INTRODUCTION OF WRITING. 615 



marvels. The exaggerated legends which had been brought from it at 

 distant intervals by those who had escaped by stealth, or in troublous 

 times had, like Cecrops and Danaus, led forth colonies of emigrants, lost 

 none of their wonders in the traditions of successive generations, but 

 were rather verified by the roving pirates who had seen the pyramids, 

 obelisks, and sphinxes, and the great temples on the banks of the Nile. 



The first step in civilization is the invention of some system of per- 

 manent record some method of writing. Without this, it i ntroduct i on 

 may be truly said that law can not exist. Law can not main- of writing from 

 tain itself in the uncertainties of tradition law, without Egypt * 

 which we can not conceive of society. The legendary history of Europe 

 is doubtless correct in referring to some of these Egyptian fugitives or 

 emigrants the contemporaneous introduction of writing, and a system of 

 jurisprudence. Even if the former was derived from Phrenicia, accord- 

 ing to the story of Cadmus, the Phoenicians had originally borrowed it 

 from Egypt. It is an interesting illustration of the tendency of the Eu- 

 ropean mind to analysis, that of the forms of writing known in those 

 times, the ideographic or picture-writing, the syllabic or the representa- 

 tion of syllable sounds by signs, and the alphabetic, the latter alone 

 maintained its foothold in Europe. This form, as described at page 356, 

 essentially consists in decomposing articulate expressions into their con- 

 stituent vowel and consonant sounds, and assigning for each of those 

 sounds a letter. 



About seven hundred years before Christ, events took place which led 

 to the extension of Egyptian" civilization to Europe. The an- j ntro d uc tion 

 cient power of the kings had declined, through disputes and of Egyptian 

 compromises occurring between them and the priesthood. Be- 

 tween the priests and the military caste there was an open quarrel, many 

 of the former having been deprived of their lands. These rivalries broke 

 out in revolts and insurrections, and for two years the country was in a 

 state of anarchy, from which a partial respite was obtained by an entire 

 change in its institutions. Twelve of the most influential persons divided 

 it among them, each having a province which he ruled as an independent 

 king. The old monarchy had degenerated into an oligarchy, and it was 

 this revolution which introduced African science into Europe. 



Psammetichus, one of the twelve, had for his province the country which 

 borders on the Mediterranean Sea. Availing himself of his position, he 

 established an intercourse with the neighboring nations, particularly the 

 Greeks and Phoenicians, and amassed from it so much wealth that his 

 colleagues, jealous of his increasing power, resolved to dispossess him. 

 Until this time, all foreigners had been held in the utmost contempt, and 

 rigidly excluded. Psammetichus called in the aid of Ionian pirates, and 

 other Mediterranean adventurers, and, having collected a sufficient body 



