the Priests destioyed hy Cambyses ? 47 



•ults of this exact science into the 1st chapter of Genesis. And, 

 fourthly^ That, as we shall afterwards see, while he transcribed 

 the accurate results, he carefully blotted out all traces of the 

 successive steps by which they were attained. 



But the evidence regarding the persecution of Cambyses, and 

 its effects, does not wai-rant the conclusion that the science of 

 the priests was destroyed by it. The most authentic evidence 

 is to be found in Herodotus ; and the account which he gives of 

 it bears on its face so much of verisimilitude, that those of the 

 after historians, where they differ from his, are extremely sus- 

 picious ; especially when we consider that, by a reference to the 

 preceding and accompanying and following circumstances, re- 

 lated by both him and them, it becomes obvious that his nar- 

 ration formed their chief authority. Herodotus, who visited 

 Egypt only from sixty to eighty years after the time of Cam- 

 byses, and who takes care to inform us, that, with regard to the 

 Egyptian history, after the time Psammatichus, he had the tes- 

 timony not only of the Egyptians, but also of the Carian and 

 Ionian colonies in that country, tells us that the persecution be- 

 gan only after the return of Cambyses from his disastrous ex- 

 pedition against the Macrobians. Nothing can be more natural 

 than the account which he gives of its cause. Cambyses, at 

 his return, found a universal rejoicing among the Egyptians, 

 on account of the discovery of their god Apis by the priests. 

 Suspicious that the rejoicing of the recently subdued nation 

 arose out of the calamities of his own army, he inquired into 

 the cause of it, and, being told what that was, ordered the newly 

 found god, led by a priest, to be brought before him. The de- 

 rision of the Persian fire-worshipper being excited by the ap- 

 pearance of a god in the shape of a calf, he wounded the ani- 

 mal with his own hand, but took so little interest in its further 

 fate, that he never knew whether it died of the wound or not ; 

 but the rejoicing of the Egyptians, in the moment of his own 

 calamity, excited not his derision, but his wrath. *' He order- 

 ed," says the historian, " the priest to be whipped by his offi- 

 cers, and all those who were making public rejoicings, to be. 

 slain, wherever they were found."" " Thus," adds he, '' the. 

 priest was punished." Herodotus afterwards tells us, that Cam. 

 byses entered the temple of Vulcan, and mocked at the image 



