reign with the state of affairs. No sooner had he arrived than Apries, finding he had failed to bring Amasis, without either inquiring the reason or listening to his statement, commanded his nose and ears to be cut off: an order which was immediately carried into execution. This barbarous and uncalled-for outrage, committed upon one so much esteemed by all classes, exasperated even those who had hitherto sided with Apries, and the greater part without hesitation deserted him, and went over to Amasis. Finding himself thus abandoned by the Egyptians, he collected the auxiliary troops who were about him, consisting of 30,000 Ionians and Carians, and prepared to oppose the enemy. The hostile armies met at Momemphis, Apries leading his small band of Greeks and the few Egyptians who had remained faithful to him, and Amasis at the head of the native troops. The foreigners fought bravely, but, greatly inferior in numbers, they were obliged at length to give way; and Apries, falling alive into the hands of the Egyptians, was carried prisoner to Saïs, where he was confined in the palace he had previously inhabited as king, which now belonged to his rival. Amasis did not show himself unworthy of the success he had obtained, and the singular favour of fortune. He treated his royal prisoner with great kindness, and used all his influence to preserve his life, in opposition to the representations and wishes of the Egyptians; nor did he yield to their urgent request, till they accused him of treating them with injustice, by showing favour to one who was their enemy. Unable, therefore, to oppose demands put forth under colour of a right, Amasis consented, with reluctance, to deliver up his captive to their resentment: and "having strangled the unfortunate Apries, they buried him in the tomb of his ancestors, which was in the sacred inclosure of Minerva's temple, very near the principal edifice, on the left, entering. In this building all the princes of the Saïte house were interred, and among the number Amasis also; but his sepulchre is more remote from the principal building than those of Apries and his predecessors." Such, according to Herodotus, was the tragical end of Apries; a monarch who, in the zenith of his glory, felt persuaded it was not in the power of a deity to dispossess him of the kingdom, or to shake the stability of his sway.* And this account of his arrogance satisfactorily accords with the Bible, where Ezekiel † speaks of the "king of Egypt" as "the great dragon that lieth in the midst of the rivers, which hath said, My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself;" and his overthrow and subsequent captivity and death are foretold by Jeremiah, with remarkable precision, in the following words:"I will give Pharaoh Hophra, king of Egypt, into the hands of his enemies, and into the hands of them that seek his life." The slight acquaintance we are able to obtain of the state of Egypt prevents our discovering the precise mode in which the fulfilment of the other + Ezek. xxix. 3. *Herod. ii. 169. predictions took place. Amun-No*, or Thebes, and Egypt, with their gods and kings, were to be punished, and Pharaoh, and all that trusted in him, to be delivered into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, and of his servants; Egypt was to be given into the hands of the people of the north†, and afterwards to be inhabited as in the days of old. Still more severely is it denounced in the prophecies of Ezekiel.‡ The Deity threatens to make the land of Egypt "utterly waste and desolate, from the tower of Syene § even unto the border of Ethiopia. || No foot of man shall pass through it, nor foot of beast shall pass through it, neither shall it be inhabited forty years. And I will make the land of Egypt desolate in the midst of the countries that are desolate, and her cities among the cities that are laid waste shall be desolate forty years; and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries. Yet.... at the end of forty years will I gather the Egyptians from the people whither they were scattered; and I will * Jerem. xlvi. 25. In the Hebrew version it is "Amun of No," or Na; in the Syriac, "Amun of the waters;" in the Targum, or Chaldee Paraph., "Alexandria," which was not yet founded. +Jerem. xlvi. 24, 25, 26. Ezek. xxix. 10. et seq. In the Septuagint and Arabic versions it is "from Migdol and Syene (E'Sooan) unto the borders of Ethiopia." The Hebrew and Syriac, as well as the Targum, have " from the tower of Syene," or, "from Migdol to Syene (D) and to the confines of Ethiopia" (Cush). Syene being on the borders of Ethiopia, the sense seems to require "from the towers of Syene," or "from Migdol to Syene," (which is) on the confines of Ethiopia. Syene, Elephantine, and Philæ continued to be the frontier towns of Egypt, even in the time of the Romans, though their dominions in the Pharaonic times extended beyond. 66 Regni claustra Philæ." Lucan, x. 313.; vide also Strabo and Procopius. bring again the captivity of Egypt, and will cause them to return into the land of Pathros, into the land of their habitation, and they shall be there a base kingdom. It shall be the basest of kingdoms; neither shall it exalt itself any more above the nations for I will diminish them, that they shall no more rule over the nations, and it shall no more be the confidence of the house of Israel.".. And the sword shall come upon Egypt.... Ethiopia, Libya, and Lydia*, and all the mingled people †, and Chub‡, and the men of the land that is in league shall fall with them, by the sword .... I will also make the multitude of Egypt to cease by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.... they shall draw their swords against Egypt, and fill the land with slain. §.... I will also destroy their idols, and cause their images to cease out of Noph ll, and there shall be no more a prince of the land of Egypt, .... and I will make Pathros desolate, and will set fire in Zoan **, and * In Hebrew, Cush, Phut, and Lud. + In Hebrew , àrab. The same word is used for the "mixed multitude" which went out with Moses at the exodus. Hebrew, Cub. Probably the Cubii of Ptolemy, a people who lived in Mareotis. § Ezek. xxx. 4. et seq. Noph was Memphis; called by the Egyptians Memfi, Mefi, Menfi, or Menbe, and Men-nofri, or Ma-nofri, "the place of good," as well as Pthah-eï,"the abode of Pthah." In Hosea (ix. 6.) it is styled Moph. The Arabs call it Ma-nouf, or Menouf. In hieroglyphics it is written Men-nofri, followed by a pyramid. ¶ Pathros or Pathures, in the Septuagint a0wpns, is Pa-athyris, "belonging to Athor," or Aphrodite. It might be supposed to refer to Aphroditopolis, or Athribis, or Atarbechis; but there is more reason to believe it to be Pathyris, or the district of western Thebes, which was afterwards made into a separate nome of that name, and so called from the same goddess. ** Tanis. will exercise my judgments in No.* And I will pour out my fury upon Sint, the strength of Egypt; and I will cut off the multitude of No.... The young men of Aven‡ and of Pibeseth § shall fall by the sword, and these cities shall go into captivity. At Tehaphnehes || also the day shall be darkened, when I shall break there the yokes of Egypt; and the pomp of her strength shall cease in her... and her daughters shall go into captivity; ...and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and disperse them among the countries." ¶ T I shall now endeavour to show how these predictions were accomplished, and to explain the probable reason of Herodotus's silence upon the subject of Nebuchadnezzar's invasion. 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 no mention was made of the signal defeat their army experienced, or of that loss of territory in Syria which resulted from the *No, or No-Amun, Thebes, Diospolis Proper, on the east bank. It is also written Na-Amun [or Amun-na]; the Egyptian, Amun-êi, the abode of Amun. Vide Nahum, iii. 8. The Septuagint gives v ALOσmodel. The Septuagint has "Zarc;" the Latin translation of the Hebrew, "Pelusium;" the Arabic, "San;" the Hebrew version and Targum, "Sin." Pelusium, which was the bulwark of Egypt on the N. E. frontier, is to be preferred. It is now called Tineh. Aon, Heliopolis, or On, as in Gen. xli. 45. | In the Septuagint εν Ταφναις; or, as Herodotus calls it, Δαφνησι Troi Heλovornoi. Herod. ii. 107. and 30. Daphne was a little distance from Pelusium, and higher up that branch of the Nile. ¶ Ezek. xxx. 13. et seq. |