The Ancient History of the Egyptians, Carthaginians, Assyrians Part 16

SECT. III. THE LABYRINTH.-What has been said concerning the judgment we ought to form of the pyramids, may also be applied to the labyrinth, which Herodotus, who saw it, a.s.sures us, was still more surprising than the pyramids.(277) It was built at the southern extremity of the lake of Mris, whereof mention will be made presently, near the town of Crocodiles, the same with Arsinoe. It was not so much one single palace, as a magnificent pile composed of twelve palaces, regularly disposed, which had a communication with each other. Fifteen hundred rooms, interspersed with terraces, were ranged round twelve halls, and discovered no outlet to such as went to see them. There was the like number of buildings under ground. These subterraneous structures were designed for the burying-place of the kings, and also (who can speak this without confusion, and without deploring the blindness of man!) for keeping the sacred crocodiles, which a nation, so wise in other respects, wors.h.i.+pped as G.o.ds.

In order to visit the rooms and halls of the labyrinth, it was necessary, as the reader will naturally suppose, for people to take the same precaution as Ariadne made Theseus use, when he was obliged to go and fight the Minotaur in the labyrinth of Crete. Virgil describes it in this manner:-

Ut quondam Creta fertur labyrinthus in alta Parietibus textum caecis iter ancipitemque Mille viis habuisse dolum, qua signa sequendi Falleret indeprensus et irremeabilis error.(278) Hic labor ille domus, et inextricabilis error.

Daedalus, ipse dolos tecti ambagesque resolvit, Caeca regens filo vestigia.(279)

And as the Cretan labyrinth of old, With wand'ring ways, and many a winding fold, Involv'd the weary feet without redress, In a round error, which deny'd recess: Not far from thence he grav'd the wond'rous maze; A thousand doors, a thousand winding ways

SECT. IV. THE LAKE OF MRIS.-The n.o.blest and most wonderful of all the structures or works of the kings of Egypt, was the lake of Mris: accordingly, Herodotus considers it as vastly superior to the pyramids and labyrinth.(280) As Egypt was more or less fruitful in proportion to the inundations of the Nile; and as in these floods, the too great or too little rise of the waters was equally fatal to the lands, king Mris, to prevent these two inconveniences, and to correct, as far as lay in his power, the irregularities of the Nile, thought proper to call art to the a.s.sistance of nature; and so caused the lake to be dug, which afterwards went by his name. This lake was in circ.u.mference about three thousand six hundred stadia, that is, about one hundred and eighty French leagues, and three hundred feet deep.(281) Two pyramids, on each of which was placed a colossal statue, seated on a throne, raised their heads to the height of three hundred feet, in the midst of the lake, whilst their foundations took up the same s.p.a.ce under the water; a proof that they were erected before the cavity was filled, and a demonstration that a lake of such vast extent was the work of man's hands, in one prince's reign. This is what several historians have related concerning the lake Mris, on the testimony of the inhabitants of the country. And M. Bossuet, the bishop of Meaux, in his discourse on universal history, relates the whole as fact.

For my part, I will confess that I do not see the least probability in it.

Is it possible to conceive, that a lake of a hundred and eighty leagues in circ.u.mference, could have been dug in the reign of one prince? In what manner, and where, could the earth taken from it be conveyed? What should prompt the Egyptians to lose the surface of so much land? By what arts could they fill this vast tract with the superfluous waters of the Nile?

Many other objections might be made. In my opinion, therefore, we ought to follow Pomponius Mela, an ancient geographer; especially as his account is confirmed by several modern travellers. According to that author, this lake is but twenty thousand paces; that is, seven or eight French leagues in circ.u.mference. _Mris, aliquando campus, nunc lacus, viginti millia pa.s.suum in circuitu patens._(282)

This lake had a communication with the Nile, by a great ca.n.a.l, more than four leagues long,(283) and fifty feet broad. Great sluices either opened or shut the ca.n.a.l and lake, as there was occasion.

The charge of opening or shutting them amounted to fifty talents, that is, fifty thousand French crowns.(284) The fis.h.i.+ng of this lake brought the monarch immense sums; but its chief utility related to the overflowing of the Nile. When it rose too high, and was like to be attended with fatal consequences, the sluices were opened; and the waters, having a free pa.s.sage into the lake, covered the lands no longer than was necessary to enrich them. On the contrary, when the inundation was too low, and threatened a famine, a sufficient quant.i.ty of water, by the help of drains, was let out of the lake, to water the lands. In this manner the irregularities of the Nile were corrected; and Strabo remarks, that, in his time, under Petronius, a governor of Egypt, when the inundation of the Nile was twelve cubits, a very great plenty ensued; and even when it rose but to eight cubits, the dearth was scarce felt in the country; doubtless because the waters of the lake made up for those of the inundation, by the help of ca.n.a.ls and drains.

SECT. V. THE INUNDATIONS OF THE NILE.-The Nile is the greatest wonder of Egypt. As it seldom rains there, this river, which waters the whole country by its regular inundations, supplies that defect, by bringing, as a yearly tribute, the rains of other countries; which made a poet say ingeniously, "the Egyptian pastures, how great soever the drought may be, never implore Jupiter for rain:"

Te propter nullos tellus tua postulat imbres, Arida nec pluvio supplicat herba Jovi.(285)

To multiply so beneficent a river, Egypt was cut into numberless ca.n.a.ls, of a length and breadth proportioned to the different situations and wants of the lands. The Nile brought fertility every where with its salutary streams; united cities one with another, and the Mediterranean with the Red-Sea; maintained trade at home and abroad, and fortified the kingdom against the enemy; so that it was at once the nourisher and protector of Egypt.

The fields were delivered up to it; but the cities that were raised with immense labour, and stood like islands in the midst of the waters, looked down with joy on the plains which were overflowed, and at the same time enriched, by the Nile.

This is a general idea of the nature and effects of this river, so famous among the ancients. But a wonder so astonis.h.i.+ng in itself, and which has been the object of the curiosity and admiration of the learned in all ages, seems to require a more particular description, in which I shall be as concise as possible.

1. _The Sources of the Nile._-The ancients placed the sources of the Nile in the mountains of the moon (as they are commonly called), in the 10th degree of south lat.i.tude. But our modern travellers have discovered that they lie in the 12th degree of north lat.i.tude; and by that means they cut off about four or five hundred leagues of the course which the ancients gave that river. It rises at the foot of a great mountain in the kingdom of Gojam in Abyssinia, from two springs, or eyes, to speak in the language of the country, the same word in Arabic signifying eye and fountain. These springs are thirty paces from one another, each as large as one of our wells or a coach-wheel. The Nile is increased with many rivulets which run into it; and after pa.s.sing through Ethiopia in a very winding course, flows at last into Egypt.

2. _The Cataracts of the Nile._-This name is given to some parts of the Nile, where the water falls down from the steep rocks.(286) This river, which at first glided smoothly along the vast deserts of Ethiopia, before it enters Egypt, pa.s.ses by the cataracts. Then growing on a sudden, contrary to its nature, raging and violent in those places where it is pent up and restrained; after having, at last, broken through all obstacles in its way, it precipitates itself from the top of some rocks to the bottom, with so loud a noise, that it is heard three leagues off.

The inhabitants of the country, accustomed by long practice to this sport, exhibit here a spectacle to travellers that is more terrifying than diverting. Two of them go into a little boat; the one to guide it, the other to throw out the water. After having long sustained the violence of the raging waves, by managing their little boat very dexterously, they suffer themselves to be carried away with the impetuous torrent as swift as an arrow. The affrighted spectator imagines they are going to be swallowed up in the precipice down which they fall; when the Nile, restored to its natural course, discovers them again, at a considerable distance, on its smooth and calm waters. This is Seneca's account, which is confirmed by our modern travellers.

3. _Causes of the Inundations of the Nile._-The ancients have invented many subtle reasons for the Nile's great increase, as may be seen in Herodotus, Diodorus Siculus, and Seneca.(287) But it is now no longer a matter of dispute, it being almost universally allowed, that the inundations of the Nile are owing to the great rains which fall in Ethiopia, from whence this river flows. These rains swell it to such a degree, that Ethiopia first, and then Egypt, are overflowed; and that which at first was but a large river, rises like a sea, and overspreads the whole country.

Strabo observes,(288) that the ancients only guessed that the inundations of the Nile were owing to the rains which fall in great abundance in Ethiopia; but adds, that several travellers have since been eye-witnesses of it; Ptolemy Philadelphus, who was very curious in all things relating to arts and sciences, having sent thither able persons, purposely to examine this matter, and to ascertain the cause of so uncommon and remarkable an effect.

4. _The Time and Continuance of the Inundations._-Herodotus, and after him Diodorus Siculus, and several other authors, declare, that the Nile begins to swell in Egypt at the summer solstice, that is, about the end of June, and continues to rise till the end of September; and then decreases gradually during the months of October and November; after which it returns to its channel, and resumes its wonted course.(289) This account agrees very nearly with the relations of all the moderns, and is founded in reality on the natural cause of the inundation, _viz._ the rains which fall in Ethiopia. Now, according to the constant testimony of those who have been on the spot, these rains begin to fall in the month of April, and continue, during five months, till the end of August and beginning of September. The Nile's increase in Egypt must, consequently, begin three weeks or a month after the rains have begun to fall in Abyssinia; and accordingly travellers observe, that the Nile begins to rise in the month of May, but so slowly at the first, that it probably does not yet overflow its banks. The inundation happens not till about the end of June, and lasts the three following months, according to Herodotus.

I must point out to such as consult the originals, a contradiction in this place between Herodotus and Diodorus on one side; and between Strabo, Pliny, and Solinus, on the other. These last shorten very much the continuance of the inundation; and suppose the Nile to draw off from the lands in three months or a hundred days. And what adds to the difficulty, is, that Pliny seems to ground his opinion on the testimony of Herodotus: _In totum autem revocatur Nilus intra ripas in Libra, ut tradit Herodotus, centesimo die._ I leave to the learned the reconciling of this contradiction.

5. _The Height of the Inundations._-The just height of the inundation, according to Pliny, is sixteen cubits.(290) When it rises but to twelve or thirteen, a famine is threatened; and when it exceeds sixteen, there is danger. It must be remembered, that a cubit is a foot and a half. The emperor Julian takes notice, in a letter to Ecdicius, prefect of Egypt,(291) that the height of the Nile's overflowing was fifteen cubits, the 20th of September, in 362. The ancients do not agree entirely with one another, nor with the moderns, with regard to the height of the inundation; but the difference is not very considerable, and may proceed, 1. from the disparity between the ancient and modern measures, which it is hard to estimate on a fixed and certain foot; 2. from the carelessness of the observers and historians; 3. from the real difference of the Nile's increase, which was not so great the nearer it approached the sea.

As the riches of Egypt depended on the inundation of the Nile, all the circ.u.mstances and different degrees of its increase had been carefully considered; and by a long series of regular observations, made during many years, the inundation itself discovered what kind of harvest the ensuing year was likely to produce.(292) The kings had placed at Memphis a measure on which these different increases were marked; and from thence notice was given to all the rest of Egypt, the inhabitants of which knew, by that means, beforehand, what they might fear or promise themselves from the harvest. Strabo speaks of a well on the banks of the Nile near the town of Syene, made for that purpose.(293)

The same custom is observed to this day at Grand Cairo. In the court of a mosque there stands a pillar, on which are marked the degrees of the Nile's increase; and common criers every day proclaim, in all parts of the city, how high it is risen. The tribute paid to the Grand Signior for the lands, is regulated by the inundation. The day on which it rises to a certain height, is kept as a grand festival, and solemnized with fire-works, feastings, and all the demonstrations of public rejoicing; and in the remotest ages, the overflowing of the Nile was always attended with an universal joy throughout all Egypt, that being the fountain of its happiness.

The heathens ascribed the inundation of the Nile to their G.o.d Serapis; and the pillar on which was marked the increase, was preserved religiously in the temple of that idol.(294) The emperor Constantine having ordered it to be removed into the church of Alexandria, the Egyptians spread a report, that the Nile would rise no more by reason of the wrath of Serapis; but the river overflowed and increased as usual the following years. Julian the apostate, a zealous protector of idolatry, caused this pillar to be replaced in the same temple, out of which it was again removed by the command of Theodosius.

6. _The Ca.n.a.ls of the Nile and Spiral Pumps._-Divine Providence, in giving so beneficent a river to Egypt, did not thereby intend that the inhabitants of it should be idle, and enjoy so great a blessing without taking any pains. One may naturally suppose, that as the Nile could not of itself cover the whole country, great labour was to be used to facilitate the overflowing of the lands; and numberless ca.n.a.ls cut, in order to convey the waters to all parts. The villages, which stand very thick on the banks of the Nile on eminences, have each their ca.n.a.ls, which are opened at proper times, to let the water into the country. The more distant villages have theirs also, even to the extremities of the kingdom.

Thus the waters are successively conveyed to the most remote places.

Persons are not permitted to cut the trenches to receive the waters, till the river is at a certain height; nor to open them all at once; because otherwise some lands would be too much overflowed, and others not covered enough. They begin with opening them in Upper, and afterwards in Lower Egypt, according to the rules prescribed in a roll or book, in which all the measures are exactly set down. By this means the water is husbanded with such care, that it spreads itself over all the lands. The countries overflowed by the Nile are so extensive, and lie so low, and the number of ca.n.a.ls so great, that of all the waters which flow into Egypt during the months of June, July, and August, it is believed that not a tenth part of them reaches the sea.

But as, notwithstanding all these ca.n.a.ls, there are still abundance of high lands which cannot receive the benefit of the Nile's overflowing; this want is supplied by spiral pumps, which are turned by oxen, in order to bring the water into pipes, which convey it to these lands. Diodorus speaks of a similar engine invented by Archimedes in his travels into Egypt, which is called _Cochlea aegyptia_.(295)

7. _The Fertility caused by the Nile._-There is no country in the world where the soil is more fruitful than in Egypt; which is owing entirely to the Nile. For whereas other rivers, when they overflow lands, wash away and exhaust their vivific moisture; the Nile, on the contrary, by the excellent slime it brings along with it, fattens and enriches them in such a manner, as sufficiently compensates for what the foregoing harvest had impaired.(296) The husbandman, in this country, never tires himself with holding the plough, or breaking the clods of earth. As soon as the Nile retires, he has nothing to do but to turn up the earth, and temper it with a little sand, in order to lessen its rankness; after which he sows it with great ease, and with little or no expense. Two months after, it is covered with all sorts of corn and pulse. The Egyptians generally sow in October and November, according as the waters draw off; and their harvest is in March and April.

The same land bears, in one year, three or four different kinds of crops.

Lettuces and cuc.u.mbers are sown first; then corn; and, after harvest, several sorts of pulse which are peculiar to Egypt. As the sun is extremely hot in this country, and rains fall very seldom in it, it is natural to suppose that the earth would soon be parched, and the corn and pulse burnt up by so scorching a heat, were it not for the ca.n.a.ls and reservoirs with which Egypt abounds; and which, by the drains from thence, amply supply wherewith to water and refresh the fields and gardens.

The Nile contributes no less to the nourishment of cattle, which is another source of wealth to Egypt. The Egyptians begin to turn them out to gra.s.s in November, and they graze till the end of March. Words could never express how rich their pastures are; and how fat the flocks and herds (which, by reason of the mildness of the air, are out night and day) grow in a very little time. During the inundation of the Nile, they are fed with hay and cut straw, barley and beans, which are their common food.

A man cannot, says Corneille de Bruyn in his Travels,(297) help observing the admirable providence of G.o.d towards this country, who sends at a fixed season such great quant.i.ties of rain in Ethiopia, in order to water Egypt, where a shower of rain scarce ever falls; and who, by that means, causes the driest and most sandy soil to become the richest and most fruitful country in the universe.

Another thing to be observed here is, that (as the inhabitants say) in the beginning of June, and the four following months, the north-east winds blow constantly, in order to keep back the waters, which otherwise would draw off too fast; and to hinder them from discharging themselves into the sea, the entrance to which these winds bar up, as it were, from them. The ancients have not omitted this circ.u.mstance.

The same Providence, whose ways are wonderful and infinitely various, displayed itself after a quite different manner in Palestine, in rendering it exceeding fruitful;(298) not by rains, which fall during the course of the year, as is usual in other places; nor by a peculiar inundation like that of the Nile in Egypt; but by sending fixed rains at two seasons, when his people were obedient to him, to make them more sensible of their continual dependence upon him. G.o.d himself commands them, by his servant Moses, to make this reflection: "The land whither thou goest in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs: but the land whither ye go to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven."(299) After this, G.o.d promises to give his people, so long as they shall continue obedient to him, "the former" and "the latter rain:" the first in autumn, to bring up the corn; and the second in the spring and summer, to make it grow and ripen.

8. _The different Prospects exhibited by the Nile._-There cannot be a finer sight than Egypt at two seasons of the year. For if a man ascends some mountain, or one of the largest pyramids of Grand Cairo, in the months of July and August, he beholds a vast sea, in which numberless towns and villages appear, with several causeys leading from place to place; the whole interspersed with groves and fruit trees, whose tops only are visible; all which forms a delightful prospect.(300) This view is bounded by mountains and woods, which terminate, at the utmost distance the eye can discover, the most beautiful horizon that can be imagined. On the contrary, in winter, that is to say, in the months of January and February, the whole country is like one continued scene of beautiful meadows, whose verdure, enamelled with flowers, charms the eye. The spectator beholds, on every side, flocks and herds dispersed over all the plains, with infinite numbers of husbandmen and gardeners. The air is then perfumed by the great quant.i.ty of blossoms on the orange, lemon, and other trees; and is so pure, that a wholesomer or more agreeable is not found in the world; so that nature, being then dead, as it were, in all other climates, seems to be alive only for so delightful an abode.

9. _The Ca.n.a.l formed by the Nile, by which a communication in made between the two Seas._-The ca.n.a.l, by which a communication was made between the Red-Sea and the Mediterranean, ought to have a place here, as it was not one of the least advantages which the Nile procured to Egypt.(301) Sesostris, or, according to others, Psammetichus, first projected the design, and began this work. Necho, successor to the last prince, laid out immense sums upon it, and employed a prodigious number of men. It is said, that above six score thousand Egyptians perished in the undertaking. He gave it over, terrified by an oracle, which told him that he would thereby open a door for Barbarians (for by this name they called all foreigners) to enter Egypt. The work was continued by Darius, the first of that name; but he also desisted from it, upon his being told, that as the Red-Sea lay higher than Egypt, it would drown the whole country. But it was at last finished under the Ptolemies, who, by the help of sluices, opened or shut the ca.n.a.l as there was occasion. It began not far from the Delta, near the town of Bubastus. It was a hundred cubits, that is, twenty-five fathoms broad, so that two vessels might pa.s.s with ease; it had depth enough to carry the largest s.h.i.+ps; and was about a thousand stadia, that is, above fifty leagues long. This ca.n.a.l was of great service to the trade of Egypt.

But it is now almost filled up, and there are scarce any remains of it to be seen.

Chapter III. Lower Egypt.

I am now to speak of Lower Egypt. Its shape, which resembles a triangle, or Delta, ?, gave occasion to its bearing the latter name, which is that of one of the Greek letters. Lower Egypt forms a kind of island; it begins at a place where the Nile is divided into two large ca.n.a.ls, through which it empties itself into the Mediterranean: the mouth on the right hand is called the Pelusian, and the other the Canopic, from two cities in their neighbourhood, Pelusium and Canopus, now called Damietta and Rosetta.

Between these two large branches, there are five others of less note. This island is the best cultivated, the most fruitful, and the richest part of Egypt. Its chief cities (very anciently) were Heliopolis, Heracleopolis, Naucratis, Sais, Tanis, Canopus, Pelusium; and, in latter times, Alexandria, Nicopolis, &c. It was in the country of Tanis that the Israelites dwelt.

There was at Sais,(302) a temple dedicated to Minerva, who is supposed to be the same as Isis, with the following inscription: "I am whatever hath been, and is, and shall be; and no mortal hath yet pierced through the veil that shrouds me."

Heliopolis, that is, the city of the sun, was so called from a magnificent temple there dedicated to that planet.(303) Herodotus, and other authors after him, relate some particulars concerning the Phnix and this temple, which, if true, would indeed be very wonderful. Of this kind of birds, if we may believe the ancients, there is never but one at a time in the world. He is brought forth in Arabia, lives five or six hundred years, and is of the size of an eagle. His head is adorned with a s.h.i.+ning and most beautiful crest; the feathers of his neck are of a gold colour, and the rest of a purple; his tail is white, intermixed with red, and his eyes sparkling like stars. When he is old, and finds his end approaching, he builds a nest with wood and aromatic spices, and then dies. Of his bones and marrow, a worm is produced, out of which another Phnix is formed. His first care is to solemnize his parent's obsequies, for which purpose he makes up a ball in the shape of an egg, with abundance of perfumes of myrrh, as heavy as he can carry, which he often essays beforehand; then he makes a hole in it, where he deposits his parent's body, and closes it carefully with myrrh and other perfumes. After this he takes up the precious load on his shoulders, and flying to the altar of the sun, in the city of Heliopolis, he there burns it.

Herodotus and Tacitus dispute the truth of some of the circ.u.mstances of this account, but seem to suppose it true in general. Pliny, on the contrary, in the very beginning of his account of it, insinuates plainly enough, that he looks upon the whole as fabulous; and this is the opinion of all modern authors.

This ancient tradition, though grounded on an evident falsehood, hath yet introduced into almost all languages, the custom of giving the name of phnix to whatever is singular and uncommon in its kind: _Rara avis in terris_, says Juvenal,(304) speaking of the difficulty of finding an accomplished woman in all respects. And Seneca observes the same of a good man.(305)

What is reported of swans, _viz._ that they never sing but in their expiring moments, and that then they warble very melodiously, is likewise grounded merely on a vulgar error; and yet it is used, not only by the poets, but also by the orators, and even the philosophers. _O mutis quoque piscibus donatura cycni, si libeat, sonum_,(306) says Horace to Melpomene.

Cicero compares the excellent discourse which Cra.s.sus made in the Senate, a few days before his death, to the melodious singing of a dying swan: _Illa tanquam cycnea fuit divini hominis vox et oratio._ _De Orat._ l.

iii. n. 6. And Socrates used to say, that good men ought to imitate swans, who, perceiving by a secret instinct, and a sort of divination, what advantage there is in death, die singing and with joy: _Providentes quid in morte boni sit, c.u.m cantu et voluptate moriuntur._ _Tusc. Qu._ l. i. n.

73. I thought this short digression might be of service to youth; and return now to my subject.