Part 13

Page 49.—“_There__ is, to the north of Memphis_,” _&c._—“Tout prouve que la territoire de Sakkarah étoit la Necropolis au sud de Memphis, et le faubourg opposé à celui‐ci, où sont les pyramides de Gizeh, une autre Ville des Morts, qui terminoit Memphis au nord.” _Denon._

There is nothing known with certainty as to the site of Memphis, but it will be perceived that the description of its position given by the Epicurean corresponds, in almost every particular, with that which M. Maillet (the French consul, for many years, at Cairo) has left us. It must be always borne in mind, too, that of the distances between the respective places here mentioned, we have no longer any accurate means of judging.

Page 49.—“_Pyramid beyond pyramid._”—“Multas olim pyramidas fuisse e ruinis arguitur.” _Zoega._—_Vansleb_, who visited more than ten of the small pyramids, is of opinion that there must have originally been a hundred in this place.

See, for the lake to the northward of Memphis, _Shaw’s Travels_, p. 302.

Page 57.—“_The Theban beetle._”—“On voit en Egypte, après la retraite du Nil et la fécondation des terres, le limon couvert d’une multitude de scarabées. Un pareil phénomène a dû sembler aux Egyptiens le plus propre à peindre une nouvelle existence.” _M. Jomard._—Partly for the same reason, and partly for another, still more fanciful, the early Christians used to apply this emblem to Christ. “Bonus ille scarabæus meus,” says St. Augustine “non eâ tantum de causâ quod unigenitus, quod ipsemet sui auctor mortalium speciem induerit, sed quod in hac nostrâ fæce sese volutaverit et ex hac ipsa nasci voluerit.”

Ib.—“_Enshrined within a case of crystal._”—“Les Egyptiens ont fait aussi, pour conserver leurs morts, des caisses de verre.” _De Pauw._—He mentions, in another place, a sort of transparent substance, which the Ethiopians used for the same purpose, and which was frequently mistaken by the Greeks for glass.

Page 58.—“_Among the emblems of death._”—“Un prêtre, qui brise la tige d’une fleur, des oiseaux qui s’envolent sont les emblemes de la morte et de l’âme qui se sépare du corps.” _Denon._

Theseus employs the same image in the Phædra:—

_Ορνις γαρ ὡς τις εκ χερων αφαντος ει_ _Πηδημ’ ες ἁδου πικρον ὁρμησασα μοι._

Page 59.—“The singular appearance of a Cross so frequently recurring among the hieroglyphics of Egypt, had excited the curiosity of the Christians at a very early period of ecclesiastical history; and as some of the Priests, who were acquainted with the meaning of the hieroglyphics, became converted to Christianity the secret transpired. ‘The converted heathens,’ says Socrates Scholasticus, ‘explained the symbol, and declared that it signified Life to Come.’” _Clarke._

Lipsius, therefore, erroneously supposes the Cross to have been an emblem peculiar to the Christians. See, on this subject, _L’Histoire des Juifs_, liv. 9. c. 16.

It is singular enough that while the Cross was held sacred among the Egyptians, not only the custom of marking the forehead with the sign of the Cross, but Baptism and the consecration of the bread in the Eucharist were imitated in the mysterious ceremonies of Mithra. _Tertull. de Proscriptione Hereticorum._

Zoega is of opinion that the Cross found (for the first time, it is said) on the destruction of the temple of Serapis, by the Christians, could have not been the crux ansata; as nothing is more common than this emblem on all the Egyptian monuments.

Page 62.—“_Stood shadowless._”—It was an idea entertained among the ancients that the Pyramids were so constructed (“mecanicâ constructione,” says _Ammianus Marcellinus_) as never to cast any shadow.

Page 64.—“_Rhodope._”—From the story of Rhodope, Zoega thinks, “videntur Arabes ansam arripuisse ut in una ex pyramidibus, genii loco, habitare dicerent mulierem nudam insignis pulchritudinis quæ aspectu suo homines insanire faciat.” _De Usu Obeliscorum._ See also _L’Egypte de Murtadi par Vattier_.

Page 66.—“_The Gates of Oblivion._”—“Apud Memphim æneas quasdam portas, quæ Lethes et Cocyti (hoc est oblivionis et lamentationis) appellenter aperiri, gravem asperumque edentes sonum.” _Zoega._

Page 69.—“_A pile of lifeless bodies._”—See, for the custom of burying the dead upright (“post funus stantia busto corpora,” as Statius describes it), Dr. Clarke’s preface to the 2d section of his fifth volume. They used to insert precious stones in the place of the eyes. “Les yeux étoient formés d’émeraudes, de turquoises,” &c.—v. _Masoudy_, quoted by _Quatremere_.

Page 72.—“_It seemed as if every echo._”—See, for the echoes in the pyramids, _Plutarch, de Placitis Philosoph._

Page 74.—“_Pale phantom‐like shapes._”—“Ce moment heureux (de l’Autopsie) étoit preparé par des scènes effrayantes, par des alternatives de crainte et de joie, de lumière et des ténèbres, par la lueur des éclairs, par le bruit terrible de la foudre, qu’on imitoit, et par des apparitions de spectres, des illusions magiques, qui frappoient les yeux et les oreilles tout ensemble.” _Dupuis._

Page 77.—“_Serpents of fire._”—“Ces considérations me portent à penser que, dans les mystères, ces phénomènes étoient beaucoup mieux exécutées et sans comparison plus terribles à l’aide de quelque composition pyrique, qui est restée cachée, comme celle du feu Grégeois.” _De Pauw._

Page 78.—“_The burning of the reed‐beds of Ethiopia._”—“Il n’y a point d’autre moyen que de porter le feu dans ces forêts de roseaux, qui répandent alors dans tout le païs une lumière aussi considérable que celle du jour même.” _Maillet_, tom. 1. p. 63.

Page 79.—“_The sound of torrents._”—The Nile, _Pliny_ tells us, was admitted into the Pyramid.

Page 81.—“_I had almost given myself up._”—“On exerçoit,” says _Dupuis_, “les recipiendaires, pendant plusieurs jours, à traverser, à la nage, une grande étendue d’eau. On les y jettoit et ce n’étoit que avec peine qu’ ils s’en retiroient. On appliquoit le fer et le feu sur leurs membres. On les faisoit passer à travers les flammes.”

The aspirants were often in considerable danger, and Pythagoras, we are told, nearly lost his life in the trials. v. _Recherches sur les Initiations, par Robin_.

Page 90.—For the two cups used in the mysteries, see _L’Histoire des Juifs_, liv. 9. c. 16.

Ib.—“_Osiris._”—Osiris, under the name of Serapis, was supposed to rule over the subterranean world; and performed the office of Pluto, in the mythology of the Egyptians. “They believed,” says Dr. Pritchard, “that Serapis presided over the region of departed souls, during the period of their absence, when languishing without bodies, and that the dead were deposited in his palace.” _Analysis of the Egyptian Mythology._

Ib.—“_To cool the lips of the dead._”—“Frigidam illam aquam post mortem, tanquam Hebes poculum, expetitam.” _Zoega._—The Lethe of the Egyptians was called Ameles. See _Dupuis_, tom. 8. p. 651.

Page 90.—“_A draught divine._”—_Diodor. Sicul._

Page 93.—“_Grasshopper, symbol of initiation._”—_Hor. Apoll._—The grasshopper was also consecrated to the sun as being musical.

Page 94.—“_Isle of gardens._”—The isle Antirrhodus near Alexandria. _Maillet._

Ib.—“_Vineyard at Anthylla._”—See _Athen. Deipnos._

Page 97.—“_We can see those stars._”—“On voyoit en plein jour par ces ouvertures les étoiles, et même quelques planètes en leur plus grande latitude septentrionale; et les prêtres avoient bientôt profité de ce phénomène pour observer à diverses heures la passage des étoiles.” _Séthos._—_Strabo_ mentions certain caves or pits, constructed for the purpose of astronomical observations, which lay in the Zelopolitan prefecture, beyond Heliopolis.

Page 98.—“_A plantain._”—This tree was dedicated to the Genii of the Shades, from its being an emblem of repose and cooling airs. “Cui imminet musæ folium, quod ab Iside infera geniisque ei addictis manu geri solitum, umbram requiemque et auras frigidas subindigitare videtur.” _Zoega._

Page 107.—“_He spoke of the preexistence of the soul_,” _&c._—For a full account of the doctrines which are here represented as having been taught to the initiated in the Egyptian mysteries, the reader may consult _Dupuis_, _Pritchard’s Analysis of the Egyptian Mythology_, &c. &c. “L’on découvroit l’origine de l’ame, sa chute sur la terre, à travers les sphères et les élémens, et son retour au lieu de sa origine ... c’étoit ici la partie la plus métaphysique, et que ne pourroit guère entendre le commun des Initiés, mais dont on lui donnoit le spectacle par des figures et des spectres allégoriques.” _Dupuis._

Page 108.—“_Those fields of radiance._”—See _Beausobre_, liv. 3. c. 4. for the “terre bienheureuse et lumineuse” which the Manicheans supposed God to inhabit. Plato, too, speaks (in Phæd.) of a “pure land lying in the pure sky (_την γην καθαραν εν καθαρω κεισθαι ουρανω_), the abode of divinity, of innocence, and of life.”

Page 110.—“_Tracing it from the first moment of earthward desire._”—In the original construction of this work, there was an episode introduced here, (which I have since published in another form,) illustrating the doctrine of the fall of the soul by the Oriental fable of the Loves of the Angels.

Page 111.—“_Restoring her lost wings._”—_Damascius_ in his Life of Isidorus, says, “Ex antiquissimis Philosophis Pythagoram et Platonem Isidorus ut Deos coluit, et _eorum animas alatas esse_ dixit quas in locum supercœlestem inque campum veritatis et pratum elevatas, divinis putavit ideis pasci.” _Apud Phot. Bibliothec._

Page 112.—“_A pale, moonlike meteor._”—_Apuleius_, in describing the miraculous appearances exhibited in the mysteries, says, “Nocte mediâ vidi solem candido coruscantem lumine.” _Metamorphos._ lib. 11.

Page 113.—“_So entirely did the illusion of the scene_,” _&c._—In tracing the early connection of spectacles with the ceremonies of religion, Voltaire says, “Il y a bien plus; les véritables grandes tragédies, les representations imposantes et terribles, étoient les mystères sacrés, qu’on célébroit dans les plus vastes temples du monde, en présence des seuls Initiés; c’étoit là que les habits, les décorations, les machines étoient propres au sujet; et le sujet étoit la vie présente et la vie future.” _Des divers changemens arrivés à l’art tragique._

To these scenic representations in the Egyptian mysteries, there is evidently an allusion in the vision of Ezekiel, where the spirit shows him the abominations which the Israelites learned in Egypt:—“Then said he unto me, ‘Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in _the chambers of his imagery_.’” Chap. 8.

Page 118.—“_The seven tables of stone._”—“Bernard, Comte de la Marche Trévisane, instruit par la lecture des livres anciens, dit qu’ Hermes trouva sept tables dans la vallée d’Hebron, sur lesquelles étoient gravés les principes des arts liberaux.” _Fables Egyptiennes._ See _Jablonski de stelis Herm._

Page 119.—“_Beside the goat of Mendes._”—For an account of the animal worship of the Egyptians, see _De Pauw_, tom. 2.

Ib.—“_The Isiac serpents._”—“On auguroit bien des serpens Isiaques, lorsqu’ils goutoient l’offrande et se trainoient lentement autour de l’autel.” _De Pauw._

Page 121.—“_Hence the festivals and hymns_,” _&c._—For an account of the various festivals at the different periods of the sun’s progress, in the spring, and in the autumn, see _Dupuis_ and _Pritchard_.

Ib.—“_The mysteries of the night._”—v. _Athenag. Leg. pro Christ._ p. 133.

Page 125.—“_A peal like that of thunder._”—See, for some curious remarks on the mode of imitating thunder and lightning in the ancient mysteries, _De Pauw_, tom. 1. p. 323. The machine with which these effects were produced on the stage was called a ceraunoscope.

Page 131.—“_Windings, capriciously intricate._”—In addition to the accounts which the ancients have left us of the prodigious excavations in all parts of Egypt,—the fifteen hundred chambers under the Labyrinth—the subterranean stables of the Thebaïd, containing a thousand horses—the crypts of Upper Egypt passing under the bed of the Nile, &c. &c.—the stories and traditions current among the Arabs still preserve the memory of those wonderful substructions. “Un Arabe,” says Paul Lucas, “qui étoit avec nous, m’assura qu’étant entré autrefois dans le Labyrinthe, il avoit marché dans les chambres souterraines jusqu’en un lieu où il y avoit une grande place environnée de plusieurs niches qui ressembloit à de petites boutiques, d’où l’on entroit dans d’autres allées et dans des chambres, sans pouvoir en trouver la fin.” In speaking, too, of the arcades along the Nile, near Cosseir, “Ils me dirent même que ces souterrains étoient si profondes qu’il y en avoient qui alloient à trois journées de là, et qu’ils conduisoient dans un pays où l’on voyoit de beaux jardins, qu’on y trouvoit de belles maisons,” &c. &c.

See also in _M. Quatremere’s Memoires sur l’Egypte_, tom. 1. p. 142., an account of a subterranean reservoir, said to have been discovered at Kaïs, and of the expedition undertaken by a party of persons, in a long narrow boat, for the purpose of exploring it. “Leur voyage avoit été de six jours, dont les quatre premiers furent employés à pénétrer les bords; les deux autres à revenir au lieu d’où ils étoient partis: Pendant tout cet intervalle ils ne purent atteindre l’extrémité du bassin. L’émir Ala‐ eddin‐Tamboga, gouverneur de Behnesa, écrivit ces détails au sultan, qui en fut extrêmement surpris.”

Page 136.—“_A small island in the centre of Lake Mœris._”—The position here given to Lake Mœris, in making it the immediate boundary of the city of Memphis to the south, corresponds exactly with the site assigned to it by Maillet:—“Memphis avoit encore à son midi un vaste reservoir, par où tout ce qui peut servir à la commodité et à l’agrément de la vie lui étoit voituré abondamment de toutes les parties de l’Egypte. Ce lac qui la terminoit de ce côté‐là,” &c. &c. Tom. 2. p. 7.

Ib.—“_Ruins rising blackly above the wave._”—“On voit sur la rive orientale des antiquités qui sont presque entièrement sous les eaux.” _Belzoni._

Page 137.—“_Its thundering portals._”—“Quorundam autem domorum (in Labyrintho) talis est situs, ut adaperientibus foris tonitru intus terribile existat.” _Pliny._

Page 138.—“_Leaves that serve as cups._”—_Strabo._ According to the French translator of Strabo, it was the fruit of the _faba Ægyptiaca_, not the leaf, that was used for this purpose. “Le _κιβωριον_,” he says, “devoit s’entendre de la capsule ou fruit de cette plante, dont les Egyptiens se servoient comme d’un vase, imaginant que l’eau du Nil y devenoit delicieuse.”

Page 142.—“_The fish of these waters_,” _&c._—_Ælian_, lib. 6. 32.

Ib.—“_Pleasure boats or yachts._”—Called Thalamages, from the pavilion on the deck. v. _Strabo_.

Page 144.—“_Covered with beds of those pale, sweet roses._”—As April is the season for gathering these roses (See _Malte‐brun’s Economical Calendar_), the Epicurean could not, of course, mean to say that he saw them actually in flower.

Page 146.—“_The lizards upon the bank._”—“L’or et l’azur brillent en bandes longitudinales sur leur corps entier, et leur queue est du plus beau bleu celeste.” _Sonnini._

Page 147.—“_The canal through which we now sailed._”—“Un canal,” says _Maillet_, “très profond et très large y voituroit les eaux du Nil.”

Page 150.—“_For a draught of whose flood_,” _&c._—“Anciennement on portoit les eaux du Nil jusqu’au des contrées fort éloignées, et surtout chez les princesses du sang des Ptolomées, mariées dans des families étrangères.” _De Pauw._

Page 154.—“_Bearing each the name of its owner._”—“Le nom du maître y étoit écrit, pendant la nuit en lettres de feu.” _Maillet._

Page 155.—“_Cups of that frail crystal_”—called Alassontes. For their brittleness _Martial_ is an authority:—

Tolle, puer, calices, tepidique toreumata Nili, Et mihi securâ pocula trade manu.

Ib.—“_Bracelets of the black beans of Abyssinia._”—The bean of the Glycyne, which is so beautiful as to be strung into necklaces and bracelets, is generally known by the name of the black bean of Abyssinia. _Niebhur._

Ib.—“_Sweet lotus‐wood flute._”—See _M. Villoteau on the musical instruments of the Egyptians_.

Page 156.—“_Shine like the brow of Mount Atlas at night._”—_Solinus_ speaks of the snowy summit of Mount Atlas glittering with flames at night. In the account of the Periplus of Hanno, as well as in that of Eudoxus, we read that as those navigators were coasting this part of Africa, torrents of light were seen to fall on the sea.

Page 158.—“_The tears of Isis._”—“Per lacrymas, vero, Isidis intelligo effluvia quædam Lunæ, quibus tantam vim videntur tribuisse Ægypti.” _Jablonski._—He is of opinion that the superstition of the _Nucta_, or miraculous drop, is of a relic of the veneration paid to the dews, as the tears of Isis.

Page 158.—“_The rustling of the acacias_,” _&c._—_Travels of Captain Mangles._

Ib.—“_Supposed to rest in the valley of the moon._”—_Plutarch._ _Dupuis_, tom. 10. The Manicheans held the same belief. See _Beausobre_, p. 565.

Page 160.—“_Sothis, the fair star of the waters._”—_ὑδραγωγον_ is the epithet applied to this star by _Plutarch_, _de Isid._

Ib.—“_Was its birth‐star._”—_Ἡ Σωθεως ανατολη γενεσεως καταρχουσα της εις τον κοσμον_. _Porphyr. de Antro Nymph._

Page 168.—“_Golden Mountains._”—v. _Wilford on Egypt and the Nile_, Asiatic Researches.

Ib.—“_Sweet‐smelling wood._”—“’A l’époque de la crue le Nil Vert charie les planches d’un bois qui a une odeur semblable à celle de l’encens.” _Quatremere._

Page 169.—“_Barges full of bees._”—_Maillet._

Page 170.—“_Such a profusion of the white flowers_,” _&c._—“On les voit comme jadis cueillir dans les champs des tiges du lotus, signes du débordement et présages de l’abondance; ils s’enveloppent les bras et le corps avec les longues tiges fleuries, et parcourent les rues,” &c. _Description des Tombeaux des Rois, par M. Costaz._

Page 173.—“_While composing his commentary on the scriptures._”—It was during the composition of his great critical work, the Hexapla, that Origen employed these female scribes.

Page 176.—“_That rich tapestry_,” _&c._

Non ego prætulerim Babylonica picta superbè Texta, Semiramiâ quæ variantur acu.

_Martial._

Page 200.—“_The Place of Weeping._”—v. _Wilford_, _Asiatic Researches_, vol. 3. p. 340.

Page 210.—“_We had long since left this mountain behind._”—The voyages on the Nile are, under favourable circumstances, performed with considerable rapidity. “En cinq ou six jours,” says _Maillet_, “on pourroit aisément remonter de l’embouchure du Nil à ses cataractes, ou descendre des cataractes jusqu’à la mer.” The great uncertainty of the navigation is proved by what _Belzoni_ tells us:—“Nous ne mîmes cette fois que deux jours et demi pour faire le trajet du Caire à Melawi, auquel, dans notre second voyage, nous avions employés dix‐huit jours.”

Page 212.—“_Those mighty statues, that fling their shadows._”—“Elles out près de vingt mètres (61 pieds) d’élévation; et au lever du soleil, leurs ombres immenses s’étendent au loin sur la chaine Libyen.” _Description générale de Thèbes, par Messrs. Jollois et Desvilliers._

Ib.—“_Those cool alcoves._”—_Paul Lucas._

Page 219.—“_Whose waters are half sweet, half bitter._”—_Paul Lucas._

Page 224.—“_The Mountain of the Birds._”—There has been much controversy among the Arabian writers, with respect to the site of this mountain, for which see _Quatremere_, tom. 1. art. _Amoun_.

Page 230.—“_The hand of labour had succeeded_,” _&c._—The monks of Mount Sinai (_Shaw_ says) have covered over near four acres of the naked rocks with fruitful gardens and orchards.

Page 233.—“_The image of a head._”—There was usually, Tertullian tells us, the image of Christ on the communion‐cups.

Ib.—“_Kissed her forehead._”—“We are rather disposed to infer,” says the present Bishop of Lincoln, in his very sensible work on Tertullian, “that, at the conclusion of all their meetings for the purpose of devotion, the early Christians were accustomed to give the kiss of peace, in token of the brotherly love subsisting between them.”

Page 237.—“_In the middle of the seven valleys._”—See Macrizy’s account of these valleys, given by Quatremere, tom. 1. p. 450.

Ib.—“_Red lakes of Nitria._”—For a striking description of this region, see “_Rameses_,”—a work which, though, in general, too technical and elaborate, shows, in many passages, to what picturesque effects the scenery and mythology of Egypt may be made subservient.

Page 238.—“_In the neighbourhood of Antinoë._”—From the position assigned to Antinoë in this work, we should conclude that it extended much farther to the north, than these few ruins of it that remain would seem to indicate; so as to render the distance between the city and the Mountain of the Birds considerably less than what it appears to be at present.

Page 243.—“_When Isis, the pure star of lovers._”—v. _Plutarch de Isid._

Ib.—“_Ere she again embrace her bridegroom sun._”—“Conjunctio solis cum luna, quod est veluti utriusque connubium.” _Jablonski._

Page 247.—“_Of his walks a lion is the companion._”—M. Chateaubriand has introduced Paul and his lion into the “_Martyrs_,” liv. 11.

Page 235.—“_Come thus secretly before day‐break._”—It was among the accusations of Celsus against the Christians, that they held their assemblies privately and contrary to law; and one of the speakers in the curious work of Minucius Felix calls the Christians “latebrosa et lucifugax natio.”

Page 256.—“_A swallow_,” _&c._—“Je vis dans le desert des hirondelles d’un gris clair comme le sable sur lequel elles volent.”—_Denon._

Page 257.—“_The comet that once desolated this world._”—In alluding to Whiston’s idea of a comet having caused the deluge, _M. Girard_, having remarked that the word Typhon means a deluge, adds, “On ne peut entendre par le tems du règne de Typhon que celui pendant lequel le déluge inonda la terre, tems pendant lequel on dût observer la comète qui l’occasionna, et dont l’apparition fut, non seulement pour les peuples de l’Egypte, et de l’Ethiopie, mais encore pour tous les peuples le présage funeste de leur destruction presque totale.” _Description de la Vallée de l’E’garement._

Page 259.—“_In which the spirit of my dream_,” _&c._—“Many people,” said _Origen_, “have been brought over to Christianity by the Spirit of God giving a sudden turn to their minds, and offering visions to them either by day or night.” On this _Jortin_ remarks:—“Why should it be thought improbable that Pagans of good dispositions, but not free from prejudices, should have been called by divine admonitions, by dreams or visions, which might be a support to Christianity in those days of distress.”

Page 263.—“_One of those earthen cups._”—_Palladius_, who lived some time in Egypt, describes the monk Ptolemæus, who inhabited the desert of Scete, as collecting in earthen cups the abundant dew from the rocks.—_Bibliothec. Pat._ tom. 13.

Page 264.—“_It was to preserve, he said_,” _&c._—The brief sketch here given of the Jewish dispensation agrees very much with the view taken of it by Dr. Sumner, the present Bishop of Llandaff, in the first chapters of his eloquent and luminous work, the “Records of the Creation.”

Page 266.—“_In vain did I seek the promise of immortality._”—“It is impossible to deny,” says the Bishop of Llandaff, “that the sanctions of the Mosaic Law are altogether temporal.... It is, indeed, one of the facts that can only be explained by acknowledging that he really acted under a divine commission, promulgating a temporary law for a peculiar purpose,”—a much more candid and sensible way of treating this very difficult point, than by either endeavouring, like Warburton, to escape from it into a paradox, or still worse, contriving, like Dr. Graves, to increase its difficulty by explanation. v. “_On the Pentateuch_.” See also _Horne’s Introduction_, _&c._ vol. I. p. 226.