Chap.Hl. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 133 



Egyptians were living under a regular government by Kings, with 

 a divifion of their land, fuch as is not to be found in any other an- 

 cient ftate as far as I know, by which the Priefts had a certain por- 

 •tion allotted to them * ; and I am perfuaded that the King had ano- 

 ther portion, and that the whole land was divided in the manner men- 

 tioned by Dlodorus Siculus, that is, betwixt the King, the church, 

 and the military clafsf: In the fame manner as by the feudal fyflem 

 the land was antiently divided in Britain, and in other kingdoms 

 ;of Europe, And it is to be obferved, that while the Egyptians were 

 Jiving under this fo regular polity, the families of Abraham and Lot, 

 ^nd I fuppofe many other families, were vagrants in the plains of 

 Afia, without being formed into any ftate. As to the account 

 which the Egyptians themfelves gave from their Sacred books, that 

 is, books kept by their Priefts, of the antiquity of their nation, we 

 have, in Herodotus and Dlodorus Siculus, a wonderful catalogue of 

 <Klngs from Menes the firft human King, down to Amafis the lafl 

 King before the Perfian Conqueft, not lefs than 345. And as to the 

 number of years thofe Kings reigned, the Priefts told Herodotus, 

 ■that from Bacchus, one of the third and laft race of their God- 

 'Kings, as they called them, down to this Amafis, there were 15,000. 

 years ; and this they faid they knew esadly, by computation of 

 the years of their feveral reigns, which were all fet down in their 

 Jbooks 4; : So that the firft thing I required in the parent country of 

 language, exifted in Egypt ; I mean antient civillfation, more antient 

 than that of any other nation known. 



The 



* Genefis, chap. 47. v. 22. 

 t Lib. I. cap. 73. 



^ K«i rcivTa Ai'/vvrici ar^fK'.m; (puiri oricrTXffxt, mil -ti >.cyi^ef.itciy xiti aid otTroyja^*- 



^<ia( rx irm. Lib. 2. cap. 145. With this calculation agrees very well another chro- 

 nological monument of a very extraordinary kind, and fuch as I believe no other na- 

 tion ever had ; I mean, the ftatues of the High Priefts of Jupiter in Thebes. Of thefe 

 I have fpoken at feme length in vol. I. of the Origin of Language, p. 625. of the fe- 

 cond edition. 



The 



