The Egyptians, who go farther back in the relations of their origine than our histories reach, say the Gods were their first kings. They name seven: Vulcan, the Sun, Agathodemon, Saturn, Osiris, Isis and Typhon. By Vulcan, to whom they assign no beginning, their philosophers meant that elementary fire, which is diffused every where. This same fire, re-united into one globe, is the Sun, the son of Vulcan. Agathodemon, defin’d by his very name, was their good genius or principle. Saturn, or Time, was the father of Osiris and Isis, brother and sister, husband and wife, the two sexes of nature. Typhon, their third brother, was always regarded by them as their evil principle.
Horus was the son of Osiris and Isis, reason, or human wisdom, and he began the reign of the demi-gods. These were nine in number, Horus, Mars, Anubis, Hercules, Apollo, Ammon, Tithoes, Sosus, and Jupiter, or Menes. I shall not speak of every one of these in particular, most of them being pretty well known to the Greeks and Romans, even in their allegorical signification. I shall only observe, in order to set the times of my hero in a clearer light, that the latter of these demi-gods began the reign of men. He was indeed look’d upon but as a man in his life-time: but after having rul’d all Egypt alone by the name of Menes, he was, after his death, in consideration of his happy reign, number’d with the gods by the name of Jupiter. He had four sons, Thot or Mercury, Æsculapius, Athotes and Curudes, of which the two first were, as well as himself, advanced to the skies. Menes, to render the succession to his states equal, divided Egypt into four kingdoms. Mercury reign’d in Thebes, Æsculapius at Memphis, Athotes at This, and Curudes at Tanis. This was the rise of the four great Dynasties of Egypt, which were collateral or cotemporary for sixteen hundred years, to the time of the famous Sesostris, king of Thebes, and conqueror of Asia. [1]The other Egyptian dynasties, which some historians mention, to the number of twenty, from the times of Menes to Sesostris, were but separate branches of these four chief divisions; and the different names they give them, as Heracleopolites, Xoites, Elephantins, and the like, were taken from the residence of some of the kings of each dynasty in different cities of the same kingdom.
[1] The preceding genealogies are conformable to those of Marsham; but what follows seems to agree with the chronology of father Pezron.
As for the Shepherd Kings, who were foreigners, and having dwelt in Egypt during the space of three or four ages, seem to have interrupted this succession; they never had any settled possession on this side Tanis, on the borders of Delta, tho’ they obliged the natural kings of those regions to retire to Heliopolis. But as these foreigners, originally Arabians, made frequent incursions into the other parts of Egypt, the Egyptians, being reunited, attack’d, and having vanquish’d them, oblig’d them, and their descendants, to furnish all Egypt with slaves. This victory was obtain’d near two hundred years before the birth of Sesostris, who found Egypt in a state of tranquillity, and made it very flourishing. This hero had the ambition to set the god Osiris for his pattern, and like him, according to the Egyptian traditions, visited a great part of the earth, teaching the inhabitants to cultivate it, and to form agreeable and useful societies; thus Sesostris was the first king, of the race of men, who bore arms in Asia, and there introduced and establish’d the laws and sciences of Egypt. He even rul’d all the four kingdoms of Egypt, not indeed by a sovereign power, but by the superiority of his genius, his virtues and reputation.
His first successors supported for a time, especially with regard to foreign provinces, the splendor of so great an empire; and we find, about one hundred years after Sesostris, Mendes or Memnon, king of Thebes, ruler of Susa and Phrygia, chastizing the revolted Bactrians, and re-establishing order among the people conquer’d by his ancestor. But Ramesses, who succeeded Memnon, wanting both the courage and conduct of his forefathers, lost, by his weakness, all the conquer’d dominions, and, by his pride, a title which he had till then retain’d above the other kings of Egypt. His immediate predecessors having need of all their cunning as well as force, to keep the distant provinces under the yoke of obedience, had treated these kings with discretion, and had not abus’d that right, which they perceived had in truth only devolv’d upon Sesostris, on account of his personal merit. But young Ramesses[2] soon discover’d his character by two obelisks, which he caus’d to be inscrib’d with titles so ostentatious and false, with regard to him, that in latter ages they have been thought to relate to Sesostris. This young prince, whose whole study was to deck himself with a vain and momentaneous glory, the ignominious consequences of which he never foresaw, took upon him to send these kings, who were now become his equals, his commands in form. But they soon gave him to understand, that they insisted upon Egypt’s retaining its pristine form of four dynasties, which had been always independant since the four sons of Menes. They alledg’d, that Sesostris himself had not interrupted them: and that the kings their predecessors, in his life-time, reserving the royal title and dignities, had accepted of diverse regulations, by him proposed, only because they appear’d to be equally advantageous to the whole nation. Such was the division he had made of all Egypt into thirty-six nomes[3] or provinces, the particular governors of which could with greater ease keep a watchful eye over the productions of nature and art, which they furnish for foreign commerce; and over the taxes they were in a condition to contribute in case of a general war. It was to him, they said, were owing those temples which were erected in each city, to the honour of its tutelar god; the wall which extended from Pelusa to Heliopolis, and put a stop to the inroads of the Syrians, and bordering Arabians of the desarts, a people under no manner of discipline; the great canal, by which a communication was open’d between the Mediterranean and the Red-sea, and the whole eastern and western commerce made to pass thro’ Egypt; and lastly those dykes and sluices, which taking in the whole space from the Cataracts of the Nile, to its mouth or entrance into the sea, between the mountains of Libya, and the coasts of the red-sea, stopp’d or received, as occasion requir’d, the inundations of that river. But they added, that, all these undertakings being finished, they knew how to maintain them, each in his own dominions, without the advice of Ramesses, from whom they absolutely refused to receive any commands. This opposition put an end to a dispute, which a king, more wise than he, might have kept undecided; and he was obliged to take up with the title of king of Thebes the great, which devolv’d to Sesostris by right of his ancestors.
[2] Kirk. Oed. Ægyp. tom. 4 p. 162. & Marsham, p. 431. ed. in fol.
[3] Diodorus, l. 1.
About two hundred years after the death of Ramesses, and fifty or sixty years before the Trojan wars; Osoroth, a prince advanced in years, succeeded to the crown of Memphis, a dynasty but little inferior in power to that of Thebes, but by far preferable to it with regard to the lenity of its climate, and the beauty of its situation. The city of Memphis, the metropolis of the dynasty, was situate on the western bank of the Nile, near the place where that only river of Egypt divides itself into seven arms, of which those two, which are at the greatest distance one from the other, enclose the Delta, and all together form seven mouths at their entrance into the great ocean (the Mediterranean.) All Egypt has, from the antientest account of time, been stil’d a gift of the Nile; being suppos’d to be only a heap of earth, which the waters of this river has successively carry’d away with its stream from the south to the north. But the formation of the Delta is held to be more recent: because according to those[4] monuments, which may well be look’d upon as historical truths, the Pharus of Alexandria, which is now join’d to the continent, was formerly twenty-four leagues distant from it in the sea. This region is so delightful, that, according to fable, the gods form’d it upon the constellation of the triangle, which passes vertically over the Delta every Day in the year.
[4] Plin. lib. 2. c. 35. Sen. quæst. nat. lib. 6. c. 26.
Osoroth, not long before his accession to the throne, had marry’d Nephte, daughter of the king of This, a third dynasty, situate between Memphis and Thebes, to the west of the river Nile. Of this princess he soon had the prince, whose life I am about to write. He was the eldest of the three sons of Osoroth, mentioned in the annals of [5]Manethon only by the name of the Anonymi. But tho’ this famous historian was a priest, and even keeper of the sacred archives of Heliopolis; as he did not write till the reign of Ptolomeus Philadelphus, two hundred years after the devastation of Egypt by Cambyses, the remains of those memoirs he was possess’d of were but very imperfect. I have, by means not to be related, discover’d those which are more ample, and have been preserv’d more entire; and which give to the first of these Anonymi of Manethon the name of Sethos, and the surname of Sosis, or Preserver, for a reason that will be shewn in the sequel of his life.
[5] See the Egyptian origines of Perizonius, p. 47. under the column, ex African. also the 38, and 49 pages, in which Manethon is alledg’d to be the first author of the sequels of Africanus and Eusebius.
The birth of this prince fill’d the whole kingdom with joy; so great was the love the people bore to their king, or rather to the queen, who, tho’ but young in years, govern’d them with an admirable wisdom and goodness: For Osoroth, whose character it would be difficult to trace in one single picture, and which will not be well understood till towards the conclusion of this history, immediately entrusted the reins of government in the hands of the queen. This prince did not ascend the throne till the 50th year of his age: And king Sesonchis his father, more jealous of his present authority than attentive to the future felicity of his son and subjects, had kept him ignorant of the affairs of his realm, even to the moment he left him his successor. So Osoroth, having fortify’d his natural indolence by a life given up to sloth and inactivity, had no other taste of the sweets of royalty, but that of independency, and sought how to disburthen himself of the weight of government. This part fell, as it were of itself, into the hands of the queen, more capable than any other of receiving it; and what appear’d in the eye of the people to be a judicious choice, was in reality the mere effect of supineness in Osoroth. He was one of those kings, who being of themselves neither good nor bad, become the very best or worst of princes, just as they happen by mere accident to fall into the hands of good or wicked ministers: Unhappy the situation of a people subject to a prince whose very errors are without controul!
Nephte, from the first dawn of her power, had fill’d her subjects with the hopes of a gentle government. They were the more sensible of it, as their deceas’d king, otherwise a great prince, was rigid and stern in his manners. The minds of the people were sensible of a relief, even before the queen had eas’d them in the publick burden; because, without diminishing the king’s revenue, she had found means of rendring it less perceptible. Even the riches of private persons encreas’d by the confidence they plac’d in her, and in one another. She, at the same time, brought up her only son with all the affection of a mother, and the foresight of a wise queen. She earnestly desir’d to see him attain to that age in which she might, in her turn, deliver up to him that administration, which she look’d upon but as a trust committed to her charge. In the mean time she took as an assistant in the conduct of her affairs, an excellent person, call’d Amedes; who, tho’ he had not in the late reign pass’d thro’ all the offices of dignity wherewith he might have been invested, yet had acquitted himself with great honour in several eminent stations, as well civil as military, and in negotiations with foreign princes; and who now advis’d the queen (as he had before the late king) to conceal from the publick the honour she did him, to avoid exciting the jealousy of the great, and that murmuring of the people, which is often rais’d against those ministers who are most zealous for the publick felicity. Hence the queen, reserving Amedes for her cabinet counsellor, without any title of note, preferr’d the best of her subjects, among those whom the different degrees of birth seem’d to present for every place that became vacant. Thus her sovereign authority was employ’d in distinguishing merit, without subverting order; and the number of the disaffected was very small, and even they were apprehensive of uttering those complaints, which they knew the voice of the publick would condemn.
While the queen intirely devoted herself to affairs of state, the king gave himself up to all the amusements of a glittering court. But as these were never reliev’d by any thing serious, they could scarce keep him from uneasiness, and manifested in the king of a great people, a man whose very leisure sate heavy upon him. Among the ladies who were about him was one, whose name was Daluca, the widow of a great lord of the court. She had no children, and had already pass’d those years in which the ladies only cultivate their beauty in order to carry on their gallantry, and was enter’d into those, in which they are studious of making the remains of it subservient to their ambition. This lady had form’d a design of gaining an ascendant over the king. The esteem and regard the queen was in had deterr’d every one else from the like attempt. Daluca herself, who was perfectly acquainted with Osoroth’s temper, was very cautious of saying any thing to him against Nephte, that might excite any disagreeable emotions in his mind. She made it her business to be continually near him; and had the art of pleasing by that obsequiousness and those complacencies, which have by much a greater power over kings somewhat advanc’d in years, than youth and beauty, void of stratagem and private views. And she did not find it difficult to gain the favour of a prince so unguarded and indolent. She might perhaps have already rais’d her ambition to a greater height, upon observing that the queen was not in the best state of health. But without renouncing the view of a more remote happiness, her vanity was for the present satisfy’d by being a distinguish’d object among the courtiers, and by standing in some manner in competition with the queen.
Nephte, by the dignity of her person, as well as the situation of affairs, was far above the uneasinesses which generally affect those who perceive themselves invested only with a borrow’d power. Wherefore, tho’ she soon observ’d the stratagems and intrigues of her rival, she fear’d nothing with regard to herself; but then her foresight laid her under the greater apprehensions for her son. He had then attain’d but his eighth year, and she saw with grief, that if she should be snatch’d away before his father had settled the succession upon him, the fate of this young prince would be deliver’d into the hands of the rash Daluca. The right of primogeniture was indeed establish’d in Egypt: But the choice of a father was of great weight; and history furnish’d more than one example of a second or third son being preferr’d to the eldest. And oftentimes this incertitude had been the occasion of quarrels among brothers, which the fortune of the sword could alone decide. Thus, tho’ the queen had then no symptoms that foreboded any approaching distemper, yet the thoughts of a doubtful futurity cast her into great uneasinesses. Wherefore recommending her son, by means of the priests, to the protection of all the deities of Egypt, she apply’d herself with the greater earnestness to the performance of her duty, that she might engage heaven to second intentions so worthy of her maternal care: but the gods, who are the sole arbiters of the rewards of the just, do not always dispense them in the course of this mortal life.
The queen’s too assiduous application to business, even beyond her strength, and perhaps her too great apprehension of sickness, caus’d her in a short time to fall into an indisposition, which, being at first but slight, she strove to conceal, in hopes of overcoming it. But the fever increasing, the distemper was soon look’d upon as a thing not to be trifled with; and the reflections she made upon the circumstances of her son, threw her into the utmost despair. Unhappy princess! cry’d she, whatever my fears have hitherto suggested is now coming to pass! Why must my life be of such moment to my son? Tho’ in bloom of youth, I have tasted enough of the bitterness of life to leave it without regret, if no one else was concern’d; yet, alas! ’tis I who die; and ’tis I who mourn for my son! These words were follow’d by a torrent of tears, which heighten’d her disease, without alleviating her affliction. In vain her disconsolate damsels, who took care to keep the prince from her sight, study’d to appease her by persuasion and entreaty. Alas! said she, I plainly perceive by the confusion in your discourses, and the cruelty with which you conceal my son from my eyes, that my fate is fix’d, and all hopes of a recovery lost. My son! my dearest son! cry’d she, in the greatest agitation of mind, thou alone makest death my terror! Death, who is the end of all others pain, is the origin of mine! I shall be deny’d even the peace of the grave! Madam, answer’d the most venerable of her attendants, who by her birth, virtue and affection was dearest to her, whither do the hurry of your thoughts carry you? Do you consider, that, by giving way, as you do, to an excess of grief, whereby you render your distemper mortal, which otherwise is but dangerous, you at the same time offend the providence of the gods, the sovereign arbiters of yours and your son’s destiny? That virtue, madam, which you have hitherto strictly profess’d, is not perfectly distinguishable till exercis’d in such trials as this. Well, answer’d the queen, I submit to your advice, and devote myself with an absolute resignation to the will of the gods. Acquaint me only when the time of my dissolution approaches, that I may take my last measures with regard to my son, upon whose fate I foresee depends the happiness of my people.
This lady, whose friendship was sincere and resolute, having promis’d the queen what she demanded, Nephte from that moment endeavour’d to preserve her mind in a state of tranquillity; but the less visible her anxieties appear’d in her outward behaviour, the greater effect they had upon her mind.
In the mean time the most celebrated physicians of the kingdom, who were then the priests, were assembled in the palace, even by order of the king; tho’, that it might not break in upon his pleasures, he always suppos’d the queen’s distemper to be of no dangerous consequence. Egypt, the mother of arts and sciences, claim’d the honour, before all other, of having given birth to the medical art. Æsculapius, one of the sons of Menes, had even reign’d in Memphis, as we have already observ’d, while his brother Mercury was king of Thebes; and the six volumes [6]which the former had compil’d upon physick, added to the six-and-thirty wherein Mercury had given the principles of all the other sciences, form’d that famous treasure of learning, by which the priests boasted of having been instructed by the gods themselves. Be that as it will, these physicians, truly accomplish’d in their art, put in practice, with regard to the queen, whatever their reading, reflexions, and experience could suggest. They at first treated her according to their ancient rules, which were enjoyn’d them under penalty of death: for every physician, who deviated from them, was answerable for his patient, and in case of ill success, the death of the one surely brought on the death of the other. This indeed often serv’d for a pretext to treat those patients, who were indifferent to them, with negligence, and not to exceed the letter of the law. But that concern with which they were sensibly affected for the preservation of a queen, such as Nephte, and the lamentations of a people, who recommended their sovereign, whom they styl’d their mother, soon engag’d them to have recourse to new remedies. They indeed disguis’d them under ancient names, whereby they found means to justify themselves by some of the innumerable instances with which their books were fill’d. They even by turns waited at the gate of the palace to hear all who might have any advice to offer for the queen’s recovery: and afterwards gave their opinion of them in their consultations. For it was of importance to them in so critical a juncture, in some measure, to comply with an ancient custom, of placing their sick before the doors of their houses, that they might enquire of all who pass’d by, if they knew of any remedy for the distemper in question.
[6] Clem. Alex. Strom. 6.
On the other hand, the temples of the gods were open day and night to a vast concourse of people, who continually resorted thither to supplicate the recovery of their queen. They began at the[7] temple of Vulcan, built by Menes, the common ancestor of all the kings of Egypt, which had been preserv’d during the space of 1600 years in all the splendor it was left in by the founder. From thence they went to those of Serapis and Venus: But it was in the temple of Osiris, his wife Isis, and their son Horus, that they were the most assiduous, on account of the remarkable relation there happen’d to be between these three deities, and the persons of whom the royal family then consisted. The successive concourse of innumerable people continually fill’d not only the court, the porch, and body of the temple, but all the parts contiguous to the sanctuary, notwithstanding their large extent.
[7] Strab. l. 17. Herod. l. 2.
In the middle of the sanctuary, upon a very high pedestal, and all of one single piece of cast metal, were plac’d these three deities, in such sort, that Osiris, whose image was the highest, held Isis[8] standing before him, and she Horus in the same manner: For what Strabo says of the temples of Egypt being without statues, or at most having only the figure of some animal in the middle of them, is not to be understood of the times antecedent to the invasion of Cambyses. The head of Osiris was incircled with a radiant sun. Isis was crown’d with a bushel, and had her face cover’d with a veil. Under her left arm she held an urn bow’d downwards, and at her feet lay the bird Ibis. And Horus was describ’d holding his finger upon his lips. There it was that numerous troops of musicians sung to slow musick, and in a mournful tone, hymns, taken from their ancient rites, and adapted to the present occasion.[9]
[8] Vid. Kirch. tom. 1. p. 113.
[9] This hymn has a conformity to the inscriptions upon the columns of Osiris and Isis, mention’d by Diod. l. 1. Apul. Metam. l. 11. and others.
Osiris, pow’r, from earliest times, that springs, Victor and patron of this mighty ball, Branch of our gods, and stem of all our kings, Husband of Isis, sovereign lord of all: Save from too hard, but, ah! impending fate, A pious monarch’s wise and watchful mate, Religion’s prop, and safeguard of the state.
Isis, sole goddess; thro’ the world ador’d; In mysteries conceal’d, in bounties seen; One deity by various names implor’d, In various places; of those regions queen, Where springs, and is reserv’d, the sacred flood, Which being gives, and proves earth’s vital blood, When from thy urn thou pourst th’ irriguous good.
Type of our queen, and ancestor, ordain, If to thy virtues, as thy worship, true, Memphis she gave again to feel thy reign, That these our tears fate’s rigour may subdue. In saving Nephte, thy own glory save, The spouse, the subjects, and the son you gave, All doom’d alike to perish in her grave.
Horus, thou god of silence, wisdom taught, Who shield’st from harms the weakness of the good, To full maturity by years unbrought: Protect our prince, thy image, and thy blood. O guard his royal youth with tender care, Assume the task thy mother Isis bare For thee, of equal years, her infant heir.
While this and the like hymns were repeating, the priests (in robes of linnen, with chaplets of lotus on their heads, and sandals of the plant papyrus on their feet) were continually offering sacrifices upon three triangular altars plac’d before the triple statue. These holy men, worn away with austere fasting, which had continu’d from the instant the queen’s distemper begun, and fainting under the cruel scourgings with which they accompany’d their invocations, were hardly able, notwithstanding their great number, to put up the prayers the people demanded of them, or which they offer’d of their own accord.
But what avail temples, and all the vows offer’d in them, against the irrevocable decrees of fate! The queen, however ready to conform to all the prescriptions of her physicians, declin’d daily. The most powerful medicines, tho’ apply’d even before she was reduc’d to extremity, seem’d to have no more effect upon her than common remedies; and the physicians, who had been less apprehensive of any extraordinary event, than of that insensible decay they perceiv’d in her, never let fall the least word of hopes. Convinc’d of her own fate, she resolv’d at last to consult the most ancient oracle in the world, which was in the neighbourhood of Memphis, with regard to her son. It was the oracle of Latona, the nurse of Horus, at Butos, a city lying between the Sebennitick and Polbitinick gulph, opposite to which was the then floating island Chemnis.[10] And this it was which gave the Greeks a notion of their island of Delos floating till the birth of Apollo, the son of Latona. The priests of the oracle, inform’d of the queen’s sickness, had anticipated her deputation, and made great preparations for obtaining the goddess’s answer. They offer’d up their supplications to her in a vast temple, dug under that which appear’d. In that above the sacrifices were offer’d, and the ceremonies perform’d, in the sight of all the people; but to the mysteries celebrated in the subterranean temple, none were admitted but those who were initiated. There it was that so many human victims were sacrific’d, particularly upon such occasions as this, and the gods entreated to accept of other young persons, in exchange for a prince or princess greatly belov’d. There are few nations known, but what may be reproach’d with the same shameful barbarity: But the Egyptians, more superstitious than other nations, have, in former days, carry’d it so far as to sacrifice every foreigner at the tomb of Osiris, in the city of Heliopolis. This tomb was call’d Busiris; and fable has related it as of a king of Egypt, a transgressor of the laws of hospitality. However, Amosis, [11]one of the ancestors of Sesostris at Thebes, had the courage and authority to abolish this bloody custom in every city. In the room of these human victims were then substituted images of wax, since so much made use of in magick superstitions.
[10] Pomp. Mela.
[11] Euseb. Præpar. Evan. l. 4. c. 16. ex. Porph.
The priests deputed to consult the oracle being arriv’d, after one day’s journeying, at Butos, with the noble offerings the queen had sent, went the same evening into the temple. All the people having conducted them thither, were oblig’d to attend without; and they enter’d into that part of the temple adjoining to the chapel in the superior temple, of which Herodotus makes mention, and which was hewn out of one single square stone, the inside whereof was sixty foot every way. After having pass’d a good part of the night in this place, they received the answer of the oracle, and were let out privately by another door, and made the best of their way for Memphis.
The queen, who counted every moment of their journey, and her life, waited their return with an impatience that added to the ardor of her fever. That sorrow which had so tortur’d her mind in the first periods of her indisposition, and which she still continu’d to suppress, was now as visible in her attendants. They look’d upon her death as an irrevocable decree of fate; and the consequences of it, which they foresaw, as well with regard to themselves as the state, threw them into an inexpressible anguish of mind. It was not only that tender affliction arising from the approaching and eternal separation from a mistress, and a friend, to whom they were entirely devoted: Their concern was like to that of persons who imagin’d they beheld all their fair possessions on the point of being laid in ashes, by the impetuous ravages of some sudden fire, which would reduce them from a state of plenty, to that of extreme indigence: or to the consternation of a city brought to extremity by a barbarous enemy, ready to destroy its religion and laws. The anguish of despair was so visible in their faces, that the most beautiful were become ghastly; and those amongst them, who were endu’d with the greatest presence of mind, could not conceal their distraction, even in their attendances upon the queen, who still kept a profound silence.
The deputies being at last return’d, and taking the young prince, with the faithful Amedes, whom they found attending him, with them, they enter’d the queen’s apartment; where, in the presence of both, and of her confident, without any other witnesses, the chief of the deputation thus unfolded the answer of the oracle, which the sequel of the life of Sethos so exactly verifies, that the author of my memoirs may perhaps be suspected of having copy’d from thence. Vertuous spouse, generous mother, and wise queen (said he) the gods, adverse, and at the same time propitious, send you this answer: Be comforted in that death for which you are already prepar’d. It is only an unhappiness to those in whom it puts an end to a wicked life, and when it loads the memory of the deceas’d with the hatred and maledictions of the living. The gods are attending to bestow upon you that reward which is due to the good works you have perform’d, and even to those you design’d. You will still live in the hearts of your people, and your son will one day restore to them that felicity, which the loss of you is now about to deprive them of. He himself however will not be happy, according to the idea common souls form to themselves of the prosperity of princes: But the gods promise him all that heroick virtue has most satisfactory in itself, and all that the glory which attends it can indulge him with. Born for the good of mankind, he will become a benefactor to nations; preserver of Egypt; and a conqueror of himself. But let those who now hear me keep as an inviolable secret, whatever concerns the prince, and suffer the cloud which will overshadow his first years to disperse of itself.
The priest had hardly made an end of speaking, when the queen, embracing young Sethos, said: My son, my death is no longer a trouble to me, the gods deprive you of my relief only to give you a more eminent merit and lustre in those great actions they propose to effect by your means. Be faithful to the destiny they have prepar’d for you, and fulfil all their designs. And then, addressing herself to the priests, Return, said she, to your temples, and continue your vows for my son, whom I have long since recommended to you: The presents I design for the gods shall immediately follow you; may they vouchsafe to accept of these slender marks of my gratitude.
These presents were all the ornaments of a domestick chapel, which she had caus’d to be built contiguous to the apartment she slept in. She had brought them from This, the place of her nativity, where the news of her lamented death was soon going to shorten the days of the king her father. Amongst these ornaments were statues of gold, some of the height of a cubit, which represented the common deities of all Egypt, and in particular of Apollo, who was held in peculiar veneration at This, and at Abydus, which was dependant upon it. Having thus previously sent to the gods what was most dear to her, she address’d herself to Amedes in the following discourse. Wise and faithful counsellor, said she, the kingdom will not be so happy to have you for its support, under the administration which will succeed my death; devote yourself to my son, and be his governor and council. The gods assure me that those virtues they have promis’d him will be the effects of your instructions and example. Amedes immediately embracing young Sethos with the respect due to him; My prince, said he, to you I entirely devote the remains of my strength and life. All the services I am capable of rendering my country, are included in the education I shall have the honour of giving to him, to whom the sovereignty of it will one day of right belong.
In that instant the king, who, not to be wanting in his devoirs, had made it a rule to visit the queen twice a day, enter’d her apartment. My lord, said she, upon seeing him approach, the oracle has pronounced my doom. It may not be seemly to recommend a son to his father; but, since he is going to be deprived of me, vouchsafe to accept my entreaty, that you will be to him a father and a mother. Madam, answer’d the king, my son is dear to me for my own sake, and will be still dearer to me for yours; but I don’t yet despair of moving the gods to pity for your preservation. Upon which, covering his eyes with his hand, he departed.
The next thing the queen did, was to distribute jewels to all her attendants, according to their birth and quality. That serenity which appeared in her countenance had chang’d their despair into gentle tears. At last, turning to the young prince; For you, my son, said she, I have reserved this casket: in it you will find jewels to an inestimable value, and sufficient for your support, to whatever state fortune may reduce you. Amedes will keep them for you, or employ them for your service. But for this emerald, set in the form of a heart, which I have hitherto caused you to wear about your neck, and which you shall convert into a ring, when you put off the habit of a child, never part with it on any account. About four years since, your father caus’d us all three to be represented in relievo upon the same stone; himself in the form of Osiris, me in the resemblance of Isis, and you like Horus, standing between us. The ingenious workman afterwards, by his command, cut this stone into three pieces, according to the bigness of the figures. One of them is that you wear, another is set in the ring I now take from my finger, and put into your casket. These two, when divested of their ornaments, will exactly correspond with the third, which your father has himself upon his finger. Adieu, my son! may the gods protect you, and receive me! Sethos, touch’d with all the sentiments his tender years were susceptible of, reply’d; I receive, madam, what you are pleas’d to bestow upon me; I have given attention to what you have said; and when I am of riper years, I will endeavour to do as you have done. The queen press’d his hand, and made a sign for him to be remov’d. She spoke no more, and an hour afterwards yielded to the fatal stroke.
I will not pretend to give a description of the grief which overspread Memphis, and all the provinces of the kingdom, as this melancholy news reach’d them. The tears which were shed upon a bare apprehension of this catastrophe may give some idea of it. [12]The Egyptians in former days were so much devoted to their sovereigns, that a mourning in the royal mansion was generally a domestick mourning in every family. They gave testimony of it in publick for forty days, by appearing with their garments rent, and in private by their austere fastings. But this last loss, the consequence of which every one was apprehensive of in his private concerns, fill’d each heart with inexpressible grief; insomuch that the priests, who, upon the like occasions, were wont to countenance the publick affliction, to do honour to the memory of their deceas’d kings, found themselves oblig’d, in the present incident, to calm the minds and hearts of the people, in order to preserve that decorum which was, as they said, becoming a civiliz’d nation, and to render to the manes of the deceas’d queen an homage more agreeable to her virtues. They declared, that she died in peace, and that the oracles had removed her apprehensions for the destiny of her son and people. They alledged the state of rest and felicity, into which they had so much reason to hope the gods would admit her at her approaching obsequies. They endeavour’d in short, by all manner of consolatory advices, to asswage the pain of that wound, which time alone could heal, and which they, however, fear’d time might render more sensible.
[12] Diodor. l. 1.
Preparations were in the mean time making for the funeral pomp. No people ever came up to the Egyptians in this particular. Their authors, and even ours say, [13]that they were the first who had any notion of the immortality of the soul. And, indeed, it appears by the simplicity of their palaces, in comparison with the magnificency of their tombs, that they were more sollicitous for the eternal mansions of a future life, than for the transitory abodes of this. We must however allow, that their doctrine on this head was not very consistent. For, not to mention the Metempsychosis, which Pythagoras was for establishing among them, and which made the souls of men, when freed from the body, pass from one animal to another, till after the space of three thousand years, they again enter’d into human bodies; the wisest men allow’d of a place of torment in hell, for the souls of the wicked, and delightful fields for those of the good. So that either opinion, or a mixture, such as it was, of both, left nothing in those costly tombs, but a dead corpse, which was very far from being eternal; but which, however, by the art they had of embalming, was more durable than the tombs themselves.
[13] Herodotus, l. 2.
Those who were appointed to perform this last function, had already taken charge of the queen’s corpse. [14]They were officers of the second rank, very much respected in Egypt, for the knowledge they had of the secrets of the priesthood, though they were no other than domesticks of the priests. The operation was thirty days in performing. Having, by means of a lateral incision in the body, taken out all the intestines, excepting the heart and reins, they anointed it both outwardly and inwardly with a certain gum compos’d of cedar, myrrh, cinnamon, and other perfumes; which not only preserved it for several ages, but caus’d it to diffuse an agreeable odour. They had, besides, the secret of giving a corpse its pristine form; insomuch that the deceas’d seem’d to have retain’d the air of his countenance, and the port of his person. The hairs, not only of his head, but of his eye-brows and eye-lids, were distinctly preserv’d; and what is yet more surprizing, they restor’d to him an appearance of plumpness, and a colour and freshness as natural, as in the healthiest part of his life. Some private persons chose rather to preserve the bodies of their relations, thus embalmed, in closets made for that purpose, than to deposite them in sepulchres already made, or to erect new ones for them; and it was a singular satisfaction to them to behold their ancestors with the same physiognomies, and in the same attitudes as when living.
[14] Diodorus, l. 1. sect. 2.
But it was not so with respect to kings: for, if they did not make any particular disposition to the contrary, they were all, in which-ever dynasty they reign’d, convey’d to the labyrinth situate in the middle of the lake Moeris, on the borders of Libya. This edifice, which in magnificence surpass’d all the labours of Greece put together, even according to the testimony of the Greeks themselves, was not built, as Herodotus imagin’d, by the twelve kings who reign’d at one and the same time, after the retreat of Sabacon the Ethiopian: For he did not make himself master of Egypt till two or three hundred years before the invasion of Cambyses: whereas this labyrinth was by far more antient than Sesostris himself, and was erected when Egypt was only divided into twelve provinces. The kings of the four dynasties, being all at peace, had all contributed to this memorable work, of which the upper part was dedicated to the sun, and the subterranean to the infernal deities. And this it was occasion’d [15]Homer’s calling the entrance into hell the gates of the sun. The twelve immense palaces, which it contain’d, represented, according to their design, all Egypt; and for that reason they mark’d out their several sepulchres, for them and their successors, in the subterranean vaults. But the imaginations of the people, added to the ceremonies performed by the priests before they admitted a corps into these gloomy mansions, where few of the living had ever enter’d, gave occasion to a great deal of fiction. It was an article of religion to believe, that the innumerable windings, with which they were told, and with truth, that these subterraneous passages abounded, conducted their good kings to delightful regions, but that tyrants were forbidden even an entrance into the labyrinth. The manner of these ceremonies was this. When the corpse was brought to the bank of a lake call’d Charon, over which the passage lay to the gate of the infernal deities, it was there stopp’d by an incorruptible tribunal, compos’d of sixteen priests of the labyrinth, with their chief, and two judges chosen out of each of the twelve ancient nomes. The high-priest, who conducted the deceas’d king, having there made an harangue, the president of the tribunal gave leave to all the assistants to lay such charges against the deceas’d, as they could prove. They then proceeded to judgment, by which the corpse was either sentenc’d to be deliver’d to their ferryman, whom they call’d Charon, or to be depriv’d of sepulture. This sentence pass’d by scrutiny, that is, by certain tickets, which the judges threw into that terrible urn, the very idea of which was powerful enough to keep the ancient kings within the bounds of justice.
[15] Odyss. 24.
To conclude, To whatever sepulchre the corpse of kings, or even of private persons, were carry’d, they were liable[16] to an examination before judges, who were always men of the greatest reputation and probity. They were only eligible out of those who were initiated; and, if for a private person, they were upon every occasion chosen by men taken out of each class of the freemen of a city, or of the subjects of the kingdom, when for a sovereign. And the tickets in which the names of the judges were written, were open’d and number’d in publick view. But for those kings who were to be interr’d in the labyrinth, all Egypt, according to the division of the twelve ancient nomes, had their suffrage in the election of the judges. And besides, at this labyrinth alone was perform’d that great number of other ceremonies, from whence Orpheus the poet, whom we shall soon see in Egypt, and who being present at the obsequies of another king, borrow’d thence the greater part of that description of hell which he has given us in his verses; and which was afterwards copy’d by Homer in Greek, and by Virgil in Latin.
[16] Diodor. l. 1. §. 2.
The fortieth day after the queen’s decease being now come, all was ready for setting forward with the funeral procession, which was to march the forty leagues between Memphis and the labyrinth in ten days and ten nights, according as the several stages were regulated. The porch of the palace was clos’d up from all approaches of the sun, and illuminated with lamps: Under it was plac’d a large chariot with four wheels, all cover’d over with gold. At the hinder part of the chariot was erected a throne, with an ascent of three steps, cover’d with a large crown of gold, richly adorn’d with precious stones, and supported by a sphinx of the same metal, with large wings display’d, upon the head of which the edge of the crown rested. From the top of the crown fell down in large folds, between the sphinx’s wings, a cloth of purple in the form of a pavilion, cover’d with hieroglyphicks richly embossed in gold, and representing all the virtues. The two extremities of this pavilion join’d and cross’d one another at the front of the chariot. This chariot had two poles, and was drawn by sixteen horses, four in front. Their harness was exceeding magnificent, as on a day of triumph. But nothing was comparable to the richness and elegancy with which the queen was array’d. She was plac’d upon the throne in a sitting posture, and so artfully fasten’d into it, that no jolt, however violent, could give her any motion, which might make her have the appearance of a corpse. The whole machine was moreover in such manner suspended between its shafts, that nothing could bring it out of a level. And besides, the roads, which of themselves were very good in Egypt, had been levell’d for the conveniency of this procession. In a word, this chariot seems to have serv’d as a model for that in which afterwards the corpse of Alexander was transported from Babylon to[17] Alexandria. The queen, who had her face and bosom bare, but her eyes clos’d, seem’d to enjoy the sweets of an agreeable slumber amidst the noise of trumpets and kettle-drums, with which the air resounded while the procession was rang’d in order. What melancholy reflexions were there not renew’d in the hearts of those who lov’d her, and had been depriv’d of her sight since her death, or since her sickness! They saw her, they spoke to her; but she was no more. Those who had been the nearest devoted to her, the better to suppress their affliction, avoided looking on her for a time; but overpower’d at last by their curiosity and affection, they cast their eyes upon her, and finding yet the same features, and the same graces, they immediately turn’d them away, and melted into tears.
[17] Diodor. l. 18.
In the mean time the queen’s houshold, consisting of six thousand horse, march’d in the front, leaving the care of the royal corpse to the priests. These officers were rang’d four and four, with their arms pointed downwards: The din of their warlike instruments sounding in mournful tone, and mix’d with periodical intervals of silence, pierced to the soul. Next to these follow’d the societies of the city of Memphis, distinguish’d by proper habits, but cover’d with black crape, on horse-back, as the former. And among this number of people, which already amounted to twelve thousand, not a single word was utter’d during the whole procession. The great officers of the court, and after them the princes, excepting the king and the presumptive heir to the crown, who never appear’d publickly at funerals, came next, four and four, as the former, clad in purple robes, sitting in a kind of niches, cover’d with black, and plac’d upon shafts, having the ensigns of their dignities at their feet, and carry’d each upon the shoulders of eight slaves. These three numerous troops began their march by day; and at the close of the evening the ladies, who made the most doleful part of the procession, began to appear. They were seated four and four in sixty chariots, cover’d above, but open on the sides, and drawn each by eight horses, two and two. Both horses and chariots were in a manner bury’d under their coverings of black silk, strew’d all over with tears of silver. These ladies, muffled up in their veils from head to foot, resembled so many spectres. In the last chariot sate the chief lady of the deceas’d queen’s court, holding before her a child, who, being veil’d like herself, was known by none, but respected by all. However, the most prudent did imagine that Amedes, not only willing to let the young prince see the solemnity of a trial of the dead in the bloom of his youth, was at the same time cautious of leaving him in the palace in the absence of all his deceas’d mother’s servants.
After these ladies, whose sobs and groans heighten’d the grief of the spectators, and who were continually seen drying away their tears under their veil, as a contrast which could not but be very affecting, immediately follow’d all those instruments of musick which in Egypt were made use of at their highest festivals, as the citterns, shalms, and hautboys; which were answer’d periodically by trumpets and kettle-drums, to proclaim the approach of the queen’s chariot. Those who sounded these instruments, and even the leaders of the chariot, and the twelve body-slaves who march’d on the right and on the left of it, were clad in their festival habits, which contradiction to their mournful aspects and profound silence, was to the spectators a lively emblem of the deceitfulness and brevity of human joy. The queen herself was adorn’d with a sort of scarf of flowers, which crossing over her left shoulder, met and join’d under her right arm; and in her hands she held festoons, which hanging over her knees, reach’d down to her feet. This custom of the Egyptians was to signify, that tho’ the death of virtuous persons was a matter of sorrow to the surviving, it was to them the entrance into peace, a happiness, and a triumph. The queen’s chariot was follow’d by the priests. The high-priest of Memphis, who was to present the queen to the judges, was carry’d next to the chariot, stretch’d out at length in an open coffin, like a corpse, clad in white, and his head and face cover’d with a white veil. All the other priests, clad and veil’d in the same manner, leaning with one hand on an augur’s wand, curb’d at the top, and holding in the other a ring or circle of gold, to which hung a sort of Tau, march’d on foot in two single lines of five hundred each, and as far distant from one another as the breadth of the roads would allow. In the middle between these two lines, at certain distances, were carry’d standards, on which were represented the several deities, or the symbols of the deities of Egypt, as the Apis of Memphis, the Colossus of Abyddus, the Eagle of Thebes, the Spar-hawk of Tanis, the Anubis of Cynopolis, the Vase of Canope, the Goat of Mendez, the Wolf of Hermontis, the Lamb of Sais; and so of the rest. For there were priests out of all the cities of Egypt at the funerals of their kings, even tho’ they were actually in war with one another. And the class of priests, with those of the labourers and traders, were never involv’d in the differences of the states. On the other hand, the death of kings was a means of reconciling the priests of different cities, who seem’d to have very hot disputes concerning the various, and oftentimes contrary deities they ador’d. Our historians speaking of Egypt[18] have remark’d, that those kings, who had many cities of different worship in their dominions, were glad to keep up this spirit of dissention among the priests; lest, if they should unite, their influence, which was very great over the vulgar, might set them up above their kings. To conclude, the whole procession was clos’d by a great number of baggage-waggons, which kept off the people that follow’d.
[18] Vid. Plut. Treatise of Osiris and Isis, and others.
They frequently pass’d thro’ cities, some greater, some less. The number of them, as well on this road, as every where else, had given occasion to the opinion of old, that there were more cities in Egypt alone, than in all the world besides. In these cities it was that the stages were mark’d out at almost equal distances; and near every one of them was the house destin’d for their entertainment; from which they march’d out again to take their stations at set-times. The queen’s chariot was plac’d under tents, which were erected for that end at every stage, where it was guarded by other priests, not belonging to the procession. This chariot, by which the whole procession was rul’d, never mov’d but in the night-season, and but three hours together, during which time it advanc’d about two leagues; and then, resting four hours, resum’d the march again till day-light, and so lay by, waiting the return of the evening.
The whole procession being arriv’d, was rang’d in order upon the plain to leave a free passage for the queen’s chariot, and the people that had follow’d the procession behind the waggons. They then advanc’d to the brink of the lake Charon, [19]and there were plac’d on each side of the chariot on a spacious plain, on the right and on the left: And the priests remain’d rang’d behind the chariot in a strait line. At the approach of this awful tribunal, compos’d of judges, who were rever’d as the gods themselves, the high-priest, who was to be the queen’s advocate, and all those who were concern’d for her memory, were seiz’d with unexpected terrors: For if those things which are really good, are sometimes accounted bad by the injustice of men, it is more to be apprehended, that those causes which to us appear good, may be really bad in the judgment of the gods.
[19] By comparing the relations of the ancients to those of the moderns, the labyrinth seems to have been situate between the two lakes Charon and Mœris.
The judges were plac’d upon a large and deep scaffold in the form of an alcove, rais’d two steps; about which their seats, to the number of forty one, form’d a semi-circle. Their under-habits were a sort of tunicks, or white vests, like the priests or initiates, over which they wore scarlet robes like judges. Round their necks they had chains of gold, at each of which hung an emerald, with the image of truth[20] engraven upon it; and they were rang’d in the following order: The high-priest, who presided over the tribunal, was plac’d in the center on a seat rais’d somewhat higher than the rest, and on both sides of him sat the two judges elected by the nome of Memphis, who were only initiates, of whom Amedes was the chief. Below them on either side were the sixteen priests of the labyrinth, and then the twenty-two initiates appointed by the other nomes. The urn was plac’d in the front of the tribunal, on the brink of the uppermost step; and the officers of the second order were seated upon the lowermost, in habits proper for the functions they were to perform after judgment given. Every thing being thus dispos’d, the horses taken out of the queen’s chariot, and the poles and pavilion remov’d; the high-priest of Memphis, who directed the procession, being mounted upon the foot of the chariot, standing, and with his head uncover’d, made the following oration:
[20] Diodor. l. 1. §. 2. & Ælian. variar. hist. l. 14.
“Inexorable deities of hell! behold here our queen, whom you have appointed a victim, in the bloom of her years, and in the greatest necessity of her people. We come to intreat you will vouchsafe her that repose, of which her loss may shortly deprive us. She has been faithful in every duty to the gods. She has not dispens’d with the outward exercise of religion under pretext of affairs of state; nor has that exercise alone supply’d in her the place of virtue. Amidst the cares which employ’d her in her counsels, and that gaiety which she sometimes put on at court, the divine law, which was ever present to her mind, and rul’d in her heart, was always visible. Of all the festivals, at which the superiority of her rank, the success of her undertakings, or the love of her people, have engag’d her to be an assistant, none have been so agreeable and pleasant to her, as those which have call’d her to our temples. She has not suffer’d herself to be led into the paths of injustice, as many kings have done, in hopes of making ample satisfaction by her offerings; and her magnificence towards the gods, has been the fruits of her piety, not the tributes of remorse. Instead of countenancing animosity, vexation and persecution, by the counsels of an ill-tim’d piety, she has drawn no other maxims from religion but those of lenity; and has never put severity in practice, but when the common course of justice, and the security of the state, has demanded it. She has exercis’d all the virtues of the best of kings with that modest diffidence, which has hardly allow’d her to enjoy that happiness which she procur’d for her people. A glorious defence of the frontiers, peace settled both at home and abroad, and every other ornament and institution, have generally in other princes been the effect of politick wisdom, which the gods, judges of their real springs, don’t always reward: But with our queen all these things have been the result of virtue, and have had no other principles but a love of her duty, and a view to the publick felicity. Far from regarding the sovereign power as a means to indulge her passions, it has been a rule to her to make the tranquillity of the state the ease of her own mind, and a standing maxim, that patience and affability could alone make her the ruler of the hearts of men. Vengeance never so much as enter’d into her thoughts, but abandoning to those beneath her the shame of embracing every opportunity of exercising their hatred, she, like the gods, pardon’d, when she had the power of punishing. She curb’d the rebellious, not so much because they oppos’d her will, as in consideration that they were an obstacle to her good designs. She submitted her judgment to the counsel of the wise, and every order of men in her kingdom to the equity of its laws. She subdu’d her enemies from without by her courage, and a strict observation of her ingagements, and her domestick enemies by her fortitude, and the happy success of her undertakings. She never suffer’d a secret, or a falsity, to proceed out of her mouth; and that dissimulation, which is so inseparable from sovereignty, in her never extended beyond silence. She never gave way to the importunity of the ambitious; nor did the assiduities of parasites ever run away with the rewards due to the services of the absent. Distinguish’d favourites were unknown in her reign; even that friendship which she practis’d and cultivated, had never with her the ascendant over merit, tho’ often less affectionate and less engaging. She bestow’d favours upon her friends, and gave the most important employs to those who best were able to discharge them. She heap’d honours upon the great, without exempting them from duty; and eas’d the burden of her people, without taking away that necessity which was a spur to their industry. She has not, by creating new offices, given an opportunity to others to take part with the prince, and unequally for him, of the publick revenue; and the meanest of the people have paid the taxes rated and levy’d upon them, without any regret, because they have not serv’d to render their equals more opulent, haughty, or wicked. Convinc’d, as she was, that the providence of heaven was not exclusive of the vigilance of man, she prevented publick misery by a regular and timely provision; and thus rendring every year equal, her wisdom, in some measure, over-rul’d the seasons and elements. By her favourable reception of all those whom the fame of her prudent government drew from other the most remote countries, she facilitated negociations, maintain’d peace, and rais’d her kingdom to its highest pitch of opulency and glory; and at the same time enforc’d, by her example, that hospitality, which till then was not enough cultivated among the Egyptians. When any of the great maxims of government were to be put in practice, and it was necessary to pursue the publick good, tho’ attended with private inconveniencies, with what a generous indifferency has she not endur’d the murmurings of a populace, blind, and perhaps stirr’d up by the secret calumnies of those who, tho’ they knew better, might not find their private advantage in the publick felicity? Putting frequently her own glory to stake for the interest of an ungrateful people, she has waited the event of time for her own justification; and tho’ snatch’d away in the very beginning of her course, the purity of her intention, the justness of her views, and her assiduity in the execution of them, have procur’d her the advantage of a glorious memory, and an universal regret. To be in the better capacity of watching over the whole of the kingdom, she confided the several under-branches of management to able ministers, who were oblig’d to depute subalterns, and these others, for whose conduct she could be no ways answerable, as well because of their remoteness, as their number: I dare therefore affirm before you her judges, and before those of her subjects, who now hear me, that if, among such a number of inhabitants as this city of Memphis, and the other five thousand[21] cities of this dynasty are known to contain, it may appear, that, contrary to her intention, any one has been oppress’d, the queen is not only excusable in regard of the impossibility of providing for all, but is praise-worthy, in that, knowing the bounds of human understanding, she has kept to the center of publick business, and has fix’d her whole attention upon the first causes and motions of things. Unhappy those princes with whom some particular subjects only have cause to be pleas’d, when the publick has reason to complain! and tho’ private persons may sometimes suffer, they have no right to blame their princes, when the body of the state is sound, and the principles of government salutary. However, as irreproachable as the queen has appear’d to us, with regard to men, with respect to you, ye just gods, she builds her hopes of repose and bliss upon your clemency alone.”
[21] There were in Egypt 20,000 cities, Plin. l. 5. c. 9. & Pomp. Mela. But Theocritus Idyl. 17. reckons 33,339 under Ptolom. Philad.
As soon as the high-priest had finish’d his discourse, he cover’d his head and face with a veil, and prostrated himself on the chariot where he stood, in expectation of judgment. The judges immediately enter’d into consultation in the middle of the place; and after having conferr’d some few minutes, retook their seats. The president of the tribunal then ask’d the whole assembly with a loud voice, If any one had any thing to lay to the charge of the queen’s memory? Some of those who had been prejudiced in their private affairs, by some regulations of great advantage to the publick, had prepar’d complaints, more justifiable on their parts, than of validity against the queen: But the last plea, made by the high-priest of Memphis in her defence, had put a stop to their intentions, and they were the most zealous of that numerous assembly in promoting, by their applauses, her entrance into the mansions of the blessed. When (as in the case before us) no charge is enter’d against a deceas’d monarch, the urn is of no use, but he is admitted by general assent. The president of the tribunal having therefore look’d round upon all the judges, and receiv’d from each of them the sign of their consent, said, “Sacred priest of Memphis, arise; the gods approve the testimony you have born concerning your queen, and are going to confer upon her the reward due to good kings. May her successors walk in her footsteps, and, by rendring their people happy, treasure up greater blessings for themselves.” He then commanded the chief officer of the second order to touch the queen with his wand, of which our poets have made Mercury’s Caduceus: At the same time turning to Amedes, the chief of the two judges appointed by the nome of Memphis, who sate at his right-hand, he said: “Wise minister of your queen, you, whose prudent counsels have had so great part in the actions which bring her this day to glory, accompany the holy priest, who conducted her hither; help to convey her into the bark, and from thence into that temple, the gates of which are shut against the wicked, be they living or dead: We hasten to open these gates to her, and to receive her ourselves.” The judges immediately arose, and enter’d the temple of the infernal deities by a private way. The dead, who were oblig’d to enter the subterranean gate, had no other passage to come at it, but by crossing the lake, the breadth of which was in that part about a quarter of a league, and upon which no other bark was admitted but that of Charon. The officers having loosen’d the cords with which the queen was fasten’d to her throne, and laid her in the same coffin which had brought the high-priest, she was convey’d into the bark, and the high-priest, together with Amedes, having first paid the usual tribute to Charon, accompany’d her. They were no sooner arriv’d at the gates of the labyrinth, but the people, who follow’d them with their eyes, heard a noise as of thunder, which they believ’d to be real, and look’d upon it as a miracle which always happen’d when the temple of the infernal deities was open’d: But in reality it was no more than the hollow sound of the brazen gates at the entrance, which was redoubled by the repercussion of the vaults, and by the neighbouring echo’s.
The corpse was no sooner entered into the labyrinth, than a joy succeeded as general as that of the preceding mourning; and as sudden as that of a person, seeing his dearest friend risen from the dead. This joy proceeded from the idea they conceived of the happiness their sovereign enjoy’d in the mansions of the blessed. Even those, who could not so soon overcome their grief, were oblig’d to conceal it under the most visible demonstrations of joy. The populace, in whom nothing is more easy than a transition from one extreme of passion to another, and to whom besides every opportunity for merriment is acceptable, omitted in their return no frolick or jollity to which Egypt could administer on such a pilgrimage. Persons of the greatest distinction took pleasure in joining with the commonalty, as well on the road, as in the several cities they pass’d through: but they were easily discover’d by the magnificence of their habits, which they had brought with them in the baggage-waggons, that clos’d the procession; and they put on these habits, either in the neighbouring cities, or under costly tents which were erected on every side. As the Egyptians in general think themselves noble, the peasants, men and women, being neatly attir’d, mix’d even with princes and princesses, not only at the same dances, and sports, but at the same tables under tents in the meadows, or in the middle of the open places in cities. The profusion of wines and provisions which are expended on this occasion is inexpressible; and nothing can give a more adequate idea of the plenty of Egypt, and of the riches of its inhabitants. All familiarity was allow’d in discourse, and every thing was matter of joy. Not a single instance was ever known of any quarrel amidst this agreeable confusion; because nothing was transacted with an intent to offend or prejudice. Even the great, as they were of easy access, and affable to persons of all conditions, drew upon themselves, by so much the more, those obsequious regards, which politeness inspires. All such as excell’d in exercises of strength or ingenuity resorted thither in companies, and diverted the spectators with amusing sports on the land and upon the canals. Troops of satyrs and nymphs, an idea of whom the worship of the god Pan had cultivated in Egypt, long before it pass’d into Greece, were seen sallying out of the thickets, or rushing into the waters.
The nights were more dazzling than the days, occasion’d by the illuminations in the cities, which at a distance, and in the fields, made a more glorious appearance, than in the cities themselves. Nor is it possible for painting to represent, or words to express their lustre; especially on the banks of the lake Moeris, that sea of sweet water, the work of mens hands, which, according to our best authors,[22] was one hundred and fifty leagues in circumference, and where those illuminations were doubly represented by their reflections in the waters. An infinite number of gallies, richly adorn’d, and illuminated like palaces, cruis’d upon the lake, or row’d from port to port, at the will of those who possess’d them, sure always of meeting with some agreeable amusement which ever way they directed their course. The prodigious concourse of people, the perpetual sound of musical instruments, and the frequent shouts of joy, left no room for complaint in this affluence of all manner of diversions, except it were for want of silence and sleep. In a word, the feast of Diana at Bubastes, or the nocturnal festivals of Minerva at Sais, which are yet celebrated annually, though with less pomp than licentiousness, are but faint images of these festivals on the return from the labyrinth, the ceremony of which drew together the most considerable part of Egypt.
[22] Diodorus reckons it 3600 stadia in circumference; 24 stadia making a league of 3000 paces.
[23]The temperature of the climate in this country is exceeding favourable to these sorts of festivals. But more particularly in spring (which was the season at that time) the serenity of the days is as certain as the coolness of the nights; and what is more, winter there differs very little from summer. It is true, the four months of the rise and fall of the Nile, compar’d with the remainder of the year, make a very different appearance. For in these four months, or thereabouts, the whole country being overflowed, makes the cities appear like so many islands of different bigness, which seem to arise out of the waters: and during the whole remainder of the year, where these waters were, are gardens cover’d with every species of flowers of the spring; or fields fill’d with all the fruits of the earth in autumn. These gardens or fields are surrounded with little canals, which flow out of others which are larger, as these again do from others yet larger, even to those which proceed immediately from the Nile, and which are like unto rivers, being intended to encompass large provinces, and to distribute themselves successively, till they serve as inclosures to the possessions of private persons. Funerals were never perform’d during the time of the inundations, nor never deferr’d, but on that account. The festivals of return from the labyrinth lasted always twice as long as the march of the procession thither: So that the king of Memphis had not an account in form of the accomplishment of the queen’s obsequies, till the one-and-thirtieth day after the departure of the procession.
[23] _Vid._ Paul Lucas’s Egypt corrected and amended by M. l’Abbe Banier.
_End of the_ +First Book+.
THE LIFE OF _SETHOS_.