim

of Amedes was to inspire him with the principles of every virtue, which

he might stand in need of to support him in the most adverse fortune.

He put him in mind of his illustrious birth, to make him sensible not

of the respect due to him from others, but of what he owed to himself.

He gave him lively ideas, not of a prince surrounded by his obsequious

subjects and slavish courtiers, but of a prince dethron’d by usurpers,

and residing among foreigners, where he would have no other grandeur

but that of his own mind, and his personal courage. The questions he

propos’d to him, either to discover his sentiments, or to exercise his

talents, were generally upon perilous and intricate circumstances,

which a prince could not extricate himself from without the greatest

courage, nor sustain without the highest pitch of probity. He did not,

however, at any time, wholly bereave him of the hopes of peaceably

enjoying the kingdom to which he was the lawful heir: but he instructed

him, that the principles of those morals fitting to be practis’d in

danger or adversity, or rather, that danger and adversity themselves

naturally lead a prince to a regular and advantageous enjoyment of

peace and happiness. With regard to the religion of his ancestors,

Amedes instructed him therein, in a concise, plain and consistent

manner with regard to facts, but laid great stress upon the examples

and moral precepts he drew from them.

It is common to give princes only general ideas of the sciences; and,

indeed, it is sufficient, if they be but acquainted with as much as

will make them friends and protectors of them. But Amedes was desirous,

that whatever might be his fate, his pupil should attain to all the

merit of a private person. He also concluded, that Sethos being yet

too young to comprehend the great maxims of government, politicks and

war, could not better employ the first years of his tuition, than by

initiating him early into all the Egyptian sciences. Youth has this

peculiar advantage, that men never arrive to perfection in any arts or

sciences, if they don’t overcome the main difficulties of them while

they are young: And to give a disadvantageous instance as to my own

part alone, I must confess I have, in different stages of my life,

endeavour’d to acquire those sciences which are esteem’d among the

Greeks, but have never been able to attain to more than reading and

writing in such a manner as I am satisfy’d with, they being the only

arts that became easy to me in the days of my youth. However, as human

knowledge is of so vast an extent, that not youth alone, but life

itself is hardly sufficient to attain it; this great master inform’d

his pupil, that he should make him acquainted only with the first

rudiments of the sciences; and that those who rest satisfy’d with that

part they have gone thro’ in this first stage of life, ought modestly

to confess their ignorance.

Amedes perceiv’d that this young prince gave every day new signs of

an admirable genius. He had form’d no decisive judgment upon that

agreeableness, that vivacity and wit which he frequently observ’d

in him during his mother’s life, when he was surrounded with the

flattering smiles of fortune: such indications are not always to

be depended upon, because those repartees which we think so witty

in children, are often but an effect of the liberty allow’d them,

and generally bestow’d upon trivial occasions; and consequently no

conclusion can be drawn from thence applicable to that period of time

in which they are to employ their thoughts upon solid and serious

subjects. But in natural philosophy, our master could hardly keep

pace with the docility of his scholar; and in history he had much

ado to satisfy his unbounded curiosity: So for his own ease, and the

more readily to accustom young Sethos to be his own instructor, he

exercis’d him in the former, by putting him upon experiments and the

solution of difficulties; and in the latter, by making him read the

most celebrated authors from the beginning to the end; and afterwards

obliging him to give coherent abridgments of every history. He made him

acquainted in the first, with the progress of human understanding, and

the advancement of the sciences from one century to another; and in the

second, with the great men and the best writers of all the ages past.

He likewise carry’d him every day, at certain hours, into the schools

we have mention’d above, which were not now so crowded as in former

times; but then they were sure of meeting there the flower of the

youth of Memphis, and all those who had not been yet corrupted by the

present taste of the court. Our own application must render us masters

of the sciences; but the knowledge of applying them rightly is only

to be acquir’d by conversing with men of understanding and merit.

Besides, Amedes, without affecting at an improper time to oppose the

queen’s measures, was desirous of making Sethos known to the youth of

the kingdom, who were growing up with him. The history of the infancy

of Sesostris was yet recent in his memory. This prince was no sooner

born, than his father Amenophis caus’d all the infants of his kingdom,

who were born on the same day with his son, to be brought before him;

he provided them with nurses, appointed tutors for them, and gave them

all the same education; being persuaded, that children who had been

brought up in a familiarity with their prince from their most tender

years, would the more firmly adhere to him in the course of his life,

and would serve him best in his wars. Amedes was moreover desirous that

Sethos should converse in the publick assemblies with those foreigners,

whom the fame of Egypt drew thither from all the parts of the world,

where knowledge and good manners were cultivated. Men of attention

gather new knowledge in the conversation even of such as have less

than themselves; and the Egyptians, at the same time they communicated

their instructions to others, became more learned themselves. Besides,

as the greater number of those who came into Egypt, were led thither,

either to obtain the initiation, or to perfect themselves in the

sciences, and sometimes for both, they were generally the greatest men

of every nation. These strangers, it is natural to conceive, apply’d

themselves with a great deal of care to the learning of the Egyptian

tongue: And the most curious among the Egyptians studied those of other

nations. The priests divided all the languages of the known world among

themselves, that they might be able to give satisfaction to all those

who apply’d to them for advice from every quarter. To this end they

sent the most expert among them, disguised like merchants, into the

most distant states. The laity, who were destined to the war, or to

trade, generally confin’d themselves to the Phenician, the Greek, and

the Punick tongues. The first gave them access at the chief courts of

Asia, the second to those of Europe, and the third in Africa: But the

Egyptian tongue was in some degree the common source of these three;

for the Phenicians, Greeks and Carthaginians were Egyptian colonies. A

knowledge of the Egyptian tongue was therefore in a great measure a key

to the others. Amedes, however, let Sethos learn the first rudiments

of the latter, but he left him to acquire a perfection in them by

practice, and the frequent conversation he procur’d him with such

strangers, as appear’d to him the most knowing.

The education of Sethos was not confin’d to the improvement of his

mind; Amedes put him also upon exercises of the body: He even took

advantage of the neglect which he saw this young prince suffer’d from a

father, who was govern’d by a second wife, to make him submit to those,

which he render’d more laborious or more perilous in proportion as he

advanc’d in years. This is a sort of trial which the best of parents

are but too backward in putting their children to; and to which Amedes

himself had, perhaps, not expos’d an undoubted heir to the crown: But

he look’d upon his pupil as one, who, like a private person, was to

make his own fortune.

He made him walk on foot to all the places near Memphis, with a double

view; first to inure him to hardship, and then to make him take notice

of every thing that was remarkable in his own country, which is often

more neglected than foreign curiosities: Above all, he carry’d him more

than once to the Pyramids. In his time there were a hundred, but of

very different sizes, all together in one place, at about four miles

distant from Memphis, towards Libya. In all Egypt there were none

but at this place, and about Thebes: the kings of which two cities,

in imitation of one another, had been curious in giving this form to

their tombs, or of leaving these monuments of their own grandeur and

power. Amedes was willing to exhaust this subject, that his pupil

might draw advantages from it of several kinds. Sethos had often heard

talk of these enormous piles; and Amedes expected they would at first

sight make the same impression upon this young prince, as they do upon

travellers who come to see this wonder of the world, from the remotest

parts of it: that is, they always find them less than they expected.

Amedes did not neglect this opportunity of making Sethos observe,

that the eye of man is never absolutely contented with the bigness of

things artificial, unless they be carry’d to a distance as far as the

sight can reach: but it is not so with respect to things which are

determin’d by nature; as animals or trees, which we don’t love to see

represented beyond their usual proportion: Hence it is, said he, that

this bust of a sphinx or woman fix’d on the ground among the pyramids,

which is forty feet high, seems of a monstrous bulk to you; whereas the

great pyramid which takes up more than a furlong every way, appears too

little in your eye. Another reason for this is, because its height not

being quite equal to the length of one side of its basis, it must of

course look squat and low. So, added he, with regard to buildings, we

can never justify ourselves, if the proportion of their dimensions be

not graceful, and according to the rules of art. Notwithstanding all

which, continued he, observe the pyramids more nearly, they are not

less wonderful, and you’ll soon see just cause to admire them. Make

a trial yourself, in the first place, by the surest methods you have

been taught in the academies of Memphis, to take the four cardinal

points; see how exactly the four sides answer with the winds[50]. And

besides, as large as the most beautiful temples of Memphis may seem

to you, there is not one of them whose dimensions come near to those

of the great pyramid; tho’ the form of our temples has something more

agreeable and engaging.

[50] See the elogium of M. de Chaselles, by M. de Fontenelle, in the

memoirs of the academy of sciences. Ann. 1710.

[51]In reality, the basis of the first and largest pyramid, the surface

of which is to this day entire, is in every square 704 feet; and [52]its

perpendicular height 630. The whole pyramid is compos’d of courses or

lays of bricks, which grow narrower in proportion as they ascend to the

top, where there is a platform of twelve feet square. The borders of

these courses, which gradually decrease towards the top, serve as steps

to ascend to it. Of all those who used to accompany Sethos and Amedes

to see the pyramids, only some few of the most venturesome attempted

to go up to this platform; but none durst come down again otherwise

than backwards, as well to have the assistance of their hands, as for

fear the height and vast extent of the prospect might make them giddy.

Sethos, who before had gone thro’ many hazardous exercises, could not

comprehend why Amedes should not indulge him in this, of which he was

in no wise fearful. Amedes at last told him, that the concern he had

for his life and honour, wou’d not suffer him to expose him to this

trial, till he was able to descend the pyramid with his face toward the

plain. It is not becoming, continu’d he, a prince, as you are, to shew

the least sign of fear upon any account whatsoever. Amedes had hardly

done speaking, when the prince, running to the pyramid, and placing his

hands upon the lowermost step, which is four feet high, he ascended

from one to another with wonderful agility and ease, till he came to

those of but one foot high, which he walk’d up like common stairs, and

was soon at top of the platform. As soon as he had recover’d breath,

he turn’d toward the spectators, who were in great numbers at the foot

of the pyramid, and came down with as little concern as if it had been

a cover’d stair-case of equal and easy steps. His example render’d

the enterprize more common; and seven or eight young lords, who from

that time devoted themselves more particularly to his service, always

attended him, as much as possible, as well in his exercises as his

expeditions. It had likewise been an error establish’d either by the

timorousness which was apt to seize people at top of the pyramid, or

by an idea conceiv’d from the vast extent of the basis, that it was

impossible to shoot an arrow from the top to fall beyond the lowermost

step at bottom. This error prevails yet among us; and all travellers,

who are too apt to enlarge upon things, mention the impossibility of

it. The prince, even before he made the trial, was sensible of this

error: Being well assur’d of the length of the four equal sides of

the basis, he boldly engag’d to shoot an arrow from the middle of the

platform, which should fall not only beyond one of the faces, but even

beyond one of the angles of the pyramid, being directed in a diagonal

line; which, according to the exact calculation he had made of it,

could not be 500 feet, and hardly above half the distance an arrow will

fly when discharg’d by an able archer.

[51] This whole description is taken from de Bruyen’s travels in folio,

and the notes added to them in the quarto edition.

[52] That is five feet or a pace more than the olympick furlong

determin’d by Hercules, who ran 125 paces, or 625 feet in one breath.

This is the common computation, saving the interpretations of the

learned; for this distance seems no such great matter for Hercules.

We have hitherto only spoken of the surface of the pyramid; but Sethos

was continually urging Amedes to let him see the inside of it. If the

king who erected it had been interr’d in it, the prophane, such as

Sethos yet was, would not have been permitted to enter: but it being

an empty tomb, every one who had the patience and resolution, was

allow’d to go in. As there were several deep and dark passages, Amedes

was persuaded, that this trial would be an excellent remedy against

those panick fears, which are apt to seize many people in the dark,

and against the apprehension of bugbears, with which common reports

then fill’d all uninhabited places, as it does now: But this view

was nothing to a far greater design which he had conceiv’d upon this

occasion, and which was to be the crown of Sethos’s education.

Amedes, therefore, returning one evening with him alone, and directing

his discourse to him, said, My prince, to view the inside of the

pyramid in such a manner as will be necessary for you, is an enterprize

very different from what you think it to be: The secret passages of it

lead those men, who are favour’d by the gods, to a point I dare not

so much as name; for which the gods must create a desire in you. The

entrance into the pyramid is open to every body; but I pity those, who

coming out by the same way they went in, have only satisfy’d a very

imperfect curiosity, and seen no more than what they are allow’d to

relate. A discourse so uncommon as this was to the young prince, fill’d

him with an impatience, which made him resolve instantly to unriddle

this mystery, by deceiving even his governor’s vigilance, if he refus’d

to accompany him. Amedes, who read this resolution in his looks, did

not give him time to answer, but continu’d; Sir, I will conduct you

myself to this enterprize, which it is almost impossible to begin

alone, tho’ it must be finish’d alone: But I must not expose you to the

dangers that attend it, till opportunities, which may offer hereafter,

have given me sufficient proofs of your valour, and especially of your

prudence. I have reason to be satisfy’d with the marks you have already

given me of both. The age you are now approaching to, will demand

greater of you, and will soon furnish you with means of shewing them.

Don’t give way then to your impatience, but place your confidence in

me; and begin, by keeping, as a secret, that little I have now reveal’d

to you, to accustom your self to greater. The young prince, who could

not yet fix an idea to the sense of these words, told Amedes, that,

without diving farther into the mystery in question, the first mark he

would give of the prudence his tutor wish’d to see in him, should be to

confide entirely in his conduct.

[Illustration: Decorative footer]

[Illustration: Decorative header]

THE

LIFE

OF

_SETHOS_.