The Ancient History of the Egyptians, Carthaginians, Assyrians Part 17

It was in Heliopolis, that an ox, under the name of Mnevis, was wors.h.i.+pped as a G.o.d.(307) Cambyses, king of Persia, exercised his sacrilegious rage on this city; burning the temples, demolis.h.i.+ng the palaces, and destroying the most precious monuments of antiquity in it. There are still to be seen some obelisks which escaped his fury; and others were brought from thence to Rome, to which city they are an ornament even at this day.

Alexandria, built by Alexander the Great, from whom it had its name, vied almost in magnificence with the ancient cities in Egypt. It stands four days' journey from Cairo, and was formerly the chief mart of all the trade of the East. The merchandises were unloaded at Portus Murius,(308) a town on the western coast of the Red-Sea;(309) from whence they were brought upon camels to a town of Thebais, called Copht, and afterwards conveyed down the Nile to Alexandria, whither merchants resorted from all parts.

It is well known that the trade of the East hath, at all times, enriched those who carried it on. This was the chief source of the vast treasures that Solomon ama.s.sed, and which enabled him to build the magnificent temple of Jerusalem. David, by conquering Idumaea, became master of Elath and Esiongeber, two towns situated on the eastern sh.o.r.e of the Red-Sea.(310) From these two ports,(311) Solomon sent fleets to Ophir and Tars.h.i.+sh, which always brought back immense riches.(312) This traffic, after having been enjoyed some time by the Syrians, who regained Idumaea, pa.s.sed from them into the hands of the Tyrians. These got all their merchandise conveyed, by the way of Rhinocolura (a sea-port town lying between the confines of Egypt and Palestine) to Tyre, from whence they distributed them all over the western world.(313) Hereby the Tyrians enriched themselves exceedingly, under the Persian empire, by the favour and protection of whose monarchs they had the full possession of this trade. But when the Ptolemies had made themselves masters of Egypt, they soon drew all this trade into their kingdom, by building Berenice and other ports on the western side of the Red-Sea, belonging to Egypt; and fixed their chief mart at Alexandria, which thereby rose to be the city of the greatest trade in the world. There it continued for a great many centuries after; and all the traffic which the western parts of the world from that time had with Persia, India, Arabia, and the eastern coasts of Africa, was wholly carried on through the Red-Sea and the mouth of the Nile, till a way was discovered, a little above two hundred years since, of sailing to those parts by the Cape of Good Hope. After this, the Portuguese for some time were masters of this trade; but now it is in a manner engrossed wholly by the English and Dutch. This short account of the East-India trade, from Solomon's time, to the present age, is extracted from Dr. Prideaux.(314)

For the convenience of trade, there was built near Alexandria, in an island called Pharos, a tower which bore the same name.(315) At the top of this tower was kept a fire, to light such s.h.i.+ps as sailed by night near those dangerous coasts, which were full of sands and shelves, from whence all other towers, designed for the same use, have derived their name, as, Pharo di Messina, &c. The famous architect Sostratus built it by order of Ptolemy Philadelphus, who expended eight hundred talents upon it.(316) It was reckoned one of the seven wonders of the world. Some, through a mistake, have commended that prince, for permitting the architect to put his name in the inscription, which was fixed on the tower, instead of his own.(317) It was very short and plain, according to the manner of the ancients. _Sostratus Cnidius Dexiphanis F. Diis Servatoribus pro navigantibus_: _i.e._ Sostratus the Cnidian, son of Dexiphanes, to the protecting deities, for the use of sea-faring people. But certainly Ptolemy must have very much undervalued that kind of immortality which princes are generally so fond of, to suffer, that his name should not be so much as mentioned in the inscription of an edifice so capable of immortalizing him. What we read in Lucian concerning this matter, deprives Ptolemy of a modesty, which indeed would be very ill placed here.(318) This author informs us that Sostratus, to engross in after-times the whole glory of that n.o.ble structure to himself, caused the inscription with his own name to be carved in the marble, which he afterwards covered with lime, and thereon put the king's name. The lime soon mouldered away; and by that means, instead of procuring the architect the honour with which he had flattered himself, served only to discover to future ages his mean fraud and ridiculous vanity.

Riches failed not to bring into this city, as they usually do in all places, luxury and licentiousness; so that the Alexandrian voluptuousness became a proverb.(319) In this city arts and sciences were also industriously cultivated, witness that stately edifice, surnamed the Museum, where the literati used to meet, and were maintained at the public expense; and the famous library, which was augmented considerably by Ptolemy Philadelphus; and which, by the magnificence of the kings his successors, at last contained seven hundred thousand volumes. In Caesar's wars with the Alexandrians, part of this library, (situate in the Bruchion,(320)) which consisted of four hundred thousand volumes, was unhappily consumed by fire.(321)

Part The Second. Of the Manners and Customs of the Egyptians.

Egypt was ever considered, by all the ancients, as the most renowned school for wisdom and politics, and the source from whence most arts and sciences were derived. This kingdom bestowed its n.o.blest labours and finest arts on the improvement of mankind; and Greece was so sensible of this, that its most ill.u.s.trious men, as Homer, Pythagoras, Plato; even its great legislators, Lycurgus and Solon, with many more whom it is needless to mention, travelled into Egypt, to complete their studies, and draw from that fountain whatever was most rare and valuable in every kind of learning. G.o.d himself has given this kingdom a glorious testimony, when praising Moses, he says of him, that "He was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians."(322)

To give some idea of the manners and customs of Egypt, I shall confine myself princ.i.p.ally to these particulars: its kings and government; priests and religion; soldiers and war; sciences, arts, and trades.

The reader must not be surprised if he sometimes finds, in the customs I take notice of, a kind of contradiction. This circ.u.mstance is owing either to the difference of countries and nations, which did not always follow the same usages; or to the different way of thinking of the historians whom I copy.

Chapter I. Concerning The Kings And Government.

The Egyptians were the first people who rightly understood the rules of government. A nation so grave and serious immediately perceived, that the true end of politics is, to make life easy, and a people happy.

The kingdom was hereditary; but, according to Diodorus,(323) the Egyptian princes conducted themselves in a different manner from what is usually seen in other monarchies, where the prince acknowledges no other rule of his actions than his own arbitrary will and pleasure. But here, kings were under greater restraint from the laws than their subjects. They had some particular ones digested by a former monarch, that composed part of what the Egyptians called the sacred books. Thus every thing being settled by ancient custom, they never sought to live in a different way from their ancestors.

No slave nor foreigner was admitted into the immediate service of the prince; such a post was too important to be intrusted to any persons, except those who were the most distinguished by their birth, and had received the most excellent education; to the end that, as they had the liberty of approaching the king's person day and night, he might, from men so qualified, hear nothing which was unbecoming the royal majesty; nor have any sentiments instilled into him but such as were of a n.o.ble and generous kind. For, adds Diodorus, it is very rarely seen that kings fly out into any vicious excess, unless those who approach them approve their irregularities, or serve as instruments to their pa.s.sions.

The kings of Egypt freely permitted, not only the quality and proportion of what they ate and drank to be prescribed them, (a thing customary in Egypt, whose inhabitants were all sober, and whose air inspired frugality,) but even that all their hours, and almost every action, should be under the regulation of the laws.

In the morning at day break, when the head is clearest, and the thoughts most unperplexed, they read the several letters they received; to form a more just and distinct idea of the affairs which were to come under their consideration that day.

As soon as they were dressed, they went to the daily sacrifice performed in the temple; where, surrounded with their whole court, and the victims placed before the altar, they a.s.sisted at the prayer p.r.o.nounced aloud by the high priest, in which he asked of the G.o.ds, health and all other blessings for the king, because he governed his people with clemency and justice, and made the laws of his kingdom the rule and standard of his actions. The high priest entered into a long detail of his royal virtues; observing, that he was religious to the G.o.ds, affable to men, moderate, just, magnanimous, sincere; an enemy to falsehood; liberal; master of his pa.s.sions; punis.h.i.+ng crimes with the utmost lenity, but boundless in rewarding merit. He next spoke of the faults which kings might be guilty of; but supposed at the same time that they never committed any, except by surprise or ignorance; and loaded with imprecations such of their ministers as gave them ill council, and suppressed or disguised the truth.

Such were the methods of conveying instruction to their kings. It was thought that reproaches would only sour their tempers; and that the most effectual method to inspire them with virtue, would be to point out to them their duty in praises conformable to the sense of the laws, and p.r.o.nounced in a solemn manner before the G.o.ds. After the prayers and sacrifices were ended, the councils and actions of great men were read to the king out of the sacred books, in order that he might govern his dominions according to their maxims, and maintain the laws which had made his predecessors and their subjects so happy.

I have already observed, that the quant.i.ty as well as quality of what he ate or drank were prescribed, by the laws, to the king: his table was covered with nothing but the most common food; because eating in Egypt was designed, not to tickle the palate, but to satisfy the cravings of nature.

One would have concluded, (observes the historian,) that these rules had been laid down by some able physician, who was attentive only to the health of the prince, rather than by a legislator. The same simplicity was seen in all other things; and we read in Plutarch of a temple in Thebes, which had one of its pillars inscribed with imprecations against that king who first introduced profusion and luxury into Egypt.(324)

The princ.i.p.al duty of kings, and their most essential function, is the administering justice to their subjects. Accordingly the kings of Egypt cultivated more immediately this duty; convinced that on this depended not only the ease and comfort of individuals, but the happiness of the state; which would be a herd of robbers rather than a kingdom, should the weak be unprotected, and the powerful enabled by their riches and influence to commit crimes with impunity.

Thirty judges were selected out of the princ.i.p.al cities, to form a body for dispensing justice through the whole kingdom. The prince, in filling these vacancies, chose such as were most renowned for their honesty; and put at their head, him who was most distinguished for his knowledge and love of the laws, and was had in the most universal esteem. They had revenues a.s.signed them, to the end that, being freed from domestic cares, they might devote their whole time to the execution of the laws. Thus honourably maintained by the generosity of the prince, they administered gratuitously to the people, that justice to which they have a natural right, and which ought to be equally open to all; and, in some sense, to the poor more than the rich, because the latter find a support within themselves; whereas the very condition of the former exposes them more to injuries, and therefore calls louder for the protection of the laws. To guard against surprise, affairs were transacted by writing in the a.s.semblies of these judges. That false eloquence was dreaded, which dazzles the mind, and moves the pa.s.sions. Truth could not be expressed with too much plainness, as it alone was to have the sway in judgments; because in that alone the rich and poor, the powerful and weak, the learned and the ignorant, were to find relief and security. The president of this senate wore a collar of gold set with precious stones, at which hung a figure represented blind, this being called the emblem of truth.

When the president put this collar on, it was understood as a signal to enter upon business. He touched the party with it who was to gain his cause, and this was the form of pa.s.sing sentence.

The most excellent circ.u.mstance in the laws of the Egyptians, was, that every individual, from his infancy, was nurtured in the strictest observance of them. A new custom in Egypt was a kind of miracle.(325) All things there ran in the old channel; and the exactness with which little matters were adhered to, preserved those of more importance; and consequently no nation ever retained their laws and customs longer than the Egyptians.

Wilful murder was punished with death,(326) whatever might be the condition of the murdered person, whether he was free-born or otherwise.

In this the humanity and equity of the Egyptians were superior to that of the Romans, who gave the master an absolute power of life and death over his slave. The emperor Adrian, indeed, abolished this law; from an opinion, that an abuse of this nature ought to be reformed, let its antiquity or authority be ever so great.

Perjury was also punished with death,(327) because that crime attacks both the G.o.ds, whose majesty is trampled upon by invoking their name to a false oath, and men, by breaking the strongest tie of human society, _viz._ sincerity and veracity.

The false accuser was condemned to undergo the punishment which the person accused was to have suffered, had the accusation been proved.(328)

He who had neglected or refused to save a man's life when attacked, if it was in his power to a.s.sist him, was punished as rigorously as the a.s.sa.s.sin:(329) but if the unfortunate person could not be succoured, the offender was at least to be impeached; and penalties were decreed for any neglect of this kind. Thus the subjects were a guard and protection to one another; and the whole body of the community united against the designs of the bad.

No man was allowed to be useless to the state;(330) but every one was obliged to enter his name and place of abode in a public register, that remained in the hands of the magistrate, and to describe his profession, and his means of support. If he gave a false account of himself, he was immediately put to death.

To prevent borrowing of money, the parent of sloth, frauds, and chicane, king Asychis made a very judicious law.(331) The wisest and best regulated states, as Athens and Rome, ever found insuperable difficulties, in contriving a just medium, to restrain, on one hand, the cruelty of the creditor in the exaction of his loan; and on the other, the knavery of the debtor, who refused or neglected to pay his debts. Now Egypt took a wise course on this occasion; and, without doing any injury to the personal liberty of its inhabitants, or ruining their families, pursued the debtor with incessant fears of infamy in case he were dishonest. No man was permitted to borrow money without p.a.w.ning to the creditor the body of his father, which every Egyptian embalmed with great care; and kept reverentially in his house, (as will be observed in the sequel,) and therefore might be easily moved from one place to another. But it was equally impious and infamous not to redeem soon so precious a pledge; and he who died without having discharged this duty, was deprived of the customary honours paid to the dead.(332)

Diodorus remarks an error committed by some of the Grecian legislators.(333) They forbid, for instance, the taking away (to satisfy debts) the horses, ploughs, and other implements of husbandry employed by peasants; judging it inhuman to reduce, by this security, these poor men to an impossibility of discharging their debts, and getting their bread: but, at the same time, they permitted the creditor to imprison the peasants themselves, who alone were capable of using these implements, which exposed them to the same inconveniences, and at the same time deprived the government of persons who belong, and are necessary, to it; who labour for the public emolument, and over whose person no private man has any right.

Polygamy was allowed in Egypt, except to the priests, who could marry but one woman.(334) Whatever was the condition of the woman, whether she was free or a slave, her children were deemed free and legitimate.

One custom that was practised in Egypt, shows the profound darkness into which such nations as were most celebrated for their wisdom have been plunged; and this is the marriage of brothers with their sisters, which was not only authorized by the laws, but even, in some measure, originated from their religion, from the example and practice of such of their G.o.ds as had been the most anciently and universally adored in Egypt, that is, Osiris and Isis.(335)

A very great respect was there paid to old age.(336) The young were obliged to rise up for the old; and on every occasion, to resign to them the most honourable seat. The Spartans borrowed this law from the Egyptians.

The virtue in the highest esteem among the Egyptians, was grat.i.tude. The glory which has been given them of being the most grateful of all men, shows that they were the best formed of any nation for social life.

Benefits are the band of concord, both public and private. He who acknowledges favours, loves to confer them; and in banis.h.i.+ng ingrat.i.tude, the pleasure of doing good remains so pure and engaging, that it is impossible for a man to be insensible of it. But it was particularly towards their kings that the Egyptians prided themselves on evincing their grat.i.tude. They honoured them whilst living, as so many visible representations of the Deity; and after their death lamented for them as the fathers of their country. These sentiments of respect and tenderness proceeded from a strong persuasion, that the Divinity himself had placed them upon the throne, as he distinguished them so greatly from all other mortals; and that kings bore the most n.o.ble characteristics of the Supreme Being, as the power and will of doing good to others were united in their persons.

Chapter II. Concerning the Priests And Religion Of The Egyptians.

Priests, in Egypt, held the second rank to kings. They had great privileges and revenues; their lands were exempted from all imposts; of which some traces are seen in Genesis, where it is said, "Joseph made it a law over the land of Egypt, that Pharaoh should have the fifth part, except the land of the priests only, which became not Pharaoh's."(337)

The prince usually honoured them with a large share in his confidence and government, because they, of all his subjects, had received the best education, had acquired the greatest knowledge, and were most strongly attached to the king's person and the good of the public. They were at one and the same time the depositaries of religion and of the sciences; and to this circ.u.mstance was owing the great respect which was paid them by the natives as well as foreigners, by whom they were alike consulted upon the most sacred things relating to the mysteries of religion, and the most profound subjects in the several sciences.

The Egyptians pretend to be the first inst.i.tutors of festivals and processions in honour of the G.o.ds.(338) One festival was celebrated in the city of Bubastus, whither persons resorted from all parts of Egypt, and upwards of seventy thousand, besides children, were seen at it. Another, surnamed the feast of the lights, was solemnized at Sais. All persons, throughout Egypt, who did not go to Sais, were obliged to illuminate their windows.

Different animals were sacrificed in different countries, but one common and general ceremony was observed in all sacrifices, _viz._ the laying of hands upon the head of the victim, loading it at the same time with imprecations; and praying the G.o.ds to divert upon that victim all the calamities which might threaten Egypt.(339)

It is to Egypt that Pythagoras owed his favourite doctrine of the Metempsychosis or transmigration of souls.(340) The Egyptians believed, that at the death of men their souls transmigrated into other human bodies; and that, if they had been vicious, they were imprisoned in the bodies of unclean or ill-conditioned beasts, to expiate in them their past transgressions; and that after a revolution of some centuries they again animated other human bodies.

The priests had the possession of the sacred books, which contained, at large, the principles of government, as well as the mysteries of divine wors.h.i.+p. Both were uncommonly involved in symbols and enigmas, which, under these veils, made truth more venerable, and excited more strongly the curiosity of men.(341) The figure of Harpocrates, in the Egyptian sanctuaries, with his finger upon his mouth, seemed to intimate, that mysteries were there enclosed, the knowledge of which was revealed to very few. The sphinxes, placed at the entrance of all temples, implied the same. It is very well known that pyramids, obelisks, pillars, statues, in a word, all public monuments, were usually adorned with hieroglyphics; that is, with symbolical writings; whether these were characters unknown to the vulgar, or figures of animals, under which was couched a hidden and parabolical meaning. Thus, by a hare, was signified a lively and piercing attention, because this creature has a very delicate sense of hearing.(342) The statue of a judge without hands, and with eyes fixed upon the ground, symbolized the duties of those who were to exercise the judiciary functions.(343)

It would require a volume to treat fully of the religion of the Egyptians.

But I shall confine myself to two articles, which form the princ.i.p.al part of it; and these are the wors.h.i.+p of the different deities, and the ceremonies relating to funerals.

SECT. I. THE WORs.h.i.+P OF THE VARIOUS DEITIES.-Never were any people more superst.i.tious than the Egyptians; they had a great number of G.o.ds, of different orders and degrees, which I shall omit, because they belong more to fable than to history. Among the rest, two were universally adored in that country, and these were Osiris and Isis, which are thought to be the sun and moon; and, indeed, the wors.h.i.+p of those planets gave rise to idolatry.

Besides these G.o.ds, the Egyptians wors.h.i.+pped a great number of beasts; as the ox, the dog, the wolf, the hawk, the crocodile, the ibis,(344) the cat, &c. Many of these beasts were the objects of the superst.i.tion only of some particular cities; and whilst one people wors.h.i.+pped one species of animals as G.o.ds, their neighbours held the same animals in abomination.

This was the source of the continual wars which were carried on between one city and another; and this was owing to the false policy of one of their kings, who, to deprive them of the opportunity and means of conspiring against the state, endeavoured to draw off their attention, by engaging them in religious contests. I call this a false and mistaken policy; because it directly thwarts the true spirit of government, the aim of which is, to unite all its members in the strictest ties, and to make all its strength consist in the perfect harmony of its several parts.

Every nation had a great zeal for their G.o.ds. "Among us," says Cicero,(345) "it is very common to see temples robbed, and statues carried off, but it was never known that any person in Egypt ever abused a crocodile, an ibis, a cat; for its inhabitants would have suffered the most, extreme torments, rather than be guilty of such sacrilege." It was death for any person to kill one of these animals voluntarily; and even a punishment was decreed against him who should have killed an ibis, or cat, with or without design.(346) Diodorus relates an incident,(347) to which he himself was an eye-witness during his stay in Egypt. A Roman having inadvertently, and without design, killed a cat, the exasperated populace ran to his house; and neither the authority of the king, who immediately detached a body of his guards, nor the terror of the Roman name, could rescue the unfortunate criminal. And such was the reverence which the Egyptians had for these animals, that in an extreme famine they chose to eat one another, rather than feed upon their imagined deities.