31© STUDIES OF NATURE. 



This lafl fentiment incteafed in me as I grew 



up. Nothing had been fpok.cn of in Egypt, for 



fome time pad, but the Trojan war. The names 



OÏ Achilles, of Hedor, and of other heroes, dif- 



turbed my fleep. I would have purchafed a fingle 



day of their renown, by the facnfice of my whole 



life. I thought the deftiny of my countryman 



Memnon was enviable, who had periflied on the 



wallb of I'roy, and in honour of whom a fuperb 



monument was reared at Thebes (2). What do 



I fay ? I would willingly have given my body to 



be changed into the ftatue of a hero, provided 



they had expofed me, on a pillar, to the veneration 



of Nations. 1 relolved, then, to tear myfelf from 



the delights of Egypt, and from the endearments of 



my paternal manfion, in order to acquire an illuf- 



trious reputation. Every time that I prefented my- 



felf before my father, '* Send me to the fiege of 



*' Troy," f.iid I to him, " that I may purchafe for 



*' myfelf a name renowned among men. You 



*' have my elder brother with you, who is fuffi- 



** cient to fecure the continuance of your pofte- 



" rity : If you always oppofe my inclinations, 



*' through the diead of lofmg me, know, that if 



*' I efcape the fword, I fliall not efcape the more 



*' painful death of chagrin/' In truth, 1 was vi- 



fibly declining; 1 avoided all fociety, and was fo 



reclufe, that they gave me the firname of Moneros. 



To 



