DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4372#0241
225
nor of Alexandria happened to be beaten by a soldier, for telling
him that his shoes were better than the soldier's, a multitude imme-
diately collected before the house of iEmilianus the commanding
officer, armed with every seditious weapon, and using furious
threats. lie was wounded by stones; javelins and swords were
pointed at and thrown at him. iEniilianus, when he saw his dan-
ger so nigh, felt he had no other alternative than to assume the
imperial purple. The Egyptian troops consented, chiefly from
the hatred they bore to Gallienus : nor was he deficient in a vigo-
rous government. He travelled through the whole of the The-
baic!; he reduced to his sovereignty many barbarous tribes; and
obtained for his eminent qualities the title of Alexander or Alex-
andrinus.
To those who are inclined to trace the similarity of events
under similar circumstances after a long period of years, the pre-
sent state of Egypt will afford more than one opportunity of
pourtraying the same characteristics with those I have above al-
luded to, in the revolutions which it has experienced during the
eighteenth century. The disposition of the people; the rapid
rise of the principal chieftains from the lowest to the highest sta-
tions; and the facility with which superior talent acquired pre-
eminence, form very remarkable instances of coincidence in the
pictures of the two ages.
The antient government of Egypt is likely to become within
a few years a very interesting subject of discussion in Europe.
It will no longer be considered as merely an object of curiosity
to the antiquary: the dismemberment of the Turkish empire,
should it take place, will bring Egypt, with several other Eastern
provinces, into the sphere of European politics. AVhen that bar-
rier, which seems now to separate the West of Europe from Asia,
2 g is
nor of Alexandria happened to be beaten by a soldier, for telling
him that his shoes were better than the soldier's, a multitude imme-
diately collected before the house of iEmilianus the commanding
officer, armed with every seditious weapon, and using furious
threats. lie was wounded by stones; javelins and swords were
pointed at and thrown at him. iEniilianus, when he saw his dan-
ger so nigh, felt he had no other alternative than to assume the
imperial purple. The Egyptian troops consented, chiefly from
the hatred they bore to Gallienus : nor was he deficient in a vigo-
rous government. He travelled through the whole of the The-
baic!; he reduced to his sovereignty many barbarous tribes; and
obtained for his eminent qualities the title of Alexander or Alex-
andrinus.
To those who are inclined to trace the similarity of events
under similar circumstances after a long period of years, the pre-
sent state of Egypt will afford more than one opportunity of
pourtraying the same characteristics with those I have above al-
luded to, in the revolutions which it has experienced during the
eighteenth century. The disposition of the people; the rapid
rise of the principal chieftains from the lowest to the highest sta-
tions; and the facility with which superior talent acquired pre-
eminence, form very remarkable instances of coincidence in the
pictures of the two ages.
The antient government of Egypt is likely to become within
a few years a very interesting subject of discussion in Europe.
It will no longer be considered as merely an object of curiosity
to the antiquary: the dismemberment of the Turkish empire,
should it take place, will bring Egypt, with several other Eastern
provinces, into the sphere of European politics. AVhen that bar-
rier, which seems now to separate the West of Europe from Asia,
2 g is