BOOK V.

The next morning Sethos and Amedes went to the palace to the king’s

levee. Osoroth, in the presence of several of the grandees who were

in his apartments, receiv’d his son with open arms. He thank’d Amedes

for having procur’d him the advantage of the initiation; and he told

the young prince, that the war which the kings of Thebes and This had

but then jointly declar’d against the kingdom of Memphis, would soon

give him an opportunity of employing his sword, which he had devoted to

his service at the ceremony of the foregoing day. After a conversation

which ran wholly upon general topicks, the king seeming inclin’d to be

alone, Sethos retir’d. He was follow’d by the courtiers, who thought

things would soon take another turn at court, and that Sethos would

have a great share in the distribution of military employs.

The queen in the mean time had form’d a new plan of politicks, which

she propos’d to follow. Her chief aim, to which every thing was to be

subservient, was the destruction of Sethos; and the disposition towards

a war, which, ’till then, she had been disquieted at, was thought

of service for the execution of her design. Among other things, she

resolv’d to let the return of the king’s inclination to his son take

its free course, and particularly not to interrupt the general tendency

of the court, and of every order of the kingdom to court the favour

of Sethos. This trial lasted about a fortnight, during which time,

however, she carefully kept on her side the secrets of the state, and

the key of the treasures destin’d for the expence of the war. None of

the officers of the army were yet named. At the expiration of this

term, she pitch’d upon a moment she thought the most favourable to

succeed in a private conference she had desir’d with the king.

My lord, said she, you have had time to make trial of the consequences

which may attend the too signal marks of confidence in a king to his

son, the heir to his crown, to whom a whole kingdom adheres, as their

future and undoubted master. You already see the court of prince Sethos

more frequented than your own; and the people, flatter’d only with the

hopes of his reign, shew a more fervent affection for him, than you

perhaps found in them for your own person when you first ascended the

throne. It is in vain we pretend to dispute this privilege to youth,

if we once suffer them to take advantage of it. But I dare affirm,

that the art of government prescribes very different maxims. Witness,

my lord, your royal father, who possess’d this art to a degree beyond

any of his predecessors. You know in what manner the great Sesonchis

behav’d with regard to you; I won’t say to the age of sixteen, which

is that of the prince your son, but to the age of fifty, at which your

reign began. During so long a guardianship he never imparted any of his

designs to you; and twice or thrice when he, at your sollicitation,

suffer’d you to give proofs of your valour in war, it was barely in

the character of a voluntier; and he always named his generals to his

own mind, even for those expeditions in which you serv’d in person.

In the mean time you never aspir’d, without his knowledge, to titles

eminent and proper to win and seduce the people, such as is that of

an initiate. I don’t, however, impute to the young prince a design

which is far above the reach of his age, and which shews us in him

an example of an initiate of sixteen years, not to be parallell’d in

our histories. The only author of this project is Amedes, a man of a

dangerous virtue, who leaves no stone unturn’d to be reinstated in the

ministry, in order to weaken that sovereign authority in you, which

I exercise in your name. I know it is through his intrigues that the

king of This, who had not before joyn’d the king of Thebes, has taken

up arms against you. The latter is only induc’d to war by an ancient

jealousy of the kings of Thebes against the kings of Memphis, and he

makes no other demands but that of some places which he pretends belong

to his frontiers. But the king of This, as brother to the late queen

Nephte, and uncle to prince Sethos, presumes to concern himself with

the affairs of your state. Under the colour of the chimerical designs

he imputes to me, he has the assurance, at the instigation of Amedes,

to demand of you, that a greater regard than hitherto be had to the

young prince at Memphis, during your life-time. It is my duty, my

lord, to inform you of these conspiracies, which are forming, as well

within as out of your dominions, against your sovereign power. It is

your fault if they be not stifled in their birth; but I can’t go about

it effectually without your approbation.

The king, who seem’d himself to have acquir’d a greatness of soul and

a more elevated mind upon the initiation of his son, answer’d Daluca:

That he approv’d her care for whatever concern’d the authority of

his government: But at the bottom, added he, in the disposition the

late king, my father, left the minds of his subjects, I find I have

power sufficient, and all that is wanting is a due management of it

for the good of my kingdom, and the security of my people. Besides,

added he, the universal and constant testimony of all men, and even

of all my predecessors, won’t suffer me to entertain any mistrust of

the initiates. Sesonchis himself, whose example you alledge, and who

understood mankind better than any prince in the world, made use of

Amedes, during the whole course of his reign, in the most secret and

difficult occurrences, and seem’d always perfectly satisfy’d with his

conduct. Amedes always declining the office of prime minister has been

the only reason why I burthen’d the late queen and you with the weight

of this office. In effect Osoroth, judging of others by himself, and

only reflecting upon the cares and fatigues of the administration,

did not so much as think what might be, at least for persons of a

certain rank, an object of desire and ambition. You may remember,

continued he, that at your entrance upon the administration I advis’d

you to Amedes as an assistant, and I should advise you to it with more

earnestness at this time, when the cares of an approaching war seem

to me more perplexing to a person of your sex; but that I would not

have Amedes be absent from my son in the first campaign he is going to

make. I don’t propose, however, to give my son, for his first trial,

the command of my troops. On the contrary, Amedes shall make him pass

thro’ every degree of military service, and the prince shall begin by

obeying those, over whom he will soon command. I therefore expect you

give me a list of the chief officers who are to serve in this war, and

especially the name of him you design for general: for it is time we go

to meet the enemy. Daluca answer’d; That tho’ she herself had continued

to provide for the frontiers, she, as well as the whole court, had

believ’d, for a fortnight past, that the king, in conjunction with

Sethos, would make choice of proper commanders. But, as it was not so,

she would the next morning bring him a list of the general officers

for his approbation, and that then they should depart without delay.

The queen had at that time the list about her, with a design of shewing

it to the king at the conclusion of this conference. But this prince

had by his answers put her so far besides her measures, and seem’d so

little sensible of the fears she thought to surprize him with, and so

easy with regard to those she intended to render suspected, that she

had not the courage at that time to offer him a list of men according

to the humour of her new-modell’d court, and consequently without

virtue or merit. The old officers, who were yet living, were not indeed

remov’d, but all the vacancies were fill’d up with young men, who were

the most devoted to those ladies who had taken them off from their

military exercises, or at least who had made them return, as soon as it

was in their power, from those expeditions of little moment, which had

offer’d since Daluca’s administration. The general she had nominated

was a man of thirty years of age, more fitting to distinguish himself

in war by his pride and presumption, than by his prudence and valour.

Full of ambition, which wanted virtue for its support, he sought more

the envy than the esteem of other men, and being a slave to Daluca,

set as great a value upon her spirit of intrigue, as her quality of

a queen. The difficulty was to make him acceptable to the king in the

new circumstance of the change which seem’d to appear in him, and above

all of the concern he had to take to place his son in an army made up

of good troops and experienc’d commanders. However, she was under an

absolute necessity of having a general of this character to impart her

designs to: She employ’d the night following to fortify herself with

resolution and assurance to employ her utmost influence to get this

general confirm’d. She knew very well, that by this choice she put the

affairs of the kingdom in some danger: but she argu’d within herself,

that being rid of Sethos, and remaining mother to the second successor

to the throne, every thing would turn in her favour.

The next morning she accosted the king with her table-book in her hand:

My lord, said she, I have taken care to preserve those officers who

have gain’d the greatest reputation in the service of the late king

your father, in their several stations. You may, perhaps, think the

general I have nam’d something young; but, not to mention his other

qualities, what I esteem the most in him, and what the late king sought

the most in all his generals, is his assiduous and constant dependance

upon the orders of the court. You, my lord, without stirring out of

your closet, ought to be, like the great Sesonchis, the real and only

commander of your armies. Your officers of war have no other interest

but to give proofs of their valour, and to obtain testimonies of

their zeal and service: but you alone know how far your army is to be

hazarded, and your enemy to be pursued. I therefore think it my duty

to propose a general to you who will be led by your views, and who has

no other motives than those you shall give him. If this caution be at

all times necessary, it is by so much the more so in a war to which

you send a son, whose preservation is, without doubt, your chief care.

In my opinion, those men are not to be entrusted with youth, who by

being accustom’d to danger, are not apprehensive of it, who take no

counsel but of their valour, and wait for no order but opportunity. The

king, being become somewhat haughty with regard to Daluca, interrupted

her, by saying, that with such a preamble she might recommend to him

the meanest soldier in the army. That in the mean time he knew that

experience, valour, and sometimes even the temerity of a general was

the real security of an army. But to conclude, added he, let us see the

choice you have made. The king, as soon as he had cast his eyes upon

the name of this person, who was called Thoris, said to the queen;

Madam, I am very apprehensive that the zeal of my ancient officers

will very much abate, when they find themselves oblig’d to serve under

a general yet more inferior to the greater part of them in birth and

merit, than in age. But it is at your risque he is going to the field.

I give up this first campaign, which, in my judgment, will hardly be

decisive, to your ministry. The success will shew you whether your

ease and happiness depend upon your own counsels and administration;

or whether you ought not to put as well your own interest, as that of

the state, into other hands. As for my son, he shall have no other

commander but Amedes, who himself shall have none; and they shall join

such bodies of troops as they shall chuse, on such occasions, and for

the time they shall judge expedient.

Osoroth had hitherto experienc’d only such wars as were without danger,

and tended only to enlarge or lessen the frontiers a few leagues, and

which, never shaking the fate of a kingdom, seem only carry’d on to

keep the officers and soldiers in action. So he thought he might very

well entrust the queen with the management of this, and that he had

sufficiently provided for the safety of his son, by exempting him from

the commands of a general he had no good opinion of. He thereby fell

into the error of those who don’t prevent distant evils, imagining

that they know the just extent of them, and can set bounds to them at

will. The queen therefore, finding she had the power, at least once

more, to pursue her own measures, made this her indiscreet choice

publick. All well-wishers to the state were uneasy at it; but it was an

alleviation to their sorrow, when they foresaw, that, at the expence of

some batallions or forts, bad success, more powerful than men, or even

princes, would necessarily bring on Daluca’s fall.

The new general, notwithstanding the troops march’d with all possible

diligence, had time to make the streets and houses of Memphis ring with

his pride and joy. His litter, borne by slaves in accoutrements of war,

carry’d an air of triumph; he stil’d himself a Hero; and he told every

one in express terms, that the dignity conferr’d on him did not so much

affect him, as the obliging manner in which it was done. The queen,

indeed, that he might be the more sensible of the value of his employ,

had not at first given him the uneasiness she herself had gone thro’,

when she propos’d him to the king. But the evening before his departure

she took him in private, and told him what repugnance the king had

shewn on his account. He talk’d of you, said she, as if he had been

inspir’d by Amedes, Sethos, and the whole body of the initiates. Their

principles are so differing from ours, that we ought not to wonder if

they are our enemies, as we are theirs. My influence, however, has

obtain’d your nomination, but you are not to suppose it so advantageous

as it seem’d to be when I first laid the design. That was in the

absence of Sethos, when there was some appearance, that he, seeing

me queen with an unbounded authority, and fearing that his younger

brothers were preferr’d to him in his father’s favour, had chosen to

retreat out of Egypt, or was gone in search of adventures in foreign

countries. Then you would have had the command of armies for your life,

and my eldest son, who is but seven years of age, educated in my sight,

and with my views, would have confirm’d you in that command during the

whole course of his reign. The case is now very different. I don’t mean

because the king has exempted Sethos and Amedes from your command,

and left them the choice of what troops they shall think fit to join

with, and of the enterprizes they shall judge expedient to engage in.

This exemption is at least so far to your advantage, that you are not

answerable for the hazards they will expose themselves to. But what I

plainly perceive to your disadvantage, is, that immediately after the

trial of this first campaign, the king will give the command of his

troops to prince Sethos. If this should happen, you will necessarily,

by reason of your age, be degraded to the meanest posts in the army,

from which I have with pleasure rais’d you. Don’t so much as hope that

I will employ my credit for your support. As soon as Sethos is at the

head of the army, I shall disengage myself from a ministry divided in

itself. The loss won’t be great to me: I shall remain queen, and the

mother of two of the king’s children; but I lament the lot of those

whose fortune is dependant on mine, and whom, however, I shall then

strictly resolve to abandon.

Thoris, after having been a while silent, said, Madam, what you do

me the honour to tell me, opens my eyes. Your goodness in concerning

yourself for my interest, teaches me, that it is my duty to be

thoughtful of yours, which is inseparable from that of the state.

Your administration has restor’d it to all the glory it shone with

under the great Sesonchis; and it shall be a law to me to undertake

whatever can secure to you that authority you are so just in the

administration of. In vain our two greatest enemies are exempt from

the general command of the army. If a profound reflection can furnish

any expedient; if a continual attention can enable me to lay hold of

some of those opportunities, the seeming hazard of which will remove

all suspicion, I hope to make myself worthy of your choice. The good

or bad disposal of things, a victory or the loss of a battle, the

obedience or disobedience of your particular commands, may be of equal

service to you. Say no more, reply’d the queen, remember only, that,

in bold enterprizes, delay is generally more dangerous than a ready

execution; and go with me to take leave of the king this instant. The

king, at the first sight of this officer, only turning his head towards

him, inform’d him, that he had exempted his son and Amedes from the

command he was going to exercise over his troops. He added, that it

was the queen who employ’d him, and that he wish’d he might answer the

choice she had made of him. After which, continuing his discourse to

the ancient officers who were about him, he told them, that after this

campaign they would have the pleasure of serving under his son only.

Upon this cold reception, the queen retiring into her closet, order’d

Thoris to follow her, as if to give him his last instructions. There,

laying aside all disguise in their discourse, they form’d the black

design, which the approaching campaign was to furnish the means to,

and at the same time to conceal.

The general rendezvous for the troops was in the neighbourhood of

Coptos, a conquest of the late king’s, which the enemy then threaten’d

with a siege. This city was actually in the ancient division of the

kings of Thebes. It was even become, by their care and labours, one of

the greatest trading cities of Egypt. For they had caus’d a great road

to be made, with inns at proper distances, from Coptos, cross the sands

of the Egyptian Arabia, to that maritime city of the Arabian gulph, to

which Ptolemy Philadelphus, after having embellish’d it, gave the name

of his mother Berenice. From Memphis to Thebes, a distance of above

one hundred leagues, there were an hundred stages or stables, of which

Diodorus makes mention, each for two hundred horses, to dispatch the

king’s orders, and likewise for the convenience of travellers. But

the temples, palaces, sepulchres of all sorts, colossal statues and

obelisks, which appear’d to view, upon leaving the Panopolitan Nome to

enter the Coptite, were of themselves sufficient evidences, that the

latter, of which Coptos was the capital, had time out of mind been a

province of the Dynasty of Thebes. As magnificent as all the kings of

Egypt had been in the publick monuments they had erected in different

parts of their kingdoms; none of all the other kings, not excepting

even those of Memphis, had near come up to the kings of Thebes in this

regard. The great number of quarries, of stones, marble, and porphyry,

of which the Upper Egypt is full towards the south, had furnish’d them

with materials, and their immense riches had enabled them to make use

of them. The nearer Thebes, the more numerous were these surprizing

objects; which form’d on every side of this famous capital, since

call’d Diospolis, avenues so stately, tho’ seen at a great distance,

that many have confounded them with the city itself. Thence it was

that some have reckon’d Thebes four hundred and twenty furlongs,

or seventeen leagues and an half long[73], while others reckon but

fourscore furlongs, or three leagues and one third[74], which was the

real length of the city, properly so call’d. From this same confusion

other authors have said, that that part of Thebes, which was built on

the east of the river, was extended very far on that side into the

Egyptian Arabia, continued on the west of the river by the division

of the Memnonium, and stretch’d towards the south to Syena under the

tropick, which is near at forty leagues distance. This it was, in

short, that made Homer call Thebes, the city with a hundred gates;

a determin’d number which only signifies a great many, as Diodorus

remarks. Another error into which the real bigness of this city has

made some Greek authors fall, and which has more regard to our present

subject, a war between Thebes and Memphis, is the number of fighting

men Thebes could send into the field. They have been made to amount to

a million[75]. But this number denotes either the inhabitants of Thebes,

comprehending even the women; or the body of all the soldiers of the

whole kingdom, their sons included. We find in some memoirs which were

known to Pliny[76], that the king could range three hundred thousand

men in the subterraneous passages of Thebes, which belong’d to him,

not to mention those appertaining to the priests, and march them out

of the city without the knowledge of the citizens. That was, without

doubt, the state of the militia of Thebes alone. Mephres, who reign’d

there at the time we are now speaking of, propos’d to invest Coptos

with two hundred thousand men, and to have another body of one hundred

thousand men, under his own command, to cover the siege. But out of an

air of magnificence, which the kings of Thebes, as ancient conquerors

of nations, had always affected, Mephres had in his army foreign

troops of western Arabians, and Troglodyte Ethiopians, which he himself

had brought under his yoke; but to whom he had left their customs and

accoutrements of war.

[73] Cato, apud Stephanum.

[74] Strabo l. 17.

[75] Strabo l. 17.

[76] L. 36. tom. 2. p. 375. Ed. Hard.

The queen of Memphis, on her part, having furnish’d the city with

ammunition and provision, and plac’d a garrison of thirty thousand

men in it, which was as many as the circumstances of the place

requir’d, march’d likewise a defensive army of one hundred thousand

men, commanded by Thoris. Amedes rejoic’d that there was a siege to be

sustain’d in this first expedition of Sethos; because, having resolv’d

to shut himself up with him in the city, the governor of which was a

man of valour, and his friend, he thereby plac’d the prince out of

the reach of his secret enemies. Before they left Memphis he advis’d

him to put the casket, which the late queen, his mother, had given

him at her death, into the hands of the priests; because the fate of

man, especially when going to war, being uncertain, he would at least

be sure, if he return’d, and whenever he return’d, of finding this

resource, or the priests would employ the treasures of it in such a

manner as he should direct them, in whatever part of the world he

might be. This being done, Sethos departed with his governor three or

four days after Thoris. But as Amedes would not extend the privilege

of the young prince beyond the bounds the king had set, he carefully

avoided whatever might have the appearance of a command. So Sethos was

accompany’d only by Amedes, and the eight young lords his companions,

who had desir’d leave to serve with him as voluntiers. They had each

their slave. Sethos had one whose name was Asares, an Arabian by birth,

as almost all those of his condition are, who, in the sequel of this

history, has a very singular part to act. He was of the same age as

the prince, and being of a very sprightly genius, had taken advantage

of the exercises both of the body and mind, which were enjoin’d his

master in the course of his education. Having seen the benefits of

virtue, he had resolv’d to take upon him at least the appearance of

it, and even to pursue it, if it could lead him to that pitch of

fortune which was his true aim. The queen had for some time before made

attempts to corrupt him: but, seeming not to understand her, he had

imbib’d a maxim, that if he must be a traitor, it ought to be for his

own interest, and not for that of others. Our voluntiers enter’d into

Coptos above a month before the enemy was in a condition to form any

attack.

Sethos was receiv’d by the inhabitants with an extreme joy, and he

soon perceiv’d they were better pleas’d to be under the government of

Memphis than that of Thebes, under which they were very fearful of

returning. This fear had no regard to the kings, but to the priests,

whom the kings of Thebes generally allow’d too great an authority

over the people, which they abus’d by exercising a very troublesome

inspection in the inmost recesses of families, and, under the pretext

of honouring or appeasing the gods, burthening them with customs not

only strict but severe, which made their own religion insupportable.

Amedes took this opportunity of saying to Sethos: My lord, by your

title of initiate you are hereafter above my instruction. But the

uneasiness you observe in the inhabitants of Coptos, the subject of

which you know, emboldens me to offer you yet an advice of importance,

which was not proper for me to give you at another age, nor natural for

you to receive from the mouth of the priests. All the morality, and all

the virtue of a king consists in a just combination of piety towards

the gods, and goodness to his subjects; so that his piety towards the

gods is blind, when it is hurtful to human society; as his goodness to

his people is pernicious, when it countenances in them an oblivion of

the gods and their worship. According to this principle, it will not

suffice that you are a religious man, you must likewise be a statesman.

By uniting these two qualities it is, that giving a reasonable

authority to those who are to keep up good manners and the exercise of

religion in your kingdom, you will prevent their destroying liberty,

quiet, and particularly the publick diversions. These diversions, kept

within the bounds of decency, prevent real disorders in the people they

engage, and being turn’d as much as possible to a moral advantage, they

even keep up politeness, and all the civil virtues in the minds of the

populace. A virtuous and wise prince winks sometimes at things in the

publick which he won’t allow in himself. But moreover, it is good to

know, that as the justice of the gods is not the justice of men; that

is, that as the gods, tho’ infinitely just, do certain things which men

could not do without injustice, so the virtue of a statesman, which

ought to be greater than that of private persons, must not always be

limited by that of private persons. Devotion, I say, even the least

enlighten’d, is in this advantageous, that it keeps up a spirit of good

manners in the people: but it must be govern’d, and never suffer’d

to have the rule itself. It is allowable, and even praise-worthy to

act with regard to ourselves upon principles of devotion, but with

other men we ought never to act but by reason. Thus a prince ought,

above all things, to avoid making his courtiers believe, that devotion

will make them acceptable to him; because, instead of bringing them

to this inward sentiment, which is not to be inspir’d, he leads them

into hypocrisy, and thereby renders them more impious and wicked than

they were before. A prince ought to go further, and prevent whatever

may disturb the publick tranquillity under the pretence of devotion.

Men full of a blind and scrupulous zeal, on whom no passion has more

dominion than that of guiding others, ought themselves to be carefully

watch’d by their prince; that after having troubled the minds of those

of his weaker subjects who give ear to them, they don’t attempt to

disturb common order among those who are not inclin’d to hear them.

Don’t confound this sort of men with hypocrites, but look upon them as

much more dangerous: for hypocrites do no more harm under the cloak

of religion, than will turn to their advantage; whereas scrupulous

persons are capable, by their obstinacy, of doing harm to themselves

and others. But retain above all, my lord, what I presume yet to add to

this advice. As much king as you will be, you will never be preferr’d

before this sort of men in the minds of the people, but as far as you

are regular in your own conduct, and just in all your proceedings.

Without this caution, these avengers of their own cause, which they

take always for that of the gods, will attribute every unlucky

accident, which may happen during the course of your reign, to your

want of piety and justice. On the contrary, if you are irreproachable

with respect to yourself, and just towards your subjects, you will make

the odium of that injustice, which always accompanies the reformations

and impositions of the men I am speaking of, fall on their own head. I

allow that this evil is less to be fear’d at Memphis, where, excepting

in those cases in which religion is concern’d, the priests never meddle

with the affairs of private persons, but when they apply to them. There

are none in all Egypt who better unite their piety towards the gods

with their goodness towards men: and you know how much they recommend

humanity and beneficence to those who have a superiority over others.

The initiates of Thebes, tho’ full of honour and courage, have always

been more rigid in victories, and less forbearing in their vengeance

than those of Memphis. In a word, the priests of Thebes establish

religion by severity, and those of Memphis by indulgence. By this the

latter have made themselves famous and respected throughout the whole

world; while the others, by their characters, can be agreeable but

to very few, and do likewise much less good in their generation. Tho’

religion is not dependant upon kings, and they ought not so much as to

concern themselves with it, they have a great share in the exterior

rites of it; and the tranquillity of their subjects is always their

care. The kings of Thebes, who have not pursued these maxims, have

suffer’d a power to devolve upon the priests, which has often been of

great prejudice to the state, and which even to this day is vexatious

to themselves. Not to mention the general alienation in the minds of

men, occasion’d by the severity of their priests, an example of which

you see here in Coptos; their history relates, that the ancient Amosis,

an initiate of Thebes, the same who had the glory of abolishing human

victims throughout all Egypt, gave so much liberty to the superstitious

zeal of the Theban priests, that they drove out of the capital only,

fourscore thousand persons, who could no longer bear up under the

insupportable burden of ceremonies, which they impos’d upon them.

Even to this day, now they are much milder, they take upon them to go

at will into the most private apartments of the palace: and whereas

in other dynasties, the priests make use of this privilege but as

favourites, at Thebes they do it as inspectors; and the king has only

the chamber of his nuptial bed, and that where the council of state

assembles, free from them.

However, to quit this moralizing, which may begin to be tedious to

you, I have already been thinking, my lord, to let you take advantage

of this prerogative of the Theban priests for another use. Kings and

princes can’t always travel with safety in foreign countries: but as

an Egyptian initiate, all the priests of Egypt are oblig’d, at your

first demand, to shew you all the curiosities of their sacerdotal Nome.

They alone have the keys of this great number of publick monuments,

which are tombs. They can go almost every where, from one to the other,

by subterraneous communications, tho’ at several leagues distance.

With the priests of Thebes you may go as far as Syena and the Lesser

Cataract. You may visit as much as you please of the kingdom, and

enter even into the king’s palace, without either he, or any of his

officers, knowing that you are in his dominions. The people of Coptos

themselves will only believe you to be in the temple of Isis, which

is beyond the morass that defends one of its gates, and by which you

will begin your private excursion. It is true, you won’t pass thro’

the streets or publick squares, nor will you see hardly any thing of

the cities and the buildings which are in and about them, but what

you may discover from the tops of the temples, or the windows of the

sacerdotal colleges. It is likewise true, that in this journey you

will gain no knowledge for the service of the state; for besides the

rigid silence the priests will observe with you on this head, agreeable

to the laws of justice and honour, they will bind you by an oath

never to make use, as an enemy, of what you will see as an initiate.

However, as whole years would hardly be sufficient to observe all

these wonderful works, and as in appearance the siege of Coptos will

be form’d within a month; I believe, my lord, it will be proper for

you to confine yourself to a slight view of the Memnonium of Thebes,

the city of Syena, and the neighbouring Cataract, which is the most

remarkable; contenting yourself this time with what you may take a

cursory view of in your passage, and with the answers the priests will

give to your questions. I make your journey of mere curiosity by so

much the shorter, as I extremely desire you may view the observatory

of Thebes at your leisure, and have an opportunity of discoursing upon

the subject of astronomy with the priests there, who, beyond dispute,

exceed the whole world in that science. To this end I have already

recommended you to two of the most noted priests, with whom I have had

a friendly correspondence since I last resided in Thebes; they will

continually attend you. But I believe in your absence, which they have

fix’d to three weeks, it will be proper for me to supply your room in

Coptos, that I may answer the king, your father, when he may desire to

hear concerning you. During this time I will observe with assiduity,

as well the interior and exterior of the place, as the preparations

for the siege, that, at your return, I may with greater ease make you

thoroughly acquainted with the actions we can enter upon when the

attacks are form’d.

Sethos answer’d Amedes, that tho’ he could gladly have had him as a

companion, and even as a counsellor, on this journey, yet he approv’d

of his wisdom in the measures he had taken. That he was therefore ready

to depart that very hour, to be surer of returning before the siege

began. Amedes led the prince immediately to the sacerdotal college

of Coptos. There he confided him to the care of the two priests, who

convey’d him to the temple of Isis in one of their own boats, which, as

all other conveniencies of the priests for travelling either by water

or land in Egypt, was free, even in time of war, not only from all

attacks, but from every visitation.

As short time as Sethos employ’d in taking a slight view of the

curiosities, either exterior or subterraneous, of the Theban Nome; a

fear of being tedious to the reader will make me yet more concise in

the description of them. Sethos being arriv’d at Thebes saw the four

chief temples of the city[77], the ancientest of which was a miracle

for its bulk and beauty. It was thirteen furlongs, or more than half a

league in circumference, seventy feet high, and the wall twenty-four

feet in thickness. All the ornaments of the temple, as well for the

richness of the materials, as exquisite workmanship, was equal to the

magnificence of the building, of which some part is yet standing.

But the gold, silver, ivory, and precious stones were pillag’d when

Cambyses set fire to all the temples of Egypt. Then it was that the

Persians, transporting all these treasures into Asia, and carrying

likewise Egyptian workmen with them, built the famous palaces of

Persepolis, Susa, and some other of their cities. Of forty-seven tombs

of their kings, which embellish’d Thebes or the neighbourhood of it,

Diodorus only describes that of Ismandes or Osimanduus, which was

call’d the Memnonium; this Ismandes or Osimanduus being no other than

Mendes or Memnon, one of the successors of Sesostris. This sepulchre

was six thousand two hundred and fifty feet in circumference. The

inside of it was divided into several apartments, all differing one

from the other. An account of them is agreeably given in this author;

and Sethos view’d them all with admiration.

[77] Diod. 1.

After having visited the Memnonium, the two priests, as they had agreed

with Amedes, carry’d the young prince immediately to Syena, a place

not so remarkable in itself, as for the way leading to it. This way

was the more charming as it was not regularly border’d on the sides,

like a street, with palaces in a strait line: But the prospect of a

fine champian country was every moment broken off by stately edifices,

plac’d at unequal distances one from the other. But to say the truth,

this continuation of Thebes divided itself on the right and on the

left of the river into several towns which had their particular names;

as Hermonthis, Tuphium, Latopolis, Elythia, Apollinopolis the Great,

the Ombes, and lastly Syena. To give Sethos an idea of these places,

the two priests, designing to return with him by private passages,

continued always in the high-road; but he was with them in one of their

cover’d chariots, with thin curtains round it, which they could draw

back at pleasure, and thro’ which they could see without being seen.

They made him observe at a distance a square temple, which had four

avenues, each compos’d of two rows of treble columns, or columns plac’d

three and three upon a triangular pedestal. On the cornices of these

columns were alternatively a sphinx and a tomb. Each double row was of

five hundred pedestals or fifteen hundred columns, which in all made

six thousand columns, each of a single piece, and seventy feet high.

Diodorus makes no mention of this temple, but modern travellers yet see

the remains of it[78].

[78] Paul Lucas has given a print of them. Voyage to the Levant, tom. 3.

As soon as Sethos arriv’d at Syena they shew’d him the deep well, over

which the sun pass’d perpendicularly the day of the summer solstice, so

that at noon the whole form of it was seen entire at the bottom of the

water. This phenomenon, as well as that of the Obelisks of this city,

which at that moment gave no shadow, prove that it is situated exactly

under the tropick of Cancer.

The next morning they propos’d to Sethos to visit the lesser Cataract,

which is not above four or five leagues distance from Syena; for the

larger is near to Napata in Ethiopia: The smaller is a chain of rocks,

which on that side towards Syena appear of a prodigious breadth, and

of the height of two hundred feet perpendicular from the surface of

the river in its natural course. But at more than ten furlongs farther

towards the south begins the unevenness of these rocks, the cavities

of which are so deep, that the water which passes over these frightful

places, fall and dash against the rocks with such violence, that the

noise of it fills the mind with terror as far as they are heard.

However, the Nile in its increase abundantly fills these cavities, and

covers them in a perfect level. It was then towards the end of the

first month of its decrease; before which, the journey to Syena, as

well as the siege of Coptos, would have been equally impracticable. But

the Nile, which runs gently in the plains, has then at the Cataract

the swiftness of an arrow from a bow. Sethos had the pleasure of

seeing the barks of travellers, which driving at this season with the

stream, make a fall of about two hundred feet without any danger[79];

an inconceivable trial in the first who ventur’d upon it. Here are

likewise seen the remains of an astonishing work. The natural cascade,

which falls with the impetuosity we have just observ’d, leaves a

space betwixt it and the perpendicular wall. The kings of Thebes had

caus’d a large platform[80] to be made, where they walk’d dry under

the water; the motion of which forms it into a vaulted arch; and

moreover, had caus’d to be hollow’d out of the natural rock, even with

the platform, a vast grotto, enlighten’d by several rows of windows.

Sethos allow’d, that this part of his journey very justly crown’d

all the beauties of it. The two priests therefore conducted him back

again to Syena. The Nile, along the banks of which they travell’d, and

which they frequently pass’d over on bridges, wholly employ’d Sethos’s

imagination, and gave him an opportunity of asking his guides their

opinion of the rise of this river, and the causes of its inundation.

[79] Strab. l. 17. p. 818.

[80] Paul Lucas, tom. 3.

The eldest of the two immediately answer’d, That the Egyptians being

inclin’d to look upon the Nile as a gift immediately from the gods,

or as a god itself, which had a temple at Nilopolis; they thought

it best to leave the people in an ignorance so conducive to their

piety. Indeed, continu’d he, the greater part of mankind is kept up

in a greater veneration for the gods, by the peculiar operations they

attribute to them, than by the effects which result from the general

order of their providence. Therefore, not discovering to them the fact

which is known to us, we leave an open field for some writers, who,

not having seen things themselves, relate such conjectures, with regard

to the Nile, the falsity of which time daily discovers. Some have said,

that this river takes its rise in the mountains of Atlas, towards the

western coasts of Africa; and that traversing all that part of the

world, it came into Egypt by the northern confines of Ethiopia. Others,

advancing something nearer to the truth, tho’ yet very far from it,

bring the Nile directly from the southern parts of Egypt, but, without

reason, separating Africa by the ocean at the Equator; then place the

rise of this river in those lands which they suppose beyond it, and

which they call the Anticthones, or the other world: So that, according

to their notion, the Nile traverses the sea, without mixing its waters

with that of the ocean. They call the mountains, where they imagine

it to spring, the mountains of the moon, and place them ten degrees

beyond the Equator[81]. It is more than a century since the sacerdotal

college of Thebes has sacrific’d immense sums to dive into the truth

of this matter. Our priests, accompany’d by our officers of the second

order, have neither fear’d the danger nor the fatigues of travels by

sea and land, which they have undertaken, either alone, or with sundry

merchants, who coasted it to different ports of Africa: and it has

appear’d, that the discovery of the rise of the Nile, which was the

first motive of their inquiries, has not been the only fruit of them.

They found out, that the western coast of Africa is not divided by the

ocean under the Equator, nor bends toward the east, as is yet believ’d

by most of the geographers, who stretch out this coast to the most

eastern extremities of Asia, and inclose the Indian ocean in this space

as a Mediterranean sea[82]. Africa, on the contrary, extends in a point

declining towards the west, to the thirty-fifth degree of southern

latitude. The priest, who discours’d him, even shew’d him, on a small

chart which he had about him, the situation of the eastern coasts of

Africa to its point, and the turning of the western coasts, as well as

the names of the principal inhabitants who dwelt as well on the one as

the other, to the Fortunate islands. We know no other way at this time

to these islands but by the Streights of Hercules’s Pillars; and return

the same way, for want of cultivating the knowledge the Egyptians

had of the whole compass of Africa. As for the springs of the Nile,

continued the priest, we have found them in a barbarous kingdom of

Ethiopia, for which we have yet no name, but the inhabitants call it

Goiama. They are twelve degrees on this side the Equator, which brings

them to twenty-two degrees, or five hundred and fifty leagues on this

side the mountains of the moon. And we observe in general, that the

geographical corrections almost always tend to diminish the distances

of places reckon’d by the most antient geographers. Moreover, these

springs seem to arise in a mountain cover’d with trees, which is flat

at top. There we find two small openings of cisterns plac’d pretty near

one to the other, like two eyes. But we can’t sound them, because we

are immediately hinder’d by roots of trees. The water has no issue but

at the foot[83]. This river issuing from the mountain opposite to the

north, soon forms a lake, call’d by the inhabitants Dambea, which is

above sixty leagues in circumference. At last, after many windings to

the east and to the west, it comes into Egypt, and traverses it almost

in a strait line from the south to the north. We conceal this rise and

natural course of the Nile from the populace, for the reasons I have

already given. And with regard to travellers and mariners, it is just

that they take themselves, for their interest and advantage, the pains

we have taken for the mere benefit of information.

[81] See the chart call’d, _Antiquissima orbis delineatio_, apposite

to p. 84 of the 1st vol. of father Briet’s book, intitled, _Parallela

Geographiæ veteris & novæ_.

[82] This system has been reviv’d in the latter centuries; and Marin

Sanuto, a Venetian, about 1330, publish’d a chart of it, which is

in Bongar’s collection, call’d, _Gesta Dei per Francos_. But see

in the above-mention’d work of father Briet, the chart, intitled,

_Agathodæmonis orbis descriptio_, opposite to p. 87. of vol. 1.

[83] This agrees with the description father Kircher, OEd. Ægypt. tom.

1. pag. 57. makes of the springs of the Nile, on the relation of father

Peter Pais, a Portuguese jesuit, who was the first discoverer of them;

and with the map he gives of the course of this river into Egypt. M.

de Lisle differs a little from it in his map of Africa of 1722. He has

even plac’d the two eyes, mention’d in this description, to the right

of Minus.

Sethos, who from his soul disapprov’d of such a reserve, flatter’d

himself, sooner or later, by some means or other, to verify what

concern’d the coasts of Africa, and to render this discovery useful

to mankind, without falling into the inconvenience of divulging a

sacerdotal secret. This opportunity was to offer sooner than he

imagin’d. In the mean time he thank’d the priest for this account of so

many extraordinary things; and told him, that not to be too troublesome

to him, he would entreat his companion to explain to him the causes of

the inundations of the Nile.

This other priest answer’d him, that the explication would be short.

The cause of the inundations of this river, said he, is the same as

that which produces the river itself. Rains, which give the first birth

to the Nile, are afterwards the cause of its periodical inundations.

As the sun by its presence or absence, as well as by the directness

or obliquity of its aspect, is the principal agent in the different

dispositions of the earth, and of the air which encompasses it; its

operations are more constant between the two tropicks, which include

its annual course, than in the spaces beyond them to the poles, over

which it has less power. For that reason the winds, which are caus’d

by the rarefaction of the heated air, are more regular in the torrid

zone than any where else. The heat of the days, and the coolness of the

nights return always the same in the different months of the year. With

regard to the rains, which are form’d of the exhalations and vapours

dispers’d in the air; it is the sun itself which raises them abundantly

in its perpendicular situation, and at the same time dissolves them

into torrents of water. Thence follows, that differing from what

happens in the temperate and in the frigid zones, which have summer

when the sun approaches them, and winter when it departs from them; the

winter, or the rainy season, in each of the two parts of the torrid

zones, at least in Africa, is the time of the most direct passage of

the sun over them. Now, as the sources of the Nile are in the northern

part of this zone, the first streams of this river increase when the

sun is in the northern signs, where it causes our summer. The same

happens to all the rivers which have their spring in the torrid zone.

But they are not all fill’d with a slime so beneficial as that of

the Nile to fatten the ground. This discourse brought our travellers

insensibly to Syena.

There they enter’d the subterraneous passages, and they made Sethos

continue in them as much as possible till they came to Thebes, that a

view of the sacred curiosities might succeed the sight of the prophane.

I shan’t speak here of the former, which were not very different from

what Sethos had seen in the subterranean edifices of Memphis. The body

of ceremonies were much the same. But in the Theban Nome they were

animated by a spirit of rigour, which, in the opinion of Sethos, took

off very much not only of their beauty, but their value; and whereas

in the sacerdotal Nome of Memphis, virtue was an exercise befitting

men of honour, in that of Thebes it seem’d to be a labour for slaves.

In the mean time, Sethos keeping these reflections to himself, came at

last above ground again in the capital. The priests shew’d him all the

beauties of their college, and reserv’d their observatory for the last.

The apartment which bore this name, was plac’d on the temple of the

Theban Jupiter, and compos’d of two long galleries one over the other.

The highest was terminated towards the north by two pretty low towers;

and towards the south by a high cupola open on all sides, which was

properly the place for observations. The lowest of the two galleries

contain’d all the astronomical books. They were divided into two

classes; one containing books of the elements, methods and systems; the

noted authors of which were represented in a row of pictures, by which

young students never pass’d without making a profound reverence. Thence

the most eastern Indians took the exterior adoration they render’d to

their first learned men. The second class contain’d a collection of

immediate observations, made since astronomy was cultivated at Thebes.

The columns of the syringes had preserv’d those anterior to the deluge,

which were transcrib’d into these books; and in which they had remark’d

and corrected the imperfections necessarily attending the first

attempts towards the sciences.

Sethos entring into this first gallery of books, saw three or four

hundred priests of all ages, from eighteen years upwards, who were

reading or writing in silence, on desks plac’d along the shelves. Our

Grecians mention much the same circumstance of the observatory of

Acanthis[84]. In the observatory of Thebes there were, however, about

twenty elders, to whom the youngest apply’d themselves, and open’d

their difficulties, whispering. They were not always courteously

receiv’d; and these great masters judg’d, that a too great liberty

of asking questions not only encourag’d idleness in young beginners,

but accustom’d them, under the pretext of affirming nothing, to say a

great many childish things. The prince’s guides had already led him

towards these priests, who were directors of the studies; because he

had express’d a desire of seeing nearer at hand such illustrious men,

whose name alone had long before excited a veneration in him. They

were advanc’d part of the way to meet him; and they took pleasure in

answering the questions he made concerning the different applications

of the pupils he saw so attentive at their study. Some, said they,

continue the general tables of calculation begun fifteen hundred years

ago, with regard as well to numbers, as to rectilineal or spherical

triangles, to facilitate and shorten the computations the problems

of astronomy engag’d them in. This long preparation shews that the

Egyptians as well as the Greeks, had not the method which the latter

attempted to find out, in order to save the enormous trouble of

numerical multiplications and divisions[85]. Others, farther advanc’d,

continued the priests, make calculations of the eclipses by tables

already form’d, or calculate tables of the different planets by

observations given. Some are oblig’d to give ephemerides for different

places of the earth. The most experienc’d undertake ephemerides for

the suppos’d inhabitants of some of the planets; and who, without

doubt, think themselves at rest in the center of the universe, as we

do. Others, to conclude, examine the courses of all the planets seen

from the sun. These find the motion of the planets, which from the

earth seem to us so odd, and so difficult to be brought to any certain

hypothesis, to be, excepting some difference in swiftness, uniform and

regular. The sun, which according to all manner of appearance, is not

inhabited, is the only place from whence the planets would appear to

move as they do, and where astronomy would be easy. But being upon the

earth in a wrong situation for observation, we may say, that whereas

in the other parts of physick nature seeks only to be conceal’d, in

astronomy it seeks to deceive us.

[84] See the preface of the Almag. of father Riccioli.

[85] In this condition they were in before the invention of logarithms,

and when they made use of Hervart’s tables.

Sethos, charm’d with what he saw and heard, said to them; O ye

venerable men, worthy of eternal memory and acknowledgments! these

difficulties you have overcome, place you in the highest rank of all

the learned men of the world. Astronomy, in the opinion of every wise

man who sets a true value upon things, is the highest attempt of human

understanding, and of all inventions that which by its sublimity and

certainty does the most honour to mankind; because it surpasses, in

some manner, humanity itself. It is to you we are in general indebted

for this glory; and it is you who have taught us what attention and

study can render us capable of. As our Egyptian heroes have given to

most civiliz’d nations those laws in which their happiness consists,

you furnish them with means to enjoy, for the greatest benefits of

life, that heaven you have discover’d to them; you will leave it, as it

were, an inheritance to posterity[86]. The heavens, by your care, far

better known than the earth itself, will serve alone to give an exact

knowledge of the situation of every country, and the extent of every

sea, and will alone guide different nations to a desir’d intercourse

one with the other. The eldest of the priests answer’d him, That they

all receiv’d this compliment with pleasure; not with respect to their

persons, but as regarding the whole science, of which they perceiv’d by

his discourse he perfectly knew the application and use. He added, in a

polite manner, that after having discours’d with him, they were going

to shew him in the upper gallery their astronomical instruments; not

as it was usual with them to many initiates, for custom’s sake, but to

have his opinion and advice. Sethos, though he very sincerely declin’d

this respect, follow’d them, however, with great joy.

[86] _Cælo in hæreditatem cunctis relicto._ Plin. l. 2. c. 26.

As they enter’d into this gallery at the south end, Sethos immediately

saw the cupola over his head; the light of which added greatly to the

beauty of the gallery, tho’ it had likewise windows on both sides.

This cupola, which was exactly round, was twenty feet in diameter.

They always left hanging there the tube, which serv’d them to gather

those rays alone which proceed from the star, and to guide the eye to

follow it continually[87]. But when they would get up into the cupola

to make observations, they made a floor in it, by means of joysts

and boards, which they thrust out in a moment from the thickness of

the roof of the gallery. Here Cheres saw all the representations the

Thebans had of the motions of the stars, either in relievo, as globes

and spheres; or in planes, as the planispheres, analemmas, astrolabes,

and every other species of astronomical projections. They did not omit

shewing him the ring parallel to the plane of the Equator, which the

Egyptians, and even the Greeks make use of to know the exact moment of

the Equinox, by the shadow which one side of this ring makes upon the

other in the instant, when it happens between sun-rising and setting.

Hipparcus and Ptolemy were both astonish’d to see sometimes the moment

of the vernal Equinox appear in the morning, and appear again at noon.

The priests mention’d this phenomenon to Sethos, as they explain’d to

him the use of this ring; and told him, that in this particular case,

the true moment of the Equinox is at noon, and that of the morning only

apparent; but that they had nothing yet decisive of the cause of this

appearance[88].

[87] Tho’ the antients had not the use of those glasses, which are the

most essential part of telescopes or perspectives, they nevertheless

made use of tubes, for the reasons mention’d in the text.

[88] It is an effect of the astronomical refraction, which the antients

perceiv’d; but which they neither measur’d nor made use of in their

calculations of horizontal solar eclipses, in which it chiefly takes

place. See this article in the Almag. of father Riccioli, tom. 1. pag.

133.

Going towards the end of the gallery, Sethos perceiv’d some priests

who were calculating nativities and horoscopes. In that, as we have

elsewhere observ’d, consisted their divination. They added to it an

enquiry, yet more strict than that of the other priests of Egypt,

into the secrecy of kings and private persons. The young prince did

not think it proper to ask them any questions on this head; not only

because they would have hid from him the grounds of their art; but

because he had heard of Amedes, and perceiv’d by the natural integrity

of his mind, that they were not worthy his notice. So the priests led

him at last to the inside of the two towers, which were at the north

end of the gallery.

These towers were round, like the cupola, and of the same diameter:

but being level with the gallery, the half sphere, which serv’d for a

roof to them, did not begin till the height of twelve feet; because

they would not have these roofs cut the horizon of the cupola, which

was higher than all the buildings in or about Thebes. In the western

tower was represented the hemisphere of the firmament, which contains

the six northern signs; and in the eastern, that which contains the

six southern. The circles of the sphere were describ’d in them as in

our celestial globes; and all the fix’d stars were mark’d according

to their bigness and reciprocal distances. The priests told Sethos,

that an exact observation of the position of the fix’d stars, was

their rule for an exact determination of the apparent course of the

planets; because they appear to our eyes to depart from or approach

to certain fix’d stars. It is by that, continu’d they, that we have

at last hit upon the theory even of the comets, so far as to foretel

their return[89]. They added, that their forefathers having been as far

as under the Equator, they had seen and observ’d the whole firmament;

and that they did not believe the eye of man could perceive a single

star which was not describ’d in their two hemispheres. It is true,

that whereas Ptolemy knew but of one thousand twenty-two in the

whole firmament, the priests of Thebes had plac’d in each of their

hemispheres near a thousand.

[89] Diod. lib. 1. sect. 2. attributes this knowledge to the Egyptians.

The Chaldeans, posterior to them, and who allow’d them to be their

masters, had it likewise, according to Apollonius of Myndus, quoted

by Sen. Nat. quæst. lib. 7. cap. 3. Apollonius himself hop’d this art

would soon or late be recover’d. See the history of the academy of

sciences, 1699. pag. 72. on the subject of a memorial of M. Cassini.

Sethos having contemplated these stars, which were of gold on an

azure ground, for some time, said: O learned priests, allow me to

expose to you a surprize, into which I fall as often as I observe the

stars on planispheres or globes; and by so much the more, when I see

them on these two magnificent vaults, into which you have brought

them all; which is, that notwithstanding the narrow limits of all

these representations compar’d to the immense extent of the heavens,

the stars seem to me more separated, and at greater distances from

one another, and above all, in an infinite less number, when so

represented, than they appear in the firmament itself, where they

seem to be crowded together in every the least space of so vast an

expansion. At first view we think we see millions in that celestial

hemisphere, in which the most quick-sighted eyes, such as yours, have

never found one thousand. Thus, in this respect too, we say truly,

as you have learnedly observ’d, that, in regard to astronomy, nature

seems industrious to deceive us: but we must confess, that our sight

does not give us the measure, greatness, and distances of things. There

is, as we may say, a jarring between that and our imagination. Both

one and the other have an opposite influence in our first views; and

in many cases, sciences only can rectify them. In reality, while our

imagination prodigiously increases the number of the stars, our sight

diminishes yet more the extent of the firmament. I might, perhaps,

undertake to prove, that the sky appears to us only as the half of a

sphere, whose diameter does not exceed two hundred and forty feet.

The priests, tho’ accustom’d to all the paradoxes of astronomy, were

astonish’d at the novelty of this proposition beyond expression; and

they were more than ordinary attentive to what Sethos said. I believe,

continu’d he, if one were to ask an indifferent person of what bigness

the sun appears to him to be; he would account it about a foot in

diameter; and indeed it seems to be a little more than a foot at the

horizon, and something less at noon. I will therefore suppose a foot

as a mean measure, the exactness of which is here not necessary. Now

astronomers have found, that the diameter of the disk of the sun is

about half a degree of the firmament. Thus the sun passing the day of

the Equinox thro’ half the circumference of the Equator, which is a

great circle, goes one hundred and eighty degrees, or three hundred and

sixty half degrees, which is three hundred and sixty apparent feet. The

diameter of a circle being pretty near the third of its circumference,

or two thirds of its half circumference, two hundred and forty feet

must be the diameter of a circle, whose half circumference is three

hundred and sixty feet. Thence, continu’d Sethos, I venture to draw

this consequence; That if I was upon a plain horizon, such as in the

middle of an even desart, or upon the sea; and that, placing myself

in the center of a half circumference drawn above me, whose diameter

was two hundred and forty feet, or its semi-diameter one hundred and

twenty feet, a disk of silver, which should take up half a degree of

this circle, was to pass this half circumference: I say, that not being

otherwise inform’d of any thing by any other object, I must necessarily

fall into two errors: The first, would be to believe this disk as big

as the sun; and the second, to suppose it plac’d, as well as the whole

line it would trace, in the firmament, as I suppose the sun to be, tho’

it be in reality a great distance from it. To conclude, said Sethos,

carrying my idea yet farther, I am persuaded, that the semi-diameter

of one hundred and twenty feet, given us by the observation I presume

to lay before you, is very near the point of distance, at which common

eyes begin to lose the power of judging of the real distances and

bigness of things, unless the imagination be assisted by the comparison

of the intermediate and neighbouring objects, whose distances or bulk

are otherwise pretty near determin’d.

The priests having heard this discourse, forbore all examination of the

physical suppositions of the problem, and told Sethos: That they were

much less affected with the brightness of his wit, and the depth of his

knowledge, than the modesty with which he had deliver’d things the most

singular in the world. Long may you live, O great prince, said they,

long may you live, and be the glory of Egypt, by the perfection of all

the talents, and of all the virtues, which are visible in you. It was

a great satisfaction to Sethos to be approv’d in his attempt of doing

some honour to the education of Memphis, in presence of the priests

of Thebes. He thank’d them with the greatest marks of gratitude for

that openness of heart which they had been pleas’d to shew him, and for

the generosity with which they had allowed him, at least, an access

to their most profound secrets. He added, that he should deem himself

happy if he could long continue to be their disciple; but that his duty

calling him back to Coptos, he desir’d, as their last favour, that

they would suffer him to be conducted thither that same day. The two

priests, who had not forsaken him a moment, carry’d him back by the way

he came, and Amedes, who knew the time of his return, was waiting at

the sacerdotal college to receive him.

The young prince, upon ent’ring Coptos again, laid aside all thoughts

of whatever he had seen during his journey, to apply himself wholly to

the affairs of war. The morning after his arrival, Amedes, visiting

with him the fortifications of the city, made him observe the

difference of the works with regard to their different situation. The

next day he shew’d him the works the enemies had begun since the fall

of the waters of the river. As yet they were only the lines of their

camp, defended by ditches pallisado’d, and in some places by walls. He

told him, that these works would have been much farther advanc’d, and

that there would have been a great many more nearer the city, but for

the continual oppositions they had met with from the army of Memphis,

and the frequent sallies of the garrison of Coptos, who often destroy’d

in the night what the enemies had done in the day. But that at last

the army of Thebes being superior to that of Memphis, at least in open

field, the enemy was advanc’d to the point he saw; and that they would

infallibly bring their machines in a few days to the very foot of the

walls. He added, that Thoris, waiting ’till some favourable opportunity

offer’d, did with reason confine himself to defend the avenues to

Coptos on the side of Memphis, that the place might always be supply’d

with necessary ammunition and provision during the siege; and that for

this reason he had pitch’d his camp on that side. As soon as Amedes

had done speaking, Sethos ask’d him, if he had been of the number of

those who had sally’d out to hinder the besiegers works? Amedes having

answer’d, that the governor had engag’d him to lead on some of these

attacks, the young prince immediately reply’d, he design’d himself to

be in the first sally the governor should order. But Amedes acquainted

him, that he had promis’d the king his father, not to suffer him to

go out of the place. My lord, added he, I have reasons for it which

are not so evident that I could open them to the king, and which you

will likewise dispense with my communicating to you. But the promise

I have made him is binding on this head, and forbids me sallying out

myself as long as you are in Coptos. However, to let you see that my

aim is not to be an obstacle to your valour, nor even to screen you

from the common perils of war; you shall enter into action as often as

you please on the walls, where you won’t fail of seeing very vigorous

engagements. Towers of wood or ladders will raise the enemy within

reach of our javelins, and even of our swords, and battering rams will

make breaches in our walls, which we must defend man for man. I shall

here take occasion, in answer to the reproach cast upon the Egyptians

by some Greek authors, that they did not excell in the art of war, to

say, that it was they, who in the persons of Osiris, Sesostris, and

Memnon, produc’d the first conquerors in the world. That afterwards

they courageously drove away from the heart of their dominions, both

the Arabians who had seiz’d them by surprize, under the shepherd

kings, long before Sethos’s time, and the Ethiopians under king

Sabacon, two or three hundred years before the invasion of Cambyses.

But moreover, setting aside their bravery; it is certain, that their

ingenuity and power had furnish’d them, long before the Greeks, not

only with all sorts of arms and instruments of war, the invention of

which Herodotus[90] attributes to them, but with those offensive and

defensive machines which the latter afterwards put in use at sieges.

[90] Herodot. lib. 3. & Clem. Alex. Pædag. lib. 2.

Sethos examin’d with attention all those which were prepar’d within the

city. As those provinces which are never so little distant from one

another have yet different customs, he compar’d the machines of Coptos

with those he had seen the models of at Memphis; and arguing upon this

subject with the engineers, he endeavour’d to discover the singular

advantages of one over the other.

Returning from the temple of Isis, by the way of the morass, the young

prince had already observ’d, that the foot of the wall on that side was

wash’d by the water. But taking a view of this part from the inside

of the ramparts, he observ’d that the enemy, who was master of the

adjacent parts, had since cover’d the water with a great number of

flat boats. The governor knew it; but he did not conceive they could

make any great advantage of them: and having a watchful eye over the

rest, he look’d upon the morass itself as a defence which nature had

furnish’d him. It was, however, on that side the first attack on the

town was made; because the enemy built very much upon the success of

a machine they had newly invented, to scale the city from the morass.

They began, by covering the whole surface of the water with boats;

and fastening then one by the other, they form’d a floor as firm as

if they had lain on dry ground. This work awaken’d the governor’s

attention, and he began to think more seriously of defending this part

of the walls. Sethos, who was standing by his side, told him, that he

call’d to mind an expedient, the first idea of which he had found in

the histories of Egypt; that he would go and confer thereon with the

engineers, and that in an hour he would offer him this invention ready

for execution: that in the mean time, he had the confidence to promise

him a success from it as happy as it had been in former times. The

governor, a prudent officer, answer’d him; That independant of the good

or bad success of this project, the whole kingdom was happy in having a

prince who knew how to think, and above all, who was willing to submit

his thoughts to the examination of experienc’d persons. That he waited

with impatience for his proposal, which he was before-hand very much

dispos’d to follow.

The same day, the enemies having cover’d their boats with planks,

brought all the pieces of the great machine they had prepar’d; and they

had taken their measures so well, that it requir’d a very little time

to put it together. Sethos, whose design the governor had approv’d of,

was very diligent in observing, thro’ private chinks in the wall, what

he could discern of this machine, and of the effect it could have.

The engineers had orders to come frequently to him, to know whether,

upon what he might from time to time perceive of their works, it might

be necessary to make any alteration in the iron hooks he had already

order’d in the general view of his design. He saw nothing that made it

worth while to make any change in the form he had at first given. His

intention was, to let the besiegers put their machine in a condition

to work without interruption, that his counter-battery might make the

greater havock amongst them. However, to give them no suspicion of his

private design, he ply’d them with arrows shot at random from the top

of the wall. They had taken the precaution to screen themselves from

them; for the greater part of their barks, especially those in which

their work oblig’d them to be most, were cover’d with boards slanting

on the side towards the town.

Night being at last come, they perceiv’d that the enemy had chosen

that time to put their machine in practice. It was a large lodge or

shed open before, and capacious enough to hold fifty soldiers. It was

to rest upon the brink of the parapet of the ramparts; the height of

which, the besiegers engineers perfectly knew. The body of this lodge

was to be supported in this manner by long, strait stakes, of which

only the hindermost were upright or perpendicular to the barks. All

the rest serv’d as peers or jaumbs, being fix’d obliquely into these,

in the same manner as is practis’d with galleries of wood which have

a great bearing out. In this form it was something like the Sambuca

of the Latins, so call’d for the resemblance it had to a harp, and

which Marcellus made use of at the siege of Syracusa on the sea-side,

according to the relation and description of Polybius and Plutarch.

But the machine we are here describing, was more considerable in every

respect; and the manner of erecting it very different. The workmen,

turning their backs to the town, rais’d it as the semi-diameter of a

circle upon supporters, plac’d and fasten’d in the boats, by drawing it

with cords running in pullies, which were fasten’d to a sort of masts

almost as high as the walls.

The besiegers had not put any men into the row of boats which were

nearest the wall, not to expose them to the great stones, and other

heavy bodies, which the besieged might throw down upon them: but on

each side of the machine were plac’d a great number of archers, to

infest the besieged on the ramparts with their arrows.

Sethos, on his part, had caus’d to be fasten’d to the parapet a great

number of strong pullies, tackled with strong ropes, at the end of

which were fasten’d iron hooks of all forms. The enemy did not see

these pullies, not only because they had taken care to remove all

light round them, and had kept only for themselves as much as was

absolutely necessary for their work; but because these pullies were

plac’d between the heads of the soldiers, which Sethos, by a stratagem

which succeeded, had some time before plac’d standing upon the parapet.

While the enemy, making a jest of this disposition, which to them

seem’d fantastick, saluted them with their arrows; the eight lords,

companions of Sethos, dispers’d among those of the front, but with

their armour fasten’d behind to lesser ropes, and holding in each

hand one of the iron hooks fasten’d to the ends of the larger ropes,

fell down, or rather were dexterously let down, as if they fell of

themselves, one after another, as dead men, into the nearest boats. The

enemy not thinking these suppos’d dead men worth their notice, and not

having perceiv’d the ropes, hidden from their eyes by favour of the

night, were only busy, some in clearing the brink of the parapet with

their arrows; and others, in raising their machine by force of labour.

In the mean time, these young noblemen having, with great activity

and address, fasten’d their iron hooks to the hinder part of those

flat boats, which contain’d the workmen who were raising the machine,

return’d to the foot of the wall, where they made, all together, a

great cry; which was the signal for hoisting them up immediately,

and for hawling at once all the ropes to which the iron hooks were

fasten’d. The disorder which the first motion of the pullies caus’d, is

inexpressible: It threw down all those who held the machine suspended

in the air, and almost rais’d to its full height. The fall of it

crush’d to pieces above two hundred men, engineers and labourers, who

directed, or were assistant at the raising of it. All the soldiers in

the shatter’d machine were kill’d or wounded. The pullies raising the

ends of the boats nearest the walls, made all the planks give way, and

threw those, who a moment before were insulting the besieged with their

arrows, into the water. The greater part of the boats to which the

hooks were fasten’d, being rais’d intirely out of the water, whirl’d

about in the air by the force of their own weight hanging to the ropes,

discharg’d themselves of those men who had taken hold of them for fear

of drowning, and crush’d them to death afterwards in the other boats

which had receiv’d them in their fall. Much in the same manner it was

that Archimedes turn’d the effect of the Sambuca’s, which Marcellus had

caus’d to be apply’d to the Acradina of Syracusa against the Romans

themselves; and thus Sethos, having no farther experience in war than

what he had attain’d to from history and reading, made himself fear’d

and respected, in his very first exploit, by Mephres, one of the most

valiant kings the dynasty of Thebes ever had. Something of the same

nature has been since related of Scipio the younger, and of Lucullus,

who only by reading of Xenophon had made themselves great captains

before they commanded the armies of the republick.

While every body, and in particular the governor, were heaping praises

upon Sethos; he himself was gall’d to the soul that he had not yet had

an opportunity of giving any mark of his valour. He told the governor,

shewing them his eight companions, that it was they, and not he, who

had given the first proofs of their courage, as well in the sallies

they had been engag’d in during his absence, as in the perillous

undertaking of fastening the hooks to the boats. But that he comforted

himself with the hopes of partaking with them the danger of an exploit

that he had projected against the enemy’s towers, without going out

of the gates of the city, since it was forbidden him. The governor

answer’d, That it was not for him to exhort him to any thing: but that

after the success of his first attempt he had not the power to dissuade

him from any thing whatsoever. But nevertheless he rely’d very much

upon the wisdom of Amedes, for the preservation of a prince who was

already an object of wonder, not only to the king’s subjects, but to

his enemies.

Mephres, whose army was very numerous, had taken the very time in which

this machine was preparing, and to be put in practice, to advance his

towers. The continual skirmishes between his army and that of Memphis

had not hinder’d him from levelling several passages thro’ which these

monstrous piles of wood, quite erected, were to advance towards the

walls upon rolls. At sun-rising they saw two of them, of equal size,

before that part of the wall which had the largest face towards the

plain, and where the Thebans had already fill’d up the ditch. They

were square buildings, of four fathoms each side, and higher by two

feet than the parapets of the ramparts, before which they were plac’d

at fifteen or twenty feet distance. Toward the top they had a floor,

to which there was an ascent by a stair-case contriv’d on the inside

of the timber. This floor was lower than the brink of the tower by the

height of a tall man, to secure the besiegers from darts lanc’d in a

direct line. But on that side which was towards the wall, there was

upon the floor a broad bench, upon which the enemy were to mount, to

annoy the besieged, who might line the ramparts, with their arrows.

Besides that, every tower had a sort of draw-bridge of three feet

broad, with iron rails on the sides about three feet high. These

draw-bridges the enemy were to let down on the parapet, and by that

means to endeavour to throw themselves into the city. Sethos, seeing

these draw-bridges which as yet were erected in the air, and having

observ’d the iron rails, smiling, said to his officers who were about

him; These people surely are very awkward; we may, perhaps, let them

see something more bold.

In the mean time the ramparts were provided with soldiers commanded by

the governor himself, who prepar’d to repulse the besiegers. Besides

the arrows which they shot continually at the enemy in the plain, he

order’d, that as soon as they observ’d them upon the floors of the

towers, they should shoot arrows into the air that might fall down

again on their heads. Sethos, on the contrary, wish’d, with regard

to his design, that the floors might be full of soldiers, because he

look’d upon them as so many men who should not escape. But observing

that these arrows did not do them much harm, nor hinder them from

exposing themselves to the danger, he did not contradict this order

of the governor’s, nor did he inform him of his project, to give him

the pleasure of a surprize. He had, indeed, in the morning, desir’d

that two long planks might be plac’d within the ramparts, over-against

the two towers; one end of which resting upon the ground, and being

rais’d by degrees, and supported from space to space with stones, the

other end towards the parapet was of the same height as the towers.

The governor let him make these preparations, thinking he design’d to

place soldiers upon these planks, who being something higher might the

better resist the enemy’s descent into the ramparts. But Sethos, who

had concerted his design with his eight companions, caus’d them to be

arm’d, as himself, with light armour, and each a sword of a foot and

a half long, broad at the hilt, and very sharp-pointed. The moment he

thought most proper for his design, placing himself, with three of

his companions, at fifteen paces distance from the foot of one of the

planks; and the other five at the same distance opposite to the foot of

the other, they all cry’d out at once to make way. Immediately taking a

sudden jump all together with a surprizing vigour, they were seen, in

a moment, running on the planks, rais’d in the air, and falling, with

sword in hand, into the two towers. The governor, as well as all the

officers and soldiers on the rampart, stood motionless at this sight:

but the people in the towers, much more surpriz’d, thought them really

fall’n down from heaven by a prodigy which foreboded their certain

ruin. Indeed, having no other weapon but their bows, which they were

going to make use of, by mounting all together upon the broad bench,

they were all stabb’d before they had time to come to themselves.

As the stair-case and bottom of the tower were fill’d with Theban

soldiers, commanded to back those who were above; our young heroes

threw all the dead bodies down the horizontal opening of the stairs;

and they, being in armour, by their weight, either kill’d or overthrew

all who were on the stair-case. Not satisfy’d with that, they took

the levers, or other instruments of iron design’d to let down the

draw-bridges, and with a wonderful quickness and dexterity loosen’d the

planks from the joysts, which were more than sufficient for them to

walk on; and throwing them down, they destroy’d those who were below

in great numbers: They likewise ruin’d a great part of the stair-case,

by leaving only such pieces of wood as were necessary for them, not

to walk, but to jump or clamber from one place to another. At last,

not designing to stay long there, they let down the draw-bridges, and

return’d, running to the ramparts. But to deprive the enemies of the

same opportunity, if they should attempt to come up in their turns,

Sethos caus’d the two bridges to be dextrously cut off close to the

parapet, and they fell at the foot of the wall.

This exploit had a far greater success than Sethos himself had

imagin’d. The first soldiers, who got out of the two towers alive thro’

the doors below, cry’d out in a fearful tone, That certain Genii,

enemies to the Thebans, were come down from heaven on the tops of their

towers, had destroy’d their companions there, and were making frightful

ravage. This notion, supported by the groans of those within, and the

noise of the boards falling, made those who were posted adjacent to

the towers, fly to a great distance; and they did not scruple saying,

that signs from heaven were superior even to the orders of their

king. Mephres, who saw these young men in the air, and could hardly

comprehend this unheard-of example of intrepidity, the author of which

he suspected to be Sethos, plainly perceiv’d he should not be believ’d

if he alledg’d it. So, not to expose his authority, he chose rather

to give way to the superstition of his army. He gave orders the very

same day to set fire at a distance to the two towers, since they were

displeasing to the gods. He even added, that as their great machines

had not succeeded, they would, in the continuance of the siege, only

make use of the battering rams, the most simple of all machines; which

they could not do without, to beat down the gates, or batter the walls

of a city they so lawfully attack’d.

The governor and Amedes, on their part, wrote to the king of Memphis,

to give him an account of what had pass’d from the beginning of the

siege, and of the glory which the young prince, and the eight lords his

companions, had acquir’d. Thoris in the mean time receiv’d from the

queen reproaches, either private or express’d in a doubtful sense, that

his projects advanc’d so slowly, and that the affairs of war remain’d

always in the same situation. He did not want this spur to his rage.

The contempt he had always lain under, but into which he imagin’d he

was fall’n by a comparison to Sethos, whose name alone fill’d the

mouths of every one, cast him into a confusion, which began to be

visible in his orders. In short, under the pretext of taking advantage

of the disorder, from which the Theban army was not yet recover’d; he

let the governor know, that he was resolv’d the following night to

attack the enemy with the greater part of his troops, and therefore

desir’d he would favour his design by a sally of the best troops of

his garrison, at midnight, and on that side opposite to him. He sent

him, at the same time the word by which they might know one another in

the dark. The governor consented to all, and let him know he wanted no

other signal but that of the hour appointed. Thoris knew that Sethos

never made one at the sallies: but imagining upon such an occasion he

would be near the gate on the inside, he hatch’d the black design of

giving the enemy an opportunity of entring into the city. To put it in

practice without being discover’d, he took upon him to go in person to

view the way they were to pass to encounter the enemy. When he went

into the tents of the chief officers, he talk’d aloud to them of his

design; he nam’d the gate the garison was to march out of, and gave

them the word in such manner, that those who were round about the tent

might hear it. Some of the eldest captains took upon them to acquaint

him, that he would have done better to have spoken lower, because of

the spies that king Mephres might have in the camp; and the rather, as

it was for particular officers to give the word to the troops in the

moment they were to march. As it was the intention of Thoris to have

the project of his enterprize come to the enemy’s ears, he soften’d

his tone no longer than till he was out of the hearing of those who,

from space to space, presum’d to give him the same advice. The general

order, in short, was to march against the army of the besiegers the

hour he had advis’d the governor. He foresaw that their march would

soon be stopp’d by the army of Mephres, who was sufficiently inform’d

of all. So he propos’d, after having engag’d them some time, to sound

a retreat, under the plausible pretext of his design being discover’d,

and so give the enemy an opportunity of cutting off the sally of the

garison, and, perhaps, of entering the city. All this happen’d to the

great misfortune of Memphis, as he foresaw; and to his own, which he

did not expect.

Mephres had divided his troops into two bodies; the largest he

commanded himself, and the other he sent under the command of one of

his lieutenants against the garison. Thoris, at the head of his army,

was immediately struck with fear at seeing the king of Thebes, who till

then had never appear’d in person in any of the nightly expeditions,

and with whom he had no thoughts of engaging. He remain’d at a stand,

when the king fell upon him with his whole avant-guard; and commanding

two or three of his officers, who were nearest his person, to seize

him without wounding him, he caus’d him to be led hand-cuff’d to the

quarters where the prisoners he had taken from the beginning of the

siege were kept: after which, rushing on the foremost ranks, he made

a terrible slaughter. But the next commanding officer after Thoris, a

prince of the blood-royal of Memphis, a man in years, and of great

resolution, taking the command upon him in the absence of the general,

gave immediate orders to the officers who were behind him to retreat

with the army in good order and silence into their intrenchments; while

with one single cohort, which he kept, he would oppose the whole shock

of the Theban army. The soldiers of this cohort, to the number of three

hundred, drew together imperceptibly with their backs to the wall of a

long temple they had behind them. There they withstood all the fury of

the enemy; and were almost all cut off, when the commander, directing

his discourse to Mephres, said: My lord, you are conqueror of our

first ranks, and of three hundred men which we were here; but the body

of the army of Memphis is in safety. Be contented at this time with

the remainder of these brave men, who surrender themselves prisoners

to you. The king instantly put an end to the battle: he order’d the

soldiers to be convey’d away, and care to be taken of them, especially

of the wounded. Afterwards, giving his hand to the commander, he made

him mount a horse by his side, and told him, that he should have no

other chain but his word, nor no other prison but a tent near to his

own. Thus the king return’d into the center of his camp, to inform

himself of what pass’d on the other side of the city.

Mephres, to take advantage of the treason of Thoris, had given orders

to his lieutenants to suffer the troops of the garison to advance very

near to the camp, where they should be receiv’d by a body of the army

in battle-array; and that in this interval of time a certain number of

batallions should file off to the right and to the left, under favour

of the darkness, and range themselves near the gate the garison was

march’d out at. He gave two words instead of one; that by which they

were to know one another in the engagement, and that which, being

common to them and the garison of Coptos, was to favour the entrance

of the besiegers into the place. The troops which were detach’d to the

gate, had orders not to appear till the besieged being beaten, as in

all appearance they would be, fled, or at least retir’d towards the

city: but that then, mixing with them, and seeming to belong to them,

they should throw themselves, in as great a number as possible, into

Coptos.

The attack of the garison, who were surpriz’d to find the enemy in so

good a posture of defence, was, however, very vigorous; because the

officers the governor had pitch’d upon were excellent soldiers, and

seven of the companions of Sethos, who were with them as volunteers,

encourag’d the troops by their example. Tho’ the Theban army not

only receiv’d them in front, but attack’d them insensibly on the

flanks too; the soldiers of Coptos held out this unequal battle with

so much courage, that the besiegers, who were posted near the gate,

thought there would be no fugitive at all, and that this pretext for

throwing themselves into the town would fail them. In the mean time

the Thebans, beginning to speak aloud, that the army of Memphis was

defeated, and the general taken, about fifty of the most cowardly of

the garison, who were nearest the gate, forsook their ranks, and took

to their heels towards the city. The governor, who believ’d all his

troops were defeated and following them, caus’d the gates to be open’d

to receive them. The Theban soldiers, who had waited with impatience

for this opportunity, join’d with them in great numbers: but the fear

and disorder of the former soon made them known from the latter, whose

outward appearance was more stay’d, and who affected too much to call

out the word, that they might be suffer’d to pass. The governor, who

was in arms within and near the gate, with the flower of his officers

and soldiers, among whom were Sethos and Amedes, cry’d out at once:

We are betray’d; let the gates be shut. This order had no effect, the

besiegers having so crowded up the passage, that it was impossible

to stir them. The governor had nothing else to do but to send for

succours from that part of the garison which remain’d in the city;

and in the mean time to employ the men he had there to oppose this

torrent. They suffer’d the small number of the enemy that were enter’d,

to be dispers’d thro’ the city, as not being able to do much harm

of themselves: but the governor, with the choicest of his soldiers,

whom he had already got together, Sethos, one of the young lords, who

alone remain’d with him, Amedes, and even the slave we have already

mention’d, and who never left his lord, when he would suffer him to

follow him, resisted the besiegers, who were got to the widening of

the gate, with so much vigour, that notwithstanding all the efforts of

those who push’d them on behind, not any more enter’d.

Amedes perceiving that Sethos, in the heat of action, was every moment

out of his fight, gave him a particular charge not to go without the

gates. The young prince had indeed no intention of doing it: but a

moment afterward, perceiving the enemy gave way, and being under the

gate, back’d by all the soldiers who were behind him, he could not

persuade himself to lose such an advantage; but pursuing it, was

got without the gate, with the young lord and his slave, before he

perceiv’d it. They were all three soon forc’d to retreat along the

ditch on the left hand, to some distance from the gate, by the attack

of fresh troops. Amedes himself, in opposition to his own orders, being

engag’d under the same gate, and not being able to draw back without

giving the enemy an opportunity of advancing upon him, and entring the

city again, was likewise got out, and was forc’d towards the right

hand by the troops of the king of This, by whom he was grievously

wounded and taken prisoner. The governor knew there were persons of

such distinction without the gates: but having charge of the place, he

laid hold of the first favourable moment to shut the gate; and leaving

only a wicket open, plac’d such men there as he could depend on; not

only to see whom they let in, but to procure advice every moment of the

troops that were without, and, above all, of Sethos and Amedes. In the

mean time the young prince, with his companion and slave, making use

of their utmost cunning and activity, and favour’d by the darkness of

the night, were soon at such a distance as to be out of danger of being

kill’d or taken prisoners. Then the result of their little council

was, That the shortest and safest method for them was, courageously to

overcome all obstacles, and join the troops of the garison; who yet

defended themselves on the spot where they were first attack’d, and

which they would easily find again by the noise. They order’d it so,

by keeping all three together, that they got thither, after having

kill’d by the way some of those who attempted to stop their course.

Having soon made themselves known among the ranks, they, in some

measure, renew’d their hopes. But Sethos soon after receiv’d a wound

by a sword under the bottom of his armour, which laid him flat on the

ground for dead. His companion, who saw it, threw himself immediately

upon him, to endeavour, with the help of his slave, to draw his body

out of the fight. They had just succeeded in it, when the young lord

got such another blow himself, which laid him at a distance from Sethos

senseless and almost without life. The slave thinking his lord dead

beyond recovery, with reluctance drew his ring from his finger, to shew

that he had accompany’d him faithfully to his death. Being likewise

resolv’d to continue fighting near him, he had but just time in the

tumult, to put this ring into his mouth. But he had hardly enter’d

again into action, when, being on the flank of the batallion, from

whence he had just remov’d his lord’s body, the Arabian soldiers seiz’d

him behind, and made him enter into the number of their prisoners. He

us’d himself to hold his ring hid always under his tongue, having a

confus’d idea that it might be a means to procure his enlargement.

The king, tir’d with expecting in his tent the success of so long and

so obstinate an encounter, came himself to the field of battle; and

with an intent to spare his troops for the continuance of a siege,

which he apprehended would not be soon at an end, he gave orders

to sound a retreat almost as soon as he came thither. And thus the

besieged, terribly lessen’d in number, and even not yet knowing their

whole loss, return’d, however, this time into the city with honour.

But what an affliction was it, not only to the governor, but the whole

garison, and all the inhabitants of Coptos, when they found Sethos

wanting, as well as Amedes, the young lord, and the slave, from whom

they might at least have learnt his fate! At break of day the governor

sent to the king of Thebes to demand a truce for burying their dead.

Having easily obtain’d it from the king, who wanted the same himself,

he sent to take an exact view of the field of battle, hoping to find

out those he was most concern’d for, by their helmets or other armour,

and in particular Sethos and Amedes, by their initiates vests which

they wore under their cuirass. But the vagabonds who range about for

plunder, as it generally happens, had already stripp’d the dead, and

the trampling of men and horses had disfigur’d the greater part of

them. The governor was soon inform’d, that there were no marks to be

found of the bodies either of Sethos, Amedes or the slave; but that

they were bringing in the young lord, whom they found yet breathing

on the side of the field of battle, stripp’d like the rest. While

they were dressing his wound, which did not prove to be mortal, he

forestall’d the governor’s curiosity, and told him, with groans, that

he had seen the young prince kill’d, and that he had assisted the slave

in dragging his body out of the crowd; but that having been wounded

himself in the very instant, he knew nothing what was become of the

body of Sethos, nor of the slave, who was then alive and well. The news

of the young prince’s death was soon known every where. On the one side

it came to the king of Thebes; and on the other to Amedes. The latter,

being discover’d to be an initiate by the officers of the king of This,

who took care of his wound, which was more painful than dangerous, was

laid in a litter, and sent as a prisoner of note to Abydus, distant

hardly a day’s journey. The king of This having seen him, gave him a

very favourable reception. Amedes, on his part, tho’ after the death

of the prince he had no thoughts either of returning to Memphis, or of

remaining in the kingdom of This, soon mediated a peace between the two

kings, father and uncle of Sethos, by disengaging the latter from the

league he had made with the king of Thebes.

The day after the fatal mistake, of which Thoris had been the cause,

Mephres having receiv’d the news of the death of Sethos, sent his

compliments of condoleance to the governor, as representing the king

of Memphis. He added, that he was just going to take vengeance for it;

and that he might come himself in all safety, or send whom he might

think fit, to be eye-witness of it. The governor made answer, that he

would give the king his master an account of this generous civility

of the king of Thebes: But that not conceiving what sort of vengeance

he was about to take for the death of the prince, he begg’d he would

excuse his giving any answer on this head. At the return of the herald,

Mephres assembled his whole army, and plac’d all the prisoners of

Memphis in the midst of the ranks. These motions were observ’d from

the top of the ramparts of Coptos, but they could not yet comprehend

what they would end in. At last they perceiv’d Thoris bare-headed, and

led between two men who held him bound. Then Mephres, beginning to

speak, said: Soldiers of Thebes, and ye soldiers of Memphis; behold

this despicable general, who, having no distinction either of birth or

merit, has had the insolence to accept of the command of the troops

of Memphis against an army which it was well known I was to command

in person. However incens’d I am at the little regard which has been

had upon this occasion to a custom ever observ’d by all the kings of

Egypt when engag’d in war, I have ample satisfaction in the advantage

we have had; and I believe Osoroth will soon be more displeas’d at this

unworthy choice, than I could be. If he govern’d of himself, I know

what measures I ought to have taken with him to prevent this affront.

But as I don’t vouchsafe to enter into a discussion of the deference

due to the blood-royal of Egypt with any but those of the same blood;

I have suffer’d this affront, resolving to do my self justice for

it. I had even rather have given marks of disdain than vengeance,

with regard to a general so contemptible as this, had he only shewn

his want of prudence and knowledge. But be it known to both nations,

that this traytor has been the only cause of the misfortune which has

this night befall’n the enemy’s army and garison, and above all, the

incomparable prince Sethos, the loss of whom all Egypt ought to regret.

This perfidious wretch it was, who, going yesterday in the evening

from tent to tent to dispense his orders for the attack, thought he

could not speak loud enough of his design, and of the word he had

sent the governor of the city. In vain the most prudent officers of

his army advis’d him, one after another, as he came to them, to speak

with more caution. He, without ceasing, resum’d the tone of his voice,

with the apparent design of being heard by those spies, of whom an

abhorrence of Daluca’s administration furnishes me numbers. If he were

my subject, and I would make him suffer the death he deserves, he

should be examin’d in a council of war: But the chastisement I confine

myself to, even with regard to my prisoner, don’t require my taking so

many measures. It is expedient to secure here at least some punishment

for a villain, whose conduct might, perhaps, not be disapprov’d of

by the ministry to which the kingdom of Memphis is now a prey. The

king, having spoken in this manner, caus’d Thoris to be stripp’d to

the girdle, notwithstanding the mournful protestations he made that

the queen forc’d him to accept of the command; and that by giving his

orders, without going out of the camp, he did not apprehend being

overheard by the enemy. His hands being bound behind him, two men,

one on each side of him, put his neck between two forks, and in that

condition led him round the whole large space, which was surrounded by

the troops of Thebes and the prisoners of Memphis, while two other men

scourg’d him with long rods. This has since been a punishment inflicted

by the Romans upon those who became the enemies of their country,

previous to the stroke of the axe, and of which the bare recital given

to the emperor Nero, made him determine to make away with himself, for

fear of being overtaken in his flight.

After the execution, the king said: Officers and soldiers of Memphis,

it is as much for your satisfaction as my own, that I have now given

this example. You shall be judges of it yourself, by the good treatment

you shall meet with till you are exchang’d. As for this wretch, I

will send him bound hand and foot to Daluca without any ransom. I set

no value upon him, and should be sorry he should be compar’d to the

meanest of my soldiers who are prisoners. The king, in reality, sent

him immediately to the first city of the kingdom of Memphis, where he

knew the governor was a creature of Daluca. Thoris, upon his arrival,

begg’d he might be conceal’d from the eyes of every one till he prov’d

his innocence. This the governor readily comply’d with, and immediately

dispatch’d a messenger to the queen to know what he should do with

him. The queen, perceiving herself chastiz’d in the person of her

general, sent, with all diligence, orders to this governor, to make

a shew of all imaginable kindness to Thoris under close confinement,

and to promise him from her a speedy justification: but that he should

publish every where to the world, that the queen would bring him to

a trial. That, however, at the end of three days, he should cause him

to be strangled in his bed by men whom he could depend on; and that

afterwards he should spread abroad that he dy’d of grief. All this was

perform’d to a tittle.

The governor of Coptos had resolv’d not to write to the king till the

evening of the day following the double battle which happen’d under

the walls of the city, that he might employ the time of his delay

in making all possible enquiry, and to gather all the news he could

concerning Sethos. He had caus’d all the bodies upon which any marks

of distinction were found, to be separated from the rest; for that

not only Sethos, but three of the young lords his companions, were

not return’d from the battle. Before they were put into the catacombs

of Coptos, he caus’d more distinguish’d and honourable exequies to be

perform’d for these than for the other, being persuaded that Sethos,

tho’ unknown, was among them. He at last wrote a letter to the king,

bath’d in tears, in which he gave a particular account of all that had

pass’d in that unhappy night, and to the moment he took pen in hand.

The king, when he came to the article of his son’s death, fell in a

swoon. The queen, who had receiv’d this news by her emissaries, fifteen

hours before him, having been from that time always near his person,

did all she could to recover him. As soon as he came to himself, he

turn’d towards her, and in a tone, mix’d with grief and anger; said:

Oh! madam, these are the fruits of your pernicious administration;

from this moment I deprive you of it. Go, and shut yourself up in one

of your most distant palaces, and let me never see you more. The queen

gave way to this storm, and retir’d: but before she departed, and took

her two sons with her, to a house of pleasure she had at ten leagues

distance from the capital, she establish’d a private intelligence with

those, who looking upon her as mother to the present heir to the crown,

and knowing the force of her policy, plainly perceiv’d she would always

be in some consideration, and hop’d to see her again in greater power

after her return than before her exile. The king, in the mean time,

instituted that very day a council of men of pretty good intentions.

This council will maintain the kingdom, during some of the next ensuing

years, in a middle situation between prosperity and weakness; but

which, approaching something nearer to the latter than the former, will

bring it to the very brink of its ruin, engag’d in a foreign war; which

will be the principal subject of the last book of this history.

As soon as this council was establish’d, Osoroth, who had yet some

hopes of hearing from his son again, imagining he must be stray’d away

in the confusion of a night-battle, wrote to the king of Thebes. He

intreated him to extend the generosity he had shewn, in being concern’d

at the death of his son, so far as to cause enquiry to be made after

him among the prisoners which might have been made by the several

nations who serv’d under him. He inform’d him, that his son had a

ring on his finger, the stone of which was an emerald; whereupon was

represented a Horus, of whom one hand seem’d stretch’d out to another

that held it, which was that of the late queen Nephte, under the figure

of Isis, and had been separated from the rest of the stone, and made a

ring for her; tho’ he did not know what was become of that ring. That

Horus held one finger of his right hand on his mouth; but that one part

of his garment seem’d to be held by another hand, which was his own

under the figure of Osiris, that he himself wore as a ring on his own

finger. That, in short, if by a proclamation of these signs, prince

Sethos might be brought to light; he offer’d for his ransom not only

the whole Nome of Coptos, which he immediately resign’d to him, for the

sake of peace, which he was resolv’d to purchase, but moreover the

half of the remainder of his kingdom; an immense price for the person

of his son alone. As soon as the king of Thebes receiv’d this letter,

he order’d the contents of it to be publish’d in every place where

prisoners of war could have been carry’d, promising besides in his own

name an extraordinary reward to those who should restore this prince,

if, perhaps, he might not be dead.

This proclamation was publish’d, as in other places, at Compasis, a

city of the Western or Egyptian Arabia, seven or eight leagues distance

from Coptos, where the Arabians, who had taken Azares, had carry’d him.

They knew nothing of his being a slave. On the contrary, having taken

him fighting with an incredible courage, and being charm’d with his

presence of mind on the road from the field of battle to Compasis, they

look’d upon him as a person of distinction, and resolv’d to conceal him

from the enquiries the king of Thebes might make after prisoners of

note. This opinion, which he had at first rais’d in them, he kept up in

the two or three chosen men who guarded him. So, when the proclamation

came to them, he thought he had room enough to say: My lords of Arabia,

tho’ I am an Egyptian, I have always had a natural propensity to your

nation. You have already an evidence of it in the ease with which I

speak your tongue. It is not yet time for me to tell you who I am. I

have not the ring here describ’d; but, if you are wise and secret, I’ll

give an account of it in another place. Carry me only on the other side

of the Red-sea to the great Arabians, from whom you are descended. I

am dissatisfy’d with the administration of Memphis, as you are with

that of Thebes; we may be of mutual advantage one to the other. These

Arabians being astonish’d at this discourse, conceiv’d a new respect

for their prisoner. They instantly led him by private ways to the haven

of Berenice, where they embark’d him privately, as himself had desir’d;

and having landed him at the port of Badios in Arabia Felix, some days

afterwards he was conducted honourably to Meriaba, where the kings of

that country held their residence.

The fate of Sethos, who was not dead, as was suppos’d, had not been

less singular. Some Ethiopian soldiers had made him prisoner towards

the conclusion of the battle; they had perceiv’d a breath of life,

which an hour’s time had recover’d in him. Tho’ they did not know him

for the prince of Memphis, his noble stature, and the fineness of

the steel of his armour, made them believe they should get a great

ransom for this prisoner. Sethos therefore, not yet come to himself,

was carry’d by these Barbarians to a city, call’d in our antient

itineraries, Phœnicon[91], twenty miles from Coptos on the way to

the Red-sea. The Phœnician merchants had a settlement there of such

importance, that it gave name to the place. The Ethiopian soldiers

had pitch’d upon this place to carry the wounded men to, because the

commerce of precious stones, with which they furnish’d the Phœnicians,

made them very much esteem’d by them. There the Ethiopian soldiers

stripp’d Sethos of his armour and garments, and threw away his

initiate’s vest, which was unknown to them, and all over bloody. They

afterwards committed him to the care of some Phœnician physicians, of

whom they made use themselves for their sick. These physicians, being

of a nation more civiliz’d than the Ethiopians, took a peculiar care of

this prisoner, whose wound had happily not prejudic’d his nobler parts.

They were concern’d for him more on the account of his understanding,

which soon was manifest, than for the orders they had receiv’d on his

account. Sethos carefully concealing his name and birth from them, till

he was able to judge what course to take, pretended to be a common

soldier of the army of Memphis, call’d, Cheres: So that the Ethiopians,

who came from time to time to enquire after him, began to cool on his

account. The Phœnicians taking advantage of this distaste, propos’d

their selling him to them. The bargain was soon made; and Sethos,

without yet saying any thing, from a prisoner of war, became a slave.

His new masters waited only till he was in some measure recover’d, to

carry him to the white Port on the Red-sea, where they were to imbark

for a long voyage.

[91] See the Geography of Cellarius, de Africa.

He was yet at Phœnicon, where, without making himself known, he had

heard the false report which was spread of his death; the sorrow it

had caus’d in the city of Coptos; the concern the king of Thebes had

on that account, and the vengeance he had taken for it; when the

publication of his father’s letter was brought into the very chamber

where he lay. The mention made in it of his ring, made him cast his

eyes upon his hand the first time since his wound; and seeing that

wanting, he stifled the first inclination he had to discover himself:

But when, in the continuance of the letter, he understood that Osoroth

offer’d the half of his kingdom for his ransom, the unreasonableness of

that inspired him with the resolution of concealing himself yet more,

and rather to bury himself alive, than be the cause of dismembring, in

so frightful a manner, the second and most glorious monarchy of Egypt.

As soon as the letter was read quite thro’, he could not forbear

saying aloud; That such a prisoner, if he was yet living, would ruin

his father’s kingdom before he came to the succession; and that it

would be a happiness for Osoroth, if his son remain’d dead, as it was

believ’d. This young prince strengthen’d himself in these generous

sentiments, in the hopes of returning sooner or later to Memphis in a

more favourable and glorious manner; by a reflection on the dangers

which the ill-will of the queen, whereof he had just had so terrible

a proof, would expose him to every day, if he return’d to his own

country; and, perhaps, yet more, by a private satisfaction arising

from an idea of a long voyage he was going to undertake with these

navigators, who were generally good friends to the Egyptians, from

whom they took their rise, and who shew’d a particular regard for him.

To say yet more, he depended upon his initiation for a supply of all

the virtues of which he might have occasion under a disguise, and an

exile perillous, tho’ prudent. To prevent therefore any importunate

enquiries, he press’d his new masters to convey him immediately to the

haven where they were to imbark. They did it the very same day, by

means of a litter, carry’d by men, to prevent the motion he must have

suffer’d in any other carriage.

Thus the king of Thebes wrote to the king of Memphis, that all his

enquiries, of which he gave him the particulars, were in vain. That he

accepted of the Nome of Coptos, the only cause of the war, as having

of old belong’d to the kings his predecessors: But that if even he

had been so happy to find his son again, whom the governor of Coptos

believ’d he had bury’d, he should not have rated the ransom of a

prince, whose memory he himself honour’d, at a higher price than that

of a reasonable peace.

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THE

LIFE

OF

_SETHOS_.