41 6 The Difcovery, Settlement, and Commerce Book 1. 
mine, which affiicfted the Country, came very feafonably 
to procure a happy Period to their Negotiation : For the 
People of Sinope , finding themfelves hard preffed by Want, 
joined with the Embaffadors of Ptolemy in their Intreaties, 
that Serapis might be exchanged for a large Supply of 
Corn •, which was at laft yielded to, and the fo much de- 
fired Image tranfported with great Pomp to Alexandria a . 
There King Ptolemy to welcome the new Gueft, raifed 
for him, in the Suburb Rhacotis , a mod glorious Temple, 
{tiled Serapeum , allowed to have furpaffed all the Struftures 
of its kind, except the Capitol at Rome. It is very eafy 
to difcern from the Circumftances of this Story, and the 
Anfwer given by the Oracle of Apollo at Delphos , when 
confulted on this Expedition (viz. That there were two 
Statues at Sinope , one of Serapis , the other of Proferpina •, 
and that they fhould be careful to bring only the former) ; 
that the Whole was no more than a political Contrivance 
to anfwer various Purpofes. In the firft place, it filled 
the Minds of the People of Alexandria with enthufiaftic 
Confidence, as if a new God, from the mod diftant 
Part of the World, w r as come to take Charge of them. 
Next, by the Novelty of the Thing, it drew Numbers 
of fuperftitious People to worfhip him. And, laftly, 
it highly raifed the Reputation of Ptolemy himfelf, who 
appeared an extraordinary Favourite with the Gods, from 
this furprifing Inftance of the Condefcenfion of Serapis. 
Thus we difcover, by a due Attention to thefe little Cir- 
cumftances, the greateft political Art in this feeming fuper- 
ftitious Weaknefs of this Prince, an Art which ferved him 
fo much the more effedually, for its being fo ftudioufly 
covered, and which he feems to have derived from his 
Mafter, who was very feldom fuperftititious, but to ferve 
a Turn. It was in this Serapeum that the leffer Library 
was eredted j in which, after that, near the Mufeum , was 
full, fuch other Books as came to hand, were, from time 
to time, repofited : This then is the Library of which 
later Authors fpeak *, and, for the Number of its Books, 
became, at laft, more confiderabie than the firft Library : 
The End of this moft noble Colledtion was as unhappy, 
and much more to be lamented, than the former ; becaufe 
it was not burnt by Accident, but by Defign. 
For at the Time the Saracens became Matters of Alex- 
andria. , which was in the Year 642, Johannes Grammaticus , 
the famous Arijlotelian Philofopher, addreffed himfelf to 
Amrus Ebnol As , who commanded the Saracen Army ; and 
defired, that he would fpare the Library for his fake, and 
beftow it upon him, for the Improvement of the Sciences : 
The General anfwered, That he would readily do it, if it de- 
pended upon him ; but that it was too important an Affair to 
be decided by any but the Caliph , who was, at that time, 
Omar , to whom it was accordingly made known : And 
the Anfwer he gave was this •, That, if thefe Books were 
in their Contents agreeable to the Khoran , there was no 
need of them ; and, if on the contrary, they contained 
Things repugnant to that Book, they ought not to be 
preferred : By which judicious Sentence the nobleft Col- 
lection that ever the World faw, in all Sciences and Lan- 
guages, was deftined to the Ufes of the Bagnios, which 
were heated with them for fix Months \ 
Such was the End of the fecond Library of Alexandria ; 
and the fame barbarous Power, I mean, that of the Mohan- 
me dans, has aimed buried in Ruins the very City itfelf : 
Moft of the Palaces are intirely deftroyed ; the Walls 
themfelves have not efcaped ; but fome of the Towers, 
which were built like Baftions, have, even to this Day, 
baffled the Fury of thefe Enemies to all Tafte and Polite- 
nefs : And thefe Towers, all built with Marble, and in 
each of which there are many Apartments finely laid out, 
ferve as Witneffes to the Truth of thofe Fads, which, 
with refpect to the Magnificence of this City, are recorded 
by the beft Authors of Antiquity c . 
7. Yet one Particular there is, relating to this once glorious 
Place, the Truth of which, perhaps, no hiftorical Evi- 
dence could have eftabliihed ; and which, for their own 
Conveniency, the T urks have left intire to teftify for itfelf. 
The antient City of Alexandria , like moft of the Cities of 
Egypt , was deftitute of frefh Water 5 and, lying at a Di~ 
ftance from the Nile , a Canal was dug from thence, about 
eighteen Leagues in Length, to ftipply it ; but as the 
Waters of that River rofe but once a Year, high enough 
to fill that Canal to any confiderabie Depth, the whole 
City of Alexandria was vaulted, and thofe Vaults fuftained 
by Rows of Pillars of the fineft Marble \ fo that, in fa6f 
the City under-ground was more curious, and perhaps as 
expenfive, as that above d . 
Some of this Vaulting was walled up fo clofely as to ferve 
for a Cittern, Part of which came under every Houfe ; 
and, at the Time of Year when the Calls, for fo* the Canal 
from the Nile was called, was full to the Top of its Banks, 
the Head was broken down, and a fufficient Quantity of 
Water let into the Ciftern to fupply the City, till the Ri- 
ver overflowed again: And by this Angular Contrivance, 
either of Alexander or his Architect Dinochares , the City in 
general, and every Houfe in particular, was fupplied with 
frefti Water, without the Trouble of going to fetch it out 
of Doors. This Cittern the Turks , for their own Ufe, 
have preferved j and the Place is now furniftied with Wa- 
ter by the fame means. It is farther faid, that there are 
abundance of fine Streets, and many curious Buildings, 
ftill preferved in this fubterraneous City •, but the Jealoufy 
of the Turks is fo great, that they very feldom permit 
Chriftians to vifit them e : Such were the Wonders of 
this Capital of the Greek Empire in Egypt , and fuch the 
Care of Ptolemy , to complete therein the great Defigns of 
its Founder. 
Let us now return to the proper Bufinefs of this Se- 
<ttion ; and, after fo copious a Defcription of the Staple of 
the Indian Trade, fhew how it was brought thither. The 
Reader is fufficiently acquainted with the Method by 
which the antient Egyptians carried on their Trade to the 
Eaft : It is, therefore, fufficient to fay, that Ptolemy Soter , 
i. e. the Saviour, reftored that Trade ; from which, du- 
ring the whole Continuance of the Perfian Empire, the 
Egyptians had been debarred ; and by this means, but more 
efpecially by their Trade to Arabia , his Subjects, even in 
his Time, and belore the vaft Improvements made by his 
Succeffors, of which we ftiall give a diftinft Account, 
became immenfely rich. Of this we have a moft extraor- 
dinary Inftance in the Proceffion made at the Coronation 
of his Son Ptole?ny Philadelphus , whom he affociated in 
the Government two Years before his Death, as we find 
it preferved in Athenaus f , but the Story is much too long 
to infert here. 
Yet Ptolemy Soter , in the midft of his Power, and in 
the midft of this Affluence of his Subjects, preferved an 
honourable Poverty ; and was profufe in nothing but pub- • 
lie Ornaments, and in fuch Expences as turned to the Be- 
nefit of his People, with whom he often eat, and from 
whom, when he gave public Entertainments, he was wont 
to borrow Gold Plate for the Service of the Day. This 
great, this excellent Monarch, the moft fortunate of all 
Alexander s Captains, and whofe Virtues were ftill more • 
refplendent than his Fortune, died in Peace, and covered . 
with Glory, at the Age of Eighty-four, and after a Reign . 
of forty Years ; leaving an Example of Prudence, Juftice, 
and Clemency, behind him, which none of his Succeffors 1 
inclined to follow. 
8. Ptolemy Philadelphus , the Son of Ptolemy Soter , came : 
to the intire Poffeffion of the Egyptian Monarchy, to which . 
his Father had annexed Phoenicia , Ccelo-Cyria , Arabia , , 
Libya , Ethiopia , the Eland of Cyprus , Pamphytia , Cilicia , , 
Lycia , Caria , and the Cyclades , in the Year before Chrijl 1 
283. He received the Surname of Philadelphus , or Lover * 
of his Brethren, by way of Irony, and becaufe he was, in t 
reality, very unkind to them, and is even faid to have put : 
two to Death. This giving Nick-names to their Princes, , 
was a Liberty always taken by the Egyptians , and is thus 3 
far ufeful to Hiftory, inafmuch, as it generally let us 3 
into the true Character of the Man in a Word. The ; 
Reafon of his Unkindnefs to his Brethren was, becaufe 2 
he fupplanted them ; for he was the Son of Ptolemy Soter , , 
by Berenice , who came into Egypt as the favourite Attend- 
3 Tacit. Hip or. lib. iv. c. 83. Plutarchus de Iftde & Opride. 
p 1 14. c Voyages de Thevenot, Tom. ii. f. 390. 
- Id ibid . f Depnofepbiji. lib. v, /. 197 - 203. 
Clemens Alexandrinus in Protreptico. b Abulpharagi us Hip or. Dynaft.' 
d Voyage du Paul Lucas , Vol. i. p. 1 93. Voyages de Theajenoy Tom. ii. p. 391. i 
?nt 1 
