Chap. XII. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 251 



from which they were derived by many canals to every part of the 

 countr)"-, w^hich wanted them. Of this wonderful work a fmall re- 

 main is yet to be feen. 



The next mofl wonderful work in Egypt was, the Palace of the 

 1 2 Kings, built in the form of a Labyrinth. Of this there is no vef- 

 tige, as far as I know, remaining. 



The laft of the wonders of art in this country, were the Pyramids; 

 of which there are three ftill remaining, one of thefe called the Great 

 Pyramid, of ftupenduous fize, covering about eight acres of ground 

 as it ftands at prefent ; but it muft have covered more v.'hen Hero- 

 dotus faw it, according to his defcription of it. If thefe Pyramids 

 had not been ftill extant, I doubt whether we fhould have believed 

 in the other wonders of Egypt related to us by Herodotus. And, 

 yet the Pyramids were the leaft of the wonders of the works of men 

 in Egypt, according to the account Herodotus gives of them ; for 

 he fays the Labyrinth exceeded the Pyramids, as much as it was 

 exceeded by the Lake Mseris. 



But I have not yet mentioned the greateft of all the arts, in which 

 they excelled ; the materials of which are not ftone and mortar, 

 earth or water, but men, the nobleft fubjedl of art upon this earth. 

 By this defcription the reader will readily underftand that I mean 

 the art of government, in which I think I have fhown that the E- 

 gyptians exceeded all the world. When to thefe works of nature 

 and of art I join the prodigious numbers of the people, their geni- 

 us, and their invention of fo many arts and fciences, their conquefts 

 too, and the ufe they made of thefe conquefts, I think we need not 

 hefitate to pronounce, with Herodotus*, that Egypt was the moft 

 wonderful country on earth, and more wonderful than all the other 

 countries put together. And, I think, I may add with Diodorus 



I i 2 Siculus, 



* Herod. Lib. 2. cap. 



03' 



