THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 27^ 



permitted to fee the king ; which regulation was as ancient 

 as the time of Semiramis, whofe fon, Ninyas,is faid to have 

 grown old in the palace, without ever having been known 

 by being feen out of it. 



This abfurd ufage gave rife to many abufes. In Perfia- 

 k produced two officers, who were called the king's eyes,_ 

 and the king's ear, and who had the "dangerous employ- 

 ment, I mean dangerous for the fubjecl:, of feeing and hear- 

 ing for their fovereign. In AbyfTmia, as I have juft faid, it 

 created an officer called the king's mouth, or voice, for, being 

 feen by nobody, he fpoke of courfe in the third perfon 5 

 " Hear ivbat the king fays to you, which is the ufual form of all 

 regal mandates in Abyflinia; and what follows has the force 

 of law. In the fame flile, Jofephus thus begins an edict 

 of Cyrus king of Perfia, " Cyrus the king fayst," — And fpeak- 

 ing of Cambyfes's refcript, " Cambyfes the king Jays thus" — 

 And Efdras alfo, " Thus faith Cyrus king of Perfia J,"— 

 And Nebuchadnezzar fays to Holofernes, " Thus faith the 

 Great King, Lord of the whole earth §;" — and this was pro- 

 bably the origin of editls, when writing was little ufed by 

 fovereigns, and little underftood by the fubjecl:. 



Solemn hunting-matches were always in ufe both with 

 the kings of Abyinnia and thofe of Perfia |J. In both king- 

 doms it was a crime for a fubjecl; to ftrike the game till 

 fuch time as the king had thrown his lance at it. This ab- 

 furd cuftom was repealed by Artaxerxes Longimanus in one 



kingdom ; 



s Dio. Chryfoft. Orat. 3. pro regno. + Jofeph. lib. xi. cap. i . % Efdras, cap. 5. 



$ Judith, cap. 2. j] Ctefias in Perficis. Xer.ephon. Jib. i. . 



