Chap. IV. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 33 



milies, Herodotus only mentions the duration of one of them, 

 that of the family of the High Prieft of Jupiter in Thebes, which 

 lafted above 11,000 years, in the male line, from father to fon, and 

 this vouched by a chronological monument, fuch as, I believe, was 

 not to be feen in any other country of the world *. Of their govern- 

 ment and laws I am not to fpeak at prefent, (having faid enough on 

 that fubje(5l in volume iv. of this workf ), but only of their manner of 

 living, of which Herodotus has given us a very particular defcription. 

 From his account it appears that they lived full, and indulged them- 

 felves, to a certain degree, in the pleafures of the table. At the 

 fame time, they did not pradife the gymnaftic exercifes of the 

 Greeks: But they bathed more than they did, twice in the daytime, 

 and as often in the night; and in cold water, which, I think, was 

 very proper ; for, not ufmg the Greek Athletic exercifes, the w^arm 

 bath would have relaxed them too much ; though I am not fure but 

 the practice of the Heroes in Homer J, who ufed bathing after fa- 

 tigue, beginning with the cold bath, and then ufmg the warm, after 

 which they anointed, was ftill better than the more modern Greek 

 practice, of ufmg the warm bath only. But what was moft fmgular 

 in the Egyptian regimen, and muft have had a very great efFed upon 

 their health, was the phyfic they t©ok, and their regular evacua- 

 tions, by vomiting, purging, and clyftering, for three days fuccef- 

 fively in the beginning of each month: And they gave, what I 

 think, a good reafon for this practice; namely, that in a country fuch 

 as Egypt, where the human body could not be hurt by vIci/Titudcs 

 of weather, there could be no caufe of difeafe but intemperance. 



By Uving in this way, Herodotus fays, they were the healtlii- 



eft of all the men then known, the Lybians only excepted, whom 



Vol. V. E (as 



* Vol I. of Origin of Language, p. C27. 2d edition. 

 -|- Chap. 10. of Book 2. 

 X Iliad 10. V 572. 



