reigned over it forty years. He was, according to Plato, a native of the city of Sais. As he was but of mean extraction, he met with no respect in the beginning of his reign, but was only contemned by his subjects: he was not insensible of this; but nevertheless thought it his interest to subdue their tempers by management and address, and win their affections by gentleness and reason. He had a golden cistern, in which himself and those persons who were admitted to his table, used to wash their feet: he melted it down and had it cast into a statue, and then exposed the new god to public worship. The people hasted in crowds to pay their adoration to the statue. The king, having assembled the people, informed them of the vile uses to which this statue had once been put, which nevertheless was now the object of their religious prostrations: the application was easy; and had the desired success; the people thenceforward paid the king all the respect that is due to majesty. He always used to devote the whole morning to public business, to receive petitions, give audience, pronounce sentence, and hold his councils; the rest of the day was given to pleasure and as Amasis, in hours of diversion, was extremely gay, and seemed to carry his mirth beyond due bounds, his courtiers took the liberty to represent to him the unsuitableness of such a behaviour; when he answered, that it was as impossible for the mind to be always serious and intent upon business, as for a bow to continue always bent. It was this king who obliged the inhabitants of every town to enter their names in a book, kept by the magistrate for that purpose, with their profession, and manner of living. Solon inserted this custom among his laws. He built many magnificent temples, especially at Sais, the place of his birth. Herodotus admired especially a chapel there, formed of one single stone, which was twenty-one cubits in front, fourteen in depth, and eight in height; its dimensions within were not quite so large: it had been brought from Elephantina, and two thousand men had employed three years in conveying it along the Nile. Amasis had a great esteem for the Greeks. He granted them large privileges; and permitted such of them as were desirous of settling in Egypt, to live in the city of Naucratis, so famous for its harbour. When the rebuilding of the temple of Delphi, which had been burnt, was debated on, and the expense was computed at three hundred talents,' Amasis furnished the Delphians with a very considerable sum towards In Tim. h Herod. 1. ii. c. 172. The cubit is one foot and almost ten inches. 1 Id. l. ii. c. 73. Vide supra. discharging their quota, which was the fourth part of the whole charge. He made an alliance with the Cyrenians, and married a wife from among them. He is the only king of Egypt who conquered the island of Cyprus, and made it tributary. Under his reign Pythagoras came into Egypt, being recommended to that monarch by the famous Polycrates, tyrant of Samos, who had contracted a friendship with Amasis, and will be mentioned hereafter. Pythagoras, during his stay in Egypt, was initiated in all the mysteries of the country; and instructed by the priests in whatever was most abstruse and important in their religion. It was here he imbibed his doctrine of the Metempsychosis, or transmigration of souls. m In the expedition in which Cyrus conquered so great a part of the world, Egypt doubtless was subdued, like the rest of the provinces; and Xenophon positively declares this in the beginning of his Cyropædia, or institution of that prince. Probably, after that the forty years of desolation, which had been foretold by the prophet, were expired, Egypt beginning gradually to regain strength, Amasis shook off the yoke, and recovered his liberty. Accordingly we find, that one of the first cares of Cambyses, the son of Cyrus, after he had ascended the throne, was to carry his arms into Egypt. On his arrival there, Amasis was just dead, and succeeded by his son Psammenitus. A. M. 3479. PSAMMENITUS. Cambyses, after having Ant. J. C. 525. gained a battle, pursued the enemy to Memphis; besieged the city, and soon took it: however, he treated the king with clemency, granted him his life, and assigned him an honourable pension; but being informed that he was secretly concerting measures to reascend his throne, he put him to death. Psammenitus reigned but six months all Egypt submitted immediately to the victor. The particulars of this history will be related more at large, when I come to that of Cambyses. Here ends the succession of the Egyptian kings. From this æra the history of this nation, as was before observed, will be blended with that of the Persians and Greeks, till the death of Alexander. At that period a new monarchy will arise in Egypt, founded by Ptolemy the son of Lagus, which will continue to Cleopatra, that is, for about three hundred years. I shall treat each of these subjects, in the several periods to which they belong. * Επῆρξε δὲ καὶ ̔Ελλήνων τῶν ἐν τῇ ̓Ασίᾳ, καταβὰς δὲ ἐπὶ θάλατταν, καὶ Κυπρίων καὶ Αἰγυπτίων, p. 5. edit. Hutchinsoni. BOOK II. THE HISTORY OF THE CARTHAGINIANS. PART I. CHARACTER, MANNERS, RELIGION, AND GOVERNMENT OF THE CARTHAGINIANS. SECT. I. CARTHAGE FORMED AFTER THE MODel of TYRE, OF WHICH THAT CITY WAS A COLONY. THE Carthaginians were indebted to the Tyrians, not only for their origin, but for their manners, language, customs, laws, religion, and their great application to commerce, as will appear from every part of the sequel. They spoke the same language with the Tyrians, and these the same with the Canaanites and Israelites; that is, the Hebrew tongue, or at least a language which was entirely derived from it. Their names had commonly some particular meaning: Thus Hanno signified gracious, bountiful; Dido, amiable, or well-beloved; Sophonisba, one who keeps faithfully her husband's secrets.a From a spirit of religion, they likewise joined the name of God to their own, conformably to the genius of the Hebrews. Hannibal, which answers to Hananias, signifies Baal [or the Lord has been gracious to me. Asdrubal, answering to Azarias, implies, the Lord will be our succour. It is the same with other names, Adherbal, Maharbal, Mastanabal, &c. The word Poeni, from which Punic is derived, is the same with Phoeni, or Phoenicians, because they came originally from Bochart, part ii. l. ii. c. 16. Phoenicia. In the Poenulus of Plautus is a scene written in the Punic tongue, which has very much exercised the learned." But the strict union which always subsisted between the Phoenicians and Carthaginians, is still more remarkable. When Cambyses had resolved to make war upon the latter, the Phoenicians, who formed the chief strength of his fleet, told him plainly, that they could not serve him against their countrymen; and this declaration obliged that prince to lay aside his design. The Carthaginians, on their side, were never forgetful of the country from whence they came, and to which they owed their origin. They sent regularly every year to Tyred a ship freighted with presents, as a quit-rent or acknowledgment paid to their ancient country; and an annual sacrifice was offered to the tutelar gods of Tyre by the Carthaginians, who considered them as their protectors likewise. They never failed to send thither the first-fruits of their revenues; nor the tithe of the spoils taken from their enemies, as offerings to Hercules, one of the principal gods of Tyre and Carthage. The Tyrians, to secure from Alexander (who was then besieging their city) what they valued above all things, I mean their wives and children, sent them to Carthage; where, though at a time when the inhabitants of the latter were involved in a furious war, they were received and entertained with such a kindness and generosity as might be expected from the most tender and opulent parents. Such uninterrupted testimonies of a warm and sincere gratitude, do a nation more honour, than the greatest conquests and the most glorious victories. SECT. II. THE RELIGION OF THE CARTHAGINIANS. It appears from several passages of the history of Carthage, that its generals looked upon it as an indispensable duty, to begin and end all their enterprises with the worship of the gods. Hamilcar, father of the great Hannibal, before he entered Spain in a hostile manner, offered up a sacrifice to the gods; and his son, treading in his steps, before he left Spain, and marched against Rome, went as far as Cadiz in order to pay the vows which he had made to Hercules, and to offer up new ones, in case that god should be propitious to him. After the battle of Canna, when he acquainted the Carthaginians with the joyful news, he recommended to them, above all things, the offering up a solemn thanksgiving to the immortal gods, for the several victories he had obtained. Pro his The first scene of the fifth act, translated into Latin by Petit, in the second book of his Miscellanies. d Polyb. 944. Q. Curt. 1. iv. c. 2, 3. f Liv. 1. xxiii. n. 11. c Herod. 1. iii. c. 17-19. e Liv. 1. xxi. n. 1. Ibid. n. 21. tantis totque victoriis verum esse grates diis immortalibus agi haberique. Neither did individuals alone pride themselves upon displaying, on every occasion, this religious care to honour the deity; but it evidently was the genius and disposition of the whole nation. Polybius has transmitted to us a treaty of peace concluded betwen Philip, son of Demetrius, king of Macedon, and the Carthaginians, in which the great respect and veneration of the latter for the deity, and their inherent persuasion that the gods engage in, and preside over, human affairs, and particularly over the solemn treaties made in their name and presence, are strongly displayed. Mention is therein made of five or six different orders of deities; and this enumeration appears very extraordinary in a public instrument, such as a treaty of peace concluded between two nations. I will here present my reader with the very words of the historian, as it will give some idea of the Carthaginian theology. This treaty was concluded in the presence of Jupiter, Juno, and Apollo; in the presence of the demon, or genius (daipovos) of the Carthaginians, of Hercules and Iolaus; in the presence of Mars, Triton, and Neptune; in the presence of all the confederate gods of the Carthaginians; and of the sun, the moon, and the earth; in the presence of the rivers, meads, and waters; in the presence of all those gods who possess Carthage. What should we now say to an instrument of this kind, in which the tutelar angels and saints of a kingdom should be introduced? The Carthaginians had two deities to whom they paid a more particular worship, and who deserve to have some mention made of them in this place. The first was the goddess Coelestis, called likewise Urania, the same with the Moon, who was invoked in great calamities, and particularly in droughts, in order to obtain rain: That very virgin Coelestis, says Tertullian," the promiser of rain, Ista ipsa Virgo Cœlestis pluviarum pollicitatrix. Tertullian, speaking of this goddess and of Esculapius, makes the heathens of that age a challenge, which is bold indeed, but at the same time very glorious to the cause of christianity; declaring, that any christian who may first come, shall oblige these false gods to confess publicly, that they are but devils; and consenting that this christian shall be immediately killed, if he do not extort such a confession from the mouth of these gods. Nisi se dæmones confessi fuerint Christiano, mentiri non audentes, ibidem illius Christiani procacissimi sanguinem fundite. St. Austin likewise makes frequent mention of this deity. What is now, says he, become of Cœlestis, whose em8 L. vii. p. 502. h Apolog. c. xxiii. i In Psalm xcviii. |