AND LOWER EGYPT. 4I 



Adrian in foundlno; it. It is well known to what 

 a degree this prince, renowned for his pohtical 

 and warlike talents, was, at the same time, despi- 

 ca!)le, on account of his passion for ^n/hr'Us, the 

 perfection of whose form is evinced hy one of the 

 most beautiful statues of antiquity, still in preser- 

 vation. Adrian, durins; the time that he was in 

 Egypt with his court and army, consulted the 

 soothsayers, whose responsestruck his imagination. 

 Ihe oracle declared that the greatest danger 

 threatened him, unless a person dear to him, and 

 by whom likewise he was beloved, should sacrifice 

 himself for his preservation ; and the dastardly Em- 

 peror had the cruelty to accept of the sacrifice. 

 The beautiful and generous Antinolis precipitated 

 himself from the summit of a rock into the Nile; 

 and the vile despot thought to efface his disgrace 

 and his ingratitude, by building, in honourof his fa- 

 vourite, whom he looked upon also as his deliverer, 

 a city which, under the name of Antinoe, perpe- 

 tuated his barbarous credulity and his criminal 

 affection. He embellished it with all that art can 

 imagine the most precious. The statues of Anti- 

 nolis were there considered as sacred representa- 

 tions ; he built temples for him; he instituted 

 games and sacrifices, and he himself regulated iuq 

 worship by which he was to be venerated. 



Antinoc 



