EGYPT. 



809 



Joshua. Their acquaintance with navigation they 

 owed to the great Sesostris ; previously, they hardly 

 dared trust themselves to rafts on the overflowing 

 waters of the Nile ; they abhorred the sea ; it was 

 the Typhon which devoured the Nile, their national 

 god (Osiris). Their first coasting- trade seems to 

 have been caused by a smuggling trade of the 

 Phoenicians, and by Inachus leading an Egyptian 

 colony to Greece, in Phoenician vessels, 1836 B. C. 

 It was confined, however, to the natives of the nor- 

 thern coasts. The inhabitants of the interior were 

 repelled from the sea by superstition. On the other 

 hand, the navigation of the Nile became more im- 

 portant after it was incorporated with the public 

 worship of their divinities. Sesostris the Great broke 

 down the obstructions of religious prejudice. A 

 splendid ship was consecrated to Osiris, and thus the 

 co-operation of the priesthood was gained. The suc- 

 cess of navigation was implored in the public prayers, 

 and the Egyptians now committed themselves to the 

 back of the malicious Typhon. Commerce was thus 

 established, and carried on with various degrees of 

 success and activity, according as the kingdom was 

 more or less flourishing. It prospered most under 

 the Ptolemies. Alexandria became the first empo- 

 rium ; the famous Pharos was erected ; and the 

 canal, 1000 stadia in length, joined the Red sea with 

 the Mediterranean. When Egypt became a Roman 

 province, after the death of Cleopatra, it lost its pre- 

 vious commercial distinction. The Egyptians were 

 particularly devoted to agriculture, and their mea- 

 sures for promoting it were bold, both in contrivance 

 and execution. On what principle they conducted 

 mining may be seen from their vast undertakings, in 

 which whole mountains were dug down, and the earth 

 was washed from the ore by entire rivers turned from 

 their channels for this purpose. Gold, silver, copper, 

 lead, tin, and iron were the principal metals known 

 to them. 



The trade of the Egyptians was confined, for a 

 long time, to the sale of their own productions to 

 foreigners who visited Egypt to purchase them. In 

 the time of Psammetichus, they began to export for 

 themselves. The principal traffic by land was car- 

 ried on by means of caravans. Measures, weights, 

 and money, the chief instruments of trade, they were 

 acquainted with, and a good police watched over 

 justice. To industry, this traffic was necessarily 

 lucrative. Their skill in weaving and colouring sup- 

 plied them with articles of exchange. These, how- 

 ever, they did not carry to as high perfection as they 

 might have done. 



If we contemplate the ancient Egyptians in their 

 private life and political character, taking into view 

 their manners, customs, and laws, we shall find a 

 solution for many perplexities respecting this peculiar 

 people. The gloomy religion of the Egyptians 

 banished gayety from their private circles. Pleasure 

 was a stranger to them. They were serious, devout, 

 and superstitious. Songs, dances, and sports they 

 disliked ; but they, nevertheless, possessed a great 

 degree of industry, good temper, politeness, and, at 

 the same time, a vanity which prepossessed them in 

 favour of whatever originated with themselves. As 

 the Greeks and Romans called all foreign nations 

 barbarians, so the Egyptians gave this name to all 

 the nations which did not speak their language ; but, 

 in spite of their national pride, gratitude for benefits, 

 whatever might be the country of the individual 

 conferring diem, was ever one of their national vir- 

 tues. The government of the state was mostly in 

 the hands of females. Every priest might have, at 

 least, one wife : to the laity, the number was not 

 limited by law. The husband had the charge of 

 the domestic concerns ; the wife, of buying and sel- 



ling, and all affairs that were not of a domestic cha- 

 racter. 



The Egyptian was distinguished for temperance ; 

 he never drank wine ; his only drink was beer, made 

 of barley ; his bread was of spelt ; in his kitchen, 

 he used vegetables of all kinds, and increased his 

 numerous poultry, by artificially hatching the eggs ; 

 beans and pork were interdicted by his religion, as 

 impure ; and, on the other hand, he was forbidden 

 to touch some other animals, as sacred. His dress 

 was very simple. The respectable matron was dis- 

 tinguished from the maiden and the prostitute by a 

 veil, which the latter were not allowed to wear. 

 The children went naked till of considerable age. 

 Funerals and times of sadness were the only occa- 

 sions of parade and competition in expense. The 

 sovereign, however, and those who immediately sur- 

 rounded him, glittered in all the pomp of Oriental 

 magnificence. The power of the Pharaohs (the 

 general name of the earlier kings of Egypt) was un- 

 limited. At their pleasure, they could throw the grand 

 vizier from the summit of his power, and raise to 

 their own side the lowest of their slaves, as the his- 

 tory of Joseph evinces. The spkit of industry in- 

 herent in the Egyptian was the support of public 

 virtue, and the police took care that criminals 

 should be constantly employed, As early as the 

 time of Joseph, there was a work-house for impris- 

 oned slaves. The unsocial disposition of the Egyp- 

 tians, and their fear of offending the gods by inter- 

 course with strangers, checked their improvement, 

 but, at the same time, established their independence, 

 their national character, and their national virtues. 

 When they were brought into closer contact with 

 the Greeks, their industry was somewhat abated, so 

 that Amasis found it necessary to enact a law, which 

 obliged every Egyptian to report annually to the 

 superior authorities his name, and the trade by which 

 he obtained, or hoped to obtain, a subsistence. 

 Disobedience to this law was punished with death. 

 Justice was administered in a strict and speedy man- 

 ner. Written laws were handed down by Menes, 

 Tnephactus, Bocchoris, and Amasis. All causes 

 were tried before a supreme court of justice. The 

 parties themselves were obliged to conduct them in 

 writing without the aid of advocates. Perjury and 

 murder (even of a slave) were punished with death, 

 without any chance of pardon. Calumniators and 

 ialse accusers received the punishment belonging to 

 the crime of which they charged the innocent per- 

 son. Falsehood was punished by the loss of the 

 tongue ; forgery, by the loss of the hands ; deser- 

 tion from the army, or emigration, by infamy; and 

 adultery, by flogging. The'king- had the power of 

 mitigating any of these punishments. 



But, notwithstanding the appearance of unlimited 

 sovereignty, the will of the ruler was subject to the 

 power of the priests, who imposed laws, even on the 

 private life of the monarch, and relaxed or con- 

 tracted them as the interest of their order required. 

 The daily duties of the king's slaves were minutely 

 determined, his bill of fare regulated, nay, the very 

 secrecy of the royal bed-chamber was penetrated by 

 the priests. For this reason, they were his physi- 

 cians hi ordinary. The education of the children 

 was in unison with the rest of the Egyptian system. 

 The children were carefully brought up to the trade 

 of the fether, and instructed by the priest, in various 

 public schools. Few were taught reading and writ- 

 ing ; yet the Egyptians were the first people who 

 en nil write, that history mentions, after the Baby- 

 lonians and Phoenicians. They wrote, at first, on 

 stones and bricks ; afterwards, a paper was made of 

 papyrus, which continued to be used for 2000 years, 

 and even after the invention of parchment, by the 



