MINES OF CHAP. ii. 



vicegerent was celebrated through the world 

 for its purity and fineness, and was commonly 

 known by his name, even after his unjust exe- 

 cution. At a later period, according to Pliny 1 , 

 a mixture of the brass of Cyprus combined with 

 sulphur was applied to silver, by which that 

 metal was greatly adulterated in Egypt. 



It is not possible now to ascertain what was the 

 amount of the gold and silver which the mines 

 of Egypt afforded. Without giving full credit 

 to the relations of Diodorus, it would be im- 

 proper to omit all notice of them. In his de- 

 scription of the city of Thebes, he says 2 , " The 

 fabric of the ancient temple has continued to 

 our time, but the silver and the gold, with the 

 ornaments of ivory and precious stones, were 

 carried away by the Persians when Cambyses 

 burnt the temples of Egypt. The palaces of 

 Persepolis and Susa, and others in Media, were 

 built with those treasures by workmen sent from 

 Egypt for that purpose. It is reported that the 

 riches of those palaces were then so great, that in 

 the rubbish and cinders there were found and 

 gathered up three hundred talents of gold, and no 

 less than two thousand three hundred talents of 

 silver." In his description of the palace of the 

 ancient Egyptian monarchs, he says 3 , " Near to 



1 Pliny, xxx. 9. 



8 Diodorus, book i. cap. 4. 



3 Idem, book iv. 



