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To conclude this article of the ceremonies of funerals, it may not be amiss to observe to young pupils, the different manners in which the bodies of the dead were treated by the ancients. Some, as we observed of the Egyptians, exposed them to view after they had been embalmed, and thus preserved them to after ages; others, as the Romans, burnt them on a funeral pile; and others again, laid them in the earth.

The care to preserve bodies without lodging them in tombs, appears injurious to human nature in general, and to those persons in particular to whom respect is designed to be shown by this custom because it exposes too visibly their wretched state and deformity: since whatever care may be taken, spectators see nothing but the frightful remains of what they once were. The custom of burning dead bodies has something in it cruel and barbarous, in destroying so hastily the remains of persons once dear to us. That of interment is certainly the most ancient and religious. It restores to the earth what had been taken from it; and prepares our belief of a second restitution of our bodies, from that dust of which they were at first formed.

CHAP. III.

OF THE EGYPTIAN SOLDIERS AND WAR.

THE profession of arms was in great repute among the Egyptians. After the sacerdotal families, the most illustrious, as with us, were those devoted to a military life. They were not only distinguished by honours, but by ample liberalities. Every soldier was allowed twelve Arouræ; that is, a piece of arable land very near answering to half a French acre," exempt from all tax or tribute. Besides this privilege, each soldier received a daily allowance of five pounds of bread, two of flesh, and a quart of wine. This allowance was sufficient to support part of their family. Such an indulgence made them more affectionate to the person of their prince, and the interests of their country, and more resolute in the defence of both; and as Diodorus observes, it was thought inconsistent with good policy, and even common sense, to commit the defence of a country to men who had no interest in its preservation.

• Twelve Aroura. A Egyptian Aroura was 10,000 square cubits, equal to three rods, two perches, 554 square feet of our measure.

The Greek is, οἴνου τέσσαρες άρυστῆρες, which some have made to signify a determinate quantity of wine, or any other liquid: others, regarding the etymology of the word apvorno, have translated it by haustrum, a bucket, as Lucretius, lib. v. 5]; others by haustus, a draught, or sup. Herodotus says, this allowance was given only to the two thousand guards, who attended annually on the kings. Lib. ii. c. 168. 9 Lib. i. p. 67.

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Four hundred thousand soldiers were kept in continual pay ;" natives of Egypt, and trained up in the exactest discipline. They were inured to the fatigues of war, by a severe and rigorous education. There is an art of forming the body as well as the mind. This art, lost by our sloth, was well known to the ancients, and especially to the Egyptians. Foot, horse, and chariot-races, were performed in Egypt with wonderful agility, and the world could not show better horsemen than the Egyptians. The Scripture in several places speaks advantageously of their cavalry.

Military laws were easily preserved in Egypt, because sons received them from their fathers; the profession of war, as all others, being transmitted from father to son. Those who fled in battle, or discovered any signs of cowardice, were only distinguished by some particular mark of ignominy; it being thought more advisable to restrain them by motives of honour, than by the terrors of punishment.

But notwithstanding this, I will not pretend to say, that the Egyptians were a warlike people. It is of little advantage to have regular and well-paid troops; to have armies exercised in peace, and employed only in mock fights: it is war alone, and real combats, which form the soldier. Egypt loved peace, because it loved justice, and maintained soldiers only for its security. Its inhabitants, content with a country which abounded in all things, had no ambitious dreams of conquest. The Egyptians extended their reputation in a very different manner, by sending colonies into all parts of the world, and with them laws and politeness. They triumphed by the wisdom of their counsels, and the superiority of their knowledge; and this empire of the mind appeared more noble and glorious to them, than that which is achieved by arms and conquest. But, nevertheless, Egypt has given birth to illustrious conquerors, as will be observed hereafter when we come to treat of its kings.

CHAP. IV.

OF THEIR ARTS AND SCIENCES.

THE Egyptians had an inventive genius, but directed it only to useful projects. Their Mercuries filled Egypt with wonderful inventions, and left it scarcely ignorant of any thing which could contribute to accomplish the mind, or procure ease and happiness. The discoverers of any useful invention received, both living and dead, rewards worthy of their profitable labours. It is this which consecrated the books of their two Mercuries, and Herod. l. ii. c. 164. 168. Cant. i. 9. Isa. xxxvi. 9. + Diod. p. 76.

stamped them with a divine authority. The first libraries were in Egypt; and the titles they bore inspired an eager desire to enter them, and dive into the secrets they contained. They were called the remedy for the diseases of the soul," and that very justly, because the soul was there cured of ignorance, the most dangerous, and the parent of all other maladies.

As their country was level, and the sky always serene and unclouded, the Egyptians were among the first who observed the courses of the planets. These observations led them to regulate the year* * from the course of the sun; for, as Diodorus observes, their year, from the most remote antiquity, was composed of three hundred sixty-five days and six hours. To adjust the property of their lands, which were every year covered by the overflowing of the Nile, they were obliged to have recourse to surveys: and this first taught them geometry. They were great observers of nature, which, in a climate so serene, and under so intense a sun, was vigorous and fruitful.

By this study and application they invented or improved the science of physic. The sick were not abandoned to the arbitrary will and caprice of the physician. He was obliged to follow fixed rules, which were the observations of old and experienced practitioners, and written in the sacred books. While these rules were observed, the physician was not answerable for the success; otherwise a miscarriage cost him his life. This law checked indeed the temerity of empirics; but then it might prevent new discoveries, and keep the art from attaining to its just perfection. Every physician, if Herodotus may be credited, confined his practice to the cure of one disease only; one was for the eyes, another for the teeth, and so on.

What we have said of the pyramids, the labyrinth, and that infinite number of obelisks, temples, and palaces, whose precious remains still strike the beholder with admiration, and in which the magnificence of the princes who raised them, the skill of the workmen, the riches of the ornaments diffused over every part of them, and the just proportion and beautiful symmetry of the parts, in which their greatest beauty consisted, seemed to vie with each other; works, in many of which the liveliness of the

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* It will not seem surprising that the Egyptians, who were the most ancient observers of the celestial motions, should have arrived to this knowledge, when it is considered, that the lunar year, made use of by the Greeks and Romans, though it appears so inconvenient and irregular, supposed nevertheless a knowledge of the solar year, such as Diodorus Siculus ascribes to the Egyptians. It will appear at first sight, by calculating their intercalations, that those who first divided the year in this manner, were not ignorant, that to three hundred sixty-five days some hours were to be added, to keep pace with the sun. Their only error lay in supposition, that only six hours were wanting: whereas an addition of almost eleven minutes more was requisite. y Lib. ii. c. 84.

- colours remains to this day, in spite of the rude hand of time, which commonly deadens or destroys them: all this, I say, shows the perfection to which architecture, painting, sculpture, and all other arts had arrived in Egypt.

The Egyptians entertained but a mean opinion of those gymnastic exercises, which did not contribute to invigorate the body, or improve health; as well as of music, which they considered as a diversion not only useless but dangerous, and only fit to enervate the mind.

CHAP. V.

OF THEIR HUSBANDMEN, SHEPHERDS, AND ARTIFICERS.

The

HUSBANDMEN, shepherds, and artificers, formed the three classes of lower life in Egypt, but were nevertheless had in very great esteem, particularly husbandmen and shepherds.' body politic requires a superiority and subordination of its several members; for as, in the natural body, the eye may be said to hold the first rank, yet its lustre does not dart contempt upon the feet, the hands, or even those parts which are less honourable. In like manner, among the Egyptians, the priests, soldiers, and scholars, were distinguished by particular honours; but all professions, to the meanest, had their share in the public esteem, because the despising any man, whose labours, however mean, were useful to the state, was thought a crime.

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A better reason than the foregoing, might have inspired them at the first with these sentiments of equity and moderation, which they so long preserved. As they all descended from Cham, their common father, the memory of their still recent origin occurring to the minds of all in those first ages, established among them a kind of equality, and stamped, in their opinion, a nobility on every person derived from the common stock. Indeed, the difference of conditions, and the contempt with which persons of the lowest rank are treated, are owing merely to the distance from the common root; which makes us forget that the meanest plebeian, when his descent is traced back to the source, is equally noble with those of the most elevated rank and titles.

Be that as it will, no profession in Egypt was considered as grovelling or sordid. By this means arts were raised to their highest perfection. The honour which cherished them mixed with every thought and care for their improvement. Every man z Diod. 1. i. p. 73.

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Τὴν δὲ μεσικὴν νομίζουσιν οὐ μόνον ἄχρησον ὑπάρχειν, ἀλλὰ καὶ βλαβερὰν, ὡς ἂν ἐκθηλύνουσαν τὰς τῶν ἀνδρῶν ψυχάς. b Diod. 1. i. p. 67, 68. c Or Ham.

had his way of life assigned him by the laws, and it was perpetuated from father to son. Two professions at one time, or a change of that which a man was born to, were never allowed. By this means, men became more able and expert in employments which they had always exercised from their infancy; and every man, adding his own experience to that of his ancestors, was more capable of attaining perfection in his particular art. Besides, this wholesome institution, which had been established anciently throughout Egypt, extinguished all irregular ambition; and taught every man to sit down contented with his condition, without aspiring to one more elevated, from interest, vain-glory, or levity.

From this source flowed numberless inventions for the improvement of all the arts, and for rendering life more commodious, and trade more easy. I once could not believe that Diodorus was in earnest, in what he relates concerning the Egyptian industry, viz. that this people had found out a way, by an artificial fecundity, to hatch eggs without the sitting of the hen; but all modern travellers declare it to be a fact, which certainly is worthy our investigation, and is said to be practised also in Europe. Their relations inform us, that the Egyptians stow eggs in ovens, which are heated to such a temperament, and with such just proportion to the natural warmth of the hen, that the chickens produced by these means are as strong as those which are hatched the natural way. The season of the year proper for this operation is, from the end of December to the end of April; the heat in Egypt being too violent in the other months. During these four months, upwards of three hundred thousand eggs are laid in these ovens, which, though they are not all successful, nevertheless produce vast numbers of fowls at an easy rate. The art lies in giving the ovens a due degree of heat, which must not exceed a fixed proportion. About ten days are bestowed in heating these ovens, and very near as much time in hatching the eggs. It is very entertaining, say these travellers, to observe the hatching of these chickens, some of which show at first nothing but their heads, others but half their bodies, and others again come quite out of the egg: these last, the moment they are hatched, make their way over the unhatched eggs, and form a diverting spectacle. Corneille le Bruyn, in his Travels, has collected the observations of other travellers on this subject. Plinyf likewise mentions it; but it appears from him, that the Egyptians, anciently, employed warm dung, not ovens, to hatch

eggs.

I have said, that husbandmen particularly, and those who took care of flocks, were in great esteem in Egypt, some parts d Diod. 1. i. p. 67. e Tom. ii. p. 64

f Lib. x. c. 54.

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