

226 Inscription in the old character on the [March, 



certain of its correct spelling. Antigonus Gonatus had much to do 

 with the affairs of Egypt, but he could not be well set down among its 

 kings. 



Whether chapUiro (or singular chaptd) can be allowed to pass as 

 the Indian appellation of Egypt may be questioned ; but I am at a loss 

 how otherwise to understand an expression not translateable as Pali or 

 Sanskrit. The first syllable, cha, may be read as a conjunction with 

 tena but it will be, there, redundant ; and Ptdro will be more un- 

 manageable as a plural nominative. According to Wilford the San- 

 skrit name of iEgypt is Aguptd or Gupta, whence would be formed an 

 adjectional plural nominative Guptfiro, but I am not aware that the g 

 was in ancient times softened as in modern pronunciation so as to allow 

 of its being written by an Indian, guided by the sound alone, with a pala- 

 tial in lieu of a guttural consonant. 



Be that as it may, we have proof in the names of Ptolemy and Ma- 

 gas, that the country of Egypt is intended ; and we can easily believe 

 that its enlightened sovereign would afford every encouragement to the 

 resort of Indians thither, for the sake of promoting that commerce with 

 India which was so fertile a source of enrichment : and indeed his- 

 tory tells us that Ptolemy Philadelphus deputed a learned man 

 named Dionysius to India to examine the principal marts on the wes- 

 tern coast, and in the interior. But a desire of studying the celebrated 

 philosophical systems of the brachmani and sramani, already well 

 known to him by name, may as well have been the true cause ; for such 

 a degree of curiosity may be naturally acceded to the king, who 

 is said to have employed seventy Jewish doctors in translating the 

 Hebrew scriptures into Greek, and to have collected a library of some 

 hundred thousand volumes. 



Much of the Indian knowledge possessed by Alexandrine authors of 

 later days may have been derived from Asoka's missionaries settled in 

 their country, and Clemens Alexandrinus and Jerome the fathers 

 may thence have been able to draw the faithful picture their works are 

 said to contain of the tenets of the Sramani or Semni. 

 , As far as the doctrines of the Buddhist faith are portrayed in the 



simple edicts of the royal Indian convert, they were admirably adapted 

 to win acceptance among the educated and reflecting students of the 

 schools of Greece and Egypt. Reverence to parents, love to neigh- 

 bour, charity to the poor, and humanity to animal beings were set 

 forth as the sure and sufficient methods of gaining happiness in this 

 world and of propitiating heaven. The acceptance of these virtuous 

 maxims was not thwarted by any mysterious dogmas, any harsh or 





