DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.7416#0129
119
regular government, the slow result of the jarring interests and
passions of men; who, having long struggled with each other,
acquiesce at length in the sacrifice of some part of their natural
liberty in order to enjoy the rest with security. Such a government,
formed upon a very complicated and artificial plan, does iEgypt
appear to have possessed even in the days of Abraham, not five
hundred years after the period generally allowed for the universal
deluge. Yet iEgypt was a rfew country, gained gradually from
the sea by the accumulation of the mud and sand annually
brought down in the waters of the Nile ; and slowly transformed,
by the regularly progressive operation of time and labor, from an
uninhabitable salt-marsh to the most salubrious and fertile spot in
the universe."
151 .This great transformation took place, in all the lower regions,
after the genealogical records of the hereditary priests of Amnion
at Thebes had commenced; and, of course, after the civil and re-
ligious constitution of the government had been formed. It was the
custom for every one of these priests to erect a colossal statue of
himself, in wood—of which there were three hundred and forty-live
shown to Hecatajus and Herodotus; * so that, according to the
./Egyptian computation of three generations to a century, 3 which,
considering the health and longevity of that people,* is by no means
unreasonable, this institution must have lasted between eleven and
twelve thousand years, from the times of the first king, Menes, under
whom all the country below Lake Mceris was a bog,s to that of
1 Kat yap oxnos aei frporepos 6 roiros (pawsrai yiyyofievos, /cat Traffa t) xuPa ton no-
tuhov Trpoaxuais owra too NeiAow Sia oe to Kara fxtupov tyipaivofiwv -ray e\uy, tovs
xto/ow eitroi/ct^ecrfJai, to to-j xpoyov ixtjkos acpaiprjrai rijy apxvy- Qaiverai 5* ouy Kai ra
trro/xara rravra ir\r]y epos tou KavuPinov, x«pojroi;;Ta Kai ov tov TOTa/tou oi'Ta. Aristot.
Meteor. lib. i. c. xiv.
1 Lib. ii. s. U3.
3 Teveai yaprpeis avSpiuy (Karoy (Tea wti. Ibid. s. 142.
4 n&> yap Kai a\Aas Aiymrioi fiera Ai/3uas uy'i}pi<rraToi -navrav avBpainuy, -roty
«o/fwj> (efioi doiceeiy) eiVe/ca, ori ov p.*TaKKa<r<rovtn al iipai, lb. s. 7?.
5 Etti tovtov, Tr\i)y tou 0ij/3oihou vojiov Ttaaav Kiyimrov twai k\osm Kat avrr\t tivai
•i>5«f imepexov fay wv eycpBe M/iv-ris tt)s Moipios tovrwV ts n]y avair\ovs two QaXaccris
ctttr Tjnepfuv t<m ava top voranoy. Ib. 3. 4.
regular government, the slow result of the jarring interests and
passions of men; who, having long struggled with each other,
acquiesce at length in the sacrifice of some part of their natural
liberty in order to enjoy the rest with security. Such a government,
formed upon a very complicated and artificial plan, does iEgypt
appear to have possessed even in the days of Abraham, not five
hundred years after the period generally allowed for the universal
deluge. Yet iEgypt was a rfew country, gained gradually from
the sea by the accumulation of the mud and sand annually
brought down in the waters of the Nile ; and slowly transformed,
by the regularly progressive operation of time and labor, from an
uninhabitable salt-marsh to the most salubrious and fertile spot in
the universe."
151 .This great transformation took place, in all the lower regions,
after the genealogical records of the hereditary priests of Amnion
at Thebes had commenced; and, of course, after the civil and re-
ligious constitution of the government had been formed. It was the
custom for every one of these priests to erect a colossal statue of
himself, in wood—of which there were three hundred and forty-live
shown to Hecatajus and Herodotus; * so that, according to the
./Egyptian computation of three generations to a century, 3 which,
considering the health and longevity of that people,* is by no means
unreasonable, this institution must have lasted between eleven and
twelve thousand years, from the times of the first king, Menes, under
whom all the country below Lake Mceris was a bog,s to that of
1 Kat yap oxnos aei frporepos 6 roiros (pawsrai yiyyofievos, /cat Traffa t) xuPa ton no-
tuhov Trpoaxuais owra too NeiAow Sia oe to Kara fxtupov tyipaivofiwv -ray e\uy, tovs
xto/ow eitroi/ct^ecrfJai, to to-j xpoyov ixtjkos acpaiprjrai rijy apxvy- Qaiverai 5* ouy Kai ra
trro/xara rravra ir\r]y epos tou KavuPinov, x«pojroi;;Ta Kai ov tov TOTa/tou oi'Ta. Aristot.
Meteor. lib. i. c. xiv.
1 Lib. ii. s. U3.
3 Teveai yaprpeis avSpiuy (Karoy (Tea wti. Ibid. s. 142.
4 n&> yap Kai a\Aas Aiymrioi fiera Ai/3uas uy'i}pi<rraToi -navrav avBpainuy, -roty
«o/fwj> (efioi doiceeiy) eiVe/ca, ori ov p.*TaKKa<r<rovtn al iipai, lb. s. 7?.
5 Etti tovtov, Tr\i)y tou 0ij/3oihou vojiov Ttaaav Kiyimrov twai k\osm Kat avrr\t tivai
•i>5«f imepexov fay wv eycpBe M/iv-ris tt)s Moipios tovrwV ts n]y avair\ovs two QaXaccris
ctttr Tjnepfuv t<m ava top voranoy. Ib. 3. 4.