88 



were cultivated only by the sacerdotal order to which they 

 were confined, and it does not appear that they were ever ad- 

 vanced beyond the rude state in which they existed before 

 the dispersion, in the plains of Shinaar. The multitudes who 

 faced to Egypt were forced to unite into one social body 

 sooner than the tribes that took another direction, from 

 the necessity of jointly co-operating in draining the coun- 

 try. The various operations were conducted under the di- 

 rection of the most knowing, who also attended to religious 

 concerns. 



Hence I think we may infer that the Egyptian government 

 was at least semi-barharian, and the condition of thie inha- 

 bitants Avas, upon the whole, miserable ; a certaiii proof of 

 whicli is their easy conquest both by the Ethiopians, the 

 Babylonians and the Persians ; and the feeble efforts they 

 made to free themselves from these foreigners. 



Of the Assyrian, Babylonian and Persian Empires. 



I mention these three empires collectively, as they seem 



to be barely three different succesions of the same species of 



government and their institutions nearly the same ; only a 



few particulars, however, have been transmitted to us by scti- 



cient historians. 



In 



