of the foul, and that very juftly, because the foul was there cur'd of ignorance, the most dangerous and the parent of all her maladies. As their country was level, and the air of it always ferene and unclouded, they were fome of the firft who obferved the courfes of the planets. These observations led them to regulate the year + from the course of the fun; for as Diodorus obferves, their year, from the most remote antiquity, was compofed of three hundred fixty five days and fix hours. To adjust the property of their lands, which were every year covered by the overflowing of the Nile, they were obliged to have recourse to furveys; and this first taught them geometry. They were great obfervers of nature, which, in a climate fo ferene, and under fo intense a fun, was vigorous and fruitful. By this study and application they invented or improved the fcience of phyfick. The fick were not abandoned to the arbitrary will-and caprice of the phyfician. He was obliged to follow fixed rules, which were the obfervations of old and experienced practitioners, and written in the facred books. While thefe rules were obferved, the phyfician was not answerable for the fuccefs; otherwife a miscarriage coft him his life. This law checked indeed the temerity of empiricks; but then it might prevent new difcoveries, and keep the art from attaining to + that the Egyptians, who were the most ancient obfervers of the celefti"al motions fhould have arrived to this knowledge; when it is confider'd, that the lunar year, It will not feem furprising fight, by calculato made ufe of by the Greeks and Romans, tho' it appears fo inconvenient and irregular, fuppos'd nevertheless a knowledge of the folar Year, fuch as Diodorus Siculus afcribes to the Egyptians. Twill appear at first their intercalations, that those who firft di"vided the year in this manner, were no ignorant, that to three hundred fixty five days, fome hours were to be added, to keep pace with the fun. Their only error lay, inthe fuppofition that only fix hours were wanting; whereas an addition of almost eleven minutes more was requifite: its just perfection. Every phyfician, if Herodotus 1. 2. c. 84. may be credited, confined his practice to the cure of one disease only; one was for the eyes, another for the teeth, and so on. WHAT We have faid of the pyramids, and the labyrinth; and that infinite number of obelisks, temples and palaces, whofe precious remains ftill ftrike with admiration, and in which were display'd, the magnificence of the Princes who raised them, the skill of the workmen, the riches of the ornaments diffused over every part of them, and the juft proportion and beautiful fymmetry of the parts in which their greatest beauty confifted; works, in many of which the liveliness of the colours remain to this day, in fpite of the rude hand of time, which either deadens or deftroys them: All this, I fay, fhews the perfection to which architecture, painting, fculpture, and all other arts had arrived in Egypt. THE Egyptians entertained but a mean opinion Diod. 1. 1. of that fort of exercife, which did not contribute to p. 73. invigorate the body, or give a vigorous health*; nor of mufick, which they confidered as a useless and dangerous diverfion, and only fit to enervate the mind. Τὴν δὲ μεσικὴν νομίζεσιν ἐ βλαβερον ὡς ἂν ἐκθηλύνεσαν τὰς μόνεν άχρησον ὑπάρχειν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν ἀνδρῶν ψυχρός. СНАР. V. Of HUSBANDMEN, SHEPHERDS and H ARTIFICERS. USBANDMEN, fhepherds, and artificers, Diod. 1. 1. formed the three ftages of lower life in Egypt, p. 67, 68. but they nevertheless were had in very great esteem, particularly husbandmen and fhepherds. The body E 4 politick politick requires a fuperiority and fubordination of its several members; for as in thatural body, the eye may be faid to hold the first rank, yet its luftre does not dart contempt upon the feet, the hands, or even on those parts which are lefs honourable. In like manner, among the Egyptians, the Priefts, Soldiers, and Scholars were diftinguished by particular honours; but all profeffions, to the meaneft, had their share in the publick efteem, because the defpifing any man, whofe labours, however mean, were useful to the State, was thought a crime. A BETTER reason than the foregoing, might have inspired them at the firft with these fentiments of equity and moderation, which they fo long preferv'd. or Ham. As they all defcended from Cham their common father, the memory of their origin occurring fresh to the minds of all in thofe first ages; eftablished among them a kind of equality, and ftamped, in their opinion, a nobility on every perfon derived from the common stock. Indeed the difference of conditions, and the contempt with which perfons of the laweft rank are treated, are owing merely to the diftance from the common root; which makes us forget that the meaneft plebeian, when his defcent is traced back to the fource, is equally noble with thofe of the most elevated rank and titles. Be that as it will, no profeffion in Egypt was con red as groveling or fordid. By this mean arts were railed to their highest perfection. The honour which cherished them mixed with every thought and care for their improvement. Every man had his way of life affigned him by the laws, and it was perpetuated from father to fon. Two profeffions at one time, or a change of that which a man was born to, were never allowed. By this means, men became more able and expert in employments which they had always exercifed from their infancy; and every man adding his own experience to that of his ancestors, was more capable of attaining perfection in his particular Esafiring cular art. Befides, this wholesome institution which had been established anciently throughout Egypt, extinguished all irregular ambition; and taught every man to fit down contented with his condition, without afpiring to one more elevated, from intereft, vainglory or levity. FROM this fource flowed numberless inventions to bring every art to its perfection, and render life more commodious, and trade more easy. I once could not believe that Diodorus was in earnest, in what he re- Diod. I. 1. lates concerning the Egyptian industry, viz. that p. 67. this people had found out a way, by an artificial fecundity, to hatch eggs without the fitting of the hen; but all modern travellers declare it to be a fact, which certainly is worthy our curiofity, and is faid to be practifed in Europe. Their relations inform us, that the Egyptians ftow eggs in ovens, which are heated fo temperately, and with fuch juft proportion to the natural warmth of the hen, that the chickens produced from these ovens are as ftrong as those which are hatched the natural way. The feafon of the year proper for this operation is, from the end of December to the end of April; the heat in Egypt being too violent in the other months. During thefe four months, upwards of three hundred thousand eggs are laid in thefe ovens, which tho' they are not all fuccefsful, they nevertheless produce vaft numbers of fowls at an eafy rate. The art lies in giving the ovens a juft degree of heat, which muft not exceed a fixed proportion. About ten days are bestowed in heating thefe ovens, and very near as much time in hatching the eggs. It is very entertaining, say these travellers, to obferve the hatching of these chickens, fome of which fhew at first nothing but their heads, others but half their bodies, and others again come quite out of the egg;. These laft, the moment they are hatched, make their way over the unhatched eggs, and form a diverting fpectacle. Corneille le Bruyn, in his travels, has p. 64. collected the obfervations of other travellers on this" subject fubject. Pliny likewife mentions it; but it appears, from him, that the Egyptians, anciently, employed warm dung, not ovens, to hatch eggs *. I HAVE faid, that husbandmen particularly, and those who took care of flocks, were in great efteem in Egypt, fome parts of it excepted, where the latter were not fuffered t. It was, indeed, to these two profeffions that Egypt owed its riches and plenty. It is aftonishing to reflect what advantages the Egyptians, by their art and labour, drew from a country of no great extent, but whofe foil was made wonderfully fruitful by the inundations of the Nile, and the laborious industry of the inhabitants. It will be always fo with every Kingdom, whofe Governors direct all their actions to the publick welfare. The culture of lands, and the breeding of cattle will be an inexhauftible fund of wealth in all countries, where, as in Egypt, these profitable callings are fupported and incouraged by maxims of ftate and policy: And we may confider it as a miffortune, that they are at prefent fallen into fo general a disesteem; though 'tis from them that the most elevated ranks (as we efteem them) are furnished not only with the neceffaries, but even the delights of womb, and we are told, fays Pliny, that he was not deceiv'd. It is probable Mr. Rollin may have met with fome other place in Pliny favourable to his fentiment, tho' after fome fearch I cannot find He any *The words of Pliny referr'd Speaks of this invention as modern, Hogherds, in particular, had a general ill name throughout Egypt, as they had the care of fe impure an animal. Herodotus (1. z. c. 47.) tell us, that they were not permitted to enter the Egyptian Temples, nor wou'd any man give them his daughter in marriage. |