400 



EGYPT. 



Liitramrc 

 e! Egypt. 



that the mast happy form of government lies Iwtween 

 the extreme of absolute power, mid that of pure demo- 

 cracy. In a mixed suite of j>ri\ ilegcs and power, where 

 the people check the tendency of the rich and digni- 

 fied toward increased autliority or absolute rule, mid 

 where the prince and the nobles restrain the turbu- 

 lence, and chasten the innovations of popular move- 

 ments, there is the bert chance for moderation of go- 

 vemment, and stability of happiiu 



In some respects an absolute government is lx-Uer 

 calculated to raise monuments of national glory. Ha- 

 \ inj the whole powers of the state at his command, 

 the unlimited monarch can bring them more quickly 

 into action, and direct them to bear with greater cer- 

 tainty on any individual point. With a secrecy and 

 expedition which no popular government can obtain, 

 he carries into effect the purposes of his will, though 

 great or difficult. Hence the pyramids, the labyrinth, 

 and other works of great difficulty and labour in E- 

 jrypt, were accomplished by its absolute kings; but in 

 the performance of these works, the oppression of ab- 

 solute authority was felt. To procure money for such 

 vast designs, the imposts were grievous, and in some 

 caws, where the necessities of the state were supposed 

 to require it, the feelings of the people were hurt, by 

 having the money allotted for the public services di- 

 verted into the channel of common life. In such ca- 

 ses, the labour of the people was excessive ; and we 

 know the children of Israel cried by reason of their 

 task-masters, who were severe and unrelenting. A 

 monarch of Egypt boasted, that his slaves and captives 

 only were employed in public labour, and that no na- 

 tive Egyptian had been engaged in works of such toil; 

 hut whatever an individual of influence and national 

 delicacy might do in saving his subjects, yet a severer 

 master might employ severer means ; and even where 

 bondmen and captives can be cruelly treated, the go- 

 vernment is not correct, nor the arrangements such as 

 justice or humanity require. 



But, however, the government of Egypt may be said 

 to have been always of an unlimited nature. Through 

 every successive change, it still maintained the charac- 

 ter of unrestrained monarchy, till it became a province 

 of the Turkish government : and then it had a divan, 

 at the head of which is a pasha, or deputy-governor, 

 with some appearances of a deliberative council. But 

 this form ot government, though apparently allied to 

 a mixed and limited authority, was notwithstanding 

 exposed to very arbitrary exactions. And yet the ar- 

 rangements were so disjointed and feeble, that the go- 

 vernment was neither steady nor secure, for, amid the 

 tumults of an ill-regulated state, the court of Constan- 

 tinople nearly lost its authority. In this condition, the 

 turbulent and ambitious beys were striving for the su- 

 preme command ; and since they were subdued^ we 

 suspect that the liberties of the people are neither ac- 

 curately defined nor well secured, so that the govern- 

 ment of Egypt is still absolute, and unfriendly to or- 

 der and happiness. 



Egypt was celebrated for wisdom of old, and the 

 learning of that country attracted to its schools the 

 wise and inquiring of other nations. We are to esti- 

 mate its pre-eminence, not by a comparison with the 

 present state of erudition, but by considering the rank 

 which it then held in the scale of knowledge. India, 

 Babylon, and even Phoenicia, lay claim for no incon- 

 siderable share of literary glory. But the principal 

 competition seems to subsist between India and Egypt. 

 Each of them has its supporters, and it would be 



presumptuous, as well as tinwi.se, to decide the contest 



I'nini the nature of the donnm-nti which have hitherto 

 l>ren furnished. It is more becoming to say with the 



Literature. 



" .Von mcam inter roct taxtat componere litn." 



Yet we may suppose, that lx>th of them flourished about 

 the same period, and that there must have been an in- 

 tercourse, less or more frequent, between the two na- 

 tions. If we were disposed to argue strenuously in fa- 

 vour of Egypt, we might say, that there was a period 

 in its early history, when the learned, the wise, and 

 the noble, were compelled to seek refuge in other 

 countries, and many of them might land in India. 



The season to which we have an eye, was the time 

 when Cambyses desolated Egypt, destroyed its tem- 

 ples, and overthrew its venerated order of things. For 

 a succession of years, the natives were oppressed ; and 

 during such events, it was natural for men of eminence 

 anil spirit to leave a country v. Inch was unworthy of 

 their presence, and to take refuge in more favoured 

 abodes. It may also be observed, that the madness of 

 Ptolemy Physcon drove from his kingdom many of the 

 wisest and most literary persons ; and they, too, might 

 seek and find protection in the East. 



Though the system of morals could neither be pure 

 nor accurate, under the circumstances in which Egypt 

 was placed, yet there are many reasons which lead us 

 to suppose, that the great principles of moral conduct 

 were known and inculcated there. The principles of 

 justice appear to have been defined with considerable 

 attention, and the laws of the country fairly dispensed. 

 The duties which were due to one another, were as 

 well regulated as the distributions of rank and influence 

 in an absolute government could allow. But still there 

 were many sentiments and practices which we should 

 condemn ; and to shew the untractable nature of the 

 human mind, we have many deficiencies to deplore in 

 the most exalted state of knowledge and virtue. 



The Greeks are supposed to have obtained the be- 

 ginning of their mathematics from Egypt ; but if we 

 may form our judgment from what is related of Thales 

 and Pythagoras, we shall not have reason to form a 

 high opinion of their mathematical learning previous 

 to the time of the Ptolemies. In the schools of Alex- 

 andria, that science was carried to an eminent height ; 

 but the ancient state of learning at Thebes, and other 

 schools of the country, appear to have been confined 

 to a lower sphere. It is told, with some interest, that 

 Thales was taught to measure the height of the pyra- 

 mids by the length of their shadows ; and that Pytha- 

 goras offered a hecatombe in devotion, when he disco- 

 vered the relation which subsists between the hypothe- 

 nuse of a right-angled triangle, and the sides of the 

 figure which contain that angle. Other instances may 

 be adduced to the same effect ; but still it must be ac- 

 knowledged, that Egypt was eminent in her time, and 

 her philosophers appear to have made considerable pro- 

 gress in the science of astronomy. The overflowing of 

 the Nile was an object of much national importance; 

 and, in connection with it, they observed the heliacal 

 rising of the dog-star, which enabled them to fix the 

 commencement of the year, and make considerable ap- 

 proximations towards ascertaining the length of its du- 

 ration. 



Thales divided the sphere into five zones, and in ma- 



ny respects improved the astronomy of Greece. Py- 



thagoras intimated a belief, that the planets moved 



about the sun as their centre; and if these philosopher* 



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