fall ”—truths which were exemplified in the history of Pharaoh-hophra in a remarkable man ner. In the pride of his heart, he imagined, says Herodotus, that no God could deprive him of the kingdom, so firmly did he think himself established. With reference to his haughtiness, the prophet Ezekiel, also, put these words into his mouth, "My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself," and symbolized him under the figure of the great dragon, or crocodile, basking in the midst of his rivers. See Ezek. xxix. 3. But in the height of his prosperity and fancied security, his doom was pronounced by the prophet Jeremiah in these emphatic words: "I will give Pharaoh-hophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies, and into the hand of them that seek his life," Jer. xliv. 30; which prediction was verified to the very letter, as will be seen in the course of this history. Shortly after Apries had ascended the throne, Zedekiah king of Judah sent an embassy, Ezek. xvii. 15, and concluded an alliance with him. The next year, B. C. 588, rejecting the admonitions of Jeremiah, and looking for assistance from the king of Egypt, Zedekiah rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, who therefore besieged Jerusalem with a numerous force. The Egyptian monarch, elated by the success of his arms, and confident that nothing could resist his power, declared himself the protector of Israel, and promised to deliver Jerusalem out of the hands of Nebuchadnezzar. This drew upon him the anger of the Almighty, which was denounced by the prophet Ezekiel (chap. xxix. 3-9) in these words: "Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, The great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers, Which hath said, My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself. But I will put hooks in thy jaws, And I will cause the fish of thy rivers to stick unto thy scales, And I will bring thee up out of the midst of thy rivers, Thou shalt fall upon the open fields; Thou shalt not be brought together, nor gathered: And all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the Lord, Because they have been a staff of reed to the house of When they took hold of thee by thy hand, Thou brakest, and madest all their loins to be at a stand. Behold, I will bring a sword upon thee, And cut off man and beast out of thee. And the land of Egypt shall be desolate and waste; The prophet continues his prediction of the calamities, in this and the three succeeding chapters, some of the most striking passages of which will be noticed hereafter. Zedekiah, though well acquainted with these predictions, but lightly regarded them, and when he saw the king of Babylon raise the siege of Jerusalem, which he did on the approach of the Egyptian army, he fancied that his deliverance was completed, and anticipated a triumph. But his joy was momentary; the Egyptians seeing the Chaldeans advancing, retreated, not daring to encounter so numerous and well-disciplined an army. They marched back into their own country, and left Zedekiah exposed to all the dangers of a war in which they themselves had involved him; thus proving a staff of reed to the house of Israel," in the full sense of the term. Nebuchadnezzar marched back again to Jerusalem, and took it, and burned it, according to the tenor of prophecy. See Jer. xxxvii. 2-10; with which passage compare Ezek. xxxi. This event is dated 586 years B. C. Some time after, (about B. c. 574,) the chastisements with which the Almighty threatened Pharaoh-hophra began to descend upon his head. The Cyrenians, a Greek colony which had settled in Africa between Libya and Egypt, having seized upon and divided among themselves a great portion of the country belonging to the Libyans, forced those nations to place themselves under the protection of Apries. Accordingly, this prince sent a large army into Libya to oppose the Cyrenians; but this army being defeated and almost destroyed, the Egyptians imagined that Apries had sent it into Libya in order to seek its destruction, and by that means to obtain absolute power over the property and lives of his subjects. This reflection prompted them to shake off his yoke; but Apries hearing of the rebellion, despatched Amasis, one of his officers, to suppress it, and to compel the rebels to return to their allegiance. The moment, however, Amasis began to address them, they placed a helmet upon his head, in token of the dignity to which they intended to raise him, and they proclaimed him king. Amasis, therefore, instead of performing his duty, pleased with his unexpected honours, stayed with the mutineers, and confirmed them in their rebellion. Apries, on receiving intelligence to this effect, was more exasperated than ever, and he sent Patarbemis, one of the principal lords of his court, to arrest Amasis and bring him before him. This was not so easily effected; the rebel army surrounded Amasis to defend him, and Patarbemis was compelled to return without having executed his commission. Apries visited him for this supposed remissness of duty with unjustifiable punishment. He was treated, indeed, in the most inhuman and ignominious manner, his nose and ears being cut off by the command of Apries. But this outrage, committed upon a person of such high distinction, had the worst effect upon the minds of the Egyptians; they arose in a body and joined the rebels, so that the insurrection became general. Apries was now forced to retire into Upper Egypt, where he supported himself some years, during which time Amasis made himself master of the rest of his dominions. Internal discord was not all the misery brought upon Egypt at this period. The king of Babylon, seeing the troubles that distracted Egypt, embraced this opportunity of invading the kingdom. This prince, unknown to himself, was only an agent in the hands of the Almighty, to punish a people, on whom, as we have seen, he had, by the mouth of his prophet, denounced vengeance. Nebuchadnezzar had just before taken Tyre, where himself and army had suffered incredible hardships, and yet had obtained no recompense when the city fell into their hands; the Tyrians having spoiled the city themselves, But the and fled away with their effects. riches of the earth are in the hands of God, and he giveth them to whom he will. To recompense the toils which the king of Babylon had endured in taking Tyre, (which event also took place in accordance with prophecy,) God promised him the riches of Egypt, then one of the most prosperous and powerful kingdoms in the world. According to Herodotus, it was at this epoch at which Egypt was most flourishing, both with regard to the advantages conferred by the river on the soil, and by the soil on the inhabitants. There are few passages in Holy Writ more remarkable than that which reveals the designs of the Creator with reference to this event, or which give us a clearer idea of the supreme authority he exercises over the children of men, however exalted their station may be. "Son of man," said the Almighty to his prophet Ezekiel, "Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon caused his army to serve a great service against Tyrus: every head was made bald," (owing to the pressure of their helmets,)" and every shoulder was peeled," (the consequence of carrying baskets of earth and large pieces of timber to join Tyre to the continent :)" yet had he no wages, nor his army, for Tyrus, for the service that he had served against it: Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will give the land of Egypt unto Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon; and he shall take her multitude, and take her spoil, and take her prey; and it shall be the wages for his army. I have given him the land of Egypt for his labour wherewith he served against it, because they wrought for me, saith the Lord God," Ezek. xxix. 18-20. The prophet Jeremiah, also, with reference to this event, uses these remarkable words: "He shall array himself with the land of Egypt, as a shepherd putteth on his garment," (with the greatest readiness;)" and he shall go forth from thence in peace," Jer. xliii. 12. The extent of the desolation of Egypt was foretold by the prophet Ezekiel, (chap. xxx. 3— 12,) in these words: "The day is near, Even the day of the Lord is near, a cloudy day; And all the mingled people, and Chub, Thus saith the Lord; They also that uphold Egypt shall fall; And the pride of her power shall come down: From the tower of Syene shall they fall in it by the sword, Saith the Lord God." And they shall be desolate in the midst of the countries that are desolate, And her cities shall be in the midst of the cities that are wasted. And they shall know that I am the Lord, And when all her helpers shall be destroyed. In that day shall messengers go forth from me in ships To make the careless Ethiopians afraid, And great pain shall come upon them, as in the day of Egypt: For, lo, it cometh. Thus saith the Lord God; I will also make the multitude of Egypt to cease He and his people with him, the terrible of the nations, And they shall draw their swords against Egypt, And sell the land into the hand of the wicked: I the Lord have spoken it.' How literally the event justified these predictions, profane history declares. In the spring of the year, B. c. 570, Nebuchadnezzar, that "cruel lord, and fierce king," invaded Egypt; and he quickly overran the whole extent of the country, from Migdol, its northern extremity near the Red Sea, to Syene, the southern, bordering on Ethiopia, or Abyssinia. He made a fearful slaughter wherever he came, and desolated the country so effectually, that the damage could not be repaired in forty years. The spoils he collected were immense. With these, he clothed, as it were, his army, and after he had made alliance with Amasis, or placed him on the throne as his viceroy, he returned to Babylon. When the Chaldean army had retired from Egypt, Apries left the retreat in which he had secreted himself, and advanced towards the sea coast, probably on the side of Libya. Then, hiring an army of Carians, Ionians, and other foreigners, he marched against Amasis, to whom he gave battle near Memphis. In this battle, Apries was taken prisoner, and he was carried to the city of Sais, and strangled in his own palace by the Egyptians; fulfilling the prophecy which saith, "Behold, I will give Pharaohhophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies, and into the hand of them that seek his life,” Jer. xliv. 30. See also Ezek. xxxii. 32. This occurred B. C. 569. We have intimated that the king of Babylon was an agent in the hands of God in thus punishing Pharaoh-hophra and his people the Egyptians. A notice of other remarkable prophecies, not before adduced, and relating to this event, may here be given. By the prophet Ezekiel, (chap. xxx. 22-24,) the Almighty said: "Behold, I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt, And will break his arms, the strong, and that which was broken; And I will cause the sword to fall out of his hand. And I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, And he shall groan before him with the groanings of a deadly wounded man." The very towns which were to be ravaged by the victor are also enumerated, Ezek. xxx. 13-18. "Thus saith the Lord God; I will also destroy the idols, And I will cause their images to cease out of Noph; And I will make Pathros desolate, And will set fire in Zoan, [Tanis,] And will execute judgments in No. And I will pour my fury upon Sin, [Pelusium,] the strength of Egypt; And Noph shall have distress daily. ment, there is reason to suppose he alludes to Apries being deposed, and succeeded by Amasis; and it be readily imagined that the Assymay rians, having extended their conquests to the ex The young men of Aven [Heliopolis] and of Pibeseth tremity of Palestine, would, on the rumour of [Pubastum] shall fall by the sword: And these cities shall go into captivity. At Tehaphnehes [Daphnæ Pelusia] also the day shall be darkened, When I shall break there the yokes of Egypt: And her daughters shall go into captivity." But the Almighty was not less punctual in the accomplishment of his prophecies which bare reference to such of his own people as had retired, contrary to his will, into Egypt, after the taking of Jerusalem, and who had forced Jeremiah to go down thither with them also. The moment they had arrived in Egypt, and had settled at Tanis, the prophet, after having hid in their presence, by the command of God, some stones in a grotto which was near the palace of the monarch, declared to them that the king of Babylon should soon arrive in Egypt, and that his throne should be established in that very place; that he would lay waste the whole kingdom, and carry fire and sword into all places; that themselves should fall into the hands of the Chaldeans, when one part of them should be slain, and the rest led captive to Babylon; and that only a very small number should escape, and be at length restored to their country. All these prophecies were accomplished in the appointed time. See Jer. xliii. xliv. CHAPTER V. THE KINGDOM OF EGYPT. BABYLONIAN DOMINATION. AMASIS. THE defeat and death of Apries, before mentioned, are given on the authority of Herodotus, who represents Amasis as a rebel chief taking advantage of the disaffection of the army to dethrone his sovereign. This information he received from the Egyptian priests; but they made no mention of the signal defeat their army experienced, nor of that loss of territory in Syria which resulted from Nebuchadnezzar's success. It is reasonable to conclude, therefore, that they disguised the truth from the Greek historian; and without mentioning the disgrace which had befallen their country, and the interposition of a foreign power, attributed the change in the succession, and the elevation of Amasis to the throne, solely to his ambition and the choice of the military of Egypt. Josephus, however, expressly states that the Assyrian monarch led an army into Colo-Syria, of which he obtained possession, and the waged war on the Ammonites and Moabites. These being subdued, he invaded and conquered Egypt; and having put the king of that country to death, he appointed another in his stead. If Josephus be correct in this state civil war in Egypt, hasten to take advantage of the opportunity thus afforded them of attacking the country. This would amount almost to a certainty, if, as some suppose, the war between Apries and Amasis did not terminate in the single conflict at Memphis, but lasted several years; and that either Amasis solicited the aid and intervention of Nebuchadnezzar, or this prince, availing himself of the disordered state of the country, of his own accord invaded it, deposed the rightful sovereign, and placed Amasis on the throne, on condition of paying tribute to the Assyrians. Amasis then ascended the throne of Egypt as a vassal of the king of Babylon; and the injury done to the lands and cities of Egypt by this invasion, and the disgrace with which the Egyptians felt themselves overwhelmed after such an event, would justify the predictions of the prophets concerning the fall of Egypt. To witness their countrymen taken captive to Babylon, and to become tributary to an enemy whom they held in abhorrence, would be considered by the Egyptians the greatest calamity, as though they had for ever lost their station in the scale of nations. This last circumstance would satisfactorily account for the title Melek,* given to inferior or tributary kings, being applied to Amasis, in some of the hieroglyphic legends accompanying his name. According to Africanus, Amasis was a native of Siouph, in the nomos or district of Sais, in the Delta. Herodotus relates a whimsical experiment to which he had recourse in order to gain the affections of his subjects, who in the beginning of his reign despised him on account of his mean extraction. He had a golden cistern, in which himself and his guests were wont to wash their feet. This he caused to be melted down, and cast into a statue, which he exposed to public worship. The superstitious people hasted in crowds to pay their adoration to this new god. This Amasis anticipated, and calling them together, he informed them of the vile uses to which this statue, which they now adored, had once served. The application was obvious, and it had the desired effect; for the people ever afterwards paid Amasis the respect due to majesty. Diodorus, however, asserts that Amasis was originally a person of consequence; that he was a distinguished member of the military caste, which accords with his rank as a general; and that he married the daughter of Psammiti cus. Amasis used to devote the whole morning to public business, to receive petitions, give audience, pronounce sentence, and hold his councils. The rest of the day was devoted to pleasure; and as Amasis, in these hours of diversion, was extremely gay, and indulged in unseemly mirth, * The term Melek denoted an inferior grade of " "king," or it was reserved for those who governed as tributaries or viceroys of a more powerful prince, of which this is an example, others will appear after the Persian conquest. his courtiers represented to him the unsuitableness of such conduct. He replied, that it was as impossible for the mind to be always intent upon business, as for a bow to continue always bent; a reply which indicated that he was well acquainted with the weakness of human nature. This prince enacted a domiciliary law; namely, that every Egyptian, once during the year, should set forth to the nomarch, or chief magistrate of his district, by what means he subsisted; and whoever did not attend, or could not prove that he lived honestly, was to be punished with death. This was a most effectual law against idlers, and thieves or robbers. So wise was it considered by Solon, the Greek legislator, who visited the court of Amasis about B. c. 554, that, according to Herodotus, he introduced it at Athens; where, says this historian, it is still in use as being a blameless law. Amasis married a Greek wife from Cyrene. He was an admirer of the Grecians; and he prepared the way for great changes in the social condition of Egypt, by allowing Greek merchants to settle at Naucratis, and to build temples and bazars. When the temple of Delphi was burned by accident, he sent a contribution of a thousand talents of alum towards rebuilding it; he also sent rich offerings to the temples of Cyrene, Lindus, and Samos.* From this cause, it has been inferred, that the Egyptian superstition was not so incompatible with that of other nations as might be imagined from the domestic feuds of the several sects, for the worshippers of dogs, cats, wolves, and crocodiles, exercised a continual warfare with each other as humorously described by Juvenal. He says:— "How Egypt, mad with superstition grown, Her dogs have temples, but the goddess none! The kindness shown by Amasis to Samos, says Herodotus, was owing to the friendship which subsisted between him and Polycrates, the son of Eaces; but he had no such motive of attachment to Lindus, and was only moved by the report of the temple of Minerva having been erected there by the daughters of Danaus, when they fled from the sons of Egyptus. *The present he made to the temple at Cyrene was a golden statue of Minerva, with a portrait of himself; to that of Lindus, two marble statues, with a linen corslet; and to that of Samos, two figures of himself carved in wood, which were placed immediately behind the gates, where they remained till the time of Herodotus. The crocodile. A bird that is a great destroyer of serpents in Egypt. § This colossus or marble statue of Memnon held a harp in its hand, which uttered musical sounds when struck by the beams of the rising sun; which Strabo tells us that he both saw and heard, but confesses he is not able to assign a cause. The same author informs us that his affection for the Cyrenians arose from his having married Ladice, a native of that country, who was afterwards, when Cambyses conquered Egypt, sent back to her parents. The friendship of this monarch of Egypt and Polycrates commenced at the period of the war between the Lacedemonians and the latter, who had forcibly possessed himself of Samos. It had been cemented by various presents on both sides, and appeared to promise a long continuance. But Plutarch has well observed, that prosperity is no just scale, but adversity is the true balance to weigh friends. The ancient historian relates that the Egyptian monarch, offended with the tyrannical conduct of Polycrates, and foreseeing, from the feeling excited against him both among his subjects and foreigners, that his fate was inevitable, withdrew his friendship from him. The event justified his foresight; for the subjects of Polycrates revolted, and he was at length murdered by the treacherous Orastes. That Amasis was a great encourager of art we have ample testimony from the monuments which remain, as well as from the statements of ancient historians. He decorated the chief city of the nomos in which he was born (Sais) with numerous great works. These were magnificent propylæa to the temple of Athanæa, enormous colossi, and large andro-sphinxes. His great architectural achievement was a monolith, or one stone temple, which he brought from the granite quarries of Syene, down the river, a distance of about 600 miles. The exterior dimensions of this stone were 31 Greek feet long, 21 broad, and 12 high: a chamber was cut out in the interior, the dimensions of which were, 284 feet long, 18 broad, and 71⁄2 high. Amasis made, also, a colossus 75 Greek feet long, flanked by two smaller figures, 30 feet high, which he placed in front of the great temple of Hephæstus, (Phtha,) at Memphis. He placed a similar one at Sais. 66 These The restoration of Egypt, says Dr. Hales, under Amasis, seems to have been foretold in Scripture: At the end of forty years will I gather the Egyptians from the people whither they were scattered," Ezek. xxix. 13. nezzar's invasion, B. c. 570, expired B. c. 530, forty years of captivity, counted from Nebuchadwhen Cyrus, who had subverted the Babylonian empire, B. c. 538, and into whose power Egypt, as a province of that empire, had fallen, by a wise and liberal policy, released the Egyptians, as he had before the Jews. This act of grace occurred five years before the death of Amasis. The next year, B.C. 529, Cyrus died, and the Egyptians revolted, upon which, Cambyses, the successor of Cyrus, made it his first act, after he had settled the eastern provinces, to invade Egypt. Herodotus, however, assigns a different cause for the invasion. He says, that towards the latter end of the reign of this monarch, Cambyses sent to Egypt to demand his daughter in marriage, a step to which he had been prompted by a certain Egyptian, an enemy of Amasis. This man was a physician; and when Cyrus had requested of the Egyptian king the best medical advice he could procure for a disorder in his eyes, Amasis forced him to leave his wife and family, and go into Persia.* Meditating revenge for this treatment, he instigated his successor to require the daughter of Amasis, that he might either suffer affliction at the loss of his child, or, by refusing to send her, provoke the resentment of Cambyses. Amasis detested the character of the Persian monarch; and persuaded that his treatment of her would neither be honourable nor worthy of a princess, he was unwilling to accept the overture; but fearing to give a positive refusal, he determined on sending the daughter of the late king. The name of this princess was Neitatis, or, as Herodotus calls her, Nitetis. She was possessed of great personal attractions; and Amasis, having dressed her in the most splendid attire, sent her into Persia as his own child. Not long after, Cambyses happening to address her as the daughter of Amasis, she explained the manner in which he had been deceived, by a man who had dethroned and put Apries her father to death, and had seized upon the throne through the assistance of a rebellious faction. Upon this, Cambyses was so enraged, that he resolved to make war upon the usurper, and immediately prepared to invade Egypt. This statement will not bear the test of examination. Nitetis is represented to have been sent to Persia towards the close of the reign of Amasis, which lasted forty-four years; and allowing her to have been born immediately before Apries was dethroned, she would have been of an age which in Egypt and Persia is no longer The Egyptians paid great attention to health; and so wisely, says Herodotus, was medicine managed by them, that no doctor was permitted to practise any but his own particular branch. Some were oculists, who only studied diseases of the eye; others attended solely to the complaints of the head; others to those of the teeth; some again confined themselves to complaints of the intestines; and others to secret and internal maladies, accoucheurs being generally, if not always women. The physicians received salaries from the public treasury. After they had studied those precepts which were laid down from the experience of their predecessors, they were permitted to practise. In order to insure their attention to the prescribed rules, and to prevent experiments being made upon patients, they were punished if their treatment was contrary to the established system; and the death of a person under such circumstances was deemed a capital offence. If, however, every remedy had been administered according to the sanatory law, they were absolved from all blame. According to Pliny, the Egyptians claimed the honour of having invented the art of curing diseases. The Bible, indeed, affords some sanction to this claim, by the fact that its first notice of physicians is to intimate their existence in Egypt. See Gen. 1. 2; Exod. xxi. 19. The employment of numerous drugs in Egypt is mentioned by sacred and profane writers; and the medicinal properties of many herbs which grow in the deserts are still known to the Arabs, although their application has been but imperfectly preserved. "O virgin, the daughter of Egypt," says Jeremiah: "in vain shalt thou use many medicines; for thou shalt not be cured," Jer. xlvi. 11. Homer, in his Odyssey, describes the many valuable medicines given by Polydamna, the wife of Thonis, to Helen, when in Egypt; and Pliny makes frequent mention of the productions of that country, and their use in medicine. The same writer mentions, that the Egyptians examined the bodies after their death, to ascertain the nature of the diseases of which they died. We learn from Herodotus, moreover, that Cyrus, as stated above, and Darius, both sent to Egypt for medical men. All this tends to prove the medical skill of the ancient Egyptians; but notwithstanding this, it is indicated only in the painting of Beni Hassan, where a doctor and a patient are twice represented. It a recommendation or the associate of beauty. is more likely, that Amasis, who had submitted to Cyrus, refused, upon the death of that conqueror, to pay his successor the same homage and tribute. But whatever may have been the real motive for this war, it is certain that Cambyses was greatly enraged against Amasis; and that the Egyptians, when the country was invaded by the Persian monarch, were treated with unwonted cruelty. The death of Amasis, however, which happened six months before the arrival of the Persians, prevented Cambyses from satiating his meditated revenge on the Egyptian monarch: and judging from the savage rage which the Persian conqueror vented upon his lifeless body, it was fortunate for Amasis that he had not fallen alive into his hands. Herodotus mentions the situation of the tomb of Amasis. Like all those of the Saite monarchs, it stood within the precincts of the temple of Minerva, in the chief city of that nome, which, during the reign of the princes of the twentysixth dynasty, had become the royal residence of the monarchs, and the nominal metropolis of Egypt; Thebes and Memphis still retaining the titles of the capitals of Upper and Lower Egypt. CHAPTER VI. THE KINGDOM OF EGYPT. PERSIAN DOMINATION. CAMBYSES entered the country of Egypt, B.C. 525, when he found that Amasis was just dead, and that he was succeeded in his kingdom by his son PSAMMENITUS. The first operations of Cambyses were against Pelusium, which Ezekiel styled, "the strength of Egypt," and Suidas, "the key of Egypt,' or its strong barrier on the side of Syria and Arabia. This place he took by a singular stratagem. Finding it was garrisoned entirely by the Egyptian troops, he placed a great number of the sacred animals, cats, dogs, cows, sheep, etc., in front of the Persians when advancing to the walls; and the Egyptians, not daring to throw a dart, or shoot an arrow, for fear of killing some of their gods, the walls were scaled, and the city taken without difficulty. Conscious of the great danger to which Egypt was exposed by the invasion of the Persians, Psammenitus made great preparations for the defence of the frontier, and advancing with his Egyptian troops, and the Ionian and Carian auxiliaries, to Pelusium, he encamped in a plain near the mouth of the Nile. The Persians having passed the desert, took up a position opposite the Egyptian army, and both sides prepared for battle. The conflict soon commenced, and the battle was for a long time obstinately disputed; till at length, after a great slaughter had been made on both sides, the Egyptians gave way and fled. The way from Pelusium to Memphis was now open to the invader, and with rapid marches he hastened towards the ancient capital of Lower |